Twelve binding puzzles drawn from the chronicles of Kvothe Kingkiller
Configure a binding to meet each scenario’s objectives — earn stars for exceptional work
Artificery, University of Imre
Master Kilvin has set you a practical exercise: link a copper wire to a glass lamp so that the wire's warmth feeds the flame. It sounds simple. It is not. Get the correspondence right.
A study in Imre, candles burning low
You've constructed a small wax figure. The analogical link is the whole point — what happens to the figure happens to the bound object. Shape and shared origin matter more here than material conductivity.
Imre rooftops, night ambush
You've etched a gram into iron. Once the reversal binding is set, it works passively — deflecting incoming sympathy without requiring active Alar. The challenge is setting it correctly in the first place.
Great Hall, Arcanum University
The Masters are watching. You have a candle, a length of copper wire, and a small iron disc. You are not yet Re'lar. Show them you belong here.
Artificery courtyard, vs. Ambrose's proxy
A bloodless duel: copper coins, one in your hand, one in his. You bind them. Whatever heat you pull from his, he pulls from yours. He has more focus. You need a cleaner binding.
Trebon hills, fire everywhere
The draccus is moving toward the village. You need a kinetic binding on a heavy iron object — redirecting the creature's momentum through steel. The air is thick with ash and heat. You have seconds.
Artificery, E&E workbench
Kilvin has placed two copper rods on the bench. One is gram-inscribed. He wants to see a precise galvanic binding — maximum correspondence, minimum waste. He will measure the output himself.
Adem smithy, deep winter
The smithy at Haert is unheated until the forge is lit. You need a galvanic binding on iron in near-freezing air. The Arrhenius barrier is real — cold rooms demand more Alar just to initiate. Work carefully.
Imre workshop, private commission
Denna has commissioned something subtle — a binding between two silver objects that holds without visible artificing. No hearth, no bonfire. Elegant materials, delicate work. The result must be clean.
Levinshir, night camp, stolen hair
You have a lock of hair and a fragment of cloth. The men who took Denna will feel what the mommet feels. The binding must be strong enough to matter. You're Re'lar at best. The night air is cool and you have no fire.
The Stacks, midnight oil
The lamps in the restricted stacks must be kept burning without risk of open flame. A long chain of galvanic bindings, copper to crystal, fed from a single hearth source. Every percentage point of efficiency matters when you're feeding ten lamps from one fire.
Ambrose's rooms, retrieved clippings
You have something of Ambrose's. Enough to bind, if the analogical correspondence is tight. You are only Re'lar. He will not be expecting this. The link must hold.