After her first class Sonia went to lunch. Owldin flew around her often getting ahead, stopping on a high elevation, then flying off again watching over her. That was because while Sonia was in a good mood, Owldin was more wary of danger. Sonia had heard of the murder but chose not to worry about it, whereas Owldin took it more seriously. Not that there was much he could do on his own aside from manning claw the killer’s eyes out if he’s lucky, but so long as Sonia was safe he’ll do whatever it takes.
In the lunch hall Sonia sat down by herself. She had packed her own lunch and it only needed a little reheating. Tomato and basil soup, two ham and cheese melt, and ice coffee. It was a lot of food for one person but Sonia was bigger than your average person. She only wished she could have brought something with more meat. She had spent most of her money on furnishing her dorm room and buying magic tones and scrolls for study, leaving her fridge fairly bare. And while she was certain that the shook served an excellent lunch, her own pride couldn’t allow herself to ask food from others when she is able to make her own.
A spider who cannot Hunt is no spider, as her father would say. So after warming up her soup and sandwich Sonia said a quick and quiet prayer before digging in. She daintily cut up her sandwich into smaller cuts, dipping them into the soup before consuming. Between bites she drank her coffee. The cafine helped her calm her nerves, though that was thanks to its intoxicating effects on arachnes. Most people get hyper when drinking coffee; Sonia gets drunk.
”Eh heh heh. This is... This isn’t so bad. I wonder if it would taste better with mayonnaise.”
Sonia looked a bit embarrassed as Mako explained that these spells weren't simple fire-and-forget spells like Sonia knew. They were full blown rituals, time consuming and difficult, which to Sonia meant they must be powerful. Or at least had a lot of potential; she'd hate to have to spend ten minutes to conjure a ball of fire as large as a torch. Still it felt a bit dirty; it seemed like Mako had already decided to do potions on the first day and wasn't really giving them a choice. "Oh well. Potions are important too. They're still magic so I can learn something from it." As Sonia was getting her things out one of the students came over to her and patted her shoulder. It was the only other student who spoke out about wanting to use potions. She didn't say anything, just nodded her head and left. Sonia was briefly confused. "Okay."
Back to business. Sonia had neatly arranged everything on the desk as well as had the instruction manual out. She already knew some basics to potion making through her previous training in general alchemy, though she needed a refresher on how some of these tools worked. She did a few experiments to observe their function and once she understood how they worked she began to make the potions. She made a few mistakes here and there, but she immediately recognized them and made sure to clean up and not do it again. Before long she had a complete product. It was blood red, with a watery texture. Sonia took a box off her bag and opened it up. Inside was Owldin. "Owldin, test this for me? It should be a healing potion." Owldin sampled the potion and made a bitter face, but described the feeling as invigorating but sour. More or less what the book said the potion would be like, minus the sour part. Most people say it's bitter. "Perhaps Owldin just tastes it differently?"
There was still some time left so Sonia tried to improve on the potion. Setting aside the first completed potion, she tried to create new ones with different tastes and effects. Taste would be important for those out on the field: while people should be disciplined enough to eat their medicine no matter how bitter, having something tasty or at least not disgusting makes it go down more easily. She tried natrual flavors like mint and strawberry, but they were state and tasteless. Then she tried something like bubblegum or chocolate, but the flavors were far too strong. The regular potion itself was indeed bitter, but not entirely unpleasant. In fact it gave Sonia an idea. Instead of trying to replace the bitter flavor, she should try to improve it.
As class was coming to a close Sonia was one of the last students to hand Mako her potion. The potion was still blood red, but Sonia had labeled it with the flavor she choose. It was nearly a perfect match though Sonia isn't sure if the flavor she put into it compromised it's effectiveness as a healing potion; she tried to balance it but since neither she nor Owldin were hurt, she had no idea what the potency was. "Here you go professor." Placing the vial on the desk, the label clearly said Expresso.
At some point, Parum would gather those she could together. She knew they wouldn't have much time to talk since they were under constant watch, so Parum spoke quickly and quietly. "We can't stay. Tonight we leave with Leosin. I saw him strung up to some sort of post out in the middle of the camp. It'll be hard to get him during the day, but at night we should be able to grab him and go. I know a place we could stake out for a little while, and with any luck I'll have someone nearby we could use to replace Leosin when we free him, just to keep the cult off our tails for a little while longer. I'm sure once they notice we're gone the entire camp will go into high alert, so we have to do this right the first time." Parum did a quick scan around the area for anyone listening. She paused for a bit to observe, then continued.
"Torus, I'm going to need you to secure out getaway. See if you could transform yourself or use your bird to find us a route out. Kyra, I need you to be our eyes. If anyone might spot us, I need you to distract them. I don't care how. We also need to save Brannor, though I'm hoping Orchid can take care of that. Lastly if possible... I want to free the other slaves. I can't say we can bring them back to Greenest, but at least if they're free they might have a chance to escape. Or a chance to distract the other bandits for us. Parum said almost in one entire breath. She kept darting her eyes back and forth to make sure there wasn't anyone eaves dropping before leaning back and resuming her casual demeanor. "That's pretty much it. If you have any better ideas, I'm all ears."
Inside Mako’s classroom, Sonia sat furthest in the back. It was the best place for her since she was so big, but didn’t want to get in peoples ways. Her eyesight would let her see every minute detail from where she was at anyways. Soon after Sonia arrives and took her seat, Mako started her lecture. Spells and Potions! And not ones Sonia were familiar with. That didn’t bother her though; Sonia wanted to learn new spells and forms of magic, so she couldn’t be relying on what she already knew.
Mako asked the class if they wanted to start with spells or potions first. Thinking about it, Sonia obviously wanted to do spells. Spells were her forte. She has tried to make potions before but she found their effects lacking. Sure they were useful, but they lacked a certain flair to them. Frankly she also thought they were boring and better suited for machines. So raising her hand Sonia spoke up. ”I would like to start with spells. Potions should be prepped and ready before an emergency. No one will have time to craft a healing potion or antivenom when you need it most. But spells can be adapted and used on the fly, if you’re trained enough to do so.”
Name: Sonia Weaver Age: 16 Species: Arachne Abilities: Arachne have great eyesight that allows them to see perfectly in the dark, even discerning colors. They can also walk along surfaces like walls or ceiling with no difficulty. Lastly they can create strong rope called Spider Silk. They can produce up to a hundred feet of rope per day, but only if they've healthy and have a good diet. Spider Silk is as strong as steel but as light as silk, making them very good for textiles.
Sonia is a practiced mage who wants to become a powerful wizard, so she knows many spells. However she can only prepare so many spells at a time, and she requires a casting catalyze to use them. While Sonia strives to learn all spells, she specializes in Divination magic which allows her to do things like sense hidden presences, speak and understand new languages, see into the future, or even create astral projections. She also knows a few other spells from different schools of magic as well.
Familiar - This spell lets Sonia summon a magical animal called a familiar who she can telepathically interact with. Her familiar is an Owl called Owldin. If Owldin is within a hundred feet of Sonia, he can cast close-range spells through her. If Owldin dies or gone Sonia can summon him again but only once per day and it is a one hour ritual. When she does this ritual she can choose a new animal to be her familiar, and they will gain all the memories and personality as Owldin.
Portents - Sonia can instantly perceive a thirty seconds into the future. In this instance she can see different time lines based off what she wants to do and what might happen if she follows through with them. She can only cast this spell twice a day.
Tongues - This spell lets Sonia understand, speak, and write any language naturally for one hour. This includes secret languages, animal languages, and magical languages. She can cast this spell twice a day.
Feather Fall - This spell lets Sonia safely fall from great heights without hurting herself. She can either fall slowly or fall normally without taking any damage. When she casts this spell she can target up to four other people, including herself. This spell lasts until she stands on something solid for at least five whole seconds. She can cast this spell twice a day.
Detect Magic - This spell allows Sonia to sense magical presences around her and learn what they are and what they do for up to ten minutes. Sonia can use this spell three times a day.
Obscure Mind - When Sonia touches someone with this spell, they are protected from mental intrusion such as mind control, telepathy, or dream invasions. Last for ten minutes but if used on a sleeping person it will last until they wake up. Sonia can cast this spell three times a day.
Silence - An illusion spell that causes a ten-feet diameter area or a specific object/person to make no noise. They don't make any noise even if they interact with an object, like if someone picks up an instrument and tries to play it while under the effect of this spell. Lasts for ten minutes. Sonia can cast this spell three times a day.
Shocking Grasp - Sonia can touch someone and delivery a powerful electrical shock through their bodies. More effective on people wearing metal or things made of metal. This spell can be used to stun and paralyze someone instead of electrocute them. She can only cast this spell five times a day.
Skills: Sonia is a very fast reader and knows many languages, even obscure and secretive ones. She has some training with pistols to protect herself. Sonia is also very perspective and good at focusing on multiple things at once, even things she can't immediately see. Sonia knows how to play the drums and is okay at singing. She is also capable of not needing to eat or sleep a lot and she can survive off just one meal and four hours of sleep, or up to three days without food or water and no sleep if she pushes herself. Inventory: Revolver - Sonia has a magic .357 revolver for personal protection. It's enchanted so that it can't shoot if it's not specifically in Sonia's hands, and she can summon it to her hand whenever she wants. Spell Book - Sonia's spell casting catalyst as well as where all her spells are stored. Without this book she can't cast any spells. Magically reinforced to withstand water, fire, and even weapons, though it's not indestructible just more resistant. Anyone who tries to read Sonia's spellbook will just see a bunch of random scribbles and gibberish unless they use divination magic to make sense of the writing. Whenever Sonia is touching her spellbook, she can make words appear on it's pages without having to write. Magic Monocle - This enchanted eye piece can focus it's vision like a telescope. It also darkens when there is bright light so Sonia isn't blinded by flashes of light. Sample Post:
Scratch scratch. Scratch scratch.
"Owldin, stop that."
Yawning loudly a large six-eyed girl stretched her arms over her head, rubbing her tired eyes. She looked at her cellphone and saw that she had three more minutes before her alarm would go off. Not too far away her familiar was scratching his roasting post, as he always did whenever he was hungry. It was loud and annoying but it made Sonia wake up. As she got out of bed she had to be careful not to trip over her own legs as she often did when she was drowsy. Her large lower body bumped into the boxes of books she never bothered to put away or baskets of clothes she never folded up. Her table was a mess of papers, letters, half-opened books, and a cups full of coffee stains. She knew there was a spell that could easily clean this place up, but she has yet to find it. It seemed like everyone took any scroll or spell book that had it and didn’t want to share it with Sonia. It made her angry, but as long as it didn’t stink up her room she didn’t worry about it.
Sonia’s bathroom was cramp even for an Arachne. She had sought specific accommodations for her but this was the best she could do within her budget. It was usable, but she wished she could have something even better. After doing her business in the bathroom Sonia changed into her usual outfit. She favored dresses for practical reasons. Even though she had to pay an extra premium to make them fit her she could appreciate the workmanship that goes into them. After getting dressed Sonia grabbed the monocle on her dresser and did her hair. Once that was finished she was ready for the start of her day.
”Come along Owldin, let’s go get some breakfast.”
Other: Sonia has a snake phobia and jumps at things that might look like a snake like belts, tree branches, or particularly large noodles. She also hates worms for a similar reason. Sonia isn’t a good weaver despite being part of the Weaver family though she still sells raw Spider Silk to supplement her income. She gets very embarrassed making spider silk in front of people. Sonia’s favorite drink is coffee, her favorite snack is pistachio macarons, and favorite food is barbecue ribs.
Master Crim