Search Posts
"Granduncle mend us, and hope this is a better vintage...!" Klio lets her divine spark move from her skin to the horn at her side once more, moves forward, and downs a shimmering elixir as the bouncing divine energy comes to rest in her fists.
It was not, in fact, a better vintage. Klio should know better than to trust flotsam elixirs.
Klio Strides into flank with Rohir, grits her teeth, and delivers a crystalline elbow bash.
With an embarrassing miss, Klio pivots and tries a jeweled backhand.
She (hopefully) manages to connect with the creature, raises an eyebrow, and bellows "Why don't you pick a fight with someone your own size?"
Klio grimaces at the pain both they and Rohirron have endured and allows the energy from the horn on their side to transmit into the last elixir they purchased before coming out here, taking a deep breath before downing it.
"Okay, maybe that guy didn't rip me off, and that other one was just a dud." The alchemical healing knits some of Klio's wounds, and some of Rohirron's as well as her divine spark transmits to her skim as she rushes forwards.
Klio grits her teeth as the octopodes swing at them, then downs another elixir of life from their horn of plenty.
She begins to think the elixirs that fellow sold her were defective. She cracks her knuckles at the thought of being ripped off, and the gemstones warp into wicked blades. "Thinking I don't know my craft... I'll take my frustration out here!"
Her anger seems to strike true!
Klio yelps at the pain from the poison, and silently thanks herself for picking up some extra elixirs in case it lasts much longer. They pull the elixir the horn at their side produced from the day out of its shimmering form, downing it in one gulp.
Still fairly hurt, they pull one of the ones they picked up at the market, pop the fizzing alchemical bottle open, and chug it, allowing their spark to shift back to their hands.
"Damn, that elixir was all fizz and no substance." Finally, she swings her shimmering crystal fist at red, hoping the divine waters will splash over to blue.
Unfortunately she misses, preventing any proper damage.
Klio scowls lightly at the slicing claws, then harder at the stinging sensation in the wound. That's gonna be rough in the morning. Thankfully, their foes have set themselves up for failure, as she maneuvers out the way and splashes a brutal wave at her foes.
Klio scowls, lets her divine spark move into her hands as combat breaks out, and moves to their opponent in the water before lashing out with a crystalline jab, the water swirling around their hands as they rush.
A solid hit, Klio grins!
Klio tries to follow the tracks of the previous contestant.
Well, they don't manage to find a coherent trail over there, maybe over here!
No...
Yeah! That's an actual part of a trail! Probably!
Well that was a dead end.
And another one.
"YES, FINALLY!"
Klio reaches into the horn at their hip, pulling out a vial of blue liquid and downing it as the horn and elixir shimmer with the same energy that leaves for their skin.
With the feeble healing presented, Klio sends the restorative alchemy to Iannos to keep the fight going, before taking a swing at this scampering beast.
With their first swing landing, Klio decides to boldly take a second swing.
Klio nods to Iannos, appreciative of the flank he's set up! She takes two mighty swings at the red fiend before her.
Her first swing goes wide, but the second connects for 9 damage. Klio then takes a deep breath as her skin shimmers gray, allowing the transcendence of her divine spark to enhance her skin while moving into the drinking horn at her side.
Klio manages to dodge and weave out of the way, surprising even themself! Although they're a bit annoyed that they're doing both types she didn't choose to resist today. (-6 hp)
Klio rushes away from the mass of molten tin, and directly into the smithy, their hands shimmering with silvery light. "Out of the alembic, into the burner, it seems..." Surveying the situation, Klio moves closer to the demons and swings their jeweled hands in a wide arc, calculating the cost-benefit of her stance to try and maximize the affront and finish them quickly.
With the spiritual energy rushing out of their hands, Klio's skin seems to grow silvery and tough, akin to the rhino-like hide of a kashrishi.
Klio hears the plan, and stands still for a moment, considering her options. She's still developing the alchemical tricks of her grandparents, but this might be the perfect place to test them. Looking at Iannos's position, Klio stands south of the western doors, adjusts her divine spark into the horn that shattered when she gained her powers for confidence, and fiddles with her tools while muttering to herself. "If I put some tin fragments in here, and suspend it with some heat, I might be able to approximate some desirable metals..."
The metal solution comes along well... too well. Klio drops the expanding mass of molten tin on the ground in front of the door with a yelp.
Klio sighs, disappointed in herself for not guiding the boat as well as she would've liked, but tries to stay positive. If they're going to win together, they have to be prepared to lose together. "Oh, interesting! Hopefully everything's okay at that smithy. We should probably get going!"
Klio's confident facade fades away when the talk turns to important traditions and seeking out treasure. After all, she stumbled into the life of an adventurer without any degree of planning or intent. No, I can't think like that. I have my mind, I have my body, I have the gifts of the silver rain and the faith of my community. I can't let Crystalholme down. With a shake of her head and a puff of her chest, Klio dispels her anxiety. "Ah, I'm originally from a small community without much proper treasure beyond our kinship and empathy for each other, so material treasure hunting isn't really my expertise yet. That said, I'm a skilled craftswoman, and this cornucopia I made when my horn grew in a bit too fast is a great vessel for the power I've been given."
Klio makes mental notes, observing the three other teams in hopes of finding someone with similar interests. When they spot the alchemical gear worn by Tsemone, they sigh, partly from relief that they're not the only one with a knack for mixing things up, but with a tinge frustration that the gear is nothing like the vials and pots their grandparents accrued. Almost certainly a different tradition. Glancing over to the Pearl Chasers, Klio overhears someone mentioning Phel's knack for treasure, and seeks out the merfolk. "Hey there, I've heard you're good at finding treasure! My name's Klio, and as you can see," Klio gestures broadly, crystalline growths on their hands shifting from studs, to blades, to spikes, and back again, "I know treasure pretty well. Have you heard anything about what challenges we'll face?"
The glimmer in Klio's eye shows her appreciation for naming their band of competitors after their sponsor.
With a glimmer in her eye, Klio beamed at the prospect of championing the culture she was reintegrating to. "Well, we're here, aren't we? In for a copper, in for for a platinum."
"An opportunity? I only hope I can make good on the promise you see in me. I'm from... well, Crystalholme, a small island off the coast of Jalmeray. But my family's history lies here, in Iblydos. I seek to understand the culture my family left. I want to know more about hero-gods, monsters, and all that these myths and legends speak about. I'm a sailor by trade, but that means I've learned a few things, and it's only made me hungry for more knowledge." At the comment of hunger, Klio takes a mighty bite of the fish before her. "And yes, much in the same vein as Rohirron, the most immediate knowledge I crave is what we can do to help you, our host."
Klio's teeth shine in the light of the dining hall, her nervousness and eagerness mixing in her full-toothed smile. The mention of bare-handed combat had her cracking her jeweled knuckles almost reflexively, the clattering of crystals making the noise particularly loud, and her bashfulness returned. She still wasn't used to that. "Ah, Iannos! It's delightful to meet another... probable adventuring sort." With the man's clothes as they were, she wasn't entirely certain if drawing attention to his clear status as an adventurer would be a faux pas or welcome. "My grandparents spoke fondly of the alchemical traditions in Pol-Hoimpeia, and even though I was born while we were long-since settled away from the homeland, they taught me what they could." As Klio went to smooth out her garb, she caught herself and glanced at her hands. That knuckle-cracking had shaped her hand-jewels nearly into blades, and it was too early in the day for a wardrobe malfunction. With a deep breath, she concentrated, and the opalescent glimmer of her cornucopia suddenly appeared on her hands as the jewels settled back into their proper places.
Klio, a human woman with the tan and muscles of someone who has spent a large portion of her life at sea, thought she would be out of place at this dinner. After all, she only just arrived in Ibldyos from the Impossible Lands, and while her family traced its heritage to the archipelago, she was many of the customs would be alien to her. Thankfully, she seemed to understand the customs as if it it was second nature, and in this land of myth and heroism, there have been surprisingly few comments on the crystals growing from her hands and arms, or even the prominent horn of the same material spiking forth from a silver patch on her forehead, nor on the crystalline cornucopia at her hip. "Um. I am Klio of Crystalholme. I really like the fish you've prepared! As for anything I need... I apologize, my family didn't keep in touch when they left Iblydos a century and change ago. Could you refresh my memory on who this Dintolneon fellow was?" Klio gulped, at that point. She was used to being the knowledgeable one in her community. Hopefully she wasn't out of her depth here. |
