Harold James 2011/12/19(Mon)22:27 No. 373653 ID: 801747
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Huff. Huff.

That was entirely too many stairs.

Harold James 2011/12/19(Mon)22:31 No. 373658 ID: 801747
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"So, you have a ring for me to look at, do you?"

Harold: "Uh, yeah. Recent acquisition. Full read. You'll get your coin after."

"We have a guarantee, good sir. I would not accept payment until after the read regardless. Hand the ring here, if you would."

Hmm, well, alright. Didn't expect that. They usually fight the payment after service thing. This is either a hell of a scam or a real class act.

...

"Well, quite a find, I would say. Old, but it still has power. Impressive. It appears quite similar to a True Sight enchantment, but broader. It seems to encompass more. How that manifests I'm afraid is a bit beyond me. I feel now would be a good time to inform you of one of our disclaimers. Fine print on our policy, we can not guarantee complete accuracy on identification of items more than 200 years old or those that have been exposed to any form of anti-magic. This would fall into the first category. I'd say around 540 years old."

Harold: "Fair enough. Is that the only enchantment?"

"It appears to be. It is quite intricate, but I don't find any additional enchantments."

>>373658
Cool. Try it on!

>>373649

Gyges was from another world entirely. He was a shepherd who stumbled on an ancient tomb, and decided to rob it. In the tomb he found a ring, a magical artifact of impressive power, which rendered him apparently invisible.

He promptly abandoned his post, hiked to the capitol of his homeland, and infiltrated the palace. He then seduced the queen, killed the king, and took power as the new king. His line reigned for centuries before the entire country was wiped out by a warlike neighbor. The ring was lost, destroyed or hidden, but other rings like it appeared from time to time. The Ring of Gyges was the most famous of them simply because its owner was the most ambitious and lucky person to acquire one.

Whoever made them took the secret of manufacture with him, since the rings were all slowly lost to various misfortunes, culminating in the destruction of an entire urban region, a multiplicity of cities all washed out to sea in a tsunami some 130 ft at its crest. The the last known surviving ring was taken with it, and tens of thousands of unfortunate people.

Presumably the ring was carried to a plate subduction zone, though it may be somewhere in the sea for all I know.

>>373663
what? legends only you have heard of don't count dude.

try it on.

>>373666

The legend is fairly famous, and was referenced by many philosophers as a case study of how consequence shapes morality.

The other rings of invisibility are not nearly as well known, and I'm not surprised you didn't know about the last one being lost.

Ask first to make sure that it is alright to try it on now (and to make sure that doing so will not have any effect on the fee).
I am curious what he means by broader than true sight, as I think true sight is already pretty broad.

Huh, the most famous legend I heard about a ring of invisibility was that one which an evil mage-king forged in a volcano to store his soul in.

>>373666

Gyges of Lydia, dude. look it up.

using stairs made for a bunch of scrawny wizards tires you? you gotta toughen up, dude.

put it on. I hope we can see what you see.

>>373770
not too obscure, but then I LIKE philosophy.

Succumb to the temptation, put the ring on!

Harold James 2012/01/04(Wed)22:34 No. 377648 ID: 801747
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Harold: "So, there's no fine print saying I can't try this on while I'm here, right?"

"Well, uh, we... We expressly prohibit the use of dangerous or potentially dangerous magic on the premises for uses other than self defense. Magic qualifies as 'potentially dangerous' if the supervising mage deems it, and-"

Harold: "Well, that would be you, wouldn't it? You're supervising? And you just said it wasn't dangerous. Great. Thanks for clearing that up."

"Ah, yes, I suppose..."

A bit of a push-over, this guy. Good thing too. No better place to try out something like this than in a mage tower, right?

Harold James 2012/01/04(Wed)22:37 No. 377651 ID: 801747
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Well, here goes.

>>377651
Ah man, I can practically taste the shenanigans that are about to follow this most simple act!

Oh crap, what if this gives him double headvoices?

==>

>>377656
Double the fun.

Note to self: if we wake up surrounded by a pile of brutally dismembered corpses in an alternate geigeresque hellscape or somesuch after playing host for some undetermined time to a terrible being from another plane of existence... erh... well I can't think of an appropriate response to such, but at least we can say were thought of the possibility.

Harold James 2012/01/06(Fri)00:08 No. 377851 ID: 801747
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Harold: "Hey, nice going. And I'm not even dead. Didn't need that disclaimer after all."

That must be a ring of True Sight or something since we can see through the wizards illusions since he's fat and there's cracks everywhere ,also, an assassin is on the cupboard, might want to react to that

The place suddenly looks a lot worse, heh. If you have something to throw, casually chuck it just above the bookcase with out look that way.

holy shit. that wizard... he's beardless! CLEARLY HE MUST BE NOT AS POWERFUL AS HE CLAIMS HE IS.

oh, and also ask why there's a ghost on his shelf.

>>377851
That could just be a bodyguard. Don't attack unless he does.

explains why he didn't want you to put it on, shows you how he really looks. and say hello to the book shelf stalker.

>>377851
So, a Stars and Moons robe? Seriously.. that went out of style centuries ago.

Hmm, so, he's got a glamour on making him seem more respectable and fit than he actually is. Also, of note is that some of the books on the shelf are not there now. Ask if they were illusions. If all the differences we see now are simply breaking through illusions then we have a very, very strong anti-illusion ring. I wonder what else it does?

Hmm... if the cracks and grime were covered by illusions that also fits, but if they're simply painted over, then this ring also reveals HIDDEN things, rather than only breaking illusions.

We should make sure that the ring is indeed showing us what is actually there rather than some sort of metaphor. A good test for this would be to place our hand on one of the cracks to see if we can feel it.

First, though, we should whisper to the wizard asking whether he knows about the armed man on his shelf. We shouldn't stare at the shelf man, but we should keep him in our field of vision.

Harold James 2012/01/11(Wed)18:36 No. 379301 ID: 801747
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Assassin? He's not actually in my field of vision, but... Ok, don't draw attention. I can do that.

Harold: Looks like you were right on there. Nice going. Hey, can I ask you something in confidence? Lean in for a moment? That guy over by the bookcase. He a friend of yours?

"Guy? What? What?

Harold James 2012/01/11(Wed)18:37 No. 379302 ID: 801747
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"What? How did you get in here?"

kill the book shelf guy.

Battle stance!

Err. Wait, is this guy part ogre or something? His face is HUGE now!

But yeah be ready to defend yourself. Or run away, that could work.

Well he may be skilled with enchanted items, but he certainly doesn't seem very wise for a wizard. Really, announcing your awareness to a likely assassin?
Methinks you are about to need to act fast to intercept Shelfman's sword before it meets with Wizard's face.

>>379333

I think he's just fat.

enter combat mode.

the assasin is in a good position to leap upon us, or the wizard. It seems to me that flipping the table at him would put a nice obstacle in the way of that while we get ready to stab the fucker.

then you stab the fucker.

Harold James 2012/12/16(Sun)18:42 No. 479276 ID: f0a931
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Sigh


>>/questdis/64946

Harold James 2012/12/16(Sun)18:47 No. 479278 ID: f0a931
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Harold: Hup.

Harold James 2012/12/16(Sun)18:51 No. 479283 ID: f0a931
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Hey, pretty good.

Harold James 2012/12/16(Sun)18:55 No. 479285 ID: f0a931
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How's this then?

HYURK!

Good, good. He's totally off balance so I suggest getting that sword away from him and pinning him under the table. Finding out who sent him could be useful information.

Pretty good. If you get the sword away from him keep watching his hands; types like him often have knives as backups.

aim for his sword-arm.

Harold James 2012/12/19(Wed)22:50 No. 479970 ID: f0a931
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Hmm, seems like I can't reach - uh - Anita from here. Oh well. Seems like we're almost done here anyway.

Harold James 2012/12/19(Wed)22:52 No. 479972 ID: f0a931
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Harold: Alright then, let's start with something simple. Who sent you?

If he doesn't answer, menace him with your sword. Also, Anita? Is he a she?

>>479972
Might want to check their mouth too, assassins tend to come complete with poison suicide capsules these days I hear.

Or a missing tongue, that's always a classic.

>>479972
I wonder if we could get some help with interrogation from the wizards.

>>480000
Anita is the sword; we were going to come up with a backstory and make it into a storied weapon.

Definitely check for a suicide pill, those are hella annoying.

Harold James 2012/12/21(Fri)23:54 No. 480241 ID: f0a931
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Harold: "None of that now."

"Grmmph hrmph..."

Harold James 2012/12/21(Fri)23:56 No. 480242 ID: f0a931
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Yeah, sounds like he's got something in his mouth... Suicide pill, huh? And I thought my job sucked...

...Nah, I didn't, but you know what I mean. Ah, my head...

Harold James 2012/12/21(Fri)23:57 No. 480243 ID: f0a931
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[animated]

Harold James 2012/12/21(Fri)23:59 No. 480244 ID: f0a931
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"Hmrph."

Artist Comment: Hahaha that face

okay that one is new. ask the wizard if he knows a spell that can counteract poison.

"....Good...shot...."

Well fuck. Get your wizard friend to help.

>>480244
Stab his shit and get help.

Also, that is some fucking ninja shit right there, having a blowpipe behind your goddamn mask.

>>480244
Go ahead and put a knife in his throat in response. Then get some antidotes up in here. Darts are normally poisoned and it could still be that way even in a ninja's mouth.

chop his right hand off.

That mask bit is an excellent trick. I will have to remember that one.

Pull out the dart, stab him with it, and see what he does.

Harold James 2013/01/01(Tue)17:47 No. 481739 ID: f0a931
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Damn, I did want some answers from him...

Harold James 2013/01/01(Tue)17:48 No. 481741 ID: f0a931
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Oh well...

Harold James 2013/01/01(Tue)17:54 No. 481743 ID: f0a931
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Harold: "Hey, do you have any-"

Damn, looks like he took off.

Harold: "Hey! Do ya hab emmyfmg... det dbfg hmg..."

Welp, you're probably about to go unconscious. Hope that wizard went to get some help already, otherwise the poison'll probably kill you.
At least the assassin is dead, you won't have to worry about him finishing you off if it's a 'sleepy time' poison (unlikely as that is).

stumble downstairs. maybe you'll need urgent help.

Say goodbye to your corporeal body pal. Do you know any gods, devils, or eldritch abominations you can ask for help getting a new body?

>>481829
Head for the exit, but don't go near the actual stairs though. Poison is bad enough without also having a broken neck.

Harold James 2013/01/04(Fri)23:34 No. 482530 ID: f0a931
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I sure hope my time's not up yet, and this might just be wishful thinking but it just feels like a paralytic. And my whole face is numb, so I'm going to stop yelling for help before I bite my tongue.

And my legs feel fine, so I feel safer braving the stairs than just waiting around and seeing what happens whenever this reaches my heart...

...huh, that's a lot less stairs than I remembered on the way up.

Harold James 2013/01/04(Fri)23:41 No. 482533 ID: f0a931
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"What's going on? There was a crash upstairs, and then Magnus just runs through without a word."

Ah, and I'm already tasting blood, so now I need to ask for help without the use of my mouth... or my left arm, it seems.

And quick, too. This is moving fast.

Lurch over to the desk and find a writing utensil. Failing that try to point to your wound with your soon to be paralyzed right arm.

Collapse dramatically? Seems to be the best idea. I'd tell you to keep the wound elevated except that only works on extremities, and your head doesn't count as an extremity.

cough blood on their desk.

Don't die, dude!

>>482565
If there is only one of our suggestions you ever follow, follow this one.

>>482565
Sound advice for a great many occasions.

Harold James 2013/01/11(Fri)22:34 No. 484685 ID: f0a931
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Just so you guys know, I'm not dead, and I'm not planning on dying, it's just... I don't think I can move right now.

"Sir, are you alright?"

No.

...

"I'll be right back. Just... stay here."

Sure thing. I'm sure I'll be fine by myself.

Harold James 2013/01/11(Fri)22:54 No. 484689 ID: f0a931
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So yeah, while I don't have anything else to do...

Assuming this gets resolved, since... we might as well, what should I be doing next? There's a dead body upstairs that'll need to be dealt with, as well as a mound of questions that still need answers. Since I can't get answers out of the assassin himself, where else should I look?

If someone wants me dead, maybe I should ditch town, troupe or no. Contracts be damned.

Nah, it wasn't you they wanted dead. It was the wizard.

The wizards did not seemed allied to him, (the wizard could have just said nothing and let the guy back-stab you), and a non-allied wizards' tower would be a bizarre place to ambush you when you regularly walk around the streets alone.
That wizard in particular didn't really seem competent enough to make the sort of enemies who send invisible assassins, so my theory is that the assassin was interrupted while pursuing some other objective in the tower.

Harold James 2013/01/11(Fri)23:19 No. 484698 ID: f0a931
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"...something, then pointed at his neck and fell over. Never said a word."

Oh good, it sounds like she's coming back.

"That is... odd. I wonder what that could have meant."

Oh come on, it was a needle. Small, sharp, excellent delivery vector... This guy's a city doctor. If he hasn't seen enough poisonings to figure this out, I'll tell Niles and T'kuli to settle down here when they get around to having kids.

Deleted post, because I misread something that Harold wouldn't have misheard... fixing.

That wizard? He wouldn't have anyone after him. He's too much of a wimp to intentionally piss someone off that badly, yet he's not incompetent enough to do it on accident. He was after me... or the ring. Or... yeah, I guess he could also have been after something else in the tower, but he did come straight at me, not the wizard.

In that case, probably the ring. We haven't seen you piss off anyone in this town yet, and having done so in the past is something we should Probably Know About sometime soon if you did.

Unless they found out that you're our host?

you may get answers from the corpse, markings or something. like a tattoo of a gang.

Harold James 2013/01/11(Fri)23:34 No. 484702 ID: f0a931
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If only that assassin hadn't been so professional we could've figured more of this out. Checking the body could be worthwhile though.

"Allow me a moment to divine what ails him."

Yeah, sure man. Go right ahead.

"Oh my... I've rarely had a divination so... clear. He's been poisoned with devil's root, shutting down the body while leaving the mind intact. This should reverse the process."

...

Oh nice, I can feel my toes again. I'd forgotten about those guys.

And if I've pissed off anyone in the past... I've pissed off tons of people in the past, but I haven't pissed off anyone that badly, to my knowledge. If anything, it could be related to the man who killed my father? But if so, I don't know what he'd be after by killing me. He already took the title and sold the land, what else is there?

Sweet. If it's reversing the process it should only take as long healing as it did falling ill.

He is gonna want you to pay him for this. probably.

well the wizard doesn't have to know that he was after you. say that there was an assassin hiding invisibly in the wizard's room, you did battle and while you got poisoned he got dead.

>>484702
Well, safety first. Tell your friends what just happened so you can maybe have them watch your back a bit.

Also, the ring appears to be strengthening divinations targeted at you. Or perhaps, only friendly divinations? You can see everything, and everything can see you, perhaps?

>>484726
harold was was wanting the guy to figure out what was wrong with him, the guy wanted to know what was wrong. sounds like a case of assistance to me.

>>484702
Strange, why would an "assassin" use a poison that shuts down the body while keeping the mind intact? If he truly was after Harold, perhaps his purpose wasn't to murder, but to capture and bring him in for interrogation.

>>484700
Harold, did you kill the assailant by stabbing him in the face or neck? Might be easier to identify and describe him to people if he still has intact facial features.

As soon as you have control over your voice, say thank you.

>>484726
Perhaps it strengthens magic in general.

Harold James 2013/02/05(Tue)00:36 No. 490507 ID: f0a931
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The assassin? I went for the throat. I think I left the knife in him, actually. I'll definitely check him over for clues.... once I can stand again. Eugh.

...So, you think the ring helped the priest over there with his diagnosis? Nice. Let's avoid breaking this one then. Speaking of our bald friend there...

Harold James 2013/02/05(Tue)00:37 No. 490508 ID: f0a931
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Harold: "Thanks for the fix, Doc. How much do I owe ya?"

"Er.. you're quite welcome. It is our duty to aid the injured. I would accept a donation, of course, but I would not ask payment for such a service. Instead, may I inquire as to how you came to such a state?"

Harold: "Sure, I suppose. Well, there was a man, uh, hiding out in the room upstairs. He jumped out at us as we entered the room. We fought for a while, and in the midst of it he got a dart in me. That's basically all there is to it."

>>490508
Ah, there is another magical effect. The ring can tell when people are lying. I wonder if the healer noticed, or only us? I can't gauge his reaction just yet.

In case it does let others know when you're lying, a simple correction to "AFTER we entered the room" should suffice, as it is technically completely accurate.

A donation for his service is appropriate.

Quite an informative little artifact, isn't it? It seems to have a major truth theme going on.