A Verdant Spark
Seventeenth Day of the First Month 293 AC
Before aught else you head to the ruined hall where you had left Lya, Dany, and their iron guards, keeping your eyes open for any of these 'spirits' Rolland mentioned and your ears peeled for his news of the Golden Company. Though the former offers no surprises the latter certainly does... and not the pleasant kind to be sure. "Nefer.... What could they seek in that sundered land?"
"Word is the Empty Throne seeks to reforge N'ghai of old with steel and sorcery, that their astrologers read prophecies in the sky that the day will come soon when the regents can lay down their long stewardship and the Hidden Heir will take up the Hollow Crown again," the sellsword recounts the tale in an over-sonorous voice tinged with contempt. "My guess is their magic started working better again and they figured they can match the horsemen of Jogos N'hai in the open. Likely they'll put some poor bastard on the throne and call him the true king, while the same old fat men run the mummer's play."
Under contract hundreds of miles away in the service of sorcerer lords of whom you know little more than sailor's gossip. None better than you know how little worth that has.
***
Thankfully you do not have long to brood on the matter of your foes wandering the ruined streets, for soon enough you reach the ruined hall where you had left Dany and Lya. 'Tis dark within save for the glimmer of mage lanterns and the sparks of arcane fire beneath the iron brows of the sentinels.
"Did you kill them?" Dany asks bluntly, startling the sellswords who had been following along.
"All but the fat man. With any luck he'll lead us to the rest of the quarry in time," you reply, honestly enough. Better to have rid the world of the two Essarian mages than one exiled magister. "How did things go here?"
Lya does not need any further prompting to tell... or rather to show you. She draws from the folds of her robes what seems to be an jagged shard of glowing jade about three inches long and half that in width. With a smile she lets you examine it silently.
The closer you look the more patterns you can see—webs of tiny crack and ridges, rivulets of light and seas of shadow that shift under your gaze like the slow changes of the earth made a thousand thousand times swifter, some small spark of the creative power of the earth bound in place.
"What do you want to do with it?" you ask at last.
"It should make creating intelligent incarnate spirits easier merely by its presence, or else I could embed it into one particularly potent creation..." she trails off, some of the joy draining from her face. "Whatever this ritual was supposed to be, it would have been far grander than what my own rushed efforts were able to salvage."
Gain Life-Spark Gem
- -10% Cost for intelligent constructs (stacks with Extraordinary Artisan)
- Can be implanted in an artificial being as part of its creation (???)
"It would also have been in the hands of an enemy," you remind her.
"I know, I know," she sighs. "It's just a waste that anyone that skilled would have fallen in with fools and madmen."
"Well then, let us see what else can be salvaged," Dany says with determined good cheer. Then glancing up at the two iron sentinels: "Bringing them with us should send about the right message." Then softer, a spell-carried whisper: "What do we do about the serjeant?"
What do you answer?
[] Take the man aside and speak with him personally
-[] Write in
[] Leave him hidden for now
[] Write in
OOC: A little short of the full vote, but a decision here is required.
This thing is awesome.
