Solo I can see Judgement

[Mordrion]

Summer, 13th, 515

They ate in silence. Neither of them felt like talking. The Gibbat stew was decent. Better than any of the rations Mordrion had been eating for the past few days that was for sure. And the fact that he had skipped lunch and dinner while working on his project had lowered his taste buds' standards as well, making the food taste better then it normally would have. When the bowl was empty, Mordrion put it down on the side of the table, away from his work.

For a while, Mordrion was cleaning his tools while Henrick finished his own bowl of Gibbat stew. When he finished and put it down, Mordrion put his tools down and reached for his bag, fishing out his purse. When the money clattered together as he picked it up, Henrick started shaking his head and waving his hand. "There is no need for that. You brought the food and I just made it. You paid me enough to share a bowl of it with you." He shrugged as he finished his sentence. Mordrion put the money away again. "If you're sure..." Henrick nodded and managed a small smile. "Besides, a free meal now may mean you coming back for more at a later date."

Mordrion couldn't help but smile at the comment. Henrick was selling his services here and, from what he had just tasted of them, they were quite good. Depending on how much Sahova matched with the rumors of their treatment of its living apprentices, Mordrion might have to take him up on his offer sooner and more often than expected. "I might. Thanks for the food." After that, both men fell silent again, one looking at the bones in front of him, trying to picture the remainder of his work, the other looking around the workshop and the tools spread out on the table. Neither men felt the need to say anything more.

Mordrion looked at the skull and the malediction circle on top of it. The image of the ears and leaves took up half the space he had allocated for the circle and would, hopefully, provide him with half of the powers that he wanted from the Gibbat. Now he simply had to complete the rest of the circle to finish his work. Something that would draw out the sight of the creature. Looking at the skull from the front, Mordrion saw the four empty eye sockets looking back at him, a detail he would not soon forget. At one point, for a very short moment, those eyes had been filled with interest in his person, until he ended the light inside of them.

No use thinking about that. Mordrion shook his head and picked up his tools. The thinnest of the chisels was taken up again, as well as the small piece of wood he used to hit them with. He didn't have a professional hammer for the purpose as any hammer would hit with too much force no matter how light he would tap it. For a moment, the chisel hovered over the right, and empty, side of the malediction circle as he tried to imagine how he would do it. First, the four eyes would have to go in and from there he could form a very crude face. And then the sight 'lines' from the leaves to the eyes. The chisel hovered over the surface of the skull. Hmm... Hmm? Tsk... No... The chisel hovered and the skull's surface remained untouched for a chime or two.

"No." Mordrion muttered quietly under his breath and put chisel and wood back in his kit. Instead, he fished out the smallest and thinnest knife he had available. Holding it halfway on the blade, with the tip sticking out from between his fingers, Mordrion put the tool's sharp point against the skull, roughly in the middle on the right side of the circle. With short motions, Mordrion started to scratch away at the skull's surface. The sound filled his ears as he leaned in close to make sure he could see the extent of his work. Scratch, scratch, scratch. Blow air to remove the dust. Scratch, scratch, scratch. Rinse and repeat again and again and again.

After a few times, the first round eye seemed to have formed, although a little rough. With another peek at the front of the skull, Mordrion looked at the eyes and the distance between the larger outer socket and the smaller inner socket. He then shortened it so the whole face would fit in his small circle and set his knife against the bone. Leaning back from his work, Mordrion drew a deep breath to focus himself. Only barely noticing that Henrick had left with his bowls already, Mordrion leaned back in and continued his work.

[Mordrion]

With the knife firmly between his index finger and thumb, Mordrion set to carving again. The circle this time was small, just big enough to be placed in the malediction. With curving scrapes, Mordrion worked away at the skull to remove the bone he didn't need. As he continued to work, he hollowed out the small eye, scraping away at it little by little, blowing on it every so often to remove the dust and specks of bone that he come off as he worked. Estimating the rough distance to the next eye, Mordrion moved his knife to an untouched piece of the skull and set it down again.

Repeating from before, Mordrion scraped away slowly, patiently, at the skull, carving another inner eye out.Like the previous one, he hollowed it out as it was too small to do anything else with it. Again, another distance further and the second larger eye was placed. With short scraping motions, Mordrion worked away at the skull, cutting where needed. With longer motions than the inner eyes, he worked away at the skull as he curved his knife point in roughly the same shape as the first outer eye. When the knife circled all the way around back to the starting point, Mordrion blew some air on it and leaned back, looking at his creation from a distance.

It did look like four circles, two small ones and two somewhat bigger ones. Good. Now a basic face and then seeing 'lines'. Mordrion flexed the fingers of his right hand while he held the knife with his left, taking a moment to stretch backwards and unpop some of the more stubborn parts of his spine. There were some satisfying cracks and the release of a breath before Mordrion put the knife aside. Now that the detailed work had been finished, he could use the chisel again for the remaining work.

Quickly wiping off the knife, Mordrion put it away and picked up chisel and tapping wood again. The face was crude and a simple round shape. The chisel was placed against the skull and angled as best he could, as he had done for the left side of the circle. With light tapping, Mordrion moved his chisel around the eyes, working away at the skull and forming a round and empty face around the eyes he had worked out before. The ears were put on a moment later, simple, sharp triangles formed with the shortest side provided by the already carved head.

No tufts, no fur, no inside of the ear, no details. Very simple pointed ears, nothing more. With the face looking like a face and not just four varying sized circles, Mordrion set to work on the last bit of his malediction circle. Four very easy and light lines extending with different lengths from the eyes towards the leaves he had worked into the skull earlier. The lines were straight enough, consisting of several taps on the chisel each, making them a little cluncky but nothing the skull hadn't seen before. Most of the work was a little cluncky.

Satisfied, Mordrion moved back from the skull, putting the chisel and wood down on the table. While studying the image he had created, he flexed his fingers and wrists to keep them from hurting later on. On the left, the ears of the Gibbat, listening to the sound 'lines' made by the leaves falling. On the right, the eyes of the Gibbat, watching from a distance as the leaves fall. It looked good. It looked very good. If only that was enough. Mordrion smiled under the mask at the skull.

If that was all it took to create an excellent malediction item, Mordrion would have been the richest and most powerful wizard on this island ten times over. But the interesting part of malediction came from the unpredictable results one got from them. For all he knew, this skull may turn him into a Gibbat forever when he tested it. Exciting prospect. With the skull malediction finished, Mordrion set it aside, carefully, placing it well in the middle of the table, away from the part of the table he used to work and away from any edges it might fall off of.

[Mordrion]

With his work space devoid of skull, Mordrion looked at the remaining skeleton as it lay in shambles in the packet it had been delivered in. Most of it was too small to use in malediction for Mordrion. But there were still some fairly large bones left that he could add into the whole project. The shoulder bones had a good surface to work with and then there were some longer bones from the limbs that he could use as well. If he combined all them with the skull he would most likely get a stronger effect from the entire project. And stronger was always better in Malediction.

Putting his selected bones aside, Mordrion started putting away the rest of the bones back into the packet they had been wrapped into when Henrick had finished with them. The smell was bad but the results seemed promising so it was a good trade. When he had put all the little paw bones and spine and neck parts back into the packet, Mordrion took the entire thing and placed it one workshop over so the smell wouldn't bother him too much. The skull and the remaining bones were aromatic enough for the maledictor.

With the four long bones and the two shoulder bones, Mordrion had six bones left to work with. He already had some idea as to what he wanted from them. They would be there to support the skull in its function and not as separate items. Picking up one of the longer bones, Mordrion noted that they looked just like he had always expected them to. The shoulder bones were completely different but these four leg bones looked just like how he had always imagined them. Long and thin with one each end two small knobs pointing in opposite directions. Not as straight as I thought.

With the bone in one hand, Mordrion reached for his kit once more, picking up the largest knife, still a very small and thin one compared to most others. With his thumb on one side of the bone, he set the knife blade against the bone, just under the knobs on one end. Almost like peeling a potato, Mordrion turned the bone in his hand, cutting a circle all the way around the bone with his knife, putting pressure with his fingers and keeping the bone in place with his thumb. Slowly but surely, Mordrion worked his way around the bone until he cut back into the starting cut. With each of the four leg bones, he repeated the same process, cutting a groove around the bones just underneath the knobs.

For the shoulder bones, he would have to try a different approach as they were just flat plates almost. In order to keep them together with the skull and the other bones he would most likely have to 'necklace' them. Since he couldn't wrap a string around them, the best option would be to make a hole, or two, in them and run the string through them. Luckily the Gibbat dogs were quite small, making their bones equally small. Small also meant more easily broken so he couldn't just smack a pin through them to try and make a hole as that would shatter the bone into pieces as well.

With the biggest knife still in hand, Mordrion set the tip down on one end of the bone as it lay flat on the work table. The knife point stood vertically against the bone plate. With slow motions, Mordrion started to twist the knife left and right as far as his wrist allowed it, digging the point of the knife into the bone slowly. The scraping of the knife turned the small surface it was touching into dust and specs of bone and Mordrion blew them away as they formed, keeping his vision of the hole he was making as clear as possible. The deeper the knife went, the more speed Mordrion put on his twists. Some small cracks formed around the hole as Mordrion drilled down into it.

[Mordrion]

Once the knife pierced through the bone, Mordrion moved it away and blew out all the dust. He lifted up the bone and put the hole against his eye while aiming it towards any of the light sources around the room. He could see through it. Turning the shoulder bone over, Mordrion set his knife against the hole and gave it a few more twists to open up the hole properly, allowing enough space for the string later. With one hole done, Mordrion repeated the same process on the other side of the bone, making a second hole that he could use.

With slow, deliberate motions, Mordrion drilled similar holes in the second shoulder bone, working slowly as he knew that speed meant mistakes later on. Once he had all four holes drilled into the two shoulder bones, Mordrion put them aside. From here on out the malediction kit would not be needed anymore so Mordrion set to work cleaning his tools properly. He used a soft cloth to wipe away any remaining bone dust, specs and chips before sliding his tools back into the leather holders they were kept in. When he was done, he put the cloth away as well and folded the kit up to protect it from the elements until he could properly clean them later.

To finish up with his work, all Mordrion needed now was a brush and ink. He unscrewed the ink well and took up the brush again. For the leg bones, he used the small detail brush he had been using the whole day already. Dipping the thin brush into the ink, Mordrion set it against the bone. With a steady hand, Mordrion pulled the brush down along the bone and then over it and back up on the other side, creating a very long shaped 'circle for these bones. Once he reached back up, Mordrion connected the line back to the start. Dipping for more ink, Mordrion set the brush inside the circle.

With no space on the bone to actually create a good scene, Mordrion instead opted to simply write what he wanted from the bone. Slowly, dipping the brush in more ink after each letter, Mordrion spelled 'HEARING' into the circle he had created. Once the word was finished the bone was put aside and the next one put on the work space. Mordrion made sure it was the same one as the first bone except the left version. With some more ink, Mordrion moved the brush around the bone in the exact same manner he had done before, down the length, across the bone, up the length and across the bone connecting to the start. The second circle was put up just as easily. Dipping the brush in the well for more ink, Mordrion started spelling 'SIGHT' into the circle.

With both bones finished, Mordrion put them aside to dry. The ink would set into the bone quite quickly because of how dry they were on the outside. Next, he picked up the other two bones, keeping one on the side. Copying from his first two bones, Mordrion drew two more circles, one on each bone. However, these bones did not have hearing and sight written in them. Instead, Mordrion wrote 'HEAR' in the first circle and filled the second circle with a large 'SEE'. Once he finished up with the second one, he moved both bones to accompany the first two. Now all he had left to maledict where the two shoulder bones.

[Mordrion]

Mordrion moved the first shoulder bone on to the work space which was now covered with bone dust, ink droplets and bone pieces in varying small sizes. Closer to the edge there was even a stain of Gibbat stew liquid which Mordrion hadn't noticed until now. Cleaning up would be for later. For now he had to focus on his real work. The shoulder bone took up a bit more space than the previous bones but nothing worrying. With the brush in hand, Mordrion dipped into the ink. As the bone curved naturally, Mordrion figured that the 'inside' of the curve would be the best part to point outwards when wearing the bone.

Turning the bone over so the curve's inside was on top, Mordrion set the brush to the bone and painted a simple circle, big enough for what he had in mind. While his project was coming closer to finishing, Mordrion's patience with the craft and the project were not. He had enough experience with messing up things because he wanted to rush into them. Now would not be one of those times. He dipped the brush into the ink once more and set it inside the circle. While he had more space here, the words he planned out were shorter than the other ones.

Mordrion cursed softly under his breath. If he had taken just a bit more time to plan, he would have swapped the longer words from the first two bones and the words he wanted to write now. But too late now. Mordrion smiled under his mask. Just a moment ago he was patting himself on the shoulder for keeping it cool and not rushing things and now he learned, yet again, that he had rushed into it. He set himself to work with a vertical line near the left of the circle.

From the vertical line, Mordrion moved his brush to the top of the line and painted a short black line horizontally. At the bottom of the vertical line he repeated the motion, another horizontal short line. In between the two, a third and shorter line was added to the picture. Decent calligraphy. Mordrion thought as he dipped the brush back into the ink before placing it back into the circle next to the first letter. A short diagonal line from top left to bottom right was put from next to, but not touching, the top line of the first letter. Across from it, diagonally, Mordrion drew a longer line that touched against the first line, from the top right to the bottom left, forming the second letter.

For the last letter, Mordrion repeated the motions from the first one, forming the word he wanted. 'EYE' stood properly in the circle on the bone, well written and easily read. If the bones couldn't understand what he meant by this then Mordrion wouldn't know what else to do to get what he wanted. With the first shoulder bone finished, Mordrion picked it up and placed it carefully next to the other finished bones. While the table was big, the space he kept around each bone was starting to make the table look cluttered.

The second shoulder bone was placed in the same way the first had been with the curve's 'inside' upwards so he could work in it with the ink and brush. Mordrion dipped the brush into the ink and put it against the bone. With a slow flourish, Mordrion moved the brush around in a circle, making sure the ink was spread out properly, not allowing any 'faded' or broken lines in his circle. If needed he would dip into the ink some more and fill out the holes in his circle. Once the circle was done, Mordrion set to work on the final malediction of his project.

One by one, the lines of ink were put on the bone as Mordrion finished off the last word. With each line, the project came closer to the finish and Mordrion felt himself get excited at the prospects. With a final diagonal brush stroke, Mordrion finished the 'EAR' in the circle and put the brush down. Now all he had left was to combine all his works together into one malediction item and activate them to see its effect. Mordrion leaned back and stretched his whole body out in order to get rid of some of the strain the work had put on his body. Not as young as we used to be, huh?