Rogar sighs, and gets out the green staff again. He is not going to be removed from this tournement so soon, not if he can help it.
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Arena
"Oh ho HO! Simply cannot resist using your trick, eh? I don't blame you, sah. I'm quite the ol' wiz at the fencing game. But I'm a little disappointed really." He says digging into his coat pocket. "You should know a fancy trick like that won't work twice on a seasoned fighter! The next round doesn't begin til we both say, and in my palm lies the secret of your undoing!" He dramatically pulls his hand from his pocket and reveals his secret weapon, a blueberry scone.
"You see," Thel begins, removing his helmet, "The reason hares are among the most respected fighters in the world iss not just because of their speed and skill and wit and charm and good looks." He takes a large bite of the scone and continues speaking. "Ib bwash becaush theh wuh thuh fuhst beastsh tuh reuhlishe thuh impuhtansh uff ffild rashunsh." He spits the scone into his hands and molds into two spheres. "Rations were not only necessary on the move but they also kept several stockpiles hidden throughout forests and fields with the help of the squirrels and badgers." He smushes on the balls of chewed up scones onto into his ears and puts his helmet back on his head. "Food, like anything else in combat is a weapon! Used wisely it spells your enemies defeat! Now, have at you." Thel FINALLY takes his ready stance indicating he's ready to begin the fight.
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
There is indeed a sword in a perfect shape for Harnel's tail (though a bit shorter) just waiting to be picked up by him.
As the dust starts to settle around them the dryad slowly comes walking towards the half-dragon, nearly completely drenched in sand. She glances carefully in the direction greed disappeared to before turning to Harnel. "I'm so sorry." She says with a compassion he never heard before.
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
"It's fine," Harnel says, his voice a bit shallow, "Do you know anything about how to stop a bleeding wound? I'd do it myself, but I can't reach."
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
"I... could try, just one moment. This might hurt a bit." She reaches out to touch the stump that remain of his left wing. "Healing is pretty complex... and I don't really know how your wings work."
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
A sharp intake of breath from Harnel as the dryad touches the spot where his wing was, but he grits his teeth and forces himself through the pain, "Then get rid of them. I didn't have wings growing up, I can deal without having them for a while," Just make the bleeding stop. Please.
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
"You want me to just rip all this out? Because that's what I would have to do." The dryad tells the half-dragon with a grimace as she carefully let her fingers touch the muscles handing out of what was was Harnel's wings. "You're made up of materials, I'm not good with those unless it's living wood."
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
Harnel, at this point, is starting to feel woozy, and presses a hand to his forehead. He's losing too much blood too fast, "Stop asking and just do it!"
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
The dryad hesitates for a moment, his sudden anger making her nervous but then the half-dragon can feel the muscles that remain being pulled away with quite some force, the fey making sure she don't rip off too much at the very least.
This process will likely continue for a while, and so will the pain.
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
Harnel honestly doesn't look too good, as he breathes heavily, trying to keep himself awake. at least the pain is helping with that. The wounds keep bleeding as the dryad works, but Harnel doesn't have much of a choice beyond just letting her keep doing what she's doing.
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
Finally it seems to be over and he can feel the pain slowly subsiding as the wounds starts to close by themselves at the dryad's touch. "It's done, just stand still now and I will close the wounds." She promises him.
If he listens to her, the pain will after a while be dulled a bit, the blood loss cut to a minimum.
[Arcadia - Greed's Mountain]
Harnel will do as bid. As the pain dissipates though, he'll lose what he was focusing on to keep him awake. The dryad will be about half-way done when he falls over onto his side, exhausted and drained of vital fluids. She'll be able to finish the healing, but Harnel will have passed out.
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
As Harnel drifts from the conscious world into his own mindscape he can hear what he will recognize to be the queens voice calling out to him. "Very impressive! I knew you were the hero I was looking for! No one but you could have slain that beast. Too bad about your wings though. I really wish I could have mended them but I'm afraid I can't do much about physical bodies and your quest isn't over yet."
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
Harnel grimaces and looks around. if this is his mindscape, it's probably in a darkish tent. The floor is dirt with grass and mud, and a table sits in the middle of the tent; it's like an impromptu war room.
Harnel, of course, is sitting on a seat behind the table. in his dreams here, though, he still has his wings. "Yes well, wishes tend to be useful for that sort of thing don't they? You do intend to follow up on that, right?"
Harnel is understandably irked. He wasn't told he'd be fighting a representation of his own greed.
What does the queen look like here in Harnel's mindscape?
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
She appears before him, looking exactly like she did when he last saw her, sitting on the opposite side of the table of the war room. "Tsk, tsk, there are rules here Hero, I said I would grant all your wishes once you had finished your quest. But you aren't finished yet are you?" She asks with a raised eyebrow. Besides, she could not really affect terrestrial material anyway, that's what she used the kami for. "I came here to offer you something else though, a way for you to heal yourself. Are you familiar with aether infusion?"
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"I have a sense of what an Aether Infusion is, yes. Just what are you proposing?" Harnel thinks of the apples, and a few will arrive on the table in front of the queen and Harnel, stacked nicely. He'll take one and bite into it, enjoying the taste.
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"To infuse you with fey energy, free of charge, so you as a terrestrial creature can manipulate matter the same way as the primals can." Another term which he might have overheard from the mage, it basically means 'earth spirit' or 'ancient spirit', these beings were and are able to manipulate matter as they wished unlike the fey who are the shapers of dreams and concepts. "I fear you might not be able to finish your quest otherwise so you're going to need a lot of it."
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
Harnel quirks an eyebrow. This sounded too good, "And what effects would that have on my mind and personality? My body? How long would it last? You can't really expect to offer this and not really want something in return, whether that's something direct or just amusement."
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
The queen smile in amusement, "The effects are the usual in the case of infusion, you might start to act a bit drunk and your body may take on some fey attributes." 'Bit' is a understatement here. "...but compared to the pain and exhaustion you're feeling right now it shouldn't be much of a problem. As for how long it will last, as long as I think you need it. Seems like a fair deal no? I want you to complete this quest after all or I and my entire court will be brutally murdered by Ashar." She states, starting to look weak vulnerable once again. "I just need your permission first."
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"Well, this begs a few questions, doesn't it?" Harnel says, "First off, what's the threat this thing poses to you? I'm not asking for the sob story you told me in the castle. I want to know the real threat of what I'm dealing with, and what would happen if I don't manage to kill it."
The vulnerability isn't doing much to win over Harnel right now. Because of where the dream is taking place, his mindset is that of negotiations. if the Queen changed where his dream is taking place, she might get a more favorable result, but here, in this part of Harnel's mindscape, it's not going to work.
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"I never lied!" The queen exclaims, looking quite shocked at such an outrageous accusation. "Ashar is a powerful spirit and an enemy to all fey-kind. Our powers just don't work on it and hundreds of our kind die in his rampage! He's unstoppable!"
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"I never said you lied, I said that the sob story you gave me didn't make it come off as threatening, especially with the breasts thing you had going on at the time," Harnel says simply. He takes another bite out of the apple, and swallows before saying, "What I want is details about it, not just a vague description."
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"I don't know the details Hero, I'm just the queen, not a brave soldier like yourself." She replies in a somber tone. "All I know is that he's some sort of flying spider beast shrouded forever in ashes with countless of hideous limbs which tears everything they touch apart. Only you wielding Dickimius have the power to slay it brave Hero."
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
Harnel nods, then looks at the apple in his hand. His eyes narrow for a moment before he tosses it behind him, and he turns to look at the queen again.
"I don't want the aether infusion, though I appreciate the offer. I'll be fine without it. Are you able to do something about how wounded I am though? I know you can't bring back my wings, at least not yet, but I don't want to fight this thing at anything less than full strength."
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"I'm sorry, but I can't until you finished your quest. My powers don't extend so far. If I could have, I would. The infusion is my only option which is why I offered it to you." The queen replies.
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
Harnel scratches his chin, "This'll have to do then. Are you able to teach me how to control arcadia around me like you've been doing, or is that something inherent to feys? I would accept the aether infusion, but fighting drunk would be just as bad; it's not something I want to do."
"Well then, I hope you don't mind if I take a drink."
Rogar reaches into his clothes and pulls out a small vial with blue liquid in it. Then, he pops the cork and adjusts the clothe on his face to drink.
"There, now as you wish."
Rogar points one end of the green staff at Thel, then by using the magic of the haste potion he just drank, tries the extend the staff so quickly and so far, that the tip of the staff will rush at Thel and hit his chest. Sure, that means the staff will be very thin to reach that far, but it barely has that distance in its range.
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"Oh, it's not 'drunk' the way you think it is." The queen states with a shake of her head. "It's my fault for using your terms when I don't fully understand them myself. It's just like being drunk but without the negative sides of that poison you drink." She explains.
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
Harnel sighs, "Alright, go ahead. I reserve the right to drop the effect if I feel it's beginning to be detrimental. I need to be able to think clearly in a fight."
[Arcadia - Harnel's Mindscape]
"I knew you would come around eventually." The queen replies as the dreamscape starts to disappear around him, sweeping him upwards, back into the conscious world, back to the barely healed scars of his wings, back to all the hurt and the pain. Yet something feels different, his whole body feels lighter and it feels much easier to breath, the feeling a reminiscence of the times he spent under the influence of the fey apple seed. Another thing he might note is that his horns are feeling rather weird on his head...