[IC] TotMV:G2: Val Habar and the Terrible Tigrex

[Chevaleresse]

Fortunately for Andre, eventually he does get the upper hand over the greatsworder; his hand inches back the other direction, twitches that way again, and finally slams down to the table - though he wasn't tossed aside like he'd done to the previous losers. "Not bad, ah, what was it? Anders? I'm terrible with names. I haven't lost one of these in a while." He stands up fully, and offers the hand for Andre to shake.

 

Marisa lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Wow, okay, that was hard." She'd dropped the telepathic link about a third of the way in; that curse had a chance of frying her or worse. "Um. Basically I made the curse target more than just your throat. I couldn't make the pain go away, I'm sorry, but, well, you can talk now if you need, so that's an improvement. I'd hoped I could get it to the point that it'd just heat up the air around you, and that might still happen, but I did my best." 

[kj1225]

Andre shakes his hand.

"My name's Andre. Anyways, good match man. I didn't think I would win for a minute there."

[Hal Henderics]

Mar simply waits for Marissa's Business to be complete. Standing patiently nearby.

[Sutoratosu]

Aurora continued staring at the mage for a time, still not quite sure about her newfound liberty from the curse, but not about to deny it either. As she opened her mouth again to respond however, she caught another scent nearby, turning her eyes to the other Outworlder waiting nearby. This one though... this one she indeed recognized, perhaps not his face specifically, but the complexion and general profile and features of his race was something she could not forget

    "....Orc..." despite how innocent her voice had sounded just moments before, it had all melted away as she growled the words in disdain, only loud enough for Marisa herself to hear. The vision and the knowledge she had experienced shortly after the Flesh Bag of a hundred wounds arrived flashed again through her mind: the hulking hoard standing alone, refusing the twin lights of reason and mutual benefit for the sake of some foolhardy pride, literally willing to all die to the humans before they'd ever agree to cooperate... and Aurora shook her head in disgust. Without another word, she slipped away, seeming to almost be swallowed as her form faded deeper into the darkness, leaving the Mage and the new arrival to themselves... but still watching, out of sight, out of mind.

     

[Hal Henderics]

"What an odd person."

 

"At any rate, I come seeking aid.  I have resources, magic, and knowledge, but not the precision and experience of a trained and seasoned magi."

 

Mar hands over the Golden Tablet, rimmed with Artificial Titanite.  One would see that the entire tablet seems to be made entirely of silicon, with the barest traces of Gold and some other substance, interwoven with an enchantment that is attached to it's very particles, a Magitope of Silicon which imitates other things.

 

Inscribed on the tablet however, is another story, it seems to have been filled with runic diagrams, arranged like the simplest recipes.  This then that, that then this, whatever magic Mar wields, it seems to exist to serve, flowing into essences and elements with the utmost ease.  If Marissa were in tune with deeper magics, like those that allow one to view the nature of what is, she would also note that every scrap of material on Mar's person and every fleck of mana his body radiates seems to be completely saturated with his intentions, pure and muddled, the energy exists as a completely basal substance, having no parts which make up it's whole, it functions the same at any scale, be it the size of a planet or the size of a quark, one from his world could theoretically make it take on any property, if they understood these connections between the user and all of the magic emanating from their souls.  At the same time, however, it is guided by a sort of intention that comes from Arbitration, his mana seems to act the way it does because of his mind, and to someone sufficiently foreign to his form of magic, you could almost see his beliefs and values woven into it, Magic is Tangible, it is Finite in power, it is guided by willpower, becoming stronger in body increases the mana produced.  These are the things he seems to have been raised to believe, or has come to believe through observation.  And through these observations, his mana has taken it to it's reality.

 

If Marrisa were a gambling woman, she might bet that she could convince him of almost any arbitrary law or quirk of magic, true or fictional, and disguised as hidden knowledge, in his ignorance, he would believe it, and it would solidify this law as fact for him and his alone.

[Chevaleresse]

"Uh, bye, I guess?" Aaaand Aurora was gone. Or watching silently from where Marisa couldn't see her. One of those two. However, something just as intriguing was right her to replace her: Mar and his magic tablet. Mar's magic was. . . bizarre, to say the least. It didn't have any of the complex structures that one expected to see from enchantments that seemed to cover literally everything he owned. She was almost - scratch that, she was extremely jealous of the way it just seemingly. . . did what he wanted it to. "What'd you need?"

 

"I wasn't expecting that much out of you, I'll admit. That felt like wrestling a Deviljho with better breath. And, uh, I mean no offense, but I'm awful with names. You got a nickname or anything that you go by?" The greatsworder stretches his arm out as he walks a few steps away from the table, rejoining the small crowd watching.

[kj1225]

Andre takes up a thinking pose. The scene cuts away to a schoolyard, the sky replaced with stones and the place lit with glowing crystals. In the middle is a mixed circle of kids yells and screaming at five boys. Four are clearly fighting one who appears to be a younger Andre, though he's bloodied. The other boys look rather wary as Andre hops about on his toes, hands up ready to fight back against the older ones.

"Come on! I thought you guys were gonna be tougher than this since you were ganging up on Lance. Stop messing around and hit me!"

The biggest of the boys grits his teeth and steps forward to take a swing but it's to slow. Andre hits him with an uppercut that lifts him off his feet. Andre shakes off his hand for show as he turns to the other delinquents.

"Woops, too slow. You guys want to take a whack?"

His taunts are met with the other three boys running away. With a shrug Andre starts to walk off as the scene cuts away to a pub. It's a sort of run down dirty looking place, still in the same underground area as the last scene. One can hear yelling coming from inside the bar shortly before a man is thrown through the window, further lowering the property value. Still inside the bar looking out the window is Andre, smirking at the man on the ground.

"I told you that you were getting too rowdy. Sober up there for a bit."

A bluish-black haired man with goggles, a bit younger than Andre pats him on the back.

"Nice hit man, you really know how to use those fists! You're like some kind of-"

The scene cuts back to Andre talking to the hunter.

"People back home called me The Brawler. On account of my, well, you know."

[Hal Henderics]

"I want to make an Eye Covering with this Crystal, which can record what I see, and store this information, making copies of it as needed, I also believe that I have everything needed to make various other rudimentary things with guidance.  My most pressing concern is that Psychocite is able to store knowledge, but I lack either the power, skill, or time to use it to it's full potential."

 

Mar hands over a chunk of Psychocite and the Novacrystal in question, both of them glowing in their own ways, the Psychocite already has some corrupt data from Mar's Fumbling intentions and some memories of some sort of local herbivore, they are woven into parts of it's molecular structure, like a 3D microchip, helped along with structures made of that same mana, roughly imitating what it has passed through, it is patchy and spread out over the rough glowing pink rock.

 

"I can carve both items to any tolerance you need, if I have the intended result shown or explained to me, and provide the mana types and samples needed."

 

Mar demonstrates what Raw Psychocite Mana does, passing it over a message he writes in the dirt, and then over a rock.  The message is scrambled and garbled from his ineptitude in manipulating it "by hand" as it appears on the rock.  It seems this entire time, he has just been forcing raw mana to do things with willpower and as concise thinking as an ordinary untrained person can manage, rather than relying on incantations, or runeworks, or prepared spells or anything like that.  Like a Sorcerer's raw power without their innate skill with it.

 

He isn't even making enchantments, she would realize, if enchantments are a machine made of magic, this is closer to stuffing materials into a sack of cloth, and indeed, the magics on his person seem to have nothing that could be called "Designed".  It seems that he has been seeing what Raw blobs of mana do when he forces them to change state, then exploiting that raw blob's new state, like deciding between picking up an ingot or a log for a weapon, rather than making them into swords and staves.  the shaping he has been doing is mostly been, as mentioned before, by hand, very rough.  It is interesting how something made of such complicated energies can be so crude.

 

Despite how ease he seems to make it look, for what it is he is doing, it is clear that he has a lot to learn, and knows almost nothing about magic, be it other peoples' or his own...

 

It is unknown if he is aware of his ignorance, but if he is, he seems to not be that worried about it.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Chevaleresse]

"Brawler, huh? Works for me." A hunter from across the room waves at him, then points at the rear exit. "Well, looks like I've gotta go. Hope to see you in one of my hunts eventually." He gives Andre his own wave of farewell, then strides out the back with three other hunters. One of them, dressed in light-looking and asymmetrical armor with some sort of odd crossbow-looking thing strapped to his back, ducks right back in a few seconds later, skitters over to the shop in the building, slams some money down on the counter, and runs back with an armful of ammo before vanishing out the door. 

 

"Hm. I'll admit right now, this isn't something I've got a lot of practice with. To start with, though, you need to attune this thing to yourself and whatever you're using for storage better somehow. I can tell it's got all sorts of junk information in it." She frowns at the crystals, thinking. "Yeah, I'm gonna need to ask for expert advice on something like this. If you're still in that castle thing, I should be able to stop by again later - hopefully with something more for your group - and help you out with it."

[Hal Henderics]

Mar Nods.

 

"Very well.  I will indeed be there.  Until Then."

 

Mar has enough irons in the fire for now, and looks for a place to spend the night.

[kj1225]

Andre waves goodbye. After a few seconds of thought he heads back to the castle. No reason not too.

[Chevaleresse]

Andre remembers that he has some equipment waiting for pickup.

 

Mar remembers that there's a perfectly good castle mostly not sunk into the sand. 

[kj1225]

With that in mind Andre turns around and starts heading for the blacksmith.

[Hal Henderics]

Mar remembers that there is a perfectly good castle, and returns to it for well earned rest, what with the several things that all require days of waiting.

[Chevaleresse]

Andre picks up his gauntlets from the blacksmith. He also hands the glaive to him, requesting he give it to Mar.

Quote

Name:  Tigrex Glaive
Description:  This scaly polearm has a long, sharp blade on one end, and an empty socket on the other.
Type:  Weapon
Damage:  2d8 + str
Weight:  5
Min Stats:  3 dexterity
Syn Threshold/Bonus:  Every 4 synergy increases the base damage by 1
Special Qualities:
Socketed:  This weapon has a socket, into which a single item or crafting material can be placed, adding its special properties to the weapon.
Pole Jump:  The wielder can use this weapon’s pole to leap high into the air for a devastating leap attack.  They may spend an action to ensure that their first attack during their next turn is automatically a critical hit that deals double damage.  However, using this maneuver leaves the wielder vulnerable.  Until their next turn, they take 50% more damage from all sources and can’t dodge.

 

Quote

Name:  Firestorm Gauntlets
Description:  These powerful gauntlets carry knuckle blades infused with elemental power.
Type:  Weapon
Damage:  2d8 + str
Weight:  6
Min Stats:  None.
Syn Threshold/Bonus:  For every 3 synergy the wielder has, attacks with this weapon ignore 1 point of enemy resistance.
Special Qualities:
Dual Element:  Attacks made with these weapons are considered both fire and water elemental attacks.

 

 

Marisa heads back into an alleyway. Should nothing interrupt her, she looks around for a moment, and then vanishes in a burst of fire and brimstone.

 

Mar walks into the castle, heading toward one of the sets of bedrooms. On his way, he notices something odd; he should be alone in the castle, yet he can hear footsteps without the accompanying odor that one would associate with Andre.

 

[kj1225]

Andre walks back to the castle, twirling about the glaive with semi-reckless abandon.

[Hal Henderics]

Mar pauses, tensing up.  There shouldn't be anyone here, he thinks.

 

He then relaxes.  Using his senses to their fullest, he searches for the noise he heard, his own bare feet muffling his footsteps as he pads after it slowly.

[Chevaleresse]

Andre enters the castle without incident, though he nearly decapitates one of the decorative suits of armor. It's fortunate, since it would have thrown Mar off pretty badly. 

 

Mar can hear the steps quite clearly; they're coming closer, but in starts. Whoever it is walks a few paces, then pauses for some reason, then continues on their way. The footfalls are fairly heavy, suggesting someone large, but don't sound armored.

[kj1225]

Andre pauses. Then after looking around...

"Fuck you armor."

He pushes the armor over. Damn things always come to life from what he knows. And they aren't even all the good as equipment what with taking an extra thirty percent fire and electric damage. This is why the samurai and ninja threw off the chains of the Kitten Empire first.

[Sutoratosu]

With nothing else really worth doing in the ungodly, dry heat of this town, Aurora returns to the castle, heading back towards her perch in the rafters of the Entry Hall

[Hal Henderics]

Mar follows it's pace to hide his own footfalls, moving closer and closer.

[Chevaleresse]

The crash from Andre's assault on a hapless suit of armor causes the set of footsteps to abruptly stop. "Who's there?" a man's voice rings out, of a slightly high pitch. There's no quaver of fear or similar, though. "I'm warning you, ambushing me won't work out for you." Andre might be able to hear it echo, and Aurora's keen senses likely picked up the voice, but Mar heard it loud and clear.

[kj1225]

Andre looks up. After a few seconds of looking around he cups his hands around his mouth and begins dealing with the problem the typical way. By yelling. So, actually not the typical way since normally he just beats his problems up. Huh.

"Hey , this is our castle so just fuck off ya cunt!"

Smooth Andre, really smooth.

[Hal Henderics]

Pig Iron Mana and Thaum>Heartless Metal Armor>Beer Glass>Heartless Metal Armor Mana result in Mar being silently bounced up to the ceiling and then affixed to it by a handle made of solid magic.

 

Mar elects to keep silent.

[Chevaleresse]

"I'm gonna ignore that one comment to ask whose castle this actually is. This place was supposed to be abandoned." The unknown man shouts back, raising his voice so Andre could hear him clearly. Mar, meanwhile, sticks to the ceiling quite well; Aurora might have even been amused by his impression of her.