02 ☘ voice

[necrocabbage]

I encountered something quite strange recently.

[Trahearne's normally calm tone has a stressed edge to it. This seems to be bothering him more than the otherwise measured voice post might let on.]

Has anyone else noticed spots of magical activity? Ones dealing with negative energy in particular. Those I observed seemed to have mild effects, such as floating lights or inexplicable patches of dead grass. I found it curious enough to spend some time investigating one of these areas.

The effects were quite interesting. It felt much like my necromantic magic was given a boost of energy. It was easier, and faster, to cast spells. [Here, he pauses before continuing,] The problem came when my summoned minions stopped responding to my commands. I destroyed them once I realized what was happening, but I am concerned by that fact that it happened at all.

I'm going to ask at the Aisling Tower about this phenomenon, but in the meantime, I would advise other spellcasters to avoid using their skills near any areas of strange activity.


[OOC: This is specifically dealing with this month's Metaphysics 5 activity in case you're wondering!]

Comments

[necrocabbage]

That's right. I had no sense that anything was breaking my connection to my minions, but they acted as though they were refusing to follow my orders.

[eyeinfusion]

...Huh.

[Excuse the small silence while he thinks.]

...How do you summon?

[necrocabbage]

I use my magic to open a small portal to another plane, which my minions emerge out of. At least, that's how it normally works. I suspect my magic is simply creating them now, since it would be impossible to access that plane while being on this world.

[eyeinfusion]

Portal, huh...

[Rokuta had mentioned something like that, too, and also that it couldn't work the way it used to back on his home.]

[But at least it doesn't sound like what Judai had first been thinking of, which involves blanking out the "access point," as it were.]

That must feel kinda weird. [Both the fact of the magic doing something else now, and...having to destroy the minions.] Has something like this happened before? [Trahearne had mentioned "minions" in the context of that dragon, though Judai hadn't commented on it at the time.]

[necrocabbage]

It is quite.... unnerving. In all my years of practicing magic, this has never happened. Not even once. I never considered that it could even be possible.

[eyeinfusion]

Feels worse than the Talents, right?

[Because that's just a weird additional skill, and isn't changing anything, from Judai's point of view.]

Uh, you said necromantic magic?

[necrocabbage]

Oh, absolutely. As unsettling as a new tattoo and associated Talent is, it's proven to be harmless.

And yes, I did say that. I am a practicing necromancer, after all.

[eyeinfusion]

Hehe, I guess that's one way of putting it. [Judai certainly can't hurt someone with his Talent, but he did try to use it to scare people, which he wouldn't call harmless. Then again, no one did get hurt in the end, so.]

Necromancer, huh? Sounds neat. How do you practice it? It's not just minions, right?

[necrocabbage]

Necromancy itself is something of a broad term. Practitioners use types of magic that channel 'negative' energy, such a blood magic or death magic.

There's quite a wide variety of spells that necromancers use, though other than my minions I tend to use life force manipulation. I can use my own supply to power certain spells, or siphon it from others.

[eyeinfusion]

[...Death magic, huh...]

[...Okay, so he doesn't find himself as freaked out as he probably should be. He's known about dark duels for a long time now, and he recently met a guy who uses shadow magic. Not to mention he himself had created something once that—]

[But anyway.] Does it, uh, you know...use an item or a magic circle or something like that? [He rubs at the back of his head.] Maybe whatever it's getting corrupted by is...uh, you said there were certain areas it was happening in?

[necrocabbage]

Using tools does tend to be a large help. Some spells can be cast without those, but there are many others that must be channeled through a focus or a weapon.

I have no way of searching them all out in a city this large, but the areas I did find were generally small and out of the way, thankfully.

[eyeinfusion]

Maybe it was the focuses that were getting corrupted, too? [But...that probably makes things more complicated, when there's a perfectly reasonable explanation about it happening in certain areas.]

Guess we'll all just have to be careful with magic. Right before the tourney, too!