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Post by Talus on Apr 20, 2017 20:34:52 GMT -6
He listened to her, and nodded. So she was a tomeless person. Him, he was a person who preferred a tome, and only recently had he begun trying to cast spells without one. "Ah. Oh well. I use a tome myself,you're right,it does have its downsides... Victor was trying to get me to switch to tomeless style,so i've started practicing that lately." he said. Then she asked how he and Victor met. "Oh yeah... well, he was my combat instructor back when I was in mage school. Specifically, he taught that, and courses on magical weaponry." he said.
"I remember the first day I had class with him teaching. He tried to get the class to stop talking twice by asking nicely. The third time, he slammed his sword down into the ground and yelled at us all to shut up and pay attention to him, cause class was in session. Scared the hell out of me, that's for sure." he said, remembering the memory with a slight chuckle.
"He was the sort of teacher that, could easily put us all into place. I remember the first day we did actual combat training, he issued a challenge to the whole class, as he said that anyone who could land a single hit on him could leave early. Now mind you, that was to, say, 20 of us in the class at the time. Not a single person could hit him once, so needless to say, we lost. After that, he began to rank us based on what he assessed of us when we fought him, and then created a training syllabus that would best fit us. After that, you had to be practically an idiot to think about trying to make him angry. Although... he did have a very even temper." Talus said.
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Post by Althea on Apr 20, 2017 22:03:32 GMT -6
"It is a trade-off between consistency, practicality, and ease of use," Althea allowed readily in response to Talus's comments. Certainly she was no zealot towards any particular style of casting, and tome casting had massive advantages, particularly in replicating identical spells repeatedly which she struggled with, though it was also more useful in regulating the exact specifications of each spell. Less room for human error so to speak.
Mage school, though. Interesting. So he had gone to a proper magic academy. There were few of those in Elibe, at least of any real repute. Laus had one. Ryerde, she had heard, hosted a smaller one. And of course.... Etruria. That likely located Talus's origins in either Lycia or Etruria, though given their current location it suggested Lycia. ...Then again, she was an Etrurian in Lycia, so maybe not. Elibe was a strange place these days.
Stories of Victor were interesting. He sounded like a competent teacher at least, certainly far stronger than his students - which she certainly HOPED so. A teacher of magic who did not understand it intimately had little business teaching in the first place. It seemed that Victor was a harsh but fair teacher if Talus's tales were true., which seemed roughly fitting with what she had managed earlier. It meant little to her regardless, though. Althea didn't hold a grudge against him but neither did she expect to see him again.
The sight of a crooked tree, its center long since blasted apart by a lightning strike that had ripped it in twain, jarred her memory. "Oh, hold on," she interjected, digging a map out of her pack and comparing the landmarks. "This marks the spot at which we must divorce ourselves from the road and go... hiking," Althea stated coolly, though her face wrinkled as it registered disgust at the thought. She was not an... outdoors sort of girl, nor particularly enthusiastic about going off the beaten path unless necessary. But they would have to. If the site was that close, it would not have been so long ignored. "We have several miles of the wild ahead of us before reaching the site."
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Post by Talus on Apr 20, 2017 22:25:41 GMT -6
Mmm. He nodded in response to her. And then came the hiking bit. He could see the look of disgust on her face, and he had a similar expression on his face. He loathed such ardous physical activity, but then, he supposed, nothing as rewarding as a adventure came easily. "Victor would have loved this if he were here. He used to be a soldier for the Eturian army, actually. Then he broke his leg rather badly in battle. They were able to heal it back into place, but nothing short of a mythical healing staff could restore it back to its former glory. He can't run nearly as fast anymore, I mean, he can walk fine, but he had to be discharged because with his leg. Now, he's about as fast as a knight in heavy armor when he runs. Before, he could easily keep pace with those younger than him. He Told us that To Teach us the dangers of being careless on the battlefield. You see, the exact circumstances were that he let his guard down for a moment to catch his breath, and then the enemy smashed his leg with a solid kick knocked him to the ground, then a hard bash with a hammer that would have hit his head if he hadn't used his leg to block it with a kick because his sword was out of reach. He said it was the worst day of his life when he got the news that he would be discharged because of it... he was going to be a swordsmaster if it hadn't happened. He had to almost completely retrain himself because of that injury to compensate for a now nigh-useless leg in combat. He said that that's why we should never ever let our guards down like that: it could cost us dearly." he said as he began to make his way through the forest, telling stories about Victor to take their mind off the obstacles.
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Post by Althea on Apr 20, 2017 22:43:52 GMT -6
"Well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Althea was pretty sure that had been neither witty nor funny, but she'd already dug her own grave in that regard so with a helpless look to Talus she forged onward into the frenzied wilds. Well. Past a tree anyways. It wasn't like they just jumped into the middle of Vinland, it was mostly just tall trees and some occasional underbrush across the forest floor, for now anyways.
And Talus was already back on stories of Victor. Haha. The young mage seemed to idolize the older man, perhaps rightfully so; she couldn't really judge that on her own, for better or for worse. He certainly seemed like an interesting individual though, she did have to grant him that much. From soldier to teacher to... mercenary? "I'm sorry to hear about his leg," was the first thing that came to mind in her attempt to empathize... possibly with dubious results, she wasn't sure. "Though I cannot argue that lesson. It has nearly cost me dearly several times already in recent times; combat seems to be exceedingly complex and, ah, quite lethal, with far too much going on to keep track of at once." Aaaaaand her armor of choice was a f**k**g dress. She was going to have to look into anti-getting-stabbed options one of these days.
"Though I believe that it also illustrates the value of working together in combat. I have been fortunate to work with several other mages and fighters, and each saved my life at least once already. There is something to be said for a second pair of eyes."
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Post by Talus on Apr 20, 2017 22:54:40 GMT -6
He chuckled softly at the comment. That was probably what he would have said as well. She expressed sympathy at his leg, and he shrugged. "Yeah... although he did learn to compensate for it by taking mounted lessons until he became a paladin instead." he said. He nodded at her words. Looks like Victor had been right, that she had also been in similar situations to tonight's one, only those had escalated. Her remark on teamwork made his eyes seem to light up. "That's funny. He also mentioned that during the same lesson. He said one of the best ways to prevent things like that is to have a partner with you to cover you. He said that if he had a partner, it might not have ended nearly as badly. So there's that. Honestly, you should see him in action... he's amazing." he said.
"I haven't worked with others as much, but I have seen amazing things already. The other day, I saw a man named Orcelous smite a bandit with an axe blow so powerful, only a bloody crater was left of the bandit when it was over. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. To be witness to that kind of power is amazing. I think that axe was magic too. Xigshaw was it's name... dangit. I should've asked Victor about it, he might know something about it." Talus said, mentally facepalming at the thought. Who knew when he would run into Victor again?
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Post by Althea on Apr 21, 2017 0:45:15 GMT -6
"A paladin and a mercenary." Althea couldn't help but smile wryly. "Seems like a bit of a contradiction in concepts, doesn't it?" Oh, she wasn't really adverse to the concept, to some degree she was just messing with Talus, but it DID sound strange when you put it that way. Paladins, thematically, were stalwart defenders of all that was Right, holy warriors whose faith in God and themselves allowed them to hold fast against any evil. Mercenaries, on the other hand, held no allegiance other than gold, and for enough gold would happily kill most anyone you wanted dead, right or not. To mix the two seemed almost sacrilegious, if not downright blasphemous. But at the same time. A job was a job. And if Victor could make it work for him, well, who was she to judge? Not that it would stop her from doing so of course, she didn't need a reason to be judgmental, but it didn't matter in the first place.
Rrrregardless. Speaking of duality, it seemed Talus felt the same, though at the same time it seemed he was less experienced. That was still strange to her. The idea that she was a... fighter. It wasn't really a word Althea had ever really considered applying to herself, in deed or mindset. And yet now here she was, several brutal battles later, and men dead by her hand. Villains, all - she did not mourn their deaths. The thieves and murderers at the dig site, the pirates in the naval battle, the scum in the marketplace; all had been willing to spill her blood out of greed, and so she had rid the world of their disease. It had granted her strength, and she had recovered from the initial horror. But it did not mean that she had to like it. Althea would have much preferred that none of that had had to happen, that she hadn't been forced to weigh her life against theirs. She didn't want to become the kind of person who could enjoy anything like that.
"I have trouble multitasking, so working with others has certainly been a great boon to me in combat." That was the nice way to put it, anyways. Althea wasn't blind to her flaws. "Though I am not sure if I would term that sort of death 'amazing.' Impressive perhaps. But the taking of life is not to be celebrated, I think." Perhaps unnecessarily negative in some regards - she didn't mean to disparage the crater that this 'Orcleous' left behind - but the only craters that came to mind to her was the blasted wasteland that Eris had reduced the entire village to, the still living worry that perhaps there had been survivors of the monster invasion that had been annihilated by it. She didn't want to see that again. Eris didn't seem to want to, either.
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Post by Talus on Apr 21, 2017 1:05:27 GMT -6
"Ha! True. It probably made better sense at the time when he became one." he said, laughing lightly. He listened to her talk for a while, and then came the remark on the amazing, which sobered him. "You're right. Amazing is the wrong word. Intense would be a better way of putting it. The man who wielded it... even without the axe, he is immensely powerful. Even Victor would probably have trouble beating him... and I don't like killing either. Frankly, I'm honestly afraid of it getting easier. It's a matter of guilt, I suppose." he remarked, and for a brief time, they walked in silence.
"So, um... where are you from? I'm from Eturia. So is Victor." he asked her, as it was the first question that came to mind. Anything to ease the silence of the night, and maybe to try and get to know her a bit more. Because now that he thought about it,he still didn't know much about her. Something also told him that he'd be stuck with her for a while, so now would be a good time to get to know her. One more possibility popped into his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. There were certain times for such thoughts, and now was not one of those times. Right now, they were on an adventure, and there was only so much time until the sun rose, and fatigue set in for them. Also, dark magic, he thought, would probably not be as strong during the day, if it was tied to nature like other magics.
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Post by Althea on Apr 21, 2017 2:05:49 GMT -6
Well, it was good to know that Talus could take a joke. She hadn't meant it harmfully of course, but there had been the possibility that he would react quite violently to her attempt at wit given that he clearly thought quite highly of this Victor fellow.
Althea walked on quietly as Talus responded to her comments about life and death, absentmindedly brushing a hanging branch out of the way as she wondered who she would have to murder to learn teleportation magic and never walk again. "Humans can do great and terrible things with enough power. At some point, I wonder, do they become something more than human - or something else entirely? We at least have the ability to fight at all. To defend ourselves against the evil infesting Elibe today. Most civilians do not; they can but bow their heads and succumb." Oh, the people in the village had fought all right. They died fighting. What, then, had their desperate attempts to survive meant? What was will without the power to realize it? Bah. She was getting too philosophical tonight. The malaise of free thought did not entirely distract her from their surroundings for once, though, and the terrain was beginning to become somewhat more jagged. "Watch your footing." No good would come of either of them twisting their ankles halfway there... if they were halfway there... Althea had the feeling they were nowhere close.
Hm. Guilt. She wasn't sure if she could empathize with that. "I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you when it comes to dealing with death. I rationalize it as the necessity for self defense, but it's no better an excuse than any other; the end result is the same. You valued your life over theirs. I would rather accept that than hide from it, but it does create a need for responsibility in acting." Not the deepest and most absolute answer, but it was all she had to offer him in this moment. "And to answer your last question. I was born in Etruria, but have lived outside it for most of the last decade." And that was about all she intended to offer on the subject. Althea did not care for politics on any level, even their discussion.
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Post by Talus on Apr 21, 2017 14:15:22 GMT -6
Hm. She had suddenly gotten philosophical, and he decided to try and tackle it. "True. But then, look at Victor. When he broke his leg, he was discharged from duty, and that would have been it for most people. But he didn't quit, he found a way. It took a while for it to happen, but I think he succeeded in the end. That takes a lot of power, and I don't think that people like him become something beyond human... more like just human beings stronger than the rest of us." he said.
He nodded at her comment about footing, and began to carefully make sure he didn't trip.
The thing on death,though, well...
"I know. Victor taught me that violence should only be considered as a last resort, and killing even more so, because people like us, who have powers that go beyond most others, have a duty to not abuse our powers... and to keep others from abusing theirs. He said that every time we use our powers, there are consequences, and we need to take full responsibility for them." he said.
As for the remark on where she was from, so she was Eturian too, huh? He found that interesting that she grew up on its outside of Eturia.
"Huh. Where exactly did you grow up? I grew up in the capital of Eturia, and until recently, never really went beyond the borders of Eturia before." he asked her. Honestly, he was quite curious to as to why she grew up outside of Eturia, but be decided not to pry on that right now.
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Post by Althea on Apr 21, 2017 17:12:22 GMT -6
"Hm. I do not mean to denigrate that plateau. I am simply wondering if there is a point at which those who fight are as far from normal humans as another race might be. Imagine if a farmer watched Orcleous's strike. The fear that it might induce. You can recognize Orcleous as a man, but to them, he might appear more a god of war... or even a monster." Well, maybe not a god of war. She had trouble imagining anyone better at smacking things around than Jalid, but then again she hadn't thought anyone could be tough until she met Jalid, so who knew what the upper limit of human strength could be.
It was still light enough out to see but the shadows of the trees and the darkening evening made the trek a bit slower than she had hoped by dint of the need to step over, under, and around all manner of shenanigans. Hanging branches, hidden ditches, tree trunks, just a great deal of obstacles that she didn't actually want to deal with. "Abusing their powers, mm?" She kinda liked how Talus (Victor?) had worded it, and it was indeed a responsible viewpoint. The question, as ever, was in the application. "It is certainly a good ideal to follow. Not always easy to put into practice. Situations develop quickly enough to require snap judgement sometimes." It wasn't disagreeing with what he had said, by any means, but as Althea had learned the hard way, sometimes it was hard to know what the right thing to do was. Sometimes, you just did what you had to do. But then she suspected that she was more dispassionate and somewhat less actively moral than some, so that in turn was but her belief.
Either way, she didn't intend to answer that last question, so Althea steered the conversation in a different direction. "We may still be some distance from the stones... are you familiar with the legends surrounding them?" She figured he probably didn't so it could be a good opportunity to explain.
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Post by Talus on Apr 21, 2017 18:26:39 GMT -6
"God of war is a bit much, although I do see your point. I wouldn't blame someone for thinking he was a monster." he said.
"Yeah. Use them for evil." he said. Although the judgement thing was also worth noting. "True. He did say the ability to make key and effective judgements quickly was a definite must-have." he said. Most of the lectures Victor gave on the subject were on that, and how it was important to have good battle instincts as well. He had to wonder why she changed the subject. Where did she grow up then, that she didn't want to talk about it? Something told him that it was best not to pry on this one, as much as he wanted to know, that wherever she grew up, it wasn't someplace she wanted to talk about. The question on the stones, though, was one he had no reason not to answer.
"Nope. Never heard of them until now. Victor once taught us about some magical sites, and that wasn't one of them. Although now that I think about it, he said that the ones he told us about weren't all the ones he'd seen. So it's possible he knows about this... although why he didn't tell me back there is beyond me. Maybe he wants me to see for myself? Anyways, enlighten me as to those legends of the place. You sounded like you were gonna tell me some more about it earlier, but you stopped for some odd reason" he said.
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Post by Althea on Apr 21, 2017 20:10:41 GMT -6
"And what if he uses those powers for evil," she rebutted remorselessly. "What happens when the legendary mage or mighty warrior decide to use their power for evil? Do the innocent merely hope that a hero come to save them? How many humans did the dragons kill before the Heroes came to save us? How many innocent dragons died to the Heroes in the name of victory? Who will stop Kraft if his own people will not?" Althea caught herself at that moment, cutting off sharply as she reigned in her emotions. She could feel Eris stirring again, though in all honesty that was much more for her benefit than Talus's. Eris was pretty harmless, at least by the standards of an evil(?) spirit living in one's head, but by the GODS was she obnoxious as hell.
The shaman sighed and viciously kicked a daisy. Nothing good would come of any of this, she was sure of it. Whether ti be dying alone in the woods, being consumed by a curse, eaten by monsters, or just committing suicide after one too many episodes of Eris annoying her to death, she was going to regret everything about this damn expedition by the time it finished. So she was admittedly grateful that Talus had picked up on the site lore idea and given her an easy out, so to speak, to focus on things that didn't make her want to make Hargus look like a f**k**g joke.
"Abandoned approximately one hundred fifty years ago, it is a circle of runestones, once known as Tir na Nog, or possibly a gateway to it - there are several conflicting myths - it took me a few weeks to research and put them together into any semblance of order." Ok, that was admittedly a little bit of the way just bragging, but dammit for being a century and a half old, mostly forgotten, and having at least two competing mythologies attached to them, she was pretty happy with herself. "At any rate, it was once a site with a strong connection to magic, until, it is said, a powerful curse wiped out all life in the area and drove humanity from its reaches. Some say that it was once a gateway to another world, similar to the Dragon's Gate, and that the Fae on the other side held a grudge against humanity. Others believe that it was the result of a human sorcerer attempting to claim its power for himself in a ritual that went horribly awry."
Althea shrugged and smiled ethereally. "Most likely none of that is true and there is nothing of value there, but given my last few expeditions, I seem to possess uncanny fortune for running into constructs of dark magic. I intend to approach carefully in case the curse is real."
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Post by Talus on Apr 21, 2017 23:39:03 GMT -6
Wow. She suddenly went full nasty on him. He honestly didn't know how to respond. Although the last one, maybe someone like Victor would have kept their cool, but for Talus, he nearly lost it right then and there. "I don't know! But you're just as much of an Eturian as I am, and I don't see you joining a resistance against him!" he said angrily. He listened to her explanations of the legend though, nodding. "Sounds interesting." he said. Well, at least she was back to smiling again. Something about that smile excited him, and yet terrified him whenever it vanished. Although to be honest with himself, he was indeed interested more and more. Even if it turned out to be a dud, he was still going to enjoy this as much as he could.
"True. Oh, that actually reminds me of something. Victor has a very special sword of his own. I wonder where he got it from, because now that I think about it, he never ever showed us an actual magic weapon, even though he's an expert in it. I mean, I know those are difficult to come by, but... wait. You said encountered things similar to this before? Er... what were those like?" he said, the full weight of the situation finally hitting him like a truck to the face. Dark magic constructs equaled dark magic things in his head. Dark magic things tended to do bad things in his head. At that moment, he prayed that that curse wasn't real in his head. He felt he was too young (and too smart) to die.
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Post by Althea on Apr 21, 2017 23:54:00 GMT -6
Althea started slightly and eyed Talus in the wake of his explosive reaction, surprised that he had reacted so negatively to what she had said. It had just been social commentary on the ramifications of power, not an array of personal attacks aimed directly at him. Part of her was a bit confused and curious, but for the most part, she decided, she didn't actually care that much. If the message had gone over his head, they likely wouldn't have had a particularly good discussion on the subject either way.
"I wonder about that," she opted to respond neutrally rather than bristling at his show of emotion. "Etrurians as a whole do not seem to care much for my kind these days." Understatement of the century right there. If she started casting dark magic in the street, regardless of the reason, she'd probably be executed on the spot by the soldiers of the Inquisition. Right or not, it was simply the truth. Etruria might have been her home once, but a home that rejected her very reality was not one that she cared to reclaim. It had rejected her first, after all.
As for special swords... it always seemed to come back to Victor, didn't it? Her impression was that Talus idolized the older mercenary to a high degree. Not inherently a bad thing, she didn't dislike him for it, but it did show a certain level of, mm, immaturity, she thought. Not necessarily as a human, but as an adventurer. In time he would find his own identity, as a man and as an adventurer. In the meantime, though, it was kinda like watching a puppy. Almost cute. "I've seen magic weapons in action once or twice, but never close up," she stated honestly. There wasn't a whole lot else she could think of to say on that subject. She knew OF magic weapons of course, and the basic mechanics, but why bother with a stupid sword when you could just use the magic herself? Of course that was somewhat of a biased perspective, and she recognized it, but such were her interests.
"Animated statues, life-sucking auras, skeletal undead." Wow, when you put it like that, dark magic did almost sound kinda evil or something. "If everything around you starts dying, you might want to run."
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Post by Talus on Apr 22, 2017 0:31:15 GMT -6
Ouch. That was rather accurate when you thought about it. Dark mages still had a lot of prejudice over in Eturia. "True, even though standards have relaxed a bit, a lot of people still are adverse to the idea of someone teaching their children previously sacreligous things. Frankly, I think that prejudice is stupid. It's not the magic that's bad, it's the bad people that use it for bad things." he said.
Her thing on magic weapons interested him. "Really? What are those like? I'm curious..." he said. At that moment, a thought rushed through his head. "Hey, Althea. Do you know if magic weapons can be infused with dark magic? If they can, that might explain why he never showed his blade... maybe it's charged with dark magic. Because not everyone can use Dark magic, right? I think only certain people have the n potential for it... but anyone can use a magic weapon if it lets them so, hmmm..." he said. Although with each thing on her dark magic encounters, he paled more and more. He made a nervous gulp and turned white at the mention of the undead. "Uh... wow.... um... yikes." he said,resolving to get out of there if things turned south. Which made her next remark something that he wanted to both laugh, and give her a mortified look for mentioning. Was that supposed to be a joke? "Um... yeah... running is... generally most people would do in that situation, yeah. I could probably figure that out on my own though..." he said.
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