Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
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- Tags
- warhammer warhammer fantasy fantasy be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist pansexual protagonist ck2 quest divided loyalties mountain vietnam ranald is real this is a dwarf quest (dwarfs) this is maybe an elf quest this is not a vampire quest this is not an empire quest try it and find out open voting
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Guess he should have patented it. Will we get into a legal battle with a vampire ?
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Nah, that requires the court recognizes vampires as people, and not say, fodder for being burned by Sigmarites.
Sinsystems
Patron Librarian
Nah just an eternal rivalry between him and our bloodline that will spiral into a collection of increasingly bizarre adventures. However after our first encounter we will encounter a Thug from Albion who will become a successful merchant and will dedicate his merchant empire to aiding us and our children in the eternal battle against the vampire.
Last edited:
bdun140
I have ideas. Sometimes they're even good.
Hold on...
...
...
...
Is this a Jojo reference?
Sinsystems
Patron Librarian
Yes it is, I thought I made that obvious? I mean it couldn't be more blatant if I insisted on calling our greatsword Luck&Pluck.
bdun140
I have ideas. Sometimes they're even good.
It's a joke. Also, why is my text huge? It wasn't like that 5 minutes ago.
- Location
- USA
[x] [name] Dame Weber's Contextually Initiated Thaumoprocrastinatory Ulgulic Matrix
Don't like mystical matrix, but it's probably gonna win at this point unless some people swap votes (or choose to vote on names)
Don't like mystical matrix, but it's probably gonna win at this point unless some people swap votes (or choose to vote on names)
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
[X] [Name] Mathilde's Mystical Matrix
I'm fine with long names so long as they're fun to say. Like the official name of that long rifle, with the unexpected bereavement. The long name in the vote is just boring, though.
I'm fine with long names so long as they're fun to say. Like the official name of that long rifle, with the unexpected bereavement. The long name in the vote is just boring, though.
I feel the same way, also sticking shadow in the name seems like it's just asking for someone to rename it with a generic version and say it's different because it's not locked to shadow.
Thanks for the information, especially to you Exmorri it's pretty clear.
Huh I totally missed the part with the shadowsteed, I even went back over the previous thread-marks and still couldn't find the part where chickens explode when used.
Still the idea of using dispel as a one off magic defense hasn't been shut down and apparently livestock may in fact make decent ammunition so if we learn Pall of Darkness we can load it into an animal and launch smoke grenades... so I guess my questions might not have been a total waste of time? Well at least the dispel idea might have merit, unless it doesn't work like the combat magic dispel at all which is pretty possible.
Purge of the Haunted Hills - Pflugzeit, 2476
Winning vote:
---
As spring arrives and the armies of Stirland march, you remain underground. You've finally gathered together all the knowledge you require to properly record Mathilde's Mystical Matrix in such a way that it can be shared among all present and future wizards of the Empire.
Or so you thought.
Weeks pass in a haze of frustration as words emerge like blood squeezed from a stone. The sentences drip out of you like tar from a barrel, describing the ways to anchor a matrix of mystical energy within a living creature. Every trigonometric detail is checked and double-checked and laid down in the correct place. Every single sentence is an effort, and there's more than you could begin to imagine as you find no elegant way to describe what you can picture so easily, and so you have to describe every facet of it individually in agonizing detail, then go even further in the descriptions of how they all connect together. The only thing more painful than writing it is rereading it, except more painful still is trying desperately to edit it into something slightly easier to understand.
The end result is, technically, an accurate guide to constructing Mathilde's Mystical Matrix. It's not even misleading. But it is incredibly dry and difficult to grasp and far longer than it has any right to be, and if you have to look at it one more time you might scream and set it on fire.
You storm out of your buried palace, summon a horse, and ride at considerable speed for Sylvania. You'd rather face the undead than that bloody paper right now.
[Writing the papar again: Learning, Roll, 31+19=50.]
---
As you approach the only county in Sylvania to recognize Stirlandian rule, you reflect on the progress of the Purge. It was discovered, at least in part, why the army had met so little resistance in the northwestern Hills; because they were all laying siege to Nachthafen, or at least were encircling it; there was no indication that anything like a guiding mind was directing things, and all that caused the siege was mob mentality, and sometimes not even that. Fresher zombies were preyed upon by ghouls, who were in turn preyed upon by wolves - not, it appears, the undead 'dire wolves', but living giant wolves who loafed around the edges of the siege, shattering the occasional skeleton to gnaw upon its bones and on the lookout for anything close to living for them to fall upon.
But the advance of three divisions of the Army of Stirland shattered the siege, some twenty thousand undead were put to the fire and steel as members of five Knightly Orders contemptuously smashed their way to and fro through the ranks of the unguided dead - with nary a spearwall to be seen they were in their element, and accounted for near half the enemy dead themselves. By the time you arrived, the dead had been given their final rites but most were still awaiting the pyres, with wood having to be cut and transported from the Hunger Wood. Everywhere you looked, a local was looking back - not, as far as you could tell, with any ill intent, but with the air of a tiny prey animal who knows very well to watch even the slightest rustle in the undergrowth. Each local was accompanied by small herds of sheep or goats, but these were the most obedient herds you'd ever seen, staying within a few yards of their overseer and following along obediently every time he moved.
Nachthafen itself, when you reached it, was no less strange. Not even a quarter the size of Wurtbad in population, it rivalled it in area and beat it in the height of its walls. You had papers to prove your identity, but the guard at the gate, armoured from head to toe in rusted chainmail with only a narrow slit in his coif to peer through, barely glanced at them, instead peering suspiciously at your pupils and then clumsily removing a chainmail mitten to feel the pulse in your wrist and then waving you inside. Inside, you saw that most of the space inside the walls was empty livestock pens, though from the state of things, you easily deduce that all the livestock of the herdsmen outside the walls were kept in here during the siege. The buildings, clustered together around a modest keep, were of sturdy construction and built so that there was no space between them, with no windows at ground level and small shuttered ones above, effectively presenting a second wall inside the first. The streets were mostly empty, with a few street merchants standing by their stalls in silent judgement of a world where nobody buys their stock - their eyes follow you as you pass, each judging whether you could be convinced to buy some sort of severely boiled sheep product and deciding against the attempt.
You've been in villages louder than this town, and tombs more welcoming.
You arrive at the castle, and this time your papers are given close scrutiny by a man who peers and moves his lips as he struggles his way through the words, though he does check your pulse and pupils as well. He leads you through the gatehouse, through a courtyard smaller than your bedroom, and into a great hall packed with the busy silence of dozens of people silently waiting. A line stretches from the throne and wraps around the wall until the tail folds in on itself in a mob of silent confusion, and the only ones speaking are the peasant at the head of the line, who seems to be deep in some sort of explanation of how something went terribly wrong with goat husbandry, and the pale young woman on the throne wearing clothes only half a decade out of fashion and seemingly engrossed in the conversation.
The woman glances up as you approach, and the conversation accelerates to a conclusion; a single golden coin is placed in the peasant's hand, and instructions are given that the hapless goat who seems to have failed in some required task is to be presented to the keep's kitchen. Then the woman on the throne stands, smiles at you, and beckons at you to follow her into a side-room; the peasants lined up make no reaction to this, seemingly content to wait.
Since this is Sylvania, and you are not an idiot, the first thing you do is carefully scrutinize the woman with your mage sight as you follow, and are relieved to find that she's no more tainted by Dhar and stained by Shyish than anyone else in Sylvania. She leads you to what appears to be a sunroom built by someone who quite missed the point, with cozy chairs around a small table and packed bookshelves lining the walls and the only sun being a thin, faint beam squeezing its way through an arrow slit. Following her lead, you take a seat across a small table.
"So," she says brightly. "The famous Spymistress of Stirland; an honour to meet you in the flesh at last. We have heard so much about you."
"And I of you," you reply politely, and she grins.
"So, here to take a look at the most far-flung corner of Stirland's demesne?"
"And the citizens of the Empire within it," you reply. "I'm glad we were able to lift the siege, though it's quite strange that we knew nothing of it until we arrived."
"We're quite used to being an island of civilization in a sea of terror, I'm afraid," she explains vaguely. "By the time it occurred to anyone to send for help, we had already been encircled."
"Messenger pigeons?" you suggest, but she's shaking her head before you even finish the words.
"That's a boondoggle one only has to sink money into once to learn their lesson. It's the bats, you see. They've got quite an appetite for blood, which tragically extends to that of birds."
"So has this sort of thing happened before?" you ask, changing tack.
"Impromptu, unguided sieges? Oh, yes. There's some sort of rudimentary herding instinct in them, so every now and then enough accumulate at the walls to start attracting more and from there it just accumulates."
"And how do you usually solve it?"
"Winter comes eventually; the ghouls and wolves seek shelter and the zombies freeze, while the skeletons are buried in snow. We spend the winter months digging them up one by one and smacking them over the head until they stop moving. Inconvenient when a siege begins in spring, but such is life in Sylvania."
Your eyes narrow at her in thought; by all appearances she's younger than you, but she talks with the confidence and experience and world-weariness of a woman with a decade on you. You're sure that Countess Gabriella has ruled here for as long as you've been Spymistress, which must mean she was merely a teenager when she became Countess; not unheard of, and it could explain her acting older than her years, but...
But your suspicions must be visible on your face, because her smile suddenly widens. "I know that look," she says suddenly. "It's an 'I'm going to check the records when I get back home and see how long there's been a Countess Gabriella in Nachthafen' sort of look."
You stare at her again, both at her person and at the mystical energy flowing within her, and to both she seems absolutely normal. "You get that look a lot?" you manage, shifting in your seat slightly so you could leap to your feet without trouble, if necessary.
"Every now and then. Let me spare you some trouble: since just before the turn of the millennium. The nineties were a good time to put down roots."
Too obvious. Too obvious. She's giving it away for free. Why? What reaction is she trying to get? Remember your teachings. Game it out. She all but tells you she's a vampire. You... do you attack her? If she knows you by reputation, she has to be at least prepared for the possibility, and you have an enormous sword on your back, for crying out loud. Witnesses? Is she prepared to fend off an attack and then have witnesses tell of your 'unprovoked' assault on her? Otherwise... well, you'd go straight to Van Hal. Van Hal would investigate himself. Is she trying to draw him in for something? To discredit you? To spring a trap on him? Is she even telling the truth about being a vampire? Why would someone lie about that? But then, why would someone be honest about that?
Then... do you do nothing? That might be the play. She's revealing this to inspire some sort of reaction in you; to do nothing counters that. It leaves her free to act, but no freer than if she had just said nothing. What's she trying to do? How do you prevent it?
She's been watching you as your thoughts race, her smile widening. "Oh, it's so nice to have a thinker in Eagle Castle. The last fellow was so tedious - wouldn't think about what to have for breakfast unless someone was bribing him to do so. Have you found him?"
"Hasn't been a priority," you say cautiously. Keep her talking. If she's talking, she's not doing anything else.
"Smart. He was a piece, not a player."
"And who moved him?"
"Anyone with money, of course." She smiles as you stare at her. "You know who one of them was. Everyone with the senses to feel it knows the spell that girl in Drakenhof hurled at you." She tuts, and fussily rearranges her hands in her lap. "So much raw power, so little control. Little wonder she's stark raving mad."
"Countess von Carstein," you venture, and she scowls.
"So she calls herself. Incorrect on all three counts - if you'll excuse the pun. No more spurious a claim has ever been made, I assure you."
"What are your plans in this campaign?" you ask.
"Plans? Why would I have plans? The hills are safer for my subjects to graze their herds in, and my neighbour to the east is soon to get a rude visitation they thoroughly deserve. Doing nothing is serving me quite splendidly."
You can't think of any other questions to ask; you need to digest what has already been said, or at least hinted at. "If you'll excuse me," you ask politely.
"Of course," she says graciously as you rise to your feet; at the door, apparently unsummoned, the man who led you in appears to lead you back out. "This was such fun. Come by again some time. Give my best to Abelhelm," she says, smug as a cat with a full belly.
You make your way out, your nerves screaming, but everything is normal. The peasants in the hall continue to wait patiently, the only change being a few more at the end of the line. You soon find yourself back on the streets of Nachthafen, with no more answers and a great deal more questions than when you first arrived. But you'll not let yourself be so easily driven off, though. You linger in the area for a couple of weeks, and find a score of locals willing to pass on information for silver. Chances are at least some of them will be feeding you false information, but one can often derive truths from the lies someone tells.
---
PLAN FOR THIS PURGE TURN
ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIONS - these are LOCKED IN for the next purge turn, but personal actions can still be spent on them.
---
PERSONAL ACTIONS - CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO AND THREE. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST TWO WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASK:
- Something to keep in mind: I only show a roll when it's obvious that a roll is being made, and obvious what the results are. That there is a roll at all can reveal a lot in the meta sense, as can the difficulty of the roll, and the modifiers opposing it, and how well the results line up with the roll; and often what would be revealed is information you have no access to in character, so I err on the side of not showing those rolls. In this case, one of those 'hidden' rolls used your Blessing, I didn't forget it (this time).
- For the write-in for Countess Gabriella, simply telling someone won't take an action, but performing an in-depth investigation will; if in doubt, ask, and don't try to get cheeky with how much you can achieve without 'counting' as an action.
---
As spring arrives and the armies of Stirland march, you remain underground. You've finally gathered together all the knowledge you require to properly record Mathilde's Mystical Matrix in such a way that it can be shared among all present and future wizards of the Empire.
Or so you thought.
Weeks pass in a haze of frustration as words emerge like blood squeezed from a stone. The sentences drip out of you like tar from a barrel, describing the ways to anchor a matrix of mystical energy within a living creature. Every trigonometric detail is checked and double-checked and laid down in the correct place. Every single sentence is an effort, and there's more than you could begin to imagine as you find no elegant way to describe what you can picture so easily, and so you have to describe every facet of it individually in agonizing detail, then go even further in the descriptions of how they all connect together. The only thing more painful than writing it is rereading it, except more painful still is trying desperately to edit it into something slightly easier to understand.
The end result is, technically, an accurate guide to constructing Mathilde's Mystical Matrix. It's not even misleading. But it is incredibly dry and difficult to grasp and far longer than it has any right to be, and if you have to look at it one more time you might scream and set it on fire.
You storm out of your buried palace, summon a horse, and ride at considerable speed for Sylvania. You'd rather face the undead than that bloody paper right now.
[Writing the papar again: Learning, Roll, 31+19=50.]
---
As you approach the only county in Sylvania to recognize Stirlandian rule, you reflect on the progress of the Purge. It was discovered, at least in part, why the army had met so little resistance in the northwestern Hills; because they were all laying siege to Nachthafen, or at least were encircling it; there was no indication that anything like a guiding mind was directing things, and all that caused the siege was mob mentality, and sometimes not even that. Fresher zombies were preyed upon by ghouls, who were in turn preyed upon by wolves - not, it appears, the undead 'dire wolves', but living giant wolves who loafed around the edges of the siege, shattering the occasional skeleton to gnaw upon its bones and on the lookout for anything close to living for them to fall upon.
But the advance of three divisions of the Army of Stirland shattered the siege, some twenty thousand undead were put to the fire and steel as members of five Knightly Orders contemptuously smashed their way to and fro through the ranks of the unguided dead - with nary a spearwall to be seen they were in their element, and accounted for near half the enemy dead themselves. By the time you arrived, the dead had been given their final rites but most were still awaiting the pyres, with wood having to be cut and transported from the Hunger Wood. Everywhere you looked, a local was looking back - not, as far as you could tell, with any ill intent, but with the air of a tiny prey animal who knows very well to watch even the slightest rustle in the undergrowth. Each local was accompanied by small herds of sheep or goats, but these were the most obedient herds you'd ever seen, staying within a few yards of their overseer and following along obediently every time he moved.
Nachthafen itself, when you reached it, was no less strange. Not even a quarter the size of Wurtbad in population, it rivalled it in area and beat it in the height of its walls. You had papers to prove your identity, but the guard at the gate, armoured from head to toe in rusted chainmail with only a narrow slit in his coif to peer through, barely glanced at them, instead peering suspiciously at your pupils and then clumsily removing a chainmail mitten to feel the pulse in your wrist and then waving you inside. Inside, you saw that most of the space inside the walls was empty livestock pens, though from the state of things, you easily deduce that all the livestock of the herdsmen outside the walls were kept in here during the siege. The buildings, clustered together around a modest keep, were of sturdy construction and built so that there was no space between them, with no windows at ground level and small shuttered ones above, effectively presenting a second wall inside the first. The streets were mostly empty, with a few street merchants standing by their stalls in silent judgement of a world where nobody buys their stock - their eyes follow you as you pass, each judging whether you could be convinced to buy some sort of severely boiled sheep product and deciding against the attempt.
You've been in villages louder than this town, and tombs more welcoming.
You arrive at the castle, and this time your papers are given close scrutiny by a man who peers and moves his lips as he struggles his way through the words, though he does check your pulse and pupils as well. He leads you through the gatehouse, through a courtyard smaller than your bedroom, and into a great hall packed with the busy silence of dozens of people silently waiting. A line stretches from the throne and wraps around the wall until the tail folds in on itself in a mob of silent confusion, and the only ones speaking are the peasant at the head of the line, who seems to be deep in some sort of explanation of how something went terribly wrong with goat husbandry, and the pale young woman on the throne wearing clothes only half a decade out of fashion and seemingly engrossed in the conversation.
The woman glances up as you approach, and the conversation accelerates to a conclusion; a single golden coin is placed in the peasant's hand, and instructions are given that the hapless goat who seems to have failed in some required task is to be presented to the keep's kitchen. Then the woman on the throne stands, smiles at you, and beckons at you to follow her into a side-room; the peasants lined up make no reaction to this, seemingly content to wait.
Since this is Sylvania, and you are not an idiot, the first thing you do is carefully scrutinize the woman with your mage sight as you follow, and are relieved to find that she's no more tainted by Dhar and stained by Shyish than anyone else in Sylvania. She leads you to what appears to be a sunroom built by someone who quite missed the point, with cozy chairs around a small table and packed bookshelves lining the walls and the only sun being a thin, faint beam squeezing its way through an arrow slit. Following her lead, you take a seat across a small table.
"So," she says brightly. "The famous Spymistress of Stirland; an honour to meet you in the flesh at last. We have heard so much about you."
"And I of you," you reply politely, and she grins.
"So, here to take a look at the most far-flung corner of Stirland's demesne?"
"And the citizens of the Empire within it," you reply. "I'm glad we were able to lift the siege, though it's quite strange that we knew nothing of it until we arrived."
"We're quite used to being an island of civilization in a sea of terror, I'm afraid," she explains vaguely. "By the time it occurred to anyone to send for help, we had already been encircled."
"Messenger pigeons?" you suggest, but she's shaking her head before you even finish the words.
"That's a boondoggle one only has to sink money into once to learn their lesson. It's the bats, you see. They've got quite an appetite for blood, which tragically extends to that of birds."
"So has this sort of thing happened before?" you ask, changing tack.
"Impromptu, unguided sieges? Oh, yes. There's some sort of rudimentary herding instinct in them, so every now and then enough accumulate at the walls to start attracting more and from there it just accumulates."
"And how do you usually solve it?"
"Winter comes eventually; the ghouls and wolves seek shelter and the zombies freeze, while the skeletons are buried in snow. We spend the winter months digging them up one by one and smacking them over the head until they stop moving. Inconvenient when a siege begins in spring, but such is life in Sylvania."
Your eyes narrow at her in thought; by all appearances she's younger than you, but she talks with the confidence and experience and world-weariness of a woman with a decade on you. You're sure that Countess Gabriella has ruled here for as long as you've been Spymistress, which must mean she was merely a teenager when she became Countess; not unheard of, and it could explain her acting older than her years, but...
But your suspicions must be visible on your face, because her smile suddenly widens. "I know that look," she says suddenly. "It's an 'I'm going to check the records when I get back home and see how long there's been a Countess Gabriella in Nachthafen' sort of look."
You stare at her again, both at her person and at the mystical energy flowing within her, and to both she seems absolutely normal. "You get that look a lot?" you manage, shifting in your seat slightly so you could leap to your feet without trouble, if necessary.
"Every now and then. Let me spare you some trouble: since just before the turn of the millennium. The nineties were a good time to put down roots."
Too obvious. Too obvious. She's giving it away for free. Why? What reaction is she trying to get? Remember your teachings. Game it out. She all but tells you she's a vampire. You... do you attack her? If she knows you by reputation, she has to be at least prepared for the possibility, and you have an enormous sword on your back, for crying out loud. Witnesses? Is she prepared to fend off an attack and then have witnesses tell of your 'unprovoked' assault on her? Otherwise... well, you'd go straight to Van Hal. Van Hal would investigate himself. Is she trying to draw him in for something? To discredit you? To spring a trap on him? Is she even telling the truth about being a vampire? Why would someone lie about that? But then, why would someone be honest about that?
Then... do you do nothing? That might be the play. She's revealing this to inspire some sort of reaction in you; to do nothing counters that. It leaves her free to act, but no freer than if she had just said nothing. What's she trying to do? How do you prevent it?
She's been watching you as your thoughts race, her smile widening. "Oh, it's so nice to have a thinker in Eagle Castle. The last fellow was so tedious - wouldn't think about what to have for breakfast unless someone was bribing him to do so. Have you found him?"
"Hasn't been a priority," you say cautiously. Keep her talking. If she's talking, she's not doing anything else.
"Smart. He was a piece, not a player."
"And who moved him?"
"Anyone with money, of course." She smiles as you stare at her. "You know who one of them was. Everyone with the senses to feel it knows the spell that girl in Drakenhof hurled at you." She tuts, and fussily rearranges her hands in her lap. "So much raw power, so little control. Little wonder she's stark raving mad."
"Countess von Carstein," you venture, and she scowls.
"So she calls herself. Incorrect on all three counts - if you'll excuse the pun. No more spurious a claim has ever been made, I assure you."
"What are your plans in this campaign?" you ask.
"Plans? Why would I have plans? The hills are safer for my subjects to graze their herds in, and my neighbour to the east is soon to get a rude visitation they thoroughly deserve. Doing nothing is serving me quite splendidly."
You can't think of any other questions to ask; you need to digest what has already been said, or at least hinted at. "If you'll excuse me," you ask politely.
"Of course," she says graciously as you rise to your feet; at the door, apparently unsummoned, the man who led you in appears to lead you back out. "This was such fun. Come by again some time. Give my best to Abelhelm," she says, smug as a cat with a full belly.
You make your way out, your nerves screaming, but everything is normal. The peasants in the hall continue to wait patiently, the only change being a few more at the end of the line. You soon find yourself back on the streets of Nachthafen, with no more answers and a great deal more questions than when you first arrived. But you'll not let yourself be so easily driven off, though. You linger in the area for a couple of weeks, and find a score of locals willing to pass on information for silver. Chances are at least some of them will be feeding you false information, but one can often derive truths from the lies someone tells.
---
PLAN FOR THIS PURGE TURN
ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIONS - these are LOCKED IN for the next purge turn, but personal actions can still be spent on them.
Information Network - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[ ] Expand your information network into another province (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into another county or barony (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into the military (choose a Division)
[ ] Expand your Intelligence Attaché program to another Division (choose one)
[ ] Off the Leash: Let Julia handle the network without your micromanagement from now on.
Information Network finances - can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Attaché Paperwork: The Intelligence Attachés are your biggest expense by far - see if you can have them paid for by the Army of Stirland instead.
[ ] Fixer: Work with the Wurtbad Thieves Guild, supplying them information in exchange for a portion of profits.
[ ] Special Branch: Pull some financial trickery to get the information network classified as part of the Watch, so that their costs are covered by the Stirlandian treasury.
[ ] Trade Delegation: Convince Wilhelmina and Markus to partner your network with the EIC based on the value of market information.
Stirland Watch - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[o] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of their covered area. (cannot be taken until army retirement resumes in six months)
[o] Expand the Watch into a new county or barony (choose which) (cannot be taken until army retirement resumes in six months)
[ ] Expand the Special Branch into areas already covered by the Watch, so you have an additional pool of manpower you can call upon to supplement the full-time Watchmen.
[ ] Improve the training of the Watch, hiring trainers and dedicating paid time each week to sharpening skills.
[ ] Integrate the Roadwarden network of covered areas into the Watch.
[ ] Investigate the possibility of adding a River Warden branch of the Watch.
[ ] Headhunt administrators from other organizations in Stirland.
[ ] Attempt to hire administrators and clerks from Altdorf and Nuln.
Stirland Watch finances - can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Formalize and organize the payments people make for the Gong Farmers to perform their service, as well as having the Watch start enforcing existing laws against dumping human waste in the street or the Stir.
[ ] Currently, solid waste is sent by cart and wagon out to the fields for a pittance. It could instead be used to create market gardens along the banks of the Stir (hopefully downwind) and increase revenue and provide jobs for the desperate by growing a variety of cash crops.
[ ] Tanneries have a seemingly limitless demand for urine, which explains a lot about the smell. A bit of fragrant research would allow you to identify how much demand there is and how much of a profit you can wring from this.
[ ] In Wissenland, there are a number of techniques in use to derive saltpeter from urine. It would take a great deal more effort than selling to tanneries, but saltpeter could be exported to Nuln for fantastic profit, or used to start gunpowder production in Stirland.
[ ] Expand your information network into another province (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into another county or barony (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into the military (choose a Division)
[ ] Expand your Intelligence Attaché program to another Division (choose one)
[ ] Off the Leash: Let Julia handle the network without your micromanagement from now on.
Information Network finances - can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Attaché Paperwork: The Intelligence Attachés are your biggest expense by far - see if you can have them paid for by the Army of Stirland instead.
[ ] Fixer: Work with the Wurtbad Thieves Guild, supplying them information in exchange for a portion of profits.
[ ] Special Branch: Pull some financial trickery to get the information network classified as part of the Watch, so that their costs are covered by the Stirlandian treasury.
[ ] Trade Delegation: Convince Wilhelmina and Markus to partner your network with the EIC based on the value of market information.
Stirland Watch - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[o] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of their covered area. (cannot be taken until army retirement resumes in six months)
[o] Expand the Watch into a new county or barony (choose which) (cannot be taken until army retirement resumes in six months)
[ ] Expand the Special Branch into areas already covered by the Watch, so you have an additional pool of manpower you can call upon to supplement the full-time Watchmen.
[ ] Improve the training of the Watch, hiring trainers and dedicating paid time each week to sharpening skills.
[ ] Integrate the Roadwarden network of covered areas into the Watch.
[ ] Investigate the possibility of adding a River Warden branch of the Watch.
[ ] Headhunt administrators from other organizations in Stirland.
[ ] Attempt to hire administrators and clerks from Altdorf and Nuln.
Stirland Watch finances - can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Formalize and organize the payments people make for the Gong Farmers to perform their service, as well as having the Watch start enforcing existing laws against dumping human waste in the street or the Stir.
[ ] Currently, solid waste is sent by cart and wagon out to the fields for a pittance. It could instead be used to create market gardens along the banks of the Stir (hopefully downwind) and increase revenue and provide jobs for the desperate by growing a variety of cash crops.
[ ] Tanneries have a seemingly limitless demand for urine, which explains a lot about the smell. A bit of fragrant research would allow you to identify how much demand there is and how much of a profit you can wring from this.
[ ] In Wissenland, there are a number of techniques in use to derive saltpeter from urine. It would take a great deal more effort than selling to tanneries, but saltpeter could be exported to Nuln for fantastic profit, or used to start gunpowder production in Stirland.
---
PERSONAL ACTIONS - CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO AND THREE. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST TWO WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASK:
Genießt den Krieg - join the divisions entering Sylvania:
[ ] Countess Gabriella von Bundebad implied quite a lot, and in such a way that it's clear she's trying to needle you into action. But you don't know what. If inaction isn't the correct move, what is? (write in; may take an action) (NEW)
[ ] If you're feeling nosy, Vanhaldenschlosse is apparently free of anything that would object to you poking around in what was once the proud ancestral home of the Van Hals.
[ ] Something apparently quite similar to the Purge of the Haunted Hills is going on in Ostermark's southern regions; you could inspect goings-on up there yourself.
[ ] Attach yourself to the general staff, so you can be present for anything interesting that might happen and keep a finger on the pulse of the war.
[ ] Attach yourself to a specific regiment so you can spend some time in the thick of things.
That Bloody Paper: (NEW)
[ ] Sod it. Submit the paper as it is now, and let whoever may be interested slog their way through a few hundred pages of densely-packed trigonometric formulae. (does not take an action)
[ ] Send it off to our Master and ask that he passes it on to someone with the skills to distil it into something resembling elegance; though it will mean that they will get co-author status, and may fight you on the name. (does not take an action)
[ ] Throw yourself back into reclusion and goddamn stay there until the job is bloody well done. (takes two actions)
[ ] Wurtbad was once famous for hospitality, and it still has a wonderful selection of high-class inns with actual hot running water. Book yourself into the Golden Eagle Inn and allow yourself to be pampered in the hopes that it will let the words flow. (costs personal funds)
[ ] Get atop your horse, find a place rich in Ulgu, and play hermit for a month while hoping that the energies you're so familiar with will inspire you. (???)
Miscellany:
[ ] Hang Out A Shingle: Spymasters don't advertise, but wizards sometimes do. Make an official announcement that there's a wizard in residence, and see who comes out of the woodwork.
[ ] Formal Proposal: Your idea for an undead research team was received poorly, but Van Hal is still open to the idea in theory. Write in details: Name, who it is technically a part of (Watch, Witch Hunters, Military, College, none), and whether it reports directly to you (becomes a new Organization you command) or, if not, who it would report to.
[ ] Gun Shopping: You're currently using a pistol that was a spare for the pistoliers. Visit Nuln to upgrade. (Choose: dueling pistols for accuracy and range, repeater pistols for weight of fire, dragons for hand shotguns. Choose: whether you will acquire and use two pistols at once or keep one hand free.)
[ ] Write up a proposal for Wilhelmina to approve a short-term increase in Discretionary Income, for the duration of the crisis.
Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
[ ] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who; can choose which, or you can let them decide).
[ ] Really Good Swords: You have achieved proficiency with the Greatsword. Future progress is possible, though it will take more effort to see results.
[ ] Combat Training: You're virtually surrounded by armed warriors of various sorts. See if you can convince one to teach you (choose who).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: You haven't made many heavily armed friends yet, but gold is good for that. Go out and buy some training. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.
Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You've finally got the equipment, now you've just got to unpack it all and set up your laboratory.
[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room)
Research:
[ ] Undead Research: You know the basics, now. Perhaps a great deal of effort will allow you to advance further.
[ ] Snooping: Van Hal gave you a key to his Study. It's been a while since he's been in Wurtbad; he probably forgot he did so, and won't remember until he returns. And he didn't specifically say not to poke around and see what you could find.
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. You've got several gallons of the stuff and it's still coming out. It's got to be good for something.
[ ] Qhaysh Skunkworks: It would take careful study to unlock the secrets of the liquid. It would take considerably less time to find out if it can be made to burn, or explode, or do something militarily useful.
[ ] There's always room for more shadow spells in your repertoire. Send off to the Grey College for the basics on one of the others and get started on trying to learn it.
Influence:
[ ] Information Network: Work alongside to Julia to administer the network. Choose another Organizational Action for the Network.
[ ] Stirland Watch: Work alongside Jack to administer the Watch. Choose another Organizational Action for the Watch.
[ ] Financial Jargon: Everything with the EIC flew right over your head last time. Try again. Succeeding here will mean that you can take a more active hand in the company, adding it to the organizational actions; failing or not attempting means Mathilde will remain a silent partner.
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god. If it could be expanded under your aegis, it could be a powerful tool.
[ ] Biderhof: This village based on woodcutting and agriculture, has adopted you as one of it's own. Maybe you should adopt it as your own, in a literal sense.
[ ] Non-Thief Guilds: Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.
Relations:
[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors, your liege, or any of the other important figures you've come to know, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: Trust, but verify. Spend some of your time seeing what a certain person spends their time doing (choose one).
[ ] Letters Home: You might be able to wring more information out of your Master, or you might just be able to get news, information and guidance in general from the Grey Order.
[o] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (not possible during Purge Turns)
[ ] Countess Gabriella von Bundebad implied quite a lot, and in such a way that it's clear she's trying to needle you into action. But you don't know what. If inaction isn't the correct move, what is? (write in; may take an action) (NEW)
[ ] If you're feeling nosy, Vanhaldenschlosse is apparently free of anything that would object to you poking around in what was once the proud ancestral home of the Van Hals.
[ ] Something apparently quite similar to the Purge of the Haunted Hills is going on in Ostermark's southern regions; you could inspect goings-on up there yourself.
[ ] Attach yourself to the general staff, so you can be present for anything interesting that might happen and keep a finger on the pulse of the war.
[ ] Attach yourself to a specific regiment so you can spend some time in the thick of things.
That Bloody Paper: (NEW)
[ ] Sod it. Submit the paper as it is now, and let whoever may be interested slog their way through a few hundred pages of densely-packed trigonometric formulae. (does not take an action)
[ ] Send it off to our Master and ask that he passes it on to someone with the skills to distil it into something resembling elegance; though it will mean that they will get co-author status, and may fight you on the name. (does not take an action)
[ ] Throw yourself back into reclusion and goddamn stay there until the job is bloody well done. (takes two actions)
[ ] Wurtbad was once famous for hospitality, and it still has a wonderful selection of high-class inns with actual hot running water. Book yourself into the Golden Eagle Inn and allow yourself to be pampered in the hopes that it will let the words flow. (costs personal funds)
[ ] Get atop your horse, find a place rich in Ulgu, and play hermit for a month while hoping that the energies you're so familiar with will inspire you. (???)
Miscellany:
[ ] Hang Out A Shingle: Spymasters don't advertise, but wizards sometimes do. Make an official announcement that there's a wizard in residence, and see who comes out of the woodwork.
[ ] Formal Proposal: Your idea for an undead research team was received poorly, but Van Hal is still open to the idea in theory. Write in details: Name, who it is technically a part of (Watch, Witch Hunters, Military, College, none), and whether it reports directly to you (becomes a new Organization you command) or, if not, who it would report to.
[ ] Gun Shopping: You're currently using a pistol that was a spare for the pistoliers. Visit Nuln to upgrade. (Choose: dueling pistols for accuracy and range, repeater pistols for weight of fire, dragons for hand shotguns. Choose: whether you will acquire and use two pistols at once or keep one hand free.)
[ ] Write up a proposal for Wilhelmina to approve a short-term increase in Discretionary Income, for the duration of the crisis.
Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
[ ] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who; can choose which, or you can let them decide).
[ ] Really Good Swords: You have achieved proficiency with the Greatsword. Future progress is possible, though it will take more effort to see results.
[ ] Combat Training: You're virtually surrounded by armed warriors of various sorts. See if you can convince one to teach you (choose who).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: You haven't made many heavily armed friends yet, but gold is good for that. Go out and buy some training. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.
Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You've finally got the equipment, now you've just got to unpack it all and set up your laboratory.
[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room)
Research:
[ ] Undead Research: You know the basics, now. Perhaps a great deal of effort will allow you to advance further.
[ ] Snooping: Van Hal gave you a key to his Study. It's been a while since he's been in Wurtbad; he probably forgot he did so, and won't remember until he returns. And he didn't specifically say not to poke around and see what you could find.
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. You've got several gallons of the stuff and it's still coming out. It's got to be good for something.
[ ] Qhaysh Skunkworks: It would take careful study to unlock the secrets of the liquid. It would take considerably less time to find out if it can be made to burn, or explode, or do something militarily useful.
[ ] There's always room for more shadow spells in your repertoire. Send off to the Grey College for the basics on one of the others and get started on trying to learn it.
Influence:
[ ] Information Network: Work alongside to Julia to administer the network. Choose another Organizational Action for the Network.
[ ] Stirland Watch: Work alongside Jack to administer the Watch. Choose another Organizational Action for the Watch.
[ ] Financial Jargon: Everything with the EIC flew right over your head last time. Try again. Succeeding here will mean that you can take a more active hand in the company, adding it to the organizational actions; failing or not attempting means Mathilde will remain a silent partner.
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god. If it could be expanded under your aegis, it could be a powerful tool.
[ ] Biderhof: This village based on woodcutting and agriculture, has adopted you as one of it's own. Maybe you should adopt it as your own, in a literal sense.
[ ] Non-Thief Guilds: Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.
Relations:
[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors, your liege, or any of the other important figures you've come to know, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: Trust, but verify. Spend some of your time seeing what a certain person spends their time doing (choose one).
[ ] Letters Home: You might be able to wring more information out of your Master, or you might just be able to get news, information and guidance in general from the Grey Order.
[o] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (not possible during Purge Turns)
- Something to keep in mind: I only show a roll when it's obvious that a roll is being made, and obvious what the results are. That there is a roll at all can reveal a lot in the meta sense, as can the difficulty of the roll, and the modifiers opposing it, and how well the results line up with the roll; and often what would be revealed is information you have no access to in character, so I err on the side of not showing those rolls. In this case, one of those 'hidden' rolls used your Blessing, I didn't forget it (this time).
- For the write-in for Countess Gabriella, simply telling someone won't take an action, but performing an in-depth investigation will; if in doubt, ask, and don't try to get cheeky with how much you can achieve without 'counting' as an action.
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The expectation is that the center of the Hills is going to be nastier than the outskirts, so it needs to be cleared instead of leaving it at the army's back as they march on Drakenhof. So the current plan is to converge on the center of the hills from Nachthafen and the camp between Leicheberg and Vanhaldenschlosse, and assuming that goes well to push southwest and clear the area around Naubonum.
[X] Throw yourself back into reclusion and goddamn stay there until the job is bloody well done.(takes two actions)
-[X] Ranald's Blessing
-[X] Ranald's Blessing
[X] Throw yourself back into reclusion and goddamn stay there until the job is bloody well done.(takes two actions)
-[X] Ranald's Blessing
-[X] Ranald's Blessing
VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
[X] Plan Northern Eye
-[X] Something apparently quite similar to the Purge of the Haunted Hills is going on in Ostermark's southern regions; you could inspect goings-on up there yourself.
--[X] Ranald's Blessing
-[X] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors or your liege, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
--[X] Anton
-[X] Send it off to our Master and ask that he passes it on to someone with the skills to distil it into something resembling elegance; though it will mean that they will get co-author status, and may fight you on the name. (does not take an action)
We should probably check up on the other count who's doing purging. That lady seems fine, might want to torch the place tho.
-[X] Something apparently quite similar to the Purge of the Haunted Hills is going on in Ostermark's southern regions; you could inspect goings-on up there yourself.
--[X] Ranald's Blessing
-[X] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors or your liege, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
--[X] Anton
-[X] Send it off to our Master and ask that he passes it on to someone with the skills to distil it into something resembling elegance; though it will mean that they will get co-author status, and may fight you on the name. (does not take an action)
We should probably check up on the other count who's doing purging. That lady seems fine, might want to torch the place tho.
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- Location
- Norway
Allright, so, looking ahead.
I'm guessing the chance that the army will get bogged down or have a setback is much larger than the chance the army will suddenly clear superfast. So probably not less than three turns to clear the Haunted Hills. But we shouldn't plan for more, either, so as not to get caught with our pants down.
This means we should arguably budget six actions in the Purge Turns before it's Drakenhof Time, and one of the last two will probably be fulfilling Van Hal's request of writing the Grey College and pulling what strings we can to get heavy Wizard Support for the march on Drakenhof.
Five actions to prepare ourselves. What do we want to have done by then?
If we think Burning Shadows and a greatsword is enough, we could detour to write papers and investigate Gabriella and whatnot. If we want to be more prepared, perhaps it's time for things like Enchantment Lab and Qhaysh Skunkworks and learning another spell or studying more Greatsword/Undead Lore/Drakenhof Lore.
What is Van Hal likely to expect of us by then? "I was writing a paper on magic theory" is probably not what he wants to hear as the thrust of our report; do we think he'll be satisfied with our other activities like investigating the Blasphemy of Blood and visiting Nachthafen?
Food for thought.
I'm guessing the chance that the army will get bogged down or have a setback is much larger than the chance the army will suddenly clear superfast. So probably not less than three turns to clear the Haunted Hills. But we shouldn't plan for more, either, so as not to get caught with our pants down.
This means we should arguably budget six actions in the Purge Turns before it's Drakenhof Time, and one of the last two will probably be fulfilling Van Hal's request of writing the Grey College and pulling what strings we can to get heavy Wizard Support for the march on Drakenhof.
Five actions to prepare ourselves. What do we want to have done by then?
If we think Burning Shadows and a greatsword is enough, we could detour to write papers and investigate Gabriella and whatnot. If we want to be more prepared, perhaps it's time for things like Enchantment Lab and Qhaysh Skunkworks and learning another spell or studying more Greatsword/Undead Lore/Drakenhof Lore.
What is Van Hal likely to expect of us by then? "I was writing a paper on magic theory" is probably not what he wants to hear as the thrust of our report; do we think he'll be satisfied with our other activities like investigating the Blasphemy of Blood and visiting Nachthafen?
Food for thought.
- Location
- Norway
I'd like to consider if one small modification could perhaps be made to this:
Send along a chicken with a spell matrix in.
Might make things easier for the Someone to have a live example to inspect, but on the other hand Regimand might frown on us sending magic structures around that aren't thoroughly tested yet.
(Not a vote, at least not yet)
Well choose one?
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- Location
- Germany
So, the countess has heavily implied she's a vampire, but she seems smart and sane and this is Silvania.
Personal warning to Van Halen and otherwise letting it rest until the army camps at Nachthaven, then increased security?
Personal warning to Van Halen and otherwise letting it rest until the army camps at Nachthaven, then increased security?
I'm somewhat partial to this
[ ] Get atop your horse, find a place rich in Ulgu, and play hermit for a month while hoping that the energies you're so familiar with will inspire you. (???)
Along with something that helps finish our fitness advanced into a proper skill
[ ] Get atop your horse, find a place rich in Ulgu, and play hermit for a month while hoping that the energies you're so familiar with will inspire you. (???)
Along with something that helps finish our fitness advanced into a proper skill
VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
Thanks, Anton it is. Just so i can see effects of 10/10 relation.