[Continues] Morcrux Campaign: Tale of Two Scales

sora21345

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"Jibril ugh yea sure i don't mind plus am interested in what you just said also don't mine karlya unless she can stay and listen if that's alright with you since she also know magic and it could help her out to learn some new stuff from you
 

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"Great"

He shuffled on through and he removes the scrolls in his arms and throws them into the bed. He readjusted his sash until it sat all on his waist then ruffles his hair getting the dirt out. Karlya seems very into the look of his as she sat on the bed with him.

"Are ya gonna tell us why you're wearing that?" She teased, eyeing him up.
"Huh? Oh! It has a nice breeze between the legs" He says completely oblivious to her teasing.
Jibril closes the door back and locks it, returns to the room and stood there intrigued by what he has to say. Randy searches through the scrolls and starts handing Karlya and Jibril two for them to look at. He gets up and turns to clap his hands together for a presentation.

"Okay, so. I had to do some digging yesterday and do some research on magic relics and had to do something for Kane to let me in on his magic research" He says excited to share, "For centuries, all of the magic we've had comes from the Ethereal Plane of Existence. Somewhere in the middle of all that Mana there's a source, we channel that Mana from that source into the Material world through rituals and innate magic abilities."

Randy throws up a large scroll revealing a series of verticle rings and horizontal rings with a sphere drawing in the very middle. Each of the rings have been labeled with realms of various origins and he continues.

"Here in the middle is our reality, these rings running to the sides are the Infernal Realities such as Nine Hells, Shadowfell, Plane of Fire and Windseer. Infernals can cross over into ours using portals that occur naturally without us needing to summon them. Mages and sorcerers alike know this and so do the witches and warlocks! We all know we pay Blood Essence and Life Essence to use our magic spells. Since I'm a sorcerer, I have too much this I pay a bigger price. That isn't the same for everyone else with warlocks making contracts with Infernals to gain magic to become mages, witches borrow from otherworldly patrons of nature like the Raven Queen and Far."

Randy drops the map and grabs the scroll Karlya had and shows them both. The scroll shows many titles of the different gods and devil's between heaven and hell.

"Everything is balanced by a Creator God, one that all other gods and devil's pray and answer to. They oversee all of our realities and set the rules!" He points to a set of names "The Archdevils, the Daemons, Apostles, the Seekers, the Gates and the Heralds of the Dark Gospel!"

He drops the scroll and moves into the next one that Jibril held and he shows it off revealing the human body with muscle tissue, blood vessels and bold black lines mark the body obviously made by Randy himself.

"Here's what's interesting!" Randy says pointing to his drawings, "Magic inside of you, me and Karlya isn't something that just comes out of nowhere ... It's in our blood!"
"Red, how is this supposed to help us?" Jibril asked impatiently.
"Dennis, the academy mages and Kane helped me get my magic under control!" He shows off his body, noting the many scars and scarification of the Binding ritual engraved onto him. "Kane did some research and they've all came to the conclusion that magic is purely made from all of our blood. That's why the Undead walk, how we're able to heal so quickly, why we get older quicker, why powerful spells are so draining! It's all connected!"

He throws down the scroll he had and searches from the pile on the bed. He opens it and gives it to Jibril. He taps the scroll sheet.

"Everything on there are prevention plans and methods we can get around magic!" He says proudly, "These are my theories and Kane and the Council have granted me stipends to help do research into testing these theories out in the field! If these theories work, we can save even more lives! We tried the Binding ritual without using magic, we even found out that magic can be cancelled or countered with equally powerful spells. If we needed to, we can even disable mages and other warlocks from using their magic as well!"

He grabs another scroll then hands it to Karlya who was enthralled by his lecture, his excitement is keeping her on the edge of her seat.

"I even made prototypes of weapons and armor we can use to dispel magic. If we ever get into a other dream state like the one we just had with Maruda, we just use totems and symbols. Alternatively, we can use things that weakens spells to allow us to break free or ignore them altogether. But these are all designs and guesses, we won't know until we've done some of them in a fight or against powerful relics."
 

sora21345

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"Jibril that's easy all we have to do is test it on kane or maybe ask him if he has any relic's to spare since we don't know how long he been alive so there's a chance he might snag up a relic or two
 

Grimoire

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"Yeah-no" Randy answered bluntly, "tried that and nearly killed me. Kane won't let us have the relics because he too wants them. We don't have ANY relic aside from the orb we had and it's dead! As for testing our theories on the big boss, he's already going out of his way letting me use his library and research notes. There's no way we can risk that ... plus he's paying me this time so no can do"
 

sora21345

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"Jibril then how will we know if the spell's work or not.we could try learning some magic spell or learn how to make armor and weapons she moved closer to karlya to cuddle with her
 

Grimoire

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Jibril slithers around Karlya, stretching out her legs to lock ankles around her waist then drapes her arms over both Karlya's shoulders, resting her chin on her left shoulder. Randy just watches as Jibril wraps herself around Karlya like a boa constrictor ceasing her prey. Karlya's happy smile remains when Jibril cuddles with Jibril nudging at Karlya's cheeks with her own. Poking and prodding, Jibril plays with Karlya's soft dark elven cheeks, teasing her lovingly while Randy fidgets in place with his scrolls: "Weeeeelll. How will we know if the spell's work or not? We could try learning some magic spell or learn how to make armor and weapons: Jibril flicks her tongue at Karlya who giggled when she felt the tongue graze her neck, "What do you think Karlya?"
"I'm all for learnin' the myths and legends and all but how can we we do ... whatever it is you're suggesting" Karlya shrugs, pressing her hand on Jibril's face when she goes to tickle Karlya's neck again.
"Spellweaving and Ward conjuration magic" Randy responded unsure how to express what he's feeling watching the two necking like this in front of him. "Dwarven Runes also hold a dictionary of words we can use to make counter spells against relics since they're the oldest civilization predating mankind and possibly elven kind as well. I had to work on a few bracelets using different versions of words. Luckily, Kane managed to give us at least one Runic Bracelet that actually works great at dispelling magic affecting the wearer."

Randy goes to remove a leather bracelet with a stone tablet on the top like a watch but instead has a few runic glyphs engraved into it. He takes it off and gives it to Jibril. Jibril takes it and looks at it.

"So this is suppose to dispel magic?" Jibril asked.
"How's it work?" Karlya asks, Jibril puts on the bracelet and examines how tight it is.
"You say, 'Froh-Kah' then blow on it to activate it" Randy states, gesturing a hand to Jibril.
"What? Right now?" Jibril says unsure what he's implying.
"Yeah, give it a shot" Randy tells her.
"What?! No way!" Jibril protested.
"Come on, what's the worse he can do?" Karlya jabs.
"I'm only going to cast a light Glamour spell" Randy states, weaving his hands in the air to form magical seals around his wrists. "The Glamour spell is called illecebra which translated means: Enticement. All this will do is make you turn into the thing that the person that casts the spell wants you to be. I'm thinking a scaleless version of you, Jibril, wondering what you might look like if you were more human."
"You're kidding me, you can do glamour magic?" Karlya say quizzically turning to Jibril, "That might actually be kind of awesome. Bet she could turn a few heads with that body of hers."
"Oh stop" Jibril blushes.
"Want to give it a go, Jibril?" Randy askes, preparing the spell but holding off on casting it.

Well, do you let him?

'
 

Grimoire

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"Okay, here we go" Randy says finishing the spell preparation.
"Froh-Kah!" Jibril says in a guttural roll in her voice then blows on the bracelet lightly.

The bracelet lights up with the runes engraved on it glowed white and blue then turns the solid stone tablet into a small dial with the runes slowly turning clockwise and moving faster as the enchantment grows stronger with a pulsing on Jibril's wrist. Karlya moves out of the way and peels away from Jibril so she doesn't get caught in the glamour's affect radius. Randy's spell shoots from his hands and the jolt of yellow mana firing from his fingertips surged and zaps Jibril's body. Jibril recoils from the initial burst of Mana hitting her and causing her body to glow the same hue of yellow as Randy's Aura. As the spell tries to take hold of her, the bracelet glows brighter and the runes spins faster as the yellow glow of Jibril's body slowly drifts from her head to her feet with an opposing glow flowing from her head to her feet until the Glamour spell disappears and the two glowing auras vanish. Karlya is amazed at how well that worked: "It worked!"
"Feel anything?" Randy asks, proud of his work.
"It tingled a bit" Jibril looks over herself and finds nothing out of place.
"The bracelet seems to work only for a short time" Randy pondered, "So if the Mana reserve we had could be channeled into it, that could make the effects last longer. But that requires Arcanists Stones to power it up and those can get expensive. With some luck, i can make it work longer than ... 20 seconds? I haven't tested it in a group. Another note, if we had arrows or throwing knives with these runes on them: I'm reasonably sure we can dispel spells and magical items, but if they're powerful enough to outlast the 20 second mark then they could be a problem. I gathered the runes siphon off the magic and sends it to some place or it returns to that source i mentioned earlier. That's a solid 50 / 50 chance that the bracelet could work against some magic but not all of it."
"Good work, Randy!" Karyla says with a genuine smile aimed at him, jabbing him in the shoulder."
 

sora21345

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"Jibril she ask red-eye's what would happen if it passed the 20 seconds mark and would there be any side effects or any damage or something harmful to the user body
 

Grimoire

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"It depends on the spell or curse used" Randy explained, "Hexes cast by Witches typically use Dark and Earth magic elements, those can be stronger or weaker based on the Mana of the spellcaster. These runes work off natural elements like Earth, Water, Fire and Air magic. While the runes can counter any Earth elemental magic, the Dark side of those spells can cause side effects. Think of it like your venom, Jibril, if you bite somebody with your fangs they would be hurt but it wouldn't kill them at all just from the bite alone; its the toxins of your venom that causes the real damage and that can kill someone. That's the same way Hexes and Curses work, all magic can be combined with other elemental magic to become stronger or add additional effects. That Glamour spell i just cast is an elemental spell of Air in the Illusion category, so i can use another spell in the same Illusion category to enhance that spell like Transfiguration which can make you shapeshift into anyone you want but that spell is part of the Earth element because i'm drawing power from the world around us."
"What about the 20 second mark? Jibril asked.
"Then you're shit out of luck then" Randy answers, "If you had a Paralysis spell placed on you for an hour when that thing starts counting down, and that spell was cast by an archmage or a Magi, then chance are that you'll be running around for 20 seconds then fall face first into the ground the second the bracelet stops working because that spell will kick in and you'll be paralyzed until it wears off. But don't count on spells having a set time to wear off, if they even do wear off, these are low level spells i'm talking about. Basic spells are something that bracelet can counter well enough but if you encounter a warlock that can use powerful Eldritch Blasts, then you'll die. I'm gonna try to tinker around with the runes and maybe consult a Dwarven Runesmith on how i can read Dwarven runes and make their effects and spells work better."
 

sora21345

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"Jibril well since you still here can you teach me and karlya some spell's it could be a great help learning about the different type's don't really want to fight someone who can use magic and i don't know what there casting
 

Grimoire

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"About that" Randy scratches the back of his head, "Spellcasting is very difficult to learn and a lot of it takes years to master. Even learning one spell can take months to figure out if you're not concentrating, saying a spell the right way, preparing one the right way, even figuring out how much Mana you possess is even harder to figure out"
"No offense, Jibril, but you're not a sorcerer like Randy and you're not a amatuer mage like myself" Karlya answers bluntly, "As much as we would like to teach you about magic and get you used to making your own spells. This sort of thing only works for people born with magic in our blood, you're part of the non-magical group of people. Randy's one of the only group of people able to cast magic without Ritual spells needing alchemy ingredients, reciting incantations to spellweave, nor does he have to worry about how much Mana he has to cast a spell, he just has way too much to hold inside him"
"Actually, the professors helped me" Randy answered patting his scarred chest of symbols, "I'm finally Bound! No more Mana Sickness!"
"So i can't use magic?" Jibril asked a little bummed out.
"Sorry, you can use Enchantments and use magical items that have some Mana inside them" Randy says, "But casting spells, making Enchantments, doing preparation work and all of that - you can't do it. We can teach you how they work but Karlya will need some private lessons to improve her Illusion magic."
"I can do other spells too, ya know" Karlya says a bit miffed.
"Like ... what?" Randy asked.
"Evocation and Charms" Karlya says proudly.
"Are you ... an Evoker Mage?!" Randy asked.
"I guess?" Karlya answers, unsure what her answer rely is to be honest, "I learned from a buccaneer awhile back on Fluter Isle, said i had a talent for it"
"That's awesome!" Randy says.
"How's that awesome?" Jibril asked.
"She can manipulate people, make them do whatever she wants them to do" Randy grins, "Bet you could have made a succubus run for their money, am I right?"
"Don't be daft, mate" Karlya blushed then grinned at his comment, "But one day i'd like to try it out on one!"

So Jibril can't use magic, that sucks! At least she gets to keep the cool bracelet to help her defend herself against spellcasters!
 

sora21345

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"Jibril well since i can't be train would you at least train karlya since she know's some magic she really good at it saved my life twice when i was in a bit of trouble
 

Grimoire

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Randy turns around and grabs the last scroll in his possession and hands it to Jibril. Jibril opens it and finds that it is a large guideline of rules and helpful advice.
"What's this?"Jibril asked, reading through the guidelines.
"My Guide to Magic Survival" Randy answered, he scoffs and shakes his head at the name "I'll workshop the name another time. But i wrote down rules about magic and things that people don't know largely about that i think can really save our asses. It took me years to figure out most of it, trial and error, the crazier tstuff i wouldn't even attempt at even when i was still getting high on sand."
"Rule #1: If in doubt, think it out - what kind of advice is that?" Jibril says scrunching up at the idea.
"I made that rule when i found a puzzlebox" Randy answered, "Had a lesser gremlin inside of it and it started eating everything in my room. I thought it was a fun toy but i never should have opened it without checking it first. Some magic items can feel heavier than a similar item or it can be extremely light if the object looks very heavy, if it looks unnatural then it is easy to say that it isn't something you should be messing with."
"Rule #2: Beware magic blowback" Jibril reads out.
"That one is a must know rule" Randy answers, "Even if you cast a spell or you managed to break it, magic doesn't just disappear into thin air when it happens. Casting Igni, a flame spell, and you used a magical shield like Ward to guard against the spell, there is a chance that the two spells will match the same magical strength in energy and cause both spells to explode. If the spells aren't done correctly by the caster, a spell like Igni can set the person on fire even though they were trying to shoot the fireball at someone but it exploded in their hands instead. There's also casting very basic spells with lots of built-up magic, all spells have a minimum amount of Mana that can be use to cast successfully, surpass that minimum can make deadlier or powerful spells but over do it too much and you could get yourself killed."
"There must be over a hundred rules here!" Karlya says looking over the scroll in Jibril's hands.
"Yeah, those are just some of the rules i lived by." Randy answered but slumps when he thought back at the caravan, "Well, mostly any way. The relic we had was a huge mistake so i wrote it down as #32: Beware of Unknown Relics."
 

sora21345

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"Jibril ugh this is long i'll read it when i have the time for now am gonna learn some housewife stuff then am gonna finish reading the rest of my letter
 

Grimoire

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"Right, forgot about that" Karlya touches her face at thte thought, she turns to Randy.
"It's fine" Randy throws his hands up 'hold-up' gesture. "Just hold on to it and hopefully we can put some of that to good use on the road. If we're ... you know"
"We know" Jibril says, "Thanks, Red"
"Yeah ... you know, you're pretty smart when you're not high on Red Sand" Karlya comments.
"Hard to think about things when you're an old raider" Randy answers, "Some things you can't think about or you'll go crazy trying to swallow more booze you can stomach some days"
"Was it that bad?" Karlya asked, holding herself with her arms.
"Yeah, it was" Randy says going into his thoughts. "When you're out at sea, you can just runaway from it all and not look back. But here on land, that stuff follows you. The things we do to survive out here are monstrous, taking from families with barely anything left from villages being plundered or setting the fires yourself. I was a downright bastard for ten long years and every day i still see their faces when i sleep."
"I know that feeling all too well" Karlya answered, "It's nice to find someone that knows how that feels."
"Same" Randy says, pulling himself away from the memories, "Sorry for bringning it up like this when we should be grateful to be home"
"Yeah ... home" Karlya lets out a soft grunt of approval, she looks to Randy longingly.
"Anyway, we should let Jibril have her room back"
"Good thinking" Karyla answers, Randy going to pick up the scrolls laying about.

When Randy goes to pick up the few scrolls, Karlya helps him. When they go to grab the same one, their hands touched. Instead of letting go, they looked each other in the eyes and they blushed before they stood up and she lets go and looking away. Randy ties his sash tighter with them in his waistline. He walks towards the door without a word and looks back to Jibril fixing to say something but then trials off to Karlya, his eyes dart along the ground and looks back towardsthe hallway and closes the door behind himself. Karlya looked away unsure how to feel about him. Jibril sat there watching this go about. It's obvious they like each other, after all, she did save his life back on the road to New Canaan and gave him her channeling symbol.
 

Grimoire

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Karlya smiled to Jibril then takes her leave thanking her for letting her know that she and Karin are able to live with them. They hugged each other then said their goodbyes while Jibril fishes out the letters in her backpack.

- 1 from Shurifon Capital with a green leaf symbol
- 1 from an Anonymous source with a small black hand print symbol on it.
- 3 from Jimmy
- 1 from someone with red lipstick pressed on the face of it.
- 1 from someone named S.Vali that smells of gunpowder.

With it being 1:45pm by the sound of the clock tower ringing outside of the hotel, Jibril thinks it about time she looked over the rest of the letters and see what else she must dig up. Knowing the last letters she's read, they're probably more depressing and heartbreaking letters.

She starts with Jimmy's letters, seems they're sporadic and hard to read at first but it seems as thought Jimmy wasn't able to write for some reason or another. She crumbled up the first unreadable letter and reads the second one but this time it was printed weirdly because all the letters were perfectly uniformed and too carefully worded to match Jimmy's handwriting. She reads that Jimmy was going through some conflicting emotions about being alive after being immediately killed on the road to Shurifon, he was scared and thought about how quickly everything went down hill for them. When he was shot by the Canaanites defending the wagon, he described how his body became limp and hot where he was shot, all he could think about was the warm blood coating his body and the life they lead in Heifong meant nothing. Jimmy remembered the cons he and Jibril did together and thought it was pretty great, hoping that it would lead them somewhere once they climbed the ranks of their gangs. But in the end, Jimmy was just hitting his head against a wall every time he thought about how he died. All he did and he just, died, there wasn't anyone there that knew him besides Karlya and Jibril. Had he stayed dead, would anyone have mourned him? His third letter was more upbeat.

In his third letter, Jimmy had questions, too many to ask Kane when he was brought back to life. Jimmy said being alive was completely different than before, like he's not in any sort of back pain or the bum leg he had from falling from a rooftop and he's much more clearheaded than before. It took him awhile to contact Kane directly, seems the normal folk are hard press getting any attention from their 'President' it seems, all Jimmy could do was speak to the country's Administrators and relaying his message to Kane through others. Three days later, Jimmy was standing before Kane himself. Jimmy was shocked to see the man with human skin when the last he saw him he was more monster than man, all he could think about was the creatures Kane summoned and finding himself back at the warehouse reliving that day over again. Few pages into the letter, Jimmy had to be put under observation in the hospital with Kane being the personal 'physician' and doing some research into Jimmy's condition. Jimmy was told by Kane that although he is by all accounts 'alive', Jimmy was technically 'Undead'. When asked why only technically, Kane explained that physically, Jimmy's body is dead, all his organs are pristine condition but they aren't alive as he is abet slowly. The only explanation Kane could answer for this thing of Jimmy's condition is: magic. Jimmy thought it was hilarious that Kane threw up his hands when the answer wasn't as obvious as he had wanted it to be. Jimmy asked why Kane was so interested in him when he felt fine. Kane says Jimmy could be living a half-life and things like eating and sleep won't help even if he could - nothing would benefit him as a half-elf would. In actuality, Kane believes Jimmy may decompose over time without proper care or treatment if the magic keeping Jimmy alive like this decided to wear off or vanish completely.

Lastly, he tells Jibril that she should come see him at the hosptial whenever she gets up ... he could use a friend.

The lipstick marked letter piqued Jibril's interest and she opens it to read what was inside. Seems the Alabaster Gang has made it a point to contact Jibril while she was unconscious, Madam Rouge was always blunt and kind to Jibril letting her stay at the Last Breath inn was a kind gesture of good faith given that Jibril's first job was working for Madam Rouge's whorehouse as a bouncer safeguarding the girls. It seems as though Madam Rouge is asking Jibril for a favor to repay the kindness of letting Jibril stay inside the brothels without being attacked by thugs across Heifong wanting to slit her throat. In fancy terms and flavorful texts, Madam Rouge would like to offer her services to the Canaanites setting up shop in the Scarlet District and putting the Red Queen Brothel under new management. Madam Rouge suggests that Jibril be diplomatic about getting the brothel by taking the request to City Hall and inquire about the management, she hopes that Jibril can get Kane persuaded enough to let them do business there given that he has the final word in any decision made there. But if Jibril doesn't, she can ask Garrett of the Thieves Guild to perform some work around the city for a steep price that Madam Rouge will pay handsomely for. Either way, Madam Rouge wants the Red Queen and get the Alabasters to take control of the Scarlet District and make it their new headquarters from the sound of things.

With Heifong in ruins, the Alabasters are going to be looking for a new place to call home as well. If Jibril gets it done through the Thieves Guild, then the Alabasters could be trouble given their past exploits and cause problems for the city and its crime rate will rise from the safest city to the seedy underworld just like Heifong. However, Madam Rouge will negotiate with Kane and the Canaanites to do things the legal way abet with less profits given the taxes and fees associated with running a brothel in a 'clean city' like New Canaan but that's better than running it illegally and plus the city will protect the working girls better than hiring thugs and lowlifes that will just be more of a problem than they're worth. The Guild and the Alabasters will be passing a lot of money for the deal so Jibril will need to meet a friend from the Last Breath: Guadalupe and her girlfriend to discuss what they plan to do. Turns out they stay at the very brothel as 'guests' and scoping out the place for their gang to take in the sights.

If Jibril wants to, Madam Rouge will pay her 50 Gold coins ($500) for helping them secure their place in New Canaan as a 'preferred client' and they would owe her a lot of favors for doing so. This would be a huge boon for Jibril since the Alabasters are very well coordinated and perfect for espionage work, being allies with them could open lots of doors to her to use in a jam or sneak into places that would otherwise be hard to reach. This is a great opportunity for her to make money in the city with how things are here and having more money means Jibril could retire here with her family and settle in more comfortably. Who knows, maybe Jibril and Kor'da might be one of the richest families in the city if everything goes well.

Jibril was happy to read the last letter, now she'll be in the mood to read what S. Vali has to say to her.
Shimbala Vali, it appears that Shimbala's last name is the name of her Dark Elf clan. This can't be good.

Jibril braced herself to read the letter, she's immediately put off by the idea that she ordered the Jaegers and Juggernauts to open fire on the wagon and the whole group had pursued Jibril's group all the way to Shurifon and the cause of the massacre of the refugees. She reads and finds that Shimbala is very angry with Jibril and how betrayed she felt when Jibril and the others betrayed her trust in them. After all the talking they've done and how much she came to think of Jibril as her friend, she now believes that Jibril is just another traitor that needs to be punished for the suffering she caused. It's a very ominous letter the more Jibril reads, a bit heartbreaking when Jibril read how many refugees were actually killed and Shimbala describing the gory details of how gruesome the crash site was. Jibril thinks the details vividly of mothers cradling their crushed children under cargo crates and father having their head crushed or boiling alive in hot oil when Sunstones sparked a fire and burned everything. Jibril forced herself to stop reading and crumbling the letter in her hands and throwing the letter into the corner of the room.

Jibril tries to forget the incident but the more she read that damn letter, the guilt returns. She hoped the next letter was going to be better.

The Shurifon Letter with the green leaf seal pressed onto the parchment stirred up some thoughts on what the royal family could want with Jibril. Never in all her life would she be contacted by the highest ruling body in the empire, bigger than the Medressans! She wasn't sure what to expect when she opens the rlled up scroll and reads the Leyfon writing on the letter. Jibril was addressed as the Nagini of Heifong with her name being an afterthought as the Ambassador Avasti and Speaker of the Shurifon House of Lords conveys that Jibril was once a citizen of Heifong and thus requested that Jibril venture to the Capital City to have an audience with the Royal Family. It seems the fall of Heifong has taken its toll after a week into the siege by Undead, the Navy and the Civil Unrest. With Jibril being the only few people left of the siege, the royalty of the court want to know what had transpired there and urge Jibril to come at her earliest convenience to address the situation and as a citizen of their country: Jibril is obligated to answer to the Shurifon Dynasty. This assumption that Jibril has any loyalties to the empire are presumptuous and it shows just how detached the imperials are from the rest of their citizens, if they had any empathy for their people, they wouldn't have allowed their Navy to purge their own people like they've done.

Or perhaps something else is going on. Maybe there is trouble brewing in Shurifon that Jibril isn't aware of.

Lastly, the black hand printed symbol on the letter. Jibril doesn't know who or what sent this letter but she's afraid of what this one could be. She felt a sense of dread when she placed her hand on it and opens it in a cautions manner. She doesn't utter a word but reads it. It was a very short letter:

"You have been touched by 'He-Who-Walks-With-The-Night'. You bear his Marker. Your life is in grave danger, we want to help. Place a handprint on your door to acknowledge this letter, we will make contact soon." Signed with a single letter: C
 

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"Jibril visit jimmy to cheer him up and maybe help him with his decomposing problem once she reach him and finish talking with him she will help madam rouge secure there spot in new canaan city
 

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Jibril redresses herself, given that she had been this entire time naked. Strange that Randy nor Karlya said anything despite their stance on her feminine body, not that Jibril was complaining, she just doesn't understand when humans, elves and dwarves are so put off by something that's natural to them. Regardless, she dressed herself in her cotton tunic with the breeches with the tailhole made into them. Jibril rather likes her clothing like this, her tails swings much more freely when there's an actual hole to poke out in the back, it always bothered her that her tail base dug into her hemline when she goes to tighten the string or rope of clothing. Now it is more comfortable and sometimes she doesn't have to think about how uncomfortable she has to be wearing clothing that hinders her guile and acrobatic abilities. For now at least, she'll stick to wearing her clothes for appearances sake, perhaps the Clothing Emporium will make clothes that fit her when she's out and about, could be nice to visit Karin while she's looking for comfortable clothes and take advantage of that discount she mentioned. For for thought, she suppose.

Jibril heads to the northern branch of the Golden Laurel and directs her attention to the front entrance to this massive building situated at the center of the city's merchant square. Ten story building, a thousand hospital rooms, even more doctor's offices, lobbies for each level using two spiraling flight of stairs like a double helix which may or may not have been the intended design feature but the column of stairs was decorative with open walls and iron reinforced columns to support the ceilings. It's very utilitarian with the Canaanites using every available space to accommodate more people with fewer doctors and more nurses all of which wore those weird white robes and red sashes with some doctors wearing netted hoods and others with red sashes covering their faces to mask their noses and mouths, much like bandits. The hospital has this antiseptic smell and earthy tang of herbs and spices perfuming the air that hits Jibril in the face as she entered a crowded hosptial with wooden wheelchairs pushing patients in and out and others using large wooden crutches, some have been given wooden legs that actually function like a normal human one. Jibril wasn't sure what "doctor" or "Nurse" or "patient" means but she gets the idea they're healers even if it doesn't actually cover the many questions she has to what is actually occurring before her. Nurses and doctors escort patients to rooms and offices like Jibril sees drug dealers escorting Red Sand junkies into opium dens and getting them settled with their small spots to cater to their whims. How ironic.

Jibril inquired to the place she can find Jimmy, a few nurses pushed Jibril into the right direction much to her dismay as patients and incoming citizens sick and injured storm the hospital in drove under distress and urgency. Finally, after some searching on the upper floors does Jibril get directions to Director of Preventive Medicine on the tenth floor of the hospital and she stands inside the office much like Dennis Gannon's but with a view of the Blackgate Prison and the western edge of the Great Divide mountain range, much of the city's outer wall district can be seen beyond the windows below with a few dirt paths leading every which way between the outskirts of manors, mansions and large plots of land tilled by the indentured servants of the lords who owed them. When Jibril walked away from the office window and turns back to the sofas and table in the center with walls of cabinets filled with vials and brown bags and pouches sat behind glasses, many skeletal frames of other races stood on metal wires like mannequins and the walls hung highly detailed drawings of the anatomy of creatures and sapient races.

Jibril could take as seat or she could peruse the office and inspect the skeletons or pictures. Or she could steal medicine, but that wouldn't be very nice to do, could warrant some problems if she is discovered. Who knows when someone may enter the office.
 

Grimoire

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Jibril inspects the Elves, Humans, Dwarves as they possess a very strong similarity to each other albeit the size and thickness aside. Compared to humans (because of course we are for the sake of comparison) elves have remarkably similar bone structure and despite the stories about the two vengeful races normally at each other's throats in this war between Shurifon and Fjornia - they're very much the same in every way. Two arms, legs, eyes, same number of bones, it would be hard to tell the difference if there wasn't a mantle with a plate saying what they were in the first place. Upon a few inspections, elves have a lot more feminine curves and slender bodies with their frames supporting agility and finesse prowess than brute strength and force, if she had to guess, this means they can be stronger but they would be less revealing than a toned or well built human in terms of muscle mass.

Jibril examines the Dwarven skeletons, despite the old adage that "I'm not fat, I'm just big boned" being a myth, it seems that this isn't the case for Dwarves. Their bones are thicker and more sturdy as the one skeleton has a broken rib drilled with a bracket to hold in place to make the skeleton look more complete, there were attempts to drill elsewhere but Jibril can assess that these thick bones are hard to break even if they've aged well. Despite the short, stoutly figures, if Jibril imagined they had skins and muscles, she can surmise that the fat in their bellies would be supported by their very big spinal columns and if they were as hardy as legends and stories say, the muscles would be exceptionally girthy to wield larger weapons and heaviest of object ten times bigger than them without any issue. Their center of gravity and short height makes them very hard to move quickly and bend, like large boulders grounded and secured into place with steel brackets to keep them there without moving a budge! But that can also lead them to be very slow if bigger races were to sprint or perform acrobatic maneuvers that they would otherwise lack an edge over.

Jibril moved onto the Lizardfolk, seems there's only the male version here, she wonders if they couldn't get a female here or was it by chance these skeletons were bought and sold to them for medical purposes? She only hopes these weren't abused in such a way they go against the last rites of their owners before being used as display models for some people here. But digressing, Jibril notes that Lizardfolk have a digitgraded legs as in they stand of the balls of their toes whereas humans are considered plantigraded which stand on the entirety of their feet, heel and toes. Examination of the legs, Jibril can tell the bones were sturdy much like a Dwarvens but then slender at the hip much like an Elf's bone with the difference being that the femurs of the Lizardfolk are two combined bones with a gape in the middle to facilitate supporting a much stronger top half and providing a curving form for the forelegs or "ankles" of the digitgraded species. Jibril knows the tail is a part of her body much like the lizardfolk and other reptiles but she never questioned what does it look like under all of her skin, she's amazed to see that their tails are a very large extension of her spine with big and small vertebrae lining it up with a lining of bone supporting the base of their tailbone and the lower spine. With the meaty bits attached to the figure, Jibril can only see Kor'da in her mind. She sees him striding through places with a spring in his step and can leap large stretches of land in a single bound, his arms girthy and strong, his chest muscles tightening around his skeleton with his heart beating within his ribcage.

Jibril loses her thoughts thinking about Kor'da and seeing their skeleton only gets her stuck in memory of him and the boys.
 

sora21345

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"Jibril try to remember why she here in the first place to visit jimmy and cheer him up of his sadness she leave's to find his room wherever it is
 

Grimoire

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Jibril sees the door open and Kane enters with olive color khakis, white cotton t-shirt with a religious symbol dangling on a steel chain around his neck. He sees Jibril waiting inside and he closes the door, he limps and grunts as he hobbles towards the sofa with bruising and burned marks on his cheek, arms and what she can assume somewhere on his legs with the way he's moving. He drops onto the sofa where Jibril stood across from. He sighs deeply and snaps his fingers, a long tentacle shuffles around in the cabinets behind him using a portal spawned from the white tiled floors of the office and it grabs a pouch and stretches itself over to Kane. Kane open palms his hand over his shoulder and the tentacle drops the pouch and reels back through the portal and it closes itself inside. He opens the pouch as Jibril takes a seat in front of him, waiting for him to settle down before speaking up. Kane pops two balls of black spheres into his mouth and crunches on them before swallowing them and lays his head back, groaning.

"So, you're here" Kane says, exhaustively. "Is there something you need? Your appointment with me isn't for another five hours, or did you want me to get started right away?"
"I'm here to see Jimmy, the one i came here with. The one you brought back to life" Jibril carried through the comment.
"Ah, Mister Fong" Kane says, "I was not expecting him to be so ... so ... what's the word i'm looking for"
He circles around the topic before settling on: "Otherworldly"
"All this magic stuff and enchantments has my head spinning with so many questions about life on this world of yours and it still baffles me endlessly" Kane laughed lightheartedly, "Even now I'm still trying to figure out how a halfbreed like him is able to function normally. Can you imagine walking around, breathing but your lungs aren't even using air? Or eating something and your stomach doesn't digest it. It comes out a mess and water just sits inside your body, collecting and draining like you would. I've spent days figure out what made your friend tick, all my theories of how it all works being useless."

He throws up his hands defeated stating: "Magic" then drops them to his sides sighing as his throat clears.

"Of course, you don't really care. No one really cares about my thoughts or theories. Hell, half of what i just said went over your head just now." Kane says, he drops his head down to look at Jibril then to the door. "Room #403, nurses will let you in with caution to not startle him while they take his blood and urine samples for study. I've gotta do some lab work, document my findings, try to figure out if there is any way of stopping Mr. Fong from decomposing - if and when he does.

Magic is what's keeping him alive but for how long or how much Mana moves around inside him keeping his organs from rotting. But if you care about it enough, i can tell you that he does have time to live his life however ... sooner or later he will die. One way or another, Mr. Fong will run out of Mana constantly leaking out of his body and no amount of Binding rituals, supplying him with enough blood and nutrients from chemicals will keep him that way for long."

Kane stops then waits before leaning forward and setting the pouch on the table in front of them.

"I'm not good with losing patients nor does it get easier to say this sort of thing" Kane says, "But that's all i can say. If you want him to be happy, keep him believing that he'll make it to old age and die a natural death. Telling him the truth will only upset him, people like him and Red-Eye tend to throw away their lives when they know their deaths are numbered. I'll give it a decade, maybe less if Mr. Fong pushes himself too much. Less wear and tear on the body, the better. Exposure to other magic will only increase his death sooner, as it turns out. Not even healing magic will work, Holy magic such as Restoration magic tends to hurt Undead and Unholy things like myself. Keep that in mind when you're visiting him."

Kane turns and lays himself across the sofa and kicks off his boots to expose his human feet and he lays his head back letting the medicine kick in.
 
Last edited:

Grimoire

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Jibril remembered that she had received the pink vial of magic potion she got from Kane ... or was it Mellow, or Sanguine? Whoever gave it to her! She doesn't care, she searches through her bag and pulls it out and shows it to Kane. "What about this? Can this save him?" Kane looks over and his eyes narrow on the vial.
"Where did you get this?" Kane says reaching over to grab the vial.
"From you, I'm assuming" Jibril answered, "You were there when Kor'da was going to be beheaded and we made the deal to retrieve Maru's Orb for you in exchange for his life."
Kane looked at the vial and he looks up at Jibril confused.
"What?" She asked.
"I didn't make this" Kane answered, "In fact ... my minions don't have the capacity to make this"
"That ... that doesn't make any sense" Jibril stated, "They were there!"
"Hmm" Kane hums thinking, "It would seem my underlings have been keeping secrets from me, yet again."

Kane calls forth Mellow and Sanguine. They appear in a plume of black smoke on bended knees before Kane near the door to the office. Both wore their signature porcelain masks, not raising their heads.

Mellow: "You call your holiness?"
Sanguine: "How may we serve you?"

Kane raised the vial up and shook it around, they raised their heads to him. They looked at each other and then dropped their heads back down when Kane narrowed his eyes at them, they were acting suspiciously. Kane stood up and hobbled over to them, towering over them.

"Where did you get this?" Kane ordered, "Tell me!"
"We don't understand your question, master" Sanguine answered.
"We've always had it" Mellow continued.
"When, how and why was this not made clear to me until now?" Kane growled.
"It was among our inventory" Mellow answered, "When you asked your humble servants to escort the remains of the wealthy mortals to the domain, their affects were made available to us. You've even ordered us to make a manifest to give to you when we've completed our task"
"Perhaps if master were more incline to allow us to work more diligently" Sanguine says, hesitating on his next words. "More haste in the completion of our tasks would be more sound than spreading ourselves too thinly on other important ventures."
"This is the result of my impatience, is that what you're telling me?" Kane states.
The two says together: "Yes"

Kane turns back to Jibril he gives the vial back to her.

"Sorry, I don't think i can help you" Kane stated, "Seems i have things in my own possession that i wasn't entirely sure i had."
Kane turns back to the two figures.
"Can either of you tell me what exactly it is?" He asks, "Or what it even does?"
"Elixir of the Betrothed" Mellow replied.
"It is a powerful potion with healing properties" Sanguine explains, "When a strong affection for one is at its peak, will the potion take a stronger measure of power within to heal any and all wounds, even powerful enough to put a stopper in death"
"We meant no blasphemy, Umbra!" Mellow pleaded, Sanguine soon followed the other's example.
"How do you know this?" Kane asked.
"It was owned by Benoit Grimshaw before his execution was stayed by your mercy" Sanguine answered, "Confiscation of his apothecary yielded many potions, his concoction yielded many results but this one was made in secret. His journals document his procedures, lengthy, but excellent to reproduce more with the right amount of raw ingredients."
"So we can make more?" Kane says.
"Yes. However, the ingredients he mentions are rare, rarest of them is Dreamer's Bloom and Succubus Tears" Mellow answered.
"Huh, good work you two" Kane says, praising them.

The two raised their heads then their masks creak and shifted until both were widely smiling. Kane seems proud of their finding and gestures them to leave with a smile on his face, pleased to hear about this unique find. He sits back down.

"Well, it seems that we can make more of this potion" Kane replied, "So if you wanna give it a shot, go for it. We won't know for sure if it will work, can't hurt to try it if you're willing to risk it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
 

sora21345

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"Jibril tell's kane thank's she run to find jimmy room to give the elixir to him with this she believed it could help him heald his wound and the state he is in can't wait till he back to his old happy self
 

Grimoire

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Jibril takes the potion in hand and gently pouches it on her belt and keeps it secured for when she does present it to Jimmy. She swings her backpack over her shoulders and goes to leave the door. She opens and then closes it behind her, she looks over her shoulder ... huh ... nothing? Really?
She takes a step and looks at the walls and following the numbers around the hospital until she finds the room Jimmy is in which happens to be on the 4th floor in a segregated section of larger but fewer rooms than all the others. Jibril stops outside of #403 with a large glass window and three nurses stationed around the inner room before one comes to the door and opens the mail slot.

"Can i help you?" The human nurse asked, "This floor is observation. If you're looking for another patient, try the other floors."
"I'm here to see my friend, Jimmy Fong" Jibril answered.
"That thing is your friend?" The nurse says, she shrugged her shoulders. "Must be the one Kane was expecting to show up. Come in, wash your hands and stay behind the glass, can't have people going in and out of the clean room"
"Sure" Jibril answered.

The nurse unlocks the room and Jibril steps through to see a cramped room or wooden desks and folders stacked neatly on cubby holes and paper sorters. Jibril turns to the "clean room" to find an all concrete room with a single steel bed with a feather stuffed mattress with a single blanket thin enough to cover Jimmy as he laid on a small pillow inside, it had a toilet/sink inside in a steel casing and frame. This looks like a large empty prison cell. She knocked on the window and Jimmy perks up rubbing his eyes. He sees Jibril and approaches the glass window wearing a white robe but it was more like a toga with a red sash holding himself together. She sees the scar around his neck and there were syringe marks all over his arms and legs with blood spots. He looks like he was unphased by the tests but he was delighted that Jibril showed up to see him.

"Ey, hey! If it isn't my old friend, Jibril!" Jimmy says weakly, "Came to check up on me, huh?"
"Sure did, how are you, Jimmy?" Jibril says, concerned for his well being. "Are they ... treating you okay?"
"Well" He rubs the back of his head unsure of himself, "I don't really know. Nobody is really telling me what's going on. Kane seems to give the orders around here and he's told me a few things but not everything that's wrong with me."
"This place looks like a prison cell" Jibril comments.
"I know, i said the same thing as well when they put me in here"
"Did they say why?"
"Precaution, i can understand their reason why" Jimmy answered, "Being Undead and somewhat functioning like I am alive makes things complicated for me."

Jimmy taps on the glass and points to the mail slot hatch below the window, Jibril reaches down and unlocks the mail slot and Jibril slumps down on the ground beside it with his back against the wall. Jibril lays on the wall as well. The nurses cleared out of the room to give them privacy.

"We'll be back in a few minutes, take all the time you want" The nurse answers, following the others out.
Office of the Observation room closes and Jibril watches them leave.
"Doctors, I don't like how they're so cold about everything" Jimmy says.
"It's so strange seeing you alive, Jimmy" Jibril says.
"You and me both" Jimmy chuckled, "Ah ... I'm glad you're here with me. Been cooped up in this place for a week and hardly anyone comes inside this room besides those three and Kane."
"Is he going to release you?"
"I hope so. Can't stand it being here like this for too much longer" Jimmy sighs, "I miss home, i didn't expect this to happen to me. I should have kept my mouth about the plan, maybe we could have saved more of those people we left behind."
"It wasn't you fault" Jibril assured him.
"You can't say that, Jib, we both got blood on our hands that won't come off" He states, "I'm use to it by now but after a while, you think long and hard about the shit that we do. You and I, we've buried a lot of associates back in Heifong for one thing or another. We always said that we were just defending ourselves and getting revenge against the gangs but what did it matter in the end when Heifong is long gone? It's crazy to think we're here now and we're actually inside the one place the empires can't reach."
"What if you're wrong" Jibril asked, "What if that aren't true?"
"Then we'll have to make it work, like we always have" Jimmy answered, "When i get out of here, I'm going to find a way to reverse this thing. Getting my life back together again, opening up a brothel of my own and that will be my happy ending to this shit show. There's nothing better than feeling someone in your arms, mine can't even feel anything except the cold and what numbing feeling i get from hitting a wall."
"You can't feel anything?"
"Nada, got so angry when Kane told me that I'm decomposing and wouldn't tell me how long i have before whatever magic is keeping me alive"
"Don't worry about it" Jibril tells him, "We'll find away to turn you back. Actually, I'm hoping this will work"

Jibril pulls out the potion and slide it into the mail slot and Jimmy grabs it and pulls it through.

"What is it?" He asked, examining it.
"Something our friends gave me, told me it's very powerful stuff"
"Smells weird, like peaches" Jimmy comments, she hears the corking.
"I'm told it works better for two lovers, may have be strong enough to bring someone back to life" Jibril answered.
"You think so? And you're ... giving it to me?"
"Sure, why not?"Jibril answered, "May not be exactly lovers but what's to say it may or may not work unless we try?"
"Jibril ... I"
"Just drink it and tell me if it works" she says, waiting to hear him drink it.

Silence. Jimmy reaches out his hand and presents it back to Jibril.

"I'm not doing it"
 

sora21345

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"Jibril with a surprise shock What WHY!? with this you could come back you can eat and feel thing's again you could be alive isn't that what you want
 

Grimoire

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"I can't do that to Kor'da" Jimmy answered, "What if it was your sons that needed it? How can you live that down if one of them were to get hurt so badly that they could die and i lived? I can't live with that, I won't accept it. Those boys love you like they were your own. I can't be the reason that you lose one of them. So you hang on to that vial and use it in good health, I'll find a way on my own to fix this."