aionlogs | [OPEN TO PLEROMA] MAGIC TRAINING!

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[OPEN TO PLEROMA] MAGIC TRAINING!

WHO: Pleroma interested in ~*~magic~*~
WHAT: Magic Training!
WHERE: Outside Greentruth
WHEN: Mid Visoseri
WARNINGS: none anticipated - if any are needed, please PM me and I'll add them!

Deep beneath Greentruth, on the forest floor, is the safest place, to keep the city free of errant fire spells or other such dangers, and a few of the paths down are lit with dancing lights -- when caught with the right angle -- point arrows down, to the forest floor, below the large trees and the city nestled up within the branches. Daylight cuts and filters in, but the entire area is lit with lanterns and fires throughout the space that was chosen. The large area is divided, different sections, signs, clearly laid out paths with torches, all to illuminate where the sunlight doesn't cut, and ensure that the foggy, deep forest is bright enough for those who want to study magic can do so. The space is...about as clear as it can be, given the location, although there is still plenty of wildlife and plant life that has been..."gently" encouraged to move out of the way, so the paths between each area is clear.

For some time, during the "symposium", at the top of every hour, a spell was let off that was all illusion, a flare that careened upward to announce the presence of the magical gathering in the forest floor below. Although there had been a communion, only days prior, to announce the gathering, there can be no mistaking where this gathering is meant to be.

[Target Practice]

Set a bit away from the center bonfire of the gathering was several wooden, human shaped frames, set up at varying distances from the cleared area. Some were tucked behind half cover, behind a tree in the far distance, or as if they were "crouched" behind a gathering of ferns. The entire area is lit with overhead lights, to keep the mists and fogs at the forest floor from encroaching too much. There's also plenty of replacements set to the side, painted neatly, in case anyone gets too...destructive. A few (although not many) seem to have a small, glowing rune carved to the base, and shine with what looks to be a veneer -- it's a weak shield working, to be sure, but they'll be less easily destroyed than the others. They're interspersed throughout the "shooting range", and there's a starting area constructed from a fallen log to set where the "shooting" space was.

Off to another side, set against a small table, are a collection of clay pigeons. There's a box to the side filled to the brim with the small... they're closer to clay plates painted colorfully, but it's rather easy to see what they're set up for. There's no mechanism to launch them into the air, due to budget -- but if you can find a way to launch them... or if you can convince a buddy to throw or magic them into the air, it's fair game to throw them off and deep into the forest, and see if you can hit them!

[Sparring Ring]

Closer to the central bonfire is a large rope barrier set into a circle. The stakes are each inscribed -- again curious workings from the hostess -- although this is designed more to keep things in, than out. Not people, of course, once in, one can leave just as easily as before, but there's a perceivable shiver when one passes through -- a shield to protect wayward spells from leaving the encircled area. A small sign posted -- with perfect painted calligraphy -- explains that this area is for practicing magic duels. Either from one on one fights -- or even two vs two or larger -- and while the space isn't huge, it's certainly set up with enough space for several people to move around in comfortably, for a friendly wizard's duel. A final rule at the bottom does dictate that participants should "avoid lethal damage".

There's even a small set of logs outside the ring for spectating, arranged neatly and purposefully as seats, one can rest up or cheer on their friends from the sides, if you're so inclined.

[Obstacle Course]

The entrance starts with a sign -- off to one side, a pathway marked clearly into the forest. It's listed as a "Practice Course", and includes a statement that warns for "sudden enemies" that are littered through the dark and dank woods beyond -- and also that it's not really set up for true beginners. (Or you can go anyway, you do you.) The path is lined with small motes of light, that guide one throughout the pathway and the course. You can run, you can walk, but eventually, you'll come upon the first obstacle, a felled tree across the path, followed by a pit dug into the earth right behind it -- nothing dangerous in the bottom (of course) but you'll come out covered in mud -- before the trail continues deeper into the forest. The lights are present to lead one from the entrance, and along toward the exit -- it's a good length, and designed for someone to make their way through the entire thing with caution. Several wooden targets are littered throughout the path -- some even move, either up and down, or side to side, to hide from cover, enchanted with another low-grade cantrip to move, so as not to be too easy. Several more "pitfalls", and even a large pit at some point, one must use their wits and magics, to get across.

Or, you know, walk around it, if you're so inclined, although that's hardly the intent.

There's plenty of creativity with the falls and obstacles, and at a good clip, takes about a half-hour to walk. And who knows, maybe there's something out in the woods that caught sight of the light, and moved closer to investigate...

[Scholarly Pursuits]

For those who are not inclined toward battle, there is always a need for more than just those who fight. Finding ways to do that is the tricky part, often. While one can go to battle, and weave great workings and spells, and fight an enemy, there's just as much merit in the pursuit of knowledge, of using your magics for more than simply war. In that vein, there is a section set up for precisely this purpose. Perhaps you want to sit and think for a bit about how to combine your own power with an ally's, or even to think through how to make it work. Sometimes just putting a pen to paper is enough to get the thoughts flowing.

It's difficult to lug furniture of any sort from Greentruth to the floor below, but molding and sculpting the area to work for this purpose is important, so there are fallen tree trunks that have been split to create large tables, and logs left everywhere to create into seating. There are large sheaths of paper, ink, and quills, all set up for theory and magic. There are no books -- although if they are brought and shared, all the better. Dancing lights coalesce above, almost galaxy-like in the way they gather together, to offer light for those that want to spend time studying.

Beyond the paper and ink are materials, small shards of metal, barks, plants, dirt, and other sorts of things that could be considered... "material components", as it were. Collected with are, and laid out along the large table in dishes, to be used if needed in ones own magical study.

[Fire Pit]

Of course, what gathering would be a true gathering without a fire? It's warm, with seats all about, reminiscent of the sort of thing one would dig when roasting a large beast. Seats all around, from cushions, to stumps, rocks, and even some blankets, all set up for relaxing after a long day of working hard -- or for those who want to spectate!

The fire has a beast on the spit -- something purchased within Greentruth clearly -- and large enough for an entire gathering of people. There is a display laid out on one of the largest stumps, with plenty of vegetables and fruits to roast on the fire or simply eat, and another stump has plenty of bottles of wines, liquors, and even some juices about to be sampled by those who need a little break, or at the end of the day. The fire doesn't seem to need fuel, and doesn't get extinguished, but burns cheerily, creating a centerpiece to the entire gathering for those who need it. The drinks aren't frosted, but there's plenty of practice to be had by simply chilling one yourself, or asking a friend to do it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Akua had been waiting at one of the tables, idly taking a few notes when Jayce approached, and she lifted a hand in response, her smile blossomed. "No, not late at all. What did you bring for us to work with?"

Jayce had promised some sort of material, and she was... eager to see what he'd have found for them to collaborate on. He pushed the paper away, and leaned forward, curious to see what he'd found.

He pulls his hand out of his pocket, revealing five quartz crystals of varied clarity and size. Presenting it like a hunter returning with a dozen-point prize, he holds out his palm for her inspection.

"They took a little time to acquire," he says.

Her eyes moved from Jayce's face to the offerings, and they flashed in somewhat delighted surprise. "My --" she said and held out a hand to pluck one out of his hand.

She held it up to look at it, and it gleamed in the firelight.

"My, I don't doubt it. You've found quite the selection, didn't you? I wonder, what sorts of magics could we put into something like this..." her tone was speculative, but with pause for Jayce to offer his thoughts.

"Nothing as easy as shooting into them," he says. "Especially the firebrand spells, it's all very — destructive."

He glances to a man on the obstacle course. Kim Kitsuragi.

"But if we had someone who understands abjuration, well. I think that's our way into imbuing this arcane energy."

She nodded, and her eyes followed his implied trail. "Something like that, hm?" she asked, and tapped it with a single finger.

"It could be done. I've imbued runes and weavings into objects myself, but... not yet in this new world. There's any number of methods we could try, from inscribing something..." a pause.

She wondered, if Jayce would understand High Arcana -- it's not likely, given the way it slips from ones mind like water if they aren't trained, but could he, with instruction? -- it's possible. "Runes from your world, or mine, to give them purpose, perhaps?"

"Those are our instruments at hand," he murmurs as he nods, his lips barely moving, "and in isolation, they may not have a profound effect. But it occurs to me: our situation here hinges on the substance of multiple worlds."

His glance to her holds, the significance incoming.

"What if we combined them with a perfectly balanced equation? What if we had someone—" a glance to Kim— "who could imbue the final touch?"

Akua looked back at Kim a second time, following the train of thought that Jayce was proposing. There was a certain violence to Kim's power, certainly, a heft to it, and Akua was curious what that would mean for their work.

Particularly the link of two different worlds, perhaps his theories, and her high arcana, plus the power of someone else...

It's curious, and interesting. It has potential. Akua is so used to doing her work herself, but the thought is...interesting.

"I like it," she admitted, with a smile. "A burst of power to shock it all into place, then? From someone with the power to, say...convert from one source, and into another?"

"Do you think he'd agree to it?" Jayce assumes Akua kept greater familiarity — her insight was invaluable. "We all have an urgency to discover the physics of this world, and you've summoned those of us interested in arcana specifically."

It adds up, he means.

"But how to broach the topic?" When the reality of their experiment could be dangerous.

"I think he would be amenable," she paused then. "Although the possible...repercussions would be a difficult selling point, I think," she admitted.

Many here were...cautious. While Akua would do more than most in the pursuit of progress, she was a Villain, through and through. Kinder now, than she had been in her earlier years, but she was still a villain in her heart.

"I suppose if we hammered our theory down to the specific aim, and lay out the potential downsides, we could likely convince him of the need to figure this out now. He seems...pragmatic, yes? Although I feel you and I want to know for the sake of knowing, the practical need will likely need to be laid out clearly."

"Pragmatic," he nods. "Apt way to describe what I've seen."

But how inclusive could such data be? Jayce had been keeping to himself; he hadn't let slip his coal-thick guard, not since the night Viktor vanished without explanation. The fear lingers — if it could happen once, it could happen again. Why expose oneself to such unanswered agony? He lacked the answers.

Nevertheless. He had the wisdom to know he couldn't do this alone. Akua—and perhaps Kim, too—could see the bigger picture.

"A bitter pill is better on the tongue after honey." He winces, "I don't suppose we could find whatever drink he favors?"

There's a soft chuckle, at the thought. "I could guess, but I've been known to be wrong. He strikes me as a whiskey type," she floated, but it's all guess at this point. She hadn't seem him during the party, and wouldn't know what he would err toward. "I'm sure we could offer him something from our offerings here... I did my best to make sure we had a little bit of everything."

She gestured to the fire, where there was a small minibar. The jools to do so had been...more than Akua had liked, but she was used to teaching Catherine, who often would need to be plied with liquor to stand still long enough to learn.

"I'm sure a good drink would be enough. I don't think he could see the downside, if we have something in mind that aligns with his purpose. He seems to side with our shared purpose. If we know what we want the gem to do, perhaps we can convince him easily."

"I'm not averse to a little experimentation between us." He holds a particularly pointed crystal quartz out to her, an unmistakable offering. "I'm used to carving runes in metal, but—" a flick of his wrist showcases the bracelet he wore— "I would never limit an equation. Shall we?"

A chance to expose their respective runic symbolism, a feat of trust.

"We have to have something to show him, after all."

Her eyes lit on the bracelet, the way he kept a bracelet said enough -- that he very clearly kept the concept, and the workings close to him. For a moment, she only touched the space where a necklace would be -- gone at the moment -- the old sign of her Phylactery, the connection to guide her soul to a new body. An old thing, that didn't exist anymore -- destroyed.

She took the crystal, and turned it over in her hand.

"I think we shall -- " she held it up, before she let a spark of a working, something small and easy -- to let it float above her hands. "And what should our aim be? A portable shield? Or perhaps something to mimic our catalyst? Something that absorbs and redirects energy?"

He watches how her eyes linger. "I'm sentimental," he offers. "Easier for me to rebuild something than to..." Admit it was gone? Viktor's face flashes in his mind for a moment.

This remake he wore wasn't the original, just a pale shadow of the leather his father had tanned and the arcane crystal his sorcerer had used, but it mattered to him. It mattered to him deeply.

"Couldn't bear risking memory erasure," he continues, "I sketched all the runes we had discovered, refined for Hextech." His back pocket housed the slim notebook, best he could find under the circumstances.

"Yes." Back on track, his focus snaps. "All the above, but I'm particularly interested in redirection. No sense in wasting the energy thrown at us."

He watches her levitate the crystal, his mouth solemn.

She nodded, in response. There's a hint of that same stormcloud that crossed his face after she'd arrived, like there was something... missing, or a gaping wound. He pulled himself out of it, and Akua's not one to pry. If he sought her for advice, that was one thing, but she suspected that the man would want to deal with it privately.

She knew that she would want the same, and work is the finest distraction that one can craft.

She let the crystal remain there, suspended. There's no light, but it catches the dim lights that waft above, and the ambient light from the fire. With the right spells, it will likely be quite the dazzling specimen, when it takes to the small working. She had plenty of things in high arcana for most uses, but for this purpose...

"How wide in purpose are your runes? I think we can start simple, perhaps one to absorb, and store -- another to lash out? Do you have one to hold energy?"

"The common denominator is harnessing the force of arcane power," he says. "The application becomes diverse. We've used it for transportation, for levitation, illumination, and force." The last both refined and brute, but he doesn't linger.

"The outcome is manifested by the runic combinations." Jayce nods to her, assuming the same logic holds for her experience.

"Yes, it's similar, when creating a working, although..." she trailed off, and let the crystal drop back into her hand.

"Different things can affect the outcome. From the material, to the inscriptions, to how much power is pushed into it, either once or over time, these can all have a distinct impact on what sort of output the working would have," a slight smile on her face, less the one of self satisfied serenity, and one of pride. "Once, I built a well of Night so deep I was able to blot out the light of the Pilgrim's Star. No easy feat, I can assure you," she admitted. "I spent months shoveling Night, in anticipation to blot the light out," she paused, considering. "We'll want to think of the length, as well. Should this be an immediate return, or should it gather power to lash back with?"

He nods, questions about Night and Pilgrims brimming his lips. Focus, Jayce.

"Both, ideally. A spectrum of reverberation, a quantifiable calculation of potential into kinetic energy. I'm sure I don't have to illustrate the uses — immediate shields for deflections, timed bombs for strategy, and so forth."

His mind lingers back to what she said. "Your arcana," he begins, "also invokes roles? Like the ones here."

She can imagine it, the types of magics that would allow for one to convert energy from one form to another. It's not... quite what she does with her kind of sorcery, but the principles are... similar? Enough so that the logic holds.

"It's... complicated," she admitted. "At its heart, it should not be, and often isn't. Sorcery is not of Good or Evil, however... those who follow the path of good are so often more willing to use Light, although there's the occasional Rogue Sorcerer or Witch of the Woods, who can create great workings." Akua, however...

"Night is...not necessarily of roles, but of religion. Sorcery is outside of that, but Light and Night are borne out of opposing roles, or who one worships. Sorcery is...outside of that, despite what the Church of Light in Procer may have one believe."

"We have similar parallels—or had, perhaps—with magic and the ethos. The latter less a spiritual religion and more of a... philosophical guidebook?" Heimerdinger's handiwork.

Jayce continues: "I know what it's like, when society sings in absolutes. When magic is a tool, an asset, a function — and people project morality into the equation."

"Mm, yes. Morality is quite outside of that. It's what one does with said magic, that determines whether one follows the path of Above or Below -- or none at all," although to Akua, that was rarer than anything else they spoke of.

"There doesn't seem to be such restrictions here -- instead the divide is between... hope and despair, it seems. Give in to a world that should be obliterated, and start with a clean slate -- or improve what is already there."

She would have thought dealing with the Bard would be the end of it, but here she was, fighting the same fight as before. Somewhere, she wondered if Yara of Nowhere, was laughing with glee, at her victory.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[OPEN TO PLEROMA] MAGIC TRAINING!

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