Day 57: Wealday the 14th, Neth, 4707
When I woke up this morning, I was greeted with a slobbering muzzle in my face, Veronica asking for direction in my mind, and Savah sleepily telling me to take Bailey out. I got up and pulled on some clothes quickly before heading out the garage door with Bailey. As I was out there, Veronica gave me a rundown of what all she had finished over the night. I asked her if she felt that she would be better off working at the new house, and she noted that for now, she needed to finish up on the armors here. Once everything was installed at the new place, it would be easier there, obviously. I asked her to get whatever portable things done today that she could, and we would work on Savah's armor today, if Faunra didn't show up with hers.
Veronica accepted the focus and got to work. I noticed something just as Bailey started barking at it. Whatever it was all I noticed was a shadow retreating from coming close to us. I reached for my holster and I remembered that everything was still inside. I pulled Bailey with me and we went inside, locking the door behind us. I pulled Bailey with me back to the bedroom, but the wolf didn't growl or anything along the way. I quickly got dressed out in armor and got equipped with everything. Savah sleepily woke up and asked me what was wrong. I told her what had happened, and she noted that it was probably just a cutpurse that had gotten spooked by Bailey.
I looked back at it and figured that she was right, but noted to myself that it would probably be very good to find some way to be armored in an instant if the situation had been different. I wondered to myself if Faunra had a spell for it. I figured that there should be some kind of spell at least with how often people got into conflict, and how frequently the team ups included various groups of skills, from clerics, to skilled warriors, to crafty people that I would guess might be somewhat similar to myself. That would mean that there are at least some important to have a spell that armors people up quickly.
I got snapped out of that train of thought by hearing Savah clear her throat. I quickly boiled up some water for coffee and made some simple food for her breakfast. I brought it in and she seemed fairly pleased. Bailey was there laying at the foot of the bed, waiting for their breakfast. I left and got a dried ham hock from the pantry and brought it back for Bailey's breakfast. I realized that I was going to have to go get refills for the pantry sometime soon, so that was added to the agenda.
BY the time I got back, Savah had gotten up and got dressed, and told me that she was going to follow my advice with the whole "Store closing" sale, if only to get people to know that she would be moving at the end of the week. I joked and said that if it went really well, we would have less to move also. Savah said that she wouldn't hate that. I noted that with my workshop right next to her store, we could even make things much quicker to supply her. Savah smiled at that, and noted that it might get in the way of opening my school. I joked back that I might be able to get Faunra to make another wright for me, and then I could have both of them building things for Savah to sell while I taught classes.
I escorted Savah down the hallway to her shop and helped her open up. Bailey came with us and took up his customary position on the bed in the shop by the door. I gave Savah a kiss and went to the work shop. Veronica was working away on goods for the house, so I loaded up what I could onto the cart that is set up to go behind my bike, before I made the trip to the property. Aesrick and is crew were already there, working on the second level, and Aesrick came down when I got there. He noted that the power tools that I had made were working more slowly than they had before. I took some time to quickly hit each one with a mending and cleaning from prestidigitation.
Aesrick started each one up and the fired right up to full power. He asked if it was something that should be expected from here on out. I told him that using any kind of water from distilled or magically created would mean that scale would form on the boiling plate, reducing efficiency. I told Aesrick that he could get pure water from a cleric or similar spellcaster, or from Ven's General store, if his water plant was still in operation. Aesrick told me that he knew that Ven had been pissed off at me, and asked why I was still recommending his store. I told Aesrick that I held no real grudge with Mr. Vinder, and that everything I had done with him was intended to be useful in the long run.
Aesrick nodded and told me that it said good things about me that I would be willing to recommend someone who had previously and likely still wished me harm. I told Aesrick that I wasn't entirely stupid, in that I knew that my presence not too far away from Ven was agitating him, and that this was a good portion of why I had been focused on getting this done quicker. Aesrick said that he figured that it had something to do with that, and that his men were working as fast as they could. I thanked him, and noted that more than anything, I wanted his people to be safe, and handed him two of the lesser potions of healing that we had acquired as a group. I told him that if anyone had gotten hurt, that he should feel free to use one or both of these potions as needed.
Aesrick looked at me with a little wonder, but took the potions. I told him that these were not to be considered to be taken in trade for anything, rather that they were something that I was just donating to his company to try to ensure that everyone went home as they got to work, except more tired and more compensated, with no lingering injuries. Aesrick chuckled and noted that if I continued to provide this kind of set up, he would make sure that his team was available whenever I wanted to upgrade or build something else. I thanked him, but noted that I wouldn't want anyone to get in trouble.
Aesrick said that Belven was just blowing off steam yesterday, that he had not planned out what he needed in advance, and was a bit miffed that his family name was not getting people to jump for him. I thanked him for that, but noted that I prepaid any fine that we might have endured anyway, just to smooth things over. Aesrick nodded and said that it was wise to do that if I wanted the jobs to get done as quick as possible. I thanked him for his assessment and ensured that he knew where all of the components were supposed to go. All of the lavatories had two pipes going in, one for hot water and one for cold. The tanks were being installed in the attic area.
These pipes would be turned on as needed, and could be used for the showers, toilets, or sinks. I might be living in a fantasy equivalent of the dark ages, but I'd be damned if I wasn't going to have hot and cold running water. They had already hooked up the piping leaving the lavatories to go into the septic system that I had designed and requested. The extra time spent helping my father build his house when I was a teen actually turned out to be a useful thing. Thanks dad.
With everything set up, I drove off and headed back to the armory. When I got there, Faunra's bike was already outside. It was just sitting outside, and there was no one around. I looked it over and noted that Faunra had apparently taken the handle off of the cut off valve, and I guessed that she had the valve closed. I pulled my bike into the garage and unloaded the cart before going in to the shop. Vaeren and Faunra were there, talking with Savah. I asked Faunra what she did with the cut off valve. She noted that since she could cast a spell that opened and closed any portal, she just cast it on the valve whenever she needed to prevent the engine's operation. I told her that this was a genius move and congratulated her.
Faunra noted that she was here to get her armor updated, like Dame Rebekah did, and wanted to thank me for what I had done to throw off any rumormongering that was going on about her. I told her that it was no issue and that I knew that if the situation had been reversed, and she could do something, that she would have. Faunra smiled and said that she had some other things to discuss with me if I had a minute. I excused us from Vaeren and Savah and we went to the workshop. Faunra told me that Dame Rebekah had told her that I would have to talk to her about something, but wouldn't reveal what.
I sighed and told Faunra that I had encountered a book that was focused around defending against and attacking spellcasters by exploiting the weaknesses of spellcasting. Faunra looked at me with a dead seriousness in her eyes for almost thirty seconds before breaking down laughing. I was confused and she must have noticed this because she noted that this was similar to her line of training, and that she looked forward to whatever insights I could bring in to our continued conflicts. I asked her if she was upset that I had not told her, and she asked me if I had learned this since the last time we had met or before.
I told Faunra that is was since the last time, and she told me that I had no reason to feel bad. Faunra added that she was focusing on her own tasks, so there was no expectation that she would even be available to talk about this, and that after the events that had occurred in Magnimar, it would only be expected that I would look to defend myself and Savah better. Then she got down to brass tacks, so to speak, and asked about the armor upgrade. I asked her for some specifications, and she specified that she didn't want a helmet either, mainly because she wanted to have the full range of visual and auditory inputs. I acknowledge that, and pulled up some ideas for her with prestidigitation. She selected something a lot like Dame Rebekah's but more mystical looking.
Veronica immediately transmitted that she had the plans and would start immediately. I told Faunra as such and she stripped out of her armor immediately. While she was changing, I asked her if there was a spell to make people's armor go on quicker. She noted that there was an odd spell that disintegrated the armor and then created another set that was exactly the same as the original. I noted that I really didn't like to think of that since I wasn't sure that my materials would behave the same way when magic was involved. Faunra said that she would look into it, but that having armor enchanted to be able to be summoned was a possibility, but that it might take the form of another magic item that I would have to wear. I noted that my main concern was being able to get armored quickly. Faunra said that she would look into it further.
We gave the armor to Veronica and she immediately got to work. Faunra asked how long it might take, and I told her that it would likely take eight hours or so. Faunra asked if I could go over some of my modifications. I showed her the shield and the spring blade, and Faunra asked if I would want the blade and shield enchanted. I told her eventually, but I wanted to make sure that they were right before we did. Faunra said that she could understand not wanting to waste magic like that.
We got back to the shop and Vaeren asked if the workshop was open again. I noted that Veronica was working on Faunra's armor, but other than that, he could use the workshop with her. Vaeren nodded and said that he would keep tinkering with his bike. Faunra asked if there was anything that she could help out with while she was in town. I noted that Jonathan was going to be attempting to hire some help, so maybe we could help him. I said goodbye to Savah, we both got on our bikes and headed to The Bolting Barghest.
Along the way, I told Faunra that I might be interested in commissioning another of those wrights when we have the spare time and the spare capital. Faunra said that she was going to be busy for a while with Shalelu and her treehouse, but that we should probably all get together sometime soon and talk again. I told her that it wasn't a rush, just that I was still planning on making a school here in Sandpoint, and that I couldn't be in a workshop all day if I was going to be teaching people science. Faunra nodded and noted that the role of a teacher was a very difficult one. I added that it was frequently thankless as well and Faunra nodded.
We got to the Bolting Barghest, and Jonathan was outside, with a table, and a line of applicants. We parked our bikes and walked over to the table. Jonathan was obviously getting annoyed, so we offered to help him. He was interviewing for a night and day shift cook and wait staff. He told me that he was taking my advice and finding someone who could cast prestidigitation so they could flavor the drinks and such for maximum effect.
Jonathan split us up, with Faunra and myself interviewing the prestidigitation powers while he would go about interviewing the wait staff. There were a few people who had learned how to cast the spell but could only do so a few times a day. Faunra out of hand rejected them. I talked to a few of the apprentice wizards, but most of them had no culinary experience, so I rejected them mostly out of hand.
Eventually we narrowed the field down to only four people. Two bards, a magus, and a medium. Faunra really wanted to push for the Magus, but I pointed out that the Bards would do much better in the role, with their breadth of skills. We talked a bit with the medium, and after hearing their life goals, decided that it would be best if they went to talk with Madame Mvashti. We talked with Jonathan about the two bards, and he approached them both to hire them.
The bards, an elf and a halfling, both accepted the role, but stated that it would take a few days for them to start, provided that they could both do a performance each day that they worked the shift. Jonathan immediately agreed, but noted that they would still need to do their duties before and after their performances. The Bards agreed to the stipulation and stated that they would start work in three days, as they needed to finish off their normal jobs and get their arrangements done. The wait staff would start tomorrow.
Jonathan thanked us for our assistance, noting that it would have taken a lot longer if we had not. I told him that it was no issue, that we were just checking in with him anyway to talk to him about the issue that I had talked to Faunra about. We all went into the Barghest and sat down at a private booth. I started out with telling Jonathan that I had not actively looked to find information that would be useful against people in our group, but that fate had put a book into my hands that I could read due to technicalities and it provided instruction in how to better fight spellcasters. Jonathan asked me if it specified those who had Dame Rebekah or Faunra's unique abilities. I told him that it was more of a generalist treatise. He shrugged and said that we had to fight a few spellcasters already, so knowing some tricks to make it easier really wouldn't hurt us at all.
I shrugged and said that this was a lot easier than I had expected. Jonathan asked me if I was specifically looking into ways to take out Faunra or Dame Rebekah. I told him that I was not. Jonathan replied that I had specifically faced against a priest, a sorcerer, and a trio of battle mages. All within the last season. It would only make sense that I look into methods to try to defend myself against such techniques. I noted that a lot of the book as dedicated to attacking. Jonathan fired back with him having heard somewhere that the best defense is a good offense or something like that. It was a bit odd, having a phrase from my old world shot back at me, but it was a solid point.
We got some lunch before we left and acquired some take out for Savah before we headed back to the Armory. Savah was making some good sales and was just finishing up with her last sale when we had gotten back. Faunra had lunch with us and we talked a good bit about theories of magic, what the average person knew about magic, and some of the things that I had learned from the book about how magic worked. Faunra had a large amount of information about magic in her head, and even had a theory about why it was that I seemed to be absorbing magic like I was.
According to Faunra's theory, magic might be a bit like a disease or a sickness in that the body is slowly adapted to it over time. This can take vastly different forms, but the more common is that those from magic rich areas tend to get magical abilities like spellcasting more readily while those who are more removed from magic are more likely to develop abilities that are against or at odds with magic. She noted that even those who were from very poor magic areas still had some level of magic that was around them in some way, so they developed an antipathy style effect. To Faunra, my body had either absolutely no or extremely minimal magic around me growing up, so I didn't develop the antipathy or sympathy to magic on the base level, so it was just letting everything in when the situation was right. It made a kind of sense, especially when you consider that the times when my abilities showed up or increased were associated with times when I had been around a lot of magic (the magic floating room) or injured by a lot of magic (the sorcerer's lightning bolt).
We talked a bit about it and continued on about how some entities were the same way. I noted that according to the physics of my world, things like giant spiders couldn't exist above a certain size. I described the square-cube law and how in the realm of physics, a thing like a spider couldn't exist at the largest sizes because the exoskeleton couldn't take the strain. Faunra assured me that they do exist here, and that it would be a poor idea to balk or freeze in the face of confronting one because it shouldn't exist. I agreed and said that I would try to remember that if we ever encountered something like that.
We all laughed a bit at it and enjoyed our meal. After we were finished, Savah went back to her shop while Faunra and I went to the workshop. Vaeren was working on some details of his bike, apparently making modifications similar to Faunra's where only he would be able to get the vehicle running. I walked over to him and asked if he would eventually be interested in a teaching position at my Technomancy school. Vaeren balked for a minute and started to refuse, noting that he was not going to be leaving his study of magic.
Faunra and I laughed and I told him that I would never ask him to renounce his studies in magic. I told him that the position that we would have for him would likely be to discuss the similarities between my science and magic, and how they could benefit from each other. Faunra noted to him that she would probably be teaching some forms of archery, and maybe even item creation techniques to those who would seek to follow a blended path. Vaeren said that he would consider it, but that he had a pre-existing position with Ilsoari's school. I laughed and noted that I did not want to replace the Academy, but rather I would like to supplement it for those children that would be continuing their education. Vaeren said that he would have to think about this. I immediately acknowledged that this was a big decision and that he should not do this without thinking hard about it.
Vaeren nodded and went back to working on his bike. It was slowly starting to deviate from my design, to be something not entirely different, but something of Vaeren's own design considerations. The lines were a bit more precise, the engine had runes carved into it, and the seat had been modified to fit him more precisely. He also had what appeared to be a martial artist helm with some thin steel coating on the outside. Not enough to even remotely qualify as armor, but enough to keep his head from getting as banged up as it could be at the blistering speeds of maybe twelve miles an hour.
It was only rational to protect your head when your livelihood depends on your big brain. I gave him a pointer here or there to help with what should work and what really wouldn't work without a lot of magical input, and Vaeren was really coming around to the thinking. He was looking at magic more to enhance the capabilities of the bike than grant them right out. He would go far, I thought, as he puzzled over increasing the grip of his tires. I went back to help Veronica with the last little bits on the armor.
With the both of us working on it, the armor got done much quicker. It ended up looking a lot like a marriage between a suit of plate armor and a set from the Dredd movie. When it was done Faunra put it on and it fit like a glove. Savah complemented her on it, and asked if her armor could look more like Faunra's than Dame Rebekah's. I told her of course and Faunra noted that she had to get going, that Shalelu was waiting for her to get back to deal with some other upgrades to their shared living area.
While Faunra was getting set up on her bike, Savah told her that they would both be invited back for the grand opening of the new store on the 19th. Faunra said that they would be there, and started up her bike with a spell. She smiled and rode off towards the South Bridge. Savah looked to me and said that she wanted to retire early to actually get some rest tonight. I wished her good rest and went back to the work shop. I worked alongside Veronica, realizing that having an assistant was really nice. It really helps to get all of these things that I need to get done finished. Before I knew it, the day was already done. I gave Veronica her marching orders, and decided to retire for the day.