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Post by Midnight_Aurora on Jul 7, 2014 19:45:54 GMT
Asha looks at the duo saddened. She seams to know they are feeling useless, by the way they are acting.
She lands next to some of the dwarfs and asks, "Do y'all have a smaller version of the engine of yours? Something sompony can use while mounted?"
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Post by Bane Emural on Jul 7, 2014 20:52:52 GMT
Bane fires Riservin at the goblins. The beam strikes at the goblins and trolls in a wide range attack while avoiding the two knights. The energy beam disperses up to the point of 50 meters, anything past 50 meters will not be harmed by the laser. Riservin reverts back to its original form, awaiting the next spell to absorb. Bane lowers Riservin and looks at the result of the attack.
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 7, 2014 23:00:31 GMT
The blast utterly wrecked the final wave of enemies, dispersing the pink cloud to reveal nothing but an empty hollow of dead earth.
Their enemies were flying, and the hoardes of creatures were scattering like dust in the wind. As when death smites the swollen brooding thing that inhabits their crawling hill and holds them all in sway, ants will wander witless and purposeless and then feebly die, so the goblins and wargs, spiders and trolls ran fled in fear and terror of the might of the North.
The Blue Wizard leaned back in his saddle, smiling grimly as the dust finally settled. Nellie, for her part, just let out a sigh of relief.
The dwarf laughed heartily and clapped his hands as the rest of the caravan cheered the victory.
"Aye, now 'at is what I calls a job well done. Ye say 'at ye want a wee engine? I believes I has somethin' of th' sort fer ye, lassie."
He turned to a younger dwarf, shouting something in the deep and gravelly language of his people, and the centaur hurried to retrieve some sort of pony-carried version. It looked very odd, but effective and powerful. Its shape was angular and geometric, as most dwarvish weapons tended to be, but rather than an open mouth like the engine they had been using, it had instead a sort of crystal surrounded by all manner of strange devices and symbols inset in mithril. It could be activated with a mouth-held trigger, and from the design had something of a knockback, mitigated by the gears and coils of unknown function at its base.
"Now this here, lassie, is a back-mounted portable concentrated energy phlogistonic aether-ionizin' single-path auto-carbonizer an' annihilator. Ah calls it a Star Engine. Ten crystals, ten beams a minute. Straight line a' destruction, goes through about ten feet a' granite in half a second. Th' smaller crystals change color ta show how many beams 're available fer firin'. Self-charges, no fuel needed. Ye kin has it fer 'at number ye did on 'em monsters!"
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Post by Midnight_Aurora on Jul 7, 2014 23:13:09 GMT
Asha nods and bows in thanks taking hold of the device. in her current state it looks a little awkward on her. She disappears behind a wagon and out of sight, only to come out later with it mounted on her back. She did this to see how well it fits. Then with a slight tug she removes the device and packs it away to give to the two knights later and hopes they find it useful. She goes over to the mage, now in her pony form and says, "That was one hey of a workout. I guess they had a few surprises left in them after all. At least we found ourselves a caravan now. Bane, that was some good shooting."
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Post by Bane Emural on Jul 8, 2014 6:37:29 GMT
Riservin transforms back to Aldorn. Bane stabs the sword into the ground and kneels down in exhaustion. He is panting deeply as he speaks. "I haven't.... been able... to recover..... from... our little.... spar. Lost too much.... energy. Can barely...... stand." Bane lets go of Aldorn and falls on his back, lying there. He takes several breathes of air before talking. "Battle took... too much. Adrenaline kept me..... going. Need.... rest."
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 8, 2014 18:51:54 GMT
Paragonis quickly dismounted and came over with a bag of medical supplies, looking the pony over with a sharp eye that glowed blue for a split second.
"Here, drink some of this," he offered, giving Bane a vial of clear liquid. "For your personal information," he said quietly in decibels only other mages could hear, "This cocktail contains a few ingredients to accelerate your metabolism along with concentrated amounts of proteins, sugars and oxygen-rich nutrients to accelerate recovery without needing immediate sleep. It stays away from the head, so you shouldn't have to worry about that, and unless you're malnourished you won't have to worry about toxin buildup or filtering problems. I would normally just call it a 'vitalization potion' or 'healing potion', but obviously you are more than capable of understanding the long answer without pulling out torches and pitchforks."
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Post by Bane Emural on Jul 10, 2014 4:05:43 GMT
Bane takes the vial from Paragonis and drinks it. He struggles to sit up using the sword. He looks at Paragonis. "Thanks, and I'll just call it a healing potion. At least I don't have to make a good call home and get healed that way. It'd be a pain, literally."
He gets up and brushes the dirt off his clothes the best way he can. He takes Aldorn out of the ground and sheathe him.
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Post by Midnight_Aurora on Jul 10, 2014 4:19:36 GMT
Asha looks to the dwarves and asks, "About the other things before we showed. Y'all looked like ya needed some help. Mind if we join y'all for a bit? I will let the boss explain it. He does a better job." She points to Paragonis.
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 10, 2014 22:31:39 GMT
The lead dwarf grins. "Lassie, after that wee show, we'd be mad ta deny such polite an' capable folk! Feel free!"
There were cheers from the caravan, relieved to have a powerful escort after that raid.
"So! What be such strong an' mighty folk like ye be doing on th' Great Road on yer own? Comin' ta Orod Khazad fer ta offers yer services?"
"We're in search of a certain relic left behind by a friend of mine," smiled the Blue Wizard. In quieter tones, "Although I have heard that old Rakazath left behind a rather unpleasant surprise for those not on official business."
The dwarf looked back at him with equal gravity. "Aye, ye might says that, sir. In quieter tones, the now. What be your goal with this? Be that orb of such importance to the Council? And who be that mage with ye? I've not seen that sort of equipment since the Norfolk came from across the wee lake. And he's clever, he is, knows what's what as much as you and I, nothing like these Thalassana or Fairfields folk, but he don't hide it none neither."
"I believe I shall allow our friend to answer that for himself," replied Paragonis, smiling to Bane.
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Post by Bane Emural on Jul 10, 2014 22:41:57 GMT
Bane notices Paragonis talking to the dwarf and walks over to them. He sees the smile and seems to know what might happen next. "If I might have known better, I would say that you would need me for something. And I know that look well, Paragonis."
He looks at the leading dwarf and extends his hand to shake. "You must be the one running this convoy. I'm Bane Lionheart. I'm a mercenary, adventurer, and travelling master blacksmith."
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Post by Wavelength on Jul 10, 2014 23:11:38 GMT
Fides and Silentium, still catching their breath from the battle, took the opportunity to sit off to the side and clean up their weapons (along with their own wounds taken from glancing blows) as the dust settled. They'd follow the wizards to the end; to do any less would mark them as worse than cowards. They were knights. Even so, they had to wonder how long they'd be lasting in this company.
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 11, 2014 0:34:40 GMT
"Nar, son of Mar, at yer service, and yer family's!" grinned the dwarf cheerfully as he shook the offered hand. "A pleasure to make yer acquaintance, Mr. Lionheart."
"Archmage Lord Varius Paragonis the Blue, of the High Council of the Kaegil area," smiled the wizard. "And these are Wizard Lady Petronella Brown, Geomancer, Mage-Knight Dame Tienasha Thundercloud, Sir Silentium and his squire Fides of Thalassana, and the halfling is Bingo Fallowfoot of the Blossom-Downs."
"At yer service, and yer family's," bowed Nar in dwarf-fashion. Then he turned back to Bane. "Well, every bit o' assistance helps," he chuckled slightly. "But that be only one reason fer me interest, beggin' yer pardon, sir."
He spoke in low tones now. "So, I'm guessing the fall of the Ancients was not so devastating in the North? Or at least, the greater portion of what villagers now call 'dwarf-magic' or 'arcane secrets' stuck around as common knowledge a mite longer than it did here? That there's some powerful equipment, powerful an' precise, not quite bleedin' edge but cuttin' it close, even by our standards. I reckon yer the sort not ta be impressed by th' Vault railways an' fancy traps, nor amazed by what we dwarves like to call 'Third Law Magic'. Yer familiar with the term? Ol' Arthur C. Clarke?"
Nellie grinned as she walked over and sat down next to Silentium, Fides and Bingo.
"Good job back there," she smiled. "That was some tough fighting. Don't feel bad about not being too flashy. Situations like that don't come up too often, I hear."
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Post by Bane Emural on Jul 11, 2014 3:13:59 GMT
Bane spoke in a low tone. "I'm familiar with it before. I heard the dwarves spoke of it while I was staying in one of the dwarven kingdoms. And everyone in the Alliance is familiar with the weaponry and magic, some more than others, and especially the master blacksmiths. We are the ones who use our knowledge from Blacksmith's Way to forge powerful weapons, one of which you have seen today. It may not be the last you will ever seen such weapons."
He returns to a much normal tone of voice. "You should consider visiting the dwarves up in the Alliance Kingdoms. You might learn something from them or see something you have never seen before."
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Post by Midnight_Aurora on Jul 11, 2014 8:16:40 GMT
Asha says, "To be honest with ya, some of the things I know come as tales from my mother, Lanora Thundercloud. The name Thundercloud comes from an ancient civilization that use to flourish not far from here. I believe you heard of it. It was called Equestria. It isn't much anymore not sense the magical mishap that made most magic vanish along time ago. Mom never went much into the stories though. So what can you, my fellow dwarves tell me about this weapon?"
Asha shows them the Cloudsteel Katana. The runes are currently sky blue and all the ones representing the element of wind are currently glowing brighter then the others. The sword also seams to have 10 gems of varying colors in it, though one of them is now grey scale.
[Storm Katana: current charges 9/10
currently active abilities: wind enhancement - makes the blade sharper
storm core absorption - able to absorb the core of a storm. (Only useable with thunderstorms while having active weather control abilities. This ability is active but not useable.)]
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Post by Wavelength on Jul 11, 2014 19:11:11 GMT
To say that Nellie's sudden appearance and encouraging smile caught Fides off guard would be a tremendous understatement. He looked like somepony had hit the pause button on a movie with him in it; his mind had just been sickeningly stuck on pushing Warg corpses and had abruptly filled with a beautiful mare's face. He had no idea what to say.
Silentium noticed Fides wouldn't be speaking any time soon, so he stopped what he was doing, stepped over beside Nellie, and she heard him for the first time. "We will serve to the death," he whispered in a raspy voice that suggested a whisper was just about all he was capable of, "but it will soon come to that if we are sent against such numbers without a phalanx. Are you certain we mortal knights will not become a burden in this quest?" His question might be seen as self-concern, but Nellie could see in the man's tired eyes that he was genuinely doubting his usefulness as a knight.
Bingo, meanwhile, was still trembling, as he had since the start of the fight. He pulled a crumpet out of his coat pocket, reached to take a bite, then returned it to his pocket uneaten. He could sure use a brandy right now... as soon as he could think straight enough to remember it by that word.
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