It is possible to get 1 progress point through passive gain. He will report in to you every 300 to 380 days until he finds the artifact, dies or lost his track completely. He will also be incited to use the skills in which he has 10 skill points or more (3x likely). He will be incited to use the skill relevant to his councilor job (5x as likely) but this is not guaranteed. The councilor will choose a random skill to find a point in order to progress through the events. For example, if you have all three of the bones of St Peter, the staff of Moses and David's harp, and if you're Christian, then you can't hear about a major rumor. You can only hear a rumor if you don't have all of certain same level artifacts. They require to have reached 8, 14 or 20 points from events, then the artifact will be found. Rumors come in 3 flavors : minor, medium and major. You can authorize him to search for the artifact or select another councillor. If you're not Zunist, your councillor may hear a rumor of an artifact.

Some Great works and their upgrades grant artifacts through event chains.

Contribute to a Christian Crusade for a fraction of the Crusade War Chest.

With Jade Dragon, use the 'Compose a book' decision.

With either Monks and Mystics or Jade Dragon, use the ' Search for a smith' decision.

Artifacts can be stolen by sieging capital holdings ( warfare).

With either Monks and Mystics or Holy Fury:.

Artifacts can be stolen by sacking capital holdings ( raiding).

See Selecting councilors for artifact-hunting abilities.

Artifacts can be stolen from religious leaders while in a monastic society.

For important yet destructible artifacts, it is recommended to grant a castle to avoid the 50% chance of artifact destruction. Revoking a vassal down to baron tier will force them to use agnatic succession.

You may be able to exhaust the line of succession of vassals through assassination or granting temples to heirs.

Use the character finder to search for the name of an artifact.

Hand of fate 2 cheats