Memory 3: Assassin
Aug. 26th, 2011 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What Happened
Tazendra and Pel are walking back to Khaavren's place -- she's probably about 600 years old here. It's night, and summer, and OMG hot and uncomfortable. They see something suspicious: a figure standing and several prone on the ground. Naturally, this is trouble.
Tazendra quickly notices that the assassin is a sorceress and is pointing something magical at her, so throws up a protective spell to block a bit of ice magic (designed to freeze bits of internal organs), and then draws her sword and attacks. Meanwhile, Pel draws his own sword and happens to disarm the assassin just in time for Tazendra to kill her with her blade. It's a very short fight -- the assassin was not having a particularly good day.
Pel identifies one of the victims -- a woman who had took a throwing knife in her side, but was still alive -- as Daro of Whitecrest, who had served the Consort as a lady in waiting. The others are Khaavren and Mica (Tazendra's servant), both wounded, and Srahi, Khaavren's housekeeper, who is just shocked. And a dead NPC coachman. Pel is all 'let's get the wounded inside', but Tazendra is trying to figure out who is here and what state they're in: Mica had lost most of his lower leg to a magical discharge, and Daro had the aforementioned knife wound.
Tazendra, remembering some first aid, decides they can risk moving everyone, but they should bandage Daro first (and not remove the knife yet). They also need to keep the wounded warm and get a real doctor now.
The doctor pretty much asserts he'll need to amputate Mica's foot so they prep an area for surgery*. He also stitches Daro up, and notes Khaavren's wounds -- all gained earlier -- just need for him to stay the hell in bed.
Tazendra gets the full story here: Khaavren had taken ill and had been sent home, and would have probably died, had not Mica and Srahi, out on their night off (and on a date) come home early because Srahi had tossed something of Mica's in the trash by accident and they wanted to retrieve it before it was lost. The commotion caused by Srahi and Mica had drawn out Daro, who had been borrowing a spare room from Khaavren. And Tazendra and Pel had gone looking for Khaavren and had shown up just when the assassin had thought she'd been getting a break and could finally kill her main target. (The assassin really did have a bad day.)
They declare that Mica and Srahi the heroes of the evening and make a big deal about this, and tell the wounded to go to sleep, even though Khaavren is already insisting he has Something Important to do tomorrow.
* Look, this isn't the modern world.
What Tazendra Learns
+ Swordplay and sorcery. There's not much in this memory, since they catch the assassin by surprise, but Tazendra's reflexes show she's good at both.
+ Also basic first aid. She's not going to be stitching people up, but she can at least take care of someone in the Games until they get home or Royal shows up.
+ Daro, who later marries Khaavren.
+ Mica, her lackey (personal servant). Who is dedicated and brave enough to lose a foot to protect people. You guys, I have the best servant ever and if I hadn't already killed her, I'd kill the person responsible for maiming him.
+ Also, Srahi, Khaavren's sarcastic housekeeper. Who is surprisingly brave.
+ Man, what is Khaavren involved in that people want to kill him? He's already wounded and then someone shows up with magic.
Commentary
First combat memory! Honestly, Tazendra probably won't gain much of a boost here, besides in reaction time and aim, since it wasn't a fair fight at all. But she remembers the type of sword she favors, and will probably go ask Ophiuchus for one.
As for magic, she remembers now that she is a sorceress and one sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable to use it in a fight. On the other hand, she won't be able to cast anything in Sabra yet. Basically Dragaeran sorcery takes three things. The first is the knowledge of the spell. The second is a source of power -- Dragaera has seas of amorphia/chaos which serves nicely. The third is the Imperial Orb, an artifact that orbits the current ruler's head and does many useful things, one of which is serve as a filter between the raw power of amorphia and a citizen sorcerer's mind. One can cast without the Orb, but it takes extra knowledge to avoid Bad Things -- knowledge that Tazendra hasn't learned by the time of this memory because a) it's illegal and b) it's dangerous and c) why bother when the Orb is here and lets me blow stuff up really good. One can't cast without a power source, period*.
So as soon as she tries the spell, she'll realize that she can't use it here (yet), but won't really be able to verbalize why besides 'I have no link to the Orb' -- a bit like trying to get on the internet and having Firefox not found. (In this analogy, Elder Sorcery would be using the console...)
* I could tl;dr at you about my theories on sorcery versus witchcraft, but...
Tazendra and Pel are walking back to Khaavren's place -- she's probably about 600 years old here. It's night, and summer, and OMG hot and uncomfortable. They see something suspicious: a figure standing and several prone on the ground. Naturally, this is trouble.
Tazendra quickly notices that the assassin is a sorceress and is pointing something magical at her, so throws up a protective spell to block a bit of ice magic (designed to freeze bits of internal organs), and then draws her sword and attacks. Meanwhile, Pel draws his own sword and happens to disarm the assassin just in time for Tazendra to kill her with her blade. It's a very short fight -- the assassin was not having a particularly good day.
Pel identifies one of the victims -- a woman who had took a throwing knife in her side, but was still alive -- as Daro of Whitecrest, who had served the Consort as a lady in waiting. The others are Khaavren and Mica (Tazendra's servant), both wounded, and Srahi, Khaavren's housekeeper, who is just shocked. And a dead NPC coachman. Pel is all 'let's get the wounded inside', but Tazendra is trying to figure out who is here and what state they're in: Mica had lost most of his lower leg to a magical discharge, and Daro had the aforementioned knife wound.
Tazendra, remembering some first aid, decides they can risk moving everyone, but they should bandage Daro first (and not remove the knife yet). They also need to keep the wounded warm and get a real doctor now.
The doctor pretty much asserts he'll need to amputate Mica's foot so they prep an area for surgery*. He also stitches Daro up, and notes Khaavren's wounds -- all gained earlier -- just need for him to stay the hell in bed.
Tazendra gets the full story here: Khaavren had taken ill and had been sent home, and would have probably died, had not Mica and Srahi, out on their night off (and on a date) come home early because Srahi had tossed something of Mica's in the trash by accident and they wanted to retrieve it before it was lost. The commotion caused by Srahi and Mica had drawn out Daro, who had been borrowing a spare room from Khaavren. And Tazendra and Pel had gone looking for Khaavren and had shown up just when the assassin had thought she'd been getting a break and could finally kill her main target. (The assassin really did have a bad day.)
They declare that Mica and Srahi the heroes of the evening and make a big deal about this, and tell the wounded to go to sleep, even though Khaavren is already insisting he has Something Important to do tomorrow.
* Look, this isn't the modern world.
What Tazendra Learns
+ Swordplay and sorcery. There's not much in this memory, since they catch the assassin by surprise, but Tazendra's reflexes show she's good at both.
+ Also basic first aid. She's not going to be stitching people up, but she can at least take care of someone in the Games until they get home or Royal shows up.
+ Daro, who later marries Khaavren.
+ Mica, her lackey (personal servant). Who is dedicated and brave enough to lose a foot to protect people. You guys, I have the best servant ever and if I hadn't already killed her, I'd kill the person responsible for maiming him.
+ Also, Srahi, Khaavren's sarcastic housekeeper. Who is surprisingly brave.
+ Man, what is Khaavren involved in that people want to kill him? He's already wounded and then someone shows up with magic.
Commentary
First combat memory! Honestly, Tazendra probably won't gain much of a boost here, besides in reaction time and aim, since it wasn't a fair fight at all. But she remembers the type of sword she favors, and will probably go ask Ophiuchus for one.
As for magic, she remembers now that she is a sorceress and one sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable to use it in a fight. On the other hand, she won't be able to cast anything in Sabra yet. Basically Dragaeran sorcery takes three things. The first is the knowledge of the spell. The second is a source of power -- Dragaera has seas of amorphia/chaos which serves nicely. The third is the Imperial Orb, an artifact that orbits the current ruler's head and does many useful things, one of which is serve as a filter between the raw power of amorphia and a citizen sorcerer's mind. One can cast without the Orb, but it takes extra knowledge to avoid Bad Things -- knowledge that Tazendra hasn't learned by the time of this memory because a) it's illegal and b) it's dangerous and c) why bother when the Orb is here and lets me blow stuff up really good. One can't cast without a power source, period*.
So as soon as she tries the spell, she'll realize that she can't use it here (yet), but won't really be able to verbalize why besides 'I have no link to the Orb' -- a bit like trying to get on the internet and having Firefox not found. (In this analogy, Elder Sorcery would be using the console...)
* I could tl;dr at you about my theories on sorcery versus witchcraft, but...