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Canton of Combat


Nohadon

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"I'm not really in the mood for this," Klasten grunted in response. He waved his hand, knowing the marine's armour was made of metal. Nothing happened. "Huh. That was supposed to do something."

Puffing out his chest, he loudly proclaimed, "I'm going to get to Devaan if it's the last thing I do! Kicker, go!" The large horse reared, his hooves flailing menacingly. As the horse distracted the guard, Klasten ducked around the marine and bolted down the hall. He turned the first corner, then crouched in the shadow of a decorative statute of two axehounds wrestling. Run along now, go back to your boss, he thought as he prepared to follow the man. Normally he'd have just allowed himself to be captured then inevitably be brought to the man in charge, but there was a small chance that this guy would have just killed him instead. 

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1 hour ago, Grey Knight said:

"Boon? Bane? Devaan, what are you talking about?" 

"You don't know?" Devaan asked, then remembered, Drako wasn't from around here.

"The Nightwatcher is a mystical being, she gives people something they ask for. But also a curse. Sometimes it's simple, like losing a limb, sometimes it's more complex. Like my punishment."

@Grey Knight

"I'm going to Devaan, if it's the last thing i do!" Devaan heard a voice

"I'll be there soon. I'm in a meeting currently! No one shoot him until I get to talk to him!" Devaan called out to Klasten

@Archer

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Horses are *sniff* cheap. I'll *sniff* get over it. I'm sorry, there must be something in my eye. 

Killing him is a reasonable response. Klasten might will be extremely annoyed if he dies, though. 

Klasten crouched nervously in the shadows. He listened to the sound of Kicker neighing furiously. He can beat a heavily armored super-soldier, right? He's got my rifle, he'll be fine. Assuming he learns how to fire a gun. 

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2 hours ago, Nohadon said:

"You don't know?" Devaan asked, then remembered, Drako wasn't from around here.

"The Nightwatcher is a mystical being, she gives people something they ask for. But also a curse. Sometimes it's simple, like losing a limb, sometimes it's more complex. Like my punishment."

Drako nodded, making a mental note to reinforce the Roshar defences. This "Nightwatcher" would need to be watched, either to prevent Chaos from corrupting it or, in the worst case scenario, to try and banish it from the Materium.

With that done, he turned his attention back to Devaan.

"If this 'curse' is real," he said, "why haven't you mentioned it before? You could have gone to the Librarius, and sought the help of our psykers. You could have asked the Grey Knights for an exorcism. You could have come to me, storm it!

"I'm your friend, Devaan," he said. "We've fought together for 16 years now. Why would you keep this from me?"

@Nohadon

Edited by Grey Knight
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"It's an embarrassing story Drako. But you don't have to believe me."

Devaan looked at him, studied him. While Drako was at least a head taller than him, Devaan wasn't intimidated by his looming figure. He'd faced worse than this and lived, barely.

"I owe you a debt. I will not forget it. Is there any other reason you stopped by?"

@Grey Knight

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9 minutes ago, Nohadon said:

"It's an embarrassing story Drako. But you don't have to believe me."

Devaan looked at him, studied him. While Drako was at least a head taller than him, Devaan wasn't intimidated by his looming figure. He'd faced worse than this and lived, barely.

"I owe you a debt. I will not forget it. Is there any other reason you stopped by?"

"Devaan, you owe me a lot storming more than a 'debt'," Drako snapped. "You destroyed one of our dreadnoughts, murdered the honored veteran inside, and now you tell me you've been hiding information?"

Drako abruptly lowered his sword, flipping off the activation rune and carrying the blade with his other hand. He pushed past Devaan, heading out into the hall.

"Follow me," he said. "Something's come up."

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"A Chaos incursion, in Roshar," Drako said. He pressed a button on the side of his helm for a few seconds, speaking through his helmet vox. He lowered his hand, looking back to Devaan.

"We're not done here," he said. "Ready one of your Thunderhawks. We'll talk on the flight to the Waystop."

@Nohadon

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Is it OK if we gradually transition to the Waystop thread? Devaan hasn't visited there yet, has he?

 

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3 minutes ago, Grey Knight said:
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Is it OK if we gradually transition to the Waystop thread? Devaan hasn't visited there yet, has he?

He was just there, he helped with the battle against the Chaos and the panthers.

"I was there, I thought the others had it under control. Do you need me to get you through the cognitive realm or can you make your way without me?" Devaan asked, getting ready to walk out the door.

@Grey Knight

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Storms, I forgot about that. Whoops :P

"You were already there?" Drako said. "Frakk. I was hoping to go there myself."

He stopped, turning around to face Devaan. "Get someone to write up a report," he said. "How many astartes they had, their vehicles, their cultists, their weaponry. The battlefield is still there, I'm told. If you can spare them, send some Blood Angels to do physical reconaissance."

He looked decidedly put off, with his chance to go to the field now dead and buried.

@Nohadon

Edited by Grey Knight
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"I'll make the report." Devaan said, calling the blood angel who was talking to Klasten to enter, he saw Devaan and grinned, greeting him with a simple salute, then saw Drako and the marine's eyes widened.

"Relax. I'm the one in trouble here, not you" He whispered to the marine

"Aander. Go get four or five more blood angels and set some ground recon at the waystop. I briefed you on how to get there"

"Yes sir!" Aander nodded to Drako respectfully and walked away. 

"Again Drako. I'm sorry. I wish I didn't kill Orren. But I have to go now. I caught my kid extorting people and murdering"

"You what? how?"

"He tried to extort and murder me. I just need to talk to him about it. You wan't to come along?"

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If It's a yes, we'll move to the training grounds thread. If It's a no, I'll just go there and you stay behind

@Grey Knight

Edited by Nohadon
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Atticus, armor gleaming walks past the door, avoiding the horse body near the door. He walked into the area that Drako and Nohadon were conversing. Turning to Drako he said," I've finished with the Waystop for now. I will do more later." He turned to Devaan. "I need training in hand to hand. Unarmored and armored. I can shoot, I can steelpush, I can ironpull, I can use my lenses, but my only asset for hand to hand is strength. I need help."

@Nohadon

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"Of course, follow me to the training ground."

Devaan laid his bare hand on a small nicrocil box, elsecalling himself and Atticus into the cognitive realm. He strolled towards the direction of scadrial

"We have a long walk ahead, and we will be walking, not steelpushing or teleporting" He told Atticus

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We'll continue this in Devaan's training ground

 

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As the others left, Klasten slipped away, down the hall. Devaan (and his key collection) was inaccessible at the moment, so it was probably better to just do things the old fashioned way. He 'borrowed' a broom that was leaning against the wall, then wandered aimlessly for a few hours pretending to be a janitor, poking his head into every open doorway, looking for the vault. After half a day of searching, he found it. 

Checking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed, Klasten entered the room. It was a small room, made of thick grey slabs of stone. It was dominated by the large metal door set into the far wall. Ancient looking carvings were scratched into it, Klasten recognized a few of them as protective aons. And, sure enough, there were three small keyholes at chest level. Picking them won't work, you'd have to unlock all three of them at once. And those symbols will protect it from anything I can throw at it. So I either need two more people, or... Klasten smiled, realizing what he needed to do. He walked to the door and began to unpack some items from his bag. As he did, he took a spanreed from his pocket and sent a message.

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I have a really, super, incredibly foolhardy plan in mind, but I'm going to need to coordinate it right. This is me laying the groundwork while I figure out the details.   

 

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Tena was sick and tired of being at the Waystop, so she pulled a Tia card out of her knapsack and teleported to her house. Bored, she Steelpushed over the rooftops and landed smoothly at the doors of the Canton of Combat. They were, oddly, open. She strolled inside and saw that ancient Devaan guy arguing with... Drako? Wow. There was the twitching body of a big horse, too. It didn’t look dead, not yet at least. 

“Uhhh, that thing is mostly dead,” she mumbled, and walked over to the horse. She knelt down and forced some stormlight into it, making a bullet wound in the horse’s chest close up, but pulling the bullet out with her fingers before the wound closed. She dropped the bloody piece of metal and absentmindedly Pushed it away, making it slide across the floor. The horse’s breathing steadied quickly and it shakily stood up after a few moments. “Hey, you’re Klasten’s horse, right? Kicker, that’s your name. Pleasure to meet you.” She stroked the horse’s snout for a second, then looked around. “Say, where’s Klasten? He’s usually hanging around somewhere near you.” 

She started walking around, then thought better of it, taking a Sharpie out of her pack and writing, I’m a Ghostblood, on the back of her hand. She continued walking and showed the message to anyone who gave her a weird look. Eventually, she found Klasten trying to break into a door with three keyholes in it. “Wow, this is easy,” she said quietly to herself, and Steelpushed against the tiny bits of machinery in the all three locks at once, which would probably unlock the door. 

“You’re trying to find the Devaan’s treasures things, yes?” she asked Klasten. “Also, since I saved your horse, can I ask for a favor for future use?”

Edited by AxeliustheGreat
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A woman entered the room. Sensing their strong desire to hear a detailed analysis of his problem, Klasten began talking. "Right now I'm looking for a rock. But this door is in the way."

He gestured at the obstacle and launched into a detailed summary. "As you can see, this is the door to what is presumably a sizable vault. The tradition method of opening it is with three keys, all of which are on Devaan's person. These aons here appear to be a failsafe measure. They've got some modifiers I'm unfamiliar with, but they appear to ward against strangers opening the door without the protection of the keys. That blast glyph over there is particularly nasty. Additional aons strengthen the door and protect it from most conventional methods of attack. So far the best way I've come up with bypassing these defenses is by nuking Elantris. If we could get a spaceship to change the landscape enough, all these aons would be rendered useless. But I'm all out of nukes, so I'm in the process of implementing my backup plan: tricking the wall into thinking we're Devaan. As you may know from the history books, Devaan's famous for using a lifelike doll replica of himself in duels. Legend has it they were indistinguishable from the real thing. So, if I could just get my hands on that doll, or recreate it with some awakening and Elantrian magic, these aons wouldn't be triggered."

He walked over to one of the keyholes. "These appear to be sophisticated, but not extraordinary, locks. A skilled Forger might be able to magic us up a key for them. I'm not too familiar with that art, it might be possible." He then moved to the wall. "Look at this brick. It's also reinforced with aons. But not as many. I know it's tricky to cut invested stuff, but you might be able to get through the wall, thus bypassing the door, with a Shardblade." 

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Note: Klasten's knowledge of magic is a little lacking in some areas.

On a roll now, he returned to the middle of the door. "But look! The door is metal. If we had a Mistborn, we could Push the tumblers, opening the door. Beats trying to teleport past it, especially since we on't know what's beyond this door. Or you could slick the bolts out of their casings. Wait, can you travel through the Shadesmar?" He looked inquisitively at the room's other occupant. 

Strallah, a Canton cook who had only stopped by to ask for directions to the kitchen, stared blankly back at him. "Umm.... I'm gonna go," she said, backing slowly out of the room. When she got to the hall she took one last confused look at Klasten, then turned and ran away.

Moments later, Tena entered the room. “You’re trying to find the Devaan’s treasures things, yes?” she asked Klasten. Klasten's keen powers of deduction told him that she was a Ghostblood. Nodding, he responded in the affirmative. "Right now I'm looking for a rock. But this door is in the way. Any suggestions for how I can it open? My focus group wasn't much help."

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Tena sighed and Steelpushed the little parts of the locks to open the door. “You are very perceptive, yes? I’m pretty sure you’ve seen me use my Allomancy.” She then added, “But you still owe me a favor. For saving your horse.” She carefully scratched the Aons on the door with a little knife, trying to disable them. Hoping that they were too scratched to work, she checked the mantle around the door on the inside for traps.

“Also,” she added, “do you have any Allomantic powers? We can test to find out if you really want to know.”

Edited by AxeliustheGreat
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Klasten saw where this was going. "Actually, it's Kicker that owes you. He's the one who got shot." His concerned expression didn't match the nonchalance of his words. "Thanks for saving him though. And since his concept of gratuity leaves a lot to be desired, if you ever need a favour I'll see what I can do."

Suddenly, a figure teleported into the room. He was dressed in a dark brown robe that obscured his face. Without speaking, the newcomer pulled a small bag from his pocket, handed it to Klasten, then disappeared. "I love that guy," Klasten said fondly. "He's a real pro. Used to work at the arena, healing people after fights. Went into curating after that. And he put together this bad boy up for me." He emptied the contents of the bag onto the floor. There was one item: a scarecrow, disguised by aons to look like Devaan.

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*casually brings back an old NPC from my mediator days* B) 

"He didn't have a lot to go by, just people's descriptions of him and his portrait. I should have had him go to the Grounds and look at him, but I'm not sure how Devaan would feel about all this." Fake Devaan was a fair approximation, but hardly perfect. The eyes were slightly too far apart, and the hair was just a little bit too curly. Hopefully it will be enough to fool the aons, though Klasten. 

"All we need to do is awaken it, so it's lifelike enough that the door thinks we're being supervised by him. Hopefully that will be enough. After that, we just need to pick the locks. All three have to be unlocked at about the same time, so you'd have to move inhumanely quick to..." Klasten began to ponder the problem, but then he realized who he was talking to. "Right. Steel. If you wouldn't mind doing it, that'd be great. Use these lockpicks. I took them off of the body of Sel's greatest super-spy. That guy knew squat about locks, but with these he could open door in seconds. I don't always condone the use of convenient plot devices, but these are extraordinary circumstances." He handed them to her, then stepped back to give her room to work.

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Klasten isn't a very useful character. He's set it up so that Tena has to do all the work. But I think the plan is plausible given Tena' abilities. 

You were here to help, right? I assumed you would, probably should have asked before I made the plan revolve around you.

 

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“You’re a weird one, Klasten,” Tena said. “I think I just did open the door. Uh, thanks for the lockpicks anyways.” She snatched them out his hand and stuffed them up her right sleeve, for later use. “Did you listen to anything I just said?” She paused, and then mumbled, “Probably not. Mace was always ignoring me, too.

“And, for the record you own Kicker, so I think that you owe me a favor.” She rolled her eyes at him and gave the Devaan fake a quick looking-over. “Ooh, but this is nice, you should keep this. I remember reading that newspaper article about Rashan and Devaan’s duel, he used the fake in that one, I think.” She waited for Klasten to open the door, since the old chivalry rule would always apply. If I’m not watching Mace getting torn apart by a few hundred insane dogs, I’m testing whether this guy knows how polite-ness works.

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Politeness. Was that the one with all the superfluous words in it? :P 

Klasten waited for a moment while Tena did her thing. Figuring she'd need a while, he studied the wall for a bit. Then looked at a bug. Then the bug on the wall. 

Eventually, he looked back to find Tena staring at him intently. Storms. I knew I shouldn't have been so charming. She's gone and fallen in love with me, the fool girl. 

Deciding to ignore that problem for the time being, Klasten pulled on the door's handle. It opened smoothly. "I see my plan worked perfectly! Well done Tena. See what happens when you follow my instructions and do everything I say? Doors are opened!" 

Does 'ladies first' apply to potentially booby trapped rooms? Or was that the time when you're supposed to carry the girl over the threshold? But then she might take it as a sign of affection. Rusts. Might as well just do what comes naturally. 

"I LIKE HORSES," Klasten declared as he shoved Tena into the room. He hurriedly joined her, then regretted his decision and panicked. "LEAVE ROOM FOR FAKE DEVAAN," he said, shoving the scarecrow in between them. Use not your feminine wiles on me, woman. Protect me brave scarecrow. "Divert her attention with your artificially handsome exterior. Oops. Did I say that out loud?" 

I wish Kicker were here. He'd know just what to say. 

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Best check in with Nohadon to learn about the rock's location, and the state of its guardian. 

 @Nohadon

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Oh my god, dude, that was hilarious.

Also, making me burst into fits of giggling randomly in several classes is kind of rude.

Tena made a face at Klasten and placed a coin on his chest, remembering the time when she’d shot coins into Mace’s face and he’d collected them. Then, she took two quick steps in the opposite direction, did a nice flip, and Steelpushed against the coin on Klasten’s chest, sending him flying backward, and her flying into the wall on the other end of the room. 

Then she remembered what he’d said, exactly. “Divert her attention with your artificially handsome exterior.” Wait, artificially? So was a Kandra version of Mace, or not? She glared at the Devaan scarecrow from where it sat calmly at the threshold. She threw a coin at it and sent it barreling into Klasten. “Hey,” she yelled at him, gracefully landing on the floor. "What did you just say?"

Edited by AxeliustheGreat
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Klasten fingered the hole in his coat that Tena's coin had made. He grunted in annoyance. "Well, I was just instructing my IS THAT AN ANACOLUTHON?!" Klasten shrieked, and cowered in terror. When it became apparent that no such beast was present, he used the convenient distraction to change the subject. "Hey, that's cool. I've never seen one of those before." He pointed at the dozen shades that had been attracted by Tena's acrobatics. 

The shades seemed quite at home in the dark room. Judging by the echoing of their voices, Klasten guessed the chamber was rather large. He also guessed that they had minutes to live. Well, she can fly. I'm the one who is gonna get eaten. 

 

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Tena swore. Loudly. Several times. Okay, maybe more than several times. 

"Shades?!" she yelled at the ceiling. "You know I hate these things." She tapped her wrist. Where she had a silver bracelet, by coincidence. She took it off and waved it at the creepy, red-eyed things. She ran at one and swiped the bracelet through where its neck should be, killing it and breathing in stormlight to heal the black marks it left on her skin. Then, all eleven of the others charged her. 

She through her pouch of stormlight-infused spheres at the floor, where it tore the pouch apart and spent a dozen brightly-glowing gemstones rolling all over the place. She Steelpushed against Klasten to get him out of the room and her into the air. I am one lucky grizzly bear that I'm afraid of these things, she thought as she grabbed another pouch off her belt and opened it, taking out silver claws. She shoved these onto both of her hands and stuffed the pouch that had contained them under her belt, then swung into action, her battle rage coming back for the first time since she'd seen Mace's corpse. 

In half a minute, all the shades were dead. 

Tena stumbled to a stop after clawing through the last one's neck, then grinned in satisfaction. Still wary of further traps, she looked around suspiciously and put her claws back into their pouch. "Hoy, Ma- I mean, Klasten! Are you okay?" 

@Archer

Edited by AxeliustheGreat
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Klasten was in shock. He wasn’t used to seeing such efficient violence. He responded quietly. “We’re all doing it. Some faster than others. Except them.”

He clasped Tena’s arm, and used it to pull himself to his feet. “Once, so beautiful. Then killed with feeling. I don’t know if that’s right or not.” He patted his pockets absentmindedly. “I need to refill. Where’d you put them?”

He started pacing. His fingers twitched like an addict. “Keep it locked out there. In here it's beautiful. So beautiful.” His lips curled, exposing his teeth. The expression in no way resembled a smile. It was more of a forced grimace. “We must find it. Before he comes.”

He pulled a collapsible crossbow from his bag. Opening it up, he loaded a single bolt. The bolt was a spike of solid metal with a wickedly sharp point. “Ladies first,” he said, gesturing for Tena to lead the way.

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Annnnnnnnd now he’s in Crazy Mace mode. At least that persona was good at fighting.

 

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