VIGIL 4: Swordfights!!! on Air

[Zefir]

[Vigil Skybase - Training Grounds]

Mia will answer his call telling him she will be there asap.
It only needs a minute or two befor Wenomir can see her. She is wearing her high priest robe, a long robe with many ornaments that restrict her movement quiete a bit. Looks like she was either on her way out or just came back. She pulls a transport trolley in front of her which is loadid with several tools for the analysis, Laptop, Scanner, even a drohne with scaner and camera and some more things.

"Hey Wenomir, what's up?" she says and already starts the tools for the obviouse portal.

[Morty]

[Hangar]

Either Wenomir didn't believe Isaac, or it's reflexes taking over. Or, perhaps, the barb about a sword-wielding peasant got to him in a different way the cyborg hoped. Whatever the reason, the swordsman twists his torso aside as the weapon fires. Of course, dodging a laser point-blank isn't easy even for him, so the energy bolt glances him on the side. The armour absorbs most of the impact, but Wenomir swears and backs away a couple of steps. Isaac might find himself looking at a severed stump of his weapon, though. Wenomir's sword moved to cut it in half in a space between two blinks.

"Or you'll go tell everyone how we backstabbed you, like your superiors probably expected you to," he says through gritted teeth. "Will you - ugh - stab yourself and tell people I did it?"

[Vigil Skybase - Training Grounds]

"That's what I hope we can find out," Wenomir tells Mia. "This portal just appeared next to me."

[Commander's Village]

The psionic connection will have trouble establishing itself in Wenomir's mind. Now that he's getting ready for battle, it's achieving razor-sharp focus on the task at hand, and trying to connect to it is like finding your way through a layer of solid steel.

The swordsman then goes on the offensive, closing his distance and trying to push Illveria's sword aside, then following it up with a downwards chop from above his shoulder.

[Ionbound]

[Commander's Village]

Illveria blinks, caught off guard by the sudden resistance, and then swears as she misses her counter-beat, allowing her sword to be knocked away and Wenomir's blade to pierce her armor and draw blood from her arm.

[Morty]

[Commander's Village]

Wenomir's sword will fall on her arm and draw blood, then, unless otherwise stopped. If it succeeds, the swordsman will step back and lower his weapon.

[Ionbound]

[Commander's Village]

Illveria steps back and glares at Wenomir as she bleeds slightly from the arm and asks, "What is wrong with you? Do you not have a mind or something?" clearly disturbed by his steely focus.

[Morty]

[Commander's Village]

Wenomir frowns, perplexed but also suspecting what happened.

"I do have one, last time anyone checked. Did you try to affect it somehow?"

[Zefir]

[Vigil Skybase - Training Grounds]

"That's what I hope we can find out," Wenomir tells Mia. "This portal just appeared next to me."

[Vigil Skybase - Training Grounds]

Mia nods and starts the scaner. First of she tries to find out what kind of portal it is like is it magical or technologie. Also she tries to scan if the can find out where it leads like another world or just somewhere in the nexus. Her tools can detect magic as well so this schouldn't be a problem.

[Ionbound]

[Commander's Village]

Illveria frowns, perplexed by this, and says, "I...I'm confused then. Why couldn't I reach your mind?"

[Deathkeeper]

Debate Night

Tep nods at the speeches.
"I believe it's been said well enough. Economic cooperation and trade is the best relationship possible between Eastside and the other cities in the Nexus. Major organizations willing to contribute will be welcome to cooperate and work within our borders.
I, however, draw a line at AMEN. It will not be welcome under my guidelines, because I do not negotiate with fools who blow up train stations for fun. Throwing aside lives so callously is not something that shall be overlooked. Ever." the demon says pointedly.

[5a Violista]

[Vigil Skybase]
Approaching the skybase

Grey ash is found blowing in the air. It approaches Vigil's skybase. At first, it doesn't seem significant because each individual speck of dust is pretty small and far away. However, as the ash approaches something unusual about it can be spotted: there's a large quantity of ash all blowing along the same wind current, and none of it is getting lost or scattered.

In spite of this, it continues approaching the island on a single and focused current.

Eventually, the ash blows itself to...
Northwest Peak on the Island

The ash starts to swirl. It forms a grey woman, still floating just above the ground. Her clothes are grey, her hair is grey, her skin is grey and cracked, and deep inside her grey eyes burn a dull ember. From a distance, she may look like a ghost. However, she most definitely is not one.

Her mouth smiles wide, as her skin continues to crack. She looks around the Vigil skybase. This will be fun. Also, a good chance to experiment with these Valcano rocks she has, to find their hidden powers.

She grabs a stone from her dress pocket. With a few deft motions, she draws geometric patterns on it. "In accordance with the principals of creation," she whispers to the stone, "let the hammer of eternity descend unto me."
Then, she hurls it down the mountain towards The Training Grounds below. The stone sparks as it rolls down the hill, then starts to glow. First, a dull color, before a brighter cherry, and continues to visually heat up to an orange.

Smoke pours from it, then it makes a loud *snap!*. A small explosion - no larger than a horse this time - erupts from it before the stone burns out.

[Shadowcaller]

Hangar

"The peasant trying to murder me with a sword says I'm being played. Uh huh," Isaac jabs, hoping his barbs are just enough of a distraction to keep Wenomir's eyes off his hands. After all, knocking Isaac to the ground just means his sidearm is within his reach once more. He quickly grasps the weapon with both hands and points it at Wenomir, but doesn't fire. Not yet, at least. "Listen, I'm going to set this gun to its stun setting, and fire. If you're really not responsible for any of this, you'll take the hit and it'll give me a chance to get out alive without anyone suspecting you helped me. We can meet on neutral territory and solve this riddle later, when your pyromancer isn't around and casting spells to cover up whatever she did to my aircraft," Isaac offers, before pulling the trigger. His gun doesn't actually have a stun setting, but what Wenomir doesn't know, can't hurt hi-oh wait, yes it can. Uh oh.

Elsewhere, the hovercopter's flames have been contained. It's too late to save the hovercopter and its pilot, but at least things shouldn't get worse than they already are.

Hangar

Cessie continues to slowly expanding the radius of the bubble to put out the flames. It will take a while but it would put all the flames out eventually. Wenomir could deal with Isaac on his own, hopefully.

[Recaiden]

It just so happens that around this time, some flower petals were dancing on the wind, sweeping from village to village, floating up along the monorail, and getting caught in a little whirl of wind that sent them round and around the track on the [Training Grounds]. Finally they all draw together and break apart in a puff to reveal a woman with quite a bit of color. Her skin is olive, her robes are pink, the jewels she wears shine green and gold, her eyes deep brown, the staff in her hand flashing silver.

Let's see. She was here to give something to Wenomir. Or was it to scold him about how easy it is to arrive here by magic? No, there must have been something before that. Perhaps both. Before she quite figures it out, a stone comes bouncing down the hill and explodes in smoke and fire.
Now, an onlooker might say it's just a small explosion, but she is no larger than a horse either, so it's a cause for at least a little concern.

"Hey! Be careful up there!"

In fact, it looks like she's striding up the hill to give the other rocks (and whoever disturbed them) a piece of her mind.

[Morty]

[Commander's Village]

"I've met so many psychics, mind-readers and enchanters that blocking my mind off from them is a reflex now," Wenomir explains with a shrug. "When I enter a fight, I focus and keep intrusions away. But you didn't answer my question. Why did you want to connect to it?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Commander's Village]

"She wanted to learn all your sword-fighting secrets!" Anika calls out, having apparently overheard the conversation.

[Lord Magtok]

Hangar

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[Hangar]

Either Wenomir didn't believe Isaac, or it's reflexes taking over. Or, perhaps, the barb about a sword-wielding peasant got to him in a different way the cyborg hoped. Whatever the reason, the swordsman twists his torso aside as the weapon fires. Of course, dodging a laser point-blank isn't easy even for him, so the energy bolt glances him on the side. The armour absorbs most of the impact, but Wenomir swears and backs away a couple of steps. Isaac might find himself looking at a severed stump of his weapon, though. Wenomir's sword moved to cut it in half in a space between two blinks.

"Or you'll go tell everyone how we backstabbed you, like your superiors probably expected you to," he says through gritted teeth. "Will you - ugh - stab yourself and tell people I did it?"

Hangar

Cessie continues to slowly expanding the radius of the bubble to put out the flames. It will take a while but it would put all the flames out eventually. Wenomir could deal with Isaac on his own, hopefully.

"I don't need to tell them anything. This helmet's already recorded everything and transmitted it back to Command, remember?" Isaac mocks, before tossing his broken gun aside. The (metaphorical) gears in his head turn, as he continues to consider his options, and try to think up another desperate gambit to escape the swordsman. Gods know he can't possibly hope to outfight one of the Nexus's top duelists on his home turf, so the only chance of survival here lies with the diplomat's wit and willingness to play dirty. Seeing one possible avenue towards freedom, he removes his helmet, flicks a switch inside that causes it to audibly deactivate, and stares back at Wenomir with his own eyes.

"But let's pretend I believe you. Let's pretend your people don't have every excuse to murder my brother, that you don't have years and years of unfounded hatred and suspicion against my kind, even when we were liberating slaves in Skyside, leading HALO to greatness, trying to prevent the collapse of the Watchtower base, and fighting the apocalypses as hard as anyone else. Let's pretend that you haven't been trying to stop us at every turn, shouting 'villain!' whenever we've tried to do anything to help someone besides ourselves. Why should I let you take me prisoner?" Isaac asks, trying to buy some more time for his next unexpected trick.

[Ionbound]

[Commander's Village]

Illveria smirks as she hears Anika's retort and shakes her head with the same smirk as she says, "Kinda, yeah. It's part of dueling tradition, to make psionic contact with the enemy so that your reactions have to be even faster. Are things different here?"

[Morty]

[Commander's Village]

Wenomir leans on his sword.

"Yes. Today's the first time I've ever heard of something like that. People who have psychic abilities rarely bother to learn swordfighting. And I have no such ability."

[Shadowcaller]

[Commander's Village]

Anika is walking up to them now. "Ha! I knew it! She's here to steal all your swording secrets. Its kinda what you do when you seek out people to duel isn't it? Just a lot faster."

Hangar

Cessie continues her efforts to put out the fire. Looks like Wenomir is on his own.

[Morty]

[Hangar]

"You say you're not Magtok, but you think and speak like him," Wenomir observes drily. "Always with the self-righteousness and accusations. You may go. Make your daring escape, and we'll meet later. Before I change my mind or decide you need a proper stab wound to make it believable."

[5a Violista]

[Northwest Peak]

By the time the onlooker reaches the hill's base, the witch Maria has already prepared another stone. "Be nimble," she commands the stone as she traces shapes on it. "Be quick."

The grey witch looks down into the valley again, preparing to throw it again. Maybe she should adjust her aim, to get closer to that building? Or...she spots the colorful woman who starts to come up the hill. That's a better idea.

She speaks to the stone again, but in a much louder voice this time: "Remember, Jack: fire is the devil's closest friend." Aiming at the approaching woman, she throws it in the same way one would throw a bowling ball. It quickly goes through the same color pattern as the last: dull red, then a dark cherry, then an orange-cherry color, then reaching a salmon hue. As it approaches a lemon color, the stone starts sparking. Everywhere the stone hits has a sudden burst of fire, leaving a broken trail as the stone bounces down.

This trail of fire and its descending stone approaches the bright and colorful woman.

[Ionbound]

[Commander's Village]

Illveria shrugs, then winces as she says, "Augh...Yeah, that's sort of the idea. But it's more a matter of when both people can see the other's thoughts, it's much more...Skill-testing." She winces again, then asks, "I don't suppose you guys have bandages or something? That was...A fairly deep cut and it hurts a good deal."

[Lord Magtok]

[Hangar]

"You say you're not Magtok, but you think and speak like him," Wenomir observes drily. "Always with the self-righteousness and accusations. You may go. Make your daring escape, and we'll meet later. Before I change my mind or decide you need a proper stab wound to make it believable."

"Goodbye. Stay out of Southside," the clone warns, before picking up his helmet and jumping off the catwalk. If the hangar doors are still open, he'll be hopping through. Otherwise, he might need to carve a hole in them with some sort of machete-shaped energy blade he'd been carrying all this time. He won't be teleporting out, though. That's just not an option anymore, now that the telewarp network is gone.

[Morty]

[Hangar]

"Actually, I'm going to go on a stroll there," Wenomir says, before Isaac leaves. He'll do it, too.

[Commander's Village]

"Can you patch her up, Anika?" Wenomir asks. "Anyway, I can't read people's thoughts, so this would be a strictly one-way thing, even if I managed to let you in."

[Shadowcaller]

[Commander's Village]

"Sure thing." Anika gestures up into the air and purple energy will start to swirl around Illveria, healing whatever flesh wounds she have. "Reading people's thoughts would be really cool, though can't people who do that also lift things with their mind and turn invisible too?"

[Recaiden]

[Northwest Hills]

The woman ascending the hills watches the rock's first fire-flash bounce, and spins around once, clockwise. The wind follows, a sudden gust trying to lift the rock up, aside, and off-course to send it sailing down into the lake. Somewhere nice and cool and not-next-to-her to calm down.

"Watch for falling rocks, is it?" Not the safest flying base, is this? "Alright, double-time!" The wizard rushes up the hill, switching back from rock to path to tuft of hardy mountain grass much faster than she was moving before.
Every time she stops and turns, or hops up onto a moderately large rock, a patch of flowers sprouts up nearby, all in an instant.

She has to say, people who just fly up to a mountaintop are no fair at all.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Debate Night]

"Thank you, all. We're coming up on the end of our time, now. I'm sure each of you have prepared some closing remarks, which I'll give you each time to make, but as you do so, I'd like to also hear from you some thoughts about what this campaign has meant to you, what you've learned, and what you'll take away from the experience, even if you don't win."

[Ionbound]

[Commander's Village]

Illveria frowns, but says, "Whatever. It's fine." She smiles as Anika cures her wound and says, "Thanks. And some people can, but...All I can do is read minds."

[Morty]

[Commander's Village]

"We can try again, if you're willing to do it without mind-reading and your wound doesn't hinder you," Wenomir says.

[Shadowcaller]

[Commander's Village]

"Huh, can you read my mind then? I can think of a number and you'll guess what it is! I'm not a duelist or anything, but I might still have some secrets!" Anika claims.

[Shadowcaller]

[VIGIL Airspace==> Reception]

A lone gargoyle enters VIGIL airspace and will land near the reception and hold up a sign reading SPAKO. It appears to be some kind of messenger.