[3.5] The Destruction of Empires - Chaos

[Xanyo]

A fortnight passes as you all begin the task ahead of you. One of Redgoldberd's assistants delivers an Enveloping Pit for Valen to set up shop in. He also informs you that Mr. Norshire is begginning experiments on nesting extra dimensional spaces, as you had speculated was a possibility. Morlo's team and the Urban Rangers search, but so far have not found the assailant of that night. You notice that many of the thieves have begun referring to him(or her) as the Shadow Stalker, in honor of his talent of vanishing into the shadows. Morlo is currently in a heavily Dwarven part of town in hopes of locating the smith. Mr. Kor has been putting together a group of (discreet)bodyguards for Valen. One of Morlo's best impersonators is on call to disguise Valen when necessary. A project of lining the Enveloping Pit with a sufficient layer of lead has begun, and the guild has started to increase their anti-magic security, as well as their normal security. Kansaw is currently keeping you at his home, a nice house in the middle class part of town, coated with Dimensional Anchors and Skull Watches, as well as several traps set up by their expert trapsmith, Don Trapps, an old human whose family has spent generations providing dungeons with traps - at a price, of course. Kansaw does not normally eat, but he fills his pantries for you. Most of the guild doesn't know where this house is, and there's a (heavily trapped)entrance in the basement, a spot with a gap in the abjuration that prevents teleportation into his home. The house is furnished in a very old style, with a color scheme that mostly consists of pale blue. You notice that for lighting there are crystals on the walls that seem to glow brighter or dimmer at the Elan's command. Examining one, you find a unique Psionic enchantment that seems somewhat similar to a Glowing Orb spell. There are only three rooms in the house that remain locked to you - Kansaw's room, his study, and a room with a very old looking door that he hasn't told you the purpose it serves.

[Gavinfoxx]

The furnishing of the Enveloping Pit is going apace. He has rigged up a crane above it, for winching things down, and set up scaffolding inside it. The design he has is several stories high, built like the interior of a ship, with a dumbwaiter/lift in the corner for moving heavy parts of enchanted components with lots of various types of workrooms and shelving and storage. And he'd have to make a smelter, forge, and chute in the thing, and keep things fire-resistant. He busies himself with the selecting of the materials and building his home and making sure the five-story building in a hole was suitable.

He further expresses interest on the results of the nesting of the extra-dimensional space, and volunteers to rig up some frames and simple mechanical contraptions for testing them from afar, so as not to rely on Mage Hand and similar, if they are interested.

The problem with the impersonator and disguises, Valen discusses, is that his collar doesn't come off. Disguises have to be of a sort that has a plausible reason to not show the neck, which severely limits the sorts of things he can be disguised as.

Valen does ask Kensaw for how to get the Ergs of lifeforce necessary to get the projects off the ground. After all, there are limitations in the rituals of sharing this which he is willing to do; it has to genuinely be voluntary, and he himself is running low on available lifeforce to 'spend'. Further, the more people they tell, so as to find volunteers, the more that causes problems in the secret getting out, and he wants some suggestions on this problem?

[Xanyo]

Kansaw spends some time on your question, trying to decide on a discreet way to get volunteers.
"I suppose that may depend on your morals. Spells that usually only work on willing recipients also work on unconscious ones. It follows that this ritual would obey the same rules. If that does not rest well on your conscience, we could find a few people with large quantities of available lifeforce and pay them to transfer it - and to keep quiet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Urban Rangers keep records of the information they've gathered, as does Morlo's team. Recently, a few events of interest have occurred in the noble circles. One Lord Ranshi, 52 died a short time ago. The clerics informed the public that the cause of death was Dengue fever, caught while he was recently traveling in an area nearer to the equator. This seems fairly likely; however, whispers and rumors have been heard that the symptoms Lord Ranshi experienced differed slightly from that of Dengue, and that the clerics(of Siamorphe, as that is dominant religion in this city) were oddly slow to respond to his call. Some speculate that he was poisoned by one of his rivals, a category which included Lords Talmin, Ni'Kalli, Hysh'Fall, Monèti, and Priestess Vla'Tellika, all of whom were involved in the trade of various rare materials, such as cold iron, alchemical silver, mithril, and even small amounts of adamantine. There are also rumors that the late Lord had been bribing the King. He was also involved in some charity, particularly directed towards widows, of which there are quite a few due to the war against the Lizardfolk tribes to the East about a decade back. Ranshi was also involved in some mercantile trade, as were several of his main rivals.

Also widely talked about was the unfortunate death of General Aldestein, 46 who was leading the war efforts in the Southern deserts against the Mail'lki when he was killed in a hit-and-run made by the Mail'lki camelback archers. He was very popular with the people of the city, and had won many a close battle. Some of the nobility are talking of holding a grand funeral for him, to honor his memory. Other notable deaths in the army include Captains Tonfa(a Mail'lki who left his people behind), Kyrn(famous for leading a charge against the lizardfolk at 3 to 1 odds, and winning), and Moifalyn(an unpopular man who was known for his cruel methods of discipline).

Back closer to home, there are rising tensions between several noble houses, causing much grief for the common people who get caught in between. General attitude of the common folk has been declining ever since Lords Taviti and Ni'Kalli got in an argument about ethics at Taviti's home. This was in a private meeting, but of course, the servants spread this news faster than they would the news of a fire. The argument was apparently about slave labor - a matter that Taviti opposed and Ni'Kalli supported. Most of the lower class supports Taviti in this regard, but many support Ni'Kalli. This has resulted in an outbreak of discussions, arguments, and even fights over differing opinions on the matter.

[remetagross]

Arielle patrols around, constantly looking for the Dwarf weapons merchant. She keeps in touch with Valen and is pleased to know that the prep work for his lab is going on. What will the next step be? Probably talking to the clerics of one of the deities that Valen mentioned as being potentially on their side.

Spoiler: OOC

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Gather Information check: take 20 + 14 = 34

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Xanyo]

Through a combination of the information you gathered yourself, and the information your allies provided, you manage to pinpoint a name and an address. In a more lawless part of the city(rather near the guild headquarters, as a matter of fact) dwells a dwarf smith by the name of Dwondrit Orebelly. He has a reputation for being able to deliver(smuggle) his goods to his customers without being caught or followed. There's rumors that he has dealings with people of the higher classes, supported by whispers that his forge has been getting bigger and better recently. He's a suspicious fellow, and he keeps the majority of his equipment underground, both to keep it safe and to keep his ideas safe. There's also mentions that a big orc fellow in a heavy cloak has started hanging around his forge. The particular area he is in has very crooked and haphazard streets, with alleys everywhere, making it difficult to chase someone, even if you're faster than them.

[Gavinfoxx]

Valen considers, "My morals on the topic preclude extracting lifeforce by force, from someone who won't actually directly benefit from the final product as well. I was actually expecting people in the Guild itself. I don't actually need quite a lot of lifeforce, to get started. While these supplies have been helpful, I would like to know how much of a budget I have to start with, as well."

[Xanyo]

While you can't see most of his face, Kansaw still seems to give a thin smile.
"Well... most people are rather unwilling to part with their lifeforce; however, I may be able to convince a few of our members to make this sacrifice - they will, of course, want compensation for it. Seeing as most things will become practically valueless, you may have to provide something useful that will remain useful. I myself have some loose lifeforce that I suppose I can provide you with... rather reluctantly of course. I currently have approximately one thousand ergs of loose lifeforce. I expect I can get at least that same amount from some of the lower ranking members of the guild. As for a monetary budget... Mister Redgoldberd can provide you with funds when you need them. His reluctance to provide funds will increase with the amount of money you use without helping to fill the coffers. He'll probably start getting really stingy after the first ten thousand gold taken without any return income."

[remetagross]

Arielle decides to set up an observation post before the house of Orebelly. She uses her daily Wild Shape ability to turn into a vulture. Buffing up her Spot check with the spells Eyes of the Avoral and Hawkeye, she minutely inspects everything and everyone that comes around his place. She perches atop a nearby roof and changes position every hour or so, so as not to seem too suspicious. She makes sure to remain a dozen meters away from the actual walls of the roof of the house, as she suspects detection spells must ward it even to a few meters beyond its physical perimeter.

She repeats this trick during several days, taking the guise of various Small-sized birds, each day from a different species and with a different color.

Spoiler: OOC

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She can transform, once per day and for five hours, to any Small or Medium animal, like a vulture. Eyes of the Avoral gives a +8 racial bonus, and Hawkeye a +5 competence bonus, to Spot checks. She thus makes checks with a +17 modifier, and tries to memorise and recognise every being she sees crossing the Dwarf's threshold.

[Gavinfoxx]

A few hundred gold for constructing the workshop and the lead to prevent divination, as well as lead-lining the room above the workshop itself.

Thirteen eight-hour days of work for the first item.
Eighty-one Ergs of lifeforce from a volunteer or set of volunteers for the first item, plus any costs needed to pay them.
Four-thousand, seven-hundred, ninety-six gold, eight silver, eight copper worth of purchases for the first item.

Thirteen eight-hour days of work for the second item.
Eighty-one Ergs of lifeforce from a volunteer or set of volunteers for the second item, plus any costs needed to pay them.
One thousand gold of purchases for the second item.

Thirteen eight-hour days of work for the third item.
Eighty-one Ergs of lifeforce from a volunteer or set of volunteers for the third item, plus any costs needed to pay them.
One thousand gold worth of purchases for the third item.

Five eight-hour days of work for the fourth item.
Thirty-two-point-four Ergs of lifeforce from a volunteer or set of volunteers for the third item, plus any costs needed to pay them.
...Zero gold worth of purchases for the fourth item.

That is all the resources it takes for Valen to make the first four items on his list. With the first one alone, he's created limitless wealth (well, if you're just dumping it on the market at firesale prices, it's technically twenty-one thousand, six-hundred gold worth of the commodity a day. Double that if you can sell it at retail price, but who's counting?), thereby breaking the entire magic item economy of the multiverse over his Ironwood-clad knee.

Of course, not that he can actually let the multiverse know he's done that. Not yet. But with financial backing, he would craft these four items until he is done with the four, at which point a decision would need to be made, or until something happens to interrupt him.

Still, each of the wooden contraptions would be strangely underwhelming, to magical or normal senses, considering what it is they do. Some pillars, a hopper, a lever. Some runes.

Spoiler: Note

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Item one: Fabricate device of Infusion salve, usable as the substance in magic item crafting for most magical items. 14,400 30-gold value dollops a day.

Item two: Fabricate device of 'Alchemically Treated Blueleaf wood', aka 'Bluewood', one 14,400 30-gold value alchemically treated planks a day.

Item three: Fabricate device of Shapesand, makes a little under a third of a standard jug, worth 30-gold each time it is turned on. A bit over four thousand jugs-worth of the stuff a day, if wanted or needed. Enough to eventually make a castle, like the mythical Shapesand castles of the ancient desert kings.

Item four: one device capable of casting the second circle Wizard spell, Unseen Crafter, once every six seconds.

...I'll make the UMD checks for the spells as soon as I can rebuild my skill sheet. Unless I've made a UMD check before, to know the amount? Hold on...

[Xanyo]

As Valen works, Arielle continues to stake out the smith's place. She memorizes all the people who enter, and notice some that seem to be disguised. On the same day of each week, a disguised client enters the structure, but does not exit. Business for the dwarf seems lower than you would expect, but from what you overhear, he certainly is doing well for himself.
You continue to hear little tidbits and rumors concerning the nobility. Kemaya informs Valen that he successfully nested a Bag of Holding I within another Bag of Holding I without blowing it up, though he noted that the bag resisted entering the other extra-dimensional space and would not do so until he researched a spell based on Plane Shift that temporarily drew two dimensional coordinates closer to each other along the 4th dimension, or the planar axis. He named this spell Planar Warp, and discovered a few other uses for it. A spell of the third circle, he was able to use it to make an incorporeal creature more susceptible to magical(including physical) attacks, and even partially susceptible to mundane weapons. He also used it to break a Rope Trick spell.

Spoiler: Planar Warp

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Planar Warp
Conjuration
Sorc/Wiz 3
Medium Range
No Save
SR applies
Reduces an incorporeal creature's miss chance to 25% for magic, and 75% for mundane. It also denies them their deflection bonus to AC. It can be used to make a creature on a coexistent plane partially manifest, allowing a 25% chance to affect with magic attacks. It also has a few other uses.

[Gavinfoxx]

"Break a Rope Trick? That's something that many adventurers won't be happy to hear. Still, for the duration of the spell, were you able to nest as many items as necessary? And could they still be used to bypass or at least mitigate some of the weight limitations with a Ring Gate? The main thing I would hope for, is to use, oh, nested Portable Holes to do something like make essentially a large internal structure, like a warehouse or barracks or something."

[Xanyo]

"Like having a Hole for each room, or something along those lines? Could be doable. Though, I noticed that with Bags of Holding, the first nested Bag increased the weight of the outside Bag by five pounds, indicating that the spell isn't perfect, but it works. I will try putting a nested set of Bags within another bag and see if the weight change is different or remains constant. If it remains constant, then with sufficient nesting, you would be able to effectively get around the Ring Gates' limit."

[Gavinfoxx]

"And maybe some of the other types of bags too. Honestly, I half expected one of the nested bags to act like a normal bag, it's extradimensional space inaccessible or something. But even if it's lossy, and you lose a bit of efficiency with each bag, that's still a monumental increase in what can be transported without an actual teleportation spell. Still, there's probably a formula to derive which will tell you your limit and the best mix, if we can figure it out--and finding out these limits could help quite a lot with achieving any transportation goals. Hopefully though, I can figure out a way of making permanent portals that don't need a ninth-circle spell to do, so we won't have to worry about these workarounds, which lack a certain elegance."

[remetagross]

Arielle is satisfied with the data gathered so far; she reports to Morlo. In addition, she tries to stalk back the hidden figure by shifting her position a little bit ahead on its path to Orebelly's house each week. Next, she reaches to Valen's hideout.
"Valen, how has it been going? On the intel side of things, I have managed to pin down a particular someone who comes, on a weekly basis, to Orebelly's place under disguise, and does not seem to leave his forge afterwards. I'd like you to help me spread his perfect likeness across the guild's database, so that we can see if someone knows that person. Could you cast, or emulate, a Modify Memory spell on me, so that I can perfectly recall the person's appearance? Or is this a too powerful spell for you? At any rate, I would also appreciate aLesser Telepathic Bond spell as well. This way, I will be able to share my mental picture with a 100% accuracy to the other members of the intel team, one at a time. I also intend to share this memory with the best drawer of the team, so that we can all obtain an image on paper and spread it in the guild."

[Gavinfoxx]

For the conversation with Arielle, Valen grins, excited about his progress. "I can make you a scroll of Modify Memory, and cast it without a problem. A full Telepathic Bond would be a bit much for my current skills, but I can do a Lesser one. Are you sure you need several? Maybe just one with the best artist? Would that be enough? Every day I craft this stuff is a day I'm not crafting things for the big goal."

[remetagross]

Arielle is pleased to see the Azurin in such an ecstatic state. Here is one who is enjoying his job as much as I do...
"Fair enough for just one Lesser, then. The drawer will be able to produce a good enough picture so that if others know the person, they will recognise it and specifically come for another Lesser Bond."

[remetagross]

Arielle pockets the scrolls from Valen. She then goes and finds Morlo, and explains what information she gathered to him. She seeks out the best drawer of the Guild. She asks for wizard in Kemaya's division to activate the scrolls for her. First the Lesser Telepathic Bond with the drawer, then the Modify Memory on herself. This allows the drawer to receive the perfectly accurate recollection of the disguised individual, and to draw it. He makes several copies, and hands them out in the intel team.

Spoiler: OOC

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Does anyone recognise that person?

[Xanyo]

Vailia Nu'Tarseth, a women perpetually infiltrating the higher society, informs you that the features do strike a bell in her mind.
"The shape of his face, among other things, tips me off. There's lots of rumors floating around about the Ni'Kalli family, particularly their head, Lord Duschain, and that facial structure bears their resemblance. Duchain bears an evil reputation. He's climbed his way up the nobility's pecking order very quickly, corpses of rivals discreetly scattered in his wake. There's no proof of his involvement in the deaths of any of his rivals, and there are still many people who harbor no suspicion against him whatsoever, but all the better informed people, including most of the upper class, are wary of crossing him. I'll keep an eye on his activities."

Your attempts at trailing him backwards prove somewhat fruitful. You follow him for weeks, subtly, going up several streets, until one day, you watch him just appear in an alleyway. No magic seems to be present, he just stalks from the shadows, darkness trailing from him for a moment as he seemingly materializes. Attempts at following him further from there are unsuccessful.


In probably unrelated news, the debate concerning slavery has become more and more heated. Many people do their best to avoid sharing their opinions out of fear that they will be unpopular, while other practically yell their views in the street. The favored opinion varies dependent on the sector of the city. Poorer places tend to disapprove of slavery, while richer areas practically depend on it. The Grand Duke, the Grand Priestess, the Lord of Arms, the High Merchant(a position held by the richest non-Grand Duke/Grand Priest(ess)/Lord of Arms/Prince citizen - not always a merchant) and the Prince(five of the six most powerful people in the city) have been debating, sometimes publicly and other times privately, concerning the matter. The Arch Mage refuses to acknowledge the matter to the few people who manage to pull him from his studies long enough to ask a question.

The six most powerful people in the city:
The Grand Duke Juioal Ta'Siathaea is the head of the most influential noble family. He is a major landowner, and, as much as the common people hate to admit, a great benefactor of the city. He trains soldiers who practice as his personal army before being sent to aid in whatever war currently concerns the city. He is mildly opposed to slavery. He's getting old, his hair more grey than brown. His black eyes are beginning to fade somewhat, and it's rumored that his vision is failing him.
The Grand Priestess Nikkin'tethal Sn'Lafaiel of Siamorphe is the head of Siamorphe's church. She wholeheartedly supports the nobility, particularly the Grand Duke, but on the matter of slavery she maintains that slavery is nigh essential to keep those of noble blood in their rightful position. She is elven, tall and fair. Her hair is a silvery grey, and her eyes gold.
The Lord of Arms, currently Makiell Vorenchi, is the highest ranking in the city when it comes to military matters. He directs wars that the city wages and is ultimately in charge of defense. He is not allowed to leave the city except for his own safety, though no previous Lord of Arms has made use of that exception, not even the one time the city was conquered until their allies were able to liberate them. He doesn't like slavery, but sees that they are a necessity in war. He is bald, and his eyes are black. He stands almost seven feet, and a glance from him could make a whole band of highwaymen wet themselves.
The High Merchant, a retired adventurer by the name of Nevett Don(he prefers to go by his middle name, Torrett), is the head of both the Adventurers' Guild(you're much more likely to survive an adventure if you go through them, and you won't have to worry about your purse weighing you down) and the Mercenaries' Guild. He is vehemently opposed to slavery, as he was captured and enslaved once himself. The slavers quickly discovered that trying to enslave a half giant was a terrible idea. He is brown haired and green eyed, as tall as the Lord of Arms, and very relaxed.
The Arch Mage Varnell is the most powerful wizard in the city, and has been for a good two hundred sixty-three years. Yes, he is still human. He achieved immortality around three hundred years ago. These days he is rarely seen outside of his tower, an extensive library of all things arcane that only those capable of casting spells of the seventh circle are ever allowed to enter. He himself is capable of casting spells of at least the tenth circle. He's threatened anyone who sees him, ensuring that only they know his appearance, and he removes it from their minds when they leave, so it isn't actually certain that he hasn't left his tower.
The Prince, who lost his name when he tried entering the Arch Mage's tower without permission, is the male of the royal line currently closest to what they consider the ideal age, twenty-seven. The royal line is completely separate from the noble families, with no intermixture whatsoever. He is supportive of slavery, and refuses to give his reasons. He sports raven black hair and narrow blue eyes.

[remetagross]

I'm glad all of my efforts were not in vain. Now, I trust Vailia's competence in terms of social infiltration, but I will carry out researches my way as well. The guild could make use of a proof of Lord Duschain's involvement with a knife for hire.

Arielle's idea is to enquire about that mysterious source of power Lord Duschain uses to teleport. If it can be identified as being a rare form of magic, such as Shadowcasting, that would considerably narrow down her researches about Duschain's potential relations with outlawed individuals .

I still have that spare cash after having sold my Ring of Anticipation...now might be a good time for buying an item of Arcane Sight, or at the very least a potion. I won't disturb Valen for this one, such potions are cheap enough anyway.

Spoiler: OOC

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Arielle buys a CL 5 Potion of Arcane Sight (750 gp). She then sets up her usual observation point, and readies an action to drink the potion as soon as Deschain appears, and focuses on his person. What does she find out?

[Xanyo]

Luckily for you, he doesn't notice the bird with a potion. Having consumed the potion, everything seems to fade a bit, decreasing the intensity of colors. To contrast, there are bright colors of magic on the visitor, but only on items. He is not actively using any magic.



Setting stuff of the day!
This city is kind of part of a country. Kind of. It's more along the lines of: a bunch of relatives rule their own respective cities and cooperate - mostly. The nearest related city is Tarahvail. It is to the North, in a jungled area. This area is particularly notable due to the fact that there are dinosaurs there. Prince d'Tarvii rides into battle atop his raptor, a beautiful specimen with a vibrant rainbow of colors in her feathers(fun fact: dinosaurs had feathers). His favored weapon is his halberd, a magical polearm ready to scorch his foes. Tarahvail's patron deity is Ubtao, god of, among other things, dinosaurs. Ubtao's high priest is, interestingly enough, an Awakened Velociraptor(Another fun fact: Velociraptors are around the size of a chicken).

[remetagross]

Ｄamn it, I detect nothing of interest. Enough with magic, let us go back to the mundane way.

Arielle is slightly pissed off. She now tries to set up a extended network of surveillance over Lord Deschain. She tries to find out his weekly schedule, teaming up with other members of the intel division so as to not being spotted as a tracker (even though she takes care to Disguise or Wild Shape herself anytime she closes in on him). She gathers intel far and wide among those who even indirectly come to business with him.

One of her favourite Urban Ranger tricks is to track down her quarry by her use of horses. Nobles, especially male ones, almost invariably make a great expenditure in acquiring the finest, fastest and most impressive horses. Merchants and peasants favour heavy, powerful beasts only. Moreover, the acquisition of a horse is much more difficult to conceal than of a jewelry, for example. Not only are horses themselves rather difficult to hide away, but also horse dealers tend to boast around their latest sells a lot more than jewellers. As a result, Arielle undertakes to visit all the major stables than are proud to sell their products to the highest-ranking nobility, and to find out where Deschain acquires his mounts. From then, she will have a number of leads that bring her back to the shady noble.

[SPOILER=OOC]
Gather Information check to find out where Deschain buy horses: (1d20+13)[25]/SPOILER]

[Gavinfoxx]

At the conclusion of the one and a half months all four devices being put together, and set up in a secured warehouse to operate, Valen calls together a meeting of as many of the 'involved' high ranking thieves guild people he can get present safely and quietly, having predicted the exact date where all items would be finished.

The four boon devices, which he has carefully installed in the warehouse (they require an extensive breakdown and setup, being not truly portable, but capable of being removed and transported), are set up and, for now, off. Each that actually creates a real product has a sample of the products next to it. He has used them to quickly fabricate a Bluewood table, chairs, dining set (including steak-knives), candelabra, and an elaborate artistic centerpiece... as well as a sample of some example equipment, and stands for the equipment, all in Bluewood, all well above Masterwork quality.

It looks like just eight hours a day only of magical crafting was getting a bit boring to him, and he might have gone a slight bit stir crazy.

The food he has laid out from the larder, which he has prepared himself, looks tasty and nutritious, though the presentation leaves something to be desired.

Spoiler: OOC

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He's better at Craft Cooking than he is at Profession Chef, after all...

When everyone who will attend files in and sits down. He is fully armored.

"Thank you for attending. Please excuse the armor, last time several important people attended a meeting, things got a little hectic. Please, sit down, have some Charcuterie and other snacks I've laid out."

After a polite pause, he continues in some blessings of the deities he has identified as being relevant and possibly interested in this endeavor, who all have shrines set up against a wall, and waits for everyone to be seated.

"As you can see, I've been busy this last month and a half. I thought I would show off everything that has been done so far. The needs to be a decision made, which will impact the direction of this project in the future."

He gestures at the existing items and the devices.

"With what you see here, I am now somewhat independent of the local economy for certain varieties of goods and services. Notably, my infusion and enchantment mixture, bluewood, shapesand, and crafting assistants. I can use this, and parallel mundane crafting, to make a downright frightening amount of mundane wooden items in a small amount of time for essentially free. Items which I could use to trivially equip the entire guild, thereby improving their capacity for success in 'jobs'. I could do that, along with making some trade goods, or selling these raw materials, to help the guild in it's endeavors."

He goes and picks up what appears to be a Falchion at first glance from a stand.

"This is a Bluewood Great Scimitar, a sort of specially balanced hand-and-a-half Falchion. It's razor sharp, and it's quality is beyond Masterwork quality. Buying something like this, which is typically only done only on commission, would cost maybe twenty-five hundred gold, give or take a few hundred. I could direct the items behind me to begin building a hundred of these tonight. They'd take a while, but my limit in how many I can do at once is basically 'how much room do we have?'"

He passes it around while they inspect it.

"The problem with this, and doing all of this, is that it increases the guild's exposure. Even if I try to mix up the designs, the material is still the same. Even if we were to sell some of the things the devices make, which I believe is already being done, it has to be done carefully and the sales spread broadly, to not cause notice. Given a few more months to finish the next set of devices, and I can begin to do to magic items what I just did with these mundane items. Do we start pushing advantage now, or keep secret and keep building more? How much exposure do we risk? Do we have any big goals that need us to, ah, leverage our assets right now?"

With that, he begins to have a more informal conversation with the rest of the people present, as ideas and arguments are brought up.

[Xanyo]

Mr Redgoldberd offers: "We could make contacts with a discreet merchant and sell through him. That way we won't be connected to him."
Kansaw seems to frown(it's hard to tell, what with his concealing clothing*) "Hmm... The moment somebody thinks to use Object Reading, our cover would be blown..."

Spoiler: *

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Kansaw's clothing resembles Arabic clothing.

Stuff from the newspaper(printed by a bunch of apprentice sorcerers{those sorcerers that prefer to know what they're doing} and wizards with Amanuensis.):

There was an attempted break in at the home of Priest Li'Makka. Details unknown. Witnesses report a fire. It is suspected that the perpetrator entered with the intent of arson, as two of Li'Makka's external buildings were consumed by flame before they were able to get a Quench scroll. The Priest's guards have refused to be interviewed and will not give any details. Witnesses also report at least two voices screaming during the fire, but the guard's refuse to show any bodies, or even confirm that there was indeed an intruder.

The Dinosaur Prince is apparently visiting this city in a fortnight. The Prince is making preparations for his arrival already. The Prince has not announced it, but word has leaked from his servants that he is planning a parade to welcome the Dinosaur Prince. There is much anticipation for this event.

In the third closest Prince-controlled city, in the Scarred Mountains to the North, lives the Dragon Prince, Prince Nyx'Calvair, a half-dragon famous for his combat prowess. Tales are told of him swooping through the battlefield, cutting down foes while never being touched himself. In three months time is the Draconic holiday Xarth'kylvanchi, which roughly translates to "The Day of Bones".

[Gavinfoxx]

"Can Object Reading be fooled by intentionally going through some means of transferring ownership back and forth between a small group of people an excessive amount of times, doing whatever criteria is needed to count as more than simply a casual user?"

[Xanyo]

"The spell is constructed to always identify anyone who uses the object as a weapon as a non-casual user. We could have, say... eighteen people attack each other with the objects, carefully of course, before selling the item. Manifesters are already rare, and one capable of augmenting a power to twelve PPU* is even rarer." Kansaw provides this information after some thought.

Spoiler: *

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PPU = Psionic Power Unit = Manifester Level
MPU = Magic Power Unit = Caster Level

Spoiler: Arielle

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I have no idea what you hope to gain from finding out who he buys horses from, but I'll tell you anyway. His personal horses are bought from an artificer, a master of creating effigies. His personal steeds are constructs, never tiring.

Spoiler: flapeercraft

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You're a member of this Thieves' Guild, working under Kemaya Norshire in their magic division. Naturally, Kemaya, being a Wild Mage, does not understand the subtleties of Alter Self. You may introduce yourself at any time.

Not much is known by non-dragons about the Day of Bones. From the name, one can infer that it has something to do with their dead, probably respecting them. Then again, it could be something else entirely. The dragons aren't talking. One hing that definitely is known about the Day of Bones is that you'll be hard pressed to find a mature dragon in it's home or lair during this time. Some adventurers have the guts to rob the lairs during this time. They don't have the guts for long, or any guts for that matter. Dragons will, surprisingly enough, actually work together to hunt down, torture, and kill anyone foolish enough to commit such a theft during this time.

Spoiler: Knowledge: Religion DC 30

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I highly doubt you actually made the DC. If you didn't, stop reading this. If you did - I'm impressed. The Day of Bones is a time when dragons of all types gather in specific places to speak with their deceased ancestors, with magic, of course. This worship of sorts is said to strengthen a dragon's arcane power by being gifted with some of an ancestor's power. Even a highly educated scholar like you apparently are doesn't know exactly where they gather, but it is suspected that the dragons shun the places any other time.

Dragons in the world are already fairly few and far between as they rarely produce offspring, spawning an average of two wyrmlings in their entire lifetime. True dragons seem to be very stubborn when it comes to staying dead. It may take some time, but a dragon killed through unnatural causes will almost always show up again, if in a different territory. Dragons are very secretive about their customs - many people have tried to worm some little tidbit from the Dragon Prince, but he evades the topic expertly. Dragons, with their long lifespan and high survivibility, often find themselves as a permanent feature on many maps. If a dragon settles somewhere, you can be sure it won't be gone during your lifetime.

[Gavinfoxx]

Valen grins, "Does attacking a training dummy count? Or attacking non-lethally, like sparring? I've got my gloves on, they've got an arcane variant of the power in them, take one of the weapons laying around here and that target over there and let's try it out, see if we can figure out some constraints and limits. Speaking of constraints, how are some of the experiments I suggested going? And does the guild have a friendly dragon that won't get insulted on us uncovering some hidden history, or perhaps might get insulted on our behalf, in our favor, if we mention the weirdness on the city-territory thing? Anyone gone to do that yet?"

[Xanyo]

The training dummy didn't work, but sparring did. As for dragons, well, as Kansaw put it: "It's hard to make friends with dragons when there aren't any around."

Spoiler: OOC Valen

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I looked but couldn't find the experiments you mentioned. As I don't really have much to say, I'm going to have to come up with a lot of flavor text. I owe you an informative post anyway.

The Material Plane
Today, we're going to talk about some of the cosmology of this setting. The Material Plane is infinite, theoretically. It is flat. Theoretically infinite, but as you get farther from the Pole(center), you start running into coterminous planes, their presence becoming more frequent and their size larger the further you go. Your city is seven hundred seventy three miles south-west of the Pole. About four thousand miles from the Pole is where you first begin encountering these planes. Some planes, such as Ignus(the Elemental Plane of Fire) make their presence obvious while others, such as Failfalia(Feywild) are more subtle. When you enter these areas of coterminouity, you are partially drawn into that plane. The further into the area, the closer you get to the plane. The first Planar Fields aren't much of a problem, but after around five hundred miles, they start to get big enough that a careless traveler may get transported completely into the other plane. Some Planar Fields are on both sides, and thus you can return without too much difficulty. Others; however, are one way trips. Fortunately, the Hells don't come into contact until six thousand six hundred sixty-six miles from the Pole, and even then, only barely. Some devils and demons try to teleport closer to the Pole, but the high frequency of wild magic Planar Fields at that distance, some of them overlapping with Hellish Planar Fields, make it extremely difficult. Some people try to see how far they can go from the Pole, or how much they can map. They make use primarily of Planar Bubble, and Dimensional Anchor used in conjunction with Planar Tolerance, in order to avoid being swept away or destroyed. Many of them still die, though. The furthest anybody has successfully mapped is seven thousand nine hundred fifteen and a half miles directly North of the Pole. There he found a very large area in which Planar Fields of the Plane of Undeath, the Plane of Terror, Frizeria(Elemental Plane of Ice) and the Plane of the Nth Circle(a lawful, mathematical plane. With Wild Magic. There's a pattern to it's madness, but it's based on pi.) all overlap. The cartographer copied his maps, backtracked to a stable magic zone, and teleported his maps to the Planar Guild of Cartography. He then attempted to travel further. That was over fifty years ago. Nobody has heard from him yet. He's almost certainly dead.

The sun is a mobile demiplane of fire and light, coexistant with the Material Plane and maintained by At'ar. The moon is also a mobile demiplane, of cold, maintained by Selûne.

The Plane of the Dead
This is not the afterlife. The aligned planes of the afterlife are much nicer. But they only exist for those of extreme alignments. The Plane of the Dead is where you go if you were too neutral. Not much is known about the Plane of the Dead aside from the fact that it is dead in magic. It is impossible to travel there any way short of dying. People who return from that plane can remember few details about it. Even memory-enhancing magics have been unable to extract any useful information.

The Stellar Plane
This plane is unusual in many ways. First of all, it has round worlds. Second, it has a theoretically infinite amount of them, separated by an inhospitable vacuum. The worlds themselves vary in hospitality. Some are Material-like. Some are barren and cold, others plain and scorched, and still others hot to the point of liquification. The stars are, unlike in the Material Plane where the stars are, apart from the sun, illusions; enormous and luminous spheres of plasma.

[Gavinfoxx]

"Well, we should investigate the Steel dragon to the south-east, and a Mercury to the north in the Dren mountains. There may also be other Silver, Song, or Brass dragons nearby. We should maybe try and find someone who can cast abritrary, if weak spells, as spell-like abilities. We should investigate a dossier of the powerful individuals or entities or beasts that doing this might piss off, by species, political affiliation, and as individuals, and try to pre-empt or prepare for some of those -- for example, I only know based on what divinations I've been able to do some divinations so far in my spare time. I'll give an overview of what I learned in a bit. We should look up ways to get a supply of Night Hag Heartstones, in bulk and untraceably as possible, for dimensional shenanigans and dimensional construction. We could also try and court the support of powerful, idealistic divine casters of Tymora, Thoth, Angharradh, Corellon Larethian, Dugmaren Brightmantle, Nephthys, Shaundakul, and Lliira--ideally ones without much tie to an actual formal church structure. We also need the wholehearted support of a very, very devout, Kobold believer of Kurtulmak, a spellcaster one with a solid amount of divine spells, who has followed the sort of life path appropriate to making relics, because I think we need more of the Enveloping Pits, a lot more of them. We need the support of someone who can, hopefully, cast near-arbitrary spells as a spell-like ability, even if it is only once a day, to encourage them to cast Distilled Joy into a device. I don't know which quest I want to work on, but it should be one of these; if I don't get out of this city soon, I'll go completely stir-crazy."

Spoiler: OOC Note

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OOC Note He has, over the last few days, once a day, been getting his non-arcana knowledges temporarily to +11, and asking himself 'What relevant things do I now know of any entity or individual or power group which might notice and take exception to what we are doing, and how/where/when might they go about showing their displeasure?', and took 10 for DC 21 for all non-knowledge arcana checks, and dc 25 for knowledge arcana. He also took two those days to ask, 'what are some likely things which could cause dragons to leave this area alone for a thousand years?' and 'What areas near here have any of those other sorts of dragons, or places where those breeds might be happy lairing?'

[Xanyo]

Spoiler: Valen's Knowledge

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Things that could keep dragons away: You speculate that there could be an artifact, divine influence, some kind of large scale Aversion spell, perhaps religious reasons or dracopolitical. It could also be some ancient magic, or even a disease. It could be a quarantine area for some kind of draconic disease, or an ancient magical effect with negative consequences to dragons, which could perhaps go as far as killing Greater Kobolds in their eggs.
As for things nearby that could be linked to any of these, there's legends of a powerful caster that lived nearby for a time, around a millennium ago. There's also rumors of an artifact deep underground, even further than the Underdark, with unkown capabilities.

Kemaya is eager to accompany you to visit the Mercury, but is outvoted. He insists at the very least to take one of his people, an Asimaar, so that they can report back to him afterwards. This request is approved. As for arbitrary innate casting, Kansaw brings up the Phaerimm. They cast spells as any sorcerer, but completely innate. The catch is - they're evil, sadistic aberrations that live fairly deep in the Outer Ring(everywhere further than four thousand miles from the Pole). Alternatively, you could try to find an Archmage who happens to have mastered the spells you need. The only Archmages in the region; however, live in Vernell's tower, including himself.


Religious setting information today! There are all the main deities, but to the East, a cult of sorts is emerging, and rapidly gaining power. Their leader is a devil-winged human by the name of Chorsith Mawl. His title is Czynith. Some people suspect that he has fiendish heritage, and others believe he has been blessed with power by some god. Regardless, what is certain is that his mind contains a storm of Psionic power. He is particularly fond of charging his foe's flesh with psychic energy that reshapes and ultimately crystallizes the opponent. He then has the statue shrunk down and takes it as a trophy. He is rumored to have been involved in the death of the Eastern Czar Sultanov, whose small country has almost completely converted to Czynism.
On the other end of the spectrum are the Silver Enforcers, a religious order with no divine leader. They are purely devoted to Law and Order. Many of them previously belonged to some other order before converting to this Western organization. They have very little mercy for those who have transgressed the law, and will single-mindedly pursue their prey as long as it takes, regardless of whether the crime was as severe as murder, or as petty as cutting purses. Their leader is a Half-Celestial paladin who has sworn to punish all involved in the twenty-four year old murder of the High Priest of Torm(his patron deity).

[Gavinfoxx]

"Yea, the problem is Distilled Joy is most useful to good spellcasters and crafters. There's the... other spell, for suffering. That I'm not willing to work with, which they're more likely to have. Maybe people who cast spells as spell-like abilities in general? I'm sure that's a learned spell to someone, somewhere. So could you tell me about this Steel and Mercury dragon? Name, age, gender, hobbies, taste in art, preferred gift for their hoard, other important stuff?"