Return of the Emblem Chapter Eleven: Unleash

[Ether]

"It is possible to burn yourself out attempting to overcast, but it shouldn't happen so long as you can properly gauge your own limits and don't push them more than necessary. Recklessly pumping magical energy with wild abandon can kill you, but so long as you're smart about your own limitations, it shouldn't be a prevalent issue." Kit responded, with a flick of one of her unaccosted tails.

[roymbrog]

Listening to this conversation, Katrina was becoming a little confused. She placed a second saddlebag on the ground before speaking up. “Wait, are we herding them or something? I thought we were splitting up, like divide and conquer, you know. Volga can take a deer down on her own. As long as they don’t see her coming, she outpaces them on the plains while diving. If you want, Robin, I can drop you off when we spot some and when they start running we’ll pick one off. That way we can maybe get two kills at once.”

[Snowy_One]

"Excuse me, miss Kit." said Tia, speaking up after keeping quiet and letting Kit speak for a bit. "If you don't mind I'm actually more interested in what you mentioned about imparting knowledge. That seems to be the far more useful thing than overcasting as it would allow for such a rapid sharing of information and knowledge. Imagine being able to teach an entire mage academy in a day! I mean, just wow! Could you please tell me a bit more about that and how it works?"

---

"That does not work as well as you think it does Kat unless Volga focuses on only taking down one deer and one deer alone. Otherwise she will be forced to decide which deer to follow on the fly with no hesitation and, if the deer make it to the trees, she will lose the hunt. Deer survive by being swift and hard to catch. That is why we are having Zach heard them. If they stay in one tight knot it will be much easier for me to land a lethal shot or for Volga to pick one out than to have Volga chase one down. Not to mention Volga will expend a lot of energy and need more food if she hunts."

Edited May 31, 2013 by Snowy_One

[Ether]

"Oh, that? It's a technique employed by advanced practitioners of dark magic... if the target is willing, or doesn't have a barrier, you can link to their mind using tendrils and can read or alter their memories and knowledge as a form of data... in the case with Zach, I would take his basic knowledge of overcasting and improving upon it with my own." Kit noted, to answer the young mage who had decided to rejoin the conversation.

[roymbrog]

"No, I mean... After you herd them. And she's not a stupid hunter, this is how she usually eats back home. Feeding a wyvern this big is expensive, you know," Kat replied, working on the straps for the last bag. "If we find them near a cluster of trees, just have Zach steer them away from it. I didn't see any large forests around when we flew in. Most of the area around here is just grasslands."

[Eail]

"Robin.... my magic doesn't fry a deer, that's fire. Lightning is a pinpoint attack, considering I can actually control my power this'll be nothing but a small singe mark at most, and stopping the heart. I can also path my attack easier than you can calculate an arrow shot, if we're going on mounts I'm probably the better hunter here." Zach explained to the magic inept girl.

"Besides, if I'm riding on a flying animal how could they outrun us? Volga may be slower than a Pegasus, but considering the height advatange even she's more mobile than a deer." Patting the wyvern on her face. "Ain't that right girl?"

[Snowy_One]

"How do you do it though? Can you do it to me?"

---

Robin was about to say something chastising, but decided to hold her tongue. Considering her recent interactions with Zach, chastisement would likely result in some sort of fight again. "Alright. If you really want to try to hunt, go ahead." she said, a twinge of hurt feeling in her voice that she tried to hide. She wanted to be useful and have people listen to her about these things, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen.

[Ether]

"I could, if you were willing to allow me into your mind, but it's a very arduous and taxing process, and it really isn't healthy of you to be so willing. Mind magic is one of the most feared domains for a reason, little missy... once someone is inside your head, you fall to their mercy... if I wanted to, all it would take for me to remove your memories of your family, your friends, your studies... would be only to find them in your head and decide I didn't want you to have them anymore. I could fabricate you into an entirely new person, and so long as I disabled your knowledge of how to repel me first, there would be nothing you could do. To be honest, I doubt Zach will actually accept the lesson once I tell him how I intend to teach him." Kit noted, decidedly perturbed by either the complete bravery... or obscene naivety of the girl before her.

[Snowy_One]

"I see. So by utilizing magic like this memory and personality alteration is a distinct possibility which, in turn, can result in massive unforeseen consequences especially if done by someone lacking in experience meaning that such a method would be highly limited as a learning tool since, with one minor mistake, you could end up wiping out tons of experience. However, such a thing could also serve to be an incredibly useful tool still. I'm interested in learning more about this! If a person has a strong enough personality, can it survive? What sort of forces does it take to alter a memory? What about non-humans? Could we teach one of the horses to play checkers using this in theory?"

[Rothene]

"You would think that someone resistant to the mind magic would also be resistant to learning through similar means," Mireille interjected placing, what was probably the last light tome in the pile onto its proper place, then looking at the pile of books longingly, "And if such methods were employed, then most books would cease to be made since information is so easily transferred. Why read when the information goes straight into your mind? Why go through the descriptions written by an author when all there is to feel can be put in the mind?"

[Ether]

"Mind magicians are few and far between, and it isn't really considered an ideal method for teaching... the one performing the alteration has too much power over the situation for most to consider it. As for resistance to mind magic, most people have it. It is generally only effective on people who are incapacitated, or who submit to it. In addition, a magician who stores too many foreign memories in their mind is liable to go completely insane... it can't really be used to the extent you are thinking of." Kit answered, wondering why anyone would ever want to teach a horse to play checkers, and deciding not to comment on it.

"The idea of expanding another's knowledge using mind alteration is generally not taken further than that, an idea that is quickly shot down. Alas, it's the only method I have to do this in any decent time frame, so it will be his choice whether he wants to go through with it or not."

[scorri]

Lumi sat down on the ground, just staring up at the two pegasi with a huge grin on her face. Looking at Aneda, she patted the ground next to her. "Here, sit down, relax. Why don't you tell me some about what life's like with this group?"

[Snowy_One]

Tia looked curiously at Kit. "So, basically it's useless unless the person either is willing or incapable of defense and can drive the user insane. Still, something like this would be very interesting and worth learning about. Both to identify people who have suffered and to possibly use it sometime in the future. Ah well. I suppose that, even if you taught me and I could learn it, you would probably just wipe my mind. Heck, I suppose there is no reason why we couldn't have already had this conversation and just forgotten about it."

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

"I think he'll do it. All he has is his power and Marella, or so he believes. Also ... you haven't had this conversation before," came Ayano's voice, confirming that this was definitely the first time this had come up. Oddly enough, that was her only verbal input into the conversation. I doubt either of these two understands the costs that come with acquiring power in this way. Hmm, I want to keep this one but she probably won't like me cutting it off. Also there would be lots of blood on the fur. Maybe I can ask for one another time.

Camp

Once Raquel and Gytha made it back to the camp, the former's stomach reminded her for the second time just how hungry she was getting. The hunters hadn't even set out yet, either. She was officially demoralized and sluggishly wandered over to the fire where Gar was playing. She sat down pretty close by, looking half dead and disinterested in her surroundings. "This sucks ..."

"Indeed. At this rate, it will be hours before there's a decent meal cooked." That wasn't Gar's voice. The only reason she hadn't recognized it as Hypnos' voice right away was because he usually wasn't right next to her and instead spoke inside of her head with more of a subtle ethereal echo behind his words. When she glanced over toward the source, she found herself sitting between Gar and a barely opaque Hypnos.

"Whoa, it's you .... How are you appearing like this?" It seemed like a good question before she said it, but this had happened several times already, only it was the dragon head's doing and not Hypnos specifically. As soon as she uttered the words, she had her answer. The fire emblem, or what was left of it. Seeing the expression on her face and knowing she already had it mostly figured out, he simply smiled and nodded at her to that point.

"I'd love to wait around for more of you, but ... they will likely be awhile longer," he said to Raquel and Gar. "Though, the two of you wanted answers to various questions anyway, isn't that right?"

"I'm just going to take your advice and wait until I've eaten. It's hard to think straight right now ..."

Reign and Shadrak helped with staking down the tents but as soon as Shadrak finished his first one, he noticed Raquel over by Gar and the fire. Before he looked away to get back to work, Hypnos appeared sitting next to them too. "Wha ...? Oh no, I'm not missing this again!" He ran off and left the hammer where it fell, prompting a grunt from Reign.

"I'm pretty sure the phantom sharing space with Raquel isn't going anywhere, but whatever. I'll give him that one at least; supernatural phenomenon are pretty good excuses to skip out on work, but in this case I'd rather just hear about it later. My being there won't change anything." Fortunately they were all but done at this point and could probably catch up in a few minutes.

Gabbie meanwhile was half asleep again. She might have managed to take a nap but the hunger pains were getting to her the same as Raquel. Did she notice the ghostly figure over by the fire? Apparently not. Would she have done anything about it if she had? Uncertain, but Ringo definitely saw it. Ringo had seen a lot of things most people wouldn't believe, however, and seemed indifferent as usual.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"I don't think I'd get much of what was bein' talked about even if I did pay attention," Nadya said, staking down another corner. "All this emblem stuff is way over my head."

Veronika

Raquel's mysterious friend from before had decided to arrive, prompting Veronika to move closer to Raquel. Probably more riddles, but maybe something useful will come out of all this...I certainly don't have the answers.

[Mercakete]

He'd just about finished with Rizen's brushing when Raquel and Gytha reentered camp and he heard Raquel moaning about something again. He himself couldn't help but sigh at that. She was such a pushover and she always seemed to be whining about something or other. Rizen, meanwhile, was very content at the moment. She'd drank all the water she'd wanted and her coat was just about clean. Her face and horn still felt icky, though. A quick bray informed her rider to get back to work on the cleaning.

"I'm working on it, I'm working on it," Norbert muttered back as he finished the quick clean of the brush and put it away. Next, he picked up the bucket of water with the rag and wrung said rag out some before starting to clean off the pegasus' horn. It was a relatively quick process. After dunking the rag and wringing it out again, Norbert began the more careful process of cleaning Rizen's face. He didn't want to get anything in her eyes, after all.

As he cleaned, Norbert idly took note of the murmur of chatter going on around camp. That was normal. It was a little odd how normal it was, actually. People going about end-of-the-day chores and talking with one another... It really wasn't that long ago the end of the day looked so different for me. Hopefully soon the smell of some sort of dinner will even be in the air...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gytha didn't really have much direction as she meandered around camp. She didn't stray much from the flute's tune, though. When Hypnos appeared, she was a bit surprised. He was only barely there, though, so for a moment she thought she was just imagining it. After blinking several times, however, it became fairly clear that he really was there. This was mildly concerning. So, tentatively, she walked over to where he was seated.

"Err... That copy o' me's not goin' t' appear out o' anawhere, is she?" she asked a bit worriedly.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"I want a lot of things," Gar answered as he stopped playing his flute--though he kept the melody going on in his head. "Truth coming out of whatever collective mouth you have is one of them."

[Phoenix]

Campfire

"Was there any particular truth you had in mind?" Hypnos responded curiously. Glancing to Gytha, he smiled reassuringly and added, "It would be a bit too costly to conjure one of those out here."

Costly? Despite the hunger pains, that word caught Raquel's attention, though she didn't say anything for the time being. Shadrak would have beaten her to the next word in either way. "Hey, what's going on?" was his first question to the phantom by the fire.

"All done with the tents?" Of course not.

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

Staves can't fix missing limbs or diseases or any number of other things, Connor thought to himself, listening in on this 'Kit's' conversation with Tia and Mireille as he continued to work. I don't like all this free talk about the uses of mind magic- there are some things we're better off not knowing. The fact that she allegedly knows so much on the topic is troubling.

Veronika

"Excuse me if this is rude, but...who and what are you exactly? Are you some...spirit tied to the emblem or something?" she interjected to the figure near Raquel, feeling as if she missed this important information somewhere along the way.

Nadya

Nadya finished staking the last corner and stretched the canvas over the tent poles. "Well that's one down- y'all wanna set another one up or call it a night?" she asked her helpers.

Edited June 1, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Campfire of Affirmation

"Hm? Well I suppose I am, but I'm only as tied to the emblem as you are to your next meal. There's a strong force that stretches all the way into this world. You know it as the Gate. Any mind lingering in this world without a body or consciousness is drawn into it. Using the emblem's energy to remain conscious and resist that force is all that keeps me here," Hypnos explained. "By mortal standards, I am most certainly dead. By divine standards, I'm simply missing a few pieces," he added amusingly.

I never thought of it that way. Dead? I mean he's everything you'd expect in a ghost, but ... well ... I don't know. I guess I'm not sure what death really is if Hypnos qualifies. It's not something I stop to think about much, Raquel mused.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"But we don't even have an emblem piece anymore," Veronika remarked. "Are you saying that the emblem's energy is inside Raquel right now and that's what is keeping you alive?" she asked for clarification. So our 'friend' here is a half-dead vasilus? How much stranger is this going to get?

[Phoenix]

Campfire of Variables

"Possibly. Something unexpected happened today and so I'm not sure what will happen in the long run. You see, the dragon left for the time being, and that changes things. My mind is in two distinct pieces right now, both sustained by the emblem's energy. We aren't truly separated though, not even at this distance, so when Discovery's energy runs out, I'm not certain what will happen. Perhaps this part of my mind will cease to be or perhaps we'll simply be reunited. The more I dwell on it, the more I wonder ..."

"How much time do we have? We can fix this if I get back my emblem piece, right?" Raquel finally chimed in, deciding she should at least try to ignore the increasing hunger for now. This was Hypnos' life they were talking about. Shadrak was curious too.

"Of course. Acquire another emblem piece and this problem goes away, but I'm not sure how much time there is just yet. Every second I spend here uses up a little bit of that energy, and excess, like appearing in this form does the same. Every action that draws on the emblem's power whittles away at the reservoir within you. Fortunately the dragon was able to bestow quite a bit before-" "Oh crap! That golden light show earlier and all the warping around I did! I'm basically killing you," Raquel interrupted, on the verge of panicking, and while Shadrak couldn't really disagree with her statement as a whole, he did feel that she was painting things a bit extremely.

"Hahah. I dare say that given the circumstances, it was justified. You can use this power to keep up with the others in battle. I'd appreciate it if you didn't use them just to get up in the morning, but don't endanger yourself on my behalf. This is your fight; use whatever tools you require. Besides, this is the very tool you've wanted for so long. Now you have it."

"Well yeah, but ..." if I use this energy NOW, I'm ... "I'm taking your life away ..."

"I won't press the issue any further, but whatever you do, don't risk your life over this. If you die ... then everything we've gone through up to this point will have been for tears."

Edited June 1, 2013 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"So, you and the dragon head are the same person, but different parts of your mind? Who was responsible for that stunt with Sardis?" she asked. I wonder if he's talking about some magical thing or just being overly philosophical...over my head in either case.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Things happened. Gar asked. "This separation, can you still communicate between your two halves?"

[Phoenix]

Campfire of Questions

"'Stunt' is a light way to put it, isn't it? I felt like I was dying back there," Raquel muttered quietly.

"You were or would have at that rate. The dragon was infusing you with massive amounts of the emblem's energy all at once. It's actually a very interesting way to kill someone if you're into unusual methods, but killing you was not the dragon's intent," Hypnos explained to Raquel while also answering Veronika's question. "As for communication, I've tried to reach out to him twice since we parted, but he's either out of range which vexes even me ... or he's simply ignoring me, which is odd. Not out of character, simply ... odd. Odd timing, especially. Granted, we've never been spread out like this in the past, so as far as communication goes, I haven't a clue what I'm doing and in all likelihood, neither does he~"

I'm not sure if I miss the cryptic side or not. On the one hand you've got someone who seems to know everything but holds back until the right time. On the other hand, you've got someone who's way too honest and actually seems okay with not knowing what's going on ...

"I don't plan on living off of any more than the bare minimum, so experimenting with Discovery's energy reservoir is not something I'll be doing. If the dragon decides he has something to tell us, I'm sure he'll find a way."

Shadrak listened, wondering why the dragon head would have infused Raquel with so much energy in the first place. She already had tons in her apparently according to Lilith, so why add a bunch more? Was that the whole plan? Was the dragon head behind that energy thing and just trying to speed up the process during that meeting? If no one inquired about what the dragon's intent actually was, he sure as hell planned to, he decided as he angrily crossed his arms. That thing had better have a good reason for risking Raquel's life and getting them thrown into such a horrible battle at the worst possible time.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Phoenix