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Seeing that Drek was lost in thought, Prosper had climbed to the top of the barn. He walked to the place he had seen the Drow. He looked closely in the thatch. Nothing. He cursed, he thought he'd find something!
Sighing in frustration, he looked down to where the rest of the company was standing. He stoped short. A glint. There in the mud where the dark elf had landed. He scrambled down the barn and went to the glint.
Reaching into the mud, he pulled out a gold ring with a very large,smooth,pitch black stone on it. Etched on the stone was what looked like a mountain with lines coming out the top of the cone. At the base was a symbol he didn't understand. Maybe Drek or the mage, Michel, wasn't it?, would be able to.
He ran to Farnaham. "Sah! Look wot I've found!"

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(THE ABOVE USER HAS BEEN BANNED)

Farnham imediately said: "I say, a gold ring. Good lad! Lets have a look, shall we?" Fanham held out his hand. "You probably don't know this, but Maxwell and I were trained as gemsmiths"

Taking the ring in his hand, Farnham pulled a portable gemsmith's ocular glass from his pocket. "Hrm... dark onyx.. very dark. Quinverian onxy by the look of the cut, but I'd need a proper shop's tools to be sure. There's some etching on the basse.. looks like an engraving. Can't make out the inscription... the writing is too small.. drat it, there's no finery shops in Targos, but there is a bronze & brass smith there. The smithy there might have the tools I need. Well, anyways, show me where you found this ring, young master prosper?"

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Prosper ran to where the Drow had landed."I found it right 'ere sir." Then a thought came to him."Sir, if this belongs to the Drow wouldn't he come looking for it?"

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(THE ABOVE USER HAS BEEN BANNED)

Drek followed Prosper to where he had found the ring. "May I see that, Farnham?" he asked. He closely examined the ring's inscription. "Well, all I can tell you is that this is definately the ring of a Drow. They love onyx, and the writing on the base confirms it. I'm sorry to say I don't know what it means, perhaps we should ask Michael."

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"Oh. Shame." Acedia frowned. "Ah, well." Shrug.

Acedia had taken an interest in the ring at this point, and tottered over to get a better look, deciding to stand behind Prosper. Everyone else seemed to be taller than she was. Looks a bit like something the Burcet twins would've crafted, she remarked inwardly. In fact... She spoke up, for what, the second time today?

"Excuse me, might I get a look at that ring's band, please?" she asked Drek politely.

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get LOST

Farnham, who was following Prosper, nodded in reply to Drek. "Yes, I suppose the inscription could be magical. If the ring had been important to the drow I doubt he would have left it behind so easily, but we dare not assume anything like that at this point." He turned to look for Micheal, but kept walking towards where Prosper has stoped by the barn.

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"Let me take a look at it"said Tem,"I happen to know a bit about Drow, including their alphabet. Hmm..."He looked at it"Marak qoduum seldrinor. Must be some Drow spell inscription, which is how that Psion disapeared. Acedia, take the band" He took the ring and gave it to her"our Dire Wolf mission will have to wait. This is much more important."

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I lost the state spelling bee in FIFTH PLACE!!

Marcus followed Prosper to the barn. He tried to bust the door open with his tough fists and strong arms.

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Aurieul followed the others over to the barn. She still didn't really know what was going on, but thought if she stayed with the group she might figure it out.

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Marcus found the that doors freely swung open. Aparantly, they had not been locked. The barn doors were high enough that a man riding a horse could ride out through them and still have a three-foot clearance over his head. They were wide enough that the entire party could have walked through in line-abrest formation and still have room for a wagon on either side.

The barn was full of horses, most of whom were just standing there lined up in their stalls. A few were munching on oats or sleeping in their stalls. Some made some noise as the doors opened, but generaly the barn was peacefull.

At the far end of the barn was a workbench where a man was busy working. His back was towards the barn doors, but Marcus and the others could plainly see that he was dressed in simple canvas overalls and a straw hat, the sort of clothes that a workman or a peasant farmer might wear. He was doing something with peices of leather and a saddle. As the doors opened, he stoped what he was doing and casualy turned around, picking up a rag in the process. He began wiping his hands with the rag. His face was dirty with greese and sweat, and the front of this overalls were soiled with various stains. He called out: "Good morning, sir... can I help you?" The man looked to be in his mid twentys, and from the look of him he was probably as stong as an Ox.

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{}{}{: Stong as an ox, eh? XD :}{}{}

Acedia took the ring and examined it, ignoring the onyx set in the top and carefully examining the band, especially the outer side. She was looking for the Burcet twins' trademark - they did make rings, occasionally, but a ring was too difficult to infuse with some kind of power, so only if they had correspondence with a gem cutter would they fill an order for a ring, as most people opt for a stone of some sort, rather than an unadorned band.

The mark Acedia was looking for looked sort of like a cross between a compass rose and a blazing sun, with a crescent moon blocking almost the entire left half of the sun's face.There was a largish B in the center of this emblem, with a small L below and to the left of it, and a small S above and to the right. The north point of the compass pointed to the letters 'AU', south to 'AG', east to 'CU' and west to 'FE.' The design was usually stamped onto their work - for a ring, it would be on the outside at the bottom, and very small. Sometimes they would forego the compass rose bit and simply use the 'L B S' part of the emblem. Occasionally they would get very lazy and put only a calligraphic B.

At any rate, Acedia couldn't find the mark she was looking for, though the way the stone was mounted in the ring suggested a few alterations had been made by the gemsmith that had done it. Mostly involving a crude hammer. "Would it be feasible, or advisable, to try and remove the stone?" she asked Maxwell, whom I assume is still concerned with the ring and not by the barn, because he was trained as a gemsmith after all and should probably know about such things.

{}{}{: see the emblem: clicky :}{}{}

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get LOST

<Whoh! Check it out! Did you do that?>

'Ello sah! We was wonderin' If'n you could let us know if anything strange has 'append 'round 'ere lately.

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(THE ABOVE USER HAS BEEN BANNED)

Maxwell replied: "Oh, I could remove the stone, but to properly re-set a stone in this band is another metter entierly. I wasn't expecting to do any gemsmithing when I left on this adventure, you understand. I just have my ocular lens and a few small hand tools. No, the problem isn't getting the gem out of the setting on the ring, it's re-mounting it so that it looks like it wasn't tampered with. Besides, the ring is far more valuable as it is than if you were to remove the stone from the band: I'd say you might be able to pawn the stone for three or four gold coins, but the ring would fetch at least twenty...more if it's enchanted. In any case, we should really see if it's a magical ring first, Miss Acedia. Hmmm, now where did Micheal get to? He could tell us if there's magic in the ring, I think. Must be in the barn with the others. Let's catch up."

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<GM's Note: Did you do make that emblam Zephyr Song? Nice job if you did. Very.. um... artistic. I think Netzen noticed it too. >

The man in the barn (the one with the canvas overalls) responded: "Nay, there not be much odditys that happen in this village, lest ye be interested in how odd the lumberjacks become when they get some ale in them. If ye be needing a horse or some blacksmithing, though, I'm can tell you about that."

Farnham spoke up: "Ah, then you are a smithy by trade?"

The man replied: "Aye, I am aprenticed to Master Eaithein. He be away at Targos trading for carpentry tools and iron nails. See, we are to be building a new forge-house and smithy so we don't have to do all our work in th this barn. Nothing wrong with the barn, but it's really not a good place to smith anything more than horseshoes. A man needs a proper workship if he is to produce proper goods.
You sir, are a merchant-tradesman too if I don't miss my guess, aye?"

Farnham smiled: "Yes. How did you know?"

The man said: "Oh, t'was just a feeling, m'lord. Perhaps the finery of your armor, or the feather in your cap. Something about your bearing and breeding and your fine maner of speach. Aye, aye. You have a right fine way of talkling. I said to myself, I said 'That's a refined way of speaking that man has' to myself and then it clicked in me mind that you seem like a tradesman to me. I take it you be interested in some horses for your party?"

Farnham said: "Well, no. We are hunting a monster, but we were just now attacked by a mysterious assilant who used magic and deception."

The man nearly droped his cloth in shock and fear: "What! Where?"

Farnham held up his hands: "No danger, my good man. Let me assure you the the assilant was dealt with."

The man didn't seem very re-asured: "If you say so m;'lord. Still, I'd be much obnliged if you'd call upon the Sherrif."

The Sherrif, who was just walking in, said: "They alrady told me about it, Jerry. Now, jerry, this is important: Did you see anything strange or out of the ordinary on or about the barn today. Anything at all?"

Jerry dofed his hat as soon as he saw the Sherrif: "No, My Lord. Not a thing. I've been in here since sun-up and all I've seen is leather and horses."

The Sherrif turned to Marcus and Farnham and said: "I belive him Jerry may be a little slow, but he's the most honest man In know. If he'd seen something, he'd not keep it to himself"

Jerry, the blacksmith's apprentise, said. "Thank you My Lord."

The Sherrif said: "Let's leave the man work: no sense upsetting him over nothing."

The Sherrif said to the party: "We'll not find anything here, but I would see the roof of the barn."

Jerry said: "You can use the ladder from the upper hay loft, m'lord"

The Sherrif noded: "Thank you Jerry. Go back to work. This is a official investigation now, we'll take it from here."

Jerry nodded dutifully and turned back to the saddle he had been working on.

The sherrif spoke over his shoulder: "I suppose one of you young folk will want to come up with me, so come on if you're coming. I don't have all day."

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"I'll catch up" said Tem"Sir, I'll need to borrow your horses. I need to ride it to a shaman a few miles away. I'll be back soon."He saddled up on the horse."For yer troubles" he said, and gave him 10 gold coins from the folds of his cloak, and rode off{}{}{I'm using this as an excuse, because I'll be on vacation for a week.}{}{}

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I lost the state spelling bee in FIFTH PLACE!!

Before Jerry could explain the details of the rental agreement, Tem was galloping off into the distance. Jerry said: "Oh, he's going to be sorry he didn't stop to listen. That horse he picked has no horseshoes on. The horse will likely pull up lame halfway to his destination, and that will cost him. I hope he likes walking." Jerry shook his head, put the gold in an iron stongbox and went to tend to the other horses.

Meanwhile, the Sherrif was assending the ladder up to the roof.

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Meanwhile Tem had just noticed the horse's lack of shoes."Hmmm..."he said, "Well girl, my previous horse left me these in an emergency"He pulled out 4 good horseshoes, and fitted them on the horse. "There we go."he said,"Now let's pull out"He galoped in the direction of a shaman tent in the distance.

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I lost the state spelling bee in FIFTH PLACE!!

Prosper knew that he has seen nothing on the roof, but wasn't too concerned if anybody else checked. All of the sudden a strange feeling came over him, like being streched thin. The room began to sway, and his eyes lost focus. And then, everything went black.


The first thing he noticed was an enraged voice,"You fool!! You were supposed to get the ring!!!" Prosper turned to look, and almost feinted, for their, towering over a cowering over a smaller figure, was the same drow mage from earlier that morning!!! His cold, grey eyes came to rest on him. "Lock him up!! I'll decide what to do about him later."
Prosper was then dragged off. He put up a fight, then was knocked out.
<I'm using this as an excuse too. I'll be gone for about two weeks, so don't find me for a while.>

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Drek quickly ascended the ladder after the sheriff. "I'll come with you, sir. I know a good deal about Drow."

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Marcus came up with Drek. "I'll follow you two."

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<GM's Note: That's quite a trick. Have fun on vacation, Ten10>

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{}{}{: Yeah, I made the emblem. Thanks for the compliments. I'll be going on vacation in about a week and a half, so I've still got time to come up with some kind of excuse as to why Acedia falls silent for three or four days. XD; :}{}{}

"If this ring is magic, the metalsmith's trademark will be under the gem," Acedia said. "It's a kind of insurance for the metalsmith, as he usually doesn't do the enchantment. Therefore, rather than devalue the ring by separating gem and band to see who crafted what, you leave the ring whole and the smiths sleep peacefully. The reasoning behind this is that most clients who want a magic ring are greedy by nature - that, and removing the gem also affects the ring's power. The non-avaricious who desire magic rings want frivolous magic - a gem that shows them their lover's face, for instance - or practical magic, such as a gem that provides them with a map wherever they are, rather than any real power.

"Alternatively, if the ring is not magic in terms of providing for the wearer, then the trademark will either be visible on the band without removing the gem, which it is not, or it will be visible on the band only while wearing the ring - which is a test that I'm not entirely comfortable administering myself." Apparently, Acedia and these Burcet twins were fairly good friends, since all this was knowledge that was usually confined to practitioners of metalsmithing. "If I'm correct, and this is a Burcet Twins piece, then under the gem should be this trademark." She took a random medallion out of her pocket. It happened to be the Peregrine falcon medallion, and had an engraving of said bird in flight on one side. Stamped on the other was that compass rose emblem. She showed the emblem side.

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get LOST

{}{}{: my computer tricked me into sending this post twice. o-o can someone with Awesome Post-Deleting Powers delete this post, please? :}{}{}

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Farnham was impressed: "I say, you certainly do seem to know a lot about this sort of thing. If you don't mind me asking Acedia, how did you come to know so much about goldsmithing?"

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Drek, Marcus & the Sheriff got onto the roof of the barn.

"No one's here," said the Lizzardman. "Not a sign of that Drow anywhere."

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The Sherrif looked at the roof of the barn. "Hrm, you're right. Nothing much here at all. I was hoping for some sort of clue... hey, I can see my house from here."

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"I happen to be good friends with the aforementioned Burcet twins. Occasionally I can wheedle some little tidbit of metalsmithing trivia out of them. Such as the customs surrounding the trademark. And the origin of the drop hammer, but that's terribly uninteresting." She shrugged and pocketed the medallion again.

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get LOST

Farnham said to Acedia: "That's good to know. Glad to have such a smart young lady on the team."

Farnham shouted up to Marcus: "Find anything up there?"

Marcus shook his head from side to side.

Farnham said to Acedia: "The 'Drop hammer?' What's that?""

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Marcus suddenly picked up an odd new scent. It was like a mix of a bad-smelling Dwarf and a bad-smelling Mage.

"Someone was up here! I can't figure out the smell. Never smelled this before." Marcus called for Tem. "Mr. Squiddly Psychic Man! Can you figure out who was up here?"

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Unfortunately, Tem had already ridden off at this point, so Marcus received no answer.

<GM's Note: Ten10, who plays Tem, is off to summer camp for 2 weeks. So the "Tem" character is off-stage at this point.>

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