Getsemiel, part 2

[Porcelain Fish]

[OOC: I've been waiting for someone else to do something before unveiling the next step. But you're right, it's been over a week. I propose that we go ahead and call the whole airship business a wrap and get things shifting into gear for the move to Tsuiraku. I can always write it as fanfiction later.[/OOC]

[Drusia]

[OOC: I've been waiting for someone else to do something before unveiling the next step. But you're right, it's been over a week. I propose that we go ahead and call the whole airship business a wrap and get things shifting into gear for the move to Tsuiraku. I can always write it as fanfiction later.[/OOC]

OOC: Um... I have to admit to curosity on this one. Who are you waiting on to do what?
You could always do it in Background Noise rather than fanfic.
Also, if you don't want to answer here, but are willing to satisfy my curosity, feel free to PM me. ^^

Also, I was waiting on someone else to say something since Desiree just spoke before Rose.

[Porcelain Fish]

[OOC: Well Lillith and Argus are both on the airship, and I don't want to basically play their character for them with no input from the players. I think at this point the best option is to skip it. We can even do flashbacks later if desired.[/OOC]

[Drannin]

(OOC: Deus ex Machina... Launch!)

Argus stood on the bow of the airship, Harker at his side, frowning as the port grew closer. It was quite a sight, he had to admit, and the castle was glorious. Still, he was worried. He wondered if Maduin was alright. He was worried about Rose. He... dammit, he missed her already.

Well, maybe he should get her a souvenir...

And it was during this line of thought that everything went to hell.

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A Gentle reader may remember the name of Lucas Ravanel, a humble tour guide, with a number of personal quirks. One such quirk was that magic Did Not Work Right when he was nearby. In fact, he was giving a tour to a family (including a rather bored ten-year-old) inside said castle as the Cleiviein airship passed overhead. It was enough proximity for a couple sensors to blink, and then stabilize, much to their operators' consternation. This would go unnoticed. Unfortunately, the Lady of Fate was a fickle bitch with a sadistic sense of humor, and it was at this moment that Haniko Goto, finally having her prey just were she wanted him, activated her transport web, reaching out over miles to capture Argus. Such powerful magic did not go unaffected by the humble tour guide, much too the detriment of poor Argus.

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There was only a second's warning. A brief stir in the air, the tang of ozone. "Wha-" was all Argus got out before a magical web suddenly materialized around him, pulsing menacingly. "A teleport web?!" He shouted in disbelief.

From further down the deck, Jerecht, shouted in shock, letting Argus know that this was most certainly not part of the plan. Maybe not even part of the original design. Harker cried out in dismay, immediately realizing what was happening, that someone had gotten the drop on them in what should have been a secure location.

And then things went WRONG.

The web distorted, careful geometry warping insanely, the air itself, the very space it occupied, being twisted. Wormhole, Argus had time to think with a chill. Warp magic gone wrong. It's sucking me in. More accurately, space itself imploded around him, and Argus was pulled in, trailing streamers of shrieking teleport energy behind him. The was a sudden thud against his chest (Harker dove in after me he's clinging to me I wouldn't have believed) and Argus

Fell

fell....

fell

f

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"NOOO!!!" the woman screamed. (goto's voice it was goto she did this but something went wrong) "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!!!" (you went this far? why? now i'm)

Falling.

Senseless.

Surrounded by pure energy.

The zero-point. The point through which all things were joined. Portal technology exploited it to send people through, to distances far, far removed. Absolute color, that eyes could not perceive. Chaos infinite, that the mind could not comprehend, and so it shut itself down to prtoect Argus' psyche. Not that it mattered. The pure energy would destroy him unless he found a way to escape

Infinity.

He was nowhere.

He was everywhere.

So if had something to latch onto, something to will himself towards (feeling emotion) and put all his magic behind it there was a chance... And besides, Harker was still clinging to him. He couldn't let his loyal friend down. And so Argus willed the magic around him, to deposit him near a bright shining point in his mind, to the presence of a soul he had come to trust above all others. In the void that was chaos and nothing, a mouth that was not a mouth opened and screamed

"ROSE!!!"

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The air above Getsemiel exploded in multicolored magical energy, dimensional plasma licking out and dissipating. From this maelstrom fell a wizard and his familiar

falling

fallin-

*SPLASH*

-into the baths. Floating on the surface, Argus stared wild-eyed at the sky, aware of three thing: he was alive, he had made it, he hurt.

Harker's voice pounded in his ears, but Argus could not discern the words. There was fear, then shock, then terror. Pure suffering etched into his bones, Argus agonizingly turned his head towards the source of his suffering. His shoulder-

Still had trace amounts of magic in it from the disaster that had calcified it. Argus had just traveled through raw magical energy. The shoulder had absorbed this magic, and was glowing, pulsing, he could see the bones clearly through his skin, electricity was pouring from it all over his body...

And the calcification was growing, visibly. Argus opened his mouth to scream his suffering, but could only gasp, liquid pain choking his throat.

(OOC: Direct hit)

[Porcelain Fish]

[OOC: Magnificently done, sir! Kudos! And to round things out so we can all get back on track . . . /OOC]

A glimmering portal, radiant with streamers of vibrant multicolored energy, grew and expanded from the space between spaces, growing until it was large enough to allow the egress of a tall, redheaded soldier wearing battle-scarred charcoal-gray armor of hardened ceramic with a pump-action rifle in one hand, a young man in flowing, elegant robes of stark white trimmed in black in the Tsuirakuan style, face unusually pale at the moment, expression slightly distracted and somewhat withdrawn, and a half-elven girl.

"Now remember," Maduin said distractedly as his eyes darted around, searching their surroundings. "We can't go near Taileas Gai or Lefthaven for the next week and a half because we might meet our past selves and cause a temporal EVENT that would make the tear in the time-space continuum even worse."

"Are you sure we got back to the right time?" Bryce asked, pausing to look down at him, expression a welter of different emotions.

"Of course. Fayna's calculations were very precise. Oh! Remember that we can't tell anyone that Mr. Ravanel makes time travel possible. Things can only go downhill from there. Lillith, do you see-" Maduin cut himself off, catching sight of the convulsing figure in the baths, and ran, pulling what looked a great deal like a chrome-plated lady's clutch purse from an inner pocket. "See?" he called breathlessly without looking back, "We're right when we need to be!"

He hauled Argus's head above water, opened the clutch, pushed it against the older man's shoulder, and with a moan of hydraulics, a dozen needles speared through flesh and bored into bone, magic meeting magic and reorganizing and recalibrating it.

It would reverse the calcification, but it was probably also extremely painful. With any luck, Argus would pass out before it really started to hurt.

[OOC: Also, let's not go to Tsuiraku - 'tis a silly place. Maybe Farrel?[/OOC]

[Graybeard]

"Anyway, I think we should move on from here," Sister Rose concluded. "Until I can report back to Emerylon, Argus and Lillith and I had better avoid places with Millenarian temples. Fortunately, they're rare in the western part of the country, and the Millenarians avoid overseas missions, by and large." She smiled dryly. "Since it begins to look like we may have to chase Blaise all the way to Kiyoka, that's a good -- hey, what was that?"

The light globes in the room (the Calfornicans had not been shy about adopting that particular gadget) flickered for a moment. That was odd; light globes simply didn't flicker. At the same time, Rose became aware that the sound-damping spell had also dissipated. What was that all about? A manifestation of the magical weirdness that kept priests and nuns here from tapping into Luminosita's Power? A magical interruption of the same kind that had happened back in Umbertiel? Something else?

"We'd better investigate that," she said, rising to her feet and moving to the door. "Let's get some detection magic ready. I --"

"ROSE!!!" Splash!

Investigation of the flickering lights could go hang.

She sprinted for the baths.

[Drannin]

Argus vaguely felt something jab into the shoulder, and the pain it caused, but it didn't really register over the fire the rest of his body thought it was doused in. But strangely..

"...the hell did you come from?!"

"...long story... should heal him... calculations..."

...Argus felt... cold. Really cold. He thought he heard Maduin and Harker arguing about him, which was odd, given Maduin's current state of being kidnapped, but nevermind that. He was also vaguely aware of someone holding his head... a sense of dampness... the pain focused in his shoulder.

"...He's going into shock." Harker's voice, frightened. "It was just too much for him?"

What was? Being forced through the nethers of the universe?

"WHAT?! NO!"

"MEDIC!" Harker's voice again.

By the weave Argus felt cold. He wished he could see everyone again. Rose, Harker, Fayna, Maduin, Cirella, Addon... damnation he was cold.

"MEDIC!!!" a panicked Harker shouted again as Argus slowly succumbed to shock.

[Drusia]

"We'd better investigate that," she said, rising to her feet and moving to the door. "Let's get some detection magic ready. I --"
"ROSE!!!"
She sprinted for the baths.
"MEDIC!" Harker's voice again.
"MEDIC!!!" a panicked Harker shouted again as Argus slowly succumbed to shock.

I was already following Rose - after all, I'd have no idea what else to do - when I hear someone shout for a medic. At times like this, training kicks in. I oriented on the scream and ran. Rose did the same.

We arrived at the baths at the same time. Argus, wounded, and some others that aren't. I run up to Argus and examine his wounds.

They - they're like nothing I've ever seen before. What did this to him? Never mind - ask later.

Rose is already starting to cast a healing spell. That will help, but Argus is already in shock. I unfasten his belt and unbutton the remains of his pants, lifting his legs on my shoulders as I do so. He's lost blood and he's cold - I need to maximize the amount of blood in his body, remove any tight clothing, and keep him warm. He's soaking wet - not good. I don't have any sources of heat on me, other than...

"Sorry," I say to no one imparticular as I open my robe and press myself against his chest, wrapping the robe around us to trap my body heat against him. I keep his legs hooked over my shoulders to keep them elevated. And, finally, I begin casting a healing spell of my own. It isn't going to be very powerful - my hands are too busy to really direct it properly, but it will have the benefit of surface area. A lot of me is touching a lot of him, and anywhere we touch will be getting a diluted form of healing.

-- Desiree

OOC: I assumed that Rose would heal first and ask questions later. Can ret-con if necessary.
Also, since it seemed relevant, I looked up how to treat Shock. What Desiree does is medically correct. ^^

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose arrived just in time to see Argus sag into Maduin's somewhat tentative embrace ... and to see the look on Harker's face.

"NO!!" she practically screamed. "Argus! You can't! I swear to Luminosita, if you die, I'll never speak to you again!"

The thing was: she was perfectly serious.

Full-blown panic was setting in when she forced herself to take a step back. Remember Albigenish... Ah. Shock. I know how to deal with that. If I'm in time.

In moments she was pumping healing energy into Argus' body, praying it wouldn't be too late.

And if what Desiree was doing in the same direction looked rather ... risque, now wasn't the time to worry about it. [OOC: Late edit here. Didn't see your post until after I wrote this, D, but hoo boy, the mental images it summons...]

[Jack Rothwell]

Eli arrived shortly behind Desiree and Rose, finding himself too transfixed by the lights in the sky to will himself to move at first. He surveyed the scene of the barely conscious Argus and the mages attempting to heal him, paying particular attention to the weird boney growth in the man's shoulder.

He'd have offered to help, but at that moment there was barely any room to even get near Argus, and standing there asking stupid questions was unlikely to help anything. So he'd watch, and step in if someone ran out of mana. Unless the poor bastard died of course.