This thread is a placeholder for Glantri's new thread, GMed by Magnus.  :)

It is a direct continuation of this thread: link to a message in "Worldwalker"
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:17, Fri 21 Apr 2017.

OOC: moved from previous thread by GM.  :)

I roll to the side to dodge the energy balls if possible. I need to keep the immortal busy while Leona figures out those switches. I'll fly towards the immortal. I'm looking to stab my spear deep and hang on. If I manage that I'm going to try shoving several Earth motes into her, attuning them to act as loadstones, seeking to pull her back down to the earth and hampering her movement.

OOC: moved by GM.  :)

You manage to manuver around using solidified air and dodged the shots.  Unfortunately the moth is very maneuverable in the air. The best yoy managed so far is some slashes as you pass by.

On the other hand, you are an excellent distraction for Leona. She pulls a switch and one of the candles lights up in the candle holder. She seems annoyed and snaps her fingers. The entire candle holder lights up in a blaze

And like a moth to a flame.(ba dum tsss)
White Duneyrr is distracted by the flame. She is gathering the snow white energy to put it out.

Leona is forming her Solar halberd.

While the moth is distracted is my chance. I'm angling to try and get behind her and stab my spear into her back, using it to hold on while I infuse the earth motes to act as loadstones and slow her down. Once I do that I'll rip the spear out, using the trick I did with the bok where I turned the spearhead before pulling out and then slash at one of her wings, viciously aiming to cripple her flight abilities. From there I'm just concentrating on making my way back to the ground.

You fall on the moth like the Dragoons ofFinal Fantasy.  Driving the spearhead deep into her body. You add the earth motes to her but they react violently with the wind in her, burning her insides. You Pull the spear out at a different angle and slash off one of her wings. You jump off as Leona chops off the wings on her other side with her halberd. She finished the moth off with a chop that cuts her in half.

The moth dissolves into a furry cocoon coffin.

Well that was quick. I didn't even get a chance to fuse.

Huh, that it was... Sorry you didn't get to come out Hermes

"How are you faring Leona? Want to press on or rest quickly? We should press on, figure out what's down here and rescue Smith, and then look to lug the coffin upstairs and purify it com sunrise.... That coffin is gross and furry though."

Do I sense any strong dark essence from through the next door or is that gone with the moths defeat?

The Dark Essence is centered on the cocoon coffin.

Leona replies
"I'm fine. You did most of the work by yourself. Let's check out the next room."

You enter the next room. It is a small natural cave with luminescence fungus. It is almost unearthly beautiful and you can feel the mixture of essence saturating the area.

Smith is on the floor unconscious with the black cat next to him licking his face and meowing.

There is a broken stone slab on the floor with arcane symbols carved into it. It looks like it use to fit into a slot in the cave wall.

Leona rushes up to Smith and starts working on waking him up. After a bit he comes to and sits up.
He says
"Uggg... Leona... is that you? It is!
You made it back safely! So you've defeated the Vampire Lord?"

I'm assuming that's the same black cat that led us down here. Do I see any essence associated with it? I'm skeptical, based on the mural disappearing right after it passed.

I will let Leona do the talking here, at least to start. She's the one with the strong connection to Smith and I simply enjoy seeing the reunion, smiling as I look on. After they finish talking I'll offer,
"If you are in need of healing Smith I would be happy to heal you, should you want."

It is the same black cat that lead you down here. It seems ordinary to your senses.  It looks like an ordinary kitten.

Leona says
"Yes, We got him along with the Queen of the Immortals Hel... But My mother Mani, The Moon beauty was lost..."

Smith Says
"I'm sorry..."

Leona Asks
"What are you doing here Smith? What happened in this City?"

He says
"Well. That a look at this"

He points to the broken stone.

Leona asks.
"Was it some sort of seal?"

Smith Replies
"After the Count had gone, it seemed the Undeadening had come to an end. But then there started to be signs of movement from the Undead, as if they were seekin' something... Cheyenne, a descendant of the Guards of this city, gave a warning. He said the Undead were tryin' to break their seal, see. I dunno what the seal was, but..."

Leona comments
"Perhaps it was Duneyrr's seal...? And that Vampire... There are still things we don't get in this city..."

At this point the cat starts rubbing on Leona's legs and purring.

Leona Asks
"Is this your cat?"

Smith answers
"That is Nero. My Granddaughter's cat.  He came all this way... For a cat, he's got some nerve, eh?"

The conversation stalls out at this point and you ask your question.

Smith replies
"I'm just a bit bruised up. I should be fine if you want to save your essence."

I smile at the cat, I've always been fond of them and it's impressive to see one follow Smith all this way. Just glad my suspicions were unfounded.

"Let's get back to town then first, I'd like to rest until sunrise and take care of purifying the coffin first thing in the morning. She was a fool to underestimate us so much."

I'll examine the broken seal quickly before heading out, just curious to see how it was broken, if I can tell. Otherwise going to carry the coffin out with Leonas help and start heading back to town. If all goes well, we'll purify the coffin come morning.

The seal looks like it has been shattered in half. By something with a lot of power.

Leona says
"I know a good place to set up the pile driver."

You both carry it out of the Cathedral with minimum resistance. Leona takes you to a plasa north of the main street in the town. She performs the ritual to burn the magic circle into the ground. You place the cocoon coffin in the center of the circle.

Leona says
"There. That sould hold the Immortal there until we purify it in the morning. We should still stay out and keep an eye on it though."

"That makes sense to me."

I'll find a position to stand guard and start watching for any that come close. I'm drawing in motes from the earth below me and the open air, to replenish those I spent so that I have a full charge again when we activate the solar piledriver. Having seen how effective my earth motes were on her I plan to use create a scattershot of earth shards to push her back anytime she tries to prevent us from finishing the purification ritual.

Leona says
"We'll take watchs. Wake me up when you get tired."
She sets up a sleeping bag and goes to sleep.

After an hour and a half, you sense an even bigger soul force than the Immortal had. But it is weird. The flame seems to be made of Martial Arts and Speed.

Then you feel a flame comparable to your own made of Wood.

Then Lita and Kyotsu walk into the plaza.
Lita seems happy to see you.

I smile and wave at Kyotsu and Lita as they approach. "Sorry for not seeking you both out earlier, we encountered an immortal earlier, and are just waiting till sunrise to purify it.

We also found this spear" and I heft the spear " and managed to get to Master Smith in time. I also... can read spiritual energy naturally now. I felt both of your considerable soul's approaching before you arrived.... speaking of which, I've not sensed a mixture like yours yet Kyotsu, raw speed and martial arts, but the speed isn't wind that I would naturally associate with it. That and my furies developed a way to rapidly absorb elements... I think that catches you both up mostly. I'm very glad to see you both safe." and I give a warm smile.

Kyotsu smiles slightly and says
"That's because there are only a few things faster tham me. And wind isn't one of them. Magnus's souls don't use elements like you would. They are generally more abstract. There is Ink-Tails his curiosity and desire to learn made manifest. And Tamamo no Mai, The Sun Fox. Who's flame is Entelecheia, bringing those it touches closer to their full potential. "

Lita Comments
"Magnus sounds strange. Michael are you ok after your mission?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:02, Sat 22 Apr 2017.

I nod when Kyotsu explains. It makes sense, different versers would define themselves, and thus their souls based on different principles.

I chuckle when Lita says Magnus is strange,
"I may be wrong, but I'm starting to think all versers are quite strange Lita. Myself included. I'm perfectly fine though, I don't believe any of our enemies managed to land a hit."
I spin around, arms up to show that I'm not concealing any bruises or gaping wounds.
"See, not a scratch."

Lita checks you out for injuries.

Kyotsu comments
"Indeed, most versers come off as strange to most mortals. Magnus put it as 'You try maintaining the values of humanity when nothing can kill you permanently.' It got to the point that Magnus simply can not feel fear. And he only vaguely remembers what it was like for other people."

Lita look at Kyotsu oddly
"How can one not feel fear?"

Kyotsu says
"Simple, one stops feeling fear when one doesn't care if they die."

Lita is a bit stunned at that.

Kyotsu says.
"You indicated that you wanted to learn supernatural martial arts. After you purify that immortal tomorrow, I'll start teaching you and your friends. "

"That's why it's so crucially important for verser's to maintain connection to others. They help ground us. Without that influence, I can see how easily one might start to drift, without connections to others, all there is to fear from death is the pain. And I imagine that given enough time one can learn to ignore pain. But like I said, friendship keeps versers grounded, or that is my opinion.

I look forward to beginning training. Thank you Kyotsu."

Kyotsu says
"Magnus would agree with you. He tried maintaining companions in the world he visited. Some followed him into the Multiverse. But they always left him to follow their own path. Without an influence to moderate him, his experiments with magic grew grander and grander in scale. Until I couldn't support him in his aims.

I believe you will use my teachings for the good of all."

"I didn't know it was possible for one to travel with a verser without being bonded to their soul. How does that work?

And I always try to leverage my abilities to make the world a better place."

"If one is willing to follow a verser into the unknown even past dead. Then there is a chance to follow the verser to their next world when the verser dies. Becoming a verser themselves. It's rare and unreliable though. Magnus couldn't make sense of why some followed him into eternity while others did not."

Lita seems to have mixed feelings about that information

Kyotsu smiles brightly when you tell him that you always use your abilities to make the world a better place.

"Thank you. That fulfills a core part of my being by teaching you. To use my power to make the world a better place..."

"That is... not something I expected. Thank you for letting me know Kyotsu."

I avoid talking about it more. Based on what Leona told me, I know what has Lita having mixed feelings, and I don't know a way to make her feel any better about them. I couldn't ask someone to follow me, to give up their lives... This is building to an awfully awkward conversation.

"It is a noble purpose Kyotsu, I am happy to be able to help."
I smile, glad to be on a different topic that what happens when a verser dies.

I don't have much that I want to accomplish before morning and the purification. Other than at some point I'll want to wake Leona and get a bit of sleep myself.

Kyotsu Replies to your thanks for the info about versers.
"No Problem."

Lita goes to bed and Kyotsu disappears after a while.

Eventually you get tired and switch out with Leona.

Morning comes. And you Start the Purification Ritual with Leona.

White Duneyrr screams out
"It's Hot!"
and an image of her moth form appears.

The Ritual isn't particularly hard. White Duneyrr uses the snow white balls of energy and her ice breath. But you keep her off the Solar Piles. Her and her cocoon coffin dissolve into nothing.

At this point Selene, Lita and Kyotsu show up.
Kyotsu says
"So all of you want to learn my martial arts?"

The others nod and he continues.
"Then from now on you will address me as Sifu. Follow me. There is a forest northwest of town that we shall use as a training ground."

He starts walking northwest Expecting all of you to follow. I assume that you do so.

You are in an old growth forest. the trees are easily a hundred feet tall and there is no undergrowth.

"As I said before. I can teach many Terrestrial and Celestial Styles. Most of you are limited  to learning Terrestrial Styles. Michael could learn the Celestial Styles but it would be a good idea for him to practice Moving his essence in a set pattern needed for Supernatural Martial Arts.

Therefore the first style I'll teach you is Terrible Assent Driven Beast Style.
In the Old World the Far East was a forest bigger than you can imagine. There Exists a great and terrible creature there that this style seeks to emulate. Many dangerous animals live in the vast jungle: crushing behemoths and mighty predators that can take this creature’s life in moments, despite its own size and strength. Of necessity, then, the creature learned to ascend trees in spite of the difficulty presented by its bulk and its shape. In such locations, it could escape its predators, and from such heights, it could descend with precipitous speed upon its prey. Should this creature still exist, it would represent vast agility and strength in a single beast.

The first thing I need to do is to test your Athletics and Agility. Try to touch me."

He is standing there Smiling. His tails are waving about in a playful manner.

I also nod when he asks if we want to learn.

--------

I begin a low burn of wind motes when he mentions testing our agility and athletics, and step forward. "If it pleases, I will test first, Sifu." and with this I bow and sprint towards him. I shift to a full burn as soon as the process of dodging and weaving starts, and do my best to touch Sifu. I will also use solar essence to perfect my movement and also to analyze Sifu's patterns. I'm not going to get him through raw speed, but perhaps if I anticipate his next move I'll have a shot.

"Come at me then Micheal."

You blur as you come forward. But Kyotsu is just out of reach each time you lunge in. His eyebrows arch a bit when you burn solar essence. But he still has that playful smile.
This continues for a while with you trying to maneuver him into a position so that you can anticipate his next move. This concludes with a feign that you predicted the dodge for. allowing you to touch the tip of one of his tails. But he is smiling like he knew that you where going to do that.

The others take their turns. And they don't do as well as you. You would think that Lita did a pretty good show and Leona and Selene are just behind her in their performance.

"Good. You know enough to start with your Athletics. Let's see your Martial Arts. Attack me as hard as you can. Let's see how you fight without weapons."

His stance is simply relaxed he doesn't seem to be in a fighting stance at all.

I would have been recharging while the others did their test, if that's ok? He's trying to gauge our limits so I'm trying to show my limits and that entails near constant furycrafting.

Might as well keep the same order, I'll step forward and start using earth motes to enhance my strength, water motes to align myself with the patterns of the currents and stay fluid, wind to enhance my speed, fire to stoke my own passions and desire to succeed and push me just a little harder, and solar to keep my technical performance as perfect as possible. I don't use all the elements at once often, due to the massive consumption of motes associated with it, but like I said, he wanted to see our limits and this is what I believe to be my current limit.

With all that, I'll assume an aggressive stance and dart in, starting with a crescent kick into dropping to the side and trying a legsweep. I'll follow this up with a forward roll into a grapple.

It hurts using Both Earth and Wind; and Fire and Water together. But you push on past your physical limits. all that together allows you to nearly hit him. Your crescent kick was just a centimeter away from his face. He lifts his leg over your sweep. He smirks when you go for a grapple. You grab his shoulders as he grabs yours.
"Magnus taught you a bit before. Didn't he? I can see echos of Magnus's style in yours."

I stop using the motes as soon as the demonstration finishes, feeling the burn from using opposite elements, but knowing that when needed I will use all that I have access to again.

"He did, for a brief period of time. Like everything it has shifted to reflect my experiences."

I sit down after letting go of his shoulder, ready to watch the others.

You notice the tails twitching when the demonstration ends.

He comments
"Good job"

You return and Lita starts.
It is ferocious and devastates the scenery. But Kyotsu simply parries her strikes and redirects them elsewhere. Yyou swear that he is using a highly advanced soft style.

Leona and Selene know how to throw a punch. But they dob't seem to have the skill you or Lita possess.

Kyotsu comments.
"Michael, you could learn most of the style now. We just need to work on your martial arts to perfect them. Lita you could learn all the style now. Work with Micheal on his Martial arts. Leona and Selene, come with me. We need to work on your martial arts."

With that he takes Leona and Selene away.

Lita says
"Well, that was interesting.  Let's get to work. Any preferences with how you learn?"

I bow respectfully to him when he says good job, pleased with my performance and looking forward to learning.

------

"Interesting is a very good word for it. I'm amazed anyone could deflect the onslaught you put forward... The surroundings took quite a beating. As to where we begin, I am at your command. Sifu clearly established you as the teacher and me the pupil. Just tell me what to do and I will"
I then bow respectfully to Lita. I plan to follow Lita's commands to the tee, I trust her and she is more accomplished in martial arts than myself.

Lita says
"Ok. I'll show you."
She then shows you her style and runs you through the moves.
She teaches you for a few hours. Then Decides to do some light sparring with you.

Lita is in front of You in her fighting stance.
"Come at me Michael."

Since we're working on the technique as opposed to testing limits, I won't use motes for sparring. I am giving it my all to showcase my understanding of Lita's style however, taking the aggressors role at first but alternating as the match ebbs and flows. I'm trying to demonstrate my understanding of as many different aspects as she showed me.

You spar with her and she corrects a few flaws with your techniques.

She says
"It'll Take some daily practice to perfect. But You got it so far."

At this point Kyotsu returns with Leona and Selene. They look tired.
Kyotsu looks at them.

"We'll call it a day for now. Get a pair of ten pound weights for everyone with a method to tie them to your legs."

"Thank you Lita. You make a good teacher."

--------

I'll scrap an old shirt and tie the scraps into ankle bands. From there I'll start reinforcing its weight using earth motes, until I think each weighs 10 pounds. I'm patterning them after Gokus training bands, which is what immediately came to mind when Sifu mentioned this. When I'm done I'll put mine on and offer to help the others with theirs, if they want ones like mine.

You tear off strips of the shirt and then reinforced them with earth motes. They end up weighing about ten pounds each. The weight lasts for a few hours.

Kyotsu appears.
"Interesting. How heavy can you make clothes with that technique?"

"I'm not sure Sifu, this is the first time I've tried it. I can experiment if you would like, but I suspect the upper limit will go up over time as I grow used to doing this, and also depending on how many earth motes I infuse."

Kyotsu says
"Hmmm, I would like you to hit my cloths with as many earth motes as you can later. But for now do that to everyone's shoes. We are going to run for a while.  Put more weight into yours and Lita's shoes."

I assume you do so and then he runs all of you to exhaustion. You all walk back to town. What do you plan on doing now?

"Yes Sifu." and I give a small bow and go about infusing everyone's shoes. I hit Lita and mine with double, since he didn't specify how much more and I want to make sure not to undercut what he wants. Plus I want to push myself.

I'm assuming it's starting to get on towards dusk? I'll ask the others, "What do you all want to eat? I'm happy to cook, as long as it's fairly quick. I'm a combination of pure exhaustion and hunger."

Leona says
"That would be appreciated Michael. I have food at my house that would be quick to make. Follow me."

She leads everyone to her house where cook something involving rice, vegetables and a bit of meat. Do you want to talk about anything as you eat?

Not particularly, other than that I'm glad we're going through the training together, and how exhausting it is. Oh, and just generally wondering what we will be covering the next day.

The dinner is peaceful and you have a restful nights sleep. You return to the edge of the forest and find Kyotsu
"Follow me."

He leads you into the forest and stops.
"Now I'll teach the first essence technique of the style Stand-Without-Strength Intensity."
He switches to a front stance.

"Try to push me over and note how I am moving my essence."

You try to push him and it is like pushing a rock. You feel essence go into his joints and lock them with minimum effort from his muscles. After your attemt the essence flows back into him.

"Of all the things that make up the body, the bones are the hardest and the heaviest. Just as the massive beast need not strain against the wind, You can lock Your joints and use the strength of your bones to remain upright despite attack, saving the energy of your muscles for other tasks."

"I see the benefit, especially if one is able to rapidly switch. Between this and other essence forms. If one is expecting you to move, and your essence has locked your bones, it not only gives you the advantage of surprise but also allocate your muscles to a disarming technique or offensive line. Is it ok for me to try it myself Sifu?"

I assume it is, but I will continue asking for permission whenever I want to do something, unless told otherwise. He is doing a great kindness  y teaching me, I owe him the utmost respect.

If he says I can try, I will, following his example and anything he tells me.

He says
"Go ahead Michael. Lita, try to push him over."

You enter a stance and Lita pushes against you. You mimic the flow of essence he showed you locking your joints. Her strength is great but you don't fall over and you feel the essence return to you. You sense that there is a limit to how much essence will return.

He teachea the technique to the others.  Leona and Selene pick it up right away because they can see how to make the essence flow.

Lita takes more instruction because she can't see the essence flow. But with Kyotsu's guidance she picks it up. And she can push it further that everyone.  You are close behind her. Eona and Selene are a distant third.

He then has you do pushing drills to practice the technique. You with Lita. And Selene and Leona together. He instructs you to practice until you exhaust all of your essence. It takes a while for all of you to go though all of your essence.

Oce you are done. He has you practice grappling with an emphasis on holds that can be used to crush your opponent with your strength. He says for now just apply enought strenth that your opponent knows what you could have done.

He has you grapple for the rest of the day. Lita ia very scary in a grapple. you are just as good as her though. Because of your training with the missing links.

You are dismissed and heading back to Leona's house.

I have a question with regards to the training. When we're talking about essence, is that motes? Or is it internal spiritual energy?

On the walk back I'll chat about wondering what tomorrow will bring, as well as discussing whether the others thing the grappling we practiced at the end is a lead in to our next lesson.It's all just idle chatter among friends, to pass the time of the walk back.

Otherwise just plan to eat dinner and get some rest, so that I'm ready for the next day.

It's motes. Something about the technique allows you to spend motes on an effect and get back most of them.

You talk on the way back,eat dinner and sleep. You retun to the general area the next day. Kyotsu shows up with a cut log in hand.

"The next technique is Muscle Without Bone Relaxation.

Enormous constrictor snakes, all too common in the humid Jungle, have such flexible skeletons that they can crush their prey with every ounce of their strength. The giant creature of the jungle can use a different method: It simply falls on its victims."

He puts the log into a hold he showed you yesterday. And you see the essence flow into his muscles. He crushes the log with the technique leaving an impression of his arm into the log. Again some essence flows back into him but not as much as hr but in.

"... crushing logs might be a bit too much. But what could you practice on?..."

He seems to be thinking.

"If I may make a suggestion Sifu. I could soften a set of logs, given a bit of time. It's woodcrafting, which I don't have a fury for so the transition takes longer and takes a bit for me to recharge from. But there is that.

The other thing is, even if we can not succeed at crushing the log in it's current state, we may still be able to use it. This gives us a goal to work towards, and proof of our improvement."

His ears perk up at that. You have an idle thought that his emotions are very easy to read.

"That would be good. Better than my idea. Vould you treat the logs I bring with ylur woodcrafting?"

He lets you respond and flickers for a second and then he is carrying four logs. Two in his arms and two in his tails.

You perform the woodcrafting on the logs. And then he instructs all of you to practice on them. The results are similar to yesterday. Lita is really good once she figures out how to do it. You are gust as good but you learn it quicker. Leona and Senene do decently.

You note that the mote return is related to how much you damage it.

Afterward he has you weigh down everyones shirt sleeves. Then he has you climb trees without shoes. He says you need to understand the feeling of great mass in tune with unbound feet.

You are exhausted by the end of the day. Ready for the next day?

OOC: how are you feeling about how I am handling this? Too fast? Too slow? What do you think?

OOC) I think it's great pacing for training. Interesting and gives a good feel of what we're learning without taking forever.

I smile when I notice the easy to read emotions. I suppose that is what happens when you have entities that are singular concepts of a versers soul. Deception is just not in him.

Is the mote return propertional to damage done or inversely proportional? Wasn't clear whether doing more damage got me more motes back or less.

I am good to continue to the next day. One thing I want to start using more often though is my elemental mote pump. These are good conditions to practice it in, and having motes more quickly let's me practice these moves more. Plus it let's me do stuff like aid in woodcrafting without slowing us all down.

The mote return is proportional to the damege done.

The next day you return to the forest with Kyotsu. He says.
"The next technique is the central stance that embodies the style. Emulating the mass and delicacy of Kings of Beasts in the Jungle."

He enters a fighting stance and then his entire attitude changes. He stands tall, like there is nothing larger than himself.  But he moves with an easy grace of one that walk on the tightropes.

His essence is flowing though him maintaining the effect.

He guilds you through adopting the stance. And you feel the power and attitude flow through you. You feel tougher and more graceful. More skilled at grappling and able to hit things harder it takes a total of four motes to maintain this stance.

"This is quite the feeling. Power and confidence brimming. I assume based on what you said that we could slide into the other forms from this as a central form? Or did you mean in conjunction?"

He replies
"It is the central stance of this style. This style is basic enough not to have other stances. This stance compliments the other techniques of this style.
You could switch to the stances of other styles."

"That makes sense. Thank you for the explanation Sifu."

He shows the others how to do the stance and then has you work on the same pushing drill while maintaining the stance.

At this point you decided to activate your mote pump. It brings in a mixture of solar and wood essence.
This causes Kyotsu to raise an Eyebrow.
"Interesting. That isn't like how Magnus does it by drawing in the essence of the land and world below him. Your method is safer and more stable than his method... Although you wouldn't be able to replicate his surges of power. Then again you are not crazy enough to try."

Smiling I say "I can't take full credit for this. My furies worked in putting it together for me. And I figured I need practice with it as well, and the more motes I regenerate the more I can practice the forms. Safety and stability when drawing essence are very important to me as well."

He smiles and stares at you for a bit. You feel like he is reading everything about you.

"That tires you like running. Everyone. Focus on Michael while his endurance holds out. He can freely spend mote. But this wont last forever. Try to knock him down."

With that Everyone is now focused on you. You are about to be ganged up on by everyone.

oh, You aura is leaf green and gold this time.

I smile and nod, excited by the challenge. I set my feet start pouring all the essence into the forms that I can, and get ready for the onslaught of force coming my way.

They begin their onslaught by rushing you. You find that while Stand-Without-Strength Intensity returns the motes you spent on it when you maintain your stance. If you fall down, it returns nothing. which happens fairly often because you have three people on you.

After thirty minutes the others have exhausted their reserves and you are dead tired.

Kyotsu says.
"You are all tired one way or another. Michael,make everyones cloths heavier and then all of you run home... preferably straight through any brush. That will help you learn the next technique. Tomorrow wear clothes that cover yor arms and legs."

I assume you follow his instructions and head home.

Hermes asks
Where you going to take that air elemental metal to  Steel Smith?

I nod to Kyotsu and bow, and go about infusing everyone's clothes, and run home. Whenever I am about to run through brush I'll focus my mind inwards, away from the thought of the pain I'm about to experience and push onward.

----

Hmm, yes. I should get that to him. I will stop in first thing tomorrow morning before training. That way I'll have the energy to explain what I'm looking for and demonstrate my sword fighting style so that he has a concept to work on. Do you have any thoughts on a blade that would lend itself to the wind element best? I've been debating between a twin pair of daggers or a katana.

I'm happy with whichever weapon Hermes thinks would be best, I'm 50/50 between them and I believe my furies should have a certain level of say with regards to what I do in their domains. At the very least the agency will likely make him happy.

It is unpleasant but you make it through. some minor healing with your materia fixes and scratches on everyone.

-----------
Hermes replies
With that material smith will probably try to make an artifact for you.
They are generally bigger than a mundane weapon But move the same due to the essence you move through them. The pair of knifes will come out like short swords but will move as fast as a knife. You could use them as awkward swords if you don't put essence in them.
The katana will be much more devastating while being just as graceful. although you will have to have essence in it to use it.
All in all, I have a slight preference for the Katana. It's an elegant weapon of a bygone age.

Oh. You might want to consider possible crafting materials that you can add to the mix.
Artifact Making is sort of esoteric. So consider Items that you can get that have good resonance for a weapon.
-----------

In the morning you go to Steel Smith and everyone decided to follow you.

He says
"Greetings Everyone. I've heard that you have been training in the Forest. How is it going?

A katana it is then. As for components to add... Let's see. I have a few ideas.
I could find a diamond of reasonable size, or lacking a diamond quartz, charge it up with as many wind motes as it can hold and then set it on high before a storm. The wind motes should act as a primer, and the lightning strike a catalyst to turn it into a sky diamond of sorts,attuned to wind and lightning.
As for the hilt wrappings, I will see about treating them with the liquid motes from my artifact bottle every night and every morning until Smith needs them. Those two aspects, coupled with the magical metal itself should go a long way. Unless you can think of more that I should do.

-------

I nod and say, "that we have. It's been good if exhausting. But I suppose that is how the best training always goes.

I did want to ask a favor of you however. I have some wind elemental steel that I was hoping you could forge into a katana for me. Also would you perchance know where I could buy a diamond?  I would like to work on capturing wind and lightning into the diamond to be worked into the hilt of the katana, as well as enchanting the leather bindings, to be ready whenever you are."

I should still have a fair amount of gold. I'm willing to spend every last gold piece I have on this endeavor.

If I can get the diamond or quartz, I will take the next opportunity I get to go to a hill and activate my mote pump, absorbing the wind the crests the hill and pouring motes into the crystal. I imagine it will eventually saturate and start to glow softly with its own aura. I'll keep this up until it seems to sustain its aura,which is how I'll know it's primed. Then, next time there is a lightning storm predicted, I'll fly to the tallest area around and fasten the crystal there. Between being the tallest item around and so heavily attuned with wind, it should hopefully be struck by lightning. After that it should be ready to be incorporated into the katana.

You also have your sword. Forged in another dimension and then used to help kill Immortal beings. That should have an interesting resonance.

There is also Kyotsu. He is a very powerful interdimensional being. You could ask for a few hairs from his tails. Which are a sign of his power. One hair from each of his nine tails would probably have the best numerological resonance

---------

He says
"Hmmm... A katana would be a good match for wind aligned steel. Add in a gem with concentrated wind essence and special leather... that should be enough for it to have an innate enhancement based on wind. Let me see the materials you have so far."

I would assume that you would show him the blue metal since you are going to have him make a katana out of it for you.

His eyes go wide with surprise when you show him the Blue Metal

"That isn't wind aligned steel. That is Blue Jade. One of the Greater Magical Materials. I could make a true Artifact out of that. It would be a supernal weapon. And if you bond well to it you can develop magic derived from the weapon. Blue Jade tends to produce things that interact with Wind, Speed and coldness. Along with things of higher thought.

Your gem would emphasize the Wind and Speed aspects. "

Good ideas Hermes. If we're going to have an artifact made, we might as well go all out.

-----------

"Blue Jade huh... That sounds pretty amazing.

Hermes, my wind fury also had two ideas to incorporate. The first is perhaps using my sword as a base. It's a quality sword, forged for me in another dimension and used to help kill an Immortal here.

Then the second would require me to get permission from our mentor, but he is a being of great strength and speed. More speed than I can truly comprehend currently. I will talk to him about if he is willing to donate a strand of hair from each of his nine tails.

Those four components, on top of the Blue Jade itself, should work well I imagine."

I am smiling and extremely happy. This is going far better than I had even allowed myself to hope.

Later before practice I'll ask Kyotsu, "Sifu, if I may ask another favor of you. I am in the process of having an artifact katana made that will be attuned to wind and speed. Hermes had the idea of incorporating some of your strands of hair to augment the blade, one from each tail. Would you be willing to contribute those?"

Other than that going about practice, and working on finding and buying a gem, and then infusing it as I described. Lots to do, but think it's pretty well outlined.

I agree Michael

-----------
Smith says
"I haven't heard of anything with nine tails. So I am not sure how it would affect the final artifact... But if he is as fast and as strong as you say then it would be good to add it to the Artifact.

That sword is very exotic. It would be good to add it to the artifact.  It might give it some power related to other worlds or it might make the weapon very effective versus Immortals."

--------
Kyotsu turn his head to the side quizzically. Then rights it. His ears twitch a bit along with his tails.

"That would give a big of a weird resonance for a weapon. I guess it could work for a weapon made to defend people. What are you wanting the artifact katata to do?"

"I don't really engage in violence outside of defending people, either in a direct effect or stopping great evils. I would be looking for the sword to augment my windcrafting abilities as well as draw upon it to enhance my speed even further. Sometimes truly exceptional speed is the only way to save those you love."

"I'm not sure that my hair would help with your windcrafting. But the rest should work. It will be a noble weapon so I'll give you one hair from each of my tails. Did you bring something to carry it in?"

He'll let you answer. Then introduce the training for the day.
"It might sound like an avalanche, but in the mountain less jungle, that sound can be nothing but the great and terrible creature. It barrels through the forest’s old and new growth to overrun and crush its prey.

With this technique you charge your legs with essence. Then you rush forward. Nothing can stop you or slow you down. To deliver a devastating attack at the end of your charge. The technique is called Boulder Of Intentions Rush Attack. Copy how I use my essence."

You sense that He charges his legs with essence and rushes a tree. His fist strikes it with a great impact and leaves a small crater in the tree.

"Now try to use it on me."

You charge you legs with four motes of essence and then explode with speed. The attack isn't as accurate as your normal strike but has a lot more raw power. Kyotsu still does some soft martial arts and redirects the force of your attack to the side.

He teaches the others and then has you weigh everyone down with earth motes. Then has you chase him though the underbrush trying to hit him with that attack.

After training, You are tired.

Hermes comments
You might want to help Smith make the sword. You might learn something useful.

You search for gems and find varies types of gems for what you would consider cheap. Except for diamonds.
hmm... they don't have one with a good wind resonance. You might want to talk to Smith.

"I have an idea of how to carry them."

I bend down to the ground and earthcraft two slabs of clay, hard on the outside but soft and protective inside. I'll use that as a carrying case around the 9 hairs.

"This should protect them well, until Smith is ready to incorporate them into the sword. Thank you again Sifu."

--------

I push myself hard during training, and think of how this style seems similar to what I would expect of Ursulus or Zeke, somewhere in between the two. I make a future plan to try a fusion with one of them and then incorporate the technique.

-----

Good point Hermes. I'm exhausted, but I should be able to manage a bit more every day hopefully.

When I get back to town and go to Smith,
"Good evening Master Smith. I have been given the 9 hairs I spoke of, but have been struggling to find a gem with acceptable wind resonance. I was hoping you might have some ideas. I was also hoping I could help you with the creation of the katana. I always enjoy learning, and this is a feat I imagine is quite rare. Not to mention I owe you so much for making this sword, I rightly should offer any help I can."

Kyotsu nods
He then goes and plucks a single hair from each of his nine tails. His tails are twitching and writhing while he does it.

--------------
Sounds like a fun style.

I agree.

---------
Smith says
"Well I am not as young as I used to be."
He laughs at that.
"So a assistant would be extremely helpful.

As for the gem... One could gather a lot of gems, crush them, purify them with vitriol several times over and then melt and apply pressure to them to make Adamant. Which doesn't have a resonance but you could trap wind motes and lightning into it to give it the proper resonance. "

"Thank you for the contribution Sifu. I will strive to always protect those who are in need and just."

-----------
I'll see about asking if we can practice it once we all learn the base of the forms. But learning each form should probably come first.

----------
"Hmm, that would work. I'll see about doing that or something similar one of these nights."

I'll go about acting as his assistant whenever I can then, when not training.

Kyotsu smiles and says
"No problem, I am always willing to help those that strive for that Ideal."

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

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

"Buy one gem of each kind. Try to make it a odd number with all different colors. That will even out the resonance in a auspicious manner before we start."

------

The next day Kyotsu leads you to two trees that are close together. Only about eight feet is between them.

"The next technique is called Walking On The Dragon Line Defence.

One of the most fantastic and terrible aspects of the creature is its ability to escape suddenly into the heights of its jungle home. No one who bears a merely human form can expect to climb with such facility, but a martial artist can learn to mimic it.

Michael, go ahead and attack me so that I can demonstrate it."

As you strike, essence gathers in his legs and he leaps into the trees then leaps from one to the other. Stopping near the top less than five seconds later.

Then he simply drops down. Impacting the forest floor with great force. But essence flares in his legs and allows him to easily absorb the impact.

I'll follow Smiths instructions to the letter, trusting in his knowledge.

------

When I see him perform this technique I have a flashback to the Titan world, and dying impaled on a tree. I shake myself back quickly though and swallow, clearing my throat. "I can see it's usefulness. Lita, can you attack me now so I can try?"

I'm eager to throw myself into training to focus and clear my mind.

How many gems are you getting and are you looking for any particular colors? How much are you willing to spend on this?

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

OOC: Yeah. This technique would have saved you if you knew it back then.

She nods and then strikes.
You charge 5 motes of essence into your legs and leap higher than you thought possible. Then you mimic Kyotsu by leaping back and forth from the trees. You make it half way up the trees when the boost wears off.

You are now standing on a limb that is easily forty yards off the ground.

I am trying to get as many gems as I can find colors. Between obtaining these gems and paying Smith for his services creating the artifact, I'm planning to go through all the gold and silver I have from Alera/Titan world. I'm of the opinion if creating a super awesome sword, don't hold back, gold can be got again, but the die is cast once the the sword is made.

-------

I smile, before calling that I'm coming back down, emulating the form Sifu used to fall safely.

You spend about forty gold and get 21 Gems. A pure shade in each of the 7 main colors.  Then two more that more towards the next color over. So when arranged properly it forms a rainbow of colors.

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

You fall down charging your legs with two motes like Kyotsu did. You hit the ground with a great impact but the essence in your legs helps you absorb it. You feel like you where at the edge of what you can take. The impact stung.

Kyotsu comments
"That there is Falling Without Fear Assault. We are going to be practicing that along with Walking On The Dragon Line Defence until your essence runs out."


He has you practice those two moves for the rest of the day

He then let's you go home. You are not as tired as you usually are.

I take the opportunity of being less tired to go to Smith and help out more, as well as showing him the gems and following his instructions on creating Adamant from them.

I'll also present the clay case with the 9 Kyotsu hairs, explains that they are the hairs I was talking about.

Smith smiles and says
"Good, You have the materials gathered except for the leather wrappings.

21 gems with the colors as evenly distributed as possible between them.
Good. This will work well.
Now we'll crush them into dust and then purify them with vitriol. I made enough for what we need to do earlier today.
Vitriol is the transcendent acid so we'll have to use special containers to hold it. Because it will dissolve nearly everything else.
Don't let it touch you."

He then shows you a procedure where you crush all the gems into dust and then mix them thoroughly together. Then he puts the gem dust into an Alembic made of really clear glass. You add vitrol and let it disolve the dust the boil the vitrol away. Leaving the gem residue. You do this a total of twenty one times. The residue. Has been reduced in size so that therebis only about a gems worth of dust. But it is pure and almost impossibility clear. He then puts the remaining dust in a crucible that is designed to apply heat and pressure.
At this point Smith asks you
"Is there a particular form you want the adamant gem to be in? Spherical? Or a certain cut?"

"I've been thinking on which leather to use. I've decided to use my the gloves from Alera, It should have enough leather, and it is where I met Hermes, and my first introduction to furies. Cutting them into strips will provide a strong base for the leather wrappings."

---------

"I like the idea of the gem being spherical. The sword will have plenty of edges, which are associated with wind and speed often enough, but so is smooth grace. A juxtaposition of the immediate sharp decisions required of a blademaster, yet the smooth grace that is required for the craft... It just feels right."

Smith replies
"That would work. That sounds significant enought. How are you treating it with your magic?"

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

"That is insightful. "

He then uses the crucible to melt the remains of the gems. Then he pulls out a mold and pours the molten adamant into it. After it cools down he pulls out a marble sized gem that is flawlessly clear. The only way to tell it is there is from the distortions it does to light.
He hands you the gem.

"You say you where going to treat it further with your magic. Tomorrow, ask your mentor if you can have the day off. I want to work on forging the blade tomorrow. "

The next day I assume that you ask Kyotsu. He lets you go back to forge the weapon.

You return to Smith's shop. And he has the solar forge set up. Your old sword Kyotsu's hairs and the Blue Jade is ready. He has you help with the hammering.  He disassembles your sword and sacrifices the extra parts to the forge. Then he layers the Blue Jade around your blade. And then you help him fold the blue jade and steel over and over again. Until they start to resemble damascus steel. Then he carefully takes out Kyotsu's hairs from the clay case. He places them on the blue jade steel alloy and they don't burn up. He folds them into the metal. As you fold, the pattens on the metal starts to change on it's own. A fox of blue jade with a tail tiped in steel plays amongst a mountainous scene. It notices you and then wags it's tail playfully and a caption reads "Kon! Kon!". It then shows you where to hit and then playfully dodges out of the way. The blades takes shape under this process.

Smith says
"Now that was unusual."

"I'll be treating it by pouring liquid wind motes that I funnel into my mote conversion artifact on it repeatedly, letting it soak them in. I'll repeat this step until I feel they are permanently saturated, attuned to the wind element. I'll do that tonight, and have it ready for you tomorrow."

---------

I ask for the day off as Smith says, this process is also important.

I smile at the playful fox, enjoying seeing the process of creating a unique artifact. It's a great feeling seeing Smith and my efforts directly manifest in the blade.

At the end of the day, I'll say to Smith, "I'm going to go scout around for a lightning storm. I'll prep the gem with wind motes until it's brimming with them, and then position it up high, to be struck by lightning, infusing the power of the storm into it."

At the end of that day I'll do just that, scout around for a strong storm and then charge the gem. Once it's full of wind motes I'll send it up into the air, holding it up high with windcrafting until it's struck with lightning. That should suitably attune the gem for the artifact. I'll bring the gem to Smith the next morning before heading to training with Kyotsu.

You meditate with the gem and fill it with Wind motes. You feel Hermes help you by adding his essence to the gem too. After about an hour it glows with a blue-white light.

You go out and It looks like a thunder storm is coming in... Well that is convenient.

You follow your plan and lift the gem up with your wind magic. You guild the lightning with you magic and it now glows a bright blue white light.

Then you start soaking your leather gloves with liquid wind essence from your bottle. It takes a while but you think you got it.

You are dead tired when you go to bed.

The next day you give the gem and leather to smith. He has the guard, the handle and the pommel made for it. The Guard is an image of a fox curled around the blade made in blue jade with silver here and there for contrast. The handle is made of wood and the pommle is also blue jade, It is sculpted so that it is an image of a fox wrapped around where the gem is suppose to be mounted. He goes ahead and wraps the handle with your leather and mounts the gem. The fox on the blade looks rather excited as he is working on it. when he finises it by closing the fox tail around the gem and locking it in place. The light in the gem flares then fades to a faint sky blue glow. the gem is also now stained sky blue. You note that the tip of the fox's tail on the blade is glowing blue white.

Smith says
"There The blade is complete. What should it's name be?

I feel a great pride as I go to sleep, with the work that was done today, and drift off quickly due to exhaustion.

--------

I rest my hand on the sword hilt and close my eyes, and then say, "The blade's name is Vadahf. It's the conjugation of Vadar and Ahf, meaning Guardian of the Wind in a language from a book I read a long time ago."

And with that I'll lift the katana and allow it to resonate with me, as we get to know one another.

Smith comments
"That sounds like a good name"

Vadahf seems happy with the name.

You sit and attune to Vadahf. Gently getting to know each others essence. She nips a little of your wind essence over and over again. Until she has accepted 6 motes of your essence.

Clarity comes to your thoughts as you finish attuning to her. Your emotions are still there. But they don't color your thoughts.

I smile as the attunement finishes. "Thank you, Master Smith, this is truly amazing. I am in your debt, should you ever need anything know you need but to ask me. If you would excuse me however, I want to get a little formwork in with Vadahf before I need to be at training with Lita, Leona and Selene. Thank you again."

I'll carry Vadahf on me as I run to the forest for that days training. I don't know whether Selene, Lita and Leona have left yet or not, so if so I'll try and catch up with them. If not I'll travel out with them.

One doesn't see an Artifact get completed everyday. So they stayed with yoy and then walked with you when you where done.

You find Kyotsu in the forest. His eyebrows raise when he sees Vadahf

He says
"Well that is interesting. I expected some steel awareness but here we have a fully defined spirit of the sword. May I hold her?"

Oh. You feel Vadahf's flame. It is candle sized and is made of wind, lightning, cold, speed, defence, and swordsmanship.

OOC: And I realize why this power shouldn't activate automatically on everything. Because it is sometimes hard to remember to include that information. It will still activate automatically when it is important.  But for most other things, you'll have to think to use it.

I nod to Kyotsu and offer the hilt to him. It feels odd to allow another to hold her, but he did aid in the creation and I owe him for his tutelage. Plus I trust him.

OOC)I'll try and pay attention to experimenting with the Vadahf, so that I'll activate them without them needing to happen automatically. Some of it is I didn't have an idea of what it was really going to be. It's been awesome so far, as has the game as a whole.

OOC: Vadahf clearing your mind and you sensing her soul force was two separate powers

He hold her for a second and then smiles.
"So... Vadahf, Guardian of Wind. Tjat is a good name. I see. Good thing he didn't let you name yourself.  Hmmmm. Your essence is of me and his wind soul Hermes. I probably wont get to see you as you grow. But I can give you a Birthday gift. I shall give you the gift of form to make your will known to the world."

You sence a massive amount of Kyotsu's essence flow into the blade along with a fierce gust of wind going directly into the blade.there is a bright flash.

When you can see again a little girl with hair the color of the clear sky is standing in front of Kyotsu. She has pale skin and Asian features. There are two blue fox ears on her head. Her eyes glow with the blue white light of lightning.
She has two blue fox tails who's tips burn with blue-white light.  She is wearing a simple yukata, a Japanese summer kimono. It has a design of a blue sky with white clouds.

She walks up to you and gives you a hug.

Kyotsu gives you back Vadahf
"There. Behold the form of Vadahf, the Guardian of Wind."

OOC)Makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

I tilt my head slightly when Kyotsu mentions that it's good I didn't let her name herself. I wonder what that would have been, but I am very happy with the name Vadahf and she seems to be as well.

I'm in the middle of that though when I'm surprised by the raw amount of essence I see Kyotsu manage.

I smile at Vadahf when she hugs me, and return the hug. "It is good to meet you Vadahf, and welcome to the team. You will need to meet all the furies at some point, but that will take a lot of my essence to manage. Allow me to at least introduce Hermes, who aided in your birth."

Hermes, would you like to come out and say hello to Vadahf?

I'll continue on to introduce Leona, Lita and Selene. Kyotsu has clearly communicated with her already, so introducing him would insult the bond they have through his contribution, so I leave that to him.

Selene asks
"Why was it better if Michael named her.

Kyotsu responds
"Because, like me, she is bad at comming up with good names. She would have called herself Koaoigitsunemaru.
Which literally mean Little Blue Fox Sword.  Furthermore it quite the mouthfull."

Vadahf's tails wave irritably and she says
"Meany, told Secret."

---------

That would be good

He shows up in his humanoid form with the cheetah features. At first it is ethereal but his eyebrows raise. Then he becomes solid.

"Now that is interesting. Because of my connection to Vadahf I am able to manifest physically too... it takes half my reserves to do it though. "

He walks up to Vadahf and you and kneels down. Vadahf holds you protectively before relaxing.  Hermes says
"Thank you. We have been trying to figure out how to do this. I'm happy to see you."
He pets her head and to your surprise she purrs. Then she comments

"You are part of him. You are ok."

You start to introduce Leona but Vadahf immediately gets between you two in her guardian stance. And says.

"He's my Master. You can't have him."

Kyotsu simply facepalms.

I smile, "I had some time to think on it, and had been since we began the process. The most important part is that you like your name and it resonates with you."

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

My eyes widen from shock when Hermes manages to physically manifest. I know how much they have all been wanting to learn how. But I smile and say "That's quite the feat, we'll have to see what we can learn later and adapt it so the others can physically manifest as well. We'll have to see about practicing it and discovering the limits as well. But that can all wait, it's a time to just be happy for now."


When she reacts to me introducing Leona, I can't help but smirk slightly. Vadahf is young and understandably will need time to learn social interactions more.
"Vadahf, it's ok. No one is going to try and take me away from you. These are my friends though, and I would like you to come to know them."

Vadahf looks confused but comes to a conclusion
"I see. You care for them. Therefore I exist to protect them just like everything else Master cares about..."


She bows to Leona
"I'm sorry for my rudeness earlier Lady Leona."

Leona fidgits a bit and says
"That's ok. You don't have to call me Lady Leona. Just Leona will be fine."

Vadahf says
"As you command Just Leona."

Both Leona and Kyotsu facepalm at that.

Vadahf is smiling ever so slightly.

I chuckle slightly, seeing that Vadahf looks to be teasing Leona.

"I'm glad it looks like you'll be able to get along."

I then move on to introduce Lita and Selene.

After introductions are made,
"So, we probably should begin our training. Thank you for indulging me Sifu, I did not mean to stand in the way of the lessons."

You introduce them to Vadahf and She approaches them. She Hugs and holds them for a bit. Then Returns to her blade.

Kyotsu say
"That is ok.
The Final Technique is called Beyond The Idol Perfection.
The Style used to have another technique as it's final one. A few breakaway sifus designed their own cap to the Terrible Ascent-Driven Beast Style. They declared that the martial art succeeded too well in its goal of emulation. Deciding that such strictures limited the style’s potential, these masters sought that pinnacle. Even though they respected the terrible beast’s relative dexterity, they found it insufficient for a human martial artist to wield.

The last three techniques had movement's associated with each one. Charging forward. Leaping up and falling down. This Technique will make the movements interchangeable. Giving you impressive mobility. Today You will meditate on the whole style. and how to bend it to human ends."

I nod and sit down cross legged and close my eyes. I'm creating an image of the forest in my mind, and running through mental permutations of ways to combine the various movement techniques. The one that comes to me immediately is jumping up, and charging forward as I fall, utilizing all three techniques in a devasting comet fall punch. I also consider the values of sometimes falling first, say down to a lower ledge of a cliff, and then jumping back up. Convincing an opponent I've fallen and too far out of the game, only to catch them by surprise. I continue to meditate on these techniques until told to move on. I'll share my thoughts at that time, of the two methods of combination I came to.

You Meditate for an hour. Techniques twist around used in combination. falling suggest that you can also use that essence to dash or leap into the trees. Falling down and charging them at the same time.

Kyotsu calls you out of your meditation.
He leaps up and and then Leaps directly down causing a small crater where he kicked the ground.

"Now show me your Enlightenment with this Style."

I find the trees that I had used to form the mental image and use them to emulate the admixture of the styles that Kyotsu just demonstrated. I pay close attention to staying within the parameters that I found to be my limits the other day. I feel I was close to exceeding them and hurting myself badly. It's good to push, but I'm not going to try pushing to the point of getting myself killed.

You spend the two motes to leap up tree to tree. Then You leap off the trees down. Spending 12 motes to make the ground shake with the force of your impact.

Kyotsu says
"That is it. You Got it."

The others demonstrate the technique too.

Kyotsu says
"Congratulation. All of you have now Mastered Terrible Ascent-Driven Beast Style.
The next style I will Teach it called Jade Mountain Style.
In the Old world, Mount Meru was the Axis Mundi of Creation. The Elemental Pole of Earth that supported the World and represented eternal stability. This Martial Art emulates some of that strength and Stability.

The First Technique of the style is called Boulder Crushing Grip."

He picks up a branch and charges essence in his forearm crushing it until the section he was gripping is nothing but splinters.

He has you all do the same to practice the Technique.

By the end of the Day your Forearms are really sore. And You are tired.

I bow to Kyotsu out of respect, "Thank you Sifu, have a good night." And with that, I'll walk back to town with the group.
"Well, today was certainly eventful. We mastered the first style from Kyotsu, and saw the birth of a new soul in Vadahf, and saw the first physical manifestation of Hermes... I'm going to sleep well, I'm exhausted from it all." I have a great grin on my face. I am tired, but more than anything I'm happy.

Kyotsu bows back in acknowledgment.
"Have a good night Michael. "

He then sits down in the lotus position.

---------

That night you dream of the maelstrom of elements in your soul. Your Sun looms in the distance illuminating everything.  it is a vista of floating islands with rivers of fire lava and water. All in all it has a primal beauty.

You see your four furies gathered together.

I smile at the congregation of furies, and the beauty of the balance they have learned to live in. I approach the group and say, "I apologize for not coming here more nights, with the training being so essence intensive I've needed complete rest. I assume Hermes has told you about his breakthrough today?"

Yes, he has.

We think his connection to Vadahf allowed him to become material.

Unfortunately, it is impractical to forge a artifact for each of us.

"Ah, I was hoping that one the link was discovered that it might be clear how to reverse engineer it without the need of a connection to an artifact. The answer may also be that I need to get stronger. Kyotsu managed to take Vadahf and give her a physical form through an immense amount of his essence. I don't have that much yet, but I'll continue to strive towards it.

Although it occurs to me, this is the third artifact I have that is strongly attuned to an element. My hat and bracers are driven by fire motes, while the spear is driven by water motes. Perhaps if you commune with the spear Nix, and you commune with the bracers and hat Zeke we might be able to make a breakthrough. I'm sorry that I don't have an earth aligned artifact for you to test with yet Ursulus..."

We should test that tomorrow. It sounds like it could work.

It's ok Michael. I'm sure you'll find something later. What do you think of Vadahf?

"I nod to Zeke, glad that they like my idea."

To Ursulus,
"She's very pure in her intentions. She is possessive of guarding me, which means she implicitly trusts all of you, but she will need time to grow into interacting with others. Overall I am happy with how everything went. What is your opinion? I'd like you all to manifest and meet her tomorrow before training. I would have done it last night if I wasn't already so low on essence."

They all nod.
She was made as a guardian, To protect what you care about. But she is still young. You are going to have to teach her about many things.

We probably need to wait and see before we form an opinion

I nod. "I agree, it's my responsibility to teach her. It will take time as you say, but she will learn. She has a good soul, and with that anything can be taught."

I sit then and stare out across the maelstrom of mixing elements.

"So tell me, when did the four of you come together to create this island, instead of carving out separate corners? And how is the sun coming along? It seems bright."

It's been a few days

Mixing them together makes more interesting results

Fire should have something to burn. Can't do that if everything is separate.

I smile at the responses. Or rather from the fact that they are beginning to truly get along with each other, even between opposing elements. I think back a few days, and consider that it may have partially been linked to the day I used all the elements I had access to at once.

Either way, I'll relax and enjoy spending time with my furies until the next morning.

The next day you wake up and find Vadahf playing on the surface of the blade. You  go and see Kyotsu.
He says
"The next Technique is called Sliding Glacier Grip. It enhances your grapple so that your opponent can't escape even if they are doing better than you at grappling.

Michael, could you go ahead an grapple me then try to escape my hold?"

Do I have time in the morning to let Vadahf manifest and introduce the remaining furies? If so I would do that.

---------

I nod when Kyotsu asks, "Yes Sifu."

I then move forward and do my best to grapple with Kyotsu, aiming to get him into a headlock thinking back to my time with the missing links. I'll draw on earth motes to enhance my strength for this. I'm purposely trying to use my motes to their fullest each day, a form of working to push their boundaries.

Yes, You think you have enough time for that. You mentally ask Vadahf to come out of her blade. She say
"How shall I serve you Master?"

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

He grapples with you and gets a hold of your chest. You get his head in the start of headlock but he tucks his chin so that you can't get a proper choke hold.
"Now Try to escape me"

When You do, You sense earth motes flowing into his arms. Making it impossible to escape his grip despite his inferior position in the grapple.

After a bit he lets you go and says
Thank you for allowing me to demonstrate. Now you try to hold me."

He then suddenly grapples you and gets you in a boxing style clinch. He has got an advantage on you by Tying up your arms in the position by basically bear hugging your upper chest. You Manage to grab his mid chest. Suddenly you feel him pushing on your shoulders and You perform the Technique. You send 9 motes flowing into your arm and making your grip unbreakable.
And Stop Kyotsu from getting away.

He smirks.
"You got it. So Unless Lita would like to Grapple with you as practice. You'll probably practice this with me today."

Lita is blushing at that and stutters out.
"Th-Tat would be Fine! I Need to Practice the Technique too!"

Kyotsu just Raises an eyebrow at that.
"...I'll leave that decision to you Micheal."

"I would like you to meet the others besides Hermes this morning Vadahf."

After she manifests (is the manifestation something I do or something she does as the artifact?) I'll summon Nix, Zeke and Ursulus one at a time, and Otenko. Otenko may not be part of my soul, but he speaks for the sun which is a part of me, just can't speak yet. That is if he wants to come out, I haven't seen him in a while so he may be doing stuff somewhere else.

"This is Nix. She's my water fury from a world where Titan's were devastating humanity. Nix, this is Vadahf, guardian of wind and soul of the blade."
I then give them a chance to interact before continuing on to Zeke.

"This is Zeke, He's my fire fury from a world I know little about, other than the island his volcano had created. That's the world where I met Magnus, the verser who Kyotsu came from. I convinced Zeke to follow me after successfully surviving the explosion of that volcano... It was quite a thrill." I say with a smile towards Zeke "Zeke, this is Vadahf who you have been hearing about."
Once again, giving them the opportunity to interact before continuing on to Ursulus.

"This is Ursulus, He's my earth fury and lover of puns. He comes from this world, the largest fury of a mountain I passed on one of our immortal tracking hunts. Ursulus, please greet Vadahf, guardian of wind."
I once again give time for interaction.

At that point, if Otenko is around and would like to be introduced I will.
"This is Otenko, he acts as a messenger for the sun in my soul, as it's not strong enough to manifest itself yet. Otenko, I am pleased to introduce Vadahf, guardian of wind."

Afterwards I'll thank Vadahf, "Thank you for meeting them all Vadahf. The relationship we all share is a strong one, of mutual protection and learning. Everyone has something they can teach the others." I smile warmly, happy to be able to impart good values.

------------
I feel a great sense of pride having picked up the technique, stopping Kyotsu even in a demonstration that he planned is encouraging.

----------
I blush slightly as well before I get my face under control. It's a lot less easy being casual now that I know her feelings. "I think it best that I practice with Lita, Sifu. Rightly you will need to inspect everyone's form, and there are four of us. No reason to not pair off."

I'll move over to pair off with Lita and say, "Ok, whenever your ready Lita. We'll alternate who is practicing the manuever. It makes sense for you to do it first, since I got to with Sifu already." and I motion for her to begin.

Her manifesting seems to be under her control. You also seem to be able to talk to her mentally when you hold the blade. So it is simple enough to ask her to manifest.

You do get in contact with Otenko

Vadahf Bows and says
"Understood Master."

Nix manifest as a ethereal woman of water.
"Greetings Vadahf. It is a pleasure to met you"

Vandahf replies
"It is good to met you too. You are also a part of Master"
She Nods satified with her conclusion.
"What is a Titan?"

"It is a human like being that is between 3 and 17 yards tall. They eat humans and their very existence is an abomination to the elemental spirits of my homeland."

Vadahf goes wide eyed at that.
"Are they here?"

Nix Replies
"No, Not that I am aware of."

Vadahf nods and says
"Good. Those things sound dangerous. They shouldn't get near Master or anyone else."

Nix nods at that and they continue with small talk for a bit.

After they are done You introduce Zeke next.
He forms as a ethereal ape made of fire.
He comments
"It's good to met you. You look interesting."

Vadahf looks confused
"ummm. Thank you? What is a Verser?"

"They are beings like Michael. They don't get old. And when they are killed they show up in a different universe."

That stuns Vadahf
"what? that...what if... No. I Will Protect Master. Even if he can't die."

Zeke smirks
"You got convection. I like that. Don't Worry your cute little head. He made you to help him protect what needs to be protected. The way I see it that is a never ending job. So you are going to be with us for a while."

With that he fades.

Ursulus shows up. He is an ethereal bear made of stone.
"My, You are quite foxy. I bet you are quite smart and can out Fox anyone."
(Ba dump tsss)

Vadahf just look confused at that.
"I am not sure what you are saying. What is a Pun?"

"Gasp. I Must correct this immediately."
He is actually saying it sort of deadpan.
"In most languages, Word can often have two or more meanings or one word can sound like another. One can also form a pun by replacing a word or part of a word with a simmilar sounding word. A Play on Words, also known as a pun, exploits that ambiguity for humorous effect. This is the Highest form of Humor"

She thinks for a while.
"Ok. So bear with me here. I Bearly get it.
So words must bear the burden of having multiple meanings.
I'm pawsitive that I will get it soon."

Her delivery was surprisingly deadpan. Ursulus is really happy though.
"That is Great. Keep it up and you will be a punishingly proficient pun master in no time. Beware though, there might be Punitive Punishments. But you will be punstoppable."

She smiles at that.
"Thank you for this gift of teaching."

"No Problem. I am always willing to share the gift of Puns"
With that he fades.

Then Otenko shows up.
"Greetings Vadahf, It is a pleasure to met you."

She bows and responds
"It is a pleasure to met you too."

She then walks up to him and sniffs him. Otenko isn't sure what to make of it.
She says.
"You smell nice. Like a flower and sunlight. Master has a Sun in his soul?"

Otenko responds
"Yes. All of his furies live in his soul when they are not manifested out here. Along with his sun and myself."

she says
"I wonder what it looks like..."
She is a bit distracted but Otenko answers.
"It is a vast sea of air with floating islands made of stone. Rivers of Fire, water and Lava are on the Islands and sometimes flow through the air. His sun is in the Distance illuminating everything."

She says
"That sounds amazing. I would like to see it."

Otenko says.
"I'm sure Michael will show you when he can."

It goes quite after that and then Otenko returns.

You say your final thing
She smiles and says
"It was nice talking to them"

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

It is surprising just how strong Lita is. Now that you can compare strength directly, She is actually a bit stronger than you. And now that she is using the Martial arts on you, you can also feel her talent and skill. You grapple with her to get her into position to try the technique. She pulls it off easily.

You spent the rest of the practice session grappling with her. She seems to enjoy it though.

You are done with training for the day. You are fairly tired but you cand still do a few things.

"I will do my best to provide you as much time to get to know them, and myself, better as I can manage. We are all a team, and the struggle to improve the world will never end. There are lulls where we get to train or relax, but we must always be on the lookout. One thing I did want to mention though. We won't be able to keep me from harm always. I sometimes throw myself in harms way to protect others. I do what I can to survive, but my life will always go on, and I have accepted the role that I will do what I can to better the worlds around me. I hope that makes sense, and while I'll need you're help in these endeavors, I can't and won't promise to avoid danger like the titans. Should I ever see one again, I would not hesitate to pitch myself into battle against it."

I consider explaining nuance of I would pitch myself into battle so long as the Titan was demonstrably evil, but Vadahf is young and the concept of good people among otherwise evil races is too difficult for now. This is a start though.

"Oh, and Otenko is right, I intend to do what I can to let you see my soulscape.  Be it learning to manifest it here or learning to bring you there. But it will take time."
-------
I pant slightly, out of breath from such a challenging match with Lita. "You really are quite exceptional at this, which I suppose I already knew, but it's another thing to experience."

Otherwise just walking back to town with the others.

----

Back at town, I'll lay out my bracers, hat and spear and have Zeke and Nix flow into them, to explore and see what they can learn. I'll continuously draw more motes and supply them to them for whatever they need. I'm hoping they can form a bond with the artifacts and use them as an anchor for material manifestatiob

Vadahfis a bit wide eyed at your explanation but says
"I understand. I'll help you protect everyone that you want to protect.
I hope that I can see your soulscape soon."
-----------
Lita says
"Thank you. You are quite good at martial arts too."
-----------

You have Zeke'sand Nix's essence flow around and through them. But the connection is not forming like with Hermes and Vadahf.  Hermes suggests

Ask them to offer patronage to the spirits of the items. power in exchange for a connection to this world.

To Zeke and Nix,
Hermes suggests offering your patronage to the spirit of the items. An exchange of power granted to the spirits, for the anchor for you to use to material manifest. I will make all the motes I have access to available to you in this endeavor.

I have my eyes closed and meditate while they do this, allowing me to focus all of my efforts on supporting their actions.

That does make sense

Sounds like a good plan

There is a masdive tranfer of essence.  Not as much a Kyotsu individually, but matching and exceeding it a bit together.

You sense a dim spark of awareness within the items.

That was... more taxing than expected.

But we are connected to them now.

Excellent. That was... an impressive amount of essence you both used. I would suggest you rest until tomorrow morning, and try physical manifestation fully rested. I'll examine the artifacts for any changes a bit before getting some sleep myself.

I'm going to concentrate on seeing spiritual auras, and confirm that the dim spark I feel is what I expect. I'll also examine the equipment to see if there are any physical changes to them. I half expect to find an imprint of Zeke or Nix, a signature of sorts, in living script somewhere on each artifact. I'll also try putting them back on, and see if they still require the same number of motes to energize or whether they require more now, as well as going through a few practice motions to see if their effects on me have changed at all.

After that I'll go to sleep. I'm going to lay Vadahf on the table next to the bed, and fall asleep with my hand on her. I'm experimenting to see whether being in contact will allow her to walk into my soul while I sleep and visit there.

The hat and bracers have dim spark of awareness made of fire within them. It's weak but it is measurable to you now.

The spear is similar but a bit stronger. The awareness is something of the water but not water itself. It feels a bit fish like.

They take tbe same amount of motes to attune to.

As you fall asleep you receive an invitation to Vadahf's realm.

You feel like you could go to her realm or invite her into your soulscape.

I find myself curious as to Vadahfs realm, but I promised to bring her to my soulscape as soon as I could. I extend the invite to bring her to my realm and go in myself to wait for her.

She follows you in to your soulscape.
Again there is a primal beauty to it. The Islands of stone float all around. With rivers of Water, Fire, Lava and Steam flowing around, on, through and between the Islands.

She is staring in awe at the soulscape.

I gesture widely at the splendor around. "Welcome Vadahf. This is my soul that Otenko was describing, forged and cultivated with the help of my furies. I did not think I would be able to bring you here so soon, i suppose sometimes you get lucky and the first approach works."

Her ears droop a bit
"You didn't visit my home..."

Then they perk back up.
"This is beautiful though. How are the rocks floating? Why are there no plants and animals?"

"I promised to take you here as soon as I could. At the crossroads of fulfilling my word or indulging in my curiosity to explore your home I decided to hold true to my word. But don't worry, I will visit. If you want we can go there when you are done here. Or I will tomorrow if you prefer."

"As to the rocks, physics doesn't have to be obeyed here. It's my soul after all, I have nearly unlimited control over the landscape. At least as far as I've tested it.

As to the plants, they would be under the domain of wood furies. I haven't found a strong wood fury yet to convince to join me. In time I hope to. I hope to master all of the elements.

Animals are different. They are sentient creatures. I don't believe they fall under an elemental domain. The denizens here are myself and the furies. I may be wrong though, but I don't think I am."

I bend down and scoop a handful of rock out of the ground, bending it to my will to come out easily. In my hand I'll make it disassemble into various components and whirl around in an atomic symbol pattern. "See, this world is me. There's very little to getting it to obey me."

I'll then let the handful of rock settle back to the ground, in the hole I formed, and exert a little will to return it to the state it was in before I messed with it.
"But I often find there is beauty in how they naturally form and flow, and how Hermes, Zeke, Nix and Ursulus form them."

The chunk of rock comes up easily do to your will. You will it to split into its component parts. It dissolves into earth motes then the largest mass of earth motes forms the nucleus with earth motes orbiting it like the classical model of an atom. Then you have the motes calcify into various pure substances derived from rocks. Silicon, calcium, and aluminum are the major things. You then recombine them and put them back.

Vadahf says.
"I would like you to visit my home after we are done here. What should we do now Master?"

I nod, "we'll go there next them. As to what to do here, possibilities are endless. I run and fly with Hermes sometimes, or sit and talk with my furies. It's the easiest way for me to commune with all of them at the same time. I also like to check on how the sun is doing. I suspect one day it will gain sentience and become its own fury. But perhaps you'd like to just fly around for a while and see what there is. After that we'll go to your world."

No objectives, so just show her around and then go to Vadahfs world.

You show her around by flying. For someone born of wind she is very unsteady doing it.

In areas controlled by Ursulus, he has combined many islands together into huge islands with natural features and architecture intermingled together in an aesthetically pleasing if alien way. With the rivers deliberately placed to highlight the features.

In the area controlled by Nix, many islands are bowl shaped and hold water although you do find island with just rivers on them. And plain islands that you sense have significant amounts of ground water in them. In one area you find the islands artfully arranged so that many waterfalls flow between them and catch the light of the sun just so as to produce countless rainbows.

In areas controlled by Zeke, everything is on fire. The earth,the water and in some case even the air is on fire. Or has been replaced with fire. But even here you find artistry in his work. You find a perfectly flat slab of earth, that is on fire. But the fire is different temperatures in various areas so that it burns with different colors. So Zeke made an abstract painting using reds, oranges,yellows and blues. You also find poems written in fire in the air. They exalt the virtues of a good battle, courage, growing stronger and passion in all it's forms. You find an odd one here or there that is on a different subject but they are not as good as the others.

In the area controlled by Hermes, there is a lot of open space with various windstorms, tornados and hurricanes in places. There is one rainstorm that shoots out lightning constantly.  In one island the stone is shaped into many hollow cylinders that play flute like notes when the wind blows over them.

You sometimes meet your furies. And they take a form that Vadahf can interact with and play with her.

Nix takes her form as a woman made of water and plays around in the water with Vadahf. Swimming and splashing. Vadahf seemed to enjoy trying to hug Nix. Vadahf's clothes get soaking wet though. So she shifts into a two tailed blue fox and shakes off most of the water befor shifting back. her clothes are still sort of damp.

Zeke takes the form of a huge ape with fiery red fur. Vadahf pets him and climbs all over him but he doesn't seem to mind too much. He is also unusually gentle with her like he is trying not to apply too much strength.

Ursulus takes his typical stone bear form. There is a storm of puns between them as they talk while she climbs on him. At one point they had a contest to see who can sit stillest. Ursulus deliberately lost by cracking a smile.

Hermes takes many forms when he interacts with Vadahf. From his wind cheetah form to a cheetah of flesh and blood to his human form with cheetah features. He doesn't stay in one form for long. She pets his cheetah and wind cheetah forms and he purrs until he gets a playful mood and does something else. They play games that involve a lot of running around. Vadahf is fast. She is in the same general league as Hermes in speed. He is still faster by a significant margin.

You also find Otenko. He is relaxing by soaking in the suns rays. He talks a bit with Vadahf who relaxes in the sunlight with him.

At this point Vadahf says she would like to show you her home. I assume you agree.
You feel yourself being brought wiith Vadahf into the sword.

You open your eyes and see a beautiful watercolor landscape of mountains and forests done in a very Oriental style. You look around and the painting moves in lock step with how you would expect your vision to change. You are surrounded by watercolor trees. You look down and see that your hands arms and entire boty look like they are from a watercolor painting. You hear the cracking of dry leafs and turn to find a watercolor fox in blues and steel greys.  She shifts into aa girl with blue hair, fox ears and two blue fox tails done in the same watercolor style. The style looks very Japanese to you.

Vadahf's says.
"Since I've been outside I know it is odd in here. But welcome to my home master."
She then bows to you with fluid animation.

OOC)That was an awesome sequence. Just wanted to say.

I smile as I see the others play with Vadahf, especially Zeke being gentle, and overall am happy to see what each fury has been doing with their areas.

------

Looking around at the waterpaint mural landscape I find myself nostalgic, as it reminds me of art from back home. "It's lovely here Vadahf, being a mirror of reality isn't what souls are meant to be, and this place is unique and wonderful. Shall we go for a walk? Is there any area you'd like to show me in particular?"

OOC: I glad you enjoyed it. I worked on it for a while. And it sort of grew when I started thinking. 'What are they doing with their Area?' And 'What is Vadahf's home like?'

-----------

"There is all sorts of interesting things. Follow me please."

She leads you through a forest of artfully done watercolor trees. With painted squirrels running about and stylized birds flying overhead. If they stay still for a moment they resolve into more detail before they start moving again and return to what they where like before.

She takes you to a picturesque river with brightly colored koi swimming lazily through the watercolor water.

The she takes you to a section of the forest where all the trees are covered in bright pink flowers that have five petals each. There is petals falling and drifting down in the breeze like pink snow.

She then takes you to a Japanese style house. It a fairly small house that is tastefully done.
"This is my house. Would you like to come inside for some tea?"

"It's amazing that you manage to have animals here, so many and with distinct traits. And the shifting colors, it's like a living mural."

I'm looking all around, taking in as much of the sights as possible.

--------

"Tea would be very nice. Do you have any jasmine oolang? It's one of my favorites from my home world."

I'll follow her into her house then.

"This is the world inside the sword. My sanctum. I didn't exactly make it but it came into existence with me. It's complicated.  But I'm glad you like it."

----------

"I think I do. Please come in."

She leads you inside and sets you down at a low table. She prepares the boiling water and tea. Then serves it to you. It is pretty good and the flavor you wuld expect from jasmine oolang.

Hor tails are wagging and waving about.
"Do you like it Master?"

I nod, "I do Vadahf, it tastes just as I remember. And there is a serene tranquility to this world, it's very relaxing."

I don't have anything, in particular, I'm trying to achieve, other than spend time with Vadahf and make her happy.

You spend a relaxing night with Vadahf. Just talking and watching the painted world.

You wake up feeling rested. Though not as rested as if you slept

You have breakfast with the others.  Then you go to training with Kyotsu.

He says
"Welcome back students. The next technique I will teach is called Pillar of Marble Stance. Basically you use your essence to root yourself to the ground to prevent others from moving you or knocking you down. Michael, could you allow me to demonstrate by trying to push me over?"

I nod, and step forward. I bow to Kyotsu, "Yes Sifu." And infuse my arms and legs with earth motes to enhance my strength as I run towards Kyotsu and try to barrel him over. I am activating my mote pump, so that i have an abundance of motes to draw upon, and also because I'm trying to spend a larger and larger percentage of my days collecting and using motes in an attempt to expand my limits.

You barrel into Kyotsu but it is like trying to knock over a stone column. You feel a mass of his essence rooting him to the ground. You continue for a while giving everyone an adequate demonstration of the technique.

Kyotsu stops you and says
"Good. Now you try the technique."

Then he trys to force you to move with raw strength. You spend a mote to root yourself in place. This strikes you as a bit odd considering how fast Kyotsu was having to spend essence against you trying to move him.

"Please forgive me for the violence I am about to inflict."

 Then he stops using a purely mundane action. Then he punches you in the gut. You feel the magic in the punch trying to send you flying even with the light hit. But you counteract it by rooting yourself to the ground. It costs 8 motes to do so.

"Good. You have the Technique down. I had to show the limitations of the technique.
 It is very efficient again mundane attempts to move you. But the technique costs a lot more based on how strong the being moving you with magic is."

You are starting to feel a bruise form on your stomach.

I nod, slightly out of breath from the gut punch, "I see. That hit was quite draining. I assume we should also be careful of what we try to stop from moving? It does no good to stop a blade using the technique if it just provides the force for it to impale you. Though I suspect my bruise would be worse were I to have not been prepared."

With that I set some water motes to the task of healing me.

"Shall we split off again so everyone can learn and practice?"

Kyotsu nods and says.
"A Later Technique in this style will allow you to deflect blades with your skin. But yes it wouldn't be a good idea to use this technique to stop you from moving against a sword."
It comes off in a bit of a deadpan tone.
"As for the bruise...It would have been about the same whether or not you used this technique. Except if you didn't use it you would have been knocked back about 3 yards.

Anyway It would be good to split off and practice. Michael, Lita: Pair up. I'll be working with Leona and Senene."

Using water motes makes the bruise go away even faster.

Again Lita is enthusiastic with training with you. She picks up the technique quickly. And you both end up rather bruised. Well at least she did. You tend to heal quickly on your own.

I assume that you heal her with your Materia.

Kyotsu Comments
"The next technique is called Fortress of One. To train you with it Required body toughing drills. So Get a good night's sleep."

With that, Kyotsu dismisses you.

OOC: How are you liking the training? Too Fast? Too Slow?

OOC)I think the pacing is good. It walks the line of being fast enough to not be tedious while being slow enough that I get a good feel for the martial arts my character is learning.

I would heal her with the materia, yes. It's faster than doing it without.

I will work hard to push Lita and my limits. The harder the training session the more we'll benefit from it. How is everyone's progression going by the way? My assumption is that Lita and I are doing better than Selene and Leona consistently, which is why we're set to spar with one another, but just curious.

At the end of the training session, "Yes Sifu. I look forward to learning more." and head home with the others. I'll restrict myself to just cooking for the evening and sleep normally. I want to be ready for tomorrow.

OOC: That is good. I'm glad I got it right.

Yes,You and Lita are at the Top of your class. Lita started out better than you, but honestly it sort of hart to tell who is better now.. Leona and Selene have been improving They are a little behind where you started. Which is odd now that you think about it. The improvements that you, Leona and Selene have gone through would generally take weeks of intense training.

You prepare dinner for everyone. They really enjoyed it and thanked you for it.
Then you get some restful sleep.

The next day you find Kyotsu Meditating in the forest. His ears flick when you approch and then he gets up. He says
"As I said yesterday, The next technique is called Fortress of One. This Technique trades mobility for durability. You Root yourself to a spot and then Align yourself to the stone below you. Taking on some of it's aspects.  Overall Durability and the ability to completely ignore fatigue but it slows you down too. It takes a minimum of 3 motes to perform this Technique. But you can put as much energy into the Technique as you want. As long as you do it in multiples of three. Allow me to demonstrate."

He stomps the ground and roots himself in place. His skin takes on the aspect of stone and now he is moving with deliberate slowness. You felt him use a rather large amount of essence. Comparable to your entire supply.

"Michael. Go ahead and hit me."

I mentally prepare myself for what I know is going to be nothing short of punching a rock statue. I infuse my fists with earth motes and move in for a strong center of mass punch.

I'm once again running the mote pump as much as I can throughout practice so that I can practice more and stretch my limits.

You infuse your fist with earth. Making it a formidable weapon. You batter Kyotsu and it doesn't hurt as much as you expected. It still Feels like you are punching something solid. But at least this statue has some give. The Form is slow, forcing Kyotsu to take more hits than he parries. You also note that your hits produce white flashs of light that travel down Kyotsu's body and strike the earth.

After a bit Kyotsu is forced to move back You note that when he does so his skin returns to normal.

"As you can see. The Technique deactivates when you move from the spot that you activated it on. Now Michael, You Perform the technique."

You perform the Technique. Your skin takes on a stone like quality and you feel like it is sort of hard to move around. On the other hand it feels good no fatigue at all and you feel as tough as nails. He has the others strike you. their punches feel light. You release the Technique.

The others learn it too.

"Hmmm... It looks like we have enough Time to learn one more Technique. This one is the Center of Jade Mountain Style. Your essence emulates the grandeur and majesty of Mount Meru. Let me show you."

He kneels down and places his forehead to the ground. As he rises he just starts radiating a feeling of mass and timeless strength. He gains a foot in Height and about a hundred pounds in weight. The Earth below him comes to his aid. Stone rips up and forms plates around him.
A stone Juggernaut stands before you

A deeper voice rumbles out of the Juggernaut.
"Emulating the Mountain makes you massively strong and tough. Tough Enough to deflect blades with your stone skin. But your strength comes from your contact with the ground. If you break contact with the ground for more than a few moments you will disrupt your Emulation of the Jade Mountain. Needless to say, this also makes it harder to be agile."

He leaps to demonstrate. He lands without disrupting the form. then he leaps into the tree and after a few seconds the stone plates fall off of him.

"Go ahead and Try Michael."
You emulate his pose and how he moved the Essence within himself. IT takes 6 motes to set up the emulation of the Jade Mountain. You rise and find yourself looking like Toph From Avatar with stone plates forming around you. You feel really strong. Like you could easily pick up a thousand pounds.

When the white flashes of light are created,
"Sifu, if I may ask, what causes those flashes of white light? Is that essence carrying the force to the ground?"

------

I move around slightly in this juggernaut form to get the feel for it. I'll try and find a large tree trunk and lift it up to get a feel for the strength granted.
"So, what happens if one is practicing the form that roots is to the ground while another charges at them while in this style?"

Otherwise just rolling with the flow.

He replies
"Basically yes. This is the a more advanced technique in this style. It is called Pasiap Still Stands. I think it is one of the most useful technique in this syle. I'll teach it to you after Jade Mountain Form."

---------
You find an log that to about three feet wide and ten feet long. You lift it up but find it unwieldy. It would be difficult to use as a weapon.

He says
"Hmmm... if the Jade Mountain charges while the one being charged uses Pillar of Marble Stance to stay in place... Well they would stay in place. It depends on how sturdy they are to determine if they survive the experience. Magic can interact in weird ways."

-------

After everyone learns the technique, he sends you home.

While you sleep, you feel the flow from your inner world reverse. Flooding your essence meridians with Elemental and Solar Essence. You are in agony as your essence network expands forcefully. It does this for five agonizing minutes and leaves you panting for breath.

Once you regain your wits, you note that you are holding a significantly more Essence. 56 motes total now.

I would go on but I feel that you would react to That.

I bow and thank Sifu for answering the question.

------

Was more just picking an object I knew would be heavy to test the strength, wasn't aiming to use it for a weapon but good to note.

"Heh, makes sense. I was just thinking back to comics I read growing up. There was someone who was said couldn't be stopped once he was moving and his name was Juggernaut. The form reminded me of him. There was another who couldn't be moved against his will. It was always a question of what would happen should they meet. Thank you again for indulging my questions Sifu."

-----

Panting, I'll sit up and pat myself down, feeling to make sure I'm physically ok. I contemplate going to get Leona to see what she can see differently about my aura, since we were just discussing the other day about what it took to transcend the limit she and I were both at previously. But I think better of it, everyone's asleep, and the training is hard work. I will do no one favors by waking them to ask questions.

Plus I suspect I can find out some answers without that.

I'll send the mental thought to all my furies, Are you all ok? I'm not sure how exactly that happened but it looks like we reached a new plateau. I'm putting myself to sleep and I'll be in my soul scape momentarily. Meet me there.

And I'll work on clearing my mind and going to sleep, immediately going into my soulscape to meet my furies and see if anything has changed there.

------

The next morning before breakfast, to the group,
"I felt my network of essence... Surge would be the best word I think. I woke in her to middle of the night in pain, feeling my meridians flooded with elemental and solar power as the network remapped and optimized itself. I'm holding nearly twice as much essence as before. Leona would you be willing to use your soul sight ability? I would like to learn more about what happened."

Kyotsu says
"Magnus mentioned something like that once. He said that in the Marvel universe he tried to stop the Juggernaut with that technique. He said it worked for a bit. Then he and the rock he was standing on went flying. Him being Him, he of course tried again and again. Until he succeeded by invocing Perfection to stop the unstoppable force. Then He paradoxed himself out of that world... he does that a lot."

You get a reply from all your Furies that they are ok. There is some worried chatter asking if you are ok.

You manage to fall asleep and enter your Soulscape. Everything seems more vivid and real and solid. Your Furies rush you and examine you to see if you are hurt.
They also ask what is going on.

You sense the strength of your Soul is different. It's not bigger per say. But it is burning brighter and with more intensity. Like it is more energetic than it's size would indicate.

It feels more... Primal. That is the best word you can think of to describe it.

Everyone you sensed, the intensity of the flame is about the same but the size is different.

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

Everyone looks surprised and worried. Both Leona and Selene examine you.

Leona says
"That is Odd... I would almost think you learnt some techniques to expand how much essence you can hold. But Your soul is well... brighter. Like the difference between a mortal that learned to use magic and one that was born with it. But instead you are a step up from the ones born with magic"

I chuckle slightly at the story, "From the little I met him, I could see that path being easy for him to walk down."

-----

I reassure my furies,
"I don't feel any negative effects, outside of the pain during the process. I was worried that this place might have been tumultuous while everything realigned. I see that it's seemed to solidify a little more. Perhaps I've reached a new level of resonance with all of you and the elements, with the experimentation with physical manifestation."

I am happy that everyone is doing well, and relax enjoying the vibrant landscape. I mull over the concept that I'm likely one step closer to being able to manifest my soulscape in the waking world. I don't think I'm there yet, or at least not on anything more than the smallest scale... Mostly I'm just happy.
---------

"Hmmm, that's interesting. Perhaps this is a step that was previously known but lost to the histories when the immortals. I assure you I'm ok though, please don't worry. My furies made sure to inspect me after the event. It's just something I'll want to pay attention to going forward. I don't know whether this would tell you anything, but when I studied my soulscape last night, and through it my soul, I got a sense that it was more Primal somehow. On top of that everything felt more real and concrete. I spent some time last night thinking on one of my long term goals, of being able to manifest my soulscape into the real world for limited times."

I smile, and say, "We should start preparing breakfast though and then be on our way. I wouldn't want to be late for training."

And I set about to make breakfast for the four of us. It'll strike me then to turn around and say, "I owe you all by the way. I have no doubt that our training together has been a heavy influence on this development. Thank you."

All throughout breakfast I can't help but be excited to try out my new reservoir during training that day.

Kyotsu smirks at your comment.
"It is. The Madness to keep trying no matter the odds. Facing death With a Smile."
-----------------
Your Furies Relax with you.

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

Lita and Leona Blush and fidget when you thank them. Selene just fidgets.

Selene Comments
"You want to Manifest the landscape of your soul out side of yourself?
I haven't heard of anything like that. No Immortal has tried anything like that. And as far as I am aware no one in the old world did that.
Do you have an Idea on how you would try that?
Sifu is a fox. Maybe he would know something..."

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

After Breakfast I assume that you would Head to Training.

When You find Kyotsu, He tilts his head to the side quizzically and asks
"What happened to you? You are stronger that when you left yesterday."

"I've had some ideas. The first time I try it I'll want to make sure the area is prepped properly. I've thought of crafting a house that's heavily attuned with the elements, furycrafting each part of it to resonate strongly with one or more of my furies. This would give an anchor for me to infuse essence into. Perhaps manifesting my soulscape is the wrong description however, it might be closer to mirroring it. Or, barring preparation I think it could be possible in a small enough region, given enough essence. Exuding elemental essence into a spherical area could create a microcosm where the essence bends reality to itself. Like I said, I don't plan to try this anytime soon. But it's a goal, and it's good to have goals. I have a few on this scale, though this might be the largest reach.

But you are right. I should ask Sifu's advice after training today."

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

That is correct.

I smile, "We're not fully sure what happened to me actually. Last night while sleeping I woke in excruciating pain as I felt my essence reservoirs reverse and flood back into my body. My essence network seemed to be rerouting itself... it wasn't the most pleasant experience to be honest. After several minutes of that though I found myself like this. I've discussed this with my furies and they don't know what happened. I was mostly concerned that they were all ok after such a tumult. They also examined me and didn't find anything wrong. My soulscape had taken on a much more real feel to it when I was there however. I had the theory that I may have reached a new level of resonance with my furies and the elements. One that required my body and soul to shift to accept. This morning Leona commented that it's similar to the difference of someone here who learns magic versus someone born with magic. Though my state is to the person with inborn magic as the person with inborn magic is to the one who learns. I was hoping that you might know more... I was also looking forward to putting my new limits to the test in training today."

Both Leona and Selene nod thinking about what you said.
Leona says
"Building a house so that it resonates with you elements sounds like a geomantic project. You would probably have to alter the laylines to feed your house the types of essence it needs. So that it sustains itself instead of you having to channel essence into it all the time.

As for your other idea. I have no clue."

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

He says
"hmmmmm... It sounds like you managed to refine your essence. There are differences in the quality of your soul even at the same soul force level. Versers... tend to grow in both quality and strength of their souls.

What do mean by Soulscape."

I nod to Leona, "That's a good point. Leveraging the leylines to creating a sustainable loop is a good idea. After Kyotsu is done training us I think I'll start working out a concept for where to build and how to incorporate the elements. If time allows that is."

------

I nod as Kyotsu speaks, it makes sense. "That makes sense. My soul and it's essence also felt more primal. I hadn't mentioned it at first because I really can't think of a great way to describe it other than just that.

As to my soulscape, it's what I call the part of my soul where my furies reside. I visit it frequently when sleeping. It's a landscape composed of the various elements I use. It's constantly growing and changing as my furies grow in shape and as I convince more to join my venture.

I had intended to ask your advice at the end of today's training, but it seems a good time to bring it up now. With regards to my soulscape, one of my, and my furies, long term objectives is to be able to be able to manifest or mirror my soulscape in the physical world. I was brainstorming with everyone earlier about building a house that is attuned to the elements and act as conduits for the process. Leona mentioned that geomancy could help align leylines to help sustain the process. We also thought you might have some insight. I am wary of doing any of it the way Magnus did, I'm not looking to induce a paradox... That's why I'm considering creating a mirror instead of an actual manifestation."

--------------
Kyotsu says
"I see... I didn't expect you to have developed such a thing. Magnus referred to them as Reality Marbles for some reason. He said his arena was an Artificial Reality Marble because he constructed it and stored it within his soul. He described the process of manifesting it as like turning yourself inside out.
Storing Reality in your Soul and making your inner world Reality.

Needless to say. This is extremely dangerous magic. Magnus said that it was advance forbidden magic in the world that developed it. If you mess up, you risk messing up the world you are in.

It's good that you are not trying it like he did. You are not as likely to produce a paradox because of the differences in the way your magic works.

As for geomantically altering the land to funnel the dragon lines into a house. That should work but it would take awhile to do and you would have to know what you are doing."

I shudder slightly when Kyotsu describes the process of turning oneself inside out, but let him finish before saying anything. At that point I say,

"That sounds similar to what I was thinking but at the same time entirely different. I have no interest in confining reality into my soul. I was more thinking of the essence infusing reality and convincing it to follow my rules for a period of time. I won't do anything though until I manage to create a focal point, such as the house, to channel the extra energy to help me. And even then I would want to do things slowly.

And my soulscape wasn't something I directly developed. Or rather it was a side effect of actions I directly took. I believe it is part of my agreement with my furies. They offer me their power and companionship, and I offer them the ability to see worlds untold and to grow. That meant housing them in my soul, and my soul shifted to accomadate both them and my growing elemental talent.

But I digress. Thank you Sifu, I will take your warning to heart and at the very least this has given me an idea of what to avoid."

I don't have anything else before training unless someone else does. Have a lot to think on now, and my character doesn't like coming to decisions quickly, especially on long term goals.

Kyotsu says
"That sounds like it would work. I don't know for sure though. I'm not an expert with pure magic.

Anyway, for today, I am going to teach you Pasiap still stands. As Michael noted yesterday, it works by using motes to transfer your injury to the ground. It won't work on things that are metaphysically potent against you. Like Sunlight against Selene. Or Wind against Lita. Or Darkness agaist Leona. Or things that specifically target outsiders from the universe against Michael.

Michael hit me as hard as you can.

I assume you do so.
A great white flash travels down from where you strike.

"It works more efficienly on blunt trama. But it can also work on things that. Slice and dice you. Observe, Michael hit me with Vadahf."

I assume you do so again.
He block your strike with his bare skin. A bigger flash of light goes down to the ground. You sense that took more essence for him to do.

"Now you try." Then he punches you. Yoi encapsulated the force from the strike and send it to the ground.

"It depends on dumping the force into the ground. So you can blow your footing away with it. It also wont work if you don't have stable footing."

He has you activate your mote pump and has the others spar with you as a team. It lasts for awhile and you had to use the new technique a lot. Especially against Lita.

All of you return home exhausted.

I bow respectfully to Kyotsu when he dismisses us for the day and say "Thank you Sifu."

I'll then head back with everyone, discussing how that went well and wondering what we'll learn the next day. Just small talk till we get back. I'll make dinner again for the group, enjoying being able to cook.

That night I'll invite Vadahf to my soulscape again to relax there should she desire. Just looking to allow her and my furies to get to know each other a little better and be used to one another. Plus let her see the changes that happened.

You cook and relax in your soulscape with Vadahf.

The next day, you find Kyotsu.
"The final technique of this style is called Falling Rockslide Onslaught. Once you have them in a clinch, you can crush them to unconsciousness. Michael, would you allow me to demonstrate on you?"

I assume you would.
He gets you in a grapple around your chest. Then he starts crushing you and making it hard to breath. He is being careful to not cause a real injury.

Then he has you try it on him. The nine motes course into your arms and allow you to crush harder than you thought you could.

All of you practice this move.

You are tired and returning home.

You spot a shadowy figure in a cowboy hat and duster heading southeast. His skin is way too pale.

I make sure to be careful when practicing the move, much like Kyotsu was careful when demonstrating on me.

-----
What time are we let out? I've been under the impression we practice until near dusk, but still travel home in the light. Also we've been practicing north of town right? so him heading southeast is from a direction away from town in a direction generally towards town?

When I see the figure in the cowboy hat and duster I'll see if I can see his soul strength from here, and say,
"Leona, Selene. Don't do anything rash please, remember we're all low on resources. But he's over there." and I'll point out the shadowy figure. "What do you think he could be up to out here? We could try and engage him, or circle around. I'd favor circling around and trying to confront him at full strength another day. Maybe coming back out here and trying to track him tomorrow."

Kyotsu lets you out near dusk so that you have enough light to walk home by.
You do train north of town.

The figure seems to be circling around town.

You sense his soul. It is slightly bigger than what a human could handle. It feels like sunlight corrupted by darkness. Forced to become night.

The Figure seems to hear you whisper and the runs away really fast. It would take a lot of magic to catch him. But He is leaving foot prints that you can track.

Selene says in a deadpan tone
"We'll that doesn't leave us much of a choice. "
She returns to a more normal tone.
"Despite the ease I can recharge at night. Today was still exhausting. We should probably track him tomorrow."

Since you where leaning on that choice before I assume you would go for that.

You go home and go to sleep.

The next day you are back in the clearing where you saw him. You find his trakes and follow them around town. You end up east of town at the edge of the desert. You see a temple carved into the stone. There is a long stairway up to the temple.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:02, Mon 15 May 2017.

I feel a moment of sadness when I see his soul. I believe strongly that souls shouldn't be forced into a path but be allowed to grow. I hope we can do something for him eventually.

I nod in agreement with what Selene says, and head back to get rest.

-----

I would want to stop by the forest where we train first to let Kyotsu know that we have to act on what we saw last night, and we don't know how much of the day it will take up. I ask respectfully to have training put on hold for the day.

I'm assuming that's not a problem, and will then go to follow the tracks to the temple.

"Well, if we're going to explore now would be the time to do it, when it's daylight and fully rested. Stay alert everyone."

I advance up the steps with my spear slung across my back and Vadahf held at the ready in both hands. I'm looking for a way to open the temple and head inside.

--------------
Kyotsu nods and says
"That is acceptable. Do what you must."
--------------
 You walk up the stairs and find a cavernous archway to a dark room with many stone columns. You hear the heavy foot falls of golems in there.

You also have a good view of the two towers that are north of town. They are really tall, at least five hundred feet tall. With structures built between them

There is also another smaller tower east of those two towers.

OOC: I probably should have mentioned that sooner. But it slipped my mind.

OOC)No worries, exactly what had happened with me forgetting to mention warder capes. It's difficult to describe all of the aspects of a mental image at times.

The towers, are they new? How do they compare to the azure tower from before? And if they're north of town does that put them near the forest we've been training in? Also how far away do they seem?

As to the current temple though:

I'll use two motes of light to create a light source for us to use and proceed in, ready to engage the golems. I plan to charge the first golem I see with a strong horizontal slash of Vadahf and then leveraging my speed to circle around the outside of the room and close on a second golem while the rest of the party closes on any closer to the door.

They have been here since you first got here. (They where not important at the time so I forgot to mention them.) They look sort of black metallic as oppose to the blue and White stone of the Azure Sky Tower. They seem bigger too. Yes, you have been passing near them to train.

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

You create the Light and rush in. Slashing the golem as you pass. Cutting deep into the clay of the Golem. You move on to the next one while the others take care of the golem you passed.

You cut into the golem like a hot knife through butter. After a few strikes, the golem is cut down.

There are doors to the West, East and North. You came in from the south.

"It seems there's no doubt that that we're in the right place. Let's push on."

I'm going to be exploring in an always left pattern. So it's west this time. That pattern should make exploring without leaving spots behind for us to get ambushed pretty straight forward, since it'll eventually explore everything.

You peek open the west door and spot a mummy wrapped in blue bandages patrolling in front of a stairway up.

I pause for a moment and motion to the others behind me for silence. I cast forward a mote of air past the mummy to create mimicked noise of footfall. When it turns it's back on me, towards the distraction, I'll close and go for a decapitating slice. I'm looking to finish it as quickly and quietly as I can.

Once it's dispatched I'll begin up the stairs to explore more, and on the way I'll ask the others, "I didn't want to give away surprise by asking before, but what is the significance of the blue color? Are they attuned to wind? I'm trying to make sure to know what elements to leverage."

You send out the distracting sounds of footfalls on the other side of the mummy,causing it to turn. You go in for the decapitating strike but it is like cutting through tough dry leather with a knife. It starts turning and you strike and strike.

You feel the force animating it. darkness and just a little weaker than you.

it swipes at you but you easily dodge out of the way.

Leona forms her solar halberd and strikes it. It is still active but badly injured.
You slash again and cut it's head off. The body collapses and you hear a hissing sound.
Leona and everyone backs away. (I assume you do too)

Then the Mummy explodes

Leona Replies
"It's called a Gust. It's a stronger version of a Mummy. Despite it's name, It has an attunement to darkness."

You head up the stairs. You are top of a adobe style roof. There is a path to the east that opens up into a wide area.

"Good to know, will have to use solar next time then. Thanks for having my back."

I'll follow the path to the east, cautious of traps like loose floor stones and stuff like that. It seems too easy for a trap to seperate us to be up here. But all the same, pushing onwards.

You enter the area and a swirling mass of sand manifests in a humanoid shape with glowing red eyes to is charging towards you.

I start using wind motes immediately, pumping them into my reflexes and aura, activating my mote pump at the same time. I grip Vadahf with both hands as I charge through. I'm seeking unity of thought with Vadahf as I move to unleash a horizontal slash of wind energy at this opponent.
Vadahf, let's show this dust devil not to mess with us or our friends.

Does its soul seem to imply that it's an immortal?

It's soul is slightly weaker than yours and aligned to Earth and Darkness. It doesn't feel threatening enough to be an Immortal.

You Slash and unleash a blade of wind energy directly at it. It is forced to halt it's charge and then split itself in half to dodge the blade of wind.

It is reforming, You have the Initiative.

I charge forward and embue my aura with 3 motes to create a vortex effect, pulling towards me. With that in place I'm charging to slash at where it is forming and using my aura to keep it pulled in while I slash ruthlessly at it with Vadahf. I don't imagine I need to imbue the blade with any motes, since Vadahf holds some of my motes in the blade normally and is naturally wind magic aligned.

You Make a vortex and force it to stay near you. Then you unleash a torrent of slashes. Black smoke forms as the blade passes through the Dust Devil. After eight slashes it manages to compress itself into a solid mass and break free from your vortex. It's looking rather ragged.

I smirk and say softly, "It's not that easy to get away." and extend my hand and channel 5 motes to my index and middle finger, pulsing briefly before being release is a stream of solar power. I'm imagining something similar to a light duty version of the special beam cannon from DBZ.

You fire off a beam of sunlight from your index and middle finger. It wasn't expexting you to do that, Therefore you hit it square in the chest. It looks to be on it's last leg and then Lita Charges it with Boulder Of Intentions Rush Attack. It explodes into inert sand.

There is a path to the east that curves north after about twenty feet.

I nod with satisfaction as Lita finishes off the creature before asking, "So what was that? Ever seen anything like it?" This is posed to the group of them.

"Going to replenish what motes I've used so far, while we have access to wide open air and sunlight." This area should actually be pretty ideal for recharging, adobe construction should have a large amount of earth attunement, open to the air from being on the roof and with sunlight. I had turned my mote pump on during combat, so I'll just let it on until I'm full and then turn it off. During that period I'll reach out mentally to Vadahf:
How are you doing Vadahf? Just wanted to check you were ok, these were our first couple of real fights after all. I suspect there will be an earth aligned immortal at the end of all of this for us to pit ourselves against as well.

After charged I'll follow the path.

Leona replies
"I'm not sure. It looked to be some sort of sand shade."

Selene says.
"I haven't heard of one before."

You fill up using your mote pump and get the mix of Sun, Wind and Earth you want.

Vadahf replies
I am doing well Master. You wield me well. Fighting an Earth aligned Immortal will be easy for us Together.

You head east then north. There is a set of stairs down and doors to the west and north.

I'll check out where the stairs down lead. If they dead end I'll backtrack and try the door to the west.

You head down the stairs and find yourself in a small square room with an exit to the west. There is a burning mass of fire essence in front of the doorway, But for some reason it doesn't set the wooden door of fire. And there is two spirits of fire flying around it. They are burning hotter with anger at your presence.

I motion for the others to stay back a bit, and sheath Vadahf.

I put forward a mental thought along with my spoken word, both carrying the same message. I'm also bringing my fire motes to the surface of my soul, allowing them to infuse my aura. I'm hoping these spirits will recognize me as kin instead of adversary.

My message, both through mental thought the way I often communicate with my furies as well as verbally is:
"I am not your foe, spirits. I have come here to find the immortal that is disturbing the elemental balance. Have you been bound here? I offer my assistance should you need it."

The flame spirits seem to shutter hesitating to attack.

They reply in a voice of cracking flames. You know it is not English but you understand anyway.

'Flamekin, We have been bound to burn any who enter here. Release us so that we can fulfill the reason for our existence. For this, we offer our services for a year and a day.'

I bow in respect, "I accept your offer, though I will release you from it should you desire at any point. Subjugation of spirits is unacceptable."
With that I call inwards to Zeke,

Zeke, I would like your help in freeing two fire spirits from a binding. I'd like to manifest you and work together to overload the bonds tieing them. I'd also like you to meet them, they have offered their services in exchange for this, and while I mentioned I would not hold anyone against their will, I welcomed their service. I figured you wouldn't mind having a two lesser fire spirits to aid you.

Assuming he does not reject I'll manifest Zeke and between the two of us overload and dispel the bond.

Zeke manifests.
"The bond is wrapped around their core. It will hurt them if we just overload the bond. We Can unmake them together I think. The first step is to destroy that mass of Fire Essence there. As much as I hate to admit it. You might want to call on Nix to help."

I nod, "Good idea Zeke."

Then I turn to the two fire spirits, "I will be manifesting my water fury to assist in freeing you. She means you no harm and has aided in stopping the subjugation of elemental spirits before."

With that I'll let Nix know about the plan and manifest her to help. Then with Zeke and I focusing on unmaking the bonds, Nix can work to destroy the mass of fire essence.

Nix Manifests and the fire spirits are visibly restraining themselves from attacking her. You and Zeke work on unweaving the bonds of magic enslaving them while Nix works to extinguish the Fire essence that they are bound too.

It takes ten minutes of complicated work but you free them. They start orbiting around you. You can feel the heat of their flame.

'Thank You Flamekin. We shall follow you For a Year and a Day.'


Zeke and Nix let themselves fade.
You Might consider asking them what they can do. Since they are Spirits, You could also Invite them Inside. I'm sure they would like My Areas.

I bow respectfully, "it is my pleasure. Subjugation of spirits is an affront to my way of life. I extend to you the offer of residing in my soul, in Zekes fire domain, and also would like to learn more about you. I don't know much about the differences of spirits and furies like Zeke and Nix. What are your goals, desires and what can you do?"

They and their souls are about the size of a burning baseball. So they don't register as all that strong.

'We are fire. We burn things. We inflame passions. We purify by burning out impurities. Call us out when you need us.'

They fade from the material and you feel them enter your soulscape.

There isn't much difference between a Fury and a Elemental Spirit

Good to know, I'd been thinking over what differences if any there were.

Time to check out what's on the other side of this door, time to continue exploring.

You enter the room and Find yourself on a rocky bridge in a cave like room.
There is a huge bolder sitting on a high ledge above you. Where the bridges cross there is a square hole that is about ten feet wide. To the North is a door locked with a dark magic seal.

The Room is arranged like this
      dark sealed door
             | |
             | |
             | |
             | |
    _________|_|_________
Door_________|_|_________Door
             | |
             | |
             | |
             | |
    _________|_|_____High Ledge
Door_________|_|____You__Door
             | |
             | |
             | |
             | |
            Door

So there is a 10 ft square hole at two locations, both of them being intersections. Just wanted to double check.

I survey the room before turning to the others,
"I'm going to scout ahead, this feels like a trap designed to push one off the walkway into the pit. I'll return soon, hopefully finding the way through that gate soon. Don't worry about me by the way, I can always fly if need be."

Going to try to avoid that, the mote expenditure might be more than I would like inside this cave. In furycrafting the more stagnant the air and the more earth surrounding you the harder windcrafting is. In my mind that translates to using more motes for the same movement. Which makes sense, as you have to get the air moving instead of just getting it to go the way you want.

I'm going to go through the south door, leaping across the hole in the ground when I come to it. I'm keeping an eye out for pressure plates that might spring a trap like that boulder.

That is correct. There are two different square holes that are 10 ft. wide.

You go over the corner of the hole and head south.

You open the door and find yourself at the entrance where you killed the Golems.

I'm going to continue my always left exploration. So I'm coming in from the north so I'll check out the east exit, and continue taking left turns until I find a puzzle or enemies to interact with. If that leads me back to the central room I'll obviously not go left leaving the temple but rather back north into the room I left the others in, and then continue my always left technique.

You head east and find a room that is 50 ft east to west and 30 ft North to south.

On the east side is a door with a Dark Seal on it.
The room is made of smooth granite. With geometric inlays of Marble.

You hear a young man screaming from the west. He is getting closer.

I brace myself for trouble and rush towards the sound of the young man screaming, wary that it may be a trap but unwilling to not help someone that I can.

You rush back into the entrance. the others come in from the north door.
Then a young man slams the west door open still screaming. He has really tan skin, almost African in tone. But he has blue eyes and the most ridiculous blond afro you have ever seen. You guesstimate that he is about 5'6" tall but his afro hides his actual height.

The Vampire in the Duster and Hat rushes him through the door But the teenager manages to dodge to the side. The Vampire is skidding to a halt.

I draw Vadahf and tense myself, ready to jump to intercept any attack against this young man. I'll call out,
"Who are you? Why is he after you?"

I'm slightly paranoid that this may be an immortal on immortal conflict, but will jump in to defend anyway if an attack happens.

You sense the candle flame of this young man's soul. Honestly he feels too weak to be an immortal.

However the young man is too panicked to answer you fully.

"HE'S A VAMPIRE!!! HE'S AFTER MY BLOOD!!!"

The vampire lunges with claws extended.  But you intercept and parry the strike. He presses the assault and forces you back. But he is forced to disengage when Leona and Lita strike with halberd and fist respectively. Selene start firing with her Dark Gun. The vampire pulls out the Gun Del Sol and returns fire. Black smoke comming from his hand. He hits Selene and stuns her he aims at Leona.

Then graps his skull.
"Leo...na..."
The Vampire screams and the goes through the door you just opened. You see him open the door with a Dark Seal and then close it behind him.

I blink and then go to tend Selene. "Selene, are you ok? Do you need healing?" If so I'll heal her and double check that she is free of energy. I'm also drawing in motes, preparing for battle when I follow the immortal. I'll say to Leona, "see to making sure yourself and Lita are topped off on motes, I believe this next battle will be difficult, but I intend to capture him this time.  I will do all I can to do so, and see about reversing this curse he seems to have."

While waiting to charge (activating my mote pump to make that faster) I turn to the young man, "Calm yourself and tell me what happened. Who are you?"

Selene says
"Yes, That hit me hard. "
You heal the damage with your materia and don't sense any solar essence lingering within her.

Leona and Lita nod and pull out some orange like solar fruit. Then precede to eat them.

You recharge quickly with Earth Motes.
The Young Man calms down somewhat with the Vampire gone
"They... They call me the Kid, Billy the Kid. A couple of weeks ago the undead attacked San Miguel and I hid out here in these ruins. But this weird spiked root trapped me in here. The vampire clawed right through it to get to me. Of course I ran and ran and dodged. Then I ran into you guys. Are the Undead out of San Miguel?"

I rebalance the motes so that I have an equal number of each type after collecting the earth motes, collecting a few extra to make up for the loss in conversion. I'll be using the artifact bottle for this.

I do my best to suppress a chuckle at the kids name,
"Yes Billy, we saw to driving off the undead in San Miguel. The immortal that was stirring there has been destroyed. I think you chose the lair of another immortal to hide in though. There's definitely one here... I'm starting to think there may be two. I feel that this ruin is home to an earth attuned immortal, but the one who just came through is not as such. Though a weird spiked root may have been a trap set by whoever dwells here. Either way, you are free to make the trip back to San Miguel where we will catch up with you, or wait here and travel back with us when we head back."

I leave that decision to Billy but once I'm ready to confront who I'm nearly positive at this point is Leona's father I'll stand up and say, "Ok, let's go."

I take point and head through the door that used to have the dark magic seal on it, looking for Leona's father.

Billy says
"The entrance is right there. I'm heading back. Hey. I run the alchemy and armor shop. Come by my place later and I'll give you a deal on armor."
With that he leaves.

You head out the door and find yourself on a stone porch viewing the desert. There is a fountain with water next to the stairs. There is tracks in the sand heading out into the desert.

I look out into the desert and sigh slightly, "I think we're being used by him, but I'm not sure to what purpose. He seems to have retained some element of himself... And if Billy was trapped by those roots, it should have been easy for him to simply kill Billy while the roots kept him tied down... But I can't help but feel he lured us here to fight the immortal in these ruins, likely whatever one called up those roots... The worst part is even believing as strongly as I do that we're being used, I think doing what he wants is for now in San Miguel's best interest... I want to help purify his curse, but destroying an immortal this close to town is too important to delay in the process."

I turn to Selene and Leona, "That's my opinion at least, but it's more personal to the two of you, so I defer to your decisions. If you want, I think with Vadahf and Herme's help I can still run him down."

---------- Below are the two actions I would take, depending on Selene/Leona's

If they decide so I'll internally call out to Vadahf and Hermes, <i> This immortal is incredibly fast. I believe if the three of us focus our efforts that we can overtake him. Hermes, do you remember when we were racing in my soulscape? I harnessed the power of lightning to keep pace. I can't do that in this plane, or not without help. Vadahf, do you think you could extend the aura of your blade and meld into mine temporarily, guarding me against the negative effects of lightning while Hermes and I draw upon it for its speed?"

If so, that's exactly what I'm going to try. I'll step forward into the desert and once Vadahf has done her part, I'll get into a stance to begin my sprint and reach out towards the elemental air, with Hermes help and draw upon it all. I'm imagining a storm cloud forming as I focus the energy over the course of a minute and the ritual being finished by a  bolt of lightning striking down to me. When it gets within fractions of an inch it will strike the conduit that is my aura melded with Vadahfs, and course around me but not strike out at me. This will allow me to draw upon it's energy using the mote pump and rocket forward after the immortal. I'll release a loud shout of exhilaration as I rocket forward.

-----Option if they decide to follow him another day-----

"Well, let's continue on then." and I'll head back into the corridor with the Boulder and check out the first room on the left.


OOC) I've been thinking of how to do something cool with Vadahf and Hermes for a while, to show off the bond they have due to the unique nature of Vadahf's creation and the affinity between their elements and also bond to me.

Leona says
"Billy said that he was trapped by the root but not tied down. Still the Vampire did have him cornered. He should be dead. So you are probably right about being used. We got a lead on him now. We should follow him."

Selene says
"His Vampirism has already seeped into the core of his being.There is no way to cure that without killing him. But his mind also seems clouded. Maybe..."

Lita says.
"Will we be able to keep up if your plan works? Facing a Vampire alone is dangerous."

In the Distance, about a mile or two away, A Pyramid rises out of the Sand.

I'll leave it up to you if you still want to do the Lightning Speed Boost. Both Hermes and Vadahf think it will work.

"I'm not a big believer in there not being a way. If his mind is still there, I'll do whatever I can to help. It's the least that I owe you all."

Then when Lita asks if I'll be able to bring them, "I... I don't think I can safely. I'm planning to harness lightning, and while Vadahf helps me keep it at bay from frying me, Hermes and I can then pull on that harnessed lightning to catch up... I feel like I can do this,but I don't think I can bring you all. Once I'm there, I need to convince him that he needs to focus on his mind and self. In that time you can all hopefully catch up. Possibly with Selene teleporting to me and bringing you all with if she can."

I then begin drawing in the power I'll need and go forth with my plans. Right before launching myself forward I'll smile and say to Lita, "don't worry, I don't go down so easy."

When I get there I'll shout out to the immortal, "Wait! I know who you are! You're Selene and Leona's father. I need you to concentrate, to focus on your sense of self. We can help you."

Selene Says
"Hold on. Let me tag you so that I can target you with a teleport."

I assume you let her.
She draws a cross like sigil on your hand with dark essence. It feels of hatred, spite, death, fear, lies, treachery, blasphemy, malice, corruption, despair, resistance, persistence,funerals, death, caves, mines, graveyards,  dirges, inky blackness  and shadows.

Selene looks uncomfortable
"Sorry about how my power feel. I know how unpleasant it is."

You proform your ritual saturating the area with wind essence. You twist it into a storm then direct a lightning strike into yourself. You draw on Vadahf's power over lightning to shield yourself and keep it around you. You activate your mote pump and the elemental essence of electricity courses through your body. It NEEDS to MOVE, NEEDS to be IN MOTION. You direct it towards where the vampire went. And in a flash you are at the Pyramid. A door is swinging shut.

I do let her.

----

I look at Selene with profound sadness as I feel all of that. "I didn't know how terrible it felt. I'm so sorry Selene, that you have to deal with that... but thank you, come as soon as you can."

-----

Having crossed the distance, and having this coursing lightning that needs to move and flow I launch it towards the door, fearing that if it closes we won't be able to open it again. Hopefully the release of the contained energy destroys the door. Afterwards I'll shout out as I approach the door,

"I want to help you. Focus on your sense of self. Focus on your daughters. Please, we can find a way to fix this."

I'm hoping the others follow shortly after Selene senses I have stopped moving at the blistering pace of lightning. I'm hoping that with me talking about his sense of self and his daughters, and them appearing, will help him grab control from his curse. I'm infusing my words with motes of water, attuned to a sense of empathy and hoping to get a sense of him and his mind.

-------
She nods.
-------

You burst through the door with the power of lightning.
You enter a room that is about 30 ft long and 50 ft wide. The vampire is in the room. The other teleport next to you.

Your words strike hard with both Leona and Selene there.
He replies
"Stay Away!
Don't come near me! Heart... sinking... into...Darkness..."

He screams in pain, you sense that he is rapidly losing control of himself. Another darkness is controlling his darkness.

"Run...! Run away, Leona!"

You hear an inky smooth young mans voice laugh.

The vampire's shadow pools up and turns into a pale white young man with pale white hair and blood red eyes.

I let out a growl as I realize he's being controlled, I don't like people being subjugated any more than I like it happening to furies.

"We won't let him enslave you. Keep struggling for control!"

And when the young man appears out of the shadow of the vampire I'll shoot a bar of light at the shadow connecting the two. I'm trying to burn away the hold that this man has over Leona and Selene's father.

"Everyone, try to put a strain on that young man. We may be able to shake him enough that he can't continue exerting control.

The Shadow says
"So you've finally figured it out? But it's too late! Michael the Elemental Swordsman. This is where you must leave us. I can show them the way from here... The way for those two... to Darkness, that is!"

You sense a surge of darkness into the Vampire and then he screams. The Shadow disappears.

He charges Leona and then Selene knocks her out of the way.
Selene says
"We need to hit him with Solar magic to disrupt the Dark magic controlling him. He has the speed of a vampire and he knows how to use it. Cover me so I use a Dark Hole to hold him in place!"

OOC: So, here we are. A team up between a Verser, the Solar Magician, the Dark Magician and the Earthly Maiden to defeat a Vampire armed with the power of the Sun.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:35, Thu 01 June 2017.

OOC) Its an interesting team for sure. Time to get to protecting my friends. :).

I hold Vadahf in a guard position and prepare to intercept any attacks against Selene. She needs time to prepare and I'm going to get it for her.

I'm letting my mind and essence meld with Vadahf, and embracing the role as guardian. I am not pushing the offensive, I'm protecting those in need. All of my effort is going into parrying and deflecting the vampires attacks against myself and my friends. I'm using Lightning Strike Interruption to make sure I get into place to parry each time. I think it's appropriate that the first time I use that is after I harnessed lightning for the first time in the waking world.

Selene starts charging a sphere of darkness while Lita and Leona press the offence to keep him buzy. The Vampire moves with inhuman speed and has the skills of a fighter to back him up. The most Lita or Leona do is glancing blows that do little to no damage. While the Vampire's offence consists of fireing the Solar Gun, launching swords like the Count did or charging in with claws or a bite.

You resonant with Vadahf and her nature as a guardian. You find yourself parrying attscks that you shouldn't have time to react to. You teleport all over parrying for Selene and the others.

Selene finishes making a sphere that is six feet in diameter. It is sucking the vampire towards it. But the Vampire is resisting.
She says
"Knock him in!"

I dart to the opposite side of the vampire from the Dark Hole and cast out both hands, creating a wave of air to push the vampire into the Dark Hole. I'll taper the edges of the wall of air inwards, to prevent the vampire from being able to easily dart around the side.

Once he's stuck in the Dark Hole I'll combine forces with Leona to blast him with solar energy to drive out the immortal that seems to be enslaving him.

You get behind him and then push him into the Dark Hole with a burst of wind. You Combine your magical might with Leona's to scour him with Solar magic. You feel the darkness unwinding under the pressure of your magic.

Then he bursts out of the Dark Hole. Sending both you and Leona to the ground a few feet back.
as you get up you see several swords pointed at Selene

I shout out, "Selene, warp on the mark you placed."

The mark she placed on me hopefully will make it so she can teleport to me more quickly. I need to finish driving out the force controlling the vampire. I rush towards him and slash in such a way to force him to dodge towards me. When he does I'll release Vadahf and grab him, getting him in a grapple and using the technique Kyotsu taught us to hold people. With him held I'll align my aura to solar energy and begin exuding solar motes to push out the darkness in him.

(I forget the name of the move Kyotsu taught, and don't have time to look it up now. Will try to later and also make notes on each of the moves names.)

Selene teleports away just as the swords would have gone through her chest.

You confront the Vampire And swing in such a way to draw him into your grapple. You use Sliding Glacier Grip to prevent his escape.  He is trying to bite you.  You feel something shift in your mote pump and then suddenly you are radiating solar essence. It is burning him and he is trashing against you. You are actually being hurt by the force of the thrashing.

You also sense the shadow's hold on him weakening.

I grit my teeth at the pain and force myself to maintain the grip. I'll call out to Leona:
"Leona, I need your help to push the shadows hold on him out. Selene, distance yourself. I don't know what allows this creature to get a hold, but I don't want it just switching into you."

Selene backs off at your command.
Leona comes in and grapples him with you. She emits all of her magic into her father with you.
You feel the shadows hold on the Vampire disappear.
He stops struggling and his hat falls off.



"You two...
Leona... And Surly not... Selene?"

I release my hold and back away slightly when he appears to have gotten a hold of himself. I'm still staying vigilant in case this is a ruse or the thing that had a hold on him is lurking here yet.

I can't help but smile when he realizes who Selene and Leona are and nods slightly, but allow Leona and Selene to do the talking. I make my way to keep an eye on the room from the doorway in so that I can start recharging after this massive resource expenditure.

Leona says
"...You really are him... You've changed. But you still look like him..."

Her guard relaxes. And you feel the darkness from the vampire blood flare.

He rushes Leona quicker than you can react and bites her on her neck.
Selene screams "Noooo!!!" and fires her Dark gun at him. He runs out the door out side.

Selene and Lita rush to Leona's side. She is laying on the ground.

Selene says
"Damn! She's been hit with Vampire blood. The Undeadening is advancing... The Lunar Child blood should be suppressing the change but it's not working. Why?! The reaction must be too strong! If it's not stopped, not only will she turn into a Vampire... she may lose her life. It's a risky gamble, but... the Pile Driver's the only option!"

Not entirely clear how I was both too far to react to him trying to bite her, and also not in the door standing guard.

I'll also rush to Leona though, and convert any remaining motes I have into water motes and send them into Leona's body to combat the progression of the undeadening. Once that's done and I listen to Selene I'll nod, "I've never summoned the Pile Driver, but I've watched enough times. I've set my water motes to holding the darkness at bay as much as possible. Please, bring her outside. I need to start charging for this immediately."

I rush outside and assume a lotus position, basking in the sun. I close my eyes and activate my mote pump, giving all my will and focus to absorbing solar motes. I'll then set about to preparing the solar driver the way I've seen Leona do it how many times.

When it's all ready, and Lita and Selene drag Leona into the center I'll begin the ritual, holding nothing back.

Sorry. Knew I forgot to explain something.  He split into a multitude of bats and went around you through the door.

You spend your water motes to slow down the undeadening. Then you go out into the sun and gather solar motes.

You go about summoning the Pile Driver. You feel Otenko aid you.
You instantly burn the sigil into the ground.

Selene and Lita drag Leona out. A coffin of darkness has formed around her. They drag the coffin to the center of the Pile Driver.

You start the Pile Driver and hear Leona's voice say "It's Hot!"

Is rather simple to purify her. She doesn't really attack. The most she does is try to shut the piledriver down with ectoplasim.

You finish purifying her and then she is standing in the center of the piledriver.
But she looks different.  Her skin is pale along with her hair being a paler shade of brown. Her eyes are now red. You sense she didn't turn completely into a Vampire. But her blood and energy are now tainted with darkness.

She starts burning up under the sunlight.

She seems in shock.
"I've... Changed..."

She stands there defiant for a little bit. Then she retreats into the building.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:55, Thu 08 June 2017.

Having to put a friend through the pile driver is deeply saddening, but it stick with it through the process, tearing up slightly as she shouts that it's hot. I'm relieved when I see her standing there still alive but feel like I have at least partially failed as a guardian.

When she runs in, I'll say to the others " we need to be there for her, I can't imagine how tough going through something like this is. But let's make sure she knows she's not alone."

I'll then follow inside, looking for Leona.

You go inside and find her sitting on the ground out of the sunlight.

She speaks.
"...I can't call myself a Solar Magician now. The sunlight burns me but I also sense that I need sunlight to gather my magic... but..."

She takes her staff and a halberd of darkness forms at the end.

"My magic is of darkness now..."

She seems to be on the verge of tears.

"I've become like what I fought."

I put my hands out to the sides, walking forward in a non threatening gesture, palms facing Leona.

"Our source of powers are not what define us Leona, but what we do with them."
 I continue as I walk towards her,
"We have fought against the immortals because they are unjust. We have rid the world of those who seek to destroy humanity. It is those qualities, not the source of their powers, that is important."
And I move forward and pull her into a hug before continuing.
"I am sorry that I failed you, that it didn't get there in time to stop him, and that I didn't realize it was a ruse. But I consider everyone here as close as family. I will not stop supporting you now. We will either figure out how you can adapt to live with these powers or how to purge the remaining darkness. We managed to stop its progress pretty early on so maybe there's still hope. Kyotsu may know more, but for now just know that we are all here for you."

You approach her in a non threatening manner. You hug her and she feels cold to the touch. Like the stone below her sucked the heat out of her. She returns the hug for a little bit. But she starts sniffing. She breaks away from you.
She says
"...Even that is denied from me... We need to check the seal on the Immortal below. I doubt our Vampire was the one sealed below.

Selene seems to be deep in though.
"Something was odd about that Vampire. He knew Leona's name before we encountered him.
...Well She still charges her magic in sunlight...So there is some hope I think. We should talk to Kyotsu. He seems to know all sorts of things. I guess it comes with being part of a verser."

I don't understand what else she is saying is lost to her, but think better on asking for fear of being indelicate. "

I wince when Selene talks about the vampires peculiarities, not wanting to add to anyone's pain but not wanting to keep them in darkness.

"He knows her name, and yours, because he is your father. It is why I've been so dedicated to helping him instead of focusing on just destroying. He is being controlled by that other darkness... but we are here now, it would be best to check on the seal below, while we are here. I need to recharge however. I also am willing to pour solar motes into the mote bottle relic for you Leona. It may be less painful that charging in the sun."

I will recharge then, outside so that my mote pump can work at its best. I will help Leona recharge as mentioned if she wishes. Otherwise I'll push on, hopefully we can do some good today. I'll explore the pyramid, pushing on taking the lead and engaging the enemies. I am excising my anger and frustration at my failure on any undead that stand in my way.

They seem deep in thought at that.

You recharge outside, then transfer the energy over to Leona using the bottle.

You head into the next room. There is four statues of regal looking men with candles in front of them. There is an ornate door on the other side with mini sigils on it.

There is a stone with an inscription out in the center

'Give praise to the four king brothers who sealed away the Shadow, and light the kings’ candle stands, from the eldest to the youngest. But one of the kings is a liar.'

The statue of the Fire King has a inscription:'I am oldest and wisest of the four.'

The statue of the Water King  has an inscription:'I am youngest and most beautiful of the four.'

The statue of the Earth King has an inscription:'I am not the oldest but I am the strongest of the four.'

The statue of the Wind King has an inscription:'I am older than the king of water but I am the fastest among the four.'

I mumble to myself, thinking quickly.

"Logic puzzles, I've done these hundreds of times. Think quick Mike, think!"

"Ok, so the Wind King can't be the liar. As there is only one liar, and if the Water King is telling the truth and is the youngest, the Wind King can't be younger.

Likewise, the Earth King can not be the liar. If the Fire King is not lying and is thus the oldest, the Earth King is honest is saying he is not the oldest.

So that leaves the Water King or Fire King as the liars.

If the Fire King is lying, we know that the Water King is the youngest. We know that the earth king is not the oldest, and neither is the Fire King since he is lieing, so the Wind King is the oldest in that scenario. But The order could be Water->Earth->Fire->Wind or Water->Fire->Earth->Wind. In both those scenarios there is only one liar, and that liar is the Fire King. As such I must assume the fire king is not the liar, as it doesn't yield a finite answer.

So that leaves us with the Water King lying. So We know Fire is the oldest, Water king is not the youngest, and Wind is older than Water. So the order must be Earth->Water->Wind->Fire.

In that case, Fire is telling the truth, he's the oldest. Wind is telling the truth, he's older than Water. Water is lying, he's not the youngest. And Earth is telling the truth, as he's not the oldest. Further, it's finite, so I must assume I have missed something, and the secondary clues pointed towards Water lying instead of Fire."

With the I light the candles in the order of Earth->Water->Wind->Fire. Hopefully that works, and I'll press on.

OOC: Your logic is sound. But I was confused why you started from youngest to oldest.

You figure out the order of the four kings. You go to the Earth King's candles. Leona says.
"Your logic seems sound. But didn't it say to light them from eldest to youngest?"

Ooc) I over focused on determining order, and forgot to double check the order to light in.

"Oh, right. I do that sometimes, focus on determining the system and forget the initial direction. Thank you for catching me on it."

I'll light them in the opposite order then, having been corrected by Leona.

You light them in the correct order. The sigils on the next door grow dim.

You open the door and a large room with 4 sarcophagi.
You see four figures in there. You hear low voices say.
"We have failed."
"The shadow escaped."
"We are bound here to guard it."
"Destroy us, Release us from this torment."

The low figures rise. Each of their armors has a different elemental theme. Earth, Fire, Wind and Water.
The Earth figure has a great club of white stone like metal. It is studded with the same metal.
The Fire figure has two short swords of red hot metal.
The Wind figure has two chakrams of a sky blue metal.
the Water Figure has claws straped to his arms made of a metal as black at the depths of the ocean.

Can I tell which figure said which line? I'm cautious that one of them may still be the liar from the riddle. I suspect it might be the water king who said destroy us, and don't want to jump right into combat unnecessarily.

I draw deep on my bond with Vadahf to seek clarity of thought, and push my emotions of pain and anger aside, so that I can talk reasonably with these Kings.

I bow to each as they rise,
"I see you, Kings of Gaea. I must know more about this shadow though, as I will be pursuing this shadow. I would much rather have your aid in righting the wrong that happened here, than to engage in senseless battle, after all, I am a student of each of your domains. What can you tell me about the shadow that was bound here, that I might purge it from the world."

I'm letting my aura flicker between their four elements, a sign of respect to them, but also to prove my statement of being a student.

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.