Avi works on refining her resolution and discretion for magical targeting.
You think you might be able to focus on and affect such a small scale, but it would take a lot of concentration: so many small things to manage in your mind at once. You'd probably need someone covering you and some way of drowning out distractions. Though you're not sure that was the issue with the nanite infection, as given what you know now they may have confused your targeting by affecting your mind and body.
"Maybe the being held up or captured thing happens Because of the lack of droneswarm. Hmm?"
Koi will be scanning for notable material deposits/interesting signals.
The synthetic tank creature shows some promise. While mostly organic materials (albeit superbly engineered ones), the large weapon on its underside contains a good deal of both rare metals and exotic materials.
With the nanites apparently rendered inactive, you believe this would be a good time to acquire a sample. However, all signs of them disappear as a nauseating wave of spatial disturbances flashes through the area. From what little data you can gather, you'd guess that these things must be horribly over-engineered: evidently they possessed some kind of space warping effect, and when rendered inactive, it fell apart and totally dissolved them. Espada agrees that building such things seems like overkill, but nevertheless seems intrigued by a group that can apparently apply such tech at the nanoscale.
The two of you don't detect any comm signals at the moment, though being surrounded by dense rocks probably doesn't help. Though it does seem unlikely that anyone has a platform in orbit, or at least not a platform that communicates with EM signals. The residue in the air suggests the presence of all sorts of weapons, from low-end ballistics to high-end DEWs. Along this line of thought, Espada suggests inviting Titus into your sensory network: his armor at the very least seems to have plenty of combat-specced sensory capability. Plus, a third input point would enable triangulation.
The distant objective continues to CHOOOOOM at irregular intervals. Continued analysis still reveals no information encoded in the noise.
No makes essences... and teaches any other mage who wants to learn how to do so. Normally, it takes longer to learn, but surely, experienced mages might learn faster, right? Also, he takes a look at the now healed hand. Surely it couldn't have been that easy.
Avi may watch what No does.
You make a nice pile of essences for yourself. The air of the war zone meshes well with your affinity, and the strife-filled eddies where it meets Resalth's fiery aura are particularly ripe. After he and Avi finish their meditative pursuits, they come over to take you up on your offer of a lesson.
Avi seems to have trouble grasping the technique, which perplexes you due to the ease with which you can gather them here. However, she is a beginner. The magic she knows has a very unusual methodology compared to yours, and she has an odd block. It seems that while she has some intuitive ability to magically redirect and transform mundane forces, such as kinetic energy, she can't quite figure out how to tap into magical forces directly. Due to these difficulties, you suspect she has an aid of some kind that helps her to channel power.
Resalth, on the other hand, seems to grasp the theory rather well, but can't quite find a practical use for it yet. Aside from his natural affinity for fire, his magecraft seems largely unintuitive, based instead off of carefully formulated patterns, and mastered through memory, practice, and discipline.
His spell seems to have indeed healed your wound, but the curse is still there: your expertise tells you that the wound will likely spontaneously reoccur later unless the curse is removed.
After everyone finishes whatever they chose to do during the respite, the Traveler gathers them all back on their feet and they set off once more. The terrain continues to be a forest of rocky pillars and boulders for a while, though these grow shorter as they get further and further from the cliffs. It's a rather tense trek, as both signal detection and line of sight are difficult, and danger could be hiding around every corner, but on the other hand there's also plenty of cover for the group to use here. Those of magical inclination notice that strange mote again, somewhat stronger but still too faint. Something ethereal, hints of melancholy, hints of moonlight. Almost like a distant song?
They seem to be nearing the edge of this forest of stone when Titus, taking point, sees something in another clearing ahead. A pack of very bizarre looking creatures, around man sized and standing roughly upright, though it'd be a stretch to call them humanoid. Their features resemble a blend of fungus and crustacean, with numerous clawed limbs and a head covered in waving antennae. Some of them bear some kind of heavy-looking, intricate rod-like device.
They stand in a big hollow beneath one of the stone pillars, laying out objects and devices of unknown function. It looks kind of like they're setting up a campsite.
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Topic: Wayward Paths - Love and War (Adventure #4) (Read 29576 times)