Myth: A New Age CYOA

[Kz3r0]

More questions for the spideress in waiting:
Does she knows was happening to the south and Stoneheim.
What she can tell us about the spinner, is her artefact or not, and what she can tell about it.

I also propose to delay the partence for a day, to ceck with the academy and interrogate wenzel's captain, Timo was too eager to put an end to our investigation in that direction.

 

[Nevill]

It occured to me that Timo and Mayer work a bit at cross-purposes, even though they do not need to be. Since Mayer is specifically tracking the movement of the Spider Cult, I wonder if we can join our efforts to flush the Eberhardt rebels out of hiding between them both and all the leads we have procured during the investigation.

Anyway, the questions for the Spider Princess.

1) What are her and her sister's names? That kinda became a habit of ours, to call everyone by their name.
2) Who had the tomb constructed in the Temple under the Academy and for what purpose? Why did she make her followers slip a message about the Tablet into Jan's pocket and direct him to the tomb? What did she hope to gain there if she claims that she does not know how to activate it? What are her goals, why is she meddling with her sister's plans when she apparently 'bowed out of the intrigues of her people'?
3) Why does the Spider Goddess need the spearhead? What does she want to achieve with it?
4) What exactly is her relationship with her sister. By the looks of it, she is not opposed to undermining her efforts, but also do not wish her harmed. Isn't that a bit controversial?
5) Why did they make Mayer their agent in the mortal world? Why would Morpheus take interest in the doings of the Spider Cult? Or is it she that is interested in it? For what purpose? Does she have her own agents that act on that information? Infiltrators, maybe? Anyone who could be of use in eliminating the presence of her sister's cult in the city?
6) Is the barrier of black marble in Mayer's mind something she did or a construct native to his mind? Are her powers the reason for Mayer's success in business?
7) Mayer have probably asked that question before, but is there a way to restore his wife? There are spells the Magisters of the Heron Guard know to heal one's mind, why would they be powerless in this case? Is there something she is not telling us?
6) Does she know how Rand and Eberhardt were created and how to stop the cultists from attempting it again? Perhaps there are valuable resourses involved that we can cut our enemies from? Does she know where their cloning facilities or headquarters might be?
7) What is the deal with Rand and that lock used to seal Nephila in her prison? How does this work, what is involved in the creation of such an enchantment, how unique is it, and are there ways to reverse/dispel it and make one's mind to retain the information?
8) Is the 'rival cult' in Stoneheim her doing? Does she have information about what happens in the city right now?
9) Does she have information on her sister's movements and resourses? What armies she can muster, what parts of the Royal Army are under the cultist's control?
10) Who is that Wyrm of Flame and Shadow? Yes, I get is, he is a demon, but what does he want? What is his agenda? Is he involved in the affairs of the mortals in any way? Does he have a following? Does he have enemies? Is he the one the Seekers oppose? And if so, who do they serve, or who they might serve?
11) Does she know anything about the Silver Flame? What was that about the 'fire that purifies', the 'light without darkness' and 'that which remembers when all is forgotten'? Is there another player that we are unaware of?
12) Does she know the origins of the 'unforgotten, unforgiven' graffity? Whose doing is that and what do they imply?
13) Is the ancient wanderer and the original owner of the spearhead the mage known as The Faceless Man? Anything known about his goals, motives or whereabouts? Why did he ally himself against the Swimmer in the first place? How did they get a hold on a part of his weapon?
14) What is the original purpose of the Spinner? I can't shake off the feeling that we use a microscope to hammer nails.

 

[Fangshi]

Can Morpheus Nightmare somehow "clone" mind of person strongly imprinted in dreaming?

The demons in the Dreaming can capture and store specific memories (generally the ones they find interesting) but no one has tried to map out a dreamer's entire mind before. It is theoretically possible but it would have to be executed perfectly to prevent flaws from popping up as a result. The demons are far more likely to get it wrong than get it right and the first person it is tried on is likely to suffer quite a bit from the disjointed nature of their new mind.

There is also the problem of the pre-existing mind to deal with. If you do manage to create a clone of a mind then you will have to destroy the original mind you wish to replace and minds are surprisingly resilient in that regard. They are easy to damage but had to destroy and there would be the risk that the original disturbed thoughts/memory/etc will reassert themselves over time.

Or mby some kind of usage of Mayer memories?

Yes, that is one way to fill in the gaps. The only problem is that the memories would not be hers. They would be his and there is no guarantee that they saw and experienced things the same way so that might be an issue or it might not, depends on what exactly you want to accomplish really.

The die must be rolled randomly or does just spinning it slowly/putting it down is enough to make (enchantment?) spell work?

It has to be properly rolled but the rolling does not have to be random so if you could roll it the exact same way on the exact same surface at the exact same speed and position you could probably determine what numbers will come up before hand. It would definitely be difficult for a person to do but perhaps a machine might be able to get the desired results.

Btw can we just buy specific box put Ecubes in it and retrieve item it with content, or is it still problem? Would specification that we want this chest with set amount of EC in it retrieved, making it more memorable (we could even tell people to set it in certain pattern). Leaving one eagle in town so they can send massage when they get our amount, mby teachers, King, Mayer and whoever got something important to say add reports to it might be worth considering.

The two biggest problems you would face are:

1. Distance, it is one thing to retrieve a box across a room or even a battlefield but this would be across a substantial distance (amounting to days worth of travel). You would need to boost the power of the spell substantially, perhaps even turn it into a full blown ritual.

2. How unique are the items? If you pick the box in advance you will have a clear image of the box but you will not know what the cubes/notes look like specifically. So when you try to recall them you will get the box but not its contents.

This of course raises the question of what constitutes a single object. For example if you tried to retrieve a specific suit of armour would you have to do each piece individually, or if you recall a person do you have to do it one organ at a time? (To use OOC knowledge do you have to do it one atom at a time?)

The answer is no and it has to do with the way the spell latches on to items. Derryth does not know enough about Gate/Travel magical theory to understand why though. Further complicating the issue is that Gate/Travel magic is not a well known or heavily studied field so there are very few places you can even look for that knowledge. It is just one of the downsides of a profession where 95% of its practitioners horde knowledge and spend much of their time trying to murder their colleagues. I can give you one hint though, Derryth has heard stories about different mages casting this exact spell on similar objects and getting radically different results. In some cases the spell would work and in others it would not. She has not been able to confirm this or replicate the behaviour (largely because she did not know many mages prior to this year) but it might be the first clue needed to understand not just what the spell does but how it does it.

Ps Actually we might try to do "set" spell based on "sort' to learn how to set specific patterns.

Yes, that is certainly doable and DTL could probably figure it out fairly quickly if they had the resources to hand and the time to experiment.

 

[Nevill]

It would definitely be difficult for a person to do but perhaps a machine might be able to get the desired results.

What about Berty? The man is a natural cheater, can't imagine him having difficulties with rigging the dice.

I also propose to delay the partence for a day, to ceck with the academy and interrogate wenzel's captain, Timo was too eager to put an end to our investigation in that direction.

Nah, Nanshe won't wait forever, and the sooner we get to the army, the better.

I will probably swing by and talk to the woman, but I don't want to spend another day here when there is so much at stake.

What is there to check with the Academy?

Timo may have been eager to end the investigation, but that may be because he already knows the answer, and we are reliant on him to the point where even if we find out that's not exactly the full truth, there is little that we can do about it anyway.

If Timo is the traitor, then Albrecht is doomed, simple as that. He only needs to let the bit about Lyssa slip to undermine our efforts in the city and create a bloody mess that would allow the Eberhardts to take over. That he didn't do so tells me that he is interested in the kingdom's survival and not aligned with the Goddess, and that is, really, all I need to know.

Do you plan to repay Albrecht for the first payment some day or is this just another price he will have to absorb to protect his Kingdom. It does not matter much one way or the other but I will need to know if I should list the 200 WPs under your loans or not. There would be no interest since it would not technically be a loan so you don't need to concern yourself with that.

The advantage to actually intending to repay the sum is that it would be seen by the King as an 'honourable' act. Dwarves pay their 'debts' and respect those who do the same.

That's a tricky one. My initial plan was to let Albrecht hire Ceannard himself for a while, as I did not indend to buy their company. However, the rates of the Arrows have gone up quite unreasonably. I mean, wasn't it said that the Seekers cost more than the Arrows? Yet they want 450 WPs for a trip south, 200 WPs to escort us to Nanshe (and that is even without a warranty that they would need to do anything, what happened to their escort rate of 10 WPs?), and 100 WPs to train the Greys (now that's just a silly sum). Is Ceannard feeling some resentment towards us for what we put him through?

In the end, Ceannard still ends up working for Albrecht until we sort the mess in the south. Yeah, we take a loan of money from him, but we also loan him our forces in return. Loyal and competent people is something that Albrecht has in short supply. At this point, who is doing whom a favor?

Not to mention that hiring Ceannard outright for a month or two would have probably costed the King more than 200 WPs.

I don't know. I do not want to appear 'dishonorable', but I also feel there is enough ground to consider us even. How does Albrecht view the situation?


Also, a question about Eberhardt.

The rumours that are circulating cast him as a hero of the people, someone that will protect even the poor from foreigners and the undead. After the fire and the assaults by the necromancers the people feel a need for such a figure and undermining his growing 'legend' will not be easy.

Don't we fill that niche, though?

Why is Eberhardt so popular after he was convicted of conspiring with the said necromancers? Didn't he flee the city when the necromancers attacked when we stayed to fight? What did he do for the Fort Blackford (no, not even Blackrock) and about the Watcher's army besieging them? He is a hero after driving away an attack on some prison, but what about us breaking an thousand-strong army half a day of travel away from the capital?

Why would his word carry weight against ours?

 

[Nevill]

So, my choices:

1. Arrows Contracts:
E) You want to absorb the Arrows, their assets and personnel since you use them constantly anyway (All E votes will count together the winner will be the most popular option should E win):
vi. You offer to buy the Arrows and keep Ceannard on as a partner (his officers will also stay on as officers naturally). You will make such a deal in private. In public, you will have Albrecht hire the mercenaries as his personal forces (not unlike the Seekers) and have him pay the first 200 WPs out of the treasury. You should then be able to use the Arrows for the good of the state without too many questions raised, though any deals that only benefit you should be handled discreetly.

Don't have the money to pay for them myself, but we need them to train the Greys, to protect us from Nanshe, and to hunt Rand and the Eberhardts. These tasks, taken separately, cost about 400 WPs. Better to just hire them in perpetuity and be done with it.

Bonus point is that we might be able to convince Lady Grey to pool her resourses with ours now that we need money to keep Ceannard around.

2. Equipment: You went shopping at the Brothers Dietfried and this is what you found:

C) Bottle of Energon Whiskey - 12 WPs for emergencies and for our mice. We can't give them Energon Cubes anymore.
F) Arrows: 10 quivers - 5 WPs for Uttu.
G) Bolts: 6 magazines - 3 WPs for Thais.
P) Entangled Dice - 14 WPs
Q) An old can of oil - 5 WPs
R) 'Vomit disks': 4 disks - 20 WPs
O) Fire resistant leather armour: 2 suits - 32 WPs for Derryth and Thais
S) Fire resistant wooden shield - 10 WPs for Biliku

Total - 101 WPs. Discount - 10 WPs.

Overall - 91 WPs.

3. Mercenaries: If you feel you could use a bit more muscle when you head south you could hire on additional mercenaries for one month contracts. Their rates are as follows (you can vote for as many as you wish but if you go over your funds you will need to take a loan at 25% monthly compound interest):
F) Just the Hounds' elephants: 40 WPs
i) You pay out of your own pocket
ii) You let Albrecht cover the cost

The Elephants are a surprise weapon. Those usually win us battles, see Eagles, Mice and Baloons. Put the Elephants ahead of our forces, cast two Warrior's Masks, see the enemies go splat. I am 100% certain they will justify the money Albrecht spends on them.

Also they can double the speed of our troops.

4. Your expedition south: Aside from the Seekers who do you plan to bring with you to the south? (There are so many options here that I will just let people come up with their own teams. You have the Boys, the Greys, any mercenaries you might hire, any escort you might request, and any named characters you have in the city to choose from, go wild).
Derryth, Thais, Lyssa, Biliku, Uttu, Berty futher referred to as 'our group'.
2 dwarven mortars (yes, I caved in)
20 human Legionaries
4 elephants from the Hounds to help with troop transportation
20 dwarven charioteers from the Royal Guards escort
The Black Arrows will escort us to Nanshe and then return to the city to act as Albrecht's enforcers.

I am still uncertain about mortars, but I guess we can keep them disassembled and use for emergencies. Or just befriend Reinhard and let his people 'find' them in the desert and put them under our joint command.

I want Ceannard to concentrate on finding and eliminating Rand and the cloning facilities. The final destruction of the pretender would be devastating for the rebels.

5. Nanshe and TWM: Morpheus claims that Nanshe has contacted him and requested that you come to pick up the Thin White Mage. He can not prove that she is acting freely and that it is not a trap but she seemed fine from what he could tell.
A) You go to meet Nanshe (If you vote for this option then please list who you want to take to the meeting.)
Our group and the Black Arrows will go to the meeting.

Well, we need our wish from Morpheus to give us an edge in the coming battles.

6. The Spy: The maid you found was definitely a spy. She seems to be motivated to sell information due to substantial debts she owes. None of that will matter to the Pathfinders though, she is aiding the Cultists and will be killed for her actions. What do you want to do?
F) You will inform Timo and Albrecht of her ties to the Cultists. You will then have the Pathfinders/Timo's agents follow her and attempt to map out as much of the Cult as possible. Should this prove successful she may then be used as a double agent to feed the cult information. Hopefully she will lead your allies back to Rand or his doubles which they may detain or destroy as they are able.

7. Your Sleeping Inventor: You are leaving the capital and Mel is still asleep. What do you want to do with her.
B) You will leave her at the palace. Admitedly the security there is not great but few people know she is there, she will just have to sleep for a month or two more while you handle affairs to the south.

No, I am not taking a wanted 'criminal' with a sky-high bounty on her head out of her hiding place when we have the attention of every enemy in the kingdom (and Rand himself is spying on the palace). Why? The less people know she is still alive, the better.

8. Your Northern Team:

Spoiler

The Boys:

10 +) Hire few basic tutors to teach kids basic knowledge like writing, counting, reading, have some gymnastic etc. (I doubt we will be able to determine their talents before we will go south. Those general basics will make good fundamentals for personalized training after we solve south)
Boys training under half of legion guys and Skite to shape up. I doubt that all of them worked jobs making them perfect for soldier transition and i am sure that they came from different workplaces so probably they are just bunch of small groups. Few weeks of running, jumping and facing problems should let Skite grasp overall characters of people in Boys and determine who is coping better mentally, has leadership qualities or have above average results in exercises. Main objective is to teach Boys how to work with each other, trust their team-mates and plant seed of kinship in whole unit. Mostly team based exercises with some member rotation to force them to get to know more people, preferably not team A vs team B stuff rather fulfilling objectives. Although Derryth should ask Berty about his opinion. We dont want to screw his plans.

Though I want to take the Legionaries to the south with us.

I want about 250 Albrecht guards and about 250 Hesse guards along with some of our experienced mercenaries to be in charge or moving them to Blackrock. After the guards reach the city, I want Hesse's guards to stay (we decided to recall them for good, right?) and the rest will escort the Boys (as long as there is enough room to fit them all). A group of about 700 people under a competent commander is in no serious risk, and the fort is not that far in the first place.

The Black Arrows:

If we decide to buy them out (which seems likely), I want them to escort us to Nanshe for 2 days, then return to the Myrgard and act as a Special Ops team for the King (in addition to the Pathfinders, but in the official capacity) and as trainers for the Greys. I want them to follow up on our cultist leads and have Ceannard use his connections in the underworld to try and hunt down Eberhardt terrorist cells or even Eberhardt himself. Also, there are clearly cloning facilities located in the city that allowed the rebels to 'resurrect' their leader. I want them found and destroyed.

Ceannard is a professional, and highly resourseful. If he thought he could find Melete after we hid her, he should be able to find where the cultists operate from. Officially working for the King will allow him to make use of many resourses of the Crown, multiplying his usefulness.

If he needs additional manpower, he should be free to make use of the Greys provided that it would be his officers leading them.

The Grey Arrows:

Just sit tight in Myrgard and get lessons from the veteran Blacks. Maybe go on a mop-up mission or two with them for the real combat experience.

Lady Grey:

Have a talk with her. Explain to her that if she wants to be with Ceannard, she will need to be patient and appear professional. He is the type to chase after women, not get chased by them. He is also probably the type that is afraid of being committed to a single person, so her advances would only serve to scare him off. Establish a business relationship with him, first, something that might be easier for him to understand, then a friendship, and then you can build from there.

She had the right idea when she decided to become the mercenary captaim, but she needs to work harder for it. She needs to become better at it for Ceannard to notice her. The notion that she might not know something might offend her, but hey, it is objective truth that her efforts did not pay off so far and that something needs to be changed.

She might start her self-improvement by becoming better with the bow (she is not very good at it by her own admission, but who have ever heard about an archer captain who is bad with a bow?) and learning the basics of tactics from the Black officers. If she will be able to work alongside the Blacks effectively, and make them want to have her watch their backs, it would make achieving her goal that much easier.

tl:dr - train to become a proper captain.

Astrid:

Appoint her as a chief inspector for the 'Unforgotten, Unforgiven' case with the Sovereigns as field agents. She needs to distract herself for a time being, and I want her and Letta to become closer. They are family, though they do not know it yet.

Leave her the details of the Greater Heal Ritual and tell her to seek aid in Muirthemne if we don't come back. That way we ensure that our obligations to our allies will be fulfilled and that the knowledge of the ritual will reach the rest of our Circle, should we die.

Letta and the Sovereigns:

Report their findings to Astrid. After they are done, help maintain order in the city if they are still willing to work with us.

Mayer:

He should handle our finances, as usual. Make payments to Letta and her crew, see to it that tutors for the kids get paid, etc. Explain to him that we plan to prepare the kids to become key figures in the Kingdom eventually so that he doesn't skimp on them. I know he was not a fan of the idea. Let him see what can be done about optimizing our Blackrock expenses now that the Boys - who have lots of people that qualify as a maintenance staff - will be stationed there.

No cutting payments to the families of the deceased, no assasination contracts or some crap like that, though.

He is going to be the one to help choose the teachers. Once the budget is established and set in stone, he should endeavor to make the best use out of the money given to him, regardless of whether or not he fully approves of where it is going.

Coordinate his agent network with Timo's and Ceannard's to get to the Eberhardts and the Watcher's agents. Two of the most powerful information brokers working together should leave no rock unturned in the city.

Timo:

Pursue our cultist leads:
- The investigation in the Royal Academy
- The direct link to Rand, through our spying maid, Thyra
- The list of cultists attending meetings where Rand was present, from Hallr
- The information on the cult's activities, from Mayer

Cooperate with Mayer to assure maximum efficiency. We know that about 30% of nobility are involved with the cultiss. Check the money flow. Find out those who are supporting the rebel movement and destroy them. Find out those who were in it for 'pleasure cults' and recruit them and their resourses to our cause - they would be likely to agree to it as the alternative is to be punished by death.

Investigate Hesse's household now that the Lord and his champion are away. If it is true that he is hiding state criminals, we may have a perfect pretext to dispose of him.

Be on alert about the Watcher and spare no measures to protect the spearhead.

Leave an eagle for Albrecht's people so they would be able to communicate with us or find us as necessary.

9. Escort: Albrecht will of course give you an escort drawn from his own Royal Guard. You have met all of the key commanders at this point so the question becomes who do you want to come with you.
A) The chariots (20 war chariots with two dwarf teams)

We need mobility, it was our ace during the Blackrock siege. Albrecht can keep the rest of the captains for his own operations, we have enough of the common infantry.

10. Operation 'Fata Morgana'.
A) You go for it (specify the amount of funds you are willing to spend on buying the cubes).
50 WPs

We need that power.

11. Interrogating the Captain: You might wish to interrogate the Weasel captain Berty caught yesterday. It will delay your departure but it might be a worthwhile use of your time. Do you take the time?
A) Yes (all A options are counted together):
ii. A longer session. You will try to be careful with her mind. You will begin with low intensity attacks and feints to draw out as much information as you can without doing permanent damage. It will still hurt her a fair bit though and it will take longer to successfully check for the information you desire. (time: 3 hours)

A quick and dirty method, and we keep the captain in case she knows something that would let us use her later.

12. Custom Magic Armour:
Don't care much about it.

13. Tutors: You can hire tutors for the children to teach them the basic while you are gone. You will hire:
C) You will hire more advanced teachers alongside basic tutors - the tutors will focus on teaching the basics while the more specialized teachers will pick out any students that show exceptional skill for more advanced training. Unfortunately you will not be on hand to filter applicates you will be trusting this to whoever you leave in charge. (20 WPs monthly for six tutors and four specialist instructors, you will need to spend an additional 6WPs for the first month to cover this on top of the fourteen WPs you have already set aside).

6 WPs is not a big deal compared to what we may gain out of better education.

 

[Fangshi]

Does she knows was happening to the south and Stoneheim.

The city is under attack. Her few followers have been able to communicate that much to her. It is being assaulted from within and without but it is also one of the greatest fortresses in the world. She hopes it will hold out.

The army is still intact as far as she can tell but she has no living agents in it so she has to rely on the random dreams of people on the scene. She can not guarantee anything really.

What she can tell us about the spinner, is her artefact or not, and what she can tell about it.

She smiles at the mention of it and nods, if it is her original spinner then she can tell you a great deal about it. She had it built for a dwarven princess a few thousand years ago, A gift to a loyal friend. It is damn near unbreakable and can spin more or less any substance into cloth by devouring the raw materials and processing them within its body.

Her gift was gratefully received and over time a number of copies were also produced. They look similar to the original in every detail but they are far more fragile. They operate on the same principle but one must be careful not to overfeed them or feed them liquids. If you do either you will break them and they are an absolute pain to try and fix.

As far as she knows the actual knowledge to construct them and repair them has been lost for centuries otherwise she would gladly tell you how to make more.

1) What are her and her sister's names? That kinda became a habit of ours, to call everyone by their name.

She thanks you for asking, she says that her name is Sparassidae and that her sister's name was Theridiidae though it has been ages since she has heard either name used.

She is usually called the White Lady, the Dancing Lady, the Princess of Pleasant Slumber or simply the Lady.

Her sister tends to simply go by her title to remind everyone that she is a full goddess and does not share her power with anyone. Those that do not wish to use her title often call her the Evening Star if they wish to be polite.

2) Who had the tomb constructed in the Temple under the Academy and for what purpose? Why did she make her followers slip a message about the Tablet into Jan's pocket and direct him to the tomb? What did she hope to gain there is she claims that she does not know how to activate it? What are her goals, why is she meddling with her sister's plans when she apparently 'bowed out of the intrigues of her people'?

A long dead king from a long dead House. She doubts he is of much relevance to your current problems but he built it to honour the Goddess and to give his body a place to rest after he died.

Morpheus, in one of his fouler moods, took an interest in it as well and influenced the minds of the craftsmen constructing it. He made them think that the Goddess had revealed to them the truth of her accession and then he commanded them to chisel it into the very walls of the tomb.

They did and when they revealed their work to the King he was furious. He refused to be buried in such a blasphemous construction and ordered the artisan killed. Morpheus had correctly predicted the King's reaction and warned the artisans well in advance. He told them that the tomb was a test for the King and that if he rejected it he must be killed. The artisans attacked, damn near everyone involved died and the temple was abandoned as cursed for over a generation.

The murder of the King coincided with a larger period of unrest within the Kingdom that saw the ruling House diminished and a new House claim the throne through marriage. The new line of Kings were not cultists and the temple fell into disrepair.

Sometime later the spearhead was brought to the temple and placed within the tomb by a strange, thin man that laughed as he did it. Or at least that is what her few spies were able to tell her. As far as she knows the placement of the spearhead had nothing much to do with the cultists really and the man that hid it down there seemed to find the entire situation incredibly funny.

3) Why does the Spider Goddess need the spearhead? What does she want to achieve with it?

She smiles at you, "My sister wants it for the same reason as everyone else. She wants to use it to kill the Watcher. I have no problem with that but I worry about what it will be used for after."

4) What exactly is her relationship with her sister. By the looks of it, she is not opposed to undermining her efforts, but also do not wish her harmed. Isn't that a bit controversial?

When they were younger they were as close as two sisters could be. They went everywhere together, did everything together and they worked well as a team. Theridiidae was always so aggressive, so demanding and the White Lady insists that she was able to act as a counterbalance most of the time. Eventually it became clear that her sister would not settle for the drifting existence they lived. She wanted a realm of her own but it is difficult and dangerous to try and carve lands out of the void. Instead she looked to the planes that had already formed, she planned to steal one for her own, at the time she claimed that it would be a place for the both of them and all of their sisters.

At the time, the Lady believed her.

She sighs, "The Goddess settled upon the Swimmer's domain, probably due to the influence of the Wyrm. She launched an attack, it failed and she was repelled and chased. She spent much of the next few years running and hiding, gathering allies with all sorts of promises, until she had assembled a group strong enough to kill the Swimmer. He died and we claimed his realm but my sister was not done. One by one she killed our siblings until it was only the two of us left. I do not know if she saved me for last out of love or hatred but her actions gave me enough time to flee to the Dreaming and the three brothers. I do not like what power has done to my sister, it has made her a monster and I do not know if I can ever forgive her, but she is still my sister and I dearly care for her. I don't want to see my whole family die, I don't want to be alone. I want her stopped and I want her to live, I honestly don't know if I can have both but I do desire both."

5) Why did they make Mayer their agent in the mortal world? Why would Morpheus take interest in the doings of the Spider Cult? Or is it she that is interested in it? For what purpose? Does she have her own agents that act on that information? Infiltrators, maybe? Anyone who could be of use in eliminating the presence of her sister's cult in the city?

The answer is simple, because he was there and because he needed help.

Mayer is intelligent, resourceful, ruthless when need be, he is the perfect material for an agent and he was willing so long as his wife was returned to him.

She shakes her head and sighs, "He takes an interest because he craves excitement and stirring up my sister is a sure way to get it. He enjoys frustrating her, annoying her, it is his way."

She smirks and nods, "Well, since he chooses to spy on her anyway it is a simple thing to ask him to share all the information he collects. He knows better than to keep the wrong type of secrets from me."

She meets your gaze, "My reasons are my own but you can safely assume that self preservation ranks highly among them."

She informs you that she does have a small number of worshipers but nothing like her sister has. They watch and they report but she will not ask them to fight and die for her unless the cause is incredibly important.

She did have some infiltrators but they began to disappear a little under a year ago. She has not been able to discover what has been happening to them so four months ago she told her followers to flee while they could. She has been relying on Mayer all the more because of this.

6) Is the barrier of black marble in Mayer's mind something she did or a construct native to his mind? Are her powers the reason for Mayer's success in business?

The form it took was due to Mayer's mind but the barrier itself is the work of Morpheus. Mayer is Morpheus' agent not hers, she does not have direct contact with him at all.

Mayer's success is down to his own ability but every now and then Morpheus helps him along. He is too useful an asset to lose before his time.

7) Mayer have probably asked that question before, but is there a way to restore his wife? There are spells the Magisters of the Heron Guard know to heal one's mind, why would they be powerless in this case? Is there something she is not telling us?

She is not sure if there is a way as she has no experience doing so.

Perhaps he does not have the neccesary contacts to convince the Heron Guard to act.

She has no idea if the spells of the Magisters would work or not.

Probably but not about this. Mayer's wife spent a very long time in the Dreaming, trapped and hunted by all manner of things. Her mind changed to ensure her survival and the Lady does not know how to change it back.

There is no actual magic directly involved in changing her personality, simply decades of hardship, alone in a hostile wilderness.

6) Does she know how Rand and Eberhardt were created and how to stop the cultists from attempting it again? Perhaps there are valuable resourses involved that we can cut our enemies from? Does she know where their cloning facilities or headquarters might be?

They were grown in tanks fashioned by the Goddess' demons.

Each being begins as an oily black egg with the consistency of stone. These can be acquired from any of the Spider Goddess' female children or even from the Goddess' herself. Normally these eggs would mature over time into actual spider demons but there is a way to alter the process.

When certain rituals are preformed on the egg and it is submerged in specially treated fluids it begins to soften. At that point a mage or team of mages can set to work molding its mind and body. What properties it gains at this point are largely dependent on how creative and skilled the mage(s) in question are.

So if you want to stop the clones from being made the easiest ways to do it are:

1. Destoy the facilities where they are grown.

2. Destroy the eggs/immature bodies before they can awaken (this usually is accomplished by destroying the facilities they are in).

3. Killing any mages that might know how to create these things.

Unfortunately, given time the eggs/young, facilities and mages can all be replaced so the only way to permanently stop the procedure is to kill all spider demons or permanently expel them from the world.

She does not know where their cloning facilities are located. Such places would be heavily guarded secrets entrusted to only the most loyal of the 'real' cultists.

7) What is the deal with Rand and that lock used to seal Nephila in her prison? How does this work, what is involved in the creation of such enchantment, how unique is it, and are there ways to reverse/dispel it and make one's mind to retain the information?

You ask her about it and she merely shrugs. It seems she has no idea what you are talking about so you take the time to explain Nephila's prison to her.

She says that she has never heard of such magic before but that would explain Rand's ability to hide so easily even in the dreams and memories of others. She says it must be very old magic or very new magic as she has not heard of it before. As far as she can tell from your acount the magic originates with the lock (as it likely predates Rand) and was copied over to Rand while he was being designed. She does not know why the process has not been used more often, perhaps the mage that created the first Rand was unable to reproduce the ritual for some reason.

It must be very unique.

She has no idea how to remove or dispel it. It might be a part of the 'man' himself and will only die with him.

8) Is the 'rival cult' in Stoneheim her doing? Does she have information about what happens in the city right now?

She has followers in Stoneheim if that is what you mean.

If however, you are talking about the tendency of the Goddess' Cults to fracture into competing branches then no. That is just a natural byproduct of the nature of the cults and the sort of people that get drawn into them.

All she knows is that the city still stands and it is under attack on multiple fronts. Conflict is wide spread and of varying severity.

9) Does she have information on her sister's movements and resourses? What armies she can muster, what parts of the Royal Army are under the cultist's control?

Not a lot. She is more interested in her sisters demonic forces and any attempts she might make to push into the Dreaming again.

She knows that her sister has helped the cultists by revealing weapons caches around the Kingdom. She also suspects that at least one of the cult leaders has obtained some way to directly contact the Goddess due to the way that 'Eberhardt' managed to return from the dead. She does not believe that the Goddess is directly leading the Cult though. She is fairly certain that while she is helping for her own reasons, it is the mortal leadership of the cults that are doing all of the actual work and their motives are simple to understand. They want power and they want to defeat the Watcher, to those ends they are willing to do almost anything.

It is not easy to estimate the resources and personnel the Goddess has at her disposal since the Cult is largely decentralized and often works at cross purposes with itself.

Of the nobility maybe thirty percent are cultists but most of them join 'pleasure cults' and are fairly harmless. Their money does help to fund the militant branches of the cult though so expect the cultist forces to be well equipped.

Of the general population the cult accounts for maybe fifteen percent so it is safe to assume that in any organization or institution there are cultists but again, most of those are not in direct contact with the real Goddess. Still, if proof of their Goddess was provided and they were asked to fight in her name there could very well be rioting and other problems.

The actual militant wing of the cult numbers maybe four hundred. These are the Goddess' actual followers and they operate in cells of ten to twenty members. Each cell is kept isolated from the others and they are kept on magically treated diets to keep Morpheus' goblins from spying on their dreams. It would be very difficult to find them all.

A significant number of them have been armed with magical equipment and sent out to aid the Eberhardt rebels in their battles so you will probably run into at least a few.

Then there are the rebels who are probably not actual cultists but have thrown their lot in with the Cult. They likely number somewhere in the thousands but it is hard to say with all the fighting going on in the south.

It is likely that fifteen percent of the army is also comprised of secret cultists. The heavy infantry in particular tend to be disproportionately compromised. She has no significant names to give you though. Her sister learnt to shield her most important agents centuries ago after Morpheus had three of her top generals assassinated in two days. She was livid after that, Morpheus smiled for a week non stop.

10) Who is that Wyrm of Flame and Shadow? Yes, I get is, he is a demon, but what does he want? What is his agenda? Is he involved in the affairs of the mortals in any way? Does he have a following? Does he have enemies? Is he the one the Seekers oppose? And if so, who do they serve, or who they might serve?

When they first met the Wyrm he was the one to suggest to the Goddess that she should claim a realm. The Lady is also fairly certain that he was the one to direct the Goddess toward the Swimmer. When the Goddess attacked and predictably failed he came to the sisters again and offered his help in exchange for his brother's entire realm. Without any other options the Goddess agreed.

The sisters outsmarted the Wyrm though, they betrayed him and devoured the corpse of the Swimmer, stealing his power. The Wyrm roared in anger, then stopped. The sisters prepared for battle but he merely laughed, amused at their deception, and said that they could keep the Swimmer's realm for a time. Then he swore on the bones of his brother that some day he would take his brother's realm in full.

The Lady is fairly certain that, that is what he wants. The Goddess' entire realm.

Sometimes her gets involved if he can gain an advantage from it but for the most part he simply waits and watches.

He does not have any sort of formal following. He probably has agents and allies here and there but they do not identify as such and finding them would prove quite difficult.

She would not use the term enemies. From what little she knows of him he only considered one being his enemy and that was his brother. Everything and everyone else he views as inferiors, as prey or playthings. He can be pleasant and joyful when he is in a good mood but he can and will easily fly into a rage over the slightest insult or challenge.

He is one of the one's the Seekers oppose.

She smiles and winks at you, "They serve no one living."

11) Does she know anything about the Silver Flame? What was that about the 'fire that purifies', the 'light without darkness' and that it is 'that which remembers when all is forgotten'? Is there another player that we are unaware of?

She stands and spins on the spot, her arms outstretched, beaming proudly, "You are looking at the Silver Flame," she declares, "Morpheus has his hobbies and I have mine. I can hear everything that goes on within that building and the barman is my servant."

12) Does she know the origins of the 'unforgotten, unforgiven' graffity? Whose doing is that and what do they imply?

She caught a fragment of a dream that might have a clue. It was dark and a drunken dwarf stumbled home. He swerved into an alley and caught sight of a person writing on the wall. They were hunched over with very long arms. When they saw the drunk they turned a ran on all fours. The words on the wall were 'unforgotten, unforgiven'.

She shrugs and says that she hopes that helps.

13) Is the ancient wanderer and the original owner of the spearhead the mage known as The Faceless Man? Anything known about his goals, motives or whereabouts? Why did he ally himself against the Swimmer in the fiorst place? How did they get ahold of a part of his weapon?

Yes.

His goals are his own and he has never shared them with her.

His current whereabouts are unknown as are his motives. From what little she knows of him though he will likely seek out an apprentice, he hates being alone.

It was a trade of favours. He would help them kill the swimmer and in exchange he demanded a single favour from each of them. They agreed to his deal.

The spearhead was placed in the tomb by a grinning man. Before that she has no idea where it was and she does not know how he got it.

14) What is the original purpose of the Spinner? I can't shake off the feeling that we use a microscope to hammer nails.

As mentioned above it was a gift. One with a lot of potential and which has inspired a number of imitators.

 

[Nevill]

Morpheus, in one of his fouler moods, took an interest in it as well and influenced the minds of the craftsmen constructing it. He made them think that the Goddess had revealed to them the truth of her accession and then he commanded them to chisel it into the very walls of the tomb.

Morpheus is a damn fine . We might want to be careful around him.

The form it took was due to Mayer's mind but the barrier itself is the work of Morpheus. Mayer is Morpheus' agent not hers, she does not have direct contact with him at all.

Then it raises the question of why it felt similar to the one we found in Hesse's mind. Does the Lady know what is wrong with Hesse? We know that his champion is one of the cultists, but what about the Lord himself?

Mayer's wife spent a very long time in the Dreaming, trapped and hunted by all manner of things.

Isn't the Dreaming supposed to be a trap for souls? A sweet lie, a cage without bars? Sort of how we were turned into wolves when we first entered it? So where does an extensive damage to one's mind come from?

Or would we end up the same way if the Faceless didn't intervene?

When certain rituals are preformed on the egg and it is submerged in specially treated fluids it begins to soften.

Do these rituals require material components of some kind? We might want to check the shops that sell these kinds of items and their clients as yet another lead to pursue.

Sometimes her gets involved if he can gain an advantage from it but for the most part he simply waits and watches.

What about his speech patterns? Does he have a habit of hisssssing when he ssssspeaks?

He is one of the one's the Seekers oppose.

All right. Who are the others?

And why do the Seekers oppose them at all?

She smiles and winks at you, "They serve no one living."

I am afraid that is too little to go by. Do they serve someone undead? Do they serve no one in particular, but a certain idea? Do they serve someone who is long dead, as in, 'completely dead'? And what is there to smile about?

I guess I would settle for these - do they serve the Watcher, do they serve any of the Watcher's allies, do they serve any of the Fallen Lords, and are they a threat to us or to the kingdom if we don't poke our nose in their business?

She stands and spins on the spot, her arms outstretched, beaming proudly, "You are looking at the Silver Flame," she declares, "Morpheus has his hobbies and I have mine. I can hear everything that goes on within that building and the barman is my servant."

Brilliant. I can't believe we asked Timo to look into that one.

Anyway, if we have gone that way already, is she the mysterious proprietor everyone talks about?

What does she know about Timo? Was he speaking the truth when he talked about Wenzel? I imagine he received his reports about the Weazels in the very same room.

Actually, what Timo knows about her? Is she helping him, or does she merely observe him?

Why was Timo reluctant to talk about Mayer? How did he know what happened to Mayer, if not through her? Wait, since people say that Timo is 'on the very intimate terms with the owner of the establishment', does it mean that he is her follower, agent or an admirer? Is that the real reason why people consider Timo to be a cultist?

How did she like our singing? Can we come by to perform again?

She caught a fragment of a dream that might have a clue. It was dark and a drunken dwarf stumbled home. He swerved into an alley and caught sight of a person writing on the wall. They were hunched over with very long arms.

Ghols. But what would they have against Albrecht specifically? The dwarves and the ghols are at war for several thousands years committing countless atrocities against each other. What could it possibly be that it deserved a special mention? I guess the Sovereigns will find out.

Continuing with the question for other parties.

Dietfrieds:
- How much of the Energon Whiskey you need to drink for it to have an effect? How many 'uses' a single bottle has? How dangerous it is for us assuming that we are able to drink a lot without losing control due to our, ah, excessive training?
- How addictive is the Enegon Whiskey? Is there a way to use it and not become an addict?
- From the talk of the customer in the north, the Brothers' reluctance to compromise, and the big letter 'M', I assume that the client they are talking about is Mazzarin? Why would he need the roots from the kingdom when there are thousands of them in Cath Bruig?
- Where do Brothers Dietfried get their roots? How long it would take to replenish their supply, and are they even interested in that?
- What are the perks of the Lunar Blade? Why would anyone want a blade that is completely useless 50% of the time, and is a dagger at best for other 25%?
- Are there any items on sale that allow to cast invisibility or otherwise manipulate one's vision (darkness, flash, blind, etc)?
- Are there items that allow one to see in the dark?
- Are there any items on sale that have effects operating on a 'X uses per day' basis, similar to Uttu's bowstring?
- Are there enchanted shields for sale? List all options.
- Are there any qualitative differences between a normal leather armor suit and the enchanted one? 30 WPs for a mere 3% of magical resistance sounds non-sensical. A fireball is just as surely will a wearer of enchanted suit as it would kill any other person. Why bother? Are there armors with different kind of enchantments that would be more useful for one's protection?
- Are there items that are better susceptible for enchantments, the ones that can hold a certain enchantment for longer than the spell usually lasts?
- Are there items that have similar distracting properties to a confusing/сonsuming/distracting riddles or to Gareth's shield of fear, the ones that affect enemies who look at them?
- Are there sturdy 'special' arrows that allow for multiple uses provided the arrow is picked up? An indestructible 'Arrow of Detonation', or some kind of 'Unerring Arrow', or something cool like that?
- Are there items that affect one's mobility? Allowing one run up the walls. walk faster, or perhaps slow down one's enemies?

Morpheus:
- Did he provide Nanshe with means of contacting him, or did he just contact her in her sleep? She should have been unable to do this unless he taught her how.
- What are his relations with the Spider Goddess, really? By the looks of it he is still wary of her invading the Dreaming again, and now that she may have the spearhead allowing her to kill powerful entities, he should be. But at the same time:

"Tell you what, I will not provide you with any detailed information about her activities here or in the other planes but by the same token I will not supply her with any detailed information about your activities in the Dreaming or elsewhere. That is the best I can do I am afraid."

Does that mean he still works with her from time to time, providing her with information (not about our activities, but in general)?
- What did he need Mayer for? He made him his agent, why? For amusement? For spying on the Goddess? Or is there some kind of other purpose to it? What determines whether a man becomes an agent or a toy in his grand collection?
- What is this construct in Mayer's mind that we've seen? The Lady told us it was his handiwork. What does it signify and why does it feel like it is made of black marble, the same marble the Goddess' temples are made of?
- Tell him about our encounter with the village mayor. Does he know what can affect a man's mind like that?

Ceannard:
- If we decide to buy out the Arrows, how is it going to work? Are we free to use them as our own company, or are there restrictions until the sum is paid in full? What about existing contracts the Arrows have, will we inherit them as well?
- What if we do not want to make our agreement public? Can we leave them to operate independently as they used to when we are not 'contracting' them for a job? What happens to the money they earn during such freelance work? On one hand, we did not buy them out fully yet. On another, their company belongs to us at least partially, since we are making our payments. Will this money be pooled with our resourses, split 50/50 with Ceannard, or what?
- What prompted him to change the rates at which the payments need to be made? It was only recently when he was ready to split the cost over 5 years, and now he requires us to make the payments in 2000 / 200 * 3 = 30 months, half as long. What gives? It is not like the current situation has any bearings on the costs, since if we die in the next 3 months, it is not going to matter, and if we don't, we have all the time in the world.

Misc:
- Can we do a background check on the maid? How did she end up in the debtors' prison, how did she end up being a maid, who does she owe to, and how much?
- Can we see what kind of spells Thais and Derryth prepared for each other?
- Do the Seekers know enchantment spells? If so, which ones? I can't stand seeing 20 mages twiddling their thumbs. I want them to enchant the weapons for our mercenaries, enhancing combat strength for at least a part of our forces.
- Did we get to enchanting Uttu's arrows?

 

[Nevill]

There are a pair of dice, one black with white pips and the other white with black pips. When you roll one of them the other will shift so that they read 'opposing numbers'. So if you roll the white die and it comes up 'six' then the black die will shift to reveal a 'one', that sort of thing.

The opposite numbers are 1/6, 2/5 and 3/4. The Brothers have not really found a use for them so far. They will sell them to you for 20 WPs.

Is there a limit to the distance over which the dice work? What is the maximum distance they were tested over, anyway?

Is there a delay between rolling a die and the second die shifting?

What happens if you roll two similar numbers twice? Does the second die not shift?

What happens if the second die is covered by a lead plate? Will it shift underneath it? Will it shift after the plate is lifted?

If the Brothers have not found a use for these dice, can we haggle them down to half the price? It is a fun trinket otherwise, nothing more. Good for entertainment, but they would never sell it for the price they ask.

But we collect those. Might be fun at parties.

 

[Fangshi]

Then it raises the question of why it felt similar to the one we found in Hesse's mind. Does the Lady know what is wrong with Hesse? We know that his champion is one of the cultists, but what about the Lord himself?

She does not. A great many demon lords/ladies and Gods/Goddesses use black as their colour of choice. It is all a bit cliche but she can't really complain. It could be worse, they could all be working in fuschia or something.

Isn't the Dreaming supposed to be a trap for souls? A sweet lie, a cage without bars? Sort of how we were turned into wolves when we first entered it? So where does an extensive damage to one's mind come from?

Or would we end up the same way if the Faceless didn't intervene?

It is but generally those that are trapped in that way are the property guests of the dream demons. They are kept safe and given their own perfect worlds to enjoy forever.

Mayer's wife was not captured by a dream demon. She was dumped into the Dreaming and to her credit she managed to avoid capture. However, the only way to survive among all those goblins and elves in the dark endless forests was to become more like them.

That is what the Lady means when she says that there was no magic involved there. No one 'broke' Helena's mind, she became feral to survive but what was useful in the Dreaming is less useful in the physical world where people are over all much more fragile.

Your minds instinctively protected themselves in much the same way, by going 'wild'. The difference is that you had Faceless to pull you out of it. Without Faceless you likely would have suffered the same fate as Helena unless you passed a few tough saves.

Do these rituals require material components of some kind? We might want to check the shops that sell these kinds of items and their clients as yet another lead to pursue.

A fair amount of water, a number of fairly common minerals, a bit of gold, and energon dust like you would get from ground up cubes. A lot of ground up cubes.

What about his speech patterns? Does he have a habit of hisssssing when he ssssspeaks?

She gives you a sympathetic glance, "Yes, have you had the great misfortune of meeting him?"

All right. Who are the others?

More of less every demon to ever exist.

And why do the Seekers oppose them at all?

They are opposed to all of the Dark Gods and their demons. It is a simple disagreement really, the Dark Gods wish to exist and the Seekers would rather they died. She does not see too much in the way of common ground there.

She cautions you against letting the Seekers discover that you are 'friends' with demons. They will not take that well.

Do they serve someone undead?

No.

Do they serve no one in particular, but a certain idea?

That would be one way of looking at it.

Do they serve someone who is long dead, as in, 'completely dead'?

She grins, "Now you are approaching the truth of it."

And what is there to smile about?

She finds their dedication to be amusing more than anything else.

do they serve the Watcher, do they serve any of the Watcher's allies, do they serve any of the Fallen Lords, and are they a threat to us or to the kingdom if we don't poke our nose in their business?

No, no, no and possibly. It would depend on whether or not they see the Kingdom as a tool of the Dark Gods.

Anyway, if we have gone that way already, is she the mysterious proprietor everyone talks about?

No, one of her daughters manages it. The Lady does not enter the physical realm herself.

What does she know about Timo? Was he speaking the truth when he talked about Wenzel? I imagine he received his reports about the Weazels in the very same room.

She knows that he cares deeply for his family, the Kingdom and the people though he often has an odd way of showing it.

As far as she can tell, yes. At the very least she is sure that Timo believes Wenzel is ultimately responsible though it is possible that the Prince has been deceived.

Actually, what Timo knows about her? Is she helping him, or does she merely observe him?

Timo knows next to nothing about her.

She might help every now and then but she does not want him to become suspicious of her and he is not very trusting to begin with. For the most part she simply observes him and works to make the Silver Flame a safe base from which he can operate.

Why was Timo reluctant to talk about Mayer?

Timo is not much on gossiping. He hoards secrets and information but he rarely shares and even when he does he often holds something back. It is possible it saw no advantage in telling you about Mayer, but honestly, she can only speculate on his motives.

How did he know what happened to Mayer, if not through her?

His agents or a demon perhaps. She must admit that she does not have an answer to that question.

Wait, since people say that Timo is 'on the very intimate terms with the owner of the establishment', does it mean that he is her follower, agent or an admirer?

She says, 'People say a great many things that aren't true'. She does not elaborate.

Is that the real reason why people consider Timo to be a cultist?

Probably not, very few people even know she exists and she has worked hard to ensure that the Silver Flame is not thought of as a nest of demons. There are a number of other reasons why someone might consider Timo a cultist. He has even told you some of them.

How did she like our singing? Can we come by to perform again?

She thought it was beautiful, she even called in Morpheus and they danced to it. Should you wish to preform again you may do so anytime. She will send instructions to her daughter to add you both to the members list.

How much of the Energon Whiskey you need to drink for it to have an effect? How many 'uses' a single bottle has? How dangerous it is for us assuming that we are able to drink a lot without losing control due to our, ah, excessive training?

8oz to power a normal spell. 16oz if you want to do something a bit more powerful. The bottles are 32oz.

It is not so much dangerous (to you directly) as it is highly addictive. The more you drink the drunker you get (physically and magically).

He has no idea how much you can handle but if you already know how to hold your liquor you can probably get more of it down then most mages.

How addictive is the Enegon Whiskey? Is there a way to use it and not become an addict?

Very addictive.

Well, he notes that some people are more resistant to forming additions than others but beyond that not really. You still have to drink the stuff to use it unless you want to set up some sort of operation to separate the energon and the alcohol and then use the dust that way. It would take a lot of dust though to power a single spell unless you plan to eat it or snort it.

From the talk of the customer in the north, the Brothers' reluctance to compromise, and the big letter 'M', I assume that the client they are talking about is Mazzarin? Why would he need the roots from the kingdom when there are thousands of them in Cath Bruig?

Dietfried has absolutely know way of knowing that and can neither confirm nor deny the identity of his other clients just as he would not tell others about your own shopping habits.

To do anything else would be incredibly unprofessional.

Where do Brothers Dietfried get their roots? How long it would take to replenish their supply, and are they even interested in that?

They used to buy them from a source up north on the grey market. They would then sell them to the Heron Guards stationed at the embassy (there were normally one to ten there at any given time). They did it more as a courtesy than anything else as the Guards tended to have large purses and would pick up a number of other (more profitable) items when they came into the shop (It was a bit of what we would consider a 'loss leader'). Now that the embassy is gone they do not see much point in restocking the roots though you could try to convince them otherwise.

What are the perks of the Lunar Blade? Why would anyone want a blade that is completely useless 50% of the time, and is a dagger at best for other 25%?

When it is at full power it can cut through a metre of solid stone with a single strike (If you are not careful it might get stuck after doing that though ) and without harming the blade (since the blade is merely energy). It is also an incredibly light and fast blade. In the hands of a master swordsman the lunar blade would be damn near unstoppable, ah, provided it was the right time of the month.

The rest of the time it is admittedly less useful but such is the way of magic. It is rare to find artefacts that are both powerful and easy to use and most of the ones that are, are sitting in Emperor Alric's royal treasury gathering dust. He is ready to admit that the Lunar Blade is not Balmung. It is not a sword that can flatten armies by itself.

Are there any items on sale that allow to cast invisibility or otherwise manipulate one's vision (darkness, flash, blind, etc)?

Q) Well, they do have a few sacks of chameleon's eyes. Salted and pickled lizard eyes that have each been enchanted to allow the user precisely three minutes worth of 'enhanced camouflage'. Basically you eat on of the eyes and you will blened in with your background. If you are careful you should be barely visible to those around you. Stick to dark areas and they will never see you.

There is a bit of a side effect though. If you eat a lot of them you may begin to develop reptilian characteristics, scales and such. Now these should go away after twelve hours or so as long as you do not eat any more of the eyes, they are also a bit difficult on human bodies (they work far better with dwarves or mauls).

He will sell you a full sack of twenty for twenty five WPs.

R) They do not have anything that will blind people or flash them but they do have about six 'vomit disks'. Basically how they work is you light them on fire and throw them at the target. Anyone within three metres of where they land will be hit with an odor so foul that it will trigger acute vomiting, nausea an extraordinarily painful dry heaving. The effects usually only last about ten minutes but if you have a very keen sense of smell it can last as long as twenty.

They tend to take the fight out of anyone they are used on.

They will not work on targets that can not smell for obvious reasons and you will want to be careful to not drop them after you light them. They can just as easily neutralize your group as the enemy's that way. Also he would recommend caution if you use them against wind mages as they can blow the gases the disks release right back at you, provided they are quick enough.

He can sell you a disk for 8WPs each.

Are there items that allow one to see in the dark?

S) He has an old and rather outdated mining surveyor in one of the back rooms. It is an interesting device that ingeniously uses inaudible pulses to map dark passages. It is a bit heavy though so he recommends that you use the cart it comes with, he could sell it to you for thirty five WPs.

T) He also has five potions that will let you see perfectly in the dark. They do have a defect though, as long as they are active in your system you will not be able to hear or taste anything. He is not quite sure why they do that to be honest. He will sell them to you for 8 WPs each.

Are there any items on sale that have effects operating on a 'X uses per day' basis, similar to Uttu's bowstring?

U) There is an old can of oil used to maintain sword blades. When filled with normal oils it enchants them with a random effect that is then applied to the sword it is used on. The effect seems to alter every twenty four hour. So far he has seen a frost effect, a flame effect, a corrosive effect (that ate much of the test blade it was applied to), an electrical effect, a 'lightening' effect that made the blade weigh less and move quicker, a 'strengthening' effect that made the blade heavier, slower, and hit harder, a 'talking' effect which made the blade repeat everything that was said near it on command, a 'party' effect that made the blade radiate blue, pink, orange and green lights but did nothing else, and an explosive effect that cause the sword to explode when it made contact with a target (the soldier he had testing that blade sadly lost his arm as a result).

For some reason Dietfried has had trouble finding a buyer. He will give it to you for 5 WPs.

V) He has a clock that is right twice a day! Actually... it might just be a broken clock, he can't remember. He will give it to you for 2 WPs

W) He has knife that can emit a high pitched tone once a day. The tone is so loud that it can drown out all other noises within a twenty metre radius. It will definitely leave your ears ringing. To activate it you merely have to press in a small button on the base of the hilt. The blade itself seems to be hollow with a pair of holes at the base. He would not recommend using it as an actual knife but it may be more durable than it looks. You can have it for 10 WPs.

X) He has a metre long and half metre wide tube that when fully charged will launch an elemental AOE spell. You select the element by interacting with a small compartment at its base. You open the compartment and place a 'sample' of the element you want inside. So for example if you want a fire spell you would open the compartment and cast create fire into it, or if you want an ice spell you open the compartment and cast a basic ice spell into it. It should also work with non magical fire, ice, earth, etc. It does take a fair bit of time to charge though, three full days, and it needs a source of energy to do so, so energon cubes or crystals. To charge it will require eight energon cubes or two crystals.

He has two of these devices and will sell each for forty WPs.

- Are there enchanted shields for sale? List all options.

Y) He has a shield made from a single piece of treated wood. It is completely fire proof and will reflect any fire based spell that hits it back at whoever cast it. If it is hit with ice magic though it will freeze solid and will be rendered useless until it defrosts. (15 WPs)

Z) He has an unworked sheet of iron with a handle strapped to the back of it. It is incredibly durable but quite heavy. (18 WPs)

AA) He has a mid sized, reinforced hide shield that draws all projectiles to it and away from the person holding it. The shield itself is reasonably durable but it does not distinguish between 'safe' projectiles like arrows that it can reasonably stop and 'unsafe' projectiles like cocktails that will still get past it., (20 WPs)

AB) He has a brand new steel shield. It is enchanted to be quite light but other than that it is just a normal shield. (24 WPs)

AC) He has a large shield that can attract and pin metal weapons to its surface. It is controlled by a switch in the grip. He has been told that the weight on it is a bit 'odd' or unbalanced and that it might take practice to get used to fighting with it but the ability to disarm an opponent at will (as long as their weapon is metal) could be worth the hassle. (28 WPs)

AD) Finally he has a striped wooden shield covered by a thick cloth. When he pulls the cloth off you find it difficult to think clearly, you doubt you could cast while looking at it. He says that the shield is designed to confuse and distract those it is pointed at. Unfortunately the shield itself is not terribly large and it does not look that strong either. A few good strikes and it will probably break like any simple wooden shield would. (30 WPs)

Are there any qualitative differences between a normal leather armor suit and the enchanted one? 30 WPs for a mere 3% of magical resistance sounds non-sensical. A fireball is just as surely will a wearer of enchanted suit as it would kill any other person. Why bother? Are there armors with different kind of enchantments that would be more useful for one's protection?

You are not likely to find any one item with more than 5% magical resistance to buy. Anything that grants more resistance is likely an artefact of great age or power.

Sadly, it is not an enchantment that is well understood and it takes a lot of time and effort to even get that much of a boost from it. Some people are interested in grabbing every little advantage they can get but most mages just prefer not to get hit with a spell to begin with and those that know healing/regenerative/physical magic often try to 'out heal' the damage they receive or simply weather it. It hurts a lot but as long as concentration is maintained it can work.

AE) He has three suits of mail that have been enchanted to be almost weightless. (40 WPs each)

AF) He has a suit of leather that has been enchanted to improve fine muscle control, coordination and overall dexterity. (50 WPs)

The real problem is that four fifths of the armour he has is designed for dwarves. It simply won't fit you so you are limited to his human stock and a good portion of that has been bought up by mercenaries and the like over the last two weeks.

- Are there items that are better susceptible for enchantments, the ones that can hold a certain enchantment for longer than the spell usually lasts?

Nothing better than the jewelry you already have.

- Are there items that have similar distracting properties to a confusing/сconsuming/distracting riddles or to Gareth's shield of fear, the ones that affect enemies who look at them?

Yes, see the last in the list of shields. Other than that though, not really.

Are there sturdy 'special' arrows that allow for multiple uses provided the arrow is picked up? An indestructible 'Arrow of Detonation', or some kind of 'Unerring Arrow', or something cool like that?

Afraid not. The enchantments on the arrows are usually one time affairs simply because it does not make sense to pour a great deal of time and effort into something you are firing at the enemy and may never get back.

He does has one item though that might meet your need. It is sometime in his private collection, not even for sale really but Uttu is so adorable he will make an exception if you wish.

AG) The Ivory Arrow, a single arrow made entirely from a single piece of ivory (the head and shaft are one piece). The fletches are from no bird he knows of but they are as white as fresh snow. All along the shaft and head of the arrow black ruins are etched, they serve two purposes. The runes on the shaft serve as a permanent and very specific retrieve item spell. When the arrow hits home it will instantly return to its owner's hand, ready for further use. The runes in the tip can store five basic elemental spells and the arrow will use one spell every time it strikes a target. He will sell it to you for 50 WPs.

- Are there items that affect one's mobility? Allowing one run up the walls. walk faster, or perhaps slow down one's enemies?

- He has four pairs of leather boots that allow their wearer to climb walls and walk on ceilings. (20 WPs a pair)

He does not have anything to actually speed you up or slow others down but he does have a vial of a very addictive magical solution that will speed up your ability to process information and increase your ability to notice details. It should allow you to cast fast as a result and your mental spells would be greatly improved. There is enough solution in the vial for two doses. It also might make you hallucinate a little. (30 WPs each)

- Did he provide Nanshe with means of contacting him, or did he just contact her in her sleep? She should have been unable to do this unlesshe taught her how.

He taught her how to meditate and contact him when necessary. That is how she contacted him this time.

- What are his relations with the Spider Goddess, really? By the looks of it he is still wary of her invading the Dreaming again, and now that she may have the spearhead allowing her to kill powerful entities, he should be. But at the same time:

Does that mean he still works with her from time to time, providing her with information (not about our activities, but in general)?

He grins and his wife sighs. She answers for him, "My sister is very beautiful and some people do not know to quit while they are ahead."

Morpheus grins even wider.

- What did he need Mayer for? He made him his agent, why? For amusement? For spying on the Goddess? Or is there some kind of other purpose to it?

He did it because it seemed like a fun idea. Also he liked the idea of reuniting husband and wife after so long, it is just a shame it did not turn out better.

Naturally once he had an agent of his very own he had to decide what to do with Mayer. He thought it would be great fun to have the Banker spy on the Cult and he had enough faith in Mayer to believe he could pull it off.

What determines whether a man becomes an agent or a toy in his grand collection?

Largely how cautious the person in question is.

- What is this construct in Mayer's mind that we've seen? The Lady told us it was his handiwork. What does it signify and why does it feel like it is made of black marble, the same marble the Goddess' temples are made of?

The construct is his way of helping to protect Mayer from the Cultists.

It is made of black marble because the Goddess tends to use the same on her followers. If the cultists were to go poking around in his head then it would be better for Mayer if they think he is an ally investigating them for the Goddess than an enemy investigating them for Morpheus. It is also unlikely that anyone else would be able to recognize the importance of the black spire so Mayer is fairly safe from government agents as well. They are likely to think it is merely some sort of custom mental defense system built for the banker (he has a fair amount of money after all). Additionally there are not too many mentalists in the employ of the government (in fact, the two of you are the only notable ones that he can think of) so it is not too likely that Mayer will have to worry about the government anyway. The Cult does employ illusionists and mentalists though so it is more important that Mayer can 'pass' as one when needed.

- Tell him about our encounter with the village mayor. Does he know what can affect a man's mind like that?

Either a great deal of discipline, a mind completely untroubled by thoughts, or a mind that has been purged by powerful magic.

- If we decide to buy out the Arrows, how is it going to work? Are we free to use them as our own company, or are there restrictions until the sum is paid in full? What about existing contracts the Arrows have, will we inherit them as well?

Depends on how you buy them out. If you keep Ceannard on as a partner he will want a say in things. If you make him an officer he will follow your orders as long as you keep up the payments. If you can't make the payments then the Arrows will return to Ceannard's control though he might allow you to delay the odd payment slightly if he is happy with how you are running things.

No specific restrictions as long as you pay.

Yes, you would inherit their contracts and you would be expected to uphold them or to negotiate a way out of them that would not ruin the Arrows' reputation. If you just drop them then Ceannard will not be happy. You do not know what sorts of contracts he currently has out but you have been monopolizing his time and resources for months now so it is entirely possible that he has next to nothing currently on the books.

- What if we do not want to make our agreement public? Can we leave them to operate independently as they used to when we are not 'contracting' them for a job? What happens to the money they earn during such freelance work? On one hand, we did not buy them out fully yet. On another, their company belongs to us at least partially, since we are making our payments. Will this money be pooled with our resourses, split 50/50 with Ceannard, or what?

If you do not officially take over he will continue to run things as long as he is around. He will also continue to run the company much as he has unless you give him instructions otherwise.

The money will stay with the Arrows. If you want to collect some of it you will need to establish some way of indirectly filtering it to you. Mayer should be able to work something out.

Well, the money will be yours so you can split it how you want but if you don't want people finding out that you own the Arrows you will have to be discrete about it.

- What prompted him to change the rates at which the payments need to be made? It was only recently when he was ready to split the cost over 5 years, and now he requires us to make the payments in 2000 / 200 * 3 = 30 months, half as long. What gives? It is not like the current situation has any bearings on the costs, since if we die in the next 3 months, it is not going to matter, and if we don't, we have all the time in the world.

The smart ass answer would be that he now has a family to think about and Ceannard is no 'deadbeat dad'.

Honestly, he has been thinking about what it means to work with you and he is not sure he will make it five years. He wants to be able to spend all that money if needed.

- Can we do a background check on the maid? How did she end up in the debtors' prison, how did she end up being a maid, who does she owe to, and how much?

Sure, you do a bit of digging and this is what you find. She has never been to a debtor' prison and she took the job as a maid because it is one of the things she can do well. The debts she seems to owe are actually owed by her mother who is in debtors' prison. Her mother is not in good health though and she can not work enough to pay down the debts. If her mother dies then all that debt falls to her and she will be carted off to prison.

She is both free and trapped at the same time.

Her mother owes about 500WPs worth of gold to her former employer. The chief finanical officer of a large mining company based out of Stoneheim, his name is Birgir.

It was claimed that her mother stole from Birgir and his wife. The original sum was 10 WPs but the interest rate is quite high and it compounds monthly...

- Can we see what kind of spells Thais and Derryth prepared for each other?

And ruin the surprises?

Yeah, sure.

I will add them to the list in the resource section when I have time to type them out but since you are not likely to have time to learn them until you are done in the south I see no point to rush.

When I do get them typed out I will also post them in a regular post so you do not need to constantly search the spell list for additions.

All told you are looking at roughly a dozen new spells from their gifts.

- Do the Seekers know enchantment spells? If so, which ones? I can't stand seeing 20 mages twiddling their thumbs. I want them to enchant the weapons for our mercenaries, enhancing combat strength for at least a part of our forces.

No, they are not like the enchanters you could hire from the Academy. They are battle mages and none of them know enchantments.

- Did we get to enchanting Uttu's arrows?

Yes you have time. I just forgot to do it.

I will add a handful of enchantments to them when I get around to updating the character/organization sheets.



Ideally I would like to close the voting in seventy two hours at the most, provided the DISCUSS is completed by then.

As soon as I do I will post the Interlude.

 

[Jester]

"Her gift was gratefully received and over time a number of copies were also produced. They look similar to the original in every detail but they are far more fragile. They operate on the same principle but one must be careful not to overfeed them or feed them liquids. If you do either you will break them and they are an absolute pain to try and fix."
crap send massage to academy to not do those things.

 

[Fangshi]

crap send massage to academy to not do those things.

On the bright side you will soon find out if you have the near indestructible original or just one of the copies.

Edit:

Missed the dice questions so here are the answers:

Is there a limit to the distance over which the dice work? What is the maximum distance they were tested over, anyway?

He does not know the maximum distance. They have been tested in one of the store rooms with each brother standing across the room from the other (so many ten metres) and they worked.

Is there a delay between rolling a die and the second die shifting?

About ten seconds. Long enough to easily read the die.

What happens if you roll two similar numbers twice? Does the second die not shift?

It does a complete roll and ends up where it began to clearly show that its partner has been rolled.

What happens if the second die is covered by a lead plate? Will it shift underneath it? Will it shift after the plate is lifted?

The brothers admit that they do not know so they fetch some led to test it.

When it is simply rolled under a lead sheet the second die behaves a normal.

Then they have the idea to put it in a lead box and close the lead. They give the box a really good shake and again the dice moves.

This would suggest that the dice are not just sending signals to one another through space. They are actually bound to one another somehow (entangled one could almost say).

The Brothers are at a loss to explain how the dice work.

If the Brothers have not found a use for these dice, can we haggle them down to half the price? It is a fun trinket otherwise, nothing more. Good for entertainment, but they would never sell it for the price they ask.

They might be willing to shave five or six WPs off as a personal service to a valued customer. How does 14 WPs sound?

Edit 2:

Missed these as well...

Don't we fill that niche, though?

Why is Eberhardt so popular after he was convicted of conspiring with the said necromancers? Didn't he flee the city when the necromancers attacked when we stayed to fight? What did he do for the Fort Blackford (no, not even Blackrock) and about the Watcher's army besieging them? He is a hero after driving away an attack on some prison, but what about us breaking an thousand-strong army half a day of travel away from the capital?

Why would his word carry weight against ours?

Yes you do but you also were not around, you were at Blackrock so Albrecht could not trot out his 'heroes' to remind the people of who they should be cheering for.

You have also not done anything impressive lately. The Lords have managed to play down the battle at Blackrock quite a bit. Most people do not know about the battle at Blackrock and of those that do many are operating on the false assumption that it was a mere skirmish, a distraction from events to the south.

The King would like to promote it more but the proximity of Blackrock to Myrgard makes that a bit difficult. If he claims that a massive, Shade led army was little over a day from the capital it could well cause a panic and he is trying to avoid that. He wants everyone to continue to go about their normal lives so he needs to maintain the illusion that the capital is safe and beyond danger.

Eberhardt is being considered a hero because he fought off the necromancer attack within the city. Most people do not realize that the compound that was attacked was a prison and even fewer realize that the necromancers escaped with their primary target. They think that Eberhardt saved the day and he did it in very dramatic fashion, 'glowing with the avenging light of the ancestors themselves'. Whoever built the new Eberhardt knew dwarven history well as the powers Eberhardt used mirror those used by heroes in the earliest dwarven legends. Eberhardt has positioned himself as an avenging angel and it was enough to convince many, that already doubted the King, of Eberhardt's innocence.

The Cult has also likely had a hand in spreading rumours that the King faked the charges against Eberhardt and that the purge was politically motivated and not for 'the good of the Dwarven people'.

So Eberhardt's star is once more on the rise and you have fallen a bit in the public eye.

Don't worry though, smash a few more armies in full public view and I am sure you will once more be unrivalled.

 

[Jester]

"In the hands of a master swordsman the lunar blade would be damn near unstoppable, ah, provided it was the right time of the month."
The Women Sword totally.

"Either a great deal of discipline, a mind completely untroubled by thoughts, or a mind that has been purged by powerful magic."
Might be place where watcher got his wife from. I doubt anyone less than top could do such thing without totally breaking his mind. Or mby its the guy who left spearhead, sound like certain bsing dark lord.

"Yes, you would inherit their contracts and you would be expected to uphold them or to negotiate a way out of them that would not ruin the Arrows' reputation. If you just drop them then Ceannard will not be happy. You do not know what sorts of contracts he currently has out but you have been monopolizing his time and resources for months now so it is entirely possible that he has next to nothing currently on the books."
Or we can tell him to go fulfil them when we deal with our current stuf. I expect we will leave him in charge of Arrows.

"Well, the money will be yours so you can split it how you want but if you don't want people finding out that you own the Arrows you will have to be discrete about it."
Or we just say to him that our part will go to paying for company.

"It was claimed that her mother stole from Birgir and his wife. The original sum was 10 WPs but the interest rate is quite high and it compounds monthly..."
Son of a... add this guy to black list... and mby find out if she truly stolen that. If not we might know what will be first job of mice infiltrators.

"And ruin the surprises?"
You dont have to, i dont mind finding out when Derryth will actually learn them.

"He has a clock that is right twice a day! Actually... it might just be a broken clock, he can't remember. He will give it to you for 2 WPs"
Are clocks usual sight or is it rare, but not working thing? Is it magical?

"- He has four pairs of leather boots that allow their wearer to climb walls and walk on ceilings. (20 WPs a pair)"
Uuu thats cool. Learning that enchantment might be worth their price. They got any drawbacks? Like they only work for hour, need recharge, or smt?

"He has three suits of mail that have been enchanted to be almost weightless. (40 WPs each) He has a suit of leather that has been enchanted to improve fine muscle control, coordination and overall dexterity. (50 WPs)"
Those are nice, but only if we would have resources and infrastructure to be able to reproduce them. Still for now i expect we will skip them. Mails enchantment might be used on full plate? Mauls extra heavy shock troopers.

"He has knife that can emit a high pitched tone once a day. The tone is so loud that it can drown out all other noises within a twenty metre radius. It will definitely leave your ears ringing. To activate it you merely have to press in a small button on the base of the hilt. The blade itself seems to be hollow with a pair of holes at the base. He would not recommend using it as an actual knife but it may be more durable than it looks. You can have it for 10 WPs."
Interesting base for a flashbang grenade.

"There is an old can of oil used to maintain sword blades. When filled with normal oils it enchants them with a random effect"
Can we make more of it? And can we apply to everything we want? Like armour, castles walls, elephants? How long effect remain on applied item? If we apply oil to something right before switch in jar will proprieties on said item also change?

"He has an old and rather outdated mining surveyor in one of the back rooms. It is an interesting device that ingeniously uses inaudible pulses to map dark passages. It is a bit heavy though so he recommends that you use the cart it comes with, he could sell it to you for thirty five WPs."
Echolocation? Hmmmm... i assume if we make a portable device we could use it to break all mater of visual illusion. And there are other perks.

Spoiler

D&D aliens crossover

"They will not work on targets that can not smell for obvious reasons and you will want to be careful to not drop them after you light them. They can just as easily neutralize your group as the enemy's that way. Also he would recommend caution if you use them against wind mages as they can blow the gases the disks release right back at you, provided they are quick enough."
Nonlethal CC weapon. Might be nice secret anti ghoul weapon. Mby we should get few of those just in case. They sound like thing perfect for clearing fortifications on other hand.

"She caught a fragment of a dream that might have a clue. It was dark and a drunken dwarf stumbled home. He swerved into an alley and caught sight of a person writing on the wall. They were hunched over with very long arms. When they saw the drunk they turned a ran on all fours. The words on the wall were 'unforgotten, unforgiven'."
Send info to our investigation group.

"Ghols. But what would they have against Albrecht specifically? The dwarves and the ghols are at war for several thousands years committing countless atrocities against each other. What could it possibly be that it deserved a special mention?"
Or mby they mean that they still wish "their" land back and its sign of Empress Nashe ambitions... reminds me her dream.

Can Morpheus Nightmare somehow "clone" mind of person strongly imprinted in dreaming?

The demons in the Dreaming can capture and store specific memories (generally the ones they find interesting) but no one has tried to map out a dreamer's entire mind before. It is theoretically possible but it would have to be executed perfectly to prevent flaws from popping up as a result. The demons are far more likely to get it wrong than get it right and the first person it is tried on is likely to suffer quite a bit from the disjointed nature of their new mind.

There is also the problem of the pre-existing mind to deal with. If you do manage to create a clone of a mind then you will have to destroy the original mind you wish to replace and minds are surprisingly resilient in that regard. They are easy to damage but had to destroy and there would be the risk that the original disturbed thoughts/memory/etc will reassert themselves over time.

Wait... what if we will use clone/dreaming to determine exactly the point when her mind was still sane instead and we erase further than that memories in original. Or we could use Mayer memories to find day when she was abducted. That could solve one problems. We could to try to use dream as sort of special care place, to hurry up ger restoration process after procedure.

"It has to be properly rolled but the rolling does not have to be random so if you could roll it the exact same way on the exact same surface at the exact same speed and position you could probably determine what numbers will come up before hand. It would definitely be difficult for a person to do but perhaps a machine might be able to get the desired results."
Or we roll n times and just leave desired outcome.

"Yes, that is certainly doable and DTL could probably figure it out fairly quickly if they had the resources to hand and the time to experiment."
So we can set rituals like gate to in such way? There are some drawn parts i think. Could it be alerted to be used with liquids?

"She smiles at the mention of it and nods, if it is her original spinner then she can tell you a great deal about it."
Can she tell us how we can determine if its her original? If someone knows she should.

Questions to lady:
Hello sexy spider lady. Could you tell us about your family? Names, dwelling places, occupation etc. We dont want accidentally kill/fight bystanders thinking they are Theridiidae agents.
Btw Theridiidae is your sister "true" name? (it increased effect work in this setting?)
Is there way you prefer to be refereed to, or can we call you Sparassidae?
Did Faceless already cashed on his favour from you? If so what did he make you do?
Who made Spinner btw? (One of death sisters? i am guessing)
Did you meet any of your sister daughters?

 

[Jester]

crap send massage to academy to not do those things.

On the bright side you will soon find out if you have the near indestructible original or just one of the copies.

my pet. We said to them to not feed strange things to it and be carefull. Jerks. Jan might be in trouble when we find out. Although it might be funny to see intermission in Academy depicting how they try to fix/hide problem afraid of reaction of one of best mages in kingdom.

There goes custom made special forces uniforms for our troops. And gliders. And barbed wire. Reinforced steel constructions to. And special flavour spaghetti. Dmn it.

 

[Fangshi]

Are clocks usual sight or is it rare, but not working thing? Is it magical?

They are an unusual sight outside of the Kingdom. Inside of the Kingdom they are not as rare but are still expensive.

You can not tell if it is magical. It does not seem to have any runes etched on the outside of the casing but it is also definitely broken so it could be magical and simply not active.

They got any drawbacks? Like they only work for hour, need recharge, or smt?

They grip to any surface quite tightly so they do slow you down a bit. You will either have to walk very slowly or sort of slide your feet along the surface you wish to climb. You also have to deal with the natural effects of fighting gravity while only being tethered by the soles of your feet. It may actually be easier to wear one pair on your feet and the other on your hands to give you four points of contact and help keep you upright instead of dangling.

Can we make more of it?

Yes, the effects of the oil seem to last for about twelve hours so if you happened to get an a useful enchantment around the time when it would be helpful you could make large batches of it (one can at a time) and store it for later use.

And can we apply to everything we want? Like armour, castles walls, elephants? How long effect remain on applied item?

Yes, you can.

It will last for twelve hours, starting from the moment it is poured from the can.

If we apply oil to something right before switch in jar will proprieties on said item also change?

If you finish pouring before it switches over then you will get the old effect.

If you are pouring while it changes then you will coat the object in both effects (the effects will be applied in proportion to the amount of oil used before and after the change). The effects might work well together or they might combine with catastrophic results. Since it is random there is no way to know (even I won't know till I roll for it ).

Wait... what if we will use clone/dreaming to determine exactly the point when her mind was still sane instead and we erase further than that memories in original.

That could work, yes. Though it might leave her feeling a little confused.

Or we could use Mayer memories to find day when she was abducted. That could solve one problems. We could to try to use dream as sort of special care place, to hurry up ger restoration process after procedure.

That could also work. You would need to find the point in her memories that corresponds to the physical moment she was lost though. The book might help with that if you could get her to sit still long enough to use it without destroying it.

So we can set rituals like gate to in such way? There are some drawn parts i think. Could it be alerted to be used with liquids?

It might work. You would need to set up all the physical components is such a way that you could view them all clearly at once. Then you would have to memorize that exact image. So maybe set it up in a building with scaffolding hanging from the roof. You could then climb up and 'take in' the ritual as a whole.

It would be important to get every detail completely correct or you might end up blowing yourself up or summoning some sort of abomination.

Can she tell us how we can determine if its her original? If someone knows she should.

The replicas are made to look exactly like the original spinner but their internal components are different. If you can get the Spinner open without breaking it and its mechanisms are made from regular metal then you know you have a replica and not the original.

Alternatively you could try feeding it water, if it breaks then it is not the original.

Hello sexy spider lady. Could you tell us about your family? Names, dwelling places, occupation etc. We dont want accidentally kill/fight bystanders thinking they are Theridiidae agents.

She smiles warmly and readily agrees to tell you about her family.

She does not know anything about her mother or father. She does not even know if she has a mother or father. She was born from an egg, one of seven each with a different hue. She hatched first and stumbled out of her shell into a world of fire and searing rain. She let out a single cry which was soon answered by another behind her. Theridiidae hatched moments later and the rest of her sisters were not far behind.

She sighs at the memory of a simpler time, "The seven of us had no one but each other and I took it upon myself to look after my sisters as best as I could. Theridiidae was a great help early on, very determined, very aggressive, she secured things for us that we had no right to have. She scared of demons two times her size and three times her age. I remember once young Hexathelidae was cornered by a Forgotten One in the Silver Forests of Pure Fancy. It was huge but sister did not hesitate for a moment, she attacked and drove it off, then proceeded to scold Hexathelidae for a full hour," she drops her gaze, "They were harder times but happier."

Her dead sisters are named: Nemesiidae, Migidae, Pholcidae, Eresidae, Hexathelidae.

Not that the names will mean much to anyone anymore.

She has four hundred and eighty two children, all with Morpheus. She loves each of them dearly and encourages them to work together or at the least to tolerate each other.

She could name them all, she could even introduce you to most of them but she doubts that you would find the experience terribly enlightening.

Four hundred and twenty of them spend their time in the Dreaming, helping out here and there.

Fifty nine are spread out throughout the planes at various friendly courts and the like. They serve as her eyes and ears abroad.

The last three are in your world.

One is the proprietor of the Silver Flame, her name is Delena. She can be charming or infuriating depending on her mood but she rarely meets with anyone but the barman. It is within her power to cloak her appearance in case of emergency so it is unlikely she will be discovered anytime soon.

The second one lives in Muirthemne and holds court there behind the scenes. She is careful to avoid the Emperor's eye and is one of Sparassidae's most careful agents. She spends most of her time looking for the influence of the Spider Cult in the city and attempting to neutralize any agents or demons of Theridiidae that happen to enter the city. Her name is Isopeda and she is a skilled mage in her own right.

The last one you are unlikely to meet for he travels constantly. He is Sparassidae's executioner in your world, and is one of her oldest and most skilled warriors. His name is Olios and should you come to blows with him she suggests to tell him that you are a 'witness to that which must not be forgotten', those exact words. He should then know you are a friend and will at least stop to talk to you before he tries to kill and eat you.

She also has one thousand eight hundred grandchildren and several thousand more descents. She has a fairly large family and does not know them all by name but they will all share some of her features. If you meet a demon you suspect is related to her feel free to mention her name, you might have a ally and not even know it. Of course if the demon in question is loyal to her sister or any of the more general enemies of the Dreaming they may very well attack you.

Then of course her sister's children are also technically part of her family.

At last count the Goddess had 578 children, 2758 grandchildren, 10, 072 great-grandchildren, and somewhere near fifty thousand great-great-grandchildren.

It is a big family and growing all the time but the only one she actually likes is Nephila and Sparassidae says that if you are close enough to the girl to swear a bloodpact with her and free her from her prison then you probably know as much about Nephila as she does.

Btw Theridiidae is your sister "true" name? (it increased effect work in this setting?)

It is her true name and would be necessary for certain spells and contracts but it is not some terrible secret that will rob her sister of all power. It is useful to know though ishould you have to deal with her.

Is there way you prefer to be refereed to, or can we call you Sparassidae?

She grins, "Well, I will admit I quite like 'sexy spider lady'," she winks at you, "But Sparassidae is certainly fine, as is my title if you want something with fewer syllables. I am not one to dwell on names I prefer to focus on the people behind them."

Did Faceless already cashed on his favour from you? If so what did he make you do?

She grows quite and impossibly still. For a moment you think she might be dead or sleeping but then she speaks in a voice little more than a whisper, "He asked me to enter your world and help him cast a spell. Something to sink the land and raise the seas. I was honour bound to agree..."

Who made Spinner btw? (One of death sisters? i am guessing)

She nods, "Young Hexathelidae built it."

Did you meet any of your sister daughters?

She has met many of them in battle and killed a fair number of them too.

The only one she has spoken to in a civilized manner is Nephila and she quite liked the girl.

 

[Nevill]

Son of a... add this guy to black list... and mby find out if she truly stolen that. If not we might know what will be first job of mice infiltrators.

The guy is one of the top cultists, he is already on our black list.

Ah, what an interesting turn.

It makes it all the easier to recruit her, no? Just tell her that she is committing treason on the behest of the very people that have thrown her mother in the debtors' prison, to be able to pay them the debt that could easily be forgiven if she just helps us destroy them. After all, if Birgir is exposed as a traitor, the debt may be challenged as 'fake' and 'unjust'.

I wonder if that is how Rand found her. The cultist bankers may have pointed to him some of the more desperate people that are basically their slaves. And any money they 'pay' for the information returns to them. It is ingenious.

I will add a suggestion for Timo and Mayer to check if the other cultist's debtors have been similarly compromised. Even if they were not, these people would jump on an opportunity to drown their creditors given a chance. There is potential for an agent network there.

They got any drawbacks? Like they only work for hour, need recharge, or smt?

The dwarves already have these things, and with no magic involved:

You did not think it was possible but they are getting ever more excited as they go, Biliku grabs your hand, "They have these gloves that let you climb walls Derryth! They even let Uttu try them!"

She grows quite and impossibly still. For a moment you think she might be dead or sleeping but then she speaks in a voice little more than a whisper, "He asked me to enter your world and help him cast a spell. Something to sink the land and raise the seas. I was honour bound to agree..."

Let me guess. The Kingdom of Yer-Ks?

The fucker. Poor Nine.

He does not know the maximum distance. They have been tested in one of the store rooms with each brother standing across the room from the other (so many ten metres) and they worked.

Let us try it over a distance. One die will stay with the Brothers, and the other we will take with us to the Palace. One guard will monitor the die. At evening, the Brothers will cast theirs 5 times, noting the numbers. Our guard will write the numbers if the dice work.

How long from the Brothers' shop to the Palace, anyway? Several kilometers? Perhaps there are convenient spots that are even farther from the shop?

If they are able to work in such a fashion, we may send a messenger and a payment in the morning to claim the other die. Otherwise we will just return our die.

About ten seconds. Long enough to easily read the die.

What happens if you throw the first die in quick succession? Does the 2nd die queue its shifts?

This would suggest that the dice are not just sending signals to one another through space. They are actually bound to one another somehow (entangled one could almost say).

Quantum entanglement in my medieval setting? How nice.

You do not know what sorts of contracts he currently has out but you have been monopolizing his time and resources for months now so it is entirely possible that he has next to nothing currently on the books.

Ah, come on. We hired him once for 5 days (for a trip to the desert and back), once for a day, and the third time for about 2 weeks. That is hardly 'monopolizing his time for months'.

The money will stay with the Arrows. If you want to collect some of it you will need to establish some way of indirectly filtering it to you. Mayer should be able to work something out.

Well, the money will be yours so you can split it how you want but if you don't want people finding out that you own the Arrows you will have to be discrete about it.

So basically, he does not mind joining us 'for free' if we ensure that his company makes 2000 WPs in 2.5 years, is that what he is saying? If he is willing to run the company as he did before barring an odd job from us, consider the money they make ours, and let us pay for the company out of these funds?

They will not work on targets that can not smell for obvious reasons and you will want to be careful to not drop them after you light them. They can just as easily neutralize your group as the enemy's that way. Also he would recommend caution if you use them against wind mages as they can blow the gases the disks release right back at you, provided they are quick enough.

He can sell you a disk for 8WPs each.

Since they have obviously so many limitations (they are useless against the undead, or the wind mages, they might backfire on the user spectacularly, etc etc), let Thais discuss buying them for 4 WPs apiece (with the aim to settle on 6 WPs for each disk).

 

[Fangshi]

I will add a suggestion for Timo and Mayer to check if the other cultist debtors' may be similarly compromised. Even if they are not, these people would jump on an opportunity to drown their creditors given a chance. There is potential for an agent network there.

Sure, that should not require a vote as it is fairly sensible advice.

Let me guess. The Kingdom of Yer-Ks?

She nods but does not say a word.

Let us try it over a distance. One die will stay with the Brothers, and the other we will take with us to the Palace. One guard will monitor the die. At evening, the Brothers will cast theirs 5 times, noting the numbers. Our guard will write the numbers if the dice work.

How long from the Brothers' shop to the Palace, anyway? Several kilometers? Perhaps there are convenient spots that are even farther from the shop?

If they are able to work in such a fashion, we may send a messenger and a payment in the morning to claim the other die. Otherwise we will just return our die.

Alright, you tried it and it worked. So you know it can cover a distance of four or five kilometres at least. Now you just have to decide if you want them or not. If you do just vote for the option, if you don't then the die will automatically go back.

What happens if you throw the first die in quick succession? Does the 2nd die queue its shifts?

Yes, it will. It seems to know when the other die has been rolled, what the results are and how many times it has been rolled.

So basically, he does not mind joining us 'for free' if we ensure that his company makes 2000 WPs in 2.5 years, is that what he is saying? If he is willing to run the company as he did before barring an odd job from us, consider the money they make ours, and let us pay for the company out of these funds?

Well in effect that is what will happen yes. Same as any of the other merc captains you could hire/make partner (except Grey of course).

If you want to use the funds the Arrows make to pay Ceannard rather than line your own pocket that is completely fine with him and if you want to give him complete control over the Arrows he will keep running them much as he has. He will expect 200WPs every three months though, even if you have the Arrows tied up doing something completely unprofitable so keep that in mind when you are budgeting out things.

As long as he is paid out 2000 WPs by the end of the 2.5 years he is happy to make the deal. How you get him the money is less of a concern though he would hope that you look after the Arrows and ensure they are healthy and profitable. You will have to cover their monthly operating costs as well (though again, if they stay profitable that should not be a problem).

Since they have obviously so many limitations (they are useless against the undead, or the wind mages, they might backfire on the user spectacularly, etc etc), let Thais discuss buying them for 4 WPs apiece (with the aim to settle on 6 WPs for each disk).

Alright, rolled for it. You can buy them for 5WPs a piece (the girl has a gift ).


And this one that I missed from earlier:

That's a tricky one. My initial plan was to let Albrecht hire Ceannard himself for a while, as I did not indend to buy their company. However, the rates of the Arrows have gone up quite unreasonably. I mean, wasn't it said that the Seekers cost more than the Arrows? Yet they want 450 WPs for a trip south, 200 WPs to escort us to Nanshe (and that is even without a warranty that they would need to do anything, what happened to their escort rate of 10 WPs?), and 100 WPs to train the Greys (now that's just a silly sum). Is Ceannard feeling some resentment towards us for what we put him through?

In the end, Ceannard still ends up working for Albrecht until we sort the mess in the south. Yeah, we take a loan of money from him, but we also loan him our forces in return. Loyal and competent people is something that Albrecht has in short supply. At this point, who is doing whom a favor?

Not to mention that hiring Ceannard outright for a month or two would have probably costed the King more than 200 WPs.

I don't know. I do not want to appear 'dishonorable', but I also feel there is enough ground to consider us even. How does Albrecht view the situation?

It would not be seen as dishonourable to not pay him since the Arrows would actually be of use to him (it is different from the first loan he gave you where it would be dishonourable to never pay it back). So you do not have to worry about that.

Additionally Albrecht is King, he is not going to worry about a few hundred WPs. He can make that back if he wins.

That being said if you did pay if back (or even pay it back with interest) then it would be seen as a very 'dwarven' act and a very virtuous one. You might not ever see any benefit from it but the King would remember and so would those close to him.

 

[Nevill]

Alright, you tried it and it worked. So you know it can cover a distance of four or five kilometres at least. Now you just have to decide if you want them or not. If you do just vote for the option, if you don't then the die will automatically go back.

What the Brothers fail to realize is that the mere act of throwing a die transmits information. It works much like Nanshe's necklace in that regard. The six sides just add nuances to this information and allow to pack more of it in less number of throws.

You can use them pretty much as a Morse code if you want complex messages transmitted (with pauses between the throws acting as signals - no pause is a dot, a brief pause a dash, and a long pause an end of the symbol), or you can just use a quick and dirty system of 'case 1, die shifted once', 'case 2, die shifted twice' etc. A symbol would take about a minute to code with such a system, so a brief message can be transmitted to the receiver in an hour regardless of distance and completely unnoticed.

Add them to the list of sales, please, I'll vote for them.

Alright, rolled for it. You can buy them for 5WPs a piece (the girl has a gift ).

Excellent. I'd like to note that on top of what Jester said we have resourses to ignite the discs after they are thrown with a variety of spells, so they should not pose a threat to us.

Add it too, please, so that others could see them.

Yes, the effects of the oil seem to last for about twelve hours so if you happened to get an a useful enchantment around the time when it would be helpful you could make large batches of it (one can at a time) and store it for later use.

I think I might know a few uses for it. Add it on the list.

And buy a lot of kitchen knives and flatware during the regular shopping session with the maid. We need something expendable to test the effects of the oil on.

 

[Azira]

The dice are our ansible. We just need to figure out two things; how to reliably manipulate what number comes up each and every time the dice are rolled (a special technique and/or machine would be needed), and an algorithm to translate the numbers into words. Should be doable with the minds available to us, though I long to see Melête awakened to work on such a machine.

It does not quite allow for instantaneous communication, but close enough. I want those dice.

 

[Nevill]

No, they are not like the enchanters you could hire from the Academy. They are battle mages and none of them know enchantments.

Are there any drawbacks to teaching them a few of the oaths? Would they even be interested in learning them?

There is an old can of oil used to maintain sword blades. When filled with normal oils it enchants them with a random effect that is then applied to the sword it is used on. The effect seems to alter every twenty four hour

Does it mean the effect alters at the same time every 24 hours? So we know when we can check for a new effect if the previous didn't suit us?

They seem to have run quite a few tests on it.

How fast can in enchant oil? If we get a beneficial effect, how many cans can we store, and how many blades can these cans service? For example, if it take an hour to enchant the oil, then no more than 24 oil cans can be produced. Or is it instantaneous?

Do the effects work with arrows?

Does the strength of an effect depend on how wide the surface of the blade is (i.e. how much oil is applied)?

 

[Nevill]

Well, they do have a few sacks of chameleon's eyes. There is a bit of a side effect though. If you eat a lot of them you may begin to develop reptilian characteristics, scales and such. Now these should go away after twelve hours or so as long as you do not eat any more of the eyes, they are also a bit difficult on human bodies (they work far better with dwarves or mauls).

What does he mean, difficult? What other side effect can we expect?

Also, how much is 'a lot'?

He will sell you a full sack of twenty for twenty five WPs.

How about a ten for ten?

AB) He has a brand new steel shield. It is enchanted to be quite light but other than that it is just a normal shield. (24 WPs)

See how far we can haggle him down.

He has a large shield that can attract and pin metal weapons to its surface. It is controlled by a switch in the grip. He has been told that the weight on it is a bit 'odd' or unbalanced and that it might take practice to get used to fighting with it but the ability to disarm an opponent at will (as long as their weapon is metal) could be worth the hassle. (28 WPs)

And what about the weapons of the shield bearer, as well as any metal armor they may wear?

Let Biliku try it, see how effective she is without practice. Ask her how long it would take to get used to it.

How addictive is the Enegon Whiskey? Is there a way to use it and not become an addict?

Very addictive.

Yes, but by how much? Are we going to become an addict after a single bottle? Are we going to suffer from withdrawal or any side effects?

 

[Fangshi]

RE: Equipment.

Added the can and the discs to the official list.

Are there any drawbacks to teaching them a few of the oaths? Would they even be interested in learning them?

Other than the fact that it will eat up Lyssa's time in the evenings, not really. Unless you think they may become enemies down the road in which case you would be strengthening them which could be bad.

Yes, they would be interested in learning anything that will increase their combat effectiveness.

It might be best to save this until the next update though as there is already a lot of options to vote on.

Does it mean the effect alters at the same time every 24 hours? So we know when we can check for a new effect if the previous didn't suit us?

Yes, I have a table here of effects for it.. Every twenty four hours (at midnight for the sake of convenience) the oil can's enchantment will change. If you get something you don't want/need you will have to wait another twenty four hours.

How fast can in enchant oil? If we get a beneficial effect, how many cans can we store, and how many blades can these cans service? For example, if it take an hour to enchant the oil, then no more than 24 oil cans can be produced. Or is it instantaneous?

The oil is enchanted instantly and retains the enchantment for twelve hours after it leaves the can.

You can store as much as you want but it will lose its enchantment after twelve hours and revert to regular oil.

It would depend on the size of the weapons and how quickly you can coat them.

Do the effects work with arrows?

It should, yes. You might need to be careful applying it though as it was created with metal blades in mind. You probably do not want to get any of it on the wooden arrow shaft for example.

Does the strength of an effect depend on how wide the surface of the blade is (i.e. how much oil is applied)?

No. Larger blades will require more oil to be completely coated but any surface that is coated in the oil will benefit/suffer from its effects.



Edit for the new questions:

What does he mean, difficult? What other side effect can we expect?

Also, how much is 'a lot'?

Pain mostly, it seems the eyes are mildly poisonous to humans, but nothing crippling; more like 'extreme discomfort'. Some people have reported mild hallucinations as well which seem to be confined to human users. Dwarves and Mauls do not suffer any extra ill effects.

A lot would be six or seven in one go.

How about a ten for ten?

Alright, rolled.

He could do ten for thirteen if you would prefer.

See how far we can haggle him down.

Okay, rolled.

He will go as low as 18 WPs.

And what about the weapons of the shield bearer, as well as any metal armor they may wear?

As long as they are not placed in front of the shield they will be fine.

Let Biliku try it, see how effective she is without practice. Ask her how long it would take to get used to it.

After practicing with it for ten minutes she says it is definitely awkward and her movements are noticeably slower with the shield on her arm. She says it would take her a few weeks of practice to get used to the odd weight at the least.

Yes, but by how much? Are we going to become an addict after a single bottle? Are we going to suffer from withdrawal or any side effects?

He does not know if one bottle will be enough to make you an addict. He has heard of it happening before but he has never seen it happen. He says that different people have different levels of tolerance as with most things.

You will suffer from a headache and maybe some mild shaking as the energon leaves your system. As long as you do not use several bottle in one sitting that is all you should have to worry about.

 

[Azira]

Alright, votes.

1Eiii>vi Yes, we want to absorb the Arrows, but no, no sex-scenes. I do not want to antagonise Aine. Not now.
2C2, P, Q, R4 Yes, let's take some energon whiskey, sounds like Fun! Also, those entangled dice are a game-changer. We need to figure out some things, but imagine almost instantaneous communication between our two main branches of the organisation? Invaluable.. As for the oil and vomit disks, I can see definite usability.
3F Elephants sounds like Fun.
4 half of the arrows, Cenneard included. Also, bring Lyssa, Berty and the Girls (our bodyguards) Lyssa does NOT need to take san damage. Bring her. Also, we want Cenneard and his arrows to accompany us when we meet Nanshe..
5A, bring the arrows, Cenneard and Lyssa. NO DWARVES!! See above. Imperative that no dwarves learn of our association with Nanshe. We need to come up with a proper excuse to extricate ourselves from the escort though.. Might have to get inventive there.. Maybe Berty needs to brief them on some inventive tactic/plan he has for possible upcoming battles?
6F Yes. Turn her into an unwitting double agent.
7B As much as it pains me, that we havent awakened her yet, we need to leave her behind. I hope we can wake her soon..
8 greys, the other half of the arrows, to train together. The greys and the arrows will take care of the escort of the Boys. This will also be an opportunity to train the greys, and get Aine working on becoming a proper merc captain, so she can start to attract Cenneards attention properly. Thaïs will need to work her diplomacy skills here though, to convince Aine this is the best idea...
9A I don't like the notion that the heavy infantry is the most infiltrated of the branches. Chariots are nicely mobile though. Also, bringing chariots along might provide us with the excuse we need not to bring them along for the meeting with Nanshe (their mobility is limited in rought terrain).
10A50wp Yes, let's try to be con-men here. Also, I suspect the energon cubes that have been bought, have been bought to fuel more clones. If we can in any way hinder that process, it'll only be a good thing.
11Aiii, mentalist tech increase? Yes, please. Fangshi is dangling this in front of us. A mentalist technique increase? Heck yes! We need to hone these skills at any chance we get. It'll help us later, I'm sure. The time sink will just have to be borne.
12 Masking enchantment, if possible, something to obscure our magical radiation Custom armor for our officers should be armor that hides/masks their presence. Being powerful mages is akin to painting a large bullseye on ourselves.
13C We want the Boys made into as effective a force as possible. Screening programs initiated to find the most adept fighters, artisans, cooks, farmers, what have you. If we can optimise the use of their talents, Blackrock will flourish.
14 undecided Nevill probably has some nice ideas. Not feeling too inventive myself right now. Would have more to work with had we awoken Melete. As is, Blackrock needs to focus on rebuilding and fortifying, the Boys can help there. Want Blackrock to aim for self-sufficience in the long run.
Lady Grey needs to work into becoming a proper mercenary captain.
As for messages to Gareth and Brigit, maybe letting them know that we're working on a quick long-distance communication device? Not decided on this. But we would like an update on their situation.
More ideas might pop up as I think of them.

 

[Nevill]

Pain mostly, it seems the eyes are mildly poisonous to humans, but nothing crippling; more like 'extreme discomfort'.

How quickly does it pass? Is the discomfort extreme enough to affect spellcasting?

He does not know if one bottle will be enough to make you an addict. He has heard of it happening before but he has never seen it happen. He says that different people have different levels of tolerance as with most things.

You will suffer from a headache and maybe some mild shaking as the energon leaves your system. As long as you do not use several bottle in one sitting that is all you should have to worry about.

Alright, if we drink a bottle and become addicted, what symptoms would we suffer from if we don't get a fix? Or is the mild headache/shaking are those symptoms?

Is such an addiction permanent, or a period of abstinence should help us rid of it?

1Eiii Yes, we want to absorb the Arrows, but no, no sex-scenes. I do not want to antagonise Aine. Not now.

But where would we find the money? We don't have enough to make the first payment.

I have a suggestion of having Albrecht help us with that.

4 half of the arrows, Cenneard included. Also, bring Lyssa

What about Berty and the girls? I would not want to split up, and Berty is our only tactician (that is loyal to us, I mean).

11Aiii, mentalist tech increase? Yes, please. Fangshi is dangling this in front of us. A mentalist technique increase? Heck yes! We need to hone these skills at any chance we get. It'll help us later, I'm sure. The time sink will just have to be borne.

Nothing is free, though. In this case, we risk missing Nanshe's deadline, and she is reporting that she is under attack.

 

[Fangshi]

How quickly does it pass? Is the discomfort extreme enough to affect spellcasting?

It lasts as long as the magic in the eyes are in your system since they are what is causing the symptoms. So three minutes.

The discomfort is extreme enough to make spellcasting difficult though if you have a high enough willpower you should still be able to manage.

Alright, if we drink a bottle and become addicted, what symptoms would we suffer from if we don't get a fix? Or is the mild headache/shaking are those symptoms?

Symptoms of withdrawal from energon addiction include but are not limited to:

Abdominal cramping
Agitation
Anxiety
Diarrhea
Dilated pupils
Goose bumps/hypothemia
Increased Aggression
Insomnia
Muscle aches
Nausea
Runny nose/sneezing
Sweating
Vomiting
Yawning

If you get addicted to it and then fail to get your fix you will experience some or all of these.

Is such an addiction permanent, or a period of abstinence should help us rid of it?

You can likely cure yourself of energon addiction through abstinence though the potential to become addicted again will likely remain and it will probably be easier to fall back into it.

 

[Azira]

Amending votes pertaining to financing the arrows, and who to bring. Also, has the economic breakdown been updated after we repaid much of the loan to the goldsmiths?

Just reread the financial breakdown. Nope, the loan to the goldsmiths hasn't been updated. Just now, were actually turning a profit monthly in the dwarven kingdom, of 30 wp before this update, if my math is correct.
Things are looking up. Once our economy improves further, I'd like to be able to repay all loans, including the expenses the crown has covered for us, but that's in the long term.

Seems that absorbing the Arrows isn't as far fetched as I feared..