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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 924694" data-attributes="member: 2292">Spoiler Warning....same as last update, although this is the last of them for a while.The next dayHalgo persuses Etrius shop, flicking idly through the small jar of scrolls that the hedge wizard keeps on his counter.  There's a fair variety there, for so small a town as Bellhold.  Acidic curse, erase, enlarge, guilt and unseen servant all catch his eye, but eventually he spots a monster summoning spell of the first order."How much are these again?" Halgo asks, pointing at the jar.  Etrius raises an eyebrow, wondering why Halgo feels the need to ask after spending two weeks in the store learning new magic."Twenty-five gold a piece," Etrius says.  "More for the identify scrolls in the cabinet.  Are you after anything specific?"Halgo thinks for a few minutes, looking at the scrolls."Not yet," he says eventually.  "But I may be back to buy something later."Trying to contain his eagerness, the dwarven wizard rushes back to his small room.  He pulls the summoning pendent free of his pack and concentrates, calling Kelpreth back."I've changed my mind," he says, projecting his thoughts through the amulet.  "If you still need that memory, these are my terms. So long as you can choose which spell to take, and are willing to let me make that choice, then I can be ready to let you take the memory in two days. I will, however, need an extra payment of 500 gold - immediately - in order to do this. I need the money to cover the scribing costs of the spell."A buzzing sound suddenly echoes through his head, as though a swarm of bees flies through the window, and the room is suddenly filled with the cloying scent of honey.  The creature that appears isn't Kelpreth, however.  Instead it's a dwarf-like being, standing a little over four feet tall with satyr horns on its head.  It belches and scratches at a flabby stomach as it glares at Halgo."Yer called?" Halgo stares for a moment, slightly taken aback by the new creature, but recovers enough to repeat his offer."Hmm," the dwarf muses, thoughtfully examining a spot of cleanliness under its grim-covered nails.  "Have to get Kelpreth on that. His deal. Shouldn't be a problem though." He starts rummaging through a sack at his belt, muttering under his breath as he does so.  Eventually he pulls free a small bag and a tooth about an inch long set on a necklace.  "We ain't given yer more gold but," the dwarf says.  "Everythin' ye need fer scribin is in here. If yer buyin new spells, then use the tooth as a bartering tool. Should get ye what ye need."Halgo takes them both, turning the tooth over slowly in his hands."What is it?" he asks.The dwarf looks exasperated."It's a tooth, innit," he grumbles.  "None of yer concern really. It'll get ye yer spells, maybe a bit extra. That's all ye need to know.""I'll look a fool if I try to sell someting without knowing what it is," Halgo says, pushing for information.  "I don't want Etrius thinking I'm a fool - he'll raise his prices.""Yer worryin' too much," the dwarf says. "If yer really that concerned, test it yerself before givvin it to 'im. E'll know what it is, though, and he'll be more than happy to part with a scroll or two for the trinket. I've done me part. Ye want anythin' else, take it up with Kelpreth."Halgo shrugs."I'll look into it myself, then. Could take me a few days, though. I trust Kelpreth won't be too inconvenienced by the delay ...""Not like he'll let ye know if he is." The dwarf-creature grins, then dissapears in a blink of blue light.  Halgo spends a few hours in his room, searching through books and scribbled notes trying to discover what exactly the tooth is.  It gives away few clues - a set of runes near the base the bear the imperial signs for transformation magic and the Academic rune of one of the smaller Seldar academies of Spellcraft.  Halgo was never part of the academic system that turns out many Imperial wizards, but he remembers Milo telling him the runes were often used to mark students works that were created before graduation.  It was an easy way of identifying works before the wizards had earned a rune of their own.  A quick detect magic confirms that the transmutation rune is correct, although the dweomer is minor, but it reveals little about the tooths powers.  Halgo shrugs.  It's enough that he wont seem completely clueless when he sells it, and he's seen Etrius buy wierder things from townsfolk in the past few weeks.With a sigh he walks back to Etrius' store, slapping the tooth down on the counter."I want to buy some of your stock. What'll you give me for this?"Etrius stares at the tooth for a couple of seconds, as though not entirely sure what he's looking at. Then he picks it up, a look of surprise on his face as he inspects it. "Where'd you get this," he asks. His tone is almost accusing."If I told you that, you'd buy direct," Halgo says.  "Do you want it or not?"Etrius studdies the young dwarf for a few seconds, trying to pick up clues. "Halgo, I...Yes, I want it...But where did you get it?" He looks more anxious now.    "It was payment for services rendered. What's the problem?"Etrius mutters a command word, and the tooth in his hand transforms into a small crossbow. "It was mine," he says, smiling slightly. "The last crafting I performed before graduating Heldar Academy. The Hunter's Tooth. It was stolen before I left, apparently used to assasinate some minor lordlings in Thilt. Never even occured to me it could be used for that. Foolish of me, I suppose. I always though ot it as a silly idea. No great magic, but original enough to pass my exams." Etrius sighs. "I was damn proud of the tooth. Always looked forward to having it after I left." He pulls out the jar he uses to store his scrolls. "It was one of these you were after, yes? Help yourself. Take two, if you want." He continues to smile with childlike happiness, using his command word to transform the crossbow back into a tooth, then into a crossbow again.  Halgo watches him for a few moments, marvelling at the simple joy the wizard finds in being re-united with his creation."Thank you," he says, wondering if Etrius even hears him. "I just need the one." He studies the scroll for a few days, gradually commiting its magic to memory and unlocking the secret of the summoning spell within.  Care is taken to trace the runes and symbols needed into his spellbook, making sure no mistakes are made.  When its done, Halgo commits the spell to memory once more, casts it to ensure the knowledge has translated correctly.  A small badger appears in his room, frolicing happily about the floor for a few seconds before simmering back to the celestial plane from which it came.Halgo smiles, nods once, then readies the Ki'Rath amulet."I need to speak with Kelpreth."Again, the sound of a thousand locusts runs through his head, followed by a loud whump, and Kelpreth is standing in the room with an eager look on his pale face."You called, Halgo?" he asks, grinning."I did. You seem ... pleased ... by that." Halgo almost puases to consider the implications of this, but a small corner of his brain urges him on, pushing for him to make a deal. "I've been thinking about your offer. When you take the memory, can I choose which spell is lost?""Of course," Kelpreth says, his grin getting a bit wider. "Although, to be honest, some spells are more preferable for the third party than others.  However, we think at this late stage, expediency will win out over quality.""It'll have to. I can spare a Summon Monster, first order, but no others. Do we have a deal?"Kelpreth seems to let out a sigh of relief, although the noise sounds strangely like the hum of insect wings."We believe it is an acceptable deal," he says, smiling. He reaches into his pouch and draws out the small wand  and a crystal about the size of Halgo's thumb. While he holds both of these in one hand, he pulls out the glowing god-spark with the other. He looks at Halgo with a serious expression on his face"Are you prepared to undergo the ritual now?""Yes. No time like the present."Kelpreth puts the god-spark on the side table, the slow moving motes of energy that surruound it fusing slightly with the wood and leaving the faintest scorch mark where it rests.  Then the pale merchant raises the short wand to Halgo's head and holds the crystal to the wands base."We should warn you," Kelpreth says grimly, "that this will be dissorienting." It proves to be an understatement.  A small beam of green light jumps from the wand to Halgo's head, and a pain unlike anything Halgo has yet experienced thunders through the dwarves body.  It's as though his consciousness is being sucked through the small beam, through the wand and into the crystal.  The pain intensifies as Halgo feels his mind being stretched out, narrowed, then a great sense of disembodiment comes over him.  He feels nothing, sees nothing, and gets the strange sense that he exists only inside the crystal in Kelpreth's hand.Then the pain returns, Halgo's very essence being torn apart and reassembled, peice by peice.  Memories start blinking out of existence, little things Halgo could barely recall in his conscious state even if he tried.  He finds himself remembering, briefly, the exact texture and scent of his spellbooks as he scribed the spell, the first tentative tests made to ensure the magic was recorded properly.  They exist for but a moment as a perfect image, a moment of pure understanding and knowledge, before they dissappear forever. The process seems to last for hours, dragging on and on as more and more memories are sorted through and sliced apart with expert precision.  Then the thinning senseation returns, and Halgo is sitting on the bed of his rented room once more.  Kelpreth looks down at him, his eyes a metalic yellow as he stares."Can you remember anything about the spell?" he asks. Halgo tries to recall something, anything, but he cant.  It takes a few moments to come to grips with the concept, despite his knowledge of what has happened.  After two days of experimentation and learning, the spell is gone.  Except it's not just the spell, the physical motions, but the minor memories that go with it.  Tiny fragments of lore that Milo hammered into his dwarven student's head, theories of conjuration and summoning that enabled Halgo to decipher the scroll in the first place.  They aren't quite gone, but they are...altered.  Slivers of lore extracted then the remaining memories stitched together to cover the gaps.With a shuddering awareness, Halgo realises that he will never be able to learn that spell again.  He simply cannot recall the training needed to decipher the techniques, to channel the magic correctly.  The hundreds of little things that are learned to control every spell, all of them related to that spell are gone.Kelpreth has the god-spark in hand, offering it towards Halgo with a faint smile.  In his other hand, the thumb-sized chunk of crystal has a dirty, muddy radiance."That was ... about as bad as I expected," Halgo lies.  He picks up a blanket and uses it to take the godspark, carefully wrapping it for safe-keeping.  "I'll be in touch if I need anything else." Kelpreth performs a short bow, Halgo staring at him as levelly as he can to cover his disorientation.  "A pleasure doing business with you, Halgo," Kelpreth says. "We look forward to further commerce in the future. We bid you farewell." Wand and crystal are quickly deposited into the strange merchants pouch, then there's the whisper of a few words as he fades into nothingness."I don't like him," Halgo thinks.  "Whatever he is."  With a shudder, Halgo picks himself up off the bed and begins securing the godspark in it's bundle of blanket as best he can.  When he's done, he burries it in the bottom of his pack.  When it's done, he takes a seat by the window and drinks a glass of water."Explaining you to the others is not going to be fun," he muses.  "Maybe I wont...Time passes slowly, the daily life of Bellhold moving about on the street below.  Halgo watches it, feeling strangely out of place when he considers the object now in his possesion.  He pulls a sheet of paper out of one pocket, carefully making a set of notes.  "1 - learn more about the planes2 - learn more about the god spark.3 - remember to cast identify."He pauses at the third point, remembering the flare of light when he first used detect magic on the stone."Or", he writes, "perhaps not."</blockquote>

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