The embers of victory

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa nods. "Well, if they don't have any magical ability themselves, Geas is always a good choice. Your advice is good; I'll off him to Zaaman Rul. As for actual treasure, we retrieved some shards that fell, but the assassin was the only fight of note. We mainly reinforced a flank."

[Corwin]

"Yes, those shards flew all over, didn't they? Good times."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa nods and lifts one out of her pack with her TK.

"Yes, I haven't had a chance to study them in depth yet. What are they?"

[Corwin]

"Imix had this relic of Kossuth, an artifact shield of protection and all the good stuff," Seira is all too happy to elaborate. "We all learned a valuable lesson today when we discovered it explodes when overwhelmed by more offensive fire magic than it can handle."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Hmm... Interesting. I think I'll collect the shards for study. It might help me on another project I have."

[Anastasia]

Emily returns that smile as she sits, doing the same with Amaryl.

As everyone settles in, "Now friends," Zaaman Rul raises his glass again, "Today was well fought." His voice booms, "First, a cheer to all those who stood true with us!"

The cheer is loud, countless elementals, servants and other creatures shouting out. A towering din of noise, Zaaman Rul smiling. "Next, a cheer to all those who came and lended us aid in our hour of need!"

Another cheer, like a wave of noise overwhelming all of you.

"Third," Zaaman Rul continues, "A cheer to seeing Imix run like the coward he is!" This time the cheer is overwhelming and joined with some laughter, this the longest cheer of them all. Once done Zaaman Rul sits and calls, "Now return to your celebrations."

Once done Zaaman Rul speaks normally. "I have what is believed to be a full analysis of the shield shards," he says, scrolls of parchment appearing before everyone at the table.

Shards of the Broken Shield

These metal shards are part of a broken artifact and are thought to number in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. They spread far in wide when the shield was broken, propelled forth by the tremendous force that undid the artifact.

By itself, a shard radiates overwhelming abjuration but has no other effect. However, if swallowed, a shard provides the creature that swallowed it a permanent resistance to fire 1. This stacks with any other resistance to fire a creature has. This resistance can be increased by swallowing a number of shards equal to the number of shards for the last increase + 1, you can increase this resistance to fire by 1 point.

1 shard = resistance to fire 1.
3 shards (1+2) = resistance to fire 2.
6 shards (1+2+3) = resistance to fire 3.
10 shards (1+2+3+4) = resistance to fire 4.
15 shards (1+2+3+4+5) = resistance to fire 5.

So on and so forth.

Swallowing a shard is harmless. A swallowed shard remains within the creature's body.

It may be possible to restore the broken shield if every shard was gathered. As part of an artifact, one may be able to use these shards in other ways as well, but it would requires research.

> roll 1d10+2 Alicia
<Penuche> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 3 > [d10=1]
> roll 1d10+2 Alyssa
<Penuche> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 10 > [d10=8]
> roll 5d10+10 Seira since she was at ground zero and at the best place to get shards by a lot
<Penuche> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 37 > [d10=7,1,3,8,8]

Alicia has 3 shards.
Alyssa has 10 shards.
Seira has 37 shards.

This will be crossposted to loot.

[Ebiris]

"From the spread you probably have most here in your realm but a lot would have gone all over Fire," Alicia says to Zaaman Rul after reading that. "I think Syala picked up a couple that landed near us but they're not of great use to us and it's probably more productive to try assembling them together to rebuild the artifact if one were interested."

[Corwin]

"That would be hard given that Imix absorbed a few after the explosion," Seira notes. "And he's a coward, so he'll run away if you try to go and get those."

[Iron Dragoon]

"I gathered a handful as well. We could analyze the magic between the shards we have and construct a locator spell, likely. We might be able to use a shard to act as a compass to the next closest..."

[Anastasia]

"I have no doubt I will recover more as they are gathered within my realm, and Imix's soldiers took some with them," Zaaman Rul concurs. "To reassemble that shield would be a monumental task."

Antenora idly inspects one of the shards in the meantime,  "As long as the shards could be retrieved from within, I hardly see using them as a detriment to repairing the shield."

At this it's Bastian who speaks up, "It sounds like a task with a lot of dusty roads and travels ahead, Lord Zaaman Rul." Smiling a bit at it, "All across Fire and beyond over time."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa considers and starts to mumble to herself... "Could we link a locator spell to a plane shift or greater teleport? Have it act as a summoning beacon for other shards in range... Maybe... If..."

She jots a few ideas down in her journal.

[Ebiris]

"I expect when people learn of them a lot will be retrieved from within at the end of a blade," Alicia muses at Antenora's thought. "If anyone wants ours I'm happy to surrender them now, we only have a couple and their effect alone isn't meaningful."

[Corwin]

"I'm going to see what Sanzha could do with the ones I grabbed," Seira muses, "though if anyone comes close to reforging the shield they can have them then."

[Anastasia]

"I'll keep the one I got for now," Syala speaks up, "It's an interesting thing to study, I've never seen a broken artifact before. I intend to make more broken artifacts fighting evil."

Emily smiles a bit, "I think Alyssa or Mom would like yours, I bet, Aunt Alicia."

Zaaman Rul chuckles at this, "I may seek to rebuild it, I may not. It may be best a grand project we all cooperate on over the centuries."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa blinks at her name. "Hmm? Oh. Yes, the more the better. If I can construct the correct spell, it may make things easier."