Automatons aren't in any less danger from
Ones made out of unborn babies possibly even more so.

Seriously let's try to research and if it doesnt pan out. Save it for reconsecrating the Fey forge. These are Winter artifacts so they should be appropriate for a sacrifice in the Fey wilds.

Note: not artifact artifacts...you know what I mean.
 
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...I'm somewhat apprehensive to give an item with a clear Winter-curse to anyone, even Seeker.

Can we really be sure that it won't let Others to affect the wearer directly, like we can break through Mindblank given some piece of target?

Automatons aren't in any less danger from it either- spirits of Law can be corrupted still.
We have several options.

1. Purification ritual, courtesy of Yrael
2. If the Shaitan and Djinn deem it worth their time they can help
3. Toss a sacrifice to the Old Gods and get protective First Men Runes blocking off the influence of Winter
4. A bit of cursory examination to determine just how far the influence of Winter extends and if it can actually influence an explicitly soulless construct
Ones made out of unborn babies possibly even more so.

Seriously let's try to research and if it doesnt pan out. Save it for reconsecrating the Fey forge. These are Winter artifacts so they should be appropriate for a sacrifice in the Fey wilds.

Note: not artifact artifacts...you know what I mean.
It being made out of unborn babies doesn't make it any less soulless. There's a reason we're not allowed to resurrect it if it's killed.
 
It being made out of unborn babies doesn't make it any less soulless. There's a reason we're not allowed to resurrect it if it's killed.
Meh, I know just the paranoia kicking in. It's the reason I dont like using anything we didnt make ourselves or comes from a benign source. Always feels like a security risk.

Get rid of the curse and I am fine with them. But using cursed items depending on a workaround for the curse instead of a fix just doesnt feel secure for me.

Doubled by the fact a torc looks uncomfortably close to a collar and it has basically a souls enslavement effect on it.
 
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It's kinda obvious what they used these things for. Catch a high level martial type. Clamp it around his neck and shank him. Boom, instant elite wight with a immunity to fire and can keep fighting even after its body has been shreaded to pieces. Its shock troop collars.
 
I've had to shuffle some things around with the turn plan... basically we can't get an early start on Old Town, but we continue to sink our BIG. MEATY. CLAWS. Straight into the Riverlands. In fact we will basically bulldoze right over the Riverlands if we secure the rest of those neutral Houses without any issues, and Harrenhal is a logistical center that can send troops into any region without any recourse.

The Reach is somewhere we ostensibly have a pretty strong hold over, but no intelligence assets besides what Brynden has/cannibalized from Varys. It will really depend on what information we get back from @DragonParadox on that.

Westerlands has some serious hairline fractures but we won't get to exploit them until the 1st Month probably...

Hopefully we will be finished infiltrating Slaver's Bay before the end of the year.

I say we spend any spare time sweeping up the rest of the Riverlands since it'll be one of our most important footholds, then assessing the Reach next, then start working over the rest of the Vale and North.

Finally I'd work on the Westerlands last, because honestly if things go wrong for us, by that point it could just about kick off the war prematurely and it's better to secure our rear and flanks beforehand.
 
Interlude DXCI: Telling Strikes and Measured Strides
Telling Strikes and Measured Strides

Thirty-First Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

Beryl had always thought of herself as the more levelheaded of her sisters, her nature neither of roaring flame or the tempestuous sea but both at once balanced upon a perfect scale, yet there were still some things than could irk her, folly and failure chief among them. Unfortunately both were in evidence on the firing field today.

The Efreeti Ether Caster, almost completely in the stony soil, shook and thrashed like wounded beast as it fired, the spirit inside trying to get loose, its efforts ultimately fruitless but more than enough to throw off the aim by a hundred leagues and more. If the divination had not been clear that the being bound in the arcane mechanism could not escape the incarnate would not even be out here, but the question remained. Why would you build a weapon that requires binding wards over and above its own construction? The ability to overcome almost any ward be it spell-forged or natural was not worth anything if you could not aim the weapon without yet more binding circles outside its own mechanisms.

"Alright, let's try the lead again, ten inches this time. There should be more than enough water to compensate for overheating," she called to the crew, gratified to see how swiftly and smoothly they moved to carry out the order. The men and women of the Experimental Engineering Company were not exactly the stuff of mirror plays about the heroics of the Legion, shattering chains and laying low the foes of the realm, but their task was no less perilous and no less necessary than that of any cavalry patrol in the wilds out east... which made it all the more galling that they had so little to show for a month of work.

King Viserys had asked that they do all they could to study the weapon and present methods of reproducing it and the best they had so far was a boat-full of tales and a rough outline of a plan for taking one of the weapons apart to read its innards, one that Beryl would not even contemplate attempting without help to slay or banish the fel spirit.

Ether Caster Research Progress 12/25

Truth be told, Beryl had her doubts that they would ever be able to replicate the thing on any meaningful scale, at least in a manner that was not in breach of Imperial Law. The Brazen Throne had ages to craft and secure these weapons, and even they used them sparingly for all the arcane war machine's deadly effectiveness. Still, even if her intuition should prove right there was likely some use for studying the base principles that allowed the weapon to contain the energies it did.

"Alright, twenty count, mark!" the incarnate called when she saw that the preparations were done. They still had some daylight left today and though one might be generous with gold it always paid to the thrifty with time.

Again the pale light flashed through the vale, again the legionnaires dutifully measured and recorded where the blow had struck as mortal soldiers and the not-quite-mortal mage carried on their studies into dark arcane workings.

OOC: Unfortunately this is a really short interlude to end the day on, but it gets the job done and offers some perspective on the Experimental Engineering Company.
 
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The Engineering Corps will be that group of misfits responsible for unleashing the first Magic Gundam on the world, won't they? :lol2:
 
You know a benefit of a city with actual walls? Cannon placement. How many batteries of Steam Cannons can we make in a turn anyway? I remember they were supposed to be fairly easy to by crafting standards.

I know the enchantment time but with current crafting capacity what's the potential output?
 
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Telling Strikes and Measured Strides

Thirty-First Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

Beryl had always thought of herself as the more level headed of her sisters, her nature neither of roaring flame or the tempestuous sea but both at once, balanced perfectly on a scale, yet there were still some things that could irk her, folly and failure chief among them. Unfortunately, both were in evidence on the firing field today.

The Efreeti Ether Caster buried almost completely in the stony soil shook and thrashed like a wounded beast as it fired, the spirit inside trying to get loose. Its efforts were ultimately fruitless, but more than enough to throw off the aim by a hundred leagues and more. If the divination had not been clear that the being bound in the arcane mechanisms could not escape, the incarnate would not even be out there. The question remained, however, why would you build a weapon that requires binding wards over and above its own construction? The ability to overcome almost any ward, be it spell-forged or natural, was not worth anything if you could not aim the weapon without yet more binding circles outside its own mechanisms.

"Alright let's try the lead again, ten inches this time. There should be more than enough water to compensate for overheating," she called to the crew, gratified to see how swiftly and smoothly they moved to carry out the order. The men and women of the Experimental Engineering Company were not exactly the stuff of mirror plays about the heroics of the legion, shattering chains and laying low the foes of the realm, but their task was no less perilous and no less necessary than that of any cavalry patrol in the wilds out east... which made it all the more galling that they had so little to show for a month of work.

King Viserys had asked that they do all they could to study the weapon and present methods of reproducing it, and the best they had so far was a boat full of theories and a rough outline of a plan for taking one of the weapons apart to read its innards, one that beryl would not even contemplate attempting without help to slay or banish the fel spirit.

Ether Caster Research Progress 12/25

Truth be told, Beryl had her doubts that they would ever be able to replicate the thing on any meaningful scale, at least not in a manner that was not a breach of Imperial Law. The Brazen Throne had ages to craft and secure these weapons, and even they used therm sparingly for all the arcane war machine's deadly effectiveness. Still, even if her intuition should prove right, there was likely some use for studying the base principles that allowed the weapon to contain the energies it did.

"Alright, twenty count, mark!" the incarnate called when the saw that the preparations were done. They still had some daylight left today. One might be generous with gold, but it always paid to be thrifty with time.

Again the pale light flashed through the vale, again the legionaries dutifully measured and recorded where the blow had struck as mortal soldiers and one not-quite-mortal mage carried on their studies into dark arcane workings.

OOC: Unfortunately this is a really short interlude to end the day on, but it gets the job done and offers some perspective on the Experimental Engineering Company. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

I really liked this interlude. Beryl is delving into some advanced magitek unlike anything we've worked with before. It makes perfect sense that we cannot easily decipher it.

I'm hoping the ultimate outcome of the research allows us to input magical energy, with no need for a blind spirit, and output blasts of magical force. An efficient conversion could allow low level mages to hit disproportionately hard.
 
You know a benefit of a city with actual walls? Cannon placement. How many batteries of Steam Cannons can we make in a turn anyway? I remember they were supposed to be fairly easy to by crafting standards.

I know the enchantment time but with current crafting capacity what's the potential output?
Easy, but expensive. With our other expenditures, I don't think we can reasonably enchant more than two emplacements per month. Each emplacement has ten cannons, IIRC, so that's hardly a trivial investment.
 
Easy, but expensive. With our other expenditures, I don't think we can reasonably enchant more than two emplacements per month. Each emplacement has ten cannons, IIRC, so that's hardly a trivial investment.
Hmm, SD has 3 emplacements at the moment right? All by the docks? What's the possibility of making a battery a month for emplacements without cutting into our other production?

Also was going over the Saltwives' Lament minor adventure location. We clear that out already or can we assign a couple PCs to it away from something else?
 
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Hmm, SD has 3 emplacements at the moment right? All by the docs? What's the possibility of making a battery a month for emplacements without cutting into our other production?

Also was going over the Saltwives' Lament minor adventure location. We clear that out already or can we assign a couple PCs to it away from something else?
I think there are only two in SD right now, with another in the Dragon Habitat.
 
I think there are only two in SD right now, with another in the Dragon Habitat.
How does a emplacement for Sothorys after the Legion sets up some basic encampments down sound? By the entrance to the Forge proper?

I'd eventually prefer one on each side of the wall for the Forge there for proper coverage. But that can wait a while. Maybe in a year or two when production expands enough.
 
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And how portable are they? Are they wholly stationary being either deployed to fortifications or ships. Or can we assign a set to a legion. With say a 6 hour emplacement time to get them prepped? For some field artillery? Or would they be too easy targets outside a fortification given their low CL?
 
@DragonParadox, I've got a question.

Remember when we blew up the Deep Ones fortress by exploiting a Gate connected to the Plane of Fire?

The Gate apparently siphoned off either the residual heat or magical energy to fuel various Deep Ones projects.

With our current Knowledge (Arcana) and Knowledge (The Planes) do we have any idea what kinds of things could be accomplished with a power source that big? Do we have any guesses on the projects the Deep Ones were using the Gate for?
 
@DragonParadox, I've got a question.

Remember when we blew up the Deep Ones fortress by exploiting a Gate connected to the Plane of Fire?

The Gate apparently siphoned off either the residual heat or magical energy to fuel various Deep Ones projects.

With our current Knowledge (Arcana) and Knowledge (The Planes) do we have any idea what kinds of things could be accomplished with a power source that big? Do we have any guesses on the projects the Deep Ones were using the Gate for?

There is too wide a spectrum of possibility to guess unfortunately. It's analogous to trying to guess what any given nuclear power-plant powers.
 
*rolls knwolege religion*

Sorry Viserys does not know and he was the only one with a shot it since you need a mythic bonus to just speculate on that.

Out of curiosity, with these OOC knowledge rolls what bonii are being applied?

We have a lot of buffs and research locations that apply and I always wonder in these occasions is Viserys going to the Scholar's Tree for example?
 
There is too wide a spectrum of possibility to guess unfortunately. It's analogous to trying to guess what any given nuclear power-plant powers.
That gives me at least a vague idea. Thanks.

So this is the magical equivalent of a nuclear power plant, and thus if we harnessed something similar we could probably power Mythic rituals.

EDIT: It actually reminds me a lot of the Gate to the Abyss that once was in Mantarys. It really was the magical equivalent of a nuclear power plant...
 
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How does a emplacement for Sothorys after the Legion sets up some basic encampments down sound? By the entrance to the Forge proper?

I'd eventually prefer one on each side of the wall for the Forge there for proper coverage. But that can wait a while. Maybe in a year or two when production expands enough.
It's a good goal, but not one we'll be able to fulfill for another month or two, I believe.
And how portable are they? Are they wholly stationary being either deployed to fortifications or ships. Or can we assign a set to a legion. With say a 6 hour emplacement time to get them prepped? For some field artillery? Or would they be too easy targets outside a fortification given their low CL?
They're not really portable at all. Each emplacement is a significant structure. Viserys could Teleport one, but I wouldn't bother.

The closest thing we have to portable steam cannons will be the Moonchaser vessels, which are armed with several of them.
 
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