Maledicting A Gift

[Soghar]

Timestamp: 1st of Fall, 511 AV Returning to Taloba after having done a scouting expedition through the Jungle Wilds always took a certain level of adaption, no longer did Soghar need to camouflage himself or search for tracks of Charodae, Dhani or other creatures. Neither did he have to travel through inhospitable terrain, but as much as he enjoyed being in Taloba, he could never stay within the cityfortress' walls for too long, he had been trained and raised to serve Myri, his people and the army. And after many years of living such a lifestyle, idle hands were something that made him feel uneasy and ashamed. Soghar always tried to keep himself busy in a productive manner, one way or another. Today was no different, it was the day after he had returned from the dangerous and savage region of Falyndar and, along with his Fang, had been given several days off to rest. Many members of the Fang had chosen to stay at the Garisson in order to train and become more proficient at their skills whilst honing them. Something Soghar was more than keen on doing aswell, but he had been sent a message from his clan that he was expected to visit today for a certain occasion, one that he was not allowed to miss. Grudgingly he left the Garisson and his Fang, after being mocked and jokingly called a " Chukumu Yala ". Which was retorted by Soghar and the phrase " Filthy Skurak, the lot of ya! " before walking out the building and onto the Training Grounds. Jealousy for his Fang instantly diminished as he saw how the trainees were being slaved by a particularly sadistic and fierce higher ranked Myrian. He stepped around the Training Grounds, by its borders, to avoid interrupting anyone's training. He was almost by its exit when he suddenly heard a snarl coming from an angry-looking recruit that was running laps around the grounds and passed Soghar, giving him a scorning look. Without giving it a second thought or asking what the young man's problem was, Soghar had already spun on the spot, chased and tackled the man to the ground. " Got something to say, youngster? " " Petching hell, think you're better than us? Going on a walk while the rest of us have to do this sheit? " Without a word Soghar pulled back his arm and balled his fist before punching the insulent and lowly man twice in the face. " Better than you? Petch yeah I am, if you don't want to train, go outside Taloba and we'll see if you make it back in one piece. Kotakbil! " Soghar was furious with the man, who was busy covering his face in fear of more strikes. The man didn't seem weak, he was rather young and altethicly built like most Myrians, but he was weak in spirit. A coward. Soghar couldn't stand the sight of him, for some reason his very being was an insult to Soghar. Soghar stood up and realized there were several Myrians close behind him now. ' We'd tell you to take this to the Grounds, but since we're here already. Don't let us stop you. ' He said to Soghar with a quick wink. " Come on, get UP! " Soghar shouted at the coward, who did just that. Rather swiftly even, apparently the man's desire not to be embarassed before others gave him strength and courage. " Aye, that's more like it! I'll ask you again, got something to say to me, youngster? " Soghar asked the young adult with an amused tone of voice although he still had an angry and stern look on his face. The cowardly man reacted fast, faster than Soghar had anticipated. With an abrupt movement he rushed the short distance between them and started swinging his fists. It was painstakingly obvious the man was a wimp, his blows weren't jabs, hooks or anything like that, they were more like...enraged downward 'fistslaps', much like a toddler would fight in their first spar. Soghar weaved from side to side while methodicly turning his upperbody and walking backwards to make the man continuesly miss. While having no real ability or proficiency in unarmed combat, the man was just so slow and awkward that dodging his blows were only natural. It'd be a grave embarassment for Soghar if he didn't manage to dodge them. After several missed 'fistslaps', Soghar dodged one more and then quickly pushed his other shoulder into the man, pushing him back slightly before turning his shoulder away from the man's body and while in the movement, giving him a lefthook in the face followed by a straight and forward kick in the stomach, creating some more distance between them aswell as making the man hold his stomach and leaning forward in pain. Soghar wanted to finish this in a bit of a flashy manner so this time he was the one who rushed to close the gap and once he did, he jumped and tried to knee the man in his lowered face. Unfortunately he only graced the man's cheek and temple. But the mental damage was done, the man was trembling and on the verge of crying in fear, pressure and shame. Soghar felt no pity but he didn't want to trash another Myrian in the ground, no matter how pathetic or disgraceful he is. " Boy, understand that you will not survive these mandatory years in the army if you don't get your shyke together. " With that said, one of the Myrians around him took the coward away in the direction of the Garisson. Soghar just shook his head and muttered something inaudible before another Myrian approached him. " I hope your words and fists got through to him, otherwise he'll remain a liability and probably end up getting his Fang killed. " " Then make sure that won't happen. " Soghar crudely replied before walking off in the direction of his clan's home, in a worse mood than before.

[Soghar]

Passing the Tower Of Bones and several guards stationed there, in case someone or something passes through there uninvited, Soghar remained sour as the encounter with such a disgraceful Myrian gnawed on him. Myrians weren't supposed to be like that, they were supposed to be fierce, loyal and disciplined. Now that his anger has passed its peak he realized he should have asked the kotakbil what shyke of a clan he crawled from so he could reprimand the clan. He made a mental note to do just that, next time he saw the skurak. As he continued through Falyndar's capital in a steady stride, passing the stone buildings covered in vines, miss, skulls, bones and more ornamental things, he finally reached his clan's home. A group of stone buildings, most of them had remains of all sorts of creatures and enemies decorating their exterior. But unlike most other houses, these remains served a purpose as nearly all of them had painted, engraved or carved circles on them. The circles varried in size and shape aswell as ornamental additions, some of them had additional words, pictures and/or images, to further enhance their effect. Not many knew what effect these maledicted items bestowed upon the clan's houses or residents, it was a wellkept secret by the clan's matriarch, although it is known that Myrians have nothing to fear from the clan, they would never betray their kin and were fiercely loyal to Myri and everything she stands for. Entering his mother's home, he saw her holding a fine, curved dagger and polishing its handle, without even looking at it, Soghar knew it was a handle made from bone or ivory. His mother was a powerful Maledictor and almost exclusively occupied herself with Malediction and all that accompanied it, which meant collecting material aswell. Something that could not be done without being skilled in the art of battle, tracking and hunting. She was a woman better kept on your good side, fortunately she wasn't quick to anger. Without looking up from the dagger or turning to see who entered, she greeted her son and told him to seat himself in the chair made from bones and covered in leather and fur. She continued to polish and work on the blade's handle for several more minutes, Soghar started to become impatient and restless. " Moth--- " He finally spoke but was ordered to hold his tongue by a mere sideways glance from his mother. " Don't be impatient son, I brought you here for a reason. Or are you under the impression that this old woman needed a hug? " She sneered slightly at her impatient son as she spoke. After what seemed like an eternity in the rather dark room filled with carving, engraving, drawing and painting tools, along with several "other" kinds of material to work with, she finally exhaled heavily and content as she held the dagger horizontally and inspected the hilt carefully. " This is a gift, to you, son. It's not just that though, but I'll leave the rest up to you to figure out. " She said the last part in a mysterious tone of voice and with an amused smile.

[Soghar]

Soghar smiled gratefully and thanked her kindly for the bone-hilted dagger with a blade that was very curved and ended in a sharp tip, perfect to deep and wide piercing wounds, it was also the perfect weapon to kill a creature without causing too much damage to its bones and other useful remains. He held the blade and felt the hilt fit the palm of his hand perfectly, it was clearly custom-made for him, by someone who knows him very well. Soghar was about to try out his new weapon on an imaginary target when his mother reprimanded him. " Control yourself, you will not practice inside my home. Besides, I told you it wasn't just a gift, what do you think I meant? " Soghar thought about it for a while and inspected the blade carefully as if the answer was written on it somewhere. It didn't take him long to figure it out though, although too long, considering his clan's area of expertise. " I should maledict this hilt. " He said softly, more to himself than to his mother. " Indeed, now tell me...what's the first thing you have to do? " " Gather the tools? " Soghar's mother nearly jumped out of her chair to punch him in the face, fortunately for Soghar she controlled herself in time and just hissed and gave him a deadly look. " Fool. What is the first thing you have to do, always?! " Soghar sat on his chair and thought about it, usually you start by processing the remains in the way you want them to be. But since that's already done, the next step would ------ He almost hit himself for being so slow today. " What creature is this bone from? " He suddenly asked. With an approving nod but still looking rather agitated his mother replied: " One of the fishpeople, the Charodae. " Soghar didn't stop asking questions there, he needed to know as much information about the creature before proceeding onto the next phase. He kept asking and asking until his mother told him everything about the bone's original owner. " So... It's a Femurbone (The upperleg's bone) of a Charoda that was caught sniffling around the coastline of Falyndar. It was carrying a crossbow with aquatic bolts when ambushed and even fired a shot off, that missed, before running away at high speed. Captured and killed before it was able to reach the water. Killed by blunt force trauma. Nothing else was found, the only thing it had on him was the crossbow. Lastly, his skin was greenblue'ish. " Soghar awaited his mother's approving nod before declaring he'd start on the Malediction circles. " Go ahead. " His mother simply stated after nodding.

[Soghar]

It has been a while since Soghar had been able to work on his Malediction skills, he had been working hard with his Fang and in truth, had been neglecting his Malediction practice. Which came to bite him in the ass today. He was nervous, unsure about what to do and rather ashamed all at once. Needless to say it was quite apparent to his mother what was going on in Soghar's mind. " Boy, it's only normal you don't have time to practice 24/7, but never forget about the basics. " She got up from her chair and started to move around the room as she spoke. " The basics is the lifeforce of Malediction, screw that up and you can start all over. " She moved over to one of the wooden desks where all sorts of engraving tools were methodically placed so that she could find them without effort. Soghar remembered his younger days, when he practiced Malediction in this exact room and often forgot to put back his tools after practicing. His mother was always there to reprimand him for it aswell as keep a watchful eye on his practicioning. Soghar knew that Malediction was no joke and could result in a cursed item, which he created on several occasions but somehow his mother always knew it was cursed before even testing it. Soghar suspected her of having some sort of ability or skill that gave the item's "intent" or "nature" away to her, but he never asked her about it nor did she ever spoke of it. He figured she would tell him the truth at the right time. His mind snapped back to present day when his mother showed him the needed tools to engrave circular patterns on the bone hilt's small surface. " All I'm going to give you to engrave the bone are the most basic tools. Let's face it, you haven't practiced and so far you haven't shown any talent at engraving either, so use these 3 tools and learn to use them well before using the others. " " Here, take this. " She said as she handed him a vice, an etching needle and an etching scraper. " Please, for the love of Myri, tell me you remember how to use these ?! " She asked with a deep sigh as she noticed the confused look on Soghar's face. " Ofcourse I do! I'll put the hilt in the vice without pressuring it too much, use the needle to engrave the circle and the scraper to make the circle smooth while scraping out the boneflakes and residue from the pattern! " Soghar started to get annoyed by his own incompetence and scorning tone of his mother, trying to defend himself by the use of common sense and his, very limited, knowledge and memory of what he has been taught in the past. " As correct as YOU can be, I guess it'll have to suffice for now. Now get to work. " She said, clearly as equally annoyed as her son.

[Soghar]

Grumbling like an old man, Soghar went to work. First he put the dagger on the bench with the hilt just off the border, then he placed a vice at the base of the dagger's blade in order to keep the hilt as steady and unmoving as possible. He continued to tighten the vice while checking to see if the hilt and dagger could still move, once that was no longer the case he pulled a stool up to the desk and sat himself on one side of the hilt with a few candles at the other side, on the desk. That way he wouldn't block the incoming light as much. " Now... " He mumbled as his movements suddenly slowed down noticeably, picking up the engraving needle he was about to start working when he realized he wasn't sure on what kind of pattern he wanted to make yet. " Shyke, I keep petching up! " He was about to stab the workbench with the needle when he heard a soothing comment. " Take your time, don't rush it. " His mother's voice instantly calmed his emotions and with a sigh he put the needle down and started thinking about the information he had acquired and the desired effect. ' Since it's a Charoda bone, I might be able to make it more effective against Charoda...I could make a circle and engrave a crossed-out fish in it?' He thought before realizing the engraving would be infantile at best, but it might do the trick. So he picked up a pencil this time and started to draw a circle on the largest part of the hilt that he could find. Slowly and carefully he drew the circle on the hilt, it was far from a perfect circle and there were many points in the outlining where you could tell Soghar had stopped to readjust his drawing, but...it'd have to do. Once done with the circle he proceeded to draw an extremely basic fish-shape, one similar to what a child would draw, even worse actually...After completing his 'masterpiece' he pushed the pencil hard on the bone and drew a diagonal line over the fish. After finishing the drawingpart of the Maledicting process, he picked up the engraving needle again, which was a sturdy pencil but with a very fine, and sharp, metal point. He started to trace the pencilled circle over and over again, until he could feel relief in the bone. At first he couldn't feel anything even after going over the circle several times, then he pushed slightly harder on the pencil and repeated the process, this time he felt a slight indent over the circled outline. Encouraged he pressed even harder, albeit only slightly since he was afraid to damage the hilt or needle, and continued to trace the circle dozens and dozens of times. Once finished he could feel that the circle had enough relief but was filled with boneflakes and residue, so he picked the scraper from the workbench and softly started to grace the inside of the circle. Slowly but surely removing bumps aswell as the boneflakes from inside the circle, once finished it was a cleanly engraved circle, although rather rough and unpolished, but nonetheless...it did the trick. A is the engraving needle, B is the scraper. His wrist and fingers started to ache a bit but he continued his work without moaning or complaining, this time he was working on the drawing of a crossed out fish. It was more difficult and he made more mistakes with the engraving needle, mainly because the shape wasn't as basic as a circle and he couldn't trace the outlining as well, but he managed to keep engrave the shape distinguishable and finished it with alot of pressure on the diagonal line to make sure it was clear that he did not approve of fish, or Charoda actaully but to draw/engrave a distinctive figure of a Charoda was unimaginable at his current level. Once finished with scraping out the insides of the fish and line, he looked at his work and felt mixed feelings. On one hand he was pleased with the outcome, on the other hand he realized he had still lots and lots to learn. " Finished? " Asked his mother, with a badly hidden tone of amusement in her voice. She must've seen the work of art her son made. " Not yet. " He said as he grabbed his Haladie and removed one of its sheaths and cut a thin wound in his thumb where blood started to ooze out, he waited until enough blood started to form at his thumb and then pressed it straight into the engraved circle and held it there for almost a minute before removing his thumb from the hilt. " Now, I'm done. " He said while unvicing the dagger's blade. " Good, now enjoy your gift, my son. " She said with a humored smile on her face.

[Rage]

GRANTING OF XP Soghar Unarmed Combat - 2xp Observation - 1xp Malediction - 2xp Carving - 2xp Drawing - 1xp Lores: Picking fights with another Myrian Settling conflicts with Violence Taloba Location: Tower of Bones Bone Carving technique: Tracing the image to be carved using a pencil Items: Bone Dagger - Crafted from the femur bone of a Charoda, the weapon is relatively fragile compared to blades crafted from another creature's bones. It is effective for stabbing and slashing unarmored opponents, but would easily break against armored foes or if it hit a particularly hard bone structure (e.g. skull). As such, it has very little defensive capabilities, and would shatter if used to parry powerful blows. Malediction effect: The dagger instills a bit of fear on the wielder when facing a superior foe. Those of lesser heart would flee in the face of such adversity, though as a Myrian, Soghar can resist this effect unless he's against overwhelming odds. The weapon allows the wielder to run away from danger a little bit faster than if they were not wielding it, or if they were running for any other reason other than to flee such a situation. Injuries: A cracked knuckle - You are required to RP experiencing the pain of this injury in the next closest-dated thread to this one. Notes : A good first thread, and it gave a good glimpse of Soghar's disposition as well as his relationship with his mother. However, I felt that you overplayed some skills in parts of the thread, and I would have awarded more points for playing realistically to your skill level (yes, even if you had failed in your attempts in the thread ). Do also take note that Charodae will always use diplomacy first and foremost, escape from threats second, before considering resorting to violence. Rare is the Charoda who seeks conflict. PM me if you have questions.