Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » The Unbinding (1x1 w/Monkeycyborgninja)

"SHUT UP IDIOT, Magic's changed a lot in the 200 years you've been gathering dust!" Vincent shot back, scowling at the book. "Don't underestimate Runic Casting, using Rune Circles allows for more precise control, better Mana conservation, and reinforces the understanding of..." The Mage stopped in the middle of his rant, something had occurred to him. "Hey, wait a second here, how exactly... did you end up like this. I mean, last time I checked Bathe, Son of Sedgwick wasn't a talking book, let alone the Psijic Text, so... what gives?" He inquired, his anger giving way to curiosity.

Tatsuya, the king of the dragons and God of all reptiles, that's who did this. A filthy dragon made him into this dumb text book, "it doesn't matter..." Tatsuya hadn't died in the War of Red Skies, when the humans lost their leader against the fight the Bearons set pride aside and helped humanity win the war in the north. Humans, Arians and Basil alike, were from then on nothing but friendly with the Bearon people. Tatsuya however his on an island, one of the last of his kind, collecting treasure in the way Far East. Somewhere in the Open Blue, "it was an issue of honor and bad timing, it really doesn't matter."

"The hell it doesn't!" Vincent insisted. "Let me see, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you were the one who stole the Psijic Text from grandpa, what, did you mess up a curse or something?" He guessed.

"Something like that," he muttered, if books could shut, he'd be shrugging. He didn't like to talk about his life as Sedgewick's son and Balthazar's apprentice. It was depressing, "but the curse can not be undone, I've been to wizards, witches, even to the last priestess of the Sapphire City, nothing works. I'd love to be a human again but no buano."

"Yeah, this is starting to sound like a lot more than just a misfired curse." Vincent said, unsatisfied with his answer. "I mean, you're the Psijic Text, or in the Psijic Text I guess, anyway if it was a normal curse the solution should be within those pages, so what exactly aren't you telling me." He interrogated.

There were ancient magics he just wouldn't understand, dragons had been gone for at least two hundred years now. "You don't even understand what your asking. You think you could solve this, lift the curse after just a few questions?" Bathe was irritated, "your just a native little boy, just chasing myths." If this, child thought he was a strong mage he was wrong! Bathe could feel his mana level was pulsing at under one fifty, he was too focused on his little concentrated rune spells then he was concerned about unlocking real power. "I appriciate you freeing me from that boring merchant, but just go home kid... You are too weak for my world."

"Sounds to me like it's not exactly a matter of strength now is it?" Vincent replied, unfazed by the book's statements and threats. "Like you said, you've been handed off to quite a few people, all of them in pursuit of power, not knowledge, and so far it hasn't worked out. So who knows, maybe a "myth chaser" like me is exactly what you need to get the job done, I did track you down after all, not an easy feat I assure you." It was true, on his journey had come across countless people on the same quest as him, some of them having spent decades trying to find the legendary grimoire, and the young mage did it in little over a year, he had a right to be a little boastful of his research and deduction skills.

"Knowledge seekers have held these pages before, not just power hungry freaks..." But maybe the boy did have a point, how was Vincent able to find him so easily. Then Bathe remembered the merchant had been advertising powerful spell books up and down the Ruby River. "You found me by taking a luck chance on a merchant with a big mouth," Bathe hissed and he came to a halt, now right infront of Vince.

"You think he's the only one?" Vincent replied, still unfazed by the book. "Every merchant has given me the same exact pitch that Polar Bearon did, I didn't listen to a single one of them until I was sure they were at least legit in their wears." Vincent once again scoured his pile, eventually picking up and unfolding a map that had a plethora of notes and highlighted paths on it. "The very first thing I did when I left on this journey was learn the trade routes of merchants, especially those of obscure ones. Then I started asking around, poking at roomers of your whereabouts and separating fact from fiction, once I had a good idea about where you've been in the last 20 years, I cross referenced it with the merchant routes to find the ones that were most likely to have you in their possession, it was only then that I began paying any sort of attention to their babbling. From there it was just a matter of tracking down the merchants and seeing if they had you, if that Bearon didn't I had at least four more possible merchants to choose from, luck had nothing to do with it." He boasted, Vincent was nothing if not smart, he had a knack for this sort of thing.

Four more merchants? If they said they had him, they must know something about him. Maybe just pieces of rumors, but something like that could lead down a path to finding a powerful clue to his Unbinding. "Where are these other merchants? Here in the Castle Lands or across the boarder into Far Horne??" Bathe had no idea the extent of what he was asking, these merchants were all over, one hunter elf named Thorne was to the far to the east, one one an Wabbaloq mage who turned himself into a plant who lived on the coast to the south named Seedar, the next was a achemic scientist known as Arsenic just on the other side of the boarder, and the last was only known as "Candle Man", his location was always changing and it was hard to say where he'd be.

"If you can help me escape this curse, and there is still a book left to take when I'm free, your more then welcome to take it," Bathe paused, "or I can make your study of me a living hell."

"You know you really gotta work on your attitude." Vincent replied sarcastically. "But, I was planning on trying to get you out of there anyway, just wiping that ridiculous looking face off of the Psijic Text is reason enough." He said, looking back at his map. "And to answer your question, they're kind of all over the place, merchants with good wears are never all in the same place unfortunately. The closest one is... right across the boarder, in Far Horne. He's an Alchemist so not exactly an expert on curses, but there were roomers that he had the Psijic Text, so he must know something."

The Far Horne was always locked in a civil war, sometimes war with other countries. There had not been a full year of peace in that country since before even Bathe was born. "It's going to be dangerous over there, Druid royalty are all power hungry. I heard the prince assassinated his own father recently and is on the run from the nations army..." Bathe had heard a lot about the conflict in the western cliff country while in the company of that blasted merchant. Not the cleanest fellow, but definitely one of the more kinder of his captors. Vincent on the other hand was an odd one, Bathe just hoped that he wouldn't take a dagger to Bathe's face to get it off of his precious book. "Think you can handle it Rune Lover?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm completely naive." Vincent defended, crossing his arms. "Remember, I spent the last year searching all over this continent for you, I've already traveled across the Western Cliff Country, twice, I think I can handle one more trek." He insisted, collecting his scattered objects from the road. Once he had them all gathered he created a Rune Circle that recreated his rucksack, allowing him to safely place his belongings within and swing it over his back once more. "Well, get in." He said, turning his back, which held the open rucksack, to Bathe.

"I don't do back packs..." Bathe floated along next to Vincent, "apart from me appreciating you for helping me I just want you to know I still hate you." Balthazar's father was a Basil and mother was an elf marrying only basil from then on Vince looked mostly of that race. But Bathe could still pick out some ancient features of his grandfathers elf side. "So Vincent Blood of Balthazar, did you know my father and your grandfather were such good friends my name is based off his....?"

The two began their journey west, the Castle Contenent was the largest landmass in the world, but only directly connected two countries, Castle Lands with the Far Horne. As they approached the boarder soldiers from the capital city of the Far Horne, Rhaynos, stopped them. 'Traveling Mage, have you seen a Druid fellow, about seventeen?' The soldier next to him added more detail, 'greenish hair and curled horns?' But neither book nor mage had seen such a fellow, and since they were technically still in the Castle Lands the Druid guards let them pass. "That was odd, was it not?"

"Are you kidding me, Druid war criminals are always trying to hop the boarder into the Castle Lands, they probably use the phrase "have you seen..." more than "hello"." Vincent was speaking from experience, he had passed these boarders twice, and every time he was stopped and questioned if he had seen one of the many war criminals that they suspected were trying to flee the country. "And like you said, the king was assassinated just recently, so a wondering Basil mage isn't exactly their biggest concern." He added.

Once they crossed the boarder into Far Horne they were met was an intimidating sight. There was practically a small army of guards on the Far Horne side of the boarder compared to the three or four guards on the Castle Lands side, the Druids eyed the duo as they passed into the country, but as Vincent said, a nobody Basil mage and his floating book weren't very high on their priority list, so they paid them little mind.

"So as you can see, getting in's the easy part, it's getting out that's gonna be the chore." He said quietly to Bathe as they left the boarder behind.

Bathe and Vince finally arrived just outside of Arsenics dwelling. The book has absolutely no idea what to expect from anyone on this side of the border, he had only come over to this country once or twice but it was usually bandits or thrives trying to escape the Elven powers. "So what have you heard of this man??"

"Not much honestly, just some general background and rumors." Vincent replied. "He's a talented Arian Alchemist that once served under the Emperor of the Blade Lands, but he deemed the research he was doing there too "mundane" for him, so he left to pursue his ambitions without being tied down by things like, ethics and morality. He became a traveling merchant because he felt like he could come across rarer materials that way, but according to his trade route, he should be back here in his home this month." he explained. "This guy caught my radar for the same reasons the Bearon did, there were some roomers that he had the Psijic Text in his possession, and his typical route took him to some of the places where sightings of you were most prevalent, so there could've been some truth to it. Obviously that's not the case, but if he's been where've you been, he may know something."

As the two aproached the house they could see the army had gotten their first. A guard halted them, 'you may go no further,' he said, 'this man is been arrested for treason for not sharing his research with the Far Dominion Archaist Guild.' The two of them watched Arsenic be taken away in a pad wagon as the soldier cleared out his home before burning it to the ground. "Looks like we may have to try somewhere else," he said not knowing that the good doctor would be playing a very big role in the future. "Next on your list was either the hunter or the mushroom Wabbaloq if I'm not mistaken." It had been a week and still nothing, finally at the steps of their first lead and they watched him be taken away by the army of the Far Horne's 'Far Dominion'... This sucked.

"Damn it, are you kidding me!" Vincent exclaimed, he was absolutely appalled. "How the hell is it treason to want to study privately, mages aren't soldiers, we're scholars, what right do they have to force the guy into serving some corrupt organization that serves an even more corrupt ruler, TELL ME!!" Luckily the soldiers where no longer in earshot to hear his rant, but that just made him all the more agitated. "Grrr, this is why I hate politics." With that said, the mage finally calmed down enough to plan their next move. "...Ok, so we're here in Far Horne, the other two merchants whose locations I'm sure of are the Elf Hunter to the far East, and the Wabbaloq to the South. Personally, I think we should go with the latter, he seems to be closer, and being mage he's more likely to even understand whatever clues he may have." He sighed. "Well, no use hanging around here anymore, let's find an Inn to stay at for the night, I'm beat."

And the two did just that, Rog Hollow was the nearest town in the direction of south. It only took them a few hours to get there, but once they did it was quiet, the nearly crashed in their beds. The next morning brought sunlight and bright air, but it also brought one more thing... Bathe was gone, headed south late that night to get away from Vince, but continue to follow up on the leads, in his opinion it was his destiny, not Vincent's. "Stupid Rune-Lover..." Bathe chuckled, a few miles ahead of Vince.