Solo Every Bit of Protection

[Clyde Sullins]

Somewhere in the Cobalt Mountains 30 Fall 512 Clyde let out a deep breath. It was early in the night, and there group had stopped for the night, to make camp. He had accomplished his duties, and so now had some free time until he went to bed... Really, there were only so many things to do... And one of them, was to work on his magic. One of those that he had been ignoring for a long time, and not really working on, was shielding... Really, he knew it would be a very good magic to know and be good at... Being able to block things and philter out the unwanted... It might even be helpful in his other magics like Magecrafting... And obviously straight up self defense. He just had not gotten around to it. But know he would. He had looked around a bit, and finally found a decent hand sized rock, and set it down on the ground before him. Then he sat down with his legs crossed, trying to clear his mind, and focus on this magic, which was so difficult for him. For him this magic was always so much harder than reimancy. He had grasped that magic at an almost instinctive level, could use it like breathing... For reimancy he was a natural... For shielding... He feared even if his skill grew to a great amount, he would never be great at it, or use it as fluidly as his other magic. It just was not as in synch with his person, as other magics had been. He held out his hands, as he did when doing reimancy, and tried to extrude out the different substance used in shielding... "Urg..." He said as he strained, and pulled, and clenched his jaw... Trying to do the magic... He blinked a few times, and looked down at his hands, to see that nothing had happened... He cursed under his breath, "Petch!" And tried to clear his mind once more, and calm down... Clearly this was going to take some time, unlike when he did reimancy...

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde let out a resolute breath... Apparently this was not going to be easy... He did his best to clear his mind... Trying to picture that same old flame, flickering away in the darkness, alone and isolated, but burning strong... This seemed to calm him down, as he used his mental might to imagine the flame as real as possible... Seeing it in his minds eye, as it flickered and wavered, casting no light to pierce the darkness, even through its lustrous brightness... He seemed truly at peace, cleared of outside thoughts, and focused on building that image in his head... When a big wind blew, cold and deep, and broke him out of his revery... "Petch..." Feeling a bit chill now, Clyde stood up and walked in circles for a moment, holding his hands in his armpits to warm them up, as he had just noticed he could barely feel them... The last thing he needed right now was numb hands... He dug through his pack, and took out his seldom used leather gloves, and put them on. Slowly feeling was returning to his hands, painfully... Hopefully that would keep his hands from going numb again. Getting himself back on topic, Clyde focused once more on clearing out his mind, trying to think of something... Instead of the flame, he pictured a big bubble, with him in the center... That was more apt for shielding, right? He cleared his mind, focusing on the bubble, mentally reinforcing it... Picturing himself alone inside of it, and forcing everything else out, and keeping it there... After about 10 chimes of this, he finally felt he was ready, and held out his hands... A thin mist of shielding djed extruding out of his hands... Clyde got so excited that it had finally worked, that for a tick he forgot what to do next... But eventually he recalled, and began to focus on the shield djed, trying to concentrate it on the rock... At first it floated over to the rock, and ensconced it... But he could tell nothing else was happening... He was not trying anything complex, was not altering its tasking, just letting it be as it simply was. But even that seemed hard for him... But he kept at it, trudging on, focusing o the energy, willing it to form around the rock, to keep away djed. After a good bit of chimes more, he finally noticed a difference... Nothing to big, but it was less of a mist or cloud around the rock, and had compressed a bit. Finally, as he kept on focusing on the intent he wanted, and on forcing it into the shape, it was done, a bright silver form half an inch thick around the rock. Like it was encased in a liquid, that shimmered in the light, but was somehow confined to that space. Odd really.

[Clyde Sullins]

Now that he had the shield done, it dimmed a bit in his sight... Still there, he could see it, but it was less noticeable. A smile on his lips, he held up one hand over the rock, covered in its djed barrier, and exuded out a small ball of res... This now, was easy. He compressed it down into a marble sized ball, and transmuted the outside to stone, keeping the core of res so he could continue to control it... Then he tested the shield, by dropping the rock from the air to strike the barrier around the rock. As it struck, it suddenly blazed a strong bright silver, clearly visible to anyone, as it repelled the djed in the rock he had created. He looked over the shield... It seemed undamaged... Clyde made a motion upward with his left hand, and the rock rose up once more... This time he assisted the rock, pushing it downward instead of just letting gravity make it fall to strike the shield. This time it blazed even harder, but seemed to hold, as the rock pinged off of it, and he smiled. But then a crack formed... Then a second... "Petch." His shield was really that weak, that it could not even hold from such a low attack? He would be petched if he had to actually use it in a real fight. A real attack even from a novice would blast right through it in an instant. A bit fed up, he lifted up the rock once more, and then transmuted a bit more of the core to rock, using the last little tidbit in one final push, shooting the rock downward much faster than the other times, right at the stone that had been shielded. This time as it struck the shield, the entire thing shattered and dissolved away to nothing. He let out a sigh again... Well, he had made a bit of progress, over his last attempt at shielding... But he was still horrible at it. Getting up, he stretched, feeling a crick. He had been at this for bells... He really needed a good drink, and a rest... He would have to settle for a pull from his water skin, and resting in his tent on his bedroll...

[Balderdash]

Delicious rewards! Happy days and jubilation!

Skill	XP Awarded
Meditation	1
Shielding	2

Lores: Going To Your Happy Place, Cobalt Mountain Wind Is Evil (Not In The Good Way, Either!), Shielding A Rock, The Strength Of A Novice’s Shield, Using Reimancy For Science

Items and Consequences: Nil

A short and sweet training thread. Unfortunately, because of that, I wasn't able to award much. One point for the actual shielding, plus another for pushing yourself. Either way, a pleasant read. Keep up the good work!

If you have any questions or concerns about this grade, please PM me. A happy you is a happy Balderdash!