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[IronyOwl]

Agreed on the name drop, I think we should offer these elves allegiance, even if they are drow...wait, did the embers tell us a specific drow race that would bring about the end, or just that it would be drow...if we don't know, it might be smart to only be allied short term and not make an artifact, instead just making good ordinary gear to arm their forces and ours in the battle against the queendoms

I don't think we got any hard specifics, but if it's going to end the world and involves demons, it's probably the main, orthodox drow civilizations and not a rebel clan of coin-caste slave merchants.

[Weirdsound]

"Stick to enslaving goblins, they are weak willed.
Putting any other race in chains is just a good way of making enemies."

-The Goblin Driver's Guide, by Mace Queen Underealm

Smith Lord Aurora Wordfire, Refuge Queen of Silent Hammers, Empress Consort of the Southernfrost, and Queen Consort of Bedlamb and the Marble City

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Skills and Abilities:
-Although my social skills are rusty from isolation, I am highly respected as one of the few remaining first diggers.
-I am the greatest mortal metal-smith and furnace worker, without question. My skills in this area even surpass those of some gods.
-I have also mastered many other crafting skills, unrelated to the furnace.
-So long as my history is recorded in the language of the diggers, my soul and mind cannot truly be snuffed out (Granted by the World Weld)
-I can create mighty artifacts by inscribing the items I create with the great deeds of myself or the item's intended recipient (Granted by the World Weld)
-I am aware of the general location and activities of those who wield my artifacts, and I may exert light influence over their behavior (Granted by the World Weld)
-I can detect the great deeds of others nearby (Granted by the World Weld)

Artifacts and Minions:
The World Weld - Links my soul, the digger language, and the laws of reality itself. Allows me to easily create lesser artifacts.
The Face of Fate - Makes the wearer a mighty fighter and assassin. Wielded by Mril-Minda, who has met with her mother and is traveling back home to Silent Hammers.

Known Mortal Family:
(Husband - Present) All-Lord Ukareem the Silver, Emperor of the Southernfrost
(Husband - Absent) Scholar-King Emscythe, Monarch of the Marble City and Secretary General of the Greatwalls Alliance
(Husband - Absent)  Bloodlord Haigen the Usurper, King of Bedlamb
(Mother-in-Law - Present) Trumil, the Slime Mold Hag

(Infant Son) Prince Dremscythe, Heir to Silent Hammers and the Marble City

Refuge City of Silent Hammers

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Holdings:
Silent Hammers: A small city that provides 1 Wealth and 1 Food per month. Houses and defends up to 50 FU to military might. (23/50)
Dung Slopes Fungal Farm: A particularly farm where up to 6 LU can work per month. Typically yields 1 Food per LU of labor.
Axeltax at Tunnel's Mouth: A watchtower that Houses and defends up to 6 FU of military might. Yields 2 Wealth/month in collected taxes while at least 3 FU are stationed here. (3/6, Human Phalanx)

Available Military Population:
15-5 Force Units of Human Phalanx (x1.2 Bonus to open field battle. Avaible for 108 more months, or until the Kingdom of Narm enters a state of civil war)
5 Force Units of Dwarf/Drugar Militia (x1.3 Bonus to defending cities or fighting underground)
5 Force Units of Goblin Warslaves (x.75 Penalty to fighting in bright sunlight, does not need food to act)
3-3 Force Units of Charcoal Tribe Elf Rangers (x2 Bonus to fighting in the woods)
2 Force Units of Drugar Siege Operators (x4 Bonus to attacking cities, x1.5 Bonus to fighting megabeasts, x.25 Penalty in all other combat situations)
1 Force Unit of Weremule Warmonks (x3 Bonus to guarding VIPs, x.1 Penalty against Nickle Silver weapons, does not need food to act)

Civilian Population:
12 Labor Units of Assorted and Mixed Breed Diggers (2 LU to 5 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
8 Labor Units of Halfling Commoners (2 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
5 Labor Units of Goblin Slaves (2 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod, does not need food to act)
4 Labor Units of Highborn Dwarves (1 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
4 Labor Units of Highborn Drugar (1 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
3 Labor Units of Educated Drugar Acolytes (1 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
2 Labor Units of Human Commoners (2 LU to 7 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
1 Labor Unit of Hobgoblin Drivers (2 LU to 7 FU Conversion Rate before material mod, does not need food to act)

Basic Resources:
x11 Food (+1 Per Month) - Your people can and do feed themselves, but food from the royal grainy must be provided for people to put aside their own livelyhood and peruse your interests. Spending 1 food allows you to issue an order commanding up to 5 FU or LU. Converting LU to FU will also usually cost additional food. You can deploy trade convoys to try and convert other resources into food.

x13 Wealth (+1 Per Month) - A representation of the various coins and paper currency in your treasury. Used to buy other resources and favors, and is generally the most effective resource to use as a trade good.

Advanced Resources:
x12 Wood (The most basic construction resource. Artifacts made from wood tend to harness the power of nature)
x6 Stone (A more sturdy and less flammable construction resource. Artifacts made from stone tend to harness the power of earth)
x15 (+3 Per month for 108 months) Marble (A more valuable form of stone that can be combined with iron to make steel at a smelter. Artifacts made from Marble tend to harness the power of light)
x9 Bronze (A military resource with a .80 Material Mod. Artifacts made from bronze tend to harness the power of fire)
x4 Steel (A military resource with a 1.5 Material Mod. Artifacts made from steel tend to have protective effects)
x4 Bloodstone (A magical military resource with no material mod. Both common gear and artifacts made from Bloodstone are particularly deadly towards all the digger races)
x1 Night Mithiril (A magical military resource with a 1.7 material mod. Artifacts made from Night Mithiril tend to aid in criminal activity)
x2 Deep Sapphire (A magical Military resource with a material mod of .5. Gear and artifacts made from Sapphire are great at drawing out the sorcerous power within one's blood)
x6 Sulfur (A magical resource used in the worship of wicked gods and construction of advanced siege weapons. Artifacts of sulfur are favored by wicked gods)

Known Allies and Enemies:
Bardhill County (Ally, Trade Partner) - The fertile and clay rich human territory that completely encompasses your land. The ruler, Count Chance, deeply respects the craftsdwarfshipp and military skill of the diggers. In exchange for resources and a loan of troops, you have agreed to aid him in an anticipated civil war against his fellow counts when the king dies.
Southernfrost Empire (Ally) - The southernmost and mightiest of the northern dwarven civilizations. Southernfrost is rich in bronze and labor. The empire is ruled by your husband All-Lord Ukareem the Silver.
The Greatwalls Alliance (Ally, Trade Partner) - A loose confederacy of prosperous drugar city-states that pays tribute to your husband, Scholar-King Emscythe. Rich in copper, sulfur, and flux stone.
The Kingdom of Bedlamb (Ally) - Nation of drugar ruled by your husband Bloodlord Haigen the Usurper. Rich in iron, flux stone, and gems. Currently defending against invasion from an unknown drugar kingdom, and raids from an unknown dwarf kingdom.

The Beetle Queendoms (Enemy to All Diggers) - A drowish nation that sits between Silent Hammers and The Greatwalls Alliance. Traders can navigate around it, and they are currently too busy dealing with surface elf raiders to pose a threat.
The Pinewoods Tribes (Hostile) Small yet fierce surface elf civilizations that separate Silent Hammers from the Southernfrost Empire and the Kingdom of Bedlamb. They find the very ideas of commerce and industry to be deeply offensive, and slaughter trade convoys on site as a rule.

"I intend to expand into the Trollish Wastes, claiming its land and people so that I may use this place as a staging area to harass the Beetle Queendoms. Eventually I seek to conqueror them wholesale." You explain, "The more useful you are to me in these endeavors, the more favor you might expect from me."

"Sounds promising," Princess Truffle admits, "but I deal in specifics, not vague promises, so what can I do for you?"

"Are you interested in protection?" You ask, "So you don't have to slink about these cliffs and canyons?"

The Opal Elf nods, "I wouldn't be opposed to it. If you were to build a fortress out here, we could keep it staffed and garrisoned for you in exchange for letting us use it as a headquarters and storage depot."

"Alright then," you continue, "thats good to know. But moving on to the main issue at hand; I need coin and resources to get established. Would you be interested in providing a loan or purchasing an artifact?"

The Opal elf grins. "I think we could work something out? What kind of artifact do you have in mind?"

You return the smile, and gesture at the taller male elf behind the princess. "That underling of yours is carrying a Blunderbuss. It likely took the Soot Sprites 3-4 years to make such a toy. I could make an artifact of comparable power in one or two months, or something powerful beyond your comprehension if given closer to a year."

"That is a bold claim." Truffle Jial replies. "If that is credible, I would be glad to purchase or accept one of your artifacts as colateral for a loan. You must forgive me, however, for being a skeptic. I was taught by my formothers to never part with coin until I know both the seller and goods are for real. Come with me. I have a proposal for you."

The Princess bids her guards to stay behind, and leads you down a small passage. After several minutes of walking, you are in a decent sized chamber full of exotic materials.

"Take a look around." She challenges, "All this comes from a high druid of one of the Pinewoods surface elf tribes, who took a loan from me and couldn't pay up. That was a few years ago, and I still can't find a buyer for the contents of his storerooms. Here is what I propose: Take what you need from this room. Within six months time, deliver to me an artifact that I may sell to prove you are legit. Do this, and I will give you the rest of what is in this storeroom to you as payment, and know your worth as an artifact maker for our future dealings."

Your eyes wander the shelves. "Any requests for the artifact?"

"Not really. I'm just going to sell it." She explains, "Likely to one of the Digger Lords in the greatwall cities. I suppose if you can put some nasty hidden curses on the thing, I'd be willing to sell it to the Beetle Drow instead."

Opal Elf Storeroom Contents:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

x35 Singing Wood (Construction resource sometimes used for advanced elfish builds. Artifacts made from singing wood tend to enhance the bearer's social skills)
x35 Bleeding Wood (Construction resource sometimes used for advanced elfish builds. Artifacts made from bleeding wood may transmute organic materials)
x50 Living Wood (Construction resource sometimes used for advanced elfish builds. Artifacts made from living wood tend to harness the power of nature)
x40 Plum Copper (A military resource with a .60 Material Mod. Surface Elves know how to process this into food. Artifacts made from plum copper affect one's metabolism)
x10 Soul Stone (A magical military resource with no material mod. Both common gear and artifacts made from Soul Stone are particularly deadly towards all the surface elf races)
x15 Dire Pine-cones (A magical resource used in elfish religious ceremonies. Artifacts made from Dire Pine-cones tend to have explosive effects)
x10 Wraith Leaf (A magical resource used in elfish poisons. Artifacts made from wraith leaf harm the living and empower the undead)

You consider the haul, and find it a pretty decent deal for a few months work. Running the numbers in your head, you could definately make an artifact with two material components within the six month time limit. You could safely do three components if you stuck to metal working and used only the Plum Copper and various metals from your home stash. These of course are safe estimates; In all likelihood you could pull off three components or four metal components within the time limit.

Of course there is also the matter of what feat you might use to inscribe upon the artifact. Unless you are using your own feat, or a feat earned by somebody else through use of one of your artifacts, you have to make a good faith effort to deliver the new artifact to the inscribed feat-holder to properly and completely recover from your creative trance. This means you must either use one of your own feats for this task, possible revealing information about yourself if the end buyer can read digger-text, or ensure the contract stipulates that one of the Princess' feat endowed followers be the one to actually receive the goods from your delivery people.

Obviously you have one more tribe to meet with, and perhaps the Eastvile Drone as well, before you have the opportunity to actually make the artifact, so if you accept the deal I only need to know what resources you are taking with you for now. Also, do you have any other business to bring up with these Opal Elves before moving on?

[Glass]

Helmet made of dire pinecones.

[Whisperling]

PTW

[crazyabe]

Bleeding Wood & Soul Stone

[Madman198237]

I would think that something for one of their feats would be nice, however I don't have time to review them and propose a suitable artifact right now.

[crazyabe]

I would think that something for one of their feats would be nice, however I don't have time to review them and propose a suitable artifact right now.

The shorter of the two has thick purple hair and is almost built like a digger rather than a drow. The World Weld identifies him as having successfully broken into the palaces of 10 of the 14 Beetle Queens, and stolen 7 Drowish artifacts in these heists.


The taller Opal Elf catches your attention even without the World Weld's help as strapped to his back is a Blunderbuss, a type of rare artifact made only by the late first digger Ovusal Blam the Powder Lord and his descendants the Soot Sprites which harnesses the power of sulfur to spit storms of deadly metal. The World Weld identifies this elf as possessing two feats; He produced children with a Beetle Queen and had them declared legitimate in spite of their inferior blood, and he managed to hold the Storm Dragon Varriebreath hostage until it turned over its hoard as ransom.

[IronyOwl]

Quick question: Can we inscribe multiple artifacts with the same feat?


We should probably stick to metal to boost our sales attractiveness, though a one-material artifact for all this would still be an absolute steal. I say we take Singing Wood and Plum Copper, arrange for the taller elf to receive the artifact, and worry about the specifics later. Most likely we'll end up making something out of Steel, Bronze, and Plum Copper, and either inscribed with one of the tall elf's feats (for political mobility) or our master smithery (for master smithery).

Otherwise I think we're done.

[Mithras]

+1 for Irony's plan to use singing wood and the tall elf's deed to help create an artifact that helps someone out politically.  Details to be hashed out later, but two conditions need to be noted. First we are probably going to concieve a son during this effort so something benificial would be nice. Two, it really needs to be something we can create as quickly as possible (so only two resources would be my vote) as our rule is still in a very sensitive period.

[omada]

hey.

plum coopper (metabolism) and deep saphire (uncover the hidden sorcerous magic)

a necklace.
that increase magical power greatly
in the 7th use OR when we decide it curse will be revealed,
the user will get possessed by rage and hatred by everyone that share his blood or race.

a mad drow begin shooting fireballs in his own people.

[IronyOwl]

First we are probably going to concieve a son during this effort so something benificial would be nice.

Yeah, this is a concern of mine as well. I'd love to make a Singing Wood + Everything artifact inscribed with Ukareem's bloodless empire building feat in the hopes of pulling another, more benign connection than with our first son. But the test run is both time sensitive and awards a major missing component (+social skills), so I don't see a good way around it.

a mad drow begin shooting fireballs in his own people.

Cursed items strike me as either a waste of an artifact (purely bad) or an excessively dangerous ploy (bad in the long term, but makes them really dangerous on the way down). Either way, we'd also need an appropriate feat.

[Madman198237]

Given what we've seen, the best artifact (To my mind) would be an artifact of benevolent empire-building, based on the feats of (Can we do two? Please tell me we can do two) Ukareem and Urist the Left-Handed.

[omada]

First we are probably going to concieve a son during this effort so something benificial would be nice.

Yeah, this is a concern of mine as well. I'd love to make a Singing Wood + Everything artifact inscribed with Ukareem's bloodless empire building feat in the hopes of pulling another, more benign connection than with our first son. But the test run is both time sensitive and awards a major missing component (+social skills), so I don't see a good way around it.

Oh, if we do something bad we should tell our husband that or we get pregnant after artifact or the son might get, weird.

a mad drow begin shooting fireballs in his own people.

Cursed items strike me as either a waste of an artifact (purely bad) or an excessively dangerous ploy (bad in the long term, but makes them really dangerous on the way down). Either way, we'd also need an appropriate feat.

We destroyed an oven that created us. Nothing that make it hate himself better than this. (other option for this feat would be surely weapons and shit)

Even if we do a good artifact with our next kid we should warn our husband too (buy it from them because our kid will get attached)

But... other things than artifact


they offered:
-Resources for loan and artifact

-friendly Garrison and free staff for a fortress in trade of they being used as headquarters/storage

Offer:
-If they think on us on cheap deals or other kinds of deal we could offer them a way to pay the taxes in goods other than wealth when passing at Axeltax. Or pay a kind of semester tax to have free pass. they could get rid of goods that they couldn't get rid otherwise. (and we could get some exotic material by ramdom)

-Escort caravans if they pay for it or if they pay us part of the wagon. (calm donna down that we won't steal her business, she might get rewarded by all this shit)

[Mithras]

First we are probably going to concieve a son during this effort so something benificial would be nice.

Yeah, this is a concern of mine as well. I'd love to make a Singing Wood + Everything artifact inscribed with Ukareem's bloodless empire building feat in the hopes of pulling another, more benign connection than with our first son. But the test run is both time sensitive and awards a major missing component (+social skills), so I don't see a good way around it.

I'm having difficulty understanding the problem, creating something small and benign might still have an effect on the child. What do you ean by "awards a major missing component." and why does it factor into the discussion?

Unrelatedly, we're going to need to set up a quarry before we go under but it might also be a good idea to start thinking about nvesting in monuments, we keep handing them out to people who aren't neccessarily on our side, if we could get more control over them that would be a huge benifit.

[IronyOwl]

I'm having difficulty understanding the problem, creating something small and benign might still have an effect on the child. What do you ean by "awards a major missing component." and why does it factor into the discussion?

It might, yeah, but if it's an artifact to sell it'll be less awesome and harder to get a hold of than if it's custom built for them and held onto by their father until they're ready for it. If the kid imprints onto it like our first did, that'd be unfortunate (though admittedly, if it's small it'd be cheaper to buy back, at least).

By missing component I mean I'd like it to be a +social skills artifact, since that's nice and benign and fits with Ukareem's feat and likely aspirations for his children. We don't have any of those at the moment, but Singing Wood fits the bill. So we can't decline or delay her offer to work on a different, bigger artifact, because a major component for it is acquired by making the smaller artifact.