VIGIL 4: Swordfights!!! on Air

[Celticbear]

Vigil Skybase/The Academy

She can cut just about anything. replies Xavouir.

[Shadowcaller]

Vigil Skybase/The Academy

"Uh, right, she. Sorry, Kitty." She wasn't even sure the sword could hear her, but she better not anger something that could do that. "But that's interesting, if there was a bigger rock, could she make another statue like that, I mean?" Don't get ideas now...

[Celticbear]

Vigil Skybase/Academy

Kitty can hear you, and accepts your apology. I think we can do another statue. How big a rock are we talking? asks Xavouir.

[Shadowcaller]

Vigil Skybase/Academy

The druid seem to consider for a moment. "There are a few larger rocks out in the woods, outside the base, but I'm not really sure that's a challenge for you. All that lives out there are these tiny sprites, and those are friendly as far as i can tell. Each new member is supposed to go through a trial of sort you see, and there is no standard trial. We sort of make one up for each member."

[Celticbear]

Vigil Skybase / Academy

Hold up, I got this! saysXavouir as he rushes into the nearby woods.

After a few hours of gathering large rocks, he is fairly strong, he stacks them. Kitty is summoned to his waiting hand, and after ten minutes of swordplay, Xavouir's stone monolith spells:

Vigil Skybase

There: made a logo, and proved myself. Again, Kitty doesn't go this fast or accurate in combat. This isn't a hostile environment,
so she can really make some art.

[Zefir]

[The Next Lesson]

((I'm skipping Halae here for now, since she can't post. Wenomir will have trained each student individually, while the other does drills and exercises.))

"The exercise I prepared might be unusual," Wenomir tells Mia, as he leads her towards a chair and a stack of... booklets? "These are logical and mathematical puzzles. They'll be easy for you, I'm sure, but they will require that you concentrate on them. While you solve them, I will do things that will require your attention. When I throw a ball at you, you will have to dodge it or catch it. When I ring a gong, you'll have to stand up, get your sword and assume a defensive stance. When I ring a bell, you have to make a parry and a counter-attack, in any direction you want."

[The Next Lesson]

Mia listens.
"Okay, give me a moment to memorize things." if he does she will mumble the different trigger and action. Depending on how much time he will give her she might mix them up. She will then start if there aren't any more instructions. Things are clear from her side.

[Shadowcaller]

Vigil Skybase / Academy

Anika scratches her head as Xavouir walks off. Not exactly what she had intended, but whatever worked?
Xavouir might note that there is a purple-feathered eagle circling above him as he gathers rocks, descending only as he is about to be finished, returning to her humanoid form. "Really impressive, admittedly, I had hoped to have some combat challenge considering that's what we do. But I think this have proven how powerful the sword, er, Kitty, is anyway. If it can do this to a rock, no one wants to be on the wrong side of her." She offers her hand again. "So welcome to VIGIL, Xavouir and Kitty. Great to have you on-board."

[Celticbear]

Vigil Skybase/Academy

Great to be aboard! I'm sure Kitty would shake your hand if she had arms! Though now that I think about it, she wouldn't need me if she had arms, so let's hope she doesn't grow any! says Xavouir as he gives Anika a six fingered handshake.

[Shadowcaller]

Vigil Skybase/Academy

"Think she is going to need feet too, and maybe some way to swing herself." Anika muses. "But you should go and get yourself familiarized with the other members. Learn yourself work as a team, or whatnot. Most people that come here are solo-players, or so I heard."

[Celticbear]

Vigil Skybase/Academy --> Vigil Skybase/Training Grounds

She seemed nice, didn't she Kitty? Oh how could you even say that? Oat of chastity still stands, you know you're the only woman for me! says xavouir as he makes his way into the Training Grounds.

Hello fellow recruits! I'm Xavouir, and I'm new here. Pleasure to meet all of you. shouts Xavouir as he enters the Training Grounds.

[Morty]

[Training Grounds - Mia/Xavouir]

Xavouir will likely spot two people there, but one of them is clearly not a recruit. He's a tall, tanned man with long, black hair, currently instructing Mia (played by Zefir).

Spoiler: What he looks like

Show

"Hm. Get started, Mia. I'll start introducing distractions shortly." He then looks to the newcomer. "You must be new here."

[Yet Another Lesson]

"Yes, quite," Wenomir says. "You forge steel from iron. It passes through fire, water and a hammer, to become something more. I teach the same thing. We're all raw, unformed iron when we start. The fire, heat, water and pounding of battle turn us into something greater. There is no other way. I can teach you, but your true test will be meeting an enemy and living to tell about it."

[Celticbear]

Vigil Skybase/Academy

Wow. I'm not sure to congratulate you because of the amount of battles you've survived, or fell bad about how many times you've been stabbed. says Xavouir shaking his head.

[Lord Magtok]

Hangar Necromancy

Spoiler

Show

[Hangar]

Wenomir shakes his head.

"Summon him, but don't force him to do anything. We'll just need to try normal negotiation and see how it works."

[Hangar]

Kalya nods.

Time to summon some dead dude.

When it comes to the afterlife, MagClones can have it pretty rough. When one clone dies, their network of resources, comrades and connections is all gone. Not a single piece of technology is retained, none of it There's no wi-fi in hell, no patented thoughtsharing software between souls. I mean, some philosophies are generous enough to allow whatever riches one is buried with to carry over, but there's no such rule about any of the equipment your average MagClone depends on, just to get through the day. On top of that, there's just so many of them, and so very little demand for their talents in the hereafter. After all, what is a robotics engineer to a deity? He manufactures cheap, crude facsimiles of life, full of wires and circuitry; the construction of a thousand Magbots is nothing compared to the gods who sculpt fully-formed and sapient man from the earth's clay. His laser geese are a feeble joke to those who can call forth blessed lightning from the skies above, and his multitude of storied accomplishments stripped to almost nothing when one so much as deigns to ask 'Which one of those acts did you contribute, individually?'

So really, when you think about it, there's no reason why anyone should be surprised when the pilot's soul comes flying right out into VIGIL's hangar, absolutely overjoyed to escape that infernal hellscape of misery and pain for a couple minutes. Someone called for him. Not just any MagClone, but him specifically. Of all the clones in Gehenna, he was the only one important enough to warrant this mortal's beckoning. It must be his lucky day.

"Oh hi, Wenomir. Stranger," the pilot nods, still dressed in the very same uniform he wore on his last day in this world. He's a little translucent and covered in spectral flames reminiscent of the same fire that took his life, but other than that, he looks about the same, with a great big grin spread across his face. Were it the day after his death, rather than quite a few days later, he might not be so thrilled to be here. After all, Wenomir is with VIGIL, and that means he's The Enemy. Not so today, however. A reprieve from the barbs and lashing and cauldrons of fire is welcome, no matter where it comes from, or why. Besides, Wenomir is one of those primitive swordsman types, right? From back in the days when everyone was illiterate, the average lifespan could be counted on one hand, and people thought sickness was caused by evil spirits. It should be easy to trick VIGIL into letting his soul loose, if this guy's the one in charge.

[Morty]

[Vigil Skybase/Academy]

"I've been stabbed many times, yes. And cut, and burnt, and anything else you can imagine," the man says. "But I'm still here. Name's Wenomir. I'm one of the commanders of Vigil. This is Mia, a Vigil member and my student. Please don't disturb her, she's practising."

[Hangar Necromancy]

Wenomir decides to get straight to the point. He doesn't have much hope of getting what he wants out of this exchange, so it's best to make it count and put the spirit on the back foot.

"You're looking cheerful for someone blown up by their own people."

[Deathkeeper]

[Yet Another Lesson]

Koshal nods.
"Like the bug guy! Well, I dunno if it really counts since I had help. But yeah, of course I'd like you to teach me. You and Lady Leah teach me so much." he says with a smile.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Hangar Necromancy]

Summoning complete, Kalya hangs back and lets Wenomir do the talking, until she's needed.

[Zefir]

Vigil Skybase/Academy --> Vigil Skybase/Training Grounds

She seemed nice, didn't she Kitty? Oh how could you even say that? Oat of chastity still stands, you know you're the only woman for me! says xavouir as he makes his way into the Training Grounds.

Hello fellow recruits! I'm Xavouir, and I'm new here. Pleasure to meet all of you. shouts Xavouir as he enters the Training Grounds.

[Training Grounds - Mia/Xavouir]

Xavouir will likely spot two people there, but one of them is clearly not a recruit. He's a tall, tanned man with long, black hair, currently instructing Mia (played by Zefir).

Spoiler: What he looks like

Show

"Hm. Get started, Mia. I'll start introducing distractions shortly." He then looks to the newcomer. "You must be new here."

[Yet Another Lesson]

"Yes, quite," Wenomir says. "You forge steel from iron. It passes through fire, water and a hammer, to become something more. I teach the same thing. We're all raw, unformed iron when we start. The fire, heat, water and pounding of battle turn us into something greater. There is no other way. I can teach you, but your true test will be meeting an enemy and living to tell about it."

[Training Grounds - Mia/Xavouir]

The other person is a young woman, she may be around 17 years old. Her hair is tied back to a pony teil and she wears rather simple clothes for swordplay.

She just nods befor she goes to the prepared books and starts to Study.

[Lord Magtok]

[Hangar Necromancy]

Wenomir decides to get straight to the point. He doesn't have much hope of getting what he wants out of this exchange, so it's best to make it count and put the spirit on the back foot.

"You're looking cheerful for someone blown up by their own people."

The dead pilot opens his mouth to respond, then immediately clams up when he realizes what Wenomir is implying. Uh oh, the barbarian is smarter than he looks. He knows, doesn't he? Or rather, he suspects, and had this summoning done so that he could confirm those suspicions. We're going to have to be careful here, gotta think over every little thing we do or say, lest The Faction suffer for our indiscretion.

"I'm dead. I've been dead for a few days now. It doesn't particularly matter to me how it happened, because now I have dead people problems to worry about," the spirit explains, shrugging with false nonchalance, carefully avoiding any sort of confirmation or denial of Wenomir's allegations. "How is The Faction doing these days, though?" Gotta start off slow, ease him into the whole 'let my spoopy ghost freely wander the Nexus and I might tell you stuff' bargaining.

[Morty]

[Hangar Necromancy]

"They're pushing pretty hard into Southside," Wenomir says, casually. "They wanted to ally with us, and decided to pin the exploding helicopter on us instead when we refused. The friend of yours who was here seems to believe we really did it. Maybe only the higher-ups knew the real deal."

[Yet Another Lesson]

"I've had plenty of help in my own battles," Wenomir assures him. "But it's like I said. We can teach you, but you also need to make your own lessons from your battles. Have you learned anything from this one?"

[Deathkeeper]

Yet Another Lesson

"I think I learned that trying to be perfect really doesn't mean much if you can still get cut and shot like everyone else. Everyone have limits and thinking otherwise gets you killed." Koshal says after a moment. He hopes he sounded smart with that one.

[Morty]

[Yet Another Lesson]

"What makes you say that? Did the wizard claim to be perfect?" Wenomir asks.

[Deathkeeper]

Yet Another Lesson

Koshal nods.
"The bug thing was his perfection formula. Pretty dumb because bugs are awful. He wasn't any smarter and seemed no stronger than me. So he died." that's all there is to it.

[Lord Magtok]

[Hangar Necromancy]

"They're pushing pretty hard into Southside," Wenomir says, casually. "They wanted to ally with us, and decided to pin the exploding helicopter on us instead when we refused. The friend of yours who was here seems to believe we really did it. Maybe only the higher-ups knew the real deal."

"So you want me to confirm or deny your suspicions so you can do...what, exactly? Support the fascist government in Southside? Supposing for a moment that I conspired with Faction to have myself killed, and VIGIL had nothing to do with it, you can see why we'd do that, right? It'd be to keep you away. Is that really so bad, given your history?" The ghost looks away, mutters a few falsehoods to himself (Up is down, black is white, The Last Airbender was a good movie), and then turns back to Wenomir. Okay, so he's not under any sort of magical compulsion to tell the truth. Good. We weren't planning on telling him any outright lies, but it's good to know this sort of thing ahead of time.

[Morty]

[Yet Another Lesson]

"Seems like he was trying to take a shortcut to perfection," Wenomir observes. "Fuse himself with other beings to achieve it. It could never work, of course. If perfection is attainable at all, it's through a long and rocky road."

[Hangar Necromancy]

"Yes. Yes, it is really goddamned bad," Wenomir says, taking a few steps towards the ghost. Anger creeps into his voice, breaking his stoic demeanor. "You claim pure motives, and then you turn around and frame us for murder. The political struggle in Southside isn't a matter for Vigil. Yet. But our reputation is. And I'll do what it takes to keep it clean."

[Celticbear]

Vigil Skybase / Training Grounds

Xavouir waits quietly and patiently while the two people over yonder finish their lesson.

[Morty]

[Vigil Skybase / Training Grounds]

Wenomir walks over a few steps, picks up a bell from the ground and rings it. Then he looks at Mia expectantly.

"So, Xavouir. Can you guess what I'm doing here?"

He doesn't seem especially concerned about talking while conducting the lesson, for some reason.

[Celticbear]

Vigil Skybase / Training Grounds

At a guess, you just cast a spell or activated some sort of magic with that bell there, and you're seeing if Mia can find out whatever you did and avoid it. If that is the case, then eventually you'l move on to silent casting to test her reflexes even further. It's what I went through in the temple, only instead of bells there were swords that flew out at random locations each one enchanted with a different type of pain. I lost about a quarter of my blood the first week, and then became a quick study. rambles Xavouir.

[Deathkeeper]

[Yet Another Lesson]

Koshal nods. "Mhm."
Though he gives a confident smile. "Besides, if he wanted to cheat he shouldn't have used a bug. There are lots of things bigger and stronger than bugs. Doesn't make any sense to me." He could have at least tried something with horns!

[Zefir]

[Training Grounds - Mia/Xavouir]

For a moment it seems like there is no reaction from Mia. She finishes number she was writing and then grabs her sword and stands up. For anotheer moment she stands there to remember what to do. She then executes the parry and makes an upside down attack. The main thing here is that she is to slow and had to think first., but her parry was executed good enougth. She will then continue with the puzzles, but Wenomir might notice that she seems to slow down in solving them. She tries to focus more on Wenomir.

[Morty]

[Training Grounds - Mia/Xavouir]

"Hah. Close, but not quite," Wenomir says. "I don't cast spells. I train my students in swordsmanship. And right now, the lesson is about awareness and reflexes." He picks up a ball from the ground and throws it at Mia.

[Yet Another Lesson]

"Other things are bigger and stronger, but bugs are pretty resilient," Wenomir points out. "They can survive just about anywhere, and take so many different forms. Strength and size are hardly the be-all, end-all."