It's a Busy Life In Camelot

[morganknight]

🧙 WHO: Morgan Knight and, as ever, YOU!
⚔️️ WHAT: An open post for April
🕒 WHEN: April! Yeah, that's right, all of it!
🗺️ WHERE: Various places!
⚠️ WARNINGS: Prose? (but I'll match brackets if you want)


1. Lone Mountain Dojo

The dojo didn't appear particularly special from the outside -- just another building a few stories high, albeit one with a particularly tall fence enclosing a fairly substantial open area behind it. But it didn't advertise subtly -- LONE MOUNTAIN DOJO stood out in large letters across the sign in front, with a snow-topped mountain painted in a few broad strokes on one side of the door.

"Hmm." Morgan stroked his chin as he considered the blank right side. "What would scream out, 'martial arts taught here?' in a simple, straightforward way...?"

2. Quest: Libraryrinth

"Slimes? Seriously?"

That's so... cliche. Leaning on one leg, Morgan watched as a slime oozed towards him, quivering in anticipation of roughing him up however a slime roughed people up. The sight was so ridiculous, he had to struggle to hold back giggles.

"Slimes are the absolute worst enemies for my style, so do you mind watching my back in case I get in over my head?" He always had his sword, of course, but he would learn so much more from attacking bare-handed...

3. Quest: Vital Venoms

"So in principle, this is easy. I can use kinesis magic to pin and hold one, and we can take it back. The only problem being all of the other spiders in the cave."

Morgan tugged on the collar of his coat, then rolled his shoulders, making sure the odd fabric fell loose around him and didn't interfere with his movements.

"Since I'm armored, I don't have to worry about any part of me the coat covers, so if you can help cover me...?"

4. Ready... Begin!

"Rising hit combo--"

Morgan Knight had what many people would consider an unfair advantage in a fighting game tournament. The first of which was, of course, his familiarity with the concept and the technology. No struggle to adapt and learn!

"--cancel into air-juggle --"

Second was how much he'd been playing this game in the arcade since it came out. Practice and familiarity with the character and their moves meant that much stronger a performance.

"--fail to extend, but that's to bait out the throw --"

Third? Well, fighting games were just one more aspect of martial arts. Understanding your opponent, anticipating and intercepting their motions, leading them to fix themselves while you flow... He lived and breathed this sort of thing, literally.

"--tech cancel, reverse throw, and..."

FINISH. MORGANKNIGHT WINS, proclaimed the screen. Grinning, Morgan thrust the hand that held his phone upwards, flinging the other one aside dramatically so it made his coat flare out a bit. Style counted, after all.

Next opponent?

5. Wildcard

[For anything planned or desired.]

Comments

2

[sighsheavily]

Cecelia is listening, but she doesn't appear to be. Rather, she's already taking steps to address the slime issue, as some sparks crackle from the tip of her familiar's horn. She catches it and leads a sizzling string of lighting by her index finger, turning her attention forward and somewhat askance.

"Put the sword down a moment?" she requests, not waiting for a response before flicking her finger forward and sending the bolt out and toward the slimeball ahead of them. She's reasonably certain he'll take the hint and avoid becoming a lightning rod, instead letting her spell find its mark and just burst the thing...

...And maybe splatter him, not her. She's watching his back.

[morganknight]

Morgan tossed the sword into the air, where it hovered thanks to kinesis magic. As the slime splattered into a flicker of further kinesis, Morgan ran his hand through his hair with a bit of an awkward smile.

"Miss Ardenbury, I sincerely apologize. I wasn't clear. I wanted to fight one, I think I would learn a great deal from it. I just don't want to fight one, lose, and get dissolved or eaten or something."

[sighsheavily]

"Oh, surely that wasn't the only one about," she replies absently, unruffled and examining her hands. "Otherwise, why such an urgent request for action? That took barely a moment's time."

No scales, no inner glow...still, none of this magic is hers. It's irritating. She sighs lightly, looking up and ahead of them, giving Morgan an expectant look and gesture after a beat.

"Well, lead on, then, yes?"

[morganknight]

"There was a far larger and fiercer monster down here when I first ventured in," Morgan said, bearing that implicit command without comment. As he turned to walk further in, the floating sword whirled into its sheath on his back, because he was a show-off. "So the slimes surely aren't all we'll face. Are you two good to watch from the rear or would you like to borrow Typhon?"

Her familiar seemed helpful, at least in terms of magic, but whether it was good on watch was another thing entirely. Compare to his, where Typhon seemed to contribute absolutely no active help to spellwork, but was great for so many other things.

[sighsheavily]

No longer encumbered by an enormously useless ballgown, Cecelia can follow with ease, shrugging her shawl back into place over her shoulders as they proceed. The little unicorn follows along without much fuss, wearing a quietly judging expression that mirrors Cecelia's in a way.

"My ears are sharp enough, I'd wager," she replies, her attention no longer on fingers or fashion, but the task-at hand and the man she's decided to follow in. "And the acoustics are as such that I imagine I could hear something encroaching before it's too late. But I've not wandered in here before; is there some trickery I should be aware of that might catch us unawares?"

[morganknight]

Morgan shot a look over his shoulder, then decided no, Cecelia can't possibly have intended that as a joke. He was pretty sure that when he actually heard humor out of her, it would be sharp as a razor and grim as a cemetery at dusk.

"The opposite, really. When I was in here last, a monster the size and almost shape of this hall kept us from venturing in further. I'm a bit surprised at our current foes, given that, so there might be more going on here than we know or can tell."

[sighsheavily]

"What is the lore to this place again?" she wonders, fishing through dress pockets for her phone to investigate just that as they go, quietly murmuring some of the text to herself. "Mm. Perhaps the crone who was so inclined to keeping folks out previously is changing up her guard?"

[morganknight]

Cecelia was such an odd duck. Modern guy that he was, he couldn't imagine any other woman of his acquaintance who would wear a dress into a dungeon.

"As far as I ever heard, it was 'there's something weird in the neighborhood, who ya gonna call?' Oops, there's another slime."

Flexing his fingers, Morgan picked up his pace, advancing on the gelatin with aspirations as it slurped around a corner.

[sighsheavily]

"There's something weird at every corner," she mutters, rolling her eyes and pocketing her phone. Her ear twitches as she picks up the glorping mass coming into view, and her lip curls with a brief show of disgust.

"Ah, well, there you go. No interference from me this time." Not that he needs her go-ahead or anything; she'll just hang back here and watch his back, as she agreed to.

4

[divinereaper]

[ Naoto whistles, impressed by the combo-- not so much by the actual flourish of the coat, however. He was a spectator, watching those who came before him. ]

Damn, you're good. You showing off or is that your main?

[morganknight]

It can't be both? [Morgan drops his arm, resting his phone on his shoulder like a swordsman would his blade.]

[divinereaper]

[ Naoto snorts at his words. ]

Possibly. How do I know you're not hiding a pocket main?

[morganknight]

Because I wouldn't be showing off like this if I was. I'd be pulling the old I-am-not-left-handed trick against a foe who was giving me a challenge!

[divinereaper]

But the flair, the story line! Where's the fun in doing all that without a show?

[ He does love following brackets! There's no flavor here! ]

[morganknight]

[Morgan can't help but grin.]

Oh, come on. What storyline do you think is going to come out of a guy being cocky and prideful in a tournament like this?

[divinereaper]

The villain, duh! [ Naoto's grinning with him. ] Don't you got fighting game tournaments back home?

[morganknight]

[They did, but entering them was pretty impossible for Morgan, so skip that.] You forgot the other one -- when a true challenger emerges, and I start taking it seriously, revealing that I've got actual skill.

5 - Beessss (lmk if you want me to change anything)

[colchismagecraft]

That sure was a huge beehive. Caster had been spying on it from a distance for a little while now, cloaked by her dark magic as she tried to assess the best way to get close enough to deal with all of the bees.

She glanced over to Morgan, rather glad he'd roped her into something that was significantly less emotionally strenuous than the Selkie quest they'd gotten involved in.

"...Destroying the hive outright will probably just cause them to swarm, won't it?"

Hey, it was an improvement on just immediately suggesting setting them on fire, right?

[morganknight]

"Almost certainly. And I'd much prefer to relocate them harmlessly if we can. It's not their fault they picked a place to live that isn't compatible with human activity."

Typical Morgan, always trying to resolve things the least harmful way. That shouldn't be a surprise to her, right?

[colchismagecraft]

"Your approach to not killing anything even applies to insects, hm?"

Well, she would have called him soft if it wasn't for what he'd told her about his other self. At the very least, she knew now he was capable of worse.

[morganknight]

"As much as possible, yeah. Besides, bees play an important role in ecology as pollinators. Everything and everyone has its purpose and place!"

Killing is soft, to Morgan. It was far, far harder not to, and required far more strength.

[colchismagecraft]

"...I shouldn't be surprised by you anymore." There was either rolled eyes or a faint hint of amusement in her voice as she spoke. Probably a bit of both.

"Well, then. Do you have a plan? Do you think it's possible to transport the hive without damaging it?"

[morganknight]

"Hmm. I don't suppose you could whip up a sleeping curse on it? If the bees that go into it fall asleep, moving it will be easy. I know smoke is supposed to do the same thing for bees, but..." Aside from not having elemental magic, he also had shockingly little interest in burning down anything by accident.

[colchismagecraft]

"So long as they don't all just drop off the nest... I don't want to have to carry them all once we've moved the hive itself."

That would probably lead to problems in itself.

"...For a spell of that size we'll probably need a ritual in any case, so you're helping."

[morganknight]

"Excellent, I can finally express all my true inner darkness through the medium of magic!" Morgan pressed his hands together, looking way too gleeful.