The Blaze [Crafting] [Solo]

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Set fire to my pen.

Ignite my words

Until they're seared

Into your memory.

When emotions smoulder

And paper turns to ash,

Sift remnants of lyrics,

Pull verse from remains,

Until inspiration sparks

And my pen is lit again.

---

"This is going to be interesting," Dorian murmured to himself, as he leaned over the windowsill, looking out through the glass. He was currently within the small confines of the Office within the Ephemeral Solace guild hall; from the window, he could see the somewhat bustling street in front of the building, with various Landers and Adventurers passing by. Occasionally a few would make the quick detour down the footpath to slip inside the Infirmary, either to spend time in the Café or perhaps to check themselves into the hospital; the guild had managed to accumulate a few patients over the past month, so they had been busy for the time being. Unfortunately, without a sufficient arsenal of healing abilities, the Shaman was unable to help in that area.

For the most part, Dorian had enlisted his expertise in the field of the Café, but alas his own path had come to where he was now. Having left the Chef class behind for now, he had moved his focus onto what he felt he needed to concentrate on most; exploration. So much of the world had yet to be seen, and from what little he had already encountered, Dorian knew that the world was a dangerous place. Darkness was waiting in the distant reaches of the Unfounded Kingdom, but with a little help and a little guidance, the unknown could be made known. When you know how to deal with something, it becomes a lot less frightening. And so, the Shaman had decided to do his best to supply the light; to be a beacon for other Adventurers. But first, he needed some experience.

Having transferred to the subclass of Scribe, Dorian was now ready to begin. But first, he needed to clean his work area; with broom in hand, he took to sweeping the floors of the Office, and generally sprucing the place up. It wasn't as good a job as a housekeeper may have been able to do, but it was good enough for the Shaman at least. Clenching the wood of the broomstick, Dorian glanced out the window again as he stopped by it, spotting a few familiar faces as they came into the guild building, no doubt from a morning full of adventuring. He had made some new friends since he had begun his own adventuring days, though there were a few he wanted to hang out with more often; glancing over his list of friends, he was tempted to send a message - his finger hovering over the button - but alas, not only was he busy, but the recipient he had in mind probably had their own matters they were attending to.

With the Office now in a more fit state to be worked in, the Shaman sat down at one of the desks set out for writing and other Scribe-related works. "Now, as I remember, every Scribe should have their own trusty writing tool; a basic Quill Pen will be enough for my first batch of crafts." Pulling from his inventory a decently sized quill - plucked from a nondescript bird that had passed the Shaman by during his travels - Dorian began plucking off the smaller feathers from the bottom of the shaft, making an easier and sturdier grip for use when writing with the pen.

Brandishing a small knife from his inventory as well, he began whittling down the membrane that covered the surface of the quill towards the tip, scraping it onto the desk in small little dust-like piles. With the shaft cleaned and ready, Dorian turned the quill so that it curved down towards the desk, peering closely at the tip to find the bottom of the quill barrel; quill tips ended with a strange sort of oval shape, with one end of the oval stretching out further than the other, making a top and bottom. Having located the bottom of the barrel, using his knife, the Shaman made a soft peel against the tip, drawing the oval out and bringing the bottom back further on the shaft to make a finer point to the end of the quill.

Dorian then looked into the inside of the quill, looking for the mesh-like white strand that lay inside it - called the quick - before grasping at it with a set of tweezers and tugging it out from within. Once that was done, the Shaman made a few more cuts upon the tip before he began to generally shape the end of the quill, trimming it into a more chiseled edge; as an aspiring cartographer, one normally used broader tipped pens for use in calligraphy. "One last cut..." Taking the sharp end of the knife, Dorian made a tiny cut through the quill membrane at the center of the tip; this slit allows the ink to flow from the pen. Looking over his finished creation, he moved to fluff the feathers up a bit more, just to give it a little more finesse. "Now that I have a pen, I should probably get started on some ink."

---

Notes: Crafting - Quill Pen - Post 1/1
Word Count: 841
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Setting his new Quill Pen to one side, Dorian ruffled through the various drawers within the desk he was sitting at. Managing to scrounge together a selection of three or four small bottles of ink; enough to set himself up for the rest of the day, he wagered. But as he glanced between the various items now strewn about on his desk, he faintly felt as if he was lacking something. An added twist to the age-old familiarity of writing with a pen and basic ink. Scratching at his temple, the Shaman slumped forward slightly, a noisy grunt formed of irritation rattling out from within his throat. Something was eluding him here.

Grumpy and irritable in his current state, all from a mere hiccup from his own thought processes, he activated his newly acquired skill, Mythic Script; it was a simple skill for him, added to his basic skill-set thanks to having changed over to the art of Scribe crafting. With it, he began tracing incoherent scribbles onto the edge of the desk, garbled words and soft drawings of animals that glowed faintly with the pure mana that they were made from. As the cool glow of blue illuminated the Shaman's face, he glanced down at his writings as a light bulb went off; perhaps he could infuse his collection of inks with mana, thereby creating a source of writing that would not only last longer, but allow for him to contain magic within his writings.

With the idea firmly planted within his mind, he collected the bottles of ink together, glancing over each of them and studying them carefully; he would need at least a bottle of each type of ink, the basic version that he already had at his disposal, and the enchanted version that he was about to craft. Gathering a few extra empty bottles, Dorian began mixing the varying viscous fluids in different ways, testing them and weaving them together into a single pot. A few failed tries later, and he eventually managed to procure himself two bottles of ink, one a little thicker than the other; this one he would transform into the mana-infused liquid, owing to it's viscosity and ability to contain the energy.

"Hmm, I wonder what Fletcher would think of me now," the Shaman muttered, thinking back to his old Alchemist friend he had worked with during his first few weeks of adventuring; they had built an oven together, a Magitech Oven, to be precise. Thanks to that experience, Dorian was confident he would be able to manipulate and control the fusion of natural materials and the flow of mana. "Of course, he'd likely complain that I stopped working on my cooking skills." Chuckling at this thought, Dorian readied himself for the next phase, already feeling the magic moving into his palms, waiting to be utilised.

---

Notes: Crafting - Magic Ink - Post 1/2
Word Count: 474
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Glancing between the two pots of ink in front of him, the Shaman grabbed the one that he had chosen to be his normal ink, for when he didn't particularly want his writings imbued with mana. Pouring his eyes over it meticulously, he gently brushed off any markings on the bottle; it was a glass container, designed to hold the viscous black fluid that Dorian would be utilising quite a fair bit now that he was a Scribe. He wondered if the Office had any more stocked up inside of it, or if he would have to go out and procure more from the various market stalls strewn about Londinium. "I wonder if there are mages who could make a long-lasting or perhaps even a refilling ink pot? Far-fetched, but if bags of holding are anything to go by, could be worth looking into."

Shaking his head, Dorian brought himself back to the current task at hand; mustn't get ahead of himself just yet. Setting the ink pot in his hand back down and sliding it towards the back of the desk, he then turned his attention to the second pot, the one he had mixed together to form the base of his mana-infused ink. It was almost completely identical to the other pot, except when he gently slid this one closer to him, the liquid inside - seen through the glass of the container - would shift and move a little bit less, owing to it's higher viscosity. Dorian absentmindedly span the bottle on it's vertical axis, watching the ink swirl up against the inner walls as if trying to swarm and surge into an escape.

"Alright, now... A bit of mana to start with, let's see what we can weave in here." Shifting the ink pot to rest between his hands, the Shaman began to focus his mind, honing the latent mana within his body towards his palms and fingertips; not so much as to blow the pot sky high, however. As a 'Healer' class, he could not control his mana as well as the actual 'Mage' classes could, but he had enough practice with the process to weave the energy through the air, twirling his fingers slightly in a watery motion to gradually pour the mana into the glass and through it to the ink. Unfortunately, as his first attempt, it was doomed to fail, a sudden sputter and puff of air signalling that the magic had not been able to latch on.

Grumbling from the irritating situation, he closed his eyes, meditating on his emotions for a few seconds; as a Shaman, it was his duty to remain calm, to keep his cool. It helped that, having been trained in the ways of class and, having been made a gentleman of manners and civility in his early years, Dorian was able to naturally control his anger, fear, sadness, happiness; all of these emotions that would often times cloud one's thoughts, they became dangerous in battle, especially when wielding magic. Taking in a slow, deep breath, the Shaman made tender flicks of his wrist, weaving more mana into the air between his hands. With a gentle flutter as his eyelids opened, he looked down to see the ink pot glowing slightly; he had done it! "Calm and collected, as I always say."

---

Notes: Crafting - Magic Ink - Post 2/2
Word Count: 552
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Gently pushing the items he had so far made for himself into the corner of the desk, the Shaman stood up and stretched, breathing in quietly as he approached the nearby window once more. Gripping the bottom of it, he gave a gentle push and tug, sliding the bottom part up past the top to open the window and let in some fresh air; it wouldn't do him any good to remain in a cooped up room all day, and as he took in a heavy breath of fresh air from outside, a smile graced his features as he felt himself being rejuvenated. "I need to get back out there tomorrow... Perhaps I'll 'round up some old acquaintances, or maybe I'll meet some fresh faces." As he contemplated his routine for tomorrow, a small thought came to his mind.

With his abilities as a Scribe already growing thanks to his work here, Dorian wondered if he might be able to string together a handy little scribble book, or something with paper in it to scribble ideas on from time to time. Who knows how many ideas may have already fluttered out of his memory from the sheer excitement and drastic changes of pace from his adventuring life; it would be good to have a place to jot down and save anything that popped into his brain whenever he was out in the field. Turning to face his back to the window, he propped his hands up onto the window sill and leaned over it, using it as support for his tall frame as he glanced around the room, attempting to spy out any supplies that might be good for throwing together a note book.

Springing up off of the window, Dorian quickly skirted his way around the Office, picking through various shelves and sliding out numerous drawers until he had managed to scrounge together a decent stack of papers; these would form the pages, and they didn't need to be necessarily sturdy. Setting the stack he had collected down on his work desk, the Shaman turned back, rubbing at his chin as he thought on what he could use for the cover. Rummaging through the storage left behind in the room, he managed to procure a large sheet of leather that would suffice; while he wasn't a Tailor, he at least had enough ability with a knife to cut out a rectangle decent enough to wrap around the papers.

Looking over what he had gathered so far, the Shaman rubbed at his chin in contemplation as he was often want to do, mulling over what could be done about joining the leather to the paper; bindings that would form the backbone of the book itself. Ribbon was not in abundance, and would likely be an expensive material, one that he would not be able to craft with until he was better attuned to his Scribe class. String would have to suffice, but what kind of string? Humming against his firm, yet supple palette, he went back into his pillaging of the room, scrounging up a few different strands of twine and string that might work in his favour.

Dorian lowered himself back down into his chair, with his various items and materials strewn out over the desk, ready to be put together in whatever way he saw fit to join them. Starting with the paper, he bunched up the stack, gently bouncing them against the wooden surface in his hands and collecting them gently together into a neat, perfectly aligned collection, making sure that the edges were lined up as finely and with as little marginal error as humanly possible. "Well, if this world doesn't pan out, I at least have office work down pat..." He emitted a harmful chuckle at his humour; without anyone else in the room, who else would?

Carefully setting the papers aside on the desk, Dorian slid the leather across to centralise it on the counter-top; reaching into his inventory to grab at his knife once again, he began etching the tip of the blade into the material, carving out a somewhat sloppy rectangular shape. It wasn't perfect, but it was decent enough to fit around the papers sturdily. Folding away the spare leather for later use, the Shaman took the carved out piece and laid it out flat as before, the longer sides parallel to the edge of the desk. Taking up the stack of papers once more, he shuffled them back into a cleaner positioning upon one another, delicately laying them upon one side of the leather; taking the other side in his hand, he flipped it over, forming it into the front and back covers over the paper.

Finally, it was time to join them together properly. First, taking his knife once again, Dorian pinched the tip into the leather, a bit of a ways down from the top of the shape of the book. Pushing in with a grunt, he began to spin the blade on it's vertical, twisting and drilling the implement deeper and deeper, punching it through leather and paper alike. Once he drew it back out, a decent-sized hole had formed, somewhat imperfect and edgy, but it would do the trick. With blade in hand, Dorian repeated the process twice more, moving to the bottom side of the book and then towards the middle, doing his best to keep the holes evenly spaced.

Grabbing the various pieces of string and twine, the Shaman then began to test each one, stretching them out as far as he could until either the material snapped, or his strength gave way; the ones that survived he set aside, looking over them carefully before deciding on a sturdy looking ridged string that he felt had taken more strength than the others had. Cutting it out into two equally-sized sections, and one section that was longer than the others. He began weaving them through the pairs of holes; bottom and middle, middle and top, and then the longer piece went through the two ends, down the back cover of the book. With each one, he tied them off into a small knot, somewhat garish and large but tight enough so that the book would not give way.

Grabbing the finished product in both hands, he bent and twisted it in various ways to test it's durability, making sure it was not going to break apart under the duress that it would no doubt be subjected to out in the field. While it was somewhat shabby, thanks to his considerably low-level in the Scribe class, it seemed to be in working order. Dorian was tempted to begin scribbling away inside of it already, but instead he simply slipped it into his inventory for safe-keeping, turning instead to the materials left on the desk, thoughts moving through his mind as to what he could craft next.

---

Notes: Crafting - Notebook - Post 1/1
Word Count: 1150
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

As Dorian glanced around at his work so far, he realised he hadn't made any leeway in what he had chosen his new crafting class for; maps. If he was to be a cartographer, he needed to get his head in the game, so to speak. Thinking on it, he glanced out at the window again, scanning over the various buildings and streets; perhaps he could begin simple, with a Londinium area map. It could include the city itself, as well as all of it's subsidiary areas. But the leftover papers he had from his note book weren't sturdy or thick enough to hold a small map, let alone one big enough to hold the detail contained within the larger Londinium map.

"Wait a minute," he murmured under his breath, his eyes darting over the various almost identical pieces of paper; if he could rummage up enough of them, there was the possibility he could weave and soak them into one another, making a stronger, larger piece of paper that would suit his needs. A parchment paper, so to speak. Nodding his head, the Shaman quickly darted back into the shelves and storage within the Office, scrounging up as much paper as he could, doing his best to keep them relatively the same size. "These should do the trick."

Stacking the papers onto his desk after scraping out enough room for them, the Shaman darted over to the door that led out into the hallway. "Could someone grab me a tray of water please!" His voice echoed out into the hallway, no doubt alerting whoever was nearby; hopefully he wasn't interrupting anything by shouting. Slipping back into the room, Dorian patiently began to pace back and forth in front of the door, until he heard a set of knocks upon it's wooden boarding. The knob was turned slightly and the door pushed open just enough for a feminine hand to squeak in, holding a large tray of water. Muttering his thanks, the Shaman snatched up the tray and took it back to his desk, not bothering to ask who had come to his aid; he would find them later and thank them properly when he had completed his task.

Setting the tray down in the centre of all the papers, Dorian began individually dipping each one into the water, soaking them just enough that they would weave seamlessly with the other papers, but not so much that it would ruin the paper and make it completely unusable. With each one, once it had been sufficiently dipped, he took it out of the tray and set it down in a specified place on the desk, starting with the corner of his soon to be map and working his way across the top, overlapping each page just enough that they would stay together. Once the top row was done, he worked his way down each row, repeating the process until he had used up enough of the paper to make a map-sized template. Finally, with the remaining half of his stack, he continued to dip and soak, laying them over the top to create a second layer of thickness to the paper.

Chucking the tray aside to give himself room, Dorian began to use his hands, meticulously stretching and bunching and weaving the pieces together, both from the top and bottom, and along their respective layers, fusing the page fibres together; slowly but surely, the material began to dry due to the room's temperature, the water soaked into the pages evaporating off into the air. Slowly but surely, the Shaman was able to condense and draw the pieces into one another, letting them dry a bit before working on the next pieces, until one by one, it all came together. It wasn't perfect, it's quality that of a level three Scribe's work, but it would suffice for his next task.

Stepping back momentarily, Dorian looked over his work for a few moments, before lifting up the piece by it's corners and hoisting it into the air. While it sagged slightly thanks to the fact it was still damp, it held together rather well; moving towards the aforementioned window, he pinned the newly made paper up on the corners of the frame, the panes open as much as possible to allow wind to flow through into the room and subsequently dry the newly formed parchment. "Looks like I'll have my work cut out for me filling this bad boy out..."

---

Notes: Crafting - Parchment Paper - Post 1/1
Word Count: 747
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Once the paper had finished drying out, the Shaman stood before it, glancing over it to make sure it wasn't too badly damaged from being exposed to the elements. While there were a few nicks and creases visible, for the most part the parchment paper was up to snuff, sizeable enough for the project he had in mind. Reaching up towards the top, he removed the paper from it's attached state, closing the window to get rid of the draft flowing through the room. Once done, he wandered back over to his desk, laying the paper out flat upon it. "Now, I should probably start simply and work my way out. Perhaps a general mapping of the city here, and then expand out to incorporate the rest of the District."

Dorian nodded his head at his own words, solidifying his ideas before putting them down on paper. Settling himself back down in his chair, he set aside the Magic Ink he had made earlier - saving it for a more specific item - and grabbed the pot of normal ink he had mixed together. "This will do for just a general area map." Opening the bottle, he set it down behind the parchment paper, making sure that it wouldn't spill over his map space. Once that was ready, he whipped out the Quill Pen he had made earlier, of which he had secretly named 'The Blaze'; it's tip had been whittled and shaped for just this occasion, designed specifically for the role of calligraphy and map-drawing. With his tools at the ready, it was time to get started.

Readying his pen, Dorian dipped the tip of the quill into the pot of ink, waiting a few moments for the ink to fill up into the chamber of the quill's spine; drawing it out from the viscous black liquid, the Shaman gave a few gentle taps of the quill against the rim of the bottle, making sure to remove any drips so that he wouldn't accidentally spoil the paper. Deeming the the quill ready to go and containing a satisfactory amount of ink, he hovered the tip over towards the spot on the parchment paper where he had decided on basing the city of Londinium itself. With careful precision, he lowered the tip down onto the parchment, and as the ink pressed into the paper, he found his hand moving on it's own.

Thanks to the mechanics of the game and his crafting class of Scribe, he was sent into a whirlwind of scribbling; in no time at all, he was filling the area of the paper he had chosen with various curvatures and lines that slowly came together to form a generalised top-down view of the city of Londinium. It was obvious here that the fact he was standing in the place he had chosen to write in was making it all the easier on his interface to transfer the data from world to page. And yet, to any observer, it would have looked like Dorian was furiously sketching out in almost exact detail the map of Londinium, on a smaller scale, in relation to it's surroundings within the Londinium District.

---

Notes: Crafting - Generalized Unfounded Kingdom Map - Post 1/2
Word Count: 529
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

After a few more soft strokes upon the page, the Londinium city area had been finished; it was no where near the detail of a proper city map, but he could always make a more detailed catalogue of Londinium proper later. For now, the more generalised scale of the map would suffice; but it was far from complete. After having done quite a fair bit of travelling, he was pretty confident in his memory; hopefully the system would handle the rest, as the Londinium area was quite large and expansive. It didn't have to be detailed however, so he at least had that fact going for him.

Pressing the tip of his quill back to the page, he began branching out from the city limits, filling out the details for the Thames Riviera, the Londinium housing district where a lot of the Adventurers had chosen to live since the Catastrophe; Dorian had mostly taken to the outskirts, sleeping under trees and in taverns whenever he could to avoid the turmoil of adventuring. In hindsight, a severe mistake on his part; after all, he had had the most amount of fun in the past few months than he had ever had in his life after the Catastrophe. Filling out the Riviera, he moved on to the outskirts themselves, tracing out the various roads and small rivers that dotted the area outside the city.

Next, he glanced over towards the general location of where Windsor Greatwood, already seeing the dotted clumps of tree lines and other such general details, as well as the nearby Savill Flower Grove; he reminisced on the meditations he had held there for a while, the powerful auras that circulated the area and the vibrant colours of nature. With quill in hand, he continued to scribble and draw out the details of the map, filling out the Windsor Greatwood and nearby areas, as well as filling out the road that joined it up to Londinium, the end of which ended at the edge of the map, due to the fact it slipped off towards Sarum.

Once that was done, there was only one area left; though this one would be trickier, as he hadn't spent as much time with this part of Londinium as the rest of it. The Thames Coastline, as it was called, his only explorations into the area were a fuzzy time during his phase as a level 1 character, to do with the Sages and the tablet stuff that he never could quite remember very well, and the hunting he had done with Sark during the Halloween season. Luckily, as he placed his quill to the page, the system seemed to take care of what little he couldn't quite draw from his own memory, as he watched in awe while his hand moved on it's own, sketching out various details he had no idea existed in the first place. Once the specific areas within the map were done, it was just a matter of filling in the bits in-between, and soon the entire parchment was complete with a glistening ink-drawn map.

---

Notes: Crafting - Generalized Unfounded Kingdom Map - Post 2/2
Word Count: 517
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Stashing the completed map into his inventory, Dorian glanced over at the Magic Ink sitting on it's own, having as of yet not used any of it. He scratched at his head, contemplating as to what he could do with it. Magic was an odd and ever changing part of life here in this new world, and could take on many forms, but what form could it possibly take within the written word? "Magic... words... mana... writing... How can I combine the two together?" Normally, within fantasy realms and areas of magic, the use of mana as a writing ink was utilised in transactions, partnerships... Contracts. Perhaps that was his first port of calling? A basic parchment of contract that could be signed by two parties, maybe even a witness, so as to create a more binding example.

Glancing over his desk, the Shaman realised he had used up all the paper he had rummaged out of the Office; without any paper, he wasn't going to get anywhere with his crafts. "I need to go out and get more," he muttered to himself, pushing off the desk and standing up from his seat. Leaving his quill pen here and the bottles of ink, he turned towards the door, approaching and grabbing the knob to pull it around into the room. Slipping out into the hallway, he made his way downstairs and out the guild hall, his mind set on escaping to the market for a bit of time before returning.

---

"That should do me for the rest of the day," the Shaman spoke under his breath, glancing at the stack of papers clenched within his hand as he returned from his trip to the market, slipping back into the Office and closing the door behind him. Moving back to his desk, he set aside most of the stack, grabbing a hold of one of the pages and slapping it down in front of him. "Now, I need to think of general terms that would fit a given scenario..." Conjuring up some basic ideas of what to write down, Dorian whipped up The Blaze, his trusty quill pen, and slid away the slightly used normal ink pot, choosing instead the Magic Ink for this particular craft.

Slipping the tip of the quill into the pot of ink, Dorian could feel the surge of mana filling up the barrel of the spine, blinking slowly as he sensed the tinge of aura circulating the pen. "This is quite interesting; I need to write with this more often..." Once again, just as he had done before when writing out the map, the Shaman tapped and swiped the end of the pen against the rim of the pot, getting rid of the drip so as not to ruin and smudge the paper. Once that was done, it was merely a matter of delicately lifting the quill up and placing it down upon the page and beginning the first few letters.

As he continued to write, he could feel the mana flowing from the pen into the paper, the words he was conjuring becoming burned and glowing a slight tinge of blue. Slowly but surely, the words came together, flowing down the page with each stroke of the pen until the top half of the paper had been completed. Leaning back into his chair, he took a small break, breathing in the room's slightly warmer air, before releasing it in a heavy sigh. Closing his eyes, he fell into a brief meditation, the words on the page suddenly picking up within his senses, a particularly bright aura aglow from the paper. "Incredible," he murmured, as he slowly returned to reality, breathing in and out once more. Time to continue.

Refilling his quill with the Magic Ink, Dorian continued down the page, filling the latter half with the final paragraphs and clauses that would now form together to create a basic, and modifiable, contract. Glancing down at the empty space at the bottom of the page, he filled it with two more paragraphs, each with detailed consents towards the above information; the first was the clause indicating where the two participants of the contract would sign, evidenced by the two straight lines within the paragraph for signing upon, and the second was detailed towards where the witness of the transaction would add their signature to solidify the contract. With the last few additions added on, the basic contract was now complete.

---

Notes: Crafting - Basic Contract - Post 1/1
Word Count: 744
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Dorian stashed the finished contract into his inventory for later, perhaps to hand over to others to use, or even to use himself with another; he pondered whether he would find his signature on the witness line, or perhaps on one of the lines for the involved parties, or perhaps he would simply pass on the contract and never put pen to ink for it again. It was always odd to think about futures that may or may not be, but it kept the Shaman sane sometimes. "Now then, what shall we do next?" He glanced over his work table, with a large stack of papers still left over from his shopping spree earlier. He had only used the one page for the contract, so it made sense to find a use for the rest.

Recalling into the vast banks of memory within his brain, Dorian remembered hearing of weapons utilised by many spellcasters that took the form of spellbooks; while the books themselves contained no particular spells, the very mana infused within it's pages could be fired from the item in a beam of magic that utilises the user's MP. Such objects were known as Grimoires, and - having already crafted and thrown together a makeshift notebook for himself - the Shaman felt it would not be difficult to create such a weapon with his own expertise. But, before he went anywhere near the idea of such a task, he would need to gather materials.

With the paper stacked up and ready on the desk, Dorian moved towards the shelves and boxes within the Office once more, seeking out bits and bobs that he could muster out of the room. "Let's see here," he muttered to himself, pulling out a shelf and grabbing an object from it with a curious hum vibrating off his palette. It was a strange spherical bauble, one that was carved delicately into a soft, smooth surface. While the shape was reminiscent of a crystal ball, it was too small to work as a viable weapon, as most crystal balls in this world acted. Past the glass-like sheen of the orb's exterior, the Shaman could see a small marble fused into the centre. An odd trinket, and one that wouldn't normally be found in a place for writing.

Twirling the small ball between his fingers, he contemplated on how it had found it's way into the room's storage, and even more mysteriously, why was it crafted like this? A marble, encased within the glass of a small crystal ball... Shaking his head, the Shaman returned the item back into the drawer that he had found it in, instead moving to the next one and grabbing out a large selection of leather pieces, in various sizes. Just like his notebook, he was going to carve and cut out the covers with this leather, but this time he would craft in a spine as well, to hold all the pages within the Grimoire. Once he had it created, it was just a matter of a using Mythic Script to fuse mana into the papers and voila, weaponised book.

---

Notes: Crafting - Basic Grimoire - Post 1/3
Word Count: 519
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Collecting all of the materials he needed together on his desk, the Shaman surveyed what he had so far; the stack of papers would be suitable enough for the pages of the Grimoire, and there was enough leather over the counter to cut up two covers and a spine. The only thing left was twine to tie everything together and keep it from falling apart, but luckily he had some left over from earlier when he was making the notebook; alas, it would be trickier this time to make it with the spine as well, but it wouldn't take long to figure something out for it. Settling himself down in his seat once again, he lay everything out on the table and prepared himself for the gruelling process of putting the book together.

First, he grabbed together the various pieces of leather, sorting through them until he found two pieces large enough to be covers. Moving to the first one, he began whittling down over the corners with a knife, shaping out the back cover that would fit under all the paper. Once that had been cut and carved, he moved onto the second one, this leather being shaped to form the front cover. With a little extra time on his hands, the Shaman took his knife and made small engravings over the front and back of the two pieces of leather, creating intricate swirled designs to indicate the status of the book as a Grimoire.

Picking out the third piece of leather from a selection of long, slightly wider strips, the Shaman managed to find one that would be suitable for the spine. Making a few more cuts and carves into it's shape, he once again took the knife to it, engraving matching patterns over the spine before setting it aside. Grabbing up the stack of paper, Dorian shuffled and neatly collected them together against the desk, making sure that all the edges lined up perfectly with each other before setting the stack atop the blank side of the back cover. Taking the front cover, he delicately layered it over the top of the stack, keeping it all level and tidy.

Grabbing a spare needle - a simple one, nothing compared to that of the Tailor's tool - Dorian carefully thread the twin into the eye, and began sowing the string into the leather of the book, pushing it through all of the paper and out the other side; he repeated this up the side of the book until all three parts had been fused together. Then, grabbing the spine as he had shaped it, all it took was fashioning the leather to the side of the paper stack, before once again wielding the needle and threading the string through the various leather pieces until it all came together to form the cover of the Grimoire. With the book itself ready, it was time to write.

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Notes: Crafting - Basic Grimoire - Post 2/3
Word Count: 485
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Opening the front cover, the Shaman began flipping through the pages of the Grimoire, making sure that the book didn't fall apart completely just from being put under a small amount of stress. Luckily, the seams kept together nicely, and with a nod of his head, he was satisfied with what he had crafted together for his first attempt at this recipe. But, it wasn't complete yet, as it was lacking the words and mana imbued within it to actually make it a weapon. Sliding it to one side, Dorian checked to see if he had any ink left; he had used up most of the Magic Ink when he was writing up the magic contract, but normal ink would suffice for now. As a Scribe he could use Mythic Script to imbue his words with mana, which would have almost the same effect as the magic ink would have.

Taking up the Blaze, his specially designed calligraphy quill pen - though it would do just as well as a writing pen - Dorian dipped the tip into the pot of ink he had kept to one side, slowly pushing in deeper until the black liquid filled all the way up the barrel of the feather's spine. Once it was full, he drew the quill back out and gently slipped the end over the rim of the ink pot, making sure that any drips were swiftly removed from the tip and left back into the ink. "I'm getting rather good at this," he muttered under his breath, a chuckled smirk dancing over his palette as he shook his head, reverting his focus from the quill to the empty book.

Swishing his empty hand up, he flicked his finger to open his interface, navigating the icons to the skill list and toggling on his Mythic Script ability; leaving the interface, he could already feel the gentle flow of mana trickling into his fingertips, ready to be utilised upon the page. With his tools at arms, he lowered down onto the first piece of paper that marked the beginning of the Grimoire, letting the ink gently flow from the quill and onto the page as his hand almost began writing for him, filling each line under one another down the page. As he moved to each new word, he could see that they were being formulated in a language akin to Latin, and familiar phrases could be picked out here and there as the cold blue glow emanated from the words that danced out of his pen.

Giving the page a little time to dry, he flipped it over, readying the Blaze and beginning the process of transcribing more mana-infused words onto the page, slowly delving further and further down it until he had filled it completely. This process he repeated over and over, taking his time with each stroke of the pen and forming the large paragraphs of information and mana. Slowly but surely, the entire Grimoire was filled from cover to cover with various incantations and ritualistic collections of words that formed within the book, fusing the entire item with a surge of mana. "I should look into making more of these," he muttered to himself, nodding his head as he sensed the gentle thrum of power that was waiting to be used within the book.

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Notes: Crafting - Basic Grimoire - Post 3/3
Word Count: 554
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

Setting aside the newly made Basic Grimoire, Dorian caught his eyes glancing over it's cover, the gentle thrum of mana almost calling to him as he reached out to gently swipe his hand over the top of the leather, his digits searching lazily over the dents carved into the material from his knife to form the intricate design atop of it. Shaking his head, the Shaman averted himself from the rather loud surge of magic that was wafting the air around the hefty tome, his hands grasping over the bindings and tugging it into his chest, where he deftly opened his inventory and stashed the Grimoire inside for later use or to sell somewhere.

"There's only one thing left for me to do now," he muttered to himself, the room quiet except for the gentle blowing wind that was seeping in through the open window. Scanning his eyes over the map he had made earlier of the Londinium district, he focused his attention on the city itself on the map, lacking in detail due to the sheer scale and size of the parchment and the outlying area. Rubbing his chin in contemplation, he decided to give a shot at a more detailed map, a Site Catalogue, as it were. But, in order to so, he'd need another sheet of parchment, which meant more paper was needed. Releasing a sigh, he got up from his chair and headed back into the storage area to scrounge up as much paper as he could find.

It wasn't long before he was once again soaking and weaving the various materials together into another large slide of parchment, making the first layer out of the stack he had gathered before collecting another stack and using that for the second layer. Once he had formed the entire sheet, he lifted it up, shaking it gently to make sure it wouldn't fall apart, and hung it up carefully over the window, leaving it there to dry upon the cool afternoon air. The wind was blowing through quite nicely, leaving the room a pleasant temperature, albeit giving off a somewhat wet papery smell thanks to the now second drying parchment paper hung on the wall. Once it was done, Dorian pulled it down, taking it over to lay flat over his desk.

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Notes: Crafting - Parchment Paper - Post 1/1
Word Count: 384
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

With the parchment paper rolled out and ready across the desk, there were only a few things left to grab before the Shaman could get started on his first Site Catalogue for the Britannia District; having said that, he opened his inventory and pulled out the map he had previously drawn up of the district, detailing areas such as Londinium itself, the Windsor Greatwood, and of course the Thames Coastline. Focusing on the city, Dorian put the large map aside and went back into his inventory, retrieving his quill pen, the Blaze, and of course grabbing some more ink pots to use during the drawing process. Before he could actually get to work on detailing the various parts, he needed to form the base of the map; this Site Catalogue would be centralised on Thames Riviera, a smaller area that would make better practice for him for his first Catalogue.

Opening the first pot of ink, the Shaman dipped the tip of his quill into the mix, letting the black, viscous liquid slowly rise up the barrel of the pen, before lifting the quill back up. Gently drawing the tip across the pot's rim, he removed the drip so as to avoid smudging on the parchment, before crossing the tip over towards the large, blank page. "Careful and delicate... calm and careful. Wait..." Dorian chuckled softly, shaking his head as he glanced across to look at the larger map of the Britannia District, before focusing his attention on the village section just off to the east of the city he had drawn. With his Scribe eyes now concentrating, he began the process of copying over the design onto the Site Catalogue, though of course blowing up the scale to allow for added detail.

The quill pressing onto the page, he felt his hand almost take control, his movements flowing as he recreated the map of the village, for now rather basic and expansive; the details could come later. He began on the outside, drawing out the border of the Londinium metropolis that rested on the west side of the map, sketching out the roads that travelled through the village itself, working his way slowly inwards to form the other smaller streets that twisted and criss-crossed into a wild mess, almost like a dense web that stretched over the canvas. "Now this is a map..." Dorian began humming to pass the time as the formalities began to flow from his quill, every so often dabbing the tip into the ink again to collect more and continue sketching the lines and contours that formed the basic and easily fillable design of the Thames Riviera.

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Notes: Crafting - Site Catalogue Map - Post 1/2
Word Count: 442
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH

[Deleted]

Dorian HP: 100% MP: 100%

---

With the Thames Riviera quite well sketched out over the parchment, Dorian nodded to himself as he replaced the tip of the Blaze into the next pot of ink, taking a moment to let it soak and watch as the black ink rose up the barrel, filling it sufficiently. Dragging the tip off the rim to remove drip once again, he hovered it over to the catalogue and began filling in the more minute details of the map, going from spot to spot and filling in the spaces between the streets and paths and roads with the various buildings and houses that made up the village. Slowly but surely, the substance of the map took form.

This village was quite populous in recent years, with most Adventurers calling it home after having arrived here in the Unfounded Kingdom; the Catastrophe left a lot of confused people in it's wake, and many just wanted the familiarity and comfort of living within the city's limits. The Thames Riviera became a haven for the Adventurers, and it quickly filled with new home owners just wanting to relax and wait for things to blow over. Unfortunately, that day never came for them, and after 2 years, most Adventurers had succumbed to the calling of exploration and... well, adventure. It was a new world, and that meant there was all sorts to discover.

Releasing a content sigh, Dorian finished the last few blocks of houses that made up the village, his hand drifting up to complete the last few details in sketching out the mouth of the Thames River, what gave the village it's name. The Riviera was located just nearby, where the river flowed out into the sea, giving the area quite a pleasant locale, and many gorgeous views. "Not to my taste though, unfortunately." The Shaman gave a sigh, dusting his free hand off on the front of his shirt before resuming the process of drawing out the linings and shores of the river, making it the detailed landmark it deserved to be represented as.

Finally, it was time to add in the few landmarks that made up the Thames Riviera. First, alongside the river was a venerable spot known as the Sweetfish Riverside, named for it's abundance of sweetfish; Dorian had never had sweetfish before, but he had heard of it's delicious taste. Next, there was the Riviera Townhouse, the largest building that serves as a sort of city hall; buying a house in the Riviera involved signing it off in this building. And, last but not least, the Riviera Carriages building, a refurbished omnibus station that is owned by a local Lander company. Carriages from the Riviera to Londinium and to the Isle of Grain are supplied here.

With that last addition, it was simply a matter of collecting a bit more ink and dabbing it through the various areas for a few more finishing touches, making the map his own. Dorian activated Cardinal Rose, causing a small compass icon to appear in the bottom right hand corner of his vision; using the icon as well as the map itself, he sketched out an appropriate compass in the top left corner of the catalogue, indicating the direction of North. Toggling the Cardinal Rose off, Dorian stashed the Blaze back into his inventory, before glancing over his work. With an approved nod of his head, he collected both maps from his desk, ready to start on his next project.

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Notes: Crafting - Site Catalogue Map - Post 2/2
Word Count: 577
Tags: None

Coded by @serenityspace of LH