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DrakeMarshall

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  1. DrakeMarshall
    "That's right, I ordered it online," Percyl said. "You can borrow my copy, if you need. It's not very interesting, just between the two of us." "I think it does exist, yes," Percyl said fervently. "The Green Lion. The Dragon That Eats Its Own Tail. Our Matter." He leaned in closer, speaking in a bare whisper. "The Philosopher's Stone." He made an obscure hand gesture. "Modern alchemists don't believe it exists, but I mean to prove them wrong by tracking it down. That's one of the threads that bring me to the University, you see. After all, the Archives keep excellent historical records. Few collections could rival it, and all of those are behind locked doors, hah!" "If the ancients really had the technology to create such a thing, even though it's impossible by modern standards, they might have also had the technology to keep it from going out of control," Percyl reasons. "So it isn't necessarily as disastrous as you'd think. You think well about these things, though." Percyl remarks. "It's good." "Anyways, don't sweat it too much about those fancy reagents. I think he was just putting on a show for the first day of class, you know? I doubt most of Alchemy is like that. I may have drifted off for parts of the lecture, but hopefully I absorbed the important bits through osmosis," Percyl laughed. "Anyways, what parts do you hail from? I'm not really from around here myself. The University is that kind of place, isn't it?"
  2. DrakeMarshall
    "Very good, yes." Conach nodded curtly. "While it may sound attractive in theory, a reagent that creates infinite gold would in practice be, in your words, a disaster. In any case, it's not possible within the scope of Alchemy. Only Namers can work outside the typical rules, and that comes with its own problems." "In the year 262, Solace, there is record of such a thing being brought before the Modegan High King," Percyl spoke up, stringing the words together quickly. "The account doesn't specify what it looked like or how it was safely contained, but there is a clear description of the creation of gold, the most noble of metals. Did you know that?" Conach looked annoyed. "If it did what you say, then it would still be around. Clearly, it isn't. We are getting sidetracked. What I asked, was how one would go about safely handling regulus of iron. The answer is self-evident: the only reasonable way to store a reagent that transmutes anything it touches into iron, is in a container made out of iron." Conach tapped the flask the compound had come out of, and it made a little metallic clink. "Regulus of iron is only one of many alchemical reagents that work like this, effecting a transformation of some kind on anything it touches." "Another popular example is azoth. Azoth dissolves impure substances, yes? Very expensive, very useful for extractions. But the only safe way to store it, is in a container made of a perfectly pure substance." "Or, for a more complex example, take aqua tenues. It turns solids it touches into liquids, for a time. The only safe way to store it is suspended as a bubble inside another liquid, one with a significantly lower surface tension. No solid containment will do." "If a reagent transforms matter in a predictable way, surround it by matter that is already transformed to its liking. This general rule of thumb is called the Precept of Affinity, and it's one of the first must-know lessons to learn about alchemical best practices and safety. It's how you protect yourself from some of the more unsightly manifestations of alchemy gone awry. A very skilled sympathist can hold a liquid suspended in the air for a time, and a particularly wealthy practitioner of the trade might obtain artificer-made equipment to do the same thing, but for most practical everyday alchemy, you need to be mindful of the Precept of Affinity. Towards the end of the term, I might even have you handle some of those reagents in this class." "Just hearing about it isn't enough, of course. For it to really sink in, you need practice. As such, you all have an assignment to do before the next class meeting. Consult the list of transformative reagents on page xii in the appendix of your textbooks. If you don't have your textbooks yet, message me, and I'll put a scan of the relevant pages online, or just ask one of your classmates. I want you to pick 5 reagents from the list that weren't ones we discussed in class, and give a brief writeup for each about the safe storage and handling." "Class is dismissed. I will stick around for a time if you have any questions." Percyl lifted his head up from the desk and ran his fingers through his hair. He considered asking Conach even more questions, but thought better of it. Instead, he headed for the other student who had spoken up. The one who had talked about unlimited transmutation being a disaster. "I'm Percyl," he stuck out his hand to shake. "Pleased to be of your acquaintance."
  3. DrakeMarshall
    "Let's try a practical example, shall we?" Percyl fixed his attention back on the front of the lecture hall. Conach pulled the stopper off of a flask and muttered a binding. A globe of dark silvery liquid ponderously rose out of the flask and suspended itself in mid-air. Percyl made a noise of appreciation. That must've been a tricky bit of sympathy to pull off. "Can anyone tell me what this is? Show of hands." Percyl didn't know. "Mercury?" a student timidly blurted out. "No, not quite. But fair guess. I wouldn't store mercury like that. This is a regulus," Conach stated, as if this explained everything. "Do you know what a regulus is?" No answer. "A regulus is the distilled principle of a metal, in this case, iron, rendered in liquid form. When properly prepared, like this one has been, it will react with anything it touches. Let me show you." Conach picked up a lump of something from his cart, which seemed burdened down with more alchemical paraphernilia than he could reasonably need for this lecture. "This is mere sympathists wax. I can crush it, fold it, mould it however I wish." Conach kneaded the wax by hand for several seconds before shaping it into a ring. "But when we expose it to the regulus..." The liquid seemed to soak into the ring, staining it with a metallic sheen. "The principles shift and the wax becomes metallic. Now, it's quite impossible to sculpt or bend." Conach made a show of trying to pull the ring apart with both hands, to no avail. "It's safe to touch, now. All the regulus has been consumed by the reaction. If it hadn't, if any regulus of iron got on your skin, a part of your flesh would transmute to iron, depending on how much you came into contact with and for how long. Safety is paramount when dealing with such a compound. Can anybody guess how one would safely store and handle regulus of iron?" Percyl's hand shot up. Conach made eye contact. "Yes? Speak up." "What about gold? Can you turn something into gold that way?" Conach frowned. "Technically, yes, to answer your question. To achieve enough regulus of gold to do such a thing, you would need at least as much gold as you hoped to create by principle transmutation, likely quite a bit more, due to impurities. You'd lose money doing that, if that's why you're asking." That didn't sound very useful, Percyl thought. "Is there anything that can transmute what it touches without being consumed in the process?"
  4. DrakeMarshall
    "We will be doing some extractions in this course, naturally. By the end of this course, at a bare minimum you should be able to perform a competent principle extraction from pure instances of the five fundamental elements, the four humours, and the three primes. Sit down, sit down," the speaker gestured insistently towards the front row of the classroom, the only place left with empty seats. "We've already started." Boots echoed across the large lecture hall. "Now, as I was saying, alchemy is a fickle subject. You have to respect it. If you remember nothing else from your time here, I hope you remember that. If you give alchemy the respect it deserves, you'll find that it's a singularly powerful and adaptable discipline. If you aren't willing to do that, well then get out. The door's right there. Alchemy is dangerous, and when it turns sour, you're in for an extended trip to the medica if you're lucky." Percyl yawned, resting his head on his desk near the back of the lecture hall. The words washed over him. He stared insensibly at the blackboard, which still only contained two lines scrawled in messy chalk: ALC102 : Introductory Reaction of Principles Master Conach Conach was not a Master of the Arcanum in the usual sense, but he insisted on being called as such. "Informal modes of address may have been fine for you up until now, but this is the University. I'm not your private tutor. It is proper to refer to your teachers as Master," he had informed them. Mentally, Percyl shrugged. He browsed the feed on his phone. The school was making announcements about... Skindancers. Fae. Demons. There were always stories and scares over Skindancers at the University, it was practically traditional by now. Almost a hazing ritual for new E'lir. But that was interesting. The University itself was endorsing the rumors. Maybe it was for real this time? That would be excitingly unprecedented! The Fae were generally understood to exist, but little else, not for certain. They were a world apart from the Four Corners.
  5. DrakeMarshall
    Well yes but I haven't been able to read it so therefore it doesn't count
  6. DrakeMarshall
    Pros to reading KKC: It's only 2 books Cons to reading KKC: It's only 2 books >> Honestly if you've read the rules for this game you have a pretty good primer on how the University works in KKC : )
  7. DrakeMarshall
    I was gonna say "sponsored by the music department" but then I saw the title of the video and realized this was unironically true :joy:
  8. DrakeMarshall
    Due to the fact that I have read the full rules and obviously digested them completely, the sunk cost fallacy states that I am now compelled to sign up. I declare myself as Percyl, an undeclared and perpetually sleepy student of the arcanum, dabbler in all manner of arts and sciences and pseudosciences, junior exorcist, seeker of the mythic green lion, and self-styled gentleman adventurer.
  9. DrakeMarshall
    Yeah I laughed when I saw you going from red to orange in the Roshar doc, when I went from yellow to orange in mine Well, orange is the color I've been using lately, so it was too perfect to combine Odium and Autonomy's colors. If you read further you will see that it gradually becomes a redder shade of orange, though. Anyways, there are various later points in my doc where I zig zag between thinking that you are V or E, I wouldn't worry too much about it I uh, may have not been entirely confident in your alignment until after I flipped the last elim. Edit: Btw I would like to note that my Join The Circus parody from N1 was oddly prophetic about specific things Edit2: Also just so u know the Taldain doc has no access. Edit3: btw let the record show -- the conversion attempt on me was kind of rotten luck for both of us in this particular game, but just in general I could see a world where I would have enjoyed raising hell in the SoU my general take on conversions is to fight for whatever win con i happen to have at the moment and not worry about the future too much but well it was a non-issue for me in this game lol
  10. DrakeMarshall
    You had hecking best believe we are
  11. DrakeMarshall
    Sir u r one to talk, I made u lose but at least I also made Stick win You somehow managed to make us both lose a bet I bet you would live, you bet you would die, and then you went and did neither
  12. DrakeMarshall
    sir that sounds like a you problem, I won most of my bets this game yeah no I'm with Kas tho that quote was solid gold and I was not eager to drag things out either and yes! you got it right Yes you guessed it from the "y" I was impressed.
  13. DrakeMarshall
  14. DrakeMarshall
    Thank you Ash, Aman, & Devo for putting what was undoubtedly quite a lot of work into facilitating this game Anyways it would seem I got my triumvirate of doom in the end I'm sure there will be plenty to unpack with this game but for now just GG and I hope you enjoy all the memes when the docs go up
  15. DrakeMarshall
    smhhh voting but not playing hangman are you too good for hangman what do you hope to accomplish by executing an Avatar if you don't win at hangman first smh y'know I'd personally still rather we didn't exe the quokka friend either
  16. DrakeMarshall
  17. DrakeMarshall
    Well, perhaps I will change my mind if the hangman game reaches its exciting conclusion, but for now I shall vote Szeth.
  18. DrakeMarshall
    Yes you are Anyways: be the chaos demon you want to see in the world!
  19. DrakeMarshall
    Is this what the village wants? Are you saying this in your capacity as Frost? :eyes: If you want! Please play at your best, though. Only play if you want to help champion the village. If you just want to play a game without those stakes, we can also totally get a second hangman game going just for fun
  20. DrakeMarshall
    Okay 1. I fully believe a joint victory is possible. I fully believe I could come up with a workable plan for one. I don't think you guys currently have a plan for one, and I think you'd have better luck if you realized that there's no quick way to do this. 2. None of that matters overly much unless we both actually want a joint victory. 3. To spell things out further. You have 3 voting options. Executing me creates a village-only victory, ending the game. Executing any other player creates an Autonomy-only victory, ending the game. Executing an Avatar leaves the option open for a joint win, continuing the game. It's really that simple smh guys. 4. I'm offering you guys a game!!! A game decide the fate of the game. I'm trying to give you guys a fair chance, make the finale of the game actually interesting here. If you win, I surrender. I am at your disposal. Execute me or whatever, I won't fight back. Ask me for a plan for a joint victory, I'll give you one, although I will silently judge you for not having the spine to execute me. The game is really truly yours to do as you please with. If you lose, you forfeit. I decide what happens next, and my decision will be to close the curtains on this game: pursuing a joint victory doesn't really feel like a game to me anymore, and I no longer have any commitments staying my hand. It sure doesn't sound like you have the slightest intentions of submitting to this result if and when it comes around, which tbhhh is only further evidence that the village is unworthy, but even if you try to rescind on the stakes of this game I'm not sure you really have the power to prevail by such dishonorable brute force. If you for some reason weren't already clear on what the stakes of this game were, and you don't agree to those stakes, then stop playing. 5. I'm sorry JNV quokka friend. I wanted to be peaceful and such but it seems I'm really not cut out for it Alright now that all that table-setting is out of the way, the moment you've really been waiting for!!! HANGMAN!!! It's the Sanderson Elimination letters!!! Did you guys do that on purpose? Very nice.
  21. DrakeMarshall
  22. DrakeMarshall
    Hangman Yeah okay that's funny Let's do this then. I'm picking the challenge, I take it? Seeing as its me vs. the village, I take it the village is the one guessing.
  23. DrakeMarshall
    Hey 30 is clearly "nearly" 300 its just one character of difference Anyways, it is not two lies SMH. I made my overall stance clear at various points, I suppose. I am your friendly neighborhood Serial Killer. I am publicly the bad guy of this game. I am somebody who dislikes joint victories on principle. Yes, I'd like my friends to win, but not if it means making the game boring. If there is no challenge, then it's my role to create challenge! Who else is gonna do it, if not the friendly neighborhood murderpuppy But I am also somebody who keeps his deals. And I made a deal. When Walin showed up announcing intentions to vote, I figured I might not have enough votes to overwhelm the village by force. So I went with Plan B -- offering an approach for a joint win with the village. The plan was simple: if the village accepted my deal, we would go about trying to win together. If they did not, then I would fight to the last. And Walin accepted my deal, so that was that. ...or so we thought. Araris flipping village was a warning sign that things weren't quite as they seemed. Thing is, Walin's not actually a villager. There is no deal with the village. Never has been. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the village was perhaps a little too content to rest on a proffered pact that in multiple ways barely scraped by (Also, JNV has won. So there is no strict need to prolong the game any longer, as far as I'm concerned.) And if I'm not bound by any particular commitments... Then I will do what I want And what I want right now, is to go for round 3 in our battle of wits You decide the terms of the contest, I will accept them, if they are fair. It can be just you or I can face off against multiple villagers. The stakes -- the fate of the cosmere
  24. DrakeMarshall
    #1 is obviously the lie Okay here's mine: 1. I've been working with the village so far because because I offered a deal, which Walin accepted on behalf of the village. 2. Walin isn't a villager. 3. Whimsy has breached containment
  25. DrakeMarshall
    I dunno! Splendid! A leap of faith! The answer is "the poison is in the glass closer to you" The code I posted before was this string, chopped in half and then the two halves xor'd together. Not impossible to decode but not trivial either. Anyways, as previously mentioned, for this round, the prize of participating was... The next game And participate you certainly did. Good things always come in threes For round two, how about two truths and a lie? I've already picked mine. But since I made the first move on the poison game, you first this time
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