six artifact pileup annie in thedas
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Is there someplace to sit which is relatively private assuming nobody's actively eavesdropping?

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This corner beside the smithy seems like it will do! The girl perches on top of a barrel and regards Annie with cheerful fascination.

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Annie sits. "So, I've never actually been to the surface of this planet. I was transported into the Deep Roads a few weeks ago by magic from my own world and came here with Caridin and his company. But back there I did live on the surface."

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"That's amazing!" she breathes. "A whole different world? What's it like there? Do you still have - furnaces? Nugs? Granite? What's the magic like?"

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"We have furnaces and granite but not nugs. There's only humans as far as sapient species go, the whole world around, and a lot more advanced non-magical technology than here, but the magic is much harder to use conveniently. It's all based around artifacts, which are a thing that sometimes happen if a person dies - their favorite thing may become really durable and make anyone who touches it acquire two magical properties, one good and one bad. Most people never touch any of them because they can get really inconvenient. I was in an accident and six of them fell on me and one of them sent me here."

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"Woooooow," says the girl. "Only humans, really? I wonder why! What kinds of magic did you get in your accident?"

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"I can speak, understand, read, and write any language, which is really convenient because I don't think this one's spoken on my original planet; and I have a sense that's sort of like Stonesense but doesn't extend as far and applies to things that aren't rocks; and I can regenerate damage; and if I touch a darkspawn it disintegrates - I imagine that one would be a lot less useful in my world because we don't have darkspawn, but it also filets those giant spiders. And I'm blind and deaf and can't smell, but the languages thing cuts through that, so I can still talk to you. And if I could see I wouldn't be able to distinguish people's faces that way, but it doesn't matter because I can't see. And if somebody sings around me - did you hear about what happened at the Proving? That. And I'm really uncomfortably warm all the time but I have a frost amulet for that. And there's a benefit I haven't identified to go with a drawback I don't want to talk about, and the one that put me in this universe lets me temporarily share the pairs of things with other people - which is how I know about stuff like the faceblindness one; we found a ghoul in the Deep Roads who wanted to try everything out and told me how they were paired."

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She listens intently to this whole recitation.

"I should be taking notes!" she exclaims. "You - but wait - a ghoul? Did you not disintegrate it too? I guess not! Do you know why?"
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"Actually I can fix ghouls between the regeneration and the disintegratey thing and the touch sharing, so, you know, if you meet any maybe try to introduce us."

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"I've never met a ghoul before, but if I do, I will! Can - wait - can I have some magic?" She bounces excitedly. "I've been excited about magic since I learned it existed, but I can't be a mage, but I wanted to go study magic anyway at the Circle of Magi in Ferelden, but I don't know how to send them a letter, but if I could do strange otherworldly magic that would be almost as good!"

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"If you want, but I can't share the good stuff without the drawbacks. A bunch of Legionnaires have regeneration and disintegration now, I was just on my way back from giving them frost amulets."

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"Which drawbacks go with which things? And I didn't hear what happened at the Proving, unless, wait, was that the thing where Prince Stalas started glowing and ripped apart a war axe with his bare hands? How'd he do that?"

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"Oh, that wasn't me, that's the prince's own thing. I meant the part where someone interfered with it by singing. Uh, the sharing part goes with the disappearing, being too warm goes with disintegrating darkspawn, regeneration goes with pain near music - I find it incapacitating, Stalas doesn't - languages goes with faceblindness, and the sense things are all a package deal and for dwarves will also cut out stonesense, it replaces all senses that work at range with the one thing."

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"The sense thing sounds amazing but terrifying," she says. "Faceblindness doesn't sound so bad. And speaking all those languages would be amazing for studying ancient texts and stuff!"

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"Okay. ...If you like it for now but don't want it next week how do I find you, what's your name."

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"Oh! I'm Dagna! Dagna Merow, of the Smith Caste. What's your name?"

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"Annabelline Merry Svane but you can call me Annie."

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"It's nice to meet you! So how do you give someone magic?"

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"I just have to touch them and intend to." She holds out her hand.

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Dagna touches Annie's hand and manages not to bounce.

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And now she is faceblind and panlinguistic.

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"Woooooooooow. It's even more amazing than I thought!" Bounce bounce. "Thank you so much!"

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"You're welcome."

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"This is so exciting!"

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Annie giggles. "I'm pretty lucky with the artifact effects I got. They can mostly be mitigated and the sharing one in particular means I can be useful here. It's entirely possible for artifacts to instead layer in a way that just kills you or something."

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