Annotated 12-10
It’s a little awkward that Syr’Nj is sort of supervising the new recruits’ talent show at this point but has one foot out of the courtyard. “I’ve got some labwork to get to” has a significance that will become clear when next we see her, but she shouldn’t miss this opportunity to assess her new assets personally. Balancing her many roles doesn’t come easy, even for a Renaissance woman and arguable genius.
Originally, we meant for E-Merl’s hat to be one of the objects he used to focus his spells, and for a while after I wrote this page, we considered making it an emergency backup object (teleportation spell, maybe, or a portal to anywhere that’s only one foot in diameter). But that wouldn’t have been playing fair with the readers, and the powers he has here are plenty. He just needs to learn to use them like a winner.
E-Merl’s button is taken from his juggling act here.
The “oxygen into gold” bit was troublesome for us, because we’d quietly established that Arkerrans used “ralds” (emeralds) and “saphs” (sapphires) as their primary currency, not gold coins. We discussed it, but ultimately felt that we hadn’t put enough stress on that aspect of Gastonian life for the joke to land if we swapped out gold for emeralds.
It was a sound idea to keep gold. It’s not like it’ll sound any less valuable even if gold is not their currency, just how Emerald and Sapphire isn’t ours and would still be perceived as very valuable.
Aaaaand I didn’t remember this place’s currency either. Would’ve had to make the connection based on context.
Another “huh” from me. I always figured that (eme)ralds and saph(ire)s were just what they called their denominations of coins, which would be physically made from metals, being far more common, workable, and in the case of emeralds, durable, than actual gemstones.
Yeah, I 100% assumes that Ralds were gold coins up until about one minute ago. I feel kind of silly now.
I had no idea either.
I guess the creation of the coins could contain a hint of the proper gem regardless and be even steel mostly if they wanted. We do put a small amount of gold in a piece of paper, after all.
I guess the currency wasn’t mentioned too often in the story since it wasn’t terribly relevant to the story even on a story about Working Class Adventurers trying to get by. And my memory is ass.
It doesn’t help that ‘Rald’ sounds like a real-life money name (it’s close to rial, rand, dirham…)
I mean, if their original form of currency included the gemstones, then the eventual adoption of coinage named after the gems in hierarchical value order, the names make sense.
I just wouldn’t have made that assumption had no one explained what the names were taken from.
SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT
Also how do you turn gold into oxygen? You’d buy food with gold, and turn it into carbon dioxide (plus water and poop and such.)
Yeah, that line really only works on a wood elf.
Say, do you supposed that Byron and Syr’nj could survive in a vacuum indefinitely by staying in a perpetual liplock — each inhaling what the other exhales? lol
I would have thought that the most obvious way to do combat magic with a top hat is to pull killer rabbits out of it.
I mean, how should we presume the top got opened like that? Tried to keep a rabbit that wouldn’t be kept, probably.
I always interpreted this as Sy’rnj putting E-merl on the spot since he was the one who spoke up questioning her immediately assuming the leader position.