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Part 20a: Electrical storm
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Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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OOC - For Aaron only.
Aaron walks, slipping through Shadow as easily as a trout through a
deepwater pool. Around him the world changes; a tree felled here,
a stream diverted there, and finally he crests a low hill to find a
road at the bottom of the far slope. Black, snaking through
countryside that looks to be aflame, so intense are the autumnal
colours.
The air is warm, and filled with tension, and on the horizon there are
thick clouds with lightning flickering beneath their skirts.
The Amber man strides down the slope and onto the edge of the
hard-surfaced highway. After a moment of thought, he turns right
and starts to follow the road.
He walks for about half an hour, and the storm clouds roll across the
sky, plunging the land beneath into twighlight gloom. The rain
starts to fall soon after. Fat, heavy, drops spattering down onto
the roadway and the undergrowth to each side of it. Only a few
for now, but it won't be long before the skies open and unleash a
downpour.
Aaron grins and sticks out his left hand, fingers curled and thumb
straight, and with impeccable timing he hears the sound of an engine on
the road behind him.
The eighteen wheeler passes him, braking hard as it does, horn
blaring. It comes to rest perhaps thirty yards beyond him, and
the passenger-side door opens.
As Aaron draws level with the door, the driver, a giant of a man with a long red beard and shaved head turns to him and asks, "Div ye need a ride, son? It's an evil lookin' day. Whaur ur ye headed?"
Silver glints in his ears, eyebrow and nose, and his bare arms are
covered with intertwined dragons and panthers locked in mass combat.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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Stifling a small chuckle, Aaron nods vehemently to the man and speaks up above the storm.
"Aye, I'd appreciate a ride! Going... just a bit farther down the road, actually!"
Not unfamiliar with such a vehicle as this, Aaron circled around the
front of the semi and upon reaching the passenger's side, raised his
foot upon the grated step, opened the door, and hurled himself and
Ilsefranvir into the large passenger's seat.
Soaked, brushing drops out of his hair, Aaron looks to his benefactor
with a large smile. His mismatched eyes were the least of his concerns,
as he considered the driver.
"My right thanks, sir. I didn't relish the idea of walking through this weather."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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"Ah! Enaw ay yer Sirs, mah name's Rab. Ah can tak' ye as far as tha coest, but yoo'll huv tae sweem frae thaur." the driver says, with a grin, as he guns the engine and the truck starts to move.
The radio is playing softly, somebody singing mournfully about the loss
of his house, his wife, and his dog. It's not clear which he
regrets losing the most...
Rab sits quietly for a few minutes, then, "Sae wa waur ye walkin' tha road? Did ye break doon ur somethin'? Shit! Woods ye swatch at 'at... "
Outside the rain has started to fall in earnest. Torrents of
water making it as black as night out there and cutting visibility,
even with the truck's powerful lights.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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The coast...
"Anywhere you can take me that's out of this rain is fine with me,
Rab." Aaron responds, his gaze travelling out the passenger window for
a moment.
Aaron figured that by the way the man talked, someone other than him
might have been strangled by the language barrier. His accent was
hilariously exotic, but nothing he had trouble with.
"I..." he paused, then continued. "Yes, I broke down quite a ways back.
Just before the rain. I was able to move my vehicle quite a ways off of
the road, however, so as not to cause an accident. Likely, you drove
right on past it without ever seeing it."
Aaron stopped there, and he too gazed in small wonder at the sheer
force of the downpour. Arianne was silent, in his head and otherwise,
so he wasn't necesserally worried.
"Don't be afraid to pull over if it gets to much for you, Rab." Aaron said, concern etching his voice.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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"Och, she willnae lest lang, Ah reckon. weaither lake thes usually doesnae." Rab replies, thoughtfully, "Anyway, i'll jist tak' it slaw fur a bit."
"Aye, there's a fair few side roads an' tracks alang haur. Probably best tae gie yer motur aff tha highway." The truck slows as the driver eases up on the accelerator, but it's still faster than walking. And drier.
"Sae... Ah suppose yoo're headed fur San Annyn ur Dunhaven? They're tha only places atween haur an' tha coest."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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With a smile, Aaron nodded at Rab's question.
"Aye, San Anyn is my stop. I've been away for a while, on business."
He looked to the man, cocking his head to the side slightly as he posed a question of his own.
"Do you come around this way often, Rab? Not many people traverse the
lanes to San Anyn since that great madness plague so many years ago."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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"Och, there's still puckle folks abit. enaw tae make it worth while
shippin' mince ower thaur. An' mair ur movin' in noo 'at they
started buildin' alang tha hills behin' tha toon." Rab puts his foot down again as the rain starts to ease up slightly, although the lightning still flares across the sky.
Yoo're lucky thocht, ye ken. Most trips ah turn doon tae Dunhaven, but the-day aam headed in tae S.A. itself."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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With a nod, Aaron leaned back in the passenger's seat, satisfied at Rab's answer.
"How long have you been travelling this route, Rab? Seems to me, that
San Anyn and Dunhaven are an awful long way away from anywhere."
Aaron looked a bit farther down the road. By his reckoning, they should
reach San Anyn in a small while. It wasn't that he was getting
impatient... but he did want to get back to the group soon.
"Business must be good, if the Anynians are expanding so." he said,
hoping to coax a bit more information out of the already open man.
Hopefully, Aaron would sneak into San Anyn with as little notice as
possible. God help him if Lessaria got ahold of him... the Pheral would
rip him apart if she saw him again. After all, he left in such a
hurry...
Getting in wouldn't be too hard. Remembering the incantation for the armor... that would be the real challenge.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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The truck starts to climb a long incline, and Rab gives Aaron a strange look as he shifts through the gears. "It's only a thee hoor drife frae Silvermine, lad. That's nae sae bad."
A grin, perhaps slightly mocking, perhaps not, "As fur expandin'... weel it's raur tae fin' anybody fa believes tha stories abit whit happened in S.A. these days."
"An' e'en if they're true, it was at leest fower hunder years
ago. Ah suppose ye coods say 'at big city fowk huv cuttie
memories."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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Aaron attempted not to show his surprise. He knew he had been gone for long, but he didn't really understand just how time difference worked in Shadow. Has Arianne been wrong?
No. Something else must have happened. came her thoughts, on the heels of his own. There was great concern
there, for she too had family within San Anyn. Her sister, for one.
"I see." was all he could manage. He definetly got the information he was looking for.
Silvermine? That was a new one on him. Dunhaven had been nothing more
than a secondary colony, the last he had heard of it. Expansion, it
seemed, had beaten him there.
He didn't necesserally worry about age, however. Lessaria and the
remainder of the Anynians aged slower than most people. Almost as slow
as Amberites, as a matter of fact... but still, four hundred years?
Aaron shook his head in amazement. If only Rab knew that he had been there during those "stories" that nobody seemed to believe.
And... what of the House of the Sjardring? It's grand
magics should have kept it safe from even time itself. Aaron hoped that
none of the powerful weapons and armors got into random hands. Such a
thing would become catastrophic for all of Shadow.
With a sigh, Aaron slid back into the passenger's seat.
Things just got a whole lot more complicated.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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The vehicle tops the rise, and starts down into the dip beyond. A sign flashes past, and Rab says, Here's tha turn fur Dunhaven. Anither twintie minutes an' we'll chib San Anyn."
The Dunhaven road looks almost deserted, just one car on it, which
pulls out after the truck passes in a storm of spray, and turns towards
San Anyn.
Rab glances at Aaron, "Hae ye got a place tae gang tae? Ah can rin ye reit tae tha duir."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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With a mild shake of his head, Aaron smiled to Rab.
"No my friend, that's not needed. Simply take me into the city and drop me off, I'll... find my way."
He could feel it as well as Ilsefranvir. The House of the Sjardring was
close. Not as close as he wished... farther than he thought, but still
close enough to reach in a limited time.
But something felt odd.
I sense the resonance of the House... but it's
not as pervasive. Either most of the artifacts have been stolen, or
perhaps the power has focused upon something specific.
Aaron cast his gaze back out the passenger's window. Much had changed since he left.
Any other sensations? Can you get a more specific feeling?
A pause, then: I can't be completely sure at this range.
Setting his jaw, Aaron awaited his final stop, and hoped he could get what he came for with as little trouble as possible.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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San Anyn in autumn, and the weather is as bad as Aaron remembers
it. Winds blow in across the Gulf at this time of year, bring
torrential rain and thunderstorms.
Rab drops Aaron near the city centre, and city it is now, although in
this weather there seem to be few people on foot, and not many cars
either. The truck pulls away, with a long blast of its airhorns,
leaving Aaron standing in the shelter of a mock marble colonade which
fronts a row of stores.
The lights are on in all of them, clearly showing the goods on sale,
but there are no customers, even though it's still mid-afternoon.
Bored-looking sales assistants are clock watching in the designer
clothing store directly behind Aaron, wishing for the day to finish,
and for the rain to end before they have to go outside.
Aaron doesn't need to watch the clock to know that he's about four
centuries late. He can see a tourist information sign a little
further along the colonade which tells him that the Sjardring House Museum is three blocks along and turn right, and helpfully lists the opening times.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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San Anyn in autumn, and the weather is as bad as Aaron remembers
it. Winds blow in across the Gulf at this time of year, bring
torrential rain and thunderstorms.
Rab drops Aaron near the city centre, and city it is now, although in
this weather there seem to be few people on foot, and not many cars
either. The truck pulls away, with a long blast of its airhorns,
leaving Aaron standing in the shelter of a mock marble colonade which
fronts a row of stores.
The lights are on in all of them, clearly showing the goods on sale,
but there are no customers, even though it's still mid-afternoon.
Bored-looking sales assistants are clock watching in the designer
clothing store directly behind Aaron, wishing for the day to finish,
and for the rain to end before they have to go outside.
Aaron doesn't need to watch the clock to know that he's about four
centuries late. He can see a tourist information sign a little
further along the colonade which tells him that the Sjardring House Museum is three blocks along and turn right, and helpfully lists the opening times.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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Pouring rain. Always, always rain.
Yet... there was the constant autumn. In the rare times that the rain
ceased, and the sun shone, San Anyn burned like a luminous flame.
Today wasn't one of those days.
As a matter of fact, it wasn't one of those centuries.
Aaron knew that he looked totally out of place. There were a great many
answers that he would have to give if anyone questioned him, but
perhaps he could do a few "adjustments" to those who inquired. He
didn't like to do it (and Anynians were known to be notoriously
stubborn), but it might be necesssarry.
Pulling his cloak close to him, Aaron began a jog towards what was once
the House of the Sjardring, Ilsefranvir's odd senstions gaining
strength as he did so.
Very odd. I'm... still not sure of what's happened.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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Aaron arrives at the museum soaked to the skin, and finds that it is
indeed the same House of Sjardring that he recalls, although the
grounds are now somewhat smaller and surrounded by a modern wall topped
with steel spines. The gate is open though, and Aaron walks up
the short driveway and into the building itself, passing a uniformed
man who greets him with a friendly smile and an, "Afternoon, Sir."
before returning to the magazine he is reading.
The great hall of the House of Sjarding has changed little in four
centuries, save for the addition of glass cases housing various relics
and artifacts. Several of them, Aaron notes, are mislabelled...
A plan of the museum is located to one side, and it indicates that
weapons and armour are to be found in the basement. Their
location seems to correspond with the original armoury of the house.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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Finally at his destination, Aaron stands before his suit of
armour. It gleams beneath spotlights set to emphasise the arcane
markings which adorn its almost-organic form, encased in a cylinder of
glass, and labelled as belonging to somebody else.
Still he recognised it immediately when he had entered the room, even
with the other dozen or so suits present, each in its own glass tube
and lit by hot, white lights. Something had pulled him to this
suit, causing him to ignore the others, and the numerous weapons in
cases around the walls.
He stands before the armour, but his attention is directed towards the
centre of the room. A low glass case is there, looking almost
like an altar. The label reads Sjardring Artifact of unknown type. Unique. but what is in the case is nothing to do with the House of Sjardring.
It glares brightly in the spotlights, larger than the last time he saw
one, but recognisable all the same. Size apart, the thing in the
case is the exact duplicate of the orb which had been discovered on the
world of the Gatherer!
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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Aaron felt the resonance with the armor the instant he crossed the
room, raising his fingers and sliding them down the pane between
himself and the armor.
He would need to get to it, yet... he felt that the magic of the Sjardring would reach the armor no matter what blocked it.
But a power, on a greater scale, drew him around, and he spun as his senses, and Ilsefranvir's audible gasp turned him.
What he saw caused his blood to freeze.
"No! It's impossible!"
Taking step after shaking step, he approached the case and upon reaching it, set both his hands upon the glass.
"Non del infernus, bara non del muorte."
So is the inferno, also so is the dead.
The Anynian curse rolled from his tongue as he cast his eyes upon the
sphere, his hands clenching into tight fists. He knew this sphere, and
Arianne echoed his memories.
What can we do about this? This... thing, should
not exist! This is what must have drawn most of the Sjardring magic.
What if an entity like the Gatherer rises on San Anyn?
Aaron felt Arianne's worry, her concern... and fear.
Nodding, he made his decision.
"There is nothing we can do, right now. I dare not try to probe it with anything. This is simply another cog in the larger "quest", Ari. You and I have more to fight for than we ever believed."
Turning away from the accursed orb, Aaron approached the armor once
more with purpose. Reaching behind him, he unsheathed Ilsefranvir, and
held it before him, blade flat and leaning against his forehead.
He felt the power of the Sjardring rise within Ilsefranivr; saw the
ghostly, skirted form of Arianne in his mind as her hands rose above
her head. The power built, built, accellerating in its origin.
Aaron truly hoped the orb couldn't draw off of him. Perhaps the Pattern could protect him.
The true magic of the Sjardring, not having risen for four hundred years, built within Aaron and his weapon.
And then, the knowlege came.
"Herzkrieg - Engine of intent - Force of reckoning -
Refuse all destructions - Drive out all chaos - Rise within darkness -
Arrive among men - In Soul - In Mind - In Body - In I."
"Heart's War - Echo of my power - Secret of
burdens - Heal all hatred - Seal in all order - Sleep within
illumination - Depart among gods - Through Soul - Through Mind -
Through Body - Through I"
"Words of the Sjardring, sleeping ancients, champions of sanity, awaken in this unworthy being."
"Power of the Sjardring, conquering forces, lords of purity, channel through this unworthy icon."
Hands raised, voices as one, they spoke.
"Rise! Rise! Rise!"
"Rise! Rise! Rise!"
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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Power flows in the room and the glass of all the cases shatters simultaneously and all the shards fly away from Aaron. Alarms sound, and the sprinkler system triggers, soaking Aaron once more.
Herzkrieg lurches forward, one step, then a second, then the armour, which has denied all attempts to open it for four centuries, unfolds like a blossoming rose, reaches, flows, and envelops Aaron in its
embrace. Plates slide into place, and Aaron is clad in a carapace
of magic and metal, harder than steel to enemies, yet soft and pliable
as silk to its wearer.
Lights in the room flicker and strobe as electrical current is
disrupted by the presence of the suit, and finally plunge into total
failure as all the water flowing in rivulets over the surface of the
armour is suddenly repelled in a burst of spray.
"Welcome home, Aaron."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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All that he was - Mind, Soul, Body, swirled and became the power of the Sjardring.
He was nothing.
He was everything.
He was thousands of years of history.
He was a singular second of extinction.
He was...
He was no longer he... he was they.
And yet... he still existed.
He was.
Aaron only momentarilly felt Ilsefranvir explode from his
grasp as the voice reached their minds. He sensed the whole weapon,
neither sword, nor whip, but a storm of singular blades, dance around
his body in a beautiful rainbow cascade of death.
In his mind, Arianne was both dancing, and standing shock-still in place.
With them, was someone new.
All his feelings flowed back into his body, and Aaron felt as if his soul followed in their wake.
His voice met the rest of him, and he seized control of it. With his
voice, came control of Ilsefranvir, the blades accellerating and
becoming the sword once more. In the falling water, it steamed.
"As I am welcomed," he said, the Anynian verse, "thus so do I bless my host."
"Thusly so, do I welcome you home."
He stood with Arianne in his mind, awaiting the third presence to manifest itself. He knew he... yes, it was a he... was there.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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Aaron stands in the flickering darkness, water and sparks cascading around him. He waits for the third, and waits again.
He sees the figure coming down the steps behind him without turning his
head, the armour allowing him a 360° field of vision. An old woman, bent and frail-looking, leaning on a broom; a cleaner by all appearances.
Then she speaks, her voice cracked and broken by age, "Aaron?
I thought I recognised you in the foyer, though I doubt you spotted
me. I must say, the years have dealt better with you than with
myself. You still look like your portrait, the one in the upper
gallery."
In the uncertain light she seems like some troll-hag out of
legend. She giggles then, an incongruous sound from those lips.
She stands more upright, and the broom seems to lengthen, the binding
snapping and releasing the broomcorn bristles to fall to the floor,
even as a gleaming blade seems to grow from the other end of the
now-thicker handle.
"You realise, of course, that I have to kill
you? It's nothing personal, just a promise I made to my mother
before she died. I have to stop you taking Herzkrieg... Father."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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Father?!?
Yes. I can feel it through Herzkrieg. He
recognizes her and acknowleges it as fact, even though he doesn't wish
to show himself yet.
Aaron ground his teeth.
He had no time left.
And... he felt, that reality would remain safer if his "daughter", was
no longer a part of it. Who knew what the years, the decades, had done
to her sanity?
No. There was too much at stake.
"I refuse to let you take the armor, woman." he spoke, and his voice
held no emotion. He believed Ilse, and the armor. Better to simply
agree about it, then attempt to reason it out.
Lowering both of his arms, for he recognized the Sjardring stave, Mindemar, Ilsefranvir shone with a blue-red glow in his right hand. He still had not turned.
His wife died a gruesome death at the hands of the mad barbarian horde.
He never believed for a moment that he had a daughter... but the fact
that the woman held Mindemar, a weapon that belonged to Lessaria, his
wife's servant and protector, sent a shiver up Aaron's spine.
That meant that Lessaria was dead, and the Sjardring magic had passed the weapon on to its next owner.
Well, at least Less and Aaron's wife were at peace now.
"I will not ask your name. If you are my daughter, then it would pain me to know you only in death."
Cyan, Jack, Kali, Berd, Hunter, Lexy, Ares, Lazarus...
Too much.
Make ready.
Cyan's card slid through the inside of the armor, and remained "up his sleeve", so to speak.
He turned, finally, and he had no face. Herzkrieg supplied one, a flat
metallic mask that shifted its shape to resemble a scowling, fanged
demon. The eyes were sealed, yet Aaron could see perfectly.
Aaron's hand released Ilsefranvir, yet the sword still remained
attached to his grasp. He brought his hand up, and the sword spun,
moments before he thrust the flaming weapon forwards, and Arianne sent
a chain of death towards the wizened crone.
Eight links of Anynian metal, sharp enough to cleave through anything
in Shadow or Reality, speared towards Aaron's last connection to San
Anyn.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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Mindemar spins with surprising rapidity in the hands of the old
cleaner, there is a flash of sparks, the sound of metal on metal, and
Ileefranvir cleaves the heavy marble balustrade from the stairs,
deflected by the spear.
"Odd, I was told you were a good fighter, Father. Perhaps the years have slowed you?"
The woman blurs, so fast does she move, given unnatural vitality by the
weapon she has borne all these years. Nine feet of heavy oak and
metal seems as light as thistledown in her ancient hands, and the point
lunges straight at Aaron's head from his left.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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Aaron turns with the woman's thrust, tenkan,
left foot sliding around in a half-circle, Mindemar's blade flashing
past his vision as his free hand shot up with unnatural speed to grip
the haft of the spear. He moved with her, and pulled the woman along
her continued forward path.
So fast was Ilsefranvir's return to its sword-state, that Aaron never paused.
Something was occuring that he was slightly unsure of. He had never
maintained such control over Ilsefranvir, never been able to react so
fast, or read one's movements as he was now, in this engagement.
He did not understand it yet, but he embraced the new ability with fervor.
Aaron flowed, and pulled the woman towards him, as he reached with
Ilse, flaming sword, cleaving diagonally upwards towards her hip and
the soft midsection above.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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Ilse doesn't connect.
The woman uses her own momentum, and the added impetus from Aaron's
yank on the spear, to accelerate past him. Then she drives the
butt of the spear into the small of his back, sending a throb of pain
through his kidneys and spine.
This pushes her further away, and she turns, almost lazily, to face him
once more. The sleeve of her over-large cardigan falls back along
her left arm as she raises it above her head, to reveal the dark gleam
of a metal bracer there.
Aaron's daughter, her name still unknown to him, extends her right arm,
the spear held out before her and aimed directly at Aaron. Even
held one-handed, the tip is rock-steady.
She balances on the balls of her feet, and she isn't even breathing any harder!
"That hurt, didn't it, Father? Four
centuries I've waited, with nothing to do except study the armours
stored here. I know every weak spot in every suit, and that was one of THEM."
On the final word she drives forward again, the head of the spear
suddenly dropping towards his groin. Weak spot or not, the force
of such a thrust won't be countered by any armour known to man...
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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Interesting.
That was one thought that rolled through his mind as Aaron began to
recover from the woman's blow. Old she may have been, but feeble was
another thing entirely.
He hurt. The pain sent throbs searing through his back, the muscles and bone there groaning within.
Aaron turned around as she spoke, forced himself to breathe normally, away from the results of her strike.
"You've been busy. I'm surprised the others here haven't noticed." he
began, as her next attack speared towards him. She was fast. Very fast.
So fast, that he was beginning to think he may not survive.
A shortsword, even one that could shift to a whip that could cover any
length of space, didn't have the same amount of piercing power as
Mindemar.
So he threw himself sideways, hit the ground with his left shoulder and
rolled. Clutching Ilsefranvir, he ground his teeth as he righted, set
himself on one knee and jumped backwards, away from the woman, giving
himself room.
He was now almost against the wall, with the woman standing in the
midst of the shattered display cases. The cursed orb was near her, but
Aaron had forgotten about that for now.
Herzkrieg's eyes flamed red, illuminating a small circle of the room.
Aaron felt Ilse pull at Shadow. She was trying to alter it
of her own accord, attempting to give them an advantage... shifting the
floor around somehow...
Sword and soul were in two different places, but Aaron could control
the weapon of Ilsefranvir on his own. One of the advantages of having
two minds on the same task.
Perhaps there were three minds at work.
Aaron stanced as Ilsefranvir shifted to the eight-linked whip, and rattled when the serpentine form slid to the floor.
"How can you expect to defeat me, if you're not putting everything into it?" he asked, as he twirled the chain at his feet.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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"Ah... you see, nobody ever notices the
cleaner, or the old lady who comes in to sit and eat her lunch, or the
one who sits outside feeding the pigeons and only comes in when it
rains."
As she speaks she keeps most of her attention on Ilse, although the spear remains directed at Aaron.
"As for how I expect to defeat you, that's the
easy part. The hard part will be when I have to come in to work
tomorrow and clean up all the mess."
She steps left, once, twice. Then she makes her move. The
point of the weapon bites deep into the floor as she charges, lifting
her over Aaron's head in a blindingly fast arc. As she passes
above him, she pulls the blade out of the splintered stone and kicks
her feet against the ceiling, changing her trajectory.
A perfect gymnast's landing, and Mindemar flares with blue light as it pierces Herzkrieg at the back of Aaron's right thigh. Blood flows as she tugs the
spear back and skips back out of reach, at least until the armour
reseals itself.
"That was another of those weak spots I mentioned, by the way."
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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He lept away, skidding along the floor as he hit it feet-first and
coming up short on his bad leg. Pain lanced up from the piercing
injury, but he forced it behind him.
That sucked. Any suggestions?
A retreat would be a sound action.
Aaron attempted to straighten himself, and stood as tall as possible.
"So this is what I get for letting my brother drag me off through Shadow." he said, and sighed as he shook his head.
He had one more idea before he took it in, and this would be totally up to chance - and 400 years of ancient history.
His daughter had a very long time to study the armor, and even become
accepted by the magic of the Sjardring, but Aaron had been alive during
the time when the magic was most prevalent, and had stood beside the
others within the Protectorate - those who had made this House their
home. The magic of the Sjardring and the protectors of San Anyn were
not being honored by familial infighting.
And Aaron would be damned before he'd resemble the other half of his bloodline. Again.
Clutching Ilsefranvir in both hands, flaming blade pointed to the
floor, the faceplate and helm parted and melted into the armor full,
revaling the sweat-stained and tousled visage of the man beneath. He
gazed upon the woman before him with mismatched eyes, and spoke.
His voice was loud, full, and completly intent. This was all he had left, aside from the Trump at his wrist.
"Gather me here, forces of the Sjardring - Feel the reasoning behind my
actions - If I am unworthy of this armor and blade, then call me to
cost and steal my life this day - Prepare this soul, as once was done,
for death and reception - As the days of old, thusly do I call myself
to account - By Trial, By Blood, By Consequence."
The armor opened beneath his leg, and spattered blood across his path, before sealing once again.
"So do I witness this request - as a Soul of the Sjardring. May it be honored."
And Aaron waited, to see if the magic would call him to account.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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Silence, and then the girl springs directly at Aaron, quick as a striking snake the tip of Mindemar drives straight towards his face. Aaron reacts too late, and in that instant he knows that he will die...
You have been judged. This, then is your birthright.
The water, still pouring from the sprinklers overhead, hangs motionless
in the air. Energy crackles through Aaron's body, as scenes from
a thousand years of combat flow into his mind. Tens of thousands
of enemies, hundreds of thousands of attacks, and every one accompanied
by the perfect defence. One image in particular leaps to the
forefront of his consciousness.
The girl is still in mid-leap, the spear's tip only six inches from the
bridge of Aaron's nose, and moving forward almost imperceptibly...
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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he had scored on me with that blade again, and now my leg was
wounded - it mattered little, I could still carry on - She told me that
we had to retreat, but my mind was sound, and I understood - he thrust -
Ilse was pointing to the floor. His face was bear, more than a willing target.
He was wounded in one leg, how bad, he couldn't be sure.
But he cared, and he released all of himself into his motion.
No thoughts, no worries, no concerns - merely action - merely controlled reflex.
No Aaron. Just blade and motion and death.
The spear went in one direction - forwards.
So Aaron moved, so seemingly minutely, so impossibly small, that it was
nearly painful to view, but that movement was on his good leg, and it
gave him a chance. He was just that much faster, and she became that more off-target.
So he moved with her thrust, spun on his good leg in some sort of
almost-pirouette, as the spear rocketed past his neck, nearly scoring a
line across the back of him that he ignored or would have killed him
had he been closer.
As he spun, the blade swirled around his body, coming up along with his spin, forming solidly at his shoulder as he raised it.
He stepped, moving, finally coming within her defense, so fast that he
could grab her now and have it done - and Ilse came flaming across like
the sword of the avenging angel - a sound, which was his voice,
roaring, as the blade came up and down - be judged, now - and he saw it - towards collarbone and throat, down through ribcage and out, through the hip - it had been a woman who had done such a move, he felt - a dancer whom
had loved but two men - betrayed by one, and nearly killed by the other
- so he moved with her thoughts, felt her pain, and was one with the
sword in her hand...
You're killing your own descendant
Let it be so, I say - There will be others
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Dworkin (GM)
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Aaron's blade cuts through flesh and bone as if it were no more than fresh air.
The woman completes her move, steps back three paces and grins at him. "You'll need to do better than that, Fath... Fa... "
She coughs, choking on blood, and her eyes go wide in shock. The
spear clatters to the floor and she wraps her arms around herself.
Too little, and way too late... blood stains her clothing along the
line of Aaron's strike, and then everything above that angled line
simply slides to the floor in slow motion. The remainder of the
corpse remains upright for a moment, before twitching once and toppling
away to the right.
From somewhere there is a howling of sirens, and the water from the sprinklers starts to fall at its usual speed once more.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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breathe
He did, and he grabbed at his mind. He felt hollow inside, exhausted and wasted.
Aaron killed his daughter.
The card slid into his hand, and he brought it to his empty eyes,
Ilsefranvir burning in his right hand, Cyan's card in his left.
He concentrated. His power would not last long, he felt. He was running
out of strength and time. The wound and... something else... was
drawing him away - he was running on memories, now.
Love, death, pain, joy, sorrow, hatred, so many lives, so many memories, so many minds.
With nary a glance at the body on the floor, he concentrated on Cyan's
card as hard as possible, and only the deathgrip he held on Ilse kept
the surging energy flowing through his body. At that moment, it was the
only thing keeping him up.
At that moment, he wasn't even sure if Aaron existed anymore.
He was war and death and pain and the sword. He was all agony and the
whistling of a blade. He was a million souls all experiencing combat,
and he rode it like the wave of blood that flowed from his wound.
He needed to put it to use, and he needed to do it now
"Cyan!" he said, and forced his mind into the contact.
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Re: Part 20a - Electrical storm by Aaron
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straining... straining... contact!
Aaron released a breath he didn't know he held, and moments later, responded.
Yes, Cyan. It's me. he answered, and he knew his mind sounded as empty as his voice would have, despite how good it felt to feel Cyan's contact.
The power was still roaring through him, but he knew he couldn't hold
onto it any longer. Even now, he felt it sliding out of his mental and
physical grasp, heard Arianne's voice slowly, slowly, release it back into yourself, and then he knew that everything would hit him very hard when he returned to his friends.
And he extended a shaking hand, his free one, to the image of Cyan that he saw, a tired, sick-looking version of his friend.
I sense the residue of battle through this odd contact..., came a new voice in his mind, and Aaron sighed.
"Pull me through, dear bard."
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