A Rather Odd Shovel [Judge: Bront]

Rae ArdGaoth · Mar 18, 2009

The book has no magical aura about it.

[sblock=OOC: ]So sorry, I was waiting on you guys, didn't realize you were waiting on me![/sblock]

Trouvere · Mar 18, 2009

"What about me? Do I look more magical than usual?" Keldar asks, as the book follows his pointing finger.[sblock=OOC]Keldar is right to believe that any sufficiently light object that his Hand of the Mage cannot lift must be a magic item. But he's wrong to believe that an item with a magical aura must be a magic item, isn't he? For instance, a scroll of a spell is an authentic magic item, so couldn't be lifted using mage hand, but a piece of paper with secret page cast on it might exhibit an identical aura, but is not a magic item, and could be lifted.[/sblock]

Trouvere · Mar 23, 2009

"Stupid book." Keldar sighs and pulls a coin back out. "Right. Heads we go back to the library now and puzzle out Urton's code; tails we find the architect's guild and fish for more gossip about him."

He tosses the coin. "Huh. Heads."

covaithe · Mar 23, 2009

"Right," agrees Tommy. "Though I'm not terribly happy about having to leave my spell components behind. I'd hate to lose them. Maybe I should pickup a backup set while we're near the store."

Trouvere · Mar 23, 2009

"It is annoying, isn't it? As if we're going to start a fight in their precious library! But I don't like being separated from my weapons. That's why this morning I might have happened to miscount my daggers. It's not my fault if they don't think to search us."

covaithe · Mar 24, 2009

"I wasn't thinking of a fight, even. It just doesn't seem like a library without magic. Intellect enhancing spells, mage hand or floating disk or levitation to reach high shelves... One of my friends at the Academy worked out a spell that would take notes for him. But here you can't even make a simple light spell in the library! It's just... Well, it's not what I'm used to." Tommy chatters pleasantly as they walk toward the library. His eyes roam the buildings, taking in the unique sight of a skyline backlit not by the setting sun but by a cylinder of artificial lights stretching away to the sky.

Trouvere · Mar 24, 2009

"Most unreasonable. If there's one thing everyone knows, it's that wizards can't jump."

Keldar lags behind a little, then demonstrates by taking a running jump clean over Tarag's head, snatching an imaginary book from an invisible shelf in the air as he goes.

"So, there are spells to enhance intellect?" he resumes, as though nothing has happened... though perhaps he preens a little. "I suppose the cleverer a person is to begin with, the harder it is to make them even smarter?"

Keldar preens some more.

OOC: take 10 on a Jump check to make DC 20, reaching 5 feet height at midpoint. Tarag is 4'2".

Boddynock · Mar 26, 2009

Trouvere said:
"My eyes cannot forget this sight:
Her hair hung loose and scattered light
From misted rain.
Her clothes were wet and clinging tight.
Her face and form gave me delight
But equal pain;
For she had spoken of her plight
And I must only be polite
And coolness feign
That she not see my heart ignite
With love that now will burn so bright
I may be slain.
This cruellest fate cannot be right;
Oh gods, I need to hold her tight
Or go insane!
Yet I will serve her, if I might,
As her devoted humble knight
And bear this chain
In hope that someday she'll invite
Her loyal friend some day or night
To love attain."

OOC: This is lovely, Trouvere.

IC: Tarag flinches as Keldar suddenly appears scant inches from his head, then sighs.

He says to Tommy, "What will you look for to help decode the book?"

Rae ArdGaoth · Mar 26, 2009

"I think we're going to try to figure out this code," Fimble comments as he walks, holding both the map book found beneath the tower and Urton's indecipherable tome. He flips the books around, as though looking at them upside down might help. Riki peers out from beneath his shirt, examining the characters studiously.

On the way to the library, you pass near the docks. Some guards give your small group squinty-eyed looks, but they don't approach you.

Back at the College Library, you go through the same entry procedure as the last time. Keldar manages to sneak in his secret dagger. The librarian also explains to Tommy that any magic he needs to aid his search can be provided at a nominal price if so desired.

And so begins your search through the shelves, looking for books on cryptography and deciphering codes, on ancient scripts, hoping for some resemblance in the characters, and architecture, thinking to link elements from the two books together to form a basis to translate the works.

OOC: We decided Decipher Script would be an okay fit for this check. I'm open to hearing novel research ideas for a small bonus, and maybe some skill synergy bonuses (if you can convince me of their validity as it applies to this case).

For instance, Fimble has Knowledge (architecture and engineering). He rolled a 15 on a check (using the Library's +2 circumstance bonus) to supplement the deciphering search, so now you have a +2 on the decipher check, in addition to the Library's +2.

So please, fire away with your ideas, and we'll see if you can decode the book!

Boddynock · Mar 26, 2009

OOC: I don't think Tarag has anything specifically related to decoding the book but if access to the Artifice domain and his dwarven racial bonus are at all relevant, he has a +6 bonus to all Craft checks with stone and metal. :erm: