Completed [Lakeshore] I Have a Magnetic Personality

[Evarista]

17th of Autumn, 516 A.V. Another auspicious visit to alcohol. Uh, I mean, the master of alcohol. Evarista mentally corrected herself as she strolled along the beach outside of Ravok's only and precious whisky distillery. She was here on a previously arranged social call with Hadrias, the distillery's owner and a man of non-trivial knowledge in the field of stiff beverages. It was rare for the aloof girl to hang out with people like this, but alcohol was the only topic she enjoyed talking about at length. She could talk about it all day, in fact, going into great details and particularities. While there was no lack of drunkards in Ravokian taverns, the only one who shares her genuine passion for the magical liquids seemed to be the old man who ran this place. That's why she came here to visit him every once in a while. Over a bottle of his better creations, they could spend all day in an animated discussion about whether importing foreign oak for the barrels was worth it, whether charcoal or linen was better for filtering out fusel oils, whether adding caramel to the distillate was an act of heresy, and other such nonsense. Once the day was nearing its end, Hadrias would treat Evarista to dinner and see her off in high spirits indeed. This was possibly the only type of social contact that the girl could openly admit she enjoyed, although she couldn't tell if the old man shared the sentiment, or simply tolerated her visits because he felt sorry for her. No use it thinking about that, though. Today's social call was just about done, so she could look forward to dinner. Which, of course, was nothing more than a collection of morsels designed to be enjoyed along with the whisky. While the food was being prepared, Evarista took a stroll on the beach to avoid getting in Hadrias' way in the kitchen. Besides, the outdoors experience itself was quite interesting to her, since she didn't come to the shore often. The thin and pebble-covered beach outside of the distillery wasn't much to look at, but it offered just enough ambience to relax and dip one's legs. The girl picked up her shoes and secured the hem of her skirt before wading into the water, until it was about halfway up to her knees. The small and lukewarm waves massaged her skin pleasantly. She enjoyed this more than the water in the city, possibly because she's had way too many uncomfortable experiences of falling down into the canals while pretending to be a roof-crawling spy. The beach carried no such associations in her mind, there was only relaxation, augmented by the buzz of the alcohol consumed earlier during the day. It was perfect. The girl just stood still and felt the breeze and the water, eyelids closed, bathed gentle warmth of the sun as it prepared to set. Secretly, these inebriated solitary moments were her favorite part of the visits to the distillery. Today would be different. Evarista's bliss was rudely interrupted when she suddenly felt her entire body spasm. Pain shot through her like a spike, followed by an overwhelming sense of numbness. Eyes snapped open in panic and confusion, the black-haired aristocrat gasped for air as she wobbled out of the water instinctively, shaking legs barely able to keep her walking upright. The alarming sensations wore off quickly, leaving only a dull pain in her chest. Breathing heavily and clutching her racing heart, the girl looked around herself dazedly, trying to figure out what just happened. Something was moving in the water.

[Evarista]

There was a menacing shadow lurking just below the surface where Evarista just stood. The dim light of the late afternoon sun and the somewhat murky water didn't reveal any details. The girl was too afraid to approach, but also too curious to run away. Remembering her recently developed habit of using auristics, she decided to go with that. Meager as her skills were, they'd possibly reveal more than her eyesight would. Hand still pressed to her aching chest, Evarista swallowed loudly and took a deep breath to calm herself. Reasonably ready to focus, she squinted at the submerged silhouette and attempted to discern an aura. Nothing. She edged a bit closer to the water, mindful enough not to enter it, and tried again. A pale corona appeared around the shadow, making the silhouette clearly visible. It was some sort of long-bodied fish. Did it bite her? Was it poisonous? The girl felt the stress rise again. Maybe she should run inside and tell Hadrias about this. On the other hand, making an inconvenience out of herself was probably a bad idea if she wanted to come back here in the future. Which she definitely did. So, was there really a reason to panic? If she was poisoned, shouldn't the pain be intensifying rather than wearing off? How did fish poison work? She had no idea. Looking between the distillery and the water anxiously, Evarista felt her heart calm down completely, and could finally let go of her chest. Maybe it was some quick-working poison or something. A quick examination of her bare legs showed no bite marks, and it didn't noticeably hurt anywhere anymore. Strange, but it would be a sin to complain. More pressingly, she realized that she had dropped her shoes while being attacked. The amazingly waterproof footwear floated close to each other, almost smugly, right next to the menacing silhouette below the surface. She wouldn't reach them like this, but she had to do something before her precious shoes got washed away into the lake. Embarrassing herself in front of the distiller and then going home barefoot was not an enjoyable prospect. Glancing around to make sure she was alone, the girl resorted to her more or less reliable morphing ability. She's had something of a tradition with it already; unlike with auristics, she didn't have to consciously remember that she had it and that it could be useful in everyday endeavors. Particularly so when her human hands weren't good for much other than gripping a bottle. The girl stick out her hand at the shoes, watching it elongate into a single chitinous prong. The prong bent into a hook, drawing on the tissue of her arm to elongate even further, until it stuck out of her sleeve for the length of an extra arm. Manipulating the hooked implement awkwardly, Evarista caught the corner of one of the shoes and pulled it towards her, glancing at the submerged monster-fish nervously. No reaction. Half of her footwear set was safely back in her possession, and it wasn't even wet inside. The unexpected damage caused by the weird lake creature looked like it could be undone.

[Evarista]

Encouraged by her success in retrieving the first shoe, Evarista reached for the second, stretching out her improvised hook after the placidly floating object. For some inexplicable reason, the shadow under the surface reacted, jerking towards the shoe. Startled by the speed of its movement, Evarista reflexively pulled back her arm just as she was about to nab the floating shoe. Her hook caught the corner of the footgear and flipped it over, instantly filling it with water. Resisting the urge to whine aloud, the girl fixated the dastardly fish with a death glare before finally retrieved her second shoe, which was hopelessly drenched. This fish clearly picking a fight. The black-haired aristocrat plotted revenge from her safe position a few paces from the water, but didn't dare to move closer. There had to be something she could do to avenge her wet shoe without putting herself in danger of being stung again. The nature of that mysterious sting that put her in this predicament in the first place was, admittedly, a little curious. Deciding that a hands-off approach would be wisest for now, Evarista let her arm return to normal and squinted at the submerged figure from where she stood, focusing on its aura again. Getting a little closer would have made things easier, but she didn't dare to. Leaning forward and stretching out her neck to see better, she grasped for whatever details she could discern in the figure's thin animalistic aura. The thinness wasn't unfamiliar; she has dealt with animal auras before and enjoyed them above human ones. However, it wasn't exactly comfortable to examine the subtleties from a distance. After several minutes of this, the girl took a pause, rubbing her strained neck and inspecting her rescued-drownie shoe. Sticking a foot into it would probably not feel very nice. She'd have to leave it to dry above Hardias' room heater, or stove, or something. Going home in wet footwear could make her catch a cold. That would be a disaster, and definitely not one she wanted to endure because of some nasty fish. The girl shot the underwater shadow a hostile glance. The damn thing wasn't leaving. It stayed largely still, just below the surface and above the sediment, in the same place where she had dropped her unfortunate shoes. Was it stalking her? Did it take a liking to her, maybe? Or to her shoes? Maybe it planned on following her home to the city. Unnerving. As far as animals went, this was a rather devious one. Staring down the silhouette, Evarista felt an increasing sense of personal rivalry. Pacing cautiously in front of the water, she continued trying to get a good aura reading. Unearthing the mysterious swimmer's motives was out of the question, but maybe she could get an idea how it had hurt her. There was no bite mark anywhere on her legs, no stinger wounds, no fin cuts, nothing. And no poison, it seemed. At least not the conventional kind. What did it actually do to her, then?

[Evarista]

After what seemed like whole chimes of hesitation, Evarista was still at a loss. She couldn't properly examine the aura of the fish from where she stood, but she was too intimidated to enter the water again. If only she could kill the fish somehow so that she could drag it up on the beach and then work her magic on it. If anything, it would be better to kill it first. As she already knew, inanimate objects had much simpler auras than living beings. If physical properties was the only interesting thing, which it was to Evarista, purging life from something would make it more pleasant to work with. A rather macabre conclusion, but never the less a truthful one. The question was, then, how to actually kill it. Evarista looked around her. There were many nice and sharp pebbles scattered across the beach, but she was rather sure she couldn't throw them hard enough to kill anything underwater. The immediate surroundings didn't appear to offer any other weapons, so she'd have to rely on herself. It's not like she was completely unarmed, after all. Again she morphed her right arm, thinning and elongating it while transforming the tissue into black and yellow plates of chitin. Instead of adding a hook at the end, however, this time the limb remained straight as her fingers merged together, forming a broad spearhead. The girl touched the tip of the improvised spear carefully, and frowned in disappointment. It wasn't all that sharp, and she didn't really know how to improve it. Making the spearhead thinner could work, but that increased the risk of the tip breaking off when used. There were no nerves or blood vessels in the chitin itself, so the damage would most likely not be permanent, and more akin to breaking a fingernail. Still, the prospect of ending up without fingers, unlikely as it was, didn't appeal to her in the least. This could just be enough, though. She did have a rigid spear that extended an extra arm's length from her sleeve, all she had to do was nail the devious fish with it. The cursed thing still didn't budge from its resting position, as if taunting her. Giving it a disdainful glare, the girl flexed her militarized arm while edging along the water in search of a comfortable position to strike from. It would have to be somewhere where she could reach to fish with the spear without putting her feet in the water. There! Intuition spurring her to strike, she took charge and thrust the weapon into the smug shadow under the surface, putting as much weight behind the thrust as she could without risking to lose balance. A burst of water flew into the air, but Evarista wouldn't get the opportunity to examine the results of her attack. Her vision briefly went black as a sharp pain pierced her body, exactly as the first time. The following numbness, made her legs weak, blurring the world before her. Unable to stand upright, she sunk to her knees with a defeated groan. There was no surprise, though. She had long ago come to terms that she was the sort of fool who would step on the same rake twice. Now that her fighting spirit had gotten a good cooldown, she pulled her artificially extended appendage back into its rightful position and flexed her now human fingers. Well, she wasn't mission any bodyparts, so it could have been worse. Shooting a weary glance at the water, she couldn't spot the loathsome shadow. Did the fish move? After some squinting and auristic strain, looking for that thin corona in the water in front of her, Evarista concluded that the monster had left. But there was something strange about the water itself. Rising from her knees unsteadily, she shut her eyes to give them a quick rest, before delving into the shallow waves with another auristic gaze. There, beneath the surface, was the faintest residue of freshly transformed djed. It took Evarista a few moments to understand what that meant, but when she did, her jaw went slack in astonishment. The fish was... using magic?

[Evarista]

It was difficult to think straight. Rubbing her bruised knees, Evarista retreated from the beach, carrying her shoes as if they were wounded comrades-in-arms. The the lingering numbness, inflicted by the strange powers that the mysterious sea creature had worked on her, was rather disturbing. The worst part, however, was the dull pain in her chest. It was slightly more difficult to breathe, and her limbs felt slightly heavier. Hopefully it would pass, but the girl had no desire to confront the monster again. The power levels were clearly not equal. Dinner time was here, luckily. Just as she was about to reach for the distillery's doorknob, the door swung open by itself, revealing the owner. His face was adorned with a content smile and his clothes emanated the pleasant aroma of freshly cooked seafood. "Oh! You're just on time. Let's go and have at us." Smiling in return as well as she could, Evarista followed her host to the dining room. The room was rather modest and not made for pompous receptions, but for one guest, it was just perfect. The sturdy oak table was already set. Typically of him, Hardias' cooking was not designed as a stand-alone meal, but as a collection of snacks and appetizers picked to complement the real main course. That main course occupied the spot of honor at the middle of the table, uncorked and ready: his whisky. While the food was relatively simple by itself, with the addition to alcohol, the dinner experience became more than the sum of its parts. Well, in the eyes of hootch lovers like Hadrias and Evarista, at least. First things first, Evarista put her damp shoes next to the small heater in the corner. Good thing it was there. Seating themselves, the two dug in, picking up their conversation from the afternoon. The work shift was long over and most of the workers have commuted home to the city, leaving them pleasantly undisturbed. As the whisky flowed and the talk got livelier, the distiller finally voiced his concern over her somewhat scruffed state after her return from the beach, and wondered if anything had happened. Somewhat embarrassed, but disinhibited by alcohol, the girl explained the strange experience with the magical fish. By the end of it, the older man was holding his sides in laughter. Refilling his glass with an amused grin still plastered across his face, he finally made a comment. "It was a zapper! A zapper, I tell you!" Pouring up some nectar in her own glass, Evarista blinked at him in confusion, waiting for an elaboration. Noticing her pause, he continued. "There's a small mire further along the coast, where these zappers live, and that's where they usually stay. Sometimes one gets lost and ends up at the beach. Zap they may, but they aren't really dangerous, 'less there's a bunch of them. No worries." While he hadn't explained any details, his reassurance that these 'zappers' weren't dangerous reassured Evarista a little. At least she didn't have to worry that she got cursed by a spellcasting abyssal monster or something. This brightened her mood a little, and the two could continue the dinner, not without sharing a few more jokes about the dastardly zappers and their distasteful antics. Sitting in that dimly lit room and getting wasted with the old man made Evarista feel like an old man herself, but she didn't necessarily see that as a bad thing. As the evening drew to a close, the black-haired aristocrat invited her drinking companion to visit her in the city, as she did every time. And, as he did every time, he politely but firmly declined. It was slightly frustrating. He was one of the few people Evarista was ready to show some hospitality towards, but he wasn't having any of it. Her own impression wasn't that he had anything against her in particular, but more that he didn't like the city environment in general. It was too stuffy for him. He enjoyed his life at the airy lakeshore. Or maybe there were deeper reasons. Ah, well. It's not like she could force him. After Hadrias saw her off at the ferry point near the lakeshore outpost, Evarista simply stood at the fore of the ship and stared out across the greying lake as the sun set. Her head was buzzing with good whisky and her belly was full of fine treats. Thinking about it, she couldn't suppress a small smile, eyes half closed. This was what happiness felt like. Her mind slowly drifted to the underwater shadow she encountered earlier. Zapper, was it? Judging by Hadrias' comments, it wasn't particularly fearsome, and that would likely mean it's not really magical. And if it wasn't magical, maybe she could steal its powers for herself. She'd be back. Next time, there would be an objective besides drinking. Drinking was still the number one concern, though. Even if the sky fell down, that part wouldn't change.

[Crow]

““Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.””

 

Evarista

Skills

• Endurance +3
  Auristics +3
  Morphing +2
  Unarmed Combat +1
  Biology +1

Lores

• Lore:Morphing: Chitinous Hook
  Morphing: Spearheaded arm (not sharp)
  Endurance: Recovering from electrical shock
  Endurance: Recovering from almost drowning
  Auristics: Studying the nature of animals
  Unarmed combat: Using morphed part of the body for combat
  Ravok: Hadrias: owner of High Spirits Distillery
  Rivalry: The speckled Eel referred to as “Zapper”
  The Zapper: A magical Sea Creature
  Biology: Electric shock by the zapper causes strange effects

Miscellaneous

• Shoes: Your shoes will put off a foul odor that conventional cleaning can not get rid of.
• Effect: For three days you will experience momentary numbness in your toes. This effect is warranted by the similar effect of getting tazed. You will also experience being very sore for those three days much like a very intense workout. Only an increased alcohol intake will allow you to feel as if you aren't sore.