Private Eastern Brisshal Questionable Content

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Alright, so we need to gather some herbs, track down some wolves, and kill a man." Brutus declared as the two left the edge of town. "Sounds like...one hell of a day ahead of us eh?" He would turn and give Corsair a light nudge with his elbow, careful not to send her flying off the side of the road.

"Oh, and Serpantbane..." He nodded. "Can't forget that. You've got the list from Gertrude right? Im not really much of a plant guy, but based on those descriptions most of those herbs should be relatively...uh...noticeable and distinguishable." It was odd, he'd hardly known the robot for very long, but he felt a deep sense of comradery forming with her. "If anything, I have absolute trust that you'll be able to sort it out and I'll be there to make sure nothing bothers you while ya do!" He shot her a thumbs up and a big beaming grin.

"As for the wolves and the Blood dude..." he furrowed his brow. "The attacks happen on the south forest road right? Do you want to try and scout that out first, see if we can't figure out where he lays his trap and plan a secondary trap? Spring on him when he thinks he's springing on someone? Or would you prefer to hunt the wolves down first?"

He turned off the road and down the trailhead that led into the forest, stopping to turn and face her, crossing his arms over the chest. "Also, how're your meters lookin?"

 

[Corsair]

"Serpentvine," Corsair corrected, not looking up from the list she'd received from Gertrude. Despite Brutus' trust, her abilities regarding herbalism were little better than they were in real life. Most of her experience with plants came from the fruit and vegetable section of the supermarket. "And the rest of these are, well, distinguishable, as you said."

She read out the list as they walked. "Queen's Winterberry, Dwarven Swinies, Ocean Sunflower, Daydream Inkberry, Aching Roadweed, Sweetheart's crocus, Hidden Pea, and Stink Laceflower." Corsair frowned, turning the list over in vain hope that there would be instructions, or perhaps botanical diagrams.

"The Haemomancer seems like the safer bet, especially while it's still light out." She spotted a strange plant by the roadside and stopped to inspect it. [Knight's Winterberry]. She double-checked the list before standing up, frowning in frustration. "If you work on that secondary trap I'll search nearby, see if we can't tick off some of these before nightfall."

At Brutus' question, Corsair brought up her meters. Water and food depleted slowly for her mechanical body, and she hadn't had to use any magic today so her energy was still high. "All fine for now. If we get into combat I may need to search out those standing stones to recharge, but I've marked them on my map. How about you?"

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Man..." Brutus chuckled. "Whoever came up with these herb names must have just taken a bunch of fantasy sounding nouns and smashed em together like some sort of shakespearean insult generator." He opened his palm menu and pulled up his meters. "Lunch is still sitting pretty in my stomach so food should be fine, and I've got plenty of water. Though..." he paused. "Dinner might be something we keep in mind while we're looking around at all these herbs and hunting, maybe we can try grinding our cooking skills together if you feel inclined."

With her confirmation she wanted to deal with the bloodmage first, they began down the trail looking for some of the areas he'd been confirmed to attack. Occasionally Brutus would spot a plant, pointing it out to Corsair who would spend some time examining it.

After about two hours, they found themselves standing on a small cliff that overlooked the road leading to town and Brutus held his hand out for Corsair to stop, sniffing the air like a bloodhound. "Do you sm-" he stopped, realizing what he was about to ask.

"Something has died here recently." With a flick of his wrist his canon was out, held comfortably with one hand bracing it against his hip leaving the other free to pull out an apple and munch on it. He took a couple careful steps, mindful of anything being able to jump out and maul Corsair, and began to scan the area. Some of the grass had signs of a conflict, some sort of fight, trampled blades and light gouges into the earth, yet no blood...

Curious.

After a moment, he found what he was looking for. A wolf, not too big, not small either, laying dead buried under a pile of grass out of sight of the road. It's body was covered in several lacerations, some around the body, but three in key places along its abdomen and neck. It looked...deflated, like a popped tire, and Brutus growled. "Looks like our guy juiced up on some ammo. Stay close."

 

[Corsair]

Corsair's inspected the creeping vine, smiled, and crossed off another item on her list. Queen's Winterberry, Dwarven Swinies, Ocean Sunflower, Daydream Inkberry, Aching Roadweed, Sweetheart's crocus, Hidden Pea, Stink Laceflower, Serpentvine. "Some of these sound like water plants," she said, tapping on the crocus and Ocean Sunflower. "We'll have to look for a pond or a lake or something-" she stopped as Brutus called the smell to attention. She didn't smell anything, of course, but his next words set her on edge.

"How recently?" she asked, looking at the wolf that had been sucked dry. It was like looking at the aftermath of a furry convention.

"Well if he took all the blood, then you can track him? Sniff him out?" she asked hopefully. She was still getting a handle on the extent of Brutus' senses. He certainly looked like he could, sniffing the air the way he was.

Corsair froze as something moved in her vision. "Stop," she said to Brutus, turning towards the movement. Her voice was low, calm, as if she was trying to soothe an animal. "Don't fire at it," she said, as her bracelet began to shudder and spark.

Rising from the wolf corpse was a pale vapor. Its shape reminded her of a wolf, in the same way a cloud might, or a finger painting. It was the suggestion of a form, without any of the details or hard outlines that define a body.

She stuck her fist out, and the wolf spirit turned on her, shifting like weak smoke. "We're looking for the one who killed you," she said, opening her hand palm up to reveal her spider magitech. "Come with us. I promise you shelter, a form, and revenge."

The words were far more elaborate than when she'd taken in the pond spirit, but this one was fresher, more animalistic. The spirit warped and wavered, but she pressed on, shoving her fist into the vapor, right where the heart of the wolf would have been. The spirit's weak form broke as it drained from the crushed field and into the magitech.

A moment later she stood, spider in her hand. The label above her construct now read <Bloodless Wolf Spider>.

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"A pond or lake?" He mused as he scanned the area. "I could go for a swim for sure, though I wonder if there are leeches in this game..." He rubbed his chin before pausing and snapping his fingers. "Wait! Who gives a fuck about leeches when I can just get rid of em with my Pyromancy!" The shimmering form caught his eye, and he WAS about to shoot it when Corsair interrupted him.

Brutus watched her work with rapt attention, before realizing he probably needed to be on guard. His eyes darted about, looking for a sign of the attacker in this conflict. Nothing looked...terribly out of place, at least as far as he could tell. The struggle looked like it had originated from a little further into the forest from the cliff, so he stalked forward hunching low to minimize his profile as he followed the trail. Finally he found what he was looking for, bootprints. That is to say, one singular boot print in the mud. But it have him a direction to follow, his eyes trailing a vector from the print outwards, looking for other signs of disturbance. A kicked leaf, a crushed blade of grass, a snapped twig. It all painted a picture of the fight, of the magicians movement, of where he went. By the time Corsair was done, he was standing up straight and turned to look at her.

"I have a direction. If he plans to use this place as his trap tonight, then he must be nearby. He's probably resting too, so we run the chance of catching him snoozing if we're quick and quiet." He motioned down a small little game trail, almost impossible to notice due to deliberate attempts to obscure it. "I'll take point."

 

[Corsair]

"You take point," Corsair agreed, "and I'll keep an eye out for attacks from behind. We can't forget that that was a wolf back there, so the most likely thing to find around here is another one."

"Oh. And take this," Corsair said, putting the large spider into Brutus' free hand. "The wolf spirit inside will help us track down the mage." The spider reared up, its front legs feeling at the air. It was eager for a fight.

They moved along the game trail, and as the hill rose on one side and the slope steepened, Corsair opened her map. "I thought so," she said, frowning. "We're heading back towards the city."

The game trail passed through a ragged thorn bush. There were scraps of fur and even cloth torn off on the brambles, but Corsair ducked through easily, her clothes unripped. "Do you think the wolves have a cave along here somewhere?" she asked, as they continued along the path. "It's possible that the mage went down here for a rest, but if the place is active enough then maybe he followed the trail looking for more prey."

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"I think..." Brutus muttered under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear, but not loud enough that it was able to travel much father. "That I'm getting a sense of the picture here. Our man has probably taken up a local shelter here. He uses the cliffs to ambush his prey from a distance, then loots it when everyone is dead. How does he do that? He uses wolf blood to surge his power, gives him more blood to use in ranged attacks." He turns back to her.

"Now then, you're a wolf and your pack suddenly starts getting real small. Who do you blame? You don't have enough of a brain to deduce a rogue agent, you think the human pack nearby is hunting you. How do you respond? You hunt the human pack. Bonus for the blood mage, the guards have extra shit to deal with. They can't focus on you." A little further he found was he was looking for, a small opening to a cave, no bigger than four feet wide and about maybe six feet tall if he was being charitable.

He hissed slightly, tutting as he eyes the entrance, backing away slowly. "I'm not going to fit in that easily, let alone be able to fight in it...any plans? My gut says to see if we can verify if he or she is in there and then lay a trap out here for when they leave..."

 

[Corsair]

"Oh I've got this," Corsair said, full of confidence. As usual, Brutus' skills and her own fit together perfectly, and where his aptitude ended she could smoothly continue on. "I'll need Sam and Fujitsu back for now."

She opened her mouth wide and let out an ultrasonic whistle, calling the pair of constructs back to her. She picked up Sam and tapped the frog's back, disabling the alarm function on him. "Into the cave," she said, setting him back down. "Return when you find anything alive." The frog jumped away into the dark.

Corsair frowned, regretting almost immediately her choice of words. If there is something dangerous in there it could easily just destroy Sam. The only thing I can do if she doesn't come back is call for her, and hopefully she doesn't get stuck or lost. I'll need to think of something cleaner next time, like a protocol for if she takes damage.

Next, Corsair picked up Fujitsu, settling her in the branches to one side of the cave. The spider didn't move. "Hmmm. I thought she would weave a web, but maybe the wolf spirit doesn't...know how." Fujitsu stayed still for a moment longer, before crawling a little ways up the branch. "Okay well she'll attack when the time is right."

Corsair stepped back from the entrance, and a few minutes later Sam came hopping back out. "Perfect. That means there is something alive in there." She looked to her companion. "Shall we set a trap and hide?"

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus blinked one, twice, a third time.

"Sam and Fujitsu?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. The rather strange names aside, he watched her work intently. The frog hippity hopped off into the cave and the spider sat on the branch looking as confused as a non emotive piece of magitec could. They would learn...hopefully, otherwise the shape that she'd given it would be good for cheap spooks and being hard to trip.

When the frog returned, he furrowed his brow and turned to Corsair. "How...how do we know that what it saw? You asked if it saw anything alive to come hopping back. It could have seen some moss, a snake, a spider, anything really and it would have come back right? Or is there some sort of implicit understanding in what you asked it to look for?"

As he spoke he found himself scanning the area for a good place for the two to set up a little camp in. There was a tree they could climb up, but his form was not quite suited for that sort of thing. He could climb up on top of the cave, perhaps cover himself in a makeshift gillysuit. He hemmed and hawed before turning to Corsair.

"Either way, do you want to hide in a tree all day or make a little camouflaged mound we can hide under?"

 

[Corsair]

"Yes. I felt it was time to name them. What do you think?" she asked, not really worried about his opinion. Names were functional, and like her own she'd picked something familiar that would never slip her mind.

"Moss wouldn't have triggered it. It doesn't care about plants, obviously. It would have eaten a spider, and a snake would have tried to eat it. I'm assuming if it saw something it was large enough that a frog wasn't a threat," Corsaid snapped, voice ringing like cold steel.

She regretted the outburst immediately, and let her emotions settle. She tapped on Fujitsu, setting him to alarm mode. "If anything bigger than a cat leaves this place, we'll know straight away," she said. "And hopefully the web module will trigger. The spider magitech can shoot web, but it may take some time to acclimate. She frowned as the spider rolled onto its back, scratching itself with three of its legs.

"I have no intention of hiding in a tree," Corsair said, heading back to the giant bramble bush. "If we line the insides of this with moss or pine branches, we could make a very serviceable and defensible passageway." She looked up at the sun, which had already disappeared behind the ridge. It was mid-afternoon, but that still left three or four hours before sundown.

"The command could use a little upgrade, perhaps. I still think it's quite likely that either human or wolf is in the cave," she said, picking her way down into the gulley, which was choked with small branches and leaf litter. She started pulling out sections of pine branch, their soft and squishy needles would be like pillows compared to the brambles. "Let's get to work."

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus looked the woman over, and softened his gaze. "I didn't mean to...insult you. I was just curious. As for the names...they are perfectly fine. Im curious to the meaning of their names, but we can chat that out as we work."

He would follow her instruction and begin gathering up several branches, grass patches, and leaves in order to help build them their hideout. He would carefully make sure that any disturbances to the clearing were kept quiet and covered up properly.

"I'm just a little worried about how you phrase the commands. Think of it kinda like..." he stopped to scratch his head. "It's like coding? If you don't mind the commas and semi colons it doesn't compile right, right? If thats not how it works than I'll shut up, but with the idea of them as robots makes me think of it like that, as little as I know."

As they finished, he would place a couple leaves over the top, garnishing them like a particularly popular chef garnishes his steaks with salt. "I gotta say, this could be our guild hall right here eh?" He said chuckling and nudging her gently with his elbow to break what he perceived as tension.

 

[Corsair]

"Sam for Samsung, and Fujitsu for the company of the same name. Like you said, they're essentially like computers, only much, much simpler," she said, padding out the inside of the tunnel. "I've found that magitechs respond best to simple commands. Heal, protect, return, attack. That sort of basic thing. I've enhanced mine as much as I can, but tell them too much and they can't parse it all."

"The command I just activated with Fujitsu is one I preset into the body. 'Attack stranger'. The magitech body can recognize you and I, so even if the wolf is still learning how its body works, it can understand. That being said, I wouldn't test it with a disguise."

"Honestly, sending the frog in was more of a test than anything else. Go, check for something that it considers alive, and return. It came back, and from that we gain a bit of data. It's far from ideal, but we don't have great options. I would send it back in, but that may be suspicious."

"As for how much the spirit really understands me? It's complicated. Machines do what you tell them, and spirits are almost pure instinct. The fusion is rough, especially at first." She looked back to where the spider was rubbing up against a branch, apparently trying to scratch a difficult spot.

"I may need to build a new body for that one."

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Perhaps." He mused, squinting at the spider. "Though the Spider body for what you wanted and how you described it makes sense. Maybe the spirit you chose could be better..." He shook his head. "As for the names," he chuckled. "That's kinda cute."

"As for how they behave, do you think that as you master your magictec you will be able to forge better and better machines capable of more and more complex commands? Perhaps even allowing the spirit a sense of autonomy?" He rubbed his chin and pondered this thought, hemming and hawing as he did such.

He would crawl into their hidey hole and curled up into a bit of a ball to make space for Corsair, peering out from their spot to the cave. "Perrrrfect. Good sightline, but hidden, once you get in here we can close it up and make ourselves look less conspicuous. No clue how long it's going to take though, so make sure you're ready for a long haul."

 

[Corsair]

"That's the dream. Something that can think, and grow, and learn," Corsair said, slipping in across from Brutus. "Though I'm far from that. It's need an incredibly complex brain, and a fresh, powerful spirit."

"Right now I'd settle for something even a little bit larger, like a hawk or a cat, but I just cannot for the life of me get it working. I feel like the game has limited my abilities because I haven't acquired enough knowledge. I should be able to put the pieces together, but I just can't do it." Her voice was filled with a rare frustration. "So with that barrier in place, and a distinct lack of building materials, and no hint of a schematic to work with, I've been focusing elsewhere." Corsair admitted.

"I want to find a more stable spirit and see what changes. At the moment I only have the Puddle Spirit and the Wolf, but what if I could extract a goblin spirit, or that dead woodcutter, or even this mage we're hunting? There's so much to discover, Brutus, and for every scrap of knowledge I get I realize it's a single line from a whole new page." She sighed, pulling a branch over the entrance of the brambles. They were fully hidden from sight now.

"What about you?" she asked, clearly wanting to change the subject. "How are your skills coming along?"

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"They're coming along alright. For the most part I'm not treading much new ground, the canon is...like shooting a shotgun back home. Bigger, more kick, but roughly the same thing. When they get too close, I bop em over the head." He chuckles. "So for the most part it all makes sense, it's all instinctual. As for the pyromancy..." He shook his head. "I'm working on it, it's...the most removed from reality, but it also responds to my emotions, so it's really easy to just get mad and BLAM" he flexed his fingers and a little spark of fire danced through the air lighting up their small enclosure for a second before vanishing.

"I haven't practiced it much, most of the other training has been coming from our adventures and I don't quite feel comfortable gambling yours or my own safety on a skill I don't feel comfortable with." He chewed his lower lip a bit as he spoke. "I know I can't keep you perfectly safe, its not like an MMO where I can just hold all the aggro all the time, but I feel guilty each time you end up getting hurt."

 

[Corsair]

Corsair waved her hand, as if his worried were vapor that she could dispel just as easily. "I don't mind getting hurt. I expected it, and it keeps me from being careless. Your primary job is to eliminate any threats as fast as possible. That's the way to defend me. If all the enemies are in pieces, then there's nothing to hurt me."

It was the oldest and simplest of battle strategy advice, but it had held true for thousands of years: You can't kill the enemy if you're already dead.

"I'm not made of porcelain, anyway. This is a solid magitech chassis. Reinforced internally, and then wrapped in more armor. And my healing is getting, frankly, quite good. Worrying about me is kind of you, though frankly a distraction. I have a few tricks up my sleeve if I get into a hard spot."

"You should work more on that Pyromancy. It's good to have something big to hit enemies with, but I have heard that some enemies are immune to physical damage. The combination of physical and fire will serve you well." She pressed back into the brambles, settling in for the long wait. "I've been thinking about picking up Aeromancy myself."

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus began to relax a bit, getting more and more comfortable over their conversation. As a side effect the space between them was beginning to shrink, though he made sure to mind her own personal space. "I know you're not made of porcelian, but the simply fact is that in this dynamic I am the Tank. I should be putting myself between you and danger as much as possible. Sure, I can blitz everything down as fast as I can, but I should also be making sure we're both safe at the same time." He paused, shaking his head. "It might sound dumb, but I want to protect everyone I can." He would let that hang in the air before changing topics.

"I've been thinking about trying to merge the pyromancy through my canon, replacing the canon ball with a fireball and using it to kinda...aim it." He cracked his neck. "Aeromancy sounds pretty rad too, but I don't know much about it..." he opened his palm menu and began to dig through it.

"I think I might take an Alter Mastery for my fifth slot, way off in future when I unlock it. I'm thinking something like...Hypersense. It seems like it would help me both in being a better bodyguard and a better fighter. A lil bit of both aspects of my build." He chuckled a bit. "Although I am worried it might make things uncomfortable when we walk into like...a crowd."

 

[Corsair]

"That's a noble goal," Corsair said, putting a hand on his arm, "and you're doing a wonderful job. I'm not saying don't look out for me, just that I can take a hit or two. If you spend the whole battle looking over your shoulder to make sure I'm okay then your effectiveness will drop tremendously. How about this: if things get dicey I'll call for help. Otherwise, assume I'm safely behind you."

"Shooting fireballs? Now we're talking. If you can pull that off then you won't even need to reload! You can just create fire in the chamber and detonate it!" Corsair said, assuming a lot about the functionality of a cannon. She was far from knowledgeable about firearms, but in her mind they were simple. "I'm mostly interested in Aeromancy for its applications with respect to magitech. Overcharging my constructs with lightning, or using them as arc-points to zap things further away. If I can latch some metal on to someone then hitting them with a bolt should be far easier."

"Hypersense intrigued me when I was initially picking my skills. The enhanced perception seemed like an immense boon, and the applications in combination with your ranged attack style are obvious. I say go for it. You'll learn to deal with crowds," she laughed.

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

He chewed his lip a little harder, his sharpened teeth drawing a little blood from his lip before he finally nodded. "Sounds like a plan, push comes to shove I'm always going to be doing my best anyways, so I will react the best I can." His usual smile finally returned to his lips as he let out a light chuckle. "Its not like we've even fought anything super scary just yet so I'm not even sure why I'm stressin."

He would shuffled his weight around and shift so he could lie down a little more comfortably, his eyes constantly flitting to the opening to see if their mark was making a move yet.

"If we're talking zapping metal, you might be able to use canon balls I hit people with as target points. I could even swap to a more conductive metal for you to zap. That all being said, it sounds wonderfully thematic. It would also add some more damage to our party. I'm tanky and do damage, you heal and do damage, we cover the whole trinity of standard party roles rather effectively."

After a while, he began to fidget a bit, his legs were falling asleep and his hunger bar was beginning to deplete. "Wish this cocksucker would hurry up and make a move, I'm starting to get antsy."

 

[Corsair]

"A more conductive metal," Corsair mused. "Copper is very conductive, and you could partially melt it with Pyromancy and then cover the enemies in a spray of burning, high-velocity molten metal. Covered in metal they would be far more conductive, a perfect target for a follow up lightning attack from me and my constructs." She said the whole thing straight-faced, like some kind of psychopath.

As the sun slid further down the bank, and the shadows lengthened, Corsair took out her supplies. Apples (Brutus's favourite, as far as she could tell), and raw corn (her own). She chewed on the cob for a bit before slipping into rest mode, and waiting for the alarm to ring.

And ring it did.

She awoke to the blaring of her spider siren, and a shout from the entrance of the cave. Red lights strobed from the bushes where she'd Fujitsu had been waiting, and through the foliage she could see an immense figure pushing its way out of the cave.

Liquid flew through the air, materializing into a blade, and the haemomancer slashed at Fujitsu, cutting the construct in two. It fell to the ground, alarm winding down, though the light remained on, illuminating the figure from below. He was bent with the weight of his own body, which crawled with thumb-thick veins of stolen blood. His skin was pulled tight over his frame, as he fought to keep all of the haem within his frame.

"NO!" she shouted, breaking their cover almost immediately. The figure turned towards their bush, and blood flowed into his weapon as it liquified, lengthening to become a lance that he hurled into the bramble bush, missing her body my inches.