Elder Blood Witcher 259 Another Prophecy, Probably By A Quack?

Reima examines the wardstone closely, every insignificant rune and marking are taken into account... While he had been trying to train his runes he definitely isn't an expert, the main reason for this is that he can't practise what he's learned as the results can be rather... Explosive. Regardless he recognises some of the runes laid upon the Obsidian alter, the ones he knows of are Algiz, Thurisaz and Dagaz, the respectively represent : Protection, Giant and Day.

Algiz : Protection from enemies and Power.

Thurisaz : Suffering, Motivation and Defence Against Adversaries

Dagaz : Light, Hope and Good Energy.

There are a lot more runes that Reima doesn't know of, this is troubling as if he misses even one major rune, everything in the vicinity of the Wardstone could ignite, disintegrate, vanish, dehydrate rapidly and many, many other results... This is partly why Rune masters are so rare, most don't last long enough to master the art.

Ciri asks from behind him, "Found anything?"

Reima "I know some of these runes but I'm unsure about some of the others, wait there's some sort of pa.s.sage here?"

Ambrose "Oh that? Just a taunt from that blithering old man to give us hope of escaping, truly I do wonder why anyone would respect such a despicable person." he spits.

Reima reads it out loud for Ciri to hear.

"Peace be to lands, the foe has been felled

Complacent Ma.s.ses blunder as the Dark Musters

One lord Quelled, Only to return once again

A new threat is birthed from the old foes kin

s.p.a.ce and Time will victory reside, under a new king"

... Reima isn't really sure what it's referring to? Maybe Merlin is just an amateur writer making s.h.i.t up? He shrugs, he's dead so we'll never know.

Ciri "Cryptic, although it sound as if it's referring to me.. Or us I guess?"

Reima nods, "It does doesn't it, but it speaks of a king here, since it doesn't say "Queen" it must mean me or someone else with our... Const.i.tution?" He scoffs, "Fat chance of me ruling over people though, I'd rather just live in isolation within Kaer Morhen..."

Ciri shrugs, "Well, we never know what might happen in future, maybe you'll suddenly become an egomaniac and found your own kingdom." she says sarcastically.

Ambrose interrupts them, "As much as your conversation interests me I think we've gotten off-topic, is there anything you can do to free us?"

Reima looks sheepish, "Well, yes... And no... I'm able to produce flames that destroy anything magical, this would eventually destroy the wardstone and it's magic but it'd likely burn down the house and forest with it."

Ambrose grins showing his fangs, "That's fine, as long as we can leave before the wizards invade that'll be satisfactory."

Ciri looks at Reima, "Are you sure this will work? Burning alive due to a single blunder doesn't sound good at all..."

Reima "I've done it before, in-fact you'll probably be able to do it too in future. We should get everyone together, I have no idea how the wards magic is going to react at being destroyed..."

Ambrose agrees and goes to collect his wife and daughter while Ciri and Reima wait in the room with the Wardstone.

Ambrose briskly walks in holding Nerissa in his arms and Talicia follows closely.

Nerissa looks at Reima and smiles, "Father said you've discovered a way for us to escape?"

He nods "I have but it probably going to destroy the house and the surrounding forest as their all in the Wardstone's area of effect..." he looks to Ambrose "Do you have a bas.e.m.e.nt?" he nods and Talicia adds, "We have a cellar for our large collection of wines... A shame we'll have to leave the majority of it behind."

Reima's ears perk up at this and he smiles, "I have a unique ability to store vast amounts of objects away, perhaps I could take them off your hands instead of leaving them to burn?"

Talicia sends a seductive smile at him, "For our saviour? Of course."

Reima nods and steps back, "Ok, so this'll be the plan. The sun will set in a couple hours and as I'm unsure how long it'll take for the Wardstone to lose it's effects I'll use my anti-magic flames in advance, we can't lose any time as the wizards could be trying to breach the wards right now for all we know. Once it's lit we'll retreat to the cellar and wait until the Wards are destroyed before fleeing, I don't know where you can go so it's up to you after that. But know this, Ciri and I will help you if you need it. Any questions? No? Ok." He says as he approaches the Wardstone, he channels as little

Elder Blood magic as possible as they shape themselves into an Igni Sign, a small puff of Turquoise fire impacts the Wardstone and it immediately erupts with a bright light. Reima is blasted backwards and is caught by Talicia who easily places him back on the ground.

Reima sheepishly thanks her before requesting Ambrose to bring them to the cellar.

The effects of the Anti-Magic flames are extremely potent it seems, visible ephemeral turquoise flames spread outwards, eating all ambient magic, they pa.s.s the group and do seemingly no damage to them, instead all they feel is a disconcerting feeling of despair... This causes them to all increase their pace as they sprint towards the cellar. Once there Ambrose lets Nerissa down and she spins around to thank Reima, only to find him gone... She looks at her mother who looks amused as she points behind her towards the large selection of wines, when she turns she sees Reima moving extremely quickly while steStoring every bottle, vat and barrel in the vicinity... Ambrose has a helpless expression as he watches Reima steal all of his hard earned wine that he'd been collecting for centuries, he's feeling envious at the fact wizards are able to create bags of holding like nothing...