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[X] Plan Redshirt with Mushrooms
[X] [KAU] In Kvinn-Wyr, with an entrance from the Eastern Valley
 
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I find it immensely funny that Matty considers "The most straightforward way" to explore Lhune to just randomly wander through there till she finds something...

It's playing to her strenghts. At this point she's so stealthy that going to explore by herself is actually the safest way to explore Lllune.

After all, if she sends others and they wake up not!balrog she's gonna have to fight tired anyway. At least if she goes herself, she'd probably go unnoticed...
 
Edited to avoid copyright.

Translated from the original Elthárin by the scribe Dimhuld Vottgerstall. [2503 I.C.]

'Since the recent creation the Colleges of Magic by the most esteemed Teclis — Warden of the White Tower and gentle teacher to the magically uplifted magically inclined humans of the northern 'empire' — there has been evidence of some small levels of progress and refinement in the practice of Magic in the lands of man. However, and without insult on their teacher, as the circumstance of the recently attempted incursion must have dictated much the esteemed Teclis' time and thoughts, this educated seems to focused much on spells useful only to the waging of war.

It's doubtless that some of the more conservative of scholars would say that the minds of humans are suitable only for such applications of the Winds, but it is this author's studied opinion that even the much-troubled and warlike species of humanity could find much enlightenment and self-betterment in the engagement of other implementations of the magical arts.

Thus, I have taken it upon myself compiled a grimoire of such spells that any aspiring apprentice of a scant 50 years might learn in Ulthuan over the course of their instruction. And I am happy to say that thanks to some correspondence with a translator from the human village of Altdorf, that an accurate translation into Reikspiel should be made possible in much hast. It is my hope that this text will be distributed to any and all interested wizards in the Empire and any other of the neighbouring tribes of humans.

While some of my peers have express doubt that any good can come from instructing creatures such as yourselves in this way, it is my sincere hope that by gentle guidance and careful instruction, even the simple-minded can elevate themselves to be more worthy of wielding the blessed art of Magic.


Sullasara Wendiel, Servant of The White Tower of Hoeth, Tor Yvresse, XI, [339]


When Teclis decided to instruct the humans of the Empire in the use of magic, the Elf High Wizard Sullasara saw it as an excellent opportunity to educate the Empire's unfortunates in the ways of their betters. as such, she scribed a short grimoire of useful magics, taken from each of the eight lores and had it translated into Reikspeil. Chosing spells that she felt were safe, useful, and would have as little use on the battlefield as possible in order to help cultivate non-military advancement in magic among the humans.

To her horror, The Wizards of the colleges have been abusing these magics ever since.

(So, some 'new' spells have dropped for 4ed in a supplement... you can imagine my annoyance that most of them were just 2ed spells with new rules to work in the new system. but I do find it interesting that Cloak Activity, Pall of Darkness and Shadows of Splendour/Eye of the Beholder are in the new lore taught by her, not Teclis)

(tho I do like how they add little notes through the supplement about how she thought the spells were going to be used, instead of what the average magic murder hobbo would think to use them. it was amusing)

edit: I found 3 spells I think are new new, but I'm not sure.
 
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Sorry, was how I was used to reacting. I shouldn't have said anything.
Also sorry, was a bit mean.

but it's kind of a running theme, Prettulerly with the Enoir (most of their lore is 4ed, not much people can do about that.)

I'm not expecting anything, but its kind of funny and is an interesting character idea that might be worth using. (constering it might be possible to contact the high elves through the Enoir.)
 
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Alright. I've promised myself that I'm not going to fall off the wagon and start full-on arguing about library location again. But just to get this off my chest. A library for the ages should be IMPRESSIVE. Depending on how successful we ultimately are with Waystones (and to be fair, I actually am hopeful there) this could be the most enduring part of Mathilde's legacy (you know, besides the recovered Holds :V). And every time I read an argument for choosing Kvinn-Wyr over the Silver Tower for "accessibility" I hear a version of this dialogue in my mind:

Future Library Staff: Welcome to Kron-Azril-Ungol, the Archive of the Silvery Depths!
Scholar Using Library: Thanks, I'm truly happy to be here - the size of your collection is legendary. Archive of the Silvery Depths, huh? Is it called that because it's located underground here?
Staff: No, we actually could have put it in a number of locations. For a while, that giant tower you probably noticed across the valley was in contention, but we ultimately settled on Kvinn-Wyr here.
Scholar: Huh, why is that? The tower was certainly more impressive.
Staff: Well, we wanted it to be accessible.
Scholar: ...
Staff: ...Ma'am?
Scholar: You wanted it to be accessible.
Staff: ...Yes? Is that... bad? Your tone makes it sound like you think that's bad.
Scholar: But I guess the dwarves made you put it in Karak Eight Peaks in order to have it built.
Staff: Well, no, technically we could have put it nearly anywhere and King Belegar would have gotten it built.
Scholar: So you chose to put it in Karak Eight Peaks. And you wanted it to be accessible.
Staff: I mean-
Scholar: I live in Altdorf. I traveled almost fifteen hundred miles to get here. Half of it through the Badlands.
Staff: Well-
Scholar: Our caravan was ambushed by greenskins.
Staff: I mean, that's certainly-
Scholar: Twice.
Staff: I'm sorry to-
Scholar: The horse I bought in Altdorf was eaten by fish. I didn't know fish could eat horses, but I'll never be able to forget it now.
Staff: Oh, yeah, the Skull River does-
Scholar: Did you know that a dying horse screams just like a woman? Sometimes I wake up from nightmares now about my wife, who I had to leave in Altdorf, being eaten alive by fish.
Staff: I really don't know how to engage with that.
Scholar: You could have built it anywhere. You could have built it in Altdorf, and I wouldn't have to dream about fish murdering my wife, or worry that our youngest son won't remember my face when I come home. But you chose to build it in Karak fucking Eight Peaks, and you. Wanted it. To be accessible.
Staff: Well, we are about two miles closer to the inns and markets in Karag Nar from here than we would have been in the Tower.
Scholar: ...
Staff: ...
Scholar: You know what, I think I'm actually just going to go look for one of those inns now. I think I need to lie down for a while after this conversation.
 
"Investigate the possibility of using one Wind to directly manipulate another."

Won't this just create Dhar? Or am I missing something?
Without High Magic, attempting to use multiple Winds simultaneously leads to them mixing and congealing into Dhar. Yet the Winds can be found interacting with the world in close proximity and sometimes even each other without creating Dhar. The idea is to see if this effect of manipulating a Wind without ever actively channeling, merely 'corralling' it by using another Wind of magic would be a feasible method of working multiple Winds without High Magic or just causing a mass of Dhar.

TLDR: We won't know until we try.
 
"Investigate the possibility of using one Wind to directly manipulate another."

Won't this just create Dhar? Or am I missing something?
There is a reasonable probability that that will be the outcome. But the idea is to try to emulate how you use one wind to wrestle dhar into shape, but instead use it to wrestle other winds. Because even doing so with dhar doesn't immediately corrupt into dhar we know that there can be some contact of some kind without it curdling. And we know that the winds naturally repel one another, as we saw at the windfall.

Combining this we are hoping that mathilde will be able to use Ulgu to manipulate other winds, like using a pair of tongs.

I'm giving it 80/20 "accomplishes nothing but proving we can't do it/manages to work something out but it is probably very wasteful."

We can afford to do this and it not be utter insanity thanks to the belt, which will burn off the inevitable dhar from our failures. (Even if we succeed there is basically no path we don't get coated in dhar at least a few times getting there as we figure out how much force is too much, etc.)
 
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Scholar: But I guess the dwarves made you put it in Karak Eight Peaks in order to have it built.
Staff: Well, no, technically we could have put it nearly anywhere and King Belegar would have gotten it built.
...how exactly would he have done that? Belegar can throw around buckets of cash money, but long-term institutional support is not actually something money can buy. If we wanted that, we did have to build it in Karak Eight Peaks.

"Why Eight Peaks, Barak Varr would be a way better location" was a common argument during the first Boon vote where people voted to bank it.
 
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Staff: No, we actually could have put it in a number of locations. For a while, that giant tower you probably noticed across the valley was in contention, but we ultimately settled on Kvinn-Wyr here.
Scholar: Huh, why is that? The tower was certainly more impressive.
I really can't follow your line of thought here. A tower is more impressive than a mountain? To be clear, the Silver Tower is nice, but compare the two: One of the Eight Peaks in Karak Eight Peaks is our Library vs A tower on one of the Eight Peaks in Karak Eight Peaks is our Library. Kvinn-Wyr is one of the titular Eight Peaks, and you'd think that'd be a little more impressive. And sure, we might end up not using the entire mountain, but for a long time, the defining feature there will be KAU.
 
I really dislike the "i'll have characters act as stupid and obtuse as possible in order to support my argument" conversation debate style.
Not only is anyone questioning where, or why, a Lady Magister decides to build her mega library something i find unlikely, i really doubt an average staff member is going to be able to answer those questions.

Scholar: Why here.
Staff: Because Lady Magister wanted it so.
Scholar: I have no more questions.
 
Alright. I've promised myself that I'm not going to fall off the wagon and start full-on arguing about library location again. But just to get this off my chest. A library for the ages should be IMPRESSIVE. Depending on how successful we ultimately are with Waystones (and to be fair, I actually am hopeful there) this could be the most enduring part of Mathilde's legacy (you know, besides the recovered Holds :V). And every time I read an argument for choosing Kvinn-Wyr over the Silver Tower for "accessibility" I hear a version of this dialogue in my mind:

Future Library Staff: Welcome to Kron-Azril-Ungol, the Archive of the Silvery Depths!
Scholar Using Library: Thanks, I'm truly happy to be here - the size of your collection is legendary. Archive of the Silvery Depths, huh? Is it called that because it's located underground here?
Staff: No, we actually could have put it in a number of locations. For a while, that giant tower you probably noticed across the valley was in contention, but we ultimately settled on Kvinn-Wyr here.
Scholar: Huh, why is that? The tower was certainly more impressive.
Staff: Well, we wanted it to be accessible.
Scholar: ...
Staff: ...Ma'am?
Scholar: You wanted it to be accessible.
Staff: ...Yes? Is that... bad? Your tone makes it sound like you think that's bad.
Scholar: But I guess the dwarves made you put it in Karak Eight Peaks in order to have it built.
Staff: Well, no, technically we could have put it nearly anywhere and King Belegar would have gotten it built.
Scholar: So you chose to put it in Karak Eight Peaks. And you wanted it to be accessible.
Staff: I mean-
Scholar: I live in Altdorf. I traveled almost fifteen hundred miles to get here. Half of it through the Badlands.
Staff: Well-
Scholar: Our caravan was ambushed by greenskins.
Staff: I mean, that's certainly-
Scholar: Twice.
Staff: I'm sorry to-
Scholar: The horse I bought in Altdorf was eaten by fish. I didn't know fish could eat horses, but I'll never be able to forget it now.
Staff: Oh, yeah, the Skull River does-
Scholar: Did you know that a dying horse screams just like a woman? Sometimes I wake up from nightmares now about my wife, who I had to leave in Altdorf, being eaten alive by fish.
Staff: I really don't know how to engage with that.
Scholar: You could have built it anywhere. You could have built it in Altdorf, and I wouldn't have to dream about fish murdering my wife, or worry that our youngest son won't remember my face when I come home. But you chose to build it in Karak fucking Eight Peaks, and you. Wanted it. To be accessible.
Staff: Well, we are about two miles closer to the inns and markets in Karag Nar from here than we would have been in the Tower.
Scholar: ...
Staff: ...
Scholar: You know what, I think I'm actually just going to go look for one of those inns now. I think I need to lie down for a while after this conversation.

Convenience matters not just to foreign scholars who walked from Aldorf, but to the people who live in the Karak, which is to say the staff and all local scholars. Very few people are going to like dragging themselves up all those steps because the tower looks impressive. We are going to have to move a ton of books in there for one and we can't precisely have them all air lifted.
 
Right, this conversation reminds me, there's a thought I had some time ago but, IIRC, decided to wait until the expedition was over and we were in regular turns again to broach it. Now that we're here...

@BoneyM You and the thread talked a while back about Windherder needing an AP to start it off. For that start off, and just talking about from the issue of author/quest runner issues, when it comes to Windherder, would you want us to start looking into it with something vague/broad and general, like:

"Investigate how the winds of magic influence each other."

(And since more detail is probably needed but I can't think how to compact it into the above sentence, I figure it would be something like Mathilde paying with low complexity spells, enchantments and small concentrations/streams of magic, and carefully observing how they were affected by each other's presence and actions, without any particular goal save going through a broad range of observations. And I see it as distinct from the existing option in that one sounds more like being about forcing it, while this is about learning how they interact when mostly left to their own devices, but in proximity.)

Or would it be better for your purposes to do something more goal-focused/concrete like:

"Investigate how the magic in Burning Shadows is influenced by different magical light sources." Thus having more focus on the methods and/or goals.

(Or, for that matter, if both broad types of approaches are viable from a writing perspective and just subject to player judgement as to which is better. Or neither and I'm on the wrong track here.)

And yeah, you can take both or either of those as action suggestions if they work, even if the latter doesn't excite me. (It feels like a good example of the kind of approach, but I'm not sure if it's something we'd actually want to do. Alas, I've completely drawn a blank on desirable beginner goals.)
 
Another argument for the Silver Tower:

the other two great libraries of warhammer are towers and elf made.

it just makes sense for the dwarfs to try and make their own tower of books, but better.
 
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