[NEXUS] WATCHTOWER 14: Now a Family Business.

[BladeofObliviom]

[The Arena]

Well, Illusory fire cannot, in fact, melt ice. However, transmutation spells can. And transmutation happens to be Jakob's specialty.

The fireball is stopped by the barrier with whatever effect normal fire would have had, as the dragon attempts a leaping dive-bomb into the barrier. The dragon's definitely one of the Physical sort.

...Speaking of which, this might be a good time to move. Fast.

Also, if Reviline was to look upward, she would probably see Jakob's form crouched in the rafters, manipulating the entire scene from above. He glows faintly whenever a spell is cast, and he has forgotten to veil his presence.

[Murkus]

[Main Room]

Boris arrives here, presumably with Cornelia. He's carrying a silver briefcase containing his rifle. He says to the blacksmith, "I'll head to the firing range, test the modifications to my Vintorez."

"Oooh, can I see? I mean, if ye don't mind," Cornelia doesn't want to intrude, if he'd rather keep it secret from everybody.

Barracks

She stands up on her own. Maybe she thinks help here would let her appear weak. As she looks up he may notice her wondering what hshe sees.

"What are you?"

"Humankind call me Hunter." Dar says simply, studying her with equal wonder. Though perhaps of a different sort. "What are you?"

[Devixer]

[Main Room]

"Hm? Oh, sure, I don't mind." Boris smiles at her as he begins to walk over to the firing range.

[Murkus]

[Main Room]

"Hm? Oh, sure, I don't mind." Boris smiles at her as he begins to walk over to the firing range.

Cornelia follows eagerly. Boris seems to be pulling her toward more modern weaponry. It's rather fascinating.

Front Door

The homunculus looks like he's been slapped, his eyes flaring into green-orange flames. "Not very powerful? Not very-!?! HOW DARE YOU!!" The crude effigy of ash explodes into a cloud of fire and brimstone, the glowing green eyes still just barely invisible amidst the inferno, staring angrily down at Dar. "What do you know of power, little one? I have served the greatest kings, helped bring an end to the cruelest of tyrants, built wonders that no mortal could fathom and woven spells that would make the mightiest of archmages weep for what they do not know. And yet I offer you my help, give to you two wishes, a boon many would give their right arm for! A little respect would be nice!" As he speaks the ifrit changes shapes, turning into a dragon, a towering giant, a majestic roc, a six-horned demon, a great bear, and so many other forms, before finally turning back into a short little man made of ash and giving a bow.

"Yet you cannot returrrn one small thing to life." Dar says, his expressionless face rather hard to read. His thrumming tone doesn't change much until the shapechange, but even then, he's merely impressed. "You are powerful. You are nnnot powerful enough."

[Devixer]

[Firing Range]

When they do arrive here, Boris immediately sets about opening his briefcase, and taking the three parts of his rifle out of it. He gets to work assembling it, and it's only a few seconds before the rifle looks a little something like this.

The sniper starts to aim the Vintorez downrange, at the farthest target possible, while calibrating his scope.

[Murkus]

[Firing Range]

Even if he does pick targets off from afar, Cornelia still finds herself awed by Boris's skill. She watches in respectful silence, looking like most people when they watch a live golf tournament.

[Devixer]

[Firing Range]

Boris fires not only accurately, but quickly as well. He shoots a round every seven or so seconds, with a new target each shot. Some of the dummies made of weaker material might be damaged more than a regular 9mm bullet would do to it, due to the modifications made to the rifle. It should also be noted that the gun is incredibly silent, at least when considering more realistic silencers.

After just over a minute, Boris unloads the clip, and inspects his shots from afar. "Not bad."

[Murkus]

Firing Range

"That was... nifty." Cornelia says, clearly impressed. She can only hope to be that good one day. "Those glammy bullets? The dummies don't look so good."

[Chaotic Bob]

[The Arena]

Well, Illusory fire cannot, in fact, melt ice. However, transmutation spells can. And transmutation happens to be Jakob's specialty.

The fireball is stopped by the barrier with whatever effect normal fire would have had, as the dragon attempts a leaping dive-bomb into the barrier. The dragon's definitely one of the Physical sort.

...Speaking of which, this might be a good time to move. Fast.

Also, if Reviline was to look upward, she would probably see Jakob's form crouched in the rafters, manipulating the entire scene from above. He glows faintly whenever a spell is cast, and he has forgotten to veil his presence.

(Lookit me, missing this.)

The effect normal fire would have had would result in her little barrier melting over any sort of prolonged exposure.
But that's fine, since she was moving anyway.

Not like she had a choice, with a charging dragon.

One convenient part to the dragon specifically dive-bombing at her, is that it goes above Reviline, allowing her the opportunity to look up and note Jakob's presence.
Now, being rather close to a spell-caster of some skill, she's well aware of the signs of scene manipulation, even if not to which degree.

Is he a summoner, relaying orders?
A bothersome illusionist?
Meddling with her mind and this is all entirely not-real?

All three are a form of test she is not particularly fond of, even if she doesn't have a choice but to play along with it for now.
Oh wait. No she doesn't.

"Lady Luna, protect me."
As she quickly skitters away from her doomed-barrier (an awkward movement, in her rather long coat), a red haze forms around her body, before shifting to a green one.
Simple protective magic that takes a moment to properly form, as a protection against flames.

Couldn't she have used that earlier? Probably, but the ice wall was the instinctive reaction.
"Bring Your blooming children to bear."
More hazes appear around her, white, but they don't seem to be doing much at the moment.

Babysteps. Fleeing from being crushed and acquiring proper protection from the flames will have to do.
And considering what to do about Jakob. She has an idea about that.

[BladeofObliviom]

The Arena

As the protective magic flares up around Reviline and she makes her move away from the obviously endangered barrier, the dragon comes crashing down. Thankfully, she escapes in time.

Jakob, in a quick motion, attempts to completely get rid of the ice barrier. It'd be quicker to hide it from view, but then she'd probably end up tripping on it later.

Anyway, as the dragon lands, an even more potent illusion occurs. The entire arena appears to be shaking violently. Further, Jakob weaves the illusion a level deeper, attempting to mess with her sense of balance to simulate the effects of an actual tremor caused by thirty tons of Scale and Bone landing not twenty feet away on relatively hard-packed ground.

Still, the dragon itself appears to be inactive for the moment. This is a decent chance to counterattack or grab a weapon (the floor is littered with them) or something more clever.

[Chaotic Bob]

So many enchantments being laid about on the place.
One is bound to be noticed, sooner or later.
But then, perhaps it doesn't matter so much, when Reviline has already guessed the source.

With magic dutifully deciding to play with her balance, the woman topples down to the ground, catching herself on her hands and knees.
Illusion or direct mind-magic makes this even more undignified, leading her to look rather irritated.

But back to the main scene, she makes no grab for any of the nearby weapons or offered means of success.
She doesn't know how to use them. Never something her kind has needed to deal with, having their own affinities.

The hazes around her, three to be precise, solidify somewhat, into the translucent shapes of beautiful moon-blooming flowers.

Two immediately begin drifting off towards the dragon, seeking to latch onto it.
With these particular flower-constructs, draining of energy tends to occur when latched on. If the illusion is solid enough for the effect, they'll happily eat magical energy.

"Luna's harbinger of dusk shield you."
The third flower is receiving another magic, a brief darkening of the air around it, before it decides to vanish completely.
It is an invisibility effect, although one that seems more dependent on a natural magic, as opposed to an arcane one.

This flower, so cloaked, will be making a trip towards Jakob.

[happyturtle]

Cessie's Room

Spoiler

Show

[Cessie's Room]

Wenomir tenses up. I spoke to Terrowin about keeping slaves once. He assured me that they'd got rid of all their slaves. If it turns out he lied to me, there'll he a hell to pay, he says grimly.

Cessie's Room

Brand relates what was told to him by the three slaves.

[Cessie's Room]

Wenomir face turns gloomy. Well, gloomier. This bears investigation. Maybe it had all happened before they got rid of their slaves... but mabe not, and we can't risk it. We'll have to be discreet, though, which means I'm not the best candidate for the task.

"Do either of you know where this Hermitage is located?" Brand asks.

[Morty]

[Cessie's Room]

Wenomir strokes his chin thoughtfully.
Hmmm... no, I don't. Terrowin has always kept it secret. Which only lends credence to the theory that he's still keeping slaves. We'll have to find out somehow.

[Devixer]

Firing Range

"That was... nifty." Cornelia says, clearly impressed. She can only hope to be that good one day. "Those glammy bullets? The dummies don't look so good."

Boris nods. "I'm surprised at how quiet the rifle is, with the new rounds and all." He absentmindedly starts to refill the empty clip with another ten bullets. "The scope's new as well."

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Room]

Cessie shakes her head, "I don't know either and somehow I don't think asking Terrowin would be a good idea." She looks at Wenomir. "Could he be kicked out of Watchtower if these claims were true?"

[Murkus]

Boris nods. "I'm surprised at how quiet the rifle is, with the new rounds and all." He absentmindedly starts to refill the empty clip with another ten bullets. "The scope's new as well."

"What's it do?" Cornelia asks. She's familiar with scopes - just short for telescope, where she comes from - but this gun seems full of surprises.

[Devixer]

[Firing Range]

"If I got what I paid for, it should be able to see through things like invisibility," Boris replies. "Shame there isn't an easy way to test it."

[BladeofObliviom]

[The Arena]

Jakob doesn't seem to notice the drain, unless it's siphoning off a large amount of his mana. Anyway, the Dragon is no more than an image, with accompanying special effects supplied by separate illusions and transmutations.

Of course, this causes the Dragon's form to flicker a bit, even fading away completely in a few of the less active areas. Jakob seems to find nothing wrong with this.

More dangerously, perhaps, is the fact that the Dragon has already gotten back up on its feet, turned around, and begun charging at Reviline again! Oh noes!

[Murkus]

Firing Range

"Could go find a witch. Use 'er fer target practice." Cornelia suggests. Wily old hags, turning see-through and running scared when things look bad. "Bet they'd try a glam if ye pointed that thing at em'."

[Morty]

[Cessie's Room]

Cessie shakes her head, "I don't know either and somehow I don't think asking Terrowin would be a good idea." She looks at Wenomir. "Could he be kicked out of Watchtower if these claims were true?"

Yes, definetly. But kicking him out isn't enough. If his cult it still keeping slaves, they need to be freed and the cultists brought to justice. But yes, we need to find the temple first. Maybe our Observatory will be of use.

[Devixer]

[Firing Range]

Boris can't help but smile at that. "As long as the witch is actually hostile towards me. I wouldn't point a gun at someone who didn't deserve it."

[Murkus]

Firing Range

"Oh, m'just jokin. Don't care fer mages is all. They cheat." Cornelia nods, as if she were the expert.

[Devixer]

[Firing Range]

"I wouldn't know," Boris says. "Haven't fought one yet." And some people could probably consider him a cheater for fighting from almost a mile away, so he shouldn't judge.

[Chaotic Bob]

[The Arena]

Jakob doesn't seem to notice the drain, unless it's siphoning off a large amount of his mana. Anyway, the Dragon is no more than an image, with accompanying special effects supplied by separate illusions and transmutations.

Of course, this causes the Dragon's form to flicker a bit, even fading away completely in a few of the less active areas. Jakob seems to find nothing wrong with this.

More dangerously, perhaps, is the fact that the Dragon has already gotten back up on its feet, turned around, and begun charging at Reviline again! Oh noes!

The cloaked flower makes a point of not being particularly overt with its draining, but it will feed on whichever energy is most active or prevalent within Jakob. Which is likely his mana, since he's actively maintaining several spells.

Having the dragon fade in places is definitely immediately useful.
Proves that it isn't a physical summons.
Which takes out a touch of frantic-ness Reviline had here, but doesn't entirely disprove any danger of the situation.

Shame she can't just dispel magicks, like other people she knows.
The flowers seem to be feeding properly and causing malfunctions...so perhaps now would simply be the time to place Keep Away.

See if she can wait this out.

So, in the face of the dragon's charge, she resumes moving around the arena, a rather brisk (hasty) pace.
Frosting the ground over a little so she can slide, for more speed, might in the works too...

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Room]

"Of curse not, I'm just curious how far a member can go before they are fired from Watchtower. Merrak is the only one I have seen leave." She explains. "In any case, freeing the slaves is our greatest concern. How does the observatory work exactly? I haven't seen it in use so far."

[happyturtle]

Cessie's Room

"Whatever it is, we should try it," Brand says.

[Morty]

[Cessie's Room]

It's not really my area of expertise. Using the Observatory has always been DC and KR's sthick. Which, due to their players' unreliable posting rate, presents obvious problems. But yes, we'll try it. If it doesn't work, we'll look for other methods.

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Room]

"So how does it work then Wenomir? As Brand pointed out, we don't know where the Hermitage is after all. Is there some sort of enchantment helping us see it?" The mage asks.

[Morty]

[Cessie's Room]

Wenomir shrugs. It's a crystal dome with a scrying spell cast on it. I think it's also hooked up to some of the computer. I don't think you need to be magical to use it, though, so I can do it if I have to.

[Murkus]

[Firing Range]

"I wouldn't know," Boris says. "Haven't fought one yet." And some people could probably consider him a cheater for fighting from almost a mile away, so he shouldn't judge.

"Oughta try it. Challengin' work. Very satisfying." Cornelia comments, still watching Boris.