routine vis sources are rare, since the ship doesn't like to return to where it has already been, so not this season.
Am I right in thinking that since the "new ship" wasn't actually the trade ship, Turpes doesn't have as solid a commitment to stay for a while as was initially stated in the other thread? Not that he's deciding to leave yet but just checking on how solidly he's committed long-term.
The new ship is the trade ship, it just didn't have the magic aura/regio that they thought it would have.
Looking at esoteric options, since normal advancement is a bit challenged.
Can someone make a Mental Construct Laboratory simply by the investment of time? Or does it require a ritual spell or item to be invented?
Edit: Also thinking about Dream Magic - without asking you to do any extra reading, it's stated in the description of Volshebnii Mechtateli (the Dream Magic mystery cult) that they approach newly gauntleted magi with a specialty in mentem or imaginem through dreams (though I don't know where they get an AC from) - is this something that could happen? (though it does say "a specialty that far exceeds the norm" so not sure if Turpes qualifies)
Mostly thinking that it would be cool to have a mental construct laboratory that was a lab in a dream.
You have a lab in the level 3 regio, just on the main ship, not the new one.
I'll look into the cult, which may or may not actually exist in this version of the world.
Right, but due to his plans, he may prefer to carry one in his head. And he has time to work on such things until he gets some vis to start building a laboratory.
If the Volshebnii Mechtateli exist they likely would consider Turpes dreams to have already been crushed by his last master, and not approach him.
Creating a mental construct lab would require extensive research, and is something Turpes would have only heard rumors of, which may ot even be real as something that already exists.
Turpes' advancement is done. Just lab improvement.
The ships are approaching a most curious sight, seen from miles away- a singular tree with blue leaves growing with no sign of land directly out of the ocean. You are next up for investigating curious phenomena.
On the bow of the ship, Turpes looks at the base of the tree from a distance, and casts a quick spell, making the water transparent to his sight for a moment.
[Roll on Discord, clear sight of the naiad, success]
You see the bottom of the sea, 1/6 of a league down, and the tree's trunk appears to go all the way down.
Turpes will get a couple of grogs to take him closer in a rowboat. He will be in the bow, as they slowly approach, with orders to stop immediately if he tells them to, which he will if anything out of the ordinary happens. If nothing does happen, he will approach to within a pace or two, if the sea is calm enough to do so without colliding with the tree.
The sea isn't calm enough to get within 2 paces, without hitting the tree, but it is calm enough to get within 5. As you get this close you hear a sound above you and there is a creature which seems to have the torso, head and wings of a bird and the tail of a fish.
Turpes looks up, and speaks in Ancient Greek. "Hello?"
The creature squawks then dives into the water. From somewhere up above a voice calls out in modern greek "Hello?"
He replies in Modern Greek, "Hello! Is this your tree?" He peers up through the branches to see who's speaking.
"My tree? I don't know, I live in this tree. Is that your ocean? You can see a head poking out of a knot in the tree above- it looks like a basically human head, if a bit lumpy and an odd color of beige, but you can't be sure what body it is attached to, if the bird-fish is anything to judge the residents of this tree by.
Turpes smiles. "Good point. No, it's not my ocean. This tree is very interesting, though. I've never seen one like it. Are there lots of you living inside?"
[How wide/high above the water is the tree?]
The tree rises about 100 pace above the water, though the head which you are talking to is only about 15 paces up. "There is only one of me, so how could there be lots of me living inside?"
Turpes shrugs. "Apologies, my grammar was bad. I meant, you could have a family, or friends, or neighbors. I'm just very curious about this tree, I've never seen one like it before. How long has it been here?"