[x] "...I used Polyjuice to resemble you, carrying a decoy potion, while you hide yourself from view?"
[x] Liquid Light
[x] "...I used Polyjuice to resemble you, carrying a decoy potion, while you hide yourself from view?"
[x] Liquid Light
[X] Write In: ">...I used Polyjuice to resemble Ka'au while you carry a decoy potion openly. Ka'au will have the real potion and stay hidden as we will act like I am missing because I died during the night."
[X] Write in: Ask the other two for input to what a decoy potion should be and how harsh a response are they willing to send against anyone that steals/ambushes them.
It's a team effort after all. See post below for details.
Last edited by Daiki; May 2nd, 2018 at 01:26 AM.
After a talk with Daiki, on the merits of going with a lethal potion, explosions or just a simple stun potion, we decided that maybe it would be better to ask the other two members on their thoughts about what the decoy should be and how harsh a response should be as this is a team response to someone stealing their "Potion"
Change the potion vote to [X] Write in: Ask the other two for input to what the decoy potion should be and how harsh a response are they willing to send against anyone that steals/ambushes them.
I sorta hate to delay this to another vote to gain input from them but its hard to see Shinji go full lethal, or just slap the person on the wrist with say stunning them with a light potion.
Last edited by Skull Leader; May 2nd, 2018 at 01:26 AM.
Yeah, I'm not going to vote for that, Skull Leader. We are not giving away player agency because you are feeling wishy-washy. Make your own choices, don't present the situation as "But what would everybody think about my actions?.."
You either decide to kill your opponents or you don't. Either choice is fine both IC and OOC - but don't hide behind NPC.
No offense.
Last edited by Malorius; May 2nd, 2018 at 10:54 AM.
It's an important decision since if the potion gets stolen, the phial broken or they all get incapacitated, the whole thing would have been for nothing. Shinji nearly died twice (thrice if you count the trees) and spent a CS, let's not forget.
We decided long ago to be open and working alongside Ramona and Ka'aukai for this mock trial (you can even go and check back old discussions if you want). So we chose to go with this write-in because that was always the initial intent anyway.
And we're not letting the NPCs pick that choice for us, we're asking for their opinion so we can seek a compromise if it comes to it and be sure everyone knows what to expect if an ambush happens.
Last edited by Daiki; May 3rd, 2018 at 01:25 AM.
...I have missed the moment Shinji has become a ruling body of this little group, have I? No, wait, I didn't! We are working with them openly by default.
Unwarranted sarcasm aside...
I'll go with the usual interpretation of choices in this CYOA: our choices matter because Shinji is capable enough to convince/come to agreement with his peers due to his reasonable suggestions. (Not because our decision go through by the power of author's fiat, totally!) Presumably, we have this choice because it is applicable to the situation, so I prefer to pick options that don't trade characterisation for appearances. We know, IC and OOC, that there are enough reasons to use lethal force right now and additional information will not change that fact.
You either choose or let others choose for you. And I really don't like hesitation that ultimately leads to passivity during important quest points, sue me.
Ugh, didn't think that I will have to promote decisiveness while voting for essentially a pacifistic option. Joke's on me, countless murderhobo quests...
Last edited by Malorius; May 3rd, 2018 at 04:25 AM.
[x] "...I used Polyjuice to resemble you, carrying a decoy potion, while you hide yourself from view?"
[x] Liquid Light
Well, it's wizarding event, not magi - and wizards declare the value of their kin's life - if memory serves, even canon Voldemort mentioned something along the lines.
Uh, Alf? How long will it actually take for LL to recharge it's battery?
If you put it under sunlight, its a 1:1 ratio.
Otherwise, Ramona could charge it quickly, but she'd have to use up one of her several sunstones for it.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
More interested in its flash-mode. It's not too conspicuous while recharging, is it? We can let it power up on the move, I hope.
Do you really need to be that scathing in the majority of your posts or do you only browse this place when you had a bad day? If you aren't happy with a decision, discuss it with the concerned person in a civil manner or kindly fuck off.Originally Posted by Malorius
It's not the first time I find your posts to be unnecessarily harsher than they should be. It's a CYOA, people will vote for what they want at the end of the day. You can disagree, or even find a decision ridiculous, but keep your sarcasm and baiting tactics to yourself.
What are you even going on about?I'll go with the usual interpretation of choices in this CYOA: our choices matter because Shinji is capable enough to convince/come to agreement with his peers due to his reasonable suggestions. (Not because our decision go through by the power of author's fiat, totally!)
Explain to me how is that write-in throwing Shinji's characterization out of the window. He is not their leader, he is the youngest and weakest player in a pool of more mature and experienced sharks. These guys, as nice as they have worked with him, are not his friends. They do not have to listen to him nor follow his lead if he decides that the tactics he wants to use is completely dumb.Presumably, we have this choice because it is applicable to the situation, so I prefer to pick options that don't trade characterisation for appearances.
OMG, have you never played a freaking rp campaign? Ever thought that NPCs may have valid insight?We know, IC and OOC, that there are enough reasons to use lethal force right now and additional information will not change that fact
Stalling, really? That is what's offending your sensibility?You either choose or let others choose for you. And I really don't like hesitation that ultimately leads to passivity during important quest points, sue me.
THIS IS EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS ASKING ZELKOVA'S OPINION. And I sure didn't see you bitch like that when that happened.
That's exactly the kind of comment I never thought I would see in this sub-forum. Congratulations, I guess?Ugh, didn't think that I will have to promote decisiveness while voting for essentially a pacifistic option. Joke's on me, countless murderhobo quests...
You can still tone down the assholish attitude though, that will be welcome.
Defensive much?
Apparently the whole point of that post flew over your head. No matter.
Sorry for that Alf, thought it needed to be addressed before it goes overboard.
What I've seen was a vastly different approach to quest behavior, which pretty obviously won't change for you.
Right. Alf, I hope that our recent antics wouldn't negatively affect your drive and enjoyment of writing this story. I am pretty sure that we all can unite behind this notion.
Last edited by Malorius; May 3rd, 2018 at 02:16 PM.
311: [x] "...I used Polyjuice to resemble you, carrying a decoy potion, while you hide yourself from view?"
311b: [x] Liquid Light
"A phial of sunlight? Are you quite sure that is the wisest idea?" Ramona questioned, looking the boy over. "I would think that might draw the attention of more than just our competitors."
Which was a not insignificant consideration when one was on an island where relics of the Age of Gods lingered.
"...it can't be that bad, can it?"
"Let me examine the phial in question, and we will see," the Champion of Qausuittuq stated, the look in her eyes making it clear that this wasn't a request.
Shinji moved to comply, taking the labeled potion out of his satchel, only to frown as he found that the flask had gone dark, with the liquid inside quite dull. At Ramona's insistence, he passed it over anyway, as the young woman ran her fingers over it, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Interesting."
"What is?"
"I didn't know you were capable of creating conceptual items, Matou," Ramona noted with a hint of respect. "You did create this, yes?"
"Ah...yes. Yes I did," Shinji replied, nodding - even as he felt a pang of guilt for claiming credit for Budge's potion. "I can recharge it too. I just need it to sit in the sunlight for a time."
"Or to be exposed to something equivalent."
"Well...yes."
Ramona seemed to consider something for a moment, before taking a translucent orange stone from her pouch.
"I suppose I could afford to use up a sunstone for the sake of the distraction, then," she said, coming to a conclusion. "It is far more common a reagent than ritual-grade phoenix feathers, after all."
She did something, closing her fist and opening it as the stone...dissolved into light, light that grew in her hands and was channeled in wisps and tendrils into the phial, until it glowed sun-bright once more - so intense that one could not look directly upon it without being blinded.
"Here."
"...thanks."
With that, and Shinji completing one of the polyjuice mixtures he had been granted by Lockhart with the addition of one of Ramona's hair, the trio set off towards the village, making good time at first - only to slow as reached the last kilometer, and the sounds of a battle carried to their ears - crashes and cries and roars of pain. The trees...the trees were alive, shuffling about the blocking the way, and somewhere beyond their sight, he supposed they must be fighting someone.
'Maybe Stukov and the Indian Champion didn't manage to make anything good, if they're resorting to something like this...'
And he imagined it had to be, since after all, they were the team whose members included someone proficient with this sort of spell.
'If I had my ofuda...'
But he didn't, having apparently expended all his combat-use ones, so...
"We might be able to go around," Ramona murmured, from where she walked beside the boy currently wearing he - invisible. "Or at least, Ka'au and I could. I don't know about you." She paused, tilting her head. "I suppose we could carry one of your flow-walking ofuda, and have you join us on the other side."
Shinji was just about to agree when a colorful series of french curses reached his ears, and the boy's eyes widened, recognizing the voice. Without thinking, without pausing to think, he acted, body vanishing from where he stood, only to reappear in a frozen clearing next to what looked like a somewhat wounded - and very angry - Rachelle Lestrange, her hair unbound, her rapier unsheathed, with liquid motes of darkness and ice swirling around it, and crimson runes all around her, as dozens upon dozens of trees swarmed towards her, with one and another cut down, and more charging in, as if to avenge the fallen fellows at her feet.
Only, when they reached her, she wasn't there, just a whirlwind of slashes, leaving several trees drained of color and life, which in crashing to the ground lifelessly, took a number of others with them.
Thinking that he couldn't see what was happening clearly, the boy lifted his phial, channeling a bit of prana into it so that it would glow more brightly - and as if that was some kind of signal, the horde of trees switched targets, turning to bear down to him.
'Why? Why are they?'
Sunlight.
He was carrying a phial shining with sunlight, and his enemies were - like all plants - drawn to the sun.
'Shit. Shit shit shit shit.'
Still, it wasn't so bad having enemies all around him.
Or so he told himself as his wand grew to the size of a staff, and a glowing scythe ignited on one end.
'After all, if they want to die so quickly, I can grant that wish!'Having flow-walked into the clearing where a fairly unhappy Rachelle Lestrange is holding off dozens of angry treants, Shinji seems to have drawn aggro. What will he do?
[ ] (write-in)
Available assets: Explosive Potions, Living Staff, Several knives, Liquid Luck, a number of healing potions
Prana level: 100%
Fusion unavailable
Wand-staff (charged)
Mirror-Shield
Wyvern-hide robe
Ring of Fireballs
2 Command Seals remaining
Surroundings: Frozen clearing
Ally: Rachelle Lestrange (lightly wounded/enraged), with Deuillegivre partially unsealed and runic defenses active.
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; May 4th, 2018 at 12:30 AM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
Since there's ice around why not use that for throwing a wave of corruption on the trees? Taking a dose of FF could help, and so would giving a healing brew to Rachelle.
I guess designing a full plan will take a while anyway. If it becomes a matter of life and death, you could always burn another CS.
Or just mount the Sunlight phial on your staff and yell a "You Shall Not Pass!"
Last edited by Daiki; May 3rd, 2018 at 04:13 PM.
As thus is the story of how Shinji the Grey becoming Shinji the White.
Thought I would remind everyone that whatever you do, it will not look nearly as cool since Shinji currently looks like Ramona so we can not rely on Shinji getting a warm friendly response to Shinji, since it will not be 'Shinji' that helps her. Thought if Shinji fights like she has seen him do before, she might figure it out anyway.
Sidenote: I have to agree that you are coming across very aggressive Malorious. Now I understand that its rather hard to correctly interpret someone's tone accurately so I let most things be water under the bridge and not take it personally. But please dial back a bit. Granted I, myself, am not a perfect shiny example of calm and civil all the time here as I can get a bit...ah vocal and passionate...in my opinions but at this point I have history with the others so that it we can argue back and forth without stepping on each other toes (and when it happens we apologize and move on, as it happens). But we have not had nearly the same length with you to develop a similar relationship with you, so we might be a bit more sensitive to how we read your posts.
Fair point, and it might be rather difficult to prove your identity in the middle of the fight. More so since Shinji has no ofuda to use and can't rely on fusion either. But still, he just basically popped out of an ofuda he gave to her so there might be a chance. Unless she's too focused on her survival to pay any attention to that. She will probably think this girl came to help out and is trying to draw attention to herself.
Ah, it's worth noting that Shinji's staff got a free charge after his fight with the Jinn.
Chapter 81. Kämpfer
Slowly, as if his consciousness was slogging through mud, Matou Shinji began to stir, his body protesting rather too much for his liking as he opened his eyes and looked around, taking in his surroundings warily.
He was laying in the shrine that he, Ramona, and Ka'au had captured earlier in the evening, in the very corner where he'd gone to sleep. And from the feel of it...he'd been asleep for a very long time.
'What...? Was all that...a dream?' he asked himself, as fleeting impressions of an evil-shaped foe that a human could not comprehend flickered to the forefront of his mind, the recollection alone making him shudder in fear. 'Did I...just not wake up at all?' There were other fragments of memory as well. A blade of wind ripping his insides apart. Pain. Pain unimaginable - only he didn't have to imagine it, as it was carved into his body. And... 'Andromeda...'
Sun-bright hair and eyes the color of the sky. Looking at where he was – nowhere near that ridiculous prison of souls, his mind/body/soul not broken and bleeding out near the urn containing the First Jinn – he almost thought it had to have been a dream.
And yet...the burning pain around his upper arm suggested otherwise, with the boy noticing with a start that something had been inscribed from the area the command seals would otherwise be.
'Huh?' he wondered, as he rolled up his quite ragged sleeve to take a look. 'Wait what?'
His shock wasn’t just because his wyvern-hide robes were basically rags at this point, and he didn’t even want to think about what could have done that to wyvern-hide.
It was because the ouroboros – the outermost of his three seals – was gone. The crescent moon and the eye of Horus that comprised the others, remained, save their positions had shifted, and both were now bound by a triangle, its lines glowing a soft azure and thrumming with prana.
‘What the heck? This isn’t a command seal…’
And the design it made was…strange.
An eye within a pyramid.
‘I’ve seen this before. This design.’
He was sure of it.
But where?
Before he could think too much about it though, he was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"So, you are awake, Matou," the soothing tones of Ramona Ahgeak spoke from behind him, with Shinji turning to see the Champion of Qausuittuq adding a sprig of some azure-colored plant to the cauldron. “I was beginning to worry, since dawn will be upon us in little more than an hour.”
'...what? Dawn? Did I sleep that long?'
How was that possible? Wouldn’t the Champion of Qausuittuq have woken him up? Or the Champion of Nu’utea Kohu, at least?
“Huh?” he said eloquently, confusion writ large across his features. “Dawn? And…that plant?”
The Inupiat girl chuckled.
" I admit, I did not expect you to find any Thaumatagoria in your foraging," Ramona responded with a hint of a smile. "It is, after all, one of the rarest plants in the magical world, so rare that very, very few know truth from fiction when it comes to what is said or written.”
"...Thaumatagoria?" Shinji echoed. The name…well, he remembered reading it once, in the archives, but his mind was…fuzzy. It was like he couldn’t quite concentrate, and…
‘That’s weird. My public partition is closed off.’
He hadn’t noticed it earlier, due to everything else, but just now, when he’d tried to purge and reinitialize, nothing had happened. It was like the partition was just…gone.
Was this some weird aftereffect from the nuckelavee?
"...then you did not know what you found?" Ramona was continuing, a touch of astonishment in her voice as she regarded the boy for a second. “How curious.” The young woman shook her head, before turning to the door. "Don’t you agree, Ka’aukai?”
"Well, yes,” Ka'au chimed in, with the Polynesian Champion stepping into the central chamber, seemingly unharmed. "I found a few items of interest in that twisted cave, but nothing that quite matches your discovery. Did you take a different passage or something? I only remember the one, really.”
"I...don't know," the boy remarked, trying to remember, but finding that everything was just a jumble. Some of it seemed so fantastic that he couldn’t believe it had been anything other than a dream. Some of it…there were images of flying through the sky, his blade ripping through a sea monster. A shower of gold. A woman’s voice telling him “The lights in the sky are stars.” Dancing among the stars, holding in his arms a girl with hair like the sun and eyes the color of the sky. Whispers in the dark. The smell of the sea. The taste of…. The scent of sweat and musk and mingled lusts. The touch of skin on skin.
Pain. Painpainpainpain!
The boy staggered as his shoulder burned, the exquisite agony returning him to the present.
“Are you injured?” the Polynesian Champion said with some concern. “Your clothes were in fairly bad shape when you got back, but you seemed like you were in one piece.”
“I…” Shinji blinked. “…how did I get back?”
“You don’t remember?” Ka’au asked, frowning. “You were carrying this, if it helps you remember anything.”
“What’s th—”
Shinji’s breath was stolen away by the sight of a mirror-smooth shield, gleaming in the dim light of the room. There was something inside of him that recognized it, knew it, longed for it, and yet…
‘That’s impossible.’
He’d never seen this thing before in his life.
‘Is it a mystic code or something?’
He frowned. Whatever it was, it didn’t belong—
‘Huh?’
That was all he could think as the shield dematerialized in a shimmer of golden light, with the Boy from the East bolting upright in shock. Wait...had...he done that? Was that…his?
Apparently, the answer was yes, for when he thought of the item again, it rematerialized—this time in his hands, with the boy finding its weight comforting.
‘That’s…really weird…’
"I was going to ask where you found that item as well," Ka'au said quietly, raising an eyebrow as he processed what had just happened. "The craftsmanship is exquisite. And it had some interesting properties."
"...I see," Shinji glanced down at his arm uneasily. Someone had done something to him, he was almost certain. But why? And what? “Like what?”
"The ability to sense people’s heartbeats, among other things," the Polynesian Champion noted. “I was just testing it on the other side of the wall.”
“Ah. Sorry but…I don’t really know.” He bit his lip, looking down. “I don’t know what it is. Why I had it. Why it is seemingly bound to me. It…doesn’t make sense.”
"...I see," Ka'au remarked, before turning to Ramona. "Dawn will soon be upon us. Are you almost ready?”
“Just about,” the Inupiat girl replied, from where she was stirring her cauldron once, twice, thrice counterclockwise. “Just need to put the finishing touches on the potion, and then we can return to the village." She glanced over at Shinji. “Are you about recovered?”
“I…guess?” Shinji hazarded, not feeling entirely confident about his answer.
‘How about you, Zelkova?’ he asked his familiar over their mental link, only…there was no reply. ‘Zelkova?’
Only silence reigned, with the boy beginning to worry, since his familiar always replied whenever he could.
‘So does that mean he can’t?’
That did not bode well.
Thinking to himself, the boy dematerialized the shield once more and drew his wand, willing to it to extend to its full length, then to retract again, which it did without protest.
‘So Zelkova is still alive. Just unresponsive. Something must have happened then. I just wish there was a good way to sort out the good from the bad.’
"Then, since you are one of the primary combatants for the team, let me ask: how do you want to approach our return to the village?” Ka’aukai asked, glancing out into the corridor. “Ramona has volunteered to transport the potion itself and guard it against the hazards of the island, but it is not the island I worry about."
“It’s our competitors,” Shinji supplied.
“Exactly. I would be wary of an ambush, especially in the wake of that storm,” the Polynesian Champion replied. “After all, there are two ways to win a competition. Create something incredible…or make sure your creation is the only thing remaining.”
“And you think they’ll target us,” Ramona questioned, ladling some of her concoction, a shimmering gold streaked through with blues, into a few phials.
“Perhaps not us specifically, but I do think someone will attempt an ambush,” Ka’aukai remarked. “I simply don’t intend to be the target. Or if we must be, I want to be in a position where we can turn the tables on our assailants. So…your thoughts?”
“Give me a moment to see what resources I actually have left,” Shinji asked, with the Polynesian Champion telling him to go and do it.
‘Huh. That’s weird. The only ofuda I have…are the ones in the shrine?’
He’d…he’d burned through his entire stock? What the hell had he been fighting?
In terms of potions…well, he still had a small vial of Liquid Luck, some incomplete Polyjuice vials, several small doses of Fading, some healing potions, about a dozen vials of explosive potions, some poisons, a vial of…light? and bezoars.
He had his spare wand of hazel and coral.
He had his knives – both the all black weapon he’d obtained from Lockhart that seemed like it would hold yin energy well, and the goblin forged dagger he’d gotten for Christmas last year.
He had a self-geis scroll he’d obtained from Rin. ‘And all that mapo tofu, which probably counts as a chemical weapon.’
And on his finger, a ring bearing a sliver of a fire-spirit’s might, supposedly boosting his resistance to mental domination.
‘Or launch fireballs, I guess.’
A gift from Tsuchimikado Hokuto ‘for the challenges in the coming year.’
And clothes that were…well, the enchanted underlayer was mostly intact, even if there was a gaping hole around the torso. It was in better shape than what little remained of his once charcoal grey wyvern-hide robes.
‘So from Shinji the grey, I become Shinji the…whitish?’
Oh, and he supposed he still had the Book of Potions too.
…didn’t he?
‘Wait…where did it go?’ It wasn’t in his Mokeskin pouch. It wasn’t next to him. He couldn’t find it.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down his spine as he thought about all the weird things that had been happening.
‘Someone must have taken it…’
That…that wasn’t good. Had someone meddled with his memory and his magic? Had he…gotten into a fight with a competitor and lost?
‘No…but then why would I have Thaumatagoria, or that shield?’
It didn’t make sense.
But then, very little did.
And given the circumstances…
"I think we should be cautious," the boy said finally, shaking his head. “I’m not feeling at my best. Some of my equipment is missing. And I don’t really want to get ambushed, since I don’t want to ruin what Ramona has put so much hard work into.”
“You really think an ambusher could do so much to us?" the Champion of Qausuittuq inquired, sounding neither skeptical or worried about the possibility. “When both you and Ka’au are physical powerhouses?”
"I do," Shinji confirmed, his lips flattening into a thin line as he brought to mind the makeup of the teams arrayed against them. "I’m not exactly worried about a one on one confrontation. In a fair fight, I’m sure we’d come out ok.” Well, except against the Champion of Mahoutokoro. Or the Champion of Beauxbations. “I’m worried about some kind of trap. Quite possibly from Stukov’s team.”
“It’s not unlikely,” Ka’aukai admitted. “You did mention that they had several bits of earth that were spawning bears, as well as animated trees. If, instead of gathering ingredients for a potion, they spent their time trapping the approach back to the village…”
“…admittedly, that could be a nightmare to deal with,” Ramona agreed, the brunette frowning at the thought. “In that case, I assume they wouldn’t be particularly discriminate about who they attacked, as long as it was a team with a good brewer.”
“That is likely the case.”
Privately, the Matou boy rather hoped that someone would be foolish enough to attack Sajyou Ayaka, since that would likely result in their elimination from the tournament, given how the Champion of Mahoutokoro wasn't exactly known for self-restraint, though given that she also had a flying familiar, he rather thought she’d probably just bypass whatever was in her way.
Well, that or just reduce it all to ashes.
"Still, the walking wood spell isn’t the most reliable," Ramona pointed out. "Suborning the Walking Woods is possible, after all, if one has the right affinities. Or at least, causing the trees to go out of control, which can have disastrous consequences for the caster.”
“Provided the caster is nearby, which isn’t a guarantee.”
“Hm. True. I suppose that even if they do just rampage about, it will probably cause trouble,” the Inupiat girl agreed. “Personally I am more worried about the Akindele and Müller team, though I do not know what to expect of them."
"Not the Sajyou and Labelle team?" Shinji inquired, more out of curiosity than anything else. He knew
"Knowing of the Champion of Mahoutokoro by reputation, I find it unlikely that her team would be attacking anyone," Ramona interjected, her expression perfectly neutral. "Nor do I think Elesa likely to attack anyone unless first provoked."
"I see," the boy mused.
"In terms of strategy, my thought is that if we are likely to draw attacks, it is best to do so on our terms, not those of our enemies," Ka'aukai pointed out. "In the event that there is an ambush, one of us should escort Ramona openly, while other remains hidden, waiting to surprise any would-be ambushers. Alternatively, we could move openly as a group, in the hope that our numbers will be some deterrent, or try to remain hidden the entire time, if you have some means of doing so."
Well. He did have those Fading potion prototype vials, but given the oddities he’d encountered last time he’d taken them, perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to be handing those out at a time like this.
Therefore…
"What you said about drawing attacks on our own terms makes a lot of sense," Shinji agreed. "If an ambush is likely - and I think one is - then we should lure our ambushers in and crush them. Or at least leave someone away from the party so they can respond."
"I am glad we are of one mind," Ka'aukai noted, nodding slowly. "Would you be willing to be the one escorting Ramona? Given the abilities you demonstrated during the assault on the shrine, I think you would be ideal to weather an assault from our enemies."
"...if I could use those abilities at the moment, that would be true," the Japanese boy conceded, though with Zelkova silent, he didn't think his chances of being able to use fusion would be very high. "I'm...not sure that sort of thing is currently available to me."
"Ah. So, like my tanifa form, there are constraints on how often you can invoke it."
"More or less," Shinji agreed, shaking his head. He didn't know exactly how long the Polynesian Champion needed in between uses of his "guardian of the waters" form, only that said form, while extremely potent in battle, required Ka'au to rest after using it. 'Channeling something at the very edge of his abilities.' "As of right now, it will be some time before I can use it."
"...I see. That complicates things," the Polynesian Champion said with a frown.
"It does and it doesn't," Shinji noted. "Either way, one of us still needs to draw the attention of our enemies."
"In that case, let's go with you, Matou," Ramona spoke up, with both of the male champions turning towards her. "Matou is, after all, the youngest of the Champions, and so, according to some, the weakest and least skilled, whether in potions or in combat."
"I'm not that bad," the Japanese boy grumbled.
"Whether or not you are does not matter so much as what others think you are," Ramona pointed out. "In this particular set of circumstances, their false assumptions will be their undoing."
"Fair," Shinji agreed. The boosts granted by his enchanted underarmor could still make him quite dangerous, even without fusion, after all. "Though if we’re going that way, we might as well only put one person at risk.”
“Oh?”
“Well, you can go invisible, right?” Shinji questioned.
“Yes?”
“Then if I used Polyjuice to resemble you, carrying a decoy potion, while you hide yourself from view, and just go on to the village if there’s an attack?"
“A decoy potion?” Ka’aukai echoed. “It would have to be something people wouldn’t recognize at a glance.”
“Well…there’s this…” Shinji offered, drawing the shimmering vial.
"A phial of light? Where did you…?”
“I just happened to have it on me,” the boy said almost flippantly, since how he’d gotten it was honestly something of a haze.
“Are you quite sure that is the wisest idea?" Ramona questioned, looking the boy over. "I would think that might draw the attention of more than just our competitors."
Which was a not insignificant consideration when one was on an island where relics of the Age of Gods lingered.
Still…
"...it can't be that bad, can it?"
The Champion of Qausuittuq glared.
"First, never tempt fate like that. That woman has absolutely no self-control," the Inupiat girl stated, the look in her eyes making it clear that she wasn’t joking. “Second…let me examine the phial in question, and we will see.”
Shinji rushed to comply, handing her the potion, whose glow had mostly faded. Ramona took it, running her fingers over the glass, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Interesting."
"What is?"
"I didn't know you were capable of creating conceptual items, Matou," Ramona noted with a hint of respect. "…you did create this, yes?"
"Ah...yes. Yes, I did," Shinji replied, nodding - even as he felt a pang of guilt for…something. "I can recharge it too, I’m pretty certain. I just need it to sit in the sunlight for a time."
"Or to be exposed to something equivalent."
“That wasn’t a question, was it?”
“No.” Ramona seemed to consider something for a moment, before taking a translucent orange stone from her pouch. "I suppose I could afford to use up a sunstone for the sake of the distraction, then," she said, coming to a conclusion. "It is far more common a reagent than a ritual-grade phoenix feather, after all."
She did something, closing her fist and opening it as the stone crumble in her grasp, freeing a mote of imprisoned light. She held it before her lips and breathed into it, as the light grew and grew and grew, till the room was bright as the brightest day that had ever been…before channeling that power into the phial in wisps and tendrils until it glowed sun-bright once more.
So brightly that one could not look directly upon it without being blinded.
"Here,” she said, holding the phial out to the boy.
Shinji wrapped his fingers around it and took it, gratefully, placing it back in his pouch.
"...thanks."
He noticed then that she’d passed him one of her hairs, as well.
“What’s this?”
“For you to complete your Polyjuice potion, assuming you have something mostly prepared, since we don’t have time to brew a batch now.”
“…ah yes. Right.”
The boy proceeded to do just that, as the group made their final preparations for departure.
Only minutes later, the trio set off towards the village, though they didn’t walk quite as quickly as they could have, since they wanted to be sure there was nothing odd waiting for them. Caution was the word of the hour, since it would be a shame to come so far, and yet be taken out of the running by a moment of carelessness.
Still, though they kept their eyes and ears peeled, there was nothing until they reached the last kilometer before the village, and the sounds of a terrible battle carried to their ears – crashes and cries and roars of pain.
‘A sound muffling barrier?’
It had to be.
Or maybe the fight just wasn’t that loud till now, with the trees—
There was a sound like cannons going off, as jagged spires of ice erupted from the ground, ripping through trees and causing others to explode as the temperature dropped below freezing for a fraction of a second.
But more and more trees rose to take their place, with the earth trembling as they thundered forth.
‘Who the hell are they fighting?’
He didn’t think he knew anyone who was that skilled at using ice.
Maybe it was a team?
'If I had my ofuda, I could join the fight…'
But he didn't, having apparently expended all his combat-use ones, so...
"We might be able to go around," Ramona murmured, from where she walked beside the boy currently wearing her form – invisible. "Or at least, Ka'au and I could. I don't know about you." She paused, tilting her head. "Though, I suppose we could carry one of your flow-walking ofuda, and have you join us on the other side. What say you?"
Shinji was just about to agree when a colorful series of French curses reached his ears, and the boy's eyes widened, recognizing the voice.
‘Rachelle…’
Without thinking, without pausing to think, he acted, body vanishing from where he stood, only to reappear in a frozen clearing next to what looked like a somewhat wounded – and very angry – Rachelle Lestrange.
The French Champion’s dress was torn, and her hair in disarray, and she was bleeding quite a bit.
In her hand was her unsheathed blade, with liquid motes of darkness swirling around it, and a sense of terrible, primal hunger radiating from it.
And around her…
‘Runes…’
Dozens upon dozens of blood-red runes.
Scores of trees rushed towards her, thundering over the frozen earth to reach her and smash her delicate body apart, only when they reached her, she wasn’t there, as another trio of animated treants crashed to the ground, drained of all life and color.
‘She’s fighting alone?’
Thinking that he couldn't see what was happening clearly, the boy took the phial of light out of his satchel and channeling a bit of prana into it so that it would glow more brightly.
Around him, he could see the glittering of ice crystals.
The wreckage of great trees and splinters that had been felled by spell and blade.
The form of the French Champion dancing through the air, on runes of light, moving, striking, slashing, an expression of grim determination on her beautiful features that chilled him to the bone.
Yet…at the moment, the trees stopped.
‘Huh.’
No. Not stopped. Changed course, with the nearest ones – a full score – bearing down on him, as if he’d attracted their ire.
'What? But why? Trees can’t see!’
They couldn’t, no.
But they could sense sunlight, and he was holding a phial glowing with the power of the sun.
'Shit. Shit shit shit shit.'
Still, it wasn't so bad having enemies all around him.
After all, he told himself, as he brought his wand to his hand and expanded it to the length of a staff with a thought, that just meant there was no way he could possibly miss.
As before...
'Having flow-walked into the clearing where a fairly unhappy Rachelle Lestrange is holding off dozens of angry treants, Shinji seems to have drawn aggro. What will he do?
[ ] (write-in)
Available assets: Explosive Potions, Living Staff, Several knives, Liquid Luck, a number of healing potions
Prana level: 100%
Fusion unavailable
Wand-staff (charged)
Mirror-Shield
Wyvern-hide robe (rags)
Enchanted underarmor (mostly intact)
Ring of Fireballs
2 Command Seals remaining
Surroundings: Frozen clearing, with fallen trees and splinters everywhere
Ally: Rachelle Lestrange (lightly wounded/enraged), with Deuillegivre partially unsealed and runic defenses active.
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; May 5th, 2018 at 12:01 AM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
I can come across as more (passive-)aggressive than what is usually considered polite when dealing with some issues, true.
It's End-Of-the-Week-Hell for me now, so I won't be able to post much for the next 20 hours. I will definitely try to chime in if there is some planning in the tread though.
First, we have to decide: how highly do we value Miss Lestrange's life? Enough to risk our secrecy? Our long-term health? Do we hold back as much as possible or use more of our known abilities (like our manner of Assassin-style movement)? Priorities, that's what is important.
My opinion: throw everything we deem effective and pull out at 50% prana. Running retreat to distract as much of those guys as possible? The trees should be slower than Shinji.
if we don't really want to be recognized, we should start with fire since we use it so rarely (also, plants, it has to be super effective). All the fire~
The ring+Incendio, I guess.
Last edited by Malorius; May 4th, 2018 at 03:05 AM.
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