"Kate Novak & Jeff Grubb - Lost Gods 3 - Tymora's Luck" - читать интересную книгу автора (Novak Kate)

Lost Gods Series
Book 2
TymoraтАЩs Luck
Kate Novak & Jeff Grubb
Ye wouldn't appreciate the poetry of the tale, or the subplots of the opera, would ye? I'll cut
to the heart of the matter.
тАФElminster to Alias

Overture
To the Sensates of Sigil, new experiences were everything. Like children hungering for
knowledge of the multiverse, they streamed into the Civic Festhall, eager to perceive with every
sense they possessed, impressing on their minds and bodies the bounty of life. Hundreds, sometimes
thousands, of Sensates visited the private sensoriums every day, so that the arrival of guests to a
certain private party attracted no special attention. Yet the private party in question would be very
special. Tonight, fifty-seven Sensates in good standing and of considerable discretion had been
invited to share an experience both rare and risky. Tonight these select few would spy on the gods.
The chosen audience took their seats in one of the largest sensoriums and began to look
around with excitement. The leader of the Sensates, Factol Erin Darkflame Montgomery herself,
was their hostess. The lovely, sinuous woman moved from guest to guest with a private greeting for
each. Cuatha Da'nanin, Montgomery's handsome half-elven consort moved alongside her, handing
each guest a small rounded stone, glittering with semiprecious minerals.
In the front of the room sat a lone woman, small and slender, with blue skin. She was a
genasi, meaning someone in her ancestry was from the elemental plane of air. She, like the rest of
the guests, held one of the small rounded stones. An orange-sized sphere of smoky gray crystal lay
on a pillow in her lap.
Montgomery, having greeted the last of her guests, stepped to the front of the room to stand
beside the blue-skinned woman. "I'd like all of you to meet my guest of honor, Ayryn Farlight," the
factol said, motioning to the' woman beside her. "Ayryn is a gifted sorceress with a few unusual
abilities that make this evening possible. Something rather unusual happened when Ayryn joined
our faction and attempted to make her first recording." Montgomery held up one of the glittering
stones.
The members of the audience listened with breathless, attention. The stones were known as
recorders, and they could magically encode the full force of any experience and then "play" the
scene back for anyone to experience anew. Recorders were one of the Sensates' most important
tools in enticing people into the Society of Sensation. Each Sensate was required to record several
stones as part of his initiation. The recorded stones became part of a vast library of sensations.
Montgomery continued her explanation. "Ayryn's sensations seem to be more incorporeal in
nature than most, so much so that the instant they enter a recorder they waft back out again.
Consequently, if Ayryn holds a recording stone in her hand, we can experience her sensations
moments after she does, but only then. Her experiences cannot be stored ... unless we do it for her."
The members of the audience nodded with understanding.
"Ayryn's gift of scrying is unparalleled," Montgomery continued. "She has cast her eyes
where few would dare, yet her intrusions have gone, for the most part, unnoticed. Tonight, for our
enlightenment, she will seek out and view what few mortals have witnessedтАФthe gods themselves."
The members of the audience applauded with appreciation and excitement.
 "As a security precaution, we ask that no one speak the names of any of the gods this
evening, since we would prefer that no notice is drawn to these proceedings. Ayryn will not remain
focused on any one god for longer than a few minutes at a time. You should also understand that
there may be occasions when she attempts to view a god and something or someone else entirely
different will appear due to some misdirection spell that god may have placed on his or her person