Component pouches are expensive! She only really needs the wire, but it would be silly to be stuck with a spell she can't cast. May as well withdraw a bit more to get a few shuriken, which are basically components if she wants to use the other new spell.

Buying wizard goods means she should be mostly looking up closer to the Academae, and there's no reason to risk going somewhere less well-regarded. Up up up.

The Acadamae does not sell directly to outsiders, but there are a number of magic shops nearby in the University ward. The Gilded Orrery is the most famous of these, but there are certainly others if Tencednil goes looking.

...well, it's a little well known for her, but she doesn't know the subject very well. Better to lose some possible efficiency than to have her spells collapse when she needs them. Fine, the Gilded Orrery it is.

The Gilded Orrery is a rather large shop. Bookshelves, mostly full, line the walls. A variety of magic items are on display in glass cases. Near the back is a staircase leading up to the second floor. The place is less busy than Tencednil would expect, given it's notoriety.

The Academae is less locked down than the first vision showed, but that doesn't mean it's not locked down. The demand for wizard purchases is obviously lower than usual.

Component pouches are incredibly consistent. Wizards can't be fumbling for their components, they need to be available immediately and without fail every time without even needing to look. Given how many spells need slightly different forms of powder, that requires an impressive amount of internal structure. Unless every wizard has to retrain their gestures for every new pouch they get, that means there has to be a standardized set of layout at least throughout Korvosa, so somewhere in here there should be some labeled pouches, and probably starter wizard components. That would be basically what she needs, even if she should actually only buy focuses. Possibly they'll have something for that. Can she find any of those, looking through the place?

They do have component pouches, with a variety of pre-supplied options matching various Acadamae curriculum tracks. They also offer configurations with per-spell component customization.

Perfect. One pouch, plus a collection of all the focuses they can provide. And a few components, but the focuses are the interesting part.

"I want to know more about how components — ah, material components, that is, the things which vanish — really work, and focuses seem a lot like components but they're actually magically different in a lot of interesting ways! Silent Image and Message are doing something completely different from how Color Spray works, and I need to test out all the focus spells I can to get a good model of it— ah, sorry, you don't have to listen to me, I've been told I can go on." Bouncy, excited, far too in-your-face to be polite, entirely disregarding the idea anyone could be uninterested in her research topic. No need to explicitly say she's a wizard, she recognizes enough habits of Academae graduates to ensure the proprietor will think she is.

The proprietor of the Gilded Orrey is a rather small, aged human woman. "We have some books on the particulars. Obor's Spell Component Compendium covers a wide range of components."

She looks over Tencednil's pouch. "Bit of a nonstandard collection there... are you enrolled at the Acadamae? Or Theumanexus?"

"It is nonstandard! Like I said, I think it will help my research more this way. Do Theumanexus students come up here very often? I would have thought they would buy things over on East Shore, crossing the Jeggare is slow." They probably have a deal of some sort with the Academae, which means they might check if she claimed to go there. Best to be independent.

"No, they usually don't. I was just curious. That'll be... fifty silver shields. With the focuses and a free replacement if you break or lose one."

"Of course. Thank you!" Money money money, wow fifty shields weighs a lot. Of course, so does a pouch fully laden with components. Money goes over there, component pouch and components come over here.

The proprietor waves as she leaves. "Come again!"

Next she needs a few small metal discs, something her new spell can catch on without being a problem to slip in and out of her hand at a moment's notice. Can she find something like that? Shuriken exist, but she doesn't even need these sharpened or balanced for throwing, some discards would be perfectly fine. Or brass tokens. She could probably use some pinch if she had to, but there should be a better option.

There's a weapon shop that stocks some shuriken. They also have many other metal weapons and tools; daggers and swords and spears are the most common.

Do they have a blacksmith they buy from? She might want a weapon at some point, but for now discards should be all she needs.

They have do have a blacksmith they buy from. His shop is down in Midland. They give her the address.

"Thank you! I'll be back when I need new weapons!"

Down to Midland. Does this blacksmith happen to have discards? Shuriken come in such large quantities, they must be made at scale somehow.

He does have some misshapen shuriken and some other rejected metal things. She can have some for a few pinch, if she wants.

She checks that one of them seems like a valid target for the new spell, but after that, seems like a deal! She picks out a few which she can grab easily, passes him some pinch, and goes along her way. Back home, this time, she wants a better sense of how the new spells actually work.

She returns home uneventfully. The riots are not nearly as widespread as she remembers from her visions, but they've been replaced by beasts and monsters from underground, which isn't necessarily better. The Heights and North Point seem to have more of handle on things.

Well, she did what she could. There's no use regretting what has already happened.

And back! Now that she has the focus, this cantrip must be Message, but it's still important to know how it actually works for her. Pointing was important, maybe? Point at the shadow, "_{^{sign if you can hear this}}", cast the cantrip (and tap the wire from her new component pouch as she goes through the gestures). Success?

She casts the spell successfully! The shadow does not seem to hear the message she whispered before it was cast.

Hmm. Maybe it just makes a connection, and you have to use it afterwards? Another "_{^{sign if you can hear this}}" mutter.

<Yes. Hear.> It signs.

That works, then. How long is the link going to last? She can't test if it's two-way, because the shadow can't actually talk... "_{^{buzz quietly}}". If it doesn't work, that might mean it only works on speech, but if it does that's confirmation.