Harvesting with a sickle generally means getting down to the level of the stalks, hooking and severing a few stalks at a time while adding them to the bunch you have in your other hand, and then stopping every so often to bundle up a handful at a time. It's just so much less evocative a metaphor than towering over the stalks with entire swathes being reaped with arcing swings and being left to lie on the dirt to be collected later.
That said, the wolf dude in the Puss-in-Boots movie made it work for him.
So, if we did want to bind a black essence, how would we even find one? Like, they only hunt black mages, so we can't just ask the colleges to tell us about the ones stalking their wizards. Or hopefully not lol. And sylvania is (mostly) necromancer free at the moment. Though I suppose they might still be roaming around just from all the ambient undead.
It would be kind of hilarious for someone not in the know about apparitions to out themselves as a black magister by asking for advice about their terrifying hallucinations.
I guess it depends on what exactly "foul rituals" is supposed to mean. Like, just "rituals intended to hurt someone else" would also cover battlefield rituals, but that seems kind of off.
I guess it depends on what exactly "foul rituals" is supposed to mean. Like, just "rituals intended to hurt someone else" would also cover battlefield rituals, but that seems kind of off.
So, if we did want to bind a black essence, how would we even find one? Like, they only hunt black mages, so we can't just ask the colleges to tell us about the ones stalking their wizards. Or hopefully not lol. And sylvania is (mostly) necromancer free at the moment. Though I suppose they might still be roaming around just from all the ambient undead.
It would be kind of hilarious for someone not in the know about apparitions to out themselves as a black magister by asking for advice about their terrifying hallucinations.
...a visit to Nehekhara? Or far north? I dunno, do Black Essences manifest all around the world, or is there a cultural component to them?
I'm sure Mathilde could yeet herself at the biggest uncleansed concentration of dark magic she can find, survive that, and come out with a bound BE. Probably. Certainly more dangerous than just asking the Colleges about Riders, but what can you do.
On the subject of apparition resonances, I'm guessing Dark Hounds might be particularly suited for Duel, since they're like non-Chaos echoes of Flesh Hounds, and Flesh Hounds are all about chasing down particular targets and making it hard for them to leave the battlefield alive.
If we bind the Dark Hounds we should totaly turn them into a swarm of giant spiders or a pack of monstrous wolves. Just to keep Mathilde theme of begin a spooky haoloween witch.
So, if we did want to bind a black essence, how would we even find one? Like, they only hunt black mages, so we can't just ask the colleges to tell us about the ones stalking their wizards. Or hopefully not lol. And sylvania is (mostly) necromancer free at the moment. Though I suppose they might still be roaming around just from all the ambient undead.
I think it was said there were still some Vampires and Necromancers in Sylvania, we can go searching there. Otherwise i am sure we can either find them in Norsca or ask Witch Hunters if they have a Black Magister prisoner we can use as bait.
The Black Essence seems interesting to me, because it's description makes it sound like it's only creating the appearance of decay, but I'm wondering if it actually causes things to decay, like a supernatural radioactive death aura that follows the necromancer it's hunting.
Because if that's the case, then it would be easy to mistake it for a Dhar based arcane mark, when in actuality, the decay aura is separate from the necromancer it's focused on. It's a classic trope that life withers and dies in the mere presence of a necromancer, but it would be an interesting twist if it's actually caused by a separate entity attracted to the necromancer.
It's a classic trope that life withers and dies in the mere presence of a necromancer, but it would be an interesting twist if it's actually caused by a separate entity attracted to the necromancer.
@Boney, now that the Linking rune has been discovered, could we attempt creation or attempt researching creation of a composite runesmithed enchanted item, with a Runesmith runesmithing a runed item with rune payload and a Linking rune, and Mathilde enchanting an additional enchantment holding part to seemlessly work together as a whole, using her windsight, windherding and enchanting traits?
If it couldn't be done because that's too untraditional or too fast, needs more preparation / research / adoption time, or other Runesmith-related reasons, could our Moderate Runesmiths Guild boon be used help?
As Kragg's K8P sword making interlude in Turn 20 - 2479.5 - A Strange Ally has shown, to repay what is owed allowances can be made, it's permissible to work significantly faster, compressing work of decades into mere months, and using not so proper methods if required:
<snip> in these dire times such shortcomings had to be accepted. <snip> He steeled himself. The partnership between Dawi and Umgi predated even him, and he was forced to admit that it wasn't entirely a bad decision. And to be a Dwarf meant repaying what is owed. <snip> And with [manlings] being cursed with ridiculously brief lifetimes, decades could not be spared <snip>. Even years would be too long.
Actually let me just quote the whole interlude, it's short and it's excellent, one of the jewels of the quest.
Deep in the heart of Karag Lhune, Kragg grimaced at the Rune he had just struck. A shoddy job, it would barely last a century or two before beginning to fade. He resisted the urge to throw it back into the crucible; this was only needed for a single task, and in these dire times such shortcomings had to be accepted. He threw the amulet at the beardling that was sadly necessary for the task at hand, and the youngster stammered thanks that he utterly ignored. Any unprotected Dwarf would risk passing out in the heat the white-hot furnace was giving off, and it still wasn't quite hot enough for the task at hand. Smelting gromril was hard enough; purifying it all the way to glimril was lost, and even getting it to a state that it could hold the most powerful of runes was beyond just about any Dwarf born to this benighted time. Lucky for the Karaz Ankor that Kragg still remained.
As the Grandmaster of the Karak Azul Guild of Blacksmiths shovelled more fuel into the rune-enhanced fire under the protection of the newly-made amulet, Kragg grimaced once more, this time in distaste at the mold. Molding! A proper Dwarf worked with hammer and molten metal, and if it took decades and wore out hammers by the score, then so be it. And the shape, too. Hammers were best, of course, with axes a close second. A pick was a worthy weapon in a pinch, and Kragg would reluctantly concede that spears had a time and a place. But swords?
He steeled himself. The partnership between Dawi and Umgi predated even him, and he was forced to admit that it wasn't entirely a bad decision. And to be a Dwarf meant repaying what is owed. Grudges, of course, were repaid in blood and death, but the other side was that those that helped the Karaz Ankor were repaid in ways commensurate with their act. When Sigmar had saved the High King, he had not only been gifted the ancient treasure Ghal-Maraz, but on top of that the best Runesmith of the age was commissioned to create something entirely new to settle the debt. Similarly, when manlings aided the greatest reconquest in millennia, the burden was on him to repay it. And they did so with swords, so swords it had to be. And with them being cursed with ridiculously brief lifetimes, decades could not be spared to properly form it. Even years would be too long.
Finally, a cry of success came from his accomplice, and Kragg glanced over as the gromril shimmered and steamed as the impurities finally surrendered and evaporated. Kragg put all doubts and grumblings from his mind as the gromril began to pour. He would see to it that all would know that the Karaz Ankor would be as indefatigable in rewarding its friends as it was at punishing its foes.
@Boney, now that the Linking rune has been discovered, could we attempt creation or attempt researching creation of a composite runesmithed enchanted item, with a Runesmith runesmithing a runed item with rune payload and a Linking rune, and Mathilde enchanting an additional enchantment holding part to seemlessly work together as a whole, using her windsight, windherding and enchanting traits?
I doubt a single example of a Linking Rune is enough to reverse-engineer it, they used to have shields with Linking Runes and the Rune of Stone mass produced by apprentices, surely at least a few of those must have survived to the modern day and Kragg would have access to them, yet it hasn't been rediscovered.
This is analogous to the difference between being a woman of much learning and a woman of much Learning.
(If we ever decide to specifically train that skill, we should go to the halflings. I know it sounds strange, but I have reason to believe that under their tutelage, we could become a true mistress of Fitness. FITNESS PIE IN OUR MOUTH)
@Boney, now that the Linking rune has been discovered, could we attempt creation or attempt researching creation of a composite runesmithed enchanted item, with a Runesmith runesmithing a runed item with rune payload and a Linking rune, and Mathilde enchanting an additional enchantment holding part to seemlessly work together as a whole, using her windsight, windherding and enchanting traits?
If it couldn't be done because that's too untraditional or too fast, needs more preparation / research / adoption time, or other Runesmith-related reasons, could our Moderate Runesmiths Guild boon be used help?
As Kragg's K8P sword making interlude in Turn 20 - 2479.5 - A Strange Ally has shown, to repay what is owed allowances can be made, it's permissible to work significantly faster, compressing work of decades into mere months, and using not so proper methods if required:
Actually let me just quote the whole interlude, it's short and it's excellent, one of the jewels of the quest.
Deep in the heart of Karag Lhune, Kragg grimaced at the Rune he had just struck. A shoddy job, it would barely last a century or two before beginning to fade. He resisted the urge to throw it back into the crucible; this was only needed for a single task, and in these dire times such shortcomings had to be accepted. He threw the amulet at the beardling that was sadly necessary for the task at hand, and the youngster stammered thanks that he utterly ignored. Any unprotected Dwarf would risk passing out in the heat the white-hot furnace was giving off, and it still wasn't quite hot enough for the task at hand. Smelting gromril was hard enough; purifying it all the way to glimril was lost, and even getting it to a state that it could hold the most powerful of runes was beyond just about any Dwarf born to this benighted time. Lucky for the Karaz Ankor that Kragg still remained.
As the Grandmaster of the Karak Azul Guild of Blacksmiths shovelled more fuel into the rune-enhanced fire under the protection of the newly-made amulet, Kragg grimaced once more, this time in distaste at the mold. Molding! A proper Dwarf worked with hammer and molten metal, and if it took decades and wore out hammers by the score, then so be it. And the shape, too. Hammers were best, of course, with axes a close second. A pick was a worthy weapon in a pinch, and Kragg would reluctantly concede that spears had a time and a place. But swords?
He steeled himself. The partnership between Dawi and Umgi predated even him, and he was forced to admit that it wasn't entirely a bad decision. And to be a Dwarf meant repaying what is owed. Grudges, of course, were repaid in blood and death, but the other side was that those that helped the Karaz Ankor were repaid in ways commensurate with their act. When Sigmar had saved the High King, he had not only been gifted the ancient treasure Ghal-Maraz, but on top of that the best Runesmith of the age was commissioned to create something entirely new to settle the debt. Similarly, when manlings aided the greatest reconquest in millennia, the burden was on him to repay it. And they did so with swords, so swords it had to be. And with them being cursed with ridiculously brief lifetimes, decades could not be spared to properly form it. Even years would be too long.
Finally, a cry of success came from his accomplice, and Kragg glanced over as the gromril shimmered and steamed as the impurities finally surrendered and evaporated. Kragg put all doubts and grumblings from his mind as the gromril began to pour. He would see to it that all would know that the Karaz Ankor would be as indefatigable in rewarding its friends as it was at punishing its foes.
It's fun to reread that snippet in the knowledge of all the stuff that followed; I suspect that Kragg's opinion on the Umgi-Dawi partnership has since shifted to 'one of the wisest decisions ever made'. Because while Umgi are unreliable, often let you down, and can't be fully trusted as a whole, when they come through they do so in a big way.
"You know," Belegar said thoughtfully. "Mayhaps the manlings legalizing the Zhufokri wasn't such a terrible idea, after all."
"Hmph," said Kragg, in a tone of voice that would terrify most lesser Dwarves, but one that Belegar had learned was only his baseline level of disapproving. "Takes more than one good axe for a workshop to prove itself."
"If you dig a mine and get fifty cartloads of muck and one fistful of gold," Ulthar said thoughtfully. "What you've got there is a gold mine."
"Hmph," said Kragg again. But there was no arguing with a good mining metaphor.
Tangentially: the idea has been floated to me of making a similar post to cover our Stirland years. I've been unsure about whether people would get any actual use out of it, though; the original idea behind this project, when I did it for our time as Loremaster, was so that we could at-a-glance see how we had been spending our time in order to modulate future turnplanning accordingly, but that's obviously not a factor for the spymistress job. But I guess I don't know how many people actively go back and look at the K8P one, even though it's not relevant to the current quest; if it turns out reading summaries of old turns and not just the more recent ones is common, then that would alter my opinion.
Tangentially: the idea has been floated to me of making a similar post to cover our Stirland years. I've been unsure about whether people would get any actual use out of it, though; the original idea behind this project, when I did it for our time as Loremaster, was so that we could at-a-glance see how we had been spending our time in order to modulate future turnplanning accordingly, but that's obviously not a factor for the spymistress job. But I guess I don't know how many people actively go back and look at the K8P one, even though it's not relevant to the current quest; if it turns out reading summaries of old turns and not just the more recent ones is common, then that would alter my opinion.
Personally speaking, I use it as a handy index for when I'm trying to find a specific passage and I know the context, but can't remember the exact turn number. A "brief history of our time as spymaster" would be pretty helpful for that—I remember recently doing a lot of flicking back and forth trying to find the job interviews for the watch captain position. But I wouldn't want you to go out of your way to put one together, especially when I could just be not lazy and make one myself (speaking of which, I need to update my categorised bibliography post at some point, it's a few turns out of date now).
We could go visit. Maybe his father has gone slayer by now. And we are newly in the "remove bad heads of state for their heirs" business, Ulthar probably doesn't feel time pressure like Boris.
We could go visit. Maybe his father has gone slayer by now. And we are newly in the "remove bad heads of state for their heirs" business, Ulthar probably doesn't feel time pressure like Boris.
I sadly was not around to comment when cataclysm whispering darkness was discussed, but I will take any opportunity to gush about how amazing it would be to get the max quantity version of that and roll for it to be high battle magic, such that we could cast it as fiendishly complex.
So, if we did want to bind a black essence, how would we even find one? Like, they only hunt black mages, so we can't just ask the colleges to tell us about the ones stalking their wizards. Or hopefully not lol. And sylvania is (mostly) necromancer free at the moment. Though I suppose they might still be roaming around just from all the ambient undead.
It would be kind of hilarious for someone not in the know about apparitions to out themselves as a black magister by asking for advice about their terrifying hallucinations.
Low, mid, and high battle magic are not distinct casting difficulty ratings in the way FC, BM, and cataclysm are, to my understanding - the apparitions vote was the first time those terms were even used, they don't appear in the spell list.
Low, mid, and high battle magic are not distinct casting difficulty ratings in the way FC, BM, and cataclysm are, to my understanding - the apparitions vote was the first time those terms were even used, they don't appear in the spell list.
But there's still a huge difference between intro BM like MMM and the high end like Mind Razor or Pit*. And IIRC, Boney has said we shouldn't expect to cast a spell like Pit as FC (though Pit isn't eligible anyway).
*It's not different categories, it's different casting values, with higher as worse, based on the TT. It doesn't work that way directly, but it's what guides the classification.
