Walking in Darkness (World: Brieth)
The Assassin Grand Master, dressed in well oiled blackened leathers, tilted his chair backwards, balanced on two legs. “So, Seon, you’re saying this will allow me to disappear?”
The Apostate Shaman Adept stood, laughed deeply and as he picked up his staff in his right hand, wiggled the fingers of his left hand and seemed to just disappear.
Aley launched out of his chair into a fighting stance, with his long sword and dagger drawn before the chair hit the floor.
Seon laughed a rich belly laugh.
The shadows seemed to dim slightly, and Aley could sense where the Shaman stood.
Seon uttered a word, and the cloud of nothing dispelled.
Aley sheathed his weapons, picked up his chair and sat back down. “Teach me how!”
“The priests in the Temple of Wot would tell you to recite canticle 4 of the 23rd skald.” Seon sat down.
Aley cocked his head to the side. “That word you said was Old-Elvin for a lewd sex act, wasn’t it? How does that line up with a prayer to Wot, the human prime deity?”
“My dear Master Diekatz, all magic, whether religious, infernal, elemental, or transcendent, require three things: power, will and ritual. The priests use Wot as their power. The recitation of 23-4 is the ritual and part of the framework for the will, as the verse is about being cloaked in the power of their god. Finally, their desire to disappear finishes their will.”
Aley gestured at Seon. “Master Wo Danze, how do you do it?”
“Shamans have learned that power is everywhere, so we draw it from matter and existence itself. We embody our will in ritual, where words mean exactly what we want them to, no more, no less. The key is our imagining the will.”
Aley looked thoughtful. “So I can just make myself disappear by force of will.”
“When you hide in shadows, you already do it. You just don’t realize it, nor maximize it formally. We can create you a cantrip to make it better. Then you will really walk in darkness.”
