,,,,,Curious and Curios is a dusty place. The shelves are stacked densely with trinkets and baubles of varying value. The wares could be described kindly as ‘antiques’, but a less kind soul might go so far as to label them ‘junk’.
You’re just wandering through the maze of over-stacked shelves, not really looking for anything in particular. The proprietor had warned you not to touch anything, not because the items are dangerous, but rather because it took two days to dig out the last poor fool who disturbed Eugene’s careful balancing act.
Eugene is the proprietor of this old…antique…shop. You’ve met him, and you’re trying to avoid meeting him again.
“Oh my! Back again? I knew you’d be back! Couldn’t keep yourself away, eh? Not to worry, not to worry. I’m sure you’ll find something nice this time.” Eugene bounds up and corners you in a conversation. The last time you were here he kept you captive as he explained at length on the history of an entirely mundane silverware set.
Just before you think you’re going to have to make a break for it. The batty old coatl stops. “Eh?” He reaches down and picks up an item shoved behind a tea set on the bottom shelf. “I know every item in my shop, but I don’t know you. What are you, then?”
He peels because the dingy, cloth covering, to revel an armband with some of the most intricate knotwork designs you’ve ever seen. It is set with glowing gems in a seemingly random pattern. The gems are…mesmerizing. Even though there is no structure to how they are lit up, it feels like you can almost see a pattern in the same way stars become constellations. You only realize that you’ve touched it when you see your own claws resting on its surface.
The fine knotwork pattern bends and shifts. It crawls up your arm, bringing the rest of the armband with it. You reel back immediately but you’re unable to stay upright as vertigo hits you. You feel the pattern invert.
You come to yourself laying on your back, retching. Looking down, you see your arm is covered in a softly glowing tattoo that crawls up your arm and partially covers your chest.
“You’re going to pay for that, right?” Eugene jokes uncomfortably.
A) [[Try to stand up.]]
B) [[Just lay there for a bit.]]
You decide to stay along the rim of the water, flying and running along balconies and debris that make a path along the edge. You realize how good of an idea this was when you’re able to avoid a dive-bomb from a huge imperial by ducking close to the wall. She can’t risk flying close to the buildings without also risking injuring herself
The mirror with the skull face is right on your tail, though, using the same path you are. As you make a jump down from a balcony to a debris-island, you barely get your tail out of the way of his teeth. He follows you down, coming down hard on your back and almost knocking the both of you into the water.
You kick him off hard enough to stun him and start snaking your way from one island to the next in short hopping flights. The imperial isn’t attacking, she more wary of the water than of the buildings. Perhaps its crazy of you to be this close.
The mirror is following you step for step. He nearly knocked you into the water with his last lunge. You start going higher. If you stay above him, he can’t jump onto your back again.
The imperials claws scratch a line down your side. You barely dodge her and it throws you off balance hard enough that the mirror nearly catches you. You avoid him with a sharp flap of your wings, and climb onto a ledge above.
Realizing how phenomenally dangerous this is, you turn off and duck between two buildings. You can barely fit through, but at least you’re protected from that imperial. The mirror is breathing down your neck, though. You hear the scrabbling of his claws on stone and it’s hard to tell how close he is without looking back.
You wiggle out from between buildings and just as you are about to dash away you are knocked off your feet. That dratted mirror just pounced on you again! You try to kick him away again, but he has learned from last time. He bites down hard on your shoulder. You hear the imperial roar, distant but quickly getting closer.
You struggle frantically, but he’s not budging at all. Even worse you can feel the prickling of a surge under your skin. You’re starting to lose hope, when a sharp whine shrieks through the air and you’re nearly blinded by the laser that hits the mirror with pinpoint accuracy and knocks him into the far wall.
“We sure had a heck of time tracking you down, newbie.” Andraste and Cotriona are standing a ways off. Andy is holding a new laser rifle against her shoulder, the barrel still sparking. “We better get out of here before Captain Serious Face shows up.” They quickly help you up.
…and immediately all three of you are knocked prone by the shockwave of that imperial landing. [i]”I’m a Commander.”[/i] She looks beyond furious with her teeth bared, eyes wide, and neck arched aggressively.
The static is crawling under your skin and the ache has started in your bones. You’re sprawled halfway on top of Cat and you have no idea what’ll happen if she’s touching you when your tattoo surges.
The commander aggressively stalks forward and cracks Andy hard in the chest with her tail. The darkness is closing in and you blearily stand up. When that tail swings towards you, you latch on and don’t let go as the magic builds inside you.
You open your eyes to a well-ventilated pavilion. Surrounded by a stand of oasis trees. Where are you? “Morning, sunshine. Had a good nap?” Cat’s sprawled lazily nearby in the shade. Seeing your confusion, she starts to snicker. “Not what you expected? You’re not dead and this isn’t a dream, if that’s what you’re worried about. Your magic was going crazy. We had to ice you until we figured out how to keep that thing from blowing you up.”
The tattoo on your arm is black. It aches faintly, but it’s nothing compared to the pain from before. “Andy’ll be back soon. She’s out getting supplies for your ‘Waking Up Party’”.You stumble to your feet and almost knock into a shelf, but before you do you're steadied by someone you don't recognize. A Skydancer is holding you upright. She pulls your arm out to look at your new tattoo.
"Well, things just got way more complicated, Cat," she says wryly. But you're a dragon?
"The chances of a compatible person finding it was negligible." A cranky looking Pearlcatcher wanders into view, takes a look at the arm, and grunts. "Well, looks like you're with us for now. That is, unless you want to end up with your insides as outsides."
"They've got a few days at least, Cat, no need to scare them." The Skydancer turns to you, "I'm Andraste and this is Cotriona, and we're-"
"LEAVING." Cotriona grabs the two of you and shoves you toward the back of the shop, just as the bell above the door chimes. You and Andraste turn to look and see a mirror with a terrifying skull visage prowl through the door.
"Why yes we are!" You are bodily lifted between the two of them and hauled through the back of the shop and out into a back alley. They set you on your feet, but you're still sandwiched between them as they lead you down the alley. "Listen the puppy back there is bad news. He's trying to get that." She points at your arm. "And the last time that happened to someone, they only got it back by letting the poor guy explode. We're tracking down someone who specializes in items like that. He'll be able to help all of us."
The door behind you slams open, and they both break into a run dragging you with them. The three of you hightail it through crowded shopping street. Cotriona has taken to weaving skillfully through the crowds, while Andraste is taking the more attention getting path above everyone's heads.
You get a bit bogged down in the crowds, so you clearly see it when they both reach the intersection ahead. Cotriona splits off to the left and Andraste to the right.
A) [[Follow Cotriona]]
B) [[Follow Andraste]]
You lay there and see a Skydancer crouch down next to you in your peripheral vision. She pulls your arm out to look at your new tattoo.
"Well, things just got way more complicated, Cat," she says wryly. But you're a dragon?
"The chances of a compatible person finding it was negligible." A cranky looking Pearlcatcher wanders into view, takes a look at the arm, and grunts. "Well, looks like you're with us for now. That is, unless you want to end up with your insides as outsides."
"They've got a few days at least, Cat, no need to scare them." The Skydancer turns to you, "I'm Andraste and this is Cotriona, and we're-"
"LEAVING." Cotriona grabs the two of you and shoves you toward the back of the shop, just as the bell above the door chimes. You and Andraste turn to look and see a mirror with a terrifying skull visage prowl through the door.
"Why yes we are!" You are bodily lifted between the two of them and hauled through the back of the shop and out into a back alley. They set you on your feet, but you're still sandwiched between them as they lead you down the alley. "Listen the puppy back there is bad news. He's trying to get that." She points at your arm. "And the last time that happened to someone, they only got it back by letting the poor guy explode. We're tracking down someone who specializes in items like that. He'll be able to help all of us."
The door behind you slams open, and they both break into a run dragging you with them. The three of you hightail it through crowded shopping street. Cotriona has taken to weaving skillfully through the crowds, while Andraste is taking the more attention getting path above everyone's heads.
You get a bit bogged down in the crowds, so you clearly see it when they both reach the intersection ahead. Cotriona splits off to the left and Andraste to the right.
A) [[Follow Cotriona]]
B) [[Follow Andraste]]You skid as you turn left hard. Up ahead you see Cotriona glance back at you. It's less crowded on this side street and she slows down until she's loping along next to you.
"Flying is risky. The puppy isn't the only one around looking for your shiny, new decoration. Up ahead is the Bazaar. We're going to lose them in the crowd. Head straight though; I'll meet up with you."
She's kind of bossy actually, but you're out of your element so you follow along. You head straight through the crowd, out of the corner of your eye you can see Cotriona weaving through behind the stalls. She's grabbing select pieces of apparel as she goes. Disguises!
Looking around, you see a merchant ahead who isn't paying much attention. Thinking fast you reach out and grab a seaside kelpie mane. Desperate times and all that. You can bring it back or pay him later, if needed.
"Here. Put this on." Cotriona hands over cloak, a hat, and other miscellaneous apparel. She's already tucked her knife away and covered her scar with something. When you pull out the wig and put it on, she gives you an impressed nod.
"I'm going to lead him away. He didn't get a good look at you so you should go to ground somewhere around here. You seem pretty resourceful, see if you can dig up some clues on a Guardian named Enzul. He’s the one who knows what to do about that tattoo. They say he’s as old as the Shifting Emporium itself. Only the old denizens will be able to help you find him."
She lopes away, leaving you wander. You randomly choose a shop. It's a dingy restaurant. The amount of attention your tattoo gets is very uncomfortable. The shabby Pearlcatcher behind the counter looks at you suspiciously. When you tell him you’re looking for someone, he relaxes a bit.
“Izzat so? Well I’m looking for people to buy some of my delicious, home-cooked food. Maybe we could both get what we want, if you know what I mean?”
Well, then.
A) [[Buy the most edible looking item.]]
B) [[Refuse to buy anything.]]
You decide to follow Andraste. She leads you through the maze of stalls and shops right in the center of the bazaar, grabbing bits and bobs along the way. You are barely able to keep track of her, yet somehow she knows the way while staying focused on the things in her claws.
Andy tosses you the device she just put together. "Hold that for a moment, darling, and duck around behind those barrels will you." You can't make heads or tails of what the device does, but you dive behind the barrels by the edge of an alleyway.
You peek your head around the side to watch, nervous as the dragons chasing you get closer and closer. You see Andy throw some coins at a nearby shopkeeper before she tackles herself right into one of the barrels next to you. A dark liquid spills out, smelling like tar.
"You're a fast runner, right?" Andy asks with a grin as she takes the device from your claws, immediately fiddling with it. An ominous ticking starts. Without waiting for your answer, she shoves you down the alleyway.
You can hear her counting under her breath as she follows right behind. Right before her countdown reaches zero she grabs you and pulls you undercover. The explosion knocks the breath clear out of your lungs and sets your ears to ringing. Bright and wild sparks dance across your vision and you’re not sure if they’re after-effects or real.
You barely have time to recover as Andy continues to lead you along. As your ears start to clear up, you hear a furious roar behind you. Andy freezes, paling. "Change of plans, darling," she saids, her voice tinged with a nervous edge. "That was Captain Serious Face herself. I'll distract her, you're going to go that way and find someone called Enzul. He'll know what to do about that tattoo. He's as old as the Shifting Emporium itself apparently."
You try to ask a question but Andy turns and runs back towards the noise, pulling a wildly sparking gauntlet onto her arm as she rounds the corner. You huff in annoyance, but you start heading away from that part of the bazaar.
You choose a door at random and shimmy through. This is a bar, dingy and dusty. The amount of attention your tattoo gets from the bar patrons is very uncomfortable.
The ridgeback bartender looks up in excitement. "Welcome to Electri-City Brewing Company!" he said eagerly. When you tell him you're looking for someone, his face falls a bit.
"Well, I might be able to help, but first, would you mind testing out my latest brew?" He puts down a mug of something that smells vaguely like honey. It's blue. "Help me out, and I'll see what I can do for you."
A) [[Drink the blue mead.]]
B) [[Don't drink the mead.]]
Unless you choose something to eat you won’t get anything out of him. Nothing here looks good at all. Finally, you choose a candied scorpion at random and begrudgingly hand over the money.
He’s willing to hear you out. “Enzul? Never heard of him. But you should talk to Carrok, he keeps an eye out.” He nods to a sleepy looking Fae in the corner and leaves you to check on another customer.
You head over to Carrock. It takes a lot of vigorous shaking for him to even start to stir. When he finally opens his eyes, he glares up at you. “Whatchu wan’ then?”
After you tell him, his suspicion only seems to increase. “I migh’ know a guy by tha’ name. Unfortunately, my memory is a little fuzzy and I ain’t got time to remember because I gotta head down to the market. Perhaps if someone else was to go pick up my package for me, then I might be able remember it.” He shoves a paper with written directions into your hand.
These guys are really giving you the runaround. You turn and walk out the door. Should you even get the fae’s package? It’s not like the other guy was any help even after you gave into his demand to buy food.
You're walking down the thankfully empty street when it comes onto you. A low prickling ache that starts in your arm, and crawls across your chest and up your throat. It builds up fast, going from an ache to sharp pain. It feels like you're too large for your skin.
As the feeling recedes as quickly as it came, you're left standing dizzily in the street. Looking down at yourself, you can see that you're tattoo has spread and now fully covers your chest. Static is clinging to your skin.
A) [[Head to the market and get the package.]]
B) [[Forget it. You're going to figure something else out.]]
Wow. No thank you. The likelihood of this guy knowing what you need is super low.
That fae probably can't help you at all. You just enjoy your walk through the bazaar. The brightly colored stalls proclaim this as the luxury goods quarter, where finely wrought gold from the Sunbeam Ruins is swapped for intricately detailed textiles from the Windswept Plateau. The traders very carefully never ask how their counterparts acquired such treasures.
You've just turned down an alley when you hear a voice call out, "You with the tattoo! Freeze in the name of the law!"
You whirl around and catch a glimpse of a Reclamation Bureau officer, a mirror with bright red wings and the ubiquitous skeleton markings. You don't have time to see more as you instinctually bolt down the alley and away from the officer.
You hear him swear as he starts to chase you. You zip in and around stalls, knocking over barrels of goods to hold the officer off.
You turn the corner onto a wide open street and skid as you try to avoid a massive hole in the ground. The officer doesn’t notice and barrels right into you, knocking you both into the hole.
You land hard, and as you get to your feet, the stench hits you like a wall. You’ve landed in the old sewers, and it's clear no one has been here in years.
The mirror gets to his feet. He wears armor light enough to move in but heavy enough to take a hit, but at least you don't see any weapons. "My name," he says, "is Taliesin, and I'm taking you in to the Reclamation Bureau. Don't try to run."
A) [[Fight.]]
B) [[Run.]]
In for a penny, in for a pound. You decide to head to the market. The crowds are much more extreme than edges of the shopping district you skirted through with Cotriona. The sellers periodically shout their wares, trying to attract customers. Lanterns, strung across the paths and hung from the pavilions, light the whole area in a warm, yellow glow.
Following the directions, you duck into a covered tent with “Pierce’s Pieces” on the front, and are greeted by another Fae. This one is much friendlier until you tell him why you’re here. For a second you think he’s not going to help you. You’re not sure what face you make but it has him backpedaling immediately. Very soon, you’re back in the dingy restaurant.
Carrok is very happy to receive whatever was in that box. Popping it open and inspecting it quickly. “Enzul’s a retiring sort. Sticks to his own home mostly and does a very exclusive business out of it. You’re gonna wanna look for the blue lantern.”
“That’s pretty good info. Good job, newbie.” Cotriona says from your elbow.
“Oh yah, someone was looking for you.” Carrok says blandly. “You’ve found yourself a good one for fetching and carrying, Cotriona. A regular old errand-dragon.”
Cotriona snorts. “At least they do more than make sure that chair stays down all day, every day.” She turns to leave motioning you to come with. “Don’t mind him. He’s the type to feel better by making other’s feel worse. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who can think as fast on their feet as you do is worth having around.”
She leads you back through the edges of market.
“HEY! Thief! Don’t think I don’t remember you.” You both turn to look at the shouter, he’s one of the merchants Cat stole from earlier. As soon as she catches sight of him, her ears pin back in alarm.
“Darn, I should have known that’d come back to bite me,” she mutters. Louder, she adds “Quick! Time to move, again.”
You both take off, knocking hapless shoppers to the ground. Gliding more than flying, she leads you down a side alley. You’re about to duck around another corner when you’re body slammed into the wall and fall to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
You dodge a wild claw swipe from your attacker, and whack him hard with your tail. He goes reeling back and cracks his head again the stones. Cat’s facing two attackers, barely able to keep ahead of them as they attack in a fast-paced flurry of strikes.
They don’t see you. You have your hint and Cat doesn’t know anything more than you do. You could leave now, this fight is her fault after all.
A) [[Help Cat.]]
B) [[Leave Cotriona behind.]]You exit the restaurant and wander around for around for a bit. Pretty soon you find yourself in front of the Museum. This Enzul guy was really old right? Maybe you can find a clue inside.
Heading in, you find yourself in a wide open atrium with a domed glass ceiling. It’s full of glass cases holding unique magical artifacts. There are a handful of dragons milling about the area. For this place to even be in operation, they must have great security.
You wander among the displays, but nothing really catches your eye. It’s pretty disappointing. You overheard some other dragons talking, they seem to agree with you.
“I’m just saying that for a Museum in such a magical place, they don’t really have much that’s actually interesting.”
“We’ll what do you expect. Even in the friendliest libraries of the Promenade, all the good books are kept in the back. I wonder where their storage area is. This huge hall makes up the whole building.”
You listen until they’re out of earshot. You scratch at your tattoo absently and casually look around for a door leading somewhere, but see nothing. All four walls have windows to the outside.
A low prickling ache that starts in your arm, and crawls across your chest and up your throat. It builds up fast, going from an ache to sharp pain. Your tattoo is glowing brightly enough that the other patrons are starting to look at you. Blearily you stumble outside and around a corner. You trip into a hole by the side of the building. You crash hard and just lay there, feeling like you're too large for your skin.
The feeling recedes as quickly as it came, and you hoist yourself up on shaky legs. Your tattoo now partially covers your other arm.
The hole you tripped into is actually a stairwell. You’re sitting in front of double doors that are locked with a state-of-the-art magic lock…or they were locked. It seems your surge of magic shorted it out. Perhaps this is the storage space those dragons were talking about?
A) [[Go inside.]]
B) [[It's not worth the risk.]]Deciding to help, you charge the nearest assailant, shoulder checking them hard enough that they go sprawling. It gives Cat enough of an opening that she lands a solid hit on the other Pearlcatcher. It doesn’t hurt him much and he comes charging back at her. Sharing a quick glance, you brace yourself and she goes in low, tripping him up. Unstable, he’s wide open for your uppercut to connect solidly and knock him out.
She’s not back on her feet before the other attacker, a huge guardian comes back at her. You grab a loose stone from the road, and with a toss, nail him hard in face and throw him off balance. Following the rock, you dive into the fray and score a set of deep claw marks down his chest before he recovers and starts attacking you.
It’s tiring to keep ahead of his vicious claw swipes. He suddenly stumbles hard and goes down, and you see Cat with her knife out. He tries to stand but his back legs can’t hold his weight. Thinking fast, you grab another stone, striking his wing hard enough that there is no way he’ll be able to fly after this.
“Nice!” Cat yells, reaching out and shaking you roughly, but affectionately, by the shoulder. “Let get out of here!” You both take off. This alley is a dead end so the both of you are forced to the rooftops.
The lightning up here is much more intense than below. The towers spiking up into the sky are constantly being stuck. The noise and smell of ozone is nearly overwhelming. Cat motions you to stay low. It’s not a good idea to go too high, for risk of the lightning.
You hear a sharp scree of metal. Risking a look back you see that skull-faced mirror close behind you. He’s running not flying, but as you watch he takes a quick leap wings snapping wide to give him a boost. His claws catch your tail, pulling you off balance hard and sending you spiraling down to crash onto the rooftops.
You can feel another surge start to build. You need a way to get away from him even though you're dizzy and hurt.
A) [[Try to delay him.]]
B) [[Just get up and run.]]Cotriona doesn’t have anything more to offer you. Plus, this whole fight is her fault, anyway.
You duck down an adjacent alleyway and out of their notice. You come out next to a huge building and quickly duck inside. The walls are covered in faux velvet drapes and playbills advertising shows on them. This is the All-Night Theater. You pay for the night and can attend any show on any of the stages.
One the employees is grandstanding and advertising this nights’ show list. You sneak down an unused service corridor. It’s pretty much a straight shot through to the other side. The corridor is narrow and built from unfinished wood. You can hear snippets from the various plays as you go.
You hurry down the narrow hallway. You’re getting close to the end when you feel magic starting to surge underneath your skin. It aches and itches and you stumble dizzily forward as the world starts to go out of focus.
“I assure you this betrayal did not start with me. For certain, I am innocent.” The voices of the actors are painfully loud. Your vision is blacking out and you stumble hard. You manage to catch a wall to keep your balance, but it gives out before you can get upright.
“If I am guilty, may I be struck down where I stand! So certain am –“
The landing jolts through you, but at least the loud voice has stopped.
As you stand up, you realize that you’re on a stage and a spiral is sprawled unconscious at your feet. A bunch of actors in costume at staring at you, shocked.
“Well, it seems we have found the guilty party.” An imperial dressed as a king states drily. “Welcome to the court of Opherous, and who are you, stranger?”
Uh-oh.
A) [[Play along.]]
b) [[Keep moving.]]There’s a small lightning tower ahead of you, only just a bit bigger than you are. It’s more for keeping the lightning from hitting the roof than actual collection. You can barely see as you stumble up to it, but you manage to make out the words *Emergency Discharge* on one of the buttons and an energy bar that’s less than half full.
The sound of the mirror’s claws on the rooftop, urge you forward. With energy building inside you and your vision doubling, you can’t move very fast at all. As you stagger your way past the tower you hit the Emergency Discharge button, and hear the whine of it engaging. You hightail it as fast as your delirious stagger will allow, but you are still caught and knocked prone by the blast. Your ears are ringing and everything hurts. You struggle to stay conscious.
Then Cat’s there, you can’t make out what she’s saying but she grabs you and pulls you off the dangerous rooftop into the quiet dark of an alley.
Cat urges you upright. “You’ve got this. Just a little longer. I saw the lantern before you signaled me, we’re very close.” Your vision keeps blacking out and there are periods of time where Cat is dragging you more than supporting you.
When your vision comes back, you’re settled at a clean table in a small but warmly lit room. Cat’s sitting next to you watching a guardian rattle around the room making tea. That must be Enzul.
The guardian serves you and settles down at the table. “It’s good that you made it so quickly. The magic in the artifact is about to override your own.” He says nodding at the tattoo. “I can get it out. Your friend has already agreed to the price, so don’t worry about paying me. Show me where it went in.”
When you put your arm on the table. He places one claw where it entered and then reaches to touch one the leading edges that had crawled all the way across your chest and down the other arm. He presses down hard on both places and you feel his magic abruptly crescendo. It feels like his claws are driving down deep enough to hit bone, and then you feel the grating rasp of metal under your skin. It’s agony worse than even the surges and you barely stay conscious.
When the pain suddenly dies down, you’re sweating and shaking, but the bracer is laying innocuously in the middle of the table.
“These were very popular in the second age,” Enzul says, picking it up. “It’s keyed to the creator's magical signature but not very well. Anyone that has even a passing similarity could also use it, so the magic users from that time started building in …failsafes, we’ll say."
“Hmm." Enzul takes a closer look at the bracer. "These foci are quite strong even for how old it is... and there’s so many of them. This would have cost a few thousand at least, and that a conservative estimate.”
“There no way an artifact that powerful was created for such a measly price.” Cat disagrees.
Enzul finally takes his eye off of the artifact to blink up at her. “You are absolutely right. I was talking about lives.”
“…”
“I trust you can see yourselves out.” Enzul ducks out the room and deeper into the house. Cat sighs longingly, watching the artifact disappear from view. “Well, all that for nothing.”
Cat thinks for a moment, “Well, not really nothing.” She turns to you with a sharp grin. “Ever broken anyone out of prison, newbie?”You stumble blearily forward. Darkness closing in on your vision as the magical energy builds quickly. The pain makes you dizzy and you hit the roof hard. You’re not conscious enough to feel the claws close on you.
The stone scrapes your back as you are dragged along them. The lanterns above you are painfully bright.
The steel table is freezing cold. It feels nice. Your skin is tingly and too big at first, but that feeling is quickly overtaken by a wash of agony.
You can't make out anything they’re saying. Their voices are grating but when you try to tell them to be quiet you can’t feel your tongue.
You wake to throbbing ache in your arm and a killer headache. “Easy now. Take it easy. They really weren’t gentile with the extraction. Though I suppose it's a blessing that they did any extraction at all.”
Looking around, you can see that you’re in a cell. It’s dark and cold, but quiet. Across the way you see Andraste in her own cell.
“You’ve sure had one heck of a day haven’t you? Best take it easy for now. Focus on putting yourself back together and take your time, we’re in no hurry.”
The day after you tell Andraste that you’re feeling much better is the day Cat come strolling into your prison cell twirling a key ring in her claws.
“I? I am the one and only Assassin Velt!” You say enthusiastically. Thinking quickly you ask, “And who is this guilty fellow, here.” You point at the unconscious spiral.
“Indeed he is a gilt-y fellow,” the king says with a wink to the audience, “and was aiming to become more so, with the rest of my coffers. That is Archduke Briarthorn. That was quite a feat you pulled.”
“Nonsense, I landed on my back.” You shoot back.
“Nonetheless,” the king sniffs amusedly, “I thank you for your help Assassin Velt, though that was the most interesting assassination I’ve ever seen.”
“It is an interesting scene indeed. Consider it my calling card. You mentioned coffers? Assassination isn’t free, you know. If you want to give me a bit of thanks, I’m happy to wait.”
I believe you have demonstrated your weight enough.”
The play is going really well until you’re hit with another surge that sends you straight to a blackout. You can hear people calling for help as you lose consciousness.
You wake up in a spacious tent, a stressed out looking tundra nearby. “I don’t know what you managed to do to yourself, friend, but you’ve been unconscious for a week. I managed to keep the magic from killing you but if you don’t keep draining it off weekly, it’ll come back and fast.”
Looking at your arm, you can see the tattoo has faded to black. The tundra leaves and your tent descends into chaos as all of your new actor friends crowd in.
The dull ache in your arm, which you’ve had since you woke up, never goes away. The Emporium disappeared while you were unconscious and with it went your chance to have it properly removed.“I’m leaving” you say and dodge around the actors and head backstage. You navigate the back ways and come out on the other side of the theater. As you are wandering down the street a flash of blue catches your eye.
Backtracking, you can see a blue lantern hanging above an unimpressive door. You’re heart lifts as you dash towards it, knocking quickly.
A bland looking guardian opens it and when you show him the tattoo, invites you inside. He serves you tea and seats you at a table just in time for another surge to overtake you.
Darkness takes over your vision and the pain builds up higher than ever before, crescendo-ing into agony. You come back to yourself, shaking and sweating. You're partway sprawled on the table.
"You really cut that close," Enzul murmurs. He's holding the bracer delicately in his claws. "It's rather interesting that you would be so compatible with a second age artifact. This isn't draconic magic, you know.
“No dragon should be compatible with this type of magic at all. The fact that you are..well, that suggests some interesting research must be on-going in those high-security labs. Though, by whom I couldn't possibly begin to guess."
Finally, he looks over at you, "This will be sufficient payment for my services." Enzul tucks the bracer away, and heads towards the back room. "Take as much time as you need to finish your tea."
Two weeks later you’re back home. Life has pretty much returned to normal except that you have one more story to tell. You hear your name called by a familiar voice.
You turn to see Andraste waving at you. “There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you haven’t we, Cat?” Andraste nudges a grumpy looking Cotriona who’s glaring at you silently. Guess she's not happy with the way you ditched her.
“Anyway,” Andraste continues, “We wanted to give you your cut of the profits from the mess back in the Emporium.” She holds out a burlap cloth and doesn’t wait for you to reach out, instead shoving it at you.
The metal of bracer digs deep into your skin, the now-familiar dizziness washing over you.
“Don’t be shy, you deserve it.” Andraste says pleasantly.First, just your eyes glow white with power. Then your claws, and soon a light is pouring out of you from underneath every scale on your body.
Your light blends with the glow of the 12-eyed statue, and you feel a curious sense of knowledge; ancient, eldritch, and powerful. It seeps into the core of your being, fills you with the realization that this is *your* power now.
You merely have to claim it.
You reach up and press your claws to the statue's heart, letting this magic flow freely. You let out a little giggle, then another, and your laughter slowly morphs into a maniacal cackling.
You love the Emporium. All the twists and turns of fate that brought you to this very moment, this very destiny. You love the Emporium.
And soon, it will love you.
[center]-----[/center]
Decades later, dragons still talked about the disaster that was the Shifting Emporium. Hundreds died, both those fleeing the scene and those fighting against the twelve-eyes monster that rose up from the depths of the desert.
It was only through the efforts of Commander Mirshann of the Lightning Reclamation Bureau and Enzul, a denizen of the Emporium and scholar of Second Age magic, that the monstrosity was defeated. Both heroes lost their lives in the ensuing fight.
The government of the Shifting Expanse issued a formal apology for the unpredicted events of their annual holiday. The official representative of the Tempest Spire stated "We mourn with the world, for all our children lost in this tragedy. We must look to the future, to rebuild and repair that which has been destroyed." The other flights of Sornieth have been pressuring for financial recompense for decades, to no avail.diconnected and dioriented. Always feel like missing something then it's removed. But lots of people there to support you.You sniff at the odd blue drink in front of you and wrinkle your nose. The likelihood of this guy knowing anything is low at best, so you decide to leave the bar and try to find this Enzul on your own.
The brightly colored stalls proclaim this as the luxury goods quarter, with finely wrought gold from the Sunbeam Ruins is swapped for intricately detailed textiles from the Windswept Plateau. The traders very carefully never ask how their counterparts acquired such treasures.
You've just turned down an alley when you hear a voice call out, "You with the tattoo! Freeze in the name of the law!"
You whirl around and catch a glimpse of a Reclamation Bureau officer, a mirror with bright red wings and the ubiquitous skeleton markings. You don't have time to see more as you instinctually bolt down the alley and away from the officer.
You hear him swear as he starts to chase you. You zip in and around stalls, knocking barrels of goods behind you to hold the officer off.
You turn the corner onto a wide open street and skid as you try to avoid a massive hole in the ground. The officer didn't notice and barreled right into you, knocking you both into the hole.
You land hard, and as you get to your feet, the stench hits you like a wall. You landed in the old sewers beneath the Shifting Emporium, and it's clear no one has been here in years.
The mirror gets to his feet. He wears armor, light enough to move in but heavy enough to take a hit, but at least you don't see any weapons. "My name," he says, "is Taliesin, and I'm taking you in to the Reclamation Bureau. Don't try to run."
A) [[Fight.]]
B) [[Run.]]
You don't even want to know what they have in there. The security must be immense. No, thank you. As you are walking away from the museum, you notice that the roads have a downward slope. With no other plans, you decide to head downhill.
You eventually find yourself at the edge of a small body of water. You’re not sure if a pipe burst or something but it doesn’t look like it’s supposed to be here. It’s the desert after all. All the buildings that would stand within it have fallen over, leading to a bunch of debris poking up out of the water in random places. Funnily, there is a billboard sticking up almost in the exact center of it, partially submerged. The buildings that surround it crowd up right to the water’s edge.
You think about the downward slope. Perhaps a sinkhole?
Static seems to crawl across the surface, it’s completely saturated with either electricity or electricity magic. The air above it even seems to glow a little. Well, the air here is very humid, it’s possible that even getting close to the water’s surface could give you a jolt.
This lake is a death trap.
“Freeze in the name of the law!” Oh, not him again! The mirror that has been dogging you is loping up swiftly behind you. He’s blocking the way back, you have nowhere to go but forward.
A) [[Head straight across the lake.]]
B) [[Stick to the edges.]]
With a running leap and a hard down stroke of your wings you’re airborne. As you gain altitude, you feel the static coming off the lake in the humid air. You pump your wings hard to get high enough above the surface that the static is no longer threatening.
Looking back, you see the mirror trying and failing to keep up with you. He hasn’t taken to the air, instead he is jumping from island to debris-island. He has to take an indirect path and it’s slowing him down immensely.
You face back toward the opposite shore, confident in your success. A roar shatters the sky and you backwing sharply as an imperial flies through where you were going to be. Her backdraft sends you tumbling and you barely right yourself before you fall into the deadly water.
She pivots sharply. Curling back on her path with serpentine grace and coming for you. You had to drop all your speed in order to avoid her, but you are already almost halfway across the lake.
You skim along the water’s surface briefly, as you try to regain your height. She’s holding off from attacking you, wary of getting too close to the electrified water. The reason for her hesitance become clear when a bolt arcs up from the surface and nearly hits you.
You have to strain your wings badly to get out of the way. Unfortunately, flying up has put you back in range of the imperial. She flies at you forcing you to either get hit by her or risk the electricity. Her claws dig sharp lines of pain up your back.
Your heart sinks as you realize just how fast of flyer she is. In one move, she’s back in front of you, looping around, and coming back for another strike. However, you’re very close to shore now. You decide to take a calculated risk. The bolts of electricity may hit you accidentally, but the imperial is trying to hit you intentionally.
When she comes flying straight at you, you fold your wings and drop. She shoots harmlessly over your head. You hear her roar in frustration, but don’t take your eyes off the shoreline. It comes closer and closer.
You feel a sharp crack against your left wing and fall into a tumble, flapping your working, right wing wildly. Claws rake against your side as they try to grab you from the air. You free fall and the hissing sound of static gets louder and louder. You don’t feel yourself hit the water.You grab the mug and take a sip. The smell is odd, but it tastes wonderful, and you chug the whole thing back.
The bartender grins. "Got some blue honey off those bees in the training fields," he said. "Thought it'd make some good mead, and I can tell you liked it. Name's Lectri. Now, who are you lookin' for?"
You explain the little you know about Enzul. He's old. He's a guardian. And he's somewhere in the Shifting Emporium.
The ridgeback hummed. A customer down the bar ordered one of the blue meads, and Lectri took time to think about your question as he served the other dragon.
"Well, you might want to try down in the historic district. I know a couple guys at the scrapyard down there who know absolutely everyone in the Emporium since everyone brings their trash there. See if you can find Sparkplug, she knows where everything is in that dump."
You thank him for the mead and the information, and you head out to find the junkyard.
You were expecting a small, somewhat rundown dump. As you approached the junkyard, your eyes widen at the sheer mountains of trash.
"New to the junkyard, I take it?" a small nocturne asks. She zips around you before deciding to hover in front of you. "I'm Sparkplug, I run this place and sell the parts that are still usable, what's your name and what are you looking for and *ooooooooo* is that residue from one of Andy's projects?" she says, not taking a single breath between words.
Eventually, you're able to get a word in edgewise. You introduce yourself, explain the unfortunate effects of Andy's flashbang, and say you're looking for an old guardian named Enzul.
Sparkplug fidgets the entire time, and by the end she's visibly vibrating with energy. "Woah that's so cool! I don't know an Enzul per se, but if Andy sent you, I can send you back to her! I always know where she is. If you do me a teensy-weensy favor," she says with a sly smile.
You sigh and ask what the favor is.
"Well, one of my workers misplaced an old piece of machinery that Andy wanted. If you're already heading back to her, would you mind going and finding it for me? Oh, you *will*? You're a dear," Sparkplug says, not even waiting for your answer.
There are two paths through the junkyard. Well, really only one that goes through it, but there's a clear path on the edge as well.
A) [[Go through the middle.]]
B) [[Go around the edge.]]With a determined look on your face, you head down into the middle of the junkyard. You enter a series of canyons and tunnels, all made of the surrounding junk from centuries of people living in the Emporium. You swear you even see a broken cogfrog of all things, but there was a slight avalanche that buried it before you could check.
Sparkplug had described the device as "big, sparky, with a lot of loose and broken panels". That, unfortunately, described half the junk in the scrapyard. Fortunately, it also had three big red buttons and the official seal of the Tempest Spire engraved onto it.
As you look around and half-heartedly dig into the junk piles, your arm occasionally prickles. Frowning, you walk until it starts to prickle again, and then you follow what feels like a magical signal.
You eventually find a book that makes your arm surge with magic before subsiding. The book is weathered and crumbling to dust. Half the pages are torn out, and many of the remaining ones are burnt. You can just make out the title, "*Words of the Speaker*". You wrack your brain for forgotten history lessons. A few of the remaining paragraphs make you think this is writing about some prophet from the Second Age.
You carefully wrap the book in a scarf you have, and you place it in your bag. You'll examine it later. You turn to keep looking, and you see the device you were sent for.
You approach it cautiously, not wanting to get burnt by a stray spark.
A) [[Try to figure out the device yourself.]]
B) [[Take the device to Andy.]]You walk around the edge of the junkyard. Nothing seems to catch your eye, since it's mostly just old scrap, and so eventually you decide to wander away to try and find Enzul yourself. Sparkplug wasn't terribly helpful, but at least you're already in the historic district.
You’re in the older section of the Emporium, with actual building instead of canvas tents.Pretty soon you find yourself in front of the Museum. This Enzul guy was really old right? Maybe you can find a clue inside.
Heading in, you find yourself in a wide open atrium with a domed glass ceiling. It’s full of glass cases holding unique magical artifacts. There are a handful of dragons milling about the area. For this place to even be in operation, they must have great security.
You wander among the displays, but nothing really catches your eye. It’s pretty disappointing. You overheard some other dragons talking, they seem to agree with you.
“I’m just saying that for a Museum in such a magical place, they don’t really have much that’s actually interesting.”
“We’ll what do you expect. Even in the friendliest libraries of the Promenade, all the good books are kept in the back. I wonder where their storage area is. This huge hall makes up the whole building.”
You listen until they’re out of earshot. You scratch at your tattoo absently and casually look around for a door leading somewhere, but see nothing. All four walls have windows to the outside.
A low prickling ache that starts in your arm, and crawls across your chest and up your throat. It builds up fast, going from an ache to sharp pain. Your tattoo is glowing brightly enough that the other patrons are starting to look at you. Blearily you stumble outside and around a corner. You trip into a hole by the side of the building. You crash hard and just lay there, feeling like you're too large for your skin.
The feeling recedes as quickly as it came, and you host yourself up on shaky arms. Looking down at yourself, you can see that you're tattoo has spread and now fully covers your chest. Static is clinging to your skin.
The hole you tripped into is actually a stairwell. You’re sitting in front of double doors that are locked with a state-of-the-art magic lock…or they were locked. It seems your surge of magic shorted it out. Perhaps this is the storage space those dragons were talking about?
A) [[Go inside.]]
B)[[It's not worth the risk.]]You pull the device out of the junkpile, causing another minor avalanche. You push a few of the panels around, and it looks like you could pretty easily put it back together.
You manage to find some of the tools you'd need just lying around in the scrapyard. Lightning dragons throw out or lose a lot of wrenches, screwdrivers, welding torches, protective goggles, and *wow is that an actual room-sized sewing machine*.
You shake your head, clearing it of the distracting items scattered around you. Carefully, you start to put the device together. You check the wiring, replacing old and damaged wires with some you find in an old electrician's powerpack. The panels are mostly okay, with some needing to be hammered into shape. You use some heavy mechanojet boots as a makeshift anvil. Each clash of the hammer sends sparks flying from the boots, and you admit that this part is kind of fun.
After some steady work, the device seems to be in working order. Of course, you still have no idea what it does, and you weren't able to get one of the buttons hooked up to the circuit board.
But, there are two working buttons, and you're dying to press one of them.
A) [[Press the top button.]]
B) [[Press the bottom button.]]As you go to push the bottom button, you hear a dragon coming around the corner. You hesitate for a moment, but decide to push the button anyway. It clicks into the device just as you see Andy walk up.
The device starts to whirr ominously, shaking and rattling in your claws. Andy's eyes widen when you nervously drop the device. With a disproportionate *bang*, you feel a rush of sparking magic roll through you. The wave of magic shoves you and Andy backwards, and the artifact in your arm burns.
Darkness takes over your vision, and you faint.
You come to later, in a cage. An imposing imperial stands outside of it, staring you down.
"So you're the one who stole this artifact," she says. "I'm Commander Mirshann, head of the Reclamation Bureau. You know, I absolutely *loved* the chase you and your compatriots led me on." The heavy notes of sarcasm send your stomach plummeting.
"Oh come on, Captain Serious Face," Andy says from your left. You see she's in the cage next to you, as is Cat, looking a little worse for wear. "You know you love the chase."
Mirshann's eye twitches. "That's *Commander* to you, thief."
Andy gives a mock insulted gasp. "My dear captain, I'm no thief. I specialize in rapid disassembly, and my companion here is in charge of specialty acquisitions." Cat gives a wry grin and a thumbs up.
Your arm prickles as Andy banters with the grumpy commander. You scratch at it, hoping no one notices.
"And what of this accomplice here," Mirshann says, roughly gesturing at you.
"An maligned bystander, a poor unfortunate soul who merely happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Andy said with a dramatic gesture.
The prickle in your arm grows stronger. You feel like you're going to black out again.
"That's not what the witness reports say," Mirshann growls. "No matter, all three of you are going away for a very long time."
Your arm starts to glow, and the other three all notice it. Cat and Andy's eyes widen, and Mirshann frowns.
A massive magical pressure feels like it's barely being held in your arm, and you feel it creeping up towards your heart.
The last thing you see is Cat, frantically looking for any way to escape; Andy, praying to whatever gods will listen; Mirshann, shouting orders at the Bureau agents nearby; and–
Everything goes white.You press the top button, and the device beeps and starts to whirr. You hear a dragon coming round the corner, and you stand up quickly. You relax when you see that it's Andy.
She gives you a grin when she sees you, and her eyes widen when she sees the device. It's now humming and beeping, lights running up and down it. "Is that what I think it is?" A small black cat pokes its head out of her bag and leaps onto your shoulder, leaning down to sniff at the device.
You shrug. You have no idea what it does, you just fixed it. You hand it over to Andy to examine.
"Sorry about Bigby by the way," she says, gesturing to the cat on your shoulders as she examines the device. "He's a curious one, especially when I don't have my golem watching him."
You give Bigby some scritches under his chin and say that it's fine. Bigby is a friendly cat and seems to have claimed you as his own already, settling in for a nap on your shoulder.
"So, it looks like this thing can track Second Age magic," Andy says with a whistle of appreciation. "You did a good job fixing it. I know Enzul has a ton of Second Age artifacts in his basement, from what Cat's told me. We can use this to go find him."
Andy fiddles with the device to configure it, and then the two of you set off to find Enzul.
You walk through the various districts, eventually getting the strongest signal around a rather unassuming house with a blue lantern hanging over it. Andy knocks on the door, and a hooded guardian answers. "And what manner of trouble are you two?" the guardian says.
"Well, I brought you a bit of an interesting problem, Old Man," she says, pointing at your tattooed arm. You shift uncomfortably as Enzul regards you.
"Come in. I'll remove that from you," he says, leading you two inside to a table. "Now, I presume you want that artifact out of you before you end up dead?"
You nod vigorously and explain how you came about it as he examines your arm. Enzul snorts at hearing about your chase through the bazaar. His claw traces its way up your arm, following the longest tendril that had just reached your chest. Another claw touches where the artifact entered. He presses down hard on both places and you feel his magic abruptly crescendo. It feels like his claws are driving down deep enough to hit bone, and then you feel the grating rasp of metal cutting under your skin. It’s agony worse than even the surges and it’s hard to even stay conscious.
When the pain suddenly dies down, you’re sweating and shaking, but the bracer is laying innocuously in the middle of the table.
“These were very popular in the second age,” Enzul says, picking it up. “It’s keyed to the creator's signature but not very well. Anyone that even had a passing similarity could also use it, so the magic users from that time started building in... failsafes, we’ll say. If you didn’t know how to use it, the magic in it would kill you."
You gulp and scoot away from the table, very glad it was out. Andy stifles her laugh.
Andy puts the device you'd fixed onto the table. "Here, payment for services rendered," she says.
Enzul eyes the device with suspicion. "It's not going to blow up on me, is it?"
Andy shakes her head. "No, no, I didn't fix this one, the intern did," she says, jerking her thumb towards you. "It tracks Second Age magic. Thought you'd like it, since I don't think Cat and I are going to be messing with any more Second Age nonsense."
"Very well, thank you. Now please get out of my house," he says, ushering you two to leave.
Outside, Andy gives you a critical eye. You ask her what she's thinking.
"How do you feel about jailbreaks? Cat's been languishing long enough."You pull the device out of the junkpile, causing another minor avalanche. You carefully place it in your bag next to the book, and you make your way out of the maze of scrap.
Sparkplug zips up to your face as you walk out. "Well, didja find it?" You nod, and she grins. "Alrighty! Now, you said Andy went to distract ol' Serious Face? So then she should be–"
"I'm right here, Sparky," Andraste says as she lands next to the two of you. "And you found my intern, thank you darling."
A golem shaped like a dragon emerges from Andy's bag, followed by a tiny black cat. "*Calculating a 97.2 percent probability that Sparkplug is going to repay your favor,*" the golem said in a mechanical voice.
"Thank you, Smallfry. Keep an eye on Bigby for me will you?" she says as she taps a few buttons on the golem's control gauntlet. The cat jumps off of Andy and into the junkyard, the golem hovering over it. "So, you're finally paying me back for that favor, Sparky?"
"Yessiree, Andy," Sparkplug says as she gestures to you. You pull the device out of your bag, and Andy's eyes go wide with greed. "I know you like weird things out of the Spire and I saw this the other day."
"Wonderful. Come along now, intern. We have places to be," Andy says, whistling for her golem and cat. You start to ask about Enzul, and Andy kicks you in the shin when Sparkplug isn't looking. "Later," she hisses out.
The two of you leave the junkyard, and Andy leads you to a nearby boarded-up building. She lifts up a few boards in one of the windows, and you enter the abandoned shack.
"Man, Sparkplug has no idea the value of what she's got in that scrapyard of hers," Andy says as she examines the device you'd found. "You know what this is? It's made to find Second Age magic. Also known as that little artifact in your arm." She pokes at some of the broken panels. "I think I can reconfigure this to overload your arm and get the artifact out. Want to give it a shot?"
A) [[]]
B) [[]]The two of you dive headfirst into tinkering this old device, passing each other different tools. Andy has her golem, Smallfry, give a hand, as Bigby the cat explores the abandoned house you found.
It takes a while, neither of you used to working with each other or on technology this old, but eventually you manage to get it in working order.
"Well, Smallfry, what are the odds?" Andy asks, wiping sweat away.
"*30.2 percent it works, 68.6 it does nothing, and 2.2 chance of catastrophic failure*," the golem says in its flat electronic voice.
"I like those odds. What about you, intern?" Andy asks you. You nod. Thirty percent chance is better than not ever getting it off, and you want this artifact gone.
Your arm starts to prickle as the two of you fit the device around your arm. "It's probably going to hurt, so I'm sorry about that," Andy says as she clicks in the last slot. "Well, here goes."
She pushes the button, and the device starts to whirr ominously. The two of you look at each other, and you know in the pit of your stomach that this was a terrible idea.
Andy realizes the same thing and starts trying to tear it off your arm, muttering prayers and curses under her breath. Her cat tears out of the hiding space he found, running out of the house and into the bazaar. The device is beeping frantically, and you feel your arm start to burn. The magic in the device and your arm surge, rushing towards your heart and your head.
You give out a yelp of pain as you're knocked unconscious, mere moments before the device on your arm blows up, leaving a crater where the abandoned house once stood.Andy gives a dramatic sigh of disappointment. "Well, if we *must*. I do still need to fix this up enough to track magic. Cat's usually the one trying to find Enzul, but I do know he has a lot of Second Age junk in his basement. Shouldn't take more than a jiff."
Indeed, Andy had been fixing the device while she talked to you, and soon enough it was beeping and whirring. With the occasional worrying *c-c-c-click* and *ker-chunk*. Andy tosses it carelessly at you, and somehow you catch it without dropping it.
The two of you set out, following where the device beeps. It's a meandering path through the districts, eventually leading to the residential district. The device starts to beep faster, and you look nervously at Andy.
"Oh, *Shade*," she swears, grabbing the device out of your hand and flinging it hard into the air. She slams you down onto the ground as the device explodes overhead, raining you with scrap bits and bolts.
A door with a blue lantern hanging over it bangs open. "What in the gods name is that racket?!" a gruff guardian yells.
Andy breaks into a smile. "Old Man! Long time no see!"
The guardian looks at the two of you. "Should have known it was you. Where's Cotriona?" You presume he's Enzul.
"She, uh, got a wee bit tied up with the Reclamation Bureau. Mind if me and the intern come in?"
Enzul sighs and looks at you. His eyes light up when he sees the tattooed artifact on your arm. "Come in. I'll remove that from you," he says, leading you two inside to a table. "Now, I presume you want that artifact out of you before you end up dead?"
You nod vigorously and explain how you came about it as he examines your arm. Enzul snorts at hearing about your chase through the bazaar. His claw traces its way up your arm, following the longest tendril that had just reached your chest. Another claw touches where the artifact entered. He presses down hard on both places and you feel his magic abruptly crescendo. It feels like his claws are driving down deep enough to hit, and then you feel the grating rasp of metal cutting under your skin. It’s agony worse than even the surges and it’s hard to even stay conscious.
When the pain suddenly dies down, you’re sweating and shaking, but the bracer is laying innocuously in the middle of the table.
“These were very popular in the second age,” Enzul says, picking it up. “It’s keyed to the creator's signature but not very well. Anyone that even had a passing similarity could also use it, so the magic users from that time started building in... failsafes, we’ll say. If you didn’t know how to use it, the magic in it would kill you."
You gulp and scoot away from the table, very glad it was out. Andy stiffles her laugh.
"If that's all?" Enzul asks, still regarding the artifact.
"Keep the bracer as payment," Andy says. "It's caused more than enough trouble for us."
"Very well, thank you Andraste. Now please get out of my house," he says, ushering you two to leave.
Outside, Andy gives you a critical eye. You ask her what she's thinking.
"How do you feel about jailbreaks? Cat's been languishing long enough."
You leap at him, trying to take him by surprise. Taliesin's eyes widen in surprise before he dives out of the way. You scrabble to get a steady footing on the slippery surface of the sewers. A clod of something disgusting and vaguely green comes off the floor, and you fling it immediately at the mirror.
Taliesin lets out a little bark, a burst of fire coming out of his mouth to incinerate the clump.
The two of you circle each other, waiting for an opening. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the surging sewer water. A hasty plan forms in your head as you feign tripping on the stones below.
Taliesin takes the opening and leaps at you. You roll beneath him and kick up with your hind legs, sending him flying into the dark water. He flails wildly and gasps, just barely keeping his head above water as he paddles back to the edge.
You look down at him from above and growl. His ears press back against his head in fear. "The commander is going to kill me," he said, voice squeaking. You snort. No, you weren't going anywhere near the Reclamation Bureau office.
"I can, uh, help you get out of these sewers," he offers. "Just... please don't kill me."
A) [[Accept his offer.]]
B) [[Leave him and find a way out on your own.]]You run away, down the slimy paths of the abandoned sewer. You can hear Taliesin following you, and you run faster through ancient aqueducts.
You turn the corner and there's a deadend at a waterfall. You hear Taliesin catching up to you. With a quick prayer, you take a running leap and stretch your wings as much as you're able to. Somehow, you manage to get enough air to glide to the top of the waterfall.
You exhale in relief as you slow down a little, now looking for a way out. Hopefully the waterfall would keep him occupied for a while.
You come across a split in the path. There's a tunnel to the left and the right. The left path has an open gate with a lever you think will send it crashing to the ground. You see a light at the end of the tunnel to the right. You hear running footsteps behind you.
A) [[Take the open path.]]
B) [[Go through the gate.]]You haul the mirror out of the water. He shakes off, splattering you with rancid water. The two of your stare at each other, awkwardness radiating in the air.
"So, uh, let's go down this path?" Taliesin said. "There might be a ladder up." You nod and start forging a path ahead, keeping a careful eye on the Bureau agent. You're cautious, for all that you are forgiving.
What you aren't, however, is talkative. Taliesin's babbling fills the air instead, but you're grateful for the noise. It takes your mind off the magic of the tattoo on your arm that ebbs and flows. He asks too many questions you don't want to answer. You ignore those for the most part, hoping he'll stop asking things about your life.
"Why did you pick that artifact up anyway?" he asks.
"Where are you from?"
"Why did you run from me?"
He never seems to shut up.
It takes you two almost an hour, but you eventually find a ladder. The only problem is that it's thirty feet up and inside a narrow hole. Neither of you would fit with your wings out.
You sit and ponder the problem, and Taliesin goes off somewhere. You're still no closer to solving the problem when he comes back with a decrepit rope and a rusty hook. "I had a hunch there would be something that washed up down here," he said. "You any good with knots? We might be able to throw this onto the bottom rung and climb up."
You take the rope. For all that it seemed to be rotting, you can tell it is sturdy enough for a climb, if you're quick. You tie the rope to the hook and throw it up. It takes a few tries, but you're able to get it onto the bottom rung.
You notice that Taliesin's eyes were on your unwilling tattoo the entire time. You ask him to stop staring.
"I will if you tell me what happened," he says. "And if you call me Tali. Only my boss uses Taliesin."
A) [[Tell him about the tattoo.]]
B) [[Don't tell him.]]
You run as you leave Taliesin behind. The light at the end of this tunnel starts to get brighter, and you hope it's an exit to the surface.
You approach and turn the corner, and your face falls. In front of you is a glowing white crystal, not the exit. Worse, your arm with the tattoo starts to itch something awful. You scratch at it, but you can feel a painful surge of magic rush up your arm and towards your heart.
You black out.
You come to a few moments later. Everything seems to be okay, other than the slight dizziness and double vision. You shake your head, trying to clear it, and you press onward.
You follow the twists and turns of the sewers, getting steadily more and more lost.
You feel your arm start to prickle again. There's another split in paths. You pause for a few minutes, letting yourself sob and groan and curse the unfairness of it all.
But you have to press on. You don't want to stay in these sewers any longer.
You just have to keep moving.
A) [[Left path.]]
B) [[Right path.]]You run as you leave Taliesin behind. The light at the end of this tunnel starts to get brighter, and you hope it's an exit to the surface.
You approach and turn the corner, and your face falls. In front of you is a glowing white crystal, not the exit. Worse, your arm with the tattoo starts to itch something awful. You scratch at it, but you can feel a painful surge of magic rush up your arm and towards your heart.
You black out.
You come to a few moments later. Everything seems to be okay, other than the slight dizziness and double vision. You shake your head, trying to clear it, and you press onward.
You follow the twists and turns of the sewers, getting steadily more and more lost.
You feel your arm start to prickle again. There's another split in paths. You pause for a few minutes, letting yourself sob and groan and curse the unfairness of it all.
But you have to press on. You don't want to stay in these sewers any longer.
You just have to keep moving.
A) [[Left path.]]
B) [[Right path.]]You dive to the left, yanking the lever as you go and sending the gate crashing down behind you. You hear a sharp yelp, and through the gate you see Taliesin hopping up and down while holding his front foot.
The gate has bought you some time, but you still need to find a way out of the sewers. You see Taliesin start to breathe fire on the gate, trying to melt it as you slip away.
You find yourself in a large central chamber, a churning vortex of water in the middle as four underground sewer rivers converge. The smell is awful, but at least there are glowing stones on the wall that let you see.
Across the water, on the opposite side of the chamber, you see a ladder going up. A grin breaks out on your face as you see an end to your current trials.
Your arm starts to prickle.
A) [[In your eagerness, you take a running leap over the pool of water.]]
B) [[Cautiously, you stick to going around the edge of the chamber.]]You tell him you're dying. As you explain what you know about the artifact, you can feel it growing along your arm. You don't know how much time you have left, but all you want to do is get the artifact off of you. You scratch nervously at the tattoo on your arm.
Tali looks at you with pitying eyes. "Any idea how to get it off?" he asks, all honest. You shake your head, and you feel tears start to form in your eyes.
He puts a reassuring hand on your shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. We'll figure this thing out, I promise." You look up at him, and the only thing you can see on his face is an earnestness you haven't seen in a long time. "Now, is there anybody who would have a clue?"
In a halting voice, you tell him what you know about Enzul. He nods along. "I can find him. Come on, let's go get that artifact off you," he says with a kind smile.
As he leads you out of the sewer and back into the bazaar, you feel the smallest spark of hope for the first time since this cursed artifact turned into a tattoo. Tali goes on a winding path through the bazaar, pausing to sniff the air occasionally. You have no idea what he's doing, but he radiates a confidence in his search.
Eventually, Tali stops in an alleyway in the residential district. He knocks on an unassuming door with a blue lantern hanging over it, and a massive guardian in a hood answers the door. "Enzul, I take it?" Tali asks.
"Now, why's a Bureau dog askin'?" the guardian said in a gravely voice. He towers over you and Tali. "And how'd you find me?"
Tali hesitates. "This dragon here needs your help. I'll... I'll do whatever it takes to help them out." He nervously gulps, but he remains steadfast. "I'm a good tracker."
Enzul snorts. You scratch at your arm as you feel a surge of magic beginning, and the guardian turns towards you, his eyes pinning you in place. He looks intrigued. "Well, why don't you both come on in and we can work out a fee for my help."
He leads you two inside and towards a table. "Now, I presume you want that artifact out of you before you end up dead?"
You nod vigorously and explain how you came about it as he examines your arm. Enzul snorts at hearing Cat and Andy were involved. "Of course they were." His claw traces its way up your arm, following the longest tendril that had just reached your chest. Another claw touches where the artifact entered. He presses down hard on both places and you feel his magic abruptly crescendo. It feels like his claws are driving down deep enough to hit, and then you feel the grating rasp of metal cutting under your skin. It’s agony worse than even the surges and it’s hard to even stay conscious.
When the pain suddenly dies down, you’re sweating and shaking, but the bracer is laying innocuously in the middle of the table.
“These were very popular in the second age,” Enzul says, picking it up. “It’s keyed to the creator's signature but not very well. Anyone that even had a passing similarity could also use it, so the magic users from that time started building in... failsafes, we’ll say. If you didn’t know how to use it, the magic in it would kill you."
You hear Tali gulp. "That's... more than a little terrifying," he says. "And dark. There's a reason the Bureau wanted it back."
"Indeed. Now, my fee." Enzul hums as he considers it. "I'll take a year of service from you, dog."
"Me?" Tali exclaims. "But–" He glances over to you. With a sigh, he gathers up his remaining courage. "Very well. A service for a service. Provided that my friend here is free to leave."
"Of course, of course," Enzul says, waving you away. "I believe your friend here has learned their lesson about the dangers of the Shifting Emporium. Now, let's put you to work, dog." Enzul ducks out of the room and deeper into the house.
Tali exhales the breath he'd been holding. "Are you going to be all right on your own?" he asks you. You nod and ask the same thing. He gives you a weak smile. "Don't worry about me. Just don't go picking up anymore dark artifacts, you hear me?"You don't tell him you're dying. That's personal business, nothing he needs to know. You sigh, resigning yourself to Tali's stares.
The two of you climb out, with you leading the way. The rope miraculously holds, and you feel a sense of relief as you clamber up the ladder towards the surface. You can finally get out of the dank dark sewers and go find–
You emerge and are immediately confronted by a rather angry-looking imperial, bright pink skeleton markings stark against her blue scales. Dark armor covers her, and you see a glinting sword on her back. She smiles, a slow, languid smile that gives you enough time to realize just how much trouble you're in.
"So you're the one who stole this artifact," she says. "I'm Commander Mirshann, head of the Reclamation Bureau. You know, I absolutely loved the chase you and your compatriots led me on." The heavy notes of sarcasm send your stomach plummeting. You glance down to see if you could fall back down, but Tali is right behind you, eyes wide as he hears his boss.
You're hauled out of the sewer grate, chains immediately binding your wings down as Reclamation Bureau agents start hauling you to their field office. Behind you, you can see Tali climbing up and giving a nervous salute to the imposing imperial.
You're thrown unceremoniously into a holding cell. A few agents bustle around you, examining your arm and the tattoo. You catch phrases like "difficult removal", "flood with magic", and "likelihood of death", and you scratch nervously at your arm as you feel magic building up.
You hear Commander Mirshann berating Tali in her personal office nearby, and he slinks out, giving you a guilty look as he passes. "Sorry," he says quietly after making sure no one could overhear.
A pair of scientists approach you with a device that whirrs ominously. "Hopefully this will remove the artifact," one says to the other as they clamp the device onto your arm. "Thankfully we had the time to finish it with the Puppy's misadventure in those sewers."
You swallow nervously. The devices starts to whirr louder, lights blinking on and off and sparks flying. You feel a prickle build up in your arm, growing stronger and more painful as it crawls towards your heart. A warning light goes off. The two scientists look at each other before diving behind a desk.
The device is blaring a horn, and–
Everything goes white.
It's been hours. Everything is dark, darker than any place you've ever been. You try to cast a small light with your magic, but every spark gets swallowed up by the dark.
You're scared. Your arm is starting to prickle again. You walk a little faster, scanning the walls and ceiling for any openings.
You jump, startled, as you catch something moving in the water out the corner of your eye.
You lean back against the wall, as far as you can get from the water, while you try to stop your heart from pounding.
You gulp, a sound that's drowned out by the water that is definitely surging up and over the edge and oh gods you're running now.
You bolt down the tunnel, trying to find something, anything, but mostly just trying to get *away*. The tattoo on your arm starts to burn bright with magic, lighting your way for all that your arm feels like it's on fire.
You turn the corner and–
Dead end.
The burning flares up, racing across your chest as it heats up to unbearable pain.
You turn, just in time to see the water monster looming up over you, its mouth gaping wide open with so many teeth.
The burning reaches your cheeks, then your eyes. Everything burns white.
Then darkness.You take the path on the right, for lack of any better options. It feels like hours as you plod along in the dark, unchanging sewers.
You nearly miss it, and you trip and fall as your brain catches up with your eyes.
"[i]Exit[/i]", written on a set of levers.
Searching the area, you can see the outline of a door in the wall. You yank on the first lever and hear the groaning of ancient, rusted gears. A loud *chunk* comes from behind the stone door, but it doesn't open.
Feeling a spark of hope for the first time in a while, you pull the second lever.
The floor falls from beneath you. You just barely manage to grab onto the edge. Below you, dark sewer water churns. You haul yourself back over the edge.
The door still isn't open.
With a grunt of annoyance, you yank down the third lever and are rewarded with an ear-splitting screech as the wall slides open, revealing a ladder lit with glowing emergency lights.
You climb up. It's much taller than you remember falling down. The ladder creaks and groans, making some rather unnerving popping noises.
It holds, if only barely, and you eventually reach the surface. You collapse onto the sweet desert ground, vowing never to go in the dark underground again.
Your vision blurs and you feel yourself slipping into unconsciousness. You swear you see a blue pearlcatcher that looks like Cat, but the sweet oblivion of rest takes over.
You wake up sometime later in a pile of what smells like dirty clothes in a back alley. You look down and note with surprise that, while your arm is sore, the tattoo is gone. Your arm is covered in faint twining scars, but there's no cursed artifact embedded in it anymore.
There's no trace of anyone else.You take a leap of faith across the churning pool of water, your eagerness to escape overtaking your common sense. You believe, for a moment, that you're going to make it.
You belly flop painfully into the water. It takes a moment of flailing to get back to the surface, but you see you're not too far off from the edge. You start paddling towards the edge, but a glint of gold under the water catches your eye.
You look back. The Bureau agent is still struggling with the gate. You've got some time, might as well make this whole cursed trip to the sewers worth it.
Taking a deep breath, you dive below the surface, aiming for the golden glint. It's shallower than you expected, and you manage to grab the object. It feels stuck beneath rock and water, but a solid yank pulls it out. You swim back to the surface, gasping for breath as you emerge.
You look at the golden object in your hands. It's a statue of an unidentifiable dragon, made of finely wrought gold. There are small diamonds gleaming in its eyes, and its claws are made from polished obsidian. You whistle to yourself, recognizing a very old, very *valuable* object.
Best of all, this one didn't have any magic in it as far as you could tell.
You stuff the object in your bag. The prickling in your arm has subsided for the moment as you climb out of the water and shake off. You climb up the ladder and breathe a sigh of relief when you can see the sky.
A face appears in the opening. You yelp, startled, but at least it's Cat and not another Bureau agent.
"Come on," she growls out. "I'm taking you to Enzul." You nod meekly and let her lead, too exhausted to put up a fight.
Cat leads you through the bazaar and knocks on an unassuming door. A hooded guardian answers. "Ah, Cotriona. You've found it," he says, gesturing for you two to enter.
"Yeah, and they're on the hook for paying for your services," Cat grumbled.
Enzul snorts. You scratch at your arm as you feel a surge of magic beginning, and the guardian turns towards you, his eyes pinning you in place. He looks intrigued. "Well, why don't you both come on in and we can work out a fee for my help."
He leads you two inside and towards a table. "Now, I presume you want that artifact out of you before you end up dead?"
You nod vigorously and explain how you came about it as he examines your arm. Enzul's claw traces its way up your arm as you tell your tale, following the longest tendril that had just reached your chest. Another claw touches where the artifact entered. He presses down hard on both places and you feel his magic abruptly crescendo. It feels like his claws are driving down deep enough to hit, and then you feel the grating rasp of metal cutting under your skin. It’s agony worse than even the surges and it’s hard to even stay conscious.
When the pain suddenly dies down, you’re sweating and shaking, but the bracer is laying innocuously in the middle of the table.
"My help does not come cheaply," Enzul says.
A bright idea occurs to you. You pull out the dragon statue you found in the water and ask if that would cover some of the cost.
Enzul's eyes gleam with greed. "Where did you find this intriguing little object?" he asks with a casualness that's trying to disguise his interest.
You explain about your escapade through the sewers. Cat laughs at hearing about how you ditched Taliesin. "Well, you've got some spunk and intelligence at least," she remarks dryly.
"I suppose this is enough to pay for my services," Enzul says, swiping up the golden dragon statue before anyone could object. "Now, if you'll excuse me, get out of my house."
You exit, breathing the fresh air of the surface world. No more cursed objects, it was time to go enjoy the Shifting Emporium.You cautiously make your way around the edge of the room, hopping from platform to platform as you make your way to the ladder. You reach it with ease and climb. The ancient ladder makes odd groans and pops, but it holds as you ascend out of the sewer. It takes you a quarter of an hour to reach the top, where you shove a sewer grate out of the way.
You emerge and are immediately confronted by a rather angry-looking imperial, bright pink skeleton markings stark against her blue scales. Dark armor covers her, and you see a glinting sword on her back. She smiles, a slow, languid smile that gives you enough time to realize just how much trouble you're in.
"So you're the one who stole this artifact," she says. "I'm Commander Mirshann, head of the Reclamation Bureau. You know, I absolutely *loved* the chase you and your compatriots led me on." The heavy notes of sarcasm send your stomach plummeting. You glance down to see if you could fall back down, but it's a long way down.
You're hauled out of the sewer grate, chains immediately binding your wings down as Reclamation Bureau agents start hauling you to their field office.
You're thrown unceremoniously into a holding cell. A few agents bustle around you, examining your arm and the tattoo. You catch phrases like "difficult removal", "flood with magic", and "likelihood of death", and you scratch nervously at your arm as you feel magic building up.
((Andraste is in the cell next to you, and she sees you scratching at your arm. She backs away to the far corner of her cell, as far away from you as possible.))
You hear Commander Mirshann berating Tali in her personal office nearby, and he slinks out, giving you a guilty look as he passes. "Sorry," he says quietly after making sure no one could overhear.
A pair of scientists approach you with a device that whirrs ominously. "Hopefully this will remove the artifact," one says to the other as they clamp the device onto your arm. "Thankfully we had the time to finish it with the Puppy's misadventure in those sewers."
You swallow nervously. The devices starts to whirr louder, lights blinking on and off and sparks flying. You feel a prickle build up in your arm, growing stronger and painful as it crawls towards your heart. A warning light goes off. The two scientists look at each other before diving behind a desk.
The device is blaring a horn, ((Andy is praying to whatever gods will listen)), and–
Everything goes white.It's clean and dark. There are rooms here with lots of artifacts, large and small, covered in sheets. Your tattoo actually helps you see in the dark.
As you make your way further in, you start to feel an odd pulse. It beats hard enough to rattle your bones, but you know it isn’t your bones that are rattling. You find it comforting; like a heartbeat.
You follow it deeper, until you can see your tattoo glow brighter in time with the pulses. You’re able to instinctively follow it deeper and deeper into the museum storage areas.
The heartbeat is warm and comforting, you feel like you are coming home. You don’t even notice when you break into a run, skidding around corners and knocking over priceless artifacts in your haste.
And there it is, looming over you and separated from you by only a paltry sheet. You reach up and pull away the dust cover.
The sight of the face jars you. It is not the face of a dragon, instead it is flat like a dunhoof’s face. Why should it matter that it isn’t a dragon? Because you are a dragon, aren’t you? Aren’t you? But why does it matter, when that magnificent, 12- eyed visage is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? It is so beautiful and whole.
The gems of it’s eyes glow at you.
A) [[Glow back.]]