Teiwaz
Beloved of Adorjan.
- Location
- RUNNING AWAY
God I wish I could see his face right now.
Meddle not...
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Dakkan Sall
Random Encounter
- Location
- On the world map
One day Atregos will come across another world that has intelligent, relatively peaceful dragons, where this kind of indignation will make sense. But for now, he shall have to continue to work on coming to terms that most planes have only non-sapient "proto-drakes" (aside from Skyrim/Elder Scrolls, and the one he met there was a dick) and will continue to call them "dragons" due to lack of comparison and not because they're trying to be insulting.
Wait until you try a portkey, Atregos.
And there's the reaction we all saw coming
In defense of Atregos - he may remember D&D (albeit as fiction,) where dragons are perfectly intelligent, people are certainly aware of it, and they still kill them to make stuff from the corpses now and then. And even in Warcraft, it happens sometimes. Alexstrasza and the rest of the Red Dragonflight were enslaved by fel magic less than a century ago to serve the original Orcish Horde, too... Atregos wasn't there for that, but the culture he's spent years joining does have some legitimate grievances.
(Mind you, dragons are also usually somewhere between 'not good' and 'actually awful' at addressing said grievances in a reasonable fashion.)
Perhaps most importantly, he did go to Skyrim first, so he has a definite example of humanoids making things out of bits of sapient dragons too. Even if they happened to be jerks.
Metaphorically speaking, until he's certain that they're calling their local apes 'humans' rather than actually tearing out the hearts of Homo Sapiens to make their stuff, he has good reason to be cautious even if he is aware that in some parts of the multiverse without local humans people just call any old ape a 'human' regardless of where they fall on the spectrum between 'animal' and 'sapient'. Also it is kind of a spectrum and I certainly wouldn't trust Harry Potter wizards to be thoughtfully concerned about avoiding murder of nonhuman sapient beings; their government can only barely conceive of non-magical humans and non-human magic-users as people and that's with Dumbledore in high office*. He probably doesn't have the context to know that but he did have a poor first impression courtesy of Weasley and Greengrass which may be influencing his reactions.
And of course - as a reader it's kind of funny to observe his reactions when the 'dragons' aren't sapient. And when they actually are sapient, there's some drama there. So from a Doylist perspective it's good to have.
*I personally feel that Dumbledore always seemed more concerned with personal behavior than law or justice, though - a failure of Chaotic Good turning Chaotic Neutral, where he protected all alike from the law, but forgot to also protect against evil or support good.
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27
Alexis sighed and sank down by the table, "Well, I should likely be glad you didn't hit him."
I frowned at her, "Alexis, I'm many things, but poor self control is normally not one of them."
"Mhmm," she answered, raising her eyebrow before she shrugged and poked her icecream as Zrazta walked over to sit down, bringing her own bowl.
"How did the foci buying go?" she asked with a smile as she scooped up some of the lemon icecream.
"Atreus managed not to hit Ollivander," Alexis sighed, "But it went well."
I nodded and pulled the wand from my satchel, "Ten inches, unicorn hair core, oak."
Zrazta looked at it as she frowned, "And you can do their magic with it?"
I just shrugged, "No clue. It reacted when I touched it though, so there is that, but let's find out, shall we?" and dug into my satchel, pulling out the book I picked up before opening it to the first page. Taking a minute to read through it, I kept going until I found the first spell.
Lumos. Hmm… oh, it was the spell the kids in the forest cast to see better, the light spell. Okay then.
I flicked the wand slightly, moving the wand's tip in the motion as described in the book while focusing on wanting it to light up, "Lumos."
The tip lit up with a white light.
I looked at it with a frown before I turned to Alexis, "That was easy."
"It gets more complicated," she said and took a scoop of her chocolate icecream, "And so far I found this magic to be practical, but not very powerful. Useful for everyday life, not for the battlefield."
Nodding, I twisted the wand and the light went out, "There is a place for that kind of thing too. I didn't feel any mana drain, I didn't even focus any into the wand."
"I know, it's really odd," she agreed and shrugged, "Don't ask me how it works."
I frowned at the wand and slipped it back into my satchel along with the book, pulling my blueberry icecream over, "Fucking strange. I have to see what Kalecgos or Targos think of it."
Zrazta nodded, "They might have some ideas."
Nodding again, I poked at the icecream, "Alexis, we'll likely take off in a day or so."
"Oh? Where to? I thought they had you on an enforced vacation?" she answered with a grin, "Isn't this exactly the kind of thing you would get obsessed by?"
"Oh, it is," Zrazta agreed with a nod, "But we want to go somewhere we can stretch our wings a bit, and he wants to show me Kaladesh too."
I smiled, "Can always come back later," before I looked at her, "Besides, we already have someone here doing research."
Alexis rolled her eyes, "I'm not writing reports."
"But you are learning this magic on the side."
"…Fine," she sighed and nodded, "I'll see if I can gather a lesson plan up. I live at a school, shouldn't be difficult."
"Thank you."
Zrazta poked at her icecream, "This is rather nice. Is there anything similar on Azeroth?"
"Don't think so," I said with a frown, "If it is, I have not run into it."
Alexis poked at her icecream, "Does Westeros? That would a big seller, and not like it should be difficult with magic. At least your ice magics."
Now that was an ide… what's that?
"What's that?" Alexis asked and got up, looking out the window. People were running. There were screams outside. As I watched, a spell flashed past the running people in the direction they were coming from.
Reaching into my satchel, I pulled my weapon and glanced at Zrazta. She nodded and got up,
"Let's check it out."
People in the store were panicking, "He's back! He's back!" a man screamed, running for the door.
Alexis yelled to catch their attention, "Everyone, try to get into cover!"
It didn't work overly well. The owner ran into the back, but the rest made for the door and into the crowd.
I pressed my back against the wall by the door and glanced out. Other than people running, I couldn't see anything. One of the people that were running fell, the old woman had an arrow sticking out of her back.
What the fuck?
More arrows flashed past, more people fell, "Zrazta, the fallen!" I said and rushed into the street, raising my left arm, sending a pulse of magic into my left vambrace, allowing the illusion across my armour to fade.
A pale blue shield snapped into view in a half sphere in front of me. Arrows hit it, bouncing off it to the sides and causing rippling effects.
Now with the new angle, I could see who the attackers were. Small beings no taller than my waist, wearing heavy armour, shields and weapons. They were streaming out of the bank. Hundreds were on the street already.
Not just those either, they had large, ugly and lumbering humanoids with grey skin with them.
AN// Many thanks to Drunkenvalley for betaing this part.
I frowned at her, "Alexis, I'm many things, but poor self control is normally not one of them."
"Mhmm," she answered, raising her eyebrow before she shrugged and poked her icecream as Zrazta walked over to sit down, bringing her own bowl.
"How did the foci buying go?" she asked with a smile as she scooped up some of the lemon icecream.
"Atreus managed not to hit Ollivander," Alexis sighed, "But it went well."
I nodded and pulled the wand from my satchel, "Ten inches, unicorn hair core, oak."
Zrazta looked at it as she frowned, "And you can do their magic with it?"
I just shrugged, "No clue. It reacted when I touched it though, so there is that, but let's find out, shall we?" and dug into my satchel, pulling out the book I picked up before opening it to the first page. Taking a minute to read through it, I kept going until I found the first spell.
Lumos. Hmm… oh, it was the spell the kids in the forest cast to see better, the light spell. Okay then.
I flicked the wand slightly, moving the wand's tip in the motion as described in the book while focusing on wanting it to light up, "Lumos."
The tip lit up with a white light.
I looked at it with a frown before I turned to Alexis, "That was easy."
"It gets more complicated," she said and took a scoop of her chocolate icecream, "And so far I found this magic to be practical, but not very powerful. Useful for everyday life, not for the battlefield."
Nodding, I twisted the wand and the light went out, "There is a place for that kind of thing too. I didn't feel any mana drain, I didn't even focus any into the wand."
"I know, it's really odd," she agreed and shrugged, "Don't ask me how it works."
I frowned at the wand and slipped it back into my satchel along with the book, pulling my blueberry icecream over, "Fucking strange. I have to see what Kalecgos or Targos think of it."
Zrazta nodded, "They might have some ideas."
Nodding again, I poked at the icecream, "Alexis, we'll likely take off in a day or so."
"Oh? Where to? I thought they had you on an enforced vacation?" she answered with a grin, "Isn't this exactly the kind of thing you would get obsessed by?"
"Oh, it is," Zrazta agreed with a nod, "But we want to go somewhere we can stretch our wings a bit, and he wants to show me Kaladesh too."
I smiled, "Can always come back later," before I looked at her, "Besides, we already have someone here doing research."
Alexis rolled her eyes, "I'm not writing reports."
"But you are learning this magic on the side."
"…Fine," she sighed and nodded, "I'll see if I can gather a lesson plan up. I live at a school, shouldn't be difficult."
"Thank you."
Zrazta poked at her icecream, "This is rather nice. Is there anything similar on Azeroth?"
"Don't think so," I said with a frown, "If it is, I have not run into it."
Alexis poked at her icecream, "Does Westeros? That would a big seller, and not like it should be difficult with magic. At least your ice magics."
Now that was an ide… what's that?
"What's that?" Alexis asked and got up, looking out the window. People were running. There were screams outside. As I watched, a spell flashed past the running people in the direction they were coming from.
Reaching into my satchel, I pulled my weapon and glanced at Zrazta. She nodded and got up,
"Let's check it out."
People in the store were panicking, "He's back! He's back!" a man screamed, running for the door.
Alexis yelled to catch their attention, "Everyone, try to get into cover!"
It didn't work overly well. The owner ran into the back, but the rest made for the door and into the crowd.
I pressed my back against the wall by the door and glanced out. Other than people running, I couldn't see anything. One of the people that were running fell, the old woman had an arrow sticking out of her back.
What the fuck?
More arrows flashed past, more people fell, "Zrazta, the fallen!" I said and rushed into the street, raising my left arm, sending a pulse of magic into my left vambrace, allowing the illusion across my armour to fade.
A pale blue shield snapped into view in a half sphere in front of me. Arrows hit it, bouncing off it to the sides and causing rippling effects.
Now with the new angle, I could see who the attackers were. Small beings no taller than my waist, wearing heavy armour, shields and weapons. They were streaming out of the bank. Hundreds were on the street already.
Not just those either, they had large, ugly and lumbering humanoids with grey skin with them.
AN// Many thanks to Drunkenvalley for betaing this part.
Well, yes. But it's generally considered polite not to mention that.
More relevantly: They're apparently rebelling.
- Location
- Pale Blue Dot
One one hand: The Harry Potter wizards (at least in Britain) are kind of begging for rebellions with how they are acting. They make as many enemies as they possibly can, and seem to think that rampant systematic discrimination, systematically altering and/or deleting part of peoples minds, economic corruption and summary executions makes for good diplomacy. Widespread torture in prisons doesn't exactly help.
On the other hand: The goblins already have economic control of the wizarding world. Gold is the only thing the wizarding world leadership seems to care about. Why go out in the streets with weapons? Tradition? Mind control & unbreakable contracts making any other path to rebellion effectively impossible? Said mind control having been broken and the goblins being too furious to be able to react in any other way?
Oh well, just because one side (the wizarding world) is filled with morons doesn't mean some of the other sides can't be filled with morons too. No idea how much of an AU this particular instance of the HP world it is, of course, but I'm guessing that will become obvious in the aftermath. In the meantime, however? The goblins have not exactly made a charm offensive.
On the other hand: The goblins already have economic control of the wizarding world. Gold is the only thing the wizarding world leadership seems to care about. Why go out in the streets with weapons? Tradition? Mind control & unbreakable contracts making any other path to rebellion effectively impossible? Said mind control having been broken and the goblins being too furious to be able to react in any other way?
Oh well, just because one side (the wizarding world) is filled with morons doesn't mean some of the other sides can't be filled with morons too. No idea how much of an AU this particular instance of the HP world it is, of course, but I'm guessing that will become obvious in the aftermath. In the meantime, however? The goblins have not exactly made a charm offensive.
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Hmmm. As I recall, didn't Harry promise the goblins the Sword of Gryffindor and never return it?
Hah, as if one single event would be enough. How about - didn't the Ministry make horrific laws under Voldemort, which didn't get cleared away instantly because for some reason, "We can prove this was done under Imperius" isn't valid to dispute a vote?
I like that Atregos didn't hit Ollivander, but still got a wand that does not involve any dragon parts. I am mildly curious as to what he learned about local dragons, though - and what Ollivander suspects about him. Atregos is noticeably weird enough that Ollivander likely realized he ought to pay attention... and Ollivander may be able to determine some quite unusual things about someone from seemingly unrelated information, if his wand-selecting act is real. Sometimes, at least. I wonder what signals Atregos puts out to that method of examination?
Interesting that Alexis says that wizard combat magic isn't very effective - a stunner was sufficient to take down Zrazta. Yes, it had to be a cheap shot, but it was effective and reasonably safe... and there's lots of cheap shots which would not take down Zrazta before she could transform into a much-harder-to-deal-with big red life-attuned dragon. Most of the remaining workable options are extremely lethal.
On the other hand... considering spells I know of, most wizardly combat magic has great difficulty dealing with magic resistance, armor, or both and fails against some quite basic defensive spells. So perhaps it is more accurate to say that they have two combat tricks which have an extremely narrow niche, but are extremely effective within that niche. Stunners are one of the safest and most reliable methods of taking down soft targets from any setting I know of - and Avada Kedavra is extremely high-lethality and seems to ignore at least one entire class of magical shield, but the casting of it seems to cause minor but cumulative self-harm on a magical level and it can be blocked by fairly trivial physical obstacles.
With regards specifically to Avada Kedavra, it's likely as vulnerable to outside-context magic as the assumption that souls cannot be taken along on a Planeswalk is - no Planeswalker tried a method that could bring souls along safely because they hadn't yet encountered it, but Sheila had the right knowledge to do it*. Wizards seem to have at best extremely limited magic dealing with the soul, and so they just don't have examples of the class of magic which could most completely trump Avada Kedavra.
*I do wonder what makes a Lich's phylactery different from a Soulstone for these purposes. Perhaps it is that, while both contain souls, a soulstone is metaphysically a completely sessile object and a phylactery is metaphysically an active person in its own right. A Soulstone is incapable of interacting with the Blind Eternities, while a Phylactery must do so to be what it is - and is destroyed by the experience.
Hah, as if one single event would be enough. How about - didn't the Ministry make horrific laws under Voldemort, which didn't get cleared away instantly because for some reason, "We can prove this was done under Imperius" isn't valid to dispute a vote?
I like that Atregos didn't hit Ollivander, but still got a wand that does not involve any dragon parts. I am mildly curious as to what he learned about local dragons, though - and what Ollivander suspects about him. Atregos is noticeably weird enough that Ollivander likely realized he ought to pay attention... and Ollivander may be able to determine some quite unusual things about someone from seemingly unrelated information, if his wand-selecting act is real. Sometimes, at least. I wonder what signals Atregos puts out to that method of examination?
Interesting that Alexis says that wizard combat magic isn't very effective - a stunner was sufficient to take down Zrazta. Yes, it had to be a cheap shot, but it was effective and reasonably safe... and there's lots of cheap shots which would not take down Zrazta before she could transform into a much-harder-to-deal-with big red life-attuned dragon. Most of the remaining workable options are extremely lethal.
On the other hand... considering spells I know of, most wizardly combat magic has great difficulty dealing with magic resistance, armor, or both and fails against some quite basic defensive spells. So perhaps it is more accurate to say that they have two combat tricks which have an extremely narrow niche, but are extremely effective within that niche. Stunners are one of the safest and most reliable methods of taking down soft targets from any setting I know of - and Avada Kedavra is extremely high-lethality and seems to ignore at least one entire class of magical shield, but the casting of it seems to cause minor but cumulative self-harm on a magical level and it can be blocked by fairly trivial physical obstacles.
With regards specifically to Avada Kedavra, it's likely as vulnerable to outside-context magic as the assumption that souls cannot be taken along on a Planeswalk is - no Planeswalker tried a method that could bring souls along safely because they hadn't yet encountered it, but Sheila had the right knowledge to do it*. Wizards seem to have at best extremely limited magic dealing with the soul, and so they just don't have examples of the class of magic which could most completely trump Avada Kedavra.
*I do wonder what makes a Lich's phylactery different from a Soulstone for these purposes. Perhaps it is that, while both contain souls, a soulstone is metaphysically a completely sessile object and a phylactery is metaphysically an active person in its own right. A Soulstone is incapable of interacting with the Blind Eternities, while a Phylactery must do so to be what it is - and is destroyed by the experience.
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Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
Oh hey, killing a hoard of mooks, must feel like his adventuring days.
@aetherialDawn, nice argument. I can picture this happening;
Aveda Kevada! Zap! And Astegeros falls down. Then only a couple seconds later gets up and glares at the foolish wizard while saying, "You did not seriously just kick the soul out of my body?!"
Aveda Kevada! Zap! And Astegeros falls down. Then only a couple seconds later gets up and glares at the foolish wizard while saying, "You did not seriously just kick the soul out of my body?!"
Harry made a dishonest promise with the intent to rules-lawyer on the point of time (to give it back not immediately, but at an unspecified date in the future), the goblin rightfully didn't trust him and nicked the sword while Harry was busy surviving. A few hours later, the Hat summoned the sword again anyway, for Neville to wield. Canon doesn't say what happened to the sword after the Battle of Hogwarts, but I expect there to be some Word or Rowling for that.
Ah, I think I conflated the dishonesty and the sword still being with wizards at the end as if they were all of a single piece.
I don't know about killing them... After twice now having Alexis emphasize how he should talk before he threatens in this culture, maybe he's just going to demand to know why the goblins are attacking.
Third time's the charm, right?
On the other hand, they're shooting fleeing civilians in the back, which is a pretty fucking nasty thing to do.
It's slightly greyer against Wizarding culture since everyone carries weapons at all times. Capturing and disarming every single person is at best exceedingly difficult and slow - and, in fact, arguably means that the other side is using 'civilians' as soldiers to slow an enemy advance, at which point their claim to being civilians at this scale of fighting gets rather tenuous.
But they're not fighting, they're not even hiding where they could ambush anyone, they're fleeing.
Also: The bit about 'he is back' would imply Voldemort to me, except honestly it's a pronoun and they didn't even use an idiomatically specific pronoun like 'you-know-who', which implies to me that it might be a different 'he'.
For all I know it's Sirius Black or a goblin leader or something.
---
I wonder if Kalecgos is going to want a short explanation of how Atregos's vacation went to make sure that... well... things like this didn't happen. "Oh, uh. Rescued a friend's dad from a kidnapping, tracked down a disappeared friend, almost got into a fight with trigger-happy magical enforcers, got interrupted by small children, got the tools to investigate a new magic system, fought in a war... it was a small war!... sorry, flight leader."
Hopefully he and Zrazta get some fun times in the Plane of Toys, er, Kaladesh and somewhere they can fly (Westeros, probably.)
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- Location
- Seattle, Washington, USA
Then he hasn't been paying attention, because not only does ice cream exist in Azeroth, there are multiple companies producing it. Here are two examples:
NeverMelt Ice Cream
Tigule and Foror's Strawberry Ice Cream
All it would take, actually, is a Wizard with government ties attacking a Goblin inside the bank, then escaping alive. The Goblins would take it as an act of war (because it is) and in war time, anyone armed with a weapon in the middle of the war zone is generally a valid target.
I hadn't considered this as a possible cause. Very plausible indeed.
- Location
- Oblivion
Well yes, I thought it was pretty clear by now that he doesn't really look around a place outside of his own tiny bit of it.
That's why he hasn't noticed rather obvious things like the giant floating island in Elder Scrolls.
28
"Atreus! Hold them off, I have something that can help, but it takes a while!" Alexis yelled at me as she took cover behind a upturned cart that used to contain fruit.
Hold off the army of hundreds of little bastards in full armour?
Sure thing, easy.
Fuck me.
Holding the shield, I focused on my magic, weaving a spell as I focused before casting it. A shimmering field snapped into view across the alley.
A mirror illusion wouldn't keep them away, not unless they are incredibly stupid, but it would keep them from being able to pick their targets with those crossbows.
I glanced to the side. Alexis had her eyes closed, her hands glowing a pure white, light even leaking out from beneath her eyelids. She was summoning something. What the hell could she be summoning that took that much focus?
"Zrazta?" I asked, keeping the shield up between her and the little bastards, "How's it going?"
She pulled a bolt out of the fallen woman and channeled her magic into a healing spell, "Should make it, but these things are poisoned with something I haven't seen before. Working on it."
"What the fuck are those things?"
"Goblins! They are rebelling!" a man yelled from the side as he peered over his own cover, wand aimed in their direction.
Goblins? Those didn't look anything like goblins. They weren't even green!
…and now they are marching towards us. Illusions won't do anything against that, there are too many of them to affect with something advanced... and I really didn't want to transform to my real form here, not when these people use dragon hearts in their wands!
I glanced at Alexis, she's got something big on the way. Just need to slow them down… can I get them talking?
If not, I could always send an enlarged frost troll at them, that's distracting for most people.
Gritting my teeth I walked forward, keeping the shield up as I stepped forward and through the illusion and looked towards the one in the fanciest helmet. When in doubt, assume the one in the fanciest hat thinks he is in charge.
"Halt!"
"We are done taking orders from your kind, human!" He yelled back. Engraved golden armour, a sword in his hand, a round shield in his other, engraved with the picture of a dragon breathing fire on it.
That almost got me wondering if I was on the right side here, but I shook my head, "I can't let you hurt more people. What's your name?"
"I am Garlusk! Warlord of the Goblin Empire!"
"Well then, Garlusk, I bid thee to fuck off!"
"What!?"
I grinned, "Didn't you hear me? Are you deaf as well as stupid? I don't care what you want or what these people have done to you."
He snarled and pushed past the goblins in front of him, "You dare mock me, human!?"
Spreading my arms, I held my dagger to the side while keeping the shield up, "Do I? Yes. Yes I do. Honestly, compared to the last guy that wanted a fight, you are not very scary."
Come on, Alexis. Finish already!
He grit his teeth together, "I will feed you your own spleen, human! Fight me!"
"You and what army… oh wait, that one."
"They will not interfere. If you win, you can walk away. You have my word of honour," he ground out, "Lower your shield."
I considered him for a moment before I nodded and let the shield collapse into a light blue circular shield, similar to what he held in his hand, "Very well. I accept."
Moving forward with a fierce grin twisting his face, he gave his sword a spin, "What is your name, human? I want to know whom I will slay."
"My name is Atregos," I answered, allowing my dagger to shift into a rapier, "and I say, come at me."
He charged and struck, I raised my shielded arm to block his sword, only to find it passing right through the shield.
I twisted as fast as I could, just barely avoiding catching it on my fingers as I swung my rapier, shifting it to a heavy mace in midair. It rang against his shield and he took a step back.
Backing away out of range, I looked at my seemingly unhurt shield. Hmm, his gear was enchanted. That sword cuts through magic.
Fascinating.
Letting the shield collapse, I looked closer towards him, casting my magic seeing spell and allowing the purple magic eye to form before my forehead. "Fascinating," I answered and slowly took another step forward as I looked at him.
"What?"
"Your gear is enchanted," I said, allowing the weapon to return to a dagger, "In an… interesting manner. Mostly focused on disrupting magic it comes into contact with."
He snarled and readied his sword, "It's goblin made, human! Of course it's enchanted! It's been in my family for generations, crafted by my great, great, great grandfather! Your own weapon is too, likely goblin made! Humans have no mind for enchanting!"
Come on, Alexis! I can't keep this going all day!
I raised my eyebrow at him, allowing the spell to fade, "Oh, and before we continue, can I ask a quick question? That ancestor of yours, was he high up in the ranks? Maybe in charge?"
"He was one of our greatest leaders!"
"Oh, that explains it. I was wondering how somebody with such clear lack of ability got to enchant items with such finely worked metal. If he was in charge, that explains why nobody told him he was shit."
With a roar of outrage Garlusk charged, only for a bright white light to light up the alley and a voice filled the air, "Enough."
Garlusk faltered and slowly stopped to stare behind me, his sword lowering until the tip rested against the ground.
I glanced back to see a woman with shining steel armour float in the air, slowly beating a pair of pure white wings, her platinum blonde hair flowing in the wind.
Alexis stood beneath her, the sword I made for her in her hand.
AN// Big thanks to Drunkenvalley for betaing this section.
Hold off the army of hundreds of little bastards in full armour?
Sure thing, easy.
Fuck me.
Holding the shield, I focused on my magic, weaving a spell as I focused before casting it. A shimmering field snapped into view across the alley.
A mirror illusion wouldn't keep them away, not unless they are incredibly stupid, but it would keep them from being able to pick their targets with those crossbows.
I glanced to the side. Alexis had her eyes closed, her hands glowing a pure white, light even leaking out from beneath her eyelids. She was summoning something. What the hell could she be summoning that took that much focus?
"Zrazta?" I asked, keeping the shield up between her and the little bastards, "How's it going?"
She pulled a bolt out of the fallen woman and channeled her magic into a healing spell, "Should make it, but these things are poisoned with something I haven't seen before. Working on it."
"What the fuck are those things?"
"Goblins! They are rebelling!" a man yelled from the side as he peered over his own cover, wand aimed in their direction.
Goblins? Those didn't look anything like goblins. They weren't even green!
…and now they are marching towards us. Illusions won't do anything against that, there are too many of them to affect with something advanced... and I really didn't want to transform to my real form here, not when these people use dragon hearts in their wands!
I glanced at Alexis, she's got something big on the way. Just need to slow them down… can I get them talking?
If not, I could always send an enlarged frost troll at them, that's distracting for most people.
Gritting my teeth I walked forward, keeping the shield up as I stepped forward and through the illusion and looked towards the one in the fanciest helmet. When in doubt, assume the one in the fanciest hat thinks he is in charge.
"Halt!"
"We are done taking orders from your kind, human!" He yelled back. Engraved golden armour, a sword in his hand, a round shield in his other, engraved with the picture of a dragon breathing fire on it.
That almost got me wondering if I was on the right side here, but I shook my head, "I can't let you hurt more people. What's your name?"
"I am Garlusk! Warlord of the Goblin Empire!"
"Well then, Garlusk, I bid thee to fuck off!"
"What!?"
I grinned, "Didn't you hear me? Are you deaf as well as stupid? I don't care what you want or what these people have done to you."
He snarled and pushed past the goblins in front of him, "You dare mock me, human!?"
Spreading my arms, I held my dagger to the side while keeping the shield up, "Do I? Yes. Yes I do. Honestly, compared to the last guy that wanted a fight, you are not very scary."
Come on, Alexis. Finish already!
He grit his teeth together, "I will feed you your own spleen, human! Fight me!"
"You and what army… oh wait, that one."
"They will not interfere. If you win, you can walk away. You have my word of honour," he ground out, "Lower your shield."
I considered him for a moment before I nodded and let the shield collapse into a light blue circular shield, similar to what he held in his hand, "Very well. I accept."
Moving forward with a fierce grin twisting his face, he gave his sword a spin, "What is your name, human? I want to know whom I will slay."
"My name is Atregos," I answered, allowing my dagger to shift into a rapier, "and I say, come at me."
He charged and struck, I raised my shielded arm to block his sword, only to find it passing right through the shield.
I twisted as fast as I could, just barely avoiding catching it on my fingers as I swung my rapier, shifting it to a heavy mace in midair. It rang against his shield and he took a step back.
Backing away out of range, I looked at my seemingly unhurt shield. Hmm, his gear was enchanted. That sword cuts through magic.
Fascinating.
Letting the shield collapse, I looked closer towards him, casting my magic seeing spell and allowing the purple magic eye to form before my forehead. "Fascinating," I answered and slowly took another step forward as I looked at him.
"What?"
"Your gear is enchanted," I said, allowing the weapon to return to a dagger, "In an… interesting manner. Mostly focused on disrupting magic it comes into contact with."
He snarled and readied his sword, "It's goblin made, human! Of course it's enchanted! It's been in my family for generations, crafted by my great, great, great grandfather! Your own weapon is too, likely goblin made! Humans have no mind for enchanting!"
Come on, Alexis! I can't keep this going all day!
I raised my eyebrow at him, allowing the spell to fade, "Oh, and before we continue, can I ask a quick question? That ancestor of yours, was he high up in the ranks? Maybe in charge?"
"He was one of our greatest leaders!"
"Oh, that explains it. I was wondering how somebody with such clear lack of ability got to enchant items with such finely worked metal. If he was in charge, that explains why nobody told him he was shit."
With a roar of outrage Garlusk charged, only for a bright white light to light up the alley and a voice filled the air, "Enough."
Garlusk faltered and slowly stopped to stare behind me, his sword lowering until the tip rested against the ground.
I glanced back to see a woman with shining steel armour float in the air, slowly beating a pair of pure white wings, her platinum blonde hair flowing in the wind.
Alexis stood beneath her, the sword I made for her in her hand.
AN// Big thanks to Drunkenvalley for betaing this section.
Dakkan Sall
Random Encounter
- Location
- On the world map
Summon Bigger (Flying Divine) Fish.
Heavy READER
Book Devourer/Speed Reader
- Location
- Fitchburg, MA
I hate with a passion Pure white planeswalkers, there is no reasoning with them at all.
(I would be Black,Blue,Red)
(I would be Black,Blue,Red)