sterngaze: (Default)
Liem “sock-wearer” Talbott ([personal profile] sterngaze) wrote in [community profile] kenoslogs2023-03-11 01:16 pm

open | does everybody have it together

Who: Liem Talbott & various
What: Setting update catch-all
Where: Alenroux
When: Throughout March

Liem is fully committing to assisting with Meridian's invasion of Alenroux, so he will be present there throughout the month, hunting monsters, scouting the woods, and keeping watch at Meridian encampments. At the beginning of the invasion, and potentially later in the month, he will be suffering from blood-withdrawal and will be more likely to accept blood donors so he can keep being properly useful. He's still keeping his drinking habits from public knowledge, though, so he won't be outright canvassing for volunteers.

Starters below are all closed, but if you would like to do something with Liem this month, please hit me up on discord or at [plurk.com profile] Sporelett. I will happily write a starter for whatever nonsense we decide to get up to.
wolof: (Always Red and Hearts)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-03-17 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
I agree. [ Her head looked down at the tracks, and she considered the way to do so. She was not so much a monster hunter, but she'd fought plenty of outlandish creatures, either ancient, terrible, or sewn together over the years. Her golden eyes narrowed as she considered. ] How long ago do you think that it last passed through here?

[ She crouched, to look at them closer. She was wearing an uncharacteristic pair of pants, her braids pulled around her head to keep out of her sight, and her fingers reached down to not quite touch it -- one never knew what a creature could cause -- but to feel at it, as if she were feeling for heat. This must be on the way to, or from, its lair, given the frequency Liem had suggested.

Curious.
]

If you give me a moment, I will lay a trap for it, to hold it still.

[ It's a simple magic trap, but one that she thinks will do well enough. There was no need to get too elaborate for the beast. That the Meris hadn't been able to deal with it was no surprise yet, but she -- nor Liem -- had not been present when it last attacked.

Nobody ever said that she lacked for pride.

She held her hand over the middle of all of the tracks, weaving the energy, and calculating the precise amount of energy that would be needed.
]

How tall do you think it is? And heavy?
wolof: (Look Away)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-03-18 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There really was nothing better than a skilled tracker, Akua thinks to herself. Liem clearly knows his stuff, from the way he moved to the way he glanced and took stock of the trees and space around them. It also gave her plenty of information to calculate the right amount of power needed to trap this thing.

She nodded, and small letters -- squiggly ones, that the shape and make of would leave ones mind immediately -- appeared, and vanished, as she started to put a working together.
]

Perfect. We'll need a trap that can withstand both its weight and the amount of force that it can generate, hopefully from a standstill, but if it comes running through here...

[ She's putting together something that can trap it, keep it from moving. At least long enough for the two of them to slay it.

A few moments pass, more of those squiggly lines, but afterward, it looks like the ground again. Completely bereft of any sign that there was something there.
]

There. Now when it comes, this should stop it in its tracks.

Do we have any other word on their attacks?

[ She looked back at Liem, questioning, but she was already stepping back from the tracks. It's best to lie in wait, she thought, lest they startle the creature into changing its path. ]
wolof: (Kneel)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-03-22 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
Excellent.

[ She followed him to the Maple, dusting her hands off as she did so -- as if there were dust -- and she surveyed the location with an eye. She tipped her head up, considering. She would not climb it, but perhaps... It would be a waste of power, but do-able, if that were the hunter's intention. She would not be caught as the only one at ground if Liem was intending to catch it from up in the tree.

Perhaps the creature would not see them, particularly if she created a weave to hid them.
]

Are you thinking up? [ She asked, and looked up at the tree. ]

We will want suitable precautions up there. Would you mind a spell, when we are settled? I can shield us from view.
wolof: (Hi Cat)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-03-25 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
Mm.

[ She looked up, and squinted. It would not be a terrible burn of energy, but it would be a burn. She would use something up, to find her way up there. Her form of magic was exacting, and precise, but it did not mean that she could simply teleport. Not without a gate, and without that...

If she had the power of winter, it would be a little thing, but every spell still came with a cost in this land.
]

Yes, I think that would be for the best, if you have a way up. I could make it, but the power required would be better spent on the creature, I think?

[ She wasn't so afraid of getting down, of course. Even without Liem's help. ]

You get me up there, and I guarantee it will not notice us.
wolof: (Always Red and Hearts)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-03-28 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ She tightened her arms around him, wrapped around his neck in a fashion that allowed him to hold onto her if needed. She looked up, expecting some dazzling display of martial prowess, or a high leap, but she's shocked when they simply step forward, and then another moment they step onto the branch.

Her eyes narrow, as she tries to see what is there, to sense the spark of magic that she expects to find, but it's only a moment of investigation, before she turned her attentions toward the branch, and the two of them.
]

Impressive.

[ She said, and she sounds it. A rare thing to do, is surprise Akua Sahelian, but Liem has done it. She moved her attention quickly, to the space between them, and held her hands out, as if she was trying to construct a barrier, or something of that nature. ]

We'll have about ten feet to move within. It is centered on me. This should conceal us from sight, sound, smell, and any other methods of tracking.

[ Slippery letters manifested, and then dissipated, as quick as Liem could see them, before the shape and make of them would immediately vanish. He could tell they were there, but they simply would not be grasped by the mind of anyone that did not know of them.

High Arcana is a rather tough skill for mages to learn.
]

But I must maintain it the entire time. It will require me to concentrate.

[ Which did not necessarily mean she could not talk, but clearly, her mind would be somewhat occupied. ]
wolof: (You're stupid (I like that in a woman))

[personal profile] wolof 2023-04-01 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ Once the spell is completed, and Akua is settled and silent, they wait. She's happy to concentrate on the spell, as maintaining it isn't a question of computation, but a question of will. This, however, was easier than the last time she'd done such a thing, as the last time they had been moving through the forces of the Mighty, not so long ago in her own world.

With the quiet of the forest, ever shuffle or skittering of creatures caught her attention, but when Liem pointed out that something was coming, she readied herself.

It lumbered closer, closer -- large enough that Akua's eye narrowed -- but when its foot hit her trap, it was caught. She could see her working tighten around its foot, and she spoke to Liem, her tone low.
]

On the signal, I will drop my spell. You will know it for how... explosive it will become around it. I would recommend shooting it when it does so.

[ With her instructions provided, she started casting -- she can thankfully cast two workings at once and the air around the creature started to bubble -- as if reality itself because caustic around it, as if the air itself started to drip and writhe. Then it started to shudder, and explode, and when it did, their ward dropped, and Akua hissed: ]

My ward is down.
wolof: (The Girl who (didn't) Climb the Tower)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-04-02 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ The sound it makes -- Akua felt her mind react, like it had started to crash and burn. For a moment, there's nothing, then the magic just simply... vanished, the hold on the creature, the soupy sense of reality around it, everything gives, and Akua can feel her feet stumble, though Liem's attempt to get them to ground is welcome. She knows he is an ally, even if she cnanot think of anything else, and when they find the ground, it still took her a few moments to "reboot", as it were.

When it does, she hissed, and looked at the creature.
]

Now we know why they were so confused about what it was.

[ SHe said, as she moved to catch sight of it from within the thicket. ]

We need to take it out quickly, and make it believe we are elsewhere.

[ The creature looked left, and right, searching for them, before Akua's fingers crocked, and a ruffle of wind took through bushes on the other side of the clearing, and the monster swung its head to follow that. ]

I will not be hit by that again.

[ How dare they try to affect her mind, she thinks. ]
wolof: (You're stupid (I like that in a woman))

[personal profile] wolof 2023-04-03 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ And oh does she have that.

Akua nodded, following the indicators he pointed out.
]

I am much more the expert on demons and devils rather than... whatever this thing is, but it will be easier to kill than some things I've dealt with. It at least bleeds.

[ She kept herself crouched, as she appraised the thing, looked it over and considered their next move. ]

Firepower is easy, but inaccurate. Though if I hit it fast enough, it will not have much time to escape the blast. Be ready.

[ Her magic is silent. There are no incantations or movements, though there are more of those slippery, odd letters that seem to vanish from mind the moment they vanish from reality, but the space around the creature shifted, and it's clear this time that it's heated, as if super-heated quickly before the space begins to shift, and shake, and it explodes, a series of them, rapid-fire, and they rocketed in the space the creature was --

-- had been, before it howled, having teleported out of danger, though its skin looks charred.
]
wolof: (Diabolist)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-04-05 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ Akua released a curse in Lower Miezan -- her own language -- a biting thing with Frustration, though it's clear the monster has now elevated itself from "easy" to "nuisance". ]

Of course it can. It wasn't enough for it to be a mere beast, it has to be a bother as well.

[ She said it, derisively, but she's already looking to the west, her eyes narrowed, as she followed the lingering trails of... something. Her head dipped, as she nodded. ]

I can hold it. Just be ready to kill the thing before it creates yet another ability to slip our traps, hm? [ That's...mostly a joke. ] Now that I know to anticipate it, I will keep it from moving next time.

[ She can hold it, or she can blow it up, apparently. Creating a weave to lock it down would be something she could do, or she could do the other, but not the both of them. Typical mages.

She crept along, her feet silent, and the whisper of a promise of death and magic made her feet silent as she started off toward the creature, and she dipped behind another bush when she got close, to let her weave drop, and she began to cast. Her lips do not move, no hand motions, but those letters started to appear yet again, this time at the creature's feet, above its head, they moved in fast -- slippery though they were, like a chain that caught the creature, and lifted it, and started to compress the space it inhabited.

It could try to move, but the box was set, the workable space only That -- and The box was collapsing. It soon could move no further, like the creature had been... shrink-wrapped into reality itself.
]
wolof: (The Girl who (didn't) Climb the Tower)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-04-07 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ Akua watched it twitch with each and every impact, the way the creature writhed and shuddered from the impact. The flesh beneath it seemed to wither and pucker from the shots, and her lips curled as the creature's eye was taken, its neck, and she felt the strain from holding it lessen, as it lost its ability to exert its pressure and fought against her trap one last time, before it went limp, and she let the magic drop. The creature's body thudded to the ground audibly, and the silence of the forest from their fight almost eerie, now that they seemed to be the only two in this patch of the woods.

The creature had certainly driven most wildlife away, and the combination of magic and signs of battle certainly drove away the rest.

She stepped from the brush, and moved through it, before she peered for Liem.
]

Nice shots.

[ She said, as she continued forward, closer to the creature's body. ]

Your arrows, they are enchanted?

[ Though it's mostly idle, as her foot nudged the creature's body, to gauge if there were any reaction. Last thing they needed was for the creature to stir now. ]
wolof: (Kneel)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-04-10 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ She watched him start to press his dagger into it, she nodded, and moved to a different part. She does not open the thing, but the way her eyes start to search, it's pretty clear that she's examining it for something. As if she was ready the tea leaves, or the magic inherent in the pattern of blood seeping from an arrow wound. ]

Fascinating. It's effective. There are not many archers that can impress me so.

[ Her standard is: can shoot over a mile though. Fucking superpowered villains. ]

Thank you for your help with this, I do think it would have been quite the... bother on my own. Is there anything in particular you want from the corpse? I only wish to examine it briefly.

[ The way she's focused on it, however, suggests that she's already doing so. ]
wolof: I craved the taste of it (A poison so sweet)

[personal profile] wolof 2023-04-12 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
It isand capable. Particularly when our specialties can mesh. [ She said as she nodded, but it was only a few moments later, before she let her hands peel away from hovering over it. ]

Please feel free. I wanted to feel for any magic pathways, or if its ability was powered by it, but it does not seem so. I suspect its abilities are far more rudimentary. Perhaps the teleportation has a source, but it is not something I can divine.

[ She actually sounds...disappointed. Akua always did like to discover more to power her interest in magic. The fact that she was not a Savant was likely only because she fit another better, but she's clearly the type that took her time to hound new discoveries. She did not step far away, even though she offered him to do the cutting. ]

If anything is particularly tough, I will open it.
wolof: (Hi Cat)

🎀

[personal profile] wolof 2023-04-20 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
Just say the word, Liem.

[ She says it, but she crouched over the corpse with him, unafraid of blood. Perhaps, in fact, that was why she wore red, though the creature's blood had not been a guarantee to be red, though the decision to wear the color could be considered intentional, as she leaned close, to watch.

Her hands were not poised, but there was a readiness about her, as he started to cut, and when they are ready, she will assist him with what needs to be pulled back to camp, with their haul.
]