[Flashback] A Lesson in Spirits in More Ways than One (Solo)

[Eridanus]

Day 7, Winter of 507 AV 45 Chimes after the 22th Bell The Red Diamond Tavern Eridanus laughed along with the rest of the crowd, motioning for the tavern maid to come forward with the mug of ale that he had ordered earlier and pushing it toward the Vantha man who was in the middle of the attention. The group had been there for quite a while, with the local telling a series of stories that ranged from the macabre to the humorous, with the last one being a ghost story that unexpectedly ended with a hilarious twist. He wiped the tear out of his eye, and he patted the man on his back, "Good one, Jared", for this was the name which all the other locals call him. His nights had been spent like this, mingling with the locals to understand more about the culture of Morwen's people in Avanthal in order to both broaden his world view as well as to get more in touch with his own mortal incarnation, for he was a child of the Ice Queen before being chosen by Leth. His ethereal beauty had of course made it easy for him in this regard, for there was no lack of Vantha lasses who offered more information in exchange to converse with him in... closer quarters. He had to turn down many suggestions for a visit to his cabin after he left the place, for he needed his rest and was immune to the needs of mortal desires while in his celestial form. While he began to make himself known as a regular to the owners of the tavern, he slowly began to familiarize himself with the other regular patrons, and he found Jared to be such a man. The local Vantha was a gifted storyteller, drawing the evening crowd - those who have finished their meals to gather at the warmth in the comfortable couches arranged near the fireplace - to him like moths attracted to a flame. After several days, Eri had begun to realize that the man had a tendency to weave two elements into his stories, plots involving ghosts and the Icewatch, the city's own benevolent version of the dictatorial Syliran Knights. As he continued to be entranced by the man's stories, along with the rest of the crowd who were also evidently fans of Jared's storytelling abilities, he sometimes unknowingly tapped into the djed that flows within his body to study the man, and the little information he unwittingly gleaned collaborated with the man's knowledge. It was after a while that whatever Eri thought he knew about Jared and had been taken for granted was not necessarily information that most people knew, and the next few days had been spent less on the man's stories but more on his aura, trying to solve the mystery that was this child of Morwen's. Over several days without overtaxing his djed along with several discreet investigations on his own, Eri found out that the Jared used to be a member of the Icewatch which policed the peace and safety of the city and its residents, and that his unofficial job was to clear any unwanted ghostly intrusions when it occurred. Thus this led to this day when the Ethaefal finally decided to make his move. The crowd began to disperse for it was a known fact among regulars that Jared left exactly at the twenty-third bell. He might leave slightly earlier sometimes, but he never left later than the twenty-third bell for some reason. This fit Eri's purpose, and he called the bar maid over to pay his tab for the day, standing up and gently shooing off a hopeful lass as he followed the local out of the tavern. The door was opened, and Jared left the door open as a courtesy to Eri as he nodded in thanks, closing the door behind him as they both trudged in the snow. "Great tale, Jared. I especially enjoyed the last one", he complimented the storyteller. "Oh? Yeah I find it pretty amusing too, took all I had to not laugh while telling", the older man replied. "Was it that amusing when you experienced it as it happened then?" Eri ventured, hoping to provoke a response. Jared stopped walking suddenly, and he stood there for several seconds, before turning around to look at the Ethaefal. "Wasn't exactly how it happened, Ethaefal. The reality of things is often much more terrifying that how stories glorify it", the Vantha stated in a world-weary tone, the light in his eyes earlier that danced enthusiastically while he was telling stories now gone, making him look several more years older than he should. "Would you have chosen to stay in the Icewatch then?" He tried for another approach, and he was rewarded by a thoughtful look from the older man. "There are things in this world that a normal mortal cannot handle, and as it happens I was blessed with the knowledge to deal with these things. The Icewatch has instilled a duty to protect our citizens within me, but the bureaucracy of the system would inhibit me from being able to fulfil my true duty of protecting our citizens from things the Icewatch cannot hope to handle normally", Jared motioned towards the Ethaefal and continued walking, "Come let us not stand in this cold that must no doubt be freezing for you, as one lacking Morwen's gift." Eri nodded appreciatively, and he unconsciously rubbed his gradually numbing palms before sticking them back into the oversized winter coat he was wearing in the hope of keeping them warm. "I know how difficult it is to find people to work out, what with the stigma and perceived danger and all", Eri began, hoping to play on what he hoped was the main reason why the man was bitter about it. "Perceived danger? There is danger, no doubt. But unlike what you'd hear from my stories, most encounters end up with me convincing the poor buggers that it's probably better for them to go on to Lhex. What people don't realize that I don't barge in with blades drawn in every encounter, how else would you think I had my storytelling charisma developed so precisely?" "I would be here for a season or so. I admit to not know anything about what you do, but if you don't mind I'm willing to help out while I'm-" The older man stopped again, turning to look at the Ethaefal with a gleam of hope in his eyes. Jared had been itching to find apprentices, but his reputation amongst the population as the creepy 'ghost-killing man' led to mothers warning their children not to approach the man for apprenticeship for fear of the exceeding perceived danger of the job. Dealing with spirits was no walk in the park, but like the experienced Spiritist mentioned, most encounters was more an exercise in persuasion and one's negotiation skills than actual combat. "Don't mind? Hell, if you can pick up a thing or two I'll be able to catch a break and even get some sleep peacefully for once", Jared exclaimed, grabbing the Ethaefal by his shoulders. "I don't really need sleep as much as mortals, I suppose I could help take over some of your patrols", Eri began slowly, and Jared grinned, slapping the Ethaefal on his back good-naturedly. "I'll take that as a yes. When do we begin?" Eri asked, and the suddenly upbeat Vantha chuckled, suddenly changing course straight to the guest houses. "We begin tonight, my new apprentice", Jared responded with laughter that sounded more like a sharp bark than anything else. "I assume you live in the Warrens, like any other foreign visitor. Come I'll introduce you to some basics." Wow, that is fast. Still, they were not exactly strangers for Eri had been Jared's most vocal fan, loudly proclaiming his support for the Vantha's storytelling capabilities and most often being the one buying him the drinks that moistened his parched lips.

[Eridanus]

Eridanus led the ex-Icewatch guard to his cabins, and if anyone were to be looking they might wondering as to the nature of the activity that would be commencing there. Fortunately no one was looking and so there would be no one cracking jokes on the Ethaefal's sexual orientation in the tavern the next day. As they entered his cabin, Eri closed the door shut with satisfaction and he took off his outer coat, hanging it on the protrusion next to the door, sighing in relief as the warmth of his shelter began to thaw. He swore that his fingertips were beginning to be encased in ice, though others would probably dismiss it as an exaggeration. The Vantha, bearing Morwen's gnosis, was highly resistant to the cold like the local Vantha in Avanthal and so did not wear any outer coats to shield him from the biting freeze. "Right, so here are the basics", the experienced bard began without further ado, and he spent the next bell or so outlining the general job scope. He usually spent the next three bells from midnight to the third bell patrolling the streets of Avanthal randomly, for he believed that this would be hour of which most ghosts tended to get a little frisky - the more restless ones anyway. After that, and also partly due to exhaustion and pragmatism, he Icewatch patrols would take over, though they would know who to wake if they should encounter something they could not handle, and he would carry on with his day job the next day, followed by the same routine. It was a tiring job, but rewarding in its own sense, and it would be great for fresh blood to help shoulder some of the burden. Eri had nodded his assent to helping, and the Spiritist continued to educate the Ethaefal on the basics of the art. Ghosts were basically made out of soulmist which functioned as both their 'life' essence and source of any supernatural abilities. There were many use for this soulmist, but it would soon approach midnight and so he would further expand on this in the future. For now, he had one more agenda for the day and he wanted to see it through for this was the foundation for which the entire discipline lay on. Without wasting time, for midnight was fast approaching and Jared wanted to get this basic part out of the way, he told Eri of his intention to just simply teach him the method of manufacturing soulmist, any questions would be answered the next day.

[Eridanus]

Jared took out a series of objects that surprised the Ethaefal as he walked over to the pantry area, placing them on the kitchen counter. The items were basic grocery items often used in cooking, and Eri was baffled to see an egg, some flour held in a paper bag and a small hunk of cheese. "Are you er, that hungry?" Eri ventured in an unsure manner, confused about the direction that this was going. He thought that the Spiritist was going to teach him how to make this soulmist, not food! He was not a master cook himself, but he knew enough to know that the items in front of him were usual ingredients in almost any cooked food, though cakes or baked goods would be more applicable in this case due to the flour. The older Vantha was apparently still in a good mood, and he guffawed, wiping tears of mirth out of his eyes. He stopped to do what he was doing and turned to look at the bewildered Ethaefal, saying, "Ah... I forgot to tell you. There are quite a few ways of making soulmist, but this is my preferred method since ingredients - as you can see for yourself - is so readily available!" Eri opened his mouth to continue asking, but the Spiritist raised a hand to cut him off, "Just watch and listen for now, alright? Time is running out." "You got a bowl around here?" Jared asked, and was pointed to a ceramic bowl neatly placed in a holding shelf that was included in every rented cabin. He cracked the egg in a practised manner, emptying the contents of the flour into the bowl and he took a spoon from the same holding shelf, mixing the raw egg and flour together to form a lumpy mass. He continued to stir and batter the mixture until he felt that the contents are evenly mixed, then he added the piece of cheese into the mixture, smashing the cheese into a flat mess with the spoon and continued to mix. Eri thought that the Spiritist look more like a cook in action, and he wondered just exactly what was going to happen next. "Right, so you mix those three stuff together, and then you add a special ingredient", the Vantha coughed to get Eri's attention, and he took out a tiny vial of dark red liquid from one of his inner pockets. "This is animal blood that I procured from the butcher's. Like I said, easily available ingredients." He proceeded to pour the vial's contents on the lumpy mixture. He continued to mix and batter the crimson dough until he was satisfied that the contents were more or less evenly distributed. Eri would not know why he specially paid so much attention to the mixing since the experienced Spiritist would not usually bother to do so, but it was out of consideration for the novice for the next part of the soulmist manufacturing process would be extremely vile for the uninitiated, and Jared was nice enough to mix the blood and raw egg as much as he could with the tasteless flour and cheese to make the dough taste more bland and less vomit-inducing. "Alright, now is the most crucial part of the process. Watch carefully", he prompted his apprentice, taking a small lump from the soft mass of red-coloured dough and putting it in his mouth. Eri blinked in surprise, but did not ask questions and continued to observe like he was told to do. The Spiritist chewed the dough in a slow and measured manner, his face framed in a thoughtful expression that looked like he trying to recall something that he had forgotten earlier. After a while, he finally stopped chewing and he spat the mixture into his hand. Eri blinked again, as if he had experienced a magic trick, for the dough was not red and raw-looking like it should but now it had the texture of an off-white gel-like substance, emitting a soft unnatural glow. Jared chuckled at Eri's bafflement and said, "No it's not one of those parlour tricks that stage magicians use to entertain. Touch it", he offered and Eri timidly poked the newly-made soulmist as if contact might result in something terrible. Nothing happened though, except with the observation that the material was cool to the touch. Unnaturally cool, in fact. The Vantha took out another container from one of the pockets inside his cloak and carefully placed the soulmist inside, squinting at the item before grunting in satisfaction and returning the container into his pockets. "Now it's your turn to do it. We don't have much time left before I gotta go, so don't dilly-dally", Jared said, pushing the bowl that held the red dough towards the Ethaefal. Eri gulped in nervousness, and he reached out a hand to grab a handful of the dough. He looked at the bard with an unsure gaze, as if to say 'I'm supposed to eat this?', and the man impatiently told him to get along with it. "Just don't swallow it or something, nasty thing's pretty disagreeable with stomachs." Eri put it into his mouth tentatively, and as he began to chew the disgusting thing he resisted the urge to retch, for the mixture of raw egg and animal blood was already disgusting enough, the tasteless flour adding to the mass and the cheese - while enjoyable on its own - adding its own unholy taste to the mixture. "Don't just stand there looking disgusted. You want to focus on the thing you're chewing. Stop thinking about how disgusting it is, but instead concentrate on what you're trying to create. Soulmist is the essence of ghosts, and so you think about the a typical ghost's astral body. Imagine if you're a ghost, what are you made out of? What is the thing that defines you when you no longer have an astral body or a physical form, having only one form of definition that combines the two?" Eri took the local's advice and he thought about the stuff that ghosts are made out of. He could not really know but he could at least try to imagine, and then he thought about the soulmist that Jared had created earlier. The details about it, the texture, the feel, the unearthly glow. That apparently did the trick, for he soon felt the disgusting taste disappear and his tongue began to feel slightly numb as if he suddenly put a block of ice into his mouth. The mass that he was chewing began to feel like a tasteless and smooth glob of well, something.

[Eridanus]

Jared could see the shift in expressions on the Ethaefal's face, and he told him in an encouraging tone, "You feel anything different? If you do, spit out what you have into your palm or something. Remember, do not ever swallow that thing in your mouth." Eri nodded, and complied by discharging the lumpy mass in his mouth out into his cupped palm. He definitely had no wish to ingest the thing in his mouth whether before or after the transformation, either because of the disgusting taste and the sickeningly smooth texture afterwards. He wondered what it would be like to eat a ghost and realized that swallowing soulmist might replicate that feeling. He shuddered, having no desire whatsoever to find out in that regard. Jared peered into Eri's palm as both beings examined the lumpy mass. It was similar to the soulmist that Jared created in its off-white colour and smooth texture, but the unearthly glow it emanated seemed much weaker in comparison. In fact, the soulmist that was in Eri's palm could hardly be glowing, the tiny 'lights' could only be seen if one were to squint closely at the mass. He knew that it was a success though from the texture and colour for it was no longer a rough mass of lumpy crimson dough like the remaining raw ingredients in the bowl. Jared nodded in approval when he was satisfied as to the soulmist created, and he began to keep the items that he took out earlier, storing them somewhere in his cloak. Taking out a small jar, he placed it on the table, addressing Eri, "Store your soulmist in this jar. Don't be surprised if it disappears soon though, I'd say yours will either last between a few bells to at most a couple of days." Finally packing up his things, he motioned towards the bowl, "Continue practising on the rest of that and bring any soulmist that hasn't disappeared to the tavern tomorrow night. I'll answer your questions then." Taking a second glance at the soulmist in Eri's palm as if to make sure that his apprentice had indeed created the material, he nodded once more more to himself than anything, and Eri walked him to the exit, opening the door for his new teacher. "Gotta walk the streets. See you tomorrow", Jared waved and Eri bowed in response, closing the door. He returned to the kitchen and remembered the piece of soulmist he still held in his palm and he unscrewed the cover of the jar, dropping the soulmist into it. He sighed, looking at the remaining mass of disgusting blood-soaked dough on the bowl, and he steeled his nerves, grabbing another piece to create another lump of soulmist. This was going to be an unpleasant night ahead.

[Cheshire]

Character: Eridanus Experience: Auristics +1, Interrogation +1, Intelligence +1, Observation +2, Spiritism +2 Lore: Vantha [Basic], Jared Skyglow [Basic], Icewatch [Basic], Apprenticing Under Jared Skyglow, Ghosts [Basic], How to Make Soulmist, Magic: Spiritism, Soulmist Additional Note: Great thread! I've never given out so much lore before! PM me with concerns.