Solo [Lab 25-Z]Of Humble Continuances

[Clyde Sullins]

43 Winter 516

One thing Clyde had long since learned about magic was that enough was never enough. Learning how to do something wasn’t enough. Learning how something worked, how it was done, wasn’t enough. Because, inevitably, once he’d peered into every corner of something, learned every facet, there was still more to do and learn.

With Reimancy that had been doing non-traditional spells and things, testing, experimenting, combining, using other magics with it. With Magecrafting that meant endlessly iterating, varying something in a small way or a big way to see the difference. To do something new.

This was much easier with Magecrafting, Clyde found, which was one reason he preferred using it and found more interest in it. He’d begun to bore with Reimancy, something that helped him understand the nuit just that bit better. Doing something new, learning something new, making something new, was all that there was.

Peering down at the items sitting upon his lab table, Clyde had that next newness. He’d previously tested out Anti-magic, djed shackles in their simplest form. Now he was going to push that further, perhaps in a way no one else ever had. Or at least, no one still alive and around to comment on it.

Using a technique he’d been focusing on, he was going to make an Anti-Anti-nuit Djed shackle. A normal set of djed shackles in all regards but one, it wouldn’t work against nuit. Assuming it worked right and his theory was sound. t was a test, a challenging and testing of a theory, to see if it would work. Clyde had confidence in his skill that he could get it to work.

He’d also improved upon the base item, this time getting a single cuff or shackle with a lock. The chain, the connection between the two shackles, had been the weak point before. From his own tests he knew a single circle was enough to cut off magic. This would allow a more sturdy object for the enchanting as it was a single point of well made steel without the weak links connecting it, literally the chains on the old item.

Next to this stood a bowl covered in a sheet, within which was a mix of several nuits ichor. Where the ichor had come from, who had donated it, he wasn’t sure. He’d requested it, and when his order came through it had been there. All he knew was that it was several healthy nuits ichor, three to four at least, mixed within the vessel. For his purposes it was safer to do the work with multiple nuits ichor, to make sure it would not work against any nuit, instead of just the single nuit who’s ichor was used.

Of course Clyde being Clyde that wasn’t enough, and he planned one more optional reagent. His own blood, to make the shackle also Anti-Anti himself, so it wouldn’t work on him.

Examining the items before him one last time, Clyde headed over to the pedestal. This would be a slightly higher level item, an MC 2 construct. One step to give it the Anti-magic quality, and one step to make it more durable.

MC: 527

[Clyde Sullins]

Spending a few chimes to examine his warding, which hadn’t noticeably degraded since his last project, Clyde was ready to begin his work. Taking the steel cuff with a lock, a single shackle which wouldn’t in and of itself be restraining, he set it upon the pedestal amidst the warding.

Passing back over his warding he headed to the long lab table, beginning to take out the various items and ingredients and thing he had to use as the more common reagents that fueled the magic. The first item he found before him was, as best he could describe it, a hunk of wet meat yanked out of some animal. Whatever it was, or was from, it seemed rather repugnant, though being fresh didn’t have any real odor to it. As he took one of the hammers however and held it above the meat, he was surprised to find it quiver and shake and suddenly move in some odd way across the table.

What he’d taken to be a hunk of dead flesh was some kind of creature, though Clyde couldn’t fathom how it could even be alive. It had no sensory organs as far as he could see, no mouth, nothing, though clearly it had detected his hammer by some fashion and was able to react.

Not wanting to let the thing get away and let it go to waste, he quickly moved the hammer and gave it a good strike to extract its djed. He managed to do that, absorbing some of its djed as it died. Though when he struck it unlike other items he’d struck it didn’t dry up and lose its essence. Instead it seemed to, as best he could describe, pop. Like a overfull waterskin left out in the sun it seemed to explode as the hammer struck, letting loose a volume of wet syrupy brown fluid or pus.

“What the petch….”

Not wanting to leave his lab area a mess he took a break, finding a rag and some water and cleaning up the remnants of the creature he had slain. He still had no idea what it was, and had been so taken by surprise by it he’d not had time to do anything but smash it. Still, Clyde couldn’t help but wonder what it was, what it was for, and where it had been found. He’d never seen the like on Sahova, but then he’d not explored the entire island and so he supposed it could have been from some far off corner. Or it might not even be from Sahova, but somewhere else.

Whatever it was, the oddity of the experience had put Clyde off, and it took him a good bell to get himself and his lab in proper order and ready to continue his work. Once he did he carefully tested the rest of the common reagents by lightly prodding them with Cha in turn to make sure none of the other items were alive. They weren’t, Clyde was relieved to find out.

WC: 505

[Clyde Sullins]

After that, the rest of his work passed in a more or less normal state of affairs. He filled the various hammers for charging one by one, using more traditional materials he’d seen before. Husks of insects, shells of the insect or sea variety, bits of stone, and a few odd dense plants.

One by one he lined them up before his hammers, striking each in turn and absorbing their djed into the charging hammers. He would then in turn one by one release that djed into the item on the pedestal, the steel cuff.

Taking up the first hammer he’d charged, and since cleaned off, he headed to the pedestal with Cha under the crook of his left arm. As he crossed over the ensconcing wards through which even his own magic could not pierce, he extended out his aura sight upon the item. Examining the item within his aura sight while he did the enchantment was something Clyde usually did. In his experience it aided in understanding the item, in angling the djed to be placed within the folds and pathways of the item, and helped him appraise how he was doing throughout the project.

For such a low level item there was little fear of djed corruption or failure, at least with his skills at the task, but as always he preferred to take any reasonable precaution he could. The heavy warding around the item was a clear example of this precaution with all things magical.

Canting the hammer above the cuff, Clyde eyed it both mundanely and magically. Pairing the two along with his knowledge as a Magecrafter Clyde counted to three in his head, and then struck the hammer on the edge of the cuff with the gentlest of taps on the point furthest from the lock. The contact was after all what was important, not the strength of the blow, the intent and not the follow through.

This was simply an opening of sorts, a first step in the direction of change. In this case he’d begun with the first step of the Anti-magic effect, focusing on the tap like effect to be placed into the workings of the item.

Before he progressed further he however needed to add the extra materials. Back at the lab table he took out the bowl of ichor, mixing the material up with a small wooden stick. After a good chime of mixing when he was sure it was well distributed he headed over to the pedestal.

Holding the bowl in one hand and a hammer in the other, Cha tucked under an armpit, he headed back to continue his work. Tilting the edge of the bowl he let a fine line of ichor drizzle over the cuff, giving it a good coating. Setting aside the bowl Clyde canted the new hammer, holding it above the shackle. Focusing on the ichor, on imbuing the essence into the shackle as a template to look upon, Clyde began the anti-anti effect which he would tuck into the workings of the working- blocking the intended effect form working when it recognized the template he was placing within it by the extra essence.

If the effect was a doorway, this would be a door, giving it a clear instance of blockage in regards to the effect in relation to this template’s source directly.

In other words, Clyde simplified to himself, the effect wouldn’t be able to activate when upon a nuit.

WC: 579

[Clyde Sullins]

As he struck the hammer on the cuff and released the held djed the essence of the essence, the template of the ichor, was imbued within the item.

The ichor in some manner was leeched or pulled into the cuff, some of it vanishing and some of it simply becoming less ichorous and more of a dried out dust of the same color.

Heading back to the lab table he took another fresh hammer and a dagger he’d previously sterilized. Once he was on the pedestal he took the tip of the dagger and pricked the index finger on his left hand. It was a simple cut, not deep, but it was enough to let a slow seepage of blood out. Clyde set aside the dagger and squeezed his finger, forcing the blood to bead up and build into a good droplet. This he held just over the shackle, letting a few drops spill and land on its surface. He continued to squeeze and build up more droplets of blood on his finger, till he felt he’d gotten a good enough trickle across the shackle. A few direct drops would probably do, but he was one to be cautious and so he used a bit extra.

Regardless within a few chimes the blood flow lessened, the cut already clotting, and so he could not add more without cutting his hand again. Taking the hammer with a charge Clyde carefully angled for another blow, once more extending out his aura sight while upon the pedestal where the warding didn’t block him from inspecting the item.

As he tapped the hammer upon the shackle he focused on his blood, on its anti-anti-nature he wished to imbue upon the item the same as the nuit ichor from before.

As the hammer struck the djed leeched through the blood, taking its essence within the shackle as another template of sorts. Now the items effect had two doors, either one of which would shut when contacted with its template and thus make the item not function. As the djed passed through the blood it carried its essence along, leaving behind but a dried reddish brown dusting upon the item as if the blood had long since crusted and been left to the elements for quite some time.

Taking the spent hammer and the dagger back to the lab table Clyde wiped them both clean and set them aside to sterilize later. He took up another hammer, ready to continue the process of the anti-magic. Now that he had begun it, and had placed the two templates of essences as counters within that process, he now simply had to expand upon and build the anti-magic effect.

By the end of the day that would be done, and tomorrow he would continue by adding the single step of durability enhancement, finishing by cooling the item off.

What followed was a series of hammers and strikes, moving back and forth between the pedestal and the lab table. Each time he returned he would focus his aura, search out the djed pathways of the item, and inject more djed into the new djed pathway he was creating within the workings of the item. Each time he would focus on the effect, the tap within the item which he was creating within its non-physical essence and workings.

By days end Clyde was confident he had well shaped the effect within the item, and that it would work as intended. Along with that and the process of shaping the effect he’d traced the pair of templates, his own blood and the ichor, as blocks to the effect he had shaped.

WC: 609

[Clyde Sullins]

Starting fresh on the second day of his work, Clyde rose and headed back into the main lab space. He spent a chime inspecting the wards before crossing them and beginning his work. He would do the same again when he finished his work, and before he began a new one.

So far he’d seen little degradation due to the level of the wards and the low level of the magic at use relatively speaking, but he planned to make some additions after this project and before he began a new one.
If another djed storm like the one in 512 came by, and if the warding was across all the walls and surfaces, he didn’t doubt this room could stand as unaffected as a strong tall oak before a gentle breeze. With that level of protection in mind it was small wonder his few enchantments of a low level wouldn’t’ overly hamper or damage the warding.
Taking a small diamond and a hammer with him Clyde crossed to the pedestal once more. Placing the diamond upon the side of the shackle, Clyde carefully plotted his strike. The next one to come was aimed directly at the tiny bit of diamond, aiming for the djed to pass through it and into the cuff.

Size wasn’t important, hardiness and durability as a quality was. Using the diamond as a template he impressed upon the djed structure of the item its qualities, aiming to make it that much more like the source material. With more steps he could likely make it more and more hardy, till it was literally as tough as diamond. With a single step it would be stronger than normal, though not as much so as a diamond.

The process of using the diamond as a template however took away the very thing he wished to impress upon the item. Having been sapped of its essence the tiny stone was likely little stronger than a piece of glass, though perhaps no more so than any other item used in such a fashion in Magecrafting.

It was still a diamond at some level, deep down, but the diamond-ness of it had been lessened, its djed weakened and dulled in its defining of the object. Some of those words had now been impressed upon the item he was enchanting.

Taking another hammer, Clyde returned to the pedestal, preparing and canting the blow. With the diamond now gone he directly infused the djed into the cuff, directing it upon the narrow pathway he had opened by impressing the template of the diamond within the item. Now he simply expanded upon that, a trickle of water expanding upon a crack in a wall to widen and enlarge it. Too much and the wall was weakened and would give out, unless it was shored up. But with such a simple enhancement that wasn’t an issue, the djed easily held within the pathways of the cuff.

As he worked he continued to examine the cuff’s aura, noting over time as it changed subtly. Its djed grew stronger, as more and more was packed into the item. For now the djed was hot and fluid, alive within the item. When he was done though that would have been cooled and hardened into a final shape and given permanence.

WC: 552

[Clyde Sullins]

After that Clyde spent a good four or five bells going back and force, infusing more djed into the item with each contact of the hammer. He continued to focus on the template of the diamond, funneling the djed injected through that template written upon the cuff and using this to write it upon the cuff itself. Slowly the properties of the cuff were shifted into a manner more akin to that diamond, though right now this change was a bit of wet mud laid upon the item.

Only when it was cooled and hardened into a strong brick laid upon it would it matter and have substance, and change the way the item acted.

Right now it was nothing more than a djed filled bit of steel, slowly being given purpose but without solidity.

Near midday Clyde took a short break, relieving himself and eating a small snack and getting a drink from his waterskin before returning to his task at hand. By days end he planned to be done, and he was eager to get back to it even if he was sad to know his work would soon be done.

Within a few more bells the last of the hammers had been expended, their pent djed released into the item and guided into the new pathway Clyde had cut into it. By then Clyde could feel the pulse of the item in its aura, the intent of the effects. The intent of the anti-magic, to open a tap in the item to stop magic usage, except in the case where one of the templated essences was met. When Clyde’s or a nuit was met with the cuff, the effect would fail to rise and the tap would not open, and so they would not be limited by its effect.

Along with that was the effect of the hardening, the enhancement to the durability of the cuff. It made it that bit harder and more durable, more able to take punishment.

Done with his work, Clyde took a final chime to examine the item, to make sure he had in fact done all he could, before carefully lifting the steel cuff with a locking mechanism imbedded in it away from the pedestal.

From there he headed to his previously prepared basin of fresh charging water. Dropping the cuff within the water its contents began to roil and froth as if a red hot poker had been lowered in. Magically speaking that was exactly what the object was, the waters acting to cool the djed of the item and harden it into its final effect.

With that Clyde had nothing else to do but to wait. Chimes. Bells. The rest of the day. It was nearing sunset, not that Clyde could tell well below ground, when the water fully stilled. It had been a full five chimes since it had let loose so much as a single bubble, a sign that the process was done. Taking the cuff out of the water Clyde carefully dried it off, examining the finished product within his aura sight, familiarizing himself with its djed and aura.

If all had gone as planned the item would be fully functioning and in working order. First thing in the morning Clyde would unlock it, slap it upon his wrist, relock it, and test it out to make sure it didn’t work on him, followed by another mage who wasn’t a nuit to make sure it worked on others.

WC: 582

[Languish]

Here Lies Your Grades

Clyde Sullins :

Skills	Amount
Magecrafting	+ 3

Lore of Magecrafting: Creating Anti-Anti Properties	Lore of Warding: Small Amounts of Djed are No Match
Lore of Auristics: Aura of Anti-Anti Djed Shackles	Lore of Magecrafting: More Possibilities than Reimancy
Lore of Magecrafting: Using Multiple Nuit's Ichor for Generic Nuit Effect	Lore of Magecrafting: Use More Blood than Necessary

Additional Comments: Don't forget to edit your request in the grading queue to show this thread has been graded. If you have any questions or concerns, please PM me.