Hi Tempest, I have no luck reaching out to you via email or PMs, so I'll post this here:
I published a mage NPC Brandock the Mage and would like to include crossmod for Valerie. My mage is from Amn but travelled to the Sword Coast to learn magic without Cowled Wizards.
These are my proposed banters between the two. The first lines are Brandock talking about Valerie before she is talked to by the PC in case my mage is already in group.
I will include these into my mod, if you have objections please let me know!
Dialogue between Brandock an the PC (I put this here so you know what the banters are referring to):
@0 = ~<CHARNAME>, quick! There is a Cowled Wizard. A Cowled Wizard! I would spot any of those a mile ahead. Why is she here? You are not going to ask her that, would you? No, don't look! <CHARNAME>?... Why are we walking towards her? Quick, she could see us... Argh, too late. She spotted us, alright.~
@1 = ~What is the matter?~
@2 = ~What is a Cowled Wizard?~
@3 = ~Be quiet, Brandock.~
@4 = ~Oh, nothing. No-thing. I have ab-so-lute-ly no problems with Cowled Wizards. No, no problems.~
@5 = ~The Cowled Wizards are an Amnish organization of mages - they are *the* Amnish mages. In Amn, you are either a Cowled Wizard, or you are not practicing - as a mage. And yes, I *was* implying something with that statement!~
@6 = ~So, we are in Amn, and there is a Cowled Wizard. And I am a mage. And she is a Cowled Wizard. And we are in Amn. <CHARNAME>, I know Nashkel is not Athkatla, actually it's a long way off. But please be careful with magic as long as a Cowled Wizard is around.~
@7 = ~I don't have a problem with them - and they not with me, I sincerely hope. But I *am* afraid of her, and what she could enforce upon me, would she keep to Amnish laws.~
@8 = ~We are so far up North and people are so different here, I really have to remind me that this *is* Amnish soil. Oh, gods.~
Valerie - Brandock banters:
Brandock = ~So, Valerie, you are a Cowled Wizard.~
Valerie = ~That I am.~
Brandock = ~And you are good hearted, and lawful, and, well, good.~
Valerie = ~I strive to be, yes.~
Brandock = ~I'll talk to you some more after I recovered my countenance.~
Valerie = ~I am not sure what you are trying to imply?~
Brandock = ~Nothing, nothing... Life just comes up with surprises, somtimes.~
#2
Brandock = ~Valerie, you are here to investigate the ongoings in the Nashkel Mines? I have to admit I am surprised the Cowled Wizards feel responsible for the ongoings so far up North.~
Valerie = ~This is Amnish lands, Brandock. We do feel responsible for magical ongoings on our land.~
Brandock = ~Next step would be to inforce a no-magic rule for Nashkel, too?~
Valerie = ~No. We know we cannot enforce such a law without the stationing of the needed manpower.~
Brandock = ~Good to know. I wouldn't have the money for a magic licence on me, currently.~
#3
Valerie = ~Brandock, I am surprised to hear you talk so negatively about the Cowled Wizards. Doesn't it occur to you that they protect people from the unwanted outcomes of magic? That they uphold the order by containing its dangers you very well know exist?~
Brandock = ~Dangerous magic? Last time I checked, they contained almost all magic. Except their own, of course.~
Valerie = ~Since all mages in Amn are supposed to be part of the organisation, that kind of makes sense, don't you think?~
Brandock = ~Could we agree on the fact that you are exceptional, and therefore everything seems to make sense if *you* talk about it, but that it doesn't fit to my experiences in life?~
Valerie = ~That is a valid approach, although I would be interested to hear about those experiences that influenced you so negatively.~
Brandock = ~I feared you'd say that.~
#4
Brandock = ~Valerie, I was taken from my family, from my first and very well loved mentor to train with a Cowled Wizard. After that, it all got worse. That is why I talk the way I talk about them.~
Valerie = ~I see. I understand that the measures taken might have looked rough for you. But to maintain magic order, the young mages have to be trained in a controlled fashion. Would you liked to have your first magic experience with your family around?~
Brandock = ~Gods! No, that would have been dangerous.~
Valerie = ~See?~
Brandock = ~No, I don't! If we would handle magic as it is done here at the Sword Coast, my family would have known about it. They would have known how to handle it!~
Valerie = ~I envy you for the family you seem to have. Mine cast me out the day my magic talent was discovered. The Cowled Wizards took me in, Brandock. They gave me a home, and a just task to strive for!~
Brandock = ~I am sorry to hear that, and I am happy for you that you found a place. But did you consider the possibility that your family might not have thrown you out if things would have been different?~
Valerie = ~Perhaps... But Brandock, we can't change the world. We also can't change how people perceive magic in Amn. Didn't it ever occur to you that it might be the people who are suspicious about magic? That the Cowled Wizards are sustaining order, that they are *protecting* mages and sorcerers, like me, from their abusive families and neighbors?~
Brandock = ~But... but... No, this perception makes so absolutely no sense, no sense at *all*... that it sounds very reasonable. Dang, Valerie, you say it's the hen, while I say it's the egg? I need to ponder.~
#5
Brandock = ~Valerie, you are not here because of... me, are you?~
Valerie = ~You? Why should I?~
Brandock = ~Er, just asking. Just checking, whether my plans of becoming an acknowleged mage outside of Amn didn't have such a good take-up with the Cowled Wizards than I thought.~
Valerie = ~Don't be silly. The tasks of the Cowled Wizards include a lot of things, and also observation of powerful wizards objecting the rules. But that's not what one describe you with, would it?~
Brandock = ~Ouch to not being a powerful wizard, but you are right, of course. Then everything is fine, and I can relax. I hope my paranoidal nerves will take notice about that, soon.~
#6
Valerie = ~Brandock, do you really think that all Cowled Wizards are evil?~
Brandock = ~What? Ha,*ha*, I would never say something like this, especially not to a Cowled Wizard!~
Valerie = ~Well?~
Brandock = ~Well... no, not evil. But I didn't meet one Cowled Wizard who thought about my mental well-being, who was... nice to me. Not once. I do believe that you have to think evil in one way or another, if you want to be part of them and not lose your mind.~
Valerie = ~You say this and I see that you mean it, and I see that you loath the thought. And yet you strive to become one.~
Brandock = ~It's the only way to find a place in my home as a mage... I guess. Even if the position I fancy is not being a Cowled Wizard per se, but an official mage in Athkatla council administration - which probably only works if I *am* a Cowled Wizard.~
Valerie = ~But you don't see any other way than to harden your heart and soul on the way there.~
Brandock = ~Well... Is it that obvious?~
Valerie = ~Yes, it is.~
Brandock = ~Guess I'll have to work on that attitude, then.~
Valerie = ~According to you, it would be sufficient to combine it with an unfriendly expression and you'd fit in perfectly.~
Brandock = ~Touché...~
#7
Brandock = ~Valerie... The more I see of you, the more I have the impression I might be wrong with my thoughts about the Cowled Wizards. Seeing you, experiencing your good and *constructive* way of dealing with things sincerely gets me thinking.~
Valerie = ~I appreciate the compliment. But we are not like you think we are. And I really think you should come to terms with your plans and your opinion about the Cowled Wizards to become a good mage in Amn, and a member of the organization.~
Brandock = ~*Now* you start to sound like one, though.~
Valerie = ~I am one, Brandock. Believe me, we are many, and we are different in our ways.~
Brandock = ~Not long ago, the thought of 'we are many' would have really frightened me. Now, it gives me hope. You have no idea what this means to me, Valerie. I am very happy <CHARNAME> didn't listen to me when first we saw you in Nashkel.~
Valerie = ~Pardon me?~
Brandock = ~Er, nothing, nothing... Back then, it was just my prejudice talking. But no need to dwell on the past, if there is so much promising future to look foreward to, yes?...~
