The Otter

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

oshit it worked

@The Otter

"I have no clue what this sword is or why I have it. Surely this won't turn out poorly for me in any way!"

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

Callum Prosser

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@Irradiant

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It took another act of will for Callum not to let himself be shocked into paralysis alongside the beast. Luckily, not literally in his case—but such a basic spell, coming from a spellcaster of his lowly caliber, managing to subdue the leviathan so soundly was everything he could have hoped for and yet nothing he was prepared for. If it weren't for the amount of training the knight he squired for had put him through, the amount of intentional reactions hammered into his skull, he might have floated there gawking long enough for Ingens to revive without trouble.

He wrenched his hands free of the cut he'd made in Ingens's mouth, thankful that there wasn't enough muscle there to have crushed his hands when the beast convulsed, and sped out of the open jaws. Without wasting any time, he floated up and over the leviathan's snout, glassy eyes languidly trying to track his movements in a far cry from the obvious, malevolent intelligence that had controlled them moments before. Without any retaliation, it was easy enough to pry up the scales and deposit the Seeds—and then, without any reservations or worries about what others might think seeing his hasty retreat, he was quick to stow his dagger, making all possible haste back towards the queen and the relative safety she could provide if the leviathan got to moving and fighting again before Hayworth could make his way over to drive in the final seed.

Only for a flash to interpose itself between himself and her, the light itself parting to reveal within its boundaries, unsullied by mortal laws, a space devoid of anything that his mind could recognize as actual detail. It wasn't black, it wasn't empty, or any of the host of other rationalizations that mortal minds usually tried to ascribe to it, to make it something they could understand. After such a near brush with death, with an utterly single-minded focus on getting back to some semblance of safety and control, he didn't have the energy to come up with any explanations for what he saw.

It wasn't even space, by the definition he existed in. There was no form to it beyond the boundaries the light imposed—it was nothing. A hole in reality, pierced through into the Shade, and from there it was possibly linked to someplace else that he could understand. A tear that was forced to abide, however momentarily, by the laws that governed the realm he existed in, and the most obvious thing at that moment was that he had no clue where it led! His angle at it wasn't right to see that, and it left him at risk of plunging headlong into the Shade instead of turning out somewhere he could at least survive.

He twisted, barreling just past the edge of the light. The perfect circle followed his gaze, never wavering, giving him a glimpse for a fraction of a second of where the tunnel led—before, wide-eyed, he thrust out a hand at what came out of it towards him. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of a sword, his speed drawing it fully from the portal that closed out of existence the moment its cargo was delivered. "What?!" he muttered, slowing down and examining the weapon he'd grasped.

He could feel the weight of it in his hand, as true as day, and the slight resistance as it moved through the water—far less drag than a weapon of its size should have had—but the blade itself almost seemed to disappear into the ocean itself, but for the difference in colour. Translucent, then, nearly transparent. Finely made...if he had to hazard a guess, definitely magical in some way. Whether special crystal or some other enchantment he couldn't say without the time to really go over it, but he was absolutely comfortable in assuming it was magical.

Why it had popped out in front of him at the moment it did, he couldn't say, or even what it was beyond some sort of magical sword. Questions for another time, assuming the magic wasn't a curse. If it was...

Hopefully he'd notice it soon enough to ditch the thing and get himself out of harm's way.

Taking the moment of confusion to also catch his breath and his bearings, he looked around, over to where Sir Hayworth, alongside the Duchess Augustria and her servant were locked in combat with one of the ghostly interlopers that just disappeared from their midst. "Hayworth!" he thundered, hoping that his voice would carry well enough through the water that the old knight would hear. If not, he was gesticulating wildly with his hand, and pointing with the ghostly blade back at Ingens. "Now's your chance!"

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

oshit it worked

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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"Make sure, if you use this, you're ready to take whatever comes your way. You certainly won't be avoiding it."

"Eh? Why's that?"

"When you're pulling that much of your mana, focusing as hard as you will be to keep it from flying out of control...you might find it hard to get your legs to move."

As he was bathed in the green glow of the snake-construct's attack, Fionn couldn't help but think back to when Erich Cazt had taught him the spell he now held. The man was right, of course—a legendary demon-slaying knight was bound to know exactly what he was talking about when it came to such things. If he struggled to get himself moving when he was relying on this spell, there was no chance that his centuries-removed protégé would have an easier time of it.

It wasn't such an issue if he had to take another few steps forward to ensure he connected; as much as he'd been expecting the beast to keep charging at him, he'd been prepared for it to stop in place. Evading other attacks, however, was a different matter entirely.

This was no strike from the head that he'd be able to just cleave through. This was something he had no effective counter for, even after all he'd been taught. He couldn't run without entirely releasing the spell, something he didn't wish to do; he couldn't block it all, even if he hadn't been so committed. The only option seemed to be stepping into it and seeing if he could still get his own strike off quickly enough, or force through whatever damage one of those orbs may do.

Well, captain, I hope one of the ones we've got is good at healing.

He strained, heaving with all his well to force his left foot forward. His right next, left again, inexorably onward into the path of fire at a pace barely more than a walk. "Ēnsis—" he growled, his grip tightening against the hilt. Some of the orbs the snake had launched came closer, the air itself almost seeming to distort around them, a fundamental element of the world around them shaking apart from the barely-contained energies of the fairy watchdog's attack. He grit his teeth, stepping forward once more, shutting his mind against the pain he knew he'd have to push beyond...

And the earth split around him, roots shooting up to arch over and around him. No few of them instantly blackened and crumbled away, intercepting the spell he'd been prepared to suffer. The ground shook as the energy dumped into the makeshift shield drained away into the forest floor below, sending painful shocks up through his feet.

Thanks to Fiadh's intervention, only painful. Leaving him free to visit something altogether more debilitating upon the target of his ire.

"Secā!"

The final part of the command came out as barely more than a grunt, easily drowned out by the sudden shockwave as he swung downwards, carried forward with a final step where he quickly collapsed down to his knee. The hazy nimbus that had grown around his blade followed it down, flying forward as a suddenly solid arc of emerald light. The arch of roots that Fiadh had formed over him split apart without resistance as the arc flew straight for the snake, aimed to split it and its heart right down the middle.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

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"Your terms are acceptable," he replied quickly. "We'll do what we can. Be careful about letting anybody hear you call me a 'good boy,' though. I can think of quite a few of the other students from my time who might try to kill me if they ever hear of it."

Despite how much of an obvious joke it sounded like—indeed, it was one—Kayliss had hit the nail on the head: for all the work that she and others had put in to make it otherwise, Esben did not lie if he could find any way to avoid it.

With that put aside, there was still other business to attend to as long as he had her there, especially if they were to try and push the rest of the team down into Skael first. "If we're to do that, could you send a message to Leonhart for us and let him know just what's at risk? Or, if you have any reason to think he shouldn't be trusted with that, pass the information along to someone we can and have them keep an eye on the crystal there." While it was clear that Valon was a traitor himself, working hand in hand with the invaders as he was, that wasn't reason enough to entirely disregard the claims he'd made about serving Edren's supposed true king. "I don't want to risk it going unheeded while we're on the opposite side of the continent from the invaders' base."

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

I'll get something up by tomorrow night

@Psyker Landshark

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Esben Mathiassen

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Esben sat as silently as Éliane while Kayliss reviewed their reports. It was only expected that she would receive comment long before he did; after all, Kayliss herself knew that she'd be stepping on toes that she probably shouldn't if she was to claim any greater authority over the pink-haired woman's actions, and keeping her somewhat mollified would help avoid any troubles in that regard. He, meanwhile, was her actual direct subordinate. So he continued to remain silent as Éliane mused about how to spend the reward money, before the actual point that their boss was getting at came to the fore.

Éliane's reasoning went nearly unheard as he stared at Kayliss, his face as blank as the woman had taught him to make it years prior. He'd been expecting more of an argument to even get to the point of being allowed to argue to remain, not getting there immediately. At least he'd prepared his own reasoning well ahead of time.

"My assignment was left very open ended, and I was given the freedom to pursue it as I saw fit," he replied once he had a chance to cut in. "Running into the Kirins was a happy accident. Both despite the entanglement with them and because of it, you'll see that I got information that I wouldn't have easily accessed otherwise—information that I doubt Commander Laruelle would have entirely picked up herself, given the differing goals and scopes of what we're doing."

He leaned back, crossing his arms as his shoulder blades hit the wall behind him. "On top of that, as you've just read, what we're doing now goes beyond a simple matter of intelligence, and as long as we're still involved, you'll have very good intelligence about just where Valheim is sending some of their own clandestine operatives and special forces. Lastly..."

He glanced once over at Éliane, wondering just what her reaction would be to his final argument, before turning promptly back to Kayliss. "If you try to order me back, I'll tell you faen ta deg and resign."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fionn MacKerracher

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His climb had been halted, for a moment, as Arken's spell slammed into the construct's head. As soon as it had righted itself enough, however, he began pulling himself up along the giant snake again—climbing was usually slow going, but given how he'd sped himself up, he was making much better time than he otherwise might. Even as the wounds it had been taking twisted themselves outward to grasp at him, he had no trouble evading or striking back as was needed.

It was almost boring, really. Beyond the grinding noise of multiple trees rubbing against each other as the thing moved, he could hear the three further back talking between themselves and shouting orders. Upper half, at least? Not terribly creative, that was where snakes usually kept their hearts anyways—

He shook off a limb that wrapped itself around his ankle, the branch shattering with a hard kick. When the snake rolled right afterwards, however, he was left with no option but to release his hold, landing on the ground beneath it as it writhed further away to get a new angle on Fanilly and Gertrude. "Enough of this," he muttered, before squaring his stance back towards the beast, feet firmly planted in the dirt below.

Boars, bears, giant boars even, and even more monstrous creatures than those—none particularly filled Fionn with fear. He knew he would have to think to figure out the best way to take down each and every one, but for a man as divorced from the concept of terror as he was, putting himself directly in harm's way to do it was no object. Unlike a dragon, this one couldn't even breathe fire...so he felt more comfortable taking an older tactic against it.

He started chanting under his breath, raising his sword overhead. The orichalcum that Ardor had worked into the weapon began to glow in response, an intensifying nimbus of light radiating out from the blade that waxed and waned with the rhythm of his speech. Among the things that Erich had taught him in Merilia's otherworld, this was, perhaps, the most appealing to the Veltish man's sensibilities. As reliant on proper timing and sheer fortitude as anything else, and a simple enough variation on one of his other spells to teach quickly...and spectacular if it should connect.

He ceased chanting, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead as his sword shook in his grip, vibrating from the energy stored within it. There was only one word left to release the spell, so all he needed was the target to come close enough—"Drive it back towards me!" he yelled at the four that still held to its sides. Hopefully Arken and Gertrude would catch on enough to join in.

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

yeah like that

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

I would say 'instant aura loss', but on the other hand, I watch Youtube Shorts, so...

@ERode

Hypocrisy makes it funnier.

Meanwhile I'll just do what I do in every game and sit back here and point fingers and laugh at both of the GMs, just ask Vita and Rain.