(Quest) The Long Haul [Taletha, Rawls, Tallis, Alva]

[Harper]

Everything began to blur together. Harper was aware of her overgiving; she could feel every ounce of strength being sapped from her body. What was happening? She saw Tallis perform his magic, and she saw Monsel strike down the bear... ...but what was this white creature she saw? Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She looked around her, seeing everyone standing still, the expressions of horror on their face, yet they moved so slow. She looked back towards the creature. Whether it was really happening or not, she wasn't sure: but the creature began to walk towards her, moving faster than everything else, and it spoke: "Witch! You summoned me here with your magicks! I am the price for your power, and you shall answer to me!" Harper's eyes grew large in terror. What in the gods and spirits above's names was going on? The next thing Harper new, she was on the ground, various wounds darting her body, with Ser Brinkaas tackling the creature off of her chest. She quickly tried to stand, experiencing a severe case of vertigo in the process. She watched as the monster attacked Brinkaas and leaped towards Tallis. It must have been all a hallucination, She realized. 'Must of been' was a poor choice of words, seeing as if everything (mostly the trees) were still bleeding together, the world becoming one huge void of colors and sights. Surely it was a side-effect of her overgiving. She had performed too much magick today, pushing her limits. She feared for her life. Harper turned her attention to Tallis. Her used some sort of magick that Harper had not seen before, one that appeared to control the earth itself. She felt guilt for bringing forth this creature from the Void, something that was almost never heard of, and she felt fear for not only her life but the lives of her companions. She wanted to help, but what more could she do? She'd already harmed enough... She knew opening another Portal was not a good idea. No, this creature needed to be killed. But Harper was finally useless, out of ideas. The thought of Leeching the creature came to mind. Obviously a dangerous idea, and it might not even be effective. The creatures Djed could be very unrefined, or too great for her to handle. And what would she do after she had it? She stopped thinking. She ran for the creature, almost tripping over her own feet in exhaustion. She creature wasn't distracted enough by the stone casing on its face for it noticed Harper right away. She locked eyes with the void-being and Harper felt utter fear. No emotions, She thought to herself. They are useless. When she was almost on top of the creature, it scratched her across the arm with one of its massive claws. Harper screamed in pain, but still reached and grabbed on the creatures pale neck. It's skin felt as if paper, gritty and dry. Harper immediately began to Leech the being, siphoning its Djed into her own body. Everything began to go red. The Djed felt so unfamiliar, it felt as if her blood was being transmuted into molten lava. She screamed but held the Leech, knowing that it would distract the creature long enough for the others to kill it. "Please, gods, kill it now! Kill it NOW!" She said as she fought back the urge to vomit.

[Chevalier]

Harper and Tallis

Tallis' Reimancy based trickery seemed to be quite effective. The creature was at the very least distracted and contained, it's level of insanity seemed to be heightened from the panic brought about by the magical tampering. It was the perfect combination for his secondary means of attack, the high-risk, high-reward combative magic known as the Flux. The young male mage experienced the sensation of his body working into supernatural overdrive, allowing him to tax every tiny muscular fiber far further than it was ever meant to go. The shackles of the limitations allowed to mortal Humans were aleviated for those few moments, allowing him to forcibly push a beast back that would normally appear physically superior. Being a competent Flux user, Tallis could feel the resistance that met his strikes when he connected, the sturdy bone skeleton of the creature pushing back hard against his attacks, but starting to give.

As the vaguely humanoid form stumbled back, Harper recovered and advanced. It was a perfect scenerio for a Leecher. In fact, Tallis and Harper's magical disciplines were quite possibly the pefect compliment to one another. Thanks to the creature's lack of clothing and Tallis' momentary method of keeping the creature at bay, the sickly looking Squire was able to get an excellent grip on the thing's bare flesh. As the transference of Djed began she suddenly felt something unknown to her before, as if some method or use for Leeching had been ultimiately discovered. Indeed, by creating an instance where she had pushed herself into Overgiving, and then immediately recovering some of her reserves with Leeched Djed, she had actually discovered how to push aside the effects of Overgiving, at least for now. For the first time while she held tightly upon the creature's rubbery flesh she didn't feel weak or sick at all. In fact, she felt fantastic. The Djed was disgusting and terribly unrefined as she would have imagined, but just like a man dying of thirst would drink lovingly from a murky puddle, the sense of it refueling her body was incredibly refreshing.

Shnnnnk! came the grusome sound of a length of metal coring into a flesh body. In that moment while the creature was completely overwhelmed with being exposed to the Leeching process, the Sergeant sliced his blade across the top of the opponent's head, cutting through the remaining earth, through it's skin, through it's skull, and lodging his gladius halfway through it's head before the sheer resistance of the various bone and brain tissue forced it to stop.

Brinkaas actually was forced to release his weapon as the creature crumbled to the ground in a lifeless heap, bloody goo and brain matter leaking from the side of it's head. "Ser Monsel, if you wouldn't--" too late. Years of working together had the archer already prepared with a drawn arrow. Ensuring death, the dark skinned Knight loomed over the fallen creature, his face earrily calm as he blew that projectile straight through the nightmare's head, almost as if he was attempting to meet Brinkaas' blade in the middle.

Sucking in a huge gout of air, Brinkaas exhaled and like a trained combatant quickly calmed himself. "Alright then, I think that will be all the hunting today." Reaching down his hand wrapped about his sword grip, giving it one, two, and finally three hard pulls before the weapon came fully free. "You both did incredibly well. Squire Harper, don't believe for a moment this was your fault, I've seen it before in mages. The doubt and regret. Things happen, and the Knights are trained to do what they must to rectify it. There was a complication, and you, Mr. Tallis, Ser Monsel and myself rectified it, end of story. More importantly, is everyone all right? We'll have trained medics back at the camp to assess any injuries. Ser Monsel, let us lash up the bear and this...thing as well. I dare not leave it here in the forest. I'd rather someone trained excessively with the use of fire incinerate it completely."

OOC Stuff

Secret :

Alright folks, excellent posts. We're coming to the end of the adventure as Alva has informed me she had to drop out, so Harper and Tallis you're it. Feel free to post a final time, and then I shall grade the thread!

[Tallis]

Although trained in the use of the Flux, it was still a dangerous skill that Tallis rarely resorted to using. Pushing the body past its limits was risky at best and absolutely devastating if used improperly. Tallis’ fighting style was a defensive style that he had personally developed. It relied on getting close to the opponent and using controlled bursts of power to deliver a series of fast strikes with the more resilient parts of his body. This planned and careful usage of the flux had minimized the damage done to his body. Thick leather armor had also shielded him from the brunt of the void-creature’s raking claws, but still the beast had managed to cut through and shallow cuts ran across his forearms. On top of that, the use of Flux had overtaxed the muscles in his arms and legs and his movements were now accompanied by soreness and aching. The cuts seemed to be the worst of the attack and Tallis hoped that with timely treatment they would heal over well enough, leaving light scars that would fade over time. The burning in his arms and legs was an even smaller concern. Soon enough, the tears in his muscles would mend and he would find his body stronger than it was before. It was Harper who worried the young mage the most. From the start, she appeared to have a weak constitution, but it wasn’t the bodily damage that he was concerned about. Opening and maintaining the portal had caused her to enter a state of overgiving, and though it appeared that the use of Leeching had replenished her djed supplies momentarily, he knew that it wasn’t safe housing foreign djed. Although a recent initiate of Leeching, Tallis vividly remembered its consequences. “Harper, I know you may be tired, but it would probably be best if you gradually released the djed you took from that creature. When we get back to camp you will have time to rest and replenish your djed naturally.” Turning his attention to the two knights, Tallis was rather unsurprised to see that they appeared completely unfazed. Ser Brinkaas had gone back to being his talkative and charismatic self and he could’ve sworn that Ser Monsel hadn’t even batted an eyelid the entire time. Indeed, the knights were already busy tying up the results of their hunting mission. Perhaps with time and training, Tallis would gain the mental strength and preparedness that they exhibited, but for now he was glad to be alive and rather happy that he hadn’t been a burden to his mentors.

[Harper]

The shock of the foreign Djed left Harper, and she felt wonderful. Euphoria might have been the best adjective to describe the way she felt. Everything felt like it would be fine, as if the world was all right in its own way. A smile crept across her face as she feasted upon the pale creature's Djed. She never wanted it to stop. Brinkaas's blade came slicing through the creature's skull, and a part of Harper really wished that he hadn't. She could have set there all day, absorbing the delicious Djed. But in the back of her mind she knew it was necessary. As the creature fell, Harper went down with it, keeping her hands latched to its neck. She could feel the life draining from it completely, and she begged on the inside for it not to happen. She loved this feeling too much. When she felt that the creature was completely dead (and also noticed that Monsel was headed over, bow loaded) she reluctantly--yet quickly--removed herself from the body and moved out of the way. Her body was on fire, in the best way possible. She felt like she was moving in hyper-speed, like her body was vibrating. She heeded Brinkaas's words carefully, recognizing that it wasn't all her fault. She found it difficult to concentrate, but she listened best she could. When Tallis mentioned that she should probably rid herself of the excess Djed, a flare of anger triggered inside her, if only for a moment. She never wanted to let go of it. It was too beautiful and felt too great for her to give up. A voice inside her head spoke: "The magick is good, and it is your friend. Never let it leave." Harper knew the voice wasn't real, yet she felt as if it was. She put it out of her mind. "Perhaps you're right," she said. "But I don't wish to open another portal... I don't want to risk another creature coming out. I'll bare it. I'll become sick, I'm sure, but I'll carry my own weight; it is my burden. It is my price, the balance I must keep. I am sorry for all of this, even if it isn't completely my fault. I'm not sure what that creature was, but I've heard stories of strange things escaping from the Void. A failed experiment of some kind, I'm sure. I wish I could know its origins, or that I could study the creature somehow. I just wonder if it holds any useful information within its composition, although that may just be my curiosity speaking for itself." Harper looked back to the three men. "But it might just be better if we dispose of it. I will help carry anything I can back to camp. If I collapse... I'm sorry, I'm just starting to get a bit tired." Harper's eyes grew heavy and she wondered when the foreign Djed would begin to make her sick. She just wanted this day to be over. OOCI've thoroughly enjoyed this thread! I've discovered a lot of new things about Harper, and I'm glad to have had the chance. I'm sad that Tallis and I are the only two left standing, but such is life. (: Great threading, everyone.

[Chevalier]

Harper

LORE

• Voiding to Move Earth
• Smoke Removes Scent
• Camouflage Techniques: Blotch and Slash
• Testing Poisonous Plants
• Leeching Technique: Staving Off Overgiving

EXPERIENCE

Skill	XP Earned
Riding	1
Voiding	3
Camouflage	2
Rhetoric	2
Stealth	1
Observation	1
Leeching	1

Tallis

LORE

• A Long Walk
• Smoke Removes Scent
• Camouflage Techniques: Blotch and Slash
• Testing Poisonous Plants
• Earth Reimancy Technique: Trapping Limbs

EXPERIENCE

Skill	XP Earned
Rhetoric	1
Body Building	1
Camouflage	2
Stealth	1
Observation	1
Reimancy	2
Flux	1
Unarmed Combat	1
Persuasion	1

Storyteller Notes

Secret :

Alright folks, thanks for sticking with me! In addition to the experience and lores given, Ser Monsel was impressed enough by your showing that he has gifted you both with a small tin of special camouflage paint. The paint in the tin was made with philtering and has a Nightstalking Gnosis imbued into it. When utilized not only will it work like normal camouflage, but it will give you acute night vision and allow you to see through shadows as if they weren’t there. Each tin is good for three uses. Make sure to update your character sheets!