Your mind becomes clear with Vadahf's assistance

They speak as one
"The Shadow is called Black Dainn. An immortal with no form but what he steals from others. He steals bodies to affect the physical world. Do not let him get a body, for he is a vile cunning thing that will pull the world into more torments. "

They don't seem to be advancing with your display of each of their elements.

I sigh, "I believe he has a body already. But I will hunt him down and destroy him for what he's done. This world is under my protection. I welcome any further help you may be able to give, and am willing to release you from your servitude should that be what you all wish. I won't do so without hearing it from each of you however, i will not risk one of you lying to me to have me set you all to rest."

I say my words with the conviction of one giving an oath. My connection with Vadahf has only furthered my sense of protecting the just and so long as I live on this world, it is under my protection.

They speak as one.
"We have served for ages. Please release us so that we may rest."

So how are you going to lay them to rest?

I nod solemnly and manifest two furies at a time. The elemental match and opposite.

I speak with my furies, "These elemental guardians have served long ages, and wish for release. I request your help in granting this to them. One at a time, we will release them, with each of you helping your matching element find their way to peace, while the opposite element works to undo what elemental magic holds them here."

In case that wasn't clear, I'll give the example of the Fire King.

Zeke would speak with the Fire King as the process goes on, supporting him through the process, while Nix would work to undo the fire magic that keeps the Fire King here. I am hopeful that in the process either some of their equipment gets left behind, or that the fury that counsels the King during the release of the power will be able to absorb any essence that might be freed up in the King's release.

You use your paired furies, one to guild and the other to take down the magic that binds the Elemental kings. Your Furies adsorb the essence released by the kings and grow stronger.
They leave their weapons. A White Jade Tetsubo, a pair of Red Jade Swords, Apair of Blue Jade Chakrams and a pair of Black Jade Tiger Claws

Lita says
"I'm glad they got to be layed to rest. But what are we going to do with their weapons?"

"We honor the memory of the kings, and put them to use against the immortals they stood vigil against for so long." I stoop down then and examine each weapon both physically and through furycraft, letting each of my furies assess the weapons.

The Furies seem to be interested in the weapon that corresponds to their element.
All the weapons are artifacts. And as artifacts they are huge when compared to the normal example of their weapon type. Without attuning to it, you can barely move the Tetsubo. let alone lift it.You do sense some magic within them.

Ursulus talks about the White Jade Tetsubo
"As interesting and fun as this weapon looks. It is a earth aligned artifact. We can use it to let me materialize."

My thoughts exactly Ursulus. And no time like the present, we would need to attune to it anyway to be able to move it.

I reach down and place my hand on the tetsubo and put all my available notes at Ursulus's disposal, allowing him to explore it with as few restrictions as I can afford. (To be clear I'm not looking to use all my motes in the attaining process, just making them available as conduit to expedite Ursulus's exploration)

"Let's see what we can determine Ursulus."

The Tetsubo drinks deeply from your reserves. Costing 8 motes to attune. Even with the attunement, It is an unwieldy weapon.

When you attune, the surface of the tetsubo gains contrast. You see thousands of tiny pictures demonstrating a style similar to Jade Mountain But more advanced with it's manipulation of essence.

You gain a mental image of a long serpentine eastern dragon made of stone and white jade. The purpose of the style becomes apparent to you. To emulate the Earth Dragon in all of it's power strength and glory.

I smile as I see the forms in the Tetsubo. "Lita, can you see those images on the surface? I think it would be a good next step in our training to learn, perhaps as a side project to the rest of our training."

"And what do you think Ursulus? Do you like the artifact? Think it'll do the trick with manifesting physically?"

Ooc)I apologize but I seem to have lost some of my notes on how much each attunement has been costing me as well as what my current limit is. What I'm hoping to do is temporarily attune all of the artifacts, or at least enough that I can lift them and move them so we can take them back to town. I'll have to begin deciding which artifacts to attune when we set out, but also in case there are other elementalists that may join our cause, we may need to arm them on short notice. Once out of the tomb I want to create an earthen sled to help transport all of us and the weapons, since they will be a lot to carry even attuned I assume.

Lita comments
"What images are you talking about? I see marks on the club. But no images."

"The Spirit of the Artifact is quite strong. It might be difficult for us to get it to accept the deal. But I think we can persuade it."

You Manage to take all the weapons back to town.

It is afternoon by the time you get back. what is your plan from there?


ooc:You have 56 motes total.
Vadahf's attunement cost is 6 wind motes
The Bracer's attunement cost is 3 fire motes.
The Spear's attunement cost is 5 Water Motes
The Tetsubo attunement is 8 earth motes

Sooo... 22 motes attuned so far. You definatly have enough to attune to the rest of the weapon. They are 8 motes for each remaining weapon(Paired weapons count as one weapon for this. so 24 motes for the other weapons) 46 motes total

You can make it.

Ooc) awesome, thanks.

"I gained a vision of what the marking mean, it's an essence manipulation style somewhat similar to Jade Mountain style, but this one is meant to emulate the Earth Dragon. I think it would be good to try to learn it between us, due to both of our connection with earth, and then see if we can teach it to Leona and Selene.

But to Ursulus's point, when we get back to town I'll want to meditate and commune with this spirit to see about forging an agreement.

----------

Once we're back I'm going to make sure Leona gets some rest, encouraging her that we'll see whether our mentor has any ideas when we meet him tomorrow. And also assuring her that we will find her father again.

After that, I'll go find a place outside to sit and meditate with the Tetsubo, and project my mind and Ursulus into the artifact to find and strike an agreement with the artifacts spirit.

Liya smiled
"That sounds interesting. Let's try it tomorrow."

--------


You talk to Leona but she seems restless and worried... She is trying to sleep.

---------


You meditate and find yourself in a dark cave. It is so dark, you can't see your nose in front of your face. It is also quite. Too quite.

I create a ring of earth motes around myself to probe outwards. I'd normally using air for this in the waking world, but with this being an earthen artifact this feels more right. I am using the earth motes as a form of echo location to allow me to 'see' what's around me. I'm staying vigilant for any incoming attacks, my current theory is the spirit of this artifact is a dragon and this is his lair, so I'm at near paranoid levels of alert.

You send out a pulse of earth motes. Immediately you sense Ursulus there with you. He is next to you. The pulse continues out and reveals that you are in the middle of a large cave. You swear the walls shifted as you where observing them.

You hear a rumbling voice from everywhere.
Why have you entered my Sanctum without invitation?

I step forward and speak out to the room,
"I have come to make an offer. I am working to protect the world from the immortal vampires that plague it, seeking to bring the end days. Ursulus here has joined with me in my ceaseless quest to make the worlds better. He however needs a physical artifact of earthen affinity to bond with, to manifest physically. My offers benefit is threefold.

First, bonding with Ursulus would form a symbiotic relationship between the two of you, strengthening you both in the process.
Second, it would allow you to continue to serve in the same function as under the Earthen King, keeping the immortals in check.
Third, it would link you to me, and with that an opportunity to see realms past these. I am a verser, one who travels the multiverse upon death. I have taken up the responsibility of improving every world I come to, identifying injustice and working for the betterment of humanity. "

I'll then bow and take a step back to be in line with Ursulus.

The cave start to brighten with the glow of gemstones. It is dim, But you can see now.

You see a feminine statue of white marble and Jade approach you
The booming voice comes from the statue
"That is an interesting proposition. Before I commet to it, I must test your resolve and skill for both of you... Prepare yourselves."

She takes a stance that you recognize as the main stance for the style depicted on the Tetsubo.

"Ursulus, let's show her what we can do. But keep our distance from one another, I don't want her leveraging us against one another by deflection."

With that I'll assume Jade Mountain style and put some distance between Ursulus and I before beginning my approach.

My plan to to move through what moves I know of Jade Mountain to display what I know already. I'm striving for perfection of form, but more importantly I'm learning from her. After performing the last technique I know of Jade Mountain I'll leverage what I've seen the spirit do both in engaging myself and in engaging Ursulus. I'll assume her form and mimic what moves I've seen her perform so far.

My hope is that between showing my existing strength, Ursulus and my coordination, and my adaptability and willingness to learn that we will pass her test.

She fights defensively at first, Using her great Tetsubo to block your attacks despite it's ridiculous size. Ursulus is coordinating well with you. But before you could switch to her style she strikes with the suddenness and the force of a Rockslide. She strikes with her Tetsubo. Forcing you to spend a truly ridiculous amount of essence to live through the strike. The earth Cracks in under you with the force you direct into it.

She is smiling openly now.
"You Lived through my strike. You have potential."

Her features take on a draconic set.
She Walks over to Ursulus and takes his chin into her hand. For once he seems to be at a loss for words.

"And you are quite the cute little bear. I agree to your pact. Now we shall seal the pact."

She then kisses Ursulus
She Finishes and Ursulus is rather stunned.
You sense a connection between them now.

She turns to you
"You are not bad for a human ether. I need to rest. Return in a few days and I'll teach you Earth Dragon Style."

She sinks into the broken earth and then you feel yourself and Ursulus ejected from her sanctum.

You wake up in you body. Ursulus is standing over you.
"...Well. That was unexpected."

I smile, happy about how that went and idly rub where the tetsubo hit me, reaffirming the incredible blow did not in fact leave a gigantic hole.

"I agree Ursulus, I never expected to see you speechless. It does seem to have had a good effect on you too. Do you feel different at all?" And I smile broadly at him. "And she  is definitely most interesting, but that will all have to wait till she's rested. For now though I need to rest as well"

And I'll get to my feet and head back to the house. I plan to get sleep as soon as I can be well rested for the next day. I don't want to be vulnerable at the same time Leona is, in case we are ambushed on the way to the training forest.

If there's a good time when I can get Lita alone though I'll tell her the full story though. I don't want to worry Leona and Selene with it though, they have enough to focus on.

You get up from where you where you where meditating.
"Heh. Nether did I...
I feel...More real than before. the world isn't pushing me out as hard as before."

You get up and notice Leona looking at you from a balcony. She heads inside once you notice her.

Ursulus returns to your inner world. And then You head inside.

==============
You sleep and then wake up the next day. You go down the stairs and find Lita fixing breakfast.

"Good Morning Michal. How was your Sleep?"

"Good, I'm glad to see that this is working then."

As I get up and see Leona, watching and then retiring to her room, I sigh and mumble to myself as I head in "I have a lot of work to do in the days to come, and I'm afraid I barely know where to start. I owe her so much..."

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

"Good morning Lita. I slept well, and I needed it. Ursulus and my journey into the Tetsubo was... eventful... and very tiring.

We managed to meet with the spirit that resides in the artifact and have managed to convince her to join our cause. Well, after we passed her trial. She was testing both Ursulus and my skill and resolve. Thankfully Sifu's training came in handy and allowed me to channel the force of her attack into the ground... which is convenient since it ended up buckling the ground and cratering around me. But the important aspect is she has agreed and has agreed to the pact."

I smirk a bit,

"And I think she has a thing for Ursulus too. She chose to seal the pact with a kiss. You should mention it to him next time if you want to see him speechless."

I chuckle a bit thinking back to Ursulus's expression.

"Further, she said to give her a few days rest, and she would train me Earth Dragon Style, which will help the two of us learn it faster." I say with a big smile. I like learning, and I like teaching. Doing both is always enjoyable.

I then get more serious,
"I'm hoping that Sifu knows something about how to reverse the effects of yesterday on Leona. I'm afraid that some elements on this world are still fundamentally foreign to me, and my theories could do harm as quickly as help... but that'll have to be seen when we see Sifu today."

"But really, I should stop talking and help with breakfast. What can I do?" And I'll go about helping Lita with what I can.

I don't have anything else planned until we walk to the forest to meet with Sifu. Once there though I'll explain she was bitten the previous day by a vampire, and ask what he knows about this worlds vampirism and any way to reverse it.

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

She giggles a bit when she imagines Ursulus speechless from the kiss.

"That Earth dragon style sounds interesting. But I'm glad you didn't get hurt."

She is mostly done fixing breakfast but she has you help her mix the batter for some Muffins. And then bake them.

Breakfast is very good but you notice that Leona doesn't eat much at all.

You go out after Leona and Selene cover up in sunscreen.

As you're walking to your usual meeting spot. Kyotsu suddenly appears before you.

"What happened to Leona?"

"I failed to intercept a vampire and it managed to bite Leona. We tried to stop the transformation process through the solar piledriver, but the sun still burns Leona... and her halberd is dark instead of light. I was hoping that either before or after training we could discuss what you might know of transformations like this and if there's anything we can do to help."

"... Come with me."
He leads you into a dark part of the forest. and the has all of you sit down as he examines Leona.
He talks as he examines her.
"It is a good thing that you put her through the Pile Driver. It must have been exceedingly painful for her, but you prevented her from turning into a full Vampire.

I believe your state could be considered akin to being a Dhampir. Across the Multiverse it is usually a living vampire or one that is half vampire. Similar weaknesses but less pronounce.
As far as I am aware of it is usually something you are born with. But this is a special case.

You where turned. And the Vampireism didn't completely take hold of you. I Bet you haven't even drank any blood yet. So you have the will to fight the change. I sense that deep down in your core, you are still the same.

The change back should be possible... But it is beyond my understanding of magic and metaphysics.

There might be a way I could help. But enlightening Leona into Celestial Martial Arts might have bad side effects. It was difficult for the Chosen of the Dragons... There is a style that embodies the perfection of the Solars of old. An honest battle art forged by the Heroes of Old. It was made in the dawning of the world so that the Heroes could face the greatest monsters with nothing save their hands and skill and be undaunted by them.

if you managed to learn this style that would be a great step forward to Purifying yourself."

Leona seems to be considering his words.