People at Uni - Kari

You see Kari the Senior Wizard of the Ancient and Truly Original Brothers of the Silver Star.

She is a strapping young human lass.

She is in good shape.

She is standing.

Her skin looks as hard as rock, although it seems weaker around the neck.

Holding : an elegant rod of ebony (left hand) and a slender steel knife (right hand)

Wearing : a durable brown silk dress with mystical sygils and an azure wizard's pointy hat

Seeing How The Sausage Was Made

In my quest for new and ever more interesting and cost-effective ways of accumulating experience, I have learned of a certain sausage-making business close to the Shades, in Ankh-Morpork, that is actively recruiting workers.  So after reading a little bit and taking some basic deboning classes, I head to Sam Slager's shop and got to my first order. As of today, I've already fulfilled three! The first was for Grlfx meat (that was painful!), the second for leopard sausages and the third for mixed.

In fact the last two followed closely upon each other. I had just handed in the leopard sausages and saw the mixed order, and remembering I had just seen some zebras and jungle hens in a place I have blorpled in deepest Klatch, I just went for it! I got 3 or 4 hens, two zebra legs and sundry offals, and got working:

put corpse in workbench

You put the corpse of a puffed-up jungle cock in the workbench.

debone corpse on workbench

You skillfully remove all bone material from the corpse of a proud jungle cock and dispose of it through the hole before retrieving the prepared meat from the workbench.

put leg on workbench

You put the zebra left rear leg on the workbench.

debone leg on workbench

You start working on the zebra left rear leg, carefully removing the bones and pushing them down the hole in the workbench.

grind meats in grinder

You place the hunk of chicken meat and two large hunks of zebra meat in the grinder and begin to turn the handle.

You finish grinding up the meat and take the resulting ground meat out of the grinder.

extrude meats from extruder

You place the very large wad of ground mixed meat in the sausage machine and begin to turn the wheel.

You finish extruding the sausages and get the very long string of mixed sausages from the sausage machine.

That was pretty satisfactory! Now I just have to learn a little bit about cooking to be able to produce the spiced type of sausage that gives a premium of money and experience! And I have found something else to occupy my time between xp hunting and Job missions.

Gem-endipity

In a recent trip to the dwarven mines of Copperhead, while I was very unlucky in the crates I investigated, I found some rather interesting gems. Each mine can contain, at most, three different types of gems. The one I explored had veins of quartz, tiger's eye and, most importantly, corundum, which is the fancy name for the family of gems that includes rubies and sapphires. All in all, I got quite a nice cache, which I then cut and polished, as usual, in Slippery Hollow. Two or three pieces are rather valuable! 

A small heart-shaped cut tiger's eye, a small princess cut corundum, two large heart-shaped cut corundums, three large trillion cut tiger's eyes, two large heart-shaped cut quartzes, three small heart-shaped cut quartzes, a large pear-shaped cut tiger's eye, a small pear-shaped cut tiger's eye, four small trillion cut tiger's eyes, a large pear-shaped cut quartz, a small teardrop cut quartz, a large teardrop cut corundum, a small princess cut violet corundum and a small heart-shaped cut corundum.

I will be keeping the two princess cut and the large teardrop cut corundums, and one the most valuable tiger's eye gems. The non-violet corundum is actually in the limit of range in which I can properly value it (the other corundums are too costly for my skills). I will be using it for getting better at gem evaluation:

get gem from every blorples

You get a small princess cut corundum from a pocket in Blorples.

l gem

This small corundum has been cut into a square modified brilliant shape.  The gem's translucent properties have been enhanced by its seventy-six facets.

value gem

You carefully look at the small princess cut corundum but are uncertain of its value.

value gem

You carefully look at the small princess cut corundum but are uncertain of its value.

value gem

You carefully look at the small princess cut corundum but are uncertain of its value.

value gem

You carefully look at the small princess cut corundum but are uncertain of its value.

value gem

You estimate that the small princess cut corundum is worth A$118.47.  You're not very confident in your estimation.

value gem

You carefully look at the small princess cut corundum but are uncertain of its value.

There is a fancy fence in the middle of the Klatchian desert that deals with gems, but I find more convenience in Morporkian money and who dwells in Sto Lat. He doesn't look very fancy, nor his hut very wholesome, but behind the rags is a very clever connoisseur of jewellery!

Sights of the Big Wahoonie - Sandelfon's Temple

While not being much of a god-botherer myself, they can certainly build some nice hovels for their gods. If you start strutting along down the Street of Small Gods coming from the Plaza of Broken Moons, the first important temple you'll encounter, to your left, is dedicated to Sandelfon, the lord of corridors. The outside looks like this:

The Temple of Sandelfon lies to the northeast.  It seems to defy the laws of physics, as to fit in enough corridors for the priests' liking surely it should be far bigger than it actually is.  The outside of the Temple is covered with geometric patterns - tiny, perfect mazes of corridors.  Closer examination only seems to reveal more detail.  Some poor artisan must have gone blind here - but all for the glory of Sandelfon, so that's all right.

This is the entrance to the temple of Sandelfon, the God of Corridors.  To either side and above is a finely sculptured archway of a rich, red marble while, not surprisingly, a corridor stretches off to the north into the temple.  The Street of Small Gods passes by to the southwest.

Lots of corridors to strut along! If you don't get lost, and after passing some minor facilities, like the low altar, you will eventually reach the inner sanctum, which houses the high altar and an incense burner in front of it. The chamber looks thusly:

This high-vaulted room houses the high altar of Sandelfon, a large, plain block of grey stone resting on a dais in the middle of the floor.  Next to the altar, there is a burner, where incense can smoulder ceremonially.  A large archway leads out into the corridor, while a smaller one in the south wall contains a stone door.

l burner

This incense burner is made from a small firebrick furnace with a tall chimney, sitting atop a solid block of walnut.  The wood has been stained and varnished until it is a deep near-black.

If you inspect the altar with more detail, you will find some pretty interesting reliefs, too:

The altar is engraved with a depiction of the story of the third prophet of Sandelfon, Domestos.  Born in a rural part of Ephebe, Domestos was called to the faith at an early age and soon found himself involved in the struggle against the Corridor Shorteners of Mirrick, who appeared for the first time just as he became a full priest.  When all seemed finally lost, Domestos found the spiritual strength needed to rally the temple's stonemasons in a triumphant relengthening of the corridors, driving the Shorteners back into Mirrick.  The last scene on the altar shows Domestos in the throes of the vision that gripped him as he lay on his deathbed, old after many years of service to Sandelfon, foretelling the return of the Dreaded Corridor Shorteners at some time yet to come.

(Sand)castling

Lately I have been taking some sculpting classes in the hope that they would improve my abilities at goldsmithing. Alas, it seems I have been honing th wrong skills for the results I wanted, as getting the topmost quality results when making golden jewellery is fundamentally determined by gold smithing skills...

Still, my work hasn't been *totally* wasted I guess. In a brief holiday I had in the Brown Islands, I discovered my ability at building sandcastles has vastly improved. Here's an example:

This is bang in the middle of a long sandy beach, stretching to the east and west. To the north, a path leads away from the ocean into a small village, while to the south are just endless waves as far as the eye can see. Just to the east of here begins a long pier out to sea.

It is a hot summer prime's evening with almost no wind and a beautifully clear sky.

There are five obvious exits: north, south, east, west and southwest.

make a sandcastle

You pack some sand together to make a small and magnificent sandcastle.

l sandcastle

This is one of the most magnificent examples of sandcrafting one could ever hope to see. The towers have been carefully etched to give the impression of stonework, with the occasional window breaking the monotony. The walls are perfectly straight and the overall effect is stunning. This sandcastle is only quite small, being four towers connected by four walls. You could probably build on it to make a bigger one.

build on sandcastle

You build up another wall around the small and magnificent sandcastle, supporting it with towers at the corners and along the walls.

l sandcastle

This is one of the most magnificent examples of sandcrafting one could ever hope to see. The towers have been carefully etched to give the impression of stonework, with the occasional window breaking the monotony. The walls are perfectly straight and the overall effect is stunning. An inner keep of four towers and walls is surrounded by an outer wall supported by a number of towers.

A blissful native and a relaxed native arrive from the north.

The village to the north must be more interesting than here.

build on sandcastle

You build a stronghold on top of the inner keep of the large and magnificent sandcastle, packing sand over the original centre and building a new set of towers on top. You then surround the whole affair with yet another wall.

l sandcastle

This is one of the most magnificent examples of sandcrafting one could ever hope to see. The towers have been carefully etched to give the impression of stonework, with the occasional window breaking the monotony. The walls are perfectly straight and the overall effect is stunning. The castle is huge, a large raised fortress in the middle, surrounded by an outer wall supported by dozens of towers.

build on sandcastle

You dig a moat around the entirety of the outer wall of the huge and magnificent sandcastle and then a trench to the sea, filling the moat with water.

l sandcastle

This is one of the most magnificent examples of sandcrafting one could ever hope to see. The towers have been carefully etched to give the impression of stonework, with the occasional window breaking the monotony. The walls are perfectly straight and the overall effect is stunning. A goliath among sandcastles, its huge raised central stronghold stands proud and high within an outer wall, lined with turrets. Surrounding the whole castle is a moat, filled with water, with a drawbridge leading into the front gate of the castle.

build on sandcastle

The sandcastle is already huge, with a massive moat. Build a new one!

I tried to see if other sandy, artistic endeavors had improved as well, but no: my sand drawings are just as bad as ever. Perhaps I need to get some classes too in that regard before I can start making more than crooked and squiggly lines in the sand...

People at Uni - Vein

You see Vein Illusione of the Order of Midnight, the Seventh Level Wizard.

She is a strapping young human lass.

She is in good shape.

She is standing.

Her skin looks as hard as rock, although it seems weaker around the neck.

She has a giant turtle shell floating around her.

Holding : a Klatchian steel hatchet (left hand) and a Marzipan dinner knife (right hand).

Wearing : a pair of smuggler's seaboots, a dark grey four-ply cloak, a storm grey wizard's pointy hat, a pearl grey cashmere mask, three blue crystal rings, a gold and red coral ring, a pair of diamond stud earrings and a star sapphire ring.

Sights of the Big Wahoonie - The Patrician's Palace