[Black Tar's Alchemical Services]We Must Do Research!(Solo)

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A city floating in the center of a lake, Ravok is a place of dark beauty, romance and culture. Behind it all though is the presence of Rhysol, God of Evil and Betrayal. The city is controlled by The Black Sun, a religious organization devoted to Rhysol. [Lore]

[Black Tar's Alchemical Services]We Must Do Research!(Solo)

Postby Aello on February 18th, 2011, 5:08 pm

11 Winter, 510 AV

Aello crept through the streets of Ravok, looking for a place the locals referred to simply as "Black Tar." The girl had heard mention of it several times in the Silver Silver, although people seemed to speak of it merely in hurried and rather hushed tones. Each time, their eyes seemed to glance around the tavern, wondering if anyone was listening, as though questioning whether or not it were safe to speak. She wondered what all the fuss was about, what could be so bad about such a place? Why not speak of it openly? Aello wondered, as she quickened her pace as the harsh winter winds began to pick up again. She wouldn't want to be caught out in them later, for she'd likely freeze.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, there weren't too many other people in the streets today, which made it rather easy for Aello to weave her way in and out of main streets, side streets, alleyways, and everything else in-between. Finally, Aello found herself in the Plaza of Dark Delights. Naturally, she had stuck to the corners of the area, which was more than likely the only reason as to why she even noticed what she had been looking for all along.

In the farthest corner of the plaza lay a small, gray-colored building, with tightly closed shutters, they appeared black from where Aello was standing. Aello took a few steps closer to the mysterious building, and noticed that it looked like tar had been splattered across it. "That must be it," Aello whispered, as the crossed the plaza and stopped right in front of the door. When she looked up at the door, let alone the rest of the building, Aello couldn't help but think that it was closed. "Well that sucks," she muttered under her breath, thinking she had come all this way for nothing.

However, as soon as she had thought this, an icy cold breeze swept through the plaza. It sent a shiver up Aello's spine, and caused the door to the Black Tar to burst open. Startled, Aello jumped up in place, as her left hand shot up to clutch her heart. It was beating like a drum. "Woah," she said, willing herself to clam down. "It was only the wind," she whispered, as she stepped inside the building, and shut the door quietly behind her.

"Hello?" Aello called out, wondering if any other patrons or perhaps the shopkeeper themselves was already inside. Several smells seemed to be pummeling her nostrils all at once- cheap incense, lavender, tar, rose petals, smoke, to name a few scents, things that Aello could actually discern from the rest. There were simply too many to name them all. The Black Tar was dimly lit by a few globes, Aello counted five in total, of flickering green-light. They appeared to have no flames, which caused Aello to believe that they were made of some strange form of magic. More than likely a weak form, she thought, considering how they appeared as though they were just about to go out.

"Hello?" Aello called again as she took another step into the room, finally starting to notice the glass cases that lined the walls, they seemed to contain vials of several different things- red mixtures, green and blue ones, things that Aello couldn't quite figure out. She had no idea what they were exactly. In the far corner was a single wooden bookshelf, lined with leather-bound books. Some of them seemed fairly new, while others looked as though they were about to fall apart. The spines of the older-looking books seemed to be lined with a thin sheet of grey dust, and in some cases, tiny spider webs seemed to hang from the corners, attaching themselves to the edge of the bookshelf.

Aello walked over to the book shelf, she always did like to read. When she got to the book shelf, she pulled out the first book she saw. It seemed to be fairly new. Lightly beaten about the edges. Aello opened the book, noticing that the tips of the paper brown, followed by a thin line of yellow, the center a ghastly white. Aello put her bow down, leaning it up against the book case. She balanced the book in her left hand, and turned the pages with her right, to the title page.

The title read: The Hypnotist's Handbook

Author Unknown

Aello flipped to the first page of the book. It read: Hypnotism is form of magic in which the user attempts to control and manipulate others. The user unleashes their Djed through the use of their own charismatic nature; they manipulate others through their expressions, voice, etc. The closer the wizard is to the person they are attempting to hypnotize, the more likely they are to be successful. But the hypnotist must also understand people in order to be successful, if they don't, they will fail to hypnotize anyone. Hypnotism is...

Hypnotism is what? Aello wondered as she closed the book, put it back on the shelf. Aello shook her head, what a useless book she thought. What good was something like that? It seemed so new, and yet, some of the ink seemed to have slipped right out of the pages. Or perhaps, faded into them. Either way, it was obvious that the text was not all there, and that the book was of little or no use to her.

OOCReferences being the lore pages, and the Ravokian link-map.
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[Black Tar's Alchemical Services]We Must Do Research!(Solo)

Postby Aello on February 18th, 2011, 7:21 pm

Shrugging, Aello grabbed another book from the shelf. The book was far heavier, and older looking than the first. It was caked in a thin sheet of dusk, which Aello lightly rubbed away with the palm of her hand, revealing the title of the book: The Darker Arts.

What the heck? Aello thought, as she flipped the book open to a page more towards the middle. The page read: When a spiritist smears soulmist over their face, and other parts of their body, and then concentrates on someone else, they can make an on-looking ghost believe that they are indeed the person they are imagining and not who they actually are. In addition, if a spiritist eats a small portion of soulmist, then they can alter their voice in such a way, that they will begin to sound like the person they are thinking of as well. It is in this way that a spiritist can create a sort of disguise; hiding their identity from a ghost they may wish to deceive. THIS SKILL ONLY WORKS ON GHOSTS HOWEVER, all other races will see the spiritist for what they truly are, even when attempting to give the ghost the lie. However, if the spiritist doesn't concentrate hard enough on the person they are attempting to be, then the lie will not work, and nothing shall happen.

Intrigued, Aello turned to the next page in the book, it read: A ghost is the soul of someone who has perished and chosen not to reincarnate. These lost souls tend to feel a great sense of misery, and an overwhelming urge to conclude unfinished business. Whoever wrote this didn't know the half of it, she thought, snorting unpleasantly as she continued to read. When they have no more reason to stay, they will more often than not, choose to reincarnate. Ghosts are not undead. They should not be taken as such, or especially, confused with Desolate Ones. Desolate Ones are stronger than ghosts, and tend to have the gnosis of some deity.

Ghosts still have the ability to hurt humans thought; despite their being dead. They do this by using the very essence they are made of; soulmist. They can also possess the living for a short time. Aello snorted again, how right the writer was. She knew about possession first hand. She smiled, having lost count of all the times it had happened to her, and all the times someone had gotten hurt because of it. Turning back to her reading, Aello noticed that at the bottom of the current page was a small key, like a glossary it read:

Afterlife What happens to one's soul after death.
Gnosis See next page for details.

Well that's helpful, Aello thought, as she turned the page.

The next page read: Gnosis is a power given by the gods and goddesses of Mizahar to someone who follows them faithfully, or to one of their enemies. Depending on whether the god or goddess likes you determines if the mark they assign you is a gift or a curse. Gnosis isn't a learned ability; it is something that a person is given by a god or goddess, as is the knowledge on how to use it. (See next page for more on Gnosis marks, and the gods).

Growing steadily more and more interested, Aello turned the page. But there was nothing there. It looked as though several pages had been torn from the book. Startled, Aello kept turning the pages until she came to the next one. In the top right-hand corner, scrawled in what appeared to be blood, were the words: "Rhysol, lord and master, all hail! May chaos rain!" The words were small, and difficult to notice, despite the red droplets that seemed to seep off the corners of the letters, despite the elongated letter l's and m's in each of the words.

Aello was starting to find the book more and more disorganized. Not only that, but extraordinarily creepy. Who on earth was Rhysol? Aello wondered, as she continued to read.

The next page said: Rhysol, The Defiler

Beneath that was written: God of Evil. A shiver shot up Aello's spine. Evil? Surely such a thing didn't sound pleasant, she thought, as she forced herself to skim over the page, which only held a few points:

Symbol: The Black Sun

Attitude: Twisted and unpredictable, he is feared by all of the other gods and goddesses of Mizahar.
Scrawled into the page, in the same hand as the other note that appeared to be written in blood were the words: "as it should be. May Chaos rain!"

Well that's enough of that one, Aello thought as she quickly shut the book and placed it back on the shelf. Her heart was pounding and her palms felt sweaty. What a creepy, and rather disorganized piece of literature, she thought, as she picked up her bow and held it tightly in the right hand. She walked over to the glass cases that lined the walls, maybe there was something useful in one of them, she thought.

OOCReferences being the ghost, afterlife, gnosis, and spiritism pages.

Also, forgive me if I overstep some boundaries here, with the literature. I figured it'd be ok though, since the store has some magic/dark arts lit.

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[Black Tar's Alchemical Services]We Must Do Research!(Solo)

Postby Aello on February 18th, 2011, 10:41 pm

Aello looked over at the vials that were resting delicately in the showcase. One of the vials in particular caught her eye. The vial contained rust-colored crystals, that upon closer inspection, (gently lifting the vial off the shelf and holding it just a bit closer to her nose), Aello realized smelled distinctly of rotten eggs. Wrapped around the vial was a thin silver thread, attached to it was a small piece of white paper, that curled at the edges. One side of the paper read, Ivak's Rage-1,200gm. Aello's eyes popped at the price tag. That was certainly not something she could afford, she thought, as she flipped the piece of paper over, wondering if anything else had been written on the other side.

Scrawled in a thin black ink were the words: Causes wounded flesh to bubble and pop as if on fire, causing severe damage and permanent scarring to the affected area. Aello scrunched up her nose. Well that didn't sound pleasant, she thought, as a harsh, whispered male's voice became clear to her. He seemed to be shouting, "are you going to buy anything? Or just snoop around the store?"

Startled, Aello jumped, nearly dropping the vial containing Ivak's Rage, as her heart began to pound. "Who... who's there?" she called not seeing anyone.

Aello put the vial back on the shelf. That was certainly not something she wanted to drop; let alone have to pay for.

"Just pay... or leave..." the voice whispered angrily this time. At least it wasn't shouting at her, Aello thought, as she looked over her shoulder again, looking for the source. She supposed she was merely hearing things again, but even so, the voice was rather scary, and she didn't want to stick around and listen to it.

Aello took one last, nervous look around the room before she headed to the door. She extended her left hand to the doorknob, and turned it counterclockwise. The door opened slowly, and Aello let herself out, not bothering to shut the door behind her as she disappeared down a side-alley that led away from the main part of the plaza.

OOCDescription of Ivak's Rage taken directly from the price list.

Also, Aello held the vial in her left hand the entire time, imagine she flipped the paper over between her fingertips. It was a very, very small vial.

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[Black Tar's Alchemical Services]We Must Do Research!(Solo)

Postby Seth on February 22nd, 2011, 8:11 pm

Image
Aello:

  • +2 Investigation XP
  • +1 Stealth XP

Lores: Strange Forms of Magic, How the Wind can do Mysterious Things, Theory of Basic Hypnotism, Theory of Basic Spiritism, Theory of Advanced Spiritism, Who Rhysol Is, Basic Understanding of Gnosis.

The Method behind my Madness :
You did well with the Investigation, although it mostly consisted of reading. You also stealthed around, so I gave you a single point in that.



You mentioned that Ravok was extremely cold because of freezing winds. That was the only error in your writing. Rhysol is protective over his city, and keeps harmful elements away. A gust of wind will usually be warm, it rarely snows, and rain is always quite comfortable. It is just one of the way he keeps his city happy. He really does protect them from the outside chaos, including the chaos of weather! <33

All in all, good thread! Don't ever feel bad about leaving stuff in my Office! I don't mind grading your threads a bit. <3
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