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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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[X] By Van Hal's side. Whatever happens.

While I'd like to do something, we already have one foot in the casket ourselves, and we're p[robably suffering from an adrenaline down and PTSD.

I don't think we're really going to have the presence of mind to pull heroics like looking for Mr. K
 
Okay, what I have in mind:
1. Take command
2. Dispatch a protective detail around Van Hal's tent (greatswords and other elites). Reinforce it if it's already there.
3. Arrange a search for light wizard and Kasmir with orders to show up by Van Hal's tent as fast as possible.
4. Relinquish command to a most suitable guy (Thane>Gustav>Asarnil I think?).
5. Return to Van Hal's side.
@BoneyM do I need a write-in for that or we'll be voting for this if we select "take command" option?

Main point is a) make sure everything is done to keep Van Hal alive b) make sure that leadership doesn't deterioriate given our marshal is a hothead fighting on the frontlines and quite possibly dead already by this point.
 
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Omegahugger said:
So for some reason people aren't eager to press the button labelled "Obviously a bad idea". While not particularly surprising, I better throw my vote behind something I actually approve of.

[X] By Van Hal's side. Whatever happens.

I am really not a fan of running out into battle right now. It is essentially the third worst idea right now (out of five, so that doesn't say much), only surpassed by the "practically suicide" of running back into battle and "actually suicide" of trying to use Dhar.

We can all agree that time is of the essence here, right? No matter how things turn out, the faster we can get healing to Van Hal, the better. And by extension, we can also agree that any combat is to be avoided, right? Not only would even a small skirmish cost us valuable time, but Mathilde's currently badly wounded and probably only one or two poor rolls away from ending up like her boss.

So we'd need to find Kashmir swiftly and sneakily. Which is not inherently a problem, doing that's basically the centerpoint of our build. At our peak, this would be easy. But we're far from our peak right now. Not only are we badly injured (enough to inflict a -10 debuff through an adrenaline rush), but we're also quite haunted mentally. And a frazzled mind is not one that should cast spells. We've been repeatedly reminded that there's no such thing as a risk-free spell, and this is probably the riskiest situation to cast spells in (again, not counting leading in the actual Dhar).

Not to mention that even if we manage to find KAshmir without suffering meaningful losses, we still run the very real risk of Van Hal dying while we're out searching. Meaning that we essentially left him to die alone for nothing. And that's not a layer of guilt that Mathilde needs.

We've hired the mages. We've sent the couriers. We've done all that we could, solet's not break our back trying to surpass our limits.


Might be hard to hear over the screams of both the dying and the dead.
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You make a good case.
Mathilde is near gutted herself.

[X] By Van Hal's side. Whatever happens.

And in case theres vampire assassins. Remember this is the homebase of the sleeper agents. Best be sure the doctors actually are.
 
Oh. You gather what will you can, and stumble away from your stance astride Van Hal's fallen body, truly taking the sight in for the first time: the bloody leathers, the spear through his gut. The sight sets off a storm of emotion in you, but it's a storm you watch numbly from a distance, power and fury raging a long way away. You feel Orc Hewerslip from your fingers.
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Also I hope the Dwari picked up the Runefang because the sections after this make no mention of it.
 
vsh said:
Okay, what I have in mind:
1. Take command
2. Dispatch a protective detail around Van Hal's tent (greatswords and other elites). Reinforce it if it's already there.
3. Arrange a search for light wizard and Kasmir with orders to show up by Van Hal's tent as fast as possible.
4. Relinquish command to a most suitable guy (Thane>Gustav>Asarnil I think?).
5. Return to Van Hal's side.
@BoneyM do I need a write-in for that or we'll be voting for this if we select "take command" option?

Main point is a) make sure everything is done to keep Van Hal alive b) make sure that leadership doesn't deterioriate given our marshal is a hothead fighting on the frontlines and quite possibly dead already by this point.
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I tend to agree. One injured, traumatised Wizard running/riding around a city full of skeletons, looking for one man... Not good odds of surviving, let alone finding him.

I took a look through our spells known, nothing especially useful for getting a message out. We can make lights and loud non-speech sounds, but probably not louder than a battle.

Time to use the chain of command thing we observed a few updates ago. Take charge of Van Hal's survival. Get the runners near Van Hal's to take orders to the army Officers, to spread the word to all the men that Kasmir and/or the Light Wizard are to be found and brought here, highest priority.

@BoneyM are there any surviving Greatswords around? Some to guard the tent would be great.

[x] vsh
 
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[X] By Van Hal's side. Whatever happens

Don't particularly mind which wins between this and finding Kasmir.
Although it occurs to me that getting healed by Sigmar could do a lot for Van Hal's crisis of faith.
 
Re: threadmark - I forgot.

Alliterate said:
Did you go back and flesh out the opening character moments with Van Hal after the battle rolls, or had you already written it?
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I'd already written it, it just worked out that there was a double-1 rapidly approaching.

vsh said:
@BoneyM do I need a write-in for that or we'll be voting for this if we select "take command" option?
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Taking command would mean taking command. Just like Mathilde is capable of breathing without explicit instructions, you can take it as a given that the command structure of the Army of Stirland is capable of things like 'posting guards' and 'sending healers to the wounded Elector Count' and 'command reverting to the most suitable candidate' without you having to seize control of it.

Alliterate said:
@BoneyM are there any surviving Greatswords around? Some to guard the tent would be great.
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As far as you know, they're all embroiled in the battle. But you've been somewhat distracted.
 
Karnax626 said:
[X] By Van Hal's side. Whatever happens

Don't particularly mind which wins between this and finding Kasmir.
Although it occurs to me that getting healed by Sigmar could do a lot for Van Hal's crisis of faith.
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I rather fear the initial hot blooded rush on the thread votes might send an injured, disarmed, exhausted and emotionally spent Mathilde to her death in the town.
 
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[X] The plan exists independently of Van Hal; if necessary, it will outlive him. Take command.

[X] Somewhere in that town-turned-battlefield is Brother Kasmir. Leave Van Hal's side. Find him. Sigmar will heal Van Hal.


Mathilde is adrenaline'd out, and is wounded at the moment too so I don't think it's wise to go onto the battlefield itself. However taking command doesn't mean that and we can still affect the battle, and we've notably been around Van Hal when he's been commanding for months so we know how to do it. This option should also mean we can actually utilize the armies resources instead of acting as an independent agent, and send someone to retrieve Kasimir or the Light Wizard given we should know where their general location is then send someone to retrieve them (perhaps with a shadow horse chicken? Joke, but maybe not if that was a viable idea).

I don't particularly think Van Hal's immediate safety is at risk. He is going to have his bodyguards now that he's back behind lines and didn't charge ahead of everyone, within an army camp, and we've been told the Death wizards are on overwatch which includes their Patriarch. His wound is also a slow burn lethal, rather than an imminent one.
 
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Neptune said:
[X] Somewhere in that town-turned-battlefield is Brother Kasmir. Leave Van Hal's side. Find him. Sigmar will heal Van Hal.

Mathilde is adrenaline'd out, and is wounded at the moment too so I don't think it's wise to go onto the battlefield itself. However taking command doesn't mean that and we can still affect the battle, and we've notably been around Van Hal when he's been commanding for months so we know how to do it. This option should also mean we can actually utilize the armies resources instead of acting as an independent agent, and send someone to retrieve Kasimir or the Light Wizard given we should know where their general location is then send someone to retrieve them (perhaps with a shadow horse chicken? Joke, but maybe not if that was a viable idea).

I don't particularly think Van Hal's immediate safety is at risk. He is going to have his bodyguards now that he's back behind lines and didn't charge ahead of everyone, within an army camp, and we've been told the Death wizards are on overwatch which includes their Patriarch. His wound is also a slow burn lethal, rather than an imminent one.
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Err, your text says "Take Command", but your vote says "Go out and find the medic".
 
[X] By Van Hal's side. Whatever happens.

We've called for a healer, let's let the Dwarves and generals command this fight.

We've done our part, hell we've done better than our part. But Mathilde is injured and should know better than to run out and get herself killed, besides sticking with Van Hal should really impress the dwarves.
 
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BoneyM said:
If this is your doom then so be it, a hundred have fallen before you this day and a hundred more will be broken by your hands before they drag you down.
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"When you are abandoned and alone, Morr shall befriend you", wasn't it? Mathildes' prophesied doom? Seems she beat it... this time. Intentional or otherwise, nice callback.

I wonder what Van Hal's Doom is.

(Also, we must be a WFB 2-Wound Hero unit! Woo!)
 
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BoneyM said:
"Skeleton's broke again," is the input from the seated figure. "We'll report it later. He won't do no harm."

The watchmen squints down the road at the figures, now advancing rapidly. Underneath the alcohol, some part of his brain is starting to clamour. "'Ere," he says at last. "Do you remember the Mistress having that many knights?"

And those were to be his final words, as the Black Guards of Morr couch their lances in silence and charge through the still-open gates, neither skeleton nor man slowing them for an instant.
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Incidentally wasn't discussed much but this section is just perfect. People get used to everything eh?
 
BoneyM said:
Taking command would mean taking command. Just like Mathilde is capable of breathing without explicit instructions, you can take it as a given that the command structure of the Army of Stirland is capable of things like 'posting guards' and 'sending healers to the wounded Elector Count' and 'command reverting to the most suitable candidate' without you having to seize control of it.
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Good to know, thanks.
[x] By Van Hal's side. Whatever happens.
 
[X] The plan exists independently of Van Hal; if necessary, it will outlive him. Take command.

After thinking about it this is the only option wich actualy may get results.

Staying be his side does nothing, we already did everything we could to get him healed and forget some idea of stoping assassins, we ust charged this city from nowhere be the time they learn he was wounded it won't realy matter anyway.
Charging into battle wounded as we are is basicaly suicidal, we are more likely to end up dead with nothing to show for it.
Now there is a very good why we need to take command, the army just started this attack with a critical failure, this situation is a clusterfuck and both the elector and the marshal are nowhere in sight, wich means unless the next person with the most authority steps to untagle this mess the generals will probaly waste a long trying to fix the chain of command while the army gets more and more desoranized, that person is us, so instead of spending time being sentimental we should do what Van Hall would want and go keep the army together.
 
[X] The plan exists independently of Van Hal; if necessary, it will outlive him. Take command.

Awesome update, truly a great job of weaving the catastrophic (but also great as we could well have died there outright, Mathilde's Stand should be something to be sung by bards for decades to come!) dice rolls into an incredibly well written narrative.

From the interplay between Van Hal and Weber, to the city guards scene, to the edge of our seats battle: great!

I have a theory to explain what happened: the portcullis was enchanted or had a skeleton slaved to it as a last resort and it closed just behind our impetous charge.
 
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[X] Somewhere in that town-turned-battlefield is Brother Kasmir. Leave Van Hal's side. Find him. Sigmar will heal Van Hal.
 
[X] The plan exists independently of Van Hal; if necessary, it will outlive him. Take command.

Moral is going to be incredible low the military adviser in the council specializes in charges, a lot of time and resources have been devoted to this we need to make sure ensure it continues.
 
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