Solo Rattling Chains

[Alric Wilmot]

72nd of Fall 513 AV Alric entered Miro's house with quiet caution, not wanting to disturb the silence. He had gotten up early to find two new items with which to practice his animation on. Two chains, both approximately 6 feet in length, and rather difficult to carry. Not to mention difficult to purchase. Many people had asked too many questions, and Alric had to change their memories because of it. He did not want anyone to be able to track what Alric was doing. Though his paranoia might be considered silly by some, Alric himself believed that Ravok was dangerous to everyone. Even if Alric was not rich enough to steal from, or poor enough to mob, he was still likely of someone's interest. And after this whole thing with Gru'tral... people would definitely go back and retrace his steps, trying to find where he came from and what he could do. The harder he made it on them now, the easier it would be for him in the long run. He got in the door without it slamming sut behind him, but it was a chore. The chains were heavy, and made of links about as big as his hand. In all honesty, he probably bought them too big. Which, really, was not his fault. He was excited and trying to barter all at once. It was a very bad idea to do that. Regardless he moved the chains to the common area and decided that was a good enough place to drop them and prepare the circles. Last time he had bought a snake and animated a rope to strangle someone's throat when thrown, but a rope might be broken against a rather strong opponent. Or the opponent might not be capable of dying. In which case he needed to find something bigger to restrain someone, instead of strangling them. And he needed to find something stronger. Long metal chains were the solution, though looking back on it he felt like one might have been enough. But what was done was done, and there was no use fretting over it now. He quickly coiled them up like a snake, each of them, so that he could draw a smaller circle. Today he was trying something new. He was going to attempt to animate two things at once. Normally he imagined such a thing could not be done, or if it could would not be advised. But that was not going to stop him. He reasoned that since the directives, Soulcore, and Astral Body were all going to be the same, that he need not do it twice. After all there was nothing that he was changing between the two of them, they would be identical. Alric nodded, deciding to himself that his logic was sound. He slipped into his own room and went behind the door into the corner where his things were neatly laid. He pulled out the knife, the chalk, and for the first time, decided to leave the book where it lay. He had done just fine without it before, why not now? He was progressing rather well, he thought. He should be able to accomplish this without the written text as a guide. So, gathering only the chalk and knife he left the room and reentered the common area and got to work. He drew a large circle around the chains, though they were curled up, they still took a good amount of room. He drew a short line to another smaller circle before realizing he had forgotten the snake. He had bought a snake in conjunction with the rope, and while he had not yet taken it out of the sack, he had fed it a few rats he had caught using hypnotism. He went back to his room and retrieved the snake, with lay in a cloth sack under his bed. After briefly opening the sack to check that the thing was still alive, he tied it up again and placed it inside the smaller circle. Everything was set up. He pricked his finger with the knife, careful not to make the cut too deep. A small trickle of blood fell to the floor onto the chalk line connecting the two circles. Though there was no light or sound, Alric could feel a line of djed enter into his mind. Along it was connected the snake, and the two chains. The chains appeared empty husks to his mind's eye, the snake a vibrating pulsing source of energy and life. He took a small piece of that life, and put it into the first chain. This was the Soulcore, essential to the soul or living and animated beings alike. He did the same to the second chain. After this, he took muscle memories, and instincts from the snake, who strangled its prey to death. He sent these instincts int the chains, attaching the common word for each action along with the series of images. He was far more thorough in this Animation, as he did not plan to throw the chains in anyway. They had to be able to move, and seek out their prey. Alric let the flow of copied mental faculties continue as he thought on what he wanted the Directives to be. He wanted them to be house guardians of a sort, laid out in front of the windows to catch thieves and murderers. He needed them always active, but to only act when an unfamiliar presence came near them. The reflective metal surface they had would allow them to see, and recognize faces. This meant he could imprint on them who was welcome here. Miro, himself, Lessom, Rayage, and he believed that that was all. Though it might cause complications if Rayage switched bodies, which as a Nuit he undoubtedly would. So the chains had to only restrain their target, not crush it. Just in case they caught a friendly acquaintance. So, they had to know what faces were, along with his own and three other's. The had to know what squeezing was, and to not do it too tightly. They needed to know to lay still until they spotted someone unfamiliar, which meant they needed to understand the concept of familiar. And, of course, Alric had to put in the kill phrase. Something that the book had drilled into his head from day one. With the snake's many gifts finally sent, Alric switched to sending in his own concepts. He sent in Miro's face, his own, Lessom's, and Rayage's. He attached them all to the concept of "familiar". Next he moved on to staying still, and sent in images of a creature at rest. He then moved on to picturing them at rest. Again he sent the word along with these images. He continued on, putting in everything he thought they needed to know. Next he moved onto the final part of creating the soul, the Astral Body. He lifted the shape of the snake this time, rather than imagining it into existence as he did for his lock and doll. The Astral Body was what allowed movement, and he had forgotten it once when animating. It was a novice mistake, as was to be expected, considering that he was in fact a novice. He yearned for the day when he could make golems that could talk, or at least understand directions. But that was far off from right now. Right now, he had to do everything now, as he was making the golem. With the Astral Bodies in place, he now needed to move on to the Directives. The Directives were like instincts that he created, and he knew that they would mindlessly obey them. That was why he needed to be careful, lest his directions be too confusing or he make them too dumb to understand. He thought a moment before deciding how to word his Directives. Directive #1: Remain still until unfamiliar face is seen. Directive #2: When unfamiliar face is seen, seek out unfamiliar face and wrap it up. Directive #3: When unfamiliar face has been wrapped up, squeeze. Directive #4: Squeeze only until resistance is felt. Alric pondered over his Directives, deciding to clarify what resistance was. It took him a minute to properly communicate. Though he was satisfied with their clearer understanding. Finally, with all of that done he moved on to the last thing needed to be done. The Kill Phrase was next. He decided verbal communication would be good here. The chains most likely would not accidentally wrap him up, so he was safe from having to rely on other forms of kill phrases. Not to mention, the clapping wouldn't work if he was bound. So he went with the verbal one he had given to most of his golems. Directive #5: When the phrase 10037211349 is spoken lay still and stay still. Alric opened his eyes then, believing his work done. He gathered up the wash cloth from the other room and cleaned the common area's floor of chalk and blood, as well as remove the snake to back under his bed. As for the two chains, he placed them both by the door, and under the windows of his room. Hopefully they would work as intended. Otherwise he feared that a lucky tracker might sell his location out. He knew the danger that was approaching, and he did not want to be ill prepared.