A Requiem for Nobbs
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It is spring at the Widderdale Academy of the Arcane Sciences. Students are preparing their final projects for the end of the school year. They are standard projects: cast a permanent invisibility spell on a frog's skin to study their anatomy¸ create lava that pours out of a magically-protected papier-mâché volcano. You know¸ normal. Many projects turn out as intended. Sometimes¸ mistakes are made. And sometimes¸ BIG mistakes are made. Last night falls into the "BIG mistakes" category. What was supposed to start as a small animated toy turned into something more. A homunculus was created. A homunculus is a small human-like creature created through magical means. Students are repeatedly warned that creating a living creature is dangerous. Homunculi are unstable creatures by nature. They have a hard time controlling themselves as they grow older and can injure others if they enrage. Therefore¸ the academy has a hard and fast rule about them: They must be destroyed. Nobbs¸ as the students decided to name him¸ doesn't seem that dangerous¸ though. He is gentle and kind and doesn't seem to have the tendencies that the professors warn about. Perhaps they can find a way to sneak him out of the academy and set him free. Or¸ perhaps they can keep him until the end of the school year and one of them can take him home. There are only two problems with either of those plans. First off: the faculty. If any of them find him¸ they'll take Nobbs away and destroy him. Second is even worse: the Crocus Sisters. These three girls are bullies of the worst sort. They will pick on any student they run into. They saw Hobbs after he was created. They want to tell the headmistress about him¸ but they need proof first. A plan needs to be made. How can they keep Nobbs alive long enough to get him off campus?