Closed [Gug Andjak]Shine a Light[Annalisa Marin]

[Clyde Sullins]

“Wait here for a chime, Clyde, let me fetch something…” Clyde let out a sigh, and proceeded to take out some of his own supplies, a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink, and began to write out a short numbered list. On it he wrote the five areas in which a enchantment could be laid upon a item. Structural, behavioral, intelligence, magic, and gnosis. They were also listed from most common to least, with structural enhancements being the most common, particularly durability enhancements, with gnosis being the least common. In fact he hardly knew of any such instances of Magecrafting, except perhaps the work of Areesa Tallshade, the Anvil of Souls... And that item was as much fact as mythology at this point. When Anna returned he would hand it to her, perhaps so that she could make notes on it if she wished, as she explained her own Glyph work. When a cousin of Annalisa Marin, the creator of the scroll, and one that is born of the loins of the blood sister of Liana Marin speaks the word ‘seagull’, the trigger will lower the Barrier and release the magic contained within the Focus. Clyde looked the wording over, not seeing any issues with the Glyph work itself but perhaps seeing a issue or two that could be worked out in the trigger... But then triggers were one thing that could always be tweaked and bettered, and which a second eye could often perfect or enhance. As he looked it over Clyde muttered a few comments under his breath, not really thinking about it consciously as he uttered the stream of consciousness, but loud enough for Anna to hear. “Mmm... I might have added a bit about the fact that the speaker must be in the presence of the scroll, or some such thing... A vocal qualifier and such... Can't be to careful... The rest is pretty straightforward in making the conditions specific...” “Seagull. Right. So I have a theory that we might very well be related, the evidence seems to point towards that at the very least. My mother’s sister held the same name as your mother, and also arrived in Syliras from another city. You hold the name Clyde, the same name as my grandfather. That seems a bit much to write off as coincidence, no? So this scroll should only activate if you are in fact my blood cousin as I suspect you are.” “If I am wrong, and you are not, then it should not activate and we’ll have just wasted a bit of parchment, ink, and a couple of chimes. What have you to lose?” Clyde shrugged in response to her words. He could not fault her logic, and supposed he had no real reason to not do as she asked... At least no reason that immediately came to mind. However he was still a bit tentative to do so. Finally Clyde let out a sigh, picked up his staff once more, and acted in a generally aggrandized fashion, holding both arms up and speaking in a slight singsong voice, or perhaps even considered singing by some, as a small poem rolled off his tongue. “At the ringing of a bell, as a mighty tree fell, I fought a foe so swell, such a story few could tell, and even fewer could sell, my foe I wish you well, as your name I shout and yell, I name you the mighty SQUIRREL! Oh, and I don't like seagull's.” As he finished with the final word Clyde slammed his staff down on the stone floor once, more for theatrical effect than anything. The short incantation was not actually a focus for magic, but for some reason Clyde felt it was fitting to the situation.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna took the document offered with a raised eyebrow, briefly glancing it over and then giving it a more in depth look at the parchment. It was a list of sorts, listing things from Structural enhancements to Gnosis, which she started going over in her mind what the list could mean. Perhaps it was simply listing out the steps of Magecrafting as Clyde had mentioned that Structural Enhancements were a step one could take upon an item. He had also mentioned that today they would be working upon changing the Behavior of an object, namely this crystal to create a glow stone of sorts.

The sorceress filed away each enhancement for future reference, also filing away the questions she possessed regarding the actuaries of the art itself. She would ask her questions once they were finished with this little experiment on the nature of discovering if they were indeed related in some manner. Anna snorted as Clyde muttered loudly under his breath his comments regarding the trigger; she had been making it for just this situation so it hardly seemed relevant. Still she did file that little bit of information away for future verbally activated Glyphs that she would create as it might come in handy.

Her expression turned to one of bewilderment as Clyde started… rhyming by the sounds of it in a singsong like voice. Her gaze upon him looked rather like she had seen him grow a second head of some sort, as the action did not seem exactly like what she would have expected of the logical and eccentric wizard. He slammed his staffed upon the ground for dramatic effect at the end and Anna barely noticed that the Trigger for the scroll had activated, a tuft of air escaping the Focus into the air as the scroll dissolved after being spent.

A sharp bark of laughter came first, followed by another, before the tall woman set into a fit of genuine laughter at the absurdity of the situation. She clutched her sides as she laughed harder than she could remember doing in a long time upon the island of Sahova. When she started to recover she looked back at Clyde, tears of mirth having formed around her grey eyes which she wiped from her face with the back of her hand. That had been rather absurd but it had been a good kind of absurd to make her laugh like that.

“Well, ha, that was unexpected coming from you, Clyde. You struck me as a humorless man. Good to know that’s not the case, phew.” The woman said, recovering from the mirth as best she was able.

“Well, in any event it would appear we have as definitive an answer as we can get without other sources being brought in for confirmation. Not sure how that would go over considering my mother is lingering around from beyond the grave and I am not to certain about your own. All the evidence seems to logically point to at the very least there being so relation between us.” Anna said at length, crossing her arms under her breasts as she sobered up in full.

It was odd to think she was not as alone in terms of blood relations left in the world, a few chimes ago she had not been aware that she had possessed a cousin. Now that it looked like she did Anna was not certain how that made her feel, a mix of emotions really was how best to describe it. Elation, confusion, even a little bit disbelief really were all mixed into an odd emotional cocktail, swirling about in her mind. Perhaps this was how it felt to be a bit awkward.

“So, um, where do we go from here?” The tall woman asked, wondering if Clyde had any thoughts on the subject.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde of course planned to explain the meaning of the five listed traits that could be enhanced through Magecrafting. But that would come in time, and that time was not now. Not in the middle of the confusing oddity that their Magecrafting had spiraled into. But then how often did one get sidetracked when working by finding out one might be related to the other person? Likely not to often... When he was done with his rhyme Anna reacted by laughing. Laughing hard and laughing long, to a laughter that almost floored her, and did indeed bring tears to her eyes. It was hard to say if she laughed at what he said, if she found it funny, or if perhaps it was the situation itself she found funny, the setting and circumstances in which his rhyme had been said. “Well, ha, that was unexpected coming from you, Clyde. You struck me as a humorless man. Good to know that’s not the case, phew.” Clyde shrugged and looked back at Anna. “All comedy has a element of chaos, is birthed from it. Particularly improv... I don't know if I would say I am a man of humor, but I do respect the complexities of things, and try to grasp that which is ungraspable and by its nature unknowable, which cannot be narrowed down and explained by logic or reason.” “Well, in any event it would appear we have as definitive an answer as we can get without other sources being brought in for confirmation. Not sure how that would go over considering my mother is lingering around from beyond the grave and I am not to certain about your own. All the evidence seems to logically point to at the very least there being so relation between us.” “So, um, where do we go from here?” Clyde shrugged once more in response to her words. Apparently they were related. He was not really sure how to deal with that, and so did not really say or react overly strong in either way. He would need to ponder and think about it and its impact at a later time. Not now though, not when work was to be done, when he needed to keep focused on the tasks at hand. “I'm not sure. I suppose all we can do is go forward, and do what we are here to do. I don't suppose these are really things that often come up here on Sahova, what with most of its inhabitants having been long dead... ” “Anyways, that parchment, that's a list of the five traits that can be enhanced by Magecrafting. Listed from most often enhanced, to least often, at least in my experience. Would you like me to explain them to you?” With that Clyde had passed on, passed back to their work and to Magecrafting, away from the topic of them being family. Outwardly he did not seem to be impacted by the news, but in his mind he had it tucked away and was mulling it over.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna could appreciate Clyde’s description of comedy; it held the logic of a chaon with it in an appreciation for the art itself. The sorceress herself preferred satire as her preferred brand of humor, though improv held some amusement as well. Upon Sahova a number of pulsers tended to prefer darker brands of humor and irony, Anna was coming around to that particular line of thinking as well. She wondered if Ravok possessed an appreciation for more artistic thing, her home had, Zeltiva had possessed much appreciation for finer arts and fostered them in the University at the very least.

She figured that Clyde was correct, the sorceress needed to consider the implications of a member of her family being alive. As far as she had known she had been the last Marin or one possessed of Marin blood, Clyde proved that to be wrong. Anna was not sure how to feel about that, how she could possibly feel about that. The mage was a fellow Chaon, which induced some amount of camaraderie in a place like Sahova but it also meant that she needed to more closely watch her back around him. On the other, he seemed somewhat similar to her in some ways.

“I suppose moving forward is all we can do, you are indeed correct. Sahovans do no deal with this most often I would wager. They are a bit too dead to worry about familial relations.” The woman offered with a tiny smirk.

Clyde immediately moved onto the subject of the parchment she know held, her grey eyes gazing over the words in common once again before rising to meet his own. An explanation would be very much welcome honestly as, when it came to Magecraft, she had very little idea what she was doing. She knew the very basics but beyond that she was likely to blow herself up, at least without a bit of further instruction on the matter. Her Glyphs would likely serve to augment the process, as long as she kept how Clyde had described them in mind.

“Yes, I would appreciate an explanation. You wrote gnosis at the bottom I see, makes sense given that gods would seem to rarely be interested in marking such weapons created by mortals. Though, do these marks carry the same traits granted to a living follower that has been so marked? Or are they wildly different depending upon the god’s whim?” The tall woman inquired.

Anna pondered what she already knew of the practice of Magecraft, very little and only from what she had learned from Clyde himself. Goron Silverheart, her most hated political enemy, was a master of the art and the person Amaryllis had claimed to have changed Magecrafting as Sahova knew it. Anna envied his ability, but the sorceress knew that the best way to defeat him was to learn how his arts functioned. Perhaps even try to surpass him, she had done more difficult tasks in the past and in a few short years she had surpassed most in regards to Reimancy and Glyphing.

Clyde held the key to that ability at the moment, related or not, that gave him some measure of power over her at the moment. She suspected he realized this on some level, hence why he had given her just enough knowledge to get her to come back today. There were few chains stronger than the promise of power; Anna realized this better than most for her time upon Sahova. Chain or not, she needed what he knew of the art in order to further herself so thus she accepted this… for now.

[Clyde Sullins]

“I suppose moving forward is all we can do, you are indeed correct. Sahovans do no deal with this most often I would wager. They are a bit too dead to worry about familial relations.” Clyde nodded in response to the chaon's words, which were more or less agreeing with Clyde's own prior assessment. It was a odd scenario, and he was unsure how someone might use it to their advantage should they learn of it, or perhaps to Clyde's own detriment, but he would need to be wary. He was unsure how easy it was to keep secrets on Sahova. Considering the overly magical and golem laden island, he did not doubt their were many surreptitious ways of gaining information commonly at use. For all he knew someone was spying upon them both know, and would learn of it before long. Or not... Clyde would likely be considered borderline paranoid, but seeing as his paranoia had often come to prove true, along with the fact that his erring on the side of caution had kept him alive for so long... Perhaps in his case paranoia was not a bad thing. “Yes, I would appreciate an explanation. You wrote gnosis at the bottom I see, makes sense given that gods would seem to rarely be interested in marking such weapons created by mortals. Though, do these marks carry the same traits granted to a living follower that has been so marked? Or are they wildly different depending upon the god’s whim?” “I will cover that when I get to discussing gnosis.” Having said that, Clyde glanced back at the paper, dug into the reservoir of knowledge tucked away in his mind, and did his best to explain the various enhanced traits from memory and his own training. “First is structural enhancement. As I said, it is the most commonly used form of trait enhancement on a item. Something about the objects physical properties and nature are altered. Its weight can be altered to make it lighter or heavier, it can be made more sturdy and able to take more punishment without giving, it can be made sharper if a blade and able to cut better... Those are the most common structural enhancements, but I suppose a inventive Magecrafter could also do other types.” “Next is behavioral enhancement. A normal behavior of the object is altered, enhanced, or a artificial one instilled by a optional reagent is enhanced. That is what we do here, the opalgloam acts as the optional reagent, and then we enhance the behavior of glowing with a step of behavioral enhancement. Behaviors both artificial and innate can be altered or enhanced. You could make a blade that swung through the air faster than normal. Or...” “Or you can teach the item to do a specific set of behaviors, somewhat similar to teaching a golem something via Animation. That is not usually done if it is to be the only step, instead it is usually done in conjunction with a magic step, or other things. For instance you could imprint upon the item a specific spell, say a fireball, which the item would be able to emit by using Reimancy. Of course the effect would need to be triggered by another step if it is not constant.” “Next is intelligence. At its lower levels this intelligence is very basic, but at higher levels it can be as intelligent as a person, and able to think and react at a similar level. At the lower levels this is very basic, such as it knowing that a specific trigger phrase or spoken order will mean it needs to activate one of those taught behaviors. As more focus is put upon enhancing the trait, the greater the intelligence becomes, and the more fluid and capable it is. With a high enough level of intelligence, there would be no need to teach it those specific behaviors via behavioral steps.” “Next is magic. Any personal magic a person can learn, so can a Magecrafted item. It of course requires someone so trained in that magic to assist, but that magic can be ingrained in the item, giving it the ability to cast spells and magics of those types. It takes more and more steps to increase the level of the ability of the magic. At lower levels it would only be capable of the magic of a novice. And one must also bear in mind the same limits that limit a mage, djed usage and overgiving.” “Finally is gnosis... This is admittedly the trait I know the least about, and which has been the least researched due to its rarity. A slot can be put upon the item for it to gain a gnosis mark, and if a deity so chooses they can then mark the item. I suppose the effects of such an item would depend upon the god marking it, and the item itself. Assuming you could get a god to mark it, I am unsure of what effect it would have, though it seems likely that the powers it would exhibit would not be the exact same as a gnosis, even if it would still be related to the god and perhaps similar to it. That's about all I can tell you, I only know from histories of Magecrafting of one such gnosis imbued Magecrafting item, and that item was imbued by a god that does not give gnosis... So I cannot say from that if it would be in line with the gnosis itself.” Letting out a sigh, Clyde turned back the to materials and the Magecrafting, and made another look over the Glyphing. “Well, I suppose we should get started on the Magecrafting. Do your final checks on your Glyphing, and then I will place the item, the quartz cube, and then we will begin by adding the essence of the opalgloam.”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna shrugged at Clyde’s desire to explain each item in order; the sorceress was not exactly busy overly much today after all and learning each step in its turn might very well be useful. So she simply crossed her arms under her breasts and awaited the other mage’s explanation, Clyde did seem to enjoy being rather comprehensive in his teaching method. Anna was much the same though she often left bits and pieces out to keep the student coming back for more. There was no greater chain forged in this world than the promise of power, and knowledge was most certainly power by anyone’s reckoning.

The tall woman nodded slowly as she noted down each step in its turn, starting with the structural enhancements. The idea seemed rather simple in her opinion; one imbued an item with traits they desired to foster. In fact it occurred to Anna that she had already used this step in their crafting of the magic staff known as Cha, so it was likely to be the easiest thing for her to understand. The tall dark haired woman struggled briefly to recall some of the specifics of the instruction during the crafting of the staff, her memories fragmenting ever so to keep it just out of reach. Soon enough they came flooding back, offering her a little more insight beyond the basic explanation as to how to imprint it upon the item in question.

Next was the behavioral, which was what they were to do today and in some ways it made sense to the sorceress though as Clyde explained Intelligence as a step she briefly got a little confused. They two seemed rather similar to her ears at first, though as she thought on them a little more she could see why they were different. Behavioral seemed more instinctual information, changing a basic fact about a thing’s nature like the glow stone they were working on today. Intelligence meanwhile was needed for that information to be manipulated in any meaningful way, Anna imagined one could use intelligence to make their same stone glow or not upon command.

Satisfied with that deduction Anna next concentrated upon the final two, magic and gnosis. Magical seemed the most pertinent to her as a personal magic user, since if an item could possess those same qualities it meant something a little more dangerous about her enemy. Goron Silverheart was a master of his craft, undoubtedly he possessed a number of such items on hand which meant her chances of fighting him conventionally were null at that point. It had never been a main plan, but it was narrowing her options to taking him down to only being on the political stage. Not a stage Anna was fully comfortable with really.

Gnosis was something that did give her much interest, especially considering how very little Clyde himself seemed to know about the step. Her interest was gained by mention of this historical item granted a gnosis by a god that did not normally grant gnosis. Anna was not the greatest at or most well versed in matters of history or Magecraft for that matter; however she recognized that those were often the foundations upon which a much better found understanding could be gained.

“Thank you for the explanation, Clyde, though I am left with a question regarding the final step and the history you cite. What item is this exactly and what god is it that you speak of? Certainly if they are so very rare and important to the history of the art it might be wise for one just learning in the art to know of such a thing and who might have crafted it.” Anna inquired at length before moving to check over her Glyphs.

The array looked rather fine to the tall woman’s eyes; they would easily serve the purposes Clyde had stated the wards would need. Anna’s eyes errantly swept over the outer layer Clyde had created, noting that it was not exactly how she would have done it were this simply her working. She might have moved a Focus a little more to the right, added a Barrier or Path here or there but his work was solid as far as functionality was concerned. Then again two different wizards were inevitably going to have different methods of doing things, and Clyde was the experienced magecrafter here so Anna opted to differ to him… for now.

“The Glyphs seem to be fine; the preparations seem to be complete. I’d say you may safely move the cube to the pedestal now.” Anna affirmed with a nod, stepping aside to give Clyde space to move the item to the Magecrafting pedestal.

[Clyde Sullins]

Anna's question's were as always hard, and struck at the things Clyde knew the least of. It seemed as if she had a knack for only caring about the things he could not speak further on, and cared nothing for the things he could spend bells clarifying. “Thank you for the explanation, Clyde, though I am left with a question regarding the final step and the history you cite. What item is this exactly and what god is it that you speak of? Certainly if they are so very rare and important to the history of the art it might be wise for one just learning in the art to know of such a thing and who might have crafted it.” Letting out a sigh, Clyde simply shook his head and let his shoulders fall in response to Anna's words. “Honestly, I don't really remember. It was mentioned in passing by my Magecrafting instructor just a season over 2 years past. I recall the item, it was called the Anvil of Souls, and that it was spoken of during a lesson on Areesa Tallshade, a famous Magecrafter from long ago... The Anvil of Souls was one of her most famous creations, among several other well known artifacts. I recall a book named Roth, and some eyeball thing... Bah, perhaps if I could find my notes, I would recall what it was. Anyways, if you want to know more on it, I'd advise going to the library and researching Areesa Tallshade. I'm sure they would have books on her.” Clyde spent a few more moments trying to recall the information, for a moment recalling a note about it, and reciting it back to Anna. “The Anvil of Souls... It... Took things out of the cycle... Souls perhaps? I don't think I knew what that meant back then, nor am I sure if anyone knew exactly what that meant... Perhaps you can find a book or two with more info. Perhaps it might even mention the God who marked it. I'm not the most knowledgeable of Deities, so I'm not quite sure which one that would involve, souls and cycles and what not.” Clyde shrugged once more, let out a sigh, and turned back to the pedestal and their Glyphing. Really he had nothing else useful to say on the topic, it had been far to long since he had learned of the information, and even then his knowledge on it had not been comprehensive. And considering the size of the library on Sahova, and how much information it had on magic, he did not doubt it would be far more knowledgeable on the subject than Clyde himself was. In response to Clyde's mentioning of a final check on the pedestal and the Glyphs surrounding it, Anna made another examination of the warding. “The Glyphs seem to be fine; the preparations seem to be complete. I’d say you may safely move the cube to the pedestal now.” Clyde nodded, accepting her words, and heading over to pick up the quartz cube he had crafted with Reimancy. He carefully set it on the pedestal, right in the middle, and then took a step back to observe it. The reasoning for the cube was a logical one, spheres rolled. Perhaps it would have looked nicer had it been a ball, perhaps it might have even been more functional, but considering he did not want to risk it rolling off a cube seemed a far safer shape. Heading over to the hammers, Clyde began preparing them, charging them by striking them on various bits of the low level reagents and ingredients. As he worked, Clyde gestured over at the bit of opalgloam, and made a request of Anna. “While I do this, could you powder some of the opalgloam? I'd like to have some of it crushed for when we do the step of adding the glowing quality to the cube. I suppose the simplest thing to do would be to use earth Reimancy, break off a chunk, perhaps a half or a third of the bit of opalgloam, and tear it apart to dust or such. I'm sure you could do that simple enough.” As Clyde turned back to his task, he recalled another note, something he believed he had asked her before. “Oh and also, I believe you said before you were not an Aurist... I suppose we will need to figure out some way of getting around that, since not being a proper aurist will certainly hamper you in our endeavor. I sort of specialize in Magecrafting Auristics, or at least its when I use Auristics the most...” “It certainly aids a good bit in making sure the process is going as planned and nothing is... Off. If anything in your enchantment ever does begin to appear off, make sure you get someone more skilled to assist you, so that perhaps they could fix the problem before it becomes catastrophic. I believe that's how the aforementioned Tallshade died... But of course she was dealing in much higher order enchantments, in which small issues can easily become catastrophic. The risk is orders smaller at this level.” “But I suppose without proper Auristics, you will need to either find some other way of getting around that, or have to risk it. Not advisable but...”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna absorbed the offered information on this so called famous Magecrafter and her Anvil of Souls, making a note to look more deeply into the matter at a later date. Magical history was not exactly her strongest point but she made a point of learning whatever she could on the subject, Sahova was magical history after all. Those that walked these halls were figures of the long forgotten past; the dark haired human had remembered reading of several of their names in some works. Magic and I was one such tome she had been required to read, though she had trouble remembering exactly whom the book had mentioned.

The talk of souls and cycles earned a raised eyebrow from Anna towards Clyde, her own knowledge of the afterlife based on what little she knew of religion proper. She knew that a person’s soul went to their god, or at least that was what she believed. Still it warranted looking into at some point, as well as looking into this god that never gave out gnosis marks. Rhysol gave out his marks obviously, so it could not be him and the other gods she did know of were rumored to grant similar favors upon their servants so they were out as well.

Anna shrugged at the request for handling the opalgloom, it seemed a simple enough task regarding her reimancy. All it was involved attraction to tear the stone apart and then further attractive forces working at all sides to crush and powder it. A task that might seem complex to a lesser reimancer but to Anna it was child’s play. As she advanced towards the stone she stopped to ponder Clyde’s words, turning her gaze towards the mage ever so before beginning her task. His words did have some merit, though the tall woman wondered if there was a method beyond auristics to use to see the item. As far as she knew, Goron Silverheart was no aurist.

“Perhaps, I recall… feeling some form of energy when first striking the staff we worked up. Like a tingle of sorts, not exactly refined but I suppose I felt the Djed reaction of the strike to some degree. Though, is there no form of equipment that might be used to circumvent the need for Auristics? Or even replace it? I somehow doubt that every Magecrafter is also a user of Auristics, seems a bit farfetched.” Anna responded, already turning her attention back to the opalgloom.

The sorceress grasped at the strands of her Djed, plucking at the very core of her identity and being to then force the same energy outwards. Along her fingers a translucent purple liquid started to form out from her pores, bleeding out from her body and sending a slight tingle of pleasure along her spine. The liquid Res was then moved outwards from her body and towards the opalgloom, droplets of Res hovering in the air easily and effortlessly. Two distinct parts were formed and then placed on either side of the stone, a strong attractive force towards the stone tearing it in half cleanly with a loud crack.

From here Anna moved the res away from one half of the opalgloom and towards the other half, separating her res into tiny droplets all over and around the half of opalgloom. From here she willed further attractive forces towards the earth aligned element, breaking apart tiny pieces which were then ground even further into a fine powder by the high levels of attractive energy acting upon them. The Djed use here was negligible at the very worst; hardly more effort than sneezing was in the grander scheme of casting. A slight pang of pleasure did wash over her mind however, pushed aside almost as soon as it arrived.

Soon enough the half of opalgloom was reduced to a very fine powder, Anna drawing her remaining res back into her hands and letting it seep back into her pores. She turned her attention then back to Clyde, sweeping a hand towards the powdered opalgloom theatrically. The sorceress then crossed her arms under her breasts and spoke aloud a musing that she had possessed of Magecrafting in general. Anna liked to have her facts straight when delving into a new art, according to him someone had died during the crafting once which sounded… hazardous.

“So, theoretically, if something goes wrong during magecraft are the results always… explosive and deadly? Or would the item simply become useless?” Anna inquired.

[Clyde Sullins]

It seemed that after all of the build up and questions, Clyde was finally getting into the actual Magecrafting. It was something of a relief, particularly since he knew how long Magecrafting could take and they'd yet to begin. However it seemed that the questions were not over. As he moved about preparing the hammers, striking them on various reagents and sapping their djeds into them, he listened to Anna's questions and comments. “Perhaps, I recall… feeling some form of energy when first striking the staff we worked up. Like a tingle of sorts, not exactly refined but I suppose I felt the Djed reaction of the strike to some degree. Though, is there no form of equipment that might be used to circumvent the need for Auristics? Or even replace it? I somehow doubt that every Magecrafter is also a user of Auristics, seems a bit farfetched.” Clyde let out a sigh and paused in his work, before continuing on and speaking his reply while focusing his vision on his work. “Well, there are some tools and equipment and such that one can use, which allow one to see vaguely some things in regards to the item, or so I've heard in passing. But I've never bothered with such things, I've always just used Auristics. I'd advise asking a non Aurist mage about them if you are truly interested, as they'd be more likely to know how they work. I've never bothered with such imprecise measures or tools.” “Either way even if they do give some info, they would be vague, and would never truly replace a good Aurist. Djed is motion, it is change. Minute differences can make an issue in a enchantment, particularly the grander ones. And the things one can see with Auristics, particularly in a fluid process of an enchantment, would far exceed anything such low level equipent could do. ” “While yes it is likely possible to be a Magecrafter, and not be a Aurist, I do not think it is possible to be a truly great Magecrafter without truly seeing what it is you have wrought.” After that Clyde continued preparing the hammers, charging all but one of them. As he finished up he turned to see Anna. She had done as he had asked, and powdered half of the opalgloam stone. It lay in a small pile on the table. It seemed that things were finally moving. Since the other step would directly affect this property they were infusing into the item with the optional reagent of opalgloam. It was to be the source of the behavior, and they would then enhance and increase it. However Anna as always seemed to be every full of questions, and yet another one popped out of her. “So, theoretically, if something goes wrong during magecraft are the results always… explosive and deadly? Or would the item simply become useless?” Once more Clyde sighed, pausing before he answered Anna had an annoying knack for asking questions, questions which he did not always have a good answer for. “Not always. Sometimes the object simply is a dud. That could happen if say the item is removed from the pedestal early, or something else is done wrong at another stage. However the stronger the object, the greater the enchantment to be laid upon it, the greater the chance of a mistake becoming catastrophic.” Gesturing at the stone of quartz, along with the opalgloam, Clyde motioned for them to begin. “Alright, so lets get started. Fist I will add the optional reagent, the opalgloam. That will give the essence of the opalgloam, its glowing, and infuse it into the item to be enchanted, the stone here. Why don't you get a few hammers, and when I indicate you can infuse some djed into the item. Make sure to focus on the concept of the glowing we wish to infuse into the stone, and on that stone getting brighter and brighter.” With that Clyde grabbed a hammer and a pinch of opalgloam dust. Then he lightly sprinkled it over the hammer, turning it about, making sure to cover it entirely with a thin coating of the powder. Finally he took up another pinch of dust, and headed to the Magecrafting pedestal. Moving carefully, Clyde sprinkled the dust over the stone, making sure to get both sides and the underside. Then holding up the hammer, he lightly tapped the stone twice in two different areas, and watched as the powder vanished with a slight tingling sensation down his spine, it having seeped into the stone and had its essence absorbed into it. Motioning Anna forward, Clyde looked at the Chaon mage. “Alright, so do it just like I said. Now make sure to be careful, and to focus.” With that Clyde stepped back and put aside his hammer. Then gazing back at the pedestal and the stone, he began to focus on his djed, willing it to concentrate and build up in his forehead. After a chime or so he would be ready to expand his Aura vision. He would need to make sure to inspect its Aura before continuing, to make sure the enchantment was going int he correct direction. Likely he would need to make some subtle course corrections upon what Anna did, as she was still new to the craft.

[Annalisa Marin]

So Auristics appeared to be an extremely good magic to invest in if she desired to become a Magecrafter of any skill at all. It was about time anyway that she attempted to delve into the art, she supposed as she had learned a bit about it both here and in research of her own. The key would be figuring out how to start actually using the magic, from there Anna was confident enough that she could learn. Each branch of magic was different, but personal magic all shared similar qualities Anna had found. The sorceress actually enjoyed starting from the bottom up in magic; it was always an enlightening experience.

Clyde answered her questions carefully and diligently, his teaching method very concise as always whereas Anna’s was far more emotional and animated. She tended to be a little more excitable as a teacher, greatly enjoying the actual act of teaching and translating knowledge to spoken word. Though her teaching methods were somewhat harsh, cruel in some ways but she always got her point across and never failed to educate her changes. For Clyde though, the act seemed to be as natural as breathing, an extremely impressive thing to be sure and one Anna was slightly envious of.

It also appeared that not every mistake would result in her losing her fingers, a good thing to be certain of as she suspected she’d be working with lower end enchantments for a quite some time. This particular item would hopefully be a good way to stretch her comfort with the art of Magecraft, something she was very much interested in. The more she learned, the more powerful she became, and the more likely it became that she could truly begin to rise ever further in the world. Magecraft cost a great deal, but with it there was the chance to gain power uncounted.

“Very well, best to get started sooner rather than later. I seemed to have wasted a good deal of time, my apologies.” Anna said in response to Clyde, chuckling at the end.

The tall sorceress approached the hammers, running her hand down the line of the items as she searched for a suitable one to get started. She selected one of the more medium sized ones and then a slightly smaller one down the row, hefting both in her hands and nodding with approval at the weight. The dark haired sorceress swept back to the pedestal, noting that Clyde had finished infusing the object with the essence of opalgloom, which was her cue to start on her own. She waited until Clyde verbally indicated that it was time before lifting the smaller hammer first.

She closed her eyes at first before striking it, cycling her breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth in a meditative fashion. Confidence in herself was needed, the knowledge that she could craft this object to be stronger. With that within her she next focused upon the object, envisioning the stone growing brighter and brighter with each mental strike of the hammer. She wanted it to glow, for its behavior to change. These thoughts might have seemed rather unimportant, but if she remembered her last lesson from Clyde correctly then it was incredibly necessary.

With these thoughts in mind Anna brought down the hammer, her taps upon the stone were more firm than her first attempt at magecrafting. She tapped thrice upon the object, each one in different areas from each other so as to disperse the Djed. Each time she struck the stone a pulsing tingle coursed its way up her arm, the Djed release from the strikes playing at her. Anna was more sensitive to acts of Djed manipulation, being a personal mage, but she was by no means as accurate at detecting as an Aurist like Clyde might be.

With these strikes Anna looked to Clyde for him to either make corrections or to guide her next hammer strike upon the object. She disliked having to differ to anyone in the Citadel; however, as insufferably patronizing as the other mage could be he knew his magic and was apparently kin. That last bit was a little strange to even think, that another of her family had survived the misfortune that seemed to follow her blood. Not only that, but one that had followed the path of Rhysol and taken up magic though Anna had become a little more disillusioned to the latter.

“So, Clyde, I spoke to an old friend of mine recently. Her name is Elaine Spade, a friend of yours she seemed to indicate. Have you an interest in ghosts then?” Anna said conversationally as they worked, figuring it a good idea to pass the time in such a way if they were going to be working for a while.