Ellianora let out a small squeak as she tanked another blast of pellets to her back, her mana shell flaring to intercept the attack. Hanging from the mast ladder she couldn’t dodge and was running out of space from her pursuer as she climbed with only one hand free. Just a bit more… she could feel that her circles were extremely close to the limit of what they could contain, yet excruciatingly not close enough for a spell of this scale. Pulling herself onto the mizzenmast, she took a moment to recast her shell, Arcanum > Imbue > Touch, slapping her hand to her chest to imbue her skin again. I’m gonna die, I’m so gonna dieee. She bemoaned to herself mentally as she scanned the vicinity for an escape. Uh… what’ve I got? She dug in her satchel, books, notes, materials, cases for specimens… gah nothing useful, I’ve dragged this stupid, heavy, sack around through four countries and not once did I put something useful in it.
It was then that she had a thought, stupid and heavy…. I sure hope this works cause it’s all I’ve got.
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As the pirate captain pulled himself up off the ladder he looked to see where his quarry had gone, he’d stopped to check how things were going on the deck below noting that while things were at a standstill currently, the wizard who’d blasted him would be a turning point in his favor. He stood up on the mizzen, only to find she’d gone missing. Quickly turning to look at the other side of the mast, he didn’t have time to register what was going on before a heavy bag slammed him in the face like a flail and sent him tumbling from the ship's rafters.
Sadly for her though, he’d spent years if not decades aboard vessels like this one, managed to wrap an arm around a rigging rope before he could crash to the ground.
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Damn it! Ellianora had managed to knock him off the mast and was hoping he’d hit the deck, now all she had was a moderately heavy bag, one good hand, and whatever time she got before he climbed back up. Digging into her bag again she found her vials of very expensive colored inks. With a moment of hesitation, she began throwing them one at a time, aiming for his eyes. Missing with the first three, much to her chagrin, she finally landed the fourth on his forehead, taking advantage of the few seconds she had, kneeled down and frantically strung together Fire > Strike > Bolt. The spell didn’t have much force in it, but it struck true singeing the rope before the captain finished wiping clean his vision. She didn’t have any spare focus, losing feeling in her left hand, as the pirate captain completed his fall to the deck below.
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Markus had one in the chamber left, and a bird wizard laid out on the deck in front of him, sadly he also had a ships worth of pirates closing on him, preventing him from taking the quick solution as they forced him to back away toward the stairs. His empty hand checked the pouches of his bandolier, two flash sticks, one more smoke bomb, and twenty loose bullets, no more speed loaders. Not great. Looking at his situation he decided a course of action. The spell caster's the priority, he mentally sighed better make this count then. Pulling what he need in his right hand he quickly tossed a small thin wooden tube to his left and right, striking the deck and a half orc's shoulder, respectively. When the tubes ruptured, a bright flash erupted from both of them causing everyone to cover their eyes and covering the black ball Markus threw at the spell Avirril. Expecting an attack the moment the flash went off, the Avirril launched a thin blade of wind, intercepting the smoke bomb and obscuring the area again. Not a second passed before a gunshot punched a hole through the fog, ending at the Avirril’s chest. Moving through the smoke, Markus closed in quickly, reloading as many shots as he could before the cloud dissipated, a strong wind blasting from all around.
The Avirril was still up, and had dissipated the smoke screen, losing track of Markus in the distraction was a failing that immediately cost him as Markus, having swung around leveled his gun from the spell caster's right and put an end to the primary threat on the ship. Taking a precious moment to regain his breath, he looked back to the Mist Hauler as a bright light caught the attention of the entire battlefield from the upper mast.
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It was terrifying, shed never even attempted to wield this much power before. Ellianora took a deep breath, and moved her fully powered spell to her good hand, letting her left drop loosely to her side. The circles of runes crackled and audibly hummed as she traced the effects, Water > Shape > Bolt. Pushing her hand through to activate the spell, bright light blasted in all directions as the massive spearhead came into being. It was bigger than her, nearly eight foot long, and half that wide at the back, she pointed it at the sea between the ships, not really shooting it as much as letting go against its counter pull.
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Markus didn’t wait to see what the spell would do, rushing to the deck railing and vaulting over the side, he crashed into the waves below. He winced when the sea water hit his wound, but began swimming on one side as he watched the fruits of the time everyone fought to buy.
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When the bolt struck the water, silence fell over the two ships as everyone waited with bated breath, no one could see it but Ellianora could feel it, the energy spreading under the ships, suffusing the water. She could feel it, it was a part of her, like her arms or legs, she knew where it was moved it as she willed. She raised her hands, (it was not necessary to control the effects, but making gestures was a hard habit to kick, being very instinctive) mimicking the motions of her fingers, the ocean surged upward in the form of ten long tendrils ending in sharp spikes. Ellianora made an upwards gripping motion, the tendrils driving into the deck and hull of the pirate ship, before she pulled her hands apart, the tendrils ripping the ship to splinters as it buckled under the supernatural claws. Having demolished the ship tendrils were then put to work snaking across the Mist Hauler’s deck, sweeping pirates off into the depths below, and lifting crew members that had fallen overboard back onto the deck, Markus included.
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Markus laid on a sheet chest down, shirtless as Ellianora pulled the roll of bandage around his shoulder,
“Seriously, what kind of plan is ‘I’ll figure it out’? When I asked if you had a bad idea I didn’t mean the worst one possible” she chastised.
“Well, it worked didn’t it?” he defended himself, turning his head to look at her over his bandaged arm.
“How ‘bout next time we get attacked by pirates you come up with a plan then?” he suggested grumpily
She opened her face in shock “I did all the work anyway, so we’ll see won't we?” She pulled the bandages tighter causing him to sharply inhale.
“It's not like you got off any better” he claimed pointedly. “your arm looks like you stole it from a ghost with a unicorn blood addiction.”
Ellianora was so taken aback by that description she actually had to stop and look at it. The first five or so layers of skin were fully translucent, with everything underneath a strange multicolored, rainbow-y swirl.
“That’s to be expected.” She turned her attention back to him, “It's impossible to learn magic without getting a few mana burns before you can actually do anything.”
She finished tying off the bandage, “I’ve had mana burns before, are you gonna tell me you’ve had your shoulder slashed before?”
“Actually, yes I have.“ The two of them were practically shouting at each other as Markus sat up and gave her such a matter-of-fact answer, it actually threw Ellianora for a loop.
“Really?”
“Yes really, and I’ll have you know that it worked out then too”
“How’d that happen?”
“A road was being used as a hunting ground by some yeath hounds, so the village nearby was offering a reward to anyone who could bring one back. A bunch of confident hunters happened to be in town all at the same time, so we all grouped up to go chase them all down.”
“How’d your shoulder get injured?”
Markus turned red in the ears, “I came up with a plan to lure them out of their den and into a trap.” He grumbled”
“pfft,” She burst into laughter.
“Hey at least my arm doesn’t look like an oil slick in a glass vase” he tried to look stoic as he said so, but failed and broke down laughing as well.
After they both had a moment to catch their breath, Markus joined Ellianora in leaning on the railing as she looked at him, “Soooo, this ship is heading to the Westlands”
He looked at her “Last I checked it was, and I don’t think we’ve changed destination since setting sail.”
“Well, I was hoping you might know something useful about where we’re headed.” She explained.
“I only know what everyone else seems to, it was the last place the gods set foot before they were all sealed away. Until about two years ago a magic phenomenon called the spell storm covered the entire landmass, before it just up and vanished.” He said, before inquiring “You?”
She looked back to the water, “I heard it’s a massive land mass where the only law is who’s got the faster trigger finger, that strange and mysterious creatures and phenomena are a common roadblock, and that despite over two full years of exploration no one knows how big it is”
“Which begs the question of why you’re going to such a place.” He responded.
“Research, I want to craft my own sigil.”
“You’re looking to get the title of arch caster.” He realized.
“Yep, I’m nowhere close yet though. What about you?”
He shrugged, or at least began to before his injury put an end to that. “I don’t really have a place to be so I’m looking for a place to go.”
“Well… if you're interested” she suggested, “I could use a research assistant, and you have to at least be good for lifting boxes.”
Markus exhaled out his nose and smiled, “You know what, that sounds like a plan, after all, you clearly need help.”
Ellianora’s affronted expression broke both into another round of laughter as dawn broke over the lone ship.