frozen north [STAR] A Dangerous Mistake to Fix {Closed ATTN: Ashton, Pyro, Alivda}

[IceStorm]

 

 

It had only been a week or so ago that Ice Storm was standing inside of the Gifted Unicorn Library in Canterlot with Twilight and Blizzard Blitz, but to Ice it felt like an eternity ago. It had taken her far too long to get this expedition together. It took her being able to get some of her heartier members in order to even attempted what she was trying to do, as only a select few could survive the harsh conditions in the Frozen North. Thankfully she was able to call upon Harle and her crew. Their last expedition together didn't go as well as she would have liked, but she hoped that this one would go a bit better. She couldn't really guarantee it though. After all, they were going to have to brave both the elements and the yetties if they were going to get to where their goal resided, and then they would have to figure out how to seal it up. This mission was anything from safe, and what food they had was going to have to be rationed in order to make this work.

 

Thankfully, they were able to take one of her destroyers here to the outskirts of the Frozen North. A few of the crew had asked why they didn't take the saftey of the ship itself to the north, but Ice had replied that the wind and the ice in the frozen north would create a shell on the ship, weighing it down, and that the cloud cover would make navigating some of it's hidden mountains impossible. She wasn't about to lose a destroyer and everypony on it because they flew into a mountain they couldn't see. But, at the very least, it meant that they could make sure they were fully supplied on food before they departed. Ice herself was already wearing her guard armor as she stood in the snow looking at the map that she had from the last time that she had found this place. Once she had her bearings, she turned around and faced those who came with her.

 

"Alright every creature, listen up. This is going the be the longest, most grueling three days of your life, and that's just getting there. To survive out here, we will have to build shelters of ice to block the wind and the weather while we sleep, and we're going to have to make our food stretch, and that's just to get us to the mountain that these aether crystals are in. Once we get there, we will have to figure out how to safely seal this mountain without causing it to disrupt the flow of aether inside of it, or bring the entire thing down upon us. This won't be easy, and for most of the time, it won't be fun, but the very security of Equestria depends on this mission being a success. We're going to have to work together as a team if we are to survive. If anyone wants to back out, this is your last chance to do so, and I wouldn't blame you one bit," Ice Storm spoke to her crew.

[Ashton]

Harley was a little annoyed with the tone that Ice was using, but (1) Ice was military, this had been her life for at least years, and (2) well harle had kinda signed up for this, having not thought through all the implications of joining up with the blue mare - Granted Harle didn't have a lot of choice in the matter, but still, she'd have liked to have known what she was getting into...

 

The griffen shivered hard in her wet captains coat and red scarf... having leapt out of the ship as it neared the ground and plunked straight into the deep snowbank like a cat... granted she was half cat, but it was still embarrassing. She reached into her coat for her decanter and winced as she heard a loud snapping sound. looking inside she pulled out a small snapping turtle that had hitched a ride from the seaside. having heart Ice's speak, Harle grinned like an idiot and held up the turtle "It seems Mr. Snappy is too chicken for the mission, he says he's backing out" she then carelessly threw the turtle over her soldier. Of course this being the frozen north, he landed softly enough in the snow not to be hurt... whether he'd freeze to death within minutes was up for debate, but the fall at least wouldn't kill him.

 

After that interruption Harle once again reached into her coat and this time successfully pulled out her decanter and took a swig from it, sighing with contentment as the heat flowed through her body.

[PyroBlaze]

Magnus remained silent as he surveyed his surroundings, a little annoyed he let himself get dragged into this mission. When had Harle even joined this military outfit and took her crew along with her? In some ways, it made him regret joining up with her, but so far the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. 
 

“We’re not going to be scared away by some cold weather, I’ve survived through plenty of bad environments.” He said simply, rolling his eyes at Harle’s antics. At least this trip means he might learn something about this power they were sealing away, and possibly how to access it in the future. 

[Alivda]

Raven stood with the others, a decently sized pack slung across her back. She had some supplies from her lab, just a few portable analytical tools. When she had heard during the briefing that they needed to seal a mountain without disrupting aether, she had leapt at the chance to come along, hoping that some of the readings would be useful to her research. She also had her armor in it's case, just in case she needed it, but she doubted that she would. That being said, she was sure she made quite the site, as she seemed to be the most bundled up out of the few of them that were going on this trip.

"We have a job to do, I'm not going to back down. Besides, the readings I can get from the mountain may help with my research." She said, looking around for a bit. She actually didn't know much about the creatures of the north, as her family didn't make it that far north, but she was sure that with her magic, as well as the skills of the others, they'd be alright...

[IceStorm]

~~~Ice Storm~~~

 

 

 

Ice Storm looked to Harle and her crew mate before looking back to Raven. Of all of the ones that came with her, she was the one that she was the most worried about. The fact that she loved her was part of it, but that wasn't the primary reason. She knew that at Raven's inner core she was a fire mage and this was a very, very frigid environment. She would have to either use magic near constantly or remain bundled as she was if she were to traverse this wasteland with any success. She also couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit as Harle almost immediately jumped off into a large snowbank.

 

The response from the unicron that came with Harle also unsettled her a bit. Harle herself had proven to be reputable, but she wasn't sure about the rest of her crew. Still, he was in for a rude awakening if he thought this was just a little bit of cold weather. Raven was the only one that seemed to have her mind on point with how serious this situation was. "Alright then, Lets be off. I'll take point because I know where we're going. I can also shield us from most of the wind and make it a little bit easier to traverse the terrain. Raven, you take the rear. Magnus, you're behind me, and Harle you're behind him. I believe this will give us the best chance of survival should we encounter any of the unsavory things that actually manage to live out here," Ice said as she took point and waited for everypony else to line up.

[Ashton]

Harle took the momentary confusion as they were getting to their spots to size up this new pony, this 'raven' since, at least in stories, whoever was in the back tended to be the first one to be picked off. Did that mean that this pony was expendable? or maybe the opposite - that Ice was confident that if anything showed up wanting to fight, that this pony would be able to handle it...   Harle mulled over these thoughts as she again reached for her decanter, but sighed and changed her mind, realizing, even though she had plenty to spare and didn't need to ration it,  this was not a place she really wanted to be caught inebriated... 

 

So with only her own thoughts to keep her company, given the situation, she quietly followed the others while it was like a thousand flies buzzed inside her head... she really didn't like long, silent, expeditions, her ADHD  and loud nature were killing her... but she pressed on none-the-less

[Alivda]

Raven nodded and took her place in the back, her pack resting uncomfortably on her sides as she did so. If she had to be honest, This was the first time she'd taken any of her equipment out of STAR's HQ, so she wasn't quite sure how durable any of it was, nor was she used to the weight of it. She did wonder slightly at Icy putting her in a rear guard position, as with the weight of her equipment and being bundled up like she was, she'd probably be the slowest of the group, and she figured that they'd want to move fairly quickly, as even if Icy could help with the cold winds, ice, and snow, it'd still effect them. Plus, there was also the fact that she'd not been in a real fight in... in a long time... She wasn't sure how well she'd do...

[PyroBlaze]

Magnus wasn’t sure why the other mare was in the back, especially since it looked like she was the least experienced one here, at least where traveling with the weight she brought was concerned. Usually, the weaker or slower members were in the middle, so the more experienced travelers could help keep them safe. Ice was the one in charge though, and he didn’t really care what happened to the other unicorns anyways, so he simply got into position as they set out, following behind the icy mare. He said nothing as they walked, focusing on their surroundings to try and catch things before they snuck up on the group. 

[IceStorm]

~~~Ice Storm~~~

 

 

 

Ice Storm had everything figured out and she knew that she had everypony organized in the best way that they would be able to protect each other on this journey. She knew Raven's fighting ability first hoof, and while she might be slowed down a little bit, she knew that fire to protect others, that fire that she showed in the Crystal Empire that day when they sparred. She knew that Harle's weapon would be able to pick off anything at a decent distance. At least of any distance that they could see in this weather. The only unknown that was in the group was Harle's crewmate Magnus. But she had faith in him. After all, if he was part of a pirate crew, he must be able to at least hold his own in a fight and extreme weather. After all, she knew first hoof just how much weather could wreak havoc on a ship from her couple EPIC assignments protecting the Royal Equestrian Navy from a Whitescar invasion during their civil war.

 

As it stood, she gave the destroyer a salute and it flew off. The last thing that she needed was an enemy organization finding out that they were here and using an insurgent to try to find out what they were actually doing. "Alright, let's move out. There are things in this place that we don't want to face once it gets dark," she said despite the north already being considerably dark already from the cloud cover and the snow. "Trust me, it gets even worse than this. The mountains to the north are among the safest place in this desolate wasteland of ice. The sooner we get there, they sooner we are safer. Keep an eye out for what you can, and protect your fellow creature," she said as she started moving forward towards the north.

[Ashton]

((sorry, weekends are very busy for me... >.<))

 

Harle listened to what Ice was saying, though she didn't appear to be paying much attention as her eyes darted around the landscape as their leader spoke; half expecting to see some monster pop out on que. After a couple minutes though she seemed to relax. In fact she seemed to be taking this  expedition rather lightly, though given her fighting skills, and her backup weapons it wasn't too surprising. She did pull her coat a bit tighter around her as the chilly wind blew in - more glad of the heavy red captain's coat now than ever, feeling the thick fabric lining blocking out the weather, she let out the tiniest of smiles and quietly whispered to herself "thanks dad" as a tear slid down her face as she thought of her late father who had given her the coat as a celebratory gift after they completed building the 'wings - the last ship he ever built, and he never even got to see it fly...

 

The griff' glanced skyward, checking the weather with the eye only a ship captain would have, knowing that even slight changes could indicate a storm on its way, which would be even more devastating here than it would be on the ship (especially considering she rarely ever flew anywhere near the cold mountains, so the most she dealt with was usually rain and wind) hopefully the weather would hold until the finished... whatever it was they were going to do... Ice had been rather vague with everything so far. Hopefully this wasn't a wild goose chase...  though even if it was, she had singlestone monitoring the communications channel - even if she technically wasn't supposed to tell anyone where she had gone, she trusted him and also knew that he could get out there and pick them up quicker than most of the larger ships, especially with the modifications he had made using the technology he had gotten from Ice and the magic he got from his contact... whoever it was... sometimes harle was very frustrated with how secretive Singlestone was, though that also worked in his favor at times like this, knowing he wouldn't reveal her location to anyone unless it was a life-or-death emergency.

[PyroBlaze]

It was times like these that made him wish he had figured out how to use his magic to see better in the dark. If you could see anything, it meant there was some level of light for him to manipulate, but he wasn’t sure yet how he could use that small amount of light to enhance his vision. This was definitely not the time to be experimenting with something like that though, so he would just stick with creating magical light if he needed to. 
 

Focusing on the matter at hand again, he followed Ice as they walked, briefly glancing back at Harle. He wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about her, even still. On some level, he thought he might care for her, but at the same time his past made him wary of anyone that got close. Part of him wanted to cut ties and move on before this crew could betray him like the others, but another part wanted to stay and give them the benefit of the doubt. Harle and her crew were not the ones that had betrayed him in the past, after all. 

[Alivda]

Raven took a look at the airship that had carried them here departing, and couldn't help a gentle biting of her lip. She didn't feel like she really belonged here, but then again, she was the only one that Icy could trust that happened to be researching aetheric properties... as far as she knew... Her marefriend had an understandable but still bad habit of hiding things from her, but what was one to do when they were dating the commander of a semi-secret para-military organization?

 

When the group started moving, she fell in line, following them while keeping an eye on them. She trusted Ice, and Ice trusted the others, it seemed, so she trusted them as well, but it didn't stop her from being curious about them. However, that curiosity fell by the wayside when she realized that the snow was starting to make it a little hard to see, meaning she needed to pay less attention to her companions, and more to the wilderness that surrounded them. Every so often, as they traveled, a shrill wind would blow through, cutting through the layers she was bundled up in, and making a shiver run down her back...

[IceStorm]

~~~Ice Storm~~~

 

 

 

It hadn't been too overly long since the destroyer left, but things were already starting to prove to be difficult. The weather here was picking up. It was getting bad even for the Frozen North. Visibility was rapidly decreasing and she didn't want to risk anypony getting separated in this. If they did, there would be almost no way of finding them. As the snow picked up even more, Ice Storm sighed and looked back over her shoulder. "We need to set up camp here until this storm blows by. This is bad even for here!" she yelled so that they could hear her over the winds. With a flash of her magic, stood an igloo around them. There was an opening at the top so that they wouldn't suffocate from utilizing all of the oxygen here and then they could also see when the storm was letting up. With a little bit of magic she arranged some tinder from her pack into the middle of the hut before igniting them with a flint.

 

"Sorry about this, This storm came out of nowhere. I know the weather here is never great, but my weather unit assured me that now would be the calmest time of the year for this. I guess we either misjudged the timing or somepony looked at the data wrong. Or this is just a rogue storm," Ice Storm sighed taking off her helmet. "Normally I wouldn't be worried about something like this, but I'm afraid of the consequences if these crystals fell into the wrong hooves and they knew how to actually use them. I mean, we're talking the same kind of crystals that helped make the spheres in my amulet, and I know at least one of you have seen that power first hoof. Naturally, I don't believe I should be the only one to have such power. If anything, I was hoping to use the crystal as part of Raven's research for the prosthetic horns for unicorns so that it could act as a natural focus point, and would be stronger than most materials that we could make. But after finding out a possible enemy of Equestria is actually living here in the north... I can't risk that mine staying open, and now this weather that's extreme even for here is going to set us behind..." Ice Storm finished with a sigh as she herself sat as far away from the fire as possible. After all, she didn't start the fire for her.

[Ashton]

Harle chuckled "'jus' need th' clouds cleared? ah c'n take care o' that f' ya" she said in her trademark cockney accent as she reached into her coat and pulled out a strange glove. it appeared to be made of leather with a small circlet of gold on the back, inset with purple glass and gemstones of six colors inscribed with magic runes, it also had a large gem below the circle that faintly glowed. As Harle looked at it, the gem shifted color to yellow and she reached skyward.

 

All the unicorns would immediately feel magic in the local aura being pulled into the glove, as if some alicorn were casting a massive spell, in the center of harle's gloved claw a glowing yellow orb was forming... but the energy that was surrounding the glove... it was a sickly purple color, while it wasn't actually affecting the local aura (other than the massive amounts of magic it was drawing in)  it was clear this was a very dark and unnatural magic - it had to be for a non-unicorn, to be manipulating it! The effect didn't seem intensely powerful, atleast not yet, but the aura was buckling and warping around the glove, while it was granting Harle magic, it was NOT efficient about doing so!

 

Harle was still aiming the glove skyward as the energy in it glowed and the wind was starting to get sucked in as it fed on the local Aer energy, if nopony stopped her, Harle appeared to be about to release a large blast of aer magic to force away or even destroy the clouds.

 

((just to be clear, this thing is not making a huge dent in the local magic aura - Harle could use it dozens of dozens of times without depleting all the magic around her, but it noticeably draining it still))

[PyroBlaze]

Magnus frowned as the storm started picking up, weathering it as best he could until Ice called for them to just camp and wait it out. He was glad for the igloo and fire, but he was somewhat worried about it revealing their position. Then again, finding an igloo just meant there were other travelers about, it didn’t really reveal their capabilities or goals, and it was kinda necessary since they didn’t have time to look for natural shelter.
 

Harle’s actions however, they were a bigger risk. Magnus immediately started suppressing the magic, trying to hide it from anything that could detect it. He was glad Hou had taught him about hiding his magical energy as well as better ways to hide his physical body. At the same time, he glared at the griffin and pushed her claw down slowly. 
 

“Do you not understand the need for secrecy and stealth here? I would rather not advertise our position to every hostile creature in the area, and shooting the clouds with magic beams seems a good way to do it. Plus, I don’t want whoever we are trying to prevent from accessing the mountains to follow us there or meet us on the way out when we’re tired from travel and sealing the place. No, I say leave the clouds alone and wait them out.” He said, watching Harle. If Ice wanted to just get rid of the storm, she probably would’ve requested it. Between the four of them, they probably could do it even without the glove. At least around themselves. 

[Alivda]

Raven had at first went to lay by the fire that Icy had made, not shedding her coat. However, she soon winced, her head erupting in pain as Harle pulled out a glove and started to manipulate it. "I... I second that... Not to mention... the weather here is famously uncontrollable... It's one of the reasons Equestria doesn't have a lot of records as to what is up here..." She said, through clenched teeth, obviously in great pain. The cracks in her horn were lighting up with a crackling aura, though that aura was quickly being bled off to Harle's glove. She couldn't focus enough to begin casting a counter spell, let alone figure out how to stop Harle. Hopefully one of the other two could stop the glove, she thought, as she closed her eyes in pain...

[IceStorm]

~~~Ice Storm~~~

 

 

 

AS soon as she felt the shift in the aura from the glove Ice Storm felt uneasy. It felt like it was pulling the aether from the very land surrounding them. Still the orb of magic that it was creating would be a beacon to them. A beacon to let other things in the Frozen North exactly where they are. Not to mention the dark tendrils of magic looked off. She'd seen them before but she couldn't remember well. The one thing she did remember though was that nothing good came from them. When she looked back to Raven though and saw the device pulling the magic through the cracks of her horn though Ice stepped in as well. She had already planned to but now that this was causing harm to one of the others. "I'm afraid that the others are right Harle. You could cast that thing a dozen times and you wouldn't make a dent in the weather here. Luna and Celestia herself were nearly frozen solid when the Crystal Heart shattered and the normal weather from the North moved in. We are not in control here, and the Frozen North will remind you of that every chance it gets.

 

This snow will never fully stop, but it does die down and turn into soft dainty snow when the winds aren't howling like they are. The further in, the calmer the weather is, but it's still not pleasant. Right now, you need warmth, and we need patience. This is not a place we want to rush around blindly in. If we get turned around at all, this could very easily turn into a tomb," she said to the griffin. "Plus that device is really painful and uncomfortable to us. It feels like you're ripping the aether directly from us to power the device. I would recommend not using it around unicorns and especially not around unicorns with a damaged horn," she finished. "Besides... I imagine us only being stuck here for an hour or so. Just enough for the snow to die down enough so that we can see." she finished.

[Ashton]

Harley held the sphere of Aer in her gloved paw a moment longer, looking between hem as they spoke, they could all see that part of her doubted them... but it wasn't on the tactics - there was a good reason she had brought magnus along... no, it was about the aether... singlestone had been experimenting with this glove for weeks, and she understand the original creature had used it for years without any problems, which meant...

 

The Gem on the back of the gauntlet changed color and vanished entirely as the orb faded, though the aether that had been spent was not returned. Harle looked at Ice with a hard,  angry look "How long...." she began "..how long have you known?" she asked "How long have you kept it hidden from me and 'stone, that griffens cant use aether without tainting it and killing ponies nearby?" there was a thinly veiled anger in her words, she was keeping herself civil, but only barely "were you even going to tell me when I got my ship back? Or was your plan to let me find out the hard way after I started piloting and killed singlestone, magnus, and every other unicorn on board?" the look in harle's eyes made it clear she wanted to rip ice's throat out for witholding from her the knowledge of griffens auras corrupting aether and aether tech... and considering how many unicorns harle had on her crew....

[PyroBlaze]

Magnus breathed a sigh of relief, stopping his channeling of the stealth spells as Harle stopped using the glove. He remained silent after that, glancing between Harle and Ice to see how this little confrontation was going to play out. It was rather interesting, a griffin’s effect on aether, but it was not something he wanted to experience firsthand. It kind of made him glad he hadn’t spent all that long on the ship at this point. Hopefully Harle was smart enough to not use aether stuff around the crew now though. 

[Alivda]

Raven shook her head with relief as the glove's magic started to fade. When Harle turned on Icy though, she had to step in. "I don't think that the effects were that bad... I mean for them... Most unicorns don't have cracks or a broken horn, leading to their aether bleeding into the environment. I don't think this actually poses much risk, to others who aren't damaged like I am. It might be uncomfortable, and make them feel uneasy, but I think a light headache will be the worst of it for most... Me, and others like me though, those who have broken and damaged horns... Well, In my case, it was drawing aether from me, because I'm always bleeding a small amount of aether out of my horn. It seized on that, and drew from me like any other source of ambient aetheric energy. Not to mention, I'm sure if it was actually dangerous, Commander Storm would have warned you." She said, trying to calm down the griffon. It wouldn't do to have one of their small party angry and hateful towards the rest. Besides, maybe she could get a better look at the glove sometime... Might give her some help figuring out how to make artificial Aether channels...

[IceStorm]

~~~Ice Storm~~~

 

 

 

Ice Storm just raised an eyebrow at Harle's antics at this point. She swore that griffon had more anger issues than well... other griffons. Of coursed she could understand some of them. All griffons at some point had a rough past. She just kinda figured that was the nature of Griffonstone at this point. She'd been there a couple times looking to set up a base of operations to try to help restore it to what it was. As of yet though, nothing had come from those plans. She had gotten Equestrian approval for such things, but approval from the Aquillian side was taking a bit longer because of how stubborn griffons were.

 

"Please. I'm insulted that you would even insinuate that I would allow something like that to happen, let alone plan for it to. Not to mention, I've never even seen that glove before now. How the buck was I supposed to know what it does? Singelstone hasn't told me anything about it and I'm the one funding it!? It has nothing to do with the fact that you were using it, and Singelstone had to know that it was drawing aether from somewhere. Aether doesn't just magically appear, it has to be pulled from somewhere. I'm not going to lie the pull of aether gave me a bit of a headache, and it was uncomfortable, but it was far from deadly. I more meant that out of a gesture of courtesy to the surrounding ponies. You don't want somepony coming around and yanking out your feathers that your using to fly to make a headdress now would you? It would hinder you a bit, and be overwhelmingly uncomfortable, but the feathers would grow back and you would be fine. Same exact concept using a Unicorn's Aether."

 

"Shoot if there was a way for you to dial into a specific individual to harness, I'd let you pull from me and only me. I have enough aether reserve to to turn Las Pegasus and the surrounding area into a glacier if I so wanted to. But I'm not that kind of pony. I'm not going to lie to the soldiers that willingly come work for me, and I'm certainly not going to blindly endanger not only my crew... but every living creature on the ground by intentionally giving you a ship that's going to kill everyone on board and everything on the ground where you crashed and pray celestia that's not on a city because you couldn't control the landing. I understand you don't like me after what happened with Felix, but I'm not a monster, and I'm certainly not going to endanger ponies for the hell of it," she said with authority. There was definitely tension in her voice, but never once did she actually raise her voice to Harle. One of the key points to being a Commanding Officer was being able to remain calm no matter the situation. She then remembered about the gems on the gauntlet itself. That gave her an idea.

 

"Now, if you're done, I suggest we use this time to go over the supplies and create a plan for rationing them. Raven, You're an expert on crystals here. Take a look at that device and see if there is a way that we can use the gems to harness aether. If we can give it some charges that it can pull from, then she'll be able to use the gauntlet a few times a day each while we're out here. If that works, we can recharge it every morning, and it will minimize the effects on us, and maybe not even create the giant beacon that will give away our position," she told them. In truth she was intrigued by the device. "Not to mention, something like that might give us a means to harvest the power that I've found. If we can harvest it before anything else can find it, and refine those crystals. We can use them to bolster Equestrian Defenses," she finished.

[Ashton]

That look in Harle's eyes remained a moment longer, but as the others spoke she closed her eyes and sighed, when she opened them again she no longer looked like she might take a look at somepony's insides. "Maybe your right, maybe I am a little bitter about Felix, even though I know its not your fault... maybe some part of me wants somecreature to blame and is lashing out. I'm sorry about that" she paused "And I thought singlestone was sharing all his notes about his experiments with you, or that this was a general thing... I jumped to conclusions about Griffens being the source of the supposed taint... we get blamed for a lot of sh- er stuff... This is a new to-ol I just got" she clearly had to catch herself and not say 'a new toy' "and its the most useful item I've ever seen, so I had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, especially since I'd not seen any negative effects from it before when I used it privately after singlestone turned it over to me"

 

"As for all the other stuff... I wish I could help, but I know nothing about this gauntlet, singlestone got it from a friend of his and is trying to adapt its magic for that project we'd talked about the first day" the griffen was being purposefully vague in case the others were not aware of Ice's desire for Aether Cannons "I can tell you what 'stone told me about using it for what good that does, but that's all"

 

((Honestly its supposed to be drawing in the natural magic aura produced by the world and channeling it --- for those unaware its literally the Casters Gauntlet from Thaumcraft --- and yes she has the belt-pouch of foci (stolen from every version of Thaumcraft ever released XP )))

[Alivda]

Raven nodded, and went over to examine the gauntlet, pulling out a few tools from her bags. After staring at them for a bit, she frowned, and then bit her lip. "I'd love to be able to study that later, but I don't think it'll be much help to us right now... It seems to only draw aether when it's actively being used. That being said, I think if we had a way to store Aether in quantities bigger than a pony's, and if my horn wasn't cracked, we might be able to force it to draw from that, as I think it draws from the largest source first... or the easiest, as is the case with my horn. But, aside from your spheres, commander, I don't think we have a way to make a... battery. And I don't think it's a good idea to use the spheres... If they're drained of Aether..." She said, deep in thought. "But, if I can study it later, in my lab, I might be able to use some of the designs to solve my foci problem, with my artificial horns..."

 

(iirc, the gauntlet doesn't actually store vis, right?)

[IceStorm]

~~~Ice Storm~~~

 

 

 

Ice Storm shook her head. "The only notes that Singelstone shares with me are the ones on the aetherical weapons he's helping develop. It's supposed to be a way to make some of the non-unicorn races can fight properly. Those notes said that it was supposed to be drawing from the environment and natural aether though. I think that might be more of a glitch than anything what because a unicorns aether is still a natural form of Aether. I think I am even more susceptible to the draw because of the spheres and because the amount of Aether they hold," she said turning to Raven.

 

"And yes, I agree that depleting the spheres would be a bad idea. But I highly doubt that device can house a quarter of the Aether that these can. I'm not going to say device won't be useful and if we can by pass the draw to give its own reservoir to pull from, then I think we should use it," she said looking back to Harle. "Singelstone actually told you how this thing was suppose to work? Well then do tell. Usually he just gives it to you and let you try to figure it out. Or at least, that what he likes to do with the weapons he gives to me. Either way, it's definitely worth a study back at base once we get back."

[Ashton]

((wow, I thought this thread was long dead x_x))

 

Harle shrugged "If you want to see his notes, thats your funeral, I tried to read them once and after like a couple lines my head was spinning... if I'd kept reading my eyes would probably have started bleeding and my brain begin oozing out my ears... massive equations and lots of weird letters and stuff... maybe you can understand it, but I for one am too bloody stupid"

 

The Griffon looked at the glove "glitch?" she asked, but shrugged "single' didn't make it, this was from one of his friends who specializes in aether magic, so if there's something wrong with it, blame him" she chortled "yeah, he told me - it gathers magic from around you, the foci tell it how to use the magic, then you shape it with your claw" she paused "that's all he told me, other than if I focused and imagined all the foci in my mind, I could swap them out without physically having to change the one on back" she reached under her coat and pulled out a pouch, opening it to reveal close to two dozen crystalline domes that would fit over the 'gem' on the back of the glove, most of them a solid color, some with strange patterns, one even looking spookily like an eye. Before either unicorn could reach for one of the foci to examine it, though, Harle closed the bag and returned it to her belt "If you want to tinker with it, by my guest" she said, offering the glove to Ice or Raven, no doubt she had a spare given how easily she was willing to hand it over

 

((correct, as Ice said, it draws on the local Aura to get vis. Although there was an addon that let it store Ember (from embers rekindled) or Mana (from botania) and If we want to go back to TC 4 lore, to add vis storage, all you need is some form of magical wood to store the vis (originally Greatwood or Silverwood), and magical metal to channel it (enchanted gold/silver/copper, thaumium, or voidmetal) --- at least early on, you later learn a lot of materials can store vis once infused (blaze rods, sugarcane, bones, obsidian, etc (one for each of the elements) and in some addons you could even make the core out of metal or the caps out of cloth! The general rule though was the caps basically always had to be metal in order to channel the energy --- though how we'd charge it if we made it a TC4 wand I dont know since I doubt we *Really* want to be ripping open portals to the eldrich realm............ yes I dove deeeeep into the mod/lore))