Game Session #3

[Pikachu]

Summary of game 7/12/07

We awoke and are taken to a new meeting location. Unlike the previous one this is a plush middle class home with amenities to satisfy us.

Clavian sits before us and informs us that Sicarius is off on another mission while we take care of another situation. Valnassa Nalivir, an elf senator with ties to Duragar requires protection from the wayfarers... however due to her ties with Duragar she herself does not approve of our organization. We must protect her, but not alarm any guards, nor make her aware of our presence...

He also notes of a secondary mission to try and convert 5 other vigilantes into either joining the WoT if their intentions are good, or to eliminate them if it is bad.

... I wonder to myself... why oh why is the large blue target going on a stealth escort mission... *sigh* not like there will be all that much action anyhow...

The first location we will meet up at is going to be the senator's home, from there it will continue to a middle class area to protect her during a fund raiser, to further locations.

Osmiam asks Clavian for the addresses of the honor guards that will be escorting Nalivir. After sometime Clavian returns with this information and Osmiam goes off to the nearest guards home with haste...

We still had hours to spare till we needed to be at the senator's home, so I go on to the first stop in the senator's day trip and scope out the location for any traps and spots of interest.

Lucia goes in a similar fashion to the 2nd location.

Meanwhile, Osmiam secretly enters first guards home and shadows into the bedroom. From there he presents the guard with a dream of himself and a warning to listen to the man with his face if the guard were to ever face it.

Not being entertained nearly enough he then shadows over to the guards wife sleeping next to him and places thoughts of the sexy Illryians and how they are far sexier than ever before. He snickers and goes off to the next guards home.

There he performs the same master of mind warping on the guard, and goes further with the wife - This time placing sheer thoughts of adultery into the wife's mind on top of an attraction to Illryians. Thoughts of Sicarius back-dooring the husband guard fill the poor womans mind. What a sick fuck.

Once Osmiam has his way he heads back to the base and regroups with Shin. Shin proceeds to eat breakfast (ala goku in dbz) and meditate for a few moments. Once finished and on their way out shin catches a glimpse of something shiny on one of the tables... a pair of metal gloves... and just his size.

He takes the gloves and puts them on, banging them together causing an echo of the metallic clang in the home. "This could come in handy."

Osmiam and myself head over to the Senator's home and see that Lucia is already there. We then realize... we never figured out a plan of how to tail her...

We note Clavian is already there as well... on the roof of Nalivir's home...

Shin ducks under a large shrub nearby the home, while Lucia stays out of sight. The guards arrive after a bit and we note they are speaking about their dreams from Osmiam.

Nalivir finally arrives, and we follow her... naturally we begin to split up slightly to not draw attention. Lucia goes ahead while Osmiam and I follow behind by 100 yards. Clavian flies up into the sky on what looks like wings of flame. I suppose he'll recon from the air.

At the first stop the Senator begins to conjure what seems like a fund raiser booth.

The 3 of us scout the area... having been here earlier in the morning I note something different on top of one of the buildings...

We Val aren't exactly the stealthiest of people... I jump up to the top of the roof with a small thud, but it seems that no one noticed the big blue guy jumping onto a building.

Infront of me is... nothing... but something... some sort of warping in the roofs shape, a sort of haze is near the ledge. With my keen ears I can hear a sort of clicking... a fire arm? What the hell is going on here...

I make my presence known and I see a wave of haze turn towards my direction... whatever it is he sure isn't happy to see me up here. I look across the courtyard at my team scouting the area oblivious to me finding something.

*pffft* *ping* Somethings hit me in the shoulder, it didnt hurt in the least... but it definately did hit... the haze's silhouette is that of a rifle. Before I can comprehend what is happening thoughts of the fucker shooting at me fill my mind. He shot at me... that mother fucking piece of shit shot at me!!!!!!! I go up to him and back hand him thinking I wouldn't even have to break a sweat... he blocks my colossal hit unphased.

Of what control I have left in my rage I keep reminding myself I cannot make too much noise... else fail the mission...

Another haze appears in front of me and takes a swing with some sort of weapon, it glides past me barely missing. I turn my attention at this one and proceed to hit him. He blocks as well... looks like this will be more interesting than I thought...

I had enough by now, I wind up a full punch and clench the knuckleduster I had gotten before from the home... "Die." I strike the one that fired the gun straight in the chest... he is hurled off the building by my blow and falls off. I felt his ribs break on my strike... though I hope he is outright dead.

I hear the other one speaking to someone... "Code blue! I need backup, Code blue!" I turn to him, "I am very 'code blue." He realizes I can hear him and panics a bit.

Fools didn't know what they were dealing with coming in. I notice in the distance Lucia and Osmiam begin to head to my direction... Clavian must have warned them.

My guard was down... I got distracted... I dont know if it was from my rage or just being out of focus... I get struck in the head with something... something that hurts. Blood gushes forth and I lose conciousness and fall on the roof. Before I black out I think "... fucking Sicarious gets a vacation and I get this"

-----
3rd person info

Lucia flies up to the top and finds Shin out and bloodied from being hit in the head. Proceeds to fire blast the haze he has noticed now as well but the assassin dodges.

Osmiam notices the one that fell off the building and kicks him to make sure he's done for. He proceeds to climb up and squints from being in the sun. He sees the haze and spits at him. The haze is aware of Osmiam showing up and dodges the attack.

------
Shin mode:

I regain conciousness... at least I'm not blinded by rage anymore... regardless - I'm going to tear the one who struck me, in two. I hear the crackles and pops of flames whipping past me... must be Lucia. I'm still not feeling all that ready just yet, and rest a bit to regain strength in the hopes to surprise the one they are attacking.

"Where is my backup?!" I hear while feigning to be out cold... Yea... that is definitely the one that got me.

I hear Lucia pull out a trick that did not sound familiar to me... I peek out the slits of my eyes and see him wielding a fiery blade. I see a glimpse of him moving away at the assassin but no sound of death.

Enough is enough - I have gotten enough strength back and should be able to finish the bastard, one chance though... if I don't make my mark and he turns to me again... things won't be pretty.

I quickly get up and rush behind the hazed figure. "OH SHIT HE'S UP AGAIN!" I swing at him with a fully powered punch... but... the blood in my eyes and being light headed wavered my aim... I miss.

The haze takes hold of his blade and comes at me... Thoughts of my life, my failures fill my mind in moments. The haze hits his mark true and severs several major arteries in my neck, blood gushes all over the roof and then... the darkness comes.

Before it completely envelops me I note Clavian finally arriving onto the roof.

Shin has died.

----

I wander a twisting nether... I failed... once again... I was not strong enough. At least this time it cost me my own life rather than ones around me.

Suddenly a large light seems to be scanning the nether. It lands on me and begins to pull me towards it slowly. Like a black hole it pulls me in progressively with more intensity - I begin to hear the voice of Clavian incanting. It must be him. Guess I'm not so dead after all.

Just as I reach near the source of the light I notice a familiar figure to my left.

"Can it be?" I wonder to myself. She smiles and raises her hand waving goodbye to me. I panic - it is "her"! I try to use my strength to break away from the light and go to her, but to no avail - I have no strength in this world. I failed... twice in one day.

I suddenly awake with panting terribly painful breathes and see Clavian collapsing, and Lucia standing over me. I black out once again...

[Pikachu]

Told from the viewpoint of Lucia

All spells in italics are incanted in Faerihalirianthyrianial.

---

After finishing the previous assignment one might think that given our success that we would be granted a short break, or perhaps some kind of reward, but of course not, not in the Twilight Watch. And so here I find myself waking up before the sun is even beginning to rise, gathering once again around another briefing table with my fellow wayfarers. At least the beds at this latest safe house were more comfortable than the rocks we were sleeping on the other night, not that I really got to enjoy them for very long. Yawning as I sit down, I glance around the table, idly thinking of the great and wonderful sleep that I should be enjoying instead of listening to this idiot (Klavion) prattle on about something I probably won't care about. What a way to start the day.

My thoughts are suddenly interrupted as Klavion decides to start the briefing. I look up in a daze, slightly confused why we are starting as we still seem to be missing a Sicarius. As if to answer my unasked question, Klavion is quick to inform us that the Phoenix unit will be down a member since Sicarius is off on a secret mission. I probably should care, but I'm just too tired to really pay attention at this point. Klavion goes on to explain how an Alundrian ambassador, senator, and all around diplomat Valanassa Nalivir would be making a public appearance in our fair city to try and improve morale and raise money for rebuilding Valdis or something like that. I caught the gist of what he was saying, half paying attention half reading my mission statement while trying not to fall asleep in my chair. Klavion goes on and on about how the senator does not believe that she is any danger and refuses anything more than the bare minimum for her honor guard. That she even had the audacity to turn down Duragar Aetherbane's own offer to escort her during her stay. Klavion continues to stress the importance of this mission and then goes on to make some pretty big demands on how we are to protect the senator from anything that might harm her and at the same time make sure she doesn't know that we are doing it. Oh and while we're at it we should try to find out the identity of her unknown assailants. And here I'm thinking that I should just kill the bitch myself so I can go back to sleep.

Oh well, can't be going off and killing important diplomats without a good reason. Too bad her interrupting my good sleep doesn't count as a good reason in most states. But that name, Valanassa Nalivir, I could have sworn that I've heard that name somewhere before. While I'm trying to remember where I've heard that name before, Klavion also informs us that since Sicarius is absent that he will be filling in and joining us in the field. I nod slightly acknowledging his words, trying very hard not to fall asleep while I do so. I still can't shake the feeling that I've heard the name Nalivir somewhere before. As I continue to ponder this name, Klavion continues to inform us of our secondary mission. I look back up at him just amazed on how long winded and demanding this guy can be. He informs us of five rogue vigilantes that have been operating in our vicinity that we should keep an eye out for. At least this part of the briefing is a little more interesting. He shows us dossiers for the five targets, all of them the Watch considers highly dangerous and at the same time prime recruits should we be able to lure them to our side. I can't help but wonder if the Watch had a similar file for me lying somewhere when I first arrived in this city. As I'm looking through the files, it suddenly hits me where I've heard the name Nalivir before. Of course, she was that light elementalist that my old man once told me about. Frowning slightly I start applying this new information to what I've heard so far. My half awake brain struggling to keep up with my thought process. If this is the same Nalivir that I'm remembering then it does make some amount of sense why she feels that a full honor guard is unecessary. This thought makes me smile, perhaps this day might not be so bad after all. If I'm lucky, I might get to see how another old war hero's magic works. While I'm off in my own little world thinking about who and what Nalivir is, Osmium is discussing something with Klavion and he leaves us for a bit. Finally I think to myself, too tired to even care anymore, I just let go and fall asleep in my chair.

Some time passes and Klavion returns with an answer for Osmium, and I am once again rudely awakened. Osmium quickly leaves after receiving his answer and Klavion reminds us that we have some time before we are to meet up at the senator's house. Yawning one last time, I decide that I should probably get to work and get up. Glancing at the scheduled stops, I notice that they are going to be making a speech at the magic college. Well well, I think to myself, I guess this is as good a place as any to scout out. Looking back at Shin and Klavion, I figure that at this point I'm probably better off on my own. Both a decrepid old man and a Val out at this hour would sort of stand out. I wave to both of them as I leave telling them that I'll meet them at the designated time. Making a quick stop at the room I was using just a little while ago I gather a few items, remembering to grab my sunglasses and then head off to take a look at the academy.

Oh how sweet the air is in the wee hours of the morning. The streets are empty with most sane individuals comfortably asleep in their nice cozy beds. And I would be one of them too, but noooo, I had to do something useful with my life. Let my stupid brother die a happy death and stick me with all of this damn responsibility. I swear, one of these days I'm gonna raise that bastard from the dead just so I can kill him myself. Sighing, I reflect on my situation a little more. I guess it isn't all that bad. Even though it hasn't been that long since I joined the Twilight Watch, I have managed to do some good. Those two kids that we saved from those clowns, not to mention that one base we managed to shut down and the dozens of hostages that we released. Yeah, I guess this gig isn't that bad. Now if only the hours were a little more flexible...

On my way to the academy, my stomach begins to complain. Sighing again, I am once again reminded of the many things I would rather be doing at this hour. Ce la vie, nothing to be gained by just standing around and complaining. I quicken my pace eager to finish this quick recon so I can go get something to eat. Arriving at the academy, I take a quick look around. As I thought, nothing too special. Wanting to end this as quickly as possible I begin channeling some mana and activate my Dragon's Eye. I can't help but smile as I think about how these eyes have been as much of a blessing in disguise as they have been a curse. With my enhanced vision, it doesn't take me that long to locate most places where I would set up either an ambush or a sniper's nest. Satisfied that I've got the lay of the land figured out, I stop the flow of mana to my eyes and make haste to the nearest tavern to get breakfast.

After enjoying a very relaxing breakfast, and more than a few cups of coffee, I pay my tab and start heading over to the ambassador's house to join my companions. Upon arriving I notice Klavion is already here, lying as inconspicuously as he can on the good senator's roof. I suppose that he is something of an odd fellow himself, I wonder how long he's been there. I smile and wave at him, enjoying the scowl that results from this. My spirits once again lifted I wander around looking for a good place to conceal myself from plain sight. Knowing that the senator is an accomplished wizard herself I decide to try and limit my use of magic for this mission, at least until I figure out the range of her detection abilities. It doesn't take me too long to find a nice tree to hide behind. Once I'm settled, I look around for the other members of my party. I notice that both Osmium and Shin have also arrived and are similarly concealing themselves. Ah yes, the joys of a stakeout, nothing to do but sit and wait for something to happen. Fortunately not long after arriving, I notice three guards dressed in formal attire who I presume to be Nalivir's honor guard arrive. Two of them seem to be having some kind of a mind blowing conversation from the look on both of their faces. I wonder if they saw a ghost or something. The guards take their position outside Nalivir's house and a few minutes later the good senator herself joins us on stage. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting. Maybe the wizened old wizard look or the typical immortal Alundrian look, but once I got a good look at her I couldn't get past the fact that whatever she looked like, she looked extremely well rested. Oh yeah, I could feel the resentment growing as the guards took their places around her. Yeah, this is gonna be a long day.

Typical of any shadowing mission, this one begins as dull and boring. We tail her to her first location with no problem. Each of us using our own methods to try and follow her without attracting too much attention. Of course some of us just had to show off, yeah I'm thinking about you Klavion. You and your fancy fiery wings and cloud illusions to follow her in the sky. Real impressive moron, what if she had detected you casting those spells. Maybe I'm just a little upset that I didn't think of doing that first. I gotta admit, that was a pretty good idea, for an old man that is. On the bright side it did give me an estimation on her detection range since she didn't appear to notice either spell, that or she just didn't care.

After arriving at our first destination, Nalivir and her guards begin setting up some kind of a booth. While it wasn't what I had in mind, I did get to see the ambassador conjure up some simple furniture. I suppose it was better than nothing, but I was hardly impressed. Taking a quick scan of the area, I noticed Shin, kinda hard to miss the guy, leap up onto a nearby building in plain sight. It was at this point that I wasn't sure if I should be baffled by his stupidity, praise him for his amazing leaping abilities, or just be stunned that apparently nobody other than myself seemed to notice the big blue blur jumping onto a building. In the end I settled for good old fashion irritation and turned my attention back towards Nalivir and her unamazing displays of sorcery. I suppose that I probably should have been paying more attention to the big blue idiot because the next thing I know I have Klavion's ever annoying voice in my head telling me that somethings wrong.

Klavion informs me that Shin has found something and is fighting something... Clearly I must be missing something because when I turned to confirm this, all I saw was Shin swinging at the air. My first thoughts were that Anaximandor's curse finally got the better of him and he's now fighting imaginary opponents. Imaginary opponents? Or invisible ones? Following this new train of thought it occurs to me that our big blue friend might not be as stupid as he looks and begin making my way over to confirm my new theory. It took me a little longer to get there, trying not to stand out is such a pain, but I managed to duck into a nearby alley without anyone noticing.

Glancing up, it is obvious that I can't replicate Shin's amazing leap and quietly utter an incantation, "With these flames I craft, a pair of wings that will reach the highest heavens." As I finish, a pair of crimson flames appear on my back, they quickly expand and form a pair of draconic wings. Satisfied, I begin flapping my wings and then leap up and take flight to see what Shin is up too.

I suppose that part of me expected to find Shin there with this big grin on his face, standing over some manner of corpses, ready to tell me how he just foiled an assassination plot on the ambassador. It was probably the last thing I expected to see Shin lying face down in a pool of his own blood. Seeing this turn of events made me question whether or not the big guy was just plain stupid or useless. Quickly scanning the area, I notice a distinct distortion in the air. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there is some kind of illusion spell at work here. It takes even less of a genius to notice the bloody knife being held by pseudo-invisible assassin and put two and two together. I suppose that I probably should have asked him who he was and what he was doing, but I suppose that it would only alert him to my presence and foil any advantages I might have. Gathering some more mana I begin casting another spell to deal with our would be assassin friend, "Destruction of nature, gather together your burning flames. Fire Blast!" As I am incanting, I aim my left hand at my target as it begins to glow with an orange light. A blast of flames erupt from my outstretched hand at the assassin as I finish my incantation. I frown in disappointment as my target is able to dodge my attacks and begrudgingly realize that he must have some skill if he was able to down Shin in the short amount of time it took me to get here.

Shortly after I arrived on the scene, Osmium made his presence known as he tried to tackle the chameleon like assassin. I was honestly confused at this point, wondering why he didn't simply conjure up another one of those shadowy tentacles that he was so fond of the other day. Even he had to realize that this isn't an opponent to take lightly if he was able to down Shin in only a few seconds. I suddenly wondered if I had been thrown into an alternate dimension where everyone except me was a complete retard. Shrugging it off as overconfidence on his part, I began correcting my own overconfidence and started crafting my armor, "Forged through the sacred crimson flame, come to me my crimson battle armor." The familiar crimson flames engulf my form, quickly fading and leaving a suit of Alundrian style battle armor behind.

As I figured, the assassin was able to avoid Osmium's rather feeble tackle attempt. Oh well, I guess that just means more work for me. Figuring that he would just dodge anything that I threw at him, I decided to just fry everything within a few feet of him, "I summon the purple flames, the mischievous child of fire to come forth and do my bidding." I smile as the fool attempts to dive for cover, but it appears that he isn't faster than my incantation as he is engulfed by a sea of purple fire. Unfortunately it appears as if the flames weren't even able to pierce whatever armor he was wearing as he emerged from the flames unscathed. I muttered a curse under my breath in Alundrian as I realize that I have once again been cheated.

While I pondered my next action, Osmium once again attempted to grab the assassin and pin him to the ground. Now I was almost certain that something was wrong with my shadowy companion as he seemed to be struggling with something that was preventing him from using his true power. It was obvious that even an assassin as skilled as this one wouldn't last long against those shadow tentacles I witnessed the other day. While I was curious as to the nature of Osmium's plight, this was neither the time nor the place for such indulgences. My first priority was to stop this assassin, then I suppose that I should check to see if Shin was really dead or not. Deciding to get a little more serious, I began channeling some mana and activated my Dragon's Eye.

Suddenly the world started to move in slow motion as my eyes started to absorb information at an accelerated rate. I was slightly annoyed that I was being forced to get this serious against this lesser opponent, but most of my magic is far from subtle and I wanted to end this before someone else noticed. I was thankful that I remembered to bring my sunglasses today as they blocked the more obvious visible effects of my eyes. Deciding that close combat would be less conspicuous than fire balls being tossed around, I began summoning my warsaber, "My blade is born of fire, unmatched by mere mortal steel." In my left hand, a ball of fire appeared as I was incanting my spell. Clenching my left fist around this fire, it began to mold itself and eventually take the shape of an Alundrian warsaber (more or less a katana except the spine is sharpened 1/5 its length). Watching the assassin's movements I made some estimations as to how he would react and made a quick horizontal slash across his chest. Whether by luck or skill, the assassin managed to avoid my blade. It appears that he has been rather well trained, though at this moment it was his fighting style that bothered me. He moved very similar to the Valdis guards, a fact that greatly bothered me. It made me question what was really going on and if Shin had messed up and attacked the wrong target. Although, the fact that the assassin had remained silent and made no gesture to try and stop the fight also occurred to me. I decided that I would question him after I subdued him and hopefully things would just work out.

While I was absorbed in my thoughts, Shin suddenly decided to get back up and take another swing at his former assailant. It is a pity that I couldn't make out the expression our invisible friend's face as I believe that he had to be pissing himself about now. I suppose that I might have underestimated Shin's abilities as he appears to be more capable than I originally gave him credit for. Unfortunately it seems that Shin was having the same luck as I was when it came to actually landing blows on this assassin. Quickly checking to see what was the cause of all this blood, I noticed a rather unsightly gash across Shin's face that would probably explain how the assassin managed to down him. I am quite honestly impressed by Shin's fortitude at this point, few people would be able to get back up after taking a blow as serious as that one. But my admiration does not last long as the nameless assassin quickly changes from defense to offense and lunges at Shin waving his knife.

With either extreme luck or skill, the assassin manages to sever Shin's carotid artery and I watch as the proud Val falls for a second time. Judging from the arterial spray it is almost certain that Shin's luck had just run out and our invisible friend just scored his first kill.

As Shin falls to the ground, Klavion finally decides to make his presence known and enters the fray. Descending from above, his illusionary cloud cover gone and in its place Klavion wields a flaming sword. The invisible assassin apparently is unable to dodge Klavion's attack as he is struck by our older friend's attack and staggers forward, reeling from the blow. Following Klavion's lead, Osmium finally calls on some of his true power and fires a glob of acid at Shin's murderer. Disorientated by Klavion's attack, Osmium's acid strikes the assassin dead center torso. I watch as the acid eats away at the poor fool's armor, but the assassin still manages to stay on his feet. Feeling a bit left out at this point, I take another look at the assassin's movements. This time I sense his weakness and can almost feel his fear as he is desperately trying to find a way to escape. Closing in I adjust my grip on my sword and position myself to strike the final blow. Making a backhanded slash across the assassin's chest, I score a second hit following suit with Osmium's acid. My blade effortlessly slices through the assassin's armor dropping him to the ground.

[Pikachu]

The taste of victory is bitter in my mouth as I look over Shin's lifeless corpse. Stupid idiot, he just had to go and get himself killed. What a bastard I think to myself. What is it with people dying and leaving me to clean up their mess. Curious as to what magics the assassin was using I started searching his corpse only to discover to my disgust that he was still alive. Oh well, at least now we have someone to interrogate. I punch him in the face a few times to make sure he stays down and then begin to disarm him. Removing the assassin's helmet disengaged his suit's invisibility spell, I don't recognize his armor but I assume that Klavion might have some idea as to who this individual is. Hearing some faint sounds coming from his helmet, I notice that it has some sort of transmission device built in. Moving it closer to my ear I hear a rather angry voice.

"Unit 1 what is your status? Unit one respond... Unit one is down, units two and three move to backup."

I sigh as I drop the helmet and continue to search the assassin's corpse. Of course the next thing that catches my attention is his weapon. Even without my eyes I could tell that it radiates some pretty powerful magics. As I'm examining the knife I tell Klavion and Osmium what I overheard on the radio and then ask them what we should do. Barely an hour into the mission and already we have a casualty, this is great, just bloody great. I knew this day was going to suck.

Naturally both Klavion and Osmium look somewhat distressed, though Osmium seems to hide it rather well. Or maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see. I still don't know what to think of this Illryian, but Klavion on the other hand is an open book. He is obviously concerned with this recent turn of events, yet he seems strangely calm. More so he seems as if he's hiding something that could help us. But before I can ask him what is the matter he calmly though hesitantly states that he can revive Shin.

I don't quite catch whatever he said after that as my mind focused on that one statement. Very surprised I ask him to repeat what he just said. He responds that if we can watch his back, it is possible for him to revive Shin.

I'm almost in a state of shock myself as I look over at Shin to confirm the fact that he is indeed very dead at the moment. The wheels start turning in my head as I imagine the possibilities of what I was just told. Even though I want him to just start reviving Shin now so I can see if what he is telling me is true, the fact of the matter is there should be another two teams coming to investigate. The three of us have a quick discussion on what to do and we agree to split up into two groups. Osmium will stay behind to keep an eye on the ambassador and try to deal with the incoming groups. Meanwhile Klavion and myself will retreat to a safer location and attempt to revive Shin. Our decision made, Klavion grabs Shin while I pick up the unconscious assassin and gather his belongings. Osmium asks to have the helmet and I give it to him. I wish him luck and then we leave him in order to go bring back the dead.

After settling in a nearby safe house, Klavion is quick to start his spell. I secure the door and stand by the window to make sure that we weren't followed. Though, in all honesty I was probably paying more attention to Klavion casting his spell than keeping watch. Occasionally I'd kick the unconscious assassin to make sure he stays down but my main focus was on Klavion. I watched as he called on the light and fire elements to bring Shin back. Mentally taking notes of everything he was doing, it didn't take me long to figure out exactly how he was making this miracle happen. It seems as if the light element was being used as a divination spell to find and recall a lost soul. The fire element on the other hand was being used to repair the body. By joining these two elements together it was possible to bring back the dead.

Of course once I figured this out my thoughts immediately turned to Elric. With this, it might be possible to bring him back... But no, after I got over my initial excitement I noticed the flaws in Klavion's spell. His spell would not work for my purposes, Elric has been dead for too long and this spell only works on the recent dead. Additionally it appears to have an incredible backlash and as much as I hate to admit it, the backlash of the spell would probably kill me. In fact as I was thinking about these flaws Klavion completed his spell and promptly collapsed.

I still found it hard to believe, but the proof was right there in front of my eyes. Sure enough, Shin was breathing and that in of itself was an improvement. Unfortunately it appears that Klavion's spell also had some other flaws. It didn't quite bring Shin all the way back, in fact it looked as if he was still dying. A minor flaw, one that is easily corrected but it just continued to prove that I would need a more powerful spell to bring back my brother. But I had taken the first step. I now knew that ressurecting Elric was not an impossibility, only a matter of time. I had the core of the spell that I required, all that was left now was to perfect it to suit my needs.

Of course while I was thinking of how to perfect this spell, it occurred to me that Shin was still dying. Looking back at Klavion, it was obvious that he wasn't going to be able to do anything about it. Looking around the empty room, it seems as if I was the only one capable of doing anything for the poor bastard. The thought of leaving and letting both of them die did cross my mind, but I suppose that I did owe Klavion one. He just did me a huge favor by showing me this spell and I suppose that I shouldn't let his efforts go to waste. At the same time, I suppose that I also owed Shin for being the idiot he is and dying, forcing Klavion's hand, and ultimately showing me this spell. Oh well, I guess that it was fortunate for them that I tagged along after all, "Grant onto me the gift of life, that which all mortal creatures desire and purify this impure vessel with your holy flames." A small ball of white fire slowly began to form in my left hand, kneeling down next to Shin, I apply the fire to his wounds and watch as the flames seemingly burn away most of his injuries. Muttering another curse under my breath as I continue to heal Shin's injuries, I make another mental note that adjustments would definitely be needed.

Satisfied that Shin was no longer in any danger of dying, I turned my attention back to Klavion. I ask him about the spell he just cast, hoping to gleam some more information as to its origins and the source of its power. Thankfully Klavion was either happy to share or he was so far gone that he didn't know what he was telling me. I learned about a few more drawbacks to the spell as well as its origins. As thanks, I decided to be charitable and helped heal some of the damage he inflicted on himself as a result from casting that spell.

Changing the subject, I showed Klavion the weapons that the assassin was carrying and told him about the peculiar fighting style that he was using. Klavion went pale as must have recognized either the weapon or my description of the assassin's fighting style. I learned that this man was probably a member of the Shadow Templar. An elite core of men and women trained by Valdis as one of their most elite special forces. Of course this just raised more questions. Who would be able to mobilize the Shadow Templar? Why would they target Nalivir? Something is definately wrong with this picture and either someone in the government is at fault, or someone else knows something about Nalivir worth killing her over. Also these weapons were rather unusual as well. High grade magitek with the knife loaded with enough spirit magic to make it capable of cutting through practically any armor. Their rifle was of a similar grade of air magic with bullets that could pierce almost any forcefield. Weapons this powerful aren't that easy to make which means that our opponents were probably some of the best that Valdis had to offer.

While I was pondering these questions it suddenly occurred to me that we had just lost half of our fighting power. Looking back at Klavion and Shin, it was obvious that neither of them were going to be of any use in their present form. Cursing again, this time more loudly I kicked the assassin once again before walking back over to Shin. Casting yet another healing spell I began healing the big blue idiot trying to force him to consciousness. As useless as Shin was in combat, at least he was another work horse and target to be abused. I was not going to be protecting Nalivir with Osmium as my only backup given his recent reluctance or inability to use his shadow abilities. Now get up you big dumb idiot, your going to pull your own weight if it kills you... Again.

Unfortunately the amount of damage that he had taken was far beyond what I could heal on my own and it was obvious that he wasn't going to be waking up any time soon... Well, now he's probably regain consciousness sometime within the hour instead of within the coming week. Discussion our next plan of action with Klavion, we agreed to call in some re-enforcements on our end. After going over some more details on what we should do next, I left Shin in Klavion's care and got ready to return to the field. Before leaving I made sure to tidy myself up, making sure there was no obvious blood stains or anything else that might make me stand out anymore than usual. I pocketed the assassin's knife and then left to meet back up with Osmium. Man oh man, what a day this has turned out to be. And the worst part of it is, it isn't even half over yet... Shit.