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 spe

nd 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!