[IC] TotMV:G^2: Clash of Fate: The Courtyard (Social/Prep Phase)

[Hal Henderics]

"You've done this war good, Thank you.  If you need anything after your rest, find me and I'll look into it."

 

Dackly says, thanking him.

 

She Packs the bottles up and slithers over onto Gozer, having fully purged the poison from her system.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Well, it seemed that once more, Walmond was alone. With both Liliya and Samantha having left, Walmond simply watched the courtyard, taking in the sights. Several people speaking together, some of which he had seen earlier in the previous fights, and others he did not recognize. Of course... The one thing he noticed after a while was the duo that had driven the stone vehicle earlier. Gozer and Dackly... And a large crackpot that the later was using. That was enough to gather his attention, causing him to begin walking over with newfound interest.

 

"It's been a while since I've seen anyone using a simple pot for anything aside from cooking" Walmond said to the two as he approached, "Judging by what you threw in there, I'd take a guess that you would be using a form of alchemy?"

[Hal Henderics]

"Yes.  One world we visited held the secret to Conceptual Alchemy.  The ability to render things not into chemicals, but into concepts."

 

"Using the rune engraved on this pot, any container can be made one which now affects concepts instead of matter or magic."

 

"A pot is the ideal medium, because it holds many different applicable concepts, Boiling, Steaming, Chilling, Stirring, Settling, Spices, Additives.  Aspects of ordinary cooking are highly translatable to this form of alchemy, though any container will do."

 

"If you like, I can explain it further, though knowledge may spoil your own alchemical attempts, due to the aspect of your intentions being diluted by unnecessary information."

 

"Things go into it, become a liquid, and combine together, before being poured out into or onto things."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

"Interesting... The art of alchemy has been one that I've never truly grasped myself, but it's an art that never ceases to amaze me" Walmond stated with a shrug, staring directly at the crackpot now, "This rune, it is possible to replicate it, correct?"

[Hal Henderics]

"If you have any skill whatsoever at artifice, then yes."

 

"The rune does two things.  Keeps gasses from entering the container naturally, for safety, and breaks things within the container it is placed on into concepts."

 

"If gasses entered the pot naturally, you could find yourself with strange fumes with possibly deadly effects, or even worse, conceptual gasses escaping, and enacting alchemy on others."

 

"Alchemy is quite simple, provided simple experimentation." Gozer comments.

 

[UrbanSamurai]

"Lacoctogenarian? But you don't even look that old!" Magnum chuckled at Navin's obscure term, though clearly not at the expense of the younger man, Magnum was merely entertaining himself by his silly joke, or what was the attempt at a joke. "I know a lot of Hindus, no beef huh? But that curry is something else! Tell ya' what, you can skip on the barbecue, but do you really want to miss out on an ice cold bottle-pop of Budweiser? It gets you right in the gut, kapow! And it's all just bubbles and hops. Hops, that's some kind of flower isn't it? Ask my wife. Anyways, you won't be going wrong if you're Vegetarian, Pescetarian or Unitarian!"

 

"Bacon? You think Rich Magnum has a Barbecue without bacon? Watch this sonny!" Wielding an ad hoc spatula, Magnum puts a platter of bacon meat down onto a plastic plate with a single 'flick a da wriss'. "Catch!" He sends the plate spinning through the air at Atton, travelling like a frisbee.

 

"And they keep on coming, just like the old cookouts back home," Magnum remarks to himself as the huddled masses of soldiers surround the van. "Have to make good on that promise then. Alright boys, eat up!" With the urgency of a sitcom character paying homage to that conveyor belt scene in I Love Lucy, Magnum whips up plates-on-plates of meaty concoctions ranging from your humble cheeseburger to the regal pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. Instead of distributing food and drink in an orderly and organized fashion, Magnum becomes throwing consumables into the famished crowd like candy from a Birthday pinata or the bouquet at a wedding. "Come on now, you gotta' work for it! Let's see if any of you could be a good Receiver!" 

[StormLord]

After collecting up the child Friedhold turned with interest to watch Dackly or more specifically to watch Dackly dump armor, ingots, and scrap into a pot then pour it's glowing contents into small bottles.

 

Fascinated he slowly set down the child and began walking over to the stone and plant duo.  He had almost made his way over there when a strange cloaked man and (metal?) woman walked up and started asking questions.  So he politely waited until there seemed to be a break in conversation before he spoke "I find all of this talk of magic highly interesting as my own world seems to lack anything of the sort.  My name is Friedhold, I don't believe I've met any of you around the castle before."

[Hal Henderics]

"Oh! A Little Sister! I haven't seen one of their kind in a very long time."

 

"I am Dackly, the Stone Cold Fellow here is my Best Friend of all time, Gozer! And you are someone with Access to ADAM, Aren't you?"

 

"Ahh, I remember my own small incursion into ADAM Testing, I made that substance do things it was never meant to do.  Fond Memories, pardon my nostalgia."

 

She waves her hand.

 

"I do not believe you thought of the substance fondly when it swelled into a gelatinous mass and devoured your lab, metamorphosing into an anomalous living being."

 

Dackly's Brow Twitches.

 

"Dang it Gozer, I've learned since then not to leave Hostile Biomasses unattended after feeding them love potions to reduce their xenophobia."

 

Dackly responds, Embarrassed.

 

"She forced a union between a sample of ADAM and another much more hostile and radioactive mineral biomass known as Phazon, by applying swabs of both to Candy with love infused into it.  The ADAM, as I am sure you know, was already highly receptive to the process, but the Phazon would normally consume it indiscriminately, rather than engaging in any sort of symbiosis.  The Candy seemed to have worked, and the two samples grew out of control, consuming our laboratory and forming an unknown biological agent I hesitate to call sentient."

 

"Dackly sees in hindsight that she perhaps should not have left it unsupervised with no camera, kill-switch, containment, or even a simple alert system in the event of room damage."

 

"I aught to hit you Gozer."

 

"You probably will not.  I don't have the ability to feel pain."

 

"Well maybe I want to peer review that thesis, smart-alec."

 

She rolls up an imaginary sleeve, baring her uncovered arm.

 

"We have devolved into a tangent Dackly.  He asked about magic."

 

"Oh, right! Oopsie Poopsie, Yeah, I have an alchemy pot here, you can toss shit in it to fuse it together, or split stuff up, or infuse things into different things, or pour them into containers to make them into what goes in the container.  It's cool, but it takes fuel of any kind."

 

She shrugs.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Powder Miner]

Noticing that Magnum was speaking to him, Navin briefly spoke to Mitsurugi, offering a "Please excuse me for a moment, " to her before turning to Magnum and responding to his offer. "Ah... I hope this is not an insult, but I will also have to turn the beer down. The particular sect of Hinduism that I... often associate with," The exact level to which Navin actually belonged or did not belong to one sect or another often confused even him, "bans the consumption of alcohol. Plus, I personally do not partake in alcohol anyway. To get intoxicated would be an inhibition to my faculties, and that would interfere with my ability to follow my Destiny and perform my duty, and that means I must avoid it. This is, of course, not to imply anything about your own consumption of alcohol... I just feel a little guilty about having to reject your offers."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Before Walmond could reply to Gozer's statement, mostly interest in attempting this alchemy himself in his own time, when another man came up and introduced himself as Friedhold... Which began a rather large tangent from Dackly, specifically about something called ADAM. Walmond split his attention by half here, one part listening to what Dackly and Gozer were talking about, and half examining the man. Judging by the lab coat he wore, he was anothe scientist (which, honestly, was a nice sight to see), but everything else about him seemed disorganized. Blood staining both the clothing he wore underneath the lab coat, and on the coat itself, and even his face held signs of combat, with a few burns and scars scattered across. It was a very strange combination for Walmond to see, but considering everything so far, it was acceptable.

 

Once Dackly had finally finished speaking, Walmond stepped forward, "Forgive my interruption here, but considering the fact that I have only been here for less than an hour, you having not seen me yet is to be expected," he stated, stretching out a hand, "Walmond Reigard, scientist and inventor."

[Strider]

Edmond

The man with the bus. . . Rich Magnum? He seemed distracted, so Edmond quietly removed himself. A quick glance around the courtyard revealed that people were generally milling about with little purpose. Not certain whether he wanted to engage in conversation, or with whom, Edmond slowly made his way to the stone steps leading up to the battlements. He reasoned that he could probably help out a little there, perhaps take out a few of the enemies, and see what sort of equipment and tactics the soldiers were using. When Edmond reached the top, he looked out over parapet, scanning the hordes as he looked for patterns and made estimates of the numbers of enemies and so on. He kept himself ready to crouch down if there came a storm of projectiles.

 

Liliya

It seemed that Dackly had departed to talk to someone else, leaving Liliya and Samantha alone, in silence. ". . . You were saying something about that tv show? Firefly? And whether it was a good thing to look like a 'rule 63 Malcolm Reynolds'?"

[StormLord]

Friedhold became slightly uncomfortable at the mention of Adam, though he remained silent and listened to Dackly and Gozer's story.  Such blatant disregard for safety practices was something he was familiar with, for his follow scientists and even he himself had acted much the same way.  Adam was an incredibly powerful substance capable of altering any living organism, how could she not expect that to go poorly?

His train of thought was broken however when Walmond spoke up "I honestly never expected to meet another man of science in this...group." as Friedhold shook the man's hand he spoke in a thick German accent and gestured to the various figures around the courtyard.

Friedhold then turned his attention back to Dackly "I don't believe Adam was ever meant to do anything, and it certainly shouldn't have ever entered the hands of man.  If you could have seen the dark things that followed in its wake."

[Hal Henderics]

"Well Met. Both of you. I, as I had said before, am Gozer. She is Dackly  I look forward to intimate collaboration between our fields."

 

"Oh most certainly.  I had The privilege of seeing what it can do first hand, Such power, seemingly from nowhere. It's a substance just as intriguing as any other.  If nothing else, I am glad you haven't seen what Phazon is capable of.  All the potential of ADAM, and none of the symbiotic tendencies."

 

"Once, I attempted to petrify a mass of it, the result was a stone sludge that moved towards living matter.  It didn't really need to do much else to be classified a high grade threat, considering it's acidity, radioactivity, and biological parasitic nature."

 

She claps her hands together.

 

"In any case, I believe we were talking of alchemy.  If you were watching, Gozer and I have brewed these potions."

 

She shows a stone bottle off.

 

"They contain a liquid made from the Armor of a Defeated Officer, and various extension agents.  If my theory is correct, it should serve as a disguise for whoever drinks it.  Though I worry for it's duration."

 

She shakes her head

 

"It can't be helped. I lacked the metal to produce enough armor to properly fill 10 bottles, so I had to use one of these to increase the potency of the potion."

 

She holds up a glittering green gem. It glows with inner light.

 

At this point, Gozer cuts in.

 

"That is an Earthen Emerald.  Though it is close enough to one that you might know it better as a Soul Gem.  It contains the essence of one of those defeated Skeletons.  When Dackly petrifies a foe, it becomes stone, being stone, I, as an Earth Elemental, have the ability to assert dominion over it and extract it's essence into these emeralds.  We use them as a form of Enhancing Agent, as they can grant any process or being increased ability or power in any way they choose, temporarily.   I can also derive Strength from them by drawing on their energy as a constant source of vitality and magic."

 

 

Edited July 4, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi, polite as she was, failed to state her own reasons for not partaking; she'd tried Western beer before once or twice, and it wasn't a taste she was particularly fond of, to say the least. Like cheap sake. Regardless, there was something else that had piqued her interest. "Your duty?" she asked simply, curiosity in her voice. And he spoke of a specific "Destiny" as well. Had he spoken with some sort of fortuneteller? Or did he simply hold a conviction that he was supposed to do something in particular with his life?

[Powder Miner]

Navin turned to Mitsurugi and nodded, then took a moment to figure out how exactly to phrase his response. Once he had, he looked at her seriously, speaking with full conviction. "Yes. I have been given a purpose in life, and it is my duty that I must always strive for to fulfill that purpose: protecting others. I gained my superpowers simply through astronomical chance," --Navin remembered being a young boy, in a field outside his village, awestruck as a brilliantly colored projectile fell slowly from the sky, reaching out, catching it-- "And that sort of chance, with so meaningful an effect on the world as someone gaining superpowers, does not happen except through the guidance of God... ah, at least in my beliefs. I do know that not everyone shares them. I hope you will excuse me for getting somewhat... hum, what is the word... theological here; I have come to take a very specific outlook on life, and God does play a very large part in it."

 

Navin paused a little, to gather his thoughts again, and then spoke again with that same conviction he started with. "I am not an exceptional man -- there would not be a chance of the gods simply tweaking probability in my favor, and the universe I hail from does not revolve around me. There is a purpose they must have for me, and through experience and through war I believe I have come to understand at least part of it: my ability is one very thoroughly suited for combat, thus it is combat I must do and have done, and it would only fit the justice and protection of God to do so in protection of others."

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi nodded. It was. . . an unusual thought, for her. "Where I am from, most mortals seem very keen on determining their own fates." Though said fates were often bound up in tradition and such, the goddess saw little distinction; it was still mortals determining the fates of mortals, rather than divine intervention. "We gods, and the youkai that are our mirrors-" a mirror that had been dangerously close to becoming reality, and still loomed in the shadows for her - "are born largely knowing our purposes in life, on the other hand. I am a guardian spirit and one who rules over natural disasters. I do not envy the struggle to find meaning." Another shift downward on her face. A guardian spirit who protects naught but a bauble full of vengeful spirits. I should not deign to claim that title.

[DragonRage]

"Oh, er...  Yeah, I guess I did.  Oh, man this is awkward," Samantha presses her lips into a thin line, blushing pink, "Malcolm Reynolds is a character from a television show called Firefly.  It's kinda a cult classic, and you look a lot like he would if he was a girl.  That's all.  I really need to work on my brain to mouth filter.  And my brain to everything else filter..."

[Powder Miner]

Perhaps unfortunately for Mitsurugi, Navin (not particularly adept with peoples' emotions) once again failed to notice her emotional shift. He did, however, clearly hear her "We gods" remark, judging by the raise of his eyebrows... but then he took it much more in stride than one might expect from someone so religious. "Oh, you are a god of another universe, then, interesting. I have only met one divine like that before, and it was not much of a personal meeting. Hmm, the struggle for purpose... well, I was not born knowing my destiny, and it would be arrogance to state that I completely do so now, but I do not have to struggle for my purpose. It is simply my place in life to play whatever part I may have to carry out their consequences and the will of God in the process. Such is how things simply have to be."

[Strider]

Edmond

Soldiers manned the walls shooting arrows at will into the horde of dragon warriors pressing all the way up to the wall. With the warriors packed so close together, there was probably little to worry about if a shot missed its intended target. There were also a few small groups of mages on the walls, exercising their arts on unfinished siege engines, probably a more fulfilling task than shooting at random into the horde where every dead skeleton would be immediately replaced. Interested in assisting in this task for a bit, Edmond scanned the parapet for whoever seemed to be highest ranking among the mage groups, and flew over. He gave a small salute. "I'm Edmond Cooper. I see we're we working to take out the siege engines? How can I help?" Edmond hoped to get to know which structure to focus on, for the sake of efficiency, and whether any types of machine had higher priority than others.

 

Liliya

"Don't worry about it. But, uh, try to keep it to friends? We wouldn't want anyone accidentally giving plans to an enemy or something. That. . . wouldn't be good. Anyway, maybe you can show me a picture of this person if we visit an earth world. Seems quite possible, with the number of earth or weird earth inhabitants here." Liliya's eyebrows furrowed when Samantha mentioned the brain to everything else thing. Telepathic or something, Liliya guessed, based on what had been mentioned previously, and. . . that was why the prisoner had collapsed. Not entirely sure how to pry into the matter, Liliya chose the simple way. "So, you've got mind powers then?"

[Twinwolf]

Victoria

 

The magical girl decides to take the brief rest they were allowed in the courtyard. She finds a bench and sits down, glancing around the courtyard - she notes those who are in the group, seeing as they stand out quite a lot from the soldiers - but doesn't approach anyone just yet. They seem busy.

[StormLord]

Friedhold:

"Very interesting" Friedhold said while looking at the bottle of glowing liquid.  

"Given the nature of your...processes I think you may be able to get more use out of these than I." Friedhold says while digging into an inner pocket of his coat and pulling out a handful of small mechanical parts and circuit boards.  After handing them over he turned back to Walmond and ask "If you don't mind my asking, what is your field of study in?"

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Morgan:

"Pretty good, if you don't count multiple attempted stabbings and being struck by lightning.  I made it out in one piece though and that's enough to be happy about I guess." Morgan shifted his weight while talk, relaxing slightly before continuing to talk to Wyvis "I'm sorry to introduce myself and run but I've got some other business to attend to, perhaps we can talk longer some other time?"

With that Morgan took his leave and made his way through the Barracks into the mess hall, found a relatively empty table in the back and began setting up a small ritual for enchanting.

He takes out the Turquoise rod and starts by etching glyphs into it using the tip of his wand to draw with, he stops periodically to place the rod in the middle of a ritual circle and infuse various dusts and foreign substances into it before returning to drawing.

By the end of all this he manages to turn the Turquoise rod into a Rod of Warping.

Spoiler

Name: Rod of Warping

Description: To the naked eye it’s an ornate solid turquoise rod about 18” long, however to those sensitive to magic it appears covered in magical glyphs and enchantments that grant its various powers.

Type: Bauble

Weight: 8

Minimum Stats: 8Syn, 4Str

Special Qualities:

-Null Barrier: Once per combat when you take basic defense you may choose to reduce incoming magical/energy attacks by 90% instead of 50%(this effect doesn’t stack with any other % reductions.).

-Thinned Reality: +[LVL]/2 Syn

-Come Along: Augments existing abilities by allowing the user to take any number of extra entities with them when traveling through the void, so long as physical contact is maintained. This ability is only functional if the user can already travel the void.

-Soul Vulnerability: Each instance of damage you take(including DoT) is increased by [LVL] pure damage.

 

Edited July 8, 2017 by StormLord

[Chevaleresse]

Magnum's rather unique method of distribution reveals a couple things: the first being that one or two of these men would probably make excellent wide recievers. The second being that these soldiers are not quite disciplined enough to not squabble over food, though thankfully full-fledged fights don't break out. And third, a few of the magic users are obviously willing to cheat, with a few plates floating rather unnaturally into the hands of men not wearing much armor on their arms compared to their fellows. 

 

"One god of many, I should note." And again. At this rate. . . She cleared her throat, trying to discreetly wipe at her eyes with her sleeve. A thing that was very nearly impossible, given that they were doing nothing but standing in a yard talking. "I apologize." She searched for an excuse for her actions, and found none; it's not as if she could feign illness or blame it on the quality of the air. Clearing her throat again, she attempted to restart the conversation. "Pardon my curiosity, but it sounds as if your beliefs are far different from the ones I am familiar with."

[UrbanSamurai]

Magnum scratched his head as Navin explains his religious aversion to the devil's drink. "Facilities? Huh, never had a problem with any of my facilities after drinking. The training facility, locker facility, they were all fine after a few beers. Of course, there was the Loco Forte Big Baller incident, but looking back on it now it's pretty funny. It wasn't funny at the time, but it sure is now, hehe." He put his thumb and index finger around his rather massive chin, reflecting on that time. "I'm not going to force you to drink kid, that's not the American way. Willy Russel was a fantastic Quarterback, and never took a sip. He was a real squeaky clean good-two-shoes type, the kind of guy who would pray for you and your dog."

 

Magnum resumed the "normal" distribution of food and drink to the soldiers, keeping tags on the couple that were able to make some spectacular grabs. He was less impressed with the magicians taking the food for themselves however, "Hey hocus-pocus jokers! You have to work if you want to grub with Magnum. Either compete properly or go back to eating magic gumberries and kale."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

"Specifically, combining magic and machinery to create human-like creations, both in appearance and soul" Walmond replied, gesturing to Lambda, "Lambda is currently the most advanced prototype I have, as I made her to be easily upgradable once I make new discoveries" he added, hand falling back underneath his cloak. After a little pause, he spoke again, this time with a small shake of his head, "Though, for the last year my focus had been switched to medicine, but now I can return to my original field of work."

[ElfCollaborator]

Empi, for her part, notes what the two of them are saying. Her expression is as unreadable as it has been, but a mischievous, knowing glint is beginning to develop in her eye.