Serious Plots 6: Srs bsns

[Recaiden]

They're being orbited by stray honey-making insects.

"They're all the same species, despite how different they look. They respond not to light and water, but to celestial conjunctions and astrological movements. And their products have magical properties. The wood, the petals, the honey..."
Patience laughs and puts a hand on Penny's shoulder.
"Consider how lonely they could be, if they noticed it. What if you were the only human there was? Sorry, I'm rambling a bit, aren't I?"

[Deathkeeper]

Penny shakes her head.
"Wait, what do you mean? The honey that's made from the bugs feeding on these plants is magical? What'll it do? I haven't heard about any of our products being overtly magical." she says.

[Recaiden]

Patience chuckles, shaking her head.

"We don't really sell it. Here, see for yourself."

She removes a tiny bottle of dark honey from a pocket and holds it out to Penny.

[Deathkeeper]

Old Mansion

Penny takes the tiny bottle, looking at it.
"Okay. So, what do you use it for? Is it for eating or something?" she asks, swirling the bottle a bit.

[Recaiden]

Patience giggles, but then acquires a thoughtful look.

"You know, it is for eating, but we haven't tried using it medicinally. Perhaps it would do something interesting."

It's rather viscous. Doesn't swirl well.

"It is not, currently, profitable."

[Deathkeeper]

Old Mansion

Penny raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, why not? And What does it taste like, then? It must be special if you're making it despite the lack of profit." she asks, curious about the stuff.

[Recaiden]

Patience smirks and raises an...well perhaps she doesn't have eyebrows. No, no, of course she does.
"Tastes spicy and bright. Sweet, of course, not at all like ground-flowers. Try it. It is special. Makes people different."

[Deathkeeper]

[Old Mansion]

"Calling a product life-changing is usually just a marketing ploy." Penny says with a laugh, pulling the stopper and after a shrug, gulping down the bottle's contents.

[Recaiden]

It tastes as advertised, but nothing much seems different.
Penny might even begin to wonder if there's anything special about this honey at all.

Then she should feel her perspective change, suddenly aware of the world spinning under her feet, the planet spinning around the sun, the sun swinging around the core, all the stars in the sky speeding through the universe, the way light bends around the world and itself, the constantly changing geoid of the Nexus.

Tends to make you a little dizzy.

[Deathkeeper]

[Old Mansion]

Penny starts to say something, but then the effect of the honey hits her, and her words aren't formed besides some small choking sounds, as she falls over onto her side while the world spins.

[Recaiden]

[Old Mansion]

Oh goodness, she fell over.

Patience move to catch the poor new hire and lay her down gently. Then, with a chuckle, presses a squat little water bottle into her hands. Of course, it's not just water in the bottle. There's a trace bit of the equivalent physically transforming compound. Jelly made by the creatures that live on this honey.
"Quite a shock at first, isn't it?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Old Mansion]

Penny takes the bottle, greedily gulping down water in the hopes that putting something else in her something will help settle her down. That's not really how magic or drugs work, but she's not really fully coherent right now.
"Yeah, I'd uh, sure say that. What exactly did this do to me? How long does it last?" she asks, woozy.

[Recaiden]

It might be how magic works, admittedly.

"It made you more aware. Should be done in a couple, well, in several minutes."
A laugh turns into a sigh. Poor dizzy Penny.

"Anyway, not terribly practical, right?"

[Deathkeeper]

Old Mansion

Penny shakes her head, trying to get onto her own feet, and more or less succeeding.
"I would sure say so. I kinda wish you had just told me, but I guess a practical showing isn't going to hurt me in the long run." she admits with a weak laugh.

[Recaiden]

Patience just gives a knowing smile.

"But there's a lot more useful magical substances out there."

She waits in case Penny needs any help standing up, and smiles to see that she manages it. The little bit she's had won't have much of an effect yet; you have to have a lot, over time. Maybe a little more sensitivity to light levels and slightly bigger eyes, manifesting over the next day. You might not even notice.

"Right now I think there's a 'synergy between nature and magic' angle as their main line."

[Deathkeeper]

Old Mansion

Probably quite a lot. You probably wouldn't be able to eat too much without knowing it. Unless you could just push someone into a tub of the stuff.
Penny nods.
"That sounds like a reasonable angle. So, you want me to help them market this stuff?" she asks.

[Recaiden]

Patience chuckles and nods.

"That's the idea. There are other products that are more easily understood, already have a place in the market, but you might be involved with those as well. Once you're feeling alright, we can head back to the offices."

You could just push someone into a vat of the stuff if you had it, but that seems so rude. Not to mention being an inefficient use of it.

[Deathkeeper]

Old Mansion

"I'm well enough to get back to your uh, car, if you don't mind lending me an arm.
Are there more magical formulas we make, or did you just mean in general?" she says, shakily trying to take a step or two in the proper direction.

[Recaiden]

An arm is offered, with a touch of laughter at poor brave Penny. Should be able to keep her steady on the way back to the hovercar.

"There are more. Straightforward magic, mostly."

[Deathkeeper]

[Old Mansion]

Penny is surprised, again, but she's starting to realize that she clearly knows next to nothing about this company.
"What do those magics do for people, then? Since I might end up working with those." she asks.

[Ashen Lilies]

The Warrior-Queen's Tomb

"I didn't think to search any of them. Might want to later, in case there was magic. So, what are we looking at here?" asks Krayger, trying to get Grace to actually explain things.

[The Warrior-Queen's Tomb]

There are no traps on the central sarcophagus, as such. But Grace will be able to detect something just as dangerous, if not more. The sarcophagus isn't meant to hold people out as much as it's designed to hold something in. It's the focal point of the entire tomb, with its guardians, slaves and elaborate, lavish decorations no one living was ever meant to see. There's a presence in the sarcophagus - sleeping, but angry and vengeful. It seems to be a ghost of someone very powerful.

[The Warrior-Queen's Tomb]

"Nothing interesting." Grace says. "The real treasures will be in these side sarcophaguses, here. As long as we avoid the central coffin, we should be able to loot safely. The builders of this place put more importance on some moldering corpse, not the possessions she took with her. Good for us."

[Recaiden]

Penny is surprised, again, but she's starting to realize that she clearly knows next to nothing about this company.
"What do those magics do for people, then? Since I might end up working with those." she asks.

"All sorts of things! Some of it is terribly mundane, hehe. Waterproofing, disinfecting. Healing, medicine, anagathics. Cosmetics uses. There's one line that's for transportation. You'll get more details as you work with things; don't worry about learning everything right now."

Into the hovercar, starting it up. After helping Penny get in, of course.

[Deathkeeper]

Old Mansion

"Magic for transportation? How do you work that out?" she says, intrigued as she gingerly slides into the seat, her head still reeling a bit.

The Warrior-Queen's Tomb

Krayger shrugs.
"Well, I brought a prybar. Just point me at which one you think is the best one to start with." he says simply.

[Recaiden]

"Hah! Very carefully. It's quite easy to move people with the right concentrations of magical materials. So I hear. Apparently, the challenge was getting one to reliably move in the right direction."

Along the trip back, Patience tells Penny about some of the more amusing difficulties in the production process, glossing over the slightly horrifying bits. And very shortly, she can get to her first bit of work as a real employee. It's not a whole lot different; right now they need advertising materials for a temporary promotion. It's just that when sales are poor due to outside circumstance, more people will frown at Penny and her coworkers.

[Ashen Lilies]

[The Warrior-Queen's Tomb]

Grace points to one of the six smaller sarcophagi at random. There's no particular reason in her mind to choose between any in particular.

[Morty]

[The Warrior-Queen's Tomb]

Krayger pries open the sarcophagus belonging to the woman with a horn. Inside, there's what look like mummified remains, and a single horn, made out of brass and studded with precious gems. It's obviously strongly magical, although its exact purpose would require more in-depth study.

The magic binding that particular sarcophagus to the central one weakens, but not enough to awaken the ghost yet.

[Ashen Lilies]

[The Warrior-Queen's Tomb]

"Wait." Says Grace abruptly. She casts a spell, attempting to gauge the strength of the bindings on the central sarcophagus, and roughly how much they can weaken before whatever's inside can get free.

[Morty]

[The Warrior-Queen's Tomb]

It appears four could be safely taken away, provided care is taken not to disturb the remains themselves. However, at that point the seal will be weak and taking anything else from the tomb, such as mundane riches, would be difficult. Taking three would leave the seal weak, but still somewhat stable.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Tomb of the Warrior Queen]

"Alright. Two more from this room." Says Grace, gesturing at the tomb of the female warrior, as well as the tomb of the staff wielding figure. "Then we should look at the other chamber we went past, or return to the first chamber."

[Deathkeeper]

Tomb of the Warrior Queen

Krayger shakes his head and goes to pry the instructed sarcophagi open. "You gonna take that horn? It sure looks like something valuable." he says. What's the point of plundering if you don't take plunder?