Pycena lays in her bed after a long and stressful day. She'd rather not think about the events that transpired between June and her, but the pressure on her soul is immense. She lets herself rest, and as she does, her skin begins to flake off, and then bits of fat and muscle. Slowly. Without much pain. She thinks if she did this long enough she wouldn't have to worry neither about the war nor her people, nor the mistakes she's made, nor the shortcomes and misfortunes holding her back. Still, she doesn't give up. People's lives are at stake, and she is still very much alive. She holds up "Torrential Deluge", a staff which conjures pure water capable of healing and purification. She channels the magic of the staff and a puddle of water appears at her head, shortly falling and drenching her completely. The wounds heal, while others open up, only to heal again. She tuned out the pain long ago. A prism of light sits on her table, golden at the edges. A blessing from Deserma, yet one far weaker than she's used to seeing. Or perhaps not..."Weaker... weaker... weaker..." She falls silent for a moment, thoughts racing in her head. Pycena has always been resourceful, perhaps to her own fault. But that wouldn't stop her from trying to see the good and potential in everything, and everyone. "Maybe it isn't weak. Maybe it's me who's failing to realize how to use this blessing." She gets to work. Light. An element she's only recently been aquintated with. Yet she knew it had power within it. As the angle of the prism shifted the light would do so as well, producing a myriad of different colors. She thought if she could do that with magic, channeled into the prism as well. She drew runes across the prism's surface with light. A conjured rune wouldn't last for long but... "Sowilo", rune of the sun. The light burned brighter, and in a pure white through the prisms edge. Although this wasn't enough to scorch, the increase in radiance was significant, and, perhaps, strong enough to matter when used in combat or in spells. "Fehu", the rune of wealth. The light would stick to objects, making them glimmer and reflect the natural radiance around them, fading shortly after. "Thurisaz", the thorn. The light would form thin sharp crystals, which slowly dissipated into dust. "Kenaz", the torch. The light would set fire to a nearby shrub, eventually burning it up in a small blaze. The rune of stillness, "Isa", seemed to do nothing at all at first. But then Pycena moved the prism, and the lightbeam was still there, floating in the air, although very much intangible. It wouldn't last long, as the light would seem to land second after."Eiwhaz". Transformation. The light disintegrated the floorboards at a steady pace. leaving but floating dust. ... Having done many tests with the prism Pycena came to understand and appreciate it more. Soon, it would be a potent tool for her new magics.

(-12325 83 -1534) On one fateful day Pycena began to wonder about Rotbark. While it was strong, with even the weakest attempts producing something of value, she could not say it has reached its full potential. She knew about purification techniques used by the late smith eastlake. She saw her grab two herbs in particular to purify the items from half moon isles - Sage and Aglaophotis. Pycena didn't know what exact properties these ingredients had, and it bothered her. Perhaps purification could be the means to unlocking the full potential of Rotbark? Or maybe just a way to make a complete mess out of the study? Time would tell, because Pycena would be going EXPERIMENTING! And so, she gathered the finest samples of Rotbark she could find. Not only would they be the more durable option, but the likeliest one to produce useful results. She also had garlic in mind. The books said cleansing? Then it's going in the pot! Each attempt had the same general structure. Pycena would grind up four bundles or cloves of each ingredient (Sage, Aglaophotis, and Garlic), excluding up to two depending on the attempt, and then she would put the ingredients into a metal bowl and set it on fire, placing it into a domed glass enclosure on top of a iron plate beside the rotbark. The flame would transform the ingredients into cleansing smoke that would slowly fill the glass dome and hopefully purifying the rotbark and helping it bring out its properties more. Pycena, meanwhile would draw a rune of purification - Berkano, and chant a short incantation to help the process with her magic. "An ember's spark""A cleansing flame""To rotten heart""You'll show the way" "Let smoke embrace""And purify""To your true form""Unvillified" "Wrath's Ascent" Red sparks would fly across the room as the spell was cast. While Pycena lacked confidience before, her experience with purifying the waters of the Emeraldite cities made her trust her own magic a lot more. Still, this was unexplored territory for her, so she took the spell seriously. In the end what was left was seven different rotbark samples. With purification complete with... various... levels of success it was time to review the results and log them in a journal.

((Resolved))

Content warning: Descriptions of gore and violence, spider cruelty.With Cavilon's assault on MyleHatsu ended, Pycena walks around the city to try to assess the damage. She orders the survivors to gather the bodies of the fallen soldiers and citizens and send them to HellWell to rest. The fire was a separate issue... but fortunately it didn't seem to cause any permanent damage. The buildings were slightly scorched, but the droplets and the mages guiding them did a fantastic job. The citizens didn't get affected too much either... Maybe because Mint's mastery over flame had protected them instead of scorching them to a crisp. But while she walks she notices a poster on the side of a building that did not exist before... "Revenge against Cavilon! See champion of the arena "Geiger the Slammer" smash apart minions of the false god! Watch out, it's about to get VIOLENT! This evening, only at the underground arena!" "Cavilon's minions in the arena?" Pycena thought "The mercenaries must have sought the opportunity to capture a few after the bulk were wiped out." Later that evening Pycena had sought out the arena. To her surprise the undercity was fairly well guarded, but the crowd of people at the arena was denser than everywhere else. Charged a hefty fee too. She would walk through the crowd as her citizens would recognize her. Despite the death glares, and her, at the time visibly short stature, the bouncers would let her pass to watch the show. Gore and blood covered the arena. Loose white teeth glistening in the mycelium. The mushrooms visibly twisted by the cycle of violence feeding them. The crowd of people would be filled by Rotstalkers and regular citizens alike. The Rotstalkers had their visage obscured. Many would lurk in the direction of the arena, hungry for the carnage to begin. Some would watch inquisitively, seemingly trying to learn more rather than entertain themselves. The announcer rang the bell and the crowd grew silent. Loud steps echoed across the arena. A large warrior. Visibly bulky and clad in iron armor. The stench from his was both visible and palpable; a decaying presence, in all senses of the word. He wielded a greathammer, one larger than the common varieties made at the city's armory. Twenty three notches etched into the hammerhead. And a spiked helmet, visibly bent and jagged in places. He would walk forward as the crowd began to cheer. His breath reminded me of a raging bull. Soon, the workers of the arena brought a cage to the other side of the arena. In it, a large amethyst spider, by human standarts. In reality it was more of a juvenile. After the container was brought the gates were shut and the two opponents were locked in. The bell was rang once more and the crowd began to shout wildly as the fight started. As soon as the cage was opened the spider ran to the sides of the arena, hugging the walls desperately. The shouting of the crowd and the sight of his opponent was enough for the spider, on a primal level, understand that this wasn't a fair fight, but a predator toying with his prey. An execution. Geiger would steadily close in, his hammer primed for a swing. The spider would attempt a desperate swing, only for The Slammer to headbutt the spider, his jagged spikes embedding deeply into several eyeballs at once. As the spider desperately, screaming and screeching trying to shred the armor Geiger would line up a strong punch and send him flying across the room into the wall. The spider, injured and desperate, would begin to climb up the walls, and do so rather successfully, almost entering the upper bowl. But just as he did... he would get shot by a crossbow through the neck and land smack in the middle of the arena, flipped on its back and unable to get up. Suddenly, the crowd began to scream in unison:   Spoiler DIE!!! Geiger would walk slowly towards the spider.   Spoiler DIE!!! The spider would watch helplessly through the few eyes that remained.   Spoiler DIE!!! Geiger began to raise his hammer.     Spoiler DIE!!! He would hold it up, primed to strike.   Spoiler DIE!!! The fighter would grin, like a devil in a steel coffin.     Spoiler DIE!!! The hammer would SLAM down onto the body of the spider, the sheer force of the blow sending body parts and viscera flying across the arena and leaving behind but a spattering of amethyst and blood. Pycena would watch as a limb got lodged in between the metal fence of the viewing area. As Geiger screamed in his victory the crowd would follow. Their bloodthirst quenched, but not satisfied. Clearly... This was only a beginning.  

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