"No, you."
Use 30 Mana to upgrade Speed to d6+2.
Do a magic to introduce enough sedative to those two guys that they pass out, but don't die. If this doesn't use Speed for some reason, then don't do the upgrade.
Name: Zavirius En-Drani Haver, Painter
Appearance: A girl of unknown but apparently foreign descent. She claims to be the last surviving member of a long-dead ancient race, kept preserved in some kind of magical stasis, but this is likely untrue. Though her skin is a strange shade not normally seen on the continent, and her hair is bleached white with a slight green reflective tint. She is not very tall but stout like a dwarf and startlingly strong.
Mana: 11
Method: Flesh-Inscribed Channel
Materials: Lightweight, Explosion, Toxic
Strength: d10+1
Speed: d6+2
Endurance: d6+2
Knowledge: d8+1
Will: d8+1
Senses: d6+1
Ongoing effects: Permanently immune to nerve gas, Diethyl ether-vision
Inventory:
Normal clothing
Tracker
Boot Knife (d6)
10 Gold
Medium Armor (d6)
Kite Shield (d6)
Long Sword (d6)
Catch Pole
3 Small Bombs
Manacles
Wooden Arm-Guards (d4 armor)
Hemp sack
Paints and brushes
Kukri (d6 weapon)
Square-tip machete
Needlessly ornate painting guardian sword
Jewelry box
Alright
[3+2v1]
[1]
-1 mana
You wave a hand at the two men and they waver on their feet for a few seconds before collapsing, thin streams of gas flowing from their mouths and noses.
assuming the freaking explosion in the middle of the camp was noticable:
"Seriously? Well damn. Guess its go time then."
Advance on the camp and prepare for mayhem, but try to remain unnoticed and retain suprise for now at least.
Name: Nina Morellis
Appearance: A young, red-haired woman, green eyes, somewhat unkempt. She's had Adam for as long as she could remember, and has a bit of a reputation as a harmless nut. The town guard are okay with Nina though, occasionally getting her help keeping a mage secured by having her drain their mana so they can't cast. Since they don't have a proper magehunter available, having a local civilian channeler they can bring in as needed is a big help. And Nina tries to be on her best behavior with them to keep their relations good. Nina herself works as a healer, living out in the poor part of town, and has an erratic schedule based on the needs of those who want her help. so she has a lot of free time, but also gets woken up in the middle of the night a lot. add in Adam's occasional antics and she doesn't get to have a stable sleep schedule.
Magic Path: Channeler, Invoker.
Materials: Sound, Accelerate
Mana: 3
Strength: D4
Speed: D6
Endurance: D10
Knowledge: D8
Will: D10
Senses: D6
(Locked up) Inventory: waterskin (air), hammer, 2 silver, air bladder, white robes, aqua vitae. a red gambleson, gray pants, metal bracers, shin guards and a sallet helm (d6 armor). kite shield (d6), a long sword (d6), catch pole.
(current) Inventory: 3 small bombs and a pair of manacles. Backpack, padded cloak (D4 protection, Light armor), doctor's bag, walking stave, Lantern.
Inhabited by a spirit which takes the form of a floating disembodied limb that constantly melts and reforms into other body parts. She calls it "Adam."
Cabal: None at this time.
You get to the edge of camp unnoticed (everyone is focused on the explosion for the moment) and immediately start grabbing workers as silently as possible. They're in a sort of daze and seem to collapse into submission the moment you grab them, so restraining them is easy. You and the magebreakers move inwards, towards the main camp, securing as you go. You notice someone emerge from a building behind Zavi and start running, apparently trying to get away.
Name: Eve
Appearance: 4 ft tall female human with long hear that constantly changes color. She always wears a long sleeve shirt and jeans. She has slightly tan skin and green eyes. most of her right arm is made of aluminum, from her hand to her forearm.
Magic path: Servant Sculptor
Mana: 9
Strength: d4
Speed: d8
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d10
Will: d8
Senses: d8
Ongoing effects: None
Items needed for current Sculpture
1. A smooth river rock: Acquired
2. A block of Ice: Not Acquired
3. About a half liter of mercury: Not Acquired May be found at Bromcresol
4. Silver Wire: Acquired
Spirit: None
Spirit Task: None
Inventory: Doctor's bag, Thick fur shirt D4, Thick fur leggings d4, ghost charm, Smooth river rock, 100 ft of string, a pry-bar, a spool of silver wire, 9 gold’s worth of food and water, 41 gold
Materials: lightsilver
"I wish I could help, but I'm not experienced in construction. Thank you for talking with me. I will be on my way" Get back on the roads to Bromcresol. Use the ghost charm on the way
Just outside of town there's a ping on the charm. You follow it off the road a while until you find what appears to be a tiny stone temple. Its maybe a foot tall but fairly ornate with little pillars and engravings and such. There's a small doorway in the front the the charm points straight into the dark interior of the little building.
"Darwin, this is possibly the most dissapointing town I've been in yet. There isn't a single interesting hat here. It's positively barbaric."
Follow along with Darwin and help him out with our diamond business.
Name: Écalir Speedwagon
Appearance: barbarian, think Arnie from Conan the Barbarian
Magic path: Hunting flesh-scroll
Strength: d10+2
Speed: d10+1
Endurance: d8+1
Knowledge: d4
Will: d6+1
Senses: d6+1
Mana: 55
Ongoing effects:None
Magical materialsleft Arm: wood
Right arm: Insect
Stomach: Strong acid
Chest: White Phosphorous
Left buttcheek: Electricity
Right buttcheek: Lightning
left leg: multiply
InventoryMare's Leg: Lever Action, d8, 5/5 magazine, 45 spare bullets.
Quality weapon (Spear): d8
Longsword with glowing runes
Springy metal warpick: d8
Springy metal knive: d6
Springy metal sword: d6
9 smokebombs
Thaumic flamethrower (5/50 thaum tank, d10 str requirement, armored fuel tank) + extra canisters with compressed gas
Poncho
Sombrero
Fitted armor: d8
Sealer Suit: d4 vs magic
Shield (+1 to protective rolls from armor)
Backpack
100 feet of rope
Bandages
Tattoo Kit
199g worth of gems
doctor's bag
Gladiator Badge
Jade tablets (48-number of words)
binoculars
There appears to be one in the city, and one further northeast.
Where in the city?
Either way, hire 4 workers (2 gold/day) and 1 guard (1 gold/day). Make sure to take the time to screen for reliable and trustworthy employees.
(if we need to account for supplies for them, tell us how much gold that'd cost please)
Then, off we go! Start prospecting based on where I think diamonds are most likely to be found based on the maps we got earlier.
If after a day or 3 no leads are found whatsoever, do a d8 knowledge diamond-sensing spell to get a vague area down on the map, then go there and use the detector to pin it down.
Name: Darwin Zeppeli
Appearance: An old medicine man.
Magic path: alchemist gut-reader
Strength: d4
Speed: d6->d8
Endurance: d6->d8 + 2
Knowledge: d10
Will: d8
Senses: d10
Mana: 66
2 bottles with 10 thaum each (20 total)
Ongoing effects: None
Magical materialsVacuum!
Reanimate
Sharpen
Viscera
Diamond
Rope
Inventory1 sedated bugman
dissection knife: d4
Springy metal knive: d6
Springy metal sword: d6
Springy metal halberd: d8
Curved blade: d6
Icepick: d4
gun: d8 [50 rounds left]
9 smokebombs
thaumic bomb (currently empty)
Ecalir's old armor: d8 (in use)
shield (+1 to protective rolls from armor)
Sealer Suit: d4 (vs magic)
Alchemist’s Gear
79 gold
5 silver
Octopus core
15 kg black biometal
A glass slab with a topographical map of the kingdom carved into it
a bottle of glowing blue sea water, inside protective box with lock
a glass orb with barely visible lotus inside of it, inside staff assembly.
magic coin
Small book
magic compass + map
Gimbal that points towards diamonds (range around 100 meter)
book on normal plants and animals
book on magical plants and animals/creatures
handbook on making weapons&armor, including a list of known types
a detailed account of the Artifacter war
map of the old world
good quality book&pen
good history book
series of good maps of area around Alkahest and the volcano
Paradox snail (inside jar) and things to keep them happy and fed, linked to Ecalir
Extra pair of paradox snails
Doctor's bag
set of ingredients (plants, chemicals and the like) for making poisons or antidotes (23 uses left)
High quality backpack
donkey named Yvonne for carrying
Zomboraptor head
Lantern
several hundred feet of rope
climbing crampons
a grappling hook
iron stakes
net made of rope
several vials with imp fat
20 vials
2x Collapsible rod
10 oil flasks
300 feet of really big, thick, strong rope
100 feet of metal chain
box of metal spikes
pair of binoculars
4 boxes of rags
Medium armor: d6 (not in use)
18 days worth of supplies
2 sets of digging tools (for Darwin + Ecalir)
Extra digging tools (fir hired workers)
tarps, paint, and other stuff we can use to camouflage our dig site with
Merchant's district is about as exact as you can get without going off to search for it specifically.
Okie dokie.
[6v4] It takes some searching and a lot of walking but eventually you manage to get the compass to zero in on a likely location. Its near the river, on the west side, south of the capital. Seemingly straight wilderness with no claims or locals. You do a walk around with the compass and start mapping off the edges of the area. From what you can tell its an area of a few hundred feet in a roughly oval shape, extending a bit into the river itself.
"The ghost charm is because I'll be interviewing people to bring with me, and work with in close quarters for weeks if not a month. I had an encounter with a person containing an anger spirit some time ago. I want to be able to screen candidates for spirits before we leave, and to monitor people who might get posessed while working on the graveyard of a long-dead city. It's necessary for security."
"Alchemy gear is less necessary, but converting items or material to thaum may be useful for removing curses or destroying dangerous objects, and is less wasteful than disposing of them. It would make our efforts safer, and extracting some essences would allow for different kinds of magic to be used, not just the ones I have a word for."
Explain. Finish with the note that 600 gold is a bare minimum for expenses. Someone with a contract for unlimited funds can provide more than that upon delivery. Try to charm this guy into paying extra.
Japanese girl with a long black braid and a white and red fitted robe with long gloves. Clothing made of metallic thread. Pointy, somewhat elfish ears. Violet tinted eyes. Very faintly luminous. Missing fingernails on right hand. Heavy lightning scars up right arm, and around the neck, ending at the right temple.
Invoking Empath
Str d6 +1
Speed d8 +1
Endurance d10+2
Knowledge d6+1
Will d10+2
Senses d8 +1
Materials: d12 Ape, d12 Grow, d12 Strengthen, d12 Expand, d8 View, d10 Steel, and d10 Speed.
Location: Lunare
Status: Fine? Burn scars on arms. Missing fingernails on right hand. Slightly enhanced hearing.
Temporary Effects: Suffering from miscast effects on a d12 strengthen (willpower) spell for a duration on a potion.
Items:
Two machine guns! with lots of ammo.
94 mana
200 gold
d8+1 armour: The outfit, and a shield. Weighs as if it were d6.
Shield.
Backpack
Waterskin
Adamant Weave
5kg steel rod
Cable-wrapped metal box of happiness.
Box of painting-golem
Compass
Goggles
Surgical tools
50 feet of rope
Magic Spyglass
~250 gold value of gold and silver ingots and precious gems.
Jade tablets with d8 View, d10 Steel, and d10 Speed.
Notes: Improving physical stats with strengthen, d4->d6 is d6, d6->d8 is d12, d8->d10 is d20 or more.
Mental stats are possible, but harder or more complicated.
[4+2 v 19]
The man listens and agrees after a moment's consideration. He okays your expenses for basically whatever you need, so start creating a list. Just be aware that anything too odd will come under scrutiny. Never mind about the cost for now.
Your attempts to charm the man are rather like attempting to charm a brick wall. He is neither charmed nor disgusted. He remains utterly unmoved.
Take careful note of the wacko lady's description, hunting grounds, and any other useful information, then go hang out in the hunting area looking adventurous. If it helps, wave my nife around vaguely and babble about ground ghosts and walking dust mops and the mouse conspiracy.
The Ascetic Ghost Shepherd
A thin, wiry guy. Hazel eyes. Black hair. Long fingers.
current status: fine
Stats
6 str
6 spd
10 End
8 Know
10 Will
4 sense
Mana: 68
Materials: Porcelain, Black Flux, Force, Toxin, Weapon, Break
Inventory:
Inhabited by a Spirit - a little shepherdess girl. Likes dolls. Adventurous. (Current request: nothing. She tired)
Scarab ghost - Request: a religious relic that has been buried with the dead for some time)
Catamaran sailboat
Ghost Charm
Doctor's Kit
Lantern, 2x Rope, Backpack, 15 ft collapsible ladder
1 pet carrier
1 pet harness with leash
1 prybar
1 rolling horse toy
1 kitten
shiny orb from the ruins on the lake (light blue glow. 3 mana invested. Additional mana (?) invested from magicoal)
haunted obsidian and wood knife (with cold, light metal box) Cursed, can't release until I kill a sapient. Can control spilled blood as if I had the Blood material
40 gold
(oz's technique of picking up ladies is about what I expected)
You find one of the more seedy bars in the "hunting ground" and proceed to try your best to look like a drunken adventurer with compromised powers of judgement. Its not terribly hard.
The first night nothing happens, but on the second a woman approaches you. She looks somewhat like the woman on the poster, but apparently younger and with the wrong color hair. Still, she looks similar enough to be a relative maybe? Sister? Hmm. She starts chatting you up and being quite nice and flattering, listening to your made up stories and telling you how interesting you are.
((The ax was supposed to stay inside the mouth, it's supposed to save me from falling from my death via the safety line attached to it. Also I still have my +1 bonus to strength.))
Hang on tight while its diving. Climb onto its back and make my way towards it right wing once it slows down its dive or attempts to land.
Name: Robert Grant
Appearance: A stocky, tall man with black hair.
Magic path: Hunter Sculptor
Strength: d10+1
Speed: d6
Endurance: d8
Knowledge: d8
Will: d8
Senses: d4
Ongoing effects: Cut palm (treated), deep gash in the side (treated)
Mana: 3
Materials:
Shrink
Inventory:
War axe d8
Doctor's Bag
Leather armor d6
Bandages
Backpack
Lantern
223 gold
76 silver
Shield
Sword d6
Crossbow d6
19 crossbow bolts
Helmet d4
Leather gloves
Crowbar
Iron thread
8 lead weights
Harness
200 feet of rope
3 wyrm scales
Rented beetle mount (50 gold deposit)
((we can assume you used your sword instead then and the ax is still in place))
[1v2]
You attempt to shift position as the thing dives and end up tumbling through open air again, this time literally being dragged along behind the ray as it dives.
[7+1 v 2]
You climb your way back down the rope and cling to the thing's back as it levels out, skimming the surface of the sand at extremely high speed.
Uh, keep cutting apart metals and thauming them. You said it'd take two more days and would average ~100 per day, so yeah, do that. Jeeze. Also, I'm gonna consume just 19 thaum immediately, leave the rest raw.
Take a few hours out of the workday to diagnose whatever is wrong with Benedict. Saeko apparently couldn't figure out why he's as tired as he is, apparently it has something to do with having too many enchantments on him? Maybe? Just do a physical examination at first, and if that doesn't reveal anything, use animate to... examine his animating lifeforce, I guess? Sense-based scrying spell to figure out what's wrong with him.
Can Benedict even lift one of those crucibles for the radioactive pellets, when otherwise unladen?
Name: Ekrov Trenian Vyachilad
Description: A noble's son, Ekrov is a boy on the cusp of adulthood, and barely looks it. His hands are soft, his appearance taken care of, and his bones slightly visible under his unmarred skin. He's scrawny, clearly having never done manual labor in his life, and somewhat short--though it's hard to tell whether that's due to age or genetics. His eyes are wide and constantly look around in absentminded wonderment; he's clearly out of his element in this, and gives off a tourist-y impression. He wears a clearly high-quality outfit, but to his credit it looks unusually practical for a noble, subdued brown in color and light aside from thin pieces of light leather in strategic locations, clearly intended more as protection than a fashion statement. He carries a small backpack, and wears a light cloak that's had an absurd number of little pockets clumsily sewn into it.
Magic Path: Alchemist Sculptor
Mana: 20 (45 thaum carried)
Magic Words: "Animate"
Stats:
Strength: d6
Speed: d6
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d12+1
Will: d6
Senses: d12+1
Ongoing Effects: None.
Current Sculpture Materials:
1. Human skull
2. 10 lbs of pure iron
3. a piece of complex machinery; clockwork or similar.
4. a bottle of water collected directly from the a cloud.
5. The blood of someone who has fought off a possession with their own will
Inventory:
Backpack
Lightly armored traveling outfit (enchanted to d6, from d4)
Wooden shield (+1 to armor rolls, most of the time)
Steel stilleto (d4 melee)
Merc Longsword (d6 Melee)
Ornamental spring pistol (d6 ranged) [6/6] (30 spare shots)
Alchemist gear
A decapitated mercenary's skull.
A clockwork doo-dad for the sculpture.
23 gold, 8 silver (Saeko owes him 400 gold... For someone with d12 sense, Ekrov can be pretty gullible.)
Thaum.
Paints, a dish, sands, glitter, water, general scrying supplies.
Pencil + Paper.
Expensive medical supplies.
Sketches of:
Gyrotourbillon's workings
Benedict the Griffon
Detailed but incomplete schematics of clockwork robot people.
Clockwork machinegun schematics.
Simple clockwork tools schematics.
TO-DO LIST:
Diagnose Benedict (I'll definitely do this eventually!)
Collect thaum to convert steel into pure iron.
Clockwork wreck stuff:
Fix a robot
Alchemize power pellets
Alchemize scrap clockwork
Collect and deconstruct tools
Collect and deconstruct guns
Collect and deconstruct bombs
Figure out precisely what loot to take, and how much Benedict can carry.
Try to reverse engineer and understand those power pellet crucibles.
Build a helicopter!
You make 228 thaum in those two days and basically strip the ship down to its skeleton.
[1+1 v7]
Examination reveals nothing.
[2+1 v1] - 1 mana
A quick look using magic finds that the creature's stamina is drained due to its large size and the various spells woven into it. The natural magic of the beast is being consumed to keep these spells going so it gets tired easier than it normally would.
Unencumbered, yes. Its quite heavy but if you remove it from all the stuff attached to it, then it should be doable.