Zhorr's darkvision adapted instantaneously to the total lack of light he was in. Taking a step forward, he raised his arms, and willed light to spring into existence.
Nothing happened.
Zhorr sighed: he missed his godlike powers already.
Well, no point in moping, he had work to do.
He took another step forward, then another, and kept going until he counted fifty steps. Then he used an entirely different kind of godlike power.
[1] A few seconds later, he was holding a shining steel dagger in his hands. One spell down, only a dozen or two to go.
[2] A quick gesture of his hand, a muttered word, and the dagger was shining brightly, casting about a warm yellow light. Well, a warm-looking yellow light, at least: he was pretty sure that, without an active Endure Elements spell, he would have been well and truly frozen by now.
Time to remedy the lack of clothes, for himself and his companions.
[3] He swiped the edge of one hand across the other in a cutting motion, and suddenly his blood was flowing - and shaping into a large pile of cloth, ready to be used by a second spell.
The final result was a large square of interconnected shapes on the ground that looked like a bizarre form of art, a weird sculpture made of items of clothing sewn together.
[4] He nodded approvingly, and muttered one more incantation, then handed the dagger to... Empty air, apparently.
The empty air took the dagger and stood waiting.
Zhorr went over to the patch of clothes, and started to explain where and how to cut it, and what to do with the pieces once they had been separated from the whole. It was a really simple - one could even say mindless - task, and Zhorr put it out of his mind once he had explained it.
[5]
Now, for a place to sleep... A simple shelter ought to suffice for the next 24 to 48 hours, until one of his companions found a better solution. He began to walk around, chanting and gesturing, and kept at it for several minutes. As he did so, the ground began to reshape, raising up to form a simple but sturdy building, seemingly made of dirt (or possibly mud), yet as solid as rock.
By the time he was done, the strange mosaic of clothes on the ground had been separated and neatly divided into a number of piles.
[6] The magus muttered a simple incantation - one that he had used countless times to entertain children and pretty girls alike. A moment later, with a flourish of his hand, he magically created a magic wand out of thin air.
Well, not really: the item itself was a crude stick made of conjured wood that probably wasn't worth the air it had been conjured from, and which was going to disappear in an hour anyway, but one quick incantation later it had effectively been turned into a torch, which he then handed to his Unseen Servant, so that it could return the dagger (which was currently "moonlighting", so to speak, as its torch) back to him.
Zhorr retrieved the dagger from the invisible being, and collected a pile of clothes; he then instructed his Unseen Servant to carry all the remaining piles the newly made shelter, and dressed up quickly using the clothes he had selected.
Nodding approvingly, if a bit immodestly, at the craftsmanship of his new clothes, he set the dagger into one of the loops in his belt - trying to make scabbards out of soft cloth seemed like a futile pursuit, and he didn't feel like experimenting under the current conditions anyway.
[7] Another swipe of his hand and again his blood was flowing, shaping into a big lump of glossy green metal. He thought briefly that it was a good thing the spell automatically closed the wound when it was done... The following days were going to be bloody.
This time, Zhorr's magic turned his hard-earned materials into a strange tree-like sculpture: a thin rod of greenish steel, not entirely unlike the trunk of a tiny tree in its function, supported by four equally thin legs, with six even thinner branches.
Two of the branches were bending under the weight of the items that hung from them, held by an almost invisible thread of greenish steel that looked like it was just about ready to snap under the strain.
One of said big items was a beautifully crafted scimitar, and the other was a delicate, finely ornate jug. The remaining four branches carried what looked like four simple, small rods of greenish steel, tapered at both ends.
Zhorr carefully used his dagger to cut the thin thread holding his brand-new masterwork scimitar, and regarded it approvingly, before setting it in one of the loops in his belt - he would really have to fix that with an actual scabbard, eventually, but for now it would do.
With the same care, he removed the jug and the four fountain pens - what a nice invention, fountain pens, truly a divinely inspired item - and put the pens in one of his many, many pockets, before setting the jar on the floor.
[8] One last swipe of his hand, and again his blood was flowing. A large roll of paper materialized under his hand, and was immediately collected by the reshaping magic. A few seconds later, a stack of twenty-eight books, with robust off-white hard covers, was sitting next to him.
Gently, he began cutting the thin layer of paper holding their spines together: a few minutes later, he had separated the stack into actual books. He instructed his Unseen Servant to move them inside the house, stacking them carefully next to the table, and went to collect the jug.
He had designed it with particular care, so that the long beak would easily fit in the back of the fountain pens: this was particularly important, considering how expensive the ink with which he was about to fill it was.
This spell had been cast days earlier, in another universe, but its effects had been put on hold, waiting for a very specific event. Just for heck of it, and partly because he knew he was going to miss the ability to actually make those words work, he had set the completion trigger to a sentence that he could no longer pronounce with an actual effect.
He opened the lid of the jug, pointed at the opening, and intoned: "I wish for a jug of magical ink!"
The spell finally came to fruition, completing the crafting process that combined several different - and impressively expensive - dyes into the special ink Wizards and Magi needed to write in their spellbooks.
The jug was two-thirds filled by the time the spell completed, which was as expected: he had made sure to make it larger than needed so that no ink would be wasted.
This item, he brought inside the shelter himself: he wasn't sure he trusted his Unseen Servant with what basically amounted to two-thirds of his current resources.
He filled all four fountain pens, gauging that the jug now only contained about three-fifths of the initial ink, then set the jug on the writing desk, where the ink quickly began to freeze. This wasn't a big problem - the jug was elastic enough to accommodate its expansion - but it was going to require some coaxing with prestidigitation to make the ink flow again.
[9] Zhorr touched the table inside the shelter, whispering a short incantation, and the stout piece of furniture began to shine, while the crude stick still held by his Unseen Servant faded.
[10] A careful gesture of his hand, and the off-white cover acquired a slight shade of blue; with a little know-how and patience, and possibly a few more cantrips, the dust would permanently bond with the cover but, for now, the important thing was that he could identifying the book unequivocally.
A few arcane words later, an ornate golden rune - The Mark of Zhorr, as it were - occupied the front cover of his new spellbook.
[11] The magus sat down and spent some time writing one of the spells he had prepared for the day into his spellbook - a special, expensive one that was going to come in very handy in the following days.
About an hour later, he closed his spellbook, collected a pile of clothes and a blank spellbook (just in case), and went back to where he had materialized initially: soon, it would be time to greet the next traveller.
Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Game Mechanics notes:
[1] [GM: casting Fabricate (1) with Eschew Materials; the resulting product can cost up to 3 gp.]
[2] [GM: casting Light (1) on the dagger.]
[3] [GM: casting Blood Money (1), powering Fabricate (2); -1 STR; the resulting product can cost up to 1497 gp.]
[4] [GM: casting Unseen Servant (1). (used today: light, blood money, unseen servant, fabricate x2)]
[5] [GM: casting Extended Secure Shelter (1)]
[6] [GM: casting Prestidigitation (1) and Light (2)]
[7] [GM: casting Blood Money (2), powering Fabricate (3); -1 STR (2 so far); the resulting finished product can cost up to 1497 gp.]
[8] [GM: casting Blood Money (3), powering Fabricate (4); -1 STR (-3 so far); the resulting product can cost up to 1497 gp.]
[9] [GM: casting Light (3).]
[10] [GM: using Prestidigitation to "soil" the entire cover of the book uniformly, casting Arcane Mark (1).]
[11] [GM: writing down Mighty Strength (1) (L6 => 180 gp, 3 pages).]
[GM:
Spells used so far:
Fabricate (1)
Unseen Servant (1)
Extended Secure Shelter (1)
Prestidigitation (1)
Blood Money (3)
Fabricate (4)
Light (3).
Arcane Mark (1).
(Mighty Strength (1) (W))
Spells written so far
Mighty Strength - Magus L6/USA, 180 gp, 3 pages
Resources acquired/spent so far:
-3 STR
+1 dagger
+1 masterwork living steel scimitar
+4 living steel fountain pens
+1 living steel ornate jug
+27 spellbooks, standard, blank
+1 spellbook, standard, in use (Zhorr, 3/100 pages used)
+28 sets of clothing and equipment as follows:
- Undergarments
- Short tunic
- Trousers
- Hooded cloak
- Shoes
- Gloves
- Scarf
- Belt (Sash)
- Pouch, Belt
- Pouch, Spell Components
- Backpack
- Bedroll + Blanket + Winter Blanket
- 4 Sacks
- Rope (Cloth, treat as hemp)
+Ink for writing spells, 10000 gp (-180)
]
This message was last edited by the player at 15:08, Mon 25 Feb 2013.
