Silver Insanity

Brain: Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

Pinky: I think so Brain, but wouldn't the time-eating weevils cause the space-time continuum to collapse in on itself?

Brain: Actually Pinky, the time continuum will be fine. They only eat areas infused with pure chaos. ... Wait, how did you know they did that?

The weevil exterminators have reported success; we should be resuming normal time-flow shortly. Of course, in the absence of normal time, we're not quite sure what "shortly" means...

Roughly two and a half months have gone by - at least in Orkathel; due to the nature of the Wilds, time doesn't always sync up perfectly with the rest of the world.


Actual construction work is proceeding fairly slowly, though it sped up a bit once Epsilon acquired some of the appropriate spells to assist. The temple area itself is at least reasonably refurbished, though permanent works outside of that are still at the planning stage.

On the plus side, you've managed to procure a contract for the famed artist (and architect, and sorcerer) Kiaskurro to come and help with the city's design and construction - as soon as he's done with his current job. Supposedly this will take just a few more weeks, though what that means in terms of time in Orkathel is anybody's guess. In the meantime, he's sent a team of high kobold wizards to begin surveying the area, with particular attention to the magical and geologic structure of the ground underneath the temple.


Vorel has - much to her dismay - ended up spending much of her time dealing with the massive amounts of paperwork involved in ordering supplies, bringing in people, keeping things running relatively smoothly, and making sure that it's at least reasonably non-trivial for anyone outside Orkathel to figure out that somebody is trying to build a city. It's an important job, that needs to be done, and one she's fairly good at - but none of that makes it any more fun.

Still, apparently someone has made the right connections - your contacts in Targrove are reporting a few new rumors about a supposed chromatikin city. At least nobody seems to have any idea of where it is; the most popular variation on the rumor places it somewhere in the Arkwood. And, for what it's worth, the name "Orkathel" hasn't come up yet.


Skirrik shows up on rare occasion, but there's no indication of what he's actually spending time on.


Gregor: You've been able to find enough competent chromatikin to set up a (fairly minimalist) set of guards around the temple site. After some practice, they've reached the point where they no longer require constant oversight - though having either you or Vorel or Kailyn stay close at hand is probably still a good idea. Speaking of which, Kailyn returned about a month into this period, stating that, at least for the moment, he's more needed here than off with Stewart and Luma and Aurora.

While several powerful and dangerous monsters have shown up during this time frame, the worst of the lot* are the numerous raptor packs; they are smart and fast and sneaky and seem to hunt for fun rather than for food. Recently several of the guards have turned up dead at their posts with the distinctive ripping wounds of a raptor's claws - no bite marks, no surrounding tracks, and, worse, nobody saw or heard anything. Needless to say, even with access to resurrection magic, this is not good for morale.


Thirwin: Spell research is complete. Initial studies of arcane magic are complete - there's still a long road ahead of you, but at least you can get some cantrips working now.** The artifact is still definitely a work in progress, though; you're still too early in the research involved to be sure of even how long it's going to take.

The Chaos tribe is starting to learn the value of discipline, but there are also signs of discontent; it might be a good idea to find them a real foe to fight at some point in the near future.

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* Well, ok, that half-breed basilisk / hydra was pretty bad, too. Especially for the people who got only half petrified; Vorel can attest to that being particularly unpleasant.

** Most people would not be able to learn the basics of wizardry in a few months - let alone while also doing other things. On the other hand, most people haven't already mastered some other branch of magic.

Thirwin will start with the basics. The artifact, getting it at least to the point a conversation can be held is a high priority. It knows about the swamp which would be hugely helpful here, and it's about to become my strongest, last ditch effort, summon. (It's also useful for a support caster to have a strong forward, especially if I'm not paired with another PC.)

Jenner is hopefully on his way to becoming a henchman. He'll be helping with security of my lab and the patrols if he's high enough level for that.

As for the "real foe" idea, I will let a few people know. First, mentioning to Gregor about the tribe being restless, I know Gregor is scouting the swamp.
Second asking Sslezza about ideas for a real battle, perhaps just letting them defend the camp for a while. Also, provided I figured something out when I started resurrecting guards, I'll ask her about invisible raptors.

Next, I'lm going to double-check the wards and such on my lab. I've been using negative energy. I want to make sure that's not "bleeding out" or leeching the positive energy out of the rest of the city. I figure I'll also check that the swamp isn't affecting the lab wards, and correct what I can. If it's a lot, I'll ask for help.

BTW, the wards and such in my lab are attuned to myself, Jenner, Epsilon and Gregor. Although, as a paranoia measure, the wards do dispel Jenner when he arrives, and a targeted dispel of charm and compulsion magic against Epsilon. (they're low level... I just want to make sure.)

Oh yes, and as stated, Sslezza, Jenner, Epsilon, Gregor and myself all have Refuge. I will take my time to be sure it transports them to my quarters, not my lab, and if I can (through rituals), I'll have it transport them to their homes. I'll also give Gregor both versions of the spell. After I start ignoring components, I will offer to make others for the captains of the guard or for scouts.

Gregor will do the following, spend more time training the fighters and sorcerors of the guard with detection spells and how to use them. Keep a circle of greater prying eyes scouting around the camp at all times reporting back to him if they find enemies or more specifically raptors( he will use his greater prying eyes so that they have true seeing). He will spend some time learning how she works the paperwork to hide Orkathel. He will then make sure that Vorel has more time to scout out what is hiding the Raptors to attack us.

Thirwin:

Conversation with Tain - without giving him the opportunity to cast stilled spells - should be possible within another two days.

Jenner is already remarkably competent... for a rat. This, alas, still leaves much to be desired. His ability to help is, at the moment, probably limited to lab security - and even there, only because most people won't look twice at a rat sitting in a corner watching. Outside patrols would be a bad idea, at least for now.

Sslezza has very little knowledge of the outside world; her notions of what you could send the chaos tribe against are limited to the humans just outside the swamp, the two other tribes, or Orkathel itself. Assuming none of those are actually valid answers, smaller scale raptor hunts might help morale until you can find and set up a portal to some real target. And if a few of those "raptor hunts" happen to attack the other tribes instead - well, that will probably just make them a little bit less nervous about you.

As for invisible raptors - yes, actually, though nothing recent. The chaos tribe had several similar deaths about a decade ago, culminating in the death (in the middle of a rallying speech) of the tribe's old high priest. Grimhew claimed credit for the attacks and took over then. Sslezza never found out if he was actually responsible, though the attacks stopped once he was in charge.

The wards in your lab are running just fine; they're completely powered by the magic you put into them, and don't have to draw on ambient energy to run. Taingrethylmune is another matter, though - it's actually quite interesting to see just how much life energy such a powerful undead is capable of soaking up, even when in a completely dormant state. Adequate shielding is, for the moment, fairly simple (the good old lead lined box will do), but that low level area life-leech effect is definitely something you'll want to address in your final designs.

Gregor:

Those in the guard capable of casting see invisibility have been using it already. A few have tried some weak divinations, and those with arcane sight are keeping it active when possible - though this is not a large percentage of the time. As of yet, these have not revealed anything worth noting.
One particularly ambitious sorcerer attempted to contact... well, some deity; nobody's quite certain which one. He's expected to recover sometime before the end of the week; you can ask him then.

Helping Vorel with the paperwork is definitely a large scale project; she's much more familiar with the operations of organizations that prefer to keep their activities secret, and it will take some time for you to figure out the nuances. Still, there's plenty you can help with immediately, and this does give her some extra time to make aerial patrols.

Thirwin was more worried about the chaos of the swamp warping the wards. Since it's been long enough for minor erosion to perhaps become visible.

Jenner is still getting some crash courses. Still, Thirwen has trained worse.

So... there's a giant war in the lower planes... And I have a force that's used to raiding such areas.... I commune with Nathrezzel and see if he has any place such a force could be used.

I'll relay the news about the invisible attacks, and the chance Grimhew might be behind it. (I'll toss a Discern Location at Grimhew... actually, can I ritually cast it to notify me if he reenters the plane?)

Thirwin: Warping of the wards is, indeed, a valid concern - nothing yet, but certainly something to check on every few months, or after any particularly large-scale magical events.

And you can also determine that Grimhew is still in Tycho's private domain.

Gregor & Thirwin: Kailyn (Gregor's unicorn, in case anyone has forgotten) thinks he can track the raptors by scent - at least for some distance; if they entered any of the larger lakes in the region, he'll probably lose the trail.

"Excellent. Kailyn I'll fly above you invisibly and cast it on Vorel as well. If things get difficult we should be able we should be able to take care of the trouble before you get hurt. Thirwin, could you and epsilon provide any magical enhancements that Vorel or Kailyn may need for this?"

Thirwin checks his spells, "Well, Armor of darkness, Spell Resistance, Bestow Spell Ability, various enhancements to physical and mental abilities... what do you need?" He looks thoughtful, "Foresight might help, but it only really warns me..."

"Also, Epsilon is a dragon, they can sense invisible beings of all kinds, and I think he can reveal such if it is needed. I could see if he's up to this."