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"Fftthmmmmblgl-rthinggg" Caleb spoke, his mouth stuffed with vegetables. Rigby was mostly full himself, but Caleb and Keichi were still going strong. He looked over the illusorily wide Balthran dining establishment whilst waiting for the group-wide telepathic translation from "mouth full, you fucking barbarian" to "Arcatan", which Viztria provided. "Shhooo, that asshhh-hole knight? His shtory was whaa?"
Alenka pondered if it made any sense for a natural telepath to slur when drunk, but decided to just go with it.
Keichi exposited: "Well, there's three Grand Dukes. We've normally dealt with Grand Duke San Ravalis, but mostly because we've known Lady Sarah Ann, but who knows what her role in all this really is. I suspect she's the Night Cloak, or at least is related to him in some way. We were invited to Boraven Layregon's feast, unexpectedly. He was there with his most experienced knight, an allied Duke, Duke Brodish, the same one that tried to have Them Fommemem executed last season, and some of their women. The Knight, Sir Tasregor, had knowlege of one of the items stolen from my monestary, and hinted he could supply it if we just waited a few weeks. It sounded like they were interested in starving the Zeugerians because they owned farms and could make some shiny gold by selling to them, but it could always be something else."*
Rigby added, "That and the fact that Grand Duke Layregon all but accused us of being the pawns of Grand Duke Ravalis, having saved his armies from combat, enforced his taxes when I... err, I mean, when WE, defeated that demon, and also helped force Zem Tower to act upon the Voriphans... I'm a bit worried about that."
Rigby glanced around the room again, but the illusory wideness wouldn't allow someone to sneak up unless invisible or scrying, and his active detect invisibility would stop both of those. Maybe there was some way to scry without that working, but Latukefu would put some kind of divine arrow through their mind's eye, so he wasn't terribly worried.
"Mayren offered me hairdressing lessons. Maybe that was just to distract us by keeping us in town while I learned something I couldn't afford when I was younger, but she seemed sincere."
Caleb continued without food in his mouth. "Well, when Lady Sarah Ann's message arrived, I didn't think twice. But I will say, she seems like she would get along with every grim old Dark Knight I've ever met, if she had been born in Dulal. Is our wizard available to ferry us about some more after this brunch? Rami Tekudo had promised us some manner of ceremony and the gratitude of the Zeugerian people, we should likely see if anything there can prevent us, or, math being one of my strong suites, prevent ME from dying horribly on our next adventure. Maybe that Bo-rake-something Tense-man has something of use, he seems high ranking in your monestary."
"Boraku Tensa has already thanked us. It would be crass to go begging for favors." Keichi responded.
Alenka eyed the waitress arriving with desert. It appeared to be a cool cream in several small bowls and, in the center, some kind of horrible looking fruit. It appeared rotted to near black in places, with only some small sections remaining green, and the interior was fashioned to appear the color of blood- it even had small sections that looked like clotted blood. Seeds, perhaps?
"Watermelon! I haven't had this since Queris!" Rigby exclaimed, digging in, entirely ignoring the dipping cream.
From there, the conversation veered toward more mundane, and present, topics. Morgrim had been more than happy to teleport the group to the promised "Wide Restaurant", but he and Lithonian had immediately set out to talk with the Balthran Deniers, seeking spells and advice. Balthras, the capital of Dulal, was under repair from the Voriphan attacks. There were still husks of crashed airships outside of the city limits, and the curse upon the local casters had finally been eliminated, the key solved by high ranking clerics of Erinth and Jaenca, Balthran Deniers, and wizards of Zem Tower.
"This is classed as 'Arcane Magic, Disruptive, No Vow Required". Sean Fralish was substantially more friendly now than back in tent "E-5", his native predjudice towards Morgrim having vanished months ago after hearing of the exploits of his former tent-mates, and was very thrilled to hear about the defeat of Vosh'sgn and his horde of orcs in the south, during a time when he, personally, could cast not one solitary spell. "That means we're free to share it. It uses the same thremel and strands as some Denier spells, so it won't interfere with them, but it's effective against pretty much anything that isn't an abjuration."
"And what would you need, by way of compensation?" Morgrim asked. The human had gone from suspicious and racist to friendly and warm since the last time he met him. He looked pretty differently with his eyes actually open and friendly.
"Nothing! Without your help, many of us wouldn't even be here, and it seems likely you'll need what you can get. Well, assuming you brought your own inks. Magical pigments here are very expensive and rare in light of recent events, but that shouldn't remain the case for long. If you'll excuse me, I'll be back- I have to give a speech to some apprentices."
Ash watched him go. Morgrim began muttering and copying, but could still keep up a conversation.
They were in the Deniers Safehouse, a converted mansion. It had recently been cleaned to a shine, and the old wood looked about as pleasant as humans could make it, given their nature of killing trees in order to reshape them instead of just asking them to be the right shape in the first place.
"I still don't understand the dragon army." Ash commented "I know that stuttering Rober Smith told us that it's most likely related to some the dragons in Reguran-Sur, the south central island of Voriph, but that doesn't really help. That many evil dragons united just seems wrong."
"We don't really know the customs over there." Morgrim responded, while copying. "Supposedly the metallic dragons are there in number too, and they don't just openly kill each other as they would on this side of the world. Why the dragons would wear armor when their scales become stronger than any metal also seems odd, especially given that it didn't cover any vulnerable spots except their heads- it looked almost completely decorative. But the helmets were elaborate."
Lithonian continued, "I did mostly figure out the 'crystal homes' at least. Their normal purpose, according to the Kuromerans, is to provide a place for spirits friendly to farming and growth to come in during the winter. In the distant past there was some kind of blight, and the houses were a gift from Path of Stone druids. That's why they were able to be bound with dark magic and imprison all manner of spirits. But the geomancer who set us on our path, Tokada Berrelen, was very clear that the damaging energy was being transmitted via leylines. I'd guess that the crystal houses normally are placed on them, but I'm not familiar enough with the beliefs of the Kuromerans to see any implications of that."
Arcane Repurposing
Abjuration
Level: Denier 5, Wiz 6, Dark Knight 4
Casting Time: 1 immediate action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target or Area: One spell, psionic power, or spell-like ability with a casting time of a swift action or greater. The caster or manifestor must be within the range of the spell.
Duration: See Text
Saving Throw: Will Negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: No
Used during the casting, manifesting, or other triggering action, Arcane Repurposing dynamically seizes the spell, allowing you to select its targets and any modes, as if you were the one casting, manifesting, or triggering it. The spell originates from you, not the original target.
For the purposes of this description, "casting" will be used in place of "casting, manifesting, or triggering".
The caster of the target spell first must make a will saving throw. If successful, the arcane meddling is resisted. If the targetted ability is a spell like ability instead of a spell, the caster gains a +4 to this saving throw. If you have personally been the subject of a spell, power, or spell like ability cast by this caster before, the DC of the saving throw against Arcane Repurposing is increased by 2 for that caster. If you are casting this as a Dark Knight, the DC of the saving throw is increased by 2.
If the spell is not resisted, make an opposed caster level check. Any modifiers that would apply to a dispel magic check also apply here. If you succeed, choose targets and modes of the spell as if it was your spell that you had cast. If the casting time was longer than one standard action, you must continue casting the spell for it to have any effect, picking up with the very next syllable that the original caster was on in the casting. If you choose not to finish casting the spell, it is lost.
In any event, the original spell is disrupted.
If you lose the caster level check, you can still manipulate the spell. You can apply one of these penalties to the spell:
-You can halve the duration of a spell. You may not choose this if the spell has a duration of instantaneous, permanent, or one single round. Round down odd numbers of rounds.
-You can reduce the DC of the saving throw of the spell by 2.
-You can reduce the caster level of the spell by 3.
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*To make this work, I had to take liberties with what your characters said. If you don't like the words I put in your mouths, please feel free to post that below- I'll edit them and that'll be canon. I hope you guys don't mind me stepping into your characters a bit, there's no way it'll be perfect but I wanted these two scenes to play out.
Morgrim, you'll be paying ink or gold for a 6th level spell unless you cry terrible much. It's odd to write spells like that one because as immediate actions they can be too powerful, but they also have two ways to be ignored- failed caster level check or successful saving throw. The wording is a bit odd on it too.
I was hoping to have more fire elementals, but I just didn't get to it.
It's Zenith 47th. All days ending in 7 are Day of Fires, so, there's that. Almost at the weekend! For those cultures that do that, at least.
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