RPG event - Quest NPC Contact

[thalassino]

◣ Quest NPC Contact ◢

Below is a place to thread out quick little conversations with the NPCs that aren't worth an entire log. Vatheon's staple NPCs will have postings here, and all the other new quest NPCs will simply be listed under the "Quest NPCs" comment header. Please put in the subject line which quest you're talking with an NPC about!

Comments

[thalassino]

[The man chuckles, his voice surprisingly deep for someone of his stature. In acquiescence to the librarian he also keeps the volume down.]

Clever boy, aren't you? Clever, clever. Time is just another part of nature, you know, and we mages must learn to bend nature to our will. If the time you have appears inadequate, what do you think you should do?

[symmetrophile]

[Compliments will get you everywhere, sir. If time is just part of nature, and mages must bend nature to suit their needs:]

Bend time? If it were possible to, I'm sure it would make numerous things more convenient.

[Like those aggravatingly long casting times, for a guy accustomed to firing a pair of handguns to immediate effect.]

But how is it done?

[thalassino]

That is the trick, isn't it? Ah, I'm afraid it's not something that you can do whenever you please. Time may not be a delicate thing, but you don't want to just bend it willy-nilly just for convenience's sake! But if you find yourself in a life or death battle with no time left, I think you'll be able to find it in yourself to make a little more.

[The tiny man waves his hand in front of Kid's eyes. Suddenly, he'd find himself face to face with an enormous minotaur that's already mid swing. There really is no time! Thankfully for Kid, rpgs work in such a way that skills like this one are unlocked as needed.]

1/2

[symmetrophile]

[OH GOD WHERE DID THAT THING COME FROM RUN LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT LITTLE MAN--

Where is he, anyway?

And it's really a shame to put down this minotaur, it has a rack of horns reminiscent of Lysunder's, but not nearly so magnificently symmetrica--

FOCUS, KID.

It takes him a moment to realize he's only had this much time to think because time has effectively gone elastic.

> HECK YES NEW ABILITY <

2/2

[symmetrophile]

Enough of these shenanigans.]

Right!

[Fortunately, this time Kid does not waste any more time on speeches like 'In the name of Lord Death I will punish you I will mete out judgment on your soul' or other such nonsense, he just gets straight to casting the only directly damaging spell he knows.

(Because until he's able to learn fire, water and electricity all at the same time, he can't bring himself to study them inequally: non-elemental spell it is.)

Sweeping aside his coat, from a sort of bandolier criss-crossing his vest he plucks a pair of small canisters capped with gold, their contents dimly glowing in a neutral shade of slate gray.]

The device of your destruction is at hand!

[Both bullets are flipped into the air above his head, and in the next moment, Kid reaches into the holsters of his coat, pulling a pair of golden pistols, framing crystal barrels, and bodies showing more fanciful clockwork, one at a time.]

Crime!

[And the right pistol.]

Punishment!

[Both bullets land, falling seamlessly into their allotted slots in their crystalline barrels, and he levels both on the minotaur.]

Let the judgment suit the sin! ARCANE BLAST!

[Sorry, what was that about ridiculous speeches? We lied.]

[thalassino]

[Ridiculous incantations are part of the package with a mage! The minotaur is blasted back, and the battle scene fades, revealing the small man again. It was all just an illusion.

It also didn't count towards Kid's cooldown on this particular skill, thankfully.]

There, see? You had it in you. You didn't have to ask me at all.

[symmetrophile]

N...Not to appear ungrateful...

[BUT.]

Perhaps a little warning might have been in order. That was a frightening surprise.

[But Kid, that's the whole point. If you know it's coming, it won't trigger that do or die response. GOSH IT'S LIKE YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED RPGS BEFORE LIKE OTHER BOYS--

oh wait.]

[thalassino]

That is rather the point. You wouldn't be able to respond appropriately if you knew it was just training! This is much faster. Training you normally would have taken years!

[It wouldn't really have taken years. Kid is a player character after all, that means he's capable of learning amazing things that SHOULD take years all in a quick little scene. Too bad real life isn't like that.]

[symmetrophile]

[Gosh what are you even talking about. Learning and using highly advanced supernatural abilities just when you need them most without any formal training on the matter happens all the time!!!

...Right, yes. Moving on.]

Then I suppose I shouldn't complain.

[He might go home to quietly spend an evening that has nothing to do with minotaurs, though.]

Thank you for imparting your knowledge.

[thalassino]

Good luck. It seems that you may need it.

[And then, suddenly, the man vanishes like he was a ghost. Usually Kid would have been able to tell that sort of thing from the start, wouldn't he? Looks like even mages can't bend time enough to avoid death.]