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An adventuring party recruited from Osirion teleports into Azir on the 8th of Desnus. Rahadoum's recruiting contact in Osirion wrote ahead to note they were expected. Couple of guys he's known a long time - a wizard, a ranger - and a new guy, sorcerer, probably to replace the cleric they usually travel with. They spend two days in Azir getting oriented and head out to the front. The ranger wears an unusually high quality amulet of Nondetection; the sorcerer wears a headband for intelligence, which is a bit unusual as sorcerers usually don't need it to cast, but some variants do; they are otherwise unremarkable. Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, no reading, which could mean neutral or 'hiding it'. They work quickly and effectively, manage resources reasonably well, get recommended to higher-ups for a closer look on that account.
She does not have a lot of jewelry opinions. Goes, eventually, for something symmetrical and geometric because that's Iomedae's banner, and flashy because probably it's supposed to be.
"All right, spiky and symmetrical and big sparkly rocks, you're easy to please - how's the budget on this -"
If they're definitely going for a non-magical ring now that she already has two magical ones lined up, then his very tentative reasonable-budget estimate with Parmida is probably too high. "Up to five thousand gold, I think, but if we are going for non-magical and pretty, I am not sure at what price point one hits diminishing returns on prettiness."
"I own zero jewelry that is not magical, and the magical ones are expensive for different reasons, so I am not very calibrated here either. I would guess Ismat knows more on this than either of us."
"If you like big rocks it takes a while to hit diminishing returns on prettiness. Price of diamonds has been cratering, though, so I can load it up with lots of those for that much, sprinkle it with littler rubies."
"I bet Van could do a big rock that's not a diamond but I can't think of any other big rock I'd particularly prefer so that's fine. - can you do one Raise Dead grade so if I ever get that far with Iomedae I can use my wedding ring to raise the dead in an emergency, that seems like a good thing to be able to do."
"Sure thing! Though if you have a source on arbitrary artificial rocks, there's a fancy kind of diamond, extra fiery, so rare I haven't gotten my hands on any yet but I saw some at a convention in Absalom last year, doesn't have the advantage of being usable for spells in a pinch but the big centerpiece could be a normal diamond either way."
"If you know what raw elements make it up, I am sure Vanyel could have a go. - If you think a mental image of it very clearly I can pick it up with Thoughtsensing and maybe I will recognize it from Velgarth and be able to tell Vanyel."
"I will think it at you, it was terribly striking." They displayed it under strong light right next to a diamond.
Leareth breathes out a slight 'ooh' of awe, tries to share the visual memory along to Carissa although it'll come less clearly through two steps of Mindspeech transfer with un-Gifted people. "I think I recognize it and can look up what our world's alchemists know about it, and see if Vanyel would like a diversion from making the same kind of diamond every day."
"- I should have said right away, we need the ring in two weeks, that's much more important than how it looks."
"I will get underway on the design and put my lapidary to work on the big diamond and the rubies and expect to hear back about little extra-fieries in a couple days. I can go ahead with diamonds elsewise. I take half up front -" She has a standard contract blank written up.
Leareth reads through it, mostly checking if there's anything unusual relative to other contracts he's seen here that Aroden signed off on, he hasn't had time to thoroughly familiarize himself with Golarion's contract law situation.
How much is half up front, in this case?
She estimates it at just shy of 5k with the discount she offered, if she has to use little diamonds; if he provides gems then he can pay less of the second half. She scribbles in these details in neat angular writing.
:Yes, it was: He doesn't specifically say by the pharaoh of Osirion but probably Carissa can guess that anyway.
He signs the contract and digs out 2500 gold from his Bag of Holding (one of the many magic items Aroden just shoved at him during the hectic pre-war week.)
Ismat's security counts that out for her but she looks pleased as punch about it. "If you want to review the design come back tomorrow afternoon, I won't be in but I'll send a sketch copy over. I will need your ring size -" The teenage girl has a measuring tape for that.
"We can stop by tomorrow, I think - do you still want to work out a proposal for the illusion people in Absalom, we are going to be very busy but it might be even more useful to have some of them by the time the wedding happens, they could show it in other cities and maybe you will make me seem less scary."
"I think I do want to, yeah. It'll be the first wedding you can watch all over the country! - on months' delay, probably, but that's fine -"
"That makes sense. All right, tomorrow we will head to Absalom as soon as the proposal is ready and then swing by here. And tonight I need to inform Aroden we are getting married, and ask about using his time-dilated demiplane, and work on making a spell Vanyel can use for extra-pretty diamonds - that part will be fun, at least..."
"And I will look up old imperial wedding contracts and probably we'll need specialists for that but we can at least figure out which things they're meant to cover."