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ead888.jpg
Feather Bee
ead888
With a reduced workforce I focus on just preparing the courtyard.
>>my first suitor in a thousand years
>[DISTANT DISTRAUGHT MORIKO NOISES]
She's fine.
>>Myaousha, give good review
>Well. How often do you get the opportunity to just ask? Just head on over and get her perspective of the run went compared to, say, others she's had, with the caveat your dungeon was/is still underdeveloped.
I have a quick chat with her, but don't have the time for more developed feedback. It's much as what I expected - some interesting encounters with my guardians but little else. She does call out fighting Reisarf and Stargazer on the ice platforms as a highlight.
>Can you enhance your perception? Being able to accelerate your thoughts to think more about things without showing it would be useful if they try to pressure you. If you could enhance your ability to pick up on lies, misdirection, or ulterior motives then that could be, well, you probably won't like looking into what a lecher is looking for most of the time, but it remains an invaluable negotiating aid.
I'm not enough of a mentalist to easily be able to do that to a useful degree.
>Could you grant illusion or sculpting powers with which to depict yourself? It is not as though you plan to take him back to your mountain to show yourself off personally, and a visual representation of what he is investing in would help clarify things.
I spend some time working on a mud map of the dungeon in a corner in case it proves to be useful.
All too soon there's a knock on the door. Kallia goes off to bring the visitor in.
"Good morning ladies!" the banker's son says, strutting into the courtyard. "You're looking so fresh after a splendid night out on the town like that. I love your energy! I must invite you to some of my parties."
"And a good morning to you, Olan." I say. For I did, eventually, manage to confirm one of us actually knew his name.
He's holding an egg. "I'm so happy to see your tales of vault cracking were no mere myth." Olan says, brandishing it. "You really are a woman of abundant talents."
I settle for an enigmatic smile because I do not actually remember how I got into that vault, but it seems I left an egg behind as a calling card.
"It really sets my head spinning." he says. "So just to get talking started, what do you think you could offer for five thousand gold?"
It is not, in the scheme of things, that much gold. Hundreds of low to mid strength potions. Perhaps a dozen of the weakest of enchanted items like the Fixity Bangle or the levitating plaque. A handful of more significant labours. Perhaps an independent golem, were I to source the materials for a complex golem core and a mana source to keep it operating. Training. Research or tutelage into magic or another of the natural philosophies.
What I'd do with it? I'd simply sit on it. Hoard it and offer it as a reward to stoke the earth-pulse, strengthen my denizens, delve deeper, and build new wonders out of the treasures of the earth. It is not much, but it also twice the amount of gold I currently possess, and enough to fortify my Heart with another layer of crystallised mana. An amount such that I would have to manage my dungeon's surroundings very carefully if it were to be introduced all at once. Otherwise I'd have to deal with more creatures like the devil bear popping up from a glut of power from the strengthening earth-pulse.
This is a trap, of course. He is trying to gauge how I react to that initial offer, what I might do cheaply. Materials and monsters available to me are still limited so I wouldn't want to over-promise anyway. I have knowledge, but am still lacking in ability to put it into action. How should I handle him?
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