Playing with Dolls
A small river flowed gently by me, glittering in the morning sun. The gardens of Ru’Aun was filled with tranquility, and I felt an inner peace as I walked down the ancient grounds of the Zilartians. Mighty guardians were lined up on each side of me, surrounded by a radiant blue light. The living statues seemed inactive, but I knew deep down they’d wake up if their limited motion detector were to go off. A few birds were flying cheerfully by, chirping to their hearts’ content. I smiled, thinking how they’d make a delightful dinner.
I had read an interesting article a few days earlier that peeked my curiosity. The author, Kimiko the tarutaru, explained how she had fought against the living statues, the Groundkeepers, and gotten some decent experience. I decided I’d give the dolls a spin, hoping they’d help me become a better Black Mage.
A Field Manual at the entrance listed eleven dolls as a viable training regiment, which was purrrfect as completing such a regiment would net me a nice bonus.
I felt really nervous as I walked toward the first groundkeeper. The enormous doll was completely oblivious to my presence and just continued to patrol. I looked around, making sure there were no other creatures nearby. Uh.. here goes… I guess,
I said to myself as I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I concentrated as hard as I could, beginning to mold my mana into an enfeebling spell. A dark emptiness engulfed the doll, slowing it’s movement like magical glue.
I opened my eyes, looking at the groundkeeper. It chased after me, and I could hear a faint hum from inside it’s heavy armor. Intruder alert,
the doll said, moving seemingly untouched by spell I had just cast on it. Aww, rats!
I meowed in dismay, running away from the armored doll.
Once at a distance I cast a quick Stun to stop it from moving temporarily. I closed my eyes again and concentrated even harder, casting a binding spell this time. The spell once again failed to take effect, and I was starting to get quite nervous about this camp. I was at a loss, and decided to sleep the monster with a powerful soporific spell I had once learned. The doll stopped moving, standing completely still. Finally,
I thought to myself. I deliberated on what to do for a few moments, deciding to take a different approach when casting my spells. With some minor adjustments to my chants, I was hoping I would be able successfully land the enfeebling spells.
Using an elemental seal, I cast a new gravitation field at it, using an ancient black spell. The spell finally went unresisted, and I knew I was safe. I closed my eyes again, concentrating on borrowing some of mother nature’s powers. My body was tingling, and around me I could feel the air become filled with small sparks of lightning. I kept concentrating, making sure the impact would be as big as possible. Suddenly a brilliant burst of lightning shot down on the groundkeeper, piercing through it. The doll roared, enraged by the attack. It walked toward me, in sluggish pace as the gravity field weighed it down.
I put some distance between the groundkeeper and myself, and started concentrating again. The enormous doll’s footsteps became louder and louder, and I sensed that it was but a mere seconds away from reaching me. The air around me became cold, almost bone-chilling. A hundred shards of crystal-like ice-taps shot through the groundkeeper, damaging it’s internal systems. By now I had managed to get it down just below half capacity. The damage from my freezing attack woke the doll back to life, and once again it began to chase after me.
With two rounds of tier IV spells I finally knocked it out, just like Kimi~taru said. I was a little proud of myself, having soloed a doll of my own for the very first time.
In the future I hope I can expand my knowledge of the black magic and become a better Black Mage. Hopefully the linkshell will take notice once I build a bit more experience, so I’m hoping for the best.
