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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carnifex" data-source="post: 744594" data-attributes="member: 227">As requested, here is more <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />As he stood looking at the items as they were described, Burl’s eyes were drawn to the brown-black powder, known as Death’s Heart. He had remembered reading about it, but just for the moment couldn’t remember what it did exactly, but he did know that it could be added to necromantic spells, and there seemed to be enough for ten applications. He would bet that this wouldn’t be of any use to the others.Wolf seemed to have smoothed things over with Lord Ecurius, one way or another. Melisande felt relieved. She was fresh and bright that morning--frankly approaching radiant with excitement and cheer--but had this time done her hair in more practical fashion, braided only at the temples. Brimming with her new spells she planned to show them off, but the heaps of fascinating spoils on the common room table distracted her utterly. (There would be time. And the new spells had endless possibilities as fun surprises for her companions, she thought.) Burl seemed to be coming back to the same few items she too had been most interested in. With the Fire-Serpent Rod already in her possession, she felt no need of another wand, but it was true that if the two of them would be going armorless they might each take some defensive enhancement or other. "Oh Burl, I completely forgot to help you with your salves last night; I hope it went all right without me. Look, this Death-powder and these scrolls of Fireball and Monster Summoning are perfect for you..." She struggled a moment, trying not to sound stuck-up about having her own inner source of magic rather than a silly old book. "I don't want the wand either, really, if you're going to take that. But I wouldn't mind the Ring of Protection or the Amulet, and one of the Curing potions. My goodness, I owe you money too," she blurted upon seeing the stacks of gold. She waited, however, for the others' claims before reaching for anything.Wyshira joined the others gathered around the table spread with the spoils of the previous day's victory. To see it all in one place like this was quite impressive. She hesitated to handle most of the items, standing back away from the table instead, but she watched as Burl examined several things with obvious interest. Of all the items there, only the crystalline javelins drew her eye. Wolf explained that Ecurius had identified everything for them, and when she asked specifically about the javelins, he described how they worked and called them prismatic. They appealed to Wyshira even more, now that she knew their nature, and she reached out with delicate fingers to take one of the bright things up in her hand. The javelin flashed and sparkled in the light pouring in through the windows, and Wyshira noted that it seemed to weigh nothing at all. "I'd like to have these," she announced enthusiastically. * * *Whatever else might have happened during the past few days, Sebastion found his morning drill easier than he remembered. There hadn’t been many opportunities for practice for its own sake, of late, but he had benefited more from putting that practice to good effect, it seemed. As he’d suspected, the goods were on offer to them the next morning – to the victor the spoils, as it were – and he joined the others in their appraisal as he listened to Wolf list the virtues of various items and substances. Most of them were, at the least, beyond his use if not completely beyond his understanding, but others raised a note of interest. The lightning arrows that had been fired at them, for instance, seemed something of note, and the ornate, decorative mace… But they’re magical… he reminded himself, still unsure just how far he could trust such a fickle practice. In friendly hands it’s one thing, but… I have no idea who might have enchanted these. What if it turns on me? What if the magic fades? A magical mace, of course, is still a mace should the magic be lost, but a finely wrought sword can never turn on its owner, and I could use a good, one-handed blade for mounted combat… Nevertheless, his fingers ran over the last, fading, yellow remnants of the crushing blow that magical mace had laid into his ribs, and his eyes sought out the red gem that had hung about Cancer’s throat. ”That, uh… that Amulet of the Dragon…… how does that work, exactly?” he asked Melisande, quietly, hoping no-one would overhear."Well," Mel began, taking a long breath, "the actual execution of an object like this requires years of study, but the principle is simple enough. It probably contains a small sample taken from a real dragon as a focal point; most likely a bit of protective scale or an organ of metabolism, such as the liver or thyroid. The enchantment process is not something I've studied much, but the outcome is that the amulet channels some vital thaumic energy from the focus to the wearer so that the wearer is endowed with a very small but significant quantum of dragon 'toughness'; in other words, you could resist more serious wounds. Take what that mace did to you yesterday! You might not even have passed out. Although it was probably more comfortable that way, come to think of it. Still, handy if you plan on becoming a warlord." She ended on a bright smile, finding herself distracted once again by the sweet, earthy scent Sebastion seemed to exude particularly in the morning. Where does it come from, she puzzled, and why is it so interesting anyway? "Why, you smell like hay!" Listening to Mel made Burl think about what she was saying, “Mel, what you say makes sense to a point. I could go along with you about the dragon. However, I would believe that it gains it’s power from necromancy. Take for example a spell on a scroll I just received." Burl paused a moment, whoops there I go opening my mouth without thinking. Hopefully they won’t notice, then continued, "this scroll contained a spell which takes the energy from another being and transfers it to the caster or at least that is what I think it does. Now doesn’t this leave you to believe that the amulets magic is derived from or at least in some form from necromantic energy." Burl loved talking to another mage about the fine arts and this was the first time he had been able to engage in a learned discussion.Desperately grateful for this opportunity to eschew the topic of Sebastion's odor, Mel turned quickly away to listen to Burl. "Why yes, I think you're right! I was unclear on the mechanics but it must be some sort of transfer of vital force--why didn't I think of necromancy? Ninny, I've worked in a Manipulator's lab for long enough! Of course, these days I have been trying to put that icky mucking about with corpses out of my mind."I mean--not--you know--I didn't mean icky, per se, just not my cup of... ichor. Ah ha."And don't worry, I figured out you were a necromancer a long time ago. I mean, ghoul dust? Come on. Although you do seem less snot-nosed than the ones I used to work with. You should have--oh, I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" Oh, this is just wonderful. Someone who can understand my life’s work. thought Burl. “You then can possibly understand the problems that a necromancer like myself can have. Look at this example. Think of the good that can be had by taking a dying person. A person who has no hope of recovery and using their final life’s force to make something like this amulet. They will die anyway, we just speed the process up a little. Someone such as Sebastion or yourself will benefit greatly by their death. This is just one such use for my art." Burl is positively glowing as he relates to his craft. Sebastion tried to listen intently, but the continued way that Melisande kept wrinkling her nose was starting to make him a little paranoid, and he almost missed the point of what she was saying to him. "Will I grow scal... Hay?" he said, as she suddenly changed tack. "Well, probably, I spent the..." he began to respond, pointing towards the red amulet that Sebastion was holding in one hand. "... gains its power from necromancy." Unseen by the two academics, Sebastion lurched slightly, almost flinging the amulet to the table in his haste to get it out of his grasp. "Necromancy!" he almost yelped, startled at the idea. First it kills you, then it makes you 'tough'. Some gift... "... I figured out you were a necromancer a long time ago... Sebastion backed away hurriedly, his eyes widening even as his hand scrabbled on the table for the hilt of the black-bladed sword, warily watching Burl with a new concern. "No, Sebastion will not be hanging some dead person's spirit round his neck, thank you very much. Dead people belong in boxes, in the ground, or burnt on pyres, not stuck in bloody gems. You leave me out of it..."</blockquote>

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