But if the wardstones will make that much difference why wouldn't the cult just order some made? They are fully aware that they exist and what they do. If they think it's that important they can just order some, which they've either done from another runesmith or they don't think it's that vital.
Scrying is a serious out of context problem for the dwarves. Apart from those who survived Dum or who heard, first hand, the stories about what it's like, probably just don't and can't get what a problem the intelligent, strategic use of magic by a patient, intelligent foe is.
And we don't want them to have to learn the hard way at the worst time.
Ehhhh.
Having fifty odd unscryable guys probably isn't a big deal. We're arming the most senior members only after all.
For one it means that they can't cooporate with scryable guys or that advantage is negated.
For two, if the Hashut cultists know when and where/who to scry anyway, thats a problem in itself.
For three, they're doing this in anticipation of a wave of colonisation, so they're probably more concerned about trolls and the like regarding this specific commission.
You don't need to know who to scry, you can just scry for an answer to a question or look for information from the future. Or you can just ask a daemon or god, who have limited omniscience.
Exactly, so they either specifically asked a different runelord to make them some antiscrying stuff or they don't view antiscrying as being particularly valuable. I lean toward the latter, the antiscrying wards were extremely useful in Dum by the nature of the situation scrying was pretty much the only way for the Dwai Zharr to track down the remaining loyalists. In the middle of actual holds Gazulites can't do anything to hide the fact they're there or investigating a certain person so all an antiscrying ward would do is draw attention to the fact that an elite inquisitor is present. I'd expect them to commission specific rooms to be scryblocked maybe but it seems like it would have negligible benefits to ward individuals.
This isn't even going into the fact that in order to gain access to scrying the cultists need to recruit runesmiths (A ridiculously difficult task outside of extreme circumstances) and then the runesmith can't do it freely without turning to stone which would be a pretty big cultist sect here sign for the Gazulites.
Why would they know that scrying was such a potential problem, or know about the value or potential of the wardstones?
It also takes many centuries for sorcerer prophets to turn to stone. It's not a quick process.
Sorcerer prophets don't have to be runesmiths from what I know. Regular dwarves can consort with daemons or perform the rituals to beckon them into the world.
Gazulite inquisitors are also probably wanderers like Rangers, and they very likely operate in secret when hunting down Cultists, given what we've seen of Gazul. I wouldn't expect them to publicise their movements at all. I would expect that warding individuals would have enormous benefits, as it would prevent Hashut's Cultists knowing that there was an inquisitor nearby, or what they were doing, and would prevent them from listening in when they communicated. Stationary rooms don't help whatsoever when the problem is that we need to police a wave of colonisation and new holds being founded. There won't be well established actual holds. There'll be lots of small settlements that may one day grow into holds that Gazulites will have to travel to and investigate to look for the Cultists of Hashut. Surprise actually should be one of the greatest weapons of the Gazulite Inquisition. Unless we do this, it's unlikely to be.
