trans_9 | Loud noises in the City [Open]

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Loud noises in the City [Open]

For the keen-eared to hear, there's shouting and loud voices coming from the lab opening cut high in the side of the Jedi Temple. Those new to the area, or possibly GLADOSed for an extended period of time -- in short, those who haven't learned to tune this sort of thing out -- might even be able to make out words, if they listened.

"No! That was not a command!"

"Command entered! This section of the laboratory is now being guarded against all intruders."

"Oh, for the sake of--"

"Warning! Intruder, leave the premises or face the wrath of arcane fury!"

"...I'm an intruder. In my own laboratory. You've got to be--"

"You have ten seconds to comply!"

"End instruction! Keyword: Sielwode."

"Keyword override is locked out for protection. You have 5 seconds!"

A few seconds passed.

"Why does it always have to end like this?"

A moment later, flame belched out of the laboratory opening, as a low thump heralded the fireball's detonation. Another moment later, the elf drifted out of the cut and to the ground, waving away the smell of brimstone and scorched defective golem with a miserable look on his face.

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His eyes widened to almost comical proportions; then, he swiftly ran his hands over his head, checking for bumps or signs of head damage. A dragon appearing out of nowhere and exhibiting curiosity over his work?!

"Of-of-course, of course!" he said, taking to the air with a completely hesitant lack of grace. "Please, feel free, come, welcome!"

He waved a hand, dismissing the illusion that concealed the true size of the entrance to his lab. Revealed, it was a few hundred feet wide and stretching across an entire floor's height of the temple -- more than enough space to permit a dragon entrance.

She couldn't help but let a lightest of chuckles through at his reaction to her interest in his work, a smile on her snout the whole while as she refolded her wings against her back.

"Thank you, I look forward to it," She would dip her head in reply, watching as the illusion was dismissed, not a small entrance indeed. Even were she at her full size the entrance would be massive compared to her. She did not take much time before padding her way on in.

Her gaze sweeping around the room, taking in near every detail, taking much sense in the magic within the room. Tempted to activate her true sight to take it all in, though she did not wish to be rude.

Yes. Aibghalien has been reduced to a state of fangirling squee. He will be somewhat embarrassed later.

The laboratory was, for all intents and purposes, divided into two sections. To the one side, the comfortable section -- wall-to-wall bookcases packed with tomes, grimoires, spellbooks, texts, and scrolls; comfortable chairs besides a fireplace, with endtables and adequate lighting all about, and a few different desks, each with a scroll or book on them. To the other, the working side -- wall-to-wall tables covered in haphazard quantities of unusual materials, imposing-looking alchemy equipment, and -- in the center of the floor -- the smoking, ashen remains of the failed experiment.

"Please, make yourself comfortable," Aibghalien babbled. "Is there anything I can offer you?"

Celena's gaze swept the room as she entered, taking in the divide between the two sections of the Laboratory, eyes lingering on vast array of bookcases on one side and over the various tables on the opposite. Almost at an impasse as to which side to walk over to first. Her eyes drifting over the ashen remains of the construct, if the smell of the smoke and look of it she'd assume the construct had been wooden.

The lure of the books and scrolls took her though as she padded over toward the fireplace and the desks, interest and curiosity clear on her features as she passed one of the desks, looking to the book layed upon it even as she padded on. Her eyes scanning over one of the book cases, taking in name after name from the spines of the books before she stopped off to the side of one of the comfortable chairs by the fireplace. A suitable place if any for a discussion she thought as she sat back on her haunches.

"I am fine thank you, a substantial little library you have here I see," she would dip her head in reply easily, indicating the bookshelves about, looking to the nearest desk she gave motion to the book atop it, "May I?"

"Of course, by all means," Aibghalien said. A little embarrassed, he made a swift gesture and focused on that small measure of inborn power that he elected to use, as opposed to the wizardry he had learned. An unseen servant coalesced to begin the process of cleanup on the experimental side of the lab. He cleared his throat and continued, "I was fortunate, or rather benefited from good planning. I was carrying the vast majority of my person effects at the time I was evidently taken by the ship."

Though that of course begs the question of how he'd done so.

The book she chose to look at was in fact one of Aibghalien's personal spellbooks-slash-journals. In this case, it dealt directly with the experiments he had been conducting in golem-construction. The entries provided an interesting insight into the wizard's mental process -- on that open page lay a meticulous retelling of the events of a previous failure, set down in a careful hand that clearly gave great thought to the words and phrases used. Annotating that entry were dozens of margin notes and scribblings, clearly written in the heat of inspiration and barely intelligible for their haste. Previous entries in the journal looked much the same as that, in turn.

Celena dipped her head and with a thought the book floated over to land in her paw, looking up at the sense of magic as the other summoned up an unseen force, letting eyes trail over the clean-up it began briefly before turning her eyes to the book before her. Skimming over each page with interest as she found it to be dealing with his most recent experiments, it did give her some insight into the others thought processes during such an experiment, very interesting indeed.

At the mention that he had been carrying the vast majority of his possessions with him when he was taken, raising an eyeridge as she peered over to him, "Indeed? All of this? Carrying such vast amounts is common place for you?" she would ask as if with passing interest, her curiosity as to his methods deeper than she let on.

He was suitably impressed, not at the display of magic -- that was easy -- but with the ease with which a dragon could manipulate a book. Admittedly, he had always pictured dragons as substantially larger, but he wrote this up to the oddities of the ship, and certainly lost no respect for her because of that minor difference.

"In fact, I was intending to relocate my lab to a new location, at least temporarily. It's something of a long story, though, especially depending on where you wish it to begin."

Celena continued to page through Aibghalien's not book, reading particular sections in greater detail. Storing particular details to memory as she continued through, deft motions of a claw turning the pages with practiced ease. Indeed her current size was near half her original size.

His reply brought her head up in interest, head tilted in curiosity, "Indeed? A convenient coincidence indeed it would sound. I would be happy to hear it, I've nothing pressing on my time at the current moment,"

"Please, by all means, make yourself comfortable!"

He spoke a word and made a few passes, then pointed at a chair by the fireplace. It obligingly transmuted into something not unlike a very large pillow or cushion. Aibghalien himself took one of the chairs, which clearly suited him; it was, after all, his favorite.

"Allow me to begin with a question, then. What do you know of gods?"

Celena watched his motions with some interest as he transmuted the chair into a more suitable cushion, to which after a short look over she dipped her head to him in thanks as she padded atop and rest herself down on that cushion. "Thank you,"

"Many societies have religions that make claim to gods that watch over them, I have not seen proof of such beings myself,"

"We should be so fortunate," the elf said, wryly. He folded his hands in front of him, elbows propped on his legs as he leaned forward. "The elven people certainly never had such, but a long time ago, humans came to our land, and brought their gods with them. A war occurred, and the ultimate result was that the gods slew themselves and a traitorous one of their number. In doing so their essence was spread across the land, and absorbed by many people. That essence became joined with the people it touched, a part of their heredity, as well as the very land itself. I have some of that divine bloodline within myself."

He paused there, waiting to see if she had questions. Given her curiosity thusfar he intended to give her ample opportunity to voice them!

Celena curled her tail around in front of her as she sat back on her haunches atop the cushion. Listening with great interest as he spoke, glancing through a few last pages of that notebook before she let it float back over to the desk. Interesting indeed, one race had gods yet another did not and from what it sounded, gods who had been either limited in their dominion or biased to humans.

"The essence of gods themselves? Interesting indeed, do a vast number share similar heritage as it were to that which you yourself carry? Does it set those who carry it much apart from those who do not?" she would ask with interest.

[OOC: sorry for the delay!]

"Quite so, in many respects. For one, the blood of the gods gives those who possess it unusual talents. The weakest may simply have, for example, a resistance to poisons or the ability to heal minor wounds; the strongest may have the power to summon elementals or be effectively immortal, able to heal any wound and recover from almost any injury.

"Divine blood also allows a person to perform sorcery. Prior to that explosion, only we elves, being ageless, had the connection necessary with the flow of magic energy and mebghail to instinctively cast spells. Anyone else who wished to master magic could study wizardry, but the natural ability of a sorcerer was beyond them. After that, any scion -- anyone who possessed the blood of a god -- could do so.

"The most important change was that because the blood had seeped not into people but into the very land, the land became responsive to those with the blood. A ruler with the blood had an inherent connection to his land and holdings in a way the unblooded do not.

"As for numbers, perhaps every one in a hundred people has that gift."

Celena nodded silently as she took in the information he gave, so the divine blood seemed to give one abilities, of vastly different quality it seemed. Interesting.

She took in all the information, gleaning the smallest facets of what he spoke of implied, compared to what she had experienced in her own world. The differences between Sorcerer and wizard in his world seemed clear enough from the way he spoke, she took particular interest in the mention of a bond between a ruler and his land. "Indeed? What in what manners might this inherent connection surface?"

"One in a hundred, not the most uncommon of sights then, interesting. You spoke of unusual talents those of such blood possessed, if I may, what manner of ability does it grant you yourself?" she would ask with seeming casual interest.

"To get into the esoterics of it," which he didn't expect she'd mind at all, to his absolute delight, "though it is very difficult to quantify in any precise way, the land is responsive to the wishes of the ruler. For example, if I were to wish that an area I controlled were to become more populous and productive, I would of course need to issue various decrees, instruct various lieutenants to perform various actions to ensure that, and so on, and so forth." He waved a hand to dismiss the triviality of the details. "But none of this would make it happen if I did not exert a certain measure and portion of my connection to the land towards the end I wanted. That connection is necessary. The ruler guides the land."

He paused a moment simply to clear his throat, then continued. "More germane to our current discussion of magic, the magic of the land, which we call mebghail, is only accessible to those with the divine blood. Even elves cannot shape a spell that affects an entire region of the world without that connection, and a cultivated source of magical power. Or, I suppose a potent enough archmage could do so simply through their raw power..." He trailed off to consider this for a moment, then shook his head.

"As for myself, the goddess from which my power derives was the former goddess of reason and the sun. As a consequence, there is a certain innate heightening of my own intellect, and I have the ability to generate light." To prove the latter, he raised a hand and invoked his divine birthright. From that hand radiated a bright, pleasant light that warmed the skin and the spirit the way natural sunlight once did, before their worlds had been lost.

Celena listened with intent interest as he went into the details, nodding to herself as he explained the esoterics of the interactions of the bonded land and those who would rule or affect it with magics. "Hmm, very interesting indeed. So in a way, the land resists those who do not have such a bond from altering it in such significant ways?" She replied after a moment in a pondering way.

Celena nodded with some curiosity indeed as he spoke on his own power, especially when he showed the ability to create light, watching on with some fascination. Tilting her head in curiousity as he eyes took on the softest of glows as she observed the radiated light from the perspective of magic, energies and light for a moment before the glow once more faded.

"A useful set of powers indeed I would say."

"I have no doubt that with time and energy, the land, and the people within it, could be altered without the divine connection involved." That only stood to reason, after all. "But those ties allow for it to be swifter, more likely to happen according to the regent's will, and most importantly, they can oppose another regent's similar ties."

As to her compliment, he shrugged, looking down with an embarrassed smile. "They are, truthfully, mild compared to some."

"Indeed, so the connection can vastly accelerate the process?" She dipped her head at that, "That is understandable then, quite an interesting dynamic," she replied with smile, showing her interest clearly.

"Even if they may be, they're usefulness still stands," Celena replied easily with a smile to him before giving him a nod to continue.

Having decided that, if this was a fever dream or hallucination, it was beyond his considerable ability to identify further, all Aibghalien could really do was blush a little at the compliment and fervently pretend he wasn't.

"It should be mentioned that those who were imbued with the essence of the dark god, Azrai, often found its power could shape or warp their bodies into a monstrous forms. These creatures were called awnsheghlien, and greatly feared and hated. As a general rule, they were evil and malicious creatures, and their blood strength so great that they were nearly impossible to kill -- effectively immortal. The greatest of these in the lands of Anuire, where my realm was, was the Gorgon."

Again, a moment's pause for questions.

Celena would listen on thoughtfully as he described what those imbued with Azrai's essence could do. "Interesting, were there no instances of these creatures that was not strictly 'evil'? Had they any control over their minds or were they more mindless beasts?" She asked with curiosity.

"A formidable foe to all it would sound, from your description of them," She dipped her head as she replied with that pausing in her questions for the moment for him to go on.

"It was possible to bear the blood without succumbing to it, but as soon as one's body started reshaping, giving one more power and less humanity, the evil nature invariably dominated." It might seem odd to others for good and evil to be discussed in such concrete terms, but to Aibghalien they were everyday concepts and relatively clear-cut, simply by the nature of his world.

"The Gorgon took advantage of an invasion -- which is itself an entirely other, if linked, story -- to launch one of his own. He had always sought more power, but this at last gave him his opportunity. He began cutting down other scions and stealing their blood, making pacts with demons and invaders, and even channeling immense amounts of faith and divine energy into himself, all for the purpose of becoming a god."

Celena listened with interest, so the change in shape may have affected the will of the one being changed to take on that 'evil' nature, "Hmm interesting then," she replied lightly giving him the chance to move on to his next topic on The Gorgon.

"Taking advantage of a perceived weakness..not an unseen tactic. Hmm I see, so the blood of Scions can be taken by other Scions to strengthen their own?" She asked as a clarification with a tilt of her head, "Did he come close to succeeding in his goal of becoming a god?"

"It can indeed. Kill someone by plunging a blade through their heart, and you claim a small portion of their strength. I have no doubt that the Gorgon had weapons forged of a rare metal that aids in this process, drinking even more..."

He exhaled, shook his head against the thought, and braced himself slightly. "Luckily it is not blood strength alone that determines godhead. He ascended to the plan of the gods, but we destroyed the greatest source of his power on in the land. That, fortunately, proved the tipping point in the war against him."

Celena dipped her head at that, an interesting if troubling thought, yet there were metals and items that could aid in the process of gaining power in that way. Curious.

She nodded without comment for a moment as he continued on, "Indeed? What manner of power might that be?" she asked with curiosity before nodding, "I gather he was defeated and stopped then?"

"A portal to hell," he said bluntly. "He'd cracked open the planar boundaries and let the strength of demons pour into our world to fuel his own ascension. We sealed it, and buried the energy deep within the earth."

For a moment he was quiet, remembering that moment. At the time, adrenaline and effort had pushed any real thought of what, exactly, they had faced from his mind, but remembering it afterwards tended to make it painfully clear.

"But the victory was ours. His own land, however, was still rife with corruption and desecration. I was relocating my lab to that location, since I could do nothing more to undo the damage without having immediate access to it."

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Loud noises in the City [Open]

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No worries, delays happen. :)

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Sorry for the delay again!

It's okay again. I'm enjoying this thread like whoa. :)

Same here ^^

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