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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jfdlsjfd" data-source="post: 9623312" data-attributes="member: 42856">Let's get back to the normal flow of the story, in which we have already used a wish for Empowerment.Remember that Trixie was boosted, so our stats and inventory are now this:[spoiler]Winny rank 4, FP 11, PA (psychic ability) 6, Awareness 7, Damage 2d6+1, HP 25, AR 4<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Armour AR3</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Bludgetranker (+1 FP, +1d6 damage vs Giants)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A healing salve (2 dose, +2d6 HP, that we can use whenever we want, including a fight)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The Sommermulet (+7 damage and AR against undead)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Dagger of Vislet</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A brooch of Shielding AR +1</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A St-Ashanax reliquary crucifix</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A fire orb</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A cloak fur who took from the body of a dead girl warning us of the danger ahead with her dying breath</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">An amber tinderbox</li> </ol>Trixie rank 4, FP 9, PA 8, Awareness 9, Damage 1d6+3, HP 35, AR 3<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Armour AR3</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Sword of Redundancy +1</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The Hatuli eyes, formelery gems from Sahaknatur</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Money pouch with 217 gp</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Bow +1</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Quiver (6 arrows)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A falchion called Shadowcleaver</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">An empty spot</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">An empty spot</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A silver clasp representing a wolf</li> </ol>Salvia rank 3, FP 7, PA 8, Awareness 7, Damage 1d6+2, HP 21<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Armour AR2</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Quarterstaff</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The blade of the Blood Sword</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Bow</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Quiver (6 arrows)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A replacement sword</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Another replacement sword</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Provisions for a week</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A lute we took from our former friend, the bard with which we played music before he got gored to death</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Strange maritime maps taken from a ghost ship</li> </ol>Esmeralda rank 4, FP 8, PA 14/17, Awareness 7, damage 1d6+1, HP 25, AR 2(accompanied by a pet raven possibly sent by Odin)(She memorize Nemesis Bolt, Sheet Lightning and Servile Enthrallment, which she succeeds casting on a roll of 8, 9 and 8 respectively)<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Obsolete Sword of Uselessness +0</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Armour AR2</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The hilt of the Blood Sword</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">1 scroll of Time Blink (to rewind a fight)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A Golden Snuff-Box</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A ring of Sorcery PA +1</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">AN empty spot</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">An empty spot</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A scroll we can read by going to 518</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A copper bottle formerly containing a Djinni for 700 years.</li> </ol>[/spoiler]We arrive in Hakbad, the sprawling metropolis, heart of the Ta'ashim world, a city rich beyond the wildest dreams and hub of merchants from all around the world. Including Coradian merchants, so it would have been easy for our Abbot to get back to his monastery if he had taken a ride with us...The Djinni recounts the founding of the city, which he has seen from his eyes, and take the inconspicuous form of a dog to see the streets again. He politely leaves, offering us to keep his copper bottle as a memento, as he won't need it anymore.Loot-hungry as we are, we do.We are forced to pass an opportunity since the book asks us out of the blue if we have a Trickster in our party AND if we have stolen the Hatuli, which we didn't.How could have I been so superficial as to pass up a chance of looting the only reason we'd be needing the help of Prince Sussurien at this point? If we had the eyes AND the doll, why bother going to Hakbad in the first place? We could have activated it right on the ghost ship, or on the little island we swam to, and saved all of our wishes? Anyway... We didn't steal it, because we are nice and well-behaved ladies and we missed the section giving this opportunity.We explore the city and meet a random dervish. He's imparting wisdom by showing that one must get his own experience instead of relying on others by doing a public burning of valuable books. We ask him if we can actually take a book and he says sure -- we save a scroll that we can read by going to section 518.That's the sort of things that I'll only read in a fight. If it's a spell scroll, the only situation that is common enough to be useful is a fight. It could be more situational, like a levitation scroll, but the chance of someone reading it just at the right time would be low -- so it would only help cheaters. Or we could cheat and go to 518 right now, of course...Also, this encounter really feels like a random encounter drawn on a table. I wonder if the author actually looked at a few of them and rolled in order to add random, unrelated city events to his book (the destitute children, the pyromaniac dervish, the vampires in the last book we didn't meet because we took the sea route instead of the land route, the press gang in the same book...)We reach Sussurien's palace. Several outer courtyards, stables, surrounding a luxury estate adorned with grey marble pillars where "we suspect Sussurrien will be."Yes, I didn't expect him to sleep in the stable or in an adjacent guard's dormitory.He welcomes us in his lab, dimly lit by candles. The door is adorned with carvings of demons. The walls are covered with a mural depicting the sybaritic abandon among pre-Ta'ashim gods of the Marazid empire. The pictures appears almost live in the flickering glow.Checkhov's mural!Sussurien flicks a curtain aside and steps into the room. He's dressed in a beige gown and a white satin robe bordered with gold and emerald green. A cabochon sapphire the size of a duck's egg glints in the center of his turban.Trivia time: is a duck egg bigger than a fowl egg? And a hen egg? Why are people using comparisons that shed no light on the thing being discussed?He extend his hand and says "I expected you sooner. You have the Hatuli's eyes?"No "Hi, I am pleased to see you, how was the trip?"... this guy thinks he's the PC and we're random NPCs tasked to bring him an item he needs. Being disrespectful is often a death warrant for NPCs in gamebook, and he sealed his fate. Us being disrespectful when we first met him nonwithstanding. He can't know we took this path!We can either say we don't have them (384), ask for some assurance we won't be tricked before giving them to him (194) or give them to him (347).</blockquote>

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