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truth known too late
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The quintessence turns to powder. The woman unfreezes and slowly sits up. "What—"

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"The Great Work is finished. I require your assistance with the next steps."

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"Oh. Who are you? How long has it been since I was sealed away?"

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"It has been one hundred and thirty-two years since you went into stasis. My name is Ennis Yul. I'm a ninth circle wizard."

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"I—" She takes a moment to absorb that. "I didn't think we'd ever have an archmage again. Why do you need me for this?"

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"I am the only member of our order who remains outside the memory crypts. All others chose to seal themselves away. Those who did not were lost to us when most of the facilities collapsed. Records indicate you possess high security clearance and are cooperative and pleasant to work with."

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She seems split between amusement and dread. "So everything went horribly wrong and my old records survived." She climbs out of the storage container. "The Great Work is finished? Will we all be archmages soon? What do you need me to do?"

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"It is finished but not in a way that can grant experience directly. I expect the end results will be similar if not better than achieving that original goal. Please follow me."

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She seems confused but follows him anyway.

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He exits the memory crypts and walks across facility sixteen. He makes a detour at one of the magic item storage vaults to pick up a small magical pearl.

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His follower peers at the pearl. "What does that do?" 

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"It's a magic item known as a pearl of speech. It grants the ability to speak one language. Draconic, in this case. I will explain why we need it shortly."

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"You're being vague on purpose."

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"Only a little. We have almost everything we need." He takes a short walk to a nearby vault.

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This vault is full of magic weapons and armor. Its most notable item is a large unmoving flesh golem, stored in the very back.

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He turns to face his follower. "I have discovered a kind of non-unique creature that can alter reality as a wish spell with no experience cost. It is a supernatural ability that functions once per year. I am going to give you a ring of major spell storing containing the spell shapechange. You will conjure a scroll containing six normal wishes."

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She takes a few moments to respond. "How uncomfortable is this going to be? Where does the pearl of speech come in?"

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"The form is a bipedal construct. You will not experience any discomfort. The pearl of speech is a necessary component of a stable source of reality alteration. Remember that any given creature can only use the supernatural ability once per year. The flesh golem in this vault obeys me but lacks the ability to speak and so cannot activate command word magic items such as a ring of major spell storing. The pearl will grant that ability without granting any form of intelligence or mind to the construct. I will use the scroll of wishes you produce to create simulacra of the golem. Since any given reality alteration can produce up to six simulacra, this setup can produce more reality alterations than it consumes. It is an ethical source of disposable creatures to fuel magic item production."

He really needs to come up with terminology to differentiate wishes stored within magic items (which lack the necessary experience to create or improve magic items) and the supernatural wishes from the construct form (which possess no such limitations).

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"That... makes sense. Okay. I'm ready whenever you are."

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He casts shapechange into the ring and tells her the command word. It's an obscure magical term in Draconic. He gives her the ring and a long blank scroll lacking any magic.

Then he shapeshifts into a strange bipedal construct made of dark ceramic. "This is the form you shall assume."

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She takes the scroll and puts on the ring and speaks the command word.

Ah. That's quite something. Well. She would like this scroll to contain six wishes?

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Magical writing covers the scroll. It possesses a strong universal aura.

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Wow. She can barely believe that just happened. She hands the newly magical scroll and the ring back to Ennis.

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"Thank you. I'm going to set up further production elsewhere. You are welcome to join me." He commands the flesh golem to follow him and leaves the vaults.

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