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Jacks White Oak Magical Workshop Lab Night Track 240405
In the mysterious bounds of Camp White Oak, under the shadow of stormclouds and amidst a veil of mist, a curious band of learners gathered, led by Jack, a figure of mystical wisdom, to delve into the arcane art of enchantment. Their setting, the Magical Workshop Lab, a place where the mundane meets the magical, where artifacts gain their power and items are imbued with curses. The eager students, including Julia, Meridith, Olivia, Esmeralda, and a latecomer, Aristotle, embarked on a nocturnal adventure to explore the depths of magical craftsmanship, their excitement palpable, yet mixed with a hint of apprehension for the unknown that lay ahead.
As the workshop bustled with the sorcerous activities of enchanting pendants, Jack meticulously guided his disciples through the intricate process, revealing the potential to both empower and curse through their creations. Each participant, with their unique aspirations for the artifacts, engaged fervently in the ritualistic craft, intertwining their intent with the mystical forces summoned. The culmination of their endeavors translated into a collection of newly enchanted objects, each bearing a distinct imprint reflective of its creator's desire, revealing the dual nature of magic – its capacity to bestow gifts and its inherent propensity to ensnare. Jack, ever the enigmatic mentor, entwined theory with practice, leading by example and provoking thoughts on the moral ambiguities of harnessing magical forces, leaving his pupils to ponder the delicate balance between power and responsibility, and the indelible mark of their foray into the ethereal realm of enchantment.
(Jack's [White Oak] Magical Workshop Lab (Night Track))
[Thu Apr 4 2024]
At the Supply Shop for Camp White Oak
The supply shop holds any of the potential goods being sold at Camp White Oak to ensure no visitors actually face starvation or dehydration. Several crates and tables display whatever goods may be available, and a small tent nearby serves as a place for the military man to sleep when no one is around. The grass is kept trim, and the main path leads southeast toward an intersection between the main attractions of the camp.
It is night, about 50F(10C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. It's raining. Ankle high mist flows through the area. There is a waning crescent moon.
"Well," Jack says. "I think this is who we have!" He smiles. "This is better for a small class, regardless," he shares. "Everyone here ready?" he inquires, buying an extra glow stick in case the Market, too, is blacked out.
Julia snaps her glow stick, shaking it about. "Yes, Father, though the rain is rather troublesome," she mutters crossly.
Meridith follows along and nods to Jack. She doesn't snag a light.
Olivia grabs one of the overlarge sticks for herself as well, secreting the thing in the front pocket of her hoodie and letting her hands rest inside there as well. "No joke," she piggybacks on Julia's opinion of the weather. She releases a sigh and says, "And here I was hoping for clear days and warm weather soon."
Esmeralda nods at Jack, and remarks, "Si, I am ready."
"Well," Jack tells Olivia. "Soon, I hope. For now? We have the storm," he says, leading the students north towards the Market proper.
"Well!" Jack tells Julia, Esmeralda, Olivia, Meridith and others. "This is the magical workshop. It's different a little than the alchemical lab north of us," he explains. "This is for the creation, primarily, of artifacts -- and of imprinting items with power," he suggests. "Conventionally, we call those cursed items."
Julia gazes about, her eyes sweeping warily around the workshop.
Meridith wrinkles her nose, gazing at the place. Her expression has soured since she entered.
Esmeralda looks around the room as the group walks in, looking over the worktables and other parts of the area curiously as Jack starts to explain the purpose of this part of the market.
Glancing at his phone, Jack says, "It seems as if Mr. Wilson is going to catch up with us shortly. While we wait -- have any of you ever been here before?" he asks.
Indeed, this place seems bustling; even as the small class stands in the center of the workshop, travelers come in and out of the workshop, laboring over their own projects. The bubbling smell of strange alchemy is a kind of tang against the nostrils.
"No, sadly, though it does seem to be full of interesting opportunities," Julia voices, her eyes stark as she narrows her attention on a shifty alchemist showing off some sparkling bottles.
Aristotle steps into the workshop, closing the door quietly behind him before he sets to wiping some of the rainwater off of himself. "Sorry I'm late." He quietly supplies, before stepping closer towards the group.
"I've stepped in," Meridith notes to Jack. "But I've never done anything in here," she notes. Her eyes glance to Julia after her entrance and the scent makes her nose wrinkle again.
"We're just beginning," Jack informs Aristotle. The class stands in a little circle amidst the bustle of the magical workshop. "This place allows for the enchantment of items -- or, as the parlance goes, the cursing of them," he says. "Anyone with the basics can perform the rituals needed to enchant, but the greater your skill, the easier it is to work the magic." He pauses. "And beware: like most things, if you're not skilled, things can go wrong."
OOC: There are in fact no mechanics to represent cursing objects incorrectly, casting rituals against the wrong target, or the like, but those are all reasonable and IC things that people might do. Note, though, that if you're going to have larger effects 'go wrong', like schemes, then your mistakes need to be sufficiently reckless that it's not merely an accident.
Esmeralda shakes her head slightly, and says, "I have never been in this area of the Market myself, either."
Meridith says "What's the benefit of making such things?"
"Probably the same benefit as everything else." Aristotle says to Meridith with a little shrug. "Control is probably what it all boils down to."
Julia glances in consideration at some of the tinkerware, and she nods over to Aristotle in affirmation.
Jack nods to Meridith. "A good question, Miss Walker -- and in some ways, this is part and parcel of our class on mesmerism. Cursed objects creates drives in those who wear or hold them," he says. "Sometimes they create a mental compulsion, and sometimes they create some change in one's body." He pauses. "Unlike other means of mind control, however: the power lasts as long as the object is held or worn."
OOC: Cursed objects create either mental or physical imprints, I.E. 'You need to' or 'Your body .' The imprint lasts as long as the object is worn, with some caveats. In some cases, an imprint lasts for a period of time after an object is removed. It seems like roughly 5-10 hours, but it's not clear if that's a bug or a feature. Additionally, if an object is remove via the 'force' command, the imprint lasts forever. Because there's nothing that can be done to end a permanent imprint of that sort outside of a petition, it's a good OOC habit to be very thoughtful about doing that to someone.
Meridith ohs. "So you could like...use it to make someone feel brave, or confident, or safe too?" she asks.
"Anything that can be imagined, can be done, likely," Julia murmurs as she keeps her hands in her pockets, the glow-stick protruding from one of them.
Jack nods to Julia before he turns to Meridith. "You could, Miss Walker. But don't you think those feelings are sometimes curses?"
"If you're the victim of something like that, would you ever know?" Aristotle wonders, looking to Jack with curiosity.
Meridith says "Perhaps it's all a matter of...circumstance, the right moment to inspire a feeling someone couldn't have otherwise"
"The right moment is what's complicated," Jack tells Meridith. Glancing at Aristotle, "No." He pauses. "And it's hard to know when someone is going to done a cursed item. If Miss Walker enchants a coat to make her friend feel brave, what to do they do when they walk in the deep woods and see a Cyclops?"
"...Well, I'd hope there's a difference between bravery and stupidity, but..." Aristotle says, furrowing his brow a moment. "I guess that's subjective and up to the victims understanding of themselves being brave..."
"It is," Jack tells Aristotle. "Confidence is a similar kind of challenge. There are times, really, we should doubt ourselves." As he talks, he digs in his coat to begin to produce a small packet of objects wrapped in cloth. He starts to unfold it.
Meridith grimaces staring at the item. "Well, good I have no intention of learning any of this," she notes.
Julia arches a brow, but says nothing as she bounces her elbows restlessly. She peers over once Jack begins removing something from cloth.
Meridith blinks
Meridith says "It's very pretty..."
Distributing pendants one by one to the students, Jack says, "I brought enough for each of you to try. It costs some effort and resources to enchant a thing, though," he says. "I have a little money on me if you do not have enough." He pauses. "But we'll each of us try enchanting our own pendant. Before we begin, though -- start to think about something you might want your pendant to achieve."
Meridith blinks. "Do we need magical talent to do this?" she asks.
Esmeralda blinks a few times as she's handed one of the pendants, looking it over curiously, as she listens to Jack explain what he's expecting the class to do.
"You do not," Jack tells Meridith. "I will teach you the ritual in a moment, though the more magical skill one has, the more efficient your work will be. Still -- there are relics aplenty here in the workshop that can help even the most... bone-headed achieve an enchantment."
Meridith says "That's me..."
Julia turns over the pendant thoughtfully, and nods to herself.
Meridith nods and moves, taking the necklace, looking about curiously as she sets about her work.
"Each of you find a station," Jack tells the students. Indeed, he's prepared stations in a corner of the workshop. Each station has a small vial, a silver bowl containing charcoal, and a piece of parchment along with various and sundry other reagants.
"Do you all have ideas in your mind?" the priest asks. "I've listed out an invocation at each station on a piece of parchment," he says. "And there is a vial of blood -- for blood is the most active of humors," he says. "It is associated with the element of fire, so when you are ready, each of you should light a fire in the bowl in front of you and focus on what you have in mind."
Julia steps to a station, and strikes a match. She wavers it and its smoke before lighting a fire in the bowl with immediacy. Dark blue eyes stare into it.
Meridith nods, taking the station, she examines the ingredients, wrinkling her nose at the blood. She moves to light a small fire on the bowl, she looks uneasy with her work but she attends to the lesson diligently
Aristotle looks over the pendant, quiet in his contemplation of Jack's words. Ultimately, he shakes his head, states regardless, "I can't think of anything yet, but I'm sure I will..." he admits.
"For all sorts of curses," Jack explains, "You'll want to dip the amulet in blood, and then hold it over the fire. Depending on the sort of invocation, though, you'll first prepare the fire with some element. You have there a wide variety of reagants," he says. "Miss Walker, what do you have in mind?" he asks Meridith.
Meridith says "I can't make mine a secret?"
Meridith smiles softly.
Meridith gestures over the necklace. "The wearer will give a sincere compliment to those they meet," she informs Jack.
"Well --" Jack tells Meridith. "You can, but this is how magic helps, I suppose," he tells her. "All of those reagants have some occult correspondence. Quicksilver is action --" He pauses. "Ah. Generosity," he says. "Burn some allspice," he encourages her. "And diamond, too -- you'll find a small, flawed diamond there. It won't be consumed by the flame, but it will offer some essence."
Meridith nods gently, moving to gather the ingredients as mentioned with some caution.
"Oh, that sounds really nice." Aristotle says, his attention set on Meridith when she makes it known her intentions. "I can't imagine how that might backfire, but... I kinda feel like all of these might since we're not... versed, I suppose."
Meridith says "...It has a way of backfiring yeah..."
Esmeralda makes her way over to one of the empty stations considering all the ingredients and the pendant as she tries to figure out something to imbue it with.
"There's many ways for things to go wrong," Jack tells the class grimly. "With your ingredients gathered," he tells Meridith. "Look at the paper and repeat the invocation there, while focusing on the goal in your mind." It's in Latin, of course. People should go to Latin class.
OOC: The commands are in 'help curseobject'. For Meridith's imprint, it probably wants to be 'curseobject pendant mind give a sincere compliment to those they meet'. Don't use a period at the end of an imprint.
Meridith repeats the incantation, eyes closed, in deep concentration.
A dash of this, a dash of that, Julia does read off the incantation. The pendant pulses across the bowl as she holds it and passes it through the fire after pouring the blood within.
"Are the rest of you ready?" Jack asks Aristotle, Esmeralda and Julia. "If you need help with your magical correspondences," he says. "I can provide some insight. But when you're ready, begin your enchantment. Though -- is one of you intending on an imprint to affect the body?" he asks. "It's a slightly different ritual, and I can explain it."
"Mine is..." Julia does not lapse in concentration, her eyes fixed on the pendant. "It is a little bit more difficult," she intones to Jack.
"I think I'll probably just keep mine simple." Aristotle decides, looking over at his pendant before he sets his eyes to the workshop. "I don't mind waiting to go last though, if we have to go one at a time."
"We don't," Jack tells Aristotle. "You should be able to piece together the correspondences, if you need help, but... The invocation for a bodily curse is on the back of that parchment."
OOC: Body imprints will be 'curseobject- body
. So 'curseobject pendant body ignores all its aches and pains' will produce an imprint 'Your body ignores all its aches and pains'.
Aristotle looks over the parchment as it's mentioned, eying the instructions with a slight crinkle of his brow. "How much does all this cost to rent and make?" He wonders. "I know you mentioned money before, but if there were specifics I might've zoned. I don't think I did, but... still."
"It depends," Jack tells Aristotle. "It can cost two or three hundred in materials, and if you need me to lend you some I can," he says. "But for those with strong skill in magic, it might be as little as twenty or thirty dollars."
Meridith says "It cost me little Father"
Meridith says "I think because of you, well, my sect paid for it"
Jack looks around, looking to see if any students need help. "How much did it cost you, Miss Walker?" He pauses. "And it's possible that my tutelage helps all of you," he says. "I don't know."
Meridith says "Forty dollars."
"No, I'm good on money." Aristotle admits, flashing a grin as he chuckles a little. It's then that he starts to approach the bench, looking over the materials to start tinkering with them. "I just follow the instructions on the back?"
"Just follow the instructions on the back," Jack agrees with Aristotle. "Anyone else need help or advice?" he says. "Otherwise, look up when you're done and I'll show you the last two parts of tonight's lesson. We've been at this for a while," he says.
"Wait, I just noticed there's not really like... a card reader here." Aristotle notices once he starts for his wallet. It goes tucked back after a moment. "Is this place cash only? Because I don't ever carry cash on me."
Esmeralda glances up from her station and remarks, "Seems like I'd need another sixty dollers to manage the materials."
hands some cash over to Esmeralda, before Jack asks Aristotle with humor, "How much do you need, Mr. Wilson?"
"Ahh, thank you Father." Esmeralda says when she's handed the cash by Jack, and turns to get back to whatever work she was going to do on the pendant.
"Tch." Aristotle says, still quietly lamenting the 'cash only' policy. Still, he answers with, "Twenty bucks."
"Seems like I got the short end of this class then. I had to pay seventy five myself." Esmeralda remarks mildly as she looks up after a minute or two, of work at her station, then turning back towards Jack once she's finished.
"Thank you." Aristotle answers, and those funds go from his hand towards the equipment rental. Following the instructions on the back, as well as butchering some latin, he sets to work.
Julia rubs at her brow, and glances up to Jack. "Father, I have to step away," she looks almost apologetic.
"Thank you, Miss Nolan," Jack tells Julia. "I can show you later."
Meridith says "Oh I am in a spiritual sect so that helps too"
"Well then," Jack says. "The last parts of our lesson -- identifying and removing curses from objects," he says. "If one is particularly well-trained," he says. "There's a ritual to identify a cursed object," he says. "It takes some considerable study, however."
OOC: With Occult Knowledge 4, you can recognize cursed objects. I RP out requiring a ritual to see it, but the code shows me when an object is cursed just by looking at it. My RPed ritual is just about Jack being an occultist.
"Anyone want to show me their object?" Jack asks.
OOC: Even with Occult Knowledge 4, the object must be in your possession to see that it is cursed.
Esmeralda shrugs her shoulders and moves over to hand her pendant to Jack and says, "Here you go, sir."
Meridith nods offering it over
"One at a time, please!" Jack says.
Holding both Meridith and Esmeralda's pendants in his hands, Jack begins some low ritual -- a chant, in someone, as he glances at them. "Yes," he says to Esmeralda. "You performed it well. I see it glitter beneath my magic." A nod to Meridith. "And so did you, Miss Walker." He hands them back, hoping perhaps he has given the right one to the right student.
Holding both Meridith and Esmeralda's pendants in his hands, Jack begins some low ritual -- a chant, in Latin, as he glances at them. "Yes," he says to Esmeralda. "You performed it well. I see it glitter beneath my magic." A nod to Meridith. "And so did you, Miss Walker." He hands them back, hoping perhaps he has given the right one to the right student.
"Would you like to look at mine?" Aristotle wonders towards Jack. "I can't tell if it worked or not, but I followed all the instructions."
Meridith tips her head. "Thank you father."
"Please," Jack tells Aristotle. "I can check." He reaches out for Aristotle's. "And then I can show you all the ritual to break the curse -- a cleanse ritual," he says. "That will be our last lesson for the night, and then we can break. Who wants to break the curse they just created?" he says.
Aristotle passes the pendant to Jack once it's reached for. "I don't wanna break mine. I'll probably use it for something with my work."
Meridith says "I like mine too..."
"This was well done," Jack says. "And if none of you want to break your enchantment?" he says. "I can enchant one now," he shares, digging for a pendant. "Here," he says. "Let's try this..."
Jack crosses to a station, chanting a little -- lighting his fire to bathe a pendant in blood. "Someone want to try this on just to see the enchantment?" he asks with humor.
Meridith hmms, and lifts her hand.
"...No, yours is probably scary. You should try one of ours for a change." Aristotle says, holding out his pendant for Jack to claim once more.
Meridith says "Oh wait that's one of his!?"
Meridith drops her hand
Esmeralda chuckles at Meridith's agreement, and then just as quickly her declining to try out Jack's pendant.
Jack takes Aristotle's pendant to put on.
"I see that it has some power," Jack tells Aristotle. "But I don't know what it is," he shares. "A mental compulsion?" he wonders. "They're always invisible to the wearer," he shares with Meridith and Esmeralda. "You can tell when your body is not behaving as it should, but the mind? The mind cannot see its own wounds."
"Sweet. That means I did it right." Aristotle says, nodding at Jack. "Yeah, it's a mental compulsion. It's not intended to be scary or anything, but I guess it was a little inspired by that mesmerism class you taught not too long ago." He says. "Still, it's a simple instruction but it still takes away some of your agency... so... there's that."
"Magic, fundamentally, is evil," Jack tells Aristotle, agreeing.
"Yet, you still use it instead of just teaching it's theory. Do you consider yourself a hypocrite, Father?" Aristotle wonders, curiously probing him for an answer.
Esmeralda nods as Jack tries on the pendant from Jack, and the priest explains how he's unable to tell what exactly the pendant does.
"Sometimes," Jack agrees with Aristotle. "I don't really know where the line is, sometimes," he admits to the man as he goes to remove the pendant. "I knew it was evil when I started practicing magic," he says. "And I believed then that I did more good than I do evil." A pause. "I think I still do? I hope I still do," he says. "But perhaps like the magic of these items -- I can believe something and never know I've been deceived."
"That's... respectable, really." Aristotle decides, taking back the pendant as it's given to him, and he gingerly places it into his pocket.
Meridith says "Truth? "
"Now then," Jack says, lifting his own pendant. "The last lesson for tonight. We've already run long," he shares. "The ritual to cleanse an object." He pauses, going to a pre-prepared magical circle. Lighting some candles, he begins the invocation. "This ritual will break the enchantment on any cursed items in your possession," he suggests.
Esmeralda watches Jack as he lifts the pendant, curious as she observes him going about breaking the enchantment on his pendant.
"...or perhaps this ritual won't quite work here," Jack tells the class. "Too many people."
OOC: Apparently, the Magical Workshop is set to not allow rituals to be performed, which is surprising. But 'ritual cleanse' will clear the enchantment on any items in your possession. I'll petition this room to be set not public, but for the time being! That's the way the ritual works.
As the workshop bustled with the sorcerous activities of enchanting pendants, Jack meticulously guided his disciples through the intricate process, revealing the potential to both empower and curse through their creations. Each participant, with their unique aspirations for the artifacts, engaged fervently in the ritualistic craft, intertwining their intent with the mystical forces summoned. The culmination of their endeavors translated into a collection of newly enchanted objects, each bearing a distinct imprint reflective of its creator's desire, revealing the dual nature of magic – its capacity to bestow gifts and its inherent propensity to ensnare. Jack, ever the enigmatic mentor, entwined theory with practice, leading by example and provoking thoughts on the moral ambiguities of harnessing magical forces, leaving his pupils to ponder the delicate balance between power and responsibility, and the indelible mark of their foray into the ethereal realm of enchantment.
(Jack's [White Oak] Magical Workshop Lab (Night Track))
[Thu Apr 4 2024]
At the Supply Shop for Camp White Oak
The supply shop holds any of the potential goods being sold at Camp White Oak to ensure no visitors actually face starvation or dehydration. Several crates and tables display whatever goods may be available, and a small tent nearby serves as a place for the military man to sleep when no one is around. The grass is kept trim, and the main path leads southeast toward an intersection between the main attractions of the camp.
It is night, about 50F(10C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. It's raining. Ankle high mist flows through the area. There is a waning crescent moon.
"Well," Jack says. "I think this is who we have!" He smiles. "This is better for a small class, regardless," he shares. "Everyone here ready?" he inquires, buying an extra glow stick in case the Market, too, is blacked out.
Julia snaps her glow stick, shaking it about. "Yes, Father, though the rain is rather troublesome," she mutters crossly.
Meridith follows along and nods to Jack. She doesn't snag a light.
Olivia grabs one of the overlarge sticks for herself as well, secreting the thing in the front pocket of her hoodie and letting her hands rest inside there as well. "No joke," she piggybacks on Julia's opinion of the weather. She releases a sigh and says, "And here I was hoping for clear days and warm weather soon."
Esmeralda nods at Jack, and remarks, "Si, I am ready."
"Well," Jack tells Olivia. "Soon, I hope. For now? We have the storm," he says, leading the students north towards the Market proper.
"Well!" Jack tells Julia, Esmeralda, Olivia, Meridith and others. "This is the magical workshop. It's different a little than the alchemical lab north of us," he explains. "This is for the creation, primarily, of artifacts -- and of imprinting items with power," he suggests. "Conventionally, we call those cursed items."
Julia gazes about, her eyes sweeping warily around the workshop.
Meridith wrinkles her nose, gazing at the place. Her expression has soured since she entered.
Esmeralda looks around the room as the group walks in, looking over the worktables and other parts of the area curiously as Jack starts to explain the purpose of this part of the market.
Glancing at his phone, Jack says, "It seems as if Mr. Wilson is going to catch up with us shortly. While we wait -- have any of you ever been here before?" he asks.
Indeed, this place seems bustling; even as the small class stands in the center of the workshop, travelers come in and out of the workshop, laboring over their own projects. The bubbling smell of strange alchemy is a kind of tang against the nostrils.
"No, sadly, though it does seem to be full of interesting opportunities," Julia voices, her eyes stark as she narrows her attention on a shifty alchemist showing off some sparkling bottles.
Aristotle steps into the workshop, closing the door quietly behind him before he sets to wiping some of the rainwater off of himself. "Sorry I'm late." He quietly supplies, before stepping closer towards the group.
"I've stepped in," Meridith notes to Jack. "But I've never done anything in here," she notes. Her eyes glance to Julia after her entrance and the scent makes her nose wrinkle again.
"We're just beginning," Jack informs Aristotle. The class stands in a little circle amidst the bustle of the magical workshop. "This place allows for the enchantment of items -- or, as the parlance goes, the cursing of them," he says. "Anyone with the basics can perform the rituals needed to enchant, but the greater your skill, the easier it is to work the magic." He pauses. "And beware: like most things, if you're not skilled, things can go wrong."
OOC: There are in fact no mechanics to represent cursing objects incorrectly, casting rituals against the wrong target, or the like, but those are all reasonable and IC things that people might do. Note, though, that if you're going to have larger effects 'go wrong', like schemes, then your mistakes need to be sufficiently reckless that it's not merely an accident.
Esmeralda shakes her head slightly, and says, "I have never been in this area of the Market myself, either."
Meridith says "What's the benefit of making such things?"
"Probably the same benefit as everything else." Aristotle says to Meridith with a little shrug. "Control is probably what it all boils down to."
Julia glances in consideration at some of the tinkerware, and she nods over to Aristotle in affirmation.
Jack nods to Meridith. "A good question, Miss Walker -- and in some ways, this is part and parcel of our class on mesmerism. Cursed objects creates drives in those who wear or hold them," he says. "Sometimes they create a mental compulsion, and sometimes they create some change in one's body." He pauses. "Unlike other means of mind control, however: the power lasts as long as the object is held or worn."
OOC: Cursed objects create either mental or physical imprints, I.E. 'You need to
"Anything that can be imagined, can be done, likely," Julia murmurs as she keeps her hands in her pockets, the glow-stick protruding from one of them.
Jack nods to Julia before he turns to Meridith. "You could, Miss Walker. But don't you think those feelings are sometimes curses?"
"If you're the victim of something like that, would you ever know?" Aristotle wonders, looking to Jack with curiosity.
Meridith says "Perhaps it's all a matter of...circumstance, the right moment to inspire a feeling someone couldn't have otherwise"
"The right moment is what's complicated," Jack tells Meridith. Glancing at Aristotle, "No." He pauses. "And it's hard to know when someone is going to done a cursed item. If Miss Walker enchants a coat to make her friend feel brave, what to do they do when they walk in the deep woods and see a Cyclops?"
"...Well, I'd hope there's a difference between bravery and stupidity, but..." Aristotle says, furrowing his brow a moment. "I guess that's subjective and up to the victims understanding of themselves being brave..."
"It is," Jack tells Aristotle. "Confidence is a similar kind of challenge. There are times, really, we should doubt ourselves." As he talks, he digs in his coat to begin to produce a small packet of objects wrapped in cloth. He starts to unfold it.
Meridith grimaces staring at the item. "Well, good I have no intention of learning any of this," she notes.
Julia arches a brow, but says nothing as she bounces her elbows restlessly. She peers over once Jack begins removing something from cloth.
Meridith blinks
Meridith says "It's very pretty..."
Distributing pendants one by one to the students, Jack says, "I brought enough for each of you to try. It costs some effort and resources to enchant a thing, though," he says. "I have a little money on me if you do not have enough." He pauses. "But we'll each of us try enchanting our own pendant. Before we begin, though -- start to think about something you might want your pendant to achieve."
Meridith blinks. "Do we need magical talent to do this?" she asks.
Esmeralda blinks a few times as she's handed one of the pendants, looking it over curiously, as she listens to Jack explain what he's expecting the class to do.
"You do not," Jack tells Meridith. "I will teach you the ritual in a moment, though the more magical skill one has, the more efficient your work will be. Still -- there are relics aplenty here in the workshop that can help even the most... bone-headed achieve an enchantment."
Meridith says "That's me..."
Julia turns over the pendant thoughtfully, and nods to herself.
Meridith nods and moves, taking the necklace, looking about curiously as she sets about her work.
"Each of you find a station," Jack tells the students. Indeed, he's prepared stations in a corner of the workshop. Each station has a small vial, a silver bowl containing charcoal, and a piece of parchment along with various and sundry other reagants.
"Do you all have ideas in your mind?" the priest asks. "I've listed out an invocation at each station on a piece of parchment," he says. "And there is a vial of blood -- for blood is the most active of humors," he says. "It is associated with the element of fire, so when you are ready, each of you should light a fire in the bowl in front of you and focus on what you have in mind."
Julia steps to a station, and strikes a match. She wavers it and its smoke before lighting a fire in the bowl with immediacy. Dark blue eyes stare into it.
Meridith nods, taking the station, she examines the ingredients, wrinkling her nose at the blood. She moves to light a small fire on the bowl, she looks uneasy with her work but she attends to the lesson diligently
Aristotle looks over the pendant, quiet in his contemplation of Jack's words. Ultimately, he shakes his head, states regardless, "I can't think of anything yet, but I'm sure I will..." he admits.
"For all sorts of curses," Jack explains, "You'll want to dip the amulet in blood, and then hold it over the fire. Depending on the sort of invocation, though, you'll first prepare the fire with some element. You have there a wide variety of reagants," he says. "Miss Walker, what do you have in mind?" he asks Meridith.
Meridith says "I can't make mine a secret?"
Meridith smiles softly.
Meridith gestures over the necklace. "The wearer will give a sincere compliment to those they meet," she informs Jack.
"Well --" Jack tells Meridith. "You can, but this is how magic helps, I suppose," he tells her. "All of those reagants have some occult correspondence. Quicksilver is action --" He pauses. "Ah. Generosity," he says. "Burn some allspice," he encourages her. "And diamond, too -- you'll find a small, flawed diamond there. It won't be consumed by the flame, but it will offer some essence."
Meridith nods gently, moving to gather the ingredients as mentioned with some caution.
"Oh, that sounds really nice." Aristotle says, his attention set on Meridith when she makes it known her intentions. "I can't imagine how that might backfire, but... I kinda feel like all of these might since we're not... versed, I suppose."
Meridith says "...It has a way of backfiring yeah..."
Esmeralda makes her way over to one of the empty stations considering all the ingredients and the pendant as she tries to figure out something to imbue it with.
"There's many ways for things to go wrong," Jack tells the class grimly. "With your ingredients gathered," he tells Meridith. "Look at the paper and repeat the invocation there, while focusing on the goal in your mind." It's in Latin, of course. People should go to Latin class.
OOC: The commands are in 'help curseobject'. For Meridith's imprint, it probably wants to be 'curseobject pendant mind give a sincere compliment to those they meet'. Don't use a period at the end of an imprint.
Meridith repeats the incantation, eyes closed, in deep concentration.
A dash of this, a dash of that, Julia does read off the incantation. The pendant pulses across the bowl as she holds it and passes it through the fire after pouring the blood within.
"Are the rest of you ready?" Jack asks Aristotle, Esmeralda and Julia. "If you need help with your magical correspondences," he says. "I can provide some insight. But when you're ready, begin your enchantment. Though -- is one of you intending on an imprint to affect the body?" he asks. "It's a slightly different ritual, and I can explain it."
"Mine is..." Julia does not lapse in concentration, her eyes fixed on the pendant. "It is a little bit more difficult," she intones to Jack.
"I think I'll probably just keep mine simple." Aristotle decides, looking over at his pendant before he sets his eyes to the workshop. "I don't mind waiting to go last though, if we have to go one at a time."
"We don't," Jack tells Aristotle. "You should be able to piece together the correspondences, if you need help, but... The invocation for a bodily curse is on the back of that parchment."
OOC: Body imprints will be 'curseobject
"It depends," Jack tells Aristotle. "It can cost two or three hundred in materials, and if you need me to lend you some I can," he says. "But for those with strong skill in magic, it might be as little as twenty or thirty dollars."
Meridith says "It cost me little Father"
Meridith says "I think because of you, well, my sect paid for it"
Jack looks around, looking to see if any students need help. "How much did it cost you, Miss Walker?" He pauses. "And it's possible that my tutelage helps all of you," he says. "I don't know."
Meridith says "Forty dollars."
"No, I'm good on money." Aristotle admits, flashing a grin as he chuckles a little. It's then that he starts to approach the bench, looking over the materials to start tinkering with them. "I just follow the instructions on the back?"
"Just follow the instructions on the back," Jack agrees with Aristotle. "Anyone else need help or advice?" he says. "Otherwise, look up when you're done and I'll show you the last two parts of tonight's lesson. We've been at this for a while," he says.
"Wait, I just noticed there's not really like... a card reader here." Aristotle notices once he starts for his wallet. It goes tucked back after a moment. "Is this place cash only? Because I don't ever carry cash on me."
Esmeralda glances up from her station and remarks, "Seems like I'd need another sixty dollers to manage the materials."
hands some cash over to Esmeralda, before Jack asks Aristotle with humor, "How much do you need, Mr. Wilson?"
"Ahh, thank you Father." Esmeralda says when she's handed the cash by Jack, and turns to get back to whatever work she was going to do on the pendant.
"Tch." Aristotle says, still quietly lamenting the 'cash only' policy. Still, he answers with, "Twenty bucks."
"Seems like I got the short end of this class then. I had to pay seventy five myself." Esmeralda remarks mildly as she looks up after a minute or two, of work at her station, then turning back towards Jack once she's finished.
"Thank you." Aristotle answers, and those funds go from his hand towards the equipment rental. Following the instructions on the back, as well as butchering some latin, he sets to work.
Julia rubs at her brow, and glances up to Jack. "Father, I have to step away," she looks almost apologetic.
"Thank you, Miss Nolan," Jack tells Julia. "I can show you later."
Meridith says "Oh I am in a spiritual sect so that helps too"
"Well then," Jack says. "The last parts of our lesson -- identifying and removing curses from objects," he says. "If one is particularly well-trained," he says. "There's a ritual to identify a cursed object," he says. "It takes some considerable study, however."
OOC: With Occult Knowledge 4, you can recognize cursed objects. I RP out requiring a ritual to see it, but the code shows me when an object is cursed just by looking at it. My RPed ritual is just about Jack being an occultist.
"Anyone want to show me their object?" Jack asks.
OOC: Even with Occult Knowledge 4, the object must be in your possession to see that it is cursed.
Esmeralda shrugs her shoulders and moves over to hand her pendant to Jack and says, "Here you go, sir."
Meridith nods offering it over
"One at a time, please!" Jack says.
Holding both Meridith and Esmeralda's pendants in his hands, Jack begins some low ritual -- a chant, in someone, as he glances at them. "Yes," he says to Esmeralda. "You performed it well. I see it glitter beneath my magic." A nod to Meridith. "And so did you, Miss Walker." He hands them back, hoping perhaps he has given the right one to the right student.
Holding both Meridith and Esmeralda's pendants in his hands, Jack begins some low ritual -- a chant, in Latin, as he glances at them. "Yes," he says to Esmeralda. "You performed it well. I see it glitter beneath my magic." A nod to Meridith. "And so did you, Miss Walker." He hands them back, hoping perhaps he has given the right one to the right student.
"Would you like to look at mine?" Aristotle wonders towards Jack. "I can't tell if it worked or not, but I followed all the instructions."
Meridith tips her head. "Thank you father."
"Please," Jack tells Aristotle. "I can check." He reaches out for Aristotle's. "And then I can show you all the ritual to break the curse -- a cleanse ritual," he says. "That will be our last lesson for the night, and then we can break. Who wants to break the curse they just created?" he says.
Aristotle passes the pendant to Jack once it's reached for. "I don't wanna break mine. I'll probably use it for something with my work."
Meridith says "I like mine too..."
"This was well done," Jack says. "And if none of you want to break your enchantment?" he says. "I can enchant one now," he shares, digging for a pendant. "Here," he says. "Let's try this..."
Jack crosses to a station, chanting a little -- lighting his fire to bathe a pendant in blood. "Someone want to try this on just to see the enchantment?" he asks with humor.
Meridith hmms, and lifts her hand.
"...No, yours is probably scary. You should try one of ours for a change." Aristotle says, holding out his pendant for Jack to claim once more.
Meridith says "Oh wait that's one of his!?"
Meridith drops her hand
Esmeralda chuckles at Meridith's agreement, and then just as quickly her declining to try out Jack's pendant.
Jack takes Aristotle's pendant to put on.
"I see that it has some power," Jack tells Aristotle. "But I don't know what it is," he shares. "A mental compulsion?" he wonders. "They're always invisible to the wearer," he shares with Meridith and Esmeralda. "You can tell when your body is not behaving as it should, but the mind? The mind cannot see its own wounds."
"Sweet. That means I did it right." Aristotle says, nodding at Jack. "Yeah, it's a mental compulsion. It's not intended to be scary or anything, but I guess it was a little inspired by that mesmerism class you taught not too long ago." He says. "Still, it's a simple instruction but it still takes away some of your agency... so... there's that."
"Magic, fundamentally, is evil," Jack tells Aristotle, agreeing.
"Yet, you still use it instead of just teaching it's theory. Do you consider yourself a hypocrite, Father?" Aristotle wonders, curiously probing him for an answer.
Esmeralda nods as Jack tries on the pendant from Jack, and the priest explains how he's unable to tell what exactly the pendant does.
"Sometimes," Jack agrees with Aristotle. "I don't really know where the line is, sometimes," he admits to the man as he goes to remove the pendant. "I knew it was evil when I started practicing magic," he says. "And I believed then that I did more good than I do evil." A pause. "I think I still do? I hope I still do," he says. "But perhaps like the magic of these items -- I can believe something and never know I've been deceived."
"That's... respectable, really." Aristotle decides, taking back the pendant as it's given to him, and he gingerly places it into his pocket.
Meridith says "Truth? "
"Now then," Jack says, lifting his own pendant. "The last lesson for tonight. We've already run long," he shares. "The ritual to cleanse an object." He pauses, going to a pre-prepared magical circle. Lighting some candles, he begins the invocation. "This ritual will break the enchantment on any cursed items in your possession," he suggests.
Esmeralda watches Jack as he lifts the pendant, curious as she observes him going about breaking the enchantment on his pendant.
"...or perhaps this ritual won't quite work here," Jack tells the class. "Too many people."
OOC: Apparently, the Magical Workshop is set to not allow rituals to be performed, which is surprising. But 'ritual cleanse' will clear the enchantment on any items in your possession. I'll petition this room to be set not public, but for the time being! That's the way the ritual works.