Come out and play (Malia)

[Liminal]

Ivan pursed his lips. "The secrecy glyph makes it awfully difficult to spot. Unless you're working against another mage who's got some kind of detection spell cast, you won't be able to see this thing unless you're looking right at it -- and you won't hear it at all. It's a powerful piece of equipment, make no mistake."

The man shrugged. "As for who made it, my understanding is that it was a fellow named Forster, but he's been dead for years. The man who sold it to me said that if you try and activate it, there's a step in between where you have to work Akajia into it. Something about a contract? Anyway, there's no one who can give you more details than that, not living anyway. You'd have to try it and see."

Again, the man gave a nonchalant shrug. "If you don't want that, you might be interested in these." There was a small box on the table; he lifted the lid to reveal what looked like several insects, though they were completely motionless. "Mosquito golems, that's what my source told me they were called. Tricky to use, but very effective."

[Malia]

She didn’t show it at all, but Malia was impressed. A powerful golem nobody would see or hear … but the price was too high. She was dedicated to Tanroa and although Akajia would be a powerful ally as well, she didn’t see any connection to Her whatsoever. Night and secrets were a part of Malia’s life, naturally, but time was even more important. A couple of other things were as well. Plus, that guy didn’t seem to know any details and try and error wasn’t really Malia’s favorite way of getting something done. No way could that work.

Fortunately Ivan moved over to another offer that appeared much less complicated. Following the merchant, Malia gazed into the small box. Insects …? They looked like dead mosquito, but Malia knew better. There was a lifeless shimmer to them that revealed a few things about the material they were made of. Although she couldn’t be sure about their purpose, images about spies and funny sneaking constructions crossed her thoughts. Not that she knew if those ever came near enough to her enemies … but it was worth a try.

Straightening, Malia gave a small nod for Ivan to continue with an explanation. “Tell me what you know about them.” She was definitely interested. The thought of money appeared to her, but she shoved it aside for the time being. Before accepting a price, one had to get all the possible information out of the opponent.

Additionally, Malia had to be careful. Mosquito were easy to carry, so that was a potential advantage.

[Liminal]

"Insidious things they are," Ivan replied. "You can send them to look at an enemy's very home, and few would ever notice. If you lace them with poison, you can kill at a distance with a single bite from one. They're effective, though not very durable. Thing is that, even for golems, they're not terribly bright. You tell them what to do verbally, but you've got to be specific. Very specific. Because they have a tendency to interpret things literally."

The man shrugged. "They're used, but they work all right. Got 'em from a guy who'd picked up the box in Sahova. Anyways, you interested?"

[Malia]

Malia gave the artificial insects a long, thoughtful look as Ivan described their abilities. She wasn’t sure what to do. First, the fact that the merchant obviously didn’t know much about the mechanics of what he was selling turned out to be more and more of a problem. She couldn’t be sure that he had answers to her questions. As a consequence she couldn’t risk taking them if she didn’t know how to exactly use them. At that point a tiny little voice inside her head whispered about simply taking them for experiments and studying their mechanism, but she refused to accept that option. She didn’t want golems for scholarly purposes.

Second, the insects didn’t sound too useful, especially when it came to Nuit. There was a very small probability of poison killing a Nuit and Malia didn’t have the resources to experiment with her own kin – or any living being, for that matter – to find out how she could harm them, although that might be an interesting topic for future studies. Perhaps the library of Sahova possessed books on that topic? Anyway, the insects were for spying purposes only.

Which led to third, she didn’t want to appear rude by not showing any interest in any of Ivan’s wares. Although he had appeared welcoming and cooperative until now, only the Gods knew how patient he really was. A second later, however, she pushed that thought aside. After all, she was the customer – and the customer was to be treated with respect!

Also, asking was free and trying never hurt. Turning back to Ivan, Malia inquired with her typical empty stare: “How are they going to tell me what they have seen? And what do you exactly mean with the ‘tendency to interpret things literally’?”

Tilting her head to one side, she considered when Ivan asked. “Maybe. I’d prefer to see more of what you offer first though.” Brushing a strand of black hair back over her shoulder, she waited. Her intensive eyes didn’t leave the merchant, determined to recognize any emotional reaction.

[Liminal]

"If you've a piece of paper and some ink handy, they can actually use their legs and mouth to draw you a basic picture. It ain't Akvatari art, but it's clear enough. As for literally -- man I got 'em from said he once told 'em to 'go left, right?' Found 'em twenty miles from where they were supposed to be."

This was probably supposed to be humorous, but Ivan didn't even laugh at his own joke. Instead, he opened another battered traveling case. Inside this one was a single arrow. However, the head was a deep, unnatural orange, and on the shaft were two tiny wings.

"This here looks like an arrow, but it ain't a normal one. You fire it from a bow, but after that, it propels itself and finds its target, anywhere within ten miles. Thing is, it has to know what it's aiming for, so you actually need to show it your target or take it to the thing you want to hit before you use it. That ain't possible all the time of course, but in the right circumstances, this one's both useful and hard to screw up."

[Malia]

Ten miles … Leaving the insects behind, Malia turned to the special arrow. The fact that it needed to know the appearance of its target made the matter a bit complicated. After all, the one trait Nuit were most famous for was changing their looks. Quite quickly and easily, actually, if there was a corpse in an appropriate condition at hand. But Malia knew that with a lot of plotting and taking precautions, she would be able to overcome any obstacle.

Slowly a plan started to form in her head.

The question of money was another one. Magical items weren’t cheap. She hoped that in Sunberth she would get some kind of discount, because … well, because it was Sunberth. Besides, it would be difficult enough to sell magical items, considering the number of mages running around on the street. Perhaps she had a chance after all. It would be interesting. The plan was to let the insects and the arrow work together to spy on her target and then show what the tiny mosquitoes had found out to the arrow. Of course, she had to train quite a bit in archery first. Or find someone who could shoot for her, but the other option was definitely more to her liking. And even if her plan proved to be useless in the future because something in her image of Kahnikivas had changed, it would still be interesting to study the golems and learn something out of them for her own Animation.

There was just one question left … or two. “Does the arrow react to a portrait of the person as well?” Obviously, Ivan would know what she was hinting at and be able to give an accurate answer. Malia shot another quick glance at Gemmy. Hopefully the girl would behave like a businesswoman and keep quiet about the things she saw and heard.

If Ivan’s answer proved to be useful for her, she would ask: “So, how much for the box of insects and the arrow?” Her fingers itched, but she kept her hands out of her pockets. Hopefully Tanroa would grant her the luck of being able to afford expensive goods like these. But even if not, Malia was grateful that the Goddess had presented her with the current experience nevertheless. Inspiration! The possibilities of Animation were more than she had thought.

[Liminal]

Gemmy said nothing to Malia, and in fact seemed to be currently engaged in conversation with another shopper, a conversation that didn't involve anything that had been discussed. Malia's secrets were safe with the redhead, at least for the moment.

Ivan shook his head. "Sadly, no. If you show it a portrait, it'll just hit the portrait. So unless you're one of those types as what hate art, it don't apply." He gave a barking laugh at what seemed to be his idea of a joke.

"I'm selling the insects for a hundred, and the arrow for a hundred fifty. If you want 'em both, I'll go two twenty-five for you." It was a bargain price, if Ivan was telling the truth. Apparently, there were definite advantages to shopping in the Underground.

[Malia]

Malia didn’t give the man the satisfaction to react to his little joke. She hadn’t visited his business to make acquaintances, after all. Everything she was interested in was the wares he sold. Obviously the visit paid off.

The fact that the insects didn’t react to the portrait didn’t distract her anymore. Despite that, she would find a way to utilize both tools to their full extent. Her knowledge told her that she wouldn’t be able to craft those on her own for quite some time, no matter how quick she learned and how hard she worked. She hadn’t thought about a particular schedule, but still it was good to be prepared.

Well, perhaps she was just greedy, she assumed. There was still some rest of emotion left in her – that didn’t surprise her. Since Tanroa had shown her past to Malia, she had changed a lot. Two full centuries she had existed without direction or purpose and then she was suddenly presented with all the memories she had lost. Part of her emotions had filled the emptiness since then. However, greed and longing for material goods had never been part of it. She wanted to believe that the mosquitoes and the arrow would simply be tools to achieve the goal she was chasing. They would serve a greater purpose.

Malia was a bit rusty with numbers, so she took a while to process the prize Ivan had mentioned. Honestly, she didn’t know anything about the items’ values or bargaining at all, so she just assumed that she made a good discount. “That means 225 for both? I accept.” Now her hand reached into the pocket where she kept the majority of her money and produced the appropriate sum.

Looking for Gemmy once again, she hoped that Ivan would pack up the goods for easy transport. The box of mosquitoes might fit into her backpack, but she didn’t really want an arrow poking out of her travel equipment.

[Liminal]

The man took the money, counting it twice. Then he turned over the items. He returned the insects to the case they had come in before placing the arrow in its travel box. The items should be safe during their travels.

Gemmy had just finished her conversation and had turned back to Malia. "Well, Viritas strike me if'n you ain't found something after all! Is that all you were looking for, Miss Malia, or is there something else I can show you?"

[Malia]

OOCLet's end it here, shall we? Thanks for the thread, it has been very exciting.

Malia received her purchases with mild satisfaction. They meant another chance, another raise of the percentage of her success. Of course, she knew that absolute certainty was impossible, but anything that helped her on her way to her goal was better than no preparations at all. She simply had to make use of every chance that unfolded and looked safe, for she had no particular direction or clue yet.

When her guide reappeared, Malia took a moment of consideration. Viratas? She wasn’t sure if she knew that god, if He was of importance to the young girl, but it didn’t matter to her either. Gemmy’s beliefs were of no importance for the time being.

The question proved to be a bit difficult to answer. She lost so much time doing nothing – how could she already leave this haven of powerful items so quickly? Nevertheless the decision was made without further hesitation. She had to think about her financial situation which was kind of complicated. Malia supposed that she had already utilized the opportunity of the bell to its full extent and wasn’t intent on trying her luck any longer. She couldn’t be sure whether it was the right thing to do, but she knew that her purse would be happy if she left the shopping district sooner than later. So she instructed the girl: “I’d like to leave now. I don’t have the means to allow myself any more expenses.” Hoping that Gemmy wouldn’t be curious, she waited for her to show the customer back to where they had started out.