Wouldn't this drive off pretty much anyone of sufficient power to make this journey? Neither Angels nor Devils are sufficiently renowned for bribery working on them. The problem with the "anyone with any business being here had better be legitimate" wouldn't gel with the sheer pragmatism of the knowledge the only business either group is going to get is from those who absolutely do not want their business here being traced, with all of the deterrents of the local garrison, as well as the risk of bringing down unwanted attention from IT nearby, generally dissuading any large scale funny business.
Not really, that is where being good at hiding your contraband comes in, everyone shows something for the sake of the inspection and then the inspectors carefully do not consider all the ways the mind blanked being could be lying (how carefully they don't consider it may depend on the bribe).
Still now going to use the idea this time around because I should have thought of it last night not now.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 8, 2020 at 5:10 AM, finished with 88 posts and 13 votes.
[X] Mikael Abdul-Hassan (etymology: "servant of"/"slave of" - "beautiful/benefactor", implying a former slave and attribution toward their lineage's former master's benevolence/patronage) and Rashmi Char --[X] Archmage from the Opaline Vault and his veiled bodyguard.
Mikael Abdul-Hassan, sorcerer of the realm of earth, by his name one willingly released by his master was not the sort of man to pass wholly unnoticed through the Stacks, that would itself have marked you as odd where you are going, but your dress and manner is restrained enough not to invite others to approach, your gaze wary enough to ward off those lurking in the shadows who might think to ambush the wealthy foreigner trying his luck at the auction. Ser Richard complains at the veil, not for impeding his sight for it is but an illusion, but because he cannot glare at would-be trouble-makers before they can work up their courage. "That's half the job of being a sworn shield..." he grumbles, as much as one can in mind-speech.
Alas that the first person to approach you, just as you turn the corner along the Street of Golden Means where the auction is to take place, is not one who would have flinched even when faced with the knight's most fearsome glare. Garbed in a black corpse-shroud, in bone dust and white ash, the figure seems to steal the light of shop-side lanterns, the colors leeching from the banners and bright glamours twisting to a sinister cast at his approach. For a moment you are reminded of the deathly spirit you faced in the defiled sept in White Harbor and wonder if the city's garrison would find the presence of a embodiment of Night cause enough to fight in the street.
As it approaches you notice that the face within the hood beneath the finely wrought glamour of humanity is not a grinning skull or sepulchral emptiness, but the features at once bestial and regal of a rakshasa. Servant of the Void by any other name.... You move aside, blatantly avoiding the necromancer if not quite by so wide a berth as most others give him.
He is not deterred, something rattles from his outstretched hand as his pace quickens, you would call it a lantern save that there is no light within or at least none that your eyes can see. You vaguely recall Teana mentioning such artifacts, shadow-seer's lanterns that reveal the world only to those whose eyes see in shadow, though why the fiend would unveil it here when even mortal eyes can clearly see under the grey light of Heaven's Shore you could not say.
The lantern sways faintly in your direction... and only then does the fiend speak, voice rasping through the air like rusted iron upon stone unlike the melodious poison that drips from the lips of many of his peers. "Answers there are to be found in silence as well as the din of too-loud hearts are there not, wise one?"
Is he divining your lack of obvious auras, your veiled fate? you wonder. The fingers of your right hand twitch around your weirwood staff, glamoured itself as as bejeweled thing of the sort favored in the Opaline Vault, but you offer no answer.
"Few there are who would dare grasp the hidden scrolls from the clutches of the Miser Duke. Perhaps we might forge an alliance of convenience, strangers in a strange land being, for I suspect our interests do overlap. It would be better to slowly inflate the price of those texts we are interested in by turn rather than each bidding against devils in our own interests." The mind voice by contrast is oily, like something left to rot in the hot sun.
Who in the Nine Hells, or the nightmare realm of the Bloodstone Emperor as the case may be, tries to forge an alliance like this in the middle of a street with someone they know nothing about beyond the script on their robes? you cannot help but wonder.
"His mind tastes strange," Varys hissed suddenly. She had taken being glamoured as a minor elemental about as well as Ser Richard had taken the veil, but the odd approach had roused her "Sharper than shadow and gravedust... almost I would guess brimstone."
Ah, a devils' test, the pattern falls in place. Temptation rather than simple inspection, though the question remains what would be the correct response to be allowed to pass and draw the least attention. Should you continue to ignore the being, seek the authorities in an attempt to reveal the 'dangerous rakshasa ', or should you give 'Mikael' a reputation for being clear sighted by explaining that you had seen through the ruse?
What do you do?
[] Continue to avoid the false rakshasa
[] Try to reveal it to the authorities as a concerned visitor would do
[] Confirm that you had seen through the ruse and move on
OOC: The first random encounter I rolled up in a while, though not quite a combat one.
That's where you're wrong kiddo.
We'll at least try to go for the whole collection, even if we might ultimatly give up on some parts to avoid overspending.
Mikael Abdul-Hassan, sorcerer of the realm of earth, by his name one willingly released by his master, was not the sort of man to pass wholly unnoticed through the Stacks. That would itself have marked you as odd where you are going, but your dress and manner is restrained enough not to invite others to approach, your gaze wary enough to ward off those lurking in the shadows who might think to ambush the wealthy foreigner trying his luck at the auction. Ser Richard complains at the veil, not for impeding his sight, for it is mere illusion, but because he cannot glare at would be trouble-makers before they can work up their courage. "That's half the job of being a sworn shield..." he grumbles, as much as one can in mind-speech.
Alas, the first person to approach you, just as you turn the corner along the Street of Golden Means where the auction is to take place, is not one who would have flinched even when faced with the knight's most fearsome glare. Garbed in black corpse-shrouds, in bone dust and white ash, the figure seems to steal the light of shop-side lanterns, the colors leeching from the banners and bright glamors twisting to sinister cast at his approach. For a moment you are reminded of the deathly spirit you faced in the defiled sept in White Harbor and wonder if the city's garrison would find the presence of an embodiment of Night cause enough to fight in the street.
As it approaches, however, you notice that the face within the hood, hidden beneath the finely wrought glamor of humanity, is not a grinning skull or sepulchral emptiness, but the features at once bestial and regal of a Rakshasa. Servant of the Void by any other name.... You move aside, blatantly avoiding the necromancer if not quite by so wide a berth as most others give him.
He is not deterred, something rattles from his outstretched hand as his pace quickens, you would call it a lantern save that there is no light within or at least none that your eyes can see. You vaguely recall Teana mentioning such artifacts, shadow-seer's lanterns that reveal the world only to those whose eyes see in shadow, though why the fiend would unveil it here when even mortal eyes can clearly see under the grey light of Heaven's Shore you could not say.
The lantern sways faintly in your direction... and only then does the fiend speak, voice rasping through the air like rusted iron upon stone, unlike the melodious poison that drips from the lips of many of his peers. "Answers there are to be found in silence as well as the din of too-loud hearts are there not, wise one?"
Is he divining your lack of obvious auras, your veiled fate? you wonder. The fingers of your right hand twitch around your weirwood staff, glamored itself as a bejeweled thing of the sort favored in the Opaline Vault, but you offer no answer.
"Few there are who would dare grasp the hidden scrolls from the clutches of the Miser Duke, perhaps we might forge an alliance of convenience, strangers in a strange land being, for I suspect our interests do not overlap. It would be better to slowly inflate the price of those texts we are interested in by turn rather than each bidding against devils in our own interests." The mind voice by contrast is oily, like something left to rot in the hot sun.
Who in the Nine Hells, or the nightmare realm of the Bloodstone Emperor as the case may be, tries to forge an alliance like this in the middle of a street with someone they know nothing about beyond the script on their robes? you cannot help but wonder.
"His mind tastes strange," Varys hisses suddenly. She had taken being glamored as a minor elemental about as well as Ser Richard had taken the veil, but the odd approach had roused her "Sharper than shadow and gravedust... almost I would guess brimstone."
Ah, a devils' test, the pattern falls in place. Temptation rather than simple inspection, though the question remains what would be the correct response to be allowed to pass and draw the least attention. Should you continue to ignore the being, seek the authorities in an attempt to reveal the 'Dangerous Rakshasa ', or should you give 'Mikael' a reputation for being clear-sighted by explaining that you had seen through the ruse?
What do you do?
[] Continue to avoid the false Rakshasa
[] Try to reveal it to the authorities as a concerned visitor would do
[] Confirm that you had seen through the ruse and move on
OOC: The first random encounter I rolled up in a while, though not quite a combat one. Not yet edited.
I think this would be the best choice here. It shows that we're not gullible enough to fall for the ruse, nor that we are tattletales running to the authorities at the first sign of a threat.
[X] Confirm that you had seen through the ruse and move on
If we had come as a Solar, we would have better pretext for just ignoring the thing.
Regardless, as a civilized person from a civilized plane we would not want to interact with a Rakshasa and servant of the Void anyway.
[X] Confirm that you had seen through the ruse and move on
-[X] A word of advice; This almost certainly would have been a more productive conversation if they had actually approached with intent to negotiate. After determining the strength of another's wards, if your failed tactic to tease out information from a stranger goes sideways, you will have only signaled your unwillingness to view them as anything more than a threat, whereas you can always decide to change tactics in the middle of an offer made in good faith not being reciprocated similarly.
"His mind tastes strange," Varys hisses suddenly. She had taken being glamored as a minor elemental about as well as Ser Richard had taken the veil, but the odd approach had roused her "Sharper than shadow and gravedust... almost I would guess brimstone."
The devil initiated telepathic communication, logically that should allow Varys to get a feel for its mind just as it would for anyone else using mindsight. If you don't want the Deep Ones to notice you don't talk to them while you are infiltrating.
OK I have the rough sheets for your fellow auction-goers done
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 8, 2020 at 10:41 AM, finished with 18 posts and 9 votes.
[X] Confirm that you had seen through the ruse and move on -[X] A word of advice; This almost certainly would have been a more productive conversation if they had actually approached with intent to negotiate. After determining the strength of another's wards, if your failed tactic to tease out information from a stranger goes sideways, you will have only signaled your unwillingness to view them as anything more than a threat, whereas you can always decide to change tactics in the middle of an offer made in good faith not being reciprocated similarly.
"A worthy effort, but I am not so foolish as to suspect the Lord of Heaven's Shore and the General of the Garrison would allow that which you pretend to show yourself as to walk the streets unchecked," you send back at last. No reason not to be known as competent under this guise.
"A word of advice," you add a moment later, quickening your peace even as you meet the disguised baatezu's golden gaze. "This almost certainly would have been a more productive conversation if you had actually approached with intent to negotiate. After determining the strength of another's wards, if your failed tactic to tease out information from a stranger goes sideways, you will have only signaled your unwillingness to view them as anything more than a threat, whereas you can always decide to change tactics in the middle of an offer made in good faith not being reciprocated similarly."
The tempter takes your words less well than you had anticipated them, incredulity and wounded pride bleeding into wrath over which a thin veneer of courtesy stretches. "How kind of you to pay such close attention to my work, I will be sure to pay you back in like coin stone-born."
Though you cannot actually hear Ser Richard sigh in the depths of his helm behind the illusory veil, the gesture of adjusting his sword is as a familiar as it is comforting. Come what may you will be ready.
Still, you would rather what comes be nothing more than the buying of unique lore and vanishing out of the sight of Heaven's Shore and the devils who rule it.
***
The great dome must have once been a temple to some lost celestial power, the stones scarred with telltale groves that mark a name expunged, desecrated winged figures look down sadly from walls dripping with moisture like bitter tears. Here unlike in other parts of Heaven's Shore there is life of a sort, veins of mold sealing the cracks in ancient masonry, pulsing faintly with ward-light. Perhaps whatever power had once been worshiped here had been one of life. Whatever the case the blessings that now hang upon it have little to do with light or nurturing, a veil against farsight and foresight, a spell of wakening linked to the headless statues that still stand in mute vigil through the unhallowed hall, a small army of stone golems and something else you can't quite identify. No wonder the powers of Heaven's Shore prefer to have their test out in the street and not within these walls. The master of this place holds no small power and thus must be assumed to have a worth to them worth the obsession with secrecy.
A circle of crimson divans awaits, each enchanted to provide whatever refreshments the one laying upon them might desire, and in the center of the hall, illuminated by a ray of silver light spun from illusions that almost seems more blasphemous to the fallen temple than either ruin or decadence, there is a chest seemingly unguarded. Another test? you wonder, looking around instead at your fellow auction goers.
The first you notice is the envoy of Mammon, a gilded devil garbed in glittering yellow like the face of the sun, though he had chosen from some whim or hidden plot to seem almost human were it not for eyes of molten gold. He nods politely enough, eyes fixed upon the script of your false robes, you hope reading just what you mean him to. Flanking him are two figures of far less comely seeming, creatures of rage and crimson sinew girdled in black steel armor.
The second would-be buyer present stands alone and as far from the devil as it can manage. The silver robes and winged staff recall an angelic form, but you could not say for certain of what kindred or cohort it may have sprang, for within the robes is nothing but coiling wisps of fog and twin points of faded silver, like coins almost lost in the mist. No chill of unlife do you feel from it but something rarer, a celestial spirit broken but unbowed, enduring in its charge beyond even the limitations of form. Though the being stirs slightly at your approach it makes no move to approach.
The only other mortal present is a sorceress garbed in cerulean blue with markings of the heavens upon them, of storm and thunder, and above all else of the moon shinning above his brow. Some of the vortexes that shroud her are not of her own will you know, but beings of barely leashed lighting of a sort you had encountered but once before. Though her feet do not touch the ground she is by far the least aloof in manner, introducing herself as Kimu, a sage and wanderer from the realms of air and seeker of 'sky-fire omens'. "So what do you think we aught to do, wait with our hands behind out backs or try to open the chest?"
Before you can answer one last figure enters the hall behind you, the sound of their steps like hollow steel on stone. You turn to a feeling of presence at once familiar and strange. The air seems more alive and attentive than you have ever felt it in Heaven's Shore, the feeling of watchers just out of sight, one you had felt many times in the east, but the scent of blood and incense is not one you had associated with the servants and companions of the kami.
There stands a mage hidden behind a mask of steel in the garb of Yi Ti, but not such as you had seen it in Yin or Trader Town, but bright crimson, the color of ill omen, and crimson the razor-sharp claws at the end of its fingers. No attendants does this mage have either, but the pulsing crystal shard hovering above one hand pulses with strange awareness. Was this a servant of the Yellow Emperor of Accursed Carcosa of which you had heard much yet know little of?
Judging from the way naught but silence answers the Astronomer's first question it seems you have some time to find out, or perhaps to speak to some of the others in attendance. Who knows, the contacts could prove more valuable than anything you buy here.
Do you speak to any of your fellow auction-goers?
[] Yes (Choose up to Two)
-[] The Gilded Devil
-[] The Hollow Angel
-[] The Astronomer
-[] The Shugenja
[] No, wait to see if any approach you
OOC: You can include a write-in for what you want to say, but its not mandatory.
