RP:What Is Known And What Needs To Be Learned

This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.

Summary: Joan shows Khitti what it is that she learned from the Healer's Guild (most of which is rather stomach-turning for Khitti) and Khitti gives the vampire a demonstration in the black tides.

The Black Spire, Vailkrin

Khitti || A few floors up in the tower, Khitti waited for Joan, just outside of the umbracryaestor’s office. She had sent word to the vampire about having spoken with Emilia and that she would need to demonstrate what she had learned in the Healer’s Guild before they continued on to the black tides. Whenever Joan arrived, Khitti would offer a greeting to the woman and then lead her down the hall a bit and turn into a strange sort of laboratory, nothing bothering to say much for the moment. This wasn’t your every day laboratory however--it really looked more like a morgue. Various body parts from different creatures--the head of an elf, arms and legs from an orc, and the torso of a draconian) had been gathered and laid on the big, shiny metal table, ready to be dealt with. “I’ve obviously been made aware of the things you’ve learned, but I need to see it,” Khitti said, “And once we’re done with that, we’ll get to your black tides training.” She looked… uncomfortable. It wasn’t Joan that made her that way though--it was the miscellaneous parts that were soon to be stitched together like some sort of freakish doll. “Please stitch this back together as best as you’re able and reanimate it.” Gods, this was something Bradyn should’ve been dealing with. He was always the one that delighted in reanimation and dead bodies and all that. But, of course, he was conveniently no longer available for guild-related things. He must have gotten sucked into his studies again, just as he had before. So, ever since Khitti found out, she was cursing his name no less than ten times a day, every day. “I’d also like to know what your goal is, with all of this new knowledge you’ve gained. I do know that you were working with Rhaevyn, but… you don’t strike me as the carnomancer type.” The redhead didn’t seem like she was going to judge whatever Joan had in mind for this knowledge. Khitti was fully aware of the types of people that joined the Necromancer’s Guild.

Joan :: Having gotten Khitti’s note, the vampire merchant had made her way to the black spire after fetching both her guild book and personal journals she kept for her necromancer studies and for her healer studies, all three held under the crook of her arm after she exchanged polite quick greetings with the Umbracryaestor she followed the redhead towards the hallway and the laboratory beyond. Her pale nostrils flare as she picks up the scent of the many different types of the dead and the odor from each species as she drew near the morgue type laboratory, the smoke that trailed up from the corners of each of her eyes sparked and smoked out more aura color as this showed her interest as the vampire listened to her teacher talk and explain what she wanted to learn and hear from Joan and see what she could do with the wonderful bits of dead left out before her on the laboratory table. With a polite nod of her head, Joan would first lay out her two personal study journals for Khitti to go over should she wish, each was filled with neat written notes, sketches, doodles and information that Joan personally found of note in her studies. Detailed notes on each of the basic arts, what she had done and tried, activities she had collaborated on and with who. Taking a few moments Joan would make herself familiar with everything in the laboratory by moving about with that supernatural speed, opening cabinets and drawers, looking at jar lables and tools before finding a leather apron and putting it on over her nice clothes, she also moved to a nearby sink to wash and disinfectant her hands, taking care to get under her nails with a small nail brush before drying off her hands on a clean small hand towel. “First, in the Healers Guild, I learned, always have clean hands and nails, to lessen the chance of infection and the chance of cross infection. This is especially important when working with the dead, even if I am undead myself, there is things one might still catch. Also, put a magical barrier around your hands just in case there is a magical curse or infection. Safety first, anyways...*Joan smiles warmly towards the other woman before she approached the table once she put a magical barrier around her hands.* you need to visually inspect all pieces laid out before you.” This Joan does, slowly checking each different body piece and making vocal notes of the wounds and the condition of each piece, next she handles each piece with care, lightly fingering the rough patches and wounds, noting where tore muscle, or veins are, even skimming over the broken bones of each different piece. “Hmm, I can assemble a decent stitch horror out of all of this, I’m gonna match everything up quickly, then cut off the ragged flesh bits off. It’s part of what I’m learning in the other guild, to make body pieces match up and stitch the wounds up as neat and pretty as I can, making neat little scars over time as the wounds heal.” She tells Khitti as she picks up a scalpel and quickly makes neat work out of what was ragged messy cuts, chops, etc, lightly discarding the cut scrapes of flesh from each different body piece, the vampire humming a quite tune under her breath as she worked in a quite and effective manner. “My goal is more directed towards being a mortician, I mean...I am a necromancer first and foremost. But I think Emilia is leaning towards something different. I’ve learned to treat sniffles, the common cold, sore throat, pink eye, red eye, ear infection, nose infection, scrapes, small wound care, sprains, twisted ankles, headaches, neck pain, back pain, leg pain, upset stomach, etc. Crazy Maude deals with all that and novice healers learn under her first, I’ve made potions powders, teas, ointments and so on to treat all the small stuff under her guidance. So I got a basic understanding of apothecary.” Joan tells Khitti over her shoulder as the vampire now moves about the body pieces to line them up as best she can, since they are all from a different race Joan works to make the odd body parts fit before she tries stitching anything.

Khitti picked up a notebook and flipped through it as Joan spoke, her attention more on the vampire than the book however, but she does seem impressed with the level of organization that Joan has gone to. It was quite similar to Khitti’s own research notes and the like. “That’s good to hear. Safety is something that a lot of magic users don’t take into consideration when they’re studying. They get cocky, so then they set buildings on fire or get themselves cursed or polymorphed or whatever else. I’m glad you take it seriously, where others do not,” she said with a smile. Khitti nodded in acknowledgement as Joan explained what she was going to do with the parts before finally assembling them. “I’m going to be honest, reanimation is one of those arts I was never fully comfortable with. Something Bradyn liked to hold over my head, because he excelled there with his mortuary experience. The few times I have tried reanimation, it never goes well, so I just don’t. I’m… too stuck in the past, I suppose. There are things that happened when I was younger and it’s hard to get past it still. But, I can certainly appreciate it when someone has a passion for a certain subject. It took a long time for me to come to terms with being given dark magic and being able to wield the black tides, but nowadays I’m right along there with you, in terms of caring quite a bit about my specialty in necromancy.” She paused, eyeing the parts individually as Joan lined them up. “Even if you are learning things that perhaps won’t exactly pertain to undead, not everyone in the guild is a vampire or a mummy,” she said with a smirk. “And there may be a time in the future where you have allies that are not from the guild and are also not undead that may need your assistance. Knowledge may not always be used, but it’s good to have it nevertheless.”

Joan listened as Khitti spoke, nodding as the female master told her of a bit of her own journey, this gave the vampire time to look over what next had to be done and plan on how she was to tackle it with this stitched horror. Snickers would peek out of the leather apron pocket she had deposited herself when Joan went to put it on before, it’s undead black eyes stare at the creature before she turn her tiny muzzle up at her mistress and chitter. Absentmindedly the vampire would use a pale finger to stroke the undead mouse before tackling her project once more with vigor. Snickers hunkered back down in the pocket as Joan took a moment to stand back and examine her work of matching up the elven head to the draconian neck stump, she’d make a few minor adjustments to settle the pieces together before moving on to the arms and legs of the orc, matching left arm and left to the left side of the body then the right arm and leg close to the laid out torso. Once more she’d step away a few feet from the table to have a better view of the body pieces before she’d move in to make those minor adjustments the nestle the pieces as close together to the torso as possible. Once she seemed satisfied with the placement of the limbs the vampire necromancer would reach into her pants pocket and pull out a small corked vial. Using her thumb to pop the cork open she’d lightly tip the vial and pour small amounts of the liquid over each of the open cold wounds. Once each limb had a fair abit smeared on it she’d quickly rub the liquid all over the wounds, veins, exposed muscles and such, then she’d piece the body parts together by pushing them together, the liquid acting like a glue, a wet sloppy squishing sound was heard as each body part began to reattach, dead flesh, veins, muscle, blood vessels working to connect to the patchwork of the different body parts, regrowing. Joan now moved on to grab needle and thick icky looking thread, it was enchanted giant spider thread, this Joan threaded in the eye of the medical grade needle before she went to work sewing up each body piece with care. Her stitches were small and neat, the small crisscross thread work around the neatly cut matched pieces would hardly show once her creature was reanimated. “The liquid you just saw me use, I have created that myself, I used extract from a starfish and some cells I gathered from small lizards, as they can regrow missing body parts. There is, of course, other ingredients in it, to help magically promote speeded growth. But it’s basically only been tested on small animals and such, it can help stimulate and all...but for a limited time, this will be the first time I couple it with reanimated flesh.” As she finishes up the stitching she touching her forefinger to the line of stitches slowly powering lavender color power into them, sealing the stitching, the wounds, and slowly pouring her cool necromancer energy into the corpse.

Khitti || Despite the discomfort Khitti felt, she closed the book she’d been looking through and further analyzed Joan’s process. She resisted the urge to say something incredibly nerdy like ‘fascinating’ and instead said, “I could see Quintessa being interested in a concoction like this, but if it’s something you’d rather keep to yourself for now, so that it can be perfected for larger creatures, that’s understandable. If it could be adjusted to regrow limbs entirely for rotting undead or those that have lost bits of themselves through battle, you could certainly do more than just become a mortician. Without being able to use nature or holy magic, there’s a real problem in terms of an undead’s body’s longevity. Normal herbal mixtures aren’t always a cure all, even with the living, so for there to be something else in the medical field to aid the undead? That’s definitely a great discovery. I can do something similar with the black tides. I’m the one that made Emilia’s new hand. But, it’s still got flaws of its own at the moment. It might be something that I can only use on ice genasi like her.” It’s obvious she’s impressed, though it was time to move on to the next task. “With the body complete, time for the actual reanimation.” She took a few steps back, the discomfort returning now that their current discussion was over. Khitti couldn’t quite look at the creature as a whole. Any time she did, she’d see her sister’s face, from so many years ago, or other neighbors or distant relatives from their little village that had been ripped apart and stitched back together. Unpainted lips pressed into a thin line as she tried to suppress a frown.

Joan :: Casting a side glance out of the corners of her eyes the smoking aura that curled out from each could be seen through by the vampire personally, it was only like a very thin flame veil for her. The look seemed cheerful, a nod was given as her power steadily poured into the corpse, traveling all through it first it hit the head and cranium, waking up the dead grey matter, sending the energy into the brain in that steady flow. As the brain woke things sped up from there the cool lavender energy shot down into the chambers of the heart, pouring that unnatural power through all the veins and such, waking up dead cells and charging them with that juice of power only necromancers seem to have to reanimate the dead. The body outlined in Joan’s power, glowing before sucking it all inwards in a rush as the corpse...now reanimated body took in a breath and let out a moan as the elven head lifted off the steel table, the lids flutter open exposing colorless grey orbs that stared up at Joan, her finger moved off the stitching to now place her palm down on the draconian chest of her creature, her power flaring out from her palm as she speaks, “Be at ease beast, I Joan have pieces you together and given you unlife. You answer to me and me alone unless given orders.” Her power flares as a mark flares and sears into the creatures chest under her open palm. It grunts as it stares at Joan before turning it’s gaze towards Khitti. It lifts it chin slightly to show it noticed her before turning it’s attention back to the vampire. Joan lifts her hand away as she gives it instructions to slowly sit up and test it’s hands, fingers, toes and such. Her hand moves lightly above the creature’s head, checking the energy and flow of her necromancy control over it before stepping away from the table and making a gesture for Khitti to check over her work. “Connection is steady, control is firm, if you would please like to check over my work?”

Khitti was rather hesitant. She had hoped to just view the creature from afar. But, alas, Joan wished for a closer inspection and Khitti didn’t have a real reason not to do it. With a faint sigh, she closed the gap between her and Joan’s newest creation. The areas where it’d been stitched together were eyed carefully; that glue Joan made had really done the trick in helping hold it all together. “It looks good to me, Joan. I’m sure there’s things you can improve on that I might be missing due to my lack of expertise in this particular field, but if you plan on moving on to advanced reanimation in the future, that will certainly help you.” She paused, then shrugged, “You may keep it if you wish, by the way. It’s your creation. Disassemble it and put it back together as you wish. Both reanimation and summoning, and potions and poisons can be crossed off the list of things you should work on, I think. Let’s move on to the black tides.” She’d give Joan a few moments to remove the apron, clean up, and gather her things before leading her to one of the magic-practicing rooms that’s been well warded by enchantments to keep the whole building from being destroyed by wayward magicks. “Show me what you can do so far, with regards to the black tides, if anything.”

Joan gives a bright smile towards the creature, even giving it a pat on it’s nearest orc knee. “Nah, if you think it’s good I’ll keep him as a servant. And he will be known as Reese.” She addresses the stitched horror now by name. “Reese, you are to stay here under Snickers watch, Snickers is not to be harmed in anyway, you are not to move from this table until I come back for you two. Understood?” Joan ask firmly as she moves about quickly cleaning up, putting away, straightening up everything she touched and used. Disposing of the cut away dead flesh in the recycling bin and taking off the apron after she washed her hands and dry them. She picked up a book that looked easy to understand and handed it to Reese, the stitched horror turning it over and over in it’s hands looking at it in wonder before Joan tells it, “You read and study that, Snickers can help.” With that she turns and follows her Khitti out of the room and into another. “Well, for that, I showed Elga a bit of what I can do. I can call forth purple shadow like flames to my hands, well nails. They become engulfed, grow longer and sharper, the shadows wavier off I don’t concentrate, obviously.” She turns and faces the other woman, putting out her hands in front of her, her fingers spread as the purple shadows slowly appear, creeping down her fingers towards her nails and doing as she explained. “They are icy to the touch, and I need to make sure I blunt the shadow claws when someone tries to touch them, other then that...I have not tried anything else.” She shrugs here, her time was spent on her other studies till now.

Khitti watched with interest as Joan tapped into the black tides, summoning up those shadowy claws, “Interesting. So far everyone’s black tides seem to manifest differently. Quintessa is the most similar to mine. Yours and Ernest’s are drastically different from each other. He wields it through rune magic, like I have to with arcane.” She studied the claws a bit more. “I think you mostly just need more practice. Try focusing on shifting some of the shadows to shadow-ice--or black ice as it’s also called. It’ll give your claws more of an oomph when you’re fighting with them, as they’ll be much more solid.” Khitti summoned up her own shadowflames, the dark violet fire’s middle swirling with the inky black shadows. “I’m more of a long-ranged type when it comes to my abilities, though I do use them in close-quarters combat too. I can conjure shadow, shadowfire, and shadow-ice at the same time on my weapons, which helps in case an enemy has some sort of resistance to certain elements.” The shadowflames shifted to ice, a crude dagger made up of the greyish magic conjured and thrown at the nearest combat dummy. “But, lately, I’ve taken to this sort of thing.” All the shadows in the room skittered across the walls and floor, rushing to collect around Khitti, enveloping her in darkness. Inky tendrils snapped out from the darkness, grabbing the dummy and pulling it closer as the shadows around the redhead continued to grow. Once it was surrounded by darkness, the smell of something being melted by acid was made known, and once the dummy was ultimately destroyed, the shadow dissipated and Khitti shrugged. “My magic’s not from this world. It’s pure, from the Shadow Plane itself, so it has this acidic attribute to it. You and everyone else are basically channeling it from there, so that’s why all of yours is ultimately different from my own. But, I’m certain you’ll be able to figure out all the things you can do with it. You just have to practice. Even if you don’t use it as often as I do, if your creations fail you, it’s good to get you out of trouble.” She paused for a moment, considering things. “I think… if you practice the black tides a bit more and brush up on arcane sigils, curses, and incantations, you’ll be ready for your test for the Thanadule rank. You might find that there are arcane sigils that can work to your advantage with your reanimation.”

Joan had called in her own personal black tide powers from her nails, once Khitti called forth her own. If only to be polite and to make sure her minor power and control over the tides didn’t get vacuumed into the Umbracryaestor’s own. Watching she was very impressed, and as she listened and nodded, she knew her own hold on the black tides was minor as Khitti was correct, Joan was only channeling, and not a pure connection. Not like Joan’s own dark gift with necromancy or her other vampiric gifts that were hers naturally. “I’d like to take a field trip out to the Shadow Planes whenever you deem it necessary. That is once I have more control and won’t be eaten alive by the beast and creatures out there.” She said, “I will certainly work on what you mentioned, I have to meet up with Ernest soon, and that little fellow Pyde and Orange. I plan to take them out on a mission with me. I will most certainly brush up on the arcane sigils in regards to my reanimating as I want to try to aim for Vivus Nex as a teaching position.” She offered the redhead a rare full fanged smile, “Is there is anything else we need to discuss? If not, would you excuse me?! I need to get back to Reese and Snickers and get to the area of studies you pointed out I need to brush up on and improve on before my next rank testing.” She give a half bow and wait for Khitti to dismiss her.

Khitti || A field trip to the Shadow Plane? Hm. “We shall see. The place as a whole is much like Lithrydel, in that it has its own people and cities and whatnot. I’ve been wary for a while now about taking people there, as I’ve been established as their harbinger and do my best to keep things on neutral ground, but… There are likely places there you can learn from. I’ll do my own research there and see what I can come up with,” Khitti said with a smile, that was soon followed by a nod. “Do be careful. Ernest seems… trigger happy and Leralynn is still just a teenager, so I expect things may become a bit chaotic.” She took a few steps towards the door, moved aside for Joan to take her leave, “Yep, that’s all for today. I’m sure you’ll be able to get that teaching position you want easily when it’s time for your Thanadule test.” And with that, Khitti would wait for Joan to head out, before Khitti too did the same and returned to her office for now.