first verse Augury: Ten of the Void

[BringerofShadows]

Quote

If I suddenly don’t respond, I probably fell asleep. 

@John Flamesinger

Edited July 13, 2019 by Inklingspren
As you can tell from my spelling of stuff, I am tired. Like you need confirmation.

[John Flamesinger]

John froze, looking behind the bush. Except, he couldn't. Nothing changed, aside from the world going blurry.

"I don't know, I can't look behind it."

[BringerofShadows]

Entropy steadily raised her bow, silently moving for an open shot.

[old man moomba]

"Right." Luna muttered, drawing her sword, "Whoever's in those bushes, stop hiding!"

[BringerofShadows]

She found her open shot, and fired.

[old man moomba]

Luna heard the twang of a bowstring and reduced the chance of any projectiles hitting her to zero. She spotted the arrow sailing towards her and- without thinking- increased the chance of catching it so it was impossible to miss. The wood burned her hands as she snatched it from the air.

[BringerofShadows]

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Okay, so I had this idea that as Entropy, I could basically have the breaking talent. Is that cool? 

 

[old man moomba]

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Talk to Ene.

 

[John Flamesinger]

There was another twang, and John fell to the ground, arrow in his shoulder. He got up, unsheathing his sword, and he could see again.

He saw who was attacking them.

He saw the attacker's family.

He saw love.

He saw hope.

He saw Fear.

He saw anger.

He saw the dead body laying in the forest floor, John's sword covered in blood. He breathed heavily, and cleaned his blade before resheathing it.

[I think I am here.]

6 hours ago, Sorana said:

Tühine. Sagitta followed his glance to the base and frowned. Tühine. She had heard of Tühine, her parents had traded with Tühine.

"Alright."

She agreed. There was no other choice. Maybe he could help her. And for now she needed food.

Price nodded and gestured to follow him inside the base. Past the initial entrance gates there was a small break room where some soldiers would normally hang out to eat, usually bread or anything else they had in stock. Judging by the large occupied fields of grass within the base, the coldies were currently occupied with other things.

Indeed, when he opened the door he was greeted with an empty room, the sturdy wooden blocks they used as tables empty and the simple, smaller stools they used for chairs unoccupied.

“First question,” Price said, gesturing for her — Sagitta — to sit and walking to a barrel on one side of the room. He took out a large loaf of bread and tried to rip it in half, but he was too physically weak and so he channeled his Instinct subtly, turning his back to Sagitta and using his weakened Entropy, half of the loaf disappearing in a surge of black flame.

Turning around he threw the half-loaf to Sagitta.

“Where are you from and what is your Instinct, if you have one?”

[+Sorana]

38 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

Price nodded and gestured to follow him inside the base. Past the initial entrance gates there was a small break room where some soldiers would normally hang out to eat, usually bread or anything else they had in stock. Judging by the large occupied fields of grass within the base, the coldies were currently occupied with other things.

Indeed, when he opened the door he was greeted with an empty room, the sturdy wooden blocks they used as tables empty and the simple, smaller stools they used for chairs unoccupied.

“First question,” Price said, gesturing for her — Sagitta — to sit and walking to a barrel on one side of the room. He took out a large loaf of bread and tried to rip it in half, but he was too physically weak and so he channeled his Instinct subtly, turning his back to Sagitta and using his weakened Entropy, half of the loaf disappearing in a surge of black flame.

Turning around he threw the half-loaf to Sagitta.

“Where are you from and what is your Instinct, if you have one?”

Sagitta followed him inside, her eyes noting the soldier on the fields, the way the gates were located. She judge their defenses by what she saw, and was impressed, but hid it behind her exhaustion, the tiredness and the hunger. Typical. End up in a country, that might or might thing of you as an enemy in the hand of some higher up. Tiredly she sat down, wondered how she should ever make it back home. She had to fight, had to defend.

When he threw her the bread she caught it, held it close for a moment. Half a loaf, for her. She had never hungered, not at home, and while there had been times in the army when food had been sparse she had never hungered like the past days. It was hard to suppress the urge to start eating immediatly, to eat instead of replying, but she only tore a large chunk off and bit into the soft bread. Bread. It tasted like heaven. She swallowed, took another bite, and another, then caught herself.

"Ta'e'ilo. And Intensity."

That counted as reply. Almost hurried she continued to eat, never quite letting him out of her sight to judge his reaction.

[I think I am here.]

1 hour ago, Sorana said:

Ta'e'ilo. And Intensity."

That counted as reply. Almost hurried she continued to eat, never quite letting him out of her sight to judge his reaction.

“Intensity,”

Price said and his eyebrows raised slightly, interest piquing. Intensity was fascinating, Price had always found its description vague. What did it mean exactly to control how much one force affected another? They didn’t have many Intensity Instincts in the base, and if Sagitta was Cahayan, Price might have found it informative to use her for the deadlier testing procedures.

But, she’d said she was from Ta’e’ilo. And now that she’d said it Price could hear it, in the accent. It made sense, she’d said she’d been captured by nomads. Must have taken her a god-cursed amount of time to travel from Ta’e’ilo to Tühine through nomad territory, though. That explained the mal-nourishment.

“I see,” Price said, and looked at her physique. Strong, well-built. And there were only a handful of positions were being captured by nomads was a risk.

“And a soldier, I presume?”

Edited July 13, 2019 by I think I am here.

[+Sorana]

25 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

“And a soldier, I presume?”

Sagitta nodded, proudly straightened her back. She wasn't only a soldier sie was

"Second heavy infantry, the Bear's regiment. Trained with the long sword."

One of the more famous regiments, known for their brave hearts and their ferocity in battle. She brushed her dirty hair out of her face and continued to eat, thinking. The bread, she hadn't eaten such good bread for years. But still, she had to go back. She had to fight, had to protect her country. It was grave, that she had lost her weapon and armor, but still, she could regain them, earn the honor the fight beneath the banner of the bear again.

"How can I get back to Ta'e'ilo?"

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It would be great if she couldn't leave easily Otherwise she's gone and I'm back at looking for a possibility to interact with anybody.

 

[Archer]

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Sorry to interrupt the flow, I just got to slip this bit in here. Good RPing, y'all.  

Meanwhile...

The formerly secret meeting place of the gods. Nighttime. 

As arrows started flying, Tion briefly wondered if Luna’s comment about summoning the military had been more truthful than he had thought. He blinked, switching his vision to see the attackers’ auras. The dim light suddenly lit up to his eyes with the glow of at least a dozen souls radiating fierce beams of red, violet, and green. He recognized their positioning as a modified version of the full-cover ambush formation that was popular with both of the major militaries in the region.

Unfortunately, none of the swiftly moving humans with swords seemed to be headed in his direction.

“C’mon,” he complained quietly, “why couldn’t you have shot at me?”

He heard John grunt then stumble as a projectile hit him in the shoulder. Immediately curious, Tion began slipping forwards into the more open section of the glade, eager to get a look at how the wound would affect the man’s body. As he sneaked forward, he happened to glance at his legs. They were invisible.

He held his hands in front of his face. It was hard to see, but it was pretty obvious that they, and the rest of his body, had become unseeable.

Traitorous thing, he thought angrily to himself. In front of him, John slew an assailant with practiced ease. Tion stared at the gushing blood for a moment, enthralled.

No, came a voice from his subconscious. No.

Heeding it, Tion broke off his gaze, turning instead to focus on the red-tinted aura that he had seen in the middle of the soldiers’ formation. It glowed especially bright, compared to the others, the unmistakable visual signature of the God Entropy.

Concentrating on her position, Tion reached out with his Power. He imagined the feelings radiating from his fingertips like lightning, flying through the air to strike their target. When he first pushed on her aura, he mentally encountered some resistance, as he did whenever he manipulated any of the gods, but, given the circumstances, her defenses were weak, so he swiftly pushed through them.

“More,” he mumbled, gritting his teeth. “More.”

He channeled his godly Power into Victoria, hoping to change her perception of the situation subtly: making her angrier. More aggressive. More willing to kill.

The time was nigh for a massacre.

[I think I am here.]

4 minutes ago, Sorana said:

Sagitta nodded, proudly straightened her back. She wasn't only a soldier sie was

"Second heavy infantry, the Bear's regiment. Trained with the long sword."

One of the more famous regiments, known for their brave hearts and their ferocity in battle. She brushed her dirty hair out of her face and continued to eat, thinking. The bread, she hadn't eaten such good bread for years. But still, she had to go back. She had to fight, had to protect her country. It was grave, that she had lost her weapon and armor, but still, she could regain them, earn the honor the fight beneath the banner of the bear again.

"How can I get back to Ta'e'ilo?"

The way she’d responded, back straight, proudly, Price envied it but he hid those thoughts behind a mask of indifference. He works only hope, one day he could say that. One day he could be proud of what he’d done, that he’d fought instead of sitting on the sidelines like a coward.

She asked how to get back to her country and Price smiled, an idea forming in his head.

“You see, Sagitta,” he said, walking to another barrel nearby. Opening it he found it was full of water.

“Ta’e’ilo is far on the west coast. From Tühine, it’s impossible to get to without either passing through nomad land, which we’re not too fond to make enemies of, or through Cahayan land, our sworn enemies of war. As such, getting there might present it’s fair share of... difficulties.”

Taking a leatherskin canteen from a table he filled it up with water and began to walk to where Sagitta was.

“However, I’m sure in no time we’ll be able to figure something out, get you to your homeland safely.” He smiled, placing the canteen on the table she was sitting at.

“As long as you’ll stay in the base for a couple days, heal up, stick around for some voluntary testing. We don’t have many Intensity Instincts to work with, you’d be especially helpful in helping us.”

[+Sorana]

3 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

“As long as you’ll stay in the base for a couple days, heal up, stick around for some voluntary testing. We don’t have many Intensity Instincts to work with, you’d be especially helpful in helping us.”

Sagitta took the water and drank before replying to his proposition. Voluntary testing. Helping them. It was interesting, that there weren't that many Intensity Instincs here though, it meant, she would have to be careful to reveal the extent of her abilities. Probably they didn't know what she was able to do. His words were a bargain. Stay here, get some medical help, free food and a roof over your head, but help them.

"You want me to join your army?"

She asked to make sure, she had understood what he was aiming at. She didn't mind Tühine, but if she fought, if she sacrificed her life, she would do it for her own country. Grimacing she had admitted to herself, that he was right, getting back would be difficult, the nomads would only capture her again and nobody in Cahayan would belive she'd ended up in Tühine accidently. She had to find another way, maybe some merchants. But not in her current condition. She doubted she could make it to the next town. For now she was stuck.

[I think I am here.]

4 minutes ago, Sorana said:

“You want me to join your army?"

“No, no, not at all,”

Price said, waving his hands as to swat the words from the air. Soldiers recruited from beyond Tühine... it wasn’t unheard of, but it was very, very rare. It was just agreed among all military recruiters that loyal soldiers were the best, and what was less loyal than someone not even from Tühine? Besides, Price didn’t have the authority to add someone to the army as a soldier.

“Just that you’ll stay here for a while, and allow us to test your Instinct. Normal, scholarly research.” And of course, if it came down to it, testing the combat applications. Price had a few ideas for experiments involving the Intensity Instinct. “To get a better understanding of how Intensity works, see it’s useful applications, standard stuff.”

[BringerofShadows]

8 hours ago, John Flamesinger said:

There was another twang, and John fell to the ground, arrow in his shoulder. He got up, unsheathing his sword, and he could see again.

He saw who was attacking them.

He saw the attacker's family.

He saw love.

He saw hope.

He saw Fear.

He saw anger.

He saw the dead body laying in the forest floor, John's sword covered in blood. He breathed heavily, and cleaned his blade before resheathing it.

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Wow, wow, wow. Didn’t Luna catch the arrow? And that was uncalled for. And I’m Really confuzzeled. 

 

Edited July 13, 2019 by Inklingspren

[+Sorana]

15 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

“No, no, not at all,”

Price said, waving his hands as to swat the words from the air. Soldiers recruited from beyond Tühine... it wasn’t unheard of, but it was very, very rare. It was just agreed among all military recruiters that loyal soldiers were the best, and what was less loyal than someone not even from Tühine? Besides, Price didn’t have the authority to add someone to the army as a soldier.

“Just that you’ll stay here for a while, and allow us to test your Instinct. Normal, scholarly research.” And of course, if it came down to it, testing the combat applications. Price had a few ideas for experiments involving the Intensity Instinct. “To get a better understanding of how Intensity works, see it’s useful applications, standard stuff.”

Pondering Sagitta tapped her fingers on the table. Test her instinct. Reveal what she could do, but also see what they knew. Her abilities were no secret and she wasn't that effective outside of a battle. Most of the time she used it with a sword in her hand. A sword. Maybe she could get a weapon here, an armor. Money. Enough to leave and to find a way back home.

"What's in it for me? You will gain lots of knowledge, enough to traing your own Instincts. Knowledge is worth more than just a few pieces of bread."

Edited July 13, 2019 by Sorana

[John Flamesinger]

1 minute ago, Inklingspren said:

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Wow, wow, didn't Luna catch the arrow? And that was uncalled for. And I'm Really confuzzeled.

 

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See this:

8 hours ago, John Flamesinger said:

There was another twang,

Another arrow was fired. And John got mad. Very mad.

John stopped and took a deep breath before seeing who was in front of him.

"Victoria? Entropy?"

[I think I am here.]

5 minutes ago, Sorana said:

“What's in it for me? You will gain lots of knowledge, enough to traing your own Instincts. Knowledge is worth more than just a few pieces of bread."

Price drew his lips to a thin line.

“Food, water, a place to stay. Maybe train, when the soldiers aren’t practising. And of course, a ride back to your homeland. This is all, of course, if the knowledge is worth it.” He looked at her, trying to see her reaction. He didn’t want to get to threats, he rather liked the normal conversation he was having with Sagitta, but it wasn’t beyond him.

[BringerofShadows]

Quote

You can’t godmod me. 

 

[+Sorana]

23 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

Price drew his lips to a thin line.

“Food, water, a place to stay. Maybe train, when the soldiers aren’t practising. And of course, a ride back to your homeland. This is all, of course, if the knowledge is worth it.” He looked at her, trying to see her reaction. He didn’t want to get to threats, he rather liked the normal conversation he was having with Sagitta, but it wasn’t beyond him.

"You just explained to me, that riding back to my homeland is difficult."

Sagitta raised an eyebrow and shook her head. He'd made a mistake here.

"And now you offer it to me, just like that? How can I know, that you'll ever let me go?"

She asked, because she was too tired to play the game correctly, to dance around the truth wit hhalf-truths and more half-truths. Her mother was brilliant at this game, her sister as well. But she was hurting and despite the bread still hungry. She needed the food, the place to stay, and he knew it. He had her in his hand, at least for the next days. She was too exhausted to go on. But at the same time she doubted that he planned to let her go. He'd basically told her. They needed her. For scientific tests. Feeling sick she started to wonder if what you heard about Tühine was the truth, about the people living here, or if it was exaggerated by the raging war.

[BringerofShadows]

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Reading Archer’s post, I guess it makes more sense. But still. I had plans…*Sigh* Just don’t do that. 

“That’s General Victoria to you.” She then shattered Tion’s connection. She had purposely let her defenses down, to see if anyone else was here. Victoria looked back at the other 3 men. “Go and sleep by the horses. Don’t leave until I come back, that’s an order.” They left, carrying their casualty. The General kept her bow and arrow out, looking for  Tion. The General stepped into the clearing. 

[Archer]

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I'm sorry, BoS, I think we all had assumed that you'd brought those soldier NPCs to the glade so they could fight the gods. I, at least, interpreted the arrow shot from Victoria as the first shot of a battle she was trying to start. Evidently I misunderstood.

In regards to godmodding, I tried to keep Tion's attack fairly open to interpretation to avoid that. As usual, anyone is permitted to narrate the effects of attacks in whatever manner they wish, assuming it's realistic. I'm fine with having part of the destructive power skillset being the ability to counter attacks like that, although I had envisioned Tion's influence being significantly harder to detect. As for her travelling companions, in future, just let us know if you'd prefer that they weren't moved by others and we can accommodate that. My apologies, I'm still working out what everyone's general plan for their characters is, and how to adjust to them. I'll try to avoid misinterpretations in future. 

Tion’s soldier drooped as he saw the auras of the soldiers retreat. To his dismay, their leader, Entropy, seemed unreceptive to his emotional manipulation. As an experiment, he mentally sent some small probes of Power in John’s direction, hoping to make the pain of the arrow wound dullen. In the back of his mind, he starting keeping tabs on the other god’s aura, watching for changes.

He dropped his invisibility, trading stealth for unfounded confidence. He strode toward Victoria, his hands balling into fists.

“You’re late,” he accused coldly. “You'd better have a good excuse for all this. This is too important for your petty games.”