[X] Tebhol, the furnace glow.
[X] Before he sells the crocus plants which the previous tenant left behind, Dorian should check whether they are crocus sativus plants or not.
We already made a Tebhol bracelet. May as well stay on theme.
Saffron was one of my write-in ideas, so I'm obviously supporting checking out the crocuses.
[X] Tebhol, the furnace glow.
[X] Before he sells the crocus plants which the previous tenant left behind, Dorian should check whether they are crocus sativus plants or not.
Yeah, I'm for doubling down on Tebhol
Also, Mishrak is the best. Well, perhaps tied with the lord of death. However, Mishrak tends to solve problems via power. If we end up getting the attention of a god, I want one where collateral damage of their involvement ends well below city scale. The city is where the school is, after all.
Also, Mishrak is the best. Well, perhaps tied with the lord of death. However, Mishrak tends to solve problems via power. If we end up getting the attention of a god, I want one where collateral damage of their involvement ends well below city scale. The city is where the school is, after all.
Hey, Mishrak can do things other then destroy stuff! Like make custom sea monsters. Or spend ridiculous amounts of money. Or turn little girls into divine champions with superpowers. Not everything he does has collateral damage.
[X] Mishrak, the dragon of the deep sea, creator-god of many bioluminescent sea creatures.
[X] Before he sells the crocus plants which the previous tenant left behind, Dorian should check whether they are crocus sativus plants or not.
'You eat meat, don't you?' Kunrath says calmly, his voice cutting through the laughter. 'It's a sad fact that many of the comforts we take for granted and much of our society's prosperity is based on killing animals: for their meat, their furs, or what we can make out of their bones, their hooves, or other body parts. Using glow-worms in this activity is no different from that. In fact, many of the animals which are commonly raised for their meat are much more intelligent and emotionally sensitive than these glow-worms.' He pauses, looking thoughtful. 'There are other luminescent materials which you could use instead, if you had the time to get hold of them. But I don't think it's a good idea for a young wizard to be too insulated from the fact that getting hold of certain spell components or alchemical ingredients often involves killing living creatures.' He picks up one of the bowls of faintly glowing mucus. 'This, for example: they probably had to kill a lot of shellfish to get this much. There is a cost to everything. Bear that in mind.'
Hm. That was a good explanation, but, I feel like it could do without the gotcha at the beginning. And I do wish she had not been laughed at, though that is hardly entirely his fault, and he did not let it go on for too long. Kunrath earns one frowny face from me, but retains his position atop the heap as the best professor we've had at this academy.
Here is the frowny face:
[x] Tebhol, the furnace glow.
[x] Before he sells the crocus plants which the previous tenant left behind, Dorian should check whether they are crocus sativus plants or not.
Dorian gets 1xp towards Ritual Magic and 1xp towards Literacy from his lessons earlier in the day.
I rolled 2d6+3 = 11 for Dorian's attempts to resist the magic clouding his mind during mealtimes, which is a pretty good score. Therefore, he gets an extra 1xp towards Mental Defence.
He gets 1xp towards Durability for his gardening. I rolled 2d6+2 = 7 for his attempts to glean some Knowledge from the older members of the Gardening Club, which isn't enough for him to gain any more experience.
Dorian gets 2xp towards Literacy because of his lessons earlier in the day.
I rolled 2d6+3 = 10 for Dorian's attempts to resist the magic clouding his mind during mealtimes, which is just enough for him to get an extra 1xp towards Mental Defence.
Dorian gets 2xp towards Alchemy, 1xp towards Ritual Magic, and 1xp towards Knowledge from his lessons earlier in the day.
I rolled 2d6+3 = 11 for Dorian's attempts to resist the magic clouding his mind during mealtimes, which is enough for him to gain an extra 1xp towards Mental Defence.
He gets 1xp towards Durability for his gardening. Also, I rolled 2d6+2 = 11 for his attempts to gain some insight from the older members of the Gardening Club, which is enough for him to gain 1xp towards Knowledge.
Yesssssss, glorious XP!
I can easily see how this academy would produce a well-rounded wizard, at this rate. I'm rather impressed by the fact that your mechanics are matching up very well with the intended story!
So, once we've sold the crocuses, we will have another 10 squares to use. I propose 7 squares of marigolds (for a total of 40 marigold squares) and another rose bush (which I'm assuming will fill 3 squares).
Hey, Mishrak can do things other then destroy stuff! Like make custom sea monsters. Or spend ridiculous amounts of money. Or turn little girls into divine champions with superpowers. Not everything he does has collateral damage.
I admit, Mishrak is one of my favourite characters in this fictional universe. He's a huge and powerful sea dragon who also happens to be a god, the creator of many terrifying sea monsters. At the same time, he's a big dork who's completely under the thumb of a little girl he once helped to rescue from evil spirits.
The commentary surrounding the winning vote mentioned getting a rose bush, but didn't include it in the list of purchases. But then the total number of plants in your garden only added up to ninety-nine squares when it was supposed to add up to a hundred, so I assumed that one of them must have been missed out. Reading carefully between the lines, I figured that a rose bush was what people had intended to buy, but it had been missed off the list. Therefore, I added a rose bush to the garden, filling that last space, and deducted the cost from the money you have available. I hope that was all right?
Yesssssss, glorious XP!
I can easily see how this academy would produce a well-rounded wizard, at this rate. I'm rather impressed by the fact that your mechanics are matching up very well with the intended story!
[X] Tebhol, the furnace glow.
[X] Before he sells the crocus plants which the previous tenant left behind, Dorian should check whether they are crocus sativus plants or not.
[X] Tebhol, the furnace glow.
[X] Before he sells the crocus plants which the previous tenant left behind, Dorian should check whether they are crocus sativus plants or not.
erefore, I added a rose bush to the garden, filling that last space, and deducted the cost from the money you have available. I hope that was all right?
Makes sense to me, and seemed like a perfectly reasonable action.
As an aside, I considered the god of glow worms but decided that it was inappropriate.
That person is interested in benefiting glow worms. Our actions are the opposite of that. Maybe if there was some balance, like growing up a huge batch of glow worms to release into the wild, them it would work. However, since making our rocks glow has only negative repercussions for glow worms, I figured the god of glow worms wouldn't be interested in helping.
[X] Mishrak, the dragon of the deep sea, creator-god of many bioluminescent sea creatures.
Mishrak seems like a nice enough dude, let's throw him a prayer!
A third pamphlet describes how, over thousands of years, alchemists have tried to create the universal panacea, a mythical remedy which is supposed to cure all illnesses and prolong life indefinitely. Different alchemists have come up with their own recipes, which often include garlic, peonies, sage, saffron (the powdered stigmas of the crocus sativus plant), valerian, or yarrow. More adventurous alchemists swear by turmeric (a flowering plant native to the southern continent, Anakwaan), the red sap of the elephant tree, or ginseng root (native to the far western continent, Chamdara). One bold explorer claims to have found the golden orchard of Narra the earth-goddess, which was tended by a beautiful elf with leaves and flowers growing in her hair, where he was permitted to eat one of the fruits of a wondrous tree planted by the goddess herself, which instantly made him feel twenty years younger. However, when he returned later to try to validate his discovery and beg for more of the fruits, he found that the golden orchard had been burned down and the guardian elf was gone.
There are two other pamphlets which you have yet to read, one of them about the universal solvent and why alchemists thought that it might be useful to have, and one of them which describes how pupils who studied alchemy at the Tyrepheum Academy of the Magical Arts have used it as the foundation of their own successful careers, as weaponsmiths (alchemically enhanced weapons are cheaper and easier to maintain than enchanted weapons), potterers (one of them created a new type of porcelain!), clothiers for the rich and fashionable, and many other things which you don't get around to reading about before the bell rings to signify the end of the study period.
Nevertheless, as you head outside, you feel the dawning of a new idea…
With the assistance of an expert, you are able to confirm that the crocuses in your garden are of the saffron-producing species, crocus sativus. Fenella Ortans explains to you that these plants are very popular among members of the Gardening Club because saffron is such a valuable spice, used in dyes, perfumes, herbal remedies, as a food seasoning, or an offering to the gods. As a young apprentice wizard without much money, if you wanted to use saffron as an ingredient in a magical ritual or potion, you'd be hard-pressed to get hold of any unless you grew it yourself.
'Of course, they're not looking their best just yet,' she says, looking over them with a critical eye. 'They don't flower until mid-autumn, which won't be for another month or so.'
'I suppose I was lucky that the previous tenant left me so many useful and valuable plants,' you say.
'That's something we try to encourage. I mean, we all started from nothing, or near enough, so it's nice to give someone in the same situation a bit of a leg-up. Doesn't matter who you are or where you came from, as long as you're willing to work hard, you can be successful. That's what the Gardening Club is all about. At least, I'd like it to be.' Her bovine face takes on an unusually thoughtful expression. 'By the time you're a fully-fledged wizard, you'll have plenty of other options available to you, so you shouldn't be hurting for money. And it's not like you can take your plants with you when you go out into the wider world, not easily at any rate. So, why not leave them for your successor, whoever he or she is? Give them a decent start in life, just like someone else did for you?'
'What happens if someone can't pay the fees?' you ask. 'My friend, Isolia – she comes from the Sprawl – she doesn't have any family and she was homeless before she came here. You gave her a garden space that was full of weeds and didn't seem to have any particularly valuable plants growing there. How is she supposed to pay the fees? I needed to get some money together before I could buy seeds for the plants I wanted to grow, but she can't do that. So, what is she supposed to do instead?'
'Hmm, she might have to rely on the generosity of others, or take the leftover seeds that other people don't want, but she'll be able to plant something. No sense in wasting space. It might be rough at first, but eventually her hard work will pay off. If she can't pay the membership fees… well, maybe we can make a deal with her. We need to maintain our stock of seeds somehow, so maybe she could help with that? Let's say we give her some of the seeds we want more of, ask her to dedicate a portion of her garden to growing them, and sometime next year she can pay us in seeds instead of cash.' She gives a shrug. 'But I should really be talking to her about that, not with you.'
'Oh, there was something else I wanted to know,' you remember. 'Can you tell me anything about ginseng? Would it be possible for to grow some in my garden?'
'Probably not. It's very susceptible to disease, can't tolerate spring frosts or summer heat, doesn't like the soil around here, and takes three or four years to grow to maturity,' she says with a grimace. 'We've got some, got a special place where we grow it–' She gestures vaguely in the direction of the greenhouses. 'But it's not an easy plant to grow, not something I'd recommend for someone who doesn't have time and money to spare. Besides, three or four years is just the bare minimum. According to folklore, it's better to leave it a lot longer than that. It's said that the older it gets, the greater its healing powers become.' She sighs. 'Lot of nonsense, really, but it seems to work. Who am I to gainsay the great goddess of ginseng?'
'That's all I wanted to know. Thank you for all of your help, Fen,' you say.
'No problem. You take care of yourself, ya hear?' She nods at you, then stomps off in the direction of her own garden.
On Fourday morning, in your Ritual Magic lesson, Professor Glossoloria gives you a homework challenge to complete: the culmination of everything you've been doing in her lessons for the past two weeks. For this task, you have to create an illusion, then use an arcane circle to sustain that illusion for as long as possible, at least until you bring it with you to next week's lesson. The more detailed and realistic your illusion is, the higher marks you will get.
By the time you leave that lesson, you already have a few ideas. It would be relatively easy to create an illusion of a cuboid shape which could be mistaken for a book if someone was looking at it from a distance, but it would be much difficult to create an illusory book which someone could open and read, like the textbook you were given on your first day of classes. Using your rudimentary knowledge of illusions to create a full-length textbook would probably be overly ambitious, but perhaps you could make something simpler. Would it be possible to make something like the pamphlets which Professor Kunrath gave you? That would be an impressive feat for a novice wizard, if you could manage it.
Alternatively, you were already planning to spend some time together with your team, sharing with them your Quickness cantrip and learning from them the cantrips they know. Venta can create an illusory duplicate of herself, seemingly perfect in every detail, able to move independently for as long as she can maintain the spell. Wouldn't it be impressive if you could learn that from her, if you could go to the next Ritual Magic lesson with your doppelganger walking alongside you? You're sure that Professor Glossoloria would have to give you a good grade if you did that.
Later in the day, you get together with the other members of Cadre 1F and explain that you want to share spells and practice working together as a team.
'Shouldn't we ask Green Flame to supervise?' asks Venta. 'If we're going to be practising spellcasting, it could be dangerous. We might need her help.'
'All right, that sounds like a good idea,' you say. There is general acquiescence.
You knock on the door of Green Flame's office. When she opens it, you explain what you want from her.
'That might be interesting,' she says with a nod. 'Where are you doing this?'
After you lead her to the empty classroom, she stands to one side, listening and watching while you discuss what you want to do with your team.
'In that Bladderwrack game, on Sevenday, I noticed that you – Venta, you're a good spellcaster, but you were getting out of breath very quickly – maybe next time you should be the goalkeeper, staying in more or less the same place and casting spells to prevent the other team from scoring. Philander, I think you should play to your strengths: you're witty and quick with a joke, so I reckon that you'd be very good at distracting the other team, if that's what you focused on doing. Isolia, the spell you use to control rats is amazing, but it's not well-suited to the game of Bladderwrack. In fact, we were heavily penalised for it.'
She nods ruefully. 'What about you, oh fearless leader?' she asks. 'What role will you play in our new and improved Bladderwrack team?'
'I've got a cantrip which I use to make myself faster and more agile, so maybe I could use it to help me score goals before the other team can react,' you suppose. 'But I don't know how well that would work. We'll have to keep practising and get some more experience. In time, we'll figure it out.'
Then, you try to teach your Quickness cantrip to your teammates, thinking that it would be very useful to them. However, your method of casting the spell is so instinctive that you struggle to explain it to anyone else. All you have to do is get into the right mindset, gather enough magical energy and decide to cast it, but for your teammates this simple process seems impossibly difficult.
'Are you sure you're not missing out a few stages?' asks Venta, who looks on the verge of tearing her hair out in frustration.
'No… well, I explained to you how I do it,' you say. 'I don't know why it should be different for you.'
'Can we try something else?' asks Philander. 'We've been practising a lot of illusions, so we already know the basics. Maybe Venta's spell would be easier to learn?'
To an extent, he is correct. After much practice, you are able to create an illusory copy of yourself, but it is a still image, like a statue. Try as you might, you can't get it to move except by vanishing it from one spot and making it reappear somewhere else, in the exact same pose. Although you haven't succeeded in casting the spell properly, you've come closer than either Phil or Isolia, neither of whom have been able to make their illusions move in any realistic way. Phil's illusory image of himself is transparent, like you imagine a ghost would look. Isolia's image looks nothing like her; it's only vaguely recognizable as having human features, like a badly made waxwork model.
And neither you, Venta nor Philander can figure out where to begin learning Isolia's Vermin Control spell. It seems much more difficult and complicated than any spell she should be capable of at this early stage of her wizarding apprenticeship, yet she does it so effortlessly. How can she do that? You have no idea.
'I think that's enough,' says Green Flame, making you jump in surprise. Until then, you'd almost forgotten that she was present. 'Well done, all of you. You've done much better than I expected.'
'How can you say that?' asks Venta. 'We haven't succeeded in anything.'
'Because what you were trying to do was impossible.' Green Flame hesitates, considering her words carefully. 'Extremely unlikely, at least,' she amends. 'I would have been astonished if you had succeeded.'
'How would we have been able to tell that you were astonished? Would your eyes have widened by a quarter of a millimetre? Would we need to examine you under a microscope to be able to tell that your jaw had dropped?' asks Philander, facetiously. 'Sorry, Miss, it's very hard to tell what you're thinking.'
'No need to apologise, Philander,' she replies.
'Why is it impossible?' you ask. 'I've never had any problem with cantrips before.'
'It may interest you to know that we use the word "cantrip" in multiple ways, when perhaps it would have been better to use different words. The cantrips which you are most familiar with, which you have been learning in lessons, are very simple spells which almost anyone can learn without a significant investment of time and effort. We also use the word "cantrip" to describe the spells which some young people learn to cast spontaneously, almost accidentally, usually in times of great stress or desperation, when they had no choice but to reach within themselves and draw upon a power which they didn't know they had,' Green Flame explains. Her eyes flicker to you, then Isolia, and then Venta. 'No matter how difficult, or complicated, or powerful such spells may be, you are able to cast them almost instinctively. After you've done it once, you know that you can do it again. Moving along a well-worn groove is always easier than carving a new path.'
'So… we're not going to be able to learn each other's cantrips?' Venta asks, sounding disappointed.
'It may be possible for you to learn, but not yet.' Green Flame looks pensive. 'Your illusion is a good one, better than anything the majority of students are capable of before they are ready to join Professor Loeil's "Mastery of Illusions" classes. Isolia's Vermin Control spell is powerful mind magic, greater than anything you will learn at this school until after you have completed several years of study. And… unless I am very much mistaken, Dorian's Quickness spell is a form of time magic.'
'It is?' you ask in slack-jawed disbelief.
She nods. 'It enables you to speed up time for yourself while everything else stays the same. Didn't you realise?'
Slowly, you shake your head.
'If I had thought that there was any possibility that you would be able to teach it to your friends, I would have stopped you. Time magic is very dangerous,' she continues.
'What, you stood there and watched us fumbling along when you knew that we'd fail?' Philander asks with a disgruntled snort. 'That was a mean trick, Teach.'
She looks at him curiously. 'How do you expect to learn if you won't try?'
'I'm just surprised you didn't say anything when you knew we were barking up the wrong tree,' he mumbles.
'Yes, but you learned from it, didn't you?'
No one agrees with her, at least not with any conviction. You heave a sigh of mingled disappointment and exasperation.
'Oh well, I guess we're not gonna be learning any new spells tonight,' says Philander. 'Bladderwrack this weekend, anyone? Shall we practice for that?'
'I'll leave you to it, then,' says Green Flame, striding out of the room. 'Have a good evening, all of you.'
On Sixday morning, you had planned to take your crocuses to market and sell them. However, the Gardening Club's handcarts are all in use, so you would need to hire one from elsewhere. Coupled with the need to buy pots for your crocuses, that will cost you two silver shards. You hope to sell your crocuses for a lot more than that, but it's something you need to bear in mind.
Also, as Fenella said, your crocuses are "not looking their best just yet". You'd be able to get a much better price for them in a few weeks, when they come into bloom. For now, they're pleasant and healthy-looking plants, but they're not the sort of pretty thing that a lovesick swain might buy for his sweetheart, which greatly reduces their potential for profit. Unless… maybe you're going about this the wrong way? Would it be better to sell your crocuses to an expert, someone who will care that in a few months they will be able to produce saffron from them? Where could you find someone like that?
What do you decide to do? (Choose one)
[] Buy pots, hire cart, take your crocuses to market, accept that you won't make very much money from them.
[] Try to find an expert who will take your crocuses off your hands for a reasonable sum. (Write in: how are you going to do this?)
[] Decide not to take your crocuses to market today. Do some gardening instead. (Gain 1xp towards Durability.)
Dorian gets 1xp towards Ritual Magic and 1xp towards Literacy from his lessons earlier in the day.
I rolled 2d6+3 = 8 for Dorian's attempts to resist the magic clouding his mind during mealtimes, which isn't enough for him to gain any xp.
He gets 1xp towards Ritual Magic and 1xp towards Leadership from training together with his team. Also, he learned how to use illusions to create a still image of himself, like a statue. (I'm not going to add it to your spellbook because it's not a complete spell.)
Dorian gets 2xp towards Literacy from his lessons earlier in the day.
I rolled 2d6+3 = 9 for Dorian's attempts to resist the magic clouding his mind during mealtimes, which isn't enough for him to gain any xp.
He gets 1xp towards Durability for his gardening. I rolled 2d6+2 = 6 for his attempts to glean some Knowledge from the older members of the Gardening Club, which again isn't enough for him to gain any xp.
In the next update, your team will play its second game of Bladderwrack, then visit the Astronomy Club, and finally get started on raiding an ancient tomb. Also, I suppose he should attempt the homework at some point. Look forward to that!
Cantrip sharing was a good learning experience. Thank you for writing it up in such an interesting way.
Are we supposed to interact with our homework assignment? Since it is due on Oneday there's nothing we can schedule next week that would help. I do like the pamphlet idea.
I honestly don't know what would be the best use of the crocuses. I am open to ideas if anyone has some.
Are we supposed to interact with our homework assignment? Since it is due on Oneday there's nothing we can schedule next week that would help. I do like the pamphlet idea.
I'll let you vote on how you want to complete the homework at the end of an update when I don't have anything else for you to vote on. Possibly on Sevenday, after you've completed the Explorers and Archaeologists Club's obstacle course.
Also, since you're about to play some more Bladderwrack, I might need some input as to how Cadre 1F should play.
Here's a table of my ideas so far:
Name of team member
What role should they play?
What spell should they focus on casting?
Dorian
Scoring goals
Quickness
Isolia
Scoring goals
Telekinetic Push
Philander
Distracting the opposition
Telekinetic Push
Venta
Defending your team's goal
Barrier
Does that look okay? Is there anything you would like me to add or change?
Time magic huh? Whenever it comes up I can't help thinking of the larger metaplot. It's interesting our Protagonist ended up with that as his instinctual magic, was the quickness cantrip always going to be time magic if we picked it, or was that aspect added later I wonder?
[X] Decide not to take your crocuses to market today. Do some gardening instead. (Gain 1xp towards Durability.)
