With some of her reputation beginning to precede her when it had come to the various shop owners that she had encountered along her way towards training to be a Magic Knight, Althaea would begin to receive letters and requests from other individuals when it had come to helping out. For this particular little adventure of hers, the young Aurelius had managed to find herself within the rather well defended town of Kikka. Although she hadn't come out to this place beforehand, she had come to know much about the general location. It was home to the Purple Orcas, a Magic Knight squad that had specialized in defense magic. Truthfully, it was one of the few squads that she had been interested in. In her eyes, is she could make a good impression with the people of this town than perhaps she could make a good impression on the Purple Orcas themselves. The fact that the Magic Knight Exam Grounds had existed within this particular town had also lent her a bit of an impression overall. Truly, this was a wonderous place for one such as herself to have found herself.

Of course one might be wondering how exactly it was that she had managed to get to this point. Why had the young Aurelius decided to come all the way out to Kikka? While she wishes that she could lend thanks to the fact that the Magic Knight Exams were happening here, it was truthfully due to the fact that she had been sent a letter from an older gentleman that was requesting her services. This gentleman had been one of the local broom-maker's of Kikka and as such was a figure of quite a bit of importance. While there may have been several broom-makers all throughout the town, this particular individual had found themselves living on the outskirts of the well defended town, just outside of the towns walls. Apparently this elderly broom-maker had been having trouble carrying the necessary wood back and forth. It was likely due to his old age but Althaea hadn't wished to make assumptions about the individual. It was always better to get the proper information directly from the source.

That being the case, Althaea would eventually find herself out in front of what had appeared to be an old shack. Honestly, this didn't exactly feel like it had been the right place. After a bit of investigating though, as far as she could tell, this was definitely where the letter had beckoned her to arrive. A bit unsettled by this location, the young elven lass would attempt to steel her heart before pushing on into the wooded abode. Once inside, her eyes would fall upon a singular individual. A wizened old man who had seemed to be expecting her. He had sat within a refined rocking chair and had apparently been witling away at the inscriptions that he had been bestowing upon a broom of some kind as she had stepped inside.

"Ahh, hello Miss Aurelius. I see that you have finally managed to find your way into my humble abode." The fact that this old man had managed to tell exactly who she was upon their initial meeting had left her far more unsettled than anything else. "I take it by that look on your face that you are actually Miss Aurelius than? I've tried this with the last five people to walk into my home and each one of them had been somebody else!" The old man would bellow out a jolt of laughter before handing her a sliver of paper. "That there is a map to the grove of trees that I often find myself going to when I am in need of the blessed magical wood. If you would please, be a dear and bring me back four pieces of wood from there, shall you? In exchange, I am willing to give you a flying broom all for yourself. What do you say?" Having calmed down a bit after the man had begun to joke a bit with her, Althaea would quickly agree to go along with the plan that he had been offering. She was to head on out of the forest and track down some kind of blessed wood. With the mad that the old geezer had given her in hand, it was likely going to be a far easier task than she had been expecting.

A good fifteen to twenty minutes of walking would pass as Althaea had accurately followed along with the map. Although it may be surprising for most to hear, simple tracking and map-following was one of the many things that was within the core curriculum of the Aurelius family. How could one be a good servant if they didn't know how to get around, after all? Eventually the young Aurelius would find herself entering a closed off glen within the forest surrounding Kikka. Each tree that had graced these lands had a barely visible hue of magic that had emanated from the very bark of the trees themselves. This had to be the place that she had been sent to find. She had been glad to have found what it was that she had set out for but the main issue now was how exactly she had planned to get the wood that she had needed. Magically imbued wood was likely going to be far harder to collect than the kind of wood that grows on a typical tree. It was this exact thought actually that would lead Althaea to attempt to gather the wood utilizing that very magic.

To start everything off, Althaea would begin by clutching their hands around the cross that had hung from the collar on her neck. Upon doing as much, the magic within the cross would begin to activate. Mana would begin to flow all throughout the cross and would even go as far as to emit an aura of pure energy that would ultimately take on the form of a shapeless golem. Well... Not just one golem. Four shapeless energy golems! "Well hello there friends. First time, no see! I look forward to working with you all, even if you aren't entirely sentient." The elf would begin to nod to each of the golems before rubbing her hands together and drawing close to one of the nearby trees. As she would do so, the golems would follow after her with a simple mental command to have done as such. "Right, well I suppose that we should take a few more steps and than head on out. Boys, be sure to break off a chunk of the three as it falls and than carry it back with us, carefully, will you?" 

Althaea would than begin to make a circle on the ground with her right foot before tapping it on the ground once. As she does this the surface of the area surrounding her, up to twenty five meters, begins to warp under the effects of her pure aura. This would cause many of the trees surrounding her to begin to sink into the ground for a moment, and even her golems would begin to do so albeit they had been prepared for this, but this was all a part of the plan. With the trees beginning to sink now, the four golems would react by doing exactly as they were told. They would each focus on a single tree in front of Althaea and would snap off four large logs of magically imbued lumber. From there Althaea would cancel her ground shaking spell and begin to walk back with the golems. All in all, things had been going quite well for her when it had come to this. Eventually she would return to the home of the broom-maker and would turn over the ingredients that he had requested. In exchange, she would be given a source of flight! A source of many inspirational ideas that she would come to have in the coming days.

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Name of Spell: Undine's Escape!
Elemental Type: Pure Aura
Rank & Spell Type: Junior Offensive Transmutation
Range & Speed: 25 meters aoe | 10 m/s
Mana Cost: 10 | 5
Stats Effected: -2 m/s
Applicable Perks: Area of Triumph
Description:
In order to disable the movement of those that she is hoping to escape from or slow down, Althaea makes a circle on the ground with her right foot before tapping it on the ground once. As she does this the surface of the area surrounding her, up to twenty five meters, begins to warp under the effects of her pure aura. The ground, or whatever she may be standing on at the moment, will begin to take on the properties of water and will cause those standing on the effected area to 'sink' for as long as the spell is in place. Given that the ground isn't truly becoming a liquid, those that are sinking shall take 1/2 Junior damage as the ground attempts to swallow them up. Additionally, for the first round that it is applied upon a character, the shifting ground shall be unstable enough to hinder the movement of whoever has found themselves trapped within the spells confines.


WORD COUNT: 1,340
TOTAL WC: 1,340
TAG(S): @people