Melfimancy, a school of magic that was feared and reviled by the common citizen. This was often, no doubt, due to the reputation it had gained from its usual followers. That Malefimancy was a dark magic meant that dark mages, those obsessed with power for its own sake, were drawn to it. Its ritual aspects, as well, meant that cultists would be drawn to it given time, helping in their perverse meetings and bargains to gain something wholly unnatural within the world. It was a school that destroyed the very soul of a person who wielded it, or so some would say.. Yet it was also a very versatile school. Rituals could be used to, yes, sacrifice a life in order to obtain more power...but it was also so much more...and so much less. The greater the amount of blood or the higher quality was a factor Nezuel found to be the core of his studies. What determined the value of such things? Why did the draining of a rat's blood upon a pentacle etched surface mean less than the slitting of a human throat or the letting of the arm or wrist? And what, he wondered, could be done with a ritual if one collected blood from a being that was still alive? Would it depreciate in value or simply be useless? He knew that rituals created bonds and loops, drawing magic from the beings sacrificed from the matter given in return. If no sacrifice was given then the magic, or blood, had to be taken from another source, most notably the Malefimancer themselves. Doing so allowed one to create a bond between a living being with a ritual...so long as you had something to connect to that being with. These connections varied in power depending on the type of item one acquired. Blood was the most potent and why one should always clean up an area of blood or a blade after a fight,. Next was some other item of their body, such as a fingernail or hair. Items of important value, usually sentimental value, also worked. It was because he was a dark mage and because he could perform this ritual that he had asked the quest giver to provide him with some of the hair from the cat in question. Luckily a brush was nearby that allowed him to gather quite a large amount and more than he needed frankly. Moving out of the area he could set up his ritual circle away from the prying eyes of common fold. Wrapping a small bit of leather around a small iron rod about the size of his middle finger Nezuel would wrap the cat hair around the iron, slowly chanting as he did so. By pouring energy into the ritual circle he could more precisely establish the thaumaturgic link required to find the cat. Once the ritual was complete and the required amount of magic power reached he broke the circle with his foot, releasing the power and letting the magic do what it was constructed to do. Holding out the iron bar he would turn in a slow circle, smiling as one end of iron leaned sharply to one side. Pulling his hood up the mage began to walk, following his magic. @Roland Rutledge
The Marquise’s house wasn’t exactly what Roland had pictured it to be, it was a smaller building with what seemed to be three to four rooms, made almost entirely out of wood. He had hoped for brick, it was more expensive, and it would mean the patron would have entirely too much money on their hands. Still penniless and without a defensive weapon Roland strode forth with his solemn companion intent on at least making something out of the entire affair. Within a few moments Roland found himself speaking with the Marquise herself, who was besought by grief due to the events that had transpired. Apparently her cat, Mr. Bojangles, had slipped out of his collar the day before, and had been seen prowling the streets with a pride of wild cats. The darker haired companion, whose name Roland had not caught, cut straight to the chase asking for some hair of the cat. Luckily the Marquise produced a brush used on the feline, which seems to sate the man’s request. Roland rubbed his chin as he pondered what the man would do with such a thing, his thoughts were interrupted, however, as his compatriot began to walk away. As he did so Roland made a request of his own, namely a few garments of the Marquise’s that had her scent on them. The high noble was appalled at first but calmed down quickly once Roland explained that the cat would likely seek her scent and he could use them to help bait Mr. Bojangles to safety. Rushing with a small bundle of clothes in his hands he caught up with his nameless companion who had begun casting some sort of complicated spell. Roland observed in silence as he began to question his decision to start with no magical skills. He could of course always invest into them at a later time, but there seemed to be a limit to the number of skills one could buy into, and he likely would need some sort of crafting ability sooner than later. Eventually, the apparent mage finished his incantations and began to walk away smiling creepily without a word. Roland swiftly rushed to his side. “Ah I see you’re a mage of some sort no?” He asked with the best genuine smile he could muster, “I had thought we could use her clothes to help coax the cat out of that group of his, I doubt he will find anything to eat with a bunch of feral cats, he’ll likely be wanting to come home soon. That said if you have some sort of a plan here I’m willing to hear it out at least…” Roland trailed off before adding, “The name is Roland by the way.” He finished as he flashed the mage yet another smile.
“Thaumaturgy,” Nezuel said, turning from the small iron rod to the man beside him. His eyes glanced across the man's body in an emotionless and professional manner, sizing him up. He supposed that he would have to do. Nezuel, as a mage, had spent his beginning skills into magic related skills and none into the rouge skill. While certainly moving faster and jumping would make the task considerably easier it would have also been harder to find without Malefinamcy. The way the mage saw it he had already accomplished his part of the quest in finding the cat...or he would soon. He had no idea the man's skill set but he figured that his partner would soon be running after a cat “you affect a smaller item to affect a larger one. Its the typical voodoo doll.” he waved a hand over the rod. “only this time instead of a malevolent torture device its a tracker. Think of it like a compass, with the hair, being charged with magic, pointing due north at the cat. Even as the cat moves it will move with it, even up and down if we're close enough” one of his lips curled up as he seemed to be thinking about something unpleasant. “Of course there are limitations. With only hair and will to anchor the spell the range and time will be diminished. Also, falling rain would disrupt it, cause the spell to fizzle by the purifying force of running water. Luckily it seems the cat was close enough to us for the spell to take hold, we should be there shortly.” he started to walk away, following the gentle slope of the iron rod before he stopped. He turned, frowning slightly before continuing down the street, “Nezuel, by the way.” As he moved, his eyes checking the rod and street, he couldn't help but wonder why he had told the man, someone he had just met, so much. Perhaps it was personal pride and a desire to flaunt his ability...or the will to explain magic and teach it to one that had no knowledge. Perhaps if he could sway the mind of one person he just met he could sway the mind of others as well.
Roland nodded contemplatively at the explanation, “I didn’t think that the magic system would be this… elaborate.” He said as he thought back to his character creation, he had of course read over the available magic schools but he did not remember any of them being Thaumaturgy. “Is it possible this player had managed to somehow enter into a sub-bracket of magic schools?” He thought to himself as he followed the mage up the gentle slope. “No.” He eventually concluded mentally, “If he was a high enough level to gain access to a specialized skill tree he wouldn’t be doing an easy fetch quest such as this one. He must be hiding the true nature of his abilities, but why?” Roland shook his head clearing the line of thought from his mind while fixing a smile to his face which he aimed in the mage’s direction, “Well regardless this Thaumaturgy certainly is useful it makes me regret taking so heavily in weapons and defensive skills.” He said once again wishing the game had at least given him a basic weapon when he spawned. In fact without a weapon he may in fact be defenseless, but at least he was in the safety of town. After a few minutes of travel they came upon what seemed to be the outskirts of a poorly maintained garden. The various weeds and bushes about made Roland question the quality of the various herbs and vegetables he saw growing amongst them. Forcing the speculation out of his mind he focused on the fact that there was a litter of mangy cats strewn about the area, and if Nezuel’s rod was any indication their target lied somewhere inside. “It’s a shame, I was hoping we’d be able to encounter him alone.” Roland said in a whisper as he moved his finger to his temple. He had read that there was an investigation ability that every character had by default, one merely had to move a finger to their head and focus on the area in front of them for a few moments, so he did just that. After a few seconds notification boxes began to suddenly pop up as the various cats in front of them where suddenly outlined in a transparent yellow line, and labeled as “Feral Cat”. “I suppose if you were to invest in tracking or hunting this would be a bit more effective...” Roland whispered out loud to his companion as he scanned the field in front of him. It took several minutes for Roland survey the entire area trying to remain quiet as he did so, eventually he noticed that one of the outlined cat’s descriptive box said just, “Cat” as opposed to “Feral Cat” and he adjusted his vision to focus upon it noting the lack of dirt and knotted fur the other cats were wearing. As he did so the descriptive box changed to, ‘Mr. Bojangles’, “So it’s not completely useless” Roland breathed as he pointed out the cat, “That’s him, if one of us goes straight for him he’s likely to go the other way, we should come up with a plan.” Roland fished out one of the garments he had gotten from their patron. “I can wrap him up in this, if you can scare him this way, is there any way you can use your magic to make some kind of a noise to spook him into our direction?”
Thaumaturgy, just another convenient lie to persuade someone, even another player, that he was nothing but a common mage. It was hard to change the nature of a magic school, when a spell wished to do something it did it. Perhaps, given time and practice, he could control the spell to become an actual legitimate tracking spell...but as it was...it was just a time delayed spell, twinned to another being via their material. Should he ever rise to such a level he could see himself becoming some sort of private investigator within the game...but as it was now, well, suffice to say the outcome wouldn't be good should the cat end up touching the magic rod. As the two of them approached the garden and found the cats he let his partner do the identifying. Nezuel himself tried another method, pulling the rod higher into the air and more aligned to his chin, trying to spot the specific cat it was pointing at. Unfortunately he didn't manage to accomplish his task before Roland finished his investigation into the group of cats. As the man thought of a plan Nezuel began to think. There was a ritual in his skill menu called compulsion that looked interesting. Again, using an item connected to the being it was connected to he could influence the target of the spell with a small instruction. It could be immediate or dormant activated by a phrase. It could even be applied to an item and activated when it was touched. Besides that there was a simple limitation to it, that the command could not be harmful to the target. He could not, for instance, command someone to walk off a cliff to certain death, but he could have instructed a cat to go to sleep, or walk towards them. It was also an effective way to pull aggro on one mob at a time. Unfortunate, while he could see the skill's description in his menu it was still beyond his level of expertise. "I don't have anything I could do." he would say, slipping the metal rod into his pocket now that it was no longer needed. The spell would still be active, at least for a small while, useful should they fail here. "I'll go around and try to scare or coax the cat towards you...where you can grab and wrap it." he would continue before nodding to the man and starting the walk to the other side of the garden. He looked across the way at Roland, making sure he was ready before he waded into cat territory. They looked at him curiously, but didn't seem to see him as a threat. As he got closer and closer to the client's cat he could see the interest gather in the cat's eyes, turning to vague boredom as it turned on its legs and started walking away from him...towards Roland.
Roland was a little bit surprised that Nezuel didn’t have another trick up his sleeve in order to scare the cat towards him. In fact he was a little disappointed, partly because he wanted to see more of what the mage could do, but also because a second pair of hands would have been a welcome addition to the catch attempt. Still Roland didn’t fight Nezuel’s decision to walk around the cats and spook Mr. Bojangles himself. Strangely enough none of the feral cats even acted as the mage made his way around them. “They must be used to human company,” Roland thought silently to himself, “That or there is catnip in that overgrown patch of weeds.” Seemingly without effort the solemn man had managed to get all the way around the cat and moved slowly towards it. Sweat began to trickle down Roland’s brow as the cat merely stared at Nezuel’s approach, multiple scenarios began to flash in his mind on where the cat might flee too, but luckily enough it got up and began to walk slowly in his direction. With a relieved sigh, he unrolled the garment in his hands before him cupping the sides as he crouched low to the ground in an inviting gesture. Mr. Bojangles stopped a few feet away sniffing the air, eyeing Roland warily causing him to sweat once again. Whether he caught the scent of the clothes, or simply deemed the fabric interesting Roland didn’t know but the cat continued his strut forward reaching the edge of the gown sniffing it with great interest. Not wasting anytime, Roland, quickly lurched forward covering the cat in the gown and pulling it close to his chest. The tangled ball of fur and fabric hissed, and Roland felt more than a few fangs and claws dig into his skin sending a sharp sensation through the VR’s interface. He let out a hiss to match the cat’s as he tried to bundle it tighter away from his chest before nodding at Nezuel, “Alright lets this fur ball back before he gets away.” Wasting no time, he hurried back to the Marquis’ house, cat in tow, and entered the door way accompanied by a cacophony of unhappy yowls, and hisses. “Ah I believed this is your cat.” Roland said unraveling the ungrateful creature and letting him loose on the floor. It streaked away hiding underneath a table where it tried to fix its fur. The Marquis was delighted and quickly rewarded the adventurers before they were on their way.
