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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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I'm surprised there's so little presence of Sigmar, even as one of many gods, since the Stirland Elector is the one who kicked off the Age of Three Emperors with Grand Duchess Ottila, both forming the divisive northern and southern blocs of Provinces and both finding a homogenized Empire of their god and power system the only tolerable peace. I could very well see a more archaic Asoborn Church of Sigmar, but not dirty Ulricans on the border of Nuln.
The Haupt-Anderssens must have like a blood feud with the Capitular of Wurtbad or something.
 
VoidZero said:
I assumed finding out religion is same as vetting, because how would a person know someone's faith without conversation or observation?



Doesn't Witch Hunter off people fairly regularly? I apologise if they aren't.
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agreed he need to be replaced
hopefully we get priests in the army from all the nicer gods instead of just one and course resentment among the army
 
You generally don't fire someone because they mess up one time, especially when they mess up because someone else lied. To say nothing of killing them; professor whathisface was killed because he knowingly and actively sabotaged the army.
 
Not even touching the topic of shipping... I actually find the relationship between Mathilde and Van Hal to be very interesting. Van Hal is an older Witch Hunter, and a fairly nontraditional one at that. We know that he doesn't seem to have much of a problem with magic users, that he sees his position as more of a duty to the Empire than a reward (which it may very well be, the reward for a job well done is quite often even more work), that he's paranoid as all get out (big shock, I know), he's known the Stewardship advisor since they were kids, he enjoys his duties as a Witch Hunter far more than his duties as an administrator, and he is very, very loyal to the Empire itself. Now that SOUNDS like a lot, but it's really not for someone we've worked for directly for years by this point.

Initially he didn't seem to like Mathilde very much, she was young, untested, and very firmly suggested to fill the role of Spymaster by people we don't even know. But she took to her job like a fish to water, fulfilling every task assigned to her with a surprising level of competency for someone so inexperienced. If anything, we may have actually succeeded a little too well, as Van Hal seems to assume our expertise is greater than it actually is. And furthermore, her efforts have had positive knock-on effects for the entirety of Stirland. Mathilde has always been straight with Van Hal, always offered him good advice, and has even waded into battle with him against the undead. Very swiftly their professional relationship has evolved into a very odd sort of friendship, or at least companionship.

It's a very interesting and dynamic relationship that's just one small part of what makes this quest so engrossing. Heh, maybe it's just the rolls, but to me Mathilde seems to have one of those types of personalities, you know the kind, the kind of personality where you're either gonna love her or hate her. I really enjoyed her ranting about all the crap that she endured in Altdorf, and her realization that Stirland has started to become something of a home to her. I genuinely look forward to seeing how this character develops.
 
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Guile said:
I think we're assuming there's some sort of check priests can perform to see what god you follow.

"Do you follow Sigmar? Morr? Ulrich? ... ... Renald? Von Carstein? ... Von Carstein, huh."
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There ARE tests, but a Sigmarite is ill suited to performing them on self-proclaimed Morrites and Shallyans. Basically the good priest needs assistants, because he can't exactly grill them on the practices of the faith they claim to hold.

Plus you know, it's the spymaster's job to actually CATCH them at heresy.
Good thing this spymaster has great piety!
 
BoneyM said:
The woman you mindholed earlier was fiddling with the lock and swearing, and stopped her actions guiltily at your approach, but then gives you a bewildered look.
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Guess the nearest servants HAD to be involved.

BoneyM said:
With no remaining memories of you, all she knows is that some complete stranger in her underwear is running around the castle in a wizard's hat.
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Ranald: "7/10, a good show, but could do with more spice."
You don't give her a chance to get her thoughts in order. Drawing your flamberge, you smack her upside the head with the flat of the blade, and she crumples to the ground. You stand at the ready for a moment, ready to swing again if she demonstrates any inhuman resilience, but she seems to be completely unconscious. You release the lock on the door, drag the woman in to keep the corpse company, and then lock it back up again.

Okay. Onwards to the study.

[SURPRISE ATTACK: Breakpoints 40/70, Martial, 80+10=90. Greatsword!]
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At least we aren't covered in blood AND in our underwear from this.

That'd look way too much like one of them lurid novels.
You barge right in and Van Hal is halfway out of his chair in an instant, his hand going for the rifle on the wall behind him-

Then he sees you and freezes, his mind grinding to a halt.
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Van Hal has shut down and needs to reboot.


Under any other circumstances you'd be bashful, but you don't have time for this. "Your Grace, one of the servants attacked me during the interviews," you say urgently, "and displayed inhuman speed, though not, thankfully, inhuman resilience."


That bypasses whatever is going on in his head, and he continues the gesture reaching for his rifle. It's a new one, you remember, supplied by the Master Engineer in the hopes of currying favour - instead of the single-shot design of a conventional rifle, this has the mechanism similar to a repeater pistol, allowing six shots before reloading.

"Any sign of other infiltrators," he says, opening a drawer and scooping a fistful of speedloaders into a pouch.

"At least one other - I caught her trying to break into the room where the dead infiltrator was. I knocked her out and stashed her inside there."

"Good work. And..." he hesitated. "Your, uh, clothes?"

"Covered in blood," you say. "I didn't want to tip off any other infiltrators, so I left them behind."

"So instead you..." he shakes his head. "Okay, I guess I see the logic in that."
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Van Hal quest: "Well, that's the derpwizard alright..."
"Your Grace!" Markus cries, "there's been an attack on-" Then he trails off, looking from you, standing there in your underwear with a greatsword strapped to your back, then to Van Hal, standing next to you with his rifle cradled in his arms. The moment stretches out for an eternity, and you feel heat rising to your cheeks. "I apologize for interrupting, Your Grace," he says with a surprisingly level voice, "but this is a matter of urgency. Berthold was attacked in the courtyard."
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"So that's his fetish."

"Out cold, the guards on the gate are tending to him. I've told them not to let anyone in or out of the castle until they hear further orders."

"How many men do you have in the castle?"

"Ten men at the gate, a few more at the treasury, a handful of men off-duty in the barracks. Maybe a single platoon. The rest are out practicing manoeuvres with von Jungfreud, won't be back for about an hour."
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Huh. Ranald is looking out for us, considering our fuckup managed to coincidentally give us the castle lockdown needed.
 
TimEd said:
Really, i believe closing the gates escalates this thing too far too fast. NOBODY knows that the jig is up yet. The accident might force action ou of the spies but it would probably be to attack rather than flee
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I see the logic in what you're saying here, but... I kind of want them to attack? Just after we've gotten our shit together a little more, which we're doing right now. We've seen already that Kasmir can't identify infiltrators when he checks people (assuming that "serves a Von Carstein" is a religious failing) and also that we can't identify infiltrators reliably when we check people (our success rate is 50% at best, likely less). If we manage to get a bunch of murderous inhuman spies to come boiling out of the woodwork and try to kill us within the next couple hours, then at least we don't need to worry about those same spies attacking us on their own timeline later, and doing something like catching Van Hal asleep and alone.

Van Hal might have some superior witch hunter methods for locating infiltrators (but if he did, why didn't he use them yet?) or we might be able to scrape up something more reliable once we've inspected the bodies and figured out what they are (but that won't catch anything that is a different type of infiltrator), but neither of those are reliable. The option to hole up until our troops get here doesn't actually do anything about the problem- it just gives both sides more time to prepare.

[X] Close the gates. Nobody in, nobody out. Not until we get to the bottom of this.
-[X] Get all key personnel (Wilhemina, Kasmir) alerted so they can't be caught alone and killed once the infiltrators catch on.
-[X] Berthold was me. I may have panicked and tried to attract Marcus' attention with a Magic Dart. I am not accustomed to running around in my underwear alright.
-[X] Get Van Hal to take a look at the infiltrators.

I do like the "[ ] with the pretext that 'this' is 'the attack on Berthold', not anything else." write-in subvote but bringing it to the top of the vote listing looks impossible at this point. Presumably once Van Hal is informed of the facts of the situation he can put such spins on the situation himself- certainly he'll be less inclined to listen to our advice once we reveal that we've got such poor judgement as to use shooting someone with a potentially lethal ranged weapon as a signaling device.

...ugh, I hate that we have to say that. The worst part of mistakes is admitting you made them.
 
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DocMatoi said:
point of order: shes a stirland native, so it was home before she left for the college
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I know that, but she was peasant, one with not a whole lot to look forward to. I don't doubt she was on the first caravan out when she found out she was a mage. She held a nostalgic candle for Stirland no doubt, but for years metropolitan Altdorf was her home, along with the Grey College. Her 'homecoming' to Stirland was one of job opportunity primarily. Not to mention she's not even living in the same region she grew up in.
 
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The Witch and her Hunter 1: Murder Most Foul
  • Apocrypha
    • Back cover blurb on a dog-eared copy of The Witch and her Hunter 1: Murder Most Foul

    MAGDA WESSEN was a talented young apprentice in the shadowy GREY ORDER of WIZARDS. Until the FATEFUL DAY her kindly Magister was found RITUALLY MURDERED! Denounced as a WITCH and accused of a crime she didn't commit, Magda has no choice but to FLEE the Order. Ahead of her lies a long QUEST to prove her INNOCENCE and find the desperate CULTISTS she believes responsible for the heinous crime.

    ALBRECHT VON HAST is the WITCH HUNTER ordered to hunt Magda down. Tall, handsome, brave, from a noble line of Witch Hunters, will his PURSUIT bring them together? And if he does find Magda, will he believe her tale of innocence, or will he perform his SWORN DUTY to BURN THE WITCH?

    WORSE STILL, the ritual awakened some SHADOWY ENTITY from BEYOND that even now stalks Magda and those close to her. Will her PURE HEART and MAGIC be strong enough to save her, and those she cares about?

    Author: Stabreim Knochenbeinern
     
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    • Sinsystems said:
    So @BoneyM I have to ask have we at any point returned to our home village and tried to contact our parents or old childhood friends?
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    Her family took her being 'tainted' by magic badly. She's had no contact with them in twelve years and counting.
    Adhoc vote count started by BoneyM on Jan 30, 2018 at 11:06 PM, finished with 135 posts and 35 votes.
    • -[X] Berthold was me. I may have panicked and tried to attract Marcus' attention with a Magic Dart. I am not accustomed to running around in my underwear alright.
      [X] Our main priority is defending the leadership of Stirland. As above, but also find a way to get a message to Wilhelmina, telling her to seek safety.
      [X] Close the gates. Nobody in, nobody out. Not until we get to the bottom of this.
      -[X] Get all key personnel (Wilhemina, Kasmir) alerted so they can't be caught alone and killed once the infiltrators catch on.
      -[X] Get Van Hal to take a look at the infiltrators.
      [X] Don't tell, it's a secret to everyone.
      -[x] Berthold was me. I may have panicked and tried to attract Marcus' attention with a Magic Dart. He was fighting and I hit Berthold too hard instead, it was an accident.
      [x] Us along with a pair of guards will go to the gate and inform the guards there to watch out for anyone suspicious tryin to go in or out.
      [x]Act natural. Investigate the two infiltrators you know about and hope none of the infiltrators realize they've been detected.
      [x]Plan play it cool
      [X] Get Van Hal to take a look at the infiltrators.
      [X] Defer harder to the experienced Witch Hunter.
      [X] Berthold was me. I may have panicked and tried to attract Marcus' attention with a Magic Dart. I am not accustomed to running around in my underwear alright.
      [x] Show the infiltrators to Val Hal and get his expert opinion. What are we dealing with?
      [X] Close the gates. Nobody in, nobody out. Not until we get to the bottom of this.​
      [x] Get all key personnel (Wilhemina, Kasmir) alerted so they can't be caught alone and killed once the infiltrators catch on.
      [X] While everyone is distracted, head straight for the Study. Hopefully you can find Van Hal before this gets into even more of a farce
      -[X] Get Van Hal to take a look at the infiltrators when we make our way to a defensible position, if possible.
      [X] They won't be able to attack us the way they (definitely them) attacked Berthold, don't worry. The odds are good the infiltrators will be alerted before the men get back, given how many servants were in the courtyard, and will try to accomplish their objectives. What are the most likely points of sabotage, the armory? The ledgers again?
      -[X] Trap time: van Hal and Marcus run to the courtyard. Mathilde "knocks out" van Hal with Marsh Lights. Marcus takes van Hal somewhere as he is injured, while somebody finds Mathilde's bloody and torn up robe. Our heroes wait who shows up to finish off van Hal.
      [X] We only have a limited amount of time to act. We must round up the infiltrators now.
      -[X] Blush at Van Hal "uhh... no offense to you of course ?"
      [X] "Okay before we do anything else I am establishing right now that I'm like this because I got blood on my robe and had to take them off and rush here, Nothing inappropriate occurred and if you dare to suggest so to anyone I will turn you into a newt."
      -[x] with the pretext that 'this' is 'the attack on Berthold', not anything else.
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    DarkLight140 said:
    I see the logic in what you're saying here, but... I kind of want them to attack? Just after we've gotten our shit together a little more, which we're doing right now. We've seen already that Kasmir can't identify infiltrators when he checks people (assuming that "serves a Von Carstein" is a religious failing) and also that we can't identify infiltrators reliably when we check people (our success rate is 50% at best, likely less). If we manage to get a bunch of murderous inhuman spies to come boiling out of the woodwork and try to kill us within the next couple hours, then at least we don't need to worry about those same spies attacking us on their own timeline later, and doing something like catching Van Hal asleep and alone.

    Van Hal might have some superior witch hunter methods for locating infiltrators (but if he did, why didn't he use them yet?) or we might be able to scrape up something more reliable once we've inspected the bodies and figured out what they are (but that won't catch anything that is a different type of infiltrator), but neither of those are reliable. The option to hole up until our troops get here doesn't actually do anything about the problem- it just gives both sides more time to prepare.

    [X] Close the gates. Nobody in, nobody out. Not until we get to the bottom of this.
    -[X] Get all key personnel (Wilhemina, Kasmir) alerted so they can't be caught alone and killed once the infiltrators catch on.
    -[X] Berthold was me. I may have panicked and tried to attract Marcus' attention with a Magic Dart. I am not accustomed to running around in my underwear alright.
    -[X] Get Van Hal to take a look at the infiltrators.

    I do like the "[ ] with the pretext that 'this' is 'the attack on Berthold', not anything else." write-in subvote but bringing it to the top of the vote listing looks impossible at this point. Presumably once Van Hal is informed of the facts of the situation he can put such spins on the situation himself- certainly he'll be less inclined to listen to our advice once we reveal that we've got such poor judgement as to use shooting someone with a potentially lethal ranged weapon as a signaling device.

    ...ugh, I hate that we have to say that. The worst part of mistakes is admitting you made them.
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    Should have voted with a plan name, then you could change it at the eleventh hour and all those lazy bastards that voted with you get theirs changed along with yours.
     
    BoneyM said:
    Her family took her being 'tainted' by magic badly. She's had no contact with them in twelve years and counting.
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    Sadface.

    And thanks for the bookmarks. In my head canon, Mathilde picked up book one, devoured it, and then bought book two all while in Altdorf, hastily written to capitalise on the Wizard Chic craze going on. She's been rereading them, until book three was delivered to her in Wurtbad recently.
     
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    Guile said:
    I think we're assuming there's some sort of check priests can perform to see what god you follow.

    "Do you follow Sigmar? Morr? Ulrich? ... ... Renald? Von Carstein? ... Von Carstein, huh."
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    There's like hand signs for one cultist of a god to ID themselves to another, I recall.

    For Sigmar, for instance:
    The first is the "V" finger salute, representing the twin-tailed comet. The cultists hold their left hand on their chest, right arm thrust to the front, hand raised to head level with the fist clenched, and the first and second fingers extended. This sign is reversed (palm facing the face, rather than facing the person saluted) to be used as a taunt and insult to Sigmar's enemies. This salute is very popular with insolent children.[1d]

    Sigmar's second sign is a ward, and involves making a hammer shape on the trunk. The cultist's forefinger touches the navel, the "V" of the collarbone, the right chest, and the left chest. It is commonly employed as a shield against the forces of Chaos.[1d]

    When seeking the guidance of Sigmar, the cultist will take the same "V" finger salute and run it across his eyes in the hopes of seeing something he missed the first time around. When a Sigmarite slaps his fist, it's an invocation of anger, but when he pounds his fist in his palm, he's urging restraint
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    Okay, we've got two blocs that want to confess and two blocs that want to go on the defensive, so between them that's a solid consensus. To break it down by line: about twenty votes for confessing with minor changes in phrasing, but 'defend the count' wins out over 'close the gates' at 16 to 12. Closing the vote, writing now.

    [*] Our main priority is defending the leadership of Stirland. As above, but also find a way to get a message to Wilhelmina, telling her to seek safety.
    -[*] Berthold was me. I may have panicked and tried to attract Marcus' attention with a Magic Dart. I am not accustomed to running around in my underwear alright.
     
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    Interlude - Counterespionage in Eagle Castle 3
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    • [*] Our main priority is defending the leadership of Stirland. As above, but also find a way to get a message to Wilhelmina, telling her to seek safety.
    -[*] Berthold was me. I may have panicked and tried to attract Marcus' attention with a Magic Dart. I am not accustomed to running around in my underwear alright.

    ---

    It would be so very easy, you think to yourself, to just keep your mouth shut and let the misconception go. But if they think that Berthold being knocked out was enemy activity, it would lead them to misread the situation and make tactical errors.

    You have a duty to your liege.

    "The attack on Berthold wasn't an attack," you blurt out, and both heads swivel to you. "I was trying to get Markus' attention without going out into the courtyard by bouncing a magic dart off his armour, and accidentally got Berthold in the head."

    They stare at you, wordless. The moment stretches on. You shift from foot to foot, looking down at the floor, and then glance up at the faces staring at you. Van Hal's look is the resigned disbelief you've seen from him a few times now, but Markus' disappointment hurts.

    "Okay," Van Hal finally says, his voice strained. "That changes things. Is there any indication that there's other infiltrators, and if so, that they've been activated?"

    "There was a second infiltrator trying to break into the room I left the corpse of the first in," you say. "I knocked her out and then locked her into it. I think she may have been a lookout for the man I was interviewing."

    "Then any other infiltrators may not yet realize that it's now or never," Markus says. "Your Grace, your safety has to be our first priority in this. It's very likely that you're their target."

    "Not necessarily the only target, though," you say, and Van Hal's eyes narrow as he grasps what you're getting at. He looks between the two of you, then makes a decision.

    "Markus, go to the barracks. Send half of the Greatswords to the Archives, and half to the Chapel, with messages telling Wilhelmina and Kasmir that the castle has been infiltrated and they may be attacked. Then join your men at the gatehouse and await the return of Gustav and the rest of the Greatswords - when they get here, take command and secure the castle."

    "Yes, your Grace." He bangs his fist against his chest in a salute, bows, and leaves.

    ---

    Weaving the locking enchantment into the door took a few seconds. Shifting Van Hal's writing desk over in front of the door took most of a minute. You transferred a set of curios and keepsakes off one set of shelves, and then overturned them to act as cover, just in case - that took a couple more minutes.

    You have approximately fifty-seven minutes left of waiting barricaded in a room with your liege while wearing nothing but your wizard hat and smallclothes.

    [ ] Stand there awkwardly for fifty-seven minutes.
    [ ] Deliver your report regarding the Marshal candidates (write in the report)
    [ ] Challenge Van Hal to a spar
    [ ] Find Van Hal's bottle of Ostland brandy and drink away the awkwardness
    [ ] Other (write in)

    ---

    [RELATIONSHIP TESTED, VAN HAL: Coin flipped, heads! Birds fly, grass grows, Mathilde is gonna Mathilde.]
    [RELATIONSHIP TESTED, MARKUS: Coin flipped, tails! He is disappointed in his pupil.]

    SIR MARKUS VON PFAFFBACH RELATIONSHIP CHANGE: -1, now 6/10.
     
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    • [X] Write in: Try to ease the awkwardness by making small talk, like telling each other what you do in your free time, and swapping stories.

    Just a little something to build a repertoire with each other outside of work.
     
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