In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
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[attr="class","shadowsHead"] Kill the Wicked Witch!
After dealing with the "Slave Transitioning Station", or forward slave camp, you come to find out that there is another larger slave camp to the north. This place however has been walled off using remnants of ships, has a lot more slavers present and appears to be where the "Sea Witch" has taken up residence. Destroy the camp and the slavers, free the slaves and put an end to the Sea Witch! Note: The Sea Witch fights alongside her slavers, be sure to represent this in the thread.
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[attr="class","shadowsSub"]Details
Maximum Number of Players: 3 [break]Minimum Word Count: 2500 [break]Location: Hapshass [break]Special Requirements: Make sure all of the slaves get out alive, take care of the slavers and get rid of the Sea Witch before she can draw in more helpless villagers and sailors.
[attr="class","shadowsSub"]NPC Information
What NPCs are in this mission? Please fill out the template for any notable NPCs. While those you have to socially interact with during the mission are not required, any enemy that is presented in the mission must be listed here.
Health Limit: Junior [break]Physical Speed: 8 m/s (12 m/s underwater) [break]Physical Damage: Junior [break]Magic Element and Types: - [break]Combat Style: These slavers fight using polearms used primarily for prodding and poking at slaves. However, should one put enough force behind it, these weapons are still capable of inflicting quite a bit of damage. [break]Additional Information: The humanoid serpents have green, grey or blue scales, a serpentine lower body with no legs but large fins for fast movement underwater, as well as two broad arms with which to hold their weapons. They also possess serpentine heads with several rows of sharp teeth.
Health Limit: Intermediate [break]Physical Speed: 10 m/s (15 m/s underwater) [break]Physical Damage: Intermediate [break]Magic Element and Types: - [break]Combat Style: These slavers fight using polearms used primarily for prodding and poking at slaves. However, should one put enough force behind it, these weapons are still capable of inflicting quite a bit of damage. [break]Additional Information: The humanoid serpents have green, grey or blue scales, a serpentine lower body with no legs but large fins for fast movement underwater, as well as two broad arms with which to hold their weapons. They also possess serpentine heads with several rows of sharp teeth.
Health Limit: Senior [break]Physical Speed: 10 m/s (15 m/s underwater) [break]Physical Damage: Senior [break]Magic Element and Types: Sound | Attack Creation [break]Combat Style: The Sea Witch uses sound magic to amplify the sound of her voice, releasing deafening shrieks that could make someone's ears bleed and cause a ringing in one's head so violent that it can render them both blind and deaf for an entire post. Because her vocal abilities are ineffective on serpent biology, she can freely utilize her shrieks while her footsoldiers fight for her. [break]Additional Information: Unlike the male slavers, the female has a more humanoid form. While her lower body is still that of a sea serpent, her upper body is in many ways similar to that of an adult woman, save for the fact that she does not have a skin but rather has scales.
After clearing out what seemed to be the transitioning station, they had to go north and that’s the general direction Noah went to, while still paying attention to Griswold´s directions. This small camp was rather easy, and if he had to, Noah would have been eventually able to clear it alone. The next one seemed little more advanced, as the location was directing them towards the ocean and young mage was sure that eventually, they would have to enter the sea. Thankfully his swimming skills were okay, but one thing was that these serpents were at a disadvantage at the land. This would change once they switched the terrains and Noah felt as the enemies they would encounter will just get stronger and stronger. At some point, Noah felt that it was a good thing, because he could tell that Griswold wasn’t really forced to use any complicated spell, nor even break a sweat so far. He didn’t want to feel like a liability, and therefore just made sure to be obedient and listen to everything his companion would say.
The walk was still rather long, and this was a good opportunity to talk some more, partly to fill out the silence, but mainly because what just had happened rose Noah´s adrenaline levels really high and now, just walking felt a little annoying. “I forgot to ask you about your magic. I noticed it’s heat based, however I am pretty sure they are not just regular flames? I never saw anything like that before.” The thing was that Noah didn’t see a lot of things before, so maybe that wasn’t a surprise. But still, the way Griswold manipulated with his magic and performed spells was spectacular. Young mage was really curious about all the different kinds of magic, he was very well aware how unique his own magic is, but he never felt it gave him some advantage over the others, the magic was just as powerful as its wielder.
“I had no ideas dungeons function like that, but that makes the whole situation even more absurd.” Were they just some training simulators created by mages, or were they really just a mysterious places, where the laws changed completely? If it were the former, it was a little cruel. Having to exist just to be continuously slaughtered and their homes raided was indeed a very sad fate for anyone. “How are you enjoying the Black Bulls anyway? Have you been a there for a long time? You seem to fit that squad very well. I myself am trying to join the Golden Dawn.” Noah noted with a smile on his face. He knew very little of Black Bulls, but he did a dungeon with one of them. They all seemed like a nice people with good hearts, which was very sympathetic. One could get mistaken by their attitudes, but they were also very skilled fighters, as least from what Noah could say. Noah attempting to join the Golden Dawn, which might seem like a long shot, but this is one of very few things he would dedicate himself to.
There was no sight of any monsters around them, and they walked for quite some time now. Noah wasn’t doubting the direction they took, but it all felt a little suspicious. Noah was getting impatient and he occasionally looked directly onto Griswold to see if they are going the right way. There were a lot of shipwrecks around, which didn’t feel strange at all, but also Noah couldn’t really sense any mana, or he didn’t at least attempt to do so. “Isn´t that weird?” He asked eventually, pointing to some shipwreck that was not so far away from them. It seemed like there was a smoke coming out of it.
With the forward camp taken care of and a small amount of prisoners set free, the two mages had already achieved something rather nice for the community of Hapshass. But that was all it was, nice, for the main issue still remained unsolved, meaning another similar camp could rise within the next few days and just take more people prisoner yet again. Realizing this much, they continued along their way with Griswold doing his best to navigate them to where they needed to be. However, with the sheer amount of magical signatures all over the area, including the beaches where people were still partying, his senses were muddled due to the sheer range his mana sense covered. It was one of those things that still needed quite a bit of fine tuning, a thing that came with practice. So as Griswold was narrowing down his search while still on the move, a question had been posed regarding the exact nature of his magic.
“That’s because it is solar magic. The heat and flames you saw are directly linked to the idea of stars, or rather, a sun. While there are other forms of solar magic, based around moons, planets, constellations and other astronomical bodies, I’ve not yet managed to branch out of sun-based magic. Who knows, maybe I’m not supposed to.”
Magic was weird like that. He had heard of others who used solar magic that had their spells manifesting in entirely different manners, things he personally could not do. Where he could blanket an area in explosive suns, throw a sun that incinerated everything in its path before erupting, could fire rays of heat and toss about solar flares, that was primarily what his magic entailed. Sure, he could also increase his physique and even heal himself and others quite well, that had nothing to do with the creation of planets or moons or whatever. Once all of the issues regarding the eastern and western shores got resolved, and depending on whether or not he would survive the fight against the archdemon Aamon as one of the royal knights, he had decided that he would start focusing more on his magic. More importantly, on trying to diversify the stuff he could do while checking what else he might still be able to learn.
“Since I joined the black bulls, I haven’t yet met a single one of them, though I rather enjoy being a part of it. Before joining them, I was a traveling mercenary, doing the work that needed to be done and getting rid of the things that needed to be removed from the equation within the forsaken region. Out of the three, it is the region I care about the most, so joining up with one of the squads located inside of it and tasked with keeping it safe seemed like the logical decision.”
It was not a peculiar question, at least not to Griswold. He knew that the squad had built up a bit of a reputation, though that had happened long before he had even considered joining it. But saying he had yet to actually meet up with any of them now that he had officially become a member was actually the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Many other squads tended to throw together some kind of gathering to make the new members feel at home, or just have everyone acquaint themselves with the new blood. So while he had met some black bulls members prior to joining, the fact that no attempt had been made at welcoming the new members was not something that bothered him much, or at all. The way he saw it, the way things were going simply allowed him to keep doing what he did without being bogged down by others and their rules.
He could continue what he did as a mercenary while being able to tap into the funds of a magic squad. Speaking of magic squads, the boy stated shortly after that his aim was to join the golden dawn. And to Griswold, that was one of the top three squads he did not much care for as they were located in the royal capital and were made up primarily of rich folk. Still, they weren’t as bad as the silver eagles, but they were up there. Out of the three, it was no secret that Griswold liked the crimson lions most, for even though most of them were nobles, they did not shy away from taking in commoners and even peasants, which explained why he himself had at some point been a part of their ranks. Deciding not to shy away from honesty, as that was something he never did, he would give it to him straight.
“As for the golden dawn, I imagine it would be as good a squad as any. But as a former crimson lion, I have to say that the squads tasked with dealing with the noble region are not for me. The people there with their petty little problems, constantly worried about their reputation and how others might see them, having to do everything in secrecy if at all possible. Given some of the things I’ve seen and heard, I’d like to punch a lot of those loathsome nobles in the jaw…”
Thanks in part to the people he had met as a magic knight that were also magic knights themselves, his dislike towards nobles had been tempered quite a bit. Though that did not take away the fact that the average nobleman bugged him, mostly because the majority of them had the kind of funding that could pay off almost all of the problems the forsaken region had to deal with. Because of the tiny amount of money in the place, the amount of debt was often not all that high. Still, the fact that it kept building up over time and the people who were in these debts did not make much, it wouldn’t change a damn thing for them. And while Griswold did not believe that all things could be solved by throwing money at them, he knew for a fact that it would at the very least be a good start.
“…Needless to say, that was not the right environment for me. I’d prefer spending my time saving people from actual threats, helping people deal with actual problems and making sure as few of them die from preventable issues, rather than playing at being an overpaid, overqualified babysitter to the children of some noble that needs to be at a social event that costs just about enough to fix all the problems the peasants face for months if not years.”
Clearly by now, the boy would have noticed the kind of person that Griswold was. Putting himself into harms way to help the poor and the downtrodden, he also possessed a firm belief that those who had insane amounts of wealth were the reason the country was divided by three specific castes. And it would remain that way until someone broke the mold through hard work and dedication, which was a role Griswold strived for with all of his being. His goal was not to become a hero for selfish reasons, but to become a hero so that those same people mentioned before would have someone to look up to. To know that someone was out there fighting for them and their interests without being driven by wealth and status. So as they continued on their way, it did seem like there was smoke coming from what seemed to be a bunch of shipwrecks, making it worth checking out.
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Last Edit: Aug 5, 2021 19:46:12 GMT -5 by Griswold
Griswold´s intentions were so pure it caught Noah by surprise. So far, the most magic knights have been occupied by their power for selfish needs. This was something Noah was leaving his home with, the idea that Magic Knights itself is a problematic organization, that mostly protects the kingdom and its people, but there were still many of those, that were just power hungry for their own sake. This wasn’t Griswold case and Noah wasn’t really surprised. “Travelling mercenary, guess that’s what I am right now.” Noah noted with smile, as he wasn’t really thinking about his position at the moment. He has done couple of missions and jobs to make him some money, but his current goal was set on joining the Magic Knights, ideally to the squad of the Golden Dawn.
“Oh, Forsaken Region, is it your birthplace?” Young mage had very little to none knowledge about said region. He has only been there a few times. What he felt was weird was the naming however. All the names of the regions, noble, common and forsaken seemed to already set their course of development. There was a certain power in naming things. Noah seemed to think of it as an abandoned wastelands full of mana beasts killing everything, with very little human population. His few visits however proved him that wasn’t the case, as it was for sure more populated than the Noble region, however the funds allocated within the region were nothing compared to the Noble. This was one of the things Noah aimed to change, in future obviously as he would advance in ranks.
“I can totally understand your repulsion towards the Noble region. The thing is, I believe that in order to change the situation in other two regions, Royal Capital is the place to be. There are people who decide the fate of all the kingdom, and it is obvious that they are biased, giving a huge attention to one of the regions, while neglecting the other two. Reason I want to join the Golden Dawn is to change this eventually, and in the ideal case to erase the boundaries between all three regions. This is of course a hard work, and I am most certain that for the longest time I will have to be that babysitter of an annoying noble child, but changing things on a structural level seems to be more efficient.” Noah tried to not sound as naïve as he probably was, but he genuinely believed this. What Griswold was doing was operating on an individual level, which wasn’t by any means bad, but it wasn’t leading to a bigger change that is very much needed.
“I am also very well aware how hard that will be to achieve. I will have to adapt to the situation of living in the Royal capital and gain a recognition of nobles in order to get them to listen. I always think of my future to be more diplomatic rather than being a pure fighter, a hero…” He also believed that he had all the prerequisites to make this happen. One thing was that he was a commoner, but what was much more unique was his four leaf clover grimoire. That would definitely help him gain the recognition, that is if he manages to manifest his power, improving his skills on a daily basis. “Being a part of Golden Dawn and also a bearer of a four leaf grimoire seems to be a good start towards that.” He smiled, as he revealed his grimoire, which was of dark grey color with the black symbol on it. Noah wasn’t sure if Griswold noticed that before, it wasn’t that important in this case anyway. The way he saw it, the four leaf clover would only help him by getting recognized in the royal capital, in order to make up for the fact that he is not of noble blood. This was a petty game Noah was willing to play.
Noah then circled back to mentions of Griswold´s magic. Indeed, Solar was a rather unique element he wouldn’t imagine to exist. Having no idea that there was an element that was revolving around astrological bodies, he was rather amazed. Just for a moment thinking about it, he saw the endless opportunities and ways one could go about this. Noah was however glad that his magic was rather a straight-forward, not giving him too many choices of development as he was bad with choices. “Magic representing sun really suits you… sun shining over the Forsaken region.” He smiled, maybe this was a weird comparison but he could really see it. Sun being the main manifestation of his magic also made it apparent that the flames his magic released were far more destructive than regular flames would be. In certain ways, their magic attributes complemented each other, that was if Noah would be on an equal level. He was also surprised that there were more Solar users than Griswold himself, making Noah feel like he should study magic more, which he probably should. Having troubles controlling his own magic however, it seemed like there would be plenty of time to do this in a future, once he gets a better grip of the gravity spells.
Seeing the smoke emerge from the shipwrecks, he wanted to come closer, but wasn’t sure of Griswold´s reaction as he didn’t necessary give a clear sign. He decided that he would wait. “Can you sense any mana signatures from over there?” He asked, as jumping into what could be a larger camp with possibly stronger enemies wasn’t exactly the way to go. I really need to train my sensory skill, at least to a point where I am able to perform a regular tracking. It would make everything so much easier. Noah added this on his list of thing he needs to improve, sadly the list was already way too long, as he had too many things he needed to improve, just to be able to stand a chance and survive his upcoming training with captain Zaven. He didn’t want to make a fool of him, so he would rather take his time and make sure to gather as much strength as possible.
“I won’t stand here and lie to you when I say that I don’t honestly believe things will ever change on a large scale. As things are now, many noble families make a large sum of money over the backs of hard working peasants and commoners, so I don’t see those people turning in a portion of their earnings just to make sure their “workers” have a better life. Even as a magic knight, I could feel noble eyes burning holes in my back, as they did not want to believe anyone outside of nobility could ever be worthy of becoming a magic knight.”
And that was the sad reality of what they faced, a system which has had its gears rusted in place for such a long time that even trying to loosen or oil it up would risk to gears simply crumbling to dust, thus breaking the whole thing to the detriment of everyone involved. So while he was glad to know that there were those who were hard at work trying to rise to higher positions in an attempt at changing things from within, there would need to be a lot more people with the same mindset, a solid reputation, hail from the right family and possess a fair amount of political pull to make such a thing happen. All of these things put together made things look rather bleak, which was also why Griswold had given up on the idea of changing things on such a scale as suggested by the boy. His plans were far more simple.
“Once I become captain of the black bulls, I aim to use my position in order to buy a large plot of land with plenty of space for livestock and fields for all kinds of produce. From that point on, I’d wish to hire those from the surrounding area to work for a reasonable wage, as well as offering them the chance to learn more about the trade. If nothing else, it will provide people with a future, even if it won’t be able to reach the whole region.”
The way Griswold saw it, every little bit helped, though simply throwing money at the problem would not help in the long term. By providing people with a stellar job and the chance to learn while quite literally in the field, they’d be able to spend their time on something that earned their families some much needed cash and work towards a better future for the forsaken region as a whole. Mixed with his goal to become captain of a magic squad, he might have been taking on a bit too much by aiming to both provide for the region as well as streamlining the way in which it would be protected by at least one of the two squads stationed within its borders. But sometimes, it was better to have dreams that were too big for one person than to have no dreams at all. Besides, with the pace he had been moving at so far, at least one of the two goals he had set for himself were within reach.
As for how the kid had stated how his element was fitting for him, as a sun that watched over the region, he could imagine why he would think that. It was after all the reason why he had been dubbed the solarian wolf, a territorial creature watching over what was his with the ferocity required to defend it. Even though he thought about it, he did not actually respond to it, as there was something else that he managed to pick up as they approached the shipwrecks in the cove. Capable of sensing several more presences behind it and within it, it was almost as if the wreckage of the boats were being used as defenses. It was a smart idea, though the brittle ships would not protect anyone from his solar magic. The only issue it rose was that if he wanted to shield people from his own magic, he would need to be able to see them, to know exactly which mana signatures to single out. Something he could not do right now.
“Yeah, there are several of them behind these shipwrecks, using them as outer walls to provide protection and limit our vision. While I could blow them up from here, I’d risk hurting or more than likely killing their prisoners in the process, leaving us with only one means of going forward. Which is going in blind.”
Though not the biggest fan of this plan of approach, it was the only way of dealing with this problem. While there were many who believed Griswold was as reckless as they came, he was actually always thinking his steps through quite a bit before and even while he was making them. That said though, he could not blame anyone for thinking that way about him, as it was often what people could see that formed their opinion, and one would obviously not be able to see all of the things that were going on inside of his head. Right now, he would go about his business in the same manner as they had done with the last camp, by letting the boy head in first while following closely behind him in case he got in over his head. In which case he would be able to step in and take care of the threat by himself.
Young mage was rather intrigued by what Griswold said. Seeing it was a thing, he was actually the second person he encountered on his journey to become a magic knight who wished to create an autonomous zone. Even though the thinking process him and captain Blake had was different, Noah saw several similarities. He started to wonder if two of them knew each other, there was a feeling that two of them would actually get along quite well. The fact that Griswold was skeptical about Noah´s intentions didn’t surprise him at all. It was rather huge plan ahead and there were so many factors Noah himself couldn’t control, he wouldn’t be surprised if his journey ended up very differently than he originally planned it to. That said, Noah wasn’t giving up on his idea, but he was slowly becoming more realistic than he way day before. He would have to be smart about his choices and steps, as even the slightest deviation could make him fail. “Indeed, the situation with Noble families is complicated and I can understand why they would need to linger on their power and wealth, but there are a lot of non-aggressive ways to work with that. It will be hard thing to do, but with right allies it will be possible one day, hopefully when I am still alive to see the changes happening.” Noah wanted to elaborate more, but due to the fact that there was an obviously dangerous camp ahead of them, he chose to react on other things Griswold said.
“That sounds like a great plan, I hope you will be able to achieve it.” Looking at the capabilities he saw in Griswold so far, Noah wasn’t actually doubting that he would be able to achieve, he wasn’t sure how great his power was, but he was sure he was close to being on the similar power levels as the captains of Magic Knights squads were. “Give people a fish you will feed them for a day, learn them how to fish and they will feed themselves for a life…. Or how was it.” This saying reminded him of Griswold´s plan. It was a great plan, different from Noah it was focused on the lower ranks of the power pyramid, but Griswold was also way closer to completing his goal than Noah could even dream of. Once Noah started playing with the idea of autonomous zone, it was after staying at the Blake mansion in the Shadowlands mana zone, and while he found the place rather gloomy, the idea of it being a prospering province once was really calming. Noah himself haven’t taken time to think about creating anything like that so far. Mostly because he never lived in a communal way, nor saw himself in a direct leadership positions. His ideal situation would be the one of lawmaker, manipulating the surroundings behind a curtain.
Once Griswold explained the situation happening in the shipwreck Noah looked a little anxious, as he understood that they would be doing same strategy as the last time. Noah comes first, attacks what he can, and then Griswold would finish. He didn’t protest, as he had respect for Griswold and was sure that he wouldn’t let him get hurt in any way, but he really wasn’t comfortable being in the first line of the attack. Even his magic wasn’t very compatible with this idea, but whatever. He then approached the shipwreck, using his magic to lift up objects that were probably the remains of the ship scattered before the actual camp. He did this to figure out if there are any traps set, but given the intelligence of previous slavers, this might have been completely useless. He then transferred the rotten pieces of wood closer to the sand, with the idea that he might at least clean up the mess so it doesn’t go back to the sea.
Being close to the shipwreck, Noah wanted to use the element of surprise, if there was one. He had no idea if they have been already spotted, but given the fact that no one has yet attacked them, they probably weren’t. Thanks to the instability of the wreck, Noah pointed his finger on a large piece of wood and it fell down, creating sound of something falling. This would probably alert the monsters, but he saw that right behind the piece of wood he just removed, there were already people in cages. They really did use them as a defense, which was at one side really disgusting, but on the other hand pretty clever. It made Noah doubt for a moment, as he really didn’t think these creatures had potential to be strategic. It was obvious that there was someone there who was leading the slavers. And it wasn’t that Slave master they encountered earlier. This was too clever for him.
Noah heard confused shouting, as it was probably the serpents alerting each other that they have been found. Given the fact that their batch of slaves from previous camp hasn’t arrived yet, they must have suspect something. Suddenly, a line of monsters eroded from the shipwreck, directly facing Griswold and Noah. There were six slavers they encountered previously along with another six ones, which looked more advanced. That was already more than the last time, but the cherry of top was a rather-beautiful (or Noah at least thought so) woman-like creature that seemed to be guiding the rest of them. His first thought was that she was probably the person responsible for this camp being organized way better than the last one. This felt sympathetic to Noah as he liked to see women in leading positions but he also quickly snapped out of his mind once the slavers started attacking.
The serpents wasted no time and lashed out towards Noah, who was couple of meters ahead of Griswold. Noah learned his lesson from before, and he already knew how fragile those spears of theirs were. He smiled, and snapped his fingers, as all of the six spears of the weakest serpents broke in an instant. It was no surprise that applying even the smallest amount of gravity would break them, as they were very thing, obviously made for tormenting the slaves rather than fighting and enemy. After this happened, the first wave of slavers stopped and was confused for a moment. Noah just pointed his hand towards them, this time he didn’t say anything, but Griswold could see a two instances of a small ripples in the air hitting two of the targets. They shrieked in an agony, and were directly thrown back around seven meters. They fell down dead just in front of the witch, who was spectating the situation for now. It was hard to read her expression, as she looked like she wasn’t bothered at all, nor scared. Noah couldn’t sense how exactly strong she was, but he was almost certain that beating her would be more adequate to be left for Griswold. Meanwhile, he focused on enemies he could handle himself.
Using the prevailing moment of confusion among the first wave of slavers, Noah raised his hand above his head, again not saying a thing. Two instances of invisible arrows hit another slavers, this time not knocking them back, but rather trying to press them together, like they were leaves inside a book. It wasn’t long before they fell down to the ground, with disturbing expression left on their faces. Noah gasped for a breath, as he again reached his limits and needed a little break before he could continue. He was a little annoyed by the fact that he had to repeat same spells over and over again, but this wasn’t a contest about most inventive fighting style. There were still two junior slavers left, who now, by seeing what happened to their companions furiously charged towards Noah, without their weapons, as if they were planning to use their fists. As if it wasn’t enough, finally the Sea Witch seemed to engage in a battle. She commanded the elite slavers to stay their place for the moment being, as she started to approach closer to Noah, floating above the ground.
She spoke something Noah couldn’t understand, but what happened next was pretty self-explanatory. Opening her mouth, a huge shriek came from it. Noah was forced to quickly put hands on his ears, trying to minimalize the incoming sound, but it wasn’t successful. He fell down to the ground, as he was crawling trying to make it stop. He didn’t make any sounds of agony, or at least he thought so, because he couldn’t hear anything else than the spell of the witch herself. As the two slavers were approaching him, the witch rendered him very vulnerable, and there were still six more slavers, who were apparently even stronger than the first wave. His mana skin was rather well trained, so the damages he received so far were manageable, but he couldn’t force himself do take action, as the penetrating sound was really hard to ignore.
TLDR: Noah killed 4 junior slavers, disarmed 2 junior slavers, 6 elite slavers and a sea witch left. Help.
Elemental Type: Gravity Rank & Spell Type: Junior || Attack Creation Range & Speed: 25 m || 5 m/s Mana Cost: 10 | 5 Stats Effected: +2 Power Applicable Perks: Signature attack, Knockback Description: This spell is directly directed towards the enemy; Noah seems to release what could be described as a condensed pulse that seems to attempt to put the enemy on the ground. This pulse is invisible to the naked eye and requires ten sensory for the ping pong ball sized beam that is shot towards his enemy. It may not seem like much as it doesn't weigh the person down but if it an enemy is hit they take junior rank damage, on top of this they find themselves knocked back two meters plus an additional five for every ten power that Noah has due the the sheer force of the gravity. With the use of ammo rules so long as Noah has the required control he is able to create additional beams.
Elemental Type: Gravity Rank & Spell Type: Junior || Attack Creation Range & Speed: 25 m || 5 m/s Mana Cost: 10 | 5 Stats Effected: +2 Power Applicable Perks: Signature attack
Description: Noah realizes his strength is to slow his enemy by manipulating the matter around the enemy, this is usually done by raising right hand above his head with the palm facing up. He creates an invisible arrow that requires ten sensory to be able to see the ripples in the air. When it hits its enemies it seems to engulf them in what could only be described as a bubble that is two meters tall by half a meter wide. Those within this orb gain junior rank damage. With the use of ammo rules Noah can create additional arrows so long he has the control required to do so.
“That was more or less what I thought too, because just throwing money at something has never fixed anything other than short term problems. If they could be provided with something that can help them on the short and the long term, it might even stabilize the region more, cutting down on the amount of people that would resort to crime for the sake of survival. But that is all still rather far away.”
More or less choosing not to respond to the part regarding the nobles as the two most likely knew well enough that that was the kind of problem one would not be able to fix in their lifetimes, he hoped that the issues regarding the peasants might, even if only for a big portion. Preferring to set short and long term goals for himself, all of that had been pushed way out to the back for the short term goal that was freeing these captives that were just in front of them, as well as killing those that had taken them away from their homes. By the end of the week, the forsaken region would still be there after all, though these particular captives might no longer be in a place from where he could save them as easily as from these coves. Besides, whenever the chance presented itself where he could help out someone from the younger generation, and maybe impart onto them some of the things he felt were important, that counted as a win for him.
Upon finding their query, it wasn’t long before the battle truly broke out, what with the leader of this particular camp presenting herself as some kind of sea witch. While not exactly the most inspired title, he imagined it at the very least made sense. Making use of his gravity magic, the boy began fighting, while Griswold merely stood back and watched things go down, all the while inspecting the camp for any weaknesses that could be exploited, as well as seeing if he could maybe take out those inside of this camp while freeing the captives at the same time. After all, he had done just that before, though he wouldn’t be able to do that here. If he were to use a truly big and explosive spell here, he would end up shattering the entire cove, which would be bad for the local fauna, meaning he had to go about this the old fashioned route.
For what it was worth, the guy was doing a pretty good job on his own, though there were still some rather obvious limitations to his strength, that much was clear. Because his mana still felt on the small size, as well as somewhat unrefined, it wasn’t all that hard to see that the kid had not yet managed to sharpen himself through battle yet. But given his age, he would most likely still have plenty of chances to prove himself, and hone his current abilities while making space for new ones. Such was often the way of magic, or at least, that was how things had been for him. As soon as he got close to actually mastering some of his spells, he felt something awakening inside of him, allowing him to push those same spells even further, as well as unlocking similar spells of greater power, or greater flexibility in various situations.
Assuming the boy had paid attention to the spell Griswold had used to take care of the initial slavers they had met in their forward camp, he believed he might recognize the spell he was going to use now. Forming similar looking spheres, these were almost identical to the former, though they were among those spells that were born out of his mastery over the previous spell. An evolution of sorts. Aiming the spheres at their targets, they moved around a bit in order to avoid them, some even throwing their spears in an attempt at interception them. Incinerating upon making contact, the spheres both suddenly released a lot of light, the luminosity breaking free from them illuminating everything inside of the cove. Blinding those that looked right at them such as the slavers that were looking to protect themselves, the witch decided to try and scurry away, only for the sphere aimed at her to adjust its own trajectory.
Doing so as to keep itself on track and on target, it became clear that this particular spell was capable of tracking those that had been established as their target, homing in on them and destroying them. As was the case with his previous spell, the explosions resulting in their collision with their marks would only strike those Griswold wanted to be struck, and no one else. Obviously, this did not go for the terrain, as the beach and cove that got hit took a serious beating in the process. But as the remaining targets were incinerated, their remains converted to ash, the high pitched shrieking that made his brain itch also came to an end. And not a moment to soon. For as much as the shrieking affected himself and the boy, so did it also hurt those that were being held in this place, and they had already suffered enough. Believing the boy to be mostly fine, he began using solar mana to melt the locks he touched, thus opening the cages one by one.
“You’ve handled yourself well, though I would suggest not biting off more than you can chew. Wanting to save people is a good thing, but putting yourself in the crosshairs of someone stronger than you will only get you caught up in a similar predicament as those you would see saved. Help me free these folks so we can bring them back to town.”
There was no doubt in his mind that the boy would be able to easily break the locks with his own magic, and with their enemies in shambles, there wasn’t really anyone working against them either. So with that, it was only a matter of time before they were all freed up and ready to begin their trek back to Hapshass.
POWER 175 DURABILITY 3 SENSORY 65 STAMINA 43 CONTROL 117
Name of Spell: Variable Star: Parallax Elemental Type: Solar Rank & Spell Type: Senior | Attack Creation & Sensory Range & Speed: 100 meters (40 m AoE) | 50 m/s Mana Cost: 30 mp | 15 mp sustain Stats Effected: +9 Power, Blind Applicable Perks: Overpowered, Quick Shot, Skilled Sniper & Battle Knight (& Area of Triumph) Description: A spell that releases a fast moving ball of solar mana at a target determined upon the moment of creation. Utilizing "homing" rules in order to chase down the target until the projectile is destroyed or the caster runs out of mana, it also uses "ammo" rules to increase the amount of projectiles fired by 1 for every 75 Control the caster has. Initialized by first making himself glow before firing them, in addition, these projectiles flare up from time to time, allowing them to blind those looking at it for one whole post. These "stars" can flare up to blind someone once every two posts in which they're active, making them rather tricky to deal with. Upon hitting a target, they explode to cover a certain radius, knocking targets back 8 meters + 5 meters for every 10 Power the caster possesses. During the day, the spell takes on an orange hue, taking on a silver blue hue after dark.
Thankfully, the suffering Noah was enduring from the sound spell wasn’t very long. As he already realized, Griswold was about to make a move and the best thing he could do, was to close his eyes. For a brief moment, the temperature was very unpleasant but as Griswold was already a master in using his own magic, it didn’t affect Noah as hard as it could have. Hearing a few shrieking sounds, which he assumed were the monsters being burned to ashes, it was safe to open eyes again. The sound spell that witch activated was long gone, along with her. Griswold incinerated all the enemies in one spell, again. It was still surprising for the young mage how powerful he was, first camp wasn’t that much of a surprise, even Noah could felt those slavers were extremely weak, but this witch, their possible leader was in a completely different category. Noah couldn’t match her, and still Griswold just devoured her with one spell and at the same time taking the rest of the slavers with her. Noah was amazed, but at the same time a little nauseous from the smell of burned corpses, which was in no way pleasant experience.
Before proceeding to free the slaves, Noah turned to Griswold and smiled a little. “Thank you, yeah I think one of the problems I need to work at is my sensing ability, as you can see I have trouble analyzing enemies and their strength levels.” He somehow managed to shrug off the fact, that if he were alone or if Griswold didn’t do anything, he would probably die or just end up as one of the slaves. Noah now went ahead to free the slaves, as he approached the cages he noticed that several of the locks were already melted, most likely by Griswold´s spell. The captured people also looked very exhausted, as they were hit by the shriek the witch released just a while ago. That made Noah realize Griswold was also hit by the spell, but he seemed to show no signs of being hurt or even affected by it. It made him wonder if he just had such a strong mana skin, or if his pain tolerance was that much higher than Noah´s was. Both options were perhaps true. Wasting no more time, Noah flickered his fingers and rest of the locks on the cages had fallen apart.
“I am sorry you had to endure that, it is my fault for provoking her.” He said that to one man who seemed to be doing very badly, Noah pulled out a bottle of water and offered him to drink, as there was only saline water around and they all looked dehydrated. After pulling all of the prisoners out of the cages, young mage tried to offer them all at least a piece of bread he brought with himself on the mission, along with some water. “Please make sure to drink only a little, as there won´t be enough water for the rest of you.” He tried to somehow manage the situation, but he couldn’t blame those poor people for their thirst. Once they were all at least a little fed and hydrated, Noah pointed the direction from where he and Griswold came. “Very well, please no go that direction, you will eventually get to Hapshass and your families.” He smiled, but the former prisoners still looked rather scared. This puzzled him for a moment, but then he realized. This was the second camp they encountered, and it still didn’t look like it was their final station. Noah then just continued, trying to be as comforting as possible.
“If I am right, you have been transitioned to this place from the previous camp that was in the direction I was pointing you to. Don´t worry, as we took care of that camp already as well as released all the people that were there. There will also be Magic Knights or guards, waiting for you to help you escort you as well as care for your wounds. If I am right, this was just another transition station, do you have any idea where the monsters took the people next?” Noah had a brief moment of epiphany, as his tracking skills were miserable, this way he could just ask people, that would point him in the right direction. Two people raised their hands and pointed up to a path that was leading further into the road, but at the same time it looked as it was already under the sea level. Noah thanked them all, and made sure they would be able to walk towards the path he pointed them to meet the guards. As the people slowly left, he could see them fading away in the distance. He then proceeded to come back to Griswold, with a little smile on his face as well as a moderate pride he spoke. “So, the people captured here showed the direction where the serpents were taking the slaves next. I think it´s safe to assume that there will be either another transitioning station or their headquarters, or city if they have that.” Noah then slowly started walking towards the path, but he made sure to wait for Griswold. This time he was about to listen to his advice and maybe be more aware of the situation before he would just heedlessly engage in a fights he had no chance of winning.
