ChildOfAB 2012/08/26(Sun)22:05 No. 448171 ID: 4b44fc
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You are a being of dream. You walk through a desert. It is familiar to you. Your destination is ahead.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/26(Sun)22:06 No. 448173 ID: 4b44fc
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To the left, what you know. There is an arch with three keyholes: sea, land, and sky. You know two keys, but are missing sea. The world is missing sea. The crystal lens above the third keyhole now has the location of the third key inside. You have always wanted to unlock the arch. There is a shelf in front of the keys. The shelf always has something new on it. Today, it has a book.
To the right, something new. There is a crack at the end of the desert. Perched on the crack is a mask with a small smile. The mask is a secret.

Does the crystal lens show a picture of a tree?

Let's investigate the mask/secret.

Examine book

>>448173
look at dat mask. It's so cute.

read the book.

I like secrets.

>>448173
Take the book, look where the key is, then examine the crack with the secret mask.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/26(Sun)22:44 No. 448204 ID: 4b44fc
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You inspect the guiding image for the third keyhole. There is a tree. The key is at the center of its branches. A snake appears. It takes the key in its mouth.
Snakes are dangerous predators, but often wise.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/26(Sun)22:44 No. 448205 ID: 4b44fc
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Words are often unpredictable in dreams. These are not.
How unnecessary.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/26(Sun)22:44 No. 448206 ID: 4b44fc
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The new thing seems so simple. A simple mask, with a simple face. It would fit your face. Did it cause this crack, or did the crack cause it?
You see a slow trickle of water coming from many of the cracks.

>>448206
Look under the mask. If that reveals nothing of interest, wear it.

Okay, so Mother Oasis holds the key to our past. And I'm assuming the new thing has to do with Ivet.

Then look behind the mask. Is there a hole behind it? Is it blocking something from coming through the cracks, or you from seeing something?

move mask.

Remove mask; Prepare for flood of water; wear mask.

ignore mask, read book, love world

>>448206
Would the water coming in be a bad thing? If not, then see what's under the mask.
I suppose you could try wearing it. Or putting it on the face above the three keyholes.

>>448216
Now there's an idea. Tat face was probably for decoration though. Or is too small. Hey, maybe consciousness is behind the mask. Like being awake and not made of dream? Or maybe it's behind the arch.

Open book, you might learn something.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/26(Sun)23:04 No. 448221 ID: 4b44fc
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It does not yield its secrets easily.
It takes great strength.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/26(Sun)23:05 No. 448222 ID: 4b44fc
File 134604750342.png - (139.39KB , 720x720 , 07.png )

There is a hole. It is very deep. Water sprays out with great force.
You want to look inside the hole. If only you had some way to protect your face.

Mask to face, face to hole then.

Well you do have a mask, does looking require eyes?

Put on goggles!

Wait, I mean the mask.

>>448222
You can try wearing the mask, if you'd like. See what's in the crack!

Clearly the thing to do with a mask is to put it on. And the thing to do with a hole is to look through it.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/27(Mon)00:31 No. 448252 ID: 4b44fc
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You turn away from the water and put the mask on your face.
Oh.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/27(Mon)00:31 No. 448254 ID: 4b44fc
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You thought it was a simple face.
It is not simple at all.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/27(Mon)00:32 No. 448255 ID: 4b44fc
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It is actually quite...

ChildOfAB 2012/08/27(Mon)00:32 No. 448257 ID: 4b44fc
File 134605275902.png - (113.25KB , 720x720 , 11.png )

...deep

ChildOfAB 2012/08/27(Mon)00:33 No. 448259 ID: 4b44fc
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You are now Viktor. You wake up with a start as Ivet jumps up in your arms, breathing heavily. "What?" you ask, suddenly on alert.
Ivet blinks and looks back at you. The fright on her face melts off instantly and she chuckles a little. "Sorry," she says. "Just had a weird dream." She kisses one of your tentacles and lays back down against you. "Go back to sleep."
You slowly doze off again, contented by the cute, small smile on Ivet's face.
After you wake up properly later, what do you want to do first?

Round 2?

>>448259

Ah, a body issues dream. Just because you look like a lady bent over backwards all dangling arms and hair and stuff doesn't mean you don't have that inner beauty!

need to get you something to eat. try a big ass cow. may not taste good but it should be filling due to pure mass.

Well after you wake up just scrounge up some breakfast for yourself. You are a growing boy after all and you need your meat.

Go buy those livestock. See exactly how much meat you can buy for your obscene amount of wealth.

>>448261
That was... Ivet's dream, though. Mysterious.

>>448259
First, we take a look at what Ivet stripped off the priestess.

Second, we get some breakfast. Buy some living animal. People suggested a cow, but perhaps we should get something lighter and easier to obtain first? A chicken perhaps? Or a fish?

Alternatively we could ask about the 'bad' parts of town, and go wandering around there in dark alleys, to tempt robbers into ambushing us where nobody can see. Or we could just straight up find someone off on their own we can eat.

>>448259
Round 2.
After that? Go buy a cow and eat it, then hand in the pants to finish that quest.
Along the way, tell Ivet that while you're partners now you've been a team since you met, and all cash brought in as a team gets split evenly after expenses. Then mention you've been counting equipment as team expenses.

If she objects, point out that if it weren't for her you'd be stalking talpids in caves, and you only knew the coins were valuable after she told you so.

After those errands are run, lets go find Lothar and ask him if there's a way to find out who or what somebody is bound to.

At that point? Hmm... Probably best to tell Ivet you're going to try to get in to talk to Mother Oasis, and while you're doing that she should gather up all the casters she trusts so they'll be ready to start planning when you get back with information or help if things go south. We've got a church of undead to purge and a conspiracy to ruin, and we need Ivet running HQ.

>>448261
That was Ivet's dream.

Have a snack of some sort. Buy animals if you can. Once you have a bit of power find a desolated area and try out that fire magic mask you bought. See if you can replicate Ash Crows fire magic.

Hmm. Now that we know the identity of the dreamer, we pretty much have confirmation Vic left a piece of himself behind when he brought Ivet back, that or there's some kind of permanent mental/spiritual link she has subconscious access to. (Here's hoping mortal + god essence = demigoddess).

...didn't we already confirm that non-sapient meat doesn't do much for Vic? Well, I suppose that was cooked, we haven't tested live yet. Still, I'd be surprised if it worked.

Have there been any more permanent consequences from what happened? Her death broke the scrying spells, did she have anything else tied to her? I notice her tree still recognized her.

But in any event, breakfast sounds like a good idea. We can stop by the item shop later in the day, I don't think we want to hold on to any of that thrice damned storm garb any longer than we have to.

I agree with asking what the priestess had.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/28(Tue)02:35 No. 448664 ID: 4b44fc
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It takes you both a while to get up. Eventually, Ivet gets up to drink some water and says something unintelligible to the wall. "Wow, almost noon already. It wasn't even dark yet when we got in yesterday." She smiles at you. "We gotta get up at some point, right? You hungry?"
You groan contentedly and smile back. "Guess," you say. "Want to try buying some livestock or something?"
"Sure. We should get rid of those pants, too," she adds. "If we're going into the city, I'll need a new disguise. The robe I was wearing has a hole and some blood on it now. Besides, who knows if those disguises we had are wanted now. You should probably get a new one, too."
"Any ideas?" you ask.
She shrugs and smiles. "I like big and scary. Up to you, though."
You start to sculpt a new form, aiming for something not too similar to anything else you've seen, like last time. "Why don't you just use that illusion hat?" you ask as you change.
Ivet looks pensive and steps in front of the mirror. "I might. I have an idea. I feel like some long hair today..." She teases out the papery strands hanging from her head until they're almost down to ther waist, then ties them up in a ponytail behind her head. The mottled red color of her skin slowly melts into a yellowish-tan with a hint of gold iridescence. With a look of intense concentration, she grows back the covering on her arms and legs, this time making them green and leafy. She then places the hat on her head and turns around. "Nice, I like that form. What do you think of mine?" she asks.
You inspect the illusion. "Cute, but the hat didn't change much," you say. The few changes you can see are that her skin tone is more like a human's or elf's, her head fronds look more like hair, she looks like she's wearing green gloves and leggings, and she has feet. The shape and general coloration of the body are roughly the same.
"Good," she says, "Now, if someone sees through the illusion, they still might not notice the difference. Plus, I get to wear my new dress." Ivet digs the dress she bought at Nosa's yesterday out of her bag and pulls it on over her head. It has two layers of different green shades, and Ivet's illusory gloves and stockings match one. "Oh, right," she adds, "this stuff. Hang on..."
She digs all of the priestess's belongings out of her bag and sets them on the floor, then disappears into a side room and quickly emerges with a small lens that looks like the one the museum proprietor had. She inspects the items carefully, one by one, and gives you a brief explanation of them.
"Robe makes a wall of blades once a day. I guess that's what she used on us. Some protection, too. I bet this is worth a lot! Shame about the blood." She moves to the bracers. "Hm, makes it hurt more when you hit people with a blunt weapon. Lame." She inspects and tosses aside the three belts, adding "nope," each time. "Nothing on the hauberk, either. It looks pretty, though, and it's light. Might be mithral. The boots make you quieter. Weird for a cleric to have. Ooh! Nice ring. Deflects things. Not very strong, though. And the necklace makes you a little wiser. Not enough, apparently." She holds up the book. "Nothing magical. Holy book of Lesuel. 'God of Deals'. Then we have the mace, which is...enhanced and knocks things back." She sorts through an undershirt, some stockings, and a few pouches. "Nice pack of spell components. Good haul from one lady!" She grins. "We keep taking out people like her, we'll be rolling in it."
"Aren't we already?" you ask.
Ivet shakes her head. "Hey, that's your money. We're splitting this, though, deal?"
You're getting good enough at this social stuff to know that telling her flat out that you want to give her most of it wouldn't go well. "Tell you what. We're a team, and we need to spend some on team expenses like equipment. I'll contribute what I have to team expenses and keep the rest, and we split up this and what we get from here on out after team expenses, too. How's that deal?"
Ivet rolls her eyes and smiles. "Alright Vik. But we spend the group money first, and then yours if we have to."

ChildOfAB 2012/08/28(Tue)02:35 No. 448665 ID: 4b44fc
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The two of you chat and meander over towards the inner city, winding up at a small wooden cottage outside the wall populated by several farm animals and an old satyr. He and Ivet chat a while about the business of raising cows while you search the fields, inspecting the animals. You purchase a cow for ten gold and a bit of rope to leash it to for six silver. Ivet leads the two of you further out away from the farm. Directing you away from all the life signs, you finally lead the confused animal to a secluded space under a drooping tree in a ravine.
After checking carefully for anything that could even be a shapeshifted druid, you snatch up the cow in your powerful claws and unceremoniously shred the beast in your massive maw. The cow goes limp after the first bite tears through its spinal column, and you manage to keep the mess to a minimum as you shovel the rest into your waiting gut without hesitation. The meal is very filling. You feel refreshed and energized, fully recovered from the ordeal yesterday, but don't believe you can detect any new abilities manifesting.
You quickly lose and regrow the blood-caked hair on your body, lick the bits of pulverized meat off your claws, and look over at Ivet.
She's got a strange and increasingly familiar look on her face. "Gruesome," she says. She bites her lip and blushes. "Anybody coming now?"
You look around, but the coast still seems to be clear. "No, I don't think-"
She leaps on you, barraging you with kisses. You roll with the motion of her light frame and wind up pressed against the tree trunk. "Here?" you ask, surprised.
"Be quick," she answers, breathing heavily.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/28(Tue)02:36 No. 448666 ID: 4b44fc
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Eventually, you make your way to Nosa's shop. You stop outside as the two of you realize you can't use the same disguise as last time unless Ivet's is an illusion. What do you do?

Pretend to be part of one big team and the other guys passed this part over to you while they tackle other stuff?

Just walk in as you are. You have the goods, you can complete the transaction. Depending on how fast on the uptake Nosa is, you could be able to just walk in, tell her the deal is completed, and drop the stormdancer garb on the table.

It should turn out fine is you do what two posts above me said. Worst case scenario you just end up having to keep the stormdancer garb

>Gruesome <3
Oh my. Ivet likes the scary stuff, huh? (Is that a side effect from the resurrection or not? Hard to say). Still, good to know we can eat livestock.

>Disguise
Well, Ivet's close enough to be the same person they met before, just in a different disguise.

I'd have Vic shift to match- look like you've got the same frame and body type as you did last time, only now dressed without the robes. Set your skin tone to match Ivet's current disguise.

That way they see a small disguise (clothes, skin, hair changed) and not a big one. It'll be reasonable if you had some trouble getting out with the goods, and didn't want to be followed.

Isn't that the dress that she just bought here yesterday? Seems like it might not be too hard to make the mental leap for Ivet. I would agree with just matching previous body's dimensions and let them fill in the blanks. The point is to make it look like these changes could have been done with mundane means. Just tell them "I apologize for the deception," and never elaborate.

>>448666
Bah just let Nosa know you're a shapeshifter.
She cool. It's not like word technically isn't going around the city right now of a new powerful shapechanger. We don't know if ivet's ex blabbed something drunk in a bar already or another person from somewhere that witnessed it put two and two together. But that's irrelevant since our shape shifting is physical and not an illusion. We are truly any form we desire and few can tell the difference.

So Viktor shredded a cow and it turned Ivet on? Weird. I guess it makes sense, he killed all those mole people when they met, and when she asked him how he felt about her he had just eaten that deer guy. On second glance she seemed to be watching pretty intently when he ate the priestess, too. Has he fought anyone else in front of her? I don't recall. She said she like guys who are big and scary. That would explain why she went for Davin, who is probably the closest to big and scary that the fey have. If she's going for sheer dangerousness, she's definitely traded up.

No upgrades from the cow, but it did provide healing. Same as the priestess, who was already dead. Maybe it matters that he didn't eat it whole; it was already dead by the time it got fully eaten. Cows are cheap, it wouldn't hurt to try again. Or get a chicken or something, those are easier to eat in one bite.

I'd just go for no explanation. Magic is all over the place, you don't gotta explain shit. If she asks, say you got into some trouble and had to disguise yourselves. Ivet's wearing the dress she bought here, so Nosa will know it's her. You can probably tell her most of the story, too; you got spied on with magic, lightning took out the teleporter, attacked by a huge green guy, some sort of soldier, and a cleric, both injured badly, only killed cleric, hence blood on the robe you're going to sell her. The more harrowing you make it sound, the more sympathetic she'll feel for you and the better deal you'll get. None of that priestess's crap sounds that great. Could she maybe make the ring better? Deflecting things sounds handy. Sell the rest. Oh, and ask how much you could get for that insanity scroll, too.

I'm for telling her what happened, maybe start that explanation with thanking the warforged for the warning, as we're pretty sure we found out what happened to the others. Also mention that given the lengths that were taken to prevent you from leaving the town, you'd appreciate some reassurance that the security issue has been fixed so the risk you put yourself in doesn't go to waste.

Also, the mask and shadowthief should be parts of sets, and they can make full sets from a single part of it. Sounds like a good time to see what the full set of either of those two does.

>the dress
Oh right, yeah, they'd be able to tell that it's Ivet.

The main issue with Viktor is that by shapeshifting, everyone nearby will see us stepping out of sight for a second then coming back with the same girl. It's an obvious tipoff. If Viktor is going to change shape at all it should be inside the shop so that only the shop owners will know.

We can just explain our presence instead of the first guy by saying "He lost an arm. He's laying low for the time being, and I'm the one guarding her now." We don't need to shapeshift.

Assuming somebody else is spreading our shapeshifting secrets around is not actually an excuse to do so ourselves. Especially when the people who know that information don't actually have a reason to go telling people. Even that guy who is jealous of us considers us an ally in his budding army. So we should still make an effort not to tell the shopkeeper we can change shapes, whatever form that plan takes.

>No upgrades from the cow
It is possible, maybe even likely that this is true, but we seem to have passed the point where a single person consumed provides an upgrade anyway, so it is hard to tell. Might have more to do with relative strength than relative sentience. (levels/hit dice consumed seems like something D&D might track)

Maybe it would be best if only Viktor goes in at first on his own to test the waters. There was a lot of ruckus at the church. You might be wanted and there might be someone waiting to see if you turn up if they've put together all the right pieces.

Ivet can go in first, as she is. Victor should go into an alley or something and shift into a form that is basically what he went as last time he was in the shop, but in the same colouration as Ivet. Then he can join her inside.

No need to explain the change in appearance. We were dressed up as an unknown mystery race. Who's to say they don't change colour and styles of dress from day to day? Could be a cultural thing. We don't gotta explain shit.

ChildOfAB 2012/08/29(Wed)20:55 No. 449425 ID: 4b44fc
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After a little thought, you come up with a proposal, which you say in a low voice. "What if we go out of sight, and I turn into someone with the same build as my last form, but human-colored like you? If she asks, we ran into trouble and are disguising ourselves, which is true. Or nothing, we don't really owe her an explanation."
Ivet nods and starts back towards the nearby gate. "Yeah, that will probably work. Man, you're very careful not to lie, aren't you?"
You shrug. "I haven't tried it. It just seems like something I don't do. Not very well, in any case."
After a few minutes of walking, you find a suitably secluded place and shift into your previous form, but a little more elf-like; white hair like Ivet's (but down this time), pinkish skin, and a new outfit. You decide to keep the eye scar, so Nosa will draw the connection more clearly. You hold out your arms and show the shape for Ivet's approval.
Ivet looks a little disappointed. "That'll work. I liked that last form, though."
"Oh? Should I change back?" you ask.
"No, no, this makes sense," she answers, "I just like it when you look, I dunno, dangerous. Powerful."
You smile. "I am dangerous and powerful." Ivet giggles. "Is that why you reacted that way when I ate the cow?"
She smiles. "I guess so. You're just...I don't know, you can be such a destructive killer. I mean, you tear people apart and eat them. Don't take this the wrong way, but you're capable of being violent, animalistic, monstrous. But never to me. You could be, but you're not. To me, you're the opposite." She kisses you on the cheek and puts her arm around your waist as the two of you walk back towards the wall. "Something about that just gets me going. I don't know. Why do you like me?"
"I can be myself around you," you answer. "That alone means a lot to me. I trust you."
"Hm," she sighs, with a pensive half smile. "Same here."
You feel like you haven't said enough, but you're not sure how to say anything else. Still, you feel more confident with your words, and you decide to follow up with something else. "Plus, you're sexy as hell," you add with a grin.
"Haha!" she laughs and blushes a little. "Yes I am."
"I love you," you say.
"I love you too, Vik."

ChildOfAB 2012/08/29(Wed)20:55 No. 449426 ID: 4b44fc
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As you enter the shop, you note that there are a couple of customers this time, and a gnome girl walks up and greets you. "You guys looking for anything in particular, or maybe looking to sell?" she asks.
"We're actually here to talk to Nosa," you reply. She looks behind the counter where the metal man is still standing, and he looks up when you speak.
"She's kind of busy right now, maybe I can help you out?" he interjects.
"Sure," Ivet says, walking up to the counter and lowering her voice. "You'll have to pardon our disguises. We ran into some trouble yesterday, getting this." She reaches into her bag and pulls out the garish glowing indigo pants. "Thanks for the warning, by the way."
The metal man makes a shocked little jerk and takes off his goggles. "Wow. So there was trouble? No, no, you're right, Nosa will want to see this. Here, come back here with me."

ChildOfAB 2012/08/29(Wed)20:56 No. 449428 ID: 4b44fc
File 134629896078.png - (362.73KB , 720x720 , 18.png )

He leads the two of you back behind the counter, down a flight of stairs, and through a tunnel leading through solid rock that opens when he approaches. On the other side of the tunnel, Nosa spins around with a look of surprise. "Uh, hello? Who are these guys, Nortin?" she asks.
The massive machine behind her, doing something autonomously with some strips of metal, suddenly buzzes. Runes light up on its surface and it seems to jerk to attention.
"They've got those Stormdancer pants!" says an excited-sounding, vaguely masculine disembodied voice coming from the machine's direction.
Ivet holds the pants up and smiles. "We had a hell of a time getting these for you,"
Recognition dawns on Nosa's face. "The folks from yesterday! Oh, wow, you got them! What happened?"

I know we don't owe her an explanation but I'm dying to admit the whole story just to guilt trip her, and to get some primo benefits... so...

"Oh we were divinated on after getting the pants.
Then I think the store owner has the crazy idea of attacking recent customers to reobtain legendary equipment, so he took out the local transporter with a lightning storm.
Fought a crazy green dude on some holy mission of jiub or something. Probably a cover. It was in a church, he convinced the local priestess to fight and a paladin joined in because he thought we were evil. He stabbed my girl here through the heart I think with light.
I resurrected her with one of that shop's life drain artifacts. Priestess died and the other two escaped fairly wounded.
Got a mage to help transport us back here.

Annnnnd that's about it."

Well, they were pretty reluctant to sell anything outside of a set, and were throwing around anti-resale geas. And even when we managed to get around that, someone shut down the teleport station, hard, and we picked up two separate tracking divinations and armed pursuit. An awful lot of trouble for sales protection.

Someone did not want you getting these back, I think.

>>449431
this, its just the right amount of information.

>>449434
>>449431
I agree. While I appreciate Dirtbag's sentiment, he forgot that we, and therefore Victor, are extremely paranoid. Like the government is listening through the fillings in my teeth paranoid.

>>449438

...aaaaaaaaaand now my teeth are itching like a motherfucker.

But yeah, I agree with telling them but not "telling them"

>>449438
Hey at least he is properly paranoid because the government is really out to get him.
>>449431
But I agree with this one right here

>>449443
That, and Ivet still has that one divination the Priestess couldn't get off of her before we killed her. On her.

Wow that reads terrible, but you know what I mean.

>>449448
That went away when she died. You can't scry the dead.

>>449430
I resurrected her with one of that shop's life drain artifacts.

How about we skip the death thing, as that REALLLLY should not be mentioned, to anyone.

>>449431
+1
I support this on the basis that it doesn't contain a lot of conjecture. We still don't have any proof about the who or why of those events, only convenient timing and speculation. These guys can draw their own conclusions about the events without us spelling our theories out for them.

>>449448
That appears to have been a magic mark for identification and tracking purposes, not a scrying portal. And I believe it went away when she died.

>>449431
Yeah something like this. Give her a rough outline, omit the deaths and destruction of the church, but hint that blood was spilled to survive. The other people she sent are possibly dead.

Might be an idea to (severely) increase shop security and avoid selling Stormdancer based equipment straight away. Someone wants those pants back badly. Might even be best to consider selling them back to Bethiels shop once the creation method has been divined in order to avoid too much trouble.

>>449431
This sounds like the right amount of info to start with. We can elaborate on things if asked, though we shouldn't mention the death/resurrection thing. We can say we'd rather not go into details if that would come up, but I doubt it will.

Other than that... Unless I'm mistaken (and I might be, I'm on my phone so not verifying) we bought that the mask and want Nosa to reconstruct its set for our future use. This should be a decent time to bring that up, after discussing our reward and discount.

Does the magical forge have a bunch of wands of dimension door and some test chambers for us?
>>449431
This, but throw in at the end "speaking of armed pursuit, we have some stuff to sell you. I hope you don't mind if some of it is a little bloody."

>>449497
The Mask and the Shadowthief should be parts of sets, yes. Finding out what both sets do would be nice.

>>449428
"They followed us with at least two kinds of scrying spells, destroyed the town's teleporter, and hired some assassins group to kill us. It's a miracle we both survived.
For compensation we expect future purchases to be at-cost, and a reproduction of any set for which we provide a piece. Naturally, we will not resell your products for profit or undercut your prices; this agreement gives us a vested interest in ensuring your business is successful."

I'm not sure that we should say that there was armed pursuit. Saying that there was a huge fight in the church we went to after the teleporter was out(mention it was raining pretty hard, don't claim we were in the church to get out of the rain) should be enough.

We should at least tell them that Jijhib is responsible somehow. Finding information about them is important, I can feel it.

Leaving out the resurrection bit might be a good idea as we were definitely not supposed to be able to do that, as well as the various details about the fight. We should definitely offer the other two artifacts to them of course. We are keeping the gauntlet but we'd like to purchase the rest of the set. As for the mask, she can keep it, but we're interested in more information about the whole set's effects.

ChildOfAB 2012/09/07(Fri)19:29 No. 452542 ID: 4b44fc
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"Well, since you asked," you begin. "They were pretty reluctant to sell anything outside of a set, and were throwing around anti-resale geas. And even when we managed to get around that, someone shut down the teleport station, and we picked up two separate tracking divinations and some armed pursuit. Speaking of which, we have some gear to sell you now. I hope you don't mind if it's a little bloody."
Nosa's eyes widen with shock. "Woah," is all she says for a moment, before turning to the forge with a disappointed look and smacking it on the arm. "Well? You had to have your storm magic crap, didn't you?"
The forge turns toward her. Its metal arms mimic a shrugging motion. "And now I do. What's the problem?" it asks in its strange, tinny voice.
Nosa sighs. "The problem is that someone killed the first people we sent to get it."
"People die all the time. Especially if they refuse to take precautions against it," the forge responds.
"Don't make this about me!" Nosa yells suddenly, emotion straining her voice. "I'm making an effort to connect with you, but you're never even here! I'm a grown woman and you don't get to dictate what I do with my life, especially if you're not going to be a part of it!"
Nortin makes an uncomfortable sound and awkwardly readjusts his mantle. Ivet looks up at you and starts to speak, but the forge cuts her off. "It's always been about you! Do you realize what a feat of magical engineering this will be? I have to get this done so at least you can say 'that man was a success' before you wear out and die in front of me."
"I'd rather say 'my dad was always there for me,'" she responds, quietly.
The forge recoils. Silence fills the room. Ivet clears her throat. "We can wait outside," she says.
"Yeah, let me walk you up," Nortin responds, sounding relieved.

ChildOfAB 2012/09/07(Fri)19:29 No. 452543 ID: 4b44fc
File 134707138461.png - (288.65KB , 720x720 , 20.png )

Nortin leads you back through the stone tunnel, which closes as the three of you pass through the other side. "Sorry about that," he says, "Didn't mean to air out the dirty laundry in front of you. I'm sure what she meant to say was 'thank you so much for getting this back for us.'" He chuckles nervously, a strange sound like two sheets of metal rubbing together mixed in.
"You're welcome," Ivet responds. "I'm not gonna lie, it's a miracle we're both still alive after that."
"Who came after you?" he asks.
Ivet and you look at each other as if not sure how much to reveal. "Well, there was a cleric of Lesuel," Ivet says.
Of course, if you sell him her things, he's going to figure that out anyway from the holy symbol. You decide you might as well try to get a little information. "The first one to attack claimed to have been sent on a holy mission by Jijhib," you say. "Then a warrior claiming to be affiliated with Harak got involved."
"Lesuel, Jijhib, and Harak? Wow, you really stirred up something," he says. "Lesuel I understand. Bethiel's shop and the church of deals have been rumored to be affiliated, and my other sister was a supporter. Jijhib is interesting. Most of his followers tend to be monastic sorts, 'walking the inner path' and all that. This Stormdancer set was supposed to have belonged to a monk, maybe there's the connection. Harak seems to be out of nowhere, though."
"I think he just happened to be nearby and decided to get involved," you respond, trying to stifle the onslaught of images of imagined violence against the armored man.
Nortin nods. "Well, if you pissed off a paladin of Harak, you must have been doing something right. I've known a few devotees of Harak that were nice people, and I've known a few...well, no, I guess I haven't known any nice paladins. I mean, I'm sure they're nice to some people. But the combination of the two seems to be especially...let's say 'zealous'."
Ivet smiles. "Paladins don't like you, either?"
"You seem like the types who value discretion. There may be a bit of necromancy involved in making me work. They tend to frown on that sort of thing. I hope that's not the case with you?" he asks, looking at you both.
You can't really think of a reason to care, except that the undead things you've met so far all smelled terrible. "Of course not," you respond.
Ivet grins. "No problem. I'm Ivet, by the way."
"Nortin," he replies, and looks to you.
"Viktor," you say, a little uneasily.
"Joline and Barrett, and I overheard you talking about returning home to the Verian Peaks," Nortin says. "But only if anyone asks. Would you like some coffee from the break room? I'm afraid I can't drink anymore but I'm sure Nosa will be back momentarily."

ChildOfAB 2012/09/07(Fri)19:30 No. 452544 ID: 4b44fc
File 134707140898.png - (336.93KB , 720x720 , 21.png )

The three of you talk in the break room for a few minutes, and become involved in inspecting the items you have for sale. After a bit of back-and-forth, you feel assured that 90,000 gold is a very good deal for the priestess's things, the pants, plus the 12 rubies you and Ivet both forgot you also had from the hidden room you woke up in. However, 9500 of that is from the deflection ring, which Ivet seemed interested in. Nortin says he can upgrade it to a far superior version for 18,000, which is almost half off what he would normally charge.
You also produce the scroll with the insanity spell on it for him to inspect.
"Whoa," he says, "that's a nasty one. Bad place for it too. Did you hear about that attack the other day in the outer city?"
"I did," you reply. "Is this the same spell that was involved?"
Nortin nods. "I'm not sure, but Symbol of Insanity would certainly fit the bill. Notoriety might boost its price locally a little bit, but the sad truth is scrolls just don't pull in much gold, and they don't even break down into residuum we can reuse either. Most I could give you for it is maybe sixteen fifty. You might want to hold on to it instead, could come in handy."
"I don't think I can cast it," Ivet says.
You hold the scroll out and inspect it. Scrambled minds, an area, a trigger, a symbol. "I might be able to. I can read what it says, anyway."
"What it says? The scroll says something?" Ivet asks incredulously.
"Please don't demonstrate in here," Nortin quickly interjects. "Not all of our employees are immune. But yes, most cast from scrolls and other magic things by understanding the spell involved and how to complete it, but a few can do so by just reading it and essentially making an educated guess, even if they can't otherwise do any magic."
"I can do some magic too, though," you respond.
Nortin shrugs. "That happens too. Magic is complicated."
"I'm getting that impression," you respond, taking out the mask and gauntlet. "We also picked these things up, and we think they're part of sets like the Stormdancer things. Can you recreate them, or at least tell us what they'd do?"
Nortin puts on his goggles and inspects the mask first. "Yeah, we could do that. I expect dad will want to finish the Stormdancer work before he gets embroiled in another large project." He turns the mask over in his hands a few times. "Hmm. Broken, but restored, I'd guess about 80 years ago. Should still be workable. Empowering divine fire. Very nice piece. It is part of a set, but I won't be able to tell what it does. Need dad for that." He sets the mask down and picks up the gauntlet. "Whoa. What a piece of junk," he says. He hits it against the table and a few white sparks shoot out. "I can't tell what this is. Whatever magic it had got smashed and ripped through and tangled up. I mean, it's a nice curiosity. I've never seen an enchantment warped so thoroughly, and with such a huge aura at that. Other than that, I haven't got a clue. I'd honestly be afraid to put it on, it might blow my arm off. I hope you didn't pay much for this." He holds it up and turns it around slowly. "We should be able to slag it. Should give us a lot of residuum. Maybe 8k worth?"
"You can't restore it?" you ask, a little downtrodden.
"I guess we probably could. It would take a lot of time and a lot of resources to do, though. This thing is wrecked. I'm talking a couple hundred thousand gold and several months range-wait, wait," he sits back in his chair, holding the gauntlet up. "The seams haven't even settled yet. These wounds are fresh. This thing couldn't have been broken more than 24 hours ago. He looks down at the two of you. "Do you know what it was supposed to do?"
You freeze up a little. For some reason, explaining the resurrection seems like a bad idea. Maybe you're just being paranoid. "Harms and heals," you respond.
Nortin inspects the gauntlet closer. "Yeah, I guess I could see that in there somewhere. There's a conduit to the plane of shadow, which I guess could have been used as a buffer between a separate link from the positive and negative energy planes. Definitely some conjuration in there too, hmm. If that link was there, though, it's been blown so wide open that it's unrecognizable. I'm going to guess it somehow operated at a magnitude exponentially higher than it was designed for, and the buffer couldn't hold it all? I don't know though, the positive and negative energy planes aren't coterminous, so I have no idea how that crack would have formed, or through what medium" He shakes his head, "Sorry, thinking aloud. I might have to enlist someone with more expertise on planar membranes to crack this one, if it means that much to you. I would honestly prefer we just slag it, I'm only offering because you helped us out. If dad gets ahold of something like this he is not going to let it go until he gets it sorted out. I'm afraid it also wouldn't be cheap."

ChildOfAB 2012/09/07(Fri)19:30 No. 452545 ID: 4b44fc
File 134707145156.png - (295.12KB , 720x720 , 22.png )

"I don't mean to pry," Ivet says, "but by 'dad', you mean the forge?"
Nortin nods. "Nosa's and my father. The former owner of this shop. We have another sister, too: the Lesuel-worshiping one. She objected a bit more stringently to his practices. Anyway, he's managed to create several nodes that can house his mind, at the expense of his former body. The forge here is one of them. It gives him unparalleled insight into the inner workings of magic items, letting us create things other shops couldn't dream of. Though, he tends to get a little too...sidetracked to make that as profitable gold-wise as it could be."
You hear the tunnel open back up downstairs, and smell Nosa on her way back up. Ivet gestures to Nortin. "I guess he also made this body for you?"
Nortin slumps over a little on the table. "It's not entirely his work, but yes. I was something of a thesis project for a prestigious academy in the plane of water. And I'm grateful, too, and I love my work. I don't age, don't need to sleep or eat or anything like that. No pain. No feeling much of anything, really. I miss out on the fine foods, and dreaming. And...well there's two sides to every coin, is all I'm saying. Nosa doesn't really get out either. Some things are the same."
"You can't smile anymore either, tin man, I've got that on you," Nosa says from the doorway.
"Ha. Yeah, I guess you do," Nortin replies.
Nosa turns to the two of you and smiles nervously. "I'm, uh, well, I'm sorry for all that downstairs. Thanks for sticking around. And thank you for going through all the trouble, too. I guess we've got some business to do." She glances at all the items on the table. "What do we have here?" she asks.
Nortin separates the deflection ring, the mask, the gauntlet, and the scroll out of the pile and gestures to the rest. "Eighty-one five," he says.
Nosa nods. "Nice haul. Do you want all that right now? I'm guessing you want to buy some stuff too?"
"We were actually interested in the rest of the Stormdancer set," you reply, "It seems powerful."
"Well, if we get the pants to him today, I expect he'll have his proof of concept done in a week." She looks over the pile of things, shrugs and gestures to it. "Tell you what, I'll trade you. 81,500 and your trouble for the set, if you want."
"It doesn't have to look the same, does it?" Ivet asks.
Nosa laughs. "Thankfully, no it doesn't. Which of you would it be for?" You gesture to Ivet and she smiles. "Well, I can throw in some custom tailoring for you too, if you don't mind coming back tomorrow. I was going to head out for the day after this. Was there anything else?"
Nortin goes back upstairs to work the desk and Ivet, now being more lax about spending money, works out a nice set of stuff for herself with Nosa. It incorporates the Stormdancer set with some bonuses to her spellcasting abilities, ability to dodge attacks, an impressive resistance to spells, some more protective qualities including improving the deflection ring, and an enhancement to her ability to tell lies. You feel a little uncomfortable about the last one, but you do agree that it's helped you all get out of some problems before. They agree on a total of 204,500 altogether, at an estimated time frame of about 20 days. She also outlines a potential pair of necklaces she could craft for 17,000 after her father finishes the Stormdancer set, which would allow continuous telepathic communication and an ability for either wearer to teleport to the other's location once a day. With the 81,500 gained from the priestess's things, you do some remarkably quick mental math and deduce that you still have 231,569 gold and 4 silver left.
You consider another ring of freedom of movement for yourself (which Nosa offers for 26,700) and some various other protective items. Are there any other particular magic effects you would like to add?

It might be a good idea to spring for something that can hide your aura, like a ring of Undetectable Alignment. Could keep paladins from attacking you on sight as you wander around the city.

>>452545
Perhaps we should give Nosa's dad the gauntlet while it's still 'fresh'.
If he can actually figure that out then we can get something more valuable than gold out of it - pertinent information.

Awww. The gauntlet was wrecked after all.

>>452552
The only real problem is they already said it would pretty much dominate the forge's attention if we let him get a hold of it. The god-wrecked artifact is interesting. We want him making Ivet's stuff right now, and we can't be sure who to trust with our secrets, yet.

>>452548
Would that give a false positive? Because you'd think Pallies would get suspicious when they get a "no reading" response.

>>452545
Maybe add a fun enchantment for once.
Maybe an enchantment that improves your groove and you can get down with your bad self.

>>452555
IDK about this universe exactly, but in DnD it just balances you out on the good/evil law/chaos axis so you just register as neutral.

>>452558
Boots of +10 dance?

>>452552
Gonna have to say no to having them work on the enchantment. Just slag the thing. At the very least, it's evidence that we have incredible cosmic power if he does manage to figure out that we used it to rip a hole in the universe and pull out a soul.

Something that kills paladins? Can we get something to make claws do unholy damage?
Something to make us bigger!
Viktor can use scrolls, buy some scrolls of gate or wish or miracle or something

Also, we should ask Nosa and Nortin out for drinks. We need allies, they seem to have their shit together, and they want to get out more.

>>452562

Viktor doesn't need anything to make him bigger.

His full size right now is probably taller than a two or three story house.

He just keeps himself incredibly dense.

>>452545
Regeneration maybe, if it's effective. Without the gauntlet, we can't heal her in combat. Outside of combat, potions work fine. Actually, maybe potions work fine in combat as well? Whatever the case, some reliable method of healing is a good idea.

Another potential item to get is some form of invisibility. Viktor has very effective camouflage but Ivet seems to be more likely to use various disguises.

It really is a shame about that gauntlet, too... I'm not sure if we should have it melted down to keep things quiet about what we did, or keep it around to maybe help us figure out how to do it again, if we find someone skilled enough to trace the evidence. That friendly mage seems like a rather good candidate for checking out the gauntlet, if we go that route, but we'd want to stay out of that city for quite some time. The alternative is to take it to the plane of water, which we're going to next anyway.

Speaking of the gauntlet, see if we can borrow the goggles they're using to look at it. Maybe we can decipher it with our natural understanding of magic. If the goggles reveal interesting things for us, maybe we can buy a spare to keep?

Oh, and for Viktor's use I think we should look into magic resistance and maybe a speed boost. The ring of freedom of movement sounds good too, just to be the King of Grapple.

I say slag the gauntlet. I trust Nortin's judgement that it would be way more trouble than it's worth. Its inherent power isn't really that great anyway, and it's not really an effective conduit for what we used it for. Plus, we don't want to need it for that again anyway.
I don't think we need a freedom of movement ring. We should leave the mask for them to replicate the set, when the Stormdancer's garb is finished, although getting them to make it wearable by Viktor might be tough. But we'll sort that bit out later I suppose.

>>452562
Asking them out to drinks seems like a good notion, but it doesn't really feel like the right time. Remember that we did just meet them... and we were just given a drink by them. Perhaps we can do drinks on us while we discuss the set from the mask, although that's likely to involve sensitive information so it might not be the best idea. Perhaps as a prelude to the actual discussions, using business as a pretext, or after that.

>>452566
She knows cure spells, she's cast them before. I don't remember if that's normal for a druid or not, it might be a racial thing.

I like the idea of Singer not being able to grapple us. Also the ring of adamantium touch from earlier that would have let us rip apart the earth elemental like paper. We might not need it after a couple of upgrades, but if we upgrade exponentially, it might be a long while before we eat enough.

Also thirding asking them out for drinks sometime. We should go find Lothar and get drinks with him, too.

I think we should keep our relationship more professional.

>>452601
The gauntlet is part of a set, and the set might be very valuable.
Also, the trouble is because his dad would be distracted; that's firmly in the "not my problem" class of trouble. The info is worth it.

>>452674
dad is the primary builder, with him distracted the time table for the stuff to get done will take way longer.

>>452676
We can just wait for our first order to go through and hang on to the broken thing in the meanwhile.

>>452680
Unfortunately, the kid could tell it was fresh; still shifting and all that.
That makes this a very rare opportunity. It's a once in a lifetime event, and since Vik and Nosa's dad are unaging immortals that's a pretty big deal.

Have her dad look at it. Tell him he can have it for free as long as it won't mess up your order's delivery date too much, he explains what the fuck happened, and you eventually get a replication of the set its from.

Then go talk to Nosa and ask what she would like to do about Bethiels' shop and its affection for thievery and murder. Revenge would be nice, and getting paid twice would be even nicer.

>>452674
The problem is that it would likely interfere with the creation of Ivet's set of Stormdancer's garb. Which would mean waiting months instead of weeks, something I'm not willing to do.

We may run into another piece of the set later, though it isn't terribly likely.

Waiting actually works in our favor here--give the busted artifact a chance to cool off and not inspire quite as many questions to the effects of "how did this happen" or "did you do this?" etc.

You know. Troublesome questions.

>>452684
If he actually does get distracted by it, then we won't be getting Ivet's equipment for MONTHS. We need her protected. That is more important than giving other people a shot at resurrection.

>>452722
I don't think you quite understand what the man just said.
If Ivet was a building, then we broke down a wall to use the bricks to repair her.
That's interesting, but not important.
What's important is that the brick wall he broke down for it was the wall between Buckingham Palace and the Taj Mahal.

He used a power we don't know about to achieve his goals, and that power is apparently "Be God".

So yea, this guy needs to see this gaping wound in reality while it's still bleeding. We can play things safe until Ivet gets her gear, but this is quite literally a unique chance to get some insight into how Viktor's powers work.

Shit, we can have Viktor play the role of powered armor for Ivet. Nothing's going to hit her in there.

>>452741
That mage who popped up to investigate the disturbance would probably have a MUCH better clue of WTF happened and how to replicate it. He'd be a better person to bug about this...if it weren't for the fact that I was under the impression that we were trying to NOT draw attention to ourselves.

In any case, we just used the gauntlet as a conduit--there's no dire need to have THIS SPECIFIC MAGIC ITEM remade or examined right here and now.

>>452741
We uh, don't really need to get someone else's help to investigate Viktor's powers.

We just need to eat more people.

>>452741
I don't think any of us quite understand what the man just said. Besides, I don't think it was the gauntlet that did it. It might have provided a focus or a catalyst, but I think the brunt of the work was done by Viktor himself. I can't help but feel like those several months we spend waiting for the gauntlet to get fixed, possibly jeopardizing our secrecy and leaving Ivet less protected than she would otherwise be, would be better spent actually learning and growing and eating. Hell, we can probably figure out how to do it without the gauntlet in that amount of time. Or at the very least, blast our way through Oasis's goons to figure it out, because it seems like someone in her court already knows how it's done.

>>452751
I like this idea. Let's swiftly conclude business and go hunting faaaaaaar awaaaaaaay

>>452747
>>"The seams haven't even settled yet. These wounds are fresh. This thing couldn't have been broken more than 24 hours ago.
>there's no dire need to have THIS SPECIFIC MAGIC ITEM ... examined right here and now.

It's still in the process of settling. Things touched by reality rewrites are very, very rare, and the odds of anybody finding one and bringing one to a wizard to examine it within a day of that is very, very low.
If we don't hand it over now then it'll still be interesting, but far less informative. And, thus, far less valuable.

In all likelyhood none of them would have ever encountered something like this if Viktor hadn't made it, and they would never encounter one so fresh even in a thousand of their greatly extended lifetimes.

We show it to him, then we work out fair compensation for it. Obviously, part of that compensation would be that our work gets priority so as not to miss the expected delivery date. This is a business, and we are most assuredly not his only customers. He can displace other work orders to make time.

>>452747
You think a grad-student mage working on his thesis on Planar Disturbances would be better at helping us than a master mage who already has their degree? With the master mage's thesis being the use of mixed types of magic to bind a soul to a body for the purpose of preventing death, and whose current job is examining artifacts to discern their function and method of creation well enough to reproduce perfect duplicates of the effect as well as improved versions?

Seriously, his thesis may as well have been named "How I managed to almost do exactly what Viktor did" and his job is "Figuring out exactly what happened and how to do it".

>>452752
We're not going to wait for it to be fixed. He could probably tell us most of the information we'd want to know about it within a day, and the information is what's valuable. Since we have to be back tomorrow for the tailoring anyway that works out fine.
We can come back and order the set later if we want.

>>452760
We can't just come back later. tin man just said GLADaD would drop everything and work on the gauntlet until he finished because he's distractible. Unless by later you mean months from now.

>>452760
>reality rewrites
See, there you're assuming you know what Viktor did. We don't.

I guess we could show him the gauntlet now and demand he finish our work order before tinkering with it, but what if he says he would have to work with the gauntlet immediately to make any real progress investigating it? We'd be screwed. I don't like taking risks with Ivet's long-term safety. On the other hand, maybe simply analyzing the gauntlet would take less time than repairing it. If it extends the work time by like a couple days it MIGHT be worth it, but we'd want to run this plan by Ivet.


Additionally... um, Ivet mentioned this shop while under the effects of that first divination, in the alley. That's probably why they sent an assassin and disabled the teleport, because they knew we were going to bring it back here. We can expect people to investigate the shop soon and/or steal the pants, since they couldn't find us in the ruined church. We also said Ivet's name in the presence of those two dudes we didn't manage to kill. They might be able to find her, by connecting the dots, even if we don't hang around the shop.

What can we do? Besides, perhaps, warn the shopkeeps?

Ask Nortin to keep the remains of Shadowthief until his dad has some free time. Maybe he can store it so it won't decay? apply a bit of unguent of timelessness or something?

Some potential other things to buy for Viktor that he could feasibly use in most forms would be:
*Amulet of Mighty fists for +melee.
*Ring of Spell Turning to reflect spells (expensive).
*Headband of Mental Prowess or a Headband of Mental Superiority for + to mental ability scores int/wis/cha.
*Bracers of Armor.
*Anything with fire resistance since he keeps catching on fire and now has a fire enhancing mask.
*Something that allows interaction with ethereal creatures.

In fact ask if there's a testing area where you can try out the Dragonhawk's Visage with some borrowed fire resist equipment perhaps.

>>452760
You're making assumptions with no basis. Nortin says it's fucked, and see anything which wasn't directly related to its properties before we messed with it. Nortin knows a hell of a lot more about this stuff than we do. Besides, there's no real reason to assume it would reveal anything. If you have a pipe that can fit golf balls at biggest, and you ram a bowling ball down it, nobody's going to be able to look at the pieces of the pipe and tell you what color that bowling ball is. The best plumber in the world won't even know it was a bowling ball.

>You think a grad-student mage working on his thesis on Planar Disturbances would be better at helping us than a master mage who already has their degree?
Ability is not the only criteria; willingness also applies. A wizard who's just enjoying tenure and waiting until retirement isn't going to want to mess around with this, even if we think it's worth talking to someone in the first place. Also a grad student can have a Masters, assuming there's a PhD program for messing about with the planes.

>>>452810
>maybe simply analyzing the gauntlet would take less time than repairing it
Who cares about repairing it? The enchantment it had isn't a big deal, so if it degrades to the point where a new set can't be reconstructed from it it isn't much of a loss.


>>452838
Isn't there a Ring of Adamantine Might or something that gives a +3 and 5DR negation to natural weapons? Get one of those with Freedom of Movement, and a wand of Ghost Touch.

>>452838
We're selling the mask. It's specifically DIVINE fire, and we don't have anyone that can use that.

>>453094
Why not? We're divine, and the Ash Crow god fragment we ate a ways back had fire powers. It's likely available in our ability tree somewhere. If it's not already accessible through the weird magic channeling thing Vic can do.

>>453097
We have no idea how to use any fire powers at the moment, and besides, Viktor's powers resemble Warlock powers rather than Cleric powers, and Warlock spells aren't Divine.

>>453094
Viktor is a deity, and druids like Ivet are divine magic users.
Also, it resembles the ash crow and is part of a set. Let's try to not sell our plot hooks.

>>453100
It's for divine fire; does Ivet have even one fire spell? Besides, she's already gonna be wearing a full set of magical clothes. No room for another.

>>453425
Whoa, why would you give it to Ivet? I assumed WE would be using it. 'cause it's awesome

Guys the mask wasn't even part of the deal we can figure it out later lets stay focused

>>453854
>Nortin separates the deflection ring, the mask, the gauntlet, and the scroll out of the pile and gestures to the rest.
Oh, you're right. I suppose we can just keep hold of it for now.

I say get the Gauntlet examined, but have a talk with their dad on the conditions of letting him examine the gauntlet. Having him set everything aside is bad for us and their business, so I expect Nortin would be willing to let and help us add conditions that require him to work on other stuff at the same time. (Like the Storm Dancer's set for Ivet)

ChildOfAB 2012/09/26(Wed)03:21 No. 458131 ID: 4b44fc
File 134865489428.png - (369.79KB , 720x720 , 23.png )

You discuss with Nosa the sorts of things you could have to increase the power of your natural weapons. She explains that such items are more difficult and costly to make than simply putting a magical effect on a weapon itself, but that it is possible. You talk back and forth about different possibilities and she comes up with a couple of items. The first is a ring which should allow you to vary the corporeality of your attacks between able to affect ghosts and able to tear into adamantine. The other would allow you to empower all of your natural attacks with fire, electricity, frost, or acid, changeable at your command.
"The first one's definitely a ring. The second one could be, too, but I could probably also pull off a pair of gloves, maybe a cloak or mantle of some sort..." Nosa says. Adopting a curious expression, she slips her glasses into place and glances up at you. "Oh," she says, flipping the goggles back up on her head. "Hey, is that cloak you're wearing magical? I can't get a reading on what you're wearing with that...what is it, nondetection? Mind blank?"
"Wait, what? What does that mean?" you ask, genuinely surprised.
"I was just wondering if you were attached to that cloak or if I could make you another one. Maybe add this to whatever it does?"
"No, wait, hang on. Explain that nondetection or mind blank thing," you say.
Nosa raises an eyebrow. "You actually don't know? You've got some kind of effect active that blocks you from divinations. Nondetection is a weaker, more common spell that does it, but it can be beaten by a strong enough mage. Mind blank is serious business, basically unbeatable stuff. Are you wearing any magic items you haven't identified first, maybe?" You shake your head in the negative. "Well, I don't know what to tell you."
"Can I look through your goggles?" you ask.
Nosa laughs. "If you want," she says, taking them off her head and handing them to you. "Fair warning, they're a little disorienting."

ChildOfAB 2012/09/26(Wed)03:22 No. 458132 ID: 4b44fc
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You raise the goggles to your face as you begin to ask, "So, what happens if someone tries to...woah-" You are suddenly distracted as you fit the goggles over your eyes. An infinite fractal of colors and shapes form themselves into magical symbols traced into the air itself, drawn into patterns layered on patterns layered on some hyperfocused pinpoint facsimile of the real world, shattering and remaking themselves each time you move your eyes. You glance down at the table, covered as it is with magic items, and suddenly massive quantities of new colors and shapes coalesce into being. A torrential flow of magical minutiae blasts out of everywhere at once and pours into your consciousness until you recoil.
You hear Ivet giggle. "Viktor?" she says. "I've never seen you dumbfounded before."
Nosa laughs, too. "Happens to everyone. They really take some getting used to."
You stare up at the wall, barely noticing their chatter. The first wave of patterns you saw re-forms before you. You try your best to make sense of it. "A trigger...A lot of triggers. I only see one connection, and a lot of things that just say nothing except that they're there. Let's see...when this plane connects to another one...find two points...and...bend something? Set them equal? So, if someone tries to come in from another plane, you send them somewhere else?" you suggest, trying your best to parse the massive amount of raw magical data.
"Wow, I'm impressed," you hear Nosa say, "That's pretty close. I guess you're seeing the dimensional lock on the building. If someone tries to teleport in or out, they just wind up back where they started. Even teleportation that begins and ends on the same plane has to go through the astral as a sort of intermediary, if only for a fraction of a second. The 'nothings' would be spells that conceal other spells, that conceal other spells. Security is all about redundancy."
You glance at Nosa, who is covered with too many clashing symbols, shapes, and colors to parse. Ivet's is simpler, but still hard to follow. You get that it takes mental input, and then input from reflected light, somehow outputs a lot of things like shapes and colors. You realize you're looking at her illusion hat, but you're not sure if you figured that out yourself or if you just put two and two together because you already know what her hat does. There's also something else that you quickly figure must be the ring of freedom of movement, but you can't figure out how it's supposed to work. Next, you look down at your own hand, but it's like your vision goes right through it to see more of the dimensional lock on the other side. Finally, you look at the gauntlet. The patterns are far more dense and aren't as uniform. There seem to be lines jutting through them, across which the symbols present undulate across a chasm of alternate forms. Try as you might, you can't make heads or tails of it.

ChildOfAB 2012/09/26(Wed)03:22 No. 458133 ID: 4b44fc
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You tug the goggles off and start handing them back to Nosa, but Ivet quickly jumps up. "I wanna see!"
Nosa shrugs. "Knock yourself out."
You pass the goggles off to Ivet. "Anyway, what happens if someone tries to use a divination spell on me?" you ask.
"Depends," Nosa replies. "The most common forms of scrying prevention make spells that seek out you in particular fail, and spells that just happen to be looking in the same place you are ignore you. That'd be...hang on..." she looks off into the distance, gesturing as if performing some calculations in her head.
Ivet, now be-goggled, looks completely awestruck. "Woooooah," she says. She looks down at her hands in stupefaction.
Nosa snaps back to focus from her mental calculations and looks at Ivet. "Yeah, pretty crazy, right?"
"What...what is all this stuff? I don't get any of that stuff Viktor said at all," she says, still staring at her hands.
Nosa smiles. "On your hands? I'm guessing the ring, or that hat you're wearing."
"Oh," Ivet says, quietly nodding and bending her fingers, too lost in herself to acknowledge what Nosa said.
Nosa chuckles and turns back to you. "Anyway, yeah, the most efficient implementation of a nondetection item wouldn't extend to the item that's causing it unless that item is actually being worn, that would bump it up another level. If you wanted, you could take off the cloak and I could look at it. Maybe the shirt, or are you wearing an amulet? Those would be the most common culprits."
You blanch at the idea of removing clothing that's actually attached to your body. "You know, actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I do know what's causing it," you respond.
Nosa shrugs. "Suit yourself."
You spend a bit longer talking over some other options, and Ivet finally manages to pry the goggles off and give them back. Besides the immunity to grappling, the variable substance, and the energy switching items, you also get some basic protective gear, and incorporate an undetectable alignment spell into the communication amulets so it will affect both of you.
Finally, you bring up the issue of the mask and the gauntlet again. Nosa looks at the mask through the goggles for a bit, looking deep in thought. "Well, I'm not gonna lie, I think you paid way too much for it. I'll tell you what, I could buy it off you for what you paid, 42k, hold on to it for a while, then chuck it dad's way when we don't have any big orders coming in and keep you updated on what comes out of it, maybe give you dibs on the first set if it turns out to be something you're into. That's as high as I'll go, though. And this thing..." she picks up the gauntlet and turns it over in her hands, "Damn, Nortin was right about this thing. I don't think we could get any information out of it if I don't toss it dad's way today, though. Could probably recreate it later. I'd have to ask him to get a precise estimate, and I wouldn't want to do that unless you were definitely going for it. I'm betting somewhere from 250-300k, though."
You realize you've got a little short of 100k left, so that's not feasible unless you cancel the rest of the order entirely. "Do you have anything that could keep it fresh for longer?" you ask.
Nosa shakes her head and chuckles. "In the time it would take me to make something like that, it wouldn't matter anymore."
You think hard about what is hopefully your final purchasing decision, and also consider how helpful and useful Nosa and Nortin have been. While looking contemplatively at the items on the table, the subtly thumb your sending stone. "Very helpful duo, possible allies, invite them out for drinks after this?" you think towards Ivet. When you glance up at her, she smiles and nods.

What were the prices for the custom things we asked Nosa For?

Well, that sucks. Even selling the mask, before the stuff in this update we'd barely have been within' range of that estimate.

I still say we hand over the gauntlet though, as the stuff we're getting Viktor should be things we can cover/get around with his magic. I might also like the fact that having less gear will force us to use and experiment with said magic instead of trying to rely almost wholy on his brute force like we did last fight.

She only thinks the mask is useless because she doesn't know Viktor is divine! I say we hang on to it. It'll be useful if we ever unlock the Ash Crow's fire trick.

pt the mask on and see if you can use it.

I agree, keep the mask. thrash that gauntlet though, it's done.

>>458133
Eh, try on the mask to get a feel for it. Or you could look at it via the goggles to get a better idea of if its effects would work on you.

I'm betting the answer is no, though, which means selling it. Also, trash the gauntlet since we won't be able to afford the cost of duplicating it, and I personally think we should try to cover our tracks a little. If we handed it over to be analyzed, and the smith realized what happened to it, he might figure out what we are.

>>458133
"That goes way outside my budget, but I get the feeling your dad would want to at least study the gauntlet anyway. He can have it now; I'll see if I can arrange for payment later.
If it helps his research, I know what the original enchantment was. It created a shadow gauntlet on the opposite hand that drained life on touch and used that to heal whoever the real gauntlet was touching.

On an unrelated note, how much do goggles like that cost?"

I think we're paying too much for stuff we can get more easily.
Orange Prism Ioun stones are slotless magical items that give +1 caster level, which is what Viktor would get from the mask since he doesn't have any fire spells. They cost 8,000, the mask costs 42,000. We could get one for Ivet too and still have more money. The mask might be worth it if we were a divine caster that specialized in fire, but we specialize in water and I'm not even sure our magic counts as divine. Could be worth it when Ivet learns Flame Strike but she's going for a lightning themed thing so meh.
We could probably just explain exactly what the gauntlet does. I bet they could make us one that does exactly the same thing for far less money and time than repairing this one. We could probably break it again in the same exact way if we had to. We wouldn't get the rest of the set, but positive/negative energy isn't really Viktor's deal either.
And those goggles, while cool, are obviously doing something besides just identifying spells. We could get them to make us something that grants a constant arcane sight spell, which would let us see magic without tripping balls. Maybe something to boost spellcraft checks too, since that's the skill related to figuring out what sort of magic you're looking at. I bet that would cost less than their Artificer LSD glasses.

>>458268
Only 8,000? What version are you playing?

I say go ahead and sell the mask with the deal that we get dibs when the get around to duplicating the set, since so many people seem against keeping it, this way we get our money back with the chance of getting the full set later when we learn more about what we and ivet can do. The gauntlet seems bet to just leave with them though do see if telling them the original core enchant on it would help speed things up. As for the caster level stuff i think we should hold off until we have a better understanding of what we do actually classifies as in terms of how we cast spells and what spells we cast, while what we believe we understand of our nature would imply what we do should be divine magic, the method we use doesn't match the commonly known ways to cast divine spells. And just assuming what we do is divine with what little we've done seems stupid when there is no reason to think a god couldn't learn arcane magic if he felt like it. Especially after we've had someone who knows magic tell us what we do seems to be warlock based.

>>458268
Like >>458299 said, the orange ioun stones cost more than 8k. They cost 30k according to this table I'm looking at now. The mask is better only if you use fire divine magic, OR have more pieces.

We are really better off selling it than using it, unless Viktor suddenly gains fire magic. Besides, if we sell it to these guys we can buy it back later if it turns out we have a use for it!

problem, the author specifically said ioun stones don't EXIST in this setting.

>>458303
When did he say that? Because he has a post in disc that says otherwise

>there's a whole cycle of crystalline third eyes that, when activated, attach themselves to your forehead and do stuff, like allow you to dispel magic. There's also Ioun stones, which are little crystals that float around your head. Though, there's no Ioun in my setting, so we can just say that the equivalent (Gharliz) has enough fashion sense and enough empathy for forgetful artists to make them not do that. They do some neat things, like boost your stats, absorb spells, make you not need to breathe, or give you some slow regenerative capabilities. They tend to be pretty expensive, though, since they're slotless. An equivalent effect on a magic item worn on an area that makes sense for the effect costs less.

It's possible Victor could use the artifact to unlock his fire powers that he theoretically has from eating what was probably another chunk of himself who had fire powers. Maybe. Might as well fiddle with it a bit. If nothing comes of it, sell it.

Definitely sell the gauntlet.

>>458357
Its not that they don't exist i think, it's that they function a little different, its hard to make out what he was saying in the third sentence of your quote i think he left something out. But it does say they are more expensive i think

The reason for analyzing the gauntlet is not so that we have an interesting gauntlet with effects that, while unique together, are not all the uncommon in pieces. It isn't even to get a set of magical artifacts with shadow powers, though those are always cool. The reason for analyzing the gauntlet is to understand on a fundamental level how Viktor did what he did, and how it could be done again. I do care a bit about what the gauntlets could do, but I care a lot more about what VICTOR did to THEM. Bringing back the dead is a thing that went away along with the oceans when the god of the abyss disappeared, and I don't believe simply eating people is going to be enough to bring it back. Too much of what Victor does is instinctual. We know we can produce energy bolts, but cannot do it on command, and don't know why. Given Victor's demonstrated ability to understand magic that OTHERS use, there is little reason for it to remain that way. My preference would be not only to have the Forge look at the gauntlets, but to be present and wearing a pair of these goggles while it happens. Possibly we could even provide insight.

I mean, on examining the gauntlets, Nortin said:
>"There's a conduit to the plane of shadow, which I guess could have been used as a buffer between a separate link from the positive and negative energy planes... If that link was there, though, it's been blown so wide open that it's unrecognizable... I don't know though, the positive and negative energy planes aren't coterminous, so I have no idea how that crack would have formed, or through what medium"
Even that cursory glance tells us something, because the answer to his question is the basis of Victor's powers.

Sell her the mask, since it's of no real use to us now anyways. Other than that, I'd consider our shopping trip concluded.

>>458608
I agree with this. Forge-guy being occupied with the gauntlet is a drag in the short-term, but it looks like our best long-term investment.

>>458646
>>458608
There's really no reason to assume we'd be able to find out anything like that from it. If we want to learn what we're doing, we'd be better off getting something like Nosa's goggles. But I don't know if even that's really needed.

>>458176
Well, we may as well give it to them. It's not like we really need it for anything.

>>458646
>>458608
It could be a drag in the mid-term too. If the forge becomes sidetracked with it, it could be MONTHS before he does anything else.

I want to avoid that so that we get Ivet's protective gear done, AND I want to avoid that so that we don't get exposed.

>>458646
I propose waiting for the short term commissions to be done before doing anything with the gauntlet.

>>458693
At that point the gauntlet would be utterly and completely useless to everybody.
It is literally now or never.

Ok, I'm going to address all these statements now:
Within 24 hours the gauntlet is going to be a worthless hunk of junk. Therefore, any time-sensitive information he could gather WOULD BE collected by the end of 24 hours.

After that point the gauntlet will stabilize, and there will be no further loss of potential information over time.

We give him the gauntlet and come back in 24 hours. At that point we tell him that since it's stabilized he needs to set it aside and study it when it won't get in the way of his business.

>>458702
This is probably the most sensible thing I've ever heard from you.

>>458702
Okay, that would work as far as keeping our schedule intact.

The problem of blowing our cover still remains. What could we possibly say that would distance ourselves from the way the gauntlet was used? Someone stole it from us, used it to resurrect someone else in a massive display of power, then just left it there for us to pick up? I don't think there is ANY believable story we can give him, without also sacrificing his ability to put the information in the proper context. If we make it known that resurrection is possible via an item such as this gauntlet, we will at the same time make it known that we did it.

We can't keep our cover and also get information about resurrection via further examination of the gauntlet. The cursory examination that this guy did with the goggles was safe, because he can't tell what was done with it. It gave us some clues as to how it was done.

Personally, I think Viktor can do it again with any magical item that deals with transfer of energy between planes, and connects to the Positive Energy Plane. It doesn't require a connection to the Negative Energy plane, because that one doesn't actually have anything to do with the afterlife. Viktor has to reach into whatever Outer Plane houses the dead one's soul, and bring it into the Prime Material Plane. The Positive plane connection is needed to heal the body.

Look, let's just sell the gauntlet to them and say that we aren't interested in getting it repaired or reproduced but suggest that maybe their father would be interested in taking a look anyway. In all likelyhood his children will decline to offer him the opportunity because it will lose them money to have him distracted like that unless we pay to have it fixed. Which we aren't going to do.

>>458706
If these guys get far enough in their investigation to find out what we are, they will probably have found out enough for it to be worth the risk. We have been entirely helpful towards them, and they (forge-dad in particular, who will be the first to know) seem much more likely to want to study us than to freak out in a troublesome way.

>>458721
You're talking about a guy who made "use a necromantic ritual to tear my son's soul out of his mortal body and put it into this golem" his thesis project. This guy is pretty clearly Evil, as in the alignment, like Viktor, and possibly epic level. I'm not entirely sure we'd like whatever "study us" entails. While you can get on Viktor's good side and be okay, I wouldn't want to be studied by this guy any more than I'd want to go out to dinner with Vik.

>>458726
Well said.

>>458726
Heh. "Necromancy is evil!". Cute.

No, if you were paying attention you would have noticed that they're all still on speaking terms with each other. Being turned into a golem unwillingly isn't something you roll your eyes at and say "Oh, you". Further, he is abiding by Nosa's rejection, which is rather conclusive proof that he won't force her. That's fairly definitive proof that Nortin was willing.

Next, consider what he said to Nosa. The "before you wear out and die in front of me" bit. He's terrified of losing the people he cares about, and that's motivating him to do what he can to keep them with him as long as possible. While it could be called a selfish motivation, it's certainly not evil.

Since Nortin was his thesis that means Nortin was also his first sentient test subject; he's stubborn and has a lot of pride, but most people would opt to test a new procedure on somebody with whom they have no emotional ties. Since Nosa has rejected his offer of the procedure he can clearly do it again, which leads This strongly suggests it was therapeutic, but isn't definitive.

So the subject was willing, the motivation was fine, and the context was at least acceptable. That leaves only the mechanics of the act, and necromancy has a worse reputation than it deserves.

>>458726
"like Viktor" really doesn't help your argument. Anyways, seems pretty clear Nortin was willing and if Forgedad used his, however willing, son for his thesis when he's expressed unhappiness with the prospect of losing family it's very doubtful he's willing to use unwilling test subjects. Add in said individual helping his other research, being on good terms with his family, and one hell of a threat if something goes wrong? I don't see that happening.

These are the people I'd currently trust most with our secret

>>458132
Vik's flesh is invisible to the goggles.

>>448170
Vik's natural form has three eyes, but he can only use two while disguised as two-eyed creatures.

We don't get magic goggles. We get a magic monocle and have it in front of his third eye inside his head.

>>458772
Never in TGchan have I once heard an idea better than this.

You are a genius.

>>458772
Okay, this is fucking brilliant. Let's do it.

chirps 2012/09/30(Sun)14:18 No. 459014 ID: 34cbef
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>>458772
shit, what? from seven? my brain kinda hurts, but okay lets do it.

1. >>458772 Yes please! Although we should test that monocules on the third hidden eye work before doing it exactly that way. We just reverse engineered a few spells within moments of wearing them so its a must have item, we should probably have something like that all the time! (it is possibly just a simple read magic spell? ideally learn to replicate it with our natural abilities)
2. The point of selling her the fire mask is that it is the only known item of a set and her father is uniquely able to recreate the ENTIRE SET from just the mask, not only that but selling her that mask and then getting a duplicate of it once reverse engineered will net us a gold profit as well as having the option to buy components of the rest of the set. So definitely do that.
3. The gauntlet has to be studied NOW; even if they will last 24 hours the sooner the better, it would suck if we need 10 hours of study to fully duplicate it and only end up having 5 because we dallied. The children don't want to distract their father with it because it LOOKS like junk, they have no idea why its worth studying. If we want him to do so we need to give him more info. I suggest we do so. Repaired is also not sufficient we will need it improved so it does not explode in future uses.

I agree with those suggesting we give them more info... Particularly with everything in >>458608
I doubt that they would turn on us and besides we are plenty strong.. the potential to acquire resurrecting power is too important to squander as well as properly researching self.

We should ask to see the father again so we can explain some things to all 3 so we don't have to repeat ourselves.

Explanation:
A. The gauntlet intended operation is that it creates a shadow duplicate of itself on the other hand, the shadow gauntlet drains life energy, the physical gauntlet then uses it to heal a target.
B. Having multiple hands caused a shadow glove to appear on each one and allowed simultaneous draining of many people at once, a factor that contributed to it overloading.
C. The gauntlet was broken by overloading it to the extreme, which resulted in a massive explosion... as well as an actual resurrection. (biggest pitch, would justify prioritizing it over the storm gear)
D. I am not certain about my ancestry but I believe it involves some extraplaner/divine origins. Used self as one of the sources for the draw (while it is a lot to reveal, it keeps enough hidden and lets them draw wrong but still important conclusions and is an important thing to note if we wish to replicate or improve the gauntlet).
E. Own ancestry is powerful, the nondetection/mind-blank is a result of it rather then any item.

The reason for this level of disclosure is because the more he knows the more likely he is to be able to repair the gauntlet and perhaps even replicate it and improve it. If you feel a certain point of disclosure goes too far please note which one it is rather then scrapping the whole of it (its why I seperated them).