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Post by blackghoulmon on Jan 9, 2017 17:33:27 GMT -5
Pyoga turned to Liin when the other Peophin landed and was about to start answering her question when she saw what she was staring at. "Urasina! We need you over here!" she yelled to her sister. It worked; the Uni wheeled around and came running back. "What's wrong?" she asked. "There," Pyoga responded, pointing out the red vial. As soon as Urasina spotted it for herself, she spread her wings and flew down to it. Doe was still up above and hadn't descended to get a better look, but she did look concerned. "/This could be important,/" Urasina thought to herself. She couldn't linger; the heat was getting painful. So she ever-so-carefully picked up the vial in her mouth, using only her lips and not her teeth, before flying back over to the Peophins. "I'm glad you had your armor on," Pyoga remarked, looking relieved that her sister was OK. The Uni nodded and gently set the vial down. "Liin, what do you make of this?" she asked.
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Jan 9, 2017 19:17:36 GMT -5
Liin was pleased that the vial was intact. "That... Huh." She stared at it intensely, the red color of the vial standing out like a beacon. "It looks like it's carved out of a single ruby or carmine," she said, rather shocked.
Doe made landfall, silently (which was an accomplishment.) She had a rather grim expression on her face, her gaze fixed on the vial. "I know what it is. I don't know why I do, but..." She closed her eyes tightly, as though fending off the beginnings of a headache. She'd ask Liin to heal her in a moment. "It's another relic, similar to a phylactery. But there's no blood in this." She let a wry grin form on her face. Those that knew her well would know this was her 'I'm about to do something really stupid' face.
"Then what's in it? I'm no mage, but even I can feel that there's something... uncomfortable about this thing." Simi squirmed, and her blade was oddly still. "And it appears to have temporarily deactivated Dreamsever. Make it stop!"
Doe shrugged, and cracked the vial with a bit of metal, drinking the contents of it. She grinned, measuring her companion's shock levels. "It was the lich's magic resistance. I've done that before." Her own magic was totally unaffected, as evidenced by her still swirling armor.
Liin choked on her own breath when her big friend downed the unknown substance. "If I had hands, they'd be sweating right now. You scare me." She quickly explained to the other two why Doe might think that was a good idea. "Doe's magic resistance is already through the roof, especially with Neopian magics, due to her practicing Alchemy- so downing an unusual potion like that will probably just give her an upset stomach later."
"In alchemy, you taste an ingredient and spit it out, wait a little. If your mouth goes numb, it's bad. If it's good, you put it back in your mouth and chew it. It's a whole process. That vial could have been filled with nightshade or fermented bogberries and I'd still be fine."
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Post by blackghoulmon on Jan 11, 2017 16:44:58 GMT -5
Pyoga gagged when Doe broke open the vial and drank what was inside, but Urasina just rolled her eyes. "So what does that get us?" the Uni asked. "Did we get rid of the Lich's magic resistance? Did you gain it instead?" She tilted her head and raised an ear, listening. "Big ugly boss in the middle of the labyrinth didn't react to that. Did anything happen at all?" Pyoga gave her sister a nudge. "I'm sure Doe had her reasons," the Peophin scolded the Uni again. "Give her a break." The Uni grunted and turned to move on again. Pyoga sighed, looking rather sad.
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Jan 11, 2017 17:52:54 GMT -5
Doe also gagged, and let out a normally physically impossible burp that sent out a gout of fire that she pointed up. "Fire resistance. Your holy fire should work on it, at least a little. It wasn't all of it, or my armor probably would have changed colors for a second there. I do, however, have really bad heartburn." She burped again, sticking out her tongue to get rid of the taste. "This old rotter's been here a while. No wonder that Raht fellow didn't know what he was pulling up."
"You can tell how long something's been here by drinking random potions you find on the floor? By the way- don't tell my husband you did that. Ever. He's of the mind that if there's food or liquid in a crypt, you shouldn't touch it. You especially should not crack open a mysterious vial that makes the non-mage feel funny and then proceed to drink the contents." She sighed, knowing there was nothing they could do now but pray the big mare was right. "But I trust your judgement. I have to, because our lives depend on it."
"It's a bit like wine- it's good to a certain point but after a while it just tastes like vinegar... not that any of you are old enough to drink, so you're just going to have to trust me on the comparison. I'll drink a thousand mystery potions before I drink anything the Chupekabra gives me again."
"Doe, I think it might have been testing your poison resistance," Liin chuckled. She noted the other unicorn had gone ahead, and now she was just curious. She held back a little, keeping pace with Pyoga and letting Simi and Doe walk ahead. "Her mood just keeps getting worse by the minute. Is she going to be ok? You look really concerned, too," she added gently.
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Post by blackghoulmon on Jan 11, 2017 18:24:50 GMT -5
Pyoga sighed, a tear in one eye. "She's taking her newfound immortality harder than I feared," she said, stopping and leaning against the larger Peo mare. "I should tell you the whole story. Several months ago, Urasina's Light magic became too powerful for her physical form to contain, and it began to destroy her from the inside. Her only relief was to vent it all, but it would build up again. She gains power simply by being in the sunlight. Our Light Faerie friend tried to help her, but there were only three options: Urasina could do nothing and let her magic tear her apart over time; she could give up her Light magic and start anew; or she could become immortal and thus able to contain and control nearly unlimited magic. Most of the family hoped for her to take her second option, but even then, that would only buy her another 6-7 years before it would have to be done again. And again. For the rest of her life. Then her mate, who was still our adopted brother at the time, stepped in. He's immortal and ancient, from the early years of Neopia no less, and he's been smitten with her for years. He urged her to become immortal so the two of the could fight evil forever... and be together forever. Urasina thought it over, then decided to become immortal." More tears formed. "She... she looked so confident emerging from the ritual... like she could take on Neopia and come out on top... But... the reality is catching up to her. See... she loves our human more than anything else in Neopia, and now she's... going to outlive him... and will never see him, or any of us, in whatever afterlife there might be..." Her words caught in her throat and she pushed her head against Liin, starting to cry.
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Jan 11, 2017 21:38:32 GMT -5
Liin was taken aback by the smaller mare's emotions. She herself didn't really notice when her own human guardian was even in the house, but knew that was an odd situation. "I... crap. Yeah, I can see where this is rough for you guys." She bit her lip, allowing the mare to cry a bit. "I know one thing, though- a lonely immortal is a selfish one. My mother in law is older than this dimension itself and she made some... not very good choices. She goaded someone into loving her, and when she actually found love for real- her first son- she found something to fight for. I think it sounds like Titance was one of the lonely ones, from what you told me." She let out a sigh, relaxing her shoulders a bit and cracking her neck. "She also told me this- it's not really as hard for mortals. We live out our lives, then pass on. We get to spend eternity watching over those we left behind. Immortals... well. They go two ways. They become bitter because they keep losing people they love, or they find other immortals to spend eternity with. Ance has been both. I hope, for Urasina's sake, she doesn't take the bitter path."
Doe noticed the two Peophin mares hanging back, and lifted an eyebrow before letting out another fire burp. "You two waiting for an engraved invitation? What are you talking about anyway?"
"Lava floes! They're just... beautiful and overwhelming. It's a lot to take in." Liin cleared her throat, and was now admittedly feeling really sorry for the smaller of the two Uni mares. "We'll catch up in a minute." She turned back to Pyoga, knowing Doe didn't believe her, but it was convincing enough for Simi that the pastel mare had already gone ahead. "When we walk with immortals, we have to deal with their regrets. I think they feel things on a different level than we do. There's just... more to feel, because their entire physiology is different. So she's probably dealing with that, too." She did not envy the green and white draconic Uni.
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Post by blackghoulmon on Jan 12, 2017 15:15:38 GMT -5
Urasina looked back at Doe when she burped again. "Are you sure you're OK?" she asked, concerned. "I can heal injuries, but not poisoning. My nephew, though... he's really talented with antidotal magic." She looked back at Liin and Pyoga, and when she saw the little Peophin was crying, she felt a sharp twinge of guilt, almost like she had been stabbed. It cleared her head quite nicely. "Don't go too far without checking for traps," she warned Doe and Simi before hurrying back over to the other Peophin mares. "Pyoga, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly, nuzzling her sobbing sister. "Is this adventure becoming too much for you? I can send you home if you don't want to proceed. I won't be mad." Her gaze flicked to Liin's face, and when she saw her expression, she realized what was going on. "Pyoga told you my story, didn't she?" she sighed, suddenly looking quite tired. "And she blamed Titance for it, didn't she? It wasn't his decision; it was mine. He influenced it, but it was still my call in the end and Titance is not to blame. I know him better than Pyoga does; why else would I have chosen him to be my mate? His word is good as gold, and he promised he would never leave my side. I trust him." She nuzzled Pyoga again. "She's got a strong dislike of stallions. She was abused by the one she thought loved her, so now she hates them all on principle. She doesn't like Titance, so that colors her view on the matter." Pyoga had stopped crying now, but she still looked worried, gaze flicking from Uni to Peophin, waiting to see what was going to happen. The guilty look on her face was obvious; she knew she had been caught being overly opinionated almost to the point of lying.
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Jan 12, 2017 21:17:45 GMT -5
Figuring a tired look was much better than the scowl she'd been wearing, Liin relaxed a little. "She did tell me- she's worried for you. I mean, I sort of got the 'down with the patriarchy' vibe from her because Simi's the same way, but I also figured it was somewhere in the middle." Liin's face softened. "I'm glad you've got someone that'll be there forever, though. My mother-in-law married a mortal and when he died last year, it absolutely destroyed her. I might not know you, but I'm still pleased that at least one more immortal won't be going through that." She grinned at the smaller mare, lilting her head to make sure she saw the whole of her easy expression. "Even if not everyone is pleased with how it happened. But I am sorry for your past, Pyoga. It's not something you can easily move on from, I'm told." That much was evident.
Doe let out another gout of fire magic just as Simi was about to warn her of an incoming wraith attack. "Maybe I'll eliminate them all with the power of ancient fire magic."
"Maybe your stupid choice of downing their master's fire resistance which was an innate part of him has actually drawn them to us," Simi grumbled. At least Dreamsever had awoken again, writhing in its mistress's grasp as it reached out for three of the wraiths at once. "On the plus side, these things are significantly less scary when your scimitar attacks them on its own."
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Post by blackghoulmon on Jan 14, 2017 14:32:47 GMT -5
Urasina was about to say something more when she heard Simi's warning. "Try to keep up," she said to Pyoga before darting back over to the other mares, her Peo sister scrambling after her. "I can't summon the Radiant Gate again yet," she went on when she reached Doe. "I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way." Once Liin had also caught up with the group, Urasina turned around and fired a solar ray at the ground behind the mares, tracing a line across the passageway. Once the line was drawn, holy fire erupted from it and rapidly grew larger, forming a flaming wall that prevented any wraiths from sneaking up behind them. "They can still come through the walls," Pyoga warned her sister, bashing a wraith with her morning-star. "Yes, but at least that's one direction we don't have to have them gank us from," the Uni responded. She couldn't see the wraiths the way Pyoga could, but she could sense them through her magic, which made it possible to gun them down. "Holy... we're going to get swarmed!" Pyoga squeaked, whirling in place, eyes wide. "Not on my watch we're not," Urasina grunted. The fire wall began to creep along the walls and ceiling of the passageway, eventually blocking any angle of attack from the left, right, or above, forcing the wraiths into the convenient choke point of straight ahead. As holy fire, it let off no heat and didn't burn when touched; at least for the five mares.
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Jan 24, 2017 14:32:27 GMT -5
((OOC: this is going to still be bad- my stress actually comes from dental pain and it's just been getting worse. I'll be getting the offenders extracted in a little under a month, however. I'm not really allowed to bring stuff like that up on Neopets so that's why I just called it 'stress' in our neomail.))
"Liin has issues casting her pretentiously named Guardian spell more than a couple times a day, so she knows all about the recharging thing. She'll probably have to use it on the Lich or to protect us, if it summons more of its little wraith buddies." Doe squinted past the fire, watching the nasty little things try to claw their way through it. "I still haven't let loose my own spellpower, at least not in any huge capacity, so I'll be ready to go." She sighed, looking for any hint of the labyrinth's center.
Simi glared at Doe. "You've been holding back? You're kind of a monster. The rest of us have been throwing every trick in the book just to get to the middle." She paused for a moment. "Then again, I don't think I've ever actually seen you give everything you've got, and we haven't really given you the chance to do anything." Liin nodded in agreement, but was still pondering the other unicorn's predicament and was too deep in thought to know what she was agreeing to.
"I'm used to it," Doe said, shrugging it off. "You'll know my 'all,' as you call it, when you see it." She was, of course, uncomfortable at the very thought of unleashing her non-Neopian magic in front of the two mares that barely seemed able to handle her very alien origins. Of course, her creation magic wasn't something she used often- making something out of nothing and then using that something to utterly destroy an opponent was, more often than not, met with cries of 'Bullcrap!' or they insisted she was summoning her swords from somewhere. She usually just let them think that and went on her merry way.
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Post by blackghoulmon on Jan 24, 2017 18:10:03 GMT -5
Urasina grinned at Doe and Simi. "I haven't given it my all yet either," she said lightly. "Heck, I don't even know what my 'all' might involve, since I've never gone that far as an immortal." "And you have to be angry enough to really cut loose," Pyoga added. "Your most lethal powers are locked behind your rage mode." The Uni shrugged. "They might not be anymore," she commented. A few minutes later and the wraith swarm was wiped out. Urasina's flame walls dissipated once the danger had passed. "Doe, do you have any ideas how many more vials we're after?" Urasina asked the other Uni. "And do you think there are other magical resistance ones out there? We should give this place a very thorough search before we go tangle with big ugly boss out there."
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Jan 24, 2017 20:19:41 GMT -5
Doe meditated for a moment, 'feeling' the magical tonal resonance. At least, that's what Liin would call it, along with a lengthy explanation as to how it worked. Though she had initially felt five, she let out a gasp when more than thirty started singing back to her- and felt only a void where perhaps a half dozen magical vials refused to sing back to her. These were the ones they really needed to focus on. "You're not gonna like it, but there's no physical way we can destroy every phylactery, unless you want to be down here for the next few weeks. The magic resistance, yeah, because there's six or seven of those left and in a pretty direct path, if we want to be bold. The only one I'm feeling that we can't really get to, however, is his Earth resistance- I can feel that it's too close to him and he'll probably take the vial before we can get to it." She tilted her head to the side, as if listening to the blood-song again. She grinned, and it looked twisted on her dark face. "It feels like he's trying to get a sense for what I can do."
Simi chuckled. "If the rest of us barely know what you can do, I don't think the Lich lord has much of a chance. I think it's already felt the rest of us, unless it's blind to non-magical beings like Jariev?" She felt a little disheartened when the big mare shook her head.
"No, he definitely knows we're all here. He can sense us, much like we can sense his wraiths. Magic is a lot like a gate- you open it and more than you bargained for might come in. Enter the wraiths," Doe said, intentionally activating a small spring trap that didn't appear to do much. "Either the Lich intended for them to be his unsightly little guardians, or they were just an unintended consequence of sealing such a big bit of magic away. Like the faerie wraiths," she offered. "As soon as you put that necklace on, my darling little magicless nitwit, he could see you as well as you could see the wraiths, I'm willing to bet." Liin finally broke her silence.
"Thanks, Doe. I didn't plan on sleeping tonight, anyhow." The big mare just grinned again.
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Post by blackghoulmon on Jan 25, 2017 18:14:05 GMT -5
Pyoga tore her necklace off, flung it to the ground, and was about to pulverize it when Urasina snatched it away. "If it's going to make you that paranoid, then I'll wear it," she said. "N-No!" the Peophin stammered, grabbing it back. "This is the most terrifying thing I've ever been involved in in my life... B-But I'd much rather have the Lich able to see and sense me than you. I-I'm not a threat to him, in all honesty... A-And if he can sense those wearing the necklaces, then the last thing we need is for him to figure out what you're capable of..." She put it back on, and was unable to suppress a harsh shudder at the thought. "Your call, then," Urasina grunted, then turned her focus to Doe. "That's an awful lot of blood out there," she said. "But if we can't get them all, we should at least get the magical resistance ones, specifically anything tied to holy/Light magic. Getting rid of those will make my life, and Liin's, easier."
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Jan 25, 2017 20:21:49 GMT -5
Doe only grinned when the smallest of the group panicked like she did- it was the very reason she hadn't said anything about it earlier. "Because I'm not a mare known for my luck, I really can't tell what vial is what until I actually see it. Or drink it, in most cases."
Liin's face contorted. "It's still part of an old deadish guy you're drinking, how can you say it so calmly? Especially since you're always like 'life is a sacred gift' and 'a beating heart is a beloved mystery?'"
Doe shifted her gaze, almost rolling her eyes. "This dude has thirty vials of his blood scattered around what I'm assuming was once a palace. If his heart is still beating, I might show a little hesitation. If it's not in the jar on Pyoga's back, that is." She immediately flinched- this was probably not the best thing to say about something in front of such a sensitive, skittish little mare. "It's still not beating, though. It'd be as dried out as a strip of leather." Probably not any better. She was bad at this.
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Post by blackghoulmon on Feb 2, 2017 16:46:29 GMT -5
"You already told us that the heart and liver are in the urn Pyoga's got," Urasina reminded Doe. "But whatever. We've got a more difficult task ahead of us here than I initially thought. As much as I know better, I'm almost tempted to blast my way through these walls and speed the process along. Almost." Pyoga groaned, shaking her head vigorously. "If it's going to bother you that much, then fine, I'll let you destroy the necklace," the Uni chided the Peophin. "But you'll be useless in combat if you do that." "And I'd much rather be useful than dead weight, no matter how scared I get," the Peophin responded. "Ugh, now it's like I can feel him staring at me..." Urasina shook her head and dismissed her armor. "These wraiths are so minor a threat that I don't need heavy armor right now," she said, shaking out her mane and beating her wings a few times.
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Feb 2, 2017 17:52:13 GMT -5
"Doe has... memory issues." Liin offered. "But I know what you mean- I'd like nothing more than to just wreck the place and get this done and over with." Simi looked excited for a moment before she continued. "But I'd also like to get out of here alive, and we won't if we destroy every load-bearing wall in the place, Simitra."
"Oh, right. You said that." Simi pouted. "But I'm with Pyoga- now that Doe brought up the whole focus thing, I can't help but feel... watched. In a spooky, magicky, should-not-be way." She shifted her weight, uncomfortable under the apparent scrutiny of a long-undead Lich Lord.
Doe shrugged, but her armor did not slide back to its lesser form. "Either the fire magic resistance blood had a little more kick to it than I thought, or there's another threat here I'm not picking up on, but my metal magic is." She tried a few times, but the armor typically so quick to respond to her will did not budge. She wasn't impressed, but knew there had to be something else going on. "It could also be that the potion set off some sort of magical warning system and this is the response. The other magic vials might not be so easy to break. Or get to." Simi looked a little annoyed.
"Sure, but we'll never know any of this unless we actually start moving through the labyrinth again. We're still on the outer edges and nowhere near the center," she said before sighing. "I'd just rather this didn't take more than a couple days. Or a day. I don't want to have to sleep in this place."
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Post by blackghoulmon on Feb 7, 2017 23:15:11 GMT -5
"If there's THAT many vials, I might be able to speed the process up... in my own personal way, that is," Urasina said cryptically. "But we need to find another vial so I can do this right. My... reinforcements... won't be of much use unless they know what they're searching for." With a flick of her tail, she turned and headed down the passage again. She easily spotted yet another mono-filamant wire and sliced through it, causing three huge spears to erupt from the left wall and slam into the right one. Then she simply cut the spears in half and let them clatter to the floor. Pyoga, however, used her telekinesis to pick one of the broken spears up. "This could be useful," she muttered under her breath. "Don't know when or why, but..." "You never know," the Uni responded. "If you feel compelled to take that with you, there's probably a reason. Nothing happens randomly or spontaneously; there's a reason for everything. You don't always know what it is, but it's there, should you want to find it."
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Feb 12, 2017 13:22:18 GMT -5
Doe nodded, acknowledging the other unicorn's plan. "We can't fully track down the magical ones, but if you've got some hoodoo up your wings to find the blood ones, go for it." Liin began muttering under her breath, at least to Doe's ears. She caught the very tail end of it.
"Reinforcements?" Liin asked. "Doe, don't look at me like that, I'm fine. You're the one who swallowed magical undead Lich Lord blood."
"Only the magical bit." A bit of shine caught the corner of her eye- a sapphire vial seemed to sing from under her feet, under the tile. She didn't know how she knew what color it was, only that it was. "And speaking of a reason for everything. I didn't even know this one was here- the monofilament must have been blocking it." She lifted the tile (very carefully, though there weren't any obvious traps surrounding it) and revealed it. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say this one is his air resistance." The sapphire vial seemed to whisper with the promises of spring and butterflies, and seemed too pure to be in a place like this. "If this stuff didn't burn like hell going down, I'd suggest Liin took this one to boost her air abilities." She popped the obvious cork, and a few shimmery clouds appeared around the vial.
"I'm not taking any ancient potion, thanks." Her face contorted when the big unicorn drank down the second vial. "One of these days, you're gonna drink one of those and it's going to be worse than death. Even if that one was really pretty."
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Post by blackghoulmon on Feb 14, 2017 17:01:09 GMT -5
((Watch these videos before we go on. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMT2kh6aka0Listen for the big monster to roar, and remember that sound. That's what Urasina's magical roar sounds like. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR2oQ9yRV2UThe big green wyvern and the three tiny ones. They might come into play later in the RP.)) Urasina rolled her eyes when Doe drank the second vial. "Be careful, OK? I can't heal poisoning/illness; if anything, I'm a combat medic," she said. "But anyway, if/when we find his Light resistance, don't drink it. I might want to." Pyoga gagged. "A-Are you nuts?" she groaned at the very idea. "Well, either I drink it or I make some other use of it," the Uni responded with a shrug. "If anything, my Light Faerie friend might be able to put it to good use. Simply drinking it is one thing; but if we get it out of the tomb, then the Lich can't use it, right? Deprive him of it rather than turn it against him." "Yes, but..." the Peophin was unable to go on, looking completely grossed out. "I can send you home if you don't want to continue," Urasina reminded her sister, getting a vigorous shake of the head in response. "You are a trooper, Pyoga. You're making me proud." That got a slight grin out of the little Peophin.
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Post by Flutter (Frosty) on Feb 16, 2017 14:55:59 GMT -5
((Alright! That would be terrifying if you weren't expecting it. Duly noted. xD))
"I promise I'm not going to drink anything that'll kill me. My armor absorbs most of it. Bummer that the effects aren't permanent, though." She agreed, however, that the other mare should use the Light resistance. "If anything, it'll bolster your abilities... or it won't do anything at all. Just a warning, though- it tastes absolutely foul." She whistled like a tea kettle, sending steam from the fire and air vials into the air. "Mixing them certainly has some... interesting results, as well."
"Will the mixtures have any use in combat, Doe, or are you going to turn into a teapot for us down here?" Liin's face was deadpan, though there was a hint of humor in her words. "I could use a spot of tea." Simitra chuckled, nodding in agreement. "As for me, Urasina, you'll have no argument over who gets to... deal with the light vial."
"No, unfortunately. It's literally just a resistance- since I don't have fire or air magic, myself, it's just making my armor harder to penetrate. Now, that cold vial will give me a SERIOUS combat boost. I know it's here because it's the only one that's actually calling out to me. Probably because it's in a magnetic vial, but still."
"You can sense that from all the way over here?" Simi asked in awe. "This magic stuff amazes me."
"It's like calling to like. I imagine that, once we get closer to the light vial, it'll shine like a beacon to Liin and Urasina. I'll just take note of the color- they really stand out to me. It's a shame there aren't any metallic ones. Or that metal magic isn't really a thing in Neopia so of course the Lich wouldn't have any vials for metallurgy." She sighed, wistfully. "I could be so awesome with a metal vial. I could be like a giant porcupine!"
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