Random DM nagging.

[Anastasia]

Posting this lineup of books here for when Merc updates the book listing. Hint hint hint hint.

Lost Lore of the Abyss: Athux: 600 gold.
Lost Lore of the Abyss: The Pale Mother: 600 gold.
Lost Lore of the Abyss: Sualax: 600 gold.
Lost Lore of the Abyss: Kina-ja: 600 gold.
Lost Lore of the Abyss: The Radiant Sisters. 600 gold.
Gwinnan's Travel Logs, Volume 7: Steam. 150 gold.
Cheeses of the Outer Planes: 100 gold.
Happy Hands: 500 gold.
Rapier Mastery: 5,000 gold.
A Chronicle of Rokasai, the Golden Land: 400 gold.
99 Baatorian Proverbs: 900 gold.

[Corwin]

A Chronicle of Rokasai, the Golden Land

This is a dry historical record of Rokasai, dubbed the Golden Land. A fertile plain bisected by the rivers Tam and Fin, it grew to be ruled by a single bloodline of kings. Rokasai boasted great prosperity through effective magical and alchemical rituals combined with strong military force against her neighbors, Lostlands and Farew Condeferacy. It details everything until the end. At the height of its power, Rokasai is said to have been beset by a destroyer from the Gods. A beast more akin to a mountain of blades than a living thing, it shredded entire cities and smashed armies underfoot. In desperation, the king turned to his personal seer, who divined that the beast could only be slain by a weapon that has never been a weapon and never will be a weapon. Unable to find such, Rokasai was rent asunder and forgotten, save by learned sages.

Speculation is that a weapon that only exists for one moment could ever wound or even slay this unnamed calamity. It is said all the kingdoms of the world sought to find such a weapon, yet the calamity vanished once Rokasai was torn apart. The reasons for this wrathful smiting has never been certain, though several faiths claim it to be divine vengeance for past misdeeds.

Can any knowledge we currently have help narrow down what the mountain of blades is?

[Anastasia]

K:P. Roll'n'post.

[Corwin]

08:39   Corwin   roll 1d20+23+15+15 I'll spend a minute in the library, then
08:39      Hatbot --> "Corwin rolls 1d20+23+15+15 I'll spend a minute in the library, then and gets 71." [1d20=18]

[Anastasia]

Ancient legends speak of a creature made of blades. Hundreds of blades held by hundreds of arms. A roving calamity, said to herald the end of civilizations. A killing machine made by the Gods, so powerful that it served its purpose and resisted destruction after. What happened to it is not known, only its name surviving in the rarest, oldest texts: Hecatoncheires.

[Corwin]

Unposted books (from stuff that was bought before):

The Narrative Guide to the Styx.
Biological Functions of Lemures.
The Bloodeye Ritual.
Gwinnan's Travel Logs, Volume 2: Air.
Numerological Concepts in the Planes.
Regrets of the Well-Worn Inevitable.
The divided mind: 350 gold.
Do not read this book!: 500 gold.
Three Truths, Six Catastrophes, Seven Blessings, and the One Self: 2,000 gold.

[Anastasia]

A bunch of those are Sylvie's. You're welcome to read them if someone's borrowing them. Are they? I asked last time and at the time Jaela didn't want to.

[Corwin]

Divided Mind might be fun. A couple are Ithea's, and have now been cleared for reading by Tannin, mind.

[Anastasia]

The Divided Mind

This book is the story of a heretical 'sorcerer-wizard' who attempted to establish a divided mind in his subjects. He grafted parts of the brains of eye tyrants into the test subjects, using magic to integrate the parts into a divided whole. His logic was that since beholders can manipulate several eye stalks of magic at once, they have naturally compartmentalized minds that are well suited to this. The heretic's goals were to create subjects who would use segments of their mind to do several things at once - and ultimately to create spellcasters who could cast several spells at once.

Interestingly, despite calling the sorcerer-wizard a heretic, much of his surviving research is recorded within the book. It is noted that he never succeeded, though he believed his last few test subjects were coming closer, according to recovered research journals. Unfortunately, test subject A-A through B-E had proven either inadequate or unable to withstand the grafting process.

Should one wish to attempt to recreate this research, The Divided Mind offers a +5 circumstance bonus to the relevant rolls.

[Anastasia]

Do not read this book!

This book begins by praising the reader for defying its authority. It goes into long screeds against authority in all forms, calling it the drug of the weak minded and those who wish to be nothing more than two legged cattle. This book endorses the defiance of authority, at first alone, then in pairs, then in ever rising groups. It details how to form anarchic cells, engage in the destruction of authority on a township, regional and national level and finally the complete destruction of civilization. It envisions a world where all are independent and unchained, living how they wish with no other telling them how to live. This book is anti government, anti civilization, anti clerical and anti any other source of authority.

[Anastasia]

Three Truths, Six Catastrophes, Seven Blessings, and the One Self.

This particular book is a complicated tome about numerology in all forms. It is a part of the Numerologist PrC described here. In the unlikely event a PC ends up taking this class, this book can satisfy the related prerequisite.

[Corwin]

It's a bit later than usual, but can we have the devil prisoners from Astral interrogated? Both the ones I caught with Hanna, and the one-two I said I'd grab during the cleanup of the devil fortress there?

Also, this never actually came up even though we both expected it to. You said you'd list the price/requirements for a cauldron of stars, Dune, remember? Do you mind doing that?

[Anastasia]

I'll get to them within a few days, thanks for the reminder.

[Corwin]

There will be two versions of the contract, and the Mercane will get to choose which one to sign:

-1 item/month commissioned from Afina by the Mercane. Afina automatically refuses to craft for fiends and enemies of the Crusade. Afina may refuse any specific requests as well. Mercane who try to circumvent this pay inflated fines to Afina and the act or official attempts to conceal it may constitute a breach of contract between the Aurora and the Mercane, at Afina's discretion.
-Mercane get a 10% discount for this specific commission. They may commission more items from Afina at the normal price, should Afina be willing to work on said commissions.
-Afina is gifted with a book teaching her to surpass her limits where it comes to crafting. The Mercane will strive to provide opportunities for Afina's work to get noticed favorably by the higher powers, in hopes of further knowledge being shared with her further down the line by said powers.
-The Mercane get to expand their presence in the Aurora (more shops/space) threefold.
-The Aurora opens an account for 100,000gp at the Union Bank.
-The Mercane provide Aurora with actionable intelligence on its prime enemies of Tiamat and Abigor.

OR:

-1 item/month commissioned from Afina by the Mercane. Afina automatically refuses to craft for fiends and enemies of the Crusade. Afina may refuse any specific requests as well. Mercane who try to circumvent this pay inflated fines to Afina and the act or official attempts to conceal it may constitute a breach of contract between the Aurora and the Mercane, at Afina's discretion.
-Mercane get a 20% discount for this specific commission. They may commission more items from Afina at the normal price, should Afina be willing to work on said commissions.
-Afina is gifted with a book teaching her to surpass her limits where it comes to crafting. The Mercane will strive to provide opportunities for Afina's work to get noticed favorably by the higher powers, in hopes of further knowledge being shared with her further down the line by said powers.
-Should such opportunities not come to pass, the Mercane are to offer Afina something of equal value on a monthly basis as a type of insurance.
-The Aurora opens an account for 100,000gp at the Union Bank.
-The Mercane provide Aurora with actionable intelligence on its prime enemies of Tiamat and Abigor.

[Anastasia]

The Mercane will take the first one.