Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (Full Version)

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Uskius -> Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (11/28/2015 0:50:15)

[image]http://orig01.deviantart.net/d037/f/2016/021/9/e/thread_banner_by_uskius-d9oup8h.png[/image]


Oh, hello there! I hope my pets and guards didn't give you too much trouble. This little place is my workshop, where I craft weapons and armor and items and compile my bestiary. For a while, I tried suggesting these things for Yulgar and Hans to make, but decided to just get started on them here. I'll give you the basics of what the items do and how they were made whenever you take a look at them.


Armor:

Platinum Ace Armor

Sapphire Golem Armor

Bright Wings of Victory

Dark Wings of Victory

Spellcaster's Robes

Star Knight Robes

Chicken of Salvation Armor

Weapons:

Virality

Celestial Sunflash

Eclipse Harbinger

Spirit Sealing Blade: White Wing

Spirit Sealing Blade: Burning Wing

Dragon's Paw

Spirit Sealing Blade: Storm Arc

Cloudbreaker

Spirit Sealing Blade: Bright Star

Levin

Lightbringer

Ghost Viper Stiletto

Ley Staff

Pitter-Pata of Rain

Void Talon

Hexifix

Crownguard

Kree Blade

Blood Boiler

ULTIMATE Ultimate Destroyer

Li'l Painless

Golden Marauder Claymore

Shields:

Cobweb Shield

Cloud Shield

Platinum Ace Shield

Flame Obsidian Carapace

Dark Defender of Victory

Bright Bastion of Victory

Mountain Ridge Guard

Mana Guard

Carnafex Guard

Mastodon's Heart

Miscellaneous Items

Warrior and Wizard Amulets

Shield Talisman

Power Orb

Monsters

Nepencreep

Saladmandr

Gween

Lively Hallow

Zarlath

Scorvern

Ley Dragon

Battle ToadZard

Knoll

Adapted Void Dragon

Spells

Power Word Victory

Soul Spark

Anima Drain

Raze

Pets

Halia

Qarnar

Lunaala

House and House Items

Skraeling Desert Sandstone Cottage

Camelot Herd

Skraeling Desert Mine

Skraeling Desert Windmill



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (12/21/2015 0:40:46)

Platinum Ace Armor I crafted this last year after returning from the war against the Platinum Dragons in T'jeli. Since I'm all about making use of things from powerful dragons, I kept the hide of a Platinum Dragon I defeated for this very purpose. The hide was a lot more difficult to tan and cure than for normal leather: it required the reagents to be applied undiluted, and heated with fire. I lined the inside with Steppe Mastodon fur, the dense and thick inner coat. The Platinum Ace armor protects me from the cold incredibly well, and also provides good insulation against heat, too. It's not too bulky, but has just enough to it to give some extra defense from attacks.

[image]http://orig15.deviantart.net/8897/f/2015/354/e/0/platinum_ace_armor_by_uskius-d9kv2c3.jpg[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (12/21/2015 1:35:33)

Virality I consider myself an expert in the field of light magic. I'm not, however, too knowledgeable in the fields of energy magic and magiscience, so this was a learning experience for me. After forging the shaft from pure shivernium that I absolutely, completely randomly happened to come across, I set about installing the blades. For a time a few years ago, I had a Beam Saber I bought from the "Warp Force" crew, and as that was the closest thing to what I was going for here, bought another one to study. I found the beam had a focus of a crystal that would help it produce the blade, so for my crystal, I purchased a Kayda gem from Valencia. The first time I activated the beam, it fried everything(and I mean everything- me included) around it until I shut it off a few moments later. Apparently, the Kayda gems weren't all that compatible with the Beam Saber's system, so that was when I began working on the seal rings. The rings nearest the ends were the first ones that went on, created to help control the output. While they did just that, the beam blades didn't hold their shapes well, and jumped and snapped around constantly. The inner seal rings were made for that purpose, the runes refining and controlling the beams until they were stable. But, I was thinking of things in terms of light magic, as that's what I'm most familiar with, and the seals weren't completely foolproof. Occasionally some of the blades' energy will leak out on contact, infecting the target with some kind of energy poison for a short while. But hey, as long as the blades keep their shape, I'm okay with that.


[image]http://orig13.deviantart.net/2385/f/2015/354/e/7/virality_by_uskius-d9kv2o4.jpg[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (12/21/2015 2:51:06)

Celestial Sunflash As paladins consider themselves servants of the light, some of their most ancient texts mention the war between light demons and darkness angels. Some paladins claim direct descent from those forces, stating that the more recent order headed by von Krieger is just the modern iteration of combating undeath, evil and darkness, a cause that was first championed untold ages ago. During my time in the order( I left only recently), I studied those ancient scrolls and books to go over the story of the war, eventually expanding past the accounts mentioned by the order to try to get the bigger picture. There were a few weapons mentioned that caught my interest- the Spear of Lumina, and the SolSaber, which are for sale in the paladin storeroom. I also read of the Sunflash blades, which were forged for and given to commanders and elite soldiers of the light demons during the Second War. Their crystal blades were perfectly flawless, with no impurities, so they would be able to properly channel the inner light of the wielders. Some of the blades were inscribed with a rune that would prevent them from shattering under the immense might of the light demons that used them. These blades were called by names such as the Ardent Sunflash, or Strident Sunflash. The scrolls that mentioned it were crumbling with age and stained, but there was also a story of a Celestial Sunflash, a blade said to be made for an Avatar of the Light Lord.

Here are the passages I managed to translate that concern the Celestial Sunflash:
"(...)Purest gold refined, in the heart of a star
Crystal from the (Lord's) own (Realm)
Bearing no fault or scar
Bind it with a dragon's hide
Inscribe upon it eight (great runes)
This, the blinding might of lords
Strident, sharpened ray of dome(...)"

"(...)And thus, they were grieved, that an instrument
of light had wrought such darkness. The mightiest
of the (Sunflash) blades, divine and celestial in nature,
was by divine decree removed from the hands of
mortals, their wisdom blinded by its power.
The immortal light of the blade called the Celestial
(Sunflash) was set in a great stone, chained with
chains of shivernium anchored beneath the earth,
and it was decreed that it should not be removed
until the latter days when no other defense against
the darkness was left."

[image]http://orig01.deviantart.net/ad83/f/2015/354/5/1/celestial_sunflash_by_uskius-d9kv32d.jpg[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (12/22/2015 17:01:16)

Nepencreep After that bizarre incident with the cider this Harvest Festival, I decided to do some more research into these creatures. I actually found this archaic system that rates a monster's abilities on a scale from 1 to 255, using different naming conventions for them, as well: Hit Points instead of Endurance, Physical defense instead of a Melee defense rating, etc. It also attributes a lot more finesse to monster attacks as well, naming hundreds of attacks, rather than just the one or two you typically see in a fight. I'll put my research on Nepencreeps and their strange second form here, and for fun do it in the archaic categorization system I found.

[image]http://orig05.deviantart.net/77e8/f/2015/356/a/d/nepencreep_by_uskius-d9l2h9q.jpg[/image]


Height: 4'7"
Weight: 58 lbs.

Type: Grass (another weird thing is how the system handles elements, it splits Earth into Grass, Ground, Rock, and Steel, calls Wind "Flying", etc.)
Ability: Heatproof/Leaf Guard (Hidden Ability: Solar Power) ((It was pretty easy to determine the first two abilities, as Nepencreeps take reduced Fire damage, and Earth types are immune to a number of different effects.))

Stats: HP: 72, ATK: 82, DEF: 86, Sp. Atk: 35, Sp. Def: 50, SPD: 30 ((What the system calls "Special Attack" I think correlates to Intellect.))

Going by the encyclopedia of moves the old system has and my observations of them, here are some attacks a Nepencreep is likely to display: Bullet Seed, Ingrain, Bite, Synthesis. Ingrain and Synthesis are moves that recover health and seem to work best out of combat, which would be why I'd never seen them before. Ingrain seems to impart some sort of regeneration, and Synthesis rapidly speeds up the photosynthesis process.

Then there's that weird method of transformation Nepencreeps have. I didn't understand it at first, but have discovered the Fire Orb fragments(called a "Fire Stone" under the weird old system) act as a catalyst that completes the life cycle, providing the energy the Nepencreep needs for its DNA to full function. The speed it happens at still makes no sense though, but when has Lore ever made sense?



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (12/22/2015 17:25:14)

Saladmander Now that I have a Saladmandr Seed Packet, I've been able to study these odd creatures more thoroughly. I'll use the same system I found while researching Nepencreeps(seen just above) to describe Saladmandrs here.

[image]http://orig10.deviantart.net/3c0e/f/2015/356/0/c/saladmandr_by_uskius-d9l2hgd.jpg[/image]

Type: Grass/Fire ((I discovered Saladmandrs had this odd typing for two reasons: obscenely efficient photosynthesis, and extremely poor insulation.))
Ability: Solar Power/Leaf Guard ((The Solar Power ability gives Saladmandrs increased "Special Attack" in sunlight, which makes sense given their ridiculously efficient photosynthesis.))

Height: 8'5" ((seriously, how on Lore do these more than double in size from Nepencreeps?))
Weight: 350 lbs.

Stats: HP: 89, ATK: 94, DEF: 87, Sp. Atk: 75, Sp. Def: 50, SPD: 70

According to the encyclopedia of moves the old system I'm using recognizes, I think these would be the most likely attacks a Saladmandr would use: Crunch, Gastro Acid, Synthesis, Stomp. A Saladmandr's capability for enhanced photosynthesis is shared with Nepencreeps, but the "Gastro Acid" attack was the most interesting. The salad dressing like substance Saladmandrs hurl is a apparently their stomach juices. The encyclopedia doesn't recognize Gastro Acid as a damaging attack, but searingly hot stomach acids make sense as an attack to me.



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/2/2016 23:15:03)

Gween When I was researching Nepencreeps and Saladmandrs, there was a very old and wacky categorization system I came across. That old system didn't make too much sense for them, but I think it was a good fit for the curious little creatures known as gween.

[image]http://orig15.deviantart.net/acf1/f/2016/002/2/2/sweetum_gween_by_uskius-d9mj9ci.jpg[/image]

Height: 1'4"
Weight: 29 lbs.

Type: Normal ((Elements are one of the wackiest bits of this old system. It calls many Earth element monsters- like gween- "normal", for some reason))
Ability: Sweet Veil, Hustle (Hidden Ability is Gluttony. Now, these were total "ah, so THAT'S what you call that" moments. I've noticed gween have seemingly boundless reserves of energy, which prevent them from easily falling asleep- that'd be Sweet Veil- and have other effects. Since gween have such short limbs, they have to do a little extra work to get around places, and this energy of theirs comes out as what the old system calls Hustle: gween are surprisingly strong and hard workers, but because of their short limbs and round bodies most of their attacks are a little inaccurate. As for Gluttony- well, I own two gween, and it is amazing how much those things can take in and put out, I'll say.)

Stats: HP: 62, ATK: 63, DEF: 58, Sp. Atk: 71, Sp. Def: 74, SPD: 82

Now, the archaic system I'm working with here more finely divides attacks than what you normally see, but there were some that I think most gween owners would recognize: Rollout, Defense Curl, Beat Up, Stockpile, Swallow. Rollout is that basic rolling attack gween seem to instinctively use, and Defense Curl is how they typically deal with incoming attacks they can't dodge- just curling up to protect themselves. Stockpile goes along with how gween can consume mass quantities of food in a single bite, unhinging their already large jaws to take in even more; Swallow is a health recovery move tied to Stockpile. Beat Up is the most interesting ability, but it also fits- whenever I bring Wendel or Orla into battle, they always seem to have brought a number of their gween friends with them. Gween are very social creatures, they love hanging our with whatever other pets you might have, but most of all they enjoy playing with their own kind.



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/2/2016 23:48:25)

Hallow Hallow are a pain to deal with. That's just the truth, plain and simple. But still, when researching gween, I knew I had to look into them, and how they relate to normal gween. I'll be using the same archaic system to categorize them I used for gween.

[image]http://orig03.deviantart.net/6723/f/2016/002/0/3/hollow_dulcanine_by_uskius-d9mjeaf.jpg[/image]

Height: 2'8"
Weight: 52 lbs.

Type: Dark ((the old system's Dark type is a little more broad than ours: it also encompasses dirty and cheap tactics than simply shadow))
Ability: Sweet Veil, Gluttony ((Hidden Ability is Strong Jaw. In their true Hallow from, a gween's Hustle turns from and abundance of effort into pure hunger. All Hallow have strong jaws, it's just that in their Hallow form their body structure better supports it.))

Stats: HP: 83, ATK: 95, DEF: 84, Sp. Atk: 71, Sp. Def: 74, SPD: 103

Hallow don't have very many different attacks than gween, however they notably include a lot more biting attacks in their offense. A couple biting attacks that the old system I found recognizes that fit are Crunch and Thunderfang. Like the bite of a Lively Hallow, Thunderfang has a chance to paralyze.

Now, like Saladmandrs, Hallow increase in size around double from their base form. Unlike Salamandrs, I've made a startling discovery: Lively Hallow are a gween's true form, and "gween" are simply their dormant state. This is observable in how are a certain length or time after consuming candy/high concentrations of sugar, they dwindle in size and become less active. As I'm sure you know, all it takes is candy for a gween to become a Hallow. I've deduced that what the influx of sugar does is provide the gween's cells with the necessary energy to maintain their Hallow form. I've also discovered that gween hold water incredibly well. Citric acids provide the necessary material for their waste systems, which are managed by a Hallow's bio-electric currents to function properly- without, the Hallow's form is unstable, as it what- uh, they put out.



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/4/2016 19:32:12)

Eclipse Harbinger I've had the schematics for this around for a while, and also had the raw materials in storage, too, but didn't forge it until last year. When I had my sword Gyrfang reforged from starmetal, it reminded me of this chunk of a strange material I had found in the Void while searching for Beleqwaya. It was a metal of some sort, but back then I didn't have any use for it. When I forged the blade, I did so by folding it over in many layers: making a deep indent in the Void metal when it was hot, and then hammering it back into place. Once I had done that dozens of times, I drew out the bar and twisted it before flattened it and forging it to shape. Since I had found the hunk of metal in the Void, I wanted to use magic for the heat treating and tempering. Using magic wards like the ones of the spell Solar Incinerator, I opened a small portal to the heart of Lore's sun, heating the blade there. It understandably was much faster than with a conventional forge, so I had to watch very carefully. I found that while the Void metal heats quickly and holds heat well, it had an incredibly high melting point. To temper it I quenched it in oil, and tempered it in my own forge. The hilt, handle and pommel are steel, the handle's wrap is drakness dragon hide, and I bonded some darkstone to the base of the blade for decoration. The blade is heavy and inaccurate, but it is phenomenally sharp and tough. After lots of testing I discovered it had innate connections to both the elements of Darkness and Wind, randomly oscillating between the two with each strike. To be honest, I was just hoping for a plain old metal sword that looked cool, but this nature of darkness and wind is fitting for a sword forged from metal from the Void, I think.

[image]http://orig08.deviantart.net/415d/f/2016/004/5/c/eclipse_harbinger_by_uskius-d9mruc7.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/4/2016 19:51:26)

Cobweb Shield I have a lot of thing I keep in storage that I don't take out that often- like my Pureheart Mirror and Mark of Hope(too much sentimental value to risk losing!)- so when I did my monthly check to make sure everything was present and accounted for, there were a lot of spiderwebs in the storage building. A lot. So on a whim, I decided to make use of some of them, and that's where this got started. Now spiderwebs are actually pretty tough stuff, so when I decided to make a shield from them, I was more concerned with preserving the shape of the webs than hardening them. With magic, I carefully braided dozens of strands together to make ropes before setting them in place. When testing the shield, I quickly found out it doesn't do zard spit to protect from ranged attacks, is surprisingly fairly decent with melee defense, and it does best against magic. It also provides some protection against darkness attacks, and a little bit against wind attacks, as well. Most curiously, I found that sometimes when I manage to block an attack with the shield, it can get the attacker entangled with spiderwebs, which I think is just a side effect of me not hardening the webs.

[image]http://orig07.deviantart.net/7f42/f/2016/004/8/0/cobweb_shield_by_uskius-d9ms15s.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/8/2016 1:04:04)

Spirit Sealing Blade- White Wing I know a thing or two about elemental necromancy and empowering undead. So, I decided to go to the opposite side of the spectrum and learn about sealing undead. But first, about the sword! This was my first time forging a katana, and I think it turned out pretty well. It started with a few bars of metal I bought from Vince the drakel, and I heated those up, hot cut, and folded them before welding them together to get a single bar. For a day an night I worked on folding the metal, until when I struck it with my hammer it made a sweet ringing noise like a bell. That was when I took a break, and after that began to draw it out and forge it to shape, getting the bevel on the edge and tip shape done first. I had my clone, Stan, working on another bar at the same time. His was to be the inner layer of the blade. I folded my part into a V, drop the bar Stan forged into it, and began hammering and forging the two together. After that, I put the fuller along the spine of the sword and got the bevel on the tip, and got started on heat treating and tempering. I had to straighten it a bit before tempering it. The grinding and polishing went really well. I used some wood from my lumber yard for the handle, first covering it in firezard hide and then wrapping it in leather.

Now, undead can be empowered with various elements- fire, ice, light, etc.- so I wanted to give the katana some elemental sealing magic that would work against undead. After bugging Warlic for a few daysminutes, he let me borrow a scroll with a basic sealing spell. I saw it was similar to the basics of necromancy(binding a spirit to a body), and began to relax a little. Since the ley lines providing the power for necromancy were damaged a couple years ago, I needed something else for a focus, and settled on a roc feather. When testing the blade, the seal activates on contact, weakening the undead and taking away its power slightly. I also found that focusing my energy into the roc feather focus, the blade's strikes would be swifter and more accurate; it took a bit of focus to do that, though. I also found that the roc feather focus gave the blade an affinity for the Wind element, and after further testing, discovered the blade was a bit weak against non-undead, living opponents.

[image]http://orig09.deviantart.net/20be/f/2016/007/b/9/white_wing_by_uskius-d9n5lia.jpg[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/8/2016 1:40:52)

Zarlath Doing things that in hindsight were terrible ideas is kind of my forte. So, when I ran across a zarlath the other day, I thought it would be cool to study them for a while. The narrator says they're sub-lords of the Energy Realm, and that no one has ever faced two zarlath at once and lived. Well, the first thing that struck me when I fought the zarlath is that these things have bodies that just don't work well for our world: no legs, multiple arms, those strange limbs like a sea creature might have on its back, and also those spider leg antennae thingies. No disrespect to the Energy Lord, but, what? So, I knew I had to study them in their natural habitat.

The spell Purity Portal opens up a small portal to the Energy Realm, so after studying it I realized it also draws out a little of the realm's energy. After lots of trial, error, and more errors, I finally worked out a stable version of the spell that would allow me to travel to the Energy Realm. It was... an interesting place. Lightning rivers, storm clouds you can walk on, and the odd bit of architecture here and there. And of course, lots and lots of monsters. Long story short, after dealing with the welcoming committee, I attracted the attention of some zarlath. Two of them. The ensuing battle was swift and fairly merciless. Here on Lore you can see that zarlath have a very tactile control of energy, and that control is even greater in the energy realm. Their odd physiology wasn't a hindrance here, with them being able to swim around through the air with the fins on their back. I thin the fins have something to do with regulating energy, as whenever the zarlath would move, they glowed slightly. The spider leg antennae appendages constantly arced thin strands of lightning between the two zarlath, some form of communication. This may have also been some kind of power sharing, but I'm certain it at least included information, because when ever I made a move against one zarlath the other one was already moving against me with an almost prescient counter to my attack. After being flanked, I took two simultaneous jolts to my heart, which was enough to send me to meet the Boatman

I learned a lot from that battle. First, zarlath are natives of and best belong in the Energy Realm. Their limbs and bodies function better in the realm, being able to make use of the abundance of energy and odd landscape. Second: their wing/fin thingumabobs regulate energy intake and output, providing the charge necessary to fly and also soaking in ambient energy. Third: their antennae are for relaying energy and information between other zarlath(and probably other creatures native to the Energy Realm, as well). Fourth: whatever you do, don't ever, ever fight more than one zarlath at the same time, especially in the Energy Realm.

[image]http://orig04.deviantart.net/5ab6/f/2016/007/a/4/zarlath_by_uskius-d9n5oiu.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/10/2016 22:38:15)

Cloud Shield I still remember that Nimbo I had as a pet for several years of my adventuring career. Even though it stormed on me at inopportune moments- which, I guess, is the only way it could show its support- I was very fond of it. So, that's what the inspiration for this was.

To gather the raw cloud-stuff, I went hiking up on Thunder Mountain. After dealing with dozens of energy monsters for a week and a half, I'd captured a few different types of clouds: stratus, cumulonimbus, and an arcus cloud(pro tip: if you ever see an incoming arcus cloud on Thunder Mountain, get away or in a cave A.S.A.P.) After freeing the clouds, I worked on condensing and shaping them with magic. When I finished, they were surprisingly heavy, each about the weight of one of my other shields. I realized after a moment I had three separate shields instead of one. So, to save on space and make the shield more like I had originally intended, I worked on setting each shield inside the others. This process took several hours, which then stretched on into days, to complete. The hard part was getting the clouds to remain distinct, and to chain their magic to each other so that it could cycle between the three forms. I hadn't worked seriously with wind magic for years, so I remembered and learned a few things when I was getting the forms down.

When testing, I discovered that using magic to condense and shape the shields had allowed them to retain some of their properties. The stratus form defended best against magical attacks, but not much against ranged or melee ones(the forms are like that, not doing much to defend from attacks unless it's their specialty), and also had the effect of lowering the accuracy of incoming attacks. The cumulonimbus form protects best against ranged attacks, and would jolt the attacker with a small spark of energy when they hit me(something my wife Marna definitely didn't appreciate when we were testing this out). The arcus form of the shield did well with melee attacks, and could sometimes absorb a little of the damage of the incoming attack. Unsurprisingly, the Cloud Shield did best resisting the Wind element, but I found out it also gave a bit of protection from Ice, Energy, and Water.

[image]http://orig10.deviantart.net/730d/f/2016/010/f/8/cloud_shield_by_uskius-d9nimkg.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/10/2016 23:11:13)

Spirit Sealing Blade: Burning Wing After the successful forging of White Wing, I was looking to try another kind of sealing blade. I decided for this one to have a Fire element focus, and phoenixes immediately came to mind. I forged Burning Wing in much the same way as White Wing, but this time I left out the fuller along the spine. Burning Wing is also a fairly big katana: the top of the pommel comes up to just under my clavicle. When heat treating and tempering the blade, I made a special clay compound with phoenix ash and a couple other materials to put along the spine. Doing this gives the blade a darker area where the clay was, and also helps keep it a bit more flexible than the exposed part.

I used a phoenix feather for the focus, one of the long flight feathers. It kept burning my fingers and singeing my gloves, so I attached it to a bead before working on drawing its magic into the sealing spell. As White Wing did, a successful strike from Burning Wing can seal part of an undead's power, and is less effective against living, non-undead targets. When practicing my form one day when I was wielding Burning Wing, there was a moment where the blade burned through the air, producing a crescent of flame that began to swiftly burn my practice dummy. It was surprising since most of my work doesn't have any kind of special effect like that, but I think it's more the innate magic of the phoenix feather than anything else.

[image]http://orig06.deviantart.net/f642/f/2016/010/7/6/spirit_sealing_blade__burning_wing_by_uskius-d9niv1w.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/13/2016 19:10:54)

Dragon's Paw A while ago when I first began to study animals and how they/their parts could be used in spells and compile my bestiary, I realized I had a slight problem: I only had things with very sharp edges for keeping them at a distance, and using these things to keep the unruly monsters at bay sometimes had the side effect of the monster dying. Other implements weren't meeting my needs, so I decided to craft something to fit the bill.

I started with a section of a tree limb that came up to about my armpit, carving it down until I had a staff with a sort of bulb shape on the end. I took a handful of earth dragon claws(earth dragons have the toughest hide, teeth, and claws of all but platinum dragon) and set them into the head, four on one side, and the fifth a third of the way around to the other side. I wrapped some cloth around the middle of the shaft, and that was it. When testing it it worked as I'd hoped: being light enough to maneuver around quickly, and a way to keep a limb or a small animal pinned down at length. However, if I'm not careful(or just use excessive force) the dragon's claws can cripple the animal. Not good, but it's better than what had been going on before.

[image]http://orig06.deviantart.net/a611/f/2016/013/b/5/dragon_s_paw_by_uskius-d9nue5a.jpg[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/13/2016 19:48:25)

Spirit Sealing Blade- Storm Arc I've always said that I'm not the smartest guy around, but at least I wouldn't try to get struck by lightning. Well, during my trip to Thunder Mountain gathering the material for my Cloud Shield, I thought it would be a great opportunity to catch some lightning and store it in a bottle. The process is one I don't want to repeat.

It started with climbing the peak, which meant preparing for not only scores of energy monsters, but also dealing with the cold and the thin air. Though technically on the easy side, the terrain is rocky as Heck and the climb is exhausting. Getting to the top also meant visiting and explaining myself to Krenos, who seemed eager to provide me with the energy needed until I explained that no, it had to be an actual lightning bolt. He also questioned my activity and worthiness of being "Champion of Thunder Mountain", which took several hours(that bucket of zard spit was just toying with me, and he knew I knew it). Afterwards, he allowed me to camp out on the summit until I got what I needed. Imagine your typical thunderstorm. Now imagine a storm about five times worse. I had to be out in the middle of that, setting up the lightning rod, and clinging on to the ground to keep from being blown off the mountain while I waited for a lightning strike. There were three close by, but none of them hit the lightning rod. So, I had to wait another two days(I cannot stress just how bad it is to camp out with Krenos) for another storm to come along. This one was even worse, with rain coming down so hard I could barely see. There was constant lightning and thunder, and finally a bolt struck the lightning rod. The rod had a sealing spell on it that would trap any lightning bolt that struck it.

After getting back to my estate, I forged the katana. It took a couple tries before getting the shape right, but after a few weeks I finally did it. I used the hide of an Energy Zard to wrap the handle before wrapping it with cord. To make the focus for the sealing spell, I solidified a portion of the lightning bolt into a small lightning bolt charm before attaching it to the pommel and finishing the sealing spell. Like the rest of my Spirit Sealing katanas, Storm Arc can seal an undead's power on a successful hit, and doesn't deal as much damage against living, non-undead opponents. It has an affinity for the Energy element, and can every once in a while unleash a bolt of lightning that will paralyze the target.

[image]http://orig13.deviantart.net/b621/f/2016/013/2/1/spirit_sealing_blade__storm_arc_by_uskius-d9nuh2d.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/15/2016 22:40:57)

Cloudbreaker My estate produces a lot of wood, most of which I sell and trade away. So, I thought to make use of some of it. I started by cutting and carving all the wood from a limb and section of trunk, making dozens of staves and two caps and a pommel. As I have mostly fruit trees to work with, the wood isn't all that heavy or hard, so I set out to make a hardening solution. The main components were slattwob dust and bad juice, and some pure water. The wooden parts needed to cure for several days, so in the mean time i got started on the other parts of the hammer. The spikes were an alloy of iron and the metal I used to forge the Eclipse Harbinger(not pure void metal, I want to save what I have), and I fixed them to bands of iron that would wrap around the caps and pommel to keep everything in place. After the wood cured, it was incredibly hard and tough- not even the Eclipse Harbinger or Gyrfang could scratch it- and heavy. Putting the parts together went smoothly; I wrapped the handle in leather, fitted the staves on teh caps and pommel on the handle, and that was it. Testing the Cloudbreaker was hard, as it's pretty heavy and unwieldy- not quite at Face Hammer of Smashing levels, but close. It's hard to swing it accurately, but whatever it does hit is either flattened, shattered, or sent flying far away. It does fairly consistent Earth damage, and seems to be more effective against flying enemies, too.

[image]http://orig07.deviantart.net/d245/f/2016/015/4/c/cloudbreaker_by_uskius-d9o381c.jpg[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/15/2016 23:08:38)

Spirit Sealing Blade: Bright Star After forging Storm Arc, I decided to make one last Spirit Sealing Blade. Forging it went in much the same manner as for White Wing, though I made the blade a little longer- but not as long as Burning Wing. I forged the core of the blade from a shivernium alloy and the outer layers from the void metal I made Eclipse Harbinger from. Separately, working with these metals isn't a problem, but once I had the blade formed doing the hammer work by hand became nearly impossible, and I had to resort to magically manipulating the hammer into striking far harder than I could. Getting the bevel and grinding and polishing it was much easier.

The focus of the sealing spell is a small lilorite orb infused with the essence of a very powerful Sunray I fought and defeated. I'm not a jeweler, so it took some time working the lilorite until it was round(ish) and smooth. It was so bright it was very difficult to look at once infused with the Sunray essence, even while wearing opaque glasses. Once I linked the focus to the sealing spell of the blade, though, it dimmed somewhat to a tolerable level. Like the other Spirit Sealing Blades, Bright Star's sealing spell will seal an undead's power with a successful hit, but it isn't as effective against living, non-undead enemies. Bright Star understandably has an affinity for the Light element, and also is able to unleash dazzling crescents of light that are capable of blinding the target.

[image]http://orig08.deviantart.net/877c/f/2016/015/2/8/spirit_sealing_blade__bright_star_by_uskius-d9o3cqy.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/17/2016 22:55:11)

Platinum Ace Shield I still have plenty of Platinum Dragon hide left over in storage, so I decided to make this shield to complement it. Preparing the hide was as difficult as it was for the Platinum Ace Armor; tanning chemicals that strong have seriously noxious fumes, too. As with the armor, I lined the back with Steppe Mastodon fur. Just to add to the cosmetics, once I had the handle and strap in place, I bonded two large iron semi-ovals over them on the outside to give the appearance of eyes. I attached two rivets near the bottom of the shield to simulate nostrils, and also added a few spare monster fangs I had onto the bottom of the shield. When I was testing it out, the shield gave some pretty decent defense against ranged and melee attacks, which makes sense, as it's pretty big(not quite the size of a tower shield, but close). Due to the durability of the Platinum Dragon hide, it also can occasionally absorb a bit of damage of the incoming attacks. Much like the armor, it protects very well against the Ice element and cold attacks, and offers a bit of protection against Fire element attacks, as well. I just hope it doesn't get too awkward explaining it to my young Platinum Dragon, Kylah.

[image]http://orig05.deviantart.net/340d/f/2016/017/9/b/platinum_ace_shield_by_uskius-d9od5ts.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (1/22/2016 2:18:51)

Sapphire Golem Suit One day when I was mining over near Fairwind Springs, I managed to come across two large pockets of gems: one of onyx, and the other of sapphire. At the time I had a surplus of gold in storage, so I decided to craft something from all of the gems. I settled on making a suit of armor patterned after the look of Ruby and Emerald Golems. First, I did a little bit of alchemy, using some basic diagrams and formulae to consolidate the gems into blocks that were close to the finished shapes I was going for. From there I carve out space to I could actually be able to wear these things; this was the longest part of the entire process of making the armor. Since the gems were understandably pretty inflexible, I needed to do something so that I'd be able to fit them on. This was where a little more magic and alchemy came into play- altering the structure of the gem crystals so they were flexible and durable, like rubber. Unexpectedly, the alchemagical flexibility solution smelled fairly pleasant. I first tested it out on the sapphire belt, treating the entire thing with the solution. It was a success, as afterwards the belt was bendy and flexible. It's hard to describe how odd it feels, though. It's smoother and cooler than rubber or wood, yet it has enough flexibility to move. So, I treated the entire inner onyx lining, and also the insides of the sapphire armor, then once that was done I magically bonded them together.

When I was testing out the armor, it had incredible defenses against attacks- the solid sapphire layer deflected and stopped most attacks with ease, and the onyx lining was able to bounce off nearly everything else that managed to get through my defenses. I found it had an affinity for the Water element, and also provided a bit of resistance from Darkness. I also discovered that when hit with an attack of the Light element, it reflected a bit of the damage back at the attacker.

[image]http://orig09.deviantart.net/2454/f/2016/021/c/c/sapphire_golem_suit_by_uskius-d9ouq43.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (2/6/2016 16:57:05)

Levin I still had a good bit of lightning left over from that terrible trip to Thunder Mountain, so I decided to put it to good use. Since lightning is so volatile, you need very strong warding and shielding magic to work with it. I have a protective spell I worked out that's similar to the basics of the spell Solar Incinerator, and once I had it in place I opened up the bottle I had the lightning stored in and got to work. I shaped the blade very quickly, in just a few minutes, but the guard took a little longer. It consisted of two smaller bars of lightning I twisted around into shape. Once I had the lightning shaped, I fitted on the vulcanized rubber handle, made a few adjustments to the shape of the lightning, and cast the solidifying spell to finish it.

Levin is a very light blade; it's really just the handle, in terms of weight. This allows it to be accurate but it can also be dangerous if you forget how light it is. Ahem. Since the blade is just raw lightning, it occasionally leaves its target slightly vulnerable to the Energy element for a short while.

[image]http://orig13.deviantart.net/ce55/f/2016/037/c/7/levin_by_uskius-d9qrcaj.jpg[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (2/6/2016 23:14:04)

Lightbringer When I collected Bright Aura Gems to have Warlic turn my Silver Blade of Victory into a Greater Bright Blade of Victory for me, I couldn't help but feel a call to them, something in my heart stirring in their presence. So, I made plans to forge my own blade and imbue it with their essence. I decided to use the last of that metal I forged the Eclipse Harbinger with, making an alloy with some of the shivernium I have left. I melted down some of my rapidly dwindling supply of gold and brought that and my smithing equipment with me, and got to work. Warlic was nice enough to take me and a few other adventurers to the Sky Realm, where I started by refining my gold ingots in the same way I forged Eclipse Harbinger: by opening a portal to Lore's sun, using a version of the Solar Incinerator spell to do so. Once I had the hilt and pommel cast, I started on the blade. As with forging Bright Star, once the shivernium and void metal were forged together, it was monstrously difficult to hammer by hand and I had to resort to magically hammering the blade. Though this took some concentration, it freed up my hands and allowed me to move around to look from different angles. It took several hours to do this, and the other adventurers got back from their quests while I was still going. I kept an eye on Warlic while he was working with their Silver Blades of Victory, getting a feel for what he was doing with my sense of magic. I finally finished setting the edge and forming the fuller a little bit after he was done helping them. After quenching the blade, I did a check check to make sure all the parts fit, which they did.

While the blade was tempering, I set off to collect more Bright Aura Gems, which thankfully didn't take as long as the first time I'd come here. It was night now, and I was working by the light of some simple magiscience lamps. First, I polished the hilt and pommel, and then got started on grinding the blade. It was almost as hard as forging it, but not quite so hard I couldn't do it by hand. After getting the profile symmetrical and sharpening the edge, I got started on engraving the runes around the fuller. When Warlic saw me working on the hilt and pommel he gave me a look that said "I know exactly what you're trying to do", so it was great that he wasn't around when I was doing this(he'd agreed to come back the following afternoon). Although originally planning on just eight runes, I decided to engrave an extra one- nine is a big number in Lorian magic, a la "eight for the Lords, and one for Lorithia". After the engraving I polished the blade, fit everything together, and bound the handle with darkness dragon hide. It looked good, but there was still a couple more steps left. I cut a small disk from one gem, polished it, and set it in the pommel. Going by what I'd felt Warlic doing, I began to imbue the blade with the essence of the Bright Aura Gems. The runes began to glow one by one as the process went on, and with the ninth and final gem's aura imbued into the blade, an aura of translucent blue fire sprang up around it, much in the same way as the Bright Blade of Victory, with cerulean-tinged golden light shining from the pommel gem. Where the Bright Blade of Victory has a grand and regal feel, this has a feel of... purpose. Not a stern one like the blade it was patterned after, but one that still scares me because, on some level, I think I know exactly what it's for. I think Warlic could tell too, as he gave me a knowing look when he came by to pick me up.

When testing it, I found it had an affinity for the Light element. While it didn't have the raw power of the Greater Bright Blade of Victory, it burned with the same power and intensity no matter what opponent I faced, like the Vitae Thirster or Doom Knight Blade, almost. I don't look forwards to the day when I have to wield this blade...

[image]http://orig07.deviantart.net/4be5/f/2016/037/1/5/lightbringer_by_uskius-d9qsrvc.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (2/8/2016 22:35:00)

Flame Obsidian Carapace After I came across some flame obsidian the other day, I decided to keep some to use. The first thing I thought of making with it was a shield, so here we are. Since I had a couple large chunk among my stock, I decided to carve one down instead of using some basic alchemy to get the shape. It took a long time. A really, really long time. Gems and minerals are trickier to carve than wood, so I couldn't just go bzzt! and have a curve done, I needed to work the angles. I worked it into a vaguely turtle shell shaped dome, with a couple points sticking out from the edges for extra "style". I made the outside very slightly concave, and that was that. It was fairly simple, but rather time consuming. When testing out the shield it had some very good defense against melee and ranged attacks, and good resistance to Fire attacks and a bit of Darkness resistance, too.

[image]http://orig15.deviantart.net/8730/f/2016/039/c/a/flame_obsidian_carapace_by_uskius-d9r28x8.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (2/10/2016 5:00:23)

Dark Defender of Victory Once I find a good material to work with, I like to stick with it and learn more about it and keep using it. So, after forging Lightbringer, I decided to work with the aura gems some more. After forging Lightbringer I didn't want Warlic to get any more suspicious of me than he already is, so this time I opened the portal to the Underworld myself. That plan didn't work so good when he showed up with a group of adventurers and found me in the middle of hammering the shield. Ah! Sorry for rambling.

Since I had a lot of forging to get done, I decided to cut the shield to shape from shadowsteel(with a magiscience powered plasma cutter I still haven't returned to Vince the drakel) to save time. Though it might seem simple, it actually takes a good bit of time to forge a shield. Once you have the basic shape there's getting the curves even and smoothed out, which can be very time consuming depending on how the initial forging went. This took an average length of time, and after I got in to shape, while I was tempering it I made the setting for the Dark Aura Gem. After finishing those pieces, I did a bit of alchemy to restructure the flame obsidian I had brought into the trim. The shield wasn't one hundred percent as I had drawn it up, so I still had to do a little carving to get a good snug fit. After that I began the process of imbuing the shield with the essence of all the gems I had collected, until it burned with a ghostly black flame tinged with red.

When testing the shield, I found it had a high amount of resistance to the Darkness element. The very strong magical presence typical of items imbued with the essence of the aura gems in this case resulted in increased blocking capabilities. Overall, it was a very well-rounded and intimidating shield.

[image]http://orig05.deviantart.net/0935/f/2016/041/8/2/dark_defender_of_victory_by_uskius-d9r77a0.png[/image]



Uskius -> RE: Uskius' Beastiary and Armory (2/10/2016 5:46:13)

Bright Wings of Victory The Bright Aura Gems made a strong impression on me, so I decided to work on a suit of armor imbued with their power. Though what I had in mind was simple, relatively speaking, it was still armor so there were several parts that needed to be done. Like with most of the other items I made the same trip, I first cut all the separate pieces roughly to shape. With armor, it's important to cut a little large- because if it's too small, you've wasted a whole bunch of time, effort, and material. So, after getting the shivernium I'd cut in shape, I began the hammering process. As I was finishing each piece, I had my clone Stan take them over to the forge for heat treating, and after I finally finished the first round of hammering, had him keep an eye on them while they were tempering. During that time, I quickly forged the spikes, and the small wings for the sabaton, and the rods for the back wings from gold.

At this point, I needed a break from all the hammering, so I got to work on constructing the wings. I quickly got the gold polished, and check to make sure everything connected properly, which it did. I had plenty of roc feathers gathered, and got them all in place and bonded them to the frame. There was still a bit of magiscience they would need to fully function, but that would come later. After the long process of polishing the other parts of the armor and making sure they fit together, I was able to fit the wings to the harness and attach that to the breastplate. The magiscience code was a simple one, working on the thought fly. With those runes in place I worked on the ones for the wings, ones that would have the function of the wings flapping moving naturally. It took a little bit to get the two systems in sync, but while I may have looked dorky I was still getting to fly. Once I had the wings done I did the final touches of getting everything fit together and polished, and began to imbue the work with the essence of the Bright Aura Gems. The roc feathers turned a shimmering white, and burned with an ethereal blue flame.

When testing out the armor it had very good resistance to Light element damage, and was very swift and powerful. When wielding a magical weapon, I found it would resonate with the magical presence of the armor, and could produce a bright flash of light from the gem on the belt with a little focus. Its defenses were good and well-rounded, but not outstanding. Overall the armor has a grand and regal magical presence, and is useful for quickly covering ground or applying sharp bursts of offense.

[image]http://orig12.deviantart.net/5658/f/2016/041/9/5/bright_wings_of_victory_by_uskius-d9r78vo.png[/image]



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