[Flashback] Essence of Dog (Solo)

[Eridanus]

Day 5, Fall of 416 AV
Sometime in the morning
The Aylasa Caves, The Cobalt Mountains

It had been quite a while since Eridanus had joined up through an esoteric Grand Oath with Alazapatl, the organization that had put him through hell in order to convince him to join their cause. He had not done anything notable since then, besides getting to know the people he had been working with.

His handler, an old withered nuit by the code-name of Middleman, had decided that his ability to handle himself alone for extended times in the wilderness was abysmal. Despite the vantha's excellent combat abilities, he as pretty much "useless" in foraging and hunting, in the old man's words.

Unfortunately, Alazapatl was a leftover from a faction from Alahea before the Valterrian, and it was not recognized by the various authorities in the cities, forcing its members to live off the ground in the wilderness. It also did not help that despite their seemingly noble goals, their methods were far from orthodox, though Eridanus would not know the full extent of their ruthlessness yet.

He had arrived in these caves together with Middleman and a group of his other supposed team-mates, and he was made to stand sentry at the mouth of the cave while Middleman and Medal, the projectionist who had magically slammed him quite a few times before he had joined the organization went deeper into the caves to find a suitable clearing to habit.

The other two, Coinsmith and Yeller went to hunt for their breakfast, for they had been traveling since dawn, and since the vantha was deemed "useless" in hunting, the most boring but hard-to-screw-up job was thrown to him.

[Eridanus]

It was not long when Medal came back to emerge, bringing him back through winding underground passages to where they had decided to occupy, before telling him to stay and taking over his sentry so that he could tell the returning hunters where to go.

As Middleman beckoned him forward, he looked at the vantha again, before shaking his head and sighing.

"What?!" Eridanus half-yelled in a perplexed manner.

"Nothing of note, Redeemer. While we pass the time, why don't I try to make something useful out of you? What do you know of Zapatl?" The nuit replied in an emotionless, even tone.

"It's... half the name of our organization?"

The nuit resisted the urge to massage his temples, instead replying steadily, "No, the Nader-Canoch meaning of it, Redeemer. We have done much research on you before recruiting you, and we do know that you've spent quite a lot of time in Sahova. Surely you must have picked up a word or two in the ancient tongue?"

"Uh... it means Legacy, I think. What am I supposed to know about 'Legacy'?"

"That is correct. Legacy... or Malediction as what most people in today's society call them, is a world magic. I do know a trifle about it, and in my pursuit of trying to help you gain more utility value to your potential team-mates, I will pass what I know about it to you."

"Sit down," the nuit continued, himself sitting cross-legged on the floor as he removed a ring that is made out of bone from his finger. "Malediction - or Legacy, or Zapatl, whatever you want to call it - is the art of drawing the essence of a creature. The creature can be living, or dead, as long as you acquire one of its body part. Of course, if it's still living somehow the effects of your maledicted item will definitely be lesser than if it were dead, but there are certain advantages to be had from such an event, such as the ability to fashion a weapon that can cut it down more easily, or armor that protects more against it."

"This ring, is made from the skeleton of a long-dead Suvan sergeant. The soldier used to be an efficient flux-wielding warrior, and through malediction this ring is able to give me some of the speed and agility of that sergeant, to help my sluggish body move just a little faster for convenience."

[Eridanus]

"You of course, will not be skilled enough to manipulate the remnant djed of a sentient being yet. No problem; you will be starting with lesser creatures - who by definition have lesser djed than a sentient being."

As the nuit said this he wore the ring again, and from his robes took out an average-sized bone, about the size of his wrist. It was slightly yellow but overall pretty clean and dry.

"This is a bone from a dog that we have hunted and eaten from quite a few weeks ago, as I'm sure you should recall from Yeller burning it to a crisp. Made for an interesting barbecue," Middleman remarked, though the last statement was for the vantha's benefit since nuits did not have to eat.

"Malediction requires malediction circles, which are a physical representation of your understanding of the dog's abilities and properties. Understanding this will help you create more accurate malediction circles, and by doing so you will be able to draw out some of the dog's abilities for your use. Think about it, don't get too hasty yet."

All the while the vantha had been quite overwhelmed by this information, and when it was time for him to reply he thought quickly, realizing that the first thing he thought about a dog was their impressive sense of smell.

"Smell," he uttered, earning a dead-looking grin from the emotionless nuit.

"Excellent. So what you will do, is first to draw what you think you can use to describe the dog's sense of smell on the ground here. No point wasting good material."

[Eridanus]

Eridanus took out his assassin's dagger, using it to carve patterns into the soft ground. He first drew a circle, then looked up at the nuit.

"I won't help you draw your circles, Redeemer. You have to do it yourself; this process is what we call learning," Middleman remarked sardonically. "You can draw more than one circle, that's why I used the plural term. Pictures or words, it does't matter. What's important is that you use these words or pictures to draw out the essence of the dog's djed through its bone, that is the beauty of Malediction."

To draw out a canine's keen sense of smell through words or pictures..

Deciding that he should be a little more sure of what he was doing, he used the dagger to draw another circle overlapping the first. Words were beginning to form in his head, and he summarized the words into what he thought the essence of a dog should be.

What would its sense be for? Hunting, recognition, tracking, and possibly others. All these he listed down in point form in the first circle.

Middleman leaned forward to read the words, and he began to wheeze in laughter awkwardly, for corpses did not have air in their lungs to laugh with usually; it was quite a voluntary action.

[Eridanus]

The duo spent the next bell or so going through each of the point Eridanus listed in the first circle, discussing if that was indeed a true property and whether it should be included in the circle. The vantha thought that the old corpse was being nit-picky as usual, but the nuit believed that magic was a precise science; even words can be analytically selected to evoke the desired effect.

After rounds of arguments on whether certain word should remain or not, with Middleman or Eridanus wiping the ground even to clear the word or them using the vantha's dagger to carve more words into the soil, they were finally done. The resultant list of words were different from the original by half, though with the combined brainstorming they seemed to arrive at a better decision.

By then, the hunters had returned with their food, though as Medal, Coinsmith and Yeller prepared the materials needed to skin, prepare and cook the animals the hunters caught, Eridanus remained staring at the patterns he carved on the ground, brows furrowed as the nuit observed from a distance.

Now that he managed to expressed the properties of the dog with the first circle, he probably should draw a picture in the second one.

What kind of picture would convey a dog's strong sense of smell?

He was not a particularly good artist, but he tried his best and roughly sketched - using the dagger like if it was a quill and the ground as parchment - a comical caricature of a shape that he believed to be most similar to that of a dog sniffing the ground for a scent.

The aroma of gently roasted meat began wafting over.

[Eridanus]

The grizzled Yeller came closer to the vantha, curious as to what he was doing on the ground. On his back was strapped with his signature spear, and his other hand held a small rabbit leg as his other finger emitted res that turned into fire as soon a it touched the piece of meat.

"I prefer cooking things my way," Yeller shrugged when he saw Eri's questioning gaze.

The spear-wielding reimancer took a peek at Eridanus' drawing, and he guffawed, accidentally sending a spark of fire towards the ceiling, earning a warning shout from Medal to control his magic.

"That... is a pretty crappy picture, Redeemer. I only know that it's a dog because of the words you wrote in the other circle. Aren't you supposed to be good in these kind of things, vantha? Or have your transformation to ethaefal reduced your drawing abilities? Watch and learn."

Popping the half-cooked meat into his mouth, Yeller threw another glob of res on the ground, using his earth reimancy to even out the ground in the second circle, erasing Eri's hard work at drawing the dog.

The vantha protested, but Yeller shushed him, telling him to just shut up and watch.

[Eridanus]

Drawing his spear, Yeller proceeded to calmly carve a series of images on the ground, standing while doing it due to the long reach of his spear. Even at that awkward handling for spears were not generally designed to be use a picture-drawing devices, the resulting image was still much better than the vantha's random assortment of circles and squares.

"That's what you're looking for, eh?" Yeller declared smugly, before sheathing his spear again and heading back to get another piece of rabbit to eat.

Eridanus leaned forward to scrutinize the picture, and though he would have retorted that it was exactly what he was trying to draw, he was forced to admit to himself that Yeller, despite his barbaric image, was still a better artist than him.

"What now?" He called out to Middleman, who by now was in some sort of meditative slumber.

The nuit opened his eyes, revealing the blood-shod eyes of magic-practicing corpses, and he pulled himself up from his sitting position with a groan, walking over to look at the vantha's circle.

"You didn't draw that, did you?" Middleman simply said.

"It was Yeller's work," Eridanus muttered.

"In any case, that should work. Make sure to copy that design you have on the floor onto the bone as accurately as you can, then call me again when you're done," the nuit waved his hand dismissively, before returning to his spot to resume his meditation.

[Eridanus]

Over the next few bells, Eridanus painstakingly used his assassin's dagger to carve a shallow guideline into the dog's bone that Middleman gave him. The circles first, and the outlines of the image that Yeller had drawn on the ground in the second circle.

This shallow cuts served as a primary sketch, and then he tightened his grip on the dagger to carve deeper into the bone, making it more permanent against wear and tear. He deepened the circles, then first began by carving each word listed out in the first circle, making sure to confirm and double-confirm each movement of his dagger for he knew that he could not afford to make a mistake.

It was slow work, but he was rewarded with no mistakes, for he made sure that every small movement was calculated and careful. When he was ddone with the first circle, he proceeded to copy Yeller's image on the second circle, though this was more difficult.

Still, he edged forward and progressed a little at a time, and he was finally done, looking at the carved designs into the large piece of dog bone proudly. Calling out to Middleman again, he walked over in front of then nuit to display the piece of art that he had been spending so many bells on.

[Eridanus]

"Yes, this would be acceptable for a first try," Middleman remarked upon gazing at the rudimentary pre-maledicted item. "Just remember - the circles and their contents are like a drill going deep and pulling out the essence of the creature's remnant djed, which makes Malediction very useful. It makes creatures and people continue to be useful even in death."

"Next, you need to drop a bit of your blood onto the circles. You should be aware by now that this is a standard step in most if not all world magic."

Pricking his finger gently with the sharp tip of the assassin's dagger, Eridanus squeezed out a drop of blood onto the circles, and the tiny drop of red laid on the bone before suddenly disappearing.

"I have no idea what it will do, to be honest. The circles can guide the item to the effect you want, but ultimately it depends on your skill, the creature's djed, and luck," Middleman said, with a tone that meant that he was going to dismiss the vantha for the day. "Go talk to Medal or Yeller or something, now I need to concentrate on regenerating my ichor today."

With that he was dismissed. He walked a few steps away, but before he left the cave to look for his future teammates who should be near the mouth of the cave outside, he tapped into the djed in his body, feeling his sight powered up by magic as he viewed the item's aura.

Surely he would be able to discern at least a little about how this mysterious magic works, and what would this item do.

[Emblem]

Congratulations! You Get Glorious Experience! Eridanus Skills Malediction- 5 XP Drawing- 4 XP Carving- 4 XP Writing- 3 XP Observation- 2 XP Weapon: Assassins Dagger- 2 XP Lores Malediction- Partial Aylasa Caves Drawing With Blades Novices Cannot Handle Sentient Djed Essence of the Dog Comments : Nice intro thread into the world of Malediction. Also go ahead and grant yourself a small bonus in smell from the dog, 5 percent sounds fair enough. If you have any questions or concerns, go ahead and PM me!