DekuNut
I play my drum for you
Alwin sneaks into the arena in his newly-concealed state, taking up a stance on the edge of the arena, sitting on the railing between the seats and the field, waiting for the moment to strike.
Gatewatch RP Thread
- Thread starter Libk
- Start date
Libk
Spaceballs: The Mafia Player
Vesper looked confused even further. All this talk of planes, mages, affinity for ice, empathy, etc, it didn't make sense to her. She new about her healing and her ice powers, abd she recently discovered she could manipulate water, but she didn't see why that brought her here to this place. If she was in a different world, it seemed she ended up on the worst one for it. One where these kind of things happen all the time. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know anything about what you're saying." They could feel the nerves from her lie.
Meanwhile, in the arena Pia Nalaar was brought out into the stadium, and Tezzeret had come in as well. Both of them had boxes of various parts to work with to fight each other by inventing.
Meanwhile, in the arena Pia Nalaar was brought out into the stadium, and Tezzeret had come in as well. Both of them had boxes of various parts to work with to fight each other by inventing.
Pen
The game is on!
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2010
The whole situation certainly felt tense for Rengo. He wasn't exactly sure why but he felt compelled to help this girl. "I once was in the same position as you, Vesper," he started. "I randomly ended up here in Kaladesh three years ago and I was all alone. In all my time here, you're the only other planeswalker I've met. I was taught some about the arts of planeswalking by an old friend that I used to travel with in my home plane, and some time after that I learned that I'm in fact one myself... I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're not alone. And it's okay if everything doesn't make sense right away." Rengo paused his monologue to eat some more but soon continued. "Actually, I have an idea. If you wanna get your mind off things and get to know this plane better, why don't you come with me to the arena once we're done eating? That should show you more about how this plane works. We've got some spare clothes for you if you don't wanna stick out so much."
Libk
Spaceballs: The Mafia Player
Pia looked down at the links over her wrists and thought of her daughter. Jewel-like manacles bit into Pia's skin just as they had intoChandra's, just like that day when Chandra was eleven. Pia leaned her shoulder against the wall to which she was affixed, in one of the service tunnels behind the arena. "Backstage."
It must have been just like this for her, she thought. The waiting. Hot humiliation building. Just like that day, a man would smile at the crowd, preparing a metallic arm for a spectacle of violence. This was even the same arena, which Pia guessed was a special insult just for her. This was the place where Chandra had searched the stands for her mother before being torn out of the world.
Pia's greatest hope was that she would not see Chandra in the stands today either. Just stay away, dear daughter, she thought. Stay safe. Stay alive. The banners claimed this would be a quicksmithing exhibition—an inventor's duel using improvised materials, between the Head Judge and the infamous Renegade Prime. But she knew how lies worked. Tezzeret wouldn't display her just for the Inventors' Fair. She was bait.
She could hear the loudspeaker filter through the walls from the arena outside. An announcer was proclaiming that Rashmi had won top prize at the Fair, to an explosion of cheers. The Head Judge's voice was a crackle of showmanship as he described all the benefits of the privilege of working at his side. More cheers, although the sounds were joyless and blunted by the corridors.
An officer arrived with the jingle of two sets of keys. Pia didn't look up until the man spoke, because she recognized his voice—full of gravel and malice.
"Ready to do your part, Nalaar?" Baral said, lifting off his mask. The pale burn scars on one side of his face pulled at his smile, making his back teeth visible on one side.
Pia thrashed against her restraints, but calmed herself. A wave of revulsion swept through her, but she raised her chin and looked past him. "Whatever obsession you have with my family," she said, "whatever ill fragment of your brain tells you that punishing us can somehow make you worthy—it doesn't matter. Because nothing you do can ever harm her."
"Oh, but of course you must not have heard," Baral chided her. "They came looking for you. In the entirely wrong place, sadly. A daughter's rescue attempt that sadly went awry."
She flashed a look at him in horror, but remembered that his was a liar's face. She stared back out at the arena, and bit words through her teeth one at a time. "If you harmed a hair..."
"We'll have to see, won't we?" Baral asked. "Will she be here? When Tezzeret humiliates you out there, will she come for you?"
Just stay away, daughter, she thought.Please, do as your mother says, this once.
"It's time, Renegade Prime," he said. "If you'll come with me?"
He took her restraints and pulled, but she yanked her wrists away and walked under her own power.
They paused at a short flight of steps leading up to the glare of the noon-lit arena. Consulate guards escorted the elf Rashmi and several other inventors down the stairs past them. They were absorbed in breathless discourse. Excitement floated with them like cologne, to the point that they didn't even notice Baral removing the links of Pia's restraints, nor the guards gently separating them from their prizewinning inventions as they swept past.
"And now, friends and citizens," purred the announcer. "We ask that you please remain in your seats for the final act of today's exhibition. The quicksmithing match that will surely be the talk of the Fair. Announcing the first competitor, your honorable director of the Fair, Head Judge Tezzeret!"
Pia didn't even hear the cheers now—her mind raced. Through the doorway she scanned across the stands. She could see no renegades in the crowd, no Chandra, no sign of anyone she knew. Tezzeret's people must have maintained tight security on the entrants, weeding out all her allies—maybe she wouldn't be bait after all. Her only hope was to be as entertaining as possible, to win over the crowd—to do what she could to stay out of cells and manacles.
"So glad I could be here to see you off," Baral said, his back teeth showing. "I would never miss the chance to say goodbye."
What did that mean? A cold feeling swirled in her gut.
The announcer was calling her to the floor. "And now, friends and citizens, his opponent," the voice boomed. "She's the convicted aether criminal who failed to destroy your Inventors' Fair...Pia Nalaar!"
Baral nudged at her back with a blade, and she stepped up to a chorus of jeers and boos. She walked over to her mark, eyeing Tezzeret. He stood across the arena, not even bothering to egg on the crowd. In front of her was a container covered in an embroidered cloth. An identical container sat before Tezzeret.
The announcer's voice began as a hush, and built to a manic pitch. "Now, in this historic arena, we come to the final challenge. Now we decide who the greatest of these two famed inventors shall be. Keep your eyes on this match, citizens of Ghirapur, for it will truly define the future of our city and our world. Let the showdown...begin!"
Pia whipped the cover from the container and quickly assessed its contents. An assortment of gears and metal plates. A few pieces of blown glass. A basic aether fuel line. Some rudimentary tools. Not much to work with. Not much that would thrill a crowd.
She glanced up. Tezzeret was already rooting through his pieces. He had something with legs half-built already.So fast!
She jammed her hands into the container of supplies, and at the touch of metal parts, her inventing intuitions came to life. She played to her strengths, snapping and fitting and spot-welding. She let the components tell her what they wanted to be, like her old inventing days...and a basic four-winged design began to emerge. She gave it a light chassis for speed and a stinger on the nose. If only Kiran were here, he could bring it some additional maneuverability, maybe to play to the crowd a bit...
Focus. Just get it flying.
She punched the aether line into the pinion assembly and the thopter came to life, to an audible "Ohhh!" from the crowd. She sent it buzzing at Tezzeret, hoping to distract him as she worked on her next design.
Tezzeret had already built some silvery crawler of some sort. It unfurled, rising taller than him, displaying an undercarriage of sharp pincers and legs. The crowd clapped furiously. How did he make that from the provided parts? Is he even trying not to cheat? The thopter orbited Tezzeret, slicing around his head with its stinger. He batted it away effortlessly as he sent the crawler toward her.
She quick-fashioned a rudimentary servo, welding its plates into place even as it scurried away toward the crawler. The crawler scuttled forward and tore into the servo, ripping it apart. But Pia had embedded a surprise—a small detonator. The servo burst in a small sphere of smoke and pieces, and blew the legs off the crawler. A huge reaction from the crowd. Maybe I can do more than delay the inevitable. Maybe I can win.
Pia jumped forward to salvage parts from Tezzeret's crawler. Sure enough, it was full of parts she didn't have access to—and even metals Pia couldn't identify. She tore through its chassis and began harvesting it for another creation, hoping her thopter would continue to distract her opponent.
She battled on, folding components together to create radical new designs. But no matter how clever her devices, Tezzeret threw back something that was impossibly faster, stronger, more durable. She was sure she was out-engineering him, yet his devices began devouring her own, consuming her supply of parts.
She turned to dash back to her container, but a pointed metal limb stabbed into the floor beside her, and she fell. She looked up, and saw a newly-created crablike automaton, her thopter skewered on its leg. The thopter fluttered its wings weakly, and went dead.
She glanced over at Tezzeret. He was striding over to her, raising his metallic right hand. Bands of metal curved unnaturally at his will, coiling in on themselves to become a small squad of other sharp-legged automatons. They stood up, a silver-shouldered and faceless army, and began to surround her.
The crowd was chanting Tezzeret's name, cheering his victory.
"You've lost, Pia Nalaar," Tezzeret said, just loud enough for Pia to hear. "And now, in the very place where your daughter faced justice for her crimes, I will mete out proper justice for yours."
He raised his arm, and the army of chrome automatons marched in toward her. The metal of the nearest automaton's chest rearranged itself, forming a sharp slicing limb. Tezzeret held his arm high, looking down at her with a gleam in his eye.
He's not just playing to the crowd, she thought. He's going to kill me.
Tezzeret slashed downward with his arm, and his metal creation attacked. Pia tried to roll out of the way, or to deflect the inevitable blow...
The automaton dented, then lurched sideways and crashed onto its side, smoking from a glowing-hot wound. The crowd gasped, turning to the origin. The bolt of fire had streaked out of the audience, originating from an angry-looking, fire-haired young woman.
-Mtg Story archives
It must have been just like this for her, she thought. The waiting. Hot humiliation building. Just like that day, a man would smile at the crowd, preparing a metallic arm for a spectacle of violence. This was even the same arena, which Pia guessed was a special insult just for her. This was the place where Chandra had searched the stands for her mother before being torn out of the world.
Pia's greatest hope was that she would not see Chandra in the stands today either. Just stay away, dear daughter, she thought. Stay safe. Stay alive. The banners claimed this would be a quicksmithing exhibition—an inventor's duel using improvised materials, between the Head Judge and the infamous Renegade Prime. But she knew how lies worked. Tezzeret wouldn't display her just for the Inventors' Fair. She was bait.
She could hear the loudspeaker filter through the walls from the arena outside. An announcer was proclaiming that Rashmi had won top prize at the Fair, to an explosion of cheers. The Head Judge's voice was a crackle of showmanship as he described all the benefits of the privilege of working at his side. More cheers, although the sounds were joyless and blunted by the corridors.
An officer arrived with the jingle of two sets of keys. Pia didn't look up until the man spoke, because she recognized his voice—full of gravel and malice.
"Ready to do your part, Nalaar?" Baral said, lifting off his mask. The pale burn scars on one side of his face pulled at his smile, making his back teeth visible on one side.
Pia thrashed against her restraints, but calmed herself. A wave of revulsion swept through her, but she raised her chin and looked past him. "Whatever obsession you have with my family," she said, "whatever ill fragment of your brain tells you that punishing us can somehow make you worthy—it doesn't matter. Because nothing you do can ever harm her."
"Oh, but of course you must not have heard," Baral chided her. "They came looking for you. In the entirely wrong place, sadly. A daughter's rescue attempt that sadly went awry."
She flashed a look at him in horror, but remembered that his was a liar's face. She stared back out at the arena, and bit words through her teeth one at a time. "If you harmed a hair..."
"We'll have to see, won't we?" Baral asked. "Will she be here? When Tezzeret humiliates you out there, will she come for you?"
Just stay away, daughter, she thought.Please, do as your mother says, this once.
"It's time, Renegade Prime," he said. "If you'll come with me?"
He took her restraints and pulled, but she yanked her wrists away and walked under her own power.
They paused at a short flight of steps leading up to the glare of the noon-lit arena. Consulate guards escorted the elf Rashmi and several other inventors down the stairs past them. They were absorbed in breathless discourse. Excitement floated with them like cologne, to the point that they didn't even notice Baral removing the links of Pia's restraints, nor the guards gently separating them from their prizewinning inventions as they swept past.
"And now, friends and citizens," purred the announcer. "We ask that you please remain in your seats for the final act of today's exhibition. The quicksmithing match that will surely be the talk of the Fair. Announcing the first competitor, your honorable director of the Fair, Head Judge Tezzeret!"
Pia didn't even hear the cheers now—her mind raced. Through the doorway she scanned across the stands. She could see no renegades in the crowd, no Chandra, no sign of anyone she knew. Tezzeret's people must have maintained tight security on the entrants, weeding out all her allies—maybe she wouldn't be bait after all. Her only hope was to be as entertaining as possible, to win over the crowd—to do what she could to stay out of cells and manacles.
"So glad I could be here to see you off," Baral said, his back teeth showing. "I would never miss the chance to say goodbye."
What did that mean? A cold feeling swirled in her gut.
The announcer was calling her to the floor. "And now, friends and citizens, his opponent," the voice boomed. "She's the convicted aether criminal who failed to destroy your Inventors' Fair...Pia Nalaar!"
Baral nudged at her back with a blade, and she stepped up to a chorus of jeers and boos. She walked over to her mark, eyeing Tezzeret. He stood across the arena, not even bothering to egg on the crowd. In front of her was a container covered in an embroidered cloth. An identical container sat before Tezzeret.
The announcer's voice began as a hush, and built to a manic pitch. "Now, in this historic arena, we come to the final challenge. Now we decide who the greatest of these two famed inventors shall be. Keep your eyes on this match, citizens of Ghirapur, for it will truly define the future of our city and our world. Let the showdown...begin!"
Pia whipped the cover from the container and quickly assessed its contents. An assortment of gears and metal plates. A few pieces of blown glass. A basic aether fuel line. Some rudimentary tools. Not much to work with. Not much that would thrill a crowd.
She glanced up. Tezzeret was already rooting through his pieces. He had something with legs half-built already.So fast!
She jammed her hands into the container of supplies, and at the touch of metal parts, her inventing intuitions came to life. She played to her strengths, snapping and fitting and spot-welding. She let the components tell her what they wanted to be, like her old inventing days...and a basic four-winged design began to emerge. She gave it a light chassis for speed and a stinger on the nose. If only Kiran were here, he could bring it some additional maneuverability, maybe to play to the crowd a bit...
Focus. Just get it flying.
She punched the aether line into the pinion assembly and the thopter came to life, to an audible "Ohhh!" from the crowd. She sent it buzzing at Tezzeret, hoping to distract him as she worked on her next design.
Tezzeret had already built some silvery crawler of some sort. It unfurled, rising taller than him, displaying an undercarriage of sharp pincers and legs. The crowd clapped furiously. How did he make that from the provided parts? Is he even trying not to cheat? The thopter orbited Tezzeret, slicing around his head with its stinger. He batted it away effortlessly as he sent the crawler toward her.
She quick-fashioned a rudimentary servo, welding its plates into place even as it scurried away toward the crawler. The crawler scuttled forward and tore into the servo, ripping it apart. But Pia had embedded a surprise—a small detonator. The servo burst in a small sphere of smoke and pieces, and blew the legs off the crawler. A huge reaction from the crowd. Maybe I can do more than delay the inevitable. Maybe I can win.
Pia jumped forward to salvage parts from Tezzeret's crawler. Sure enough, it was full of parts she didn't have access to—and even metals Pia couldn't identify. She tore through its chassis and began harvesting it for another creation, hoping her thopter would continue to distract her opponent.
She battled on, folding components together to create radical new designs. But no matter how clever her devices, Tezzeret threw back something that was impossibly faster, stronger, more durable. She was sure she was out-engineering him, yet his devices began devouring her own, consuming her supply of parts.
She turned to dash back to her container, but a pointed metal limb stabbed into the floor beside her, and she fell. She looked up, and saw a newly-created crablike automaton, her thopter skewered on its leg. The thopter fluttered its wings weakly, and went dead.
She glanced over at Tezzeret. He was striding over to her, raising his metallic right hand. Bands of metal curved unnaturally at his will, coiling in on themselves to become a small squad of other sharp-legged automatons. They stood up, a silver-shouldered and faceless army, and began to surround her.
The crowd was chanting Tezzeret's name, cheering his victory.
"You've lost, Pia Nalaar," Tezzeret said, just loud enough for Pia to hear. "And now, in the very place where your daughter faced justice for her crimes, I will mete out proper justice for yours."
He raised his arm, and the army of chrome automatons marched in toward her. The metal of the nearest automaton's chest rearranged itself, forming a sharp slicing limb. Tezzeret held his arm high, looking down at her with a gleam in his eye.
He's not just playing to the crowd, she thought. He's going to kill me.
Tezzeret slashed downward with his arm, and his metal creation attacked. Pia tried to roll out of the way, or to deflect the inevitable blow...
The automaton dented, then lurched sideways and crashed onto its side, smoking from a glowing-hot wound. The crowd gasped, turning to the origin. The bolt of fire had streaked out of the audience, originating from an angry-looking, fire-haired young woman.
-Mtg Story archives
DekuNut
I play my drum for you
Al almost whistles. That was a damn good fight. But, he keeps his silence. This was a stealth mission after all.
Once the fighting was over and Chandra had stupidly made her presence known, he silently leaps off the railing and onto the battlefield. Hopping over the scattered shards of metal and other... things he couldn't even identify, he made his way in the general direction of Tezzeret. On his way there, he ran into something he couldn't see. He reached up to feel what it was and felt a pair of round, quite large...
****, it was Liliana.
Quickly letting go and backing up, Al decides to give his fellow planeswalker a wide berth and hope that she doesn't care what just happened.
Once the fighting was over and Chandra had stupidly made her presence known, he silently leaps off the railing and onto the battlefield. Hopping over the scattered shards of metal and other... things he couldn't even identify, he made his way in the general direction of Tezzeret. On his way there, he ran into something he couldn't see. He reached up to feel what it was and felt a pair of round, quite large...
****, it was Liliana.
Quickly letting go and backing up, Al decides to give his fellow planeswalker a wide berth and hope that she doesn't care what just happened.
Libk
Spaceballs: The Mafia Player
Vesper had agreed to follow Rengo to the arena after they had eaten, abd they had gotten there just in time to watch that man from before, his name was Tezzeret, fighting some inventor named Pia Nalaar. He was really good at this, his inventions far superior to Pia's. But just when he was about to finish her off, a fire blast came from the crowd. Vesper figured it had to be part of the show.
"Chandra, I said wait" Jace said to Chandra telepathically.
"I'm not losing my mother too." She replied.
Jace dispelled the charm that was concealing all of the group, who were now behind Chandra and in front of pia, forming a wall to keep Tezzeret away. Tezzeret created a mechanized soldier to attack them, a a rope ladder dropped down for him from Skysovereign, the consul's flagship.
"Chandra, I said wait" Jace said to Chandra telepathically.
"I'm not losing my mother too." She replied.
Jace dispelled the charm that was concealing all of the group, who were now behind Chandra and in front of pia, forming a wall to keep Tezzeret away. Tezzeret created a mechanized soldier to attack them, a a rope ladder dropped down for him from Skysovereign, the consul's flagship.