Solo Four Minds Melded

[Malefic]

Winter 18, 512 AV Malefic stared down at the four animal heads lying in front of him on the table. A cat's head, a rabbit's head, a rat's head, and a snake's head, all fully intact. He'd practiced malediction on his journey to Sahova, but that was awhile ago, and he knew everything there was to know about what he was maledicting. This was completely different. The main obstacle he faced was the lack of knowledge about what each animal's life had been like. This means the result of each individual malediction would be rather pointless. Simple and weak. Malefic pondered this problem, gazing deeply into the dead eyes of each creature in turn. What to do...? An idea popped into his head. Maybe...combine them? No, can't do that. Too many different parts, too challenging for the level I'm currently at. Maybe combining two instead? That sounds better. He searched for the two species he saw the most common ground in. Snakes, crawling through the dirt and hunting prey viciously. He also noted to himself the venom that the viper's fangs held. Rats, crawling through the sewers, carrying disease. Cats, prowling through the streets at night and stealthily stalking small vermin. Rabbits, hiding in a hole in the ground, and moving at intense speeds. Thankfully, he knew this much because of his time in the wild. Many animals he hunted, stalked, and observed, all to find out as much as possible about them. All these were among those he observed. Excellent. The nuit could see several traits each one had in common with another. Now to determine the wanted effect. It has to be something impressive. Something flashy and effective, handy but with wide range of use... He contemplated this for a moment or two. Stealth. That meant using the cat. Cat's have light feet and great balance. Surprise That meant using the snake. Snakes slither silently and then spring suddenly to strike their prey. With this in mind, he got to work. Mal rolled the rabbit head, and the rat head, to the side. He surveyed the surgical tools at his disposal. He equipped the scalpel, and leaned forward towards his specimens, cutting at the cat's lip and into the gums behind it, separating a single tooth from the mouth of the feline. It made a small *click* upon falling onto the table. He worked his way through several more inches of gum, several more clicking noises echoing through the lab. six teeth were lying on the table, all of them of equal size and length. Following this came the stripping of scales from the snake's head. One by one Malefic chipped the scales off until there remained only a small fraction of what had lain there before. Now he had two products. Scales and teeth. To intertwine them.... He drove a nail through the tooth, using the bottom of another tool as a hammer to ram it through. Unsuccessfully. The tooth chipped and broke in two. He tried this again with another tooth. It, too, broke. The third attempt proved acceptable, as he only chipped the tooth. He then used the scalpel to cut a thin slit on the dull side of the tooth,the part where the gums would connect, and stuck one of the snake's scales into the shallow slit. It fit, though it would easily fall apart. Now what? He tapped his finger on the desk, and then took a leisurely stroll over to the library, and to the malediction section, browsing the titles of books for something about basic maledictions with two creatures. Hmmm...

[Malefic]

He managed to find a title he deemed worthy. Binding of Two Souls. Malefic lightly scanned the contents to confirm it was on the subject he needed it to be. Then he made his way back to his desk. He read the chapter that told him the neccessary information, memorizing the first few steps of how to combine two items. Making glue. Hide glue. So now he had to gather the neccessary materials. From the storage unit for materials, he harvested a large hide, a bucket of water, a can full of brushes, a pot, and a piece of wood he would use as a stirring sitck. Then he went back to his project. Using the surgical scissors that came alongside the other tools, he cut the hide into several miniature pieces, taking care to make them as small as possible. The book said this would make it easier, and faster. He checked it just to make sure, and while he did, he memorized a few steps. He gathered the hide bits, and dumped it into the metal pot, pouring water into the pot as well, the bits and pieces floating about carelessly. The sound of metal clanking against metal echoed throughout the lab as the metal pot was plopped onto a furnace, and heated until it began to boil. Mal used the wood to stir the mixture to a low boil. A horrible stench arose from the steaming pot of liquid, causing several of the assistants in the lab to cringe in disgust of the smell, including Mal, but not as much. He was a walking corpse, he had given in to the fact that he would probably always smell like rotten flesh.  But that didn't matter now, his project did. He needed to please his new master to prove his worthiness. The water turned into a thick white paste, the stench still arising. He was satisfied with it's condition, and he lugged the metal pot over to his desk. Malefic dipped a thin brush into the paste, and carefully slathered it into the nick made in the cat's tooth, sliding the snake's scale into it and holding it into place until it became dry and secure. He heaved an artificial sigh, and shook his head. Now to begin... The surgical tools proved handy. There were several carving tools among them, including a fine steel needle meant for precise etching. He placed the scale-tooth malediction to-be on the desk in front of him, where it was most alighted by the on the wall nearby. He leaned forward, getting as close as possible to it without loosing focus, and squinting a bit. This had to be...perfect. He began to lightly scratch a tale on the cat's tooth, in the form of a malediction circle. He praised the skill and stealth of the mischievous cat, lurking in the darkness and stalking it's prey. He praised the soundless padding of it's footsteps. He praised the perfect timing of it's pounce, and the fatality that ensued because of it. A perfect kill. Next came the snake. He slid the needle across the surface of the black scale, etching gently the fable of the snake. Slithering across the earth and among the leaves, invisible. Still. Silent. And then of the sudden burst of immense speed and power, striking at it's opponent. It did not matter the strength of the creature of which was unlucky enough to be it's prey. The poison made sure of that. The snake truly is the champion of assassins, second to none. After this circle, he inscribed a third, bigger than both, and overlapping the edges of the two original circles. I was shaped more like an oval than a circle. And written in it was the similarity of both creatures, the traits of a stalker. Stealth and surprise shown in both. If such creatures as these were to be combined, united, and convinced to cooperate, it would be feared by all. The weak would flee, and the strong would hide, for this would truly be a beast to be reckoned with. And now it exists. Around the perimeter he added in two words from his own treasured language. Ancient Tongue, they called it, or Nader Conoach. But to him it was just his first language.Glig, korad, and pechi. He stood back and peered down at his work, curious at what it would do. But first he needed to make it permanent by carving the circle deeper, and so he did exactly that using the needle to dig deep into the tooth and scale, carefully going over the pre-scratched path with utmost precision that was possible for a nuit at his level. Malefic squinted and slowly etched each segment of the circle. He made the circles as circular as possible, the straight segments as forward and rigid as possible, the twists twisty, and the dots concise.There was a single more touch to add. Through the hole he put in the tooth earlier, he weaved a cat's hair through, and out the other end. Next, he tied both of the tips of the string to a metal hook. His finger easily bled ichor once bitten with Malefic's teeth, a few drops falling to the earring and hitting the circles of malediction, one drop for each circle. A few drops of ichor missed, but he didn't mind. He tied the wound shut using a few strips of cloth he pocketed earlier while getting the supplies for making the hide glue. This is where glyphing was useful. Malefic picked up the needle once more, visualizing the circle around the first 3. There wasn't too much space left. He had to be as precise as possible in order for the circles not to meet and become completely void. He knew it was going to take one hell of a long time. Malefic quickly picked up a magnifying glass from his pile of equipment, moving it closer and farther until the earring came into focus. Carefully with his other hand, he scratched the beginning of a sigil. Slowly. Ever so slowly. One soft scratch after another. Over and over again until there remained only a perfect section of a design. This kind of perfection would only be complete after a few days. This is going to take a while... For the next 39 bells, he worked day and night, bit by bit etching barrier sigils around the malediction circles, followed by two trigger marks, each with a different condition. One to open the barrier, and one to close the barrier. Effectively a on/off switch, activated by a simple flick of the fingers. The nuit was as precise as possible, and luckily  no two lines intertwined except for those required. He leaned back and checked his work with the magnifying glass, and to his satisfaction found it impeccable. It was done. Finally.

[Malefic]

Test starts now. Malefic thought. He hooked the earring into his left earlobe, into one of the previously made piercings and casually flicked it. The earing seung side to side for a little. He felt the best way to test a malediction is to take a casual walk through the area, and that's exactly what he did. He strode around the common labs and through the adjacent labs, paying attention in order to pick out any effects. He noticed almost immediately that when he was in a lighted area, he moved slower and was more...obvious for some reason. He frowned. That's not what he had intended for it to do. But he kept walking until he stepped through shade, suddenly getting a feeling of being more agile. His footsteps somehow made less noise, and his body was becoming a bit transparent against the shadows. He chuckled to himself. Perfect for stealth. Malefic didn't stop there, though. Maybe there was another effect or two waiting to be discovered. Walking was a straightforward movement, maybe something involving more bursts of movement would help. He broke into a jog around the lab, picking up speed and then slowing down. "That did nothing..." So he tried something different. He jumped around randomly, jumping onto tables, and off and around. Eventually, he leapt out of a shadow, and noticed he jumped faster and farther. He positioned himself once more, trying again. He leapt out of the shadows and into the light. As before, he leapt a bit farther and faster. So he tried a few more things. Jumping from lighted areas into shadowed areas. Nothing. Slower than usual. Jumping from shadowed areas to other shadowed areas. Nothing. Just the initial boost. Mal stood thoughtfully and thunk about it for a bit. Revealed in the light, it hides you in the shadows. I'll call it, Assassin's Step.  With that, he cracked a smile and looked about the lab for a bit before returning to his station and staring at the four heads in front of him. Maybe he should make another malediction out of them? This time stronger? "Hmmm..." He considered it.

[Mirage]

Malefic

XP:
Glyphing: 1
Malediction: 3

Lores:
N/A

Additional:
Hey Malefic! I was impressed by your writing in this. The flow of the story was amazing, and it was a really good read. Now we have already talked about your skills and overplaying them, so I will let that be for now. Also because you did this thread BEFORE our little talk I decided to go ahead and give you 3 points. I really did enjoy reading the process lol.

Now then 2 small things about this thread. 1) Do not make an effect for an item without running it by me first. You can usually just PM it to me and I would review the malediction parts of your thread and give you the thumbs up. Again because this was thread was done before our talk I am letting it slide. Ill make some tweaks to the effects in just a moment . 2) I do not care for a book to conveniently be lying around that tells you everything you need to know. Even in Sahova some things are not just common knowledge. Just keep this in mind for your next threads, and if you WANT to use a book go look for it in the library! Could get some fun lores and skill points for that too

Now then the item's Effects: :

When worn the user feels lighter somehow, quicker on their feet. They are more confident and aware of their body movements than normal, and can better control the amount of noise they make while walking. These effects do no occur all the time, only working about 50% of the time when activated. When removed the wearer finds themselves more clumsy, more easily tripping and stumbling than before and all in all they are quite noisy when they move.

Glyphing Trigger: The trigger and barrier has to be redrawn after every use (once it is turned on and off again). Otherwise when worn the item will have a 50% chance of working properly. When triggers are properly applied there is still only a 50% chance that the item will work when activated.

The effects take into account your skill level and the intention of your item. Because the two creatures used are often natural enemies, their djed fights each other. At a novice level Malefic cannot change this simple fact, and so the item only works half the time it is used. Still it is a pretty cool item none the less.

PM me if you have questions or concerns