Ignatius and Solmar in: A Delicate Balance!

Job Info:

"Final check, sound off! Yi!" "Present!" "Er!" "Mission Ready!" "San!" "You can literally count us on one hand sir, and we're all right in front of you, this rolecall is silly." "Si!" "Ready sir!" "Wu!" "Here!" "Then let's begin the mission."

The reflection of thin clouds speckled the waters around Divide Island. As the morning sun gave way to its midday counterpoint a small sail boat drew close to the island's shore leading to the only inland path. The Lagoon 6 was an old but reliable craft dedicated to ferrying researchers to and from the island, however, its only two passengers at the moment weren't exactly scientists. Below the ships deck a cabin door opened and a man stepped through into the narrow corridor that led up to the deck. One's first impression of this man may have put him as a politician or lawyer, his silk suited figured certainly felt out of place on a dingy old sail boat. A second take may have suggested a degree of snobbery, leather gloves on his hands spared him direct contact with the decrepit vessel and his careful steps suggested he was weary of stepping in something. But by the time any observer had any third thought, the man's entourage would quickly appear behind him. They of course, were a far more interesting sight to see.

Five in total they numbered, each seemingly floating entirely by their own power, they drifted through the air on the man's tail. They were masks, the visages of demons, carved in wood, lacquered in black and detailed in white paint. The masks tailed after the man, like ducklings following their mother, and would suggest to any observer "in the know," that this man was not a lawyer but a mage. The jury was, however, still out on if he was a snob or not; he might just really like gloves. The masks chattered with child-like-voices, prattling on about general nonsense, buffoonery, and inter-mask drama. From how little heed the suit wearing mage gave their debates, it was apparent their noise pollution was equally constant and insignificant. This odd train of individuals, if you can call a mask an individual, made their way to the end of the hallway where a wooden stairwell lead up to a door. Up the creaking stairs they went and stepped out into the light of day.


An adventure was about to begin. Two strangers, independently recruited by a previously unheard of science research group, and the mysterious Divide Island were about to have their fates converge. Rumors were rampant of what lie at the heart of Divide Island's reasonably famous chasm, and today the truth would be dragged out to be judged before the sun's light.


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Thread Word Count: 500/7000

After his little side adventure in the Desert Village, a place where he had done his best to take down a local monster that had taken to hunting down, playing with and later killing and eating the few people that ventured there, Solmar had finally boarded a ship along the southern shore that was headed towards the island. Some months ago, Solmar had also been working with a scientific society that had been interested in delving down and uncovering some burial chambers that belonged to a race of long deceased warrior mages. Known only as the Kendov, the researchers needed a mage to accompany them down there. Luckily for them, Solmar had just been visiting Hosenka when they were doing the rounds and asking for someone to come along. Finding the whole thing to be quite interesting, he had decided to tag along, which was probably for the best as the burial chamber had some sort of magic attached to it that made the lifeless husks of these warriors rise up in defense of the relics that were still hidden down there.

Finding that these things were not at all capable of hearing any word that was spoken to them, neither Solmar nor the scientists could tell them that they were not after anything, but were interested solely in time-dating the room and learning more about the language and their craftsmanship. Using his magic to put an end to these things rather quickly, they managed to clear out the crypt and pick up on a thing or two. One of the more notable things they found there was a sword, one that seemed too big to be held by a single person, let alone be used in a fight properly. When Solmar touched it however, the blade disappeared. It was only found out later that the sword had bonded to him, granting him access to an altogether new form of magic that he was still trying to figure out, but had at the very least taught him about the sword itself and how to actually bring it out when he needed it. Through this endeavor, Solmar had acquainted himself with the group of scientists that were now looking into the strange island he and another mage had been sent to.

Hearing the chatter between the flying masks that followed the other mage around, Solmar was far too busy with something else to really listen in on it or say something about it. Doing his very best to remain stoic, it would seem to the outside world that he was merely in his seat with an open window, meditating until they got to their destination. In truth however, he was doing his very best not to throw up all over the place as his motion sickness was starting to get the better of him. Having never experienced this feeling before as he had never traveled in any way other than on foot, part of him felt like he should just go swimming back home once they were done with their mission here. Trying his best to keep his mouth and eyes shut while breathing through his nose, he let the outside wind touch his face as a reminder, trying to trick his mind into believing that he was outside and moving instead of just sitting down. As hard as it was, he figured it couldn't be a whole lot longer now, or at least that was what he was hoping for as his sense of time had been one of the first things to go once he boarded the ship.

As soon as he heard about how they were starting to dock, he opened his eyes and got up from his seat. Taking his coat and tossing it up into the air, he pushed both arms through the sleeves and let the hood fall to the back so none of his features were concealed. Starting a quick and powerful stride towards the stairs, he maneuvered around the man that was being followed around by some overly talkative masks. Trying his hardest not to bump into him, he felt like he needed to make it up to the deck so he could see exactly where they were and so he might be able to toss a load of partially digested Iguana meat out into the ocean. As soon as he got up to the end of the stairs, it seemed that they were actually making preparations to dock, meaning the beach was close to the ship by now. Soon, he would get to leave this accursed ship and make his way onto dry land again, which was really something he missed by now, even though they had not even been out at sea that long to begin with. To Solmar however, every minute aboard that vile ship was one minute too long.


(811 / 3500)

A sharp jolt could accompany the Lagoon's landing on the island, the lack of a formal dock on the beach had apparently forced the ship's captain to intentionally run aground to stop his vessel. The jolt nearly knocked the suited man off his feet, a sight that inspired a fresh surge of panicked outbursts from the masks that followed him about. Steadying himself he addressed the floating pieces of worried wood saying, "Calm down gang. We'll have far more danger on this venture then a rough landing, and as such I need you all to keep your wits about you." An almost anonymous chorus blurted out a variety of sentences that all roughly boiled down to "Yes Sir." One of the masks, contrary to his peers, seemed to have had a longer, less agreeable, spiel but it was mostly drowned out by the others just the faintest "...... say that," could be heard at the end of the commotion. Not that anyone was paying attention to that particularly pessimistic piece of face wear. Quick to forget the sharp jostle of their entry, the team turned their attention to the island before them.

Intense was an underrated way to describe the sight before them. "Island," was hardly an apt description for their current location, it was more like a giant mountain jutting from the sea. One could argue that's all any island is, but this narrator would tell them to shut up. The Lagoon 6 was now "parked," on a small beach leading up to a sheer rock face that made up the mountains base. The steep rock, cloud obscured peak, and the signs of an approaching storm made any thoughts of climbing or flying up very unattractive. The mountain was simply massive, the small sandy surface of the beach did not even come close to wrapping around the edges on either side. The suited man initially appeared perplexed, it was not at all visibly apparent how they were supposed to advance in the slightest. Seemingly aware of the mage's confusion the ship's captain approached him on the ship's forward deck; in a gruff voice fighting the short and stout sailor he explained, "Dis' ere is yer best landin' point. Other sides can get yeh furtha inland but they'll all yield to dis ole' rock lump. Only way to make any head way round ere is through a narrow pass on the far end of this ere beach. Squeeze through there and y'all find yer selves on a path to island's center." He pointed down the beaches length, and sure enough with adequate straining of his eyes the suited mage was able to just barely notice a fault in the rock face, presumably the pass, near the beaches end. Target in sight the silver haired man jumped from the boat directly onto the grey sand shore with his masks happily following suit. Turning back he looked back up to Solmar, a man he was not properly introduced to yet, and called out "Our mission begins. Are you ready?" Hardly waiting for a response he began his walk down the shore towards the pass.

It wasn't everyday that the man enjoyed much company beyond his mask, but a wind of change was blowing and he had every intention to ride it. To that end, this mission's mystery called him like a formal invitation into the unknown future.


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Word Count: 1088/3500

Feeling as his stomach was turning, as soon as the ship docked, it seemed to all be over. Having already made his way over to the railing from where he intended to evacuate his food from before down to the water below, it seemed that the ship no longer moving made him feel alright again. Taking a moment to collect himself, he looked on as the other mage was making his way off of the ship with his entourage in tow. Looking away from the man and getting a better look at the actual island, which seemed more like a mountain that had come rising up from the sea, it made him wonder as to what they were actually looking for here. The only island he had ever been to before, which was where he first learned about and obtained his demon slayer magic, looked nothing at all like this place. Looking around at the place that seemed to tower up into the sky, he could hear how the other mage was actively talking to his floating masks as if they were actual people. Knowing little to nothing about his magic, he couldn't actually be sure that they weren't in some way either.

Finding it a rather strange thing to think about, he stepped onto the railing and used his physical strength to launch himself from the ship and over the other mage. Landing about ten meters in front of him, he did so as one might expect from a cat, landing on his feet. With the ship still rocking a bit as a result of him suddenly setting off, Solmar took another look around him as the island itself seemed like it was in some way different from what he was used to. As this was quite true in a way due to how he was more used to places such as forests and actual mountains, a mountain island was something new entirely, though that was not what made it feel different to him. Being quite bad at sensing magic, he did have a sort of extra sense for things that were out of the ordinary, and it was really giving off some seriously odd vibes. Getting more and more lost in the feeling that something was wrong and unnatural about this place, in addition, the stone he had with him in his pocket was humming, which it had only done on a few rare occasions. That was when he heard the man calling out to him as he caught up.

"Yeah, you could say that, though I'm not really sure about what they want us to do here, or where we need to go. But you seem like more of the modern society kind of man, so you are probably more informed than I am. So if you would, feel free to lead the way and tell me what it is we came here for."

Figuring the quickest way towards figuring out what to do and what they were here for would be to simply ask the guy that was dressed to look most like a big city man, the wanderer would stick close so that he could learn whatever it was that this guy was willing to share with him. With the stone humming in his pocket, he hoped that he would not end up encountering something even remotely similar to what he had seen the last time. If one of the elemental lords such as Undine were to pop up in a place like this, a place surrounded by water on all sides going to depths he could not even begin to imagine, chances were that the elemental mistress of water would end up drowning every last one of them here. Doing his very best to keep his head in the game, he shook off his doubts and left them with the ship. They had a job to do, one he would hopefully learn more about soon.


(1437 // 3500)

It came at a slight surprise to the "big city man," that his partner wasn't entirely up to speed on the mission brief, a feeling his emphatic link with his masks couldn't hide. One of the demon faced facades reacted, flying to hover at eye level with Solmar it squeaked, "What do you mean you don't know?! Didn't those scientists tell you anything about why you are here?" A more mean spirited mask chimed in from a distance, "Don't tell me you didn't even ask! Why did you agree to do this if you didn't know what you were doing huh? Huh? Hu-" *SNAP* the click of the suited man's fingers was surprisingly loud, cutting of the aggressive mask. The tiniest frown forming at his lips, the man in a suit scolded his own totems, "Yi, out of his face. Er, that isn't how we talk to our partners." Like children upset for being yelled at the two masks gave a half-hearted apology and skulked back to floating behind their master. Well it kind of looked like skulking, floating masks don't really skulk in the traditional sense.


A different mask from the others flew up to 'walk' alongside Solmar and in a more gentle tone said, "Sorry about them! I personally think its kind of brave that you walked into a potentially life threatening mission completely blind to the dangers presented to you!" As if not wanting to be left out, yet another mask flew forward pushing his more obsequious brother out of the way, "Cut it out Si! No one likes a brown nosed mask! Much less one that doesn't even know how to compliment someone properly. Listen, big guy, I'll give you the run down real fast while we're heading over there." This fourth mask, Wu as he would introduce himself, began to recap the specifics of their mission as the odd group crossed the length of the beach. With the opening in the rock face growing steadily closer Wu detailed how the scientists had approached their master to locate the source of a mysterious magic energy signature deep in the chasm at the islands center. The third mask, Si, would interject with vague reassurances about how easy it would be given how strong Solmar seemed to be. Just as Liu was mentioning how they were warned to not try flying by the scientist he was interrupted by the only still unnamed mask shouting, "Look out!" Yi, Er and their boss looked up to see a large black mass sliding down the cliff face, the suited sorcerer  calmly issued an order to his mask, "San, that thing will land right in front of the pass at this rate. Form up with your brothers and push it off course!" Grumpily, San muttered in compliance "Fine, fine, whatever. Mask brothers assemble and attack!"

Forming into a horizontal line in the air, the masks began spitting small energy blasts from their mouths towards the black mass in an effort to stop it from blocking the entrance. The black and white bursts seemed to do nothing against the unyielding object and it looked like the way would be blocked for sure when it suddenly changed course, launching off the side of the cliff to come plummeting straight down. It crashed into the sand in front of the party with a great crash, and finally they got a good look at it. A giant black tortoise shell now sat before them, and sure enough the limbs and head of an equally giant black tortoise popped out to stand before them. Er screamed in panic, "Ignatius do something! We're going to die! Our blasts did nothing to that shell!" The sui- Ignatius apparently kept a straight face as the tortoise spoke, "Halt! None may enter this pass without proving their might to me! The Black Tortoise! Turn back or be crushed!"

The terms were simple enough, the battle begun.


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Word Count: 1788

All of a sudden, Solmar was reminded of why he generally remained far, far away from the big cities or just about any other crowded place. These masks suddenly starting to talk to him in a plethora of different voices and tones were rapidly starting to annoy him as he just continued walking. While he seemed utterly uninterested in anything they had to say, that was in fact not entirely true. No, he was actually listening to every word they said, picking out the things that might be of some use to him as they continued scaling the mountainous island. Heading towards wherever it was they were headed, the masks that were seemingly scolding him were suddenly told to be quiet by the man in the suit. Figuring that this would be the part where they would get to tell him what they were actually looking for here, it seemed that he had been gravely mistaken as another set of masks started talking to him about how brave he was for going into a job without knowing the full details. To be entirely honest, he figured that they were sent there to uncover another burial chamber of some kind, though it started looking more and more like that would not be the case.

At that point, part of him wanted to tell the masks that he was not afraid of what they would be facing because he did not really fear any kind of creature living on Earthland. Having had the chance to fight most creatures that lived there and living to tell the tale was a testament to the fact that he considered himself to be an apex predator of sorts. While he was entirely human in form, the fact that he had spent the last eleven years out in the wilderness while struggling to survive had at the very least turned him into a skilled hunter that understood the animals he fought. Before he could really say anything however, a loud rumbling was heard above them as a large black thing appeared. "Oh?". That being the only thing coming from Solmar's mouth made it seem exactly as he was, interested in seeing what might happen next. The man in the suit however seemed to be of another kind. He had no intention of waiting for the black being to make it down the side of the mountain, as it seemed to block their path by sliding down. Once it started doing so, the guy in the suit sent out his masks in order to fire beams of magical energies at it, though this did not seem to be as effective as they had hoped.

Crashing into the path heading upward, the dust settled to show a large black turtle, or rather a tortoise standing in their way. Being able to tell simply by looking at it that this was not your average reptile, the fact that it had remained mostly unfazed by the magical attacks sent towards it proved that it was probably even going to be a powerful adversary. As a grin appeared on his face, Solmar actually showed a bit of a surprised smile in reaction to the tortoise as it began speaking to them. In a low, grumbling tone of voice, the black beast told them that if they wanted to get any further, they would need to beat him in battle or just return to their ship. Dreading the thought of having to get back on that damned boat, the prospects of getting to fight this beast  seemed a whole lot more pleasant. Taking off his coat and tossing it onto the ground next to him, he figured that it was already dirty, so it didn't matter all that much if it got a bit dirtier. Showing a small, insignificant sword hanging from his waist, which was actually the blade he used to cut his meat with and scare off bandits he encountered in the wilderness and on the open road, he turned his attention towards the man in the suit that seemed to be called Ignatius.

"Well isn't this just precious. I've never seen a talking tortoise before, least of all one that wants to pick a fight with someone. Tell you what, I'll give you the first shot at this guy. If things don't go well, I'll tag in before it is my turn. Sound good?".


(2208 // 3500)

"I hope you don't intend to make me do all the hard work here. But I'll give it first crack." Ignatius rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, the slightest smile teasing at the edge of his face. Yi giggled with delight as Er quipped, "The Boss is getting excited! We're going to blow him right up bros!" The other three masks all tried to get their own pre-fight banter out at the same time, and it all just became a mess of high pitched voices trying to sound cool. The tortoise didn't really seem all that interested in letting them have their speech as it interrupted their banter with its opening attack. The beast raised one of its front feet in the air, its onyx colored nails catching the light, before stomping it down into the sand sending a vertical blade of sand towards Ignatius. Unimpressed, the boss snapped his fingers and his minions answered to his calling, "Yi, Er, Warding Formation! Repel his attack! San, Si, Wu, Rending Formation! Crack open that shell!" Yi and Er raised themselves over either of their master's shoulders and released a black shock-wave-like blast to scatter the sand blade half a foot before it would've sliced Ignatius in twain. As the sand was blown away Ignatius looked straight at his opponent, the tortoise being ignorant to the danger of the move mistakenly looked Ignatius in the eyes and immediately regretted it.

The pupil and white of Ignatius's eyes seemed to invert for a second as their eyes met, a connection had been made. Those in the business of seith magic understood that the eyes were the windows to the soul and as such were a source of great power for someone with talent in their arts. In the pitch black pearls that enabled the tortoise to see, Ignatius saw weakness, a certainly weak point in his soul and with that knowledge came power. As San, Si and Wu came together, spinning like the blades of a fan generating black and white energy into a disk around them Ignatius calibrated it with what he learned. The energy hissed in a tone only the tortoise could hear, this one had his name on it. Sensing the danger it tucked back into its shell as the spinning monochrome blade of magic came flying at it. It certainly wasn't ideal that he had to settle for attacking the beasts hardened shell but Ignatius had no qualms with trying to carve up his foe the slow way. The spinning blade of magic crashed into the beast's mighty shell, struggling to push against its impressive density, before sliding across the length of the shell and flying past. Yi squealed in disbelief, "What?! Rending formation didn't cut him in half?" Er scoffed, "Don't be stupid! We made a cut see! I bet the boss plans to attack there next!"

True enough at the point of first contact the blade had cut into the tortoise shell to a decent depth, threatening the integrity of the shell. Far from done, Ignatius willed his masks to fly back for a second go at the shell. It took them a second to turn around, the blade seemed to carry some momentum but it was quickly readying itself for a second strike.


The black behemoth bore no sign of simply suffering another slice, not while it had any say in the matter. In an effort to repel its attackers the beast began to spin violently in place, kicking up a tornado of sand in its defense. Ignatius was no man of great physical strength, the whipping winds and lashes of sand threatened to send him flying. However, the masks in rending formation were not deterred. Dashing in decisively they dared the desert dangers driving through dust and debris to dig deep into the dastardly defensive demon. Again the blade struggled against the shell before bouncing off, this time the masks scattered out of formation by the unyielding sandstorm.

By the time the tortoise gave up on its spinning tactic and the sand cloud settled Ignatius was already up to his ribcage in sand. The mask dolls were strewn about most buried to different degrees, and all throw quite far from useful distance. But the damage was done. While the Black Tortoise itself was largely unharmed, its once immaculate shell now boasted a nasty x-shaped indentation across it. The cuts were deep and cracks spread out from their intersection, like it was one solid hit from shattering.

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Word Count: 2573/3500

When the guy asked Solmar not to make him do all the work, he pondered on letting him do exactly that for a moment, though that was solely because the guy had up until this point refused to really inform him on any of the details, even though he had asked rather nicely. From what he had been told, when one asked nicely, people were supposed to be more willing to provide someone with the answers they sought. Clearly this was not the case. So for now, he just watched as the mage fought against the tortoise, which really did not seem like it would be in any way worth his time to fight. If someone like that could get in so many hits without the creature even really getting the chance to put any real hits in, it was hardly worth being called a guardian. At the moment, Solmar wondered why he had even braved the boat ride if this was what he had been brought along for, finding the whole thing to be quite… dull and unentertaining.

Looking up for a bit, he picked up his coat, bent through his knees and jumped to higher ground. From there, he would be able to oversee the fight from a better position, as well as interrupt in case things took a turn towards the bad. From Solmar's point of view, there was not really a point in killing the tortoise, seeing as simply beating it and proving oneself worthy was everything that was required. That, and since the fact that encountering a talking tortoise that possessed magical powers was in and of itself quite rare, he'd hate for it to be killed. From the looks of it though, it seemed like the magical power of the flying mask mage was not exactly on the level of someone who would be able to actually obliterate the animal, though him beating it was starting to become fairly clear. As long as he himself did not need to actually get close to the animal, which seemed rather slow now that it was not scaling down the side of a mountain, he would probably be fine.

And that was something the guy had covered, given how the floating masks seemed rather agile as they attacked from several different angles while using different attack formations. Not knowing much about this kind of magic at all, as was the case with most magics other than his own, it seemed that the one actually controlling the masks was probably the weakest link in the chain. Channeling magic through the masks somehow meant that they were the focus, just like how Solmar could make himself the focus of his magic or use one of his weapons as a conduit for it. He could however not manipulate his weapon from a distance to make it fire bolts of magic at targets, though that was something he could manage without as it went against his character to fight in such a manner. Knowing that, at this distance, he would be able to involve himself in the fight at any time, he chose just to watch for a little while longer to try and get a better grasp on the magical properties of his current team member.

"Keep it up, it seems like it's getting tired."


(2763 // 3500)

The tortoise was the first to move, given Ignatius was more than half-buried in sand this should have come at a surprise to no one, it pulled itself from its shell and let out a fierce battle screech that sounded more like a noise an elephant should make than a tortoise but that's neither here nor there. Like a great whale beaching from the depths a rock spire shot out from the ground underneath the black reptile launching the beast heavenward with absurd speed. The tortoise was sent to the sky so fast that it was almost comical, but by the age old proverb "What comes up, must come down," a very threatening picture was coming together. Realizing he was a sitting duck Ignatius began to frantically attempt to free himself from the ground with his eyes never leaving the still ascending tortoise. At the height of its perfectly vertical ascent the giant shelled creature expelled a blast of sand from the two rear holes of its shell, launching itself forward mid-air. It was a bit difficult to tell at the current distance but one could probably guess the tortoise was directly above where Ignatius was desperately trying to free himself from the sand.

The mage finally pulled his arms from the earth, he held out his hands, and called to two of his masks, "Yi, Er! Flight formation!" The two flew to Ignatius, one into each out stretched hand, he pointed them downwards and in turn they both released continuous energy blasts into the sand. Normally this would be a move to enable Ignatius to fly, now it was a desperation attempt to free himself from his tomb. Still the beach would not let go and with a tortoise meteor inbound left little time to operate. Ignatius turned his gaze towards Solmar's perch, perhaps considering calling for aid, but his previous intention was buried in a flash of inspiration. With certain death approaching from above Ignatius called out, "Everyone! Blitz Formation!" The five masks flew out from under the expected impact zone, their mental link to Ignatius delivered them more complex instructions then his verbal commands, and once they sat between their master and the mountain they turned towards their foe and lined up horizontally. The tortoise was hardly 10 meters above Ignatius when they let fire. Five energy bolts all collided with the side of the behemoth at once and exploded with great force. Blown off course, the gargantuan reptile flew off a ways into the ocean shallows landing with a massive splash. The shock wave was also enough to knock Ignatius out of the ground landing him on his back looking out at the water.


The seith mage's foe sat more than halfway submerged in the sea, distant but far from lost entirely. As Ignatius came to his feet his masks surrounded him and bombarded him with questions and concern, he had almost died after all. San in particular demanded to know, "What's our next plan of attack? There's no way that attacked finished the job! That big thing is way too tough!" Ignatius looked at him confused and half-said-half-asked, "You do realize we've won don't you?" As if to prove him wrong the tortoise raised its head out of the water and screeched again. Wu yelped, "He's still on the attack! What do we do?" Ignatius did nothing. Once more a rock spire shot from the earth launching the tortoise heavenward, it wanted to go a second round. As before it released a burst of sand from its shell and- crashed directly into the mountain at high speed? There was a moment of stunned silence between the masks as they gazed wordlessly at the turtle shell that was now halfway buried into the rock face. If they were capable of emoting, surely their jaws would have dropped. They turned to their boss for an answer, who was apparently the only one not surprised that their foe had crashed themselves into a rock face. Ignatius took the cue to explain, "The Black Tortoise was abusing the law of conservation of momentum to maneuver itself through the air. By launching a mass of sand at a high velocity, it created a great deal of momentum in one direction. As momentum must be conserved, an equal and opposite momentum was imparted onto the shell. I observed from when it used this to launch itself off the side of the cliff and when it tried to dive bomb me the first time that it always launched the sand at the same speed. I concluded it then must be controlling the momentum then by varying the mass of sand released. By cracking its shell and launching the tortoise in the water we drenched the sand it was storing in its shell. The added weight naturally threw off his aim with the sand launch and that is what resulted in the crash." Ignatius laid it out as if were the simplest thing in the world, and the masks nodded in understanding.


In truth they had no idea what just happened and resigned themselves to not understanding. But a win was a win.

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WC: 3464/3500

For a moment, Solmar felt like he had to do something to defend the other mage who was nothing more than a target at this point. Bending through his knees a bit, he planned on using his physical capabilities to launch him into the trajectory of the turtle and just see how that would go. When the masked fellows hit the turtle in mid flight and sent him down into the water however, it seemed that the guy had managed to save himself from the attack. All things considered, he had never seen an animal that fought like this, considering how easily these attacks could be avoided and how simple it was to just move out of the way and let the beast injure itself upon impact. With a slight huff, Solmar sat himself down, letting his legs dangle from the ramp as he continued watching things go down. Shortly after crashing into the ocean, it turned out that the animal was not done yet, shooting itself out of the water and attempting to crash itself into the mask mage yet again. This time however, something went terribly wrong, at least for the animal, as it crashed into the exterior of the island. After a momentary silence from all involved parties, an overly long and detailed explanation came regarding what might have happened to it.

"In short, the creature was waterlogged and overconfident in its abilities."

Making it sound a whole lot less scientific by using people-words to describe what happened, he pushed himself off and let himself slide down the ramp at an increasingly fast pace. Once he got to where he wanted to be, he kicked off and sent himself down to where the animal had crashed into the wall. Though it did not really seem injured as there was no such thing there along the lines of blood, it was clear to see that the creature had a pretty serious concussion and would not be continuing the fight. In fact, it seemed safe to say that the creature would not be doing any fighting of any kind in the near future at all. Luckily for it, the impact hadn't killed it or inflicted any wounds that Solmar could see, meaning it was likely to survive. Because it had apparently been doing exactly that for quite some time now, the young mage believed that whatever this island was and whatever was at the core of the power his elemental node picked up, it was most likely what had made this creature so powerful in the first place. Additionally, it would likely keep the creature alive, though that wasn't something he could be sure of, he could only hope.

Patting the creature on the head, he smiled for a bit before making his way back to where the mage and his entourage of floating mask-men were. Since the mage had done a good job at defeating the guardian without actually killing it, Solmar figured that the guy earned at least some praise. But considering how he wasn't really the kind of person who felt like he should be giving out such things, all that really came out was a simple nod and a thumbs up. With that out of the way, he moved up to where the creature had first popped up, figuring that there must have been something there that was worth protecting in the first place. Remembering how it was speaking of protecting some place and keeping them from getting there until they beat the tortoise, it made a lot of sense to him. Inspecting the place to the best of his abilities, he noticed that there was a large stone door etched into the rocks. Since it was apparently cut out of the same material and had the exact same composition and color, it wasn't all that easy to see at first. Wandering ahead to see what more there was to it, he let his hands go over it in an attempt at finding the way to open it. When his hands phased straight through it however, he frowned at the thought that this whole thing might have been set up by some kind of mage.

"I imagine this is probably what it was trying to protect. There's a draft coming from the other side, so we should probably head on through. Since you took the tortoise, I'll be heading on first to see if it's safe."

Stepping on through, what he saw was not even a little bit like what he had imagined. Figuring the door was just some kind of illusion and a trick of the mind, there was actually a lot more to it. Once he passed through it, he did not in fact enter the mountain itself, but seemed to come out on an altogether different portion of the island. This place, which seemed like a flat slab of rock of about a hundred meters in width was clearly not a natural formation, and the etchings along the floor were a dead giveaway. Surrounding the large circular and flat surface was a wall that kept any of those that passed through the strange portal from seeing what was on the other side of it. Upon looking straight up, it was clear that there was no ceiling, though there was certainly something else up there. When some of the etchings along the floor were starting to faintly light up, the sound became a lot more audible as a mix of clanking and chattering alarmed them to the sound of strange flying creatures coming from small holes at the top of the walls. Looking a lot like birds, he could feel that these were not living creatures, nor were they similar to whatever the tortoise was.

Clearly moving in to attack, the strange bird-like creatures swarmed together and seemed to attack together. With a few stragglers breaking off from the formation and attacking him alone, it seemed like these were merely sent to test what to expect before sending in the entire flock to finish the job. Reaching for his sword, he cut down one, two, three and eventually four of the creatures that decided to dive bomb him. As his sword hit them, they did not get cut, but rather got shattered, proving once and for all to him that there were not animals, but had been made either by magic, craftsmanship or maybe even both. Not really being able to make sense out of what remained of them as he had no idea what to call the mechanical parts, he did not have the time to study it as the complete host of birds came at him in the form of a large swarm. Narrowing his eyes a bit, he held the blade of the sword pointed down at the ground while channeling his magical power into it. Once the flock was close enough, he brought his blade up and carved a crescent into the air, releasing a blast of white flame that moved outward, enveloping and melting the birds that came into contact with it. Dropping to the ground as molten puddles, he made sure not to get hit by any of them as he put his sword back.

"I imagine this was another test? Though I'm still not sure what any of this is, or what they hope to find here, but I imagine these strange animals are here to protect whatever it is we're looking for. If this place is anything like the last, and these were the guardians, there is probably a way out on the other side of this room."

Just guessing at this point, he could hardly even tell that the etchings on the floor had not stopped glowing at all. Whether it meant that there was more where those things were coming from or if it was just some kind of mood lighting was uncertain at this point, though it seemed that nothing that happened here did so at random.


(4098 // 3500)

Ignatius shrugged off his partners shortened explanation, "Yeah, that covers it. Good to see you can keep up." As Solmar inspected the health of their defeated foe the mask brothers made sure to throw their best post-victory-jeers at the tortoise, which is to say a large collection of pretty lame one liners. Their boss on the other hand quickly made his way over to the door that stood between them and their objective. He was giving it a look over, attempting to gauge how to open it, when Solmar came up and just opened it straight up. Ignatius had to hide his surprise that it was so easy and mentally scolded himself for overthinking the situation. Now what was worth overthinking was the bizarre change in scenery that occurred when they crossed the door's threshold. The mask gang quickly began flying around the space to scope it out as Ignatius hung back by the entry way, trying to discern if it contained some form of magic. An investigation that left him completely caught off guard when the mechanical birds swarmed the room.

Fortunately it didn't see him magic was needed as Solmar quickly dispatched their flying foes; to the credit of Yi and Wu they had the good sense to at least try and shoot at the enemies on instinct(they of course missed every shot). Ignatius's face showed little sign of being bothered by the ambush, in fact it seemed to embolden his investigation to a degree. He started off towards the opposite end of the platform as if he noticed something, but the second he crossed halfway across the surface it spontaneously cracked clean in half. Whatever glow has emanated from the floor carvings now came pouring through the cracked floor as the two halves fell away from each other. By the time Ignatius turned around the two halves had already fallen so far apart from each other than his job partner was obscured from view, leaving him little choice but to fall. The platform gave way to a bizarre underground chute that was far too steep to not keep sliding down, and so farther did the seith mage fall.

The masks flew after him in an effort to catch their master but gravity proved to be just a bit too much faster as he was carried away to who knows where. It was all Ignatius could do to keep sliding on his feet as opposed to falling flat on his rear, and the next thing he knew he was shot off onto a beach at an unknown location. He tried to land on his feet but his momentum proved too much and our proud friend took a forward tumble before landing flat on his back. With an exasperate sigh he pulled himself to his feet, looked up to gauge his surroundings and found himself face to face with a giant white tiger. In that moment, his only solace was that things couldn't reasonably get much worse.

_______________________

WC: 3962/3500

Doing his best to figure out what to do here, he actively looking at the strange letters on the floor that had been lighting up. Not knowing what their purpose was, it was only after closer observation and the fact that they changed in color that he noticed a large section behind him no longer being there. At least half of the circular slab of rock they called a floor had seemingly disappeared entirely. As he looked over the edge, he looked down into a deep dark hole, so deep in fact that he could not see a single thing. Getting an uneasy feeling from this as it had been where his temporary job partner had been not too long ago, Solmar started thinking to himself if maybe the man had fallen to his death. Not knowing exactly how useful his masks would have been to him if he actually fell, he also had no idea as to exactly how much of his magical energy he had burned during his fight against the black tortoise.

Pondering on what had been happening, it seemed highly unlikely that this place had just activated some kind of booby trap in order to kill one of the people that had entered the place. After all, one of the guardians had been taken out in order to prove that they were worthy of entering the place. After that, Solmar had taken out a whole flock of strange mechanical birds that wanted to take him down. So for the place itself to just fall away from under one of them and drop him to his death seemed like it was more or less counterproductive. Whatever the deal was with this place, Solmar believed that it was testing them or preparing them for something rather than just being out to simply kill them because it most likely could. When the ground that had fallen down suddenly made its way back up and reattached itself, the fact that the other mage was no longer on it most likely meant that he had been taken elsewhere on the island.

In a way, this worried him, knowing how much the guy struggled with the tortoise, really only beating it because the creature had been incredibly dim and had allowed itself to get completely waterlogged, thus taking itself out in the end. At the time though, he had been overseeing things rather closely, knowing that he could do something about it if it came down to it. This time though, they had been separated and were really on their own, having to fend for themselves until the island deemed them ready to meet back up again. The more he thought about it, the more he figured it odd that this island was somehow acting as a sentient thing, or that he himself was refering to it as if it were. In truth, he didn't know which of these things he felt was more odd. But during all of his pondering, the strange writing on the walls and floors started glowing more brightly in a deep red color before opening up a larger hole in the wall.

Expecting more mechanical birds, Solmar got to deal with something very different. Watching how a large bird which seemed entirely made out of fire flew out and started circling the arena, it eventually stopped at a reasonable distance from Solmar and started talking. From there, it screeched loudly before speaking to him in a similarly high pitched tone. Claiming that it was a guardian of the island tasked with defending a hoard of powerful weapons, it was up to it to test the mettle of all those who ventured into it like Solmar had. Stating that the tortoise was one of the mythical protectors known as the "Four Symbols", the Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, White Tiger and Azure Dragon would do everything in their power to make sure no one would get to the weapons unless they proved themselves worthy of it by beating every single one of them. Finding the story to be quite interesting, it made him wonder whether Ignatius had ran into the White tiger or Azure dragon yet, considering how this was clearly the Vermilion bird.

"Well alright, if beating you means I get to move out of here and get closer to this hoard of weapons, I suggest you get ready for a good pummeling!"


(735 // 1330)