07.11d: Tests and Countermeasures

[Wyvern]

At some point, Alys will seek out Count Osmund - in private, though other Amberites (most likely Cameron) are certainly welcome to be present.

"You mentioned, the other day, that you had something that might counteract shapeshifting; as it seems that challenges for Harrune are being put off for a few days, would you like to test that now?"

[khadjair]

Cameron will definitely take some time out to be present - he's gotten the shapeshifting lecture but is still interested in seeing what Osmund has to say. Especially since he's likely to need to delve into Shadow to get some materials he may need for his impending construction.

[Joshua]

Osmund will nervously fiddle in his cloak, and draw what appears to be an obsidian dagger. The leather wrap around the hilt is slowly starting to rot. Also, for those paying attention, the obsidian, while perfectly polished, does not reflect any light. "If you're sure. I... I don't want to cause issues."

[Wyvern]

Alys holds out a hand to Osmund. "May I?"

Once he hands over the dagger*, she looks over it carefully, a puzzled expression on her face. Then she very carefully taps the blade against the inside of her left arm, leaving behind a tiny cut, too small to even bleed.

"Interesting." Her arm ripples, skin dissolving into dark wine-red scales... though the cut remains. A second tap opens up a second line, slicing cleanly across her armor as if it provided no defense at all.

"Cuts through both re-active and active defenses," she comments. "And leaves wounds that don't respond to basic healing. Next test..." Her entire form shifts this time, her build slimming out some as she adds wings and a tail, shifting to her red dragon form**. A third cut is slightly shorter than the first two; apparently this form is actually a bit resistant to the dagger's effects.

Alys frowns, and stares intently at the obsidian blade. "One more test, then. You may wish to stand back a bit." For a moment, there's no obvious change, and then faint flickers of white flame strike up from the three cuts Osmund's dagger as Alys radiates intense heat - Cameron might liken it to standing in a steel factory just as the safeties fail and the main furnace opens up.
The leather bindings around the dagger's handle erupt into flames... for just a moment, before being reduced to ash.*** This time, when Alystrakos brings the blade against her arm, there's a faint glassy clink, and no mark at all.

"Hah. I thought that might work." The heat dies down quickly, leaving only a faint impression of claws melted into the stones beneath her feet. And she flips the dagger around, offering it hilt-first back to Osmund. "A very interesting weapon. I presume it cuts through spells and other lesser powers just as easily?"

_____
* Double-checked with the GM on this. Osmund flinches slightly, but does hand the dagger over.
** See character sheet for full description.
*** Oddly, Alys' clothing - a set of what looks like red silk sashes anchored to golden jewelry - is untouched. There are, however, a few puffs of flame and dribbles of melted metal from where those sashes had formerly concealed some minor weaponry.

[khadjair]

Cameron watches bemusedly at first, then with increasing alarm as the dagger cuts and slices in various ways. Instincts born of working a forgeworks lead him to leap back once Alys begins to grow hot, though he doesn't dive for cover fully, that much has sunk in of his endurance. As the brightness dims and things settle down, he steps forward again, eyeing the dagger, then Alys, then the dribbles of metal on the floor.

"And what, if it's not rude to enquire, is "that" exactly? What you did there, I mean, first... and what you suspect the dagger is, second."

[Joshua]

"It cuts power. Spells and such. Shapeshifting is a power, so it cuts that fairly easy." Osmund will say. "She must have a true form that actually has armor." he will draw another leather wrap for the hilt.

Also, minor note, the dagger absorbs heat just fine, but does not radiate it.

[Wyvern]

Alys shakes her head at Osmund's explanation. "Close, but not quite right; if that were all it did, it would not have cut the first three times, either. Well... unless it's sentient, of course. Does it have a Name?"

As she talks, she slowly shifts back to her nearly-human form, and then adjusts her sashes to cover the three injuries. "Those should heal in a matter of hours, by the way, or by tomorrow morning at the latest; the wounds it inflicts don't respond to, as Osmund puts it, powers, but seem otherwise mundane. And I suspect a sufficiently powerful shapeshifter could remove such injuries instead of healing them, though that would be... highly inefficient. Useful as a bluff, perhaps, or if faced with otherwise mortal wounds, but otherwise a waste of energy."

[Joshua]

Of disturbing note, the wounds strongly resist being moved to other parts of your body.

"No.. not that I know of. It's just a dagger." Osmund will do his best not to swipe it back and start rewrapping it. It does come across as more of a nervous grab. "It's definitely powerful. Probably my only defense against a real power. It takes down my full manifestation with a touch. I have no idea what it is. It's just... disruptive."

[Wyvern]

Alys asks Osmund a few more questions - mostly about how the blade fares against simple steel. The summary seems to be that, if the material isn't powered, the dagger is just a very sharp dagger.

"Interesting. Most things work on a scale of Real to shadow; a blade forged from metal quarried here in Amber is more real, and thus a bit more durable, than one forged with the same skill out in shadow. Yet this dagger of yours ignores all that - it seems to work only on a scale of what is or could be. That was how I managed a defense, by the way: by temporarily removing every possibility of unarmored flesh - such would not have survived what I was doing, which seems to have prevented the blade from cutting through to this form." She gestures, indicating her current un-armored nearly-human self. "Amusingly, a more advanced shapeshifter than I am would likely have been unable to do that."

"And that is also why I suggest it may be sentient; the ability to choose between possibilities implies the ability to choose. As for what it is..." She looks back at Cameron, finally getting around to answering his second question, "I do not know. It is definitely a manifestation of a Greater Power. Not Logrus, certainly, but... I think not Pattern, either. It has some of the sneakiness of Pattern, but none of the respect for Reality over shadow."

[Joshua]

"Perhaps... it was based on your true form? And, the cuts weren't deep enough to force you to return to it completely. There's... a depth, that can vary, that does force a return to a true form. I wouldn't recommend the attempt. The other shapeshifters I used it on, lost their abilities until the wound healed. I think... only one survived that long..." Osmund will frown... "They were trying to kill me. It was before I got to Amber." He will put the dagger under his cloak.

He will look at Cameron... "I hope I'm not putting you in danger with it. And if we ever get me to walk the pattern, I'd leave this behind. I wouldn't want to see what might happen if it was there."