[Nexus] Trog's Tavern CCXLIII

[Reinholdt]

"Flesh magic? Like healing and shapeshifting?" Nadas asks, taking notes.

"Do grigs study or train or is this all come natural to them?"

Nadas is not the battling type, sorry.

[Lost_Deep]

"Yeah, I like to get creative with it. It comes natural to grigs, like those human sorcerers, but more so. It sometimes takes some time to figure it out, but once they have it it's easy."

She leans back. "I hear that first generation grigs can take a long time to figure it out... doesn't surprise me, really."

[Reinholdt]

"First generation grigs?"

Obviously she can't be referring to the very first grigs ever. Must be something else.

[Lost_Deep]

"Oh, when a bug or crab or something is in contact with fairy energy for too long, they become a grig. I've heard what it's like... even saw it once. Apperantly, the critter is all, "Whoa, I can think!" and then the humanoid upper body just kinda erupts out of the bug body, and it looks really cool."

...that sounds rather disorienting for the new grig.

[Reinholdt]

"I see. I'll have to try and witness this event sometime in the future." Nadas says scribbling some notes.

"So then these new grigs... err... 'get together' with other grigs to form new generations that are more potent with their magical skills?"

[Lost_Deep]

"Eh, no one's really sure. Some grigs are better, some are worse. Some people say that either additional generations are stronger, or that new grigs are stronger, or that if the kind of magic meshes well with the kind of grig it's stronger, but I just think it's all random chance."

Random chance: the great uneaqualizer.

[Reinholdt]

"I see. So were you born from a spider?" Nadas asks.

[Lost_Deep]

"My mom was a spider Grig, yeah. Gigs lay eggs, by the way. Not sure what generation she was... or about my dad. Usually Grigs only lay a few eggs, but my mom..."

"ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh...."

"I don't want to talk about it."

Nadas got a lot more information out of Vriveka about her parents than most people combined.

[Reinholdt]

"Alright." Nadas says, making a few more notes all the same.

"So what do grigs eat? Do they have any cultural rituals? What's their relationship like with other fey?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Almost all plants can be considered parasites to an extent. Their roots deny the nutrients of others, and they grow tall to block the sun from reach those around them. Even the plant I am bonbed to evolved past symbiosis into a predatory role naturally, and it's only been through careful research that I've found a way to bring it back to what it once was." Shayan explains sedately as her eyes turn to the newcomer in the bar. She doesn't deny that the plants she's created have little other application than to cause misery, but no one in Trog's seems to care all that much, even though she explained it plainly.

"So you work in magic? Some of my own abilities lie in that field, but I've never pursued it actively."

"Oh, yes, my talents lie entirely in magic. Well, magic and a certain way with animals I suppose." Isabelle smiles fondly at Cedric.

"I've always been fascinated by the creatures...and how inadequate they all are. With but a few spells, any animal can be turned into the thing it should be. It takes a lot of research to determine how to make the changes" and a lot of dead animals too, "but the results are well worth it. Aside from my animal improving spells, my magical repertoire is mostly limited to a number of spells for the protection of myself and my animal friends."

[Slii Arhem]

"I see. All of my magical 'talents' were inflicted on me. Mild precognition and sometimes a premonition or two on occasion. I also seek to improve things, though I focus on improving people by giving them beneficial traits from other species. As I said, I mainly work with plants while Cin covers other areas." Of course, people are animals as well in a sense, but that distinction hardly mattered.

"Have you ever tried using your spells, or variants of them, on humans or other sapient races? The results might be interesting to watch." Even the results of a failure would be interesting on their own.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Humans? Sapient races?" Isabelle's smile fades. "But...then I would have to do research. Lots of research. And that would mean a lot of dead people." Isabelle strokes Cedric gently, "I would be a mass murderer. Somehow, I doubt people would approve of this."

Not that she hasn't killed before, mind you.

But something on this scale would be different. Uh, well, sort of different.

Those foolish people who tried to stop her studies had it coming. Not quite the same thing as just killing random people for research.

"Perhaps I should explain a bit more. My spells, they do not work on everything. For each type of creature I work on, I had to fine-tune the spells, make variations on them in order for them to work properly. So each new piece of work requires more research."

[Lost_Deep]

"Alright." Nadas says, making a few more notes all the same.

"So what do grigs eat? Do they have any cultural rituals? What's their relationship like with other fey?"

"Grigs don't need to eat, and every fey varies a bit in how they work with other fey. For the most part, Grig things are more permanent than other fairies."

She leans in, "And there isn't much much worse than a bored fairy, you know?" She looks him straight in his eyes. "Enough about me... what about you? Anything you want?"

[Reinholdt]

A little hard to do when he's always looking down and writing stuff. Though he occasionally looks up, especially when addressed, so I suppose she can look him in the eyes.

"Me? I just find absorbing knowledge and learning about new subjects enjoyable. That's all I really desire."

[Slii Arhem]

Shayan smiles serenely, "When I needed to do a lot of research, I simply went to the terminally ill ward and masqueraded myself as a doctor. The patients there will sometimes sign their lives away to potentially life-saving research. For some of them, it's a chance to end it all without guilt, on their own terms. You may not get as many as you wish on the first try, or in the first hospital you go to, but by going around to them all you'll find enough volume eventually with some persistence. And once you have results, then you really are helping to improve things for everyone and putting your expansive talents to use, no matter the lives it cost along the way." Of course, Isabelle may not have the resources that Shayan does in tricking the staff and patients into going along with what she says, but they are colleagues, and nothing says that AMENites can't work together towards a common goal on very rare occasions.

[Lost_Deep]

"Well, I have a thing I want to do, too. I've helped you along with your part, and how about now you help me with mine, eh? I've played scholar with you, and so now you get to play artist with me!"

She drums her fingers on the table, and raises one eyebrow suggestively.

[Reinholdt]

Nadas will close his book and put away his pen. He doesn't know if he likes the undertone of this conversation.

"You'll have to be more specific before I commit to anything."

[Lost_Deep]

"You know how I said that I liked to use my fleshwarping creatively, and then I asked if there was anything you wanted, and now I'm going on about art? Do I really need to spell it out? Or can you already see that and just hope that you're getting it wrong?"

She doesn't like being straightforward, it seems.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Well, that's an interesting idea. Isabelle makes a mental note to remember that.

But...

"Well that would be one way to go about doing things, I suppose. But I don't think I'd be entirely comfortable cutting people up to stare at their inside bits. That, and testing out the spells and making sure nothing goes wrong can sometimes be...messy." And she can't really make sure everything is working properly after being zapped with magic if the person is unconscious, can she?

The possibility for some rather unsettling screams and exploding organs is definitely there.

It's there with animals too, admittedly, but that bothers her less.

"It's an interesting idea. Maybe something to consider for the future, though."

[Reinholdt]

Nadas puts his notebook away and grabs the top book of his pile on the table. "Well to be honest, I-" Nadas doesn't finish the sentence, instead throwing the book at Vriveka and slipping out to make a dash for the exit. He can be surprisingly nimble for a guy in robes. Must have had some practice in the Weald after all.

Anyways, he just hopes the element of surprise is enough.

[Lost_Deep]

Vriveka will take a book to the face, but as she does so a set of four long, clawed arms will come out of her back and lash toward Nadas, trying to grab him. While not as effective as it could be, the element of surprise (and a book in the way of her eyes) keeps from swinging towards him as he runs, instead swinging toward the chair.

[Reinholdt]

One or two of Vriveka's claws may catch hold of his robes near the arm closest to her. Depending on their design, they may either slice through them and cut into Nadas a bit, but not stop him, or snag on them and cause him to stumble in his efforts to rip himself free.

[Lost_Deep]

The claws are designed to catch, not cut. The third claw reaches over to touch him on the forehead.

"Okay, okay, if you feel so strongly about it, I'll just leave a little thing to remember me by."

If sucessful, Vriveka's magic will cause chitin to grow over most of Nadas's body. It won't be on his face, feet, or hands, so it is possible to cover it up, but it will probably take a bit to get used to.

[Slii Arhem]

Well, that's an interesting idea. Isabelle makes a mental note to remember that.

But...

"Well that would be one way to go about doing things, I suppose. But I don't think I'd be entirely comfortable cutting people up to stare at their inside bits. That, and testing out the spells and making sure nothing goes wrong can sometimes be...messy." And she can't really make sure everything is working properly after being zapped with magic if the person is unconscious, can she?

The possibility for some rather unsettling screams and exploding organs is definitely there.

It's there with animals too, admittedly, but that bothers her less.

"It's an interesting idea. Maybe something to consider for the future, though."

"If you ever run out of handy animals to work with, I'd be happy to help you move on to other subjects. Sedatives and restraints usually keep the messier bits of research from being as much of a problem." The vine-lady replies happily.

Meanwhile, Nadas' flurry of movement triggers the cactus on his table! It shoots a flurry of spines at him as he bolts from his chair, as well as at Vriveka when the book thunks into her face solidly. Shayan looks interested to see the result and cranes her neck slightly in their direction.

Edit: I have been double-ninja'd, but this bit of action should have happened just as Nadas was being snagged, but before the chitin (if the chitin happened at all)

[Reinholdt]

Unfortunately for the plant spines, his trajectory got drastically altered by Vriveka's snag, though admittedly the fact that he was shot at being triggered by him moving out of the way helps him out quite a bit as well. Anyways, they miss just because he ended up going in a direction no one really predicted. Which happens to by and large be down.

And Nadas isn't quite out of tricks just cause his first one didn't work fully. As much of a bookworm that he is, he is still drow. As he tries rolling away from Vriveka's grasp, he throws a sleep spell at her. It's... pretty the only spell he can cast on the fly and it seems iffy at best when it comes to actually being of any use. Might not work at all.

If that or the spines shooting at Vriveka doesn't stop her, then she'll be able to touch him.

[Lost_Deep]

Vriveka takes spines to the gut and a sleep spell to the face. For the sleep spell, she looks tired for a moment and then perks up like she suddenly has caffeine in her system.

She does, by the way. She can easily flood herself with chemicals of her choice.

And it seems that she is straight up ignoring the multiple plant-induced puncture wounds. As thus, she is able to touch Nadas.

[Reinholdt]

Well then, chitin it is. Nadas shudders at the feeling, though he's already wearing more than enough to cover it up so what occurred is not immediately apparent by a long shot. For whatever reason he wears enough to cover up that much normally.

Though Nadas panics and does something he doesn't want to do. His eyes glow, the tiny circle of red in his pupils becoming more solid, enveloping more of his eyes. One paying attention to his back might notice a symmetrical pair of unusual lumps growing there as well, large enough to be visible through the robes.

Paying attention might be problematic as a mostly uncontrolled fireball shoots up from Nadas at Vriveka in a desperate attempt to remove her. Unusual, seeing as how he wasn't great at magic just moments before, casting pitiful sleep spells. Anyways, collateral damage is entirely probable.

Posting ahead of Slii cause I'm gone for the rest of the day. Bye.

[Slii Arhem]

((The cactus' reaction was just because of the large amount of movement and vibration Nadas caused. Sorry for making you think you had to wait for me.))

Shayan looks on as the two continue their confrontation, taking note that Vriveka seems to be the only one hit by the spines of the cactus. She'd be the one to watch later then, if Shayan wanted to study the long term effects of this.

Then chitin and fire happens, and she shrinks back a bit instinctively even though she's far enough away not to feel the heat. Fire is a pain to deal with on the best of days, and if her test subject is burned to a crisp, then that means she's going to have to wait for someone else to go thumping about like a big ox.

[Lost_Deep]

Virveka takes a fireball to the face and stumbles off her chair. A bit of flailing and excited exclamations later and she appears to have completely forgotten Nadas, while trying to put out the fire.

"...barbeque- hey, how long have I been bleeding?"

Her hair is still on fire, but right now she's examining the damage to her shoulders and the places that the needles pierced her tank top... Nadas could probably get away right now if he hurries.

[OrchestraHc]

Meli nods, clearly a bit unsure about how exactly to conduct research. Though the Elf is very clearly interested in doing so.

"That is a good idea. I am not sure how to research such a thing, but I will try."

Meli writes, smiling optimistically.

Louis nods, all there is to say about that matter. Which brings a previously skipped matter to mind.

"Would you like help searching for a job?" he asks Meli.