In the House of the Ten Veils - IC Thread

[Enoch]

1, 2, 2. Definitely not fooling anybody.

"Well...she's given me a task."

[KJDavid]

"Oh?" A long sip of hot tea. "What's that?"

[Enoch]

Viktor sighs. "I suppose I won't be leaving here until I tell you. Fine: she bade me seek Nemedor and retrieve an artifact for her. More than that I cannot tell you." He folds his arms defiantly.

[KJDavid]

"Nemedor? Truly?" The surprise on Vandor's face is obvious. He chuckles and then waves a hand in Viktor's direction. "An interesting errand, but not one that interests me. What I want to know is about her allegiances. Is she a threat to the Empire?"

[Enoch]

Viktor shakes his head. "Understand, of course, that she doesn't exactly take me into her confidences. But no, I don't think so. At least, she's never given me any reason to believe she's a threat.
She seems perfectly happy to preside over the House of the Ten Veils. If she has greater plans- and she might, don't mistake me- she hasn't shared them with me."

[KJDavid]

"A potentially useful ally then?"

Vandor wants to convince you to turn around, go back to Trium with an Imperial delegation, and hammer out an agreement with Cailleach. Are you interested in having a Duel of Wits about that? You can negotiate what you're willing to DoW, and you can always walk away.

[Enoch]

"She's not...predictable. Her motives are often obscure, but yes- she could be a useful ally, if approached the right way."

I'm willing to engage in a DoW. My proposed stakes are two favors: he arrange for a skilled monster-hunter to accompany us when we return, and that Lucius be arrested and charged for selling Viktor into slavery.

[KJDavid]

That's acceptable to me. Roll your BoA and script your volley.

Vandor BoA: 7
Vandor's Statement of Purpose: Viktor will return to Trium with an Imperial delegation to persuade Cailleach to ally with the Empire against the Eight Eyes.

Victor's Statement of Purpose: Vandor will arrange for a skilled monster-hunter to accompany Viktor when he returns to the Imperial City, and that Lucius will be arrested and charged for selling Viktor into slavery.

Scripted Volley:

Rebuttal, Rebuttal, Obfuscate

[Enoch]

I grabbed my BW book and opened directly to the page on BoA. This is gonna be my duel, I can tell.
I'll be using Rhetoric for BoA. Will B6 + 2, 2, 2, 6. Maybe not quite as impressive as I would have liked. But I have 4 Fate, so I'll open-end that, particularly since part of my stakes applies directly to a Belief (getting a monster-hunter ally). 5. So a BoA of 8.

Volley 1:

1. Rebuttal
2. Feint
3. Point

Well, this will be interesting: Rebuttal vs. Rebuttal will do nothing, but my Feint bypasses Vandor's Rebuttal altogether, and then a standard test of Point vs. Obfuscate. I assume you'll want to skip past the initial Rebuttal vs. Rebuttal.


After a few minutes of discussion to lay out the groundwork of their arguments and to make their initial points, Viktor makes his first sally. He rubs his chin, then shakes his head sadly as he sighs. "It is a long, long way back to Trium, and we have already spent many days to come here."

As Vandor starts to reply, Viktor interrupts. "Which would give you plenty of time to hire the best monster-hunter in the region to assist us in Nemedor."

I will use Rhetoric and FoRK in Falsehood (to assist in laying the false trail of the argument): 3, 5, 5, 6, 3, 6, 6! I'm definitely going to open those. 2, 6, 6! 5, 3. 8 successes total.

"Though to be certain, I've no doubt you have such a one on retainer. If you want to make a good impression on her, assist me, and she will be pleased. Oh, and I have a crime to report."

[KJDavid]

"Perhaps the delegation can accompany you upon your return to Trium when your quest is successfully concluded." Vandor's tone did not make it sound like a suggestion. "As to your monster hunter problem, I can make some polite inquiries. I assume I can dispatch any interested parties to your residence?" Vandor took a sip of tea, then sighed. "I can make assumptions as to the crime, should you wish to make it a formal accusation."

[Enoch]

Viktor nods in agreement to all of it. "Yes, my residence will be fine. And if you need a formal accusation: Lucius, Magister of the Imperial College, sold me into slavery to one Calleigh of the Ten Veils. I have since reconciled with her and do not wish to press charges against her- not that you would be advised to try arresting a demigod in any event- but I would see Lucius arrested and tried."

[KJDavid]

Viktor is, of course, free to go, but where, precisely, do you want to go from here?

[Enoch]

He'll go to his workshop. He has an aurumvorax to dissect!

[KJDavid]

If I recall correctly, your workshop was a house in the Old City (i.e. - the nice part of town). There was a front room where you met customers. What I don't remember is where the main work area was---backroom or cellar?

[Enoch]

I believe it was in a back room- I kind of pictured it as being a modest 2-story building (2 main rooms on the main floor and perhaps a storage closet or such, and living quarters above).

[KJDavid]

What does the outside of the shop look like? What kind of street would it be on? I assume a vaguely affluent one. Is there any board hanging out front? Any indicator that a powerful enchanter makes his business her?

[Enoch]

It would be a small but well-situated wood-framed building on a street with other upper-class tradesmen. There is a wooden board outside the door emblazoned with the symbol of the philosopher's stone (or "squaring the circle"):



Very few people outside of the College have any understanding of what it means, but Viktor persists nonetheless. Below the symbol it reads in gilt paint "Viktor Guntram, Enchanter". (Most non-arcanists just refer to it as "Guntram's shop" or "that place with the weird triangle-and-circle symbol".)

[KJDavid]

After a journey that had taken him farther north then he'd ever been and into the service of the most bizarre creature he'd ever encountered, Viktor Guntram returned to his humble workshop on its narrow street nestled in the district officially titled 'Old Rohm'. Most called it 'Old Money', because that was where the oldest, wealthiest, and most connected families dwelt. The other shops and houses on the street gave truth to that belief. Across the street was a jeweler. On one flank was a white goldsmith, and on the other was the most exclusive clothier in the Empire. For those sorts of businesses, the customers were few, but the wealth that traded hands was multitudinous.

Viktor found his workshop as he had left it: locked and cold. The front room was very nearly barren save for a broad counter, books on enchantment for customers to peruse, and a significant accumulation of cobwebs. The back was in more disarray. There were upset trunks, scattered clothes, an assortment of open or half-opened jars, and a scattering of papers. Some might have thought there had been a burgling, but, no, it was merely the forgotten chaos of leaving in a hurry so many months before.

But there had been someone in the workshop since Viktor had left. The carcass of the aurumvorox was messily decomposing on Viktor's work table. There was a note pinned to the table: Enjoy.

Where do you start with the beast?

[Enoch]

With the head, of course!

I don't recall if we decided on traits for this, but I'll present for consideration a trait I'm making up (based loosely on Nose of the Bloodhound):

Nose for Gold Dt 4 pts

A character with the Nose for Gold trait can identify the presence of nearby gold by scent and an Ob 1 Perception test. Nose for Gold also counts as a call-on for Tracking when following the scent of gold.

Identifying a die trait is an Ob 3 Alchemy or Taxidermy test. Viktor has a B6 Alchemy and Antecedent-wise as a FoRK. Die roll: 3, 4, 4, 6, 1, 1, 3. Success: if the aurumvorax has Nose for Gold (or a similar die trait, otherwise), Viktor will be able to identify it.

The next step is to extract the trait. The obstacle to extract a trait is the cost of that trait (for my proposed trait, that would be an Ob 4 Alchemy test. Viktor has a B6 Alchemy, Antecedent-wise for a FoRK, and the Affinity for Blood trait (which grants a +1 for messy antecedent collection). I also have to declare at the time of extraction what it will be used for; Advantage for Resources seems like a good goal. Die roll: 4, 6, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 4. Alchemy is considered a magical skill, therefore automatically open-ended (I really should have checked the stars first, but oh well): re-roll came up 6, and the reroll of that came up 4. 5 successes total.


Working late into the night, Viktor uses a retractor to widen the split he's made in the front of the skull, following the complex bundle of nerves up from the beast's nose to its brain. His scalpel carefully parts the lobes until he discovers what he is looking for: a small gland at the base of the front of the brain. He slips a collection jar beneath it and takes a small bottle off the shelf. He delicately extracts the cork and pours the contents over the gland, which hisses and bubbles as it dissolves, draining into the jar. The liquified gland pools in bright golden disks in the solution, gleaming like gold coins.

Extracted antecedent: Advantage for Resources

[KJDavid]

I'm perfectly fine with Nose for Gold being a Die Trait. Given the nature of the system, I have no issue with you coming up with traits that the aurumvorox could reasonably have. Obviously, I'll call shenanigans on anything ridiculous, but I'm not terribly worried about having to do that. Advantage for Resources makes perfect sense as an antecedent assuming that my recollection of the magic item creation chapter in the MaBu is correct.

In terms of time, I figure each use of Alchemy to identify and/or extract takes about as much time as training a Routine Test in the skill. Ergo, it took Viktor basically all night (10 hours) to do the work. Figure a similar amount of time for each trait barring some exception that would radically increase Test difficulty and thereby increase the time required.

The gold gleaming in the solution sparkles even brighter as the first light of day pushes through the leaded glass in the workshop's windows.

Next trait?