Her head felt little off balance as something was struck in the container. Then the figure appeared...not a mistwraith. This creature was in far worse shape, repulsive yet strangely alluring. A chill etched up her spine as the eyes faded from view, a haunting quality that spoke of eons of knowledge. The smell was stronger here, like putting a honey covered boxing in her mouth and rolling it around.
Her mind wandered as she took a step. What is this thing and why is it here? Another step. Maybe it is a new mistrwaith species? A final step to close the distance to five feet. Could it speak?
It was a mixture of her childhood horror and condition training against Soothers and Rioters that halted her.
"Wait.." she spoke aloud. "What am I doing? I don't even remember my last few steps." She quickly started to burn more steel and angled her arm towards the hole.
"Come out and talk to me. I don't want any trouble."
Abilities: Shadow Knight Training, Curse of the Tar Skin
Arms and Armor: Shadow Knights are put through extensive training of all Iksar weaponry and are forced to master three. Scales is a master the Spear, shield, and Dao.
Cursed Arms: Shadow Knights weapons are attuned to their owners and are able to channel some of their owners power.
Soul Rend: Shadow Knights are able to harm the soul of a target as well as their body. Through unholy forces, both good and evil souls receive damage from attacks as well that slowly sap the will and stamina of the foe.
Harm Touch: The Shadow Knight's greatest weapon is the Harm Touch an ability bestowed on them through their vile pledge to the Faceless God. By drinking the still beating blood of a Paladin they corrupt they Lay on Hands ability to do harm. However simple decay energy isn't the only use of the Harm Touch. By using this ability, a portion of the Shadow Knight's soul is destroyed causing terrible pain.
Corrupted Harm Touch: By laying a finger on a target the opposite energy that fuels it is transferred to tear into their blood stream, neural network, or chakra line. It is akin to a through beating in terms of pain and damage, however it can also sunder weapons and interrupt their magical alibies for a short time.
Heat Harm Touch: Channeling the powers of Prince of Flames, the corruption is instead transferred into searing heat. Scalesert has been able to melt metal by sustained contact.
Cursed Transference Harm Touch: This ability does nothing on its own. It can only be used after the Shadow Knight has been harmed. Through this process, similar wounds would appear on the target that the Shadow Knight has sustained. Some use this as a final attack when falling in battle to kill their foes, despite the recoil.
The Curse of the Tar Skin was not something taken lightly, in fact it was only when face with starving to death on two broken legs that Scalesert agreed to the malevolent skin and ate the devil's fruit. This curse causes the bearer to have unquenchable thirst, gnawing hunger, and unstable desire for the pleasure of flesh. No matter how much of any of those, it always remains unless something new is tired. However it does come with boons.
Tar Skin Armament: The Tar Skin is able to produce weapons and shields from a hardened tar like material. It retains the stickiness of tar and the comparable strength to iron. The true terror of this weapons however is that they pass on the intense desire for food, and unquenchable, thirst, and the desire for flesh. At the command of the bearer, this weapons can collapse into blobs of hot tar.
Tar Skin Tolerance: The strongest or worst of the curse is the fact that once the bearer experiences something it is dulled each time. Thus the desires it instill in the victim never cease. However Scalesert has found that this extends into pain and wounds. Once the Iksar has experienced pain or a wound from a weapon it dulls the effects each subsequent time. This only extends to the same exact pain or instrument. The same attack from a differnet target would still deal the normal amount of damage.
What...why...I didn't... chilly daggers stabbed at her heart.
Fear radiated through her body sapping warmth as it went. With each of his steps forward she took one back until the last. This was crazy this feeling of dread. Her chain belt jingled driving memory's of her late mentor to her mind. No! Was he a Rioter, able to amplify a certain emotion? Surely this was the source of the crushing panic that threatened to bend her will. She would have none of it!
Digging down to her metal reserves she started to burn Brass, the power of a Soother. With a small burn it could dampen certain emotions. She instead sough to eradicate them. Flaring her Brass in her stomach the powered increased tenfold at the expense of burning the stockpile much quicker. Her mind was a little foggy as result and her stomach radiated heat.
Stomping her foot down fear drifted from her like a stubborn fog meeting the heat of a sun blaze.
"Stop! You lunatic" She bellowed, fire in her eyes returning as her stance become more aggressive. "You will not halt my progress."
Anger drifted upward now as she burned steel throwing the knives through the air. Once they reached about a foot away she pushed, throwing her weight against the left projectile causing it to move much faster than it's twin. The intent for the left to speed forward to strike the foe somewhere in the midsection as the right moved further to the right of the foe in case of a dodge to the right.
Hoping that was enough of a distraction her hand fell into her front pockets gathering goodies for this maniac.
As Scouti made her way towards the tower she stopped in place. Her eyes flickered to the figure that stood not to far away. He wore a mask with little detail, a blade of some length was covered in blood. The mountaintop of enthusiasm the young Allomancer had been riding was quickly replaced with a sense of gathering dread.
Was he a Hazekiller, some one specialized in killing Alloamcners, from another mercenary company? Something at the core of this figure was unnerving. Focusing her attention on the brandished weapon her heart fluttered. It was treated to resist her abilities, the thin blue line blinking as the connection was connected and reconnected. This one was dangerous, unmoving, and in the way.
She pulled another vial of metal flask and hastily swallowed the contents. A new group of metals flooded her stomach as burned tin. The smells of the slums hit her like a physical slap to the face as she forced herself not to retch. Her eyes concentrated on the figure, taking in the keen details. Shallow breaths could be heard from behind the mask, only adding to his shudder some aura. The sheathes of her throwing knives came into focus as she felt their weight, calming her if only slightly.
The scrap of two throwing knives grinded in her ear as her right hand drew the dual weapons.
"What is your business here? What do you want?" she tried to project the confidence that her training should give her.
"There..' she said to herself, finding a container with something spilled outside of it.
Sniffing in the air she was brought back to the ash mounds and factories of her childhood. She winced remembering the beatings she received when a cart was spilled. Coal was a scent she would never forget.
But this was different, a hint of copper and something sacchariferous. Turning her attention further down she noted a strange opening almost tore open. A mistwrath perhaps, they were known to travel about and displace goods. Their outter membrane was gooey and slightly corrosive, which would make sense. But why would they come to such a supposedly populated place. They enjoyed their solitude.
She called out, "What are you doing here?"
Pulling a coin from her front pouch she tossed it in front of her face. Burning steel in her stomach multiple translucent blue line jutted from her stomach to other sources of metal visible to only her eyes. Focusing on the coin she used the power of steel and 'pushesed'. The coin was struck by her weight and flung forward into the shipping container with a volicty of a bullet slicing through the air. She antipcated the clinging ricochet of metal on metal or the -plop- sound of the mistwrath. Hopfully that would be enough to chase the creature off.
Scouti's mouth was slightly ajar from the sight in front of her now. It was partially the grand size of the towers of this ruins, they reached upward to the sky like the hungry spires of the Krendsaw from her homeland. It was daunting. How did people live in such a place on top of each other. But those thoughts fluttered away as the utter number of possibilities ran through her head. She dared to hope...quickly she grabbed a vial of metal flakes suspended in distilled water and drained the contents.
To most this would seem strange, but then Scouti was strange. She was an Allomancer, one of her heritage that gained special abilities by consuming metal. Currently there were only sixteen known allomantic metals, but with any luck she would find more on her journeys. The metal reserves hit her stomach, wrapping her in the all to familiar heat like a warm fire after a heavy supper. Picking the metal she wished to burn, she slow burned iron flakes.
Instantly transparent blue lines began to just from the iron in her stomach to the myriad of other metal in the area that only she could see. Her heart began to swell as if a new playground had been opened just for her. Her frantic smile must have spooked the nearest local slum dweller as the cloaked figure gave her a wide berth. She paused to account for her appearance as well.
She had no less than sixteen throwing knives visible on her person, glimmering in the bath of sunlight between the towers. Her dull red banded leather armor did also bear the Redwolds mercenary mark. They were not well known for their upstanding nature. A steel chain belt around her waist also appeared quite strange to most she assumed. Her hair was still an odd purple hue from the nircosil she had attempted to burn. That alloy was not to be trusted, the strange dreams and sickness was awful.
Working on her tip form the last hot spring she had stayed, a new allomantic metal was supposed to be in the large tower in front of her. Taking in the full view once more she began her journey to the monstrosity.
Burn Steel [Slow Burn]: A Coinshot, or steel burning allows a user to push on metal objects away from themselves. Burn Iron [Slow Burn]: Reveals and allows to pull on metal objects.
Burn Pewter [Fast Burn]: Pewter's utility is not simply from the increased strength or speed. It grants the user the ability to heal from otherwise deadly wounds, and to recover much quicker. It enhances the body's natural balance, granting almost unnaturally smooth movements. Pewter also increases reaction speed Finally, it also increases endurance, letting the body continue on long past when it would have normally shut down.
The increased speed and endurance allows a user with a sufficient amount of pewter to perform a "pewter drag;" running at roughly the speed of a galloping horse for extended periods. However, this can require several days rest and sufficient food to replenish the user afterwards. Pewter is the fastest basic metal in terms of burn rate.
Burn Copper [Slow Burn]: Burning Copper allows a cloud of electromagnetic charged energy to hide the user in a cloud that helps to hide them from multiple seeking techniques. It can cancel a Seeker's pulse finding abilities. Scouti has noted that it appears to jam some electronic abilities of foes and causes some distortion to thermal tracing.
The cloud however coat the area in a find copper colored dust, making the target more visible to the naked eye and can show foot prints. It also causes some people sneezing fits.
Burn Bronze [Medium Burn]: Burning bronze causes the user to "feel" pulses of those using abilities around them. It is tailored to Allomantic abilities, but has been found to allow the general location of a someone using a special ability. Scouti is not well versed in "Seeker Training", but is able to burn bronze.
Burn Tin [Slowest Burn]: Burning Tin boost all sense of the user to a super human level. This allows for numerous advantages, however users may become temporarily deafened or blinded from loud noises or bright lights as result.
Burn Zinc [Medium Burn]: Zinc burners, or Rioters, allows the user to effect a target's mind in an inflammatory manner. This lets emotions or desires be amplified highly. It can cause some targets to lose focus or become unstable. Scouti has noted that animals seem to be strongly effected. While it is possible to use this ability on yourself, it is not advised.
Burn Brass [Medium Burn]: Brass burners, or Soothers, are the inverse of Rioters. They are able to dampen emotions or desires. This allows for some attackers to lower their guard. Scouti has noted that dampening aggressive desires on animals may allow for short bonds to be made.
Burn Bendalloy [Fast Burn]: Burning bendalloy pulls on time around the user, causing time to pass more quickly in a bubble around them. Events outside the bubble appear to move much slower to someone inside. This bubble is approximately five feet across, and cannot be moved once it is in place. Careful examination may reveal the edge of the bubble, where air appears to shimmer. Projectiles fired into or out of the bubble experience some force that throws them wildly off-course.
Burn Duralumin [Instant]: An Allomancer burning duralumin instantly uses up any metals being burned simultaneously, releasing an enormous burst of power from those metals, amplifying their effects.
Burn Atium [Very Fast Burn]: Burning atium allows the user to see a few seconds into the future, by producing atium shadows of everything they can see. The shadows perform future actions. Burning atium expands the user's mind to be able to accept and process all of the information. If another Allomancer burning atium is encountered, the atium shadow will split, since each seeing into the other's future means that they can both make different decisions that affect both Allomancers' outcomes. An Allomancer's atium shadow will also split if they are burning electrum.
Feruchemist: A Feruchemist can use metals to store particular attributes in metal, somewhat like a battery called a "metal-mind". The larger the piece of metal is (and the closer it is to Allomantic purity), the more of that particular attribute can be stored. A Feruchemist can draw upon their metals in increased, compounded qualities, but the faster they do this, the lesser returns they receive. Only the Feruchemist who stored those attributes can draw upon them later, however.
Metal-mind Iron: Iron stores physical weight. Iron is used to store physical mass, or more accurately, density. This is accomplished by changing the Feruchemist's mass, not by changing the effect of gravity on the Feruchemist. The greater density has no effect on the Feruchemist's vulnerability to penetration. Tapping iron grants the Feruchemist the strength required to remain standing. Similarly, when a Feruchemist stores their weight, their muscles are weakened slightly.
Combat Skills: Without her Metal-mind or Allomantic metals, Scouti must fall back on her combat skills she honed while part of the mercenary company the Redwolds. Relatively skilled in knife fighting and dirty tactics, she is little more than a roguish duelist. She is double jointing in both arms and after dealing with poisons has a limited resistance to some, not full immunity.
Description: An ancient city of slums that has been build and rebuilt over centuries. The houses stacked together so high that you can barely see the sky. Made of scrap metal, half rotten wood, and poor quality mortar and bricks this arena is actually quite destructible. However much is destroyed will simply be "repaired" in time by the countless slum dwellers. Many wires connect the multileveled buildings like zip lines, but it is anyone's guess as to if they will hold.
Few slum dwellers are in the arena scattered throughout the towers and area. They are a race of human like bipeds with little ability to speak. It is unlikely they will interfere in the fight, but might attack feebly if confronted.
"Hello!? HEEEELLLLOOOO!?" Scouti called out with to avail. Kicking an empty tin can she listened to the tell-tell ping of the metal and calmed her self with a few deep breaths.
While most of her destinations were merely a coincidental stop made on her unguided journey, this one had been purposeful. She had recently dealt with a trader speaking of a massive port complex. Here surely she could find an allomantic metallurgist to replenish her stores and hopefully find a new metal. However this trader was in for an earful the next time she found him, not a soul could be found in the place. She paced forward catching her reflection in a plane of glass.
Her hair was still a strange purple from the nircosil she tried burning a month back. Her almond shaped eyes narrowed as she remembered the cramps of sickness and the strange dreams. Her banded leather outfit creaked ever so lightly before the oils caused them to slide in place. The four clawed emblem of her former mercenary company the Redwolds was clearly marked on her chest. Her gloved hand checked her throwing knives to make sure they where in place and patted the vails that contained the source of most of her powers, little metal flakes floating in distilled water. It might have seemed underwhelming, but she was after all an Allomancer able to draw powers from ingesting metal.
Taking a small vial she popped the cork top and drained the contents. It took only a few moments before she felt the heat of the metal in her stomach. A slight grin crossed her face, this was the heat of the metal reserves slowly burning as her powers clicked into place like a warm safety blanket. Picking the right metal she began a slow burn on the tin in her stomach. The effects were instant.
The cool air blowing over the water fitting her face felt as if it had dropped a few degrees as the feel of leather on her skin became more noticeable. Her sight sharpened as the container numbers from one hundred yards came clearly into view, the flicker of a strange flameless lamp caught her attention that she hadn't noticed before. The salt and stale taste of fish filled her mouth as she spat to the ground. Turning her ear she listened as the wind blew through a few of the shipping containers.
She huffed again.
'Where the hell was everyone? Even drunks and vagrants make some noise' she thought.
Something wasn't right here. Time to find out what. She hooked her thumbs into her steel chain belt and walked on, careful to ensure her new enhanced senses were prepped.
