Torvallis! waits for Sebastian at the Forge

[Torvallis!]

[Sunday, Aug 19th, just after game]

The fire mage can be seen pacing impatiently around the forge.

[Sebastion umbra]

with a hurried walk I head do the path to the forge and call out "I'm sorry of the delay", getting to the forge a moment later.

[Torvallis!]

"Oh, it's not like I wasn't the first one to delay the training, so I could search for the heart.

Now, if I recall correctly, you're looking to learn fire magic up to the point where you're able to cast enchantment spells, correct?

So let's start with that.

This is the tier of fire magic where you should begin to consider stability in your casting . . . the enchantment spell is stable until disrupted. The instill spell is a stable winddown. And the burn spell has permenant effect . . . while the spell itself isn't stable, it seeks to leave the effect piece in a stable condition, and it is the seeking for stability that causes the burning.

That's three different types of stability.

With enchantment, I make a sprialling shell of moving energy around the weapon. When the shell breaks, all of the energy keeps moving, and it gets released as a stream of fire. It's not unlike someone swinging a bucket around on a rope, and when the rope breaks, the bucket flies straight out.

With instilling, I instead try to weave the energy into the blade. Like weaving cloth, I pack the threads tightly together, and like cloth, the edges fray over time if they are not serged. 'Serging' the energy patterns would do nothing . . . the energy needs to be released to do anything. So it's actually the fraying that we're after. Serging the energy patterns would be effectively heating and cooling the blade, which may have applications in smithing, but not any known to me. As the magic frays away, the blade is able to strike creatures that are otherwise immune.

With burning, we want stable objects, like wooden shields, to become more stable, like piles of ash. So we want an ordered disruption of their existing energy patterns, and we want the unravelling of the energy patterns to replicate themselves and fuel the rest of the burning. To do this, first study the wood that wood burns. In fact, wood is excellent for studying all of the energy patterns.

When it is drying, we see the edges of the energy begin to fray, and get ready to burst into flame. As it bursts into flame, we see the log unravel itself . . . not even just in terms of magical awareness, but also literally to the naked eye. And where it refuses to burn, we see both the woven energy, and the growing of a shell about to burst. As the temperature rises in the unburning portions, it just get more and more ready to enflame. And the most stubborn pieces DO suddenly burst into flame.

Are you catching this all so far?"

[Sebastion umbra]

"I am for the most part it will just take a moment to take it all it" I take a moment before speaking again. "But yes I do understand what you are getting at. depending on the type spell the treads of magic will have to be woven in to different pattern and also how tight they have to be woven together right? just making sure I'm thinking along the right path"

[Torvallis!]

"Yes, you are absolutely along the right path.

So first, I want you to watch and observe how nature does it.

Here, we have a woodpile drying out near the forge. We have the forge itself, as well as the firepit. And we have fresh saplings we can toss on the flame.

I've already got the fire smouldering here, so I'm going to toss on some dry wood, I'm going to put a log near the fire to dry out, and when the fire gets hot enough, I'm going to throw on some of these saplings.

I want you to look for the patterns I described, and think of ways you could imitate them by shaping fire energy"

[Sebastion umbra]

I sit down near the fire and focus on the fire. look at how it twists when a gust catches it, noticing how the fire at its base as it burns the log that it burns deep within then logs and envelops it like a cloth. taking a few sticks and some dry grass I put it at the edge fire and watching how it gets burned up to char and ash. Using another stick draw in the dirt some thoughts on the way do the same things with fire magic.

[Torvallis!]

After a good period of time, Torvallis! turns to Sebastion:

"So, have you any thoughts on the types of hand movements I would use to augment each of those three spells?"

[Sebastion umbra]

"well earlier when you where teaching awareness, for enchantment you show that you wound around the blade then back on itself, for the other two not really just a stray thought here and there" I look back down at the drawings "for burning you could use your hand to compress the fire to increase its intensity before releasing it, however I'm still not sure for With instilling"

[Torvallis!]

"Compression . . . hm. Hadn't thought about that. That may be useful for fire strikes as well.

I think you're getting the hang of it. You have a lot of natural talent for magic, eh? I suppose your level of awareness and level of training in other magics doesn't hurt at all.

As far as spells go, I think you've improved your understanding of fire sufficiently to start learning the spells.

But I also want you to improve your ability to detect fire energy in the world around us . . . tell me, where do you currently see concentrations of fire energy?"

[Sebastion umbra]

"Well I see it in the fire we have going, I think I see tiny flickers of in in the forge, and I think I see threads of it from the heat of the day. There is also the fire circle"

[Torvallis!]

(OOG: I'll sign off on fire tier 3 now, we just have a post or two of RP to finish up and preprelog is tonight)

"Alright, well, I just want to show you one more place where heat energy can be found. This one will take some concentration."

Torvallis! extinguishes the forge fire and beckons to follow them into the woods.

After some searching, they come across a dead animal corpse, picked by birds already, rotting in the sun.

"All life has fire energy. Even the life of decay, like that that is now festering on the meat of this rat. It's faint, but it's there, and it will eventually be important to your spells that you are able to see it, and work with it. For now, it is just important to be able to catch a glimpse of it"

[Sebastion umbra]

I concentrate on the rats body and after a minute "I think I see the faint flicker of fire in its body"

[Torvallis!]

"Good, good! You got it quickly, so if you can, just give it a quick try and don't be discouraged if you can't, just try to effect it . . . just shape it a little. I'm not expecting you to make a spell out of it, or form a mana somehow, just see if you see it enough to be able to effect it"

[Sebastion umbra]

I concentrate on the flicker of fire energy in the rat trying to make it do some thing. after a minute when it seems like I'm about to give up, with a look of uncertainty I turn to Torvallis! "I think I made it grow slightly but it went back to how it started pretty quickly, not what I tried to do but I got something" hold my chin in thought "so would someone be able to with a high enough awareness and power in fire would they be able to draw out this energy" pointing down at the corpse "to form a mana or to directly power a spell if the source of energy where large enough?"

[Torvallis!]

"I mean . . . theoretically?

The importance of this lies in the resurrection spell . . . you need to change this heat with a fire mana of your own in order to resurrect the heat of a body, its life energy.

But I found that I was able to draw mana from my own power and energy using similar techniques. I don't know how you source your mana, but mine is very conscious, a very long tying together of energy and thought into knots that I can carry around and use as energy sources.

. . . I didn't see any change in the energy, to be honest. That's also to be expected at your level. But you're willing to try, and you are steadfast enough in your observing to detect minute changes. That bodes well for your future skill in this field.

I think we're done training for the day"

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