Rabite
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Post by Rabite on Jan 23, 2017 0:53:54 GMT -6
It was two months after their adventures in Egypt, needless to say it was for a lack of words, a very exciting trip. While they had some entanglement with the Egyptian authority, a lot of things they had to explain, it was not something they couldn't deal with money. The more bothersome outcome was Gedeon, who had been seriously injured in his fight with the leader of the bandits, an injury that left him unconscious for the past two months. During this time, many doctors were called to check up on him, and they all gave the same response that it is a miracle that he is even alive with the injuries he received. What they didn't know is that it was only his mana that is still keeping him alive, perhaps something else as well but there is nothing that the modern medicine could detect.
As Gedeon was injured while trying to rescue him, James had been looking around to see how he might help him, if modern medicine won't work then they would just have to look else where. None of the four in the group knows how to heal with magic, not even if you count in the fifth one in a coma, so they would just have to look for something that already existed in the past. It took great efforts from James and Kate to look through a large number of writings and hopefully find some clues, but they succeeded in finding something that could possibly help.
'The Forbidden Elixer' was what they had found, it might have some connections with the more famous 'Elixer of Life', said to be able to cure any diseases and even grant immortality. They found mentions of it, and then clues of where it might be - in Switzerland. Switzerland was home to Paracelsus, the founder of toxicology. Perhaps a physician of that level could bring them some clues on how to heal Gedeon? With that in mind, they continued searching the scripts, and narrowing down the location to Salzburg, Austria. The two scholars sent a message to Tamara and Dieter, asking for them to meet the two at the Church of Saint Sebastian in Salzburg.
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The Church of St. Sebastian of Salzburg holds the tomb of the Mozart family and of Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, but they are not the reason why James, Kate, and Mei Mei are here. They are here to look for clues, and what better place to look for other than the tomb of Paracelsus. They do have one problem though, as they approach, Kate noticed that Mei Mei was starting to smoking in a whitish smoke. The two hurries to pull her out of the walls of the church, drawing some strange looks from other visitors but luckily it ended at that. Looks like being an undead, Mei Mei could not enter the holy grounds of the Church, they would just have to leave here waiting outside.
'Here lies Philippus Theophrastus, Doctor of Medicine of great renown, whose art most wonderfully healed even the most terrible wounds, leprosy, podagra, dropsy, and other seemingly incurable diseases; and who honoured himself by having all his possessions distributed among the poor.'
"Hm... medicine was not one of my fields, so I knew little about Theophrastus. At least from the description of the Sepulchre he seems like the guy we'd want to check out, lets wait for the others to arrive, then we can start our search."
Mean while outside the church, Mei Mei waits for the others to arrive from a safe distance. She's not smoking anymore, and she is wearing a hood to cover herself a bit, so at least for now she's not drawing anymore attention.
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Richter
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Post by Richter on Jan 23, 2017 1:33:27 GMT -6
While numerous doctors were called in to look at Mr. Salvator, the man himself was kept in a special hospital that was covertly ran by Dieter's organization. Being a person of magical interest in every sense of the word, amongst other things, he was definitely someone they wanted to keep a close eye on for his safety and that of the two world's. Dieter also considered him a friend, to say that had no bearing on his special treatment would be a mistake. Unfortunately no medicine they could find was having an effect, both of the traditional and alchemical variety. Whatever was going on with Gedeon defied their knowledge on either spectrum, so for now they were unfortunately put into a state of waiting and looking.
Tamara was taken under the Spear Bearer's care while the dimensional traveler was out of commission, the Knights were probably the only group in this half of reality that could help her continue to hone her magical abilities. And perhaps instill some paramilitary discipline. While the girl meant well it was clear that she had a lack of forward thinking and coolness under pressure.
As for Dieter, his work was mostly administrative over the last two months. At the time of correspondence he was at his desk reading through some files that his scouts had uncovered from around the world, regarding interesting magical phenomena. A cat was sprawled on his lap and purring softly, one hand stroked its fur while the other flipped through the aforementioned folders. The occultist was very engrossed in his work, some of these reports were very troubling. Places such as the Bermuda Triangle were apparently causing more trouble than ever, and that was only the beginning to the strangeness in the Atlantic Ocean...somewhere in the stack of paperwork was an envelope that his secretary must have shuffled in here without his notice. The man carefully broke the seal and glanced through the contents of the letter within.
That changed things. He picked up the phone beside him and had this to say:
"Some business has come up in Austria. Prepare my transportation, I'll be seeing to this one personally."
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Mei Mei would be the first to see somebody arrive. A Volkswagen Apollo which was parked inconspicuously about a block away in the lot belonging to a local business. The driver of the vehicle got out and waved, even at a distance, the undead would recognize immediately whom it was.
Double-breasted suit. Long coat. Comb-over haircut. Tiny mustache. Aviator sunglasses to block out the sun. It could be no one else but Dieter Gerhardt. To his credit he seemed to pick up whom he was looking at as well despite the hood, and he gave the vampire a knowing nod as he approached. He stopped beside her and looked around the parking lot to try and catch sight of her usual companions, though he found only tourists and pious locals besides themselves. Before he could inquire as to why that was, the reason hit him.
"Ah, holy ground. I trust the others are inside?" he inquired. Once that was affirmed he entered the church in proper and noted that the doctor and his assistant were currently preoccupied with one of the famous people interred beneath this sanctum. Thus, he called out to them to get their attention and get the show on the road.
"Good afternoon, Professor. How are you enjoying my homeland, I hope you're finding it to be agreeable? There is a lot to see here, a wealth of history and breathtaking sights. Yet, I doubt you called me here simply to give you a tour," he said in greeting. He offered a hand for both James and Kate to shake in sequence, the latter he addressed next while doing so. "And Miss Casimir, as lovely as ever. I'm glad you could join us as well."
He stepped back after saying that. The man's hands found their way to his pockets while he made a show of looking around the church's interior, eyes skimming the stained glass and vaulted ceiling from behind his shaded spectacles. "As I'm sure you're aware, this church we're standing within houses the remains of a famous doctor. A founder of his field, in fact. I trust that has something to do with our business here today. Tamara should be by shortly, then we can speak at length, I think."
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Tamara was brought along with Dieter, riding shotgun in his Apollo. She was free to proceed in at her own leisure.
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Post by Pitman on Jan 23, 2017 2:35:57 GMT -6
The sky... the earth... all living beings... everything is created with mana and within given power to a Mage and the laws that govern their world. Even has this is a mere fact to the world of Imaginary Macrosm it is not of the laws of Archtypal Macrosm. It is these key differences that is life and death as well hold within a key to life itself. Now the sounds of beeps the sounds of machine a foreign concept yet as something familiar now then ever. Tamara has grown used to this as the time spend here now is a long time, but still those memories of shadows and the bodies of her family still haunt her. Though still is what partly drives her it also very well could destroy her. The only thing keeping it all together was it sheer luck was something else? In her mind since 'that' void gone it seemed everything was about to crumble. Though it did not, in fact the opposite occurred if it wasn't for the guidance of her newly made friends of this world she has since taken up a role of an apprentice. Keeping the facade of her self of an confident and willing learner the wisdom of Dieter has given her a bit of much larger reform well to a point. Long gone has her long hair that extended all the way down and a more shorter but still distinctive feminine in look. Her clothing gone the old young teenager of this world and now sporting the very same cloths that were provided for her by the organization. As well to complete the set she now wears gloves with runes engraved into it to enhance her concentration of magic as well act a way to use less as her own mana pools were still too great to handle. All in all Tamara Ashborne didn't look like a alien to this world but now apart of it.
"We will be arriving soon.", a voice rang out as Tamara soon nodded as she sat with others in the vehicle.
The roaring sound of engines something of this Macrosm was common in place and completely different. In her mind it seemed James found something that could help Gedeon from his current state even she was baffled as his survival. Seeing his body... seeing what occured... no she will not think of it, if she did then the very change she to herself would be undone and she would be a lost girl in an alien world once more. She must continued forward, not for her sake but for the sake of Gedeon. As the vehicle came up to the church she soon exited the vehicle and looked at a familiar sight that is widely seen in her own world. A Church and something that was still in much abundance, being first time in Austria and the land itself was a beautiful sight almost reminded her of her home. She moved forward not to keep others waiting as she soon walked towards the others.
"It's been a while.", Tamara will answer out, though she wondered why they were here to begin with.
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Rabite
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Post by Rabite on Jan 23, 2017 3:44:43 GMT -6
The Jiangshi spotted the German and the young mage as they approach, she couldn't move her joints well yet even after the time James spent to increase her abilities, so she spoke to him instead.
"Inside. Tomb. Parasi."
As shown during their adventures in Egypt, the undead girl gained the ability to speak, but it looks like she could only stick to the more simple pronunciations. She did not make any explanation on why she is out here alone, but the silence might suggest that Dieter's guess was correct. Not getting a greeting from the other girl, Mei Mei did not say anything to her either, seems like she's got a bit of attitude and emotion as she evolves.
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"Ah well met, Mr. Gerhardt, Ms. Ashborne, it's been a while. Austria is fine place, filled with history and art, a great place to tour if we haven't come here for other purposes."
"Why, thank you very much Mr. Gerhardt. After the last time we met in Egypt, I decided it is far too dangerous for the adventurous profession to wander out on his own, and that I should tag along to keep watch for his safety. How do you fare recently Ms. Ashborne?"
James returns the handshake to the older man before reaching out to the girl to do the same, Kate follows and makes her own comment before the pair turns back towards the tablet that writes of Theophrastus.
"Paracelsus, the one that suppresses Celsus, certainly a prideful name to adopt."
"But his achievements are significant for him to do so, one of the famed physicians of history."
The group exchanged some greetings and info, before James provided a direction to head to.
"Paracelsus lived in the 1500s, anything he might have would be in museums if any survived. However from this I did find some clue, thanks to his fame there are others that hopes to seek his teachings, and some of them are... less reputable so to speak."
The two asked around while they waited for Dieter and Tamara to arrive, and sure enough one of the priests told them about a strange man that seems to be madly searching for something about Paracelsus. The man covered himself from head to toe in a large robe, and came for three days in a row, searching for something at Paracelsus' tomb without any result. Perhaps he gave up but he did not appear anymore after the third day, but it did left an impression in the priest's mind. The strange man seems to be deadly afraid of something, was almost in a panic, and ignored everyone that tried to help him.
A lead towards the right direction or not, perhaps the man have some info about Paracelsus? They asked for the priest to sketch out a image of the man, so that they could ask the authorities for info. James seems to have some memories of the man, being an art collector that was famous for caring about nothing else but his collection, he had some encounter with the man in the past when the professor was asked to appraise some of his pieces of art. Like wise, Dieter might have seen the guy before, or know something about him. Either way James pulled some strings to find the address of the man, and informed Dieter and Tamara of his findings, it's best to check it out.
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"The item we're looking for is what was recorded as the Forbidden Elixer, rumored to be the same as the famed Elixer of Life, if true then we can use it to heal Mr.Salvator's injuries."
Kate explained their findings to Dieter and Tamara, which is actually not much since all they have is a possible lead. Another thing they could find would be Hermes' staff, but the chances of finding a god's item is slim to none, and even lower chance that they would lend it to a mortal.
"We're heading to the home of an art collector, you might know him Mr. Gerhardt, Belknap is his name."
Belknap occasionally hire mercenaries to find lost treasures for him, so it might not be too strange that Dieter would at least heard of the name.
"Perhaps we could find something useful in his collection as well, something that he tried as mere art could be artifacts to those that knows the art of magic. We don't have much trails here so we'll have to try anything."
It wasn't much of a trail of course, but like James said, they'll just have to bite every worm they see. Gedeon is alive right now, but who knows how long he'll last without any additional help.
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It was a short ride out of the city, in the rural areas where a small single story tall mansion sits. A short stone wall surrounds the building, followed by a metal gate in the front. From what they can see through the bars of the gate, the garden is poorly maintained, with weeds growing here and there. The mailbox is stuffed with old mail, looks like it haven't been checked in a while, perhaps the owner is on vacation? The gate doesn't seem to be locked, so he opens it and let the group in. James then heads over and presses on the door bell, but finds it broken, drawing some suspicions from the two.
"Lets take a look around, maybe we can find a maid or something?"
"Try to not break anything, I do not want to spend a few days in jail for trespassing or break and entry..."
James suggested to search around for clues, while Kate is more worried of the trouble they might cause, which is reasonable considering last time they blow up a bandit camp.
The door is locked tight, and looks pretty solid. If they know pick-locking then maybe they could give it short, or try to force it open if they want to risk getting arrested for break and entry. If they look at the windows they would notice a thick layer of dust covered it, blocking their view from the outside. It seems pretty dark inside through, suggesting that no lights are on and that no one is home. Perhaps the group would have some ways of determining that?
Kate decided to take a look at some of the mails(without opening them of course), and noticed that some of them dates back several months. Mei Mei is of no help here, and just stood there and watch, following the rest of the team with just the movement of her eyes.
After they're done searching here, perhaps they could choose to go in or not?
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Richter
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Post by Richter on Jan 23, 2017 4:36:16 GMT -6
"It just so happens that I do know the man you speak of," Dieter informed James as they made their way to the mansion. Whether in their own cars or all piling into his, in the former case they'd merely keep in touch by phone. This way they could make the most efficient use of time, and in addition, it'd keep them from arousing suspicions. One weird character had already drawn odd looks from the church staff, so it's feasible someone else might have been drawn to whatever it was they, and Belknap, were looking for. Competitors and rivals in the field of arcane discovery were rare but fierce when they did show themselves. And what could inspire greater competition in men than eternal life?
He went on, "I've slipped agents into his employment prior, for the same reasons that drew your eyes upon him today; the potential that he had or would uncover something of magical significance. To the best of my knowledge nothing of the sort has happened, but that does not mean it is an impossibility. The gentleman, as many collectors of rarities are, is paranoid and careful to make certain that those whom he employs do not learn too much of his activities. In fact I had mostly wrote him off, save for the possible possession of stolen art. It was never conclusively proven at any rate."
Around that time they had reached the mansion and stopped there. Dieter left his Apollo out front and, after getting the door for Tamara, moved through the gate with James and his company. He was right beside the professor as he tried the door bell, and when that was proven to be on the fritz, he gave the door several solid knocks that simply had to reverberate within. So when they elicited no response, that only further aroused Gerhardt's suspicions. He shot the man beside him a look of puzzlement and, upon seeing that he too was perplexed, recommended they search the place for clues.
The first thing that he did was double back around to the front gate to check the mail box alongside of Kate, whom seemed to have the same idea. He peered over the young lady's shoulder while she searched, and pointed out something he had noticed once they were returned to their box.
"It looks as if the resident hasn't been checking his mail in about a month. In addition to that look at the senders, mathematics professors, laboratory supply companies, several universities, and that last one there even goes to a local chemist. How unusual. My profile on Mr. Belknap never mentioned an interest in the hard sciences, quite the opposite in fact," the man commented. It was curious, but not particularly helpful for the moment, so he moved back into the grounds and began to case the property.
With the eye of a tactician he circled the mansion and took stock of everything. Dusty windows, all locked. A back door, locked, a cellar door that looked to be damaged, and a tool shed for whomever was responsible for upkeep of the yard. Evidently they hadn't done their job in a long time. The German checked that next and found it unlocked. Peeking inside showed that nothing looked out of the ordinary, except for the fact all of the sharp tools were gone. No axes or trimming equipment to be found anywhere. The spaces these items should have occupied on the walls and racks were covered over in dust and webs, so they were probably moved around the same time that everything out here was abandoned.
It was around this point that he gave the front door another look, or so he meant to do. Dieter stopped short of the threshold, looking down first and then kneeling to make a closer inspection. He called the others over and pointed at what he found, drawing the eyes of the group to a set of footprints in the yard. Time had worn them down but they appeared to all belong to the same person, or at least one of roughly similar size. It couldn't be told what actually made them, but the depressions clearly belonged to someone that seemed very eager to get into the door. Or something.
"Look here. Prints, dozens of them. From the best I can tell, they all belong to the same maker; but whom or what that maker is, I cannot ascertain. Time has worn it away, but there is no mistaking that someone or something was trying to get into our art collector's domicile." That was what he began with. Perhaps one of them could shed more light on that, though the explorer did point out one more thing before moving on. "Now, note the lack of marks on the door and windows. If someone truly wanted to get inside, one would suspect that they would attempt to break in. But there are no signs of that. Perhaps they were merely trying to intimidate Belknap, or perhaps starve him out? But how would his neighbors have never reported that?"
The man rose to his feet and began to move around towards the back door, he went via the side the tool shed was on, and he motioned for his companions to follow. He nodded to the aforementioned outbuilding as they passed it. "The next thing of note is that all the sharp tools in that shed are missing, and appear to have been displaced for some time. My first guess is that someone took them to use as weapons, for either defense or offense. Furthermore note how the same prints continue around back and once again surround the back door. Our mysterious assailant was very persistent."
This capped off with him pointing to the cellar door, which was damaged heavily. "And it appears that this is where they decided to finally stop being passive and attempt to use force to gain entry. The doors here have clearly been attacked, but what strikes me as unusual is the type of damage. You would expect a man to try to cut or break through to get inside, but if my eyes do not deceive me, I would say that something burned straight through the door to gain access. This door is metal, and the edges of this hole are clearly molten. It's dark, but I think I see droplets of hardened slag on the steps beyond it as well," he pointed out with the taciturn appraisal of a soldier. The same could be said of his closing remarks, "What I want you all to think about is what could have burned straight through metal like this, because carrying a blow torch or some other implement to do the deed does not strike me as something any common thief or robber would do. It would take too long, make too much noise, and draw too much attention. They would rather break a window or one of the wooden doors into the first level. So I think it stands to reason that something unusual must have occurred. For now I do not know enough to speculate, but this does rouse a great amount of suspicion in my mind. Even more so since these gaps appear to be too small for a man to enter through, so either it was not a person that did this, or they did not finish their work before stopping for some unknown reason. And further still, I question why they did not do what I am about to do."
Dieter reached into the pockets of his coat and pulled out a pair of his own gloves, like Tamara's, they too were inlaid with runes. One on the back of each hand. They were plated with an alloy of titanium and silver along the back and knuckles that, in addition to allowing him to throw a nasty punch, would enhance the power of any spells thrown through them. This was done by both mundane means, via a conductive metal when using fire of electricity, and magically, from the vril-blitz rune carved into the left, the benefit here operating off of the principles explained back in Egypt. The right glove had another European occult symbol emblazoned on the back, the black sun. Those were just two of the new items his artificers had produced over the last several months. Never before had they been able to work arcane energies into so small of an article. No doubt, this was due to the merging of the planes. It was both an exciting prospect...and a terrifying one in its implication.
They were obviously weapons and so his putting them on should be a clue to the rest that he expected some form of danger to happen, but how they prepared for that was up to them. He himself reached through one of the holes in the basement door and unlocked it from the other side, and then pulled his arm back out to open it with a grinding creak that came from a lack of oil on its hinges. No shock since nothing else in the area was being maintained. Following the idea that he was building up to earlier, any human being with a modicum of intelligence would have been able to puzzle out that they could open the door this way and get inside. So why hadn't they done it? They would simply have to find out for themselves. For now, Dieter said this to his group, "Whatever happened here gives me a bad feeling. For the sake of both Belknap and our friend whom we came here to help, I believe that we should head inside to try and uncover what has came to pass within these grounds. In the worst case scenario, perhaps we can find a clue to the elixir within even if the man that owns this property is no longer with us."
He waited to see what they thought of that idea, and also what anyone else had uncovered while he was doing his own searching and consideration.
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Post by Pitman on Jan 24, 2017 17:41:48 GMT -6
Tamara failed to notice Mei Mei began to talk as they were soon walking inside she soon apoligizes, "Oh Sorry Mei Mei, how are you doing?"
She gave an apologetic face and clapped two hands together showing how sorry she was. Never the less as they arrived towards James as he soon gave a greeting to them hearing him talk of Austria continued to remind her of home further but they were on other business, no time to think of the past.
"Its been a while James, as for how I fare, sore? Uhh always lacking sleep? Mister Gerhardt is not an easy task master especially when it comes to toughing people up.", Tamara soon comment which was completely true.
The last two months have been tiring both in mind and body, its now making it more apparent that his organization is probably the best and one of the only groups that actively train in the magical arts of this world. Of course in her world it is done by various academies and some of them given great and just as dangerous mages. Still she was taught by top teachers within the Mage Knights but even they would never push Tamara as hard as Dieter had. Could it be she was of the Ashborne family it was like this? Ironically enough she has grown customed to the harsh training as with Gedeon out of commission she had to get strong for 'his' sake. Wait why did she even begun to think of him in that matter at all?
Her thoughts were finished when she heard of the name Paracelsus which intrigued her a bit and soon asks, "Paracelsus?"
Being explained briefly she soon understood now why they were here which got her more excited which she hears of what they were looking for specifically.
"Are we sure this elixir will heal Gedeon? In my world its possible but with low amounts of mana in this world...", Tamara soon commented part of her doubting but another completely hoping it would help.
Though once hearing of a art collector she soon didn't make a question only hearing what they meant. That made sense an art collector would collect all forms of old artifacts which also gave a good chance of finding magical items. Its one of the things that the mafia that has helped them did in some things and how Gedeon made a quick buck at New York City. In a strange twist of fate the smuggling magic items there is a big business which made her wonder its all connected some how when they arrived in this world. As soon as they determined what to do she soon adds, "Whatever it is its best to hurry even I don't know if Gedeon can last, for now he is just stagnate but I still don't know..."
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Looking at the mansion as they arrived she soon exited the vehicle, what was strange it looked almost abandoned. The weeds all over, nothing looked kept, it all looked completely suspicious in look. Perhaps this man they are trying to find is completely insane? Or one of those who simply maintained nothing? Never the less she follow Dieter as he got the gate for her she soon replies, "Thanks."
Even then entering she walked with the others towards the door which James pressed on no response her bad feeling began to sprout again. She couldn't pin point why but she began to feel a bit of dread almost as something was not right. Spreading out everyone began to look around to see clues all the while Tamara closed her eyes in thought. Something continued in the back of her mind that something is very wrong here. What is strange she felt like a dead zone no mana at all could be felt, that alone put her more on edge. Though there is always a chance parts of this world simply lacked any form of mana as well. Tamara knew that James and Dieter were better at this then her who the youngest of the group here, not to mention she always did rely on Gedeon too much. She continued to look around only to notice all the windows looking like nothing tried to break in.
"This is just odd...", Tamara whispered to herself as she continued look around the mansion.
She soon brought out of her thoughts when Dieter called everyone near him, hearing the explanation from sharp objects missing and a month's worth of mail from scientist. Actually that is what was completely odd why would someone so intrigued in the occult want to talk with men of science? Things were getting odder by the minute which didn't help the dread Tamara was feeling from this place. Too many things looked suspicious, was he hiding from something was he being hunted by by someone?
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Rabite
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Hey, look over here.
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Post by Rabite on Jan 24, 2017 23:42:51 GMT -6
Mei Mei did not response, still quite lacking in emotions she was not very flexible in her expressions, so their conversation seems to end at that for now.
"Hm, Ms. Tamara, you do realize that people could think of what you said in a wrong way, right?"
James responded with a light joke, if a slightly harassing one, which brought him an annoyed look from Kate for a moment. After they finished the explanation on Paracelsus, James started talking about Tamara's question on the success rate.
"Why, you might have gotten it wrong, it is not that the world lack mana but more of the people of this world do not understand how to use mana. Just like myself, Catharine, and Mr. Gerhardt who can use magic with relatively ease once we discovered it's existences. As for how well would it work on Mr. Salvator... I give no promise, but we may as well try it out."
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James took some attention to the smaller details, and looked at a different aspect. The ledges of the roofs are modified, with the angled parts being either cut off or filed down, a recent modification judging by the condition of those parts compared to the rest of the building. He found the same modification with the door, the handle had been replaced by round doorknobs. Alone they might just be regular modifications, but when done at the same time it seems kind of strange.
"James, look at this..."
Kate was taking a look at the lawn, where some patches of the grass had withered, and it's in a much too poor condition to see this as natural happenings. The grass seems to have received some degree of burn, not from fire but from some sort of acidic substances, why would patches of the grass be in such condition rather than the entire lawn? James took a look at it himself, but neither of the two could think of what might have caused this.
Hearing Dieter's hypothesis, James felt something strange here. It's the modern era, not the ancient times, if someone was trying to trap Belknap in his home then he could have called for help with a cellphone or something. The footprints are strange as well, if it belongs to someone else, where are Belknap's own footprints? Why would the owner of these footprints be walking around the house even if they plan to trap Belknap?
Then they headed towards the cellar door, the burn feels something different from fire, it did not leave any extra burn marks. When asked by Dieter on what might cause such burns, Kate seems to have something in mind.
"If it's not fire then... acid? But acid that could burn through a metal door is certainly not a common substance..."
"And the size is too small for a person or even a small animal to pass through, if they suddenly decided to stop trying then they must have found some other way in?"
However the team did not see any other entrances, both the front and rear doors are locked and intact, and the cellar door is still shut despite the damages it received. There were little signs that Belknap tried to fight back as well, was he trying to hide just like what Tamara had suggested? If so, from who, or from what?
"...You're right, lets move in and take a look. With those burn marks in place we can claim the door was already opened before we arrived..."
The group unlocked the door through the damaged part, and entered the mansion.
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Inside the cellar was pitch dark, no lights were on, just like what they had seen from the outside. There were no signs of movements anywhere near, suggesting the house is empty of people. The cellar contained some old furniture, two barrels that contains what might be wine, but there were little of interest. Slowly the group heads up the the stairs to the house itself, which shows a much different story.
The house was trashed, almost completely, as if a typhoon had past through the interior of the house. Furniture were damaged, some by blunt force and others by the same type of burn they have seen earlier on the cellar door. They could see some of the tools that were missing from the garden shed, with the main and rear entrances boarded up from the inside, suggesting that Belknap might be somewhere inside the house. One of the tools is sludge hammer, but it seems to have been burnt by something, even the hammerhead are severely burnt. If all the exits are blocked, how did the enemies get in? There's no sign of movements inside the house, did whoever that Belknap fought got defeated by him?
The team splits up to check out the house, with James and Kate heading towards the studies to take a look at the books. After some searching they found Belknap's diary in a hidden drawer, Kate who knows the language decides to take a look.
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[Several entries]
"....Finally I found it, the mirror said to be able to see all, I've been looking for years to get my hands on this... but it does look kind of plain, I wonder what made it so special...?"
. . .
"...I poured the vial on the mirror as suggested by that man, and it worked as he said, the mirror started to glow!"
. . .
"Thanks to the mirror I was able to find some long forgotten memories, a handy artifact. Now that I figured out what happened back then, that'll be one less thing off my shoulders. Though maybe now I should get back to my daily activities, maybe I should look else where to get other categories of art... But first I should talk to the neighbors, their dog has been barking at night, it's ruining my good mood."
. . .
"There goes the barking again... but strange, I could have sworn the family next door went on a vacation..."
. . . .
"I hear it! I hear it again! Where is it!? Where are they!?"
. .
"I need to find a safer place! A place where I can avoid them...! A place without..."
. .
"I... I... I was hit... they tore a chunk away from me... I feel... I feel... that my time is... running out..."
. .
"I got... the item... but... it is. t.o.o...l-"
-
The diary seems to have ended there, but the owner of it is no where in sight. The only other thing of interest is a small pile of ashes in the room, did someone burn something in here of all places? It doesn't feel like ashes caused by burning either, something was truly out of place... the diary also mentioned a mirror, perhaps that could be their next clue?
The two looked at each other, this is starting to somewhat creepy, was this really a diary or some sort of a novel? Either way there's nothing else of interest here, so they move to regroup with the rest of the team.
-
In the other parts of the house, there are the main room which received the most damage, and the gallery which contains Belknap's collections. Having a detailed check on the main room would suggest that there are signs of fighting here, with most of the physical damages caused by the sledge hammer that is noted earlier and left on the side. The other main damage are some sort of burning, melting damages that ate right through the wood, suggesting a highly potent substance. Whatever that did the damage however, seems to have evaporated and did not leave any traces of it behind.
Among the remains of the furniture, if they search enough the adventurers might be able to find some shards of diamonds, their shape suggested that they used to be something else before they were broken up into pieces. Some of the shards are found on the damaged furniture, but strangely the shards themselves did not suffer any burns. Another strange thing is that although there are physical damages in the mansion, judging from the damage they mostly if not all caused by the hammer. All the burns are similar to what they have seen on the cellar door, it was not caused by fire, possibly by acid of some sort.
There are a phone in the house, it rests on the ground, being knocked down during the commotion. The phone itself still works, which means if he wanted Belknap could have called for help, so what stopped him from doing so? There is also a world map among the remains, with Greenland circled up with red ink, what could this suggest?
As James and Kate pass the room, James picked up the map and wondered about it. Kate on the other hand noticed the diamond shards, figures, women and their jewels.
-
In the galley are Belknap's collection, ranging from statues to paintings. Some of them are the real deal, while others are fake replicas. There's no specific patterns to the art pieces that Belknap collected, he was opened to anything of value to him. In the back of the room after all the other pieces of art, is a large mirror the size of a person, covered with a black piece of cloth. If one of them would take off the cloth, they would find a mirror, however the mirror is glowing brightly.
If Tamara was the one to take a look at the mirror, it would have shown a scene from a while back, from just before she came to this world. If Dieter was the one that looked into the mirror, they would see a battlefield, an extremely bloody one. Men in uniforms fell in tens of thousands, mowed down by gunfire, disabled or killed by deadly gas. Among those caught in the gas were a man in his late 20s or early 30s, who seems to have been temporary blinded. Another scene shows a different location and time period, where the same man and many others in similar uniforms looked on as a black, white, and red flag gets lowered.
The scenes only lasted for a moment before the mirrors died down again, and then they heard it, the barks that was mentioned in Belknap's diary. A strong scent that is similar to sulfur fills the room, growling and howling are heard from all directions yet it does not seem to have came from any specific location. Then, they appeared, from the corners of the gallery, three figures the size of a wolf.
The creature that appeared were unlike anything of this world, they look to be formed of black smoke, with some sort of bluish liquid dripping out of their entire body. It is as if they themselves are melting, as the liquid drips on the floor, it starts to burn through the wood like it was snow in a summer day. These must be the creatures that Belknap was trying to hide from.
Their mere appearance might bring a lot of questions, what are they? How did they get here? What do they want? In fact, just looking at their unexplainable forms are making both James and Kate feels sick, highly difficult for the human mind to comprehend.
Groups of sharp teeth are visible in their mouth, positioned as if they grew out randomly and not as a set of teeth. A long, liquid like tongue stretched out from their mouth, hollow and sharp, unlike any organs of existing animals. Their tongues whipped at the floor towards the group, generating enough forces to crack the solid wood floor, clearly the creature is not friendly towards the humans. They starts to circle the adventurers, watching them carefully, before they suddenly disappear like they did not existed in the first place.
Before the group could even wonder where did the creatures go, James noticed at the last moment, and tackles Kate just in time. A split second later, one of the creatures from before reappeared out of no where, and bit at where Kate was standing at before continuing forward towards the ceiling and disappeared again.
"Everyone watch out! I don't know how they did it but..."
James shouted a warning to the rest of the group, while trying to help Kate back up as soon as possible. Where did the creature came from? How did it do that? Was it magic? It certainly left mana behind, showing that it is a mythical creature, but even with magic something like this shouldn't be able to be done right?
The other two reappeared a short distance in front of Dieter and Tamara, looking at the two while waving their tongue. They barked at the two a bit in a different tongue, they seem to be having fun, looking down on their prey and are laughing at the humans in the room.
[3x Beast Hound of Tindalos has appeared!]
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Richter
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Post by Richter on Jan 25, 2017 1:09:52 GMT -6
"Acid..." Dieter repeated, letting the words linger in his mind for a few seconds. That fit together a few pieces of the puzzle, and he explained what he was thinking, "Perhaps this has something to do with the scientists that Belknap was corresponding with? They could certainly provide the advanced acids needed to do this type of damage, but then again that doesn't explain why they were being used to break in. I suppose we shall have to hope we find answers within."
As always he lead the way through the cellar. The only things of note down there were the barrels, which the German tapped a few times to ascertain their contents. It sounded like liquid, so he gave a disinterested shrug and proceeded through the basement and up into the actual mansion itself. He agreed with James's idea to split up, him and his assistant going one way and Dieter and Tamara another. It seemed logical to Gerhardt that if any clues were to be found they would be in the gallery with the rest of the collection, so that's where they were headed. Little did anyone know, they were exactly right.
-
The silence in the studio was almost deafening, broken only by the thud of Dieter's boots and Tamara's shoes on the hard wood floors. All around them dusty paintings and cobwebbed statues seemed to leer at them as if they were intruders to this place, or perhaps that was merely because of the dreary nature of the room. Little light penetrated the dust-caked windows, and even when he found and flipped a light switch, long shadows were thrown between the aisles of exhibits and artifacts. Reaching out with his sixth sense unveiled the presence of numen from somewhere deeper in the chamber; he attempted to follow it back to its source. All seemed to be safe, but he still moved cautiously. More strange burn markings littered the room here and there, not nearly as many as in the room they came into from the cellar, but still enough to detail that the fighting had continued into this chamber as well. Thus, whatever Belknap was fighting may well remain.
"I sense that something arcane is here, but I can't tell what it is. Keep your eyes open," he told Tamara.
Several of the pieces that they crossed paths with could be recognized. A few portraits, a painting of melted clocks, a statue of a Greek god, etc. Even the replicas were of fine quality. One had to hand it to the collector, he did not waste time on anything of poor quality and taste. It was that very fact which made the mirror in the back stand out to the trained eye of our explorer; everything in this private museum was proudly displayed, everything except for that one item veiled with black cloth. He motioned to that and made a beeline to the item. Once closer there was no mistaking that this was the magical item they had sensed prior.
"I highly doubt that this is any form of potion, but what is clear is that it is not a mundane piece of art. Come, grab that side and help me uncover whatever is underneath."
With the German taking one side of the cloth and Tamara the other, they flipped the veil back at once to look at what was beneath. A mirror, it seemed. Even to the untrained eye this thing was not normal in the least, the otherwordly glow it was casting made that very self evident. No wonder it was hidden. Or so Dieter thought at first, because he was very harshly shown the real reason the second he made the mistake of looking into the glass itself.
The scenes within it sent him stumbling backwards in awe, and perhaps a little bit of fear and several other emotions too. They weren't just familiar, they were the exact same events that he himself had bore witness to in the distant past. But how could this be? The sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that this was no projection. It was some kind of scry, or perhaps, another view of the past akin to that they were forced to relive in Anubis's temple. Being shown it face to face yet again did not lessen the impact in the least. His head snapped sharply to the side to glance at the girl beside him to see if she was seeing what he was seeing...
But he stopped himself there and forced himself to be calm, to subdue the thundering of his heart of his chest. A quick round of meditation and breath control to find his center and bring him back into focus was all that he needed. The adventurer rationalized to himself that, like Egypt, she was probably seeing her own events and not his. Secondly, as a denizen from another world, his events would mean nothing to her regardless. So he did not have to worry about hiding them. Yes, that was good. Gerhardt was his cool and collected self again after several moments.
"I think we found some form of magic mirror," he said to the girl. In case she was caught in the memories as he just was, he hoped his voice and explanation would bring her back from the depths of her own mind. No doubt she harbored her own demons, some rather fresh considering Salvator's situation. "I witnessed a pair of scenes from my younger days. But they're just images, like pictures in a book. What you need to remem-"
Those words were cut off immediately by the sounds of barking. Now, this upset the occultist for two very good reasons. For one, they didn't see any dogs anywhere nearby when they were outside. For two, those noises sounded like they were coming from inside the house, and he was dead certain that they had found no signs of any animals in this mansion. So that only could mean one thing.
"Ambush, prepare yourselves!"
The timing was convenient, because the beasts showed up within seconds of James and Kate rejoining them in the art gallery.
-
There was no mistaking that they were hideous and monstrous both, the German took stock of his foes as they arrayed themselves for battle. Something about the way they looked made his head hurt, as if things like this simply weren't supposed to exist. Which wasn't exactly a wrong statement either, going off of their melted, gelatinous visage. He doubted any scientist in the world could even begin to take a stab at what these things were. Judging by the fact their tongues were strong enough to dent wood, Dieter also guessed that they were pretty powerful on the physical front too. Magically, he wasn't too sure, but they obviously weren't natural creatures. The only advantage that he could detect so far was that there were only three of them, and five of their group. So they had the press of numbers to help them at the very least.
Small blessing.
It suddenly got even worse when it was revealed that the monsters could apparently teleport, poofing in and out of reality in clouds of acrid black smoke. One such 'blink' almost got Kate, but before they could rush to her defense, the two that remained moved to stare down Dieter and Tamara. His hand dove into his coat with the kind of speed afforded only by muscle memory, it came back out holding the Holy Lance itself. It seemed that the German was loathe to ever leave it behind no matter where he went...or perhaps, he couldn't leave.
He barked some orders to his allies. "Watch each others' backs, keep moving, keep them at length."
The Spear Bearer struck first with the spear kept in its collapsed form. He hefted the weapon in two hands and thrusted it forward towards the hound standing closest to him, but right before it would connect he hit the catch on the lance's telescoping haft to send it shooting forward to take its full length. This way if it went for a dodge it would still very likely catch the blade when it expanded, and if it didn't dodge, the powerful springs in the shaft would pound it further into the beast's body. In either case it gave Dieter a lot of reach, which he exploited by stepping backwards after the strike and keeping the spear stretched out ahead of him to threaten a wide area. Following his own advice meant they he kept moving from side to side with his head kept on a swivel to keep anything from getting a clean shot at him.
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Post by Pitman on Jan 26, 2017 2:05:04 GMT -6
Soon hearing James reply about her comment being wrong which was highly likely. She soon put her head down in a thought as she soon nods, "Lets hope it does work."
Upon entering the mansion, the way it was how you put it a war zone itself. Whatever occurred in this mansion must of been a struggle and something making more dread feeling through Tamara's mind. Regardless as they entered the mansion with the others as they entered the cellars. The first thing she noticed the lack of light down here as well no light to speak off. Looking around it looked like any other cellar she seen before and noticed how it mostly had furniture down here. When coming up she hears James suggestion of splitting up to begin to search, after all this place was pretty large in size.
"Of course it would also cut down time to find out what occurred here exactly.", Tamara chimed in which she would join Dieter towards the 'art gallery'.
As they entered Tamara looked everything from simple art and some that looked like real magical artifacts. Searching she began to look around to find any clues with no shred of luck, though hearing Dieter she responds, "It is quite faint but doesn't feel any of it active if it is."
She continued to look til she notice Dieter found what the mana was emitting from as she finally noticed it as well. Walking up she goes on the other side of the object then says, "Well lets see whats behind Curtain number one."
As the cover soon revealed itself into a full mirror which she suddenly saw an image inside of it. She stopped as it looked like at a time before everything she knew was burned down, her magical teacher was in the yard of their home instructing her in the magical arts, specifically fire the main affinity she had. Within the yard there was a few guards and one she didn't notice before. Why was 'that man' there and why she didn't notice it from before. Wait if he was there months before everything occurred then it it dawned on her, if that man was there it explain why they found her so quickly If this was fact then that meant there must of been a traitor. A traitor within the very Order of Mage Knights because that man who was there wore a uniform of a high ranked Mage Knight yet his face was on the same face as-
"A mirror that can see into the past..", Tamara soon added then before they could finish she felt that dread once again.
Dread, a familiar yet so distinctive dread, something animalistic in nature something not of this world. Her mana flared up as the runes on her gloves activated as she soon controlled it near perfectly now. No longer was the waves of mana was a tidal wave but instead a well controlled dam. She had the most mana pool out of everyone but her raw power before lacked complete control, now that was not the case. Taking a stance she was ready to fight whatever was coming only to finally see what was before them.
"What the... are those hounds?", Tamara soon asked as their shape was grotesque in shape and looks.
Of course they she recognized couldn't be at all normal no, she read things before Mage Knights fight these must be some form of monster. Something inhumane, something with power that simply not of this world. Hearing Dieters words Tamara soon nods, "Right."
With Dieter making the first strike Tamara soon observed the beasts looked then remembering what occurred before, instead of kicking or punching or anything to get close she chosen to keep her distance and soon summoned a small flame from her hand in a controlled manner and launched at a nearest hound. Even as she did so why, did this feel familiar, the power of shadow... the black power almost like when it occurred all before. Though in the mist of fighting Tamara felt that same dread, dread that she should know yet doesn't.
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Rabite
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Post by Rabite on Jan 27, 2017 0:43:55 GMT -6
James and Kate just got up from the floor and was quickly looking around for the creature that attacked them, however it seems to have disappeared again and are no where in sight... or so they think. Seconds later the hound comes towards them from their sides, at a great speed to prevent them from dodging the hit well, ready to take a chunk out of at least one of the pair. Just when they were too late to discover and avoid the attack, Mei Mei intercepted the hound just in time with a powerful punch to the body.
Mei Mei's punches were getting more and more powerful, as seen back in their adventures in Egypt, it was powerful enough to break down a solid stone wall. However that power seems to have little to no effect here, the undead girl's fist drives into the mucky body of the hound, without even causing a wince on the creature's horrifying face.
The hound bites back at the undead that is getting in the way of it's meal, but finds the humanoid surprisingly tough for her appearance, it is like biting into concrete blocks. It jumped back, growling at the strange humanoid before disappearing again, just in time to avoid a spear launched by James' magic.
"It's fast!"
"Mei Mei! Are you hurt?"
"Mei Mei. Fine."
Looks like the acidic property was not strong enough to burn through the Jiangshi's physical defense, however she could not do damage to the hound either, which makes it kind of a stalemate. On a side note, her clothes do not seem to share the same protective strength. When she punched the creature, the force caused the substances that made up it's body to splash out a bit, she was able to protect herself in time but the acid burnt some holes into her sleeve.
"Mei Mei, stay near us and push the hound away if it comes at us! Kate you help keep watch! Come forth, Will o' Wisp!"
James summoned a Wisp in front of him, hoping to use it as a bomb to deal with the hound, and waits for it to come out again while Kate and Mei Mei helps keep watch. He looked towards Dieter and Tamara with the corner of his eyes, and found them busy dealing with their own hound as well. Unfortunately Kate without firearms lacks much combat ability, so they actually don't have as much advantage as they might have hoped.
-
Dieter's strike was fierce and just, stabbing right into his target. With the powers of the holy lance it should be enough to kill most mythical creatures... right? But these creatures seems to be the exception. Not only did the stab not kill them like expected, if it did any damage to them it was not showing. The spear stabbed right through the creature, but as the spear makes impact, Dieter might notice that it feels like he just stabbed into a large mass of wet and heavy sand. The spear would have made a squelching sound, further reinforcing the feeling that Dieter had attacked dirt or mud instead of a living being... if it's living at all. Much of the force of the strike would be weakened, perhaps absorbed by the body of the creature. Although the spear did pierce through the creature's outer layer, the physical force part of the attack seems to have little to no effect.
"Gwa~ kkkkya-"
The creature produced sounds unheard of from any animals on Earth, with a high pitch sound similar to a screech. The hound did not even resist the stab, waving it's head slowly from side to side as if to mock it's opponent that tried futilely to attack it. When Dieter tries to retrieve his spear, he would find it just as difficult to pull the spear back as it were to stab into the creature.
The spear would have been smoking, it's holy powers would have protected it from being damage, but any regular melee weapon would have molten to bits. Touching it directly seems like a bad idea, certainly not something the adventurers wanted to risk. But at times it might not be possible to avoid all the dangers.
The hound lashed out with it's tongue, and then swipes it sideways in order to try and hit the fast moving Dieter, then follows with a wide bite in reaction to what Dieter would have done to either dodge or block the tongue. It might look like an animal, but it is definitely much more intelligent than a wild beast, perhaps it's got a great degree of wisdom within that strange smog like body?
Whatever damage it suffered from the spear does not seem visible, it looks like the creature could reform it's body from a regular wound(?) like it had just received, they would need something bigger than a regular spear stab to deal with these things.
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Unlike with Mei Mei and Dieter's attacks, against the Tamara's spell, the hound that she is facing decides to dodge it and did it with ease. It jumped up onto the roof, standing on it as if gravity does not exist, and dashes between the lighting to use them like cover. It would have been appearing here and there as it goes behind lamps and artifacts that might block Tamara's vision... then it disappeared completely behind a small painting that could not have possibly hide the creature.
The next moment, if stayed on the same spot, Tamara might feel the burning acidic liquid dripping down on her. It's the hound, it warped above her and staring at her, before crackling it's tongue towards her neck. Not only was it try to whip her, but also to wrap it's tongue around her neck in order to choke her or pull her up towards the ceiling. Not knowing how the creature warps from places to places, it will definitely be a bad idea to be pulled away by the hound. And even if not, it's gonna be able to take a large chomp at her, also a horrible experience to try.
On the bright side, it is in one place and closer to Tamara than it was before, perhaps she could risk fighting it instead of saving her life first? It will however be highly risky, perhaps more risk than they might want to take.
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Richter
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Post by Richter on Jan 27, 2017 2:42:00 GMT -6
Dieter's keen mind noticed before his lance even struck that the creature was making no effort in the least to avoid his attack, despite clearly being capable. That told him well in advance that this maneuver wasn't going to do a damn thing, and he was absolutely correct. The spear hit home with a solid impact and a wet sucking noise, more like stabbing wet mud than flesh. Droplets of sizzling fluid, losing which apparently did not bother it either, dribbled out from around the point of impact to burn the floor.
"Scheisse!"
So perhaps this was no living thing at all, but a golem or other construct? He'd faced similar before, albeit nothing even remotely approaching this one in weirdness. Well. Specifics didn't matter at the moment, defeating it did. The lance didn't want to budge, but obviously Dieter wasn't going to accept that. The man dug in his heels, gripped the haft tight, and tore it free with a loud cry. This was further proof that this monster was no ordinary entity, ripping out that blade should have taken an organ and a lot of blood with it; instead all that came out was more burning acid. Luckily his weapon's reached protected him from that, and he flicked any residue on the head off with a quick motion.
He found this fact out at about the same time that James did with Mei Mei, but oblivious to that, he called it out to the rest of them regardless. "It's them, they're made of acid! Be careful!"
Once again Gerhardt was left staring down the hound. He needed a new plan and he had to come up with it fast. But this time his opponent seized the initiative to launch its own strikes to keep him on the back foot. It's tongue came out first, swinging like a whip with an undue amount of force. To avoid this he leaped backwards a short distance, watching as the appendage smacked into a standing lamp and deformed it in a single strike. Next it launched itself at him while he was recovering from that with its maw opened wide, but luckily by that point he knew what to do.
He took his spear and swung it backwards, hooking the butt of it under the arm of a marble statue behind him and to the right. For this he would need strength beyond his already super-human levels, and so he reached deep into himself and drew forth numen from that wellspring of power deep inside his metaphysical form. He took it and used it to augment his body via his mastery of internal alchemy, fortifying his system with the treasure of the corporeal form and giving him increased strength, tenacity, and alacrity as a result. A torrent of white-hot power thundered through his being like water through a channel, now he was ready. Being a matter of spirit this actually only took a split second for a practiced occultist like him to perform, it was decidedly without flare but perhaps one of the most potent uses of magic in whole Archtypical Marcosm; in addition to a staple technique of his Knights. Dieter gave another great shout as he heaved himself forward, tearing the statue off its pedestal and sending it straight into the mouth of the horrid monster rushing forward to bite him.
Would a move like that stop it? Not even he knew, but that would definitely break its charge. Or so he hoped. Whether it evaded it physically, by jumping over it, or magically, by teleporting, he carried through on the strike by bring the Holy Lance around his body and then over his head to twirl it in a wide circle to conserve his own momentum. From there he swung it hard at one of the dog's legs, seeking to hack it to pieces rather than impale it. That was how he defeated monsters without organs before, so he would try it again here. If necessary he'd move himself to bring it back into reach.
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Post by Pitman on Jan 28, 2017 1:23:58 GMT -6
As her fire ball missed Tamara noticed how quick the hound was as well how it defied the concept of gravity of this world.
"what the gravitational magic?", Tamara soon mutters then noticed how it moved behind objects.
It seemed it used shadows to give itself cover and even move around which gave off some more of its abilities. The more she saw this the more in her head told her what she was dealing with. Suddenly it disappeared which gave her red indicators, it had the power of acid and seeing it from Dieter's own fight told her getting near only meant death. She quickly moved from her spot and exactly as she did so acid dropped near where she was standing. Not to mention suddenly a tongue came down trying to grab her, knowing full well these enemies could easily kill her.
"Shit... if its by that way then...!", Tamara soon stated as she put a gloved hand on the floor.
Using her power instead of making a fire ball like before she instead did something that was out of her own element and more the element of Gedeon. Electricity began to form around her palm and the floor and she suddenly released magical energy and fired a much weaker but more common Bolt. Being almost as quick as light itself she fired toward the tongue that was released unless it was quicker then light.
"By thy power I release Thee!! Bolt!", Tamara soon quickly chanted.
If it worked it could fry the hound but she had a bad feeling this too would fail, regardless she was calm through the entire ordeal.
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Rabite
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Post by Rabite on Jan 28, 2017 2:55:29 GMT -6
And yet again does the hound come towards the trio, at such a speed that it would be able to get the first strike in even though the three was ready for it. But this time they were more ready, and James sends the Wisp in the hound's face as it charged them, exploding it at close to blank range. It was pretty much the only way James could have used the Wisp on these creatures, being much much too fast for the slow moving Wisp to chase after, they had to risk it getting close and detonating it.
For the first time in the fight, the hound seems to show some signs of discomfort, pain was what James hoped it was experiencing. The explosion seems to have damaged it a bit, if only of a minor degree. However that was not necessary helpful, considering it did not do enough damage to even weaken it's assault. It began running around them in circles, forcing the three to chase after it and not striking first, waiting for an opening before it would attack again.
James responded to this by summoning three more Wisps, which begins to circle around the three of them. Even if they won't be able to use them on the attack, it would at least keep the hound more weary and get it to think twice before striking again. And it did, at least temporary, it seems to not like those glowing spirits that damaged it's mostly invincible body and did not strike as often as before. Mei Mei is also there to provide some cover, ready to force back the creature if it attacks again.
He was getting fairly worried, going through his options he found that he lacks the ability to deal with these creatures effectively, he doesn't have the kind of firepower to take them out.
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Dieter's combat skills were definitely the highest within the group, delivering a series of attacks that makes even these fearsome creature surprised, at least it seems so when the hound did not dodge the flying statue towards it. However, moments later that seems to be just an illusion, the hound allowed itself to be hit and sent flying... into the corner of the room. When it seems that the hound would have been crushed by the statue, and then the lance strike, Dieter's attack would have destroyed the remains of the statue... but hits nothing.
The hound appears from behind another piece of art on the side, grabs on to the same statue that it came out from, and flings it right towards Dieter in return. Before moving behind other possibly valuable pieces of art for cover and as projectiles. Either these creatures are smart enough to do so in the first place, or they are quickly learning from their opponents, getting more and more tricky to deal with.
Not only does it make use of it's own abilities, but is adapting to the techniques and tactics of it's prey, making it more difficult to deal with as time goes. But even Belknap a regular person could survive the hound for some time, there must be a catch with this, they just have to figure it out to give them more chance with their fight.
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Luck was on Tamara's side, at least for that one spell. The bolt managed to hit the thin tongue, and seems to have burnt it in half... but it regrows back before she could even cheer on herself for the lucky strike. As shown from how it handled Dieter's lance and Mei Mei's punch, the creature can easily recover from lesser wounds, perhaps even major and fatal wounds as well if given time.
The hound just looked at her with a bit of annoyance, and charged at her with widely open jaws. Inside the jaws are filled with razor sharp teeth, each one of them are enough to cause some serious injuries, and they come chomping down on the mage. It was a direct attack, not even trying to hide it's intention to strike, but the deadly speed of the hound would be more than enough for it to catch most of it's prey.
If Tamara would avoid the attack, then the hound would quickly jump back a step before pouncing forward again for another swift strike, hoping to get a surprise attack in. If she does get hit, well lets just say getting your muscles torn by something with more biting force than a Hippo is not a very fun thing to experience.
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Richter
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Post by Richter on Jan 28, 2017 8:05:09 GMT -6
The German's plan worked about halfway, which all told, wasn't that bad considering the enemy they were fighting. The statue did succeed in throwing it off, but he underestimated the beast's intelligence. Any normal animal would probably have kept up the attack, but it was smarter. It pulled back well out of his range to look for another opening rather than diving in immediately to continue the assault. Very clever. The Holy Lance made a nice slash through the stone mannequin he had made airborne to begin with, almost bisecting it, but ultimately accomplished little else of value. Dieter pulled the spear back into ready position while turning in place to try and find where his wily opponent had disappeared to.
He spotted it off to the side via peripheral vision, a flash of white and black clued him in. Black was the dog, that made sense. The white was another marble statue being hurled back at him to counter the maneuver he just tried. By now it was clear that these things were both smart and had a wicked sense of humor, and neither boded well for the adventurers.
The statue was a slow moving projectile, speaking relatively, so Gerhardt wouldn't have a particularly hard time avoiding it. The greater issue would be avoiding it in such a way that he wouldn't leave himself open to another attack in the process. This was especially important since he tried it himself, which meant the hound probably knew and was building up to do the same. An ordinary man might fail here, but this was no ordinary man we were speaking of.
Anyone familiar with baseball would recognize what Dieter did. He actually moved towards the flying artifact, as suicidal as that would seem. Three steps were taken before he purposefully kicked his legs out to drop into a feet-first slide, like a batter running for a base before he could be caught. The effigy sailed overhead frighteningly close and ultimately slammed heavily into the far wall with no one being harmed in the process. Once it had overshot him Dieter hurled his body weight backwards to roll back onto his feet. The spear was whipped back out near instantly with almost no window for an opportunity attack provided.
Across the room the dog that had been harassing him continued to take evasive maneuvers, dodging between bits of cover akin to how an experienced soldier would in a firefight. That really worried him. Now, he probably could have held out near indefinitely against this one hound if he continued to focus all of his effort on it. But that wasn't how this guy worked. Dieter was a hero. A gentleman. Above all else, someone who never shirked from risk if it meant saving an ally, and right now, he saw on his flank Tamara wasn't fairing nearly as well as himself and James's company were. So that meant he was going to do a very stupid thing, but to him it was the right and thus only thing to do.
He took a big step forward at an angle, one that would look as it was approaching the first dog while also getting him a little closer to Tamara and her enemy. He reared back for a heavy circular slash, and carried through it...
"Tamara, duck!"
But where this differed is that, as he wound it around his body, he let the haft slide through his gloved hands until he was holding the very butt of the weapon so that it's entire length was being used. It sailed towards the dog attacking Tamara in an arc that came into its blind spot. It would tear at its hindquarters and rear legs if it connected. But the intent wasn't to hurt it, it was to interrupt its two-pronged attack so that the girl could more easily dodge it.
The problem here was that it invited both dogs to tag-team him, but that was simply a risk he would take. No one could ever say Dieter Gerhardt, the Spear Bearer, lacked bravery.
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Post by Pitman on Jan 29, 2017 18:36:56 GMT -6
Noticing her spell took down the tongue very quickly it seems her magic skills were still effective when they hit these hounds. Never the less the moment of triumph was took dashed away from her hands as the hound suddenly regained all that it lost. It told much to her even as now she was in more trouble, it showed these enemies can recover even with magic attack and she did notice earlier with Dieter how even his holy spear couldn't kill these things. The more she saw the more it reminded her of some of the stories she heard back in her world. Suddenly the hound pounced with its mouth wide open its razor sharp teeth could be seen from afar and she knew if those touched her she would lose a limb very easily. She moved herself just in time to avoid the first but the second could not be avoided, as she curses at her bad luck. That is til she soon hears a familiar voice yelling to duck.
"Right!", Tamara soon shouts out as she ducks under Dieter's attack.
To help him she began to chant the same spell from earlier and once Dieter's attack hits fires it directly at the hound which should of prevented it from dodging it.
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