Planeside

[Fenric]

[Orochi's Palace]

Mitch shakes his head

No, no: Spells and the like are not quite completely unrelated to what I do - your magic can heal a normal person just as well as a shadow. You'll just feel it more and get reaction sick faster when you use positive energy because it's foreign to you. Negative energy based effects will be easier, more powerful, less taxing.

But Enchantment? That's all or nothing: there's an extent you are putting a bit of yourself into the work, and that can't be sidestepped with spells. All he can provide is the muscle and his skills with the hammer and tongs, or it won't work.

then he nods

Sure, that's not a bad idea. Let's start easy: a hammer.

he quickly welds together a short rod and a stout chunk of bar-stock and hefts it.

Feels about three pounds - not bad for a little sledge. There's a mason here who's been wanting one and I've been putting it off: let's finish it up.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon?]

Fortuna begins singing!

The bright, clear notes of Heal Bell fills the air, protecting her party from the knockout gas filling the room. That's probably a good thing, right? You keep being helpful, Fortuna!

Magnemite zaps the substitute with lightning! Pew pew!

And Khannie?

Well...

She's looking to try to get another good hit in, her little fist wreathed in shadows.

When she finds that lizard, she's got a sucker-punch with his name on it.

[Deathkeeper]

Orochi's Palace

Steven nods. He's a bit bothered by that. Negative energy might be useful for helping shadows that don't truly have living bodies, but most of his people do. Now, technically they just need a rhyming couplet and he has all the power he could possibly need, but he does't like that one of his primary functions is going to be harder simply because of his nature. Oh, well. He supposes it's not so different from pursuing a career in literature after growing up on a farm several miles away from the nearest public library.

The fox stands beside the human smith, careful to stay out of range of any flying sparks while Mitch shapes the sledge properly. The shape is easy; sledges are just blocks on handles. They need some specific balancing and such, but in the end that's what they are. Steven starts small, using the shadow-shaping power as Mitch suggested. A mason's hammer should be able to take punishment, after all. Self-repair should keep it from chipping even after years of work. It'll only be a small version of it, as he's not going overboard his first time, but as he said: it's a hammer. It shouldn't really be taking much punishment on a day to day basis that a hammer isn't designed to handle.

[Fenric]

[Orochi's Palace]

This will go on for a while, with anyone who wants taking turns, until a small array of gently-enchanted tools have been produced. As this has really dragged on long enough and travel is almost as fun as small talk when there's nothing for the end but "and then they got home", I think we're done here :)

'til next time!

</plot>

[Lost_Deep]

Dungeon?

As the flame ball goes off, neither the kecleon nor the substitute are seen. This guy is really good at hiding. Kate takes a guess and fires some electricity in an effort to light him up, but doesn't get the right angle or something.

"Your form is amateurish," The voice comes, "permit me to demonstrate,"

And then a trio of blast orbs are thrown at the group. Each one will release a small explosion when it breaks on the ground, likely at the close group's feet.

[Deathkeeper]

Dungeon?

Zebes pushes off with his wings, and manages to avoid actually getting hit by the orb, though the explosion does catch his feet. Yowch, that stings.

"You see? You sound so much more menacing like that. Of course, it really doesn't matter all that much. You're a small-time con. I mean, face it, you fooled money out of a town that assigned a child without thumbs to handle their personal belongings. We have the whole legendary hero thing going on, and that makes you a mini-boss at most. You seen any dragon-types or anything around here? I don't want to waste all my energy before the real challenge."
There's something odd about his words. Almost mind-bending.

Jace used Swagger!

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon?]

"Really, we could probably just hang around until you tire yourself out on us," Fortuna points out. "We have a healer, after all.

That would, of course, be her.

Khannie doesn't waste time with words, however.

As soon as those orbs are loosed she's diving toward the lizard, aiming to clock him right in the jaw with a Sucker Punch. Boy does she ever move quick when she wants to!

[Lost_Deep]

Dungeon?

As Khannie leaps for where he SHOULD be, the Kecleon isn't there. She may hear something above her for a moment, though. Kate, for her part, was blown up, and so needs a minute to get up.

"Haven't you been paying attention? Come on, what separates the fools and the intelligent? The wild and the civilized? The heroes, and the forces they over come?"

Kate's eyes light up. "ITEMS. HE HAS ITEMS. HE'S BEEN HEALING HIMSELF THE WHOLE TIME."

As Kate comes to the realization, a lagging tail gets flung at Fortuna. Those things are HEAVY.

[Deathkeeper]

Dungeon?

Aha! There he is. "Forte! Give us some light again!" Zebes says, grinning as he reads Jace's plan.

Jace, for his part, seems wholly unworried about Kate's revelation. It made sense. Duh. Item vendor. But he just needed Kecleon to keep talking and throwing things long enough to figure out where he was.

And when Jace can get a read on where he is, he can do things like float high into the air and use a burst of psychic power, attempting to give himself a strong impression of the kecleon's behavior.

Jace used Role Play!

And what does he do with it? Act like a master thief of course. Kecleon doesn't have clothes on his back to take, but he has something else there he probably can't do without....

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon?]

"It's already light!" Fortuna yells back giving a grunt as the heavy item thwacks into her barrier. "He's doing color-change stealth stuff."

Color changing stealth stuff is really annoying.

But not as annoying as guided missiles.

Fortuna cups her paws in front of her, conjuring up an orb of ultramarine so pure that it's almost painful to look at, and then hurls the chakra bomb at the obnoxious lizard. The orb accelerates toward The Great Leon at a frightening pace!

Khannie is grumbling by now!

"Hold still and let me punch you!" she demands of the thin air. She has SO got a Comet Punch with that dumb lizard's name on it. In her frustration she hauls back and smashes her fist into the nearest pillar, shattering the thing rather spectacularly.

So much for ancient carvings.

[Lost_Deep]

Dungeon?

The aura sphere heads for a pillar, and Kate, after a moment, rushes after it. She's pretty fast, now. As the sphere rounds one side of the pillar, Kate rushes to the other, and shoots her lightning cone at the opposite side of the pillar. This is greeted with a substitute appearing, being electrocuted, and then being broken by the Aura Sphere.

"If he's the sneaky PC," Kate says, "We have to be the broken boss encounter. Khannie, break all those pillars. Fortuna, Jace, Zebes if you have anything ranged, Magnemite, our job is to flood the room like a touhou character. If anyone gets him, everyone homes in on him, AoEs, aim for the-" THWACK! A sickly purple sphere pegs Kate on the back of the head.

Jace's Role Play was kind of effective... it's a simple plan, Kate's about got it figured out. The most important fact is the fact that the Kecleon will be targeting healers, things that he considers a threat to his hiding, and leaders.

[Deathkeeper]

Dungeon?

"Forte, you watch it, you're a target." says Zebes, picking up on Jace's mental signals, though with their bond diminished from the pokemon world it's difficult to convey ideas more specific than "him->Fortuna."

Zebes takes off, flying straight towards the nearest pillar and demolishing it with a Brick Break. It should be reminded that Dragonites are surprisingly fast at flying despite how un-aerodynamic they are.

Jace, for his part, merely grins, his V-ears glowing brightly as he releases an enormous cone of energy in front of him, slowly moving it about like a flashlight. It's not luminous or as generally powerful as Blue Flare, but Heat Wave covers a big area when he needs it to.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon?]

"I'm still good for some more pummeling," Fortuna says from her position near the ceiling. Her barrier is cracked, but still holding. And while she might look a little banged up, she's on tough little mew. Especially now that she's type-swapped over to Psychic/Fighting! Her fur has taken on a rather gi-like appearance and she's sporting a tough-looking headband! Even her normally noodly arms and legs are quite a bit more robust than usual!

She gives a rather loud ki shout as she gathers the strength for a second aura sphere and lets the charkra missile fly!

That lizard might be tricky, but homing missiles are trickier!

And Khannie?

"ATATATATAT!"

Would you look at that?

She's going all Fist of the North Star on that poor pillar.

[Lost_Deep]

Dungeon?

A red stripe, a mask, and a loot bag leap from one of the crumbling pillars, through the air, into the Heat Wave, is pegged by the aura sphere, and vanishes behind a pillar.

Kate sees enough to see where he went, and fires her cone of electricity in that direction. It's a bit late, and the electricity doesn't go around the pillar, but he's going to have trouble leaving that pillar now.

[Deathkeeper]

Dungeon?

Zebes drops to the ground as the pillar crumbles and spring-boards off of it into the next one with a Brick Break, then diving out of the way as Jace fires another Heat Wave. He aims up a bit, as to avoid Khannie as she inevitably runs towards it.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon?]

You bet Khannie runs for the pillar.

She's going to smash it good!

And hopefully not get caught on fire in the process.

And Fortuna?

She's not making another aura sphere this time around.

Nope!

She's getting ready to grab that lizard in a telekinetic vice-grip as soon as she spots him.

Gotta catch 'em all!

[The Hedge]

Familiar and yet...

So very not.

The Hedge is a strange, surreal echo of the Waking World, all the various human contrivances replaced with forest scenery. The hallway Gwen now stands in is little more than the interior of a massive tree, grown over with moss and fungi and ferns. Little luminous mushrooms hang from the ceiling, filling the hall with eerie light.

Spooky.

Now all Gwen needs to do is figure out how to find Aldrovanda.

[Ionbound]

[The Hedge]

Gwen smiles grimly as she walks into the Hedge, and looks around, taking in her surroundings and wary of Aldrovanda having prepared an ambush for her. If nothing jumps out, she smiles to herself and starts down the tree's hallways, looking for a way outside.

[Rebonack]

[The Hedge]

It doesn't LOOK like there are any traps getting ready to spring at a moment's notice.

There, are, however, lots of surreal plants and a few colorful insects that look like living illustrations. It probably shouldn't come as much of a shock that this place has a very dream-like quality to it, one's sense of time and distance are both skewed and warped simply by being here.

Has it been seconds?

Or years?

One can't really tell for sure.

But what Gwen probably CAN tell for sure is the fact that there don't seem to be that many faeries around.

Which is likely good.

Hopefully Reynardine and Lee don't notice Gwen skulking about in the Hedge...

[Deathkeeper]

The Hedge

There's the sound of snuffling, and then a dark equine face pops out from a gap in the trees from Gwen's right.
"I thought I smelled a certain someone. What the heck are you doing here, Gwen? Just because Iriel's got you protected from name-stealing doesn't mean this place isn't dangerous as all heck and back. You should leave now." says her brother, hooves not clopping for once on the soft ground as he steps into view.

[Ionbound]

[The Hedge]

Gwen smiles when she sees Grant, but she sounds awkward when she says, "Oh. Hey. Didn't expect to run into you here. Um...I'm getting your name back, one way or another. If you want to come with me, fine. But don't try to stop me."

[Lost_Deep]

Dungeon?

Kekleon leaps from the pillar as it suffers critical existence failure, and it replaced with rubble. He is scorched, zapped by some of Kate's lingering lightning, and then telekinetically grabbed.

And then Kate uses thunder wave, paralyzing him.

"Woo! Got 'im!"

...

"I don't feel so good."

[Deathkeeper]

Dungeon?

Zebes settles onto the ground and offers Kate a pecha berry.
"Might have been something nasty in those things he was throwing. Try this." he says, holding it out.

[Rebonack]

[Dungeon?]

For good measure, Fortuna aims to lift the lizard into the air a bit and then thwack him into the floor.

BAP!

Why?

Nothing like bludgeoning someone into unconsciousness to take the fight out of them.

"I thought the Kecleon brothers were our friends..." Khannie mutters as she watches the chameleon pokemon get floor-beat. "Why would they do this to us?"

Also?

Now that the last pillar is destroyed, the barrier around the Spirit Stone lifts away!

[Deathkeeper]

The Hedge

"Uh, okay. Did you mess up what that other plan was? What's the plan now?" he asks, tilting his head.

[Ionbound]

[The Hedge]

Gwen shakes her head and says, "I think it's different. I've...Been looking at stories. And some of the stuff I managed to get out of Maph seems like it confirms what I think. Still...Now is a good time to test it while I can still get to the door."

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, saying quietly as she focuses her whole being on her words, "Who am I? I am...Wrath, in the form of Vengeance. The one I love above all others was taken by the fae. I am here to save him. Those who have come before me, lend me your strength." She produces a white mask and a toy sword from her jacket and puts the mask on, lifting the sword to the sky, hoping to invoke at least one tale of one being saved from the fae.

[Rebonack]

[The Hedge]

Gwen believes!-

-believes as HARD as she can-

-that her vorpal blade is keen and true!

And so it is.

The young kelpie will be able to tell that something similar to, but rather distinct from, glamor just happened. A magic that warps what is through sheer force of will rather than running off anything so silly as rules. Lucid dreaming, no doubt. Because of course Gwen would be Lucid, right? How else would those holes to the Hedge have been so abundant to being with? Though on the upside, this probably means she actually has a chance to pull this off.

Her toy sword doesn't look any different.

Not even a little.

But it has become impossibly sharp. Sharp enough to cut a shadow from the floor.

[Deathkeeper]

The Hedge

Lee blinks, narrowing his odd-shaped eyes."Hey, isn't that mi-" he stops as several hairs on the back of his neck (yes, he knows that's called a mane) prick and he senses something happening.
"Oh hey, you did come prepared this time. Neat. And you even thought to test things. Great! Glad that you sat down and planned this out." he says happily. Gwen's finally learned her lesson about running into danger without preparation.

Well, at least he thinks so. If she told him she'd planned on beating Aldrovanda simply with the power of tropes, he'd have been much less confident that she thought this through.

[Ionbound]

[The Hedge]

Gwen smiles as the sword changes, and says to Grant, "Not exactly what I was going for, but good enough...Thank you for having faith in me. I told you I'd fix this." Her grin widens as she lifts the sword and says, "Now then. Let's go get your name back."

[Rebonack]

[The Hedge]

That's the weird thing, though.

The sword doesn't change.

At least not in any visibly noticeable way. But as is often the case with dreams, anyone looking at that toy just knows how lethal it is. It has an aura of menace about it, a feeling of power. Gwen is less so holding a sword as she is holding the concept of a sword. And here in the Hedge where ideas hold all the power, the concept of a sword is a dangerous thing indeed.

Soon the siblings will find themselves standing before the otherworldly echo of their front door.

Who knows what wonders and terrors lie beyond that threshold?

There is, as they say, only one way to find out.

[Ionbound]

[The Hedge]

Gwen looks at Grant and says, "Well...Here we go," as she opens the front door, sword at the ready.