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Hafnium Test Thread


Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee, perhaps unsurprisingly, wasn't particularly reassured by Lovisa's words despite her mistress's offer of safe conduct. Somehow, the idea of being weakened in front of demon sounded like a poor idea overall. Conceding the second point, Lenalee wandered back to the cart along with the demon knight, and they were on their way shortly thereafter.

Along the way, the sorceress said little and did less, only walking and watching as the others moved the wagon. She considered it acceptable given her condition, and no one seemed to be complaining about it.

When the question on whether to meet Edmund's contact ahead of time or simply walked into town came up, Lenalee immediately said; "Have Lila tell your friend to meet us somewhere outside of town. I'd rather not risk sending an animal that might be killed by simple predators, and walking into the town isn't worth the risk of inciting the townsfolk with Lovisa around. Are you sure that this friend of yours can be trusted, Edmund? It's Lila that you're leaving in their care remember."

(Charsheet)
Name: Lenalee
Class: Sorceress (Mage)
Race: Badarian
Sex: Female

Body: 10
Mind: 50
Spirit: 30

Hit Points (HP): 50
Pleasure to Orgasm (PP): 70
Spirit Energy (EP): 80
Speed: 10 (9)
Dodge: 45
Armor: 0 (6)
Resistance: 25
Perception: 22
Stealth: 10 (9)
Grapple: -2

Experience: 42 (34 spent)
Corruption: 0

Talents:
3x Exceptional
Natural Succubus (Knowledgeable: Use Mind instead of Body for pleasure dealt)
Natural Spirit (Demonologist: Summon Demon, Devils Lightning, )
Experienced Caster (Up to 3rd level spells in all elements)
Focus in Element (Lightning)
Focus in Element (Force)
Evoker
Greater Energy Pool (+20 EP)
Magic Feats (Gain 2 Magic Feats)


Flaws:
Sensitive (+4 pleasure taken)
Open Soul (+4 to EP damage)
Fetish: Demons
Poor Grappler
Fetish: Creampies


Mutations: Counter 2/12
Tight: +2 to pleasure dealt when having sex


Base Casting: 25 (24)
Favored Elements: Lightning, Force
Magic Feats:
Stormbringer (Lightning) – Spells that deal Electricity damage deal an additional +2 damage per spell level and if they deplete more than half of a target’s max HP, they also cause that target to gain the Paralyzed status. Requires Focus in Lightning.
Finely Tuned – Attack rolls for Spirit Powers are modified by Mind instead of Spirit.
Intensify Spell (Activated) – The character may pay an additional 3 EP in order to double the number of damage dice for any spell. In other words, a spell that would deal 2d4 now deals 4d4. Maximize Spell (Activated) – The character may pay 2 EP in order to cause the damage dice for any spell to be treated as if they’d rolled the maximum possible result.
Blood Magic (Activated) – Whenever the character would cast a spell of 2nd level or higher, they may pay half of that spell’s cost in HP and half in EP. If they do, that spell is treated as if it were one level higher for the purpose of determining its effects. Healing spells cannot be improved with this feat.


Spirit Ceiling: 16 (15)
Powers:
Devils Lightning
Summon Demon
Vampiric Futanari
Hellfire Blast


Inventory:
Staff (not ever going to bonk with it, so it doesn't matter)
3x Edenhearts
Leather Armor: AV = 6, EV = 1, TP = 30, DU = 3.
65 denarii

Bio/Description:
As a very young woman growing up in a Badarian slum, Lenalee had perpetually set herself apart from others for her consistent oddities. She'd sit alone rather than play with the other street rats, and often talked to people that weren't there even when she wasn't alone. She;d be found up at odd hours of the night, barely coherent, and staring blankly up at the stars. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father worked in a factory, the two of them supplying at least enough income to keep Lenalee and her two twin brothers fed and clothed for the better part of her young life. She'd attended a small local school, and had even excelled in her studies when they'd interested her. That all changed when she was 14, when her father was killed in an accident at the weapons assembly plant he'd worked at. Her mother, unable to care for both herself, her daughter, and Lenalee two younger brothers on the pittance she made, turned to whoring in order to support them, and in her depression began grooming Lenalee for much the same, not expecting the strange girl to be able to accomplish much else in her life.

Such was not her fate, however, as tragedy struck once more. Her brothers both joined the Badarian army when they were 15, when Lenalee was only 16. They both took part in one of the pointless invasions of Crolia, and both were killed in action. The man who came to offer her mother condolences on behalf of the lich king spotted Lenalee as she sat alone in the backyard, unleashing the powers she'd been hiding for six years then at a stray cat who'd invaded their tiny yard. He had immediately reported the girl, and she was promptly kidnapped and taken in to be brainwashed and trained in the use of her powers for the kings army. She had once more excelled in her studies, despite her constant resistance to her captors, and as she neared her 18th birthday, when she would go through a ceremony that would have wiped away her old identity, she began to despair.

Once more, fate smiled upon Lenalee, however, or perhaps laughed as it spun her about again, as just as the wagon with her and six other "recruits" was getting underway, it was attacked by a group of bandits. Thinking her a political prisoner, they quickly freed Lenalee and her companions, and in the ensuing combat, all but two others of their tiny cabal were killed. Half of the bandits and all of their guards were likewise slain, and having no better option, they joined with their liberators. Such was not to last, however, as after another year the men and women she'd joined were all killed in a poorly planned raid. Lenalee managed to escape the battle, however, and as such, she was now free of any responsibilities save to herself. Everyone she'd ever known was dead, after all, and there were many opportunities for one of her skills and powers, even in the lands of the empire, so long as she maintained a low profile.

Physically, Lenalee was of average height and of a somewhat heavier build. She had mastered few physical skills, and the wooden staff she carried was more a walking stick and method of channeling her energies than a weapon. She wasn't fat, by any definition, as the years of traveling had left her with a leaner body than what she'd likely have had if she were more sedentary. She did, however, possess a full, curvy figure for a woman of her age, twenty two at the moment. She kept her pitch black hair perfectly clean, and cut it so that it never passed her shoulders, but otherwise let it do as it pleased, which usually meant that she had to constantly push it away from her eyes. She also often wore make-up under her blue-grey eyes, giving her a more threatening appearance in order to ward off most would-be attackers.

EXP changes:
Spent 18 exp, added +10 to Mind and +8 to Spirit.
Spent 16 exp, added Evoker and Focus in Force
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 50, PP = 70, EP = 80, Status = Pregnant (Small Bulge)

NPCs:
Mari: Fine.
Ren: Fine.
Jan: Fine.
Edmund: Fine.
Lochan: Fine.
Lila: Fine.
Lovisa: Fine.
Rolls
Perception: Partial Success (By 1. Drats!).

"I'd trust him with my life. I can't return to where Lila is going. Besides the old man, he's the only one I'd trust to get her back safely. She'll be fine with him. Besides, I don't intend on leaving 'til this business with the demon is finished," was the reply she had received.

The group's walk was a long one, but not slow once they had come free of the encroaching forest that made up many, many miles of the land they had just left behind them. It was relatively flat ground and the wagon rolled easily on it; Jan aided it along by pulling it with all the ease of a horse. For the most part, the others only gave the impromptu carriage a push here and there so that they could feel useful.

Lenalee was allowed to do whatever she desired on the trip, whether it be sit and rest on the wagon, walk alongside it, break into a merry little jig – as unlikely as that option might be – or anything else that might come to mind. For the most part she was treated as a wildcard. Mari and Ren, at least, advised that she probably ought to ride with Lila, although only Ren had the guile to insist that it was to keep an eye on the blind girl rather than her advancing pregnancy.

Most of the remaining sunlight had passed by the time they had come into range for Lila to send her message. The rapidly shrinking sun suggested that they would likely need to make camp after passing off the blind girl. Lovisa, for her part, didn't seem overly bothered by the passage of time. The brunette knight was as in as high spirits as she had been since Lenalee had met her.

As Lila worked, the sorceress could feel the hugely inefficient use of power yet again. There was so much power in the girl and yet it was so unrefined, any halfway talented mage would consider her workings wasteful to a painful extent. If she ever found a master talented enough to tutor her, or learned to utilize her natural powers over time as Lenalee had, she might be a potent caster, but as it was the sorceress could cast a circle around the girl. But, even for all the energy she spilled in her attempt, Lila did finish sending her message.

From there, there were no other stops on the road to meet Edmund's friend. And the mercenary man seemed to know right where to find them, as he took over in order to guide the group off the road. led them through a bit of weedy growth, the unwanted things having managed to become miniature trees with plenty of greenery to obstruct view and footing beneath them, and several minutes beyond that. Finally, after much more walking, they managed, wagon and all, to make it to a cliff-side, which was followed a short distance before she spotted men, several of them.

They stood among a combination of wildly grown trees and weeds, near the rocky face of the cliff. All of them looked very mercenary in nature, with varying sets of armor, different in color, appearance, and function. A few wore chainmail, one wore full plate, some wore boiled leather, and others still had nothing but padded cloth. The men wearing them varied almost as much as the armor, save for that look of keenness to get into a brawl and make a bit of coin, long hair, short hair, baldness, red, blond, dark, pale, all variations could be found among the men, twenty in total. Weapons varied even more-so.

The leader among them was obvious, at least, he stood at the forefront of the group, the members of which had taken to lounging in a semicircle, sitting, drinking, boasting, and sharpening their blades. His features were sharp and striking, though he wasn't exactly a handsome man. His long, thin nose was crooked, almost beak-like in nature. He had thin lips that seemed to be made for scowling. His black hair, despite being short, looked both tangled and matted, oily and filthy from want of personal hygiene. The man was wearing a leather breastplate over dirty woolen clothing, and it might have seemed that the longsword at his hip was the finest and cleanest thing on his person. His eyes were as dark and as cold as any that Lenalee had ever seen.

Yet those same eyes lit up with joy as Edmund approached. "Edmund!" He hailed as the former knight approached.
"James!"
"Thought I'd heard the last of you, when I helped you smuggle your lass out east last time. Nasty business, that, the inquisition came calling after you were gone."
Edmund gave a short laugh. "Didn't have any run ins with them, so I'm guessing they didn't learn anything."
James shook his head. "I ain't a sloppy man, Ed. So what's this about? You just got out of here not more than a month ago. Why're you asking me to take the little lordling's daughter–" Lenalee could hear Edmund's shush "–back? Life in Amere not all that glamorous?"
"Not as such, no," the mercenary knight replied evenly. "Her father will want to see her again, it's been a long time since he's seen her, he's probably getting worried. And if he's worried, he's probably spending all of his denarii to try and find her, you should get in on that while you can."
"Just strikes me as strange–"

Their conversation lost much of its appeal as Lenalee spotted a glint out of the corner of her eye, near a patch of trees about one-hundred feet to her side. Normally, it might have been disregarded, but she could see the faint outline of a human behind it, holding a scoped gun! The sorceress had spotted a rifleman. And as she looked harder, she found more figures among some of the sparse trees at about fifty feet away, some armed with rifles, some with swords. They were about to be ambushed.

Her count had their ambushers at nine, but it seemed likely that there were even more among the trees that she couldn't see yet. And, more importantly, one was taking aim at Edmund. She would only have a few seconds to act. Potential cover from the gunners consisted of some of the trees that dotted the landscape and the wagon that Jan had pulled with them.

Friendlies
James
Huge group of friendly NPCs
19x Mercnaries

Spotted Enemies

1x Sniper (100 feet away)
1x Spotter (100 feet away)

3x Swordsmen (50 feet away)
4x Lever Action Riflemen (50 feet away)
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Edmund's wording as he reinforced his trust for the man that they were meeting did pique Lenalee's interest somewhat, but she was content to let the matter drop and simply continued on. Despite Mari and Ren's assistance that she get into the cart, the sorceress was determined to remain on her feet for as long as she could, and as such continued walking resolutely alongside the wagon up until they came upon the man... Or men, as it turned out, whom Edmund intended to hand Lila over to. The conversation that occurred between Edmund and the group's apparent leader, James, further piqued Lenalee's interest, and she started assembling pieces of the puzzle, but before the conversation could go very far she spotted a glint off in the distance, among the trees. The sorceress quickly spotted the telltale signs of a scope, and found the man behind it a heartbeat later.

The scope was pointed at Edmund, and the man was clearly unaware of it as he continued to speak to his friend. That left the sorceress with the monumental decision of whether or not to simply allow the man to be shot. It was a tempting idea, but one she rather quickly decided against. He simply held too many mysteries still, and had been too helpful for Lenalee to disregard him so completely, and she sighed heavily as her gaze swept over all of the others that were arrayed against them. This was going to get messy unless she dealt with it quickly and decisively, but she didn't trust to the fact that she'd seen all of their attackers.

She'd have to improvise. And quickly too, she didn't know how many more snipers were about, or who their scopes might be aimed at. Since one of the potential targets was Lenalee herself, the sorceress did the only thing that she thought might work to protect herself and her group. Working silently, Lenalee quickly formed a barrier between herself and her allies, and the group set up to attack them. How they had been in position so quickly was a concerning question, particularly since Edmund's friend and his group had seemingly been around the area for some time, but she could incinerate them too if it came to that.

Concentrating, she positioned her barrier to block the direct path between herself and her attackers, also making sure to include Edmund (and by extension James,) Lovisa, Lila, Mari, Jan, Renee, and Lochan in her protection as well. While she didn't go out of her way to protect James's associates, Lenalee also didn't stress herself too much in her attempt to protect them either. Her wall of force appeared invisibly, barely more than a shimmer to the naked eye, but protecting those she deemed most important from any hostile fire. Only once it was finished did Lenalee, in a completely flat, almost bored sounding voice announce to no one in particular; "We're about to be ambushed."

Force Barrier, level 4 Force spell. Lenalee's Resistance is 25, and her casting for Force spells is an effective 35. She's putting the wall up to block all of her allies from all of the enemies, but if it's a problem prioritize guarding the named characters from anyone with a ranged weapon. Retaliation will come next post.
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 50, PP = 70, EP = 74/80, Status = Pregnant (Small Bulge)

NPCs:
Mari: Fine.
Ren: Fine.
Jan: Fine.
Edmund: Down.
Lochan: Fine.
Lila: Fine.
Lovisa: Fine.

James: Heavy Wounds.
Rolls (Oh god)
Lenalee
Casting: Success.

Snipers attacks.
Resistance: Lenalee wins. Their bullets are stopped by the wall of force.

Riflemen attack.
Resistance: Lenalee wins.
(... Somehow the roll matchups ended up as 20 vs 20, 20 vs 16, and then some inconsequential ones which were less silly).

Swordsmen sprint at the barrier, but are halted.

A few more enemies pop up from the bushes, ending with a total of 7 swordsmen, 4 lever action riflemen, a sniper and spotter, and an obvious commander and his retinue of 2 bodyguards.

Unfortunately, it is at this point that all hell breaks loose when twelve of the mercenaries turn traitor!

Stealth: Success, they manage to get the drop on Lenalee's allies and act first.

Seven of the traitor mercenaries begin fighting the 7 loyal nameless ones.
Attacks: Automatic Successes.
Damage: 52 - 9 = 43. All 7 friendly mercenaries go down.

One traitor attacks James.
Attack: Automatic Success.
Damage: 50 - 15 = 35.

One traitor attacks Lovisa.
Attack: Automatic Success.
Damage: 46 - 32 = 14.

One traitor attacks Jan.
Attack: Automatic Success.
Damage: 40 - 8 = 32.

Two traitors attack Edmund.
Attack: Automatic Success.
Damage: 44 - 1 = 43. and 39 - 1 = 38. He goes down.

Revenge! A lot more shit happens!

James counterattacks!
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 59 after armor and modifiers, he kills one.

Lovisa obliterates a few off of the face of the earth.
Attacks: Hit & Hit.
Damage: 49 damage and 61 damage after appropriate armor modifiers. She kills two.

Lochan attacks.
Attack: All hit.
Damage: 17, 26, and 12. Kills one.

Lila uses Rupturing Shadows.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 80, dead.

Mari goes into hiding.
Stealth: Success.

Ren uses Regeneration Aura.
Casting: Success.
Healing: 58.

Jan attacks.
Attack: 33 after armor and such.

Despite the boredom in the sorceress's voice, the situation all but exploded the second her wall of willpower appeared in front of the gathering. The sniper, realizing he had been spotted, fired. The bullet moved quicker than a human eye could follow... until it hit the efforts of Lenalee's casting and embedded itself into the wall of thin air, looking as if it had just smashed into a foot thick castle wall, then fell to the ground harmlessly.

A war cry sounded from the sparse growth as seven swordsmen, some that Lenalee hadn't spotted, erupted and charged toward the group. Edmund spun, his saber and gun coming from their scabbard and holster, respectively, with a rasp and a click. Mari drew her sword and ducked into the trees. Jan looked at Ren, who gave her a nod, and then picked up her club. The rabbit mage, herself, clutched her staff in both hands like a safety blanket, pressed closely to her chest. Lochan brought his rifle off of his shoulder and stepped in front of Lila, who had remained on the wagon.

James turned, too, sliding his longsword free of its sheath in a flash. Four more bullets impacted into the wall that the sorceress had willed into existence. Three more men became apparent, all of them wearing long, leather overcoats with sabers at their belts. One, however, had brown hair tied into a ponytail, and a dagger visible beside his saber. The other two were bald, with strange symbols tattooed on their foreheads, and stood beside the man with an air of obedience. He shouted an order; "Kill them all, except for the pregnant one and the younger woman!"

And, in case the group needed any more reason to believe he was the leader, a second war cry was called out. This time, it was from among the mercenaries that James had brought with him. They had been betrayed! And from the looks of things, so had James. Blades were jumping out of their sheaths in every direction that Lenalee looked. Most fell upon the other mercenaries, who were distracted by the spectacle of the wall of force and the ambush beyond it. Within moments, seven men laid dead upon the ground, and the continued advance of the ones who had slain them was good evidence that none of the dead had been on the enemy's side.

One attacked James before he could comprehend what had happened. A sword slid cleanly into his back through leather and wool alike. The mercenary didn't go down, however, and instead only growled and shouted. "I never thought I'd literally be stabbed in the back!" Without any warning, he lashed his head back at the man behind him, catching the traitor in the nose and breaking it. He ripped himself off of the sword that had impaled him and spun with both hands on his own longsword, cutting cleanly through his assailant's throat and sending the man to the ground.

More still charged at Lenalee's group. Two stopped at Edmund, he turned to ward off the attackers with his weapons but was too slow. One blade caught him in the arm, the other was thrust cleanly into his stomach. The men pushed the former knight and he fell to the ground bonelessly as he stared at them in shock, both general and from blood loss. Edmund's saber and gun had fallen away from him and all he could offer was a meager outstretched hand for his defense as they prepared to slit his throat.

"Sir Edmund!" Lila called out in horror, as if she could see the impending end of the man. But calling out wasn't all she had done, as Lenalee could feel a veritable torrent of power pouring into the traitor with his blade raised. The results of Lila's efforts became apparent as he dropped to his knees on the ground with a look of sheer terror. "Make it stop," he started, lowly at first as he clutched at himself. "Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop!" His cries became more frantic, in a manner not akin to Dreadbeak's before he had died. And the mage could see why in short order, as a shadow tore through his flesh from the inside out, releasing a fountain of gore. A second sprouted, then a third, and finally the traitor simply exploded, bathing the prone former knight in carmine.

Edmund's second attacker didn't even seem to register what had happened to his comrade as he raised his own sword to finish the man. But his swing was cut short as Lovisa charged. In a flash, the spear point of her halberd was embedded in the man's stomach and slowly lifting him off the ground and into the air like a morbid banner. The demon knight shook the man as she raised the impaling instrument and him along with it. Then, she simply let the butt of the enchanted weapon drop to the ground and tipped the whole thing forward, allowing him to slide off into a heap.

Another mercenary attacked the curly-haired knight from behind, hoping to capitalize on her distraction, but only barely managed to even gain her notice. His sword clanged off of her armor almost harmlessly and, with a simple twirl that almost matched a dancer for grace, she had turned and decapitated the would-be with the axe blade of her halberd.

The rest happened with much less drama. Lochan unloaded his rifle into one of the traitors, causing him to drop in short order. Jan, in the meantime, met another in hand to hand combat, taking a deep cut but managing to return every bit of what she had taken in a vicious club to his head. The trade off was made even worse for the mercenary as the redheaded mage began to cast. At the end of Ren's incantation, Lenalee could feel a rejuvenating aura wash through her body.

The situation had become quite chaotic, and thirteen men were already dead or dying. Lenalee would need to think and act quickly if she was to win the day.

Allies are covered in the status bar.

Enemies:

7 Traitor mercenaries (behind the wall of force and within melee range).
7 Swordsmen (Trying to get through the wall of force).
4 Lever Action Riflemen (50 feet away)
Commander and 2 Bodyguards (80 feet away)
1 Sniper (100 feet away)
1 Spotter (100 feet away)
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Things went to shit far faster and far more vividly than Lenalee had expected they would, due in no small part to the group of traitors that rose among their own midst. That sort of pissed the sorceress off, but as the leader rose out of nowhere and referred to her as "the pregnant one," she became absolutely livid. 'There are like four young women here, dumbass. Might be good point out to your goons which one in particular, not that you'd ever think of anything besides how to suck your own dick or how to keep your gay haircut looking pretty,' she internally monologued as she let out a low growl, her eyes going bloodshot as pure, unadulterated fury swept through her veins.

Watching Edmund go down to the blades of the traitors didn't help that at all, but it did distract her from the leader. She had been about to try and intervene herself, but then Lila beat her to the punch. Violently. A sadistic smile came over Lenalee's face, and she cackled maniacally as the man went down to his knees and died in a positively spectacular fountain of gore. Asshole. That didn't stop the second man from moving to finish off the wounded ex-knight, however. Lovisa did that, in a manner just as impressive as Lila's kill from the mage's point of view, and she would have clapped if she didn't have to concentrate on a dozen or so other things going on.

It quickly became a hassle, trying to keep track of everything, and she quickly tuned it out. When she felt magic wash over her suddenly, Lenalee tensed, but then realized what it was and where it came from. Not bothering to face the redheaded rabbit girl, Lenalee turned back to the revealed leader as she shouted at her comrades; "Ren, heal Edmund! Lovisa, try to leave one of them alive to question! Everyone, keep together!"

With that, Lenalee was left with a choice to make, and one that she had at most hearbeats to make in. The leader was in plain sight, and not protected from her spells by her wall of force. It would be a simple enough matter to make him and his immediate flunkies quite dead with a bolt of lightning, but she wasn't so sure that she wanted him dead. He'd have to be tortured first. Yes, he couldn't die yet, there had to be pain involved. And information exchanged, preferably involving the results of that pain. Then there were the men already among them. Her allies were heavily outnumbered, but she couldn't risk any of her big spells without striking all of them too, so for now they were on their own. The men crowding against her wall of force weren't doing much as yet, but she might be able to get them all with one big spell if she aimed it properly. The problem was, she'd have to drop her force barrier to do it, and that left the sniper that she wasn't sure on the exact whereabouts of. That problem would have to be dealt with before she took a round through one of her eyes, but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

The leader needed to be eliminated first, maybe without him the others would scatter. But she wanted him alive, so she couldn't let him get too crispy. Her target chosen, Lenalee glared at the man and shouted; "HEY ASSHOLE! GO FUCK YOURSELF!!" Working her favored element, Lenalee stoked the skies for a moment before calling down a burst of white lightning, right on top of the long haired man and his two bald flunkies. She tried, somewhat halfheartedly, to keep the attack from being lethal, but given the nature of the power that she was manipulating it wasn't easy to make that happen, and she'd prefer that he be dead to conscious and alive.

Casting:
4th Level spell, {EL} Lightning Strike (Ball) [Deals damage as a spell one level lower, but creatures struck by it must win a Resistance check against the caster or be Stunned for a round. The caster gets a +4 bonus to this check.]
Casting is 34 for Lightning which is autocast for 4th level spells. Maintain the force barrier.

Edit: Also intensifying it for an extra 3 EP, putting it at a total of 9 EP but doubling the dice.

Damage:
(2d6 + 2 + 6 + 2 + 2) * 4
(2d6 + 12) * 4 for short.

d20 + 50 for the attack roll (asshats he might be able to dodge that!) and has 25 Resistance.
Also, 6 AV, 45 Dodge, 22 Perception if any of those matter.
 
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Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 50, PP = 70, EP = 65/80, Status = Pregnant (Small Bulge)

NPCs:
Mari: Fine.
Ren: Grappled.
Jan: Fine.
Edmund: Fine, standing up.
Lochan: Injured.
Lila: Grappled, moderate level of EP remaining.
Lovisa: Fine.

James: Heavy Wounds.
Rolls
Casting: Success.
Resistance: 3 + 25 = 28 vs 43 = 18 + 25, Lenalee fails and automatically misses the commander.
Attacks: Both hit on the bodyguards.
Damage: 1 + 4 + 12 = 17 * 4 = 68 - 12 damage. They're badly injured.
Resistance: Lenalee wins. Both are stunned.

Ren
Casting: Success.
Edmund regains... 132 HP, apparently. May have overdone it on that one. >.>

Jan
Attack: Success.
Damage: More than enough to finish off the one she was fighting.

Lochan
Attacks: Hit and hit. Time to reload.
Damage: Does enough to kill another.

Lila
Attack: Miss. Being blind is hard.

Lovisa
Attack: Hit. Target is grappled.
Grapple: Success.
Attacks: Hit, hit, and hit.
Damage: 25 and 38, target is unconscious so the last doesn't matter.

James
Attack: Hit
Damage: 56 after armor. Another bites the dust.

RETALIATION!

Commander moves forward 30 feet and uses Blessing X = ???.

Bodyguards follow, though they have to sprint to move the 30 feet.

Swordsmen try to get through Lenalee's Force Barrier again.
Resistance: 4 succeed in making it through, despite not having blessing yet. Wow, bad rolls on Lenalee's part. 3 fail.
Attacks: Hit, Hit, Hit, and Miss.
Results: 20 damage on Lochan, Ren is Grappled, Lila is Grappled, Lenalee dodges.

The two remaining traitors attack Lovisa and James, respectively.
Attacks: Hit (Lenalee), Miss (James), surprisingly.
Damage: 14 - 32 = 0 damage.

The various shooters fire on Lenalee and co.
Resistance: All fail.
... but apparently have no success for the barrier.

Lenalee's rage swirled in the clouds above as she cast her spell, doing very little for her efforts to keep the spell from being lethal. As it struck the ground with an intense crash, the likes of which managed to Lila and Ren's attention, if none of the more experienced fighters, for a moment, it turned out to matter very little. Her attack was repelled from harming the commander. Searching for active magics, the mage found none. Instead, it proved to be a trinket on his person which had offered the man the chance to turn away her spell by testing his willpower against hers. He pulled a small necklace free of his clothes, which glowed with perceptible power, as he began to approach her barrier. But the sorceress could tell that it wasn't an infallible mechanism, she could still break through it and, perhaps more importantly, cause him great pain.

It was probably very little consolation that his bodyguards had been badly injured, to the extent that they had to hobble after him, given that they did continue to stand. Still, her comrades did well. James went charging into a group of two of the traitors. The shabby mercenary turned aside one's weapon with his longsword, then gave him a push and sent him to the ground. The second swung at him, expecting the fighter to be preoccupied with the other man, but James ducked the blade, came up under the swing, and jammed his own weapon into the traitor's belly.

Lovisa hooked a man in with the blunt points on her halberd, pulling him close, and then punched him twice with her off-hand. The demon knight's mailed fist knocked him unconscious in short order. A traitor came for her while she was occupied, attacking her flank, but his blade clanged fruitlessly against the darksteel armor she wore, not even leaving a dent. She let the mercenary she had punched out slump to the ground as she turned toward her new opponent, almost lazily. Jan caught her opponent's sword arm with her own, then delivered a vicious clubbing to the side of his vulnerable skull, knocking the sense and consciousness out of him.

The rabbitmage went running toward Edmund, only to be accosted by one of their assailants. Two gunshots rang out from Lochan, however, putting the man down and clearing the way for Ren to heal the mercenary. The redhead continued on her task, diving into a kneeling position beside the former knight and casting a powerful mending spell. The end result was that Edmund was entirely uninjured, if disoriented and slow in standing up.

"The redhead is a mage, seize her as well!" The obvious commander called out. "And get to it or I'll flay every single one of you for incompetence!" His words seemed to have effect, as four of the ambushers finally managed to push through the invisible barrier. One went running for Ren, an obvious prize, and managed to catch her off guard while she was still preoccupied with Edmund. He yanked the redhead by her hair, attempting to pull her away from the dangerous group. A second managed to grab the blind girl around the waist and hefted her into the air, kicking and screaming. A third tried the same with Lenalee, but the Badarian woman avoided his clumsy grab with a deft step. The last one, presumably for lack of other mages to kidnap, attacked Lochan, the old man was unable to avoid injury with only his rifle to defend himself with.

More shots rang out, but fortunately they were all stopped by Lenalee's barrier. The battle could almost be considered as going well, given how quickly the traitors were being dispatched, but things could turn sour at any moment if the sorceress's force barrier were to give way to the gunfire and remaining melee combatants.

Enemies:

2 Traitor mercenaries (behind the wall of force and within melee range).
2 Traitor mercenaries (unconscious on the ground)
4 Swordsmen (behind the wall of force and within melee range).
3 Swordsmen (trying to get through the wall of force.
4 Lever Action Riflemen (50 feet away)
Commander and 2 Bodyguards (50 feet away)
1 Sniper (100 feet away)
1 Spotter (100 feet away)
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee watched with a great deal of veiled frustration as her lightning bolt did all of nothing against its intended target. That was.... Upsetting, to say the least. Upsetting was not good for her state of mind, but rather than let her fury get the better of her, Lenalee sighed and stepped back, incidentally also backing away from the man who had just tried to tackle her after passing through her barrier. Things most definitely weren't going well for them right now, and the sorceress briefly considered calling up further aid, but discarded that idea immediately. She'd summoned the goblins twice already, and it hadn't turned out well for her either time. Of course, she could go for something else, but in this instance the only things that the sorceress could think of that would be truly helpful would be bodies to help take some of the damage or a lord, and she certainly wasn't stupid enough to risk the latter over this, while the former didn't have enough bang for her buck, as it were.

Lila and Ren had been grabbed, and that definitely wasn't good. "Edmund, help Lila, now!" she shouted off hand, hoping that the blind girl being in danger would be enough to spur the man to action. Lochan was reloading, and she didn't want Lovisa to have to do all of the work in the wild melee that had descended upon them. "James, stop the man taking Ren! She's the redhead! Don't let them take her! Lovisa, support them, Jan, keep them away from Lochan!" Hopefully the heavy, corrupted girl would be able to hold them away from the old rifleman long enough for him to reload, and wouldn't be too badly hurt in the process. Or hurt at all, for that matter.

Her orders given in a calm but loud town, Lenalee turned toward the approaching leader and caught sight of the man who'd attempted to grab her. Shit. She'd forgotten about him. "Look, buddy. Just go over there, out of the fighting, and I promise not to hurt you. I don't know why you're attacking my friends and I, but I'm pretty sure that it's not worth getting killed over, is it? If I'm wrong, feel free to try to grab me again," Lenalee deadpanned evenly to the man even as she back away from the approaching leader. Knowing that he was apparently resistant to her magics somehow meant that he was probably coming toward her to do things that she most definitely didn't want him to do. Having her power sealed up inside of her, like the inquisition used to do....

She stopped that train of thought immediately and calmed herself. She needed as much power as she could get, and she needed to get it together as quickly as she possibly could. That said, she also didn't want any of them anywhere near her, and she had plenty of ways to ensure that. Her allies would have to handle themselves for a moment as Lenalee called upon the magics around herself, hoping to bolster her own power so that she could better defend herself. Of course, she didn't actually expect her little speech to work on the man who'd been sent to grab her, but it would be nice if it did. If it didn't, she'd gleefully try to use him to block her from the view of his commander. She didn't know what he was capable of, and she honestly didn't want to find out just yet.

Lenalee moves at full speed away from dat approaching commander, though that is a paltry 9 feet. Also casting Power of Lightning, a level 3 lightning buff! Increasing Mind, though that Dodge is looking mighty appealing right about now.

8 + 1 = 9 * 3 = 27 rounds down to +26 Mind! Huzzah! That's +13 Dodge and Resistance, which is good. Now lets hope that that helps a little bit.
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 50, PP = 70, EP = 61/80, Status = +26 Mind, Pregnant (Small Bulge)

NPCs:
Mari: Fine.
Ren: Fine.
Jan: Fine.
Edmund: Fine.
Lochan: Injured.
Lila: Covered in swordsman grey matter, low EP.
Lovisa: Fine.

James: Heavy Wounds.
Rolls
Note: ye bodyguards did not move last round, and they are also afflicted with paralyze. I am a derp.

Lenalee
Casting: Success.
Moves away at the speed of snail.

Mari
Stealth: Mari wins.
Attacks: Automatic Success.
Damage: More than enough to kill both snipers.

Edmund
Stealth: Edmund wins.
Attack: Automatic Success.
Damage: 48 after armor. He ded.

Jan
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 15 after armor.

Lochan falls back to continue reloading.

Lovisa
Attack: Hit (vs Traitor Mercenary).
Damage: 54 after armor. Dead.
Attack: Hit (vs Swordsman on Ren).
Damage: 51 after armor. Dead.

James
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 63 after armor. Dead.

Ren
Casting: Success (Needed a 5, rolled a 6, hurray!).
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 66 damage. Dead.

Lila
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 41 damage after armor. Dead.

Commander: sprints right through the barrier, into the middle of the melee.

Bodyguards: Try to sprint after dat commander.
Resistance (against Paralyze): Both win.
Resistance (against Force Barrier): Lenalee wins. They're kept out.

Riflemen fire on Mari
Attack: One hits.
Damage: 14.

The 3 swordsmen try to get in through the barrier.
Resistance: They fail.

Lenalee's call to Edmund turned out to be unnecessary. Before she even finished her order, he had taken aim and fired, the bullet going cleanly through the side of the head of the man who had grabbed Lila, never even coming close to endangering her. Lila got some gore on her, but Edmund was instantly next to her, comforting her.

The demon knight heard Lenalee's call and effortlessly decapitated the opponent she had been faced with, his upper body tumbled away from his lower half as the two went their opposite directions. She then turned and went after the man who had grabbed Ren, as James was in no position to do so. In a lightning flash, the spear tip of her impressive halberd went through the back of the man's skull and erupted from his mouth, before she withdrew it and offered the redhead a hand to her feet.

The man who had tried to tackle Lenalee said nothing as he continued to advance on the curvy mage. Her threat seemed to go in one ear and out the other. She backed away and hastily cast her spell, she could feel her thoughts coming quicker as she successfully completed her magic. He followed after her and prepared to tackle her again...

Only to be stopped by numerous, audible cracks as his bones broke themselves and he collapsed in a heap. Ren had pointed her staff at him and cast an intangible bolt upon him. She looked on the man, whose bones were still cracking, popping, and creaking ominously stoically, the look of a woman who didn't like what she had done, but believed she had to.

Lila and Jan finished off the last swordsman who had managed to break through the barrier. Jan clubbed the swordsman in the side, allowing Lochan to back off and continue reloading, and Lila, while still in the protective embrace of Edmund, launched dark crystals at the man, which pierced through him effortlessly, slaying him. James, in the meantime, had tripped the last traitor, knelt beside him, and slit his throat.

Mari finally made her destination known, as a startled scream came from the snipers who were still ineffectively trying to find a target that they could hit. Before Lenalee could orient herself on the snipers to see what had happened, both were dead on the ground. The riflemen fired on the rogue, but only one managed to graze her before she took cover in the foliage that the snipers had waited in.

The commander surveyed the scene with uninhibited anger. But retreat obviously wasn't an option to him, despite that they were obviously losing, as he charged directly through Lenalee's barrier, as if it wasn't even there, his trinket glowing along the way. He drew his blade as he came into the middle of the group and fearlessly assumed a defensive stance. His bodyguards and swordsmen tried to follow him, but they were completely ineffective at breaching the wall. For the moment, at least, it was eight on one.

Enemies:

2 Traitor mercenaries (unconscious on the ground)
3 Swordsmen (trying to get through the wall of force.
4 Lever Action Riflemen (50 feet away)
Commander (behind the wall of force and within melee range)
Bodyguards (trying to get through the wall of force)
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee scowled at the man who doggedly came after her in the same manner that a parent would scowl at an unruly child. She then watched him drop, his skeleton literally falling apart inside of his body as a result of Ren's magic, and she carefully reminded that, despite the redhead's good nature she was still a mage, capable of enacting quite horrible forms of violence if need be. The fact that she specialized in healing rather than the use of more directly violent energies only meant that she knew how to make it particularly gruesome on a personal level.

Turning away from the dying man and seeing that their commander had seemingly charged right into the middle of their group, a place that would probably result in him being massacred by Lovisa, Lenalee sighed and turned toward their other attackers in time to see Mari slitting the throats of the snipers, and then going down (albeit willingly to avoid being shot further) under a hail of gunfire from the riflemen. "Mari!" Lenalee shouted with worry before she could stop her back, and then Lenalee snarled at her other comrades; "Leave the bastard with enough life left for me to question if you can!"

Black and red lightning began coursing over the witch's form, her eyes blazing with crimson static and her wispy black hair rising into the air from the excess power she was channeling. Her left hand came off of her staff and came to rest beside her, her dark lightning curling around it as her fingers slowly curled inwards. "Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill," she muttered darkly as she spotted several men still flailing ineffectually at her wall of force, who just so happened to be right in line with the men that she wanted to disintegrate. Convenient.

The unnatural lightning came from Lenalee herself rather than from any natural forces, and as such no thunder accompanied its release. That didn't mean that it was silent, however, for such displays of destructive power were never quiet. They were always, perhaps by nature or perhaps by design, to be loud and noticeable. That had always suited the sorceress just fine, as she had never been a person to remain quiet when she was stirred to violence like she was now. Seeing Mari, her friend, her lover, and a person to whom she owed a fairly great debt for coming to pull her from the clutches of the corrupted in Amere, shot at was plenty to fuel the lightning mage's rage, and as such she had plenty of power to turn loose. And this time, she didn't have to use restraint. They had captives aplenty already, possibly including the leader depending on how much more controlled Lovisa, Edmund, and James were than Lenalee was at the moment, and that meant that she could let loose on this lot without being concerned for letting them live. Or leaving intact corpses.

Lenalee idly noted that her nose began to bleed from the power she was storing, the static crackling around her body starting to snap painfully against her skin while the nerves on her hand felt the burn of so much power moving around them. And that was fine too. Unleashing such power reflexively was dangerous, and the pain helped her to keep focused on what she needed to destroy. The men at her wall, including their leader's two bodyguards and three of the swordsmen, would suddenly stumble forward as her magical wall vanished, the sorceress dropping it from her concentration just as she shouted; "Here's a pick-me-up for ya!" Her left hand stretched out toward them and opened, sending out a wave of blood red lightning toward the men with rifles in a line of pure destruction. Accompanying the blood red lightning was a horrible sound somewhere between a furious roar and a blood curdling scream, deafening in volume and and giving the power unmistakable intent.

Devil's Lightning, X = 20 against dem soldiers. Lenalee's spirit ceiling is only 16, 15 in her armor, so take an extra 5 EP and 5 HP. Go for the riflemen primarily, but try to hit all of the other guys too. Without hitting Mari or any other friendlies, preferably.
 
Last edited:
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 45/50, PP = 70, EP = 36/80, Status = +26 Mind, Low Energy, Pregnant (Small Bulge)

NPCs:
Mari: Fine.
Ren: Fine.
Jan: Heavily Injured.
Edmund: Fine.
Lochan: Injured.
Lila: Covered in swordsman grey matter, low EP.
Lovisa: A scratch.

James: Moderate wounds.
Rolls
Lenalee lightnings some dudes.
Attack: All hit.
Damage: They ded.

Mari begins heading back. She manages to sprint back in one round, apparently. Hurray Quick.

Ren casts heal on James because it's better than trying to beat the commander's resistance at the moment for her!
Casting: Success.
Healing: More than enough.

Jan attacks the commander.
Attack: Miss.
The commander counterattacks!
Attacks: Hit, Hit, and Hit.
Damage: 31 - 8 = 23, 28 - 8 = 20, 29 - 8 = 21. Somehow she manages to stay conscious.

Edmund attacks the commander with a shot, wary after Jan was countered.
Attack: 25 damage, hurray AV ignore.

Lochan finishes reloading.

Lila moves away.

Lovisa attacks!
Attack: Hit.
Resistance: Lovisa wins.
Damage: 54 damage after armor.
Attack: Miss.
Counterattacks: Hit, hit, and hit.
Damage: 0, 4, and 5.

James attacks!
Attack: Miss.
Counterattacks: Hit, hit, and hit.
Damage: 16, 14, and 15.

Commander used defensive stance this round.

The lightning mage didn't need to call upon any power other than her own to make her display terrifying to behold, and every bit as destructive as it was awe-inspiring. The melee combatants, who had tumbled to the ground when the sorceress's wall went down, were fortunate in their own way, they never even had the opportunity to look up and see the terrible red lines of power that spelled their demise. All they heard was the ear-splitting screech of power as their bodies were filled with enough electricity, all Lenalee's own, to kill them in moments. And the moments after that were enough to turn their skin into the equivalent of coal.

The riflemen were less lucky, they had just long enough to look behind them, away from the target that they were firing on, and discover where the source of energy that made their skins tingle just to feel it in the air. They saw the carmine light coming for them, and they seemed to simply accept it. It was as if they knew that Death itself was coming for them that day, and knowing didn't mean they could stop it. In seconds they had joined the swordsmen in the afterlife. Mari, now free of needing cover, came sprinting back to the remaining battle as soon as the lightning mage's impressive show quieted.

The pony-tailed man didn't even look at Lenalee's power, his hands were too full. To their credit, most of the mage's comrades only spared a glance before settling on their final remaining attacker. They formed a semi-circle around him as he stood in his defensive stance, saying nothing.

Jan's patience eroded first. The big pink-skinned woman went charging at the man with her club high. She went for an overhead strike, which he sidestepped, slashing at her hip as she moved and leaving a painful-looking wound on her. As she reoriented toward him, he kicked her in the side of her knee and backhanded her. It wasn't enough to send her to the ground, but it was enough to daze her while he turned his attention on James, who came for him next.

The betrayed mercenary swung his longsword at the man, both hands on its grip, aimed for the midsection. The commander caught the steel with his own, punched the man in the face, kicked him in the stomach, and then prepared his blade to run James through. But, before he could finish his target, a shot rang out, Edmund had fired and caught the fighter in the meat of his thigh, saving James from further attack while the pony-tailed man recovered from the pain. With the smoke clearing away from his gun, Edmund whispered something to Lila and the blind girl edged away from the fighting immediately afterward.

To the wounded fighter's credit, he didn't let the wound stop him, even as Lovisa charged at him. As her enchanted weapon sailed in, Lenalee spotted the fighter's chain glowing, but this time it wasn't alone. The halberd aimed at him glowed, as did the demonic knight's purple eyes, and, as suddenly as it had begun to shine, the commander's trinket dimmed, allowing the brunette to smash the man directly in the ribs with the blunt points of her weapon. His breathing became ragged afterward, as if he might collapse at any moment, but still the man stood. His willpower was such that when Lovisa swung again, he managed to dodge the blow, slip behind her, and rain ineffective blows on her armored back as she recovered.

But when the demoness turned, with a swing of her weapon to ward her pesky attacker away, he could only stumble backwards, panting. He clutched at his midsection with his free hand and held his sword in the other, which dangled at his side, but still he wouldn't surrender. He looked from combatant to combatant, including the dead, dying, and unconscious, until his eyes focused on Lenalee with an unbridled hatred. It seemed he had a target for his dying fury, for he appeared not to be long for the world.

Enemies:
Commander (About 20 feet from Lenalee, but pretty much in melee range of everybody else)

2 Traitor Mercenaries (Unconscious)
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

All too soon the commander of their attackers was all alone among their group, surrounded by a group of skilled fighters and with no hope of reinforcements. Lenalee might have felt sorry for him if she wasn't almost blinded with rage. Even so, she turned after obliterating the men she'd targeted with her crimson lightning and watched him stand in the center of her companions and was impressed by his fighting ability. She couldn't risk casting anything impressive into the group, and she doubted that he could handle all of them at the same time anyway, so Lenalee simply stood back and watched the violence ensue.

She winced when she saw Jan take a hit, and winced again as James was very nearly impaled by the commander's counter to his strike, but after Edmund shot him and Lovisa smacked him with her enchanted weapon, it was plain to see that the man was on his last legs. Then, he turned to her, and Lenalee saw the hatred in his eyes. Utterly unperturbed, she stared right back with an equal share of righteous fury, her hair still risen and her body still blazing with crimson static. "You chose this battle," she roared at him imperiously, prepared to demand his surrender.

But then, suddenly, recognition came to her. Staring back into those hate filled eyes, Lenalee was reminded of how many other men had looked at her like that in her youth. Men who had hated and raged at her for the power she possessed, labeling it evil even as they twisted her into their tool, teaching her to harness it in the ways that they thought would lead her down the path that they desired. She remembered pain and rage and hate, both on her part and reflected in the eyes of their captors, for each member of the Lich King's inquisition had gone through the same torturous lessons in order to shape them into his tools. Each of them had been turned into a monster in their own right, man and woman alike, and had then been sent out filled with their rage redirected at those just like them.

Either this man was an inquisitor, or he had somehow replicated their look of blind hatred, and that he had demanded that his man go after those utilizing magic pointed her thoughts at her first suspicion. Lenalee's stomach twisted at the thought of Lila going through what she'd gone through, but she pressed it from her thoughts with the same discipline she'd used to control and direct her more violent emotions. She didn't dwell on the irony of how good she'd become at that thanks to the inquisitor's lessons either as the fury drained out of her all its own. This man was around the same age as she was, and if he was an inquisitor then he'd gone through the same horrors that she had if not more, no doubt after being taken from his parents just like she'd been.

Her visage softened as Lenalee, for the moment ignoring any questions about how many times the man glaring at her might have perpetuated the cycle, as her anger was largely replaced with pity. "You chose this battle," she said once more, only this time it was in a softer voice. She knew that he wouldn't surrender. In fact, she suspected that he was about to charge at her and attempt to bring her with him to the great beyond. Though she could certainly appreciate that sort of sentiment, as she didn't doubt that she would attempt the same were she in his position, Lenalee wasn't about to allow herself to be killed yet. Maybe after she'd gotten rid of the demoness and freed the Heretic she could let herself get killed, but at the moment she simply had too much to do.

Her voice solemn and filled with regret, "And you've lost." Lenalee didn't need to gather much energy for the spell she planned to use to finish the man. It was simple and direct, not even requiring that she aim it properly as she did her lightning bolts and forced blasts. All the same, she'd never much liked using this sort of magic. It was too.... Clinical. Too unnatural, as it wasn't relying on any natural forces. Even Body magic relied upon certain natural principles even if it involved the distortion of them, but Arcane magic was completely artificial. It existed solely so that one wielder of power could manipulate the forces being enacted by another wielder of power, and was clean and efficient and everything that she'd hated about the inquisition's methods.

Even so, it was her best bet against whatever defenses her foe had been granted by the pendant around his neck, and the best bet she had at bringing him down without killing him. As such, she focused her will and caused a dagger of energy to appear just over her right shoulder, hovering over her like a crow perched upon her shoulder for a moment before hurtling at the man with speed too great for the human eye to track. More specifically, it hurled at the knee of the leg that Edmund hadn't put a bullet through a moment ago. As tough as he might be, no one could walk on two badly injured legs, and not many could effectively defend themselves from their knees.

I cast magic missile at the darkness!
...... Or I guess at yon bad guy's knee. I'd have gone for the shins, but thought that it was a bit too silly for the character and the tone of the post.

Casting is auto success for level 1 spells, so that's not a problem. Probably.

This particular magic missile will be intensified and maximized, costing Lenalee a whopping 5 EP.
Attack: Automatic Hit.
Damage: 16 (4d4 maximized) + 13 (76/2) - 2 = 27 * 2 = 54 damage, minus whatever armor he might have.

Currently Lenalee has 58 Dodge, 6 Armor, and 38 Resistance. That's all I can think for defensive stats. Oh, and 28 Perception.
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 45/50, PP = 70, EP = 36/80, Status = +26 Mind, Low Energy, Pregnant (Small Bulge)
Rolls
Lenalee
Casting: Success.
Resistance: Lenalee wins.
Damage: 54 - 5 = 49. He's down.

Lovisa
Attack: Success. He's grappled.
Attack: Success.
Resistance: She wins, he's disarmed.

Her target said nothing in response, his only reaction was to hurtle himself at her with murder in his eyes. But by then it was too late. Her arcane dagger flew true. Its supernaturally swift flight was stopped, for a second, as it met an invisible wall projected by his trinket. Both glowed fiercely. But, inch by inch, the spell sunk inches closer to its target, before finally the trinket went dull. The arcane dagger struck home, before melting away leaving nothing but the new wound to remember its presence by. The pony-tailed man found himself falling to the ground, unable to support his own weight on his two badly injured legs.

He struggled to bring himself up to his knees, but eventually managed it. He looked on the imposing circle of fighters around him, the casters, who he viewed with particular disdain, and the dead. He struggled to bring his blade upright...

And then plunged it at his own gut. But, before it could strike home, Lovisa had his wrist in her mailed hand. With a twist, he was forced to let go of his blade, leaving him alive and at the sorceress's mercy. There was little that the beaten man could do to slip from the demon knight's grasp. Jan and Mari moved to his side as well, to ensure that he couldn't escape. Ren, as soon as the threat seemed at its end, began to investigate the bodies, apparently hoping to find some who weren't dead and might still be saved. Edmund, Lochan, and James moved away to discuss their own business, without waiting for Lenalee's okay, but only after Edmund had replaced Lila on her spot on the cart.

She had three captives at her mercy for sure, and might have some more if Ren was allowed to save any. The fight appeared to have seen its conclusion, with her group victorious. The sorceress could do what she desired with her prisoners, though only one was conscious at the moment, with the two traitor mercenaries needing to be woken up if she wanted to speak to them.
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee's scowl hadn't faded from her face as she surveyed the battleground following their newest captive's attempted suicide. She glanced at Ren first as the other three ensured that he couldn't get away and said, "Ren when you're done looking through the wounded, make sure you take a look at Mari and Jan. Save who you can." She might not necessarily agree with that sentiment herself, but she wasn't about to tell the redheaded mage what to do now that they were out of danger. Besides, more people to question was rarely a bad thing, even if most of them were probably just hired to do a job.

She shot the man who'd led the attack a look of disgust and walked up to him, her staff clinking noisily against the ground with every step. When she stood before him the very first thing that she said was, "You have very poor decision making skills young man!" And then she swung her staff upwards and between his legs, striking him with all her (albeit fairly unimpressive) might in the spot that would hurt him the most. Reaching down to the magical trinket around his neck as he recoiled in pain, Lenalee calmly tore it from his neck and pocketed it, intending to examine it later. She glanced at Lovisa and Mari, who both had nothing worse than scratches, and then at Jan who seemed to be having trouble standing. Moving over to the large woman, Lenalee laid a hand on her side and muttered a minor healing spell to hold her over until Ren was done searching for more survivors.

She did have a few captives to question, but for the moment one was a bit busy nursing his injured manhood and the other two were unconscious. Besides, there was someone whom she could probably get a few answers from without having to torture them first, and so she searched about for Edmund. She found him walking away, having just deposited Lila back into the wagon as he wandered off with Lochan and James. That revived a great deal of the anger that had been going to sleep now that violence was over, and as Lenalee started toward them she shouted, "Edmund!"

The three ignored her and continued walking away. She had learned to control her anger in combat when facing her opponents, perhaps, but apparently that talent didn't hold when her rage found her allies as its target. As such, when Lenalee's blood boiled, there was nothing that she could do to contain it beyond ensuring that she didn't kill anyone. Of course, that didn't protect inanimate objects from being the venting source of her wrath.

Her power and the physical signs of its use hadn't faded just yet, and as such Lenalee's wispy black hair was still raised due to the static coursing through her body and her eyes were still blaze with electricity, leaving her in more or less her most imposing state. Not particularly caring about the wasted energy at the moment, Lenalee casually called down a lightning bolt onto a tree that was directly in the path of the three men, a deafening crack and a blinding flash that would probably prove momentarily disorienting to those so close to its point of impact the only warning that the three of them got. When they came back to their senses, they found the tree in front of them split in half down the middle, its top half vanished completely and what was left blackened and still partially aflame.

"Take another step away from me and the next one comes down on top of you, Sir Edmund!" Lenalee shouted, her rage mixing with the derision she put into her voice when using his title and making her voice sound slightly hoarse. If any of the three decided to test her by continuing (or heaven forbid try to draw a weapon on her) they would find that Lenalee was, in fact, not bluffing at all, as she didn't hesitate for even a second to do exactly what she'd said she would, collateral damage be damned.

After letting her words sink in for a few seconds, Lenalee approached to within about ten feet of them and then stopped, after which she spoke in a lower voice that was still exceedingly angry, "You lost your secret keeping privileges when I had to stop a bullet aimed at your head. Now, you can explain to me the reason behind the necessity for this particular encounter and why it turned into a damned bloodbathl in full detail if you please. A fucking inquisitor doesn't randomly stumble across a girl like Lila with an armed detail and a group of men apparently already paid off to attack their previous employer, so you'll be including as much of her history as is relevant. And please, don't try to lie to me. The leftovers are going to speak sooner or later, and you wouldn't want to make me come looking for you in order to settle any inconsistencies, now would you?"
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 45/50, PP = 70, EP = 36/80, Status = +26 Mind, Low Energy, Pregnant (Small Bulge)

Her actions went about as well as could be expected. Ren nodded, but continued her triage efforts. The inquisitor was left to curl up, as much as Lovisa would allow him to, on the ground after Lenalee had, in a most ignoble fashion, relieved him of the duty of ever siring children. Jan appreciated her healing and quietly thanked her before she went off to deal with the three who had been speaking. That exchange was the one that went the worst.

"Gods be damned, woman, are you insane!?" Edmund shouted in return after Lenalee had finished reprimanding his regrettable decision to continue walking. It was probably not the wisest way in which he had ever addressed the sorceress, but he seemed annoyed enough to continue to defy her, if only in words. "After so many months of work, I'm finally on the verge of seeing Lila sent home, and I have to answer now?"

"Fine," he finally acquiesced, seeing that the lightning mage was unlikely to relent, or at least much more likely to drop a tree on his head first. He stepped closer, halving the distance between herself and him, his hands crossed over his chest and away from his saber and pistol. "The inquisitors weren't after Lila, they were after Lady Lila Godwine, of House Godwine." The name was not only familiar, it was the reason that the mage had originally ended up embroiled in everything. It was the name of the lord who was missing his daughter. The one who had offered wealth beyond wealth for her safe return. "And I was the captain of the guard for her father, Lord Godwine. Was until I quit after watching my men raped and warped by the populace of Amere."

"You're a mage, you probably know more about what Lila could be capable of than I do. You surely know what the inquisition would like with her. And her lord father, as kind a man as he is, lacks the wit and cunning to deal with a heckler in a crowd, let alone inquisitors like that pompous twat," he nodded toward the man who was still curled up in pain on the ground, "so he sought Sir Edmund the Haystacker's – that's me, if you weren't sure – advice on how to deal with them."

"So, I recommended that we hide her for a while, until we could figure out a more long-term solution. Tell some grand story about how Lila was going on a trip to study and learn from the various cultures, starting to the north with Crolia. We actually send her to the east to Amere, where a loyal old retainer is staying, and hide her there. A little bit of hair dye and a story about Lochan being her grandfather and nobody knows the difference. Lord Godwine decides, since it's my plan, to assign me to see it through. Not exactly what I wanted to do, but my lord is my lord, and I liked to believe myself a loyal man."

"And it all works out, for a while, with a bit of help from James in getting there. Lord Godwine is a bit of a worrier, and wanted to keep in constant correspondence with his daughter, but we even managed that without being discovered by the inquisition. But then that demonic bitch 'priestess'," he said the words in a harsh whisper, attempting to avoid the notice of Lovisa, "came in and warped all the men and women of Amere, we were forced to barricade Lochan's house and live off of the water that Lila could draw with her magic and whatever we could forage out of the withering fields. After that, we lost touch with Lord Godwine. When that happened, I resolved to see Lila safely home, and, when that was done, to quit, strangle the demon-bitch with my bare hands, and then celebrate my retirement with a strong drink and a good fuck."

"I'm not sure how the inquisition got wind of all this. You could try beating the answers out of them. They obviously shot at me first because of my devilish good looks and because I'm a genius and clearly the mastermind of this group, so you don't need to bother asking them that question." He sighed at the end of his comment, obviously not serious, before slipping off his ring and offering it to Lenalee. "I'm telling you the truth. This ring is my symbol of station, proof that I was the guard captain of House Godwine. You can take this to my former lord when all this is said and done and tell him what happened, he'll reward you handsomely for your role in Lila's safety. As for me, I just want to get her on the road home now, because Amere certainly isn't safe for her and he's going to need a new plan, then I want to go kill the demon who corrupted my men."

While Edmund had been explaining things to Lenalee, the inquisitor had recovered enough to sit up and Ren had finished her work. Three of the loyal mercenaries had been treated and were sitting up, only one of the attackers, the swordsman who had tried to grab the sorceress, specifically, had been brought back from the brink successfully, though Jan had firmly restrained him. If the sorceress didn't have anymore questions for the former knight, she might rouse the two unconscious traitors and begin asking questions of the survivors of the defeated group.
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

"Sanity is not a thing I'm oft accused of," Lenalee snapped harshly in response to Edmund's defiant words, though they didn't increase her anger any. Truthfully, she wasn't so much angry at him as she was angry in general, and he just happened to be the one to earn the dubious honor of being the outlet for her anger. When the knight revealed that Lila was the girl she'd been sent to find, however, Lenalee's anger evaporated instantly. The sorceress had trouble paying attention to his full explanation of the events leading up to this particular moment as she fought down giggles and snickers, and when he topped it all off by handing her his ring Lenalee couldn't help but burst out in mirthful laughter.

It took her a few moments to calm herself, but after she'd reduced her fits of giggles to an occasional occurrence rather than a constant and wiped a few tears from her eyes, she took the ring and pocketed it. When he questioned her regarding her reaction, the sorceress calmly explained, "I was actually sent here to find Lila by Lord Godwine, ironically. I never met him in person, answered an ad really, but that ad didn't mention that she'd died her hair, or that she was blind. That's why I didn't recognize her." She was so amused by the irony of the situation, that she'd had the object of her search under her very nose for nearly twenty four hours without even realizing it, and that she'd performed the duty she'd been tasked with without even knowing as much, that she considered offering Edmund the "good fuck" part of his retirement plan early. In the end she decided not to.... Yet. Maybe after she'd offloaded her "passenger" and had some time to rest and take a bath.

"Finish your arrangements for getting Lila to safety. Then we'll talk about the priestess," Lenalee said, and then left Edmund to finish his conversation with Lochan and James as she headed back to their original group. Turning to Ren first Lenalee quickly asked, "How many more did you save?" When she replied, Lenalee gave a slight grunt and then glanced at Mari and said, "Police the bodies, take anything you think might be worth a bit of coin." With that she turned to Lovisa and said, "Thank you for your assistance, I'm sorry we got you involved in this. Think you could tie him up and put him someplace private? I'd like to have a one on one conversation with him before anything else happens." She gestured toward the commander of the men that had attacked them as she spoke, making sure that it was clear whom she was referring to.

"Keep the other men unconscious and tie them up to, I think seeing this lot one at a time would be best. After I'm finished with their commander I'll question the idiot that tried to grab me next, then the two men that betrayed Edmund's friend. I'll need a knife, a bit of rope, some gloves, and a sewing needle and thread if you've got it," she said to the group in general, wondering if her assorted companions had any of that on hand or in the wagon. If not, she could live without most of it anyway, but she was already somewhat tired by all of the magic she'd expended today. Not having to use any more to question their captives would be... Convenient.
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 45/50, PP = 70, EP = 36/80, Status = +26 Mind, Low Energy, Pregnant (Small Bulge)

Edmund seemed more than a little wary of the sorceress's laughter. His relief was almost palpable when she'd finally spoken again. The former knight apparently did not feel it wise to risk his continued existence with any further words after her revelation and simply nodded as she suggested that he finish up preparations for Lila. He returned to Lochan and James and continued to speak with them in hushed tones which, judging by the way the oldest of the three glanced at Lila conspiratorially, were probably whispered for the sake of not alerting the blind girl.

Mari offered a nod and beckoned the three friendly mercenaries, who were newly returned to the world of consciousness and ability to stand under their own weight, with her. They began pulling off boots, weapons, intact armor, and anything else of value. The rogue scavenged even quicker than the sellswords. Jan remained near the unconscious mercenaries, the raven-haired woman hadn't sent for her.

"Don't worry about it!" Lovisa replied at the sorceress's apology. Despite the demon knight's words, she had lost more than a touch of her cheer. The curly-haired brunette frowned as she looked at some of the dead. "It's part of my duty to ensure that you make it to meet with Casilda safely. Sad that it came to this, but these aren't the first men I've had to kill." She offered a final nod at Lenalee's request, though she awaited the rope before taking him off.

It was Ren who provided most of the supplies. She provided a small, very short knife, a sewing needle, and thread. The redhead beckoned Jan over to pull multiple lengths of rope out of the cart, some of which was used to tie multiple of the captives. And, once Mari had finished looting, she provided a pair of gloves from one of the dead with a shrug. When the commander was tied, Lovisa lifted him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried him off to isolate him in some of the nearby greenery, out of easy hearing distance and out of line of sight of the others. Mari and Jan pulled the bound swordsman who had earlier been a bit too grabby with the sorceress toward a tree nearer to their cart and propped him against it; the friendly mercenaries watched the unconscious group of traitors with contempt. The rabbit-mage, in the meantime, took a seat with Lila and began to converse with her about inconsequential things, apparently not wanting to take any further part in what was to come.

When Lenalee chose to approach the commander, the demon knight would nod and give her privacy. The pony-tailed man himself, however, simply stared at her with fury and a scowl.

(Lenalee gains 10 XP, because I think I forgot it earlier. Also, loot: we'll just go with 150 denarii worth of salvaged armor, swords, and other stuff.

Alsoalso, Inquisitor's Amulet: When the wearer would be affected by a hostile spell, they make a resistance check versus the caster and negate that spell's effect on them. Only bolstered by buffs which add directly to resistance.)
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

"I didn't suspect that they were! Hopefully we won't entangle you in any further violence before I can make good on my word to meet your mistress," Lenalee said to Lovisa in a manner that she hoped was reassuring. She took the items from Ren and Mari with nods of thanks to both women and then watched the redhead while Lovisa tied up the commander and started carrying him off. The girl knew all too well that she had just provided materials that she would be using to torture some of these men, and Lenalee couldn't help but wonder how distressed she might be about that fact. She watched her go over and start conversing with Lila on the cart for a long moment, her gaze somewhat distant as she fell into momentary introspection.

'She's hear, mixed up in all of this now, because she met me. She was already involved, but she would never have gotten involved in all of this were it not for me. She, Mari, and Jan would have been in the woods, ignorant and at least close to happy while they waited for the next person to send to Casilda, she thought silently, and her eyes and the grip she had on her staff hardened. 'She encountered the daemon trapped in that gem because of me. I can't let her and her loved ones suffer more over this. There must be an end, and one in which those three are still together, and happy. Somehow.'

Turning away from Renee as she broke from her inner thoughts, Lenalee turned and followed Lovisa into the woods. "Thank you Lovisa," Lenalee said and returned the knight's nod, and then she stood and stared at the man for a long moment as the winged demoness departed, meeting his furious scowl with a neutral expression.

For a long while Lenalee simply stared at him, the only emotion that could be garnered from her expression a slight sadness as she leaned on her staff. Truthfully, this man did make her very sad. It was exactly the sort of person that the Inquisition had attempted to turn her into, and though her training had only lasted for about two years and they hadn't been able to brainwash her completely, she still remembered those times as the very worst in her life, including her first "customers" in her apprenticeship to her mother following the death of her father, which had come at about the same time that her brothers had died. And this time of course. This whole adventure, while certainly exciting and profitable and filled with interesting people, had not precisely been kind to the sorceress. She managed to keep herself from glaring down at her belly as she continued to eye the bound man sitting in front of her.

"How old were you, when they took you?" Lenalee asked softly after a long staring contest with him, hopefully catching the man off guard. In the same soft voice she continued, "Do you even remember? What you were before the training, or what your family was like?" She paused for a moment, and her voice was even softer than it had been when she had asked her questions as she stated, "I was sixteen when the inquisition took me from my mother. An official that had come to tell me of my brother's death in the wars to the North saw me talking to my reflection in a puddle, only it wasn't my reflection. It was a demon named Magdalen. At first, I actually thanked them from taking me from home. My mother had just started me on the career path she'd been forced into after my father died, you see, and I didn't like that one bit. That was before they had started torturing me, of course."
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 45/50, PP = 70, EP = 36/80, Status = +26 Mind, Low Energy, Pregnant (Small Bulge)

Lenalee's captive continued to glare at her, even as started talking. He glared and glared. It was almost as if he was trying to start her on fire purely by his glaring—something he might have been capable of if he wasn't bound. It was nearly a minute after she had finished her line of questioning before the man answered. "Fifteen," he spat. "Son of a baker and a peasant. Baker was killed by a rogue mage, I killed the rogue mage, that's when they learned about me," he offered, more passionate in his continued glare than his talk of his slain parent. "Everything I am, I owe to the inquisitor who found me. Without him, I'd be baking bread. He gave me the chance to do something greater. The torture was nothing compared to the prospect of going back to my old life, they were just making sure I was strong enough, 'cause you've got to be strong to hunt rogue and traitor mages."

The lightning sorceress knew the insidiousness of the Inquisition's methods. It was hard to tell whether the memories were the man's own or of another spirit wielder's design. But, his glare died down as he continued. "If you're a betrayer, then you know the danger that our kind pose toward the common population. How many have you killed with your powers? How many might have been innocent?" He began to talk to Lenalee as if he was the one trying to appeal to her sense of reason. "That young woman you have with you, I know you've felt how abundant her energy is if you've traveled with her. If she learns how to use it on her own, or falls into the wrong hands, how many thousands of innocents will die? If someone like you or I can snap our fingers and endanger hundreds with floods, storms, demons, and any of a hundred other things, what harm might she cause? She needs to be locked away and safely trained by the inquisition, that she might save thousands instead of dooming them."

He watched the mage for her reaction with what might have been considered bravery by anybody wise to the situation, considering that he had just, more or less, suggested that she condemn Lila to the fate that Lenalee herself suffered in her youth.
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

The man's glare slid off of Lenalee like so much water, not bothering her in the slightest. She didn't make any effort to hide that fact either, and though she wasn't aware of all of his powers Lenalee felt no need to prepare any defenses against him. In the minute that passed silently between them, the sorceress simply stared back at him with the same mildly unhappy expression. When he did speak, Lenalee was unsurprised to hear a tale not dissimilar to her own. What she was surprised by, however, was the way in which the man seemed to relish his position with the inquisition. Rage rose in her breast as he attempted to reason her into handing Lila to the torturers she had endured as a child.

How dare he suggested such a thing!? The rage bearing down upon her demanded bloody satisfaction, and she very nearly reached for her magic as her grip on her staff tightened.... But then the fury boiling in her blood went cold as she followed his line of thought. He wasn't wrong, at least not on every point. Hadn't she benefited greatly herself from the discipline drilled into her by the Badarian torturemasters? Hadn't she herself just seen Lila kill men in the most brutal manner she had seen barring the death fields presented to her by the Heretic? Hadn't she thought of the irony of the situation when she had called the storm upon Amere, using her powers to do exactly what the Inquisition allegedly protected people from by devastating the corrupted village?

"If your life is so fulfilling, why were you so eager to take it a few minutes ago?" Lenalee finally responded, the ghost of her anger present in her voice. She settled to a serene voice after that, determined to make the man see her as stable despite the fact that she'd rejected the inquisition's ways, "And to answer your earlier questions, I could only give you an estimate. I remember killing a few guards and an inquisitor when I escaped the transit train taking me to the indoctrination process. A few people while I worked with bandits in the years after maybe, though I was careful not to overdo it most of the time. Since then, I've killed a handful of demons and put some of their victims out of their misery." The sorceress patted her engorged belly and the child growing within, "This was the handiwork of a few corrupted townsfolk, a reward for showing restraint against them while attempting to secure a path out of Amere for the man your sniper attempted to assassinate and the blind girl that you intended.... Intend to hand to your torturemasters in order to "protect" people from her."

She had said the word "protect" with a great deal of disdain, but Lenalee let her frustration out with a sigh rather than begin to vent against her captive. "That's my problem with the inquisition's line of thinking. When you look at someone with talent, all their little programmed helpers see is a tool, not a person. Something to be used or something to be destroyed so that no one else can use it!" Another dark sigh left her lips but she went on resolutely, "I doubt you remember, but if you had the same "training program" as I did, they probably used to gloat to you about how they were going to tamper with your memory. You don't remember it now, obviously, but whether or not anything you remember before your training is irrelevant to the point that I'm trying to make.

"I wasn't the only one in my program. There were a bunch of other kids, most of them younger than I was when I started, but one of them.... Her name was Rose. She was eleven years old when she came in. They put her in the same cell as me. I had never had many friends back at home, and suffering through the things that the inquisitors did to us together could bind people together quickly. I remember her telling me about her sisters and her grandparents, who raised them after their parents were killed in an orc raid. I remember her telling me about her guardian angel, Ashloriel, and about the fey folk that she spoke to when the dark of the night crept became unbearable. She couldn't speak to them through the wards the inquisitors had around their training grounds, but she always told me that one day, Ashloriel would come for her, and take her from the torture pits."

Lenalee paused briefly to compose herself, unable to keep her voice from cracking as she reached toward the twist that anyone ought to see coming. She'd never really told anyone about her time in the hands of the Badarian Inquisition. Truthfully, she'd never expected to meet anyone who had gone through the same and be able to talk to them about it. She hadn't started crying, but Lenalee was surprised to find how near a thing it had been, only the utter dispassion she'd begun forcing herself to maintain when using her magic keeping the tears from falling from her eyes. "They made us spar against one another, looking for the ones who had the most combat potential. I had never lost a match, but Rose had never fought before. She was put up against the only one in our group that was older than me, a boy named.... Deren or Dereck or something like that. I don't really remember anymore.

"She had no idea how to fight. She'd never hurt a thing in her life. She barely survived the match, and the physician declared that there would be permanent damage. Her back had been broken, he said, and she'd never walk again. Our instructor slit her throat when I was less than ten feet away and had me and.... Darian was his name, I remember now. He made us carry her corpse down the hall to the place where they disposed of wash outs. Outside of the training rooms our powers didn't work, and he must have been twice my size, but that didn't stop me from attacking him. He'd probably have choked me to death, half coated in Rose's blood where we'd dropped her, if the physician hadn't been going to the bathroom and heard us struggling.

"Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that handing Lila to the inquisition would be a waste of time. They'd just do to her what they do to anyone that they couldn't make use of. She's not a monster that needs to be killed or controlled just because she's got powers that some people don't. She's a frightened little girl. A frightened little blind girl. And ironically, by sending her away we were attempting to prevent her from falling into the "wrong hands" as you put it." Despite the dour mood that had dominated their conversation so far, Lenalee smirked slightly at the irony of what she was about to do.

"You see, apparently a demon has taken up a tower somewhere around here. She and her minions are responsible for a good bunch of the things you lot are supposed to be protecting people from. Before you ask, no I don't know how she got here. My guess would be that she came out of the gate at Artmirst a couple of years ago, another case of your wonderful inquisition doing a bang-up job, but you could try asking Lovisa about it if you're really curious. She's the one that kicked the crap out of you and killed almost as many of your loyal peons as I did, with the halberd and the wings. Anyway, this demon is apparently a bit more powerful than the average member of her kind. A reliable source likened her power to that of an adult angel. And my friends and I, well, we're going to go and pay her a visit pretty soon." There was a pause in which Lenalee smirked conspiratorially at the man, "Lovisa is one of her most trusted servants, apparently, and that'll get us past the front door without a fight. What happens after that, happens.

"So, here's the deal: I could use your help, and I'm pretty sure that you want to live despite any indications otherwise. You come with me to meet the Priestess and help us do what needs doing, and I'll let you go; on a few conditions of course. After we part ways, I want you and yours to leave me and mine alone. I'm not expecting you to lie for us or to refuse orders, just don't go following me around like a lost puppy. Whether you go back to your masters, go find a corner to die in, continue on with the inquisitions "noble" work, or try to make something actually worthwhile out of yourself is up to you. I can't imagine your handlers being too happy with your failure today though, so the first option might just be a much more painful version of the second. I'd need your oath on aiding us against the Priestess and not casting us to her wolves in the process, of course. If you can't or won't give that, then I can't promise that you'll be walking out of this glade."
 
Re: Hafnium Test Thread

Lenalee: HP = 45/50, PP = 70, EP = 36/80, Status = +26 Mind, Low Energy, Pregnant (Small Bulge)

"Who are you appealing to?" The man asked, relatively calmly, when Lenalee had concluded. "If I am the mind-wiped vegetable that you assert, then you surely don't expect me to believe in your words. And if I am simply a loyal soldier to the greater good, the same is true. You, a self-confessed deserter, expect me to believe your stories and claims?" He regarded the sorceress coldly, though without the hate he had in his eyes previously. "I remember my training well. I remember the physical, mental, and spiritual extremes used to sort the weak from the strong. I remember beating the others into submission."

"Say I am to believe your sob story." The inquisitor held eye contact with the mage. "That the people I owe my life to are in the business of killing crippled young children. Even if I take your word at it and don't simply assume that you're making it up to poison my mind, who am I to say why it was done? She might have been determined as a threat. Perhaps there was danger in the coming of this 'Ashloriel'. I once had the ability to summon the fae, the angels are of an unearthly power. The crippled girl might have been as much of a threat as a demon lord with such a force at her call." He tossed his head in Lila's general direction. "Your frightened little blind girl didn't look so frightened to me, either. She killed today without even shaking, how many has she killed before? How many more will she kill? She's a killer, same as any other with her power, especially with her unique energy. If you give her to another, she will kill again, whether it's an accident or intentional. And I'm to believe that her life is more important than the ones she will take?"

"My duty is to bring that girl, the mutated mage, and yourself back as much as it is to see a demon slain, I will make you no promises. If you untie me, I'll see you all back in the service of the inquisition or die trying. Death doesn't scare me. The pain I endured during my training was the death of my weaknesses, including fear, that I could defend Badaria and its people from the threat of magic, the spirit wielder, demons, faeries, and any other abomination that might endanger it. I have killed, I have ruined, and I have shed blood for Badaria, so do not insult me any longer, deserter! I have failed this day and death is the only reprieve from failure."

He spat at the ground. "Do what you will, but know that my brothers and sisters will succeed where I have failed."
 
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