Sir Adam and Lady Geneice · Page 5

Geneice attempts the silence spell, and it works quite well for her.

"Does this mean," she says, "that my prayers won't work if no one can hear them?"

--M. J. Young

"No it doesn't a prayer in your head can be heard by your deity."

*will continue teaching*

Adam

These are the next skills on the list:

• 1@1 Invisibility M*5@8 RF 1/360 (once per six hours) with 0:12 casting time, Duration: 4 hours, or automatically dispelled if the person under the effect of spell launches an attack on a being, the person touched is under the effects of the spell, user says Fade ex sight, in latin, spoken loudly and forcefully, it will not work where there is no sound (unless a vocalize spell is used), normal waving of both arms, Vial of Water containing no impurities in a clear container, makes someone invisible to sight in any frequency range, rain can make a silloute, water is destroyed, +78 sit-mod.
• 1@2 Read or Comprehend Languages M*7@4 will enable caster to understand written or spoken language of a single source for RS/20 minutes, TF 0:06, say Ego agnosco vos, sound vital, while touching a pinch of soot and a few grains of salt with either hand.
• 1@2 Read, Comprehend, Write, and Speak Languages M+7@4 will enable caster to communicate through written or spoken language of a single language for 2 hours, TF 0:06, say Ego agnosco vos, sound vital, while holding holy symbol with either hand, four times per day maximum, +16 sit-mod.
• 1@3 Detect Magic M7@9 0:06 TF 1:00 duration detects any magic within sixty feet straight ahead in ten foot wide path when user raises both hands in front of him and recites Veneficus Ego expiscor thee, sound necessary, cannot attempt again within six hours after using, RS=Magic/Nature/Detail, will detect presence of magical invisibility but not the location of magically invisible objects, +104SM

What thoughts do you have on teaching these, individually?

--M. J. Young

I'm back from Ubercon, I met and beat Harry "JohnOSevens" In Settlers of Catan and played a bit of Multiverser inbetween other events. I am sleep deprived, and at work, so I will likely miss some details.

Well long story short, I finally taught Geneice all my Mag skills, and Merlin asked us what we were weaker in, and I said Psionics, simply because we don't have as high of a bias in it. He taught me a way to psionically teach psionic skills, and made Geneice and I brainstorm on what we can do with Telepathy and the like skills, we taught each other 4 to 5 skills, before a few days went buy and Merlin asked us if we wanted to goto a local inn for business. We sat down, ordered drinks and watched as Merlin interacted with a person or people, hard to tell. We were then back at his grove for a very short time, and we talked about the future of the world before he got summoned to help Uther with a quest. He once again asked if we wanted to accompany him while we were summoned to a seige to let Uther get another King's wife.

We made the journey with Merlin, and Uther insulted both ourselves and Merlin, before Merlin left with Uther. We started doing katas in the camp, and got looks from the other soldiers. They questioned whether our swords would be effective, and Geneice and I put up a demonstraition that didn't convince them the swords were effective, but only we were. I didn't feel like hurting anyone to prove my point, and it was about this time Merlin came for us to leave, and a short while from the camp, we heard a scream and Merlin said it was done.

We learned once we got back to the grove that the scream was Uther's death and that his affair with the other Queen would produce a son Arthur. It was at this point Merlin quizzed me about the sword and the stone, excalibur, enemies, and the arthurian legend. A plan was to set the sword in the stone in motion, so that the power vaccuum could be contained until Arthur grew up. Merlin suggusted Paris, I suggusted Spanish Steel as the best and Merlin said it would be better to go there to have it made, since it would be hard to identify, different enough to be not from England, and of suitable quality to be enchanted. The stone would also need to be engraved and enchanted. Merlin asked if we were ready to leave, and we were, so Merlin contacted the werewolves, which were the people who first met us in the woods. He met with one, who found another who has been to Spain a few months earlier. We learned with their umbra like travel familiarity with the destination is important for the travel.

A female werewolf came the next day, and prepared us for the journey. We were told to stay close and not to wander, and we stayed close. We found ourselves outside a cave, and Merlin thanked her, and she said for him it was not a problem doing this. She left much the same way she came, and we had a few hours of daylight before night, so we walked until nightfall. We setup camp and a small fire, and set out to sleep. Sometime during the night a person in armor came up to find out why we were here. My limited latin, didn't help matters much, and Merlin was apparantly invisibile to the person, so when I couldn't communicate, he ushed us to come with him. He allowed me to take a log for light, and we went off. He walked us to a stables with a room, which we were locked in, until the Master of the Castle was awakened. I used the soot from the log and salt from teaching Geneice, to cast my Comprehend Languages for myself, and waited to be introduced to the King.

We were escorted to the King, and we were able to communicate much better with my spell, but he did know a little bit of English. He asked me where I was from, I said currently in service in England, but from across the seas. He asked if it was before the flat end of the world. I tried to explain the concept that the world is round. He then asked what keeps the water on the earth on the other side, which caused a discussion on gravity, and then the earth and the sun. He asked our business here, and we needed a sword comissioned, and we knew spanish steel and craftsman were the best around. It was late and the King showed us hospitality.

We slept and woke up for breakfast of citris fruit and milk, which was a nice change of pace. The King said he has summoned a local swordmaker, claiming his were the best of the lands. We thanked the king, and asked if we could retreive our tents, and he allowed us to do so. We went back to the spot of our tents and packs, and they weren't there. We headed back to the castle, and Merlin had gathered our items to be close to the castle. That was the last we have played at Ubercon.

I will ask Merlin if he wanted us to handle the sword, and him stay out of it so he couldn't be linked to the sword maker. I will also ask about payment, should we pay for it, or does he have a better idea? Also a good sword will take a month or so to make, so we might want to make arrangements with the King to stay here, or goto where the swordmaker is. Reguardless, once we give the swordmaker suitable dimentions for the sword, and make the payment, I am content to let time to pass. As for what the sword should look like. I'm thinking of something that is not Roman, not French, not English, or like mine. I am thinking of a Fancy Broadsword, 3 and a 1/2 feet in length, broad blade, and a gold plated jewel encrusted pommel with a design of a two lion heads on either side, and their bodies making the pommel. If Merlin has no objections, we can comission it, and we can hoepfully do some learning here.

Adam

That's a good summary, but that I will need detailed updates of your skills--both the new ones and the improvements to old ones--so I can at least make an effort at keeping your character sheet up to date at this end. Thanks.

Merlin says that your suggestion of keeping him out of sight is excellent, as someone will wonder why he was in Spain if word gets back, but no one will wonder about you, as there will be little reason to connect you to anyone or anything, at the present. He can provide the gold or silver necessary to pay for the work, so negotiate a price and let him know what it is.

--M. J. Young

(I'll make you a deal, I can slap them here, or I can redo both whole sheets for you, repost it this weekend, and it will make your job easier, as I am basing my sheet off the last repost of yours.)

"Sounds good to me, I will wait to be introduced to the sword maker, and negotiate with him. I also assume I will be dealing with the king, and will be glad to answer any questions he has of me."

Adam

(I'll make you a deal, I can slap them here, or I can redo both whole sheets for you, repost it this weekend, and it will make your job easier, as I am basing my sheet off the last repost of yours.)

The swordmaker arrives and asks what exactly you would like.

--M. J. Young

"Greetings, I am Ashe Valerin and I am looking for a broadsword, about 3 and a half feet in length, 3 inches wide, with an elaberate pommel and hilt, covered in gold or silver, whichever is easier to work with. There should be a design of a Lion involved, with the hilt. I am looking for the best work, and I was told you can provide it. If you can give me a price and how long it will take, it will be appreciated."

Adam

"Gold is always easier to work; it's soft. It also makes for weak swords--although for a sword intended for one user, a layer of gold on the grip will form itself to the user's hand over time, where with silver you have to use thicker padding and replace it more often.

"I can do what you want with the gold grip for three hundred gold dollars; silver will cost you two hundred seventy-five, because gold is more expensive."

--M. J. Young

*I will try to read his mind, to see is what he is thinking is the lowest price, or if there is room to negotiate, if he is doing it with little to no profit margin, I won't try to get him lower, if he is making a large profit, I will attempt to negotiate to a lower price. As it's Merlin's money, I feel obligated to see he gets the best return on his investment."

Adam

You get a solid link.

The crafstman does not consider this a negotiation, exactly; he's offered to make you a sword for what he thinks it's worth; he will make you a cheaper sword, if you do not want to pay that much. He is more worried about whether he can trust a foreigner to make payment.

You didn't say whether you wanted the gold grip or not.

--M. J. Young

*I nod*

"The Gold Grip it is then, please wait here while I retrieve payment, half up front, the other when it is complete. We will be staying here, either in the castle or on the grounds for the duration, so you need not worry about not receiving the other half.*

*assuming he lets me get payment, I will goto Merlin*

"For the sword he wants 300 gold dollars, I scanned his thoughts, and he is charging for the work, and is not thinking about excessive profit, so I believe that is as good as price as we can get for the kind of workmanship needed. I told him half up front and half when the sword is delievered, which is the custom where I am from for high end craftsman deals. Is this alright with you?"

*I await his response and money if he has it*

Adam

"Indeed, well done. Three hundred of their gold dollars? I think we can obtain that."

He reaches into a pouch and draws out several large gemstones--a ruby, a sapphire, three diamonds, each at least an inch across, all cut.

"Not having the local currency, we will have to do with these. See what you can get for them, but try not to sell them all--we will have our swordsmith embed the others in the hilt."

--M. J. Young

*I will take the gems and see if I can find a moneychanger or someone who does such on the castle grounds. There are some valueable gems, so I will do a read minds on anyone who will be doing the exchange to make sure I am getting the best value.*

Adam

You ask around and are directed to a local merchant who might buy them.

The merchant examines the gems, and offers you one hundred dollars for each of them. You read his mind, and it is clear that he really has no idea of their real value, but thinks that he is safe at one hundred dollars--if they are worth what he imagines, he stands to turn a substantial profit, and if they are not at all worth what he thinks he will not have lost too much.

--M. J. Young

*smiles*

"I understand that we are all in the business to make money, but we both know between how rare it is to find gems this big, and the perfect cut, they are at least worth 200 of your dollars. I also understand you are doing me a favor by changing the money, so let's meet in the middle at 150 per gem, and I will sell you two of the diamonds for 300 dollars total, sound reasonable?"

*if he doesn't go for it, will do the Jedi mind trick with a wave of my hand that 300 for the 2 diamonds sounds reasonable*

Adam

"I don't know," he starts. "I mean, you say they're valuable, but how do I know they're real? I'm hardly--"

"Three hundred dollars for these two diamonds sounds reasonable."

"Three hundred dollars for these two diamonds sounds reasonable. I guess, then, we've got a deal."

He starts counting out three hundred large gold coins.

--M. J. Young

*smiles*

"Thank you for your business"

*I take the coins*

*make my way back toward the sword maker*

*I will count out 150 in front of him*

"It is customary in my homeland to give the artisan half of the payment up front as proof of intention, as well as making sure the work is delievered"

*I will count out the other 150 and put it back in the bag*

"The other half awaits you when your masterpiece is finished and presented, I will be here, so you need not worry about being stiffed with payment".

*I hand him the 3 gems left*

"Please use these with the design of the hilt and pommel"

*Since were here for awhile, need to see the King again to arrange to stay for the duration*

Adam

"We have a different custom in our country," the man says. "We choose a noble arbiter--his lordship will suffice--who holds your money until I deliver your sword. When he is satisfied that the goods are as promised, you get the goods, and I get the money.

"I will be pleased to include these fine stones in the workmanship."

The Lord (he is not a King, exactly, but perhaps something on the order of a Duke--the title is not English) indicates that he is pleased to extend his courtesy to you for the duration of your stay.

--M. J. Young

*I thank the Lord, for lack of a translating term, and ask if there is anything we can do for him while we wait for his hospitality, if not, we'll see if Merlin can continue our training*

Adam

Merlin says that everything he does with you is part of your training, including this. However, he recognizes that there is some value in using the time for multiple purposes.

He asks what being in Spain teaches you about England.

Then he asks for the two of you to brainstorm on a problem in "inner powers".

"You know, from your own efforts, that it is possible to tap into someone else's soul, to know what they are thinking, to put thoughts into their minds, to control their thoughts, even to take control of their bodies. This suggests in turn that someone else could do this to you--and indeed, there are those who might make such an attempt. Tell me, how could you prevent someone from doing to your minds what you so easily do to others?"

--M. J. Young

"Well if your talking about mind protections, I have read of a few, from making your mind invisibile to the attacker, to putting up a literal wall around your mind, using energy and thought to block the intruder, to even letting said intruder in, so that you have an open door to his mind to attack, baiting the trap. Aside from those, I can see deflecting the attack to themselves, or someone else. I would also want a defense to detect when an attack is coming in before it can cause damage, to be able to defend against it. Those are my thoughts on the subject"

Adam

To answer his first question.

"It teaches me that the current world is more concerned with titles, land more than the state of it's people, and that it's not just a problem with England"

Adam

"That makes sense," Geneice says. "In our martial arts training, sometimes we counter force with force, but sometimes we counter force with non-resistance--moving with the punch away from the force so that there is no injury. So one sort of defense would be to create a solid wall against the attack, but another would be to roll with the punch, and yet another would be to step aside, so that there is nothing to hit."

"All good thoughts. Now let us begin with something simple. You have both learned to read minds in the simplest way--to know what your target is thinking. There is a simple response to this sort of invasion: do not think anything. This blank mind approach can be far more effective than might first appear--if you are not thinking, it is as if you are not there, at least in the surface of your mind, and an attack that looks for the surface of your mind has no landmark, no point to target, if there is no thought there. Do you think you can do it--shut down your surface thoughts, think only on a deeper level outside your immediate consciousness? It is a bit like daydreaming, without the daydream. Does that make sense?"

--M. J. Young

Sure I'll try it.

Adam

You both learn the skill easily; Merlin is pleased with how well you can do it.

"Of course, that will not work so well against attacks on a deeper area of your mind; let us consider the use of the force of our minds to create a wall or shield. How would you go about doing that?"

--M. J. Young

"I would picture what my mind looks like and construct a wall around it mentally, to block intruders from getting in."

*if that is an ok answer, I will do it*

Adam

It works.

"Exellent."

"Oh, show me!"

--M. J. Young

*I will teach her using my telepathic teaching technique*

Adam

That skill is one your character learned at the convention game; I don't have the updates yet for your sheet. If you can get those to me, I'll add them.

Thanks.

--M. J. Young

To be honest, at the time I got this I was looking for a new job and working 60+ hours a week, now that I have found a new job, and getting comfortable again, I'll start again. I hope I can find the sheets I used to write the skills we learned down. I might have to get the book out, to check out the skills to remember where we left off at, I believe we were just getting into the mind protections skills. I do remember my Telepathic Teaching was at 1@5.

Adam

O.K.

It's good to have you back; hope things are going well up there. I gather now you're the one with a house full of resident guests--although I still have a few here, if you'd like me to send some more....(insert appropriate emoticon here).

--M. J. Young

Ok here is the list:

Me:
Empathy 1@3 Psi 1@1
Project Thought (Telepathic Teaching) 1@5 Psi 1@2
Project Emotion 1@3 Psi 1@2
Telepathy to Humans 1@4 Psi 1@3
Suggustion 1@5 Psi 1@4
Illusion 1@4 Psi 1@4
Summonings 1@3 Psi 1@8
Remote Control 1@5 Psi 1@9

Skill ups: Read Minds to 1@5, Possession to 1@5

Geneice:
Read Minds 1@5 Psi 1@1
Empathy 1@5 Psi 1@1
Project Thought (Telepathic Teaching) 1@4 Psi 1@2
Project Emotion 1@4 Psi 1@2
Telepathy to Humans 1@5 Psi 1@3
Suggustion 1@5 Psi 1@4
Illusion 1@3 Psi 1@4
Summonings 1@3 Psi 1@8
Remote Control 1@4 Psi 1@9
Possession 1@3 Psi 1@10

I believe that was it, as in the very near future will have years to learn the Psionics and Magics I want to learn.

Adam

Thank you much for the update.

I've spotted an error on my sheet; the psionic invisibility and Jedi mind trick are both listed as P1@5 and should be P1@4. It's probably something I either misremembered or miscopied at some point. These are also on Geneice' sheet.

I am also noting Psionic Familiarity, on your sheet +5 to Geneice and +2 to Merlin, on her sheet +5 to you and +1 to Merlin. These bonuses apply whenever you are using any skill that is fundamentally telepathic. It means you've been in contact with Geneice' mind often enough (and she with yours) that it's much easier to find.

You easily project the pattern to her, and she as quickly works out the skill itself.

"Excellent," Merlin says. "Now, what else might you do to protect your mind from attack?"

--M. J. Young

"Well with those two techniques learned, my next thoughts would be to deflect the attack back at the attacker, overloading his mind. The other thought I had was to allow them to enter my mind, and shunt them to a part of it I can lockdown, but letting them think they are making progress, while I use his attack as a piggyback to attack the reaches of his mind."

Adam

"Excellent ideas, both of those. They are more on the order of attacks, though--it is much more difficult to damage someone else's mind than to prevent them from damaging yours. I think we'll move on, save those for when we get to mental attacks. There are some gaps in your clairsentient skills--but let's shift our attention for the moment. Let's look at the outer powers. You taught yourself to bonus nature-based attacks, but you are skilled with other weapons--arrows, quarterstaff, sword, and those other projectile weapons you used in other worlds. Have you considered how magic might enhance the use of your weapons?"

--M. J. Young

"Well I'm sure we can pray or use the outer powers to increase our ability to hit with them, to damage with them, probably to make sure they bypass armor as well. Maybe they can be made lighter, or denser. Perhaps we can imbue them with the abilities of the elements, to do more damage against different creatures. Or make the projectiles fire faster as well, I know these are more than just the simple blessings I've used in the past, but that's what my mind takes me to first."

Adam

"Very good. The easiest of those is the first you've mentioned, to increase the accuracy and force of your attacks such that more of them land, more of them penetrate. Such a dweomer could be placed on a weapon permanently, of course, but then you would be dependent on the weapon--and making such permanently magicked objects is an extremely difficult and time consuming task. But to have a spell you could cast quickly that would increase the accuracy of your own attacks would be useful no matter what weapon you held, and even if you held no weapon at all.

"You've had some experience with spells. How would you craft such an incantation? Walk me through it."

--M. J. Young

"Well I would first look to see if I was to accomplish and see how I can relate my surroundings to it. For example if I wanted a spell to hit harder, I would think of the strength of the earth. I would probably grab a handful of earth and sprinkle it on the weapon I had in mind, and state grant this weapon the strength of the earth. If I wanted to hit better, I would twirl the weapon in the air and state, grant this weapon the grace of air to guide it to it's intended target. If I wanted the weapon to slow down the rate of attacks, I would pour water on it, and state grant this weapon the ability of water to hinder moverment. The list can go on and on, with flaming weapons, weapons that do holy, and unholy damage, mercury to increase how fast you can attack. That's how I would do it."

Adam

"Ah, an elementalist in your thinking. Yes, associating the elements with spirit powers can be very potent. Also, I like the use of movement. All right, let's try the one for hitting more accurately. You are going to twirl the weapon through the air and say, "Grant this weapon the grace of air to guide it to it's intended target". Now, let me ask this: you used the word "grant". Who do you expect to do the granting? Is this a prayer--certainly a good choice--but to whom? In the alternative, perhaps it should be you who is granting the power to the weapon? Of course, your gods are battle gods, I believe. This might be just the sort of prayer they would prefer to answer."

Giving you a chance to fine tune what you want to do with this skill before I roll for it.

--M. J. Young