Uncaged

[at]

The merchant hefts the rope as Ka'lion eyes it, "magic rope, practically endless - but if you cut it only one half remains, though still just as good"

He demonstrates by unfurling the rope from it's bolt loop - seemingly no more than 10 feet of the stuff - for what must be well over a hundred feet before cutting it away with a dagger. Once separated from the spool the rope collected on the floor immediately evaporates.

While Ka'lion watches the demonstration Brennen glances over towards the more powerful items, including an enchanted pearl and what appears to be a flail made of skulls rather than iron balls.

[sageaqua]

"Well my choice would be the rope. I'd no longer need to carry 600 feet of it whereever I want." said Ka'lion, "I'm going to need to learn to use a lasso."

[harknail]

Vadania agreed, "I think the rope looks useful, but I think the Gem will get us other items as well."

[Jasmine]

Sept 2, 2015 5:46:56 GMT -5 at said:

Brennen finds that both the cloak and ring possess faint abjuration magic (+1 items), the boots and wand possess transmutation magic though Brennen is unfamiliar with the spells - the magic in the former flares up when dropped while the latter seems to hold a small reserve of power to cast spells. Finally the musical instrument contains both evocation and transmutation power - but is unresponsive to command, Brennen speculates that its wielder needs to possess some capability with the instrument to wield it effectively.

What do they do, though? The schools of magic would be provided by detect magic, but identify should tell me what their actual function is. If all they do is have auras without providing any beneficial effect, I'd probably conclude that the seller cast some random spell on a mundane item to try and rip us off.

[at]

Brennen steps forward to examine each item in turn in more detail. The ring and cloak are much as they appeared at first glance (protection +1 / resistance +1), the boots are designed to soften falls (-2 dice of falling damage), the lute is imbued with a number of magical spells that can be triggered through play, once each per sunrise (4x spellcraft rolls to determine if the spells are known to Brennen), and finally the the wand had two charges renewed at midnight and contains a divine transmutation spell - a simple mental command activates it's power, if the wielder(spellcraft roll)

The rope itself is not quite endless, extending out to around 500 feet before ending and spooling back to the same 10. No matter how often it is cut there always remains 500 feet of rope available.

Sept 2, 2015 14:23:48 GMT -5 Jasmine said:

What do they do, though? The schools of magic would be provided by detect magic, but identify should tell me what their actual function is.

Descriptions provided were as per detect magic as that is Brennen's innate ability, looking over Ka'lions shoulder and around the shop.

Additional detail requires he pulls out his monocle and takes 5-15 minutes poking all the objects as per the (greatly expedited) identify spell - which is fine, just not automatic unless you state that it's Brennen's default behaviour when dealing with unknown magical items.

[Jasmine]

Sept 2, 2015 15:39:53 GMT -5 at said:

Additional detail requires he pulls out his monocle and takes 5-15 minutes poking all the objects as per the (greatly expedited) identify spell - which is fine, just not automatic unless you state that it's Brennen's default behaviour when dealing with unknown magical items.

Oh, yeah, that is his default when examining items, yeah. It's only a minute per item and it's pretty helpful.

Take 10 on Spellcraft for 22.

[at]

The instruments spells are standard enough - Flare, Light, Mending, and Message.

Brennen does not recognise the spell within the wand however - it is not powerful magic, but it is unlike any he has studied before.

[sageaqua]

"Ka'lion agrees that the things the seller is offering is not worth the gem. "Do you want to try selling the gem at the castle?" as Ka'lion pays the seller the silver peice for the apprasal. "Can we hire you for the day as our buyer?"

[at]

The merchant doesn't seem too disappointed at Ka'lions refusal, probably relieved that he didn't have to try to find a buyer for the thing himself. "A buyer?" he inquires.

[sageaqua]

"Yes a buyer. You know who in the area is most likely to treat us fairly and who may have stuff we want but will cheat us if they can. You negotiate the deals for us at a fair price. We don't wish to cheat anybody but what we do is dangerous and we can't afford to be cheated ourselves. We pay you in gold twice a days wages with a tip if you've earned it. Your daughter gets the day off to play with her friends and if we get enough of a return on the gem we will buy the rope at a fair price. We extort you to the sellers and back to make sure no one gets hurt. In the process we make a professional negotiator on our behalf so we are not cheated in the future and you earn extra wages that you would not of earned otherwise and your daughter gets to have a little fun. If everything works out to our liking we hirer you again in the future. The gem is a magical device that creates a golem out of junk. Right now we don't know how but that's what it does." says Ka'lion

[harknail]

Vadania wasn't so sure that the merchant couldn't offer a good deal, several of those items he was offering looked interesting. But as far as she was concerned the gem was Ka'lion's to do with as he wished. As long as he didn't have to leave the fell to get a good price, if that was the case they'd be going there separate ways again.

[at]

The merchant notes, "one of the travellers from the west came in yesterday, they had coin, but were hard traders. I doubt they'd give you a price you'd like but they might be able to give it in gold"

[sageaqua]

"The gems easier to carry then gold is. And the gem is party treasure - Ka'lion found the gem while digging through the junk in the dragons lair along with a number of gold coins. But if the party beleives it belongs to him he'll take gold and hire enough people to clean up and restore the place as Ka'lions home.

[at]

(Does Ka'lion wish to try his luck with the western travellers, or seek to trade the gem for services - he could doubtless employ some of the finest architects and artists of Merebas for such a sum)

[sageaqua]

Ka'lion well go to the castle to sell the gem in trade for smaller gems and coins and put out word that he's hiring masions, glass workers, workers to restore a large building. He figures the gems worth about 20,000$ if a way to actavate it was found. Perhaps more but he'll need to talk with the castles wizard first. H asks how much the store owner would want to buy the magic rope?

[at]

The merchant will part with the rope for 1500gp in gold or trade. He notes that Ka'lion assessment of the jewel is optimistic unless it's power is something special - and for it's value as a gem, even if he had ten thousand coin to give Ka'lion for it himself he risk taking a loss trying to auction it in Merebas.

He goes on to say that the most powerful mage known to the town was a man called Melwyn, who had a home in the hills to the west though he had not been seen since the siege.


Leaving the merchant behind Ka'lion leads the group to a man he is familiar with - the seneschal Osbern. He seems not to have slept well recently but seems more interested in the gem that Ka'lion might have expected, and inspects it through an eye-glass. "How much do you expect for this?"

Nearby Vadania and Brennen wonder at the cause of the activity. The influx of merchants perhaps but Burr has never been known as a major place of trade - indeed even Brennen had heard of it only by its reputation as barely more than a den of smugglers. While Burr was the last town standing after the recent conflicts this upturn in fortunes seemed unusually rapid.

[harknail]

Vadania says, "We know how to activate the magic of the gem. Place it in the old arena of the place Ka'lion is claiming as his home, along with large amounts of lead and glass, and a bit of iron. Open the entrance and the gem will animate all the junk into a dragon golem to test your fighting ability. The enchantment is likely useless anywhere else. So it's just a big gem now."

She adds, "Ka'lion, if you want to hire workers to fix up that place, that's fine. But I'm not going to wait around while you supervise the remodeling, so you'll need to hire a supervisor you can trust. You'll also need to warn them about all the traps. Even with warning some of the workers may get killed."

[Jasmine]

"I doubt the gem is useless now," says Brennen. "It still contains a pretty powerful enchantment. An artificer worth his salt should have no trouble repurposing it."

[at]

(OOC - Osbern will give cash that can be used to buy items for base cost in downtime / between adventures - but it's basic wealth per level rather than the higher amounts of semi-random items characters could otherwise get / negotiate for. Anything from the DMG/MiC - he'll pay 8000, so 2000 per character)

[sageaqua]

That's fine. 500 after the rope should be more then enough to get the workers started on Ka'lions house.