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Post by Circe on May 21, 2020 15:07:48 GMT -6
"If you're so reluctant to work with Catherine, then I will choose the eight who will work to set the new wards and when." Xiaolian had told Tyrus shortly after he had decided he would not work with the other. She was tired of whatever it was that was making him so difficult to work with on the new ward scheme. She would have prefered to keeping it to just the prince and princess of the Court, but her hand had been forced by Tyrus's own refusal and the instability she sensed from him. Personally, she would have prefered to work with in her opinion, two novices instead of the eight she had finally decided on.
Xiaolian had been careful about the cohort she had choosen, pulling from the trusted ranks of her own circles and never from that of the court. The court was too dangerous and she knew that even though Tyrus was in theory supposed to be favored by the king, all it took was one determined courtier to ruin everything.
Eight was an auspicious number in many cultures, but especially for the Guardians who had since time immemorable had served the will of heaven and guarded the tree of the world for the gods. Representing, wealth, fortune, and prosperity, when combined with the protective sigils that she had sketched out; the new wards would be impentrable to all but a few individuals.
"Good evening everyone, I appreciate the help you've offered in helping my friend here repair his warding. I'm sure some of you already know the configuration I've proposed, and some don't." Xiaolian explained to the cohort gathered at the far end of the ranch. Some of the individuals looked similar to Xiaolian, small in stature and with asian features, but many also did not.
"I will need someone to help me bring down the wards and hold the temporary barrier while the eight begin the seal of heaven." She continued. This configuration would provide protection while the main wards were removed, preventing any magical energies from leaking out and drawing attention to anything that might be watching. If it was one thing the Guardians knew how to do and do well, was get things done unnoticed. It wasn't just a speciality of the Black Lotus program.
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Post by demikara on May 22, 2020 14:46:51 GMT -6
It was less reluctant to work with Catherine and more he didn't want to fight with her over performing magic she didn't have to perform. And he had known it would be a fight. But her choosing the eight meant that he'd not be casting at all, which was probably wise given the nature of his magic, and it meant that only those she trusted would be handling the ward.
Still, he had a role to play and he could play it well. "I can bring down the wards with the main ward stone." He offered. "It's near the house. I might be able to hold the temporary barrier on my own." It would just be exhausting, covering the entire ranch on his own. There was a reason he had wanted helpers to begin with.
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Post by Circe on May 22, 2020 15:10:49 GMT -6
"Are you sure?" Xiaolian asked Tyrus. Taking down the wards would be five minutes of work for her if she cast as a null instead of a Guardian. "Holding a barrier of this magnitude is something that very few master without help." The sheer amount of acerage would give even the most seasoned individual trouble, and with the way his magic was acting it left Xiaolian concerned about what she herself might have to ground out.
Pulling Tyrus aside away from the group she took a moment to reassess the situation, "I'll be frank here Rahal, I don't think this is something you should be doing alone... especially given the dissonance I sensed from the last three castings you performed. I'm going to ask you one more time before we begin this.. is there anything I need to be aware of? Anything that would endanger others, myself, or you?"
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Post by demikara on May 22, 2020 15:38:09 GMT -6
There was a moment of hesitation. "There's been something up with my magic since I was turned. I've been working to train back to my usual control, but struggling with fine control." Not that there was anything new there. "I could do it, but I think it would be better doing it with someone else to aid me, or at least to help ground any stray magic."
He shrugged and looked away. "Taking down the wards id relatively easy. Holding a barrier across the entire ranch? I'll probably pass out at the end and will need blood when I come to." Assuming his magic didn't act up in a way he could foresee.
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Post by Circe on May 22, 2020 15:46:47 GMT -6
"That's what I thought." Xiaolian nodded and didn't say anything else about it. While she found it deeply concerning that one such as Tyrus was struggling with the fine control needed for the more advanced techniques he favored, there was little she could do about it right then and there. "I agree, taking the wards down is easy. Five maybe ten minutes tops, but I'm more concerned with you holding that barrier and passing out before the seals are complete."
That was not a complicated Xiaolian wanted, especially if she was inside the wards when it happened. Fighting a blood crazed vampire, if only in self defense, was not high on her list of things she wanted to do.
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Post by demikara on May 23, 2020 8:16:45 GMT -6
"I am admittedly concerned with the same. There are things I can do that would extend my abilities some, but the property is large." Covering the entire property would be difficult. "I might be able to stretch out using the border stones. They aren't particularly pure, and I'd probably have to replace them after, but they are quartz." Just not the best. "Quartz is a power amplifier. Its why I had it on the edges to begin with." They had helped keep the current wards up.
There was a moment of hesitation and he shrugged. "I have some blood bags as well. I can have some before and after." And it would help. He wasn't about to ask to snack on anyone here. And technically, he wasn't meant to have the blood bags, but hunting was a pain in the ass and there were times he needed a power boost. This was one of them.
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Post by Circe on May 23, 2020 17:31:07 GMT -6
"Then do whatever it is you need to do." Xiaolian replied. This had been a happy medium, or at least as happy as they could get on such short notice. Tyrus was lucky that the people she did know had even been willing to assist with such a large scale project. But many of them had said that it would keep their skills sharp without the consequence of failure that other situations brought, what they hadn't expected was for the request to come from Xiaolian of all people. She had been one of the last people they had expected to ever see or hear from again, especially after the events in Hong Kong all those years ago. "I know this isn't what you're used to, but we're on a time constraint and this must be done tonight." She added before turning to return to the group.
Xiaolian's tone and bearing had changed with the final instruction before she returned. It wasn't the same sort of laissez-faire attitude that she had had previously in relation to the court or the exhausted exasperation when it came to Molly's antics.
Tyrus was right, there was much more to the diminutive woman than originally known.
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Post by demikara on May 23, 2020 19:11:30 GMT -6
Tyrus disappeared into his house and finished off two blood bags, then headed to his closet and dug through it, pulling out a few power stones. He had them prepped for when he needed extra power. This counted as that. He draped on over his head as a necklace and reluctantly switched out his more battle oriented stones for amplifiers. This of course meant when he emerged from the house, having locked the closet behind him and activating its shields hoping that they would hold against what they were about to do.
If not, he'd be very busy replacing spelled stones for a very long time. They had intrinsic magic of course, but each had been carefully spelled. He still had the spells written down though, and could replicate them. He just didn't want to deal with redoing everything. It had taken him years and he used to have significantly more time.
Still he was ready, and he had a drawing of the old wards with him so he could take them down. Using the drawing as a focus meant they'd come down easily enough. The actual ward stone was buried but he'd be fine going through the ground to get to it.
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Post by Circe on May 24, 2020 16:17:31 GMT -6
Xiaolian stood waiting with the rest of the group, who were largely uncertain as to what to do with themselves and the rare opportunity to not need to perform under the duress of war or strife. "If you're ready we can begin." She said seeing Tyrus. This would be more magic than she had ever dealt with in the span of the last few years. Once she had left her position in Hong Kong and was sent to Dallas, any trace of her doing anything other than the job of a null vanished. It had left her uncertain if she could even assume the mantle of the Guardian again.
Motioning for the eight others to take their place, Xiaolian would assist Tyrus with pulling down the wards and provide backup for holding the shields. If things went right, she wouldn't have to do much at all and all the work would be done by the magic itself.
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Post by demikara on May 25, 2020 14:06:11 GMT -6
Tyrus knelt on the ground. He spread out the map of the property and placed one hand on it, the other on the dirt itself, reaching for the ward stone. "Ready." He agreed. "I'll count down to dropping the wards." He offered. It looked like everyone was in the right spot at least, and his magic made contact with the ward stone. He followed the path of the wardstone to the outer boundaries, the stretch feeling almost like a release of his magic. It was rare he got to do a greater working like this, even if it was only a greater working because of the size.
Then again, the wards were there specifically so he could do a greater working, if he desired to. Mezar was meant to be private, isolated, and peaceful. A good place to challenge the laws of magic without worrying about tapping into a ley line by accident. "Three. Two. One." He pushed his desire through the ward stone and his will through the boundary stones at the same time. Bringing up a temporary barrier as the wards dropped.
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Post by Circe on May 25, 2020 16:20:06 GMT -6
Xiaolian nodded, as she motioned the others to start their end of the ritual. This had the potential to go horribly wrong, especially given that there wasn't anyone of Tyrus's caliber to back them up. He had already refused to allow Catherine to help, who had been willing if it wasn't under Tyrus's instruction. But Tyrus had taken that as a hard no, and not a yes if specific conditions were met. The mage and vampire prince was as hard headed as anyone else, and it seemed to be a possible way to his eventual undoing. Xiaolian however hadn't been interested enough in such things to bother to look that far ahead and into the future.
Extending her own senses, she waited for the wards to drop and barrier to raise. "Begin!" Xiaolian instructed to the eight who had spaced themselves out accordingly.
They began to mutter and chant in the same strange language Xiaolian had used earlier when she had cleansed Tyrus's ritual room. With it came the same overwhelming sense of magic that was as far from the veil as anything else could be. The new wards had been designed with the previous incident in mind, especially given that she knew full well where he drew power from. They didn't need another tipping point or anything else that could potentially cause further problems. To remove the wards would take a Guardian or a minor act of a god. Both things that were in very short supply at current time.
As the magic swirled and coalesced around them, the first and central sigil began to come together. This one would seek and call out to the others that been engraved onto silver coins and driven far down into the bedrock of the property.
Meanwhile, Xiaolian stood not far from Tyrus, ready to assist if the need should arise.
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Post by demikara on May 25, 2020 18:43:35 GMT -6
Tyrus extended his senses, eyes on the sketch of his property. Each of the boundary stones had been marked on the map. He focused on those, holding a barrier above the ranch. It was thin, but it would do its job. He balanced himself, feeling the drain more than he had wanted to. He'd have to tap into the power stones to manage this feat. And he may need to refuel partway through holding it. Damn, opening a blood bag one handed wasn't easy. He'd end up making a mess of himself.
Hopefully he'd have enough magic to get rid of the mess once they were over. Though he was likely to use the last of his magic just so he didn't make a total fool of himself in front of Xiaolian's choices. Friends, of some sort, he supposed. Or at least, people she knew well enough she could call on them for something like this.
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Post by Circe on May 26, 2020 14:50:09 GMT -6
Xiaolian could sense Tyrus faltering, and hoped that it was just a small hiccup. Larger scale castings like this one weren't very common anymore, and she had insisted on taking a few short cuts; ones that most magic users wouldn't have even dreamt of to begin with.
As the first sigil neared and finished completion, it began to charge itself over again with magic. This next stage would allow power to flow to the next one. Like pools as a creek trickled down towards a larger body of water, the magic would flow to each sigil monitored by one of the cohort.
Ultimately, Tyrus's ranch would be crisscrossed and warded by these eight points of light or magic. Providing protection from any manner of prying eyes.
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Post by demikara on May 27, 2020 12:15:36 GMT -6
Tyrus held the shield up, feeling the eight points light up through his senses. He focused on his part of the job though, and forced his focus to remain on the situation at hand. He had a draining job to do. Ge could feel the boundary stones begin to falter though and reached to his power stones to shore them up.
The boundary stones would need replacing once this was over with. At least some of them would be burnt out entirely. Though given the size of the stones, he'd probably try refreshing them first.
Tyrus held his shield until he felt the magic settle over the ranch, until magic stopped flowing freely from the eight castors. Then, carefully, he lowered it, exhausted. Clumsily, he reached for the blood bag he had brought out. "I'm going to have to hunt twice tonight to recharge. How annoying." The blood bag would really only be a snack, given how much magic he had just used.
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Post by Circe on May 29, 2020 15:15:37 GMT -6
"You survived a circle of eight and assisting with casting the seal of heaven. Good job." Xiaolian remarked with a chuckle as she watched Tyrus fumble.
The others were still lingering and talking among themselves, it wasn't often that they got a chance to practice classical methods like the one they had just used. Many of them after 'graduating' from their training, learned different methods and easier combinations that could be thrown up hastily. Getting eight of them together alone had been a feat, but somehow Xiaolian had pulled it off with little trouble at all.
"This warding configuration should withstand just about anything." What it couldn't withstand, she wasn't going to tell him. As far as she thought, it wasn't a concern to tell him that there were things that existed beyond the current plane. The mirror stations were shielded well enough, and used little enough power that anything that would consider them to be tasty morsels wasn't interested.
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