Solo Arts of the Arcane I

June 8th Skill Challenge for Kynier

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A lawless town of anarchists, built on the ruins of an ancient mining city. [Lore]

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Arts of the Arcane I

Postby Kynier on June 9th, 2018, 1:09 am

Timestamp: 9th of Summer

It was only the tenth bell and Kynier was already home for the day. He had already gone to The Majestic for a new task, but Doler never answered. Eventually Kynier had grown impatient and decided that the day would be his own. From there he had gone to the Commons and picked up supplies. Numerous blank pieces of parchment and more ink. A rudimentary aspect of magic that he needed to better understand, glyphing, was his objective. While he had an understanding of the foundation of that particular magic Kynier still hadn’t really managed to make it work. If it took all summer, then so be it.

As Kynier cleared the map of Sunberth from his table and set up his station he ran through a bit of what Bourin had told him years ago. Glyphing is no longer a widely practiced art of magic, but has an unlimited value to a wizard. It is primarily to augment the other schools, and in the early stages it’s very useful for learning to channel Djed better. Kynier sat down and opened the ink bottle. After a moment of meditation he searched within himself to find his Djed. Once he found it he drew on it to form a liquid res in his hand. Kynier rubbed the tips of his fingers together to get a few drips into the ink. Using his pen he stirred it thoroughly so that the ink would be imbued with his power.

Deciding to start with something fairly simple, Kynier began drawing a focus in the center of the parchment. The spell would be a ball of fire, reimancy. The glyph for Vaknui, fire, was eloquent but tricky. Unlike Adra, water, its wavy, circular patterns were more aggressive looking. Kynier made slow, methodical scratches on the parchment. A spell’s djed needed to follow a particular flow and if it was illustrated incorrectly it would become volatile. After ten chimes he was finished with the focus. Next he worked on the barrier segment of his sigil. Without it the fire would not be contained. Bourin told him that the last thing any mage wants is the backlash of their own reimancy. Because the thing that would most likely kill a mage is their own power.

The barrier itself comprised of several glyphs surrounding the focus. Any cracks in the barrier would cause misfires or other malfunctions. Once Kynier completed that he looked it over thoroughly to make sure it completely enclosed the focus. All that was left was to assign a trigger word once the spell was stored. Bourin once told him that the triggers needed to be as unique as possible to avoid accidental discharge. Also to that was someone else would be less likely to set it off on their terms. While using the ancient tongue for the trigger word felt like a good idea, Kynier preferred to take a simply route in this regard. He worked on a rune of his own design while thinking of a single word. Etingi.

Setting the pen in the ink well he waited for a chime to allow the ink to dry. Afterwards he lifted the scroll gently and walked over to the wash basin. Setting it down on the bottom he looked down at the empty bucket next to the basin. Kynier picked it up and went out to get some water. If this didn’t go well it would need to be handled immediately.

Once he was back he set the full bucket on the floor next to him. Kynier closed his eyes and raised his hands up in front of him. Reaching for mental tranquility he found his djed. It extruded from his hands in a gaseous state. Holding onto that peace he thought of fire and tried to project that onto the res. The muscles in his arm started to spasm before the gas turned ablaze. Kynier directed it at the scroll in the wash basin, half expecting the flames to curl up the side and incinerate the parchment. Instead it was like watching water flow down a pipe. The flames curled inward to the center of the focus as the ink began to glow a fiery orange. When the last of the flames were gone Kynier was able to watch the glow spread throughout the focus. He had done it!



Word Count: 726
Kynier
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Arts of the Arcane I

Postby Kynier on June 9th, 2018, 1:51 am

For a chime he stood there enjoying the moment. The sigils glow faded back to the black color of the ink. As Kynier leaned to pick it up the focus sparked then burst to flames. Almost instantly the whole parchment curled upon itself before flaking to ash. The fire continued to burn in the basin on its own.

“Damn it!” Kynier lifted the bucket of water and gently poured it on the fire. Though magical in nature it wasn’t completely resistant to water. Once it was out he set the bucket, now less than half full, on the ground and drained the basin. The worst part was that he couldn’t examine it to see where it went wrong. All he could guess was that it was the focus. The barrier seemed to work, otherwise the fire would never have been encapsulated.

“As practical as it was, you should’ve chosen one of the other elements first.”

“A couple years late on that advice,” he said irritably. Kynier sat back down at the table and took up his pen again. Something was probably wrong with how he made the glyph. Though he couldn’t include the trigger in his estimation, everything had been going as it should’ve. It took the spell and held it for a while. The barrier contained it. So what was he missing?

Again he drew the glyph of Vaknui upon the scroll with his hybrid ink. This time he made it larger, taking up most of the space on the parchment. Perhaps it was too small with too much of an overlap of djed at a single point. Seemed like a good theory at any rate. He was cautious not to make it too large so that there was still room for the barrier and the trigger word. When it was done Kynier spent several chimes examining it closely. His attention fell on each stroke of the pen on the focus. There didn’t appear to be any bad or unintended intersections.

Kynier went over to the wash basin again and set the scroll down. He hoped that he wasn’t going to regret his decision to practice all day. Closing his eyes and taking deep breaths he called upon his power. A fog drifted through his mind, disrupting his concentration. Willing it away with a mental breeze he continued for his djed. Eventually the res fumed from the skin of his hands. The fog returned to his mind and seemed to catch fire instead of the res. A sharp pain struck behind his eyes abruptly. Gritting his teeth and groaning he pushed through it. Just… light!

The gas turned to fire, the light of the flames causing his eyes further discomfort. With a last mental effort he cast it upon the scroll. As before the ink drank the flames and took upon its fiery hue. Unlike before, the radiance didn’t fade before the scroll self-ignited. Kynier snarled and just dumped the remaining water on the fire. He very nearly threw the bucket in frustration.

“Worthless Azmashe!” he swore loudly, slamming the bucket on the floor. Small flames still licked the sides of the wash basin, but Kynier didn’t care at that point. Head throbbing, and a morning of failures, were weighing heavily on him. “Why isn’t it working?”

“Calm yourself, or you won’t see the answer. If your temper burns then so will each attempt.”

Sighing with exasperation, Kynier sat down at the table. He pressed his fingers against his brow to alleviate the pain. “This isn’t working. I need to scale it back somehow.”



Word Count: 595 Total Count: 1,321
Last edited by Kynier on June 9th, 2018, 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Kynier
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Arts of the Arcane I

Postby Kynier on June 9th, 2018, 2:40 am

Some days it came easy, and then there were days like today. Signs of overgiving were starting to show and he hadn’t made one successful scroll. At this rate it seemed that as soon as he figured out his problem the trigger word would start failing too. A pessimistic sigh escaped his throat. Perhaps it was too soon to try for a scroll, without guidance. He was going to try something else instead. Reimancy was very taxing magic, and wasn’t a great idea to start with it to begin with. Benefits of hindsight. Instead a low risk school would be of better use. Something like Shielding.

Kynier resettled himself at the table. How could glyphing be applied in augmenting a shield? For starters his shields were extremely basic, small, and didn’t last long. Attempting a glyph to increase the shield size seemed like a good idea.

“What was the word, in the ancient tongue?” he said aloud.

“Dala.”

“Thanks.” Kynier wasn’t going to bother with a barrier. The focus was going to work as an amplifier rather than a container. Applying a barrier would just limit what he was going to do. He thought on how to appropriately alter Dala. Increasing the surface area of the shield would be a good first step. With large pen strokes he filled the parchment with the glyph. It was more angular than its standard counter-part. Hopefully it would assist in spreading the shield out with minimal impact on thickness. Kynier looked it over while the hybrid ink dried. “If this doesn’t work then I’ll have to just refresh my understanding of the ancient tongue.” That maybe where the fault lies.

Kynier stood up and went to one of his barren walls. Pressing the parchment flat against the wall with both hands he started to draw upon his djed. For shielding it was a less painful process compared to reimancy. For a long time he breathed slowly trying to have no thoughts so the djed could come. In time he could feel the djed flower over his skin towards the glyph. Once his power flowed onto the parchment the rune radiated a light blue light. Kynier could feel the res spread out faster and over a larger area. Mentally he weaved a barrier against water. After nearly ten chimes he was finished and took his hands off the parchment. It remained pressed flat against the wall as part of the shield itself.

Quickly Kynier took the bucket outside to retrieve more water. Cursing himself for not planning better. He ran back inside and tossed the water towards the parchment. It splashed over the surface and quickly ran down to the floor. The parchment was completely dry and so was the wall. Finally it worked correctly. Kynier set the bucket down and took a cloak to absorb the water on the floor. After getting it all he felt the surface of the shield with both hands. Shifting them in all directions he searched for the edges of the shield. There were still points of greater and lesser thickness in the shield as his hands found the peaks and valleys.

“That’ll come with time,” he assured himself. And it wasn’t the focus of the glyph so he wasn’t going to worry about it. Though it felt like it was larger than normal. Not quite an extra fifty percent though. But that alone would help him significantly. Kynier picked up the damp cloak and rang out as much of the water from the fabric as he could. Hanging it up to dry in he went back to the table, ready to try a scroll of a different nature.



Word Count: 611 Total Count: 1,932
Last edited by Kynier on June 9th, 2018, 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Kynier
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Arts of the Arcane I

Postby Kynier on June 9th, 2018, 4:11 am

Kynier couldn’t exclude the possibility that his recollection of Vaknui was incorrect. Though the use of Dala had been a success. Unless he tried a third, different glyph there wasn’t any way to be sure if it was either the technique or the knowledge that was failing him. It would be best to stick with shielding, there was a lot that he could do to improve it while experimenting with the runes. Voiding was also another possiblility, but a lot more dangerous to him and his possessions. Auristics was also low risk but he couldn’t think of how to augment it at the moment.

On the fourth parchment he began to draw out Irst. Veiling was something he could apply to his shields. He had already accomplished it in a practical way once. The glyph was a little more complicated with its theme for obscurity. There were many points of intersection within the rune. If it were successful he would be pleased and frustrated simultaneously. Kynier’s nose hovered not far from the table as he carefully applied his pen. With the rune being more complicated in design he elected to make it larger but left enough room for the rest of the sigil.

Finished, he traced each line of the focus visually. His eyes shifted back and forth to follow the patterns so much it felt like watching that alley card gambling game. He stopped at a certain point of the glyph. An intersection didn’t look right. The alignment appeared to be off. “Damn,” he sighed. It probably wasn’t going to work but it was worth it to at least try. Wrapping the focus with a barrier was quick work. Barriers were more or less fairly uniform. Though he paused to consider a trigger word. Ashniv. For a chime he thought on how to portray that on the scroll before attempting it.

While letting the ink dry Kynier meditated. Though he couldn’t explain why, shields took longer to summon djed for.

“It’s because the Djed needs more stability to take a longer lasting physical quality like the shield.”

“You’re ruining my concentration.” After that they were both silent. Kynier calmed his mind and emotions before attempting to call upon the res. Kynier felt himself convulse involuntarily. In a bit of a haste he willed the djed into a weave to block light. Though it still took several chimes the weave felt poorly constructed as Kynier directed it onto the glyph. Opening his eyes he saw the sigil pulsing with white light before settling. Kynier held his breath incase anything happened. After a moment everything seemed fine. Carefully lifting it off the table he faced the bottom of the stairs. Turning the parchment around so the glyph faced away Kynier held it out before him with both hands.

“Ashniv!” he declared. Through the parchment he could see the glyph glow white. Increasing in brightness until the parchment began to sear. The djed burned away the material starting from the center of the focus until it burned in half. Kynier let the two pieces drop to the floor. He wasn’t surprised. The magic routes of the glyph were improperly aligned, causing it to immolate.

“I’m too hungry to care right now.” Before he could try more magic he would need to eat first. Kynier made his way to the cupboard for something to eat.



Word Count: 562 Total Count: 2,494
Last edited by Kynier on June 9th, 2018, 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Kynier
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Arts of the Arcane I

Postby Kynier on June 9th, 2018, 1:27 pm

From the cupboard he took a handful of chestnuts and an apple. His food supply was running a bit scarce. He would need to take the time to restock and soon. For now that wasn’t a priority. Munching on the chestnuts Kynier sat down at the table again. His eyes fixed themselves on the next blank sheet of parchment as he ate.

“This used to be a basic principle of arcane lore. Now look at it. A sorcerer setting fire in his own basin.” He shook his head. “How the world has changed.”

“In another five centuries magic may be forgotten entirely.”

Kynier laughed skeptically. Highly doubting that it would be reduced to that. Though the idea of Akajia being the only one to know magic was an entertaining thought. Kynier placed a hand on his arm. Under the sleeve was a gold armband with Akajia’s symbol engraved on it. “What am I missing?” he asked softly. “The glyphs appear to be properly formed. Allowing the flow of djed to run without cascading upon itself. The trigger obviously worked. The barrier manages to maintain the spell. So what is it?” In the silence he found no answer to his queries.

Chomping down on the last of the chestnuts he leaned back in his chair, gazing up at the ceiling. “What if it isn’t the glyphs? Thus far, each of them have managed to absorb or channel the magic for a time before rupturing. So the magic itself is unstable somehow.” Kynier mulled over that as he took a bite from the apple. After using magic he never felt hungry, only tired. As Bourin had explained it, Res required sustenance for the body to produce it. In theory, a healthy diet with long pauses in between uses would allow someone to have a large reservoir to draw upon. It was a matter of being conditioned to channel the djed in order to prevent overgiving. But glyphing by itself wasn’t magical. It was…

Kynier sat upright, pausing his jaw’s movement. “Glyphing by itself isn’t magical,” he mumbled through his food. Swallowing he set down the apple. “Until a spell is stored within it should just look like a series of runes, devoid of power.” Kynier lifted the vial of ink he had been using. Closing his eyes he channeled his energies with his Auristics. His eyes felt the rush of djed flow through them, activating his Sight. When he opened them he could see a faint aura swirling around the inside of the vial. It was more potent than he estimated it being. “The sigils are overloaded!” Kynier closed his Sight, feeling the need to sleep beginning to creep upon him. He shrugged it off and took another bite of the apple.

After a few chews he paused, looking at the apple. There was no taste it. Inside his mouth he could feel the texture and juices of the fruit. Yet there was no flavor to be savored. The experience was a bit discomforting, but he continued to eat. He may be close to causing harm to himself with further casting, so this would be the last attempt before a break.

Reapplying the stopper to the hybrid vial he set it aside. It may no longer be of use for glyhping but it may come into use for another occasion. One possibility is that the res would fade out in time. Until then Kynier would use plain ink. Opening a new vial he nearly dipped his pen in before catching himself. Walking over to the water bucket he plunged the pen in and stirred it about violently. Swirls of black tainted the water. Afterwards Kynier dumped it down the basin for it to drain out. With traces of res it would be catastrophic to attempt putting out a reimancy fire with it. Shaking the pen to dry it Kynier sat down at the table and began working on the fifth sigil.

Irst covered the parchment as his focus, with a barrier ribbon around it, and a rune of his own design in the corner that he felt represented the phrase Ashniv. It took nearly fifteen chimes to draw out, as he made each stroke carefully. Once that was done Kynier performed his Shielding meditation. The muscles in his extremities experiences spasms as he harnessed the spell. Forming the weave to block light he channeled the energies to the scroll where the ink again radiated white light. The intensity was less than before, which he took as a promising sign. Lifting it the scroll up with both hands he turned to face the bottom of the stairs again.

Holding the scroll out with the sigil facing away from him he focused his will on his intent. “Ashniv!” The djed lying in the ink swelled with light as the barrier burned away. Kynier could feel more than see a pulse emanate away from him, like the backdraft of a gust of wind. There was no change that he could see. Turning the scroll over there were scorch marks where the barrier had been placed and the focus and trigger were both completely erased from the surface. Kynier stepped towards the stairs with a hand outstretched. A rippling sensation of charged air ran over his fingers. It was here.

Kynier stepped through the curtain of djed and up a stair. Turning around his eyes perceived an oval like blotch in the air. Like a window into the void it lacked texture and was of utter darkness. Kynier sat down on the stairs with a smile. He got one to work. When he had the energy, he would do another and another after that. Now he could create an emergency arsenal of scrolls for heat of the moment scenarios.

“One success doesn’t make you an expert.”

“No. but I will be soon enough.”



Word Count: 977 Total Count: 3,471
Kynier
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Arts of the Arcane I

Postby K'irr Darkwater on June 11th, 2018, 4:03 am

Kynier
Planning - 3XP
Meditation - 4XP
Glyphing - 5XP
Drawing - 5XP
Observation - 4XP
Reimancy (Fire) - 2XP
Deduction - 3XP
Investigation - 2XP
Endurance - 1XP
Shielding - 3XP
Cleaning - 2XP
Auristics - 1XP


☉ Glyphing: Complimentary to other magics and useful in learning to channel djed
☉ Meditation: Quieting the mind to harness djed
☉ Glyphing: Imbuing ink with djed for glyphs
☉ Glyphing: First step - start with a focus
☉ Glyphing: A Focus is a single glyph
☉ Glyphing: Can be used to store Reimancy spells
☉ Drawing: Creating a Vaknui glyph
☉ Glyphing: Importance of glyph design
☉ Glyphing: Second step - add a barrier
☉ Glyphing: A barrier is a series of glyphs surrounding a focus to keep it contained
☉ Glyphing: Third step - creating a trigger
☉ Glyphing: A trigger deactivates the barrier, releasing the focus
☉ Glyphing: Triggers must be unique so they are not easily activated
☉ Drawing: Creating an Etingi glyph
☉ Reimancy: Focusing on fire to conjure the element
☉ Reimancy: Channelling fire into a glyph
☉ Deduction: Trying to figure out a problem through process of elimination
☉ Kynier: Pushing himself to the point of Overgiving
☉ Glyphing: Difficult to combine with Reimancy at novice level
☉ Glyphing: Using a Focus as am amplifier when combined with Shielding
☉ Drawing: Creating a Dala glyph
☉ Shielding: Weaving a larger shield with a glyph
☉ Drawing: Creating an Irst glyph
☉ Drawing: Creating an Ashniv glyph
☉ Shielding: Djed takes more time to form
☉ Shielding: Weaving a veil to block light
☉ Glyphing: Isn’t magical on its own
☉ Auristics: Detecting the aura of djed-imbued ink


Penalties/Rewards
Please deduct the cost of the following from your ledger:
Parchment, 5 sheets 1gm (2sm/sheet)
Ink, 2 vials 2gm (1gm/oz vial)
Quill 5cm
Chestnuts, ¼ lb 2sm 5cm (1gm/lb)
Apple 2sm 5cm (1gm/lb)


Comments
Great thread and brilliant writing! Honestly, you did this so well and I'd definitely use this as an example for others as to how to write a good introductory thread where magic is involved. You went over the steps and basics wonderfully and gained a tonne of lores as a result!

I do, however, have some constructive criticism but it's more to do with the arrangement of things on your CS rather than your writing. Please don't be discouraged by the block of text below - it's all in regards to record-keeping and can be remedied easily.

I find it a bit confusing as a grader (and a CSL) that you have two skill tables. I understand why but I do suggest consolidating it into one. This goes for your possessions and ledger - I found myself having to spend a considerable amount of time figuring out what had been paid for and where everything was before I could even begin grading. Please make sure to keep your thread list up to date, as well.

Furthermore, there are items in your possessions that haven't been accounted for in your ledger (at least not that I can see). If these were acquired in game, make sure to note this (and provide a link if possible). If you acquire things in a thread that your PC purchases then please make sure to note the monetary transaction in the thread as a footnote. It's best to keep things clear and simple so everyone can figure out where things come from and it keeps things fair across the game.

Please understand that everything I mentioned above is enough for graders to withhold your grades in the future. I know you are new so I just want you to understand where this criticism is coming from. If you need any assistance with rejigging things, please don't hesitate to message me on my Antipodes account either on the board or on discord. I'm more than happy to help!

Do let me know if you have any questions or concerns about your grade!

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