Burning Book

Tenebrae - Saturday, July 20, 2019, 6:45 PM

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-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--<* A11: Festival Grounds *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The sweeping Festival Grounds serve many purposes. For much of the year they serve as practice grounds for training knights, for the games of children who pick up ball, bat, and begin a game of stickball. During other times, they're filled with colored tents, with performers for some of Alexandria's many festivals.

Along one side are a set of permanent bleachers, and at either end an archway. Each archway is carved in the style of a grand entry and marked with images of of Daeus, with rearing horse and flying pennon. Here, the god stands depicted in his roles of defender and knight-warrior. Recently, the Lancers of Serriel have taken to practicing here, along the knights and warriors of other orders, and a small number of them take a select pride in the upkeep of the grounds, alongside the Daeusites, Navosians, Gileans, and other mixtures.

Littering the grounds are places for archery, target practice. Here too, scheduled a few times a month, is the space given for ridden sport, organized recently by the arvek nar. The reigning champion's name is displayed in an upright lance at the end of the field, a silent challenge for next month's contender.

Azog is hauling a giant barrel of blunted weapons out to the sparring area, where he sets it down where folks can use them for competitions.

Festivals are fun! As things start to wind down for the evening, Alaryn has sold most of the stock that she brought out of storage to display here. It was mostly costume jewelry and novelty items for the festival visitors. But she's packing up and then retracts the awning anchored via artifice and closes the curved canvas top of her cart before folding the tailgate up and peering to her left. She lifts her brows and calls out to Azog, "Planning to run a free for all?"

Azog shakes his head to Alaryn. "Just helping out with the carrying of things. But yes, I think there will be a Battle Royal here tomorrow," he explains. He tends to involve himself in the more fighty part of festivities.

Mikilos walks with an absent stroll, muttering absently to himself as he reads. The large text hovering before him seems to be smoking a little, small wisps curling away in the breeze. The wizard doesn't seem to notice. then again, he doesn't really seem to notice where he's walking, either, though he hasn't run into anything.

"I'll have to come watch the big fight then." says Alaryn as she strolls away from her large cart. She runs a hand over the back of one of her mules before smiling and turning to regard the walking wizard, "Some folks just don't realize when they are showing off, eh?" she asks towards Azog as she approaches him. "Can I help with your carrying?" she asks with her little pipecleaner arms.

Azog shrugs about showing off. "More like wizards don't much care what regular folk think," he suggests, but will follow after to see how it goes.

Mikilos sighs, and pauses, looking around absently. Spying Azog, the elf raises a hand in greeting. The hovering book continues to smoke. A second look, and it's really more a series of thin stone tablets, bound together with wire.

"Well, if you need a hand, I'm happy to help. Got good strong arms handy... heh, handy. Wow, I made a terrible joke there." mutters Alaryn as she shakes her head before lifting a hand to wave at the Elf.

Azog waves to Mikilos, and asks, "Why is your book on fire?" Because he's just direct that way.

Mikilos hehs, and shrugs. "I'm honestly not certain what exactly causes it. Was written by an Efretti, around twenty years ago. The pages are regular stone, but I'm not sure what was used for ink. But it still burns when exposed to the air."

That last part has Alaryn's eyes widening a bit. She lifts her brows and approaches a bit closer. "I am assuming you have performed an alchemical analysis of the material?" she asks. "If not, I have a lab in my cart.." she says, gesturing that way.

Azog nods to Mikilos. "I hope you don't keep it in the library close to the paper books?"

Morgan has arrived.

Mikilos grins, and shakes his head. "I don't keep it at all. It belongs to the Arcanist Society. And for that reason, no, I havn't done a porper analysis, I'm not sure what might damage it. Content to stay curious on that specific point and just see what the writtings say." The tall elf stands on the field with Azog and Alaryn, chatting. A large text hovers next to the wizard, it's stone pages smoking quietly in the open air.

Inclining her head, Alaryn grins, "I am a member of that society myself. I should offer them my services in identifying things such as that." She nods quickly and enthusiastically before stepping closer to peer at the tablet.

Morgan comes in flying from above Mikilos to look at the tablets "What we reading, and does it needs translating?" the half elf asks as she is floating there. But she move a basket full of blueberrys to offer some to who ever wants some.

Azog hasn't got much interest in that. "Unless you find a text with intructions on how to become stronger, there is nothing there I have an interest in."

The text is written in Ignan, the metallic 'ink' smoking in the open air. It's only a little smoke, but it's a lot of writting, and it all adds up. not for use in poorly ventilated areas. He glances up at Morgan, and shrugs. "I think there's some translated copies already, but not certain how good they are. I try to read the original where possible, make sure nothing is lost in translation." He nods to Azog, and shrugs again. "Then yeah, no. It's about the various creature native to the Plane of Fire. I'm hoping to learn more about Salamanders, but so far it hasn't mentioned anything about them I didn't already know."

"So... guess I shouldn't bother then?" asks Alaryn as her offer seems to have fallen on deaf ears. She shrugs and turns to look towards her cart before striding over and grabbing a skin hanging on it. "Anyone care for a drink?" she asks. "It's watered wine. Tasty, but not very strong."

Morgan floats over to Alaryn with a cup from her bag "yes please." she then says to Miklos "Out of the 12 I know Ihning is not one of them, But I might learn it." If you are not physical best be smart and usefull. Azog gets a look "I have a book on methods to make your self stronger. Its a lot of working hard."

Azog asks Alaryn, "Why is the wine watered? Is it to flavor the water? Or prevent the water from carrying disease?" He nods to Morgan. "Hard work is always at the core of such things," he agrees.

Mikilos shrugs to Alaryn. "The Society might be interest in an analysis, I know they have a variety of exotic texts. I don't know about this specific one, you'd have to ask one of the librarians." He nods to Azog. "I know of books that can make you stronger. Magical Tomes of Strength. They exist for dexterity, and general fitness, intelligence, leadership, clear understanding, all sorts of things. But they're quite rare and very expensive, and the magics fade with use."

Glancing up to the flying Morgan, Alaryn inclines her head. "So, is that a spell that maneuvers you about? Or some magical effect woven into an object you carry?" She grins and pours some of the wine into Morgan's proffered cup. But then she turns her head and looks to Azog, "A combination of both. It is to make the water taste better -and- to kill disease in it. But also to make it so that the wine itself is not strong enough to get one drunk."

Morgan nods whith Mikilos "I did not want to get his hopes up on that since they are expensive and only powerfull casters can make them." She takes a drink and says "A spell called overland flight, its of the fourth circle. I keep it up for about 11 hours a day, so if I have to cast it I try to use it untill it wears away."

Azog hrms to Mikilos. "I am morally opposed to the use of magic for gaining strength. But the forces of evil grow more and more challenging, and to meet them, I eed every edge I can acquire. So, I may seek out such a text." He wonders to Alaryn, "Do humans get drunk accidentally?"

Mikilos nods. "They're basically wishes, wrapped up in text. Powerful, but very expensive." He shrugs to Azog. "Some do. Sweet wines tend to be the typically route. Something that tastes of sugar and berries, but carries a kick when you aren't paying attention."

Morgan thinks for a moment "Try Sil berry wine. It does nto effect humans but gives Orcen people a nice buzz from what I been told." She nods to Mikilos "When I can make them I plan on making all 6 of them.... or just 3 if I cant find any of them,"

Azog looks puzzled, but shrugs. "I do not umderstand the desire to impair your own judgement," he says.

So many people around with so much more power. Alaryn feels the inferiority. But she keeps her attitude positive. "I'm making custom items to order for folks myself." she states with a wide smile. "For now, just working on a belt to make a person more agile."

Mikilos nods. "I plan to craft one of the books on logic and puzzles for myself, eventually." He nods to Alaryn. "Same basic sort of magic, but these layer directly into the person, no belt or headband required to keep the effect going."

Morgan motions to her own belt "this makes me agile and sturdy, I think I should improve it." Back to Mikilos "I so would love to find the tomes but I would have to take on a dragon for one."

Azog nods to Mikilos, "I have the weakest version of the belt. It is all I can afford."

"I can barely afford to craft one, but... hey, it's a job, right?" asks Alaryn as she hangs the skin on her cart. "But hey, I am improving my ability to be a merchant. I finally got rid of that tiny pushcart and got this mule drawn one." she offers with a gesture that way. "Three times the capacity."

Azog nods to Alaryn, "Well done." Since his delivery is complete, he will bid everyone farewell, and head back to the Temple.

Azog has disconnected.

Mikilos nods. "Belts are useful, though still expensive. Seems every little thing costs hundreds, if not thousands of gold. Not terrible on their own, but they all add up." He sighs, and shrugs, nodding to Alaryn. "It does look professional, though I've never had luck with mules. Horses, no trouble, donkeys, eh, no bad. But mules just don't seem to like me."

"I'm thinking mules don't like anyone. But.. feed'em and water'em and they do kinda work for a while." Alaryn smirks, "They were also all I could afford after upgrading to the wagon."

Morgan hmms "Well all magic items are expensise I am some what glad they are then every one would have them." she then says to Alaryn "Mules can be very loving."

Mikilos frowns mildly. "Some magics I wouldn't mind everyone having. Healing and health, preventing illness, conjured foods, magical clean water. Even simple cleaning cantrips could make life easier for so many, but even the most base enchanted stone costs more than some will see in a lifetime."

"Sure. But..." Alaryn begins before gesturing about with her gloves, "I made these to help with that. With them I can move things about, or ... I believe the proper term is Prestidigitation. A longwinded way of saying.. I can do miscellaneous junk, including cleaning."

Mikilos grins, noding as he eyes the gloves. "I'm passingly familiar. They were strictly banned when I was in school. Students were expected to cast their own spells, not rely on some nechantment. Of course, that was in SilverMoon, at a school for wizards, so the expected standards were a bit different."

"Well, since I have no magics of my own, no talent with which to cast spells, the best I can do is to fabricate methods for channeling mana to perform similar functions. So for me, it's quite a success to gain access to such things." says Alaryn with a wide smile, "But I have also learned how to channel mana in methods that can be used to cure injuries. Very handy that."

Mikilos nods, and shrugs. "I feel I should point out anyone can learn magic spells. Anyone. Being any good at it, the more advanced magics, yeah, that needs some level of talent. But as far as that goes, not just anyone can work the machinery and materials to mimic a magic effect either. And in the same vein, anyone can swing a sharp bit of metal, but proepr swordsmanship takes skill and talent as well.

Morgan has disconnected.

Shrugging her shoulders, Alaryn states, "I did attempt to learn magic, and found that I had no knack for it. But I -do- understand how to focus mana through the proper materials. Usually crystals.." She shrugs and adds, "Also the right types of metal can focus mana differently. It's amazing really." she says with a grin.

Mikilos nods. "I can somewhat understand. Enchanting has it's own rules. How metal with hold and enchatment, what sort of leathers can boost physical abilities. The details vary with how you do an enchantmnet, of course, but the basic arc of them remains the same."

"Exactly! That's part of the basics, yes!" admits Alaryn as she virtually bounces on the balls of her feet. She sure does enjoy theories and such. "And then you have to take into account the way that the materials combine and how the mana resonates between them. It's all very complicated and the fact is, making two items that perform the exact same functions doesn't always have the -exact- same method because of random resonance."

Mikilos nods. "Like an enchanted sword of a given width has to be one of a number of lengths. Slightly longer or slight shorter, and the resonance folds back on itself and doesn't work. Though exactly how long to a given width will vary with the exact details of the metal, can be varied by inscribed runes, excatly what sort of enchantment you're using. It's like a puzzle, where any given piece will change all the other pieces, if only a little."

Oh boy is she bouncy today! "Oh, you are so right! I've never worked on swords before. But I imagine the same principles apply!" she says excitedly. "I'd love to learn about sword enchanting from you though sometime!" She grins and inclines her head, "Think you'd be willing to take on a student for that?"

Mikilos blinks, pondering a moment, and shrugs. "I've no objection. Would be interesting to see exactly what crosses disiplines and what has to be changed. I work mostly with blades, so it's what I tend to default to, but the same general concepts work with other items. Like belts, so siad you've made one of those? The metals used in the buckle need to respond with the materials used in the belt itself. Wyvern hide can't be used with brass, but manticore hide works just fine. Which won'r work with silver studs, but silver will in turn have almost no impact on the wyvern hide."

Shaking her head, Alaryn grins, "I am currently working on one. I haven't made one yet." She smirks a bit, "I'm halfway through the process, but I -also- need to make a living, so had to come out here for a while today to make some sales. Plus, I like festival days."

Mikilos nods. "Actual enchantment doesn't take super long, but gathering all the materials can take a while." He glances around, and nods. "Festival days are good. I'm not typically big on crowds, but once in a while can be fun."

Alaryn has disconnected.