If they can figure out element-31, element-49, and element-50, then mixing those in proportions of 68.5% element-31, 21.5% element-49, and 10% element-50 will create a famous weird alloy that melts at slightly under the melting point of water and... probably goes higher than mercury before it vaporizes?  And is relatively not toxic, though you still wouldn't want to, like, drink a glass of that?  That's what Civilization uses when it wants metal that's liquid at room temperature.  If anybody knows about a light metal with a very low melting point, that's possibly element-31...

...like, probably not doable, but Keltham thought it was worth mentioning.  If they knew about element-31 they could use it in thermometers directly, for that matter, unless Keltham is missing some reason why that would work with mercury but not gallium.

The problem with identifying element-23 isn't going to be finding candidates, it's going to be figuring out which candidate is right.  Keltham can't really think of any easy element-23 tests.  He doesn't have the melting point memorized, or the density, and he's drawing a blank on any other famous chemical reactions that involve vanadium.  It should be relatively light but it's not the lightest metal.  He's not even sure offhand if it's acid-resistant, the stage of the process where it's used doesn't involve a completed acid.

If Keltham can Prestidigitate calcium or some other nearby metal into behaving like vanadium by directly manipulating the similarity of its outer electromagnetic shell, and build a spectroscope, they could maybe burn the fake vanadium to see how it looks under a spectroscope, and burn real relatively-light metals under a spectroscope, and figure out which real metal looks like fake vanadium.  Possibly.

Have they got something that breaks up light into component frequencies, or 'colors' as they'd have it here, along a linear spectrum that runs from red to blue within its visible part?

- you can do that with most crystals. 

"I have diamond earrings in my room which you may borrow, assuming I'll either get them back intact or be given compensation to replace them."

All right.  The tech behind a spectroscope seems relatively simple.  Next on the plan is building a spectroscope, seeing how it plays with Prestidigitated and natural materials as they get burned within a flame of standardized temperature - they should see about getting a 'bound fire elemental' for that possibly, it seems like the sort of heat output that might be possibly more standardized than burning wood or candles - and then seeing if Keltham can Prestidigitate calcium ash or a different metal into burning the color spectrum that element-23 should burn, given its orbitals, and that'll give them a reference point for looking through fake spellsilvers.

Is there any sort of magic for magnifying things enormously, like Keltham might use to zoom in on a less than 0.1% divergence in the thermal expansion of two different metals?

There's not magic for that which anyone here knows of.

Consider that general research field marked as important.

Among the general facts that Civilization knows is that there is a LOT you can do with sufficiently finely applied forces.

If there were some way to make people ten times larger, wizards ten times smaller, and then look inside of people's bodies, for example, you could probably use just a Mage Hand to apply permanent reversible male contraception, eg via tying a little bow-tie knot in the channel that conducts sperm to semen.

Oh, uh, in case nobody's mentioned it to the new candidates, very cheap contraception that can be afforded and used even by very stupid people is one of the standing requests from Chelish Governance.  Without that, increasing agricultural yields relative to reference farmland, or improving anti-plague measures relative to a reference urban density, might only get you larger or denser populations until they get hungry again or sick again.

- that's actually clever. She approves.

All right, this was a long day but it feels at least to him like they are on an exciting journey of discovery that hopefully soon reaches something saleable.

Thanks Lady Avaricia, if she was trying to impress him, she succeeded.

"If I were trying to impress you I'd be glad to hear that, I guess."

Keltham will avoid suggesting in the future that she might be trying to impress him.

Good night, everybody!

"Sevar, Asmodia, Pilar, can we have a moment?"

Sure can.

"We're doomed."

"She's a trope."

" - is she? I think she's just an obnoxious person who inconveniently had a more well-rounded education than the rest of us."

"She's a dath ilani 'eroLARP' trope, and Keltham has already recognized her and is dealing with her however dath ilani tropes say he's supposed to."

"She's next going to turn out to have a sexual fetish that conveniently matches up with him and will be touched by a god."

"Well I guess at least you're making predictions. He did seem to be - 

- not confused."

"That's really not good.  We have to - figure out some way to undo the evidence that presents for tropes, make Keltham think she's not really whatever trope she is -"

"Except even that - that itself would be too suspicious - after I told Keltham I wasn't really an asexual.  If, oh, it turns out on another look, Avaricia is not really whatever she is - that's way too much of a trend -"

"This really isn't good."

"I DON'T WANT HER IN THE HAREM EITHER."

"Dies in an acid explosion? Too easy to just resurrect her. Quits in a huff? There's still that..."

"Her quitting would look pretty uncharacteristic for tropes... or a competent Conspiracy... but not for Conspiracy trying to hide tropes, what with that being exactly who we are."

"Ione, are you sure."

"Can you think of some other reason why the incredibly Lawful Good society of dath ilan, with nothing like nobility, would have a recognizable concept for extremely arrogant, condescending, rude, dismissive people like that?"

PL-timestamp:  Day 23 (19) / Morning

Okay this time Keltham remembers to request Glimpse of Beyond during prayer, and to send out early messages to Carissa, Meritxell, and Yaisa requesting them to prepare Alter Self during their morning spell prep and see him immediately thereafter.  (Yaisa didn't particularly remind Keltham after he forgot to keep their appointment last time, but maybe the switcharound is for the better Security-wise.)