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Post by Gelquie on Oct 30, 2014 2:38:41 GMT -5
Elin let out a smile as she prepared to walk, trying to stick close to Leif and keeping his familiar clothes within sight; he thankfully managed to stand out among the crowd, even if most of that was due to his noble gear. She hadn't gotten far before she was sidetracked by Morgaine losing her footing. Elin was about to ask if she was alright when Morgaine began explaining that she couldn't stand well on her own. Before Elin could fully internalize this, Morgaine stumbled towards her, sending them both falling to the ground. "Ah!" Elin let out a small cry as she hit the ground, landing mostly on her right arm, near her elbow. She gritted her teeth in pain before bringing her other hand over to grip the injured area, which was beginning to sport a bruise. Elin only nodded at Morgaine's apology as she waited a moment to recover from the pain. Eventually, she opened her eyes again, back to the wobbly world before her, giving her distraction from the pain; it probably would've been more painful if she didn't feel so floaty. She began to stumble to her feet, swaying all the way. But before she could get closer to the duo, Leif suggested taking them back to the King's Arms, which Morgaine protested. Elin also shook her head. "It'sh not that bad," she argued. "Jusht a little bruishe. I can shtill do shtuff with thish arm. L-like punsching, like she saysh! I can shtill fight, I promishe. That guy, that guy? I shtill wanna punsch him, or... Or at leasht shee him punsched. A-an' you probably shouldn't punsch him, Leif; you're kinda weak," she said this as she used her uninjured arm to grab his upper arm, above where Morgaine was holding on. "...Though I guessh you could shtill magic punsch him or shomethin'. You do what you do besht. But, but shtill, if I can't do it, I wanna shee it." She shook her head, which was a mistake as she only swayed more. "Beshidesh, we might not even be near the Inn. Are we? I shtill dunno." Elin is injured in the fall, with her arm taking most of the force of the impact, but she tries to shrug it off and ignore the bruise. She argues back at Leif, trying to assure him that she's fine and that she can still fight back if she needs to (nevermind her skill with fighting off the last guy), and that she still wants the guy given what for. |
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Post by Tiger on Nov 1, 2014 19:57:10 GMT -5
Neither Morgaine nor Elin were going to cooperate. Leif should have known better; if he were being entirely honest with himself, he had known better, but he’d really been hoping… Was it even worth arguing with them? They were already back in the way of the crowds, they couldn’t stand here arguing for long or some other catastrophe was going to come crashing into them. And with Morgaine barely able to walk and Elin growing what looked to be a nasty bruise, that was guaranteed to go even more poorly than everything else that had happened. Let’s at least get off the path…“Come on, let’s get off to the side,” Leif urged, carefully pulling Elin around to his other side so he could help her with one arm and Morgaine the other. Needing to concentrate on balancing two very unsteady people and on dodging the worst of the crowd, Leif said nothing until they’d reached a somewhat clearer area of the street. Glancing back, Leif could see that the paths were starting to clear up, but only starting, and it was still more than he was comfortable with. “Listen,” he told Elin and Morgaine in a hushed tone. “I don’t think it’s safe for you two to be out here and looking for fights while you’re like this. I know it isn’t your fault - but Mrs. Braham, you can barely walk right now, and Elin, I don’t want to put you in a situation where you might want or need to use your mimic powers. And what if he tries to fight back? He’s going to get in a lot of trouble for this and he’s a mage, who knows if he’ll go quietly? If he tries something, I can’t protect you two if I have to hold you upright at the same time.” Leif wouldn’t be able to protect himself, either, now that he thought of it, but he didn’t want to jump back and add that in. With a sigh, he relented, “But the Inn’s a little ways past the cathedral - so there’s no choice except to go past those stands anyway. If we pass it and you spot it, fine - point it out to me and I can go back to it. But you two need to get off your feet and rest - sooner rather than later, and ‘later’ not being ‘ after a brawl with a mage’.” Another shortish blah post from semi-sick and very tired Tiger! Leif tries to put his foot down and say Morgaine and Elin going to the inn, Woo darn it, but they kind of have to pass by the cathedral to get to the inn so they can at least help look before they get there. Keywords being “Morgaine”, “Elin”, and “tries”. |
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Post by Shinko on Nov 2, 2014 9:02:23 GMT -5
Morgaine looked up at Leif as he spoke, an odd expression coming into her flushed face. She suddenly leaned her head forwards into his chest, a soft burble of what might have been a sob floating up from her. "You're right, I'm, I'm shorry. You always gotta protect people, huh archmage? You're shuch a nicshe guy, and you shaved my life before and now I'm jusht bein' a drunk shtubborn idiot." She sniffled, gripping the fabric of Leif's shirt. "I'm shorry, I didn't mean it Leif. I jusht wanted to help, but then, then if I get hurt like that other time you'll have to fix me again, and the guy'll get away 'cause Xavier ishn't here to put the cuffsh on him." She shook her head, warm wetness starting to trickle into Leif's shirt. "I'm not a good crime fighting partner Leif, I'm shorry. I'm jushta, justhta shtupid drunk. You're an aweshome guy, the besht guy, and you desherve better." Have another armload of awkward Leif, Morgaine has now gone weepy drunk. |
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Post by Gelquie on Nov 5, 2014 21:47:45 GMT -5
Elin could only stare for a moment at Leif's speech, but as she opened her mouth to speak, Morgaine leaned into Leif and started to cry. She tried to lean forward to pat Morgaine on the back, but only ended up stumbling. She had to take a step and cling to Leif to steady herself before she could put an unsteady hand to Morgaine's back. "Y-yer not shtupid," she said. "You've said smart thingsh, yer a smart one, yer jusht drunk an' wanting to help... Drunk like me..." Elin trailed off. "I don't want thish, I don' wanna be drunk, I wanna shee shtraight an' find him an'... An' really do shomethin' about it. Caushe I don't want that guy to get away, but he could, and then yer not protected either... either alone or with you shtuck protectin' ush jusht caushe of him, and then if he doesh shomethin' to you, then you're shtuck, and he getsh away and getsh more people drunk or doesh other thingsh, and if no one shtops him he-he... People've died causha thingsh like that, like... like the othersh I couldn't shtop or protect or..." She trailed off again, looking morose and teary herself, and she found herself leaning into Morgaine's back. "I jusht h- hate being usheless... I know, I know, I can't even shtand properly without magic, I shee what yer shaying. B-but I don't wanna j-jusht not do shomethin' an' not help when he'sh shtill out there... I-it'sh not right." Morgaine's weepiness has a +5 contagion effect on nearby drunks. |
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Post by Tiger on Nov 6, 2014 19:58:41 GMT -5
Leif had expected argument...and this was not the kind of agreement he’d been hoping for. He was really not good at this. He hesitantly put a hand on Morgaine’s shoulder as she cried into his shirt, unable to actually hug her with Elin leaning on the woman’s back. “You’re not stupid, Mrs. Braham, and you’ve been a lot of help. I wouldn’t have known there was even a problem if you hadn’t been around. And you found Kirin, and helped Elin and I with that scumbag on the street…” He tried to think what else he could say to comfort the woman, and suddenly remembered something. “You’re a great crime-fighting partner. But when Sieg got hit over the head, he had to stop, and I had to stop when I ran too low on magic - everybody has their limits.” Leif hoped that wouldn’t somehow make things worse - he wasn’t sure how to predict these mood switches. Elin, meanwhile, brought up what Leif had to admit was a valid point...archmage or not, going up against an unknown adversary without backup was not a great plan. He could try getting the city guards involved, maybe, but he didn’t know how much help they’d be, especially if they were scattered throughout the city handling various amounts of chaos. “Maybe...maybe we can find the stand on the way to the King’s Arms, and I’ll mark it, or memorize it, or write down what it looks like so I can find it again. And once you two are at the Inn, I can go find Xavier and have him help me.” Xavier wasn’t really a vigilante anymore, but he was a much better physical combatant than Leif and he was a mage himself. ...It occurred to Leif that Elin might not be too fond of a solution that involved dragging her boyfriend into danger, and he made sure to add, “The two of us should be more than enough to take him down, and we can watch each others’ backs in case this merchant-mage is stronger than I think he is.” Leif tries mitigating the situation. |
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Post by Shinko on Nov 6, 2014 21:48:29 GMT -5
Morgaine sniffled as Elin and Leif both offered her words of comfort. Her eye was red-rimmed and puffy from weeping. She gave a wobbly smile as Elin leaned into her back. "You two are the besht, you really are, you're aweshome. With yer magic and yer, yer nice-person-ness, and I wish I could be that great. I jusht make locks'n, shing'n, shtand onna sidelines. But I'm glad I could help, even a little." She nodded a little when Leif suggested Xavier's help. "That'sh a good idea, he wash, he shaved my life. Him'n Lady Jeniver, even if she'sn not sho good with the magic and breaksh shtuff a lot. I bet, I bet you both could just turn the juishce guy into a newt, like BLAMMO!" Still sniffling and leaning into Leif- she couldn't exactly rise with Elin on her back, Morgaine started singing. " Goooooodbye may seem forever fareweeeeell is like the end, but in my heart's the meeemory, and there you'll always beeeeeeeeee!" Morgaine agrees to go along with Leif's plan, which I'm sure will all go exactly as Leif wants it to! And then she starts singing Fox and the Hound sads. Probably off key because she's drunk. |
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Post by Gelquie on Nov 7, 2014 15:24:31 GMT -5
Elin silently wavered as she listened to Leif's words, reminding them that they all have limits. Elin let out an long, quiet sigh at this. She'd been told this before, but she still wished she didn't have them, cause if she didn't, then she wouldn't have to stop before it was too late for... A twinge of pain from the bruise on her arm reminded her of her vulnerability. She did have limits, he was right. And there wasn't much she could do about that... A fact that made Elin shed a few more tears. She patted Morgaine on the back with a sniff. "You're shwell too. Caushe, caushe there'sh what he saysh. And locksh are important too, they reaaaally help, help anyone. Had to deal with lotsh of thoshe 'round the Coronation." Elin at first nodded at his suggestion that they look for the King's Arms as they walk. If she focused enough, then at least maybe she could help with that. Then he suggested getting Xavier involved, and Morgaine agreeing to it. She couldn't help but let out a smile as she listened to his accomplishments... But a feeling of worry did begin to brew inside of her. The worry was delayed at Morgiane's singing, which she couldn't help but sway along to, almost falling off as she did so. She re-oriented herself and stood to her feet, rubbing away a few more tears that fell from the song. "Y-you sure Xavier would be up for it? He'sh not really one for crowdsh, an', an' there'sh a lot of crowdsh. Wash bothering him when he left and it'sh worshe now." She stumbled towards Leif and pointed a finger out at him. "Yeah, I think-- I think you could both do it, yeah, he'sh shtrong, even if he doeshn't think so. But, but ish it shafe for him? I-if he goesh, an' he getsh hurt at all, o-or that guy getsh him drunk too, I-I..." She put her hand into a loose fist and tapped it against Leif's shoulder. "Th-there'll be 'Pit to pay." She looped her arm around Leif's again. "B-but I can shtill do shoemthin'. I may not shee well, but I'll shtill find that shtand, I'll keep my eyesh ready and open, I promishe, I'm really good at it, I'll show you." More drunken bonding, Elin gives her opinion on dragging Xavier into this, and then readies herself to resume looking for the stand for when they walk to the inn, because going and getting some darn rest already isn't enough for her. |
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Post by Tiger on Nov 21, 2014 23:12:23 GMT -5
And locksh are important too, they reaaaally help, help anyone. Had to deal with lotsh of thoshe 'round the Coronation."“Yes, you did,” Leif said wryly. “As someone on the other side of some of those doors Elin and the Shadows were picking at, I can assure you, Mrs. Braham, a good, strong lock is nothing to scoff at.” Morgaine started singing - to his surprise, Leif found himself almost relieved to be dealing with something that didn't put either woman in danger. He took a moment to just breath and enjoy not have to immediately handle a crisis. The worst that came from the song were a few tears from Elin. As Leif had guessed, Elin was concerned about Xavier’s safety. Feeling slightly threatened despite the woman’s drunkenness and his own magic, Leif assured her, “I’ll make sure Xavier knows everything ahead of time, and he won’t be drinking any juice, so avoiding him getting drunk won’t be a problem. I won’t let this other mage hurt him, I promise.” Leif had no desire to find out just how hard Elin could punch. At least for the moment, he didn’t seem to be in danger of feeling her wrath; Elin agreed to come along, and once Leif was sure she was steady enough on his one arm, he offered his other hand to Morgaine to help her up. Please, no calamities between here and there, he prayed. I can’t get to my wand very well like this. “All right - let’s find that stall.” It was slow-going, which Leif had at least expected this time around. It wasn’t the pace that was aggravating so much as the crowd - so many drunk people, staggering around, shouting, completely heedless of personal space or the simple concept of not walking into people...Leif caught sight of a few other sober people in the crowd also trying to wrangle people they knew out of this chaos; had the feeling of being overstimulated not been at such a peak, Leif might have given them sympathetic glances. Eventually, though, Leif could spot the stalls surrounding the church through gaps in the crowd, and all before Leif turned anyone into an inanimate object out of sheer frustration (though it had to be remembered that his wand was out oof easy reach). “Almost there,” he told Elin and Morgaine, following the rough flow of the crowd into the slightly more open area. There was a bit of space - he could breath a bit. For all of two seconds. There was a loud sound - a thunderclap. Leif glanced automatically toward the sky, but it was clear and cloudless - and anyway, the sound had come from the center of the pavillion, not from above. Leif’s stomach abruptly twisted. People were retreating from the source of the noise and Leif found himself needing to hurry to the side to avoid getting himself or the women he was escorting trampled. His heart was pounding hard already. Leif’s gaze flicked over the crowd, until he found the source of the commotion. The tall, slightly balding man at the center of the crowd flicked his wand again and a stream of vivid green and silver sparks shot from his wand with bangs and crackling sounds, and circled quickly but jaggedly around him in the rough shape of a snake. It was a spell Leif recognized - he’d used it himself to create sparks and bangs to distract opponents in battle. Turning the sparks into a focused shape was a bit trickier, but the snake shouldn’t have looked so lumpy and the flight path ought to have been smooth. Even a non-archmage shouldn’t have trouble with that. Of course, a drunken mage of any level might have some difficulty focusing his magic properly. Considering the staggering snake and the bottle in the mage’s other hand...the connection was not hard to make. And in case anyone had missed it, the mage started to shout into the crowd in a slurred but enraged voice. “I’m lookin’ for what shcuzzy, two-timin’ merchant is around shellin’ this fake-juice! I’m gonna give ‘im a piece of my mind! And some spells’n the face!” He jabbed his wand toward the sky and the thunderclap sound echoed over the crowd again. “Sho who knows where he ish?” The mage glared out at the crowd, pointing his wand at people at random. “What? You don’ wanna tell me? Caushe you’re all havin’ too much fun on this stuff?” Leif cursed, looking around for a place where Morgain and Elin could sit. “Mrs. Braham, Elin - I need you two to stay here, I - “ Apparently five seconds was too long to wait for an answer, because the mage, pointing his wand skyward once again, bellowed, “ Fine - then - then - Protegwoo!” Leif half-expected the spell to crackle and fizzle out, but while the mage couldn’t hold his liquor, he could hold the runes for a shielding spell well in his head. And he was a fast spellcaster - a semi-transparent green disc appeared overhead, and spilled rapidly over the pavillion, settling over it like a dome within seconds, curling around and hugging tight to the edges of buildings and trees and stones that stood in its path. Leif could already see how badly this would end. He shifted the arm Elin was holding onto and stretched his fingers for his wand holster, managing to pull it free. Dispelling other peoples’ shields wasn’t easy, but the panic that would set in with this trapped, half-drunken crowd would get very dangerous very quickly… ...But he couldn’t keep that work a secret, and it wasn’t as if the mage was going to just let Leif break the shield. Well, I have a protective spell...not the strongest one, but he won’t be able to just stun me. But Leif was the only one wearing that spell; the odds of the mage missing and hitting Morgaine or Elin instead was much too high. So...now what?At last, the trio makes it to the cathedral and the stalls around it! Once again, they find they aren’t the only ones looking for the juice merchant. Unfortunately, the angry person this time is a drunk, furious mage, and instead of joining their party, he traps everyone under a magical shield, presumably with the intention of keeping them there until somebody tells him where the juice merchant is. For a mage, he doesn’t seem to have a good grasp on concealment spells and befuddling charms, does he?
Shinko, GLQ, feel 100% free to control rage-mage! ^^
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Post by Shinko on Nov 22, 2014 8:19:43 GMT -5
By the time they had reached the vicinity of the cathedral, Morgaine could definitely feel the crash coming on- her high tolerance to the alcohol and the fact that she and Leif had been wandering around for at least an hour or two since he'd stopped her drinking the juice was helping there. She was not sober by any stretch of the imagination, she'd drunken far too much for that to be the case yet. But she was coming off the high and she could definitely feel it. The faint beginnings of a headache where pounding at her temples, and she felt a little nauseous. When the angry mage started in on his drunken spellcasting, initially Morgaine had been confused and annoyed but not particularly worried. After all she was with the archmage of House Jade, he could certainly handle whatever this idiot did. However, then she remembered what Leif had warned them about, that he couldn't really fight another mage and protect both of the women at the same time. Guilt and a little fear started to edge into Morgaine's mind, and when the mage cast his shield that fear spiked into panic. "What'sh he gonna do to us now, what does he think thish is gonna accomp... acc... what'sh thish gonna do? Leif, Leif, what do we..." No. No she was supposed to be helping, not having a fit of hysterics. Maybe Leif wanted her to go home, and maybe the faintest beginnings of a hangover she could feel were evidence he was probably in the right there, but thanks to this idiot mage they were stuck together for a while longer. As long as she was still here she was still his crime fighting partner. If Sieg was here, what would he do? Something rash and ill-planned probably, like... like... "Leif, get us outta here," she said, probably barely audible over the din of the panicking crowd. "I'm gonna keep him busy!" Before the archmage had time to object or try to grab her, the old woman lurched towards the mage. Unsteady on her feet as she was ordinarily there really should have been every chance for Leif to grab her and haul her back to safety, but the relatively small woman was almost immediately lost in the throng of people in the shield and cut off from her companions. She could hear pops and bangs as the mage kept firing off haphazard spells. She stumbled and lurched until she was close enough to be heard, and then she shouted, " Hey! Yeah you, the idiot with the wand!" The mage turned towards her with a glower. "What did you call me?" "I called you what you are," she snapped back. "Y'ever think maybe no one is telling you where the shtand is 'caushe we don't know? He'sh hidin' it with magic, no one elshe can find it either! A lot of ush've been lookin' hoursh longer'n you have!" "How d'you know that?" the mage bellowed. "Are... are you in with 'im? I bet you are you-" "Go suck an egg!" Morgaine shot back. "I can't even shtand up shtraight, you blind or shomethin'? O' courshe I'm not with 'im, I'm gonna be blind with hangover in the morning thanksh to that 'Pit spawn. My friendsh and I've been tryin' to find him four hoursh, like I already said! I think we've got firsht dibsh!" "Sho you are hiding where he ish! You want to get to him firsht!" "No, you pea-brain, we're-" The mage was no longer listening- he pointed his wand straight up in the air and bellowed " Fumos!" Almost instantly smoke began to pour out of his wand, rapidly filling the interior of his shield. Those closest to him, Morgaine included, coughed and found it nearly impossible to see more then a few inches in front of them. Morgaine makes an attempt to distract the mage so Leif can break the shield, but predictably the blunt, caustic locksmith only makes him angrier and so he fills the inside of the shield with smoke to try and force someone to tell him where the juice seller is that way. |
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Post by Gelquie on Nov 27, 2014 21:14:08 GMT -5
Elin did her best to scan the crowd as they passed through it, looking for any sight of the stall. Her attempts were constantly interrupted by the many, many things that caught her eye, and she found herself staring at a multitude of things within her blurry vision until she remembered she was supposed to be looking for the stand. ”Almost there,” Leif had told her, and she found that she was almost disappointed, both for not being able to find the stand yet and for leaving so soon. But her thoughts were cut short by the sharp sound crackling through the air. Elin jumped and stumbled, her head whipping towards the direction of the sound, and she swayed as she figured out what was going on-- “I-ish that, that'sh a shnake, ishn't it?” Elin mumbled, clinging onto Leif more tightly. A wobbly one, but wobbly wasn't new, and it still definitely looked like a snake. Elin's grip tightened as she listened to the wizard's demands. ...And then he cast an odd spell around them, something shiny, shimmery... Elin stared around her, entranced by the ward until realizing that she and the others were trapped in it. She shook her head. “No, no...” She could vaguely feeling Leif's hand movement below her, realizing he must have been trying to get to his wand. She yanked her arm away, falling to the ground in the process but not caring. “Leif, Leif, you gotta get it down, you gotta--” She was cut off by Morgaine stumbling away, and she and the wizard shouted at each other... And then it got really hard to see in the already dark night. There was smoke, so much smoke, closer in the middle, but falling over them all, making it harder to see, everywhere, everywhere... “No, no, shtoppit, before...” Elin shook her head faster as she tried to rise to her feet. “He'sh gotta shtop, he'sh gotta shtop,” she mumbled, coughing a little as she stumbled towards closer, trying in vain to get a good look at the wizard. “W-would you shtoppit?” she shouted at the wizard, unable to see more than his wobbly silhouette through the fumes. “Y-yer gonna make everyone shuffer for no good reashon, a-and nothin' good comesh from that, bad thingsh come from shmoke, it'll jusht, everyone'll jusht... just shtop, yer jusht as bad as that juish guy!” She descended into a coughing fit as she heard the wizard shout through the crowd. “Exsh cushe me? H-how dare you shay that when I'm trying to find thish guy and yer all conshpiring with him!” “Why in the 'Pit would we consphire with that--” another coughing fit aborted Elin's sentence. “Caushe I-I bet you all like thish, think thish is all jusht a game an' hidin' what I need to know an' not takin' me sherioushly!” “We wanna shtop the guy, j-jusht shtop blowing shmoke in our facesh!” Elin shouted indignantly. She reached for something around her, her arm shaky and unable to see straight. But once her hand finally found something solid, she grabbed it and raised it above her head, ignoring an indignant remark from the person beside her. She concentrated, focusing and remembering one of the acts during the acrobat show, before aiming and throwing the object directly at what she could see of the mage. The thing—which turned out to be one of the juice bottles—hit him, causing him to recoil, and causing the shield to begin to pulse slightly from the interruption. It also served to make the mage even more furious. “Y-you shcoundrel!” he shouted, waving his wobbling wand at her. His aim was off, and a blast of magic hit the ground near Elin. The people near the blast—including Elin—were knocked off their feet and covered in dirt. Elin proceeded to descend into another uncontrollable cough, feeling dizzy from the blast and the smoke. Elin is really bothered by these events, and goes forward in spite of the smoke to give that mage what for! The argument goes about as well as you'd expect. Elin ends up throwing something at him to knock him off-guard, and Elin nearly gets blasted for her trouble. |
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Post by Tiger on Nov 28, 2014 21:21:46 GMT -5
Elin gripped Leif’s arm more tightly at the sight of the snake. “It’s not real,” Leif said. “It’s just an illusion.” Any success he might have had in reassuring her was clearly lost when the shield came down. No surprise - any mage with half a brain should have expected panic to erupt. Trap a crowd of people under an unbreakable dome and throw around spells like a street dog throwing off fleas and there was going to be pandemonium. Even Leif, an archmage with a protective spell on him to boot, felt a tremor of fear at the thought of being packed in with all of these people - what if they started to charge at the walls? He had to rein it back - figure out a plan - keep Morgaine and Elin calm… That part of the plan fell apart almost at once - Elin pulled herself away from his wand arm as if it had suddenly grown hot, insisting he get the shield down. She had fallen and Leif tried to get to her - and in the process, Morgaine managed to get away from Leif, too, with an order to get them out of the shield. “Mrs. Braham - Morgaine, wait!” She was already gone into the crowd. Leif's heart pounded so hard he could feel the pulse in his ears as he tried to see through the crowd where she was, but everyone was too tall and moving too much for him to see any sign of the locksmith. When Leif finally found her, it was by the sound of her voice - shouting at the mage. Oh, Woo, please dont!Leif raised his wand, trying to find a way to get a clean shot without hitting any of the bystanders, but he didn’t manage to find one before the mage pointed his wand skyward yet-again and shouted a spell to fill the shield with smoke. The idiot! He was going to kill people! The smoke flooded the dome quickly, drowning out much of the glow from the shield itself. Leif turned away, eyes stinging and the smoke’s bitter taste violently strong on his tongue. Elin was no longer where she’d fallen. "Elin?" Leif looked around in alarm, calling her name again and coughing; when he managed to stiffle himself, though, he heard her voice. She was shouting at the mage, too. 'Pit, Leif had to get them away from the mage before - There was a loud crunching sound and a lot of shouting. From the corner of his eye, Leif saw the shield pulse, but it would still take too long to get it down. He had to get some order under this shield now, before Morgaine or Elin got hurt - if they weren’t hurt already... He pointed his wand upward, hopefully over the heads of the people in front of him. The burst of green light was probably going to give his position away, but Leif kept his voice low as he cast the spell. “ Ventus Spwooalis!” Green light darted from his wand in a shape like a tornado, but where the light died a swirling gust of wind grew and swept around the underside of the shield, blowing the smoke up toward the top of the dome. The shield wasn’t very high and this wouldn’t help for long, especially if the drunken mage kept adding to it - but the air at the people's level cleared enough to breath again. Leif's gaze darted around in search of Morgaine and Elin - he spotted a small crater in the street that definitely hadn’t been there before - ’Woo this was getting dangerous - but before he found either of his companions, Leif saw the mage take a staggering step toward the crowd, his head forward as he no doubt searched for the spellcaster who had created the wind gust. Leif stooped slightly, hoping to buy a little time for the people around the mage to get away while he was distracted. “Who did that?” the drunken mage demanded; Leif started edging through the crowd as subtly as he could to try and get around to the drunk’s side; maybe he could fire a stunning spell or a magical rope to restrain him; then Leif could work on getting the shield down without risking anyone's safety. “Ohhh - I - I get it! Itsh you, juice-mage, in’it? You an’ your friendsh, you think thish’sh funny?” When Leif didn’t answer - and honestly, who would? - the wizard rattled on, “You think it’sh funny, makin’ people get drunk when they don’t wanna an’ throwing bottlesh at my head?!” There was another bang, pop, and flash of light. “Shomebody’s gotta know where he ish! Shomebody had to shee that wind-spell!” Leif glanced around and realized several peoples’ eyes had shifted to him - of course they would, he was prowling the crowd with his wand out. ’Pit! Leif shook his head at them, motioning to the shield, then his wand. Either what he was miming wasn't clear enough or the people just didn't believe; through the crowd, Leif saw someone look away, biting their lip, and then suck in breath for a shout. “No, don’t!” he whispered urgently. Too late. “He’s over here!” The response was instantaneous - Leif saw a flash of a spell being cast and heard a crackling noise. He pointed his wand over the heads of the crowd and cast a wide shield that trailed down from where it started, almost like the drunken mage’s dome shield. The drunk mage’s spell hit the gray-green construct with a crack and another flare of light before Leif had time to properly finish the spell and cut it entirely off from his magic; he winced as the rebound rattled up his arms. At least it was brief pain. Naturally, more chaos broke out now that people realized two mages might be dueling in this very cramped, still smoky prison, and scattered left and right to get out of the path of their spells. Leif tensed, but now that the way was clear, he aimed his wand at the drunken wizard. “Drop this shield now,” he ordered. “You’re going to cause a riot if you keep people trapped in here!” “You jusht want to get away from me, now’t you’re caught!” Leif protested, “I’m not the juice-seller - I’m a mage of House Ja-” “You’re the only mage I’ve sheen tonight!” Leif could hear questioning murmurs in the crowd. For ‘Woo’s sake - I’m missing my halfcloak, that’s it , am I that unrecognizable without it? The crowd’s muttering seemed to imply that yes - yes, he was. The two mages scrutinized each other for a moment, seizing each other up...and then Leif pointed his wand at his feet, snapped a shield spell, and spun to face the wall of the dome behind him. “ Expulso!” The shield had pulsed before, and the rattling from the strike on his own shield had given Leif an idea why that might be. If the drunken mage hadn’t cut off his shield spell properly, the magic might still be tied into his power. Upsetting the mage might upset the shield...and hopefully the blast of force Leif had just conjured would make that work in reverse. Leif loses both Morgaine and Elin to their attempts to distract drunk-mage. Bad chaperoning, Leiflet. He casts a spell to blow the smoke up and at least a little away from the crowd, which naturally draws the drunk mage’s attention. Someone gives away Leif’s location, and naturally drunk-mage and possibly some of the crowd think Leif must be the juice merchant. Oops! In an attempt to rattle the mage, Leif casts a force spell on the shield, thinking that the pulse he saw earlier means that drunk-mage and his shield might be tied together, and upsetting one will stagger the other. |
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Post by Shinko on Nov 30, 2014 0:02:39 GMT -5
((Collabed with Gelquie )) " Elin!" Morgaine yelped, her voice hoarse from coughing, as the mage blasted a small crater in the ground in front of Clare's niece. The old woman tried to run towards her, but lost her balance and ended up stumbling to her knees. As she tried to get the world to stop spinning she called out, "Elin are you alright?" There was a gust of wind from below them, as if someone had turned on a giant fan under everyone's feet. It blew the smoke upwards to the top of the dome, so that she could see again. As the old woman tried to stumble towards Elin, she heard the mage shouting some more stupidity- and then, suddenly, she realized that the crowd had parted, and the drunk mage was pointing his wand at Leif- accusing him of being the juice seller, and some of the crowd seemed to agree. Is everyone blind? Morgaine wondered incredulously. Admittedly with everything blurred from the alcohol she couldn't see the details of Leif's face from this far away, but those closer to him should have been able to see the distinctive wave scar under his eye. No one else she knew had a mark on their face like that. Apparently no one was looking at him that closely, or they were desperate enough not to care. Morgaine bit her lip. Something had to give here, they needed drastic action. Unable to rise quickly enough, she crawled the rest of the way to where Elin had fallen, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Elin, are you okay? Pleashe, pleashe be okay, I have an idea but I need your help!" Elin was busy taking breaths between coughs as she tried to recover from the smoke. She was looking up at the top of the dome warily. ”Shtill there...” she mumbled hoarsely when she felt the hand on her shoulder. She tried to steady herself as she looked over to Morgaine. “I-I--” another cough. “I think I'll be fine. But everyone'sh bein' an idiot a-an' that shield needsh to go down and the shmoke away, or... Or it'll...” she coughed and and gripped Morgaine's arm in an attempt to steady herself. “I-I shtill gotta help. What'sh your idea?” The old woman looked up at the mage, who was still yelling at Leif. "You can copy shtuff you've sheen right? Ever watched shomebody who knew what they were doin' ushing a shword?" “Yeah... Yeah, I can!” Elin replied, a smile appearing on her face. “I-In fact, I really make sure I can alwaysh copy them. Y'know, in cashe somethin' happensh.” "Good. It's not exactly a shword, but it's kinda got the shame shape if you turn it upshide down." The old woman picked up a bottle- not one of the juice bottles, but a bigger one, for wine, that had been abandoned on the street nearby. "I can't fight and I'm too short and weak to hit him hard if I could, but if I grab 'im and keep 'im bushy, can you get behind him and give him a good, a good whallop? Might knock him out and shtop thish nonshenshe." Elin thought for a short moment before nodding and grasping the bottle from Morgaine's hand. “Yeah, I think that could work!” She waved the bottle in the air as she talked. “We jusht gotta get through the crowd. Jusht gotta get closhe enough, then if you do that, keep him from hish wand, then yeah, I can give that guy what for!” Elin began to struggle to her feet. “I'll go get outta hish sight. Shouldn't take long.” Morgaine nodded, lurching upright as best she could herself. Fortunately the crowd was distracted by Leif, who had just thrown a shield around himself, and she darted towards the mage as quickly as her unsteady legs could carry her. At that same moment, there was a flare and a flicker from the shield around them, and the mage staggered with a cry of pain. She wasn't going to get a better chance- taking advantage of his momentary faltering, Morgaine lurched towards the man and threw her arms around his torso, pinning the wand hand to his side. He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts together to fight her off, though he was clearly still somewhat off-balance. "Wha... what're you doing you crazy old bat, you traitor, helpin' the juicshe guy." "Jusht shutup!" Morgaine snapped, kicking his leg so that he hissed in pain. "You're a luna, lun... looney!" From behind, Elin began to wobble closer, trying to keep a grip on the wine bottle in her hand as she focused. “You're the looney," he was saying, "getting' ush all like thish and then shtoppin' me from doin' anything about it. Should have you all jailed an' tried for treashon!” Elin narrowed her eyes and stumbled closer, her grip on the bottle hard as she swung it to the side, striking the mage's temple. “You don't know anythin' about that, sho shtoppit!” she shouted at the mage. The mage wavered on the spot before slumping, but Elin kept the bottle at ready in case it didn't work. "Hey!" shouted a woman from the crowd. "What are you doing?" "Helping you idjits!" Morgaine snapped, staggering under the weight of the limp mage. She lost her balance and stumbled backwards with him sprawled across her. "He was trying to stop the juice merchant!" someone else called. "That's not-" Morgaine started to say, but more raised voices drowned her out. Elin whirled unsteadily toward the crowd and raised the bottle towards them. “Hey! None of you know him! He'sh not just shome noble, he'sh acshully helpful, an' he'd never do thish!” “You're just saying that cause you're with him, you Pit-spawn!” someone from the crowd shouted back, as the shouts grew higher. “He didn't suffocate you!” Elin tried to shout, but her voice was inaudible past the protests. The two drunk women manage to tag-team the mage and knock him out- but will that actually help, or has it just made the situation worse by turning the crowd against them? |
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Post by Tiger on Dec 1, 2014 20:43:20 GMT -5
The shield flickered, to Leif’s satisfaction and relief, and he quickly spun on his heel to take advantage of the effects on the mage. Except, apparently, he didn’t have to - Morgaine and Elin had just taken the mage down with, judging by what he could see of Elin, one of the bottle of juice. The shield dropped, still reliant upon the mage’s focus to keep it standing, and that concentration had gone with the wizard’s consciousness. For just a few seconds, Leif got to feel like the three of them had saved the day. Then the crowd of people was...well, people. Stupid people. Leif could hear them rounding on Elin and Morgaine, but they weren’t the only ones the crowd was unhappy with. The archmage stepped back at their hostile, wary gazes, quickly snapping back his shield so he could cast another quickly if he needed to. “Look what you did!” a woman shouted, gesturing to the half-drunk crowd. “Yeah! Yeh’re robbin’ ush of our good money fer - fer beer that don’t even tashte good!” a man slurred. “An’ I didn’ wanna get drunk, yeh idiot!” “Great, I didn’t want you getting drunk, either,” Leif snapped, panic momentarily overwhelming his common sense. “I didn’t - “ “We should take ‘em all to the guard!” “Yeah! Make them show us the stand so we can get rid of that stuff!” “An’ get our money back!” Someone tried to grab Leif’s arm - the contact was unexpected and the pressure of their grip was strong enough for Leif to feel the rough shape of their fingernails and he yanked himself free, brandishing his wand at the offender automatically. “ Get back!” The wand got everyone to hesitate, though their expressions quickly started shifting from shock and fear to outrage. He didn’t have time for this - Morgaine and Elin were still at the opposite end of the crowd, and the people there didn’t seem to have realized yet that there was hesitation here. Even with his wand, Leif didn’t know if he could get to them in time to stop the crowd from - from whatever they were planning. Elin and Morgaine might have been able to work together to wallop the drunken mage, but against a whole crowd? He couldn’t get into a position to get a shield domed around them - probably not a good idea anyway, given their almost claustrophobic reactions to the original one - and a shield on just one side wasn’t going to do them much good. Suddenly remembering the drunk wizard’s first magic trick, Leif had an idea. With a slightly exaggerated swirling motion of his wand that made some of the people edging toward him again flinch back, Leif cast a spell in Morgaine and Elin’s direction. Just before he spoke the incantation, he heard someone in the crowd yelp “He’s takin’ out the accomplices!” For Woo’s sake!Leif’s wand-tip shot a stream of bright green light in his companions’ direction; much like the drunken mage’s stream of sparks, Leif’s stream of magic shifted into an animal shape. Naturally, being sober, this transformation was much smoother, and naturally, being Leif’s spell, the form it took was of a raptor, not a snake. The big green bird landed in front of Morgaine and Elin, semi-transparent but spreading its wings with all the confidence of a solid phoenix. The bird was in fact incorporeal, but unless the crowd were mages, they wouldn’t know that. Leif, satisfied that that would keep the two safe for a moment, glared at the crowd around him and snapped, “I’m Leif Jade of House Jade. We’re here to stop this blasted juice-enchanting idiot, and if you fools don’t leave Mrs. Braham and Miss Ryer alone, I will make sure that mage isn’t the only one spending the night on the street!” ...Okay, the crowd didn’t exactly looked pleased or abashed or relieved or anything, but they did at least seem a little hesitant. Leif saw someone squinting at him, and heard someone else mutter, “Oh hey, it’sh, i’sh that tattoo. The swirly one.” Resisting the very strong urge to roll his eyes, Leif started through the crowd to reach Morgaine and Elin. He’d gotten about halfway there when his protective spell suddenly...buzzed was the best word he could use for it. Like it was vibrating in a way neither physical nor audible, but definitely there. He paused, glancing around. There was nothing obvious… ...Of course not.He reached Morgaine and Elin, waving for the bird to step aside. Morgaine was still pinned to the ground by the weight of the knocked-out drunkard; ordinarily Leif would have hefted the mage up and off the locksmith by hand, but his patience was gone and his arms had gotten enough of a workout keeping Morgaine and Elin upright. He flicked his wand with a sharp " Leviwoocorpus!" and the mage's body floated upward. Leif guided him a comfortable distance from Morgaine, and despite an urge to drop him like a scaldingly-hot pan, he lowered him to the cobblestones instead. "Are you two all right?" he asked, reaching out a hand to help Morgaine to her feet. "And...does this look like about the place you bought the juice? Does it seem familiar at all?” Tiger hates writing NPC crowd members 8’D The crowd ain’t too fond of Leif, either, but he manages to keep them at bay long enough to basically shout his House affiliation to the entire block - classy, Leiflet. On his way to regroup with Elin and Morgaine, something pricks at his protective enchantments in a strangely similar way to a certain glamour he experienced back in Medieville. Is it the juice-mage? Is it some freshly-baked new shenanigans? Who knows? 8D
(Shinko and Gelquie, let me know if I stepped on anything you wanted to do with the crowd that didn’t involve a magic bird =P)
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Post by Shinko on Dec 1, 2014 21:49:48 GMT -5
Morgaine had been on the edge of panic when it seemed the crowd was going to come after her and Elin, but then a huge glowing bird materialized between the two women and the crowd. She heard Leif shouting at them, and a few minutes later he finally got through the crowd to where they were at and freed Morgaine from under the unconscious mage. "I really, really hope we don't have to do that again," she growled waspishly. "Why'sh everyone sho shtupid tonight, honeshtly, the alcohol'sh no excushe." She let Leif pull her up, cocking her head in surprise at his question. "Well I... I'm fine but..." The old woman looked around, trying to focus on the memories around a general haze in her thoughts and the burgeoning headache that would develop into a full-blown hangover in another few hours. Something was odd though, for some reason when she looked about the street her eyes kept glossing over what she was seeing without actually taking any of it into her brain. At first she thought the alcohol was mucking with her concentration, but after the third time she tried valiantly to focus on her inspection and found her brain disengaging, she scowled. "I 'unno for sure but... shomething'sh weird, definitely. It'sh like when I look around I can't focush, like my brain'sh getting bored and turning off every time." She took a few steps towards the stalls that were still set up on the side of the street when suddenly whatever was making her concentration buggy suddenly went away- she could see all the stalls, and focus on them, and she realized that one in particular was unmanned... and stocked with a very familiar set of bottles. She whirled, and saw a cloaked figure bolting for the Grand Woo Cathedral. Of course, the juice mage had to have seen the commotion, and heard Leif declare he was a mage of House Jade come to shut the stall down. He'd have been an idiot not to bail. "There he ish, he'sh makin' a break for it!" she bleated, pointing as he vanished around the side of the Cathedral. AND AT LONG LAST~ |
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Post by Gelquie on Dec 2, 2014 2:17:41 GMT -5
Elin was just preparing to defend herself, the wine bottle over her head when what appeared to be a bird suddenly appeared before her and Morgaine. Elin couldn't help but glance down at it curiously, her eyes caught by the light. She might have let out a laugh if the crowd didn't seem to be pressing down on them, along with the fact that her body had started aching a bit. She brought her free arm over her torso as she wobbled, finding it even harder to keep her footing. At least the crowd seemed to abate somewhat, or at least enough for Leif to be able to reach them. He asked if they were alright, which Morgaine said she was... and asked if the place around them seemed familiar. "I'm..." Elin trailed off, pressing her arm closer to her torso, trying to give a smile that came out as small and lopsided. "I'll be okay. The blasht didn't hurt me..." She let out another cough and lost her train of thought on the question. Instead, she tried to look around her in spite of this becoming suddenly more difficult (though she wasn't about to let that stop her). "It'sh... It'sh hard to tell..." she murmured, looking around, finding it oddly hard to focus, something which Morgaine confirmed. It was particularly odd for Elin. Even while drunk and starting to feel off, it shouldn't be this hard to focus. "...Yeah, shomething's off." Before she could act further, Morgaine moved forward. Elin moved to follow, but lost what little coordination she had and fell over. No. She couldn't be stopped now. She gazed up as Morgaine pointed in the direction of the juice seller. "What? Oh 'Woo..." She struggled to get up. "Leif, you have to get after him! We'll catsch up an' help, but you can't let him get away!" She continued to try to get up and stumble in the direction Morgaine pointed. She took a breath. Focus, she thought to herself. She may not have been doing her best, but by 'Woo, that guy needed a punch in the face and by 'Woo, she was going to give him one, and nothing was going to stop her. "I'll show him," Elin growled as she got to her feet. Elin starts noticing the consequences of her power use right around the time they find the juice mage. Perfect timing, eh? She's determined not to let her symptoms get her down in the face of punching the juice merchant's stupid face in. She tells Leif to run ahead of them, with Leif being the only person who can run in a straight line. And Elin prepares to... use more magic so that she's not stumbling everywhere so she can catch up to them. The logic of drunk Elin is flawless, I tell you. |
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