Fiddling with Magitech [Crafting, Solo Alchemist]

[Tessia]

Waking up early, Tessia headed to the Market with a sole goal in mind.  Magitech.  This strange yet simple mechanisms she has heard of and seen thus far in the game of Elder Tale.  They usually consisted of old timing objects, crystals, and machinery that were powered by mana.  Having taken the time to snatch information from the talking Crafters around the St Pancras Station, as well as gathering some basic idea of what components were involved, she moved through the Market in search of them.

She had seen a stall yesterday that sold some odds and ends, and among them were some items used in Magitech creation.  Skimming the stall edges she found it, a Person of the land was selling Mana Fragments, Old Diode, and Old Filament.  Checking a few notes she had "gleaned" from some of the Crafters, it was indeed enough to attempt a Magic Accessory.  Slipping her face mask up, though she didn't know why really, she stepped forward and slipped the Proprietor the required gold.

Taking the items and scooting back towards the Stations many open tables and psuedo-labs, she found a empty one and laid out the objects neatly.  She at least knew to wear a simple pair of gloves when handling the Mana Fragments, even though they were in a simple clear bottle with the lid screwed neatly on them.  Putting on her gloves, she gently unscrewed the lid and let the palm sized fragments flop onto her hands.  Strange.  As soon as they touched her hands, her tattoos glowed a soft silver, one of her favorite colors.  Admiring them for a small time she put them aside and picked up a Old Diode.

[Tessia]

It was a smooth piece of metal maybe?  It felt cool through the gloves and a bit lighter then most metal would be.  The shard about the size of her palm, she flipped it over and spied a few odd marks on the backside of the piece.  Poking the marks, once more, her tattoos seemed to resonate, but this time she "felt" it more then she actually saw the reaction.  Slipping the gloves off and holding the odd metal was strangely soothing, as it suddenly glowed a soft pale blue color, refracting against her skin and satin hair.

Putting it aside as well after admiring the soft faint glow it gave, she picked up the  Old Filaments and tugged at them a little.  They too were covered in tiny almost unnoticeable marks along the wires coverings, if you could call the bronzed things covered.  Like the wires she had seen, the insides of them seemed to house almost fiber optic cable wires, inside a bronze coating.  Picking up the Old Diode, she slipped out one of her throwing knives, thinking to use it as a tool.  She really had no idea of what to do, but this was how she learned best, by her own two hands and possibly her head.

Setting the Diode atop the table, she stabbed a few times at the surface.  After the first two times, the metal merely seemed to deflect it, then finally she made some simple holes along its surface.  Three in total on both sides, she grunted with effort at the last one, the metal proving still stable and sturdy despite its age.  Her actions were drawing a few odd looks from nearby Crafters, but she ignored them, absorbed in the fact that each time she touched any Magitech, it reacted with her marks on her body.  She scooped up the wires next.

[Tessia]

Slipping her knife across the edging of the wires, she stripped the middle of them so that the bronze covering was on both ends, but not the center of the wires.  Sliding them through the holes she had made, she bends them gently but firmly, making sure the exposed parts of the wires cross at the center of the metal piece.  Slicing the tips and connecting the wires until they connected at the back of the metal piece proved to take a lot of time.  She whittled gently and swiped up and down on the stringy filaments.  

This probably looked so barbaric to the others that noticed her glowing marks that lit up with each touch of the items, how she hacked and cut a path to make a simple item.  She would worry about actual technique later.  Tapping the wires once they connected, Tessia felt a small nip at her mind, not like a attack on her body this one sapped a tiny bit of MP.  She touched the open filaments back again and confirmed that indeed that once one squeezed a open filament and made a closed circuit, the wires would drain mana from the person to power whatever it was that needed it.

Now for the hard part.  Slipping back on her thin gloves, she scoops up the mana fragments and holds them close to her forehead.  Hoping, almost forcibly thinking that this would work, she begins to concentrate on the small flickering forms in her hand.  In her other hand, she picks up the crudely formed wrapped Diode and shaved filament wire.  Her marks were glowing bright now as she focused on the extra mana in her right hand, reaching out her mind to tap into it, but to keep it floating there and extract its essence.  To allow it to flow through her and into the object in her other hand.  This had to work.  It must!

[Tessia]

Feeling her skin prickle, the mana fragments began to shimmer and melt into her hand.  Luckily, the mana seemed to float and spin there in a small orb shape, as one after the other took on a similar form.  She felt her palm let go of the last one as she focused and waved her hand about in the small glowing blue orb of mana, attempting to allow it to float across her form and into the object.  She could feel her own mana reserve being depleted as she focused so hard on the movement and flow of the raw exposed mana.

Oddly without warning, the mana jumped onto the moon mark on her wrist, then slowly like a snake, slithered up her arm towards the joining line mark.  It was using her tattoos as a road!  Focusing a bit more, allowing her own mana to float atop her marks, she could feel the cold touch of the separate energy leaping slowly from mark to mark.  It was at her chest now, leaping down onto the mark just above her chest.  Shivering a little but keeping her focus, she makes it keep moving, lighting the next mark in the path on her left shoulder.

Almost there, she could feel the cool nip of the mana as it leaped up and down, up and down, slowly down her arm towards the filaments and the metal piece she held.  Finally it leaped onto her moon mark just above her left hand, gathering there almost painfully cold against her skin.  Fingers growing white with focus and grip, she willed the extra force into her object.  Nothing.  Nothing happened.  But why!?

[Tessia]

Almost losing focus, her MP bar was blinking at her, alerting her that she was almost out.  That was it!  The object was draining her mana, and not the extra energy she was channeling.  Her mana was opening the latent connection with the object, drawing excess mana towards it at a very limited radius.  Turning the object exposed wires pointing up, she could almost see/feel it through her closed eyes.  The wires glowed a soft silver, her own mana charging it with energy, readying it for the acceptance of a constant source stronger then hers.

Ten MP left, oh no she had spent almost too long holding the object!  She focused. Nine.  Eight.  The mana crept forward off her moon mark and onto the wires.  Seven. Six.  Five.  She felt the filaments almost hum as they were filled with energy, the whole item started to hum as well.  Four.  Three.  Two.  There!  With a sudden flash, her hand let go of the item as it clattered onto the table, she swooned a little and flopped onto the top, trying to stay focused.  

After a moment, she managed to look up at the item she had created.  Sitting there now, was a palmed sized crystal, inside it was a "X" shaped wire cross covering a jagged piece of metal.  It sparkled so gently as it powered itself, a dull blue glow emanating on the table as Tessia sat up and smiled happily.  IT was crude but she managed to make one finally.  Reaching out to touch it, she felt her tattoos flash for a moment, and for some reason she thought of Accel Dance, the skill she started with.

Shaking her head, she scooped it up and tugged out the loose loop at the top of it.  Tying the item to her hip belt on the left side, she grinned at her new accessory, just inside the "X" wiring was a small Crescent Moon mark that seemed to be the center of the devices force.  Laving the tables, Tessia made a mental note to try this Magitech stuff again.  It was certainly a lot of fun.