Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

TotallyNotEvil said:

I note all of his proposals seem... A tad expensive

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Do they?

Heretek said:

Do they?

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We've noted this twice IC:

BoneyM said:

He has sketched out a number of plans for recruiting to bring Stirland's actual strength back up to it's theoretical one, each expensive and time-consuming.

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BoneyM said:

and if the task is to be completed by this time next year an additional signing bonus will be required to tempt people into joining

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I've explicitly noted we aren't an expert in raising an army, but knowing his background, does it not look like he is up to his old tricks?

I wouldn't bet on him doing his same old tricks his ass is on the line and if the Emperor spymaster finds out he is exposing himself he will be dropped and left with nothing unless he is stupid than he should be fine still we can still investigate if he is but we shouldn't write him off just yet

And that's exactly what I'm saying we do? Is explicitly vote we say we didn't actually investigate his actions here, and that we may just be finding these things expensive due to not being familiar with them.

But it's also something he should keep in mind. And it's essentially giving him the option to order us to investigate dear old Professor.

After all, "long and expensive" is exactly what kind of project someone like him would want. "Sign up bonus" that would probably never be verified as long as the men showed up is also mighty convenient.

Do you propose we not tell him his marshal has a past for serious embezzlement? When military actions will probably take far and wide most of his budget?

TotallyNotEvil said:

And that's exactly what I'm saying we do? Is explicitly vote we say we didn't actually investigate his actions here, and that we may just be finding these things expensive due to not being familiar with them.

But it's also something he should keep in mind. And it's essentially giving him the option to order us to investigate dear old Professor.

After all, "long and expensive" is exactly what kind of project someone like him would want. "Sign up bonus" that would probably never be verified as long as the men showed up is also mighty convenient.

Do you propose we not tell him his marshal has a past for serious embezzlement? When military actions will probably take far and wide most of his budget?

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If he does embezzlement then we should report that but he hasn't done it yet to our knowledge I especially don't want to tell Van Hal who he is actually working for since I want to avoid making an enemy with someone in such a high position

Atam the Ork said:

If he does embezzlement then we should report that but he hasn't done it yet to our knowledge I especially don't want to tell Van Hal who he is actually working for since I want to avoid making an enemy with someone in such a high position

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The bolded part is nonsensical. It's our duty to tell our Count that kind of thing.

We can't report what we don't investigate, yet the Count should be made aware there is reason to devote precious time to that.

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!
[X] Private Report: Professor Lucrezio de Verezzo and Anton Kiesiner II

TotallyNotEvil said:

The bolded part is nonsensical. It's our duty to tell our Count that kind of thing.

We can't report what we don't investigate, yet the Count should be made aware there is reason to devote precious time to that.

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But what point is there to tell him that if we report that he was embezzling funds then the all the blame will fall on him but if we expose the Emporer's spymaster involvement then we will get his attention too something I want to avoid

Atam the Ork said:

But what point is there to tell him that if we report that he was embezzling funds then the all the blame will fall on him but if we expose the Emporer's spymaster involvement then we will get his attention too something I want to avoid

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How, exactly, would that happen?

We are telling the Count, in private. He is an ex WH. He isn't dumb. He won't march into the Imperial Palace demanding to know why the emperor has leverage on the marshal that was forced upon him.

He is also a loyal subject to the Empire.

Doing this will allow him to have either us or Wilhelmina to investigate what the Professor is doing. It will allow him to perhaps notice this new development or another isn't quite as random as it might seem. It will give insight into the proposals they make.

It gives him leverage.

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!


[X] Private report: Sensible

TotallyNotEvil said:

Do you propose we not tell him his marshal has a past for serious embezzlement? When military actions will probably take far and wide most of his budget?

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As far as I can tell the orc's proposal is:

[jk] Plan Mushroom: Like all fungi Elector Counts thrive best when kept in complete darkness and fed a steady diet of bullshit.
Tell him NOTHING.

So does no one else want to vote for Possible Orders for Next Turn?

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!
[X] Private Report: Professor Lucrezio de Verezzo and Anton Kiesiner II

Heretek said:

So does no one else want to vote for Possible Orders for Next Turn?

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Yeah this stuff is also us doing our job.

[] A dozen centuries of tax ledgers and records don't just vanish. And I may have found them. Let's go raid a tomb.
[] Count Petr is definitely tied up in the ledger theft. I can go get him for you, and bring him back in chains.
[] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and I've got a lead: Julbach.
[] If I had proper facilities, I could do better work. Please fund me renovating my secret underground palace.

[] The Stirlandian League is a cancer eating at Stirland's economy, and it must be destroyed.
[] The Stirlandian League is a gold mine of information, and it must be yours.
[] There is a risk of enemy agents infiltrating the castle staff - they must be watched.
[] The castle staff can be a great source of information and first line of defence - they should report to you.
[] Seriously what is up with the East Wing.
[] I need a proper information network. Please fund me wandering around making friends.
[] Other (write in)

Plan : Still need to do the job
[x] A dozen centuries of tax ledgers and records don't just vanish. And I may have found them. Let's go raid a tomb.
[x] Count Petr is definitely tied up in the ledger theft. I can go get him for you, and bring him back in chains.
[x] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and I've got a lead: Julbach.
[x] I need a proper information network. Please fund me wandering around making friends.

This is the active stuff, plus the network that a spymaster is supposed to set up.

[x] A dozen centuries of tax ledgers and records don't just vanish. And I may have found them. Let's go raid a tomb.
[x] Count Petr is definitely tied up in the ledger theft. I can go get him for you, and bring him back in chains.
[x] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and I've got a lead: Julbach.
[x] I need a proper information network. Please fund me wandering around making friends.

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!
[X] Private report: Sensible
-[X] "My Count, I believe there are some facts you should be made aware of. First of all, Professor de Verezzo is here due to being found out by Imperial Intelligence running a truly staggering embezzlement scheme. He apparently forcibly failed fully half of his students, retroactively removing the from the ledgers and stealing what had been paid for their tuition from the University itself. While I have not investigated the claims he has made while in your service, I note all of his proposals seem... A tad expensive. Still, I'm not exactly an expert in managing soldiers. He is also throughly under the imperial spymaster's thumb. Something to consider."
-[X] "On Detlef Schultz I've happened upon little, except that he was the compromise that won Talabecland over and consequently tipped the vote in your favor."
-[X] "About Young Anton, the good news is that he seems to be exactly what he appears to. The bad news is that he appears to be throughly innocent when it comes to politics, such making him great at making friends, but completely blind that those he are talking to are shrewd foxes and old wolves. He seems ignorant when it comes to doublespeak or anything of the sort. Certainly something to keep in mind."
-[X] "While I don't personally believe it will be a problem, considering who I am talking about and who I'm talking to, Brother Kasmir was chosen by the Grand Theogonist himself, which is good news come to think of it, but was chosen due his loyalties ultimately being to the Cult of Sigmar itself rather than any secular authority."
-[X] "And finally, I've bought a cheap residence in the city from which to carry out business of the sort that needs to be carried in a discreet location."

[x] A dozen centuries of tax ledgers and records don't just vanish. And I may have found them. Let's go raid a tomb.
[x] Count Petr is definitely tied up in the ledger theft. I can go get him for you, and bring him back in chains.
[x] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and I've got a lead: Julbach.
[x] I need a proper information network. Please fund me wandering around making friends.

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!
[X] Private report: Sensible

Hmm, so a few thoughts:

Anton Kiesinger II is quite possibly the least politically savvy person you have ever encountered.

You first assumed that his simplicity was a facade, a way to put people at ease while gaining their trust. But every indication is that Anton is exactly what he appears to be: open, honest, a bit dim, and entirely blind to the deeper meaning behind every word and action in high-level political discourse. And apparently that he is so non-threatening as a diplomat is why he's able to perform the job so well. He's not a threat as a politician, and because his father's lands are relatively small and out of the way, he's not a threat as a future noble.

In a world of wolves, he's a puppy. And like a puppy, now that you've shown him attention, he adores you. After you had found everything you needed to know, he continued to seek you out and ask how you've been eating and making sure that the Greatswords assigned to you are being properly respectful. Whether you like it or not, he's decided that you're his new little sister.

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Our liege here loves us. This is a very good development.

But as you're about to put the box away, you notice that it's deeper on the outside than on the inside, and it doesn't take you long to lever out the false bottom and find another bundle of letters entirely. These are between him and a person he addresses as 'Auntie Julia'. The letters to her are mostly filling her in on events in the family, though they frequently mention how much he misses her. The letters back are much less prosaic, filled with descriptions of a military campaign against Beastmen in some forested corner of the Empire - and from her descriptions of events, Auntie Julia appears to be a Jade Wizard.

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But here we see something odd. A Jade Wizard isn't too odd, but why a false bottom for a guy so...evidently innocous?

[HEADS, A TOWER. TAILS, A DUNGEON. Result: Tails.]
[DOES THIS PLEASE RANALD?: Roll, 98. Ranald is amused.]

[HOW GOOD A HOME DO YOU FIND?: Roll, Diplomacy+Ranald's Blessing, 87+9+20=116. Well, then.]


Half an hour of pushing what could have been centuries of accumulated junk out of the way (the innkeeper seemed to have forgotten about you, and from the waves of rowdy noise coming from the interior, you couldn't blame her), you finally found what you suspected you would find - a trapdoor made of wood so ancient it was nearly fossilized. It took you another ten minutes to lever it open with the help of a bent metal bar you had found in the refuse. And when you descended down the ladder, what you found took your breath away.

The explanation, you pieced together later, was fairly simple. Every few years, the River Stir would flood, depositing another layer of silt onto the streets of Wurtbad. In a single lifetime, this meant stepping up onto a street that used to be level with your door. But over the centuries that Wurtbad had served as capital of Stirland, ground floors had become basements and attics had become ground floors, and people had put an extra floor on their houses and forgotten about the now sub-basement they had no use for. Over the years, Wurtbad had risen, it's walls protecting it from the erosion that washed back the flood-deposited silt everywhere else.

Underneath Wurtbad, entire buildings lay forgotten.

Entire underground ecosystems fled at your approach, the dim light of the lantern blazing like a supernova to creatures who's ancestors had forgotten the sun a hundred generations prior. Ornate windows showed a view of soil and rock. Rusted scraps of metal protruding from the wall mark where fine tapestries once hung. In places, many places, the walls had given way and soil had poured in, drowning entire wings. And only the vaguest hint of differing colours showed where frescoes once covered entire walls. But like a lingering ghost, the grandeur of this forgotten palace was still visible.

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We have a goddamned dungeon.

Later, as you make the entrance room of your underground home liveable and barricade the doorway into the rest of the palace (just in case), it occurs to you that there's barely anything you can do to set up more of a shrine to Ranald. It's a shack that's a palace, bought from the unknowing by sanctioning their theft of tax money. In the end, all you can really do is draw some crosses on the wall and put out milk for the cats that were already lounging around the place. And you could swear that the look the black one was giving you was especially smug, even for a cat.

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Thank you Ranald!

Having Luck on your side is good.
And so is cats. Cats in an underground base is rather important. Keeps the rats out.

Professor de Verezzo's mapping of the castle went as well as could be expected, as several more hidden chambers were found and cleared. He reports that he wasn't able to penetrate below the first floor of the dungeon - one stairway down was caved in and a second was flooded.

EAGLE CASTLE: Everything from B1 and above mapped, excluding the East Wing; no hidden chambers remain (?)

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...so, I'm guessing our home is actually part of the undercastle? It sounds like where a ruler might put their mistress

veekie said:

Our liege here loves us. This is a very good development.

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Not our liege, he's the diplomacy advisor.

veekie said:

But here we see something odd. A Jade Wizard isn't too odd, but why a false bottom for a guy so...evidently innocous?

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Just a guess, the rest of his family wasn't too pleased about the whole magic thing so his Aunt was the black sheep of the family, so he found a way to converse with her in secret.

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!
[X] Private Report: Professor Lucrezio de Verezzo and Anton Kiesiner II

[x] A dozen centuries of tax ledgers and records don't just vanish. And I may have found them. Let's go raid a tomb.
[x] Count Petr is definitely tied up in the ledger theft. I can go get him for you, and bring him back in chains.
[x] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and I've got a lead: Julbach.
[x] I need a proper information network. Please fund me wandering around making friends.

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!
[X] Private report: Sensible

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!
[X] Private report: Sensible

[x] A dozen centuries of tax ledgers and records don't just vanish. And I may have found them. Let's go raid a tomb.
[x] Count Petr is definitely tied up in the ledger theft. I can go get him for you, and bring him back in chains.
[x] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and I've got a lead: Julbach.
[x] I need a proper information network. Please fund me wandering around making friends.
[x] The Stirlandian League is a cancer eating at Stirland's economy, and it must be destroyed.
[x] The Stirlandian League is a gold mine of information, and it must be yours.

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!
[X] Private report: Sensible

So far we've got a solid winner for the initial report and the options to be presented to Van Hal:

[-] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!

[-] A dozen centuries of tax ledgers and records don't just vanish. And I may have found them. Let's go raid a tomb.
[-] Count Petr is definitely tied up in the ledger theft. I can go get him for you, and bring him back in chains.
[-] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and I've got a lead: Julbach.
[-] I need a proper information network. Please fund me wandering around making friends.

But things are very much divided on the private report. We've got six votes for Private Report: Professor Lucrezio de Verezzo and Anton Kiesiner II and five for Private Report: Sensible. The former only reports what you know of de Verezzo's embezzlement and Anton's political innocence, while the former tells that as well as everything you've uncovered about your fellow councillors' appointments, and mentions your Palace-Shrine.

If a stronger consensus for that last point forms soon I'll close the voting early, otherwise I'll let it run the full 24 hours and let whatever margin is left win the day.

[x] A dozen centuries of tax ledgers and records don't just vanish. And I may have found them. Let's go raid a tomb.
[x] Count Petr is definitely tied up in the ledger theft. I can go get him for you, and bring him back in chains.
[x] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and I've got a lead: Julbach.
[x] I need a proper information network. Please fund me wandering around making friends.

[X] Report: This deal's getting worse all the time!

[X] Private Report: Professor Lucrezio de Verezzo and Anton Kiesiner II