Adventure in Eberron: Beyond the Sea

[Philistine]

QB

QB eyes Dorothy skeptically as he gathers his kit and rises to his feet. "Hmmph. Thanks, I think," he frowns. Replacing his tools in his pocket, he continues, "The mechanism doesn't look that much more complicated than some of the old booby-traps I've run into in Xen'drik, really. Some of those are downright nasty."

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
Irmaet stands as well, and shrugs.

"It's not much more complicated than they use for Cannith's old contraptions, either. In fact, it's like it was designed so it could be sabotaged."

He takes a moment to tap the machine experimentally.

"I'm not sure why the machines have special responses for when the security gets decommissioned, either. So, Dorothy, does this 'Foundry' machine tell you how much it'll give you for something before annihilating it?"

[The Demented One]

"Well, of course it does. It's a service, not a sphere of annihilation." Dorothy laughs. "Although given how many failed experiments have been dumped down those, they might as well be."

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"Can't be too careful. Never know what kind of shonky business practices whoever made these may be up to."

Irmaet whistles Mr Bones over, then opens the pack on the skeleton's back.

"And now, for my next trick! Mr Bones, if you would, please place each of the things in the bag into the machine, then take them out again."

One by one, Mr Bones produces the assortment of equipment from the bag on his back, and puts them in the slot, while Irmaet reads off the display and writes their values down in his book.

"If there's anything of special value to you that we took, you've got your chance to make your case now."

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Item Valuation List
Goliath Greathammer, 1 pc
Rapier, 1 pc
Greatsword, 1 pc
Banded Mail, 1 pc
Mail Shirt, 1 pc
Steel Shield, Heavy, 1 pc
Ring A, 1 pc
Ring B, 1 pc
Potion, 1 pc
Amulet, 1 pc
Crystal, Luminous, 1 pc
Headband, 1 pc

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Vaasth scratches his chin as the book-types and he psychic lady talk about the intricate machinery before them, delving into the depths of his mind and managing yet again to arrange the raw, incomprehensible madness that is his mind into somewhat comprehensible words, "Hey, uh, we could probably fiddle with these things all day if we wanted but... my sword's really hard and really sharp and drips with acid... wouldn't it be easier to just sorta cut into where these things are sitting and get them ourselves...?" He says this while drawing his acid-dripping adamantine sword with his left hand.

"Oh yeah," He looks back at Dorothy, "you never read my mind."

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"That'd be because it makes it on the spot. Ever heard the story about the golden goose? It's a little like that - you cut it open, all that happens is it gets cut open. If we had a whole artificer team here, we could probably reverse engineer it and make it build anything we want, but for now we can only do little things like trigger the secret hacker menu, that I suspect was designed in. Little Artificer's Learning Device, maybe?"

[The Demented One]

"Maaaybe." Dorothy says, teasingly. "It's entirely possible that the artificers who designed the feedlines would make a back door so they could get a nice discount, but they're much too noble and honorable to do that." she says with a wink. "Now, is there any chance you would kindly give me back all my things? They're harmless, and I doubt they'd be of overmuch use to you."

As Mr. Bones places each item in, a number is traced on the machine's exterior in luminous, arcane script.

Item Values
{table=head]Item|Value
Greathammer|4400
Rapier|4400
Greatsword|4400
Banded Mail|550
Mail Shirt|550
Steel Shield|0
Ring A|1100
Ring B|1100
Potion|165
Amulet|1100
Crystal|2200
Headband|2200
[/table]

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"Hah haah. No, I'm afraid I'm not prepared to simply return things willy nilly. After all, you tried to kill us, and under Sharn Law, your equipment is legally our property, barring reasonable evidence of magical compulsion. However, I am prepared to return items on a case by case basis, based on potential risk." replies Irmaet, writing down his guesses as to the identities of some of the more common items.

"For example, barring a strong reason to do so, I will not be allowing you the headband, under Article 11 of 'Restricted Items', as it constitutes a potential threat when employed by arcane-comptent individuals, or a form of illegal mental enhancement in Morgrave-sanctioned examinations. I doubt the latter would apply here, but I see no reason to return it at present."

[The Demented One]

"Oh come on, it's just a little mental supplement, nothing harmful! And I can tell you now, the ring's just a defensive piece, and my cognizance crystal's totally drained. Harmless!"

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"Except, of course, that said items serve solely to amplify one's destructive capabilities. I did not survive to old age by being foolhardy, young lady."

Irmaet sighs, and replaces the headband and crystal in the bag.

"However, a Class I Protective Ring is not considered offensive equipment, so I believe I will be able to return that to your possession, barring any objections."

Irmaet pauses, peering about the group for anybody to speak up, and produces the ring, examining it carefully.

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Sense Motive - (1d20+19)[24]

Irmaet's Guesses
{table=head]Item|Value
+2 Greathammer|8000
+2 Rapier|8000
+2 Greatsword|8000
+1 Banded Mail|1000
+1 Mail Shirt|1000
(MW?) Steel Shield|0
Ring of Protection +1 x 2|2000
Potion of Cure Moderate|300
Amulet of Natural Armour|2000
Cognizance Crystal|4000
Headband of Intellect +2|4000
[/table]

Convenient how the machine recognises only magical power. Makes IDing much easier.

They're still all guesses, though, especially the potion, which is just an educated guess on common potion choices. I'd hazard a guess that a buff potion would have been used first round, so I'm guessing Cure Moderate.

I'd guess the Steel Shield would be a Masterwork edition, given the level of gear the others had, while the rings I would suspect are both Rings of Protection, which are the only rings to have a price of 2000gp in Core. Similar thing with the Amulet.

Of course, if anything's non-standard, the guesses will be off, so positive IDing will need to wait for next game day.

Hooray Nethack identification!

Irmaet takes the items over to the altar to test for BUC!

[The Demented One]

Dorothy reaches out, beckoning Irmaet to hand the ring over. "Fiiine." she says, exasperated. "At least don't decomp any of my gear, please? Hopefully when we come to a parting of the ways, I can get it back, then. Unless any of you really need an immovable rod or something, let's get going. I'm hungry after all that bludgeoning." she says, eying Vaasth.

[Karaswanton]

Kyrek

Yes, perhaps we should be going.

Whispering:
Irmaet, what should we do with the girl when we have to rest?

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Vaasth catches her eye and raises his eyebrows, "...I have that effect on women." He then smirks. "But yeah, I'm feeling quite ravenous right now." He begins to move toward whatever looks like food.

[dyslexicfaser]

Hector

Hector only listened with half an ear to their discussion of the Artificer-in-a-Box and Vaasth's unusual idea of flirting, still peering at the glowing blue sigil over the altar. "Can I get some of those coins? I want to try this thing out before we leave."

He drops 1000g into a recess in the altar and waits expectantly for something to happen.

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That's as good an explanation as any for my absence from 'Beneath the Sea' for the last few days, I guess. I'm assuming that Irmaet would hand over the 1000g to work the altar, changing my Spell Focus (Conjuration) feat into something that isn't entirely crap - the feat we discussed, Demented.

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"Of course, barring any unfortunate incidents."

Irmaet flips the ring back over to the girl, and then heads over to the Altar, with Hector.

"Not sure if I approve of using this thing, really." he complains, appraising the device with no small measure of suspicion.

"Well, if you're sure, I'm happy to loan you a bit of gold to try it out. However, it comes at a 5% interest rate, calculated at the end of the month - shouldn't be a problem, though, since there's a while to go."

Irmaet produces a hundred platinum coins from his pouch in a large bag, and drops them in Hector's hand. Then he writes carefully in his book, on a carefully ruled up page:

Hector - 1000gp Loan, 5% p.m. __________

"It isn't a fully drawn out document, but if I could have your arcane mark here?"

[The Demented One]

While Irmaet works his legal magic, the altar begins to glow. Hector's hands are drawn to it, and as soon as they do, azure light traces over his body, pooling in his eyes, which shine a brilliant indigo. As light floods into Hector's eyes, he (and only he) sees a legion of people standing before him, each one a near-perfect duplicate of himself, with only a slight variation from the real Hector. They wait patiently for Hector to make his choice.

OOC for Hector

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The alter altar works just like the psychic reformation psionic power. PM me any changes you wanna make besides swapping out the feat. Blow yourself away.

[Karaswanton]

Kyrek

Kyrek watches the process, keenly interested. George sulks nearby.

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Wow! You weren't kidding about Irmaet being Lawful!

[Philistine]

QB

QB pats down his pockets, checking to be sure his equipment is all still in place after crawling around under the two vending machines. "I guess I'm ready to move out as soon as Hector gets done here. Dorothy, how far did you say it was to this place you're leading us?"

[The Demented One]

"About five minutes walk from here, assuming nothing's flooded in the past few days." Dorothy says, slipping her ring back on her finger. "Come on, I'll show you the way." She walks down the corridor, heading for the back, and beckons for the rest of you.

[dyslexicfaser]

Hector

Hector stumbles backwards, away from the Alter Altar. His eyes roll wildly in his skull but oddly enough, he's smiling. "That was.. unusual. My compliments to someone who had a hand in creating.. that."

It's very subtle, but there is something different about him; he's not quite the Hector he was before he used the Altar.

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Got a new feat, moved skills around to give me more Knowledges, and switched out a small handful of spells. I feel like a new me!

[pingcode20]

Irmaet the Black
"Curious. Well, we had best be moving on - we can discuss payment options over dinner. Lunch? Breakfast? A tad hard to tell down here."

[The Demented One]

You follow Dorothy through down the corridor, only to find that it forks off in to two path ways. After a few minutes treading down the left-hand path, Dorothy stops. "I hid the door, just to keep any oth...any splicers out. Just step through, it's harmless." She steps through what seems to be a solid iron wall, disappearing into it.

Stepping through is quite an unnerving experience - your mind is quite certain that there's a solid wall right where you are right now, while your body isn't. Nevertheless, you all make it through. "Welcome," says Dorothy with a flourish, "To the Starry Wisdom Inn." It is unlike any tavern you have seen: not only are all the walls and floor of shining metal, but so are the tables and bar. The tables seem fused to floor, as if they grew up from it like metallic mushrooms, ringed about with chairs shaped like half-eggs, each on a small stand and comfortably padded.

Dorothy steps behind the bar and kneels down. "Tell me what you want to eat; compiling food is a hassle but I've gotten good at it."

[Karaswanton]

Kyrek

Kyrek steps through the door, he seems shaken by the experience.

Just a soda water for me..that door has rattled my stomach. I'm gong to sit down.

George walks through the door. After emerging, he roars at the door, and bangs on the frame to no avail. After a few minutes, and a few deep breaths, he calms down.
That...that eh'nt right.

[The Demented One]

"Soda water, huh? That's tricky, I can never code for the little bubbles right. Hey, while I compile everyone's dinner, could you big, burly adventurers do me a favor? There's a great big door over towards the end, and it's jammed up. I tried hacking the lock, but that didn't work. Think a few of you could force it open? I was able to get a look inside of their with a little clairsentience, and it looks like they have a compiler module that would let us make heroes's feasts. One of those, and life would be much easier for all of us."

Dorothy hands Kyrek a glass full of water infused with carbon dioxide, what might be called soda water generously. She seems a bit apologetic as she hands it over. "Don't worry, it looks a little funny, but it should taste fine. Promise."

[Philistine]

QB

"We could take a look at it, I guess," QB says guardedly. He moves to the far door and begins examining it, looking for the best place to start.

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And also, while he's here, he'll try to Listen: (1d20+17)[19] to see if he can hear anything on the far side of the door, and Search: [roll]1d20+18[/b] it for traps.

Assuming it checks out clean: does the door slide (or iris) open, or swing? QB's carrying both a crowbar and a portable ram, just want to know which he should dig out.

[Philistine]

OOC: Bleah.

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Let's try that Search roll again, this time with the right formatting: (1d20+18)[34].

[dyslexicfaser]

Hector

Hector, freely acknowledging that he would be pretty useless in muscling open a door, joins the native Xethian and Kyrek. "How are you at creating meat? Fowl, fish, something like that?"

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You guys probably don't need the help, but if the door proves tricky I could polymorph into an elephant and headbutt it.

[Karaswanton]

Kyrek

Say, George, why don't you help her out? I think this soda water will do nicely, it tastes fine. My stomach feels better as well.

[The Demented One]

After a thorough search, Quentin concludes that the door is entirely untrapped. He can here a dull, regular pounding, which sounds like a pistol come down over and over on a piece of metal. Unlike the irises seen elswhere, it is a simple hinged door, though of what material it was made you can't quite say.

"I can do chicken, and most kinds of fish. It'll take a while to compile it all, so I'll make sure it goes smoothly while you guys get that opened. Hah, first time I used one of these, I hit one key in the wrong order, and then left to go prowl. Turns out it ended up replacing all the carbon in a bowl of leviathan stew with sodium. And that's why were eating here, instead of Dagon's Seafood." she muses, apparently to herself. She chuckles a little at the thought.

[Philistine]

QB

Reaching back into his haversack, QB draws out a portable battering ram. "Well, there's something in there. Vaasth, wanna come give me a hand with this?"