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 Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 9:41 pm
The blast was loud, the blast was sudden, the blast was threatening -- which was why, almost immediately, the Elvaan breached over and ducked for cover, finding the first refuge she could.
...
What seemed like an eternity later, Lise found herself crouched underneath a desk in a fetal position. The room was now silent, and her arms were clutched tightly around her head.
What...just happened?
"Uhn--"
She blinked the world back as she opened her eyes and stood. Innately, her response to that first hazy sight of the room in carnage was the instinctual "fight or flight"; and though Lisenia was not particularly known to fight (well, more accurately, fight and win) in the first place, something in her didn't feel particularly like running, either.
So she stayed in place. Her gaze again browsed the smoke-filled room, this time resting on the three forms of Fenrys, Seth, and Tryph. She was silent...and trembling, actually; but still she refused to move from her place. Why did everyone automatically run to him? It wasn't like-
And then before she had a chance to inaudibly answer her own question, she broke into a cough. It wasn't like a normal cough, but deep and painful, from inside the lungs. With each second, the smoke was getting thicker and cloaking the others, and the ceiling was beginning to concave above. Desperately, Lise clambered over the desk and made her way near Fenrys and Tryph.
"No..w... wha..t...?" she bellowed out to anyone willing to answer, while holding one hand over her mouth.
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 3:03 pm
Still lying on the ground, only now without anything on top of her, Tryph wished she could only have a moment to think. She was still shaking like a leaf, but at least it was easier to breathe on the floor...
"No..w... wha..t...?"
The ringing in her ears had subsided, and the slight Mithra could hear the Elvaan woman's query from somwhere behind her. Despite the circumstances, some of her previous social reservations held and she was hesistant to reply, but with her head clearing and the ceiling creaking...
"I... ah... come on." Her voice was scratchy, quiet. She coughed and spoke louder, her tone laced with fear. "We have to get out of here."
She formed a palliative by retrieving the arrow within arm's distance and using it to cut a strip of cloth from the sleeve of her white shirt, holding that over her mouth as she rose into a crouching position. Tryph looked oddly natural as she slunk across the floor, like a cat... aside from the one hand she held to her face, she moved very easily and was soon clear of the smoke that billowed into the sky.
The adolescent was just in time to see the mage, about twenty-five feet away, fail a spell through the few people that ran about like headless chickens. Tryph quickly drew her shortbow with the presumption he couldn't counterattack, nocking an arrow was ease despite her shaking hands. She didn't have the mind to actually fire it, but a bluff could work just as well - if the destructive mage saw he was up against two people with arms drawn, he might surrender. If he didn't see her and attacked Fenrys... well, Tryph was an incredible shot.
... and if he came after her...?
Truth be told, despite her remarkable ability to keep her weapon steady, she was terrified. Her silver-blue tail twitched back and forth, she coud feel her skin growing cold, and the look on her face was hardly one of a practiced warrior.
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:52 pm
Fenrys leapt into action in a blur of white platemail and realized, with some horror, that everyone's initial reaction to the situation was, in fact, making a right goddamn mess of things. Everyone was attacking the wrong person, with the possible exception of the mage who had caused the ruckus, who seemed justly angry. Unsure of how exactly to sort out the commotion he did the best thing he could think of: Protect everyone. After a couple of coughs as his crystalline blue shield faded he cried clearly "Altana! Give me the might to shield souls! COVER!". The skill he'd used did exactly as it implied, for a brief moment Fenrys' senses were heightened to a point where he could sense and intercept attacks of any kind even when they were not directed at him, effectively covering or shielding any nearby allies or objects of Fenrys' choosing. For an instant in Fenrys' perception, everything froze, and in that nonexistent moment, Fenrys processed three individual threats. Someone was about to fire an arrow, someone was trying unsuccessfully to cast a spell, and not far away there was an uncontrolled and unfocused buildup of ether. And when Fenrys got a clear sight of the events just outside the tree, he knew exactly what was going to happen.
Tryph, in an act of self defense, was about to shoot one of Windursts' most renown magicians, the magician was trying frantically to cast spells he believed to have mastered long ago, and Seth, had unknowingly taken his Ether Focus.
In a split second decision, Fenrys opted to worry about Tryph's arrow when the time came, and sped to place himself between Seth, the magician, and whomever the magician's target was. This would've been all well and good, except everyone's current placement made that impossible. Fenrys changed direction, placing himself squarely in front of Seth. "STOP CHANNELING!" he yelled over his shoulder, and without lowering his voice any he looked at Seth and shouted "THE AMULET! NOW!"
The realization Fenrys had made, having played witness to the entire scene was that, the mage, in his furious attempts to continually cast a fireball without knowing where his focus was, was inadvertently building up excess ether in his focus, which just happened to be in Seth's palm. Furthermore, it was about to release this excess ether in the form of the angry fireball that the magician wished so fervently to cast, and it was going to hurt. A lot. The icing on the cake was that Fenrys even saw in the distance the boat from Kazham coming in, which carried diplomats here to discuss Kazham's independence from Windurst. A talk which would be made difficult if Windurst's center of government was up in flames. A right goddamn mess.
Fenrys induldged in another curse word.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:10 pm
The young man looked around, a puzzled frown growing on his face. She gave another sharp tug and his eyes followed downward, giving a start when he met the large, black-eyed face of the Mandragorian. Then with a smile and a bow as he began talking very fast.
"Oh! You must be one of the representatives from Kurzham! Come with me please." He spoke cheerfully, though she was a bit confused with what he meant. But she followed anyways, trying to keep up to his long strides by almost trotting beside and a little behind him.
"This way Madam...?" He asked questioningly, his step slowing that he finally realized she was having difficulty keeping up.
"Shanara. Shanara Al'Carhn" She pipped up in her soft, high voice. Grateful that she did not have to continue half-running just to keep up with this long-legged hume. They seemed to be heading deeper into the town now, the heavy smoke looming closer. Shanara suddenly realised this and asked.
"Pardon me, but why is there smoke coming from the city?" Her question seemed to jar something within the young boy, who quickly introduced himself as 'Piete Shinra' before turning around. His jaw dropped, and his eyes bugged out before he took off at a running pace, forcing poor Shanara to take off after him with a petrified squeek and frantic questions of where he was going.
She guessed from his reaction that he hadn't even realised. And soon she lost him in the crowd, her small feet pattering on the cobble-stone street as she kept heading towards the smoke, hoping she'd find the boy again.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:14 am
And where was Chime during all of this?
Calmly collecting her package. The explosion had knocked the Gradian off her feet, even though she'd heard it coming--landed her underneath the better part of a collapsed wall for several critical seconds. Not having to breathe, she responded with little distress when smoke began filling the room, and instead calculated how and where best to get the collapsed wall off of her.
As Hume, Elvaan, and Mithra alike had escaped outside, they wouldn't be there to witness as two blades the length of a grown man's arm suddenly sprouted from the collapsed wall. Seconds later a webwork of cracks radiated from the blades--and then, with an air of great patience, a foot kicked through.
Quite unable to resist this abuse, the wall fell apart into so much rubble. Chime strode out of the billowing cloud of dust, shaking her arms to return her blades to their places. It did not take long for her to arrive at the conclusion that the Elvaan had abandoned her post...but the package (fortunately) and delivery slip had been relatively unmoved by the explosion.
Chime signed her name on the dotted line, collected the package, and strode outside into chaos. The scene--assessed in a flick of her red eyes, and met with a blink--received a single comment from the Gradian: "I believe I will have my packages delivered to my place of residence from now on."
This was going to be interesting.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:54 am
Before Seth could really even manage a blink, the paladin was in front of him, demanding, for some reason, the amulet. Seth, however, was hurled into a panic.
Too late he sensed the massive buildup of Ether in his palm, noticing just now, for some reason, that this was the wizard's Ether Focus.
So, what would any logical Mithra do? He'd hand it to the paladin.
Seth wasn't really logical.
But that doesn't mean that Seth hoarded the amulet all to himself, preferring to take his chances, but the Mithra chucked it over the paladin's shoulder like one would an active or lit grenade or bomb, and hoped for the best.
Had the paladin turned around, the Mithra would've offered a sheepish grin.
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RogueKazimeras Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:16 am
Normally, Blitz would be very concerned that an ether focus brimming with the energies needed to contain a fireball had just been hurled into a crowded room, the crowding of which he was a contributor. However, he had been fortunate enough to anticipate something bad happening to him in Windurst, and purchased an invisibility potion from the duty free store in the boat. Having quaffed this after covering himself, in case it failed for whatever reason, Blitz was already well outside the tree and walking away.
As the invisibility potion wore off, Blitz placed his left hand on his right shoulder causing his robes to retract into a simple, ragged sleeveless tunic and a pair of dusty trousers. The sudden daylight streaming into his bright yellow eyes took a few moments to adjust to, and Blitz had unknowingly revealed the runes tattooed on his right arm, so it was with exceeding haste that he refitted his shirt to have sleeves.
Well, if something happens, at least I'm not the cause of THOSE explosions. He thought to himself. I mean, after all, it's not my fault that it happened, although it was my fault that he was mad at me, and I didn't really do anything to stop it... and there are a lot of people...
Blitz turned to look back at the gaping hole in the side of the tree, before firming his resolve. Screw that! I'm not taking responsibility for exploding the tree. It's HIS lack of self control. I'm just here on a job! And with that, Blitz headed for the Windurst Port Authority. If nothing, they could direct him to the Embassy that Bastok had built in Windurst, and he would be able to get directions from there.
Today was proving particularly trying on Blitz.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 4:11 pm
Running through the crowds, Shanara cried out for the young man, untill she smacked into something she didn't dodge around in time. Small enough to literally bounce right off a man with yellow eyes, her things went flying as she landed on the ground about six feet away, that was how fast she was running about.
Dazed and confused, she just lay there a moment, groaning as she put a tiny hand to her forehead, muttering in her native language.
"This just isn't my day.. " And then she looked up at the man she had run into, just as sleeves had appeared on his shirt. Mouth open, she just sat there staring.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:50 pm
Just as he'd finished changing his clothes, he felt something small and fast bump into him. Looking down, he saw Shanara on the ground. Though normally he would be worried if she had seen the markings on his arm, he was stricken with a feeling of immense sadness.
Oh no! He thought. This child is stuck in the body of a plant! He then mistakenly added, Is there anything sadder? Only drowning puppies... and it would have to be a lot of them.
Blitz didn't normally think such outrageously abnormal things, but for those times he did, he was lucky that there would probably not be anyone peering into his mind. Blitz clasped his hands together and concentrated, forming a rough, canvas jacket around his shirt, and started to pick the mandragora's things off the ground, as he looked to her. The young man offered his hand to help her up, and said the following:
"I'm sorry, little boy! Here, let me help you up, and I'll take you to someone who can get that cute, little curse off you." were the words coming forth from his mouth, as his face beamed symptomatically of foot-and-mouth disease.
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:13 am
As his clothes changed again, she could almost see the bonds of ether forming about him.
But his first words made her mouth shut so fast her teeth clicked together as she answered him, standing up herself and dusting her cloth 'toga' off. The Mandragora's high-pitched, but clearly female voice dripping with venom.
"Litte boy? Knowing your kind in this world, and from the look of you, I'm probably twice your age young Hume.." Her dark black eyes stared up into his golden iris'. 'At least I THINK he's hume...' She thought warily as she continued. "And I don't know what your talking about with this curse buisiness."
She felt utterly humiliated and annoyed, though also scared. How many other people would view her as such?.. a freak.. Lowering her eyes, her tanned face softened as she realised the poor boy thought he was helping. The flower growing out of the side of her head wilted slightly, her skin becoming slightly grayed as if light wasn't touching her body and feeding it for a few seconds, but it was gone just as quickly, going back to her healthy glow.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't get angry at you.. Thank you for picking up my things though.." And with that, Shanara held out her little hands, a silent guesture for her property to be returned to her.
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 2:36 pm
For all the indignance the small, not-a-boy, not cursed mandragora seemed to give off at this, Blitz seemed unaffected, continuing to sport a genial look on his face. Hell, some might even have thought that he had "mistaken" her appearance entirely on purpose in his own brand of comedy. Regardless, he handed Shanara her things, and casually brushed the hair out of his eyes that had fallen there.
"No problem. My name's Blitz; it's weird, I know." He said, introducing himself as he stood from the kneeled position he had taken to retrieve her things. "You look like you're in a hurry. Where were you going? I may be able to take you at least part-way."
Blitz's eyes shone in the light as he surveyed the area around him. He was still pretty close to the post office, and the port authority was pretty far away. If she was headed anywhere in Windurst, chances were that he could take her there without making too much of a detour. Besides, walking and talking always mad the trip seem at least a little faster than walking alone, and talking alone always made you look crazy.
"Oh, right. What's your name?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:30 pm
With the force of a gun, Fenrys' feet almost exploded off the ground, leaping towards the fast flying amulet. His armor vastly restricted his range of movement, and as much as he wanted to arch his back to get that little bit of extra reach, it so happened that his armor was as inflexible from the inside as it was from without. As such, instead of getting a clean grasp on the amulet inside his palm, his fingers merely grazed the chain on which it hung, and he barely managed to pull it in close to him as he came clattering to the ground.
By the time Fenrys straightened himself out, he realized that he no longer had time to dispel the ether as he had originally intended, and that he now had to opt for the next best choice: containing the explosion. He stood up, leaving the amulet on the ground, then shouted "SHELL!" with his hand thrust towards the amulet. Much like when the post office suddenly exploded inward, a crystalline shield formed from his hand, although it was green this time, and not blue. Under it's new protective casing, the amulet shuddered violently before exploding with the force of a gun...Only a gun that shot atomic bombs, or maybe meteors.
For what could pretend to pass as an instant, Fenrys' makeshift green shield managed to contain the explosion entirely, before it shattered abruptly and a giant pyre of flame erupted into the sky. The force of the second explosion knocked Fenrys off his feet, sending him sliding across the ground, but at the very least, his plan had the effect he'd hoped for. Namely, the Great Tree wasn't on fire, and he wasn't dead. "Two for two....Not bad..." he thought to himself moments before he passed out.
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Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:14 pm
Looking at him suspiciously, she found it odd that she took it all in stride. Most hume got so offended over the littlest things that she had learn to tread careful around them. After all, it wouldn't take much for one to overpower her. Hugging her box of seeds tightly to her person, she slung her bag of clothes over her shoulder before answering.
"Shanara, And I'm heading out of here, though some young man seemed to think that the way out was in the middle of the town.." She grumbled again, this had not been her day. Hume were so scary looking, and could hurt her so easily. At least that's what most of them thought. Though she was not strong physically, she could manipulate nature with ether so deftly that it had sometimes puzzled the wizard that was at the hume post near her village.
She could protect herself, but did not like to flaunt her gift. "What happened over there?" She could barely make out something large and smoking from between people, though she felt something very wrong, as if her insides were twisting about and that the ground underneath her groaned in pain.
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:56 am
Seth wasn't exactly sure what had become of the angry magic user, but didn't really care either. He moved to stand over where Fenrys had passed out, peering down at him and then squatting down so he could get a better look at him.
"He don't look dead..." Seth mumbled to himself. He had no idea how to tell, either.
"Yoo-hoo..." He said a bit quietly for trying to wake someone up. "Fenrys... wake up." Seth sounded a bit grouchy. He had wanted to get outfitted with some new stuff, and this whole wizard thing had just ruined the entire thing...
He didn't exactly want to slap the poor paladin; he had been through enough today. So, he just waited for a bit, until he noticed a strange shaking sensation in his pocket.
He produced the medallion that had been sent to Fenrys, the one with a black tiger upon the silver. He moved it over Fenrys' head experimentally, and raised an eyebrow as it began to glow.
A single small beam of blue, revitalizing energy shot down from the tiger, which was on both sides of the medallion, and went to Fenrys' head, restoring his energy and allowing him to get up should his armor permit him.
Finding the charm unharmed, Seth tucked it away quickly. Wonder what else it could do?
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RogueKazimeras Vice Captain
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