RP:The Purifier

Part of the Agitation Arc

Summary: : Linn was examining some of the old landscape outside Xalious when Kang found him. They initially regarded each other with suspicion until they found their shared interest in dealing with the magical storms and their fallout. Kang mentions creatures becoming twisted by the ooze into monstrosities, while Linn warns about a potential runaway reaction should chaos magic force it to begin decomposing. The two part ways shortly after the exchange, going back to their own work.

Rough Range

Linn meandered his way around the recovering landscape, inspecting the pitted ground as well as the regrowth of life. Every now and then he traded glances to the east, where the ground only got rougher, and towards the Xalious Village. He wore a suit of sharply angled mithril armor, the plates covering his limbs showing no physical features that would allow them to be disengaged and reattached. His joints were left clear of the rigid armor, covered with scale and fine mail as well. It was a set made for mobility and travel while retaining as much protection as it could. A few crystals jutted into the gap between the plates over his right ankle, the joint appearing just a little stiff as he walked. Other possessions included a traveler’s pack, a sword at his side, and a few belt pouches that contained who knows what. He reached down towards one of the old dead saplings before half-heartedly attempting to pull it from the ground before it snapped off just under his hand. Tossing the broken twig to the side he took to leaning against one of the trees, looking towards the Xalious Village.

Kang arrives from another direction, covered head to foot in heavy black armor, some of it pitted from acid splash and the occassional overzealous beast, and draped over top of all of it, the cloak that masks Kang's features. One as heavily armoured as this would normally be armed to the teeth, but the only item at hand is an ivory staff, used for walking. The preklek swivels his head back and forh, searching the area for more of the black substance that had been plaguing this area. He hears the crack and exhales quickly with a hiss. In response, a wall of fire erupts around him and begins inching toward the source of the sound.

Linn kept looking towards the village for a bit, another glance thrown around finding a sudden light of fire that wasn’t there before. He looked towards its base for a second, there was no way it could sustain itself on this kind of ground. Pulling something from the pouch above his sword he pushed away from the tree to a more mobile stance, keeping a fair distance from the fire as he looked through it to find whoever its source was. At the same time he briefly refocused on the fire every now and then, picking apart the spellcraft behind the progressing wall. Caution marked his expression, ready for any sudden lashing out of the magic.

Kang follows where the fire leads, it's whuffling easily mistaken for normal fire burning, but when someone looks toward what is burning, they discover nothing there. Even Kang isn't sure how it works, but that it does, he has no doubt. He taps a slow rhythm along the edge of the staff and it flickers and begins to lose consistency, not shifting but certainly softening. "Who's there? Answer, or I'll loose the wolves." The flames begins to make a low rumbling noise, almost a growl. "Sorry, tiger. I'll unleash the tiger. She's a bit sensitive about that." The flame solidifies into the shape of a tiger. Magickal scrutiny would determine that it's not being controlled by Kang. The flame is laced with chaos magic, and is sentient. Why it helps Kang is between it and the preklek.

Linn got a good view of the cloaked preklek as the flame vanished in his view. The question of who was there caught him a little off guard. He should be rather conspicuous given the daylight and the shine of the mithril plates. “I’m here, can you see me?” came back his voice, more curious than sarcastic. Blindness was something that plagued some people, or that hood did in fact obstruct his vision. A small chuckle was quickly arrested at the correction to ‘tiger’, but he remained guarded. He had given the appearance of a bumbling fool a couple times to make some surprise, though just as many times it was harmless. The actual forming of the blazing tiger piqued his interest more than anything. It moved too much on its own accord to be directly controlled by the wizardly figure in the distance, but the two definitely worked together. “That’s quite the familiar you have there.” He called back.

Kang whistles a quick series of notes and the flaming tiger shrinks to a spark that returns to its inconspicuous orbit around the staff. "Not really a familiar. It just got tired of trying to kill me." He brushes the staff and it returns to it's wooden form. "I could see you, but recently things have been happening. Creatures that look like people, but are more monster than anything else I've seen."

Linn traced the path of the firey figure right back into the staff Kang wielded, nodding towards the orbiting spark. “Quite a companion nonetheless.” His head turned, brows raised at the next statement. That could have had a lot of different meanings; some people he knew would definitely throw some people into that category… “What kinds of creatures? Something immaterial? Or just holding back some sort of surprise for when it could do the most damage?

Kang looks the man over before explaining. "People who got too close to the black sludge. Not sure what it is, but I've been trying to destroy it. It changes things, animals, people. Poisonous giant squirrels aren't so funny when they try to gnaw your face off." Every so often a breeze will bring the odd noise and the spark will go investigate. Most times it returns, no sign of anything changing. Once or twice, a loud roar and a concussive explosion emanates from elsewhere. "Surgical strikes against the, whatever it is, seem to be working."

Linn turned wide-eyed at the mention of getting to close to the sludge before looking the preklek up and down; he was far too massive to be any of the wizards that he had seen at the last storm. “So we are dealing with the same events then.” He looked down in thought before glancing at his forearm. “Changes? I suppose it’s possible that it could mutate things from the energy in it. I managed to find a way to force it to decompose quickly, though I don’t want to try it on a very large event. If it does what you say it does due to exposure I don’t want to think about what would happen if it broke down on a large scale.” He returned to look at the other investigator curiously. What a surprise the two hadn’t run into each other already.

Kang said, "Decompose? I've been incinerating it. Sparky there will eat anything it seems." Kang bats at the spark with his staff, which does nothing. He, too glances at the man's forearm, wondering what the interest is. "What events are we dealing with? Is it a disease or pollution? I'm not proficient with the energies of this world, so I can't judge that."

Linn tapped his foot on the ground as he took in the questions on the nature of the situation. “The events that make it come and go far too fast to be either of those. As far as I can tell it’s mostly magical, some kind of lingering effect left over in the substance from a big spell. I haven’t worked with the specific magic in question very much so I can’t tell exactly what it is, but it’s definitely some kind of unstable energy at work.” He looked back and eyed Kang with a more serious expression now. “Do you know how exposed the creatures were to the substance so that they changed the way they did?”

Kang laces his fingers together atop his staff. He grins underneath the hood. "I don't exactly spend a lot of time studying them. Just destroy them before they can do too much damage. Purification through fire." He stares off into the distance. "If it's energy, then Sparky might be my best weapon against it. He, she, it is pretty unpredictable, as well. A creature of the chaos lands. That could be why consuming it does no lasting harm."

Linn nodded with a look of tacit approval at the swift destruction of the creatures. “Fire -is- a very good way to break things down quickly…” He had to think for a bit about the potential reactions that the tiger would make given its identity. “Chaos lands?” He nodded with some thoughtful look, drawing connections to his own work. “Things involving chaotic energy are surprisingly resilient, disruption of their order is normal so they can simply adapt to anything they run into.” The worry returned to his expression though, “Have you tried using it on any large quantities of the ooze at once?”

Kang shakes his head. "I haven't found a large quantity, just puddles and drops. There was an incident where a crow caught fire, but mostly small things. No remains other than some smoke." He begins thinking many things, not all of them of merit or advantage to those with interest in the unfolding events. Linn tapped his foot with a sideways look. “I’d be careful using that creature on any amount of ooze bigger than that crow. As far as the substance decomposing goes, it breaks down in strong magical power, releasing its own energy and reverting back to what it was before. Unfortunately that reaction appears to release a similar power to the one that decomposed it. You can guess where it goes next.” His head tilted up towards the sky. “Still leaves the question of what the mutations are all about though, whether it’s something due to the ooze itself or some kind of slow degradation.”

Kang considers the warning. "I'll take it under advisement, but if it's a choice between my life and making a magickal nuke. I'll choose me." The spark chirrups at Kang. "I trust the tiger to back out when it gets too hot. I have nothing to coerce it to stay, after all." He eyes it with uncertainty. "Far more often than reasonable, creatures choose me rather than their own kind. We cooperate because it suits us, though how we know it will, or if we know it will is. . .uncertain. Not knowing is something I live with."

Linn shrugs. “I’m kind of curious to see what would happen to be honest. So long as I wasn’t in the middle of it.” Talk of the unknown seemed to provoke a great recognition in the human leaning back against the tree. “There’s always something we don’t know. It drives some people insane, some of us find joy in delving right into that fact. Some just take it for what it is.” A smirk broke his thoughtful expression. “I’d rather be cooperating with those creatures than the alternative options. Definitely looks to be working out for you.”

Kang said, "Like I said to begin with, I think it's just tired of trying to kill me." He stares up into the ether. "Too bad others don't get ever get tired of the fight." He shows his arm to the human, darkened mithril, shredded beyond repair but still offering some protection. "I commissioned a poacher to catch a small creature. A little more terrifying than I anticipated. She's being kept far from here. I don't need her to become more deadly than she already is.""

Linn eyed the armor, flinching a little at its condition. “She got straight through the metal?” He looked a little incredulous that something phrased as ‘small’ was able to cause that much damage to a hard target. “Looks like I’ll have to be careful dealing with some of those things. You mentioned this happening to people as well here? What happened with them?”

Kang chuckles for a few minutes. "The creature that did this isn't from Xalious. She's a natural beast native to Frostmaw. If she'd been contaminated with the black ooze, the entire world would be doomed." He covers the damaged armor with the cloak again. "Men that look like men, but have been contaminated with the ooze. They don't talk like normal men. Some can't even talk. Poisonous, crazed, intent on destruction. Deprived of all thought save for survival and destruction, and the urge to destroy is much stronger in them."

Linn looked relieved at the fact the creature came from Frostmaw. “I can believe that, Frostmaw is quite the place.” A slight smile at the statement that faded as the topic shifted back to the people who had gone insane. “Lost their minds…” he trailed off, looking increasingly perplexed as he stared down at his feet. There was something he found quite strange, though he stayed silent on it before looking back up and pushing off of the tree “I’ll have to keep a lookout for what you have spoken of. If I find anything of interest I could always tell you about it if we meet again. Could find a better way to get rid of these… things.”

Kang said, "I should be easy to find. Just follow the flames." Kang lifts his staff and begins walking off, the scent of sulphur and the roar of flames rising from his passage. "Sparky gets hungry, and it eats the tainted, ergo. I have no problem feeding my friend."

Linn smiled and nodded as Kang departed before going his own way. At least someone found a use for the ooze.