So Far

Trainering Part 1

"What are you doing G'lishi" asked Chris.

"I'm making an amulet."

"Hmm, that's interesting."

"Do you know how to bake it so it doesn't crack?"

"I'm not certain that they are baked.  I always kind of thought that they were fried."

G'lishi gives Chris a look.  Not only is something off in the translation to Dragonese but there's something not right in Chris' voice either.

"Alright, bad joke G'lishi.  I'm not sure what one does to make the physical part of an amulet.  I think that most people carve them out of stone, or bend them in metal.  A lot of times they use valuable stones, those are kind you can buy most often, red gems, and green stones.  Why are you trying to make an amulet?"

G'lishi stares at Chris for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to articulate the problem. "I can feel the magic, but when I try to use it it doesn't come out in the right shape. I was hoping that if I made an amulet, its shape would help the magic come out properly."

"Okay, I can understand that.  In a way a spell is a particular shape.  A shape is something we can understand and put into words, it has so many points, and it curves here and runs straight there.  The shape is what we teach others when we pass on a spell to another person.  When we give a spell a shape we explain how the spell will work.  We do that with our hands and with our voices.

"A word is a shape, or a piece of a shape.  A sentence is a full shape.  We mix these shapes with others that we describe with our hands, and with another that is in our head.  A spell weaves these three shapes into an effect.  So, you're on the right track.  As to the amulet...

"Okay, I'm not sure what I can help to do with that, but once you can make the physical part [and physical is a well defined term in Dragonese] of an amulet, then you have to enchant it.  That I can help you with.  I don't know the amulet spell, and I have to tell you G'lishi, you may want to make a talisman and not an amulet.  In any event for that you need to know some practical magic.  You have a great lot of magical potential and in time you will learn a great many things.  But everybody has to start somewhere, even a dragon, and if you want I can get you started on the right track.

"I'm a Ley-line Walker.  That means that I am attuned to what goes on with the magic of a ley-line. I try to stay near the lines as much as possible.  They empower me when I need them to but otherwise I find them very relaxing.  There's something calming about the flow of them.  I'll lay down along one and feel the magic making its way along the line, feel it break around me, and bubble through me.  And when I phase along one, the feeling is so indescribable, but good, it's so amazing.  The other mage that works with us, Bronson, he's a Walker too.  Line Walking is just one path to magic though.

"There is Mysticism, Shifting, Temporal Magic, Technowizardy, and a bunch of others.  Mystics gain their powers from inside of themselves and they have mind powers too.  Shifters open portals to other dimension and make friends with other beings, and sometimes they make pacts to gain additional power.  I'm not too keen on that idea myself, but it does suit some people.  Temporal magicians learn all sorts of tricks to do with the passing of time, and moving through the dimensions that are a part of this one as well as going to other ones like the Shifters.  And Technowizardy of course is the making of magical machines.  They do with magic what other people do with machines.  We're pretty tech related on this team.  Even I don't have or use that many technomagic weapons or items.

"Anyway, if you want to learn about ley-lines and line walking I'd certainly be happy to start teaching you."

G'lishi pauses for another second, then nods. "I would like to learn anything I can, ley-lines are a good start. You find them relaxing.. I find them fun, enervating. There's just so much sustenance there."

"Let's go over to the ley-line there," says Chris pointing off in a direction behind him.

He leads the way through the trees to a ley-line that stretches out beyond the eye can see in both directions.  "This ley-line is a long one.  It starts far away from here and ends even further the other way.  No one knows why they run from one place to another, or why they meet other lines and form nexuses.  It is important that they do though.  A nexus is both a beautiful thing and a terrifying thing.  Reality, the fabric of the megaverse, is weak at a nexus point and a rift can open up.  If you are the one controlling the rift it is a good thing, if not it is a bad thing.  Still, the nexus is important because it almost guarantees that nasty things will not happen along the rest of any of the ley-lines.  If I asked you the right questions you could probably tell me this next bit.

"However I find it's always good to start with the basics.  Now, a ley-line is pure magic.  Come sunset this line will show up from far away.  The magic wells up from the ground across a half mile and way up above the trees.  It moves quickly in all directions but down.  It moves around most things, people and dragons.  If you know what you're doing though it can move through you.  The purposes of letting it do that are many.  You let it into you for energy like a plant lets in the sun.  I can let it fill me so I can cast extra spells, or to replace what I've used.  I can let it heal me like you heal yourself naturally.  I can use it like a radio to talk to other magic users, and I can use it to teleport anywhere along the line.

"Those are the things that I, a Ley-line Walker, can do in addition to casting spells. Within a couple of months I can teach how to float along the line, no need to flap your wings or nothing.  I can teach you to listen to the ley-line to hear if there are floods or forest fires, or storms along the line.  And I can probably teach you to use it like a radio.  A couple months after you'll probably be able to teleport along the line.  You can go anywhere along the line using that kind of teleport.  Some lines travel for hundreds of miles, and if you pop out at a nexus you can switch to another line.  Let's start with sitting down in the middle of the line and feeling it break around us.  Then we'll try letting it pass through in a non-eating capacity."

Max comes up to Archer while he is polishing his Glitterboy as the diagnostic beeps through its routine.  "Word with you Archer."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Good mission with the S&D team, and that monster thing.  Let me cut to the chase.  You are a professional and I respect that.  A professional soldier that is.  This is a mercenary job, the pay is acceptable, the set-up sucks, and its on a wing and a prayer that we get repairs done.  I don't know your story but I get a sense that you're pretty green when it comes to this down and dirty guerrilla work.  Now I understand that you're doing your best, and it is a good job.  But I have tell you one professional to another that you're dealing with a major deficit here.

"I don't think it's your fault, it's the way you've been trained.  I don't mean to offend who ever taught you but I don't think he expected you to be out in the field like this.  You look like you need support staff, desperately, and that may be the way it is supposed to go, but that isn't going to happen out here.  Not often anyway.  That shield you've been using, that's good in a pinch, but I think that you're going to have sacrifice something else.

"Those SuperSams are a definite pain in your ass.  You just sit there and soak up the grenades.  That's got to stop, that shield, for that matter no shield is going to help you for long.  I'm going to have to teach you.  We have a long road ahead of us in this war Archer.  It isn't going to clear up in a couple of days or even a couple months.  Those C.S. bastards will dog us and dog us until we're dead.  We, and I mean Tolkeen, not us particularly, we have to show them we won't be pushed around and that they had better keep to their own states and mind their own business.  So we are in for that kind of long haul.  If you're not up to it I won't bother wasting your time or mine.  You can get out.  But if you stay it's going to be until the end.  Until the C.S. limps home with its tail between its legs."

Archer, who is unconsciously standing at attention, says "Sir, no offence taken. You are right in that I do have a military background. What and where is not your concern, Sir. Where you're wrong is when you assume that I'd cut and run. I'm not that kind of man, Sir. As useless as some of the guys you have are in combat are I'm getting kind of use to having them around.

"About that support, Sir. <Reaching over to shut down the G.B. now that the diagnostic is finished> I realise that most of the missions are 'fly by wire' <physically quoting with his fingers> but I'm not good at this sneaking and hiding and not being ably to use the radar and not knowing where the enemy is!  Give me some definite plans some idea where the enemy is before he comes out from behind some tree to rain grenades on me and for god's sake get me some real air support!

Red faced he takes a deep breath to calm down.  "Sir. I realise that you don't have the resources to support my GB in full combat with the traditional mechanised help I need, so can you think of someway to 'magic' me some help.  I don't know how <throwing his arms up in frustration> so don't ask me its not my area of expertise and I don't trust the stuff personally but I have seen some pretty fraggin' weird shit since I started here.  But until you can I would be more that grateful for any help in keeping my G.B. scuff free.

"Other that that I can only ask that you try to use me in a way more in line with my abilities, and not as an antiaircraft gun.  Until I can learn to operate in this environment better that is.  Sir."

Max waits until Archer finishes speaking, a habit of his.  He notes things in a manner that is visible upon his face most often as a crinkle around his mechanical left eye, another habit of his.  Uncharacteristically he sucks on his lower lip a moment before saying, "You know Archer I think you are correct.  I'm going to have Chris put some thought into this grenade problem.  I appreciate your stance on my question of seeing things through.  I never even thought of it as a matter of that.  I was thinking of it in terms of the final signing on for this team.  We're stepping into a war role now.  Anyway from this point forward our rules of engagement change.  Radar is still going to be an issue, it has to be since we have to take it to the C.S. guerrilla style, but ambush aside, and we will be taking a harder stance on recon, our missions are going to be planned and co-ordinated from the outset.  We are no longer front reconnaissance there is another team doing that."

"Okay now that that's out of the way let's begin with the training.  How we do this is targets made of wood will fire real weapons loaded with paint shells at you.  There are paint pellets, paint grenades, and paint missiles in three sizes.  The colours are dependent upon the amount of damage the weapon would inflict.  They are additive.  This means that the more an area is pelted with paint the darker it will become.  Once it reaches black the affected area is destroyed, dead.  You will be firing special wooden rounds, they're lighter than your normal ones but they will inflict damage on the targets with pretty much the same devastation your real rounds have on real targets.  With this early stage your targets won't dodge very effectively.  You should only take a single shot at any one target.  If you miss the target or it dodges it won't attack again, so don't wreck them unnecessarily."