Coronation Ceremony & Gifts

[kaolinandbone]

The gentle but insistent tink-tink-tink of a silver spoon against a teacup carries through the crowd, followed by a clear, confident voice as Lioncourt addresses the gathered guests.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and other various but no less incomparable sentients, the main event of the party will begin shortly. If you have a coronation present for the Lady Lioncourt and have not yet placed on the central table, please do so now: everyone is likewise encouraged to take a seat on one of the benches if they wish to observe the ceremony."

Comments

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt tries to get her nails in under one of the blue discs and reveal the tube's contents!

Re: Presents!

[botanical_engineer]

The disk pops off, revealing two folded paper boxes, and a rolled sheet of paper. The boxes are respectively marked with the characters for "glow vine" and "fire-berry bush" and the paper is entitled "Growing Instructions."

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt examines the seeds, rolling them over in her hands.

... Very interesting. As Engineer said, they're not... based on the same patterns, yet they're still definitely biological...

She lets out a small 'hmm.'

After a moment, she realizes that she's still in the middle of opening presents, and flashes a smile to Botanical Engineer.

"Thank you so much for the gift. These are fascinating."

She carefully reseals the tube and sets it aside where it won't be crushed, then moves on to her next gift.

Re: Presents!

[twentysevenlevels]

This gift, despite being from one of the gods of Zot, needs no identification.

It is a spellbook, entitled "Sif Muna's Guide on Earthen Creation".

Inside the front cover is a note in beautiful calligraphy:

"You might not be able to cast these, since you do not appear to have spell slots, despite having MP. However, I have observed people brought to the Dungeon by Xom's influence, and they do gain an appropriate number of spell slots. You should be able to visit Temple or Dungeon:1 without too much hassle, using the same method as you used to call my acolyte here. - Sif Muna"

The table of contents lists:

a - Sandblast [Earth / 1]
b - Summon Small Mammal [Summoning / 1]
c - Call Canine Familiar [Summoning / 3]
d - Passwall [Transmutation/Earth / 3]
e - Shadow Creatures [Summoning / 5]
f - Haunt [Necromancy/Summoning / 7]

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt's eyebrows rise at the mention of 'Haunt', but she smiles nonetheless.

"Acolyte, please send my regards to Sif Muna. This tome seems likely to be quite useful to me in future."

Re: Presents!

[twentysevenlevels]

"Of course."

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt sets the tome aside and goes on to the next present. What's this extremely large box?

Re: Presents!

[vvvvvvibrant]

The contents would appear to be... some sort of large electronic terminal, with a stylized letter C prominently displayed. It is currently deactivated.

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt pokes it experimentally.

"... Wait, did you...? Is this...?"

Re: Presents!

[vvvvvvibrant]

"Ah, I see Verdigris delivered it."

Vermillion nods.

"Well, we've got a few dozen of them in the hold and I figured it'll do a whole lot more good installed somewhere than just sitting collecting dust. You can talk to Vitellary about the power requirements and how to use it."

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

"... Well, all I can say is that I didn't expect immortality to be among my coronation presents. Thank you exceedingly."

She curtseys to the Vearth delegation before going on to her next gift.

Re: Presents!

[magicphd]

There's a pile of books still waiting to be examined.

Reading the back covers shows that they are textbooks that go over how to use Fractal's magic system to identify and cure anything that' physically wrong with a person: from broken bones to cancer to infection to old age.

The instructions go into the 'why' as well as 'how', so it's possible the results could be reverse-engineered to apply to other magic systems or technology.

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt shares a smile with her fellow doctor.

"Thank you. As I said before, I can always use more books."

She sets the books aside and goes on to her next gift.

Re: Presents!

[kelardry]

There is a large metal box, inlaid with swirls of metal fading from blue to purple. There are two latches visible on one side of the top, and a hinge visible on the other.

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt unlatches the box, and then carefully opens it, taking a moment to appreciate the artistry in the metal.

Re: Presents!

[kelardry]

There are many fist-sized spheres of glass in various shades of blue, purple, and clear, some of which are hollow. All are visibly held down by a fine metal net attached to each of the sides of the box by a series of slightly more complicated latches.

A three-dimensional shape, projected by light from the edges of the box's top, appears in the air, full of characters and dots, which are connected by variously shaped lines. Thanks to the translation effect implemented by Astra, this is comprehensible as a note, reading:

>Queen Lioncourt,
Congratulations about your Coronation! I have the hope that these will be useful to you. They have an upward force equal to the downward force of a sphere of non-magical glass that has the same amount of material. Some have hollowness and twist open to contain things, and some have small rings to attach to things. I give a recommendation against opening the net outside, as they would float away, but they can have usefulness for lifting small things, and can have vertical stillness in the air if they hold something of equal downward weight.
With sincerity,
< Lantern

Re: Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt smiles, and pulls one of the glass balls out of its confinement. Her hand slips on the slick glass, and it falls - upward. Lioncourt blinks as it misses her face by about an inch, then launches herself after it, a suggestion of batlike wings flaring behind her as she leaps into flight.

A moment later, she descends gracefully back to the floor, glass sphere in hand.

"I was expecting that to move... differently. A very interesting gift! I can certainly think of uses to put these to."

She carefully returns the glass to its net, and reseals the box: you can't be too careful.