[Open] Field Trip: Supernatural Surveyor

[nor_iron_bars]

Who: Jailbreak, her class, and/or anyone else who signed up for the Supernatural Surveyor mission.
What: A field trip to an Orihalcum mine, because that's totally a great place to send impulsive teenagers and a known thief.
When: March 4th.
Where: The Sinnias Orihalcum Mine.
Warnings: Jail's swearing.


[On paper, the idea seemed to make sense.]

[The Sinnias Orihalcum Mine had been run by the Watchers for years, and the metal it produced was extremely useful. While daemon attacks on the premises where a known threat, the security was highly equipped to deal with them already, making it unlikely to require any visitors to fight. A relatively safe but still potentially important area like this would be a valuable learning experience for students who had the time to visit and find out more about how it worked, especially ones whose specialties or interests ran towards magical artifacts. And, of course, the Academy already had a class dedicated to the making of those artifacts, and a teacher quite knowledgeable about the process.]

[It was just that, somehow, this perfectly reasonable chain of thought had lead to a large group of students being let loose in a working mine with Jail as their only adult supervision.]

[The trip there, at least, had been without incident. As they approach the entrance, she stops and gestures grandly, turning to face her audience.]

Okay, kids, here it is: your best excuse to skip class for the day.

[The Magic Schoolbus, this really isn't.]

For anybody who ain't real big on metallurgy, Orihalcum is that shiny golden stuff that shuts down magic. Can't enchant it, can't scratch it with anything softer than diamond, can't find anything sparklier outside of a glitter fight in the middle of Mardi Gras.

And yes, that weirdly specific metaphor will be on the test.

[There may or may not even be a test, but that won't stop her from saying it.]

So, ground rules: this is supposed to just be a nice, easy walking tour of the place, but sometimes shit gets weird. If it gets weirder than you can handle, hit the alert app on your phone and it'll call me. Only ring me up for emergencies, or if it would be really funny.

Your phone also has a file that gives you more background on this place, in case you want more details or just missed the melodious sounds of my voice. Hit the icon in the lower left to switch from audio to written captions.

[The recording- or the captions, if you prefer them- is pretty similar to the kind of tour guide audio you get in museums... except for the part where Jailbreak's narrating, which means some of the language is. Interesting.]

[The quick version of the recorded lecture is that Orihalcum is extremely useful for dealing with supernatural threats due to suppressing magic, and that it was the basis of a pretty large and successful civilization from the Outlands up until their luck ran out sometime around 1039 BCE.]

[The nation in question would be known to modern day humans as the lost city of Atlantis.]

[Credit where it's due, Jail's recorded speech on the topic is genuinely very knowledgeable and informative, even if she does repeatedly refer to a specific Atlantean ruler as "a complete fucknut", and at one point gets sidetracked into an extended digression in which she critiques (read: roasts mercilessly) the ancient Athenian legal system.]

Now, 'cause this place is the biggest source of Orihalcum running these days, security is pretty serious. We're gonna head through their checkpoints in a second here, then we'll be in the mine. These guys make the TSA look all sweet and cuddly by comparison, so if anyone's got some shit they wanna ditch outside so it doesn't show up on the scans, now's the time.

Anyone who can spot a serious security flaw while we're in there, come find me after we're done here and we'll talk. If it's legit, you get extra credit.

If you got any questions, just ask while we're walking. Anything I can't answer, the guy we're gonna be meeting up with should know. He's a dwarf by the name of Regin, the general manager 'round here.

[She turns to start walking into the mine's entrance, pauses, and looks back over her shoulder]

Oh, and remember: when we're in here? You break it, you bought it. The school ain't paying for shit.

[This one's a complete lie. Daybreak Academy absolutely will be replacing anything the students damage if they act out while in the mine.]

[But, well. They don't need to know that.]

[Onward we go...]

Comments

Alt | OTA

[aduration]

For Jailbreak

[He snickers softly at the digression]

I suspect where you alive at that time, that you would be another one of Antisthenes' "dogs". Better hygiene habits than the other one, though.


Checkpoints

[At the checkpoints, he sighs and holds his arms out as he's scanned, as someone scrutinizes his ID card dubiously, before giving it back with a crack about not looking old enough to drink. With that, Alt joins the group that have already been processed]

There we go, that should be it. Now don't relax, the checks on the way back is going to far more strict. So don't think about swiping a souvenir.

[Somehow the sigh he gave after that seems... disappointed?]

A gathering lesson?

Now watch how they move, tapping at the walls before they start to extract. It is the duty of an Alchemist, Artificer, and material-based professions to be greedy in their gathering, but there is much to be said about not being too greedy, or delving too deeply, especially when it comes to ores.

[foolishjustice]

[Oh look, it's someone paying rapt attention to Jail's lecture, even looking interested when she goes off on a tangent in the recording. Once that's done, he pauses to take a selfie with the mine in view, before jogging to catch up with the rest.]

Given orichalcum's hardness and resistance to magic, it sounds as though it would make a very effective armor against both mundane and magical attacks.

Checkpoints

[foolishjustice]

[Akechi raises an eyebrow at that sigh, though his hand is hiding an amused smile. And...he's maybe fighting a bit of disappointment, himself.]

Wishing you could get a free sample, yourself?

Re: Checkpoints

[aduration]

I'm an Alchemist, it's my natural inclination to take interesting materials to experiment with it. I never had much chance to work with the metal due to it's rarity and expense.

[transfusionem]

[Truth be told, Adelaide still doesn't know much about magic, and doesn't know much about what to do with magic being a real thing she can actually learn. Crafting magical items seemed interesting enough, and that's what led to her being here.

Here being perhaps the sparkliest place in the entire world.]

I wasn't expecting it to be so gaudy.

[For something so useful, it's kind of garish.]

But at least it seems like this trip won't be dull.

[Get it? Get it??]

[aduration]

Pft...hahahaha!

[Alt snorts, snickering between his fingers before letting out a full laugh at that horrendous pun]

[nor_iron_bars]

[Somewhere in the next room over, Jail feels the sudden urge to go 'ayyyy' and high-five someone. Her pun senses are very well-tuned.]

[transfusionem]

[People appreciate her sense of humor and that's wonderful.

She gives Alt a grin and a wink, and tops it all off with a bow. She'll be here all day.]

[transfusionem]

[She's got your back, Jail. She will never back down from an opportunity she sees.]

[nor_iron_bars]

Ehhh... [Jail tilts one hand in a noncommittal gesture.]

Ideally, yeah- but in practice, it depends on your fighting style. Trouble with suppressing magic is nobody's got a way to make it pick and choose, yet. So there's the risk of shutting down your own magic in the bargain. Not to mention how heavy the stuff is. Not too bad for infantry, but if you're relying on high mobility, it's a problem.

You want a really well-made alloy of Orihalcum with something lighter and more flexible, for best results. Between the physical weight and the metaphysical effects, a little goes a long way.

[heromedal]

A: Before Entry

[ Jail's warning that now might be the time to stash stuff gives Rex pause. He is, of course, always carrying enough gadgets and tricks and weapons to take on a country. You know. Just in case.

So he quietly withdraws from the group for just a moment- using that odd way he has of knowing where people look and what catches their attention, then just not being there. Usually works. Takes sharp senses, lots of experience or luck to see him slip away.

First, a small hole made with a thrust of his hand and a simple spell. Second, tossing several of his small pouches in there, wrapped in weak but long-lasting bubble barriers. Third, picking a few things he suspects will not cause him trouble if found but would likely be detected and questioned, wrapping them in a similar bubble and swallowing them.

The 'hurk' noises are as quiet as he can get, but not entirely silent. Thankfully one of the first things he learnt after coming to Daybreak was size manipulation magic and he doesn't choke to death. Between the disrupting bubble and his guts, he should get through screening. And if not, it's nothing terrible he's taking in and then he knows he can't use that trick to steal stuff.

If he's not caught in the act of swallowing some stuff that absolutely should not be swallowed he'll still look a little red-faced and uncomfortable coming back. ]

B: Mamma Had a Golden Sword

[ He never asked when she was alive, but years after her death Rex had always wondered what exactly his mother's distinctive sword was made of. It was, like every day with her, dazzlingly golden and bright- but it couldn't possibly have been made of actual gold. Possibly it was some incredibly enchanted item with a spell making it shine so bright, but looking at the Orihalcum he suspects he's found his answer.

So Rex can at some point be found handling some samples of the metals with some small reverence even as he experimentally tries various magic tricks on it. He'll have to find an effective counter to it at some point, he's sure- if it's the sort of thing used by people on the same level as his mother, it has to SSS+ rank danger stuff. It's fascinating really. Seems that if he tries to cast magic on it directly it just... doesn't work. But if he introduces a degree of separation, uses magic to create an effect that is strictly speaking not magical itself it's the same as a mundane force. Magically heating it- nothing. Create a fire by magically making methane and adding a spark? Works, because the heat is just from a regular fire. But it's so energy consuming and the material so durable, he can't muster up the power to do anything useful. ]

What a delightfully maddening material. I can't even scan its atomic structure magically- I simply must get it under an electron microscope. I do wonder what a sword of it would weigh...

[ He's always suspected his mother was superhumanly strong somehow. Other questions arise. Did she get the metal from here? Did she forge it herself? So many things he'll never know. ]

Because I really want one.

C: I'm Lost (in the spiritual sense)

[ Being in the tunnels proper can be a bit cramped for Rex, but where isn't? Depending on the size of any particular cavern, he sometimes needs to be on all fours but he's a champion wriggler- and thankfully he knows an anti-friction spell that helps slip around. Literally sometimes. With his memory and sense of direction, it's not difficult to find his way back if he wants to, but the plan is just to keep going deeper in hopes of finding one of those 'serious security flaws' that potentially exist. I mean. How else is he supposed to sneak in here later if he needs to?

He's quite possibly significantly deeper than he's meant to be, but no one actually told him not to do this so they can't complain when he does. No one is looking so it's fine. Don't worry about it. ]

(( Or wildcard me. ))

[nor_iron_bars]

[Jail snickers.]

I dunno- I'd be down to hang out with Diogenes as much as the next girl, but "virtue over pleasure" ain't exactly my style.

The Cynics got the best arguments, but I bet the Hedonists threw better parties.

[foolishjustice]

Perhaps a lighter form of armor, then, like chainmail. Does it suppress the magic of anything or anyone it touches?

[foolishjustice]

That does sound tempting. I wonder what sort of effect an anti-magic material would have in an alchemical mixture.

B

[shockingblue]

[Gunvolt happens to be nearby, examining one of the samples himself. A lot of ideas run through his mind about what he could use this stuff for if he was ever allowed to get his hands on it. It was rare, but powerful... but frankly, what could an inscriptionist and Candle like him even do with something like this? Certainly, it'd make for some interesting weapon and armor design, but...

When he hears Rex gushing about it, he chimes in with something of an answer.]

I'm curious what its molecular structure would be like too, but... more practically, I don't imagine a sword made of this stuff would be too heavy.

The real problem would be how well could it even hold an edge? And how would you even sharpen it without using at least a diamond whetstone? Not like you can just inscribe a Rune of Sharpness or anything on it...

[aduration]

That depends heavily on what you want to do with it, but one possibility I had thought of was creating something akin to a fragmentation grenade to create a temporary anti-magic zone... though the stability of it would be uncertain.

[nor_iron_bars]

Most things, yeah- it ain't a sure bet, though. There's a few rare or just plain weird talents that slip by it.

[She shrugs.]

Think of it like a really weird, high-stakes game of rock-paper-scissors. Magic beats most things, Orihalcum beats magic, but there's gonna be something out there that beats Orihalcum. The trick is being smart or lucky enough to show up with whatever your enemy didn't have a counter for.

[heromedal]

[ An echoey tunnel filled mine is easily in the top ten worst places to make Rex laugh. Probably joint with a volcano, but maybe behind an abandoned hospital or a crumbling fortress.

The 'hnnnhnnnhnnn... BUWAAAH-HAH-HAH-HAHAAAAA!' bounces throughout what seems like the entire mine. We'll be lucky if no one hits an alarm, assuming a daemon lord has arrived.

Just as quickly as it comes, his laugh stops and his deadpan face returns. ]

I like that.

[aduration]

Isn't that usually how it goes, the more sensible option is generally the less interesting one.

[heromedal]

Considering its hardness I don't think the edge would dull much unless it was matching against equally durable material, which is likely to be as rare as Orihalcum itself.

[ Rex holds a sample in his fist, tossing it up in such a way it barely leaves his palm- the classic 'how much does this weigh' manoeuvre. The thing is, his mother's sword was ludicrously huge too- making it all the more difficult to ascertain if weight is an issue. ]

It would likely need little honing, compared to conventional materials. Though that said, perhaps a blunt weapon would suit it better.

[foolishjustice]

Such a thing would also be highly situational. For example, it would only be effective if you had someone capable of fighting entirely without magic or magical weapons.

[foolishjustice]

[It reminds him a little of fighting in Palaces. Different enemies have different weaknesses to exploit, but also different defenses.]

Plus, I'm certain there are some creatures from the Outlands that are still quite dangerous on physical strength alone.

Hmm...would a thick layer of mundane padding protect someone from the dampening effects of orichalcum armor?

[aduration]

Naturally, and if the shutting down of the enemy's ability outweighs losing your own. A more 'safe' option is making a weapon - the weight would be a problem.

[foolishjustice]

What about projectiles? An arrow would only need a small part of the tip to be made of the metal, and it would be certain to remain in any target it struck. A volley of orichalcum tipped arrows could stop an enemy's supernatural abilities, without inhibiting yourself or your allies.

[aduration]

Yes, arrowheads or crossbow bolts - the metal is too hard for conventional bullets, it would deform the barrel's rifling and not fly far enough...

[He murmurs, the way his brows knitted suggest that he's running some kind of formula in his head]