[The Wizard's Thumb]Even ghosts need to eat![Solo]

[Clyde Sullins]

40 Spring 512 After coming a few days ago to do some work, in Magecrafting, Clyde had been allowed to return, to study another branch of magic. That was why he found himself today, up on the 3rd floor of the building, the one dedicated to Spiritism. After the long walk upward, he decided to take a short rest, in one of the chairs, and see what others were up to. There were not to many people up there... One person seemed to be doing something with beads and string... Clyde was not sure what that was... Another seemed to be under possession, and was shaking quite badly, as they fought it off. Clyde glanced around, but did not see any other ghosts. Though that did not mean none were there. He was still not to skilled, and it would not be to hard for one to sneak up on him. Instead of doing as they did, Clyde headed over to one of the bookshelves, and found a book. He wanted to find out how to make ghost food. Likely it had a technical term, but he did not know of it... His experience with spiritism had not been formal, and had mostly consisted of him being possessed by random ghosts, some without permission. He grabbed one book, which seemed to list a lot of general info, on Spiritism. He looked around in it, and finally seemed to have found a list of terms used in Spiritism. There was something about Lying... Something about Dusting. Clyde was not sure how either one of those things related to spiritism... Finally he found an interesting term... Soulmist... As it mentioned the soul, which was sort of what a ghost was, he decided to investigate further. Next to it, the description said that is could "revitalize and replenish ghosts, among other things." Clyde read it through one more time, before shutting the book. Soulmist. That certainly sounded like food for ghosts. Wasn't that what food did for humans, revitalized and replenished? So he supposed then he knew what ghost food was called now, Soulmist!

[Clyde Sullins]

Now that he knew its name, he could look for it specifically. Clyde went through the bookshelf, searching for the word soulmist in the titles of books... Another on lying... What the petch was that... One on dusting... Which oddly seemed to be a bit bloodstained, and torn... Odd again... And here it was, "Soulmist creation and common usage." Since that seemed about right, Clyde took out the book, and headed over to a chair to sit down, as he went through it. It had a chapter on many different common usages... Clyde flipped to one on weaponry. It said a bit about how to use soulmist to create weapons. "It is possible to smear an object with soulmist, and imbibe it with the qualities of the magical material. In doing so, it allows the object to interact with a ghost, to a degree. This is most commonly applied to weapons, to allow the user to interact with and fight ghosts. However, this requires a certain quality of soulmist, to be effective. Weak instances of it, will have little to no effect. If it is successful, it will usually last for a few bells." Well, that was certainly interesting, he now knew one way to use it, if he found how to make it... Though it sounded like it was hard to do, not something someone making it for the first time should try... Clyde flipped back to the names of the chapters, looking for something more specific. Clyde's eyes sparked, as he found one that looked promising, "Soulmist defined." He quickly headed to the chapter, and read the first page. "Soulmist is naturally a part of ghosts. Without it, they are weakened, and impotent. With it, they are able to do various things, such as becoming visible to untrained eyes, touching things, and moving objects. All of these things expend a ghosts soulmist, weakening it. Ghosts are able to naturally replenish this over time, but it is much easier and quicker for them to be gifted it by a spiritist. A spiritist is able to gift his artificially created soulmist, to ghosts. Note this is called gifting them with soulmist, as such created soulmist cannot be forcibly taken or used by a ghost, only given willingly. This is the principle source of power for a spiritist, when dealing with ghosts." Clyde closed the book, and set it down. While it had a lot of useful information, it did not seem to actually mention how to make soulmist. Perhaps it assumed someone reading it, would already know? Clyde set out once more going through the books. Surely, one said how to make soulmist. Right?

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde searched through the different books, until a odd one caught his eye. It seemed much thinner than the others, and less proffesionally done... As he took it out, he saw that it was a... A cookbook? What the petch was a cook book doing in a rack of books on spiritism? Clyde looked it over, and read the title... "Crafting food for the dead and unliving, a compendium." Perhaps he had found the right thing? As he flipped through the book, he found it was full of... Recipes. Not for fish or chicken dishes, or other such things. Instead, it was full of recipe after recipe for soulmists. Apparently, there was not just one way to make it, but many. As he looked at enough entries, he began to see a pattern. They started with a name, of the spiritist who made the entry. Then they listed ingredients... Then the process of how to craft it... And finally, the final result, how it had turned out, whether ghosts had liked it. This included a rating system, which seemed to be capped at 5 X's. The lowest had none. Was this on difficulty though, or on the finished product? Clyde flipped back to the start, and let out a sigh as he read. Finally, he had found it, a general description of how to make soulmist. He looked at the book, and delved into its words.

[Clyde Sullins]

As he started in on it, the book began as such. "Soulmist at its basic form, is quite simple. It requires food, to give the final product power. It also requires blood, to be mixed in, at least a vial full. This varies depending upon the batch size of the soulmist made. At a minimum, soulmist requires food from 3 varied sources, along with the blood, in order to create a soul dough of sorts upon mixing. This can be done in a bowl, or in the wizard himself. This is a skill that must be trained over time, but many spiritists have learned to hold such things in there mouths while working them. Once it is mixed, it must unite with the creator for a time, to bond to them. This can be done either by chewing the created souldough for a time, or by eating and later vomiting it back up. Either way, time united is needed to bond to the crafter." Clyde took a moment to stop here. Really, vomiting and chewing on raw food mixed with blood? Spiritism did not seem all that sanitary. Who had invented such a crazy method of making something? Or better yet, how had someone managed to stumble upon it? No, he did not want to know after all... "As the spiristist bonds with his souldough, he must focus on the finished creation he desires with his willpower. To successfully create soulmist, one must truly focus, so as to properly task the souldough with dealing with ghosts, and creating soulmist. A unfocused mind, or a weak minded person, will find this difficult, if not impossible." Clyde let out another sigh... For some odd reason, this reminded Clyde of another magic... Which was it... Well the blood for one, reminded him of animation... That allowed you to connect to the golem you created. So perhaps the blood here let you better connect to the ghost? Or something like that... The bit about focusing his mind on the completed task... it reminded Clyde of shielding, of tasking a shield to a specific purpose... Which was odd, they were completely different branches of magic weren't they? So why did they then have these commonalities?

[Clyde Sullins]

Finally, it appeared Clyde was at the end of the explanation on how to make soulmist. He looked at the book, and wondered what sorts of recipes it had in it. Surely many odd ones, which he would never create. Better he just make something basic, for his first try. He pulled his focus back to the task at hand, and read onward. "If the creation of soulmist from souldough is is successful, several noticeable changes will come over the material. From there mouth, they will emit forth a off white gel like material, which is in fact soulmist not unlike that which coats a ghost, except that this is artificially created. The creator can physically shape this with his hands and apply it to a substance or ghost right away, or store it for later usage. However, the weaker the soulmist, the shorter the time it will last. It is usually best used fresh, and even well made soulmist will naturally decay after a few days." "Properly created soulmist can be told by its telltale signs. To a slight degree, the soulmist will give off a glow, clearly different from the mundane materials it was made from. Also, soulmist is unnaturally cool to the touch, not unlike a ghost's effect on its environment. Also as a final note, a spiritsit will find that the best soulmist is made from ones own lifeblood, and not that of other creatures or people. Perhaps this is due to the bonding process working better during creation, or some other reason, the exact reasoning being unknown." Clyde opened the book, and tried to find a simple recipe for soulmist... However, there seemed to be many commonalities, and overlapping between ingredients... There were even a few failed ones in here, where the process did not work... Apparently someone tried to use both chicken meat, and the egg from a chicken, which is in actuality the same source. However it was unclear if the reason for failure there was simply that, or the fact that the crafter was unskilled. Clyde put the books back, and set off across the room. Suddenly the cupboard, and bowls made sense. Taking out a wooden bowl, Clyde set it down, and looked through the food. Which to use now?

[Clyde Sullins]

Going through what was available, Clyde soon saw he did not have much to choose between. Nyka was not well known for its eating, that was for sure, so clearly the food for use in creating soulmist would be of the base needed for subsistence. Clyde found an egg, and cracked it on the edge of the bowl, spilling its innards inside of the wooden bowl, yolk and all. Next... A bit of flour, perhaps meant to be used in bread. Now it would find another purpose. And... Cheese... Yes, that would work, it was not the greatest cheese, pretty young and soft, but it would do. An egg from a chicken... Flour from wheat... Cheese from a cow... 3 different sources, as the books had said. He mixed them all up the best he could, and looked down at the glop left over. Now for the blood... Clyde took the dagger on his belt scabbard out, and brought it up before him. He did not often use it, and had never even used it for fighting. But at least it would be safer than using some other blade which had sliced into who knew what. He made sure not to tense, and lightly sliced open the palm of his hand, which was still painful for his carefulness, and shallow nature. And it still bled well, despite that. Clyde helped it along a bit, by opening and closing his hand over the bowl, to get it to flow better. He let it flow for awhile, a chime or two, before holding back. He held his hand up high, and bandaged it with a scrap of cloth he had out of his pack, which was more or less clean. If it did not stop bleeding soon, he could lightly burn it, but hopefully it would not come to that. He did not want to use reimancy if he did not have to. But he knew he could be precise enough to seal the wound, without overly damaging himself. Looking down at the bowl, he mixed it a bit more... The odd gunk had now taken on a bit of a reddish hue from the blood.

[Clyde Sullins]

As he looked at his hand, and the clothe he had wrapped it in tightly, it appeared to have stopped bleeding. Satisfied, he spent a few more ticks mixing it up. He was left with a odd gooky sort of substance, which he supposed must be at least a bit similar to dough... Though its color was wrong for that. He picked up the mass, looking at the book one last time, before popping it into his mouth. He did not swallow of course... Instead, he began to chew, like a horse going at some grass... He chewed, and chewed, and chewed... Clyde pictured in his mind the substance the book had described... Soulmist... A cool white substance, with a odd glow to it like it was emanating some kind of force... He pictured it in his mind, the brownish red souldough, as it slowly turned into the so different substance, which was sort of white. And the glow, he could not forget that. He chewed for chime... After chime... After chime... He kept it up chewing, for a total time of just under a quarter of a bell. All the while, he was picturing it in his head... Soulmist... Glowy and white and cold, and able to heal ghosts and replenish them, just like the book said. As time went on, Clyde began to notice that the substance in his mouth was subtly changing... It no longer felt quite as the same texture... it also seemed to be becoming a bit less solid... And its temperature was slowly and almost imperceptibly changing. He did not even notice, until he slowly came to the conclusion that the contents of his mouth were now cooler than his mouth itself, which made little sense... Without magic involved... Finally done, Clyde moved back over to the now empty bowl, and spit out the contents of his mouth into it... Had it worked? Had it failed? Yes, it had worked. As he opened his mouth, and it began to fall out, he could already see the light glow coming outward, which was no longer a solid... Instead, it seemed to be in some half state between a liquid and a solid... He poked one finger into its gooey substance, and felt that it indeed was cool to the touch, even colder than the ambient temperature of the room... As he pulled his finger back out, it sort of blorped back to the shape it had been before, inside of the bowl... With a smile on his face, for completing making soulmist for the first time, Clyde left it behind. It would decay away in a few days, to nothing. But until then, it would be a glowing reminder of his accomplishment here in this tower. Besides, he doubted they would let him take it, after all, he had used there ingredients to do so. Tired, and looking down at his scabbed over hand, he let out a sigh... Today had not been to bad... But he did not doubt that things would get interesting soon enough... And certainly, he would find a use for this new knowledge he had gained.

[Balderdash]

Delicious rewards! Happy days and jubilation!

Skill	XP Awarded
Spiritism	2

Lores: Spiritism: Beads and Tremors, Soulmist: Chunky Style, Soulmist Theory, Ghosts Have Tastes Too!, Soulmist 101: Chew Shyke, Chomping Your Way To Success

Items and Consequences: The taste will not leave Clyde's mouth for days. Days!

A fun little solo. I enjoyed it.

If you have any questions or concerns about this grade, please PM me. A happy you is a happy Balderdash!