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 Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 1:15 pm
Rüd chuckled. "Yes, I have yet to be beaten by a woman- of any race." He crossed two pairs of arms. "What about you? You seem to have a... distrusting opinion of men." Probably reading too much into it, but it would at least spawn some length of conversation, some measure to pass the time.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 1:54 am
Linda laughed. "Half the point of putting a gun in someone's hand is gone if they can't use magic," she replied, as though she could scarcely imagine how he could dismiss something so obvious.
☼ That doesn't explain anything! ☼ Skurk protested to Mac. ☼ Bah. The only real important one there is that we are, one an' all, slaves to the demons who rule our lands. ☼
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:02 am
"Yes," the Lady smiled with a nod pulling her eyes away from the conversation between the machine and the goblin. "Beyond the trees, by the water is the city of the Kumariel," she waved a hand in the direction away from the lake. "There is a train. You may take it to the Top." She paused to give the others a warm expression as she pulled three, small, ivory disks from her sleeve. "A sign of my service," she explained, "So no one may take you for their own." She held the disks out to Castor and he knew she intended him to pass one to the others. The ivory was thin, about palm sized and warm, old - yellowed with delicate veins of darker tan. The smooth surface was polished to semi-gloss shine and carved intricately with a symbol, a sort of halved circle with arching curves around it in an intricate, curling pattern dotted with lacy holes. There was magic in the little disk, some tiny part of the Lady's power.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:21 am
"Wonderful," the boy chirped excitedly with a slight bounce, "We will tell more stories and talk of far off places."
"After rest," the guard sneered and glared hotly between the two strangers but he had already given his assent, not point in turning now, so he gave them a mocking bow and stepped back, taking the boy by the arm a touch roughly and pushing him toward the large central tent with a grumbled phrase in that odd language. The boy let himself be drug a few steps and rolled his eyes at Wadi's warning then glanced back as he was drug away.
"Well come on. Or would you rather sleep with the girls?" the young Caliph half laughed with a wide grin.
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 4:39 pm
"Actolly, yis." Mad Sam replied, that did not sound like too bad of an idea at all. For obvious reasons.
He smiled after the boy waiting to see if what he said would be taken as a joke or taken seriously. Then he flashed his smile at Quintus. "Go ouf wit da boy din, da lak 'ou."
The merchant chuckled. His mind was elsewhere.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 8:33 pm
The boy just laughed at Sam's answer, obviously taking it as a joke, and continued to let the guard drag him away to the large central tent. He didn't force the travelers to follow but it seemed to be expected as the circle of guards around the now quiet camp watched them closely, suspiciously fingering their weapons in anticipation of something foolish.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 10:16 pm
Well that was... different. "Men can't use magic, you say? Where I come from, magic is nothing more than a device for storytelling and a facet of myth." And since they were on the topic, "Besides, I can't imagine you're much without your suit and powers. A slave to the war machines rather than their superior. Stripped of that metal harness, you're just another squishy target aren't you?"
That teasing, taunting smirk still lingered.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 11:18 pm
Mac paused, glancing at the goblin. ☼I am installed with new software that allows me to - to parse observed speech. Your speech was heard, parsed, and learned.☼ He couldn't imagine making it any simpler. And apparently the goblin didn't know what he was or couldn't separate it from humanity.
Mac turned again at the pastor's words and accepted the token. It was a touch on the fragile side, but so long as he didn't slap his pocket it probably would stay intact. Mac had no way to see, sense, feel the magic; to him it was literally naught but a token. He slipped it into the pocket of his fatigues, where it would hopefully stay reasonably well.
"<>" Mac asked. That concept make sense. He had already had a chain of command, and apparently the pastor was now at the head of his. She seemed to assume this was the case, which made it dangerously likely to be true. "<>"
Quintus didn't let his smug, smug smile fade. Well, it twitched at the boy's joke. That one didn't make him smile much anymore. Couldn't let it dig too deep, though. He'd ignored that one for a while, and it stung now that... well, now that he'd had it pulled back up. Best to leave it at that. He followed in Sam's footsteps. He had seen that look before, the ones the guards wore. Mostly on big enforcers. They had turned out to be lots of fun. Also, most of them were dead now. Overconfidence was, of course, as dangerous as ever, but Quintus was... well, in control for now. Always in control. That was key.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 7:33 pm
Castor accepted the token with a bow, handing one back to Mac and holding one out toward Skurk, though it might take some convincing on his part- he still seemed... mistrusting of his Lady. Castor looked at the disk with new eyes, able to see the faintest roots of his Lady's magic. Just enough to mark the one who held it as an agent of the Lady. Castor nodded at Mac's question, though it wasn't directed at him.
"" he said in Goblin, to keep Skurk from being left out from the explanation. He was still looking at the ivory disk, trying to see if it had any other uses. ""
Again, he was unsure of how Skurk would react to being handed something that, in his mind, reeked of one of the "demons" he so hated, but they really didn't have an option at present.
"does want to abuse its powers and control you... well, let's just say you'll be safer with it on.>"
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 8:30 pm
Linda shook her head slowly. "The armor isn't the weapon." She was speaking very slowly, probably because she was trying to recall the explanation as she went. "Suit is a damper and a focusing unit. Without it, powerful magi are prone to semirandom spontaneous explosive discharge, high heat emissions, and friendly fire any time we use it." She continued the recitation. "The human body is a poor conduit for the arcane, and the suit provides a convenient way to focus and control it; without it, the exploding and the fevers make us choose between being a danger to ourselves or others." Finished, she added, "Watch what happensh- happens when I charge it."
Linda held her hand out to an arbitrary clear point on the ground and let the mana flow. Though she'd been trying to maintain her focus through the alcohol haze, the sudden flood of the mana rushing through her at her direction made her quite immediately and acutely aware. The humming was the first obvious thing; if Rüd had infrared vision, the heat being vented from the arm would be highly apparent. "And here's for a bigger one," she added, her speech jarringly quick and deliberate compared to the recent mess she'd made of herself. As the power increased, secondary vents made themselves evident, venting a blue mist that hummed as it dissipated. Clenching her teeth, she then squeezed her fist shut over the palm port for the discharge, the ventilation slowing down over the course of several seconds.
"Being able to hold a charge and power it down safely is conven... conv... is nice, too," she added, her head starting to fog again slightly. She frowned. "The compl... the last part of our training requires surviving a week without the suit. It's awful. Magi mortality rate before they were developed was something like five of every six dead after showing arcane inclinations and before finishing puberty. About two thirds of those left alive had caused the death of a friend or family member, and half of that group had caused multiple."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 11:43 pm
Again, definitely not what Rüd had expected, but it was informative and intriguing. He found himself listening intently, his gently glowing eyes focused solely on the display of energy, and his mind working out the ramifications only to have her spell them out. "Certainly not anything like the stories of yore," was all he added. Then, after some further contemplation, "But that's perhaps worse than my initial assumption. Bunch cute little walking time-bombs." His index and middle finger made a poor imitation of two walking legs, strutting down an invisible road.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 1:39 pm
The Lady smiled between the three, watching the goblin expectantly to see if he would take her token. "This is a land of lost things, little one. The powerful and the weak both collect here from other worlds and there is no Law to prevent those that can from dominating others. Some make slaves, others cultists, but it is rare here for anyone to stand alone. Everyone is ruled by something," she half purred with an almost coy smile. "Not all of them are as benevolent as I," she paused to pet the unicorn briefly.
"The token will show any who try to command you that you have my protection. There are few that would defy it," she smiled a touch smugly and Castor could guess why. It took him a moment to see it but the magics that traced the ivory surface were partially some sort of ward - a protection against charms along with maybe a few other functions but it was strange and he couldn't quite make out what. These were more than mere tokens.
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Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:43 am
☼I'm going to regret this...☼ Skurk muttered as he took the token. Still distrust the Lady? Yep. Still think Castor's nuts now? Yep. Robot Logic still isn't working like Goblin Logic? Yep.
Well, if she decided to subvert his mind, she hadn't done it yet. Unless she had. Damn it.
Linda cocked her head at Rüd. "Cute?" she asked. Even with the babel stone communicating the idea, she didn't quite 'get' it. "And I... must admit I'm curioush... one moment." She clenched her hand and the humming from her arm resumed. "My head," she hissed. "I'm starting to understand why we didn't ingest that back home. Anyway, I must confess my curiosity about those 'stories of yore' you mentioned."
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 7:24 pm
When the boy was sufficiently distracted the mad merchant tip-toed off to the girl's tent and motioned for Quintus to continue after the young one.
Sam's manner was all a-flutter at the voluptuous thoughts of his lust-addled mind.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:29 am
Moving things along.
Quintus continued to follow the boy into the main tent to find a lavish setting that resembled a palace more than a tent. Rugs lined the ground, tapestries covered the walls, curtains arched and hung from the tent's roof, there were tables, and candelabras, cushions, trunks, even a few beds. The other guests settled in for the night and the boy jokingly complained about Sam's absence before going off to a back room of the tent to sleep, the main guard standing at the door. Quintus was left with a cushion in the main room and the guards at the tent's doors watching him like cats watching a snake.
Outside the ring of guards watched Sam threateningly as he snuck off to the girl's tent but then did not stop him. Inside he found exactly what one would expect of a harem - complete with a pair of rather large, likely eunuch, guards. The guards glared at Sam but did not stop him from coming inside. The girls gave him wary looks but coy grins and only shied away a little and (so long as Sam and Quintus didn't do anything stupid) the night passed well, the guards keeping Sam from having too much fun but allowed him to enjoy the girl's company as Quintus was left alone in the big tent.
When morning came Sam woke to find the girls gone from the tent but the sound of idle conversation and packing outside. Quintus had woken a few hours before when the big tent was rousted for breakfast. The camp was awake and while the Caliph and his guests enjoyed a breakfast of fine foods, the guards and servants packed for the day's journey.
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