Auraglass, a Preparation
Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2023 5:14 pm
4th Day of Frost, 123rd Year of the Age of Steel
Masagh pinched his temples with his thumb and finger, staring down at his plate of meat. The two ghouls, minor members of the house, passed chatting in the harsh rasp of the undead about some duty in the northern sewers that needed doing. As they passed he felt a cold presence next to him. The ghoul rubbed the hand down his face and peeled flesh from his meal, not looking up.
“Are you avoiding people?” Indira asked. She hovered on the bench next to him, her ethereal form oozing a sort of pale mist across her edges. She watched him through dark lidded eyes. Masagh didn’t look at her.
“I asked you not to show yourself to my mother yet.” Masagh muttered, the events of the previous day still a raw wound in his memory.
“You told me not to.” She corrected icily. “But I didn’t come here to serve you, you asked for my help.” She paused a moment, still gazing at him. “You were being honest, so I thought I would be too. I don’t regret it either, I think you are right.” She finished, gazing about the Grand Hall with interest. It had probably been centuries since she had seen anything other than Lithicus’ fortress, and longer still since she had seen others.
Masagh smiled at her correction. She was tempered from stronger stuff that he had originally assumed. Masagh, you fool, you should have known a victim would never survive so long as a ghost and retain their mind. He found himself glad to have her in his corner.
“Is that… a human arm?” Indira asked, gazing dubiously down at his meal.
Masagh lifted it and examined it. “Human, maybe siltori actually.”
She made a retching face. “That will take some getting used to.”
“We only eat the dead, because we have to. We could raise livestock, but that is difficult in the city and animals are subpar in terms of nutrition. But let’s go, I have no appetite today.” Masagh made to stand.
“We aren’t allowed to leave, remember?” Indira said.
Masagh grimaced and jerked his chin towards the laboratory side of the compound. “We aren’t, I want to show you something.” Pushing himself up from the bench, Masagh led the way out of the Grand Hall. “I help out occasionally in our labs. Truth be told I avoided it as long as I could.”
The memory made him smirk inwardly. “I was a hotheaded dolt, though. If I can’t help Sabrione with her duties, maybe we can keep busy in here.” He pushed open the door to the lab and escorted the ghost in.
Arthur was at work on some necrotic creation, infusing a circle on one of the large stone tables with ichor. His broad shoulders hunched over his work and his pale eyes were focused. Masagh cleared his throat and the Bonecaster looked up from the work. His eyes flickered from Masagh to Indira and he nodded, his face the characteristic impassivity Masagh had come to expect.
“Masagh.” He said by way of greeting. “Who is your ghost companion?” Arthur carefully set the soul totem he was working from aside and came over to them.
Indira eyed him and the surrounding room. “Indira Aales. Resident haunter of this troubled soul.” She indicated Masagh with a dismissive gesture. “Who are you? Is this your lab?”
Arthur’s gaunt mouth tweaked in a slight smile as Masagh ground his teeth at her words. “I’m Arthur, a Bonecaster for the House. No this is not my laboratory, but I do work here.”
“Indira used to reside in the another necromancer’s complex, thought she might want to see where we do our work.” Masagh said shortly. “And it isn’t like I have better things to do anymore.”
The big Bonecaster made no response to that, just looking at him. “Well if you have the time, you cold use some Runeforging practice.” He rubbed his knuckles in the way he did when he was about to begin a lesson. “And you are decidedly lacking a few crucial tools in the arsenal.”
Masagh crossed his arms. “Then let me purchase them. I have some coin for it.”
Arthur huffed and walked over to the twin forges and kilns where all the smithing and runeforging happened. “You want to be a rune forger, then create!” He pulled out a heavy, leather bound tome two feet wide. It had the battered look of something much used.
Arthur brought it over to a workbench and set it down. Indira and Masagh followed curiously. “You have a dragonshard, no?” Arthur asked absently, turning the pages of the tome. Indira drifted around the table to look over his shoulder and he tilted the book so she could see. Masagh saw that it was schematics of projects with lines of notes and directions.
“Yes.” Masagh said, pulling the glowing and glittering shard from his belt pouch.
Arthur nodded. “Auralyth. Then you want this one.” He flicked back to a page near the front. “Mold is on the second shelf there, when you are ready. Do you have any experience with rune forging, Indira Aales?” He asked, turning his impassive focus on the ghost.
She blinked and shook her head. “No I don’t, Lithicus never did anything like that.”
“Hmm. Then you have the opportunity to reinforce your own learning with a bit of teaching, Masagh.” He said, asking no further questions of her. “Indira, you can assist him, and Masagh you will teach her about it all as you go.”
Masagh came around the table to look at the schematic as Arthur made to return to his own work. “You want me to use my own dragonshard?”
“Your tool, your materials. Everything else you can take from the stores.” Arthur waved a huge slightly rotting hand. “I will be here for questions.”
Indira was peering down at the schematic with interest. Masagh glanced down, it was something called an auraglass. As he bent to read he gave her room to read with him.
“Well, what is it? What are we doing?” She seemed excited. He looked at her. She was watching him, waiting for an explanation.
“Right, you can’t read Nio Uvverece yet.” Masagh said after a moment, realizing all their schematics were in the ancient language. “It’s called an auraglass, you can use it to see the auras of things. Useful for determining magical properties and such.” She listened with rapt attention.
“So we are going to build it?”
Masagh nodded. “Yes, Runeforging works by extracting magical properties and imbuing them into something you make.” Masagh set the dragonshard in the table. “This one is an auralyth, which can bring out something’s auras.”
He bent over the schematic once more. “Looks like I’ve got to fashion some sort of clasp and chain for it as well, shouldn’t be too hard.” He muttered, still peering down at the schematic.
“How can I help? I can move things like this.” Indira said eagerly, materializing her hand and going to pick up the dragonshard on the table and hold it out to him.
“Well we are definitely going to have to teach you the dead tongue.” He said, flashing a small grin and taking the dragonshard from her. “But for now you can help load and start the kiln I suppose. I’ll grab the mold.” He showed her where to find the wood and the etching on the kiln to differentiate it from the more mundane kiln used for smithing.
Then as he went to go find the correct lens mold on the shelf, she eager set about loading firewood into the kiln with her materialization ability. They set about the work together. Him with the comfort of a familiar space and the peace of a thousand minor tasks to occupy his troubled mind. Indira though, seemed to brighten with every simple task. New things must be novelty to her.
As he let her place the auralyth dragonshard in the kiln to be melted down into viscerite, Masagh saw Arthur watching from across the room. Had the man known exactly what was needed to help them both?
“Okay, done.” Indira said. “Can I borrow the book to study afterwards?”
“Doubt it. They need these schematic references here in the lab.” Masagh said absently.
“Oh.” Indira said. Something in her tone made Masagh look up from where he was planning out the dimensions and measurements of the metal clasp. She was looking wistfully at the shelf of Runeforge texts.
“We can just teach you with the books in the library.” Masagh said slowly, watching her. She turned her gaze to him, her eyes dancing.
“A library?!” She asked excitedly. “Why didn’t you tell me? It’s been so long since any of Lithicus’s books had eligible pages. It’s hard to keep them safe for hundreds of years in such a damp place, although I tried.” She was speaking very quickly.
“Sorry, I guess I should give you a tour.” Masagh said with amusement. “We’ve got a bigger library than Lithicus ever had. Common tongues and Nio Uvverece too. I’ll take you there once we set this lens to cool.”
She was smiling now, and it changed her ghostly features. “This is much better than helping Lithicus with his experiments. He was always torturing beasts and flaying people alive.”
Masagh grunted as he lit the kiln and the flames curled through the wood. They both watched as the pictography around the inside and outside of the kiln illuminated with orange light from the flames and the dragonshard began the process of melting down into the gleaming viscerite.
Indira crossed her arms over her chest as she watched the flames. “Thank you, Masagh.” She said quietly. “For this second chance.”
He didn’t look at her. While the only physical sense of her presence was a cold chill, the girl bore a lot more warmth than he was used to amongst the ghouls. He was finding her unguarded sincerity hard to face head on.
He grunted.
“Thanks for not letting me devolve into some feral imbecile in that ruin.”
They didn’t say more.
When the viscerite was ready and pooled into the heavy crucible Masagh removed it with the large set of wrought iron tongs. Indira and Arthur watched as he poured the material carefully into the well used lens mold.
“The etching on the kiln brings out the magical properties of the dragonshard.” Arthur was explaining to Indira. “Do you see the runes on the mold? Those are focused glyphs to focus on the aura, to reveal. Masagh will then grind down the lens and forge his bracket with similar glyphs… if he does not mess up and make all the work worthless.” Arthur said dryly, watching Masagh pour.
“If I did that I’d have to spend more time in here with you Arthur.” Masagh quipped back.
“You will spend much time here, I think.” Arthur said flatly. His arms were crossed across his huge chest as he watched the viscerite form to the mold and begin the long process of cooling.
Masagh grunted at that. It was true, his mother had finally found a way to make him focus completely on his more academic magics.
Continued here...