Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

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Syka is a new settlement of primarily humans on the east coast of Falyndar opposite of Riverfall on The Suvan Sea. [Syka Codex]

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Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

Postby Alric Lysane on November 21st, 2022, 7:04 pm

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50th Fall 522 AV – The Monolith

It had been a long day, comprised mostly of dealing with things that only served to remind him of things he’d rather not remember. The tenday celebrations that he had managed to visit after the meeting at the Protea and the conclusions drawn there had done little to lift his mood, instead merely serving to convey that he stood somewhat apart. Partly by his own doing, yet partly by things beyond his control too. It didn’t matter much really, upon reflection, thing were as they were and there was little to but to forge a way forward, towards some kind of a future. As he smoked his pipe, eventually ending up sat on the benches by the monument, he found himself speculating on how different things would have been had he not been ‘knocked from his path’ - or however one wanted to put it. Or whether opting to refuse the Wind Eagle ride from Shiress that fateful night would have been better, or worse.

It was idle speculation, brought about by a melancholy mood and not much reason to feel otherwise. In a short number of days he had gone from being a man who had been mentally barbed by a god, to a man who was trying to heal from that and get better, and then to one who had had what little good he had left in his life either ruined, or tainted, by an ancient monster who should have come for him instead. He wasn’t sure which one it was – ruined or tainted. Or if the simple hopes of a magically built house had simply been a foolish naivety, or a possibility now crushed. He supposed it didn’t matter – destiny was destiny and Mathias had warned him upon his first arriving in Syka that much of his future was uncertain.

Usually he’d have just drunk himself into slumber without dreams...without nightmares. But he couldn’t even do that now – Cervisi's magical intervention seemed to have left him incapable of getting drunk, amongst other changes even more noticeable, if only to himself.
“What are you?” he mused aloud, talking to the silent monolith before him, the chosen distraction for the waning afternoon light of Syna, the celebrations muted and gathered more upon the beach than where he was sat.

He had tried to search for things about it, and the claw marks specifically, yet had not managed to discover anything pertinent to share with his competition – Kamilla. In truth he wasn’t even sure if the Konti woman would show up as agreed. He supposed it would depend upon her own progress. She struck him as the competitive type and had she figured it out he doubted she’d miss the chance to gloat a little and collect her ‘winnings’. Not that she’d really win anything much, he was fairly sure he was less interesting than she was. She might even walk away in disappointment, or in a huff, which amused him slightly – all that effort just for that.

Still, it was a distraction, and he embraced it all as such. His eyes wandered the monolith once more, scanning here and there as he pushed himself up from the bench, pipe in one hand and a bottle of Stu’s creation in the other, circling it slowly, almost like a predator stalking something – or a thief on the streets following a mark, perhaps. He did miss that about Sunberth, the fact that fun-filled distraction was pretty much around every corner. It might have also been accompanied by the risk of death, but at least it hadn’t been boring...and had helped quite well with allowing him to forget his troubles for a while. He wasn’t built for brooding he was beginning to realise – he wasn’t old and wizened enough yet, not did he have the full beard. He was being forced to admit of late that puzzling out his problems merely gave him more problems.

“A monolith with a watchstone...I’m sure Oralie told me something about those before...or was it Taz? Weren’t they gateways? Doors to...places? So...what are you a door to, if a door you are?” he muttered, suddenly getting an image of the World Gate and frowning, not much liking that sudden remembrance – that dangerous one.

He got no answers beyond the eldritch words that chose to reveal themselves - always at random he now knew after long experimentation between both himself and Kamilla. He downed a good portion of his bottle, the second one of the afternoon, and then the last vestiges he poured over the face of the monolith – an offering given in silence for the gods of wine, women and song. He also watched as the liquid paused, pooled and flowed into new words revealed. He had another bottle or two over by the bench – not that they even seemed to effect him much. A smile slipped across his lips at the foolish idea that that might mean he could beat Artik at a drinking game.

“That’d be the day,” he whispered with the first true amusement of the day, “to the gods...hopefully they are enjoying themselves better than I” he sighed, returning to the bench and writing down the new words that had been revealed by the liquid’s path down the stone.

Words - 882

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Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

Postby Kamilla on November 22nd, 2022, 10:12 pm

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After an especially uninteresting day of seamstress work, Kamilla had decided to take a swim to her destination in order to relax. Her Konti form felt at home in the ocean and honestly, she needed the exercise. One of her main goals of the season was to regain her weight and double her stamina. She’d learned the hard way how quickly one’s body could deteriorate when lacking nourishment, which made the already near impossible task of surviving in whatever random place she appeared in, that much more difficult. Thankfully. in the time since she’d arrived back in Syka, she’d been eating well and… as Jehu liked to say… she was back to her ‘fighting weight’.

Arriving near the settlement, Kamilla stepped onto the beach dressed in only a set of purple underwear as she made her way over to the cobbled pathway, grabbing her bag from her animated cart Wally before turning on her heel and heading toward the Monolith. Her bag contained all the same items as the previous time, excluding the glasses that had almost blinded her… but, this time it was pumpkin pie that the magic cozy had conjured.

It was a short work from Wally to the tiny watchtower-like structure, her light hair still clinging to her skin in its damp state as she arrived, immediately spotting her competition in the nearby bench. ”Fancy meeting you here.” she joked, a friendly smile on her face as she slid her bag off of her shoulder, dropping it beside Alric in the bench and stepping, somewhat cautiously toward the monolith, taking a few steps around, getting ‘fresh eyes’ on it. The current lighting gave her a glimpse of a few new words as she kneeled down to get a closer look, hoping to not be blinded yet again. Because of the fading light during their previous meeting, Kamilla had been unable to get a look at the words at the foot of the structure, now she was almost on her hands and knees.

”I’m glad to see you came… wouldn’t be much fun without you…” she straightened up from her knees to cast a purple gaze in his direction, ”I mean, who would look out for me if I get blinded again.” she was of course joking, she had no intention of repeating her experience from the previous meeting. ”I still get moments of sharp stinging sensations because of it, thankfully they do seem to be fading.” she was already kneeling down again to see if she could decipher any more of the words and noting the alcoholic aroma and damp ground.

Having seen all that she could, Kamilla got to her bare, slightly webbed feet and made her way back over to the bench where Alric had been seated, grabbing her own notebook from her bag and scribbling a few words down. ”Trying to bribe the gods to reveal their secret with drinks? That’s certainly out of the box.” she prodded, curious about what kind of mood he’d be in today, or rather, if his behaviour would be any different. ”I’ve been looking forward to this session.” she added honestly. Her lack of progress over the past ten days had constantly made itself known in her mind.

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Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

Postby Alric Lysane on November 23rd, 2022, 12:24 pm

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It was as he had finished writing and thumbing some tobacco into his pipe, his intention to settle down and to think for a time upon the words, that Kamilla arrived. She sounded more cheerful than before as she set her pack down and then moved toward the monolith. Alric’s attention was taken up with getting his pipe lit and so he only really looked at her as he took his first puff, looking up to see her barely clothed and on hands and knees facing the monolith. He coughed his first puff, his eyes watering as he slapped at his chest and coughed a few more times, leaning back into the bench with eyes closed and a sigh. Syka positively encouraged nudity, but that didn’t mean he was yet used to seeing what were ostensibly strangers without their clothing. Sighing once more he opened his eyes, breathing settled and took up his smoking once more.

Watching her it was clear she was intent upon studying the lower portions of the monolith – the ones he had been sat in front of last time he noted – and he wondered if she were thinking he had somehow concealed some important pieces of the puzzle before them. If he had then it had been unintentional, and he suppose she was just being thorough – which was admirable. If only she had been as through with her undergarment choice, he mused. Though given the colour matched her eyes then perhaps she had been. Shrugging internally he merely chalked it up to being a non-Sykan resident Sykan. He didn’t really want to think upon women anyway, things usually got complicated that way in his recent experience.

“At least you are on the mend. Sometimes things are not so easily healed. You are lucky...perhaps Ovek smiles upon you. Though no doubt the idea of that may worry you, given your previous remarks upon the divine,” he said through the smoke, noticing she seemed more comfortable around him this time, or more friendly at least from the smile, “I’m sure that the healers would be able to give you something for the pain. Or the healers at the Reddyn in the Outpost. If you have yet to visit either...doesn’t hurt to get another opinion. Shiress knows medicine also, she has helped me before” he made the suggestions and left it up to her what she did with them.

“I am lucky though, I was going to use auristics and you saved me from the same fate...so thank you for that” he said, truly meaning it.

“As to bribing the gods...perhaps. I find myself in possession of a decent amount of Stu’s brewing today and thought I might as well share,” he tilted his head, frowning at the monolith once more for a few moments, “it would seem the gods don’t desire a bargain this time. If only the trickster were here, perhaps he might be persuaded to one. No matter...you were looking forwards to the meeting you say? Does that mean you’ve figured it out? Come to claim the prize and put me in my place?” he asked in an amiable tone.

“As for me...nothing much has been discovered. I have tried the Outpost library several times but nothing. Some amusing and insightful texts about other things...but nothing about the claw marks. Or this monolith. I was going to try to use my Lykata today, but I am not quite ready yet. I did write down more words though, and ‘ve been playing around with word combinations with the ones we do know. But I think we are still missing many of them...which means we need to find more this meeting, before time runs out. So...I’ll be doing my most annoying sleeping impression for now” he said, pushing himself up and putting his back to the monolith, not caring for what was left of the damp patch, and facing the stone, eyes settling upon the middle-distance of it’s surface.

“Feel free to share your own revelations as I try to center myself, it won’t be a burden. If anything compared to things of late it’ll be enjoyable” he said, taking a deep breath though his nose and breathing out after a seven tick count, then repeating it ten times to set the rhythm, taking a puff of smoke then and repeating the ten cycle, feeling his muscles begin to relax and his mind somewhat detach from its present troubles.

He listened and acknowledged Kamilla’s words as he worked, not responding but taking in the information as his mind’s eye found himself floating above his Djed well, the familiar lake, mountains and forests now joined by a tower as if in portent to something but not of a threatening nature. It was once he had reached what he liked to think of as the most receptive state that he opened his eyes and mentally asked for the monolith to reveal further words to him, that they both needed them, that this was for a good cause and understanding the monolith was important – that it mattered and they would be grateful for further revelation. It took longer than the other methods used, but it was worth the attempt as the words shined to him in his mind’s eye, brief flares of light visible upon the monolith to him – though he wasn’t sure if Kamilla would see them too.

words here

“Your turn to be scribe Kamilla...write these words down” he said aloud, speaking them to her as they came to him.


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Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

Postby Kamilla on November 23rd, 2022, 7:42 pm

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While she did her best to investigate the lower part of the monolith, Kamilla listened to Alric’s suggestion that she seek treatment, going on to list several possible options. Of course they weren’t enemies, so it wasn’t as if she expected him to wish her more harm, but she certainly hadn’t expected whatever, this was. ”Is that concern I hear?” she said, slightly amused. ”I don’t think you need to worry, I have a healing egg that I touch daily, but if conditions worsen, I’ll definitely seek more professional help.” she added, still investigating.

”I wonder if the consequences would have been more, or less, harsh with the use of auristics. You’d certainly have the edge on me with that magic.” It was true, of course she’d heard of and met many mages who were capable of it, but none had ever been willing to teach her. ”You’re welcome I suppose. Not that it was intended.”

At his question about why she was looking forward to their meeting, or if she’d already figured it out, she let out a soft chuckle. ”Quite the opposite in fact… no new information whatsoever. I asked a few of the locals but everyone had the same, very sparse story. It appeared as if out of thin air on the first. Yet no one seems to have actually seen this miraculous appearance… not that I need any convincing of things vanishing and appearing.” she knew both were very possible on an extremely personal level.

As they traded spaces, Kamilla taking a seat on the bench while Alric moved toward the monolith, she watched him curiously. ”Who is this ‘trickster’ you’re referring to, if he can help we should endeavour to ask… also, Lykata? Please explain.” was it another magic that he unexpectedly had over her. The man, Alric, seemed to be full of his own surprises… despite his decievingly un-magical appearance. Though, she supposed people didn’t always look magical… that was where things like Auristics came in handy.

While he sat and ‘meditated’ she quietened herself, already prepared when he began calling out a few more words, scribbling them down on her list for him to copy later. ”It seems even with the good amount we have, we will definitely need to try alternate methods. I guess it’s time to get a bit more serious… when you’re done I have an idea.” her voice carried a hint of determination. ”You’ll need to stand back though.”

The Konti got to her feet, flinging a wayward lock of damp blonde hair over her shoulder as she approached the monolith. ”I think it’s time we kick it up a notch, I’ve just about had enough of this word hunt.” she said, holding her arms out at her sides, palms upward… glistening lavender res pouring out of her hands and gathering into two growing spheres infront of her. She estimated that the monolith was about ten feet tall and four feet wide, per side… she’d settle for doing one side at a time.

”Here goes… hopefully I don’t get blinded again.” she said, aiming a glance at Alric before sending the first sphere of liquid res toward the monolith. She’d produced a significant amount of res, each orb having roughly enough volume to cover one side of the structure. The first was currently spreading across the side facing her, filling itself into the grooves of the symbols and markings as it flowed upward until the entire face of the monolith was coated in a thin film of glistening lavender gel. She took a breath, focusing on keeping the layer separated in two distinct halves, one making contact with the stone and the other sandwhiching the first. With only a conscious thought, the side making contact with the monolith was transmuted into ice. The second layer, still res, attracted the ice slab as it was rotated in mid air, so that the other sphere of res could spread across its imprinted surface the same way, only this time it was turned to stone. She chose solid greyish stone, the least brittle she could think of.

With a wave of her hand, Kamilla sent the tall thin slab of ice to her right, discarded in the sand, using all her focus to gently lay the thin stone slab facing upward on the ground. Hopefully, they would now have a much clearer copy of the first face of the monolith, with three to go. Satisfied with her mould, Kamilla reached for her bag, pulling the Explorer’s Globe and lightning it, the light source taking its place suspended above her as she kneeled down carefully beside the slab, in search of what would hopefully be a lot clearer copy of the monolith’s first side. ”Hopefully this makes it a lot easier for us.” she added. Kamilla simply wanted to be done with this portion so they could get to deciphering what all the words were supposed to mean.

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Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

Postby Alric Lysane on November 23rd, 2022, 9:35 pm

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“I’d just as soon as not have anyone else hurt, but if you have a healing egg...well who am I to argue with a healing egg? I’m not surprised anymore, the things people own or their uses. Life rarely makes sense these days. Stil...good to know you’re taken care of, if only so that I don’t have to do this all by myself. Or so you miss my winning the agreement” he said with mild amusement.

“As to the consequences...probably less if what you owned were designed to magnify. Still, I doubt I’d have walked away unscathed. I had assumed you knew the magic, given the glasses of yours and how they seemed to work from what your reactions were...interesting. Well, perhaps I could show you at some point. Or talk you through it. No doubt you’d exceed my abilities reasonably quickly if you are magically savvy” he offered, it wasn’t overly difficult to learn, and he had never really thought it was something to be kept secret – it was a useful and largely non-dangerous magic...for the most part.

The suggestion gave him an idea, and he turned so that he was decidedly not facing the monolith and tapped into his well, feeling out his Djed and pulling at it, letting it trickle into him and create that warm, prickly feeling that accompanied the enhancement of his senses, letting him see layers beyond the mere physical. He saw the aura of her Djed before he saw her, it was large and pulsed beyond her body by a good portion, though it wasn’t as large as Tazrae’s - suggesting that she was either less powerful, or that perhaps she was more guarded in her ability to mask herself, perhaps. It had a strange underlying hue to it – a kind of lilac...or lavender perhaps...which he took to be her inherent Djed colour. He knew his was silvery-gold in nature and that Tazrae’s was a kind of soft golden honey to his senses. He had few others to compare to and so he was making general inferences as he took in what his senses gave him.

She smelled like salt, earth and there was a hardness to her feeling, but it felt...brittle perhaps. It was strange, more of a feeling than an actual sensing, but he felt there was something there. The familiar kaleidoscope of colours surrounded her as she came into view, his emerald gaze taking them in and feeling out the larger one – an orange...curiosity...or was it that she was thinking deeply, lost in her thoughts? He wasn’t sure, he didn’t really know her and so his auristic experimentation was more getting a general idea of her than anything else, and when he was done, he let his Djed slip away, retreating and trickling back within him, back to his well, and his gaze faded back to its normal azure blue one.

“Lykata is a gift from Eyris, it can help me to read objects and the Djed that has been imprinted into them – past owners and the like. I’m not sure it will work overly well on a newly, suddenly appeared monument...but I was going to try it today. So, we will both see what good it can be, if any” he told her, he had little reason to hide it and so told her freely – perhaps another titbit of information she might have asked if she won their competition.

He didn’t have much time to start using it though, as she told him to get back and started what was clearly the use of Reimancy. Her Res was lavender coloured – confirming at least one thing from his auristic experimentation – but also she proved herself to be not just a Geomancer, but far stronger and more capable than he was. It was a sight to see, the casts being formed and then transferred, the idea of using a kind of liquid stone not having occurred to him before, though he made a mental note to try it himself as it seemed useful in its applications. Within a short number of chimes the stone cast was gently placed upon the sands, and it was clear the words were there, though he knew not how many.

“That...was nice. I’ll have to try that myself. But...not that big...although...wait we’ve forgotten one important place” he said, pulling upon his own Res and letting its silvery-gold textured liquid seep out of his palms as he carefully stepped next to the monolith, letting it pool and thinking of the liquid stone she had just shown him he formed a rectangular slab, about three inches thick, that he could stand upon, careful to only solidify the exterior, keeping the exterior liquid for now, for control. It wasn’t that he wanted to move though, not the conventional way. Instead, he frowned, concentrating and starting to sweat as he let the Res continue flowing, pooling under his little platform until it was starting to float upon the Res, then he concentrated, imagining that the sands beneath and around were attracted, sucked into it, to help build his little tower of liquid Res and sand grains, pushing him just high enough to let him see the top of the monolith – the part they had yet to inspect really.

Quickly, so that he didn’t have to spilt his concentration for too long, he grabbed rubbings of the entirety and then jumped down to the sands, just before the control of his little construct faltered and collapsed, his Res connection fading and ten vanishing leaving just the slab he had created atop a large heap of silver-tinted sand. He laughed once he realised he was not injured, rolling to his back with the rubbings in his hand, looking at Kamilla after a while.

“I think it is safe to say that you’re much better than I. I’ll leave the casting to you..think that’s a good idea, no?” he said, laughing a few more times before sighing, a feeling of exhilaration he had not felt in some time whilst using magic visiting him – it was a surprise but no an unwelcome one. He had missed learning, experimenting, and the company of those whilst doing so.


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Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

Postby Kamilla on November 24th, 2022, 9:10 am

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It seemed their opinions on the backlash from using auristics differed, Kamilla was of the opinion that because the opaque spectacles were separate from herself, she’d received less of an overload than he would have had using his own senses and djed… of course, she had no experience with Auristics, so he probably knew what he was talking about… Regardless, it wasn’t worth testing. ”I might take you up on that offer, it’s definitely a useful magic for any mage.’ She commented, wondering why he made it sound so simple.

As he explained his gift from yet another god, or goddess, she was unfamiliar with, Kamilla couldn’t help but think that it sounded especially useful considering their current goal. ”Is this god, Eyris, represented on the monolith? I’m just curious, I’m not overly familiar with most.’ she asked as she worked.

With the newly formed stone cast now safely resting on the sand, Kamilla watched as Alric made his way over to the monolith curious about what method he would try now. While he did, she sat comfortably on the bench, resting. It wasn’t that she particularly needed it, at her level of mastery it was hardly a difficult task, but her gran had always emphasised the importance of rest and avoiding overgiving at all costs… when possible. Thankfully, their current circumstances weren’t particularly urgent… and if they were, both herself and Alric didn’t know it yet.

The konti watched as Alric revealed himself to be a reimancer as well, a small smirk appearing on her face as he used his geomancy to create a slab of stone and attracted the earth beneath it to support his makeshift platform, rising just high enough to reach the highest of the words. It was a creative use of geomancy for his current skill level as a reimancer… unless he was purposefully trying to mislead her, his focus and the speed of res production in comparison to the amount produced were reliable indicators to her. Had she attempted something similar, she would have gone about doing it very differently, it was always amusing to see the amount of variation between reimancers, no two were the same. ”That was quite impressive too… roll included.” She said getting to her feet once again.

”If you insist…” she said as she got started on casting the second face of the structure, working on the side to the left of the first. She repeated the same process as before, though perhaps slightly quicker than last time, making sure to reach all the way to the top this time to save Alric from having to do any more acrobatic manoeuvres. Once complete, she laid the second slab neatly beside(left) the first. Pulling the remaining res, that had been used to attract and move the stone slab, Kamilla condensed it into a fist sized ball, sending it to hover above the shining stone atop the structure. ”I’m curious about something…’ she said, closing her fist and causing the ball of res to compress to half it’s size before transmuting it into water.

An explosion of mist surrounding the monolith, Kamilla’s purple eyes doing their best to see of there was anything worth noting, especially any unusual behaviour in the tiny water particles and/or the light being cast on them by the small watchstone. ”See anything?” she asked with arms now crossed.

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Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

Postby Alric Lysane on November 24th, 2022, 5:26 pm

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He nodded at her half-committed answer to his offer at new magics. It was lightly amusing, that he was offering magic to a more capable mage and they were not agreeing straight away. He thought he was the dubious one when it came to magic and its power, and corruption. Still, she had only slightly warmed to him since their first meeting, so perhaps she would think upon it and then decide once she knew him better. He didn’t go into any details, she would make her mind up and if she desired he would share what he knew.

He looked at Kamilla with a sideway glace when she mentioned not knowing much about the gods. He remembered her carefully neutral nature, but even so it seemed strange that she didn’t know of some of them at least – they did tend to walk all around mortals, meddling as they went, after all. His gaze drifted back to the monolith, or at least the side that they could see, and he pointed at the symbol for Eyris – the copy of the one upon the back of his hand.

“Yes she is a goddess - of knowledge, wisdom, learning and history. That’s her symbol there, her mark, and I think I saw a book somewhere too, a silver one is another of hers,” he told her, looking for the other ones he knew, finding them, and pointing at them in turn, “that one is Kihala, goddess of life. The one with the circle of strange interwoven lines. There’s also others I recognise – Laviku is definitely there. I’m sure there’s probably at least half a dozen, I just don’t know much about the others” he finished, making a note to rectify that.

If they’re taking an interest in Syka then we should probably take an interest in them he mused to himself, scratching his chin and watching Kamilla work.

“They walk this place a lot apparently, though perhaps not so much of late. Xhyvas and Ionu I know – Ionu is the god of illusion and trickery. Xhyvas I’m not quite sure – possibilities, I think. If you want the less savoury ones ten there’s Rhysol - god of evil, chaos, betrayal and lies. Krysus – goddess of murder and pain. She’s bloody delightful. And so on. There’s loads, not sure how many”

His gaze ended up settling upon the claw mark symbol, facing him almost directly opposite of where he sat, and he sighed. It was still a mystery – though he had one other thing he could try and so he set about settling himself towards the mindset he needed to be in to use it as best as he could. Kamilla was busy doing her magical casting anyway and so he left her to it, taking a deep breath and then slowing its rhythm, counting out the seven, ten, four and five cycle for in, hold, out and old. It only took a few cycles of rhythmic breathing to begin to settle himself and feel his muscles relaxing, bit by bit. He conjured up the image of the flame and the bubble – feeding his fears and negativity into the flame, there to burn and expelled to the void outside of the bubble that surrounded him.

It was a strange mental image, floating above his well and imagining the giant bubble-like shield around his place of magic and peace. Yet he had found that it had helped him in the darker of times, focusing upon a definite separation between himself and the more unsettling things in his head. The flame had been a suggestion from Stu – a way of manifesting the removal of negativity, the warmth of relaxation and the focus point for clarity. Light, even imaginary light, was still a wonderous thing it seemed. He acknowledged his fears and the flickering images of torture and pain – they all went firmly into the flame, until he finally felt at peace. He wasn't sure how long had passed at that point but when he opened his eyes, to look at the claw mark once more, the castings were all done by the look of it in his peripheral.

He didn’t break his focus though, instead pushing himself up and approaching the claw mark, fingers outstretched, pausing just before brushing across it. He thought about what he wanted to know, providing direction if at all possible, seeking answers. What did the symbol represent? What god was it from? What was the meaning of this message it had brought to them, wrapped in its own mystery that no one seemed to know. He wanted it for more than his curiosity – he wanted to know for Syka, to spread the word and let them know, to warn them, or give them comfort. As he kept his focus, letting the questions he wanted answers to circle through his head again and again, his right hand went to his pouch, pulling out the dice Tall Johnny had given him what seemed like a lifetime ago. He tossed them to the sand, hoping for Ovek’s blessing – they came up with a 1 and a 5.

Then, taking one more calming, deep breath, he pulled upon the power of his Lykata mark and touched his fingers to the claw mark symbol.

[insert anything pertinent here]


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Alric Lysane
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Murphy's Claw [Kamilla]

Postby Kamilla on November 24th, 2022, 6:54 pm

Image


While she worked, she listened to Alric’s listing of numerous gods and what they represented, pointing out symbols where he could. Eyris, Kihala, Laviku, Ionu, Xhyvas and for less pleasant ones… Rhysol and Krysus, both seemed like a nightmare. He’d mentioned at least five gods that she had not known but had no doubt that there were far more too. ”Don’t forget Uldr, god of the undead… probably don’t want to mess with him… he’s got immortal rotting worshipers who don’t need to sleep, breath or eat. They’d make for nasty enemies.” she added, nonchalantly. She was reminded of the smells and sight of plentiful nuit she’d seen daily on Sahova. ”… Oh, if you do manage to seriously injure one, they can just leap into another corpse.” A shrug.

Once she’d finished the second slab, Kamilla resumed her seat, pulling a wrapped pie from her bag… she was about to offer him a piece when she noticed that he was concentrating on something… perhaps meditating was more accurate, regardless, she didn’t want to disturb him, so she ate in silence, watching curiously as she did.

The pie was delicious… as were all the pies that appeared from her magic pie cozy. This one was pumpkin… sweet and tasty, even if Kamilla herself wasn’t particularly fond of sweet meals… she definitely preferred savoury.

When all was eaten and done, Kamilla was somewhat disappointed by the end result of Alric’s attempt. After all that focus he’d simply touched the monolith with seemingly no result… of course, she was certain he was doing his Lykata thing, so perhaps he had learned something valuable… not that he would have any duty to tell her till their next meeting. That was the agreement after all, though it seemed that they’d both reached an unspoken agreement to share the words and get that portion of their investigation out of the way.

”I brought you some pie again… I’m about to finish up the castings.” she said, tagging herself as she approached the side of the monolith he had just touched, the one with the claw mark.

Once again Kamilla easily produced large amounts of glistening lavender res, repeating the same procedure once again and then a final time for the final side, now all four large stone slab castings lay on the ground side by side with a small one foot space between them. She had also laid them so that they were all arranged as they were on the structure itself, with the two outter most ones being each other's neighbours.

”All done.” she said with a loud sigh, a dull ache in her arms as she made her way back to the bench to take a rest… the last push had been enough exertion for her to at least notice a dull throb in the back of her head. Nothing serious, certainly not compared to her water vortex in the middle of the sea in the beginning of the season.

The thought of her unconscious naked emaciated form covered in blood from the mouth down with a bone sticking out of her thigh while floating on an island of ice and dirt in the middle of the Suvan after appearing in a giant serpent shaped water vortex amused her to no end.

Oh to have been able to see the sailor’s faces when they’d rescued her against their will. She made a mental note to find a way to show James her appreciation.

After a chime of rest Kamilla returned to her castings to write down all the words from scratch, allocating a page for each slab and being sure to keep them in order, even going so far as to label them with N,E,S and W… including ‘Claw’ on the one with the mark. When she was done she offered them to Alric. ”Well, at least that part is over. Now the hard work begins…” she said, sounding both relieved and unenthusiastic. ”Maybe we should call it a day?.. By the way, you haven’t heard any rumours from sailors about a man eating fish lady covered in blood in the middle of the sea, have you?” After all, it had been the Veronica that had picked her up, though she now realised how insane that must have sounded. ”You know what, nevermind.” she added, waving her hand as if to shoo her question away.

words here

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Kamilla
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