Arcane secrets over a crackling fire[Antar]

by **Clyde Sullins** on June 2nd, 2012, 3:10 am

23 Summer 512

-Location- In the woods, not that far from Ravok.

Once more, Clyde was attempting to find some solitude, out of the city, and out in the wild... Perhaps it brought him back to the old days... His few happy childhood moments had been spent outside of Syliras... Out in the wild... Away from prying eyes, were he could usually practice his magic in peace...

Or perhaps he just wanted to practice away from the city... Away from its inhabitants... And away from anyone that might get him in a temper, and cause him to lose control and blast them with magic... He did not feel like cleaning up that mess, or getting in trouble...

So he was out of the city... Trying to calm and center himself, to meditate and draw inward... Maybe once he was ready, he would do some magic... Or something... What had he not worked on in a while?

of course, Clyde started off his training site a bit oddly, considering it was the middle of the summer, and quite a warm day. He started by making a fire. This was for several reasons... It helped to keep away predators, and marked him as a human, and not a wild beast, to anyone who might stumble upon him.

It also was handy, if he needed to defend himself, to have a bit of fire on hand to draw upon... It was less costly to do that, and gather it, than to make fire from scratch. Also... Clyde just liked fire... Always did, ever since he started reimancy. It seemed to calm him, having the warmth of the fire, its consuming force so near... Made him feel safer, and more able to pull inward...

He did decide to make this fire by hand... Gathering twigs, leaves, branches, and making them into separate piles. He set them up all within reach, dragging over a fallen log to use once it really got going...

He put down some dried twigs and leaves, and took out his flint and steel... He struck it several times... And blast it he could not get it going! He only just stopped himself from using magic to start it... And took out a piece of scrap paper he had scribbled some useless notes on.

He tore it up, and put it in the starter fire... And struck it again... And on his 4th strike, it caught... He quickly added more leaves, more twigs, and even got a branch going after a few chimes.

Once he had it going pretty well, he relaxed, tossed in a branch, and opened his mind... And closed his eyes... Tried to close out anything outside of himself... To meditate... Though this proved to make him instead just get distracted, and notice certain sounds more... He really needed to work on meditating, so he did not fail so much at it...

He kept his eyes closed... Blocking sounds out... Trying to ignore the birds tweeting... A dog barking... Keeping his mind closed... Now he noticed the crackle of the fire... And who was stepping on those dang twigs! The sound was not that far off!

As Clyde grumbled to himself, over the annoyance of something stepping on twigs, it suddenly dawned on him... Someone was stepping on twigs!

He jumped up from his seat, exuding res from the palms of his hands... He gathered it over the fire, and sucked in the flames. Then he turned about, holding up the ball of res and collected flames, about 2 feet in front of him. He looked around, trying to see what it was...

"Hello, who goes there?"

Then he saw movement...

He nearly roasted the dang squirrel alive as it ran past... Dang it... Just a squirrel... He was to jumpy...

by **Antar** on June 3rd, 2012, 2:04 am

Forests and woodlands...

Antar was no stranger to such things, for indeed they felt more like home then his original home ever could. Even if the rogue was getting somewhat nearer the longer he stayed in that cesspool of a city. People thought Sunberth was a cesspool, and they were right, but at least it didn't play a facade of trying to cover it up.

Unlike Ravok. Gods above he hated the city with a passion that defied all knowing and in order to compose himself had come out here to hunt. It was one of the more enjoyable things to do , and the targets of animals in the woods was a far cry tamer then any of the prey that meandered its way through the city streets. It was a good way to help restore some balance to his already uneasy posture. A way to cut loose and consider things for a moment.

So here he was, in the forests, amongst a tree cleft to form a 'high loft'' where he had decided to park himself above the forest floor. He hadn't intended to stay here that long so a brief bit of camoflauge of cut twigs, leaves and branches weaved together sufficed to shield his cover from prying eyes. It was a perfect place really for a bit of a wait and stalk; there were two game trails nearby that the rogue was keeping an eye on for any passing wild pig or boar. Not that there wouldn't be a few of them around, but he was more willing to bet that the trails would be better used by a deer or two.

Deer were well known to make their habitat at the edges of forests, where they could forage on grassy areas. They only ventured further inwards to take shelter from the elements, or to hide and escape predators. There were plenty of predators about, though for now at least around Ravok, the monsters seemed to canter out the closer to the city you were. So he wasn't too concerned with landspawns or other critters. His plan was to wait till morning and shoot a few deer when they ventured out to graze.

Just taking the time to keep to himself and wait.

So just imagine the rogue's surprise when someone else decided to enter the forest this night. He cursed his luck when the man started a fire about two hundred feet away.. Fire and smoke carried, and the scent of woodsmoke stuck around long enough until morning to keep the deer away if it wasn't put out soon.

No, the rogue wasn't very happy at all... But when he saw the man stand up and try to roast a squirrel... well that was when he smiled. Things had become a little bit more interesting.

The man was a mage.

Smiling, Antar bided his time, waiting amidst his shelter in the trees, just waiting to see what the man would do next as he pondered his options. The safest thing would be to slip away, but then again... this man could be connected to the ebon- no... No if that had been the case there would have been no reason for the mage to even come out here to practice. Unless he was outright insane or just liked his privacy.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Antar could scare the man off. Or at least he could perhaps figure out what to do with him... so Noth waited. And he watched... slowly letting the djed come to his eyes as he centered himself with a bit of breathing to calm himself. Staring off into the distance in order to try to read the far away man's aura...

by **Clyde Sullins** on June 6th, 2012, 3:27 am

Clyde of course had no idea he was being watched. He did not even think to cast out his aura vision, and look for the obvious life form of a person... He was to concentrated on his reimancy, and the pleasant feeling thrumming in a way beyond the physical, as he let out the res to do his magic...

There it was once again, now that he had used it a bit... Calling to him, the indescribable pleasure, wanting him to do more... He was no were near overgiving, and was not anywhere close to doing so... But a previous overgiving had affected him this way... For he did not know how long... And he had to fight to not carelessly cast of a bolt of magic, just for the fun of it...

In fact, since he was convinced he was alone, Clyde berated himself a bit, a bit of a verbal scolding to bring his mind back in line, and to not let himself slip loose...

"No Clyde, no! You control the magic... You choose the magic... Calm... Calm... No need to use magic... No need... Calm..."

Of course, this would do little to assuage the unknown observer, who would likely think Clyde was crazy, possibly from using magic in the past... Which was a common assumption to leap to, when meeting another mage... And Clyde was not helping his case, that he was not in fact insane... Which technically he was not... He just had a desire to cast magic, a bit more than average...

Clyde of course, working to calm himself, began to feed the flames back into the wood... But before he could do that completely, he felt a gentle brush over the skin of the back of his neck... In the magical sense, not a physical one... He had no idea from where, or how far away... But that was the feeling of someone touching his aura...

Anyone looking at him would likely see the djed within him, possibly even be able to tell that he was a powerful mage... Though it depended on how good the person was at using auristcs... If nothing else, it would verify he was a magic user.

Clyde sucked the fire back up into a globe in front of him around the chunk of res, quickly taking a step back and away, as he had accidentally moved to close, and the heat had beaten on him.

He spun around, trying to see were the person was, who was using magic on him... He could not be to far... Perhaps a bluff would work...

"I know you are there! Come out and face me! I felt that probe! Now respond! I will burn the entire forest down if that is what it takes to find you!"

Though to be honest... It was hard to say how much of that was a bluff... In Clyde's current increasingly paranoid state... He might overreact... And really do what he was threatening...

by **Antar** on June 10th, 2012, 6:40 am

Gazing with auristics at a standing man about two hundred feet away from a high loft was difficult to Antar. His attempts were, while not overstraining, was difficult to his concentration. Even if he applied meditative breathing exercises to help contribute to his focus. Looking through the minds eye 'down the visual range' was taxin in the fact that he had to consciously pretend to keep a giant 'X' over his target. Just like he sometimes did when sighting down his bow.

It was about developing control. Control was something that assisted Antar in becoming a creature of habit. His days falling into a semi-pattern of routine tasksm working to improve his magic, making sure his abilities were up to part for dealing with the most menacing of monsters. Studying and experiment both night and day, for the proper blend of physical and magical equivalents to weave into his defensive tactics. Sure a reimantical ball of fire to light up his path came to him as easily to him now as snapping one's fingers. But there was one obsession that consumed his thoughts at all times.

The ability to continue to adapt, change, and improve.

So the difficulty he was having focusing his auristics mocked him a bit, as his reading of auras shifted from tree to tree before finally coming close to the mage around the circle of fire. For a brief stance of time, barely three seconds he could identify the thin theel of enflamed hues of reds oranges and blues that possessed a staticky quality about the outermost layers. Almost as if it was a sign of some scar that had hurt the man. A wound in his djed.

A wound that usually marked insanity or other complications. But that was the price of dealing with magic and mageries. So when Clyde began to posture and scream to the forest, Antar decided it was best not to approach as he relaxed the djed away from his eyes and back into the streams of his body as he pondered the most natural response.

These woods were close to where he and Ulric had met a bit before, close to where the lake began and the small stream of marsh had been on edge where the wood's stream had run into the lakeside. And where there was marshes, there was always the chance for landspawns.

As the devious thought crossed his mind, Antar's decision was made. A way to trick and put the mage a little at ease seemed to come to mind as easily as a trickster's machinations came to an illusionist.He was a possesser of earth reimancy, perhaps tonight he could make his own small form of a landspawn... and get rid of the fire in the process.

Putting thoughts into action, Antar raised his hand slowly and moved it around to the side of the treetrunk where he had put his bag and took out a piece of chalk. Drawing a small glyph for focus on his hands,the rogue began to play his dirty little trick. From his hand, a small ball of res was created to drip down upon the forest loam... attracting some of the mossy earth to its exterior while leaving it a core of Res for manipulation. The result was taking a shape as small as a pycon with almost roughened arms and legs and a blobular head by which a small 'burping' of the forest earth was all that was able to be heard within the darkness.

Slowly, stumbling on two legs it approached the edge of the mage's firelight like a marionette, looking down at the embers of the burned leaves from the man's last attack against yon poor squirrel. As if heedless of the dangers the fire played. Like some creature, the blob of mossen earth opened like a mouth as the spineless doll of earth reimancy seemed to reach down and take a bite of a still hot coal as the earthen layer closed up again. Leaving it formless and just staring at the mage for a few seconds until there was a reaction.

Willing a bit of the res to flame, no more then a few small thimblefulls of what was in the core, small streams of smoke whisps would be seen coming out of the loam puppets form before he manipulated it to run around the mage and towards the fire. Five feet from the edge of the ring of flames, a gout of fire seemed to fart from the little puppets rear, propelling it forwards up and over the fire as the true purpose of the encounter was revealed. The conflagration of earth reimancy, and the core of res, both exploded into magma and an earthen hail of soot, displacing some of the fires logs and rolling it from the enclosure towards Clyde's feet before the burning embered fuel would come to a stop.

Half the fire, had been put out and Antar smiled from afar as he pondered just what the mage would do next as he flung another small ball of res away into the darkness. Only to have it make a small "burp" in the earth, just like last time. As if from the sound of another 'creature' , one which lurked under the enshadowed forest canopy waiting for the mage. Just waiting in the night...

by **Clyde Sullins** on June 11th, 2012, 4:39 am

For a bit there seemed to be no answer... Clyde had been almost certain he had not imagined it... There had been something there... Though it did not seem keen on showing itself...

Clyde tensed as he suddenly saw a bit of motion, at the peripheries of his sight in the firelight, and turned to face it... And what did he see? A tiny dirt man thing? He wobbled along, under the light of Clydes fire globe... Stooped down, and seemed to suck inside of its "head" some of the red coals... What? He had never seen a monster eat fire before...

Then it sort of started smoking, like something in its innards had caught aflame, as it entered the fire, and exploded with bits of earth and moss flying, and red hot magma sizzling as it hit surfaces... Luckily Clyde had his ball of res and fire, and was able to use it instinctively, so the stray bits coming at him were attracted to it instead, using fire and earth attraction on the magma. Luckily it had not been to much magma...

But in doing so, the small bit of res in his fireball had been exhausted. Really, it had not been that much to begin with, a novice level attacks worth really. The chunk of flame and flecks of magma fell to the ground, striking the fireplace, and sending sparks flying, forcing Clyde to leap back...

Though it had more or less reignited the fire, almost back to its original strength... But petch, what had that been, Clyde thought to himself...

He had never heard of such a thing... Could it have been magic... Or some crazy combination of animation and reimancy? It was possible... Surely there was a simple explanation...

As Clyde heard another odd sound, one which he now realized had been made before this last land thingy had appeared, Clyde knew he had to defend himself... Though not with fire...

Clyde exuded res once more, his bright silvery res, issuing it out of his mouth, and out of the palms of his hands... Then he collected it into an orb, floating in front of him a few feet away...

At this close proximity, his control over the res was total, and complete... He could do much more with it, and its actions was immediate... He swirled his hands around the orb of res, and as he did so, used the motions as gestures to work his magic, attracting and pulling in air and wind to the orb of res, which began to swirl around the res...

He moved his hands faster and faster, compressing the air and the orb into an ever smaller globe, till he had compressed the air into a marble sized bit, which seemed to shimmer a bit oddly in the light.... This was something he had found... When you compressed the air tightly, it became something very different to a normal wind attack... It could move so fast, and with such force, it even created a deafening boom along with it, not unlike thunder...

by **Antar** on October 29th, 2012, 6:09 am

Without another word, Antar drew an arrow from his quiver and drew a bead on the dancing conflagration of earth reimancy and let it fly. The arrow penetrated the sort of doll, making it slosh to the ground in a mudden mess.

Whether it was blown away by Clyde's attack or not, would depend if he was startled enough to release it.

Jumping down out of the high hold he landed silently, then thrashed a couple of down trodden leaves first quietly, then with reckless abandon as he shouted out in a rather cantankerous manner. First in a low voice, mumbling even and then louder as if a man was getting closer."Gods bedamned petching landspawns ruining these hunting grounds. Damn things seem to go towards any bit of light they find. Hey!"

A lilting cry, was followed by a question "Ware the camp! Watch out! "

Antar intentionally stumbled at this point, falling harshly to the ground. His arm going towards a patch of thorns, and intentionally drawing them over his skin as a string of epithets. Lightly scratching himself, before cusssing and scratching at a five o'clock shadow he hadn't shaved off yet. "Yeowch! Petching forest. Can't wait till sun's up. Much easier to hunt then so long as no one's petching doing somethin' they ain't supposed ta'."

By this point he was within view of Clyde, so he reached up and tilted the hood of his cloak respectfully towards the man before reaching quietly to pick up his bow and throw it over his shoulder. "Permission to approach the camp lad? Ain't a night I want to be alone with those things out here."

by **Clyde Sullins** on November 12th, 2012, 12:32 am

Clyde had been preparing to use his attack, when out of no where a arrow thumped into the beast. Acting instinctively really, more than from conscious effort, he released his spell right at the tiny beast.

As he did, a loud boom went off, akin to a bolt of lightning. However, there was no accompanying flash of light, as the air moved with great force and speed at the beast, expending all of the pressure Clyde had built up, and turning that pressure into a blast.

The little thing was blasted into little bits, as it seemed to explode when struck, chunks of dirt flying every which way, resulting in a thin layer of dirt and dust in the air, which made Clyde cough. Apparently part of his strike had also gone down into the ground, and had been part of the reason for the puff up upward flying earth, which was slowly descending.

As the ringing slowly dulled from his ears, sound returned, slowly at first, but then all at once. Really his sense of hearing was already dulled long ago from a lightning spell, so the loud sound was not as hard on him as it would be for someone else with normal hearing, or heaven forbid above average hearing, such as a kelvic.

He did not notice at first as the man dropped out of a tree, but as his hearing returned, he did slowly begin to hear the voice of a man shouting. Which tended to make himself think that perhaps this man to had been deafened by his blast, at least temporarily. It was a side effect on most people, that they would talk a bit to loudly for awhile, until they fully adjusted and got their hearing back to normal.

He was a bit confused really, though it seemed this man was claiming the thing from before had been a landspawn... Honestly, he was not sure... for some reason that seemed a bit odd... He had never heard of one like that, especially one that ate fire and exploded. Considering his line of magic, he felt like he would have heard of such a thing before. The only landspawn he had ever met was a bunch of Yukmen, on various occasions.

Though he did not take the mans words totally at face value... He still recalled feeling that probe on his aura, that brush on his neck, which was how Clyde's mind registered and interpreted such a thing... It meant magic being acted upon him... He had only felt that a few times, sometimes it was auristics... And sometimes it was other magics... Though few personal magics worked on other people... He knew of one, which had been used on him in his use, which had petched up his mind... So of course his mind went to that, the worst possible scenaerio... But he supposed it was also possible that it was simply someone looking at his auristics... The magic was common enough.

Since this man had jumped out of the tree, he assumed he was that mage, who had been inspecting his aura... Though if what he said was true, then he had just left Clyde to deal with the thing, using him as a test subject to see what happened when it met Clyde... While he used his auristics from afar to study Clyde... Or he was lying, and then things were much worse...

Either way, he would need to carry on with caution, and with the assumption that this man was a mage... He doubted a third person just so happened to be crouched hidden in this same bit of woods...

"I suppose you can come over. Might as well share a fire. I mean it is not like I own the forest, so even could turn you away if I so wished. But join me I suppose."

Clyde just took a moment to inspect the odd man, with his bow and odd manerisms... He was having a bit of trouble understanding him...

"I am Clyde... Just out here trying to find a bit of peace and alone... And you are? So what are you up to out here?"