Veil of Smog, Chapter 1

[Xihirli]

"I've never been shot, so I don't now if it would work," Leif says.
"Don't shoot me."

[Esprit15]

“I see. It’s more on the regenerative end than the protective end. So… why don’t you want that? Seems to me that it would be quite useful in your hobbies,” noting the boy’s hands.

[Xihirli]

"She's not controlling me because she's in half," Leif explains. "I don't know how long that'll be the case. It's... a long family history. She's doesn't just keep me alive, and any good you think I can do is nothing compared to removing her."

[Esprit15]

The woman shrugs. “I’m not, like, ordained or anything but you want me to give it a shot when I’m demonstrating?”

[Xihirli]

"I... hesitantly accept," Leif nods. "Do your thing."

[Charybdis1618]

"That sounds liable to get messy if something goes wrong. Are you willing to wait until the end of this, at a minimum?"

[Esprit15]

She shrugs. “If Lief isn’t in a rush.”

[Charybdis1618]

"Very well. Thank you, Yume. Shroud, would you mind shooting the tag? I would like to see this."

[MechaAce]

"Very well. Thank you, Yume. Shroud, would you mind shooting the tag? I would like to see this."

The Shroud had been watching and listening, spirits inside people, mystic tags and sanctified blood oaths were outside of her personal experience, but she knew there was a lot of things that fell under that category. After wrapping her blood draw site with gauze and a pad, she nodded, having been keeping a close eye on the tag.

Moving with startling quickness, she dropped to one knee, drew the rifle she had slung, took aim and fired at the tag!

[Charybdis1618]

A burst of fire, easily twice Shroud's own height, erupts from the tag. The craggy surface of the boulder cracks under the heat, then shatters as water trapped within flashes to steam.

Loukas whistles. "Now that's some power. While you're at it, Shroud, maybe you can shoot the spirit as well? Show us why the yakuza feared you!"

[MechaAce]

A burst of fire, easily twice Shroud's own height, erupts from the tag. The craggy surface of the boulder cracks under the heat, then shatters as water trapped within flashes to steam.

Loukas whistles. "Now that's some power. While you're at it, Shroud, maybe you can shoot the spirit as well? Show us why the yakuza feared you!"

"Impressive" the Shroud admits as the tag goes up like an exploding car. She puts down the sniper rifle and produces a submachine gun with a suppressor on the end, attached to a harness under her coat. It coughs several times as she sends a burst of 9mm bullets at the spirit itself.

[Charybdis1618]

The bullets pass through the spirit, leaving small ripples in their wakes. Even though they're not much lighter than the .357 rounds of Loukas' revolver, and have comparable kinetic energy to his arrows, they're having markedly less effect. Far from being disappointed, Loukas looks intrigued.

"Would you indulge my curiosity, please? Try a couple other weapons. When you're done, try my sidearm. If I'm right..."

[MechaAce]

The bullets pass through the spirit, leaving small ripples in their wakes. Even though they're not much lighter than the .357 rounds of Loukas' revolver, and have comparable kinetic energy to his arrows, they're having markedly less effect. Far from being disappointed, Loukas looks intrigued.

"Would you indulge my curiosity, please? Try a couple other weapons. When you're done, try my sidearm. If I'm right..."

"Don't keep us in suspense then" the Shroud says. "These are off-the-shelf bullets. I've made due with the tools I can get." She picks up the sniper rifle again and tries three rounds from that, then half a cup from an Sig Sauer P320 pistol. "Everyone get behind something" she suggests as she pulls out what looks like an oversized pirate pistol... an M79 grenade launcher with the stock sawed off and barrel cut down. She counts down from three and the weapon lets out a "Bloop! as the pressure charge sends a 40mm explosive grenade downrange... it detonates with an impressive explosion!

[Charybdis1618]

The increasing size and power of thr bullets has only a marginal effect on their damage output, but the combined mass begins to do substantial damage. The grenade finally tears it apart completely. Loukas kicks the pyramid, manifesting another spirit. Loukas' deep brown eyes glitter with excitement. "You're good. I know my sidearm is a major downgrade, but try it, would you?"

He hands her the revolver and a speedloader of extra bullets. They appear to be entirely mundane hollow points. They have little more effect on the spirit than any other bullet. Loukas nods.

"Thought the power would work a little different for you. Look."

Upon closer examination, you see that the front sight is bent slightly. With practice one could adapt to such, but an unfamiliar shooter should have missed entirely. However, it seems you subliminally adapted to the nature of the firearm in your hand, using it to its maximum potential.

"My kit's entirely mundane too. I bought this gun at an estate sale. I loaded the bullets myself. This bow, and these arrows, came from a Sport Authority in downtown Athens. Remember, magic is personal. No two people wield it quite the same, but it will always fit its wielder. I use a bow because of the personal touch and the emphasis on skill. Anything more complex than a single-action revolver, I lose too much connection to the shot, and the magic fails. You, however, use the gun as a means to an end. How does the saying go? 'One mind, any weapon?' So, your magic simply enhances your natural proclivity and skill."

[MechaAce]

The increasing size and power of thr bullets has only a marginal effect on their damage output, but the combined mass begins to do substantial damage. The grenade finally tears it apart completely. Loukas kicks the pyramid, manifesting another spirit. Loukas' deep brown eyes glitter with excitement. "You're good. I know my sidearm is a major downgrade, but try it, would you?"

He hands her the revolver and a speedloader of extra bullets. They appear to be entirely mundane hollow points. They have little more effect on the spirit than any other bullet. Loukas nods.

"Thought the power would work a little different for you. Look."

Upon closer examination, you see that the front sight is bent slightly. With practice one could adapt to such, but an unfamiliar shooter should have missed entirely. However, it seems you subliminally adapted to the nature of the firearm in your hand, using it to its maximum potential.

"My kit's entirely mundane too. I bought this gun at an estate sale. I loaded the bullets myself. This bow, and these arrows, came from a Sport Authority in downtown Athens. Remember, magic is personal. No two people wield it quite the same, but it will always fit its wielder. I use a bow because of the personal touch and the emphasis on skill. Anything more complex than a single-action revolver, I lose too much connection to the shot, and the magic fails. You, however, use the gun as a means to an end. How does the saying go? 'One mind, any weapon?' So, your magic simply enhances your natural proclivity and skill."

"Or lots of practice" the Shroud suggests with some skepticism, looking down the bent revolver sight again, clear of anyone or anything else. "Do most... spirits... get damaged by enough bullets?"

[Charybdis1618]

"No, it's the Shroud that gives you your name. Maybe you didn't notice, but I guarantee your marksmanship improved after you bonded with it. To answer your question, though. Eventually you can whittle down a spirit with mundane force, but it takes a lot. They're almost pure magic by composition, in addition to being insubstantial. That's also why a direct application of magic affects them more. Which is why my shots made larger holes. Corporeal monsters can usually be affected more. Even if they don't take an injury, they can at least be slowed by the impact. Flammable ones might dislike that grenade launcher. Oh, and before you start melting down jewelry, silver bullets are a myth. They're not actually more effective against anything I know of. Cost me hours in thrift stores to find that out."

[Esprit15]

Sarah gives one silver tipped arrow a little twirl. “Still, always good to have a little of the metal on your person. It’s tradition.”

[Charybdis1618]

"Tradition. Right. While you're here, your turn. Show us what you've got in your quiver."

[Esprit15]

Sarah smiles and approaches the spirit.

She gestures to one of the globular spirits, tracing her fingers through the air and beginning a cant in a harsh, unfamiliar language. As her fingers trace through nothing, silvery threads spring from her fingers, forming a runic circle in the air before her. “Ahg ayet, Pater Noktis, prewzik tod gweohmeg-”

The conclusion of the last syllable matches perfectly with the drawing back of her finger from the circle. A flash of grey light springs forth from the circle, briefly illuminating the spirit before fading away.

Spoiler

Show

Countermagic: Necromancy/Spirit/Life - All abilities connected to the manipulation of lifeforce are suppressed. Resisted by Dodge.

“Have to make sure to turn off any weird little abilities first. And then…” Sarah vanishes.

In her relative time, Sarah steps relaxedly, taking aim at the spirit and then loosing an arrow. As the arrows leave her immediate vicinity, they quickly slow to a near stop, hanging in the air like a brick doesn’t. She continues circling the spirit, loosing an arrow every couple of seconds. Loukas was right that silver wasn’t strictly necessary. But the material enchanted well, and that had its own useful properties for those who had the resources to procure the metal.

The young ones here had potential. Shroud’s prickliness at her skills being attributed to magic was cute. If she could just be broken of that little hatred, Sarah knew where her abilities could be well suited. The old alchemist was yet another one of hers somewhere down the line - not that he needed to know. But that skill he possessed with magic was no joke. There was a dull pang of pride at a descendant finding his way to his own magic. The zenko’s magic was one she had read about but never had the chance to observe practiced by a native user - Overmorrow studied it and taught her what he knew last they had worked together, but that was some centuries back. And the cursed kid- ah, out of arrows. She looks at the thick ring of silver tipped sticks, inching toward the spirit. “Well that’s enough of that.”

On the other side of the spirit, Sarah has appeared in an archer’s pose. The spirit, which moments ago was lazily floating in the air, is quite suddenly pin cushioned by a couple dozen arrows.

She vanishes for a moment, and almost instantly the arrows vanish from the first spirit as the other spirit is similarly filled with arrows. This time though it seems that in spite of no magic being incanted, the arrows didn’t care for the semi-intangible nature of the spirit, having stuck into and damaged it all the same.

“If you want to see some more magic performed, maybe a curse removed, stick around after the show, I hear it will be a roaring good time.”

[Charybdis1618]

"By Hera ... I'd hate to be hunted by the likes of you. I've got to see this."

[Batcathat]

In sharp contrast to the barely polite disinterest he had made abundantly clear for most of the meeting, Rufus was intently studying what was happening. It was not a form of magic he was familiar with, but he made sure to memorize every word, every gesture, every single thing he could observe, while making qualified guesses about what he could not.

[Xihirli]

"Curse removed…" Leif repeats after staring at the display of magic, a force he had once believed to be limited to lingering spirits.
"I mean… I’m sold, I’ll stick around."

[Esprit15]

In sharp contrast to the barely polite disinterest he had made abundantly clear for most of the meeting, Rufus was intently studying what was happening. It was not a form of magic he was familiar with, but he made sure to memorize every word, every gesture, every single thing he could observe, while making qualified guesses about what he could not.

Spoiler

Show

Indeed it is quite unfamiliar, but not indecipherable. You don’t recognize the language invoked, but its syntax is natural rather than carrying the mechanical structures of an arcane language. Put another way: the words appear to be more of a focusing mechanism or prayer, rather than containing power in themselves.

The symbols that she traces in the air are another matter: You can see two repetitions of a character that you know for a fact signifies ‘life force.’ Adjoined after it is one that you have seen employed in spells for trapping entities. Following it is another modifier, and another…

It takes you a second to piece together the nature of the spell, though there’s a few ‘phrases’ that elude you: The spell binds the life force of its target to their physical form. While that’s the natural state of most humans, some entities in your research are purported to take jump their soul to other bodies after death, or manipulate their soul around their body. Others still burn souls for nourishment. The spell does two main things. 1) Binds the soul to a vital center in the body. This limits its ability to influence things like healing across a creature’s whole form. 2) Maintains that bind by force after death.

There are many theories about the transmigration of souls, but one purports that resurrection is impossible, or nearly so, because inhabiting a corpse for an extended period of time causes it to self immolate without incoming life energy. This is given as an explanation of why many undead crave the flesh and blood of the living. If that hypothesis is correct, then the spell works by isolating the the soul in a vital center so that it may be treated like a living creature. Destruction of that location then forces the soul to experience death as normal rather than escape. Other binders in the spell seem to speed up this process, overcome specific workarounds… it reads like spaghetti at a certain point, as though it has been modified over time as new situations arose.

[Izzarra]

Yume Tsukiyomi Kitsune Shrine Maiden Conditions: None

Yume comments on the display of archery in Japanese. "<Fast>"
She holds her sheathed weapon in front of her. "Silver is good, but I like Hihi'irokane."

[Esprit15]

“I’ve heard legends about the material, but never had the chance to work with it,” Sarah says, admiring the weapon. She could take— no, these are allies. “Does it enchant more easily, or have any other properties that make you prefer it?”

[Izzarra]

Yume Tsukiyomi Kitsune Shrine Maiden Conditions: None

“I’ve heard legends about the material, but never had the chance to work with it,” Sarah says, admiring the weapon. She could take— no, these are allies. “Does it enchant more easily, or have any other properties that make you prefer it?”

Unable to explain all of the specific details of Hihi'irokane in English she settles for saying simply "It cuts spirits."

Yume draws the unusual blade, in this form most might mistake it for an unusual wakizashi. It has an engraved crimson metal blade that doesn't reflect light normally, a black lacquered handle that is not wrapped like most Japanese swords, bronze guard, and a bright red silk tassel. While performing a flourish the handle magically extends in length until it becomes apparent that this is a polearm rather then a sword.
"This is Nyoiyari, my ko-naginata"

[Esprit15]

“Sounds very useful. Similar to my own enchantments. Though I don’t pull off such impressive transformations on my own weapons. <’Nyoi’ like with the characters for a monk’s scepter? An honorable and impressive name for a weapon.> If this partnership proves fruitful, maybe it would be worthwhile to exchange a bit of weapons knowledge.”

[Izzarra]

Yume Tsukiyomi Kitsune Shrine Maiden Conditions: None

“Sounds very useful. Similar to my own enchantments. Though I don’t pull off such impressive transformations on my own weapons. <’Nyoi’ like with the characters for a monk’s scepter? An honorable and impressive name for a weapon.> If this partnership proves fruitful, maybe it would be worthwhile to exchange a bit of weapons knowledge.”

"<It is named after the Monkey King's Compliant Pole as the Nyoiyari can also change length, though not to the same extent.>"

[Esprit15]

Sarah nods. East Asian mythology was not her strong suit. “Fascinating,” she says as she looks over the weapon. Spring almost certainly knew about the material, but whether the Season knew where to procure it was another matter. <Is it mined naturally, or is there some transmutation that it undergoes from a more mundane metal?>

[Xihirli]

"Isn't that the power pole from Dragon Ball?" Leif asks, probably not on purpose saying the most frustrating thing possible.