I’m full of regret beyond belief at the moment. I nearly got all of our souls stolen. I guess that’s one less thing to worry about in the long haul though. I should really, truly trust my genre savviness senses by now. They do jump to conclusions a lot, but they’re so often correct too.
Teuila’s Valkyrie form finishes manifesting. I flash her a sad half-smile at the seemingly wasted effort. Te shakes her head and says, “Come on Dink, help me destroy this stupid spear, I’ll just stay Valkyrie from now on. When we smash it or dissolve it or whatever, then I’ll pound this tower down brick by brick.”
As I make certain that Dawn and I both have enhanced senses once again, I ponder for a moment, gnawing on my lower lip. I’ve seen magic items be damaged, or even nearly destroyed. The second Octorochi, in its enraged state, could spit acid so potent that it began to eat through even powerful magical equipment. Could some of the alchemical compounds below be re-purposed into an extremely potent acid? I think perhaps, yes. I nod to Teuila.
Before journeying downward, I ask, “Are you two alright with me collecting every bit of knowledge in this tower? I think we might be able to, I might possibly, find some information about souls. It seems like Milbert was obsessed, and it’s our first real lead.”
Dawn’s hopeful expression plays at her face, fighting the despair, and losing. She gives me a sad quarter smile, almost pleading that I do it. Teuila responds, “Of course Dink. Aren’t those the rules, something or other? One wizard bests another in a magic duel, you get their tower or some junk? Or wand or some other phallic symbol. Hehe.”
Snrk. Heh. I roll my eyes as I chuckle at Teuila. I friggin’ love this woman, this absolute dork. I lean over to kiss her softly at the corner of her lips, which earns me a Shellcracker Family Squee, that beloved single elongated laugh of glee. Dawn flashes the pair of us an embarrassed quarter smile as she tries to avert her gaze.
I apologize, “Sorry Dawn, sorry. I hope I didn’t, I mean, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
Teuila chimes in, “Yeah Dawny, sorry and stuff. Really, really.”
Dawn rolls her eyes, responding, “S’fine you two, Rej, Boss, you’re lovebirds, it’s fine. I’m not some anti-affection maniac who can’t stand the idea that other people have sex lives or whatever. Or, well, affection-lives, for people that can’t or don’t. Ugh, you know what I mean.”
I bite my lips and fight back the smile that wants to break free at Dawn’s ramble. I’m trying hard not to laugh at her expense, since she was fairly heartfelt in her absolving of us. I scoop up anything that might be worthwhile up here, and begin making the rounds along each floor of the tower. When I find something that even has a hint of a magical aura, I snag it and bring it to the bottom floor to sort through. I bring down armloads of books, scrollcases, things that look like fabric patterns, anything that might contain even a mote of knowledge or power.
Exploring this side storage room yields only a locked cabinet. Inside is a creepy doll with transmutation and enchantment auras all running through it. I'm going to just nope right out of this cabinet. Nope. Nope nope nope. Locking you right the hell back up, and putting the locking spell from the staff on the cabinet too.
Either Milbert was wealthy beyond belief, a strong enchanter, or a kleptomaniac that ran around looting the homes of people whose souls he had stolen. I'm quite certain it's the latter. He seemed genuinely convinced that studying more than one area of magic, and being able to be successful with it, was almost impossible. By the end of my search, I’ve piled up a massive haul of goods that the three of us sort through.
A set of pan-pipes that look fairly well-loved gives off a rather powerful aura of fright. Another set of pan-pipes that boast an aura of mixed conjuration and enchantment, sort of. It seems to physically call out to something to appear. Also by the aperture, it's probably an incredibly high tone, likely inaudible to humans and similar creatures. Dogs perhaps? Cats? Rats? Ah, yes, probably rats. The Pied Piper of, what was it, Hamelin? Hameln? Hamlin? Something like that. At least in the collective memories available from Earth. Somehow, somehow I know that these require a high duende to utilize properly. It's weird, do people on Rayileklia have hidden stats pages? Is there some sort of power on Rayileklia that can print those to a scroll or something?
Next up we have this hat. Hm. It’s what looks a bit like a leather jockey's cap, or flight hat you'd see in cinema on Fakeworld depicting older solo flights. Something about its energy screams out illusory powers. Perhaps it can act as some sort of disguise
There’s several pieces of jewelry. One of which is a thin golden chain, meant to serve as a necklace, it has a faint aura that extends upwards from its thickest point, the center away from the locking ends. It almost appears like it would coat one's mouth and nose. Some sort of filtration effect perhaps? Another piece of jewelry is a very small, thin, copper ring with runic inscriptions that look vaguely like Hermes sandals or some sort of winged boots. Well I know who's going to get a kick out of that. I can tell there's a simple spell inside it, and much like the staff's simple spells, it can be cast repeatedly, indefinitely, taking the most minor snippets of ambient energy to produce its effect.
These two items were from the pantry, although I’m fairly certain the first one isn’t food. It’s a single packet of some sort of dust, some kind of fine dry sand. It's got a vaguely illusory aura. The other item from the pantry though makes more sense. It’s a quaint belt with a series of empty pouches, but there's a fairly large aura of conjuration upon them, and traces of peppery powders at their edges. It seems to conjure spices. If they’re endlessly conjurable, or even just a set limit per day, it would certainly make eating the same grains day in and day out much more palatable.
There are three cloaks, two of which are identical. They have the tiniest imbuement of enchantment possible. I think all it does is make the fabric rustle. Perhaps to keep it from getting wrinkly? I suppose one could make it billow dramatically if one entered a room and wanted to call attention to oneself. The other contains a mildly strong illusory aura. It seems to be able to change its appearance somehow. The aura isn't as strong as the leather cap however.
This little pile causes me to shudder. There are two malachite-encrusted emeralds in identical facet configurations. Ugh. I shiver, knowing exactly what would happen if those were smashed. Their conjuration aura is fairly powerful. I'm so grateful Elder warned me about elemental spirits and gems tied to summoning them. I'm assuming this agate-encrusted sapphire conjures either air or water elementals.
Hidden in a small chamber behind the cabinet containing the alchemy supplies is a wealth of potions. There's a veritable host of potions, many have abjurative auras, one has an evocation aura, and I can sense the fire magics within it, due to my familiarity with fire at this point in my life. Another has a copy of the size-changing spell within the staff, but only the shrinking portion. But the two potions that interest me the most are the tiny red vial, and the slightly larger red potion. Blood potions, regeneration, healing, whatever you want to call it. They're rare beyond belief, and Milbert has two of them. Well, likely stolen from the wealthiest people in town, or wealthiest travelers or passersby. Come to think of it, could they be dragon's blood? Huff. I've a few things to think about there. One other that interests me almost as much is a small jar of ointment looks like excellent treatment for both burns and infected wounds.
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There's a thin brass wand that has a divination aura. It, it has the basis for the aura sensing spell within it. Dawn can keep at least one sense available, even without me around! I weep tears of relief for Dawn. Some tiny semblance of comfort I can grant her. I immediately hand it to Dawn.
I’m weeping as I hand over the wand, trying not to sob as I state, “Dawn, with this, with this you’ll always be able to have that extra sense active. You don’t need me any more. You’ve felt the spell enough times, so you should be able to alter the spell in the wand to do the same. It’s the same as the spell in my staff, so the same tweak should apply.”
Dawn stares at it, dumbfounded. She slowly reaches out to take hold of it, and continues staring at it for some time before responding, “Rej, I. Thank you. I’ve been so scared that, that if something happened to you or Boss, or I lagged behind, that, that I’d. Glp. Thanks pal. Really, truly.”
I sniffle as I nod emphatically. I quickly rub my itchy, wet eyes of their tears before I continue to try to sort through the magics of the various objects. I also hand Dawn the pan flute with the frightening aura.
As I hand it to her, I whisper, because I can’t find my voice, “Dawn, glp, koff, if, if something does happen to us, or if you’re caught lagged behind for some reason. If something scary is bearing down on you, play these. I think the sound that comes out will cause hostile things around you to cower momentarily. If they can hear.”
Dawn jokes, “Got it, so hope I don’t run into another, scarier version of me then.”
I bite back a laugh, earning a coughing snort for my efforts. I’m so happy to see Dawn starting to take their situation lightly. It means we still have hope. Before continuing though, I snap the belt of spice pouches around Teuila’s waist, and set the weird illusory powder pack within it, and toss her the small copper ring. She equips it and fiddles with it momentarily before her eyes alight with new knowledge. Teuila grins with glee and bursts into a wildly mad cackle. Her laughter raises the mood in the room by several levels.
Te asks, through laughter, “Dink, hahaha, Dink, heh, did you know? Hah. Did you know what spell is in this ring?”
Chuckling, I give the so-so gesture. Teuila explains, “It’s literally called jump. Bwahaha, and I’m in Valkyrie form, so it’s even better. Awe man, if only we had our old radiant forms. Imagine, triple sonic boom or something. Yeesh. Some day. Right Dink? Some day.”
I nod along with Teuila. She’s right. Some day. I affirm, “Yeah, some day Te. Some day.”
We both know we mean we’ll make it home to Can’Z’aas, and try our best to cleanse the radiant aura of our world of its corruption. If we succeed in that, we should be able to use our old radiant powers to their fullest. But even if we can’t, I was striving to make a connection to the void near the end of our lives. Perhaps void-forms could be just as powerful.
Getting back to this massive pile of likely stolen goods, there’s still a fair bit yet. There's a small backpack that holds its shape quite well standing up that was in this very heavily locked cupboard alongside the cap and one of the cloaks, it has two small side pouches as well. Gazing inside, the blackness of the space within is far darker than it should be. I gasp, and with bated breath, I reach into the sack's main pocket. It is! Bwahaha! An extra-dimensional storage bag! The luck! Hell, the fact that Milbert had this just tucked away very carefully leaves me almost certain he would take it, and that disguise cap to wander around town. While out, he’d be looting magical bits and bobs from others. He probably used that aura vision wand as well, so he knew what was worth taking. Klepto-necro.
There's a rolled up black swatch of fabric that seems extremely powerful. My genre senses say to keep it the hell away from any of the pouches and packs with magical properties. I'm going to trust them on this. It honestly looks like something from a cartoon with a coyote and a road runner. Some sort of instant door that can open a hole in a wall or something.
There's a small wooden carving, about the size of a button-pin that one would wear on jacket lapel, but it has a strong aura of conjuration upon it. I’m fairly certain it’ll burn up to sort of create a creature from thin air, more or less. Based on the weird furriness of the feather icon on it, I almost hope it could somehow bring Luna to us. I miss our feathered bear friend. I can’t believe I just thought of her as an animal. Maybe someday I’ll learn magic that lets me speak with her. She was better at manipulating party menus than any of us. It won’t bring Luna from Can’Z’aas, I’m sure, but if it conjures a feathered bear, or gryphon or something, might it be as friendly as she was if we offer it food?
There's a bottle from which smoke seems to trickle out the stopper endlessly. It has a fairly strong conjuration aura upon it. Based on its heft, it’s completely empty, yet a thin wisp of smoke roils about inside of it, constantly bubbling forth. This seems like a stage prop. It’s a portable fog machine. Of course, given enough time, or if the magic is more forceful than it looks, I imagine it’d be an incredible escape tool for a heist. Put it down near an intersection, throw some sound down the hallway you’re not going to travel down, then stroll the opposite direction under the cloud’s obscurement.
There's a stone that oddly resembles my starmetal luck-rock from Can'Z'aas. The one that I'd given to Dehlia in order to help her recover from her coma. I, I'll hold onto it as a reminder of home. When I see Lil again though, I'm giving it to Lil. They'd been in some sort of romantic relationship with either Dehlia or her brother or both. Lil deserves a positive reminder of what we have waiting for us back home. I. I just want my Lil buddy to be happy. To not hate me. It’s fair that they hold me responsible for the pain and loss of so many Nagas and Chamelefolk. I gasp a shuddered, saddened breath. Was there really no other way? Luni seemed to trust that we were following the best possible plan of the best possible timeline.
Hm, this one’s interesting. There's a hooded lantern with a fairly potent divination aura about it. It appears to generate a light that would dispel illusions I'm guessing, or at least reveal invisible creatures. Near it are a pair of solid leather boots with a fur rough as an inner lining. They've got a strong abjurative aura about them, and feel slightly warmer than the chilly room around us. Likely some measure of protection against the cold and damp of Rayileklia.
There's a saddle that's incredibly tiny. I’ll bet, like other magical clothing and armor, it resizes. when I attempt to stretch it, sure enough it changes size, It also has some abjurative aura on it. Some manner of protection for either the mount, or the rider, or possibly both. I wonder if Taylynn had one of these. She was certainly fairly wealthy, and loved her horse. I hope this wasn't Taylynn's. I gulp as I shed tears at the possibility of Taylynn's body wandering around somewhere, soulless.
Huh, more familiar items from Can’Z’aas. a familiar candle, like one I'd given Luni so very long ago now. I know that it ignites underwater, and remains lit while wet. An orb identical to the one I'd gifted Teuila long ago. It's sort of like a magnet that tugs the holder gently north'ish. Between those, and the starmetal luck rock, and some of the potions, I wonder if there aren’t some similarities in our systems of magic after all. Heck, I should realize there are similarities. The staff taught me runewords that I’ve only seen here in Rayileklia.
This one’s a bit wicked, and I almost wonder why Milbert wasn’t walking around with it. It’s a cane that fairly expertly hides a sword as if within a sheathe. It isn't exactly very magical, except a faint trace of illusion around where the seam would be, between the handle and sheathe. Still, inviting strangers into your home, I figure, why wouldn’t you have a non-obvious weapon at hand, at the very least.
Huff. Scrolls. Sadly not identification scrolls. They're a potent abjurative magic, in a runic script that would be foreign to me. If not for the staff's guidance recently teaching me the runes for the word elementals, and a few other key words. Motherloving hell. These scrolls dissuade elementals from attacking the caster for a long period. -That- would have been handy a week ago. Friggin' heck. Grr. At least I have a nuclear option if I'm trapped alone against powerful foes. Read one of these scrolls and break a bunch of elemental gems, and watch the elementals go crazy going to town on whatever creature is trying to slay me. These scrolls are going in the scrollcase-sheathe thing that I snagged from Berinon, so that they're as close at hand as the powerful staff. Basically those scrolls, the starmetal luck stone, and a few smaller things are going in this rounded sheathe. Most everything else can either be worn by Dawn, Teuila, myself, or go in the extradimensional storage pack. It’s a small pack, and doesn’t have quite the space of say, one of the bags Luni has, but it’s a rather cute leather satchel. I’ll happily wear it, and keep the dangerous items like the elemental gems in this side pouch over here. There we go, I’ll be able to reach them with my right hand, while my left hand fishes out a scroll of elementalist protection.
Between the gems, the elementalist protection scrolls, and the staff, I could have four elementals running around causing havoc. Maybe combine a fire elemental and stone elemental into a lava elemental. Maybe it’d become as powerful as VF, Vesuviform. Nuclear option indeed.