Fallen Empire

[shiivster]

Aki realizes that the drumming and whatever actions will most likely continue long into the night. she will gather her few belongings . . and head out about 100 yards back the way they came . . and make a fire-less camp and settle down with her 2 siblings. the fact that she seems more at peace when a little distant from the rest shows in the speed in which the animals sleep and her eyes close in a deep needful slumber.

*the 2 wing sibs, seem to have settled for Ora and taking messages about. she's content that they've settled in with people to work with.

[OOC - not trying to stay isolated, but its hard for her to stand about and pretend to understand words flying back and forth between people. she understands about 1 in 4 of them and hte speed prevents her from wanting to hear more. the various comments she had said in the past were overlooked, so she simply chooses to gypsy along behind the others waiting and watching. thus her resolve to slip away once back at 'base' to find a space and settle down with her siblings is making more and more an impact with her]

[kurff]

"I can find out about that sort of detail with the mechanics. probably get an accurate count too on what they have. oh and do we have any spare translators of a magical or non-technological nature for the people here who don't use tech?" Telsa asked, "It would make communication easier.."

[albatross]

Talon nods to Tesla. "Sounds good. Well, we all have things to consider. On the morrow then." The bunny girls sing and dance, but they go to bed early a couple hours after midnight to be ready for an early start. While the nuns have all long since retired. The bunny girls leave the nuns alone, but at least one will attempt to cuddle up with everyone else (except Aki who is a good distance from the main camp) - though they take no for an answer.

The next morning nuns offer magic translators to any who want them, they have necklaces, pendants, headbands and tiara's.

Fakir finds Bellephoebe as the march begins and says, "You are a high magus right? Perhaps teaching you a new spell for cloak and dagger work wouldn't be interesting enough for you. How about we make some scrolls of spells you might need for skulduggery and I'll teach you one of Mikala's spells instead. That might be more in line with your abilities. What do you think?"

One of the nuns falls in next to Telsa, exchanging glances with the bunny girl he has been training with. So far the training is slow going. The belt shield is awesome at protection, but using a weapon with it on is quite a challenge. "I can help to teach you how to use that shield and your knives at the same time," says the nun. "The bunny girls all know how, but they aren't great at explaining things."

GhostWalker is followed by several bunny girls who ask him if he is a drow elf.

Malone is given a pair of sandals that someone made out of leather, with a wooden sole. They aren't the greatest, but good work considering the general lack of materials for making footwear.

Yumi, Mao and the hawks find the march delightful, they range off on either side - hunting, scouting and looking at all the interesting things this world has to offer. There are large, tasty insects, lots of prairie voles, and the tall grasses of the plains make it easy for them to play and hunt. Aki can feel that this land has never known a plow, and there doesn't even seem to be a path - much plus a road. The Sealed Kingdom might have cities somewhere, but as far as the blood hawk can see there is only prairie - rolling hills or grassland stretching in all directions.

The nuns have scouts out front, to the sides, and a rear guard - but the bunny girls flit about chasing butterflies.

[thorley]

Bellephoebe is more than a bit alarmed about Fakir mentioning that she's a High Magus given that Dweamor is supposed to be a secret city, and he apparently wasn't on the approved visitors list when she did her research before. Having admitted he sent out spies she figures he's fishing.

She says:

"I'm an adventuring mage, what's a High Magus?"

It probably won't come up, but since he's apparently not a friend of Dweamor and now she has to consider what to do about that (but as I said, given the nature of the game it probably won't come up, and Belle isn't really muderous. Since Fakir is an ally of sorts for the moment she's thinking in terms of trying to find a way to erase his memory of that bit of information at least.. as time goes on she will probably care less about it. RP wise that's kind of a bomb to drop so directly under the circumstances).

"An exchange of scrolls would work, I made a ton of them while I was away and have them in my D-pocket. I can give you a couple in return.

As far as Mikalah's Spells go, I'm interested in that spell that created the gateway she got pulled through. Largely because it would be nice to have a point to work from if I'm going to pull her out of there."

Contemplating this problem moves Belle's thoughts away from Fakir's comment about a High Magus.

"Among other things I've been thinking her sword is attuned to her, love apparently allows someone to escape from that portal, so I was thinking that if we attached a love potion or charm to the handle of the sword with the picture of someone on this side and instructions we could lob the sword through, have it go to Mikalah, she could drink the potion or whatever, come back through, and we could disenchant her

Not easy, but it's the best I could come up with. Knowing the spell might allow me to come up with a counter spell, perhaps a portal to the same place with differant properties. It's apparently an ancient spell, but magic has been being developed for thousands of years since then and there are doubtlessly new techniques. Heck, since you apparently spied on me you'd know all about me living in Tolkeen, those mages developed spells in a couple of decades that outdo what people in the Palladium world were able to do in thousands of years. Heck, in defeating the Coalition they used spells beyond even the power of the spells of Legend created by guys like Thoth".

Bellephoebe (from Dweamor) doesn't believe in gods as gods. She's also lying about where she's from and about Tolkeen having won the war (they didn't) she's wondering what Fakir's reaction to that is going to be since it's disinformation. That said the point is true some of the defensive spells used in that battle go well beyond what "Barrier Of Thoth" (supposedly the penultimate defensive spell) is capable of... shielding an entire city state and causing it to regenerate for example. Of course while she's interested in tinkering with the spell she isn't actually that confident of being able to easily re-engineer it.

[kurff]

One of the nuns falls in next to Telsa, exchanging glances with the bunny girl he has been training with. So far the training is slow going. The belt shield is awesome at protection, but using a weapon with it on is quite a challenge. "I can help to teach you how to use that shield and your knives at the same time," says the nun. "The bunny girls all know how, but they aren't great at explaining things."

"Feel free to help." he looked at the Nun, "Do you have a preferred term I use to call you or just by name?" he asked considering this new instructor. Telsa had to admit the Bunny girl did have need a bit of coaxing to be kept on topic at times.

"I could take a few courses in knife fighting are in order as well. But that would take time most people don't have." Truth was he didn't get a chance to speak to the Nun's. and he was curious what sort of methods they had. best to start diplomatically.

[albatross]

"Tolkien eh? I thought.... Never mind. Did you know that on Torchwood's Earth, Tolkien was a famous historian? In several of his histories, there are tales of hidden cities: Gondolin, Lorien... some of the hidden cities were revealed by betrayal, but others, in the fullness of time revealed themselves in order to accomplish something important." Fakir trails off.

He looks away, considering for a moment Bellephoebe's ideas regarding the True Gate. His employer for more than a century is on the other side of the gate, and the expression that crosses his face hints at the grief of a long friendship ending. He forces himself to clear his throat and says, "A worthy choice, but do you know all her spells? Tears of the Sequoia, Harp's Spell, and my personal favorite: Quick." Bellephoebe can tell he is trying to joke with the last one, but he can't crack a smile - the pain of losing a friend still too close to the surface. These are after all, her spells.

"The True Gate is very dangerous. I want Mikalah to come back, but I must warn you: she only used that spell on nasty beings that she never wanted to see again. Mikalah believes that crossing the Gate alone is impossible. She theorized that is caused a parallel universe that could never form a bridge to the original universe. I will teach you how to Summon the True Gate if you promise me you will treat the spell cautiously - wary in any trials - and that you will not use it on minor foes." He shudders briefly. "It is a fate too cruel for some. Do you promise?" He regards her intently, his emotions back under control.

[albatross]

The nun says to Tesla, "You may call me Sister or Caterina. I trained under Canoness Jennifer. The knife is the chosen weapon of our order and we can train you well. The march to the palace is only three days, but who knows how long we will be there. Better to begin training now and run out of time, than to be delayed later and realize the training could have been completed."

The nun looks at the ground as she walks, picking her way carefully but for the occasional glance around or to Tesla. "What name or manner of address suits you best sir? Are you a knight?"

[kurff]

"I'm more of a craftsmens, an inventor by trade. And just call me Telsa. After a few hundred years a name is most direct. Titles are often given and not always earned so I tend to judge people by there nature, not accolades." he looked about not quite sure what Caterina was looking for.

"You looking for something specific, Caterina?" he asked keeping eyes and ears peeled. He came to a side thought how the the word peeled applied but recalled a Tori Amos song that he heard Byron play once.

[shiivster]

Aki trails along in the rear of the whole mass of moving bodies. she listens to the various comments the birds and 2 companion animals speak to her. she grins at some, and her eyes sweep the vast grassy area wondering just how far it does go.

*she has nothing to offer to the various peoples that walk and talk. she watches the sky watching her friends, and wonders if any of the natural creatures might seek her out. her clever eyes will keep track of any 'animal' sign she sees. hoping maybe to see the grazers that eat grass. this much grassy area must be a wonder to behold.

[thorley]

OOC-> whoops I mistyped when I said Mikalah's spells since I meant Fakir's spells but was thinking about Mikalah, but it works, and Bellephoebe is a bit scatter brained at times.

"I'm always extremely careful, and know all kinds of horrible and dangerous spells. I can twist souls, open plenty of gates to places both unpleasant and benign, summon and command demons, raise the dead, create and command both undead and golems, and all manner of other things. Needless to say I don't go throwing that power around without reason and I simply won't do a lot of things I possess the abillity to do, hence why I was so concerned about the earlier usage of blood magic. To be brutally honest I'm mostly interested in this gate invocation to review with my other knowlege in the attempt to rescue Mikalah because I figure someone has to. The odds of me ever using that spell to attack someone are minimal, the fact that it doesn't seem very practical among them. I could probably come up with several differant ways to achieve a similar effect given time. When I entered the battle where Mikalah used the spell I was kind of unprepared and working from scavenged battery to scavenged battery and with what I had on hand in my pouches.

As far as the rest of the spells you mention I might know them under a differant name".

She also says

"In the dimension I hail from Tolkien was a language professor and fantasy author, prolific enough where some of his writings actually survived the war. If any of those cities from his writings actually existed in the past they were probably destroyed during the cataclysm that wrecked the rest of the planet before my parents arrived in that world, or I was born".

OOC2: Depending on their level and how Belle's knowlege comes from the Lords of Magic and she gets a blanket "knows all spells of X level" and her family's palladium fantasy origins it's a GM call as to whether she knows those other spells, or if they are that rare to be beyond any of those sources. If not, she'd probably want to learn them (being a scholor), if so she'll just tell Fakir that. It was already determined she did not know that gate spell and it wasn't recorded in Dweamor when I asked before. The Lords Of Magic are not omniscient in a true sense and were asleep for a long time, so it's not unreasonable for there to be gaps in their knowlege and what they would be able to teach Magus psychically as a result. But at the same time they ARE the Lords Of Magic, and by their nature there shouldn't be that many things that fall into that catagory. Of course they could also keep things to themselves.

[albatross]

Aki spots huge grasshoppers, small butterflies, she can see the trails and signs of small rodents but they have all fled the pounding of marching feet.

Small gliding lizards launch themselves from taller grasses to catch the butterflies.

[albatross]

Sister Caterina blinks and says, "Ah, nothing Tesla, let's start your training." A bunny girl near Tesla snickers, but stops when the nun glares at her. Perhaps the nun was trying to appraise him silently and is embarassed to be caught.

"A straight thrust is always deflected, in or out. A knife thrust, a bullet, a rail gun round will all go wild. The shield is a globe of layers. Each layers helps in the deflection independently. It takes years to predict the ricochet. Have you not wondered why only some of the bunny girls use shields and only some of the time. Their protection is matchless, but it takes a long time to master and makes many weapons useless or challenging."

"Knives are one of the best weapons to use within or against a shield. The better your arm can manipulate a weapon, the better it will work. Projectiles will be clumsy and random. A long pike would be difficult, indeed any single weapon requiring two hands would be very difficult to use. Remember this in combat. Engage projectiles and massive ungainly weapons with confidence. They will be deflected. Watch out for knives and short swords, they are a threat if used properly."

The nun pulls a wooden knife from her robe, it is straight dagger style, similiar to Tesla's own knives. She extends the knive in a slow motion, twisting it and moving her wrist at the end. "Use arcs to get in close, slow to start, speeding up as you get closer to the center of the shield and flick the blade at the end to cut not stab your target."

She steps close to Tesla. "Turn on you shield and give me your hand."

[albatross]

Fakir nods, apparently satisfied. "Quick, Harp's Spell, and Tears of the Sequioa are spells native to Mikalah's home world. They are unknown on all the versions of Earth except by me and my loyal assistants. Quick and Harp's Spell have equivilants I think. Quick increases the intoxicating effect of alcohol. Victims often drink until they pass out. Harp's Spell makes the hearers fall asleep, but it requires a harp."

"Tears of the Sequioa is unique. Using some ingredients a giant sequioa tree or trees can be grown overnight." He shrugs, "The Gate is of course the most intriguing spell I learned from her."

[kurff]

"So think more like surgeon or like doctor in a fight using a knife." turning on the shield he did as instructed, "This force field is a series layered smaller fields then. How long before they restore if damaged? and if one goes down do they all go down?" he asked wanting to be sure.

He noticed the giggle and glare and didn't verbally make note. This Nun was an experienced warrior and he knew it would not be wise get on her bad side. She did seem reasonable and fairly intelligent though.

[albatross]

Sister Caterina cocks her head to the side in thought, "The field's layers don't break exactly, they are a kinetic field with an effect that might be thought of similiar to a magnetic field. The greater the force impacting the shield, the greater the deflection. A rail gun round would deflect near a right angle, a bullet perhaps half that, while an arrow would glance off. A strike from a power armor's fist bounces back the way it came. The more force exerted, the greater the repelling force, like two magnets with the same poles pushed together. A gentle slice collects only gentle deflection." She glances at Tesla. "Shall we try?"

She takes his hand and guides him through the strike she just demonstrated.