leicesters: (112)
Claude von Riegan ([personal profile] leicesters) wrote in [community profile] kenoscomm2024-03-08 01:40 pm

LOCKED TO MERIDIAN

[Claude's communion prescence has always been like a summer breeze; warm, easygoing, albeit difficult to read before it moves on. Now it has more of a brittle, bitter quality, like a looming dust-cloud he has to hold at a distance. There's no going back from this point when he knows things will only escalate from here, and so now seems like an important time to address his fellow Meri.]

The fight for the next Oracle will be on us soon. The Tribune may have been slain, but he entrusted the future of the worlds to us. Though he won't be able to help us see this through, we can still fight for him, and all the others we've lost along the way. We can fight for Springstar... and we can fight for Quetzalcoatl.

[There's a brief pause on this point. Her death deserves respect and acknowledgement, and she may not be the last to meet such a fate before the fighting is over.]

...We'll fight for your homes, too. After all, our worlds aren't that different, right? They might be flawed in their own ways, and there might even be some of you who would rather stay here when this is done. But every world and the life on it is precious, and it beats whatever phony world Yima and her followers come up with.

Speaking of Yima: I've discussed this with a few people already, but I suspect she's still alive. When the Blight almost destroyed Kenos, somehow she was still around. When I asked her about it, she said she wasn't bound by time like a normal person is. She can exist in different times and different places simultaneously; I don't know how it works, but maybe she even foresaw this attempt on her life before it even happened.

That said, it's just speculation, so we might as well play dumb and behave towards Zenith as if we're convinced she's dead for now. It'll be easier for us that way.

[Others have probably arrived at a similar conclusion, perhaps people among Zenith's ranks too, but it bears saying, particularly for those newly arrived to the conflict.]

Anyway, enough about her -- how about we use this opportunity for a little strategy get-together? We have a few new faces around, so feel free to introduce yourself and your capabilities.

For those of us who have been around longer, feel free to toss in an introduction too. More importantly, share what you know about Zenith and its current capabilities, in combat or otherwise. Any insight into their current thinking would be useful right now, too. What's their morale like? We know by now that some of them really hate our guts, and I wonder how much their desire for revenge is going to play into the next battle...

[He sounds casual, almost flippant, but there's a serious point in there he's sure he doesn't need to overstate: the more loyal Zenites are going to have some serious motivation in the next battle to get back at them, whether they believe Yima is gone or not.]

Let's not let our own judgement be clouded by revenge, even if we've sustained losses. We need to go into this with a clear head, looking toward the future.

Oh-- on that note, Hayame wants to speak with some of you about some further strategising either before or after the Oracle. Sorry that's a little vague, but I'm sure she'll talk to you about it properly when the time comes. For now, let's just focus on one thing at a time.
faceripper: (pic#16737678)

[personal profile] faceripper 2024-03-09 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
…It does, yes.

[ He admits it with a tiny bit of reluctance, but it’s only because he does see it as a large, glaring weakness. ]

Why, I haven’t the slightest idea, and it’s extraordinarily irritating, at least in Rivellon where healing magic was commonplace… But such is the way of the world, apparently. At least more… noxious effects have a healing role for me, just as oddly. Poisons, for example.
sterngaze: (neutral: commish)

[personal profile] sterngaze 2024-03-09 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[Fane's reply goes about how Liem expects, up until the last part.]

Poisons heal your body? Multiple different kinds...?

[One poison would be weird enough, but somehow it's stranger that different toxins might all have the same beneficial effect.]

That is not what I was expecting.
faceripper: (pic#16737668)

[personal profile] faceripper 2024-03-09 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Nor I when I discovered it by chance.

[ Sometimes you step into a poison puddle and feel better! Weirdly common experience in Rivellon. ]

All of the poisons we tried seem to work just as well as potions would for those with… flesh. My friend Ifan even took up a few spells about making poisonous surfaces for my benefit.

[ There’s a small, soft feeling at that. Don’t worry about it, because Fane is sailing right past it. ]

It is strange, certainly. But I am glad to have discovered it.
sterngaze: (neutral: dry)

[personal profile] sterngaze 2024-03-09 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Somehow this is wackier even than Liem's own situation, which he'd already considered plenty bizarre to begin with. He has to take a moment to consider it before finally moving on.]

I see. I ask only because your situation sounds familiar. Where I hail from, the undead were... well, not common, but well-enough known. Like you, they were harmed by life energy—though poison had no effect on them.

[How could it? They had no living processes to interfere with— Oh, never mind. He's never going to wrap his head around that one. ]

In any case, there is a spell I know that is most often used to harm the living, but its energy—that of entropy—invigorates the undead. I wondered if it might aid you also.
faceripper: (pic#16781842)

[personal profile] faceripper 2024-03-10 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Oh.

[ Fane was wondering if this was going anywhere beyond simply curiosity, so he's surprised, but pleasantly so. ]

Well. So long as it is not an overly dangerous spell, we can simply experiment and see what happens. I would appreciate another method of being able to heal myself beyond my stock of poisons. Considering the way these Oracles happen, it hardly seems like I'd be able to take my stocks with me, after all.
sterngaze: (neutral: back)

[personal profile] sterngaze 2024-03-10 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
It is equal in strength to a minor healing spell, [he confirms.] If you are otherwise in good health, and consider yourself at least somewhat sturdy, I do not think the potential harm would be threatening.

[Even if Fane is a weedy magic user, surely a spell called inflict light wounds isn't going to take him out. It shouldn't be dangerous for anyone who's advanced beyond roughly level two.]

Though I do not know if I would be able to teach it to you. All of the spells I learned at home are prayers.
faceripper: (pic#12349049)

[personal profile] faceripper 2024-03-11 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I would be interested to learn for the academics of it at least, but teaching isn't strictly necessary. If it works and you're willing to cast it, that would be quite helpful.

[ Since truly just dumping a bottle of poison on yourself isn't ideal ]

It's promising at least, so I'm glad you asked for clarification.
sterngaze: (neutral: commish)

[personal profile] sterngaze 2024-03-11 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Then sometime soon, when you are available, I will demonstrate it for you.

[He can even use it on himself if Fane wants to see how it works before volunteering as guinea pig; that is why he learned it, after all.]

As I mentioned, it can also be used to harm the living, but since it is not especially powerful, and requires physical touch, I don’t tend to use it for that purpose.