You briefly consider tossing the Lair Permit to the ground as instructed but dismiss that idea, it's probably trapped or something nasty like that. You tuck it into your robe with the License and assess the situation. You have no food or provisions for staying in the wild, nor any means of transport. The old bugger didn't even give you your graduation staff as is traditional, and all your stuff is back in your room.
You need to find civilization before you starve. You're not some wild man who can survive on twigs and berries and you certainly aren't going to hunt animals with death magic and then eat them! That would be... unhealthy. You
are rather frustrated though, and still tingling with aetheric energies; in fact the residual charge is starting to itch a bit and you know you should discharge it soon. Your eyes narrow as you bring forth the Void Within and focus the energies into your hands. With a yell you loose a void blast which ripples out like an invisible shockwave through the air. It affects the space around objects in front of you, causing it to ripple and change rapidly so that objects caught in the maelstrom are torn apart.
A wide swathe of trees, plantlife and animals are torn into a monatomic fog of energized particles. A fine greenish brown mist settles to the forest loam as the forest around you goes suddenly quiet. Even nature respects such a fundamental force of the universe, and the void is yours to command.
Your anger vented, you feel a bit more centered and you take a look around for something with which to make a dowser. Dowsing is a very basic charm, one which even you have mastered despite your lack of interest in the so-called 'lighter arts' offered at Swinesworth. You pick up a twig of about the right length and begin laying the charm into its surface. It helps that this twig has been long dead and is rather dry, its life essence has drained away long ago. After scratching runes into the surface representing the aspects of bone and blood, you charge it with a bit of Aetheric energy and the thing fairly leaps from your hand. It seems to be tugging off to the west. This charm should be attracting you to the largest concentration of living human blood nearby, which is the simplest way you could think of to find civilization.
You set off through the trees, muttering curses in the infernal language of the underdarrow. The words, charged with power from your residual aetheric charge, ripple the air before you and cause the trees and other foliage to recoil. A useful if unintended side-effect, you're just cursing because you are pissed off. As you trudge through this blasted forest you attempt to remember the shape of the rune the old scribe used to send you on this journey. It seemed like a standard initiation rune which simply acts as a trigger for another charm or enchantment already in place. You were never much good with rune magic.
Gods, your shoulder hurts. You stop for a moment and look down, realizing for the first time that you are injured. Your right sleeve is ripped and a small cluster of Aetheric crystal is jabbed into the meat of your upper arm. No wonder this Aetheric charge hasn't dissipated yet! You reach up and yank out the hunk of crystal, healing your wound almost without though by applying a touch of blood magic. You bring the crystal up and note that it is not giving off the normal multi-hued rainbow light of such a gem, instead it seems to have caught some of the void magic you channeled and the heart of the crystal is a black emptiness. You're not sure what that means but you really don't have time to investigate it right now.
You do, however, notice smoke rising above the trees ahead. Several hours of walking through this stupid forest and you're now at a tree line looking out over a quaint little village. You'd estimate no more than 100 people live here but they should at least have some food, and you can probably have a bit of fun with them. Now that you're out of the pressing trees and have a better look at the horizon, you see a mountain range rising in the distance to the North and a river that runs in from the West and off to the South, passing close by the village.
Now what? You are standing outside of a sleepy little village. Nearby are trees and grass and other assorted bits of nature.
Currently Wearing: Casual attire, black hooded robe, soiled underpants.
Inventory: worn apprentice staff, spare clean socks, unknown potion vial (1 dose), 3 silver coins, Necromancer's License(charged), Lair Permit, Letter, void crystal
Status Effects:
You are somewhat disheveled from your trek but still presentable.
Somewhat peckish - You could eat.
Annoyed - Your temper is somewhat frayed at the moment.
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Author
Topic: Necromancy 101 (Read 8294 times)