Brassbringer's Request pt 3

Somewhere within the floating city of Rune, our team of adventurers, in service to the Ressurrectionist Griva Brassbringer, sought out the Conjurer Alset Brockholme. There was some... dealings with the care and feeding of ambitious familiars before the group were invited inside the Gnome's hut. After some discussion of why they were there, when he had sent for Griva, the arcanists relented and elaborated the ominous discovery his research has allowed:

Someone is trying to poison magic itself...

Emblem of Ea - Monday, February 15, 2021, 7:55 PM

".. I think someone is trying to poison magic." 

The gnome's words hang in the air there as he makes that statement, leaving it to you to take it in. Poison magic? The ENTIRETY of magic? How absurd.

The Knightmare considers the Gnome's words for some moments and regards her cohorts with motionless regard, then, "In effort to eliminate magic, or make using it toxic, would you surmise?" Figureing out the goal may lead to a culprit.

Lillianath is silent for several beats, as the gnome's theory sinks in. "Tha--" Of course 'That's absurd' would be the reflexive answer, but... Is it, really? It's unfathomable to be sure, but, history is littered with the bones of impossibilities that did, indeed, happen.

Glancing at Knightmare, the elf nods in agreement. "What end could that possibly serve?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I'm just ... finding ... gaps in the Sea. Emptyiness where I am expecting to find *energy*. And, I don't know, it feels .. deliberate. I can't be the only person noticing this." 

Alset shakes his head, making a face.

"Well I mean..." Molly shrugs her shoulders, and shakes her head. "I mean... *can* you? Poisoning all of magic isn't like, I don't know, poisoning a well, it'd be like trying to poison the entire ocean. I just don't see how you would do it. It would be an immense task." The Half-Mul leans against the walls, and folds her arms. "How could it even be possible? Surely Eluna would never permit this."

"My Lady isn't the only deity who touches on the Sea of Mana," Lilli says quietly, perturbed. "Her duty is to shepherd its flows, but Taara has ever had designs on its power, and Navos the balance between the two. If asked 'who?' I would point the finger at the Avaricious one Herself, but... I wonder if this concern is beyond such reflexive answers."

The Seer lowers her head, chewing on her lower lip for a moment. "Very well, Master Alset. What do you need of us?"

"Were it so simple." Knightmare replies softly, turning her face toward Molly, "But the Brightlady is not alone in the dominion over magic, the false Hope clutches at it as well, which may be how this could be possible at all." There is a little flick of her tail, then, "Would this 'eptiness' not infer a theft as o

"You are right, of course, Taara and Eluna fight over magic at length. Taara pulls and Eluna guards, preserves its spirit for us to use where as Taara would write her own story upon the stars with it all." 

Alcet lets out a sigh. "I don't know aboiut 'theft', one can nnot steal what is eternal, but you can... displace it? Like a stone in the wate, except bubbles or pockets of air under water perhaps might be better..."

"But what do you need of us?" Lillianath repeats, gently. "You brught us here for a reason, Master Alcet. How can we help your investigations, if that's what you wanted Mistress Brassbringer here for?"

The Half-Mul sighs softly. "It would be the patron goddess of my own people," she grumbles softly. "That'd be typical. ...Well..." She scratches the back of her head, "There is a priestess of Taara currently staying in Alexandria? I suppose we could ask her for insight?" Molly shrugs her shoulders, "I mean... other than that, I'm in agreement with her," she nods to Lillianath, "How can we help?"

"How much do you know about cysts?" says Alcet after a moments thought, glancing around between the lot of people present.

"While the ambitions of the False Hope are a convienient answer, they are not the only one." the Golem Knight muses, looking to the half-mul, "With the feud over the Sea of Mana, the Divinities may be just busy enough countering each other, that the ambitions of a lesser, though gifted, power may be capitalizing on the oppurtunity."

With the other questions going back and forth, she turns her attention back to their host, and, "Are those the tumors that require piercing with hot poinards?"

Molly perks an eyebrow upwards. "Cysts? Well.. we've talked about them in the healer's seminars," Molly replies, and nods, "And, yesh, lancing them with something hot is one possible treatment, but it's not the only one." She looks back to Alcet, "I would imagine that's not the sort of cyst you're talking about though, and it isn't going to be as simple as that."

"When you want to drain a cyst, you poke it with a needle, yes. Like lancing an abcess, though a little different. I want to do the same thing here," he explains, "I'm going to poke the Sea of Mana with a needle where one of these things resides, and see if I can find out what it is."

"You expect a response from the culprit." Kmightmare guesses aloud, looking between her fellows again, then back to their host.

"Interesting," Lilli muses. "Well... More information on such a discovery can only be useful."

"I expect to find *something* ... or nothing," replies Alcet. "I don't know. That's what Griva was going to be roped into doing, so that's what YOU'RE going to do. You're going to help me wield the lance, so to speak."

"Well, I'm good with polearms," Molly replies, with a light shrug. "Probably not what we're going to use for the lancing itself, but if anything pops out that needs to be poked again, I can do that." She stretches lightly, "Alright, let's do this, I'm ready."

"Indeed," says the Seer. "However we can help, Master Alcet, we will."

Knightmare utters a low, hollow sound, like a hesitating motor, then rises to her full height. If magic is tainted, there's a chance the great islands of Dragonier may crash to the earth and kill those countrymen on the ground. As misplaced as her agreement was in originally taking this task, she founds this new angle sufficient and nods, "I will assist."

"It's my fear. I can't be the only person to have noticed this in Rune, but.." 

Alcet lets out a sigh. "But then it may just be a calibration error in my gateway's magic detections." He points towards the swirling light and blackness on the other end of the room. "I'm going to activate the gate, then reach into the Sea with magic, and try to pull back whatever I can. Like a fishermen with a net. That'll breach the 'locality' of the Cyst in the leylines."

GAME: Molly rolls spellcraft: (12)+7: 19

Lyme pauses. "We're going fishing in the sea of Mana." He pauses. "What could go wrong?" He asks, quietly. "Is it okay if we cleave or bash the Cyst? Or will it spray magical pus everywhere?"

"It could!" 

Alcet sounds excited by the possibility. Magical pus! 

He proceeds to take a moment and says, "First, I am going to open the gate. Then I'll prepare the instrument."

Knightmare nods and readies her shield as she ventures closer to a point between the 'cyst' and the gnome, her other hand resting on the hilt of her sword but not drawing yet. "I will try to defend you from what comes through."

Lillianath looses a slow, quiet breath, and unclasps her starknife from her belt. "Let's see what can be done, then."

"I don't think it'll work quite like that. We'll see, though!" 

Alcet muses aloud. The gate is now spilling a sort of ... mist from it. A sort of ephemeral energy sparking from the swirling energy that is the gate. A sense of energy permeates the room, making the hair on oine's neck stand on end and gooseflesh rise. 

Alcet takes a moment, intones a spell and then brings forth what appears to be a long whip made of energy. He coils it's end around a barbed net and throws it through the gate.

And here it comes; either a whole lot of nothing, or even more gibbering terror. Either way... The Seeress stands, ready.

Knightmare draws her sword and braces, holding her shield at the ready to block whatever comes through.... except mist. That, she doesn't have an answer for, honestly, though there are strands of tail and plume that are starting to peel away from their neighbors with the energy starting to fill the air.

Lyme pauses. It's always a bit of a moment when rhetorical wit ends up being a serious possibility. He selects his morningstar, wrapping his fingers around the length of the magical weapon, and waits, eyes round.

GAME: Lillianath rolls perception: (17)+5: 22
GAME: Lyme rolls perception: (15)+4: 19
GAME: Molly rolls perception: (6)+5: 11
GAME: Knightmare rolls perception: (11)+8: 19

"So, as you might've guessed, the sea of mana is not a 'place', so much as it is a thing that exists. The globe is criss-crossed in leylines of magical power, some more powerful than other. This portal allows me to reach into those ley lines and test them for phenomenon, as well as try to assess the strength of the barriers. Like I was saying. I haven't quite figured out how to see the strength of reality's walls, but then, who knows until you try? Still, the displacement is obvious. Disruptions in the flow. Now, here we are at one. Ahh.. there. I can feel ... something." He begins to draw back the whip's cord, pulling, pulling. 

... and then something *yanks back* and the gnome disappears half into the gate. 

Uh oh...