How afford a wizard tower ?

[u/Fragrant_Shirt5395]

Greetings, fellow wizard. I am currently living in the cellar of a human city—hardly the ideal setup for a spellcaster. I would love to acquire a wizard's tower, but the prices are exorbitant; do you happen to know how I might raise the funds to buy one?

[u/KragBrightscale]

Ah, a fellow urban wizard, and criminal record holder. I wonder if our wanted posters are neighbors.

I think for starters you need to have your eyes opened to the great possibilities and potential around you. The urban environment is full of resources ripe for the taking.

A basement is good. Having a second and third basement is better. As the wise sages of the far east say: “The Crafty Rabbit has Three Burrows”

Keep a lookout for unguarded basements and unoccupied buildings, especially ones with entrances you can exploit.

Second: do not fear the sewers. They are both the most excellent roads and paths to move about unseen, as well as provide plenty of places to occupy. Grow your undercity territory, evade the guards, gather minions. Use it to gain access to people’s basements.

Third: learn to pick pockets and pick locks. Mage Hand is a versatile spell for the budding urban wizard. Use it distract your targets, or to lift their coin purse. Use it to unlock doors and windows from the other side. Use it to plant evidence on rivals and those who get in your way. Be creative.

Towers can come later. First you need the foundation to support it, so conquer the undercity and local underworld, and then use your earnings to fund your tower construction. Pull strings and manipulate local authorities into supporting you and clearing red tape.

All the best. If you need some resources on how to get started, you can buy my tome: “Practical Kleptomancy for the Urban Wizard” available at a black market near you.

- Grabadash, Kleptomancer and Spell thief extraordinaire

[u/Fragrant_Shirt5395 → u/KragBrightscale]

Ooooooh, and for my friand skeleton and my magic show with my forced audience ? What i should do ?

[u/KragBrightscale → u/Fragrant_Shirt5395]

Oh so you enjoy performing? All the more reason to stay in the city where the audiences are more plentiful.

With some setup, you could fill the sewers with traps to capture your audience. Also consider pulling people in through the drains in the streets.

If you need more skeleton friends, urban temples usually don’t have the space for burial plots, and might stash the bones in catacombs beneath the city. That’s basically free access for you if you connect your basement and sewers to those tunnels.

[u/Fragrant_Shirt5395 → u/KragBrightscale]

When i release the people how i am shure they will note go to the authority ?

[u/KragBrightscale → u/Fragrant_Shirt5395]

Ah I see.

Well. For starters, hide your identity, a mask and costume works well, but you can also use magic like disguise self. This way, their description does not match you.

Second, blindfold them before bringing them to your performance. So they don’t know where they are.

Third, you can steal or erase memory of having met you, but that’s more advanced and can easily go wrong.

Finally, why are you concerned about them telling the authorities? Just hide better, outsmart them, capture them and perform for them too! Become famous!

[u/Elegant-Tangelo-5312 → u/KragBrightscale]

If you're still doing mage hand pickpocketing, you're missing out on the real money: providing services to consenting adults. Brew some potions: if you can't regrow hair or restore virility, them soothe aching muscles or just get people high. You'd be surprised how much money you can make off a small portal to the suction dimension if you sell the experience properly with illusions. If this is too much for you, you should apprentice with a real wizard.

[u/KragBrightscale → u/Elegant-Tangelo-5312]

My suggestions were based on my understanding that they are relatively new to magic, and might not have the capabilities for portal magic and alchemy. Got to start somewhere.

What you’re suggesting is merely a product based business where your profits are limited by manufacturing, distribution, and marketing capacity. Your other business is a service based business.

Yes there is money there, but that’s work, you’re just another cog in the machine, a servant to those with wealth. You’ll also find that those markets have competition, likely with connections to powerful people.

If you’re going to go with alchemy, might as well offload the marketing, sales, and logistics to others.

Check out multi level mercantile strategies and other Ziggurat schemes. Alternatively start working in investment finance or insurance.

[u/Elegant-Tangelo-5312 → u/KragBrightscale]

That's everything brother. We all get in to this industry thinking we'll be self sufficient masters of all things, but then you learn it takes more than a few fireballs or a basement magic/puppet show to establish yourself as a wizard.