18th Shard

It's hemalurgic, and the Dark Alley carefully monitors sanity levels of all victims participants.

Or you have preset chalklings worth a certain amount. You can have chalkling X that looks like a unicorn and has so many hit points, attack points, etc. and you just select that one to draw and it draws it automatically.

New Firefight Inspired Ideas! Fortune Cookies. Any ideas how to make them work right? Also, we have great talent being corrupted by the pandas. For example, Shadowborn. Fortunately, Voidus and I responded, but we cannot let talent such as this go unprepared into the cosmere.

Of course you haven't. Cookies are the food of the Shards. Please don't take the bamboo cookies. It doesn't include any of the 17th sharder's Daily Value of Investiture.

The Dark Alley also manufactures cupcakes, full-size cakes, micropuncture needles, and we can also arrange for a suitable waffle to arrive with the proper aluminum content. Pay no attention to the long disclaimer hidden in my signature.

Wow. Voidus, someone's been spying on us! Seriously though, would you like to join the Dark Alley? We bake Investiture filled baked goods of all kinds, not just pastries. I myself have felt the power of the giving of baked goods and would like to give you this cookie. This is baked good Hemalurgy, no?

No, no, no. The bamboo cookies are inferior not on the physical realm, but on the spiritual and cognitive planes. Why would you eat a cookie made by a panda that is perhaps tasty and [shudder] nutritious, when you could have a wonderful snickerdoodle cookie that includes the ability to manipulate the amount of calories you actually gain, and store the rest inside this thin bendalloy wristband, necklace, ring, or watch? We have had people eat our cookies and become able to change between two species. Compared to these amazing developments in Investiture distribution, why would you stick with the bamboo cookies? So to summarize, would you like a cookie?

Replies in Blue: Paraphrased, and so we can't trust it 100%, but: Note the footenote comes from the report above, so it can be treated as untrustworthy. As to the actual question (I think you were specifically referring to Honorblades being orders of magnitude, but in case you were wondering whether it's true they're more powerful), we know that Honorblades are more powerful through Kalak: These Blades were weapons of power beyond even Shardblades. These were unique. Precious. Jezrien stood outside the ring of swords, looking eastward. Yep, this is what I was thinking of, wording-wise. The sentiment stands though. No, just summoning the Blade would be like a Bond to a dead Shardblade - doesn't require Investiture. Perhaps like a sheathed Nightblood. It's only when he utilizes the Surgebinding capabilities that he has to reach that level of Investiture. Thank you all for your thoughts. I realize a lot of it is personal interpretation. I wish there was a machine to download all of what I am thinking into an easily understandable format.

To quote myself from another topic So, what do you think of my theory? To restate, using an Honorblade requires a base level of Investiture in its wielder; this is what all of that Stormlight is going to when Szeth Invests - bringing him up to that threshold. The rest actually goes to making the Lashings.

I believe the Honorblades are actually a very large portion of Investiture, enough to dwarf a spren in comparison (since they are "orders of magnitude" greater than Shardblades [dead or live spren]). I think they drain Investiture quickly because they are bonded to the Heralds, not Szeth or their current wielders. You see, much as Shallan giving Pattern to Kaladin did not give him a bond with it, an Honorblade claimed and "bonded" by a non-Herald does not get the benefits of being Bonded to the Honorblade fully. The Heralds already have a large amount of Investiture (mainfesting as the Honorblade) and are bonded with it, like Kaladin with Syl, and so the Blade doesn't siphon off energy because they are Bonded with it. To utilize the Surgebinding capabilites of his Honorblade, Szeth had to fill that power difference with Investiture (Stormlight). The Blade not only utilized the energy of the Stormlight to use the Lashings, but also to simply grant Szeth the ability to Surgebind. Heralds would probably not consume Stormlight at near the same rate. So, to clear that up with numbers, to Surgebind using an Honorblade uses 10 AUI [arbitrary unit of Investiture]. Being truly bonded with it grants 7 AUI (since my view is that the Bond actually Invests the bondee) and the Heralds only have to use 3 AUI of Stormlight. Szeth then has to have enough Stormlight to not only fill the regular 3 AUI to Surgebind, but also enough to boost his Investiture to a full 10 from 0. As comparison, Kaladin has a bond level of 3 AUI and uses an additional 3 AUI to Surgebind. He seems more powerful, but only because we haven't seen a Herald use their Blade to full potential. Edit: More of my theory in the Bond is the Key theory in my sig.

Always love to see my lengthy disclaimer put to good use!

So, according to that, to beat him using his weakness, they have to beat him without using his weakness?

Firefight Spoilers

Granted, you have insomnia. I wish everyone liked cookies.

Hey! I worked for almost 30 seconds on that name! Besides, at least I unveiled stuff. Show forth your horrors of zoohemalurgy and name them better than the Inquisiceratops!

Unwieldy, not heavy - It is probably just a massive Blade. For anyone not wearing Shardplate it would be to long/wide for its weight.

Hemalurgically spiking yourself and then putting the spike back in yourself. Burning copper on a non-invested planet. Storing weight when you have a half-lashing up. Awakening a computer to "post useless powers on the useless powers thread on 17th shard" Burn aluminum when you have lerasium burning.

I think duralumin and atium would allow Vin to see that, and counteract it prior to Jasnah even thinking of it. I wonder if copper would block the long-range Soulcasting that Jasnah did.

Xanas walked in to the spotlight, carrying a pack of small, curved spikes. "These, my fellow Sharders, are the new thing all over the cosmere. These Ferurings hold an hour of Feruchemical charges, stored via our Hemalurgy Compounding division in Alley 18. One first must be a Ferring of the desired metal (and for those who are not, I have some goods that will interest in Alley 2), and then one merely takes the Feruring and places it in the ear like an earring. Instead of storing health, luck, or connection the old fashioned way, we here at the Dark Alley will do it for you, giving you the benefits without the costs. Recharges are available all over, ready for you to walk in and buy a Alley 18 cookie package. These are great as gifts, rewards, or even presents on a special holiday. We here in the Dark Alley have already been contacted by Inquisitor Santa, who has ordered 300 for children around the globe. Come and get yours now while supplies last." Overhead, the speakers played a 10 second disclaimer in a low, unintelligible voice. Xanas stepped back while several robed acolytes began to demonstrate the spikes' capabilities. He turned to Voidus. "I'll have to add 'may be addictive in select cases' to the disclaimer. as one uses the spikes, a tolerance begins to develop and they have less effect. Fortunately, those spiked whitespines have been trained to fill metalminds systematically. They work well. I'll have to congratulate Redbird on their effectiveness. These, ah, Ferurings should acclimate the party goers to spikes. Somebody else's turn to show off some developments. Oh, and Winter has been contained. She is being reconditioned right now." Here is a proposed Dark Alley symbol.

"Why, thank you! Also, my spikes allow to hear grammar mistakes, and you really didn't mean relies, you meant realize" Redbird brought in the Inquiceratops and they began to walk around. Xanas smiled. They were much more effective in battle.

People with spikes were so storming awkward. Xanas glanced down at the dozens of spikes in his arms, then started tapping Duralumin. He burnt Zinc and Brass, then copper for good measure. Putting his flowing mistsuitcoat over his shirt, he walked into the party with a smile, instantly connecting with those around him. The subtle emotional nudges were barely noticeable; even Breeze Ladrian would have been hard pressed to notice. He searched out Winter's receding form with Compounded Tin, then reached out with a double-Lerasium strengthed Sooth (enough Spikes added up), clearing Winter of any emotion, and Rioted the small amount of trust she harbored deep inside. "That won't happen again, Your Majesty," he said, smiling at the Queen of Epics. He shivered, then tapped Brass. Why can't she keep the cold outside? "Mail-mi did a great job with my spike placement, and I turned out wonderful. There's only a few voices in my head, and they just keep track of baking recipes. After all, what is a spike without a sweetener?" Turning to the Stranger (really, why did he insist on a dramatic name? It's not like we can't tell who it is), Xanas congratulated him on the party decor. He walked to Voidus with a gleam in his spikes and whispered dramatically, "We can show them the new Inquiceratops we've been developing. I'll go get them and check on our returning ... participant." Xanas turned an walked toward the maze of Alleys, following the receding footsteps of the acolytes. He pulled out a walkie-talkie and pressed the button. "Redbird, send in two of the better trained Inquiceratops. Have one of the Soother handlers stay close. We don't need to put people off anymore than we already have. Oh, and tell Mail to get out some earrings or something flashy." He replaced the walkie-talkie in his cloak, pulling out a copper spike and a modified dog-whistle. He stopped by Alley 95, handing them to the guard. "She will probably need re-conditioned. If her identity and new found love of freedom prove in the way, use the spike. The chromium has had ... unexpected problems. Make sure to keep her contained. And find TalNaat. Tell him to look like Winter and act like she's clamed down." "Yes, sir." Xanas grabbed a box of brownies and jumped on Gleeman's golfcart. "Heading to the party?" Gleeman inquired. "Yes, please." Xanas made his second dramatic entrance of the night, this one more dramatic because he had put the brownies on metal plates and was carefully alternating Pushes and Pulls to make them float. "Brownies anyone?"

Procrastination. I put off doing something and then get it all over with really fast. I thought about it for a while, and I could do some cool things with it. Like not feel pain until I have to all at once (get stabbed, eh no pain for a few days. A few days later - shattering glass, that hurts ten times worse than it should.) Not moving until I move really fast all at once (Procrastinate going somewhere and then get there really fast. Useful for dodging, getting past things). Similar to Grandpa Smedry, but more diluted, since the longer I put it off, the more intense it is when I actually have to do it. Dying - I am definitely dying with a bang, not old age or illness. It will be a complete surprise. Hey, come to think of it, procrastinate the effects of old age - don't feel old at all until I feel ANCIENT all at once.

Duralumin + atium = knowledge of everything. Vin wins.