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 Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 6:30 pm
(("(I just made up the game on the spot... I imagined something fun involving magnets... Invisible Cyclone may have up to 5 players. (the sixth block is to allow more color choices.) This game contains small parts and is for ages six and up.) "Lol nice. But I don't really get the game confused ))
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 6:42 pm
Perrault only stared at the several game pieces scattered about the center of the caravan floor.
"So, this is a Draon game?" he asked, "It sounds kind of hard..."
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 6:56 pm
"Um..." Farfarello studied the pieces, "what do you win?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:05 pm
(You try to collect as many quartz beads as you can. The closer the block, the more beads you catch, but you also risk stopping the cyclone and not gaining any at all. I forgot that you remove the beads you caught after the round is through, so the beads you catch, you keep... It's based mostly on luck.)
Hashmal nodded, "Most of our games are rather complex, but Invisible cyclone is the easiest to learn... and the most enjoyable. As for winning, the only prize is the sense of triumph over the other players
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:29 pm
Farfarello looked at the pieces. So in other words, he thought, you don't win anything. But this also meant not losing anything. "Okay," he said out loud, "sounds fun!"
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:57 pm
"Alright, so the demon is in. How about you, elf?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:39 pm
((So it's just a magnetic version of 'Hungry Hungry Hippos.' No, I'm not back in the sense that my poor computer is healed, but I have minimal access to a computer... er... whenever someone else isn't using it. I hate laptops...
By the way, anybody seen 'House,' the TV show? Awesome show.
No need for summary, and I will post shortly.))
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:42 pm
((And, everybody, I feel so loved. xd ))
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Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:49 pm
(Z! you aren't dead! and yes, but with a mini cyclone in the middle...
And I love watching that jerk of a doctor.)
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 1:29 am
Ephlas walked out of the Utopia Academy with three large books under his arms to find - no one. Raedou and Hashmal were gone - and Clem wasn't in sight at the moment, though the sorcerer had no way to know that Clem wasn't gone, too.
So, the Magus turned and strode back into the Academy. He forwent the library this time, to walk up the stairs and onto a higher floor; this part of the tower being where the many clear surfaces - mirrors, small pools, the like - were located, for the purpose of scrying.
Ephlas could not scry. Many common practices of magic, he could not perform. But a great number of the talents he could do, were... unorthodox.
Ephlas sat down cross-legged by a pool only twice the diameter of his own body - in other words, if he was standing in its center, by stretching his arms out, he could just barely reach opposite sides of the circle.
The sorcerer dipped a finger into the pool, then watched as the water rippled. A frown crossed his face, and Ephlas stood and walked away, searching, until he found was he was looking for: a pool, not more than six inches deep, but in a strange, four-sided pool that had sides of unequal length. The result was a sort of trapezoid, but that wasn't even exact.
This pool was much better, apparently, because Ephlas didn't even dip a finger into the water to test for... whatever it was he tested for.
Then he picked up one of the books he had set beside himself and opened to a random chapter. From there, he read three pages.
"Hm... I did not know that my forearm is the length of my foot," Ephlas admitted before closing the books. Now, with his eyes closed and his back rigid, posture perfect, the Magus began a sort of silent chant.
This created a magical effect in the water, but this was not discernible from the scrying chamber. The effects were to be discovered far away, on the edge of Rantuinne.
Ephlas was famous - or infamous - with the Academy of Magic and Science, or at least, he was at one time, many years prior. Now, after all this time, he had returned, though without notice (so far), to use the facilities.
It was perfectly legal for him - a Magus - to be using the chambers, although without permission, without asking beforehand (although he would have gotten this permission), Ephlas was probably going to be subject to a degree of anger or frustration - especially if the new Archmagus was temperamental or just followed the rules and regulations to the letter.
((I'm envisioning his use of the 'facilities,' so to speak, as sort of a thing House would do. To the all-business Academy, Ephlas' magical pursuits are tolerated to a degree not found with other magi, because of who he is. It's not because he's a powerful magus. It's because he's very learned, especially in many unknown areas. He's not directly affiliated with the Academy, but I think the Archmagus would know him or of him. And be rather antagonistic, though unable to really do anything to inhibit Ephlas. This is curious - I want to see where it goes.))
~
Dakon stood in the middle of a sea of slain Horde. He had done little to nothing - he had fought when his help wasn't really needed. This wasn't very good - in fact, it was actually very... difficult, for lack of a better word.
The Sand Warrior, the Walker of the Sands, surveyed the Ganzi around him, though looked at no one directly. They were also entities of the Sands - though distinctly different than he.
Someone was calling his name. Dakon walked in the opposite direction than the city was in, not leaving, but just examining the various species of Horde.
"Callos Magnamentudes, Perae Velsodians, Tacque, Tacque Bolon, Revus Maximutes... and there are also the other, nondescript species...." Dakon continued to murmur to himself, listing scientific names of various species of the Horde that he knew.
"The golems don't typically rise out of the Sands, especially near cities," Dakon continued to murmur to himself. "They were attracted to the city, but they aren't intelligent enough to wage tactical warfare... or, are they? They can't be getting smarter...?"
Dakon continued to speak quietly to himself, wandering around the battlefield and ignoring everything but the deceased Horde. His sword was extinguished and on his back once again, and the small bag of... something... was safely hidden away on his body again. No telling what that bag would have done, but it would not have been good to invoke - especially since it hadn't been needed afterall. Dakon had no inkling of what the mystery substance would do, but he felt that it would be... of gigantic and monstrous proportions, even to the Horde colossi.
The Sand and the heat continued to have no negative effect on Dakon as he slowly walked around.
~
Bael didn't really care about Telgove's report. A subordinate the creature was, and Bael could see for himself that the Magus had been effective in halting Dela's major resistance. Now Dela was occupied, civilians were fleeing (bad choice for the king, in Bael's opinion), and the land was ravaged by the short but clearly evident throes of war.
The royal adviser and most powerful Mindbreaker was walking along the outer walls of Dela, his hand trailing along the crenelations, surveying the destruction. It was... good.
The king would be requiring his presence soon. Already they needed to organize an effective defense, for fear of counterattack, and to specify their plans to delve deeper into the heart of Favraes. A lost prince slowing them down? Ha! Soon their new king was going to be riding towards them... very soon... along with an entire army.
~
Helenne was now sitting at a table. Their armies' advance had been halted before it had even begun. The news, along with a few thousand refugees, had reached them before they'd even left the city limits. Dela was, no doubt, already being fortified. And with their supreme number of soldiers, Helenne knew there was no possible way to take the city. The only solace was that the number would diminish drastically as the forces of Baelta split themselves - all civilians, and a number of soldiers, would have to stay in Dela to hold it defensively, even if an army were to immediately approach the capital city of Faras.
Helenne's own base of operations was to the west. From there, her own men could easily mount an assault on Dela - a side assault, catching them off of either defensive flank, and try to trap the invading force between two armies.
Of course, the new inhabitants of Dela could know nothing about [i forgot the name of Helenne's city : ]'s own amount of soldiers; it held far more than a regular city would warrant in defense, simply because it was the base of Rebellion operations. Most of the forces were still there, too.
Since Dela was held by the Duke of Elmire's forces, and was allied with him, none of its inhabitants knew of the numbers in Helenne's base, or even that it was her base, and so by interrogation, Baeltian forces would learn nothing of the sort.
Helenne had already discussed and outlined most of these facts to the Duke. Now, in the private map room, they (along with any generals and such Elmire would care to choose to or not to invite) were beginning the process of brainstorming military strategy.
Two of Helenne's six knights were also there, observing from the background.
Myrrelda stood atop a tall watch tower at the edge of Utopia. She wailed, a fierce, hair-raising moan of impossibly deep note, sounding more like the call of a whale from thousands of leagues below the sea, than like the emittance from a dazzling beauty of a demon.
Only the most experienced Magi would realize the origin of this sound, which echoed across Utopia (where it was quickly coming to dusk at this point). Demons, they say, are more powerful in the night. Myrrelda knew whether this was true or not, but couldn't care less at the moment. She was wailing for her love.
He had left, after so long she had tried to find him. Now it was time to take flight and give chase. She did not fly incredibly fast; hardly faster than the ordinary crow. But she was certainly more devious, cunning, attractive, and intelligent than a crow. Attractive, maybe, but beauty she could not steal. The crow was a beautiful creature.
Before any Magi could react and send a probing spell to discern her whereabouts, Myrrelda jumped, and flew. South.
((Myrrelda could be the source of those bodies, unless your idea is better. Don't say yes on my account, though - she'll enter the story soon enough, either way.))
Soon enough, an absurdly strange (but not unbelievable) thing occurred. A change could be felt in the air by the caravan-goers, briefly, before what had happened was already over.
This change would feel only as if... air pressure was higher, briefly, causing that sensation in everyone (human)'s ears that would cause them to pinch their nose and blow, in order to 'pop' their ears.
But the sensation was gone almost before it started.
During the momentary change in the air, a large amount of moisture in the air had draw together and condensed into a single point, in front of the stopped caravan about four yards away. Now a mass of water was floating a foot off of the ground, with no discernible shape - at first. Slowly, the water changed shape and grew, first legs, then arms, then a head, as the figure took shape. The legs descended down onto the ground, the arms formed at the side, and the head blinked its new eyes with the odd yet familiar fashion of a slightly removed-from-reality person known as Ephlas.
The... thing... was clearly water - it looked and sounded like moving water, though as if an invisble container shaped like Ephlas contained it. And the invisible container moved.
Ephlas' "doppleganger" of water turned its head to face the caravan, surveying the people and the surroundings. Then it blinked again. Then it laughed.
The laugh sounded exactly like Ephlas' voice, and the water moved in a realistic fashion as it imitated the Magus' facial features. It was a completely functional water clone of the Magus who was already located hundreds of miles away, back in Utopia.
"I'm glad I caught up to you, but, er... why did you leave Eopia?"
((There are mountains along the coast between Eopia and Rantuinne. I made the map. So, along the coast, is jagged cliffs that drop into oceans. Unless you want to go all the way around the mountains and through the center of the desert (not a good idea), you have to negotiate semi-perilous to perilous paths leading around the eastern side of the mountain. Basically, the paths that, if you drive off of, will end you up at the bottom of the sea - but not before being crushed by the jagged rocks.
This should make for an interesting scenario in the case of a battle of some sort.
And no, the Horde is not intelligent enough to make a sign. Even if they're getting there, they don't have any sort of language system, and even if they did, they wouldn't know the humans'/Ganzis' language.
Also, SPI, what was the name you had for the capital of Rantuinne?))
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:34 am
((House = Awesome XD. So that's what you've been doing this whole time...))
((Also, this is assuming they could hear Myrrelda's wail. If not then... just... pretend it didn't happen and he was on the top for fresh air or something.))
One could see the white around Farfarello's eyes as he whispered, "Oh, God," (possibly the worst thing a demon could say) when the whale-like noise reached his ears. He couldn't help but scramble up onto the caravan's roof to see if he could see what had caused the noise. He could not.
The demon swore when he saw the water-clone of Ephlas. "That's amazing! The things people can do with magic." He reached his arm down in an attempt to touch the clone.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:07 pm
Ephlas (who was twelve feet away from the caravan that Farfarello was on top of), backed a step away, hands raised. Obviously, his water form wished not to be touched. Who knew why? He might lose hold of the water and the clone splash back down to earth, or the physical contact could invoke a severe electrical shock. There really was no telling with magic.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:08 pm
((Farfarello can hear if he wants, but it would be too faint (over such a long distance) for anyone else to. Besides, being a demon himself, he could probably hear it anyway, all the way from hell.))
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:32 pm
"Oh come on," the demon said, acting offended, "am I that bad? Hey," he hung his head inside the caravan, "Ephlas is here! ...Sort of."
Farfarello's thoughts were on the wailing he heard, and he tried no to jump to conclusions to what it might be. Just so long as it's not someone I know. He thought. Then he cringed, Please let it be anyone but her.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 1:01 pm
(I wanted to name it Al-Maas...)
Leonard and Clem entered the room containing Ephlas, although for a different reason. Leonard noticed the sole occupant and blinked, "You're back?!"
"Wait... you know him?" Clem said, slightly confused.
"Know him? He's from the Ylos branch, a top tier member..."
"I'm a top tier member too..."
"Yes, but you're in sciences, he's in magics... You're both some of the most excellent researchers we have..." Leonard explained, "Although I wonder what he could possibly want here..."
---
The Baeltan forces had successfully rebuilt the damage they'd done in a short amount of time. the cannons were wheeled to fortified positions on the improved defenses, which were built to hide targets from magi. Refugees from the country had begun taking residence in the houses, but it was crowded... in order to survive, Baelta would have to take either two towns or a single city... or they would heave to make Dela larger...
The King had already taken steps towards the latter, building a basic temporary wall to cover the tent town, expanding Dela to twice it's original size. It would take months to build a new part of the city, even with all the labor and materials readily available. The best the could do would be construction of a wall.
The knig oversaw the construction, shaking his head, "It's not enough, is it? Another attack will risk more lives... but we need more room."
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