Ishak scrambled out of the way from the falling treant, just barely as he stumbled slightly. Once he was clear from the falling treant he turned about to see Tsakua attempt to catch the corpse. There wasn't much for Ishak to do to help, he shook his head and looked to see if anyone else needed assistance in getting out of the way.
"Tsakua! Don't hurt self!" He called out to him. So many things happening so quickly. He felt his energy suddenly sapped from him as exhaustion was settling in. He was trying to think of a way to help though he really was just useless at this point in time.
Jietin is too slow to get out of the way, but then he sees his sparring partner run right for the base of tree. With no hesitation Jietin lunges forward to back him up, roaring at the top of his lungs as he plants his feet in the dirty to stop the creatures descent.
Once they have control of it be makes eye contact with Tsakua, slowly lowering the corpse to the ground. "Oi, everybody alright? What the hell happened to our weapons?"
Iraldia's reflexes kicked in and she kicked off the branch she was on. For a moment she was weightless, soaring through the air in a graceful leap. As gravity took hold, she arched toward the ground. She grabbed out for a nearby branch but it shriveled and disappeared. The vixen tumbled to the ground amidst the dirt and debris kicked up by the falling treant.
Ira sits up in the grass, looking around in confusion. The confusion was amplified as she looked to the nut clutched in her palm where her weapon had been.
Tsakua glanced around to make sure no one was behind him, and then sat down, laying back on the grass, muscles drained of energy. "I think there's more back in th'shed if y'need 'nother one," he mutters.
Midioto brimmed. He was ready. Gathering power into his hand he prepared for a big one. This one would be REALLY BIG. he could feel power pooling into his hand, even more power then he could possibly produce on his own, was this newfound power his gift? was this really his own power?
Either way, he had gathered a truely mythic amount in his hand and was about to release it at the tree when...
.
The tree died...
Agitated, Midioto quenched the power, there would be another time, another one to burn.
--Great. Just when I was about to do something REALLY BIG, then you lot go and kill it already! Why it just... It just... Uh oh.--
Midiotos anger is slightly quenched as he realizes that the giant tree is falling directly onto him, and there is no way out...
--Guwaa!!--
Midioto closes his eyes and braces for pain, his psionic defences flaring to the max... But it never comes. Opening his eyes Midioto sees that his two giant buddies have held onto the tree and were slowly letting it down, slow enough that Midioto manages to slip out from certain pain.
Unless Tsakua and Jietin can lower it slowly enough for me to get out safely.
--Umm.. Thanks guys. Hard fight huh?--
Midioto felt almost useless. He was still quite fresh and indeed he had used up little strength during the fight, and it bothered him immensely.
Breewyn slowly creeped over to the three gathered near the fallen treant, watching as the ichor that flowed forth from its wounds sprouting flowers. She still clenched the nut tightly in her hand, the remains of what was once her spear. She still felt a little peeved about it, but was distracted in the slight hue change of their newly acquired friend.
"Something wrong Midiotozugg-" She paused. "Midiotomiziggi-, Midiotoziggu-, Mideetomitzurgi-...Er..." She looked a fair bit sheepish. "Midio." She said at last with finality, giving up on the mouthful that was Midioto's full namesake.
The wizard stumbled backwards as the tree began to fall and ended up directly on his back-end. He tried to scoot back into the protection of the building but stopped a moment later when the shadow of the falling behemoth stopped moving as the two titans caught it and lowered it slowly to the ground. He lay on the ground for several long seconds after the treant was lowered, his breath fast and his heart pounding.
Octavian picked himself up from the ground and brushed his bed-sheet robes off before stepping out and staring around the now fragrant clearing in amazement.
"The treat has been feeding on the same energy that we just received. That's what made it so hard to kill." The wizard said as he pushed his way through the tall grass. "And when it died all of that empowered magic of nature flowed into the land around it. This glade..." he trailed off for several long seconds while looking around. "This glade has become something special. What I don't know, but special."
Several more facts tumbled through his head but he doubted any but another student of magic could understand them.
"That's kind of vague, even for you wizard," Ira stood and brushed herself off. She tossed the nut into the grass and pulled off her quiver to examine the damage done there, "What do you mean by 'special'? Special good or special bad?" she shook her head as she pulled out the vines and greenery growing in the quiver, "You know? I just want to get back to our camp. We must have found what the king was after. We don't want to be here when his men arrive."
Ishak decided to listen in a little bit before finding his way through the tall grass, which worked pretty well as cover for his small frame.
"Could be either." He spoke up, looking to the Kitsune with a little shrug. "If tree thing was eating the power we have. It could be good. We could've done something bad here." He gestured to the area around them, "But I agree. We should head to camp." He looked at Iraldia for a moment before reaching to touch her arm for a brief second before looking for Tsakua.
When he found him he would tilt his head when he asks, "Ok green man?"
"Aye, we could've done a bad thing, but who c'n talk to a tree?" Tsakua muttered. He looked surprised at himself for thinking such a thing and looked to Ishak. "Sore, but doin' well."
Suddenly, the tall half-orc looked towards camp. Movement...not alone...somethin's here! rings through his mind.
Jietin grunts from setting down the tree, then stays still for a moment and narrows his eyes. He slowly turns to where Tsakua if facing. "I know you're there, show yourself!"
Octavian glances over at Iraldia with a cocked eyebrow. "I'll explain it fully in-depth to the nth degree once we are back at camp if you wish." he responded. He saw Tsakua and Jietin both go stiff face the same direction.
Uncertain as to what the barbarian was yelling at the wizard stepped back into the doorway of the building, weaponless.
She turned from Midioto, momentarily distracted. She pondered the things that Octavian said. It was true, they HAD received a new kind of power and even the treant seemed to be changed from it. She looked over at Ishak as she moved closer to the rest of them as they each spoke their thoughts and opinions. "Are you ok Ishak? I didn't see you very well once the conflict had begun." She was relieved that she was able to aid Jietin pretty well as he laid wasted to much of the tree creature in tandem with the spells from Octavian.
She then turned to Octavian. "I think I would like to know a little more about what just happened. I am still very much confused about it." She admitted sheepishly to the blue man.
She didn't notice anything as she looked up at Octavian quizzically, never averting her gaze from him. Even as Jietin shouted, making her tense up a bit.
--It's Midiotoziggeroto jeez!--
Midioto snaps back at Her, he definitely seems agitated, maybe even a little angry.
Midioto thinks to the group --Big Blue is right. You can see the different traces of magic flowing into the grass around us, and these 3 feet tall dandelions. Stupid flowers, will probably get my allergies acting up.
Actually...--
Midioto watches as the foxxy lady tosses aside her nut. He will then discreetly go and retrieve it after she moved away. --Things probably jammed full of magic.-- he thinks to himself as he inspects it with Detect Magic.
But something else catches the corner of his eye, and from the looks of it, he wasn't the only one to notice it. However it was unusual for him to notice things, he usually left looking for other people. Not like he could call out to it or anything.
You all feel/hear a pinging in your head, gently alerting you to something in the North-West. --company.--
Iraldia moved into a crotch in the tall grass. Movement had caught her eye but she hadn't seen what it was. She drew her shortsword and held it at the ready, trying to hide amidst the swaying grass.
"Jietin!? Oi, is that you guys?" Rang a voice as someone shuffled through the tall grass. It only took a moment for a stout form to appear. The dwarf from the camp had appeared, along with the other. All clad in armor and ready to smash things to bits with his mace. Likewise she had a short sword and a makeshift shield.
"That was a-lotta noise coming from here. What in the blazes have ya done?" He looked around not seeing much in the way of creatures until he saw a huge falling trees. He was a bit oblivious it was a treant, as for a quick glance it just seemed like a tree after all.
The female dwarf addresses the group."The ground shook with ferocity, and heard a rumbling roar. We were concerned for the safety of the camp so we decided to come check it out."
"Ye missed a heckofatime, Briatha," Tsakua replied, relieved that they weren't about to fight another battle. "As y'can see, we'll not be needing fer firewood fer the next few months," he comments, sitting back down.
"One of those living trees. It seemed bent on killing us, so we killed it first." Jietin explains simply. He gives a sarcastic bark of laughter at Tsakua. "I suppose that's the compensation prize for not being able to eat it."
Breewyn crept over to Tsakua, Jietin and the Dwarf female, looking back and forth between the three of them. She smiled softly at Tsakua's comment and then when Jietin commented about eating it her stomach growled. She blushed fiercely, and let out a nervous laugh. "We should find something to eat." She was hopeful that they might have something savory to eat in the meager stores they had managed to gather from the various supplies they had looted.
Octavian stepped out from the shelter of the building and looked around at the newly formed glade. He shook his head as he moved over to the corpse of the tree and muttered an incantation. Water appeared out of nowhere and fell onto the treant in globs, putting out the fires with hisses. "These creatures aren't evil but they are guardians of the forest. They never attack out of malice or jealousy. We did something that it viewed as either a violation or a threat to nature. There is nothing honorable in striking down such a noble creature. We did what we had to to survive, nothing more."
The wizard felt over his shoulder for the staff he had claimed from the armory and felt nothing. He craned his head to the side and saw a thin coating of brown powder on his right shoulder, where the staff had been resting before it's destruction. Octavian looked back over to the treant and gained a thoughtful expression. "I don't think burning it for firewood is the best idea. Remnants of that power will still be latent in it's...flesh. Items crafted from it will be more powerful then normal wood."
Midioto sees the newcomer come into view, a dwarf. Then he watches his new "allies" (or minions, he thought to himself) interact with them. Obviously they knew each other and that put Midioto more at ease. Then he felt slightly forgotten.
--Arnt you going to introduce me? Who is he?-- he asks of those that he is mentally connected to.
When Bre and Tsak start talking about eating, Midioto feels a pang of emptiness. He does not feel hungry, or really, he does not feel much of anything. Instead he tries to distract himself with the world around him.
So much color! everything was a hundred times more vibrant then he had remembered and the world just buzzed and hummed with life. It was exhilarating, so much so that Midioto bent down and went to smell one of the flowers that had just sprouted. Nothing.
Again he was reminded that he had no breath, and therefore could not smell anything. No breath and no hunger. Am I really still alive?
When Octavian spoke of slaying the beast with a more somber expression Midioto also felt just a bit of remorse for his participation.
--I agree. I imagine that living wood of that nature probably holds significant power even after the creature itself died. I wonder if we would be able to preserve the power and transport it with us back to your guys "camp." If we wait until later, everything will be re-absorbed into the forest and we will miss our chance--
Midioto then moves over to the fallen treant and starts casting 2 spells.
After a moment of concentration and focus, a light starts shimmering in Midiotos hand and a set of shoddy woodworking tools wink into existance.
--Dang. I am not very good at creation magic.--
He then begins focusing again, this time light shining from his eyes as he starts to study the wood.
Iraldia eyed the fallen treant, "Well...I could use a new bow as mine has reverted to pre-tree form."
The fox steps up next to Midio as he conjures his tools, --Do you have the skill to harvest the material?-- She was getting more comfortable with this telepathy thing.
--Nope. First time doing so actually. I doubt I could get anything of quality but maybe, just maybe i can get enough of the wood that someone else could build... something out of it.--
He replies to Iraldia.
--First I want to study it a bit to see if I can tell how much magic has remained in the wood.--
Midioto seems to get a little frustrated then he (mentally) turns to the rest of the crowd.
--Aw heck. Can anyone else do something with this? These tools should last a few minutes.--
Breewyn snaps up as she feels Midio address her along with everyone else. She shook her head sadly, she was never one that had a gift with crafting. She did like to draw occasionally trying to make charts of the constellations, but sadly they never ended up being more than silly doodles and barely comprehensible even to herself. She sighed heavily as she went to sit on a rock nearby and look around at the others milling about the remains of the treant trying to come up with a course of action for the remains.
The male dwarf looks around the glade in confusion for a moment before finally seeing the massive form of the treant for the first time and stumbling back a step. "By Torag's hammer!" he breathed in awe, his eyes wide. "You vanquished THAT!?"
"We don't need wood working tools yet Midiotoziggeroto, there are plenty of tools back in the wagons. For now just look around to see what wood might have fallen on the ground during combat. It should suffice for any examinations we wish to conduct back at the camp." Octavian said loud enough for the telepath to physically hear. He murmured a minor spell under his breath and brought up his own arcane vision.
The wizard smiled for the first time since the fight began. "From what I can see right now this wood will be very useful in crafting magical items with ease. Give me a couple of days Iraldia and I will craft you a magical bow superior to the one that you lost."
He moves over to the giant corpse and begins to scan the ground and picking up pieces of darkwood that fell of the beast in the middle of combat.
"Quickly someone, anyone, get me some glass bottles or vials! Something that can contain a liquid!" the wizard demanded suddenly.
Breewyn stood silently, letting her eyes slowly wander over the remains of the tree creature. She began to think about the implications of what it represented with that what formed her higher power. She then immediately gave up on it, dismissing it entirely as she began to fidget some out of boredom.
Jietin just grunts as the wizard demands a vial. "Not really the kind of stuff I keep on me." He says with an apologetic shrug.
Change of plans! Please read latest comment in discussion.
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2x Masterwork Longspear
Masterwork Battleaxe
Masterwork Composite Shortbow (+2 Str bonus)
Masterwork Tower Shield
Scroll of Alarm
Scroll of Hold Portal
Scroll of Know Direction
Scroll of True Strike
2 x Masterwork Heavy Crossbow
2 x Masterwork Hide
2 x Masterwork Longbow
2 x Masterwork Scale Mail
Masterwork Chainmail
Masterwork Leather Armor
Masterwork Padded Armor
Masterwork Gauntlet
Oil of Light
Potion of Pass without Trace
Scroll of Entropic Shield
Potion of Guidance
2 x Potion of Touch of the Sea
Pipes of Haunting* (Knowledge check history can identify this)
Mithril Heavy Shield
Iraldia
+1 Composite Longbow (+1 Str Bonus) (NOW BROKEN)
20 Fire Arrows (NOW BROKEN)
MWK Dagger
Potion of Spider Climb
Jietin
MWK Breastplate
MWK Greatsword
Breewyn
MWK Chainmail
Short Spear (NOW BROKEN)
Scroll of Resurrection
Ishak
Ring of Protection
MWK Dagger
MWK Shortspear (NOW BROKEN)
Scroll of Scorching Ray
Scroll of Resistance
Tsakua
Ring of Maniacle Devices
Ring of Climbing
The next day found the wizard closely surveying the objects which, to this point, had resisted identification. He had all of the lumps of unrefined ore of dark metal on the floor in front of him where he sat cross-legged against a wall. He had ignored all inquiries made of him that day, so engrossed in his work he was. He picked up one of the nuggets and turned it slowly, watching how the light reflected off it.
Octavian lowered the lump of blessed metal and stared hard at the raw length of dark wood he had claimed from the remains of the treant. The staff was roughly shoulder height on him and solidly built, nearly an inch thick. He pondered the possibility of incorporating the dark metal into the staff when he performed the ritual that would bind his essence to the weapon.
Though he searched through his memory to remember any references of dark iron affecting spells he could think of nothing. He pushed the metal to the side to be added to the materials used in crafting weapons later and dragged the rough staff over. He rolled it in his hands slowly, closely inspecting every bump and whirl in the wood's grain.
After nearly an hour inspecting the staff he picked up a wood carving knife he had appropriated from the wagons and bounced it in his hand a couple of times to get used to it's weight and balance. He murmured a spell that appeared as a circle of spell glyphs around his hand for a moment before beginning to carve the first of the arcane writing that would focus and anchor the magic that would soon flow through the wood.
An hour later he brushed the wood shavings away from the neat arcane symbols that covered the staff in long ribbons from top to bottom. He gathered all of his crating materials and stood up with a grimace, his back complaining after the long period of sitting on unyielding stone. He placed the metal back into the bins with the other and dropped the shavings near the newly improvised kitchen.
He stepped over to where the hulking Jietin was standing and quietly said "I'm going to be over in the corner for the rest of the day wrapped up in wizard business. Can you please see to it that the rest know not to disturb me unless it is absolutely, unavoidably necessary?" His tone was quiet and very polite and very, very serious.
Jietin snaps out of his daydreaming. Doing wizard business. He snorts and nods. Don't mind not having to hear him yap for a while.
Stiff and sore from his wrestling match with the stiff tree, Tsakua woke to a busy day. Stretching and flexing, he ran through a few of his exercises to limber up. Walking about camp, he looked for something to keep himself busy. Seeing vines hanging from trees gave him an idea. After liberating an axe from one of the wagons, he set about chopping a few stakes. Nodding to folks as they walked by, Tsakua began wandering through the woods, setting up snare traps along all the most common points of entry for the camp.
"T'ain't much f'r now," he muttered to himself as he dropped down from the final tree, "but it'll be better'n nuthin 't'all."
Walking back into camp around lunch time, axe slung over his shoulder, Tsakua walked over to Visiarra.
"Ye c'n do enchantments, 'f weapons'n such, right?" he asks "I mean...'m only askin' if that's all you c'n enchant. Or 'f it has t'be somethin' specific."
:
First was two large circles, one inside the other, separated by an inch of space and seven feet across . After a quick glance outside to see where the sun was he drew four circles facing the four points on a compass. These were set on the exterior circle, only a tiny part connecting the two. He then drew two more small circles on the inside of the inner circle, one on each side to create a line between the west and east outer circles. He finished the basic shaped by drawing a square turned on a corner so that a corner lined up with each cardinal direction. This square fit inside the inner circle and the two smaller inner circles lay just inside it's east and west corners.
Dropping to his hands and knees he then began to carefully write words in a beautiful, flowing script in the space between the two circles, being very careful not to touch the lines that had already been layed down. This took him several minutes and when he finished the words had turned into a line of unbroken scripture that completely encircled him. He verified the integrity of the circle by whispering a word while gently touching the inner circle with a finger. A spark jumped from his finger and the entire design flashed once with visible white light.
Next he reached into his pouch and retrieved several items that he began to place inside the small circles. In the north facing outer circle he placed a small ceramic bowl that he filled with clear water with a whispered cantrip. This was to anchor the northern water gate.
In the eastern outer circle he placed a beautiful brown and white eagles feather he had discovered when cleaning the main room of their current building. This was to anchor the eastern gate of air.
In the outer southern circle he placed a small piece of coal that he ignited with a cantrip that began to throw tiny bolts of lightning that snapped from his finger to the coal until the slow burning fuel ignited. This was to anchor the southern gate of fire.
In the outer western circle he placed one of the rough diamonds, the purest form of gemstone. This was the anchor for the western gate of earth.
The four elements covered he then moved to the two small inner circles. In the eastern circle he placed his spellbook to represent Mind and the western circle was heart. This circle had been the most demanding to complete because it varied from wizard to wizard. To some it literally meant a sacrifice of flesh, of blood. To others it was their favorite instrument or a picture of their loved ones. Octavian had no pictures and blood sacrifices were morbid to him. Reaching deep into his memories he had selected the one emerald that the group had gained from their adventures. The gem was the exact same color as that of his lost love Saleesa's eyes and he had spent all night clutching the stone to his chest while dreaming of her.
Each of the chosen items would be the anchors for the magic he would channel from the world around him for the ritual. They would not be destroyed by the process but would act as gateways, funneling energy into the circle and along the lines of the inner square until they were focused by the gate of Mind and Heart. He spent the next several minutes double checking all of his work before breathing a sigh of relief and carefully stepping completely over the circles. He claimed the darkwood staff he had carved earlier in the day as well as a piece of mithril and adamantium ore, one of the rough diamonds and the spearhead from his shattered spear. The metal had survived the blast of energy from the treant and had directly absorbed the lightning from the storm dragon/goddess. All of these items would be combined in the ritual and be tied intrinsically to his essence.
Now came the hard part. He had done the ritual once before twenty years ago when he bonded his greatsword Samehada in the same fashion. The difficulty came not in the manipulation of magic but in the length of time needed to properly weave the magic. Octavian had heard of some wizards being able to complete the bonding in only a couple of hours but he had never met one personally and doubted the source of these stories. He stepped over the circles and carefully placed the staff so it just touched the two inner circles of Mind and Heart.
Before sitting down he removed his belt, robes and boots and left them in a pile outside of the circle. Clad only in a dirty loincloth he sat down cross-legged in the southern section of the inner circle and placed the metal, gem and spearhead on the ground next to him. They would be planted into the wood later in the ritual. He rolled his shoulders and gently rolled his head around in a circle, stretching the muscles and cracking his neck. A final check of his preparations showed that everything was in place so he touched both hands to the staff and focused his mind.
For several minutes the only that occurred was the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed and stared out into space, unaware of the outside world. Then between one breath and the next all of the scarred tattoos that covered his body lit up with faint white energy that spread down his arms and into the length of wood at his fingertips. The light was faint and spread slowly, oozing up the wood and filling every grain and pore with silently thrumming energy. Over the next hour the glow from his scars and the wood grew in intensity until it appeared as if he was touching a bar of pure light that shimmered and vibrated with potential. Only when the light from the staff began to become painful did he break contact with one hand and pick up the first chunk of mithril. He held it for a moment before the ore began to glow with a vibrant blue color. When that happened he pressed the mithril against the bar of light and the ore simply sank into it, the blue light spreading and combining with the white.
When he repeated this process with the adamantium ore it began to glow a vibrant purple color that diffused and mixed with the blue and white light upon implantation. Next he grasped the diamond and held it a foot over the staff before freezing in place. For a long minute happened and then suddenly the gem began to give off light, throwing off a cascade of rays in every color of the rainbow. When this happened the wizard simply released the gem and it fell into the bar of light like a stone falling into a pond, leaving behind ripples and waves.
The wizard eased off the weapon with a sigh of relief and took several deep breaths. The light from his scars continued to shine as a bead of sweat dripped off his face. By now the sun was straight overhead and Octavian blinked a few times as his mind returned to the real world. He looked down to see his arms steady and hands locked on the bar of light. This was the only time in the ritual that he could stop so he looked around to see if anyone was standing near obviously wanting to ask questions.
Visarra looked up from the small table that was hastily put together with just a few planks of wood and a few pieces of stone. She was in the process of working on a few instruments when Tsakua interrupted her, "Oh... why yes, I can do minor enchantments. I'm rather rusty and I do not have all the tools I usually employ but simple enchantments I think I can do!" She stood up, dusting herself off, "Now, what would it you be needing?"
Octavian would see a few who gathered to watch his process in what ever the hell he had himself up to, Ishak being one of them. The small kobold, along with his little crew had been admiring what he was doing. Ishak had propped himself up along one of the barrels, as the others chose dirt to sit and watch from the respectable distance. "What you do?" Ishak suddenly chirped up, his head cocking to the side to give his question a bit of an affect. He was not skilled with enchanting or crafting weapons, he had rather left that to others.
Octavian sighed and released his hold on the weapon and leaned back with a grimace. Instantly the light from his scars began to fade and the weapon on the ground stabilized and began to dim. In a moment the light had vanished completely to reveal a flawless staff of darkwood. Adamantium capped both ends and formed a receptacle for a stunning diamond that had magically transformed from the raw version to a perfectly faceted dome that merged seamlessly into the weapon.
In the carvings of arcane glyphs mithril had flowed like water and filled every sigil and line so that they stood out from the almost black color of the wood. The rough wood has also been smoothed and polished so that it threw back dark reflections from the nearby cooking fire.
"My race has an innate ability to improve any item into a more perfect version once a day. If I have multiple materials on hand, say an iron sword and adamantium ore, with my innate magic I can combine the two and create a sword containing an adamantium alloy of far superior quality." He responded.
He pointed to the different parts of the weapon and began to explain. "I carved these sigils before attempting the procedure to provide a channel for any magic that would flow through this weapon, thereby stabilizing it to a further degree then would be allowed normally. Adding mithril to the carvings is partly ornamental but also allows the weapon to bypass the resistances to mortal weapons some creatures have. Mithril also has a natural attraction to magic and tends to hold enchantments more easily then other materials."
The wizard continued to speak to the group on the various magical capabilities of the materials he had incorporated into the weapon. If asked about the circle he would launch into a lecture about how magic responded to a proper setup versus a hasty construct.