...yeah, I think keeping it simple would be best for my health. No need to risk moving an entire block of marble.
While marble could make a good frame for a catapult, other materials would probably help. He noted the vines covering the hall.
Well those could certainly help. Maybe I could craft those into rope, or even mold it into wood.
Continue out to investigate the track for any obstructions, then head over to the vines on the walls and grab about 2 meters worth. Try to Artifice it into a length of rope.
You continue your walk, taking the straight path and ignoring the curve at the start of the track.
...You feel a repulsive force. It's like an elastic sheet, too thin to see, stretched out between the floor and ceiling. Perhaps the red stripes on the track are emitting this field? You look up and wonder if it has a ceiling.
You walk away, and head past the practicing students, nearly slipping on the ice one of the women had made. Black ice on dark stone.
At the wall of vines, you outstretch your hand, and a vine comes to meet it. The plants have woody stems. A perfect two-meter length comes off, bisected neatly by magic. [d12: 11] You separate it into a hundred strands by imagining the form of your hair, [d8: 3] and then you wave it all together by imagining a whirlwind. It's a very coarse piece of robe, especially one assembled of woody fibers, but it's probably more flexible and durable than the vine.
If I can determine the center of mass and I know the density of marble and the crystal I can locate the crystal and chisel away the rest. Obtuse crystal dimensions might pose a problem. "There are no Impurities or irregularities in this marble correct? Also what are the approximate dimensions of the crystal?" She asks a proctor.
I'll use basic components to make a small servant and use wire to supply mana power and control the servant from the starting location. He shouldn't need a spirit if I control him directly.
She starts looking a look up table of densities (with marble and the crystal), a lab with the balancing equipment for center of mass calculation and a workshop to build a small (she might scale it up depending on her success with the block) humanoid servant and enough mana conducting wire to guide the servant the whole way through. Also if she bumps into some nice professors she might want to talk to them.
"That is not marble," says the Proctor, with a brief puff of smugness.
"Metamorphic stone is very rare, and contains no functional amount of mist. But it very much resembles pure marble, without impurities. The crystal is crimson quartz, and while the crystals weren't well-controlled for size I'd expect it to be about... this big,"
About the size of a human head.
The humanoid servant could easily be made from wooden blocks and metal hooks, if one is to puppet it manually. You could even buy a doll from someone.
Controlling it through wires would be doable with the intrinsic dexterity offered by tempestry. But if you had a couple of engram crystals, you could program each of them with Force and control it in a manual way. An image comes to mind of soldiers using Force staves to fling their enemies through the sky. Their staves would have a cable with a weight and stake on one end, which sticks into the soil and absorbs the natural wavelengths echoing through the world.
((I want all of the characters who are heading for labs to leave at the same time, for the sake of not repeating the descriptions. So I'll make a list. Anyone else: Let me know if your character plans to go seek out professors or visit the campus to find other students.
Wunderkatze
TheBiggerFish
dgr11897))
"I spoke out load didn't I..."
It appears you did...The spirit winds itself up into a snakelike form, and sits a meter away from you, on the tile floor. Your eyes see a faint crackling mist.
The professors see my plight as a foolish endeavor. I sought help from a newcomer, hoping that minds from far away would have at least the will to help me. The Lord of the Artifex in the city spire paid me no heed, but if a student like you would plead for help, from any Artifex even, intermediate skill or not, I would be grateful.The crackling air merges into one small pinpoint of light on the floor, rising up as it takes on form. Finally, a star of six points, colored gold, hangs still in the air. It's about the size of your thumb, and would make a nice piece of jewelry.
Years ago, I was called Hermes. Forms were no obstacle to me. I masqueraded as a man and an alchemist for many years. Now, after losing much of me, I struggle to build even this...The spirit hands the trinket over to you.
I've incorporated a small ring of wire and a piece of sonic quartz. If you crush this trinket beneath your foot, it will pulse at a very specific frequency. I should hear it from across the city.Octavia considers the situation and gives a response. She would be helpful, yet brief in her interaction.
"You are at the academy in the capital city of Inberlin. Whether your displacement was deliberate or accidental I cannot say. I presume you were either placed here intentionally for the purpose of being a part of the entrance test, or coincidentally so that the marble block or crystal could be placed here."
"If you seek to return from where you came from, then I recommend you proceed to the back of the hallway over there and speak to the professors; they will be able to tell you more than I could."
The professors, they did this?The spirit suddenly vanishes. No response. Nonetheless, the marble block seems empty now.
Author
Topic: Antinomy of the Five Spectra (IC) -- The Academy Exam (Read 17721 times)