Dungeon.
Brillig to "the priest guy" [Cristof] - how do they learn spells? Does one of the other priests teach them?
Cristof: "The younger priests have a lot of reading to do, and the older ones teach the ritual chants as well. So, they get both instruction and have text available."
Brillig to Paris - if you can't "be without" your sword? How do you get it sharpened and repaired? Just curious.
Paris' answer to Brillig: "I have learned to sharpen it myself. You have seen me doing so and otherwise carrying for it at the campfire after battle. I would switch to wearing another weapon when my sword needs repair. My Prince said that I was never to let anyone take my badge," she reached up and touched the sword-and scale symbol on her chest, "as long as I live. And that as long as I wear the badge, I am to go armed. He did not specified that the sword was the only weapon I could bear, but I have learned to wear a dress with it, sit at table with it, and even dance with it. I do not understand why, but He meant it when He said I was to stay armed. I keep weapon and badge at hand always, even when I am not actually wearing the badge." She blushed slightly at those words, but she continued steadily. "Perhaps that is taking my Prince's words more literally than He intended, but I can see no other interpretation for them."
If we aren't going to a funeral, and we got the "stuff" back, Brillig would retrieve any of his cards from Calais. Was going to do that anyway, for a completely different reason, but I forgot.
Paris: "It occurs to me that there's another question to ask about Dungeon's dungeon that might be applicable to both Claire's and Rhori's ideas as to why the orcs attack once a week and what they might be after. That question is: 'How many books have been brought out of the dungeon?' Would it possibly be one for each week since the World Changed? Not that that proves anything. But we know that trouble accompanies the finishing of one of The Magician's books. It also seems as though his output is one book per day. (Which means that there are possibly 5*weeks-since-world-change (assuming he does not write on SevenDay) worth of books scattered through the rest of the land. The oddest thing about this theory is the notion that The Magician would consistently deposit books in one limited area."
"Are there any earth spells, Claire, that would make mapping the dungeon easy? Random dungeon crawling just doesn't seem efficient, as the Baron has repeatedly indicated."
Brillig: "There are books that are known to exist from before the "day of chaos", and therefore weren't written by the Magician? At least not in "this time". The Chaos Church books at the library in the capital, and the book of recipes. Therefore some of the books in the dungeon could be from other sources than the Magician?"
If there is "church stuff" in the dungeon, Brillig thinks it is more likely to be Black than White. But for no particular reason.
Paris: "It's entirely possible that some of the books are from before magic was banished from our corner of the world. It is also possible that some of them came from a source similar to the original liberation books, etc. There is nothing to prove that any of what has been brought out of the dungeon is The Magician books. It was just an idea because of the association with orcs and The Magician's books in our past experience."
Calais: "If the Magician sticks to a regular schedule, he might drop a book in the dungeon each Fourthday night, and a book in the rose garden some other night, etc.. Of course, we have no reason to believe the Magician does stick to such a regular pattern, but I suppose he might, and if he does it could account for the orcs' schedule. What night of the week was it that we got the Duke's Armor book in the rose garden?"
Paris: "Sixday. We fought the orcs and goblin on Fifthday night in the Vale of Roses."
Paris: "It occurred to me that if Rhori is right about there being a holy object in Dungeon's dungeon that we should ask if any of the passageways mapped so far have been troll-shaped. The troll we killed in the mine at St. Etienne had been tunneling towards the saint's relics. By extrapolation, perhaps the troll(s) encountered by Dungeoneers have been attracted by/are tunneling towards The Artifact that we have theorized might be in the dungeon."
"Even if trolls do not have brains enough to be attracted/know where to find such an object -- a point for which we have no data -- and the kobolds were the real 'brains' of the St. Etienne operation, we now know that there are kobolds in Dungeon's dungeon. The same sort of partnership may be going on here as at St. Etienne. Even more likely if we accept the hypothesis that the St. Etienne monsters actually originated and escaped from Dungeon's dungeon. A troll-shaped tunnel would at least give us a potential direction so that we don't try random explorations of a too-big dungeon."
Paris: It has also occurred to me that most of our encounters with orcs and creatures of the dark seem to be occasioned by their wanting holy objects/sacrifices. (I know, this may seem Simply Obvious....)
1. The destruction of Jouet may have been just a side effect of the sacrifice of Jouet's padre and the attempted sacrifice of Genelle. [We do not know if the same sorts of sacrifices were practiced on the other villages wiped out the Night the World Changed.]
2. The Prince and Silverlocke earned their cards by preventing the sacrifice of a baby girl.
3. An orc army was camped around Jouet -- one of the 'mirrors' of Torat/Tarot, the one controlled by the High Priestess.
4. The volcano/orc army appeared near Pelier after we found the cache of the Broken Church items.
5. The kobold & troll were after the relics of St. Etienne.
6. Regalia/books of both the Dark Church and the Rainbow church have been brought out of Dungeon's dungeon -- the place a serious orc army is attempting to gain.
If this set of co-incidences is significant, then, on the flip side, we do not know the religious significance of:
At any rate, by this theory, if Baron Emerald were to send away both the Rainbow and the Dark relics, the attacks on Dungeon would cease. Of course, finding a place to send them that is better protected or prepared than Dungeon might not be that easy.... We could volunteer to be the 'hares' in such an experiment, albeit, if correct, that will make our trip north somewhat more exciting than it might otherwise be. And the converts to the Rainbow Church in Dungeon might not like losing their source of spells & scripture. Concerning that last, it is possible that only the Dark Church stuff or combined Church stuff (like we found in Pelier) are of interest to the opposing forces. I suppose it would take two weeks to try a piecemeal experiment...."
Brillig: "Seems like a really big stretch to me. i.e. attempting to fit a reason to actions that aren't connected; if you look hard enough you can always find something that connects unconnected events. But the connections don't always have a cause/effect relationship."
Paris: "On a different note, do we have a plan yet for how to significantly improve one or more of our mages?"
Brillig: "Spend cards."
Paris, with a smile of acknowledgement: "Or is our major effect in Dungeon to simply start some proto-Rainbow priests and White Monks on their careers?"
Brillig: "Depends who you ask."
Paris: "My understanding is that the ping-pong effect of training up the Magic Skill is not significantly enhanced by the Party being in Dungeon. Am I wrong in that?"
Brillig: "Ping pong effect could be done anywhere. Dungeon is "safe", therefore it is a good place to do it. Compared to out in the wilderness. If we needed more cards, the dungeon might be useful, be we haven't had trouble getting cards in the past."
After thinking about the battle with the orcs some, and hearing all the info from various places, Brillig has at least one idea. (But it will probably only work once, since orcs aren't totally stupid.)
Brillig: "Since the orc mages seem to only throw Magic Missile, and only at our mages when they see a spell thrown, we should take advantage of this. We should get every mage in town that knows Magic Missile (or other good damage attack spells); and get them all on the wall together. The Rhori throws his "noisy" Entangle spell, this will attract the orc mage spells (but since there are only 3 of them, and they are only throw the 1D6K attack, and Rhori has good armor, he should be fine; we can even have a healer near him). Then all our mages throw Magic Missile (w/no range mod) at the orc mages. Earth Mages with the "see in the dark" spell might actually be able to hit something. Anyone who is really good with a bow could shoot at them too. (Plus Fireball and Lightning would be good too, if anyone has them.)"
"If nothing else, it will probably keep the orc mages from doing anymore counter-battery fire (at least for one night). This will let Mia and Anton do their Slow and Flash spells from the wall, against the Giant before it gets to the wall. In the long run, it is probably useful, since it will make the orc mages less likely to throw Magic Missiles?"
Paris: "It might also have a chance of hitting their leader-man if, as seems to be the case with our side, their mages tend to be kept in proximity to the commander(s).
"I know the Count pooh-poohed the idea that we could in any way control/affect the orc's choice of where to attack the wall. But Brillig's idea makes me wonder if there is any spell that could be seen from far enough away that, as the orcs come in sight of the wall, their mages might spot said spell and direct the general orc attack towards that section of the wall? A moth-to-light effect? If that sort of 'control' could be made to work, then the Baron and his Dungeoneers would have a lot more options for the attack the following week: the pit we suggested (with attendant water and earth magics and -- like Brillig suggestion above -- a pre-set target for other magics and bowmen), knowing where to place the mobile catapults, etc..
"It would be nice if we could come up with some idea or combination of ideas that leaves Dungeon far better off when we leave than when we arrived...." said in a hopeful tone.
Red: "OK, Brillig (I think) has a good idea for temporarily distracting the mages and then hopefully counter-attacking them. No reason I can think of (except that the mages WON'T want to get on the wall) not to try it."
"POINT: The orc mages on mage-suppression duty are not near the leader. The mages are in the rear, then the masses of orcs with the leader in the middle, then the big ones in front."
Paris: "*sigh* OK."
Red: "Having people look for someone of interest, almost definitely with a lot of protection and making orders, looking for magic and plain perception might be useful here."
Paris: "Unfortunately the battle(s) happens at night. I'm not sure anyone has good enough perception to spot that sort of thing in the dark in the midst of fighting for one's life and those of one's comrades."
Red: "It seems to be important to stop the giant (hopefully only 1 giant) from getting to the fence (let;s call a spade a spade here; it's not really a wall) as it can potentially rip a section down single handedly. A combination of Blinding it and miring it in the mud while pounding it seems like a good idea. The ballistai should be in place and able to take it out when it is less well defended (blind), and Red and a few others are more than capable of hitting it (though possibly not hurting it)."
Paris: "If we can hold the giant in place long enough, the ballistai will have time to be in place. The longer we can hold it in place, the more likely the ballistai will take it out. Don't know but what the best archers should try for placed-shot-eye as the next most effective damage possible. Sounds like having as many earth and water mages as possible available is the tactic to encourage for holding the giant in place. But I agree that if the giant can be taken out, Dungeon will be far better off for at least a little while (until the enemy manages to conjure up another)."
Red: "If we can sniff out the leader then Red has a chance of at least hurting him, so the lookers should have a way of letting Red (who will be amongst the better archers who will be able to help) know where the dude is (assuming someone finds him). I am guessing that there are limitations on how many people can be on the fence so having mages, archers, fighters and healers on it may be quite impossible. We should practice anyway."
"On the whole 'what the heck is really going on' level...we don't know and can't make any more intelligent suppositions till we get more info (read till we get into the dungeon and find out what the big deal is, of course I expect it to be something much more difficult than Red expects and we will probably have to quickly *at least* consider giving up and moving on)."
Paris: "I agree and disagree here. If we do not develop at least some reasonable working hypothesis for what is going on and why it is significant to go into the dungeon, it is hard to realistically consider wandering into a dungeon to fight monsters (trolls and other undead) against whom we have no good plan for winning. Particularly with no sure idea of direction or goal in an area that we have been assured is too big for us to deal with entirely."
Red: "We do not seem to be getting much if any real support/help from the magic guilds and I think we would be fools to give ANY books to them. While they are doing an important thing, they are being as self-concerned as they possibly can be and are being cowards, in Red's (unimportant) opinion."
Paris: "An evaluation of the magic guild is, perhaps, better carried out by our mages. It is possible that they feel we have given neither support nor help to them, and that we have neither requested their aid nor displayed a need, as yet, for their services. I am unclear as to what information our mages gave them. As for books, we should ask the baron about the local laws and make our decision, if and when, accordingly."
Paris asked Anton about the nature of his invisibility and flight spells. "Are they both 'racked' spells?"
Anton: "Nether are racked. Only my silence spell is racked. Of the second level spells, that I don't have, only the air wall is rackable."
Paris: "When a 'racked' spell is used, does it produce the 'magic user is here' targetable effect that the orc's magi seem to look for?"
Anton: "I'd guess so, since you don't roll the magic roll until release time." Anton knows that the special effects of the spell occur when the spell is released. Otherwise, a racked spell is undetectable while racked.
Paris: "Lastly, do we know how many air mages Dungeon has?"
Anton: "I have not met any, though I'd guess they have 1 or 2 of each class. I really won't know much about the guild unless we prove ourselves in the dungeon."
Paris: "I was considering ideas to decoy the orcs to a particular area of the wall, but, of course, for the decoys' sakes, any magics used need to be not targetable. That was the hinge pin."
Anton: "It hasn't been clear to me why you feel this is so important - the Baron seemed to think he had things under control using his rapid reaction force"
Paris: "Any little bit helps. So I've been looking for ideas to help gain a greater advantage in that second battle. But it doesn't really matter. Clearly my idea on this will not work, being 'way too dangerous for the mages. Thank you for your information, nonetheless.
"As to its importance -- the Count told us that each attack has been getting worse. The giant was the latest addition. What happens when there are two giants? Or four? Without some plan for the future, it would seem that Dungeon will fall eventually. I would not have it become as Jouet, nor its people die as ours did without at least searching for a plan of defense and victory."
Anton: I agree helping the defense here is a good thing, I just wasn't clear on why you felt it was more important than other bad things we've passed by in the name of "the quest". It also appears there are competent people here dealing with the problem, and they haven't particularly been begging for our help, they seem to think they've got it under control.
"I also think it's unlikely that we'll be able to solve the problem without figuring out what they are after. Suppose we were to raid the cave where they hang out while they are attacking the wall next week, that might yield some interesting information..."
[ Paris has been consistent, in my opinion, in what things she's been willing to tackle and which things she's by-passed. When we can see people struggling, she does not by-pass the problem.]
Paris: "That is a suggestion well worth discussing.... As for 'begging', that could be a matter of interpretation. In this case, the reactions to Mia and Brillig's capabilities might fall into that category."
Mia spoke up, pulling Paris away from her discussion with Anton. "One thing did occur to me; if we stay here an extra week I could pick up the circle vs. undead spell which will probably be quite useful if we end up in the city of ghosts... unless Brillig or one of the other magic-users has it. (Presuming that the spell is among the first level church spells at the end of their rainbow church book...?)
Anton: "Actually, I found Circle vs. Undead in the magic book in the library, along with the other new spells. I think Circle vs. Undead is an Arcane spell, it was listed on the Arcane list we got back in Westmore. I think there might be a different spell Circle vs. Evil that is a church spell, not sure. Anyway, it looks like you could learn Circle vs. Undead here if you want to, and indeed it does sound useful if we're going to be meeting ghosts, it costs 4."
Brillig wondered if any "new" priests (i.e. Monks) he creates will be able to learn the healing spells on their own? Since they not have access to the books the priests have? None of the existing young priests (Cristof, et al) already know the small healing spell?
Brillig wondered if he needs to stay for 1 week to teach/convert people to be Monks, and a second week to teach them the small healing spell? And possibly a third week if any of them want to learn any of his purely Monk spells?
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