You send a formal letter to the upper nobility in charge of prisoners, asking for expendable convicts. It's not exactly a rare practice, but there will always be a chance that those in charge of the prisoners will want payment in exchange for it. Time will tell once you get a response.
While you wait, you spend the next few days looking for jobs. Some meditation on the side also yields 2 mana.
Eventually, canvassing door-to-door, discussion at more public gathering places for the nobility, and having eyes peeled for job postings results in various mercenary contracts.
WANTED: WIZARD
Must be qualified in stealth-focused magics
Contact Razot's Band for more details
Wizard needed to guard caravan
Dangerous roads
2 mundane mercenaries also required
See Silverhall Trading Depot clerk with questions
Eventually, you return to your empty home to find a letter waiting for you from the prisons.
To the Wizard Casot Bobokunkin:
I'm afraid we cannot supply any convicts convicted to death without a fee. There exists a cost in the transferring and handling of these prisoners that means we simply cannot afford to give them away.
However, the previous Bobokunkin wizard Karzot Bobokunkin did send numerous prisoners that would ultimately be sentenced to death in his earlier years. No payment was rendered at the time and we feel these actions merit the equivalent of two convicts to be received by the Bobokundin house.
Please note that serious fines will be levied if the assigned convicts are freed.
Azultus Arthoks, Silverhall Prisons.
Perfect.
You head to the prisons to meet your new "subject". A secure room is provided and the convict is brought in. Upon entry into the room, you can't help but notice thousands of blast marks littering the walls, floors, and ceiling of the room. It certainly has seen a lot of use.
Ignoring the curses from the convict, you calm yourself and cast Basic Sense Inner Flame for 5 mana and focus.
You feel something... Intense. Large. Their fire strains as it burns.
Without letting go of the spell, you try to reach out and manipulate the convict's inner fire.
Nothing.
Nothing notable, at least. You can feel the slightest sensation of increased intensity in the fire, but nothing else happened. The convict remains standing and chained, visibly unaffected. You decide that this attempt was merely bad luck or a lack of dedication, and put it on the back of your mind. You move onto your next experiment: Flame Absorption.
Suddenly, something feels different. You haven't finished casting the spell yet, but it's almost as if you're encountering resistance. You stay steady and continue pouring mana into the spell and eventually are rewarded for your efforts. A large amount of mana floods into your person. Such a large amount, in fact, that you yourself feel different. It seems that you have a slightly higher mana capability. And an additional 6 mana as well.
You look at the convict. They're still alive, but different. They make no more strains at their chains or curses. The convict stands there, uncaring.
Over the next few days you perform some studying and thought. First, you note, is a new spell - Absorb Inner Flame. The strain it creates on you, regardless of mana, is something that you theorize can only be remedied via meditation. Trying to cast the spell twice without any kind of meditation in between would likely end very poorly for you.
It seems to... absorb some kind of emotions from the victim. Your training covered the typical sorts of necromancy, life magic, and more, but this wasn't ever covered. The victim still remains alive, and if the reports from the prison are to be trusted, capable of logical thought, but without emotion. You don't know if this is temporary or permanent, just that it exists.
Finally, you also look into your new capabilities. You believe this was a one-time thing; that the overflow of mana received went "somewhere else" and aided your own endurance. It's not an unheard of effect.
You feel you should probably think of a term for those affected by the spell. Being rendered void of emotion is a pretty major personality trait of someone that should be noted.
And other than that, what now?
Cazot Bobokundin
Location: Silverhall
Mana: 11/11. (A general measure of endurance that is restored primarily with rest and "used" by magical exertion.)
School Proficiencies (Your talent at magic of the various schools and types in existence.)
- Pyromancy: 1 (The art of manipulating fire.)
Spells & Abilities
General
- Manipulation [0m] (The use of magic to manipulate your surroundings via levitation and minor transfers of energy. Generally takes no mana to perform unless extreme feats are undertaken.)
Pyromancy
- Flame Tongue [3m] (For 5 seconds, extend a flaming tongue up to 3 inches from your hand and manipulate it to a limited extent.)
- Basic Sense Inner Flame [5m] (For five minutes, attune yourself to your surroundings and sense the inner fires of those in your proximity.)
- Absorb Inner Flame [0m] (Absorb the inner flame of another being. If they cannot resist, they will be rendered emotionless and you will gain mana depending on the person. Can only be used once between meditation sessions.)
- Flame Absorption [0m] (You can "absorb" nearby flames for varying amounts of mana depending on the size, heat, and intensity of the flames.)
Inventory
- Robes
Assets
- Noble Family Home in Silverhall
- Lower Family Home in Silverhall
- 1 Death-sentence Convict
- 1 ??? Death-sentence Convict