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[Amber Brightwing]

She listened to her master as he explained the Reshape Mana technique to her. She already had a good idea what was possible with it though. It was one of those advantages of being raised in a magic oriented society. And as such she had indeed already thought about what could be done with her limited spell list.

Even though she had yet to come up with a useful combination of two spells she already knew, she did have a pretty good idea for a reshaped spell using just one out of her repertoire and only altering that one. It might be even easier to reshape it, considering that there was only very little that would need to be changed.

If I may master, I would like to try out something a bit different. I would like to try and reshape just a single spell instead. It wouldn’t be more then casting something in a slightly different way, but it would be with a completely different purpose. That is, if it works as I envisioned it of course. But if not I’ll try to come up with a spell that combines two elements of two different spells.

If she was granted her request, then she would start descending into Clara. The altered spell of choice would be Spirit Shield. Being small had lots of disadvantages and nearly all of them were because everything was made for humans. As such even a mundane task of refilling a jar at work was an unwieldy job most of the times. As a result the idea of finding an arcanic solution had been going through her head for quite some time now. The solution she had come up with was based on the simple assumption that if the Spirit Shield could stop physical objects, it could also be used to lift them.

Therefore she would use Divination to make a mental link with nearby spirits and instead of ordering them to form a shield around her, she would try to have them to from a humanoid shape. It would be about the same height as an average human, a simple ball for a head, arms and hands, legs and feet. Nothing too flashy, just something that worked would be great for now.

If not allowed, she would keep the spell for some other time and start thinking of throwing together two initiate spells to achieve something semi-useful before trying to enter Clara.


OOC: This is mostly a spell from a practical every-day-life point of view. Move things, open doors, stuff like that. Basically Spirit Shield cast next to me instead of around (so the aim is to have this as initiate spell).
Spell:

Spirit Puppet

Duration: Instant
Targets: Single – Other
Range: Close Proximity

As with the Spirit Shield, the mage calls upon the life energy of nearby spirits, but instead of letting them form a field around the caster they are gathered to serve as if they were an invisible marionette with strings connected to the Necromancer’s mind. Just like a marionette, they need the caster’s attention and guidance for every move or changing of shape that is done. As the Spirit Shield they can withstand some physical damage.
Shaping: Mage uses Divination to make a mental link with nearby spirits and commands them to from a certain shape.

[Mevius]

In theory Amber was correct, reshaping single spells was certainly possible. Aribeal usually suggested starting with two initiate spells as it was easier to imagine for an apprentice. His little apprentice was skillful and ambitious; he wondered what she had in mind. The master necromancer made a gesture in which he gave his approval. Caressing the fin under his chin the merman watched Amber with interest.

The first stage of the faery’s planned idea was simple. Amber reached Clara quite fast and casting Spirit Shield was not a problem. The tricky part would be to force the spirits into following her commands through Divination. Since there were so many it took some time to order and arrange all spirits to form a shape vaguely resembling a humanoid. There was a body, two arms, one leg and a little stump as head.

Then everything went wrong. Amber lost her concentration for but a moment, but it was enough. For a moment the spirits were free from their bounds to the apprentice necromancer. As a hungry pack of wolves the spirits descended upon the faery. They surrounded Amber and twirled around her, blinding her. The spirits were much quicker than she was and about as large. With their sharp teeth and claws they shredded the faery's clothes, her flesh. Finally they could take revenge for all those times they were summoned to the Material Plane from their resting places, which was not a pleasant experience at all.



OOC: Interesting idea. I cannot allow the spell exactly as you propose but we’ll develop the concept further in this thread.

[Amber Brightwing]

All seemed to be going as she had planned. I took her a bit longer then expected to gather them all in a humanoid shape, but it seemed to be working as she wanted. That was until something suddenly went wrong. Her concentration diminished for just a moment and suddenly things went downhill fast. Too fast. So far things had gone rather smoothly as spell casting was concerned. Of course she knew that the spell could fail horribly, but she had never even expected the spell could blow up in her face like this. Instead she had thought that either nothing would happen or that it would end prematurely.

Help!

She lifted her arms in front of her head, trying to somehow protect it from the renegade spirits. If there was anything left from the mental link with them she would try to force them back, not caring where they would go as long as it was away from herself. If that didn’t work then all she could do was hoping they’d cease their assault before she was turned into a corpse. Of course, another option would be that her master would find the kindness in himself to interfere and save his apprentice, but since he had such an aversion to failure she wasn’t counting on that. Not that she wouldn’t be grateful if he surprised her by saving her after all.

[Mevius]

The spirits tore her apart. Amber raised her arms in front of her to protect her head, but this left other parts of her body with even less protection. Her wings were extremely vulnerable. The apprentice' connection with her Essence Plane was long gone. Even experienced Journeymen had trouble remaining in Clara after being physically harmed to the extend the faery was being hurt.

The torture by the spirits continued on. Ofcourse the fuel of mana which kept them to this plane would run out at a certain moment and pull them back to the Aeternian Plane, but what if they killed her before that time? An apprentice's Spirit Shield could easily last for a few minutes. A sense of doom creeped up on Amber. She might die.

But not this brightening. At one moment the spirits thwirled around her, at the other they were gone. She bled from multiple wounds all over her body. Her wings hung as two ragged sheaths from her back. Through the hairs which hung over her eyes, sticking to her tiny skull because of the blood she saw her master. The mer stood rigid behind the table with a solemn expression on his face. It spoke of neither anger nor pleasure. All it seemed to radiate was might; great power. She was his.

What had seemed like an eternity of pain was actually no more than a minute. Aribeal could have stepped in sooner ofcourse, but without pain there would be no lesson. "Cast Leach on Rejik." If she was unable to, she would bleed to death. He had helped her enough.

[Amber Brightwing]

Before she managed to get a grasp on the spirits again they were already cutting in her flesh, the pain quickly throwing her out of Clara. She fell to her knees and tried to make her as small as possible, but it was no use. Master Aribeal didn’t feel very helpful either today – which wasn’t entirely unexpected – so all she could do was sit there and wait for it to end, one way or an other.

It wasn’t long before all she could think of was the pain. For a short moment even death seemed better then slowly being cut to pieces. And then it stopped. She couldn’t tell if it had been the mer stepping in or just the spell running out. Although better, things were still far from good. The pain was still there, the blood wasn’t going to stop flowing by itself and she didn’t even dare to think of what had happened to her wings. When she looked up, Aribeal was as impassive as he had been a moment ago. It seemed like nothing bad had happened and all was running as it should. She would dare to disagree for once, she hadn’t felt as miserable in a long time.

It took a moment to decipher what he had said. Leach. Right, healing, just what she needed. Letting her head drop down again, still slumped on the table and not really in the mood to move much, she tried to reach Clara again. She had done it once when in pain, so why not again? Granted, last time it hadn’t been more then a small sting on her hand, but she would have to try regardless. So she attempted to ignore the pain, making it become irrelevant to what was happening and focus just on the Vis and Ara around her.

Once in Clara the hardest part should be over. From what she had been imparted, Leach seemed to be an advanced way of casting Drain Life. The difference seemed to be that instead of taking a single bite out of the opponents life force, Leach put a straw in it and drained it for a while. Thus she started with using Divination to create a link between the opponents life force and his own, followed by Abjuration to let it flow from the target into his own. If she had managed to get that far, then all that was left to do was cast it on Rejik and hopefully things would start to go a bit better after that.

[Mevius]

Pain itself was not detrimental to reach Clara. The shock of pain was, but when one got used to the pain it was merely another emotion to control; like anger or joy. Some necromancers even hurt themselves deliberately to ease their transition to the Astral Plane. Amber would get used to pain, as it entwined itself along the dark path she set herself upon.

Leach was another relatively easy spell, considering the faery knew the basics from the initiate Drain Life spell. After she established contact with Rejik, Amber could feel his life essence leave him and enter her. A rejuvinating feeling came over her. Wounds closed at a visible rate. Red bruises turned purple, then blue, faded into a yellow spot before assuming her natural skincolour. It was a pleasant feeling, albeit a little sickening at the same time. Like a rotten fruit, which still tasted sweeter than suger although you knew it would give you stomach aches later. It was addictive.

"Not too much, he is not fresh anymore." With a thought Aribeal dispelled the apprentice spell. All but the deepest gashes and most painful bruises were healed. She would still feel a little stiff, but nothing that would not pass with a few brightening's rest. "So..." came the master's questioning voice "what was it you wanted to attempt?"

[Amber Brightwing]

The pain was an obstacle, making it harder for her to release her grounding in the material plane and reach for the Essence Planes. Fortunately it proved not to be one that couldn’t be overcome and – slightly slower then the previous time – she slid into Clara.

The spell went off without a hitch and as she felt it’s the healing power on her body she knew she had a new favourite. Previously it had been Drain Life, because it seemed to stand for everything Faeries hated about necromancy, stealing the life from someone to heal yourself was bad enough, but when cast purely for ones own pleasure it was just so delightfully blasphemous to Faerie norms and values. Leach was all that, but then with the added pleasure of lasting longer and stealing more. Very addictive indeed.

And then the spell was cut off. Too bad, because if it had continued she was sure she would have healed almost completely. She looked at the rags hanging from her body (it was going to be a cold trip home), the bruises and cuts that had been left were glanced over (they’d heal just fine) and then she inspected her wings, looking over them and trying a short takeoff. Hopefully those would have survived well enough. Without them she would be a bird for the cat, and she was sure there were lots of interested cats in Vortex.

My attempt? Well, I had been thinking. Since the Spirit Shield spell is capable of withstanding blows, it should also be possible to support weight and such. So the idea was to instead of casting it around me to cast it next to me and create something I could use for to simplify some menial tasks that are difficult for one of my statue.

The mood for making new spells had been shredded by the previous failure, but it was quickly returning again. Already her mind was going over what went wrong. Too little control. Maybe it would work if she used some more power…

[Mevius]

Without the wings she would be a bird without wings for the cat. Amber got off the desk well enough, except that her left wing still hurt a bit. It was probably better not to overextend it. As the apprentice explained her actions Aribeal nodded slowly.

"Interesting... that might just work. And would be very useful considering your stature, yes. But as you will have realized, spell creation does not come without it's dangers. Which is why I suggested to combine two spellparts already known to you into one spell." The master necromancer eyed her with a warning look in his eyes. "We'll continue this tomorrow in the proper way; with a Circle of Magic and step by step. Read up on a Primer to Arcana and get a good night's rest." The mer walked to the door and opened it for Amber to fly through.

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: I don’t think fae have any nerve endings in the wings themselves, so I’ll just go by a hurt muscle.

Flying went well enough. Her left wing muscle seemed to hurt a bit – feeling her back it turned out to be an inconveniently placed bruise – and a closer look at the attached wing revealed that there was still a cut left in it as well. That meant she’d better hold back on the flying as much as possible until it was healed some more.

Yes, I never knew the backlash of a spell could be so violent.

With some last words of goodbye she flew through the open door. The Primer to Arcana? She had heard of it, but never really read in it.

***

The next day she came a bit early. She wanted to give her wing a few days of minimal use to let it heal quicker, so she wanted to try and avoid opening doors if possible. That’s why she waited close by the door for of the tavern and when a Dracon left the establishment she took her chance and quickly dove though it before he could pull it back shut again. Not the best manoeuvre to do when one wanted to spare his wings, but far less taxing then pulling open the door herself. After that she could make her way down again and with a little luck there would be cultists opening doors again.

[Mevius]

Amber got inside the White Night's Drink alright. If she lived within the cult that would have been a lot easier. Every choice was a trade-off between alternatives with different benefits and costs. As usual Rogaku let her into the secret entryway. An armed cultist positioned next to the door of Aribeal's chambers alleviated the faery somewhat by opening the door for her.

Rejik did not look so good anymore. The once handsome human was all but gone, a smelly malnutrioned prisoner was all that remained. With lazy eyes he regarded Amber; he did not seem to recognize her. The only one who had his attention was Aribeal, the powerful necromancer. The master just rose from his pool when Amber entered the cavernous room. "Welcome Apprentice. Let's get started right away."

"To create a Circle of Magic you first need to draw a physical circle. This can be done in any way, as long as there is an actual circle. A pencil lies on my desk. It was the smallest I could find." Aribeal grinned. "Then you must fill the circle with raw arcanic energy. Circle of Magic is an odd technique of arcana, a leftover from an ancient type of magic."

"There are two different types of Circle of Magic; one which prevents arcana to enter the Circle, the other to prevent arcana from leaving the Circle. Draw the circle clockwise and it will keep arcana in, draw it counter-clockwise to keep arcana out. A Magic Circle will block all arcana up to the level of the one who created the circle. So in your case, it would block all spells of apprentice power." Aribeal stepped backwards into his pool. He waited for any questions, if there were none he would urge her to try.

[Amber Brightwing]

Yes, a room in under the White Night's Drink would no doubt have been a lot easier in this case. She had never been offered one, but she didn’t really need one either. Her apartment was all she needed and she would pick her little home on the first floor over one in the ground any day. A ‘cellar’ was about the least attractive place to live in she could think of.

As she entered she cast a quick glance on Rejik, wondering how long he would last and if he had already told anything useful. But then she quickly turned towards the mer emerging from his pool, ready for the next day of spell casting. She listened to his explanation and rubbed over a sore spot on her arm as she thought how this would have been a very useful thing to have yesterday.

When she grabbed the pencil she wondered for a moment if she could just draw on the table, but then decided to play things safe and draw on the floor tiles. Given how he had mentioned that they would give her spell a second try, she figured that a circle blocking everything that went out of it would be what she needed so she would be drawing clockwise. Using the tiles as a reference, she tried to draw something that resembled a circle as much a possible and was just big enough for a small humanoid the size of a Dwarf or a Cether to stand in the middle. She didn’t want to make it too big, as that would only make it more difficult to draw as well as maintain once created, but big enough so that something useful would fit into it.

After that she went back to the desk, put the pencil down and started enter Clara. Once that was done she could she could activate the circle she had drawn by infusing it with Ara drawn from the Astral Planes.

[Mevius]

The circle she drew was more than big enough for it's purpose; it would only have to hold a small faery. The creation of a Circle of Magic was mostly an intuitive process. An ancient technique which knowledge was imbedded within every mage. Upon infusing the Ara in the circle a globe was created, invisible to anyone not inclined to arcana. For a mage, Amber’s Circle of Magic was as real as the stonetiles she drew the circle on.

Aribeal nodded approvingly. ”Let’s take your spell step by step. For one, just cast Spirit Shield not around you, but next to you, but not attempt to alter it’s shape already.”

[Amber Brightwing]

She nodded. That would probably be a bit easier to start, even just because a smaller form might be easier to manipulate and control.

Do you think the spell will need to be an apprentice level one or would it work at initiate level too?

With an apprentice spell she would be able to create a more powerful link and thus have more power over the spell. She had failed to exercise enough control the day before when casting it at initiate level, so an augmentation of the level might be needed. After she had gotten an answer she would try and create the Spirit Puppet for the second time, Divining mana to make a mental link with nearby spirits. This time she would command them to from a shape very similar to her own. The only difference is that the created shape wouldn’t have any wings. She figured that would only complicate matters.

[Mevius]

"Cast it on apprentice power", Aribeal answered. "Due to the mana dissapation caused by meddling with the spell it is weaker than the original spell; if you cast it at initiate power little would be left." The master necromancer watched Amber cast and watched her succeed. The spirits were summoned and through divination ordered to form a small humanoid shape. This time the form remained stable and the spirits obeyed the apprentice. Aribeal chuckled. "Good, good. Now try to move it around a bit." Within the Circle of Magic there was ofcourse little room. "Have it pick up that pencil." After drawing the line Amber had left it within the circle. Now it formed a perfect test object for the Spirit Puppet.

[Amber Brightwing]

She bit her lip, watching and waiting to see if this one would hold, fall to pieces or attack the Circle of Magic. When nothing happened – other then the whirling spirits forming a motionless form that is – she let out a soundless sigh of relief. Her idea had not been that silly after all.

And now to test her creation even further. There wasn’t much room in the Circle, but there should be more then enough to move her small creation around in it. She had anticipated a slightly bigger shape when creating the Circle after all. Intently staring at the Spirit Puppet, her eyes being reduced to slits she concentrated on changing the shape to make it move forward without messing up the spell.

First the right leg was put forward by simply stretching it and letting the point where it touched the floor move forward while the rest of the body remained. Next she moved the torso, arms and head, letting the right leg return to its original form and stretching the left and finally the left was brought back under the rest of the body. Perhaps odd looking and not at all as a humanoid creature should move, but this was far more simple to execute then making it really walk, with those bending knees and all. If all had gone well so far, the arms of the Spirit Puppet would stretch towards the floor, wrap themselves around the pencil and pull it up.