[Toherro's] A Darkening of Dark Rites (Amber, Private)

[Straylor Leonard]

Continued from here...

It was a desperately cold brightening in the halls of Toherro's. The stone that lined its marvelous architecture was obviously kept whatever was within, inside, while keeping outsiders outisde to ponder its mysteries.

And within its weaving walls was a Master of Necromancy, a Mer who was abundantly dressed in thick, flowing robes for this particular event. He was awaiting a pupil, a fae to be exact, who had just been Promoted to begin her Journeymanship. He sat atop a sturdy wooden desk, and behind it sat its counterpart: a matching chair. But no other pieces of furniture could be found here; not, they were all removed just the brightening previously at her own request.

The room was fairly large to teach only one student, but that was the point. This classroom was typically filled with Initiates and Apprentices during lecture sessions, which she found rather boring. Nevertheless, all Necromancers needed to start from somewhere, and it was plain luck that one of their Order reached this high of a level.

"Ah, welcome", he would greet Amber with a slight tilt of his head. "I suggest you find some place and meditate", he ordered almost immediately, "then please explain to me how much you've learned in your apprenticeship. I'm just dying to know..." A plain, toothy grin tore across his sharp features, then with another gesture towards the cold, stone floor he hopped off the desk and began to pace around the classroom, his steps muffled by his soft sandals.

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: Aribeal = male ^^

Amber landed on the desk. Desks and tables were by far the most convenient places to land and sit or stand, though if it were up to here they could be a bit higher. Like a counter or a bar or something. The back of a chair was another valuable option. When she needed to land on a floor she just never felt completely safe. It always felt as if every moment someone could just step on her.

“Learned?” She rubbed her chin as she thought on the question for a moment. “Concerning the theory behind it all, very little to nothing compared to what I already knew from when I started. Things are still the same as on the Initiate level after all.”

“I advanced at those things I already knew of course. Getting faster to Clara, more solid spells, the regular stuff. I toyed a bit with the Reshape Mana technique, though you already saw the two most notable results of that.” Aribeal had been present at the creation of her Spirit Puppet and he had seen her first try at Raise Corpse as well. “I made a spell that heightens senses out of the Freight one, but I never got to further experimenting. Reshape Mana is nice, but still very limiting after all.” She grinned, knowing that she should soon be able to create spells from scratch.

[Straylor Leonard]

"The regular stuff", the Mer seemed to muse beneath a smile. He regarded the fae with faint interest as he paced the room with Amber standing on his sturdy oak table. He wasn't here to further judge his pupil -- the Promotion was complete, after all. She was, for all purposes, worthy of the training he would provide her. "You will be surprised", he added, "what one can do with Reshape Mana." He grinned after that, prehaps hinting at his prodigous skill even during his apprentice level. His kind weren't very fond of the sphere he chose to pursue, nor were they amused at the frightening things he was capable of. But he found his calling, if one could call Necromancy that.

"Please meditate", he repeated this time a little more firmly, "and cast a spell for me -- any spell of your choosing." He nodded, allowing her to take the time needed to reach Clara. And when she did, Aribeal slipped into the trance-like state himself and slowly constructed a simple Spirit Armor around himself just in case something went awry. "I am going to teach you a trick you may find useful in your travels", he said with a toothy grin, "please aim your spell at me."

[Amber Brightwing]

She nodded at his reply. “I can see how Reshape Mana already offers a lot of possibilities, but I didn’t want to try and see how far I could push things when I was within hand-reach from a promotion. No need to needlessly let spells blow up on myself.”

She remembered all to well her first try at a reshaped spell. It had probably been the scariest moment of her short life so far. Even though a simple Circle of Magic would avoid a similar disaster she had never tried to do things that sounded overly complicated and instead preferred to wait for the full-fledged spell creation to become available to her. What were a few months over a lifespan of several centuries after all.

Once in Clara, a thoughtful look came on her face for a moment. Spirit Armour was a nice spell, but she had always wondered if a more direct approach like evocation would be able to bypass the defences, even if only partially. It was tempting to try it out on Aribeal, but she decided not to do so and go with a simple Acid Sphere in the gut. Not that she feared to harm the master when successful, but if she was right, the trick might not work either and she saw no need in needlessly having to wait. She was curious enough about what was to come.

[Straylor Leonard]

Finding herself within the cold embrace of her sphere's Astral energies, Amber noted that her meditaiton time has decreased significantly since she was an apprentice. By her estimation, she attained Clara in less than 30 counts ... a feat despite her already-tuned magical senses.

Then, it was shaping time.

Molding her chosen spell via evoking a suitable amount of death essence and hurling it towards her Master, the fae effectively created a swirling, hissing Acid Sphere that created a trail of foul-smelling smoke as it flew through the air.

It was then that Aribeal lashed out with the 'trick' he promised. Using the principles behind Reshape Mana and Create Spell, he basically re-altered while re-weaving the Spirit Armour he already had in effect. The Spirits trapped within the spell suddenly reached out with their soulless limbs and wrapped themselves against the acid orb, effectively halting its progress.

"I call that one Mana Reweave", he said with a crooked smile. The Master then slipped into Clara for a moment before dispelling both spells. "By re-using a previously cast spell, you can minimize Vis drainage. This will take practice, however, and only time will tell if you are indeed worthy." He nodded, then gestured for the fea to follow him.

The Master Necromancer walked the approximate center of the room before turning around to face his student once more.

"As an Adept, you are expected to become a Mistress", he continued, "thus, I highly encourage the creation of magical devices -- especially a Staff of Arcana. In combination with imbuements, you not only cast chosen spells considerably faster, but it will once again save you the unnecessary use of Vis in combat. As such", he revealed a small dagger from his robes. It was small enough to be held by a fae-sized creature with one hand, and should Amber recieve it, she will find that a small black gem was imbedded in its hilt. "This brightening, we will dedicate our time with imbuements. How much do you know about the creation of such items?"

[Amber Brightwing]

A technique she hadn’t even hear of before. When he mentioned the name it became clear what it was she had witnessed. Though she found the present example not to be one of the most useful applications (since the spirit shield was already capable of stopping the spell on it’s own), though it certainly demonstrated what it was all about. She would certainly look further into the technique, even if only it was just to prove she was indeed worthy as he had said.

“Is Mana Reweave more like Reshape Mana, so that spells can only be changed into similar spells or can you create a completely different spell with it as well?” She assumed it would be possible, though more difficult to achieve and more time consuming. There might be some problems with the number of used techniques one could use though.

She pondered for a moment on the next words, and not just on the question asked. Did he mean that all Adepts were expected to become Masters? Because given most didn’t she would rather say the opposite. Unless he meant that she, as an Adept, was expected to become a Mistress in her craft, just like Toherro himself had expected her to. She took the dagger from his hands before replying to his question.

“I know what they are, but not much more. A Journeyman can Imbue a spell in an object to store it for later use. Unlike enchantments, the spell is used up when cast though.” As she looked at the gem in the dagger another piece of information came to her mind. “And it works best on gems and it’s not advisable to use it on objects that are easily broken.

[Straylor Leonard]

"Mana Reweave is a technique that allows the mage to re-use a spell", he stated as he began pacing once more, "but one can only achieve control over the spell in Clara, thus the complexity of the process." He smiled and made a slight shrug before continuing.

"Dense objects work as well", he noted with another curt nod, "you will understand soon enough. Please enter Clarity and see how this dagger's imbuement was created. With your sixth sense, the weave will be evident to you -- though the spell embedded into this weapon is not from our sphere."

"Imbued spells are, basically, half a spell that has been forced to remain dormant within any object", he continued, "and like you've mentioned, gems work best becaues of their density. Certain magical objects work as well, but they are rare and most of them are already enchanted to begin with. Imbuing those with a foreign spell could be dangerous." He smiled, probably alluding to a certain experience he had. "But before I allow you to imbue your own items, please study the workings within this dagger. It should give you an idea as to how to go about imbuements in the future."

OoC: You may 'see' the following:
- the spell's essence has been interwoven with the dagger's own.
- three are four 'bundles', probably means four charges.
- the spell looks alive, but dormant (meaning if it was a conventional spell, all Amber would have to do is force an Arcalysis reaction)

[Amber Brightwing]

That Mana Reweave let you re-use a spell she didn’t need the Masters explanation for to figure out. She wasn’t that daft. The question had been how much the recycled spell could differ from the spell it was created from. She made a mental shrug herself and figured she’d just have to find out by trying.

She nodded at the mentioning of density. It made sense if she compared it with the other elements she knew that were used for imbuing and enchanting. That putting multiple spells, different ones or even from multiple spheres was more dangerous – though still possible – was something she had already heard of as well. Fortunately there was still the Circle of Magic for such cases. She had learned the hard way that you didn’t want spells to blow up on you.

After re-entering Clara she studied the object she had been handed more in detail. Fortunately the imbuements were not stored in the gem as one would expect, but in the whole dagger, making it somewhat easier to study how the spells were woven into the dagger’s essence. Her had slid slowly over the blade, seemingly touching the spells captured inside. She could recognize the same pattern returning four times. Either there were four spells, or one spell that was build up out of four similar parts. Most likely the first as she thought she could sense a them to be separate entities.

It was tempting to see if she could try and activate what was hidden inside, but she stayed patient and waited for further orders from the Mer.

[Straylor Leonard]

Amber's first study of the dagger was accurate enough: there were indeed four separate charges within the dagger as a whole -- specifically, within the blade itself. But after several moments the fae would note a stronger aura that was somehow 'hidden' beneath the array of patterns that revealed a spell's magical weave. This energy was within the very workings of the shard of obsidianite that was embedded within the hilt of the weapon.

The weave from the midnight colored rock was unlike the patterns that made up the four charges; this one appeared to be embedded within the fabric of the obsidianite itself, and Amber could hardly locate where the spell began and ended. This was no ordinary imbuement.

Master Aribeal's eyebrow rose as he closely watched his student. She found something. He was sure of it.

"I see that you've discovered my enchantment", he said in his naturally calm tone, "you'll notice the difference between imbuements and enchantments immediately as one belonging to a very magically-attuned race. Sometimes I envy your abilities..." He smiled showing a little teeth then nodded, "please feel free to activate either the enchantment or any of the four charges. But in the future, always activate unknown amulets and other magical items inside the protection of a Circle."

[Amber Brightwing]

Amber frowned she studied the dagger further. There seemed to be more alien Essence hidden beneath the four spells, but it was clearly not another imbuement. It almost seemed to be a part of the dagger, but still different enough to stand out. She could hit her head against the wall for missing the obvious when Aribeal explained it’s nature.

“My sixth sense is nice, but it’s still outdone by Clara. I don’t know if I’d discovered the enchantment without it.”

It didn’t take her long to decide which one of the two she would pick. She was equally curious for both the effects, but only one of the two provided an endless supply of spells. She saw no reason to needlessly waste resources, so she went with the enchantment. Using the newly gained Activation technique she carefully tried to prod the spell into action, curious about what the Master had hidden in the dagger.

[Straylor Leonard]

The complex weave throbbed and shivered as Amber proceeded to unlock its secrets via Activation. As a seasoned apprentice and aspiring Journeywoman, the fae found little challenge in awakening the dormant enchantment. This style of imbuing typically lasted longer as the spell is kept intact while not in use; it also prevented unwanted effects should the enchantment be allowed to remain active for long durations.

In this case, Amber would quickly realize why her Master would keep the imbedded spell in a sleepy state within the obsidianite shard. For after just moments of activating it, the fae would suddenly feel a terrible chill resonate from the dagger -- causing her to shiver and panic uncontrollably. She saw horrific images in her mind, all of them a combination of past experiences and memories but with a twist. It felt as if a hoard of demons invaded her thoughts, her consciousness, so much that she fluttered downwards and landed heavily on the floor. Her eyes watered, her stomach was doing backflips, and her tiny limps felt numb ...

Across from her, she saw the Mer's feet slowly approach her and the Necromancer leaned forward to place the fae in his hard, calloused hands. And as he did, Aribeal slipped into Clara, reached into the dagger's decorative black stone, and de-activated the enchantment.

"My gift to you", he said, "should this dagger ever leave your hands, simply activate the enchantment within the obsidian stone and your enemies will collapse around you. I shaped and crafted both spell and enchantment. The four charges contain the spel Summon Horde." He made a sideways smile, then kindly placed Amber on the oak table once more. "I must admit that your size may perhaps be your greatest weapon. Even a master-level Fright spell barely affected you as I anticipated ... well done."

[Amber Brightwing]

As soon as the spell started taking effect, just a split second before it hit her head on, she realized her mistake. She knew the spell all to well enough to know that the images were not real, being capable of casting it herself. She could see the weaves of the spell before her, even after being thrown out of Clara when her concentration was broken. Last time that had been sufficient to resist the effect of a Master spell, but then that one had targeted a whole city. This one was aimed just at her.

It took her all her mental might to resist it just enough to remember to keep flapping those wings so she wouldn’t plummet down and go splat on the floor. When she felt the ground beneath her she simply collapsed, hitting her knee hard in the process. The pain didn’t hit her until she was finally released from the horror by Aribeal though, shooting through her leg as soon as the spell was put to an end.

“Barely affected?” She focussed on breathing steadily again for a moment, trying to get her heartbeat back at it’s regular pace. “I don’t even want to know what it feels like for a regular human being then.” The experience had been one to rival how she had felt when a spell blew up on her the previous time she had been training with the Mer. And now that she thought of it, he had cut her hand during their first encounter as well. It almost seemed as if the Master needed to hurt his students when teaching them. She certainly wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. Once she got passed the initial shock she still felt grateful for the present of course.