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Post by Darius & Marius Nightingale on Dec 8, 2023 23:02:20 GMT -5
Darius sighed as he looked around at the people passing by whilst they walked to help at the docks with his brother Marius. “Remind me why we care to do this?” He questioned glancing over to his brother who was smiling goofily and excitedly.
Marius glanced over with a skip in his step as he walked along “well the people need help! With our high station and such it would be good to help! Plus it would help our image! Besides the sky is overcast all day in this weather so it’s nice to enjoy being able to roam” he said happily
darius then rolled his eyes with a sigh but said no more for the moment as he followed his brother who greeted those they passed as they reached the docks looking over the long expanse of frozen water, creating an eerie stillness with it all. “Right well then let’s get this over with hm?” He questioned as he moved onto the thick ice testing it as he pondered the best way to deal with this situation. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too terribly long. His brothers enthusiasm and pleading was really the only reason he was willing to help
————- topic lead twin:darius
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Post by Loex on Dec 10, 2023 11:48:26 GMT -5
Why'd Vinny agree to send Lo out here to this frozen hell? Sure people needed help, that made sense... but of everyone they chose the mage. Tugging the heavy cloak of woven wool tighter around their body, the Draconynh trudged through the shin deep snow and bitter cold. Their staff poked and prodded ahead, testing the depth before they stepped into an unseen hole or hazard. Any time it would thump against something shallow, or sink in up to where they'd held it, they avoided that path. Soon enough, the Pale City came creeping out of the snowy, blank terrain. It's hard edges and slanted rooftops helped keep the heavy frozen powder from building up, in addition to helping it stand out against the surroundings.
They strolled into town in the early evening, bypassing the main gate to meet up with an arranged contact at one of the commercial entrances. A stern, well built Dwarven woman greeted Lo with peculiar familiarity. It had taken them a moment to catch on to the ruse, but they played along as best they could. After making way into the city, she showed Lo to an apartment built into part of the storage for her workshop and smithy. It was quite clever, disguised as a part of the ventilation for the forges in the shop below, the heat passed through surrounding walls, which had a layer of bricks on their interiors, followed by sheets of thin steel to seal out the smoke and fumes. The room was built inside the steel enclosure, with a sliding door that locked from either side with a hidden mechanism. The precision of the work was remarkable, the wood looking like a solid part of the wall until it moved.
The place served as a refuge from prying eyes, and allowed the mage to join the gathering crowd of workers without rousing much suspicion. They were just another traveler here to whack some pesky frozen water, usually standing off from the larger group. They'd slam the iron bands of their staff into the surface of the ice, creating fissures that could be pried at or hit again until the chunks were small enough to either drift off on the currents or hauled ashore.
THHWWWAAAACCCKKKKK!!! The sound echoed off the ice, carrying across the water far further than Lo had anticipated. They looked around nervously for a few moments, trying to listen for the sounds of movement over the rumbling and breaking of the frozen mass behind them...
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Post by Darius & Marius Nightingale on Dec 16, 2023 14:22:25 GMT -5
Darius worked with his brother on the ice however he paused upon hearing the loud cracking of ice and looked over seeing the figure on the other side of the forming fissures in the ice. He wasn't overly interested in helping but one look towards his brother was enough to make him sigh and give in "Fine we can help the poor thing" he muttered earning a smile from his brother. With that darius led the two towards the other moving quickly but carefully as they neared the fissure.
Darius then held out a hand to the other to get him onto the sturdy side of the ice "Hey over here quickly! Before it breaks much more" he called to the other calmly as he looked the other over. Marius as always stayed by his side and waved to the other willing him over to safety. Marius always had been the more sentimental and caring of the two whilst darius was the level headed one who relied on his mind when making choices over his heart. The only weakness seemed to be his brothers pleading or sad looks that could talk him into almost anything. Darius did have other reasons for helping however, like the fact it would look good for their noble name to save someone
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Post by Loex on Dec 16, 2023 18:02:46 GMT -5
"Hey over here quickly! Before it breaks much more!" Shouted a strange voice from behind. A look of panic washed over their face, as they'd been trying to stay unnoticed. It took a moment for the mage to register what they'd said, but when they finally did, they turned and bolted from the ice shelf. Nearly slipping as they hopped a crevasse, they shoved their staff forward on instinct. With a kind of grace that surprised Lo, the momentum carried them over the pole to land gracefully beside the odd pair of men.
Their chest heaved for a moment as they tried to recover, wondering how far out they'd be if not for the warning. Turning back, they could only watch in silent awe as the rumbling grew into a roaring, cacophonous fractured the thinner parts of the frozen sheet. The current eagerly carried it's frigid brethren back out to sea, a procession that reminded Lo of the younglings following Vinny or one of the teachers on a trip somewhere. That had been a remarkably close call, but also came with a new dilemma
"Thank you for the warning... I might be headed out to the high seas by now otherwise. Most call me Lo, unless you've got the tongue for draconic." The mage chuckled softly, a memory of one of Vinny's friends telling bad jokes and roasting anyone nearby, Lo had been waiting for them to make a joke about their name... so they stood up, walked forward and very calmly told the man their full name. Seeing him stammer and chew on his tongue trying to repeat it still made the mage smirk, chuckle and or/ shake their head.
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Post by Darius & Marius Nightingale on Dec 17, 2023 14:46:04 GMT -5
The twins watched the man jump gracefully across, marius letting out a sigh of relief that the other was okay whilst darius kept his expression the same soon nodding at the others words after giving him a quick once over "A pleasure. I am Darius and this is my brother Marius" he replied "We are members of the house nightingale" he finished making their status and name clear.
Marius was happy and glad to see the other was alright with no wounds as Darius then spoke up once more. "So then are you here to break the ice?" he asked, resting his pickaxe on his shoulder. It wasn't normal work for nobles but Marius wasn't normal in keeping to his class. He always wanted to help and be so nice doing these things that were not suited for their class or anything of the sort. Darius however like stated before had a bit of a hard time saying no to his brother's whims.
The two were still dressed in finery but covered with a bit of dirt from the pickaxes and murky water and ice they walked upon, their skin pale enough to seem to be glowing in the moonlight.
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Post by Loex on Dec 24, 2023 3:54:10 GMT -5
Intriguing, noble brothers out here doing peasant work wasn't something they often heard of... though encountering the unusual and odd had been something common to the mage in recent days. Life had taken many turns, twists and painful jaunts, but things had been oddly calm as of late. They had been adjusting to days without torment, though it left a great deal of time for the memories of those days.
"I am, sent by some companions to help as much as I can. What brings you both out to this frigid part of the world?" Lo asked with genuine curiosity. They'd kept the mage from floating off... but to what end? Would it cost them something, as nobles were often wont to do? They did their best to push such thoughts away, that was a past of pain and terrible choices on all sides. They had to overcome those notions, the idea that they would be haunted, traumatized or otherwise harmed by everyone. That had been the Shadow's fears, not their own. Separating the two was often a challenge despite nearly a month of working at it in every spare moment.
At least their body had regained most of it's old strength, and they'd begun to learn about the changes that followed. A gentle tone of silver bells rang out from the mage's pocket, the sound was calming and clear as Lo let out a soft sigh. They rolled their neck, easing tension from their muscles and causing their joints to make clicking, popping sounds. A shiver ran down their spine as the cool winter air stole the mage's heat away. They hadn't realized how much the exercise and motion of breaking up the ice had been keeping them warm. They clutched the cool metal of the bells and tried to push the sensation aside...
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Post by Darius & Marius Nightingale on Dec 27, 2023 8:55:00 GMT -5
Marius listened to the other and chuckled at the comment on it being quite cold. Of course the vampires themselves were ice cold anyways of course though it wasn’t a bother to either of them. “Ah we live here and are nobles of this region” he explained to the stranger “I suppose it would be considered quite cold but we are used to it”he replied, Darius nodding happily behind him
Darius then took a moment to speak “oh! Are you cold? We can continue the conversation by one of the fires on shore!” He said smiling warmly. The fires had been placed around so the workers could warm up as needed and were spaced along the shore so they were easily accessible to them all.the twins didn’t seem a bit bothered even without big coats and such. Of course they wore some just to keep appearances but they weren’t bunched up in layers or anything like that.
Darius glanced to his brother as he spoke and made his suggestion. He then nodded his approval at the idea. It only seemed logical and he didn’t want them to be seen with a frozen person out here in the ice.
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Post by Loex on Dec 29, 2023 21:26:04 GMT -5
"That's quite alright" Lo responded to the question. "I'd much rather get back to the task at hand for now. There's lots to do and the ice won't break itself." Lo gave their staff a twirl through their fingers, then started down towards the shore once again. This time, they tamped along the banks with their staff and drew a line along the edge of the ice. There were several yards of ice still to go along this length of the bay, but the mage understood it was also important to get these far edges cleared.
It had caught their attention on the first day out here, as they'd stuck to a larger group of folks breaking ice near the pier. As a chunk would break away and drift off on the currents, there would be small pieces in the evening that would float down into the newly made space and start to accumulate snow. They'd spent the better part of the day tracking it's source and had come out here to the edges of the icepack. As the current carried some out, it brought more in from farther up, which in turn was causing the constant influx of new ice to the pier. While they'd attempted the previous day to convince others to start away from the pier and work closer, it had been to no avail. The foremen were barely cognizant, holed up all day in a tent swilling cheap spirits and ale and barking half slurred orders at anyone who asked questions or stood around. Most of the workers just huddled together in groups hacking and bashing away at whatever ice they could get to. It was busy work that was paying well in hard times, so Lo didn't fault them for making the most of it... but they also didn't want to be in this frigid wasteland for weeks on end, so they started working smarter today... mostly.
Using their staff as a bracing, they walked out onto the ice about half way between shore and it's edge. There, they drove the wooden pole into the ice up to it's metal band. Walking back three steps, they did so again, and again, until they reached the shoreline. Taking a few steps away from the shore, Lo took a pair of bounding steps, then tossed themselves into the air. Twisting at the hips, they brought their staff down on the frozen block with a resounding thud. The ice groaned and complained, then split a jagged seam along the marks before breaking off into chunks and floating away. While it was only a section about as wide as Lo themselves, it had proven efficient... so long as you didn't break the ice while you were standing on it.
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Post by Darius & Marius Nightingale on Jan 9, 2024 14:31:47 GMT -5
“Alright then. Just be careful” Darius remarked as he moved to a section of ice away from the other a bit after a few moments by the fire with Marius. The twins went back to work, careful to keep from breaking the ice too much as they worked not wanting to cause huge cracks along where people were standing. The two hadn’t done much mingling with the others there but like always they stayed close together. That was something they had always done since they could remember. Even in death it had been together and the same for undeath.
Hearing the loud ear splitting cracks coming from where lo was both looked up in surprise as they saw the section floating away. Darius had been quite curious what the other was planning when punching holes in the ice with his staff. Now he had his answer. He looked to his brother as they both silently seemed to agree after a moment and they began making holes in the ice all the way to the shore line making more easy to break sections. If it was effective they would do it or at least attempt it to work on getting these things done quickly
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Post by Loex on Jan 11, 2024 15:39:54 GMT -5
Lo noticed the brothers' mimicry and walked over to check what they were doing. Sighing a bit, they continued across the ice before catching up to the pair.
"Hold on a moment... before you get carried away with this, you should understand the reason and method I'm using... and why it might not be right for the tools you're using." They took a frigid breath before continuing.
"The depth of those holes is equally important as their spacing and pattern. Too shallow and the ice won't break apart on it's own, too deep and you risk the ice cracking with you still on it. The iron bands here on the bottom of my staff prevent that for me, and any ice thinner than this depth is not safe to stand on. If nothing else, please scribe a line on your tools in some fashion so you are able to continue safely."
While Lo was explaining themselves, they knelt down on the ice to show that Darius' holes were too deep for safety, and Marius' slightly shallow. The other advantage their staff held was an even and round hole, which Lo imagined would be next to impossible with such a tool. Not one to rest on a problem, they were already trying to think of a plausible solution, one that would allow the brothers' use of their tools as efficiently as possible. Pickaxes and their spike weren't suited to the way Lo was scoring the ice, but their more spade-like blade might be able to employ a different method...
"Perhaps try this... I want you both to place your spades on the ice and push it in with your foot by the handle. Marius, don't use any extra pressure with yours. Darius..." Lo looked around for a moment for a piece of wood or rock of some kind to wedge between their tool and the ice. Spotting a roughly wedge shaped rock, they picked it up and set it down on the ice.
"Use this as a stop. Since you've both picked up on the pattern I was using fairly well, you could work together with this setup in a way that's easy with your tools. Marius, you'd be doing the layout of each section with your lighter scoring, as well as checking the ice thickness as you go further out. Darius, you'd be setting the final scoring lines in behind him, checking the ice as you went. Then together, you repeat the process along the edge of the ice and break it loose together."
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Post by Darius & Marius Nightingale on Jan 14, 2024 18:11:06 GMT -5
Darius paused seeing the other come over, a bit annoyed by such bossing and tones though kept it from showing on his face as he let the other explain what was wrong with their use of the method and so on. He was not pleased with someone of lower station doing such things seeming to know more but a noble stayed calm and refined and he also knew Marius would lecture him if he showed his displeasure in the moment. So for now he merely remained quiet as he listened
Marius nodded happily and smiled as he tried to think on it before going to where he had been pointed to and used his foot pushing it into the ice a little harder than he had before making sure it did not go too deep either. "got it! Thank you Lo!" He said happily seeming excited to test out the new advice on the matter.
Darius meanwhile just stayed quiet and watched the other talk and give advice before nodding and doing his part without much comment. This charity work was hardly his style in the first place nd it was only proving to be more of an annoyance. At least Marius seemed to be enjoying himself"
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Post by Loex on Jan 20, 2024 18:32:51 GMT -5
They caught on to some of Darius' discomfort at the situation, but weren't sure if approaching the subject was wanted. Lo did their best to put themselves in the mindset of the brothers before explaining, but it was far beyond their own understand. Not sure what else to do, they returned to the section of ice they'd started. Wanting to try for a larger demonstration, Lo repeated their pattern over an area roughly the size of a small ship along the coast. Once it was prepared, they walked the area checking and rechecking the work.
After fixing a few of the mistakes they'd made over the area, they stepped onto the snowy shore off the ice. Knowing it would take more force then their muscles would be able to generate to break the ice, Lo let go of their staff and concentrated on surrounding it with magic1. It took a few seconds but their staff eventually lifted off the ground. Hovering in the air a few inches off the ground, they took several deep breaths before gesturing with one finger skyward. The staff flew in the same direction, rising over the ice at their direction.
A moment later, the mage cut their arm hard towards the edge of the ice. From above, their staff plummeted towards the ground propelled by the spell. When it struck the ice a second later, the wooden shaft strained and creaked in protest as the iron bands brought it to an abrupt halt. The ice below protested just as loudly, groaning and popping as the strain and shock traveled through it's weakened structure. A sharp snapping, crackling sound joined this cacophony as the ice began to fracture and separate. It sprayed snow and sea water out as fresh air rushed in to fill the spaces, segments drifting out to sea on the currents as they bobbed, tilted and found a stable orientation. Their staff hovered above the water for a brief moment as Lo watched the progress before returning to their hand.
1: Telekinesis
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Post by Darius & Marius Nightingale on Jan 28, 2024 12:49:02 GMT -5
The twins worked away at it all helping as much as they could using the new method and being a bit more careful. Darius grumbled a bit here and there to himself as he worked along side his brother marius who was humming a happy tune as they went along. Occasionally a few words passed between the two but they continued to work until the ice was pretty much gone from their area. With that darius then moved to the fire side deciding to be done with this endeavor.
Meanwhile marius was walking around helping others and showing them the easy method making sure to mention that lo had taught them not wanting to steal any of the credit for it. Once the job was done he then skipped over to his brother happily. Darius then listened as his brother yapped on about how he had done more to help and how fun it was to help out the people and so on. He was uncaring on the situation but couldnt help but give the smallest of smiles, glad that his brother enjoyed such trivial things and that he was so happy.After they were done he stood and Marius waved to lo saying a farewell before they walked off into the night
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