"Most spend time their seeking magitech, or hextech depending on who you ask, which is its prime draw. Though anyone wishing to bring it to heel would have to cut through Dwarven held mountains, or approach it from a rather open, exposed road network. So the richest houses there hold power and squabble, though nothing unites distrustful neighbors like an external problem threatening to rule over them all." Explaining the politicking and internal stances of his home was not really worth the effort, given that on any given week, it was hard to decipher who really stood with who. Dwarves were left alone, as they were the strongest trading partners of Saker Keep. The dwarves, for their credit, used Saker Keep as a place to stock up properly and take stock of progress of magitech by the denizens of the town.
"Gerard Voss." Not bothering with titles, or the like, Gerard fell in step following after the mounted knight. He maintained the pale light that had allowed the knight to, likely in part with the mutterings and talking to himself, track him down. While one might argue that the light would ruin natural night vision, he found it worked out better having the light instead of relying on the little bit of bioluminescence and any moonlight that was able to penetrate the swamp. Moving forward steadily, the light did eventually reveal another traveler, a rather fancifully dressed young man from the looks of it, approaching from the opposite direction. The manner of greeting was in a language foreign to him, which caught his attention. The gesture made it out to be a greeting, but he cocked an eyebrow all the same as he remarked on the fact that, in the pale light that he focused forward on the new figure, it seemed he had stumbled into a slime pit, or at least something rather viscous in nature.
"Good evening. Appears you took a misstep into a swamp pool, eh?" He slowed as necessary, assuming that this Sir Kay would be stopping to be a figure to be some sort of good doer of a knight and offer to help this fellow to the town. Doubly so since he had not taken up the offer to ride along with the knight.
Working on a character, expect it within the next few days at most. Trying to shrug off some sort of sickness setting in, so that might be slowing me down.
@AtomicNut If you feel like posting, go ahead. I'm coming down with something, illness wise, so my next post is gonna be delayed longer than usual. I don't want you to feel like waiting for me if you want to respond before me.
Well, simply going along with it like it wasn't sarcasm at all wasn't any fun, Gerard mused, not at all. Though he continued to wear a neutral expression now that this knight was going on about exotic tastes, he was a tad irritated at the fact that his progress through the swamp had been interrupted by a man seeking to likely indebt someone over offering transit via horseback. Though the man's composure was commendable, he had to admit. "Yes, well, stumbling into them at night is a tad less pleasant. Cleaning the gunk off one's boots is a tedious affair, at best."
Gerard had returned any weapons being held to their holsters, since this man seemed to intend no obvious ill will. Considering he had not ridden him down, fully armed and attacking, one could have simply gone with him being some knight returning from duties abroad or the like. Given the politics and infighting of his home, however, Gerard was slow to trust anyone who was graced with such quality of equipment. Though he reiterated his offer, Gerard had a temptation to simply turn and continue his pace through the swamp like he had been already, though the explanation did give him pause. Did not expect a debt in return? What sort of madness was that? Perhaps he had grown far too used to the interactions of his home and surrounding lands, but offering aid for the sake of being helpful was rare, and he at least adopted a more pleasant tone as he responded.
"You've not spent much time in Saker Keep, then. Any hand offered is sure to conceal a knife, at best, up the sleeve, and gods knows what behind their back. Your horse looks burdened enough with a knight with full arms and armor, though if you insist on helping, I will follow the path you make through the swamp instead. That would vastly increase the pace of my progress towards fairer grounds." It was an olive branch of sorts, as far as the magitech inventor was concerned, given his initial assumption of the man having offered his aid for little more reason than to create a debt between the two of them. Of course, it also helped considering he could, if things proved to be dangerous or suspicious, also simply vanish from the path and resume the route he was going to take originally.
While horses were certainly sharp in their senses, sharper than your average human, Gerard did hear the shifting of brush, armor, and movement approaching him all the same. Sure enough, as he turned the small light onto the approaching figure and his horse. Once the pale, clearly artificial, light was cast onto horse and rider, several facts were made readily clear. Firstly, this fellow was either stupidly rich, or well beyond his concern to be picking fights with, if he were that sort. Even on horse back, he estimated the man to be at least six foot, if not taller, and clad in what appeared to be dragon scale, or appeared as such. He had never seen dragon scale first hand, but descriptions from dwarven smiths that had worked on such materials matched what this knight was clad in. The sword reeked of enchantment, for those with the senses for it, muted as they were from this distance. The rest of his considerable kit was taken into stock, well forged shield and lance, though the bow was hidden out of sight for now. The man broached a curt greeting, as to why a noble born would be out in the swamps at night, and should make his way to the nearby town. Yes, well, that had been the plan all along, thank you very much.
"Hardly noble birth, can't say the same for the last owner of this coat though. Shame the necromancer got to him before I did though..." That was an old story, where he had gotten his hands on the coat that was well above what he would be paying for traveling attire, at least typically. Adjusting his glasses, he holstered the Shortcaster as he spoke to this knight, considering he need not be armed while staring down a mounted knight in dragon scale. Upon recommendation that he make his way to town, he cocked an eyebrow at the knight before shrugging idly. "Really? Well, and here I thought it would be easier to find a slime to cozy up with for the evening. What a shame."
The tone of voice that Gerard had was, all the same, dripping with sarcasm since he had already been making his way towards where Wanderneir had been located. He had been making steady progress during the day, though the night had slowed him down, he should have been able to reach the town in the next few hours at this pace, given the likely location of the town itself. When it was mentioned he would be better off hopping onto the horse's rump and ride the rest of the way, he shook his head in a negative fashion. "And be indebted to someone who can afford those kinds of arms and armor? Funny. I would likely be better off casting myself into a slime pit at that rate." From the sounds of it, Gerard was certainly wary of the offer of charity, and given his response, it was likely he had, in his younger years, taken up such an offer and been left worse for wear in the long run.
"Go to Wanderneir they said. Stop irritating the dwarf traders, again, they said. Stop coming back after every expedition, they said. The main road being through a swamp was hardly mentioned. And not even an interesting ruin in sight..." The blue coat and dark silver trims of the long coat that was being worn by the human would normally be fairly decent at not standing out in low light situations. Of course, the shock of pure white hair did not help in that matter at all, nor did the fact he was keeping his surroundings well lit. A small crystal was hanging from his belt, having been resting in a pouch before needed, and trapping a small amount of agitated mana inside of it and letting it refract, thus producing light. He knew full well that swamps hid all sorts of things, from Slimes to other beasts, so the last thing he needed was to stumble into something blind. It wouldn't be fun for anyone involved then, realy.
With his surroundings lit, Gerard was keeping to the dry patches as best he could. Swamps held all sorts of nasty, tricky things for those unaware. Last thing he needed was for his gadgets and experimental pieces of equipment to get lost in some swamp and rust into nothing. Considering the state of the roads, such as they were, he was mostly working off the clear spots he could see Wanderneir in the distance, plus the odd sign that was either damaged or otherwise present to some degree. At one point he had caught the sound of something moving through the brush and low lying swampland, and he had produced his Shortcaster, the six barreled contraption, and was moving through the area with it in hand just in case. The bioluminescence was a boon to a degree, but it only lit some areas. The problem was the areas that were not lit, which meant he produced his own light, though nowhere as potent as a proper torch or lantern, it took up far less space and mana to use.
"Last time I was in a swamp, nearly stumbled into a Slime den, near enough for them to wake up. Took nearly a week to clean the goop off my boots..." Such was a habit of his, constantly muttering or talking to himself, it kept him focused and alert instead of constantly trudging on in silence. He had to constantly sweep and search the area as he moved forward, sometimes angling the light from his crystalline replacement for a lantern to light up suspicious deep spots. Again, he had no interest of stumbling into a Slime bathing pool and having to try and fight his way out. Sure, he had no doubts he could manage, but that didn't mean he wanted to. "Should have left earlier, then again, would have been leaving at night to get through this swamp by nightfall. At least on foot..."
Name: "Gerard Voss, Manipulator of Mana, Magitech, and all sorts of tricks in between. At your service, for a modest fee of course.
Species: "Far too tall to be a Dwarf, ears too blunt to be an Elf, and nowhere near hairy enough to be a Leveret. Oh, and solid, so no slime. Human it is then!"
Gender: "Male, though I'm sure the stubble and lack of curves didn't give that away at all."
Age: "Late thirties, early forties, I think? I lose track, not something that is terribly relevant."
Note: Current age is 41.
Birthplace: "Some small village out in the middle of nowhere, out beyond the swamps and at least a weeks travel from Wanderneir."
Note: Saker Keep, the village in question, has close ties in trade with the Dwarves of nearby mountains. Settled in the ruins of an old Human castle, they tend to fend off bandits and the like on a routine basis, meaning that the technology they received from the dwarves as part of trading has had to be weaponized.
Current Location: "Seeing what's to see in Wanderneir, curious name that. Perhaps do some commission work, see if anything interesting jumps up, otherwise move on..."
Mental Description: "A flippant nuisance and far too eager to tinker for his own good. Ahh, such kind words, aren't they? The dwarves may not have been wrong though."
Gerard is a tinkerer, an experimenter, and explorer by nature. Always pushing his creations and even his own body to their limits whenever it suits him, he tends to get up to his neck in trouble if for no other reason than to see how well he can get out of it. Being a drifter and wanderer at heart, he tends not to hang around in any one place for too long unless something interesting or otherwise engaging is going on. Of course, he cannot simply wander for free, and often finds himself in the employ of all sorts, and is certainly willing to do dirty work to line his pockets before going about his business. Outside of doing business, he has little regard for anything that doesn't hold his interest, be it curious beings, curious technology, curious magic, or merely strange occurrences. That being said, he can be counted on to (begrudgingly) assist those he finds as friends, in his own special way that may or may not be actually seen as helpful in the short term. Or the long term, depending on the original goal, but he will help.
Strengths: "I'm a tinkerer with magitech, what more could I need?"
What is obvious from Gerard's equipment is that, despite his human birth, he has every intent of not only matching the Dwarves and their technological marvels, but even surpassing them. He maintains and builds his own equipment, and is a deft hand in puzzling out even ancient technology that is still running even after all this time. Fitting for a Magitech focused man, he has the ability to manipulate the Mana that is in the air and always around him, though to what extent he keeps a closely guarded secret. To go along with this, he has a deft hand and sharp eyes, able to pick out minute details and do things that require fine motor control. What is less obvious is the fact that he is competent at first aid and treating injuries, mostly his own since he has had things quite literally blow up in his face before. Outside of this, he is used to making ends meet with very little, and living out in the wilds when traveling, exploring, and plunging headlong into the places destroyed and forgotten during the war.
Drawbacks: "Flaws, me? I'm flawless. Really, cross my heart and hope to die."
Despite boasting, Gerard is, in fact, not a flawless human being. Compared to others of his species, he is not terribly strong, reliant on dexterity and agility to make ends meet. Given his flippant, and often times secretive, attitude, he can rather easily make enemies regardless of whether or not he intends to or not. Add in the fact that nothing is off limits, and he believes he can go wherever he pleases if it suits his interests and needs, he can find himself in hot water in a hurry. He also has far too much confidence in his experimental, and temperamental, magitech inventions, meaning that should all of it fail, he'll be down to whatever is on hand and his own wits to get by.
Experimental Longcaster: "My second, and longest running, project. Ease of use of a crossbow, without all the fussing about. At least in theory."
The long metal contraption that is on his back most of the time, Gerard refers to it as a "Longcaster", not the most imaginative of names, but it gets the point across. Comparable to what one might consider a wheellock mechanism, though it does not unwind when fired to generate sparks. The windings instead control how cohesive the pure mana slug in the mana condensing crystals that line the weapon's internals is. The more tightly wound the control spring, the longer reaching the slug is. Of course, more cohesiveness takes longer for the weapon to naturally draw upon ambient mana to recharge, and while Gerard can certainly use his own ability to manipulate mana to forcefully recharge the chamber, doing so in rapid succession can lead to the crystals overheating or outright exploding. Notably, when fully unwound, instead of a single slug, the weapon emits a blast of mana that acts more like an explosive than a single shot, unintentionally useful for close defense.
Prototype Shortcaster "Yes, it's still technically a prototype, but its my most reliable and successful creation." Originally with only one barrel, and far more simplistic, Gerard's imaginative naming conventions have continued even now. Having evolved from its humble origins, the contraption has six barrels, each lined with crystals capable of drawing in and containing mana until agitated into a violent release. While not capable of creating blasts that maintain cohesiveness for nearly as long or far as the Longcaster, but he can chain up to six blasts of damaging mana slugs in rapid succession before having to either let the crystals recharge on their own or manually force them to accept mana he manipulates into the barrels. While it may look like it, the thing does not actually rotate freely, a lever on the box holding the six barrels in place can be flicked to change which barrel is being agitated into firing off its charge.
General Note: As more things are created, stolen and modified, or otherwise come into his possession, they will be added into this list.
Background Information: "Now, where's the fun in spelling out everything? No, no you get to find out the hard way."
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