Somewhere...
You make your way down the stairs. It's one of those things that go down until they reach a wall, split in half and then continue down in the opposite direction. You go down the left side until you reach the ground floor.
The room you're in is a large hall, connecting the stairs with the main entrance with a red carpet with candles on tall metal bases burning on either side of it. The entrance is blocked from opening by a large wooden board, like an oversized door bolt. Through the windows, you are once again reminded that the outside is unnaturally dark. You can see the street outside through the little light that escapes through the window but there's little else, not street lamps, not light escaping from windows, not even stars.
There's another door on your left that leads to a communal dining room and smaller doors all around. One is on the stairs and seems to lead further down.
It took one look at the candles for Napoleon to wonder whether he could've been sent back in time. After all, it lacked any of the newfangled modern technology he expected. In fact, the old guard he just slipped pass was carrying a lamp, not a flashlight that he was preparing for.
"Where am I? This place is strange and I can't even see what's outside through that darkness," he muttered to himself. "Even if the night sky is overcast, there will still be moonlight drifting through the clouds. However, I can't see anything."
Looking at the large board blocking the door, Napoleon wondered if he could move it out of the way so that he could open the door and take a better look outside. However, he hoped that the blocked door wasn't trying to keep something from coming in.
Attempt to open the main door and take a look, hopefully not regretting doing so.
You lift the wooden board with some difficulty and open the door with a loud creak that echoes in the darkness beyond. You stare, making sure not to cross the threshold. You can see the stairs leading up to the entrance, the cobblestone street beyond it and... that's it, that's about as far as the light goes. You can also see reflections of the light coming out of the door as well as the light coming from some of the upper floor of the building you're in. The reflections are probably due to some windows about 20 metres away, from what you can tell.
As your eyes adjust to the low light you start to make out details of things closer to you, like the wilted remains of shrubs on some large plant pots and the indistinct shape of distant buildings. You could go out there and explore if you wanted to, though you probably wouldn't be able to make it very far without a light source.
Somewhere else...
You wake up.
It takes a moment for the blurriness to clear from your eyes. You try to wipe them but you can't move your arms, they're tied behind your back. You hear the chink of metal against metal as the handcuffs impact the metal chair. There's no other sound beyond the whirring of some ventilator, the buzzing of a fluorescent lamp, your breathing and your heartbeat.
You blink and shake your head a bit until you can see better. You're inside a brightly lit interrogation room, complete with a one way mirror. There's an empty metal table screwed to the floor in front of you.
Your handcufs are not tied to the chair, nor are your legs restrained in any way. You could try to get up and walk if you wanted to, though you wouldn't be in the best of states. Your head hurts and you feel a bit dizzy,
Ugh..what's going on? Where am I? Have I been captured?
Without getting up, examine this room more closely. Check if there's an exit in this room. If I see an exit, then attempt to get up and leave after my dizziness clears up.
You raise your head and look around without getting up. Your little investigation doesn't reveal much more than a camera with a blinking blue light screwed on the wall opposite to you, close to the ceiling. There's also some sort of intercom next to the mirror. You can also see the glimpse of a door behind you. That looks like an exit.
You're feeling better now, so you try to get up. But the moment you get up, you feel dizzy and weak again. You try to steady yourself but you accidentally manage to kick the chair away. You are forced to slump against the cold metal table to stop your fall, impacting it with a rather loud *bong*, accompanied by the *clang* of the falling chair. A few seconds of breathing later you feel the sense of dizziness fading away once more. They must have given you something to render you more manageable... whoever
they are.
You push yourself off the table once more, being extra careful not to fall backwards. It wouldn't do to trip on the chair and break your neck after surviving for so long. You feel better now so you manage to walk around the fallen chair and up to the door. It looks quite simple, a normal wooden thing (or maybe plastic, you can't tell for sure) with a metal door handle. There's a black keypad with a small cyan light on it, some sort of lock probably. You test the door by pressing down the handle with your elbow and sure enough it's locked. It looks like it's made to open inwardly, a bit of a peculiar design choice for the door of an interrogation room.
This interrogation room overall feels like there's something wrong with it. Maybe it's just all the small details that seem off that are unnerving you, maybe it's the drugs that are making you paranoid or maybe it's something else, something deep in your gut telling you this is bad, this is dangerous, that you should get out now.
Some time ago, in a universe some distance away
Tess, after a few moments of absolute silence, slowly nods. As he approaches, she squeezes her eyes shut and shudders in fear.
He approaches you and extends his arm, lightly touching the side of your head. You tremble but fight the urge to pull away.
"Ssshhh. It's going to be okay." he says with a comforting voice.
His presence in you feels... It's hard to describe. Someone wishing to be lyrical might say 'like walking out on a cold sunny day'. It's got a pleasant warmth but also something uncomfortable, as if someone is investigating if you stole the last cookie so he can scold you for it. A few seconds later, he removes his hand and the feeling fades.
"I do not see anything wrong. However, you must understand that I have no choice. I can make sure your stay here is as pleasent as I can make it, but the rules are clear: only the gods and their servants may cross the barriers between worlds. I have to take you and the others back where you came from."
Deserted Haystack, over the hull of the Maximus
The Phoenix destroys another torpedo coming its way and then approaches the Maximus as close as it can. You can see its blurry dark shape below you as you speed to your destination.
: Approaching drop point. Get ready... :The ramp of the passenger section opens up, letting the liquid surround you.
: Dropping... now! :One by one, the seats are launched out of the passenger area and towards the hull of the Maximus. As that is occurring, the Phoenix suddenly dives down and spins around before coming up, aiming to intercept a newly fired torpedo. It fires its energy beams and then tries to put itself between the recently ejected and the ensuing explosion.
Aboard the Phoenix
"Got it. Let me out here then; we'll try to be careful."
Also vote for dropoff near turret.
Cover the approach via summoning and launching a couple decoys perpendicularly away from the ship; small objects that radiate on a number of frequencies, even sound and vibration in case this thing uses actual sonar.
"Good luck!"[Luck: 4]
You are ejected too quickly for you to see, but your special senses allow you to perceive the floor opening up beneath your seat and then closing behind you just as another door opens beneath you, the small compartment ensuring no liquid reaches the cockpit. Even before you are ejected, you begin summoning your distractions. It goes well, at first. But then you suddenly feel like every piece of equipment you're materializing out of thin air is being pulled straight out of your skull. You can faintly hear your Interface beeping somewhere behind all this pain. You don't have the willpower or endurance necessary to withstand the pain, so you are forced to stop. You don't know if it's the acceleration seat, this liquid, the laws of this pocket universe or something else, but something clearly doesn't like you using your summoning abilities.
Your can feel your acceleration seat straining against the flow of the liquid around it. Its design does allow you greater freedom of movement than the ones on the passenger compartment, but that also means it has more places where the flow can find purchase. You feel some of the mechanical arms embracing you are unable to resist and are torn open, messing up its aerodynamics. Still, it doesn't get too bad in the few seconds it takes to reach the hull of the Maximus. You can feel it screeching and rumbling as its base is dragged against the hull before locking itself in place. The mechanical arms open, tearing away the protective gel surrounding you, allowing you to feel the pressure and flow of the liquid on your body. It feels kinda like a strong wind now that you are still. You activate your boots and attach them to the hull before leaving the acceleration seat, a bit disoriented but otherwise OK.
You can see the helmet lamps of others lighting up around you... and then something slams against the hull and bounces off of it, sending debris flying everywhere, debris that are quickly carried away by the flow of the liquid. ((Read entire turn for details of who's around you.))
Kosak Durar:
"Drop me at this "turret". It's good as destroyed!"
((The way you have turret in quotations, I can't help but imagine Kosak speaking
like this.))
[Luck: 5]
You are ejected out of the passenger compartment on your acceleration seat. There is a bit of a jolt as it makes contact with the liquid, but the acceleration seat quickly adjusts its trajectory. It brings you down fast, decelerating in the last few seconds and smoothly making contact with the hull of the Maximus. The mechanical arms holding you in place open up, allowing you to move freely. You activate your boots, attach them to the hull and step on it. The flow of liquid against your body offers some resistance, like being pushed by a strong wind. The liquid itself also offers some resistance due to its viscosity, meaning you have to expend more effort to move around (not that it's a problem with your strength).
There. That was easy. You don't get what all the big fuss was about.
You can see the helmet lamps of others lighting up around you... and then something slams against the hull and bounces off of it, sending debris flying everywhere, debris that are quickly carried away by the flow of the liquid. ((Read entire turn for details of who's around you.))
Space-mission, Tess:
Tess sits in her seat, paddling her feet, still enamored by the mysteries of this craft. She seems to be treating it like a ride.
[Luck: 5]
You are ejected a few moments after Kosak. You come down fairly smoothly, the protective cocoon of the acceleration seat shielding you from the shockwave of the explosion. Your seat makes contact with the hull and releases you on it, where your boots keep you glued in place. Walking around is a challenge though, you have to angle yourself so that the flow of liquid pushes you down and so that you're not in danger of being pulled away from the hull every time you lift your foot. It's clear that a mistake could send you off into the unknown depths of this liquid.
You can see the helmet lamps of others lighting up around you... and then something slams against the hull and bounces off of it, sending debris flying everywhere, debris that are quickly carried away by the flow of the liquid. ((Read entire turn for details of who's around you.))
Brian Hoss, The Phoenix/Space/The Maximus's hull
Bring my eyes to myself, and wait until I land to activate my Mag-boots.
[Luck: 2]
A few seconds after you are ejected, you feel something stabbing you on the top-left part of your chest. Your eyes allow you to catch a glimpse of the superheated piece of metal as it flies out of the hull of the Phoenix, through the protective gel surrounding you and into your body. You can see the acceleration seat as it spins around, barely managing to regain control and correct its orientation before touching down.
You are stuck in the chair, the piece of metal sticking through your torso making it impossible to move. It has also impaled one of the mechanical arms holding you in place, probably messing up some sort of internal system in the process, as it doesn't attempt to open like the rest. You guess that's fortunate, as if it had attempted to do so it would had probably caused much more damage. Right now it hasn't hit anything vital and the superheated piece of metal has stopped most of the bleeding. Still, your suit is pierced and while its skintight design means you're not losing oxygen, it's still a bad thing. You can feel the ice cold liquid pushing against your skin and you can see your blood drifting away, disappearing in the flow of the murky liquid.
You can see the helmet lamps of others lighting up around you... and then something slams against the hull and bounces off of it, sending debris flying everywhere, debris that are quickly carried away by the flow of the liquid. ((Read entire turn for details of who's around you.))
WMD, The Pheonix
"Ah might be able to help destroy the turr't, but that depends. Hey Icarus, does mah suit change with me? Or am Ah gonna be exposed to this space fluid shit? Also, you want some whiskey? Anybody else want some whiskey? Ain't no quality 'shine, but Ah reckon it'll give a kick."
If my hands are free before we drop, take a swig of that fine whiskey, and share some with any who want it. Otherwise, stay in my seat during the process until my mag boots are secure on the hull.
[Luck: 1]
Your acceleration seat is ejected while the Phoenix is maneuvering, causing it to also spin around. You can feel the seat firing its thrusters, trying to stop you from spinning and slow you down, but it was clearly not designed to operate underwater. It's not able to regain its balance quickly enough, the turbulent waters confusing its guidance system. You impact the hull sideways, still spinning. The acceleration seat protects you from the impact but it is broken in the process, pieces of protective gel and mechanical arms flying everywhere. It continues trying to get you to land and for a moment it seems like it's working. But the next the spin causes you to get flung out of the chair and towards the hull of the Maximus. You impact the hull with your back, getting the wind knocked out of you. Your Interface is beeping in alarm. You spin through the turbulent liquid dazed and in pain, unable to tell which way is which. You once again slam into something solid, filling your perception with even more pain, though this time the flow keeps you attached to the surface long enough for your boots to become attached to it.
With the light coming out of your visor, you can tell that you're on some sort of fin-like thing coming out of hull. But the light is not enough to illuminate any further. You can't see anyone nor can you hear them on the radio. There's only the constant beeping of your Interface, insistently trying to tell you what you already know: there's something wrong.
You're disoriented, in pain, cut off from everyone else and you're pretty sure you've broken something. [sarcasm]Overall this is turning out great.[/sarcasm] The only bright side is that you're not dead yet.
((You can't reach the others via radio but you might be able to relay a message to them through the Phoenix if it flies near you again.))
((Fug, got distracted))
<Svajoklis, The Phoenix>
"This liquid we're in unnerves me. I'd rather we keep the thing giving us an option of having some walls between us and it. Eject me near the turret."
Prepare for Ejection
[Luck: 3]
It might be the most frustrating or maybe the most dread-inducing thing to be able to see danger coming and being powerless to stop it. With your enhanced perception, you can see the pieces of superheated shrapnel approaching your seat as it spins through the liquid. Most of them are too slow to cause any real harm, merely glancing off the seat or the protective gel. But one of them goes through the back of the seat and gets embedded in it, the tip emerging through the other side and tearing some of the protective gel away, missing your neck by inches. At least the Phoenix's hull and this liquid slowed them down a bit, if it had been going faster it could had torn your head off.
That's little consolation when you're still trapped in this chair. It looks like the piece of shrapnel must have hit something important, because the seat has stopped firing its thrusters and is instead drifting aimlessly, getting carried away by the flow of the liquid and bleeding black and white fluids. The light coming from your visor doesn't let you see much more beyond your seat, but your abilities allow you to retain your sense of direction, letting you know where you're facing and just how far you're getting carried away.
You could ask for help through the radio and hope someone can come free you. Or you could try to tear away the gel and jump or swim towards the hull. Even if you can't free yourself completely, you might be able to free one of your hands enough to reach the storage space holding your shotgun. With this liquid surrounding you, it won't be able to shoot very far, but it will be able to shoot something close no problem, like one of those mechanical arms keeping you trapped.
Walking Tank, The Phoenix
Turret dropoff ho! Saevus is gonna be on guard duty. Position myself in front, summon a tower shield enchanted for durability and high defense and be ready to repulse things.
[Luck: 5]
The entire cargo compartment detaches, launching itself towards the Maximus. You and the Pulse Reactor Seed safely make your way to the surface. You disembark, leaving the Seed inside; you're pretty sure you can come back for it later. You start walking toward your target and summon your shield, your steps slightly slower than usual due to the resistance offered by the flow of the liquid and the liquid's viscosity.
There's something... unsteady about this place. You can see the edges of your protective forcefield light up with tiny bright spots, you can see the edges of your tower shield flickering, you can feel how the flow of magic here is... somehow off. Muffled, just like the sounds traveling through this liquid. Even the magical light you're emitting seems agitated as it travels up and down your runes, reminding you of a caged animal pacing anxiously.
You can see the helmet lamps of others lighting up around you... and then something slams against the hull and bounces off of it, sending debris flying everywhere, debris that are quickly carried away by the flow of the liquid. ((Read entire turn for details of who's around you.))
EveryoneThe Phoenix's evasive maneuver took about a second. Overall, the drop didn't take more than a few seconds. During that time Icarus kept transmitting.
: Damage sustained. Operational capacity is at 70% and holding. Switching to battloid mode. I'll try to-- *static* :The glowing golden blur that was the Phoenix disappears into the murky liquid, its signal fading soon after. A few seconds later you see the faint orange light and hear the muffled boom of an explosion.
((Oh dear. Well, at least it's not as bad as an ER hot drop. Where's a medic when you need one...))
Campaign, the temple of Chizra
Campaign, Ike!
"Wow."
Boot the arrested guy into Griman with my heavily armored foot to create a vaguely subdued idiot pile/set up for a Nikolai Red Bull Death Bomb.
Welcome to the party, pal!
Shake red bull vigorously. Aim at the idiots. Tsar and pull tab. High pressure redbull cannon.
((Yeah, more or less. Let's see if we'll have any explosion-propelled troopers coming your way.
Have you played the 1.7 update?))
((As usual, I fail to be timely.))
Zechariah looked around him, and kept his defensive posture. The accusations were flying between Griman and the Headwater. He felt that neither of them would be all too happy with a nice little talk over tea at the moment. He needed to act before any of the parties involved in this made a move. He felt a tinge of hesitation at having to harness the shadows once again. This feeling quickly dissipated, though, as his thoughts turned into actions.
Channel the shadows to prevent Griman, the Headwater, and Griman's henchman from acting.
If I am successful in restraining them, say the following:
"Enough! You won't spill blood in this temple. Ike, Nikolai, help me restrain them." To the rest of the crowd, Zechariah commands, "Stay back and don't make any sudden movements. We don't need to fight."
If I am not successful, or another situation comes up, then continue trying to restrain the three targets while keeping distance from anyone else except for Ike and Nikolai.
Headwater RFLX -> 5+1+2+1 -> 9
Assistant RFLX->5+2 -> 7
Griman RFLX->6+1+1-2 -> 6
Ike RFLX->2+1+3 prepared -> 6
NAV RFLX->4+1 prepared -> 5
DAF RFLX->1+1 prepared -> 2
Headwater PWR -> 3+2+2+2(-1 hard)(-1 conditional on overshoot) -> 7
Headwater DEX -> 6+1+2 -> 9
Griman RFLX -> 5+1(-2 AOE overshoot main target) -> 4 vs 9
Assistant RFLX -> 6-2(-2 AOE overshoot main target) -> 2 vs 9
Ike RFLX -> 1+3 -> 4 vs 9
NAV RFLX -> 1 vs 9
Crowd RFLX -> 3+1 -> 4 vs 9
Griman END -> 4+2-1 -> 5 vs 7
Griman END -> 3
body part -> top left torso
Assistant END -> 5-1-1 -> 3 vs 7
body part -> head right top
Ike END -> 4+2+1 * 2 -> 14 vs 7
NAV END -> 4+1-1 * 1.25 -> 5 vs 7
Nav END -> 6
body part -> bottom leg right
Crowd END -> 5 -> 5 vs 7
body part -> various
assistant -> DEAD
Griman STR -> 6-1
Ike STR -> 4+1
NAV PWR -> 3+1+1+1 -> 6
NAV STR (needs to open the inefficient can) -> 4+1 -> 5
NAV DEX -> 6+1+1 -> 8
Griman RFLX -> 4+1(-1 grapple)(-1 pain)(-1 AOE) -> 2 vs 8
Ike RFLX -> 3+3(-1 grapple)(-1 AOE) -> 4 vs 8
Crowd RFLX -> 6
Griman END -> 1+2-1 -> 2 vs 6
body part -> back torso left bottom
Ike END -> 5+2+1*1.5 -> 12 vs 6
Crowd END -> 6 vs 6
NAV STR (resist equal and opposite reaction) -> 5+1
Ike STR -> 5+1
The headwater surprises everyone with the speed and ferocity of his attack, showing no restraint in using lethal force. With a mere flick of his hand, the pool in the centre of the room explodes like a grenade went off. Parts of the flying blobs of water solidify mid-air, turning into ice spikes moving at high speed. One of them stabs Griman in chest, another goes right between the assistant's eyes and explodes through the other side in a burst of brains and broken bones, several glance off Ike's armour, one goes through Nikolai's leg and several hit various body parts of the surrounding crowd.
Clearly in pain but not yet down for the fight, Griman immediately tries to retaliate, but Ike moves to intercept him. He sees Ike coming his way and tries to cast a spell, but isn't quick enough, so he just tries to grab you instead. Neither Ike nor Griman manage to gain an advantage in the couple of seconds it takes for this to happen, both being tied up in their struggle. The next moment Griman is yanked out of Ike's grip and launched into the air by a jet of liquid, bounces around like a ragdoll and smashes into the wall of the pool, his bones audibly breaking. Luckily the crowd had made a hole, so nobody got slammed by the body/projectile.
From where he's lying on the floor, Nikolai untsars his can and smugly blows at its open top as if it's a smoking gun.
"Yeah, that gave him wings allright. Any of you want some more of my liquid magic?"The crowd looks shocked and scared (and in pain in case of the injured ones). None of them looks like they're going to intervene after this display. The room is quiet, save for the moans of pain of the injured, though you can hear a commotion further outside.
<Boy, I sure am glad I got this armour.> Ike sends as he gets off the floor from where Nikolai's hydro cannon threw him, a bit wet and sticky but otherwise unharmed.
<How did you knew I could take it?><Uuhh... I'm in too much pain to answer this question right now.>
Campaign, outside the outer walls of Chizra
"Ah c'mon bucko chum pal boyo, you know that planning too much just means that it's not gonna be followed. We can bluff or whatever when we get in there, it'll be fine."
Alert: Alan's attention span wandering. Bored summoning probability increasing.
((Well, my plan was to have you explain how you would tackle each situation with me always giving a description with the results of something like a 5 to show the best possible case. Then I would actually execute the plan in one turn once the situation in the temple was resolved and see how horribly you succeeded/failed. That way I could avoid paradoxes while still having you do things and I could simply fast forward to a point where you could sync up with the guys in the temple. But if you wanna go ahead and cause paradoxes, I'm fine with that, I'll just use my divine powers of retcon magic.))
Okay, it's nighttime. You go and create your distraction and it's... quite successful. Pretty much what I described last time. Then you go through the wall and... you shoot your ladder straight through the wall with a loud crash. You guess that works. Now comes crossing the fields to the temple. What do you do? Go there? Do some sort of distraction?
Campaign, somewhere in the parched plains east of Chizra
I suspect my next action will be determined by how Theri's attempt at magic goes.
((And now I am laet because busy busy x_X Also sorry to NAV of whom I promised a PM! Will do it this weekend.
Also Lenglon, I lack words to tell you how c: I am in seeing how much you've been doing these past years we've been buds :3 So there's the 
for you, because you are ossum \o/
Especially the kindhearted RPing you did with me 
that was really touching.))
Now, let's see if you get some sort of bonus or penalty for this roll. What is your character doing and thinking as she attempts to heal that man? Is she praying to a god like a Cleric? Is she thinking about her training and what she would do? Is she thinking about how Irine uses magic? Is she thinking about someone who could use healing magic?
Doubt was at the forefront of Theri's mind. It was a volatile mixture of many feelings and thoughts as she kneeled in front of the man, with everything in detail and her head downcast. She quickly remembered River bringing her into 'this world', right out of her 'own'. The doubts lingered as she was used to what she was used to; she really wanted to help these people. She remembered how 'unfair' it felt to hear of this war in the East...or West--she didn't recall where insomuch as to how unfair it was to fight against magic she didn't understand but felt. There were good examples of parity, like Irine and River, but there was also so much she didn't understand throughout that she wanted to understand, to better apply how these things worked out better.
She had no literal God, as she was more of an animism themed believer; the lands and living creatures all had life in them, and this was at the forefront of their ability to connect with each other, even without communication or language, but that they could be sensed. She knew a person's anatomy, having studied part and parcel in her time alone, but did not know how bad this would be if she made a mistake. While she did not want to kill the man, this idea was never present as she knew she was trying her best.
In all truth, she did not know where to start other than really, really wanting to help the people out as they...struggled to live. She knew the feeling of being powerless to help others, from the most recent time at the Cathedral where she couldn't face some kind of shadowmonsterbeast, to back before she was revived, and had to face many strange beasties alongside Ike and the others...and failed because her physical strength wasn't enough. She had fanciful ideas of pressing one's hands on a person's body or over it and believing, but that was all depiction and less...application.
She felt tears fall as she looked at where his heart was; he was still alive, and soon enough...he would be gone. He could not see her, but she was crying at the devastation some strange magic birdflock had done.
In the least, she was glad to be facing away from Irine, San, and the others. She trembled as she sobbed, bracing herself with a hand on the ground right next to the man's head. A few minutes had passed since she was in the same spot. Her mind and feelings were freely open to Irine, and she knew it...but she wished the man knew that there were others around him, even if he could not respond.
Err, Interpretation action response!
You look at the man, your mind a storm of thoughts and memories. You put your hand over his recently bandaged wound and try to do... something. Anything that could help. But you're not really sure what you're supposed to do. You know you want this to happen, you focus your mind on it, but nothing is happening. You don't know how to actually
do what you want. You can't help but keep thinking about this poor man, about all the people here, about how much you want to help. You lose yourself to these thoughts and emotions, the sadness over the pain of others and the selfless desire to help them.
And then you feel something. Or maybe feel it is the wrong word. Remember it, understand it, perhaps those area more accurate. For a moment you realize how you can do something that felt impossible, like moving a muscle you never had, like... Maybe the best analogy would be if somehow, by putting your mind in the right state you could control every muscle of your heart, overriding its unconscious movement. But the control is tenuous, slipping, always slipping like the memory of a dream, requiring constant focus and yet also relaxation, not too much focus on the details.
But the simplest way to describe it would be this: you do it, you use magic, its energy directed out of you and towards the man, appearing like white light flowing from your hands. This fills you with excitement for the brief amount of time it lasts. But the effects... the wound looks slightly improved, but you don't see any significant change. Well, it's... it's ok, right? I mean it was your first time using magic, it was probably a bit too much to expect you to be able to use it perfectly. You have no experience and no training for this sort of thing. You made some progress and that's a success. Now you should be able to use magic more easily and overtime you could get better. ... Yet it's hard to feel that way, to stay positive, when you see your effort just wasn't good enough to help save this man.
Your thoughts are interrupted by River brushing up against your side and licking your hand. He looks into your teary eyes with his.
<See.> he says.
He shows you the memory of your use of magic as he saw it. It's hard to make out the details, the image seems somewhat muted, but you can make out the important parts. You can see how you appear in his vision, a being of beautiful bright light. You can see how imperceptible threads in the air around you suddenly condense as you cast your spell, becoming tiny streams of energy flowing through you, the man and the air between you, strengthening his being where it is weakest. Through River's sight, it appears as a weak spray of luminous needles, both beautiful and somehow terrifying in its brightness. But it looks like there is something missing, something preventing you from maintaining it, the weak streams flowing into your surroundings and dissolving into the Earth and Air.
<See.> he repeats.
Now he shows you the same from closer. It's fuzzy, you can barely make out the details, but you get the general idea. He shows you how your Light fights the Darkness that has taken hold over the man's wound like a disease. The Darkness is reaching for his soul, but your Light uproots it, it helps the man's soul fight it for the little time it stays on. You can also see it strengthening the other energies in his body but not significantly. Generally it looks like it's too spread out, too unfocused to really do much. Hmm... Maybe that's the problem? Your magic was certainly weak but it was also unfocused, spread out over a general desire to help. You're not sure what you could do to gain more power and make it last longer but maybe if you somehow focused what little power you have better then it would be more effective.
<Do.>The vision ends and you are back where you were, with River standing by your side and looking at you. The vision he has shown you has helped you understand more about how this ability works. Even if it's not that much information, it's still a lot more than what you knew before. Now that you know what you have to do, now that you know what to expect, now that you have this new understanding, you feel confident trying this again. You focus on your knowledge of anatomy and the image River gave you to concentrate your abilities, while at the same time maintaining the desire to help this man and make him better. Once you're confident that you won't lose your focus, you try to remember and reach into that part of you that allows you to direct magical energies and release them so that they can fulfill your intent. This time the effect is a bit easier to maintain and thus it lasts a bit longer. Yet the effects are also more pronounced. You can see the damaged and diseased flesh around the wound being healed, part of the skin merging with the bandage. Well, it's not exactly what you wanted, but you think it's good enough to keep him from dying. Hopefully this will-
You suddenly feel dizzy and have to steady yourself with one hand on the ground to keep yourself from falling. This took more out of you than you expected it to. You assume this is a temporary weakness. Maybe if you rested a bit, you could continue. You and Irine's Sword could probably keep healing those people until they got better... assuming nothing goes wrong. Magic has been good to you thus far, but maybe overusing it isn't the best idea. On the other hand, it could be the only way to ensure these people are safe...
((I rolled for the action a second time after River-advice, since I figured that's probably what you would do. Hope that's OK.))
OOCWelcome to the party, pal!
Shake red bull vigorously. Aim at the idiots. Tsar and pull tab. High pressure redbull cannon.
((I can't help but picture Nik putting it on his shoulder bazooka-style as he does this))
I like this mental image.
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1145162 times)