Muirfinn's diary (Moore)

[Nephrite]

"Well, I talked with Emerelda a bit, if that's what you mean." Moore says. "I have a writ from Brightwater that still has a decent enough amount and I recently impressed the Lliira section, so I think I could get us a fantastic spot if I tried."

[Anastasia]

"Oh. I'm in," Moonlight says, "Selling ravages is fine, they're usually used for a good cause. I'd rather not sell poisons."

[Nephrite]

"I'd think that anyone in Brightwater is probably at least moderately on the side of good, but if you want, I can certainly help to facilitate that we won't allow for them to be used for evil purposes." Moore says. "I'm waiting for Sylvie to get back, and from the sounds of it, it'll be a while, so would you like to go investigate and see if we can find a good spot? Oh, after I dispose of your bug friend, anyway."

[Anastasia]

"Give me a few minutes," Moonlight hops onto her bed, "Do you know much about ravages?"

[Nephrite]

"A little bit, but I just think of them as super poisons." Moore says.

[Anastasia]

"There's more to it than that. Ask yourself, what allows them to harm fiends and the restless dead?" Moonlight asks, closing her closet and coming on over to you.

[Nephrite]

"I'd imagine some sort of holy power, right?" He answers.

[Anastasia]

"Yeah, that's about it in general. For instance, mint is associated with purity and freshening. Mint's not poisonous by itself barring large doses of certain types, it's used for those aspects and to help spiritually prepare the poisons." Moonlight lectures, pacing slowly as she explains. She rests a hand on her chin, "Do you know how to cook? It's like adding something to a recipe to thicken or hold it together, but spiritually."

[Nephrite]

Moore nods. "That makes complete sense. So they're almost like purified poisons -- I think I understand." He nods again. "Are you at all looking to improve the craft?"

[Anastasia]

"Sort of," Moonlight says, "There's more to it. A ravage has to be blessed when it's finished, sponsored by a higher power. See, you can teach someone to make a ravage, but if they aren't in the good books with Lathander or another holy deity, it's not going to work. It's why fiends don't make them, even though it's a dirty little secret that they value ravages for assassinating other fiends."

[Nephrite]

"Huh. I suppose that makes perfect sense." Moore nods. "Well, I'm sure we could fine someone in Celestia who knows more about it, if you ever wanted to look there."

[Anastasia]

"Nah," Moonlight says, not stopping her pacing, "I prefer working with angels, and while there's some there, it's not the same. See, law over emphasizes the rituals in ravagesmithing. You'll spend a few hours calling on precisely the right names, making sure the seven magic circles are geometrically perfect and all that. Then you flip over to chaos and it's the reverse. They make it up as they go along. It's almost formless and that's no help, you need some structure to it."

She waggles her finger at you as she continues to go back and forth, "Elysium's the best place to get ravages from. Well no, the House of Nature is, but Elysium's right next door and really good too."

[Nephrite]

Moore laughs. "Fair enough, I'm sure I can make some good impressions on Elysium's denizens."

[Anastasia]

"Oh yes, I know some. Ravagesmithing's a good way to make friends. Most angels have a passing familiarity with them or learn how to make them personally, so most everyone's trained or been trained by someone who knows another, and they sell to another five, and oh hey, they know another ravagesmith and they'll introduce you. Really, it means you know a lot of people by name and know who makes the good ones. I'm pretty good but not in the best. There's angels that have been doing it for millions of years, sometimes working on a single type of ravage, pushing it beyond the limits."

Moonlight's still pacing as she continues on, "Really, those are the ones you really need to get to learn from. They do so much of the impossible work and you can benefit from it. Like Rising Star, he's an ancient astral deva who's been working on mercy's breath for longer than anyone really cares to think about. He's found ways to purify it 77 times over in preparation, each purification increasing the spiritual potency. He taught me a lot of that. Heck, he teaches anyone who is good enough, so long as they're morally upright and willing to learn."

[Nephrite]

Moore leans back, rubbing his chin a bit. "Perhaps some time we can see if we can bring one of them into Aurora's fold to help us with that sort of thing. Outfitting our ground troops with ravages would go a long way into helping us in victory over Hell."