Void Girl [Oh god it's back]

>Let Geri do the woo woo magic, can't risk anything going awry like ripping a hole in the universe and destroying all living lifeforms that wander through it.

Let's scan the wand & see if we can glean any useful info or power.

Also say "Antlers, I apologise being rude, but not for being suspicious That's the problem with being made up of hundreds of souls"

> Enthusiastic support for Geri opening the portal

GENO
"You can do it Geri! Crack that portal open! I know you can do it!"

Geri blushes delicately at your encouragement.



GERI
"OK, OK. I guess I can try."
"Full disclosure, though: I've only done a mana transfer once, and that was with Madam Diavla around to make sure I was doing it right. I can't promise it'll actually work, so don't hang me if I slip up."

ANTLERS
"You won't."

Something about Antlers' cool voice and easy confidence pulls an uncomfortable chuckle from Geri.

GERI
"'You won't' as in, 'you better not', or 'I have full faith in you'? 'Cause it's kind of hard to tell."

> How much control do we have over where we land?

GENO
"Wait a second. Can we control where we come out? What's to say we don't pop out in the worst place at the worst possible moment?"

ANTLERS
"That depends on your young mistress' technique. This plane is quite isolated from whence you came, I'm sure."
"Do you believe you can close the distance?"

GERI
"Well, I was until you said that! Now I'm not sure."

ANTLERS
"I don't mean to discourage you. It's merely a point worth considering."

Geri sighs, fiddling with the stump of her wand. You hover close and call her attention with a flicker of your viewport.

> Scan the wand

GERI
"What, you wanna look at this?"

You bob a nod, whirring softly as your PROPERTIES SCANNER warms up. Geri holds it closer to your sensor.

Code:

Scanning Object.
...
...
...
Mana Concentration: É̴̞̪͈͈͌̓R̶̥͍͛̂̀Ŗ̶̟̪̣̈́̊Ơ̴̩̱̫̖̋̊͌͝R̴̬͎̒̚
Mana Conductivity: É̴̹̅R̵̬̘̒R̷͉̖̾O̵̧͈͒̏R̶̢̓
Base Element: E̸͕͙̱͒̇͌͆̇ͅR̶͇͚͕̮̼̀̏̇R̷̹̥͔̉̑O̴̖̰̲̔̀R̸̯͍͓̠̗͋
True Name: É̴̞̪͈͈͌̓R̶̥͍͛̂̀Ŗ̶̟̪̣̈́̊Ơ̴̩̱̫̖̋̊͌͝R̴̬͎̒̚

As your light dies down, Geri grimaces at the reading.

GERI
"Oh, wow. I didn't know it was possible to muck up something this bad. Either that, or you're mucked up, and your scanner's not as sensitive as it should be."
"Either way, that's... kind of depressing."

Throw it away.

>A true warp-mage would NEVER throw away a possible tool! Besides, it might still be repaired later.

>You got this Geri! After all, you were able to ACCIDENTALLY transfer us here. That alone proves how great you are. If you put your all into this, there is no way you can fail!

>If you don't want the wand anymore, we'll keep it. Should be useful later.

Geno: Scan self. What are we made of?

>If you don't want the wand anymore, we'll keep it. Should be useful later.

We don't have hands.

SpoilerShow

I have no idea how to draw Geno scanning itself in an interesting way, so I'm not even gonna bother, haha.

> Scan self

You subject your chassis to the same searching glow that you cast over Geri's disfigured focus. Numbers and glyphs race across your viewport.

Code:

Scanning Object.
...
...
...
Mana Concentration: 25%
Mana Conductivity: 5%
Base Element: Aether, Metal
True Name: É̴̞̪͈͈͌̓R̶̥͍͛̂̀Ŗ̶̟̪̣̈́̊Ơ̴̩̱̫̖̋̊͌͝R̴̬͎̒̚

Geri makes a drawn-out 'oohing' noise, leaning in close to review the text.

GERI
"You're not doing so well, huh... I figure the low mana concentration's why you can't see Antlers' portal, either."

ANTLERS
"So it seems."

Antlers eyes you with interest, though he doesn't approach. He turns instead to Geri.

ANTLERS
"Are you particularly keen on keeping the corpse of your wand?"

GERI
"Not really? Hauling it around makes me kinda sad, now that I think about it. Why?"

ANTLERS
"I wish to relieve you of it. I've been looking to add a Worldtree sap item to my amber collection."

GERI
".... Ohhhh. You're one of those people."

Geri suppresses a snicker.

GERI
"Sorry, it's just I never really got this 'exotic pandimensional rock collecting' trend. Sure, why n--"

> Protest

You whiz into place between Geri and Antlers.

GENO
"A true warp-mage would NEVER throw away a possible tool! Besides, it might still be repaired later."

Geri looks from you, to Antlers, to the wand, and hesitates.

GERI
"I appreciate you getting all sentimental, but I don't think we can fix this. You didn't see how it looked whole -- it's missing, like, so many parts."

>Well, it's her wand. We can't make her keep it, but we CAN be passive aggressive about it.

or

>We can insist that we keep it instead and store it in that handy item compartment we have.

*stage whisper to Geri that it might be a bad idea to give this guy a personal item. He could use it to spy on all of us*

Does the value as a collector's item change too much if we just give Antlers half of it?

We'll play you for it!

The wizard who gives me the most Mana WINS THE WAND!

....
....

No takers huh?


Maybe Antlers can just have the wand on extended loan?

What if we combine our mana with Geri? Maybe then we might have enough power to get out of this inter-dimensional prison.

Also

>Put wand in complimentary cup holder

Scan Antlers & Geri while you're on a scanning stuff roll.

Cast Repair on wand.
Cast Reveal on Antlers.

"Are you a prisoner here?"

SpoilerShow

Experimenting with canvas sizes.

> cast Repair on wand

If only it were so easy. Your BASE ELEMENTS make you unsuited to reparation magic.

What if we combine our mana with Geri?

You attempt to release a trickle of mana in Geri's direction. Nothing happens.

You suppose the soul vault prevents its inhabitants from giving or stealing mana at will. Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a prison, would it?

> ask about splitting the wand in half

GENO
"Does the value as a collector's item change too much if we just give you half of it?"

Antlers considers your suggestion for a moment.

ANTLERS
"I only require the amber. The handle is of no use to me."

GERI
"Oh, well that works out great, then. I can hold on to the sentimental handle bit for Geno's sake, and you can have the melted part."



With Geri's persmission, Antlers snaps the shaft from the handle. You can't tell what he's wearing, but you presume from his movements that he's slipping it into a hidden breast pocket.

> cast Reveal on Antlers
> scan Antlers

Sure, why not? Asking permission to metaphysically strip search someone down to their Essence is for squares, and you're obviously spherical.

You pool your mana, humming in the air. Reveal is an OFFENSIVE TECHNIQUE, created to RIP THROUGH glamours, and thus perfectly compatible with your METAL affinity. You'll need to put some muscle behind this.



GERI
"Geno? You're making a funny sound."



You pull what little mana you can from the atmosphere to bolster your spell.

Then:



You fire at will, intending to tear away the shadowy illusion Antlers may be wearing. Unfortunately, your intentions matter little here. Antlers deflects your spell with a single finger.



He appears most unamused.



You suspect you know what's coming next--




Haha, wow. That could've gone so much better. Numbers and glyphs streak across your viewport in erratic lines.

Code:

RE001010VELA0110ION REP1101001RT.
...
...
...
Ma00101a Concentration: D͡O͞N'T͟ ͡Y͏O͢U ͜KNO͜W҉
Mana Cond0100ctivity: I̶̼͚T̵͙͖̗͖̜'̢̼̭S ͎͙R̜Ư͓̞̭̹͎D̞̪͚ͅE̝͍
B1010se El110men0010s: TO SÇA̴N͟ SOMEONE
True N1101001me: ]Y͕̞̮̗͍͇͠ͅO̢U̖̼͖͉ ̟͕̜͟ͅJ͠US̗̫̞̟͢T̤̟̮͞ ͈̪̜M̫̞͍̼̲̖͎E͇̥̰̯T̷̬̖̪͖?̡̠

GERI
"Geno!"

ANTLERS
"Trust me; they're fine."

You give a disgruntled hum. Yes, yes you are. The soul vault is good armor if nothing else.

GERI
"Genooooo, why? You really are a bunch of animals, huh?"



She turns to Antlers.

GERI
"We're so sorry. The implosion that brought us here must've knocked the manners right out of them."

Antlers' eyes narrow. For a split-second, you see a flicker of crimson behind them.

ANTLERS
"I don't appreciate your conduct. I've been quite kind to you, for a pair of uninvited guests."

GERI
"I knooowww, I'm sorry! Geno'll stop getting all up in your face now, won't you, Geno?"

She mouths at you: Say. Yes. Instead, you teeter back into the air for one last question.

> ask if Antlers can leave

GENO
"Are you a prisoner here?"

Silence. Then Antlers laughs, genuinely, surprised at your audacity.

ANTLERS
"Would a prisoner be allowed to wield their own mana this freely? I think not."

Woah Geri what if this void is actually.... a vault. A soul vault. The Worst soul vault with two magically potent jerks and also you I guess????

> how DARE YOU TREAT ME LIKE THIS IN MY OWN HOUSE

>Okay, seriously. We need to stop doing possible hostile actions, boys and girls. If we want to do something, we need to think whether this might upset others or if we will get blasted for it. It's making us look like a bunch of violent, idiotic BEASTS.

>"I am sorry. I really think We might be damaged... Let's just get this portal business over with before we do anything more to make you angry..."

>Commence portal-making.

What void has a ground you can crater into? Scan it.

> Apologise. Some of us are on edge, and rash actions can be taken without the confirmation of others.
> Make portal (also apologise to Geri. She seems nice, so pissing her off is probably a bad move)

How about we actually stop being jerks and get on with this leaving thing.
Consider: the sooner we leave, the sooner that we aren't getting watched by a weird shadow guy.

>offer antler dude some stale potato chips that are in your inventory as an apology. Everyone likes stale potato chips.

Metal affinity huh. Well that experiment was worth it.

Let's half-heartedly apologize and go somewhere we can mana-bend more easily...

Actually...we can be used as a channel...we can appropriate the mana around us...next time we're attacked, let's try redirecting that mana -perhaps convert it into something more METAL.

Let's half-heartedly apologize and go somewhere we can mana-bend more easily...

Actually...we can be used as a channel...we can appropriate the mana around us...next time we're attacked, let's try redirecting that mana -perhaps convert it into something more METAL.

OR, just an idea mind, we can not be hostile and actually apologize normally. What is up with everyone being so malevolent towards Antler? He may be shady as crud, but he has only defended himself from our actions so far.

As for moving somewhere else, why? Geri is here and she is adorable. I see no reason to leave her side.

>BAH! This place is for lame-o's! Time to soup up your mana and get that portal going. "Smell ya later, Antlers!"