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Post by Bloodbane on Jun 23, 2018 1:36:37 GMT -5
Shin looked to Aqua with a glare as she announced that Terra was being attacked. "They're attacking who?" A slight growl escaped his throat as he quickly stood. The last thing he needed was to lose a member of this crew before they even left on their journey. Whoever was behind this... they wouldn't get far. "Lead the way..." He said to Aqua.
When they arrived, Etch quickly responded to the man's command by melting his gun and his mace, which appeared to give the enemy pause. "Acid, eh...? Impressive..." He said, but before the others could proceed with beating down the opposition, Shin went for a more pragmatic approach; after all, knowing how strong Terra had proven herself to be, seeing her in a state like this made him wonder if she had chosen not to fight back. He raised a hand briefly, looking over his shoulder to the rest of the party. "Bear with me just a moment..." He said to them, before calmly stepping forward.
"I'll make this brief; we are rather busy with things that are more important than whatever you feel is worth beating down a member of our crew, and what you experienced is just one of our... talents. If you really want to try and fight your way out of this, that's up to you, but I'm more inclined to resolve this before it can become a bigger issue." He looked across the group of armed men, a brief smirk coming across his face. "Is this about money owed, perchance? I may be able to help with that issue, and you can all walk away without troubling us further..." His tone seemed to shift as his gaze finally rested on the leader once more.
"Or... you can try and stop us from taking Terra back, in which case..." He stated, his tone lowering; the thugs being the only ones able to see as Shin's eyes narrowed into slits. "... I'll have to kill every last one of you."
After a pause, the leader seemed agreeable to the terms... but before any transaction could be attempted, the leader stepped closer to one of the thugs, only to draw their gun and attempt to fire at Shin, only for the bullet to be deflected as he brought his hand up, a runic mark on the back of the glove he wore flashing briefly as a solidified light formation appeared in front of him, serving as a barrier to protect himself and the others. He gave a light sigh, shaking his head as the leader emptied the gun of ammunition, the barrier appearing to disperse as the desperate clicking broke the silence of the air.
"I see you've chosen... foolishly, I may add." The barrier soon fell, as Shin looked to the others with a nod, before looking specifically to Etch then to Arne. "You'll help us, won't you?"
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pantheon
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Post by pantheon on Jun 23, 2018 13:13:02 GMT -5
Etch-flame, shaking a little, replies with a "Yes, sir." as he causes the furthest thug from the group(including Terra)'s gun explode like a shrapnel grenade with the wave of his arm.
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Post by Tony on Jun 23, 2018 13:46:02 GMT -5
Arne nods to Shin, sparks arcing across his hands. "Don't even have to ask."
Hien floats next to Arne, glaring at the thugs, small flames emitting from the sides of his mouth as he snarls.
Without a word between the pair, Arne rushes forward... Hien following close behind. Getting in close, he strikes one of the thugs with an electrically charged punch to the gut... stunning him briefly.
Hien inhales deeply... and thrust his head forward. Arne jumps out of the way, just in time for Hien to release a stream of fire from his mouth, engulfing the thug in flames.
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Post by Swim on Jun 26, 2018 20:39:10 GMT -5
By this point the goons were fairly frightened, they hadn't been prepared to fight a group of mages and before now Bicheparte had always traveled alone. After watching their partner's weapons melt or shots being negated entirely by Shin, the group knew they were in over their heads. Two of them turned to run, retreating deeper down the tunnel.
The maceless leader knew that it would be futile to run, preferring that he die fighting and hopefully take one or two with him. He walked over to where Terra lay bound and injured and slashed her throat in a quick movement, then turned his bloody knife toward Aqua. He'd been against collateral damage and causing a large scene. Bicheparte was nobody and nobody would miss her, it had made sense at the time to frighten away the elf girl but clearly showing restraint had cost him. He'd make make her bleed for getting involved.
The leader lunged at Aqua, quickly closing the distance and delivering a backhand to her face to send her reeling. At the same time he thrust forward with his knife hand intending to gut the elf before she recovered.
At the same time one of the remaining thugs drew his gun and fired a shot toward Etch, but quickly switched his target to Hien, his attention captured by the plume of flame.
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Post by Sorrum on Jul 3, 2018 3:50:40 GMT -5
Aqua, who had been relatively quiet in this scuffle, sought to sneak around and catch the enemies off guard instead of directly attacking. Without her weapons or armor, she was afraid she'd be a huge target and burden to the others.
A faint light shined from the glyph in the girl's hand, what formed from it was a small, razor sharp ice shard. Aqua pointed it at one of the men's backs who was distracted by Arne. With a whisper, the ice shot forward and struck heavily in the man's back.
Underneath her quiet behavior was a rage Aqua felt toward these men that could only be resolved by nothing short of obliteration. Her expression attempted to soften the men began to scatter, but she was not ready for what happened next.
Aqua was jolted at the sight. Quickly, the leader who had been carrying the mace reached down and slit her new friend's throat and was now coming at her. Emotion overwhelmed her in a flash.
"You.. why!?" Aqua stumbled. The glyph in her hand warped and distorted. "Terra..!" Aqua reached her hand through the glyph as another, much larger glyph appeared over her.
She'd kill him. She'd kill him and get Terra to a healer immediately. She'd been too slow getting help. Everything was going great until now. There was no time left to think about this
From this magic circle above her emerged an enormous hand made of translucent ice on a ghostly limb. With a bloody scream, Aqua swung the hand down in a fist, slamming down on the approaching man.
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Post by Tony on Jul 3, 2018 14:04:20 GMT -5
Arne quickly takes a step back from the burning thug, thinking about his next move... when his attention is grabbed by the sound of a gun shot followed by Hien yelping in pain. He quickly turns towards the thug with the raised gun, his face full of rage.
With out a word or even thinking about what he's doing, he charges at the thug, full speed, and leaps onto him... pinning him to the ground. He slams his hand into the thugs face and unleashes a massive charge of electricity. Large arcs jump from the thug, striking and charring the ground.
After a few seconds, Arne stands back up... turn away from the electrified tug and runs back over to Hien in order to check on the wound.
Hien, now grounded, crawls into Arne's arms, purring slightly. The wound, while not life threatening, still appears pretty bad.
Arne quickly withdraws from the fray, carrying Hien. "It's ok, buddy... we're almost done here. Once the others handle the rest of those goons, we'll get you healed up right away."
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Post by Swim on Jul 3, 2018 18:14:23 GMT -5
Terra gasped and sputtered, choking on her own blood. With supreme effort she wrenched her hands into a position where she could plug the hole in her throat and willed the tips of her fingers to ignite. She flared her nostrils and steeled herself, this was going to hurt like hell. Slowly and carefully she traced her fingers over the surface of the cut and cauterized the wound. That was all the strength she had left and she passed out seconds later.
In that time, save for the two runners, the remaining goons had been taken out. Their leader had been reduced to a bloody smear and the most important thing right now was finding medical attention for Terra and Hien. Once they found a medical tent the healers went to work setting Terra's fractured bones and forced her to swallow a healing elixir. There were some questions about what exactly had happened to her, questions that the party wasn't in a position to answer. For now they'd just have to wait for Terra to recover.
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Post by Sorrum on Jul 8, 2018 16:06:16 GMT -5
Aqua, now exhausted from blowing most of her mana on the destructive spell from earlier, solemnly stood outside the tent where Hien and Terra were being treated. She stared at the ground, thinking only about her powerlessness in the situation. She said nothing, but her eyes teared up and soon her face was in her palms, sobbing quietly.
The human settlements here were violent, and she should have known that from the first time she saw Silver being harassed in Aldur. If only she had come prepared, none of this would have happened. She sat on the ground and pulled her knees up and dropped her head in despair as she waited for Terra to recover.
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Post by Bloodbane on Jul 12, 2018 4:44:52 GMT -5
Shin indeed seemed to be pleased that Arne and Etch were immediately willing to help them in this fight. Perhaps they would not be as difficult to convince after all...
When the fighting began, Shin drew what appeared to be a saber at first glance. However, the blade quickly began to glow with a bright aura before he flicked the blade quickly, sending bursts of white energy through the air to assault the foes ahead of them. The fighting did not last for long, however, as the leader attempted to fatally wound Terra, only for Aqua to immediately end the thug's life in response. He frowned when two of the thugs got away, but his focus was more so directed to Terra, who had already prevented her wound from being fatal but had lost consciousness.
"She'll live... but we need to get her some help; I can only do so much with my abilities." He explained, leaving no room for further discussion.
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"How long do you think it'll be...?"
"Normally, with as much damage as she's sustained, in a place like this where we aren't quite as equipped for serious injuries it would take a while, days even. Fortunately, we got hold of one of the local specialists and he should be here soon. He'll have a better idea. As far as the wyvern is concerned, it looks like he's doing better already. Must have just been a flesh wound." One of the medics explained the current situation to Shin, while the others waited close by. Shin thanked the medic for the update, before making his way back to the others with a frown.
"Scum... the whole lot of them. It may be best if we get out of here soon, who knows if there are more of them hiding about; I'd prefer not to cause more trouble here if I can avoid it... But we'll need to wait for now, we haven't even found the others yet." Shin explained to the others, crossing his arms. It was clear this situation had irritated him, mostly because it meant they would likely deal with whoever sent the goons after Terra in the future. It was an unfortunate obstacle, but one he was willing to deal with given how useful Terra had proven so far.
"My apologies, I should have been here already..." A voice spoke as a middle-aged man stepped in, looking across the group that was inside, then past them to where Terra was. "Oh my..." He began to move around the group, before shaking his head briefly. "Pardon my manners, sometimes I get caught up in the work first... Logan Galford, I maintain a small clinic in town but I stop by other places when I'm needed." He said, taking Shin's hand and shaking it, but appeared to be staring at him with a bit of curiosity, though he noticed that some of the other members of the group may have been a bit surprised by something as well.
"... Galford...? As in Rion Galford...?" Shin asked, to which Logan chuckled. "Yes, yes... that would be my son, I suppose you all must be who he's been hiding out with, yes?" He teased briefly while looking to the others, only to glance at Shin once more. "We can talk about that in a bit; for now let's see what we can do for your friend here." He said, moving past the group to examine Terra with the other medics.
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As Aqua sat outside of the tent, she would hear a series of footsteps moving in her direction. Where one set moved past her, however, another stopped.
"Hey... are you all right? Where are the others?" When Aqua looked up, she would see none other than Rion standing in front of her, only to soon crouch down so that he was at her level. "... What happened?"
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Post by Sorrum on Jul 14, 2018 11:15:37 GMT -5
Aqua's turmoil was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice. "..Rion?" She sniffed. She took a moment to wipe the tears from her face and regain some composure. "It's.. Terra and I went for a walk to see the different parts of the city.. some men came for her and they beat her senseless.." Her voice began cracking as she recounted the events.
"Then the one, who must have been their leader, he slashed her throat and I.. I could've stopped it if I had stayed with her.." Aqua's face welled over with a fresh set of tears.
"We got her to this clinic and they've been doing all they can. And I think she'll be okay, but the pain they put her through, and that screaming.. the smell.. she burned the cut in her neck to stop it from killing her." Aqua's face wretched and she covered her mouth with her lips.
Her eyes widened as she looked at him. Aqua's tone had shifted from misery to hopeful. "Wait, you're a healer aren't you? With extraordinary ability? You can heal her can't you?"
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Post by Arashi on Jul 16, 2018 1:52:46 GMT -5
After the fights ended, Enfurnus looked away from the arena as the others began talking and saw a familiar figure looking right at him; at least, he could recognize the slight glow from that gold eye. Enfurnus blinked a few times, then sighed and muttered "Excuse me."
He got up and vanished in to the crowd soon after, and the figure was gone as well.
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Meanwhile, Silver wandered about the festival among the many booths; most of which were now closed or closing, besides the food booths which seemed to be where what was left of the crowds were now. It was peaceful and quiet, the lanterns light the sky, and the weather was refreshing; if not a little bit cold. She couldn't help but be glad she was dry now after the dunking. She attempted to distract herself from her own thoughts, looking around for anything that may be of interest. Everything was kind of interesting to her though, because it was a human town. She never paid this much attention to them before.
Soon enough after wandering quite a way off, she came across what she was looking for. It was a big building with a sign on it that read....The Twilight Springs? Why do humans name things so oddly? She scratched her head, and then approached the building closer. It looked kind of like an Inn, but it didn't seem like it had any rooms. There was some sort of flyer attached to one of the windows on the building, so she approached it and took a look at it. It talked about the place being one of the best indoor hot springs in the world, and it was pretty much inviting festival-goers in for a discount. Silver tilted her head a bit. Hot springs in a building? That definitely sounds interesting, and even maybe relaxing. After hesitating a moment, she went inside the building.
"Hello and welcome! Will you be going in to our wonderful springs today? We have a deal going on for the festival right now and we're open all night!" A male receptionist warmly greeted her from a front desk. Behind the desk were some small changing rooms and then two exits; one male and one female side.
Silver froze and stood there in awkward silence for a few moments, not really sure what to say. The man raised an eyebrow.
"U-uh...can I have one of your paper thingies? I want to go show my friends." She spoke a bit quietly, as she walked up to the desk in a hesitant manner. She wasn't really used to approaching random humans like this.
The receptionist simply just smiled and held out one of the flyers. There were a bunch of them neatly stacked upon the desk.
"Sure. Here you go. Thanks for coming in!" He replied. He seemed pretty nice.
"T-thank you! I'll bring them back." She smiled a small bit at the receptionist, and then quickly made her exit after taking the flyer from him. She sat down on a nice bench outside of the building and took a deep breath. She folded up the flyer neatly, and placed it in one of her small pouches.
Everybody seemed a bit less rough around the edges in Eulene. Maybe it was the festival or something, but nobody really seemed to bother her or even look at her funny. Most of the few human towns she had visited were a lot more...crime-ridden. This was a nice break and an eye opener; while she wasn't optimistic about this yet, maybe not all human towns are all that bad. The arena thing was a little odd and off-putting, but it seemed like it was mostly all in good fun...a form of fun she didn't understand, but fun in some way.
It seemed that even not all humans were all that bad. It was hard to not be wary of them in some way, but Silver was certainly making progress. The nice ones aren't all that different from other dragons, they just seemed to have different social habits that she didn't entirely get yet when being up close. All those years of observing helped at least a little bit.
Silver sighed. This was a really quick change in perception for her, even if it was small. It made her feel a bit odd, but also maybe pleased. This was an entire world she was missing out on seeing. And it wouldn't have even happened if it wasn't for her blighted nature, because that is essentially why she was travelling with the human who was changing her mind...
"Hey." A familiar voice spoke from behind the bench.
Silver jumped a bit, startled, and then looked behind her. It was Enfurnus.
"Goodness...where did you come from?" She sighed, both with slight annoyance and relief that it was just Enfurnus and not someone else. Talking to the receptionist was plenty enough for her for the day.
"Had to slip away and talk some important matters with Celestrus, who appeared out of nowhere. Needed to go somewhere a bit more quiet, since well...you know." Enfurnus replied with a shrug. "What are you doing? Never thought I'd see you walk around so easily in an area crawling with humans."
"Ah, I needed to think a bit...I have a lot going through my head as of late. But it led me to something the others may like to see at least." She smiled a small bit, then looked away from her fellow dragon.
"Well, I'm impressed." He laughed a bit, then sat down on the bench as well. "And what would that be...?"
Silver gave Enfurnus a bit of an annoyed look.
"...Something tells me that I should not tell you. You are going to laugh at the irony of these things." She scoffed and looked up at the sky. "...Besides, it is dumb. Really dumb."
"What? That you seem to be taking after your mother? I mean, it doesn't surprise me..." He replied in a playful manner.
Silver looked at him and tilted her head, she wasn't quite sure what he was implying by that nor what was so funny about it. Of course she would take after her mother, a dragon, over some human gu-wait a minute. Her expression slowly turned in to a glare, and then she looked away immediately.
"'Sides, it isn't dumb. A little quick maybe, but not dumb...sometimes these things just happen and you know, all that BS." His voice softened a bit. "Besides...I see it getting you out of your shell a bit. That's a plus in my book. Keep it up."
Silver put her face in her hands and sighed, not really sure how to respond. Enfurnus knew her a bit too well for her liking, but she couldn't say he was wrong either.
"But you're on a mission here. Take that as you will. I won't stop anything though...heheh." He smiled.
Silver put her hands down on her lap and sighed.
"I guess you are right. But also the mission thing..." She sighed. "...I don't know how long we will be on it, but I plan to finish it quickly and end these jerks. However, I'm on another mission too and I think that one will last a lot longer. So...who knows, I guess."
Enfurnus tilted his head a bit.
"And what is the second one...? You never told me about that." He looked at her in a confused manner.
"That one is a secret, sorry." She replied with a small smile.
"...Okay, fair enough. Anyway, where are we meeting everybody? Shouldn't we go there now? Gettin' a bit late, and I think they need to see this place you found..." Enfurnus looked up at the sky, taking note of how dark it was getting.
"O-oh, right! Let's go meet them. Or wait for them. Whatever." She quickly stood up from her seat, not realizing how much time had passed. "By the way, what did Celestrus say...?"
Enfurnus laughed a bit and stood up as well, and the two began walking. His face turned a bit more serious when Silver asked about Celestrus.
"Don't think I should talk about it in public, but we may have some trouble close to home real soon. Nothing to worry about for now, though, apparently. So all is good for now." He sighed a bit.
"I do not like the sound of that, but okay. You will have to tell me more later." Silver's expression turned a bit more serious at that point.
They eventually arrived where Rion's father told them to head to, and waited outside there at a nearby bench for the others to hopefully show up.
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Post by Bloodbane on Jul 18, 2018 16:24:51 GMT -5
Rion sighed briefly after Aqua explained the situation that had occurred with Terra. "I see... I had a feeling that any problems anyone might have had before joining us were likely to become everyone's problems, but I didn't think it would be quite this bad. Hopefully she can give us some more details when she's awake and moving." He stated, a frown remaining on his face. He placed his hand on Aqua's shoulder as she covered her mouth, still keeping a calm expression. "Terra's in good hands, she's going to be fine. And if someone like her was having that much trouble, it's definitely better that you got help when you did. You did the right thing; anything else would have put both of you at greater risk." He explained. When she asked about his healing abilities, however, his hand moved from her shoulder to the back of his neck.
"It's... hard to explain in my case. I can certainly help out in a pinch, and when it comes to any injuries we end up with when dealing with these dark monsters, I can safely say I'm about as good as anyone to that degree, but there are far better people than myself when it comes to actual healing magic." He stated, then with a smile he stood up, holding his hand out to pull Aqua back up to her feet. "In fact that's why I'm here, one of those better people should be looking over Terra now. Let's go see how the others are doing."
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Once Rion and Aqua headed inside, Shin looked over to them. "There you are! I suppose that explains what you ran off for..." He said, before pointing his thumb in Logan's direction. "Was he...?"
"Yeah, I saw him in the crowd right after I started to make an offensive... I didn't know he started making a living off of his skills, must have been after I left town." Rion explained, though as he spoke Logan looked up from what he was doing and looked over to Rion and Aqua with a smile. "Another friend I see...? Well, there's good news; she will definitely recover at this point. But..." Logan then placed his finger on what looked to be a necklace that held a white colored crystal. "With the right tools I can certainly do better, if time is of the essence for you all. To do that, we'll need to get her back to the clinic. There should be no concerns with moving her at this point."
"Well?" Rion looked to Shin, who nodded. "If more trouble is on the horizon it is probably best we leave by tomorrow, I don't see us going anywhere far tonight. If Logan thinks he's up to the task, I think we should take him up on it."
Logan nodded, before going to get assistance with getting Terra onto something the group could use to move her back to the clinic. After a moment Logan returned with some staff that got to work getting Terra onto a stretcher, as well as what looked to be a piece of jerky, which he offered to Hien. "And where did this one come from... a wyvern, yes?" He asked as he looked around the party.
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Once the group was ready to move Terra, it was not long after before they arrived at Logan's clinic, where they found Silver and Enfurnus standing around. "Ahh, I was wondering why I hadn't seen either of you around..." Logan said, confirming that he had already met Silver and noticed Enfurnus had taken off. "All right, in we go..." He stated as the group brought Terra inside, where Logan wheeled her towards a room that, contrary to other rooms in the clinic, was behind a metal door. Also unlike the other doors, it seemed to have no handle, though Logan would reveal the method of opening the door by taking the crystal necklace off and placing the crystal in the only space available on the door, a faint glow escaping his hand before he pulled back, before ushering the party into a lift that went down below even the basement floor of the building. Once the lift stopped, Logan opened the door to reveal a rather peculiar sight, a cavern-like space with rock walls, and lining these walls and parts of the floor were crystalline formations similar in color to the necklace.
Shin looked around, wide-eyed. "How fascinating..." He said, looking to Logan. "So then Rion got his abilities from--"
Logan looked to Shin after moving Terra close to a bed that had a closely-gathered formation of the crystals around the edges. "Not I. I simply found a way to cultivate the crystals by channeling my own light magic through this one that had been left to me; a bit of a project that I had taken up once Rion left... but none of this would have been possible without his mother." He looked to Rion. "I figured it was simply a matter of time before you found a way to bring them out, but her gifts are your gifts now. Now come on, help an old man out would you?" He chuckled as Rion helped him lift Terra up and onto the bed, before waving his hand over the crystals, his hand emitting an aura of light magic that seemed to cause the crystals to react and give off a warm glow in response.
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Post by Swim on Jul 19, 2018 15:55:00 GMT -5
Logan and the other healers had done their work well, the splint had realigned Terra's leg and the healing elixir was bringing her in and out of consciousness. There were moments of lucidity where she could make out unfamiliar faces peering down on her but shortly thereafter she'd fall back into a stupor. At one point she dreamt of Rion standing beside her on a rock that blazed like the sun. His lips were moving but the words were incomprehensible to her, and that too faded quickly away. A cool breeze had brought her back to consciousness, Terra was aware that she was outside and seemed to be floating? "Wait," she mumbled weakly, probably too quietly for anyone to take notice. "Where?" She passed out again before she could complete her thought.
A short while later Terra awoke underneath a bed of crystals. They gave off a warm glow and the feeling gave her a peculiar sensation. Almost as though the closer they were to her the better she felt. It was only now that Terra realized that she hadn't died, as she had occasionally supposed during her dreaming. The other memories came flooding back. The gunshots, the cries of pain. It had all been a blur of motion, but she distinctly remembered Hien had been shot. Terra kept her eyes shut tightly and hoped no one would notice the tears welling up as she trembled in fear. What if she'd gotten her friends killed? She'd tried her best to force Frida to leave but in the end that action resulted in even more of her friends being placed in harm's way.
Terra could hear voices talking quietly nearby, the nearest one was unfamiliar to her. But she recognized Rion and Shin's tones and called out to them weakly. Her first attempt at speech was unsuccessful, calling forth an intense burning sensation in the back of her throat as well as a fit of coughing. She'd somehow forgotten she'd cauterized her own throat earlier. It was enough however to get their attention. Terra's eyes found Rion's face and beckoned him closer knowing she wouldn't able to project well in her state. "Rion," her voice was a raspy whisper. "Where are the others? Is everyone...?" She choked back, unable to finish the question, tears flowing freely now. "I'm so sorry."
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Post by Tony on Jul 20, 2018 15:36:13 GMT -5
At the medical tent, Arne refused to leave Hien's side... something the staff had issue with, but they were unable to make him leave. A bit of relief washed over him when he was told that the wound was nothing serious... but he fill with concern once again when he heard that a specialist had to be called in for Dyna.
Before long... he joins up with the rest of the group, along with the specialist... a man named "Logan Galford" and... Rino? There were some similarities between the two of them... probably related.
Hien takes to bit of jerky offered to him, eating it up fairly quickly.
Arne responds to his question. "He's with me. That's Hien... he's my traveling companion."
He gently picks up Hien and moves out with the rest of the group... getting Dyna over to clinic.
Keeping his attention on Hien, making sure he's comfortable, Arne doesn't pay too much attention as they travel. He snaps out of this when they reach the basement of the clinic... a room filled with crystals of various sizes. Never seeing anything like this in their travels, the duo look around in amazement.
"This... sure is something else..."...
Hein chirps in response.
Arne takes a seat... trying to relax as Logan heals Dyna.
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Post by Swim on Jul 20, 2018 16:48:14 GMT -5
Elsewhere~
When it had grown dark Boltin and the merchant had paused their journey in the middle of a field and built a fire. The sounds of thunder some distance away indicated that it would storm that night, and this was the best shelter available to them. The captive bandit lay bound and unconscious a few yards away where Lucas could see him, even as he poured over his notes.
The merchant had been stunned into silence for several hours after the incident, but had since found his voice and was abuzz with curiosity. Normally Lucas would have been happy to impart his knowledge, but since he was preoccupied with his notes he found the disruption to be distracting. Besides, the man's knowledge of science was so rudimentary that it would have taken days before he'd develop a baseline of understanding. The one thing he fixated on and kept repeating was that he wanted the same powers Boltin had, that he wanted to be like him.
At some point during the night Boltin caved and agreed to attempt the procedure. Unfortunately it was unsuccessful, and regrettably Lucas was unable to learn anything useful from the poor man's sacrifice. Rather than become discouraged however, Lucas returned to his notes. He had something new in mind for the second test, and at least the merchant's corpse would provide a good control subject for that study.
The bandit wasn't having any of it. "Oh good, you're awake," Boltin addressed him coolly as the captive struggled against his bonds and cursed at him beneath his gag. "I'm almost ready for you, I just need another minute or so. I need you to stay quiet now until I ask for your input. Otherwise..." Boltin held up a hand demonstratively, bolts of electricity jumping from finger to finger. The bandit continued to struggle, albeit more quietly. When he thought Lucas wasn't watching he reached for his knife to sever the bonds, only to find out that he'd been disarmed while he had been unconscious.
Lucas finished skimming over the section on human anatomy, satisfied and confident that he knew what he was doing. He set the book aside and strode over to the thief, rolling back his sleeves. Then he drew the thief's knife, knelt down beside him and began to make the first incision. The man screamed and began to thrash wildly but the ropes held fast. "I know," Lucas said soothingly, "I know. This wouldn't be my first choice either, I'd much rather use a scalpel, it'd make for a much neater cut. But out here in the wild we have to make use of what we're presented with." Another incision, a muffled cry of pain. "You know," Lucas scolded him. "You're really making this harder than it needs to be with all of your thrashing about. You've only got yourself to blame for electing to carry a serrated knife like this one, though I'm sure you never spared a thought for the agony you've inflicted on others when you robbed them with it."
It was hard work, but eventually Lucas was able to peel off enough of the bandit's skin to view the exposed organs. "If it makes you feel any better, this isn't about vengeance for attempting to rob and murder me earlier today." Boltin explained to the man. "I actually bear you no malice whatsoever. This is all in effort to understand magic, to discover why some are born with its gift and others without. What difference is there generically for example between a water mage, an ice mage, and a non mage? I want to study how an electrical charge will impact each organ, observe the reaction, attempt to isolate the specific chromosomes on a cellular level. And this is just the first step. If I can determine why certain people become mages and which genes are responsible for determining their elemental powers, I want to share this gift with people everywhere. When that day comes I'll make sure you receive proper accreditation in the books I'll publish Mr... Oh I suppose I don't know your name!" Boltin removed the gag. "Is there anything you'd like me to include, any message you'd like to pass on?"
"Just kill me already," the bandit wailed, clearly in agony. Boltin was annoyed. "Didn't you listen to anything I just said? I'm not going to kill you-" "You killed him!" the bandit screamed clearly referring to the dead merchant. "I didn't kill him, he asked me to save him! I tried to release him from his human weakness and grant him to power to control his own destiny!"
The bandit began screaming incomprehensible curses and Boltin placed the gag back on him. Then he fastened the man's bonds to a metal rack and carried him into the field, away from the wagon. "Did you know that I wasn't born a mage?" Lucas asked his captive. "When I was young I would often play in open fields like this one. One night I lost track of time and was caught outside in a storm, much like this one. I was quite young but I was still the tallest thing in the field. When the lightning struck, it was a miracle that I survived. Everyone called me Lucky. They had no idea. Not only did I survive, I soon developed a command over the very element. Maybe tonight you'll get lucky." Boltin finished planting the metal rack in the ground. "And if you don't, at least you'll help me to create a world where normal folks don't have to rely on luck to survive."
The bandit thrashed and struggled but there was nothing he could do. The storm arrived a short while later and Lucas was able to make a full recording of the event. By morning he'd collected the samples he needed and updated his journal with his findings and several new theories. It was time to establish a new laboratory where he'd have the equipment to adequately process these newest test results. And there was still the matter of the crystal, he hadn't even begun his research on the substance. "Always more to do," Boltin muttered to himself as he scanned the map. He decided to head to the city of Bultaranis, named for the conqueror Ostal Bultaranis who had unified the province some centuries back. Lucas had never been there, but it looked to be large enough that he should have no trouble acquiring the lab equipment he'd need. And once that was taken care of, he'd surely be able to locate some new test subjects. He couldn't wait to get to work.
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