Hunters of Letrua

[thinkslogically]

Olly gets over his surprise and let's the excitement of the realisation take over, merrily leaping about the giant creature and trying to figure out which parts are which. He remembers the fire-breathing part so doesn't stand in front of anything he suspects is a head.

[Synch]

Risu nods very seriously. "Oh absolutely. And this is an excellent chance for some research too. I will be able to communicate with it as it grows, we can understand more about how repkull think and behave."

She heads back to the aeran.

"Small cold-blood not food. Will train to hunt with Squirrel, more claws for fight."

[Dlover]

Olly, Korga, Julius
Julius and Korga care for their adopted beasts as they watch Olly flitting about trying to identify different areas of the abschir, climbing about it with incredible agility. The creature's natural camouflage is effective, as it would be indistinguishable from a rocky hill were the group not anticipating its presence, but after a while Olly notes that at the base there are four places where the 'rocks' protrude from the rest by about six metres - the diameter of the footprints found earlier - and one point between two of those sticks out slightly, with a notably curved surface. On top of Olly's surprising speed, it seems he's also unusually loud, as the rocks beneath Olly and Julius begin to tremble faintly.
(A reminder since it's been a while: This abschir is about 50m tall and 24m across at the widest point, making it rather steep.)

Risu
"An excellent way to think. That's what we were hired to do, after all. I'll leave it to you, then. Just let me know if you need anything." Leaving the sack of morsels with Risu, Gaul jogs off to some other task.

The aeran nod when Risu explains the situation to them, Aerin understand. Will make friend. Bring extra food.

Loki
Taking the leather strip from Marie, Loki lays it out and carefully slices it, leaving a smooth cut in the blade's path. Marie nods, "I'd say that's a success. With that you've experienced the creation of both temporary and permanent enchantments. If you've done it once you can do it again, and with a bit of experience they'll come naturally. Now, unfortunately, since the nature of Enchantments depends upon how each individual thinks it can be difficult to teach more than the basics. I'll try to give more lessons if you want, but I've found people prefer their own methods often as not, so given that you probably won't destroy anything in the immediate future I'll leave the decision to you."

"Oh, there is one last thing. I want to try something. Some researchers have suggested beasts can slowly absorb Magic around them and use it to strengthen their bodies. I want to expand on that to see whether Magic stimulated by Enchantments will have a more pronounced effect than the natural ambient energies, since knowing more about the topic could lead to safer practices in the future. The only problem is that more experienced Enchanters seem to cause less disturbance than inexperienced ones, and with that Julius boy gone, you're the only viable subject. So, would you be willing to raise a carionite for this study?"

► Show Spoiler

It took some time, but I worked it out! I have found a way to get you your pet and have it make sense!

[GathersIngredients]

Loki is quite happy with the result. He replies to Marie: "I would like to have more lessons, if you can spare the time. While we will have different thoughts and methods and ideas on many subjects, I'm sure I can learn something from your way of looking at things, from your way of doing things, from your experience and maybe, if you are willing to share from any mistakes you have made in the past?"


Encouraged by his success, he tries to make a second permanent enchantment complete with rune, one to prevent the dagger from drawing blood from/cutting flesh and bone humans (as described earlier in a previous post), or humanoids at least.


When Marie mentions the caronite, he looks up at her, slightly bewildered. "You want me to ... raise a beast? This study, is it for those researchers or for the Arena? How did you come by a cub, anyway? Is there anything I need to know about it, how to treat it, keep it, feed it? Do I have to take to fro walks? Will it need to be caged? Should I use magic on it directly, or just nearby to it? Is it a him or a her?"

When his initial confusion has ebbed away a little, he takes a deep breath and smiles sheepishly at Marie suffering from the bombardment of his questions. "I probably should go and ask Gaul all or at least most of that, eh? I'm assuming he's the one taking care of the caronite for now so I have to go to him to pick it up, in any case."

[Arch Lich Burns]

"Okay, we need to go Olly." Julius teleports himself down to the ground with his item. "We should leave before that thing crushes us. Preferably back twoards the Arena."

[spiderwrangler]

As Olly if hollerin' about what he notes, Korga is sketching it down. Yes there is a 'tame' one at the arena, but it seemed less inclined to attempt to camouflage.

[thinkslogically]

Olly looks up at Julius, sticking his head around the side of some enormous grassy foot.

"What? Go back?! Why? We only just got here!"

[Arch Lich Burns]

"It's dangerous, we might get stomped on by the absir and we traveled enough to get paid. And I want to go back."

[thinkslogically]

"But there's so much more to see out here! And we won't get stomped if we're careful, the book even says these things are docile."

Olly does not want to go home.

[Arch Lich Burns]

"We can come back later? I have things to do, to make. And I...

I really need to talk to mother and father about me being an enchanter. I should have before I left but I was distracted to not even think of them. And I really need to apologize to Allisandra before it's too late."

[thinkslogically]

"...But we're here now! It took us two days to get here! Let's not waste that! Come on man, we should make the most of this while we can! Who knows when we'll get another chance like this!"

Olly moves away from the head and feet (and butt) and stands somewhere along the creature's flank, hopefully out of the way of any random kicks or flaming hiccups.

He looks pleadingly at Korga.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Julius readies to teleport himself or Korga with the teleport rod if it looks like they are about to be stomped on. "It was fine when it was sleeping and still, but now it is moving and that makes it dangerous and likely to accidently harm or kill us.

Please come down before you hurt yourself."

► Show Spoiler

A beast the size of a mountian moving around, that is pretty damn intimidating.

[spiderwrangler]

Korga cautiously backs up.

[Synch]

Risu stows the pouch containing the repkull safely in her dormitory, before heading to the combat machine and climbing wall to practice her weaponry (she practices strikes with her stiletto and tessen whilst dodging the spinning arms), movement, strength (hanging from the vertical parts of the climbing wall while trying to maneuver), agility and evasion for a solid few hours until she feels exhausted.

[Dlover]

Olly, Korga, Julius
Julius starts fearing for his life and wishing he'd spent more time with his family as he feels the abschir trembling while Korga, unaware from the ground, sketches furiously. Olly is less concerned by the giant creature waking up, arguing with Julius about the potential danger, and as Julius teleports to the ground while yelling Korga notices the change in situation and starts carefully backing away. Olly tries to position himself firmly on the flanks of the beast, which proves to be fairly easy, as the rough surface provides several places he can wedge himself into securely. After a bit of rumbling, there's a beginning of movement as the abschir stretches its head out and starts ponderously pushing itself to its feet, shaking Olly quite severely as it does, and even causing tremors in the ground around it as it moves, rising to add another 20m to its height, part of its height the result of its immense weight forming a depression in the ground where it had lain. The abschir slowly turns its head side to side, observing its surroundings, not even paying attention to the humans as it heaves a noisy sigh and turns its head toward a nearby cluster, opening its massive maw and reaching out, tearing dozens of trees from the ground in a single bite. If it had been impressive when it lay still, it now must be called awe-inspiring, for this being is so mighty that truly nothing may threaten it. The abschir in the arena could perhaps be harmed with enough effort, but this one must be so ancient that it is as much a force of nature as a living being. Despite Julius' fears, though, they realise they aren't likely to come to harm if they are wary of where they stand, for as the abschir decides to take a step forward it seems to move in slow motion, its leg rising and falling as slowly as if it were a man sneaking through a quiet house, though its movements still create thundering noise and leave depressions in the ground. So long as Julius and Korga are careful they could likely move out of the creature's path long before being endangered.

It's a different matter for Olly, though. Sitting securely, he isn't having much trouble keeping from being thrown loose, thanks to the ponderous movement, but slow as the movements may be they make it difficult to climb at all, and climbing down the legs could prove particularly difficult, while a fall from this height would cause serious injuries. He could likely wait it out, but who knows how long such an immortal being spends being wakeful?

Risu
Risu spends her late afternoon and early evening training, aware that she needs to compensate for her age and size with practice. As she's wrapping up, Allie finds her, "Ah, so this is where you were. Dutiful, aren't you? Well, it's a good trait to have, and it's not like there's much else to do around here. How are you going, improving okay?"
(What skill do you want to put the SP from the training into? You'll earn 3SP for spending the afternoon/evening training, but from your post I can only guess at either evasion or dexterity, so the decision's yours.)

Loki
"I would like to have more lessons, if you can spare the time. While we will have different thoughts and methods and ideas on many subjects, I'm sure I can learn something from your way of looking at things, from your way of doing things, from your experience and maybe, if you are willing to share from any mistakes you have made in the past?"
Marie smiles faintly, "Clever boy. Even if I can't teach you everything, you can learn from my mistakes. And maybe a few things will make sense to you. Well, the first thing to share is my greatest mistake: Pride, and allowing it to form. Every enchanter at one point or another is convinced they can shape Magic as they see fit, model the world to their vision. Every enchanter is, invariably, an idiot, at that time in their life. Magic is chaos, pure and violent, and you must remember that. I myself am regarded as one of this generations greatest minds, and not that far down the list in all history, but even I can't do everything. My Talent lies in Space, as I think I have told you, and that realisation, even years into my practice, lead to another idea: Magic permeates everything, influences and is influenced by everything. It is as good as the very essence of space. It took a few attempts, but I devised a manner to perceive Magic, in its raw energy form. Caution at that time is what saved me from becoming permanently blinded by the shock of it, but success made me bold. I believed that if I had a talent for controlling space, then I had a talent for controlling Magic itself, and if it permeates everything, then surely I can control everything, no? Well, that was the folly of a young mind. I was overly proud, overly bold, and for that I spent months in a bed as doctors debated whether the sickness brought on by channeling powers beyond my control would kill me or not...

I suppose the lesson to take away from that is to always know your limits. Pushing those limits is how you grow, as an enchanter and a person, but if you push them too far you invite disaster. Well, I don't want to cow you, so remember that the best enchanters have always taken risks, but calculated ones. The only ones that are even remotely well known, though, are the ones who take risks without calculating, and face catastrophic results."

While he listens to Marie, Loki adds a second rune to the blade, hoping to keep the blade from use against humans. The rune doesn't catch the flow of energy so easily as his sharpening rune. Working on getting it to connect, he eventually feels the rune start to draw in energy. There's no way to be certain whether the rune accomplished what he wanted or not.

"You want me to ... raise a beast? This study, is it for those researchers or for the Arena? How did you come by a cub, anyway? Is there anything I need to know about it, how to treat it, keep it, feed it? Do I have to take to fro walks? Will it need to be caged? Should I use magic on it directly, or just nearby to it? Is it a him or a her?"
... "I probably should go and ask Gaul all or at least most of that, eh? I'm assuming he's the one taking care of the caronite for now so I have to go to him to pick it up, in any case."
"Yes, the pup is currently in Gaul's care. I can tell you that the research is my own interest, though, and that we came by the cub by breeding it. We have plenty of beasts housed here, some for fighting, some for examination, and beasts have the same urges men and women do. As for how to conduct the study, just using magic near it will be good. Gaul can explain the proper care."

[Arch Lich Burns]

"...Oh. It's not a superfast beast. Should I get Olly down?" Julius calms down but is still wary of the beast.

[thinkslogically]

Olly is utterly in awe of what's happening to him and any idea of climbing down is pushed out of his head while he just revels in the fact that he's riding an actual, wild Abschir.

After a while, he does realise that Julius and Korga are being left behind, and he begins to wonder how to climb around on this thing safely.

((What is the surface like? Is it flat underfoot right now or sloping? Is the shell rough enough to say, to a rope to something, or is it smooth?))

[Dlover]

(Right now Olly's in a sort of crevice where he's got the main body on one side and some shell jutting up and outward on the other side. It's pretty rough, so with a bit of work her could probably find a place to tie off a rope.)
Abschir image courtesy of Burns, though the claws are actually far smaller than the sketch.

[thinkslogically]

((that's an awesome picture!))

Olly figures that he's probably not going anywhere fast, so he takes his time to settle into his little niche and brace his body against the sides so he doesn't fall off. Then, he rummages through his pack for a rope, tying one end around his waist like a harness and looking for a nice secure point to tie the rope off to on the shell. He's looking for some part of the shell that's high enough up that if he fell off it, it would catch him before hitting the ground.

[GathersIngredients]

Loki listens to Marie and nods every so often. Yes, pride usually precedes bad things happening one way or another. He'll just have to try and remember that.

After finishing his second enchantment he tires to prick his finger with the very tip of the dagger, but - mindful of the sharpness enchantment he already placed on the item - does so very, very carefully, hardly using any pressure at all. If it has worked, he'll pocket the dagger, as he wants to try out shaving with it later.

"Well, I think I should pick up and familiarise myself with the cub, then. And perhaps we can schedule another lesson this afternoon? I could bring the beast with me, so it can ... be influenced by my magic, I suppose?"
Loki suggests, and after receiving either confirmation or deny of his request, bids Marie farewell and goes to find his new... friend. Or pet. He's not sure about the intelligence of the caronites in general and this one in particular, and he can't be sure the beast will be friendly or obedient towards him, but there's always hope...

[Synch]

► Show Spoiler

As well as evasion I wanted to put some into strength to make Risu's attacks deal more damage, but I guess these are the wrong exercises for that. So in that case, 2 into Evasion and 1 into Dexterity.

"Well, its not so much dedication as necessity. I'm clearly not the build for a gladiator, I don't have good weapons training so I'm never going to be a real threat in that aspect. I have the most work to do out of everyone here. The best I can do hit more than I get hit and hope that will be enough. So for now, I need to work on staying untouched. Its going ok so far. My friends seem to be settling in with Monty, and I have a little repkull hatchling to look after. And as you say, there's not much else outside of that than to train."

[Dlover]

Olly, Korga, Julius
Julius worries less when he realises the giant creature isn't particularly fast, but is still concerned for Olly's wellbeing. Olly, meanwhile, digs the rope out of his pack and, after briefly tying it around himself, looks for a good place to tie it off. He's high enough off the ground that he doesn't need to worry about hitting the ground, and after looking around for a moment he spots a bit of shell which looks like a suitable anchor. It's within reach, and he can start climbing as soon as it's tied, but the length of the rope will only get him about a third of the way to the ground.

Risu
"Well, its not so much dedication as necessity. I'm clearly not the build for a gladiator, I don't have good weapons training so I'm never going to be a real threat in that aspect. I have the most work to do out of everyone here. The best I can do hit more than I get hit and hope that will be enough. So for now, I need to work on staying untouched. Its going ok so far. My friends seem to be settling in with Monty, and I have a little repkull hatchling to look after. And as you say, there's not much else outside of that than to train."
"Still, better than living on the streets, right? Well, other than training and fighting you might find an interesting book in Tor's collection, though there aren't any novels, so I get bored quickly. And hey, nobody's good with weapons at first. You'll get there no problem. All the instructors started around your age, you know, and none of us were exceptional for a good while."

► Show Spoiler

I've distributed the SP as you asked, but I suppose that could have worked for strength training, if you want to redistribute them?

Loki
Loki carefully pokes his finger with the tip of the dagger, but finds the blade is repulsed from his skin, outright refusing to make contact with him however he tries, but not pulling itself free of his grip. "Interesting result. We'll have to see what prompts that to activate, and whether it's what you're after. I wouldn't advise going into danger with no backup weapon until that's been tested properly, either." Loki then moves to pocket the dagger, but as he tries to sheathe it it cuts clean through the sheathe, "Oh my. That could be a little problematic."

"Well, I think I should pick up and familiarise myself with the cub, then. And perhaps we can schedule another lesson this afternoon? I could bring the beast with me, so it can ... be influenced by my magic, I suppose?"
"Sure. meet me in the southern courtyard when you're ready, I'll be working there."
Heading out to meet the carionite pup, Loki eventually finds Gaul tending to the beasts and asks after the pup, "Ah, Marie's finally ready to start that? Alright, just give me a minute to fetch him." It's not long before Gaul returns carrying a little pup, holding it out to Loki, "Cup your arm under his body like this to carry him, preferably, but he can walk by himself, and I wouldn't encourage you to carry him too much if you don't want him getting lazy. Feed him twice a day for two weeks, after that once a day. Keep him with you as often as possible, and in two or three days he'll imprint on you, see you as the alpha. Make sure he gets plenty of water, too. Oh, as for food, any sort of meat will do. They're carrion eaters, so even rotten stuff won't make them sick, though it won't be particularly nutritious. Feel free to play with him, but don't tolerate licking, or once the spines grow in things will be painful. Any questions?"

[GathersIngredients]

Loki picks up another sheath and inscribes it with a rune to make its surface impenetrable to scratches, cuts and stabs of any kind, then (assuming he's successful) slides the dagger in there, securing it with a leather strap, so it won't slip out accidentally and pockets both. "There. Problem solved."

---

In the beast pens:
"Yeah, I got questions. Like, are you sure it's a 'he'? Does he have a name yet? How often will he have to poop or pee? Is there anything dangerous about his waste products? How do I stop him from doing things I don't want him to do, or encourage him to do stuff I want him to, merely with words or are there other disciplinary measures? Does he have siblings or parents, still? Where will he sleep, is a basket in my room alright? Do I have to cage him, leash and collar him or even muzzle him for any occasion? What if he gets hurt or sick, I can't take him to a regular veterinarian I'm assuming. What is his favourite kind of meat? How old is he? Does he have any toys yet, or what is his favourite game? Does he know any commands yet? Would you help me teach him tricks, as my experience with pets is a little limited? Is there anything I should keep him away from? Like cats, children, fertile female caronites, once he has matured... What is his life expectancy? When will his spines grow? How long until he is an adult? Do his claws need to be trimmed, if so how frequent? What about his fur, should I brush it and if yes, how often? Does he like swimming? Has he had any contact with other beasts or animals yet, if so was it friendly?" Loki pets the pub while he's showering Gaul with his questions, but pays attention to the answers as well.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Julius sighs. He really really didn't want to do this. "You want me to go up there so I can teleport you down?"


ONLY If he gets conformation he uses ths teleport rod to quickly teleport there, making sure not to over heat it. He points to Olly and teleports him down a ways and follows by using the item on himself. He does this until they are on the ground, Julius shaking like a leaf.

[spiderwrangler]

Korga is a bit torn between "I told you so", and concern for her friend, but sees no way she can contribute to helping Olly down, other than the likely ill advised attacking the beast with her burdening throwing blades in hopes of immobilizing it... if she can even hit a patch of skin they could penetrate.