Solo First Day on the Job

[Mienskil Ostovik]

12th of Winter, 512 AV Gug Andjak, Common Lab 37B Well, it was finally ready. It had taken a whole day to fully equip the workspace to the point where Mienskil was satisfied, but it was worth it. Bells of requesting the golem to move things, constantly adding to his list, rearranging things as he saw fit and then rearranging them again once he changed his mind, it was all so difficult. A lot of it probably came from Mienskil’s lack of experience as a sponsored crafter, his lack of knowledge of what to ask for having for so long taken what he could. When told he could have access to almost everything, he just couldn’t think of anything. He had his preliminary list of course, pedestal and tools and mirrors, but beyond that he didn’t know. Something to paint the glyphs he supposed? Some chargers to fill the tools with djed would probably be helpful too. Yet it took him forever to think of everything, which was largely because he was so excited. Not only was this the culmination of nearly a day’s work, but it was also the next step on a long road that had started all the way back in Zeltiva when he was naught but a wee boy. Ever since he had first learnt of the wondrous practice known as magecrating, he had a hunger for more that could not be sated, a thirst for knowledge that would not be quenched. He did what he could in that ancient city, learning all that was in any book he could afford to read for however long, enhancing whatever tools and weapons may come his way, struggling to find enough charge for his tools to keep up the consistent work. Then there was the time wasted traveling between his workspace and home, time that could have been better spent working and crafting. It was all so bare, so difficult to focus. He left at the first word of Sahova that had been told to him at all. And now that he was here, he was free to focus as much as he wanted. The Archwizard granted him a generous amount of freeing if not unlimited access, all the time he could ever want to craft, and then gave him a convenient way to do it. There was nothing more Mienskil could want for the moment. Except to be working. As he was the only worker on the common lab for the moment, only one of the potential workstations was filled. The large hall was lined with alcoves, each the perfect size for it to be its own workstation, and maybe one day the entire hall would be filled with the noise of hammers striking tools in a rhythmic beat that signaled a booming science, but for now one was all there was, that and the worker’s sleep station just before it. But for now, that was all that was needed to work on what the human had in mind. Beside the sprawled out blanket in the middle of the hall, which was what Mienskil used as cover the previous night, was a stack of items and random knickknacks that he planned to use. To begin with, he would only be crafting simple improvements on dirks he had requested from the golem, just one structural improvement apiece. The goal was not to create an incredible weapon, but rather to examine the effects various items had as extra reagents added in the finalizing process. Having each dirk only have one structural benefit would provide a simple-to-follow uniform that he could better examine the unique effects of each result. It was simple preliminary experimenting, knowledge-gathering at the start of his work, small projects that could yield useful information for much bigger projects down the road. But in order to discover the properties of a reagent, he’d first have to get the item to a point where it was able to have the reagent incorporated into its form. Well, time was a-wasting. Picking up the chalk he’d asked for, he quickly rushed over to the pedestal and kneeled low to the ground. The mirrors that were positioned around the space were already glyphed as he’d requested, which would amplify the aura for him, but there was nothing dexterous enough and no one around to glyph the floor. So he had to do that himself, beginning by marking the stone floor with white streaks, the straight and angular symbols hinting at the analytical and straightforward mind behind the drawer. He finished one glyph, then drew a direct line to the location of the next, careful to keep it closed so that any djed being charged and gaining energy within wouldn’t spill out into the walls and hall. He had no idea what would happen if he wasn’t careful, it’d never happened in the past to him, but he wasn’t too keen on finding out without at first establishing lab conditions, and he simply didn’t have the time. He moved onto another glyph, drawing the various multiple marks and crosses and vertexes into a shape he was familiar with. It wasn’t a language by any means, though the way he wrote made it look like he was transcribing some runic alphabet. Each glyph was compact against the last, yet always appeared distinguishable from the last. Mienskil finished the symbol and moved onto another, than another. This was always the most tedious part of Magecrafting, but it was a routine he’d developed a while ago and he was nothing if not a creature of habit. After another chime or two, he finally finished the final glyph in the ring, connecting it to the first symbol via a short straight line. Sighing with relief, Mienskil stood up straight and stretched his back, hearing the bones crack as they moved out of the crouched position they’d gotten used to. He was in no great shape, that was obvious, but he made sure he took care of himself enough to work and the rest took care of itself. Using the tongs, he picked up one of the dirks and brought it over to the now prepared pedestal, grabbing a hammer along the way. Both had been charged with djed previously, and as Mienskil squeezed his eyes shut and shot them open again, he saw in their auras the amount of energy and pure existence rushing through them, brimming with the letters written in their auras and shooting across the orbs like frenetic snakes. Steadily, he held the dirk down on the pedestal, right against the surface, then brought the hammer down hard on it. The sound as it hit was sort of a sizzling noise along with the clang, like metal in the fire except that there was none here. He brought it down again, swinging with a considerable amount of force that made an slightly louder noise than last time, the dirk actually sparking a bit as he struck the blade this time. Without pause, he struck it again, bringing the same level of intensity down to bear while watching the aura of the dirk carefully, watching the djed break through new channels and rearrange itself into tighter, larger, and generally better avenues of movement. He struck again, sizzle and spark, finding a rhythm that he was comfortable with and beating in time. As new pathways for the flowing djed emerged, he began directing it through his tools into specific areas of its being, watching it happen even as he felt it through the tools, thanks to his auristics. The sound of Mienskil hard at work would ring through the large hall and echo through the open door and into the hallway, noise bouncing around the Gug Andjak before dissipating. These clangs would continue late into the night, far past the time when only the dead should be awake, and then into the early morning as well as the human tried his hardest to get as much done. Disregarding his needs as a human, Mienskil devoted himself to his work, guiding the djed with each clang of the hammer. It would continue until the human could not take anymore, leaning his head on the pedestal and falling asleep right there. Sequel : Story continues here.

[Mirage]

Mienskil

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Glyphing	2
Magecrafting	2

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Magecrafting: The Set Up

It's Not What You Think...

Hey Mienskil! Great firs thread . Ok obviously you did not get any points in Auristics because there was nothing there to award. We have already talked about how you can earn more points in that, such as talking about the djed flow, details about what he sees, hears, feels, ect. So no beating a dead horse

Now I was just going to give you a 1 in Magecrafting, but I enjoyed your description of the djed so much I threw in that extra point . Now it was never apparent to me exactly what KIND of structural effect you were applying to the dirk. For more points you need to 1) make it well known what kind of effect you are imposing, and 2) give some details on exactly HOW he is imposing these effects. For example what does he think of when he applies each effect? Does he have to feel a certain way to affect the djed paths? Does he have to really focus to make sure they are lining up correctly? Also he should stop from time to time to examine the aura for breaks or mistakes. Don't want to get to the end and find out that it was all for nothing right XD

Anyway I loved the descriptions, add in the details I mentioned and you are well on your was