The Evening Scroll

All the news from three schools of magic, delivered by hand, not by owl.

Fiction. The diaries, legends, reports and some of the staff are invented. The academies are real.

Blood Eclipse Over the Corso

Manly beachgoers report a rust-coloured sky above the academy, and a headmistress unbothered by it.

Visitors to Manly were surprised this week by a Blood Eclipse that turned the sky above The Corso the colour of rust, precisely on the hour.

Headmistress Selene of the academy described the eclipse as “expected, punctual and entirely under control”, and returned inside to set an examination.

“Doesn’t bother me. The sand’s the problem.” — Hollis, caretaker

Real: Magic School opened at Escape This Manly, 2B The Corso, on 19 December 2025.

Professor Missing in Melbourne

Magic University’s first day ends without the professor, and a lecture hall that will not open.

A professor at Magic University disappeared in the middle of his first lesson this week, and the lecture hall sealed itself behind him with the new class still inside.

The professor’s owl, Corvus, issued a short statement: “Hoo.” The Scroll understands this to mean that the class is expected to sort it out.

“Hoo.” — Corvus

Real: Magic University opened at Escape This Melbourne CBD, 259 Collins Street, on 10 August 2026.

Sorcerer Fails to Breach Castle. Again.

Wendell of the Dark Side blames the weather, the walls and a class of eleven-year-olds.

The Sorcerers of the Dark Side were once again turned back from the castle this week when a class of students reached the Headmaster’s sanctum first and destroyed the formula.

Wendell, speaking from outside the walls, said the students had “an unfair advantage, namely being good at this”. His newt declined to comment.

“Next time. Definitely next time.” — Wendell

Headmistress Replies to Sorcerer

Selene responds to “margin notes” about her academy, in the margins of the Scroll.

Headmistress Selene has written to the Scroll to answer comments made about her academy by a sorcerer in the margins of his spellbook.

“I have read his notes,” she writes, “and corrected the spelling. Twice. My apprentices restore the Founders’ Spell every day. He has not yet got through a door.”

“I have marked his notes. He has not passed.” — Headmistress Selene

Castle Bound for Brisbane

The Wizard’s Chamber is to open its gates in Queensland next year.

Shipping notices confirm that a third castle will open in Brisbane in the first half of 2027.

Wendell has announced he will lay siege to it “from the very first day”, and has asked whether Brisbane is warmer than outside the walls in Perth.

“(Blinks slowly.)” — Crumpet

Real: Escape This plans The Wizard’s Chamber for its Brisbane CBD venue in the first half of 2027.