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    <title>BASEMENT QWEST</title>
    <link>https://tilde.town/~dozens/quest/rss.xml</link>
    <description>Friends having ADVENTURES! Huzzah!</description>
    <item>
      <title>21</title>
      <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">21 - Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:21:55
-0600</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:21:55 -0600</pubDate>
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        <![CDATA[
          <h3 id="00021">00021</h3>
          <p>INTERLUDE</p>
          <blockquote>
          <p>A glorious victory!</p>
          <p>In the interim time Corraidhin studies the sword of Y’aml,
          and correctly deduces that he needs to remove the sticky bit
          to be able to sheath the thing.</p>
          <p>sudo chmod -t sword_of_y'aml</p>
          <p>The rest of the interim is spent studying arcane lore
          surrounding the Ginnarak Crystals and their purpose. He also
          strongly urges the party that we should consider very carefuly
          how we need to proceed with the crystal. It’s obvious people
          don’t want these things getting out, so we should ensure that
          Blavin has good intentions, or at least leaves us out of
          whatever potential evil could occur.</p>
          </blockquote>
          <p>Corraidhin prepares the incantation and, after removing the
          sticky bit, is able pry his stiff fingers from the grip.</p>
          <p>You sheathe the blade, but its voice continues to ring
          clearly in your head as it prattles on, seeing evil and
          villainy everywhere and encouraging you to stab, stab,
          stab.</p>
          <p>Your sysorcerous studies, confirmed by the eager and
          forthright sword, suggest that the blade will be able to rest
          for a while once it tastes blood.</p>
          <p>Your former mentor and rival sysorceror Eccentric Kevin
          calls on you one day under the pretense of showing you the
          latest draft of KDL (pronounced “cuddle”), their own “Kevin’s
          Document Language”, an alternative syntax for incantations and
          personal pet project of theirs that has thus far failed, much
          to their perpetual consternation, to gain any traction or
          adoption in the wider magic community. They are insufferably
          polite and sinisterly supportive. They complain about how the
          obstinant gnus keep standing in the middle of the road trying
          to block traffic, and they demand to know all about your
          recent exploits and adventures.</p>
          <blockquote>
          <p>Once back in town, Inky had the small glass shard in their
          palm removed by a harried-looking healer, who merely shrugged
          at Inky’s account of the disappearing ink and advised them to
          return if they experienced adverse effects before hurrying off
          to the next patient. A visit to the local stationery shop did
          not yield any answers; the stocky human at the counter shook
          their head apologetically when shown the broken ink bottle.
          However, they did suggest asking at one of the larger shops in
          the city.</p>
          <p>To celebrate their first successful quest, Inky made
          torties[1] for their party with flour ground from some of the
          large corn kernels at the dig site, topped with a sweet nutty
          squash spread. Babbleberry tea was served from their newly
          acquired jade tea set, now patched with what Inky had been
          assured was an unbreakable seal[2] by a merchant with a toothy
          grin in one of Vay’Nullar’s notorious back alleys.</p>
          <p>Master Corraidhín’s cautionary words of wisdom still echo
          in Inky’s head, though they were secretly tickled by the idea
          of the crystal being actually a rare and previously unknown
          species of melon with very potent magical properties. The very
          thought of melons was making Inky a bit thirsty. Let the
          warrior and wizard worry about all the potential evils of the
          world — it’s time for a dash to the market for some beatfruit
          juice!</p>
          <hr />
          <p>[1] Also known as torte-teas, as in “Torte-tea, yas?”,
          which was how their previous ink maestro used to greet
          customers entering the brewery. Flat little tea cakes with
          sugar or spice (or both, which vary by region) and sometimes
          eaten in a loose wrap. Some humans called them “crabs” for
          some reason which baffled Inky, since the torties had no
          pincers … at least none that they could see anyway.</p>
          <p>[2] The seal attached to the bottom of the teapot and each
          cup had a glyph of an unknown object between two hands.</p>
          </blockquote>
          <p>The healer removes a small glass bead from Inky’s palm. It
          is worn smooth and round like a marble. If you look closely,
          you can see a small blemish in the center that somewhat
          resembles either a duck or a rabbit depending on how you
          orient it.</p>
          <p>It is captivating to look at and comforting to hold in your
          hand. You fidget with it often. Now and then you suddenly
          notice you have been gazing at it for some minutes without
          realizing it.</p>
          <p>You make your party a delightful meal of torties, serving
          tea from the magically reinforced jade set.</p>
          <p>Cleaning up afterwards, you can’t help but notice the
          patterns of the tea leaves in the bottoms of the jade
          cups.</p>
          <p>YOU FORESEE AN OMEN FOR THE PARTY. WHAT IS IT?</p>
          <p>You dash to the market for beatfruit juice, which you
          easily find. And you find yourself irrationally drawn to the
          produce. The kale, dandelion greens, and beans all look
          especially scrumptious and … plump and juicy?</p>
          <p>An old toothy market attendant sits on a stool by the
          vegetable stand reading the Farmers Almanac. Unsolicited, they
          mention to you that it is only three days until the next full
          moon.</p>
          <blockquote>
          <p>Jarrod has two things in particular he wants to do when
          back in town, with whatever his cut of the gold is. First, he
          wants to go looking for a cheap, run-down building somewhere
          in town and buy the property if he has enough money (perhaps
          negotiating a bit where necessary).</p>
          <p>Second, he wishes to seek arcane counsel from Corraidhín,
          perhaps getting a small invocation applied to one of the
          charms on his arm band. Something in the realm of a
          fascination spell (with an activation word) that can be used
          on occasion to draw attention.</p>
          <p>Jarrod agrees that we should not invite trouble. We shall
          tread cautiously with regards to the crystals.</p>
          <p>Yum, torties!</p>
          </blockquote>
          <p>After successfully negotiating the price down a little bit,
          you are able to purchase a run-down building. You are now the
          proud owner and proprietor of the Milk Market building in the
          Wandering Bazzar district of downtown Vay’Nullar.</p>
          <p>The ground level is occupied by longtime district staple
          Enrique’s Empanada Emporium, famous for its signature stuffed
          pastries and its Terrapin Ale, brewed on site by Enrique
          himself, who happens to be a very large humanoid turtle.</p>
          <p>It’s a little seedy and a little divey, but still draws a
          fair amount of foot traffic from shoppers waiting for the
          eponymous, ambulatory bazaar of debatable sentience to wander
          by. Reliably, a small gang of breadpunks can be found
          loitering here and espousing the virtues of social anarchy.
          Enrique allows their presence and on occasion even buys them a
          round of ale.</p>
          <p>The top two levels are unoccupied. Years upon years ago,
          this space once held large vats for storing and preserving
          multibeast milk prior to being distributed. Some enterprising
          individual converted and updated the space some time ago, but
          was never able to find a tenant. In any case, the space is
          yours now to do with what you will.</p>
          <p>With Corraidhin’s assistance, you are able to enchant your
          armband by inscribing it with a cross-like glyph with a
          teardrop-shaped loop in place of the vertical upper bar. You
          now have a FASCINATING BANGLE that can, upon activation,
          compel attention and even potentially inspire people to dance
          about.</p>
          <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
          <p><a
          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00001.html">www</a></p>
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