Completed Malediction: What Rat Bones Tell Us

[Corvus Bubon]

516 Winter 2 When Corvus stepped through the door to his private quarters he felt more irritated, more of an outsider than he had all Fall. When he spoke, which was rare anyway, people looked at him funny, and he couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it’s because his body had hit a outright putrid level of decomposition, everywhere he went he could smell the stench of decay, which he assumed was normal for Sahova. Recently however he had noticed a particularly foul stench coming from his own flesh, something he had grown use to on the road, but maybe Sahovan nuits cared more about hygiene. Do I have a distinctly Sylirian accent? Is that a bad thing? Why didn’t anyone care before? Corvus’ eyes landed on his newly made talismans. Before these. Corvus was still unsure of what they did, however the timing for his suddenly poor reception could hardly be called a coincidence. He took the charm off from around his neck, the twine rubbing against his neck was not very comfortable. “Argg, so much better.” Corvus growled out, although it was quieter than he had expected it to be. His eyes turned to the skull upon his finger, Does this charm make me speak softer? Why didn’t I notice it before? Corvus removed the rat skull he had fashioned into a ring from his finger, and immediately noticed a reduction in the putrid smell of his own flesh. It either makes me stink or I’m smelling more with it on. After a few days he had finally started to pin down what his creations were doing. “Testing, Testing.” Corvus spoke with the same force as he had previously, but this time it came forth with the volume he had expected of it. Well the quieting of my voice seems to be lifted…..however.” Corvus reaches into his trunk and pulls out a knife. Aiming for the far wall, he threw the knife and it struck with a loud clang and fell to the floor, Corvus then moved to pick it up. My stench is more powerful now, he noted as he put the ring back on and moved to same position he had thrown the knife from before, just at the edge of his cot. He threw again, and sneered, the knife hit the wall and clanged at what Corvus was sure was a lesser volume. So, it’s not just my own voice, all noise is quieted with, it lessens my ability to hear. Next I must test the smell… Corvus stared at his trunk while pondering how to test it. Then it hit him, he opened the chest, retrieved the cheese, which was starting to mold in spots, and took a whiff. “Ughhhhh” Corvus dropped the cheese back into the trunk, if he had an appetite to begin with, he would have certainly just lost it. Almost afraid to sniff again, Corvus takes off the ring, pushes his nose firmly against the cot, and breathes in. After this reprieve from the cheese, he returns to the trunk picks up the cheese, and smells again. “Ugh, still, not gut-busting like before.” I suppose then this ring’s effects are twofold, I smell things more, and hear less, perhaps there’s something to the design that invoked this. Corvus looked over the design of the ring, the culprit for the lessened hearing seemed clear, the ear holes were damaged, but why up my sense of smell?

[Corvus Bubon]

Corvus pondered the sense of smell for a while, perhaps the triangular shape of the carving within the circle was similar enough to a nose to call upon it, and one would think that a rat had a much sharper sense of smell than most, certainly better than a human. Very good. Corvus placed the ring in the chest and picked up the the other charm, So the question remains: Why didn’t I notice before? No doubt this charm has an effect that counteracts the other one, at least to my ears, I just need to figure out what. Time for a test. “Testing, Testing.” Interesting. I’m not an expert on the sound of my voice...but I don’t think it’s always been that high. Further testing required. Corvus placed the charm on his cot and spoke again, “Testing, Testing.” Definitely a higher pitch, that could be why I hadn’t noticed the decrease in my hearing at first. Corvus twirled the ring around in his fingers, thinking long and hard about what would cause this effect. An Observer golem makes it’s way under the door, Corvus stares it down, knowing that experimentation was to be kept to the laboratories, but Malediction was excluded from them, he wasn’t sure where else he could practice, but he dared not alert the golem of what he was doing. The golem raced around the room for a bit, stopping in front of the rat traps, then left the room just as brazenly as it had entered it. I’d best keep watch for those pests as long as I’m forced to experiment in here. Corvus eyes snapped to the ring, and he opened the jaw as wide as it could open. What if the positions of the circle upon the roof of the mouth is the culprit? It would make a small amount of sense, the location in the mouth certainly could lead to a change in speech, and the location on the roof of the mouth could further direct that into a higher pitch, perhaps a lower pitch could be attained on the bottom of the mouth. No. That’s too easy, perhaps it’s because of the rat’s high pitch squeak? That would make more sense, channeling the voice of the rat, so to speak. Corvus imagined his original body, long dark hair, meager build, sunken eyes, standing before him, slapping him for what he just thought. It’s one thing for you to slap me after I say something unintentionally, it’s another if it’s just a thought. Corvus’s imagined self spoke, it rarely spoke, but it often spoke true. Really? So to speak? Disgusting. Corvus waved his hand and sent the imagined figure away. He hated all types of wordplay, and his subconscious was right; it was disgusting. This could only be a minor distraction, he still had much work to do. Even with the wordplay this was a cause for celebration, Corvus had put together a reasonable idea as to how his crafts gained their powers, and felt he needed to relax. He had yet to explore the Palsa Hydrasa, but he heard he could take a bath there, and given his recent stench felt it was about time.

[Corvus Bubon]

Corvus closed the door to his private quarters behind him, and walked onwards towards the Palsa Hydrasa. He wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, aside from there being a pool of some sort to cleanse in, and that he could find replacement bodies there. As he entered the main bathing room Corvus was shocked to find such a large pool of vividly blue water, indeed it dominated the area, apparently Sahovan nuits do value their cleanliness. Corvus scanned the area for someone who could give him more information, his eyes landing on a nuit in the bath about 15 feet from him. “So can we just get in or is there something I need to do first?” Corvus asked timidly. “New to the island? Talk to Amaryllis, she’ll tell you what you need to know.” The nuit replied, seemingly surprised to see a nuit that wasn’t already familiar with the Palsa. After Corvus gazed around for anything that would help him, the nuit gestured toward a room off to the side. Slightly embarrassed, he hurriedly walked to the room, the Nuit watching him with an irritatingly shocked look upon his face. Upon entering Amaryllis’ office Corvus was accosted by a level of decadence he had never before experienced. Extravagant fabrics and furniture beyond reason, and sitting in an extravagant chair, a beautiful woman with a painted face. “Are...are you Amaryllis?” Corvus asked, flustered. She looked up at him, boredom plain as day upon her face, “I am, who’s wanting to know?” “My name is Corvus, I’m new to the island, but I heard there was a bath here, and that this is where I would go to replace my body.” Amaryllis raised an eyebrow, “Were you a nuit before you came here, or did you become one when you got here?” “I was made a nuit before I arrived, it’s mostly why I decided to come to Sahova.” Corvus paused for a second then continued, “I was interested in a bath.” Amaryllis brought a feather to her face and twirled it with her fingers. “You came all the way to Sahova to take a bath in my Palsa? I’m flattered” “N-no, I came to Sahova to study malediction. I heard about the bath when I got here, and I was interested.” “Of course you did, I was only messing with you. A bath is 10 silver mizas, Corvus, and when you need a new body, come see me.” “Yes, of course.” Corvus dug into his bag and pulled out 10 silver mizas, handing them to Amaryllis. He turned around, and walked out of the office, if he could still blush he would have been blushing. Corvus set his bag down on the side of the pool and disrobed before stepping into the pool. He didn’t expect the water to be as viscous as it was, or for it to move as slowly as it did as he stepped carefully in, but it was relaxing all the same. The water enveloped him as he dipped deeper in, almost to the center of his chest before he closed his mouth and lay back, letting the water wash over him. The water felt heavy as he moved his arms, he forced his body to sink to the floor of the pool, and he lay there staring up through the water. He didn’t have any soap, but he scrubbed his skin with his hands, massaging the wound where the rat had previously clawed him. After scrubbing his way across his body, he closed his eyes and let himself float.

[Corvus Bubon]

Corvus kept his eyes closed and his mind raced. These rats are too small to keep working on, the only workable space seems to be the skull, perhaps I could make a circle small enough for the shoulder plates, but what kind of effect would they even bring? Corvus turned over in the water, now facing the bottom of the bath. I could try to bring out an increase in speed or agility, or perhaps the shoulder plate would lend more toward a protective property? Corvus brought his hand through the viscous water up to his chin, and scratched it. A projected vision of his original self appears upon the bottom of the bath. Let’s see, A rat has 4 fairly large front teeth maybe I could carve a letter in each, but what to carve? Soak? No, that’s just because you’re underwater, you can do better. The vision was not actually speaking aloud, but Corvus heard him all the same in his thoughts. Bite? Try to think less about the fact that they’re teeth, you could channel any of the rat’s properties. Bane? Bane to what, rats? But keep going down that path, it may hold the answer. Germ? Rats aren’t exactly the models for great health. Interesting, perhaps it would make something germinate quicker, or allow germs to attack one faster...Go for it. I don’t need you to tell me what to do, after all you’re me. You know that doesn’t make any sense right? If I am you, then deciding what to do on your own is the same as listening to me, since I am you. Shut up. The vision disappears, and Corvus turns back toward the surface of the water. 4 rat teeth with one letter of the word Germ on each tooth, sounds good, what else? The shoulder plate, maybe a circle with a few arrows in it, to invoke speed and agility. Still, that leaves a mostly intact rat skull...and I ought to use all that I can. Perhaps the word “Cunning” carved into the circle, either along the edge, or through the center, placed upon the inside of the skull. After all, this last rat was the one I shoved a scalpel into, and he was fairly smart as rats go. Corvus emerges from the water, and climbs up on the edge of the bath, he did not have a towel with which to dry off. Looking around nervously, he begins to shake off the water, then grabs his shirt and begins drying his arms. After both arms were sufficiently dry, he put his face in his shirt and dried it as much as he could, at this point the shirt was getting damp. Corvus moved on to his chest, then to his legs, and by the time he got to his feet his shirt was too wet to dry anything. Corvus rolled the shirt up and wrung the water from it, it was still wet, but not soaked. Corvus dressed himself as he was, sans the shirt, which he slung over his shoulder to dry before he walked back to his quarters.

[Corvus Bubon]

Corvus entered his quarters and closed the door behind him; he lay his shirt out upon the cot to let it finish drying. The jacket that he wore felt oddly constricting without the shirt beneath, so he took it off and folded it before laying it on the floor. Corvus reached below the cot to where the rat swung from it’s tail, it’s blood having drained down its chest and head to the floor, and undid the knot in the rat's tail keeping it on the cot. He moved his hand down swiftly to catch the rat before it hit the floor and walked to the chest a few feet away. Corvus searched through the cot and found his carving kit, as well as his scalpel. Corvus brought the equipment back to his cot and sat down, placing his kit to the side of him. First, he brought his scalpel to the back of the rat and cut into it’s skin enough to reach the rat’s left shoulder plate. Second, he cut away the flesh surrounding the shoulder plate and pulled the leg off. Third, he severed the remaining connection between the shoulder plate and the skeleton, popping the shoulder plate free. Corvus repeated this meticulous process with the right shoulder plate and found himself with 2 shoulder plates, with just enough room for a ½ inch circle each. Corvus took out an engraving knife from the kit and began to etch a circle on the left shoulder plate. As I thought not much room, the arrows will need to be very small. Corvus then carved two parallel lines starting from the “lower” part of the shoulder plate moving to the “upper” part. After the lines were in place Corvus carved small triangles at the upper end of the left side of each line, the triangles connecting to the lines on their right, as well as in in the case of the triangle attached to the line on the right, the line on it’s left at the edge. The end result was two half arrows next to each other, with the tips on the left half. I should add the half arrow tip to the right side for the right shoulder, or it may end up with an unintended effect, like “two left feet” or something. Corvus carved the ½ inch circle on the right shoulder plate, then carved the parallel lines and the half arrow tips, this time facing right. Satisfied with the engravings, Corvus cut off a piece of twine and wrapped it five times around the two shoulder plates, holding them together with a few tight knots. After fidgeting with the bones and twine enough to be sure that they would remain secure Corvus grabbed his scalpel, found the wound the rat had made earlier, and plunged it in enough to coat the tip of the scalpel in his ichor. The two circles faced each other, with a small gap between them formed by the shape of the bone, Corvus brought the ichor-covered blade into the gap, and smeared his ichor across the two circles.

[Corvus Bubon]

A flash of green erupts from the inside of the bones and twine, Corvus had not expected this and turned around to check the door. The door is shut and before him stands his former body, Was that you, or did that actually happen? I’m you right? Wouldn’t you know? I tolerate you because you’re helpful, that’s not helpful. The vision fades away and Corvus turns back to his charm. What does it mean, was it successful? The charm looked no different than it had before the flash of green, Corvus set it safely in the chest where he was keeping his previously maledicted items, as well as everything else he owned. I’ll test you later, I’ve still got things to maledict. Corvus returned to the rat that lay on his cot, missing it’s forelegs and shoulder plates. I should try the teeth next, I know cranial engravings work. Corvus held the rat’s face in his hand, and placed his scalpel to where the tooth meets the jaw. Wait, these teeth are going to be difficult to engrave on their own, as long as they are in the mouth, then the skull acts as a brace against the force of the carving. He set the scalpel down and grabbed the engraving knife with his right hand, he then moved his left hand so that his thumb was behind the front teeth and inside the mouth of the rat, and his other fingers gripped the top of the rat’s skull. The first carve was into top left tooth, first the letter ¼ inch high G, then a circle barely larger than the letter, as it didn’t leave much room. Then right next to it on the top right tooth, an ¼ inch E and a circle around it. Corvus shifted his hand, two fingers in the mouth, behind the bottom two teeth, his thumb under the rat’s chin. What’s this? The bottom left tooth is chipped...could prove a problem, should press forward regardless. I could make it the M instead of the R, that would lower the amount of carving I would need to do on a cracked tooth. Corvus placed the engraving knife where the chip began, on the left edge of the tooth, moved it a hair to the right and began to carve the outside circle, making sure not to bump into the crack. After the circle was in place it was a simple matter to add 4 diagonal lines in the shape of an “M.” Corvus moved on to the bottom right tooth, and carved out an R, making sure to leave room for the circle that followed. Once all the carving was complete the rat's’ teeth read GEMR from top left to bottom right. Now to remove the teeth. He placed down the engraving knife and grabbed his scalpel, cutting away the gums and flesh surrounding the teeth, until their connection to the jaw could be seen. Corvus placed the scalpel alongside the engraving knife and took out chisel from his kit, he then set the rat down on the Cot and placed the chisel on the topmost part of it’s top left tooth. Corvus used his left hand like a hammer, and hit the back of the chisel, which sank into the tooth about halfway, forming cracks along the edge of the entry point. Corvus’s second strike broke the tooth off, though the back of the tooth had cracked. He moved the chisel the to the top right tooth, and gave it a hard strike, the tooth came off with one blow, in relatively good condition. Vayt, I’m making this for you, I’d really appreciate if this tooth didn’t shatter on contact with my chisel. Corvus moved to the cracked tooth, placing his chisel at the bottom connection to the jaw, as far from the crack as was possible, and stuck. Damn.The tooth did not completely shatter. But the crack did take a sizable chunk of the back half of the tooth with it, although the circle remained intact. Last was the bottom right tooth, Corvus placed his chisel at it’s base and struck, only passing half-way through the tooth and cracking the base, then struck again, removing it completely. He set down the chisel and flexed his fingers. He reached for the twine and wrapped them in order G, E, R, M, weaving in and out between them then doubling back and wrapping the outside of the teeth three times keeping them tightly together, with twine’s width gap between them. Corvus tied off the twine and reached for the scalpel, wiping the blade on his cot to clear it of any rat-guts. After wiping the blade he dipped it back into his rat wound, and retrieved enough ichor to smear across the circles. As he moved the ichor-covered scalpel across the circles he felt a flash of heat throughout his body, like he had just had a fever for two seconds, this felt particularly discomforting since he was use to the cold embrace of undeath by now. I should rest for now, that rat's skull isn't going anywhere.

[Languish]

Your grades have been summoned
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Corvus Bubon

■ Logic + 2
■ Socialization + 2
■ Swimming + 1
■ Malediction + 2
■ Carving + 2
■ Observation + 3
■ Mathematics + 1

Lores

Lore of Maledicted Rat Talisman: Creates High Pitched Voice
Lore of Maledicted Rat Ring: Reduces Hearing, Increases Smell
Lore of Malediction: Discovery by Trial and Error
Lore of Sahova: Testing is Restricted to Labs
Lore of Sahova: Hygiene is Valued
Lore of Location: Palsa Hydrata
Lore of Amaryllis: Extravagant Beyond Imagination
Lore of Malediction: Rats Have Limited Workspace
Lore of Malediction: Different Parts Create Different Properties
Lore of Carving: Cracking is Common on Already Cracked Objects
Lore of Malediction: Flashes of Light or Heat May Appear

Additional Information

You may add one set of Maledicted Rat Shoulder Blades to your inventory, and one set of four Maledicted Rat Teeth.

Maledicted Rat Shoulder Blades:
When worn, the rat blades will bestow greater agility (such as the ability to dodge attacks) upon the wearer. This also means he will feel tired more quickly when moving, as he is using more of his energy.

Maledicted Rat Teeth:
The rat teeth will have the affect of increased germination on the wearer. This means wounds will become more easily and quickly infected, and a Nuit's body will decay more quickly. Wounds and decay already affected will not return to their previous state after removing the talisman.

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Comments:

I like the way you wrote Amaryllis. She was the perfect combination of vain, flirty, and simulateously gentle. You do characterization in general very well, I think. Well done.

The names of races (i.e. Nuit) are capitalized, since they are proper.

Don't forget to delete your post in the grading queue. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me about your grade.

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