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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Zaratustra said:
Money from bookselling and goodwill from the dragonlord who realy like when said nose is tweaked.
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We could very easily lose money. What if no-one in Ulthuan cares about what some exile does with the 'lesser species'? Of course he would distinguish himself. He's an Elf.

The Reikspeil book seems lower risk. Not going to risk political fallout, for one. And Asarnil likely has some fame in the Old World, is an exoticism here as an exiled Dragon Prince, and, at 88, I'd say we wrote a fairly engaging account. Not an all time classic, but likely a good read, if it can be well translated.
 
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DarkLight140 said:
Okay, after thinking on it, I think I'm coming down strongly on the side of Jack for Watch commander.
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You've convinced me. I completely forgot the purpose of the Watch when tempted with the shiny that was an experienced adventurer.

Jacques is an amazing hero unit and leader, but he isn't what the Watch needs. He'd turn it into almost a paramilitary force. He'd want them to actively track down bandits and monsters, which sounds nice, but really isn't the place of the watch. We wanted it to give us information and catch spies, not be our policing force.

Jack may not ever come down on the Thieves Guild, but that doesn't mean his successor will be inclined to take their side. While I would like to avoid interacting with the Thieves Guild if we chose him (since he'll make the Stirland Watch into that kind of intrigue network), I think he'd make an excellent leader for it. Especially as we start to expand into portions of Stirland where The War Below is important.
Seleucus said:
If we don't hire Jack, can we try to offer him a job tracking down our predecessor?
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noliar said:
Give Jacques the job and put Jack on retainer.
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While I do not know how the QM will answer those questions, experience tells me that QMs don't like it when you try to have your cake and eat it too.
 
[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.
[X] Hire some printing press time and a translator, and start selling Reikspiel versions to anyone who's interested.

I like the idea behind "plan get stuck in", but I think our abilities would be better used at HQ level.
 
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BoneyM said:
He stares, wild-eyed, pointing accusingly. "You! The Rider of Dusk! The woman who rides the coming of night across Stirland, bringing ruin to the enemies of the Hunter-Count!"

You stare back, and a delighted smile spreads across your face. "I mean... gosh. I hadn't realized people had been noticing. The Rider of Dusk? That's... wow." You bask for a moment, but duty calls. "Anyway. Not why I'm here."

The man's hand edged toward his sword, but an indecisive moment later away from it. "I will not resist the will of Stirland."

"What? No, I mean, yes, technically, but I'm not here to arrest you or anything. In fact, go ahead and rob them, they haven't paid taxes since '62. I'm here to offer you a job."

The man thinks that over, and relaxes somewhat. "Okay. What's the item?"

"Oh, not that sort of job. Meet me at the Golden Eagle Inn at dawn tomorrow, and we can discuss it." You walk past the man, patting him on the shoulder as you go, and climb out the window. You can feel his eyes on your back as you climb down empty air like a flight of stairs, and can't keep from grinning at how thoroughly you nailed that dramatic exit.
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Mathilde is just great.
 
[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.

I would like to remind everyone just why we needed someone that spoke Elf to write down his story.
BoneyM said:
I've sent away to the University of Altdorf for someone that speaks the elf language so that they can all be recorded - he really liked the idea but insisted it be in his language, which I suppose is fair enough, but it's jolly difficult to find someone that speaks it in Stirland.
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I don't want to accidentally piss him off because we sold his book in the wrong language.
 
BoneyM said:
"Ulgunar kirior onai Tar-Eltharin, caladai-eldoir-kurn," you retort, and he stares at you, quite surprised.

"I haven't heard-" he breaks off, and almost haltingly continues in Eltharin. "I have not heard the tongue of the True Elves in close to two centuries."

"If it would please you, I would be happy to converse with you in it," you respond.

"Of course!" he stops, and looks frustrated with himself. "Of course. I would like that very much."
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As hard as it was not to read that first sentence as us going full anime ("Hello to you too oh Eldar-kun"), it's nice that he's had a chance to talk a 'peer' (or as close as he's likely to get) in his own language, especially considering a) the length of time since he's seen his home, and b) it's good to build relations with the guy before the Purge starts getting more heated.
BoneyM said:
The man sits at your table as you work your way through your morning sausages. You glance across at him as you chew. Jack Albright, career thief and a damn good one at that. Originally of Marienburg, but attracted too much attention to himself and now on a protracted tour of the Empire. Charismatic, well-travelled, skilled in a variety of thieving arts and possessing of strong morals. You smile across at him. "Good morning. You look tired."
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Honestly more tempted by this guy than the warrior. He seems more suited for what we want the Watch to be (though they may not be so good in direct combat that isn't our main goal), and it doesn't look like Jacques would appreciate the more seedier aspects of the Watch.

[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.
 
[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.
[X] Hire some printing press time and a translator, and start selling Reikspiel versions to anyone who's interested.
[X] Hire some printing press time and find a merchant willing to ship and sell as many copies as they can to Ulthuan.

[X] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. The memories had faded but you've managed to refresh them. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
-[X] Ranald's Favor

[X] As a Journeywoman, the path to Magister is marked by mastering more than the two shadow spells you already know. Send to the Grey Order for the basics and work on figuring out one of the others.
-[X] Shadowcloak
 
Kairos123 said:
While I do not know how the QM will answer those questions, experience tells me that QMs don't like it when you try to have your cake and eat it too.
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QM already said we can't have both; the other will leave because they didn't get the position. So you are right.

SITB said:
I don't understand why vote for the Ulthuan option, what does it accomplish besides tweaking an elf king's nose?
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Elf money. Elves are loaded.

[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for theImperial College, one for Asarnil.

Definitely Jack. Matildhe might not know what we're doing, but we do, and we need to stay on target.
 
BoneyM said:
Please stop saying derp.
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Aww. Ok then.

[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.
[X] Hire some printing press time and a translator, and start selling Reikspiel versions to anyone who's interested.
[X] Hire some printing press time and find a merchant willing to ship and sell as many copies as they can to Ulthuan.

I don't know what people are so afraid of. This is a bunch of money we stand to make. We're still going to be nobody politically to Ulthuan, but it's a good way to reinforce this friendship with Asarnil and that's possibly worth even more than the money. Plus, the Pheonix King really does deserve some snubbing.

[X] Plan Get Stuck In
 
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Alliterate said:
We're also a Wizard, who apparantly has Quyash Juice or something similar. You know, High Magic. Which humans know next to nothing about, but Ulthuan Elves do.

It's not out of the realm of possibility we'll want to talk to a High Magic Elf Wizard about it at some point. At which time, being personally embargoed by the Phoenix King would be unhelpful...
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It's not High Magic. High Magic is artificial, it's a weaving of Winds that cant exist without the mind of an archmage holding and directing the Winds in place, not something that can occur naturally or even accidentally. The only reason Mathilde calls it Qhaysh juice(and it's spelled Qhaysh, not Quyash) is because she's never actually seen* High Magic and the stuff seems to be a mix of Winds in liquid form that hasn't collapsed into Dhar despite everything ever known about magic saying it should have, and doesn't have a better word to call the stuff. Considering we aren't almost blinding ourselves by looking at it with our witchsight, that's another big blow to the "liquid Qhaysh" theory.

And as for a High Elf Archmage coming over to have a look at it.

Maybe decades from now after we and our "magic juice" becomes ridiculously famous in the Old World and the talk of the Colleges for years on end will the big boys over at the Tower of Hoeth even have the chance of hearing about our discovery and thinking it worth sending someone over here to check up on what one of "Teclis' little ones" have stumbled over and Finnabair's personal opinion on us as the writer of Asarni's biography is probably going to be the least impactful thing in their opinion on us.

If you want an idea of how elven mages from the Tower of Hoeth view the Colleges of Magic, think about how ivory tower intellectuals from schools like University of Oxford in the 19th century would view a tiny colonial college in Africa(particularly one who's student population were all Africans). The racism, bigotry and scorn over us being a human wizard would far exceed the Phoenix King's minor annoyance over us writing a book that probably isn't even read by the elves in the tower anyway(what would they care about the exploits of an exiled Caledoran dragonprince?). As far as most elven wizards are concerned(never mind the ivory tower Hoeth types) human wizards are barely trained monkeys. Teclis is the exception when it comes to elven wizards, not the norm and frankly he is way to busy to keep that much track over the Colleges he helped make.

*
"It is a vision of beauty! Of absolute wonder! It is so bright that it burns my mortal eyes as well as my immaterial ones! It shines like mother-of-pearl lit by a thousand suns, scouring me with absolute brilliance and yet filling me with indescribable elation. How tempting it is to reach out for it, to try to grasp it and weave it as I do the purity of Hysh. And yet I know that were I to try, it would be my end, for even gazing upon it with the unseen eyes of my Gift, I am brought low and must close myself off to its glory after but a fleeting moment. How I long to stand for even the shortest time in the body of our great master and mentor, Loremaster Teclis, and be thus enabled to reach out and touch the radiance that is Qhaysh..."
——Extracted from the private journals of Volans, First Supreme Patriarch of the Orders of Magic
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BoneyM said:
Not really sure what the point is of me actually writing updates if all that's being considered is raw numbers.



Something like that, yes.
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Well... creation of art for the enjoyment of your reader/player, and hopefully yourself?

The numbers may inform the consequences, but it is your writing that makes people want to play.
Sometimes, a roll of 100 may make players say "yes, this is a nice choice" when compared to a roll of 50, without any actual consideraion, butttt, while that may weaken your "writing style and presentation of characters causing player to choose" in this instance (and others where there's a bunch of options and one is a 100 and the other's are much lower), the fact is that your writing is why people are actually invested in the first place.
I have been greatly enjoying reading it.

also, I have no idea what numbers you are talking about, because I've literally opened the most recent page and read this and wanted to... well, cheer you on.

Not because this quest is having a big roll on occasion, but because it rocks both as a quest and as a story, and the quest is made up of the choices of the players, the capricious decisions of the dice-gods and your writing.

The story part on the other hand is all you.
 
[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.
[X] Hire some printing press time and a translator, and start selling Reikspiel versions to anyone who's interested.
[X]Hire some printing press time and find a merchant willing to ship and sell as many copies as they can to Ulthuan.
 
[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.
[X] Hire some printing press time and a translator, and start selling Reikspiel versions to anyone who's interested.
 
[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.
[X] Hire some printing press time and a translator, and start selling Reikspiel versions to anyone who's interested.
[X] Hire some printing press time and find a merchant willing to ship and sell as many copies as they can to Ulthuan.

[X] Plan Get Stuck In
-[X] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. The memories had faded but you've managed to refresh them. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
--[X] Ranald's blessing
-[X] Attach yourself to a specific regiment so you can spend some time in the thick of things.
 
[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.
[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.
[X] Hire some printing press time and a translator, and start selling Reikspiel versions to anyone who's interested.
[X] Hire some printing press time and find a merchant willing to ship and sell as many copies as they can to Ulthuan.

[X] Plan Get Stuck In
-[X] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. The memories had faded but you've managed to refresh them. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
--[X] Ranald's blessing
-[X] Attach yourself to a specific regiment so you can spend some time in the thick of things.
 
[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.

[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for theImperial College, one for Asarnil.
 
@BoneyM , can you give us what Mathilde estimates the approximate cost of the three book options would be? It seems very possible we'd be spending beyond our means?

Edit: Is vanity publishing a big thing in the Empire? :) I could imagine it isn't unknown, for nobles with delusions of scholarship and the like. How long has the WH printing press been around, anyway.
 
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I might have missed it, but don't we have a free Stirland Watch action we can spend/use?
 
A lot of people are voting for selling Asarnil's memoirs in Reikspeil, when Asarnil originally demanded that his story be told in Eltharin as a condition for having his memoirs transcribed. If we're going to do this, we should at least ask his permission first before doing so to avoid ruining our relationship with him.
 
[X] Jack Albright, career criminal.
[X] Have a scribe transfer them into book form - one copy for you, one for the Imperial College, one for Asarnil.


[X] Plan Get Stuck In
-[X] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. The memories had faded but you've managed to refresh them. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
--[X] Ranald's blessing
-[X] Attach yourself to a specific regiment so you can spend some time in the thick of things.
 
Seleucus said:
A lot of people are voting for selling Asarnil's memoirs in Reikspeil, when Asarnil originally demanded that his story be told in Eltharin as a condition for having his memoirs transcribed. If we're going to do this, we should at least ask his permission first before doing so to avoid ruining our relationship with him.
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I prefer to assume that Boney will have Mathilde do sensible things before embarking on the course of action we've chosen. we don't tell her to take her sword with her before she leaves the house, after all.
 
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