A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

Twenty Fifth Day of the First Month 294 AC

You do not bid first, you do not bid last, between the angel and the devil you speak. Ten thousand more than the previous offer at first, not too much and you hope not to little, you want this far more than the anatomy book. This offer is no minor token, if not quite as much as what you hope of the last rumored item on the auction list. On the other hand you cannot afford to conjure too high a mountain of gold here, not for this. The only way you can win this fierce a bid, the simplest and most difficult way, is bluff.

The wealth of the Opaline Vault is legendary, as much as the treasure chambers of Minauros bright with accursed relics. Perhaps Mikael Abdul-Hassan, a mage without a history in Heaven's Shore, is not simply bidding for his own interest and curiosity. Perhaps the vast wealth of the Peerless Empire is at your back and you have merely to say the word for gold and gems to flow like water. You continue chatting with Kimu as you match bids in even steps to ten thousand all the way up to two hundred thousand marks, a hundred thousand in the local currency. On the last offer you allow your tone to be just dismissive enough to hopefully get a rise out of the already frustrated devil.

"A hundred and thirty thousand, let us respect our host's wishes and deal with this quickly," the devil hisses.

Perfect. "Two hundred thousand." You pause the span of two heartbeats. "Make that two hundred fifty thousand."

With that you turn your attention back to the astronomer who shrugs and smiles, dropping her bid. "It's yours then."

Though his expression is smooth and untroubled to most eyes you can read the flash of the devil's rage in the way his black armored guards shift to accommodate him, unconsciously readying themselves for battle. The unexpected disadvantage of having long standing sworn shields, though one Ser Richard would never expose you to you are certain.

Gain Clockwork Familiar of Heronious

As the sphere of gears and light floats away from the auctioneer you cannot help but wonder what the unseen watcher, if indeed there is one among the patrolling sentinels, thinks of your acquisition, but though you strain your hearing to its utmost you hear nothing beyond the crash of stone feet upon the cracked stone floor.

You are tempted to envelop the construct in the folds of your cloak where none can reach it, but doing so in the presence of a presumably favored agent of Mammon seems to be tempting fate, so instead you motion to Ser Richard to make use of his own far less noticeable enchanted bag.

"Excellent choice," Eshyr proclaims with a nod that is less a movement of their body and more eyes migrating downwards and then back up again. "Now for our penultimate offering, one of the more unique alchemical texts I have had the pleasure of encountering. It appears to be a blend of aboleth and baatezu theories, and we all know each in their own way possess great alchemical lore, but this is not something either alone could master. Distilling poisons from the very emanations of the soul, to slay with rage, send into deep torpor with sorrow or even to seal flesh and soul from one another with cold detachment. All these and more can be within your grasp if you can but win this next bid. No common spell will undo the work of these venoms."

Sixth Piece on Offer: Tome Soul Poison (Allows one to distill the negative emotions of powerful souls into unique poisons resistant to magical wards or cures)

Asking Price: 200,000 IM

Do you bid?

[] Yes
-[] How high

[] No, wait out the bid

OOC: In this case, 'resistant to magical wards and cures' means up to 'needs wish or miracle to fix', though the DCs for making them are to match. You practically need someone with a specialized poisoner class like Tyene to even attempt making them, and they take considerable time and effort to brew.