Beyond the boarders of the Emerald Empire lies a vast and diverse world centered around the Burning Sands -- a place cursed by Shilah the Sun and Kaleel the Moon. For too long the Samurai in Rokugan have remained ignorant of the greater world around them.
A danger is rising, but is it too late for the children of the Kami? Only you know that answer.Run by the Game Master Moto Vardaen
"Vengeance is the purity of purpose without remorse."
- From The Forty-Seven Sayings of Mekhem
Yesterday...
The sun beats harshly down on the desert ruins just outside Medinaat al-Salaam the Jewel of the Desert. The heat is sweltering outside where there is no shade. In a small patch of ruins that once was long ago the City of Larramun, where ancient Sahir met to plot clandestine revolts stands a a tall man with a hawklike face. His features are baked from the sun, his short black hair nearly shaved off it is so short. He wears the trappings of a Sahir, with half a dozen small vials and trinkets dangling from his belt. Known as Hadi the Guiding Light among his peers this Qabal Sahir awaits the arrival of one of his order.
He paces through a few feet of the rubble of this ancient place to stand beside a lone palm that provides some shade against the beating rays of the sun. With a hand placed to his brow he gazes south down the road that leads to the city.
Out of the shimmering heat of the sand the figure of Emir Al'Azzam emerges. The young Sahir was summoned to this remote location by his leaders for his ruthless and effecient successes in the last few months. As the heat shimmer fates his full features come into view...
This is for Nate's character Emir, and will work quickly I hope into the other threads. Enjoy, and please post a full physical description of your character.
Last edited by Vardaen on Fri Oct 29, 2010 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Emir walks forward as quickly as he can, looking forward to be out of the blasted sun as soon as possible. He had contemplated several times summoning a Jinn to carry him, but the delay it would have taken him to summon the Jinn would have far outweighed the effort of walking here along.
Besides, he thinks to himself, it's likely the Jinn would ask for water in exchange, not something he'd opt to give up easily this far out into the desert.
Continuing forward the Sahir strides forward, the sight of his destination putting a little more effort, and a lot of ease into his mind as he approaches.
"You are Hadi I assume?" Emir asks as much as he states as he nears the man.
Sorry for the delay V, I'm mostly caught up now, and should be back to a somewhat posting now.
The hawk-featured man bows to Emir, "I am the one called Hadi the Guiding Light, you then are Emir Al'Azzam." It is a statement not a question. "You are right on time effendi, that is good. We must speak about tomorrow and the task you are to preform for the Qabal and our allies in the City of Stories." The man remains mostly motionless keeping himself in the small amount of share that the ruins provide him.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Emir nods in confirmation that he is indeed the man Hadi assumes, regardless of the man asking or not.
"I am always more than willing to assist the Quabal with whatever it is they need." Emir replies knowing that his assistance with whatever the group may need keeps him the access the Sahir needs to the extensive research the Sahir have on several different topics.
"What sort of task do they require?" He asks simply. "Given our current meeting place I would assume it is likely one that should remain unspoken after our meeting."
"Yes, Emir, we require a rather delicate matter be handled by one of our own. The masters have seen fit to charge you with it. Complete this task and know your status in the Qabal will continue to rise." He looks out into the sands. "Tomorrow a caravan of wagons from across The Burning Sands will arrive, passing by these ruins. You job will be to make sure the contents of the crates they haul do not appear to be what they really are."
He lets that sink in a moment. "We require the gate guards to think the caravan is loaded with Senpet valuables, stolen or otherwise ill gotten. This will redirect the caravan to the proper Customs Offical in Medinaat al-Salaam." He lifts one eyebrow to see if Emir understands.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Emir nods, in reply, and lets his mind wander slightly. Not certain of how he can disguise whatever cargo these men will be carrying himself, he realizes he'll likely have to include the aid of a Jinn, or possibly convince somebody at the city gates that the cargo is ill gotten artifacts.
"Are the men in this caravan expecting me to be doing this?" Emir asks, wanting to be certain before he finds them tomorrow. "And am I to just take care of that here, or am I to escort them back into Medinaat al-Salaam as well?"
I'm not aware of any way's Emir has of "Altering" the cargo himself, is this something a Jinn could do possibly?
I figure that or my other option would be to use my rank 1 influence spell to make the guards at the city think they are said artifacts.
The Sahir nods, "Yes the men coming with the cargo will stop here so you might join them and do what needs to be done. Travel with them as far as you like, but if something goes wrong you will be to blame if you are there or not, so if this was my job, I'd stick close." He gazes into the sands, "They will arrive sometime around dusk I supose, that should give you plenty of time to summon a Jinn of the proper power." He motions behind him to a small earthen vase sitting the sand. "I've had whatever supplies you might need for this brought and left here for your use."
He shades his eyes, "Oh yes, and once the cargo is through the gates, make sure it reaches the Customs Offical Fadil bin Masruq holding warehouse. From there others will see to its transport, feel free to linger around afterwards if you want with them." He rubs his chin. "Any other question? I'm starting to dry up out here."
It is most certainly something a Jinn could handle! If you could summon the right one, etc.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
"No," Emir replies. "I should have all the information I need. I will stay with the group to ensure they make it into the city properly. I have my ways of being persuasive." He adds smiling as if he finds himself amusing.
Assuming the conversation is done the Sahir moves to the vase and begins going through it's contents. His mind however wanders thinking of the Jinn he has worked with in the past, and those he has read about hoping to think up a suitable Jinn for the task at hand.
I'll try using my Lore Jinn skill to see if I know of one that'd be able to do this for me.
"Good. Then blessings of Lord Sun to you. I am leaving now." He starts back toward the city and pauses just outside the ruins. "Remember Emir, this is a secret mission, don't go telling anyone." He smiles wryly and walks off back to Medinaat al-Salaam.
Emir rumages around in the vase finding all he might need to enact the ritual to summon a Jinn, there are powders for making the circle, water bags to use as trade and barter items, and other miscelaneous items he might need. As he goes through them he considers the Jinn he's summoned in the past and ones he's learned of. There might be a few that he could attemp to contact, none of them are any he's dealt with before. The Jinn of Broken Dreams, the Jinn of Blinding Light, and the Jinn of False Hope all might be able to do what Emir would like done.
Lore: 20 vs TN 20 Success
What I'm not going to do is tell you what they do. I'd like you to try and pick the powers you think you want the Jinn to do, using the tables in the back, etc. Once you've crafted the Jinn how you like, we'll figure out the TN and then try and summon it. This gives you 3 chances, knowing of 3 Jinns, if you fail, each Jinn is less powerful than the previous one. So your first attempt will have the best options to complete the mission, then they get less effective, and so on and so forth.
Feel free to really emblish on the flavor of this summoning and such.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Emir just nods his response, and looks back to the vase and its contents. "I highly doubt the sand would enjoy my tales anyway." he comments a few minutes after the man had left.
Setting aside the bags of water the sahir smiles lightly always amazed that many of the Jinn he's dealt with in the past ask for such a simple exchange for the services they provide.
With his mind made up Emir takes the sand and begins creating a large circle on the ground. It takes the sahir several minutes to finish, but he's never been one to head into a task half heartedly.
With the summoning circle finished Emir stands back, and draws a long drink from his waterskin. The desert today is hot, as it always is, but his current determination seems to keep the Sahir from noticing the heat as much as he should.
Putting the waterskin down to the ground he slowly surveys the circle, making sure the design inside is perfect, and there are no gaps in the outer ring. It's larger than needs be, however he's found in the past it's been easier for him to bargain with the Jinn if they aren't cramped in the small summoning circle. The last thing he'd like to do today is to upset the Jinn before he even begins bargaining.
Picking up the water once again Emir drinks once again from his waterskin and sits himself directly in front of the circle. Crossing his legs the Sahir closes his eyes and takes a few minutes to focus himself by preparing himself mentally for the long task of summoning.
Standing up Emir focuses on the circle once again, paying no attention to the sand covering his legs. Bringing the Jinn of Broken Dreams into his thoughts he visualizes the Jinn there, and slowly begins the long incantation forcing the being to his location.
The Sahir's arms move slowly as he begins the ritual, as does the incantation. Though quickly the tempo of the ritual speeds up, the words and movements of the sahir seemingly no longer in his control almost as if the ritual is now performing itself through the mans body. Several times the words and movement of the man slow almost to a stop before beginning again at a slow pace, and moving once again towards a faster tempo, and finally finishing the ritual in what seems only to be an explosion of syllables, and movement.
Standing before the circle Emir stands covered in sweat, panting as he waits the few seconds which to him always seem to pass like hours as he waits to see if the ritual had worked.
So as a Rank 2 Sahir I can only summon Minor Jinn.
The only ability I could find that I could see helping at all is the mastery level 1 illusion spell. The downside is that the spell only lasts for an hour... So I'll need the Jinn to come with us, and cast the spell about 10 minutes or so before arriving to the city.
So it sounds like I'll need a Jinn that can change form. Which according to the statline for the minor Jinn Most of them can change shape at will. Though there's no rules for altering the roll for this ability at all.
And I'll need a Jinn that can cast that spell, and also preferably one that has +1 trait bonuses to his strength, and perception so that his water ring is 3 instead of 2.
the only thing I can't seem to find is what the insight rank of a minor Jinn would be... Since the spellcasting is an insight/water roll I don't know how that will work out...
So from what I gather it's
Mystical Minor Jinn Base TN 5
+1 str +5
+1 Per +5
R1 illusion spell +5
So TN20 on a 6k3 roll
And to make sure Emir will spend a Void point to add 1k1 to the roll.
So 7k4 TN 20
Total time is 3 hours for summoning, and before starting I'll cast the rank 1 Jinn spell to give me a 2k0 bonus to my commerce roll for bargaining with the Jinn.
Roll for that is 5k3 tn 15 roll
that's what I'd opt for on the first summon try.
Also, I couldn't find anything in the book at all about how summoning works other than the rules for it... So I took some liberties on the description in the post.
I opted to leave out the part where I yell "I choose you Jinnochu", and throw a red and white rock into the summoning circle though.
