Tuesday, July 17, 2018, 4:15 PM Norfolk, VA

  I woke up with more focus on the interflow of the elements, how one element might be influenced by another, like how electricity can be made into sonic energy by magnets, wiring, and paper or material. I immediately got my meditation done and got dressed in my regular and new gear, changing the Power Suit to be a set of utilitarian work shirt and pants, with my new Alchemist Vest on over the shirt. I felt vastly more self confident and healthier from the combination, and then moved over to check on how what was done with the improved quality items. After the first ten firearms, there were eight sets of safety goggles and the first visor were all enhanced. Each set of safety goggles had lost their original brand logo, and had gotten a new logo of a pair of stylized runes that looked like a set of glasses. The visor had a similar small logo on the side near the point where they mount to the helmet.

  I made sure that the Unseen Servant continued working with seven more visors, and gathered up the Mini-Avengers to start their mutual instruction on their task of enchanting the safety glasses. As soon as I had got them going, I checked my S.H.I.E.L.D. phone and found that I had gotten a text from Pepper late last night, and she informed me that their “discreet courier” would be down in Norfolk at six PM, at 2301 Tidewater Drive, and that it would be best if I could meet up with him there, before the handover occurs. I figured that I would wait until I was certain that Pepper was awake, but I prepped a draft for being sent when I was certain, asking her if she knew of anything that I might need to keep from his view in the tent, anything that might… disturb him. After the draft, and scheduling it to send at half past seven, I plugged the phone into the 3.5 mm audio jack. I stayed out in the antechamber that is the storage unit portion of my “secret lair” and I spared a casting of Eyes of the City, and found that there wasn’t any CURRENT gang based actions that would need thwarting.

  Maybe they were still panicking from the Drone Fight on TV? I stretched a little while still in the storage unit, and walked back into “The Chrysalis”. There was work to do, and it needed to be done quickly. I made my way back into the unit at my alchemy set, and immediately started work on the next thing that I was going to need, enhancing it to be a Laboratory of Quadratic Alchemy. I needed to get the temperament baths made and finished so I can get my armor fully improved.

  It was going to take a few hours, but this would improve the rate at which this, and other alchemical items can be made vastly. I started on the work, off to the side of my table, where the eight Dedicated Wrights are working on their tasks. The Unseen Servant was continuing to work away on enhancing the quality of the visors, gaining the improvements. I knew that it was about to expire, so I cast another one to take over the work. Fourteen hours was stretching the limit of what it could do in one casting, so I knew that I would rather “lose an hour or two” of work, rather than have the work stop entirely.

  Doing some simple math, I can get a total of twenty-four items improved in the Q.I.C. done in a day, assuming that the Unseen Servant is Johnny on the spot with starting up the next process. A fairer assessment is twenty-three a day. I have a total of six more guns needing the process and sixteen left for the safety goggles, twenty-four pairs of gloves, another seven of the visors, currently, meaning that the Unseen Servant will need to run a consistent pace of twenty-three a day for another two plus days. I realized that I could push off the guns to the end, and in the worst case scenario, I’d have enough time to use my own spells on the last day before pickup.

  I quickly set about working on the enchantment, focusing on it entirely. After three hours and change, I pulled myself away, having expended almost five hundred pounds of salt but it was done. I knew that it would cancel out the previous work, and that it would dispel the previously assigned Unseen Crafters assigned to the Alchemy project, but I know that this will make the process MUCH faster, even with the loss of progress. As I was finished, I allowed myself to notice things outside of my crafting, and figured that I would check for any text messages that had been received. Pepper had sent me that it might be good to minimize the amount of “weird” that this discreet courier was exposed to.

  She added that he was trustworthy, but could be easily overwhelmed. I replied back that I would minimize the “weirdness” that they were exposed to. She thanked me in her reply and left it at that. I plugged in the audio line in the headphone jack and stretched again. I decided to check again with the “Eyes of the City” spell while in the storage unit instead of the tent, but still got no gang activity results in downtown or the surrounding neighborhoods.

  I went back into the storage unit and over to the new Laboratory of Quadratic Alchemy before casting a series of eight Unseen Crafters, assigning them all to the work on the alchemical processes. By this time, I had seen that all of the Mini-Avengers were finished with daily work on the Deathwatch Safety Goggles. I pulled out the visors that were ready, totalling five of them, and realized that I would need ANOTHER three hours to get sufficient visors just to have enough work on one each. I left them to work on making their own weapon improvements. I spent some time looking over the new safety goggles.

  The lenses were slightly red in color now, and could change in hue and even mirroring as desired. I took off my own original spectacles, and put the safety goggles on, and took a look at Rex, the kittens, momma cat, and even the Dedicated Wrights. Everyone looked healthy, except the Dedicated Wrights, which showed a result of neither alive nor dead. I figured that I needed someone else’s input, so I changed the Power Suit to be something more “socially blending” before I stepped outside to walk around and give the new Deathwatch Safety Goggles a further test before I would text Jonathan to see if he can see the same things. As I walked around, I managed to get the same results for different people, if they weren’t wounded or injured, they showed “healthy”.

  Having had some experiential data to confirm what I could see at least, I texted Jonathan to have him come by the storage unit as I had something that would need to have him tested. Jonathan texted back that he could drop by in two hours, but that he was stuck at the office in pointless meetings until then. I texted back that I could head his way, as it wasn’t anything dangerous, and actually, I added that testing them in an office setting might even be more useful, as it can give him more “test subjects”. He took a minute to respond but said that I could come to the office and we could see. I replied back that I would make my way over there within the next half an hour.

  I went back to the storage unit and checked in on everyone. I left Rex in charge as I got my S.H.I.E.L.D. bike, changed my Power Suit to be more business attire designed, with the Alchemy Vest being underneath, and headed to the office where Agent Smith “worked”. Traffic wasn’t an issue, and I got there fairly quickly. I parked my bike at the bike rack at the front of the building, and walked in. The security guard didn't even give me a second look as I walked in.

  I made my way to Agent Smith’s office, and then waited outside it while he was on a call. After he finished the call, he came to his door and looked over my clothes, telling me that he was impressed with the new fit. I told him that it was my new “power suit” and that I figured that it would help me out with working in a variety of settings. Jonathan gave me a “look”, and I asked him to close the shades and I would show him. Jonathan raised an eyebrow, but accommodated me, and I showed him that the suit can be changed to meet several different outfits, with a change when desired within six seconds of the command.

  Jonathan whistled and said that something like this could definitely be useful for S.H.I.E.L.D., with emphasis on the definitely, and asked if this was what I wanted him to test. I laughed and said that this wasn’t, but that maybe I would make a few sets when I had some time for him to have S.H.I.E.L.D. test, within a few weeks. I told him that I was looking at having the safety goggles tested. I handed him the set and he looked them over, asking what they did. I told him to put them on and take a walk around the office to tell me what he sees.

  Jonathan took them, put them on, and grabbed a set of papers to “make copies”. He walked out the office, and I sat down in front of his desk, waiting for him to get back. I mentally thought about how soon I could be done with the order for the city, everything that needed to be made. I figured that we could have everything made in another six days or so, so that means a week from today, at maximum. Jonathan came back after a few minutes and asked me if these were what I was offering up to the city.

  I nodded and said that these were an example of the health condition sensing goggles that I had promised. Jonathan took them off and said that these could be a powerful tool for first responders. I nodded and said that I hoped that this would be a good deal for the city. Jonathan said that if he had known that this was what they did, he would have said that twenty of just these were more than sufficient for the warehouse, let alone all of the rest of the items. I shrugged, saying that I had no idea about the value of the items here, just that they were not exactly major items back where I was from.

  Jonathan smirked and replied back offhandedly that they certainly were not Holy Avengers, were they. I thought about it for thirty seconds before saying that if he thought the warehouse was worth a Holy Avenger, then we did offer up more than an equivalent value, but that it was MUCH easier to make these than a Holy Avenger, and more value for the community than a possible vanity weapon for a single person. Also, I added, where the hell am I going to get a hold of Cold Iron in this world? Jonathan had a slight smirk, maybe because he caught the absurdity of the whole thing. I asked him if he wanted to take this pair to the City Council so they could see the proof of concept, or if it would be better if we had one of everything, or even wait until all of them are done?

  Jonathan thought about it and said that he can probably arrange something like a week from now or so. I told him that in a week, I would likely have all of them done. Jonathan looked at me with a bit of surprise and asked if this was due to the little constructs, Dedicated Wrights. I told him that yes, yes indeed it was. They were helping me get a lot done.

  A smile crossed his face and asked if they had to look like that (with an emphasis on the “had”). I told him that I could have made them in their base form, but to be fair, the base form is a lumpy foot tall humanoid. I figured that at least this way, they could “freeze” and look like I was just a fan of the superheroes, if someone who was not allowed in their area came in and saw them. Jonathan seemed to give that a thought, and said that this actually made a bit of sense. They were obviously high quality, so sitting them up on a shelf made a fair amount of sense, even in the menagerie that is my tent.

  Jonathan seemed to have something that he wanted to say, but that he wasn’t ready yet, so I told him that I was thankful for his assessment of the safety goggles, and asked if thought it might be a good thing to get a pair to some EMT’s for a live trial prior to giving the whole batch to the City for the Warehouse. Jonathan thought about it for a minute, and asked if I meant “non-related” Williams’. I nodded, saying that I would like for them to get some assistance while I was out of commission. Jonathan thought about it and asked if he thought that it would be fair if cursed them with the knowledge of someone needing help, but with no method to help the people who they saw that needed help. He added that he thought that having them have a live trial wasn’t a bad idea, but that giving them something with no way to help might be more cruel than kind.

  I couldn’t help but agree with that assessment, and said that I had not considered that, due to my own abilities, but it was a very wise view that I had not even considered. Jonathan told me that it was better that I could recognize it than a detriment that I had not even considered it. I thanked him for that and said that I still needed to get into the habit of not thinking that other people can just do things like I can. Jonathan asked if everyone could do the same things that I could, back where I was from. I specified that it wasn’t that everyone could do the same things that I could, just that everyone could reach to do… something.

  Jonathan paused for a second and asked if just anyone could be trained to do what I did. I paused and said that it at minimum required someone of above average intelligence, and the more intelligent the better, but that the people who could learn would have to take a rigorous study path. Jonathan seemed to be contemplative and asked if I had a way to determine if someone could learn. I told him that I was not certain, but that I would definitely work on figuring something out. Jonathan acknowledged that it might take time and asked if there was anything else that I needed to talk about. I told him that for the next week, I would probably be using up the salt at a rate of up to eleven thousand pounds of salt a day.

  Jonathan sputtered and said that this was over four pallets of salt a day. I nodded, saying that I was maximizing my enchanting, and that meant that I might be expending it at a record rate. Jonathan said that to get that much salt, I was going to need to be working somewhere else, somewhere with a dock with access for a tractor-trailor and forklift operations. I shrugged and said that was why I was trying to get the warehouse set up, that I figured that I would not be able to just coast through on what could be stored in the storage unit.

  Jonathan said that he would make some calls, but that we might need to push forward on the warehouse. I told him that I had eight pairs of those safety goggles already done, and would have eight of the visors done by tomorrow, by noon, but that my salt reserves would have expanded before the visors were done. Jonathan sighed and said that he would do what he could to get me eight delivered before the end of the day. I thanked him, and said that I was sorry to spring this on him, but I didn’t realize just how much of the material I would be going through. Jonathan asked if there were any other options, and I thought for a minute before saying that we could possibly get away with more of those emeralds, but I didn’t know if they were more economical than the salt was.

  I specified that emeralds were worth more, as were rubies, sapphires, and diamonds, but that salt was the most economical and readily accessible option in my mind. Jonathan asked how many of those stones might be needed on a daily basis, as opposed to salt. I told him that we were looking at possibly three hundred and eighty-five of the emeralds or sapphires, or three hundred and sixty of the diamonds or rubies. Jonathan said that he would look into this and see what we can arrange going forward, as storing fifty carats of synthetic gemstones is a LOT easier than storing the same weight in salt. I shrugged, saying that salt was a lot more available and widespread.

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  Jonathan thought about it and asked if it would be good to have both, and I told him that it would indeed, especially as the prices of the gemstones were set and not exactly divisible. Jonathan said that this made sense. Then I had an epiphany, and asked if he could get ahold of the rubies or the diamonds the cheapest, as enhancing weapons would take two of those for each of the weapons, and one of them for armor, and it would make another process that I am working on a LOT easier. He told me that he would work on getting a line on them, noting that sapphires and rubies were generally the cheapest, synthetically anyway. I smiled and noted that if he does do the swap over to synthetic rubies, having access to at least fifty more of the one eighth carat rubies a day, and for that, I can enhance the quality of twenty four weapons or suits of armor a day.

  Jonathan said that at this point, he would probably look into maximizing both streams, and just noting that having the other as a back up would be vital. I agreed and stood to leave, putting my hand out to shake. Jonathan shook my hand and curiously asked why I didn’t have any magical rings. I smiled and told him that I had not learned how to make them yet, but that it was on my docket to eventually learn. Finally, someone is understanding me, I thought.

  I told Jonathan that I might be busy the rest of the day, but that if he needed he could text me and I would try to get back to him as soon as possible. Jonathan said that I had given him enough work for a few days, so he hoped that I would not have more for him to deal with. I told him that I would do everything I could to mitigate any further disruptions to his activities. Jonathan thanked me, but said that if I did need anything to not feel bad about reaching out. I thanked him again and asked if he had found any solutions for the audio jack thing.

  Jonathan said that they were still working on it, but that he would let me know as soon as they had figured something out. I thanked him and headed back outside, with the safety glasses on, tint changed to dark and mirrored. I got my S.H.I.E.L.D. bike and headed back to the storage unit. By the time I got back, there were eight visors, so I started getting the Dedicated Wrights going on enhancing the visors. After an hour of instruction, they were free to work until they were done with what they could do for the day.

  With them set up, I ensured that the Unseen Servant was enhancing the remaining items for the city. Rex was doing fine, as were the kittens and the momma cat, so I decided to take a nap. My bedroll was ready and waiting, so I decided to take a quick one hour nap. It wasn’t the worst thing to do, and there were no rumors of any gang fights or attacks in the near future anyway, so I felt that I could. And the momma cat looks like she’s just waiting to hop on my chest just as I fall asleep.

  **********

  Tuesday, July 17, 2018, 7:30 PM Norfolk, VA

  I woke up from my nap and immediately started my meditation and got ready for the meeting. My original armor was still destroyed, and my new armor still had at least a day left for any component of it to be ready, so I was going to be relying on just what I had for spells. I also knew that this “discreet courier” was going to be driving, so I could either try and ride my bike there, and expect them to follow me back, would be much less discreet, or get a ride from them, which would at least be less obvious to watchers. So I set all of my other equipment on, used the Power Suit to look like I was wearing some common, if well made, clothing, and informed Rex and the Mini-Avengers that they would need to be in my bedroom when we came back. I told Rex specifically that I would need him to wait in the Storage unit area, and if I needed to summon him, I would give him an idea and feeling of where. He acknowledged and followed me out of the tent to the very diminished piles of salt.

  With him ready to wait there, I gave him an affectionate scritch on the head, and told him that I would try to bring back some fresh fish for him, and if I couldn’t, for whatever reason, I would pick some up tomorrow. Rex nodded and leaned in to the scratches more. I told him that I would send him a thought when I am coming back, if I needed him to make his way into the tent, just so he has a heads up. I went out of the roll up door, shut it, and locked it. I checked the directions on my S.H.I.E.L.D. phone, and realized that I would be arriving a little bit late unless I took a… shortcut.

  I saw it on the map. It was taking me WAY out of the way to go to either side of it, and the mass of cemeteries between me and where I had to go was a big inconvenience. I promised myself that I would never step on the graves of those interred within, but that since there were footpaths, I was going to take advantage of it. I quickly got across Monticello and down fifteenth street to Armistead, past something called the West Point Monument, then into the area outside the fence. There was a road a little way in on the other side of the fence, and I could see where graves were marked with stones. So I used my Dimensional Stride Tabi Boots (altered to look like regular shoes, “sneakers” as they are called here, to bypass the fence and land in a safe place.

  I cautiously and respectfully made my way through the cemeteries and over to the other side behind the Graves Funeral Home, before using the Tabi Boots again to hop past the fence on this side. Now on the easier side of the trip, I made my way across Church Street to Fremont Street, and just when I was about to pass Amelia street, I heard a group of thugs attempting to hold up someone, telling the victim to give them all their money. While I started rushing to the scene of the crime, I made a quick glance around, and seeing no one, I used my Power Suit to become a non-functional pastiche of the armor that I had been wearing in the Verdigris costume. Cursing to myself of my lack of armor, I drew my pistol from the Alchemist’s Vest. I quickly cast Displacement and Haste in quick succession, while I was running hoping that this would be enough.

  I quickly rounded the corner and initiated my Stance of Piercing Rays and saw the three reprobates trying to hold up an elderly gentleman. They had not noticed me yet, so, thinking quickly, in an attempt to gain their attention on me, I yelled, “Stand and Deliver, or the Devil he may take you.”. This got all four of them looking my way, all three brigands and the helpless victim, just as I had desired. One of them, slightly quicker on the draw, started to raise his pistol towards me. I quickly used my Searing Break power on the three shots I fired in quick succession, one towards each criminal.

  It was very efficient, and I ended up dropping two out of the three. The third one, realizing that discretion was the better part of valor, dropped their gun and ran, holding their hand over their “wound”. The elderly gentleman thanked me profusely, and I asked him to call the cops, as I had an emergency to get to, and sadly could not do it myself. He thanked me again, and I ran off, securing my pistol back into my Alchemist’s Vest and made my way around the corner. When I was in the clear, I changed my garb and gear back into the items I was wearing before.

  I got to the warehouse just in time. I had taken six seconds before rounding the corner to change my clothes to look like an impressive business suit. An almost completely average man was there at the front of the warehouse, waiting, in a similar suit, but his was obviously real. He said something about at least I could be on time, and went to shake my hand, telling me that his name is Happy Hogan, and that he is the Head of Security for Stark Industries. I gladly accepted the handshake, and introduced myself as Curtis Zine, and apologized that I would have been a little earlier, but I had to stop a robbery in progress a few streets away.

  He seemed suspicious about me saying that I had just stopped a robbery, and noted that as long as I wasn’t leaving bodies, it shouldn’t be an issue at all. I laughed and asked him how much he had been informed about me. Happy replied, telling me that he had not been told much about me, just that he had something that he had to pick up from me. I laughed and said that this was going to be an eye-opening experience then. I asked him if he had any more business here, and he said that the warehouse was going to be acquired by Stark Industries as a shipping hub, and that he was only comfortable telling me that, because Pepper herself had told him that he should tell me that.

  I laughed again and said that this seemed to be just like Pepper, taking steps ahead of when she expects that they might need to be needed. Happy looked at me a bit askew, but let it slide. I told him that I didn’t want to take too much of his time, so I would be glad to let him drive his vehicle to the place where we can pick up the item for Tony Stark, as long as he has an item that can block signals. He walked me to the back of the car, and opened the trunk to show me a large case, one that would be big enough to fit a drone. I thanked him, and told him that I would sit in the passenger seat and plug in the directions.

  We got in the car and plugged the address into the car’s GPS. As we drove, he asked me if I was the Verdigris that Captain America had endorsed on live TV. I told him that I was, and that I still didn’t know if I deserved that kind of endorsement. Happy nodded a little and said that sometimes we never know if we actually deserve the praise that we get. I told him that this was fairly insightful.

  We got within range of the storage unit, and I sent Rex an emotion about success at hiding, and he responded back a frustrated aspect of herding kittens. I sent back a thought about him growing big and them curling up on him. All I got back was a sigh. As we were driving down Tidewater, turning on to Princess Anne, and then Monticello, I realized too late that there was not any place I could get fresh fish. I knew that Rex wouldn’t be the happiest, but at least I had made the promise that I would pick them up tomorrow if not today.

  There wasn’t much of a conversation between Happy and I as we made our way to the Storage Unit. Before rolling up the door, I cautioned him that there are a LOT of things in here that might be confusing, but that there should be nothing in here that would be dangerous to him. Happy said that he had seen a LOT of things that Tony had in his labs and arsenal, and that it would take a lot to confuse him. I laughed a little, saying that I had seen his Mexico Gamma Lab, and confirmed that he did have a lot of interesting toys, but that nothing in here was like what Tony Stark had ever made. I rolled up the storage unit door, and showed him the inside of the storage unit.

  He saw the very diminished piles of salt and asked if I was some kind of salt magnate. I smiled and told him that it was something like that, before leading him to the tent flaps. We walked that way, and as I opened up the tent flap, I escorted the man into the tent, and as he walked in, it expanded around him, showing him the full interior. My levitating table was stacked with multiple rifles, the marble table that had a set of seven safety goggles on it, and a set of eight visors that were still in the process of being enchanted. My old armor, complete with plasma damage on one mannequin, my new armor on a second.

  Contrary to my instructions, Rex was laying in a corner, wrapped around the kittens and the Momma cat, staying as still as he could. The Q.I.C. was propped up and salt was glowing as it dissolved into the visor that was being enhanced. The eight Mini-Avengers were all working on crafting and improving their own weapons more. Happy saw all of these things and more as his eyes drifted across the contents of this first room. I sighed and said that he can take a seat if he wants, and if he wants anything to drink or eat, anything at all, to just let me know.

  Happy sat down in the proffered camp chair, and blankly accepted the flagon of mead that I had handed to him. He started to say something, pointing at the rifles, stopped, pointed at Rex and the kittens and started to say something else, stopped, pointed at the Mini-Avengers starting to speak, but stopped again, before finally pointing at the armor and asked if that was the armor I had worn when I fought the drones. I smiled, and told him that it indeed was, and that it was slowly being repaired but that the repairs would take over a week more. Happy nodded and then looked around at everything else, and took a drink of the mead, nodded appropriately, and said that I had indeed succeeded in confusing him. I nodded and went to go get the drone from the saddlebag of the bike.

  The Drone was large, and was now actually slightly repaired from its time in the tent. I told him that this was the second of two drones that had been at the fight. I have the third one, but it is more damaged than this one. Happy nodded, and said that he would get this drone to Tony, and would keep it in the case until it was in a secure room. I nodded and told him that they were trying to steal some blood samples, but that I didn’t have the only vial that survived, as S.H.I.E.L.D. had been taken into custody.

  Happy continued to look around and asked where I slept if everything was here. I pointed to the three curtains, indicating that the one on the right was my bedroom, the central one was a magical bathroom, and the one on the left was a guest bedroom. Happy joked and asked if the beds in the magical too. I responded back flippantly that they were indeed, that they were cots that folded down to the size of a paper-back book, but folded out to be up to three feet by seven feet, levitate up to four feet high, can operate in a bunk-bed fashion,and hold up to three hundred pounds. Happy nodded, and I asked him if he wanted one.

  Happy balked, and asked if it works outside of this area. I told him that other magical items that I had enchanted worked fine, at least from what I saw had happened at Tony’s Mexico Gamma Lab. I walked into the spare room, and pulled the bedding off of one of the cots. Then I started folding it up and brought it back to Happy. I told him the command word, and that it can’t move side to side once the levitation is started.

  Happy nodded and thanked me for the item. We worked together to get the drone into the case, and close it back up. I offered him a bottle of the mead to take with him, so that he can drink it whenever he wants. Thinking for a minute, I picked up two more bottles, one of mead and one of a red wine, and told him that these two are for the Starks/Potts, but that they should only have them in about eight months. Happy started to ask if it was a magical aging process.

  I laughed and said that it was a kind of aging process, and that in eight months or so, they should be mature enough to accept this. The realization slowly dawned on Happy, and said that he would keep them safe until then. I smiled and said that he might be in the unique position to know a secret about the two of them, that they don’t even know yet. Happy actually smiled a bit at that, and said that it at least gave him some time to get a baby shower gift. I shrugged and said that it was a unique circumstance, but that he should at least TRY to be surprised when he hears about it from either.

  Happy shook my hand and went to the front of his vehicle, opening up the driver’s side door, stopping to say that he hopes that things work well for us going forward. I told him that all we can do is try to help others and do good where we can. Happy nodded and said that this was a good philosophy. I wished him luck and safe travels, and felt that there was a bit more to it than just good will behind these good wishes. I watched him as he left, noted the time, and decided that all I could do was finish off the day and get ready for another day tomorrow.

  I went back into the storage unit and saw the menagerie of entities in the tent. I hoped that Jonathan would come through for me with the salt tomorrow, because if not, I was going to have to do a LOT of riding on the bike to get all of it back here. After I pulled the door down from the inside, I made my way to the bookshelf portion of the common room and summoned up the energies of the spell Page-Bound Epiphany six times, to get information on everything I could regarding pregnancy, child-care, and child rearing. I transferred all of this into another book. It was dense, but it should answer a fair amount of questions that they might have at least at the start.

  A single book with a LOT of information, leather bound, with a foreword penned by myself, hoping the best for them. It didn’t take up a lot of energy or such, but I hoped that the thought was what counted. I set this book onto the table, with the expectation that I would add to it, whenever I could, at least until every page was full of insights. I then cast Scholar’s Touch on it, and started creating the table of contents for the interior. Not wanting to waste the spell, I touched a few other books in sequence, including some of the early childhood education books.

  At the end of the day, I decided that I would relax and get set up as best as possible for tomorrow. Rex was still snoozing away, the kittens using him as a bed, with the Momma cat getting up to find her way onto my chest as I slept. Maybe things will slow down soon. Maybe the criminal element will think twice about this city. But then I realized that we are only in the first stages of dealing with this disaster, and that it will probably get worse before it gets better.

  I figured that it would be a DC20-25 check to identify that someone is pregnant at like 9 weeks. Which she would be if she was going to be telling Tony as he left the atmosphere when he was leaving earth on the Q Ship. The blessing that he offered for safe travel? Just a side bit of being a devotee for the Empyreal Servant for the goddess of travel, that didn’t do anything mechanically.

  Magic Item notes:

  LABORATORY OF QUADRATIC ALCHEMY

  Aura moderate transmutation; CL 9th Slot none; Price 5,200 gp; Weight 40 lbs.

  Description

  This alchemist’s lab provides the same +2 circumstance bonus to skill checks as normal, but also helps focus its user’s attention and skill with its tools, granting a +5 competence bonus to Craft (alchemy) checks and multiplying the progress results by 4. The user may craft up to 4 copies of an alchemical item simultaneously, using the same progress result for all of them, assuming their products would all fit upon the lab.

  Construction: Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Craft (alchemy) 5 ranks, fabricate, Cost 2700 GP

  8 pairs of Deathwatch Safety Goggles

  Aura faint necromancy; CL 1st

  Slot eyes; Price 2,360 gp; Weight —

  Description:

  These safety glasses have the red tinted lenses and have the logo on the side replaced with a stylised Bind Rune composed of Berkana and Perthro, looking like a pair of safety glasses, etched in brilliant green,

  The wearer gets a +2 bonus to Heal Skill Checks for Diagnosis, and Perception checks for finding people. The Wearer also gains the constant effects of the deathwatch spell.

  The wearer can also retint the lenses for bright light, or make them mirrored. This change lasts for an hour or until desired to stop.

  Construction

  Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, deathwatch, prestidigitation; Cost 1,180 gp