A Lowly Wretch

O R I F L A M M E

---

Gently patting a small pile of dirt behind a stall she buried yet another of the fetishes she had created, slinking back out from out of sight into the general paths leading up to the prisons. Nettle could feel it weigh heavily in the air, the wrongness that stifled her more mystical senses. Was this how the man-beasts felt under the curses we left for them back in the swamp? she silently wondered. Peeking through a grate she witnessed the creature within. It struck her that perhaps it was the source of the curse that hung over this place. The corrupt hearts that trapped such a thing here for no clear reason must have provoked a mystery into cursing this place.

In her pondering as she looked over the great structure that barred the waters of the bay from spilling out into the sea proper she failed to notice Asier’s approach, not really recognizing him quite as readily as he might have recognized her.

Asier has been scouting around the prison though with no success. He doesn’t even have much of a plan at this point either, kind of this point just going rogue and causing what mayhem he can to keep the Eskand upon their toes. The fact the prison seems to have some natural defenses towards the use of the gift is making any chance of a stealthy approach obsolete. It wasn’t too long as he notices a strange creature peering through a grate towards an animal. Though on a closer inspection, it seems to be the girl from the Drudgunzean detachment. “Vel, hva har vi her? - well what do we have here?” Asier couldn’t resist approaching in a manner that had a resemblance of a prison guard, if a guard looked like a hobo with a stolen axe, speaking pigeon-Eskand. He probably looks frightening, but thankfully the gift is repressed as he grabs upon the girl and gives her a hug… a choice he quickly regrets. “You smell as bad as this one.” He gives a big beaming smile, as he pushes her away arm distance, “Another survivor, did you escape your captors too? Glad not to be the only one.”

When a strange voice announced itself near her she whipped around to see a figure that looked like a guard approaching. She attempted to turn and scurry off but suddenly found herself wrapped in arms. Though her arms were bound she managed to slip her hand into her satchel and was already producing her dagger when she noticed the figure wasn’t speaking like the man-beasts here but more like the ones back at that other beach.

Pushed away she still clutched her dagger but was not on the attack, not yet at least. Being devoid of gift had spared this one an immediate retaliation. Instead of speaking back to the large one who spoke to her in words she was not familiar with she instead turned her attention over to the captain.

”Hhhey! Hnothheer Fhrend!“

Asier looks up to see that Nettle was not alone and with another, waving towards him. “Well, looks like we might have had the same idea. Didn’t see you both on the prisoner ship, did you manage to escape from another?”

The captain shakes his head, “No, we followed up right behind you. We have come as a raiding party for some payback”. Asier nods, “How does Parrence fair? Did the King survive? All that was said is that we lost.”. The captain laughed, “Not that easily! The Eskandr are on the run, flooding the fields with fire. Pyrrhic victory but we are far from over.”

The captain indicates to Nettle, pointing towards Aiser. “Friend. Now to free other friends”, pointing towards the grate.

—
Asier went about carrying his part of the plan, leaving Nettle to play with her new friend. He grabbed the axe as he used it to pry the grate from the wall. “Let’s do our parts, you deal with that thing, then its rescue time.”

She did not understand what he meant but the metal bars were pried loose, the opening to the waters now available for entry. She climbed inside, slipping out of sight.

_
Asier continues to move threw the dank corridors, given the set-up here, it seems there is little need for guards with the thick walls, thick bars, and thicker heads at the entrances. Coming through the grate was a good catch, as it allowed him to evade easily into the stink pit as rats go cell to cell to eat the scraps of stale bread offered as nourishment to the prisoners. There is nothing he could actually do at this point with the locks bolted shut, encrusted with rust due to being so close to the sea. There are some disturbing sights as there are those far past malnourishment, let to literally rot in the unsanitary conditions, as others deemed worth to be kept alive forced to endure endless misery.

He moves his axe against the bars of the cell, trying to gather what life is here to stir, and is surprised by the weariness and lack of enthusiasm. “We are working to free you. Make sure to gather anything of worth as you make your escape out of here. Bring any brother and sister who still breathes.”, there is light stirring but many do stay where they lie, appearing to be others from perhaps even Eskandr lands. “flytt, flytt!”, more started to stir now. One of the Parrench prisoners clarified, ”Converts. They be Rounding ‘em up too.” drawing his thumb across the neck. It seems even their own people are not spared from the barbaric treatment. ”So wot is the plan? How be gettin’ out?” as he turns his eyes to Asier. It does take a moment to parse the speech, perhaps this one is a peasant farmer caught up in fields far larger than the ones by his farmstead, “Got a girl on the inside dealing with our gift problem, once she has dealt with it, we will use the opportunity to strike out of here. We got to be ready.”

All at once they could feel the gift slowly return to them.

Asier uses the gift to draw upon the metal, causing the bars to bend suddenly to create a path for them to escape. The others start to come out, others with the gift making a wider pathway and supporting others who were less able in getting out. The alarm went up almost instantly, the Eskandr shouting furiously. Fengselet!. He covers the rear as he pulls all the bars inwards to obstruct the way as he follows them out. “Up ahead and to the right, go for the grate. If you see a lost looking girl, she is on our side.”. The Eskandr continue to be hot on their heels as Asier draws upon the force, then applies with the axe, the support beam snapping and collapsing, as he moves to the next, and the next, as the roof starts to collapse behind the path. He thanks the heavens that the Nashorn isn’t here, or this wouldn’t have slowed him down in the slightest. That would provide them with enough opportunity to escape, reuniting with nettle to find out their next destination.

---

Those involved: @Ti.

The Hourglass Order

---

Upon returning to the academy life resumed as usual. Just like that it was almost like that awful couple of days were little more than a distant nightmare. While she did not experience the loss and grief others might of felt her failure to protect nearly half of their team did not sit well with her. One was cut in half with an atomic-powered laser, the other kidnapped not once but twice and one more straight up vanished with little more than a note of leave. That last one admittedly was not her fault but it sucked nonetheless.

While the time they had spent with the reptilian humanoids was insightful and yielded perhaps the second most valuable find to be had this venture she couldn't help but wonder how it might of ended were her peers more competent. Was it for better or for worse that one of this remarkable species own researchers was so easily won over with sweet honeyed words and flirtatious behavior? Nonetheless it yielded insight, insight she now carried with her moving forward into a world with a larger scope than what was previously known.

More than that even was when they were dropped into the desert without prompt wherein Ismette invoked a fatal disaster that would have swallowed all of them had she and Jocasta taken any other action. As a result she returns now not only armed with knowledge that Ismette has dabbled in previously unknown magic
but also that some thing was made aware of their world, or perhaps had been aware prior given it took the shape of the god of death itself. They had traveled back in time to undo it's summoning in the first place but did time work the same for something clearly not from this world? Given how powerful it was she wondered still if it was not aware of what they did to thwart it's arrival.

She couldn't help but speculate as she returned to her dorm, mind heavy with many new thoughts to occupy an already laden mind.

_
She stepped back into the shared dorm of her Zeno group, the hold under Zander Mozaru. It was a humble space, spartan in decor. Aside from a couple art pieces it was largely designed for practical use over aesthetic or even comfort for the most part. She could appreciate the intent behind its design, her own room largely looking like what one would expect from a medical student, especially a binder from this academy.

Once she had placed her belongings back in the chest over in her room she set out to find her Zeno. She had seen uses of free-casting performed back during her mission such as with Ismette. It had proven invaluable and its use could not be argued. Ordinarily, if he was not out performing one of his other duties he could be found around here, hence why she started here on her search for him.

Zander Mozaru was to be found in the inner courtyard of his home, a satchel of nails hanging from his belt and beams of wood whisking about this way and that. While he was physically occupied with hammering one nail into what looked like a new awning, a half-dozen other hammers were in action nailing other beams into place. Somehow, though, there was no hint of sound. When Trypano stepped outside, he did not look her way, but his voice was friendly enough. "Ah, good timing," he began. "Would you mind just holding up the far end of that long beam there? Then, maybe we can speak if you've got any questions."

Trypano gave a simple nod before moving across the inner courtyard over to the beam as requested. It seemed Mozaru, on top of being skilled with kinetics, also had some talent in multitasking apparently. Regardless, she hoisted up the beam he indicated and awaited further command.

Such a think was not forthcoming. Instead, it was an invitation, as a hammer floated over and noiselessly pounded a nail into the wall close to Trypano's fingers. "So," remarked the Zeno, twisting on the ladder to regard her, "How can I help you?"

She was not put off by the pounding of the hammer nearby her fingers as she was confident in both the Zeno's measure of control and her own capacity for pain. Rough times learning to control her drawing had taught her well what pains to heed and which are little more than distractions.

"Recently since my arrival I've seen instances of other casters who eschew components of the spellcasting procedure. I am curious to learn such methods."

He was busy hammering again as she spoke, but he paused for a moment and tilted his head. "You mean like this?" he gestured at his work.

Trypano gave a short affirmative nod. "Much the same."

"Hmm yes," he replied. "We can work on those." One hand dug into the satchel at his belt and plucked out a nail. "Here," he offered, handing it to her. "Now, use this to cast a Kinetic spell." He grinned slightly. "Focus your drawn energy at its tip, like you're used to, first."

With her left hand she received the nail, her suspicion being that she'd be using it as a makeshift wand of sorts. As instructed she aimed the nail at a loose board, drawing from the motion of the air and attempting to move it in however small degree it may.

The nail wobbled and fell. Zeno Mozaru smiled ruefully. "You got ahead of yourself. Pick it up, and then focus like it's a wand. Don't do anything with the magic at first."

Her expression as stoically focused as usual she gave a simple nod, taking note of this correction. This was nothing new, the process of learning under a teacher one she was well accustomed to. Picking up the nail she focused then on the steps of the procedure as laid out, bringing focus to the end of the nail and drawing back again the kinetic energy, holding this energy steady at the focus point of the nail.

"Good," said the Zeno, not wasting any words or motion. "That's a process you know. You've done it a thousand times. Now, use the nail as a focus. Anything can be a focus, right? Raise that hammer from the ground and put it in my hand."

As per his command she then focused the kinetic energy into the hammer. Admittedly kinetic was not her strongest field but giving a small object motion was still basic enough for her to manage. With the tip of the nail directing the energy into the hammer she lifted it slowly. It wobbled unsteadily but maintained a tenuous float as she attempted to move it over to her Zeno's grasp.

"And you were able to do this in one of your weaker schools," remarked the Zeno approvingly, as he took the hammer. "Now, we've established that anything can be a focus. Hold that nail right up to the wood, almost touching. Bring your other pointer up behind it, about an inch away."

With little pause she approached the wood and placed both the nail and her other pointer into position.

"Now the space between the tip of your pointer and that nail is your focus. Build up your kinetic there and push it out in the direction of the nail in one quick burst."

Her brow narrowed with focus, concentrating as she drew in the energy and channeling it into a point removed from the end of her faux-wand. With a mental push she gave the kinetic energy a vector in the direction of the nail. The point pf origin still erred towards the nail itself, a noticeable fault in this her first attempt at the method.

The nail skewed to the side and stuck messily in at an angle, bringing up some splinters and the Zeno pursed his lips slightly. "It's second nature, now, to view the object in your hand as the focus, isn't it?" he tossed her another nail. "Line it up. Try again. If it helps, view the back of the nail as your focus: just behind the back of it. Like an extension of your finger, you're going to use that energy to push it in."

Like an extension of my finger. She considered the advice given. This time the aim was to insert the nail into the board, bridging the point of focus somewhere between her finger and the end of the nail. With deep concentration she slowly and carefully directed the energy, not a surge but a slow, heavy push. With this advice at mind she seemed more successful in keeping the point of focus nearer to her finger. A more tactile approach seemed to suit her.

The nail sunk into the wood virtually - if not completely - straight and stuck fast. "Much better. That approach suits you." Zeno Mozaru smiled. "Of course, there's a great deal more to learn, but you've used both a part of your body and your actual target as foci. That's the essential first step."

"I see." She reflected on the techniques demonstrated as well as the state of her mind and focus while performing them.

Under his instruction she continued her practice until time came for her to attend other obligations. Some progress was made but it would be some time still before she could move away not only from the process of motion and tools but from rooting her magic so close to herself.

_
There sat the lantern, a veritable artifact of the gods itself, on a humble table in the library. It was a large place, silent and easy to get lost in. It seemed a decent place to converse in relative privacy as many different faces go too and from this place. She was well aware Hugo as well as a select few others were aware that she was in possession of it but the overall administrative body would likely crack down on their unannounced seizure of a country's holy relic for their own use.

She had sent a letter to her good acquaintance Ingrid notifying her of the location of where they'd speak. Desmond being present was optional given how his involvement would still net them minimal potential for this task.

Her fingers steepled, a textbook on organ rejection open to the page she was last one, she eyed her environment whilst scanning for other living souls present in the area. She wanted to remain inconspicuous but the need for some secrecy regarding the topic remained as she waited.

Ingrid had come to the library as Trypano had asked. She took some time to find a book of interest though, One about different oil burn rates and temperature output.

She spent some time finding Trypano as even with a letter to help find her, it was a large library. Maybe after 10 minutes of wandering Ingrid found her. Ingrid gave a smile and a wave as she took a seat next to her. "Afternoon Trypano, what are you reading?"

"Ah, Ingrid. I am currently reading a text on prior records regarding a binder's difficulties with organ rejection in the human body." She set her eyes on Ingrid's approach, calmly sliding a velvety red cloth bookmark into the book and setting it shut.

"I gather Desmond was busy either tinkering with one of his many new weapons or training for the Kinetic class's project no doubt. Regardless, since you're both on the same team for the upcoming trials event his involvement is of only mild concern."

She gestured to the lantern before continuing. "As you're aware our attempts to elicit a functional response out of this item prior was rushed and yielded only modest results. While I do believe that with some research into it's history we could discern it's mechanism what truly interests me is the potential of a secondary use when it is to be paired with it's historical set-piece: The Record Book of Ahn-Shune. Now, as you're aware one of the offered rewards is access to The Forked Tower where said book is currently kept."

She turns her gaze over to the lantern itself. "While confidentiality regarding what occurs in the tower is required there is no doubt that discovering the true functions of the lantern itself should be done for documentation purposes. The church would do nothing aside from keeping this artifact polished anyhow. My proposal is that between the two of us if only one our groups enters the top 5 groups selected in the trials then the one who makes it should accept the invitation to the tower and will thus for that period become the owner of the lantern for that period of time."

She turned her eyes back to Ingrid. "Your thoughts?"

Ingrid listened and honestly thought that was the plan already. So there wasn't much to say, "Sounds fine to me Trypano. Though I don't know the odds of my group winning at the moment but let's hope for the best."

Trypano nodded in response. "Indeed. We'll both try our best and that way it should at least double our odds of putting this mystery to rest." She then offered a hand to shake. "My thanks on your cooperation."

Ingrid remembered another thing right as they were shaking hands. "Oh! I found something on my person when we were in Torragan." Ingrid pulls out the small note that carries a 10 digit code and what looks like a snakey smiley face. "I think she placed it on me. Any thoughts"

Trypano cradled her chin in thought as she considered what Ingrid mentioned. "It could be spatial coordinates or perhaps a coded message. Outside of that I'm unsure of what they pertain to without additional context to help make more sense of it. I did notice a section of those manuals awarded to us were sealed however so perhaps you may want to see if there's correlation in that."

Ingrid just gives a thumbs up before leaving now hearing Trypano's thought's.

With business settled Trypano resumed her study for the remainder of her free time, more thoughts brewing in the back of her mind as she digested this info.

_
The handy thing about having a lantern as a rare artifact was that it was also circumstantially useful as a light source. Sitting at her desk she poured over notes on the various symptoms that follow when foreign organs are implemented into the body. While not fatal in the short term it was simply not viable as a long term replacement as subjects would then suffer numerous conditions as a result, their health deteriorating over time. Why? She wondered. She knew that should the body accrue a splinter it would, in time, be pushed out from the flesh as it grows back in anew. Were anything that wasn't it's own flesh just a splinter in the eye of sightless meat? Even the very mana they called upon seemed to reject any form but the one that was decided for them.

Just... Why? How does something with no mind of it's own decide what will and will not be?

In the flickering candlelight she studied well into the night, conceding to rest only as exhaustion clawed it's way upon her. So much to do, so little time.

---

- Directly involved: @Force and Fury,@dragonpiece.

O R I F L A M M E

---

It had been a strange voyage. It had been a strange time. She knew little of who she was with or what they truly had in mind. From what little she was able to gather from them they were here to save friends that had been abducted away from their home. There was talk of burning, always with the burning. Was fire the only means to an end with man-beasts? It truly left her to wonder if her purpose here was truly necessary or if they were just using her for her mysteries to achieve more death to their fellow man-beasts.

The grim, distrustful faces were no new sight to her. No matter where she traveled she earned curious yet wary stares, Eyes trained on her whenever her presence was known to them. Gone were the days where it was her eyes looking in on the wayward travelers lost in her lands. Now she was a stranger no matter the land. Despite the blood that was shed that day she missed the woods they tried to burn and the rain she brought down upon them. This air was not fresh, it reeked of old fish, salt and filth. The man-beasts were filthy with this muck, not even the one they sent along with her was exempt from this.

_
As she walked, head low and hood high as she shied from the gazes of those around, she twisted and bound fresh twigs in her hands. The wood still green in these slim picks made it quite pliable, ripe for her purpose. She was crafting charms, wooden icons enchanted with power as taught unto her by the Mother-Father. Part of what made her swamp so dangerous were these charms, some built to sunder and leech those nearby them and others crafted to curse those that would break them, traps for the foolhardy who thought they could outsmart them and simply break the charms on their way through.

These charms of hers were designed to leech warmth from nearby flames and convert it into rust upon any nearby metal. As she was taught the nature of flame came in two aspects: the ephemeral light of air made hot and the consuming darkness of flame's hunger. She was taught the essential nature to both of these and that while the dark hunger could consume without casting light there could be no light without food to feed it with, be it wood, flesh or even air itself. The spell she bound to the charm was to drain the light and spread the hunger's blackening touch upon their metal in what these man-beasts call rust.

The charm would work much slower than a spell directed from her of course but that way she could hide them and let them continue to work even while she is not present. Just one of the many strange magics of the swamp witches.

_
She walked alongside the man-beast they had her go with. They were to find where their friends were kept and to find a way to set them free without getting caught themselves. While she was not able to travel in complete anonymity the man-beasts around them did not seem bothered by their approach to the region her current guide was leading her to. They did not find fault in her eyes watching, seeing. She would watch and she would see.

And in the meanwhile she'd look for an opportunity to step out of sight, long enough to bury some of her charms near their precious metal tools and structures.

Soon she would steal their precious fires and change them blue with her witchcraft. A weak light that offers no warmth, only rust.

The Hourglass Order

---

So it would seem that this little experiment would come to a close and they would be escorted from the premises. A shame things had to conclude so soon.

While most others were running she was going at a relatively casual jog. Even still each step of hers amounted to at least two or so of her shorter schoolmates, ensuring that she was neither racing ahead nor lagging behind the overall group. All the while her face hadn't changed from the cold clinical deadpan stare that's been with her for a good majority of this mission. While not too much different from her resting expression her normal given face held less severity than it bore now. It was more stiff and that largely came from having to avoid wearing nothing but a general scowl.

As their serpent host confirmed this had all been an experiment, one that they'd of ironically proven correct had they not cut them off mid-way given how circumstances were developing. It wasn't her fault one of their members had a superiority complex and likely other issues best suited for someone else to diagnose but he was a part of their test sample nonetheless.

_
When they finally arrived it was decided they'd be given a parting gift for their participation. Given the protocol to not disrupt the technological progress of her species was still in effect that effectively meant that anything they were meant to take would amount to little more than the kind of chotchkes you'd find sold to foreigners by some street-side peddler.

No, Ismette had the right idea indeed.

"As it's not outside the purview of knowledge currently available to humanity I would accept my gift in the form of a basic introduction to temporal magic as well. Just enough to grasp the method behind drawing and containing it's particular strain of energy.

And thus, Trypano went off to hopefully receive this gift unto them. After all, what was she going to do with tech that they had no adequate time to describe nor detail the precise use and functions of?

_
Upon stepping out from the portal Trypano noticed something was immediately wrong.

"Ismette... Unless my eyes deceive me we are not in Ersand'Enise." She cast her stony gaze onto the yasoian woman. "Where are we?"

She then looked back out at the scene before them with the many soldiers and the hard-to-overlook dragons due to set upon them.

"And why are we now about to be set upon by dragons?" That last question was perhaps more rhetorical since it definitely didn't seem to be part of her plan unless her plan was some sort of convoluted scheme to dispose of them in such a way. Seeing one of the dragons set it's focus upon them she drew in and then slowly let out a long, truly drawn out sigh of tired melancholy, the light in her eyes quite thoroughly dulled as she was thrust yet again into combat without any consent or planning.

To avoid getting burned alive she drew apart the sand below her, reforming it into stone in the shape of a shaft running down at a seventy-five degree angle facing perpendicular to the path the dragon was approaching upon. This would not only make it hard for fire to reach her at the angle it's going to be breathed from but the stone prevents the sand from collapsing the tunnel so others can follow her as well. After reaching roughly five or so meters down she extended the top of her stone chute to form a shaped semi-cap to help prevent fire from making it's way down as well as offering some protection to anyone who decided to follow her down.

"If you wish to use this tunnel to escape direct fire feel free." She called up from her tunnel as she began work on creating a stone U-bend so that even if the dragon went so far as to press it's lips up against the entry to their tunnel and breath fire the flames would stop at the water she was going to fill that short portion with.

---

- Directly involved: @Force and Fury,@Th3King0fChaos,@dragonpiece.

O R I F L A M M E

---

By the end of it all she and the person who decided to carry her eventually found their way into the chapel proper where they were both given reprieve. As they sat they spoke, trading what little words they could all the while. Little was gained in understanding as duty interjected. He was still required to fight off other man-beasts and she would lend her aid to the injured, mending those wounded in the field of battle.

When evening rolled around the destruction was great but the fighting ceased. All was settled and all was quiet. The rain had doused the man-beast's attempts at burning both structure and tree leaving not but faint marks and echoes of whence the flame once remained. As for little Nettle she took refuge in this very structure, sneaking off into some lonesome corner and hiding herself against the terrain. In a bed of stone, shadow and cold she coiled up and rested.

_
Much later into the next day a drowsy Nettle rose from her slumber, undisturbed for none others could find her concealed form. She had slept long into the day for she had exhausted herself thoroughly the day prior. Looking up she saw the rays of the glorious Heron's Nest beaming down through the holes left in the roof of this artificial cave. The air smelt fresh, purified by the rain's touch. If it weren't for the very fact she woke up here of all places she'd of wondered if the day prior was naught but a nightmare brought upon by too much worry of man-beast's cruelty.

She was roused from her introspection when someone approached her. They spoke in words she was unfamiliar with and it simply left her confused. Eventually they clued in that she could not understand them and simply motioned for her to follow so she did.

_
Now she stood in a large structure, like the last one but with a big ornate wooden log the man-beasts all sat around. They were all speaking at length in words foreign to her so she stood by, waiting out of the way of foot traffic until somebody else motioned for her to follow. One thing was for sure however: She had no idea why she was still here.

Hadn't they already stopped the aggressive other man-beasts?

The Hourglass Order

---

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

She had hoped to get in more words to follow up on their answer to her question but she was spoken over as the discussion quickly turned towards thinly veiled attempts at seduction. Props to her colleagues for their flexibility but it was neither the time nor the place for that. The only real other merit was from her brief mentions of machines utilizing electric brains. This got her mind racing as to what possibilities such a thing implies. There was so much to learn from this place and yet she was naught but a proverbial child standing before the window of a sweets shop, tantalizing lures set within yet stuck unable to do anymore than watch before they are drug along by the arm off far from their heart's desire.

And thus she continued along after their meal, off to where they'd be staying for what qualified as 'night' in this subterranean locale. A single room with a single bed. How... Communal. While others might have more a more inter-personal/social dilemma regarding this her biggest issue was simply the lack of back support. Trypano honestly preferred to sleep while sitting or reclined, having spent many a night doing so while studying late into the evenings. Rather than join the others she slept with her back up against the metal wall, off the central platform where the rest had chosen to sleep.

_
Though it seemed their sleep was to be interrupted. Nine certainly hadn't been fully truthful with them, that much was obvious. For a species that claimed to detest death it seemed like they were quite familiar with it as they were marched as they seemed to conclude their plan and march on out to the armory. Seems this sort of conclusion is inevitable if people actually bother listening to Benedetto at any given point. How annoying.

Clad in snake armor which only seemed to loosely fit them, at least as far as their upper torso's were concerned. Even the weapons while designed for hands of a similar make to theirs were differently spaced based on the length of Sirrahi claws versus their own human fingers. Given these factors she decided to pick the weapon with the lowest skill curve out of everything presented. She didn't need to be overly familiar with either firearms or blades to lean on this tool's proposed 'highest fire rate' to compensate.

Once they exited the aura of effect these devices they used to cancel their magic it felt like feeling was returning to an intangible limb. At last she could start to feel the world as it had always felt to her, like it was meant to feel. Being a blood child she leaned a great deal more than most on her ability to understand the world through drawing. Already she was taking samples of the rock around them to better understand it's composition, to allow her to manipulate it like clay in the vast, multi-present hands that is her area of influence.

_
Already the snakes were lining them up as troops to assault the keep of their enemies, something so utterly human in circumstance it was as funny as it was pathetic. Still, Penny needed to be counted among those of theirs who return lest she be forced to admit her failure in keeping two members of their team alive, let alone the one.

"Nines, seeing we are already assisting in the extrajudicial assault on your opposing faction's facility, using weapons we're far less familiar with than our opponents, then even if you're required not to tell us how these emitters cancel out our mana functions could you at least tell us what the emitters look like so we're able to distinguish them? Perhaps even let us know what barriers limit their spread? Do walls even stop them or do they cover a designated radius?"

She levied her pointed questions to their reptilian host while simultaneously shaping the rock below up, using binding to reshape it into a waist high barrier for her to mount her gun upon. It was rather short for her, forcing her to kneel behind it in order to brace her gun properly, but her chest height was head height or possibly taller for the majority of her own colleagues and she intended for this barrier to serve others use as well, not just herself.

Waiting on their answer she waited to see what came from their facility, what targets might approach as well as what armaments they'll be returning fire with. With eyes narrowed but ever the still weary not with physical fatigue but a fatigue of patience for this mission she watched for a target to test this new weapon on.

Because Sirrahi surely detest violence right?

What a joke.

O R I F L A M M E

---

It was chaos. Creatures clad in hides and metal killing one another in a hectic fervor of violence. At least in the swamps the killing made sense. Something would die to nourish those who fed on death so that they too may die and continue the cycle. Out here in these strange forests, far from a true swamp in any degree, these creatures weren't even trying to eat one another. They were maddened and fought simply to fight. What the man beasts she was told to protect were doing was well and beyond her.

Then came the sharp stone shooters. They used wooden tools to launch their stones very fast, stones mounted on sticks to make them easier to hold and made sharp. Things were getting dangerous and she was quite uncomfortable with how close they were killing people near her. Then came the one-legged woman who moved about the trees on strange silk made of clinking metal, killing many archers and whoever else was in her way as she raged across the path ahead. Not wanting to be caught by more of these flanking rock shooters she stopped her song and hunkered low. Pulling the nearby shadows unto her as one might a cloak she fed upon the light to keep within the dark shadows of the ever growing canopy which had become far denser from the energy she had spent thus far. With the dark clouds swallowing the moonlight and the dense canopy blocking out what little light might of been able to escape these woods had become pitch black. Only the fires illuminated their immediate area, all else bathed in darkness.

Aside from subtly moving within shadows that were twisted to hide her dark form as she skulked like a salamander through the underbrush she also made sure to conceal her scent, using her cloak to break through the puddles of paralysap while pulling mud onto herself to mask her scent. Her magic use was minimal but effective while she employed all other techniques available to her, learned from a lifetime existing within the deep swamps back home. The beasts of her homeland had many senses designed to help hunt their prey, senses honed over their entire existence to serve that very purpose. They could not catch her and neither could these slow, unobservant beasts that ran about clumsily through the bushes and mud.

_
She was making her way to the mists that were crawling up from the waters onto the sides of the cliff, mysterious mists designed to conceal their boats. A simple trick really, their mists weren't even that mysterious. As proof of that she was going to head on over and hide behind the attacking enemies. While they struggle to fight their way into the forest they'll be moving away from her and thus be giving her ample room to work her magic. Even if they turned around to go find her she could slip into their own mists and evade them, further delaying them from continuing to harm those she was sent to protect. As she went along though something terrible arose. A great fire erupted, burning a chunk of the forest some distance away. She could hear shouting and detect more flame arising through her mystical senses, feeling the chemical exchanges arise and propagate.

Reckless! Stupid and reckless! she silently castigated them as she crept past towards the river. Fires were bad as they tended to spread, kicking toxic smoke into the air and threatening to enclose the very place you stood. They were not only going to get themselves killed but many others! She was going to show them the error of their choices. She gathered seeds from the ground as she continued, picking up a large handful as she eventually reached the river's mouth which spewed forth into the great waters beyond.

Seeing the cliffs that these man beasts used to jump up and attempt to rush through the forest from she took the many seeds and planted a dense grove right past the bridge over these running waters. With magic she plucked stones from the river's floor and piled them up as boulders. Thanks to the fires these fools were creating she had a plentiful source of easy energy, distantly pulling at the teeth of the flames to keep them from eating through the foliage while she built her dam.

_
Soon enough it was build. A wall of piled stones blocked off the river and she had even gone ahead and extended it past so the river wouldn't just overflow then run over another portion of the cliff. On top of making it harder for new man beasts to try and jump atop it served as a great dam for her to start what would be the beginning of a mighty flood, a flood that would swallow the man beasts and drown them in poisonous waters. Taking one of her remaining paralysap tree seeds she sat it atop the crest of her great dam. Within her palms she imbued it with great energy, sparking a chemical symphony within it's case and provoking it's germination procedure without the present of nurturing soil. All the nutrients it required she gave unto it in plentiful portions. As it extended it's roots she used her magic to shape them, adding mass along the angles she sought it to take. She did the same for it's branches, even using her crook to hook a branch as it ascended along the growing trunk, pulling her up along as the tree grew tall in mighty in very little time at all.

She clambered through the foliage of the tree until she was in a position both well hidden and not open to any sharp rocks suddenly flying through. She cast out a handful of strugglethorn briar clippings which scattered about the base of the great paralysap tree, a trap that once grown in would ensnare anyone foolish enough to attempt to climb her tree and hold them fast at the bottom of the building river which would soon drown those unfortunate enough to become stuck in their viny grasp.

With the energy she continued to pull away from the flames these beasts were spreading she pulled more of the mist up along the edges of the cliff around where she now stood. Now in the dark of night with mists about only a true fool would try to find her in the building waters which continued to grow as the river found itself bottled, the rain water agitating it's peaceful saunter into an aggressive rush. Hidden within the canopy in the growing grove of tightly packed trees she began to sing once again, this time pulling from both the chemical reactions begun by the flames as well as their surrounding heat to fuel the rain clouds she continued to sing into being.

Very soon this drizzle would become a downpour.

Very soon this downpour would become a flood.

And not long after these fire breathers would soon be breathing water instead.

---

Directly interacting with: @Th3King0fChaos,@Wolfieh&@Force and Fury.

The Hourglass Order

---

"Wvysen's dead, Penny."

Penny's irritatingly lengthy short version was met with an answer no less short, cold and precise than her very own scalpel. Even if it wasn't the original her scalpel was in effect no worse than the tool she was handed down by her tutor. Less sentimental perhaps but Trypano was no creature of sentiments.

"While your work thus far is appreciated in your absence our group was collectively ambushed by Black Rezaindians that the princess claims were agents of her uncle, the sitting king of Segona. Among them was an atomic specialist who killed Wvysen in their opening attack. While we ultimately killed every aggressor we were aware of Onarr was badly mauled by their kineticist and several civilians were caught in the crossfire between the atomic mage, Benedetto and Ingrid."

Finished with catching Penny up with what went on while she was captured Trypano turned, looking out to see Ingrid making her way over on a block of ice. Poorly, as it would seem. Taking everything mentioned so far into consideration she proceeded onwards, not even bothering to look over as she continued to speak.

_
"Once what remains of our group is gathered we will need to discuss our plan moving forward from here. The princess is determined to wage naval battle with the Maria Nera as she's convinced it now contains allies of her uncle on board."

She paused right as she was about pass Penny in grabbing the lantern from beneath the nearby stool. She was not blind to Penny's defensiveness. While it would be easy enough to dismiss it as her not taking the situation seriously enough she was well aware that she oft' off-put people with how clinical she was. It was simply hammered into her, both from those surrounding her throughout her childhood and her training as a nurse during her tutelage. She had always been introspective, removed even but even her brother could see how these things had pushed her to detach herself emotionally from everyone and everything. What he recognized however was that she could still feel them, well and far below the cold exterior. She was perhaps more passionate than anyone regarding the things she truly cared about. For but a brief moment she looked over to Penny, face remaining the same but with her tone ever slightly softer, less sharp than her words prior.

"We'll need to decide whether to back the princess's gambit or take what we have and exfiltrate ourselves. Consider what you now know carefully before you decide."

_
Her attention was then drawn away by Desmond's haphazard attempt to board the ship which resulted in them landing in a heap atop one another. This might of been funny or perhaps a little embarrassing to witness given Ingrid's state of dress for others. For her it was little more than a momentary distraction from the truth that most of their group was now assembled aboard the ship. There was little need for her to brief them. They knew what she knew and Penny was unlikely to bogart her info from them if she was so willing to divulge it to her. It was time to see to the last piece of this puzzle: The Lantern.

She procured the item out from beneath the stool and gave it a look-over. It's make was of a lamp old enough to fit the bill, a simple design with a mere candle within. She made sure to clear the interior out of any debris that might have found it's way inside during Penny's retrieval of it before drying the wick with her fingers and using a basic Arcane spell to light it. Given that Arcane was the chosen school of the god this artifact was in tribute to it was fitting to see if using such magic would provoke a response from it. All the while she was using her binding to monitor the amount of energy running through it's material form. If it truly was of divine origin and not just a relic given ceremonial purpose then it would undoubtably have a magical signature of some form. As a binder she was quite familiar with the art of crafting enchanted objects like so. Seemed this item shouldn't be exempt from the same principles.

But the only way to know for sure was to test it.

---

Interacting with - @Force and Fury,@Th3King0fChaos,@dragonpiece & @Bork Lazer

O R I F L A M M E

Strange Magic at Work

---

Nobody answered.

Not one person spoke to her in this field of shell-clad men and women clutching their shards, scurrying about their maze of tents. She instead kept to the sides of those who brought her here. They might not of acknowledged her either but wherever they might of been going is possibly where they might need her. Such is how she had found herself lead to the forest that stood upon these lands.

These woods were plenty but they were no swamp. The life here was soft, friendly trees with pleasant creatures abound. A lovely place to live but a terrible place to fight.

From what she knew most of the battle would take place down by the beach. She had overheard one of the men talking about how they're here to prevent any Eskandres, whatever those were, from sneaking through the woods and attacking the people they were here to protect. With that mind she got to work. She would make these woods tougher, a fine place to repel bipeds like them.

_
First thing's first was the ground. There was ground. A poor initial assessment as proper swamps were meant to be traversed upon the roots of the trees that call them home. She scattered about some Paralysap Tree seeds, a few here, a few there. She would hold off on the strugglethorn briars for now as she didn't want to bring harm to the others who may not have been very wary of what to watch out for in a good swamp.

After a suitable amount of these trees were planted she would begin her ritual. In order to bring the waters up and flood the ground so only swamp remains she needed rain. She produced from her satchel her censer and loaded it with a mixture to best invoke mysteries, lighting it within using a mote of flame carried upon her breath.

Amidst the many trees in the dense woods she raised aloft her crook and began to chant an unknown call in her native language. She drew from the heat in the air, the stones on the ground and the photosynthesis from the leaves around her, pulling from many sources as she anchored herself to the world, drawing on it's symbiotic network.

High up in the sky clouds began to gather. Slow at first but they built up greater and darker, the water weight within these great mixtures in the sky building as she continued to sing. Before long the sky over the forest was completely covered in clouds, brimming with the potential for a storm that laid within. All the while the trees around fed upon her drawing, growing taller and taller yet as the canopy thickened. Her new trees had already germinated and were swiftly rising up from sapling-hood into the new trees she wanted them to be.

_
With the first few drops the rain began. Even as the winds carried the storm clouds along their stream she continued to add to them, priming the ground to receive their rain while she built upon the storm she was brewing. Slowly she traveled as she continued her calls to the clouds above, invoking their mysteries through chants harkening to their place within the third egg that laid dormant in the dark, it's shell peaking through the night sky in the form of countless sparkling gaps in the great abyss through which it's light still peaks through. Her prayers unto the great dragon Father would slake this land as his saliva had done with all this world's water.

Though the rains were finally starting to pick up she heard a great crashing at the cliffs, a most unexpected place to hear such commotion. Though she continued unto her chant she could not help but look out, taking cover behind a tree that was now quite large, easily double what it was previously. Her paralysap trees were now oozing with a sickly yellow sap, the stuff being washed down by the rain and carried into the standing pools or else washed out into the many streams that were now roiling as the rains continued to build.

She kept her every sense, mundane and magical, keenly open for even though she might of been some distance away from the front of where the action was taking place with lady Talit or the others she could already feel magic that was apart from hers at work. They were bringing with them mists of their own. Were these aggressive enemy beasts to approach her she might have to create her own in order to escape a direct confrontation. She was already hiding save for a slight peak between chants to see what may be coming. She could only hope they weren't drawn to her song.

Still the sky did darken, the rain coming ever harder, the canopy ever thicker. Still she did chant.

---

Directly interacting with: @Force and Fury.

The Hourglass Order

---

She wasn't so occupied with healing Onarr that she wasn't able to also take in the conversation that was happening mere feet from her. It confirmed more or less what she had suspected, though the details differed. Basics remained the same however: Princess discontent with her lot flees to the pirate island in order to escape from under the thumb of her uncle's tyrannical rule. The biggest surprise was mostly just the fact that she had no connection to the Maria Nera itself.

Not that it mattered. Thrones passed hands all the time. She decries her uncle's cruel war-mongering yet she herself speaks largely of war. Each ruler uses the same language, speaking with passion and appealing to the crowd's pathos. In the end regardless of whether she reclaims the throne or her uncle marches on the world will continue on, unflinching as history churns forth.

Trypano looked on at her and her plea for them to aid them with an expression that was plain and simply unimpressed. While her normal expression was flat and unemotive this feeling definitely bled through her calm mask, an expression that looked as though she hadn't slept for days but she wasn't any less well rested. Plain and simply put their team bumbled into a flat out ambush which could have easily been avoided had they not outed themselves immediately, all to rescue someone who was only in danger thanks to them.

_
She cared not for the causes of royalty nor the promise of wealth. Two of theirs were dead, one more obviously so than the other. At least, that's what she thought. As soon as cannon fire rang out in the distance it alerted her to the presence of several ships out amidst the waters. Yelling through kinetic magic was Penny, previously MIA.

Oh good. Looks like while everyone else has been failing to maintain cover or make any decisive tracks towards finding the artifact Penny was off on her own doing a significant lot more it seems.

Trypano placed her left index and middle finger against her carotid artery she scanned herself for magical tampering. She believed her growing irritation had a fairly self-evident origin but it never hurt to confirm by eliminating the possibility of outside interference. She quickly checked her patterns on a material, chemical and even bio-electrical scale, ensuring that they were all operating as expected, no anomalous patterns occurring within.

"Now that her attempted abductors are slain one of our three tasks is complete. Only the retrieval of the artifact and the slaying of the captain remain. The latter is optional."

With that said she began walking away, looking out onto the scene of the battle and inexplicably moving towards the water's edge.

"Do not tarry lest we incur more casualties."

_
And just like that she began to descend into the ocean, one measured step at a time, not even bothering to look at those she was speaking to before her head disappeared beneath the waves. Now underwater it was time to get to work. She started drawing the water in front of her while creating water behind her in a manner not dissimilar to her movement through the ground. She was able to move fairly quickly through the water, much faster even than she was through solid earth. As she neared Penny's ship she drew a circular hole through the side, right where she was about to enter.

In a smooth motion the water forced her through the hole she had created, sliding across the floorboards as water splashed in after her. Now inside she simply turned and sealed the hole she had created, a flat mesh of wood fibers sealing off her entrance aboard the ship.

With a light splatting of her wet feet she ascended from the belly of the ship, moist step after step, until she was upon the deck. It was not an unfamiliar place to her, the deck of a boat. She walked with firm confidence, as though she owned the very vessel she stood upon. She cast her stone cold gaze upon their previously missing teammate, head held high and eyes fixed upon her with an analytical stare.

"Debrief me. Short version."

---

Interacting with - @Force and Fury,@Th3King0fChaos,@dragonpiece & @Bork Lazer