Saturday July 28, 2018: 8:30 PM

  This morning I woke up early from my now familiar dream of the halls of Heward. I was studying the books that discussed the craft and construction of magical rings, and what goes into it. It was a useful, practical dream, and it was slowly working its way into my brain. I could tell that this would be similar to the ability to Craft Constructs that I had learned through dreams. I got up, stretched, and was wistful about being alone in the doubled up cot again. I thought about collapsing the second cot until Amber gets back, but decided that I would give it another day to mull over.

  I went about my daily morning activities, and found that Rex had taken off to enjoy his weekend morning fishing flight. I saw that Bright-Eyes was not in the tent, and neither were her kittens, so I assumed that she was teaching them to hunt or some other feline based activity. I got up, stretched, and went to go collect the dedicated wrights. They were still out in the main warehouse area, slowly chiselling away a section of concrete to make the thin channels for the water drains. I watched for a minute and got them all to muster up and follow me back to the enchanting area.

  Deciding to make the most of what I could do, I burned through my arcana as fast as possible, using Ears of the City first, to again get a good handle on what might be happening in the city. Nothing was rumored to be going down before afternoon at the earliest. Apparently, someone had been spreading the rumor that I am either a morning or late night hero, so maybe I slept in the heat of the day? Well, I’ll dissuade them of that idea today. To get things out of the way, I burned through another three castings of the Stone Shape spell, to get me within another batch of four Stone Shape spells to finish off the wall, and likely, the pit for the drains at the same time.

  I then put out a batch of ten Unseen Crafters to continue to prepare the building for utility work on the office space side floor. I also summoned up another five Unseen Servants to keep cleaning the areas that the Unseen Crafters make messes in. With all of my expendable arcane power utilized, I got myself set down to my next task. I looked at the pile of concrete blocks that were set aside, and found the smallest of them, the most regular, and cleaned it with Prestidigitation to prepare it for processing. . .

  I pulled a piece of concrete that had been carved out by the Unseen Craftsmen, and set it on the table in front of all of us. We worked together, all as one, to place each individual gemstone on the stone, making it look like a bejeweled brick. A bunch of Red, White, Blue, and Green gemstones, all placed into position and adhered onto the concrete. The final image, after almost seven and half hours of adhering and focal enchanting, resulted in a shifting tableau of over three hundred and thirty stones set onto the surface, in an ever-shifting style. I took the stone, picked up the fruits of our labors, and went over to the side of the firewall.

  I put the last bit of mana into the brick to seal the magic into it and then placed it into the top of the firewall, on the side where the door to the rest of the building will be. I activated it, and everything looked… the same. The roof, the area above the building. It looked… the same as it was. Keen eyed people MIGHT have caught a brief haze, but that was barely a few seconds on a weekend. Not the thing that a lot of people would look for either. Now, construction can begin in earnest, as soon as the office and my first student get here.

  With naught else for my Dedicated Wrights to accomplish magically, I set them to working on the minor aspects of the building, the micro-drains for the Electric Bike storage and charging garage. My Unseen Crafters were still working away on the utility prep for the office area. I got myself ready and went off to use my Fortifying Bedroll to take a nap. I knew that I was going to be going out to deal with whatever was referenced with the Ears of the City earlier in the day. It was a quick one, as is always with the bedroll, but sufficient for my needs.

  I finished the nap and was surprised to find Bright-Eyes back to resting on my chest. Maybe it is just odd timing and a new environment throwing things off. I got up and immediately started up with meditation to regain my arcane ability again. After fifteen minutes, I felt ready to go. With my next few hours planned out, I got suited up for my expected afternoon ride. I got my ride ready, and slammed the Iron Horse Emblem, and activated the Phantom Chopper spell.

  I picked up the E-Bike, cast Vanish, and set it back on the ground without letting go of it, mounted the bike, and started riding off. For the next twenty-four seconds, I zipped to avoid vehicles and pedestrians until I could get to an unassuming alleyway to pull out from, now fully visible. I rode for a few minutes, keeping an eye out for any criminal activities. Before long, I had uncovered a VERY OBVIOUS pickpocket casing the area that would easily be in full view of me on patrol, if I had not gotten some warning of this being planned through the rumors earlier this morning. I used a Vanish spell to hide, and then a Haste spell to be ready for the fight.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  I walked up to the pickpocket, wearing a purple bandana and some kind of athletic jersey in gold and purple, as they finally took the chance to try to pull someone’s wallet. I grabbed their hand before they could get it a foot away from the victim’s pocket, simultaneously appeared from invisibility, and told him that this wasn’t a good idea here in Norfolk. He yelled something about me being here, and I looked up to see a man with scars on his throat and around his mouth, opening his mouth wide to breathe in deep in what was obviously a scream of some kind. I recognized him from a one time Scrying I used my divinely granted Silence spell on an item midway between us, and my ability to hear went away temporarily. The man looked to scream and there was an almost visible distortion where his voice was fighting with the Silence bubble, before both ended up canceling each other with a discordant echoing clamor, overtop of the sounds of the city reasserting themselves.

  Both the screaming man and myself were surprised by the turn of events. Him, I would guess, because something had blocked his scream, and me, that the silence had been so thoroughly broken by something decidedly NOT magical. I dropped the thug’s wrist, pulled my pistol, activated my Searing Break boost, and fired away at the man who had attacked me with some sonic scream. I fired two rounds at the screaming man before swinging back to fire the last shot at the pickpocket. The screaming man, who I was later informed was David Angar - the third of four remaining original members of the Slicing Talons, fell to the ground with what looked like two perfect punctures into his chest.

  I had not even paid that much attention to the thug, but he was falling when I heard a clang, and I whipped around to see the gun he had been pulling drop onto the ground and go off. I used my Intercepting Shade counter to redirect the errant shot AWAY from any pedestrians or civilians around, and into the thickest portion of the wall closest to us. Seeing that both were unconscious, and STILL having no real way to keep them bound, I smiled and pulled out another of the jade pieces that I had been brought by S.H.I.E.L.D., I pulled the two of the miscreants together, and used that piece of Jade and the Stone Shape spell to make a pair of “fitted” handcuffs and a half-face mask for the screaming man, with an isolated portion that I enchanted with the Constant Sonic effect. It wasn’t touching anyone, but it would decrease any volume that Angar could manage to emit and maybe disrupt his sonic attack.

  Since I had leftover functionality for my Stone Shape spell, I made four little dioramas of the event, each composed of multiple stones, consisting of the cheap, fist sized blocks of Jade, Amber, Snowflake Obsidian, and Quartz, using a total of four stones for the dioramas. I had one for each of the two criminals, one for the person who had almost been mugged AND shot, and one for my own personal amusement. I sat with the unconscious perps until the police arrived. While I waited, I texted Jonathan with a picture of me sitting between the two passed out miscreants, with the same diorama on each of our laps, letting him know that I was here and what had happened.

  A couple of people who walked by the scene stopped to talk from time to time, and within five minutes, the cops arrived. They looked perplexed and asked what the situation was. I told them, and presented them with the two dioramas that were made from the criminal’s perspectives. I got a call back just as the questioning was done, and it was Jonathan. He asked me if I could explain the picture that I had sent him.

  I told him that apparently, a Grape Street Crip was working either with, or for David Angar, and they tried to set up an ambush. I explained exactly how the encounter went, and how Norfolk Police were on the scene. Jonathan said that he’d get a team to the Norfolk Jail to pick up our comatose criminal from where they would detain him. I nodded and asked if he needed any further information from me before Monday morning. Jonathan told me that it would be good if I kept the news grabbing activities to a minimum from here on out until next week. I promised him no promises and we said good bye with a snicker.

  I went back to patrolling, and there were no major issues the rest of the day, so I went back to the Warehouse (again after going invisible for a brief period) and continued with working on the firewall. I used up the rest of my Stone Shape availability, and then more Unseen Crafters, and Unseen Servants. I am DETERMINED to have this warehouse be ABSOLUTELY ready for when the S.H.I.E.L.D. Team gets here. I finished up my evening with designing the interior of the tower to include an entry room that would have all of the “trophies” that I end up making.

  At the end of my night, right when Amber knows I go to sleep, I got the Sending from her as scheduled. She told me, “Saw about Angar. LOVE the statues! I can’t wait to see a whole shelf of them. I Love you! I can’t wait to get home.” I responded back, “I can’t wait for you to see what I am building for us. I hope you like a good view. I love and miss you!” I made some notes about maybe adding a ledge or patio for the roof of the building at the bottom of the peak level. Maybe we can have a grill and some other things there.

  Rough Math: from the value of the stones (I mean serious, apparently clear quartz is .1 GP per CARAT?) the total value in GP is about 170 gp per diorama, which if we do the stupid simple *3 the material cost for items, to get the finished price of an item, we get almost 510 gp per diorama, which, when gold is converted to pounds, and pounds of gold are converted to dollars, might be $150k per diorama, at July 2018 spot price. A nice consolation prize for almost being robbed of your wallet, huh? This little loophole/exploit is NOT being used to get the protagonist access to equipment above his wealth-by-level, just a funny little story bit. Economically, each stone diorama would be VASTLY lower than that $ wise, and it is really just an example of how much different the price is in the "real world" and the "RPG Game statistics".

  The Overwhelming Banality of it All:

  Aura strong Illusion; CL 17th

  Slot none; Price 102,000 gp; Weight 5

  Description

  This bejeweled brick has a set of three hundred and thirty-one gemstones set onto one surface, that seem to adjust to the current skyline. The stones, inset tiny Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, and Diamonds, all seem to relocate whenever you change focus to another stone. The effect is that a shapeable one hundred thirty-six thousand cubic foot area remains the same as it was moments before the activation. It will maintain this appearance until the effect is cancelled, either via focus or as a result of a successful Dispel Magic effect. All the rules for Mirage Arcana apply.

  Construction

  Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Mirage Arcana; Cost 51,000 gp