Starborn Oddessey (Mastergryph and Whitebrand)

[MasterGryph]

The tablet, ignored in Brand's clothes, transmitted it's readings of the battle and Brand's use of magic afterwards. The intelligence behind it reviewed the data.

Brand vs Venomous Snake = expected outcome
Anomaly in Venomous Snake, Wolf = Inconclusive
Brand = confirmed magic user

It considered the subject of magic further. While Brand had assumed it to be a wizard, it did not have any capability to use magic itself. It did have access to some knowledge of magic... but upon review, the Ad-class profile in it's library didn't have anything that could replicate the effect Brand had just created.

Not unsurprising. All it had were the very basics. The rest was expected to be re-invented when the ship reached it's destination. Unfortunately, it wasn't likely that they would have time or space for those plans to work.

C-class = lowest creation cost, lowest capabilities in all areas
Ar-class = medium creation cost, 2nd best combat, 2nd best knowledge implant slots. All ratings relative to current options.
E-class = medium creation cost, low combat, best knowledge implant slots.
W-class = medium creation cost, highest combat, poor knowledge implant slots
Ad-class = highest creation cost, low combat, low Divine-type magic capabilities, poor knowledge implant slots

The original plan was for C-class scouts to gather resources for them, and set up relatively safe zones, while waiting for enough of an energy reserve to build up that more expensive classes became practical. More specifically W-class protectors and E-class problem-solvers.

Did Brand's presence as an ally change that? It might be more feasible to jump ahead more quickly to the fragile E- and Ad-classes...

Status update = Species profile "Kobold" repaired + usable. Warning = some anomalies may still exist in code

Well, that changed a few things as well...

---

When Whitebrand made it back through the dimly-lit hallways to the brightly-lit area, he noticed that Celia had left the so-called "Starting room" and was resting in a bedroom a short distance into a side hallway. The angle of the door and hallway was such that they could spot each other as he approached.

[Whitebrand]

“Honey, I’m home,” Brand sang out.

He walked into the bedroom area and looked around for a place to set down his plunder.

He was aware that he had likely been watched and was probably being evaluated. Of course he had no idea of the aims of the watcher...so he made a note to himself to try to use the minimal power to accomplish objectives. It wouldn’t do to let this wizard to have too much of an idea of what he could do in case they came to sone sort of impasse.

“I should cook this snake quickly,” Brand said. “Is there a pot or any wTer or anything around?”

[MasterGryph]

There turned out to be a table which wasn't easy to see from outside the room.

"Someday, I need to figure out where you get those phrases from," Celia mumbled.

"Water, yes," she gestured to a sink in the corner of the room, "A pot, not that I've seen." She'd fiddled with the sink enough to learn how it was used, but wasn't sure if they had the supplies necessary to cook with.

[Whitebrand]

“No worries,” Brand said as he set the fruit down on the table. He dumped the snake into the sink and extended a couple of fingernails. With his back to the girl he skinned the reptile and began to cook it using electricity shooting through his hands. “This’ll take a few minutes. Check the fruit. Make sure they’re healthy for you.”

[MasterGryph]

In her opinion, the fruit was fine. Suspiciously good, in fact.

"How did you find this?" she asked.

[Whitebrand]

"I talked to a tree," Brand said with a shrug. "They're very friendly when you approach them the right way. Help yourself, ?I can get more. Right now we seem to be the only one around. I kind of felt a little sorry for the snake, though. It must have been very hungry to attack someone of my size."

The meat continued to cook in his hands, with Brand being careful not to overdo it.

[MasterGryph]

She bit into the apple. While she didn't have much firsthand experience with them, it seemed better than she expected.

"Come to think of it..." she started responding to Brand's remark about the snake before trailing off, lost in thought. "Maybe it thought you were an easier target than you were? It's hard to judge how strong a person is." ...Now where had that idea come from?

[Whitebrand]

“Well I’ll give you that one,” Brand said. “I’m tougher than I look. But still...predators usually go after the meals they think they can handle and avoid those they can’t. Unless they’re desperate. Come to think of it...I didn’t see a lot of prey out there. Or signs of them.”

He frowned.

“Everything is so strange...like the forest was designed by someone who understood the concept but had never seen one.”

[MasterGryph]

That wasn't entirely true - He had seen some prey animals, but the easiest to spot hadn't looked like they belonged to those woods. And he still felt like the ratio of predators to prey was off...

"There's definitely something strange about it," Celie said, after finishing with the apple. "But it's the only place to find food of any kind right now."

[Whitebrand]

“All right,” Brand said as he finished cooking the snake. He set it in the sink to let some of its oils drain and casually removed the entire head to keep from poisoning the meat. “Next priority...tools. You’ll need weapons and tools to fix whatever has gone wrong here.” He took out the tablet and looked at it. “You have any suggestions on that front?” He asked it.

[MasterGryph]

She thought about it. Most of this place was beyond her, but... "Well if we're putting together a wishlist, ways to block lightning, lights of our own, and a way to pry things open."

"Clothes would be nice, of course..."

[Whitebrand]

Brand eyed the girl. She didn’t need clothes on his opinion. She was fine the way she was.

Oh well.

He was too far from his home dimension to simply summon the supplies needed. He’d have to work a little harder for it. He’d been in this situation before though, back in his adventurer says.

“It’s tough to block lightning,” Brand said, thinking. “Without insulation. But it can easily be redirected with simple iron rods or other grounding materials. Lights I think I can provide, and it shouldn’t be too hard to shape a crowbar of sorts...”

He laid out the strips of snake skin to dry. The idea of Calie running around in skimpy snakeskin steps appealed to him.

[MasterGryph]

"Hmm, fixing the broken bits of this place just won't be possible for a long time," she thought aloud, looking back at the apple core in her hand.

"Tell me when you're done with that," she said, ignoring how grimy she felt. "Hm, something smells good..."

[Whitebrand]

"Let the snake drain a bit," Brand said. "Then help yourself. Just pick out the bones. I need to go back out."

Brand left the girl again and went out into the forest to collect a few stones. He enchanted them on the way back so they were glowing brightly like lanterns by the time he got back. He set them down and looked the girl over.

"Shower time for you," he said, looking around for water pipes. "Let's see..."

They'd need a basin too. He wasn't very good at shaping metal as opposed to stone, but it was possible. He just needed raw materials.

"Any scrap metal around here?" he asked.

[MasterGryph]

"...Try the side corridors?" she suggested. The whole place was made of metal after all. But how would she know what could be scrapped?

As Whitebrand had been coming back, he would be able to see that one of the pods in the starting room was lit up differently than earlier, and filled with a strange liquid.

[Whitebrand]

Brand set out again for a quick check and stopped when he got to the newly filled pod. That was odd. He peered into the liquid to see if there was anything in it. He stared into the fluid for a few moments. Odd. This was probably something important...but what did it mean?

He ran a magical scan of the fluid to determine its makeup. As he waited for the scan to finish he headed for a corner of the hallway. He selected the corner because he was fairly sure there wasn’t anything important running through the edge. Once there he touched the metal corner and willed his magic on it.

Nothing. The metal was a strange compound alloy that was different from mere iron. He concentrated harder, commanding the metal. Gradually a bit of the corner came away and separated from the rest. Brand found himself sweating as he used his will to force the strange metal into the shape of a crowbar.

He was breathing heavily as he returned to the pod, examining the results of his scan.

[MasterGryph]

The liquid was thicker than water, but had air and nutrients infused into it. Additionally, it had the beginnings of a life force suspended somewhere in the middle - though it was too small for even his eyes to see. Perhaps that would change in an hour or so.

"Brand, are you alright?" Celie said, surprised by how tired he looked. "...That's what you wanted the metal for?"

[Whitebrand]

"I had to use a lot of power," Brand said, holding out the crowbar. "To shape this strange metal. It's a blend of a number of different metals mixed together, so I had to use enough magic to reshape each one. I still need to find a basin for you. I just need to rest a minute or two..."

Brand leaned against a wall and sank to the floor.

[MasterGryph]

"Maybe you should rest longer than that," she mumbled, taking a closer look at what he'd made. The shape seemed useful...

[Whitebrand]

“I’ll be fine,” he said dismissively, waving a tired hand sloppily.

Something was wrong, he realized. He wasn’t regenerating his mana as fast as he should. The place was too...artificial. No need to mention that, though...

“It’s crude but it will get the job done,” he said. “If I had a smithing set we’d be set. But we don’t, so...”

He shrugged.