RP:Gems are Truly Outrageous

Summary: Odhranos enters the caves in Xalious in search of a certain rare crystal. Inside the caves he encounters Linn, Ashe and Kree. With Linn's studying of the crystal, a damaged enchantment is activated and tensions break out in the gloomy dark.

Cave

Odhranos enters the cave in a rather odd fashion; with his eyes closed. To any observer, he would appear to be doing an awfully good job of weaving between the stalagmites that rise up like spines from the rocky floor. Making his way past the rock face that is pitted and scarred from decades of heavy mining, the mage stops at a certain patch of wall and opens his eyes. The mage's slate grey eyes narrow in irritation and he slaps his hand firmly against the wall before him. "Dammit, the signature is that way" he groans, as he thumps the wall all around that area, checking to see if there is any resonance to reveal a cave or a tunnel behind. "It's got to be it" he murmurs as he shrugs his pack off his shoulder and begins slipping off his plated gloves.

Linn sat against the cave wall near the entrance, turning a spiraled mithril ring much like the one he wore in the palm of his hand in some kind of thought as Odhranos came rushing through past him, causing his head to snap right up to the guy as he dashed through the cave. With a weak shrug he put the ring back in his pack before rising to his feet to see what the ruckus was. Eyes closed or open, he’d be fairly conspicuous. Reflective mithril armor covered almost all of his body, the metal at his elbows and knees tipped with clear gemstones at wicked points. Any magical sense would have no trouble finding him either, his body nigh saturated with arcane energy of questionable stability. For now it seemed to be behaving. It usually does. Usually. A few steps towards the curious man who was definitely looking for something, mithril-plated boots softly clicking against stone. “You looking for something?” he asked with a cocked brow.

Kreekitaka was out wandering the area with Ashe, because Ashe had wanted to go scouting the area and Kree was now a colossally overkill large creature on which to ride, thus providing safety from giant attacks because, as we've all seen, Kree has gotten inordinately good at killing those. Do we have a "Giants Pwn'd Count" somewhere? Because we need one. Heck, we should start painting muscle dudes on Kree's carapace like they put fighterplane kills on the nose of a fighterplane. That'd be super metal. Anybody know a good paint shop? Regardless, let's move on. And as they were walking, Kree noticed Masbane and said to Ashe, "My dear compatriot and acquaintance, do you see that fine fellow over there? I daresay I have never partaken of his services before. Prithee spare a momentary dalliance of mine whilst I sate my curiosities?" ...Alright, fine, you got me, it sounded more like the air being let out of a basketball, but the translation is good enough for the purposes of prequel. Kree spun his shiny new pickaxe in his claws as he entered the cave, his carapace clatters echoing endlessly, reverberating relentlessly all around Masbane's mine. However, it wasn't entirely dark--there were spots against the walls where little glowing stones helped to illuminate portions of the wall. "Hm," he said, more to himself than to his passenger, "remin's me a biTAH! of HHHTHe abyss--DAH!ark, yeTAH! wiHHHTH yighTAH! enough TAH!oo navigaTAH!." And with that, Kree very nearly tripped over the other two, though caught himself in time. "Ah! Sorry." He bowed lightly in apology.

Ashe had called it 'scouting' when he proposed the idea to the giant seaborn monstrosity. But in actuality, all the scouting was done by actual scouts. Whatever the two were doing, it certainty wasn't that. Rather one could call it exploring. Or perhaps aimless roaming. It did, however, achieve something. Kreekitaka was no longer within the castle, taking up immense space nor getting in the way of anything. As opposed to being a hindrance to just about everything around him. Considering this probable, barely hidden, motive it wasn't strange that Ashe had no objection to Kreekitakas childish excitement at the discovery of mining. Indeed, the bard came walking after the massive creature at a comfortable pace, taking a long swig from his pocket flask. Finally healed (At least mostly9 the bard wore a mixture of padding, fur and leathers a far cry from his usual stylish attire. But it served well as makeshift armor and protection from the cold. “Do excuse my companion!” he called out. “As you can see, he is currently experiencing a rather... unique form of swelling, shall we say? Extra legs.”

Odhranos looked distractedly away from the rockface and had Linn not been in his line of sight first, he would have yelped at the sight of the colossal uyeer towering over him. As it was, a comical squeak escaped his gaping mouth and the mage was left speechless. "I...I'm... I'm looking for..for crustacea- No! No, crystals! Crystals!" The grey garbed mage splutters in alarm. Upon taking a moment to compose himself (And mentally berate himself for his outburst), he manages to bow. "Terribly sorry sirs, I was distracted and my mouth began talking before my brain caught up" he murmurs, bowing at the waist three times, one to each of the individuals present. "Might I ask your names?" the mage politely inquires, casting an alarmed but terribly curious glance at the towering Seaborn. Odhranos hasn't been in Hollow long enough to encounter one of the denizens of the sea, so naturally, when encountered with such a magnificent example of the genus, he was inquisitive to a fault.

Linn’s focus on Odhranos was swiftly broken by the massive scorpitaur that was Kreekitaka very nearly rolling right over him. With a quick spin he recoiled himself at the sight. “Uh… Kree?” he questioned before shaking his head as if to clear a daze. Then again with a curious look. “So wait you… you –are- that thing.” He stated to try and confirm the dream-like memory of his last enchantment. Ashe’s exclamation only served to confirm the reality of that day after the disastrous ambush, bringing Linn to rub his brows as it fully hit him. And then the other mage brought his attention spinning right back around! Why did he always have to find himself in the middle of things? The search for crystals was immediately setting off mental alarms at this point, leading him to skip the topic of names for now. “Crystals? What kinds?” he returned perhaps a little –too- curtly.

Kreekitaka grunted at his extra legs being called a strange form of swelling, a facial crusher twitching in minor annoyance. "I haDAH! a surprise for you upon our reTAH!urn," muttered Kree to Ashe, though it was impossible to tell whether he was serious about it or joking. But then he couldn't keep that up, because the others started talking and it'd be rude to talk over them. Right? Right. "Yes, Yinn," Kree nodded, then his paddles rippled once as he turned his gaze to the one person here he hadn't met yet. "An' reyax, I'm sure HHHTHe crysTAH!ohs I gave you are pyenTAH!ee, yes?" This last shot was given to Linn before Kree lowered himself more towards the ground and extended a claw towards the man, snapping it open and twisting his manipulator tendrils together to form a crude hand for shaking. "I am KreekiTAH!ka, perhaps you have hearDAH! of me--I know my appearance is changeDAH! since my yasTAH! major pubyic appearance, buTAH! I assure you I am HHHTHe same. Jus'... wiHHHTH more asseTAH!s." He added a little bit of extra drama to that last phrase, as if he was hiding something in particular and wanted somebody to ask him about it. "HHHTHis is Yinn, my personoh enchanTAH!er."

Ashe caught up the the group at this point, but held a small, perhaps prudent, distance between himself and Kreekitaka. As he hadn't been introduced yet, even though the Uyeer spoke for himself as well as the enchanter, he raised his flask to a toast for and to no one in particular. “Ashe Stormcrow.” he stated, plainly, without any further explanations or pleasantries. Though he gave Kreekitaka a questioning look. “Personal now, is he? I suppose the rest of us common folk had better ask your permission for his employ in the future. I shall inform Hildegarde.” he stated, rather diplomatically, as if completely serious. Though the barely visable smirk on his face suggested otherwise. Then again, that might just be his face? “There are plenty crystals in the mountains, friends. Of course, you may be looking for a particular sort?”

Odhranos has regained his composure by this point and eagerly takes the uyeer's pseudo-hand and shakes it. "My name's Odhranos, you're unlikely to have heard of me, I tend to avoid society as a whole" the grey mage smiles somewhat ruefully. "Although, I will confess, I had heard tales of Kreekitaka, the leader of Hollow's high fashion. I presume you are one and the same?" he inquires. Dragging his curious gaze from Kree, he addresses Linn and Ashe. "A specific variety yes. Perfectly clear crystals, with a unique molecular structure that allows for the accumulation and conversion of light energy to magic energy" he explains. Digging around in his pack, he pulls out a purple satin pouch, tied closed with a gold drawstring. Teasing open the mouth of the pouch, the grey mage gently tips out the contents of the pouch: a fist sized crystal, riven in two and its smooth planar surface etched in hundreds of tiny runes. It was in fact the crystal Odh and Lanlan had encountered in Larket forest and Lanlan had retrieved upon breaking the crystal's powerful illusion. Odhranos had taken the liberty of pilfering it from the Mage's Guild while Lanlan was distracted and brought it with him in the hopes of using its unique magical signature to locate its source. So far the faint signature had led him here, but now he was stuck. "Crystals just like this one" the mage presents the crystal for observance.

Linn’s name came out so fast he didn’t even have time to react. Well, there went that. When the old crate of sapphires was mentioned he blinked again as if it was a necessary step to remembering that particular detail after he woke up again. “Yeah those are fine. I’m okay with taking pay in more raw material” he finished with a light chuckle. Serious or not, perhaps even –because- of its deadpan delivery, Ashe’s retort had him grinning from ear to ear at the idea of his own availability. Odhranos’s mention of ‘clear’ crystals brought a sigh of relief. Okay. Not –his- crystal. Turning around he watched the mage curiously as he procured the large gem, eyes widening at the runed surface. Definitely not his crystal, but interesting nonetheless. “What in the world is that thing…” he rhetorically muttered as he thought on it. Light? It was for light? Linn quickly shook his head again to dispel another thought. He needed to quit worrying, seriously. “Well… if you’re looking for any kind of crystal or gem chances are you’d find it here. But a conversion? I’d like to take a look at that later if you don’t mind. At the very least the basic material.” Really the runes didn’t interest him that much. Structures, however…

Kreekitaka would have beamed had he lips, and also had his mouth not been more like a camera shutter than a jaw. As it was, his facial crushers clenched tightly, giving him the appearance of someone whose mustache just curled up of its own accord, and rippled his paddles lightly down his back. To begin with, Hildegarde might now pay him to use Linn's services. Which would last all of once before the semi-accidental ruse was discovered. Might want to rectify that before it starts, Kree. However, hearing that light could be transformed into magical energy was... well, intriguing. Certainly it would assist in keeping his weapon charged, especially during the day. "I am he, yes." Oooh! Or maybe in assisting with other things, like keeping spells charged near-permanently. ...which could lead to very interesting applications. "I aoso wanTAH! a yook aTAH! HHHTHis crysTAH!oh. ITAH! cooDAH! be very usefoh if incorporaTAH!eDAH! inTAH!oo my DAH!esigns."

Ashe didn't need to put any effort into fading into the background when the crystal was presented. With the attention of everyone else so focused on the curiosity, the bard might have juggled bombs without anyone being the wiser. Quite content being out of the public eye, as it were, Ashe had another drag from his flask before corking the thing and stuffing it away. Decidedly not commenting on the crystal.

Odhranos passes the shattered crystal to the mithril-clad enchanter. "I encountered it in the Larket forest with a member of the Mage's Guild, Lanlan. We were both tracking down a strange magic signal which led us to an island in a small lake deep in the forest. Upon arriving on the island, we were knocked unconsious by the magic aura and woke up under the power of an illusion, we had been transmuted into animals" the mage explained, remembering the odd experience of being a grey ferret for a day. "The source of the illusion was at the centre of the island, a tower, built to house a succession of giant focusing lenses that focused the moonlight into the crystal. The crystal's structure converted this concentrated light into magic energy, which was dispersed through the runic web on the surface forming the enchantment. Unfortunately, in the act of escaping the enchantment, the crystal had to be broken. The Mage's Guild studied it, but they only focused on the runes, they concluded they didnt recognise the crystal and gave up studying that aspect.... so I took it, to try find more" the mage concludes sheepishly, well aware of his transgression, but whats done is done.

Linn looked almost a little surprised that he was given the crystal so handily before nodding in acceptance. “So… powering an illusion with moonlight?” MOONlight? This could not get any more fishy. He backed off to the wall, flipping the thing in his hand to look at it from different angles. “Figures they wouldn’t look at the crystal itself.” He continued the mage’s statement almost sardonically. “They’ve missed much bigger things in that department.” A roll of his eyes, “Runes… I’m amazed more people don’t work with the extra dimension of a full structure.” Continuing to analyze the gem he slid down to a sitting position, pausing for a second before looking back to the mage. “Mind if I record this structure? Could find an interesting use for it and with a bit of luck, maybe a way to replicate it.”

Kreekitaka didn't have any clue what the mage's guild was and didn't particularly care--what -was- interesting was that the crystal seemed to work exactly as advertised, with a nearby source of light being turned into magical energy for sustaining a continued effect. Frankly, he wasn't quite sure exactly how he would use such a thing but it sounded highly exploitable. "HHHTHey haDAH! never seen sTAH!ructure like HHHTHis before?" he asked, tilting his head a little--that must have meant that it was exceedingly rare, though someone had clearly found a large amount of it... curious. "An' you founDAH! iTAH! near YarkeTAH!." Definitely time to step up his game there. Gotta find Artia and talk her her soon.

Ashe tapped Kreekitaka on a leg before bowing with a flourish. “Gentlemen. I've a round to complete. I'm sure the lot of you have no need for a singer misinterpreting your words. These magical sciences are beyond me.” he straightened up and gave the lot of them a playful salute. “Good luck and good hunting. Try and leave the mountains standing.” and with that, he turned on a heel and walked back out of the cave.

Odhranos nods to Linn, "Not at all, you're welcome to try. The Mage's guild fabricated a replica of the runes onto a regular crystal, but the enchantment was substantially weaker and demanded a large manual input of magic energy. So it must have been the crystal's properties that allowed such an enchantment to work" he explains. Turning to Kree, he nods farewell to Ashe then addresses the uyeer. "Apparently not, so they just gave up. Terribly narrow minded if you ask me" he grimaces. He has a lot of respect for Lanlan, but from his experience, the guild hasnt done a whole lot of good for its high standing title. "I traced the signature of the crystal here, I'm developing a control over terramancy and i can sense the unique presence of most rocks and minerals. Though it gives me splitting headaches" he grunts, rubbing his temples lightly.

Linn nodded at Odhranos before returning his gaze to the crystal. Well, he should probably be… relatively careful with this one. No sense in ruining his notes by an unfortunate spell of passing out. What could be the harm if it was just a temporary illusion? “Well, If I get anything out of this I should be able to give you a positive. Or at least a second opinion. Here we go…” With that he took a deep breath in, and closing his eyes, holding the crystal up in one hand while the other came up as if to display the spiraled ring he wore on it. His particular method of recording involved flooding the particular object with magic and feeling out how it forms to it, which was exactly what he did here, channeling his power into the crystal to saturation as he began poking and prodding to make disturbances that would help map it out. The results of such a process were usually unpredictable. One could only wonder what would come out of this… (ooc: It’s your crystal Odh. Have fun :D)

Odhranos braced himself for the transformation. It wasnt exactly a pleasant process. After a juddery second or two, the mage looked around. Paws, check, Tail, check. Yup, Odhranos was yet again a sleek grey furred ferret. The illusion juddered and skipped, one moment he was a man, the next a ferret, then something disturbingly in between. Odhranos couldnt make out clearly the other two, curious as he was to what they would be transmuted into. Linn struck him as a sort of armadillo kind of guy, but Kree? Sven above, what might Kree be transformed into?

Linn’s mind wasn’t exactly where it normally was, but the recording seemed to be going well with his eyes closed. The ring around his finger began to unspool before going back shut, a sharp sniff coming from the enchanter. Another. With a low grunt Linn rolled over to get up on all fours, shaking his body to dispel the strange stiffness that overcame him with a great series of clanks and clicks. Opening his near bug-eyes he looked around before panting happily, trotting around the edge of the cave and sniffing his new environment (And quite possibly Kree and Odhranos). He was now a pug, a quite small, if armored and pack-laden pug.

Kreekitaka tilted his head a little when the crystal activated. He'd heard it was an illusion, and yet it was so very convincing when they both became small mammalian creatures. Which... he was now seeing... from a different angle. Because most of what was there now was Vindicator, the colossal sea scorpion that had become Kree's lower body. Part of its mind still lived in Kree's and thus its animal representation of itself was... well... itself. If one were to be able to climb up on top and see what was stuck to the scorpion's head... well, they might, if they looked closely spot something rather small. ...Incredibly small. There, scrabbling its legs in a vain attempt to break free and get up above the rest of the colossal scorpion creature, would be the front half of an ant. Yes. An ant. An ant that was rapidly growing more and more ticked off at its predicament, which led to more and more futile scrabbling against the carapace of the sea scorpion that held it hostage.

Odhranos was becoming disoriented by the rapid changes and so he made his way over to Linn with the intent of taking the crystal from his hands, breaking the illusion. The crystal's power was substantial but was dangerous to use when damaged: unfocused magic could erupt through the cracks and they would have a magic bomb on their hands/paws/claws.

Linn left the crystal by where he first tried to analyze it in his disorientation as he trotted around; he really –did- think he was a pug. At least, until he sat down and started to scratch behind his ear and reality (And the flexibility of a human body, armor or no) began to catch up. Then the questions came: What was he doing in a cave and not a battlefield running valuable items to so-called heroes? Why –did- his ear itch so much? Why was he scratching it with his leg and not his arm? WHY WAS HE AN ARMORED PUG? The questions were enough to weaken the hold of the illusion on him to focus on himself and begin unraveling it. After another disorienting shake of his head he found himself awkwardly sitting with palms planted on the floor and a leg awkwardly up in the air with Kree clawing at… something, and Odhranos crawling towards the crystal. “Hey whoa, careful with that thing!” he called out as he began moving back to retrieve the thing and drain whatever leftover magic might be in it. Though it might as well still be a bark to those still affected.

Kreekitaka 's growing agitation started to affect Vindicator. The creature suddenly seemed to realize that it was stuck in a confined space with stones all around and not enough height overhead to lift its tail or swing its mantis-like foretalons, and rumbled internally, a rather ominous sound. It began to back out of the cave, trying to turn, to go where it could, but soon enough the magic was gone and Kree was once again Kree, claws raised as if to hulk-smash something--and then he froze. That... whatever-it-was--had gotten itself into his head. It had got in his -head-. How the -crap- did a gemstone get inside his MIND of all places!? The ONE PLACE where nobody else could reach, the one, single, solitary thing that was his and his alone that couldn't be taken from him even in DEATH, and this gem had screwed with it somehow. No. No no no. Nope, nada, not happening. You can't just do that, gem. You can't invade a being's mind and expect to get away with it. Throwing down his pickaxe, Kree hauled out instead his jawblade and twirled it in one claw before clamping down on it and raising it high. "STAH!ep asiDAH!," he snarled at both of them. "I cannoTAH! ayow such a HHHTHing TAH!oo exisTAH!." If any present had any form of psychic ability--or perhaps even if they didn't, even if they were just reading body language--one would likely be able to taste the hatred radiating off the scorpitaur. Nothing was sacred anymore. His mind--his MIND--had been invaded, violated by some other force. That shouldn't even be possible, let alone by some kind of gemstone that wasn't even a person.

Odhranos is alarmed to say the least. He also couldnt allow the enraged uyeer to destroy the crystal. "No! You dont understand! That's not the crystal's purpose, thats the fault of the damaged runes." he spoke quickly, even though his words were probably falling on deaf ears. "If you destroy this, we have no hope of finding the rest..." he tails off, a realisation hitting him. If Kree is this incensed by one faulty crystal, he would absolutely destroy the rest without remorse. Odhranos could not allow that, to destroy such a rare material would be beyond foolish. "I can't allow you to destroy it, it is far too important" Odhranos states as firm as one can in the face of a raging scorpitaur.

Linn froze for a second as Kree reared up over the crystal and everyone became locked in conflict over it. He definitely didn’t want to see it destroyed either, but his life was also pretty valuable. Just a couple seconds passed before he reached a decision; the runes didn’t have an enchantment of interest, and the material itself didn’t need to be whole to pick up what he wanted. “Then we’ll destroy its enchantment.” Without another word he walked up to the chunk as he drew a small cluster of bright violet splinters, the ones that Kree would have seen Linn use to cut the gems used in his jawblade. Unless interrupted by either the mage or the uyeer he’d hold the stone levitating out with his other hand before the unnatural violet gems projected a thin line of bright blowing blue force. With three swift swipes across each axis of the gem with the light he’d cut it into eight even pieces before reaching his hand under to release the force holding it in the air, after which the cutting would be evident when the fragments began sliding apart from one another. Just like that he pocketed the crystal before taking a chunk and tossing it back to the grey mage. “And now it’s missing some mechanisms it needs to work, for sure.” Another chunk found itself dropped to the floor as he stepped away. “Crush that if you want.” He motioned towards the uyeer before continuing his trip back with the remaining pieces.

Odhranos was about to lose his cool, but Linn's methods defused the situation as effectively as it did the crystal. It dismantled the enchantment efficiently, while still leaving enough of the crystal intact to get a signature from. Swiftly pocketing his chunk, he turns to the uyeer. "Destroy it. Release your anger." he sighed, a little saddened that the miraculous material should reach such an end, but at least some was preserved. Odhranos took a glance at the wall, beyond which the crystal's source lay, waiting to be discovered. But not today, at least not now that Kree's hatred had become apparent.He would come back later, to search again.

Kreekitaka was literally JUST about to be all "An' how DAH!oo you pyan on sTAH!opping me?" before backhanding the novice mage into the wall and maybe snapping a limb for good measure when Linn decided to step in with a compromise that was... well... still not what he wanted, but at least there was no way for that particular enchantment to work, now. Not that he'd ever be seen using the stuff, ever. His scorpion-mouth hissed involuntarily and he shoved forward and brought his jawblade down on that one remaining fragment, feeling a short jolt of electricity as it released whatever it had stored up in it before. Only barely sated, still almost glowing with revulsion and hatred, he threw a glare the wizard's way and turned to leave. "Never bring HHHTHaTAH! gem near me again, hear?" he said, before making an exit and looking for some kind of large animal to wrestle into submission and possibly de-limb. Needed a way to work off this excess rage.