Dreams of Good Hope

Tyramon wrote:

(I suppose you'll find out :P)

Vara willed herself to move. Faster than expected, she felt her nerves fire and her body shift.

She watched as the projectile, which looked like a very thin dart, slowly spiralled towards her; she watched as the broken sound barrier made a near-invisible shockwave that trailed far behind the dart. She was...faster...for a brief moment (which was observed as several dozen seconds to Vara) however she could see her "slowing down" due to everything else speeding up, most notably the dart, which travelled along its arc with perfect accuracy.

It would be a beautiful sight if it wasn't trying to kill Vara. As a matter of fact, the entire moment was foreign; for what felt like minutes Vara had not exhaled or inhaled, blinked, or even felt a heartbeat.

Still, she moved just barely out of the way of the dart fired by the ICR, the projectile, now flying at the speed of a speedwalker, missing her clavicle by a few millimeters.

Time was speeding up, however, and while she was also speeding up it was not nearly at the same pace. The effect was wearing off, and Vara reasoned she perhaps could do one or two more actions

******

"So you mean to tell me he created an impressive inferno, melted the inside of a cave, left a rope unburned, and was unable to do something as simple as...putting energy into an orb...because he lacks a book?" Kressidia whispered. "Are you certain he's...well...I suppose for lack of a better and more scientific term, "magical", and it wasn't just the book?"

Spencer looked about, gauging the street itself, the structure in question and the mysterious building being used as a guard. By the scent of burnt oil on the air, he suspected some form of petrochemical refinery, or possibly just a simple oil well.

Recognising the people present, and the believed nature of the conversation behind him, Spencer tried to find a somewhat concealed position and keep watch.

Aerlanica wrote:

-snip-

Vara once again tried to psychically reach into the soldiers' minds and incapacitate them. The soldiers were, after all, the greatest immediate threat, and thus incapacitating them as soon as possible was of the utmost importance.

As a backup, she tried to strike at the closest soldier with her tail, hoping to prevent him at least from firing again.

******

Corali frowned.
"Well, I...I don't know exactly how it all works...but I do believe it was him, and that the book was simply explaining how to do things. But we can ask him."

Spencer settled down behind some crates and kept watch, but there was nothing of interest going on in the city around them.

Tyramon wrote:

As a backup, she tried to strike at the closest soldier with her tail, hoping to prevent him at least from firing again.

Vara, who was moving and reacting somehow both faster and before everything around her (while also feeling like she was moving as slow as a B-grade action movie character in a cheesy slow motion scene) managed to slip into the soldiers mind before he had time to set up what little defences he had, rendering that threat thoroughly neutralised.

Time began to rapidly "catch up" so to speak, and Vara watched as the incapacitated soldier crumpled to the ground, stunned and unconscious, while Kasey looked from where Vara was up to where Vara was now with wide eyes. As time caught up, finally, Vara felt a brief wave of intense but manageable nausea and vertigo while she felt a steady stream of blood begin to fall from her nose.

Not taking any time to exclaim in shock, Kasey rapidly tried to scramble to her feet, slipping once due to her non-functional arm and giving Vara enough time to recover fully.

******

Kressidia nodded.
"Considering we need every tool at our disposal to find the time and magic sorcerers, it would behove us to try and at the very least get him able to do what he can do best."

She gestured to a bundle of crates.
"You go ask him, i do not want to make him feel as though i'm accusing him and scare him off into this city; that would cause more problems than I have the energy for."

Aerlanica wrote:

-snip-

Vara wrapped her tail around the harpoon gun while reaching for the collapsed soldier's gun. While it would be best to avoid Aerlanican casualties...well...these soldiers were naught but pawns in the grand scheme of things. However, she first would try to threaten Kasey in an attempt to get her to surrender. If she could get Kasey to order the soldiers to stand down, it would not only save the soldiers but also prevent Vara from having to out-shoot trained soldiers. This was all easier said than done, of course, but regardless, arming herself gave her options.

******

"It would be good for him to have access to his magic again, but..."
Corali shook her head.
"Not here...when you don't know what you're doing with magic, you should do it out in the desert or in some large open space, both to avoid attention and to avoid destruction. Besides...I think we first should figure out what we need to do next. We need time and magic, but there is no Sorcerer of Time, and the Sorcerer of Magic...well Sorcerer Delegata took his power."

Spencer heard some rattling and whining coming from a nearby waste bin.

Tyramon wrote:

Vara did so swiftly, and as Vara grasped the rifle she found that while it appeared bulky and unweildy, aside from a bit of heft the rifle was perfectly balanced and strangely ergonomic. The sight was within a small aparatus atop the rifle and consisted of a a holographic dot surrounded by a ring, with a display beneath it showing the battery was at 99%.

As the rifle was pointed to Kasey, she slowly raised her remaining arm.
"How did you...how...you moved...i didn't even..."

Vara noticed that Kasey's tail was slowly twisting to the side just barely within the corner of Vara's eye; she wasn't really conceeding the battle, but rather Kasey was feigning surrender.

The soldier was out cold and still unconscious.

******

"Without Spencer's magic, we're two ladies and a young man, and he's the weakest of our number in all aspects; he's dead weight which slows us down as he endangers himself simply for the sake of being here." Kressidia stressed. "In any case, It seems to me we're down two sorcerers; even if we did find a sorcerer of time, we'd not be able to utilise the medallions. We wouldn't even know what the Sorcerer of time would be like, or what their capablities could be; would it be localised chronomancy? or would they be goig back in time. I pray it'd be the former, as altering with time is a terrible idea, and could lead to catastrophic consequences." Kressidia cautioned. "I understand desperate times call for desperate measures, but we shouldn't abuse time unless we'd absolutely have to."

Spencer lifted the lid and looked in cautiously and carefully.

Aerlanica wrote:

-snip-

(How many soldiers are left? Does Vara know?

Based on the intel from Zara and Erwin, there should be four to seven more soldiers, right?)

Vara gestured to Kasey's tail, indicating she saw Kasey's intentions. She aimed the ICR at Kasey's right shoulder, still preferring to not kill Kasey if possible, although if need be vital organs were not far away.
"Don't try it! Tell the soldiers to drop their weapons and leave."

******

"It probably doesn't matter what the Sorcerer of Time would be capable of. The medallion just says 'time' and 'magic', it should work regardless. I wonder if we can figure out what exactly it needs..."
She pulled out the medallion and frowned.
"Do you...hear that?"
Indeed, Kressidia with her superhuman hearing could hear something coming from the medallion.
"Keyword was arithmetic."

Corali held the medallion to her ear.
"It is saying...'keyword was arithmetic'...we must need to know what the keyword will be, and it tells us what the keyword was before. I expect a Sorcerer of Time would be able to figure that one out fairly easily. The medallion also feels a bit like...like it needs magic to be pushed into it, which the Sorcerer of Magic could certainly do."

As Spencer lifted the lid, he was immediately assaulted by the smell of rotting food. Looking inside, he saw what appeared to be a raccoon tangled in some rope or string. It was struggling, trying to free itself, but when it saw Spencer it froze in terror.

******

Delegata stretched and turned to Iblion.
"Well, it looks like they don't need the Sorcerer of Space anymore. I'll go get him. Here, you can look after our child for a little while."
With that, Delegata pulled out her womb through her abdomen, the blue fog that was Delegata reforming into flesh behind it. Delegata offered the womb to Iblion.

(How long ago would you say Delegata got pregnant?)

Fuzy

Tyramon wrote:

(Indeed, they're inside the bunker and out in the demountable bunks. Vara didn't see all of them)

Kasey pursed her lips, then sighed. While the parasite controlled her, it did not make her suicidal.

Kasey closed her eyes, and Vara felt at the tail end of her strange trance a brief communication with all the soldiers of the compound. Vara then heard the front doors to the bunker slide open; individuals were leaving the bunker.

"Am I dead?" Kasey asked bluntly and flatly.

******

Kressidia raised an eyebrow.
"So we must do math? Goodness me, i hope we don't need to use that Mongolyn science...what did we call it...Algebra i believe? I suppose if we don't find the sorcerer of time I can try to figure it out so long as I have enough parchment and ink...as for magic...well...I could try to do it considering Spencer's out of the question."

She sighed.
"I suppose we look for the next lead in...wherever we are...however for starters, I need some more concealing clothes; if what Spencer told me is true, a paled skin lady wandering around is a sure way to draw unwanted attention."

Spencer, meanwhile, looked at it awkwardly.
"Er...hello there...it seems you're a bit tied up...here I'll...I'll help."

He awkwardly and slowly reached in and tried to slowly and carefully untie the racoon.

******

Iblion took it carefully and smiled, giving Delegata a nod.
"I'll hold onto this one until you get back...fingers crossed it isn't another disappointment once it's finished cooking."

(At least a few months, but its whether it develops differently due to like, sorcerer stuff.)

Aerlanica wrote:

-snip-

"No, you'll be fine, as long as you do as I say. Now, lie down on your stomach with your hands on your head and your tail around your stomach."

Once Kasey did so, Vara retrieved the transmitter and pressed the red button.
"I have Kasey, but we need a new extraction plan. We also need emergency medical; Nelly's been hit with an ICR shot. The affected soldiers should offer no resistance, but use caution just in case."

******

Corali shook her head.
"No, this has nothing to do with algebra. The word is probably random and will change periodically; we need to find out what it is, but it will only be revealed in the future. Hence, the keyword was arithmetic before. Now it could be anything. It could be the word 'potato', it could be the word 'red'. It could be anything, which is why time magic is needed - but like I said, there is no Sorcerer of Time we could go to for help."

Corali paused.

"Wait, what do you mean you could try to do it? Even if you have magic, the kind of magic manipulation this calls for...I don't think Spencer could ever do it, I couldn't do it, even most Sorcerers couldn't do it. Other than Sorcerer Maven, there were only two groups who ever figured out how to do this sort of manipulation of magic: corrupted witches and the bloodsucking witches. This isn't as simple as throwing some energy around, which is what opening the sorcerer orb needed. This is moving the essence of magic itself, the source. It's like...the difference between altering one's current form as with formshifting versus changing one's true form. The first is easy and I can do without assistance, but the second is an extremely rare and difficult thing."

She offered the medallion to Kressidia.

"If you think you can do it, then by all means, try it. I'd be very surprised if you could do it, but no harm in trying I suppose."

The racoon was frightened but did not fight him. It whined fearfully, but it knew it had no other option than to trust this strange boy. Freeing it took some difficulty, but eventually Spencer did manage to untangle the racoon. As soon as it was free, it scampered out and away, seemingly still not fully trusting Spencer.

******

Delegata smiled.
"We'll just have to raise it right."
Delegata disappeared.

** ** **

Delegata managed to track Savareon down by reading the minds of the priests at the north pole temple. Evidently, Corali's actions in freeing Savareon had disabled a part of the magnetic protection fields, and Savareon had gone to the affected planet. Delegata went there as well and found a warzone; the planet had been invaded by the Don Feron (basically fascist orange people) some months back, with battles raging across the planet ever since. She found Savareon onboard a Tyramonian battlecruiser, warning them to stay away. The Tyramonians had quickly seen the opening in the magnetic fields and sought to invade.

As Delegata was taking away Savareon's power, the Royal Emperor summoned Iblion and stated that he wanted to take Savareon into Tyramonian custody.

(Well when it comes to my magic system, when someone is transformed as another creature and does the naughty naughty, then the offspring will biologically be that creature in every way. I don't know the effects of being Iblion's son, but as conception occurred while they were human, the offspring will be human, including gestation period and such. That's a major reason why Delegata cannot really formshift while pregnant, as the human baby requires a human womb and such.

Although I suppose they could change whatever they wanted, what with all the power between them.

Oh wait....I just remembered an issue with this. Sorcerers have a unique property that, essentially, means that they cannot have kids. Maybe with the Sorcerer of Life's powers this issue could be circumvented, but basically Iblion would've had to manually create a child that partially copies Delegata's DNA.)

******

(I had an idea for a new rp thread, but if you are busy irl we don't need to do it. It isn't super important.

Also, totally not related to that...old Primaeri nav computers would still have the location for Shakar, right? And some of those computers might still be on Augusta, right? Maybe from crashed Primaeri ships? If not, that's fine, I have another way of doing things.)

Tyramon wrote:

To both her surprise and expectations, Zara replied.
"Hear you loud and clear; we'll send a detachment of agents to secure the soldiers and check them for parasites. Provide whatever first aid you can give to Nelly until the med-evac dropship can arrive...oh, and do ensure Kasey is unable to teleport, please." Zara replied. "And Vara...thank you, if she managed to break through the signal jammers...well, suffice to say you've saved more than a few dozen million lives...who knows, perhaps that name the Shakar gave you has more than a bit of credibity to it."

The line went dead.

Kasey sighed and grimaced.
"Alright...get it over with." She said, apparently expecting to be knocked out.

******

Kressidia paused, not taking the medallions
"Well when you explain it, I admit don't know how to do it...but i think I know a group of people who could...I..."

She paused.
"I...there..."

She grimaced.
"Why can't i remember...wh...his name was...it began with a B...he was a slave, like me, his...the magic you describe was part of a ritual used to bind slaves to their witches, to be unquestionably loyal and obedient...but...I..."

She pursed her lips.
"Why can't i remember...there's a reason why...but...I can't...remember it..."

Kressidia looked to Corali.
"You're a witch, yes? you must know where the hideouts are...I...think something was done to me that we need to reverse or end...and considering he's-" she pointed over Corali's shoulder, "-is too busy rescuing small critters from dumpsters, he isn't going to be much help, unless that small critter is a shape changed-" She paused as she looked over Corali's shoulder, "-...and it's run away."

Kressidia sighed.
"Roodems; always so shy, yet always so quick to rush in brashly to help others...it's a wonder they didn't wipe themselves out."

The racoon was frightened but did not fight him. It whined fearfully, but it knew it had no other option than to trust this strange boy. Freeing it took some difficulty, but eventually Spencer did manage to untangle the racoon. As soon as it was free, it scampered out and away, seemingly still not fully trusting Spencer.

Spencer turned around and, upon noticing her staring, waved at Kressidia, unaware of what the conversation was about on account of him still out of earshot to the whispered conversation.
"I uh...I am keeping watch...um...is the witch buisness over? can I come back over now?" Spencer asked politely.

******

Delegata smiled.
"We'll just have to raise it right."
Delegata disappeared.

** ** **

Iblion respectfully, and thus uncharictaristically, informed the Royal Emperor that he was unfortunately stuck "babysitting" while Delegata was "at work", referring to the "ol' ball-and-chain" in jest and assuring the Royal Emperor he would be swiftly arriving once Delegata returned.

He finished his message with "Children, am i right? Such a headache sometimes."

(Ah, that makes sense...hmm...we could have it that while not perfectly Delegata's child, it's sort of bears facsimile information of Delegata? Like how you can't perfectly copy a drawing through a printer, as you keep copying it the image keeps getting slightly distorted.)

******

(While the Federation did try to do a big clean up effort...it would not be out of the realm of possibility for certain groups to acquire one or two that fell through the cracks, along with any necessary equipment and expertise (and perhaps even personel who went into hiding) to fix them up indeed)