Decorations from the past holiday of Halloween still covered the shadowmancy walls and classrooms. The professor - with his great love for orange and black - seemed to have gotten very interested in the holiday and found all of his Halloween spirit. He didn't seem interested in taking down the decorations for the moment, so fake spider webs and hanging ghosts still lingered in the dark hallways, ready to take any student by surprise if they weren't paying the utmost attention to where they were going.
All in all, the professor looked pleasant -- or, about as pleasant as mDrake could look. He was seated in the chair behind his desk in the auditorium, silently waiting for the students to file in and uncertainly take their seats. Soon as classtime began, he stood up and closed the door with shadow tendrils, winding them around the entrance so that no late students could enter. He had no time for late students.
"Well, some of you have shown me that you intend on taking this course seriously," he said in his calm tone as he moved in front of the desk, staring out to the shapeless blobs of muted color in front of him. His vision wasn't very good, but he could identify them by scent, thankfully. "We'll see how long you continue to divert my disappointment. Perhaps if you try hard, I might not even abhor your presence."
Having shared his piece, the professor began his lessons.
SHD 101: Shadowmancy in Nature
MDrake says:
The professor weaved his fingers together as he leaned back against his desk, studying the students that were in front of him. "This second term is for learning about shadow animals. These are creatures that are entirely or partially made out of shadow, and they are capable of manipulating it," he said. "Some of these include the shadow hounds of the realm, which are long, sinewy beasts with a proboscis at the end of their snouts. You can also find many species of shadow spiders that make use of tendrils instead of silk to build their webs. They have a much longer lifespan than physical spiders simply because they can manipulate the world for their webs instead of producing it inside themselves, reducing the amount of energy they must expend to hunt."
He moved to the back of the classroom, where he pulled two large black eggs from the cabinet, each about the size of an ostrich egg. Each egg had pulsing red veins coating it, and it was slightly slimy to the touch. He placed one egg on each student's desk. "This is the egg of a shadow monitor lizard. They are closely related to lesser shadow dragons and look much like flightless dragons, however they lack the high intelligence that such beings would have. Keep this egg incubated with warmth for the next month of class time and then when the creature hatches, bring it to a cavern in the mountain and let it go. Shadow monitors are not good familiars, so if you attempt to keep and tame it, you will find yourself wasting your time."
"Be sure to carefully maintain the heat to a range of a hundred degrees to eighty degrees, and ensure you do not leave it in an area with poor humidity for too long. In the event that it hatches early, you may take care of it for upwards of one week, but bear in mind that all of us reptiles are born self-sufficient and capable of living on our own. And that means it can, indeed, take off your hand if it wants to." His yellow eyes flashed in the darkness, as if to remind all the students of his own draconic heritage. "This is a wild animal, not a pet, so beware your fingers."
[Assignment - Take care of the egg that MDrake has given you, and when the animal hatches, bring it to the mountains to release it into its natural habitat.]
[Sol (erzanightshade ) - ]
[ Merrillana zstew2 - 3 ]
SHD 102: Aggressive Shadowmancy
MDrake says:
[ Bridgette sundayAnarchy ]
[ Thane FireStormShadow ]
[ Shira firewyrm2018 - 4 ]
[ Midnite sundayAnarchy ]
[ Eurneid JadenKismet ]
[ Angel SpunkyTruffles ]
[ Izzy AsheliaLilithCrosse ]
[ Yomi Lala-Senpaii ]
[ Tishna soapiesthorse - 5]
[ Rose Ra-Punzelle - 4 ]
[ Erin devinaaa ]
[ Hikari SAMSXCS - 3]
[ Badru TsubasaWarashi ]
[ Bird Erangot ]
Take yourself to assistant professor Kaine's classroom for these assignments!
"It seems that some of you have experience constricting with basic shadow tendrils now, and this is good," he said. "Your second assignment is going to be about learning how to control multiple tendrils. When you are fighting other humanoid creatures, you will usually be making use of about six different tendrils. For those of you who aren't used to controlling six outside entities, it can be difficult."
He glanced over the students and briefly contemplated something to himself. A moment later, he continued. "If you are going to be fighting someone, there is technique you can observe. Wrapping your shadow tendrils around the joints of the body is an easy way to gain control of your opponent. This would be grabbing them at the wrists, elbows, ankles, and knees. This allows you to control their movement, and if their hand motions--or leg motions"--he looked specifically at Mel for that--"aid them in their magic, as is common, then you can disrupt their casting ability."
"Another good place to wrap shadow tendrils is, unsurprisingly, the neck. If you train your tendrils to be able to lift weights, then you can wrap one around the neck of your opponent and hoist them up, as well as wrap them around their wrists to prevent them from grabbing at the first. This is a simple technique to suffocate your opponent by means of hanging."
The grim knowledge lingered in the air as the professor studied the students' reactions. "As such, you're going to be practicing restraining people properly. Work on restraining the joints, and you should get an idea for how much strength your individual tendrils have."
[Assignment - Using multiple shadow tendrils, restrain someone by means of their body joints and control and disrupt their movement that way. ]
[ Bridgette sundayAnarchy ]
[ Thane FireStormShadow ]
[ Shira firewyrm2018 - 4 ]
[ Midnite sundayAnarchy ]
[ Eurneid JadenKismet ]
[ Angel SpunkyTruffles ]
[ Izzy AsheliaLilithCrosse ]
[ Yomi Lala-Senpaii ]
[ Tishna soapiesthorse - 5]
[ Rose Ra-Punzelle - 4 ]
[ Erin devinaaa ]
[ Hikari SAMSXCS - 3]
[ Badru TsubasaWarashi ]
[ Bird Erangot ]
SHD 103: Shadowstalking
SHD 104: The Shadow Realm
SHD 201: Shadowporting
SHD 203: Shadow Illusions
Take yourself to assistant professor Kaine's classroom for these assignments!
SHD 202: Shadow Beasts
MDrake says:
The proefssor rapped his knuckles against the desk in front of him, eyes narrowed as he stared at his students. "All throughout history, people have reported the presence of shadow people. These are the strange, terrifying experiences caused by certain medical issues, such as sleep paralysis or hallucinations caused by drugs."
"However, you might be surprised to learn there are entities such as these in existence within our world and the shadow world. The entities -- shadow people, as the humans call them -- are not actually people. They do not have intelligence or sentience at all. One might consider them more of imprints of the shadow realm on the regular world, a place where the connection between the two worlds is so strong that some of the shadow realm's energy leaks through."
"Some of you might say that these are not beasts, but rather environmental phenomena -- and you would be right, in a way, except that these entities still cause much the same fear in humans and the ignorant as any other beast might. And they are quite predictable, always happening in these places where the connection is strongest, as I said before. Thus, you will locate one of these areas, and keep watch for any of these entities... it will not speak to you, but it might watch you. Be warned, the experience may not be as simple as you may anticipate."
[ Broken Evil-Wren - 5]
[ Kyriel kaihidou - 5 ]
[ Draca AstriaOdinson ]
The proefssor rapped his knuckles against the desk in front of him, eyes narrowed as he stared at his students. "All throughout history, people have reported the presence of shadow people. These are the strange, terrifying experiences caused by certain medical issues, such as sleep paralysis or hallucinations caused by drugs."
"However, you might be surprised to learn there are entities such as these in existence within our world and the shadow world. The entities -- shadow people, as the humans call them -- are not actually people. They do not have intelligence or sentience at all. One might consider them more of imprints of the shadow realm on the regular world, a place where the connection between the two worlds is so strong that some of the shadow realm's energy leaks through."
"Some of you might say that these are not beasts, but rather environmental phenomena -- and you would be right, in a way, except that these entities still cause much the same fear in humans and the ignorant as any other beast might. And they are quite predictable, always happening in these places where the connection is strongest, as I said before. Thus, you will locate one of these areas, and keep watch for any of these entities... it will not speak to you, but it might watch you. Be warned, the experience may not be as simple as you may anticipate."
[ Broken Evil-Wren - 5]
[ Kyriel kaihidou - 5 ]
[ Draca AstriaOdinson ]
SHD 204: Shadow Bandages
MDrake says:
It seemed that most of the students had succeeded in this assignment, which was pleasing to him. "Now we move on," he said evenly. "Now that you know how to flatten your tendrils and absorb liquid through them, you must start learning how to sever them from your grasp while keeping them in permanent solid state. This can be understandably difficult, as most of you are used to manipulating shadows by having them controlled by you. However, it is not reasonable to expect that you would be able to keep proper control over the tendrils used in shadow bandages indefinitely, especially if you wish to do something like go to sleep which would sever your control anyway."
He made a gesture like he wanted the students to start making some shadow tendrils. "Thus, you are going to be using this assignment to learn how to sever your shadow tendrils from themselves, but make them strong enough that they can last on their own. You are going to run into considerable failure in the beginning, but if you keep pushing through it, you will eventually train your mind to impart enough strength on your tendrils that they remain in place even without your guidance."
[Assignment - Practice severing tendrils from yourself while keeping them solid.]
[ Contour Ju5tAB0r3d1 - 5 ]
[ Pet Rndom-Obsessions ]
[ Liam CrammedHeadspace ]
[ Theon Yekrutslover ]
[ Ben Y0uko ]
[ Contour Ju5tAB0r3d1 - 5 ]
[ Pet Rndom-Obsessions ]
[ Liam CrammedHeadspace ]
[ Theon Yekrutslover ]
[ Ben Y0uko ]
SHD 302: Shadow Objects
MDrake says:
"Well, it appears you've managed to copy suitably enough." He looked over the small object that the student had turned in. "Of course, those who copy are hardly useful, are they? No, it's much more useful to be able to create something from your mind."
"But you won't be able to hold the shadow in form for long. At most, probably a minute, but this is all right. You will get better as you keep working at it. For now, I would like you to construct an object out of shadow from your imagination. If you need to draw a 3-D blueprint on paper to help this visualization in your mind, then you may do so. When you are ready, come to me and create your object. I will test you on how long you manage to keep it solid."
[ Assignment: Create a fleeting shadow object in front of the professor. ]
[ Ida JeanaWei ]
"Well, it appears you've managed to copy suitably enough." He looked over the small object that the student had turned in. "Of course, those who copy are hardly useful, are they? No, it's much more useful to be able to create something from your mind."
"But you won't be able to hold the shadow in form for long. At most, probably a minute, but this is all right. You will get better as you keep working at it. For now, I would like you to construct an object out of shadow from your imagination. If you need to draw a 3-D blueprint on paper to help this visualization in your mind, then you may do so. When you are ready, come to me and create your object. I will test you on how long you manage to keep it solid."
[ Assignment: Create a fleeting shadow object in front of the professor. ]
[ Ida JeanaWei ]
SHD 303: Shadow Acid
MDrake says:
The draconic teacher made a faint noise of pleasure at the fact that he was able to continue lecturing on this subject. "Now that you have gotten a feel for acid, now you are going to want to start being able to create and use it yourself. With the acid I gave you, you were instructed to get a feel for it, what it was made of, and know how it sits in your shadow. By duplicating that sensation, you can start to manufacture some acid in your shadow on your own. The more complex the formula, the harder it will be to try duplicating it, but that first vial I gave you should be too easy, so we'll move onto the medium strength one."
He gestured toward the second vial that he'd presented to the students before. "Soon as you manage to start producing the formula within your shadows, I want you to start practicing battle moves with it. In particular, tell me one battle move that you think would be very useful when utilizing shadow acid in a fight."
[ Ida JeanaWei - 5 ]
TURN IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT IN THIS JOURNAL TO RECEIVE A GRADE AND CREDIT. Grades always happen at the end of the month, right before the new assignments go up. Please keep in mind that written assignments need to be at least 1,000 words to get full credit. Feel free to work in groups or alone!
The draconic teacher made a faint noise of pleasure at the fact that he was able to continue lecturing on this subject. "Now that you have gotten a feel for acid, now you are going to want to start being able to create and use it yourself. With the acid I gave you, you were instructed to get a feel for it, what it was made of, and know how it sits in your shadow. By duplicating that sensation, you can start to manufacture some acid in your shadow on your own. The more complex the formula, the harder it will be to try duplicating it, but that first vial I gave you should be too easy, so we'll move onto the medium strength one."
He gestured toward the second vial that he'd presented to the students before. "Soon as you manage to start producing the formula within your shadows, I want you to start practicing battle moves with it. In particular, tell me one battle move that you think would be very useful when utilizing shadow acid in a fight."
[ Ida JeanaWei - 5 ]
TURN IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT IN THIS JOURNAL TO RECEIVE A GRADE AND CREDIT. Grades always happen at the end of the month, right before the new assignments go up. Please keep in mind that written assignments need to be at least 1,000 words to get full credit. Feel free to work in groups or alone!
