I'm not worried about that specific thing just yet if the group wants I'll edit my post, have Orson tell everyone they can figure that out later, and have King ship us to Poland.
I've been meaning to post, I've just been a little too dead on my feet the past couple days to concentrate.
I could have Rider put himself forward as leader, which would be a natural response to the question of leadership, and you could have someone respond with something to the effect of "lets not make those kind of decisions until we've met the other two pairs" and move us along to Poland.
That would at least get us out of this scene and closer to the action.
It seemed that all the effort Oberon had put into Magic Analysis was paying dividends as he was bombarded with more information than he knew what to do with, so much so that it gave him a bit of a headache as the new knowledge was forced into his brain.
The description of Fireball was simple, exceedingly so; 'a ball of fire conjured in a similar manner to a Mana Orb' was something he had already guessed himself, but the real advantage of using Magic Analysis was knowing what the fire-element mana looked like, what it felt like to his senses. Maybe he had enough information to recreate it now; he'd have to check later, once he was done teaching this Wisp some things.
The descriptions of Lesser Force and Meditation were a bit more promising, not to mention encouraging; grappling an opponent was exactly what he wanted to use Lesser Force for, though not directly if he could help it, and Meditation was a skill that he had already made some progress towards.
Before he could do anything else however, he was alerted to the fact that he had leveled up again following the battle with Rattleskull. He was level 5 now, with an excess of skill points to spend and a multitude of skills to use them on. His current skills were fine as they were, since every one of them was something he could actively practice if need be; his real interest was in his incomplete skills. Minor Regeneration was advancing, though not as quickly as he would have liked, he'd gained some experience towards Charisma somehow and Keen Sight was an interesting addition.
This was something he'd been thinking about this for a while now, in the back of his mind; how could he best spend his skill points? Spending them on any active skill seemed like a waste when he could gain experience through simple practice; it might take a while but it would save on a limited resource. It was better, in his mind, to save his skill points to spend on skills that he could not so easily train, such as passive abilities; Faster, Alert, Keen Sight and a few others were skills that he had no idea how to improve and likely wouldn't be complete for a while. He could also save his points for emergencies, only using them when he needed a new ability immediately like he had with Lesser Status Heal.
For the moment he would take a hybrid approach of the latter two options and spend some of his points on a potentially useful skill and save a few for an emergency. However, that wasn't the only thing that leveling up had brought him; there were evolution options as well. Thinking back to the green Slime with the conical-shaped protrusion and the rocky growth, Oberon began to understand that it must have been an evolved version of the basic Slime.
The options presented to him were... interesting, to say the least. An adult Pixie was expected he supposed, but the other three? Imp and Sprite seemed about as disparate creatures as he could imagine at this level and Hipixie was something he had never even heard of before. They all looked tempting for different reasons, whether that be increased power and the admittedly interesting 'demon affinity', increased mana capacity and the just as interesting 'light affinity' or the ability to use light equipment. Which was the better option right now?
Or maybe... should he be thinking so short term? What was best right now might limit him in the future; the creature he chose as his starting class undoubtedly affected his evolution options right now, so whatever option he picked would determine his path for the rest of this life, at least to some extent. He shouldn't just be looking at the first step, but the whole journey that lay beyond.
So which paths were presented to him? The Imp? It was a demonic creature, a lesser fiend of some kind, so it would probably open up the path towards stronger demons and other hellish creatures; while he could certainly see himself becoming very powerful if he took that route, did he really want to become a demon of all things in this new life? The answer to that was simple.
And what about the Hipixie? It was a Fey creature, the first "True Fey" according to this. That meant nature spirits, druid-like abilities and later on... what exactly? It was a path that Oberon couldn't see very far down honestly, not to mention the fact that he didn't like the idea of giving up the ability to fly and he couldn't see much immediate need for light equipment.
That left the Sprite and it's 'Light Affinity'. In Oberon's mind that meant divine magic and the beginning of the path towards the celestial realm; angels could be just as strong as demons after all, and the transformation was a lot less morally dubious. In addition, the extra mana was an attractive prospect as were the bonuses to his healing abilities.
Turning to Danny and Ardur, Oberon excused himself before walking a few feet away from the group. "Sorry, can you excuse me a moment. I need to deal with something." Once somewhat alone he carefully read through his options before making his choice. "8 points into Alert and... I'll choose Sprite."
Spent 8 skill points on "Alert" Chose the "Sprite" evolution option
@vancexentan no, that's fine. Rider will put himself forward in my next post, which I should probably write soon, and whatever happens from there, happens.
To be perfectly honest, neither of the Wisp’s explanations seemed like they would be all that helpful in terms of trying to recreate the skills in question. He supposed it was a bit much to expect a detailed explanation or something; it wasn’t like Oberon would be able to give an explanation on how he cast Shield or Minor Heal if asked, he just sort of did it. It was probably the same for all of the starting skills; it was natural, ingrained, and you didn’t have to think about using it the same way you didn’t have to think about breathing.
Luckily the Wisp was also willing to demonstrate, and that was something that the Pixie could work with. As Danny picked up the pebble with his mind Oberon observed him with Magic Analysis; the flows of mana, the way they wrapped around the pebble and the way the mana almost seemed to flex somehow, like a muscle, as the Wisp flung the small rock away. It was only a brief look, but Oberon was sure he could recreate it given some time.
The second skill was a little more unusual, in that it outwardly didn’t look like anything was happening; the Wisp simply floated gently to the ground. With the Wisp’s lack of facial features, or even extremities, to judge by it was hard to tell, but somehow Oberon was reminded of the image of someone sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed. Whatever was happening, the Pixie used Magic Analysis again on Danny just in case.
Used "Magic Analysis" on "Lesser Force" Used "Magic Analysis" on "Meditation"
@vancexentan would it cause issues if Rider put himself forward as the leader? If you want Saber to take the lead for story reasons that's fine, but since Rider is a King who has led multiple military expeditions it makes sense for him to at least suggest himself as leader, especially since Saber seems so hesitant.
I just want to make sure that isn't going to cause any issues for the plot before I post anything to that effect.
Rattleskull's final moments were a little more disturbing than Oberon had expected. It wasn't the gore, although that was more visceral than he would have liked as well, it was the pleading, the desperation in his voice. He was being ganged up on, slowly beaten down in a way that let him know the end was coming and ultimately died not understanding what was happening; he would have killed them all himself given the chance, but it was hard not to feel some sympathy for the beast.
In the distance a fireball shot up into the sky and much like Mourningstar, Oberon examined it with Magic Analysis as it soared up to its apex before exploding, the Pixie activating the skill almost by habit when confronted with new magic. "They could just be calling it a day. They can't clear out the whole cave in one go."
Oberon turned towards the Wisp hovering over Rattle's body just in time to see her and one of the Slime's begin the process of removing his head. He quickly turned away once he saw the first cuts being made; he could guess what they were doing, and for what purpose, but he didn't know how they could stomach doing something like that. The same went for eating; since there were no plants in the cave other than healing herbs there could only be one thing Mourningstar expected them to eat. This experience was very quickly turning Oberon into a vegetarian.
Eating or not eating, it would be wise to use this respite to recover and prepare for the next stage of the battle. Oberon was just thinking about how to best use his time when another Wisp, one he hadn't seen before, floated over to the group and approached a different Pixie. Although he wasn't the intended target, Oberon was close enough to hear what was said.
"You have a skill that can restore mana? I'd like to learn that; I can teach you a few things in return. I'd like to learn whatever telekinesis ability Wisps have as well."
Used "Magic Analysis III" on Crispy's flare Approached skill tutor Danny and offered a trade of information
The summoning circle was already prepared for him ahead of time and the last component, the shard of wood from the infamous Trojan horse, had been placed in its centre; the only thing remaining was the ritual itself and the chant. But, Dieter was somewhat hesitant to begin the summoning, struck as he was by a last minute bout of second thoughts as he questioned once again whether or not he could do this. Whether or not he even wanted to.
There were other Master’s on standby should he decide not to do this, he wasn’t necessary. He was replaceable. And yet, he’d still come to London, still collected the catalyst prepared for him and was still standing here in this hall as the others summoned their Servants around him. Something was driving him forward, despite his hesitance, even if he didn’t know himself what it was.
Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let black be the color I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate.
Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth.
An oath shall be sworn here. I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven; I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell.
From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!
His voice was low, the chant not spoken with as much confidence or vigour as some of the others, but it seemed the ritual did not care much for such things as it worked nonetheless. Dieter covered his eyes with his arm as the swirling Od picked up again with the addition of his own summoning to the mix, coat flapping in the strong wind. When he lowered his arm he saw his Servant for the first time; tall and strong and intimidating, clad in golden armour and carrying a spear and shield like he was prepared to go to war at any moment. His crested helmet obscured his face, but beneath it Dieter could sense the eyes of his Servant on him; the sensation nearly paralysed him.
“I am Rider. Are you to be my Master?”
“J-ja.”
That seemed to be enough for Rider, or at least no other answer seemed to be forthcoming; he just continued to stare at him silently, as if waiting for something to happen. He wondered what his Servant saw when he looked at him, if the reason he was quiet was because he was disappointed with what he saw?
In the end Oberon never got an answer as to what the Slime was planning to do with all those crystals as rather than respond he simply swallowed one of the mana-restoring items and dashed, or rolled, away.
It seemed that a lot had happened in the few moments that he had been distracted; the group of rats from earlier had appeared and engaged the female Goblin and a couple more Slimes soon followed them, crushing the larger Goblin in their path. The first Slime, the one with the oddly shaped protrusion on top, latched onto the female Goblin as she was struggling against the larger rat before spearing her on a stalagmite that erupted from the ground. And just like that it was over, what had previously seemed like a desperate struggle was suddenly a victory in their favour; here at least, the battle had been resolved.
But that didn’t mean things were going as well everywhere. Now that the noise in the immediate area had died down Oberon could hear the sounds of fierce fighting happening nearby and looking in that direction it was easy to see the large figure stomping around with many smaller figures swarming him.
That was where Digbie and Mourningstar had gone to earlier; he could see them now, a single point of light flitting around the big guy’s head and a solitary bipedal silhouette running around. It was also where everyone else seemed to be heading to as well as first one then the other smaller Slime headed that direction, followed soon after by the two smaller rats.
With everything settled here and with no more obvious threats heading his way it seemed like Oberon should join the on-going battle as well, but before he did there was something he had been meaning to try for a while now and since he was curious what his progress on the ‘regeneration’ skill was now was as good a time as any.
“Open skills tab.”
He still had a few skill points left over from his last level-up and if there was a useful skill near to completion it might be worth spending them now rather than trying to stockpile them. However, he shouldn’t wait too long before joining the battle in case someone needing healing, so regardless of if his attempt worked Oberon began to fly towards Rattleskull.
Once there he saw a battle in full swing, a badly wounded Rattle and a host of humans-turned-monsters attacking him from multiple avenues. From a cursory sweep of the area it didn’t look like anyone was too badly hurt at the moment, other than the large creature they were trying to kill, so his services weren’t in high demand at the moment; furthermore, he didn’t want to risk firing an attack into the middle of the melee in case he hit someone other than his target, leaving him with few options at the moment.
For now Oberon would just hang back and wait for an opportunity to present itself. In the meantime, he prepared himself to cast Shield III on the first person her saw Rattle take a swing at; judging by how the female Goblin had broken straight through it earlier it might not entirely save whoever the large Goblin attacked, but it was better than nothing.
Tried to give myself another migraine Prepared to cast 'Shield III' on first person Rattle targets with an attack
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