[X] Attempt to finish her mother's work
The building where her mother had worked and died was a charred husk, half gutted by fire and strange magics unleashed. The brick and adobe structure had been built in the northern badlands, within relatively easy access to supplies from Lower Valleyhome and the main trade routes to the south, but far enough away that any serious problems wouldn't spill over into places where people lived. For the most part the place was basically a large storehouse with a kiln area and a forge, with living quarters detached from the main building. This wasn't the only place doing the studies, it was just the one where Lolwyna personally oversaw the studies that the other shamans did not want to touch.
The former mistress of the place was buried in a grave along with the half dozen other people who had perished alongside her, and the compound had essentially be abandoned due to the belief that it was certainly haunted by ghosts and demons, which given the sharp, acrid smell to the place certainly seemed possible. Still, when Rulwyna had offered the suggestion that her mother would probably haunt her if she didn't even try to figure out what happened, several shamans who had known her had the blood drain from the faces and gave her all the warding charms they could before ushering her on her way.
Picking her way into the burned out work area, the lesser part of a season gone since the incident, Rulwyna started to look over the place. The report they had received spoke of "thunder and lightning", but actually talking to the survivors and surveying the damage, that was obviously not what happened. Those on scene had reported "sound like thunder", and some of the damage was reminiscent of what might happen when lightning struck something, but it could have also been compared to what happened when a river rock was tossed into a fire.
Coming to one of the areas with the worst damage, Rulwyna went through the stories that had been told to her by the people who had been there. Those who were closest when it all started were all dead, but there had been others close to them who had been there and had in fact helped evacuate most of those involved. Only one person had died immediately, the rest had lingered for several days at least, afflicted by terrible coughs and strange afflictions attributed to whatever curses had been unleashed. Still, standing here, Rulwyna was able to reconstruct some of what happened from those tales and her own senses.
Her mother had been purifying a preparation in a kiln when it all started, that everyone was sure of. Her mother was certain that all things were composed of a limited number of base materials, and through the right treatments could be returned to primordial gygo, and from there coaxed into whatever form one wanted. While for the most part she figured the magic to do all of that was only performable by spirits and gods, some of them had to be accessible to humans, with the two biggest ones being putrefaction by water and purification by fire - there were also arguments for dessication being by either earth or air, with some hypothetical fourth process projected onto the remaining element, possibly aging or curing, although some considered that to be a form of putrefaction. As such a huge amount of her mother's studies were in working out what combination of steps of putrefaction, purification, dessication, and aging used upon various substances yielded what results, with the goal being to discover ways to create new substances. Sometimes the reaction was quite violent, as in this instance.
What happened next was confused. Some said that the jar her mother had been carefully cooking in the kiln exploded with sufficient force to shatter the kiln and then spray burning coals everywhere, others said that while load there had been worse bangs from the pots cooking off before - usually because they weren't as dry as they should be, because as every kiln and forge worker knew, if you threw a pot full of water into one whatever happened to you was your own fault. From here, Rulwyna could see that the kiln had partially collapsed, but whether that happened right away or later from the rest of the fire was uncertain. There were no survivors who had been directly next to her immediately after, but she may have been sprayed with liquid or fumes from the pot being tested, causing the strange burns that had ultimately killed her.
After that the story got weird. No one was quite sure how it happened, but a fire started elsewhere while everyone was trying to deal with the kiln problem. Some said that the initial blast had spewed embers that had ignited things, others had said that the fire just appeared. Looking around, Rulwyna let her eyes track the extent of the damage, and the blackest and most charred areas were the kiln and one of the storage rooms nearby, with no major burns connecting them. In fact, looking at things and going over to one of the still mostly intact storage rooms, she saw that there had been thick brick walls between the storage area and the working area, and the door had been positioned not to face towards anything where fire was worked with. It seemed impossible for the kiln to have set fire to the store room like that, especially since one of the four storerooms had actually survived partially intact, it's shelves still filled with clay jugs filled with alchemical reagents.
Actually, eyes flickering over the jugs, Rulwyna noted something most peculiar. In one of the corners one of the containers had cracked, the contents spilling out onto the ground and leaving a large patch where the floor had been visibly corroded. Checking the pot, she found it labelled 'Spirit of vitriol' and the material of the pot crumbly and flaky, the glaze the only portion that seemed relatively unaffected other than the breakdown of the material backing it. Checking several other jugs, Rulwyna realized that many of them were also showing signs of their contents attacking the material of the jugs, usually along what appeared to be imperfections or damage in the glazing. That was... not good. It also planted an idea in Rulwyna's mind. The initial bang may have been relatively mundane, but maybe it rattled an already weakened jug that spilled onto something it should never mix with, starting a fire that fed upon stored alchemical reagents, producing uncontrollable flames and poisonous smoke.
Leaving the ruins behind, Rulwyna went for the living quarters. Her mother must have left notes or doodles upon the walls that might be of use...
Riding out several days later with what notes she had found and what she had deduced from the ruins, Rulwyna knew that her mother had been on the verge of something greater than she realized. Her processing of tailings waste to produce various kinds of vitriol had undoubtedly lead to disaster, as her obsession with the transformative powers of essence of vitriol had lead to her storing enormous quantities of the oily liquid alongside the various salts and ashes she made from the burning and cooking of plants and rocks. Rulwyna would probably never work out what exactly had gone wrong, and thus would never be able to practically replicate the thunderous power that had gone into the fire, but her mother had discovered ways to transform simple materials into brilliant colours. The dye merchants of Redshore would not want competition, but she was pretty sure that she could convince them that these new colours would only enhance their products, and also allow them to bring new colours to the markets. The Trelli had apparently caused upset by bringing out a brilliant yellow dye that was a solid competitor for the traditional red-violet dye of the People.
Also, if she could convince the dye merchants of this, she could go to the miners and tell them that they vitriol produced by their work could be immensely valuable instead of a toxic byproduct they had to carefully seal away. She could also let the small glass maker's group that they were now more important than ever - simple glazed pottery would likely never be enough to contain essence of vitriol. The relationships of all the goods that were needed to make this all work in more just a lab was immense, but she could see the connections, and she felt like a spider sitting at the centre of a web only she could understand the significance of. Combine with her contacts among warriors... yes. Yes, Rulwyna would have the connections and the power to keep herself safe, and beyond that to keep herself comfortable.
Maybe even powerful.
What does her machinations produce first?
[] [Prog] Art Patronage (-1 Econ, -2 Wealth, +4 Art, +1 Prestige)
[] [Prog] Build Glassworks (-1 Econ, +2 Art, increased chance of new innovations)
[] [Prog] Expand Snail Cultivation (-1 Econ, +1 Wealth, +1 Art, potential additional effects)
[] [Prog] Expand Vineyard (-1 Econ, -1 Econ Expansion, +1 Wealth, +1 Art)
Poor weather has destabilized a number of neighbours, how many should be brought it?
[] [Refugee] Those who arrive on their own (Chance of stability loss, +2 Econ)
[] [Refugee] Encourage those close to come (-1 Stability, chance of further loss, +4-5 Econ, possible new True City)
[] [Refugee] Draw from all neighbours afflicted (-2 Stability, chance of further loss, +6-8 Econ, new True City)
Recent innovations means that Centre of Trade is no longer necessary to have access to the market, but it does double the benefits of market dominance. Change value supported by Cosmopolitan acceptance?
[] [Value] No
[] [Value] Highlanders
[] [Value] Thunder Speakers
[] [Value] Thunder Horse
[] [Value] Xohyssiri
[] [Value] Hathatyn
[] [Value] Metal Workers
[] [Value] Nomads
