After the meeting, in the late afternoon sun, you all find yourselves wandering the main deck at the same time. Kyna waves you all over so she can address you all together.

"Greetings gentlemen. I feel a kinship with you, and I think I know its source. Are you Users by chance?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:58, Thu 04 Apr.

"Of a sort, yes. I can't claim to be as adept in the magical arts as an instinctual or learned user, but I have learned a small amount of the alchemical sciences in my studies of mana itself. I cannot speak for my compatriots, however. They each have their own foci and skillsets."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:01, Wed 29 Nov 2023.

Wizzlewick was deep in thought, mentally reviewing his notes from the meeting when Kyna waved him over. The timing was fortuitous, for he'd been about to walk into a railing, and managed to bring himself up short before approaching the towering elven woman and the others. "Users... You keep using that term. A truly fascinating linguistic nuance. Why I..."

Catching himself before he started to ramble, the mousefolk nodded. "I believe I would qualify as a User Kyna. I am what our people term an arcanist, a student of the arcane both from a studied and instinctual perspective. What about you and your people? How do the Veridonians distinguish between the different forms of harnessing the arcane... Or the divine for that matter? Are there divine Users?"

"Interesting. In Veridonia, you both would be called 'Studied Users', though 'Mixed' might be the proper operation for you, Master Wizzlewick."

She takes a thick, well-cared-for tome out of a bag on her hip.

"I am likewise a studied user, and this is my preparation guide. It contains all the effects I have learned to produce, along with the steps that must be taken to produce those effects."
This message was last updated by the player at 02:51, Wed 29 Nov 2023.

Conferring with the Captain about the ship's course and liaising with some of the Ralan Gul crew delayed Boorgrub's arrival to the conversation by a moment or two, but he arrived just as Kyna was making her explanation. "Apologies friends, I seem to have arrived late to what appears to be a very intriguing conversation."

The swashbuckler paused for a moment, curiously inspecting Kyna's preparation guide. "I believe I am most similar to Archimander in terms of ability." He extracted his own small tome from a well-worn leather case under his haversack, presenting it to the elf for inspection. "We, or I at least, utilize various formulae to produce effects, though for myself at least those effects are limited in use to myself. I understand with a specific recalculation of the formulas that the effects of the extract produced can be shared with others, but I have yet to learn that particular set of calculations."

Wizzlewick's whiskers twitched with excitement, and he began rummaging in his pack, pulling book after book from his packs. This was the sort of adventure he was best equipped for, discovering new magics!

"Mixed User does seem to have the most accurate connotations for my work Kyna. I have several spell, or as you would call them, preparation books." He was already holding the Mousnomicon, and Ogowyn's Aegis in one arm, then laid Syranshee's Formulaics atop those two.

"For most prepared casters like wizards or alchemists, there is a period of study to lock the pattern into the memory, but producing the effect is so strenuous that the pattern is lost for the day. For myself, I have found that while I cannot memorize as many patterns, I can call upon my innate magical nature to sustain the pattern in memory."

He smiled from behind his pile of books up at the elf, presenting them with pride. "And with a moment to apply the proper mathemagics to the channeled energies, I can modify the effect as it is released, either extending its duration, enhancing its effect, or both as needed."

Kyna carefully examines the proffered tomes and passes her own to the group for their inspection. "It is interesting how our language around Thaumaturgical effects has shifted over the millennia. On Veridonia, we don't refer to effects as 'spells'. Magic is the purview of fantasy, and effects are carefully studied and understood phenomena."

As she looks over the gathered books, she asks, "In Veridonia, we can copy effect preparations from one users book to another. Is that something you can do here, as well?"

Wizzlewick nodded eagerly, his head bobbing like a cork. "Indeed we can Miss Kyna. Not completely, as I understand it, alchemical formulas cannot be converted into effects, though the reverse is not true. Certain effects can be turned into formulae, and most Users can share their findings between one another."

Carefully balancing his tomes, he pulled out the Mousnomicon and opened it to the first few pages. "I myself am something of a specialist user among my kind. I focus primarily on transmutational effects, changing the physical world in predictable ways."

Boorgrub smiled benignly as the great minds began working together. "I think perhaps it would do to put this to the test, see if magical theory has drifted as much as language has over the centuries, or if the baseline fundamentals have kept it closer than language. Why don't we all find a room and compare notes? It will serve the dual purposes of confirming the hypothesis and allowing us to share our knowledge with one another."

He grinned. "And who knows, we might all extract something useful from each other's knowledge. With as much as we are going to be relying on each other in the days to come, being miserly with what we know is counterproductive."

"We could set up in the captains- my apologies, the new conference room. There is ample space to compare notes there. I must admit, having other thaumatological users around is nice, the only other user on my original crew is Rhul, and he is a Deist user."

Boorgrub grinned and swept into a grandiose bow. "Lead on then Lady Irongrace! Knowledge awaits us all." He chuckled a little self-deprecatingly at the overly flamboyant gesture as he straightened back up. "And if we can't make an event of it, what's the fun?"

Falling into step beside Kyna, Boorgrub decided to indulge his curiosity. "Rhul is a Deist user? Meaning he shapes his patterns from a divine energy source?" Reaching up to scratch an ear, he nodded. "I've known more than a few Deist's in my time, and the lens they view the world through is interesting." A quick shooing gesture. "Not wrong, just... narrower than I like. A person has to make their own answers sometimes."

He looked up at the towering elf, all the way up. "I find it interesting, Kyna, how... Prepared your crew seems to be. Is it normal to have multiple users among the crew of a ship in Veridonia?"

Having said his but, Archimander pulled out his notebook and began jotting down key elements from the conversation. As the conversation drew to a close, he looked up to see the rest of the Magi making their way out of the cabin.

Quickly scrambling to pack, he called to the others to wait for him as he jogged after then, papers in hand.

Catching up with them, he jumped into the conversation: "Now, Ms Kyna, you mentioned something about 'magic' being relegated to the reason of fantasy. I assume this means your scholars are also taking a philosophical or empirical approach to the study of mana as well?"

"Or a mathematical one." Wizzlewick chimed in, precariously balancing his valuable spellbooks as he tried to keep up. "I have found that with a proper mathematical approach, the very fundamental properties of effects can be modified."

"Fair enough. After all, what is empirical philosophy, but applied mathematics."

Archimander sagely nods in response to Wizzlewick's comment. As they approach the conference room, Archie gestures to the door: "After you."

Waddling a little behind his pile of tomes, Wizzlewick peeked around the corner of them at Archimander. "Oh, thank you kindly."

He then promptly nearly bumped into Boorgrub's back as the goblin opened the door to the conference room for everyone and headed for the table, setting the books on the table with a contented sigh. "Let's see, where to begin." He began flipping pages, laying the Mousenomicon open for all.

"I've invested quite a bit into this one." He looked a little sheepish. "Never expecting that I'd be adventuring rather than keeping the library. Otherwise I would have invested into properly enchanted equipment."

[Private to Archimander Q. Effluvient; Kyna Irongrace: Spells Available to learn from Wizzlewick:
Abjuration
1: Alarm, Protection from Evil, Shield
2: Resist Energy

Conjuration
1: Grease, Mage Armor, Obscuring Mist, Stumble Gap, Unseen Servant
2: Create Pit, Fog Cloud, Glitterdust, Web

Divination
1: Comprehend Languages, Heightened Awareness, Identify

Enchantment
1: Charm Person

Evocation
1: Magic Missile
2: Flaming Sphere
3: Fireball

Illusion
1: Color Spray, Silent Image, Vanish
2: Mirror Image

Transmutation
1: Enlarge Person, Expeditious Excavation, Feather Fall, Liberating Command, Monkeyfish, Reduce Person
2: Bull's Strength, Fox's Cunning, Levitate, Rope Trick, Staggering Fall
3: Haste]

Boorgrub held the door open for everyone, deftly slipping aside as the pile of books and mice staggered past and, in a properly gentlemanly fashion, inviting the others inside. "I am quite excited to see what we can learn from each other friends."

Once everyone was in the room, he took a spot at the table, pulling his formula book and Navigational Secrets out of his haversack and passing the formula book to Archimander first, expecting the gnome would be the most likely to be able to make use of it.

[Private to Archimander Q. Effluvient; Kyna Irongrace; Master Wizzlewick:
Available from Boorgrub:
1: Anticipate Peril, Blurred Movement, Comprehend Languages, Cure Light Wounds, Heightened Awareness, Shield, Tears to Wine
2: Alchemical Allocation, Full Pouch, Ablative Barrier]

Kyna gracefully strides into the conference room, and takes a seat near the others.

"I fear I am not as strong of a user as you all seem to be, but if you can copy any of my effects, I am glad to share."

Available from Kyna:
1. Adhesive Spittle, Adjuring Step, Arcane Pocket, Color Spray, Glamour, Memory Lapse, Peephole, Unseen Servant, White Noise

Archimander looks over the spell lists. "Hmm. Very interesting. It seems we all have slightly different directions in which we've taken our spell lists. Here's what I have."

The gnome then pulls out his formula list for the others to see

[Private to Kyna Irongrace; Master Wizzlewick; Sir Boorgrub Pandilk the 7th:
1: Cure Light Wounds, Tears to Wine
2: Cure Moderate Wounds, Alchemical Allocation, Blur, See Invisibility, Barkskin
3: Displacement, Channel Vigor, Arcane Sight
4: Echolocation, Freedom of Movement]

Soon, the only sounds heard were the scratching of quill on parchment, and mumbling and murmurs in various languages. By dinner, the work was done, and the mages stood and stretched the aches from their bones, thanking each other as they left the room.