Hunters of Letrua

[Synch]

With gear organised, Risu makes to the climbing wall. She pays particular focus on walls where she needs to rely on her upper body strength to pull her weight up, and keep her weight attached to the wall. She finishes by hanging where the holds reach the ceiling, doing her best to hang on and swing from hold to hold before dropping to the cushions below.

(Risu works on arm strength.)

[Arch Lich Burns]

"We need to find a more secure place than the cave. I do not know sbout you but I would rather not be mauled by an unkown beast in the night. I am sure I can make something but it is not a certianty if it would be safe. I am open to ideas that won't get us mauled."

[thinkslogically]

"Well, we won't know until we see it I guess... Didn't the hermit tell us there was another safe place to sleep, Korga?"

((Asking Korga IC because she has the map, but I've forgotten OOC...))

[spiderwrangler]

"I think he said he didn't know... the cave is dark."

[Dlover]

So... Does that mean camping out?

[Arch Lich Burns]

I am not sure, but if we are Julius will draw a circle around the camp, using magic if needed. He draws a creature with jagged lines near it.

Effect 1: each time a non baby beast/demon/mortvivir is near or inside the area, alarms sound
E2: these alarms can only heard by humans
E3: alarms last for 30 seconds

[thinkslogically]

yeah, let's not sleep in an unknown cave just yet...

Olly agrees with the others that sleeping in a strange cave might not be the best idea... Besides, this way they'll probably get to prolong the road trip!

[Dlover]

Olly, Korga, Julius
Deciding they don't want to stay in the cave, the three spend the rest of the day trekking through grasslands, stopping to set up camp in an open area. Once the camp's set up, Julius scribes a circle and enchants it for a little more safety. Through the night, if anyone's keeping watch they hear occasional sounds of something moving in the distance, the quiet night carrying noise. Late in the night, when the moon is high in the sky, the three are startled (startled awake for those who were sleeping) by a high-pitched squealing noise, which comes to a stop shortly after.

Risu
Risu spends a while training her strength, focusing on the training to prepare for her fight. After a while she heads out for the fight, as ready as she can be. Heading out into the arena, she has to wait for a moment before the five rottina are released.

Loki
"Well, yeah, actually there is. I hear a bit about Alice's axe and how it does different things, depending on her... hand's positioning. She said something if she moves her pinky away, it will act like there's a heavy enchantment on it, else, it will be lighter than it should be, or something along those lines. How is that achieved, and how complex instructions can go into a rune - enough skill of the rune-writer provided?"
"Instructions can be... Well, defining the complexity can be quite complex in itself. Alice's hammer makes use of multiple enchantments to achieve its level of detail. One is... Well, it breaks down to 'Count hands, Count fingers, if the number of fingers is five times hands minus one, add weight,' so it really only depends on four conditions, and the other enchantment is 'If there are no active enchantments, remove weight.' That's the sort of complexity its creator managed, and it works well, but there would be other ways to do it. You could perhaps... Well, I don't know how well it would work, but perhaps you could have it decrease the weight and examine the number of fingers present, then if that number is only reduced by one it negates the weight decrease and applies an increase, while if the number is changed in any other way it replaces the number. That would be... Eight different conditions for the enchantment to by influenced by. That means it only uses one enchantment, and it can be used by a person who is missing fingers or even missing a hand, but it would require a lot of skill to do, so...
Ah, but you were wondering about the actual complexity of each instruction, not the overall complexity of an enchantment. In that case it's even more complicated. We haven't worked out quite how to define the limits of those rules, but... In a general sense, if it doesn't need any further clarification or outside influence then an instruction will be suitable. So... 'Count fingers' is a single instruction, but 'Count fingers and multiply by five' is two. More confusing still, 'Count fingers and multiply by five then subtract one' is still only two instructions. Maybe because the number only has to be modified without being used to influence anything or being influenced by anything. Ah, I'm sure you see what I mean when I say it's complicated?"

"I would also like to try and get my head around the problem with the dagger cutting through the sheath, maybe find a work around, if I may. I know leather doesn't grow on trees..."
"Well, hardening the leather didn't work out... Maybe you could prepare a sheath so that it repels contact with metal? You would have to specify the strength of the repulsion to keep the sheath from tearing itself apart or flinging the dagger away, though. Or you could prepare a sheath out of iron, to see if it can withstand the blade. Normally a straight iron sheathe would blunt a blade, but your enchantment could probably keep that dagger sharp regardless." Marie shrugs, "Sometimes an enchanters has to think outside the box, and the answer isn't always enchantment. There must be something it can't cut, and you can use that material to carry it."

[GathersIngredients]

► Show Spoiler

I didn't want suggestions of HOW to make a sheath that can hold the dagger, just permission to do so, as the arena is paying for the sheaths. Or aren't they?
And yes, I thought of making the leather either inert to metal or don't allow contact to metal - repel it as you said, but only a little ways.

Loki nods, when Marie talks about complexity. "So... would you mind telling me more complex instructions that have been known to gotten achieved? What is the most complicated enchantment that you have created? And how do those projectile retrieving pouches work? I know it has to do with your talent with space, but that's not all of it.
Has there ever been a item made with runes that would only activate upon someone touching them? And would it activate the enchantment only while it is being touched or unless it is touched again or permanently, if there is no wording defining that?"

► Show Spoiler

I would like to create something like and on/off button. So e.g. make the rune that tells the item to do something specific and only have it active after being touched by a humanoid. And I guess I'll have to define how long it should be active afterwards.

When talking about the sheath, Loki nods again. "Yeah I have been thinking along those lines already. I just wanted permission, because ruining two sheaths is bad enough, but if I keep on trying, it could become more costly. You guys might not mind me messing with a dagger that was useless to begin with, but the sheaths seemed to be in perfectly working condition.
But that gives me another idea. The pouches you created have an effect on something that is put INTO them, right? Without the items being put in there being magical in the first place, right? And possibly not being magical themselves afterwards, either. How does that work? And could I do something like this with the sheath in order to ensure e.g. any blade drawn from it was nice and sharp?"

[Arch Lich Burns]

Julius bolts awake, groaning a bit. He hasn't fix the compass yet so instead he creates a temp enchantment that is a tiny slightly glowing arrow, pointing to the nearest non baby beast/demon/mortvivir. "There is at least one adult beast this way."

[Synch]

Risu waits for them to enter, and immediately hurls throwing knives at the closest. She begins maneuveuring, not afraid to back off or give up ground in order to make sure she isn't flanked or surrounded.

Knowing they probably won't flee in fear when so heavily outnumbering her, Risu adopts a different tactic. She instills thoughts of confusion, and of the rottina being attacked by the others and fighting back in the minds of each. She tries to make each think the others are about to turn on them, and to strike first.

[thinkslogically]

Olly wakes up and quickly moves to strap his armour and bracers back on. In a few moments, he is on his feet, crouched and ready for whatever is coming.

[spiderwrangler]

Korga rolls to a crouch, making sure weapons are ready, looking in the direction Julius indicates.

[Dlover]

Olly, Korga, Julius
Julius checks the direction of the oncoming danger as everyone hurries into action. It's too dark to see anything yet, but there's a faint sound of something moving through the grass, and as everyone finishes their preparations they see some movement in the darkness, a shadow slowly moving toward them.

Risu
Risu immediately takes the offensive, throwing knives out, and trying to spread confusion among the rottina. The creatures squeal in fright, but bunch closer together as they do, hurrying toward her.

► Show Spoiler

Risu hits Rottina A 4 times, dealing 19 (25) damage.

► Show Spoiler

Risu: 100%
Rottina A: 75%
Rottina B: 100%
Rottina C: 100%
Rottina D: 100%
Rottina E: 100%

Loki
"The most complicated enchantment... Well, the pouches are a good example, so let's go with that. It's a little difficult to explain, though... Well, the first part of it is that it identifies any inanimate objects placed inside by confirming minute details of the magic around the object. Then when somebody reaches into the bag it reads the movement of their hand to determine the shape and size of the object they're reaching for. It then locates that object, wherever it may be, and moves it instantly into he person's hand. If the object in question has been damaged, it's reshaped into the state it was left in. Objects left inside the bag are moved to a storage room on-site here at the Arena. It's... Well, it relates to my Talent, so a lot of this is simply something I can instinctively work with, even if I don't understand it perfectly myself. The instructions used... Well, there are a couple of runes and many instructions involved. The first is 'When object passes, if inanimate, trigger second. If no inanimate, trigger third.' Second then reacts as 'Read aura, record aura, track aura, if aura changes, record changes, if released, send item, destination:storage, speed:instant, momentum:zero;' and third as 'read hand position, determine fit, find aura, if altered, set to original, move item, destination:hand, speed:instant, momentum:zero.'

As for activating a run on touch... Yes, that would be entirely possible. If there's nothing defining how long the effect lasts, though, there's no telling how it will happen. It could work different every time you try."

Marie nods as Loki expresses his concerns and ideas, "A reasonable concern to have. Materials aren't limitless after all, but leather is easy enough to obtain. We're one of the main suppliers of hides, after all, so a couple of sheaths are acceptable losses, especially since most of it can be sewn back together in some useful form. That's not to say that you should waste materials, of course, but we're banking on your experiments eventually leading to value, so we'll accept it so long as you're trying to learn. As for the bags sensing things... I suppose it picks up a change in the space around it? That's something you'll need to be a bit more experience to achieve effectively, though."

[Synch]

Risu continues targetting the injured rottina with her throwing knives as she does her best to evade all opponents and avoid being flanked.
She goes back to her standard thought projection attack of fear, attempting to make the rottina think that they will be abandoned/killed and should probably flee.

[GathersIngredients]

Loki scratches his head at Marie's explanations of the pouches enchantments. "So... what exactly is an aura of an inanimate object, then? And what is the difference of an aura of a living thing - like a hand - or a living being?

And couldn't you make a similar enchantment - reading the aura, recording any changes and reversing the changes, then port it back to its original position - with the armour parts, if you wanted to? Thus circumventing the need for hardening it, if you can just permanently have it renew itself, IF it takes damage?"

He takes into account what he learned from Marie about the "on switch" and asks more in depth about it. "So, if I wanted to have something work for a time that can be different but determined by the user, I would make an enchantment that works until it either gets deactivated again - with an 'off switch' for example - or until some safety measure triggers that will auto-shut it down. I thought about creating a self-heating kiln. Would it be possible for the kiln to read the current condition of the goods inside and somehow determine the temperature and/or length of heating needed automatically? Reading the auras of the various bits inside and bake them accordingly? Perhaps even the kiln would create zones of different temperatures for different work pieces that need different heating? Also... where would the magic to heat the kiln and/or the work pieces inside come from, if I am not there to transfer the magic in there? I mean your pouch does work without needing you to power it all the times it gets used, doesn't it? How does that work?"

He focuses back onto the whole sheathe dagger conundrum. "So you were talking about speed instant and momentum 0 a bit. What kind of unit are you measuring speed and/or momentum in? How fast would be speed 1? If I enchanted the sheathe to repulse anything metal I would need to define a really low speed/momentum or the dagger will go flying like crazy. Or maybe I could limit the dimensions of the 'repulsing field' around the dagger to be really small. Like a millimetre or so, that metal just can't penetrate. Does magic understand measurements?"

If Marie thinks the "thin forcefield around the insides of the sheath, that doesn't allow metal to enter at all" is a feasible idea, Loki will try that with another sheathe, which he will then put to the test with the dagger. Else he will adjust his thought model according to her input. If they together don't come up with something useful that could work, he doesn't make another enchantment for now, as he doesn't want to waste another sheathe.

"Oh, and one thing I have been wanting to know for a long time now, I keep forgetting to ask it: What kinds of talents - if any - do we know our resident instructors - and fighters, other than the new ones that were recruited the same day as me - posses? I know you have space and Tor has time and I'm assuming Gaul is something beast related, or maybe he just has a natural, non-magic knack for caring for them. What about everyone else? Does Malis have a magical talent, for example? I might be able to learn a lot more from others, from different points of views, no offence to you, Marie. Just finding out what options I have..."

[thinkslogically]

Olly hisses to the others and indicates the direction of the approaching thing. Keeping his eyes firmly locked onto it, he begins to slowly circle around so as to try and put himself into a flanking position.

[Arch Lich Burns]

Julius takes a deep breath, readying himself. It would be easier if they can be seen. That's it! Julius pulls energy around him and forces his magic into (non baby) beasts/demons/mortvivirs in the area of the camp. He grits his teeth as he tries to make it so that they glow in the dark while he has the enchantment up, droping the locating one in turn so he does not burn up from magic oversusage.

[spiderwrangler]

Seeing Julius trying to do something, Korga steps away from him slightly in case he explodes, and waits to see what happens.

[Dlover]

Olly, Korga, Julius
Olly and Korga spread out as they ready themselves, while Julius drops the locator and sets up a new enchantment, and a moment later the shadow from before lights up, revealing a felid's form. It seems to be disoriented by the sudden light.

Risu
Risu flings out another set of knives, striking the weakened one again, as she tries to scare them off. The injured one slows down, but it seems like it's not breaking, yet. As they continue to advance, the frontrunners manage to get into striking range, two of the rottina biting at her ankles.

► Show Spoiler

Risu hits Rottina A 3 times, dealing 17(23) damage.
Rottina B hits Risu once for 1 damage, inflicting 1 stack of Disease.
Rottina C hits Risu once for 4 damage, inflicting 1 stack of Disease.

► Show Spoiler

Risu: 95%, Disease(2): Takes 10% more damage.
Rottina A: 52%
Rottina B: 100%
Rottina C: 100%
Rottina D: 100%
Rottina E: 100%

Loki
"So... what exactly is an aura of an inanimate object, then? And what is the difference of an aura of a living thing - like a hand - or a living being?"
"It's... Well, I mentioned that magic permeates space. Different materials create different fluctuations in that magic, so while I call it an aura, technically I'm reading the shape and material."
"And couldn't you make a similar enchantment - reading the aura, recording any changes and reversing the changes, then port it back to its original position - with the armour parts, if you wanted to? Thus circumventing the need for hardening it, if you can just permanently have it renew itself, IF it takes damage?"
"The problem is making sure it determines what counts as damage. A person wearing it could change the aura by changing the shape and make it think it's damaged, then as it tries to 'fix' that it could cause some serious harm. Beside that, I don't know anyone else who can force a repair in that way, so I'd have to work on all the equipment myself."

"So, if I wanted to have something work for a time that can be different but determined by the user, I would make an enchantment that works until it either gets deactivated again - with an 'off switch' for example - or until some safety measure triggers that will auto-shut it down. I thought about creating a self-heating kiln. Would it be possible for the kiln to read the current condition of the goods inside and somehow determine the temperature and/or length of heating needed automatically? Reading the auras of the various bits inside and bake them accordingly? Perhaps even the kiln would create zones of different temperatures for different work pieces that need different heating? Also... where would the magic to heat the kiln and/or the work pieces inside come from, if I am not there to transfer the magic in there? I mean your pouch does work without needing you to power it all the times it gets used, doesn't it? How does that work?"
Marie waves one hand, "Last question first: Everywhere. Runes just pull magic out of the air. Moving on... Having a manual disable or some sort of trigger should work. It may also be possible to base it on time. As for a kiln... Well, I don't know how you'd have it automatically work out what the ideal condition is. Reading the current condition shouldn't be too hard, though... As for creating zones... Well, heat has a tendency to diffuse into its surroundings. It may be possible to have it maintain zones, but that's a bit of extra work, defining the areas and then keeping the temperatures in each separate. Otherwise, working on a kiln... Well, clay tends to be a good material for holding many enchantments, but once it's hardened it becomes less so, so whether you can achieve it depends on whether you can manage all of the effects without overdoing it."

"So you were talking about speed instant and momentum 0 a bit. What kind of unit are you measuring speed and/or momentum in? How fast would be speed 1? If I enchanted the sheathe to repulse anything metal I would need to define a really low speed/momentum or the dagger will go flying like crazy. Or maybe I could limit the dimensions of the 'repulsing field' around the dagger to be really small. Like a millimetre or so, that metal just can't penetrate. Does magic understand measurements?"
"Well, that's just my way of explaining it. If it were actually moving there instantly it would tear through everything in the way, so it's not really . Well, you can define measurements however you want, so long as it makes sense in your mind. If I defined something to move at '17 twars' it would work just fine, so long as I have some idea of what a 'twar' was. It doesn't really have to make any sense. In that way, you could certainly have the repulsing field only be a millimetre thick."

With the go-ahead, Loki starts work on enchanting a sheathe, sliding the dagger into it once he's done. The blade bobs up and down a couple of times, sitting loosely in the sheathe, but it's not cutting through.

"Oh, and one thing I have been wanting to know for a long time now, I keep forgetting to ask it: What kinds of talents - if any - do we know our resident instructors - and fighters, other than the new ones that were recruited the same day as me - posses? I know you have space and Tor has time and I'm assuming Gaul is something beast related, or maybe he just has a natural, non-magic knack for caring for them. What about everyone else? Does Malis have a magical talent, for example? I might be able to learn a lot more from others, from different points of views, no offence to you, Marie. Just finding out what options I have..."
"Gaul's ability doesn't seem to be related to enchantment, but he seems to be able to project his emotions to beasts and demons. We're not sure how it works, but he's the only person we've ever seen to not be attacked by demons. Malis... She seems to be mostly normal, but where others would have scars she heals completely. No quicker than anyone else, though, so mortal injuries are still deadly. We don't intent to test whether she can recover from dismemberment, but since limbs would be too far gone to heal before reattaching without Tor's influence it's a null point. There are others with special skills, but they don't want them known."

[spiderwrangler]

Korga flips throwing knives (opting to throw as many as possible) into the now illuminated felid, staying wary of others about.

[thinkslogically]

Olly maneuvres himself to let Korga's knives strike the creature then leaps onto it, trying to pin it to the ground and stab it with his envenomed wolverine claws.

[Arch Lich Burns]

As he is continuing to concentrate on the light spell, and seeing Olly trying to wrestle the felid tries to help. He attempts to remove the monster's erergy away from it, not caring what type but his main goal is to make it tired, but other thpes are welcome

[GathersIngredients]

Loki takes a glance at Odin, if he reacted in any way to him enchanting the sheathe.

He also looks closely at the result and tests it some more, getting the dagger out and in repeatedly, then nods. "Seems that is a feasible approach."


Loki then returns to the various other topics discussed.
"On the armour I don't see how a person wearing it could change the shape of it, if you look merely at a single armour part, like pauldrons. As for the definition: any structural changes, like deformation or fragmentation would most certainly count as damage in my eyes. So would chemical dissolvent of the material. You said you would have to attend to every single piece of armour yourself. Does that mean you repair all the projectiles, too? If not, couldn't you create a similar mechanism for the armour bits as you do for the arrows and stuff? Like 'if damaged, return to place A' and have some sort of repairing device in place A, which, when finished sends it back to where it came from, basically. What you would also need is some sort of homing beacon on the fighter. Maybe a suit with marked spots, that each uniquely define the way the armour part has to be placed back onto it when being ported back, consisting of position and alignment, so the fighter can move unobstructed and still have the armour back exactly where he - or she - needs it, instead of upside down or the bracers ending up on their head or such nonsense."

"On the kiln: I would make it out of glass, as that one holds enchantments better than clay even in solid form and only use it to heat clay, naturally. I guess I should talk about ideal heat and such with someone who is an expert on working with a kiln, first. I can easily forgo the separate temperature zones, to steamline the enchantments. It would just have been convenient and easier to use - even for people not familiar with the process. But with a regular kiln you have to pay attention to putting in things with similar heating requirements, too, after all."

"And on enchanting... is there any the arena needs to have done? I know I can't make pouches like yours, but maybe there is some items that can be created without special talent, that the arena needs? I think it would help me get a bit of practice, and allow me to contribute in a useful way at the same time. Plus I would most likely be learning about my limits, how much enchanting I can do, before needing a break."

[Synch]

Risu quickly draws her stilleto and tessen, striking one of the rottina at her feet while trying to break close combat and blocking any attacks with her tessen. She tries to make the rottina think she is in different locations than where she's standing to throw them off.

(If she manages to evade and has any attacks left, she will shoot her wrist crossbow at the wounded rottina.)