Trusk'our

Lol, when has that ever concerned me?

Ooo, even better than the camelback. Maybe give it an Awakened Metalmind to operate that system and add on Unsealed Metalmind abilities. Exactly. You just use whatever modern preserving method is needed to keep them from decaying and you have nearly any kind of ability you need. It's too dark? Become a Tineye. Want to check for Seekers? Become one yourself, or go Smoker and ignore them altogether. High balcony you need to reach? Become Coinshot or Lurcher.

Hmm, Metalborn technology? 1. Metalborn computers: splice a portion of a functional Spiritweb into a Feruchemically rigged computer with spikes or other Hemalurgically Invested components, potentially speeding up its Awakening and giving it a closer to human understanding of the world. Add in select Unkeyed/Unsealed Coppermind memories to help this process along and shape the budding personality. 2. Metalborn controlboards: make a keyboard/control room setup specifically designed for a Coinshot or Lurcher to use their power when pushing buttons. They're no longer limited by human limbs and could learn to control a lot more at once (Unsealed Zincmind may be useful on top of that). Given how difficult it is to automate complex cognitive tasks, this could be quite useful, at least until Metalmind computers are fully realized. 3. Hemalurgy ports: take a cue from cyberpunk and make artificial "ports" in specific bindpoints that can receive Hemalurgic spikes when needed, but don't leave gaping wounds when you want to remove or swap powers. 4. Floating real estate: use the SOscad method of reducing the weight of their airships to make floating buildings or gardens. At a bare minimum, make taller skyscrapers (just make sure to add more support to shield from high winds).

A little, though mostly it's just figuring out the basics for statblocks so I don't completely break the game. I've been looking at the way minions, rivals, and bosses are built to find patterns for balancing, and I've got a few takeaways. Rivals appear to have HP that matches the 3rd PC level of a given tier if there are no high strength bonuses or talents (like Hardy) that would be given to a PC to boost their HP, with a deviation level less than 10, but typically closer to 5 tops. For example, all tier 1 rivals have a max HP pool of around 20, give or take 5 which comes to the minimum HP that a PC has at level 3. Tier 2 rivals have about 40 HP give or take 5, which is roughly the amount PCs should have at level 8 with no bonuses (technically 42 HP, but it's close). Tier 3 rivals have about 60 HP each with PCs clocking in at 59 HP by level 13. There are very few tier 4 rivals, but they clock in around 70 HP, probably to match players who would have 71 HP by level 18. Minions are weirder, with tier 1 minions around 10 HP each- the minimum for a PC at level one, and their tier 2 counterparts (of which there are only 2 I could find and they're in the Advanced Adversaries ebook) have an HP of about 20. Which is a super small pool to be looking at, so it's not entirely fair to say this, but I think it's reasonable for them to have half the HP of their rival counterparts. You could probably just say then that tier 3 minions you homebrew would have a rough HP count of 30 since it would be half that of tier 3 rivals. Bosses also have a fairly limited pool to draw from, but it appears that tier 1 bosses have 40-50 HP (based on the crime boss and Stonewalkers' Veth), tier 2 are somewhere around 125 and 145 (based on the Yu-Thorak and Yu-Nerig respectively), tier 3 is just under 200 HP, but can match or exceed it in the case of the Magnified One and Thunderclast. Tier 4 is more varied, with the Servant of Yelig-Nar clocking in at 240 HP while the Focused One only has 190 (though to be fair the Focused One does scary amounts of damage and can have a very high deflect). There are those that break this model, like Larkin, which are a tier 2 rival with only 14 HP. Stonewalkers has Ylt, who is a tier 1 boss with 80 HP (though he's technically meant to fight tier 2 players, which makes me think he's more of a 1.5 tier boss). Damage is a little more fickle, though the basic strikes seem to be fairly consistent for many rivals and minions of tiers 1-3, dealing between 5-10 damage, and many double actions (like the Devastating One's Devastating Touch and the Altered One's Exhale Toxins) dealing around 20 damage. Some tier 3 rivals (like Heavenly Ones and Midnight Essence) deal roughly 16 damage on their basic attacks though, so it's not a perfectly simple system. Bosses can vary more, but most tier 2s have a damage output of about 15 for basic single-action attacks, tiers 3-4 do closer to 20-30 depending on the boss. Bosses can also have numerous abilities to confer negative status effects onto PCs though, and some abilities that do very high damage (like the Focused One's Decompress Grip dealing 8d12 damage and giving a guaranteed injury). Since I'd like the Heralds to be more "lore accurate" I'm thinking they should be tier 5 bosses. Sooo, HP wise, perhaps closer to 300, though it's pretty wonkey since tier 5 PCs barely increase their HP per level and a meat shield isn't necessarily very fun to fight against. Their power really should come more from their abilities, I'm thinking.

I'm really not sure, though I think it's unlikely to be youthfulness or a basic human attribute- it was made out to be powerful and dangerous in such a way that it needs to be kept out of the hands of others. Those attributes can certainly be powerful, but not on a large scale, not within a single spike. The only comparable thing that comes to mind are the Bands of Mourning. They made someone incredibly dangerous and powerful, enough to warrant the kind of reaction it appears the game wants us to feel towards the Eternity Spike. I also doubt it's effects would simply be a copy of the Bands, as that feels uninspired for storytelling. I could've sworn I saw somewhere that we were supposed to see "an unusual use of Hemalurgy" in Mistborn Legacy, but I can't find it anywhere. It very well may just be my imagination.

Thanks! Now I'm interested in what copper's nascent ability will be like mechanically. . .

Found another sneak peak on their Threads website. This time they show chromium Allomancy: https://www.threads.com/@brotherwisegames/post/DUTav7VDuXJ/the-mistborn-handbook-has-entered-pre-production-this-gorgeous-hardcover-book

Gonna be honest, one of the characters I'd like to play in the RPG would be a Smoker. Having an ability that is almost entirely support and not terribly powerful on Scadrial would push them to try other methods, like engineering. In any case, would you please be cool with posting more screenshot of the latest sneak peak @Jult? My phone screen still can't make out most of it.

We've got some more stuff!

Yeah, I suppose that's true on some level. I mean, the injuries do suck while the fight goes on, as they continue to debilitate you. I wouldn't want to change that, as it in and of itself offers a penalty for failure that I like, but it could probably stand to be a little more harsh. Also, surprise! I had a fourth and final game this last Monday! I'm heading up to Minnesota for an internship, so I knew that I wouldn't have the ability to do another session the following Saturday. Thankfully, everybody in the group was willing to do one earlier in the week to accommodate for me, so I got to squeeze in one additional game before leaving. At the beginning of the session it Hunter was missing for a while since he had a class to finish at that time, so we'd discussed and agreed to follow a plot line for Agent's character in the meantime, saying that Hunter's character went on a solo mission for the Ghostbloods in the meantime. In any case, we actually started by going to the market and purchasing a few items, and I traded my hammer for an axe since it turned out that using Division actually requires at least one open hand (oops). The GM was nice though and allowed me to switch expertise from my hammer to the axe (though it was mostly only a gesture though, since the axe expertise only allows you to gain a benefit from it by duel-wielding weapons, which wasn't applicable here). Regardless, as my Horneater brute and Agent's roguish Lighteyes finished haggling we heard a bodyless voice from a nearby alleyway, commanding us to hunt a whitespine from a nearby den and harvest its Gemheart. I think this was like the third or fourth invisible, seemingly incorporeal voice we've heard speaking to us in this campaign thus far, so we implicitly trusted it and went to murder a random wild animal. Before the session I'd increased my Gravitation skill rank to 2 (the rank at which you can affect medium sized objects and creatures), so my Horneater slapped a hand on Agent's character and sent him flying in the direction of the whitespine den, following suit afterwards. We soon found the whitespine den after dropping from the sky, where three large whitespines were feasting on a chull they'd slaughtered. We tried rolling stealth, but their sense of smell was too powerful to really avoid. Thankfully, they were kinda dumb, and I was able to use Gravitation to lift a small boulder into position 40 feet above one of them (I would have just sent it hurtling towards them directly, but the rules say that Gravitation can't do damage using objects this way- which Szeth shows us is absolutely not true as he smooshes a Shardbearer with a piece of a castle). Turns out that did like 4d4 damage, and the whitespine was not much worse for wear. The trio of beasts then dashed away to cover after trying to attack me, then realizing they couldn't quite jump that high. I brought up the idea of using Division to burn down the forest they were hiding in to drive them out, but my Highspren said that the land was owned by a Highprince and it would be "illegal" to senselessly destroy others' property. That's what I get for bonding a piece of the law incarnate. I think it was then that we just charged straight in, since the whitespines were a lot faster than us, one of us was Radiant, and we didn't exactly have many other ideas. What could go wrong? As it turns out, whitespines have a charging ability that's really powerful. Two charged my guy and almost dropped him within a single round, the third going after Agent. I guess acting like a hormonal chimpanzee has its downsides. In any case, we kept at it, dodging and striking, and using Division to melt away their HP. Agent used Intimidation several times and rolled quite high, gripping their tusks and screaming in their faces until they literally crapped their carapace. Eventually Hunter was able to join the session and his character had managed to track us down in our reckless attack. With his help we managed to finish off two of the whitespines, one of them retreating to the shadows. We kept one of the Gemhearts for ourselves, taking the other back to the voice we'd heard in the alleyway. It directed us to capture a Musicspren and to travel to the Cognitive Realm via the Oathgate. After rolling a natural 20/Opportunity, I roleplayed what I thought was a pretty clever story about my Horneater reletives getting stuck in Shadesmar after Odium took control of the Peaks, and the Windrunners operating the Oathgate let us through without too much trouble. It was there that we found a Mandra-powered ship with a shadowy figure aboard its deck. As it turns out, the voice we'd heard earlier was none other than Sja-Aant, who accepted the captured Musicspren, corrupting them and telling us to break the gemstone next to a Ryshadium foal that would be born in the Physical Realm nearby. It would then be ours to grow and get aid from. It was running pretty late by this point, so we all agreed to call it a night since it was a good point to end on. We came up with a story for my Horneater Teeth, saying he wandered off in the evening and got jumped by Nale, getting pummeled silly by the Herald before being baited to follow for a bottle of Horneater white. Basically, his story is now that he's going to learn to be an actual Skybreaker, one that can read and understand legal code as he goes on his rampages (and given that one of his goals is to become the strongest warrior in all of Roshar, he now has seen a Herald in action and has a much harder set of shoes to try and fill). Short as it was, I had a lot of fun with these games and hope to either pick up the campaign again when I return in six months or start a new campaign with the same group. I also hope any who read this little journal of my nerdy escapades enjoyed it- I'll post again when I get the chance to play another game.

Third session! At the beginning, I had Teeth hand over the book we'd found in the secret laboratory to Hunter so that the Ghostbloods could try and decipher it. Unfortunately, nobody there knew the Shin language. However, there was a field agent in Thaylenah that could do so, and had called for backup recently. So, we took the Oathgate from the Shattered Plains to the city of Thaylenah. It was there that we found the Ghostblood operative (I forgot his name, it's probably not too important) who then took us into his hideout to bring us up to speed. He'd been tasked with finding the disappearing captains of five different ships- all of which had close ties to the Thaylen armada, and though the general location of their disappearance had been obvious to the investigators, the specifics were hazy at best. The most concrete piece of evidence was that there were rumors of Fused being involved with the ordeal, and the Ghostbloods wanted the captains where they were so they could influence Thaylen politics in their favor. Our trio then traveled to the general location of the most recent disappearance, and we all made perception tests. Unfortunately, we all sucked that evening, so none of us spotted any evidence. We tried using persuasion of the locals to see if they'd spotted any suspicious activity the day of the kidnapping, but again our dice rebelled. After a few more fruitless attempts of basically shooting in the dark, we thought to go to the most recent missing captain's ship, the Wandersail. There we managed to persuade the second-in-command to let us into the captain's cabin to see if there was any evidence. We still sucked, unfortunately, so all we saw was a single cremling scurry through the floorboards. I have to admit, this is where my meta knowledge seeped through, and my character basically lost it trying to chase the poor creature because I was certain it was part of a Sleepless (though, the Horneaters do have some knowledge of the Sleepless and other strange beings in their legends, so I didn't feel like it was too massive of a leap to make). Anyway, that didn't work, though after I tried explaining the the second-in-command why I was after the cremling they had a noticeable look of surprise on their face- I can't remember if Rysn let the rest of the crew know of the Sleepless in Dawnshard, but it seems like she did here if nowhere else. Hunter and Agent politely excused us from the Wandersail's presence. Since we didn't have any other lead, we still decided to keep trying to scour the boat, though this time with a little more stealth. We waited until nightfall, where only a few guards were patrolling the docks nearby. I tried to buy a bottle of Horneater lager to "pretend" to be drunk and act as a distraction, but since it cost about 100 marks I decided to take Agent's offered bottle of violet wine instead (airsick lowlander drink). Agent and Hunter both went stealthily onto the ship, rolling with advantage as I distracted the nearby guards. Unfortunately, only Hunter made it with a success and Agent slipped and tumbled overboard into the water. I successfully rolled to jump in after Agent, causing the four guards to have to drag both of us out now. Hunter had a little more success however, infiltrating the bowels of the ship in search of clues. It was at this time that a voice popped into his head, demanding to know who he was and why he was there (well, a voice aside from the NPC Spren following him around). After some back and forth where Hunter refused to give away his allegiance with the Ghostbloods, they managed to work out a deal and Hunter got away. After that, we regrouped back at the Ghostbloods' hideout, and we got our translation of the book finished. It said: Little idea on what it means right now, but guessing on the beginning part the author of the journal is a Singer that is stuck in a single Form, probably induced by their "Tormentor". That's a mystery for another time, I suppose. Right after this, Hunter finally decided that he needed a true disguise to walk amongst humans and swore the Immortal Words, becoming a Truthwatcher. He then donned a Lightweaving to make himself look like the most recently missing captain, charging out into the street and towards the Wandersail. I can't remember this part quite as clearly, but I think the second-in-command took Hunter into a nearby office on the docks to, confused as to how they'd returned so suddenly. Me and Agent tagged along stealthily, climbing the wall of the building and peering through the window a story higher. It was at that point that the Hunter came face to face with a Nightform Singer twenty feet away, the second-in-command pulling a knife and putting it to his back. They demanded to know how he'd escaped, and where the King's Drop had been sunk in the ocean. Hunter spun around, slashing his assailant with a knife, and me and Agent punched through the window and dropped down to get bonus attacks for the surprise round of combat. Finally, we'd seemingly found the captain-nappers. I decided that this was a good time for Teeth to swear the Immortal Words as well, becoming a Skybreaker. We got a few good rounds in the beginning, pressing our numerical advantage and mine and Hunter's Empowered conditions, though the second-in-command turned out to be a Mavset-im, Masked One, who flash banged us and kept stabbing Hunter, eventually taking on another Lightweaving and appearing as Hunter to confuse mine and Agent's characters, preventing us from jumping in immediately. Two Stormform backups barged in after a few rounds, firing bolts of lighting at us and also stabbing. I was very happy that I'd built my character to be a tanky fellow, with a high HP and physical defense stat. After shrugging off a few damage points after several attacks from a Stormform and the Nightform, I got a little cocky, repeatedly shouting something along the lines of "I'M INVINCIBLE. I WILL NEVER DIE." until the Stormform rolled an Opportunity and crit on me with their lightning, dealing a full 20 energy damage. I still had a few hit points and lived, then regenerated back after a few rounds of good rolling. Another Opportunity and a crit and I was down to 2 HP, and Hunter offered to try and use Progression on me, but as the tank I felt it better for him to use it on himself or Agent. A few more missed hit against me and the Stormform got another Opportunity and a crit, and I finally went down. Fortunately, regeneration is an amazing ability and I was up next round, only suffering a relatively minor concussion (the GM has noted on multiple occasions just how little danger there is to our characters. I think he's really trying to kill us all at this point). After about a dozen or so rounds, we finally managed to whittle down the Fused and the Regals, tying the unconscious Fused to a chair to interrogate them. We, ahem, tried a few "intimidation" tactics, but the Masked One was unimpressed and ejected their soul from their body before we could get any info from them. Hunter especially hates that Fused after they stole his face, and we're all pretty sure they're going to come back to get us at some point. . . In any case, the room where the two deceased Stormforms came from held the five captains, who we released and completed our quest from the Ghostbloods. We were all pretty tired at this point, so we wrapped it up quickly and leveled up. Oh, and my DM threatened to crush my windpipe if I didn't mention that Hunter kept trying to attune to the Rhythm of Flirt. Unsuccessfully, I might add.

Could also be that he was then "close" to both the Bondsmiths Ishar and Dalinar at the time (through sworn oaths, shared history, and/or physical proximity). Be wary of trusting the Coppermind, friend. Ruin's tendrils have crept into its archives over the eons. . . But seriously, a lot of the time the Coppermind isn't exclusive to good points, quotes, and reminders, but false fan interpretations put in as pure unfettered fact.

Better get your spikes ready for capturing this legendary untamed Ruinous Spren (Masterspike quality only). Alright, let me walk myself through this scenario and you can correct me if I get it wrong: In this scenario, an Elantrian decides to create an Aonic equation that can be modified to guide various types of Hemalurgic spikes for different bindpoints. The spikes are moved with exact precision to hit based on what is in those bindpoints, reducing the need to experiment with so many individuals and allowing the spikes to be used even in very strenuous situations that would normally be impossible for a human being. It sounds to me like you're suggesting that the Aons have the innate ability to detect such things as Spiritweb composition, but I find this unlikely. As a more code-like system, I think the Elantrian is going to have two options they can follow to make this work. They could go the more direct route and code in the exact bindpoints that are needed to steal specific Spiritweb fragments, or they can go a more complex route and create a more Spren-like intelligence via AonDor that can then learn through practice to improve its performance. In other words, coding the spike-directing Aon to give an indication if it will pull something from a particular bindpoint will still require the spike to be placed first so that the information can be gained (unless you're using the Spiritual Realm to see alternative histories, in which case you could probably make it work. That said, you could also use other methods to peer into the Spiritual Realm to do this, like chromium Feruchemy or electrum or gold Allomancy). The precision of striking the correct bindpoint once you understand it seems very plausible though. Awakening or possibly Sand Mastery may be able to achieve a similar effect, albeit in different ways. I don't think AonDor has that kind of innate knowledge. If it did, I doubt Elantrians would have to practice so hard to get their equations right, and them being interpreted incorrectly wouldn't be so large of an issue. Again, hypothetically tapping more directly into the SR could change this, but it shouldn't be an automatic trait.

For me, it's because they'll change things I don't think should be changed- things Brandon himself wants to change despite the Canon and characters being solid and set in stone two decades ago. And then, of course, you'll have a whole bunch of people who watch the movie and not read the book and treat those things as Canon. I'm sure this is just my own dumb opinion, but I do care about it deeply, and it bothers me when I believe someone is gonna twist something I love into something it's not.

Same bro. I always forget April 1st exists.

You know, I don't recall any other non-Windrunners gaining Stormlight from swearing oaths (did Szeth do it at the end of WaT? I can't remember) Windrunners have specifically been called out as close to Bondsmiths, which is why they get that load of Stormlight. I'd bet Stonewards would too, assuming they're the only orders (plus Bondsmiths) to do so. If this is the case, the RPG has yet another inconsistentcy.

There is a snippet of text from when Dalinar is speaking to Nohadon in the SR that does over this (which admittedly I pulled from Reddit, as I don't have any of my books right now, but it should be in that chapter if you'd like to take a look): Basically, it sounds like a "protective" Shard can protect a planet from another, even if it means fighting. A destructive Shard really cannot.

Thanks for asking! As me, Agent, and Hunter were walking back to our apartments after our second session we talked about possible Radiant paths. Agent said his character hadn't yet done anything dramatic enough narratively to become a Radiant, so he'll put his level in the agent/thief path. Hunter really wanted to become a Truthwatcher, mostly because of the narrative of them seeking objective truth. I was pretty flexible on what Teeth could become initially, though Stoneward would be the obvious meta choice- his highest attribute is strength, and I'm pretty sure Tension is the only surge that uses that. Plus, being there for others seems more natural for him, as his main choice currently is to tag along Hunter's character for the quests and fights that pop up. However, I eventually decided to make him a Skybreaker, as his Spren would keep trying to guide him on the straight and narrow- and I'm pretty sure you can see how funny that would be for his chaotic, oblivious personality. And I do want to play him as more than a min-maxed joke character, and seeking a path that is not initially well suited to him I think could help reflect him changing and coming to be more thoughtful in his interactions. Not everyone is born to walk the trail they follow. Oftentimes, you have to choose to change course if you want your life to be better. Now, given that my college semester is almost over and I'll be leaving the state for an internship does mean I'll only get one, maybe two more sessions for the next six months, but I'd rather play him as if he still had a long path to travel. I might even bring him back when return to BYUI in the fall.

I know, they're pretty great. The storyline takes place after RoW, so it's not terribly implausible that several powerful groups would have access to it. I'm super curious what the GM will tell us though, as surely this NPC will make a return.

Alright, second game! We started the session by introducing a new character/player. They were a minor Lighteyed thief/warrior multipath who was something of a freedom fighter for the Alethi people, what with how the kingdom had fallen to Odium's forces. I will call their player Agent for the purposes of this post. We discussed it together and decided that he would be trying to steal something from the caravan and me and Hunter's characters would catch him. Hunter then did a little roleplay where his character indebted Agent's character to his cause in stealing the Suppression Fabrial we were after (justified in-world by Agent's thievery skills and Hunter not ratting him out). We finished this part with a fast travel to Kholinar, where the caravan dropped off its crates of documents to the city's government and the Fused personally took the Shards with them. We obtained some decent payment for acting in the caravan (which we only considered about at the very end of the session as we forgot), gaining 25 marks for both me and Hunter. Our first order of business was to find an inn, and we quickly located a stormshelter run by a trio of Workforms. We squeezed into it for the night (my guy I'd written to be an eight-foot beast of a Horneater, so he slept on the sloped stormshelter roof, much to everyone else's chagrin, drawing the stares from more than a few Singers and humans). We then began contemplating how exactly we were going to enter into the Kholinar palace, given that we didn't even know its floorplans or where Fabrials were kept. I suggested (out of character) that Hunter use his Spanreed to contact the Ghostbloods requesting more information on the palace layout and other possible agents who could offer assistance. Mraize and his team obliged, though they could only offer simple floor plans, as he explained that no other agents were in the city at the time. The following day, our characters decided that Hunter- as the only Singer of the group- would seek audience with the palace guard, requesting entrance so he could be taught the workings of Fabrials, all in service of Odium's Passions. Meanwhile, me and Agent would seek out some form of human resistance that we could work with to create a diversion (we were considering a riot at the time) when the time came to steal the Fabrial. We roleplayed Hunter's interaction first, with the guards scoffing at his request, insisting that only a Fused's recommendation would be accepted in order to allow him in. It was at that time that a passing Direform Regal was confronted by a Heavenly One to the side. The Fused spoke derisively to her subordinate, displeased at his lack of success in finding "someone" of importance. Taking up the Fortuitous circumstance, Hunter directly spoke to the Fused, requesting an opportunity to serve and prove his worth as a hunter- someone skilled at tracking individuals. He rolled persuasion, the GM telling us to raise the stakes and add the plot die. He rolled somewhat low and on top of it rolled a complication. The Fused paused for a moment, considering his brashness. Then accepted his offer to seek her quarry- though if he failed to locate her by nightfall, his life would be forfeit. The Heavenly One flew off, the Direform practically strangling Hunter for basically dooming them both. After a very high persuasion roll, Hunter the Regal down enough to where he could explain that the Heavenly One's daughter had gone missing- an insensate Fused who's caretaker had been murdered, then vanished. As this plot point seemed more immediately important (and a way more interesting), both me and Agent were brought up to speed by Hunter and we joined his search for the lost Fused. The disappearance had occurred near the Impossible Falls, where the caretaker's throat had been slit. A number of Singers were searching the area for the Fused, and Hunter attempted a survival test to see if he could track where the kidnapper had gone. Apparently, stone does not keep details super well, as Hunter rolled mid and failed the attempt. However, a strange, slight feeling touched the back of his mind, pointing him toward the nearest Windblade. He rolled a lore test, and succeeded. He recalled Mraize talking to some Worldhoppers about the concept of Fortune and how it could alter and lead one's future. With that in mind, we headed off to the natural stone structure. With a successful perception test we found a door concealed in the stone layers, and I immediately rolled to smash it with my hammer. I rolled kinda mid, but nonetheless revealed some mechanical components inside, which after tampering with managed to crack open and reveal a doorway. A long, dark, and narrow corridor revealed a topaz Fabrial of some kind in the back (and judging by its incessant beeping and color it was an Alerter, though none of our characters knew this) and metal lining the walls. We crept in, rolling a sphere and then a larger rock to see if it set off any traps. None went off, so I- as the character with the highest physical defense and HP- led the way in (in hindsight, we probably should have taken the Fabrial gemstone. The thing would surely have been very valuable). In the back, we found a laboratory of sorts, with some metal tools of various types laying on a tray to the side along with a book none of us could read (Agent was an Alethi man, and both me and Hunter couldn't read Shin, which is apparently what it was written in). I ended up pocketing both for good measure. Far more importantly though, we also found the Fused we'd been looking for, strapped to an autopsy table with her torso cut open. As the member with the highest medicine skill (that of 2), I rolled to remove the tools keeping her chest cavity open, then offering some Voidlight from a few spheres we found to the side, healing her up. After releasing her from her constraints, she floated aimlessly, so we guided her outside where we called over the Direform and his subordinates to tell them the good news. After such success, Hunter was rewarded with a letter of recommendation to he palace. We then resumed mine and Agent's side-quest of finding some rebels who could help us create a diversion when the time came. After a few mid rolls, we eventually found a sneaky person slipping into a house. I roleplayed knocking on the door by LOUDLY rapping my knuckles on the table (which I thought was funny but startled everyone else), accidentally knocking the door off its hinges due to my character's absurdly beefy hands. We entered to find four very surprised and wary humans, two of which pulled crossbows on us. They tested us for Lightweavings- feeling our faces, testing our blood with needles- quickly determining that we were human, and probably not there to kill them. I gotta say, I had loads of fun roleplaying this encounter. I kept playing my Horneater as being utterly oblivious and socially inept, such that he'd keep saying things that put the people on edge. We also had a fun mechanic that we'd introduced (originally as a shoulder-angel joke I made, but it solidified to be a canon interaction), where I'd roleplay a little Spren that took on my character's chaotic personality and kept trying to convince Hunter's poor Singer to do dumb things, and Hunter would roleplay a little Spren that kept trying to be voice of reason for me. And me constantly interpreting it in the worst way possible. "Hey, you know, you could prove to these people that you're a true friend by opening up to them." And my guy going, out loud "Ah yes, I should tell them about our Singer spy who's skulking off somewhere." And then everybody at the table facepalming and getting a good laugh. Eventually, we (somehow) managed to convince the rebels to start a fire in the marketplace (which we'd later requested they do to the Kholinar gardens, due to their closer proximity to the palace). We then turned our attention to Hunter's ordeal at this time. Hunter's character took the letter of recommendation to the palace, which got him inside and an Altered One dismissively accepted him as a pupil to learn Fabrial mechanics with the other hopefuls. After a little planning, we spent another night in the Stormshelter and we began our hastily-formed plan. Me, Agent, and a few rebels took up large bags of oil, pouring them around the gardens and lighting them on fire around dusk, when all the Artifabrians were dismissed from their chamber. Meanwhile, Hunter had slipped into the privy as he'd been dismissed, then snuck out with a successful test roll to creep back to the locked Artafabrian door. He used one of the little metal bits in the laboratory we'd pillaged earlier to pick the lock. One failure. A second failure, rolling a complication. Footsteps were heard as he was picking the lock, and he dashed to a nearby custodian's closet to hide. The footsteps got closer, then opened the Artafabrian chamber door. Hunter rolled to sneakily follow, but rolled low. The Singer who'd entered the chamber whirled around, two Fabrial devices in each hand. One glowing with Light, the other with a strange warping to the air around it. He demanded to know who Hunter was and what he was doing there. Hunter gave a noncommittal answer before the other Singer snatched a Soulcaster, saying Hunter could take anything he wanted from the room as long as he stayed out of their way. With that, Hunter took the Suppression Fabrial and booked it. Due to our flaming disregard to public property, he got away after rolling a successful stealth check with advantage. He heard a loud boom from the palace on the way out. Perhaps that Singer he'd encountered was important. . . After meeting up with me and Agent, we left the city of Kholinar. At its borders, once we were sure that the Secretspren wouldn't catch us doing so, Hunter pulled out his Spanreed and contacted the Ghostbloods to inform them of our success (we'd all completely forgotten about such Spren in the beginning of the game when initially contacting the Ghostbloods. Whoops). We then walked from Kholinar to the Shattered Plains on foot (fast travelling, since we all were eager to complete the quest and claim our rewards), and ended the session there. I'd say it was a smashing success despite our unlucky rolling that evening.

If I were to guess, it's one of two reasons: 1. Perhaps dragons are deliberately designed to age and die, and such a process is deeply ingrained in their Spiritweb, much like with humans. However, since they're naturally so Invested, it could be that there is no "extra" Investiture sufficient to override this natural death- their own handwritten fate is too powerful for whatever extra free-floating Investiture they may draw from the SR to truly change. 2. More interesting to me, I think the type of Investiture you hold determines what passive changes it makes to oneself. Endowment's Investiture may make you ageless with relatively little effort, but something like Ruin's- or, perhaps a dragon's- may not do so well.

It was reading your post that made me realize that Elsecalling isn't the first Surge that Elsecallers gain access to. I'd completely mixed them up somehow.

That is true. One of my primary assumptions in all of this is that a corrupted Surge will act significantly different than it's pure form. Illumination appears to have lost its primary ability to create illusions, but replaces it with the ability to visualize the future. This is of course only one sample though, so it's very possible that other Surges will not follow this apparent model. Yeah, that could probably work. Both of their Orders have that ability after all. Though, it was brought up at the beginning of WaT that Shallan's two bonds are what really dragged her into Shadesmar when she tried Soulcasting. Do we have any other examples of Soulcasters attempting to physically enter the CR, or was it only Shallan?

Oh crap. I completely mixed up the Elsecaller Surges. Soulcasting is the Surge gained second to Lightweaving with Lightweavers. So, Elsecallers don't gain Elsecalling until after they gain Soulcasting. So. . . yeah, my hypothesis cannot be correct, at least if we're assuming that an Enlightened Radiant cannot use their corrupted Surge in the same manner as their "pure" counterparts. Iyatil's Transportation likely works just fine, given that she and Mraize were able to so quickly make it to the CR in WaT (though it doesn't surprise me a little she was able to gain her second Surge so quickly).