[Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

The story unfolds around Osaka, Japan, with the unlocking of one girl's hidden potential, and a gathering of Young mages whom are destined to change the fate of the Earth.
Locked
User avatar
Mr. Blackbird Lore
Posts: 722
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:48 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Mr. Blackbird Lore »

Johann harrumphed, disappointed. Seeing everyone leap into action was truly incredible, though. Chuffy, having missed, spun around several times trying to find Mr. Flynn, but never chanced a glance upward. With the target lost, he trotted back to Johann, who hardly noticed as he was fiercely concentrated. He was studying the others to see who the group would most benefit from his aid, and he quickly chose Kat. Drysi was strong, but her magic was slow; Willow, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling to figure her magic out; Vrey was literally all over the place, and thus a terrible target.

"Katerina!" he called loudly, though there wasn't more than twenty feet of empty space between them. He covered that space quickly, and posted up behind her. "Just fffffocus on Mr. Ffffflynn. I'm gonna booooost you." If she had looked, she would see him raise both hands, fingers spread out toward her, and an incantation begin. "Einmal dann zweimal gebunden, soll man den Preis zahlen." The words were as easy for him to recall as his own name; it was his most practiced spell, and came to him effortlessly, even murmured as it was.

A stream of mana burst from his hands and flooded Katerina, adding perhaps a quarter of her innate strength to her spells, drawing it from Johann's own reserves.
User avatar
Kai
Site Admin
Posts: 701
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:18 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Kai »

Katerina was disappointed at how, overall, the group's efforts had been more or less wasted, with their instructor now even farther out of reach and their group scattered about the meadow. Lost as to what she could do to affect the battle from where she was, the girl suddenly heard the thudding of booted footsteps, with Johann suddenly behind her, chanting. She could feel the rush of extra mana as he cast the spell, transferring his own power to the blonde.

Feeling this extra powere, Kat thought of a spell that she normally did not have enough mana to control properly, but with this help, she thought she might just be able to- "gotcha!" she called to the boy in response to his suggestion to focus on Mr. Flynn. She began to chant her own spell, focusing on the ground between herself and Ruarc. The group would feel the ground in the local area begin to shake, as if a tremor was beginning, the surrounding trees shaking as she did so, loose leaves falling to the ground amid the loud rustling, then, once her spell was fully chanted, the elementalist pulled her hands apart from one another, as if tearing something, and she shouted a single word; "REND!"

In front of the half Japanese mage, the earth opened up, a crack tearing at breakneck speed and heading straight toward the instructor, threatening to swallow him up if he couldn't figure out how to avoid it in time.
User avatar
Straken
Posts: 1211
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 4:40 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Straken »

"To do list: optimize a combat ready ward spell" Ruarc noted to Loaise.

The students were hounding him. As opposed to five separate strikes, they appeared to have consolidated into two larger assaults. Although at this point it was more through hearing and feeling that the druid determined how much danger he was in. He was out of wind runes so he would be dodging the old fashioned way, and he was sure he would need to dodge as there was a not insignificant amount of earth magic being channeled. The one rune he did have that could have countered color spray was on the ground near Willow, so he would likely need to take the hit and deal with the consequences. And that only accounted for two of the students. Johann had cast a buff on Katerina; that made three. Willow would likely try to flank him and grab the handkerchief while he was preoccupied with magical defenses, so he would need to avoid exposing that side as much as possible. Vrey would be the biggest unknown factor.

"Cosaint," Ruarc started to chant as he also began to run. Lacking his glasses, his form was sloppier, as such he missed his leap to avoid Katerina's spell. His ankle rolled in the growing gap, and right about at that time he was caught up in the color spray. The world that had been blurry changed to flat white

Feeling himself fall, Ruarc adjusted his spell as he finished the chant. "an eolais"

Sunken down to his waist in the ruptured earth, his hands met the edge. From the ground beneath his hands, a thick growth of thorney brambles began to grow up around his arm, off to his side between the students and himself, and down into the chasm. Wrapping his hand around the stalk, he planted his good foot into the growth before yanking himself up and out.

Rolling a short distance, Ruarc was kneeling once more, only this time looking a bit more haggard. He had dirt on his arms and smeared on his face, and the arm he had grabbed the bramble with had dozens of tiny cuts while also leaving his clothes frayed. His eyes, while unfocused, were still determined; and Laoise could see the man was enjoying himself. Unsure of where the next strike would come from, he reached down and pulled one last rune out of his pocket while raising his other arm defensively.

Willow, still hanging back, was dumbfounded. Staring down at the coin in her hand, she felt the bruise it surely left when it had struck her. She hadn't done anything really, as best she could tell. Was her power magnetism? That'd be funny to her given her previous comparisons of the school to comic books. Looking back up, Ruarc had withstood the assault, for better or worse. Focusing really hard, she locked eyes on her mentor's belt and the metal ring attached to the end of the cloth. Nothing. Cursing again, the Brit got up running. Jumping a narrow part of the rather impressive but of magic Kat had done, she banked and was running up from straight behind Mr. Flynn.
User avatar
Gwathdraug
Posts: 281
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:48 am

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Gwathdraug »

With their target - the direktor - blinded Vrey didn't even bother to slowly and stealthily transform her stash of picked leaves into arrows. Instead the tree she was in was clearly glowing a bright green as tendrils wrapped about and twisted the material they grasped into the teen's required shape. As she put the first of her ammo to her bowstring the rest floated in the air close around her - ready to be put to use before they unraveled and disappeared.

One. Two. Three. Four - Vrey's entire body was a flicker of sliding images that didn't connect but covered the important bits of what she needed to accomplish: the draw, the aim, the release.

The first arrow shot down towards the shoulder of the arm Ruarc had raised as a defense, the second at the wrist where he had just grabbed for a rune, the third - already beginning to flake apart as it whistled through the air - hurled towards his right knee, and the last was set to his waist to cut his belt in two.
User avatar
Kokuten
Posts: 1258
Joined: Sat Dec 25, 2010 11:06 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Kokuten »

The Triclops was relishing the ease at which she was able to cast spells with impunity. This hero stuff was easy! She started to wonder why people made such a big deal about feats of combative magicks. All you had to do was hang back, and lay out as much artillery as possible, and the problem solved itself!

She rolled her wrist, having one last scroll to put out, absolutely sure that this one would be the one that would seal the day. It was a spell that evokers called essential, that abjurers claimed belonged to them, that conjurers considered foremost, and one that Drysi was drawing up quickly. She kept feeling little temptations in her mind to put out something else, but she pushed it aside, as a mages true power was in utility, not explosions.

This, Drysi firmly believed. She fished in her little messenger bag, in the pocket where she kept her lunch and pulled out the butter square she was going to put on her muffin. It was a bit soft at this point, but it didn't matter for being spell component.

Ruarc found a thick puddle of Grease forming at his feet, stretching out in a five foot radius around him.

"Run away from that, Mr. Flynn!" called Drysi excitedly, bouncing on her feet.
User avatar
Kai
Site Admin
Posts: 701
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:18 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Kai »

Katerina smiled, suddenly sweating and breathing heavily. She smiled because she had actually successfully cast the Earth Rend spell, but, it had taken everything out of her, plus all the energy that Johann had given her. her knees knocked together, and the blonde began to have trouble holding herself up, feeling as if she had just run a marathon or three. Then, their teacher vaulted himself out of the crack she had made.

She laughed,it was a single, exasperated chuckle, before her eyes rolled back in her head and her knees completely buckled, the girl collapsing straight down to her knees, feet sliding outward and back just enough to sort of keep her upright a moment, before gravity caught on and pulled her torso to the ground. She flopped backward, knees together with her legs splayed to the sides awkwardly, and started mumbling incoherent gibberish. One could almost see the comedic bird spinning around her head- Or was that a little fae? either way, Kat looked like she was down for the count, completely frazzled and drained of power.
User avatar
Mr. Blackbird Lore
Posts: 722
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:48 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Mr. Blackbird Lore »

"Kat! Oh, I'm sssssorry! I should've- I should've- well, hold on!" Johann had been far too slow to catch his fellow student, but he could still help. He knelt and held one hand above her back, fingers splayed. He quietly recited the spell a second time, though the transfer was about half of what it was last time.

Then he took a deep breath and rose to his feet, sweating like he'd just hiked a few miles. No problem, I've done more, he told himself. It was probably a lie, but mana wasn't something that was neatly measured, so it was hard to say. All that mattered was that it was enough to motivate himself. Chuffy, sensing trouble, had stepped over and began slowly licking Kat's face, hoping to revive her. "Good boy, Chuffy." The boy rewarded his dog with a scratch behind the ears.
User avatar
Straken
Posts: 1211
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 4:40 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Straken »

The students struck out much quicker on this next round, and Ruarc made a mental note to compliment the adaptability. Vrey fired a handful of transmuted arrows at him. They weren't particularly dangerous as the lacerations stung, and had she aimed for his hand he may have been surprised enough to accidentally drop the rune. Instead once the first arrow cut into he shoulder he tensed up, and the second arrow made him clench his fist rather than flinch. The arrow to his knee hurt, but wouldn't stop him from adventuring; and as he was already kneeling he staggered only a little bit to the side. He almost didn't notice the fourth arrow as it struck his belt, thankfully, if the arrows had the cutting power to slice through the leather belt his joints would have been in much worse shape. That said, he would still need to get a new belt most likely.

Next was the matter of Drysi. The girl had cast a Grease spell, which would make trying to reposition while blind and under duress extremely difficult. Another wind rune could help, but flying blind sounded like a good way to break something. In an attempt to catch a moment or two, he put a spark of power into the rune and flicked it into the air between himself and the main group a students. Before he could react further, he heard footsteps running up from behind him.

Willow had banked and was making a dash for her mentor's flank. The sudden appearance of a grease puddle was unexpected, but she could work with it. Once she neared the edge, she dove into a slide. Whatever Drysi had hit him with seemed to have impaired his vision, so perhaps by keeping herself low to the ground she could slide by and grab the ring. However, as she entered her slide, Ruarc pivoted after tossing the rune and planted a hand square on her back to stop her. Her remaining momentum pushing Ruarc off balance. Just then, the rune in the air activated, bursting into a bright light. Nothing major, but bright enough to make someone not expecting a flash to potentially flinch and cover their eyes.

Moments later, a whistle blew. Laoise was standing off to the side of the glade as she called the match. Willow was still on the ground, but in her hands was a broken belt, and the handkerchief. Vrey's arrow hadn't cut all the way through, but had cut enough to where a solid tug had made it snap. Once pulled, the belt also made the handkerchief dislodge from its host belt loop, falling within reach of the Brit. Laoise's first stop was moving over to the grease puddle and pulling out a dispel rune, and making the liquid evaporate to eliminate the hazard for Ruarc and Willow. With the ground clear, Ruarc righted himself and pushed himself to his feet, but kept weight off of his hurt ankle; and Laoise was quick to move in to help support his weight and begin healing the Druid. Willow stood soon after, holding the handkerchief in her hand with pride.

"That was good work, everyone," Ruarc called to the glade, his eye sight still recovering. "You showed good adaptability in dealing with sudden situations. I was also happy to see a good deal of teamwork among you, especially after some of the notes Ms. Smith had on the matter. Is anyone hurt? Beyond some magic drain, of course. Questions? Comments? concerns?"
User avatar
Kokuten
Posts: 1258
Joined: Sat Dec 25, 2010 11:06 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Kokuten »

Drysi's thrill only rose higher as she watched the rest of the battle unfold. She bounced on her toes as she saw spells and arrows come down in waves; and, like she was watching a football game, she tensed up to the final moment until the cloth was snatched in victory. There was a small moment where she realized she was laughing, but it didn't matter as her mind was flooded with elation at their success. Something in the back of her mind tried to suppress the moment, but the happiness bubbled up in her throat as she began jumping, throwing her arms up in the air.

She came running down from her perch, where she had safely lobbed all of her spells.

"Willow, that was gorgeous! Amazing!" Drysi called ahead, her three bright eyes watching her feet as she stepped on down a small ridge and ran to over to her roommate. With an sudden leap, she was off the ground and jumped right onto Willow, throwing her arms around her, burdening the human with her weight. Albeit, Willow came to find that Drysi was about as half as heavy as any other girl her size. At any rate, she laughed, absolutely overcome, "We did it! We got it! Against the Keeper of Osaka no less! Bloody brilliant!"

None of them had ever seen as big a smile on her face than in that moment.
User avatar
Straken
Posts: 1211
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 4:40 pm

Re: [Episode 1] A Practical Morning Exercise

Post by Straken »

Willow was more startled by Drysi jumping her than she was awed by their win, but did her best to look surprised by the latter instead. Thankfully the grease was dispelled, otherwise it likely would have been a comedic collision; that said, she still winced as pressure was put on the bruise on her chest. Although it was good to see Drysi smiling and getting into the spirit of camaraderie, so Willow did her part and held the lighter girl up. "It was a lot of fun!" Willow chimed in, directing her comment at both Drysi and Ruarc. "Maybe next time Mr. Flynn will throw out some spells of his own rather than just dodging."

"After more training perhaps," Ruarc said with a chuckle. "Don't need to be starting you lot in on live fire exercise like that just yet."
"Indeed. Don't need you kids getting broken ribs and dislocated shoulders like Mr. Flynn did when he was your age," Laoise added, her tone straight-laced and disinterested as she continued to heal Ruarc. After a quick test she determined enough of his vision had returned, and his ankle was mended enough for him to make it home. Rescinding her supportive shoulder she then made her way over to Kat. Giving some words of appreciation to Johann, Laoise knelt down and picked the girl up to replenish Kat's mana while the group walked back.

"Once again, well done," Ruarc called. "Ah'll compile notes from today, after mending my clothes and getting a new belt at least. Hope ya'll had fun on the nature hike. The grounds are open to you outside of class time, so feel free to explore more on your own. So if there are no other comments, let's head back, shall we?"


End of A Practical Morning Exercise
Locked