Magical Teacher Professor Landry! - Discussion 4: Battles Take Too Long!

[Teal Mage]

Are we still in the Prologue!?

Curse my horrendously slow posting schedule! But, we have filled 3 Discussions and a Sign-Up now, which is never a bad sign. Let's get the usual points up. First, PCs!

Jay Miles (Overcast), dressed light.
Jackson Hall (Dracorion), still wishes he was a better wizard.
Dalbhach Nuada (Krylo), the least gay fairy ever.
Astarte Whitewrap (Armored Bishoujo), needs singing lessons.
Sean Castevet (BardTheFifthLightWarrior), Canadians cheat!?
Johanna Imirsdotter (Arhra), still a snowcone.
Diana Tear (Steel Shadow), possibly in trouble!
Sao Opallios (Riin Whitewind), might be the class rep!
Shinobu Meguro (Girasol of Chaos), crazy and violent!
Kohana Akecheta (SinrXIII), no shirt, no shoes, all fan service!

I don't know if Krogoth is still in, but if he is, I'll repost his character bio link. In any event!

Map time! This is focused in on the tower.



Comments about the post!

1) The crystal walls are super flimsy. It won't be hard to break them if you try. A solid punch should be more than enough to punch a hole in them.

2) Dal could conceivably reach the top of the tower by the end of his action post, because of his Flight Ability. Any one else will need to spend a post in transit, at minimum. Astarte is the closest to the top, when it comes to pure distance, with Jay in second and Sao/Shin third. None of you should reach a position to attack this turn. Well, Astarte could throw a shoe at Hannah when she reaches the tower, I suppose. She's not in melee range, but a long-range attack is an option.

3) Unfortunately, Hannah's root spear flew off course and is now laying on the tower's ramp. Jay and everyone else who intends to walk up will need to find a way around it. It shouldn't be too much trouble - its surface has plenty of handholds, so climbing over it would be easy. There's even a small gap between it and the ramp's wall, which you could crawl through if you wanted.

4) Shuyin and Hannah will have full character sheets up, probably by tomorrow, in this thread. Will probably edit them in, so, watch for them (may double post instead though). Might also throw Zet and Al's finalized bios in too.

I'm pretty tired right now, so I'm sure I missed something. If you have questions, I'll be online (on my IMs) tomorrow. If I'm not, just post here in the OoC, or PM me. Comments and feedback are also appreciated!

Anyway, I hope all enjoyed this latest post. Will make the next one sooner if the players who I consider vital actors to the scene post quicker. Most of you are stuck in transit positions anyway, alas.


Edit!

I was going to make the appropriate character sheets, but they're excessive, and OoC. So! I changed my mind.

[Teal Mage]

Lots of information this time, most of it unrelated to the last post. Seems reasonable to double post; especially because Discussion Threads for this RP seem more like player-wide announcement threads than for OoC discussion. I'm not sure if that should worry me or not!

First up! Map.

As a reminder, the root bisecting the field is easy to climb.

Next, boss bios! Not all abilities are fully elaborated on, but they should have information in here for you to accurately react to them if you're hit.

Name: Alphonse Shuyin
Gender: Male
Aura: Light Orange-Pink
Race: Parahuman (Magical Teacher)

Appearance: 5'10, slimly built, well-muscled, amber eyed and with a hint of a tan on his flawless skin, Shuyin's a good example of an adult Bishonen. Has azure blue hair, which hangs down to the small of his back. Extending from his back are four gold-orange wings, seemingly made from folding paper fans, emblazoned with a white crane in flight.

Presently, the bluenette Professor has foregone his usual tuxedo in favor of a more Eastern-style robe. Made of flawless white material, the robes are decorated with purple clouds and orange-gold crane prints, similar to the ones found on his folding fans and wings. The edges of a vivid purple underrobe are also visible around the triangular neckline and broad sleeve-ends. In place of shoes, he wears a pari of Tabi - japanese socks - on his feet.

Level: 12

Boss Abilities, found here.Abilities:
Eyes of Gold - Shuyin's eyes are an unnerving gold colour and possess cat-like slitted pupils; its not hard to guess that they hold some mysterious power. But, it will be up to you to determine what exactly they do.

Generate: Tea Cup - A White Generation Ability which creates a handleless cup of steaming, levitating, green tea. Only one may be generated at a time, but there is no limit to the number of tea cups that may exist simultaneously. Shuyin periodically uses these as projectiles; they are very delicate, and easily break, causing burns and a small amount of cuts.

Summon Weapon: Jian - Standard Summoning Ability, it creates a straight and double-edged sword - of slightly less than standard length - in the Chinese style. The blade is a brightly gleaming silver, while the hilt and guard appear to be done in bronze. The handle is wrapped in a dark and well-worn leather strap. No special properties.

Summon Artifact: Fan of Swirling Ash - Summons a folding paper fan, depicting a mass of pink-grey powder on a pale backdrop, with dark wood covers. Though not designed for battle, effective for parrying and passible as an improvised weapon in a pinch. The true purpose of the Fan of Swirling Ash is found in a destructive Eastern Ritual designed for use in Mass Combat; has high destructive potential, but also requires a fair set-up. Hope you never learn what it precisely does.

Ceremonial Torrent - A spell that fires a massive column of scalding green tea in a powerful straight-line blast. Easily capable of lifting a fully grown human from their feet, breaking bones, causing serious burns and pulverizing stone. This is the Mastery Version of Teanne's Tea Bomb.

Perfect Palm Defense - Funneling qi into his hand, Shuyin creates a kinetic energy canceling barrier over his palm. Effectively, if he can fit an attack in his hand, he stop it. May not be as perfect a defense as the name implies.

Shuyin Style: Soaring Crane Strike - Shuyin's signature attack. When he launches a melee attack, armed or not, he can suppliments it with an explosive blast of qi. An ethereal white crane appears over him during the attack, which can pass through barriers, will send the victim flying and deal unusually great damage, if it hits.

Levitation - Professor Shuyin can levitate - though the precise mechanics of this isn't entirely clear. What is clear that he's able to move through the air, as if there was solid ground beneath him, and, by beating his fan-like wings, is capable of putting on sudden bursts of speed. Though this is not equivilant to Flash-Step, it is still far faster than he could run normally. Obviously, this ability may also be used to increase jumping distance and negate falling damage.


Name: Hannah Iruimi
Gender: Female
Aura: Light Blue
Race: Parahuman (Magical Archer)

Appearance: Standing at 5'7, Hannah has shining, and faintly wavey, blond hair and glittering green eyes. Her figure is slim, but well proportioned enough to make most models jealous. Despite her soft appearance, she is in fact quite strong, due to special martial arts training. Hannah is never seen without her green-tinted silver necklace, which is stylized like three vines twinned around each other, though she sometimes wears it as an anklet or bracelet.

Normally wears designer clothes, which, like her soft appearance, are a ruse. Presently, however, she seems to have taken to wearing something that belongs in an anime - or a fantasy story, but might be a better fit to her personality. Encircling her brow, and nestled amid her blond hair, is a silver circlet. A deep green leotard – almost black –, overlaid with vivid blue in a camouflage-like pattern, and shot through with bronze veins, covers her chest, leaving her legs, arms and neck exposed. Below, a short spring-green pleated mini-skirt extends to almost cover her to the knees, in a style reminiscent of Sailor Moon. A short cloak, bordered in bronze, in the same spring-green hangs off her shoulders, stopping just short of her waist. Ankle height boots and gloves that extend just past her wrists both vivid blue, made from leather, trimmed with bronze and cuffed at their tops, complete the outfit.

In short: Something like a Sailor Scout, under a cloak, and with fancier boots/gloves.

Level: 19

Boss Abilities found here!Abilities:
Living Ivy - Hannah's trademark fashion accessory, a trio of stylized vines twinned around one another, made of green tinted silver. Possesses mysterious properties, such as the ability to change into a bow, or a shield wall; likely has other abilities as well. Arrows generated by Ivy are made with Hannah's inner power, and unless she is extremely angry, will barely pierce their target's skin; though they are still quite capable of bruising and breaking a victim's bones.

Goddess of Futile Earth - Once a Black Ability, now awakened to its full power. With a touch, Hannah can create plant life of any form on any surface and empower it with great size, strength and durability. They seem to possess varying levels of intelligence. What limits this ability has is unclear.

Arrows of Stone - A common Western Battle Spell. With an incantation, Hannah creates magical beams of light, often three times the size of her normal arrows and heavy as solid rock. Unlike her normal arrows, these deal strictly blunt damage – though are heavy enough to easily break bones, and most physical barriers. By modifying the incantation slightly, Hannah is able to direct these arrows after firing and, using a truncated one, she may fire up to three of them from her hand.

Flash Step - The standard long-range instant movement ability.

Stone Saber - A modified Western Battle Spell. It generates a rapier of hewn stone, magically strengthened to be the equivalent of most metal weapons. Uses a truncated incantation.

Iruimi Special - An attack developed with Professor Shuyin, which combines Hannah's Qi, Magic and Inner Power with a melee attack. Her weapon glows green, and the next attack will leave a brilliant green gash, it hits. Vines explode from the gash, to entangle the target, which also feed on the victim's magical power while they're at it. Despite appearances, this attack deals no physical damage, only pain. If used on something that is only supported by magic (Marisa's Fire Wall, for instance) the thing in question will collapse shortly.

The Earth Goddess Weeps - An original spell developed by Hannah, one that Supernatural Organizations would classify as a War spell, if they saw it. Its designed to cause mass destruction. Requires a long incantation, highly draining. Hope I never need to elaborate on the precise effect.

Golem Creation - With a little mud, and a lot of time, Hannah can sculpt and animate an artificial human to assist her. She's only able to support two of them at once, but they're both surprisingly intelligent for piles of magical mud, and because of subsequent improvements on this technique, each possess their own unique Supernatural abilities. Their natural conditions are stronger than all but the most athletic of humans, and because they, by and large, lack internal organs, are extremely difficult to kill.



With the two bosses power sets defined, a lot of players have leveled up since this started! In fact, several did in my last post alone. Here's a list that details your current aura colours, levels (a pretty meaningless number, since your ability in battle is independent of your level), and instructions as to how to use any new levels you've gotten, if you have any say in how to use it, that is. Below it is a list of all newly gained abilities. Oh, and levels will be slower the more you get.

Free Levels may be used to buy an entirely new skill, or upgrade a pre-existing one. Its your decision, but I recommend thinking about what your character would think they need in this situation. Also keep in mind that certain abilities require training to use, so a Free Level may not buy them. Submit ability requests/proposals either here or in PM!

Kohana Akecheta, Level 5, Dusty Green-Yellow Aura. No Level.
Sean Castevet, Level 4, Orange-Yellow (as of Level 3) Aura. Free Level.
Jackson Hall, Level 6, Light Blue Aura (as of Level 4). Gale Fist Levelled up, and you have a Free Level on top of it.
Johanna Imirsdotter, Level 5, Faintly Green tinted Yellow Aura. No Level.
Shinobu Meguro/Chou Meguro, Level 7, Dark Orange Aura (as of 6). Free Level.
Jay Miles, Level 5, Black (currently Pale Yellow, with a hint of Green) Aura. No Level.
Dalbhach Nuada, Level 6, Light Yellow (as of Level 5). Free Level.
Sao Opallios, Level 7, Light Green-Yellow (as of Level 6). Free Level.
Diana Tear, Level 4, Black Aura. No Level.
Astarte Whitewrap, Level 4, Yellow Aura. No Level.

List of new PC powers

Summon: Guardian Wolf (Pup)
User: Kohana Akecheta
Element: Black
Level: 1
An ability that summons Kohana's guardian Wolf Spirit, though because it relies on Kohana's spiritual power on this side, it can only manifest as a puppy. Like most summon animals, it's unusually tough and in good shape, but is still, well, a puppy. Not very threatening. It does, however, project a weak magic deadening shield, which can weaken supernatural abilities inside of its area of influence. Because Kohana doesn't have a grasp of how to control when the Puppy manifests, it's a Black Ability, for now.

Now I see you…
User: Kohana Akecheta
Element: Blue
Level: 1
Because Now You See Me… wasn't very useful, this is a continuity shift of that ability. Through Shaman training, Kohana has obtained the ability to draw out the spirits possessing objects, people or locations, and force them into physical form. After that, he can, well, kick them – or something. Also works on items gifted with artificial intelligence, including AIs in Computers. Requires physical contact. Has a secondary effect of letting Kohana sense when a spirit is near; they make his tail bristle. He can also smell them.

Aura Reading (Detailed)
User: Jackson Hall
Element: White
Level: 2
A refinement of Jack's innate ability to decipher the hidden meaning of Auras. Now, more detailed and inclusive information regarding the target's power set is revealed when he studies a flared Aura (unflared auras can be read, with greater time and study). Often includes information, in Western Wizarding terms, of the target's race.

Mirror Strike
User: Johanna Imirsdotter
Element: Red
Level: 1
When Johanna launches a physical attack on an enemy, on that foe's opposite side, a second Johanna appears in a burst of mist. It mirrors the original's attack, allowing Jo to strike simultaneously from two directions. Once the attack concludes, the new Jo vanishes back into mist. This ability is fairly draining, two rapid bursts will tire the user, and the limit is three in succession. Only works with hand-to-hand attacks, or melee attacks with ice weapons created by Jo's abilities.

Mist Form
User: Johanna Imirsdotter
Element: Yellow
Level: 1
The Jotun are a difficult breed to kill. This ability is Jo's proof. Upon activation, she transforms into intangible white mist, which may move through physical objects like a ghost. The mist has limited levitation powers as well, but this is not outright flight – Jo must remain near a surface to move of her own violation. She can not breathe in this state, and may only remain in it as long as she can hold her breath. The exception to this rule is if she is currently passing through something, or something is passing through her; though she still can not breath, she will not be able to reform until her Mist body is no longer disturbed. It may be triggered reflexively, but exhausts Jo quickly, and she must catch her breath between uses.

HP Drain
User: Shinubo Meguro/Chou Meguro
Element: Yellow
Level: 1
This ability allows Shinobu to draw on the pain she inflicts on her foes, and use it to heal her own body, restore her expended energy, and - if she happens to be entirely fresh - improve her combat abilities. The more serious the injury she inflicts, the greater the healing effect is. Chou variant unspecified.

Blue Oni/Red Oni
User: Shinubo Meguro/Chou Meguro
Element: Black
Level: 1
Even Supernaturals develop mental disorders. For Shin, its multiple personalities disorder. Her two personalities, Shin and Chou respectively, come and go, with Shin seeming to be the dominant of the two. When Shin is in control, her skin, horns and eyes are bright red. With Chou in control, they're blue. Though this ability is mainly a superficial and favor one, the abilities Shinubo and Chou have access to may differ depending on which personality is in control.

Summon: Baseball Uniform
User: Jay Miles
Element: Black
Level: 1
A standard Black Summoning Ability, under normal circumstances. When Jay needs it, his trademark white and black Love & Fightiology Baseball Uniform will appear folded near him. Like most Black Summon Abilities, this only works if Jay does not consciously try to make it appear. The outfit has no special properties, save that, after it is put away and out of Jay's sight, it will slowly begin to repair and clean itself. Attempts to measure or record this phenomenon will prevent it from happening.

Healing Stream
User: Sao Opallios
Element: Blue, White
Level: 1
A small blessing that Sao can bestow, in the form of a healing salve. After being applied to the general area of the wound by Sao, the regenerative magic will seek out the wound – internal or external – and regenerate it quickly. Until the healing is complete, the wound in question will feel cool and wet. Sao must physically touch the target to pass this blessing.

Corrodere
User: Sao Opallios
Element: Yellow
Level: 1
A small curse that Sao can bestow, in the form of an acidic salve. Highly corrosive in nature, it will eat through anything it touches quickly, with the exception of Sao and her clothes. She is not, however, able to pass this immunity on to others.

Deathly Gaze
User: Astarte Whitewrap
Element: White
Level: 1
Astarte's eyes fill with the unearthly light of undeath, causing her irises to become the same color as her aura, and emit a soft light. If she catches the eyes of anyone while this ability is active, they will be overcome with a paralyzing sense of fear - so long as the eye contact is maintained. A lingering sense of fear remains with the target, even after eye contact is broken. Deathly Gaze's full paralysis is less effective after the first exposure to it. This ability may cause severe mental damage to its victim, if eye contact is maintained for a long time, but prolonged use also gives Astarte headaches. May be activated reflexively, but the curse takes a few moments to 'warm up' before becoming viable.

Anyway, the usual way to end a post, any questions?

I'd prefer if you submitted new power proposals in-thread, incidentially. I feel less like I'm talking to myself, that way.

Oh, and I have PM for Kohana. SinrXIII? Please don't post until you get it. Will write it tomorrow.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Teal Mage

I'd prefer if you submitted new power proposals in-thread, incidentially. I feel less like I'm talking to myself, that way.

Fiiiiiine.

Preferred Ability
Desynch-Glamour Upgrade
Element: White, I would assume.
Effect: Dal is able to manipulate the illusions around himself to make it appear as though he is slightly behind or ahead of himself in time by about a second.

Further explanation: We shall use a combat situation to further explain how this would work in practice (as it is an application of his illusions that Dal created specifically for swordplay back in the day).

Example 1: Dal moves to attack, but due to this ability his strike seems to be coming earlier than it really is. His opponent moves to block, and Dal is able to pull back to strike from a new angle, adjust to strike around the guard, or otherwise alter his attack with what appears to be super human reflexes to anyone watching. In reality, however, Dal has been moving at the same speed as ever, and has simply had a little extra time to react to his opponents defense. The illusion of speed is due to his glamour catching up to his actual body.

Example 2: Dal moves to attack once more, but this time the strike seems to be coming a fraction of a second later. The opponent guards too late and Dal's strike lands. In this situation, however, there would be no seeming supernatural speed. Indeed, it might even appear as if Dal is recovering from the block more slowly than he should be. Further, due to the fact that glamour fools all five senses, the opponent would feel themselves blocking successfully and would not feel any pain from their wound, and, assuming it is non-fatal, would be unlikely to even notice it until, or unless, it is pointed out. Spectators would be even less likely to notice the wound.

Example 3: The defense. Due to the fact that Dal is never exactly where he appears to be (unless the battle has broken enough for him to be standing still), the opponent's strikes find it much more difficult to find openings in the Fae's defense that are actually still there when the attack is made.

However, unless he specifically keeps the ability synched in a particular direction (ahead or behind him--which has its own issues) its use is rather obvious. Not that there is an illusion about him persay, but that there is SOMETHING wrong, as his body seems to jerk and sway, with bursts of stuttering unnatural speed, or equally unnatural (for a battle, anyway) and stuttering lethargy.


Or if that one is not okay, or not okay YET, then wing upgrade to allow flight at running speeds.

[Bard The 5th LW]

So are we all capable of seeing Professor Landry's corpse? Or is it just not there anymore?

[Dracorion]

Turned into black sparkles.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Well then I'm crossing off 'Berserker Rage' from the list of reactions, because I don't think Sean was in a position to see it before it melted away.

[Dracorion]

Well, Jack's pretty pissed.

But also, he thinks the whole thing is stupid.

Also, he's pretty sure Landry is dead, or worse, going to haunt her students forever.

[Bard The 5th LW]

I mean, Sean just flat doesn't even know she's dead. His reaction would be pretty similar if he saw her get killed.

[Girasol of Chaos]

Shin/Chou got a level up! This is what I'd like to request as their new ability.

Threat-based aura: Varies on the oni currently active. The respective threat aura can be toggled on and off, but will slowly drain the oni's energy while active.

Shin's threat aura: Fear - Activated with a roar, a provoking cry is let loose from the red oni. Any opponents in a close vicinity will consider Shin more of a threat and act accordingly. Unless the enemy is strong-willed, Shin's form will seem more intimidating and monstorous. Toggled off when Shin makes a weak cry or when combat ends

Chou's threat aura: Disregard- Activated by whispering 'apacchAya' (u-pahch-AH-ya). Any opponents in close range will consider Chou less of a threat and act accordingly. She will be less intimidating and in some cases, easy to overlook unless the opponent is very specifically targeting her. Toggled off if she roars or when combat ends.

At higher levels these auras will possibly be more effective- Shin's would cause more fear than aggro, and Chou's would make her less noticable in battle.


Previous abilities, Chou versions:

Human Illusion- The only difference between Chou and Shin with the illusion up that is visible is the eye color. Hair styling and clothes may be different daily.

Wall walk- In place of strength surge, Chou, after using handsigns, will gain the ability to walk on any surface as if it could sustain her, but her energy will constantly drain. Being level 2, this includes water.

Oni Club remains unchanged.

HP drain remains unchanged, but Chou is much less likely to attack.

[Teal Mage]

Originally Posted by Dracorion

But also, he thinks the whole thing is stupid.

I haven't the slightest idea why!

Originally Posted by Bard The 5th LW

Well then I'm crossing off 'Berserker Rage' from the list of reactions, because I don't think Sean was in a position to see it before it melted away.

Sean, Jo, Sao and Chou were teleported up just after Landry dissolved, so no, they wouldn't know what happened to her. Kohana would have missed it too, since she was on the other side of the vine. Other than Jack, only Jay would have seen everything that happened to Landry. Astarte would have arrived too late to see the impaling, but she'd have seen Landry hanging limply in the vines, the blood one her chest, and heard her last words -

Originally Posted by Professor Landry

"Let you touch my students!"

- which are, granted, a little misleading as they are. After that, Astarte would have seen the Professor evaporate into sparks - then the explosion would have floored her and, well, you know the rest. Dal would have been much the same, though he'd only have caught the barest glimpse of Landry before she turned to sparkles; might not have been enough time for him to catch the details of her injuries.

Hope that helps everyone?

Originally Posted by Krylo

Desynch-Glamour Upgrade
Element: White, I would assume.
Effect: Dal is able to manipulate the illusions around himself to make it appear as though he is slightly behind or ahead of himself in time by about a second.

This particular application of Glamour is White - oh wait, its a Full Glamour. Uh. We'll have to see how it comes out. To start:

I won't be allowing this to have a full Glamour effect; limiting it to strictly visual. It gets really confusing when you're talking attacks that can't be felt. I'd be willing to allow said Full Glamour, but only if the ability is single-target. Would either need to be touch based, trigger after a successful attack (what that means would need to be determined) or trigger after a projectile blast of some kind. Not crazy about making it an Eye-Based power, but mostly because I'm not sure how to work it. I'll look at a proposal for one, if you want, though.

Essentially, to get a Full Glamour, it needs to be single-targeting, and have a way to hit that target. AoE version (I think that's what this is supposed to be?) would be strictly visual. Or maybe extremely draining and with a moderate range of influence - but that would still have a projectile-like agent of transference. Additionally, two questions:

1) When he activates it, does the real him vanish entirely? In the event he does, I should mention that his aura would extend to surround both the Illusion Dal and the real one. A smart enemy would get wise to this indicator of his position eventually.

2) Does he have to consciously control what the Fake Dal does? There's two ways I could see it working. Either a consciously misleading illusion, or, what I'd call Psuedo Future Sight - it does exactly what Dal is planning to do a second or so in the future, he can't make a misleading image, but the attack's timing would be unexpected. The later's simpler for Dal to handle, but less variable. The former would require greater concentration on Dal's part; multitasking would be hard.

If you're not cool with any of these restraints, may want to think of something else. Reminds me a bit of (lol)Aizen as it stands.

Originally Posted by QUOTE=Krylo

Or if that one is not okay, or not okay YET, then wing upgrade to allow flight at running speeds.

Oh, and I'm just going to say that Dal can fly at running speed, no level needed. In retrospect, flying at walking speed only is a little silly - I'm not sure why I was so hard-line about it. Running speed - or using the Jump-Bursts - in-mid air is fine, but should have the same stamina constraints that Dal would have, if he was one the ground while using them.

Originally Posted by Girasol of Chaos

Threat-based aura: Varies on the Oni currently active. The respective threat aura can be toggled on and off, but will slowly drain the Oni's energy while active.

So, is Shin's Fear Aura something that you need to hear her roar to be affected by, or is that simply the method of turning it on and off? If it isn't activated by hearing the roar, would the Fear Aura kick in when Shin got close to someone, or does that person need to see Shin (at least once) while the Aura is active to be affected?

Chou's version is fine.

Previous abilities

Modification to the Human Illusion and Strength Surge to account for Shin/Chou variation is fine.