RP:Summons

This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.

Summary: Bradyn and Celaeno meet. A promotion is given, a test adminstered, practice is needed...and maybe Bradyn could stand to learn some empathy.

Funeral Parlor

Celaeno would receive a letter. It did not entirely matter where the woman was at the time she received it, it was arriving by a creepy carrier pigeon. This pigeon was creepy in the sense that it was clearly dead, skeletal in fact. The letter received is a very short one, it requests Celaeno's presence in the morgue within Cenril at a certain date and time and it is signed by Bradyn. Beyond the request to meet, there is no further explanation as to what it is Bradyn might be wanting from Celaeno.

When the woman arrives at the morgue within Cenril, it seems that it has been made known that she is expected for someone will greet her straight away. She will be ushered through the parlor itself, with its displays of coffins and headstones and escorted into the back area -- the Chapel of Rest. It is this space that most would find unsettling, how many bodies were currently housed within this room awaiting burial? That was a mystery, but there was definitely at least one that was within plain sight. It was the body of a man, so presumably Bradyn is not asking Celaeno to appear because he has found a suitable host for the spirit she means to transplant. It must be something else. A test? A lesson? Bradyn is within plain sight in the room, standing about a foot away from the remains, waiting for Celaeno's arrival.

Despite the bird somehow taking flight and finding her without feathers, or flesh for that matter, Celaeno nearly missed the brief letter it carried for wanting to examine the messenger. It did find its destination though, and she deferred to letting the bony creature return to its sender.

Given the Thanadule’s business-like manner the first time she’d met him, Celaeno made sure to scout the location in Cenril first so her notorious sense of direction wouldn’t make her late when the date and time of the appointment finally came. She even left early from her usual cot in Xalious’ Mage Tower, given the long journey and her propensity for walking. All the extra preparation means she arrives some minutes ahead of time. She follows her guide into the Chapel of Rest, folding her gauntlets at her hips rather than her waist, all those glowing runes on the silver out in the open instead of staying hidden under her sleeves. She had puzzled at the purpose for the meeting some, perhaps he had decided on a favor to ask her for services rendered already? Regardless, she figures she should prepare for something more active than mere conversation, the student always eager to prove herself. “A pleasure to see you again, Mister Mahara.” Upon spotting the vampire, she bows her head. “You wished to see me?”

Down to business indeed, that was a kind way of putting it. There was no hello for Celaeno, no smile to greet her, the glow of the runes definitely caught his attention but for now he would not inquire. "Yes. Our purpose here is two fold. First, you seem to have a sincere drive in furthering your knowledge in the dark arts. We have not yet had the chance to work closely with one another, but you are studying and working toward expanding your abilities. For that you will no longer hold the rank of Novus Morior. You have earned the title of Sceleratus." There are not congratulations for Celaeno, the woman barely has a chance to let this promotion sink in. Bradyn presses in with what he has in mind, why he has brought Celaeno here. "Given your promotion to Sceleratus and given what you revealed to me in our last conversation, I do believe a test is in order. You have a goal, and you would like my assistance in accomplishing that goal. You have asked for a body but also confessed that your studies are not where they should be to successfully accomplish this goal. Transplant a spirit. Bring someone back to life into a body that is foreign to them. It is not an easy task what you would like to do."

The half-elf stood there, chin held level and her attention staying fixed on the higher ranking guild member as he spoke. The urge for it to wander was strong, given the new area. Her composure only slips for the moment when he comes to the news of her new title as she grins and then hurriedly bows her head in thanks for good measure. She hardly has time to raise it again before he continues, though, and the grin turns back to her neutral line as she listens further. She gulps down the lump of apprehension in her throat and wets her lips to speak further. “Of course, sir. I was not foreseeing that my goal would be accomplished anytime soon. I know there is much more that I must learn first. My pride and unfamiliarity with having proper instructors have kept me from seeking the lessons I need to progress further. I will assure you and anyone else I have to that such is behind me. What would you have me do for this test?”

Celaeno’s reaction does little to soften Bradyn, that is an impossible task, but in truth he has not been concerned about pride or unfamiliarity. His statement was an opener for what her current task is going to be. Bradyn motions to the body laying still on the table before them. “Reanimate the corpse. I do not except you to be able to bring them fully back to life by locating there spirit and rejoining it with it’s body. There are different levels and degrees to which a corpse can be reanimated. Or else we would not have ghouls and zombies.” Bradyn did not expect perfection for her first task, it was a daunting one that he was giving her at that. He will also not be crowding Celaeno, a few steps back are taken so that she will have complete freedom to move around the lifeless body to perform her task as she deems suitable.

Daunting was precisely the word that came to mind as she stared at the corpse a moment. Despite her attempts to appear as stoic as the vampire in front of her, her youth made her face give way to flickers of her true feelings on matters, exposing her nerves for a moment. Basic reanimation had been what she was studying, right? Even practiced on a few unfortunate small animals by then--no undead starfish or squirrels were hopping around just yet, though. And the after effects were...unpleasant. Still, a task was a task. A few mental processes took place as she walks up to the table and shrugs off her pack at its foot, particularly dampening the presence preaching a psychic lecture since she’d walked in. Before making preparations for her attempt, however, she kneels by her supplies and digs around in them. That pot and kettle make muffled, hollow noises against each other, softened by the cloth wrapped around each but still seeming far worse in the morgue’s silence. She pulls out a vial, the liquid inside seeming the color of a run of the mill, albeit potent, healing potion, and moves it to a more accessible pocket to the side. A moment of hesitation and a second one is withdrawn and transferred. All of that done, she takes out a piece of chalk and kneels, focusing on making her containment circle--she had been using those a lot more lately in her attempts, not wanting any necrotic energy to go awry, to help focus her rituals. She draws the inverted trio of sigils she had memorized from her Minor Book of the Dead, but on second thought, as she finishes the last of them, she reaches over into her pack once more, pulling out said book and opening it to the silk marker in that particular spot--dog earing was a cardinal sin after all. Glancing between the diagram and what she had drawn, and finding them identical, she nods more to herself than the older necromancer. The half elf snatches her pack from inside her circle, away from the table, and sets it and the book aside at her feet. The first step was charging her circle, and she holds her hands out over it, focusing her energies into the sigils, much as she did when enchanting. The energy felt different, more demanding, hungry even as the transference gave the plain chalk a new aura. The drain left Celaeno wheezing, her lungs burning for the small cuts beginning to scrape against them and the necrotic taint coating those organs flaring to life with the magic. She hadn’t needed to heave, though, or collapse just yet. That was a good sign. She takes the first vial of healing potion and takes a small sip of it before re-corking the container. Her breathing came easier again, lungs restored for the moment. She stares next at that dead man lying within that circle. Had she made it strong enough? Would she be able to last long enough to affect the body? Her heart beat steadily faster with nerves, but so far so good.

Celaeno was given a task and Bradyn would play the role of observer and was watching how she saw fit to complete it. There were no tips, no pointers, even though Bradyn was more than capable of completing the task himself. He wanted to see how far the woman has come with her studies, if he was aware of her limits, if she as willing to push beyond them. One has to test their limits to expand their abilities but it was very easy to teeter over the line and surpass one's capabilities entirely, with consequence. Celaeno's everyone moved is observed, but from a distance, with Bradyn stepping back into the far corner of the room. Would Celaeno be successful? Would the coprse within the circle find any amount of life? The answer would be a surprise to Bradyn, who has not yet had the opportunity to gauge Celaeno's capabilities. Bradyn would not just study her efforts with her eyes, if she had skill enough she might be able to sense that the vampiric male before her was making some form of magical assessment of her abilities as well. There was no trick or trap to this test, that was a perfectly good corpse for Celaeno to try and raise. If she had the skills to reanimate, then she would not fail through any fault of Bradyn's. If she struggles to bring 'lesser' beings back from death, this test may be a failure for her. Bradyn did not expect success on the first try, but it would be a pleasant surprise.

Celaeno takes another deep breath, eyeing those healing potions a final time as her wrists grew sweaty under her gauntlets--one good thing about not having fleshy palms. She closes her eyes and concentrates, focusing her magic around a chant rather than a series of symbols as she had the other times. It was simple, one of the easier ones to memorize from the book. “Corporis animati. Corporis animati.” All the while she had been trying to focus on things around the corpses, circles and sigils and runes, much like she had with her enchanting work. Just then however, a new friend’s advice came into play. Like starting up an old machine left to rust for too long. She thrusts her energy out as she stands there, her power seeking the ‘Corporis’ in question, the man upon the table. Flesh, sinew, muscle, organs, bone. It had been awhile since she had made herself memorize the parts of humanoid anatomy, but flashes came back as she focused on making her power flow into the corpse like filling a jug, restoring function to the parts in place so they could move again. At first nothing seemed to happen, a few minutes of chanting the same phrase over and over with closed eyes. Then she willed the magic to actually take hold, to restore function--or at least a shadow of it. Unfortunately, as soon as that process started, an old dark taint inflicted on her rather than from her flared to life and her lungs felt sliced with all sorts of tiny cuts in an instant. Her stomach burns and her stature buckles. She grits her teeth and persists on a twinge longer...It was enough that she caught sight of a couple fingers twitching on the right hand, even a big toe on the left foot, more progress than she’d ever made before it becomes too much. Her flow of energy is interrupted with heaving and a hacking fits. She turns aside, doubling over and throwing up a small mess, blood staining the bile. She grabs at those two and a half healing potions, waiting for a pause in the fits to gulp them down like one might hard liquor after a particularly traumatic incident. She glances toward the corpse a she wheezes, waiting for the healing magic to take effect. That uncertain glance turns to the ever watchful Bradyn next, awaiting whatever he had to say.

The task that Celaeno is given is not completed to the fullest extent. There is no remorse for pushing Celaeno into a task that may still be beyond her and there is no sympathy for the woman either. Bradyn is often a callous one, and socially inept. “There are many routes you could choose to take your studies, but to complete the endeavor you expressed that you need assistance with...this is one area you will need to master. You have pushed yourself to your limits, but you managed to stop yourself before crossing them. There may be hope for you yet. But your reliance on those potions for this task that you still failed tells me that you are still too weak yet. You need to dedicate more time to your studies, you need to reanimate a corpse. When you have mastered that, we will repeat this test and you will demonstrate such for me. After, you will take on another task. This one has long been written as one for members to complete. I understand the task involving the horses may be more intriguing. I am not forbidding you from working on that. But once you have successfully reanimated a body then I expect you to create a soul gem.” Any soul, Bradyn would not care, but one task at a time. They could address this second task after Celaeno completed the first. This is where Cela may decide she is not so keen on Bradyn after all. Cleaning supplies are readily available in this room. Things can get...messy...in this profession. It does not take long for Bradyn to locate a mop and bucket. They are given to Celaeno along with a charming. “You made a little bit of a mess. Unless you have questions for me, then I will leave you to clean it up.”

What Celaeno wanted more than anything just then was to collapse into her usual cot at the Mage Tower dormitories. His emotionless assessment of her performance is noted, however, with pricked ears. To see even a finger twitch on a humanoid was encouraging after weeks of shriveled animal carcases. She was finally on the right track, at least. It would be a lie to say the mention of weakness was not a blow to her ego, young as it was. That could be fixed, though...would be fixed. The mortician didn’t seem to expect smiles, so she wouldn’t offer one as he passed her the mop. Nor would she give into the scowl her petty side wanted to throw his way. If she wanted to prove she wasn’t a petulant child, she would have to not act like one, after all. His directions had been clear, pragmatic in their bluntness. That left her final question, “How should I contact you when I’ve accomplished this, sir?” Regardless, she would focus what was left of her energies on wiping up the red bile on the floor.

“Without Larewen’s attempts to stir up constant drama within Vailkrin, things are slowly starting to return to normal. For the time being. Traveling through Vailkrin is probably not advisable, but you are welcome to brave the route and drop into House Mahara. Or send word requesting a meeting somewhere, if a note is sent to House Mahara or to the Funeral Parlor then one way or another I will get it.” Without so much as a goodbye, as soon as this answer is given, Bradyn is consumed by shadows. Poor Cela is left with a mop to clean up the mess and then to show herself out. There are probably instructors out there worse than Bradyn, but the guild as had instructors capable of demonstrating that they actually have empathy. Khitti has grumbled at Bradyn about his mannerisms in the past, it’s unfortunate her path has taken her elsewhere. The guild could use someone with a heart to balance things out.