A bunch of people have commented that we're tearing through Waystone construction; we're only four turns into the Waystone project proper (three turns that we've been able to do real team research; the first turn was just Lay the Foundations), and we've already got workable solutions for three of the four parts of an Elven waystone (though the river leyline approaches we identified still need to be prototyped). That implies that, assuming the Foundation component goes as smoothly as the others, we could in theory have our first Elven waystone in just three more turns (T42 study Foundation, T43 prototype a foundation approach, T44 take the Build an Elven Waystone action (assuming we also take the prototype actions for river leylines on T42 or T43)). While we shouldn't count our chickens before they're hatched -- the Foundation has been implied several times to be the most magically challenging component and so I think it's very possible that we'll stumble there and need to adjust our approach -- it's still cool as hell that an end point most people would have thought impossible is just over the horizon.
These are the fruits of preparation. We spent 2000 gc on the research facilities, 600 gc on the living spaces, and 11.5 actions (9 regular + 5 webmat, if you want to get technical) on getting everything together, personally scrutinizing a waystone and recruiting people. Of those recruitment actions, two were obtained using The Gambler (Thorek and Tochter) and Aksel needed The Father. Hatalath was a freebie from being in Laurelorn of course, and Niedzwenka and Zlata were the fortuitous reward of going out of our way during the Gryphon Wood action, but it was still a lot of work and it also involved literal divine help from Ranald to grease the wheels.
But I will note the following as well:
1) I don't wish to raise our hopes/expectations too much because we know the Foundation is probably the hardest individual part, but the Rune and Capstone actions went well enough that we got the prototypes finished in the same action that we actually researched them, so if (
if) the Foundation is the same as that it could get its component finished in one turn. However...
2) The Capstone and Leyline actions provided us multiple possible components with their own sets of drawbacks and benefits. For instance, the current talk on how the Runic Inductor probably being easier to do in terms of scalability but also having less safeties so to speak. It's a very real possibility in my mind that the Foundations action could similarly yield a high Wind storage capacity that needs to be done via Qhaysh, and/or a Collegiate or Dwarven version that has lower capacity. Meaning that...
3) The Build A Waystone action is really looking like it'll be a matter of carefully picking the options we have developed and try for the best results in the places we hope to place the finished products in. It's possible some pegs will be bad fits for some holes, and it may or may not take more than one action. And if, say, we later decide to integrate some new knowledge or development (such as regular leylines after negotiating for passphrases), I don't know if that'd necessitate a new action for a second type of waystone or something of the sort.
None of the other suspected apparition spells are using them to deliver a payload of an actual separate spell, they're just giving them physical shape that makes them more dangerous. That doesn't mean it's impossible, but it does mean that you'd be trying to invent something entirely new instead of just adapting what you already have extensive notes on how to achieve. Sticking with copying what the other spells do means you could easily adapt Black Essence to deliver a longer-lasting Pall of Darkness effect that follows someone around, or tweak it into being an asphyxiant that follows someone around.
I have a possibly dumb question about the Black Essence, since ToC's description of it is a single paragraph that's not very forthcoming but Mathilde would presumably have access to more than that: does the Black Essence like, actually hurt or kill the people it haunts, and/or those around them? Because taken literally it just sort of hangs out in the face-holes of the people the 'target' sees.
The Black Essence is not so much an independent creature as it is something that seems to hang about the living. Preceded by a moist stink of decay and cloying brimstone, the black essence appears suddenly. Wherever the caster looks, he sees foul clinging darkness spilling out from eyes, nostrils, and mouths. Even when no one's around, the caster sees pools of this filth in puddles on the ground, dripping from the walls, staining plants and so on.
Part of me is even inclined to think it cozies in there so that the dark magic user lashes out against them and the Essence can slurp up the magic without killing the source.
