Solo Blood Bound Enchantments

[Clyde Sullins]

15 Summer 512 There was always something to do. Clyde found his life was busy, always one thing or another. And the next several days would be no exception... They would be even busier. He figured it would take him at least 5 or 6 days, to complete the enchantment... And till then, he would have little time for anything but to eat, sleep, and work. But first, he had some arrangements to settle. That was why he found himself today at The Defiled Blade, looking at the half isur half human smith. "I believe you talked to my apprentice, of me wanting an isurian steel dagger? I have come to collect it today." The smith looked over at Clyde, glaring back, seeming to size him up. No doubt he was not seeing much. Though Clyde was tall, he was by no means overly physically intimidating. Of course, he was a mage, so that tended to shift things in his favor. But it was hard to intimidate an isur in normal circumstances. "What do you want it for?" He asked, clearly trying to weasel a bit of info out of Clyde... Perhaps try and get an bit of leverage for when they dealt for the price... But Clyde was having none of it. He had no need to tell him anything. "That is for my business. Not yours. Now, are you going to sell it to me, or not? The agreed upon price was 10 gm." The half isur smith looked at Clyde, and then took a deep breath, before making his move. "Well I changed my mind, now its 20 gm. I had to make it rush order. Doubles the price." Clyde glared right back... Clearly he had sensed he had some leverage on Clyde, even if he did not know what... Clyde counter offered, the two of them delving deep into negotiations... "12 GM, and not a copper more." "Ha! 18 GM!" "14GM. Plus I want a set of shortbow arrows, and a scabbard to put the dagger in." "15 GM. And I will throw in the scabbard, and half a set of arrows." This was still in his favor. Normally such a dagger would cost 10gm, with a good bit of that being labor, so meaning a good bit of profit for him... Plus the scabbard was normally 2 gm, with a set of arrows costing a gm... Half would only cost 5 sm... Each alone making a profit... So in the end, he was paying 2 gm 5 sm over the normal price for the dagger. A good 25% markup. "Deal!" Clyde said, before he could shift it again. The smith blinked, and glared at Clyde, as they had finally settled on a price. Lucky for Clyde, he did not know how much leverage he had on him, and that he really needed the dagger... Clyde would have been willing to pay a decent bit more... But in the end, the smith had still got a good deal, a really good one. He went to the back, and came back out with the dagger inside of a scabbard, along with the half set of arrows for a shortbow. He handed them all to Clyde, with a grin on his face. "Thank you for your business." The smile was a bit unsettling, but Clyde was not sure why... But really all he could do was leave...

[Clyde Sullins]

Now it was on to the next step of his work, for preparations, he needed a place to do his work. Were else would he go to do his work, than Tarsin's? It was the place he was currently staying at, and a place he had used before for Magecrafting... He had spoken to the owner, and asked if he could have a common room for 6 or 7 days, one that was empty. Since he had more or less asked for the same thing before, the man was not to surprised. Though he likely had his suspicions as to what Clyde was up to. But it would not be his workspace for long. He had been planning to have a place built, for quite some time, a proper workspace and lab to do his MC in. The profits from this should be enough for him to finally purchase it. Assuming everything went well... And he would make certain, that it did... "Tarsin, so the room we spoke on, is it ready?" He eyed the bundle of things Clyde was carrying in, but could not make out there purpose. "Yes... As you asked, I cleared out one of the large rooms, there should be plenty of space for... Whatever... Just don't go damaging my room. 4 gm up front. That should pay for the length you need it." Clyde sighed and laid down the 4 gold mizas, and asked for directions to the room. Once given, he headed off to it, making a stop at his own room to get what he might need... The new room was certainly clear of anything. It would give him all the space he needed to do his work in... He laid out the things he would need, going over to one side of the room, and setting down the dagger and its scabbard. He had left the arrows in his own space. Along with that he took out of his pack his ink and quill, some parchment, and his inscribing paint... He would likely need to get some new after this endeavor. It would likely use up what he had. Then he set out, for one final preparation. The most costly. Getting the needed ingredients for making this item... For making the MC 2 item he had envisaged, it would cost 1,700 gm for ingredients... But when it was completed... Then he would have a pretty good bit of profit... As long as it worked. And he planned to make sure it did. Even had done a good bit of work beforehand to give the item an added boost. He set down a vial of yukman blood he had collected on a little expedition... This would certainly make the item more valuable. But now, off to buy the needed ingredients.

[Clyde Sullins]

After coming back with the needed magecrafting ingredients, Clyde set down for a moment, to look at what he had... A dagger, which was clearly of fine make, he could tell just by looking... He would need to inspect it further later, via auristics. The different rare powders and things which were needed to create the enhancing effect, were now with him... Plus, he had the last of his inscribing paint, which he would need to refresh for his next creation. And of course, the most important ingredient, himself. Magecrafter, Aurist, Glypher, everything needed in a mage for this, all packed into one person. Perhaps it would not be as good as the partnership when he had made his first creation with Hadrian, but it would still be good. He would be known for his quality work... And once he got paid for this, he could purchase a proper lab, and do later works there. Choosing on a spot roughly in the middle of the room, Clyde set to work, making his glyphs and sigils to ward off djed from the reactions of the enchantment. A little bit of unwanted djed, could easily ruin the entire thing. So isolating the spot to do the enchantment, was also necessary. To bad he was not a better Shielder, as that would have been a great asset... But soon enough... Soon enough... He was working on it... And soon enough he would be better with that to. Using his inscribing paint, he wrote out his glyphs bit by bit, forming a large barrier around the spot he had chosen. He started off simply, by making a big circle, a single line making a circuit of the spot. He left a large open space, roughly large enough for him to sit in comfortably, which would later hold his item once he started, and left it bare of any glyphs. Once he had the first circle done, he began to move outward, glyphing ever more, till it was quite dense. He made a wavy snake like line which curved equally more or less, making a wider circuit around the first circle. He had to stop three times during this, from his hand cramping. Then just outside of this, he made a second circle just like the first, which encapsulated the first line and the wavy snake line. All three of them were technically three separate components, but he combined them in such a way that they boosted each other, and formed into one large barrier around the spot. Now he had a very firm foundation, whose only purpose was to keep djed out. Now he needed something to catch djed, and to guide the djed that cascaded off the main barrier, into safe spots were they could be held. A series of focuses. He started out small, making four focuses, his normal eclipse ones made up of a circle bordered by a wavy line in contact with it. He placed each one of these on the four points of the large barrier, though giving it a good 6 inches of clearance. Then he made four more, each between two of the initial focus. This made up 8 total focus around the large barrier, more or less equally distant. Now, he capped these 8 focus off, by a spiraling line going outward from each one, which formed a ever widening pathway circling around the focus. The final opening to the path would point outward, on the side away from the barrier, and would be the entrance by which the djed would take its long circuitous route to the focus. He finished this off, by making one final circle, except not a perfect one. Instead, it began to sweep outward a bit, so it did not quite meet, and slowly spiraled out, till it was three lines thick, and had a tiny opening at the end. Moving outward another 2 inches, he made a solid circle, without any opening. This would form a blockage initially, which the djed would need to bypass. Then it would hit the long swirling circle, which would take it slowly into the area full of focus. Once in there, the djed would be absorbed into the focus, and would keep until they each filled up. Once that was full, the final main barrier would still be there, to keep any stray bits out, and to hold back should all the other stops fail. But since he would only be hear 5 or 6 days, he figured they would hold that long. But he realized he had been at this for bells upon bells. It was already night time, late into it, and he needed to sleep before tomorrow. He went out of the room, to relieve himself. Then he would sleep on his bedroll and get some rest, before rising on the morning.

[Clyde Sullins]

16 Summer 512 Clyde rose today, hungry, tired, but filled with an energy he only had when he was doing a project such as this. He got so excited, and full of energy, as he did these things, but once they were over it suddenly vanished. The last time he had finished a project, he felt like he could sleep for 2 days straight. Petch, he probably would do it this time, if he could. But first things first, the task ahead. He first got up and relieved himself, washed up a bit, and got a small bit to eat. Then it was back upstairs, taking out the dagger, and getting into his circles. While it was meant to block out djed, it would also serve another purpose, of helping in his auristics. It would be much easier to focus on the aura of the dagger, when his glyphing was blocking out all other auras djed. So while it only had one purpose, that one purpose could be used in different ways. Clyde sat down, and cross his legs, and set the dagger in his lap. Then he slid out out of its scabbard, which he set aside, and laid the dagger across the palms of his hands by the flat of the blade. Closing his eyes, and breathing in deeply, he began to meditate, taking himself inward, to help in the process he was about to enter. One... Two... Three... Four... He counted slowly in his head... Then back down... Four... Three... Two... One... He did this small exercise over and backwards, counting up to four, and back down to one, a total of four time. Symmetry, was very important in magic, and it helped to focus the mind. And having a focused mind, always made magic easier. He breathed in for a few more ticks, and then began to reach for his djed... Pushing it into his eyes... As he opened them, he looked upon the dagger with his Auristical vision, a visible aura emanating from the dagger... Which gave off a small, light silvery blue emanation. Clyde felt the dagger with his magical senses... It was smooth, but hard... Sharp on the sides and its point, but blunt on its two flat sides... He pushed past this, reaching for more info on the dagger, of how it was made, and made up... Delving in deeper... As he looked upon it... He could see the emenation, suddenly split. What had before looked like a light blue aura with a tinge of silver, was actually a silver color, mixed in with a darker blue. When mixed, they created this lighter color... But which was what... Grasping at the silver, he inspected it... And found what it was... Steel... Steel? Not isurian steel? No, he had seen that before, had seen isurian steel before, and that was light blue, the aura it gave off was a light blue, all by itself... Had he been cheated? What exactly had the man said of it? But no... It was not just normal steel... This seemed almost as strong and durable, if not more so, than the previous bit of isurian steel he had seen. Which surely meant, it had been enhanced in some way... But how? It was normal steel, but as strong as isurian steel? Surely magic... Perhaps the blue? Settling onto the blue bit of the aura, Clyde delved in, pushing aside the silvery bit for now... The blue... It was... Familiar, yet not familiar... But its texture... Its look and feel... While of a different vintage, this was clearly divine djed... This aura had a divine trace upon it... Had been touched and melded with some small bit of divine djed... Perhaps, this was why the dagger seemed so strong, even though it was only of steel? Taking a look back, he saw how the two colors merged... The blue aura was interwoven into the very makeup of the steel, into its structure... That was why when he first looked at it, he did not see blue, or silver, but a light silvery blue mixed color. The two were truly mixed. It appeared this was a permanent effect. So, while the item was not of isurian steel, it had been influenced by a bit of divine djed, which appeared to make the item as strong as if it had been of isurian steel. Perhaps this was what was meant by saying an item was izentor crafted, an ability that those with such a gnosis could do? He supposed it would do, but he would be having a stern talking to the owners of the smithy. Apparently they had not expected him to notice the difference. Pulling back from the aura, Clyde suddenly realized he had been at this for bells... It had taken him as long to study this one aura, as it had to make his entire glyphing set up the day before. Sore from sitting still for so long, Clyde slowly stood up, feeling joints stick. Not fun for him, but a common occurrence when one did something such as this. He set the daggers sheath to the outside of the glyphs, and set the dagger itself where he had been sitting, right in the middle of the circle. At this point, Clyde was completely exhausted, from his spellwork. Perhaps a stronger aurist could have done the same easily, but for him it really tired him out. Grabbing the Magecrafting hammer, Clyde looked down at the dagger... It would do. Clyde hit it once on the blade, which made the dagger give off a high ringing sound, which he could feel deep in his body, more so than in his ears. The process begun, he would set off, to relieve himself, and to lie down for a bit... He was spent for today, and would begin again in the morning.

[Clyde Sullins]

17 Summer 512 Today was Clyde's first day of straight up work on the enchantment on the item. Of course, first things first, he had to check the items aura. It would not be as in depth as the day before's, but still it would take a bit of time. Also, since he had already gone through its aura once, it would be a bit easier to find the specific bits he wanted. Standing over his item, he pushed into the djed in his body... Feeling it out... As always, when doing auristics, it took time for it to come to him. In the meantime, he did a calming exercise, picturing a flame flickering in his minds eyes, alone in the emptiness with nothing distracting it, its cast light not even shining over anything. Focusing on its changing shape, as it flickered and moved in a unseen wind. Finally he was ready, and he pushed djed into his eyes, and activated his auristical sight. The small aura of his item bloomed around it. At first glance, it seemed more or less the same. However, Clyde sifted through this, focusing on the item itself, and its djed pathways. As most Magecrafters knew, enchantments worked by deepening, widening, and changing, the djed pathways of an object, even making new ones. A specific object. That was why it only worked on one object at a time, and why if the object was altered or damaged, often the enchantment would be lost, or at least a part of it. So the enchantment holding, was very dependent upon the object not changing. It needed a fixed body within to work, to make it permanent. After a few moments, he finally found what he was looking for. Once you had done it a few times, it got easier and easier... There they were, the daggers djed pathways... Shallow, only as deep as the item, and not very numerous. But as he looked at it, there was a slight difference to the day before... The tiniest glimmer, a small bloom of djed which was shining a bit brighter than the bits surrounding it... But he could not let it build up there, he would need to strike in other places next, to balance it out. Cutting off his aura senses, he settled into the next step, grabbing the charging hammer. Recalling the spot he had hit before, he quickly made three hits with the hammer, spread out across the dagger, 2 on the blade, and one on the hilt. He was deepening the object, wanting to make it more durable... As he made the strikes, he visualized this in his mind, the object being permanent, indestructible, able to shrug off any hit. As he hit the blade, it rang out with a deep sound, far deeper than would normally happen by hitting a mundane blade with a mundane hammer... But then, this was not a mundane circumstance. He could feel the resonance of the strikes sweeping through the blade, echoing through its djed, slowly altering the very object at a fundamental level... Slowly, ever so slowly, it was being molded as he desired. He waited a full 5 chimes, before doing anything else. The sound of the strikes on the dagger had long since finished... Clyde made one final strike, right on the very tip of the blade almost. This time, the blade let out a higher pitched sound, which was still much louder than would seem normal for such a strike. But even though it was so different than the note from the earlier strikes, they seemed to go together, to sort of blend and mesh, like two different notes in a single song. Clyde let out a sigh, and stepped out of the circle, checking the glyphs once real fast, for any smudges or errors. That done, he decided to rest. He needed to wait anyways, before deepening the enchantment any further.

[Clyde Sullins]

18 Summer 512 The previous day, Clyde had made the first step of the enhancement, a structural enhancement to the blade, to enhance its durability. However, being an izentor crafted item, it was already pretty durable. It would now be even more durable than the normally sturdy items so gnosis crafted, but now it would be a step better. But that was not all Clyde wanted to do. His next step, his second and final step, would be to the items swing. This one would be a behavioral enhancement. Normally, the weapon swung at a certain rate. Now, with this enhancement, it would swing just a bit faster. Perhaps this would be small as a enhancement, but it would likely still make a difference to the item, enough for the person wielding it to note. Certainly enough for someone already proficient in its usage, to be a bit better. Going through his process once more, Clyde opened his aurastical sight, looking at the dagger... While the first time the difference had been quite small, this time, there were many more changes... As he looked at the items djed pathways, they had clearly been altered from the state they had been in when he had first looked at the item... That one first bloom had spread, and the numerous strikes he had made yesterday had also spread outward. They had not all met each other, but he could see that they were slowly uniting into a cohesive whole. By looking at this, it made it easier to see which way he needed to place his next hits, so as to guide the djed in the correct and most harmonious fashion. Clearly though, it had already had an effect. The current pathways were much deeper, and the effect of this deepening was spreading outward. Though if he was not careful it could still be ruined. He was just glad his glyphing had all worked as well as it had. Standing over the dagger once more, hammer in hand, he readied to charge the dagger again. He took a moment to think, trying to see which way would be the best to strike it... Which would make the changes meld the best way, and make it work together. It rapid order, he made 4 strikes, 3 equally spread out along the length of the blade, and the fourth near the tip of the hilt. Each as always was a light tap, but seemed to make the dagger vibrate as if it had been a mighty blow. This time he focused on the idea of swiftness, of smooth motion, speed, and a blade cutting through the air far faster than normal. It let off a chorus of sounds, which melded into a odd almost melody, except it did not have enough notes. It appeared his precautions, and carefulness, were paying off, as everything seemed to be going smoothly. That was it for today, as he stepped out of the circle carefully, and set down the hammer. Tomorrow, he would add the blood.

[Clyde Sullins]

19 Summer 512 Today, Clyde was getting into a bit of a messier bit of Magecrafting. He was dealing in blood. It was not as common knowledge as some bits of the magic, but blood could be used in the process, to reach unique results. One such way, was to use the blood of a specific person. Then, the item would only work for that specific person. But that was not what Clyde wanted to do. Instead, he wanted to make the blade strong against that specific creature. In this case, Yukmen. When he was done, this dagger already enchanted to be stronger and faster, would also be a deadly weapon against Yukmen. As he imbibed the dagger with there blood, the object would learn of them, and better be able to damage them. First though, he inspected the aura of the item again. It took him a few chimes to get his aura vision working, but eventually he did... But once he had, the aura of the item bloomed cleanly. It still had the same initial light silvery blue aura, however, the aura was larger than the last time he had checked. Of course, this was to be expected, of enchanted items, but until now the difference had not been noticeable to its initial amount. He smiled, as he looked at its djed, the pathways full of djed flowing through... They were definitely deeper... Definitely altered... He could see how they were interweaving, perhaps not perfectly, admittedly with a bit of overlap in places, but such small issues would only become a problem in truly deep enchantments. For the simple level two he was making, it would not be an issue. But either way, he had learned a lot from this experience, and the next item he made would be that much better. He would better be able to react to its specific needs, better be able to meld them into a cohesive whole, as a total enchantment. He had been very close this time, but next time, he would be even better. Taking out a vial of yukmen blood he had previously obtained, he readied for this step. He took out some of the special powders used in Magecrafting, and sprinkled a light dusting across both side of the blade. Using his fingers, he rubbed it in, and kept on doing so until the powder vanished into the blade. Then, he took out the blood, and lightly drizzled the contents of the vial across both sides of the blade. As it reacted with the powder, the two began to meld into one, the powder taking on the qualities of the blood, as the powder was absorbed into blade. He kept on rubbing the blood in, stopping twice to take another pinch of the powder and applying it to both sides of the blade each time. The entire time he did this, he thought of yukmen, of attacking them, killing them, cutting into them. Wanting to convey this mission into the blood, that its purpose was to familiarize the blade, to its future enemy. After this second addition of more powder, when he had finished rubbing it in, the blood was no longer visible. It appeared to never have even been on the blade... How odd... But he knew he had done it right. And he knew, when it was done, the blade would be enemy to any yukman that crossed its pathway. That done, he cleaned himself up of the blood on his hands, and put the various things away, before turning in for the night.

[Clyde Sullins]

20 Summer 512 Today was the final day. He would be done with the enchantment, and the item would be completed... A small bit of him felt sad, for coming to the end of the project... But he knew there would be others. Before doing anything, Clyde took one final look at the items aura, before he took it from its isolating glyphs. This time the aura sense came easily, and the aura of the dagger quickly bloomed into sight. It was even bigger than the day before, though not as dramatic a change as it had been between the previous two times he had checked. However, as he squinted at it... The color seemed different... He was not quite sure how, but it was... And then he noticed, the tinge of brown! He knew right away what that was. That was its effect on yukmen. It knew of the beasts, and now its very aura sang out that it was there foe, and a weapon against them. This if nothing else, put a smile on Clyde's face. It was nice to see proof of his work going right. All the effort he had put into gathering the Yukman blood, was then worth it. The djed pathways were still expanding, but much slower than before. Sort of like ripples on water, from a dropped stone. At first they appeared to be going fast, but over time they widened out and were spread thin, and moved much slower. At the moment, they were still liquid, shifting, changing. But once he did this, they would be permanent, for as long as the item lasted. Which considering how durable it was going to be, that was pretty considerable. Going over to the small tub of water he had gotten, he sprinkled in a bit of the Magecrafting powder. He used the charging hammer to mix the waters, as he slowly added in more powder. The last little bit that he had. There would be precious little remaining when he was done. Once it was good and mixed, he took out the hammer, and tapped it on the sides of the tub, four times spaced out equally along its circumference. A small bubbling came up out of the water for a few seconds, in response, but this soon subsided. Picking up the dagger, Clyde walked it over to the tub, taking it out of the circle of the glyphs, and set it into the tub of water. As the blade sank to the bottom, the waters began to bubble and froth, as if the weapon had been white hot. Which in a sense, it was. Now all that was left to do was wait, until the waters calmed and returned to normal... Clyde had to wait several bells for this, before they stopped altogether. The last bell, it was just a gentle bubbling. The last 15 chimes, just an occasional bubble. When finally no more bubbles came up for half a bell, and they waters were still, Clyde knew the item was done. He picked up the dagger, and swung it through the air a few times. He could see the effect already, it certainly felt like it was swinging faster than a dagger normally did... Or perhaps that was just in his head, as he honestly had not used a dagger that much, and so was not quite sure how fast it swung... Either way, he was done, and had completed his first solo Magectafting project.

[Verilian]

. . Thread Award . . Clyde Sullins +1 Negotiation +2 Glyphing +1 Meditation +4 Auristics +5 Magecrafting You Question My Logic? : If you have any questions regarding the reward, feel free to PM me. Expenses: -1719gm Loot: Scabbard, Half a set of Arrows, MC2 Anti-Yukman Dagger (Feel free to give it a better name) Lores: Negotiating a "Better" Deal, Remembering to Relieve Oneself, The Aura of an Izentor Forged Dagger, Using Blood in Magecrafting, Magecrafting an Anti-Yukmen Dagger Notes: Very interesting thread. Every time I read one of these, it makes me want to make a magecrafter. Anyway, great job, and keep writing! Notice As per the request of the Founders, threads cannot be graded unless your CS is up to date. This means you need to add threads to your thread list when you make new threads, keep your skills up to date, ledger, living expenses, ect. If you aren't up to date, you'll get a PM from me before i grade your thread. If you are up to date, disregard this notice.