City of IF

[ethereal_fauna]

Chapter 10

The woman’s grip tightened on his arm, almost painful with her need, and her wild eyes darted across his face as her tongue flicked out over parched lips. Yahoo’s warnings regarding pleasure magics coursed through his throbbing head, intensifying the ache. He’d never seen an emflikar gripped in the throes of their own pleasure magic, but he imagined this woman was awfully close to such a revolting state. Her matted hair and the stench of urine warned him to avoid her.

He pried her hand from his forearm and stood shakily. “No thanks,” he softly spoke. “I think I’ll head to the clinic right now.”

The woman unleashed a diatribe of obscenities but didn’t try to stop him, and falling back into the dust she traced a rune in the empty air, convulsing with her pleasure magic, what little mana she had left taking her mind away from her troubles. Jakeen favored his tender, blistered foot as he hobbled towards the clinic.

He waited patiently in the clinic, shielding his eyes from the light emitting from the wall sconces. A placid pattern played across his lyre, taking the pain from his foot but straining at his already depleted magical reserves. Even that mild healing and modest magic use coursed odd feelings through his body, and he struggled with the temptation to play more, to allow those pleasure notes to drip from his fingers and onto his instrument. He covered his sensitive eyes with a hand once more and concentrated on steady breaths.

A soft touch on his shoulder brought his face up from his hand, and he looked into a smiling visage of one of the clinic nurses. She sat beside him then to listen to his ails. Her lips pursed and brow furrowed as she heard his complaints, and she took his hand in hers like a child.

“Some mages are more sensitive to the pleasure magics,” she began. “Most avoid them altogether for that very reason. Just as some men can take strong drink every night without any problems, and others find that strong drink ends up taking them instead, the same way magic can take you.”

She paused, waiting to see if he understood her words. Jakeen nodded, and she continued. “You seem very intolerant of such magic, and in your depleted state you’ll be tempted to use that magic. ‘Just a little’ you’ll tell yourself, but then it always leaves the need for a little more. I’m no great healer, but I think you should not use your magic at all for awhile. Let your mana build back up, and don’t use any pleasure magic.”

He sighed and nodded again. She brought him an analgesic powder that he washed down with a glass of water, and after a few more precautionary statements regarding addiction, sent him on his way. He played his miserable hours at the tavern before stumbling to the storeroom after closing and falling in exhaustion onto the stiff pallet. A fitful but restorative sleep consumed him for the night, and late into the next morning.
**

Jakeen stood in the arena facing Charras. He’d witnessed an earlier fight pitting Charras against Troy, and suspected that this present battle would also treat the spectators to a fantastic light show. Jakeen knew very little about lightning and electrical charges, but his mind contemplated a lone tree in a barren field. He didn’t want to be that lone tree, struck multiple times by unrelenting fire.

He felt almost manic as he watched his opponent sneer at him from across the packed earth. He didn’t want to get within reach of those long, bony arms or sinewy legs. The warrior mage could easily best him in a physical contest, and likely in a magical one as well. Jakeen had little going for him right now, other than a strong desire to win coupled with his natural talent.

Atmospheric images wound through his head. The fear imparted by the darkness Bevorum had caused to descend. His opponent didn’t look easily scared. A smirk tugged at the corners of Jakeen’s mouth. Maybe he should set his friend at ease. He favored lightning, so how about his own personal rain cloud, to set the mood?

He played. Stringing together the notes, Jakeen cast his musical runes. Localized around Charras, a wind whipped up and lightning flickered, and a torrential downpour released upon the mage. In only moments the ground beneath his opponent’s feet turned into a quagmire, and still the man stood, an imperturbable black statue of malice. Charras stabbed the humid air gesturing his runes, and as a hissing stream of electrical energy filled his palm he stepped forward with one long stride. His boot connected with the slippery mud, and his carefully formed lightning bolt shot off towards the magical shield around the arena as his legs spread apart in an ungraceful split.

The roar of the crowd’s laughter reached Jakeen’s ears, but he wasted no time on mirth. Working on a hunch, on intuitive ideas pressing to the forefront of his mind, derived from observation of storms as they traveled across the sky, Jakeen began to play his own lightning into existence. He wrapped his magic around him, circling the magical energies into an expanding sphere of lightning, a crackling shield enclosing him inside. The equipotent surface of the glowing ball absorbed the subsequent bolt of lightning from Charras.

Jakeen had effectively bought himself a bit of time, but the air around began to reach highly uncomfortable temperatures. Additionally, the mud-caked Charras slowly advanced on his position, and didn’t seem the least bit rattled by the lightning globe shielding Jakeen. If he managed to engage in physical combat, then Jakeen felt doomed to a quick defeat. His thought’s raced. A fireball? A heavy wind? He needed to act fast.

Poll: What should Jakeen do next?

Create quicksand or a mud puddle to sink Charras 2
Force Charras into the mud and cement him in place 2
Run fire along the shield as Charras advances 2
Try to create a conductor and lure Charras to it 3

[Mordok]

Use F A D E to dim, then use haste to sneak behind Charras, then levitate him high enough to drop him back in the mud.

Hopefully, he will land on his back in the mud, and Jakeen can send a strong wind to dry the mud, pinning Charras in place.

Or, if Jakeen can just summon a good wind, to first blow Charras into the mud, and then focus it to pin him there until it dries up, we can achieve the same result.

[Shady Stoat]

I like the wind idea. It's something he hasn't done before. I don't think Charras will be expecting it.

Plus, wind was one of the first patterns he recognised as a spellsinger. He'll be very familiar with it by now, I'm sure :D

[jnmrcs]

I'm not so sure about it. From the sky Charras will have some advantage if he attack Jakeen with lighting from there. Also if he is good warrior he could fell standing up and take some advantage (I have doubts about this one)

I'm sorry I couldn't think on one strategy.

[Shady Stoat]

Another thing that puzzles me. Why did Jakeen construct a shield in the enemy mage's own specialty? It stands to reason Charras would be immune to electricity to some extent. He can probably walk right through this shield.

Maybe we can turn that to our advantage. Hold some sort of other elemental spell at the ready. Fire, perhaps, with Jakeen also specialising in that. Then, as Charras begins to come through the shield, turn it instantly to fire, burning him, hopefully beyond the point where he can fight back.

[jnmrcs]

I like that idea.

[Eragon\'s Ego]

Maybey we can find a way to deflect his lightning spells, then channel them to a kind of lightning rod(either supplied in the stadium, or made with a spell) and have the rod be attached to our foe by some means? Maybey you could use a haste spell to distract him while staying a distance away (as not to fall prey to our opponent's hand to hand attacks) and then we can use a wind spell to push him to the conductor that the lightning rod is attached to? The conductor can be anything, water, a cord, a barrel of water, maybey some debris left over from a past fight, the posibilities are endless. ;)

[Mordok]

Eragon's Ego wrote: The conductor can be anything, water, a cord, a barrel of water, maybey some debris left over from a past fight, the posibilities are endless. ;)
A puddle of mud?

[Eragon\'s Ego]

^ Quite possibly, Mordoc. (as long as we can create a large enough lightning bolt/lightning rod, or we channel his own magic to him, we have him.

[Mother Goose]

But if Charras can hold lightning in his hand, can he be damaged by it? Maybe he really is immune.

I like the idea of turning the shield to fire as Charras comes through. (The electric shield was not meant to shield against Charras physically, I think, only against the lightning - on the principle of fighting fire with fire, you fight electricity with electricity.) Fire is something he may be vulnerable to, and something he has not used in the arena so far, if I remember rightly, so Charras may not expect it.

He should also have some kind of emotional or psychic attack ready in case the fire doesn't completely stop him.

[ethereal_fauna]

Great discussion so far team! A poll is ready. Choose wisely and feel free to add any more thoughts.

[Viridian]

Whoo. Atrociously late as usual. :shock: Voted.

In theory, since lightning is charged, and this lightning shield is actually moving, it should actually deflect other charged stuff––another lightning bolt. ;) Anyway, I have a question that no one seems to have raised yet: why won't Charras (and Jakeen, in this case) get electrocuted with all the waterworks? If you say it's because he's immune to electricity, then how would the "lightning rod"-stuck-to-him idea work at all?

With the cementing idea, just how long can you keep him pinned? And how strong with the "cement" be, exactly? Also, does Charras require sight to aim his lightning bolts or does he "hone in" in them with mental acrobatics? If he relies on sight, sinking him in quicksand or mud might quite effectively incapacitate him. Or maybe Jakeen could combine strong wind with mud and whip it around Charras in a cylindrical wall?

Nice chapter, though. o-)

(Sorry for the questions and hare-brained idea. My eyes! They're going asplodey!)

[luvd]

No need to apologize, they are all good questons. I've voted for the cement. It's a fantastic idea. Force him back with wind. Use heat to dry the mud into cement leaving J to nick round the back and smash the bango over Charras head if need be :P

[Eragon\'s Ego]

Well, staying true to my idea, i voted lureing him to a cement confuctor. :-D

[ethereal_fauna]

Viridian wrote: Anyway, I have a question that no one seems to have raised yet: why won't Charras (and Jakeen, in this case) get electrocuted with all the waterworks? If you say it's because he's immune to electricity, then how would the "lightning rod"-stuck-to-him idea work at all?

Good question. Charras can manipulate the electricity with his hands, and seems to have some sort of immunity or shielding to it. This of course could raise the question- does he have other elementals shielded as well? Jakeen doesn't know.

Viridian wrote: With the cementing idea, just how long can you keep him pinned? And how strong with the "cement" be, exactly?

Jakeen doesn't know that either. Pinning him will prevent or at least for a time delay a physical attack, and may distract him from further electrical attacks.

Viridian wrote: Also, does Charras require sight to aim his lightning bolts or does he "hone in" in them with mental acrobatics?

Jakeen hasn't made note whether Charras appears to use line of sight or not. Jakeen doesn't need to be looking directly at the candles in the tavern to light them all, but his first opponent Sheva relied on line of sight to shoot him with earth missiles.

[Eragon\'s Ego]

Why don't we combine most of the good tactics?? Because there is a better chance of winning that way than if we use just one. Such as luring our opponent into a flammable cement trap that is hooked up to a lightining rod, thus if the lightining only weakens him, the flammable cement/ish trap will ignite, thus beating our baddie through innovation and brainpower. :lol:

[Viridian]

But does he have enough time to do all that at once with any kind of accuracy? XD

[Eragon\'s Ego]

Yeh, i believe in him. He can blind the other guy, then hook the stuff up. And then Zapppp! Flash! bang!!!

[Mordok]

Well, I appear to have created a tie vote out of this.

It seems to me that some of the options are already in place though. We already have a mud puddle in the ring. Why would we need to create quicksand, or some other type of conductor. Wouldn't mud conduct electricity?

Jakeen saw Charras fall in the mud once already. It looks like our opponent has limited dexterity. Lets take advantage of this.

This team comes up with great discussions though. :-D

[Eragon\'s Ego]

^True, true. Mud would conduct electricity. But it would be a little bit less of a degree, because of all of the particles in it. one could also argue that the silt and particles in the mud would make more conductivity, but I dont think that is true. As mordoc kindly suggested, we could take advantage of Charras' uncoordination, and I think that casting a hast spell on him(Charras) would add to his uncoordination, which we may be able to use to lure him into the conductor if we don't use the mud under him allready.

[Starwalker]

My thought would be to over load him with manna, he has not used his yet and is fully charged.

You ever see what happens to a fully charged battery when you charge it up some more?

Being that they are both capable of casting Electricty, our hero can try to defeat his opponet by over charging his manna using electricity to charge him into a overload state.

Everyone is always ongaurd of attacks, how often does someone give you power freely when your reserves are at max?