Lowlife, Scoundrel, Bandit Queen

Chapter 168 - 168 - Late night lessons

I'm running a little late it seems. At least the stern looks Brygida and her familiar, who sit out in front of the shop, the latter in the lap of the former, are shooting me suggest as much even from afar. The young witch's first statement, as I get closer, leaves no more room for doubt.

"You are late, apprentice."

Ouch. Maybe I should have stayed on the rooftops to get the drop on her? Oh well, never mind. What's done is done. It's no use crying over spilled milk. Instead I move forwards, which includes an apology for my perceived tardiness.

"I'm terribly sorry. I lost track of time in meditation."

The young witch seems satisfied with that and the cat it seems doesn't mind either way, as long as she gets scritches. Rysia is a little harder to appease, but she accepts my explanation as well. She decides to provide some advice for the future though while ushering us inside.

"Get some more practice. That way you should eventually learn to react to outside stimuli without loosing the benefit of the meditation."

Once we are all inside, Brygida, Captain Whiskers and I, the witch mother closes and locks the door behind us.

The shops interior is like I remember it for the better part. It's the same charming mix of orderly and cluttered as always, except, a decent sized space has been cleared in front of the counter. That seems noteworthy, thus I make a first mental note. Summoning magic, or at least summoning magic for the spirits of the dead, needs space.

It's a not entirely unexpected development. I already expected it to involve some kind of summoning circle or the likes after all. I'm still curious though which shape exactly this will take and how complex it will be. Will I need special tools to make use of whatever I end up learning tonight?

While I'm asking myself all of these questions within the confines of my own mind, the cat gets comfortable on a windowsill and her witch, the young Brygida sits down on one of the chairs we used previously too. She pats the other. prompting me to sit down as well.

Off course, it probably wouldn't be very helpful if I were to remain standing in the space where her mother probably intends to demonstrate summoning magic. Silly me. I quickly take Brygida up on her invitation and sit on the other chair next to her, so we both can get a good look at whatever will transpire.

The elder witch is in no hurry to get started though. Maybe that's for the better? Some things shouldn't be rushed after all. Lessons on summoning the spirits of the deceased might just be a good example. She takes a moment to draw curtains on those few windows that aren't hopelessly cluttered with various odds and ends anyway. She lights a few more candle lanterns too, which is to be expected, since it's getting dark. This is not where she stops either though. No, she brews us all some fresh tea as well. There is even a plate with cookies!

I hope I'll be able to show some restraint. Ha, wouldn't this be another good chance to unlock a skill like iron will? Keep from gobbling up all the cookies despite the mouthwatering smell to unlock a rare skill! Ha, who am I kidding. It won't be that easy. But I better hold back anyway. I don't want to upset Brygida after all. Just one or maybe two to go with the tea since turning them down entirely might be considered impolite too. Most of my attention is soon drawn to the things the elder witch piles up on the counter afterwards though.

First there is a big, leather bound book. It looks quite sturdy but well used at the same time. There are writing implements, parchment and chalks mostly, enough for both Brygida and me, too. There is even a wooden ruler and a wooden pair of compasses for drawing circles. The latter obviously designed to use the chalks I already spotted. My suspicion that there will be summoning circles drawn is solidifying.

The actual lesson starts off as a casual conversation while Rysia hands us our cups of tea and we nibble on a cookie.

"Summoning spells are a rare magic you will hardly ever see practiced. There are some ethical reservations against various summons of course. Some people feel ill at ease thinking about the possibility that they, or at least their spirits, might be called back to the mortal world after their time is over. Almost no one wants to have a neighbor capable of summoning demons. Similar things can be said about just every individual school of summoning. Yet, at the same time that is only a minor reason as to why summoning magic is only rarely practiced."

By now I'm utterly captivated by her words. I barely even take note that my [Gather Information] skill improves a little. And since she obviously isn't done yet I don't dare to interrupt either.

"The bigger reason by far is another. Summoning anything, even the tiniest spirit, no matter its origin, for any length of time that is useful takes a lot of Mana. And if I say a lot, I mean a real lot. Mind boggling amounts of Mana! Neither of us would be able to pull it off alone. Unless one of us is secretly an archmage thousands of years old. Are any ancient archmages present?"

Brygida is quick to dutifully shake her head and I join her a moment later, except I stop again after a moment to be a good student and do what good students are supposed to do.

"Well I'm not ancient for sure, but what does make someone an archmage?"

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Brygida shoots me a look like I have just grown a second head, but her mother just laughs.

"Usually at least an epic class with all the class skills that come with it, many of which will be high rarity spells or skills supporting spellcasting. All those together tend to result in very high magic and spirit attributes and as a result an enormous Mana reservoir too."

I nod along with her words as I process them.

"Well, in that case I'm most certainly not an archmage of any kind, ancient or otherwise."

Now the young witch joins in too and we all laugh together for a moment, before Rysia resumes lecturing at a leisure pace.

"The rest of us, us common spellcasters, we have to share the burden of such spells through cooperative casting."

This time around Brygida picks up the slack and asks the obvious questions. In fact, once she starts it's almost like she doesn't want to stop at all.

"Cooperative spellcasting? How does that even work? Everyone contributes some of their Mana? What else is there to it? And why is this the first time I hear about it? This sounds like it would be immensely useful!"

Her mother takes it all in stride and starts to answer the questions.

"It is useful, but it's not nearly as easy or practicable under most circumstances as it may seem at first glance. And there are several ways to do it. There are some covens and other groups that practice cooperative spellcasting through ritual dance. That's incredibly tricky though. You have to very intimately know the other dancers and you have to match all your moves with the utmost precision."

I blink in surprise. Then I pinch myself to make sure I'm not still on the rooftop and dreaming this explanation. I don't actually mean to ask, but the words slip out anyway.

"Could it be …"

Brygida looks at me with her head tilted, while her mother picks up on my mumbled words.

"Could what be? Have you met ritual dancers before?"

I shrug and scratch the back of my head in embarrassment before I answer.

"Well, it's about a conversation I had earlier today, with Lady Izolda, the head maid at the keep, while I was there on quest business. She is the young lord's teacher too. I asked if they might need help with other things than fencing lessons, like dancing and she said that I wasn't ready for the kind of dancing she might teach."

I scratch the back of my head once more and take a sip of my tea before I continue.

"I didn't press the issue, but it felt wired, like we were talking about entirely different things."

Rysia taps her chin with her index finger, clearly thinking about it.

"Lady Izolda, the head maid? She isn't from around here, or is she? She almost certainly isn't a witch though. She would have introduced herself if she were. Let me think on it a little more … ah, sorry, I really don't know. But you might just be right. She might have misunderstood your inquiry like that."

Then she turns to address Brygida directly instead of me. That's alright though, as this isn'T a lesson just for me after all.

"And that dear is why you always should try to clear up misunderstandings like that right away. Otherwise your thoughts will keep returning to them again and again, as they eat at you, especially if you can't just let them go."

I sigh as Brygida dutifully nods. Rysia isn't wrong though. Life tends to be easier if you clear up misunderstandings like that one right away. It's time to steer the conversation back on the topic of cooperative spellcasting though.

"While you made some room, I doubt it would be enough to practice any kind of ritual dance and you made it sound like you had something else in mind anyway. So, what are the other options?"

Rysia thankfully takes the cue.

"I'm glad you asked and yes, we wouldn't have enough room to practice just about any kind of dance worth the name. Never mind though. Another option is commonly called spellsong. In essence it just means that you closely match the chant you use to cast a spell with other casters to combine your efforts. As you can imagine that takes a lot of practice too. Never mind that it suffers from other constraints. You probably won't get anything done like this if you suffer a bad cold and have a sore throat. Thus, that isn't the approach we will pick either."

My [Gather Information] skill improves a little more, as I'm back to nodding eagerly along with Brygida. This is proofing to be a fascinating topic. I have to wonder though if the two witches are making skill progress at the same pace as me. Does this lesson pay off to them to the same degree? Rysia certainly seems to feel enthusiastic about it, as she carries right on.

"And while we certainly practice some choir singing, even though the neighbors might not appreciate it, we will do something else. Something much quieter and easier to learn and control. We will be drawing spell circles."

It's at this point that she gets the thick book bound in sturdy leather, opening it to a page marked with a slip of paper. She puts it in her lap, showing us what seems to be a basic example of the mentioned spell cricles with lots of helpful annotations.

"Let's begin with the very basics. These being drawing in general as well as some geometry. As you can see here, the circle in the middle describes the actual desired effects of the spell you want to cast. There are well researched formulations for many spells which can be learned from teachers or books. In general you should be able to come up with a formulation that works on your own though if you put some thought into it. Make sure your penmanship and punctuation are spot on when writing it down though. Mistakes or unreadable scribbles can lead to results that are best described as … interesting."

I point to the pair of compasses and the chalks.

"That's what those are for, to draw the circles, one under the spell description, the other above it? Why though? And what about the triangle with those circles at the vertices around the circle?"

Once more the elder witch patiently answers the questions.

"Let's start with the polygon around the circles. It's a triangle in this example, and we will be using triangles in practice too, as that's denoting the number of casters involved. And those circles at the vertices are supposed to each hold a few drops of blood from one of the casters to link the spell to them. As for the chalk circles above and under the written description. On one hand they make it easier to write. Writing in a circle is not easy after all. On the other hand they are needed to denote the description as finished and complete. If those circles aren't properly closed the magic might try to interpret other things as part of the spell description. You really don't want a spell to go wild like that."

She sets the book back down on the counter and hands us the pair of compasses, the ruler and the chalks.

"Alright you two. Let's get started. Time to unlock some skills for drawing and neat writing if you don't have them already!"