Winning Vote said:
[X] Plan: The Dragon Kaiju Begins and Checking in on Draco Grandkids
Snorri & Karstah
Requests
-[X] The Enduring War Rune 1 Snorri + 1 Karstah + 1 Retainer. Already covered, this is for action tracking purposes. ✓
-[X] Drakk Rearing 1 Snorri + 1 Karstah AP ✓
-[X] [Difficult] Design Skaudardrengi, The Singing Slayer, Emperor Dragon Gronti: 1 Karstah AP ✓
An exemplary 45 meter Storm Wyrm forged from pure Adamant, with eyes of glowing Dronril shielded by metallic lids. Rest linked in this post.
--[X] Choose: Master Rune of Waking [T4] Greedy Troll Heart, Rune of Empowerment [T4] Dragon Ogre Shaggoth Heart, Rune of Siphoning [T4] Greedy Troll Heart.
-[X] [Difficult] Build Azrilzhufgotten, The Silver River Banner: Design link 1 Karstah AP
-- [X] Choose: Combo, Goruz-Kazak Rikkaz: Master Rune of Traversal [T4] Radiant Pegasus' Heart, Rune of Impact [T3] Stonehorn Leg Muscles, Rune of Amber [T4] Barazgal.
-[X] [Difficult] Accept Starlight: Due end of Turn 59. ✓
Research
-[X] [Difficult] Convert Siphoning to Engineering 1 Snorri AP ✓
-[X] [Difficult] Extra-sensory Pt. 1 2 Snorri AP
-[X] [Simple] Slave Wyrm Autopsy 1 Simple proc
-[X] [Simple] The Secrets of Light Pt. 2 Simple procs
Retainers
-[X] Expedition, Aiding Krum (1 +1 [Industry of the North]) =2 Retainer AP ✓
-[X] Expedition, Aiding Kraka Drakk 1 Retainer AP
Orders ✓
--[X] Princely Hunting: T4 Radiant Pegasus
--[X] Royal Authority, Additional Order: [T4] Barazgal 15 Kraka Grom Favor
--[X] Royal Authority, Additional Order: [T4] Voidstone 15 Kraka Krum Favor
[X] [Letters:] Knowledge about reactions to you running off with Karaz-Kazak-Rhun [Extensive, Evolving]
[X] [Social:] Brynna covertly attends a competition in Khazagar.
[X] [Social:] Fjolla showing her new smelter. ✓
━<><><>< 473 A.P. ><><><>━
Karaz-Kazak-Rhun has rarely left your hands since Karstah handed it to you.
You are not ashamed to admit that you have taken to carrying the hammer with you wherever you go since claiming it.
Even if the stares you get from doing so annoy you to no end. It is simply something you must come to accept. If you succeed, they will be nothing in comparison.
Because you have sworn, from deep in the core of your being, to the world and to the Ancestors that you would match their example or die trying. You are no longer content to walk in their shadow as a follower, but instead cast your own alongside them as a peer.
As an equal.
And you know several ideas that would be a fine place to begin fulfilling that promise. Proving the worth of Khazagar, solving Durin's Consternation, breaking the Rule of Three. All worthy goals, all crowning achievements.
The Snorri Gift Giver of before would be ecstatic to complete just one of these challenges in his lifetime.
But the Snorri Gift Giver who left that cave will not be satisfied unless he's done them
all.
On all that I am and will ever be...
You entrust Karstah with the capstone of Khazagar, an idea proposed over a century ago and have waffled on ever since. You are not capable of spreading your attention in so many ways just yet
, and moreover, because you know that Karstah is just as invested, if not moreso, in making Khazagar's crowning jewel the grandest in the Karaz Ankor.
The only thing you tell her, the only stipulation you give, is a simple one.
Spare no expense.
You feel certain that you've made the right choice when you see the look in her eye when she fully digests your words.
━<><><>< 474 A.P. ><><><>━
Deep in the heart of Khazagar, in the lowest level of the Maker's Hall you have gathered your former apprentices together for a special occasion.
Before you had gone south, you made each of them an offer. A gift of Voidstone and a loan of enough Adamant to create their own Greater Dragonblood Smelter. Karstah had immediately accepted, as had Nain, Snerra and Dolgi.
But not Fjolla.
Though she had happily learned the Greater Smelter design from Karstah, her refusal of your offer was a surprise. At least until she revealed that she had already gathered everything necessary to build her own Smelter, Voidstone included.
Knowing that made her decision make a bit more sense. Even if the idea of turning down a second Voidstone felt like passing up on a good deal, Fjolla was a grown woman in the end and the choice was hers to make.
Though that didn't stop you from offering to let her and the others keep their Smelters in Khazagar so that they could benefit from the influence of the Runes of Siphoning you and Karstah placed all over the complex grounds
Which is why all of you are in this specially built chamber, cut off from the rest of the Ghungnaz-Khaz and warded to protect from any conceivable intrusion you could think of, helping Fjolla go through her smelter's inaugural run.
Speaking of, you could not help but notice the distinct differences between Fjolla's creation and Karstah's design. Your older student had chosen to incorporate her specialties into her smelter, and it showed. The most obvious examples were the aesthetic differences of course; using a multitude of precious gems and highly precise and intricate wire knotwork to create glittering images of a Dwarfen forge in use, compared to Karstah's penchant for engraved metal and draconic imagery. More substantially, Fjolla had altered the fluid system on her smelter, leveraging her skill in high precision, small scale metalwork to create a smoother, more aesthetically pleasing, fluid intake system that most other Dawi did not have the skill to recreate. The main chamber wasn't spared modification either, as Fjolla had gone through the effort of creating specific molds that let her process an equal volume Gromril, but in the form of smaller bars, rather than a single ingot you and Karstah preferred. Then there were the more subtle changes of course, the small, milimetre sized, differences in its footprint and dimensions compared to her fellow student's, but that was an inevitability of your kind of work. So while you could tell Karstah and Fjolla's Smelters were meant to be the same, each Runesmith's individual proclivities had nevertheless affected the final product. These weren't ingots or nails after all, but bespoke creations.
"Reservoir check's done!," Fjolla hollers from behind the Smelter, drawing you out of your musing, "Valve seals show no sign of leakage either, not that I expected them to. We're good to start filling. Nain, Dolgi, bring over the blood! Karstah, Snerra, can you begin loading the ingots?"
A chorus of affirmations later, the two men carefully push the cart holding the keg of precious liquid over to where Fjolla stood, while both Snerra and Karstah begin carefully stacking the pre-cut bar of Gromril into the main chamber according to Fjolla's instructions.
That five of them, despite the centuries they have spent working on their lonesome, apart from eachother, can still come and work together as if they were all still learning under your feet was a pleasant surprise. If you were feeling generous, they were working together better than they had as apprentices, compensating for their differences and diverging styles with the centuries of experience they'd accumulated since becoming Masters in their own right.
It did your heart good to see them working together, helping each other.
The only way it could be better if all nine had been here.
━<><><><==><><><>━
"Eye protection on now you lot. It'd be a shameful way to go blind," you order, giving four of your former students pointed stares.
You watch as they all nod and follow your order. Dolgi lowers a winged faceplate made of Gromril with a darkened strip of glass where his eyes would be over his face, Snerra flicks down two silver plates across the spectacles she was wearing, while Nain dons an anvil shaped helmet and Karstah pulls her goggles over her eyes. Each piece of equipment they put on glowing with the light of Runecraft. Only once all of them are done do you let out a satisfied huff and turn back to nod at a waiting Fjolla to begin.
Nodding back, your former apprentice lowers her own protective gear, Rune inscribed pieces of specially grown Quartz that fit perfectly over the upper half of her face, before she activates her Smelter.
All of you watch as the mass of Adamant begins glowing, greedily drinking the energy in its immediate vicinity and in the Wyrm's blood as it purges the Gromril within.
One by one, your students turn away as the light grows in intensity as the Greater Smelter does its job.
You stare straight ahead even as the others shield their faces, watching the Smelter's brightness continue to grow all the more blinding.
Then just as quickly as it began, the glow fades to reveal an inactive Smelter, the white color of Adamant visible to all thanks to the Quartz door Fjolla installed signalling its success.
While the others blink away the stars in their vision, you walk forward and pat Fjolla on the shoulder gruffly. She has done well.
"Well then," you begin, "What's the first thing you're doing with your Adamant lass?"
Your grandniece looks at you, then gives a strange look at
Zharr-a-Drakhazi, before she answers.
"I have a few ideas," she says consideringly, "but I won't get to them for a while. I have a
different project to finish first."
Well there isn't much you can say to that, and you doubt prying will do anything, so you settle on raising an eyebrow and nodding gruffly.
"If you say so."
Turning back to your other students, you bellow at them.
"Come along now you lot, let's store away this Adamant for Fjolla quickly! Dinner's almost ready and it's rude to be tardy!"
━<><><><==><><><>━
Long after your former students and their families have gone home for the night, their bellies full of food and arms laden with leftovers because that's what a proper host does ya see, you and Karstah sit in front of the fireplace reviewing the month's schedule together.
"Have you decided what to do with the Metalsmiths proposition?" your heir asks, looking at you expectantly from her chair with an unfurled roll of blank parchment in her hands.
You hum.
Gormak's successor had a runner deliver you a letter today. It has been decades since you recall receiving any communication from the Metalsmiths Guildmaster, and the first since Gormak's passing. As foolish as it sounds, seeing Thurgar Drominsson sign off as Guildmaster sent a small jolt of shock through you.
It has always been Gormak.
But it hasn't been Gormak for eighty-something years now you realize dumbly. Before your mind can send you down memory lane, you force yourself to stay on track, and ignore the feelings that bubble up from reading another Dwarf's name on the letter and focus on the contents within. They were asking, as the Engineers had, if they could officially host tournaments within Khazagar too. In fact Thurgar outright mentions the deal you had with the Endrinkuli as the impetus for him asking.
Hmph.
In the decades since the Engineers had begun hosting tournaments, you did not sit idly by. Even if you weren't officially involved, you were still observing from afar, quietly and diligently collecting data out of personal interest and in case you ever needed to defend yourself to the House. The results so far had been in line with what you expected. An uptick in the amount of work that used Engineering Runes coincided with the timing of their competitions, and a growing number of young Engineers seen speaking to Journeymen and young Master Runesmiths. Both were expected.
But there
were a few surprises. Several shops both in Khazid Okraz and in the Grozurbaz had started selling precision tooling components as several Runesmiths began dabbling with mechanisms more advanced than the standard crossbow. The fact that it was happening was expected, but not to the degree therein. Nothing on the scale of Guild Secrets were being shared obviously, you and the Engineers would come down on the offending parties like Drongrundum, but you didn't expect the visiting Runesmiths to go quite so deep. Similarly there was a noticeable shift in the attending Journeymen's interests, based on the data you were collecting. From what you can interpolate, it seems like young Journeymen who may have never been exposed to Engineers, were now coming to discover they actually had either a knack or interest in working with Engineering contraptions.
While there are a few key contextual differences between the Engineers and Metalsmiths, you do not doubt that the latter's formal presence in Khazagar would do something largely similar. The question and the concerns however, were still the same. Maybe worse. Two Guilds coming to Khazagar could be seen as the beginning of a pattern by your detractors after all.
Bah.
"Table that for later, I'll have an answer for you by tomorrow," you eventually reply.
She nods.
"Then there's the outstanding matter of Thane Morglum's request…"
You think for a moment. The Dwarf Lord's letter was something you will admit had been sidelined by the events of the past few decades. More pressing matters, more crises to address. It is the bitter truth of things, but a part of you balks at the thought of treating this Dwarf's earnest wish as something
minor, to let his deeds and valour go unrewarded. Damned is the day that Snorri Gift Giver fails to settle a debt. Perhaps it is guilt, ego, whimsy or some mix of all three, but by the end of your ruminating you have come to an answer.
"Inform Thane Morglum that his Clan will have their hammer," you say firmly.
"Aye Master," she says with a nod, and you hear the crinkle of unfurling parchment followed swiftly after by the scratch of her stylus.
"What else was there in Karstah?" you murmur, "too many damned letters these days."
And that's the truth.
"Lord Rorek wrote to you," she answered promptly, "as did several other Masters. All about Karaz-Kazak-Rhun."
You hum again.
Ever since the hammer, you have been bombarded with a literal tide of words as every Runesmith and their uncle sees fit to write to you on a scale that even dwarfs the deluge that came after you announced Khazagar. It delayed how quickly you could respond to your more regular contacts, took up time you, Karstah and your retainers normally had to just sort through and prioritize them, and served as little more than a nuisance in general. Only the Messengers Guild, their pouches swollen to bursting from the traffic, seemed happy.
In short, nothing you want to deal with at this moment then. Well, maybe not Getgold, but even he would have to wait.
There wasn't any escape from it either.
Khazagar had grown full with people who were somehow more bothersome than the ones who had been content to simply write to you. No, they weren't the kind who would even use the building for its intended purpose, just gawkers and squawkers with nothing better to do than try and see the hammer or yell at you for having it.
"How have the triplets been?" you ask, still staring at the fire.
"It took some effort to move that slab Izgrom put infront of the barracks, we gave up on figuring out how he even got it there without anyone noticing, but its been cleared." Karstah dutifully begins, exasperated fondness tinting her voice, "I'm going to have a word with him in the morning, reminding him about cleaning up after his messes. Zharrok's been spending more time than usual at his forge, so it seems like he won't be showing off whatever he has planned for a while yet. Grim is giving Ebonsea no small amount of grief, even if she's putting on a brave face about it…."
As Karstah continues speaking, you settle into your seat and quietly begin adjusting your schedule in your mind.
Unbidden, your mind dredges up a memory from the Trial. Of an older face, one that lived far longer than this world allowed her. Still as beautiful to you as ever.
It is a lie, you remind yourself, cobbled together by a Rune from your memories and imagination. But you can't, maybe won't, get the image out of your head.
Instead you take that lie, and imagine something different, repurposing it. A familiar red-haired child, standing between a greying brunette and a pale, wheat-gold blonde.
Your hand reaches over to the empty chair and lays on the spot that, in a kinder world, another hand would have occupied.
━<><><>< 476 A.P. ><><><>━
Straightbeard has come through better than I thought, Rudil thinks as he watches the Order of the Stonewall finish their work,
I'll need to buy him a few rounds when we get home.
Over the span of a few days, this prospector's haunt had gone from a few securely stored supply caches into a fortified bunker. The labour of dozens of long suffering Clerics in training being aided or directed by an equal number of Longbeards and a handful of Living Ancestors making the job a quick and relatively painless effort
When the once Priest of Grungni, now sworn Brother of the Order, came to him about calling in a few favours the Hearth Lord saw no reason to stop him.
At most Rudil expected a handful of priests and young clerics to come with them as they escorted Krum's miners into the untamed Deeps beneath the Hold.
He did not expect half the Northern chapter's worth of Dawi to come marching to their aid, nor the same number of Kraka Grom's warriors joining them once word of what was happening spread around. He's certain the Cult of Grungni and Queen Valka have more reason to aid them than simply finding their cause worthy, but that is neither his job nor turn away their aid. With their combined presence, King Vikram has been able to not only protect the miners' expeditions, but fortify and expand the routes, keep beasts and other unsavoury types from preying on Dwarfs living near the edge of Krum's territory, and speed along what relatively few repairs the Hold required.
"Hearth Lord," a familiar voice hollers, grabbing Rudil's attention.
"Aye Himurr?" he responds, turning to look at his fellow Hearth Guard.
"Sifna came back from Krum with a letter from Lady Karstah," he explains, pulling out a sealed tube from his cloak for him, "Asked me to pass it along before they got called to join expedition three."
Nodding, Rudil takes the roll of parchment from his brother-in-arms' hands and after popping the seal, begins reading the letter within.
It begins normally enough, but as he keeps reading he can feel his brows furrowing in line with his growing sense of confusion.
"What in the…"
━<><><><==><><><>━
When Karstah had come to you asking if you knew a variant of the Rune of Siphoning that could be inscribed on a Gronti, you had answered honestly and told her you hadn't, but could probably find one easily enough.
It's rare for her to ask anything of you, so when she had insisted you find that variant as soon as possible, you saw no reason to refuse. Figuring it was likely related to the project you had assigned her.
A year later she delivers a stack of parchment taller than a Dwarf's chest was thick, and written on it in exacting Klinka and
miniscule font, was her finalized report for a potential capstone project for Khazagar.
A year later, she proves that your faith was not misplaced.
A year later your heir delivers her plan for Skaudardrengi.
It takes another month to fully read and comprehend her proposal, and half a month more for you to really consider and comprehend what exactly Karstah has proposed.
Over a century ago you recall her mentioning how you could create a Dragon shaped Gronti for Khazagar. At the time you thought it nothing more than a viable, if aesthetically driven, flight of fancy.
But where you simply considered it one option of many, it is clear that it was the
only option in the eyes of your heir.
A Gronti-Duraz made wholly of Adamant, meant to wield equipment made of the same metal. A body three times longer than a Bloodthirster was tall, and, if Dolgi's research fulfilled his lofty promises, actually
capable of flight.
The cost wasn't just vault draining,but was edging on
beggaring even for you. Multiple tonnes of Adamant so much that she had earmarked the creation of
two more Greater Smelters, and the tapping of a Waystone to produce enough material sometime before the next century, nevermind the amount of Elder Wyrm Blood needed to make it all. A project that also required dedicated facilities to house the construct as it was being built, the development of entirely new methods to process Adamant at that scale, and of course entirely new Runes to research and apply for both Gronti and its equipment.
And— to your mild disbelief —you don't immediately dismiss it as a fanciful delusion.
Karstah heeded your words, and made something worthy of crowning Khazagar's final tower, something worthy of
Karaz-Kazak-Rhun's use.
So instead of dismissal, instead of practicality—
sworn from the depths of his soul.
—you reach upwards, and give Karstah the go ahead.
The look of joy on her face is concerningly manic.
━<><><>< Khazalid Trivia ><><><>━
Endrinkuli - Engineer
Grozurbaz - The Grand Exchange/ Lit. "Big Market"
Khazid Okraz - Lit. "Workshop Town"
Skaudardrengi - Lit."Singing Slayer"/ Lit. "The Roaring Slayer"
━<><><>< Gain ><><><>━
Votes Collated:
[ ] [Khazagar:] Collaborate with the Metalsmiths Guild.
Gain, New actions unlocked. You can do great things with a chapter of the Metalsmiths Guild. The Engineers simply hosting tournaments has been a boon to Khazagar's reputation, but working in tandem with the Metalsmiths would allow you to vastly increase the number of Runecraft Kraka Drakk produces. But of course, the axe over your head is the fact that the House will not look kindly upon such things.
[ ] [Khazagar:] Allow the Guild to host their contest but do not work with them.
Gain, ??? A second Guild will sponsor competitions inside Khazagar. You have a better idea about what may happen this time. The most obvious result would be an uptick in the kind of Runecraft that the Metalsmiths Guild would care most about, usually weapons and armour, with the occasional talisman or helmet. Much the same way that the Engineers Guild's competitions caused the amount of war machines to increase. But in the long term you'll expect to see more smiths form relationships with visiting Runesmiths and vice versa.
[ ] [Khazagar:] Ask them not to.
Gain, Nothing. A second Guild isn't going to be the hammerblow that splits this particular fissure, but you don't even want to smack this. The Engineers Guild's competitions have been a boon aye, but if you continue the trend, you can't rightly say how the House will react. You don't want to gamble on those odds though.
Snorri
- New Variant unlocked!
Rune of Siphoning [Engineering] (see below)
Karstah
- (2 [Plan] +1 [Karstah]) = +3 Progress to Drakk Rearing, new totals:
[18/?? Actions]
-- Grimgal, length 35m by 483 A.P.
— Training with
Hysh continues. Menlinwen is committed to giving Grimgal as comprehensive an education as she can, but apparently it's become increasingly clear to the Elven mage that they are more proficient in
Illumination than anything else. By the century's end Menlinwen will begin teaching her
Chamon.
— Drakk
-- Zharrok, length 30m by 483 A.P.
— He will be introducing his Master Work soon, his teachers tell you. The details of which he keeps close to his chest.
-- Izgrom, length 30m by 483 A.P.
— Despite his desires to delve deeper and farther, Karstah has impressed upon him the need to actually begin
mining the several claims he's found.
- Skaudardrengi Pt. 1 complete! Pt. 2 unlocked!
-- New Combo learned!
Combo, Empowered Waking: [Master Rune of Waking, Rune of Empowerment, Rune of Siphoning] (see below)
-- Karstah has compiled a complete report of the material and logistical cost of creating the capstone to Khazagar. It is…well expensive would be underselling the cost in all honesty. It may very well beggar you.
-- You will need
x192 bars of
[T4] Adamant
--- Which will require
x32 units of
[T4] Elder Wyrm Blood. Put another way, at your current level of efficiency
6 units of Adamant will require 1 unit of blood. A perfectly reasonable, if expensive, trade that you can manage passively. Producing more bars from activating something like tapping a Waystone or if another Storm of Magic were to appear will require having the extra blood on hand.
-- Dedicated facilities, either within Khazagar or another location of your choosing, will be needed to not only store, but process the Adamant into the necessary forms.
See vote.
-- All in all, completing the body will take at least decades
[3 turns] of work to complete. While the Rune bearing portions can be completed with relative ease, building something that immense with, at most, 2 people is a massive undertaking. Even for the Gift Giver and his heir.
-- The various pieces of Equipment Karstah mentioned will undoubtedly also take cumulative decades to complete.
-- ConstructsTrait: [0/6] >
[3/6]
Retainers
- Expedition, Aiding Krum complete!
-- +1 Standing with Kraka Krum, new totals: (calculated below)
—
Standing Bonus proc! [Nowhere too Deep] +2 to Recruit Roll
—
Standing Bonus proc! [Lord of Deeps and Crafts] +20 Favour with Kraka Krum, new totals: (calculated below)
— Standing Bonus received! (calculated below)
- +9 Huskarls recruited, new totals: x38
- +6 Engineers recruited, new totals: x36
154 +15 =169/240
Khazagar
- [Mid 474] The Metalsmiths Guild has always had a noticeable, but unofficial presence within Khazagar as no sensible Smith will turn away the chance to have good proper Runework inscribed on their goods, ever since the institution's completion. But now Gormak's successor, Thurgar Drominsson, has come to you to ask the same question the Engineers Guild had decades prior.
- [Early 475] It's only tangentially related to your institution but it's a literal and proverbial stone's throw away. It seems Dwalin's doing
something in Khazid Okraz. Some strange combination of inn and stage from what you gathered. Well as long as he doesn't cause any noise complaints that's his business…
New Runes/ Combos
--
Rune of Siphoning [Engineering]: Constructs and War Machines inscribed with this Rune can draw on Deep Magic, roughly doubling the longevity or recharge rate of any other Runes inscribed onto them depending on function. When inscribed all Runes glow gold. Superseded by Structural effects.
--
Combo, Empowered Waking: [Master Rune of Waking, Rune of Empowerment, Rune of Siphoning]: ???. The effects of the Rune of Empowerment are improved, and recovery time is now a quarter of the time afterwards.
Orders
-
+1 [Tier 4] Radiant Pegasus Blood, arriving
Turn 59
-
+1 [Tier 4] Barazgal, arriving
Turn 58
-
+1 [Tier 4] Radiant Pegasus Corpse
--
+1 [Tier 4] Radiant Pegasus' Heart, new totals: x2
--
+1 [Tier 4] Radiant Pegasus' Brain, new totals: x1
--
+2 [Tier 4] Radiant Pegasus' Wing Tendons, new totals: x2
--
+2 [Tier 4] Radiant Pegasus' Blood, new totals: x3
-
+10 [Tier 4] Adamant, new totals: x46
-
+3 [Tier 2] Dragon Essence, new totals: x45
Favour and Standing
- -15 Favour with Kraka Grom, new totals: Favours 200
- (-15 +20) = +5 Favour, +1 Standing with Kraka Krum, new totals: Standing 10, Favours 25
-- Standing Bonus received! Standing 10, Deep Delving: Underground "Expedition" options gain a chance to produce mineral reagents when completed.
Trait(s) Gained/Upgraded
Karstah:
- ConstructsTrait: [0/6] >
[3/6]
━<><><><==><><><>━
There will be an eleven-hour moratorium for discussion.
AN: Pt. 2 has me excited. Stay tuned. It's where stuff gets cooking. How about Empowered Waking though huh? Oh and
@_The_Bomb yes I will update Understand the Master Rune of Thungni. As always, hope you enjoy and don't forget to C&C. :^)
