Under the School IC

[shugyosha]

Ceraohina

Niko turned his gaze towards the monocles. "As for the monocles that everyone seems to want, I would like to stress the usefulness of them in identifying potential threats. As such, I would recommend that they are used by anyone scouting ahead or anyone that has good eyesight. We'll likely encounter opportunities where it would be beneficial to have others use them temporarily, but threat detection should probably be our first priority in new territory, and those situations will probably turn up when we have enough time to argue."

Ceraphina knew the monocles weren’t designed for the rugged uses of a scout. Threat detection was only one of its function and its most important. It was more than a matter of looking at something and knowing what it was but what context it is brought into. She was certain that she had a wide breath of knowledge than most here.

Niko was smart but he held books in his hand while she held them in her head. She remembered seeing him in the library and even recalled handing him a book or two. While he loved books, she had made knowledge her life.

At the end of the meeting she stood up and went to the alchemy lab. She meekly watched Niko pass her by. She knew things would be tough down there and she need to be prepared. It took the last of her money she got a single vial of antitoxin.

Then she headed to see Ako. There, she smiled at his salute and did her best to do the same. When asked about equipment she says, “I need something to carry all my equipment, do you have something like a Haversack? As for a weapon something like a small crossbow would do.”

[Marker Mage]

Yes, es fur me upgred, I thot e kind've megic'l rope would help, perreps one thit surrunds itself 'rund neirby objects if ye gut one. If nut I could werk with e more furtifeid irmor..."

Niko looked up from his reading on the 12th species of bat listed in the book, a rather large example that the book referred to as the FROUS, or flying rodent of unusual size. His gaze turned to Gurlin. "You're handwriting wouldn't happen to be easier to understand than your accent, would it? I wouldn't mind giving up some paper and ink to make it easier for you to communicate." Niko slid a strap of his backpack off of his arm to maneuver it to where he could reach inside.

[Man on Fire]

"Sorry I'm late, some loser wanted to shove my head into the toiled for good luck. Poor me, no respect whatsoever" Stinky says, walking in. In reality he was a bit late because he make a detour to say goodbye to his friends, but nobody needs to know about it. "What do you actually have for us? "Armor, weapon or magic item" is sorta vague, don't you agree?"

[AugustusGloop]

IJudit

Judit spoke up shyly, from his place near the back of the pack. He eyed the misshapen man warily, hoping he wouldn't take the clarification of his speech badly. "Sir, Gurlin would like some kind of animated rope for his item. Something he could command to wrap, or knot or entangle. And here are some things I was hoping for."

He'd spent quite some some time scribbling on a scrap of paper in the meeting classroom, pausing for furious thought, and scribbling again. He'd hardly noticed when everyone else filed out, and had to run to catch up, stopping twice more to hold his paper against a wall or the floor to add something to what was apparently a list. He handed it to Ako, and waited, deeply embarrassed to be asking for anything, to see if any of it was in stock and if he would be trusted to carry them.

[Grytorm]

Chaff looks at the others and at Ako hoping that the man did not have a sense of humor, "I'll take some sort of magic item. Something to help me survive or maybe something to hide with. I don't know."

[Prince Zahn]

Gurlin paused and stared puzzlingly at the odd request, not one has asked him to write in over decade, and now he feels he must -once again- explain why:
"kid,he said, trying to be gentle. Yer prob'ly e smehrt yung min, reight? cerryin' texts rith'r then bledds er tules... So why nut tri to inser me this -
The groundskeeper stepped towards Niko and jerked his opened his hand in front of Niko's face:
Do ye think ye c'n FIT E QUILL on THIS HEND?!"

Gurlin raised his voice and shook his hand violently in an upset tone in front of Niko, but a face that should be appropriately angry based on his voice appears actually upset and full of grief. He stayed in that shaken and frustrated expression for a couple of seconds, then withdrew his hand and took a few deep breaths. Realizing his outburst was uncalled for, "sorry ye hid to see thit, kid." he finally whispered blatantly with a stern expression.
Gurlin noticed that Judit translated his request to Ako, who seemed neither pleased with his response towards an innocent inquiry, nor satisfied with the apology for the act.

"Yeh, whit this young'n sed. umm... thenks, Judit."

[Marker Mage]

Niko stares at the misshapen hand for a moment in shock. Once the shock subsides, he puts his mind to thinking of what to do. He wants to do something to at least make up for what he said. He has an idea. He thinks that it will either be very insensitive or very inspiring. He takes one of his ink pens out and a vial of ink, and places the backpack on the floor. He puts his spellbook down on the floor too, puts the library book next to it, and turns to the last page of the spellbook. Niko then proceeds to sit down on the floor and take off his right shoe. He then dips the pen in ink and places the pen in his foot, trying to grip it with his toes. He then tries his best to write just two letters in the book: "N" and "O". He makes the letters as big as he can in an effort to make up for the general lack of skill he has in writing like this.

[Marker Mage]

Niko looks at his work and smiles. He turns his gaze to Gurlin, with the pen still in the grip of his toes. "If your hands can't hold a quill, just find some body part that can and get some practice. Why let a little physical deformity stand in your way?" Somewhere deep down, Niko wasn't sure if he was trying to inspire Gurlin, or make him look bad.

[shugyosha]

Ceraphina

She was aghast at how insensitive Niko could be to Gurlin.

[Man on Fire]

"Your equpipment better be good, as you see, I'm working with crazy people, I'll need it." Stinky says, watching the scene.

[Marker Mage]

An interesting idea hits Niko. He puts the pen down and gets his shoe back on. He looks towards Ako. "Ako, when you bring back the magic things, would you be willing to wait a bit before telling us what they are? I'd like the group to try something if that would be OK with you..." Niko then turned to Chappe. "...and if it's OK with you too. Just a bit of a mental competition that should serve to give you an idea of how each of us stacks up in the intelligence department. And since it's in my best subject..." Niko pulls a silver piece out of his belt pouch and holds it up for everyone to see. "I'd be willing to offer a small prize to be shared between whoever can match or best me, whether it be by with knowledgeable wit, or just dumb luck. However, I think that some may be satisfied by the bragging rights reward."

[Man on Fire]

"A game? If you insist." Stinky says nonchalantly, or at least tries to. Deep inside he feels strange. Like he was happy that he may play a game with people who doesn't hate him...that much. Nah, he thought to himself, that's probably an side effect of a hangover. He really needs to stop drinking that second-hand joke and get some real alcohol.

[Grytorm]

Chaff turns back toward the other miniature cretin in the room and says to Stinky, "They definitely are quite a few, personalities in this room."

[Man on Fire]

"You need to pardon them, they're humans. As you know, this race isn't exactly known for their great mental capabilities, unlike ours." Stinky says to the Goblin, without a shade of sarcasm.

[Marker Mage]

"Of course, it would be best to wait until all of us are here," says Niko, noticing that a certain half-elf is missing. "I'll explain the game after Lyta gets here and decides what kind of item she wants."

[freebiewitz]

"A competition huh?" He didn't like the idea of allies working against allies however the fact that it was worded as game relieved him somewhat. If it was all in good fun then perhaps it would bring the group closer together.
"I suppose that's not a bad idea." He conceded. "But please play nice, I'd rather you all get along." Despite his consent he was still somewhat worried.

Turning back to the steward he began to elaborate on what he wanted.
"Right a flaming long sword would suffice I believe however if possible I would prefer a decanter of endless water." He doubted that they'd trust him with something like that at this stage. Though less powerful in terms of brute strength then a flaming long sword a decanter of endless water was much harder to craft.

He wasn't sure how it was crafted only that the spells involved were multitudes more complex then those needed to create a flaming enchantment.

[Grytorm]

Chaff smiling slightly says to the Kobold, "Well yes. Of course. But my parents told me to be delicate with them. Especially when they are paying you to hide lemons here and there. I'm still not certain what that was about."

[Prince Zahn]

From the moment the young man asked him to write inconsiderately, to the second he proposed a game of wits, Gurlin did not like what Niko has been telling him. Yet at the same time he is somewhat bewildered by the bookworm's unusual methods of...belittlement? Condescension? Ridiculing? Perhaps all three.
Once Niko did propose to play a game, Gurlin grumbled in some odd language(if it can be defined as a language to others), turned his back, and went to lean against the nearest wall that doesn't face the others directly.
"He's subtly mocking me... By openly making a fool of himself... What kind of game is he -really- playing?" Gurlin thought to himself as he sternly scowled at what surrounded him.

[Marker Mage]

Spoiler

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Just going to let Needle say that either Lyta was already there. whenever he does decide to post.

Now maybe some of you have forgotten what our choices are in what we're getting here. Some of you may remember, but be hoping to convince Ako to give you more choice beyond 'weapon, armor, or magic thing'. I wouldn't count on it. We're going to be given whatever examples of each Ako chooses, so why not make a guessing game of it? We'll see who can identify more of the magic things that Ako chooses for us. I'm sure that most of you may be able to identify at least one of them. Even if you aren't that knowledgeable of the subject, you may remember having seen one of the items in question, perhaps with a label attached. If any of you identify just as many or more than I do, you'll be able to win a nice silver piece. And since I happen to have three of them with me..." Niko pulls out two more silver pieces. "...I'll let the top three players who beat or match me get one each. If there's a tie for who gets the third, then the prize will be need to be split." Niko looks in Gurlin's direction and sighs. "And if you're still upset with me, Gurlin, then I'll let you punch me once for each of them that you get right." Niko knew that this could be painful, but his idea required everyone to at least try. That was the point of offering the prize in the first place.

"Your guesses will be written down and revealed after Ako tells us what they are. If you find writing difficult or impossible, you can have someone who's already written their answers down do it for you. Other than that, you won't be allowed to look at anyone else's answers."

Niko looks around. "As for the actual identification, you'll be allowed to examine them in anyway you wish as long as you don't activate them or damage them. Yes, that means that you can even use the monocles in the hopes that the power or color of the magic aura will give you a clue. I'll even do my own identification without the monocles to make things easier on the rest of you." Niko remembered the monocles as the first source of conflict within the group. Perhaps if everyone gets a turn trying them out, it will cause less problems later.

"Any questions?"

[Prince Zahn]

"Ye must be pritty confident 'bout yer skills if yer risk'n e beiting frum Gurlin "the punish'r" fer nu rees'n, So I'll hold ye to thit wej'r." Gurlin Finally said with a malicious grin on his face as he sat down in front of Niko, trying to present there's more to him than what menially appears, and hoping Niko would pay notice to that. Gurlin believes this shouldn't be too hard. After all, he was a student here too, once.
Though he's already thinking to himself how can he get the monocle to aid him if it would never fit his eye: maybe ask a kind enough player who finished writing his answers to hold the lens near enough for him to see through it? Or ask instead for an optical description of what they see..?

However, he is hoping most of all to get at least -one- right, not exclusively for the satisfaction of punching a wise-guy... But he himself is not sure yet as to why... if not for the silver nor the punch, why would just one correct answer suffice?

Spoiler

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I'm currently not rolling the intimidation check described above, since I think Niko/Marker Mage should decide how they perceive and react to the noted above, assuming Niko noticed.
If a roll will be required anyway, I'll roll it in the OOC thread.

[Marker Mage]

Niko put on the bravest face he could. He was not one for absolute confidence in something. His reading of "Plane Wars" and other arcane fiction novels had left him with a distrust of words like "invincible" or "fool-proof". With this plan, he was probably going to be hit once, but the pain would subside. He eventually manages to get a smile back on his face in time to utter "My skills aren't going to have any effect on whether or not I get that beating from you."

[freebiewitz]

Chappe didn't like this at all. It was almost like gambling, though to be fair instead of leaving things to chance it was skill that decided the outcome.
That he could handle.

The part about winning permission to punch Niko was another thing altogether.
It was even worse when the man agreed at that point.

"Now now, I don't mind the prize being coin." That was a small lie, he did mind but he wasn't going to stop it.
"But the violence is a bit too much!" Trying to stop people punching other people would be his first action as leader and hopefully he wouldn't have to make a habit of it.

"Surely this should be a friendly game." He said crossing his arms. "No punching." Frowning he tried to imitate his father by striking the 'This is me being disappointed, you should be ashamed' pose.

Spoiler

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Not sure what this roll would be.
A Diplomacy or Charisma check I suppose.
He's not exactly trying to intimidate people but it could come out as that.
For the time being I'll just make it a straight Charisma roll to convince people that no punching should happen.

(1d20+3)[11]

edit: Man I fail at reading comprehension, it was the kobold that agreed not the goblin. I have changed the post accordingly.

edit2: Okay I REALLY fail at this. All this time I thought the weird accented speaker was a kobold..... wow I am dumb.

[Prince Zahn]

"Hold un, Mr. Klirigo, The groundskeeper averted his gaze from Niko. ye've seen whet hepp'nd frum the bott'm up, did this kid nut p'rmit to punch him, if und'r certin cundishins?"
Gurlin wondered if he was helping his case, or solving nothing.
" me point is, whe dun we see how big e men of his werd Niko reelly is?"

[Marker Mage]

Another clever idea pops into Niko's head with Gurlin's words. "Yeah, I gave him permission to punch me under certain conditions." Niko thought to himself that he might be able to get away without being punched afterall. And even if he didn't, there was still a chance that one of the magic things might be something that could help him soften the blow.

"If that's all of your concerns..." Niko gets out 2 sheets of paper and uses his dagger to cut each of them into 4 pieces. They were from the commissary, but they have mending and erase spells that could turn these back into the 2 blank sheets that they once were. He also gets out both of his inkpens and 2 vials of ink. The vials he takes out look a little different from the ones that Niko has been using to take notes in his spellbook.

Niko glances towards his spellbook. Why not? "If any of you would like something solid underneath the paper, and are unwilling to use a wall or the floor, feel free to use my spellbook. You can even take a peek inside if you think it will help with the identification."

Spoiler

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If you can succeed on a DC 15 Decipher Script check without any modifiers beyond what your character sheet says, your character can get a +1 skill bonus to the knowledge (arcana) check AND learn that Niko once managed to help a fellow student learn how to cast Locate Object despite not being able to cast even the simplest cantrip himself.

[Man on Fire]

"This is the most boring wizard tornament I ever seen. But hey, at least nobody wants to try to feed me to monsters from beyond the reality, like that costume party back in my student days." Nobody knows what's Stinky talking about now, he's probbly making things up to make himself look cool.

He takes the paper and looks at it for a moment. "How precise do you want us to be?" He asks Niko with a vague voice.

[Marker Mage]

"The names that the school uses for each of them will do. If you want to be less precise than that..." Niko turns his head. "Ako, you wouldn't mind judging the answers as a neutral third party, would you?"

Niko's question was responded to with a short "Not at all!"

[shugyosha]

Ceraphina

The young librarian just watched passively as Niko prattled on.

[Marker Mage]

Once the items were brought out, Niko got to work picking various ones up and giving them a good look. He looked them over for clues to help in identification. An image of a/an ______ went a long way of identifying one of them. Knowing that a new group of explorers like them were probably not going to be trusted with the best stuff gave him a good idea of the power level of each. But the biggest clue he had, was one he had gotten back when that cheating incident was still in the planning stages.

Back then, Niko had been tutoring a more advanced student learn a spell. The amazing thing had been that Niko's help seemed to make a difference. Niko hadn't been sure if it was simply a placebo effect, or his own knowledge of spellcasting being enough to teach the art to others despite his own inability to cast a single cantrip. That student had also just started learning how to make wands and shared some rather useful information with Niko. Apparently, the school would ask the students to put certain strings of numbers and letters on the items they enchant. These strings of numbers and letters were meant to identify the item's function, the student who made them, and any activation method to make grading such things after class easier. Niko had only one example of that code explained to him, but he was certain that it would allow him to identify the items before him and the others.

Once he thought he had them figured out, he took his pen and wrote down his answers. He then passed the pen on to someone else to use.

[Sampi]

Having hefted the first batch of items on to a table nearby, Ako looks at the kobold for a long while, then knits his brows and puffs his pipe.

"You think I'm going in there an' lugging you everything I have to pick from? Look around, there's thousands of things in there. You pick the type, I go pick what I think you need. That's how it works. Or maybe I just go in an' pick without your input. And where's that half-human anyway? I don't got all day to wait here."

He then looks at Gurlin and smirks.

"Though I'll wait for the punchings, that'll be fun to watch. Maybe I'll even heal those broken ribs after."

[Prince Zahn]

Once the first set of items was laid out, Gurlin took a brief stare at each of the items, without touching them. Once he was done he looked at the others examining the objects, then tried to whistle as he waits for someone to finish and help him write and use the monocle, only to find out there are still things left to discover he can't do.
"Wait a sec, I couldn't even whistle before the accident, why should I suddenly be able to whistle now?" He thought, replacing his disappointment with embarrassment.