[PQ] Quality Assurance Testing

VAI The huntress Having just released her bolt, Vervain stood back to watch the others try their luck against the barrier when a flicker of darkness appeared at her side. Electric eyes flitted up, pinning on Archebold as he spoke, as he leant down to whisper so intimately into her ear... Her eyes widened, colour flushing high in her cheeks, and before she could school her reaction in any way, shape or form, she had turned to backhand him - hard - across the face. Whether or not it connected was irrelevant to her, the huntress taking a couple of steps back and hissing a breath in through her teeth. "Go and suck on someone else," she snapped.

Ashe cut off her attack the moment the attention of the ascended settled on her mother. She snapped her eyes to the pair, and something painfully hot seared in her chest as he addressed her and... child? Her eyes went wide, hear heart thundered in her ears as she looked her mother over. Was her mother... was her mother pregnant?    Then Vervain backhanded Archebold hard, and she was immediately at her mother's side with electricity flickering across her form, barrier forgotten for the moment. Her eyes flickered gold and she felt her teeth sharpen as she glared fiercely up at the ascended. She said nothing, her own pulse thumming loudly in her ears as every sense sharpened to painful clarity.    "Do not touch my mother," she warned darkly, ignoring the ice prickling down her spine.

Edrei Launceleyn
You know I talk too much. Come put your lips on mine and shut me up

With a grin toward Vervain, Edy shrugged having expected to be told to get her ass back to work. At least they'd had the good sense to leave Bastien there to man the bar.

As Kalt and a mother fucking unicorn just strolled her way, the teenager raised a brow giving the assassin a comical stare. "Oh who knows. Since we're apparently in a fucking fairy tale where assholes like you prance around on unicorns, I suppose anything is possible." All of this was said with a bright grin and a cheerful voice as she gave Kalt—and Kysma—a rather disbelieving look.

Listening as the pretty-alchemist gave his instructions, Edy watched surprised to see Zariah 's magic looking so different than it had at home. Glancing towards the family head Edy watched the cool confidence the woman seemed to exude, swallowing down what was almost a longing-filled sigh for the way things used to be.

All Edy knew about Archebold was that Ronin hated him, and, as any good teenager in a club was want to do, the girl picked up on that hatred and wore as if it were her own. And so when he was slapped by her employer, Edy cackled loudly and clapped her hands. Trotting towards Vai and Ashe with fire blazing in her palms, the teenager wagged a finger towards the ascended. She didn't know their fear of fire (it was just the only strong magic she possessed), but she let it plume high up her arms as she glared at him to back down.

Image by Lamreii!

As Remi struck the barrier with cold mounds of earth, the group would see the barrier radiate with magic where it was struck. This magical prismatic flare of colour would permeate outwards appearing almost to have strengthened the barrier. Vervain 's arrow struck the barrier easily, though as it did rather than impacting it as Remi's magic had, the barrier seemed to absorb it. Seconds later an icy wind whirled outwards, its strength ten-fold of what had hit it, gusting towards the group and likely forcing them each to take a few unsteady steps backwards. Zariah 's dual attack would prove interesting. The lightning which struck the barrier would not dissipate, but instead hold firm, energy radiating back towards the mage. It would take a significant amount of willpower on Zariah's part to make the bolt that now connected her to the barrier subside. The fire however was met with the opposite reaction to Remi's attack. The colourful radiance that had appeared to strengthen the barrier now recoiled and for a moment the world on the outside appeared perhaps a fraction more clear. Ashetta 's attack would see results similiar to Zariah's. Instead of the lightning pouring one direction from Ashe's palms towards the barrier, the lightning girl would feel the magic flowing back against her palms, strengthened and unwieldy. All the while after his initial assault, like Jigano, Remi wrote furiously. His handwriting became messy and unkempt, but he hardly minded. It was only as Archebold advanced towards Vervain that he put his quill down. The alchemist knew little of the history that lingered with the Yla family, and as the former captain reached out for Vai's wrist, Remi shivered slightly and tried to repress the gasp in his mouth. Knowing the feeling of what that was like all too well know, seeing Archebold ask for Vai's blood felt akin to asking her to disrobe right there in front of them all, for the intimacy that such a gesture actually brought. However as Vai's fingers flew towards the side of the ascended's face, the alchemist's jaw dropped, and like Ashe, his instinct was to rush to Vai's side. "Perhaps—" Remi cried, halting behind Ashe, colour high in his cheeks. "You could try to touch the barrier? If you do not feel pain and do not....ahh...have the same organs to be damaged?" He suggested warily, unsure how to best get the situation back under control. "Alright. We have tried wind, earth, fire, and lightning. I also have telekinesis, though I am not sure how that will help, as well as creation magic. Ashetta, you can still control water?" Looking towards the group, for this portion, the alchemist was merely looking to record what magic they all had at their disposal. REMI Where do you go when you're right next to me?

VAI The huntress Whilst it warmed her thoroughly to see so many coming to her defence, Vai wanted to concentrate on the reason they were here (and she could think about the prospect of that second heartbeat after this). The one thing Archebold might have been correct about was that she wasn't keen to put any unborn child of hers at risk, but thus far they didn't seem to have caused anything like damage to the barrier. So, smiling to Remi and nodding to him, she cast her mind to the magic at her disposal now. He already knew about all of them, she thought, but with the speed at which he was writing, she wouldn't be surprised if his notes caught fire. "As well as air, I am able to heal," she said. "And I can manipulate fire, though my control over it is weak currently." Something she hoped to rectify in the future.

Kalt laughed brightly when Edrei quipped her comment about his unicorn. He didn’t blame her for the initial disbelief. Hells, when he had first come across the creature, he doubted his own eyes at first, but low and behold, she was still with him.       ”I don’t prance,” the assassin said with a crooked smirk. ”I might leap, or bound, or…cavort…” he smirked to the teenager, ”…but I don’t prance.” Technicalities, but prance just sounded too fancy for him. Ashetta could prance, but not him.       He glanced at the crowd of magical people gathering, and there was a sense of unity that he felt… Something he hadn’t felt since being in the Guild. It was a strange pride that swelled in his chest to see so many magic users joining in a fight for freedom.       The shock that he felt through the bond, however, pulled him out of the proud trance. He furrowed his brows, seeing Ashe glare at Archebold in defense of her mother. His fingers itched to draw the magical sword Remi had made for him, but he kept himself under control. It wasn’t that he had anything necessarily against the Ascended man personally, but he trusted Ashe’s gut – usually – when she stood against someone.       Remi seemed to have the situation under control, though. He knew of Kalt’s magic, so if he wished for his help, the assassin wouldn’t hesitate. At this moment… Kalt was content to stay to the sidelines with Edrei and Kysma, who was currently sniffing at the teenager’s ankles and carefully avoiding jabbing her leg with her silver horn. KALT don't you just love the feeling when you know something is wrong but you're going to do it anyway?

As Remi approached, Ashe did not take her eyes from the ascended - not for a moment. Lightning flickered over her, across her, and her heart was racing wildly with its power. Cutting off her assault on the barrier to stand with her mother had been more of a struggle than she'd felt from her lightning before, and every nerve was awake and alive with it.    Ashe finally, reluctantly, let her attention be drawn back to the matter at hand, flicking her eyes from Archebold and to Remi as he addressed her directly. Vervain spoke first and... fire? When did that happen? Something in her warmed consideribly at that, and she felt an old and familiar magic stirring in her. Ashe took a steadying breath as she turned her eyes back to Remi.    She frowned slightly, but she nodded to him. "Yeah," she confirmed. "My water magic was never strong in Northaven though, and I haven't tested it much here. You know about my fire," - a barely-seen manuever of her left hand, and fire sparked from the end of the prosthetic pinky Remi had given her, the flame curling up around her wrist - "But it's weaker than it was back home too."    All the while, she considered the way her lightning reacted to the barrier. The more of her lightning she poured into it, she began to feel... charged. Overflowing with energy, and the lightning had gotten tough to control. Even now, electricity flickered all over, her heart was beating too quickly. She wanted to try it again, to find out more, but she held herself and let her own impressions drift back to Kalt .

Interesting... the earth itself wasn't magical, really, just held together by it. Its impact against the barrier was mostly kinetic, and the barrier absorbed it without difficulty. Did kinetic impact make it stronger? Or only when magic was involved? " Remi ," the bard called out. "Could you throw a rock - big as you can manage, and as hard as you can - against it, please? I want to see if that flare happens on impact or only when magic is involved."

He scowled as Vervain's arrow reflected back at them, stronger than before, just as he'd initially feared would happen. He was forced to shut his notebook for a few seconds as he stumbled back, but as soon as the wind died down he had it open again, writing a note about the 'air'row's effect.

Lightning from Zariah and Ashetta had a similar effect, rebounding back. But where was the barrier getting the power to magnify the attacks upon their return? It was so big, was it simply drawing the power from some other part of the shield, redistributing it until it could heal itself?

Ah, but the fire showed promise. It didn't even look that powerful, but the thinning was obvious to Jigano's sharp eyes, and his wicked smile returned as he underlined Zariah's name and the effect of her flame for later. He had just started to turn to Edy to ask her to step forward when things ground to an unexpected halt.

Jigano's eyes flickered up as he continued writing, watching Archibold approach Vervain. He tensed as his boss reacted violently to whatever the Ascended had whispered in her ear, inaudible to the rest of them but clearly unwelcome. He took a step towards her in case the fanged man retaliated - but most of the others present did the same, and with far more dangerous magic at their fingertips, as they had just demonstrated. The bard subsided, grimly amused at how, for a moment, they really had all been in synch, even his intense antipathy towards Ashetta forgotten as they had been willing to close ranks around a shared friend.

Though he was curious to see if Archebold would be ejected from their gathering, Remi found a different use for the Ascended that had a pale brow arching in surprise. He hadn't thought the boy so cold-blooded... but then, the vampire had just done something to upset his mother, apparently. The lorekeeper would dutifully record the outcome, feeling disinclined to speak up for the man for much the same reason. He had no delusions of his own sainthood, after all.

Regardless of Archibold's response, the rest of the gathering began to pipe up with their hidden talents, and it was fascinating even without the Barrier test to hear what disparate magics they had. Upon hearing that Ashetta had access to water, the lorekeeper grit his teeth in frustration as to why the foolish girl hadn't used that instead of just repeating Zariah's attack - though at least he'd been able to record that the barrier had reacted the same way to two different mages using the same spell.

That Vervain was a healer was good to know - not now, but perhaps later. Descriptions of the Spire Demon had sent a few ideas wriggling in the back of his mind, and that might come in handy for more reasons than one. The sheer amount of fire magic on hand was interesting as well.

He lifted his head from his notes to raise a brow at Remi , grin a touch wry. "I'm curious as to what effect water might have. I'm more worried about combining your lightning casters into a cooperative attack - it seems to be rebounding back in a logarithmic fashion rather than a linear one. If they attack together the rebound may be more than they can handle, and could strike out at the rest of us." His grin turned a touch sharp, though it was aimed at the barrier rather than the young man. "But did you see how little it liked the taste of fire? And conveniently, that seems to be the most popular magic between those gathered here. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Zariah Be dangerous darling, for the world rises and falls at your feet. Her own magic rebounding at her? Oh yeah. That was a fast way to piss the Launceleyn Head off. Her brows furrowed as she glared at the lightning pressing back against her own attack, fighting to dominate the situation. But Zariah was not so easily stamped out. Her arm at bent back from the force, making a right angle with her shoulder. Gritting her teeth she focused on the energy she was harnessing, and alongside shoving her hand forward again to straighten her arm, she willed her lightning forward. A loud snapping and crackling sound followed as the electricity she wielded grew in size and shoved the opposing force back. It was just enough to give her time to cut off the flow of magic and cease the assault. Resistance was futile when Zariah wanted something done. She had, however noticed the way the barrier responded to the fire she had been able to conjure. Hazel eyes slid over to look at Remi. ”If I recall correctly, the Spire beast reacts negatively to burning, and it seems so does this barrier. I believe that is the key to the answer you seek. I wouldn’t be so hasty to use the opposite element against it. If it burns easily it may gain strength from water.” She surmised. It was just a guess, but what else was there to say? As far as the other squabbling…well. Best leave that to the fools who couldn’t keep their tempers in check. Old Zariah would have loved it. New Zariah avoided it. Not her problem.

archebold Fear is the price of imagination Archebold's head snapped to the side as he smiled at Vervain , tongue over his tongue. "A simple no would have sufficed. Everyone is so willing to strike first." Again his blackened eyes looked to Vai's stomach before holding her gaze. "For the sake of your child, I'll hold my hand back. I'm not without principles after all...just know my charity only goes so far...irritable cunt." The latter muttered under his breath as he turned a side long glance to Ashetta "No need for that little one." A wink was given to Ashe before turning to regard Edrei a moment at the sound of her laughter, giving her a grin as she attempted to glare him off. He thought to double-tap his walking stick, though for the sake of this mission, regrettably magic was needed. "How about that..." He spoke before turning to Remi "Ignorantly hateful little creatures...should really just ignore this little quest and leave you to wallow in your fruitless efforts to bend this barrier. Bothers me none watching the lot of you rot..." Walking over to the Alchemist, walking stick tapping gently as he offered the young man a smile. "They should consider themselves fortunate it's your voice that speaks loudest, and for the life of me...I just can't seem to go out of my way to disappoint you." A breathless sigh given as he looked over the barrier than to Remi before he gave him a wink. "Touch it...simple idea...here goes." Archebold tapped slowly as he closed in on the barrier, his eyes surveying it's massive form before he looked over at his hand. "Well then...should be fun." His hand slowly leaned toward the barrier before coming into contact. Had there been no initial ill effects from the contact, he would wind back and punch the barrier. Otherwise he would await the outcome from the initial contact.

"Ah—" The alchemist murmured, glancing towards Jigano. As the only earth-user he'd only included his magic to get a cursory understanding of it, though out of all the elements he assumed that earth would probably be the least reactive with the barrier. With slightly furrowed brows, Remi nodded obediently. A strange sort of emotion had began to weasel its way into the back of his mind. Something rather defensive. He found the words this is my experiment humming on his tongue, and quickly he swallowed down the emotion with an unhappy cough of horror. Holding out his hands as if actually gripping something, Remi managed to pull a chunk of earth roughly the size of his own body up, leaving a barren crater in its place. With an oomph of effort, he thrust it towards the barrier. Where it struck, that same cataclysm of magical light expanded outwards like a net, the strengthening beams of light warping upwards against the curved outline of the barrier. Glancing towards the bard, Remi raised an eyebrow to see if his actions had been satisfactory, before pulling his notebook out to write their collective answers. Listening to Zariah, the alchemist nodded thoughtfully. "I had thought so as well Countess Launceleyn." Remi replied in a voice dripping with the respect that Zariah would have been owed back in Northaven. He and the fire-mage had never been friends or even friendly and though it was easier to affect a tone of camaraderie around the Ronins and Lorens of the world, the same could not be said for someone as well-known as Zariah. "I do however wish to be sure. It is possible that opposing elements do not react the same." He added after a moment, eyes lowered respectfully. Turning to Ashetta, Remi smiled. "Weak or not, your water please." He said with a grin, doubting anything at all about his raven-haired friend could be considered weak. Glancing towards Jigano, the alchemist frowned slightly though he tried to clear the displeasure from his face. He..hadn't said that he was going to combine the efforts of the lightning mages had he? He had said a group assault, but that was not quite the same. Feeling internally a bit exasperated at just how condescending the bard always seemed to treat him, Remi nodded dutifully with a small smile. "Quite right." The alchemist agreed obediently. The question of whether the alchemist had the same thoughts as the bard, presumably a fiery assault, Remi again forced a smile smile and gave a casual shrug. "There is more yet I would like to test." He replied politely wondering what it was he'd ever done to give the bard the idea that he was somehow quite incapable of running this experiment. Remi found an unbidden smile curling on his lips as if somehow captivated by the ex-captain. Pale-stare unwaveringly focused on Archebold. "You are the only here who might be able to get close. But...be careful, Archebold." As Archebold stepped towards the barrier, he would feel the resonance in his bones quite sharply. It jumbled the animation-fluid, such that forward progression would feel quite difficult, like walking into a stronger and stronger wind. Unlike non-ascended who would have collapsed before now, if he pressed on through his weariness, a sudden and complete paresthesia will grip him. His punch of the barrier will be enough to nearly send him to his knees as nearly all strength is sapped from his body. If he does not retreat quickly or is helped, he will fall unconscious.` "Archebold!" Remi cried, hands instinctively reaching out. Grabbing at the earth beneath the ex-captain, Remi pulled and tugged trying to force the man over. Moving earth was one thing, but with a man on top Remi found himself struggling. Adding in his telekinesis hardly helped given that he could only move small objects, but still he strained and pulled to magically force the captain closer. It was because of him that Archebold had gone towards the barrier after all. (only Ashe has a task this round, but everyone else can feel free to reply) REMI Where do you go when you're right next to me?

Ashe's lip feathered in a barely contained sneer, flash of starped teeth showing through her lips at the bloodfiend ascended. She didn't take her eyes from him, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched him struggle for the border. Her lip feathered, but golden eyes bled back into blue, and she kept her face wholly blank at the results. The kept the information tucked away, everything she could soak in. The more she knew, the better. Wind rebounds. Earth is ineffective. Lightning doubles back. Fire actually does something. Ascended are less than impervious. She wondered at Remi's thoughts on all this... beyond his aparently immediate need to save the ex captain. Her eyes narrowed, but she knew her magic was of no use here.    She held her nuetral expression until Archebold was safe. She felt a momentary flicker of concern at the apparent friendly feelings between her fellow hybrid and the ascended, but she swallowed it down for now. She'd review later. For now...    Water. Ashe forced tight-lipped smile to Remi at his request before she took a careful breath. Her water had always been her most soft spoken of her magics, quiet and always waiting to greet her in her moments of stillness and silence. She hadn't paid much attention to it here... With a little bit of pressure to a button in her palm, and a flame bloomed to life from the end of the pinky finger Remi had made her. The small flame curled into her palm and grew until she sent it into the snow. It sizzled and steamed, and the moment the snow melted into its more pliable state, she pulled at the water and greeted it like an old friend.    Ashe formed the water into something that resembled a spear, and she flicked her eyes sharply to the barrier. She had a feeling the water would do little to nothing, but with as much command over the ever changing element as she could manage, she sent the spear of water shooting at the barrier.

Remi once again used his magic, which… was not what Jigano had asked or wanted to see, in point of fact. He knew he’d specifically said “without magic” but the boy was remarkably skilled at not listening to the bard, and when Remi looked back at him the white-haired man just smiled wanly, giving a shallow nod of… well, acknowledgment. Remi had certainly done something, even if it wasn’t what he asked.

Which made the obsequious fawning over the rude, haughty woman a moment later all the more surprising, enough so that Jigano raised a brow as he looked from Edrei to Remi and back to Zariah. This was certainly… interesting, if mildly bruising to the lorekeeper’s ego. But then, the pup had a talent for that as well. When the young man turned back to him, he merely smiled and nodded, curious to see what else Remi would come up with to try with the powers they had at their disposal. And speaking of disposal…

He wouldn’t lie and say there wasn’t a flicker of satisfaction when Archebold fell thanks to Remi’s suggestion that he sacrifice himself to the Barrier – even as there was an even smaller wisp of admiration that the vampire had actually gone through with it. Knowing his own limits, however, he stayed where he was and wrote down all that he had witnessed, letting the pup try to salvage the body – conscious or unconscious – of the man he’d sent into such danger, without thinking through the consequences or having a means ready to retrieve the sacrificial goat should he fall.

Poor planning and a man injured because of it. He wished he was more surprised at the boy's rashness, but so long as Edrei and Vervain weren't given similarly suicidal orders, he would wait and see where Remi wished to take things.

Then it was the assassin’s turn again, turning water to a weapon and flinging it on command, and Jigano turned blue eyes to watch its path and the results of its impact, marking stick poised to write further.

archebold Fear is the price of imagination Archebold had looked over his hands as he closed in on the barrier, before looking over than wall that encased them in appreciation. The sensation and sudden resistance slowing his approach was a curious effect but did little to stop his attempt at perhaps finding a way out. As his hand struck the barrier he felt his body give beneath him. "Well...that was...anticlimactic..." Archebold muttered through gritted teeth before falling to the ground. The sunlight did little to aid his current predicament as his eyes squinted as he looked up. Sheer force of will caused the ascended to turn onto his stomach as his fingers dug into the ground and clawed his way against the force of the barrier. He looked over at Remi giving him a strained wink as he slowly, forcibly continued to claw forward...suddenly feeling his momentum carrying slightly easier, unaware it was Remi giving him whatever slight edge he could use. Clawing a distance away from the barrier that the motions felt free he would stab the ground with his walking stick and weakly push himself bare able to stand. "Could have sworn...that was concern in your voice..." His hand absently dusted off his suit as if it really did much to clean him off. It was still a rather charming attempt to stay looking presentable before his friend. "Afraid you're on your own...for now...lest you find the company of ashes suitable." Eyes nearly rolled into his head before Archebold held his balance true, giving a weak reassuring smirk.