The various slashing at the shades has had little help. It has been noticed though that the area that was previously scorched by the light beam is slowly being reverted back to darkness. Probably from the Shades consuming the light energy left there.
Sly thought for a moment of his time at sea. He remembered fleeing his home over the waters. At one point in the jorney the ship that they were on was almost swallowed whole by a Whirlpool. He remembered thinking that nothing could survive getting pulled into that natural force of destruction.
Locke apologetically shook his head at the plans the others presented to him.
Locke - "All those plans are well and good, but they won't be quick enough to actually catch the Shades or they simply take up too much energy," he began to lecture much like a teacher would. "The 'Shadow Eater' idea, while possibly doable, would not work since the Shades would simply disperse like a school of fish. You could get some, sure, but they're much too quick for one thing to handle, and we probably wouldn't be able to make more than one without diluting the light too much. Making a protective bubble would only buy us a small amount of time within a small, contained area or else it will not even deter them. As for the whirlpool, we need only look at the raincloud idea. It showed us that we cannot make it too big or dispersed or it will not even harm the Shades, and I doubt we can replicate one like the ones in Elexia, not to mention that doesn't deal with the ones on the ceiling. Only the foolish fish would swim close enough to a whirlpool, the rest would simply swim a-."
The hooded scholar paused with his mouth hung open and looked as if epiphany had struck him upon the noggin. He paced the floor for several moments with orb in hand as the cogs in his head turned and whirled, until he suddenly stopped with his manic grin returning to his face.
"That's it!" He exclaimed with excitement. "We've been thinking about this at the wrong angle! I think I've solved our problem, but this plan might require a little more energy, so it may require a memory or two more. Heck, even if it doesn't work, we could always try the plan of using more memories to power up the orb to the point where the whole room is illuminated, if that's even possble."
Locke - "To put simply, it's an amalgamation of everyone's ideas, plus something I learned down at the docks in Elexia. We've been focused on destroying these things like they were conventional enemies or simply all of them at once. The problem as I stated before is that we have no way of hampering their movement enough to where we can actually hit them, for anything to hurt the Shades needs to be focused or it doesn't harm them, and the fact these things are only a flat stone surface. What we need to do is think of the floor as water and these things are 'fish', and what we need to catch the 'fish' is a 'net'. The said 'net' will be composed of the beams of light from the orb intersecting with each other, thus trapping the Shades within our 'net', allowing everyone to strike at what they can." As Locke finished his sentence, he closed his eyes and began to focus his thoughts on the orb firing its beam once more, only this time for it to carve a large square around them with the beam.
Without skipping a beat, he opened his eyes and began explaining his plan again. "Now, while we could just hack and slash at these things it would be much faster if we had something infused with light that could 'swim' at the same speed as the shades and 'eat' them. That part comes in with the fact nobody seems to have noticed something off about me despite the fact I am glowing like the sun," he said as he looked down at his shadow.
Anyone who decided to look at the shadow could see that it seemed to be waving at them despite the fact its owner held the orb of light with both hands.
When he thought of the net and square, the orb responded. It shot a beam above the group's heads and then from that point shot down creating a large net on the floor made of light beams. They held solid for about 30 seconds before they began to fade and Locke felt very drained. His shadow though, when it was focused on, did seem to gain its own glow.
As Cassie bumps into the orb, the radiance spreads to her as well. And for a brief moment she can see the immensity of the number of Shades all around them. She also noticed that the orb feeds off of her energy a bit to replenish Locke. He now feels back to about average. Cassie breaks contact after only a moment, however. Leaving Locke the sole person holding the orb.
With just grabbing the orb, Yack is able to gain the sheen of light as well. If he tries, he doesn't seem to be able to direct its magics though. He seems to be missing something.
"I believe the child said something about sharing a memory to attune the orb to yourself. Have you tried that?" Illium said as he inched closer to the glowing group.
Carter stepped forward, throwing his hand out to touch whatever space was left on the orb.
Carter- Lets try overloading this thing.
Carter thought of a wonderful evening with his father, sat on the docks. They had watched the clouds roll in over the sea, and he had told him stories of his homeland. Carter had listened for hours until the sun had gone down, eventually falling asleep in his father's arms.
As Carter shares his memory with the orb, he notices the light spreading over his features as well. Assuming he doesn't let go, the radiance stays and he can feel the thrum of magic within the orb adapt to him as well.
As the group presumably all puts their hands on it, and share a memory of theirs, they all share the radiance. Carter's net dome was originally a little taxing on just the two of them, but as more people joined in, it became easier and easier until it felt no more difficult than breathing. The Shades were completely banished from within the now tightly woven net dome.
Carter pictured the netting spiraling outwards, encompassing more of the room in sections. Ideally they wouldn't need to increased the surface much at all, instead sweeping it around and relying on its design to keep shades out of cleared areas.
As Carter controlled the webbing to spread outwards, it does. He notices it doesn't destroy the Shades in its current form, but they are being held in small 'cells' of light net as it manages to catch most of them in its sweeping. What he is left with is about a dozen light net pouches of Shades that are squirming with trying to break free; luckily the net is stronger than them. He also notices there is one Shade left outside the netting. It is a rather large and menacing one in fact. It is about 20' tall and occupies half of a wall.
Carter quickly brought to mind a passage he'd read about the fishing techniques of the saaur, they would net their catch before spearing it. He quickly imagined a pair of spear floating around each net, commanding them to stab through the webbing to destroy the bound shadows.
As Carter imagined the nets being speared, he was a little shocked to find that it went far better than he thought. At the thought, dozens of spears instantly appeared and speared through every opening in the nets. The light burned through the Shades outward from the impact site, like a leaf lit on fire from the center. As they were all dealt with, the orb seemed to understand the nets were no longer a necessary construct and dissolved them, but left a dome of light over the group. Now that only the large one remained, they could see the walls of the room. They seemed to be some kind of crystal the absorbed the ambient light to glow themselves. As the big Shade drifted around the room like a predator circling prey, he seemed to consume the radiance and leave dark patches behind him. They seemed to take a while to recharge.
"Yeah, he really does. Do you have any ideas?" Illu said as he tried to blast the Shade with castings of Daylight.
Carter focused on his blade, hoping to give the machete a veneer of magical light, as he did so he imagined an extra layer of toughen silks around himself, hoping those too would manifest.
Carter- I don't like that trail he's leaving, Yack, you're a summoner, can you think of any creature that could trail behind him and mop that up?
**The harpy pauses for a moment before turning back towards Yack.**
Cassie - "I can't eat shadows, right papa?"
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Carter gestured around them in a circular motion.
Carter- Make a safe area and work from there?
Sly - "Try imagining a whirlpool... A big one."
Go ahead and run, you'll only die tired.
Those who might never meet are pooled together
Locke - "All those plans are well and good, but they won't be quick enough to actually catch the Shades or they simply take up too much energy," he began to lecture much like a teacher would. "The 'Shadow Eater' idea, while possibly doable, would not work since the Shades would simply disperse like a school of fish. You could get some, sure, but they're much too quick for one thing to handle, and we probably wouldn't be able to make more than one without diluting the light too much. Making a protective bubble would only buy us a small amount of time within a small, contained area or else it will not even deter them. As for the whirlpool, we need only look at the raincloud idea. It showed us that we cannot make it too big or dispersed or it will not even harm the Shades, and I doubt we can replicate one like the ones in Elexia, not to mention that doesn't deal with the ones on the ceiling. Only the foolish fish would swim close enough to a whirlpool, the rest would simply swim a-."
The hooded scholar paused with his mouth hung open and looked as if epiphany had struck him upon the noggin. He paced the floor for several moments with orb in hand as the cogs in his head turned and whirled, until he suddenly stopped with his manic grin returning to his face.
"That's it!" He exclaimed with excitement. "We've been thinking about this at the wrong angle! I think I've solved our problem, but this plan might require a little more energy, so it may require a memory or two more. Heck, even if it doesn't work, we could always try the plan of using more memories to power up the orb to the point where the whole room is illuminated, if that's even possble."
Without skipping a beat, he opened his eyes and began explaining his plan again. "Now, while we could just hack and slash at these things it would be much faster if we had something infused with light that could 'swim' at the same speed as the shades and 'eat' them. That part comes in with the fact nobody seems to have noticed something off about me despite the fact I am glowing like the sun," he said as he looked down at his shadow.
Anyone who decided to look at the shadow could see that it seemed to be waving at them despite the fact its owner held the orb of light with both hands.
Carter- I've read about shadow twins... A little embarassed to admit I didn't notice that.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
**Cassie accidentally bumps into the orb while looking at the twin.**
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
**Yack grasps the orb**
Nervada - 98% fat free, high in fiber.
Eizen - Collected
Yack - Walking
Miko Wydberg
Tanya
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Carter- Lets try overloading this thing.
Carter thought of a wonderful evening with his father, sat on the docks. They had watched the clouds roll in over the sea, and he had told him stories of his homeland. Carter had listened for hours until the sun had gone down, eventually falling asleep in his father's arms.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Carter tried visualising a dome of netting around the group, if the shadows realised they could conjure enough power they might attack.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Carter pictured the netting spiraling outwards, encompassing more of the room in sections. Ideally they wouldn't need to increased the surface much at all, instead sweeping it around and relying on its design to keep shades out of cleared areas.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Carter- That thing looks scary.
"Yeah, he really does. Do you have any ideas?" Illu said as he tried to blast the Shade with castings of Daylight.
The thing seemed to dodge them casually.
Acelin's Characters (since her sig won't work).
Carter- I don't like that trail he's leaving, Yack, you're a summoner, can you think of any creature that could trail behind him and mop that up?