RP:That Which a Preklek Should Have Known was a Bad Idea

From HollowWiki

Part of the Repairing the Irreparable Arc


Events Preceding: Kang hands off his untrained Not-Alpaca to a lycan he trusts (ae, Desparrow) in hopes that one monster can relate to another. The creature he'd left in Desparrow's care defies the training regimen, but her ferocity is being contained, for now. Desparrow finds his way into the Lair of the Tinkers, and thus, to Kang and his recovering ward. The little avian girl still blames herself for the creature's escape.

Helping an Ally

Kang rises from the ever-slicing chair of doom, that the tinkers had crafted for him to examine their work. Clockwork chickens, crows, and even one miniature mechanical griffin lie around the room in various states of disrepair. Their enthusiasm and imagination far outpaces their abilities, it seems, despite how skilled they are at their craft. In a chalked off area, the young avian stretches and tries out her prosthetic wing, still not completely proficient with it. A slight, almost unseen twitch shows the pain she still feels from the attack and the following operations, but with Dedicate Kang at hand, she dares not show weakness and calmly bites back everything that she would otherwise believe she can't bear. The preklek sees it, but pretends he doesn't. His charge does well, and he must respect that.

Desparrow had been wandering from Larket in hopes of finding a hiding spot to lay low, while also intending to find an ally. Ending up in a closet somewhere and touching an orb he was somehow transported to a land that was unknown to him. Luckily he didn’t have the intent of making enemies and in his curious yet cautious wandering came upon this den filled with mechanical wonders and one of the people that could perhaps be of use to him. If he confided in his clan mate he could perhaps find sanctuary, and something necessary for his own existence. Tailing behind him was Gigi, the little monster trotting with an ethereal leash around her neck upon which she was constantly gnawing to no effect. Should she try and attack anyone, the leash would sense her intent and reverse gravity, causing her to start to float, essentially immobilizing the little monster. “Kang! Boy am I glad to see you.” The state of disrepair his body was in was visible. He had a frozen cast on his right arm which protected a fracture in his forearm, he had a bulge in his shirt on his back where a sword had nearly sliced his spine vertically but had missed by only a couple of inches. His left leg also was damaged, burned half way up the leg and in some spots he was only just starting to get feeling back where the burns had gotten past the nerves.

Kang peers over, along with half the goblins in the room. The preklek cuffs a couple on his way over. "Find the error in your designs. It should match the pattern in the guide." He gestures to an opened pop up book with various tabs to pull. The goblins gather around and begin pulling them to examine the movements for answers. The avian girl in the corner falters at seeing her attacker, seemingly unfettered and unapologetic. Kang shouts something at her in Chthonic, and she replies in kind, though perhaps louder. The exchange causes a nearby goblin's ears to bleed. The language is fatal in many cases, so being in close proximity to two people fluent in it who weren't trying to kill each other can be very hazardous. The tinker absently wipes away the blood and continues her work, the damage otherwise unnoticed. The preklek steps closer to the wolf and examines him and the small creature trotting behind. Gigi lunges and is sent aloft. Kang merely raises one brow. "She got you pretty bad it seems, though I don't remember her being able to ignite flesh." He continues to examine Desparrow's injuries, while one of the tinkers begins measuring the burns then Desparrow himself. The goblin mumbles something to himself and scratches his notes onto the slate hanging at his side. Somehow, Gigi gets ahold of his arm. The goblin waits for her to spit it out. The Not-alpaca does, choking the whole time. Goblins taste terrible.

Desparrow didn’t know the language, but did find it quite displeasing, painful even. The manner of his injuries were not caused by Gigi, thankfully, the little creature probably would have destroyed him. “Actually my friend, the little thing didn’t do any of this, it was Kasyr. We had a spar. I am being chased by Ranok of Rynvale, hunted for a bounty. Beyond sanctuary, as I can probably hide anywhere nearly.. I think you could help me with a problem I am having.” He stepped over to Kang while yanking on the leash, causing it to shorten to the point that if Des was holding out his arm Gigi would have to stay near his feet or start to choke. “I know little of your race, but I will let you know, I have a problem with anti-magic. It can kill me, very easily. I need weapons, training, armor, anything and everything that will allow me to fight against more skilled or even stronger opponents. Got anything?” All the while he didn’t mind if any of the goblins bothered to measure him, as long as they didn’t pull a knife it wasn’t a problem.

Kang listens to the man talking, calmly considering the words. Cass, the maimed avian in the corner giggles a little and calls something over to Kang, still in Chthonic, blood trickling from her mouth on a slightly mispronounced word. "Yes, it is very ironic," he replies with a grin, in common. To Desparrow he says, "The language we speak is used precisely for battling larger, stronger opponents. In fact, it's their language. I battled a specific race in the realm of Tartarus." Seeing confusion, he waves his hand to brush away the comment. "No, where it is isn't important. The importance is that my people all died when they fought these primordial giants. The language itself is a weapon. Even the most pleasant conversation can be fatal. In order to survive, we had to learn the language. But to learn the language, we had to survive." The avian in the corner coughs up a small puddle of blood, trying to regain control of her breathing. Goblins bring her a bucket of vinegar. They're used to the sight of the avian fighting for her life against her own tongue. "I survived. The language is not just used for battle, it -is- battle. Bloodshed always ensues, but I digress. You want training, you can see the chalked off area over there. Cass is training, and she's injured as well. She might not be at your level of skill, but she's also not at your level of disrepair either. This place is safe, kind of. There are explosions, and odd smells, but no one will hunt you here. Healers visit, so if you want anonymity, that might be an issue. As for armor." The tinkers look up hopefully. Kang nods to them, and half of them drop their clockwork pets to fight over metal scraps and measuring tape. "They'll build you whatever armor you need, but make sure to ask about 'improvements'. Their enthusiasm oft surpasses sense."

Desparrow listened carefully, finding it all interesting, but something he’d probably not meddle with. Learning a language after all is a far more time consuming and intricate process and so training and upgrades seemed to be the way to go. He moved over to the corner to face Cass, inspecting the female with a vague interest. “I need an answer to anti-magic. Something that negates it. Sounds ridiculous, but its something that can save my life, on top of weapons, magical in nature. Anything and everything.” The lycan didn’t know how to approach the avian, whether it was physical combat or otherwise, if it was magical he wouldn’t be able to sustain himself as he was running on a very low battery at the moment. “I don’t mind the environment; I just need to be better. Stronger.”

Kang shrugs. "The only answer to anti-magic is not to use magic." He nods to Cass and she lifts her bowstaff, a trickle of blood still hanging at the corner of her mouth. She steps to the left and begins twisting the staff in her hands. Her good wing moves to balance her, while her clockwork wing whirs sluggishly into position. For a moment, red runes flash on the metal of the wing and the various copper, mithril, and silver patches on her skin. Her staff swings forward, twisting at the last moment to slam into the wolf's shins. Her movement also drives the bladed feathers of her metal wing directly into the natural path of a dodge. Kang considers a few possibilities, batting a spark away from his face. A thought occurs to him. "Indirect, non-traditional mixed-aspects? That is, you don't use magic." He calls his star pupil over and asks her to make him a weapon, checking the combatants in the corner to see what type the wolf prefers. with a nod he finishes the instructions. He whistles a short ditty and the spark hovering at his temple follows the goblin to the forge. If anyone were to listen carefully, they might have heard disembodied laughter in the halls. "So, Desparrow, want to make a really bad decision? I know I do."

Desparrow managed in answer to conjure a spectral weapon appearing to be a glowing scythe. The shaft was brought within the way of the staff to block while Des shifted his body to narrowly dodge the wings however ending up with a nice slice across his left shoulder. He growled but did back off, not bothering with a counter attack. When it came to being outclassed he usually took up a defensive posture and manner of fighting, especially when his opponent had the upper hand. The laughter caught his ears but it was dismissed for the most part though a grin touched his lips when asked that question, “Sure why not!”

Kang grins as well. "My little apprentice is going to make you a scythe. There's a rather large catch though. It's going to be sentient, unfriendly, and if it chooses, unwieldable. Anti-magic will have a hard time hurting it, because at the core, it's a physical weapon, not magickal. In fact, using magic around the weapon is unwise." He thinks on what he's just asked to be done, and shivers in excitement and no small amount of fear. He doesn't know how magic works, exactly, but he knows that he may have just commissioned a WMD. "Yeah, if you want to use magic, leave the scythe somewhere far away, maybe a few hundred kilometers. No promises, of course."

Desparrow primary method of combat was magic, so a weapon that made it unwise to use such a thing would be difficult but perhaps just what he needed. “Alright. I am wary of this, but you have certainly caught my interest. I mean to say that I am magical in nature, anti-magic is a death sentence if it is used against me. That’s all, however I do need to work on my actual physical skill, and if this weapon forces me to do that then so be it. I welcome challenges that force me to grow.” With that he turned to face Kang, curious as to the method he would employ to create a sentient weapon, as that is one of the very things that he desires most of all.

Kang had an 'understanding' with a certain unstable magical creature. Technically, the weapon will be a life-support device for an intangible magickal being, but he tries not to look too closely at the metaphysics. "You could use magic around the weapon, but the control wouldn't be yours. The weapon severs the connection between magickal control and magic user. Therefore, anti-magic wouldn't hurt you because your magic is separated from you without being removed from you." The preklek realizes how confusing that could be. "It turns your magic into a fundamentally arcane twin to Gigi. You can lock it up or release it, but control is out of the question for now." The avian girl uses her staff to vault Desparrow and swings it with her trajectory to circle back and under, directly where it would hurt the wolf the most. Kang does add one fun part. "Small quirk, spontaneous fires might erupt around you. I hope you can run if needed." He shrugs. "Like I said, unfriendly."

Desparrow found that to be very confusing. He was essentially on magical life support, where an antimagic punch could kill him but if the weapon would support his life, and protect him without the need of magic, that would be a large boon in his favor. “I am certainly interested, so I can cast magic, but not control it, and it would protect me from anti magic. That is all beneficial.” In that instant he saw the woman vault and was quick to turn and lower his good arm, taking the blow straight to his palm which ended up jarring his wrist and making the hand over all go numb. Another step back was made, clearly with diverted attention.

Kang said, "I wouldn't suggest trying to use magic. Think of your magic as a primal elemental. Once you release it, it does what's in it's nature and might wander off. Fire users would release a salamander, and if it wanders off, they aren't mages until they can catch it again. Of course, the magic isn't a true elemental, but to all purposes, it acts like one."

A squad of new goblin recruits enters from the east as the drill sergeant yells, "Move it!"

Desparrow nodded, “I see. Well for now I must rest, I have a considerable amount of healing that still needs to be done and I think I will stick around here. I’ll check back with you after a while, and if you need me I am free for whatever these folk desire of me.” With that he offered a deep bow and then stalked off.

Kang says, "I really wish they'd stop chasing people off."