The Dragon Master: Magic 101 {IC}

[Durzan]

Day 56 — 2 Months Into Your Training with Bairn


You wake up to the familar sound of a loud buzzing in your ear. You try to ignore it, but the buzz is extremely persistent. Groggily, you open your eyes and look around, wondering where the buzzing paper was. Your eyes land on the dresser, where the vibrating message from Bairn was. It had been startling at first, but as soon as realized it was routine, you had quickly gotten used to it. The paper was basically an alarm clock. You grab the paper and open it, relieved to finally have the buzzing stop.


Little One,


Today is your first official day of learning how to how to use your Spark. Meet up with your colleagues in the main dining room downstairs and have some breakfast. Make sure to fill yourselves up, you will need it. Your Spark uses a lot of energy when you are first learning how to cast. When all of you are done eating and catching up with each other, meet me out in the Eastern courtyard at no later than 8:30 AM. Be sure to bring your Training Shadow, and your Focus. We will warm up with a few training sessions with your Shadows, and then proceed to learning magic! Some of you have already figured out how to cast a few minor spells, that is good… but be careful… casting spells without the proper training is extremely dangerous.


-Bairn


Huh. The note was shorter than usual. You glance around your room, noting the dragon roost, the dresser, the human bed, and the washing room. Glancing at the clock, you see that it is 7 AM. You are feeling a bit grungy, so maybe you should wash yourself up first before heading downstairs. Your grab some clothes and a towel from the dresser and go into the washroom to clean yourself up.

(I would add more detail, but I am in a hurry right now, and I am sure you guys are anxious to get started.)

[Henry the 57th]

A fit, dark-haired man in deep blue clothing seems to almost materialize from nowhere, emerging soundlessly from the darkened stairway. Glancing around, Gregor notes that he appears to be the first one here. Shrugging a little, he sits down at the table and begins helping himself. As he eats breakfast in silence, he pulls a small wooden box full of gears from somewhere and begins idly tinkering with it.

[Icilia]

Now mostly awake, Yi grumbles before going and washing his face. As he heads downstairs, he pulls on his pants, as well as his gauntlet and bracer, absently forgetting about shoes and shirt. He moves to the table and slumps down into the chair, it creaking as it takes his weight. Leaning back, he rests his legs on the corner of the table, and begins grazing through the food at the table. Still eating, he begins speaking to Gregor.

"Watcha doin' there shorty? Metal isn't a breakfast food. Or are you one of them weirdlings that eats metal?"

Yi continues to eat, caring little about what he is eating, completely ignoring any form of utensils. Yi's muscle ripple as he tears a loaf of bread in half before downing the entire thing in four bites.

[Ilena]

Aurora grumbles as she wakes up to the damn buzzing. I really hate that thing .... but she summons a quick gust of wind to bring it closer to her and using her talon to rip it open. In the months of being here she has gotten used to doing this without damaging things. Groaning again after reading it she rolls onto her back and closes her eyes. I hate mornings .... why does he have to force us to wake up so early? UGH.

A big toothy yawn soon follows as she decides to get up, crawling into her bath, using her breath to heat it for nice warmth to it. Drix showed her how nice those can be. A twinge of sadness passes through her heart, she misses him but he has things to do just as she does. Hopefully though they will be together again soon. After her bath, Aurora climbs out and shifts to human, toweling off the water, from the note they arnt going into town so its pants and tunic today, no dress. She looks to her wardrobe, over the last few months shes taken a fancy to nice looking clothes. The necklace Drix gave to her rests on her chest, a beautiful green emerald with a silver chain and dragon claw holding it. It has a minor enchantment that when she shifts it inbeds itself to her chest.

Finishing her morning routine and bringing her shadow she heads down to the kitchens, "Morning." She says to the others who are already there, and sits down at the table, having grabbed a plate , she unlike her one companion , eats with forks and knives, though prefering more meat then anything else. Over the last few months she has gained weight and is looking far more healthy then months ago.

[Mabn]

Upon waking Morgawr came to grips with the realities of human morning routines before deciding they could burn. He transformed into a dragon, plunged himself into a nearby lake, chemically sterilized himself with his breath, and arrived at breakfast wearing a tarp he saw lying around on his trip back and carrying a handful of fish gutted and prepared ceviche to have for lunch.

After placing these on an empty plate he proceeded to take samples of all breakfast items available. He ate in silence and then went back to sleep on the bench.

[Henry the 57th]

Gregor rolls his eyes at Yi. "I'm making things," he says, barely bothering to look up from his little contraption. It whirs a little in his hands and he frowns, only half paying attention to the breakfast he's eating.

[whoiam]

Dian was still having trouble waking up with nothing but a buzzing. It didn't have the bite that her previous master's wake-up calls had had. Still, this was for Master Bairn, so Dian had been making an effort.

She'd been training herself to improve her morning routine, even with the 'gentle' wakeup call. By this point, she could essentially sleep-walk from her roost into her bath. She'd wake up in there, the combination of cold water and incessant buzzing finally shocking her mind back to alertness. Only then, ablutions completed, would she hunt down her paper and read it.

Cool!

So, supplies. One Tunic, long, cleanish. Nothing worse than dirt on that. It'd do. Two gloves, long. She always bought those with her. One training shadow. One necklace, long enough to fit around her dragon head. Not much clearance these days. If she kept growing this fast, she'd have to get the chain lengthened again.

Fully equipped, Dian wandered off down to breakfast.

As would surprise no-one, she arrived at breakfast both late and still dripping. She'd then pick a spot (about as far as she could get from the others), dump her things on one of the tables, and start collecting her food. She didn't seem to have any real interest in what she was eating - she just knew she was hungry. Growth spurts did that to a dragon.

Food collected, she went back to her equipment and began eating quietly. Dian was not the world's most sociable dragon...

[Durzan]

GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG!

No sooner had you finished eating, the bell tower rung, signaling that it was now 8 AM. Almost like clockwork, more servants began trickling into the Dining Room, and grabbing plates for their big meal for the day. The Kitchen only provided two large meals a day, so everyone who worked on the manor grounds would take advantage of the large buffet of food set on the long table.

You knew from experience that the dining room would get rather crowded soon, so you decide it might be best to get up and leave. Besides, Bairn said that you needed to be in the Eastern Courtyard by half past 8... he didn't say anything about not arriving early. You might be able to get some additional training in if you hurry... either that, or converse with your colleagues till the last possible moment, as the dining room grows progressively more crowded and loud.

[Icilia]

Yi fights to grab an extra pile of food before the humans could take any. He roughly shoves his way free as they close in, eager for food. His height, strength and bulk make it a relatively easy job to escape the masses, likely leaving a bruise or two behind.

Realising Yi need his shadow, he quickly returned to his room and recovered it. He then heads down to the Eastern Courtyard, continuing to fill his mouth with food. As he cleans off the plate, he absently throws it in a corner for a human to deal with. Humans only had so many uses.

Just before reaching the courtyard, he passes a young attractive woman, who Yi turns to and smiles at, flexing his muscles, showing off. He ammends his thoughts on one of the more useful uses of humans. He notes to himself to track down the woman later, and discuss such things.

[Durzan]

Yi fights to grab an extra pile of food before the humans could take any. He roughly shoves his way free as they close in, eager for food. His height, strength and bulk make it a relatively easy job to escape the masses, likely leaving a bruise or two behind.

Realising Yi need his shadow, he quickly returned to his room and recovered it. He then heads down to the Eastern Courtyard, continuing to fill his mouth with food. As he cleans off the plate, he absently throws it in a corner for a human to deal with. Humans only had so many uses.

Just before reaching the courtyard, he passes a young attractive woman, who Yi turns to and smiles at, flexing his muscles, showing off. He ammends his thoughts on one of the more useful uses of humans. He notes to himself to track down the woman later, and discuss such things.

To Yi: The young woman smiles briefly at you, before hurrying off to perform some task. You realized it was probably not a good idea to stay in one place too long... Bairn's chief butler was notorious for putting to work anyone who even appeared idle... didn't matter if they were nobility, a dragon, or a servant, he would find something for them to do. Best to keep moving and at least make it appear like you were busy.

To All Players (Once you reach the eastern courtyard): The Eastern Courtyard was beautiful, designed to display the beauty of nature, rather than serve as a training ground for combat. Here, secluded away from the majority of activity in the rest of the manor, is where Bairn prefers to practice magic... and train the few students he accepts. The fact that he has invited you and the others to train here, shows that you and the others have progressed enough in his eyes to learn magic.

The large Eastern Courtyard was walled off with hedge on four sides. Opposite the entrance you came in at is another exit, which leads into a small garden. To your right and left, against the hedge walls, are small pools of water with elaborate fountains set in the middle, one of a giant bird with feathers shaped like flames, and the other a horse with a single delicate horn protruding from its head. Set just in front of the hedge wall were flower beds filled with beautiful flowers of all kinds and colors. But what draws your attention first is a large tree set near the center of the courtyard. Apart from the tree in the center and the decorations around the courtyard, this area seemed large enough to fit about 10 students in it, and still have room for each to be able to comfortably practice sparring.

Bairn himself was standing still under the tree, his ornate staff held in one hand. His blue cloak billowed about him as if being blown by a fierce wind, although there was not even a hint of a breeze. His brown hair was a mess, and his eyes were closed, almost as if he were in meditation. The sapphire on the top of his staff glowed with a faint light. Whatever he was doing, it involved magic.

"Your early," He said, without opening his eyes. "Come, join me."

Bairn motioned for you to join him.

[whoiam]

Ahh! Crowds!

Dian, late as she was, hadn't finished eating by the time the Gong started. But she wasn't going to stick around here (especially... 'exposed'... as she was) and wait for the humans to start bumping into her. No, she grabbed her things and ran for the exit.

Even with his flirting stop, though, Yi easily beat her to the courtyard. The reason why was pretty obvious. By the time she reached the courtyard, she'd changed to human form, thrown on her tunic and gloves, and picked up what looked like a lot of dirt on her face.

(The other dragons may not know this yet, since Dian doesn't seem in any hurry to volunteer information about herself or her capabilities, but her 'True Omnivore' ability makes it entirely viable for her to compensate for her abandoned breakfast by eating rock and dirt. Which is where the dirt had come from, just a few minutes after she'd bathed.)

With Yi already present, Dian would approach to within a... 'respectful'... distance of her master, and the other dragon, and bow to him. (The master, not the dragon.)

[Icilia]

Standing around in the courtyard with just the master, Yi absently fidgeted with his belly button. He remembered that he probably should have put on a shirt, but considered it an accomplishment that he had managed to remember his pants. Even after all this time, he had not grown accustomed to wearing human clothing.

With another dragon joining him in the courtyard, he slides over to stand closer to her.

"So lovely, how are we today? You've got a lil' bit of dirt on your face. Or a lot. Why not come over here, I'll give you a hand with that." Yi ends his statement with a wink.

[whoiam]

Dian instinctively shies away from Yi's approach. Not much, but enough to indicate she's uneasy about it. The master knows why, although the other dragons don't - if Yi actually tried to help clean her up, she'd be stuck listening to his thoughts until she managed to get away from him.

"Leave it be. It won't melt me or anything."

Though she does absently rub some of it off with one hand in response. Probably just to discourage Yi from trying to help out.


If he touches her face, please remember to post what Yi is thinking at the time (both conscious thoughts, and general mood). Thanks!

[Icilia]

Yi pauses briefly as Dian attempts to clean her face. He rolls his eyes watching her simply smudge her face with dirt. "Stop that. Your making your pretty face dirty. Just let me help you." Yi reaches out and attempts to help, leaning down to her height.

Yi's primary surface though was a vague physical interest in Dian and the image of a young woman in an interesting position, but as he helps Dian that quickly fades into annoyance with Dian. Not knowing the actual reason for her shying away, Yi assumes that Dian is intimidated or frightened of Yi, even though he is actually trying to help. This most likely flashes up multiple images from Yi's past of people acting fearfully towards him, and leaving him at arms reach from all. Servants, Slaves, Nobles and even other Dragons all avoided Yi.

Yi's mood was originally bored, but slowly shifts to annoyance.


Having finished cleaning Dian's face, he straightens and wanders off to the other side of the large tree, grumbling as he goes. He then begins a routine of push ups, sit ups and chin ups.

[Mabn]

Morgawr remained lying on the dining hall benches. Getting to the courtyard early had no obvious advantages, and he knew he acted sufficiently uncouth by human standards to have his behavior be boorish rather than suspicious. In fact he was very interested in what the human servants would do and how they would handle his continued presence. Also, he knew from past experience that if he didn't watch someone would take his fish.

[Henry the 57th]

Gregor leaves breakfast early, his small mechanical toy only half-finished in his hands. He never was much of a socialite, and if the opportunity to learn more came up it was hardly something to pass up on. When he arrives at the courtyard and sees Bairn there, staff in hand, he reaches into one of the many hidden pockets secreted about his clothing and extracts a small metal rod. A quick push of a button sees the rod extending out to form a full staff rising all the way to Gregor's shoulders, the white crystal sphere at the end gleaming brightly in the morning sunlight. He glowers at it, as if noticing some imperfection in the design that only he can see.

"So," he asks. "What are we to be doing today?"

[Ilena]

Aurora yawns deeply as she finishes eating , she says hello to a few of the servants she knows by name, having gotten over her initial anger with them and actually started to make friends. She can be quite sociable when she gets comfortable, and when she puts the effort in to actually talk to people.

Heading out to the training grounds, her sword hanging casually over her he shoulder and her training dummy , she heads out onto the field. Heading to the new place that Aurora has not been before, she looks around at the beauty of it. Approaching the statue of the horse with the horn and running her hand on it, hmmmm interesting creature. She glances to the others and sees Yi cleaning Dians face as she somehow managed to get dirt upon it. Weird. Oh well, she thinks to herself they are all interesting dragons.

Seeing Bairn meditating she leaves him be until he speaks, and heads over to him, "You know , i really wish you would stop waking us up so early , you know how much I hate getting up so early in the morning." She says with her normal morning routine, every morning she complains when they get up so early, early for her being before noon.

"One day you will see the beauty of sleeping in, one day. But what are you doing?"

[whoiam]

Yi's initial contact results in another attempt by Dian to shy away; When he continues trying to 'aid' her, she goes for her staff. The... 'recollections'... eventually stay her from her intended course of action (i.e. whacking him hard between the legs), but she still tries to back away.

Once he's finally released her, Dian speaks. Her voice seems... a touch unsteady. She's clearly not happy about what just happened to her. "...This isn't a personal thing, you understand, but NEVER TOUCH ME...again." Which probably does seem like something of an overreaction on her part. Still, she had at least tried to reassure him that it wasn't hatred or prejudice on her part...

...Which would have worked far better if she'd been willing to open up about the reasons for it.

(Confusing) message hopefully delivered, she heads away in the opposite direction, trying to put their master between herself and Yi.

[Durzan]

To Mowgar: You watch the servants scurry around the dining room almost like ants... but after a few moments you notice a pattern emerge. The servants would line up at the serving table, and proceed from left to right, filling their plate with as much food as possible, before hurrying to a seat and eating quickly. When a dish was emptied, a cook would pop out from the kitchen with a fresh dish of food, and fill it with fresh food, before scurrying back into the kitchen.

After about 15 minutes of watching this, you grow bored and decide it would probably be a good idea to catch up with the others. Bairn doesn't like it when a student shows up to class late.


Gregor leaves breakfast early, his small mechanical toy only half-finished in his hands. He never was much of a socialite, and if the opportunity to learn more came up it was hardly something to pass up on. When he arrives at the courtyard and sees Bairn there, staff in hand, he reaches into one of the many hidden pockets secreted about his clothing and extracts a small metal rod. A quick push of a button sees the rod extending out to form a full staff rising all the way to Gregor's shoulders, the white crystal sphere at the end gleaming brightly in the morning sunlight. He glowers at it, as if noticing some imperfection in the design that only he can see.

"So," he asks. "What are we to be doing today?"

To Gregor: "We are going to cover the basics... again," Bairn said simply, not even turning to face you. His meditation was not easily broken, even when asked question.

To Yi: "Behave yourself Yi. Dian is a dragon... not a piece of meat to drool over."



Aurora yawns deeply as she finishes eating , she says hello to a few of the servants she knows by name, having gotten over her initial anger with them and actually started to make friends. She can be quite sociable when she gets comfortable, and when she puts the effort in to actually talk to people.

Heading out to the training grounds, her sword hanging casually over her he shoulder and her training dummy , she heads out onto the field. Heading to the new place that Aurora has not been before, she looks around at the beauty of it. Approaching the statue of the horse with the horn and running her hand on it, hmmmm interesting creature. She glances to the others and sees Yi cleaning Dians face as she somehow managed to get dirt upon it. Weird. Oh well, she thinks to herself they are all interesting dragons.

Seeing Bairn meditating she leaves him be until he speaks, and heads over to him, "You know , i really wish you would stop waking us up so early , you know how much I hate getting up so early in the morning." She says with her normal morning routine, every morning she complains when they get up so early, early for her being before noon.

"One day you will see the beauty of sleeping in, one day. But what are you doing?"

To Aurora: Bairn actually turns slightly and smiles at Aurora when she approaches. His eyes are still closed, and his meditation otherwise appears undisturbed. "The early bird gets the worm, little one. When I was an apprentice, our masters would wake us up at dawn, and make us do hard labor... so from my point of view, you are the ones sleeping in."

He pauses for a moment, then opens his eyes and looks at her. His twinkling blue eyes were calm and calculating, and his angular face was framed by short but messy brown hair. "Every morning, I wake up early and come out here to meditate and prepare myself for the day. During my long meditation, I siphon the raw energy from my surroundings, and use it to create mana."

[Ilena]

I smile a little, "Still, noon is a beautiful time to wake up." Their morning routine done she continues, "When shall we begin today?" Curious when he will be ready to start teaching them.

[Durzan]

I smile a little, "Still, noon is a beautiful time to wake up." Their morning routine done she continues, "When shall we begin today?" Curious when he will be ready to start teaching them.

"We can start once Mowgar gets here," He replied, noting that the big dragon was not here with the others... as usual. He had hoped the group would socialize a bit more in the past few months, but to his chagrin, they acted like they barely knew each other... particularly the newer ones.

[Icilia]

Yi fumes, his breath coming out cold as his draconic breath wells up. Damn them all. Damn the Master. Damn the others. All they see is a damn brute. I try to help and yet again everyone is repulsed or assumes the damn worst. With his thought of damn, Yi's anger quickly grows. He feels his nails begin to dig into his skin from clenching. His focus begins to blur. His breath becomes heavy and quicker. Not even aware of his actions, Yi moves towards the closest wall, happening to be the furthest from the rest.

Out of no where, a large explosion is heard, clear even all the way to the dining room. As stone and dust settle, all can see that Yi has smashed his hand through the stone wall of the courtyard, sending bricks and dusting flying. Behind the hole, two startled and frightened servants stand, covered in dust and debris. Through some shear luck, neither seems to be injured. A low, powerful growl erupts from Yi, as he slowly pulls his arm free of the damage he had caused, rotating his wrist with numerous cracks. Yi suddenly blinks twice, his eyes seeming to come into focus, looking straight at the two servants. He attempts to say something as both dart away from him. Yi sighs, dropping his arm to his side. The scent of blood slowly emanates through the air, as all who can see Yi notice that a reasonable flow of scarlet blood has begun to flow from his right arm.

He turns his head slightly towards Bairn, and mumbles a "My apologies Master." With blood still flowing freely, Yi kneels and begins to pick up the stone scattered around.

[Ilena]

Aurora first jumps in surprise then sighs a little at his outburst, what now? Whats he getting pissed off about? Or did he just wake up this morning thinking, oh im going to punch a wall. She shakes her head a little, and starts approaching Yi, "Hey, let me take a look at that hand ok?"

[Henry the 57th]

Gregor resists the urge to roll his eyes at Brain - he can see where this is going. The man will no doubt spring some surprise test, either now or later, revolving around something being taught or reviewed here today. It's just as he's contemplating how best to respond that an explosion rocks the courtyard.

"What in the infinite hells was that?" Gregir whirls around, looking for the source of the bang. His nostrils begin to pick up the scent of fresh blood.

Did I leave the alchemy ingredients too close? he wonders.

[Mabn]

Morgawr arrived in time with the explosion. Holding back commentary he simply sighed and waited. For a painstakingly decorated courtyard this place saw more violence then some battlegrounds. He admitted to himself he had nothing better to do than attend to this lesson, but that in itself galled him. Months of research had uncovered nothing except a growing certainty that dragons made no sense to science and science made no sense to dragons.

[whoiam]

"Yi's just working off his temper," Dian told Gregir, since he'd asked what had happened. "He tried to... 'impress'... me with a totally manly display of completely ignoring my desires in order to make me look prettier to him.

Shockingly enough, my response wasn't the swoon he'd been hoping for, so he took it out on that wall. Because showing off your violent temper has long been known as the number one method of convincing people you're nothing to be afraid of."

Ultimately, Dian could understand why Yi had acted why he did (the glance into his mind was, although unpleasant, quite informative)... but that didn't mean she was happy about being forced to experience his 'issues'. And this was the best way she could think of to keep him from 'helping' her again. Other than telling him, that is, but that had an entirely different set of problems...

[Icilia]

Yi grumbles about it not being serious, hears Dian's commet and shakes his head to himself. Refusing help at this point would be stupid. So, rather slowly, Yi takes of his leather gauntlet and bracer to reveal his injuries. Blood was weakly flowing from multiple places, all up his forearm. Scars appear to have split open from the force of the punch.

For Aurora
Aurora will notice that he has scars encircly his entire right forearm, and the back of his hand. Unfortunately, it appears Yi's previous masters decided to carve their draconic binding magics directly into his flesh, even if it isn't neccesary, and it seems that the scars have never properly healed. Suprisingly though, the skin around Yi's knuckles appear to have taken no damage.

[Ilena]

I take his arm gently, looking at the scars and frowning a little, "I .. dont know if i can fix these but at the very least i can make the blood stop." I close my eyes for a moment while i start working on summoning up the energies from within me, it still feels really exhilarating every time she can use it. My hands move slowly over the scars, directing the energy from inside my chest and heart to my palms and finger tips, pushing it out gently and into the wounds, a nice soothing effect spreads across his scars.

Ill leave if it heals up to you/dm, and so forth.

[Durzan]

If Bairn was upset with Yi at all, his face didn't show it. His face was calm, suddenly showing no emotion now.


He was always like this... always willing to show positive emotions and open up around those he knows well, but sometimes, often with no discernible reason, his mental walls go up and his face becomes as blank as a slate, masking whatever emotions he was feeling at the time. Maybe it was some kind of coping mechanism, a way for him to calm himself, or maybe he hid his emotions to project strength... either way, you don't know.


"Nice thinking Yi," Bairn said calmly, "My mother's garden could use a little bit of renovating... but lets wait until after the training session before we start remodeling."


Bairn was about to say more but stopped when Aurora tried to heal Yi's scars.


To Aurora: As you try to weave the spell, something goes wrong. Theres a flash of light and a loud bang. The next thing you suddenly find yourself lying on the ground, your ears ringing and your head aching. Groggily you get up, your body shaking with newfound exhaustion. Clearly, the spell had not only failed, but had literally blown up in your face.


Bairn watched Aurora clear her head, then spoke, a twinkle in his eyes.


"Aurora, you need to be careful with magic. You can't just throw your mana around like that and expect it to do what you want it to do. Make sure you structure the energy properly as I taught you. If that had been a more powerful spell, you might very well be in little pieces all over the yard... or even worse... find yourself living the rest of your days as a frog or radish."


Bairn turns to the others and explains what went wrong. "Aurora made two additional mistakes: First, she tried casting a spell using nothing but mana. Doing so is unwise... especially for novices. There is a reason incantations and gestures are used in most spells, even when they are not, strictly speaking, needed. They provide structure and guidelines to an otherwise dangerous process, allowing you to shape and direct the spell with both your mind and body. Of course, even with spell components, you can still make a mistake, and cause your spell to collapse into a random effect, but the chances of doing so are vastly reduced."


"Second, she fueled the spell with her life force directly. This too is unwise, as the spell will drain your life-force until its effects are complete, it is dispelled, or until you die. Each bit of energy drawn from your body will leave you that much more tired, hungry, and exhausted. If you use all of it then your body will be nothing but an empty husk. Far safer to store a portion of your energy in a crystal or focus ahead of time, recover, and then use that energy as fuel for your spells."


Bairn paused for a moment, taking note that everyone was now here.


"Now, can every one line up, so we can begin?"

[whoiam]

Lining up wasn't so bad. She could do that without touching anyone...

Dian circled back around to Bairn's 'front', planted one end of her quarterstaff in the ground, and waited for the others to reach their marks as well.

[Henry the 57th]

Well, no time quite like the present," Gregor thought as he took his place before their teacher, iron staff clutched tightly in a two-handed grip. He waited patiently for the lesson to begin.

[Icilia]

Yi casually walked over to stand with the rest, assist Aurora if she needed it. He also reequiped his bracer, leaving a few drops of blood as he joined the rest.

[Ilena]

Aurora frowns and blushes in embarrassment , "Yes master, i will try to be more careful ..." She takes the offered hand and goes to stand in line with the rest.

[Mabn]

Morgawr joined the line brusquely, the aside about technique was useful, but this setup stunk of dramatics. He began to think that was a common trait of Bairn's teaching.

[Durzan]

Bairn waited until everyone had lined up before he began.

"Now then, let us warm our minds up by reviewing what I taught you individually. Answer the questions as best as you can. First, What exactly is magic?"

Magic -- The direct manipulation of energy to create a specific effect through the use of solely your force of mind and body.

"Second, Name and describe the three types of energy."

Wild Energy -- Also called Primal Energy, it is the most basic building block of the universe. All forms of matter are made up of strands of it. It forms the very fabric of the universe, provides the structure that we depend upon to exist. Even the very ground we walk on and the materials that our bodies are composed of are made of Primal Energy. It is stubborn and hard to manipulate, due to the fact that it is energy and matter in its rawest form. Because of this it can't be used as a direct source for spells, but it can be purified into Mana through a strenuous process called Charging.

Mana -- Refined Wild Energy. Sometimes called lifeforce, it is the substance that brings things to life, and sustains them. It is the energy that makes up a person's soul. It is the only energy source that has been extensively studied. It is extremely malleable and easy to direct, thus making it the least dangerous energy source to manipulate.

Void Energy -- Mysterious energy not native to this realm. As its name implies, it comes from the accursed reaches of the Void. If a living thing is exposed to Void energy for more than a short period of time then they will become twisted and changed, mutated into an abomination, and finally... the subject will die, as the Void energy absorbs their life force. It brings only death and madness. Void Energy is powerful, but chaotic and unpredictable... seeming at times to have a mind of its own. When used to fuel spells, the spells are often magnified in some way. But this power comes at a cost... those who use it are exposed to it, and become addicted to its power. Thus it is forbidden to use Void Energy.

"Third, what are the necessary components needed to form a basic spell?"

You must have a focus.
You must have enough mana.
You must be able to speak.
You must be able to gesture.

Bairn pauses after each question giving everyone enough time to answer.

[Henry the 57th]

"Magic," Gregor answers swiftly, "is manipulation of ambient energy to create an effect through the use one's mind and body. It's components are mana, a focus, the spoken word, and gestures." Not remembering all the types of energy right off the top of his head, he opts to delicately step around that question.

[Icilia]

Yi stand around, waving his arm slightly side to side to get droplets of blood to make pretty patterns on the ground.

[whoiam]

Noting the pause (as none of the others appear to have recalled the energy types, Dian finally speaks up.

"Wild Energy -- Also called Primal Energy, it is the most basic building block of the universe. All forms of matter are made up of strands of it. It forms the very fabric of the universe, provides the structure that we depend upon to exist. Even the very ground we walk on and the materials that our bodies are composed of are made of Primal Energy. It is stubborn and hard to manipulate, due to the fact that it is energy and matter in its rawest form. Because of this it can't be used as a direct source for spells, but it can be purified into Mana through a strenuous process called Charging."

Not only is she copying the same words Master Bairn used to explain it to them, she's even doing an impression of Master Bairn as she recites it. Honestly she doesn't see much point in finding her own words for the concept, seeing as how the Master's own words sufficed... and she could recall them just as perfectly as if he was whispering them into her ear as she spoke...

But she does then drop back into her own voice afterwards, stage-whispering to the others, "Psst - the next type is 'Mana'."

[Icilia]

Yi blinks at Dian, before turning back to the Master. "Mana is... Stuff. Used in magic?" he honestly couldn't remember any of this stuff.

[Ilena]

Aurora speaks on the first question, repeating what he said as she has heard it many times, "Magic -- The direct manipulation of energy to create a specific effect through the use of solely your force of mind and body", though the second question she ... skips, and makes it look on purpose, passes to the third, "The part that in my haste i .. neglected to do was, You must have a focus.
You must have enough mana. You must be able to speak. You must be able to gesture."

[whoiam]

Dian can't help herself... She laughs at Yi's answer.

"Well, that's all technically correct. It is stuff used in magic."

Dropping back into her Master Bairn-styled recitation, Dian adds the actual explanation: "Refined Wild Energy. Sometimes called lifeforce, it is the substance that brings things to life, and sustains them. It is the energy that makes up a person's soul. It is the only energy source that has been extensively studied. It is extremely malleable and easy to direct, thus making it the least dangerous energy source to manipulate."

"So... your hint for the last energy type is Void...."

[Mabn]

Morgawr's thoughts drifted to primal energy. Due to it's manipulation in the transformation process, it had been his focus during the last month or so. He had begun to suspect that the common description of it was somewhat limiting. After all, many spells altered or seemingly created it with more control than mana alone would allow. Perhaps it was not so much stubborn as hard to reach, with mana forming a sort of hook to manipulate it. Or, given his transformation practice maybe it was stubborn as hell. Honestly he felt like he understood mana significantly less than by all rights he should. And if it was life force and primal energy was being controlled with it transformation should make him exhausted. It didn't. Maybe that was because of void energy? Books on void energy were so scarce his knowledge of it could be summed as it's probably why we're from starvation world, don't touch it.

He left his reverie to find out other dragons had explained everything but void and were using it to one up each other. At sudden risk of-he physically shuddered-nope time to win this. "By asking for only three types of energy I assume you are implicitly having us work under an arcanocentric system? I understand some of us have odd dining habits, but surely neither the implication that primal energy is converted to mana over the digestive process nor the alternative that eating does not in fact allow us to live was the intended path of your questioning? But of course you were correct that there are three types of energy mages understand, and it would be nice to ignore transitory states for a while, I was planning to go back to the basics anyway."

Mogwar leaned one one leg and looked condescending while hoping the steam of consciousness that had just emerged from his mouth was as plausible as it sounded. Although as his silent panic made time seem to accelerate he reflected that if you could get magic by digesting things his semivoluntary stream of stomach acid would be way more useful, and poorly understood states of energy would allow for his mana hook theory to work with transformations. Maybe primal energy should be slightly expanded in scope and then divided into two categories with different properties? It always seemed strange that the category encompassed matter and energy as well as defining reality, but no amount of energy or matter could make the nature of reality change...Dammit did someone else say something again?

[whoiam]

"...You didn't get enough to eat at breakfast, did you?

Anyway, yes, it's probably safe to assume that during the lesson on magic, we're not particularly concerned with mundane forms of energy such as 'heat' or 'light', and that the lesson is, to use your word, 'arcanocentric'. And no, I don't think we're that concerned with the nature of the intermediary states of said energy. At least not during the lesson on how to use it. Finally, do you care to answer the actual question, or were you just piping irrelevant babble to justify the smug look despite not paying any attention to your actual lessons?"

No, Dian wasn't reading Morgawr's mind. But she's every bit as smart as he is, and no part of his speech actually gave the definition of Void Energy...

[Durzan]

Bairn had been listening patiently as his students each attempted to answer his three questions. However, Mowgar's speech did arouse his interest in the subject, despite the fact that he was probably doing it to boost his own ego. It was such an interesting observation, after all... one that he himself had considered in the past. He had to fight to stay on the current lesson.

"An interesting observation Mowgar, one that we can address later, if you'd like. For now, however, let us keep our focus on the three types of magical energy, as they directly pertain to your current studies."

He pulled a tankard out of his pocket and took a small swig of wine. The courtyard was starting to get a bit warmer, and the alcohol helped him think.

"Now then, who knows what the last form of magical energy is?"

[Henry the 57th]

"The last type of energy is known as Void Energy," Gregor answers, drumming his finger along the length of his staff and trying not to sound too impatient with the whole thing.

[Mabn]

Morgawr looked at Dian aghast. "Heat and light are commonly used examples of a subset of primal energy! Did you think I actually didn't know the very concept of magic even after someone defined it a few feet away from me!? I could understand you not realizing I ate breakfast after you saw me bring in what previously could have been your lunch, I had after all just stated that an astonishingly small proportion of dragons seem to understand how food works. But truely do you even know what charging is or how it shows incompatibility with known biological processes of equivalent function?​ Morgawr took yet another ever necessary moment to bask in his own superiority.

[whoiam]

Whearas Dian's return glance is showing light amusement. If nothing else, this is a lot more fun than recall tests (which are too easy to be satisfying) or touching people (eugh, people!).

"For the record, yes, I did expect you to be able to recognise 'heat' and 'light'. There would have been little point in using something I thought you wouldn't recognise to make the point that 'there's plenty of other forms energy can take, they're not relevant right now, so could you please stop trying to show off and let us get on with the lesson?'

And yes, I know what charging is. I honestly considered it closer in form to the precipitation of crystals (extracting something 'solid' from what appeared to be an undifferentiated fluid) than to digestion (breaking down complex structures to provide their constituent materials to the digesting organism), so the reason I never spotted the incompatibility between charging and 'biological processes of equivalent function' is that I never really considered there to be any.

And in future, if you wish to debate my sarcasm, please steer clear of the common logical fallacies in doing so. The comment 'you didn't get to eat enough' is not equivalent to 'you didn't eat at all'. Nor, for that matter, is the reverse true 100% of the time. (Though it probably comes close.) Depending on whether you didn't realise the two points were different, or you did and still chose to argue against the one you could more easily defeat, that was an example of either a false equivalence fallacy or a strawman fallacy. And either way I would prefer you to not use them against me again. At least come up with some exciting new fallacies to use against me, hm?

And you know what the saddest part of all this is? After all that hot air, you still haven't given the definition of Void energy... So how about you try and answer the actual question?"

Dian, it seems, spends quite a lot of her 'hiding from personal contact' time reading.

[Ilena]

Aurora rolls her eyes as she watches the verbal sparing that these two are engaging in, and she sighs a little. It is only slightly annoying listening to this, its why flying is so free, no chattering ninnies to ruin her mood. "If you two are finished, I would much love to continue on the lessons of learning magic. " She of course wont bother actually answering what it is, can't make it that simple right? As her hand drifts to the amulet around her neck, her mind drifts on to Drix, hes her friend and she misses him, she misses hunting with him and just enjoying his company. HE is not a nattering ninny.

[Durzan]

"Very good," Bairn said. "And what exactly is Void Energy? What is it like? Perhaps it is dangerous?"

[whoiam]

"Void Energy:", Dian begins, before dropping back into recitation mode. "Mysterious energy not native to this realm. As its name implies, it comes from the accursed reaches of the Void. If a living thing is exposed to Void energy for more than a short period of time then they will become twisted and changed, mutated into an abomination, and finally... the subject will die, as the Void energy absorbs their life force. It brings only death and madness. Void Energy is powerful, but chaotic and unpredictable... seeming at times to have a mind of its own. When used to fuel spells, the spells are often magnified in some way. But this power comes at a cost... those who use it are exposed to it, and become addicted to its power. Thus it is forbidden to use Void Energy."

And back to her normal voice: "So, yes, pretty dangerous."

[Durzan]

"Thank you Diane." Bairn replied politely. "Now that our warm up is completed, we can move on to the first part of the lesson."

Bairn paced back and forth thinking for a moment, before turning to face the group again. He planted his staff firmly in the ground. You notice that the crystal on top of his staff was glowing faintly.

"Pay close attention." Bairn instructed as he waved one of his hands over the crystal. "See if you can sense the mana I have drawn out of my focus."

Concentrating, you feel a tingling sensation across your whole body. The sensation seems to be coming from Bairn, but you cannot see the energy he is manipulating.Upon concentrating further, a small ball of glowing white energy comes into focus just under Bairn's hand. You note with interest that as he moves his hand, the mana follows its motions, turning from a ball into a strand and leaving behind a trail of faint white sparks.

(In addition to the magic check, you may make a Willpower check against a Difficulty of 10. If you succeed, then you may add a +2 bonus to your magic roll.)

[Mabn]

Morgawr stared at the crystal. Taking his poor vision into account he tried to smell the crystal, listen to the crystal, even feel the crystal with the hairs on his arms. And he couldn't sense a thing. He bit his tongue till it bled and tried again. He willed his heart to slow and tried to feel mana between its beats. He breathed in and tried to taste the mana, tried to feel the blood in his mouth tingle with it. He shut out stimulus altogether and tried to sense mana with his mind alone. And he found not the fainted glimmer.

[Ilena]

Determined to not fail again, Aurora focus's her energies, she can feel it, she can sense it, a little more focus and she can see it ... the little spark of energy hes drawning and taking out, his power , the same energy she has stored in her own amulet, that she failed to use properly ... a stupid mistake ... one she can't do again. But she must grow powerful , gain in strength of magic and she can then help her people, and free them from torment and enslavement.

[Henry the 57th]

Gregor reaches out in an almost absentminded manner, and is rewarded with a tingling sensation on his body. He doesn't much care for it, brushing his sleeves in vague annoyance, but the feeling doesn't stop. He knows this is important, but still, it's boring. His contraptions are so much more interesting to work with than this. He fiddles a little with the staff in his hands, wondering if and when he'll be able to do more effective things with it.

[whoiam]

Dian, like Aurora, can see the spark trailing along behind the master's hand. She's quiet, and staring intently at it, as she watches. This is definitely something she'll want to mimic later...

[Icilia]

Yi absently clenches his fist to help himself focus, and looks at Bairn's hand. He almost immediately notices the ball of magic floating around. Yi is suprised about how easy it is to see, and how bright the ball is.

[Durzan]

Bairn silently extends his mind out to his students, briefly touching their minds with his own... and is pleasantly surprised to see that all but one of them was able to sense his small ball of mana. Some were even able to see it. Mowgar, however, would need a slight push.

"The higher the concentration of mana, the more intense this sensation will be... and the easier it is to sense it," He said.

He turned his hand over, and maneuvered the ball of mana so that it was now in the palm of his upturned hand. Slowly, ever so slowly, he added additional strands of mana to the ball. His hair was now standing on its end, and he could feel the power he held in his hand, a pulsating ball of energy. His eyes glowed as he manipulated the mana with his dexterous hands.

(Mowgar may reroll his magic check against a difficulty of 10. If he previously made his willpower roll, he gets a +2 bonus. Another +2 bonus is also tacked on due to Bairn increasing the mana in his palm.)

"By this point, you all should be able to sense the ball of energy now... And if I suddenly moved..."

Bairn suddenly warps behind them.

"...Then the sensation will follow me."

Bairn casually warps back to his previous location.

"Almost like a compass, your mana sense will always point you towards the strongest and closest active source of mana. With a bit of additional skill and practice, you will eventually be able to filter out sources, enabling you to pinpoint fainter sources nearby... or more passive sources of mana such as the life force of others."

(If you failed to see the ball of energy with your previous roll, you may make another magic check against a difficulty of 15 with the same bonuses mentioned earlier... or you may use your previous magic check result, and just add an additional +2 to it.)

Bairn pauses for a moment while he uses his free hand to drink from his wineskin again.

"Now that you can see and sense just what it is you are working with, its time for you to handle some mana."

Bairn raises his hand, the ball of energy glowing brightly. Casually, he makes several rapid gestures with his other hand, splitting the energy into 6 equal parts before sending a portion to each of his students.

Bairn smiles, watching his students study and mess around with the floating ball of energy for a few minutes, before clearing his throat. He gestures, and the balls of mana you are examining dart just outside of your reach.

"The first spell I will teach you is how to make a small flame in the palm of your hand," Bairn says, as he grabs his small ball of energy with one hand. He closes his fist over the ball of mana, and opens it palm up, revealing a small flickering blue flame. He closes his fist again, and when he opens it again its once again a ball of mana.

"Of course, that is how a moderately experienced magic user can do it, and not how you will be learning the spell today."

Bairn holds his palm out, and demonstrates the gestures needed to form the ball of energy into a flame. Interestingly enough, it looks almost like he is shaping the ball to look vaguely like a flame... as if he were working red clay.

"The words you need to say while gesturing are: 'protac mi mano vi falm. ...mana te firo.' Or as it roughly translates, 'Protect my hand from the flame. Mana to Fire. A bit crude perhaps, but it works."

Bairn repeats this process over and over again, showing each of you how to properly make the gestures and how to pronounce the words. Once he is satisfied that you know the spell, he motions for you to take the ball of energy once more.

"Now you try."

(Make a magic check against difficulty 15. If you succeed, then it takes you at most 10 minutes to successfully create the flame. If you fail, then you may roll again. For each failed magic check, it takes you an additional 5 minutes of time attempting to cast the spell in order to succeed. A willpower check against difficulty 15 grants you a +4 bonus that applies to all your rolls.)

Bairn walks up and down the line, watching each of you work to cast the spell. Occasionally, he corrects you if you are doing something wrong, or gives you pointers, but otherwise leaves you to your own devices.


Create Fire: A small flame appears in the palm of your hand, providing light within a 10 ft radius. It does not hurt you, although other objects or people who touch the flames may get singed, burned, or catch fire. The flame on your palm cannot be extinguished by water or wind, but only by magic. Objects that are set on fire by this small flame burn normally, and can be extinguished by normal means.

[whoiam]

Dian was a little... hesitant... at first (having seen the little 'accident' earlier...), but even so, she only needed a few minutes to get it working. And then the little flame was merrily dancing on the tip of one of her fingers.

Compared to her breath, it wasn't that impressive... But it was, she had to concede, a lot more useful in most non-arson situations. Lighting a candle off dragon-breath was nothing if not excessive...

[Icilia]

Yi manages to quickly get his mind and breathing in order, concentrating on creating a flame. Unfortunately, being so focused on all the other parts of casting, he completely forgets to actually speak the words to bring forth the flame. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he recollects his thoughts, and manages to produce a flame in just over fifteen minutes,

[Henry the 57th]

Gregor finally makes out the flame in his teacher's hand with a little squinting. It looks easy enough to him, just a matter of energy and concentration. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and clutches his staff tightly. Concentrating just as he does when tinkering with a machine, he manages to summon flames into his hand within a very short period of time. Gregor smiles as he watches the flickering red flames burn.

All too easy.

[Ilena]

Aurora nods and does as he asks, this time remembering to draw her energies and use her focus as she was taught and has a flame in her paw in no time, a grin crosses her face as she succeeds here as well.

[Mabn]

Morgawr continued to star at Bairn's hand until his eyes were exhausted and he saw flickers at the edge of his vision. It actually took him a minute to realize this was the mana and not merely a horrific headache. His mimicking of the flame spell was similarly belabored. His attempts to cast were slow and methodical, hoping to gain some further insight that never emerged. Eventually he saw that everyone else had flames in their hands and just went on with it.

[Durzan]

"Now then, try adding a bit more energy to the flame." Bairn said.

(No Check Needed)

[whoiam]

With no real reason to be afraid of a fire so much smaller than her own breath (at least, that she was aware of), Dian was quick to obey.

[Durzan]

"Once you are comfortable with adding energy to the flame in your hand, go ahead and snuff it out." Bairn said, snuffing his own flame out by clenching his fist. The mana was used up now... it was time to move on to the next part of the lesson.

He let his students experiment a few minutes more before drawing a few more wisps of mana out of his staff.

"The next spell you will learn is a little bit more tricky." Bairn said. Quickly, he weaved the wisps of mana into a rune that floated in the air.

"This spell is called a sensory spell. When cast at someone or something, it will bounce off the target and return to you, emitting a sound... or ping, that is unique to the type of object or creature. The spell can detect a person's true form, so it can be used to confirm if someone or something has been transformed into something else."

Bairn quickly goes over how to properly cast the spell, instructing everyone in the proper gestures and incantations. The verbal components are only a few sentences long, but it is clearly more complicated than the previous spell you learned.

"Now, you try."

(Make a Magic Check, Difficulty 16. A willpower check of 10 or higher, grants a +2 bonus. An Intelligence check of 12 or higher grants an additional +2 bonus, and represents 10-15 minutes of intense study and practice of the spell before the magic check. If you succeed, then you learn the spell. If you fail, then you may try an additional 2 times. If you still fail, then you may make the check again during your character's free time after the lesson.)


Magical Sensor: You create a rune in the air that can detect a person or object's true form. When sent at a target, the rune will bounce back to you, vibrating and giving off a sound unique to that type of object or creature.


"Once you have the spell, go around the garden, using the rune to learn the sounds of different objects or materials."

[whoiam]

Dian chooses to extinguish her magical fire by swallowing it.

While she goes on to easily memorises the words and gestures demonstrated to her (her memory's just kinda like that, after all), for some reason, the new magic just... refuses... to work. Maybe something else is distracting her (though she hasn't touched anyone, so it shouldn't be that bad...) or maybe there was some subtle little gesture she failed to see during the demonstration? But still, the sensor just won't come.

In the end, the lesson is drawing to a close, and a visibly frustrated Dian still hasn't gotten the hang of it...

[Mabn]

Morgawr let the flame in his hand drop unnoticed to the ground, focused onto the new spell to an entirely unhealthy degree. Having now seen two energy emission spells, he was confident he could now reduce both to their basic principals and begin to create a framework of similar spells out of extrapolations of their differences. The first time he tried to practice it he still couldn't make it work. The delay was temporary, but still put him in a mood more profoundly foul than his typical condition. His mood worsened further when he discovered the spell in question didn't serve as an adequate visual supplement to his human form's inadequacies.

[Henry the 57th]

It takes Gregor a fair number of tries to achieve this spell, each failure aggravating him more and more. Still, when he begins to break down the process, to understand the magical steps piece by piece as he would a machine, it seems to click for the young dragon. The next time he tries it, the rune materializes in the air over his staff and he grins triumphantly, his earlier frustrations instantly forgotten.

[Icilia]

Yi quenched the flame in his hand and moved on to trying to learn the new spell. Whilst he was able to center himself, and understood what he needed to do to cast the spell, he was not able to cast it, regardless of how many times he tried.

[Ilena]

Aurora closes the spell off with a quick flash of mental will and sets about focusing on the new one, learning it in a flash, her skill with magic showing true in learning this one quickly. She casts it first against the stones and trees and learns them, she notices the others frustration with it, curious about it but does not act yet.

[Durzan]

While his students were busy practicing the spells, Bairn glanced up at the sky, noting the positioning of the sun. It was getting close to the time when his students needed to go about their chores. He had to keep up appearances, after all...

Bairn observed his students for a few minutes, carefully noting that only 3 of them seemed to have mastered the spell.

"Alright everyone, this concludes today's lesson. Practice the spells you have learned during your free time, and come back tomorrow morning with the spells mastered. See if you can figure out some possible variations, or ways to use them during your daily routine. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me before you go."

"Mowgar, the Library could use a good dusting. Aurora, Master Dugan requested some more Fish and Venison. Yi, there are some heavy crates that were delivered earlier today, could you take them to the storage room and unpack them?

"Gregor, help Yi with the boxes. In one of them, you may find something you might like. When that is done, the gears in the clock tower could use some greasing."

"Diane, You can help Either Mowgar or Aurora out. Some social interaction might do you some good. Maybe they could learn something from you... or perhaps they could teach you something."

[Icilia]

Yi nods, and wanders off to go collect the crates. Not that it was going to take much effort to get it done. As he makes his way to the storage room, he plays with his new fire spell, and wonders about what Bairn said about variations. Perhaps he could use his new spell in combat some way? He begins by first resummoning the flame, which has gotten a little bit easier, an begins pouring in more power, bit by bit. He gently tests the flame as he closes his hand around, testing to see whether it remains lit, and whether it burns him. Assuming no burns, and the flame doesn't go out, he tries one last thing. With the flame still alive in his fist, he pours a large amount of energy into the flame, picturing in his mind the idea of the flame surrounding his fist, and attempting to bind the magic to this idea.

[whoiam]

Dian has very little feel for conventional food (because even by dragon standards, her digestive tract is weird), so quickly decides she'd rather help out with the dusting. Then she takes the scenic route there. Considering how worked up she'd been getting about the magic failures, it's not hard to guess why...

...But by the time she reaches the library, her mood has progressed from 'peeved' to 'foul'. Sneaking off for an extra practice obviously hadn't helped.

That said, her cleaning efforts were noticeably lacklustre, as she gave every indication of concentrating on something other than her domestic duties as she 'helped'...

...No prizes for guessing what.

[Mabn]

Although her mood was obvious, Morgawr actually had no idea about the quality of Dian's work. After all, it wasn't like he could see dust, and his palette was too refined to try smelling for it. Normally he would handle dusting as he would every other cleaning task : move his valued possessions to another location and scour everything else to a uniform, sterile surface by breathing on it. At present he was actually using a cloth on the library sheaves with the sweeping motion one might employ with a broom. Getting to the end of a row and realizing he couldn't tell the differnece if any from when he started, he attempted to use his understanding of the fire and echo spells to hold a small sustained echo at his fingertips.

[Ilena]

Fish has always been Drix's thing, but if i see something that isnt too bad then sure. Now deer and elk thats my thing ... I nod to the master and see which way Dian is going , seeing she isnt planning on hunting I head out of the castle, waiting till then to change and take wing, knowing that the area above the castle is warded to flying creatures. Raising up into the air , graceful as always, I take a deep breath, mmm I miss this ... all the time when we are trapped in human form, i always think about this moment, when im in the air and floating, free and open. I circle for awhile before heading down towards the forests where i usually hunt.

[Durzan]

Yi nods, and wanders off to go collect the crates. Not that it was going to take much effort to get it done. As he makes his way to the storage room, he plays with his new fire spell, and wonders about what Bairn said about variations. Perhaps he could use his new spell in combat some way? He begins by first resummoning the flame, which has gotten a little bit easier, an begins pouring in more power, bit by bit. He gently tests the flame as he closes his hand around, testing to see whether it remains lit, and whether it burns him. Assuming no burns, and the flame doesn't go out, he tries one last thing. With the flame still alive in his fist, he pours a large amount of energy into the flame, picturing in his mind the idea of the flame surrounding his fist, and attempting to bind the magic to this idea.

Yi's experiments prove successful. The flame does go out when you close your fist, but it is easily rekindled. The fire blazes as you put more power into it, and then, once you are ready, you attempt to alter the spell to allow the flames to encircle your fist. At first, the spell wanes and flickers, looking almost unstable as you weave the alterations into the flame with your mind... but eventually you are able to successfully accomplish your goal. Your so-called Firefist spell is clearly ineffiecent, as it seems to need a constant source of mana in order to maintain. Maybe Bairn could help you improve the spell?


Dian has very little feel for conventional food (because even by dragon standards, her digestive tract is weird), so quickly decides she'd rather help out with the dusting. Then she takes the scenic route there. Considering how worked up she'd been getting about the magic failures, it's not hard to guess why...

...But by the time she reaches the library, her mood has progressed from 'peeved' to 'foul'. Sneaking off for an extra practice obviously hadn't helped.

That said, her cleaning efforts were noticeably lacklustre, as she gave every indication of concentrating on something other than her domestic duties as she 'helped'...

...No prizes for guessing what.

After two more additional attempts, you are able to successfully cast the Sensor spell. The shelves you were supposed to be dusting are still rather filthy, however. The Task Master wouldn't be too happy about that...


Although her mood was obvious, Morgawr actually had no idea about the quality of Dian's work. After all, it wasn't like he could see dust, and his palette was too refined to try smelling for it. Normally he would handle dusting as he would every other cleaning task : move his valued possessions to another location and scour everything else to a uniform, sterile surface by breathing on it. At present he was actually using a cloth on the library sheaves with the sweeping motion one might employ with a broom. Getting to the end of a row and realizing he couldn't tell the differnece if any from when he started, he attempted to use his understanding of the fire and echo spells to hold a small sustained echo at his fingertips.

After using your accumulated knowledge on magical theory, you have managed to create a combination variation of both spells that should act basically like a short range sonar. Unfortunately, half the words required to cast the spell you are only passingly familiar with, and as a result you end up setting the bookshelf on fire instead of scanning for dust like you intended.

[Henry the 57th]

Gregor chooses to follow Yi to where the crates can be found. While he helps to move them with his admittedly less than overpowering physique, he maintains a careful watch over their contents for anything of particular interest to him. He decides that moving the crates is a perfect opportunity to test out his new Magical Sensor spell, using it to analyze their contents and then confirming the results with his eyes. All the while he takes careful note of any discrepancies between what the spell says something is and what his eyes see. When the task is nearing competition, he attempts to use the spell a little more creatively on objects on interest. Not scanning to reveal what is, but rather what might be. Learning whether or not these objects posses any affinity for certain kinds of magic. Perhaps one might be especially susceptible to certain kinds of enchantment? It's worth a look.

[Mabn]

Morgawr immediately panicked and threw his bucket of dusting water on the flames. Then, since water could be as damaging to books as fire, he started grabbing stacks of the affected volumes to dry them. Recalling Dian's supposed memory, he turned to her. "Since it has currently become apparent that human ears and lips make precise replication of diction fraught, I would appreciate a comparison of intonations for the next spell I need to employ. I can alter the create flame spell to count these volumes as a part of the caster in order to dry them without burning them, and its actually a smaller change than the palm scanner spell I clearly just mispronounced, but since time is of the essence I don't want to waste time messing with syllable emphasis."

[whoiam]

Having been off experimenting on her own, Dian didn't know how Morgawr had gotten into this mess. Still, it's not that hard to guess how books get soaked when someone's decided that dusting requires a bucket of water...

"I have a better idea, " Dian replies, once she's rushed over and restrained the urge to laugh at (her perception of) the situation. "We'll set the books out to dry normally, on a table by a fireplace, and not risk setting them on fire if you screw your experimental spell up." Suggestion made, she begins collecting sodden books. "And then you can explain why you felt the need to water them in the first place. This is a library, you know. You don't wet-wash the bookshelves while they've got books in them! Dry cloth to shift the dust off. If they need a full wash, you empty the shelf first."

[Icilia]

Happy with his new spell, Yi quickly moves the crates, completly forget about the other spell he was supposed to practice. He then wanders off to go find some more food. Or a nice woman. Or both.

[Durzan]

Gregor chooses to follow Yi to where the crates can be found. While he helps to move them with his admittedly less than overpowering physique, he maintains a careful watch over their contents for anything of particular interest to him. He decides that moving the crates is a perfect opportunity to test out his new Magical Sensor spell, using it to analyze their contents and then confirming the results with his eyes. All the while he takes careful note of any discrepancies between what the spell says something is and what his eyes see. When the task is nearing competition, he attempts to use the spell a little more creatively on objects on interest. Not scanning to reveal what is, but rather what might be. Learning whether or not these objects posses any affinity for certain kinds of magic. Perhaps one might be especially susceptible to certain kinds of enchantment? It's worth a look.

At first the spell bounces off the cardboard giving a fairly flat and dull sound, but you are soon able to figure out how to get the sensor to ignore certain materials. You alter the spell to ignore cardboard, planning to ping the inside of the boxes before opening them up. After pinging many of the boxes, you are able to determine that many of them give off a distinctive metallic ring. Sure enough, when you open the boxes, you find metallic objects in each of these boxes. After further experimentation and thought, you are able to distinguish the slight differences between the frequencies of the metals, and use that to determine the type of metal as well as its concentration. Items with a high concentration are louder, while items with a lower concentration are softer. Metals like Gold and Silver have a higher pitch while items made of Iron, Copper, Tin or Steel have a lower pitch.

One particular box gives off a distinctively loud ring Iron or Steel. Sure enough when you open it, you find it full of gears, pipes, and other objects that would interest a mechanic such as yourself.


Happy with his new spell, Yi quickly moves the crates, completly forget about the other spell he was supposed to practice. He then wanders off to go find some more food. Or a nice woman. Or both.

You find a flirty little barmaid out in the village who seems to take a liking to you.

(Make a Charisma check. A total of 7 or less means you accidentally offend her in some way. 8 or higher indicates that you buy her a drink and manage to enjoy each other's company as friends. 12 or higher means that she likes you enough that she is willing to get into a more serious relationship. 16 or higher means the two of you get along so well that you can, well... *coughs and looks at you suggestively...*)


Fish has always been Drix's thing, but if i see something that isnt too bad then sure. Now deer and elk thats my thing ... I nod to the master and see which way Dian is going , seeing she isnt planning on hunting I head out of the castle, waiting till then to change and take wing, knowing that the area above the castle is warded to flying creatures. Raising up into the air , graceful as always, I take a deep breath, mmm I miss this ... all the time when we are trapped in human form, i always think about this moment, when im in the air and floating, free and open. I circle for awhile before heading down towards the forests where i usually hunt.

Your eyes catch a flicker of movement between the trees. You suspect that it may be a deer.

[Mabn]

Morgawr put his head in a hand, then put his hand down, momentarily growing distracted by how unsettlingly compressible human noses were. "That would be less risky, but the longer these books are wet the more their ink will run. And given the age of the volumes, their paper is thin and frail enough that bleeding and tearing are real issues. My spell isn't experimental, I know how magic works! This is just a sentence with similar syntax and a few words taken from other sentences. We can practice on a piece of wood if you like, the incantation should be the same. I need you because I can't do a consistent human accent, and both pronunciation and emphasis are crucial here."

[whoiam]

"Calm. Down. Books get wet sometimes, they're not going to instantly dissolve. Most of them won't have anything worse than a stain or two, so long as you don't do anything stupid. Like opening them while the pages are still wet. Or overheating them, and warping the bindings. Just gather them up, keep them closed, and bring them over to the fireplace.

Besides, what makes you think the fire would work that way? Did it heat your hand when you held it? It didn't heat mine!"

[Mabn]

Morgawr rubbed his eyes. "No, the spell did not burn me. There is a reason for that. Fire normally heats things. The spell has a clause that exempts certain things from being heated. My modification of the spell adds certain types of plant matter, animal products, and metal based decorations such as ink to that exemption, allowing it to heat away the water without heating the books."

[whoiam]

"Curious. To me it felt as though I felt no heat because I was the source of it's energy. Not because I'd carefully woven a spell to exclude every component of my hand. Still, it may have felt different to you. No matter.

Look, either you've either graduated very quickly to 'I can heat the water in the page without heating the page', or your spell will be ineffective because it won't dry the pages out, or your spell will be counter-productive because it will set the books on fire or burn away any component of the book, binding or inks that you didn't know about in advance.

So, no, I'm not helping out with that. Honestly, it still sounds like a stupid risk you're only pushing to take either out of being too impatient to dry them conventionally, too panicked to remember that mundane drying actually works, too embarrassed about having gotten them wet to risk anyone else finding out, or too egoistic to consider the possibility that you might fail as Aurora did. And don't tell me which, unless you've come up with a reason that's not on my list. It'll be useful next time I have to try and talk one of you out of something stupid, I'm sure.

Now, if you're not going to do something useful, know what you should do? Find an old notebook or something and dunk it in the water. We can try your crazy plan on that, because I'm actually quite curious if we can pull it off. But we'll try that safely outside, to minimise the risk of the explosion damaging more books."

Dian's been using her lecture time to gather as many of the affected books as she can, and true to her word, moves off to begin the process of drying them out conventionally. She'll probably be at it a while if Morgawr doesn't help...

[Mabn]

Morgawr moves considerably faster than his usual begrudging steps. All of the mentioned reasons for his impatience were true, but he was as willing to think about that as he was to be captive. Less than a minute later he returned with a book, dunked it in the water and started leaving the library. "I've been meaning to recopy my notes anyway, I hope you know a fast way out of the castle because the dusting isn't going to wait forever."

[whoiam]

"I wouldn't worry about that too much, " Dian replies, propping papers under the last of the soaked books, and rising to follow Morgawr. "It was basically just makework. We're not going to get much more than a slap on the wrist if we've not finished it in time. Now run through the incantation, and I'll tell you if I hear anything that's coming out wrong..."

[Icilia]

Yi spends some time talking to the girl before being gently taken upstairs. Some two hours later, he wanders back out of the room, with a rather smug look on his face.

[Durzan]

Bairn looks around his mother's courtyard and sighed. He gestured, fixing the wall Yi had punched through in anger earlier.

Well, they certainly do learn quickly, He thought to himself as he left the courtyard. I wonder how well each of them will study for tomorrow's lesson.

[Durzan]

After about an hour of wandering his manor working on various tasks that needed his attention, he turned his mind back to his students.

I wonder how they are doing, He thought, muttering a short incantation to activate the scrying spells built into his students marks.

[Mabn]

Morgawr entered the courtyard still feeling defensive. He'd reviewed the incantation with Dian on the way, and he was pretty confident of his spell, but the exchange in the library was declining to leave his attention. Setting the wet journal down, he began his attempt to cast more hastily than was strictly necessary and was shocked when the notebook quickly began hissing and was surrounded by a cloud of steam. He cursed to to himself when he realized he never made a clause to keep the water from heating the book by proxy, but when he grabbed the book and flipped through it, he was relieved to find it only slightly damp and still about as legible as ever. Not having thought of a speech to aggrandize himself, he offered the book to Diana.