So Far
Trainering Part 1
"What are you doing G'lishi" asked Chris.
"I'm making an amulet."
"Hmm, that's interesting."
"Do you know how to bake it so it doesn't crack?"
"I'm not certain that they are baked. I always kind of
thought that they were fried."
G'lishi gives Chris a look. Not only is something off
in the translation to Dragonese but there's something not right in
Chris' voice either.
"Alright, bad joke G'lishi. I'm not sure what one does
to make the physical part of an amulet. I think that most people
carve them out of stone, or bend them in metal. A lot of times
they use valuable stones, those are kind you can buy most often, red
gems, and green stones. Why are you trying to make an amulet?"
G'lishi stares at Chris for a few seconds, trying to figure
out how to articulate the problem. "I can feel the magic, but when I
try to use it it doesn't come out in the right shape. I was hoping
that if I made an amulet, its shape would help the magic come out
properly."
"Okay, I can understand that. In a way a spell is a
particular shape. A shape is something we can understand and put
into words, it has so many points, and it curves here and runs straight
there. The shape is what we teach others when we pass on a spell
to another person. When we give a spell a shape we explain how
the spell will work. We do that with our hands and with our
voices.
"A word is a shape, or a piece of a shape. A sentence
is a full shape. We mix these shapes with others that we
describe with our hands, and with another that is in our head. A
spell weaves these three shapes into an effect. So, you're on
the right track. As to the amulet...
"Okay, I'm not sure what I can help to do with that, but once
you can make the physical part [and physical is a well defined term in
Dragonese] of an amulet, then you have to enchant it. That I can
help you with. I don't know the amulet spell, and I have to tell
you G'lishi, you may want to make a talisman and not an amulet.
In any event for that you need to know some practical magic.
You have a great lot of magical potential and in time you will
learn a great many things. But everybody has to start somewhere,
even a dragon, and if you want I can get you started on the right
track.
"I'm a Ley-line Walker. That means that I am attuned to
what goes on with the magic of a ley-line. I try to stay near the
lines as much as possible. They empower me when I need them to
but otherwise I find them very relaxing. There's something
calming about the flow of them. I'll lay down along one and feel
the magic making its way along the line, feel it break around me, and
bubble through me. And when I phase along one, the feeling is so
indescribable, but good, it's so amazing. The other mage that
works with us, Bronson, he's a Walker too. Line Walking is just
one path to magic though.
"There is Mysticism, Shifting, Temporal Magic, Technowizardy,
and a bunch of others. Mystics gain their powers from inside of
themselves and they have mind powers too. Shifters open portals
to other dimension and make friends with other beings, and sometimes
they make pacts to gain additional power. I'm not too keen on
that idea myself, but it does suit some people. Temporal
magicians learn all sorts of tricks to do with the passing of time,
and moving through the dimensions that are a part of this one as well
as going to other ones like the Shifters. And Technowizardy of
course is the making of magical machines. They do with magic
what other people do with machines. We're pretty tech related on
this team. Even I don't have or use that many technomagic
weapons or items.
"Anyway, if you want to learn about ley-lines and line
walking I'd certainly be happy to start teaching you."
G'lishi pauses for another second, then nods. "I would like
to learn anything I can, ley-lines are a good start. You find them
relaxing.. I find them fun, enervating. There's just so much
sustenance there."
"Let's go over to the ley-line there," says Chris pointing
off in a direction behind him.
He leads the way through the trees to a ley-line that
stretches out beyond the eye can see in both directions. "This
ley-line is a long one. It starts far away from here and ends
even further the other way. No one knows why they run from one
place to another, or why they meet other lines and form nexuses.
It is important that they do though. A nexus is both a
beautiful thing and a terrifying thing. Reality, the fabric of
the megaverse, is weak at a nexus point and a rift can open up.
If you are the one controlling the rift it is a good thing, if
not it is a bad thing. Still, the nexus is important because it
almost guarantees that nasty things will not happen along the rest of
any of the ley-lines. If I asked you the right questions you
could probably tell me this next bit.
"However I find it's always good to start with the basics.
Now, a ley-line is pure magic. Come sunset this line will
show up from far away. The magic wells up from the ground across
a half mile and way up above the trees. It moves quickly in all
directions but down. It moves around most things, people and
dragons. If you know what you're doing though it can move
through you. The purposes of letting it do that are many.
You let it into you for energy like a plant lets in the sun.
I can let it fill me so I can cast extra spells, or to replace
what I've used. I can let it heal me like you heal yourself
naturally. I can use it like a radio to talk to other magic
users, and I can use it to teleport anywhere along the line.
"Those are the things that I, a Ley-line Walker, can do in
addition to casting spells. Within a couple of months I can teach how
to float along the line, no need to flap your wings or nothing.
I can teach you to listen to the ley-line to hear if there are
floods or forest fires, or storms along the line. And I can
probably teach you to use it like a radio. A couple months after
you'll probably be able to teleport along the line. You can go
anywhere along the line using that kind of teleport. Some lines
travel for hundreds of miles, and if you pop out at a nexus you can
switch to another line. Let's start with sitting down in the
middle of the line and feeling it break around us. Then we'll
try letting it pass through in a non-eating capacity."
ooo
Max comes up to Archer while he is polishing his Glitterboy
as the diagnostic beeps through its routine. "Word with you
Archer."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Good mission with the S&D team, and that monster thing.
Let me cut to the chase. You are a professional and I
respect that. A professional soldier that is. This is a
mercenary job, the pay is acceptable, the set-up sucks, and its on a
wing and a prayer that we get repairs done. I don't know your
story but I get a sense that you're pretty green when it comes to this
down and dirty guerrilla work. Now I understand that you're
doing your best, and it is a good job. But I have tell you one
professional to another that you're dealing with a major deficit here.
"I don't think it's your fault, it's the way you've been
trained. I don't mean to offend who ever taught you but I don't
think he expected you to be out in the field like this. You look
like you need support staff, desperately, and that may be the way it
is supposed to go, but that isn't going to happen out here. Not
often anyway. That shield you've been using, that's good in a
pinch, but I think that you're going to have sacrifice something else.
"Those SuperSams are a definite pain in your ass. You
just sit there and soak up the grenades. That's got to stop,
that shield, for that matter no shield is going to help you for long.
I'm going to have to teach you. We have a long road ahead
of us in this war Archer. It isn't going to clear up in a couple
of days or even a couple months. Those C.S. bastards will dog us
and dog us until we're dead. We, and I mean Tolkeen, not us
particularly, we have to show them we won't be pushed around and that
they had better keep to their own states and mind their own business.
So we are in for that kind of long haul. If you're not up
to it I won't bother wasting your time or mine. You can get out.
But if you stay it's going to be until the end. Until the
C.S. limps home with its tail between its legs."
Archer, who is unconsciously standing at attention, says
"Sir, no offence taken. You are right in that I do have a military
background. What and where is not your concern, Sir. Where you're
wrong is when you assume that I'd cut and run. I'm not that kind of
man, Sir. As useless as some of the guys you have are in combat are
I'm getting kind of use to having them around.
"About that support, Sir. <Reaching over to shut down the G.B.
now that the diagnostic is finished> I realise that most of the
missions are 'fly by wire' <physically quoting with his fingers> but
I'm not good at this sneaking and hiding and not being ably to use the
radar and not knowing where the enemy is! Give me some definite
plans some idea where the enemy is before he comes out from behind
some tree to rain grenades on me and for god's sake get me some real
air support!
Red faced he takes a deep breath to calm down. "Sir. I
realise that you don't have the resources to support my GB in full
combat with the traditional mechanised help I need, so can you think
of someway to 'magic' me some help. I don't know how <throwing
his arms up in frustration> so don't ask me its not my area of
expertise and I don't trust the stuff personally but I have seen some
pretty fraggin' weird shit since I started here. But until you
can I would be more that grateful for any help in keeping my G.B. scuff
free.
"Other that that I can only ask that you try to use me in a
way more in line with my abilities, and not as an antiaircraft gun.
Until I can learn to operate in this environment better that is.
Sir."
Max waits until Archer finishes speaking, a habit of his.
He notes things in a manner that is visible upon his face most
often as a crinkle around his mechanical left eye, another habit of
his. Uncharacteristically he sucks on his lower lip a moment
before saying, "You know Archer I think you are correct. I'm
going to have Chris put some thought into this grenade problem.
I appreciate your stance on my question of seeing things
through. I never even thought of it as a matter of that.
I was thinking of it in terms of the final signing on for this
team. We're stepping into a war role now. Anyway from
this point forward our rules of engagement change. Radar is
still going to be an issue, it has to be since we have to take it to
the C.S. guerrilla style, but ambush aside, and we will be taking a
harder stance on recon, our missions are going to be planned and
co-ordinated from the outset. We are no longer front
reconnaissance there is another team doing that."
"Okay now that that's out of the way let's begin with the
training. How we do this is targets made of wood will fire real
weapons loaded with paint shells at you. There are paint pellets,
paint grenades, and paint missiles in three sizes. The colours
are dependent upon the amount of damage the weapon would inflict.
They are additive. This means that the more an area is
pelted with paint the darker it will become. Once it reaches
black the affected area is destroyed, dead. You will be firing
special wooden rounds, they're lighter than your normal ones but they
will inflict damage on the targets with pretty much the same
devastation your real rounds have on real targets. With this
early stage your targets won't dodge very effectively. You
should only take a single shot at any one target. If you miss
the target or it dodges it won't attack again, so don't wreck them
unnecessarily."
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