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Bhaal's Youngest: Chapter 51


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#1 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 31 December 2006 - 08:06 AM

I know this is not the truly intense work environment, but we'll get there.

Lanthanos walked into Antharil's shop. He walked towards the ivory inlay counter, and waited.

"I paid my fine!" Antharil's sullen voice said from the back.

"Yeah, without a fight, and I'm impressed, but get out here and sell me something!" Lanthanos demanded, still in a good mood from his visit home.

"What? Really?" Antharil said, coming out. His kid leather apron and cantrip colored blond hair were both smeared with egg yellow and pinkish polishing compounds. Small divinations circles of different sides of a bracelet hovered around his head, so he could look at all the angles at the same time.

"Yes." Lanthanos said, smiling. He held up the crisp white paper document with the tropical blue green seal of Judge Behru's court embossed into it.

Antharil blinked. He looked at the decree, he looked at Lanthanos, and then he smiled.

"The decree says you can go to any wizard in the country for supplies, why come to me?" Antharil tested.

"Maybe you need some honest business for a change. Besides, you make things that others don't."

"Plenty others can get you anything I can make." He said, holding his hands up like there was nothing to it. "In fact, plenty others can make better. They your enemies?" A tricky smile played in the corner of his mouth.

"No." Lanthanos answered simply. "But you make magic items that don't look like magic items."

"Oh. That." Antharil smiled guiltily. "It's not illegal." He said defensively.

"No, it's not. I completely understand the usefulness of a magic item that looks like a poorly crafted mundane item. It's too bad that so many criminals do too. But I'm not here to give you a hard time about that. You've already paid your fine. I'm here to get some magic items that I can take to the other side of the continent and not be immediately identified as a mage from Halruua. You'll be doing a service to your country."

"Where is it that you are going?"

"The closest city to this town is Baldur's Gate."

Antharil grimaced in sympathy. "Mighty cold up there, huh?"

Lanthanos sighed. "Yes. That's why the first thing I want is something that will help me against the elements. I hate the cold weather that happens in the north." He said. The first time he'd been sent out, he'd shivered so much that he had to memorize spells to protect him against the cold every night and morning. It ate his resources...or made him shiver so badly he couldn't even concentrate to remember spells in the first place. It had been terrible. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

"Baldur's gate, hmm? How discrete you want to be?"

"Make me look like a sword coast street beggar." He said.

#2 Guest_Cel_*

Posted 31 December 2006 - 02:27 PM

Action-packedness is overrated :wink:

I love your descriptions of them both; both with the visual details and the hints of back history. I look forward to seeing what you have planned for them!

#3 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 31 December 2006 - 03:40 PM

Well, thank you! You have probably noticed from the court scene and so forth that I've made Shandolar a little more sinister in this one. Lanthanos and a jordaini vizier will be tracking him down and killing him. Of course, there may be a few distractions. :P

Antharil is going to stay here and continue to craft items that don't look magical, because regardless of who buys him, he enjoys the small bit of trickery that is involved. The high craftsmenship of many items in Halruua means there is a youth culture that finds poorly crafted magical items something fascinating... He's just young enough to be in that youth culture. :) Lanthanos isn't in that youth culture, and thinks that they are just a bunch of young punks, but he knows how fun it is to get jumped every ten feet because you are "in the wilds" so to speak and so many mages want your spellbook and your beautifully crafted magic items. :D

#4 Guest_Ananke_*

Posted 31 December 2006 - 07:14 PM

Ah. So he's the kind of cop who knows his ways in and out, his small crooks and the such... I like him already. Wait. Scratch that. I think I liked him even after the non-work-environment chapter. :)

Can I ask you something, though, which has to do with your reply above? What's a - um - jordaini vizier?

#5 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 31 December 2006 - 10:11 PM

A jordaini vizier is a special kind of expert monk that has been bred to be resistant to magic. Their parents are carefully selected to breed together, when the child is being formed, a special magic resistance serum is fed to the mother and as the children grow and train, they are carefully taught and watched. They are trained in mnemonics to be able to remember things very well. They are taught about magic, it's powers, it's limitations, the points in which each spell can be disrupted and by what. As they graduate from House Jordain, they are rendered infertile. When they are grown, they can recall and repeat full conversations, describe face expressions people had during those conversations and recall passages in books they read months ago. They are pretty much not only a wizard's encyclopedia but also a bodyguard who is able to counter spell by turning their magic resistance outward to disrupt a spell during it's casting. Because of the power that such a person wields, they are strictly forbidden to cast any kind of magic. They can only use magic items issued to them for a particular task by their order. Any jordiani vizier who has broken any law of Halruaa can be killed for it. The mage hounds often work with jordaini viziers and also police them. :) Because of their close working relationship, it can turn into a very hurtful betrayal on both sides if a jordaini violates any laws and has to be tracked down. Lanthanos experienced this situation when he was a bit more young rash and reckless than he is currently. He's grown up quite a bit. If you are interested:

http://www.gamejag.n...ewtopic&t=79572


#6 Guest_Scavenger_*

Posted 08 January 2007 - 12:54 PM

I know nothing about Halruaa, but it certainly sounds like interesting place.
However, one thing seems strange: is Lanthanos's mission so original for Halruaa?
I mean, magic items which look like some ordinary stuff (or, at least like non-Halruaan stuff) certainly should be "must have" for all kinds of persons who wish to operate in disguise outside of their country.
Hence, if such missions are ordinary, his organisation should have some sort of regular access to them. For example in the form of some storage.
From the other hand, if low-level Detect magic still exists in 3.5... Let's just that beggar with high-powered artefacts can run in some sort of problems, purely accidentally.

#7 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 10 January 2007 - 12:22 AM

Actually the reason that Halruaa has the reputation that it does that it is a land full of mages is that anyone who has magic of any kind flaunts it. Even if it is just in the form of magic items that they purchase. They act more magical than they are in order to get ahead in the country. :P

The country itself is very isolationist...they don't want to leave their country...in fact the only reason that Lanthanos knows about leaving his country in order to go to the 'cold' north (sub 90 degrees) is that he was sent abroad to track down a rogue Jordaini vizier about twelve years ago. :?

Being sent out of the country of Halruaa is usually a punishment. He was originally sent outside the country on missions because he ticked off a certain someone's father, one of the Elven minority of Halruaan elders...

So, no, it's not really common. And detect magic is something that can be fooled by other magic...which is what is being done in this shop. In the game, the magic system is simplified, so a lot of spells that are in place in D&D have been left out...but I'm drawing from them because they make this more fun. Then you can have intrigue. ;)

But this situation...it's major. The Halruaans are very protective of their magic. You torture one of their citizens and steal their sky ship magic and they are very likely to not only leave the country but declare magical war on yours, so Judge Behru is being prudent sending two mage hounds that have experience to deal with the matter as quietly as possible...before the citizenry find out. :D




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