Closed [Gug Andjak]Shine a Light[Annalisa Marin]

[Clyde Sullins]

7 Spring 514 It had been a time since Clyde had seen Annalisa Marin. At that time he had been undergoing his judgement, and had given him some advice before he went in. He had not had time to do much more than glance at her on the way out, when things were done. She had assisted him in a step of his Magecrafting, that of turning the staff into a proper Magic Staff, a step that required another Personal Mage to assist. Since she had access to the required facilities to requisition the ingredients needed, and was a Chaon, Clyde felt she was a suitable candidate to assist him. After that he had said that he would give her further teachings in regards to Magecrafting, though he had not specified a date. Now though he had a new idea, to create a ever glowing light using Magecrafting. At the base he would use a stone, or a gem really, and then use some of the opalgloam he had discovered with its glowing light giving properties as a source of the light behavior. Then it would be simple enough to use a step to enhance this glowing behavior that would be imbued into the stone, to make the light stronger and... And then he would have it, a ever glowing mage light. It was of course his first experiment in the matter, of giving light to a stone. But then the principle of it, the logic to the process, those were sound enough. Surely that would be enough to see his idea come to... Well come to light. A small chuckle came from Clyde as he thought this, which seemed a oddly fitting expression. He had sent a note to Annalisa that he would be working again on Magecrafting, and that she could work with him, and if she wanted to then she should meet him in a specific lab, at a specific date, at a specific time, as mentioned on the note. Clyde stood there now in said lab, a bell or two early before Annalisa should arrive. He had more or less all he needed, as he had run about to the various labs. He had the stone samples, the quartz stone, and the opalgloam stone. He had also gathered up a mass of the low level reagents which were available for use in the common labs, enough to make a MC 1 item. Along with that was ink and quills which were available in most labs, and several pots of inscribing paint. He was using the public items, but then he did not care about keeping this his first endeavor into Magelighting. So when he was done his finished product would be turned back over to Sahova, or however that worked... However before Anna arrived, he needed to make the item to be Magecrafted. He picked up the chunk of quartz, unrefined, unclean, uneven... It would not be a suitable body for the enchantment. He could create a much cleaner and neater and much more refined body of quartz using Reimancy. Clyde concentrated on his res, on the bit of himself that was his djed-res, and willed it to come forth. Or more to the point, a piece of himself willed itself to come forth from the vessel that was his body, and it thus floated out of him. A stream of it billowed up and off his extended palms, out of his mouth on his breath, and began to coalesce and form into a rough ball before him. That part of himself that was his res manifested outside of his body saw that its form was unpleasant, undesirable, and not correct, and thus willed itself in unison with his greater body self's will to form into a refined cut cube. After a few ticks of motion this was achieved, the res held into place as if a invisible box was formed around it. With a lazy wave of his hand another spurt of res flew out and floated to just above the cube. This kept itself separate, going to just above. This res knew its purpose, its purpose was to stop the finished cube of quartz from res from falling. When its time came it would will the earth below it to rise and come to it, will this in unison with the will of his other self whose body it had left. Looking back at the piece of quartz Clyde recalled its texture, recalled the small colored squiggle of light that was the form or aura of quartz. For a moment both Clyde's internal and external focused on this idea, on quartz, on the squiggle, and willed uniformly for the stone or gemstone to be brought force, for the res to give birth to this cube of quartz. For a moment there was a cloud of res. In the next, there was a block of quartz, a cube with rounded corners on each of its 8 corners, however with the rest of its body clean and smooth and flat and a body that was somewhat see through. It was about the size of Clyde's own fist when balled, perhaps a layer or two larger, but almost the same size as his fist. The res that was above the quartz cube pulled at the cube, willed it to pull to it, to embrace it, and so the cube fought against the downward pull that the ground put upon it. Putting out a hand Clyde lightly brought his palm up underneath its bottom till his skin brushed against it, and then released the pull. There the cube sat, with its rounded blunted corners. Both Clyde's willed for the remaining external bits of himself to embrace his internal, and the remaining res flowed back into him, being reabsorbed through his skin. Letting out a sigh, Clyde set the cube down on the table, and waited the bell or so remaining until Anna would arrive.

[Annalisa Marin]

“Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla.”

“Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla.”

“Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla.”

The Ancient Tongue words dripped from the lips of a rather tall human woman, dressed in rags and with long hair tamed into a high ponytail. Her face was a mask of the purest concentration, brows knitting together and grey eyes focused upon a singular point before her outstretched right hand. The silver ring with the sigil of a burning scroll upon it and encrusted with rubies seemed to contrast her rather poor clothing, which was ripped and tattered and her boots worn from the travel of many roads. A Wizard of the Sahovan Citadel as it was.

This particular wizard focused deep within herself, plucking at the strands of her Djed and tugging at the tapestry of her being to bring into existence a particular construct. The tall woman kept her eyes transfixed upon that singular spot near her hand, taking the gathered energy that defined her very being and moving it outwards into the space. The concept of infinite emptiness was held within her mind, her incantations reminding her constantly of it. With this thought it mind the wizard willed the space before her hand to empty of all matter, her Djed being the force that would carry out this command.

It took about ten ticks before a tiny pinprick inky blackness opened in the air before her, swirling as Djed steadily was pulled from her to fuel the Portal. The tall woman’s face grew even more focused as she concentrated upon the spot and the tiny bridge between This Side and The Other Side, attempting to keep a stable connection to the Void. The Voider held her incantations, using them to maintain her focus at all times during the act of casting. At the moment she was simply stabilizing the Portal, getting it ready for the second phase.

Once she felt she had the Portal stable the tall woman focused upon her connection to the Portal, steadily increasing the influx of Djed going into the Portal itself. With it came the silent command for the Void Portal to grow, the construct expanding very slowly as it hungrily feasted upon her vital energy. The Blackness was visibly bordered with purple, the sign that this Portal was brought about by her willpower personally. There were no hallucinations just yet, but the tall woman was preparing for them as her Portal grew and grew.

A thrill of pleasure shot through her mind as she maintained and expanded the Portal, thoughts of simply consuming all those around her into the Void entering. These thoughts were pushed aside, common side effects of casting and the attempt her magic to control her and disrupt her mental fortitude. Power always had a way of tempting mortals and despite all of her strength the tall woman was still very much mortal. However she was strong enough to resist the temptations to simply give in to her desires and urges, being a reimancer did have its uses.

The Portal finally reached her maximum size of maintenance, about the size of the average human man and looking into the darkness before her she could start to see things. Ghostly shapes shifted and moved beyond the Portal, her eyes flicking towards each of them unconsciously as irrational fear played with the back of her mind. The tall woman had been suffering from minor hallucinations for a bit of time, however the Sahovan Wizard was not about to let that get in the way of her research. The sorceress held the steady influx of Djed upon the Portal, knowing that today’s experiment required a sizable Portal.

“Excuse me, Wizard Marin?”

The voice from behind ripped Annalisa Marin’s concentration from the Portal, severing her connection to it and causing her to pinch her brow in irritation. Grey eyes fell upon a shorter human male, the bronze upon his finger obviously fresh as he stared up at the intimidating wizard. The woman crossed her arms under her breasts and scowled ever so at the apprentice, obviously making her displeasure known at this interruption. The man looked a little nervous as he offered her a scrap of parchment which she snatched away from him, dismissing the apprentice with a regal and imperious wave of her hand that looked out of place in one so dressed.

A quick glance over the parchment had her brows rise high, and was more than enough to cause her to ponder dropping today’s little foray into the Void. The sorceress glanced at the Portal once again, reestablishing a connection and then waving a hand as she filled its core with a little bit of matter. The Portal immediately vanished from this dimension, the air where it had existed rippling ever so before returning to normal. This accomplished the tall woman set about gathering her things and started towards a flight of stairs that led downwards.

Clyde Sullins, or rather Apprentice Sullins now as was appropriate to call him, a man she had come to regard as something of an enigma. An exceedingly skilled wizard, perhaps even to the degree where he could match her prowess in some areas though one would be fortunate to pry that much from Anna. His name stirred up some long forgotten memories of her grandfather and some words of her mother, words that worried her ever so but were likely nothing to get in a fuss over. He had passed his Judgment barely, had taught her the basics of Magecraft, and was also a fellow blessed of Rhysol upon this cursed island. Anna was not exactly… fond of him personally, but he was a useful individual to keep close rather than at a distance.

So he was inviting her to partake in further Magecrafting then? An enticing idea, enough to warrant her to drop some of her research and handle the rest of her affairs today before heading to Clyde’s designated lab. Odd that he would not simply make use of his Master’s facilities, but she was not much one to judge as she often practiced her magic outside of the Palsa Hydrasa. Besides, given the nature of her magic there was a need for some space.

About a bell later the tall woman found herself at the entrance of the section of the Common Labs Clyde had designated. The tall woman had not bothered to change out of her work attire, were one observant enough they might note a few splotches of dried crimson stains. It did not take much imagination to wonder where such marks had come from, though Anna liked to keep people guessing whether it was her blood or another’s. It always helped to keep others in that right state of mind where they were kept wondering, it put some of the power in the interaction in her hands she fancied.

“Apprentice Sullins, a pleasure to see you again. I trust the day finds you well? Planning a project today are you?” Anna greeted, that trademark arrogant smirk curling upon her lips and smooth honey fitted into her tone.

[Clyde Sullins]

After finishing his short work of Reimancy, Clyde decided to rest for a bit. He had nothing else to do until Anna showed up at the lab, and he might as well be well rested and alert when she came. He decided to spend that time instead calming and readying himself for the meeting with the Chaon, focusing on his breathing, on each breath, willing the air to enter and exit his lungs instead of allowing his instincts to do it for him. After a time he felt a bit more relaxed, a bit more calm, and a bit more centered. He did wonder why Sahova did not place more importance upon introspection and meditation. He often felt it calmed him and made him more ready to do his magics... Though perhaps meditation did not work as well for nuit's who did not need to breath. Or perhaps there was some other reason to it. Clyde certainly did not understand it. However if nothing else, his meditation did help in passing the time, and all to soon he was rising from his seated position as he heard Anna greet him. In one motion he grabbed his staff from next to him and rose to his feet, turning to face the wizard. As ever Cha "gleamed" in his hand. Or perhaps gleamed was not the proper word, perhaps... Glowed? Glimmered? It was certainly a odd mix, the natural blue wood of the vian tree, and the added oddity of soulmist woven into its being. Even not factoring in its other qualities it was a odd staff. “Apprentice Sullins, a pleasure to see you again. I trust the day finds you well? Planning a project today are you?” Clyde nodded, a small smile crossing his face for a moment in response to Anna's smirk. However unlike hers his soon faded back to neutrality as he focused on the matter at hand. “Ah yes Wizard Marin, it is... Interesting to see you again. Or at least, I am sure the meeting will turn out to be interesting. I don't claim to be a diviner as some of those Konti with those flower marks, so I cannot say for sure... ” Clyde paused for a moment, once more lost in thought, running back to the Konti, of Mura, and of their divine abilities. So far he'd been aided by both sides, both the healers and the diviners. He'd been healed of his ailments brought on by Reimancy from long ago, and he'd been saved along with other Ravokian's by a seer foretelling of the djed storm just before it occurred. As Clyde felt his mind starting to spin off into thinking of the djed storm, he pulled his attention back to Anna and stared at her for a moment before recalling his train of thought. “Ah yes well... I do have another small project I am working on. Nothing as fancy as Cha here. I was thinking you might want to work with me as you stated your interest in the magic before, and I said I would explain it further to you.” Clyde motioned at a table set up in the room, upon which Clyde had placed the various items. On one end there was the uniform quartz cube made by his own res, along with several bits of opalgloam, and the rough quartz chunk that he had used as a reminder. On the other end of the table was piled the low level reagents to use in the crafting. The middle was occupied by several pots of inscribing paint, along with the utensils to write inscribe said paint. A second table held the Magecrafting hammers, ordered from smallest to biggest. And finally in the middle of the room was a pedestal, made of a single seamless slab of stone, sitting raised above the surrounding ground. “For today I was wanting to make a light. A mage-light. I discovered this stone here, this gemstone, which glows in the dark. It creates light, although you can't really see it to well what with the light in the room... Anyways it does glow. I want to use this opalgloam, this glowing rock, as a source of behavior which will be added to this quartz cube via Magecrafting. Then using a step in behavioral enhancement, the glowing light producing behavior will be increased so that it gives off a stronger light. The final product will be a everlasting cube of quartz which will glow and give off light. Safe flame free light.” Clyde paused for a moment, looking from the items in the room, and back to Annalisa. After taking a moment to let out his breath and to then pull in another, he spoke. “But of course first we need to Glyph the area to make it safe. Oh and I know I said I would explain the five traits that can be enhanced via Magecrafting, which I will explain today, or perhaps tomorrow when the item is finished, assuming you stick around till its completion... Was there any other specific Magecrafting questions you had before we begin?”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna was amused by the word choice Clyde used in his greeting, it was somewhat serviceable as a greeting and rather open to interpretation exactly what he meant by interesting. As interesting as working with a fellow Chaon could be she supposed, however such was the way of things. He went off rambling a bit and his mind seemed to wander far afield for a bit, his expression becoming thoughtful as he fell into his own mind. The sorceress herself was prone to falling away from the world around her and into contemplation, but Clyde certainly had her beat in that regard as far as she was concerned.

Never one to mince words over much, Clyde moved on and started to explain why he had called her here today. She was indeed certainly interested in the art of Magecraft, though she knew very little about it beyond the barest of basics it looked like a potent world magic. Of course, the fact her greatest political enemy in the Citadel used it was merely further incentive to learn his weakness’s that she might exploit them. Anna doubted she herself was cut out to be any great enchanter, but who could say what the future might hold.

Anna crossed her arms under her breasts and moved along the other tables around the lab space, grey eyes falling upon each item in their turn. A few stones were arrayed upon the first table she passed, crystalline in appearance though she was not aware of the specifics. Idly she wondered if her Geomancy might be capable of replicating them, a test perhaps for another day but for now likely Clyde would explain their purpose. One was very well carved, formed into a cube like shape and she wondered at Clyde’s other crafting abilities beyond the magical kind.

Also upon the table were pots of inscribing paint for Glyphing most likely, her fingers brushing over a brush near one of the pots before moving on. Next she passed a few odds and ends, items that seemingly were out of place in her mind and were rather odd to find in the room. The next table over held the charging hammers, a tingle running down her spine as she passed them as she recalled they were indeed magical. Then again, the entirety of this lab was magical so it was possible she was getting mixed signals. Sadly, she was no Aurist and lacked the ability to accurately pinpoint magical occurrences, though she could feel them when they were near like most any wizard.

At last she arrived at the pedestal, which she refrained from touching and simply stood near it with her arms folded under her breasts as she listened to Clyde’s explanation. It sounded rather brilliant actually, simple but extremely effective if she did say so herself and was rather enticing. A little light with no actual need for a light source sounded rather useful, a practical thing that most Sahovans could probably appreciate. Of course, given her last experience with Magecraft involving dealing in heavy amount of money she pondered how much this seemingly simple item would cost to make.

He mentioned Glyphing the area, so she assumed it would likely involve warding off the area similar to how he did before. It seemed simple enough; after all they were both very skilled in the art of Glyphing at the very least. Likely this step would not take overly long with two Glyphers of comparable skill to split the work between them. Anna was already staring at the space around the pedestal to get a good feeling for the Glyphs required.

“Sounds rather like a stimulating experiment, I’m available for a couple of days to lend a hand to this where I can. As for specific questions, yes actually. How much generally does it cost to create something with a Magecraft Coefficient of 1? What type of reagents are generally used in that procedure and how difficult are they to find?” The sorceress inquired.

“Judging from our discussion on the Glyphs last time, you will want to focus mostly on keeping outside stimuli from interacting with the item as we work. Since you already possess experience in crafting those Glyphs, perhaps I should work on the ones focusing upon containment around the pedestal? Or did you have something else in mind?” She said as she paced around the pedestal itself.

[Clyde Sullins]

“Sounds rather like a stimulating experiment, I’m available for a couple of days to lend a hand to this where I can. As for specific questions, yes actually. How much generally does it cost to create something with a Magecraft Coefficient of 1? What type of reagents are generally used in that procedure and how difficult are they to find?” Clyde's gazed fell back to Anna for a moment, before he broke back to looking at the various things of the room. He spent a moment or two to carefully articulate his words to follow, and then did his best to explain the answer to her question. “Ah, well that's a rather tricky question... For starters the time. Considering my own skill in Magecrafting we can probably finish this MC 1 item in 2 days. So if we work today and tommorrow we should be able to knock it out. Much faster than the last higher level item we worked on together. ” “As for the cost, well that depends upon the base item, along with if you add any additional things for other effects, whichever those might be... Optional reagents and such can be useful for odd or unique properties... That's more or less how we are giving this glowing behavior to this cube, we are taking the inherent glowing ability and giving it to the cube, and then enhancing the behavior further.” “As for the actual cost of the reagents and stuff to allow the Magecrafting itself to occur, well for a MC 1 item that would probably cost around 1,000 gm. The items used for it varies, odd rare gems or stones, rare refined mineral powders, or other objects with more potent or refined djeds. The objects vary. However they are not quick to come by, and the quantities needed for even the most simple of enchantments would be unduly time consuming. It is much more cost effective to simply purchase the ingredients en mass. And since they are rendered useless when their djeds are injected into the object to be enchanted they need to be refreshed for each instance of Magecrafting.” Clyde let out a sigh. It was somewhat interesting going over the more technical side of Magecrafting, but often it was a side not fully understood. Clyde vaguely understood how Magecrafting worked, but often full understanding was not truly required to do the crafting. One did not need to understand how fire worked for it to burn. Along with that, as with explaining how fire worked, asking two different Magecrafters could easily garner two very different explanations. “But honestly that does not really matter much. In this case understanding the specifics won't really aid you in enchanting. So long as you understand the rules then you will more than likely be fine.” “Judging from our discussion on the Glyphs last time, you will want to focus mostly on keeping outside stimuli from interacting with the item as we work. Since you already possess experience in crafting those Glyphs, perhaps I should work on the ones focusing upon containment around the pedestal? Or did you have something else in mind?” Clyde shook his head. Clearly the woman had not listened, for he was fairly certain he had explained it in depth, what the two aspects of the Glyphing wards did. He certainly had not said it simply acted as a means of containment. Simply keeping things in was a way to send the djed back in upon itself like a bottle with pressure ever growing inside. “Not quite. The outer layer is as you said about keeping out outside stimuli from influencing your work. But the inner bits is not simply about containment, it is also about siphoning and redirecting. You don't want to simply block all djed on the pedestal from getting out, you also need to form a means of runoff from occurring in the case of excess djed. Imagine it as a road. Rain is falling upon the road. However if to much rain comes down it will build up on the stone and make it slippery. However if there are runoffs, ways for the water to leave the road and flow outward and away, then you will not have those masses of deep water that you do not want, and no one will sleep or fall.” “If you recall those swirly whirly bits with the focus on the internal side, which allowed the excess djed to 'runoff' in the case of excess... Something that performs that function is necessary for the internal layer of Glyphing wards closest to the pedestal. If you would like to try it, go ahead, and I will do the external layer. Just keep what I said about a means of siphoning and runoff in mind.”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna was rather surprised to find that this item would not take overly long to make, two days was not a lot of time so clearly Clyde was indeed more skilled than she had first estimated. Then again, it was as he said a lower level item so perhaps those were a bit easier to make all things considered. Of course with her added to the process Clyde was taking a risk in her opinion, given that she was rather unskilled in the art of Magecraft. He could more easily accomplish this himself, making her wonder if there was some ulterior motive here other than fulfilling his word. Chaon’s were not exactly those that kept their word.

Grey eyes cast themselves over the reagents as he explained the cost for creating such a thing, one thousand gold rimmed Miza’s was not something to balk at most certainly. She had to wonder then how much one might sell for, though given that they were using Citadel resources that likely meant that it was going to be cut into in regards to the profit. She stroked her chin for a moment, pondering over this matter for a little while before allowing herself to be sucked back into the explanation.

The sorceress crossed her arms under her breasts as the mage explained his Glyphing, chewing it over in an attempt to properly understand. It made sense, especially with the analogy given but Anna wondered perhaps if tasking containment as something else might in fact create structural weaknesses. She supposed that this prevented disaster through build up, however perhaps the siphons and redirection introduced cracks. Anna kept this possibility to herself, intending to attempt a bit of research on her own time regarding the validity of the Glyphs in this manner. Containment was typically more important in her line of magic, but Magecraft was different so that was another factor to consider.

She memorized the process described, it sounded simple enough to emulate for one of her abilities so she shrugged in response and moved to claim one of the pots of inscribing paint and a brush. From here she moved closer to the pedestal itself, looking for a good place to get started on the Glyphing process. She knelt down near the pedestal and dipped her brush in inscribing paint as she began upon the wards as she knew how to make them. Her first step here was to create six Focus Glyphs, her hands moving on an instinctual level as she drew the Glyphs.

So there needed to be a means of run off, well, there was a rather nice way to accomplish that by providing little siphons in the form of Paths that led away from the main pedestal itself and towards a means for run off. It was probably not the exact process Clyde himself used, but it would service well enough in her mind regarding the art. Geometric shapes came alive and she was engrossed in her art as per the norm, intent upon bring an order upon the world itself. The sorceress rather enjoyed the Glyphing process more than most things, probably because it was one of the more advanced of her magics.

The tall woman started upon a Barrier to provide stability around the pedestal, keeping the Focus’ inside of it but working the Path’s out of it. This would result in the excess Djed being channeled through the Focus Glyphs and along the Paths to provide the necessary runoff. The Barrier itself was there for stability and to ensure that the ambient Djed would be needed to eventually be channeled via the Focus Glyphs away from the pedestal and crafters. It was a simply thing and Anna wondered why she had not thought of it sooner, though she still wondered how strong it was really.

As she worked now upon the Paths the sorceress turned her attention towards Clyde himself, pondering over him. His name was the same as her grandfathers had been, it was an odd thing and though she was certain there were plenty with the name Clyde in the world she wondered a bit about what her mother had told her. Liana had possessed a sister, who had apparently left Zeltiva for Syliras and ended up getting married. Was it possible…

“So, Apprentice Sullins. This might sound a strange question to ask, but what was your mother’s name?” The sorceress inquired, her tone casual despite the rather out of the blue question.

[Clyde Sullins]

As the two continued working, Clyde occasionally made a remark or two, answering a possible question or line of reasoning related to what he had said, or to further explain a point. “Anyways, as I said a MC 1 item costs in ingredients about 1,000 gm. A MC 2 costs 1,700 gm. A MC 3 costs 3,000 gm. They continue to expand in cost quickly after that. Usually on the market a item will sell for about three times its base cost for ingredients. Of course if there are any additional costs, such as for base items or optional reagents acquisition, then those expenses will cut into ones profit.” “And being able to sell it also depends upon the wealth of the market in which you are selling it. Often a market can only absorb so much Magecrafted goods without being saturated. And some of the higher level items are so costly it is unlikely you could find a buyer for them. Likely you'd specifically craft the specific item for a client who ordered it, if such a high level item was ever made at all.” As Anna began her Glyph work, Clyde made a few comments to further explain things, falling back into his lecture mode as a instructor. “Bear in mind this setup is rather unique to Magecrafting, I made it specifically for it. I find a multilayer-ed approach works best, with each different layer doing a different purpose. The outer layer confines and protects, the inner layer absorbs and accepts runoff. Either by itself would not work, but when combined into a single warding setup they establish synergy, and make up for what each other lacks to make something greater than the parts. And of course you must cap off and separate the two layers by a insulating barrier layer.” As Clyde spoke, he began his own Glyphing, taking out some of the paint for inscribing and beginning to draw a long snaking line that curved upward and downward all the way around the inner layer of warding until it orbited and encircled the entire setup. He would continue this all the way around once, and then make an identical line a finger span further out which also encircled the pedestal and the inner layer of warding. Sandwiched in between the two barrier's he would add in a layer of wording turned on its side, words such as "block, enforce, guide, restrain, stop, ward, contain." The meaning of these words would hopefully be infused into the two layers of barrier it contacted with. But in and of itself the line of text encircling the pedestal in between the two line layers was also in and of itself a barrier. “Of course, you can never go wrong with an extra layer or two of barriers, building in redundancy and such.” Clyde was just finishing up his Glyphing when Anna asked another question, one with nothing to do with their work. If not for its standing out so starkly from the rest of the conversation he likely would not have noticed it. But as it was it made Clyde wonder why she asked... It just did not seem to fit into the conversation. “So, Apprentice Sullins. This might sound a strange question to ask, but what was your mother’s name?” “My mother? She would be Mrs.Sullins. Why do you ask, wizard Marin?” Clyde paused for a moment, pondering it over, before continuing onward. “But then, I suppose I've always simply called her mom, or mother. But sometimes by... The man who raised me, her husband... He did call her by her first name, Felicia. Why do you ask?”

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna listened to the offered information, absorbing all that she could from Clyde’s explanations and pondering over this matter herself. The costs were high but the profits were also rather high as well, if she was doing her math correctly then 3000 taken three times upon itself was 9000 gold rimmed Miza’s. Anna had never held that amount of money for herself in her life, there was quite a bit she could imagine doing with all of that money. That was only a MC 3 item; she could only imagine how much a higher tiered item would properly sell for given this knowledge.

Of course, as Clyde mentioned, the challenge would be finding a buyer for such a thing however this particular item they were creating was only an MC 1 item after all. Perhaps it would be well within her abilities of she remembered the entire process and emulated it on her own at a point in time, it was an idea worth pursuing in her own time. It sounded relatively simple to make in theory, and on that note it was also highly practical considering where in the world they were after all. A self-sustaining light could very much come in handy.

Anna had just about finished her own Glyphs when, her brush teasing out the final details upon the last of the Paths that would allow Clyde’s Glyphs to capture the Djed. He mentioned it was unique to Magecrafting, which made sense to the tall woman really as it seemed somewhat difficult to ponder how to apply this set up to her own craft. Then again, the Djed from her spells could be separated and then captured perhaps within the outer wards. So perhaps they could be modified as a form of refined protective Glyphs if necessary, a thought for another experiment.

Anna stood and chuckled as Clyde called his mother by her last name, shaking her head slightly as she placed the pot of inscribing paint upon the table she had found it upon. It had been a whim of sorts, a longshot and a rather foolish one to pursue actively when they had actual work to do. What were the odds that this man bore any relation to her whatsoever, other than being connected by the blood of Rhysol himself? Of course she froze when he actually mentioned his mother’s name, the name spot on for what she had been looking for.

It could very well have been coincidence, but it seemed a bit farfetched to put stock in that idea when there were two factors that pointed towards a relation. The fact he shared her grandfather’s name and now that his mother possessed the same name her mother’s sister had possessed. It seemed oddly too coincidental to be mere happenstance now, and now Anna’s idle curiosity had turned into actual interest in the subject. Perhaps he grew up in Syliras? If there was any time to ask, now would be that time. At least she should probably explain her reasoning to Clyde himself lest he start getting the wrong idea.

“Interesting, my mother had a sister by the name of Felicia you know. I’m Zeltivan as was my mother, her sister and my father and my grandfather, a man by the name of Clyde.” The tall woman explained at length.

“My mother stayed in Zeltiva, but her sister left for Syliras and was married there. Tell me, Clyde, did you happen to grow up in Syliras? Or have any relations to the city itself at any point?” The sorceress inquired, leaning against the table nearby as the full measure of her gaze fell upon Clyde.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde looked over the warding the two Glyphers were making, Anna and himself, checking for any problems or inconsistencies. As far as he could see there was nothing at issue, Anna was skilled in her craft just as he was. Not quite as skilled as himself, but still very good. He might have made a small edit there, or a extra width to the pathway there... Perhaps set that one a fingerspan to the left... But it would more than suffice for their work, particularly for such a low level item. Clyde continued on for a bit adding another layer of barrier sigil's on either side of his earlier set of 3 lines, these ones appearing as varying symbols, a circle with lines emanating out of it, with a twining mirroring set of lines coming out of it on either side and connecting the next circle with lines emanating in the series of encircling barriers. Honestly the inner barrier, the one being made by Anna, was unnecessary. There was not potent enough djed at a level 1 enchantment to cause buildup issues, the enchantment process was not prolonged enough and not enough djed was being infused for the excess to cause backlash that might significantly cause issues in the new djed pathways. In deeper or longer enchantments the issues could build up over time, and in the truly great ones he supposed even small issues could cause catastrophic issues by the time the enchanting was done... But he did not see much danger in this situation, due to the redundancy built into the Glyphing system. Clyde's concentration however was broken from this track, as Anna replied to his naming of his mother. “Interesting, my mother had a sister by the name of Felicia you know. I’m Zeltivan as was my mother, her sister and my father and my grandfather, a man by the name of Clyde.” “My mother stayed in Zeltiva, but her sister left for Syliras and was married there. Tell me, Clyde, did you happen to grow up in Syliras? Or have any relations to the city itself at any point?” Clyde stopped and looked back at Anna, his eyes narrowing for a moment as he thought things through. He had yet to tell her where he was from, from Syliras, nor did he recall mentioning it to anyone else... Perhaps it had been said to Elaine, but surely no one else. And he doubted Elaine would tell anyone else. He had grown up in Syliras, and his mother had settled there, though he was unsure where she had been before that in her travels. He simply knew that he was born in Syliras, and that he had not left until he was much older, almost fully grown. “I don't know much of my mothers family, we never really spoke on the subject. I know she traveled about Sylira at some point before settling in Syliras, which is where I was born and raised... But I am unsure where her or her family comes from, or her maiden name...” Clyde paused once more, looking over at Anna, unsure what her game was... He was hesitant enough as it was mentioning where he was from, considering he was a member of the Ebonstryfe and of Ravok. Syliras was of course enemies of Rhysol and Ravok... But she had mentioned the city specifically in response to his naming of his mother... It all seemed odd though. Particularly since if she said her grandfather was named Clyde, and that her mother had a sister with his mothers name... Both of which had moved to and married in Syliras... It sounded as if she was saying they were cousins, that each others mothers where their aunts... That they were related. But what were the odds of that?

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna noticed the narrowing of Clyde’s eyes, her own eyes narrowing to match them as she herself pondered this whole affair. It was perfectly logical to assume that the other man bore no relation to her at all, but if he did then she could very well be staring at one of her last known blood relations. It was an odd thought that she possessed more family in this world, not only that but a family that had taken up the same path as she herself. One that possessed the mark of Rhysol upon their flesh, and also was experienced in matters arcane.

His response was enough to further solidify this theory, and was starting to exclude the possibility that she was wrong in this bizarre line of thought. Clyde’s story matched up to what her mother had said to her, which could very well mean they were related by blood. Of course there were very few ways to know exactly how this was the case, no real sure fire way to know for sure. Unless perhaps there actually was, a method that she was very familiar with and could in fact be extremely useful in this situation. It was so simple that Anna wanted to smack herself.

“Wait here for a chime, Clyde, let me fetch something…” The tall woman said, holding up a finger as she wandered off from the lab space in search of something.

She left the immediate area where Clyde was and started searching through the nearby lab spaces for exactly what she was looking for. Luckily parchment and ink was ever flowing upon Sahova, enough so that it barely took any time at all for the Chaon to locate a sheet and an inkwell and brush. These items in hand the sorceress would return to the space Clyde had taken up for Magecrafting and placed the parchment on one of the tables. This accomplished, Anna began to place Glyphs upon the parchment, her brush dipped in ink and already moving.

The first thing she drew upon the parchment was a large stylized inverted triangle, the symbol used for her Focus Glyph. Her hand was almost a blur of motion over the document as she worked, every brushstroke instinctive in its design. After completing the Focus the tall woman would begin upon a ring of stylized geometric symbols around the Focus itself, her Barrier for the Sigil. Scrolls barely took any time at all for her to create, aside from deciding the exact wording of the Trigger, though fortunately the tall woman already had a good idea of what she was going to do.

The Barrier completed Anna started upon a jumble of geometric shapes in the corner of the parchment, the Trigger for the entire array. This was normally the part that took the longest, as the wording of a Trigger was often a very tricky thing to get down. It often required much contemplation even for a Master of the art like Anna; one did not want to risk a faulty Trigger upon the Sigil. If it was faulty then it could very well either not activate at all, or simply activate at an improper moment. As it was the sorceress was already wording out the Trigger as soon as the Glyph was completed, a rather complex affair.

When a cousin of Annalisa Marin, the creator of the scroll, and one that is born of the loins of the blood sister of Liana Marin speaks the word ‘seagull’, the trigger will lower the Barrier and release the magic contained within the Focus.

This task accomplished Anna placed her brush in the inkwell and stood up straight, gesturing to Clyde for him to come over if he had not already. Already the tall dark haired woman was tugging at the tapestry of her Djed, pulling at a strand of her very being and forcing it outwards from her fingers. A small amount of gaseous res radiated up through her pores, moving upwards into a tiny cloud which was willed over the Focus of the scroll. Once here Anna forced it downwards, willing a direct transmutation from res to the element of air to take place. The Res transmuted and a tuft of air was sent into the Focus of the scroll, filling it with the necessary magic.

“Seagull.” Anna said, attempting to show that it would not activate from her words and indeed the scroll did nothing.

“Right. So I have a theory that we might very well be related, the evidence seems to point towards that at the very least. My mother’s sister held the same name as your mother, and also arrived in Syliras from another city. You hold the name Clyde, the same name as my grandfather. That seems a bit much to write off as coincidence, no? So this scroll should only activate if you are in fact my blood cousin as I suspect you are.” Anna explained at length, turning to Clyde and giving him a raised eyebrow.

“If I am wrong, and you are not, then it should not activate and we’ll have just wasted a bit of parchment, ink, and a couple of chimes. What have you to lose?” Anna said, gesturing to the scroll.