RP:Eye on the Prize

This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.

Location: Necromancers Tower

Synopsis: Lefty travels to the Necromancers tower in search of a tutor so that he may remedy the lapse in his learning, that is to say, learn Magical Literacy. Lefty meets Joan who offers guidance. Before Joan leaves, Lefty learns his first rune and accidentally shadow walks.

Characters: Joan and Lefty.

Eye on the Prize

The home is more accurately described as a manse. It is massive in size, a vaulted ceiling with beams and buttraces capping a series of wide marble staircases that lead up to opulent corridors, every landing open to a mezzanine formed by arches and a wrought iron, filigree railing overlooking the entry hall. From a position upon the travertine tile floor, it seems that the house rises no less than four stories. The walls are a mottled, onyx stone, hewn to a smooth face and polished to a mirror like shine. A quartet of chandeliers, each one crafted from thin, wirelike strands of emerald to resemble a tangle of vines and leaves, hangs in cordoned quadrants from thick chains attached to the ceiling. The heady scent of pungent incense and rich, flavorful cigars wafts through the labyrinthine mansion. Etched into the tiles is a curious sight: a pristine, white circle that stretches in circumference from wall to wall, and door to door. Sigils and glyphs border the area, each one emblazoned with the same hand and subtle finesse. An oppressive magic emanates upward from the floor, inhibiting undead and abominable and other worldly entities from entering. Myriad doors and entries stretch out from the cavernous room, each one bedecked with archaic splendor and subdued style. One chamber seems to lead into another, and on and on through a maze of far-reaching rooms. A single canton in particular appears to be outfitted as a shrine. The walls are tiled in jagged obsidian, while the floor seems to be a solid sheet of semi-precious hematite stone. A constant, calm patter alerts visitors to the presence of a circular fountain with a low lip at the center of the room. Jets of water are propelled from the perimieter of the pool and into the middle, where three steel-wrought sculptures of a black widow spider, cloaked skeleton, and a multi-limbed, humanoid figure kneeling before a massive dragon stand sentry. Flickering censers dangle from every corner of the room, wafting violet-black smoke and the aroma of lilies while casting ominous puddles of light and shadow. A flight of stairs makes an appearance along the left wall through a sculpted archway, leading downward from the shrine.

Lefty steps into the room, or rather a stern avian man carrying a heavy black-iron box, sealed with salted chains and wafting scents of cinnamon and peppermint. The man is, of course, wearing a black suit, finely tailored trousers and the cleanest red suede shoes does. His button-up is a dark burgundy, in honor of the Guild's authority. It also matches the eyepatch that the avian wears over his left eye. The patch is immediately, but carefully removed upon entry, exposing a socket that has long ago been burnt beyond healing by the ghoulish inhabitant. "Lord Lefty," the avian man says. "I understand the need for expanding your knowledge, but I'm not comfortable with how vulnerable you will be in the meanwhile." A pulse of energy emanates from the newly exposed red eye, seeking a suitable teacher. The box rattles in protest, but the glowing red eye has found a direction. The avian man begins walking, almost unwillingly, into a classroom housing the mentor they seek.

Joan had spent the morning and now the beginning of the afternoon cornered away in one of the nearest classrooms, she had a large table covered with various open tomes of necromancy learning as she bent over her own personal spell book, this was created and wrapped in fresh kraken skin, the vampiric healer using a ink pen to write in and note down what she had recently gleaned from her research. Her head would lift and she’d cast a glance towards the open classroom door as she heard a voice and footsteps approaching. “Hey, hello! I’m In here.” She spoke as the footfalls are heard to come closer. “Everyone that steps inside the Black Spire should be okay and protected.” She added having heard the conversation the avian seen to be having with whatever or whomever came with. She’d have a pleasant look schooled on her features.

Were Pigeon, as Lord Lefty had dubbed the avian, follows the voice into the classroom and finds the studious vampire woman working tirelessly at her table. An expression crosses his face that neither he, nor Lefty, could possibly have predicted and certainly could not have prevented. Did Were Pigeon find someone he –respected–?!? “Oh my, many apologies for our intrusion.” Still getting over the shock of having expressed approval of another’s studiousness, Lefty and his retainer lose their train of thought for a few seconds, but long years of training quickly puts them back on track. “Lord Lefty wishes to further his education in the art of Magical Literacy, which was neglected through no fault of his own, but with certain advances in his own studies has found a potential way to circumvent that limitation.”

Joan makes a gesture for the unusual pair to take a nearby seat at the table as her other hand seeks out her guild book out from the pile before her, this she would present to the pair once they sat down and made their selves comfortable. “This here is the basic tome we are all given upon entrance into the guild. If you don’t have one yet you might want to request one from either Khitt(i ), Quintessa, or Master Bradyn. It is a great learning tool. You can also seek out Lorkain at the death cult temple.” Joan spoke aloud as she then shuffled her scattered papers on her own personal studies together into her personal spell book. “It’s also a great idea to get your own blank spell book. I got my own here about a third of the way filled.” She’d offer a quick fanged smile to the avian and eyeball creature to let them know she was easy to get along/work with.

Were Pigeon said, "Lord Lefty received one such tome from Mistress Khitti upon joining, thank you.” The avian nervously brushes away nonexistent dust from his sleeve. “And My Lord has only recently acquired a way to write. I’m afraid, despite his prowess in many areas, writing is a skill he has yet to perfect. As such, his personal tome is, unfortunately, nonexistent. Where would he acquire one of suitable size and flame-resistance?” The eye in the avian’s left socket moves independently of the other and seems to be very interested in the tomes, runes, and written words. “My Lord is very interested in starting what he expects to be a harrowing experience like no other."

Joan would offer her opened up tome to the avian, “Hmm, the shop opposite of the tavern here in town would be a great place to start.” She said while she then went to pick up and show off her own personal spell book, he can also create his own with your help, or well anyone’s help to be honest.” The inky black flesh covering her tome flexed and rolled to show it was still somewhat reactive. “It’s just a personal choice if you wanna just start out plain or go fancy and create your own. Most experienced fellow Necromancers personally make their own after awhile.” She nodded to the basic tome before the avian guide/slave, “What does Lefty need to go over? I can help as I got most of the basics covered.”

Lefty has a somewhat evil thought involving flesh-tomes, but a shudder of revulsion from his retainer dispels that thought. Apart from the distasteful concept of being flayed alive in the pursuit of knowledge, it’s tacky and a little too on the nose. “We shall keep that in mind. Considering the simplicity of My Lord’s magic, his calefactive limitations, and his natural predilections, we feel that crafting a book would be most wise.” The avian pauses as if to listen. “As for what Lord Lefty needs to go over. I believe the entirety of Magical Literacy would be best. That is to say, he never learned runes or spells. He has been, in his own words, ‘brute-forcing it’.”

Joan would flip through the pages, her head tilted slightly as she can see as she came to to the correct section in the basic study book. “Okay, right here is listed the basics, a few easy spells and runes to copy and practice with. Along with how to craft them into sigils, the difference between hexes and curses, how to write your own spells. While this typically focuses on the dark magic side of things, it often overlaps with the arcane.” She’d tap on one of the first lessons, a simple rune symbol with a few lines written out to recite. “Try this one out don’t worry if you put to much power into it, all these classrooms are magical warded should something go wrong…and since this is a classroom that means something usually does.” She’d offer a dry chuckle soon after.

Lefty, via Were Pigeon, grimaces at the mention of vocal components. “As I feared, there remains a slight hiccup. While my Lord can copy and infuse the runes, the recitation will need to wait. He is working on that limitation, but it remains a weak point.” He silently reads the lines in the book, tracing the runes with a finger. “The runes however shouldn’t be too difficult. You are sure the wards in this room are sound?” The metal box in the man’s arms rattles in anticipation. “The solution Lord Lefty found to not being able to use mystic runes requires mystic runes to control, which makes a sort of chicken/egg problem. A circular paradigm, which will be. . .interesting. Particularly without the vocal components. I do hope those aren’t necessary.”

Joan would purse her icy pale pink lips together as she reaches up with a few fingers to rub at her earlobe in a distracted manner while she thought. “Hmm…if your personal magic is strong enough I do believe if you just mentally think ‘aloud’ that will count as ‘verbally saying’ out loud. Might as well give it a try, and yea the wards to all the classrooms are very strong, this place did held up during the magical attack that happened to the whole area just recently. As for the ‘drawing of the rune’ it maybe possible to also like visually ‘draw’ it.”

Were Pigeon sets the now distractingly-loud rattling box on the table, and holds it down with one hand. “We shall make the attempt, though I apologize in advance if things don’t go quite as expected.” Were Pigeon carefully uses his free hand to extract Lefty from the scorched socket and place him against the metal box. The box begins to glow and sizzle at the contact as Lefty superheats the metal. His avian attendant moves quickly to undo the chains before the heat grows too much and begins burning his fingers. Fortunately, the rattling subsides as the residents recognize their conflagratory master, and the heat is lowered. Were Pigeon opens the lid and places the glowing eyeball inside. Lefty climbs back out, perched between the palm-heels of two ancient hands that crackle with purple lightning. Monkey’s Paws? Hands of Glory? An insane combination of both, repurposed for the mundane purpose of writing. The spider-like creature skitters across the desk and picks up a pen to transcribe the runes onto a piece of paper. The avian takes a step back and surreptitiously crosses his fingers.

Joan does gather up the other left open books and tomes, picking up, cleaning and putting away anything extra she brought or gotten from the room in general. While doing this she had moved a good distance from the table top, having to cross the room towards one of the large bookcases. This gave her also a good safe distance Incase anything would happen at the table the eyeball creature was perched upon. “Very nice use of those hands, when there is free time you will need to show me and tell me the background on those.” She commented.

Lefty painstakingly copies the lines, pausing occasionally to blister a stray finger. Monkey’s paws aren’t known for being user friendly, and making them into hands of glory merely compounded the danger and malice. “They were found on an ancient altar dedicated to primordial evils predating civilization. Lord Lefty took their appearance as a gift from the gods. I didn’t have the courage to ask which ones.” Lefty finishes the shaky rune and compares it to the original. Not perfect, but we’ll try it. He extends his left pointer finger and purple sparks fly from the tip to the center of the rune, quickly sinking in. Shadowy flames rise, higher and higher engulfing Lefty. A flash of darkness, much darker than the flames, engulfs Lefty right as the room's wards kick in, engulfing the cold flames. An echoing shadow appears above the table, dropping an unharmed Lefty about a foot from where he’d started. “Huh. . .” Were Pigeon says. “That happened.”

Drawing in close, but with her hands held outwards in front of her the vampiric healer would examine the shadow, offering a nod to Lefty then the avian slave. “Seems like a solid shadow, does it do anything?” She questioned.

The shadow slowly fades away, having served its purpose. Lefty spiderwalks over to place a finger on the back of the avian’s hand. “It would appear to be a defensive reflex of the hands. We haven’t fully mastered their use, or unlocked all their secrets,” Were Pigeon says. “Lord Lefty says the rune made the black flames, and the hands whisked him away from danger using something called ‘shadow walk’. We shall need to explore this ability, but later. The important thing is that the rune worked, maybe. Sort of.” Lefty backs away and retraces the rune, more quickly and neatly than before. His speed and trying again immediately after the partial failure prevents the hands from resisting or interfering. The purple spark this time is smaller, but it serves the purpose. A small black will-o-wisp candleflame hovers over the rune for a few seconds before extinguishing. “Yes, that looked more like the intended result. With practice, I’m sure Lord Lefty will be able to better gauge the magic needed for specific runes."

Joan gave a firm nod, watching with interest now as the eyeball creature tried again after it’s failure. “Alrighty. Seems good enough for me. If I can catch you again soon I will show you a bit of what I can do, sound fair?!” She’d ask before making taking a glance around to make sure the classroom was like how she found it before departing for the rest of the evening, seems she needed to go ‘catch a bite to eat.’ With a final nod to confirm the classroom was back in order the vampiric healer would leave.