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You stash the replacement part away in your bag and draw your pistol. You place your hand over your small spell focus and concentrate for a moment, placing a small bit of mana into it. A small ball of light forms in your palm. You move your hand away from the focus, the ball of light sticking to your palm. You head towards the burner with the missing part find a corner to hide in. You bury the Moted hand in your armpit, keeping it lit in the event that you need it quickly.

You hear footsteps nearing the room as well as hushed whispers. Try as you might, you cannot understand the whispers. You can see a light approach the burner from where you hid, although you are safe from being spotted. From where you are hidden, you can see three figures crowded around the malfunctioning burner.

What do you do?
>Confront the people
>Attack
>Stay in the shadows and watch
>write in

>Also, a surprisingly close visual approximation to Volkov I found posted on here once. Just instead of the second pistol and the rope he has a saber and rifle as well as the gauntlets. And he's a bit younger than pic related, but it's a close enough start.

>>31417343
Fook yisss Bone Mage quest

>Stay in the shadows and watch

Draw our rifle just and case and keep it readied

>>31417343
>Stay in the shadows and watch

>>31417447
>>31417386
Writing.

>>31417386

Right?

>Fookin finally

>>31417701
Sorry about the lack of threads this past week. The good news is that I have finally hit my spring break, so there will be more threads this upcoming week.

>>31417740

It's no big deal. Take players wanting more threads as more a compliment on how interesting/good of a quest you're running than anything else.

You remain hidden in place, trying to pick up any piece of information about these trespassers that you can. Straining your hearing, you try to listen in on the them. The problem is that you cannot understand them, not from lack of volume but from a linguistic point of view; they are are not speaking your native tongue. Eventually the visitors seem satisfied by their inspection of the burner and begin to leave, their backs turned towards your hiding spot.
What do you do?
>Attack them
>Let them leave and see if any changes have been made to the burner
>write in

>>31417906
>Let them leave and see if any changes have been made to the burner
Obviously competitors sabotaging shit

>>31417906
>write in
Make spooky ooky noises

>>31417906

>Follow them

Obviously. We have the replacement part to put in at a moment's notice, now all we need to do is see if this was a sanctioned visit.

If not, we'll know where to go looking.

>>31417906
>Let them leave and see if any changes have been made to the burner
>write in

Follow them stealthily after our inspection

>>31417906
>write in
try and follow them

>>31417972
>>31417973

Yup. Follow them.

Surprised that wasn't offered as an option.[/spoiler[

>>31418001
inb4 bone bomb

>>31418001
It slipped my mind.

I don't remember if we've fixed it yet.

They'll probably break it again once we fix it. Then we'll look like a bad mechanic for not fixing it right.

>>31418053

We just finished the single part required to fix it when we heard noises in the warehouse.

Then this thread started.

So we have the part required to fix it (under our arm), and just need to install it.

Writing.

You wait for the people to leave the immediate area and then dart over to the burner. A quick inspection reveals that no further changes have been made to the burner since your last inspection. You quickly affix the replacement part, hurrying to get it secure so you still have a chance of catching up to the saboteurs.

With the replacement part in place, you hurry out to try to see the trespassers as they leave. You manage to see them enter the street and then proceed to tail them as best you can. The task of tailing them is quite difficult: your gear immediately marks you as a mage on top of making you stand out from how heavily armed you are. The difficulty is increased even further by how often one of the group members checks behind them, although you manage to duck out of sight every time it looks like they're about to look.

Eventually the group enters a Dahonian ran bar, judging from the language written on the sign hanging above the door. Although you're of Dahonian descent yourself, you know nothing of the language or customs.

What do you do?
>Enter the bar
>Leave for now and report your findings
>Home isn't too far from here; if you hurry to and from you can stash your more conspicuous gear there and be back within a half hour.
>write in

>>31418564

Hmm.

Is there anywhere we can hide our gear in the immediate area?

>>31418611
There is an alleyway nearby that looks relatively disused.

>>31418564
>Leave for now, report findings
We're already above and beyond the call of duty guys.

Rolled 9

>>31418650

Find somewhere in there to stash our more conspicuous gear, then enter the bar and keep an eye on them.

>>31418771

We should at least try to get the names of these guys. Right now we've only done right at our call of duty.

How we would do that I don't know.

>>31418895
>>31418836
I would like to remind you guys that you don't really even have enough for a description of the saboteurs, all you have is a rough approximation of their heights and the possibility of them being Dahonian.

>>31418895
we were only supposed to fix the furnace. nothing was mentioned about weirdos. We already found out about them and tracked them to an inn. that's above. We should just report this to the factory manager and see if he knows them/has suspicions/has another mission for us to find out about them, in which case we can do what we're doing now but get paid for it.

>>31418984
Let's get in this inn for some invaluable inside information.

>>31418991

Gaining a reputation for exceeding expectations is a valuable thing though.

Shall we at least get a description of the suspected saboteurs? That way when we get paid to do this again we can know who to look for.

Alright, calling for a final vote here. Link your votes for a course of action, or baring that to a post that is linked to this one.

>>31419103
>>31418771

>>31419103
>>31418836

>>31418564
we should not have tailed them, but instead informed the manager in secret and gotten ourselves hired to sit watch over the next few nights. remember, our job is to fix the thing not catch saboteurs

>>31419103
Stash conspicuous gear in alley
enter inn
try to catch names
if cant catch names, memorise their apearances

Writing.

>>31419331
>Leave your super expensive gear
>That is almost all you own
>In a dark ally
>where it will be stolen
>Going after a group of potential enemies
>Unarmed and unarmored
this is the dumbest thing I have heard in an extremly long time

You are about to enter the bar that you saw the saboteurs enter, however you stop yourself before you get to the door, the weight of your gear all but forgotten from how used to it you were. You back up from the door and look around before spotting an alley next to the bar. You stash your rifle and saber as best you can in a pile of refuse near the back of the alley. You stash the gauntlets into your bag along with your rifle and dagger. You return to the door and enter the bar.

Inside the atmosphere is relatively light; you can hear several arguments ongoing, interspersed with laughter and the occasional insult. As you approach the bar counter you can see the group that you were following before, although with the better light you can see them much more clearly now. One of the saboteurs was a man, the other two women. The man had a smooth, bald head with a scar going up the left side of his face, barely avoiding his eye. One of the women is on the shorter side with brunette hair. The other woman is nearly as tall as the man and nearly as muscular, sporting blond hair. You sidle up to the counter and the barman approaches you, ready to take your order. You order a beer and wait for the group to make a move.

A few beers in, you see them move from their table and head for a room near the back of the bar. Deciding that you have gathered enough information for now, you pay your tab (9 silver) and head out of the bar. You retrieve your gear, finding it unmolested in its hiding place and turn back to leave for home. At the end of the alley stand a few men that weren't there before when you went in, blocking the alley with their bodies. They are looking in your direction.
What do you do?
>Ask them what they are doing
>Attempt to threaten them into moving
>Goad them into attacking you
>Write in

>>31420096
>Ask them what they are doing

>>31420096
>Write in

Say nothing, keep watching them, and bring out our dagger keep it out of sight

Is our barrier gauntlets equipped?

>>31420149
Yes, you re-equipped everything when you retrieved your gear.

>>31420096
>You stash the gauntlets into your bag along with your rifle and dagger
>rifle
I assume you meant our pistol?

>>31420178
Yes, I goofed on my end.

>>31420096
Don't say anything. It's pretty fucking obvious that we're armed to the teeth. Just watch them with a hand on the pistol. If it ain't loaded, load it.

>>31419841
I didn't say dump it in the middle of the alley
I assume Saucy will do a good job if hiding it if he does choose that option

Writing.

You rest your hand on your pistol, the worn wooden grip sliding easily against the leather of your glove. With your other hand you slowly reach towards your dagger, drawing it. The men at the end of the alleyway begin to approach you. You curl your fingers around the grip of your pistol, ready to draw it instantly. The men stop a few feet away from you, with no weapons in sight.

“Hand over your valuable possessions and we will not be having issues,” one of them says to you through a thick Dahonian accent.

You draw your pistol and point it at the men, no signs of fear on your face.

“Are you seriously trying to rob me, despite the disparity in armaments between us?”

Your words cause a small argument to erupt in the back of the group of men before the leader silences them.

“You cannot kill all of us before we get you, hand over the valuables now and you will be free to leave, unharmed,” the leader says, giving you a toothy grin.

What do you do?
>Fight (specify plan of attack)
>Intimidate
>Write in

>>31420763
>Intimidate
>"Maybe that's true, but you're obviously the leader, so I'll be killing you first. Are you willing to be the one who dies so your lackies there can get some gear?"

>>31420763
>Fight (specify plan of attack)
>Intimidate
I'm thinking that casting Impact on all their testicles while continuing to brandish the weapons would be effective.

>>31420825
I'm feeling it Mr.Krabs
Seconded

I'm trying to find anything about resonance in the pastebins. I feel stupid. Can someone explain it?

>>31420825
Love it.

>>31420825
Yes. Much yesness

>>31420825
If he doesn't fuck off, cast disjunction on him?

>>31420967
I never put resonance in the pastebins, it was something I explained in-thread during I think the first thread, though. I'll try to prepare a pastebin in the future that will explain some things about the setting like what resonance is as well as some other things.

Basically: Mage uses his mana to ping something else with mana, which will in turn respond to the users mana and the two sources will then create a magical effect. One of the styles of magic, Slayer, focuses on having the user resonate his own mana against itself to produce internal effects, such as increased bone density and self healing.

Also, I can see that intimidation has won, can I get some rolls? 3d10, best of 3.

Rolled 6, 9, 9 = 24

>>31421090
Ok, so when something says "X mana and Y mana from a resonance source", the real cost is X+Y?

So ignite would take 3 from Volkov, and he'd have to resonate 1 more in a staff or his gauntlet or something for a cost of 4 mana total? Am I getting this right?

>>31421135
That is correct.

Rolled 5, 1, 9 = 15

>>31421090

How hard does impact hit?

Rolled 1, 2, 1 = 4

>>31421090

>>31421233
Holy shitoli.

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Rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8

>>31421233
The face when we accidentally intimidated ourselves

>>31421214
I imagine it's like getting punched.

>>31421214
About 400 newtons/ 90 pounds of force. Not enough to kill most people outright but it will hurt like a bitch.

>>31421233
Please don't tell me you are the anon that rolled the nat 3 against Cord.

Also, writing.

>>31421378
>About 400 newtons/ 90 pounds of force. Not enough to kill most people outright but it will hurt like a bitch.
If we wanted to blow all our mana at once, we could totally fire off 20 of them and pulp a dude. 8000N hits like a truck. Literally.

>>31421426
Or we try to make a impact blunderbuss which I think we need shaper and speaker levels to do I may be mistaken

>>31421426
At your current Speaker level it would be very difficult to cast that many Impacts at once. The most that you could do with consistency right now would be 5, which would still be a lot of force.

>>31421426

Yep.

I was actually a fan of slotting 2 or 3 impact modules into one of our gauntlets while the other got our 2 barrier modules, but nobody else approved of the buckler+brawler combo.

>>31421378
I am the guy who rolled a nat 3 against cord
I'm sorry
I'm a very unlucky boy

I did come up with the intimidation line though, that has to count for something!

>>31421552

Wow.

I get the attention of the dice god on occasion, but I don't think I've ever done that so bad as to get a nat 3 on 3d10

>>31421682
nat 3 on 3d10 is easy, it's only 1/1000
I've gotten as bad as 1 in a million

“You're right,” you say slowly, watching the man relax slightly at your words at first before continuing, “one of you probably would make it to me before I killed you all. Are you willing to be one of the ones that dies, to let your comrades get the payout at the expense of your own life?”

The man freezes in place, chewing the inside of his cheek as he thinks things over.

“Alright, we'll leave you alone for now, boy,” the man says spitting in your general direction before turning and leaving, his men in tow. You wait a moment after they leave before heading out of the alley. As you do, you look around carefully, seeing no one. Your walk home is uneventful.

The next day you get up bright and early and head off to the factory to report in to the manager. When you arrive you give him a full rundown of the previous nights events, excluding the part where you were in an attempted robbery. The manager thanks you for your work and hands you payment for your services with a receipt to take back to headquarters.

At headquarters you turn in the receipt to the clerk at the contract desk.

What do you do now?
>Grab another contract, you're already there so you might as well.
>Leave, you have better things to do (shopping/training/other [specify])

>>31421799

How much money do we have now?

A shitton?

What other contracts are available?

>>31421799
>>Leave, you have better things to do (shopping/training/other [specify])
Work on shaper?

>>31421834

It might actually better to work on Speaker, to cultivate our range of spells?

>>31421828
You have 40 silver, 101 gold.

So quite a bit.

>>31421868

Jeeze.

How close are we to the next level of Shaper?

>>31421868
I'd like to work on making another pistol.

>>31421799
>Leave, you have better things to do (shopping/training/other [specify])
Shop for supplies for shaper training

>>31421844
fuq speaker make bone guns

>>31421881

Why? We're already pretty loaded down with gear as-is and Sabre+Pistol works pretty well already for our close/midrange needs.

>>31421868

Will adding any more gear to our standard loadout affect our mobility/agility/combat efficiency any?

>>31421844
Yea speaker could do with some training.

>>31421880
Pretty far away, although making some new stuff would probably bring you pretty close.

>>31421937
You're pretty much at the limit for what you can reasonably carry, although you can still probably fit one more pistol or dagger/knife into your loadout.

>>31421799
>>31421994

What contracts are left?

The idea of a super-effective Fray module from the certain type of bones sounds like my kind of thing.

>>31422017
The two remaining contracts from last time are left

>[Material Request] Saw-Teeth Leopard skulls: A request has come in to hunt down some Saw-Teeth Leopards for their skulls and jawbones. Payment is 20 gold and the remainder of the leopard skeletons.

>[Mercenary Request] A feud has erupted between two wealthy families, and one of them has requested the aid of Association mages. Payment is 40 gold with room for bonuses based on performance.

>>31422038
Oh man that feud one looks really interesting
lets take that

I just wanna tinker with guns.

>>31422038

Can we take the Leopard Skull contract, but go shopping and do a bit of crafting before we head off to complete it?

I assume that they don't live right outside the city walls.

>>31422071
You may do so and you are correct, it is not a quick hunt.

>>31422061

Write them up and post them, we'll get to them eventually.

>>31422084

I presume someone is likely to take the Mercenary Request in the meantime, seeing as it pays so well?

One thing we could make is armor. we have an armor suit we can resize to us, and we can start magicking it up.

aside from that, we have plenty of money and should spend some time studying/training/practicing.

>>31422103
The Merc Request one will have multiple mages working together, so it would be a change of pace from going solo.

>>31422116
That armor is currently being held by the authorities as evidence, but you'll be getting it back soon.

>>31422144

Aah, well in that case let's just go shopping. We'll return for most likely the merc contract tomorrow. No need to rush.

We've got a shitload of money and some nifty thing to craft.

Alright, please link your votes here.

Are we capable of crafting decent armour?

>>31422218
You are, but good materials are expensive.

>>31422218

Let's not do that when we can just mod/reinforce Cord's set when it comes to us.

>>31422215

Shopping for now, but don't phrase it so snarkily and holier-than-thou as "I've got better things to do".

>>31422215
Grab another contract, you're already there so you might as well.

>[Material Request] Saw-Teeth Leopard skulls: A request has come in to hunt down some Saw-Teeth Leopards for their skulls and jawbones. Payment is 20 gold and the remainder of the leopard skeletons.

>Train skill in Speaker

>>31422215
>Take the merc contract

>>31422215

Shop/craft. We'll grab another contract on the morrow.

>>31422215
>[Mercenary Request]

>>31422246
idea... what if we go out hunting for materials?
we could craft cool stuff and sell the rest...
like, a drake or some such

>>31422309
That is a possibility. Wild drakes are a bit out of your reach, but there are plenty of other beasties closer to your level that would sell for quite a bit if you don't want to use the parts yourself. Like the beetle from thread one.

>>31422347

Well give us some ideas/examples on creatures that have bones which bestow additional effects to certain modules.

Give us examples of modules too, we've only really gotten a small glimpse of them.

You could do this in character by having us ask a shopkeep about these things.

Rolled 2

>>31422371
I'll have a crafting component pastebin up one of these days.

I'll add it to the queue of player resources that I'm backlogged on.

Also, flipping a coin for what do since merc contract and shopping tied.

>attached sharpoo
I don't even, captcha. I don't even.

Rolled 2

>>31422465
Of course I forget to set what option is what side. I was so distracted by the captcha. Alright, so:
1: Contract
2: Shopping

This will be the last update of the night, however it will be a short one.

>>31422347
mmm, actually. there is a bounty for the skulls of saw teeth leopard.
this means we can use/sell the rest of the skeleton. the most valuable portion is usually the spine anyways.
So maybe we should take the mat request job.
how strong are saw tooth leopards on the totem of animal power?

>>31422519

Saw Tooth Leopard bones give the bonus of allowing us to create UBER FRAY modules too.

>>31422519
>>31422536
Only the teeth do. The rest of the skeleton is pretty high quality, though.

>>31422558

Damn. Well when we're in the area we can always hunt a few for ourselves too.

I'm glad to know the skeleton is pretty high quality too, but also how difficult are they to hunt?

You decide to hold off on picking up a new contract for now and instead head off to the market. You've been taking a lot of jobs recently, your swollen wallet a testament to this fact. As you enter the market, you spy Liam's stand and decide to see what goods he has in stock for you today. As you approach, he frantically waves you over. When you are within arm's reach he pulls you in, desperation in his voice.

“Have you gotten the news yet from Magister Vesif?”

“What news?”

“Cerund's gone missing from his cell. The Association thinks he might have escaped.”

The news hits you in the gut like your master's fist.
Alright, that's it for the night. I'll do the usual Q&A.

>>31422698

How'd Cerund survive a pistol shot to the face at point-blank range?

>>31422698
Fuck the contract. Time to go finish him.

>>31422731

How would we go about finding him better than the police can find him?

>>31422726
Angles. Voklov's shot didn't hit him dead on and just kind of tore off a chunk of his face.

>>31422752

When can we expect the next thread?

>>31422792
I'm going to try to do another this weekend, with monday getting a thread for sure.

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>>31422698