Closed [Judgement] Throwing the Bones

[Languish]

[indent]20th of Spring, 517
[justify]
On display in the Judgment room were five Nuit of various ages and temperaments.

First seated was the eldest and shortest of them. Kromby was not an imposing man visually, but he projected more than enough leadership through his aura alone to make up for it. Though he did not speak first when the Apprentice awaited a decision, he seemed to have an unseen influence on the rest of the council.

Next were Iceris and Emarus. Though they would have killed anyone who called them a pair, they were just that. The two bickered like siblings, and even now during the Judgement they snipped at each other mercilessly.

"He couldn't even calm the bird. How is he supposed to manage any political or social standing on the island?"

"Iceris, that isn't what he's here to learn. That's not what any of us are here for, although I know you find that a surprise."

Then seated was Soloman. He stayed silent among the group; he bowed his head and whispered something to himself. Anyone quiet enough to hear him might have been able to make out a string of formulas for some unidentified project.

Last in the row was Warick. He was the least patient of them for the moment, and eagerly waved the previous Apprentice out once the "nay's" had been given. Warick placed his head in his hands and sighed, rubbing his eyelids gently. He was tired of this day, tired of this job judging, and tired of these pitiful apprentices. All he wanted was to move this along so he could go back to his lab and continue working on his latest project.

Warick was working on what might happen if he used magecrafting on different strings and then sewed them together. It was a rather interesting concept, and he was eager to return to it so that he might test them soon. Idly, he wondered if one of the Apprentice-to-be's might test his newest designs out for him. Suddenly, he found himself just the slightest bit more interested. Sitting up straight, he peered over the table at the newcomer below.

"Name and area of specialization?" He called.

[Corvus Bubon]

The air was bitter and cold in the room where Corvus waited to be judged. He was nervous, everything he knew about his chosen specialization he had basically taught himself. Marsien only taught him a basic understanding, but Corvus felt he had learned enough on his own to undergo the Judgement. As he understood it all he had to do was present what he had made, and he had managed to get the desired effect out of his last two projects. His two lower arms sit folded under his coat, he had tried to fit both his sets of arms in the sleeves of his coat but it was uncomfortable and awkward to move. Corvus could hear obnoxious squawking coming from the Judgement room and wasn’t really sure what to make of it. His hands were in his pockets, he was nervously playing with the objects in them. Corvus had on him the maledicted shoulder blades and teeth of his last rat, each successful in their creation. He kept the shoulder blades in his left pocket and the teeth in his right; he did not want them rubbing against each other and possibly breaking. An apprentice was just ushered out of the Judgement room and the Nuit who ushered him out now waved to Corvus, saying ”You’re up next.” Corvus was ushered into the Judgement room, there were five judges, all Nuit. I have to hope being a Nuit is a bonus. He brushed his hand lightly over the pockets of his coat, feeling the outline of the shoulder blades and the rat teeth he had maledicted last season. He came to a stop in front of them and waited to speak. "Name and area of specialization?" The Nuit on the end called out. Corvus stood before the judges, more nervous than he had ever been before. He kept his hands hovered around his pockets. ”My name is Corvus Bubon, my area of specialization is Malediction.” The room was quiet for a second, he moved his hands into his pockets and pulled out both of the items he had maledicted. ”I present to you two of my creations. Both are fashioned out of the remains of rats.”Corvus stood uneasily, palms facing upward to show off the maledicted items sitting upon them.

[Languish]

[indent]
[justify]
From above, Soloman snorted awake, seemingly just coming to consciousness. "Corvus." He whispered, eyes peeled wide suddenly. "Corvus Bubon. Malediction. Rats?"

"Yes, yes, Spider-brain. We heard him the first time." Kromby chided.

"Corvus Bubon...Amaryllis...Click-click. " He whispered a handful of unintelligible words more before picking up his writing utensil and scribbling idly on the back of his hand.

Warick rolled his eyes at the entire scene. "Carrying on, then, Corvus. You have two creations?" He prompted, waving behind him for a slave to be taken forth. "I don't suppose you expect the Judges to try them on, do you? We weren't born yesterday, you know." He added with a chuckle. "You may either put them on yourself or use the slave as a model."

Indeed, the Judges were ancient, and had seen a time when the Judge's panel foolishly offered to try on Maledicted or Magecrafted items. That had seen its end quickly, following at least three gruesome deaths on the presenter's floor.

As the human slave was moved forth with bound hands, Warick continued his questionnaire. "What methods did you use for inscription, and what symbols did you use? To what end? Walk us through your process."

[Corvus Bubon]

The fourth Nuit spoke as if he had just been napping, although this was a Nuit so he was likely just not paying attention. "Corvus Bubon. Malediction. Rats?" Glad to have his attention. Corvus was a little bitter that he wasn’t taking his job seriously but he didn’t let it show. The first Nuit chided the fourth and Corvus liked him more already. The fourth Nuit moved his lips and scribbled something onto his hand, but Corvus could not make out what he was saying. The Nuit on the end seemed like he had had enough and spoke after rolling his eyes. "Carrying on, then, Corvus. You have two creations?” He waved but Corvus couldn’t tell why. "I don't suppose you expect the Judges to try them on, do you? We weren't born yesterday, you know." He let out a chuckle. I really hope this isn’t a joke to them ALL. The Nuit on the end continued, "You may either put them on yourself or use the slave as a model." Corvus noticed a slave being moved forward with it’s hands bound, That must have been the reason for the wave. The Nuit had more questions for Corvus. "What methods did you use for inscription, and what symbols did you use? To what end? Walk us through your process." Oh good, I thought they’d never ask. Corvus walked forward to the slave and placed the rat shoulders into the bound hands of the slave. “Hold on to this, will you?.” The slave of course, had no choice. Corvus turned to face the judges. “I have just handed this slave a talisman that will impart upon him quicker reflexes at the cost of an increase in the energy he exerts.” He then withdrew a scalpel from his jacket pocket. Corvus turns back to the slave. ”For your sake and mine I hope you dodge this.” The slave looked frightened as he prepared to try and dodge the scalpel. Corvus was only a few feet away, he hadn’t ever thrown a scalpel but he was sure this was close enough to be impressive regardless of the thrower. Corvus raised his hand, keeping his eye on the throat of the slave, and let loose the blade in the slave’s direction. The blade went faster than Corvus had expected, he didn’t know his own strength in his new body. The blade of the scalpel went end over end directly toward the slave's throat. The slave reacted in time, by dodging to the left, the blade nicked his neck and drew a small amount of blood. The slave then collapsed to the ground, sudden exhaustion and being ill-balanced from dodging the scalpel overcoming him. Corvus turned away from the slave, and spoke to the judges. “For that piece I removed the shoulders of a rat, then I carved complimentary arrows into each shoulder. After the carving was complete I tied some twine tautly against them and slipped a scalpel covered in my ichor in between the shoulder blades, activating the circles.” Corvus had practiced his speech on the process he used to create the pieces and thought it he had explained it quite well. Corvus was too wrapped up in what he was doing to notice anything the judges had been doing. He moved back to the slave, removing the shoulder-blade talisman and replacing it with the rat teeth talisman. “For this next piece I started with the teeth of a rat that I had caught in my room. After I removed the teeth from the rat I carved one letter upon each tooth. Each tooth has the letter G, E, R, or M upon it. After I carved the letters I tied all the teeth together tightly with twine.” Corvus wasn’t quite sure how to say this next part but he winged it all the same. “The talisman I have just given to that slave is capable of causing the faster infection of wounds, and in the case of Nuits, faster body decomposition. The wound upon the slave’s neck should be infected in due time, unless you would prefer to keep it unspoiled, in which case I will retrieve the talisman.” Corvus stopped and waited for the Judges to speak.

OOC: Sorry for the late reply, school has been hectic.

[Languish]

The impact of the rat talisman on the slave's agility was impressive, for what he had to work with. It was always taken into consideration that an Apprentice might flourish under better circumstances, and greater resources. But in the case of this Nuit, it seemed particularly true.

After listening to the explanation of the GERM talisman, the judges whispered amongst themselves in a conspiratorial tone.

"How do we know it works? We need to keep the slave for further examination."

"We can't just tell him to wait on it. He's expecting an answer, and deserves one."

"I, for one, won't give an answer until I see how his malediction performs. That is the purpose of a Judgement."

"He has clearly demonstrated his competence in learning magic. That is the purpose of a Judgement."

Suddenly, Soloman's head shot up from its place on the desk. He sputtered for a tick, before finding enough breath to declare, "Eypharian."

The room held still. Slowly, Kromby turned to face the Apprentice with a cocked head. Although it was not traditional to judge based on any factors other than magic skill and potential, there was no rule against it. And, of course, there was always the natural curiosity of a mage.

"You've chosen an Eypharian body?" Kromby asked, "For what purposes? Surely you do not take the form of a slave for fun or self-pride."

"He won't be your Apprentice either way, Kromby, so it's none of your business." Warick interrupted.

Kromby simply laughed. "And he will be whose, if he doesn't answer the question? No one would want a Eypharian around their lab, klutzing around with all those hands, unless he finds it utile. So," Kromby turned back to face the Apprentice again, "While we wait on the results of your talisman, tell us. Why have you chosen this form, and where do you suppose it will take you?"

[Corvus Bubon]

Corvus stood patiently as the Judges discussed amongst themselves the merits of his work, it sounded good until the Nuit seated fourth raised his head and commented on his body “Eypharian.” Does it matter? Corvus noticed things may not be going his way once the first judge asked why he had taken the body of a slave. Apparently it matters, damnit Amaryllis. The last Nuit interrupted the first. “He won’t be your Apprentice either way, Kromby, so it’s none of your business.” So the first one’s name is Kromby then. And he already doesn’t seem to like me. Swell. Kromby laughed and continued to mock Corvus’s body, before asking again about his choice of body. Corvus was caught unawares. I had no idea that Sahovans would care about WHAT kind of body a Nuit chooses to inhabit. As far as I can tell we’re not anything more than our ichor. Why do they care? Corvus stood silent contemplating for a moment, then turned to Kromby and spoke. “I relinquished the idea that I would ever again be human the day my existence became that of my ichor. I wasn’t aware that one’s choice of body mattered but I figured I might as well experience all that being form-swapping goo would have to offer. Including experiencing the bodies of things other than humans.” Corvus turned his head to the last Nuit, who had defended him. “Aside from that, as Nuit our bodies are nothing if not ephemeral, in roughly a season's time I’ll be due to change anyway.” Corvus stood resolute, expecting outrage. “So in short, Yes. I took this form for the fun of it.” And because a vixen tricked me into taking it. “As for where I suppose it will take me?” Corvus looked back to Kromby. “Well it has 2 feet so I suppose anywhere a human body might. Maybe higher if I need to climb something.” Corvus cracked a toothy smile at his own joke and waited for the Judges to speak.

[Languish]

Iceris immediately burst out laughing, hardly bothering to save face. "He's got a point, Kromby.
You of all people should understand the idea that we are nothing but vessels for souls."

Kromby's mouth bent into a firm line, twitching just slightly at the corner. As every Nuit of any standing, he hated being proven a fool, and yet, what else was there to say?

"Shall we vote?" He asked curtly.

"Kromby, you're forgetting something. The talisman. Don't you want to see how it performed?" Emarus prompted.

No response came from the table, so the slave was brought forth in silence. It could be seen upon close examination that the slave's neck where it had been lacerated was beginning to ooze a thin white pus.

"Slow working, but working nonetheless." Declared Emarus. "I have decided. Shall you start, Kromby?"

Kromby let out a conscious breath of air- an obvious effort to express frustration. He paused, his eyes wavering from one place to the next. He looked lastly at the other judges before grumbling, "Aye. But I won't take him."

Iceris grinned, still coming off of her laughing fit. "Aye, he's got the tongue for it." She said.

"Aye, his magic performs." Emarus agreed, with a short sideways glance at Iceris.

Soloman was leaning back in his seat, long form draped over the chair. A look of smug satisfaction dominated his face, as if he were rather enjoying the show. "Aye." He told them simply.

Warick was last in line. Though he had been quiet throughout the most recent portion of Judgement, his eyes held deep thoughts. Deliberately ignoring Kromby's pout, Warick reached a hand out to gesture to the golem bearing a small copper ring with the Malediction symbol etched into its surface.

"Meet me in my lab this afternoon, Apprentice. The Needle, as it's called. I'll walk you through the rules of my Apprenticeship, and we can get you started on real work, instead of playing with rats."

OOCCongratulations!
I will give you the option as I gave others. We can either end the thread here and you can turn it in for a grade, or we can go on to have Warick meet Corvus for the first time face to face. Either way is fine by me.

[Languish]

Here Lies Your Grades

Character 1 :

Skills	Amount
Leadership	+2
Teaching	+1
Rhetoric	+1
Philosophy	+1

Judgement: Becoming an Apprentice	Judgement: Being Nuit is a Plus
Philosophy: Nuit Bodies are Nothing if Not Ephemeral	Warick: Wizard Maledictor

Consequences :

Job has already been approved, so you're all good to go.

The GERM talisman will be lost to Sahova, but you will be allowed to keep the agility blades. A copper ring may be added to your possessions, which grants access to most parts of Sahova (See Compendium for details).

Additional Comments: Graded first as Judgement threads take priority.

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.