Granted, but surely we could do so not openly. If nothing else, there must be records of how the Bright College has reacted to the return (and for that matter, lack of return, since apparently people have been concerned about that) of comparable relics in the past that we could at least check up on.
Hmm. Would it be viable to leave the shrine for now and enquire with a priest (perhaps Kasmir?) for more details? "Hi yes so I've been prospecting in my fief, and I seem to have uncovered a shrine to Stromfels, of all the things. Naturally I want it gone, but I'd like to do so safely and without like, bringing malign attention down upon my subjects. Please advise?"
I mean, is it? It's a relic of their Order, fine, that doesn't necessarily mean they have a right to it. Plenty of magic items have floated around, changing hands throughout history.
That is the idea, plus it turns us into an asset rather than a potential threat meaning they are less likely to blame us for some magical nonsense that happens.
Okay, if you're really asking if an order has a right to their ancient and powerful relics that would do far more good in their hands than ours (We'd get Fireball - Bright Wizards can use it for so much more.) then you need to reexamine your position.
We aren't dwarfs, dude, and these aren't exactly Runefangs we're talking about. Just because one group of people made a thing a couple of centuries ago doesn't mean it's still theirs. It might mean that, in this case, but that's the sort of thing I'd like to look into before making a final decision about the ring.
The point here is that it can do a lot more good in their hands. And if this thing is ever used in the sight of anyone who knows what it is or anyone who might report what they've seen to someone who does we are fucked. Like, that's not quite the kind of shit that gets us cast out, but it's close enough to knock over any jenga towers we've built.
What we'd get is a relationship boost, and we'd be owed a fairly sizable favour. Our Master uses networks of good relationships and favour to murder three dozen highly placed Empire notables in a couple of weeks.
This feels like it's overstating the case. Torching our rep for keeping it? I'm not sure about that. But it'd definitely gain us favour to return it.
Aha. So, I note by this law there isn't much to stop them conscripting us in to endless schemes to clear out the catacombs, vaults, caves and nests of Sylvania, one by one until they or we are dead... Another tick in the 'leave' box, perhaps.Shame, I quite like Wurtbad.
Spelling out the implicit here, since there's a bit of an economics tangent: while gold is more useful than steel partly for this reason, gold and steel both make decent media of exchange for several other reasons - they're almost arbitrarily divisible (in contrast to, for instance, cows), they're straightforward to rejoin after such dividing, they're largely imperishable if stored, and one unit of either material is largely identical to another unit.
Well, good for him. Seems a very useful thing for him to be doing.
Stirland rises!
40% failure rate? I'm seriously rethinking those plans to pile on spells before Magisterhood with that. Magister now pls, Mathilde has demonstrated her competence well enough. Especially with Regimand poking us.
What are basing that off? It's a fireball ring, in our hands it can dish 3 fireballs per day, in brights' hand it'll be 3 to 10 fireballs - not that much of difference, it's ultimately was a little ring of help for the students. Not a powerful artifact. It's a valuable thing for brights but half of that is for history reasons and it's hardly a game changer.
If the plan to cooperate with the new Spymaster doesn't pan out, though... An interesting alternative that struck me just now, is opening the (potential) facilities on the grounds of our Estate to other Gray Wizards as an unofficial chapterhouse/arcane lab (still owned by House Weber, of course, with our heirs having the authority to terminate the relationship). A reasonably quiet, remote place to carry out their research. And it would completely justify any expenses put into it to the accountants of the Order.
And? It can do a lot of good in our hands too, and we can't compensate for the lack of it by flinging fireballs with our native magic, nor can we, y'know, make more of the damn things.
Are we? On what basis do you make this claim? It seems entirely possible that it's the kind of thing the Bright College would be happy to have back, but won't go out of its way to retrieve by force simply on the basis that it's... not actually a big deal. It's an old trinket with some sentimental value. There's probably a couple of seasoned adventurers wandering around the back roads of the Empire with these things and not a wisp of magic to their souls besides.
Nnnno, it's a bit more than that. Fireball is credible battle magic; it's the kind of thing a Bright Wizard flings out to turn a handful of people to ash in one go. It's not, like, a unit killer or anything like Flame Storm of The Burning Head, but it's pretty potent.
Thank you, I shall amend my vote.
So I looked it up. In the RPG, Fireball is:
Yeah, and on the tabletop it's D6 Strength 4 hits. On average that's equivalent to a volley from a handful of handgunners. And BoneyM is probably going to use these rules as inspiration at best.
Neither can they. It's been repeatedly mentioned that they were created by the early Bright Wizards under the direct tutelage of Teclis.
