Frozen0Titan

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

He could smell it, the closer they came to Aulbach's estate the stronger the stench became, the stench of miasma. With every step his frown deepened, eyes on a swivel.

As he and the group approached the gate his hackles raised. The moment corrupted beasts leapt towards both he and the newcomer, Morgan, two of the beasts would each find a Tomahawk lodged into their skulls as others were quickly met by shining steel brandished with fury.

'Hello convenient stress relief.' Were it any other situation Damian would have snorted at the thought, but right now cold fury held him. Another beast fell with a swing of his blade and with a tug of his free hand, one of the Tomahawks flew back to his open palm. In the same motion the axe was thrown to the other side, thread thin as hair glinting in the daylight as a beast leaping from Morgan's blind spot suddenly found the side of its head abruptly cleaved.

"I count another 16 more, Xashan. You?" His tone was serious but held little fire, seemingly reserved for his actions as he spun to dodge another beast, it's headless form tumbling into the hard stone below. "Make that 15."

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

By the time Damian had returned to his room he discovered that more time had passed than he thought. Figuring he could chat with the weapon-smith later, the man made himself a cup of tea, made his preparations for the trip then simply went to bed.

The next morning the group would find him waiting patiently leaning against a pillar. He didn't speak too much, outside of small greetings, the man more preoccupied with his thoughts, though that train was derailed the moment Arteus and the representatives from the church arrived. He didn't hide nor tense, hiding most thoughts behind a blank look.

'Well, this is it then, best make the most of it. Be good to see Aulbach and the others at least, see what they know about current events...' In the end he thought it better not to burn any bridges just yet, offering the smallest of nods in greeting to them before turning his attention to their, and now his, illustrious leader.

He'd admit, the artist in him was impressed by Arteus' sense of aesthetics for the spell. It broke a smirk out at the thought before pushing off the pillar, joining the group as they were greeted by other acolytes.

That smirk dropped like a stone the moment he heard of murder, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as they were lead to a waiting room. Leaning on a desk Damian dropped the bag beside him, listening with one ear while rummaging through the bag for what he needed.

A long sword strapped to his hip, what looked to be a harness for a pair of hatchets placed on his lower back, covered by his jacket and a long machete placed on his other hip. Double checking his other pockets and satchels he found nothing to be missing, feeling ready he closed the bag and looked back to the others.

The man had gotten a quick look at their supposed newest member before she and the almost feral woman who brought back the makara egg set off to who knows where in the city. He had felt the small pings from her attempts to enter his mind but he paid them no heed, while he doubted that was the ceiling of her mental fortitude pings of that level weren't enough to worry about.

What was enough was the mention of Miasma from the young minstrel sitting on one of the couches, the young feline Belua being the first to comment.

"Until we know more Miss Namista we can't outright say if its the cause or not. On the other hand however, the odds that it's connected are far more likely. Arteus-" He called out. "you give me a few hours and I can figure out what's really going on."

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

There would be a pause and Atreus would only feel the barest hint of shifting air be Damian would release the spell, revealing himself now standing on the floor, leaning against the wall with crossed arms.

"You'll have to forgive my wariness, my most recent dealings with the Church has not been the most... constructive in nature." Far from the jovial and warm visage the others had seen in the Mess hall yesterday, a stern and focused look was plastered on the man's face.

It was soon relaxed however with a breath out his nose. Rubbing the bridge of his nose he let out a soft sigh. "Feels like I can't ever get a moments rest with them, regardless of which faction I encounter. No matter."

Rubbing his face a moment Damian pushed himself from the wall, hands in his pockets. "All that aside, seems we finally meet Arteus. Did you wish to talk here or your office?"

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

Not for the first time Damian asked himself why was he doing this again. Comfortably positioned where he could see all parts of the room he had waited since early morning for everyone to arrive. From his possible future compatriots filing into the room and making introductions to the visiting..... representatives from the Church.

The sight of them dredged up the urge to growl but instead kept silent. They weren't the main source of his ire and besides, hidden as he was no one knew he was there...except the Priestess no doubt. Seer's always made some things...difficult as it were. Still, he chose not to complain. Despite his instincts telling him to leave so as to not give the Church any more targets to destroy, he instead remained.

In the tower.

Hiding within the same room as the church members....

Why was he doing this again?

"Only the fish who swims against the river will know the source of flow..."

...ah, that's right. He wanted to damn the Elders and their divinations, but never had they steered him wrong before. Much as he wanted to simply move to the Southern continent as he had planned, he knew trusting his family's judgment was the right call.

So here he sat, hiding from all in the room. To anyone who tried to sense him out, Damian might as well appear to them as magical and as loud as a normal, unmoving wooden chair.

Didn't prevent the man from feeling this meeting was going to go swell...

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

With a light chuckle, Damian offered a nod. "Call me Damian, Wildlife photographer." Coming to lean against one of the bookshelves, he crossed his arms while holding up a hand.

"As per your question, Kiff, there are 4 languages total from what I could tell. It started as a fusion of both Northern Fae and Desert Pheredhel, before suddenly going into Serpent-tongue. Anyone else getting this far would only get a set of gibberish with the way how 2 of those languages were used as fake cyphers all while being overlaid with Serpent-tongue. The only word in our Common tongue we'd get is 'Milli', possibly a name but it's too early to tell. Whoever did this seems to have a love of riddles, but that's not the interesting part." With each language mentioned, one finger had risen to emphasize the point. By the end of it his arm had folded back with it's twin as he looked at the librarian proper.

"Tell me Kiff, how good's your Voidial?"

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

ATTN: @AzureKnight (Naomi) & @Enkryption

"Now this is inte-" Damian cut himself short as he read the lines again.

Serpent-tongue? That was very uncommon, he would know. During all his travels he'd met, spoken with and learned from many a peoples. Those that knew Serpent were few, but he learned from them all the same. That made him think, this couldn't be all there was to this message, there had to be something deeper. It'd be too easy to just use a single language for the spell. And sadly... he was right.

"Damn, was not expecting this. Then again, this really shouldn't surprise me." Rubbing a hand over the lower half of his face, he looked back at Naomi. "Do we have anyone here well versed in ancient languages?"

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

"I do yes, fir-" The man paused, focusing on the egg and the new symbols around it.

"First, we'll need to get the maker of that magitech machine. It needs to be switched from lightning elemental energies. Something, or someone is interfering with the egg." Moving past Naomi, Damian would peer curiuosly at the many lines of symbols and script writ upon the petals.

"Northern Fae-tongue and the Desert dialect huh? Interesting, gimme a minute and I'll get this translated in a moment..."

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

The man chuckles at Naomi's enthusiasm, not at all put off by her earlier rambling. "Perhaps, there's a couple things I wanted to discuss with Arteus first before anything else happens. So, you mentioned something about the Makara right? About their biomes and hormonal variances?"

He gestures down the hall. "Perhaps we can swap notes as we walk?"

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

Feeling someone bump into him the moment he rounded the corner, Damian had to take a step back to brace. Thankfully he didn't step on any of the books which fell.

Seeing who it was that bumped into him, the man was a little confused, though curious. "No need to apologize, no harm done."

Taking a knee Damian started grabbing some of the books that were out of the woman's reach. "Here, miss." Handing them to her with a small but warm smile, he gazed at the tome titles with curiosity. "Interesting set of tomes, miss. Which reptile are you focusing on?"

Magus Reaver: Scions of Sorcery

Seeing the man leave Damian huffed to himself, smiling with a shake of his head. Not feeling that hungry himself he made his way out of the mess hall, opting to simply venture about for the next while, see what some of the other places here was like...