a case of unmistaken identity

a very small and delicate young woman breezes into the sleeping dragon inn, and bellies up to the bar. or... rather, chins up.

at the sound of the young woman's *ahem...*, the barmaid peeks over the edge of the bar, thinking if must be one of the neighbor's children playing tricks on her again. instead, she sees a young woman smilling up at her. 'hello!'

'hello! yes, you're the woman who came into town a few weeks ago, are you not?'

'yes, that's right. i wonder if you could help me.'

the barmaid regards the petite dame quizzically as she finishes drying a glass. 'i'll do my best. what can i do for you?'

'well, i found a certain piece of clothing, you see. it's a cloak. and it seems to be very rare. -i- certainly don't know where it's from, and neither does anyone else around here i've asked.' the tiny woman stretches on tiptoes to whisper up into the barmaid's ear- '...but they sure didn't have any problem charging me 125 gold dragons to take a peek at it, just the same!'

'well, well,' replies the barmaid to her disgruntled patron, 'if darla and smitty couldn't tell you what it is, you may have quite a find there. i'll tell you what. i'll ask around. come back in a few days ; if i find anyone who might be able to identify rare clothing, i'll let you know!'

the tiny young lass beams appreciatively. 'that's all anyone can ask! thanks! bye!' she turns on her heal and scurries out of the bar before the barmaid can say 'you're welcome'.

The next time the small young woman returns to the inn, the woman behind the bar smiles and waves her over.

"Listening to some of the guests that come through, I've gathered there's a few ways you can find out what magic your cloak may harbor."

"There was a friendly disagreement the other day between a wizard and a well-travelled bard about which of them knew more about rare items. It ended up with them settling on trying to identify various drinks while blindfolded, but they did seem to know a thing or two about unusual objects before they had overindulged."

"Perhaps befriending one of those sorts might lead to the knowledge you seek. Well, after they sober up, of course."

"One of the warrior types that was in just a few hours ago was complaining that he barely had any coin left for an ale after finding out what his recently found halberd can do. Seems he found it half buried out in a field somewhere and ended up laying it on an altar to the god of knowledge. Nothing happened for him until he donated a great deal of gold dragons, but he did smile a bit when he asked if anyone wanted to buy a sword."

"I hope that helps you, young lady."


OOC: PC sorcerers, wizards, and bards can often ID stuff for you if you ask. You can also donate 5000 gp at an altar to Kalas to instantly identify all the items you currently have, no matter the level of power.

the pretty young lass returns the barmaid's information w/a sorrowful half-smile. 'well, i, also, am a practitioner in the ways of mystara, and she has not lighted my way in this regard.' then she adds quickly, 'although it is true, i am still a bit of a novice. oh, i hope i do not have to donate all of my worldly wealth to kalas in order to find out what my cloak is!'

OOC: thanks for the info! actually, my character does have an 'identify item' object in her inventory, which i used to try to figure out what this was. no joy. her lore is 15 buffed, so if the item works like the original identify spell [adds 10 to the caster's lore] then it might just be that she doesn't have enough lore, in which case i'll just start asking around in-game if there's a high-level wizard anywhere. but if it doesn't work like that, then i guess she'll have to pay 5k at an altar of kalas?

OOC: The identify "item" in your inventory works pretty much like certain merchants' ability to identify items...which is limited to items of 10,000 gp value or less. Later on you will likely get one called legend lore that will identify any type of item.

In Aenea, the identify function/spell doesn't add to the Lore skill. It just outright identifies items of sub-10k value.

Also, as far as donating to Kalas or sending the occasional prayer to deities other than your patron, that's life in Aenea. Even the purest and most loyal paladin of Dalix will offer a prayer to the selfish god Harcorth when undertaking a journey by sea. Each god or goddess has their own areas of influence, a patron deity is generally just the one your character feels best represents his/her personal outlook on life.

And as far as using 5k gold to identify a powerful item, their value is usually quite a bit higher than what it costs to figure out what they do. And eventually 5k won't be quite as big of an investment. For my lower level characters, I like to hang onto several of the more powerful unidentified items until I have a few, then pay the single 5k donation to hit them all at once.

*whisper on the wind tells of Rings of Lore being available at the wagon encampment near Campton; one for each hand is recommended*

quickly thinking over her options, the spritely young lass turns on her heal and heads for the door, tossing a cheerful 'thanks, bye!' over her shoulder as she goes.
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OOC-
thanks to you both for the info!

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:
"One of the warrior types that was in just a few hours ago was complaining that he barely had any coin left for an ale after finding out what his recently found halberd can do. Seems he found it half buried out in a field somewhere and ended up laying it on an altar to the god of knowledge. Nothing happened for him until he donated a great deal of gold dragons, but he did smile a bit when he asked if anyone wanted to buy a sword."

Why is this making me want to go and search every field in Aenea to find a half-buried halberd... ... ... ...