[IC] Shattered Magic -- GURPS 4e High magic fantasy

[younglorax]

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

"if you can find a seller, I have heard of sellers who want $9000."

OOC: The prices of expensive medicines are more or less unchanged: although it is much harder to make them (decreased supply), many purchasers don't trust that these medicines will still work as advertised (decreased demand).

Henri seems a little shocked by the price. "My word. Well, if we can find it, then it would be worth that cost."

"I hope you have the time to find and bring such an elixir here. However, you may well have to consider the spell method if things here go badly." Korbin tells him.

"How long would it take to procure it? Could you find it for us, or lead someone from our village to do so?"

OOC: Korbin believes he would be able to find it Quanton.

Originally Posted by Totem

Corbaen frowns, considering that given how easily magic seems to be available sometimes, some parts of it can clearly be charged a lot for. He then reminds himself of the price that his own people put on the Spoken Arts and how they punished those who abused them; both price and punishment reflect the level of responsibility rather than the ease with which they can be used.

"How much danger is this Elder in?" he asked after a moment's thought. "Would it not be possible to move her without the aid of magic, at least for a brief time?"

Henri looks at his lap. "It seems almost as though her body cannot hold itself together. When we have tried stopping the spell briefly, her condition deteriorated so much that we worried we would lose her -- and that was only after a few seconds."

He refrains from adding a comment about abandoning the idea altogether; Coramain, lacking magic, has never had the option of this kind of apparent immortality that these people are determined to practise in this case, and their reliance on the Spoken Arts has produced a twisted kind of selflessness [Duty] where the ideal is to progress yourself along with your family and nation. Individual immortality, whilst not immediately a bad idea, does seem a little contrary to him. That thought starts off another one however.

"Are any others being treated in this way? You have mentioned one individual who is in need of help, but surely something of this kind would be used by more than just one person?"

"The ritual is dangerous to the casters and extensive." He sounds like he is choosing his words very carefully. "Only our elders are kept healthy in this same manner. There are six other elders, but none of them will need this spell again for several years."

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by younglorax

OOC: The prices of expensive medicines are more or less unchanged: although it is much harder to make them (decreased supply), many purchasers don't trust that these medicines will still work as advertised (decreased demand).

Henri seems a little shocked by the price. "My word. Well, if we can find it, then it would be worth that cost."



"How long would it take to procure it? Could you find it for us, or lead someone from our village to do so?"

OOC: Korbin believes he would be able to find it Quanton.


Henri looks at his lap. "It seems almost as though her body cannot hold itself together. When we have tried stopping the spell briefly, her condition deteriorated so much that we worried we would lose her -- and that was only after a few seconds."



"The ritual is dangerous to the casters and extensive." He sounds like he is choosing his words very carefully. "Only our elders are kept healthy in this same manner. There are six other elders, but none of them will need this spell again for several years."

"Quanton may have some in stock, in which case the time required is the journey to there and back. However, making it takes about half a year's labor. This is part of the high cost. The other is that roughly half it's cost is for it's ingredients, which I understand are both dear in cost and rare."

"You would have to have some sort of healing spell going on her as you took it off and keep it going until the spell could be recast. That could be a problem, both because of the difficulty i castin healing magic now and the fact many healing spells work instantly and would have to be constantly recast to fight the degeneration of her body. I think your best hope is to check casting a healing spell in and out of this region and see if it is safer to cast outside it."

"If it is safer to cast it on the outside now, you'll have to risk moving her. Would everyone in the village be willing to participate in ceremonial magic? That might provide the power to compensate for the loss of benefits from this region of yours."

[Totem]

Originally Posted by younglorax

Henri looks at his lap. "It seems almost as though her body cannot hold itself together. When we have tried stopping the spell briefly, her condition deteriorated so much that we worried we would lose her -- and that was only after a few seconds."

Originally Posted by younglorax

"The ritual is dangerous to the casters and extensive." He sounds like he is choosing his words very carefully. "Only our elders are kept healthy in this same manner. There are six other elders, but none of them will need this spell again for several years."

"A piece of good timing there at least," Corbaen reasons. "Would it not be an option to cast this spell to restore youth and then leave it at that? You indicated that she was alternating between an infant state and old age when the spell was cast, and surely at least being an infant would be a safer place to leave her than the cusp of degeneration...

"Even if she was in pain in this state, that can surely be cured more easily than old age itself; no doubt a much simpler spell or potion could be used to relieve pain of that kind for some time. Even I know techniques for relieving pain, although I have never been called upon to test their effectiveness on a child with the mind of an Elder."

[OOC: I haven't heard anything about whether the problems with healing are affecting anaesthetics (or the magical equivilant spells) or just the healing. Technically anaesthetics aren't a kind of healing, since they just remove the pain and don't actually repair anything, and so might not be affected the same way. Corbaen's technique uses hypnotism; RAW lists that a successful attempt can be counted as an anaesthetic for the purposes of surgery, and thus can be extended to relief of pain in general.]

[younglorax]

Originally Posted by Totem

"A piece of good timing there at least," Corbaen reasons. "Would it not be an option to cast this spell to restore youth and then leave it at that? You indicated that she was alternating between an infant state and old age when the spell was cast, and surely at least being an infant would be a safer place to leave her than the cusp of degeneration...

"Even if she was in pain in this state, that can surely be cured more easily than old age itself; no doubt a much simpler spell or potion could be used to relieve pain of that kind for some time. Even I know techniques for relieving pain, although I have never been called upon to test their effectiveness on a child with the mind of an Elder."

"The problem is that we cannot get her to stabilize in ANY state. If we could return her to degenerate age, we would, but we can't seem to make any progress at all. But we would be grateful if you could help relieve her pain."

[OOC: I haven't heard anything about whether the problems with healing are affecting anaesthetics (or the magical equivilant spells) or just the healing. Technically anaesthetics aren't a kind of healing, since they just remove the pain and don't actually repair anything, and so might not be affected the same way. Corbaen's technique uses hypnotism; RAW lists that a successful attempt can be counted as an anaesthetic for the purposes of surgery, and thus can be extended to relief of pain in general.]

You can definitely use hypnosis like that. Some anaesthetics do seem to be affected, but you know that there are still some that work perfectly well. (The anaesthetics available in Coramaen work just fine, and alcohol seems to work as well.)

[Totem]

Originally Posted by younglorax

"The problem is that we cannot get her to stabilize in ANY state. If we could return her to degenerate age, we would, but we can't seem to make any progress at all. But we would be grateful if you could help relieve her pain."

[OOC: I'm going to suggest that we head out for the clearing (we seem to have stalled a bit here). Korbin and Arlen can give their magical assessment, and Corbaen can assist where possible. Then once we've worked out what's going on there we turn around and come back to do some trading. There is one other thing that I want to check, but it'll wait until we reach this Elder.]

[younglorax]

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

"Quanton may have some in stock, in which case the time required is the journey to there and back. However, making it takes about half a year's labor. This is part of the high cost. The other is that roughly half it's cost is for it's ingredients, which I understand are both dear in cost and rare."

"We have rarely traveled beyond our village, and when we do so it has always been by the now-collapsed cliffside path. Perhaps you could lead us out the way you came in, when you depart?"

"You would have to have some sort of healing spell going on her as you took it off and keep it going until the spell could be recast. That could be a problem, both because of the difficulty i castin healing magic now and the fact many healing spells work instantly and would have to be constantly recast to fight the degeneration of her body. I think your best hope is to check casting a healing spell in and out of this region and see if it is safer to cast outside it."

"We do have a healing spell that acts slowly, repairing the body throughout the entire casting, and can continue until the person is completely healed. I expect that that would work for keeping her relatively stable in transit."

"If it is safer to cast it on the outside now, you'll have to risk moving her. Would everyone in the village be willing to participate in ceremonial magic? That might provide the power to compensate for the loss of benefits from this region of yours."

"Yes, I suppose we can try that. It's just that usually this spell is cast by a select few of the most respected healers, in the seclusion of the sacred grove. That is how it has always been done."

Originally Posted by Totem

[OOC: I'm going to suggest that we head out for the clearing (we seem to have stalled a bit here). Korbin and Arlen can give their magical assessment, and Corbaen can assist where possible. Then once we've worked out what's going on there we turn around and come back to do some trading. There is one other thing that I want to check, but it'll wait until we reach this Elder.]

OOC: Go ahead and make your suggestion in character.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by younglorax

"We have rarely traveled beyond our village, and when we do so it has always been by the now-collapsed cliffside path. Perhaps you could lead us out the way you came in, when you depart?"

In the decades your people have lived here No one has explored places a half day's walk from here? Korbin thinks, somewhat boggled.


"The way is in that direction and should be easy to find." Korbin says. "We can show you."

"As for getting the elixir, we may have a way. I'd prefer to check with Hassan, both because as his employees and should let him know of any changes in plans and because a letter with his name and seal onit wil bear more weight, which could be an issue."

"We do have a healing spell that acts slowly, repairing the body throughout the entire casting, and can continue until the person is completely healed. I expect that that would work for keeping her relatively stable in transit."

"The big problem is casting that spell. It pretty much has to be cast correctly the first time. If the region is now tainted against healing that could be a serious issue." he says.

"Yes, I suppose we can try that. It's just that usually this spell is cast by a select few of the most respected healers, in the seclusion of the sacred grove. That is how it has always been done."

"If your area is the problem i can't see any other substitute at hand other than ceremonial magic. Those who can cast Share Energy, known to some as Share Strength would be more effective casting that spell if they aren't expert enough in the primary spell. Scrolls and magic items of that spell would be a good thing to gather for this."

[Totem]

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

In the decades your people have lived here No one has explored places a half day's walk from here? Korbin thinks, somewhat boggled.


"The way is in that direction and should be easy to find." Korbin says. "We can show you."

"As for getting the elixir, we may have a way. I'd prefer to check with Hassan, both because as his employees and should let him know of any changes in plans and because a letter with his name and seal onit wil bear more weight, which could be an issue."

"If your area is the problem i can't see any other substitute at hand other than ceremonial magic. Those who can cast Share Energy, known to some as Share Strength would be more effective casting that spell if they aren't expert enough in the primary spell. Scrolls and magic items of that spell would be a good thing to gather for this."

Corbaen shifts uneasily. "I would suggest that we head out to this sacred place," he says. "From there we can better examine the situation; I doubt that your people can afford to simply spend huge amounts of money on an elixir that may or may not work, and we cannot begin to tell if it will until we check properly. If you could show us the way I believe that there should be enough of the day left to see it." And time for Arlen to find an alternate route that we could have followed which would not make it look like we had passed that closely to the site on our way in, he adds silently; if they wish to keep it secret that the witnessed bits of this ritual before, then it would be best to have such a route laid out ready.

[Captain-Captain]

Bumping the thread.

[younglorax]

Sorry for the long pause -- I'll be back to posting a bit more frequently soon. I just posted some further explanation in the OOC thread.