Chronicla/3/3 (Lorica)

=Struggle block=


 * 1) Create electro-positivity
 * 2) Casting spherical regional spells
 * 3) Superheat potion
 * 4) Demesnes
 * 5) Create-oxygen
 * 6) Overfeed faera (create-mana)
 * 7) Spray launcher (palm instrument)
 * 8) Blast potion
 * 9) Blast spray
 * 10) Superheat spray

Chapter 3.1: Nairu's Revenge
Four days later, White Wolf has arrived at Syrragil; the gang (Andar, Qura, Tyl, Micalel, Tegis, Tareau, Janya and Wesna Dyreal) separates to find jobs, and Tegis goes to locate a new hideout; Qura goes to work as a waitress. Micalel and Tareau come across Charmel Clara and when they ask if he wants a job done, Charmel says that he will give them a quest the next evening at a rendezvous point in the slums. Andar and Tyl then come across a crowd of people, including police; evidently Ameriya Serpren has been murdered in a way no one's ever seen before (electrocuted). Her husband Nairu Serpren, who was there, is seeking revenge and has a few leads, including the amount of money that was stolen (60 m. silver), the direction he went, and even the man's appearance; he is offering 60 m. silver to anyone who catches the murderer. Andar, Tyl, Pyrifdira and two others take up the mission and set off southward, but first they get to report back to their friends that they'll be gone; Andar and Tyl are about to go meet up with White Wolf at their rendezvous point, but Andar notices Pyrifdira is suspiciously following them so they instead eat at a restaurant, telling Tyl to watch Pyrifdira closely. The pursuit team agrees that if the murderer had committed magic, he most certainly would have thrown away evidence and wouldn't dare to use it against them, so that they're now basically hunting an ordinary person; he would also likely use the main road, since he'd expect the pursuit team to look in the woods instead. After journeying for an entire day down the road and coming across plenty of people who agree that they've seen such a person, they choose to continue into night and they come across Bishoa sleeping along the main road. They spring on him and quickly tie him up; he and his belongings match what Nairu had stated and so the persuasive and a bit threatening Pyrifdira wants to hang him; of the five members only Andar and Tyl disapprove (they're the minority), so Bishoa is hanged without a trial; then they sleep. The next morning, the other three vigilantes carry the corpse up north back to Nairu for their reward. Tyl, however, knows that Bishoa is innocent; she can sense various kinds of magic using an unexplained property of her eyes and Bishoa has no traces of it on him. She tells Andar that she doesn't know of any channeling that could do this to Ameriya, and that she's never been able to cast her own kind of magic without using an item; they hadn't found anything like that on this person. Also, it isn't likely that a murderer would let down his guard so early. Andar and Tyl thus continue on to Entyreal, though they have no means of drawing out the mage (if the murderer is indeed one). Tyl tries to think like a mage would, and sets up a sting operation by putting up posters around town, saying that she's discovered a sort of magic (and using terms such as faera and throwing potions) and wants to meet anyone who knows about it at an inn room. Soon a clueless youngster (Arpa) shows up (he looks totally different) and they start working on magic; Arpa has discovered create-light faera and Anchacite, and he works together with Tyl and her own collection to develop the method for anchoring create-light to a sword, enchanting it to glow for a while. Some time after Arpa leaves satisfied with having discovered this and looking forward to finding more magic, Stanta comes as well; he looks exactly as Nairu described, and Tyl proceeds to share her magic, acting so innocent that Stanta drops his guard, and then Tyl uses her blinding potion to make him unable to see. Andar overpowers him and Tyl takes his inventory, and interrogates the man about his role in Ameriya's murder; the man doesn't confess. The trio then depart for Syrragil with their captive, threatening to hurt him with their own magic should he try to escape, and interrogating the man about how to cast those spells of his. Along the way Tyl learns all about the create-electropositivity faera that Stanta works with, and is able to use them to electrocute captured animals, but this magic is only strong enough to do this by touch, not through air. This also involves Tyl learning how to cast regional spells (effects taking place in a volume near where the moieta is anchored). Returning to Syrragil after two days, the pair bring Stanta to the town guard, which calls Nairu, who affirms that the man was the murderer. In Lorica this constitutes enough proof, and Stanta is publicly hanged. Nairu rewards them and thanks them publicly for not making the same mistake as Pyrifdira and the others in killing Bishoa without making sure of his guilt; Andar receives his 60 m. silver.

Chapter 3.2: White Wolf, Black Bear
Meanwhile, Charmel had returned to his own gang (Black Bear) and set up a trap for the White Wolf gang members expecting to get a task. They easily defeat Micalel and Tareau and tie them up, especially since Charmel is rather good at fighting, and torture information about the others' locations out of them. Black Bear then springs a trap on the rest of White Wolf at their temporary hideout, catching Tegis while Qura, Wesna and Janya flee. However, White Wolf has already specified a backup meeting site where these two meet while scouting out Syrragil for Black Bear's hideout, and wait for Andar and Tyl to return. When they return, the trio tells them what had happened. Charmel was is the temporary leader of Black Bear, the aggressive resident gang on this side of Syrragil (along with Greyhound gang), which doesn't want to share its territory with a third gang. Judging from the screams, they had been torturing their captives. Tyl spends a lot of time collecting create-heat faera and manages to create several superheat potions. Andar schedules a meeting with Black Bear, to give them money in exchange for their freedom; Charmel invites them to their hideout. However, they aren't intent on actually making a trade, and instead want to beat up the remainder of the White Wolf gang to prevent them from ever wanting to compete with Black Bear for tasks again, and so spring their trap. However, Andar had predicted that something like this would happen and so the team had been trained in fighting using Tyl's blinding and superheat potions. Using them, White Wolf turns the table, blinding and injuring them. Black Bear surrenders and Andar gets their equipment (money, weaponry, shields); Tegis, Micalel and Tareau are freed. They all have many scars, but although they want to see Charmel tortured, Andar convinces his gang to be merciful, much to their surprise; after all, the two gangs will have to operate side-by-side, so they must be able to co-exist. So what was once a truce meeting is turned into a victory/union celebration. Charmel appears to be very grateful for their willingness to forgive, congratulates Tyl's use of taboo magic, and tells Andar about a demesne to the east, where there is rumored to be more magic for those who can navigate it. Tyl seizes on the opportunity and convinces Andar and Qura to come along with her to the demesne; Andar puts Micalel in charge of White Wolf.

Chapter 3.3: Demesne of Air
Two days later, Andar, Qura and Tyl arrive at their destination. The demesne Charmel referred to is actually a monstrous cavern inside a mountain, with the entry leading directly to a massive abyss; there seems to be no way in. Qura wants to back away but Tyl says she knows that there's magic here, telling the protesting others that she knows what she's doing, and readily steps out onto thin air - except it props her up, so she's standing in midair, and soon walking down a flight of stairs toward the cavern central, with Andar and Qura following. Qura is amazed that Tyl knew there was magic, since she didn't sense anything; Tyl explains that she is blessed with Magic Eye, which allows her to see magic (its type, shape and location) at work through her eyes, even seeing the magic through physical obstacles; this is what had allowed Tyl to be so efficient at identifying and locating faera even when they were hidden out of sight. And now, this same Magic Eye saw the directional create-air floating right under their feet and from its shape Tyl deduced that this was a staircase; therefore she was willing to step on it. Actually, this is meant to be a leap of faith. They get to the pitch black main cavern using light potions to light the way, and the moment they enter the cavern, the entire place (its ceilings, floors and walls) blossoms into color so that it looks like a mini-world in daytime. What seem to be artificial, super-condensed clouds appear at various places and heights throughout the cavern, and in the center shines a majestic pedestal. Everyone is utterly amazed; Tyl tells them that the mini-clouds are like boats in the sky and that they can travel on them (propped up by create-air) and use it to navigate the place. The multi-colored clouds are 2 meters by 2 meters square; Tyl proceeds through the maze, quickly realizing that white clouds don't move and the light red, green, orange, blue, yellow, purple clouds move north, south, west, east, up, down when stepped on, ferrying her to either white clouds or other colored clouds which would then carry her in a different direction. When going up, the clouds would suddenly heat up; when going down, they would suddenly cool. While Qura notes down these observations, Tyl uses these to progress through the maze. Before long she is lost, but Qura and Andar are able to connect all the moving clouds and realize that they don't lead to the pedestal at all, rather to two platforms, each with a switch. Qura and Andar each go to a switch, which requires that they stand on it to keep it activated. While the switches are activated, new clouds materialize and other white clouds gain a color (and thus move when stepped on), which causes them to add these to their already congested, 3D map. Tyl reaches the central platform, which is comprised of nine groups of clouds each with white and colored ones which take her to colored ones on other cloud groups. After figuring out how the process works, she is able to get to the central platform. Around her appears whirling, ethereal, lighted text telling her where to find create-air faera and how to take care of and mate them; it also says that there is a greater reward for those who are worthy. The pedestal itself holds a vial of create-air moieta suspended in liquid. Using her other vials and knowledge of casting magic, Tyl manages to create a blast potion and then, a remote blast potion; however, she has no clue where the reward is and her understanding of create-air is inadequate. With this, the trio figures out a way to leave the demesne (a different path from the one they took to get in here), with Tyl vowing to uncover the secrets of this create-air magic and get her reward. Before they leave, however, Tyl also uses her Magic Eye to identify the second most important moieta comprising the clouds, namely, overdose faera.

Chapter 3.4: The Dancing Blade
The story shifts to Yuna Selena, tracking a mage (Melza) in a village two hours' walk away from Syrragil; it's nighttime. Her sources had told her that the mage used both channeling and potion magic; she had spent several days before tracking him to his house. Sneaking in, Yuna rushes at Melza; however, the mage was alerted to her presence, is prepared and immediately responds with a smokescreen potion as he makes good on his escape, while Yuna backs out coughing. Then the chase begins, with the mage using air channeling to hop over rooftops and Yuna using her own set of skills to catch up with him. Ultimately Melza realizes that he doesn't have as much stamina as Yuna does and they have a rooftop battle, with Melza's air and fire channeling attacks easily countered by Yuna's anti-channeling training and Melza easily dodging Yuna's attacks with air-magic. Yuna had learned back at the Modena School the various means of countering channeling using her long sword; Melza is dismayed that half of his techniques are useless.