Epoch 6: Blood and Pearls
Randall Mixon (Yotta)
"Oh what the... HEY! YOU TWO STOP HAVING SWORD FIGHTS RIGHT THIS INSTANCE AND COME DOWN FROM THEIR! YOU'RE GONNA POKE YOUR EYE OUT! "
Eiyal, mercifully, actually listens to you right out of the gate. He leaps down from the tree in a way that should break any sane person's legs and strikes a pose beside you as he lands. You're not sure if he's assuming some sort of sword stance or flexing.
Now that you think of it, the answer is probably both.
[1]The catgirl with the twinswords chasing Eiyal, however, is somewhat less than mollified by your intrusion into the fight. She takes one look at you, snorts derisively, and launches herself at Eiyal.
"侵入者への死," she screams as she charges.
[5-3+3 (Not actually aiming for you, skilled sword-mage) vs 2] She doesn't actually attack you directly, she just makes absolutely no effort to avoid you as she slashes at Eiyal. You throw yourself out of the way, but it's more than a little too late. There's lightning quick flash of steel, a slight sensation of stinging pressure, and suddenly your right arm is entirely numb.
You wonder if the fact that you can't see blood spreading through your red robes is by design or not.
Health: Nerves Severed in right arm,
bleeding copiously from right armNoteworthy Items Elementalist Wizard CoatMopBucket
Eiyal (Harry)
Jump down to the deck and come to a stop next to Randall, ready to dodge-roll away from a further assault as I try to figure out who this delightful sword-mage might be before recommencing the duel.
To your great regret, you break off the duel at Randall's behest and return to ground level via leaping skills worthy of a goliath. Things don't stay boring for long, however, as Randall totally fails at calming the cat-girl down to a manageable state, and she pursues you in her assault, screaming more moonspeak as she charges you.
[4+3 (Skilled Sword Mage) Vs 1+2 (Sword-Mage)] Maybe Randall put you off your beat or something, but she really gets the better of you this time. She flicks Mala wide, slashes your ribs, parries your counterstroke and impales your thigh. In some sort of bizarre vaulting maneuver (during which she continues shouting in moonspeak) she ends up behind you with her swords crossed in front of your throat. Considering that this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore than once a month, you idly wonder aloud who she is.
"WHO AM I?" You can't see her, but you can hear how delighted she is to be asked who she is.
"I am the eldest daughter of the joined blood of Alan the golden and the dark witch Asenath! I am the heir to the obsidian throne, the princess of blades! I am-""NANDE, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"Captain Sihn is framed in the doorway to the lower sections of the ship, the short cape of her Captain's coat rippling in an unseen and unfelt breeze. Her one eye sweeps the scene. Nande poised to kill you, Randall, clutches his arm like he pulled a muscle despite doing absolutely nothing except raise his voice, and you- bleeding a copious amount that you are.
"I can explain this time," Nande pleads, her blades still caressing your throat. [3-2 (Sword-Mage)] She then proceeds to explain. Though, personally, you can't see much wrong with her explanation for why she leapt out to kill you, Captain Sihn's expression darken's with every word.
"Stop," Sihn cuts in, raising her hand to quell further explanation.
"Just, stop. You are supposed to defend the bridge. Not the area around the bridge, and you're supposed to escort people off the bridge if I haven't granted them permission to be there. You are not supposed to use lethal force against your fellow crew members, or have you forgotten the little talk we already had about that?" Nande makes feline growling sound.
"But, I haven't seen them before, they might not be a crew member! They could be a spies!" [5] You swear you see a light flash behind captain Sihn's permanently closed eye, like when you light a magebulb in your mouth at parties and your cheeks light up, and both of Nande's swords fly away from your throat and embed themselves in the ground.
"Nande. They are not spies. You have just wounded half of our away team, including the team leader, right before a jump. If you have another outburst like this, I will take away your swords, put a bell on you, and have you work as a dish-scrubber. Are we abundantly clear?""... Yes," Nande eventually replies sullenly.
"Yes, what?""Yes, Captain Sihn."Captain Sihn turns her gaze to you, clearly wanting to blame you for something but with insufficient evidence to actually yell at you.
"Get Mixon patched up and in his seat for the jump. You have about two minutes before I call for final positions."Health: Thigh impaled,
side slashedNoteworthy Items Sword-Mage Wizard CoatPulwar
Farris Kindlestone"I think just watching would be nice. I'm torn between the benches by the lake at Farmare Park,
or the hill where we watched the stars. I'll leave this call up to you."
"The benches, I think. I don't know how long we'll be able to see the stars," your girlfriend says, taking you by the hand and leading you forward.
She does have a point. Looking up at the sky, it's increasingly interrupted by clouds of smoke from burning buildings and the rents from which the endless fleets of crab warships fly. When you look back down, however, you're already in the park. It was a good pick. The lack of valuable targets means the crabs aren't bombing it, and the wind is favorable enough that you can admire the multi-hued blaze of a magical city on fire without having to deal with all the acrid smoke of it.
There's something serene about this moment. On some level, you're aware that this should be horrible. That you and your pigeon should be screaming somewhere, running for evacuation against an unstoppable onslaught of demon-spawned crablings, and yet... She's there under your arm, soft and comforting. You can feel her breathing, a steady rhythm that makes you almost feel like you could hold your breath and let it sustain you too. This is just one moment. A city is dying, everything you've ever known is crumbling to ruin as the world ends, but it's still just one moment.
"Farris, if you wake up, I want you to remember this place. No matter how awful the world is, no matter how much it tries to grind you down, no matter what your enemies do to break you apart, I will always be here to make you whole again. I will always be here, a calm island in a sea of destruction."You embrace her on the bench. Whether this is reality or dream, you're poignantly aware you probably won't see her again for a long time- won't feel the way her avian body presses into yours. She folds into you, tucking her beak against your neck and cooing softly. It's a singularly beautiful sound amidst all the chaos and destruction.
"Farris, if I'm the one who has to wake up and go on without you, what will I do?"[1] For a moment between moments, you can see someone spliced into your beloved Pigeon's position. It only lasts an instant, and a second later a gentle hand smooths out the wrinkle in your memories, until only the narrator and the readers are aware of the event at all.
Health: Struck by a Fey MoodNoteworthy Items Enchanter Wizard CoatCopy Of: 'You and Enhancement Enchantment'Umbrella
IrneusWell shit. If only the elementalist hadn't gone the other way. Time to improvise and show the power of life magic.
Mutate one of the Manana saplings to grow large crystalline tumours inside its fruit, then apply lots of drugs and hormones magic to make it grow to full size faster. Pick fruit, split open to extract 'gems'.
Considering that Captain Sihn will probably have some objection to Farris just grabbing gemstones willy-nilly from the ship's stores, you attempt to trespass against the laws of God using a nearby
Manana plant. It's not exactly the most unlikely thing to happen, which helps you a bit.
Manana plants, when eaten regularly (as you an everyone on the ship is about to) are rather famous for creating stones in the latter part of the digestive tract. These stones are much smoother and rounder than other types of urinary stones, and can be excreted (Very Painfully) even when of considerable size. Known as
Mananaut Pearls, they are gems of exceptional luster, and there's a usually special trap built in to the water reclamation cistern just to sift the gems free during long voyages.
[3+2-1 (Healer, Tumors aren't exactly healing)] What you create in the
Manana isn't exactly first rate, or even second rate, it's a pretty poor knock-off all things considered, but it is blue and gem-like after you scrape the
Manana off. Farris immediately seizes from your hands and sits cross-legged on the floor working furiously. It's a relieving sight, since those possessed of fey moods have been known to demand increasingly bizarre objects before beginning work.
Health: No News is Good NewsNoteworthy Items Healer Wizard CoatBonesawCooler 
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Topic: Mananauts! | Wizardly Away Team | [4/4 Players] | The Streets of Tucson (Read 12813 times)