I mean, I assume they have translated it. I just don't think they're going to share that any time soon, and so if we want the Colleges to have access, we either do it ourself or wait until some NPC tackles the problem (which will probably not be in quest scope).
I'm kind of inclined to think they have. I mentioned that
Sword of Caledor's description of the language of the tablet matches Boney's description more than what the 5th Edition Lizardmen army book shares of Saurian. It takes elves decades of dedicated effort to learn whatever language that drew Teclis's opinion. Mathilde might be able to learn it from a tutor if she dedicates a lot of AP. It should be immeasurably harder to try to derive the language from descendant languages.
Aren't the Runesmiths oathbound to keep Runesmith secrets and religiously obligated to kill to keep them that way? I feel if Arcane Khazalid was known by the Asur the Runesm would be obligated to try to go and kill them. Or suffer shame for an oath they cannot fulfill.
The same would happen, although with other Guilds if they knew what Tale of Metal could do I think.
Regardless, if they do not know Saurian, then Mathilde is really not worse off than the Asur to learn the Old Ones Tongue since then she would/could have access to Arcane Khazalid, Anoqeyan and High Nehekaran.
And we have no clue if the White Tower failed or succeeded at it. (In fact we don't even know if they have tried although it seems obvious that they should have).
With the only difference between them and Mathilde being the time it might take to derive the Old Ones language from its direct descendants.
Also this might be a bit silly but considering how the scrolls written in Old Ones Tongue were described I get the feeling writing a Lexicon for it would be impossible and it'd be "too much" for paper to contain it (unless solid gold plates - the only material comfy enough to contain their insights - are used). So I get the feeling if anyone wants to learn it they'd either need to learn it from a teacher or recreate it.
The Cloak of Beards is a, well, cloak of beards maintained and expanded by elves still bitter over the War of the Beard. Its very presence can destroy rune items.
At the earliest, it was used during the Fourteenth Siege of Tor Alessi. It's implied to have come from the War of the Beard. Its potency has increased over time as more beards have been woven into it. The Master Rune of Skewering is known to have been developed with elven assistance.
It is possible that the Cloak of Beards was developed without an understanding of how runes work. It is possible that Runesmiths think that the Asur didn't make it using knowledge they shared and continue to expand it without acquiring that knowledge. I find both of those assertions incredibly unlikely.
And huh, just thought of that as a reason that Runesmiths will contribute waystones to Ulthuan sometime between now and Age of Sigmar.
Anyways, if they know the script of the Old Ones then they certainly have deciphered Saurian. It is simply too ludicrous to assume otherwise from Boney's descriptions. Sites where they could get the former would certainly have the latter.
Like I said to pickle, I doubt it will be quicker to decipher the Old One's script than it would be to learn whatever it is Teclis learned. Be it Saurian or Old One script.
Sword of Caledor states that elves take decades to learn that script. Elves do not learn slower than humans, they learn at the same rate. I have been under the impression that most people think the White Tower has not translated it. I'm inclined to think that the White Tower can translate it. Though I prefer ambiguity in that matter. Regardless, I am confident the effort required to decipher it will basically make it impossible for humans of the Old World.
Why not? It is obvious you can write it out on a scroll. If you can't write normal text on that scroll for whatever reason, all you need to do is write out the translation on a different scroll.
Yeah in that case having the stone as a back up option seems reasonable, if only because it will never go 'bad' and the odds of us never again needing a big burst of magic for some purpose or another seem infinitesimal