Unseen University Postcards - The Library

 

This is somewhere in the Library of Unseen University.  You are in an aisle, with shelves to your right and to your left.  The air is dry and feels like it has been boiled in a sock for a thousand years; there is also a sound, right on the edge of hearing, as of falling snow or the rusting of iron.

Your skin tingles with the discharge of magic and the air feels greasy and tastes of tin.

There are two obvious exits: forward and backward.

Wurphle's Packed Lunch

A few days ago I managed to master the skills I needed to cast this beauty (with a little help from a bronze helm, I must admit). This means there are only 3 spells left I have never cast, and which in no long time must go down to 0. Yippee!!

What's it called? Wurphle's Packed Lunch (WPL in short)

What does it do? It creates a wizard's lunch sack, which is a wearable container that magically preserves food (and more convenient: body parts) from spoiling without the need to cure them (whether with a pickling stick or non-magical means). This makes a really useful spell, as most wizards move around a lot, harvesting eyes and hearts 'on the run', and they oftentimes go mouldy, sometimes even in mid-cast.

Where is it? It lately resurfaced inside the pages of a very sticky grimoire: The Olde Arte of Foode, in the Unseen University Library.

What does it require? This was a bit of a bugger, as components are really expensive and/or difficult to get: a hubland bear fur (I died once trying to get one of these...), a sapient pearwood seed, a wood riving, a large rhokshial crystal (this costs a small kingdom), a threaded needle and a knife. Except for needle and knife, all other components are consumed in the process. The spell also requires the focus of an octogram.

What skills do I need? animating, enchanting, whittling and binding. Requirements are pretty high, but nothing a mid-level wizard cannot muster. Perhaps the whittling is the most annoying one, even if you are a Silver Star.

Has it worked? A correct output should read something like this:

You prepare to cast Wurphle's Packed Lunch.
> You hold out a sapient pearwood seed in front of you and force it to sprout with your mind, weaving its branches as they grow into a wooden frame. 

You unevenly sew a dark violet bear fur over the frame to form a dark violet bag, imbuing it with magic with every pass of your whalebone needle. 

You whittle a six-foot riving of oak into an intricate magical rune and place it onto the bag, where it sticks in place. With the leftover oak, you fashion a simple clasp to hold the bag closed. 

Finally, you hold up a large blue crystal above the rune and reach into it with your mind, harnessing its power for the purpose of preservation. 

Crackling arcs of blue energy surge out of the crystal and play over the surface of the dark violet wizard's lunch sack for a moment before sinking in reluctantly.

And that's it! If all has gone well, you should amidst your hands the following beauty:

This rustic-looking pouch is essentially a large dark violet fur bag designed to be worn from the waist.  Sewn together with uneven dark amber silk stitching, the fur is supported internally by a wooden frame to help it retain its shape and a simple oak clasp at the opening allows the sack to be closed securely.  A mysterious, glowing blue rune carved from oak has been affixed to the sack's surface.  While the exact purpose of the rune is indeterminable, its exciting sparkliness really hammers in the lunch sack's wizardliness to any onlooker.

A gossamer web of octarine glows dimly on its surface, emanating an aura of icy preservation.

The dark violet wizard's lunch sack has one main pocket, one dessert pocket, one cheese pocket and one appetizer pocket.

You cannot see inside it.  It is closed.

It is in excellent condition.

Notes: The pelt you get from a hubland bear can be tanned (and turned into 'fur') and dyed with a coloured ink of your choice. In my case, Thanks go to Geryon for colouring it for me.

Your skills in some crafts areas will affect the result: crafts.carpentry.whittling determines the look of the clasp ('simple' in my case) and crafts.materials.needlework the stitching ('uneven' in my case).

You may also remember that there are four colours for a rokshial crystal, whether big or small: yellow, green, blue and red. Depending on the one you find, the preservation magic is different: they will be vacuum, acidic, icy and fiery preservation respectively (mine was blue). Every time you open the sack you get a message:

A shock of frigid air escapes from the dark violet wizard's lunch sack as it opens.

At the bottom you can enjoy an iconograph of my own one.

Help Information:

Wurphle's Packed Lunch - crafts a lunchsack for keeping your lunch in

This spell helps you craft a lunchsack using a hubland bear fur, sapient pearwood seed, wood riving and a large rhokshial crystal. A threaded needle and a knife are also required, but not consumed.

The resulting lunchsack will keep food magically fresh using the power of the large rhokshial crystal. Its appearance will vary depending on the colour of the bear fur, the colour of the crystal, the type of wood riving and the type of thread on the needle.

Unseen University Postcards - Octangle, The Clock Tower

The clock tower at the centre of the courtyard is at least two or three stories high, with a large bell and a clock face at the top.  It is, however, dwarfed by the massive Tower of Art.

Doctor Kelleflump's Deadly Demon

What's it called? Doctor Kelleflump's Deadly Demon (in short, DKDD)

What does it do? It kills people, and is one of the best spells for doing this in the Disc. Technically speaking, it brings forth a demon that attacks your intended target (most of the time; a non trivial number of times, it attacks you). It only attacks one target at a time.

What does it require? A heart (consumed in the process). An optional and very handy extra is casting it while wearing a darkened silver amulet, which will protect you from (some) backfires and will eventually melt after a certain number of uses.

What skills do I need? Dancing, Cursing, Summoning, Abjuring, Banishing

Has it worked? You'll know if it didn't... A correct output will read something like this:

You trace out complex runes on the ground with your feet.
You speak horrible names and blasphemous rites.

You squeeze the heart in your hand, calling forth demonic power.
You order the gathering shadows to destroy the troll bodyguard. 

You scream: Avaunt, foul spirit!

A mass of shadow suddenly comes alive, forming into humanoid shape. 

 With a terrible laugh it hurls itself towards the troll bodyguard. 

The demon chews on the troll bodyguard's face; he screams horribly. 

The demon slowly fades back into shadow, leaving behind a sickly smell and an oily feel to the air.

In this example, I have chosen one of 7 possible damage messages. This is one is the second highest, and sometimes comes with a funny aftereffect:

The demon appears to have bitten off the troll bodyguard's nose!

The seven + one damage messages you can get are (in what I think is damage order, from least to most):

A patch of shadow starts to form, but slowly melts again, leaving only a faint stench of evil.

The demon flicks the mercenary's ear, hard. 

The demon sucker-punches the huge troll. 

The demon rends the lumbering troll with its claws. 

The demon cruelly punctures the angry troll fighter with razor-sharp claws, tearing stone flesh apart.

The demon shreds the hulking troll with razor-sharp claws, sinking fangs into his stony flesh. 

The demon chews on the angry troll fighter's face; she screams horribly 

The demon sticks its arm entirely through the murderous fighter. You can see it on the other side!

As noted, the spell can backfire rather terribly. This comes from either failing the skillchecks, or just from the demon deciding to attack you anyway. For the latter, the amulets offer some protection.

Damage mostly comes in two forms: there's the pure damage of the demon hurting you, and there's an extra damage sometimes that comes from possession, which accumulates through time before going away, and gives some funny messages. After some time, it goes away:

A ball of shadow begins to form, and suddenly attaches itself to you! 

You feel darkness enter your inner being... 

Your head slowly rotates around in a full circle. 

You scream. 

You loudly exclaim: Ghrrzg Xrepticca R'thag R'yleh Fthaugn!

You suddenly vomit a thick green liquid that looks suspiciously like pea soup. 

You say: You are mine, all mine! 

You laugh demonically. 

You feel the nightmare presence leave your body.

Notes: This is one of two top wizard spells. I find it invaluable: even if it can backfire, it is a consistent troll-killer. It will allow you to kill things which others spells hardly dent. It does take a long time to cast, though.

Having said that, today I experienced a backfire of +2800 hps damage which almost killed me. I know other people get these regularly. I've been lucky, or the amulets and decent skill bonuses are protecting me.

Help Information:

Doctor Kelleflump's Deadly Demon - summon a demon to damage a single target.

Doctor Kelleflump's Deadly Demon is a first-order offensive spell that summons a demonic creature to attack its target.

Unseen University Postcards - Octangle, Entrance to the Library

The Library towers above here, a large building housing the most powerful books of wizardry found on the Discworld.  Tall wooden doors to the north lead inside.

Yordon’s Extremal Extension

 

What's it called? Yordon’s Extremal Extension (YEE for short)

What does it do? This spell is the poor brother to Booch’s Extremal Polymorphism. Like its sibling, this spell will allow you to grow an extra arm. Unlike its brother, the limb will be temporary (it will disappear after some time). Also, unlike the other spell, you can only create one extra arm: recasting the spell will just lengthen the time the new extension stays with you. If you want up to 4 extra arms, you need Booch’s.

Where is it? Spells affecting your body parts and limbs are a speciality of Djelian sorcery, so they can be found in the Institute of Illusionary Learning, within the ever changing covers of Ye Booke of Polymorphe.

What does it require? Same as Booch's: a troll arm, a human arm and a dwarf arm. All are consumed in the process. What is not required, which the other spell asks for, is the focus of an octogram.

What skills do I need? Channeling, Convoking, Evoking, Binding, Animating

Has it worked? A correct output should read something like this:

You prepare to cast Yordon's Extremal Extension. 

You check the contents of your inventory.

You fetch a troll arm from the pile of your belongings and put it on the ground. 

You find a dwarf arm from among your stuff and place it on the ground near the troll arm. 

Finally, you discover a human arm and place it on the ground so that the three arms form a triangle.

You spend several seconds admiring the gruesome picture of the arm triangle.

This will be followed by a line indicating the appearance of the extra arm, and its location. Possible places are your head, armpits, chest or neck Some examples:

A new limb growing from the centre of your stomach makes you wonder if you are still a human. 

A new limb growing from the top of your head makes you wonder if you are still a human. 

Ok, now you have an additional arm hanging from your right armpit. What's next? 

Oh my, looks like you just got an extra arm growing from the base of your neck!

After some time, the limb will go away, and you'll also get a message warning you like these:

You feel a tingling sensation in your chest arm as it detaches itself from your body and falls to the ground. 

You feel thaumic energy leaving your body. 

You feel a tingling sensation in your stomach arm as it detaches itself from your body and falls to the ground. 

You feel thaumic energy leaving your body. 

You feel a dull pain in your forehead arm. 

You feel thaumic energy leaving your body. 

You gasp in astonishment as your forehead arm decides to abandon you. 

You feel thaumic energy leaving your body.

Whatever is being held with the hand will fall to the ground, and can shatter. Be careful!

Notes: This is a curious spell, but I find neither it nor its sibling particularly useful. The only advantage of extra arms is that you can hold more stuff (including weapons), but you are very likely to suffer from dexterity bonuses which offset any advantage, and the place where the arm grows will make it impossible to wear certain things. Besides (that's an issue of Booch's, not of Yordon's), you can actually lose in combat your new and your original limbs!

Help Information:

Yordon's Extremal Extension and Booch's Extremal Polymorphism

These spells let you grow extra limbs, which could come in handy in a fight or when carrying grocery bags.

Unseen University Postcards - The Tower of Art

The Tower of Art stands almost in the centre of Ankh-Morpork.  Over eight hundred feet tall and originally comprising exactly eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eight steps, many of which remain attached to the decrepit interior, it is popularly said to be even older than the city itself.  Evidence for this proves scarce, however.

Books - A Thousand Dancing Frogs

This is not exactly a spellbook, but rather a booklet, or more appropriately, a leaflet, as it takes the form of a (jade, artificial) leaf at the top of the great willow of the Bes Pelargic L-space bubble. Consulting it is a bit perilous, as you'll need to climb the tree up to the top (sixth level), and the fall from any level higher than 3 can easily kill you. Besides, it only contains one spell, and a very well-known one at that.

This is a single jade leaflet. It seems to be a type of book, yet still part of the grand willow. This leaf is still connected to the willow by a single platinum stem, yet something ominous tells you this leaf is here to stay. The platinum lining of the leaf sparkles in the available light and sends dancing shimmers across all the other leaves and branches. 

Octarine sparkles dance and shimmer atop the jade leaf.

> open book
You open the tome to page 1.
> read book
You read page one of the open tome:


Table of Contents
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2 ... Jogloran's Portal of Cheaper Travel

Unseen University Postcards - The Student Lounge

 

This is the student lounge of Unseen University.  It's here that students gather to drink coffee, exchange stories, and do their most important learning.  There are some old chairs with the stuffing coming out, and a beaten up table.

There is one obvious exit: north.

A bulletin board [ 10 notes ] is mounted on one wall.

Duelling research (2)

The following is a follow-up of the tests I made with Gznang some days ago. In the previous post I included the attack and protect messages that were generated.  Here I'll list the results of the combats. The idea is to find out if specific elemental attacks can beat (or fail to) some elemental protections. My working hypothesis is that Some elementals have 'an edge' when fighting others, but that the specific elemental attack/protection that gets evoked has a different effect. A rough calculation for the 2x4= 8 attacks and a hypothesized 6x4 = 24 defenses there might be yields a total of 192 possible combinations.

From this basic research, it seems there might be even more to it (bonuses? chance?) as I found out that the same combination of elemental attack + elemental protection sometimes yields different outcomes.

Fire attacks

Attack                                    Protection                            Result

barking dog (F)                       long flame (F)                      flame wins

fire dragon (F)                        ? (F)                                      dragon wins

Water Attacks

Attack                                    Protection                            Result

grey cloud                              disc of ice (W)                      cloud wins

grey cloud                              jet of air (A)***                    cloud wins

grey cloud                              large rock (E)                        rock wins

grey cloud                             ring of flame (F)                    ring wins

large hailstone                      ball of dirt (E)                        hailstone wins

large hailstone                      ball of dirt (E)**                    ball wins

large hailstone                      long flame (F)                        hailstone wins

Air attacks

Attack                                    Protection                            Result

smelling gas                            gust of wind (A)                  gas wins

smelling gas                            gust of wind (A)                  gust wins

smelling gas                            wall of water (W)                gas wins

smelling gas                            wall of water (W)                wall wins

smelling gas                            spark (F)                              gas wins

yellow butterfly                      stalactite (W)**                   stalactite wins

yellow butterfly                      fireball (F)                            fireball wins   

yellow butterfly                      ? (F)                                     butterfly wins

yellow butterfly                     pebbles (E)                           butterfly wins

yellow butterfly                     pebbles (E)                           pebbles win

Earth attacks

Attack                                    Protection                            Result

terracotta warrior                    great wall (E)                       wall wins

ball of rock                               clod of dirt (E)                     clod wins 

ball of rock                                fireball (F)                            ball wins        

    

Best Teapot Ever!

I have been practicing the fine art of pottery making for quite some time now, mostly in the pottery room at the Sung family estate, in Bes Pelargic. I have mostly specialized in Auriental teapots with kitsune fox patterns stained in them. If you search older pages of the grimoire, you will find a picture of one of my early works.

I must have been particularly inspired a few days ago, as I actually succeed in getting both the best forming and the best staining on the same piece. Take a good look at this superb piece. This is its overall look:

And at the bottom lies a nice surprise painted and lurking in wait for the moment when the unwary server of tea shall lift the teapot for filling cups:

The description reads as follows:

The perfect lotus flower on its leaf floating gently on the waters of life is an image that has inspired many a religious, philosophical and poetic thought.  Here then is the inspiration brought to life in ceramic poetry.  The base of this teapot is an almost lifelike round lotus leaf, every line articulated, the artisan even took pains to create translucent dewdrops upon it.  From the base three layers of lotus petals of the finest ceramics curve upwards, almost enfolding each other, just showing or suggesting the layer beneath.  Through some unfathomable mastery of clay there is even the illusion of stamens  at the heart of the pot even beneath the tips that form the lid, one rising higher to be able to remove and replace it.  On one side a somewhat rolled petal seems to function as the spout whilst on the other an incredibly detailed dragonfly has landed on two petals to form a handle of sorts.  Highly valued for its auspiciousness, it has been stained to the highest degree of craftsmanship in gold with the scene of a nine-tailed sacred kitsune fox imparting its wisdom and magical powers on the Sun Emperor.  A magical jewel glints from the kitsune's mouth in what might almost be pure octarine.  A strong Sung blue glaze covers the teapot.

It appears to have something written on it.

> 

read teapot

You read the beautiful Sung blue teapot:

Written in the clay in tidy script:

Winswand

Unseen University Postcards - The Chapel

Wizards don't find it necessary to believe in gods in the same way that most people don't find it necessary to believe in, say, tables.  They know they're there, but they don't find the need to go about saying "Oh Great Table, without whom we are as naught".  Wizards also don't take chances.  That's why they have a chapel.  There's a large window in the south wall, and a stone archway containing a wooden door is to the north.

Worstler's Advanced Metallurgical Glance

What's it called? Worstler's Advanced Metallurgical Glance (in short, WAMG)

What does it do? This spell is the older brother of its similarly named Worstler's Elementary Mineralogical Glance. Just as that spell allows you to scry into a rock that you have previously imprinted (through Amazing Silicate Blorper) with a room, this spell does the same, but for some piece of jewellery that you have turned into a place's blorple through the spell Al Hrahaz's Scintillating Blorper.

What does it require? Obviously, a blorpled piece of jewellery

What skills do I need? Animating, Divining, Scrying

Has it worked? A correct output should read something like this:

You prepare to cast Worstler's Advanced Metallurgical Glance on the ruby ring.

> You call to the knowledge within the ruby ring.

You think of the location encoded in the ruby ring.

You stare at the ruby ring.

The ruby ring seems to urge you to gaze into it.

gaze into casino

You see a vision in the ruby ring:

The foyer of the Diamond City Casino is a lavish affair in red velvet drapes, golden ropes and beautiful looking staff cajoling, begging and pleading with people wandering in to spend all their money on drinks, slots and cards.  In fact, perhaps it could be fun to go and hang around at the bar and have a drink or two, sampling some of the slot machines and poker games in the process.  Most people enter the Casino after getting this far, so it would be silly not to just go with the flow now...  Wouldn't it?

There are three obvious exits: east, southeast and west.

A security guard is standing discreetly by the entrance.

Notes: If a room is protected, you are likely to get a message like this when trying to look at it:

The emerald ring's surface goes blurry, but refuses to show anything of value.

Help Information:

Worstler's Advanced Metallurgical Glance - see a distant location. 

Worstler's Advanced Metallurgical Glance is a miscellaneous type spell that uses the blorpled jewellery at which it is cast to scry its encoded location.   

Unseen University Postcards - Octangle, Entrance to the Great Hall

 

The Great Hall is one of the most important buildings in the University, being the place where the four main meals of the day are served.  Externally, it blends in well with the rest of the architecture; that is, its design features were chosen to make it stick out like a sore thumb.

> The Professor of Extreme Horticulture smiles nervously.

look doors

An impressive pair of doors made of octiron, with a heavy lock, curly hinges and brass studs.  On each of the doors is a large iron knocker, each cast in the shape of a fierce dragon head.

Worstler's Elementary Mineralogical Glance

What's it called?  Worstler's Elementary Mineralogical Glance (WEMG for short)

What does it do?  The beginner wizard gets two basic spells for use in traveling and scrying: Amazing Silicate Blorpler is for traveling; it allows him to turn stones, rocks and pebbles into magical items that retain the memory of locations, and on which you can cast the travelling spell, Jogloran's Portal of Cheaper Travel. Unfortunately, rocks can very easily disappear after just a few casts, so as soon as possible, the wizard should upgrade it to Al Hrahaz's Scintilating Blorper, which allows him to imprint locations on more stable rings and jewellery.

The second spell, which a beginner wizard uses for scrying, is this one. It allows him to 'see' into the room which has been imprinted into the memory of a rock via the previous spell. And like with the previous spell, Worstler's Elementary Mineralogical Glance has a big brother with a similar name which allows you to scry into blorpled jewellery.

Where is it? Being mostly a beginner's spell, it is rightly placed in the Begynners' Magick tome, at the Gym(s).

What does it require? A blorpled rock, pebble, stone.

What skills do I need? Earth, Evoking, Scrying

Has it worked? A correct output should read something like this:

cast wemg

You prepare to cast Worstler's Elementary Mineralogical Glance on the black mineral pebble.

You attempt to contact the elemental nature of the black mineral pebble.

You think of the location encoded in the black mineral pebble. 

You stare at the black mineral pebble. The black mineral pebble seems to urge you to gaze into it. 

gaze into pebble 

You see a vision in the black mineral pebble: 

This is the kitchen of the second floor flat of the Salt Shaker, complete with the ubiquitous old food smells found in every kitchen. Not much cooking goes on here as some lions have taken it over, perhaps originally drawn here by those same smells, and their idea of food is quite different from that of humans. It doesn't seem as though the clowns mind, however, as is indicated by the fluffy ball on a string they've hung from the ceiling. 

There are three obvious exits: west, north and enter door.

Notes: If a room is protected, you are likely to get a message like this when trying to look at it:

The pebble's surface goes blurry, but refuses to show anything of value.

Help Information:

Worstler's Elementary Mineralogical Glance - see a distant location.  

Worstler's Elementary Mineralogical Glance is a miscellaneous  type spell that uses the blorpled rock at which it is cast to  scry its encoded location.  

Books - Spells of Thee Moste Ceremonious Rite of AshkEnte

At the moment, I think there are only four spells that I haven't been able to cast yet. Two of them lie inside this grimoire, not so long ago rediscovered deep into the aisles of the Unseen University library. The are the famous spells for summoning Death itself! Their very specific purpose, the really expensive components consumed in the summoning, the requirement of many wizards with top-level skills for the casting, all conspire against any uses in the near future.

Still, I decided to go and take a look at the book. Here it goes:

This is somewhere in the Library of Unseen University. You are at a dead-end: there are shelves to your right, to your left and in front of you. 

The air is filled with a low susurration, the sort of noise that would be produced if you took a thousand people wearing leather gloves and got them to play pianos with no strings.

There is a strange distortion in space and time to the left of you!

Your skin tingles with the discharge of magic and the air feels greasy and tastes of tin.

There are two obvious exits: backward and left.

A closed plain black book is chained to the ornate lectern. 

> 

look lectern

This tall reading desk has been fancifully fretted and carved with phantasmagorically interlaced gryphons, dragons, and twisting vines. Here and there, a tiny wizard looks out from the pattern, clutching the lines as if still trying to escape...

>

look book

This is a small and square book, whose cover is the deepest darkest black. A faint blue aura is visible when you are not looking directly at it. Small octarine sparks crackle fitfully through the creases and folds in the pages. It appears to have something written on it. It is closed. 

> read book 

You read the cover of the closed plain black book: Spells of Thee Moste Ceremonious Rite of AshkEnte

> open book

You open the tome to page 1.

> read book

You read page one of the open tome:

Table of Contents 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  2 ... Malich's AshkEnte Summoning Incantation

  3 ... Malich's AshkEnte Circle

Unseen University Postcards - The Great Hall

 

The Great Hall of the Unseen University is where the faculty wizards get down to business, namely eating and drinking.  The hall roof is held up with lots of pillars.  The walls are hung with paintings of former Archchancellors.  This is the centre of the hall and you can see some big statues in the corners.

Pottery research

Recently I have improved somewhat my pottery staining skills. After consulting Quow's register of results,  I think I can add a very little bit of information, which I hope to be expanding upon in soon-to-come days.

Bonus in crafts.pottery.staining - 278

This morning I made six Agatean teapots at the pottery room in the Sung family estate. I stained two of them with a pagoda pattern, two with a feathers pattern and two with a butterflies pattern. The latter two do not appear in Quow's list, I imagine because he is just too good to get anything but the top results in them.

For the pagoda pattern I predictably got poor results. The message was 'You hastily start to decorate a xxx teapot with some crimson stain' (second from bottom?). The look was indeed disappointing:

A tall tower-like thing has been stained onto it in crimson.

Results were much more promising for the feathers. The first teapot got two 'carefully' messages during the staining process, the second one a 'carefully' and a 'deftly':

It is decorated with a pattern of feathers stained in crimson

A dramatic pattern of feathers envelops the teapot in crimson

As for the butterflies, the results were the same and the messages I got were expertly + carefully and deftly + carefully:

It is decorated with a pleasing pattern of crimson butterflies

And here are some snapshots!

Duelling research - preliminary tests

As magical duelling remains the undiscovered country, I have decided to start a research program around it to see what its possible patterns were, and ideally, get some confirmation from experiment and tms. The starting hypotheses are as follows:

-The skills employed for duelling are magic.items.held.wand, or magic.items.held.rod or magic.items.held.staff, depending on the choice made by the two duellists on what to employ. Required levels should be low, although my sparing partner had at least one fail with the wand (+200 bonus range?). Then, perhaps:

magic.methods.spiritual.summoning (for demon strength and initial health, maybe?)

magic.methods.physical.healing (for healing the demon, one of three choices during every combat round. To get any success using this, you probably need over 200 bonus levels)

-For the main activity in dueling, which is making attacks and protections using elementals you obviously will employ:

magic.methods.elemental.air

magic.methods.elemental.earth

magic.methods.elemental.fire

magic.methods.elemental.water. 

Tm range would be interesting - I guess it should be rather low, in the 200s.

-When making an attack and a protection, some sort of rock, paper, scissors element must be at play. Results seem moderately determined by skills bonuses, but not to an overwhelming degree.

-There is probably a limited number of different attacks and protections for each of the skills (2 different attacks, 4 different protections per skill?).

After a light lunch, I got my research started with the kind cooperation of a fellow Circle wizard from the Counterweight Continent, Gznang, whom I wholeheartedly thank in advance. I got an iconograph to take a picture of us while we were at work:

The following is the list of all the attack and protect messages we got for all the 4 elemental skills:

MESSAGES: ATTACK

Fire 

Concentrating carefully you conjure up a small barking dog and light its wick with the tip of your dueling wand. 

Chanting magical words and vigorously rubbing his dueling wand, Gznang constructs a small dragon from fire. With a majestic wave of his hand the dragon flies towards the foul midnight black demon.

Earth

Drawing in power from the room, you tap the floor with your dueling wand. The room shakes and a small terracotta warrior erupts from the floor and marches towards the vile grey demon. 

Muttering to yourself you draw in background magic with your dueling wand and create a huge ball of rock which you hurl at the vile grey demon. 

Water

Using the ambient magic you skillfully create a fluffy grey cloud at the tip of your dueling wand which blows towards the vile grey demon.

Gznang holds his dueling wand out horizontally. A large hailstone forms at its tip and starts to zoom towards the foul midnight black demon.

Air

You concentrate on tofu and cabbage, drawing in magic from the room. Suddenly a puff of foul smelling gas errupts from your dueling wand and moves towards the vile grey demon.

Gznang lifts his dueling wand up and down in a flapping motion and suddenly a small yellow butterfly pops into existence. 

MESSAGES: PROTECT

Fire

Using his dueling wand Gznang produces a long flame which he points at the opening of the barking dog. 

Muttering magical words and vigorously rubbing your dueling wand you construct a small dragon from fire and set it flying with a lazy wave of your hand.

You quickly rub your dueling wand, generating heat through friction, until a small ball of fire forms at the end. Drawing your hand back, you hurl the fireball at the butterfly.

Gznang chants a magical verse and creates a spark from his dueling wand.

You create a circle of fire around the foul midnight black demon using your dueling wand. 

You rub your dueling wand and use it to draw a circle on the ground. Suddenly, a ring of flame springs up around the foul midnight black demon. 

Using your dueling wand you create a large fireball which flies towards the huge ball of rock.

Earth

Using his dueling wand, Gznang creates a small version of the great wall of Agatea around the vile grey demon. 

Gznang creates a large clod of dirt with his dueling wand which zooms towards the huge ball of rock.

Gznang quickly points his dueling wand at the butterfly and shoots a a stream of pebbles from the tip. Using his dueling wand, Gznang creates a small mountain in front of the vile grey demon. 

Using your dueling wand, you solidify the background enchantment into a large rock which you hurl towards the fluffy grey cloud. 

Gznang produces a ball of dirt from the tip of his dueling wand and magically hurls it at the hailstone.

Water

Gznang conjures up a disc of ice which hovers over the vile grey demon like an umbrella.

Gznang conjures up a large hailstone which he hurls at the other hailstone.

Gznang conjures up a huge wall of water around the vile grey demon with his dueling wand. 

Time seems to speed up as drops of water fall from your dueling wand, forming a sharp stalactite on the very tip of it. You break the stalactite off and throw it at the butterfly. 

Gznang uses his dueling wand to create a protective wall of ice around the vile grey demon. 

Air

You produce a huge gust of wind from your dueling wand and send it towards the foul midnight black demon.

Drawing on the background enchantment, you create a small tornado which circles the foul midnight black demon.

You produce a jet of air from the tip of your dueling wand and point it at the fluffy grey cloud.

There indeed seem to be two possible attacks per element, and possibly, one weaker than the other. The case for the protections seems much more confusing. I would be there is the same number for each, but in 34 rounds I had with Gznang I only got these: 7 for fire, 6 for earth, 5 for water and 3 for air. I mean, this could be correct, with different numbers of defenses per element, but most likely, I have to duel some more and getting the missing defenses in the list.

I'll also be posting soon the results of those 34 rounds, with the pairs attack/defense and the results, to see if we can form something like a predictive table with them.

Unseen University postcards - The Gym

The Unseen University's curious equivalent of a gymnasium is a large cubic room with the walls, ceiling and floor lined with strangely shaped tiles of metal and wood.  It strikes you that the room seems, well, solid and somehow more real than other rooms you know.  You can make out some scuffed chalk marks on the floor.  A light patch on the far wall indicates a sign once hung there.

An octogram on the floor glows in eldritch fashion.

There is one obvious exit: north.

Mystic Alysandra and Dwmmigh are standing here.

A closed tome and an old, battered chest are on the floor.