Fury still wondered that himself. Had he really fought Kanitah to seize his Machine? Had he done it out of some bizarre notion of pride? Did he do it for any reason at all?
“I don’t know why I fought him. That is the truth.” Fury replied, after another lengthy pause. “But I killed him because he had something I needed, it’s as simple as that.” He made no apology for his actions, if the creature before him was Kanitah then killing him had not had the usual consequences anyway. Despite everything though, Fury couldn’t quite accept the man before him was the one he had killed. Maybe in body somehow, but not in spirit. To the Fireen that was often more important.
Eventually, he stood, momentary weakness subsiding. He had learned what he came to learn here, but he suspected it would matter little in the end. His fate lay before that skeletal figure that he would destroy or be destroyed by. Manadar suspected it would be the latter. The question was, what to do with Dunnaman? In truth, it would make more sense to destroy a potential enemy in his infancy, but that same feeling that there was nothing in his future beset Fury. It was like a predator too long in the tooth. Impending doom has a tendency to make a man rather reckless, or apathetic, depending on their personality.
“I have no fight with you, regardless.” He said. “I no longer care what happens to the Empire, to tell you the truth. I have something I need to do but it does not require me to take your life, so do as you will.” Fury made to turn, and then remembered the man’s ship was absolutely fucked.
“You can come with me if you wish. I will make the soldiers with me release you somewhere… better than this. If you do not trust me then remain here if you will.” The Fireen seemed ready to leave.
He knew. It was a small thing really, not even a mistake unless one happens to recognise the power of the Clockwork Man’s glowing blue eye. But a tell none-the-less that something was out there. Something which the pessimistic mind of George Elmore perceived as a threat. The creature that lurked in the canopy above him infused its web with mana, and he could make out that energy as plain as day. In all other senses its natural stealth made it a formidable enemy for the Clockwork Man, but it betrayed itself with its one reliance on magic.
For just a moment the strange automaton’s head shot up and his eye locked on the energy source above him. Then, almost as quickly, he returned to a more relaxed state. He had given only that small indicator that he might be aware he was being stalked. Slowly, ever so slowly, his right hand drifted to the hand-gun at his hip and his left hand sought purchase on the trunk. It made sense to use the structure of the tree as cover of sorts, if that magic he saw above him drew close and unleashed whatever surprise it had in store for him he could quickly spin around the trunk and put it between him and it.
And approach it did. He watched five separate energy signatures draw closer to him in the canopy, until it was frightfully close. Though he was relying on his peripheral vision alone he was still surprised to see no sign of whatever was causing that disturbance. So much so that he began to wonder if it could in fact be an invisible creature, or a spirit of some kind. That would probably make his gun a little useless. Still, the essence of true scientific endeavour was trial and error. He had better get started.
Almost quicker than the eye could make out the Clockwork Man drew his pistol from its holster, unstrapping it and all. It jumped into one metallic hand and just as quickly discharged three times, firing into the canopy above him at the magical blobs. At the same time, his left arm pulled at the trunk and he wrapped around it anti-clockwise, putting it between him and the projectile that suddenly made its way towards him. Just in time too, as the branch he had stood upon took the brunt of whatever it was fired at him, which in the short period of time he had to analyse it looked awfully like webbing.
Whatever the thing was above him, it held a high ground advantage and could hide in the canopy all too well. So, as he span around the trunk the Clockwork Man released his grip and dropped from that great height at significant speed, his weight dragging him down to the soft earth below with a hollow splash. His hook antics had drawn him most of the way out of the bog earlier, but the forest ground was still unreliable even here and one foot threatened to sink even as the other found purchase on harder ground and propelled him up and forward. He began to run, reloading his weapon as he went, seeking harder ground. If the creature wished to pursue him, it could either lurk high and harmless above him in the canopy, or it could come down where he could see it. And even as he ran and the perpetual whir of his mechanical body complimented his footfalls, another steady whir began to emanate from the weapon in his hand.
<Snipped quote by MelonHead> Hehe, indeed, though I'd hate to bring anything but my A-game in general. Not doing so is quite unwise. I found that out when I made a small mistake against you in the first fight we ever had, waaaay back in a tournament before guildfall. It was your knight (can't remember his name, maybe started with an "S") Vs. my character Casana.
You beat me quite soundly ^^;
Granted, I feel I've gotten much better since then, I imagine you've improved some as well, so it should be interesting to see how this goes. In my mind it's almost like a rematch.
Sigurd vs Casana, I remember it fairly well. I've definitely improved since then, but I can tell you have as well.
Just so you're aware, I've been working none stop since the day after we put this up. I'm waiting till a day off to get a response up since I can't seem to focus on it.
Well we didn't discuss any time limit or anything so take your time, you know you'll need to bring your A-game against Mr Clockwork.
That was the question that ran through his brilliant mind as he struggled to extricate one metallic foot from a bog. This place was as infuriating as it was interesting, but it was hardly the place for him to discover what he sought so it begged the question why had the Dreamers sent him here? He had been to such places before of course. Back when he was a real boy, so to speak. But as a metal man of significant weight traversing through a sticky bog towards the forest edge as the sun dipped below the horizon was not on his list of things to do. Not anymore. He was George Elmore the inventor. No, he was the Clockwork Man, the guardian and the traveller. What he wasn’t was a bloody adventurer.
“Oh for the love of-“ That grating voice emanated from the thin slit in his smooth metallic face, as his one glowing eye briefly dimmed and the telescopic eye extended, as if searching for something. The left hand shot out, beneath his splendid (if somehow oddly distended) Victorian jacket and shirt something popped and suddenly a hook shot forth from over his wrist, hurtling forward and slamming into a sturdy tree trunk about half-way up. It was out of the bog at least. With a tug, he retracted the hook still attached, pulling himself from the water and almost leaving one of his boots behind in the process as he flew through the air, making an odd sight indeed.
Now he perched precariously in a tree high above the semi-saturated floor, wondering what nightmares night had in store for him. At the very least, he wouldn’t be getting bitten by bugs. And if any animals showed up he could always shoot them with his pistol or blow them to pieces or something equally fatal. It was nice to have options when one visits such natural places of danger and beauty.
History Born into a poor family whose fortunes only changed after the death of a wealthy relative in London, George grew up with bits of metal and found himself to be a genius in his own right. He and his brother, Hale, would often play fight in the streets and pretty much act as little kids do, growing up under the watchful gaze of both father and mother. With money came opportunity, and after their father and mother passed the boys were of age and ready to do what they would with the world.
George was a renowned inventor of his time, and completely human, once. Living in London during the age of industry in a Steampunk world, he flourished with his inventions and innovations, building himself a small fortune while always sticking to the background. He established a factory ran by his brother to keep him out of the limelight, and retreated for two years. Sadly his brother exploited the workers in George’s absence, working them to the bone out of a cruel heart and a deep resentment for his brother’s natural gifts. It was a cruel fate for any trapped by the binding contacts and those who tried to flee were usually hunted down and dragged back to severe punishments. It was through this process that Hale Elmore began to take control of east London industrial, with vicious and unscrupulous business tactics and the willingness to use violence. Those were dark days for London, and even with the discovery of magic far overseas and the eventual implementation of it to make the process of machinery more efficient, people still suffered greatly.
The situation had grown dire in George’s two year absence, but his return was pre-ordained and with him came an exotic and beautiful woman he later explained was his wife. Hale was quick to put on a show for his returning genius of a brother, carefully concealing the truth with the practiced ease of a sociopath. However, he was a fool to think George would not suspect anything of his errant family member; he had known him a long time and knew that something was indeed afoot. With a huge amount of energy and money invested George fought a war of words and deals to limit his brother’s growing power, and in the end convinced him to leave for greener pastures with money and opportunity overseas.
These events were met with general contentment with the people of London, who benefited almost immediately from George’s more kind and beneficial work ethic. The factories began to fill with smiling bantering workers, the economy grew and technology and magic prospered. Five years later George had a young daughter and the first design for the greatest of all machines, the Clockwork man.
Two years after that, Hale returned. He brought an army. They were cruel mercenaries from overseas, utterly ruthless and loyal only to Hale’s payroll. He laid waste to George’s empire of industry, ravaging quarter of London and driving police into open street warfare. George was quick to rally a defence, but being an unaggressive man he was unable to properly react to what could only be described as a coup. His daughter was only five at this time, his wife scared by the fearful events which had transpired. The robotic figure which stood guard at the door of their home high up on the hill top was unable to operate with one missing component, and George had only one chance to save everything he loved in the world.
As night fell and the mercenaries slammed at the doors of his home, his loyal servants ushered the women away into the night and he stood awaiting his brother’s arrival. There was a greenish red circle etched on the floor, and a scroll lay strewn across the table beside him. When the mercenaries arrived at his door he seized a clockwork pistol of his own design and held them at bay, remaining steadfast. A bullet caught him by complete luck through the wooden frame and cut a hole in his chest, but still he remained in the circle. Eventually his brother did arrive, as he knew he would, pride was a pitiful thing.
They conversed; his brother mocked him for his stubbornness, told him he should have fled while he could and avoided his fate as long as possible. George remained silent and his mind went blank, down on one knee blood poured through his shirt. Down on two his hand hit the floor and his brother laughed. His life spent there, the magic swirled around his body and his brother no longer laughed, George died.
And the Clockwork man awoke.
Appearance: A humanoid figure cloaked in old fashioned Victorian attire, a long brown trench coat coupled with a dull white shirt and tough durable brown trousers and boots. A leather holster is fastened to his right hip. A satchel is fastened to his left hip, which contains an incredibly efficient tool kit and all of his little devices. His body is made up of whirring gears under a plate of bronze about an inch thick which plays the part of skin. His face has a simple slit for a mouth which can open only slightly and one blue glowing right eye. The other is a slightly protruding telescopic sight. (About one and a half inches in length, but can extend to three). Apart from his unnatural composition, his body shape is lean and athletic looking. He’s completely bald and has no nose or ears.
Height: 6ft exactly
Weight: 105kg
Fighting ability
Known Powers: The Clockwork man is sustained by magic, but his eye is also able to highlight the use of magic and creatures magical in nature. It also makes sneaking up on him nigh impossible without serious terrain advantages, or pure skill being your only ability in stealth. Both of his eyes present him with a vast inflow of information which his mechanical and spiritual mind can quickly compute and react to. This gives him a reaction time far superior to any human, and also makes him uncannily accurate. They also have the ability to perceive their way through natural fog, smoke, and the like, and can easily see in the dark.
Technomage, the Clockwork man can create mechanical devices imbued with magic in short spaces of time, and give them life. He has a few of these technological wonders on his person, but it also gives him an advantage when fighting mechanical opponents because he can understand how they work, it also allows him to fairly easily repair himself.
Abilities: Being a mechanical construct, he has inherited the natural strengths of being made of metal. For one, he has the durability of bronze enhanced by magic to be further resistant to rust and heat. His melting point is about 2500 F. (He’s also made of a non-magnetic variant, but can conduct electricity and heat safely through his body and even project it as a weapon to a limited degree, so long as it’s not taken at extreme levels. Impact wise, the bronze composition is slightly more dense than natural, giving it a hardiness at around half again the durability of steel.
His mechanical strength is somewhat more than the biological strength of a human, his maximum lift roughly 1 tonne.
He moves in an oddly jerky and unnatural manner which accounts for his near impossible to predict fighting style, moving at about 50mph at a full sprint which takes quite a time of acceleration. However, this is not in relation to his body movements, where he is quite capable of delivering strikes with hands and feet before the fastest of natural humans. He has a jump height of ten feet standing and twenty horizontal with a run up. He has an endurance which is mechanical in nature, which means it is near limitless. He will never seem tired, however as he has no real direct combat magic this is unsurprising as running his body would only require minimal energy.
He can hear pretty much as well as a normal human, except the sound is transferred to his animus or mind through magic, so his ears can’t be damaged.
Through magic he also projects his voice through the mouth of the Clockwork, although it seems dryer than when alive.
He can’t feel anything physically, although his mind or animus could still be targeted to cause him to feel pain.
Being mechanical in nature, he has no blood stream and is unaffected by contagions poisons etc, however also being magical in nature and not truly workable through scientific means suggests that he would also have a significant degree of resistance to remote hacks and other technological devices. This is emphasised by the way in which his soul was transplanted into the machine, as he can lash out at magical and technological attacks with his mind from the safety of the crystal.
George has inhabited his mechanical body for ten years and is incredibly competent in its use. He understands its limitations and its strengths, allowing him to fight hand to hand with ease.
Inventory and limitations
Weapons: Clockwork pistol, classic steampunk-ish looking weapon with a three round chamber. It has to be kept in a default state when not in use, but before firing can be charged by the cogs to fire one 9mm bullet at the full power of a modern day sniper rifle after a 10 second period. This can then be increased to 20 seconds to fire two shots, and 30 to fire all three. When multiple rounds are shot the pistol is designed to allow them to spread vertically by a few inches, so by twisting the gun he can make it less likely for an opponent to escape their spread or cause more damage. At thirty seconds the rounds also become more like anti-personnel rounds, which shatter on impact and completely waste the insides of organic opponents. With trained accuracy mechanical ones also suffer a similar fate.
Homing explosives: Small cylindrical capsules kept in his satchel; he carries four of them at any given time. When activated they break apart at the middle and a sharp circular blade protrudes to increase their diameter to about five inches, and an irritated buzzing noise emanates from within. He can then throw them in the direction of an opponent and with his magic they home in on whoever he has targeted, changing direction mid-flight in order to pierce the targets body. If this becomes impossible because the target dodges too far, they explode when as close as possible. The explosion is on par to a modern day grenade.
Flare bomb: Carries two with him, they look similar to the homing explosives except coloured red rather than remaining iron. When activated they beep twice clank with a heavy metallic sound and then burst into a billowing flame within five seconds. This is caused by an incredibly powerful accelerant which is sprayed out over a ten foot radius, and if the opponent is splashed with it the fire will follow along and burn through it and them at 2000f.
Magical inhibitor: A strange metallic rectangle about five inches in length and two inches in width, it takes a significant period of time to recharge (one use per fight) but when activated it sends out a wave of debilitating sound and magic in a forward arc of fifteen feet wide for twenty five feet in distance. This has the effect of either disabling or at least weakening magic used in the area of effect, but also if it hits someone intoned with magic it can cause a deafening ringing in their mind and prevent them from easily casting spells again for another ten seconds or so, depending on mental constitution.
Clockwork spider: Only has one, a tier 2 summon (yes I know it should be 2/3 character strength but I can’t justify it at the level, but neither as a tier 1) It’s about ten inches in diameter and usually clings to his back when not in use under his cloak but above his shirt. When activated remotely using his Technomagic, it springs into life and defends its master with razor sharp mandibles which electrocute those it bites with the power of a modern day tazer. It moves incredibly fast (About 30mph), but isn’t particularly durable.
Equipment: Tool kit to repair damage to his devices or himself and fifteen rounds of ammunition for the Clockwork pistol.
Two smoke grenades pretty much equivalent to modern day standards. Blooming thick gray smoke in a twenty-thirty feet radius depending on conditions.
Grappling hook, attached to the top of his left hand just before the wrist, it looks like a simple spike in a strange square structure welded onto the hand when not in use. When activated it bursts out and three spikes protrude from the original one to allow it to hold onto targets. This can then be deactivated at will to release or retract. It has a range of about 30 meters, and the wire and hook has the durability of tensile steel (the wire has a diameter of about two and a half inches allowing it to take a few hits before it breaks and obviously hold his weight.
Armor: Bronze ‘skin’ and internal structure.
Limitations: Weighted, George is incredibly heavy for his size and build due to being made of metal. Clockwork, his internals are a mass of gears and cogs, which although designed to take gunshots with minimal impact, they suffer greatly from larger impacts and punctures causing his body to lose function.
Soul, George’s ‘soul’ or ‘animus’ was transplanted into the Clockwork body by magic, and it’s possible to target it with certain abilities. There is also a slightly larger and vital cog with a crystalline artefact within which houses George’s soul, on the right side of the Clockwork man’s chest, mirroring the heart on a normal human. It’s about as big as his clenched fist and if hit with a significant enough impact could cause him to fade away.
Combat magic is pretty much non-existent, he has to use his abilities indirectly through devices.
The man was shaking, that name, Manadar, only two knew it. Could it be a coincidence? The lightning bolt that shocked his body when that creature uttered it and the horrible feeling of familiarity from its subsequent words, the look upon its furred face, these facts were growing undeniable. The truth was growing undeniable. There were still possibilities though, the creature could have been watching, the meeting could have been recorded somehow. Perhaps it made its home on that planet? Fury dismissed these things immediately, he was not such a sceptic. He knew what he felt.
His eyes drew down to the creature on the ground before him, and for the first time in his life he had no idea what to do. As if the weight of it all had brought him low, he too dropped to the ground, on one knee. Disbelief was written on that grim visage, and as Fury struggled with what to say, or do, or even how to understand, his instinct took over.
“You’re Kanitah, aren’t you?” He looked down as he said it, but then his head rose and his eyes briefly burned. "But I killed you..."
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LeeRoy
Nytefall