Ghost Trials (Clyde)

[Nivel]

23 Day of Winter, 515 AV

It had been a while since Nivel had dealt with the horrifying consequences of her over givinging and the nightmares that had given her restless nights had all but dwindled to nothing. The tiny mage had convinced herself she was ready to start her training once more with a solemn vow to never let it over power her again. The monstrous tails that randomly snapped their clay teeth at strangers would now serve as a constant reminder to keep this vow. She certainly didn’t want to lose control of any other part of her body, even if she was starting to like them. In the days since the event she had somewhat tamed them and given them names. The tail on the right was Oglaba and the right tail was Dinky. They didn’t show any sign of individuality but Nivel couldn’t help forcing personas on them. Dinky was the childish one with a penchant to getting in trouble and Oglaba was the responsible and uptight intellectual. Whether it be a coping mechanism or just plain ridiculousness it helped the pycon deal with her change.

Nivel wriggled out of the leather boot she now slept in and carefully slipped through the small crease beneath the wooden door. The pycon casually walked down the dimly lit hallways and imagined Oglaba observing and studying her surrounding as she went. Some young squires walked past, too entrenched in conversation to notice the tiny pycon on the ground beside them. They spoke of a ghost knight that occasionally visited the Stone garden to test members of the order. While this wasn’t the first time Nivel had heard of these rumours it definitely gave her ideas of how to spend the rest of her day after her training was concluded. She would train for a short while and then if she didn’t feel too awful after ward she would do some investigating.

After some lengthily travel on her tiny feet the Pycon was in front of the intimidating doors that seemed to stretch into the sky, Or at least they did from Nivel’s perspective. She slipped under the obstruction of worn iron and into the desolate looking room that was the Inner Sanctum. She scanned the area and listened carefully for any sign of life but found none. It seemed like the pycon had finally come on a day that no one wanted to practice magic. The social pycon was a bit disappointed but quickly realized the benefits of working in solitude, especially for what she need to accomplish.

She pulled herself onto a charred counter by stretching her arm out into a makeshift grappling hook. Nivel sat on the dusty surface cross legged and begin to breath deeply in and out of her air cavity. She imagined herself plucking the weeds of self doubt and fear from her nexus garden so their tainted roots could no longer strangle the ideas she wanted to thrive and grow.

Once achieving relaxation, she focused only on the feeling of protection and what it represented to her. When she had the answer clear in her mind she blew and strands of shield came out. Going on her earlier training with Sera Grey she started to weave and tangle the threads into a dense blanket that could cover her. One loop into the next loop and into the next loop, until finished. it was a process that took much longer than crafting a shield should take but the result was a much more durable shield and for a novice this was always a struggle.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Clyde Sullins]

23 Winter 515

Clyde slowly made his way through Syliras, Cha in hand. He wasn't completely familiar with where he was going, so he ended up taking a wrong turn or two, but in the end he made it to his destination.

He didn't go out and mingle with the common folk as often as most, but he had heard in passing that there was an old magic lab not actively being used. Apparently it had protections laid down on it, and had been set aside as a place for mages to practice.

Considering it was Syliras this seemed a bit odd, and Clyde imagined that the knighthood kept close tabs on those who entered and on what they did there.

But Clyde also figured it was a chance to meet more of the local mages, and to perhaps extend his influence among them.

He wouldn't be using any magic that might bring the attention of the knighthood, which at this point meant most of his personal magics. He'd so far kept them from knowing about his offensive magics, and wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.

That ruled out Reimancy, Voiding, and probably Morphing of his personal magics. However his Auristics and Shielding likely wouldn't be an issue, both being more or less passive or in the case of one defensive. And with Auristics he'd be unlikely to be noticed by anyone less skilled than he.

His skills in Shielding were rather pitiful, and so it would likely make sense to an outward observer that he'd want to go and train it.

Along with that he also wanted to check out the defenses on the lab. If it was meant to keep the lab safe from magic users, then magic had to be in use to do so. Perhaps Clyde could learn something by examining the place.

As Clyde neared the door he felt the slight sizzle of djed on his fingertip, running along his aura and down his spine. Clyde as a mage had a keen awareness of djed. In order to use personal magic one first had to learn how to access and wield ones own internal djed, something not always easy for new mages.

It was why the first magic one learned was the trickiest. And it was why the ones to come after were easier. Once you learned how to access and wield your own personal djed in one way, knew how to reach it and feel it within yourself, it was more straightforward to understand how to use another. You still had to learn how to use the magic, but that first application of use was reached much easier when one wasn't trying to simultaneously find their own djed, and also figuring out the particular djed manipulation.

Of course his awareness wasn't solely caused by his being a mage, it was also because he was a powerful Aurist.

Active uses of djed tended to hum on the air, and buzz across the peripheries of his aura like a finger stroked softly down ones spine.

Opening the door softly, Clyde headed inside, his eyes roving about.

The first thing he noticed was the wardings in the room. They didn't act alone, and were connected to various devices. Reaching out with his aura he felt them, and saw their strength. Clearly they were magical items, not just mundane ones by the strength of their aura. Perhaps works of Magecrafting, but he supposed they could also be other things.

It seemed a bit odd, connecting Glyphing and magical items, but he supposed for the desired effect to be spread across the room it would be needed.

It was another moment before Clyde noticed that there was someone in the lab, easy to miss due to their small size. Clyde turned his head, focusing an extension of his aura into a cord and willing it outward. The small bit of djed in the room from some active use of magic seemed to be coming from that direction, so more likely than not this tiny person was the source. A pycon, yet another of the clay people Clyde had met since coming to Syliras.

Waving Cha Clyde smiled and greeted the person.

“Hello. Here to practice? Doing anything interesting?”

As he spoke he willed the slender cord of aura outward, slowly and stealthily reaching toward the pycon. He used all of the finesse he had, and slowly snaked it into the peripheries of his aura, like a drop of color being spilled into a cup of water.

Once he got that initial purchase he would slowly branch out and deepen his examination of the aura.

[Nivel]

The tension of the strands was weak at best and would barely constitute a solid barrier, Nivel would have to practice crocheting if she wanted her technique to be truly useful. she weaved her strands through the loose loops of sheild she had already made to straighten them even further. The starts of her shield were already fading but she had only covered her head and upper torso, she would have to spend up the process.

Nivel had heard the door open but was too entrenched in meditation to pay it much attention. It wasn’t until she heard the voice of a Tall Folk that her mind was pulled back to the present.
“Oh..Hello” The startled pycon replied “I was just practicing my shielding magic, I’m weaving and the strands of shield to make them stronger, but it might be a futile effort at my skill level.”
As frustrating at it might be to lose her concentration she would never turn down company.
“What brings you to the Inner Sanctum friend?” She fluttered her wings delicately to show her interest. Ooglaba and Dinky however, glared at the new comer with their soul less eyes and snapped there jaws in his direction.
“Hey calm down you two” Nivel commanded with a light tap to both of their heads. “Sorry they don’t like strangers” the two snake like limbs seemed to relax a bit but sill eyed the Tall Folk relentlessly.

The pycon wasn’t even slightly aware that her aura was being penetrated by the other mage, she had some skill but not enough to compete with a master in the art. Anything the mage wanted to know about her would be open for him to explore thought Nivel didn’t really have much to hide.

Since Nivel suspected she was talking to a fellow mage she was curious of what she could find out about him. Mage auras were always the most interesting ones to explore and she didn’t think he would mind.
“Sorry if this comes off as rude.. but could I possibly read your Aura” Nivel requested as sincerely as she could.
“Oh I should introduce myself first” She seemed a bit flustered at her lack of proper etiquette, her curiosity often overdid her Knightly traits.
“My Name is Nivel a Humble Mage of the order” She nodded her head in respect “What might your name be?”

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Clyde Sullins]

Continuing on with the mental image of a cord, Clyde imagined his aura probe as a twined cord of strings. As the extension of his aura graced the edge of the pycon's aura he let the cord unwind, the strings splaying out and searching in every direction.

As he did he felt and saw some hot shimmers, the areas where the djed was more actively currently being used.

Considering the magic was spread over his skin, and not in it or in any visible way the options of what magic the pycon might be using were limited.

The most obvious from the ones he could use was morphing, as he might be altering his skin itself, or shielding, placing a shield over his flesh by weaving djed.

Before Clyde had time to consider this further though the pycon admitted they were using Shielding. Clyde nodded, still smiling, noting the fact he'd revealed. The fact that he'd revealed it and not kept it hidden in and of itself told him some things which might be of use later. If nothing else it meant the pycon was honest, or at least didn't feel a need currently to lie.

Or perhaps it simply meant he was choosing to tell the truth now as it was easy, but didn't mean he was honest and wouldn't lie later. It was often hard to tell in Clyde's experience which type of person one was dealing with.

Clyde himself wanted to practice shielding, and had a good way of doing it. As he had a Magic Staff he could flow the magic through the djed conduit as easily as his own body. However he'd not yet attempted to use Shielding with Cha, and so would need to learn how to use the particular magic with the particular Magic Staff. He'd learned how to do morphing, reimancy, and voiding, and could now with no more difficulty than normal use the magic through Cha, but he'd have no such ease now on is first attempt through her.

However Clyde was a bit surprised when the pycon asked him for permission to read his aura. He knew when others attempted Auristics on him, could feel the intrusive djed, and so knew the pycon hadn't tried yet. However now he'd asked permission first, before even trying it. Perhaps he'd done this in his own defense, in case Clyde could detect such a thing and might be offended... Or perhaps he'd done it because he genuinely wanted permission and didn't want to be rude...

Either way, Clyde made a point of making a face at the pycon, not one of anger at the question but a small grimace of pain.

“Ah, quite a few questions. In order I suppose, I am here to see other mages and perhaps train. As for if you can read my aura, I've no idea, I suppose it would depend on if you had any skills or abilities which allowed you to do so, but I'm afraid I'm unaware of your capabilities so I can't say if you CAN. My name is Clyde. Clyde Sullins. I work with the order also.”

Clyde made a point of saying he worked with the order, and not that he worked for them or was of them. Which was true enough technically. He wasn't a knight, didn't serve them, but instead worked more as a consultant making items with their aid and direction for them. Nothing he'd said was untrue. However the next thing he said was while technically true, leaning a bit more into a gray area of truth and falsity.

If nothing else it was misleading, and was spoken with the intent to make the pycon make certain incorrect assumptions.

“As for the question I believe you intended to make, but never did, yes you may look at my aura. However you should know... Well, when I was young, I was attacked by a mage, and magic was used on me. Certain... Things happened. As you can imagine, the effects of an unknown mage using magic on you can be... Unpredictable. So bear that in mind.”

Clyde said this of course to lead him to believe that if he did see something odd in the aura, it was as a result of this magic used on him. However in saying it as he did he left certain facts vague. Along with that as he'd played on his feelings of pain about the subject, it seemed likely to Clyde that the pycon wouldn't want to press further on a subject that Clyde clearly didn't like to speak on. Of course while this was Clyde's intent this didn't mean his attempt at maneuvering the conversation as he desired would work. Particularly if he'd misread the person he was dealing with.

Clyde slowed the focus of his aura sight on the pycon named Nivel, instead focusing on his own aura. Sending a ripple of djed outward from Cha along his own aura, Clyde pictured the djed ripple as water, and his aura as dirt. The water loosened the dirt, softened it, making mud which was malleable and could be shaped.

Focusing on the aura he willed it into the shape he desired. First he focused on his own djed, the djed remnants and other such indicators of magic use and stripped them away leaving only a dim trace behind. If the pycon did sense the djed remnants on him from his past personal magic usage, and did look for that particular thing, he'd only find minute traces.

Next he grasped the physical sight of his body, taking the sight of his clothes and outerwear and removing them. In his place he left a layer of fuzz, like a short layer of hair. He passed two more ripples over this layer of his aura, till there was a good inch thick mat of thick dark hair covering his flesh, and all traces of his clothing were stripped away.

Now if the pycon tried to look at his physical form with his aura sense he'd see this instead.

With this done he'd focus a small bit of himself on keeping the altered aura in place. Another part of him would go back to the strings of aura extensions focused on the pycon, and attempt to dig in deeper within the aura. First he'd focus on detecting what he'd messed with on his own aura, the djed remnants of other signs of personal magic usage.

At first this usually showed in general, showing brighter for those who had used more magic than those who'd not at all. In time and with more focus he'd see more clearly, and would often see hotspots, seeing which areas where djed had been issued forth were done so more densely.

This tended to depend on the magic. Fluxers for instance tended to be brighter in limbs where they enhanced themselves, while Reimancers were often brightest in the palms of their hands and their mouth where exuding res was most common.

[Nivel]

Nivel wasn’t the most adept at human facial expressions but she could tell by the tall folks scrunched up face that he was upset about something she had said. When he spoke, it became a more apparent that the man might not like being asked too many questions. It was understandable but but it was what Nivel loved to do. She would just have to only ask things that were necessary and not get carried away.

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that Sir Clyde” Nivel's wings and head went slightly limp with sympathy after hearing the fellow knights misfortune. “If you’re sure it’s alright to look I do have the skill to do so.” Hesitation set into her nexus but her she still felt compelled to look. Her curiosity was talking hold and she couldn’t fight it.
She focused her mind on his aura and was immediately surprised to see a think layer of hair instead of clothing. She knew he was wearing clothes but all she felt was soft fur like her Zith friend Treachie. She untethered herself from his aura and stared at him for a moment.
“Was the mage that…nevermind” Nivel quickly stopped herself. She didn’t want to ask him anything that might be painful to answer.
She took a quick glance at his aura again to see if she could find any traces of magic, but she only found minuscule residue of glowing djed on his aura. Going by what she had collected, he wasn’t a particularly experienced mage. Probably ether a knight who dabbled a bit in magic or a mage squire in need of training.
“Hrm I can’t really tell what magic you use but I can tell that you are fairly new to the art”

“Speaking of which, what are you hoping to train today?” The pycon tried to hold in her enthusiasm and come off more casual especially after hearing about the mans personal history with magic but her mannerisms gave her away. She practically bounced in her sitting position as she waited to hear what kind of magic he was capable of. What she didn’t realize was that given the nature of her question he didn’t have to give her much information at all.

As Clyde looked through Nivel’s Aura he would see clear indication of Djed use in her legs, leaving little doubt of her interest in flux. Her tiny hands would also glow since she used them as conduits for Res production. Her mouth would be the most active since she had just used it to blow out her shield. Finally Her tails would have an odd distortion which would indicate some over giving may have occurred at some time or another. How the over giving occurred would be fairly ambiguous.

The only other odd thing he might discover about Nivel physically would be that she had traces of emerald shards mixed into her dense clay mass.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde shook his head at hearing himself be called Sir Sullins. Clearly he hadn't made himself clear in his prior wording, and made the pycon think he was a direct member of the order. He did his best to make himself clear, though without specifically mentioning what he did.

“Ah, no I'm not a knight nor squire. I said I work with the order, not for or of them. I'm more of a... Consultant perhaps would be the right word. I have a specific rare skill that they find of use, and so I use that skill for them, making things for them. But I'm not a member.”

As Clyde felt the pycon reach out with her own aura sense to experience Clyde's aura, he had to fight from letting a smile show. He could only imagine what the clay person was thinking as he saw the false impressions Clyde had left.

If nothing else he'd come to certain planned assumptions due to what he saw, but more importantly he'd think him to be a weak personal mage. That was of course part of his plan, as he didn't want to outright lie on the off chance his other skills were found out, but he also didn't want it known just then that he was a powerful personal mage.

He doubted the pycon would feel a need to report anything, since he'd not see anything dangerous in Clyde or his skills.

Jumping on his statement about his djed, Clyde nodded and responded in a way that was true enough.

“Yes, I'm here to train my Shielding. I'll admit as you said I'm rather new at it. I've only successfully used it a few times. But I'm hoping to get a bit better at it.”

After Clyde spoke he felt Cha in his hand, and the oddity of something suddenly struck him. He'd not thought to suppress or alter Cha's aura, and she was a rather potent item of Magecrafting. Even an unskilled aurist as this pycon should have noted her magical nature, and seen that it was far more powerful than a staff should have been, being a Magic Staff and a decently high level one at that.

Perhaps, Clyde reasoned to himself, the pycon had been so focused on his aura that he'd not seen the staffs, but it seemed odd to him. However he didn't want to alter it now, for fear that he'd notice the change. Of course Clyde wasn't fully sure of how he'd do that, as he'd never changed another items aura, only his own. But as he thought on it, he assumed it should be possible.

Clyde kept a bit of his focus on keeping his false aura in place, though it was not unduly straining since he'd done the hard work of shifting it already. Now he was just holding it, which was about as distracting to hold at his skill as a fly buzzing near his ear.

The greater bit of his focus was digging into the pycon and their aura.

Along with hearing the almost buzz of excitement coming off of her, her djed remnants also resolved into his sight. As he'd expected she was a personal mage, and he could see various deposits of varying densities upon her. The main focus seemed to be along the legs, in the hands, and in the throat and mouth. He also noted a small off smell to her tails, a smell which reminded Clyde of the stink of burnt wood only more acrid. It wasn't the physical tail itself, but the odor hung about them.

He wasn't sure what the smell meant, as he'd never sensed something like that before, at least not in the same way.

The thickest layer of djed remnants laid upon the legs, clearly the most practiced magic. The hands and mouth were more similarly coated in a thin layer of djed remnants, however some of the bits on her mouth shone more brightly as they were fresh. It was then Clyde noted with both his mundane and magical sight that she had a shield over part of her body.

Of course Clyde wasn't well versed enough in shielding to know that this meant he was a slightly stronger Shielder than the pycon, which was why said shield created by the clay person was visible. It was only a slight difference though, and they were almost of the same skill in the magic.

Having seen what he'd needed he pulled back his focus on the pycon's aura, letting it fade away into the background. If he was to use shielding, he'd need almost all of his focus.

“What magics do you practice, if you don't mind me asking? Perhaps I've heard of them.”

[Nivel]

“oh…what do you do for the order then?” Many people were associated with the order without actually being knights but Nivel rarely considered this. The first thing that popped into her mind was black smith or maybe some kind of advisor.
Nivel had noticed that the staff Clyde carried was a magical item now that she was more aware of her surroundings. she didn’t think much of it since she had ran into a few people in the inner sanctum with objects of varying degrees of magical potency, But it was definitely stronger than most of the items she had come across. It finally hit her that Clyde must be a mage crafter, The knights certainly would benefit from having magically enhanced items form time to time.

“Did you make that staff?” Nivel asked as she pointed to it. “Is that what you provide to the knights” The pycon enjoyed the mystery surrounding Clyde and didn’t want to out right ask him if he was a mage crafter, it was simply more fun that way. They pcyon figured if he told her that
he did indeed make his staff that she would know he was a mage crafter without him telling her.

She looked into the staff to analyze it’s capabilities and was over whelmed at first. Physically it was unmistakably wood but felt far denser than wood should be, The pycon was impressed but failed to fully comprehend just how durable it really was. She couldn’t get much else out of it other than it felt damp despite looking perfectly dry and their was a faint feeling of darkness or emptiness with in but she wasn’t sure what that meant.
“It looks well made, what kind of wood is it made from?” Nivel unsevered her nexus from the aura and practically crawled along the counter to get a better look at the object.


“Oh wonderful we can learn together” Nivel quickly rose up to rest on her knees to clap, but lost her balance a bit and fell back to being on all fours. She crawled along the counter until she was more in the middle and pointed to the free space on it’s surface.
“Come sit with me and lets meditate together.”
Shielding was much more of a solitary magic but it still felt comforting to know that another soul was next to her doing the same thing she was. Before getting into position however she felt she should answer his last question.
Well I know Autistics and flux, those are the magic’s I have the most experience in but I also know a bit of Reimancy and Shielding of corse.” Nivel counted them out with her fingers as she talked so that she didn’t miss one of them. “Let me guess yours” She said quickly before he could make a response "Um...Reimancy?" She had no way of truly knowing but considering it was a common practice to learn shielding before reimancy it was a pretty good guess.

She wanted for his answer and then folded her legs and relaxed her nexus once more. The shield she was working on had almost all but faded away in the short time she had been talking, She did her best to revive it but quickly realized it would be best to start over. She concurred more strands and continued to weave them over her body this time almost like tangled spider web so that she could get quicker coverage. She would then weave through the circular net she had made until it was more and more secure.

“Do you have any plans Si- uh I mean Clyde?” Nivel piped up when she felt she had made enough progress with her shielding for one day “I’ve heard rumours of a ghost knight and would like to see if they are true, would you be interested in accompanying me?"

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde kept himself from smiling as he faced question after question. At the moment he seemed in more of a defensive position, mainly answering questions posed to him without asking many of his own in turn. Nivel on the other hand was asking question after question, attempting to pry into his soul.

Something he'd had about enough of. But then, he couldn't outright say so, not without bringing notice to the fact that he wanted to keep things secrets. Which only left him one option, verbal subterfuge. He didn't want to lie to the knightling, particularly since they might have some modicum of use and a lie might come around to hurt him later.

But that didn't mean he had to tell the whole truth. Clyde would then have to answer in such a way that he seemed to answer, without truly giving anything away nor lying. A tricky thing.

Clyde held up Cha and shook his head, a small almost smile on his lips.

“Ah, if only I could craft such a thing as this. No, a craftsman far more skilled than I made this. I found the wood itself, and brought it to him, but he took the raw wood, more of a branch really, and brought out the staff you see before you hidden within.”

This was of course true, as he hadn't been the one to carve and make the staff, but neither did it technically answer what Clyde knew Nivel was really asking. However, from the way he said it his words could be construed as him saying another made and enchanted it, even though technically he hadn't said so.

“As for the wood, its made of that of the Vian tree, found on Mura. I walked on the Konti Isle, and with the help of one of them found a fresh fallen branch, which in the end became the staff you see.”

The pycon seemed to rush from one topic to another. No sooner had he admitted he practiced Shielding and that the two of them could work it together, he rushed on to speak of other magics within his ability.

He'd been trying to shift his mental focus to one of calm that allowed shielding, but Nivel didn't seem to consider the need to give him a proper chance to do so.

Auristics and flux. He'd been fairly certain he was an aurist, from experiencing his unsubtle reach and inspection. As for flux, he knew a bit of it, but had only considered it a possibility in looking at the clay person. He was glad to know it for sure.

Reimancy and Shielding. Reimancy was of course a magic he knew all too well, though from his words he implied he wasn't very skilled at it, nor at shielding. Four magics though, all personal magics, was quite a few for the average magic user. As none of them were properly trained, it seemed to make Nivel less professional and more of a dabbler instead of a proper mage as Clyde was. He knew many magics, but had several he'd focused on and mastered along with the ones he was lesser in.

Auristics, flux, shielding, and reimancy, all but one of which Clyde practiced.

In response to her question on if he practiced Reimancy, Clyde shook his head in the negative.

“No, I don't practice Reimancy.”

This was of course true, as Clyde had long since passed the point of needing to practice the magic. He felt no falseness in his statement, as he didn't practice it, he only used it. Practicing in his mind meant training, meant one was unskilled, which was not something he thought of in regards to his Reimancy. He also then didn't practice Glyphing, Auristics, or Magecrafting. Clyde found it useful to use words such as this, practice, as they had more than one meaning.

“I would however like to work together on shielding, as you offered. Although I do wonder how you came to learn so many different magics.”

As Nivel began to work on her shielding, Clyde attempted to calm his mind and focus on his djed. He pictured Cha in his mind among a backdrop of emptiness and blank void. Focusing on the one image, the object he planned to shield, he tried to will his djed to rise and flow out of him, flow out as shielding material.

He slowed his breathing, taking in a deep breath, holding it, and then slowly letting it out. He repeated this, finding his center and focusing on the djed shining within his body. Finally after his work of concentration he felt a shifting, and mentally willed the shielding stuff to exit his body. As he exhaled a tiny wisp of the shielding stuff was carried out on his breath, a bright silver gas.

However his concentration was broken as Nivel asked him a question once more, and tore him away from the image of Cha in his mind. As his concentration wavered the tiny spurt of shielding material broke and withered, and quickly withdrew back within his body.

Aggravated that he'd been distracted into failing his attempt at shielding when he'd finally managed to make tangible progress, he cursed quietly under his breath.

“Petch....”

Clyde turned to meet the eyes of the pycon, some annoyance showing on his face though not anger.

“What? Nivel... Can we focus on this task for now? We've only just started, and I've not made any progress. We can feed the spirits later.”

He was annoyed enough with his more or less failure, and focused so on both attempting shielding and his background work of holding his distorted aura, that he didn't consider that his words might mean a bit more than he meant them to. If of course the Pycon knew of Spiritists, and of how they made soulmist to feed ghosts. If he did, Clyde's words might hint at something Clyde had not yet revealed.

If the pycon however didn't know of spiritists, soulmist, or things related to that, then it likely wouldn't mean anything. Clyde himself hadn't known of such things until he himself became a spiritist, as such things wasn't common knowledge even amongst mages. But then, few things of particular branches of magic were known to non-practitioners.

He'd met quite a few mages who didn't know of varying magics, who for instance didn't know that Magecrafting was a particular branch of magic, nor that it didn't mean simply making or crafting something as a mage with magic, as one did with more or less any world magic. Such things were rarely known by ones who hadn't seen the particular magic at work, or who didn't practice it themselves.

[Nivel]

“Fascinating” The mesmerized pycon muttered in awe. The origins of Clyde’s magical staff peeked Nivel’s attention and brought up an even bigger tidal wave of questions. It took a lot of will power for the pycon not to assault the poor novice mage with her many inquires about the Vian trees, Mura, and about magic staffs in general but she felt she had already asked him enough and would have to look these things up on her own. Although after glossing the information in her mind, Mura sounded familiar to her and while she had ideas of it's origins in her mind she couldn’t be sure where she had heard of it. Nivel allowed herself to ask one solitary question, which would hopefully help her find the information she sought.
“is Mura the white city where the goddess of Avails reins?” Nivel asked hesitantly. She had only heard a bit about the goddess but knew very little about the area she lived in.

“Oh” The pycon said in defeat as she assumed she had guessed wrong. She knew that most mages focused on one magic discipline, with good reason but the presence of Clydes staff seemed to indicate that there was something he wasn’t telling her. It was hard for the pycon to believe that this man would have such a powerful staff if all he possessed was low level Shielding.

“Well, I was taught Autistics from my father so that I could learn faster, knowledge is considered sacred to pycons because it leads us on our journey to finding our final form. I leaned flux by reading his journals when he wasn’t looking, when he found out he taught me so I wouldn’t explode or accidentally injure anyone. When I joined the knights I was taught shielding in preparation for Reimancy, and I guess I was taught reimancy because my Patron though it would serve me well as a mage knight. I do my best to be responsible with my magic but I am finding it much more difficult juggling all three, I’m hoping it will become easier as I gain skill and knowledge.” Nivel explained to her new friend. The man did raise some questions that she would have to ask her patron. The pycon had been so interested in learning reimancy but now that she had, she wasn’t sure it was the wisest corse of action especially after what happened earlier in the season.

To the pycons delight, Clyde agreed to practice shielding with her. Although the two progressed through the process at different rates. Nivel had already meditated and gotten into the shielding mind set, Clyde had not. So while she though she was giving him plenty of time, her assumption was proven wrong with the Tall Folks justified outburst.
“Very sorry..” Nivel recoiled “….Please continue” she should have known better than to interrupt a mage deep in thought especially when she knew what he was trying to accomplish. Since she didn’t have working eye lids she often forgot they’re significance.

When Nivel calmed herself she noticed that Clyde had accidentally left a clue that solved one of her early inquiries about the Tall Folk. Nivel could only assume from Clyde’s verbal blunder that he made a habit of feeding ghosts, a common practice of Spiritism. She assessed that if he had a lot of knowledge and skill in the subject that it would explain the powerful staff and why he also didn’t have strong signs of magic use on his aura. She kept her little revelation to herself, to see what other things she could learn from him.

Waiting for him to be finish was boring, which was the worst fate imaginable for an inquisitive pycon. So while she had convinced herself only moments ago that she was done for the day she found herself meditating and focusing on her djed for shield weaving once more. It took her a little longer than before but she was able to take over where she had left off with only marginal difficulty.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde simply raised an eyebrow at NIvel's first question. White city, rules by Avalis?

“Who is Avalis?”

Clyde didn't tend to pay too much attention to other deities, and had enough trouble remembering those that people had spent time in depth explaining. He had met konti with marks in both healing and divination, but hadn't gone in depth as to who the god was that gave them. And when he'd met the seer it had been right before the djed storm of 512 occurred, and so he'd been a bit preoccupied from speaking about anything but his groups impending doom.

He listened with more interest as Nivel explained her magic roots. She also seemed a bit uncertain on several points of magic, and seemed to desire guidance.

However now he needed to shield. Closing his eyes once more, Clyde focused his mind on Cha, picturing her in a void of emptiness. He slowed his breathing, letting his mind be free of distractions, something that was much easier without a Pycon badgering him.

He slowed his breathing, letting one hand rest on Cha holding her, while the other one slowly rubbed in circles up and down her length. He let the motion guide him, root him to Cha, focusing to the exclusion of all else.

After a chime or two of this he felt the shielding djed within him shift, and he leaned down to breath it out. On each exhale a bit more of the bright silvery stuff came out, a gas, floating over Cha.

Once he had enough to coat about a third of her length, he opened his eyes and stared.

Letting his circular motion act as a focus, he pictured the gas hardening and stiffening, like a wall instead of mist. The shielding material slowly moved about as his hand circled, this way and that, as he focused on tasking the material in the simplest djed blocking intent.

It took another few chimes of this before he felt the shield was somewhat solid, and seemed to cling to the part of Cha's surface it covered like a sheath on a sword.

Clyde kept at it for another chime, willing it to harden that last bit more, to last, before he felt he was done.

Once he was done with his shielding, Clyde turned to Nivel and made a note in relation to her discussion of magic and her issues and uncertainties.

“Actually, I spent some time on Sahova. I studied and met quite a few mages, some of which were Reimancer's. And I wrote a book about Reimancy, about what I had learned at the time of the book's writing. Its more about theory, not fireballs and such, but could be of use to a Reimancer I imagine.”

He carefully wasn't too specific about the books contents, or how he'd learned what he'd written in it in truth, though nothing he had said was false. He also didn't offer for the pycon to read it, though did insinuate that it would be useful to her if she did.

He'd let her make her own attempt at trying to gain the contents of the book.