Mei Ying

Adventures of the 3rd SET, The Losers
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Corrigon
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Mei Ying

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After finding out the tattoos in Garnet Town, an ally of yours in Castle Refuge arranged for you to take the passenger seat on a supply run down to the outpost.

The pilot, a young brash mage of some kind called Lance, takes his TK Flyer down the leylines, making idle chitchat along the way. He comes off the leylines wherever you approach a nexus point, with either you or he powering the engine until rejoining the network. He explains that nexuses are usually under somebody's control and generally it is easier to avoid a lot of them. "Saves a lot of time and effort avoiding something that often wants payment and that often isn't money.

He takes a detour into a place called Magestar, where the locals are friendly and helpful. It is a safe haven to rest for the night and it is obvious Lance has been here several times before.

As you enter the final stretch , Lance takes a detour off line, avoiding a town sitting directly on the leyline.
"Best to avoid anything sitting on a leyline like that in the Magic Zone that hasn't obviously been there a while," he says with a smile, "lest we end up stuck there for a few months as a ghost. Some of these places have a very odd relationship with the leylines."

As you get further down the leyline, Lance attempts to contact Garnet Town, but all he gets is static. At the same time, your senses feel something odd about the leyline.

"Strange," he sounds puzzled, before his voice suddenly becomes panicked, "but I think we have a lot bigger problems!"

In the distance, there appears to be a large mass near the leyline, but only a few seconds later, the mass suddenly splits as several dozen winged creatures come hurtling towards you.

"DEMONS!!!" Lance screams.
OOC Comments
This is an interlude for Mei Ying. I'll let you narrate what you want here, but it has to end with Mei Ying ending up in the leyline.
GM bennies 6/8
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Mask »

Mei Ying frowned ever so slightly, her porcelain-white forehead crinkling under the red mark painted there. The ley line shimmered, not far away. Even here it was easy to imagine one could hear the whispers of the ancestors. Nonsense of course. The lines channeled the life force, the ki of the ancients...but their souls, and every thinking part of them had gone to other realms by now. Even so, it was hard not to feel a sense of connection to them while feeling that power flow through one.

But it was too far from here. Doing battle with demons would require that power if she was to keep it up for long.

"Go towards the ley line," she said calmly. "With as much haste as you can."

Lance blinked at her, aggrieved both by the unruffled tone and the content of Mei's command. "Weren't you listening? The ley line's as dangerous as the demons in the Magic Z..."

"We do not have to be on the line. Just near it. I will tell you when you may divert course again."

The pilot shook his head as he started to bank back towards that blue river of light. "...we're never gonna make it before those things are on us..."

Mei Ying reached down to the floor alongside her seat, where the Wayferer's Staff was resting. The old wood felt warm in her hands, welcoming. It approved of this journey, as it did all journeys. Looking around the flyer's cabin, she reflected there was very little spare space. It might be necessary to visit the ley line after all...risks or no risks.

In the meantime though...something to slow the demons down.

"Feng zhi men," she murmured, then with increasing volume, "open and let your voice be heard. Roar with the fury of the heavens and bring judgement down on the heads of those cast down!"

Blue whorls of light, bounded by spinning runes or glyphs, exploded into being around the TK Flyer. Four of them, one above, below, and one to each side. From each whorl emerged a being of howling wind, of cloud and smoke. Lance recognized them right away; they weren't that uncommon in the air above the Magic Zone.

"Air elementals..."

Mei gestured with her staff towards the oncoming demons. "Go. Attack and destroy."

The living whirlwinds zoomed away, but Lance looked at Mei Ying worriedly. "That's not enough to kill that many."

She shook her head. "It should be enough to slow them. Even so, fly quickly."

As if to underscore that point, the air behind them erupted with furious screeches, and the rushing roaring of gales. It didn't last NEARLY as long as one might have wished.

Lance gave Mei Ying a look and said, "We're getting close...when can I turn?"

"Go up. Fly over the line."

Now he looked confused. "What good's that gonna..." then he realized what she was on about. "You're joking. Look, this is your show, but I don't get paid the full fare if I don't get you there in one piece!"

Mei Ying shook her head. "Do not be afraid. You will be safe flying above. I will use the power of the line to destroy these, and you can descend and pick me up again."

He grimaced and wrestled the controls, bringing the flyer on a steep climb. "You'd better know what you're doing..."

The mage's smile was bright...the expression of someone who'd just gotten a fine compliment in a relaxed setting. "Yes."

Then she threw herself out of the plane.

Plummeting was an oddly peaceful sensation. All feeling of weight vanished. The wind in one's face could be annoying, but activating the protections in her robe shielded Mei Ying from that. Perhaps one day she would learn to fly, just to zoom up to the edge of the air, and fall back down again. Safely, of course. Then again...for one who truly felt the power of the Dragon Lines, learning to fly was more of an...option than a necessity.

The air around her became suffused with a thin blue light that strengthened as she fell. Mei-Ying spread her arms, and heard the demons shriek behind her. Not far now. Not far.

But not close enough.

Radiant plumes of light exploded from her hands, from her arms, from her back....creating massive sheets that rippled over her and out from her sides like the northern lights, constantly changing hues. Her downward plummet slowed as her forward motion sped up. There, enfolded in the power of the ancestors, Mei Ying swiveled to face the oncoming demons.

"Wuxian ji lian," she called out, "Infinite cascade!" The ley line's light strengthened around her, making a kind of blue sphere that encapsulated the shifting 'manta ray' of pearly, rainbow light she'd created to fly. It bent towards her, responding to her need for power.

"First gate: Mirror of thrice-shattered jade!"

From overhead, a portal blazed to life, and a huge green crystal emerged. Immediately following it was a titanic jag of lightning that struck dead center, causing cracks to spider outwards along its craggy surface. In seconds it exploded into a rain of chunks, leaving only three smaller portions to descend to equal level with Mei Ying. Each piece was smooth, almost sculpted...and as it uncurled, was revealed to be an almost exact copy of Mei herself, albeit carved from glowing green stone. Each looked at her expectantly.

"Second gate: Rage of the Living Tempest!"

Each of the three duplicates smiled and turned to face outward from Mei Ying, now in their center. Each of them began casting their own spells, and were encompassed in massive surges of blue-white light that crackled like lightning bolts. Portals began to open. Much like the portals Mei had opened in the flyer before to delay the demons.

This time there were fifteen of them.

Thunder cracked, winds howled, and fifteen air elementals came soaring through the portals. Mei Ying pointed at the demonic horde, now nearly upon them...her jade doubles did likewise...

As one, the living tempests attacked!

Pandemonium.

Mei Ying drew on the lines again, refreshing herself, and lobbed sprays of different elements into the fracas...destroying any demon that seemed to get the bright idea of leaving the melee to come after the four mages hovering not far away. The three duplicates hovered there, watching their charges, directing their actions to best distract and destroy demons.

Low creatures such as these would not keep Mei Ying from her path!
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Corrigon »

The demons circled around the leyline as Lance maneuvers away. The demons seem more interested in you than the TK Flyer.

So concentrated are you on the demons, that there is something wrong, something happening on the leyline and whatever it is upon you before you realise that the leyline was surging towards her, like a river bursting through a dam.

You SCREAM in pain as the leyline washed over, battering against your body.

Then suddenly, it was over.

It takes a few seconds for you to realise that the pain had stopped and you were ... somewhere else.

Wherever you were, it was pitch black and you could vaguely sense the leyline, but it was muffled

You step forward; your foot finds something on the floor, which crunches underneath your step.
OOC Comments
You cannot draw upon the leyline and after any PPE usage, you realise that you are not regenerating
GM bennies 6/8
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Mask »

For a moment Mei Ying stood motionless, listening to the faint sounds of her own body slowly recovering from what had happened. The slamming of her heart, the tiny pops of her joints, the rustle of fabric.

She did not think she was dead. The details were too fine. The feel of the ley line...were there Dragon Roads in the afterlife?

After that first moment, adjusting from the thrill of battle to the fear of the surge, to this new quiet apprehension, Mei Ying sent a scrap of her suddenly-to-be-hoarded power into her robes. The dragons and phoenixes and beasts of legend embroidered into its fringes and hems opened their eyes as one, and Mei Ying could see into the Stygian gloom...

(Spending 2 PPE to cast Exalted Darksight from the Combat Mage Armor: [dice:2siaf9c4]52541:0[/dice:2siaf9c4] or [dice:2siaf9c4]52541:1[/dice:2siaf9c4] Ace [dice:2siaf9c4]52541:2[/dice:2siaf9c4])
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Corrigon »

As Mei Ying activates her darkness sight, it takes a few seconds to be able to penetrate the gloom, so thick and pervasive is it.

Wherever you are does not appear to be hell, or at least not one you are familiar with.

There are shelves around you inside a dull metal room. The items that you can see are cabling and mechanical parts.
There are spaces on the shelves.

Looking down at what you stepped in, at first in the dark, it appears to be a shrivelled up oddly shaped at the ends white stick that your foot has broken in half. Then it slowly dawns on you... what you just stepped on was a bone.

OOC Comments
Knowledge arcana will reveal that this darkness is not natural.

Healing or knowledge medicine will recognise that the marrow inside the bone has been sucked out
GM bennies 6/8
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Mask »

Mei Ying's eyes widened slightly, and she looked around the cramped metal box she was in, seeking a way out.

A bone. She wasn't particularly well versed in medicine, but bones didn't usually get that brittle until they were old and dry. It was unlikely she'd be able to identify what it was from, or how it's owner had come to be parted with it. Best to take it as a warning. This was likely a dangerous place. And yet, the ley line surge had brought her here. Was it fortune that this random teleportation had taken her so close to walls but hadn't embedded her in them...or was it design?

On finding a door, she cautiously pushed it open, peeking through the crack of it as it widened so as to avoid surprise.
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Corrigon »

As you make your way towards the door, you realise that this room is a lot wider than you expected, with multiple rows of shelves. Even with your power, you can't make out fine detail such as what is on the shelves. However, you do spot what appears to be more bones, possibly half a rib cage on the floor.

As you reach the door, it is mostly already open; some kind of upwards and sideways sliding mechanism. Part of it is still jutting out, but you can get past it with a squeeze.
OOC Comments
The darkness extends into the corridor, but your amount of vision is limited.
Knowledge arcana -2 to realise that this might not be the darkness that is causing this but perhaps the corridor itself.
As you step out into the corridor, the building or wherever exactly you are shakes; not enough to make you fall over but certainly enough to make you find something to brace yourselves against. As you look both ways, you can only see a short way either side.
OOC Comments
Do you wish to go left or right?
GM bennies 6/8
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Corrigon »

As you look closer at the fuzziness of the corridor to your left, you find yourself being drawn towards to it.
OOC Comments
There is something very strange about the fuzziness and not in a good way.

A Knowledge arcana roll at -4 please
"Caaaawwwww," Mei Ying hears an odd sound; the sound of a bird. Breaking your gaze from the fuzziness, you see a bird, black in colour, flying towards you.

It lands on your shoulder and seems to shrug its head indicating for you to follow it. If you don't immediately follow it, it pecks on your ear impatiently.
"Caw!"
OOC Comments
Knowledge arcana -2
Success - this appears to be some kind of magical creature, perhaps a messenger.
From behind in the storeroom, you hear a loud rumble; not something falling over, but like something emanating from the bottom of a throat.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Mask »

Mei Ying frowns slightly as she tries to relate what she's seeing to what she's learned.

This strange fuzziness, for example...why did it simultaneously draw her into it, yet fill her with a sense of foreboding?

(Arcana - [dice:3orol2v5]53139:0[/dice:3orol2v5] or [dice:3orol2v5]53139:1[/dice:3orol2v5])
Ace! [dice:3orol2v5]53139:4[/dice:3orol2v5]

And the bird! Impertinent thing to so casually perch upon her...yet she did not shoo it away immediately, for this was not a natural place for a bird to be. Was it not a natural bird?

(Arcana - [dice:3orol2v5]53139:2[/dice:3orol2v5] or [dice:3orol2v5]53139:3[/dice:3orol2v5])

Finally she looked back over her shoulder at the growling noise. That, at least, was not much of a mystery. Something had found her.
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Corrigon »

From Mei Ying's experience travelling dimensions, she realises what she is looking at; she must be inside a pocket dimension that is linked directly to another dimension and the entrance is open, hence why she can sense the leyline still.

However, what she is looking at is the raw dimensional energy that the pocket dimension is made up of. If she can see that, then the pocket dimension must be starting to come apart.
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Mask »

"I do not know who sent you, or what message you carry," the sorceress said to the black bird on her shoulder, "But I do ask that you forgive my need for haste. Time is short. If you know a way out, please show me."

She whirled away from that encroaching 'fuzziness' and hurried to the right branch of the corridor. Whatever was stalking her from behind wasn't close enough to see yet, but if it was fast enough on its feet that wouldn't necessarily give her much time to react. She needed to find a way out of this shadow realm quickly. The ley line was just outside, she thought. With that power there was virtually nothing she couldn't face. Without it, she could fight for a time, but would inevitably falter.

That could not be allowed.
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Corrigon »

The bird nods to Mei Ying, as if understanding her perfectly.

"Caw, caw, caw!" the bird speaks, cocking its head to one side before taking flight again. You feel it could easily out distance you, but is staying closeby in order to guide you ... to safety?

The darkness is thick and heavy and Mei Ying can only see so far. Even so, there appears to be a myriad of corridors and perhaps more confusingly a myriad of styles of corridor. Some look to be hewn out of stone, others marble effect and some would not look out of place on Phase World.

If Mei Ying lags behind, the bird circles back. Considering the maze of corridors, if it wasn't for the bird guiding you, surely you feel you would have been lost. You can only hope it is not guiding you into a trap.
OOC Comments
Now move into the main adventure thread
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Re: Mei Ying

Post by Mask »

In truth, even a trap would be a step forward.

The collapsing pocket dimension could not be averted, bargained with, reasoned with, or defeated. It was simple physics. One might as well argue with the strong nuclear force.

A trap implied intelligence, which would have wants, needs, goals...it could be confronted, fought against or convinced. Defeated even, if she was true to her purpose and fought well.

So she follows the old raven through the mad, twisted halls, listening to the distant song of the ancestors in the ley line and hoping to stand with them again soon...

(Moving to main forum thread!)
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