Shaping the Wood

[Amber Brightwing]

The Month of Immanis in the Season of Winter
Era I of the Celestine Mandate, Era XV Post Fractum in the Age of the Darkening

The first part, retrieving the Enchanted Wood, had been a dull and repetitive task, but it had been straightforward and not very difficult to do. The Ritual of Astral Mastery on the other was rather short in comparison, taking no more than five evenings and possibly less. The rituals were more complicated however and their descriptions not as detailed as they could be.

A first step had been finding the proper days, something that had taken several days of browsing books and calendars as well as asking around a bit. Once she had figured out what exactly was the ‘proper’ alignment for Majora and Melora that part had gone rather smooth. Now she had five dates, Immanis to Aperitus, on which she could do the five rituals. As she wasn’t sure how many of those nights she would need she had gone through each ritual in detail and was accompanied by a good supply of notes. Depending on how things went she could do multiple rituals after one another.

Lastly there was the altar. A location to put it in had caused her some sleepless nights of pondering. Since moonlight had to shine upon the altar using the underground facilities at Toherro’s was not an option. Necromancy wasn’t something to practice just in the open either. While she probably would have gotten away unnoticed when using the Vortex Park or the Thanal mansion’s backyard, ‘probably’ wasn’t sufficient for her. Eventually she had gotten the idea to simply use one of the rooms at the White Night’s Drink. At the first floor none would notice what she was doing, and at the same time the open window would provide her with the needed moonlight.

For the alter itself she had brought a large stone tile. It made for an easily portable altar (with some aid of a summoned servant of course) that could be reused on a later occasion if needed. On it were two circles. As prescribed, the outer circle had been drawn clockwise and would prevent anything from interfering with the ritual. The inner circle was drawn counter-clockwise and would make sure nothing inside left it. Inside was a five-pointed star with a candle on each corner.

After double checking the set-up to see if everything was in order she placed her rod of enchanted wood in the middle, lit the candles and activated the two Circles of Magic. She took a deep breath as she reread her notes on the Rite of Identity a final time. After plunging into Clara she drew upon her Vis and the Ara around her, not for a spell, but to draw pure Necromantic Essence into the dagger she had brought.

The dagger had been sharpened to cut through flesh like a hot knife through butter and it did its job effortlessly. It stung quite a bit, but Amber was too focussed to be overly distracted by it. Her chosen ‘rune’ was the simple outline of a quill. It symbolized her more scholarly approach to the forbidden craft and at the same time the feather served as a hint towards her own race that had the ability to fly as one of its major characteristics.

As the blood started flowing from her hand she started droning a simple line of words over and over again. Since there had been nothing on the exact wordings of the evocations she assumed that the mage was free to choose them as he saw suited. She had picked a fairly simple line, yet one holding everything that was listed as needed.

“I call upon the Material Plane. North, East, South and West. Earth, Fire, Air and Water. Recognize me for who I am and bind me to this staff.”

[Kalinda]

The imbuement of the dagger went very well. It hurt a bit as she carved a rune into her palm, but the pain was not too bad, everything considered, and the blood started to flow immediately. It fell onto the staff, but it did not stay on its surface. It seemed to disappear inside the piece of wood. At the same time the wound on her hand began to heal again. Within seconds it closed, leaving nothing but a scar behind that tingled slightly, but did not hurt anymore. The first step of the ritual – the Rite of Identity – was complete.

[Amber Brightwing]

Despite the stinging feeling, the wound didn’t hinder her concentration much. Perhaps the advantage of Aribeal’s style of teaching? He had cut her as an Initiate and merely watched as a spell blew up in her face at Apprentice. In either case, it had been up to her to fix her wounds as well, forcing her to work in less than optimal circumstances.

When the staff absorbed the blood and her wound closed, she stopped the chanting. On her face was a wide grin, showing her satisfaction with a succeeded first step. She checked the barriers around her as well as the candles. If everything was still in order then there was nothing stopping her from continuing with the second rite. If something was off compared to original the set up she had started with she’d call it a night and store everything for another month though.

In any case, just a few seconds or a whole month later, next up was the Rite of Convocation. Just as with the previous rite, she imbued the dagger with Necromantic Essence and set it upon her flesh, this time of her left hand. The rune was a simple skull this time. Not entirely sure what was meant with ‘the plural’ or ‘the collective’ she had chosen a very simply representation of Death. Access to the Plane of Death was what all Necromancers had in common after all. At the same time it could be seen as a crude representation of the physical and mortal part of those that wandered the Material Plane, also something that seemed fitting for this part. Once that was done she’d let the blood flow over the staff again, chanting a second invocation.

“I call upon the Material Plane. North, East, South and West. Earth, Fire, Air and Water. Recognize me as an inhabitant of the Material Plane.”

[Kalinda]

Just as before she called upon the four directions and the elements. Blood flowed from Amber’s hand onto the staff, and again it seemed to absorb the red liquid. But this time the staff changed with each drop of blood. With each drop of blood its color changed. It turned blue, a blue that was so dark it almost seemed black, blue for her wings, black for the art she practiced. It was said that a staff took on characteristics of its owner, and this one was no different. Only the very tip remained the color it was, silver. And then all the blood was gone, a sign that the second part of the ritual was complete.

[Amber Brightwing]

She looked at both hands, opening and closing them a few times and feeling the scars. Things were going as described in the treatises on staffs she had consulted. Even the weird change in colour matched the explanations of the altering shape during the process.

As before, the barriers and candles would be checked, as well as giving a quick look at the position of the moons outside to see how much time had roughly passed. If everything was still in order, with sufficient time to continue she’d proceed to the third rite. If not then the project would be put on hold for a month and reassemble the altar the next time the moons were aligned properly.

To say the next one, the Rite of Arcana sounded strange was an understatement. As far as she knew, time on the Astral Planes worked differently, causing the whole focussing and channelling to happen near instantly. To be in the Material Plane simultaneously sounded weird. Still, so far things had gone well if she just followed the texts, so she wasn’t about to doubt them.

After entering Clara she started gathering Vis and Ara, enough for an Journeyman spell. The listed techniques needed for the eventual spell was three, something generally reserved for Journeyman spells and above. After Focussing on the Plane of Death and starting to Channel she’d quickly open her eyes and try to see the Material Plane while doing so. If all went well she should see her staff starting to float of its own. After that it was but shaping a spell and casting it on the wood. Abjuration to have the Mana course through the staff, Alteration to have the spell take up the shape of the whole staff, and Evocation to place the Death Essence directly in its core.

[Kalinda]

It was close to morning now. The moons were still there, but it was doubtful that she’d still have enough time to perform the third part of the ritual. It would be another month before the moons were properly aligned again. The staff would wait patiently during that time, not changing, not reverting back, but staying the way it had been after the Rite of Convocation.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

Amber entered Clara effortlessly, but afterwards things began to get a little strange. As she opened her eyes and tried to become aware of the Material Plane on top of the Astral Plane, she felt as if she was losing Clara for a moment, as if she was falling … but that feeling stopped suddenly. There was only a vague kind of dizziness now, the impossible feeling of being in two places at once.

She could see that the staff was suspended in the air now, but there were other things as well. Huge beasts with teeth and claws had appeared out of nowhere. They were trying to take a bite out of her. Then they disappeared and made way to a dozen faeries with colorful things, as annoying as they came, giggling insanely. They were dancing around her, almost as if they wanted her to join.

The faeries continued to giggle – and sing! – while she continued the ritual. There was a flash of light – so bright that she had to close her eyes – and when it passed, the staff was lying on the ground in front of her, glowing softly.

Another part of the ritual had been completed.

[Amber Brightwing]

A whole month of waiting. It seemed that as she got to her goal closer her patience was slowly decreasing. Her staff was almost half way finished – over half way if you counted getting the enchanted wood even – and things were going smoothly. She couldn’t help counting the days until the next lunar alignment however, wondering how it would eventually end up looking and imagining how it would feel holding a real Staff of Arcana.

As she started the next ritual, she quickly found out that today things would not go as smoothly as before however. She felt Clara slipping, desperately trying to hang on to it. Just as she felt as if she would finally lose it, she regained her grip. She wasn’t given much time to regain her composure either. The huge beasts gave her quite the scare, almost making her drop Clara after all. When they changed into Faeries, she was actually relieved. Annoying was so much easier to ignore, even if only marginally more pleasant. When the staff had finally descended again she took a moment to regain her composure, swiping the sweat of her brow and taking a few good breaths.

Again everything would be checked. Even if she wanted it to be over quickly there was no reason to screw everything up now. Failure would mean she’d have to wait a whole deal longer. If everything was well she’d start The Rite of Invocation, if not she’d start it a month later.

The books had called the wood an ‘Enchanted Staff’ now, so she assumed that when they talked about activating they simply meant the Apprentice technique. Nothing too hard about that. If all went well this would cause her staff to levitate.

“I hereby declare your name shall be Shadow.”
“I hereby declare your name shall be Shadow.”
“I hereby declare your name shall be Shadow.”

‘Shadow’ was both something that was controlled by the Sphere of Death as well as the place where all current necromancers were practising their craft. With the staff’s darkish blue colour, it wasn’t too unfitting either. Mostly however she wasn’t too good at naming, so she had picked a simple name. She looked at the staff and concentrated to have only the word ‘Shadow’ in her mind. As soon as it started floating towards her she’d reach for it with outstretched arms, palms aimed at the staff.

[Kalinda]

At first nothing happened. The staff stubbornly lay on the ground and glowed as if it had grown a bit lazy during the month that Amber had done nothing. The fae might as well have talked to a wall. But then, slowly, it began to levitate again. It hovered in the air, but a few inches above ground, so that she would be able to grab it easily should she desire to do so.

Shadow wasn’t a particularly original name, but it was fitting, in more than one way. The staff certainly didn’t seem to mind to be called that. As she called its name for the first time, the staff turned around so that its tip was pointed right at her. As she called it the second time, it floated a little closer. And as she called it for the third time, it moved towards her.

All she had to do now was to continue with the next part of the ritual.

[Amber Brightwing]

As it floated towards her she patiently waited until it was within hand’s reach and then grasped the staff. All that was then left of the Rite of Invocation was waiting for her staff to cease radiating power. Once that was done the staff would be carefully placed at the middle of the pentagon again and barriers, candles and time left in the night would be verified to see if she could start the final ritual or if she had to wait one last month for her staff to be completed. The Rite of Eternity was all that was left to do. The explanation didn’t sound that hard, but she had no idea about the required time, so she’d play safe and put things on hold if little was left of the night.

Once she was ready for the last rite she’d need a few deep breaths just to shake off her excitement. She could almost feel the weight of the rod in her hands as she looked at it. After taking one long last look at it to memorize how it looked she closed her eyes. As with meditation she would clear her mind of all thoughts. Instead of keeping that empty state of mind she’d allow one image to enter her mind, that of her staff. First, she concentrated on just her staff, creating it in her minds in detail and thinking of its name. Next, she’d add an image of herself, holding that staff, imagining the two to be one entity.

[Kalinda]

As she grasped the staff it slowly stopped radiating power until it appeared to be just a normal staff again, a somewhat unusual looking staff, but still just a staff, just a piece of wood and not in any way magical. And there was just about enough time left to finish the ritual. The moons were still up, the stars were still shimmering brightly in the sky, and it was still dark. It would be a while before it began to dawn and she’d have to leave.

As she closed her eyes, as she tried to memorize the staff, she could feel it in a way that was hard to explain. She could feel its presence. There was a peculiar sensation just before it disappeared – and then it reappeared in her hands. It had changed slightly. It was now completely smooth as if it had been polished for a very long time.

The ritual was now concluded, and the staff would be bound to her for the rest of her life or until it was destroyed.

[Amber Brightwing]

As she closed her hand more firmly around her brand new Staff of Arcana she opened her eyes. The familiar feeling of Clara… but without the need to go through meditation, the proof she had succeeded in her efforts. Feelings of relief came over as she realized it was finally finished. She put the staff down and used its name to call it back to her hand again for a first try at that ability. Satisfied she dispelled the barriers and summoned a Spirit Minion to help her with the clean up.