Meditations and Magics (Completed)

[Anselm]

Meditations and Magics 87 Winter 511 Just outside Zeltiva The morning sun was peeking over the Eastern horizon when a black-hooded figure left the city and headed up the winding road that made its way through the rugged Zastoska Mountains. He walked with a limp and used a cane. The road was not a well-travelled road. Nor was it a safe road. But Anselm did not intend to go far. After walking for a bell or so, he turned off the road and followed a stream up into a ravine. Another bell brought him to the base of a great granite cliff. He followed a barely visible track up the side of the cliff until he arrived at a small ledge. He had been here before. It was a relatively safe place since nothing could reach it except by way of the same precarious path that had brought Anselm here. He began with Auristics. He sat with his back to the rock wall and placed an ungloved hand on the rough surface of the ledge. He pulled his thoughts inward, gradually withdrawing them from the world around him. He quieted his mind and gently pushed each clamoring thought aside with a Not now, but later. Soon he had gathered his thoughts up into a tiny ball of awareness. Now he allowed that awareness to extend through his arm to his hand and into the rock ledge. He had searched out its physical properties twice before, so that information came to him almost immediately. But today he was looking for something else. He was looking for residual auras left behind by creatures who had passed this way recently. Like footprints, they would leave behind minute aural signatures. This was a new area of exploration for Anselm and he was anxious to expand his skill with it. At first, all he sensed was the rock's aura. It had several aspects to it, all of which he had touched before. He carefully identified each one and mentally set it aside. Eventually he was left with only a few faint aural signatures that he did not recognize. He focused on the strongest one and extended his awareness into it. It was something living. It's aural strength dropped off rapidly as he followed it back in time. When he tried to follow it into its future, it abruptly vanished. He traced it back and forth through its narrow window of time. Eventually he decided it was a plant that had been uprooted not too long ago. He brought his mind back and focused on another of the unfamiliar aural signatures. This one was weaker but also more complex. It was undoubtedly an animal. But what kind of animal? He let his awareness sink into it, exploring it, examining it from different angles. He felt like he was on the verge of recognizing it. He could almost feel it. It was pulling him in. Welcoming him. Absorbing him. He was becoming one with it. “Stop!” he shouted aloud, breaking his own concentration. He felt lethargic and he was trembling. He let his mind empty itself and rested in the morning sun. Some time later he roused himself and climbed back down the cliff side to the stream. There he threw several hand fulls of water on his face. Then he returned to his ledge and resumed his position sitting with his back to the rock wall.

[Anselm]

The old Nuit sat perfectly still with his eyes closed for several bells. He was centered. He opened himself up to the flow of energy that was in the rocks, the air and the nearby trees. He allowed it to flow into his soul at its own pace, slowly rebuilding the store of Djed he had available for magic. When he felt like his Djed had been sufficiently replenished, he extended his awareness out just enough to detect anything living that might come near. Birds occasionally flew close enough for him to be aware of them but he wasn't able to tell what kind of birds they were without releasing more Djed, which he didn't want to do because he was conserving it for something else. Then he became aware of a small animal peering out from a crevice about two feet away. He narrowed his awareness and determined that it was a mouse. This is what he had been waiting for. His cane was lying on the ground in front of him. He placed a suggestion in the mouse's mind that the cane's silver handle smelled like a pear. The tiny rodent left its crevice and stood on its hind feet to look around. It's nose twitched furiously as it tried to locate the source of the pear scent. With little starts and stops, it skittered toward the cane. Then it seemed to realize that the cane handle was not a pear. Anselm placed another suggestion into the mouse's mind that the silver handle not only smelled like a pear but also looked like a pear. But the mouse became alarmed and skittered back to its crevice and disappeared. Anselm retreated into stillness again to rest and replenish his Djed. The sun was disappearing behind the mountain peaks to the West when he brought himself back to full alertness. He had one more magic to practice. He detached the left hand of his astral body from the physical body and grasped the cane with it. Then he lifted the cane off the ground. He hadn't gripped it quite in the middle, so it was unbalanced and the handle end dipped down and touched the ground. He released more Djed and got the handle off the ground. Had anyone been watching, it would have looked like the cane was floating by itself in front of the old man. Then it dropped to the ground with a loud clatter. Anselm carefully reattached the astral hand. He convinced his stiff joints to let him stand up, picked up his cane and made his way slowly down the face of the cliff, down the ravine to the road, and down the road to the gates of the city. When he finally got back to his house, he was exhausted. He laid down on his bed and let his mind drift into a kind of trance, in which state he remained until the sun came up the next morning. OCC : I'm not clear on how a Nuit replenishes Djed. So I made something up. Let me know if I got it wrong.

[Paragon]

Anselm : Anselm Skill XP Reward Auristics +1 Hypnotism +1 Projection +1 Meditation +1 Lore: Basic Djed Control Other: N/A Standard, nice little solo. Keep writing - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.