Five servitors, summoned and bound to your will, are currently available to do whatever you ask of them- an assassin imp, fast, stealthy, and brutal; a scholar sprite, equally adept in the library or the wilderness; a mimir, a skull imbued with equally vast amounts of knowledge and self-absorption; an air spirit, virtually undetectable eyes and hands; and an earth spirit, which smoothly moves through and shapes earth and stone. Three further air spirits and a second assassin imp have been conjured but promised to the service of others, although they will obey you should you choose to command them.

Sheryl, a young streetwalker you recruited to your service with gold and promises, has proven herself quite useful as your agent amongst the living. Though she does not yet know your undead nature, she has not left you even when it became clear that you were far less scrupulous than she had ever expected.

Sarai, an older vampire who described herself as an assassin and mercenary, allowed you to use some of her supplies and stay in her concealed crypt in the merchant's district for the first few days you were in the city.

Bryden, a much older vampire who has apparently attempted repeated rebellion against your lord, has secured himself a position as a noble in the city and provided you with some information and contacts.


***

It is near the middle of the night, and only a brief time remains before your scheduled meeting with three smugglers, who have promised you information on arcane texts in the city in exchange for a year's service by one air spirit each. They have assured you that their news will prove worth the steep price.

This bargain was arranged last time you encountered the smugglers, and you are reasonably certain that they discerned your vampiric nature at that meeting. If you wish to take any precautions or actions before meeting them, only a brief time is left before you must depart.

What will you do?

>>7702185
Eh, go to meeting. Have our Imp on standby, watching them from their backs and other angles that we wouldn't be able to see. While invisible, obviously. And take our own air spirit to help keeping an eye on them. All this is just precautionary; we shouldn't try anything unless they do.

>>7702178
in b4 gayracula

>>7702185

It would seem that with the vast amount of spirits we have at your disposal, they would be foolish to try anything.

So... take everyone, have them hide, just in case.

Also-- we might wish to procure a sword, or a few daggers at some point.

>>7702375
we already have a short sword strapped to our thigh

>>7702395

More!

Poisoned throwing knives are always useful.

>>7702395
And it's FUCKING AWESOME!

>>7702403
So are cementing loyalties through the use of lesbian sex, but don't expect that to happen anytime soon.

>>7702242 >>7702375
You decide that taking your bound servants with you is likely precaution enough, and order them to accompany you while concealed as you set off for the Spiked Flagon, the tavern on the docks where you're scheduled to meet the smugglers. Your appearance is far enough from the human norm that you know you'll get a few odd looks, but you're not overly concerned; the lighting will be poor and no one should be looking too closely. Besides, in such a place of revelry a small oddity such as you will likely go unremarked.

The tavern is as crowded and boisterous as before, and you locate the smugglers without trouble. They are seated along one of the walls as before and appear somewhat nervous. A look of fright goes through the smaller man when he catches sight of you, but a hand on his shoulder from the larger man seems to calm him, and you don't remark on it as you seat yourself, smiling. "Good to see you here. I assume that our arrangement is unchanged?"

The big man nods. "We still have the news, if you've got your spirits."

You'd laid the groundwork for completing your half of the bargain shortly after summoning the spirits, fortunately, so there is little you have to do. A quick mental effort is enough to tell the spirits to attend the three smugglers as their masters, and a small breeze stirs each of them as their new spirits swirl around. "It is done. Command them, and they'll obey."

The small man blinks. "That's it? No... no rites or anything?" At your nod, he speaks awkwardly to the air. "Then... uh... spirit, could you pick up my ale?"

The air spirit promptly lifts his tankard a good foot and a half into the air before he realizes how quickly it's going and grabs it, looking around frantically to see if anyone's noticed. "Stop! I mean, good, thanks. That's enough." Fortunately, you're not getting any more looks than before after that display of magic.

The woman frowns. "Be precise in your commands. Bound creatures have been known to play tricks."

"Quite so." You smile. "Now, I believe that you have some information for me?"

She looks at you a long moment and nods. "You said you want books on magic. Well, the nobles around here like to keep mages on their payroll... or in their family, in some cases. Lord Evenwell's uncle, who was the family's wizard, died recently and willed all his arcane paraphernalia to the Lord's third son, Robert, who is pretty much the only other one in the family who cares about that kind of thing. But Robert's been off adventuring for almost two years now, with no sign of returning anytime soon. The mage's wing in the Evenwell mansion is collecting dust until he shows up again... and it's highly unlikely that anyone would notice, were some of their tomes to vanish."

You frown. That certainly has potential, but you can't actually enter a mansion such as that uninvited... still, it's a much better lead on arcane texts than you had before, and it comes without Bryden's presumably steep price tag. The smugglers have fulfilled their end of the bargain. Should you deal with them further, or move on to something else?

What do you do?

Are we certain Sheryl is unaware of our vampiric nature? She saw us carrying a heavy stone table, and knows what we really look like.

>>7702513
We still need to get a Great Summoning Circle in place by the end of the month so that we can bing them spirits for an entire year and complete our part of the deal, right? That sounds like a lot to do, considering all the gold and gems we'll need for it, and the difficulty we've had with it so far. Let's not add anything else just yet; we have enough on our plates for the moment.

>>7702569
Summon katana imps!

We need a source of income.

First we need to establish a means to contact them in the future. They might be useful. Otherwise, poliely excuse ourselves, citing that we are hungry. Invite them to dine with us, if they are so inclined.
We also need to talk to the mimir about household spirits. Things that can clean up, tend to Sheryl, or perhaps unlock doors for us...

>>7702637
Just keep in mind that when we eat or drink, it tastes so horrible that we soon vomit it all up.

>>7702513

Thank them. Ask if they have any other business they would like to engage in.

We also do not need to go personally to fetch the texts. A night of summoning, and we should have enough spirits to handily make off with a bit.

>>7702513
The imp could probably steal the books we need.

But we need money for our new home. Would the smugglers be in need of a lucrative work done in the following nights ?
If not, then tell them to meet you in one month same place same time for the new servants.

We'll need to bind several new air spirits for our own needs, though. We'll have them to keep a watch on the silversmith, and on what goes on in the pigsty after our trouble in the merchant district. Also on Sheryl's pimp.
Another imp, to replace the air spirit we currently use for our more delicate problems, would be good. Or better yet, some sort of urban fey.

>>7702706
Yep, see about their business. Smugglers should have a bit of coin for us, and be useful at getting us things. Also supporting the get-contact-information suggestion.

>>7702737

Indeed, a strongly bound fey could be very useful.
We should ask the Mimir what types of fey exist and their powers.

Incidentally, how do we plan to re-bind our existing servants?

>>7702569
"I'll be in need of gold and gems to prepare for the longer binding (a little lie, but whatever), would you happen to know of an opportunity to get that sort of things before the end of the month ? And any left-over would be another occasion for common benefits between us, of course."

>>7702762
Well I assumed we'd use magic, and the Summoning Circle would come into play somewhere.

>>7702524
She knows that you're pale, your eyes look dead, incredibly strong, and order around summoned minions. You haven't shown her your fangs or mental powers, though, and she doesn't seem to have reacted as one would expect if she were to make the connection that you're undead. She doesn't have a background in supernatural lore, like the smugger mage, to help her put the facts together.

Still, she might realize the truth at any point, you would guess.

>>7702569
You don't necessarily need a greater summoning circle to bind creatures for a longer time; you just need some time spent working on developing a new binding spell. It would certainly make it easier to have a greater circle to use, but as long as you stick to lesser summons you won't need it. Primarily the purpose of a more powerful summoning circle is to summon more powerful creatures.

>>7702637
Finding the smugglers in the future won't be a problem, now that they have some of your bound creatures with them; you can sense the rough direction and distance of your servitors if you think on it. Further, last meeting they provided you with a way to leave them a message for when they are in town- give it to the harbormaster, for the Cinquefoil.

Still, it can't hurt to ask. You nod to the woman. "That is... most interesting. I am glad to have done business with such trustworthy people as yourselves." You give a small smile, not showing your teeth. "Would you care to engage in any further business at the moment?"

The large man shakes his head. "Though we will need to meet in four weeks, same place and time, to finish your half of the deal."

You nod. "Of course. Should I wish to find you before then, I will send a message. In the meantime... perhaps we should celebrate our excellent working relationship over dinner? I find myself somewhat hungry."

The small man chokes, and even the woman swallows. "No, I- thank you for the invitation, but we have another meeting to attend."

You chuckle. "Ah, yes. Just as before. Best of luck with it."

With your business here complete, you leave the tavern and exit into the streets, armed with information which might be of great value, should you use it correctly.

Now what do you do?

>>7702421
But we DO have a female minion of questionable loyalty...

>>7702762
An intelligent swarm of rats would be a useful servant in a city, too.

>>7702796

Send one of our air spirits, or the Imp, to follow them to their next meeting.

They could be setting a trap of some kind at the manor, either way, it is useful to know.

>>7702828
Agreeing. Maybe we can work on the new binding spell while we wait.

>>7702784
Oh. Well then, I guess we need some arcane tomes to help us develop the longer-lasting binding? In which case I guess having some of our minions raid that noble's library should take precedence. Crap, and we still need another 250 gold to get the better house in the city... crap. So much to do.

>>7702845

If we can, I wonder if the Mimir will be helpful... or tricky, should we ask his aid.

>>7702855
I think it really depends on exactly how the spell would work. As has been said in previous threads, the Mimirs cannot actually use or teach magic, they just have a huge amount of magical theory. So if it's an entirely new spell, I don't think it could help us. If it's just a matter of tweaking the spell a bit, then he might be able to help with that.

>>7702828
Send the Imp, he's better at thorough reports.

>The small man chokes, and even the woman swallows. "No, I- thank you for the invitation, but we have another meeting to attend."

They know. They so fucking know.

>>7702907

Mmmm, of course they do.
Hence the need to watch them a bit.

>>7702796
Can the imp or the sprite sense magic ? Send them to check on eventual magical protections on the mage's library if so. If there's none, we'll have them start stealing books on illusion, transmutation and conjuration magic.
If they can't feel magic, summon something that can. I don't want them to be noticed intruding in a noble's house.

>>7702907
More's the pity; it's not like we were going to fucking feed right then and there. I for one was interested in learning more about exactly what they do, and what further services they can render.

>>7702907
But we know that they know.

The mage away adventuring is mates with your bf, fucking obvious plot hook

>>7702938

It would appear that they are involved in black market operations. They smuggle.
We'll likely have some more insight after the Imp-spying is complete.

Oh, telepathically tell their air spirits not to notice/report our Imp to the smugglers.

>>7702938
Yeah. Like >>7702779, we need them to direct us on relatively secure and profitable jobs, since it would cost too much to rely on bryden's again.

>>7702976
Exactly. And I also want to be able to afford the more expensive house as well; unless Sarai has need of another 5 imps before tomorrow, we'll have to settle to the lesser accommodations, unless we can work out some kind of deal or loan.

>>7703000
I think we can negociate a delay in the payment for such an important sum, or just ask the broker to hold the sale for a time.

>>7703071
Or we can STEAL.
Find out location of caravan, take.

I maintain this >>7702937, while we go summon more servant. Let's say a urban fey and two air spirits.

>>7702828
Just in case of treachery, you tell your assassin imp to return to the smugglers and listen to their next meeting. It can't hurt.

>>7702894 >>7702845
With that taken care of, your steps lead you back to your home, where you take a few sheets of paper and begin to sketch out potential modifications for your binding spell. With no texts for reference the creation of an entirely new spell is largely out of the question, but as long as you stick to lesser creatures you can likely twist your existing two spells into what you need. After a couple hours of discussion with your ever-belligerent mimir, you conclude that at your current level of power you can make a binding spell that will last for a year and a day, but it won't be able to actually bind anything. All it will be able to do is extend an existing binding's duration. It will probably take an entire night to cast, too. The finer points of design and testing might take as long as a week, if you can't get your hands on any theoretical summoning texts.

Still, combined with your short-duration spell for strong bindings from before, it could potentially give you a servitor for a year in only a couple nights' work.

While you contemplate spell durations, you realize that you'll need to rebind your current set of servants soon- mere days remain on the spell that keeps them here and in your service.

>>7702937
Neither the imp nor the sprite in your service can sense magic, and although the mimir can its immobile nature makes it useless when it comes to scouting out places for infiltration. You wrack your mind for a while, thinking of creatures which should be able to manage the larceny ahead, and come up with two options.

A sorcerously-inclined faeling would be able to manage illusions, detect magic, and perhaps prove useful in other ways; some faelings can make magically binding agreements. It would hardly be the superb infiltrator that your assassin imp is, though.

A familiar imp, named specifically because they are used frequently by evil spellcasters as magical aids and scouts, would be both able to turn invisible and carry out some magical detection and analysis.

You still have a couple hours before dawn. What do you do?

>>7703162
Try to bind a familiar imp, then.

>>7703162
Well, as far as the binding for a year and a day goes, if worst comes to worst and we don't get the books necessary to allow us to summon them for that duration, we can just tell the smugglers that to keep our word of the contract, we'll need to take back the air spirits for three days (one night for each one) before returning them. If we have to do this though, we should leave them a note warning them to prepare for a few days without their aid.

Or we could just summon three new ones and immediately re-bind them with this new spell, w/e.

Now I think we should look into getting some additional funds. We really should try to avoid getting it in unlawful ways; it makes actually making us of them difficult, as the silversmith demonstrated, and I'd like to avoid kidnapping and blackmail if possible.

>>7703162

Voting faeling. The Imp sounds vastly less useful, and we already have a clever assassin Imp.

>>7703208
And if there's enough time, rebind the imp. The sprite is precious, but i'd like to ask him if he wants to stay, i'll do that when the imp isn't around. I don't like that much to force sentient creatures into my service. The imp is lawful, so a magical binding should be okay with him anyway.

>>7703277
>>7703208
Theen ask the mimir about other options. Maybe he knows of something that has the advantage of both.
Ask also about my urban fey.

>>7703208
>>7703162

How would the Familiar Imp assist in our spellcasting?
It sounds as if he is simply a stealthy magic-detector, whereas the fae can cast useful illusions on us.

>>7703329
Hmmm. We could always summon both. Would be useful to have two clever creatures around.

I think I remember that we let the spirit watch the silversmith during the day. Any news ?

>>7703418
Summon katana imps.

>>7703418
Preposterous!

>A familiar imp, named specifically because they are used frequently by evil spellcasters

What? Only evil sorcerers use familiars?

Anyway, I'm going with faeling, we don't need an stealthy magical servant, like the imp, we need a really magical servant, and the faeling sounds like it could better perform that roll.

>>7703279
Binding spells work on two levels- first, they force the summon to follow direct orders, and second, they alter its mind so that it is extremely loyal to you and will look out for your best interests. A "strong binding" is when both parts of the spell take effect well; a "weak binding" is when the creature is able to throw off the second part entirely. Asking a strongly bound creature if they would like to stay in your service is essentially pointless- they will always say yes.

That said, you can do so if you wish. It might give the creature an illusion of choice or make you feel better about yourself.


>>7703329
Familiar imps have some knowledge of magical theory, much like mimirs, although theirs is less exhaustive and generally aligned towards curses and other harmful spells.

>>7703327
Before spending a great deal of time on a summoning, you turn to the mimir and explain that you are looking for a creature with some stealth and magical detection abilities. Interspersed in its barrage of comments degrading to your intellect, you determine that it believes a familiar imp, an apprentice shade, or a spellrat to be most appropriate to your demands.

An apprentice shade appears to be a ghost, but is merely incorporeal and can shift its appearance freely- it typically chooses something young and scholarly. They are quite good with magical detection, analysis, and concealment, but entirely unable to exert actual force on the physical world.

A spellrat is just as it sounds- a rat with an unnaturally keen intellect and minor spellcasting abilities. In a city, it is likely to go unnoticed much of the time and even if seen be dismissed as a mundane creature.

While you think on that matter, you inquire as to if there is some form or urban fey which you could summon. The answer, you quickly learn, is no- feys of all varieties are creatures of the natural world, not cities.

>>7703456
You received your report on his initial activities, but did not order your spirit to return to him and continue observation. Still, no problems seem to have emerged.

>>7703418
You decide, after some deliberation, to summon as many servitors as is practical. There is no reason to hold back, after all. You start with the faeling, with the intention of continuing your efforts on the morrow. The candles burn and your steady chanting fills your miserable basement, until finally a flash of cold blue light fills your circle and a miniature lady, two feet in height and with pale blue skin emphasized by a fancy black dress, stands before you with staff in hand. Her angular features and pointed ears mark her as the faeling you'd called for, and she dips in a formal curtsy. "My lady, how may I serve?"

As though her actions didn't reveal it, you can feel that your binding is strong on this one. Her expression might hold cold disdain as she glances about the dingy room, but she will be as loyal as you could ask. You break the circle before her. "Nothing for the moment. The sun rises, and I must rest." You order the air spirit and mimir to inform her of your current activities and plans, then retire to your coffin with the dawn.

***

A new night. How to start it?

>>7703731
Okay. Do they disappear immediately after the binding ends ? If I know that, it won't make me feel better obviously, but if I have an occasion to have free willed magical creatures to help me I'd like it.

I believe that an apprentice shade would be the best minion for the infiltration / burglary of the mansion. It's ability to stay well concealed and good magic detection would in conjunction with the imp or an air spirit (is it strong enough to carry books?) be able to perform the burglary exemplary. What are my fellow anons views on this?

A spellrat would be very useful. We definitely have to summon one.

>>7703744
How long is it until our meeting with this estate agent?

>>7703820
Also, could we get a quick recap on all the minions we currently control, as well as the strength and duration of their bindings?

>>7703744

We should ask the Imp how the smuggler meeting went.
Then we should renew the binding spell on the Mimir (as a test, since he wasn't that strongly bound.)
We should then proceed to renew all our bindings.

We should not wait until the last moment.

>>7703820
Sounds good.

>>7703744
First, a question: When does our young accomplice have the next appointment to choose which house we'll buy?

I think we should get her to buy soe more candles for us; I believe that you said last thread that we'll be needing some more soon, and we might as well do it now lest we forget.

>>7703731
Well in that case, rather than offering him the illusion of choice, take the liberty of choosing for him.

Let's not forget about Sheryl's pimp. What should we do about him?

We should figure out where the mansion is, summon a spellrat, send it to the mansion and have it scout the mages wing out for magical traps and detection and other things that can give us trouble.

We should also send a message to Sheryl regarding finding a trustworthy fence, since stealing mundane valuables might also be a good way to cover a burglary for magic texts.

We should recall and rebind our creatures (All of them have been very helpful so far), and check on how the cave is progressing, if we have time. Just in case breaking into a noble's mansion turns into a clusterfuck and we're forced to flee.

>>7703744
get a rundown on the faelings abilities and powers

contact our earth spirit and ask about the progress of smoothing our cave floor down


talk to imp about the smugglers and find out if anything alarming came up

ask our streetwalker to get us some more candles, and when she's due to meet bryden's contact for a showing of the house

that's all I came up with off the top of my head

>>7703820
>I believe that an apprentice shade would be the best minion for the infiltration / burglary of the mansion

Well the shade can't touch anything, so unless it's only going to be serving a supporting role by concealing whoever, or whatever, is going to be doing the lifting I can't see it being that useful.

Concerning the library, we can't go in unless we try to trick a maid, doorman or something, and I don't like that idea at all. Instead we should use our summons, either the Assassin Imp or perhaps an Air Elemental would be best suited to carrying books, though we might need several Elementals since they could hardly lift a tankard.

More importantly though, if we aren't there in person we need someone to identify the books we need, and there an Apprentice Shade or Familiar will come in handy, since they're stealthy.

>>7703963
No one gives a fuck about him. Killing him could attract too much attention, and we can't say for sure he'll ever be a problem, so lets just leave him alone for now.

>>7703744
Can the fealing disguise us ? If so, we need to look like a servant at a noble's house.
Send the imp, the sprite, the fealing and the air spirit to the noble's mansion, without getting noticed. The imp should be able to manage a theft, the scholar sprite is there to select the books you need (illusion, transmutation and conjuration), the fealing is for avoiding magical alarms and traps, the air spirit will help carry the books.
We'll follow at a distance, and get them to bring us the books at an opportune moment. The earth spirit has tremorsense and some way to communicate with us ? If so, he'll keep watch around.

>>7703999

Seconding Imp and Earth Elemental reports.

>>7704019

An apprentice shade would be better at selecting the books. The sprite is Plants/Accounting.

>>7703990
Bind a apprentice shade and a spellrat. Both seem very useful.

>>7704064

Remember, we need to renew out bindings as well.
Summon the Shade, then get to renewing.

>>7704084
We can ask the Shade to investigate the manor as well. Doubtful anyone will see him.

We might also want to dedicate a couple of servants to just fucking up anyone who enters our house without permission (with exceptions for Sheryl).

We've done enough stuff that we might attract the attention of one of the bosses and anyone sent to muscle us should not come back. Plus hey, free blood, fresh to our door.

>>7704038
The sprite is supposed to be
>equally adept in the library or the wilderness.

>>7704108
>Implying libraries only handle magical texts.

He's a scribe.

Does the one-year renewing cost more (in any way) than the one-month one? If not then use the long binding.

>>7704098
Ok, magic night it is for me. Rebind our old summons, then bind a shade, a rat, and an air spirit, that last one is to keep watch on the pimp.

>>7704064
The only thing about the spell rat that interests me so far is that we could use it as a very effective scout, but I can't help but feel that our Imp or Air Elemental could do better.

I think are priority, regarding the library, should be scouting right now though, we don't know if there's any wards or curses or traps or such shit.

>>7704133
Didn't he help us is rhiannon's library ? We're in a magical world.

>>7704172
The rat could control swarms of common rats. We want that.

>>7704172

The shade is invisible and presumably can fly. It's the -best- scout.

The rat is... eh. Not much for moving things around, either.

>>7704172

Is there a maximum number of servants we can bind?

We might want to discuss this with the Mimir.

Alright.

My recommended course of action:
- Rebind any creatures that are about to unbind soon.
- Get faeling to cast an illusion on us, then check out the houses
- After we have the new house, prepare for the heist, it is rather low priority right now.

>>7703787
Generally summoned creatures will vanish to whence they came when their binding spell ends, but not always. There are competing theories on what causes them to stick around, and you're not really well read enough to have your own beliefs on the matter; your magic training has been tightly focused on practical applications, for obvious reasons.

>>7703838
Sheryl should have met with him earlier this afternoon, while the sun was still up and toured the properties he located. Perhaps you should speak with her about it, or have her guide you to the locations in question so that you can inspect them personally.

>>7703844
You currently have an assassin imp, a sprite, and an air spirit strongly bound and a mimir weakly bound whose bindings will expire in a few days. You also have a strongly bound assassin imp seconded to Sarai, a strongly bound faeling here, a strongly bound earth spirit in the wilderness, and two strongly bound and one moderately bound air spirits seconded to the smugglers which have almost a month left on their bindings.

>>7703865
You call your imp, and have it give its report on the smugglers. "Mistress, they didn't have another meeting. Just sat in the tavern and drank a lot, talking about business clear until dawn. You came up a few times, but the woman kept telling the others to shut up when it happened." It laughs with a malicious note. "They're right frightened of you, you know."

>>7703999 >>7703893
You send your air spirit to go get a report on the sprite and earth spirit's progress, and order the imp to fetch Sheryl and have her buy many more candles; your existing set is nearly down to nubs. Enough for one more spell, though; you spend the time before your servant arrives rebinding the mimir over the sound of its shouted protests, primarily centering around the argument that you were a worthless twopenny sorceress not worthy of its continued knowledge.

By the time you finish, You can feel the imp almost here. You venture outside to find Sheryl slipping into your alley, moving with some stealth. "Lady. I have the candles you requested, though they cost a bit." She hands you a box; it's full of them. This should be enough for a couple dozen summonings and bindings, you estimate. Excellent. You hand her a couple coins. "These should cover it. You inspected the broker's properties today, yes? What was your assessment?"

She frowns. "Expensive. But... the smaller place seems like a better choice, to me, and not just because of the price. It's outside the city walls a bit, but that seems more like something you'd want than not. You're not... really the type to want guards walking around all the time, anyway." She looks away. "Anyway, the one outside the city is maybe twice the size of this building, complete with basement and such. The furnishings are getting a little old, but they seem mostly fine. The one in the rich district... is pretty much everything you'd expect from a mansion. Huge, luxurious; I was half surprised it didn't come complete with servants. Walls around grounds that match the other rich people's houses around it, the guard patrolling all day and night keeping out undesirables."

I really don't think we need to worry about that library at this juncture. It's good information to tuck away for a later date, but we already have a fuckton of things we have to take care of immediately.

Our priorities should be:
1) permanent residence
2) greater summoning circle
3) income generation
4) non-lethal, permanent feeding solution

once those are established, we should worry about magic books, arcane libraries, fancy clothes, etc etc

>>7704245

Talk to her about the houses, make her explain where they are and maybe go check them out ourself?
Also, i remember that we had some sort of guaranteed perfect binding back in the castle that only lasted for three days, we used it to feed. Can we use that with the one year binding (or preferably combine them into one spell) in order to create a "perfect" summoning?

>>7704238
Sheryl can check the houses for us.

>>7703999
The faeling described herself as an adept of the Shadowfrost Order when asked her abilities. It felt somewhat awkward to ask for further explanation, but she was helpful enough; it seems that she can maintain several illusions as large as a person as long as she keeps focus, has minor powers over cold, and can sense magic when it is nearby and analyze it with time.

Your air spirit returns, reporting that the sprite believes it and the earth spirit have completed all your basic requirements and are refining their efforts.


You now have a reasonably detailed assessment, of the properties before you, although you could inspect the places yourself to be sure. There is quite a bit of summoning and binding you have left to do tonight, however, should you wish to move quickly on the information from the smugglers. Several other tasks are also possible.

What should you do?

>>7704266

Hmmmm. I rather like the LUXURY, the guards could be a problem... but then perhaps not.

They'd have little reason to concern themselves with the owner of the house, and more to keep people away from the house.
Not sure how much noise we could make before they became suspicious though.
The out of the way one... seems like it would be too attractive to unsavory interlopers.

I say we go for the LUXURY, and have the fae glamor the place.

>>7704362

Summoning and binding night it is. We're in no hurry for the magical tomes.

Priorites:
1. Make sure our minions are bound nicely and that we have a good number of them.
2. Acquire money and mansion.
3. Take tomes.

>>7704451
Concur. We can do everything much more easily with a small army.

Ask Sheryl if she can find a trustworthy fence.

Rebind old summons.

Summon minions (Consensus seems to be shade) to scout mansion. If we can boost some jewelry or gold from the mansion to cover the theft of the books, even better.

How much time do we have left in the place we rented from Sarai's contact?

>>7704483

Speaking of Sarai-- did we get her gold for the Imp?
Also, we should send our Imp to take a report from that Imp soon, too.

>>7704362
Continue the rebinding, then summon a shade and a rat. Ask them about their powers. The rat should go locating the pimp and his superiors, up to the boss, taking care about the eventual magical protections for the most important persons. It should take him a few nights.
The shade should go check the city's official buildings. We need to know where they are, how they are protected. He'll also need to know where the mayor, the guard's chief and people like that live. Once again, his magical senses will probably be required.
Then, if we've got the time, and if the sprite and the fealing can manage with finding the books we need, this >>7704019.

>>7704483
We shouldn't steal anything from that mansion except the books. If the smuggler's informations are true, those won't be noticed... no need to make it noticeable.

>>7704483
The description of the mage's wing of the mansion made it sound like stealing valuables would do more to expose us that cover it up.

Summon a shade and rebind our minions. Actually, rebinding leaves the binding at the same strength as before, right? Consider getting a new mimir, or letting the binding on this one wear off before we do it again.

We still need a way to get the components for a greater summoning circle and possibly a steady income, as well.

>>7704560
>>7704564

Point. Do they have banks in this city? Or moneylenders or anyone with a strong box of cash we could knock over?

Preferably a bank or a moneylender. Because that's a simple, brute force solution to our money issues.

>>7704564

We should summon a new Mimir at some point.
Keep this one around until we do.

>>7704362
You know, I've been wanting to go with the bigger, more expensive place, but Sheryl makes a good point. Yes, if we have to move something big and unwieldy again, getting it out of town would prove difficult, but bringing such things back to our house where many guards would see also seems dangerous. I say go with the small place, since it's out of the way.

Also, pity about those smugglers. Next time we meet we should try to reassure them that we're not going to harm them. Y'know, unless they betray us or go back on a deal, but I'd think that's what they'd expect from anyone.

>>7704606

The pimp may have some money.
Perhaps we could also screw with any organized crime not tied to our allies.

>>7704613

Idea!
We go with the bigger place, but have the Earth Spirit make a secret tunnel out, or two.

We shouldn't buy the mansion in the rich neighbourhood, before we can be noticed, for rich people are noticed. We need a public identity for that.

For a public identity, we need to associate with some honest citizens. It seems difficult. When we'll meet sarai for the payment for the imp, we'll ask her how did bryden went about making himself a known figure.
Until know, I say we buy the cheap house. Maybe tomorrow.

>>7704266
I agree with Sheryl's assessment, but it would be nice if we could go for a walk and look at the one outside the city walls first, I'd see the mansion as well, but I don't like all those guards, they might still be on alert.

>>7704647
I like that idea, assuming such a secret entrance would be remotely practical.

The gold we've got may be enough for a down payment on the more expensive house, but we'll need a lot more soon. Maybe we can take more than we need from the noble's mansion to make some profit. Either that, or start finding out more about one of the crime bosses to find a good way to make money there.

>>7704624
the pimp will almost certainly be tied into a bigger crime organization. Messing with him will make more problems than it will solve.

I vote with the smaller, out of the way place. We have no need of material wealth except for what is practical to survival. Stealth and secrecy are how we will survive.

Having our earth spirit and sprite construct a tunnel that leads from our basement into the city sewer system is a fucking brilliant idea for a secret entrance.

>>7704647
Well the problem with that is A) those would be some long ass tunnels and B) we don't have the money for it. and as said >>7704660
we'd be noticed. It's the kind of comunity where everyone at least passingly knows everyone else, and we want to avoid that kind of thing if we can help it.

Also, if we can try to make money by legal and lawful means, I would rather do that, but how we would do so when we are only active at night eludes me.

>>7704606
We'll need to get our hands on a lot of gold and gems for our greater summoning circle soon. We'll just sell the leftover. Let's try not to do any unecessary theft.

>>7704701here

once we move into the smaller place, have Sheryl move in as well. This way she can get out of the slums (buying us loyalty points) and we will have a human to guard us during daylight (of course our minions will still be watching over us in case of treachery). It would also make the place look less suspicious as there would actually be somebody living there.

Another thought: Do we want to come clean to Sheryl?

We might invite her to stay in our house, since having a human presence there would ease suspicions. If we do that we should probably tell her though.

>>7704717
Let's do the rebinding and the summoning of the shade and the rat. Send the rat after the pimp, and the shade check the mansion, and then we go to sarai's to ask for our money and advices about how to adquire a public identity, and how bryden did it.

>>7704660
He didn't, he has managed to avoid suspicion by appearing to be quite mad. He doesn't associate with others at all.

Honestly, why should we want to get involved in all this pointless city politics? There are easier routes to power, and all the attention it could bring us will probably be the unwelcome sort.

>>7704791
air spirits are much better as spies

what is to stop the pimp from killing our spellrat. He thinks its a rat and nobody LIKES having rats around.

>>7704753
If we can keep her out of the crypt at all times, I'm okay. But we won't be able to do that really soon, we'll need something to keep watch and a magical way to close these parts of the house.

I'd say that we buy the cheap house, move our stuff there, and give up on our current basement. We could use the fae to cast an illusion on the table and us when moving it out of the city. We should then spend some time with our new house, fortifying it and making emergency escape tunnels.

>>7704850
we could just tell her not to go down there, you know.

I mean fuck, we're lifting her from the depths of poverty and prostitution into a nice home. We're the perfect roommate, keeping in the basement and never bothering her. We pay her bills, feed and clothe her.
Point is, she owes us big time. That should be more than enough to get her to agree to not go downstairs and disturb us.

Also, assassin imp. Tell it to kill anyone that enters our basement crypt without our permission. Don't tell sheryl. That'll show us how trustworthy she really is.

>>7704847
An intelligent, spellcaster rat won't have trouble staying unnoticed. Plus, it's the slums, no one should worry about rats there.
Air spirits can't talk and are not intelligent enough to listen to the right things and to locate the pimp's superiors.

>>7704451 >>7704482 >>7704483
You decide to think on the matter of which property to purchase and tell Sheryl that you'll get back to her. She departs, and you turn your mind to more important matters.

The night is filled with chanting, mental focus, and candlelight. After several hours, you have rebound your air spirit, earth spirit, assassin imp, and sprite- which looked exceedingly uncomfortable in the city, and was helped over the wall by your air and earth spirits.

You have also summoned a spellrat and apprentice shade. Your initial summonings of both were hardly bound at all, and after your experiences with the mimir you were not about to permit that; you dismissed them and cast again until your binding was strong enough that they greeted you with enthusiasm for service.


Shortly before dawn, your air spirit informs you that a familiar girl is at your door. Abandoning your spell, you go outside and check- it is the one who guided you here before, Diana's messenger. She hands you a note.
<You have created far more of a stir than I expected, and I am tempted to order you to leave my safehouse entirely- I can hardly use it for that in the coming weeks after the attention that you have attracted to it. I am not that unreasonable, but your continued stay will cost twice the original price, to be paid immediately to my representative.>

You look at the girl. She gives a shy smile and looks back. This is annoying.

What should you do?

>>7704839
He did, since he's a noble.

>>7704753
I'd say we go with this. Sheryl will be our face outwards, maybe a maid or somesuch. The few civilians that "know" us know that we are very keen on being by ourselves, and this will fit us perfectly.

>>7704895
Why should we take risks and bets if we can be in control ?

Fuck that shit. I say with this development, we buy the cheaper house and move out of this shitty fucking place.

>>7704910
send the girl away. Move out to the smaller place tomorrow night.

screw the landlady

>>7704910
How far away from the cheap house is the cave, and how much time do we have left this night? I'd say we save the gold and move our stuff out tonight, or perhaps tomorrow.
We will leave the city under the pretense of never coming back, the slums will mostly forget about us and we will be able to start operating from our new hideouts.

How much money do we have right now?

>>7704943
the assassin imp is our control method. The ace up our sleeve, the failsafe, the killswitch etc etc

besides, have we just abandoned our attempt at being a good person still? Shouldn't it be good to try to actually . . . you know . . . trust someone?

Keeping Sheryl loyal under pain of death isn't exactly a noble deed, this could be our chance to show ourselves that we are still a good person . . . . you know . . . relatively

>>7704910
How much is 'double the price'?
It would be more convenient to just pay it now so we can get what ever else we need done, done.

>>7705020
paying double rent will probably cost more than we can afford if we want to move into one of the two properties sheryl checked out.

I say we cut and run asap. Make it look like we fled town in quite a hurry.

>>7704973
>>7704981

It's just before dawn. Bitch has us over a barrel and she knows it.

Probably also knows or suspects what we are, given the timing.

Try to negotiate one day rent. "I will be gone by tomorrow's dawn. Did your lady leave instructions on how much one more night would cost?"

Leave a message for Sheryl to buy the smaller house and get a cart and a tarp to move the table and coffin out of the house ASAP.

>>7704910
Pay. Leave a note that we're leaving in three days without more trouble, and that our compliency on a matter that will not linger should not be forgotten in our following dealings.

>>7705016
>Shouldn't it be good to try to actually . . . you know . . . trust someone
> be good to trust
Not trusting isn't evil, its being precautious.
Outright threatening her with death our enslavement would be evil, however.

>>7705016
Trusting someone is not being good. Tempting them with their death for reward is bad.

>>7704918
No he did, dude. Look back through the achieves, I think it was around the start of thread 3.

Seriously, have you never ever heard of a reclusive noble?

>>7705055
She probably don't know. Early moring is a good time to go to a secret warehouse she wants to keep secret.

>>7705091
>>7705093
right, and I'm all for healthy suspicion sure.
But we can't just go down the road of being paranoid. That's a slippery slope and we're already in one hell of a precarious position morality wise.

Technically, we don't even have to trust her. We can just ask, and leave the imp in place as insurance on our investment of "trust" in sheryl

>>7705016

Telling Sheryl our true nature without some form of precaution (hell, we barely know her) is not "good", its just stupid.

>>7705062
This. Defying her is unwise, but we expect her to be generous to us in return.

>>7705120

being paranoid has nothing to do with being good or evil, not even in a "slippery slope" kind of way

>>7705137
>>7705062
we aren't going to gain any kind of ally out of this. We've already pissed her off. She's doubling our rent with zero notice.
Landlords don't do that to people they like, it's a form of passive-aggressive eviction. Jack the rent until it's impossible for your renter to stay, and swear up and down it isn't personal.

I say we make it look like we didn't have the cash, and left town post-haste.
Start over that the smaller, out of the way place

Wasn't the rent in this place paid on a weekly basis? I don't see a problem with staying here for one more night before buying the smaller house and moving out.

>>7705112
He's reclusive, yes, but he's known. They know his name, his affairs, and in all proability he didn't just appeared one night saying "yay, i'm full of gold from an unknown origin, make me a noble". He's noticeable and he's bound to have a good explanation for that.

by the way, is this thread already archieved?

What exactly have we done to attract attention to the place?
Aside from hauling a table in and out.

>>7705120
Closing the doors and making sure that she doesn't open them seems more wise that letting her free to whatever and killing her if she doesn't do the right thing.

>>7705226

Hiring Sheryl for a start. The incident with the silversmith must have been noticed as well.

>>7705226
That's pretty much it, but in case you don't recall that drew a whole lot of attention our way. I was paranoid about going back in the first place.

>>7705183
She's not a common, honest landlord. This is a secret warehouse. She's pissed, and pissing her more would just be compromising to our affairs in the underworld.

>>7705137
I say we give her the normal pay for a week and say we'll be out by tomorrow's dawn. Put our sprite on guard duties, to awake us if anyone tries to break in, and tell our fealying to get ready to cast some sort of illusion on our summoning circle and coffin, place gold and silver in coffin and relocate to the cave until we can buy the little house on the outskirts of the city.

>>7705291

That works as well.

>>7704910
Ask her how much it would cost at double rent to stay here for two more nights and pay her that. Then, tomorrow have Sheryl buy the smaller house and we move in tomorrow night. Easy. If we can get another cart to help get the summoning table, so much the better. Though maybe since it's a stone table with metal inlay the Earth Spirit can take it underground and move it out that way? It would certainly by less conspicuous.

We should probably pay the girl, send a note on our apologies.
Keep on good terms with the underworld.

Then find somewhere to acquire more money.

>>7705303
Our faeling should be able to keep up an illusion or two to make the transport of the table far less suspicious than before. Still, we'll need to get a cart again to move it.

>>7705303
Yeah. We can't afford a conflict with her.

>>7704995 >>7705020 >>7704981
You have approximately five hundred gold available, and Diana's demand is for forty gold. It is shortly before dawn; very little time remains to you.

>>7705062 >>7705137
>>7705055 >>7705020
You curse mentally. You don't really want to burn your contacts. "Wait here," you tell the girl, and move into your basement. You scrawl out a note to Diana.
<I expect to be gone within the next few days. I trust that you will recall my generosity in our future dealings.> Then you retrieve forty gold, move it into a small bag, and hand both the bag and note to the girl outside. She runs off without a word.

You scowl. Only have minutes are left before the sun comes up, or you'd have had a much wider range of options available to you. Regardless, you need to get out of here as soon as possible. "Imp, tell Sheryl to purchase the smaller home outside the city. Bring her the funds she needs when she goes to actually make the purchase. Spirits, attempt to locate the holdings of the Evenwell family in the city by the time I awake. The rest of you... guard me as I rest."

With that, you turn to your coffin. Busy nights are ahead.

***

The new night. Your earth spirit rumbles softly from the ground that it has located several houses owned by the Evenwells, and your imp returns with news that Sheryl purchased the building outside the city and is waiting there.

You're down to a scant hundred and fifty or so gold. Still, you have another building to move to.

What do you do?

>>7705303
>Though maybe since it's a stone table with metal inlay the Earth Spirit can take it underground and move it out that way? It would certainly by less conspicuous.
I was thinking this as well.

>>7705362
if this is possible, fucking do it.

Good idea anons.

>>7705345

Get cart, move in.
Lots of illusions this time.
If we notice anyone watching (ask spirits to look for such people) we mental-command them to forget.

After than, perhaps summon a spirit or two to locate merchant caravans to subtly pilfer goods from.

Time to move into our new house. Do we have a cart to move the table with? If not, have Sheryl get one quickly again; we won't need it for long. Have the faeling use its illusion magic to disguise us and our things during the move to arouse less suspicion.

Once that's done with, we can begin assessing the Evenwell properties with a few of our minions.

We change houses.

>>7705345
If the earth spirit can get the table to the new house, let's do that. Ask him also if he can get gold and gems for us.

If not, then ask Sheryl to bring us another cart for before the next evening.

Ask the rat to investigate on the pimp.

How can we know which house is it ?

>>7705403
It will be difficult to get a cart for the night, with sheryl waiting outside town, there's probably no merchant from which she can borrow one again at that time.

>>7705478
We'll need to borrow one ourselves then. All we need it for is the move, we can return it quickly.

>>7705448

We should probably have the Rat investigate sources of money-gathering.

Also, we need to ask the Shade and Rat the full extent of their knowledge and abilities.

Send a message via air spirit to Sheryl to arrange a cart to take our table (and our coffin) out of the city. If she's taken the initiative, we should give her a bonus.

Get the report from our other minions about the Ewanwell magic collection.

If the earth spirit can't transport the table, we could ask our fae if it can disguise it while we carry the damn thing.

>>7705205
Like I said, he's reclusive and eccentric. People buy that shit, that cover story worked for him so I don't see any point in going around introducing ourselves to everyone.

So... current plan of action:
-Move to new house.
-Get Earth elemental to move table, if it cant then we get a cart, cast an illusion over it and hightail it.
-Get set up in our new home.

>>7705497
We said in a few nights. We're forced to leave because of the attention we raised, let's not raise more yet by stealing a cart. I think we can wait tomorrow...

Send the shade and the imp together to locate the right mansion. The one with the mage's wing shouldn't be so hard to find. They may have to enter each one though, so stealth and magic senses will be needed. Have the imp report as soon as he finds it, while the shade selects our books.
Then, have the fealing disguise you as a noble's servant, grab a bag, go there, and have the air spirit and the imp pick a few and bring them to you.
Be wary of the guards, do not let them see you waiting under the window or on the roof. Bring it back to the warehouse.

>>7705640
Reclusive and eccentric explains only why he doesn't go out at night. We have to introduce ourselves because the "honest" rich don't want some crimelord to live next door, and will have the guard on our back in no time. Plus the guard is interested on its own by unexplained fortune. At least for taxes.

>>7705690
I don't think that we have to stay close to the scene of the crime in any way. The imp should be capable of carrying a few books, no?

>>7705746
>why he only goes out at night

Ask the Earth Spirit if it can move the table whole through the ground - or just the top slab, without the legs. It IS Stone and Metal, after all.

Have teh air spirit start checking the houses id'd by the Earth Spirit, after the earth spirit gives it the identification. Look for magic books. If it finds one, it should be able to steal the books - if the books are locked up, the earth spirit should be able to undo the locks for it.

We should look into summoning a fire spirit. It could be very useful for defence, and that way if we go nuts while feeding we can incinerate the body. Or char it. Make people think a free fire spirit is loose in the city. If we dig a hole using the earth spirit into a stone cave below the house, we could create a tunnel to the cave, seal the cave off entirely (except for a few air holes in the ceiling, I know we don't need to breathe) and use that as our magical workshop, in case of thieves. We could bind the spirit in the tunnels.

We should have a sit down with Sheryl and ask her what she thinks, so far, of being our servant. Make sure she doesn't fear us, or anything along those lines, and try to get an honest answer so we can address her concerns.

we should bind another earth spirit and another mimir (that might know more than our current one) to case the city for caches of jewels and gold that we can take and fence.

>>7705755

If they have a mage they might have magical servants.

We probably should be on hand in case things go pear shaped.

>>7705764
Rather, the earth spirit can case the city. The mimir is just for confirmation.

>>7705502
The smugglers will get this kind of information easily. Send them a message asking for informations on how to steal gold and gems in this town - write that we'll need it for the longer binding, and that we'll sell them the rest.
That is, if the earth spirit can't get us those himself. If he do, our source of money is already found.

>>7705755
Yeah, and he can turn invisible, but flying books usually draw attention.

>>7705805

We probably shouldn't go asking that. We have the resources to find things out on our own.

If there is a second thread tonight, could someone please archieve it? I have to go offline and I'd hate to miss any sequels...

>>7705805
you must be joking

the number one rule of crime is that you don't talk about it. The smugglers wont part with any information without a payout.
This is just a bad idea all around

>>7705848
Well, then we're asking for a job. Just a different wording.

>>7705882
No - let our EE look for easily found valuables. We want to maintain an appearance as an untouchable Blood Sorcerer.

>>7705882
hell, in that case, we should just join their crew.
Work our way up through the ranks, take captaincy of their vessel.

Come on anon, you know you want too. Vampire pirate sorceress and crew, exploring the seas, raiding for booty when we see fit. What an unlife 'twould be

>>7705882
>>7705848
I mean, usually, professional smugglers have people amassing informations on which house will be deserted when, on which jeweller is awaiting a delivery, etc, and sell them to robbers who then bring back the goods and are payed. We're that last part.

>>7705362 >>7705378
Curious as to your earth spirit's capabilities, you inquire as to if it could move the table through the ground. "Stone and metal, yes... but not at once. Only be stone and metal when done." You suspect that means that if the spirit moved it through the ground, it would get somewhat mangled. Considering the relative delicacy of your inscriptions, you discard that idea, although it might prove worthwhile if you're transporting metals, gems, or the like in the future.

>>7705403 >>7705429 >>7705497
That leaves you with a cart once again, you guess. You order your imp to have Sheryl bring you a means of conveyance once more, or to return with word if she cannot; it does not take long for it to fly back with her message that she had not made arrangements, but can probably get you one in a few hours if you need to move much.

>>7705619
You deliberate briefly, then decide to wait for a bit. You turn to your faeling. "If I were to transport one of those," you gesture at your coffin and summoning table, "Could you make it appear that I was not? Or that it was something else? While following and concealing yourself, of course."

She stares at the table for a long moment. "I could conceal your possessions, Lady, but not myself at the same time. It will press my abilities to make the vanishment of something that size look natural."

You consider for a moment. She can't exactly walk the streets, but... "Could you maintain concentration if the air spirit carried you aloft?"

The faeling blinks. That was apparently something she hadn't considered. "I believe so, Lady."

"That shall be our plan, then."

>>7705690
Before you go, you turn to the imp and shade. "You two, have the earth spirit guide you to the holdings of the Evenwells which it located. Remain unseen, and determine which of them contain magical texts or wards."

Time passes for a while, and eventually Sheryl comes to your door with a cart, as before. She looks glum. "Lady, I have this as you requested. I hope that this is not to be like last time; already, we are watched."

You shake your head. "I am somewhat better prepared, and we're just moving things out of the city." You return downstairs, lift the table, and gesture to the faeling, whose staff pulses with shadowy energies. Presumably you're concealed somehow. You place the table and then the coffin in the cart, then step back to look at it. The faeling's illusion is quite good- it appears to be filled with a large number of shapeless sacks. No one would guess a table or coffin is there. "Let's go."

Travel through the city is slow but steady, and after a bit over an hour Sheryl drives you to a gate. You remain quiet as she speaks with the guard, waving off his concern that they shouldn't be leaving the city so late with a comment that the roads are good nearby and that you want to be well on your way by dawn. Her flirtatious manner and smile probably do more than the story to convince him to wave you through without inspecting your cart, however.

It takes the better part of another hour to reach the house, which proves to be set back a hundred yards or so from the main road and slightly run down. Just the same, it is more than large enough for your purposes... and you are delighted by the basement, which proves to be quite sizable, windowless, and of solid stone construction. You haul your possessions out and place them there with a pleased smile.

A couple hours remain before dawn. Now what?

>Reclusive and eccentric explains only why he doesn't go out at night.

No, it's supposed to explain why he doesn't go around introducing himself to the 'honest' rich. I don't think I've heard any mention of him ever leaving his mansion either, which the whole reclusive and eccentric thing was also meant to disguise I think.

Simply put, I've seen nothing that states that we must introduce ourselves to our neighbours, rich people, if nothing else, value their privacy; especially in a town where all the major crime syndicates are linked to one noble house or another.

Ultimately though this is all pointless because we brought the little house outside the city and not the lavish mansion.

We should sneak back over the city walls, and find our minions casing the Evenwells properties, in case they require aid or direction of any kind.

>>7705983

Ask Sheryl if she wants to stay in the house, and if she has any other questions.

"I'm sure you have questions for me. You've proved very competent and skilled these last few days, and I want there to be a level of trust between us. As much as there can be at least"

>>7705983
>slightly run down

Summom construction worker spirit and order it to do the necessary repairs.

>>7705983

we need to tell the girl the truth. In case someone comes to kill us or our master visits. no reason she should suffer for us really. Just make sure when we tell her that the exits are locked and that she remain calm. Also tell her that we like her, so that she knows shes safe.

>>7705983
have the air spirit and the imp double back and make sure we weren't followed, inform the imp to take care of whatever they find if it was spying on us or our home.

I say we have a talk with Sheryl, ask her how she feels about moving in with us and remaining in our employment.

get the table to the basement

ask the EE (when it returns) and the sprite about making a tunnel to our cave from the basement

and other stuff that other anons will up with

Could our sprite fix up the rundown place a bit? Also perhaps promote the growth of some plants that would help keep out unwanted guests.

We should have a talk with Sheryl.
How does she feel about working for us, and all that kind of stuff.

>>7705983
We should question Sheryl. We can't have her getting unhappy - she could do bad things for us. Get to the root of whatever her problems with us are and find out what we can do to make her

When the Earth Spirit returns, have it start tunnelling a small exit from behind one of the walls in the basement to our cave, then seal the cave off and open holes in the roof - about a metre squared, looking natural. Have the exit to our cave concealed, too. We can have an artificer create a hidden door for us - make sure the hole is big enough to wheel the table through.

>>7706061
What about just giving her teh gift of eternal unlife?

>>7705983
Start unpacking.

>>7706104
Not a good idea.

>>7706100
if we just get a lock for the door to the basement, we should be fine.

We should remember to have our sprite grow up some brush/vegetation over the mouth of the cave so that nobody can get in, since we wont be using that route any more anyway

>>7706104
I doubt we even know how to do it.
Also, we don't want to piss off the master, or bryden/sarai

we just aren't in a good place to start those kind of shenanigans yet

((I'm off to dinner, all. I'll probably be an hour or so, maybe two at the outside. I'll return to this thread if it's still around, or make a new one if it's not.))

>>7706104

We hired Sheryl because she can walk around during the day. Turning her into a vampire might compromise that ability.

>>7706121
But what if someone breaks in? What about govt. sponsored witch hunters? We can keep our magical library there. We already have a stone casket there, we could simply disappear into the basement, walk to our cave and go to sleep, then walk back. It would take extra time ,but be VERY safe.

>>7706109
We could make entire army of vampires!

>7705983
Have the rat seek out the pimp and start writing us a who's who on the criminal world.
Ask the EE if he can bring us the gold and jewels we need.
Go back in town with the faeling and the AE and carry out the rest of >>7705690.

>>7706143

Could someone archieve the second thread? I probably won't be around when UM gets back.

>>7706149
there ain't no hiding from gov't sponsored witch hunters, we'd have to deal with them directly.

If someone randumb joe just breaks in, they better do it during the daytime when Sheryl is home. If they do it at night . . . well . . . gods rest their unfortunate soul.

>>7706061
No ! People don't like vampires, remember !

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7702178/

Thread archived.

>>7706140
>I doubt we even know how to do it.

I think that only master knows that. Otherwise there would be much more vampires...

I just realized something.

We've spent so much time on learning our powers and abilities, but what do we know of our weaknesses?

I assume silver isn't a problem as we've been handling it just fine for a while now. Holy water is BAD END, we know that. Water seems to mess us up, at least ocean water anyway.

Do we know of anything else that might be used against us? We should ask our mimir about this subject, I don't like the idea of being surprised by some left-field anti-vampire bullshit that we didn't see coming until too late

>>7706179
During the daytime, they'll also find the assassin imp. Not good for them.

>>7706179
It will result in the destruction of our public persona if they find an unregistered mage. Or a vampire. We need somewhere quiet and private - the home is a very expensive distraction pushed by a few retards. At the very least, we should summon more earth spirits to start tunnelling to various points in the city - sewer points, so we can just appear at random and easily get back home without passing the guards. Another one should build a wall around the house.

>>7706220

This is a good point.
Don't want to hit a random anti-vampire field and explode.

>>7706251
>the home is a very expensive distraction

uh, no. We didn't exactly have a choice, and this place is outside the city away from prying eyes, with a perfect basement. This house is much more than a distraction, it's our home

>>7706325
The cave would have been simpler, easier and cheaper.

>>7706251
Buying a house outside town wouldn't wake the suspicions of an hypothetical witch hunter guard. Magically building walls and tunnels would.

I assume there's no such thing as witch hunters in this town, bryden and sarai would have told us, since they don't want us to be found and exposed.

i love how /tg/ forms a collective consciousness whenever a game like this comes up.

"our home"... lol :D

>>7706251
>the home is a very expensive distraction pushed by a few retards
lolwut.

What exactly would you have us do?

>>7706368
Seal off the cave entrance with the earth spirit and use it as a home.

>>7706340
The cave doesn't really suit our needs for a place of residence and business for regular activities.

>>7706340
Caves around a town riddled with crime and trafficks are not secure places. We needed that basement and its doors.

>>7706342
You give them too much credit. And all our activities and exposure already has people watching us, and at least 6 people know we're vampires. Get the fuck out, you're dismissed.

>>7706325
We need to build resting place in the basement. Something very well hidden, that even dedicated witch hunter will never find us while sleeping

>>7706382
What part of "Solid rock face" don't you understand?

It's also worth noting that the cave may be on someone else's property. We don't know whose.

Hell the cave may be on crown land.

Fine for a bolthole, but we don't want traffic in and out calling down trouble.

>>7706377
First of all, the cave is about an hour away from the city, even with our speed. Second, just because we're a vampire doesn't mean that we don't want or need amenities.

>>7706382
Plus, I don't want to live in a cave. We want to retain our humanity, remember ?

>>7706398
we could have our earth spirit pull our coffin underground while we sleep, and return it to the surface at dusk.

>>7706404
What part of "a cave suddenly disappears" do you not understand ?

What amenities? We don't breathe. A tub full of water does for a bath. We can create whatever we need in the cave for storage. We don't WANT windows. A well can be dug anywhere by spirits, assuming the house even house one. There is no reason we couldn't call a water sprite to supply us with water for bathing, even though we only really need to clean the blood off every now and again - not like we have normal bodily functions.

>>7706409
We need more of it than human. Humans withoiut very rare genetic disorder don't get instantly killed by sunlight.

That brings another issue... Is it possible to stay awake during the day if we really tryed or used some magic?

>>7706433
What part of "I wanted my idea and it didn't get chosen so now I'm being pissy about it" aren't you getting? At least, that's the vibe I'm getting from him.

>>7706433
If it's this far away from the city, who is going to notice? Who goes out this far? It was unused when we found it and deep in the woods. A little growth from the sprite over the top of the entrance just in case someone does know, and.. poof!

>>7706448
Smugglers go this far.

>>7706446
No, I'm irritated because you're thick as two short planks and are willfully ignoring advantages so you can play vampire house.

>>7706437
Amenities like creature comforts, furniture, a bathtub, and plenty of other stuff. The fact of the matter is that given the choice between living in a house and living in a cave, 99% of people, vampire or not, will choose the house.

>>7706456
And.. who are they going to tell, assuming they just think it wasn't overgrown? Assuming they even used the thing in the first place, given it was completely unused when it was found?

>>7706462
What advantages does the cave have that the house does not, other than the fact that using the earth spirit would allow it to be completely hidden?

>>7706462
no anon, you are the retards. and then anonymous was a faggot.

>>7706463

The comforts were not the primary reason to choose the house.
The house allows up to blend in a bit and remain close to the city.
It also allows us to grant residence do any human agents we might have.

>>7706463
We can make whatever is needed in the cave out of stone. We don't need creature comforts, and we can't even use half of them. This isn't the modern era with lights and indoor plumbing, it's some god awful medieval fantasy hellhole where cursed bloody monsters stalk the night and you wipe your arse with your left hand.

>>7706491
Oh, those are good reasons too. Sort of kicking myself now for not remembering to include them when I wrote that post...

>>7706463
It's also dry, and it's a huge advantage against a cave.

>>7706498
"Hmm, should I sit on the wooden chair with the cushion, or the hard stone chair? Decisions decisions..."

>>7706491
Was that so hard to write? We could have found something cheaper in the city.
>>7706483
About 300 gold, to start with. It's fireproof, well hidden..

>>7706498
This is a city with sewers, dude.

>>7706531
That's what you're worried about? Gold? Fuck man, we could stage robberies and get more than ten times that much.

>>7706526
You're a corpse, comfort is not something you consider at all. The cave has no water source and thus is bone dry.

If we really want to have a secure resting place then we could have our earth spirit form a large stone slab to put in front of the doorway to our basement/sleeping area, and the fay could conceal the door itself. If anyone were to first see past the illusion they would require superhuman strength or explosives to move the slab and even after that they'd need to avoid our assassin imp's paralytic poison.

>>7706531
>We could have found something cheaper in the city

Were you paying attention to what happened with Bryden's contact?

>>7706531
We don't care about living in a civilised manner, but we care about gold ?
We're a vampire. Gold doesn't matter, we don't need it to live. What we need is something to hold on to and not go full monster.

The cave was not close to the city, our main place of business.
Caves also attract... adventurers.

>>7706546
Oh wow, you really had me going there. Right up till that post. It's been shown several times now that we can indeed still experience physical feelings, and that means that having something more comfortable than sleeping on rocks every night is desirable. Man, good job, 9/10.

>>7706554
And I believe this gentleman just solved our fireproof/security problem; the walls of the underground room are almost certainly rock or dirt, neither of which burn particularly well. A little work from our earth spirit and the roof on the underground room can me stone as well.

>>7706538
That, and someone walking in to find a summoning circle in the basement, a comatose vampire, several spirits and a shitload of magic books. And someone capable of taking care of those spirits, like a magician.

>>7706569
inb4 the twit reminds us of his 'lol so clevar we get teh erth elamantle to hide it from them" contingency.

>>7706604
if someone is powerful enough to track us down, overcome sheryl and our minions, dispel our magic, and heft a stone coffin lid, we're probably fucked regardless of our precautions

>>7706569
Oh jesus. It's like beating my head against a brick wall.
>>7706597
We sleep on a wooden coffin with a thin satin lining. Woo, comfort!
>>7706565
Gold=Magic. Gold=Not being Bryden's whore.

look, the whole debate about house vs cave is moot.

We already moved into the house. It's over, this is where we live, deal with it.
Besides, we still have the cave and having two places of dwelling is better than one. Period.
So just drop it. What's done is done.

>>7706649
This man is right. We should stop talking about how our plan got chosen and his didn't.

>>7706643
You unintentionally make a good point here; if we're away from the sun and all we need to do is sleep, why do we need to do it in a coffin? Maybe we should try looking that up and seeing if a bed will do.

>>7706643
Are you twelve or something? It's already been demonstrated that we are capable of being comfortable. Moving into our current coffin from Sarai's tomb was demonstrably a step up.

300 gold is practically nothing. We're consorting with Bryden because the shit we need is fucking expensive, and 300 gold wouldn't make a dent.

>>7706643
Our first goal is not magic, it's overcoming the curse and live as much as possible as we want to.
We're not depending on Bryden, and he doesn't want us to.
You make a good point about the coffin. We'll ask sheryl to find us cushions and draperies for the house, and we'll take care of that.

>>7706709

THE FIRST GOAL IS ALWAYS MAGIC.

>>7706709
why don't we just have her move in and tell her she can fix the place up however she see's fit?

We are a goddamn vampire sorceress, we have better things to do than interior decorating. We're a leader of minions, this is what delegation is for.

>>7706709
>Implying there's any curse on us.
>Implying that 'living' is a quantity-based action.

>>7706723
Well yes, but that was before we became a vampire. And once we did, we started to look towards magic to find a way to survive without killing. So yes, magic is high up on our list of priorities, but only because it seems like the most likely way to allow us to live, or un-live rather, without causing any more harm to others than we already have.

>>7706761
Well now you're getting into grey area; while vampirism may not technically be a curse, insomuch that it's not really something a wizard or witch could put upon someone, it is often called and described a curse, in that it can make living quite difficult, in that it can turn a person into a monster.

>>7706764

MAGIC IS ALWAYS THE FIRST GOAL.

>>7706804
I'm pretty sure that is exactly what I just said, yes. Thank you for reiterating it for me.

Let's stop bickering and try to come up with a couple more plans to put forth for when Undead Monstrosity returns. We've already covered our security issues, anyone have suggestions for stealing the magic tomes?

>>7706803
>Implying "monster" is an actually meaningful word.

>>7706815

ALWAYS. DON'T FORGET.

>>7706817
I was thinking that once our Shade and Rat get back tomorrow evening, we can hear their reports on which houses have the stuff we want. Then it seems to be a simple matter of disabling any magical security they have, getting our im and air spirits inside and grabbing the books we need. The Shade should probably go too; from what I gather, it's a fairtly smart dude and would be able to direct the others in exactly which books they should get.

Of course, disabling any security will probably prove much more difficult than we can really imagine right now; we'll have to wait and see what our minions have to repot tomorrow.

>>7706815
>>7706764

You're a rather pretentious person, aren't you?
It was also not exactly what you said at all, Dancing Words.

>>7706839
Okay, starting to creep me out a bit now. Can you tell me why you think magic should always be our first priority? Preferably without all caps?

>>7706817
If they're warded, we're fucked. We should be able to have the earth elemental unlock anything they're hidden behind and have the air spirit carry them. The faeling can get carried to a point where it maintains LOS on the air spirit as it comes out of the house and conceal it - and even then, it is at night so the spirits will be damn near impossible to see.

>>7706865
Maybe we should be ready with some thieves tools and if possible something to help against magical traps? No idea where to start there, except Sarai, and I'd rather not go further into debt than necessary.

>>7706879
He said magic is our first priority. I agreed with him on that, and went further into explaining that that seemed to be the case because magic seems to be the best ways to fulfill our current goals. He then stated again that magic should come first, which was indeed what I had said. Although you are probably right, I can be pretentious.

>>7706910
Keep in mind that since it's a private residence, we can't get in without an invitation from someone who lives or works there. So we'll probably be relying on our minions for this one.

>>7706892
Could you explain to me why you think the earth elemental would be capable of handling locks? Obviously it has some control over earth stones and metals, but it seems to lack finesse and I figured the point of having a minion handle it would be to avoid breaking it.

>>7706940
Obviously that's true but I was referring to gaining physical access for our minions.

>>7706885

YOU'RE UNWORTHY.

>>7706892
Rather, the air spirit is invisible, the books it carries will be impossible to see.

>>7706965
Ah, I believe I'm beginning to understand now. Carry on then.

Okay, I guess that right there was a bit pretentious.

>>7707006
Impossible, you say?

>>7706943
The locks are metal. It can simply start fiddling with the moveable parts until it unlocks it. Or just smash the lock. Since these are sitting around gathering dust, people are going to notice they're gone.

Shit, they might even have "magical tracers' or something attached.

>>7707045
Extremely difficult? You try seeing a dark, small object flying through the night sky. Assuming you even look up. And then that object drops out of the sky, disappearing into the city. There might be more, but they all go to different places without rhyme or reason.

>>7707088
That's better, young man.

>>7707051
I should think our assassin imp would have a better chance of dealing with locks than our earth spirit, but we'll see when UM gets back.

>>7707100
Now you're just being a condescending fuckwit. If you had all the wisdom and bullshit that you claimed by saying "young man" you wouldn't need it explained to you.

>>7707169

I believe he was correcting your application of the word "impossible" to a clearly non-impossible task.
That said, your rage is delicious.

>>7707187
You know what else is delicious? Chocolate. We should get some.

>>7707040

SILENCE FOR NOW, DANIEL.

>>7707280
Yep, it's all falling into place...

>>7707286

KEIKAKU DOORI DESU.

>>7707314
I know I've heard that somewhere before...

>>7707286
>Implying that there are no more than two people trolling you.
>Implying that there is no less than one person trolling you.

>>7707344
>>7707286
>Implying that your speech trails off continuously.

>>7707363
Okay, I thought about that for a bit, and I've come to realize two things. One, I don't think that I'm being trolled; rather I'm having a somewhat ridiculous conversation with someone, and Two, that trying to figure out exactly what you're saying in the green text makes my head hurt.

>>7707422
>Implying that you wish to give me, a sexual sadist, physical pleasure.

>>7707422

>>7707448
>>7707380
Ah, okay, *now* I'm being trolled.

Anyway, anyone else have more ideas for how we and/or our servants will infiltrate the library? What types of books should we go for? I'm thinking more summoning books, maybe some illusion/transformation, and something on blood magic if they have any.

>>7707552
>Implying that you've utterly missed the point of prior implications.
Oh, wait a moment.

>>7707448
Why, because of admitting that thinking about it gave me a headache? While it may have provided some amount of stimulation, I was not intentionally trying to.

>>7707527
Fuck yes Yu Yu Hakusho, you are one of the best dubs ever.

>>7707610
>Implying that an implication requires any intention on the part of the implicated.

>>7707690
Well that's an interesting point. I suppose it does not, however, for some things, such as saying that I was trying to stimulate you with tales of my mental anguish, I would have to have known about it to have done it intentionally, which is indeed what you yourself implied in the said post wherein you said that you were a sadist.

Damn autosaging into the 7th page already. This will need a new thread when UM comes back.

>>7707690
Aazvhat Many-Eyes demands to know what the fuck this shit is.

>>7707737
>Implying that the implication of an intention is relevant to the implicated's actual intent.

>>7707552
What you said. The air spirit can get inside and open a window. The shade and the fealing can select the books, the imp and the air spirit can carry them outside, where we'll be waiting disguised as a common servant.

>>7707791
Ah, touche. However, if I may ask you a question, do you yourself think that what you are doing right now, holding this conversation with me, is trolling?

>>7707841
>Implying I'm not you.
>Implying my definition of trolling affects my sexual pleasure.

>>7707774

He has basically said: "It doesn't matter what you meant, it's what it looked like."
Probably because there was no reason to admit to head pain unless one wanted sympathy, to give sadistic pleasure, or to express confusion (which would then call list items one and two again.)

>>7707933
I know what he said. you're all arse dwelling cockpolishers.

>>7707878
Well, that was not what I had intended to convey, but as you pointed out, intent does not really matter in these cases. What I really meant was that I am actually quite enjoying the opportunity to be so verbose with someone who actually has the patience to keep up the conversation, and that if you were doing this to cause annoyance or rage, then it is really not working; I would sincerely like to continue this.

>>7707847
It was the third; it did not actually cause any physical pain, but left me confused as to exactly what he was saying. Thant you very much for clearing it up for me.

>>7707809
Alright then. though I wonder if perhaps we should send Sheryl instead of going ourselves.

>>7707971
If we need to, we can escape much more easily than her.

Damn, there's a lot of posting here. And most of it appears to be trolling.

I suppose that I should be glad there's no more exceptionally poorly written pornography.

I'll sort through this and figure out what the hell you guys have decided to do; give me a bit.

Really it wasn't much. Probably should start a new thread once you've got your next post written up though.

>>7707971
>Implying every moment isn't an opportunity for verbosity.
>Implying that I'm not doing this out of reproductive lust.

>>7708083
Sheryl ground up against you, saying "Really, I'm.. a man!" and reveals a throbbing fanged half vampire cock. "A half vampire man!"

I.. don't know.

gayracula.jpg
He'll suck you dry!

>>7708171
Oh god damn it.

>>7708140
>implying that you aren't about to get raped by a single very effeminate hindu

Okay, guys, new thread. This one's on page ten and far too full of crap to use anyway.

>>7708826