[Training Thread] Evening The odds

[Jaquise Emittere]

48th day of Spring 510 Av It had been a day since Jaq had made Memoria, his katana, a golem, and it was high time he set about improving his other items. The two items he was going to set about improving now were his launcher and his manacles. Because they would be simple enough Golem's with only a few directives and bits of information needing to be given to them. He now stood outside his tent, which had been propped up close to Syliras' wall and within walking distance of the gate's. It was a nice day even for spring and the little rains that had plagued him in his makeshift home showed no signs of rearing there ugly heads today. Because of the pleasantly warm weather Jaq had left his coat in his tent once more. His white linen shirt was left unbuttoned and for a while he simply leaned against a tree and watched the clouds drift by. It was that kinda day. To bad Jaq planned on doing some work. Even though he found Animating enjoyable and rewarding, he also found it exhausting and time consuming. It almost be a waste of such a beautiful day. Jaq raised his hand and slammed it against his chest, as if to deny the side of him that would enjoy doing nothing with a show of pure masculine stupidity. It didn't work and Jaq still wanted to relax. With a sigh of regret at the loss of such potential for laziness Jaq moved toward his tent. He had spent enough time doing nothing yesterday. A few seconds of scrambling around his tent and Jaq pulled out two objects. The first was a simple set of gauntlets, iron of make and bit on the heavy side. The second, which he handled a bit delicately despite it's sturdiness having already been proved, had the handle and windlass of a quality crossbow. That was where the similarities ended. Running along the top of the wood was a series of pulley's with running wound through them, and along the side it had a crank on the very last pulley. A grappling hook was protruding from a barrel on the front of the bow. The string was not pulled back. Jaq drew a set of two circles and drew a line between them, connecting them, then drew another and connected them in the same manner. Then Jaq dropped the manacles in one of the circles farther away from him and gently place the launcher in the other circle opposite him. He would forge a soul core for both item's with him as a source today, and see if they kept till tomorrow. Jaq took a seat in the circle connected to the one containing the manacles and bit down upon his left thumb. Two days ago he had cut this very thumb in order to create a golem. It was a sad thought to think he had to reopen the owned, especially after all the time he spent cleaning it when he had finished it. Jaq had even dipped it in one of his cups of ale in order to kill any infection. Still, it was better then opening up another on of his fingers. Jaq placed the bleeding finger against the circle around and him and felt a connection to it almost immediately spring to life. The manacles energy was simple enough, simple even then Memoria had been as a sword. It had only contained a few people of the course of its existence, Jaq knew this because he had bought them new and had put them on only a few people. Of these few people, the manacles had only ever succeeded in holding one person till Jaq was able to deliver him for whatever bounty might be on his head. The others, much to Jaq's embarrassment, had all be able to pick the locks and get free. Jaq intended to change that. He planned on animating them so that they would lock and unlock by Jaq's orders, then he would have the keyhole sealed so it couldn't be picked. The first thing Jaq was going to do was create a soul core for it. In this he planned on using himself as a source once more. Jaq closed his eyes, crossed his legs, and rested his hands on his knees. It was the most comfortable sitting position he could think of in the clearing, aside from leaning against the tree. Jaq focused on his own energy within the connection, and slowly began shifting bits of information about it from his circle to the circle holding the manacle's. It took perhaps 20 minutes to do this, he had gotten used to himself as a source and found ti pretty easy to send the information now a day's, and when he was finished Jaquise opened his eyes and stood up. After a bit of stretching he broke the circle a little and moved over to the other one he had set up. Instead of heading into the circle that sent information though, Jaquise moved over to the one containing his launcher and pulled a leather band with two crystals spaced an inch or two apart. He wrapped it around the neck of the launcher, where it wouldn't get in the way but where the crystals would have an unobstructed view forward. They were going to the launchers eyes. Just As Jaquise finished and stood up he heard a rustle from behind him. When he turned to inspect the source of the sound he was met with the sight of two rather large animals. The first had sandy blond colored fur and appeared to be a cat, if cat's grew above a person's waist. The second was easily recognizable as a wolf, with a silvery blue fur. Both sat in a spot almost opposite the clearing, watching Jaq. They did this a lot, though a little less frequently then when he had first set up camp here. For the longest while, the mercenary had held a fear that the two were not kelvic's but indeed wild animal's waiting for him to let his guard down so they could eat him. He still wasn't sure if they would eat him or not but the cat had assisted him when he made Memoria after changing into a very striking women. He's fear of being watched by wild animals abated, his fear of being eaten was still there, Jaquise had been thinking of asking the couple for assistance once more. If his idea of improving his launcher was to work, it would require teaching it to see from two eyes. Jaq, for obvious reasons, was not the best choice for this. So it was for this reason that Jaq found himself walking toward the two animals that might choose to have him for lunch. "Would either of you be willing to assist me once more?" After what seemed like an hour and what was more likely about 2 minutes the cat stood and and walked over to Jaq. Nodding his thanks, the pale wizard moved over to the circles with his launcher and beckoned the cat to enter the empty circle. For a moment Jaq though asking for a name, but since she would probably have to change out of this form Just to answer he decided against it. There was nothing wrong with human form, nothing at all, but he didn't think he'd be able to focus with her hanging around in that form and she might not want to change back until the end. She sat down in the circle and looked to Jaq. Suppressing a shiver down his spine Jaq moved to the circle with the launcher in it, not wanting to get to close to the large predator, and pressed his bloodied thumb against it. Almost immediately he felt a connection to the circle form in his mind. The launcher's energies were simple enough, it felt like a lot of the non-living objects. Unchanging. The kelvic woman's energy felt more like a fire then a living being. "I just want to you to relax as I direct the flow of energies between the two circles." Jaq raised his arms over the circles, closed his eyes, and began doing just that. Since he was dealing with a new source then he was used to it took a bit longer. The energy was like in a fire in that it was wild and untamed, but it was much more stable then a fire could ever be. Jaq did the best he could, slowly copying the energy and placing it into the center of the launcher. At the end of the hour, the pale mercenary lowered his arm's and opened his eyes. "Its done. You are now the official source for this. If its not to much trouble, do you mind if you to might come back tomorrow morning so I can finish this?" Instead of giving an answer, the kelvic women used her paw to break the circle, and Jaq's connection and walked back over to the wolf kelvic. After a little prodding on her part the wolf Kelvic pulled himself to his feet and followed her out of the clearing.

[Jaquise Emittere]

Jaq spent most of that night at the Golden Dragon, drinking water and enjoying the company of a few friends he had made there. He avoided drinking any alcohol, which surprised his friends but didn't seem to bother them to much, and left for his tent early that night. Like all nights when Jaq goes to sleep sober he had a nightmare. Unlike most times though, this one was not of a nameless shapeless thing rampaging through Syliras but instead of a quiet and large animal with the two heads, one cat and one wolf, eating him alive. Jaq awoke from the dream with a start only to be greeted with a site very much like the one he had just escaped from. Before him were two heads seemingly attached to one body, one was the head of a wolf and one the head of a cat. Jaq almost reached for his sword when he realized how big of a mistake that would be. A moment after that he remembered why arming himself against a fearful two headed beast about to kill him was a mistake. In his sleepy muddled brain, Jaq had failed to noticed that the heads were not linked to one body. In fact, there was no visible body. The animal's heads were poking through the entrance to his tent. It appeared the kelvics had taken it to heart when Jaq had said the morning. He almost felt like covering his chest, which had a series of scars riddling the pale flesh, but decided against any movement what so ever until he two large predator's weren't poking there heads into his tent. Using his most polite and charming tone Jaq said, "If you''ll give me a moment of privacy I'll get dressed and join you." The two heads pulled out of the tent and Jaq quickly pulled on a shirt and followed them out. The kelvics had moved quickly to their original spot at the edge of the clearing and sat their watching Jaq. The manacles and the launcher were both still in their circles, Jaq wasn't surprised by this considering his neighbors, so it would be a simple thing to start right back into work. Despite the fact the kelvics were waiting, Jaq thought eh should finish the manacles first. They were the simplest and probably wouldn't take more then an hour. Jaq moved quickly over to the circle, sat down in its center, and closed the circled with his cut thumb. With a little bit of pressure Jaq was able to spot the circle with some of his blood and as soon as he shut the circle a connection formed in his mind. Oddly enough the manacle's felt just like they had yesterday when Jaq had opened the circle. They should have been thrumming with the simple silent life that the soul core would have provided. As surely as the day was sunny, the manacles were as plain as they had been the day before when he had started. Jaq had failed to forge the soul core properly and it died away in the night. A feeling of regret ran through Jaq, and it wasn't just because of the wasted effort he had put into the manacles. He set to work immediately, once more transferring the necessary the basic information and energy from his circle to the manacles, and this time with a bit more focus he molded it into the center of the manacle's energy. It had taken a half an hour this time, he had put a little extra care into the working. Jaq opened his eyes and broke the circle, then turned to the kelvic couple and beckoned over the kelvic woman. As she walked over to the circle Jaq pondered over the fact that she could move so quickly and yet seemed unhurried. The feline women moved into the circle just like yesterday and sat down once more. Jaq only planned on putting in two directives so this step would probably be almost as quick as the first part had been for the launcher, perhaps quicker since the source in the circle wasn't even really needed at this point. "Alright, I''ll be imprinting the directives into the golem, a series of laws this golem will live by." Taking a seat next to the two circles and closing his eyes Jaq began the process of forming the directives. Loyalty was a simple one. The pale mercenary sent that feeling of loyalty he felt to his friends, to his father, to the mercenary band he had joined long ago and left only 2 years ago. He sent all of this into the energies of the soul core and felt through the connection as it absorbed the information. Then he sent an image of himself, a memory of his voice, and his name along with one last memory he could accompany to loyalty. The first directive finished, Jaq moved right onto to the second and and last directive, kill phrases. While Jaq didn't plan on using them, and the danger a rouge crossbow was rather limited, it was still necessary in case h screwed up in the animation process. For this directive once more chose the word sleep in his voice for a temporary shutdown and the word shariot in his own voice to shutdown the soul core permanently. Finished Jaq opened his eyes and looked to the feline woman sitting in the sender's circle. "The directive are finished. Now I'm going to teach it how to see. I'd like you to focus on one or two points that are far away with your sight and study every detail of these points." The cat stared at Jaq for a moment before turning her head to the left. With her focused on seeing, Jaq focused on the information through his connection with the circle. Bit by bit he channeled the info through the center line, into the launcher's circle, then into the soul core. He did this slowly and carefully, as the energies he was dealing with were new to him. Eventually though he was satisfied and opened his eyes once more. "Thanks. I have a bit more to teach it, so it will be a little while longer, but I should finish soon." The kelvic women looked to him for a moment that laid down int he circle and closed her eyes. The only reason Jaq didn't step into the circle now himself was because he wasn't skilled enough to deal with multiple sources yet. There was no way he'd be able to mix the energies of two separate living beings into anything viable. He would ask for the kelvic women to leave the circle, but Jaq wasn't sure if without here he'd still be able to have a connection. He'd make it up to the kelvic couple for the help, maybe get something for them the next time he went into the great bazaar. So he wouldn't have to keep her there much longer, Jaq closed his eyes and started sending the rest of the information the golem needed to know. First he started thinking of all the times he had practiced with it, how the pulley worked every time he reeled the rope back in. Almost like a fishing line but stronger and more capable. He sent all this information into the soul core with the word's Reel it in. Then he sent the same memories of reeling it in, only he slowed them down so they it appeared he was reeling the rope carefully. Jaq channeled these memories with the words, reel it in slowly. The first bit might have its obvious uses, not having to reel in the rope himself would leave on of his hands free and save some time. The second bit was just in case he missed in a situation where he couldn't afford to be noticed. Next he sent an image of the reeling coming to a halt, along with the order halt and then an image of the hook and rope tied around something coming undone with the words ease your grip. Finally he sent an image of the rope being reeling in and then coming to a stop, along with the wheels spinning and coming to a stop and the words stop. When the soul core had absorbed the last of that information Jaq moved onto the main feature of this invention. The pale wizard tied in memories of snakes and lassos wrapping around things with memories of a snake he once saw that had launched itself seemingly into the air before it bit someone and sent that to the soul core to be coupled with the information about sight he had sent. Then he sent information of all the likely places he was going to try and fire the grappling hook, among them being trees and rooftops. Hopefully after Jaq formed the astral body, this information would have the hook change its course to try and wrap around and or hook into whatever Jaq sighted between the two crystals on the leather band. Since it didn't need to know anything else, at least nothing Jaq could think of, the man moved onto shaping the launcher's astral body. Jaq had always seen this as the most delicate and painstaking part of making a golem. It was like trying to put a set of clothing on with your mind. Luckily the launcher was on the small side and it took Jaq only an hour to stretch the energies out over the body. However it took a full hour more to work an astral body over the rope and grappling hook. As he shaped the astral body Jaq relayed to the rope images of wrapping around things, he relayed tot he pulley's his memories of how they worked, and he sent thoughts to the work on how it might grab on to something. Jaq breathed a sigh of relief when he was done and opened his eyes. The kelvic women in the circle was watching him patiently, waiting to be allowed out though Jaq knew if she really wanted to leave nothing would stop her. "Thank you for your help again. I'm finished." The kelvic woman stood up and walked back over to the edge of the clearing, where the wolf had what looked like a squirrel waiting for her. How nice.

[Jaquise Emittere]

Jaq still had some time to kill before he could continue working on the manacles, so he decided to test his work on the launcher and see how it turned out. Jaq reached down and picked up the piece of equipment, a bit less delicately then he had dealt with it the last time, pulled the string back and said, "Awaken." He waited a few moments for the golem to respond and then pointed it at a tree about 30 feet away from him. The rope was 50 ft long, so it would have no trouble reaching it. Jaquise centered the crystals on a spot right above one of the branches and put a little pressure on the trigger. The grappling hook sailed through the air, right over the branch and kept going until it hit a tree behind the one Jaq had been hoping to hit. As soon as the grappling hook lost all of its forward momentum and the rope settled down on a branch in the second tree, it began slowly wrapping itself around its perch. When it had wrapped itself around the branch three times, the hook set itself up in such a way that with one pull Jaq could affix it into the wood. Jaquise was not surprised by his missing the first tree, with one eye he didn't have any depth perception, but what did surprise him was the effectiveness of his idea. "Ease your grip." The pressure on the line, not a great deal as the golem wasn't very strong, was suddenly gone and the hook and rope undid themselves form the tree. "Reel it in." The wheels, Jaq didn't know what else to call them, began spinning rather quickly. Not as fast as Jaq could have done himself, put it was a great deal more even then his own effort would have been. "Reel it in slowly." The wheels slowed down a bit and the speed in which the rope wound up slowed with it. "Stop." The wheels halted completely. "Reel it in." The wheels finished pulling the rope in. Jaq noted only a few issues he had with the golem he had made out of the launcher. It didn't look it would be able to pull Jaq's weight up, though it might assist him in scaling whatever obstacle he put it to. The hook and rope had taken a little while to get themselves in position. It would be better to simple try and find purchase with the initial shot if speed was an issue. Overall the golem seemed to do what it was intended. While it wouldn't fix Jaq's poor aim completely, it made up for it a little bit. Having the rope and hook find there own purchase would mean that Jaq didn't need to have perfect aim either, close would be good in all but the most desperate situations. It also followed all the commands Jaq had instilled into it without any issues. A success to be sure, but one that could be improved on when Jaq was better. He turned to the kelvic couple, who had watched the testing intently and raised the launcher so they could see ti clearly. "It works. Thanks to you." The wolf sniffed, as if to deny any part in the mornings events but the cat dipped its head in a nod of acknowledgment. HE thought of saying more but then decided it would really just be a one way conversation and turned his attention back to the manacles. It should be alright to start now, though it was less time then he was sued to giving the soul cores. If he finished it today- though he wouldn't have to worry about staying sober that night. Needing no more motivation then that Jaq moved over to the manacles circle, sat in the sending end, and closed it with his bloodied thumb. The connection flared to life and Jaq could immediately feel that the soul core was still there, and it seemed to have settled down to the point where he could begin working. Jaq moved through the directives quickly, putting in only loyalty and killphrases. He set the loyalty to his voice only, it couldn't see him so an image would be pointless. He also chose the same killphrases he always did. With that done he moved onto teaching it what it needed to know. Jaq had only two commands to teach it so this went rather fast as well. The wizard taught it Lock, and associated the command with a series of images of the manacles closing and a person's wrists or ankles, and then image's of Jaq using the key to lock them so they remained shut. Then he taught it Unlock, and sent a series of images Jaq using the key to unlock the manacles, and then having them click open. Feeling like he was on a roll Jaq moved on to shaping the astral body around the links of the chain, then around the cuffs. While he did this he sent memories of all the times he closed and opened the cuffs with his key. When Jaq had finally opened his eyes he was sweating and breathing heavily. Judging from the suns position, it looked like it had just reached its apex, Jaq had only been working on the manacles for maybe two hours. Jaq felt pride in beating his old record for making a golem which, because of his habit of waiting a night to see if the core was made right, was perhaps 8 hours longer. Jaq didn't let him congratulate himself though, he had yet to see if the golem he made would work. Jaq broke stood up and broke the connection with his foot, then walked over to the manacles and picked them up. After making sure he had the key in his pocket Jaq put the manacles on and said, "Awaken.......Lock." The manacles snapped shut on Jaquise's wrists, and the two links that would normally be on his ankles closed as well. A moment later he heard a faint clicking sound as the metal inside locked into place. "Unlock." Jaq waited for a moment and nothing happened. He waited for another moment, and nothing happened. "Unlock." Apparently being told twice was enough for the manacles and a faints clicking sound rang out followed by the cuffs opening up. Jaq repeated the test three more times and the problem didn't come up again, but it still made Jaq worry. If he encountered the issue again he'd redo the golem. It seemed whatever problem there might have been though it didn't have it any more. It seemed to work fine, but curiosity made Jaq want to try unlocking it while it was locked. He didn't have it on his wrists this time as there was no more need to test that aspect. "Lock" Jaq waited for the click that told him it was locked and inserted the key. However he could seem to turn it all the way. That was unexpected. Jaq told the manacles to unlock and tried locking and unlocking it manually. It seem to work without issue. That meant the perhaps the working he put on it would actually try and resist any attempts to unlock it, even with a key. An favorable mistake to make. Perhaps it might even resist being picked, though Jaq didn't know anything about that and would probably have to get someone like Sir deGrey to find out. He would have to remember to bring it the next time he went to Mechanical Marvels. With his golem's finished Jaq wiped away the circles in the dirt and placed his manacles and launcher in his tent. He pulled out his hat, his sword belt, and his coin purse. Then Jaq looked to the edge of the clearing to say his thanks and a goodbye to his neighbors, but they were no longer in their usual spot. It seemed while he as busy with his manacles they had grown bored and left him to his own devices. Jaq shrugged and began following the wall to the main gates. He would thank them again the next time he saw them.

[Dusk]

XP Award! Jaquise XP Award: Animation: 3 XP Additional Note Thanks for putting up the reference sheet, it's great!