According to Sterneye’s Theory of Illusory Projection, Illusions are constructed of light particles being moved into position by the casters intuition. The stronger the intuition or the strength of belief influence the efficacy of the illusion.
I, personally, find it easiest to select an illusion close to the truth and using a subject I rarely see or I ignore. In this case, I made my nose flat and inflated it till I could see my nostrils at the edge of my vision. I added a pair of lensless glasses and approached the guard at the gate as Ronaldo Orlando, an ordinary minstrel.
While knowledge enables your capacity to improvise, and improvisation is the mark of a powerful magus; one must remember to keep thorough notes. For example, whether a chosen alias also has a bounty.
I recall the night Orlando received his bounty. Twas stage night of my twenty seventh Nameday and I was celebrating thirty years of life by barreling into every loose tavern door. I happened upon a party of women celebrating a betrothal with a final night of debauchery. You’d be surprised at the friends you can make with a few strategic rote sparkle spells, a friendly attitude, and an open demeanor. Though perhaps it was not my sociability, but my ability to make the grungiest grogs taste like wedding cake.
It was near dawn, beard in curlers, partygoers sprawled on the tavern room floor, that I discovered my new friends were noblewomen, and the betrothed a future countess. In a suggestible state, Ronaldo agreed to perform at the wedding.
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In the morning, I arrived at the venue bleary eyed and fashionable without my spectacles and was seized on the spot because I had forgotten to maintain my disguise.
Rote spells like acid splash one would think very simple to cast. The fact of the matter is that magic is granular and the smallest effects take layers and layers of different formulae conducting separate tasks. Some things can be described in two words and take two dozen to explain. First, one must collect moisture from the air into the palm of one’s hand and one must remove the Lode Particles from the water, charging it negatively and turning it into acid. Once a handful is collected, it can be thrown to blind an attacker. It can also be used to melt the lock.
This process had already begun when the countess arrived. Lady Habbird waded untouched through grimy hallways. She wore a periwinkle waistcoat and a matching pleated skirt, complimented by a brilliantly white ruffled blouse. Silver buckled, black heels clicked loudly on the damp stone. Her hair was tied back beyond the reach of filth, thin silver pins twinkled in her black hair pulled into a tight bun. A star barbell septum piercing sat elegantly above the barest wisp of a mustache. Her every step echoed farther down the hall, silencing the officers and inmates around her; and she was approaching me. When she arrived at my cell, I expected ire and disgust. However, her countenance was studious. She watched me carefully as I stood to address her, keeping acid dripping from my palm behind my back into a bucket I’d been provided for relief. Slowly, deliberately she finally spoke. “It is my understanding the good fellow Ronaldo Orlando is actually the magus Isidoro of the Amber Hills. Do you deny it?” Taken aback, I replied. “I will not, against my better judgement.” She thought longer still. “Then I need your magic. You may stay at my estate under house arrest.”
I must share with you, reader, that I bristle at being told what to do, but when she said: ”Or you can stay in this cell where the guards can smell exactly what you’re doing and have prepared a contingency should you attempt to escape.” I conceded.
- First day of Summer, Isidoro