The Blacksmith of Mandira

The new mercenaries that came to join my forces look around the outpost when we arrive and tell me, "You know... you probably shouldn't have discarded the blacksmith so needlessly. Your blacksmiths here are quite subpar to what you are going to need if you really want to make a play for the whole of this island. We'll back you no matter what but when it comes time to properly arm your forces, you will have to import weapons instead of just making them or simply trading for or importing just the ore to make your own weapons and armor." I stand at the table looking over a model of the outpost's layout and defenses to figure out where I should focus next when they inform me of that which I already know. I pause for a moment and realize that there is some merit to their case. "Hmm... you all are going to take over finding ways to safeguard the outpost while I am gone. I am going... fishing." I fade from sight and reappear hovering over the ocean.

"I should have dropped him somewhere around... there it is." Just under the water, I am able to see his floating body and I smirk. I suppose it is a good thing that I didn't weigh down his body or anything or I would have needed to go swimming and I'm not quite in the mood for that. Aiming my right hand at him, his body is telekinetically hoisted up to me. As he floats towards me and water drains from his body, I use my left hand to create a small telekinetic pulse thru his body that would push out more water from his internal networks. I look down at my left hand as I seem to remember having a power like that. The ability to create telekinetic pulses, though for the life of me I cannot recall any memory of it. That is quite peculiar indeed. Something has been off with me for a while now and I need to figure out what it is. I drop his body onto the soft sands and with a wave of my hand, his body is transported to Mandira's coastline so that I can resurrect him on what is to become his native soil. A random fisherman sees my floating form and looks at his jug of liquid and I grin at him before I shimmer out of sight as well. The fisherman looks at it again and shakes his head. "I gotta stop drinking."

442

Coming into appearance on the eastern coastline of the island, I hover over the body of the slain swordsman. Looking down at the body, I just frown remembering the annoying arrogance of the mortal. Still, I can utilize him as a tester for my psychic conditioning program that I plan on putting the Grey Whisper's acolytes thru. I hold my right hand over his body and focus on the spirit particles still lingering within him. Since his soul would probably be stubborn, I channel my energy into my chest to begin the process. Since he is dead, he cannot stop me from entering his mind freely. As my spiritual energy begins the process to revive him, his brain functions come back online. Once bio electricity starts running its course again, I slip into his thoughts and go back to his thoughts of the incident between the two of us. Using my ability to create Mental Confusion within a target's mind, I turn it up to the full degree on Adrian. I implant the thought that I am his friend and lord sovereign. That he & I were attacked at a temple to become allies and good friends but he was manipulated by an evil yokai that takes the form of a pink cat with magical powers named Rubi. The pink cat led him into a trap where enemy mercenaries ambushed us and if it hadn't have been for the team there, we wouldn't have been able to escape so quickly with his body since I cannot use my powers so openly in Sai Village. I make him believe that Fu Leng is an evil spirit trying to consume and possess him so that he can escape from his alternate realm to exist in our realm. I would share with him several memories that I have had over the last few months with an old ally who used to run with me before he got himself killed. I fuzz up some of the details, so he would have trouble recognizing people that he's never met, but I enter a meditative state so that I can sort out his memories and remove the ones that would detrimental to his purpose for me. Now, utilizing the Influence power in union with Confuse, I focus on his talents in blacksmithing and his extensive knowledge of spirits and such. His skills as a warrior are also focused. This step in his conditioning is coming along quite nicely I must say.

432/874

After hours of this mental conditioning, he opens his eyes and looks at me. "Shyraes." I smile at him and nod to him. "How are you feeling?" He tells me that he has an annoying headache, but that he'll be fine and I nod to him. Excellent news. He tells me that he is ready to get back to work. "Have you finished my forge like you said you would?" I chuckle and he grumbles. I help him to his feet and I tell him that I want him to take the position as the Cleric of Mandira. He bows and responds, "If it is your wish, brother. I will do it. I still think you have men that can serve you better in this role." I chuckle and Adrian and I sit on the cliff and just look out at the ocean and relax. "Shyraes Krodha, do you remember when we first met out in the Great Sea? There's something I've been wanting to know..." I look over at him and nod my head upward to see what he wanted and he asks, "Were you trying to kill me and the Ocean Devil or just the Ocean Devil?" I chuckle and tell him, "Hey, the Ocean Devil hadn't done anything to me, so I didn't see the point to helping any of you guys until he attacked me. It's funny because Sanzon was there too and now both of you work to aid the island. What were you even doing out there?"

272/1146

Adrian responds, "I was hunting spirits. I had heard a couple of legends about an island out in the Great Sea that has some pretty interesting tombs. The one that I was after is one that I think you would like as well."

Now to be honest, Adrian does so much research about spirits and the spirit world and all these legends and he's passionate about it that he goes on and on about them, but since the memories that I gave him show me occasionally listening to his findings, so I suppose I should listen now. He begins with his recount of the legend and it is quite entertaining to me just how excited he is. "So the legend goes like this...

"There was a warrior of the old times that was said to wield serrated and blood drawing weapons in combat and on missions. He worked first as an operative for a tribal leader, but when his master died and he was considered a potential threat to the new leader, he fled from the tribe and became a mercenary. The warrior had a very interesting shaman power. He was able to near perfectly copy any ability that he saw provided he could taste a drop of the user's blood. I do not believe he was a vaspire or a demon though, so I am not quite sure how he developed the power. The blood requirement would clearly be an explanation for why he used the cutting and ripping weapons.

258

"With his power, he was able to steal the powers of other shamans in the land. There were a few problems with the power though. For starters, he could only use it for a short amount of time. He would be able to use it but then he would have to wait and sort of let it recharge. The biggest drawback for his power was discovered when he stole the power of an enemy target and used it to kill him. You see when he used the power, he could fully understand how it worked from their blood because the blood carried with it part of their essence, but if they died then so did the essence. He also discovered that another drawback is that he would lose one power if he took another power from the same host."

This was something kinda rare for me with Adrian's stories. I am actually quite intrigued by this one and the plausibility of it all. If such a power existed, it would essentially allow me a loophole around the Power Broker covenant not to take powers for personal gain. While I question the possibility of that covenant being enforced in this realm, I currently see no reason to violate it and test it out. There may very well be a network of Power Brokers in this time set up as well since they have shaman types and now with the half breeds in play here, their market could be growing.

257/1661

Since this is so far in the past, it is also possible that the rules preventing me from gaining powers, in moderation of course, for my own enhancement might also be plausible. Depending on the power, I might even be willing to transfer some of my own powers to the shaman, I acquire the power from. This is when it hits me... the means to provide my Khuna Apsara with more powers. I need to follow this rumor and find out if there is more to this story. I look at Adrian and smile. "So what happened to this warrior? Did he die?"

Adrian smiles at my interest and continues, "Well not exactly. At least none of my research confirmed him dying. It is said that he took a job on an island "that shall never be named" and there several shaman fought him and while many lost powers and their lives, he was finally trapped in a tomb and sealed there by powerful magic wards and barriers. It is believed that a spell was cast on him to keep him alive so that he would have time to repent and suffer with the pain of the agony he had caused over the decades that he roamed the earth. Other rumors speculate that he had gained a power that would sustain his life even longer than normal humans of this realm. That is the extent of what I know, my lord."

251/1912

I smirk and turn to Adrian, "Adrian, it is just us here, so you don't have to call me my lord out here. You are a trusted friend and confidant. It is just Krodha. And no, you cannot call me Krodz. I hate that."

He chuckles and asks me what I think about the legend. I just grin at him and ask, "You wanna find out if it's true or not? I figure it will be a great way to gain new powers to imbue into your weapons." Adrian's eyes light up and I remark, "I'll take that as a yes. Wait here then, I'll be back once I find this island of yours." Adrian nods and sits down to meditate to the sound of the waves and sea birds.

I lift into the air without releasing my wings and fly off. Adrian's thoughts gave me a rough idea of where the island might be. I chose to come alone b/c it is much quicker to fly on a potential wild goose chase without extra weight. I fly around and I come across a couple of islands that I did not know where out here but now of them fit the description. I come upon two separate islands that both seem to fit the description. I look at them over and over again, but neither jumps out at me. I teleport away to retrieve Adrian and return telekinetically holding him in the air.

256/2168

Looking over at his floating body, I inquire, "Are either of these two it?" He shrugs and asks to take a closer look. We check out the island to the east first and I look around, but neither of us can really tell if this is the island.

We fly over the western island and suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my head. There is a strange yet familiar pulse in my chest. I feel it again almost as if it is a heartbeat of some sorts. This feeling grips me and I drop my telekinetic hold of Adrian, which is seriously not safe for him from this distance in the sky. I too start to drop out of the sky from the mental pain. I focus on him enough to envelop him in the void and teleport him to the shore below. The pain comes back stronger and I drop faster and faster out of the sky. This is not good and I am sure that this is going to hurt like hell. As I am nearing the ground, I start to slow myself down until finally, Adrian dashes towards me into the air and catches my body. We land and he remarks, "I bet you are glad you brought me along, huh?" I nod to him and chuckle myself. I don't know what it was that gave me such a headache or what that strange pulse was and why it affected me so much.

259/2427

Still, I have to admit that having him around has already proven useful. We look around the shore and coastline wondering where we should go first. I didn't really have much of an answer to that since we are looking for a tomb. I try to fly up into the air but find that as I start to elevate that the pain returns. Whatever this power was, it did not want me flying or perhaps it was a way to try and trap me here. The annoyance is that since it doesn't seem to have an adverse effect on Adrian, this leads me to believe that it is geared specifically for spirits. We start moving forward and Adrian takes off using his Godspeed ability. I give chase after him, but he is able to keep a lead because I can't fly. We find the scorched earth of where the ancient battle took place. So even after all these years, nothing has been able to grow back. I kneel down and place my hand over the barren earth and something strange happens. While I know there must be another explanation for it, I swear I can feel the thoughts or memories of the earth. I can feel the battle that took place here. I close my eyes and Adrian as I start to restore life to the barren land and even funnel water into the land to force it back to life.

254/2681

I think to stop after a little bit tho as I begin to feel the fatigue, but it fades away as I focus on the pure energy of the light. Adrian watches with amazement. After a few minutes, I open my eyes to a lush field of grass and flowers and even a young tree. The young hitorinji glances over and tells me that for a dark demigod I sure have a soft side to try and heal destruction. I say nothing and keep walking. I don't know why I stopped to heal this broken land, but something inside of me compelled me to do so. I have been having these strange urges for weeks now and coupled with my growing rage flares, I have no f'n clue what in the world is happening to me.

Suddenly, I just start walking and my mind wanders as if I had been here before or as if something is guiding me. I am sure that I have never stepped foot on this island; especially since it took me over an hour of flight to find this place and I was moving at top speed and even used Godspeed a couple of times. Now that I am on the move, Adrian just follows close behind quietly. For him, I seemed extremely focused and if it was leading us to wherever we needed to go, he did not want to interrupt things in case I was unable to regain this lead.

255/2936

Without warning, I just stop and look around as if I am searching for something. Energy swirls around me and I send out a pulse in all directions knocking debris about. Adrian casts Spirit Shield to protect himself until he notices the grass and weeds hiding a spell circle are removed by a strong force of winds and spiritual energy. Walking over to the center of the spell circle, I look at it and my eyes begin to glow first before the runes and wards in the circle glow themselves only to shatter moments later. With the wards removed, the ground opens up and the path to the tomb is opened up. I notice that the staircase was pretty much destroyed, so I can tell that whoever sealed this didn't want mortals stumbling into this place on accident. Adrian finds himself anxious with excitement and rushes towards the opening. He draws his sword, a regular sword that he made himself, and dives inside. I use telekinesis to help his descent and when he reaches the bottom, I drop in after him.

Landing with the aid of flight, I am pleased to discover that the wards restricted my flight. I am also displeased by this. While it is better to learn something like this now outside of combat, I am still not happy that the mortals could potentially be a threat to Sanzon and me. Adrian finds a torch and I use a spiritual sutra card to ignite it.

258/3194

They are sent out in different directions to serve basically as magical flares. Since I could stick them to the wall or floor and let them burn slowly to give off light. It seemed like a pretty neat trick to me. We keep walking around when all of a sudden, Kankaku goes off like crazy. The dark and dreary surroundings that I find myself in fade away and as I look around, I find this place filled with people.

Turning around, this place wasn't a tomb before. Well not a burial tomb, but it was a proving ground. The other people look at me with surprise as I make my way thru the halls. I can hear the loud clamor of a gathering cheering for something. The architecture here and the statues, tapestries, and wall murals are simply exquisite. Certain parts seem a little hazy and my head starts to hurt when I try to focus on them, so I stop and just move on. I come to a wide open area where everyone is gathered and cheering, there are so many angelic beings here. They have long braided hair like mine, but their wings and tails are truly beautiful. Their faces are beautiful. They simply are beautiful. They bow and move out of the way when I approach. I'm not quite sure why, but in order to be polite, I simply smile and nod to them as they do so.

255/3449

When I make it to the front of the crowd, I see two golem like constructs, but I sense no dark energy; rather they seem to be pure and wild spiritual energy. One of them speaks, "I did not expect you to attend the Construct Games, my lord." Their accents are familiar as if I have heard them before or a similar accent. I inquire hoping to find out more information about who they believe me to be, "You felt it was a frivolous use of our powers and felt that we should be using them to hone our self discipline and inner peace, so that we do not become complacent here in the mortal realm. You wanted us to sharpen our martial prowess in case a threat arises." Wow, that actually sounds like something I would say to warrior spirits. No matter how I look at them tho, they do not seem to be Dark Kami. I notice another door off to the side that I seem to want to enter, so I tell the warrior, "I merely want us to be prepared at all times. Enjoy the Games. I will not interrupt your fun." He bows and I turn to leave.

Arriving at the door, I try to open up but I cannot. I push against it and it doesn't budge at all. I focus on the flow of energy around the door and make a discovery... oooh, this door is sealed by magic. There must be something interesting inside.

264/3713

I place my hand on the door and remember what I had recently learned to do. I walk straight thru the door and appear on the inside. Arriving on the other side, there is a warrior lying on the floor and I frown at the sight. "Drunk again are you?" The figure looks up at me weakly. "You're not drunk, you're very ill." I teleport outside and teleport back inside with Adrian. I telekinetically use his torch to light the other torches in the room. I also use sutra cards to provide extra light. Leaning down to the male figure, I ask him who did this to him and he utters the word, "Cursed." I am most displeased by this fact. I place my hand on the man's chest armor and my body glows (Myndius) as I bless his armor. As the dark aura leaves his body, I channel my spiritual energy into his body to heal him. As his power starts to return to him, he looks at me with complete shock. "Im... impossible. You vanished years ago. We thought you died. You are not really here are you? I have gone mad from the century or so that I have been trapped down here." I tell him to relax and that he has not gone mad, or if he has it is not because he is hallucinating seeing me.

250/3963

Speaking to the spirit, I offer terms, "I will help you escape from here if you will help me." He asks me what could he possibly aid me with and I tell him that I want to know about his ability to gain the powers of his opponents. He tells me that he cannot tell you that because he no longer knows how to do it. I respond, "It is useless to lie to me." He responds, "What makes you think that I am lying to you, spectre?" I speak to him this time telepathically, "I can get into your mind at will and find the truth. To be honest, I can simply extract the power from you but I want to understand the power first." He looks at me as he hears my voice in his head, drops to one knee and lowers his head into a kneeling bow. "You have returned, my lord. Your essence is different but I suppose it is because the Temple City is no more. Without the Authority to keep things in check, chaos ensued and our home was destroyed. All those whom we protected and loved as friends and family, they were drawn into a horrific civil war and those who escaped were scattered to the far corners of the realm. Our home, our Svarga is no more, my lord. I am truly sorry to have to be the one to tell you that the sanctuary that you helped create and protect is now just a memory.

267/4230

The power that you ask about, Mahou, can lead you to crave power and hunt those with them. Or perhaps, I was simply too weak and lost to resist the temptation. I want you to pull it from me using my blood. I know that you will be able to do it."

He walks over to Adrian and cuts open his palm on the blade my companion is holding then offers it to me. I take the blade and lick the blood off of the blade. His blood triggers off a reaction in my body that paralyzes me as my body starts to glow and the energy in the room resonates from whatever the change is that is going on inside of me. I roar out in a feral manner as my body is wrecked with pain. My entire insides are on fire and Adrian looks at me and the other spirit in the room with grave concern b/c he had just quietly licked the blood off of the other side. Instead of having the adverse effect that I had, he feels amazing. The spirit tends to me and tries to remember his different powers, but finds that some of the powers that he could use no longer work since in the 100 years or so that he has been trapped many of those whom he copied powers from have since died. Still, he tries to figure out some means of providing me with solace while I am audibly in great pain.

261/4491

What neither of them could expect or even understand is that I was in pain b/c I had received the one thing that I needed to set me free. In all the blood of spirits, half breeds, and beasts that I had consumed, I had never had what for me would be the purest of bloods. The blood of my own people. The true blood that flows through my veins.

Very weak, I utter one word, "Ku-na-shi!" I bell out once more in a thunderous roar as a dark aura is purged from my body. My body lifts into the air and just floats above them as a bright, blinding light of radiance covers my body in a protective bubble. The spirit looks at Adrian, who seems to be high off of his blood and gets his attention, "Hey focus! Enemies have arrived and he is in no condition to battle right now. They cannot find this room. Can you fight?" Adrian nods and the spirit closes his eyes and extends his hands out. A black sword appears in one hand and a satchel with roughly 15 scrolls in the other. The spirit informs, "He wanted you to have these in battle." Adrian feels united with the Devil's Teardrop and his Demonic Weapon Bond reconnects with the sword and he slings the satchel back over after finding 10 Scrolls of Protection and 5 Seal Tags inside. Adrian bows to my floating, glowing orb bubble that is encasing me. Being a generally cheerful person, Adrian introduces himself, "I am Adrian Darren, Spirit Blacksmith of Mandira."

259/4750

The spirit responds, "It is an honor to fight alongside you in defense of the young Master, Adrian Darren. I am Ralys of the Kunashi Cadre. We must protect this room at all costs. Do what you must to protect the young Master." Adrian nods to him. He has no idea what the Kunashi Cadre is, but this Ralys seems to know me and wants to protect me, so that is good enough for Adrian.

The two warriors move away to meet the newly arrived enemy. It would seem that this island isn't quite uninhabited. Ralys finds himself quickly dusting off the "ring rust" as they encounter their first couple of enemies. While they are out doing that, I seem to be in a dream of sorts. The dream isn't clear though so I can't quite make out what is happening in this dream. My mind seems to be quite strained and scattered right now. What exactly is happening to me right now?

While I am inside of my orb bubble, I can feel this proving ground turned tomb coming back to life as my energy continues to pour out into this place. I constantly see a female figure while I am in this state though. I can't pin down why but I swear that I have seen her before even though she seems to be hazy when looking at her. She dances around me in the air and sings lightly to me.

255/5005

Her song is pure happiness as I listen to it. She floats up to me and smiles. "You still haven't cleared your eyes, yet? Or are you concealing yourself on purpose because you are hiding from things that you don't wish to face? We all committed sins, my love. We all took lives and we all sought and found deeper pleasure than our base devotion to the Cause could provide. It is not your fault. You tried to stop the others. You cannot undo what was done, so punishing yourself with this pain is not going to help. If you trust me, I want you to listen to me and to do as I ask. There is a kami that will come to you soon. He is not from here nor has he been, but from the realm of your prison. He will be a friend, an ally, and a confidant. Follow him to the center of paradise and there shall you face your fears and only there can you truly be free and happy."

The figure vanishes and with her so does my orb bubble thing. Exiting the room, I find Adrian and the other spirit battling against some hooded robe wearing figures. My eyes continue to glow as winds begin to pick up in the room and it seems to fill with strong spiritual energy. The priests are able to feel that something is very different about me in comparison.

259/5264

When the fighting stops and the two sides back away from one another is when my glowing gaze falls upon them and my telepathic voice speaks to all of them. "I have no desire to harm you, mortals, nor do my brethren here, but if you persist in tainting this sacred ground, I will annihilate you all. Your prisoner is free now and under my protection. Return to your temple and your families and do not step foot in this place again. That is my decree and as such it is beyond contestation!" The priests look at me and one of them takes a step to attack and his body lifts into the air as he tries to clutch his head and he is thrown at his brethren. My visage is like pure ice looking at them and they slowly fall back and retreat. I turn to Adrian and the spirit. They both kneel as I lower myself down towards the ground. "It is time for me to take my leave. My brother (Ralys) will remain here and train you. He will teach you to use your powers better and he will show you new powers. You will be stronger, Adrian. That I promise you." I turn to the spirit, "I have granted you your freedom. This is my price for it. I have plans for him and his future. I wish you to train him and help him better understand the spirit world so that his work as a Spirit Blacksmith can be the marvel that he has in his mind. When his training is complete, take him home. I will be there waiting."

294/5558
Train: Mahou (1000)
Train: Support - Heal (1000)
Train: Water - Waterbased (1000)
Hone: Support - Restoration (1500)
Quest: Oracle of Blood - Mahou (Novice) (1058)

PWC (Power Broker) = +5558
EXP = 1058

To Adrian
- 10 Scrolls of Protection
- 5 Seal Tags
- Devil's Teardrop

Updated for Adrian
Submitted for Mukhya