Of course not, Ulthan doesn't make cardboard boxes that big.
The part form that conversation that sticks out to me, however, is that Teclis is apparently running a northbound expedition. This might mean we get to meet with magic-senpai!
Of course not, Ulthan doesn't make cardboard boxes that big.
The part form that conversation that sticks out to me, however, is that Teclis is apparently running a northbound expedition. This might mean we get to meet with magic-senpai!
"The one way up north? Never been. Terrible place, I've heard. Full of themselves, and miserly as well. Awful combination." He frowns, and thinks for a moment. "Wait, they would have been lost in that business Teclis was here for. I suppose that explains the Expedition."
If we get a griffon egg from a bounty or because we manage to find it, how much gold/CF would it cost to get us a trainer/caretaker for the griffon chick? If that is impossible would it be possible to hire an Amber Mage to do it and how much would cost (standard rates or something different)? And to have a reference, what would the standard bounty for a griffon egg be?
You said that based on its previous research with the AV, Mathilde considered that AV would be useless in Potion/Alchemy... Does she believe that AV has potential (or at least potential for an interesting reaction) to magical subjects beyond her expertise like Ritual Magic, Wyrdstone Containment, or The Creation of Artificial Familiars?
It would be possible to hire a priest to check the reaction of the AV to divine magic?
This isn't strictly true. He does get voted for but it's not an auto pick I'll go back and list the times he was picked and not shall I?
2481 Belegar is an option picked, Belegar is suffering a crisis of faith
2481.5 Belegar is an option not picked
2482 Belegar is an option and is picked, K8P is fully retaken.
2482.5 No option
2483 No option.
2483.5 No Option
before that there weren't social turns and after my last entry he's not an option again. I would also argue the reason he's picked in those circumstances is because they felt immediate and important. The crisis of faith was something we couldn't leave. The scene to celebrate retaking k8p with him was important for a similar reason.
If it's meant to diversify our picks it's not doing a good job, also GTA5 is done over a much narrower time scale where that makes sense a narrative level that isn't true here.
Part of the thing is that we aren't really doing things that make us interact with him as much these days.
As the spymaster part of the job was to keep Abel as up to date as possible about what we are doing and to get orders as soon as possible. This naturally lead to a lot of interaction with him and Anton (As dip is the other side of the coin) and to an extent Welm and Kamir.
As the learning advisor our job is a lot more 'Go solve this problem' a lot of want we do we have to do alone. The extent of what he interacts with is giving us the job, and then receiving the report or results.
We are the Schultz of the k8ps council. That's kind of the curse of the learning advisor.
Tbh I'm beginning to think I have a literally negative effect on anything I want to have happen in this quest. Probably best I just stop interacting with the discussion and voting and just read it as a non-interactive story.
That's true as well, but even past that the learning advisor is a little bit of a outsider from the other adviser in that the others interact a lot as part of the job while the learning advisor does a lot of stuff only they can do.
That said, there are projects that would let us interact with other members if we do them. K8p MAP would have a lot of crossover with Edina and Drung for example. (Not that I want to do the MAP action much, if that isn't a low excitement action I don't know what is. Even the pay off muh, useful as hell, but not a doom weapon or dragon alter.)
Tbh I'm beginning to think I have a literally negative effect on anything I want to have happen in this quest. Probably best I just stop interacting with the discussion and voting and just read it as a non-interactive story.
To be honest, I kinda feel the same way.
I am not sure whether I immerse myself too much in general, invest too much time and effort into advocating unsuccessfully for certain outcomes/quest aspects or that I just have a markedly different preferences to the majority...
To be honest, I kinda feel the same way.
I am not sure whether I immerse myself too much in general, invest too much time and effort into advocating unsuccessfully for certain outcomes/quest aspects or that I just have a markedly different preferences to the majority...
I think It might be a kind of survivior mistake. Typically, campaigning hard for something is unnecessary if it is overwhelmingly popular and is done in cases when victory is by no means assured.
[X] Agree
[X] [ROMANCE] Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
[X] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[X] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
[X] Julia, to see what she has gotten up to as Stirland's most experienced spy master.
[X] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.
To be honest, I kinda feel the same way.
I am not sure whether I immerse myself too much in general, invest too much time and effort into advocating unsuccessfully for certain outcomes/quest aspects or that I just have a markedly different preferences to the majority...
Yea for the amount that my voice impacts the thread I'm spending way to much time immersing my self into the thread reading through the updates over and over and pouring over the informational sheets, might as well be shouting into the void for all the good i'm doing..
To be honest, I kinda feel the same way.
I am not sure whether I immerse myself too much in general, invest too much time and effort into advocating unsuccessfully for certain outcomes/quest aspects or that I just have a markedly different preferences to the majority...
The worst feeling is when you're just slightly part of a consistent minority, constantly giving yourself hope that this time, this time will be the one time when your dream votes finally go through and you get that scene you really really want and then it turns out that no, you don't get more than ~33% of the votes this time either.
... No, it has not happened to me in this Quest yet, I wish we could get 30% of the votes in here.
No, it's very explicitly not. That's Dhar. In High Magic the Winds never mix, High Magic spells are a construct of the multiple winds used together but separately in a single spell, producing an output greater than the sum of its parts.
I believe you can have High Magic spells that use any number between two and eight Winds in widely varying proportions.
(True) Dhar is when you essentially make a ninth Wind. AV would potentially be a tenth.
No. That goes against everything we know, GW canon and quest canon, about High magic.
You cannot, under any circumstances, have less than eight winds when making High Magic.
Windherding is having multiple mono-wind spells work alongside each other so their effects combine without the spells interfering with each other. This has nothing to do with High magic.
Magic is metaphor and the metaphor is colour. Mix colours badly and you get a mucky brown. Mix colours perfectly and you get either pure white or pure black.
Tbh I'm beginning to think I have a literally negative effect on anything I want to have happen in this quest. Probably best I just stop interacting with the discussion and voting and just read it as a non-interactive story.
To be honest, I kinda feel the same way.
I am not sure whether I immerse myself too much in general, invest too much time and effort into advocating unsuccessfully for certain outcomes/quest aspects or that I just have a markedly different preferences to the majority...
I'll be honest, this is what originally lead to me writing Soizic. I wanted to see more of her, I wanted to see more of the Karak and Ulrikadrin, and the votes I made the arguments as hard as I could went against me. So I decided that I needed to tempt, rather than hector, and show examples of the stuff I wanted to see and the places I wanted the thread to go.
The U-K8P snippets are almost entirely an exercise in advocacy, as was that 'On the River' bit when I was trying to drum up more support for the EIC navy, and I credit the fact that the university/library blob is currently winning over the flying ship to the fact that there were no equally vivid omake showing what that could look like. Johann and Roswita I wrote out basically romance novel outlines to demonstrate why I thought the stories worked, not just arguments and my opinions, and I think I could see the change in sentiment after.
So please stay engaged! I like having engaged people on the thread. But honey wins over vinegar, if you want to move votes.
Note: this is not a useful method if you are trying to discourage a vote, but I've always liked positive engagement more anyways.
To be honest, I kinda feel the same way.
I am not sure whether I immerse myself too much in general, invest too much time and effort into advocating unsuccessfully for certain outcomes/quest aspects or that I just have a markedly different preferences to the majority...
My trick is to pick a general 'Theme' to campaign for emotionally rather then commit to Emotionally to every vote.
Eg. (The big book, coins, finishing the spell, Pegasus etc etc.) are all what I see as 'archmage Mathildes actions. Every time they win or get closer to winning the narrative gets nudged in a way I like. While if they don't, I'll be sad, the battle isn't over.
On the other side I vote strongly against actions I see as nudging the narrative in a way I don't (e.g tech mathy) so im against 'more guns' or 'copper' but I don't see it as 'losing the war' if they do get voted for, just the 'battle'.
Or In Other words: pick your battles, take the small wins and treat it was a marathon, not a thousand little sprints.
(Tho that just might be my training from my time as a corn lobbyist coming through.)
And yes, I'm giving up my strategy, but I don't want to lose a voting rival. Politics aren't fun without people to argue with!
Would you disagree with Deathfang if he wanted to pretend that he would be able to Clark-Kent[1] as a mild mannered reporter dragon working for the local newspaper?
I put it to you that all the people agreeing that "Yes, this dragon is a perfectly ordinary dragon, and not Deathfang" are in fact doing so because well... the alternative to agreeing with Deathfang is disagreeing with Deathfang.
[1] He uses a tie, as opposed to wearing glasses, btw.
No. That goes against everything we know, GW canon and quest canon, about High magic.
You cannot, under any circumstances, have less than eight winds when making High Magic.
Windherding is having multiple mono-wind spells work alongside each other so their effects combine without the spells interfering with each other. This has nothing to do with High magic.
Magic is metaphor and the metaphor is colour. Mix colours badly and you get a mucky brown. Mix colours perfectly and you get either pure white or pure black.
Already going against what I said but I don't think this is true.
I've never seen high magic described as a wind of magic in any of the lore. Dhar does sort of act like a wind of magic in that it can exist naturally and can flow around the world, obviously with disastrous consequence because when it does it consumes the other winds of magic and makes more of its self but thankfully the waystone networks are supposed to purge dhar that forms unless they get clogged.
High Magic is a painting, it's a structure made up of the other winds of magic. You don't mix the winds and get high magic. An Elven high mage takes all eights of magic and individually builds a spell from each that as a conclusive whole then performs high magic. At least that's how I've always understood it. The books of magic that do give us a glimpse of how elves do it are categorical that high elves maintain eight distinct concepts in their minds and channel magic in parallel they aren't simply mixing them together in their soul.
I've never seen high magic described as a wind of magic in any of the lore. Dhar does sort of act like a wind of magic in that it can exist naturally and can flow around the world, obviously with disastrous consequence because when it does it consumes the other winds of magic and makes more of its self but thankfully the waystone networks are supposed to purge dhar that forms unless they get clogged.
High Magic is a painting, it's a structure made up of the other winds of magic. You don't mix the winds and get high magic. An Elven high mage takes all eights of magic and individually builds a spell from each that as a conclusive whole then performs high magic. At least that's how I've always understood it. The books of magic that do give us a glimpse of how elves do it are categorical that high elves maintain eight distinct concepts in their minds and channel magic in parallel they aren't simply mixing them together in their soul.
It would theoretically require eight compatible people channelling exactly equal amounts of Winds. Anything short of that will result in Dhar at best and eight simultaneous miscasts at worst.
Theoretically, it could be the potential to cast high magic if you found seven other Wizards with the same trait and who were completely in sync with you.
Would you disagree with Deathfang if he wanted to pretend that he would be able to Clark-Kent[1] as a mild mannered reporter dragon working for the local newspaper?
I put it to you that all the people agreeing that "Yes, this dragon is a perfectly ordinary dragon, and not Deathfang" are in fact doing so because well... the alternative to agreeing with Deathfang is disagreeing with Deathfang.
[1] He uses a tie, as opposed to wearing glasses, btw.
'High' magic, of which humans know very little, is when an extremely skilled practitioner of magic uses all eight winds of magic in unison. Normally, if someone uses multiple winds of magic, the result becomes Dhar - imagine someone trying to mix paints and it inevitably resulting in a mucky brown tone. When a sufficiently skilled wizard does it, they can combine the colours into a pure magic called Qhaysh, similarly to how we are taught 'white' light is made up of all colours combined. No known human is capable of such a feat, as it (in theory) takes centuries of careful study to achieve it.
I think being able to use all eight winds of magic in unison has a prerequisite of being able to use seven winds of magic in unison, which has a prerequisite of using six winds of magic in unison, and so on. So even if not using all eight isn't Qhaysh, it would be required on the way to learning how to use it.
While you and the Shadow Warriors with you were preoccupied with cleaning up the last remnants from the raiding band of Druchii, half a dozen or so of the mounted ones had fled into the mists, their captives with them. They'd likely gotten far enough, and mustn't get any farther. Dispatching of the Druchii caught in your shadow's iron grasp, you look around for Daroir. You don't have to look long, spotting the elf putting an end to the last of his opponents with a vicious stomp to the throat.
"Daroir!" you call out.
The elf turns to you, casually parrying a spear thrust from a charging warrior with one blade, then just as casually decapitating the elf with the other. "Weber!" he shouts back, his voice still clear over the continued clash of steel.
"I'm going after the runners! They have the captives with them!" you respond, calling up your Shadowhorse as you do so.
Daroir's face darkens for a moment, his eyes sweeping through the valley where your ambush of the raiders had taken place. His expression darkens further as he reaches the same conclusion you already have: there were still enough druchii remaining that only a few of Daroir's elves could be spared to chase after the fleeing raiders. He turns to you. "Go!"
Without taking the time to reply you spur your Shadowhorse forward into a gallop, racing down the valley, barely slowed down by the knots of fighting and dying elves. As you clear the valley mouth and enter the mists, two riders join you, placing themselves to your left and right. Taking a quick glance, you recognize Palatar and Allando, the two brothers who'd been your sparring partners for the past couple of weeks now. With them at your side, the odds have evened somewhat, though you would still be outnumbered by the druchii you were chasing two to one. Of course, there was a rather obvious solution to that problem, one you put into motion by thrusting a hand out to the side, palm open to the passing fog. You can't help but smile as you feel a familiar horn form in your hand, reminded of the last magical horn you'd made, years ago on the road to Karak Eight Peaks. Your mirth hasn't quite faded as you put the horn too your lips and blow...
And turns into excited glee as you feel more than see your Riders appear, answering your horn call with blasts of their own hunting horns. Three surge ahead of you to track down your quarry while the rest fan out behind your trio. You take the risk to glance behind at your companions and find Palatar's determined gaze hiding bewilderment beneath while Allando stares with undisguised curiosity at the quintet of black-mantled riders fanned out behind you. Smoke billows out of their empty hoods, while their gauntleted hands grasp cruelly shaped greatswords. Beneath the riders are their mounts, crimson-eyed horses armored in iron, their pants unlike any you've ever heard a horse make, filled with rage and hunger.
Both brothers spur their horses forward to keep pace with yours, away from the Riders you've summoned. Palatar keeps his gaze forward, shifting ever so slightly at all times to keep your other companions out of sight. Allatar, meanwhile turns to you with an excited grin. "A variation of Gehenna's trick, I see," he says.
You keep your surprise at his accurate assessment out of your face, replying only with a nod, to the elf's delight. "I look forward to seeing what they can do," he replies, before spurring his horse forward to greater speed, his brother soon following suit. You look up to see what has excited them so, only to hear the horn calls of your Riders ahead. Your quarry had been found, it seems. The time for conversation was up. Now, it was time to hunt.
At your mental command, the Riders behind you surge forth, joining their brethren and your elf companions in harassing the fleeing raiders. Already some have found their mark, you find, as your Shadowhorse leaps above the corpses of a druchii and their horse, cloven in two. As you ride closer to the group, the sound of twanging bows and clashing steel rings out. The results are evident, as you pass by the bodies of two more of the raiders, one missing a head, the other clutching at an arrow in his throat.
You summon Branulhune as you draw even closer, close enough to see the last three raiders contending with your allies, the unconscious (you hope) bodies of their two captives lashed to the backs of their horses. It was time to end this, before the druchii got too close to wherever their ship was. The clamor the combat had raised would hopefully draw other bands of Shadow Warriors towards you, but that would be for naught if your foes managed to bring the fight under the shadow of their ship's weapons. You command a group of your Riders to ride ahead of the raiders and pincer them in.
Adomiel Darkstar seethed.
So close, so close to sweet victory, and now it was all falling apart before her eyes. She had led her band deep into the heart of her people's ancestral and rightful homeland, seized two prizes her father would surely be delighted with, and escaped with ease. Or so she had thought, up until arrows were burying themselves into her soldiers before anyone in her band could react. Now she was being forced to flee with her tail between her legs, hunted down like animals. This wasn't the way of things! They were supposed to be the hunters not the prey! Oh the tortures she would inflict upon her foes once she turned things around...
Ruminating on those enjoyable thoughts, Adomiel turned and twisted on her horse, Ironfoot. Avoiding a handful of arrows from the Shadow Warriors behind her, deflecting a sword strike from one those cloaked summons with her own blade, and bringing her repeater handbow to bear on her opponents in a series of smooth motions was child's play. Just as she let loose a storm of bolts on her prey, she noticed a change. Two Shadow Warriors, now joined by a grey-clad woman, a quickling it looked to be, and five of the billowing riders. Where were the other three?
[Dusk Riders strike vs Druchii reaction...]
It was only her instincts, honed through decades of raiding and warfare, that saved her, as ahead of her the missing riders charged, blades poised for killing blows. Adomiel managed to leap clear of her horse, dragging her captive with her. A mistake, she soon found out, as the rider's blade cut into her side, slick with Ironfoot's blood. She twisted in the air, aiming to land on top of her captive to break her fall, glimpsing her beloved steed fall to the ground, side carved open by the rider's sword.
The landing was rough, even with the weakling elf maid to cushion her, but Adomiel still managed to rise mostly unharmed. Her soldiers had not been so lucky. Both had now been engaged by the Shadow Warriors, one of them missing an arm, the other favoring a leg. There was no sign of the riders, but somehow Adomiel could tell that they were still close, circling the combatants in the thick of the mist.
Between her and the other captive, stood the quickling woman. Now that they were both standing on the same ground, Adomiel could take a good look at her opponent... and smirked, at the poor, little, quickling woman she was about to slaughter. Short, and so obviously weak. Adomiel could smell the blood on her, dripping from a leg she favored. The mage, for such she obviously was, looked exhausted, no doubt from the exertion of the summons she'd brought forth, barely able to lift the greatsword she held inexpertly in one hand. As if sensing Adomiel's impending victory, the quickling mage lifted a shaking hand, slowly forming another greatsword from the mists around them. A weapon of last resort, no doubt. Adomiel's smirk grew into a full grin. Just what she needed, a toy to take her frustrations out on. Without warning, she charged, dropping her handbow for a second blade in the blink of an eye. The quickling mage wanted to play at swords? Adomiel would be glad to instruct her, thoroughly.
When you'd first arrived at Naggarythe, you'd been confident in your own sword style, sure that the teleporting bladework that Branulhune and Shadow Sword allowed would be enough to win the day.
Palatar and Allando had quickly disabused you of that notion. In the face of the advantages that the likes of elves possessed, swordplay alone would not be enough. You had to stack the deck in your favor, and your sword style was merely one ace out of many. The second would be deception. Lies, deceit, the incorporation of your wind into your martial art. It was deception that led you to face the elf raider as you are now. A small cut, enough to draw blood, on a leg you pretend to favor. Faked heaves of exhaustion, a hand sagging at weight Branulhune did not have, a Shadow Sword in the other hand to draw attention away from the other blade... deceptions all. Your foe, meanwhile, was an open book. Angry and frustrated enough to overlook what small discrepancies your deceptions had, those that were not cloaked by the Ulgu all around you at any rate. The moment she charged, foregoing her ranged advantage to exhaust her rage at you in melee, you had felt it. It wasn't certain yet, but you knew even before your blades clashed and your foe was lost in the shifting dance of shadow and silver blades, you knew. It became more certain when she reeled back in shock at the force of Branulhune, when she reeled at the Shadow Sword's bite, when her leg was pierced by your shadow. You had won. Victory.
A victory that resulted in the druchii raider falling to her knees in front of you, arms broken by Branulhune's might, barely conscious from the blood lost from her wounds. Of course, despite the surety of your victory, you aren't entirely unscathed yourself, as evidenced by Allando having to catch you and seat you on the ground while you gave the Seed time to do its work.
As you rested, the brothers went to work. Palatar bent over your fallen foe, disarming her and searching for identifying marks, while Allando took care of the captives, one of whom had been rather injured in the clash. Neither gave notice to the two other druchii gasping their last breaths.
You must have dozed off for quite a bit, because the next thing you knew was being shaken awake, not by one of the brothers, but by Daroir. Once satisfied that you are awake and coherent, he sits down in front of you.
"I am thankful," he says, after a moment's thought, "for the success you have brought today. If it were not for your efforts, these traitors would have accomplished their task. We would have failed" He inclines his head to you, so minutely you almost miss it. "I am in your debt."
You create and discard a number of replies in your head before settling for a nod in return. Daroir looks pleased for a moment at your act, before settling into grimness again. You've interacted with him enough to know what that means.
"We have problems?"
"Two, yes," he replies. "The first is to do with your foe. She yet lives, but barely. It is up to you to decide whether she lives or dies, as the one who bested her."
"I'm guessing that's the first problem?" You struggle to find a reason for the dilemma, before latching onto Palatar rifling through the druchii's effects. "Something to do with her identity?"
Daroir nods. "Her father is Varauth Illrend. A dangerous foe, especially for you."
The name sparks some memory of studying the most frequent druchii raiders of the Empire's coast. Varauth is one of the fiercest, most sadistic such visitor, which is saying something.
"He will not look kindly at your besting his daughter." Daroir continues. "If she lives, he will send men to retrieve her, if only to kill her himself. If you slay her, his wrath will know no bounds." He pauses for a moment before continuing. "However, taking her prisoner could yield valuable information, though that invites another conundrum: who shall she be prisoner of?"
[] Kill the druchii Varauth will be enraged, no further benefits
[] Take her prisoner Varauth will be angry, will attempt rescue
-[] For the Grey College Daroir will be somewhat unhappy, Grey College will be happy
-[] For yourself Daroir will be neither happy or unhappy
-[] For Naggarythe Daroir will be pleased, ???
Daroir mulls your answer before nodding gravely. "So be it." He glances at his warriors, who move to carry out your decision. "Now, for the second problem... the credit."
"The credit? Were those captives important?"
The elf blinks at your words. "You were not told? The two are renowned mages of the White Tower. Their mother, Eleniath Silversong, is an Archmage, and is deep in the circles there."
Now it's your turn to blink. This... this could be the chance that you've been looking for, to gain access to the White Tower of Hoeth and its knowledge.
"I see you now understand the gravity of the situation. Yes, their mother's gratitude would open the doors of the White Tower to you, but it would also be a boon to Naggarythe." He looks at you gravely. "Should you decide to cede the credit to us, you will not find our gratitude wanting."
[] Claim credit for the rescue Gratitude of Eleniath Silversong of the White Tower will be gained
[] Cede the credit to Daroir and Naggarythe Gratitude from Daroir and Naggarythe, ???
- There will be a four hour moratorium.
- If you choose to send Andomiel to the Grey College, Naggarythe will take care of the transport.
- If you choose to keep her, there will be a vote on whether to interrogate her in Naggarythe or to send her to Eight Peaks first.
Well, here it is, what may well be the longest thing I've ever written. The last part is rather rough, which I attribute to the late hour and the tiredness. I should have been writing Mathilde and friends instead, but the Nazgul hype got to me hard. This would have been out already, in a limited form, days ago but I wasn't satisfied with it until this afternoon when Inspiration struck. I could barely do anything but pace excitedly while this was still in my brain, so I'm glad it's out now. I hope you enjoy my take on the elfcation and the Nazgul, and feel free to ask me anything about the stuff in here! Some comments on improvements would also be appreciated.
No. That goes against everything we know, GW canon and quest canon, about High magic.
