Completed Mysteries in a Bird Skull

[Marcus Ahysen]

It was true, Marcus had not researched the difference between Magecrafting and Malediction, nor did he know that there were multiple kinds of magic item creation methods. In his profession, where agents were constantly trying to one-up each other in order to garner more attention from those above, discretion was key. He could not go around asking everybody about his mission, otherwise they might misinform him and take it for themselves. His Ebonstryfe contact told him about Clyde, and so Marcus went after Clyde. He did not understand Clyde's overly dramatic reaction to seeing the item. He could understand the fact that Clyde did not know anything about that type of magic, once it was established that there were multiple types, but why the negative reaction? Not that it mattered, Marcus thought with a sigh. If Clyde wasn't going to be of use, then all of this was a waste of time. However, when Clyde said thought he might still be able to examine it, Marcus nodded his approval. "Yes, do what you can. I was not aware there were different schools of magic item creation.. though it seems to me that an item that allows you to locate another person is pretty useful, regardless of how it was created. If you cannot figure anything out, I will look for another mage.. but you are here, and it would be a waste of time if you did not try."

[Inoadar]

had Inoadar not suddenly been distracted, he may have taken immediate offense at the mage's attitude towards he and Marcus. He scrutinized the symbols on the surface of the skull. Timing was once again a factor in the unfolding of events. The situation came back to him, as Marcus' last comments finally found root in his awareness. He pulled the skull back in, to a more protective sphere of personal space.

"Wait a moment. I think it might just be a waste of far more than time if you let this man dabble with this, when he has pretty much come right out and said this is not a discipline he is familiar with." Now the tone with which the mage had made his last comments registered, and Inoadar's eyes narrowed. "In fact, his apparent disdain for this 'Malediction' makes it uncertain, in my opinion, as to whether we can trust that he doesn't intend some sabotage."

He faced the mage directly, but held his hand up to the side to stall any interruptions from Marcus as he continued. "I do not say this simply as an angry response to a tone that seemed overly self-righteous..." he paused to let that sink in. "...But it just so happens that I very recently met a man that surely IS gifted with knowledge of this particular school. He had several items in his pack that had symbols very much like those on this skull. I had simply never seen such designs before I met him."

Inoadar's instinctive belief that one does not volunteer anything kept him from going into any of the details that prompted his attitude. First, this man he met, one 'Wrenmae', had made him feel immense pride in being 'chosen' from among all the possible poisoners in town to aid him in learning of the fundamentals of poisoning. Inoadar did not know that this great pride had been bolstered by the man's powerful hypnotic skill, which had taken root to a profound degree due to Inoadar's recent conversion to Rhysol, and his thought that this Wrenmae had been sent by Rhysol. Inoadar had been hard pressed not to burst into tears of joy at the perceived honor.

Secondly, Inoadar was all too familiar with veiled looks of judgement by other "proper" citizens towards his ill-favored choice of professions. The tone of the mage's comments, and the look on his face, which had only darkened with Inoadar's sneered reply, triggered this emotional defense.

And lastly, he was speaking with complete honesty. The circular etchings covering the skull seemed largely composed of the same types letter-like series of symbols enclosed in circular or polygonal frames. Wrenmae had let Inoadar see many items bearing the same style of etched symbols.

There was one last thing that gave him confidence to face down this wizard. Once he touched the rag the skull rested in, if he then also touched the inside door handle on his way out, he would not take ten steps before he fell cold in the street. A simple wipe with a different rag would negate the poison, but as was his policy, volunteer nothing.

Inoadar was not a man given to take no precautions.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde nodded in response to Marcus' words. It made sense, and he could not fault him on it. If there was a better person for the job, he would accede to him, for his superior knowledge in regard to that magic. He knew enough of magic, to know how little he knew. And that was especially true for the branches of magic he did not practice. He had been stunned by the sudden unveiling of the item, and that is was not in fact Magecrafting as he had suspected, but Malediction. Which admittedly he did not know a great deal about, beyond what had been spoken of by another Magecrafter. He was already cooling, his face calming, as he began to take a step forward to come closer to the skull, and prepare some Glyphs before he used Auristics. He would have the man set the skull upon them, once he had drawn them. However, before he could say any of this, he was interrupted by the OTHER man. At the words "Dabble", Clyde's eyes drew to the man, with far more annoyance than before, even a bit of anger. Calling him a dabbler! HIM! When he went on to insult his magical integrity, that he would sabotage the item, more or less calling him a collaborator with the Rising Dawn, the people that had shot him... He was calling him inept, a traitor, and, and, and!!! Clyde was livid, rage clearly on his face, bubbling just under the surface, at the mans audacity. He took a step closer to the man, staff still in hand, fist tightly gripped on it making his fingers turn white... Almost getting in the mans face. "You had best think very carefully on your next words, before you utter them. Do you really want to test me? You call me inept? Do you really want to see just how skilled I am? You call me a traitor? Do you really want to see some of what I have done for this city?" Clyde glared the man down, within a inch of setting him and his entire establishment on fire. Or better yet feeding him res, and slowly transmuting it to water till he drowned slowly and painfully. "Perhaps I am not a maledictor, but do not question my skills as a wizard, or my integrity as one. Yes I was caught off guard by the item being not what I thought it was, but that does not give you the right to do as you did. If I say I can do something, I can. And if I say I cannot, then you had best trust me to be willing to seek others aid, who know more of it. Not by insulting me. Now call your wizard friend, as Marcus just said we should, should my Auristics fail. But know that I am not a good enemy to make. Do you really want to make a enemy of me?" Besides, Clyde reasoned, who was to say by some late night accident, this mans shop might not catch flame. And Clyde might find himself far to busy to put it out, even if he could easily do so with a wave of his hand. A master mage was not a smart enemy to make.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar would never admit that the man actually brought a step back to his footing. Pride had brought him to the brink of death before. But always before, he had not quite believed he would not survive. Something about this mage left no doubt. But he would not back fully down.

"I did not call you 'traitor', sir. Though I will admit, your tone suggested a level of contempt sufficient to provoke you to an act of spite. Nor did I call you 'inept'. I'm sure that, in whatever school you pursue, you are second to none. But you readily admit this is unfamiliar to you. I WILL grant you that I may have worded my concern poorly, borne as it is from my knowledge lying in other directions. But do not you either question MY intent regarding loyalty. And by that I mean both loyalty to Lord Rhysol AND to his agents among us.

"We ALL have our contributions to make, and you spoke in a fashion that seemed to lay insult upon the craft of the great man that I would refer this effort to. If I misunderstood, and you in fact DID mean to give proper recognition to this worthy practitioner, I am entirely willing to attribute it the stress of the moment, and call us even, your oversight, and my overreaction."

There it was, he waited to see both if Marcus would intervene, and if the mage would demand a higher level of apology.

OOCSorry, I know this is a bit out of turn, but I couldn't resist an immediate reaction. This is just too good!

[Marcus Ahysen]

Marcus watched the exchange between Inoadar and Clyde in silence, at first amused, but he quickly became concerned when things began to escalate. Marcus had heard the stories about Clyde, and how he had supposedly immolated an entire band of Zith, burning one's head off from the inside out. And that was just one story of the mage's exploits, and he was still just an apprentice. Soon enough he would have authority, and could easily get away with getting revenge on Inoadar.. which would not be helpful to Marcus. At least not for the time being. "Okay, now, let's not get out of control here. We are all here to work together." Marcus shot Inoadar a hard look, or was it more of a warning? Either way, it was a look that said 'dont' push your luck' before continuing. "Clyde's loyalty is not in question, nor is yours Inoadar. This other mage you speak of I do not know. Clyde is an apprentice in the Ebonstfyfe, soon to be a soldier, and has done much for Ravok. I don't know anything about this other mage.. so I think it would be best if Clyde examined the item first. If he feels that the other mage should take a look, then we will look into that, but not until after Clyde has had his chance."

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde simply huffed at the man, at his attempt at an apology. It had been almost as insulting as his insults! Not only that, but he was contradicting things he had clearly said just moments ago. His own words spoken within a chime, and he was denying them and trying to smooth things over. He turned his gaze to Marcus, still livid, but holding his anger in quite nicely. He did his best to calm himself, taking in a deep breath, holding it for a few moments, and letting it out... He continued to do this as Marcus spoke, and his calming exercise meditation had taught him, paired with Marcus' words, seemed to cool his rage to a mere boil. But it still was there, bubbling hotly under the surface. His free hand shook slightly in rage, and his hand on his staff was still tight and white, his eyes still filled with rage for the poisoner... Despite all that, he kept his anger in check for the moment. Clyde nodded at his words, and went into his things to get out the gear he would need for Glyphing. He took out his pot of inscribing paint, and bent down to the ground and began to paint it right there in front of the poisoner. Of course, he did not mention that when he was finished, and his magic cast, the Glyphs would vanish on there own leaving next to no trace. He would instead let the man think he was marring his flooring, and would have a tough cleaning ahead of him. He started with the focus, a circle about the size of the skull, perhaps a bit larger, with a pair of lines drawn through it to make a large X inside, the four tips slightly sticking out of the circle a few inches. He then began to draw a curling pattern around the focus, to be used as a barrier, to contain the magics of the skull as best he could, but to also keep his Auristical sight contained and focused within the Glyphs edge. It was made of many sweeping curves like a flattened U that had been stretched in either direction to be longer and shorter. None of the curves touched. He would do one curve with the open end facing upward, and then another right next to it facing the other way, with the tip of one end of the curve coming to about the middle of the previous opposite facing curve. He continued this till his curves circled all the way around the focus, thus keeping it in. Clyde looked at Marcus, and for a moment at the poisoner, before showing his work. "Alright, place the skull inside in a moment, on the X'ed circle, once it has dried, and I will examine it. These Glyphs" And Clyde pronounced the word with a specific emphasis, to make sure they knew that these were indeed Glyphs, unlike the symbols on the skull, "will aid in my casting and examination, and hopefully keep any ill effects inside."

[Inoadar]

Inoadar seethed in silence. There was no point in hiding it. The mage was no idiot. Such an exchange as had just occurred could not result in any other outcome. But he wiped the scowl from his face at a look from Marcus. The need to maintain this effort was fortified by a couple of words in Marcus' disclosure. The words "apprentice" and "soldier".

Apprehension crept into Inoadar's consciousness. He had assumed that Marcus had his back in this collaboration. But if this mage, this "Clyde" was already an apprentice, then his word would already outweigh any contrary testimony from Inoadar. And Marcus would only make it a draw, a situation he'd have to be a fool to embrace. No, he was on his own.

'And now he is soon to be a soldier?' the poisoner thought with grim memories of the rebel mage slamming him with crushing force, and no effort, into the walls in the old CEB building, just before melting the whole place into bubbling slag. 'This is what I might find myself up against?' But then a thought pricked his concerns and the power of the rebel mage took on a different aspect.

'That may be just the way to deal with this guy.' he thought with a sudden surge of treachery. It was fortunate that he'd just spent the last several seconds masking his expression. A sudden malicious grin would be a dead giveaway. 'The way to deal with both of them. What backlash could happen? A known rebel mage dying in the same conflagration as a loyal apprentice mage? High Command would surely think it a bargain.' There was a brief cloud as he considered that Marcus may have to be "sacrificed" as well, but it passed swiftly.

He had no idea how he could pull this off exactly, or even how to make the rebel mage appear. But he did have one brand new edge. He had the mage's name now, "Clyde". Of course it was possible that Marcus had given a false name during his last remark, but he didn't think so. That would make up for the fact that "Clyde" knew where his shop was. But "Clyde" didn't know where he lived. If nothing else, he would find out where this "Clyde" lived. And then...

The important thing now was to act contrite and cooperative. It was easy at first, but when the bastard started smearing paint on his floor, his effort was insufficient. "Couldn't we have put a cloth down for this or something!" he blurted angrily. At first he thought he'd blown his act, but decided it was alright to show reasonable anger, if it was followed by a show of submissive acceptance.

He put his hands out before him in a show of submission and shook his head. "No, no. I'm sorry. This is more important. Please excuse me. I've had a difficult last few days and I've behaved like a spoiled brat. I truly apologize." He backed away in feigned regret, dripping with sincerity.

Behind this facade, his mind raced ahead to scheming surveillance and prospects of booby traps. 'After all, my Lord Rhysol is the god of Betrayal, is he not?...' He handed the skull to the mage with a show of cooperative intent. "Here, I should probably let you handle this. I mean no sarcasm, I promise you, I simply think it would be better if you did it." He handed him the skull, complete with the cloth bearing one component of the poison.

[Marcus Ahysen]

Things seemed to have calmed down between the mage and the poisoncrafter, but that did little more than bring a frown to Marcus lips. Suppressed anger was just as dangerous, if not more, as anger on the surface. And Inoadar's sudden change in attitude was.. not to be trusted. After having spent a season working with the man, and seeing how he always seemed to have poison in just the right places.. like his ledger, for instance, Marcus knew he had to be careful. While Clyde worked, there was little Marcus or Inoadar could do except watch quietly and wait. Marcus took the opportunity to pull Inoadar aside, giving Clyde some privacy while they spoke. "I know this man has rubbed you the wrong way, Morley," he started, using the false name just in case Clyde overheard it. It did not dawn on Marcus that he had slipped up and used Clyde's real name earlier. "But I hope you don't have any surprises planned. I worked with you long enough to know you've always got something up your sleeve. It would look very bad, on you and on my reputation, if a promising apprentice turned up sick or dead after leaving your shop."

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde could not help but grin at the poisoner, as he complained of the mess Clyde was making, and quickly apologized. "Oh, did I forget to mention that the Glyphs are self cleaning? They will vanish once I am done with my magics. It is in their nature. You now how it is I am sure, for a worker at his craft, he has little attention for anything else. But it will not be an issue, they will be gone when I am done." As the man went to hand him the skull, Clyde danced/hopped back a step out of reach, going into his pack once more. He cleaned off his hands on the front of his robes, which he would wash later, and took out a pair of gloves, which he put on before taking the skull and its cloth. Of course, in order to take off his gloves, at least one of his bare hands would need to touch the outside of a glove, which meant anything transferred to the outside of the gloves would eventually end up on one of his hands when he went to remove them. But then, his purpose in putting them on had not been to protect him from a poison he did not know about, no it had been to keep him from touching by accident the magiced skull. And for that purpose, such measure would work just fine. With that, Clyde would take the clothe and the skull on it, gingerly take the skull off the clothe with his leather gloved hand, and place it on the focus in the midst of the Glyphs. He would return the clothe to its owner, and then set about his auristical inspection. Unaware of any other conversation going on. He closed his eyes, and focused within himself, taking a moment to meditate and calm himself, and his breathing. This was not as successful as normal, due to the anger he had over the poisoner and his actions and words. After a chime or two of steady breathing not helping, he focused instead on his djed. He pulled in, and pushed out. Pulled in and grasped at his djed, feeling and shaping it and pushing it. As he went out, he pulled along his djed, thrusting it into his eyes, and opened them upon his aura vision. Just before him, easy to see inside of the Glyphs he had made sat the skull. For a moment it looked normal, but then a grey aura began to enshroud it. The first thing he noticed, was the size of the aura. It was noticeably larger than the aura of a skull of a dead animal should be. Not as enhanced as say a object he had magecrafted, but it was still deeper and larger than it should be. Once he began work, he would occasionally mutter out loud his findings, which would often be spaced out a chime or two apart. It was not clear if this was a part of Clyde's process, or if he did it for the benefit of the other two. "Definitely some magic at work here... Aura is to big for a mundane skull of a dead beast..." Slowly as he focused on it, the aura came into color. It seemed a bit odd, like a mix of colors... It was a off color that looked sort of grey, but of a distinctly different hue than before. And he could almost detect a... Bluish color? "Weird..." He delved in deeper, examining it, sifting through the colors till he found what he waited. Quite a few chimes passed as he did this, oblivious to all but the aura he was reading. Finally, the colors shifted, and broke down, into different component parts, white, black in a odd swirling portion that reminded him of a voiding portal vaguely, and blue... "Whats this?" First he focused on the black, as it was only in one part, a odd swirling bit. As he glanced at the actual skull, he noticed a symbol there, a circle. As he looked back at the black swirling mass, a shiver ran down his spine... It just... Smelled wrong. That seemed to be the source. He leaned forward to the symbol he had found, and pointed. "That seems to be the source of the... Malediction. Or at least the main focus of it. Without that, I don't think this item would work. So we will need to be careful of it." Pushing the black mass away, he shifted his focus to the white. White? White... He could feel it on his face. Smell it on the air. Hear... Flapping? Flapping and white... Feel of soft. It reminded him of an old pillow. Or at least, that was how his mind interpreted it. "Feathers?... Yes, feathers... A bird? I guess this was once the skull of a bird..." Looking at the skull, he could sort of see it, though he had not realized it till he had seen it in the aura. Pushing away the main mass of white, he shifted to the small bit of blue... But he could not quite see it... It seemed.. Far off? For some reason the blue reminded him of the white, perhaps it was a pale blue? But it seemed to far off, to weak, for him to grasp at it and examine it. "Something there, connected, but I don't know what it is. To deep. I can't seem to see... I... Not sure... It is to far away to grab it, if that makes any sense... It sure does not to me. Of course, maybe that has something to do with the malediction. But I don't know what it means." Exhausted, Clyde cut off the flow of djed to his eyes, and looked away from the skull. He focused on the ground until his aura vision died down, and he was looking upon things with his normal mundane eyes. "And that's all I have got." Clyde said this, taking a few steps away from the skull, and sitting down heavily. He felt like he had just ran across Ravok a few times. "Maybe if I explain what I saw to the maledictor, it will make sense to him. But I do not know enough about the magic to understand all I saw. Now I just need to sit and rest for awhile. No magic." Clyde glanced back at the skull, to see that his Glyphs had vanished, perhaps at the very moment he stopped examining it with Auristics. He had not been paying attention, and had not noticed. Though the Glyphs had helped keep him focused, and to keep other auras from distracting him.

[Inoadar]

Inoadar refrained from actually hissing his words, knowing that hisses carry further to listening ears than simple low speaking. "I care nothing for how he rubs me! But the man I would like to include, the one this..." he almost slipped and said 'Clyde' in his anger, "...mage insults with his disdain of malediction, has been chosen by Rhysol himself! He came at his bidding to study poison crafting with me. I will not discount my suspicions on your say-so, Marcus. Though I will confess to the stupidity of having displayed them so plainly."

Inoadar side-stepped enough to square off directly in front of Marcus. "Perhaps it would be hypocrisy for ME to speak of potential disloyalty, given my history here. But what of you? How bad would your reputation look if you took down a "promising apprentice" that was actually an enemy infiltrator about to reach new levels of potential treason? I will back you up, Marcus. In every capacity that I am able."

Marcus looked incredulous, but Inoadar put a hand up to stall the angry rebuttal he knew would be coming. "Let me finish. How loyal can a man be that threatens me because I express concern over the possible disruption of a project to bring a powerful rebel leader down? I do not say that I can not be wrong in my worries. But he should hardly be upset just because I DO worry!"

His voice turned sarcastic as his eyes rolled, "Oh dear, I insulted him! How dreadful for him! It must be the first time anyone dared to suggest he is not Rhysols gift to magic! If he is already an apprentice then he MUST have suffered reprimand from his trainers and masters. Yet he is outraged because I express a legitimate concern that a skill he acknowledges outright is not his best, might undermine this effort? Give me a break!"

Just then, the mage's voice called out one of his observations. Inoadar sneered with sarcasm to put his last display to shame. "Ooooh, Marcus. Did you hear that? It might be the skull of a bird! What a revelation! Truly his craft is indispensable!"

He turned and grabbed a rag and moved to a cabinet, reaching in and pouring some alcohol on it, taking pains to be sure that Marcus observed him. He then walked to the outer door and, pointedly displaying the rag, wiped down the handle. He returned to Marcus and dumped the rag in a wastebasket. "By your command, Marcus, there are now no hidden threats to anyone. Call it a 'surprise' if you like. I will call it a 'precaution'. Now, go ahead with your lecture on my bad attitude. I will give you a fair ear. Then, if you wish, I will go and bring my associate."

Shortly after Marcus was finished, the mage also finished and dropped heavily into a chair. Inoadar fumed with the knowledge that the time to attack was being wasted.