::"Arthur where the #%##€£ at Ye "::
::"Arthur where the #%##€£ at Ye "::
The doors to the male restroom open and a few lads walk on in, talking amongst themselves about the recent events outside.
Lad One: "... seems to be a theme around here. Gods damned peacocks, I say."
Lad Two: "Oh, stow it. Y-y-you are just jealous, since no one ever really notices us. I b-bu-buh-bet, you would," he stammers, "you would want to be one of those two-- even if it's uncontrolled mind powers, with all those people luh-luh-loving you."
Lad One: "No way! That's why we're here. To control our issues, get control over ourselves, so we don't hurt people-- right? So what's with the brawls, I mean, in an institution of learning?"
Various sounds of water turning on, or fluids flowing now. Someone making sniffing sounds.
Lad Two: *sniff sniff*
Lad One: "... Ronco, seriously, in the restroom of all places? Don't you go insane with that nose?"
Lad Two: "There's a ... guh-guh-girl in here, I think? smells of beer, cigar, earth and ... well." He falls quiet.
Lad One: "Hey, even the dames need peace and quiet. Maybe the girl's room is full. You okay in there, miss?"
Clearly one's finishing up his business, while the other is just hanging out.
Ace channels the destructive might of an Orc barbarian he once saw rampaging across a battlefield. He then rushes David, and strikes, but not at his foe. Rather, he attempts to destroy the magickal robes which adorns the Aasimar.
Activated as part of a normal standard attack or apart of a Sunder, this deals +4d6 damage to constructs or objects
Lad One: "Hey, even the dames need peace and quiet. Maybe the girl's room is full. You okay in there, miss?"
In a deep voice as she/he can muster Carl says
"Ne problem lads, just testing some magic, I'm a lad like thee, now be nice to a lady an rod off"
david, enraged at the attack on his prized robe lets out a jet of icy destructive force
he takes to the air and follows up with a flurry of pure magical force
he steps to your frozen body and casts quickened bestow curse
Lad One: "Hey, even the dames need peace and quiet. Maybe the girl's room is full. You okay in there, miss?"In a deep voice as she/he can muster Carl says
"Ne problem lads, just testing some magic, I'm a lad like thee, now be nice to a lady an rod off"
Lad One: "See, big nose? I told you-- peace and quiet. Let's go before you start tripping out on the smells and get ported to the infirmary, /again/."
There's a 'baff' sound of someone hitting someone else on the shoulder in a good natured way, and grunt of approval, from Lad Two, 'big nose', as they leave.
Murmurs continue as they walk out.
Carl is returned to his peace and quiet, and self, feminine. Various other persons during breakfast may come and go, depending on how long s/he's cooped up in a stall.
"Hold your horses I'm coming" he says into the radio
Ardiente cocks an eyebrow at that. He wondered briefly who Arthur was talking to, but shrugs. Must be some kind of tech. "Everything alright?" he asks, having decided to wait for Arthur.
Kodjack chose not to say anything further to either the don or Vickory, feeling that they had no right to know of what he went through. All they knew was that his tribe was destroyed, and that was it. He knew they would poke their heads into something they couldn't possibly understand, and probably even side with the mage that did all the damage. Always side with what you know, after all.
Getting himself some food after having quite a few questions about how the food was caught, what weapon was used, if they tracked a den so that there may be more later, and a few other things, Kodjack then found himself a place to sit. He had to analyze the seats first, though, certainly not like anything he ever knew about. He hesitated a bit before sitting down, just knowing that there had to be some sort of magic within the seats, but he took in a deep breath and quickly sat down, bracing himself for one thing or another. After a few seconds and feeling nothing, he grunted then started to eat his tray full of meat, eggs, and various fruits, completely ignoring the utensils he was given.
As she walked along, head held high, Lily hears from behind and right of her a voice speak up, "Eh-excuse me, Lady Svarog?" The voice of a timid and young male firebird.
If she opts to look over, a slightly timid firebird stands there, dressed in less than superb clothing, not making eye contact but tenderly holding onto an object in his hands, which glints in the sunlight of the open field.
If she does stop, he keeps his eyes upon the base of her dress, apparently lacking a spine to actually look up to meet her eyes. Only the barest of confidence emanates from this lad.
He has your average appearance in humanoid form, for a firebird, hair leaning more towards the darker burgundy of red, than the scarlet common among the race. His clothing is conservative, yet a hint more refined than a commoners.
He is unremarkable in any other way, appearing clean, nails trimmed, boots shined.
Well, at least somebody in this camp has some manners. Lily thinks to herself as she turns imperiously to the one who had addressed her. She keeps up the air of haughty superiority, glad that it was at least another Firebird, not some besooted surface-dweller come to speak to her.
Lily herself is dressed in a rather becoming dress of lavender colour, full on Victorian age with many petticoats and a corset which does wonders in accentuating Lily's already decent sized bosom. Her hair is nicely done up, and she's wearing finely crafted gold jewelry about her neck and ears.
After a careful examination of his state of dress, and his mannerisms, she does eventually deign to reply. She didn't immediately recognize him, so he either wasn't of the nobility or had been secreted away, but at least he was properly groomed and was acting properly for one of his station. "Yes? You have my attention." is her only reply, though she sounds a just a little like she might be scrapping a bug off her shoe.
"Hmph, you know what, whatever. If you're not going to talk, fine."
Well, at least somebody in this camp has some manners. Lily thinks to herself as she turns imperiously to the one who had addressed her. She keeps up the air of haughty superiority, glad that it was at least another Firebird, not some besooted surface-dweller come to speak to her.
Lily herself is dressed in a rather becoming dress of lavender colour, full on Victorian age with many petticoats and a corset which does wonders in accentuating Lily's already decent sized bosom. Her hair is nicely done up, and she's wearing finely crafted gold jewelry about her neck and ears.
After a careful examination of his state of dress, and his mannerisms, she does eventually deign to reply. She didn't immediately recognize him, so he either wasn't of the nobility or had been secreted away, but at least he was properly groomed and was acting properly for one of his station. "Yes? You have my attention." is her only reply, though she sounds a just a little like she might be scrapping a bug off her shoe.
When the youth speaks again, he sneaks a glance up at Lily, about waist high, then up, politely not pausing at her bosom more than is appropriate for her efforts and station-- clearly he's a person of trained etiquette.
When he speaks again, she would realize that he is in fact noble, but someone she'd ignored or never paid attention too, yet his manner and deference to her station, might be appealing?
"Lady Svarong, you dropped this." His offering to her is of one of her hair pins, not critical for the buns, but certainly, useful and of high value, inlaid with gold and gems. It must have slipped loose in the walking outside on open ground. It sits laying, atop his twin palms as an offering to her, as one would to a higher station.
He certainly has the skills of someone befitting of his station ..which makes her dwell on things a moment more.
"Yeah, Carl, either he's found entirely too much booze or other mind altering substances, or he's the subject of a rather large prank, think's he's a chick"
Ardiente grimced at that, thinking it sounded awfully familiar. "Maybe someone is on a spree. That sounds like what happened to Raelle yesterday. Apparently someone turned her into a guy for a while. It's something of a relief that it might not have been targeted at her, actually."
Vickory watches Kodjack for a moment, seemingly amused, "You eat like the wild mountain tribes back home. They were great warriors. Very unique too. They generally used long chains with various types of end pieces. They weren't much for reading or other civilized pursuits, but their integration of casting and striking with their chains was amazing and beautiful. I learned quite a bit from them, while we were there. Sadly it was only for a week, but I did get to see them fight when the princes renewed their attack on the temple with a couple dragons. That was a battle to never forget... The dragons were brain damaged beasts controlled by the empire of course, but they were still very formidable and nearly the size of airships." Vickory looks almost wistful. Since Kodjack was eating, she looked to Adon, "Any big fights or battles that you were in?"
"No. I've just spent most of my life training after i failed to become a Mage. Can't do magic, no matter how hard i try. So, i went with the second best thing and learned to fight with a blade. My dad taught me. He's an archmage."
"So your father knew how to fight, but he never taught you until you failed to learn magic? That is kinda weird. We are learning how to fight with both blade and mana since nearly our awakening." Vickory seems perplexed by the idea.
"One, I'd rather dedicate more time to magic then blades. It's far better. Secondly, My dad didn't know how to fight with blades."
"You just said your dad was an archmage and that he taught you. Can't be an archmage without mastering...well not in our world. Guess yours is just backwards."
"Not at all. Your planet is backwards. Magic is always more useful. Well, except against me. Anyway, i learned by "playing" dodge the fireball, and other things."
"Yeah...I guess you're right. I just wish that I could protect all of them. Sounds pretty silly coming from me. I'm not exactly what you'd call powerful. I don't dare use my one good ability because of the side effects and I'm too scared to use my music so I can't really do anything with that either. My teacher could. That was part of what made her so scary. But I guess that's neither here nor there. Mostly I just hate feeling helpless.""Which good ability is that?" Repp asks, gnomish curiosity creeping back into his voice. "You might not be as helpless as you are feeling right now. Maybe we can find an outlet for you."
"Oh, it's just enchantment type stuff," she said dismissively. "I inherited it from my mom. Which is why it isn't exactly safe to use being a demon ability and all. I've spent a lot of time learning how not to use it to avoid accidents."
Lucas wispers to her "and how is that any different than usual"Solus fake coughed to hide a chuckle. "I do believe you're right," he said, smiling. Cindra's good humor was definitely a good reason to go to this school. He didn't like seeing his sister sad all the time.With a small smile on her lips, Cindra takes a step closer to Sorchan, "Is there room for a few more, sir?"
"Yes, of course. There is room for as many as want to come. This skimmer was designed for field trips. It can hold as many as fifty people at a time. If you wish to go to the school then get your luggage and climb aboard."
Ehos reaches the front of the line and takes up a tray, feeling the glue squish between his fingers and he finally realizes that the coolness on his hand wasn't a breeze... it was some kind of glue. And now the tray was stuck to his hand.
He shakes his hand slightly, trying to dislodge the tray. Hmmm... pranks eh? He could play pranks. He just needed to find out who did this. But, in the mean time he had promised Jaiye to get food for her and Sil. The tray being stuck to his hand was going to make it a little more difficult, but not too difficult.
Grabbing a few fairly rare pieces of beef for the siblings, along with a tiny bowl of salad for Jaiye and a bigger one for Sil, he exits the line, not bothering to get anything for himself.
When Jaiye and Sil come in, they see Ehos sitting in a corner, holding the breakfast tray off the table in a very odd way.
Jaiye led Sil to the cafeteria and looked around until she spotted Ehos sitting strangely. She frowned.
"Come on, Sil. Over there," she said, grabbing his arm and guiding him through the crowd. She was momentarily distracted by a screen on the wall showing a scene of two hotheads going at it. Geez. Not even the lycans had thrown down challenges this morning. What morons. Her attention was once more focused on Ehos as they approached the table where he was sitting."What's wrong? Why are you holding the tray all weird?" she asked.
As Vickory described the mountain tribe, Kodjack seemed to at least try and think about what she was talking about. He certainly didn't remember any tribe his own conquered that used chains with weird stuff on the end, and only a few ever had dreaded casters. They certainly took over a couple of tribes around a mountain, though, but he also didn't remember any temples. Well, there was one, but that was deep in a forest, obviously not where she was talking about. He figured that if it wasn't a tribe that his own wanted to dominate, though, they didn't matter.
Upon hearing the question about big battles, though, his interest piqued, but when he saw that it wasn't directed towards himself, he grunted and went back to eating. It then crossed his mind that he hadn't finished stretching for the day before he went to the lunchroom, so he grabbed a handful of meat and then started to continue his stretching, squatting low with his legs apart as he chewed.
The large blue dragon at the table gives him a short wave.
It is designated from an average dragon, by 1 its translucency, 2 its wearing of a white lab coat, and three the fact that it is at a lunch table and not a large cavern full of gold.
"How ya doin? You're new."
It is at this point he starts doing squat thrusts.
"Uh, watcha doin' there?"
A relatively normal looking 15-ish boy is sitting by himself.
"Not at all. Your planet is backwards. Magic is always more useful. Well, except against me. Anyway, i learned by "playing" dodge the fireball, and other things."
"It is about balance. Besides, it is the physical training that teaches speed, reflexes, how to watch the whole battlefield while engaged with melee, fitness, and several other things. Magic is just a tool, and like any tool you have to learn how to apply it to each task. It isn't like you get trained in magic and suddenly you can do anything.
Not to mention a caster can only cast a few spells each day, but if they were to fight with only spells, they would have nothing left after a couple minutes, and that might be enough for small scale engagements, but once you start getting larger engagements, the duration of combat goes up, sometimes lasting a couple hours, then if there is a running engagement afterwards, that can last several hours to a couple days. Anyone who relies on just spells, will be useless very quickly. One must know when to use their spells, to achieve greatest effect without taking themselves out of the fight.
I myself can only cast about 40 spells in a battle, and if I relied on just those I'd run out in less than five minutes, and I'm a High Scout, one of Shiara's proteges, with Trinity's Rope at my core. Not many casters have as deep a mana reserve as I do."
Welcome to Vickory's lecture mode. Perhaps it is lucky she is not a teacher, though she certainly does soak up knowledge.
"Or, you can deal with most of the fight with one or two spells. Physical prowess is worthless by comparison to magic, because unless you're combating a few armies a day, you can manage."
"You can't deal with most of the fight with one or two spells. There are too many defenses against magic for that kind of expectation, and even without those defenses you can't wipe out entire units with a couple of spells, and most soldiers can survive getting hit with a couple spells anyway. Physical capability alone might be outmatched by magic alone, but when combined, only another who combines the two can compete.
It is like swordmaking, a smith without magic can make swords, a mage who wants to make a sword must know everything the smith knows to make a sword. Only by knowing both can swords of great power be made.
The same is true on the battlefield. Otherwise, one would just drop an anti-magic field on the opposing casters and win the battle. Most units don't use anti-magic fields because it reduces options on both sides without gaining any advantage, because both sides can fight without magic.
And then what about fighting creatures like me? Reaplings are resistant to the magic of others. I can shrug off most spells, particularly if the caster is weaker then me.
Magic is just another axis of attack, and it can be defended against just like any other axis of attack."
"Summoning works on almost everything, innate resistance does nothing. No need for a sword, you can just summon beasts to do your dirty work. The best casters can make themselves immune to anti-magic fields. Combining the two is wasting your time- specialization is the only good way to do things. Become so good nothing stands in your way. Of course, you can't do that with a sword when your foe has magic."
a black aura can be seen flickering around adon's arms.
"Summons are easy to beat, you just banish them. Sure the best casters can defeat an anti magic field, but only the best, and even they can't defeat entire armies on their own. Why do you think Shiara created an army? Specialization is only good when the specialists are the minority, otherwise your opponent will strike outside your specialty. And in case you forgot, I defeated the twin spellcasters in that cave with this blade, and it was this blade that helped destroy the construct that held your friend's sister captive. To discount something as worthless is just to make a new weakness within your self, a weakness your opponents will exploit. Besides, no matter how powerful you are, you can always be defeated, there will always be those who can, and will stand in your way."
Vickory seems to be enjoying herself, almost like she is having fun with the discussion.
"No. Eventually, you will achieve power more then anyone else. Funny, you have to use magic to banish a summon. And if you don't think a spell-caster can take on an army, then you're wrong. I know of a spell that can kill hundreds of weaker foes with little to no effort. It's a cloud of poisons gas that seeps though it's victims pores. Not to mention spells that summon swarms of monkeys that will tear tools apart, taking a swordsman's only way of attack."
the black aura around his arms engulfs them completely! and it turns a much darker black. Adon seems to be gettign agitated.
"Yeah you have to magic to banish a summon, but at what point did say to not use magic? Gas Cloud covers limited area, soldiers can go around, or just use Gust, not to mention several Spell Matrices have counters to gas attacks. And a skilled enough soldier can fight off monkeys just as they would other soldiers. And what is up with the whole black arms thing? Are you feeling okay? Eat something bad?"
Vickory sounded like she was repeating a textbook when she described the Gas Cloud, or whatever the actual name is, attack. She does start to sound mildly concerned when asking if Adon is feeling okay.
adon winces when he notices his arms, and it dies down instantly.
"I'm saying physical attacks are inferior to the endless options of magic. To put it simply, you can summon up a creature that could fight as well as you would if you wasted half your time on physical combat."
he seems to intentionally avoid answering your question.
Vickory looks dubious for a second, but she lets him avoid the subject,"You keep thinking in terms of one-for-one. A single physical attack is less then a single spell, but you can't keep casting magic all day long. You can however keep physical attacks going, and if you are already close enough, you have a chance to disrupt an opponents casting, and a summon lasts for only a short time, thus it might be capable but it has limited time, a soldier has much fewer limits, not to mention you can't just banish a bunch of soldiers away like can be done with summons. Even if none of the soldiers know the Banish spell, they just split up, one group keeps the summon occupied while the other group continues to harass you. Also consider that most of those soldiers will be skilled in multiple fields of knowledge, while you might achieve better mastery of one field, they have more options available then you would."
"a warrior cant keep attacking all day. He will die long before the mage runs out. Not to mention warlokcks."
the black aura comes back quikly.
Ace chuckles at David flying away. "There ya go again, flying from a flight like a coward. I thought Tybalt was wuss, but it seems he got that quality from you. Let's make this interesting, shall we?" He sprinkles some powder from his belt onto the ground around him, and casts a spell that David can easily identify.
He then sits down and waits to see what the mighty sorcerer will do now.
Vickory points at Adon's arms, "You are assuming you can kill him that quickly. But the soldier is trained for war, trained to attack and deal with all kinds of threats including those stuffy researchers who do nothing but create spells every day. And lesser spells they may be, but you are still needing to defend against those. The soldier won't rely on them, but one will use them, Thick Mist for example, so you are only guessing where to cast while the soldier gets closer, wall of fire to delay your movements, a summoned mounts for speed, a Growth or Shrink spell, a lightning bolt if you are stupid enough to just stand in the open without good defenses, I think you are forgetting that I am favoring a combination, not a pure non-magical fighter."
"no, it's tactics, first rule, never let your opponent dictate the field of battle"
A relatively normal looking 15-ish boy is sitting by himself.
"Hey, mind if I sit with you? My usual spot is taken by idiots betting on other idiots fighting," she said, with a shrug and a grin, nodding towards the group gathered around the monitor showing the fight.
She appears to be about fourteen or fifteen, olive skinned and dark hair hanging loose across her shoulders. She has a pair of drumsticks tucked into the back pocket of her pants.
Sapphire swooped down and tried to pounce on the grasshopper that Nova was stalking.
While Sapphire does in fact get a tasty treat to eat, he also gets a collusion with a ball of fur not a split-second later as Nova's pounce comes to completion.
"Hey, mind if I sit with you? My usual spot is taken by idiots betting on other idiots fighting," she said, with a shrug and a grin, nodding towards the group gathered around the monitor showing the fight.
She appears to be about fourteen or fifteen, olive skinned and dark hair hanging loose across her shoulders. She has a pair of drumsticks tucked into the back pocket of her pants.
"Umm, sure!" he says smiling like a pretty girl just asked to sit with him...then he tones it back a bit "I mean if you want to, sure be my guest. I don't mind." He looks back to where she nodded toward. "You know the guys fighting?"
Silinrul follows his sister, shying away some from all the people. He wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but with so many students and teachers coupled with being inside, he is kinda uncomfortable.
He smiles at Ehos, and the lunch he had gotten him "Many thanks for the meal, its good to see Jai is trying to eat a bit better too" He says, pointing at the smaller bowl of salad in front of her.
"Umm, sure!" he says smiling like a pretty girl just asked to sit with him...then he tones it back a bit "I mean if you want to, sure be my guest. I don't mind." He looks back to where she nodded toward. "You know the guys fighting?""Hey, mind if I sit with you? My usual spot is taken by idiots betting on other idiots fighting," she said, with a shrug and a grin, nodding towards the group gathered around the monitor showing the fight.
She appears to be about fourteen or fifteen, olive skinned and dark hair hanging loose across her shoulders. She has a pair of drumsticks tucked into the back pocket of her pants.
"Nope, never met them before," she said, taking a bite of toast and talking with her mouth full. "But putting on a spectacle like that..." she stopped to take a drink of orange juice. "Doesn't take much reasoning power to figure out that they're clearly acting out some massive insecurity."