Eberron Tristalt: Artifice (IC)

[Roc Ness]

Saber lies dead; partially dismantled, among the rubble of the Ruins of Dorasharn.

For all his boasting, he wasn't a particularly difficult to subdue; he barely managed to harm you at all. You have to say, somebody out there has severely underestimated you. One of you (Jacob Riker), noticed a small messenger construct take flight from a compartment in the late warforged's chest. It was promptly shot down. You pocketed it.

Saber's magic longsword is yours to claim, as is the curious magic crystal embedded in its hilt. As is his less valuable crossbow and bolts. You could probably do something with his various bits and pieces too. Might be some sort of use left in his eyes or body platings.

You look down into your palm, at the schema he so desired. It appears to be constructed of adamantine, and is shaped as a seven-pointed star. It isn't large, but whatever it is, it is clearly powerfully magical, and covered all over with patterns. Most of them have meanings completely lost to you, except for a single engaving on one side. You retrieve Bonal's journal from one of your packs, and match the cover emblem to the aforementioned carving on the schema. They are the same.

You've already taken your time to look around the chamber and the hidden vault where you located the schema. There isn't much else there. Eleven very ancient platinum pieces scattered around the place, which are probably worth a lot more than 10gp each due to their immense age. 4 gold ingots with the same emblem carved into them as that which was on Bonal's journal. 4 ancient potions of questionable quality and purpose, and a scroll of some variety. Also, a small Siberys shard wrapped in an old oil cloth.

There isn't much left to do here, aside from maybe fight some rats. Time to-

"Hey! *cough* You kids over there! Hold up, I only just caught up with you."

You here an old man wheezing, and you hear the sound of his footsteps upon the stone floor of the ruins. It's coming from a nearby passageway, opposite the one you entered the ruins from.

[Tacitus]

Jacob Riker

The heretic had been crouching over the construct, identifying the best components of the warforged to extract for possible improvements. Though his ears aren't as keen as his eyes, not by a long shot, he perks up at the sound of the old man walking towards them. He glances to Sir Martain to see his reaction to the old man, but doesn't seem willing to rise from his "patient" quite yet.

Knowledge to determine available material from Saber: [roll0]
DC is 10+HD

Level 1 grafts that qualify: Desert Hump (which makes no sense), Heart of Steel, Slam. Assuming I pass the check I'll no doubt be able to recognize these components and will later be asking my allies if they require such improvements.

Side note, would it be possible to sell my services to people? Kellus quite specifically did not make rules for the sale of Xenoalchemist grafts, so I'm curious if you'll allow such a sale. Assuming I can find someone, of course. Or would you rather just not touch the subject entirely?

Hmm... if its classified as a creature and not an item I might try to get a Heart of Steel from the Final Messenger as well. XD

[Roc Ness]

No desert hump, because Saber isn't a Flesh Golem. Or an Igor. :smalltongue:

Hmm... provided you could somebody, which would be fairly difficult, because, well, not many people want a hump or a tentacle or anything. You could probably sell the services of mundane grafts to heaps of people, though. I'd rather not touch the subject, but I'd probably allow you to sell something at some point.

As for the Final Messenger... There's about just enough material in there to safely graft onto an cicada. :smalltongue: Its too small to really benefit anybody.

[bindin garoth]

Zero

Zero stands up, having finally finish the long battle with Saber. And for the first time, he felt pround. It was a wierd feeling for him, he had never had a chance to do anything when being tested and experimented on.

Deciding to keep an eye out, he temporarely manifests his mechanical nature, causing what appears to be a visor over his eyes, although it streches all along his head. Several thick cords connect from the visor to the base of his neck, where they meet another wire which appears directly over the spine, and proceeds to split off down the arms and legs.

Having taken a look around, Zero hears the man. He walks over towards the man, leaving the treasures to the others. His body always acted strange around magical items anyway. Although he does hope to take some of the money gained from it to donate to an orphanage.

"What do you need old man?" It was clear he was slightly annoyed, having just finished a battle he had hoped for a little time of rest.


Spot: (Bonuses from eyes from ozodrin, eyes manifested as a visor): [roll0]

edit: Hey, a 20 on the first roll! :smallcool: Good sign! :smalltongue:

[Roc Ness]

@Zero
You recognise the old man is the dead one the three of you discovered murdered on a bridge in Sharn, before you were sent down here. He is Bonal, the original, deceased, owner of the Bonal's journal.

Except that he is alive, not dead, and smiling quite placidly at you. He looks rather pale and weak, though, and is leaning on a staff. He takes a few short stops towards you, and then stops, blinking. He doesn't seem particularly taken aback by your manisfestation, although he is peering around the chamber with a sort of wonder in his eyes.

[Metahuman1]

Sir Martian breaks form considering the longsword at the sound of the man approaching. He returns the weapon too it's sheath and sets it down before moving over too the newcomer, chain still in hand form the fighting.

His eyes narrowed as he recognized the man, and he tried to get a measer of him.

[roll0] Sense motive, I'm trying to get an idea what he's doing here, what he wants, and if he's got any noticeable behavior patterns of interest.

[roll1] Knowledge Religion: Trying to figure out if he's per chance Undead.

"You? I've seen you. Your dead."

Start simple he reasoned, see what kind of a reaction it brought about.

[Tacitus]

Jacob

From the back the celestial figure remains where he is, but flicks one eye closed. When it opens again the odd pupil has changed from violet to a sickly yellow.

Hmm... more spot checks, contemplating a disguise: [roll0] minus distance.

Might not actually stay where he is, despite wanting to carve up Saber, to get in range of the following.

Detecting magic as Su from the Eye graft. Will wait until I see what I can get off of Bonal unless he (or my allies) starts doing something insane in the next 18 seconds.
Spellcraft: [roll1]

[bindin garoth]

Zero

"You....... From before? Dead, no?"

Upon recognizing him, Zero draws his longsword, eyeing the old man carefully. Confusion is all over his face, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. He didn't like the looks of this, considering what it ment. Either he faked his death or is an impostor.

"Why are you here?"

[Roc Ness]

@Metahuman1
You can't really tell what his motive is. Maybe he just wants to see the place he died over or something? He could also want the schema, or the journal back. He isn't lying either. :smallconfused:

As far as you know, he is no type of undead. Just alive and a little sickly looking.

@Tacitus
Its a darn good one, but it is a disguise. Congratulations. :smallwink:

As for detect magic, it picks up a magic aura around him.

@Bindin Garoth
The old man gives a dry chuckle. "I was... *cough* dead, but luckily for me I was a strong ally to House Cannith. Getting raised wasn't hard, *cough*, although I'm far less robust and in some debt now."

"I'm simply here because I want to see the ruins for myself, however, i would also like my journal back, if possible."

((May want a sense motive if you haven't already))

[Tacitus]

Jacob

Though the last time the celestial had seen Bonal the dead man was, well, dead, Jacob's trained medical eye had taken in certain details of the corpse that now tipped him off as to a well crafted disguise. He slowly rose from his crouch and took a few steps towards the dead man, "I'm terribly sorry we weren't able to save you from that savage shifter. It was a longtooth, correct?"

To Allies:
He was killed by a warforged, assuming our previous adventures are true to the published module. If the killer was not a warforged, or if ...'she'(?) didn't come back around to attack us, my dialog would need changing. In short, he's letting ya'll know something is fishy, and seeing how good this charlatan is.

[Roc Ness]

@Tacitus
The old man gives a dry chuckle. "Haha *cough* ha, no, it was a warforged on the bridge."

[bindin garoth]

Zero

Thankfully, Zero had been with the group long enough to know when Jacob was testing someone. Otherwise, he probably would of given it away!

Instead of adding to the topic, he tries to conceal the journal on himself, just incase things got ugly. From behind the visor, Zero decides to eye the man carefully, taking in as many notes as possible.


sleight of hand: [roll0]
Also:
Spot: [roll1]
I am looking for weapons, spell books, shards, wands, ect anything unusual, weapons, ect that could tell use anything about him or his goals.

[Tacitus]

Jacob

He nods slowly, "Aye, must have been the savage rage that stuck in my memory, rather than the race. Touchy thing, that, my memory. As for your journal, I don't have it. Not something to keep my interest, a book full of glyphs and drawings." He glances back at Saber for a moment and then back to the impostor, "Say, an old man such as yourself, how would you like a new heart? I'm sure it'll improve your health, and I can assist in the transplant free of charge."

To All:
Yeah, as I recall the book is blank unless touched by a Cannith member with a signet ring, right? Or did it stay filled after being touched by our employer?

[Roc Ness]

Time to move this along? :\ Guess you aren't doing anything, Metahuman1?

DM
The old man chuckles again, shuffling forward, spreading his gaze around the room. "No thank you, kind sir. My illness has nothing to do with the heart *cough*. Just the resurrection magics. And possibly *cough* my lungs."

His gaze is drawn to Saber lying in the rubble. "I say *cough*, what happened here? Another blighter? I heard some noises in the tunnels earlier, but I thought they were *aaaack-cough-cough* rats."

All you know is that the signet ring has something to do with revealing the contents of the book. You don't know if it is any ring, if somebody specific has to wear it, or if it is only your employer's ring that can reveal it. As for its current state, the book is currently empty.

[bindin garoth]

Zero

"This does not concern you. And how does giving you the journal help us? I see no reason to hand it over to you if we gain nothing from it." Zero says.

[Tacitus]

Jacob

The surgeon presses his fingers to his temples and rubs for a moment as he wanders forward before he just shakes his head, "Oh just give it up. Drop the damned disguise and get on to the part where you either threaten our lives or run away. I'm bored of this game."

Move to at least be within 30ft.

Swift action to study for Surgical Precision. Oddly enough, disguises don't seem to foil the precision.

Knowledge: [roll0], +2 more if it falls under Arcana.

DC is 10+HD

If I can, ready action to Searing Light.

[Roc Ness]

Move to at least be within 30ft.

Swift action to study for Surgical Precision. Oddly enough, disguises don't seem to foil the precision.

Knowledge: [roll0], +2 more if it falls under Arcana.

DC is 10+HD

If I can, ready action to Searing Light.

You already were. :smalltongue:

Surgical precision a success.

You can ready your action. Gotta specify what triggers it, though.

[Tacitus]

Well I didn't recall any range being specified, so its best to make sure. >.>

Ready action would be the impostor attacking. If you need something more specific than that, the impostor attacking whomever is closest to him (as I'm not sure who is closest). Less specific if allowed would be hostile action from the impostor (ie, attacking, charging, spellcasting, etc).