*COMPLETED* Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

“Slavers?! Don't even joke about that! Geeze!”
Dinn's comment almost made Kurui feel better at first... but then he lost the thread of charm it had and only managed to freak her out worse towards the end. Looking around at the others wasn't much better. Reius's complete lack of any apparent concern should have been re-assuring, but instead it came off as foolish, almost reckless. How anyone could have so little concern for themselves was worrying in it's own way. Anisse's reaction did help fill that void though. Kurui caught sight of her shaking and got some weird sense of confidence from seeing someone more worried than she was. She slipped a hand into her waist satchel and worked her fingertips around the piece of charged ore she brought and inched up to the window to see what she could see.

“... there's nothing out there. I don't see anything.”
She tried to listen against the door to see if she could hear anything else happening outside, but the other's kept interrupting her with theories. Part of her wanted to tell them to shut up for a few seconds... but there was also the chance they might see something she didn't and have something important to say. Nobody would catch anything else though in the next few moments, herself included. Listening so intently would make her easy to startle when Colt returned a few minutes later though and opened the door with no warning.
“Geeze! Knock first! You almost gave me a heart attack!” She stammered out, doing a halfway decent job of hiding her nervousness behind a layer of annoyance before softening her voice again. “So what happened? Did you find out?” She asked almost a little too eagerly.

….............................

“Thats it? Some cracks in the road... Thats... well... I feel stupid for not guessing it.” She replied with some tinge of embarrassment to Colt's rather simple and somewhat obvious answer before backing back down to a subdued silence again. She was content to just let Colt go fix the damage to the carriage without any objections or anything. It didn't take long for Dinn and Anisse to get into childish bickering again as soon as he left, but she found it hard to get too mad at Dinn again. “At least he wasn't shaking the whole time earlier...” she muttered to herself low enough that Anisse might've missed it if she was too wrapped up in the arguing. The repairs wouldn't take long, and despite being stuck with other people not exactly being Kurui's favorite thing in the world, she wouldn't let her relief over the false-scare get dampened by something this small.

…..............................

It wasn't too long before they were moving again as if nothing happened. Colt's question about whether they were worried or not made it quite obvious something HAD happened though. Anisse didn't try very hard to hide any of the worry she had... that or was a bad liar. Dinn was a bit better of an actor, but Kurui couldn't help feel it was a lot of empty talk.
“Worried? ...Maybe a little.” Kurui admitted “We have practice duels and stuff at the Academy, but I don't exactly have a lot of experience trying to shoot down arrows or anything. Things are kept pretty fair and they don't exactly try to actually hurt us too seriously.” her tone grew annoyed for a second “SOMEONE here was making jokes about slavers. I'm not exactly used to the idea of dying in an unfair fight if something DID go badly...”
She let it drop after that and instead grabbed one of her large ration crackers from her satchel instead, as if to keep busy as an excuse to stay out of being drawn back into this conversation. She was also kind of hungry anyway, she hadn't eaten anything this morning in all the rush and early preparation. The crackers wern't a full meal, but they were pretty large. They had a filling made of various nuts and plants. Her's were a lot sweeter and more for taste than actual military rations, but was otherwise pretty similar to some of them and would be filling for at least a little while. She was content to just sit back and leave conversation to the others for awhile. The only thing that made her halfway want to say anything right now was Reius. His silence bothered her a bit... it almost reminded her of Concepta's creepy mannerism, and she really wanted to ask him what was on his mind... but ultimately decided it wasn't worth starting another conversation about dangerous stuff in front of Colt. She already felt embarrassed enough freaking out over a broken carriage wheel. “I can ask later if I can slip away at the mine later... or you could just quit being creepy and making me nervous like this...”

INVENTORY

Spoiler

Aside from her uniform and the waist satchel...
-Elemental Ore x1 (charged with arc lightning x1)
-Study notes x1
-Health Potion (small flask) x1
-Ration "snacks" x2 (previously x3)
-Gold x35

I wont be posting the inventory again unless something changes.

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Dinn raised his hands slightly in his own defense, hoping to calm the dark-haired girl down. "H-Hey, I'm just sayin'! I mean, not counting this carriage, there are a lotta girls in the class that those perv traders would love to get their hands on. I mean, what else would they use us for, watering their crops and starting their fires?"

The Earth major stopped himself a tad too late, realizing the weight of his implication. "Oh, uhh... eheh..."

"Not that I'd know, but I imagine slaves with our degree of utility would hold more value. It's better to be cautious," remarked Reius.

"That's... what I was trying to avoid saying, but... yeah. I wouldn't let that happen though!"

When Colt re-entered the coach, he offered an apologetic, yet reassuring smile upon seeing Kurui's startled reaction from his sudden opening of the door. "Hey, have a little faith, will ya? I'd be sure to yell and alert you guys if anything actually went wrong out there."

As the conversation moved to practice duels and the nature of combat, since such a possibility was starting to seem less and less distant, given the unnerving nature of the simple accident from earlier, each student had their own take on it.

"Honestly," said Reius, "I think the girls in the group have less to worry about in terms of dying, as enslavement has a much higher possibility depending on our assailants."

Anisse could only glare at him for that, hugging herself tightly. "Do you HAVE to bring that up?"

"It's not as if I would ever wish for such a thing to happen," replied the honor student matter-of-factly. "Just a reality of our society that we should be mindful of. Syndicate activity has risen in the past few months, so it's not out of the question, but being prepared for it is better than being completely ignorant of the subject, at least in my opinion."

"Y-Yeah, but either way, we're not gonna go down like that!" interrupted Dinn. "I mean, when it comes to those mock duels Kurui was talking about, I'm pretty good," he boasted. "And Reius is strong, too! I heard he's one of the few, outside of Concepta, that can consistently work with the ice realm of Water-based magic!"

The bespectacled one said nothing to this, though whether it was modesty or arrogance was another matter.

"That's enough, guys," concluded Colt. "I said I'd protect you, and that's what I'm going to do, I promise."

Unless Kurui had anything more to say regarding the matter, the rest of the ride would go on rather quietly, with the horses' constant clopping slowing to a stop only minutes later, breaking the odd monotony.

~~~~~​

"Looks like we're here," said the chaperone, exiting first before opening the door for the others. "Made it in one piece, so I'd call that a win." Upon exiting the cab, the other three stretched out, seemingly pleased to be able to stand up straight for once and breathe in the fresh air. It was a rather nice day outside now, as the sun had been given a chance to rise, though it seemed the Academy students would be spending most of their time in the mine for the next few hours.

The area that Kurui stepped out onto was considerably more raw than the city limits and the Royal Magic Academy's well-groomed campus. A well-forested area stretched on in the distance, accompanied by the rocky crags of mountains, though much of the undergrowth and trees around the mine's entrance was cleared away, marked by stumps and piles of fallen logs, presumably to be taken out for lumber. Several peasant workers loaded them onto carts, most of them going about their work without paying mind to the visiting students. Only a few of them bothered to give Kurui and company a look, though they didn't stare for long, even then.

The mine itself, a sizable hole dug into the side of a cliff face, appeared to be somewhat new in development, as there were many sheds and nearby facilities that were still under construction. A far cry from the more 'civilized' environment that Kurui called home, the mines gave some insight into a part of the 'real world'--away from the comfort of the rich city, a gritty and almost hostile existence made for the soldier, the mercenary, the traveling mage. A lifestyle that could be embraced by some Academy students, but would take a large deal of acclimatization to handle well, regardless.

Adel and Mia stood side by side, waiting to greet the other arriving groups, with their own students clustered nearby. Rythe eyed Kurui from the distance, perhaps just ten meters away, and smiled with a small wave.

After all were gathered in relatively close proximity, at least enough so that he may be heard, the primary monitor made his announcement. "There are three main paths dug in the mine thus far, but many more veins branching off from those. Each group will get their own passage, so as to reduce the amount of potential squabbling over the resources. Yes, the project is graded on the rocks you find, and yes, they are worth money, but it's not worth risking your life over by entering a petty fight for one. Mr. Black was generous enough to grant us access to these rich mines, so be sure to thank him; there should be more than enough for everyone here. You will have a total of five hours to complete your task. We'll take a headcount now and before leaving."

Attendance was taken, and tools were issued; a small hammer and chisel for each student. Before long, the various groups were sent off, one by one, into the mines. Kurui, Dinn, Anisse, and Reius, lead of course by their 'monitor', Colt, trudged along through an empty mine shaft. While it was eerily quiet outside of the occasional quip by Dinn and cold observation by Reius, the glint of valuable minerals could already be seen along some of the cave's interior, though they appeared to be deeply embedded. Anisse looked to try and dig a few of them out right away, but Reius shook his head. "Don't waste your time," he said, before motioning to a deeper part of the shaft where larger stones could be seen. The girl simply sighed and nodded before moving along.

Once the group arrived in the richer part of the tunnel, Colt shrugged and looked towards the others. "This's a good place, right? Sorry I can't help ya any more than that."

"No matter," said Reius. "This is indeed a good part of the mine to start harvesting. And while we are given these... tools, the proper way to extract these minerals, to separate the ore from the larger rock, is to channel magical energy through them. While they can be removed manually, nothing quite does it like the touch of magic. The stones react to magical power quite well."

To demonstrate, he found a bluish ore, embedded quite deeply in the wall like many others, but sizeable in that it was much larger than a pebble. "This one is called Falenium." Closing his eyes halfway, he focused as if opening a gate, instead pouring that power into the stone. It resonated with power, glowing gently, and this allowed him to pry it off with the use of his hammer and chisel.

Explaining this more to Colt than to the others, he went on. "If I were simply to try and remove this by force alone, chances are it would break, losing much of its value. As these minerals are said to be remnants of the Planes themselves, they keep their state best when infused with the right type of energy. This one, Falenium, is best taken by using Water-aligned elemental magic." He tossed it up, then caught it in his hand. "I wager this one alone is worth around 4000 gold."

Anisse made a face at that, and began scrambling to identify some minerals of her proper element, Pyrenium. Unfortunately for her, it appeared as if she had not done her homework, and looked puzzled at the colorful cavern wall and its various shades of red, blue, yellow, green and so on. Meanwhile, Dinn had already extracted an amber-colored gem, looking quite pleased with himself.

Colt let out a low whistle. "Wow, I'm still trying to process most of what you just said, but no wonder you guys are so damn rich."

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

“Yeah, I'm with Anisse, I was trying to NOT think about that, thanks.” Kurui commented quickly before going back to her snack as the talk of slavers -and what they might do them- kept up. It didn't seem to be work as quickly at ending the conversation as she wanted it to, but at the least comments now seemed to indicate they were winding down. Kurui gave an annoyed sigh right before they finished though upon catching Dinn's admiring comments over Reius's abilities with Ice magic. “Don't mind me or anything, I totally can't do that too...”

…....................

They arrived at the mine just a little while later. While there was a considerably larger look of human influence on the area, in a way it was less calming than the peaceful rolling countryside they passed on the way here. The environment spoke of a lot of hard work and brute force just to make a small dent against this hostile pocket of nature. The people working here probably lived like savages, covered in grime and sweat all the time in between their shifts hard labor and with little in the way of comfort or an escape from the elements. Needless to say, Kurui viewed it as sad glorified camping. “I can't believe some people willingly want to do this with their lives. I guess it pays more than farming if you threw away all your other options... but there's not even anything to spend it on here. Talk about miserable... oh right, some guys get off on “conquering nature” and all that... idiots.” She was happy enough that everyone else there ignored her for the most part, it would keep things moving at a nice pace without interruptions.

True to her guess, things did move rather quickly. They assembled in an orderly fashion, so much so that she barely had time to wave back to Rythe before they were given their tools and instructions and sent on their way. As they made their way down into their mine tunnel, Kurui remembered the conversation from earlier and slipped back for a second and started chanting in barely above a whisper. A moment later she hurried back towards the front of the group, turned around, and surprised Dinn with a quick blast of frost in his face. It was weaker than the one she used in the fight earlier, mostly just enough to prove that she could do it, and she was fairly certain he wouldn't get too mad or anything. “You guys have it so much easier, I swear. I can use ice too, it's just so hard to get noticed when you have to compete with all spoiled princess prodigies like Concepta and Nebula and Lanie.” She went on with a faux indignation. Satisfied with the display she wouldn't do much else until they were farther in.

The chamber they were supposed to search for their crystals in was amazing, there was so much more than she expected. All of Black's lectures talking this up and making it sound like it would be so hard, and yet she didn't even think she'd need her notes or anything. Reius had already homed in on a crystal of Falenium while she was still looking around, and Dinn was in the process of prying himself out a crystal too. “Geeze... 5 hours... this is going to take 5 minutes unless he expects us to find one the size of a pumpkin or something... but he never actually said that, right? Eh, nevermind.” She had no particular need to rush into this like the guys, especially after seeing how easy it was, although she couldn't help but laugh a little inside at Anisse's confused look... somehow she expected Dinn to be the least prepared. Either way for now she was showing the courtesy of listening to Reius's explanations of things instead... even though it was more for Colt than any of the group.

“I don't believe that “remains of planes" stuff. If it were true mages would be able to pull crystals through their spell gates or something and nobody has ever done that...” She realized arguing theory probably wasn't the best use of time right now though and Colt probably wouldn't know what they were talking about anyway. It was a topic better saved for later, they did have 5 hours after all and Reius wasn't so unnervingly silent about everything anymore. “Annnyway, we're not all rich, we usually don't get to just come into mines and take whatever we want like this and one trip isn't about to make me a noble or anything. That would be nice though... I wouldn't have to worry so much about doing good on projects like this is my family could afford to just pay full-price for the Academy. Oh well, no use wishing about it.” she broke off the topic and focused on the task at hand instead. “Hey Reius, since we're both water majors, I'll look over here, alright?” She suggested, pointing to an area of the chamber a bit farther in, but not completely out of view or voice range. “I don't imagine you want to go with the first crystal you found, and it will be better if we're not in same area fighting over any others.” She suddenly remembered her manners and that Dinn and Anisse were there too. Any arguments or distrust now could be a very bad thing now that the project was started for real. “I'm not trying to hoard everything or anything, you guys can look over here if you want too. Lets just agree not to take crystals of eachother's elements until we have our project ones, OK? I know Black said we could keep whatever we wanted, but I don't want to fail because we all sabotaged eachother over some money. It's probably not worth the increased tuition for any of us if doing bad here makes us risk failing the entire class or something...”
If nobody had any objections, she would go to her area and start searching the walls. While there were way more crystals than she thought there would be, she still wanted to get a "good" one if there was any chance of any particularly impressive ones being here.

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

"Gyah!" Dinn cried out as he tried to shake the bits of conjured frost off of his face and bangs. Kurui had caught him completely off-guard, as his attention was focused elsewhere. With his vision not quite to full just yet, he grumbled, "Damn, Reius! You got me good! I'll give ya that one..."

The more serious of the two male students raised a brow, but wasn't given enough time to properly correct his colleague before Dinn finally realized that it wasn't him, but Kurui, who had blasted him with the cantrip. "Whoa, you too?! Geeez... brains and beauty. You're doing a pretty good job at winning me over the other one," he commented, much to Anisse's chagrin despite her lack of apparent interest in his attention. "Why didn't you show that stuff off more in the live trials? I'm sure you woulda gotten at least a fanclub started or something. Man... okay, so we got -two- ice mages. 'Course I get stuck with all of the smart ones," he chuckled, before moving on.

Upon hearing her response to the proposed theory, Reius looked to Kurui directly, for once, giving her a thoughtful look before continuing. "Nobody we know of has ever done that, mind you, but various rifts do open on their own. Various items in the planes, as well as the denizens that live there, are said to have a different 'spiritual weight', and thus a dynamic difficulty with regards to making it through. It's not a confirmed fact, mind you... but I personally feel it makes sense. Otherwise, a deity like Tzern could easily pry his way into our realm by adjusting his size. It would also explain why we can only pull the most basic of elements through the gates, and much less often actual living things. As an ice-wielder, I'm sure you understand. The spiritual signature of ice, that is... practically identical to that of water, but not. Lesser Water majors are often too busy on the stage of concentrating to maintain the gate rather than selecting the forms that come through it, and as a result are stuck with only the base element, but no adjustment to temperature and such. I would even go so far as to claim it would be why more experienced Fire mages are said to make hotter flames... but all of this is still largely untested."

Colt simply blinked and scratched his head at this,while Anisse just stared blankly at Reius during his little tangent. Upon seeing these reactions, the honor student sighed and shrugged. "Uh... well, nevermind. At any rate, that proposal of division seems like a novel idea. I won't be fighting you unless you insist on doing such a thing, however," he added flatly.

However, before the group could split up too far from each other, their chaperone made it a point to interrupt and stop them. "Well, as your guard, I just think that it would be safer if we all stayed within about a few feet from each other. Getting separated would definitely be a bad thing." With that, the others nodded their agreement, and they continued on to the next segment, which was similar to the part of the mine they were in before. Reius made it a point to stay upon the other side of the room as Kurui, selecting choice bits of Falenium for himself, or rather, comparing the existing ones to his own. Dinn and Anisse hung around closer to her, interestingly enough, while Colt stayed but a few paces away.

Then, a glint caught Kurui's eye. It was a proper shard of what looked to be Falenium, a deep blue, far more defined and brilliant than the piece Reius had acquired just moments ago. As the other Water major was preoccupied on the other side of the chamber, it looked as if it would be all hers, as well. Only one obvious problem surfaced; it was embedded high in the wall, enough so that even the tallest of the group, Colt, wouldn't be able to reach it easily, although two people probably could. While she could attempt to blast it with water from a distance, it would need to be physically touched by someone to free properly in order to channel the spiritual energy through it, and even then, would need to be chiseled off afterwards. She could seek help in acquiring this rock, or remain content to search among the smaller ones down below.

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Kurui found herself wanting to punch Dinn as soon as she saw his gut instinct was to blame the ice on Reius. Her annoyance diffused before she could act on it though, as the compliment she got afterwards was flattering enough to make her forget it. The fact that she was being compared to Anisse and winning made it all the more satisfying, although she held herself back from looking too smug or commenting on it.
“The live trials? Ok... maybe I'm not super good at it like Concepta or whatever. I waste a lot more energy on it than regular water and it's harder to focus so I can't do things that are as big and flashy... but I can still DO it.” She admitted in a bit of an embarrassed tone, feeling bad about the alternative of lying in the face of a compliment.

As they continued on the topic changed to the origins of the crystals they were after. At first Kurui dismissed the whole thing with a comment about not believing in Reius's theory about it... but that seemed to be enough to make him elaborate and eventually she was drawn back into the debate.
“Well, you're right about the ice thing and spiritual weight and all that.” Oh how right he was about the ice, for as simple as he made it sound, the undefinable slight differences of it made it infuriating to work with on a large scale with any real control... at least for her. “I still don't think random chunks of crystal are falling through though when we can barely pull out basic elements. It's not really fair to compare our rifts to Void ones in that way, everyone knows they're kind of different, that's why the Void wars were the VOID wars. It's not like we've had living stuff get through regular element stuff. The Void is like... not even a part of what exists in this world like the elements are... or something. Although...” she paused for a second, realizing she had kind of halfway defeated her own idea about crystals in a way by saying not to compare the regular elements to the Void, but went on anyway. “Ok... forget I said that. Think of it like this. I heard stories that even just the energy from void portals can affect “simple” living stuff in this world like plants.” The example she just put forth was something of a rumor since actual study of the Void was forbidden at the Academy aside from learning how to close rifts, as some might be doing that for the Kingdom later on, and the whole subject was something of taboo. “What if energy leaks out from the regular element portals and affects stuff like the rocks around them? It seems far more likely to me that these crystals started out as some other element and got changed rather some portal randomly dropping them off in nice tidy veins like this. I mean, in somewhere nice and undisturbed underground like this numerous element rifts could have formed and just stayed here for months... or even years. Actually... nevermind, I guess it's not really important.” She stopped herself, trying to get out of a big debate again, especially now that the Void had been mentioned. She had noticed a few wary looks from the others earlier when Reius had mentioned Tzern, the supposed “demonic” ruler of the Void. It's not like anyone believably sane had ever seen him or that there was any studies on him or anything, but the church's teachings and some ancient texts they thought to be true had enough to say about him to fill all gaps and convince most people not to talk about the subject too lightly... even if Kurui herself wasn't too big on the Church's stories and questionable evidence.

Luckily things became a lot more agreeable a little later when Kurui found no objections to her suggestion of how crystals should be handled, in a strange way she didn't think any of them were lying in their agreeance to play along either. She considered herself lucky since she couldn't say the same for everyone else in the class. “I wonder how Rythe is doing right now having to put up with Odetta... oh well, even she doesn't have it as bad as whoever got stuck with Donson, he's probably just planning on stealing from everyone in his group...”
Off in her corner of the mine chamber it didn't take her long to find traces of her crystal. For the first few minutes most of the crystals were small and not too impressive. Quick glances towards the other side of the chamber showed Reius was having better luck and almost made her regret her choice to come over here. She kept following the traces though, she was no expert on rocks, but remembered hearing a lot back home about how minerals and crystals formed in “veins” and hopefully these would be no exception. Whether her hunch was right or if she was just lucky, it eventually drew her attention higher up the wall... and to a crystal that even from the ground caught her eye and looked promising. “It just HAD to be up high and out of reach... didn't it? There's no way I'm getting up there on my own unless I magically learn how to stick to walls. I bet all the lazy miners took all the good stuff at standing level. *sigh* Who do I want to ask for help now?” She shot a bit of frost at the wall to temporarily mark the crystals location, then debated who to ask for a hand reaching it. Reius was out because she didn't want to ask him to help with a crystal of his own element for her. Anisse didn't particularly LIKE her and seemed too busy fumbling away her time looking for her own element with questionable effectiveness. It was down to Colt or Dinn. “Well, Dinn seems to like me... granted he likes anyone in a skirt... but an earth platform seems easier to work on than standing on Colt's shoulders. Let's see if all that “walls for days” stuff was just talk.”
She approached Dinn and put on a polite voice, though she still wasn't sure what to think of him exactly she found she didn't have to force the tone like with a few other peoples like some of the nobles or Black. “Hey, are you too busy right now? I could kind of use some help with a crystal I found but it was high up and I was thinking ummm, could I ask you to make me a platform to stand on something to help me up. I would totally do the same for you... if I was as good at earth magic... but I'm not and making a platform out of ice would take me like... forever. I know you're probably busy looking for one of your crystals but... pleeease?” Her voice had hit a bit of a “helpless-girl-asking-for-help” charm tone towards the end when she hadn't meant it to, but it wasn't so strong that she felt like she was trying taking advantage of him with her charms like she had with Teague. It would've given her a higher chance of getting what she wanted... but if Dinn was too busy she still had Colt to ask for help before resorting to anything like that. Even then she decided she'd probably just look for something more accessible instead if this didn't work out, although now that this crystal looked so perfect it would be hard to ignore...

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

"So you mean to say that instead of coming from the portals' respective worlds, that the rifts themselves would be responsible for the energy held within these crystals? Hmmm..." Reius took a long pause. "Given what we know, it's difficult to know for sure, either way. But, I can see how you would reach that particular theory. It's actually a surprise that Mr. Black didn't have us research that, since this place seems to have such a wide variety of minerals. As unnerving as it is to think of the mines as a place ripe with activity from different portals..." he added with a most thoughtful look.

Anisse rolled her eyes. "Who cares? Isn't it enough to be able to know how to do just open the gates, anyway?"

Reius frowned at this, saying, "The two matters are more connected than you think. Understanding the nature of the portals should help us learn to manipulate them better. Plus, it could also provide insight with regards to solving the recent issues surrounding Void portals... oh, uh... ahem." He cleared his throat, also stopping himself from getting too deep into the matter.

"I don't know about you guys, but the way I get really good at something is just doing it over and over until I can do it in my sleep! But then again, I've always been pretty bad at theory, heh." Colt shrugged and offered a grin to break the tension. This did little for the dark-haired intellectual, but it at least earned him an appreciative smile from Anisse, which was rare.

It was after this short debate ended that the group had actually split up, and when Kurui found the deep blue shard of what appeared to be Falenium, the other students were busy attempting to gather their own spoils for the project, as well as for personal gain. Dinn, however, wasn't so busy that he couldn't bother to turn and face the girl when she addressed him, and he perked up right away after hearing her request. He even looked rather surprised, stopping to glance over at Reius, then smirking to himself as if an internal victory had been won. "No problem! Of course I'd easily do something like that for an A-class beauty like yourself," he replied with that same expression.

Anisse was over to one side, huffing and sighing to herself dramatically, passively trying to draw attention from one of the boys, presumably to help her extract a nice rock as well. But Dinn wouldn't be drawn to her this time around, as Kurui had the Fire major beat to the punch with a more direct plea.

"Uh, where is it again?"

After being led to where the crystal was held, he let out a low whistle and nodded. "Nice. So, did you want to ride on my shoulders? I'm pretty comfy, aheh," he joked before surveying the area, then placing his hand on the ground nearby and focusing. A series of rocks jutted up from the ground, the largest one being in the center while systematically smaller ones sprung up from around it, creating a sort of stair-like structure that one could climb to better reach the desired crystal. While not perfectly straight, it was certainly adequate for use, posing little threat of falls from the way it was conjured.

"Whew. Aaand, there you go," he said with a most proud grin, directing her up the 'stairs' without bothering to turn away. The stone platform of sorts was high enough for him to catch a peek at her from underneath, though he was smooth enough not to be obvious in such glances should she look back. If she directed him to turn around, a look of disappointment would wash over Dinn's visage before he complied nonetheless.

The crystal itself was even more magnificent up-close, bearing a strange swirling pattern within. It was deeply embedded in the rock, however. Many impurities lined its outer edges, which would first require some extra focus to remove before the shard could be chiseled out. It took close to fifteen minutes to extract, which was well enough considering that amount of time spent on either Dinn or Colt's shoulders may have been either tiring or just awkward for the pair, or both. But when she did manage to free the gem from its stony prison, Kurui found it to be unique in appearance as it was beautiful. It was a long, somewhat pointy shard, almost shaped well enough to be a primitive dagger of sorts. Cool to the touch, it radiated with energy, and was certainly not a 'dud' of any sort, at least as far as magic went.

After seeing the odd structure Dinn had created for the girl, Reius couldn't help but to occasionally look in their direction and raise a brow, though he said nothing.

"Wow, putting that magic to use already, huh?" commented Colt. "Nice. Almost makes me wish I knew how to do all of that..."

Anisse simply pouted and folded her arms. "Okay, how about me, then? There's one up there that I've been staring at for a while now..." She directed her gaze at Dinn, while motioning to a smaller ore up high.

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Kurui wasn't surprised with Dinn's enthusiastic agreement to help her, although she did feel a little guilty as he looked sort of busy when she had asked. What did surprise her was Anisse's reaction of apparent jealousy. Just like before, being aware of this gave Kurui a kind of smugly satisfied feeling. While she had no real spite for Anisse and even felt kind of bad for the Fire Major's difficulties with this project, the allure of getting attention when there was competition still had it's influence for some strange reason... even if back at the Academy she probably would've dismissed Dinn's compliments and “charm” as somewhat of a transparent and annoying act. Perhaps needing his help made her more open minded, either way she didn't worry about it too much and instead wasted no time leading Dinn over to the crystal.

“Oh thanks. Yeah, I think I got lucky with this one. I guess you read up on more than your Netaldum to recognize that... -no offense or anything! You just don't strike me as the type.” she started in response to Dinn's impressed reaction to the crystal she had found. “Annnyway, it looks like it's going to take me awhile to get it out, I couldn't make you stand there that whole time...” She went on almost absent-mindedly after he had draw her attention back to the crystal. “As much as I'm sure you'd like the view from down there...”
“-Huh?” Her attention was draw back to him as she heard sound of one of his spells forming a platform. She had completely missed him starting to chant or anything earlier. “Oh wow... thats amazing! Whenever I use Earth magic I can only get sand or random shaped chunks of rock through my gates... and sometimes they're all full of cracks and not very stable... I never knew you were so good at Earth magic. I should really pay more attention during the Live Trials... I guess I get nervous waiting for my turn and don't really watch so much... anyway thanks a ton, seriously! I feel bad for the ice thing earlier now.”
“I guess that walls for day stuff really WASN'T all talk.” She thought to herself feeling a little guilty over having doubted him now. It wasn't enough to dampen her excitement over having access to her “perfect” crystal now though. She scurried up to the top of Dinn's platform to get a closer look and begin working. The platform wasn't very wide, and in the back of her mind she figured there was a good chance Dinn made it that way for more than just to save some magic, but she could hardly let suspicions or embarrassment bother her enough to comment after this free bit of help. If he DID do it for the “view”, she wasn't able to catch him with any of her glances back.

Even with access to the crystal, the job wasn't over yet. It was embedded deep in the wall and would take a lot more effort to get loose than the first crystal Reius had found earlier. The view from the platform made it clear there were no others of this quality nearby either. Knowing she had only once chance at this one made her extra cautious, working slowly with only small pulses of magic and the slightest chisel hits, every slight movement made her terrified she might crack or shatter it somehow. “Geeze, I'm probably worrying for nothing, but it would've been nice if Black had gotten us some samples to practice with before we came here. I'm going to hate myself the rest of the trip if I accidentally ruin this one!”
It took her a good 15 minutes to free her crystal when the others had found samples of theres in less than one, but THEIR samples weren't this amazing. Luckily when she did free it from the mine wall all her hard work and slow caution paid off and it hadn't taken damage of any kind.
“Got it!” she exclaimed in an excited tone, similar to the fascination she had shown the day before in the enchanters shop with Rythe. “It looks even better up close, and bigger too. Black had better let us keep these like he made it sound like he would, I'm so going to have this one cut and polished and maybe made into a nice staff or amulet or something.”
She was distracted from her excited thoughts a moment later when Anisse finally spoke up trying to get Dinn's attention, no doubt emboldened by how successful Kurui had just been with his help. This annoyed Kurui a bit and her tone became considerably less excited, although not ingenuine.
“Hey, I know shaping those platforms for me probably took a lot of magic. If you want to make one for Anisse I can still open an earth gate and use my magic to keep it opened while you control it, it should save you alot of magic. I kind of owe you and you shouldn't be left without the magic to get your own crystal because you were helping us. Now that I've got mine I don't really need the rest of my energy so badly... and I DO owe you a ton now.” she lowered her voice enough so only Dinn could hear “Or you could ignore her for being such a standoff'ish bitch. She probably won't accept my help anyway and you should really find yourself a good crystal first before giving up more of your time. ...Annnyway, if you need my help with anything I'll do what I can, I don't want you to think I “used” you or anything, OK? If not and you're good by yourself, I'm going to go pry loose some Eronium and Siffulum at ground level, since none of us need those for the project and getting this one refined after the project probably won't be cheap. I'll keep an eye for any good Netaldum too, you're not the only one to know about more than just their crystal.”
“Stupid me, I just had to bring the Health Potion instead of the Mind Potion, if we could use some magic recklessly we really could have walls for day... I might even have been able to afford to make something with my ice without worrying about going slow and not wasting my magic. Oh well, we've still got some time left to recharge even someone does burn out, and I've already been lucky enough that I guess I can't complain. He's surprised me with his magic already, maybe if he's really good it doesn't even use much of his magic. Just because ice does for me I guess it's not fair to assume shaping stone does for him...”

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

"... Huh? O-Oh, right! Hehe... well, y'know, I'm not like you, Reius or Concepta, but still, I'm not a total dunce!" Dinn proclaimed proudly before helping Kurui out with her request. It was a delayed response, and one could only guess the source of his momentary stupor from his nice spot below the Water major. "I mean, it's my major and all, so yeah... I am pretty bad at the other elements myself, so hey, I can cover for you on Earth stuff and so on..." A visible blush had formed upon his cheeks at that point, likely from the nice 'view' he got. Nonetheless, he wisely chose to make proper eye contact during their conversation.

"Thanks for the offer! I mean, as much as I'd like to say that I've got enough stamina to help both of you ladies out, heh, that might be good." Dinn apparently wasn't too proud to accept the girl's assistance, despite the wide smile he struggled to hide as a result of her compliments.

Similar to engaging in strenuous physical activity, the amount of focus required to open and maintain gates could literally be draining on one's mental and emotional faculties, and overusing spells past one's personal limits would typically result in fatigue and the eventual inability to cast until rest was had. Some supplements, such as mindpotions, provided artificial boosts to one's ability to continuously use magic, but even those had their limits in how often they could be used before a break was needed regardless.

"Owe me, huh? I can think of something later," the Earth major replied smugly, though not quite as suggestively as one might have expected from him; it was difficult for many to determine exactly when he was being serious about his advances and when he wasn't, considering how often he made them. "Nah, I'm sure it'll at least keep her happy if nothing else. You don't gotta apologize for her--I can take it."

"And hey, even if you did 'use' me, you could do that anytime!" His additional comment came quickly in his usual lighthearted tone, which earned him another roll of Anisse's eyes while his back was turned. "Alright, Anisse, now where was that?"

"Up there," she replied with a swiftly pointed finger in the crystal's direction.

"No worries, we'll get that taken care of," said Dinn cheerfully, before turning to Kurui and nodding. "Hmm... actually, I'll be the one to open the gate, all I need you to do is maintain it while I draw out the elements," he explained. "Don't wanna use up ALL your energy since you were nice enough to offer."

Provided she agreed to his terms, the two would then go about creating the stone 'stool' on which the Fire major could stand on to acquire her crystal. Dinn proved quite easy to work with, despite his less-than-serious nature, creating an evenly shaped block of rock with Kurui's assistance.

While they did this, Anisse looked on, somewhat envious of their apparent ability to cooperate in such a manner, but said nothing until after the platform was finished.

"T...Thanks," she finally said in a subdued voice, looking to Dinn first, then Kurui. Stepping up onto the rock with her chisel, she then proceeded to pry the gem from its earthen confines. It took her almost as long as the Water major to get her desired stone, and for one that wasn't quite as nice, but in the end she did look rather pleased with herself.

By this time, Reius had acquired a second crystal of equal quality to the first, and Colt looked on curiously. "Who woulda thought Academy students would make such great miners, huh? Eheheh... I mean, no offense or anything, I just imagine you guys being the type to be closer to a library than a min--"

The soldier's sentence was interrupted by a strong tremor rippling through the ground beneath them, soon spreading all throughout, until a crashing noise could be heard in the distance.

"... Don't tell me that our only way out just caved in," said Anisse in a deathly serious tone.

"That's a possibility," replied the bespectacled Water major. "But that would be the least of our concerns at this time."

He motioned to the corridor up ahead, where various chitters and unintelligible grunts echoed through, reaching the ears of the entire party. One thing was for sure; they weren't sounds made by humans, normal ones anyway. It wasn't long before the newcomers' arrival confirmed this; they looked to be diminuitive, odd creatures of sorts--like men, but smaller, with varying skin colors from brown to purple, slightly pointed ears, and fangs. They held crude tools in their hands, such as pickaxes and shovels, though these were soon brandished with dangerous intent.

Kurui certainly had never seen anything like them, and neither had the rest of the students. Colt, however, immediately recognized their appearance as a threat, and drawing his sword, stepped up. "Get behind me."

Spoiler

Goblin x 6

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Dinn's enthusiastic joking and innuendos cause Kurui to to fell a tinge of annoyance, and somewhat reinforced her theories about why he was in such a good mood. She kept any comments to herself though, partially out of gratefulness for his earlier help... and partially over holding back if only to look better than Anisse, who was still rolling her eyes sarcastically at some of the comments. Admittedly Kurui herself probably would have been the same if she were by herself back at the academy and hadn't needed help... but this was far from that kind of normal situation. That and she had at least seen glimpses of impressive stuff beneath Dinn's “joker” facade that made it hard for her to be like that quite as easily as she usually was.
Despite having no real like for Anisse right now and still being a bit unsure about Dinn, she agreed to help Dinn help her out. Even though she had never really worked with him, she knew she was probably good enough at magic to do a cooperative spell like this. There was some risk of course, if the person holding a gate open and the person controlling it “pulled” in different directions the whole thing might fall apart and be a waste for them both of them. Magical tasks like this took some level of being able to “feel” out the other person and some mages just couldn't work with certain other ones no matter how hard they tried. Dinn went slow enough for her to keep up pretty effectively though, and to her surprise the whole thing would be rather easy. He wasn't very hard to “stay in step” with, despite Kurui's own inexperience with earth magic, and the whole thing felt like quite the exciting achievement when they had finished. To top things off, Anisse even surprised Kurui with the briefest flash of a gracious side – to which Kurui was content to just give a friendly nod to this and not rub it in or try to coax anything else out of her. “Geeze... I almost feel bad about what I said earlier... almost.”
While the fire major worked on her own crystal, Kurui moved down the wall and started prying some Siffulum from a nearby wall. Even though forming the platform with Dinn had taken quite a bit of magical energy, she had enough left to pry loose some easy crystals without it being too much more difficult than before. The few samples she got wern't nearly as good as her Falenium one from earlier, but they would still be worth a considerable amount. She only had a few minutes to do this and converse with Colt though... “I'm sure they have some mages help them mine some of this, but there's no way we could dig out all these tunnels like this to begin with. Even getting these crystals out would probably burn us out if we had to do it all day-” ...as no sooner than Anisse had finished with her crystal would the group be interrupted with a worrisome surprise.

Kurui's heart almost stopped when she felt the first tremor. All her attention had been drawn to the ceiling when she caught Anisse's comment about a cave in. “Forget the entrance, we can blast through that with our magic or wait for them to dig us out when they realize we're missing. That could have been US just now!” She responded in an obviously shaken voice. Reius would aggrivate Kurui's shaken feeling by stirring up angry annoyance with his ever present indifference... but only for a brief moment before she noticed what he had been trying to draw everyone's attention to. The odd sounds she now noticed were creepy and unsettling for a few seconds... but once she caught sight of their source any hint of nervousness or fear she had was completely over-ridden by a sense of incredulous morbid fascination.
“What... are those things? Are they even human... or just some kind of freaky creature things that learned to use tools? Geeze, are they even alive? They look like... the offspring of a midget and a corpse...”
Despite their numbers, 6 in all, they weren’t very intimidating, being shorter than Kurui and most everyone else in the group, even though their predatory physique might be hiding a physical strength that may have easily been more than hers.
“Were they always in here and the miners did a bad job of clearing them out? Or were those tremors just now them digging into our mine? What would they even want here... they don't even look intelligent enough to understand us let alone use magi-”
It was only when Colt told them to get back had she realized the hostile intent they were now radiating. She was quick to snap back to her senses though and hastily complied. “Make a flame flare or something, maybe it will scare them away.” she suggested looking over at Anisse, before starting to chant a spell of her own just in case. Although she had used a good chunk of magic earlier and focusing a spell was a bit more difficult now than it would have been in ideal settings back at the academy with all her magic left, she was still able to focus a Blue Riptide, a water spell that would hit at least 3 or 4 of them if she could pull it off. In this condition it would take a bit longer than usual, but whatever these creatures were, they had missed their chance for a sneak attack. Even now they hadn't started attacking yet... by her guess they would have hard time getting to her before she finished if a fight DID start, especially with everyone else here... or at least she hoped so.

INVENTORY

Spoiler

Aside from her uniform and the waist satchel...
-Elemental Ore x1 (charged with Arc Lightning x1)
-Study Notes x1
-Health Potion (small flask) x1
-Ration "Snacks" x2
-Gold x35
-Falenium (Large) x1
-Siffulum (Medium) x2

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Spoiler

Kurui's Casting Check: Success (2 hits)
Anisse's Casting Check: Fail
Reius' Casting Check: Success (2 hits)
Dinn's Casting Check: Success (1 hit)

Anisse was the first to scuttle behind Colt, and she hurried to cast a quick, offensive spell just as Kurui suggested her to. However, she proved far too nervous to successfully open even the smallest of gates, with her words coming out in stutters and her hands too shaky to maintain a sufficient level of focus. To make matters worse, the creatures displayed a surprising level of agility, with the first at the head of the group leaping forward to hack into the Fire major's shoulder with an overhead swing from his pickaxe.

"Kyaah!"

*CLANG*
The ring of steel clashing echoed through the caverns as Colt managed to parry the goblin's wild attack, his superior strength forcing the runty monster to retreat off to the side, in an attempt to regroup and flank. As the others looked to echo his motions, two were caught just in time by the cold blast of Kurui's compact tidal wave, colliding into each other as they flew back into the hall from whence they came, landing several meters back with two telltale thuds. Despite the pair's natural speed, they weren't looking to hurry back to the fray after being hit with such force. Down the hall where they landed, their dark silhouettes exhibited little movement, other than a few twitches and failed attempts to rise.

Of the group, Kurui would be the first one to cast anything successfully, before Dinn and Reius alike. She found that for whatever reason, her gate opened faster than usual; she often required at least several seconds to create a Blue Riptide in practice, but here, it just... went. Which was probably for the better, though she would still find herself equally drained after the initial cast.

Meanwhile, the group's swordsman found it difficult to actually draw an opponent towards him. The lead goblin, whom he knocked back earlier in Anisse's defense, squeaked out a few commands that caused the others to scamper off towards the party's flanks. Bearing mischievous grins with their tongues lolling out the sides of their toothy mouths, the four remaining creatures set their sights on the mages while doing everything in their power to get around the frustrated Colt.

"Damnit! Fight me you cowards! Only this much and you're already avoiding me?!"

Anisse soon resorted to clinging at the soldier's back, making it difficult for them to reach her, but the others still managed to hurry around the sides, with two closing in on Kurui and one for each male mage in the group. A skinnier one made its way towards Dinn, while a strangely muscular goblin came at Reius. While these ugly beings certainly didn't look to be the picture of intelligence, they did seem to at least recognize the Academy students by the white uniforms they wore, and prioritized their attack accordingly.

"Oh c-crap! Gyaah!" Dinn's attacker was almost as swift as the one who had lunged at Anisse. The goblin rushed towards him, aiming a crude spear at the Earth major, which caused the student to fall back on his ass while throwing up a spell in panic. However, the extra bit of urgency in this situation didn't cause the youth's cast to fall apart, but instead accelerate, with the gate opening forth from directly above his purple-skinned assailant. A slide of heavy gravel, made from rocks the size of heads, came crashing down upon the goblin before his thrust could find its way home, the spearhead stopping only a foot or so in front of the Earth major's chest. The rest of the creature had been smashed beneath the weighty stones, with the splatter of its ichor announcing its demise. Dinn could only heave a sigh of relief at his own close call, though he was still unable to pick himself up in time to assist the other two mages. "P-Phew..."

Kurui was at more of a disadvantage than Reius, with double the amount of assailants threatening her, and of all times taking the window of opportunity in which she was 'cooling down' from her initial cast. She barely had time to reach into her pocket before they were upon her. One bore a crude, flattish club, the other a shovel; and they swung furiously at the dark-haired girl's thighs with the wide ends of their weapons, as if to disable her. Despite a spirited attempt, their attacks never found their mark, as a wave identical to the one Kurui had cast earlier smashed into them and sent them hurtling into a nearby wall.

She would see Reius with his hand outstretched from his fresh cast, as calm as ever, even eerily so given the way his colleagues reacted to the creatures' surprising speed. This didn't last, however, as the last of the six goblins managed what would be the first successful attack of their group, with his dirty pickaxe embedding itself in the young man's upper back.

"Nnnghhah!" Reius collapsed to his hands and knees as the goblin drew its weapon out and wrapped its arms around the bespectacled mage's neck from behind, in an odd attempt to strangle him into unconsciousness. A somewhat uncharacteristic look of distress crossed the Water major's features as he grit his teeth and struggled against the thing; this one must have been much stronger than its teammates. "Urrkk..."

With Dinn still grounded and Anisse paralyzed with fear, Kurui had the best opportunity to aid the other Water Major from her position near him, as she could feel her ability to open gates finally returning.

Colt rushed to help get the monster off of Reius' back, but was taken off-guard by the goblin suddenly turning on him and letting loose with a flurry of swipes from his pickaxe, which he could only afford to parry. Some of the wild swings had even gotten through the swordsman's defenses, though the soldier did manage to knock his foe several feet away with a well-placed kick to the stomach.

Spoiler

Remaining Enemies:
Goblin x 1

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

The creatures the group had encountered were quick to act, their earlier hostility it seems was not just an attempt to intimidate the group. Luckily for Kurui it seems everyone was quick to act, with the exception of Anisse who seemed to panic too much to get anything off. At first it would annoy Kurui in the worst of ways, considering they were all in danger right now. However, given how the creatures would seem to prioritize the casters later on rather than be scared off by the sight of magic like Kurui had predicted, she would realize on some sub-conscious level at least that it was better Anisse hadn't been the first to draw attention to herself... not that she wasn't doing a good job hiding herself behind Colt anyway, and him seeming more than capable of protecting her.

For the others in the group, including Kurui herself, there would be no hiding. While Kurui had no combat experience outside of practice duels, and she doubted the others did either, against numbers like this it was probably unwise to trust Colt with protecting all of them. The creatures they now faced didn't exactly look the most “bulky” anyway, and it seemed their spells would be enough to help dispatch them... they WOULD however prove to be surprisingly more agile than they looked though.
Kurui was quick to get one of her spells ready, whether by luck or some side effect of adrenaline, she was doing better than she would have in most Academy practice even, at least in terms of speed... however the creatures had speed of their own. Their small size and the inhuman way they moved left Kurui only hitting two of them solidly with the spell, despite the fact that it had enough to spread that it could have hit more of them if they had all been less dodgy or more predictable.
She had only a quick moment to look at the others after the spell, she caught a glimpse of Dinn crushing one in a spell, and Reius had a manageable number of attackers, but she also noticed the odd way the creatures seemed to ignore Colt completely. She had no idea what to make of it, but it did strike her as odd. There was no time to think about it though, as a moment later she found two more had closed the distance to her while she had been recovering from her spell. Once they got close all she could really do was dodge. “This isn't much different than dodging spells in practice... but they're probably not going to stop when I get hit and it's harder to move in this cave!” For a moment it looked as if she couldn't keep it up forever and they would overwhelm her... “Myrehhh get awayyyy!” but before that moment came they would be slammed away into a nearby wall by a water spell that wasn't hers. “Wha-?!” A quick look in the direction it came from would reveal to her that Reius of all people was responsible for it. It looked like a calculated choice, as almost everything he did was, however that didn't make it a good one.

When the creatures pick axe first stabbed into Reius's back, Kurui wasn't sure what to make of it. Everything was slow for a few moments, it didn't seem real... until the first spots of blood started to show it was serious. Her eyes widened with a sort of primal fear and disbelief... even though she had known these creatures to be dangerous from the start, somehow she never expected them to actually hurt any of them. This wasn't supposed to happen, this trip was supposed to be safe. Colt would kick away the creature before it could do any more damage, but he wouldn't finish it off right away. Kurui however had the perfect shot now. She considered using the charged ore from earlier for speed, but wasn't sure if she could control it well enough to avoid hitting Colt or having the spell conduct through their metal weapons. Enough time had passed for her to recover from her earlier spell though.
“~~~~~~~~~~~” she started to chant, knowing mentally what would work best... but halfway through the chant her words changed, her focus became harsher. Mentally she knew it was a bad move and maybe a waste of magic that she couldn't pull off right now, but it was something she couldn't control now, it was a subconscious compulsion. She was changing her spell from a water jet to an ice spike. If this worked it would be the first time she could ever remember that she was shooting to kill... violently.
“Get skewered, bastard!”

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Spoiler

Kurui's Casting Check: Success (1 hit, aaand dead)

The goblin skidded to a stop just a few feet from the cavern wall, hunched over and clutching its midsection from where Colt delivered his kick. From the way his movement and zeal seemed to lessen, it may have broken a rib or two thanks to the swordsman's well-timed attack. This, however, was far from the worst thing to happen to the now injured creature. Kurui's spell shot out from its gate with as much speed as the first one she unleashed, but with a far higher degree of lethality. She would find her water jets freezing into solids as they rushed from their original plane into this one, forming a series of ice lances that pierced the unfortunate monster in both trunk and limb, effectively pinning him to the gem-studded rock behind him. Though completely disabled now, it didn't matter anymore--a glance upwards would tell Kurui and the others that the last foe was dead, reduced to a grisly decoration upon an otherwise sparkling wall.

Colt was practically mid-charge by the time the spell hit, and seeing its results, he turned to look at Kurui, a somewhat surprised look on his face. The others could only stare shocked at the sight of the Water Major's skewered victim for a few seconds, though more important matters were soon tended to; that of Reius' health.

The bespectacled honor student was still on his knees, groaning in pain, with a dark red trickle staining his otherwise pristine white uniform, running down from one side of his upper back. His breathing labored, he could only grimace and try to stand, but was stopped by Colt. "Wait, don't move around too much. Uhh... I just gotta add pressure on the wound, I think..."

The soldier looked around for usable pieces of fabric, but having little to choose from, other than his own pants, resorted to using Reius' muffler to try and stop the bleeding. "Damnit!" He took a moment to look around at the others. Dinn was unharmed, but could only gawk at the situation, whereas Anisse wore a look of terror. Colt frowned and turned his attention back to the wounded Reius, intent on at least making sure the water mage didn't bleed out.

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Kurui collapsed to her knees and was left breathing heavily for a moment after finishing her spell. While the she had pulled off the spell with impressive -if grisly- results, the large amount of magical energy she had dumped into it when she had already been using a lot of magic earlier was more than her body was used to and she almost couldn't even keep herself up for the first few seconds while it was recovering. She had only meant to throw one spike... but panic or anger or shock or some combination of the all kept her going. Colt's shocked look made her briefly wonder what she must have looked like doing that... but she was pretty sure she didn't look too fierce now, barely able to move now and no emotion left except the scared shock from the sight of blood earlier. The immediate danger seemed to be over, but that was only a small comfort now.
“That was stupid! Why did you do that for me!” She screamed out towards the water major from where she was kneeling as Colt was trying to stop his bleeding. It sounded harsh, but anyone else there could tell it was the stress talking. It took her a few more seconds to get to her feet and work her way over. It was probably better it took her those few moments to get there, since it spared her from having to see the wound before it covered. The sight of blood and Reius's heavy breathing was already making her feel waves of panic she could barely hold back. “Calm... just stay calm... oh God why did this have to happen, this wasn't supposed to happen! Calm damnit! Calm...” She turned towards Colt rummaging in her waist satchel, her voice surprisingly more steady under the stress than she felt inside. “See if you can get him to drink this.” she directed, producing the small vial of healing potion she had brought with her. “I only brought this in case I got scraped up on the rocks or something, I don't know how much it will help something like THIS. God I've never done anything like this, but it should at least help a little. Here, see if you can get him to eat this too...” she continued on producing one of her ration crackers “I'm no potions expert but the protein in the filling should help the potion work.”
While it WAS true she was no expert on potions or wounds or anything, she at least know a little bit about how health potions worked. While she didn't know the specifics, they worked like a stimulant of sorts at first, giving someone energy and blocking out pain at first, then later breaking down into an a agent that caused the body to heal rapidly on its own. While the potion would contain some of the proteins and stuff the body would need to do this, the body still had to draw on it's own stores to get the full effectiveness. This would often leave users with strong cravings or an urge to eat afterwards.

She held herself together long enough to give Colt her instructions, but afterwards had to turn away before the sight of more crimson blood was too much for her. She instead walked over to where Dinn had crushed one of the creatures, took out her study notes, and soaked them in some of the its dripping blood. For some reason theirs didn't bother her nearly as much as the sight of human blood. “There, now we've got a sample in case that bastard Black calls us liars for being attacked. It's his fucking fault we're here anyway!” More misdirected anger. She knew it was perfectly possible he knew nothing about this, if the creatures had dug in from somewhere else nobody could have predicted this. Anger was better than crushing panic though. However she wouldn't be able to keep it up, slumping back against a nearby wall, wrapping herself in her uniform's cloak, and her voice dropping to a whimper now.
“Forget the project and the crystals... I don't want to be here anymore. I don't even think I can use magic anymore... I don't want to die in this pit. Please... lets just get back outside... please...”


INVENTORY

Spoiler

Aside from her uniform and the waist satchel...
-Elemental Ore x1 (charged with Arc Lightning x1)
-Goblin Blood Sample x1
-Ration "Snacks" x1
-Gold x35
-Falenium (Large) x1
-Siffulum (Medium) x2

(Lost Study Notes x1, Small Healing Potion x1, and Ration x1)

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

"I-If I didn't... it'd have been doubly worse for you," he muttered forcibly. Weakened as he was, the bespectacled Water Major was obstinate in his attempts to stay calm, even though it soon became evident that he had never received an injury as grievous as this one.

Colt took the potion and rations from Kurui with a nod of thanks. "Right," he replied, trying his best to stay calm despite an underlying frustration brewing just beneath the surface of his facade. "Here, drink this..." He provided the healing supplement to Reius, who quaffed it carefully, then let it settle, waving off the food beforehand. "N-No need."

However, minutes later, as his condition begin to slowly stabilize, the dark-haired student felt the hunger kick come in force. "On second thought, the urge to eat something is much stronger in reality than they make it out to be in the books. Admittedly, I've never had to actually use a potion like this, at least not to treat this kind of injury." He gave Colt a nod before turning his gaze to Kurui. "... Thanks."

Anisse was in a similar state to the other girl, having wrapped her muffler around herself while hunched over. Her eyes would dart around the room, as if anticipating another attack. "W... why would this happen?! Wasn't it supposed to be safe here? I thought you guys were just with us in case of bandits, but monsters like those... I've never seen them before! They've got to be from the Void. This is just so... wrong! Kurui's right, we need to get out of here, and at least warn the others!"

Colt sighed. Of course he knew that much. "Damnit, if I had only been a little faster, or realized how quick these things would be, then none of this would have happened. I told you guys I'd protect you, but... I couldn't."

Dinn shook his head. "Hey hey, don't be so hard on yourself. I don't think any of us were ready for what happened here! Besides, what the hell are those things doing here anyway? I mean, there couldn't be a ton of Void portals down here or whatever, could there?"

"I'm not sure," interrupted Reius in a low voice as he tried to get back to his feet. "They did carry shovels, which may at least indicate a familiarity with these mines." Though his breathing seemed to be returning to normal, he was still far from well, at least physically, which could be seen just by the way he stood.

"Maybe these things were here all along, waiting for us or something! Ugh, that is really creepy," moaned Anisse. "Either way, let's get out of here already." She gravitated towards Colt, hugging herself.

"Alright... forget the crystals. I think everyone has at least something by now anyway, right?" asked the group's chaperone. He was answered with a collective nod from the students. "We gotta get out of here and alert the others. I hope they aren't in danger as well."

~~~~~​

With that, the party headed back down the corridor from whence they came, retracing their steps through the branching cavern. It was almost eerie how silent the mines turned out to be, especially after the strange incident.

Finally, they did come across two figures, who showed themselves as other soldiers that had served as chaperones. "Julius, Octavian!" said Colt with a relieved sigh. "You won't believe what we found here. Void creatures, six of them, attacked us. We won, but... we have someone wounded. We've gotta get back to the surface and warn the others! What happened to your groups?"

A grim look washed over the pair. Julius, a slender man with long black hair tied in a ponytail, shook his head slowly before answering. "...We were separated. The cave-in occurred near one of the main passageways--it was a big one, and there are plenty others within, though they are at least shallow enough to dig through. Most of us are blocked in at this point. I do worry about my group, so I'd like to reunite with them as soon as possible. You're lucky to still have everyone in yours accounted for."

Octavian, a warrior of stout build with short red hair, looked Kurui and the others over briefly before adding, "The way back from here is completely obstructed. I think there's an alternative route to the exit, though." He motioned towards one of the passageways, as there were many, and without further input from Colt or the others began to walk in that direction.

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

“Not helping!” The other's theories about where the creatures had come from and more mentions of the Void wasn't the most calming thing to think about right now. It probably didn't help that she knew they were probably right, the creatures appearance reminded her of things she had heard in spook stories as a child. While it wasn't impossible they were some native species with some form of intelligence, the chances seemed highly unlikely. In fact the more she thought about it, the more Anisse's suggestion that they had been waiting felt right for some unsettling reason...
“I don't think there are void rifts deeper in... if they just came through they wouldn't have mining equipment... if the portals were here for awhile then someone would have known already... probably. They could have been in another tunnel and accidentally dug into ours. I don't care about finding out though, lets just go.”
Luckily she would find little objection from the group. It did feel a bit unfair to ask them to leave when she wasn't sure if Reius or Dinn had found good crystals yet, but given the current circumstances any bit of guilt she felt wasn't going to stop her overpowering need to get out of here as soon as possible.

The walk back towards the entrance would be disturbingly quiet, but there seemed to be no more signs of the creatures from earlier now. Kurui wasn't sure whether it was helping her calm down or making her more paranoid though...
A few minutes later she almost jumped when they finally encountered more of signs of life. It felt stupid a moment later when they turned out to be human, other soldiers who were escorts from the other groups to be exact. Perhaps her first negative gut reaction had been right though... as they brought only news further up towards the entrance... or was it something else?
“It just HAD to be at the enterance... Oh God we're trapp-”
Before she could finish freaking out over the thought of being stuck though, one of the two new soldiers informed the group that there was another exit. It should have come as a relief... but it meant going further into the mine. She didn't like that idea either... not at all... but there was more.
“No, no, this doesn't make sense. This whole trip has been off from the start. Black and the Academy paying for us to go to some mine and keep whatever we want from a bunch of valuable crystals? It's supposed to be safe then we get attacked by weird void goblin things? ...And what about these two new soldiers here. They're all alone without their groups... how did they both get separated, just luck of the cave in? Colt didn't even kill anything when WE got attacked, didn't even hurt any until we got them down to one... but even if this whole thing was somehow their fault, what do any of them have to gain from Academy students dying? This is a noble and some soldiers we're talking about, they're not going to kill us off in a cave and rummage through our stuff for some gold like common theives. Those things that attacked looked vicious enough... but... maybe... maybe we wern't even supposed to die... but... I don't even want to think about that.”
She cast nervous glances at them, specifically Colt, trying to guage whether she could trust him or not. She also cast a glance towards Reius... surely he was smart enough to know something was up if she wasn't just paranoid right now. She was hoping she might see some sign of it... or that not seeing such would calm her down a little. Not that she expected Dinn or Anisse to figure out anything, but she was eerily spooked when everyone started to turn and head off this supposed alternate exit without so much as a word of protest or questioning.

“Wait! I'm not going deeper into the mine after we just got attacked! Who's to say there aren't more of those things deeper in! They looked like they'd have eaten us and made necklaces with our bones or something if they had the chance!” It was more than her suspicions speaking, she WAS actually afraid of going deeper for the reasons she was making... there also the fact that she especially vulnerable with all her magic burned out and not really recovered much yet. “I say we go back to the entrance. We've got an Earth Mage with us, maybe he can blow through whatever cave in there is. We haven't even see this yet, maybe it's not even bad. You two said you did though, so we at least know the path up there is safe and it's not going to hurt to go check!”
If luck was on her side, everything she said might be true, her paranoia might be just that, and they might be able to escape easily. Even if they couldn't, the walk up there would give her more time to recover at least a little magic, and maybe allow to Reius to heal more... however they might also find her idea a waste of time and not want to bother. If that did happen, despite all her suspicions, she was NOT going to be in here all alone and would follow the group. It still felt safer to take the chance she was worrying too much about them and making up stuff because she was scared than to take chances being alone if she got attacked again, especially given her magic-drained state and lack of any other real way to defend herself. “If they wanted to do something bad... they would have done it already, right? Please lets just get out of here already...”

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

As Kurui looked up at Colt to gauge his expression for any signs of dishonesty, his eyes turned to meet hers by chance. There were traces of genuine concern upon his face, but he did manage a reassuring smile in her direction, the kind that at least tried to tell her that things were going to be okay. If anything, the soldier seemed more naive to whatever might have been going on here, if there were indeed larger plans involved behind this strange series of events. There was little he seemed to be hiding, and the Aelwyck duelist's features were as easily read as a book. He was no doubt disappointed in himself for what he would've considered a poor performance against the goblins, and a personal failure to protect the others, though relieved in finding two others that he could trust wholeheartedly. Colt may not have been the sharpest of blades, but if nothing else, he was honest, and easy enough to read. And more importantly, trustworthy.

Reius, on the other hand, bore a visage far too distracted by the pain of his nagging injury. Provided, he was up and moving around, but not very well, and any read on him was difficult enough due to the occasional wince and cringe he exhibited. If nothing else, the air around the honor student felt 'warmer' thanks to the help that Kurui provided for him, and she could sense that there were fewer emotional barriers around him from when they first met. Still, the only clues she could get from his expression was that he was trying to endure the pain and focus on the situation at hand.

Julius blinked at Kurui's sudden protest, looking a bit surprised that she would practically imply their untrustworthiness.

Even Colt was somewhat taken aback by it, raising a brow for a moment, but then nodding to the other two soldiers. "She's right, though. We do have an Earth mage, and these kids are smart, let me tell ya. They'll find a way out for us for sure."

The dark-haired swordsman shrugged. "Fair enough. I don't see why not." He smirked at Dinn before whistling and waving Octavian over, who looked a bit confused at first, though that look faded after his colleague explained the situation. "We're going to let the Earth mage have a try at moving the cave-in."

"Huh? Uh... huh. Alright, if you say so." The bulkiest of the three scratched his head, glancing over the Academy students one last time. The whole thing looked to be something of a hassle to him, in contrast to Julius, who was certainly more talkative and, well, animated.

"It's over this way. Come on," waved Julius, who seemed a little more upbeat, strangely enough. Dinn's presence either provided relief to him, or amusement, or... well, something that made the corners of his lips curl upward.

The group of seven journeyed along with the long-haired soldier in the lead. It seemed longer than it should have been, to where it grew difficult to gauge if they had even passed by that way during their initial trip. Though, surely enough, a few barren parts of the caves began to look familiar to Kurui, and she could tell that they were on their way out, at least to one of the main arteries.

Then, as was claimed, they were stopped by a large cave-in. Julius and Octavian may have even downplayed the severity of it all; it was impressive, if one could even call it that. But mostly to those who had just seen the disaster, it was also terribly disheartening. Dinn's shoulders slumped as he beheld the great mess. "Oh... man. You want me to move all of THAT?"

"Your chaperone Colt must a lot of faith in you," remarked Julius. "This is why we hoped to look for an alternate route."

The Earth Major released an exasperated sigh, then knelt down in front of the large wall of packed earth. "How something like this even happened is beyond me, yeesh...! But yeah, we gotta get out of here. Even our token genius is pretty wounded, and I'd hate to see a lady cry, so, count on me!" He gave Kurui and Anisse a wink and a smile, to which the latter only huffed and replied, "Hurry up already! I wanna get out of here, ugh!"

"Alright, alright. I got this..."
Half-closing his eyes, Dinn placed his hand upon the giant earthen obstruction, and opening a gate upon it, 'shifted' the earth to the other side. The existing dirt in their plane moved across the summoned portal to the other, in exchange for a roughly equal amount that came in a finer grain onto the ground. Continuing in this way, the Earth major began to 'shift' the rocks from the giant clot into various piles behind him. Judging from his intense look of focus, it was no small amount of work. Sweat began to bead up around the edges of his brow, and he stopped to wipe it off. "Phew, I've never really done element-shifting THIS much before..."

So began Dinn's tedious process of facilitating their eventual escape from the mines. Colt would occasionally help by clearing out the piles that were created, moving them off to the side, while Reius seemed to be familiar with the other student's technique of 'earth-moving', even going so far as to help open or maintain the portals. There were several times when the Earth major had to stop and catch his breath, looking back at the others, then to Kurui. "I-I said walls for days, right? Can't stop now..." he said to her as much as himself, and taking a deep breath, pressed on, pushing his limits.

It was probably over the better part of an hour later when a rather impressive amount of dirt and even solid stone was moved. There was no way that even three soldiers would have been able to make the kind of progress that Dinn had. But the class prankster began to look tired, and he shook his head, waving a hand. "P-Phew... uh, just... just lemme rest a little, okay? I'm feeling totally tapped out. Besides, that's a little over halfway done in maybe... an hour, right? Not bad, not bad..."

"Come on Dinn," groaned Anisse, who got up from her place against the wall to stand in front of him with her hands on her hips. "You can't rest now! Not when we're so close!"

"I've always wanted to hear a girl say that to me," replied the Earth major with a chuckle. "What a lucky day!"

Julius laughed. "Nicely said. I must say, man, you surprised me there... I didn't expect such a talented mage to be in this group. Colt sure got lucky with you guys, it seems." He walked up to where Dinn, Anisse and Reius crouched, while Octavian lingered near Colt and Kurui.

"Hehe, I appreciate it. But Reius here is way smarter than me. He even wiped out two goblins like it was nothing before the uh, accident. Kurui too! We've got some of the best Water Majors in the whole Academy, I'd say."

"Hoh? Nice. But either way, I don't blame you for needing rest. That was a lot of rock..." he trailed off, looking to his red-headed colleague for a brief moment, before drawing his blade, and in one swift motion, stabbing Dinn in the stomach while grabbing the nearby Anisse and proceeding to hold his bloodied sword beneath her chin.

"Urrkk---hhh... agh...!"

At the same time, Kurui would feel the massive Octavian's arms wrapping around her in a tight bear hug. He was strong, almost incredibly so, and she could hardly do much to resist him, though her lower arms were still marginally free.

Alarmed, Colt drew his sword, first pointing it at Octavian, then at Julius. The actions they took were probably the last thing he expected, from the look on his face. "What in the Void is going on here?! Why did you... I don't understand! Julius, Octavian... Answer me!"

Likewise, Reius stood up, instinctively making an attempt to cast a spell, but he was dry. "D-Damnit," he muttered under his breath. "How could I have been so foolish..."

The stoic Octavian gave no response to Colt's demands, instead keeping his firm grip upon the female Water Major, while Julius simply snickered. "What are you going to do, duel each of us to the death? What a joke, fencer of Aelwyck, with your half-cultivated style. Not even worthy of mention amongst the Nine Great Schools." Anisse shrieked and made a motion to thrash, but was stopped by the man's deadly reminder at her throat.

Julius continued. "I guess you didn't get the memo, but I'll tell you now. There's a Syndicate encampment not far from here. They're giving us an officer's place in the Military Division, along with any single one of the captured mage girls to be trained as a slave of our choosing."

He brought his face uncomfortably close to that of Anisse's with a grin. "You see, supposedly there are tons of a Voidic mineral here in the mine, rare as it is. The Syndicate needs them for whatever reason. But the goblins--those things you guys probably killed--are too goddamn stupid to use magic in order to extract it properly. That's where you Academy students come in. Older mages are a bit too powerful and too much of a hassle to 'train' in terms of mining this stuff properly... but you guys are perfect. Providing free, efficient labor, and hell, even some 'relief' for the guards--what's there not to love?"

Colt grit his teeth, his eyes wide with anger as the tip of his blade shook. "I-I can't... fucking believe this... why? Why, damnit?! Y-You swore allegiance to Elynsor the moment you put on that goddamn uniform!"

The dark-haired one sighed and shook his head. "Are you really that naive? Ask yourself: what IS Elynsor? Is it one man, the King, his family and his what, lineup of personal hussies, the Holy Royal Guard? Or is it everyone else? Bet you didn't even know that our entire unit is under the Redclaw Syndicate's command."

"That's a lie... You're fucking lying! Let them go or Erion help me, I'll kill you both! Traitors!"

"Hah... I'd like to see you try. Listen to yourself. You talk like the Redclaw is all bad, because of slave trafficking, when there are slaves in every one of our neighboring countries, and yet they bother to act like they're so civilized. Don't kid yourself. Every society has a loser, it just depends on who. I'd rather have it be the King and his bitches, rather than everyone else around."

He went on. "The Syndicate might have some shady dealings, yeah... but in the end, their leaders are the ones who know what's best for the Kingdom! They're going to overthrow that greedy son of a bitch, then turn these fucking spoiled brats into proper slaves, and give Elynsor back to the commoners, thug and farmer alike. We'll have slaves... sure. But at least they'll be the people who belong in chains."

"It doesn't make it right... it doesn't..." Colt's words began to waver as tears formed at the corners of his eyes. "How..."

Julius sighed, maintaining his eerie smile. "Come on. When everything comes crashing down, whose side would you rather be on? The winners or the losers? It's a simple choice. You and your family can be slaves, or you can be masters. If you just come with us quietly, I'll even make sure that you get your pick of either of these girls," he added in a most suggestive tone.

"So, which one do you prefer? This one?" he said in a lower voice, using his free hand to slowly fondle Anisse's bosom, at which the helpless girl gasped and grimaced hard. "Got quite the rack on her. Could be fun, heh..."

"Or maybe that dark-haired one Octavian has? She looks to be as smart as she is pretty... kinda makes you want to fuck her 'til she's stupid, doesn't it? With that aura I bet she doesn't give most guys the time of day, but you can take up -all- of her time if you like. Come on, you can't say that you didn't wanna bang at least one of these ladies from the moment you were assigned to this little group."

Luckily for Kurui, she was spared of similar molestations as Octavian was content to simply hold her in place, but the situation was bad enough as is. Dinn could only look up weakly as blood began to drip from his open wound, which he clutched at desperately, and Reius' normally stoic expression was pale, angry as it was.

"Please. You two Academy chumps don't even have a drop left to spend on us. And I'll have you know that Colt here was the gopher boy of our graduating camp. Probably why he wasn't in the loop to begin with. But since he's shown that he's got some balls to begin with..." Julius smirked at Colt once more. "Use 'em for the right side, why don't you? So... what'll it be?"

Kurui could do little to move, but she could still speak, and move her lower arms to a smaller extent. The facades were off--while Reius and Dinn were just that, students of the Academy, Julius and Octavian revealed themselves to be members of the Syndicate, proving Kurui's inner warnings to be spot-on. On the verge of tears, Colt could barely keep his hand straight, though he was apparently conflicted with the newfound revelation.

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Kurui found herself calming down a little just form having taken the time to really look over Colt and the others. It also helped that nobody had any objections to going back out the original way they had come in. Even if the exit was blocked out, it still felt good to get closer to it, and not so deep in. It felt good to be farther away from wherever those goblin things had come from. Eventually they would get to a landslide just like the two new soldiers had said, and they wern't exaggerating how bad it had been. Kurui was almost ready to resignation agree to go back to looking for another exit, but to her surprise Dinn didn't seem to be too intimidated by the landslide.
For the better part of an hour, Dinn and Reius and even Colt would work on digging them out. Somehow they were managing to make pretty good progress too. There would be no sign of any more creatures either. The progress went a long way towards calming Kurui's nerves, and the hour of down time even gave her a chance for some of her magic to come back, making her no so afraid of another attack again. For awhile it seemed as if all her uneasy feelings earlier had just been wild imaginings... then things got bad again...

Kurui found herself grabbed before she could register what was going on. She had seen Dinn get stabbed for sure, but was too emotionally burnt out from earlier to freak out the way she had when Reius got hurt earlier. Instead she just found herself stunned, not even bothering to put any resistance to her attacker. Lukily or unluckily for her though, he seemed to have no actual intention of hurting her, and seemed content to just keep her secure while they went on to explain to Colt exactly what was happening right now.
Kurui too was listening to the conversation the whole time. What she was hearing would be almost unbelievable, had it not been for her suspicions earlier. Somehow having them proved right blunted the blow a little, or perhaps it was her unable to handle another wave of fear, or perhaps it was that finally having an answer was better than uncertainty and anticipation. Whatever the reason, she was able to put together what they saying and believe it, despite not actually knowing much about the Syndicate and considering them mostly exaggerated rumor. It took her awhile, but perhaps the inevitability of it all now that it was happening was what made her able to think a little over her shock.
She had already missed her chance to get a cast in and figured they wouldn't let her now. She might be able to rattle off something small, but in this position had no easy way to aim a cantrip at face of the soldier holding her. Even if she could get something off right now, she'd hit herself in her own spell. Dinn and Reius would be useless right now, it was clear the others had let them dig for so long just to wear them out. Anisse might end up getting her own throat slit if she kept panicking like this, although Kurui doubted their captors would risk hurting their “prize”, as morbid a thought as it was. Colt at least seemed to be on her side... probably... but he couldn't do much right now even if he did stay on her side.
“I have to do something right now... but... what? Ok... calm down... they're not the goblins, they're not going to kill me right now. Maybe I have some time... lets just slow this all down, see what I have to work with.”

“Okay! You got us.” She conceded in an attempt to calm everyone down, her voice sounding a lot more shakey and scared than she wanted it to, and even more so than she thought she felt, somewhat numb in her shock. “Let's not have anyone else get hurt for no reason, alright?” she cast a look over to Colt “See if you can stop Dinn's bleeding, at least wrap it in something.” she then turned her attention to the one holding Anisse “She's panicky, put the sword away before she hurts herself! It's not like any of us can do anything anyway!” She hoped he would, but didn't consider it smart to come off as giving orders if he didn't. She had hoped her own lack of resistance so far would keep the one holding her from doing too much to stop her talking, since she wasn't exactly chanting spells or anything dangerous. She still took a deep breath before continuing though. It took nerve to say anything right now considering her position.
“We're not all like the terrible nobles who run the kingdom you know... I'm only learning magic so I won't have to be a slave to them like my parents and cater to their every whim.” She had a hard time thinking of her family's position as anything close to slavery, but whatever lie might buy her time right now was worth trying. “You'll give Colt a chance to be a master this all comes “crashing down” but not me, huh? Do whatever you want, but don't sit here and justify to me what you're doing as right like I'm one of the ones making things so bad for you." Her voice had a twinge of anger to it now, maybe some panic rising up that she didn't realize. “At least have the nerve to tell us you're in this for yourselves instead of trying to act so self-righteous you hypocrites. I hear the way you're talking, you just want fuck toys, thats all!” she calmed herself and took another deep breath “Nothing I say is probably going to change your mind, so at least tell me who set all this up. Was it Black, one of the nobles you hate so much? If he was so quick to sell us out I don't doubt he'd do the same to you. Use you to get him slaves then get rid of you, go straight to the Royal Guard with evidence of what you're doing and maybe even get called a hero for it.” Her shot at Black was a risky one of course, he might not have set this up at all, but her gut had still given her funny feelings about him, and so far her gut had proven to be pretty accurate already. If she was right the comment might stir up some uncertainty among the pair that had grabbed her and Anisse. If nothing else, an idea was forming on the edges of her mind, it wasn't there yet, but if they took the time to dignify anything she said with an answer it might buy her enough time to grasp whatever idea was floating around just out of reach. Aside from that, she was also desperate to know who actually DID set all of this up, as it was quite obvious the two soldiers wern't in this alone....

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

"Heh, there's a sharp one," commented Julius. "Of course we got you. Now tell me something I don't know."

Kurui's next few lines would cause the swordsman to release a short burst of laughter. Shaking his head slowly as he recovered, Julius gave her a hard look. "Wow, you sure do know how to take charge, huh? Maybe I'll just have you for myself instead, put you through your paces. I can only imagine how satisfying it would be to break someone like you--a stuck-up Academy wreck who apparently needs a nice big reminder of where you truly stand."

Colt was still so consumed by anger that it took several seconds for the Water major's words to actually register in his mind. Blinking twice, he looked at Kurui, then to Dinn, somewhat hesitant to leave her under Octavian's rigid watch. "I-I.... rrrgh... damnit all!"

"You wouldn't just let him die, would you?" questioned Reius. "Surely you'll need to keep us somehow, otherwise those crystals won't harvest themselves."

"Oh, yes, let's just keep the Earth mage who can provide a sliver of opportunity for the lot of you to actually escape. Wonderful idea..."

"...But no. He's going to bleed out here, and you're going to watch him, especially if Colt doesn't make a decision quick." Julius scoffed.

Frustrated, the fencer from Aelwyck made a quick lunging motion towards the larger man's face, as if to save Kurui, but Octavian wisely took a step back and left an arm around her torso while employing the other to draw his own blade, parrying the telegraphed thrust.

*CLANG*

"Looks like you just made things worse for yourself," the redhead muttered. "We'll take that answer as a 'no'."

During the awkward exchange, Reius moved quickly, darting over to tend to Dinn, using the Earth major's own muffler to help stifle the bleeding, in a surprisingly urgent yet controlled manner. For someone as calculating as him, it was a rather daring motion, especially seeing that Julius shifted his blade to point in the bespectacled one's direction momentarily. "Hey! What did I say?!"

But this didn't discourage Reius, and he did all he could to stabilize his classmate. "I-It won't stop..." he grumbled. "Dinn, stay still." Dinn could only look up at him and wheeze, the normally talkative prankster failing to utter a single word in this condition.

Julius could only frown at the act of defiance, which caused him to tighten his grip upon Anisse. "Alright, you cheeky little shits. You got me on that one... it'd be a shame to just kill off beauties such as you two, but there are plenty more in the other groups, and I was hoping to gain a little leverage with our boy Colt here. You know, as a favor from one soldier to another."

Colt was still shaken, utterly discouraged from his failed attempt. "Y-You bastards... At least let the girls go. Take me instead, whatever. Just... not this group. Anyone but them. I told them I'd protect them, and I intend on keeping that promise." He looked about ready to give up after seeing the futility of his attempt, his sword arm lowering.

"That's sweet and... noble, and all, but just listen to yourself for a second. Even if you do come along and be our buddy, do you really intend for us to just leave a handful of Academy mages to escape and let everyone know all about what's going on here? Hah... man, you really are dense." Julius turned back to Kurui.

"And yeah... of course we're in this for ourselves. Just know that whatever government you're trying to preserve... that of the King and his selfish ways, is long overdue to be replaced. All the more reason to join the Syndicate's side. I mean... what promises can YOU offer me, girl? Do you really think the Holy Royal Guard can do anything to frighten me when there are entire platoons in the Elynsorian Military under Redclaw control? Hahaha... not to mention they're so busy cooped around the royal family, they hardly have time to care for brats like yourself. See? This is the kind of kingdom you're looking to preserve. They'd just as soon abandon you, and you'll bend over backwards for them. Pathetic."

Reius, having done all that he could to patch Dinn up, grit his teeth as he looked up at Julius from his crouching position. For once, the honor student appeared genuinely angry.

The dark-haired swordsman didn't seem to care about this, instead choosing to continue his speech towards Kurui. "But before we drag you and this other girl away for some proper training, I'll do you a favor and tell you now. Yeah... your ol' lecturer Black set you up. We don't even talk to him, he just knows that the Redclaw's Military Division is here to help him a little bit--that's what we're part of. As for selling us out, heh... well, nice bluff, but when you're as accomplished as that guy, being called a hero by the King's lackies doesn't mean a damn thing. Nice try, though."

He then looked to Colt, Reius, and Dinn. "So, are you three boys gonna come along quietly and get shackled up with the rest, or are we going to have to leave you here to die like dogs?"

 

[Kat]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

Kurui's mind was on a selective filtering mode as the pair gave her answers. She had been lucky enough to buy this time, she didn't want to waste it.... she didn't want to miss anything important either. Her mind was racing a million miles a second. “Earth mage and escape... that means they don't have anyone waiting outside of THIS entrance. The miners we saw earlier probably aren't part of this, no there's a reason they wanted to take us out another way. Ok, stay calm... keep thinking.” She kept from commenting on any of the other ruthless taunting thrown at her and comments about bleeding out directed at the others. Even trying to ignore them, they threatened to summon waves of panic she couldn't afford right now. It was a smart choice, as finally the idea eluding her just outside the edges of her mind made itself known. “That's it! This guy probably won't let me cast anything... but I DO still have a way to use magic if I don't get caugh-”

Kurui was interrupted from her thoughts by Colt rushing Octavian and the clanging of metal just a few inches from her face. “Wah! Stop! Too close!” She moved back with her captor, making it easy for him to keep his balance. She could have tried to make it difficult for him, but blades so close made her jerk back out of instinct. Octavian had managed to parry the blow without Colt landing anything, but there was some good to come of. In blocking Colt he had loosen his grip on her just a little... but more importantly he had become a little distracted. “This is the best chance I'm going to get...” Kurui carefully slipped a hand into her waist satchel, Octavian seemingly oblivious to such a small non-aggressive movement. Julius seemed too preoccupied with Dinn and Reius to catch the slight of hand either. There was still a glaring problem with this plan though, and as the group continued exchanging dialogue she could think of no way around it, in fact, it was hard to keep thinking at all when she learned Black HAD in fact set them up. She had never wanted to believe it, there was nothing that could be done about it now though... she slipped the ore with Arc Lightning out hidden in her hand and got ready...

“Colt!” She called his name out to get his attention, he would have to move quickly for this to work. “Octavian is touching me... and Julius is touching Anisse... this is lightning... it conducts... it wont kill us... but one of us is going to have to...” she gave a quick look in Anisse's direction “Sorry Anisse!” She turned the crystal towards Julius and pulsed magic into it. No chanting required. It would be quicker than either of them could react and Julius didn't have his blade at Anisse's throat anymore so there was no risk of the jolt getting her cut accidently. It would still hit them hard though, maybe even knock them out. She felt horrible about shooting the spell in Anisse's direction, since Julius was holding her it would conduct through both of them. However Kurui knew if Colt freed her after this that she would be more of a help to him than Anisse. If she was wrong, fate could make the ore blow up in her hand and hit her and Octavian instead. Either way, all she could do was hope her faith in Colt was well-placed and that the ore did SOMETHING...

 

[Takimaru]

Re: Elynsor's Royal Magic Academy (Kat) GMed by Takimaru

As Kurui dug through her satchel for the enchanted ore, the one hope of anything that would save her life, it almost seemed to slip through her fingers on occasion, though she'd feel it brush against her hand. It wasn't even a large bag, at that--perhaps it was just the frustration, the hidden panic, or the way that Octavian was moving, that made it seem so unrealistically difficult in such a crucial moment.

Then she found it, just as her massive captor seemed to settle down and let Julius continue his monologue. The Water Major felt the power of the Arc Lightning resonating within the magical ore the moment she clutched it, and the more she focused, the more defined the energy's signature seemed to get, with the relic itself shuddering more and more violently, as if struggling to unleash the power held within. Whether or not the spell itself would hit true to its mark was another matter, but one thing was for sure; it was ready and charged. The item was no dud.

As she called out Colt's name, the swordsman turned to Kurui and the one holding her, lunging forward yet again, but his blade was blocked easily by the bulkier of the two soldiers. While their blades were locked, Octavian made a powerful shove that sent the other swordsman stumbling backwards, and ultimately kept the dark-haired girl in his grasp for the time being. However, he was completely unaware of Kurui's sleight-of-hand and the plan she had brewed, giving her time to aim the crystal properly to the best of her abilities.

As her level of focus hit its peak, the Arc Lightning shot out from the ore towards Julian and the captive Anisse, hitting the former directly, which blasted him backwards, rendering the long-haired Syndicate member completely unconscious. Likewise, Anisse fell to the floor as well, but given the spell's overall power level, it wouldn't be fatal to her, at least from what Kurui knew. Afterwards, she could feel the ore going empty, its radiant heat having left along with the spell.

Octavian's eyes went wide in shock, and he stumbled back with Kurui in tow, keeping his sword at the ready. The red-haired soldier didn't seem to know what had happened at first, shifting his gaze back and forth between Colt and Reius. "What in the Void was that?! D-Damnit!"

The duelist from Aelwyck grit his teeth while getting back to his feet, raising his blade once more. "Put her down! Julius is out now, and it's you versus all of us... It's over."

The thought of defeat actually being possible now sent Octavian's expression into that of sheer panic. "Don't... DON'T FOLLOW ME!" yelled the red-haired one in response. Forcefully pulling Kurui along with him, he retreated into the caverns, leaving the others, as well as the unconscious Julius, behind. The last thing the Water Major saw of them before being swept away and tossed over the bulky man's shoulder, was Colt's angered visage, as well as those of Reius and Dinn. She could hear some rapid footsteps, as well as the voices of her companions, primarily those of Colt and Reius, but they faded quickly as her abductor made headway.

Octavian moved surprisingly fast at first, in a panic weaving through various tunnels in the mines without bothering to retrace any steps--it was likely that even he had no idea where he was going. But what he had in speed, he did lack in stamina, and eventually he had to stop, putting Kurui down and forcing her face-down, with her cheek pressed against the cold, rocky ground. "I knew it... I knew you mages were more trouble than you're worth!"

Sinking his body weight down onto her, he ripped her muffler right off before tearing some strips off of it to fashion crude restraints from the scraps, and began to bind her wrists together behind her back. "G-Gotta make sure you can't pull any of those damn tricks..." Struggle as she may, he proved himself to be quite strong--even moreso than Teague had been. After finishing this, he turned her over onto her back, unable to help but look at her somewhat more exposed form. Octavian didn't quite seem to be as lewd as Julius, at least not verbally, though his blatant stares did indicate a lack of both innocence and subtlety. "......D-Done, now. Uh..." An awkward silence ensued, with the man seeming to be internally debating his priorities in such a situation.