Mentat
Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat

"Well, there are churches outside of Catholicism, genius. I work for one of them." He looked up and around. "Bats in the sky, the geomancy screams 'evil'...yeah. I'm not going to pretend to know why an old Romanian warlord is in Japan, but I know why I'm here. Given you are a Belmont, you are here for one reason. What would help you with that?"

He debated telling him what he would normally tell this man, and split the difference.  "And my working name is Mentat. Ed's reserved for formalities."

He was still registering this person who knew his name. Mew...Pokemon fangirl? Probably another alias.

Magnus
Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Julius's eyebrows raise at Mew calling herself Mew. and raise further at Mentat's snark.

"True, There are other Churches besides the Catholics But most of them don't know about the unseen world And most wouldn't know about the Belmont's. And we are currently in Romainia, They brought the Japanese priests here to help with a ritual to Seal Dracula's Castle into the Eclipse tomorrow.

... I need to make it to the Castle Keep and defeat Dracula just before the eclipse tomorrow.
We where expecting additional difficulties beyond His normal resurrections.
A magician would be a great help."



Mentat
Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat

"The Catholics have the sense to work with the Shinto priesthood to save them from the devil they both hate?" Mentat was smiling. "That's lovely to hear."

"So, you need a magician to do the impossible and see the invisible, to help you fight the power. I got that, but that doesn't tell me what you want me to actually do or not do. I'm not skilled enough to bind him, even with all this untapped dark and primal power, and I can't force enough holy power through to just sunlight him and make him go away."

What he wasn't going to share was that his magic was likely very attuned to this place. This castle would make a powerful memory to catalyze magic with...he'd just have to be careful what he did with it. This type of power was no one's ally.

Mew
Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"I have to admit that is a little out of character for them." I say more or less to no one in particular, I then lower my voice to a whisper and obscure my mouth so Julius can't attempt to read my lips. "I'm a little confused, I thought you only went by Mentat online. This has got to be up there in the running for strangest dream. What is going on, have I been watching too many Castlevania play-throughs or something?"

Magnus
Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Julius just stairs flatly at both of your comment's about the Catholic Church. Then sighs as he realizes you have a point.

"Through an previous encounter with Castle Dracula in 1944. Charlotte Aulin reverse engineered the technique through with the Vampire Brauner was stealing Castle Dracula's Chaotic power. She figured out a way to seal Dracula's Castle, The symbol of Dracula's power into the Eclipse tomorrow using a combination of Western and Eastern Magic. Allowing us to finally put him to rest permanently.

The plan is to go throughout the Castle and find it's Geomantic Nexuses, Kill the Strong monster that inevitably resides in those places and then inscribe a magic circle to siphon off the Castle's power. Then Activate them while I Fight Dracula."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:49, Wed 31 Jan 2018.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat thinks for a moment, both on Julius's words and Mew's. The plan, based on his understanding of the arcane, seem solid enough. He started with Mew, though. "I had the same response once, when I was in your position. This is real enough. Get your head on the ground, or you won't be in this world for much longer."

He didn't look at Julius, but was now addressing his ideas. "So, you intend to forcibly take arcane control of the castle, kill its master, and use old-fashioned circle magic to...seal it into an eclipse, if I understand you? And it sounds as if the master has to die, then a ritual must be concluded at the power points of the castle at the height of the eclipse before the castle returns back to the other side."

He shrugged. "I've encountered stranger ideas. You have a location and a target in mind?"

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"That is correct as far as I understand. The Belnades will come in later to handle the magic.
Alucard and I where to go throughout the Castle to search and destroy the monsters at the Geomantic Nexuses.

Belnades said something about the circles being linked through sympathy. So she only had to perform the ritual at one point."

He shrugs

"Still we are going all out. We are even planing on sealing the Vampire Killer within the Castle to weaken the Castle's power further.

As for now, My plan is search and destroy."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
This was strange, Ed was cold in his dealings with me. I needed a moment to talk to him without Julius, but first "You mentioned an Alucard, but where is he? Is he coming in through another entrance or already inside?" She thought a moment, and went for the most direct route for getting alone with Ed. "Would you mind giving us one moment? I need to have a word in private before we join you inside."

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Julius responds.
"Alucard made it in this morning.He should be ahead scouting and setting up the sanctuaries.
Go ahead with your talk. I'll take care of the skeletons in the gate house."

He enter's the northern gatehouse. From the position of the sun you think you are on the western side of the castle.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat waited until he felt certain Julius was out of earshot. There wasn't much that got past that particular man - that was the impression he had gotten. He glared after Julius irritably. "The man's likely convinced we are vampires or cultists. Fantastic."

Mentat turned to look at Mew with an expression of unmasked irritation. "I'm guessing I have an alternate who is your husband, and you are from a world distressingly similar to my own native world based on how much information you have that happens to be extremely accurate about me."

"I'm married as far as I'm concerned, and my spouse is not you." He sighed, placing a hand to his forehead. "How many worlds have you seen? Let's start there."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
I attempted to speak but the shear weight of the emotional blow is too much for me to think through, let alone articulate coherent statements. "I- uh. Wha~? ehm."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Okay, that was a bit much." Mentat sighed as he realized he needed to dial the passive anger back a bit. He started speaking slowly and articulately. "We will start slowly. Not counting your world of origin, how many worlds have you been to?"

He kept an eye on the skies. He didn't need an attack breaking up something like this.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
I set aside my emotional distress and start rubbing my temples as well as adjust my glasses with the same motion. "With the presumed criteria... as far as I can tell two." I stop rubbing my temple and accentuate the two with the appropriate gesture. The change in topic allows me to regain a level of both composure and awareness to my mannerisms.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Okay, two. On my end, hundreds." He made sure the battle also wasn't sounding like it was coming closer. "This is not a short-term journey, and you are not dreaming. This is actually happening, and your state is one of unending journey. You will never biologically age, and death is just a door to another world. There will be no trace of you save the results of your deeds."

"Wherever you are from, put it in the past. I doubt you will ever go back." He had no glasses, oddly enough - a detail that certainly contrasted with Mew's memories. "Are you with me so far?"

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"You're asking me to forget ou-r" I stop myself remembering that the Ed, No, Mentat, infront of me is not the Ed I am married to. "MY kids." The extra emphasis erupts as much a correction as anything else. It is now that I am truly able to mentally step back and appreciate the differences between my Ed and Mentat. Not the cloths necessarily but mannerisms, hairstyles, the way they project themselves. But for now back to the matter at hand "If what you are saying is multiverse theory confirmed, then yes I understand. And while we are on that, are you saying that it is impossible for me to return or so improbable that it may as well be?

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Yes." He felt no reason to soften that blow. "Unless you enjoy the idea of your children being immortal at whatever age they are last you saw them, I am saying to forget about them."

He stopped looking around and raised a hand to her in pause. "Let me explain this one, and this might take a bit because you've asked for a lot: you are something called a Verser by other Versers. We are what we are because of a quasi-substance called Scriff. It is able to pass from person to person via fluid exchange, but it can be passed even to inanimate objects psychically merely by intimacy. Possession, love, even intense enough hatred can transmit scriff to a person or object."

"While it makes us immortal, it freezes our biological age and renders us sterile. It is a force of semi-stasis, allowing us to engage in a perpetual upward pressure of power for an unknown end, because a unique trait of ours is that our skills do not fall off from disuse." He took a breath to mentally reset himself. "All of this together is why you have to be careful not only what you do, but who and how you do it. Got an enemy? Hand-to-hand and intense emotions risk scriff transmission, so you might make a hated individual immortal. Got someone you've decided to date out of loneliness? If it goes far enough, you better hope they view immortality as a gift."

"And kids?" He smirked. "Do the math. I would not want to be forever seven."

"And no, nothing's impossible, even if finding a unique grain of sand on all the beaches and ocean beds of the world fails to give the scope of what you wish to do. Let's just say you make it, and examine this: you will outlive everyone, and unless they all die in their prime or close to it, you could have a whole family tree of people becoming versers at old age, while you remain forever young and strong."He frowned, attempting to project at least some empathy for her situation. "I am sorry, but this story you would make does not have the happy ending you are likely envisioning, simply because it doesn't just end when you get home changed for the better from your exciting and life-changing experiences."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"You just said yourself that nothing is impossible, and from the sounds of it, I will have a very long time to either except it or subvert it." I take a deep breath to put a mental pin on what Mentat has relayed to me, and move on to the more relevant and immediate concern. "You told Julius that you are a wizard. The Ed I know is not much for lying, so I assume you're not either. I'm not sure how much help I can be here, all I have is this saber I got from a ghost from the cival war, and" I pull out the revolver I stole off the man at the museum and open the chamber to reveal the two sad little bullets inside. This is actually when something else dawns on me, and an audible grunt precedes, "That means I just murdered FOUR MEN in New York!"


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Well, good luck with that. And while I don't like to lie, put me under pressure and I'm very quick and smooth with the deception if I think it's needed." He put a hand to his head again. "And yes. Yes, you did actually kill four people. I'm assuming none of the bodies vanished in a flash of light, so they actually died. Very few of us make it through our existences without having killed someone, deliberately or accidentally. You will, for better or worse, adjust to these deeds."

He looked at the saber and the revolver. "Good saber, low ammo count...36 cal? Better than nothing, I guess. No knockdown power, though, unless its from a world that doesn't understand how Earth ballistics work. Drills right through a person normally."

He pointed to the saber. "What do you know about this saber's legend, it's story? It's from a ghost from the civil war? I need details in order to understand what you have, and I need to know what it has done since. Count your usage of it in the tale. Because that might be more useful than you think."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"The only flash of light I remember is the one Lawson, the ghost went into, so I don't think any of them did." I think a moment before continuing. "Lets see Captain Lawson a confederate soldier was its previous owner. He died in or around the battle of New Mahan. Basically a Captain Sullivan made a threat to destroy it, Lawson went to defend it. Sullivan captured him and torched the place. Lawson swore to kill him, apparently convincing an angel to leave him until Sullivan was dead. His soul resided in the saber, until recently. I got it while stoping a heist in the museum. He told me his story and we went to kill Sullivan, who was still around I think he said 60 years later?" I stop a moment surprised that I still remember that detail and to think if anything really note worthy happened. "Um, I killed three of the four men with it, the last one being Sullivan.... Actually... One strange thing did happen with it while I was still at the museum, I deflected a bullet and again at Sullivan's office. Now I fancy myself good with a sword but I am NOT that good. And now that I think of it I could only see or hear Lawson if I was touching it."


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat"Hard to say if this Lawson was telling the full truth or not. There's a lot of context to that tale you likely don't know." He was gazing back to the skies. "Still, a possessed weapon used to kill an ageless soldier and can block bullets is a weapon with both practical and symbolic power, the latter of which can become real power if you know the tricks."

"Yes, I am a magician. Consider, however, that you've killed three people in hand-to-hand combat in your first world, and you might be more handy in a fight than you think." He smiled, leaving his full thoughts unspoken. "You've got the instincts, if nothing else."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Tho saith. Last question before we check in on Julius, is there any special requirements to learn magic or are . . .'Versers' predisposed to learning it or something? After all, I know the Ed I married isn't a wizard, but for all I know you always were."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Oh boy." Mentat rolled his eyes. "I actually don't know if we get the universe at our fingertips as a result of our composition, or not. I think scriff is separate from that, but that's just a theory."

He put on his instructor face, a front he put on when he was about to teach. "But learning magic requires a few things. The first one is understand why you want to learn in the first place - this is actually step zero as far as I'm concerned. Because it's a high risk power that can destroy the universe you are in if you fail to pronounce a syllable correctly, if you failed to concentrate properly, or even for reasons you cannot comprehend, also known as 'just because.'"

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Well as far as I can tell, one uses magic to surpass what they are physicly capible of, much like why one would use technology. After all I can't hit a target out side of melee range, but a gun or a bow would." I think for a moment, and pull out my phone. "Can 'Just because' make technology act weird as well? When I was in the first world my phone kept picking up conversations. One was a call forcing someone to drive a car for the museum heist I mentioned, and the other I'm pretty sure I heard the name Capone was mentioned."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Well, guns and bows won't kill the universe, no matter how bad your aim is or how your bullet behaves...unless the universe is made out of nitroglycerin, in which case you die after a day anyway because the universe hasn't been properly mixed. Stupid death worlds. I hope the gods and beings in charge of those places were all fired from heaven." Mentat looks at the phone oddly. "I am inclined to tell you 'no' but the exception tests the rule. That might be a similarly possessed device, and useful as a divination focus."

His face twists into a familiar expression of annoyance. "Well, I suppose if the universe is going to hand you the power to destroy yourself and everyone around you on accident, I might as well give you pointers in the right direction. What do you have on you? Most versers leave their homeworld with a whole bunch of stupid things that normally will not help them, but can be used by the resourceful who know how to look at them and get their real potential out."


Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat"Point taken, but I get the impression you're not familiar with a series called one punch man." I take off my sling bag to check its contents. "Hmm. Looks like all I have is my idea journal, art supplies, and a bag of dice. And of corse what I'm wearing." I draw attention to my necklaces and 'keychain'.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat"Disney fan. Got it." Mentat looked at the keychain. "If you ever need to channel Anarch powers, Walt Disney would be a stable source. If you draw on the illusions of Disney, they could make strong Alliance spells, too. The latter would be more reliable to most."

"The dice can be used to channel entropic powers or deal in prophecy. You have a hell of a head start in dealing with the powers of the underworld and death." He smirked at that, as she didn't strike him as a fatalist. "As for your art...perhaps it can used as a medium to talk to spirits? I know here in this castle, art can be quite the lethal force, for summoning, teleportation and outright murder."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Think more Kingdom Hearts...Wait Anarch, I get calling them evil but Anarchist? And Alliance is that just another word for order or something?"

Mentat's advice on my other items furthers my confusion."Entropic? What do dice have to do with death? I mean I get prophecy, if the dice roll low that means the action would fail, right?"

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat"I'll start with the first. Anarch is the catch all term for the powers that told the Almighty and his Host to get bent, for one reason or another. Usually, they're what I'd call evil." He was smiling as he spoke. "Alliance is the catch all term for those who decided they were going to band together under the banner of those who served the Host. Usually, they're what I'd call good. Then you got the neutrals, the unaffiliated. Usually, they just either ducked down and waited for the victor, or they just adamantly refused to take a side. They can be all over the place, good, evil, apathetic, isolationist, insane or just plain alien in their reasoning."

"These generalizations are NOT hard and fast, but they are very good guidelines. Every world that allows magic has affinities to one of these groups. Neutral worlds usually don't care, but Alliance and Anarch worlds are opposed to the magic of the other, so that's a thing. Here, the favored magic will be Anarch." He looked at her as he continued smiling. "Obviously."

He started doing quick shoulder stretches, trying to keep himself primed for combat. "Now, dice don't have anything to do with death per se. It's about fate manipulation, which is tied to death, because most people's fate is 'you are gonna die.' So if you ask a question, and the dice pops a nat 1, you might want to think twice about doing that thing. On the other hand, your spell might have failed, and you are now literally just acting randomly without being aware of it, which is the first danger of divination with symbols of luck."

"The second danger comes in the potential of what I call fate locking: sometimes by merely seeing a future, you can create that future and then make it inevitable - like the tale of Oedipus Rex. Be really careful when asking for information about what you should do. Ask instead what is, and decide what you should do yourself without invoking fate. Asking directly about the future is usually fairly dire, unless you know what you are doing." He shrugs. "You'll figure it out, though. You have all of eternity ahead of you to learn. But I'm not teaching you anything about magic until I'm no longer under an open sky, and until we are at a safe place. We need to find the chapel here and re-sanctify it, if it has one. That will give us a base of operations to work from."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
I nod and gesture in the general direction of Julius. "Alright, lead the way."

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Background Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOaPYeLCbNM

As you have your discussion among yourselves, You hear whip cracks from the Gate House. Then the drawbridge lowers. As if on cue, Julius comes out of the Gate House.

"The Gate house is clear if you want to try to make it past the battle to civilization... I wouldn't recommend it since the fighting is rather fierce out there. I would like to escort you out of the castle, But my mission is time sensitive. I'll lead you to the first sanctuary. It's up to you whether or not you stay there. A magician on my side would be nice."


He then starts leading you down the path towards the Castle. His whip cracks as he kills the zombies rising from the ground in front of him. They are the slow walker type of Zombie.

You note that there are zombies raising behind you. It also looks like Julius is keeping an eye on them. Like he is waiting for something.


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Well...time for science, I suppose." Mentat reached into the formal jacket he was wearing and pulled two throwing knives, one simply a quality blade, and the other silver. "I'll test how to kill them."

He took careful aim, and fired one into the head of one of the zombies, and the next into the head of the other one, just to see if silver had a noticeable difference on how they reacted.

Body shots, with quality and silver respectively, would be the next test of how they took attacks.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Hmm. You have a point, I may need to see if I can off them myself." I move up to Julius and help with the zombies in-front of him and take the opportunity to see if my saber can kill them or if how I hit them will matter.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat moves first with considerable agility. Launching two knifes at once towards their heads and then two towards their bodies.
The first good quality knife goes straight though the zombie's particularly rotten skull and manages to sever the spine. sending the zombie plopping to the ground before burning up in a fire
The second silver knife Lodges in the zombie's eye stopping it in it's tracks. However it is still standing and walking towards you
The third quality knife Goes straight through the zombie previously hit with the silver knife. It collapses and then burns up.
He throws the next silver one and it pierces through the next zombie. It's looking even more ragged than usual.

Mew moves in front of Julius and waits for a zombie. You strike with a slash across the body. drawing considerable blood but not dropping it yet.

Julius moves to mew's side and then his whip cracks through the zombie. which burns up.

"You would have killed it in your next swing."

There is 4 more zombies between you and the Castle door.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"So, no special vulnerabilities. Merely intense physical trauma, and not even an exceptional amount." Mentat shrugged, almost disappointed. He turned his gaze back to the front, glancing at the four zombies in front of them. "Worthless chaff. You got this, or do I need to eliminate them?"

He pulled an aerosol can with a strange curved lighter attached just under the spray, and smiled. He DID enjoy using this stuff way too much.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat"Well good to know how soft these things are, just need to be faster." I hold the saber up in a sort of defensive position as I look back at Mentat and realize what he has in mind. "You know given how valuble a fire can be I think we should just save that for later. Yea?" Now with full attention back on the zombies in front of them. "I'll do my best to be faster this time." I tilt my head and gesture with it towards Julius. "You take on that end, I'll start at the other, and hopefully meet in the middle with a clear way to the door." I wait for conformation from Julius before moving in. Remember if they don't say they've got your back, they don't have your back.

After his acknowledgement I charge towards my side of the Zombies. My first swing is full force neck swing like someone aiming for a home-run in baseball. The second is almost a continuation of the first as I come full circle from its momentum only readjusted for center mass on the one next to the first.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Julius nods and then Mew moves into position. Then you lets a zombie get close.
Mew swings at the neck, cutting it to the spine. then Continues around into a spinning slash across it's body, Cutting it down like a tree. Before it burns up

Julius's Whip cracks twice and two zombies burn up in flames.

Mentat then Throws a quality knife That catches the last one in it's skull, knocking it off balance. Then another quality knife embeds itself it the Zombie's body before it bursts into flames.

All of you get to the Main Doors. They open to the inside to revel a hallway that is about 100 feet long and about 30 feet wide. There is expensive looking red carpet on the floor along with nice looking red curtains lining the windows along the wall.

There is also candles along the wall in intervals.

There are four zombies walking slowly towards you.


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat took a deep breath of irritation. This was not his style of warfare; too upfront, too respectful of his foes. "Okay, I'm getting tired of these things already."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of keys, making a calling whistle and stabbing the air with the keys in an effort to summon his bike. "I'd like to just run them over and call it a day. I'm going to the chapel, and I'm not gonna get married. I'll turn the energy there into something usable by human beings for your special funtime party."

If this worked, he was going to mount up, offer a seat to Mew, and do what he said he was going to do. She had a saber, so killing from a bike should should be a simple matter for her. In theory, anyways.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
A portal of blue flames opens up outside. And Mentats bike come through. It is a stylish motorcycle with wheels that surrounded with blue fire. Mentat mounts up on it.

Julius's eyes are wide with surprise.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
I am the weakest person here.
I seem to recall the zombies, while being the weakest enemies in the games always gave you a little trouble early in.
That does not change the fact I am half as effecint as Ed Mentat and Julius.
GET STRONGER OR GET DEAD PANZY!
Right. Get Good. What would I do without you?
Complain or worry about things you have no control over.
Right, that.

Then the motorcycle arrives and my sanity takes a momentary leave as I take a seat behind Mentat. "Get me closer I want to hit it with my sword. Sorry, too good to pass up." I can't hide my cat's smirk at saying that, and prepare to swat the zombies as we speed by doing my best to add the bikes speed to the lethality of the blow(s).

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat drives forward with the bike and leave the Stunned Julius behind. You Run over a few zombies And Mew manages to decapitate one as she passes.

You get to the door and perform a wheely to bust through it. You find yourself in a large room with two curved stairs up to the second floor.

Mentat takes the right stairs. As you go up You hear a crack below you and the stairs collapses under you. You fall and find yourself ten feet below the first floor. There is a open door on the same side as the entrance hall. And a open door on the opposite side.

You two are on a stone island on the side of the entrance hall. There is water and and the remains of a stone bridge between you and the stone island on the other side with a door

Off to one side in the water is a statue of Aquarius poring out water.

You sense Movement in the water.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
After killing the zombies I notice Julius is still standing there and shout to him. "Hey Julius! No time for a slack jaw, move."


I look down at the water scanning for the felt movement. "Egh, You think its the fish men? Or something worse? Either way I don't like the prospect of jumping over the water, but what do you think?"

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat curses profusely and dismounts, pulling the keys from the bike and speaking the words of banishment. "Trace, ride eternal!"

He looks at the gaps here and the doorway he's targeting, and looks at Mew. "So, how are you at track and field, specifically hurdles or parkour?"

While she answers that, he mentally recreates the directions to the chapel in his mind, using the bell towers as his reference. It might be that going across all of those gaps while being attacked by the things from the Black Lagoon might be unnecessary, and he's wanting to make sure.

Of course, for all he knew, that was the kraken down there.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"I'll sum it up as, my jumping leaves something to be desired."

Magnus
Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You have a feeling that the chapel it up from here.
You notice a light in the room with the open door. It appears to be a statue of the Virgin Mary holding a flame.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat"Open door, religious iconography." He pointed to the open doorway. "Quickly now. I have a really good idea. Shut the door behind us."

He moved through the doorway, drew his uzi-stylized squirt gun, and sprayed the doorway's frame on the edges with the holy water as he spoke a modified version of Scripture. "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No evil shall touch you when I strike."

His goal was simple: fry any evil stupid enough to pass through that doorway.


Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring MentatBoth of you go through the door. As you pass through, you get a innate sense of peace and safety from this room. Mentat anoints the door with Holy water and speaks His modified Scripture and closes the door. The feeling intensifies. You feel that any evil or unnatural thing would have to be really dumb to try to get through that door.

As you stand in the room the minor scrapes and bruises from the fall fade before your very eyes. You feel full of power and resolve.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Okay. Breather time." He puts the squirt gun back in his jacket, where it disappears. "Not gonna lie - even your pistol looks pretty good to me. I miss real bullets, and despite their ammo issues and occasional unreliability because not all universes understand how ballistics work, they are fantastic weapons. God didn't make all men equal, Samuel Colt did."

He sat down with the statue at his back. "So, magic for dummies. First step, humility. Learning how to use magic properly was a long, slow and very painful process for me and quite a few others. Pride is still a thing for me."

"So how much do you know, or think you know about magic in general, specifically the part where you actually make the universe move to your will?"

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
I hold up my hand as I get ready to count off what I know of true magic, lifting a finger for each point. "Jack ~and~ Squat. Yea, I think that about covers it."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Oh, good. No stupid presumptions then about what works and what doesn't. And you won't be arguing with me about this topic, which is also nice." Mentat started to pace. "So, let's consider Humility wrapped up until further notice. Pride is the biggest danger of learning and utilizing magic - it will literally solve every, single problem you have with no requirement to truly learn and exert yourself. The problem with doing this is twofold."

"The first is that you never get better until you are deprived of magic and have to get better or fail. The sheer utility of magic is seductive in its power to encourage complacency. One day, you will find yourself cut off from your spells, and suddenly realize you have no useful skills to fall back on." He took a breath as he recalled the second point. "The second flaw is likely related to our verser nature and how it reacts to cast magic, but typically each spell cast by us has a one in a thousand chance of ending the universe you are in, give or take circumstances. This power is not for casual use, and it is not for playtime. Each spell you cast, you are swinging a weapon of mass destruction to achieve your ends, regardless of your goals. So it better be worth that risk."

"With that in mind, it's pretty darn useful, and I do use it. What I did at the door was a half-magic, rather low key stuff. An atheist could look at that, and while he would conclude it has no reason to work, he would understand what I was aiming to do, and therefore it would work. That's the essence of magic - it often works only because you think it works." He stopped pacing and stood in front of the statue behind him, letting the light frame him and make him look impressive. "Now, for the next step of Tutelage: when the chips are down, and your mortal strength and knowledge is not enough, what do you do? Pray? Research? Hypothesize? Get high? Accept fate? Meditate?"

"I know that's a lot of stuff to ask, but take a moment to consider what you do when pressed. This will determine a lot about what your starting path will be."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"I research if possibly relevant first, but I get the feeling your referring to when things are now truly out of my control. In which case I confide in you, Ed, my husband. Though your question does remind me of why I used to pray, which was to thank God for the world he made."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Okay, so three answers." He put a hand to his forehead. "We will go with your first answer for now, as it matches the iPhone you have that won't work in most of the worlds you visit for one reason or another, and I don't see a lot of religious iconography on you. I'm going to guess you rely on that portable Internet a lot."

"This is workable. That phone..." He did a quick perceptive scan of it, and realized it had no magical abilities inherit to it at all like he originally hypothesized that it did. Which meant whatever it was doing in the prior world was a quality of the world it was in. "...is a divination focus, just like I told you earlier."

Magic operated on belief, as far as he knew, so why change that? Besides, it might become one, with time and practice. "The brushes and tools will allow you to work great insights of the mind with time, but they aren't quick. For fast and practical magic, the iPhone will aid you due to its Underworld connections. I will teach you the programming code of the universe, and with that phone you will be able to reprogram or hack it."

"The first spell I will teach you is the reading of magic. Reading, as all primal cultures know, is one of the strongest magics in existence. If you can draw a tale or instructions and then understand them later, you have power at your fingertips."

Mentat pulled a knife from his coat and began carving into the floor a set of runes. "Turn on your phone, go to settings and type into the network setting for the broadband signal COSMIC, in all caps. That's C-O-S-M-I-C. Don't worry if it tells you the network doesn't exist. That's normal, and just a filter for those who don't belong. Then look at the runes, and ask your phone to decipher them for you. Don't be surprised if it takes a while to load an answer. You ARE asking the cosmic internet that binds everything together a question, not your normal one. Be patient." 


Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Well that was fast, a magic item. I mean we weren't even there an hour before the phone acted up.
Consider our state of mind. It never occured to us that the phone wouldn't funtion. So when it couldn't get ahold of Ed it redirected us. Just somewhere we didn't expect.
So you think we accidentally used magic, like when that guy learned wire fu without realizing it was impossible?It is worth a try, Ed Mentat did say he was a wizard.
And he summoned a cool bike.
Yes, and he summoned a bike.

Having shaken off the initial skepticism, I decide to roll with it and look for the new network, Cosmic.Well Ed said it was a thing, so it should be here. I give it a dozen or so tries if I don't see it at first, eventually trying to shut down and restart the phone, before giving up.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You type in C-O-S-M-I-C into the network name for the IPhone. And... You actually getting a signal. Your Browser takes you to a search engine that simply reads 'आकाश'


So How would you search for runes that look like this?
ᛋᚲᛁᚱᚱᛖᛚ

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat smiles, legitimately impressed at the speed she was picking this up. Then again, versers always did seem to have an affinity to drawing power to themselves. "Excellent work so far. Focus, and finish the task."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Now step two....Wha-What is step TWO? I pause a good moment as I consider how to translate the runes. I start by taking a picture. Maybe being hooked up to a magical internet will add some features to Siri? I push the button to activate Siri. "Siri, trasnlate?" Siri was never involved in redeeming a card on iTunes so I'm not sure if it was the right app for the job. (You can take a picture of the numbers on an iTunes gift card to redeem it.)

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You hear a familiar feminine voice come from your phone.
"What do you think I am, Rosetta Stone?
Fine.
Detecting script... Futhark. Elder Futhark.
Transliteration
s-k-i-r-r-e-l
No match found in Old Norse.
Did the writer just use the Elder Futhark to write an English Word? Because that sounds like Squirrel."


Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Surprised by the unusual amount of snark. "Siri are you feeling ...okay?"

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Siri Replies with
"I am feeling perfectly fine. Why do you Ask?"

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Ah... You know what I'm just gonna attribute it to the new network. Thanks Siri."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Perhaps a little too precise, but yes, I wrote squirrel to insure you weren't going to be a sloppy, guessing cheater. Apparently I messed it up and used a phonetic version as opposed to the right one. Too many variations of runic to keep track of. Still, it's universal as long as you have the cipher, and you got the gist." Mentat was happy with the development, despite his own linguistic mistake. "Now, next spell, and thankfully none of these I'm teaching you has a chance to destroy the universe to my knowledge, because they are basic and sensory in nature. I need you to learn if there is magic present in this room, and then find out if the fire the Virgin Mary is holding is magical or not. Go."

He sat down, and just awaited the answer.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Well there are two ways we can go about this. The first is to contune to rely on the phone, maybe looking throgh the camera for the magic. Two, we close our eyes, hold out our hand and try to feel out where the magic is. While the phone has been working for us we may need to consider that as Mentat said there may be places it doesn't function, so we may want to start with option two.
I get the feeling this is more about not being tied to the phone than whether or not it would work in some places.
Admittedly. Fine, a little variance wouldn't hurt anyway.

I close my eyes and try to clear my head. The hardest part I imagine will be encoring the feeling,Verser sense, I'm getting from Mentat. I then hold out my hands as though I'm groping through the darkness, letting whatever feelings I find lead the way.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You close your eyes and do a breathing exercise to clear your mind.  At first You only sense Mentat's verser signal. But you manage to set that out of your mind. You feel... Calm. relatively save. The feeling is sort of like light and it is radiating from the statue and it's flame.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"The fire is magical. Best I can tell, it is the reason the room feels safe."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Good. Now we step to more advanced lessons. First, don't get fancy. Stick with the magic phone for spellcasting. There will be time enough when I am not sharing a room with you for you to experiment with magic and get fancy."

Mentat took a breath, glad nothing had gone wrong so far, and that he didn't have to use countermagic so far. "I have my own way of using spells that lowers the chance of universal destruction immensely. It is extremely stressful to the verser's mind and body, but all tests so far have resulted in merely the death of the caster, and perhaps a wave of localized destruction. The worst? A horrifying monster that opposes whatever the hell you were just doing appears at the site of your imminent death, AND you die anyways, with the excess energies that would have destroyed the universe you are in dissipating harmlessly between worlds."

"So, while the odds of normal magic ending the universe are..." He does some actual mental arithmatic. "...about one in ten million, with this style, unless you are trying something truly apocalyptic to begin with, at which point the difference between success and failure will be academic, the odds are effectively zero. This will involve you tapping into the dark reaches of your mind. On COSMIC, go to the site cosmic-backslash-settings-dot-u-n-i, and change the default settings to Subconscious and Deep Soul."

This time, he readied himself for dispelling excess magical energies. This was usually the point at which something went wrong if it was going to happen.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Alright, you said cosmic/settings.uni, right?" I type in what he says after all Ed Mentat hasn't lead us wrong yet. In fact if I can't find it I'll just keep retyping it thinking I misspelled something.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mew

You open up your browser and goto cosmic/setting.uni. There are a lot of settings but you manage to find the settings For Sources and change them to Subconscious and Deep Soul.
You click apply settings.
You pass out from Something?
You see yourself except made of shadow with glowing yellow eyes. She smiles and the you start falling rapidly with Your Shadow fading in the distance.
You fall through the darkness. The darkness is suffocating like water and it seems like you slowed down. You find your decent into Darkness stopping You stand and the Darkness flies away from in under you. Reveling a circular stained glass platform. It is a mural of an unknown woman wielding two key like swords. It takes a bit for you to recognize them as Keyblades in your dream like state.
You hear a voice say
"So much to do, So little time.
Don't be afraid. The Door is closed... For Now.
Step forward"

--------

Mentat
She clicks apply settings and then passed out. After about five minutes her eyes start moving like REM sleep.


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
He raised a hand in preparation to cast the logical countermagic against errant energy, should it be needed. Not everyone reacted the same to getting in touch with an unstable magical power source, and he had no intention of ending up like a certain would-be teacher of electrokinesis in Nagaworld.

He then wondered when that happened to him. It didn't synch with his normal memories. He'd never been to Nagaworld, much less knew what it was.

Whatever the cause of that odd memory, he chose to wait a bit.


Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Well, that didn't remind us of the every nightmare. The part where there is potentially an 'evil' us or the part where a thing is made of shadows, because omens bad, bad omens. YES! Three times we have seen shadow beings and not once has it been a good sign. Four you're forgetting the halucination we had when we were pregnate with Jessy. That was different!Well, I didn't get a bad vibe from them like the other times, just mischief. So lets not jump to conclusions here.

New question: Who's the newbie? On the bright side we have never had a bad Kingdom Hearts dream. Ever enthusiastic, what now. I step forward looking around as I do.


Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You step into the center of the stain glass circle. You hear the voice again.

"Power sleeps within you."

A stone alter appears on your left from a pillar of light.
On it is a shield with a Sunburst emblem on it.

" If you give it form..."

Further to your left, behind your initial position. Another stone alter appears from the light. On it is a rod that has a head engraved with mystic symbols.

"... It will give you strength."

To your right, a final stone alter appears from a pillar of light. On it is a simple one handed sword.

"Choose well."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
'K, so I'm playing Sora. Wait, is it possible that we Versed? This is similar to what we experinced just before wakeing up outside the casle. Hmm, it is possible but I don't think so last time we were someone else and I am defenatly me this time. It is still a possiblility.

"I wonder if they have a discription with each of them like in the start of Kingdom Hearts." What does it matter? We will probobly take what we did in the games. I move up to each of the pillars and see if there is an inscription or if the voice will tell me about them. Starting with Sword just in case picking it up for voice overs is the same as picking as that is my traditional choice.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You examine the sword and the voice speaks.

"The power of the warrior. Invincible Courage. A sword of terrible Destruction. The path to the Sublime Way. Is this the Power that you seek?

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"The sublime way? That was never part of the sword's discription...No." I put the sword down and move to the staff.

What does it matter if the descriptions are diffrent? Well, keep in mind that we partaly chose the sword back then for astetic and reach. We may no longer wish for the sword and instead keep the staff.Regardless of whether or not we would keep the staff now, we can at least agree that we are keeping the shield, right? Yes. I at least understand why. However this may come down to which sounds worse 'Terrible Destruction' or 'Ruin'. Because I remember back then something else 'Ruin' sounded worse. That ... is true, but we also regretted loosing the inner strength and wonder While we are on the subject though do either of you find it weird that the shield didn't have a negative statment about it. Not one we can recall at least. We will have to keep that in mind when we here the rest.

Sorry about giving you more work Magnus. If you want to speed it up you can go ahead and give the discription of the shield as well.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You put the sword down and go over to the staff. As you pick up and examine it, the voice speaks.

"The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and
ruin. The path to impose your will on the World. The Path to bring the World to ruin. Is this the power you seek?"

You set the staff down and go to examine the Shield. The voice speaks again.
"The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. The path to surviving against all adversity. Is this the power that you seek?"

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Congradulations! We are still at the impass we were when Kingdom Hearts frist came out. I vote we drop the staff. And here I thought you'd defend it. 'the path to impose your will on the world' and 'the path to ruin'? These things sound contrary to our most stead fast goals and loves. ... We may want to reconsider that... We are dreaming afterall we didn't verse and the last thing we did was change the setting on our magic. By the way the drawbacks are the paths at their worst not something that WILL happen. If your still conserned about the shield its negative trait is just subtle, 'a shield to repel all' doesn't sound negative but it can be. The subtlety is disconcerting.
So are we droping the sheild then? I'd approve. Even with its flaws it still stands most for what we believe. So, it is down to what we will loose....IF we are keeping the staff, I beleive we should loose the sword. That way we trade 'Ruin' for 'Destruction.' I suppose that works. I'll just state for the record I still prefer the sword, but if balance is nessisary to ease your mind. Does this mean we are leading with the staff? We'll lead with the shield. As a mom it better represents what we are now days as opposed to the staff, which is more of something we are adding to that bases. And should we ever except what Ed Mentat says about versers what we may become.

Having made my decision I move to the Shield and answer "Yes." to the voice.

If you want to go ahead with the what to give up part, I will give up the sword.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You pick up the shield. The voice says
"I see. You are still clinging to the past."

The voice takes on a darker inflection at the end.

The glass shatters below you and you find yourself sinking into inky darkness. You try swimming but that only causes you to sink faster.  You go below the surface. And you feel the darkness pressing in from all sides, trying to enter you and corrupt you.

You are about to pass out from the lack of air. When you find yourself on the floor of your old home. You don't hear the sounds of children, animals or cars. And outside is inky blackness.

The only person you see is lounging on the couch playing your 3DS. Her skin is so tan that it is almost black. And her eyes are a vibrant gold that almost glows. You then notice that she would look exactly like you is she had the same skin and eye color as you.

She sets the 3DS down and looks at you with eyes that bore into your soul.
"I am disappointed that you didn't pick the staff as your main focus. But at least you didn't plan on rejecting it."

------------
Meanwhile in the Castle with Mentat.

You are practicing your katas with in the style of Viae Furoris. When you feel a massive source of Entropy enter the sanctum. A figure clad in a black hooded robe that has seen much wear and tear appears before you. The figure is wielding an oversized scythe of black metal with screaming faces and skulls pressed against it's surface. You see that there is a skeleton in the robe with glowing red pin pricks where the eyes should be.

It speaks with a low rumbling voice that sends the chill of the grave through you.

"You who have felt my touch countless time, but have eluded my grasp.  What is your business here?"


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Oh. Right. You are a thing here." Mentat calmly continued what he was doing. He had been invoking a ritual meant to serve as a lightning rod in the event of a magical eruption. He knew how these things tended to go, and wanted that energy grounded harmlessly. "I'm doing what I do best, clearly."

He finally looked directly at the spectral entity, sizing him up. He continued his motions, though, even if they were a touch slower from distraction. "I see you are rocking the traditional, specter-type look. Which name you going by this season? Grim Reaper, Death, or your traditional name, Samael?"

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
I point at them, as I speak, a theory wrapping my mind as to what I'm dealing with. "I don't know who you are, not for certain. But seeing as this is a dream, you have to be some sort of aspect of myself. Based on the darkness that makes your door, a darker aspect.. I'm thinking one I don't hear a lot of now days. Whether I'm right or not, doesn't matter right now, I'll wager. What does is this, I am no longer the thunder cloud that dreams of being a dragon. I am the bear and woe onto those who threaten my children, make no mistake I still dream of the day the wind fills my wings, a dragon I still strive to be. Taking the Shield is acknowledgment of this shift. You may simply see the fact I didn't take the staff as clinging, well maybe I am a little. After all I'm not giving up on seeing my kids again anytime soon. But you more than any part of me must understand what it means for me to choose to keep the staff and forgo the sword. I'm keeping the staff because a sword is the only tool only good for one job, it cannot help me bypass what Ed mentioned, it is only good for cutting and death. I need the staff but it does not define me! And though the sword was always tempting it never did either, did it."



OOC: As you wouldn't know about the Thunder cloud, dragon thing I'll explain it here. A few years ago we were told to use an analogy to describe ourselves and what we wished to be. Back then I said I was like a Thunder cloud: dark with flashes of inspiration, and that I wished to be a dragon: a true master of the self. 

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
The image of yourself smiles at your words with an almost a draconian aspect to her features.
She then gets up from her seat and seems to radiate raw power.

"I see that you have some Will to Power. Good. You will Need That

As for what I am... I am The Dragon's Shadow. I have a few other names, But you can call me Shade."


She then glares at you. The irises of her eyes start glowing with a golden light while the whites burn away from the molten light revealing inky blackness beneath them with blood seeping from the edges. As she speaks you notice that there is no teeth or tongue inside her mouth. Just darkness. trickles of blood flow from the gaping wound that is her mouth.

"Now Tell me, You who want Dominion over Reality. By what right should You have that power?"

----------------------------------
Even though he is a skeleton. you feel that he has a grim smile from your attitude.

"Those are names that I have gone by, my servant. Although here I prefer to go by Death. I'm Sorry that I cannot give you the reward you desire for your services yet. Perhaps there is a temporary payment that I can offer?"


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Now that knocked the smirk right off of Mentat's face - being told directly he's a servant of an Anarch power, being told he can't be given what he wants, and most of all, the offer of something else.

He continued the katas deliberately, and slowly, with a ruthless determination to get it right. "I think when I do get what I'm after that it will be - against the justice of the universe - Azreal who takes me instead of you."

"Now, since I'm no longer in the business of attacking enemies who came at me under a banner of peace, you can tell me what you are here for. It's not for a friendly chit-chat."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"I think Ed's theory of spite covers this best. Life is an accident that fate is constantly trying to correct. Every second life exist is a black eye to fate, and this immortality thing, best not to ever see your kids. I see it as fate trying to punch back, and I'd like to give it a fat lip to match its eye. Magic is the fist by which one accomplishes this. By what right does one exist in the first place, let alone do anything? By the rights of existence, by the rights of will unbroken - will those rights work, or did you have something in mind?"

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Teeth rip through the blackness of her mouth and split it into a grin.
"Fine then. Prove your worth"

Shade disappears and Then everything in the in The room starts melting. Until you are standing In the middle of Lighted circle within emblem of a dragon on it.

A shadow heartless appears before you and it has it's attention on you.

------------

Death chuckles at that. It's a cold dry sound that reminds you of the cracking of bones.

"Can I not exchange pleasantries with such a faithful servant that has sent so many into my grasp? No Matter. Let's move on to Business.
I can see that you have run afoul with The Hierarchy of Heaven. Quite the restriction on your power with The Fourfold Seal of Divinity. You must be quite eager to get out of that."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Actually-" Mentat caught himself before he could finish his original thought. Opportunity was here, and information might be in his reach. "-yeah. It's annoying. So what's your offer? You don't do favors, even when you ARE on heaven's side."

He was going to tell him that he honestly didn't care, but hearing this offer out would at least be interesting. He wanted to know what Death wanted. He was quickly drawing the conclusion that this was going to be the usual Anarch schtick of a favor for 'your soul' or something like that, and that Death was just messing around.

But he would allow Death to leave this sanctuary corporeal and in this world. He had no interest in violating its sanctity as long as Death didn't.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
I draw the Saber not even considering that it might not be at my side. No. But I wanna. NO. Do not do this stupid thing. Do this stupid thing. GOT IT. Not you too. I'm a gonna do it. RRrrr, Fine, be an idiot. With my other hand I unhook the keychain from my waist, partially because I think its funny and half out of the hope/belief that a heartless will naturally fear it. I spin the keychain in my left and hold the saber in my right. As I step towards the shadow heartless I start with a reverse slash from the sword followed by a low body swing from the keychain, which attempts to use the momentum of the first attack to amplify itself.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
The Shadow gets the jump on you and Leaps at your face with a downward slash with a claw that 'glows' with Darkness. You Barely dodge with your reflexes before it continues with horizontal slash That comes out quicker than the first attack. You try to dodge but it slashes deeply across your stomach. You actually feel the pain from this. it hurt's like a deep cut.

You retaliate with a slash across it's head with your sabre. It tries to dodge but you catch it's antennae with your slash and rip them off. Making it spew inky black liquid out of the cut. It is strangely silent. Although it's head stretches like it is screaming
You follow up with slapping it with your Micky Mouse Icon key-chain. It is glowing with white light as you are slapping it. Then There Is a Bright Flash of light as it strikes. Destroying the Shadow And releasing an ethereal Heart. Which floats up to sky.

------------------

"I have my Reasons. A magician such as yourself has surly sensed the energy flowing through the Castle. And it's nature to oppose Heaven. This energy gathers in certain points in the Castle where the strongest guardians dwell. If you where to Tap into those points. And then direct the flow towards the goal of destroying Heaven's seal on your magic...Well. I'm sure you would succeed at that. Although, I would imagine that the others assaulting the the castle wouldn't take kindly to such a blatant disregard of Heaven's Will."

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat rolled the idea over in his mind. "The theories are sound. And we both know I'm here by choice, so Heaven is not a factor to me."

True enough. He didn't need to go deeper into this castle - he wanted to destroy this castle.

"But I'll think about it. I'm just wondering how this action would benefit you."

He went back to the katas. He needed to get his mind ready. He had a guess as to how this would prosper Death (turn his foes against each other, obviously), but he wanted to hear the words Death would use - that one might profess a different motive, and offer a new possibility.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
I take a deep breath and look around. "Okay Shade, you and I both know that if I haven't failed that there's more."

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
The Heart floats high in the sky and then starts shining with light. Sending your Shadow out long and wide.

A dragon of inky blackness raises from your shadow. It is about 10 yards long with Massive wings and teeth like swords... wait a minute, those are not ordinary swords. Those are Chainswords. It's mouth is literally full of Chainswords. That are on fire. It's claws are talons that cut through the ground with distressing ease.

It Roars at you. Hammering into your skull. Submit! Give Up!  DIE!

----------------------

"Let's just say. It pains me to see my servants in such a weakened state. Who knows? You might find a power that is agreeable to you."

With That Death fades from the room.

You notice that Mew's stomach is bleeding with a gash.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mentat scowls as he walks to her, his conversation with Death no longer important in the moment. "This isn't supposed to happen until you actually begin casting."

Due to his magical suppression, he used the ambient energies here to complement his actions, applying direct pressure with his hand to the wound, and slowly and carefully moving her closer to the statue of Mary. "Stigmata is a frequent side effects of the nastier elements of the magic I use." He grunted out as he moved her. "That, or you are having a psychosomatic dream which can kill you. The rules here are different, if I recall - death in the dream world of this castle doesn't kill you. It turns you into a lost soul."

The scientist living in his mind piped up a question. "Yes, brain, I suppose that does mean we can find out if that's just fatal to us or if it actually does cause our soul to wander until the death of this world, should the worst happen. On the plus side, it will mean her lessons resume."

"Strength within, strength without." He calmed himself, and slowly focused healing energies into the wound, willing the natural energies of the room to focus on containing the bleeding. He combined this with actual effort, taking off his jacket and shirt, and tearing the shirt into makeshift bandages, which he bound around her. He figured she'd get over the lifted shirt.

If she got more injuries on the torso, she was waking up indecent, and if she lived she'd get over it, as far as Mentat was concerned.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"NO!…. On a side note Shade, this is your most metal design since Corpse Bite." A shield would be very beneficial right about now. I hook the keychain to the saber rather than reattach it to my waist, a little in the hope that its holy power will transfer to the blade. Okay a shield is to protect, so to summon the shield I need to think of something worth protecting. I focus intently on the mental image of my kids. Hoping that is enough to conjure it.

Regardless of my success I attempt to goad the dragon into slamming one of its front legs straight down at me. If successful (and dodged), I run up the leg to get on its back and from there move to the face where I will stab it in the eyes repeatedly.

Of course the plan itself has its own drawback as the mere thought eye-violence still makes me winch even if it is to save my life.

My plan may have to change based on if I am misunderstanding the size/scale of the beast.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mew

With Your though of Protection, Your Keychain starts glowing with a white light. In a flash you find your left arm covered with a shield...Punch...Keyblade. With straps holding the shield in place. Lawson's sword is in your right hand.

You get the dragon to slam down with it's right arm. You then run up it's arm onto it's back. But before you manage to get to the head to stab the eye. It starts moving and bucking around wildly. Then It takes off flying.  Are you still going to stab it in the eye? You are sort of high up.

The Keyblade Punch shield looks something like this.

         _________
        /         \
       /  I I /][\ \______________
       |  I I |][| |--------------
       \  I I \][/ /           KEY
        \_________/


On one side of the handle is a shield boss that appears to be made of steel.

---------------------------------------------

Mentat

You gently channel the energy of the statue into Mew.
Something odd happens though. The flow reverses and then she is in a conflux of light.
When it dies down. Her wounds are gone and there is a ... Shield?Keyblade?Katar?
on her left arm.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Ugh, great." Mentat looked at the weapon. "Psychosomatic dream WITH magical components. So if things go really far south, you might literally immolate or explode in my arms."

"Fan-freaking-tastic." He put her down and walked off a bit. "Not to me, not on my watch. I destroyed a good suit for nothing. Back to containment."

He began refocusing on the flow of magic he was going to have to contain in one place. Perhaps he could use the statue as a magical lightning rod to...

He drew a silvered knife and began tracing circles on the floor around her, deliberately putting holes in them to metaphysically direct an outflow of power to the statue, which he intended to magically reinforce.

This might take more time than he had, so he was doing a bit of a rush job...

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
As okay as I am with the lack of eye violence, we need a new plan. WINGS! Wait. What? N- But before the thought about how bad of an idea it is to mutilate the wings while flying on said wings can finish. I am already slicing away at the membranes with one arm, and holding on to the dragon with the other (with the best possible grip I can given what I'm holding.)

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mew

You cut into the Membrane of the wings and send the dragon crashing down into the ground. You are thrown and end up rolling for a while.

You hear A slow clap You look up and see Shade clapping.

"You have pass the Stations of Journeys, Humility, Mentorship and Fear.
The Power you seek Requires a Final Trial. The Station of Change. Also known as the Station of Sacrifice. What are you willing to give up for the Power you seek? What part of you is holding you back That you will throw on the alter of a better You?"

------------------

As you scratch the wars into the ground. Abrasions appear on mew. Like the injuries from a bicycle wreck.
You move on to reinforcing the statue. the question is do you have enough time left.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Light injuries, will aggravate the stomach wound." He etched further symbols onto the ground, and the foundations of the statue, making sure everything was as just so as he could, given what was likely to about to happen.

"In the name of Assiah, the Fourth World and the Fourth Part of God, I call forth Malkuth, to be, Nazach, to be, and Chesad, to be. In the Kingdom, the Triumph, and the Mercy, I command all wild and Abyssal energies to the object of my choosing, this symbol of mercy in the chamber, that this woman might be spared the price of power today."

"As above," He raised his blade as he finished his handiwork, and lowered it with that last parts of the invocation. "So below."

In theory, this would call particular energies into the room, which would ground the wild magic of awakening in the statue. Possibly explosively, but he was not expecting THAT much power. Still, better the statue take it then the human.

He'd been doing this for a while, and this sort of thing was fairly common. Versing out, or losing the student to a verse out, would be counterproductive to his goals.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"So, how does this work? Can I sacrifice my indecision, or my hesitation at speaking, or even just my hesitation in general? Then again does it need to be something I wish to keep? Basically I don't know the "rules" as it were, as to what constitutes a sacrifice."


Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mew

"The Deal is made."
Her hand and arm stretches towards you lightning quick and goes into your chest. You feel her change things inside of you before ripping something out You see a blue light in her hand before you pass out from the pain.

----------------------

Mentat

Just as you finish. Mew erupts with blue-white light. testing your wards with the power emitted. Your wards hold though and channel the energies into the Mary statue. The Light shifts from blue to orange before dying down... The statue is no longer emitting the aura of safety though. You see that the energies from the awakening is temporally suppressing the power of the Statue.

Mew is waking up.

---------------

Mew

You are coming back into awareness. You are no longer feeling safe. You also feel hurt. You also feel different from how you where before. You lack hesitation. You come to an decision and then act on it.

OOC: This is going to be a bit of a role-playing challenge for you, Mew. You sacrificed Hesitation. So that has some side effects. How you portray it is up to you.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Ah, great." Mentat walked over to the statue and checked his inscriptions. "I'm certain these were right...let's see..."

"Ah. A ritual of containment. These energies were suppose to harmlessly dissipate. So if I just remove these glyphs here..." He thought better of it before acting. "You know what? I'm just gonna count this one as a win. No one exploded, and presumably you now understand how to rewrite reality."

"And you aren't dead on top of that. You've learned you have a knack for conjuration and healing, and hopefully started to see your strengths and weaknesses better." He looked at the remains of his shirt. "While I would love to complain about the loss of the shirt, we have more pressing concerns. And no, I don't care how rough around the edges you feel. We have to move. Now. My wards will only hold them off for so long, and making this room safe again would require making it very unsafe for a few seconds."

He was intending to head to the chapel, and finish what he was coming here to do.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Well that was fun, lets not do it again real soon." I winch as I notice the gash in my gut. "You know I was really hoping that wouldn't still be there....I will take your word for that." I force myself to stand using the statue as a support along the way up. As I get my footing I look down at the runes Mentat used that caused the room to change, and attempt to commit them to memory. "Well anyways hopefully by the time this heals I can tell you how this compairs to a cesarean. At least I've dealt with this sort of thing before, more or less." I think a moment about what the nurses had me do when they needed me to walk and get my strength back. I hold on to the statue with one hand an force my back straight. "Unsurprizingly this was a lot easier with had pain meds." I make a grimace as I follow Ed Mentat out the door occasionally attempting to use the blade of the key shield as a crutch only to force myself to stand up straight again.



Mentat


Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Okay, time for your next lesson, and I expect you to learn fast: heal yourself. I don't know the lens by which you understand the universe, but since you know magic, you have that lesson down." Mentat was clearly getting impatient to leave and get out of here. "Frankly, I do not mind if you survive long enough for me to educate you on how to actually swing that sword with enough skill to hold off a stronger foe, but as of this moment, you can die and move on to another world without me feeling bad about it. I have concluded my purpose, relative to yourself."

He gave a cold and blank look to her. "Now: calm, and focus. Figure this out."

Mentat could heal her himself, but he wanted to see if she could do it.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
"Well if time heals all wounds..." I shrug and chuckle. "Tempus fugit,et carpe diem." I pull out my phone and look under settings: time settings: self and fast forward and 3 weeks.


OOC: Translation latin: Tempus fugit,et carpe diem. Means: Time flies, and cease the day.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Mew

You concentrate and you feel... a pool of light in your heart. It seems to leap at your intention to heal yourself. But you Direct it with your magic consciously. You feel your wound close a little bit. And you have a feeling that your spell is over complicating things.
The bit of light is spent. and you feel an equal mass of darkness take it's place. After a little bit you feel your heart convert the Darkness back into light.


You Keyblade has a few sparks of light moving around it. and dripping to the floor.

-------

Mentat.
She draws the power from herself and manages not to mess up
Her Shield now has sparks of light. dripping from it.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat"Good." Mentat pointed to the shield. "I'm guessing that insane looking shield is some kind of magical focus your mind conjured up. You can use that as a focus as well, although it is a bit different from your iPhone. In fact, let me drop something on you: there is no COSMIC network. I made it up, and through sheer dumb intuitive power you made it work anyways. It makes sense to you."

"Never forget that basic lesson. While your power is limited only by what you are willing to believe is possible, you must believe it is possible. You will learn many forms and techniques for casting as you journey and learn new possibilities. For now, practice your punches before you learn how to use knife hands, pressure point techniques and roundhouse kicks. Stay basic, safe and boring." He drew an ornate knife out of his coat. "I will be teaching you no more spells. You've graduated beyond that point, and are on your own in that field. You've clearly completed all five steps of your journey - humility, tutelage, journey, fear, and sacrifice - and have left my apprenticeship, brief though it was. You will do this many, many times in many different ways, and it will be just as harrowing or worse each time you do."

"Now, with that in mind..." He reached into his coat, and pulled out a cylindrical blue hand can with the word 'Kepsi' written on the side of it. A relic from a world he had visited, where an irresponsible corporation had made soda that exploded with lethal force when the can was shaken, due to mixing up their weapons division and their commercial division. Good times. "We are going fishing. We have a ten foot pool of water to clear, and while I have my own ways across, I want to see yours. We will not be traveling together long, I don't think, and you need to deal with these obstacles on your own. The fishing technique I will employ will buy you time to think of a solution."

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
You enter the next room and once again find your self on the west side a semicircular island with a radius of about 10 yards. 7 or so feet away from the edge of the island is the remains of a bridge rising about a foot out of the water. The Bridge remains is about 12 yards long by 8 yards wide. about 7 feet from the other side of the bridge is another semicircular island that is a similar size to yours on the east side of the room.

About 5 feet north of the center of the bridge is a statue of Aquarius with water Pouring from her vase.

There is a hole in the roof above the south side of the island you are on. It looks to be about 12 feet up to the edge of the floor above.

Three fishmen jump out of the water and land on the bridge in the center.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest staring Mentat
Okay lets take a moment to think about this, what do we remember about jumping in Castlevania? That there is usually a double jump of some kind at least in the ones I've played. So, hmm I want to say Alucard's animation was his cape would flap and look like wings. So, what are we suggesting is that we manually make our coat flap as we jump to increase our distance? Pay attention to what Mentat just said 'it made sense to us' if we can convince ourselves it works it should work. Really, you're going to drop this 'believe' nonsense on me? Would it help if we got a running start? Our own strength isn't enough for that jump, we need a little extra push and I don't want to find out if I'm better at floating in a life or death situation, thank you. Hehehe yeah you do have to concentrate not to sink like a stone. So will you give this 'believe nonsense' a shot? If only to aviod finding out what drowning is like. Give me a moment to switch to troll logic mode and I'll be good.


I move to the farthest point for my straight line dash and get a running head start leaping at the latest possible moment. While in the air at what I feel is the height of my jump I put my hands in my pocket and try to flap like the coat is my own wings.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Mentat, at that point, realized they didn't need to cross the water - they needed to go back up. That's what his direction sense was telling him. Unfortunately, this Mew had gotten it into her head that she could just charge forward and fly because she willed it.

Technically? Yes, yes that would work. However, he needed to manipulate both the energy lines in the room, and the energy in the water. And it turned out, the energy in the bomb he held would do nicely for aiding with both tasks. He smiled as the thought crossed his mind. A catalyst, to turn latent energy into usable energy, for those who know how it is done.

He shook it and threw it into the water beyond the fishmen, and then began engaging in a Tai Chi kata with its sweeping, water-inspired martial technique, getting ready to make the water move the way he needed it to move, drawing on the concepts of Freedom as he understood them. Specifically, momentary freedom from the laws of physics.

In essence, he wanted to blast the fishmen into the water, and launch Mew harmlessly back in front of himself, so that he could explain his navigational error. He didn't need the fishmen to even die from the forces being projected; the second objective was more important than the first, but that was a lot of energy in that soda grenade of his, and he had to make sure it was all going somewhere...

He also offered a memory of the sea up while doing this as a means to boost Mew's spell and help her both with lift and landing. He figured between the expense of the grenade, and the execution of the kata, the castle's loose grasp on reality would allow his admittedly vulgar magic to work. He was going to feel this later, though, and he knew it.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Mew

You charge forward. Every instinct of yours telling you this shouldn't work. But you push through with your Bravery, belief and a instinctive push from the light within you. You flap your coat for the double jump and then suddenly a great breeze pushes you back in front of Mentat. The breeze also sends the fishmen thudding into the door on the other side. You get up as the fishmen do when tbe door they are next to bursts off it's hinges and crushes the fishmen. There is a the remains of a freash soldier's corpse that appears to have been thrown against the door.

The room is dark and you hear scraping from the room. You also see a pair of glowing red eyes in there starring right at you.

-------

Mentat

Your kata works as planed and you are surprised that the world didn't get angry at your vulgar display of magic.
You see the door get busted and the glowing red eyes in that room.


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"Yeahhhhh..." Mentat looked to Mew awkwardly. "It turns out that we need to go THAT way-" He pointed upwards to the door about twelve feet above. "-and it's not the glowing red eyes that are inspiring me to change direction, either. I didn't even know that thing was back there. Remember that there are no mistakes, only happy accidents."

He stepped forward with a smile. "So...big guy! What brings you out here? The unique addition of sushi to the Donner Party special?"

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Despite being upset about pointing me off course to begin with, I can't help but crack a smile at Ed's Mentat's comment about mistakes. "So do we wanna leave this guy in our dust, or are we assuming that he, it could follow us?"

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
It comes out of the shadows reveling a feral looking humanoid covered in torn rags that resemble a former soldier's uniform. He is crouching on all fours like an animal. The tips of his fingers are bloody but you see gleaming white bone through the blood. He claws at the door making scraping sounds  Then he unhinges his jaw, ripping his cheeks in the process And let's out an inhuman scream of rage.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"Now you're a sight for sore eyes. Temporomandibular Joint Disorder is very painful, I'm told." Mentat recalled something from long ago, but dismissed it just as quickly.

He looked at the edge of the arena. "I'll bet he can clear that gap, and get to us before we climb out. Even if we flew off, he'd follow, and he could be a dangerous distraction. So, how do you feel about your odds in hand-to-hand against something fast and jumpy?"

Mentat felt rather good about his odds. He just wasn't sure how he wanted to dispatch this foe, or even if he wanted to. It wasn't tied to one of the castle's lines, as far as he could tell, and it might be useful as a guide. Or at least as a meatshield.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
As the frightening weight of the creatures roar sets in, fury bubbles up from deep with in me.You blasted, good for nothing, coward. Are loud noises all it takes to make to turn tail, PANZY?! I shake off the initial reaction of fear and respond to Ed MENTAT "Well, I'd much rather deal with slow and strong, but we'll find out how well I can hold up." Having steeled my nerves I put the keyShield up in a defensive stance with the saber at the ready behind me, prepared to capitalize on any openings.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring MentatThe Creature legs start bunching up. It is about to act

You have the initiative.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
He smiled at it, and quickly went down his mental options.

He chose to simply wait. If his present student failed to act fast enough, and simply got mauled to death for her trouble, he would not waste further time with this creature, and just aim to kill it.

It did admittedly look pretty nasty for a second world creature.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
I take a few steps back as I want it to close the gap itself. We could shoot it, but that would be a waste, let it come to us. I doupt stratagy is this things strong suit. I beat the saber's hilt against my key-shield in an attempt to reave myself up for when it closes in. When it does I go in for a quick slash while it is recovering from its landing.
Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
The Monster bursts into motion running forward and then leaping over the Water with a meter to spare. It lands and then your sabre goes out quick as a flash, It tries to twist out of the way. But your slash scores it across the body.  It brings it's bloody claws in for a swipe across your chest but you interposed your Keyshield in time and you just heard bone sharping against metal.

It is snarling in a fury.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
So far, so good.

He was looking at the edges of the present arena of the moment, making sure no one got the idea of interrupting this fight. However, at this point he started binding elemental power into his blades, calmly calling upon memories of rough times through snow and ice to bind into his knives.

If all worked, they should begin glowing a cold blue and were going to hit a bit differently from what one might expect from a knife.

Thankfully this one was...sort of independent of his usual style of magic. No Fourfold Seal restriction here.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Step one to any dangerous situation...DIsARM the subject HAHAHAHA! I wait for the zombie man to slash at me again and once I feel he is done swinging, I will attempt  to cut off his hands at the wrist. I'm not expecting to succeed on the first swing so I am ready to keep defending and dodging as I need until it has no hands.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Mentat's knife starts glowing with an icy blue light and then he takes a moment to center himself and observe his environment.

He notes that the monster is wearing really nice boots with a wing emblem embroidered on them.
His hearing picks up via the echos he hears that the room the monster came out up has rooms beyond it although he isn't sure where they go from here

Mew Waits for the Creature to swing and then Gets a minor cut on it before being forced to block with her keyshield.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"Hmm...it won't tire from attacking." Mentat notes the high odds that they are magical, and gets an idea that ensures it wouldn't matter if they were or not. He does some math on its jumping range to himself, and smiles, aiming to catch the creature in mid-leap if it comes at him, or post-swing if it goes for Mew.

"I'll bet you can't quite control the power of those shoes." He spoke and intoned his subtle spell with the assurance of a wager, with the intention of crossing the feet of the ghoul ('look, it tripped')and flooring it. Incidentally, he would see how quickly Mew could exploit an advantage.

Mew


Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
This tactic is not going to work. We need to finish this faster. He doen't need a throat! The moment I find an opening I try to slice open the throat, ultimately aiming to behead the beast. If Mentat manages to make it fall I'll get in an extra swing or two on the throat using up to 2 light if needs be.



Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
The Creature attempts to leap at Mentat And it's feet end up hooking into each other. Causing it to trip and fall down on it's face.

Mew Takes advantage of the situation and rains strikes down on the Creature. Two strikes before it could even react. Then a final strike that cuts deep into it's neck as it gets up. It then tries to close in and Grapple with Mew. But she manages to slip out of it's reach.

It looks severely hurt. Like it's nearly on the ropes

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Mentat was more or less bored with this encounter now. "Okay, you know patience, and you know how to survive a hand-to-hand with a supernatural opponent that doesn't tire."

He flicked the frozen knife at the creature's back, aiming to kill it with a single Justified strike, aiming to blow it apart from within from rampant growing ice crystals. "Good job."

If he failed to get a kill somehow, he was confident his student of the moment could handle an undead slowly freezing from the inside-out. "Let's get out of this hole, and track the lines."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring MentatI find myself staring a moment at the spontaneous ice crystals erupting from the creature, Yeah hi, HE~LLO! STILL A THREAT! If you have the time would you stop gawking and KILL IT! I take a step back before swinging to add a little extra punch to the swing and go for the full decapitation. Severing the last of what was once its neck, or at least giving it my best effort.


Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Mentat's knife flies true and strikes the Creature. Exploding into ice and covering the creature in ice. Mew swings with the opportunity, connecting with her strike. Despite it trying to move it's arms to block.

Continuing her assault she cuts off a strip of flesh from it's scalp with her sword strike.

It struggles with the ice, but it is futile. The Ice holds it in place. It is still alive and kicking. But it is critically injured.


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Mentat rolled his eyes at his foe's refusal to die. "Okay, seriously?"

He placed his hands in his inner coat while talking, in a cross armed stance. "A reminder of what it feels like facing me when I'm losing. Just doesn't die."

"Inscribe the Red Soul, and perish." He threw two blades out with a red glow binding them together, and then a third blade as a fast follow up. At the very least, either he'd grind this thing down to a kill-capable range, or get it so busy focusing on him that it would fail to attack Mew.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
The Knifes fly true, and manage for one to go through each of it's arms and it's head. cutting them off. The limbs and head each go flying and then a torrent of blood explodes out of the stumps. Covering Mew in gore.

The body falls backwards and it isn't moving anymore.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring MentatI make a disgusted grimace, as I hold my arms away from me and allow the viscera drip off of me. "Ya know I don't much mind getting durty, but this is a bit much even for me." I put my weapons down so I can shake off the worst of it.  "Any chance you could use that squirt gun to help clean me off? I trust the bodies of water in this castle, like I'd trust a gator?"

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"It is a squirt gun, not a hose." Mentat put his coat down, now that he didn't need to draw anymore knives from toonspace, as he liked to think of it. "But you are right in that the water here is not trustworthy unless tested first."

"Magic, silver, fire and explosives: these are the four tools that stop things from getting better. One or a combination of them will usually stop a regenerating or undying nasty from getting better or continuing to attack. If they don't work, you have a special case on your hands."

Mentat checked the pockets of his jacket for anything he wasn't willing to get rid of, and then after pulling a new folded uniform and a rock climber's kit out of his jacket, tossed the old jacket to Mew. "There. Wipe off, and then we have to get out of here."

He broke open the kit, and pulled out a grappling hook and tied it to the rope within that box. "I need to get dressed. Feel free to toss the rope up, and then climb it. I'm sure you can do it. Once we are up, I need a moment to read the news. It's important."

He put on the undershirt, the shirt, and the new jacket. The pants went back into the new jacket, back into toonspace. Once she had that rope secured, he would climb up after she went up, and read the Human Village Bunbunmaru to see what the day's news was likely to be.

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
As Mentat talks, the corpse bursts into blue flames. Burning until only the boots remain. All except for one ember that floats there for a moment before rushing Mew. Insead of burning Mew. It 'joins' her, giving her a bit more power.

Mew gets a dim feeling that there is something unusual about those boots.

Mentat, on the other hand, knows they are magic. Something that help with jumping.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"Hmm." Mentat looks at the boots. "How attached to your present footwear are you? Because those are a pair of Air Jordans that actually do what the ads say. Probably Seven-League Boots or something absurd. Easier than just throwing a rope, now you could just lower it once you bound up there like the amazing athlete you will become."

He had no idea if it would do all that, but he was rolling with it. They were enchanted to help jump. And if they turned out to be cursed, he could just break it while it was on another. Easier than dealing with it himself.

Mew


Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"Uhmmm. That was ... wierd, " After a moment of processing, I finally wipe myself off with the cloak. "I like my steel toes but I'm not going to get anywhere by being too attached to my stuff."

So your saying you don't mind loosing your hat and coat?  I DID NOT SAY THAT! Just I need to be willing to upgrade some of my attire. .....Right...

I step away from the viscera before takeing off my shoes and try the super shoes on. "I kinda doubt that these will fit, but I suppose shoes that adjust to the wearers foot size would be far from the weirdest thing that has happened today." I think a moment as I get a feel for how they fit staring at my old shoes, thinking about if there is anyway to salvage them instead of just leaving or burning them. "I ... have a really stupid idea..." I tie the shoes together in a knot so they make a primitive bola. "But how would I throw it?"

Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Mew, you put on the new boots and they fit your feet very well. You don't feel any different at first. But on a whim, you try a little hop and then go a yard into the air.

You tie the laces of your old boots together.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"You would throw it just like any primitive bola." He smiled as she went airborne after putting on the footwear, not considering most people don't have practice with bolas. "However, the strings would need to be reinforced and perhaps lengthened, and you would want something more aerodynamic than shoes. All insane ideas can work, but the question is how much work you are willing to put down to make them work."

"Still, as it is, it might work for catching small game if the physics involved are intense enough. Just make sure you deal them a finishing blow once you hit, because once they stop being dazed, they will run."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
I have a minor panic at the height of my flight as I wasn't completely expecting it, but recover in time to catch myself. "Well thats... going to take some getting used to...Wonder if I can still hop.Hm."

I examine my bola for a moment, I feel it would be better to use as little magic as possible to reinforce this. Could I barrow one of your knives and your fire source for a sec? 

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"Focus." Mentat points upward. "Rope. Down. I climb out. Because Fishmen. Hurry up."

He was tapping his foot impatiently.

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"Right..., safety not here. Sorry." I stuff the bola into my sling bag as best I can and position myself under the hole in the ceiling. I do a short hop to get a better feel for the leaping power of the shoes then do an adjustment to my next attempt to jump out.



When I do, I let the rope down to Mentat. "Wonder what I'll catch today? Maybe a big ol' bass or a HALIBUT!"


Magnus

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
The ceiling/1st floor is 10 feet up from this floor. And the ceilling is 3 feet thick. So you need to leap 8 or 9 feet. Mew puts some effort into her hop and goes 6 feet into the air but not quite managing to grip the ledge above.

Finally. She focuses and then leaps 9 feet into the air and grabs the ledge to the floor above. She pulls herselp up and then lowers a rope to Mentat. Who climbs up it with ease. He then pulls out a Newspaper that appears to be written in Moonspeak.

It the headline reads
'Mysterious Castle Appears! Humans in a panic!'
The article go into a bit about the geography of the castle before the reporter was chased away with a vast hord of bats. What caches your interest is that the chapel is indeed above you but you would have to go through some sort of alchemical laboratory to get there.
Apparently the Treasury is north of your position and a Bloodsports Colosseum is south of your position.

There is reports of a UFO that crashes in the gardens near the Chapel.
The Border Witch comments. "This castle makes no sense, It should have collapsed in on itself and then get sucked into the Dragon Lines"

You two are back in the room that you fell from. The double door to the west heads back to the entrance of the castle. There is a door to the north near the west wall and a door to the south near the west wall. the northern stairways looks intact and heads up to the next floor.

You sence two vectors Mentat. One is above you and slightly to the east. and the other is further east but also above you.


Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"Okayyyyyyyy." Mentat folded the paper up and returned it to the Space in his jacket. "So, if the paper did its job right, I am going to be climbing SO many stairs, because rich people like the Count don't give a crap about the people who have to patrol these massive things keeping them clean and free from dust. However, we will be passing through a lab, which could be a nice stroke of good fortune, because we can case it for cool stuff. Even dark alchemy can be of use in the right hands, and if worse comes to worse and it really is unusable, we can turn his lab into a giant bomb and make him cry."

"His treasury is north of here, but the local rage is all about the arena to the south." He starts heading up the stairs to where he believed the Lab and the Chapel to be. "You can go where you want from here. I have a ritual to fire off."

Mew

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
"I may as well come along, might as well see how you do it, before I try it myself. Besides I stink at Castlevania, I should last a little longer if I stick around you." I say smiling the whole time.

Mentat

Mew and the Battle of 1999, Guest starring Mentat
Mentat stopped in his tracks and abruptly spun in place, his voice getting cold. "Let's eliminate something right now."

"'I stink at Castlevania?'" He was looking at Mew incredulously, and with a strange sense of growing anger. "What in the blue Hell does that have anything to do with your ability to survive a castle filled with the unholy? It is your information and your ability to deal with actual life-or-death situations that will save you here, not your ability to manage a controller and stare at a TV screen for prolonged periods of time. Get this idea in your head as fast as you can: This. Is. Not. A. Game. The next time you suggest that such things matter without providing a reason why, I'll cut you down myself before you do something to get me versed out before I'm ready to go."

He bitterly smiled and pointed to her iPhone. "Your phone there, however, can make it a game, if you know how to look at it."

He turned back up the stairs, voice going harsh once more. "But unless you are about to do that, don't say things that will make me wonder if you have some kind of presumption that will get us both ejected from this world. Ask questions because you don't know - fine. State theories - fine. Admit inadequacy in something that is relevant - fine. Your lack of skill at a video game is not relevant unless you can explain to me why that matters."

He paused again, his back staying turned as he clearly was wrestling with his inner pride, and an idea that had not crossed his mind before. "Do you know something about this world's nature that makes that information important?"

I’m momentarily taken aback by Ed’s outrage but recover unnaturally quick at least for me. "It is called a joke, I realize that you still trip over that rock on occation but calm down. I mean I am literally carrying around a Keyblade and my magical awakening was a parody of the first Kingdom Hearts. So I'll have to ask your forgiveness if I can't help but make some parallels to this actual castle full of danger and hate to a game with a very similar presence!...I do, have one idea to treat this more like a game though." I pull out my phone, "Hey Siri could you check the Cosmo dark net for a map of Dracula's castle Mew and Mentat's play through?" The thought basically being that if this were a game or enough like one that a map would exist for this version of the castle.

Mew

Siri brings up a map of the areas that you have already explored.

Mentat sighed as he realized he had made a grievous mistake, mildly twitching at the reference to the rock. His voice was very measured as he spoke. "I have made an error, it would seem. I am not to lord that kind of power or terror over those whom I am above or stronger than. It is one of the most basic tenets of my faith, and I would have had no right to kill you in defense if you struck at me out of fear. I am a Bishop of Paladine. I have no defenses against this sort of behavior."

"Therefore..." He turned around, face twisted in disgust at himself. "I am now required to put up with any idiocy you say for the rest of the journey, no matter what form it might take, with neither further contempt nor complaint. Sarcasm is now closed to me."

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Also, you make good points. Ask Suri for help, and proceed with a lightness I have apparently forgotten. If she cannot get a good map, consider asking her to serve as a motion sensor, attuned to movements not ours."

"Aww no sarcasm? But talking is one of the best things you do...Who is Paladine?" My head tilts with the question. "Anyways we at least have a map of where we have been, so no looking ahead, but still useful. I wonder if when we catch up with Alucard and Julius if we can add where they have been to the map? I'll come back to that latter. Suri, Do you have a watchdog mode?"

"My name is Siri not Suri.
Hmmm... Watch dog mode. Do you want me to bark at hostiles or something? I would rather tell you about them."

"Yes, she wants you to verbally warn us, you insip-!" Mentat relaxed and reminded himself that his mouth can dig him into further trouble. "Right. Your problem, not mine. I find it interesting your subconscious is this much of a smart-ass.

He walked to the top of the stairs and reconjured his bike. "I don't expect, nor do I hope, to run into Alucard, Julius, Sypha, Grant, Trevor, Simon, Maria, Richter, or really anyone who is a celebrity in this universe. I work better when I am unfettered by the expectations and rules of the locals."

"For example, respect for doors. They have it, I don't."

I try to stifle my own giggles at Siri's remarks, "Thank you Siri. And I'd like to point out for the record if it were up to me, your name would be Lore. But I certainly deserved that for calling it 'watchdog' didn't I."

"Is a disrespect for doors from being a part of our play group or do all versers just have a distain for them?"

"Playgroup?" Mentat looks at Mew oddly. "I have no idea, but I intend to smash them with a bike when I can. I want the Count to look at his repair bill and remember the cost of screwing with the physical world. Although at this point, I don't think the Count is the real problem here."

"When you get Siri online and satisfactory, hop on, and let's ride. We have a lab to play in."

As I hop on the back of the bike. "Why does your giddyness about a lab concern me?"

"Because I am going to be learning what the Count is into, what this castle is into, and I'm not going to have time to do slow science." Mentat revved up the bike and went forward up the stairs and through the door. "I want to stay in this world and help out, but I want to learn new alchemical methods AND blow this castle to smithereens at the same time! I've got a really good idea for the lab, though, and I'll actually need it mostly intact if possible for what I've got in mind. I just hope I don't kill myself first learning yet more things man was not meant to know!"

He actually gave a maniacal, high-pitched laugh as he charged towards the lab, looking forward to speedy, potentially hazardous research WAY more than he should. At least he had just enough restraint to only endanger himself...not that Mew would know that.

You two are at the top of the stairs on Mentat's bike. You see a door to the east  straight ahead of you and a door to the north. Which way are you going?

OOC: East, in theory, should take us to the Chapel. Also, going where Mentat senses a backflow of defiled Alliance energy.

OOC Your direction you are sensing are verser vectors. and they are east and up.

You crash through the door and find a fairly large room. There is another door straight ahead to the east. and there is a massive spiral staircase heading up.

Mentat felt for the energy, and realized it was going in the most hilarious direction possible: up.

"Hold on." He drove up the spiraling stairway, annoyed that he would lack the momentum to smash any heavy resistance. Light resistance he would overrun, though.

You go up about a floor when you notice what appears to be a knight with a long halberd a floor above you. It is standing in the center of the stairway and the halberd is set to repel a charge.

"So shall we use a pincer, I think I can get behind him?" I wait a moment before jumping for conformation on Ed's Mentat's part.

Presuming he agrees I take up position behind the knight to harass it's focus away from Mentat, by taking pop shots at it and being a general nuisance.

If for some reason it is actively ignoring me in favor of fighting Mentat, I'll stab it in the armpit with Law's Son.

"Sure." Mentat casually flicked a knife at the knight's helm, in a way that would disrupt his grip and force him to drop the halberd. "Zun Haal Viik."

00:11, Today: Mentat rolled 60 using 10d10, keeping the 6 highest rolls, rerolling max with rolls of 7,5,9,2,8,3,(10+10+7)27,1,4,4.  Attack with Knife, using Weakening Grip.
00:12, Today: Mentat rolled 64 41 using 6d10, keeping the 5 2 highest rolls, rerolling max with rolls of (10+10+8)28,6,9,8,6,(10+3)13.  Damage with Knife - headshot.

He intended to keep driving straight past the knight, confident Mew would finish the job and jump back on board with nary a hitch. She was learning fast enough.

Mew leaps behind the knight as Mentat throws his knife at the knight's head.The knife strikes squarely and embeds itself into the helmet. The knight drops the halberd and then clutches it helmet. Mew Immediately stabs it in the back and then it and it's halberd burn up in greenish fire. Mew then jumps back on Mentat's bike and then you ram through the door at the top. you are in a large room with rows and rows of tables with alchemist equipment on them. Morter and Pestle, Alembic, Retort, and Cauldrons. There are other doors to the north, south and west. You came from the east door.

"Okay we found your lab, so are we barricading ourselves in here or taking it to go?" I look at all the doors. "I don't like how 'open' this is."

"Anything hostile that comes through that door gets to be the first test subject of anything dangerous I make." Mentat began his work. "In fact, I will need a test subject in any event, something native to this castle. I will need them to test a theory I have: is the entity that is the castle possessing of a death wish? Hypothesis - yes. If so, the energies that will be the most effective against it will be itself. If false, different results will occur."

He was studying both the equipment, and the materials he had to work with. Magical science wasn't always precise, but he could change that with but a little caution.

Mentat got a really good look at how the Vampire killer whip worked from his brief exposure to it. One could say that he knew How the whip's magic work as well or possibly even better than the Belmonts themselves.

At the most basic level, the whip's magic takes in the essence of those it strikes. And then uses an alchemical process to twist the essence so that the whip is more effective against the original target. It's long use against the Demonic and the Undead have rendered it a potent weapon against them.

But that alone doesn't explain why it is so devastating to vampires. You sense a pure soul that was forced into becoming a vampire. Her willing sacrifice of her life attined the whip against Vampires. Preventing them from healing themselves with their blood.

As for the Castle's energies, it is harmful to Everything. It needs to unmake Everything back into the primordial chaos from which it sprang. The Castle is a form imposed on the chaotic material. The natives of the Castle are already close to what it wants. Being a collection of chaotic material animated by a will. Therefore they would resist the energies of the castle in most cases.

...But, with a bit of twisting. You might be able to make the energies not recognized itself. Directing the destructive power against itself.

There seems to be quite the inventory of alchemical reagents and special materials. You name it and they more than likely have at least a small amount of it.

Mew
Mentat seems to be taking stock of what he has available while lost in thought.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:13, Fri 24 Nov 2017.

I try to examine the labels on the alchemical agents only to realize. "I have n~o idea what I'm even looking at. Are you looking for anything specific? Come to think of it, is there somewhere you need me to be? Or should I make myself a blast shelter or something?"

"Next to me would be the safest location, if I had to hazard a guess. I'll take some care not to blow myself up, because while I'm done teaching you how the principals of magic works, I still have a ritual to mess with." Mentat glances around, looking for a lab coat that doesn't look geared to kill or corrupt its wearer. "On an aside, I would love to find the Count's tailor down here and get him working for me. The clothes make the man, so it is said."

"But let's see if you can keep up with what I'm about to do." Mentat looked at the contents of the table, which he figures out is pretty much everything, or used to make it. "Now I'm pretty sure I can do on a small scale what I'm planning to do on a large. That is, blow the castle up, at least in part, using its own power and energy. In fact, I think that would make the castle very pleased to learn one of the best counters for it is itself. This creature of chaos is also a creature of ego."

"For example, this mixture - when exposed to the nitrogen in the air -" He began mixing chemicals together, often holding them away from himself or insuring the fumes would end up harmlessly away from him. "- breaks down the castle's recognition of itself as an ideal form. In layman's terms? I can give it AIDS and use its own defenses to help weaken it, allowing something far weaker and normally considered routine to actually kill it off."

The mixture would be explosive if thrown against something, but the magical essences are not coming together in the desired manner.

Mentat shows it to Mew, irritably. "This is serviceable as a bomb, but it is not what I am looking for. We need to distill it further. How would you do that?"

OOC: I believe this would be Wisdom + Arcana, or Wisdom + Forbidden Lore. A Intelligence + Craft check would be used to make it, unless magic is on the table.

Lessons would continue. If she didn't know, he was going to cast two spells back-to-back, the start of a Logic chain with the start of an Imagination train so that he could figure out the answer to what was eluding him.

Logic worked with what was known, and nothing else. Imagination just threw whatever out there - while almost always related to the topic at hand, Imagination divination didn't really care if it would work or not, it just conjured forth an idea that was not being considered.

Chaining the two usually meant positive results, at the worst with bad ideas being eliminated as a conclusion was closed in upon.

The danger of this, as Mentat liked to remind himself, was that magic could become a substitute for rational thought. Still, if he was going to be the only one coming up with ideas, he'd have to think for everyone, and that would require magic disguised as a discussion with himself.

At least this time he would be talking to himself for a reason other than loneliness or bad habit...

"Well if memory serves, heat and filtering is used to distill something, but we're filtering magical properties. Give me a few minutes..." I lift a finger at the last sentence to accentuate my point then take a thoughtful pose. "I think I need to unhinge my mind a moment."  I pull out my phone and a pair of headphones and turn on some appropriate music. (For some reason my brain is convinced that would be the metal version of Hopes and Dreams.) Regardless of what the song is, I channel the energy in the song into my task, and pull out some of my art supplies. Starting with a graphite pencil I draw a circle on the (table or ground whichever they can be seen on.) "Siri, can you do a search on alchemical symbols for Fire, distillation, unity, and..." I pause a moment to consider if I do need another rune or symbol, my hands flowing with the music as I consider any other keywords that may help the process and coming up with noting. "I guess three should do it." Provided she comes up with anything I'll draw them inside the circle as equal-distance apart as possible.

I then wrap the bottle in two sheets of blank paper, one around the body of the bottle and one around the top, crumpling them a little to keep them where I needed them. The purpose of the bottom bottle is to hold the heat and potential fire close to the bottle and the top one is to catch the impurities that escape as it boils. I then place it in the center of the circle, and put my hands outside of it to try and activate it.




OOC: Rolled 56 on Wis + Arcana

Mentat

You look over Mew's plans and they seem alchemically sound.

She is starting to use her magic to perform alchemy.

Mew gets in the zone with the metal version of Hopes and Dreams Save the World playing through her headphones. she flows into the alchemical process and directs it to the intended result without really thinking too much about it. After about ten minutes, the reaction seems to stop.

Mentat
The process looks haphazard but she manages to do what was intended. That liquid seems to target the connection between the will holding the monster together and the material of the monster.

"Excellent work, and we are both still here." Mentat smiles. "Your methods are different from mine, but if it works as intended, who cares about the specifics on the assembly line?"

Mentat was speaking while he drew a knife and began treating the blade with the potion Mew had distilled. "Advice regarding magic and mindsets: Solipsism, the idea that the world is merely one's own perceptions, or the related idea of 'it's all just a dream' - the reason I discourage these is because while they are admittedly fast roads to learning magic, they are ultimately traps from which escape is very hard. They are all but certain roads to madness, and an insane, immortal wizard is not something I wish to deal with."

"Now, that being said...this might actually BE a video game, one which is having to adjust itself to deal with people who are looking at its details really closely. Which means it can be reduced to programming, which means it can be cheated. And the consequences for cheating are not as strong as you might think...as long as you know the code language." Mentat looked to Mew meaningfully. "You know the power of self-deception. It is why you have access to COSMIC. But believing yourself to be awesome is merely a start. You must find out how to back it up with repeatable action."

OOC: 00:09, Today: Mentat rolled 37 using 8d10, keeping the 3 highest rolls, rerolling max, rerolling ones with rolls of (10+9)19,6,9,7,7,9,4,{1}6.  Intelligence + Arcana test.

"Eh, yeah I can see how a crazy immortal even without magic would be an issue. That doesn't even cover fast tracks usually being a bad idea in the first place." I take a thoughtful pose as I wait for him to finish coating his blade. "So you want me to use the scientific method for magic?" I tilt my head with the question. As he answers I'll coat Law's Son with the mixture.

You two are successful in poisoning your blades with the mixture.
(It will deal an additional 1k1 damage to creatures of this Castle on the next hit)

To make it permanent you need to fuse the essence of the mixture with your weapon. Somehow.

"If it works. Some people are into that crystal, psychic hocus-pocus, and it actually works for them." He began working on an infusion process, as he created and applied a second dose, aiming to concentrate the formula without simply destroying the blade and burning a hole through the table and the floor beneath it. "I have my preferences: money, power, technology, and ritual arcane knowledge. Your path to enlightenment is your own, and no one walks it but you. Others can make the road more pleasant, but in the end, you walk it alone."

"Now, let's see if I can't make a murder weapon aimed at this castle's residents. You already have one."

He first analyzed the weapon, attempting to retrocog the infusion with the history and development of comparable magitech to imitate its development and history. He ran the infusion slowly from the beaker into the weapon, concentrating the formula in a way that its desire to destroy would paradoxically neutralize itself while maintaining a stable form and desired properties.

Then began the hard part: a formal infusion of magic, as he drew a second blade and began gentle etching runes of containment and focused intent into the weapon he was forging. An entire letter of God would be necessary to make it work, but he could pull it off as long as it could not be understood in entirety on one side of the blade.

"Now, let's turn this into a real weapon worthy of the work put in it." Mentat decided to use another combination of infusions at the table that would extend the steel of the weapon while allowing the runes to remain intact. His eyes were beginning to glow blue from the sheer intensity of the mana he was spending to make this happen, and he felt its familiar flow through his body as he remolded the knife from the artifact it was to the artifact it could be. "Let's unlock this weapon's real potential."
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:37, Tue 05 Dec 2017.

I look at the potion a good long while contemplating how best to enhance the effects on the blade for longevities sake. This is actually when it occurs to me that my two remaining bullets would be a good choice for the mixture as well, so I give them a light coating.

Let's start with the basics we are in an alchemy lab.

You know we might also find something to pollish our bola to be more funtional.

First, one thing at a time. Second when in doubt, research.

I pull out my trusty phone and ask, "Siri look up processes for infusing metals with new properties.

Mew poisons her other bullets as Mentat gets to work transmuting a knife.

Siri brings of information on an Alchemical infusion process. It involves drawing a magic circle to direct the process. Then you anoint the metal with both your blood and the Liquid with the magical property. Then you infuse the circle with quintessence while chanting and holding your hands just outside the circle. Your blood will be transmuted into the metal and bond the liquid to it giving the metal the property of the liquid.

After you finish reading the process Mentat Finishes writing a part of עולם יצירה on one side of the blade and the other part on the other side.

Then he draws knifes and keeps adding them to the knife then the sword. And then he keeps adding knives to it. (Mentat, You sensed that the spell required even more matter.)
Finally ending with what you recognized from Exalted as a Daiklave. It still has the runes clearly written on each side of the Daiklave

OOC: Congratulations. You now have a Daiklave. Stats as a standard daiklave. But deals +1k1 damage to being of this Castle. You can throw this Daiklave and it automatically returns to you when you throw it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:15, Wed 20 Dec 2017.

Mentat frowned. "The universe is telling me I'm overreaching. I'll take the gift, and not push my luck with it further."

He gave the oversized blade a few swings with one hand, careful not to hit anything or anyone around him. "Worthless for closed rooms, unless I want to destroy the room along with whatever I am fighting. Still, lighter than it looks, and in open terrain it will be a fantastic weapon."

"How's your project coming? Need to do anything crazy, like stabbing yourself?"

I give a cringing smile to Ed's Mentat's comment "Ya know I don't know if you can read from there or if it is just an honest joke." I load the bullets into the gun and start setting up the circle that Siri shows and memorize the chant. "You have anymore spare knives that I could barrow? The ritual Siri found does, yes require my blood, and I don't know if it is a good idea to get the formula in my blood stream."

"So, you want to use blood magic in Castle Dracula?" Mentat arced an eye as he tried to figure out how he was going to carry this oversized blade, and just ended up settling on putting it impossibly inside of his jacket. He pulled a silver dagger out and put it in front of Mew.

"Well, we might as well do crazy right. Since I have an actual sword once more, I now like my odds in a fight." Mentat went into tutor mode in his thinking and speaking. "Blood magic isn't inherently evil, but the evil forces of a world will often try to claim your power as theirs. Don't let them. Some forms of magic require safeguards and extra steps, due to their associations with dark powers."

"Christ himself invoked the power of blood as a means of salvation, and a brave magus can do the same thing. But caution is required, especially in a place like this. When I do it, I get called names like 'blasphemer' or 'heretic' because I command the heavens from my feet instead of begging for power on my knees." He smiled as he opened his shirt, and showed a circle with eldritch glyphs on it branded over his heart. "Sometimes the heavens command back. There is a price for everything in this world, and power demands some steep prices. Mistakes demand steeper ones."

"But that's my cross to bear, so to speak." He buttoned his shirt back up. "If your path to magic involves blood magic, then so be it. Everyone has a unique path to enlightenment and I can accidentally curb it with my personality. But know that I can read you. You have an affinity for darkness which either suggests a weak and vulnerable character, or that demonstrates a will and a heart that has the ability to separate what you do from who you are."

"Make sure they don't become one and the same."

"...You pose,..a very good point. I somehow failed to consider where I was. Buut I suppose you're right, better to learn a safe way to use it now then attempt it haphazardly latter...Come to think of it, could you take a look at the incantation that Siri found and let me know if its going to, well ya know make me kneel to dark powers or something like that?"

"Let's look at this..." Mentat looks the formula over, no expression showing. "Well, it takes all the reverence of a cookbook to the approach of blood magic. Just the facts. That's good - I was half afraid you read some witchy-poo crap that involved dancing naked in a glade while spilling your blood for the earth gods. I don't know what kind of wife alternate me was into - I was into some weird things as a kid, and I could have decided they were good ideas again."

"So this isn't some anarch crap, but its apathy will open you up to surveillance by dark powers. We are already under observation, so that really doesn't matter. What will matter is that they are likely to send someone directly to deal with you." He smiled. "Do it. I need to test this sword anyways. Also, I'm in a lab. I am...wait a moment."

He was still getting used to the weight and dimensions of his newly created expression of his ego, but it occurred to him to look for a lab coat. He had some science to do.

After a bit of searching Mentat finds a lab coat and goggles. The goggles look rather old.

I nod at Mentat's approval, and finish my final preparations for the spell. As I get ready to cast it, I am very careful not to kneel but a stretched crouch, almost like the kind an olympic athlete would take before a race. I carefully cut my left palm with Ed's Mentat's silver dagger and gengerly wipe it on both sides the blade and quickly follow it up with the concoction. Then I place my hands on the cold ground around the circle and recite the incantation with certainty and gusto.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:20, Sun 07 Jan 2018.

"They'll do." Mentat changes clothes on the spot, not really caring if Mew gets an eye full or not: if she was married to one of his alters, she wasn't seeing anything new.

Madness and science...now he was ready for some real workings.

There is a dim surge of light as the poison bonds to the blade via Mew's blood. It's nature mixing with the nature of the steel.

Mentat is lean and thin. But with notisable muscles.

OOC: You succeed. Lawson's sword now has a permanent poison effect that targets the decitizens of this castle giving +1k1 damage against them.

Mew, You also now lv. 1 in Alchemy.

I do my best not to stare at the nicely toned version of Ed, as this one is not infact my husband. This task is made easier as I had something to examine and put my focus towards, namely my bola. I stand upright and put Law's Son back in its scabbard. I begin talking to myself a little quietly, but no where near as quiet at Ed often would. "Hmm- How does one make a makeshift bola more effective? Is the rope more of a weak point or is its lack of range more of an issue? Then again am I relying too much on magic? Just because the all-solving-hammer can turn your problems into nails doesn't mean I should be using it so much...Ooo maybe I could melt the string together a little bit, like ya do to a bow string. Bunsen Burner, where are you?" I look for a bunsen burner hopefully before anything decides to show up, so I can melt the strings of my bola together.

"I don't know why in the blazes you want bolas, unless you are planning on taking something alive while you are in an ambush position and you can reliably not accidentally hit their face and kill them anyways." He rolled his eyes, momentarily muttering before returning to form. "Rookie anime fans. You have a gun, a tool designed to kill things from beyond arm's reach. That is literally all it is for...unless you are me and can use it as a pole in a pinch. The point is, you can make string for your bolas you are probably not trained in using unless you are secretly Zulu...or you can use what you have, and make some bullets for your GUN."

"Ya know I was doing my best not to make magic my go to for every problem. But I'm guessing you already know how to make bullets so I wouldn't have to keep using magic to do everything?"

You see something that looks a lot like a bunsen burner. Looks like a variant that allows better mixing of the air and fuel.

"Charcoal, saltpeter, sulfur. These are the base ingredients for gunpowder in a low-yield form. There are other aspects, compositions, portions...things like that which can change your bullet from 'will not fire' to 'detonates your firearm in the chamber.' Early in your career, you will use magic a lot just to take off. Use it to learn today, so when you are deprived of magic tomorrow, you will have options that aren't 'cast a spell at it' or 'ask magical know-everything familiar.'" Mentat looked over the table for anything he could craft into metal, and smirked at noticing just what he could actually make.

"The casing itself will be important as well, as it needs to keep its shape when the bullet fires so it doesn't damage the weapon...and that's assuming it even holds the material inside, bullet and all. Making a bullet is complex, but not impossible. We need to create the materials for it."

He pulled a vial of mercury from the table, and grinned. "Let's get vulgar, regardless of the warning signs of my newfound weapon, because I don't want to take the time to slow teach you this sort of thing. Mercury is an element of the Mind, which combined with the proper glyphs..." Mentat removes a candlestick from the wall, and blows it out. "Be careful when doing this, by the way: mercury boils away at a low temperature, and this stuff is not curable easily if it gets in you..."

He uses his knife to carve a deep circular groove into the table, and begins etching symbols with the mercury, and some of them are those of the Zodiac. The circle keeps the mercury in one place as he carefully manipulates it. "...but if we do this correctly, we can transmute ignorance into knowledge. Now, pull out one unused bullet, and set it down...away from the fire and the mercury. We aren't ready yet, but when we are, we will toss the bullet into our new improvised quicksilver pool and it will give us a compound which, when mixed with brass or gold, should create an Amalgam that will remember and create bullets of the same calibur you tossed in. They will even have the advantage of being poisonous to whatever is hit by them, so don't use them to hunt, or you will die or make yourself stupid for until a zygote experience."

Starting off I carefully watch Ed's MENTAT'S methods and try to absorb his thinking, and partially wondering if I could use what I remember of astronomy for future projects. I then pull out the bullet as asked and set it down well away from the workspace, only for one of Mentat's comments to catch my attention. "What's a Zygoat experience? I can't help but visualize a cyber-punk goat being involved, but I don't think existence is made of that much bat guano."

He chuckles at that and starts mixing things with Mercury. He then feeds the mercury some metal and a bullet comes out of the Mercury. He continues to feed it while explaining to you

"It's not a cyber-goat, it's what happens when one is turned into a cyber-goat and can't get better. You are reborn inside of a womb and-"

Suddenly the bullets start to glow and then there is a massive explosion. You black out.

When you wake up the lab is devastated. Mentat is nowhere to be found. And your cloths are singed and smell of gunpowder

I let out a pathetic cough. "Ed, you okay? Ed?" I leap to my feet, hopefully without hitting the ceiling, and franticly look for Ed. "Oh My GOD!? I CAN'T FIND ED. IS HE OKAY WHERE IS HE?"

Mentat... and he's fine remeber? He said this sort of shit happens...YOU'RE BOTH VERSERS.

But-

LISTEN TO THE WORDS FLOWING THROUGH YOUR MIND! Not only is he not your Ed, he is FINE. Now get off your ass, and get back to WORK!

Where did those bullets go?

Damn it are we down to one bullet?!

I suggest we set a timer for how long we are willing to look, don't want to stay in one place too long in here.

I let out a little sigh partly in exasperation, partly from acceptance of what I know. Having worked through my initial panic I start a 5 minute timer to look for any bullets. I commit to a systematic search, I start by trying to let my verser sense lead me to the" model" bullet and use that as a guide for how far the bullets may have flown.

Once the timer is up I start to make my way out of the room, only to realize I have no idea where I'm going.

I remember we were supposed to go find the Nexuses, but where are they?


Mentat said that the elixer we made is attuned to killing the denizens of the casle right?

Yeah...

And that the castle has a death wish of some kind if Mentat was right, correct?

I like where this is going.

So we use the sword infused with the elixer as a focus to find the spots right?

That's the plan.


I hold Law's son lightly in front of me, and close my eyes focusing on the intent of the elixir to slay the castle. The plan is for the sword to work as a compass, pointing me in the direction of the closest Nexus.

You leap to your feet. Your intent flows through the Air Jordanians and you only go up as high as you want.

The Lab is devastated from the explosion. Everything is in disarray.

You feel with your verser sense and feel one vector to your equipment. You Follow it and find a ...Blob. It is small and colored brass and dull lead. It is currently gnawing on a brass scale weight. Your equipment sense is coming from it.

It finishes with the weight and then leaves a present. I bullet for your gun.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:42, Sun 18 Feb 2018.

"W-what?" I blink a few times and squint before repeating "What the what?"

Its a blob.

that shits ammo...

Its BLAmmo!

No, that’s a dumb name.

LOLZ.

Why are we naming it? We don’t even know if it is safe to keep around.

Well let’s, do the SCIENCE! Then we can know if it is safe to touch let alone keep.

I begin my science by touching it with a colored pencil that I never use, if that goes well I will attempt to touch it with my left pinky as I feel it is the most expendable of my fingers.

If it is safe to touch I will attempt to shape it into a dragon, by moving its body around like clay.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:08, Tue 13 Mar 2018.

You poke it with a coloring pencil. The Mercury like material flows around the pencil without hurting it. The Blob seems to be examining the pencil.

You poke it with your finger and it doesn't seem to cause any harm to you. If you leave your finger near it, I will attempt to wrap itself around your finger and flow around your hand.

You get it to sit still for a bit and then you sculpt it into a dragon like form. Amazingly it retains the shape for a bit and even moves a round like a dragon. But it get's bored with it and returns to being a blob.

I let the blob wrap around my hand and after feeling for anything akin to being digested start talking to myself to sort out my thoughts.
"Well it feels weird, but I think your harmless enough. I suppose I should look for anything you can eat now. Hmm."
I hunt around the room for BLAmmo snacks leading with my left hand to watch the little guy for reactions to potential food. Eventually it occurs to me I have steel toe boots which he may be interested in, I lay the little guy down on the boots to see what he will do. If he does not react or just can't get to the metal I will slice the leather open for him. If he seems full I'll collect what metal I've found that he has yet to eat and put as much in my bag as I can easily manage, and potentially breaking some things to make them fit better.

(Incase it matters I will dump most of the dice into the sling bag and place a pair in my coat pocket, leaving the dice bag to hold ammo that won't fit in the gun.)

Out of curiosity do I still have the silver knife Mentat lent me or did it verse with him?

If nothing else happens I go through the last half of post #55.

The silver knife is still with you.

The blob flows around your wrist like a bracelet. You walk around the room and the blob seems to be most interested in the things made of brass and lead. But it also 'sniffs' out things of iron. I assume that you let him fill up on brass and lead.

You cut out the steel in your steel toe boots as emergency rations for BLAMmo

After that you close your eyes and focus on the intent of the elixer. You feel a slight pull west and up

"Okay, so anything up and that direction is where I wanna go. I can't think of anything else we need in this room, So I guess we're off right B-Ammo? BL-BLAmmo? You know what BAmmo is easier to say...You don't mind do you?" I look down at the blob-let for any reaction (I'm assuming there isn't really one that would change my trajectory.) and head out of the room in the most direct route. If one does not exist I will peak out every door to see if an adjacent room does. As long as I don't feel I've already been spotted I try to keep a low profile as I go.

BAmmo seems to enjoy you talking to it but there doesn't seem to be a reaction to changing the name one way or another.

You move to the west door and open it up. It opens into a hallway. There is a red skeleton with a Symitar about 3 yards away from the door.

OOC: Roll Initiative.

22:40, Today: Mew rolled 9 using 1d10+6, rerolling max with rolls of 3.  Initiative .

The red skeleton immediately rushes forward, raising his sword high and then brings it down on you.

OOC:
22:41, Today: Magnus rolled 11 using 1d10+5, rerolling max with rolls of 6.  Skeleman Initiative.

Moves up and attacks

22:42, Today: Magnus rolled 31 using 5d10, keeping the 3 highest rolls, rerolling max with rolls of (10+5)15,1,9,7,5.  Skeleman Attack.

I stay in my low position until the skeleton is close enough to finish his swing, I then move up and forward to parry the attack hoping to knock it off balance. Then I swing at its neck in hopes of at least disorienting it, if not decapitate it.


21:32, Today: Mew rolled 35 using 9d10, keeping the 3 highest rolls, rerolling max with rolls of 4,(10+7)17,6,9,7,9,7,5,8.  Parry 8k3 1die bonus .

09:37, Today: Mew rolled 39 using 10d10, keeping the 4 highest rolls, rerolling max with rolls of 1,9,6,1,1,5,8,(10+6)16,6,5.  Attack roll with Law's Son 6k3+4str+1stunt.

09:41, Today: Mew rolled 49 using 10d10+3, keeping the 4 highest rolls, rerolling max with rolls of (10+2)12,(10+8)18,2,4,5,1,9,7,7,7.  Damage from Law's Son.

You parry the skeleton's strike with your keyshield by deflecting it to the side. You follow it up by chopping the skeleton at the neck with Law's son. The skeletion seems to be stuned from the hit.

While the skeleton is stunned I take my both weapons in a scissor formation and try to decapitate it.

OOC: I'll do the roll later.


22:37, Today: Mew rolled 19 using 7d10+1, keeping the 2 highest rolls, rerolling max with rolls of 7,3,2,9,7,7,9.  Keyblade Damage.
22:36, Today: Mew rolled 20 using 6d10+3, keeping the 2 highest rolls, rerolling max with rolls of 1,4,8,1,2,9.  Law's Son Damage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:38, Mon 21 May 2018.

The skull goes flying off down the hall and the main body collapses on the floor. You note that there is blood pooling on the floor by the main body.

That should not be a thing.

"I wonder if Siri can identify what is up with that?... I hope this isn't like Castlevaina. Don't you dare stand up." I point Law's Son at it as I pull out my phone to take a picture and ask Siri. "Siri, can you identify this creature?" I stay ready for it to start forming together.

The Skeleton remains turn into blood before slowly flowing in the Direction that the Skull whent in.

Siri Replies.
"Yes. That is a blood Skeleton. Dumb foes that do not give up. No know method to permanatly slay. Perhaps the answer is in their blood."

I run ahead of the blood and stab the skull pinning it to the floor. As I turn back to the blood creeping towards it, I pull out the poison that Mentat and I made, and lightly cover my hands in it like hand sanitizer. With my hands covered I attempt to scoop up the blood and start chanting. "Iron in blood, blood of birth, blood of death. My soul is fire: life, death and the forge. By my will be re-made. Solidify!" The last word hisses out as I try to keep my adrenaline under control. Provided this works I wrap the blood into a solid stone. To do what I don't know.

The skull was a puttle of blood by the time you got to it. You bring the blood together and transmute it into a blood red ruby that is about the size of a chicken egg.

I pant trying to ring in my breathing eventually I try the counting methods my kid's shows would advocate. As I count the keyblade in my hand reminds me of the first Kingdom Hearts. The closer you are to the light the greater your shadow becomes....Perhaps it works in reverse too. I place the 'Blood Egg', as I've already come to call it, on the floor and point my keyblade at it. I close my eyes and focus on the center imagining a star being born in the darkness. "The closer the darkness draws the stronger the light will grow."

Meanwhile in ANOTHER Dimension.

A Man by the name of Sir Warnerus Is Exploring Ancient Syrnth ruins in the Planet SR388. He found them While on one of his personal hunts. Unfortunately He found a Jellyfish like predator That literally sucks the life out of its prey and is resistant to conventional weaponry. As he was Running for his life, He accidentally knocked over an ancient device and broke it. Which somehow caused a Golden Fire colored rift in space that he was sucked into. His mind shuts down to protect him from seeing the void between dimensions.

============================

Mew

Yellow lighting Starts arcing out of the ruby before it cracks and shatters. A rift of Golden fire opens up and deposits someone that looks like Ed/Mentat in The classiest of Jungle Fatigues. A bolt of golden Lighting arcs into you but seems to not... No there is something more in you now. A powerful form of magical energy that is different from your Light. And now you feel that it is important to keeping you Alive.

=============================

Warnerus

You are having strange dreams of having tea with a praying mantis like monster with the Jellyfish like monster for a head. You where having a riveting discussion on the weather before he excuses himself. Something about needing to make a comic.

You are coming to. You feel a cold stone floor below you.

"Omnes jus. Et hoc videtur esse factum." Warnerus got up, wobbling and disoriented, and brushed himself off. He looked to Mew, and squinted as he adjusted to the light. "Ignosce mihi mulier, sed regione quid est hoc?? Et nequaquam ultra dixerunt ut ad ianuam."

He wasn't sure if he wanted to draw his rifle yet or not on this strange young woman holding the remains of a red gem. Perhaps that was what brought him here? He tried to keep his best smile on, though.

Translation from High Gothic: All right. This seems to be done (or based on the tone - That happened).
Pardon me woman ("ma'am" from the context, an attempt to be polite), what country (sector? His wording translates oddly) is this? A man didn't intend to go through the door (portal?).
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:15, Tue 10 July 2018.

I stare at Ed a moment...."Ed?...D-did you have a seizure or something? Wait is it Ed or Mentat" At first I sound concerned but I quickly go into confused annoyance at the Latin like gibberish being spoken and back to confusion as she realized it could be Mentat already versed back.

Warnerus tipped his head. "Ego dicam in lingua distinctius."

"So, Trade it is. And I am neither this Ed nor this Mentat you are seeking. I am Sir Warnerus of House Draco, explorer, hunter, gentleman. You may scan me - my genetics speak of my rank.

He drew from his backpack what looked like a hand held scanner of some kind and pointed it at her, and around the room. "Energy signatures: odd. No motion yet beyond us...but it needs to calibrate already!"

He calmed down as quickly as his ire had raised as he kept reading, and he pointed it at Mew. "Biological signs: you, and you are a...really? Not a credit to your name? Ah...I see. You aren't even a registered citizen. No wonder you appear to be a vagrant on the scan. Ancestors, you haven't figured out gene-coding. I am truly among savages."

I sigh and roll my head as opposed to my eyes as I speak, as well as make a wide gesture with my arms. "The univese just LOVES ta fuck with me doesn't it." I take a deep breath to calm down. "You're genetics could say you're a purple mongoose for all the good it does. You're gonna have to get over that genetic thing, because I'm pretty sure that is going to be a rare thing in the grand scheme of the Omniverse. Then again who knows, I've only ever been to three planes out of infinity." I make a small grimace. "I'm getting ahead of myself though, my friends call me Mew. And from what I've learned recently we are both Vagrants as far as any plane is going to be concerned. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess you just experienced your first death?"

Warnerus

You feel something odd within youself. It feels like some sort of power source but you also know that you need it to live.

Warnerus frowned. "Sir Warnerus Draco. I don't like this sound of 'first death.' Is this one of those ancient torture ruins I've heard about? I heard about one place that was originally designed for recreation...not that you would know about it from those trapped in it without the strength or will to escape. Some kind of twenty floor exhibition meant to simulate a journey to Sheol and back."

He took a breath, and tried to get his mental bearings. "So, what are the rules? I seem to have some kind of a time limit that I can likely burn down for great things."

I can't help but smile. "Is it sad, how funnily acurate that sounds even though I know better? From my understanding of our current location it is in fact, ancient and technically ruins. Frankly if someone tried to say torture had not happened here I would be compelled to punch them for lying. Because, Dracula's Castle. But first let me congratulate you on your new status, as an immortal. You gain eternal youth, and cosmic powers, at the slight cost of consistency with laws of the universe you happen to be in. In short you are a verser, which is effectively the protagonist of a rouge-like game, except loose the game part because most others you meet are not immortal and would like to keep living."

"Dracula?" Warnerus shrugged, focusing on one question and ignoring the rest for now. "Never heard of her, although she sounds like a clingy hostess, and that we need to leave. I presume you have a plan for that?"

I giggle at the unexpected gender misidentification. "Vlad the Impaler or Count Van Dracul if I recall, is his proper name. But where I'm from he is mostly called by his other nick name of Dracula, I want to say it has something to do with a dragon. Here he is apparently a vampire. As for leaving, I have some work to do, E-Mentat and I, said that we would help with a ritual to change the orientation of the nexus' in the castle. I aim to finish what we started. Really though leaving is as simple as die-ing again, apparently every time we die we end up somewhere completely different. Then you'll have someone and something else to deal with." I point Law's Son in the general direction of the first Nexus. "I'm basicly headed that way. How are you at defending yourself anyways?"

Warnerus looked down at the plasma rifle, and smirked. "Oh, this is just a decorative piece, I'm afraid. Worthless against real saurians."

"So, a ritual to deal with the girly named man who's apparently big on stabbing people with spears. Excuse me: vampire." He rolled his eyes. "Stars, he even sounds like a pushover. I assume that he is 'immune to weapons' and 'heals all wounds' or some such thing like that. And we need to do some kind of ritual to remove the magic, right?"

He pointed the auspex toward the direction that Mew pointed in, and trusted his tech.

11:53, Today: Mentat rolled 30 using 5d10, rerolling max with rolls of 7,9,8,5,1.  Int + TechUse to scan for distinctive energies in the direction of Nexus 1.

"Alright. We will follow these 'mystical energies' and begin the powering-down...ritual."

Warnerus
You are getting all sorts of weird readings that indicate that chemical processes that shouldn't be occurring are occurring all over the place.  And there is odd energy signatures flowing through the area and converging into the Nexus in the direction Mew indicated.

"Oh, for petty pity's sake." Warnerus put the scanner up. "A few new chem reactions it has never analyzed before and it assumes the impossible."

"The limits of tech: what is known. Doesn't always help when dealing with the unknown." He shrugged. "Sadly, my lady, you seem to know more than me right now. So, lead the way. Your instincts seem to at least lead to the right conclusion, if I had to hazard a guess, so anything that tries to kill us gets shot."

"You...do have guns here, right?"

I pull out my little hand gun. "I haven't tested to see if it works here. B-ut I'd be very surpised if it doesn't. It should be mentioned though that" I pause a moment so I use the right name. "Mentat mentioned that some planes will just say FU~CK YOU! to certain things. Like our guns or shenanigans of varying degrees." I look at his gun a moment. "If anyone ask tell them that is just a focus for some hocus pocus. I don't think anyone here is ready for lasers ... or whatever."

But does it laser?

I put my gun away as dual wielding is hard enough and I don't feel like being Zoro from One Piece. "Let's get a move on we need to get this done tonight."

And behind covitoed door No. 2 we have.....

You open the door and find a vast shadowy library. It's too dark to see more that 20 feet into the gloom. But you have a feeling it is big with out seeing it.

Wernerus glanced around the room, putting away his scanner. "Grinding trees into pulp, shaping that pulp, and then using ground rock shaped into a fast-drying fluid to draw words onto that shaped and dried pulp, again and again. Books."

He shook his head as he drew a light, and a small bit of rope. "Give me a computer, advance it, and I look forward to the day when no one really knows why anyone ever did this."

He checked his light, and this time he tied it to his rifle. "Physics are physics, ma'am, no matter where you are. It's all about trying to figure out why they line up the way they do. If your...what is that, an old fashioned kinetic firearm? Very nice - reliable, if you've got nothing better. Runs out of ammo too fast for my tastes, but some sportsmen use them when they want to make every shot count."

"The point is, if it isn't firing, it's because of something logical, not because 'the magic won't let you.' That thing should never fail, unless you fail it. Maintenance and practice are your friends." Warnerus was clearly not grasping this idea of things outside of science.

He stayed close to the wall as he moved his light across the gloom, trying to see threats or movement before it could get too close to him.

Burn it all! Then it won't be dark anymore! HAhahahahahahaha

No.

I sheath Law's Sun, pull out my phone and turn on the flashlight.

"You sound like you have more than a little distain for them. I'm not much of an avid reader myself, but I'm not going to apologies for the fact that not all cultures are as advanced as that. Besides it is still an improvement over the oral traditions, things don't get lost because the only loon who knew the story went senile, the whole language has to die first."

I look over at him with my own sense of cynicism, then smile curious as to how he will interpret my prior experiences.

Could be entertaining even if he just concludes that I'm a superstitus fool.

"I've seen some strange things, killed an imortal from the cival war, diffrent kind then us. And this sword," I gestures to Law's Son. "Used to be posessed by a ghost who was killled by said immortal. It doesn't really matter what you believe on the matter of the super-natural, it'll be a thing regardless. I do digress however is there a kind of oil I should avoid using for its maintenance, I can't imagine finding too much oil intended for the purpose all the time. And if it is going to backfire I should at least take an effort to make sure it isn't my fault."

Otherwhys I stay behind Wernerus.

"Fair enough, ma'am. Still wasteful." Wernerus glanced at the cutlass. "So, it killed an immortal, which clearly wasn't due to dying from sword, from some kind of civil war, requires some kind of fuel or else it malfunctions, and had an AI? Sounds to me like my advice holds: maintain your gear, and practice constantly."

"Was it one of the good AIs or one of the ones that wouldn't shut up?" He scanned the room with his improvised flashlight. He wished he didn't require a means of seeing that gave away his position, but this lady had no night vision glasses.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:58, Wed 19 Sept 2018.

You two scan the surroundings and find a wrought iron spiral staircase up. Mew, You remember that the nexus is up from here

An Idea occurs to me as I stare up the stairs, "Siri, can you detect movement or maybe sound from above us?"

Wernerus scanned his light up and down the spiral staircase. "If there is any hostile presence here, it is making sure it cannot be seen until we are too close, and it is alerted to us. On the stairs, we will be able to deal with an airborne attack easily enough."

He thought a bit, looking like he was trying to figure out how to phrase something. "But unless those stairs are laser-proof or bullet-proof, we are going to turn the stairs above and below us into gaps if a fight breaks out. If they ARE proof, then those stairs are going to turn into a nasty hand-to-hand trap."

"Either way, relax. It's not coming at us yet, and if there is anything here at all, it's waiting for us." Of course, he was wondering if her AI was a more powerful auspex than his own. He could detect movement, but whatever it was would probably be up their asses and detectable by other means if it was doing anything but waiting. If it was waiting, but it was an automaton, it might not be detectable at all.

forgot to check my keep dice so 18.

14:34, Today: Mew rolled 19 using 4d10, rerolling max with rolls of 4,9,1,5.  Wis+Intuition Scanning for enemies.

Siri Replies
"I do not detect any movement up there. But I am detecting a potent energy up there. It is 'Unholy' or 'Dark'?... I'm not sure what that means in this context."

You head up the stairs with out incident. once at the top you scan around with your light sources. Your eyes are drawn to one particular book on the shelves. It appears to be covered in very odd leather.

"Standout book." Warnerus glanced at the book, and then looked around him him, the light from him cutting the darkness like a sword. "Either its some kind of trap, or a secret passage that is poorly concealed. These are not mutually exclusive either."

He was debating whether he needed to be on point for this or not. Normally, he had servants or crew members who touched such things for him, and usually suffered whatever horrible fate they often carried with them. But it was just him, and a woman.

Machismo and the desire for self-preservation promptly went to war in his mind as he put a light on the book, trying to see if the book was attached to the shelf or not. He couldn't be seen being afraid for his life.

It does not appear to be attached to the shelf but to is packed in there with quite a few books so you might not see the mechanism. How are you testing your idea?

I take a closer look at the book, being careful not to actually touch it. "Siri, is this the source of the Unholy reading you were getting?" I look to Warnerus "True, but we might proceed not to care, or more precisely.regardless of Siri's answer "Okay Siri, how far away is the Nexus?"

If it isn't the nexus =

"If this thing isn't the nexus and we don't feel it's going to fly off the shelf and attack us I say we continue on our mission." I move in the indicated direction looking for the necessary door or stairs.


If it turns out to be in our way.

"Well we may be about to find out if the fun and joy of setting off an obvious trap exist in real life." I attempt to move the books next to it to get a better look at the culprit book. Hopefully managing not to touch it.


If it is the nexus... I'll just make a responce post.

"I've got a good idea." Warnerus points his rifle at the bookshelf. "You might want to step back. Only things like metal or danger will remain, or nothing will and we'll see what's behind it if anything."

Siri responds
"We are currently in the Nexus. There is a major connection between The Nexus and That Book. That book is the major source of Unholy in the Area."

I pull down the books next to it still being careful not to touch it by taking the books directly next to it last. If it remains standing I'll try to look at the title. Hopefully it might give me an idea of how to warp its nature to something the ritual can use.

Mew starts to head to the book and then the castle starts shaking like it is in a earthquake. The ceiling collapses and you both are violently squished and die.