PM to join [Judgment] An Assessment of Acumen

[Lenore]

Timestamp: 40th of Summer, 514 AV

Lenore had half-dragged, half-carried his door to the judgment hall in the pre-dawn hours of the morning. How he would return with the door was still a mystery to the boy nuit. Still he had a good many bells of waiting ahead of him. Finally, after whittling away time by tracing glyphs on his uncut left palm with his right index finger, the room began to fill. A few hopefuls but dozens more on-lookers ready to scorn failures and see rivals in success. The peers Lenore hoped to join.

When it was his turn he lifted the door a bit off the ground and pulled it to the center of the display. It had been his hope to appear first to avoid being compared with more showy projects. The door wasn’t an impressive display but it was a stout design and he had not seen another door like it, perhaps that would count for something.

Stepping before the judges he bowed in the old way, of the Alaheans. “I am the researcher Lenore, my work is in animation.” He righted his sluggish Nuit body and motioned to his door. “This door is my creation, it will only open to the owner of a room or to myself.” He adjusted his spectacles. “First I will display when the authenticated being seeks entrance, then I will require a volunteer to show when an unauthenticated person attempts entrance even with the appropriate glyph.”

The door had been positioned so the interior mirror was facing the judgement panel. So Lenore stepped behind the door on the side of the audience. He waited three chimes for the bell the ring announcing a visitor and his image transposed from the front mirror on to the back. From his side with his index finger he drew upon the mirror’s surface the glyph for Irstdalt, as it had taught it to the mirror. The mirror swung open in the temporary frame and Lenore stepped through. “Now the security measure certainly appears easily flawed, but you’ll see it only accepts the glyph from specific authenticated beings. Now is when I will need a volunteer.”

After much shuffling a judge stepped up from the panel. “Thank you, did you see the glyph I drew?” Lenore asked. If the answer was no then Lenore would demonstrate the glyph he used for irstdalt, it was a square with a rift through the middle.

Lenore stepped out of the frame and closed the door. The animator stood to the side so the mirror could once again be viewed by the judges. The door rang its bell to announce the new visitor and the volunteer drew the glyph upon the mirror. The door did not move. Lenore stepped forward and drew the same glyph on his side of the mirror. The door clicked open.

“You see only certain people are authorized to draw the glyph. The purpose of using the glyph instead of just allowing those authenticated persons to walk through upon recognition is to allow the person within the room to disallow entry.” Turning to the volunteer he nodded, “Thank you for your assistance I believe that displayed it appropriately.” Lenore closed the door once more.

Turning back to the judges he waited for the questions or dismissals that may follow. He had done his part now he had to await their decision.

[Mirage]

The nuit who stood to volunteer his services was a rather unassuming one. Long grayish green hair was falling out in matted clumps as his body was in a clear state of disrepair. He was more corpse than any of the other judges, but he seemed right at home in the decay and rot. As he tried to door and it did not yield he would scowl, and remain standing and he observed the door more closely.

The nuit on the end, a well dressed man, sat back in an easy manner. He seemed more interested in a loose thread in his robe which he glared at as if it posed a personal insult to his character, "Well now this is all well and good that it will open just for the one person... but what if someone were to, say, attack it with a hatchet? Does it also deflect blows and magic aimed to force entry?"

The nuit volunteer was still staring at the creation, one hand now carefully brushing across its surface as he whispered softly under his breath. He tried to open the door once more, but it did not budge as was expected.

"The mirrors... From what I can tell the golem is confused by what it is supposed to do with them." A nuit girl, but surely she was no girl, kicked her feet under the judges table as she adjusted herself so that she could lean forward and squint at the creation, "Was there a mistake in it's creation?"

"The directives are poorly devised." The nuit who still studied the door said, not looking up, "It looks as if directives were put in that are confusing to the golem. This makes it doubt the rest of its directives, causing issues with the rest of the creation." He patted the door softly and closed his eyes, mumbling under his breath. Then, suddenly, the door opened without command and without the sign given by Lenore himself. Opening his eyes the nuit looked at Lenore, "I have redone your directives to eliminate the confusion they were causing." He snapped his fingers, and the door closed once more on its own.

"It seems to me that if this 'potential' apprentice cannot get even the simplest golem to work as he intended, he is undeserving of our time or our patience." The nuit on the end looked up from his book, and while the words were harsh they were said in a cold, matter of fact way.

"What have you to say Lenore?" the girl judge said, sitting back and folding her hands in her lap. The volunteer judge at this time returned to his seat, absently pulling off a bit of rotting flesh and flicking it aside.

[Lenore]

Lenore waited quietly, as respectfully as he waited for orders from the master who made him. When the first question came, it was easy for the boy to answer. Such ease would not last. “Against a hatchet or magic it has no proof. Its defense is only against subtle entry, not overt. It is not within my skill as an animator to create golems so intelligent they may perform magic, and magic is the only way to stop such aggressive entry without advanced materials. At least, so I believe. My research has not led me to work against magical tampering, I will consider this in the future. The criticism is entirely valid.”

As the young girl spoke, Lenore nodded. “Yes I was too ambitious I think. While it functions at nearly full capacity I attempted to teach it an ability that is beyond the nature of mirrors. I had wished to see the person seeking entrance not just use the mirror for recognition of myself and the glyph. It was at odds with the nature of the ocular organs.”

As the volunteering judge proclaimed his correction of the directives Lenore took a step back. Black-rimmed eyes widened behind his spectacles, and as the nuit return to his seat Lenore did the best he could to give him safe berth. Any creature that can do the theoretically impossible and reconfigure a golems directives was one that Lenore felt it pertinent to avoid. So he did his best not to correct the volunteering judge; the flaw had not lain with the directives but the teaching Lenore had provided it. He also did not mention that the door’s recognition of this man seemingly broke its original directives, he didn’t care. The researcher wasn’t sure he wanted that man’s extended attention even if he was as skilled in animation as his demonstration implied. It was a gamble that the nuit wasn’t yet ready to commit to.

“The automaton’s persona and its desire to follow the directives are what cause this problem. As for this being the ‘simplest golem’ I must disagree.” The boy turned to this Nuit at the end, “It is not by any means a simple task to teach a golem perception, it is not a novitiate’s skill to do so. Recognition of a person and a glyph are skills which not only require the automaton to use memory but intelligence. These are not the abilities a ‘simple’ golem possesses.” Even Lenore felt some abashment at disagreeing with a judge, he should have kept his mouth in check but the error his assumptions dripped with was beyond the animator’s ability to ignore.

“Animation may not be as spectacular to behold as Voiding or Reimancy or any other offensive magic, but it requires care and time far beyond the obvious effects of the labor. It is not a skill independent like several others, it requires supporting abilities to create and maintain …” Lenore watched as the strip of skin was pulled free and tossed, “...the vessel.” He returned to look at the female Nuit, very carefully not looking at the judge which had volunteered. “Skills which I possess and displayed in its creation, I would ask you to take that into your considerations.”

[Mirage]

The man with the book looked as if he wanted to say something, but glancing sideways at the Volunteer who chuckled in amusement he harumphed under his breath and sat back in his chair once more, opening his book with full intentions to ignore the rest of the Judgement.

The girl hid her own smile as she looked at the man burying his nose in the book before looking back at Lenore, "Your words are duly noted. They will be considered in your Judgement."

The deliberations which came were short and ended when the volunteer slapped his hand on the table with a dramatic air as he looked between his fellow judges, "You keep coming back to the same points over and over again when we already know what we shall be doing. Send him to the Doorman. He has been badgering me for a new apprentice for a season now, and I'll have him off my back with this one." He waved a hand at Lenore without looking at him, "Maybe he can drill some sense into this one's skull on the proper way to craft a gatekeeper golem."

"I agree." the girl said, already scratching out a note on a piece of parchment, motioning for Lenore to come forward, "Deliver this to Wizard Tellerwak in Lab 25-B in the Gug Andjak. You shall complete your apprenticeship under his guidance. I suggest you perfect your work while you are there." She folded the letter and sealed it in black wax, pressing her ring into it and waving it to let it finish cooling, "This letter will allow you to pass below the ground level of the Gug Andjak, but a ring will be given to you so that you may come and go freely. Be off no. Your creation will be delivered later this evening."

And with that the Judgement was over. Lenore was given his new lab where he was to present himself to a new Master. His life as an Apprentice was about to begin.

[Lenore]

Lenore waited with Nuitish posture, never moving, blinking, or breathing. Like his body had gone inert he just stopped while they deliberated. In truth, his mind was already filtering through options regarding improving the door’s defensive capabilities. Not this door perse, but another door certainly. He didn’t know enough about the other magics to really know what would effectively be incorporated into the design. It wasn’t until ‘doorman’ was mentioned that Lenore looked up, only to realize they had come to a consensus.

He stepped forward to accept the scroll. “Thank you,” He intoned as he gave that archaic bow once again to the judges and shuffled off as fast a Nuit could. Until he left the chamber the bewilderment hadn’t yet set in, he had lectured a judge and they still accepted him? He wouldn’t be questioning it out loud.

Drawing into the cloisters of the Gug Adjak, Lenore mulled over the information he had. His new master was named Wizard Tellerwak, on the twenty-fifth floor. It was much lower than he had been during the door’s creation. When prompted he showed the parchment the female judge had given him. When he came to the door for Lab-25B he found it already open. Cautiously the boy Nuit with his foppish blond mop of hair and ragged worn black robes stepped through.

Unsure what he would find the new apprentice adjusted his ineffective bronze spectacles and took in the room. It was sparse, a desk and two chairs and no wizard. With his sealed note still pinched between his fingers he moved forward. He gave the large book a stray glance before heading through the next door. Presumably if the book was meant to be looked at by Apprentices he would have time in the future.

If the first two doors had been a simple matter of picking the only option, that was certainly no longer the case. Lenore looked over the room in confusion, wondering if any of the doors were actual pathways or if they were like his own project; animations.