[h2][color=2e3192]The Silverpine Regency: Turn 2[/color][/h2]

[i]All power demands sacrifice...[/i]

The old words that his former master had told him back when he was nothing more then a neophyte echoed in the darkened mind of Jasper Silverpine. The stone in his hand offered much in the way of raw power to be taken advantage of and used, but the... vision he had borne witness to suggested that the stone had secrets that he would need to come to understand before he attempted to delve to deeply. Still, he would keep it close at hand, safely contained if a sudden boost in raw power was required. 

As the lock-box that would be the stone's new home was sealed and put away, another of his followers entered his quarters to bring to his attention a matter of mortal concern; While food was no longer a requirement for the undead, having -all- the local animals suffer from a wasting sickness was a serious problem that needed to be addressed and quickly. At first glance it seemed to be a matter of debating between pressing forward with the limited resources they had to try and salvage both herds at the same time in order to benefit the settlement in the long term but risk short term losses, or selecting one of the animals to focus efforts on... but as the Lord pondered the situation, a third option started to present itself to him that he normally wouldn't consider.

There were three major paths for a death knight when it came to magic. While they could access all three, part of the ritual of ascension required one of the three to become infused with your very core, so intertwined with your soul and physical body that it would allow you to defy even death itself. Some chose to embrace the icy chill of the grave and became masters of ice and snow, able to freeze their enemies bodies, minds and even souls. Others instead embraced the power of necromancy itself, becoming plague bearers able to unleash horrific melodies on their victims, as well as raise armies of lesser undead to lead into battle. 

Lord Silverpine had embraced the path of Blood. While the layman saw it as a path of battle and death (and there was some justification for that), those who truly followed the path understood that it was a path of life and death. What made those who followed the path of blood so feared was that they fed off the life energy of their enemies and victims, using it to heal and empower themselves even as they moved on to the next foe to meet them in battle and left broken bodies in their wake. Plus he had wanted to test out the extent of his empowered magic anyway...

Slowly, a cruel looking smile started to slowly appear on Lord Silverpine's face. Turning his gaze to the servant whom had informed him of the situation and had [i]politely[/i] waited in silence for the Lord's answer, Jasper gave an order. "[color=0072bc]The animals you have gathered so far. I want the herders to search through them and select two goats and two boars that are the strongest and healthiest of their respective herds, as well as two of the weakest and sickest of both. Secure the rest of the animals together and have those four restrained so they cannot move outside of the pens. I will be informed once this is done. Do not let me detain you.[/color]" 

......................................................

Things did not take long to get organized. The stronger and healthier specimens of the boar and goats were generally more lively then their counterparts and were easy to spot, but the sad truth was they were still much weaker and smaller then a healthy member of their species should have been. Selecting two animals that were sicker and unlikely to recover was... something more of a challenge. Still, they were separated and restrained outside of the pens in which the rest of their herds were pinned together as per Lord Siverpine's request. A runner was sent... and the Lord appeared shortly afterwards. 

The herders saw the look of annoyance on their Lord's face at the sight of the quality of the animals they had selected for him, but it seemed to lose some of the heat when he let his gaze look over the rest of the animals: While the lord was clearly annoyed by the what qualified as the 'strongest, healthiest' of the animals, this was the best that they had to work with and such a fact was clearly understood. Lord Silverpine gestured one of the herders over, but when he talked it was easy for all of them to hear. "[color=0072bc]We are going to require another 'healthy' boar. Annoying, but we work with the tools we have.[/color]"

It took a little more time, but another boar was selected and brought out to join the other four. Only then did Lord Silverpine finally step forward. With a gesture, the herders backed away to give their lord some room. Pulling out a thin dirk, Lord Silverpine moved between the animals and repeated the same gesture: A quick thrust with the dirk into their side so that the blade sunk all the way to the hilt before pulling it out again and leaving a small, deep but non fatal wound. The animal would of course cry out in pain and struggle, but they were to weak and frail with sickness to risk breaking free of their bonds.

Once all the animals had been wounded in this fashion, the dirk was put away and Lord Silverpine took a stance in front of the pens that the herders had never seen before. For a moment, nothing seemed to be happening... at least until the restrained animals started to buck and move with renewed energy. At first nothing appeared to be wrong... until from each animal trails of what appeared to be... not blood, but the same red color without the texture of liquid started pour out of each of the wounds and float through the air before meeting and started to form a massive blood red ball that hovered in the air.

As more and more of the strange, blood red energy left the animals their struggles started to slow... then stopped completely as the trails finally ran dry and the sphere was fully formed, leaving the animals dead on the ground. Without a word, his eyes closed, Lord Silverpine gestured and seemed to [i]push[/i] the orb so that it hovered out over both pens. At some unspoken signal, dozens of tendrils formed from the orb and zoomed out, each one connecting with a different goat or boar. While the animals were startled at first, their sickly nature prevented much in the way of outcry... but those witnessing what was happening could see the red energy from the sphere being funneled [i]into[/i] the animals.

As the orb started to shrink, the animals in the pens started to look... well, healthier. A new strength and vitality that had not been there before was starting to emerge, giving the sick and frail a proper fighting case at recovery and giving the herders efforts to nurse the herds back to health a much needed head start. Once the orb finally ran empty and disappeared completely, Lord Silverpine simply turned to walk away as his ritual was complete. "[color=0072bc]Tend to them both. These animals are ours now.[/color]" was all he said as he departed.


[hider=Summery]
Rather then using the moonstone all at once, Jasper instead seals it in a lockbox to be brought out in the event that he needs a sudden power boost in the future, with intentions to uncover its mysteries properly before being used often.

In order to test out his new found power, as well as to help settle the decision about which sickly herd they should focus on, Lord Silverpine performed a blood magic ritual, siphoning the life energy of some of the strongest and healthiest of the animals alongside some of the weakest and least likely to recover before funneling the combined total of their lives among the rest in order to give them the health and strength to have a fighting chance at recovery on their own, as well as give the herders an easier time nursing both herds back to true health.  
[/hider]