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Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

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Oh, and @DragonParadox, now that Mog is properly in our employ, does he have the ability to construct a working prosthetic for a severed hand for a human? for a half-Oceanid? Preferably as good-looking as possible, though obviously ability to work as close as possible to the manner of living hand is of primary importance. If he does, what kind of resources and how much time would he need? If he does not, maybe he knows someone who can?

It's relevant now because if he has the ability or does know, we should consider if we would like to suggest it to Lina, and if we would, we should breach the subject with Lina if she wants to try it at all; maybe she finds her current condition relatively not bad enough, perhaps using her water magic to augment herself, or maybe Ohun has something in the works, or maybe she would not want to owe us favors of such degree.
 
myrix said:
Oh, and @DragonParadox, now that Mog is properly in our employ, does he have the ability to construct a working prosthetic for a severed hand for a human? for a half-Oceanid? Preferably as good-looking as possible, though obviously ability to work as close as possible to the manner of living hand is of primary importance. If he does, what kind of resources and how much time would he need? If he does not, maybe he knows someone who can?

It's relevant now because if he has the ability or does know, we should consider if we would like to suggest it to Lina, and if we would, we should breach the subject with Lina if she wants to try it at all; maybe she finds her current condition relatively not bad enough, perhaps using her water magic to augment herself, or maybe Ohun has something in the works, or maybe she would not want to owe us favors of such degree.
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He can in fact make one, though it is rather crude at first, it took him years of fiddling with his to get the full range of motion into it.
 
@Goldfish, what do you then think of adding following to the vote to tell Lina:

1. General info on the global situation, as most people will be naturally opposed to daemons and dragons trying to conquer them, and the more informed friendly enough to us governments are, the better.

-[] Tell Lina general outlines of what we know of global plots, if Ohun hadn't already informed her, based on what pieces of puzzle we managed to uncover so far.
--[] Tell of expected dark times ahead, with global daemon plot and the global dragon plot, which may or may not be related in whatever way.
--[] "The daemons want something from us and won't stop trying to get at us, though the only thing they will get is their deaths upon our blades."
--[] Tell that we know for certain that there is one who means ill to us and to our ship and the world entire, perhaps it is this dragon who appears to try to bring back the dragon age?
--[] And that the Formless and other unsavory things from the boundaries of the world and the deep places may be trying to fish for profit in such troubled waters.
--[] It might be troublesome to associate with us, but by the same token we greatly value possible allies and will always repay forthrightness and generosity with the same and will gladly accept anything that may help us in our struggles, with knowledge and magic valued above all.

2. Possibility of prosthetic.

-[] Mention possibility of prosthetic, if she would like to consider it. By our fey smith's own admission it may be crude, so if she would like to try to make it, in the name of friendship we won't ask anything in return except for material cost, though if she would like to repay us with knowledge / magic like we mentioned before, we would value it greatly.

Not so sure about proposed cost on this one, so if it's not so good, feel free to modify.
 
myrix said:
@Goldfish, what do you then think of adding following to the vote to tell Lina:

1. General info on the global situation, as most people will be naturally opposed to daemons and dragons trying to conquer them, and the more informed friendly enough to us governments are, the better.

-[] Tell Lina general outlines of what we know of global plots, if Ohun hadn't already informed her, based on what pieces of puzzle we managed to uncover so far.
--[] Tell of expected dark times ahead, with global daemon plot and the global dragon plot, which may or may not be related in whatever way.
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I think adding these two wouldn't be an issue, but the others would either be superfluous or oversharing, IMO.

I'll go ahead and add these to my plan.
2. Possibility of prosthetic.

-[] Mention possibility of prosthetic, if she would like to consider it. By our fey smith's own admission it may be crude, so if she would like to try to make it, in the name of friendship we won't ask anything in return except for material cost, though if she would like to repay us with knowledge / magic like we mentioned before, we would value it greatly.

Not so sure about proposed cost on this one, so if it's not so good, feel free to modify.
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It seems too early to making this sort of statement, IMO. We just met Mog, have no real IC understanding of his capabilities or crafting expertise, and know even less about the limitations of such prosthetics. It would just seem strange to suddenly go, 'BTW, my new Gremlin minion might be able to help with your missing arm situation'.

This would make more sense as something to offer in a few seasons, if it's even possible.
 
Artemis1992 said:
Actually we did have a daemon-possessed Undead somewhere in the Sarnor-storyline last quest.
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That was a very high level Daemon, IIRC, which would be well outside the bounds of this setting. CR 20 might as well be a full blown deity in this setting.

I was thinking more along the lines of Daemons within a reasonable CR range.
 
Goldfish said:
That was a very high level Daemon, IIRC, which would be well outside the bounds of this setting. CR 20 might as well be a full blown deity in this setting.

I was thinking more along the lines of Daemons within a reasonable CR range.
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Yeah, there certainly won't be a CR 20 Daemon possessing a CR 18 Reaper.

But the basic principle could be applied at lower power.
 
Goldfish said:
It seems too early to making this sort of statement, IMO. We just met Mog, have no real IC understanding of his capabilities or crafting expertise, and know even less about the limitations of such prosthetics. It would just seem strange to suddenly go, 'BTW, my new Gremlin minion might be able to help with your missing arm situation'.

This would make more sense as something to offer in a few seasons, if it's even possible.
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One of the reasons I would like to mention it now is that I don't think Mog will be present to try besides now for the next 3 years, as I believe he won't move once we establish his workshop without really compelling reasons, and making prosthetic remotely, without the intended user present, is an exercise in futility, shouldn't even try.

And because of all these uncertainties you mentioned my suggestions was so light on the price, only material cost, and we are saying it like this, "hey, an opportunity, though we don't know if it pans out, but then we are willing to try for not so much cost, want to?"

Regarding limitations, something is more useful then nothing, though that's for Lina to decide, maybe she doesn't think that or has better alternatives lined up, we are just suggesting.

Regarding his capabilities, he at least managed to make himself a fully functional full arm prosthetic, so that's justification for our proposal, we are not doing it out of the blue.

I'm not saying we must do it, but I think there are compelling arguments for it, especially due to fleeting opportunity.
 
myrix said:
One of the reasons I would like to mention it now is that I don't think Mog will be present to try besides now for the next 3 years, as I believe he won't move once we establish his workshop without really compelling reasons, and making prosthetic remotely, without the intended user present, is an exercise in futility, shouldn't even try.

And because of all these uncertainties you mentioned my suggestions was so light on the price, only material cost, and we are saying it like this, "hey, an opportunity, though we don't know if it pans out, but then we are willing to try for not so much cost, want to?"

Regarding limitations, something is more useful then nothing, though that's for Lina to decide, maybe she doesn't think that or has better alternatives lined up, we are just suggesting.

Regarding his capabilities, he at least managed to make himself a fully functional full arm prosthetic, so that's justification for our proposal, we are not doing it out of the blue.

I'm not saying we must do it, but I think there are compelling arguments for it, especially due to fleeting opportunity.
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I don't want to obligate Mog to working on a project for Lina before he has a workshop setup or has even done any work for us. Even if she paid for the materials needed to craft the prosthetic, it would still cost time that would otherwise be available for other stuff.

I also don't want to make any sort of arrangements that obligate us to actually return to Lirman within any sort of timeframe or on a regular schedule.

Besides, this is a good opportunity for Lina to flex her Aquakineticist powers and learn to form a replacement limb from water. That seems like something that should might be possible given her element, ancestry, and apparent skill manipulating water. Is that a possibility, @DragonParadox? Maybe something requiring a feat or Kineticist Utility Talent?
 
As far as Esha knows there is nothing to stop a daemon from possessing a corpse and such a material body should give them something of the varied nature of what mortals call the unliving. It's kind of a 'why are all wheels round' kind of problem. If you want to make a corpse move there are, or should be in her understanding only so many ways to do so.
 
Goldfish said:
I don't want to obligate Mog to working on a project for Lina before he has a workshop setup or has even done any work for us. Even if she paid for the materials needed to craft the prosthetic, it would still cost time that would otherwise be available for other stuff.

I also don't want to make any sort of arrangements that obligate us to actually return to Lirman within any sort of timeframe or on a regular schedule.
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Alright, I understand the reasoning even though I don't agree with it, my intention was to try to see what Mog would be able to rig on the spot in a span of several days, without requiring any follow-up work later, he is supposedly skilled with such work and should be able to do something, given that even a partially working thing would be better than nothing. Perhaps there would have been even some possible synergy with waterkinesis to make up for shortcomings of work on such short notice, with imperfect prosthetic + waterkinesis being better than just waterkinesis.

The attempt would actually fit better into a full form of my proposed additions, with the following implied line of reasoning:
  1. Dark times ahead, better for everyone, including you and us, to ally and weather them together.
  2. Though if we are to be allies, full disclosure, we might be particularly targeted.
  3. But then we are not without our uses also, as you have already seen, and this being allies stuff is not just pretty words, we will if at all possible help our allies in their needs, check out this opportunity to maybe make your life easier with a prosthetic for your lost hand.
With the overall goal to get us to even closer and better relationship with Lina, the more friendly to us rulers and places, the better.

Though, if not with Lina, wouldn't it still be good to test a capability of replacing lost limbs in such a way, given that regeneration should only be found in ritual form and accessible only to high-level clerics of very prominent temples, and should cost much?

Pete, one of our men-at-arms, lost a finger during a skirmish with Anwa pirates, we can try it out and see if Mog will be able to help him with it when we would return to Orinilu and would properly set up a workshop.
 
myrix said:
Alright, I understand the reasoning even though I don't agree with it, my intention was to try to see what Mog would be able to rig on the spot in a span of several days, without requiring any follow-up work later, he is supposedly skilled with such work and should be able to do something, given that even a partially working thing would be better than nothing.
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There is no way he would be able to make anything functional in just a few days. She would be lucky to get a moderately stylish hook in that timeframe, and the delay for even that would be bothersome. The sooner we leave, the sooner we're away from this madhouse and Lina's mother (at least I hope that is the case...).

I'm all for Mog furthering his ability to craft functional prosthetics, but realistically it's not something he will be able to do in such a short span of time. Beyond crafting it, there would also be the need to properly attach it to the recipient. So far his only experience seems to be with crafting his own prosthetic and DP said that took him years to get right. Thankfully he won't have to start from scratch, though Gremlin Fey physiology is probably only slightly more similar to Humans than it is to a sea cucumber, so that will be an entirely separate hurdle to clear.

Pete will be a convenient test subject for this, assuming he is willing to be Mog's guinea pig.
 
@DragonParadox, editing for the second to last update Arc 14 Post 57: The Rougher Edge if you still need it:
The Rougher Edge ​

Day of Rule, 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

The fire burns low in the cluttered shop as every gadget, every gear casts shadows in the fading light and in that darkness there is a light, not ruby red but blue like, bright and searing in the eye. It moves with the sound of hissing and moving pistons that would have been alien before your visit to the city of the Little Folk. Now it is merely unnerving... and then it is a touch more than that. The being that steps out to meet you with the clump of too heavy boots is as much black iron as flesh and the part of him that is flesh is stitched together like a child's doll, though no child would bear such a countenance without bursting into tears. It... he cracks his neck with the sound of metal scraping metal.


"So that's to be my fate then, for daring to dream of iron and not just brass and bronze?" Before you can reply to the complaint, for Ro does not seem of a mind to do so, he waves a gloved hand upon an arm of iron. "Oh, never you mind, I'm happy to go instead of drone-buzzing about fixing what was lost. No doubt it would come out as my fault in the end."

"Pleased to meet a fellow student of the world," Zaia says extending a hand, very deliberately bending his knees so that he would reach lower without seeming to try too hard.

"Hmm... an alchemist then, pleased to be making your acquaintance," the strange being speaks a little faster, as others of his breed you have met. "At least you are one to be trying to make new things, too many mortals have their heads screwed on the wrong way around, looking over their shoulders at the glorious ancestors. Feh... if they are so glorious why are they dead? I'm Mog by the way, Mog the Ironsmith."

His master, or you suppose now former master, coughs in clear doubt at the proclamation, though Mog does not seem to care, taking the old man's hand in his and then stomping out the door... where he almost gets kicked into the ground by Megin after he tries to ride on her. To be fair he is carrying bags almost larger than he is and clanking with metal that pretty much have to be carried by a horse if you are to make good time...

"Not all those who walk on four...." you break off, recalling Megin herself. "Not all those who walk on more than two legs are beasts."

"Yeah, yeah," Mog waves the matter off, picking non-existent dust off the leather of his right glove. "So, who is going to carry this?" he lifts up the bags with wry strength not wholly his own.

"What do you need that for?" Esha ask carefully.

"My own work," the little gremlin speaks slowly as if addressing a child. "Now..." Unfortunately for him you will never find out now what as something inside one of the bags flashes with the same cracking blue light as his eye lashes out and strikes Tom in the chest, shrouding him in a veil of its power.

"Fuck!" Tom slurs the curse as he forces his lips to move.

"Numbing power, how fascinating," Esha's tone is now as sharp as the gremlin smith's, as one speaking of a particularly clever toy.

"Is there a problem?" you ask worry and anger in your voice as in your mind. The damn thing had hit Tom.

"None that you won't find worse in a thousand other places," Mog scoffs even as Esha shakes her head with a smile.

"I suspect our new companion thinks my way of using power without proxy or mechanism is primitive and wasteful. I would counter that I never unintentionally hit someone with a numbing spell."

At that Mog clicks his teeth so violently together you are half concerned that he bit his tongue off. "Let's just do the binding and be off."

What do you do?

[] Bind the gremlin into service and move on

[] Try to smooth things over
-[] Write in how

[] Set down the law
-[] Write in how

[] Write in

OOC: Meet Mog the Imjarvi Gremlin smith. For the record, Roland does not know anything about the types of gremlin so it's not in the update, but Esha rolled high enough to know what manner of being he is.

For the last update Arc 14 Post 58: The Rush of Days, two possible corrections:
DragonParadox said:
younge' smith's pride. Is he younger?
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"younge'" -> either "younge" without apostrophe, or "younger", unless it's intentionally in that form
DragonParadox said:
along winding paths were the farmers of the Anwa
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"were" -> "where"
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 16, 2022 at 3:32 PM, finished with 25 posts and 7 votes.
  • [X] Refuse the offer graciously.
    -[X] We have much adventure and exploration ahead of us, but ever will we remember Apuku as the first friendly port we found on these strange seas. When we return, be it in a season or a year, we look forward to seeing the progress Lina has made in her governance of Lirman.
    [X] Before we depart;
    -[X] Tell Lina general outlines of what we know of global plots, if Ohun hadn't already informed her, based on what pieces of puzzle we managed to uncover so far.
    --[X] Tell of expected dark times ahead, with global daemon plot and the global dragon plot, which may or may not be related in whatever way.
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Arc 14 Post 59: Where Stones Might Slip
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    • Where Stones Might Slip ​

    First Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

    Though you are not unmoved at the offer to linger a while longer on this shore rather than risk the long journey across the Western Sea and then the gauntlet of the straights you know your path is tither regardless for in the towers of Wayfarer's Respite there are those waiting for your return this summer and so you shall while there is strength in your limbs. Yet you do not part with empty flattery as so often is done in the halls of kings, you warn her and all assembled of what you had gleamed of the plots of the daemons and the waking of the Old Ones, the dragons that sleep. This warning you had given not only to her but to all in that hall.

    Some had laughed behind their hands, that nervous laughter that frightened folk hurl like arrows at those who would set yet more fears on them, be they true or false and others still had claimed that is was no concern of theirs, that the evil had been driven from the islands and would not return now that the priests of Ikomi offered libations of blood and meed and bread on the altars of Korman.

    Would that they speak true.

    ***​

    Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

    You had expected, hoped really, to spend the first few days in the company of Mog and learn more of the one who will be your smith in the days to come. Men at war live and die by the craft of their weapons and armor as much as by skill or luck and there is much that you would see made and much more that you would ask, but the uncanny craftsman shuns your company either in Zaia's favor or else in that of his own projects. As far as you know he keeps to his oaths to not endanger the ship or her crew, but one cannot say the same for peace and quiet aboard the ship, but that a ship at sea was ever quiet as a prayer room but....

    Bang.... thump.... thump.... BOOM

    Things ring out from the depths of the hold such that you catch the Pete jesting: "Maybe the Marcella has a troubled stomach" and then Wanderer replying "Maybe it will shit him out."

    Thus you end up spending most of your time with Megin and Swift Pebble instead as the six legged mare regales the young otter with tales of her home, of the feuds and the journeys, the long thirsty summers where only the rain-giving shadow of the mountains gave life to the people and the storm-wracked winters when the wind howled like the voices of the bone-breakers though the valleys. Thus the otter-kin is entertained and the mare keeps the tales of her people alive.

    So it was that when after a long day getting used to your footing on the ship again and an evening listening to the stories of the Foal of Day and the Foal of Night you are awoken by the sound of something heavy striking wood you only grumble under your breath and hope that someone else will handle the overly diligent fey.

    Not long after that though you hear a second thump, this one unfortunately at your door

    A sigh passes you lips as a faint memory of childhood, hearing of monks denying the flesh in food and drink and even sleep as they pass away the nights in prayer and meditation. Does it count if you are not doing it on purpose? you wonder as you wrench door open to reveal one of the sailors, Marco you think his name is.

    "Your pardons great lord, but we have found... something in our path."

    It is with that supremely vague description in mind that you come out on a deck shrouded in thick white fog and find something certainly, a piece of pumice stone floating like some black leviathan out of the mist. It is not that you had not seen a floating rock before, but one so large and set in your path so surely that not even the Marcella could move out of the way in time or at least so says Antonio, his feet firmly planted on the deck. "There's no way we found this thing by chance, not in this..." he waves a hand at the mist with disdain. "There's cracks leading inside, maybe we should look."

    "Or maybe we should leave the obvious bait well enough alone," Zaia notes dryly.

    "Well if it is obvious than a clever foe would not have placed it here," the captain retorts.

    "And maybe they presumed that we would make that very guess, you would go mad playing that game. I say we don't meddle with anything that can get in the way of this ship."

    Whose side do you fall on?

    [] Zaia, given what you have seen in these seas and on them you would not press your luck

    [] Antonio, better always to know then not to know and if this is a trap that at least it is one you can spring in a time of your choosing

    OOC: No real time for a bookend on the arc, that takes time to deal with the mechanics that I just did not have today. So here we are, a bit more character building and the mystery of a large floating rock.
     
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    • I guess an underwater volcano could have done a bit of erupting nearby? It could be a random coincidence...

    Okay, yeah, that's almost certainly not the case. That's not how our luck works.

    @DragonParadox, how large does the pumice raft seem to be from what we can see of it?
     
    [X] Antonio, better always to know then not to know and if this is a trap that at least it is one you can spring in a time of your choosing
     
    This could be a really interesting plot hook, but it could also be a really dangerous trap. There's too much deadly shit beneath the waves, some of it not particularly happy with us, to take the chance here and now. If we had better methods for surviving underwater, such as Inge being able to cast Waterbreathing, I would probably be a bit less risk averse here.

    [X] Zaia, given what you have seen in these seas and on them you would not press your luck
     
    [X] Antonio, better always to know then not to know and if this is a trap that at least it is one you can spring in a time of your choosing
     
    [X] Antonio, better always to know then not to know and if this is a trap that at least it is one you can spring in a time of your choosing

    If it could intercept us at full sail it can probably do it again and with much more damage, better see what it wants now.

    Maybe have our swimmers inspect the sea before to make sure nothing is lurking underwater?

    By the way, are we still having Inge cast Eagle Eye periodically when at sea? We keep getting ambushed by stuff we do not see coming.
     
    [X] Antonio, better always to know then not to know and if this is a trap that at least it is one you can spring in a time of your choosing.

    Occam's razor says that whatever put the rock there probably won't be an overwhelming immediate threat.
    It also says we won't find anything interesting, but we need to take some time to go around it anyways.
     
    [X] Antonio, better always to know then not to know and if this is a trap that at least it is one you can spring in a time of your choosing.

    @DragonParadox, did we visit Tam's grave? I expected the next update to be the end of the arc, not leaving Lirman, and so did not suggest to vote for it immediately, but now we are already at sea and can't do it; can you rule that it was a reasonable thing to do given our suspicions and that a year passed since his death?
     
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