Author Topic: Day One - Compass Rose  (Read 25333 times)

Offline Agita

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #40 on: May 04, 2013, 11:51:42 AM »
The idea clicks in Laoise's mind only slowly. Thrown off her paranoia, she gives the soccer captain a bewildered look. "I... don't understand..."
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #41 on: May 04, 2013, 12:24:15 PM »
"I like your brother, okay?! Are you happy, forcing me to say it out loud?" Daisuke stares up and down the street, looking incredibly nervous that someone might have overheard.
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Offline Agita

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #42 on: May 04, 2013, 01:04:05 PM »
"..."
"..."
"...Oh."
A number of mental images come unbidden to Laoise's mind, and she goes red, as much for not getting it as for everything else. "...I'll keep it secret. Got to go." With a curt and embarrassed answer in place of a goodbye, she jogs towards the main building.
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Offline veekie

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #43 on: May 04, 2013, 04:10:14 PM »
There's at least one guy who'd celebrate when he returns eh. It takes all sorts.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Bozwevial

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #44 on: May 04, 2013, 04:17:04 PM »
"Thank you!" a relieved Daisuke calls after her, scooping up the medical kit and discarded bandage before running back toward the practice field.

Laoise is a bit early yet, but her teacher is in the classroom preparing lecture notes, as well as a few other students who arrived ahead of time. They look up as she enters, but by now her foreign status has worn off somewhat, and she isn't bothered as she takes her seat.

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Offline Agita

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #45 on: May 04, 2013, 04:45:28 PM »
"Shut up." Laoise takes her seat at the back of the room with no further comment and makes a show of unpacking her things while she whispers to Lancer, "Start setting the sigils and build a bounded field around the school. Put them in out of the way places like behind the sheds or on the roof. I want it to detect any other magi and be as hard to detect as possible. I'll complete it when classes are over."

She'd planned to set up a bounded field anyway to turn the school into a sort of second base, but the appearance of Assassin near the school makes that all the more important, while changing the priorities slightly. If Assassin was this close to the school, then the Master should be nearby too...
« Last Edit: May 04, 2013, 04:47:40 PM by Agita »
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Offline veekie

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #46 on: May 05, 2013, 09:48:36 AM »
You do know that's not really my best skill when working in this form. Lancer's presence fades away as he sets to work, grumbling.

He spends some time cruising up and down the building, building a map of the energy flows in the school building, then simply sets a seal of spiritual flame hovering at the confluxes, sustained by the ambient energy, which would flare to life if any magic it's not already attuned to(his own and Laoise's for two) runs through the network.

Lore (4d3-8+3=2) to set aspects.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2013, 10:03:15 AM by veekie »
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Bozwevial

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #47 on: May 05, 2013, 10:12:33 AM »
While Laoise sits through classes, Lancer hurries around the school feeling out the magical currents. The work is a bit rushed, what with trying to complete a long day's work in a few short hours without preparation, and his unfamiliarity with the school leads him to some locations that would get him in quite a bit of trouble if he were corporeal. Why there's a nexus just inside the girls' bathroom is anyone's guess.  Eventually, however, Lancer's last seals go up, just a few minutes after Laoise's homeroom ends. Students start pouring out of classrooms to attend club activities, or just to go home, chattering loudly. Laoise, as usual, is mostly ignored by her classmates, apart from a few of the friendlier ones who wave good-bye to her on their way out the door.
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Offline Agita

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #48 on: May 05, 2013, 02:11:29 PM »
Laoise spends most of the day faking attention. The bulk of her thoughts are devoted to worrying, grieving, and planning out her next steps in a roughly periodic cycle. After classes end, she lags behind until she's the last left in the classroom. Making sure that she's alone and there aren't too many people on the hallway, Laoise retreats to a corner of the room to talk to Lancer. "How did it go?" Experimentally, she tries sensing the network that Lancer set up.
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Offline veekie

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #49 on: May 05, 2013, 02:15:18 PM »
Only so much I can do in spirit form, without an anchor to build on. Needs some more work to be sure. I'll show you where the nexus for each is, see if you can add something.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Bozwevial

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #50 on: May 05, 2013, 07:37:46 PM »
Laoise can feel the field, pulsing with the magical lifeblood of the school grounds. The flow of heat and potency reacts like a living thing to the presences of magi, and both she and Lancer create faint warps in the current. There are some other odd branches of the flow, but until the bounded field is completely established, it's impossible to tell whether they're the byproduct of another magus' presence or simply instabilities in the field.
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Offline Agita

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #51 on: May 06, 2013, 08:31:35 AM »
"That's fine. Show me." After waiting for another long while, Laoise follows Lancer to survey the places where he laid the framework. Finally, she steps outside, looking for a patch of grass somewhat sheltered from sight.

There, she takes off the bandage and pulls out a knife. With it, she cuts a line on her wrist and the back of her hand, just enough for blood to trickle down over her command spells and fingers. After looking around again, she digs the fingers of her left hand into the earth and closes her eyes. To build her own spell on the foundation that Lancer set... connect the lines to the terrain and expand them into a proper boundary field. In the end, it's not so different from roots and vines. She has never constructed a bounded field before, but she knows the theory. If she can think of it in terms she's familiar with...

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4042022/
« Last Edit: May 08, 2013, 04:48:17 PM by Agita »
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #52 on: May 08, 2013, 03:16:36 PM »
The tendrils of the bounded field react in precisely the way they were meant to, growing rapidly as they are infused with the energies of Laoise's blood. If the school boundaries are a trellis, the energy flows are the vines and roots all in one, and each energy flow splits into increasingly delicate offshoots as the field matures. A few minutes later, the field is complete, a network of probing magic concealed under the ambient pulses of the area's own energy. Almost immediately, the alarm goes off - faint blossoms of energy pop into existence and fade slowly in Laoise's mind. The reaction is far too weak to be from any magics currently happening, but it's indication enough that there was at least one magus or Servant on the school grounds today who wasn't one of the two to set up the boundary field.

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« Last Edit: June 01, 2013, 09:18:19 AM by Bozwevial »
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Offline Agita

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #53 on: May 09, 2013, 05:31:16 PM »
"...It worked." Laoise breathes a sigh and pulls her hand out of the soil, slumping a little. After a while, she cleans off her hand and bandages the now actual wound. "Next... I want to go to the park. It's far away, but there should be time..." Packing up her things, she heads out, studiously avoiding the sports clubs.
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Offline veekie

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #54 on: May 09, 2013, 08:26:11 PM »
Why the park? Wouldn't the temple be a better place to secure? It has very good feng shui and a commanding view of the city.

Lancer keeps his senses tuned to a maximum for any Servant presence as soon as they leave the school building. Magi were supposed to fight only at night, but he knew full well what he'd have done himself, a decisive strike in broad daylight against an unsuspecting foe. Other than the part where Laoise would never go along with such a blatant plan.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Agita

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #55 on: May 11, 2013, 04:27:34 PM »
Laoise hesitates. She's not really used to having to explain herself. "Um... the temple is probably the most obvious place. Everyone will want that. It's going to be contested... and not ideal terrain for you, either. And I don't have the skill to blend in among the monks either. The park is wide open and has enough plants for me to work with without getting in the way. And nobody will contest it until they realize someone was there."
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #56 on: May 11, 2013, 07:58:29 PM »
As ever, the central park is deserted. It's not that it's especially ugly or barren. Quite the opposite, in fact. The park looks absolutely dazzling, with moss pink drizzled along the lush, thick grass and wisteria vines bending tree branches under their weight. Even some early tulips are poking through the ground enough to cast long shadows in the late daylight. No, the reason the park is abandoned is that despite the beautiful scenery, it still has the atmosphere of a graveyard. The air, rather than the crisp clean breeze that would be expected, is unnaturally still and heavy, and for that reason no children, dogs, or elders out for a stroll interrupt Lancer and Laoise as they walk through the grassy silence.
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Offline veekie

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #57 on: May 20, 2013, 01:02:02 PM »
Lancer extends his senses out, feeling the flows of energy intrinsic in the land, something is rather screwy with the geomancy of this area....

Lore (4d3-8+3=3) for aspect setting, then pass aspect to Laoise.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Agita

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #58 on: May 20, 2013, 02:35:33 PM »
...Also, this is supposed to be where the last War ended." Laoise first leads Lancer on asort of tour around the park. She can't feel at ease here, any more than anyone else can. But it's beautiful, quiet, and solitary, so it's already better than the city.
"If I can find out anything about that, it might help as well..." After circling the park once, Laoise heads towoards the center of the park, where she sits down and closes her eyes. She doesn't mention the additional advantage of nobody being around to wonder what she's doing.
Compared to her try at a bounded field, this spell isn't that different in concept, but she's much more used to it. "Fire, illuminating everything. Earth, supporting everything. Metal, cutting down everything. Water, seeping through everything." She pictures in her mind everything she saw on their trip around the park.
"Wood, absorbing everything." The spell's task is only to pick up every detail, even those she missed, and to break them down so that she can process them. If something can be said to be Laoise's specialty, it would be this.

Investigation: The Power of Deduction (4d3-8+3=2) If Lancer's aspect succeeded, this would be a 4.
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: Day One - Compass Rose
« Reply #59 on: May 23, 2013, 10:33:09 AM »
Mere moments after Laoise finishes her incantation, the past ten years seem to hit her square between the eyes. The ritual is a lot more difficult to contain than it normally is, but out of the torrential flow of information, she manages to pick several scenes of interest.

A massive fire sweeping through the area, the flames tinted a dark purple and leaping delightedly at those trapped in the inferno's path.

A large battle axe, still clutched by a charred hand no longer attached to the arm, dissolving as the fire advances.

A small child, tears leaving the only clean streaks on his ash-covered face as he coughs and sputters in the thick smoke.

And kneeling on the ground in despair, a beautiful young woman dressed in blue and silver armor, seemingly unhurt but wearing an expression of utter despair as she waits for the oncoming flames.

As the years rapidly unspool before Laoise's eyes with much more clarity than even this spell would usually yield, the apocalyptic battleground sprouts gorgeous foliage and trees in mere seconds, though the feeling of desolation lingers. Visitors are few and far between, and most of them are mourners who gradually stop visiting at all. By the time this year rolls around, no one visits at all - until several residual memories - broken blades of grass, faint impressions in the dirt, traces of fresh blue dye, a plucked flower stem - meld together to give Laoise a vivid impression not an hour old.

A man walking through the park alone, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. Even now, the man's aura marks him as a Servant, but strangely he hasn't bothered to take on spirit form. Heavy cowboy boots leave a trail in the grass as he makes his way to a large clump of flowers, exactly where Laoise remembers the woman kneeling ten years before. He stands there for a little while before dropping a single delphinium onto the unmarked plot. He tips the wide-brimmed hat perched on his head, then heads on his way, eventually leaving along the path he came by.

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