70th of Ash, 4622
Unable to see what is going on around him, the hidden amber-eyed thief could only stand still and wait for the moment that the patrolling guard would either pass by or look closer to his position to strike.
This wasn't Jared's first time using Enshroud on himself as he had some minor practice on understanding how his mutation functioned with his abilities. From what the thief could gather from his experiments was that Enshroud would generate a thin layer of ether that would infuse itself with other Umbralplasm-infused abilities.
The thin membrane generated would either pull photons inwards, refract around the membrane or reflect it back into the ambient space around. In all cases, the object or person effect would vanish gradually before disappearing entirely albeit only visually.
Some notes that Jared had made was that the object and/or person in question would still cast a shadow and that the surrounding area would be distorted similar to how light would bend around a very heavy object about a couple of inches depending on the mass that Enshroud is affecting.
Another thing to note is that while a living creature is under the effects of Enshroud, their visual capacity would be reduced drastically as the photons would be diverted away from the eyes resulting in the creature becoming blind by darkness for the duration that Enshroud is active. The opposite is true in the case of photons being pulled into the retina which would overstimulate the eyes resulting in a blinding white light. In either case, the resulting blindness would hinder many for those that rely on vision to navigate the world but the remaining senses remain active.
"Huh… Seems like nothing is out of place…"
The sounds of plated boots clicking and clanking against the cold, stone floor of the kitchen generates a reasonable amount of echoing within the confined space which Jared could hear & turn his attention to. Despite being blinded by his own raw magic, the amber-eyed thief's sense of hearing remains sharp and so to his attention to detail with the varying sounds around him.
"Patience, there isn't anything to raise suspicion. He will leave and you can continue seeking out what you discovered."
Holding his breath for a moment or two, Jared was attempting to limit his presence as best as he could as the sounds of footsteps echo louder and louder with each passing second as if the guard was looking around carefully to determine if anything was out of place.
As seconds pass, quickly turning into minutes; the amber-eyed thief’s heartbeat begins to pick up pace, beating faster as each foreign footstep looms closer. Just then, a brief interlude of silence remains despite the last couple of metal-bound steps loom a couple of feet away from his hiding position.
“What the… Are my eyes playing tricks on me???”
From what the thief could gather, the guardsmen in question seemed like he was looking at his position. It is very much possible that despite being invisible, that the location that he picked is a bit exposed and that the gravitational lensing effect is more present due to his mass; after all, Jared didn’t know how much of the warping effect was present on his own body as he couldn’t exactly see himself without the guidance of another. In any case, Jared had two opinions at the moment, remain quiet and hope that the guard will play it off before moving along or strike at his target as quickly as he could, whether blood is spilled is another subject to internally discuss once the act was done.
As the heavy-clad footsteps begin to move closer towards his position as if a predator was inching closer to its prey, the amber-eyed thief took the chance to reach out to his blackjack which nestles at the right side of his belt. Wrapping his finger the leather-woven handle, a trickling sensation of umbralplasm moving slowly & coating the lead-weighted shaft to increase the density of the head. The Nightfallen magus took the initiative by unveiling himself once the footsteps were close enough for him to strike.
Deactivating his Enshroud on his Obscura, Jared would leap out of the nowhere and attempt to strike his opponent in this brief moment as best he could. Landing a heavy blow on the side of the guardsmen’s waist, the apprentice thief seemed a bit surprised as he mistaken for the height of his strike but despite that, the bludgeoning strike was enough to stagger his opponent who was surprised as much as Jared was but that did not deter the thief from finishing what he had started.
As the guard staggers backwards for a moment, the amber-eyed assailant quickly launches a thick slurry of umbralplasm at his opponent which quickly engulfs the guardsmen’s head who would attempt to scream out but his voice would be stifled by the organic black goo that would suffocate his opponent. Jared’s goal was to only knock his opponent out and with that goal in mind, the moment the guard stops his struggling; the nightfallen magus would command his umbralplasm to slither back to him to allow the guardsmen to breathe once more but albeit unconscious now.
“Fuck… fuck fuck… This isn’t good…”
Once the adenline had subsided, the aftermath of the brief confrontation would soon settle in. How much noise was their scuffle noticed by others? Would he be able to clean up the crime scene and move the heavy body away in time before other guards or servants enter into the kitchen? Would he be able to escape with the possibly raised levels of security? There were many questions that started bubbling up from Jared’s thoughts but one thing was for certain that he needed to get out of here quickly but not before plundering the hidden room that he had discovered a few minutes prior to the altercation.
Sparing no time, Jared quickly made his way over to the location where the loose stone bricks were present, pulling the stones off from the wall and setting it to the side before stepping into the dark space. The amber-eyed thief couldn’t help but narrow his gaze for his citrine-hue eyes to adjust the different degrees of light present and what could be seen was something strange.
Taking a brief moment to assess what he was looking at, there seems to be an alchemical lab of sorts with various reagents that the thief had never seen before. Off to the side of this hap-hazard laboratory were various books & journals as if someone was experimenting on something.
“What is all of this… No matter, just take as much as you can and leave… You can deal with the repercussions later…”
Taking a moment to look at all of the available reagents that were present; a variety of dried herbs, chunks of ores with variants of colours from a rustic brown to a silvery-blue hue and most importantly the various journals, notes & books present within the lab was collected into his makeshift umbralplasm satchel. It would only be a couple of minutes of collecting but every second counts in this current event as Jared was not out of the loop yet.
Quickly exiting out of the secret room, Jared returns back to the dishevel kitchen with the unconscious guard left out in the open who was laying on the guard; quickly stepping over the body, Jared took a moment to place his ear on the door, listening carefully for anything abnormal; A quick conversation was brewing a few meters away from the door.
“Hey, where is Imran? He hasn’t come back for a bit… He should have returned by now.”
“He was checking in the kitchen. If I remember, let's check on him. Tonight everyone has been on edge as one of the other guys mentioned that there was some sort of tampering that happened on the west wing of the building and the captain said to increase the frequency of patrol.”
Pulling away from the door, Jared couldn’t help but breathe heavily as essentially he was cornered with almost no way out unless the guards entered and he could slip by without drawing much attention. It was only then that something had occurred that would allow him to slip by, a couple of minutes prior, Jared had laced one of the doors with a Confide that would trigger a series of stomping loud enough to notify those nearby and it so happened that some random soul most likely another thief had triggered his distraction.
“Hey! There is a scuffle upstairs, I’m going to check the kitchen, you check upstairs.”
“Got it!”
From there a horn was blown which echoed to the nearby buildings alerting everyone that something had happened. Needing to find a spot that he could hide for a moment, Jared quickly slips behind one of the many piles of flour sacks that lay about within the room & concentrating his Obscura to adjust to the ambient light & shadow to assist in blending into the background.
For the time being, he would have to wait for the guard to enter but this would be the home stretch if Jared would be able to escape intact, be maimed or injured.
This wasn't Jared's first time using Enshroud on himself as he had some minor practice on understanding how his mutation functioned with his abilities. From what the thief could gather from his experiments was that Enshroud would generate a thin layer of ether that would infuse itself with other Umbralplasm-infused abilities.
The thin membrane generated would either pull photons inwards, refract around the membrane or reflect it back into the ambient space around. In all cases, the object or person effect would vanish gradually before disappearing entirely albeit only visually.
Some notes that Jared had made was that the object and/or person in question would still cast a shadow and that the surrounding area would be distorted similar to how light would bend around a very heavy object about a couple of inches depending on the mass that Enshroud is affecting.
Another thing to note is that while a living creature is under the effects of Enshroud, their visual capacity would be reduced drastically as the photons would be diverted away from the eyes resulting in the creature becoming blind by darkness for the duration that Enshroud is active. The opposite is true in the case of photons being pulled into the retina which would overstimulate the eyes resulting in a blinding white light. In either case, the resulting blindness would hinder many for those that rely on vision to navigate the world but the remaining senses remain active.
"Huh… Seems like nothing is out of place…"
The sounds of plated boots clicking and clanking against the cold, stone floor of the kitchen generates a reasonable amount of echoing within the confined space which Jared could hear & turn his attention to. Despite being blinded by his own raw magic, the amber-eyed thief's sense of hearing remains sharp and so to his attention to detail with the varying sounds around him.
"Patience, there isn't anything to raise suspicion. He will leave and you can continue seeking out what you discovered."
Holding his breath for a moment or two, Jared was attempting to limit his presence as best as he could as the sounds of footsteps echo louder and louder with each passing second as if the guard was looking around carefully to determine if anything was out of place.
As seconds pass, quickly turning into minutes; the amber-eyed thief’s heartbeat begins to pick up pace, beating faster as each foreign footstep looms closer. Just then, a brief interlude of silence remains despite the last couple of metal-bound steps loom a couple of feet away from his hiding position.
“What the… Are my eyes playing tricks on me???”
From what the thief could gather, the guardsmen in question seemed like he was looking at his position. It is very much possible that despite being invisible, that the location that he picked is a bit exposed and that the gravitational lensing effect is more present due to his mass; after all, Jared didn’t know how much of the warping effect was present on his own body as he couldn’t exactly see himself without the guidance of another. In any case, Jared had two opinions at the moment, remain quiet and hope that the guard will play it off before moving along or strike at his target as quickly as he could, whether blood is spilled is another subject to internally discuss once the act was done.
As the heavy-clad footsteps begin to move closer towards his position as if a predator was inching closer to its prey, the amber-eyed thief took the chance to reach out to his blackjack which nestles at the right side of his belt. Wrapping his finger the leather-woven handle, a trickling sensation of umbralplasm moving slowly & coating the lead-weighted shaft to increase the density of the head. The Nightfallen magus took the initiative by unveiling himself once the footsteps were close enough for him to strike.
Deactivating his Enshroud on his Obscura, Jared would leap out of the nowhere and attempt to strike his opponent in this brief moment as best he could. Landing a heavy blow on the side of the guardsmen’s waist, the apprentice thief seemed a bit surprised as he mistaken for the height of his strike but despite that, the bludgeoning strike was enough to stagger his opponent who was surprised as much as Jared was but that did not deter the thief from finishing what he had started.
As the guard staggers backwards for a moment, the amber-eyed assailant quickly launches a thick slurry of umbralplasm at his opponent which quickly engulfs the guardsmen’s head who would attempt to scream out but his voice would be stifled by the organic black goo that would suffocate his opponent. Jared’s goal was to only knock his opponent out and with that goal in mind, the moment the guard stops his struggling; the nightfallen magus would command his umbralplasm to slither back to him to allow the guardsmen to breathe once more but albeit unconscious now.
“Fuck… fuck fuck… This isn’t good…”
Once the adenline had subsided, the aftermath of the brief confrontation would soon settle in. How much noise was their scuffle noticed by others? Would he be able to clean up the crime scene and move the heavy body away in time before other guards or servants enter into the kitchen? Would he be able to escape with the possibly raised levels of security? There were many questions that started bubbling up from Jared’s thoughts but one thing was for certain that he needed to get out of here quickly but not before plundering the hidden room that he had discovered a few minutes prior to the altercation.
Sparing no time, Jared quickly made his way over to the location where the loose stone bricks were present, pulling the stones off from the wall and setting it to the side before stepping into the dark space. The amber-eyed thief couldn’t help but narrow his gaze for his citrine-hue eyes to adjust the different degrees of light present and what could be seen was something strange.
Taking a brief moment to assess what he was looking at, there seems to be an alchemical lab of sorts with various reagents that the thief had never seen before. Off to the side of this hap-hazard laboratory were various books & journals as if someone was experimenting on something.
“What is all of this… No matter, just take as much as you can and leave… You can deal with the repercussions later…”
Taking a moment to look at all of the available reagents that were present; a variety of dried herbs, chunks of ores with variants of colours from a rustic brown to a silvery-blue hue and most importantly the various journals, notes & books present within the lab was collected into his makeshift umbralplasm satchel. It would only be a couple of minutes of collecting but every second counts in this current event as Jared was not out of the loop yet.
Quickly exiting out of the secret room, Jared returns back to the dishevel kitchen with the unconscious guard left out in the open who was laying on the guard; quickly stepping over the body, Jared took a moment to place his ear on the door, listening carefully for anything abnormal; A quick conversation was brewing a few meters away from the door.
“Hey, where is Imran? He hasn’t come back for a bit… He should have returned by now.”
“He was checking in the kitchen. If I remember, let's check on him. Tonight everyone has been on edge as one of the other guys mentioned that there was some sort of tampering that happened on the west wing of the building and the captain said to increase the frequency of patrol.”
Pulling away from the door, Jared couldn’t help but breathe heavily as essentially he was cornered with almost no way out unless the guards entered and he could slip by without drawing much attention. It was only then that something had occurred that would allow him to slip by, a couple of minutes prior, Jared had laced one of the doors with a Confide that would trigger a series of stomping loud enough to notify those nearby and it so happened that some random soul most likely another thief had triggered his distraction.
“Hey! There is a scuffle upstairs, I’m going to check the kitchen, you check upstairs.”
“Got it!”
From there a horn was blown which echoed to the nearby buildings alerting everyone that something had happened. Needing to find a spot that he could hide for a moment, Jared quickly slips behind one of the many piles of flour sacks that lay about within the room & concentrating his Obscura to adjust to the ambient light & shadow to assist in blending into the background.
For the time being, he would have to wait for the guard to enter but this would be the home stretch if Jared would be able to escape intact, be maimed or injured.
