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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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[X] Scout the rest of the Eight Peaks, to find out what other horrors are waiting out there.
[X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
[X] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
[X] Write a series of papers on the magical phenomena you witnessed. Or better yet, get your Journeymanlings to do the actual writing.
 
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Kornet said:
And not among the least of his contributions is mentoring Mathilde - she would be a much different and probably much less historically important character without him and exposing the grand conspiracy - but that is not going into history books.
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We still have no idea how he managed to figure out the grand conspiracy. We likely never will, either, and given that it was a grand (chaos) conspiracy he miiight have made a really big impact there as well. Maybe that's where all his Witch Hunter contacts were busy?
Glau said:
But undumgi is more time sensitive. If we do this now, it'll be by acclimation- else they'll already have a commander. Come on, just a few turns before papers? We have the research locked in!
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Not to mention that the other research vote, the Tower, is the leading vote by miles.
 
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[X] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
[X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
[X] You could help the Undumgi and the Ulricans establish themselves.
 
I feel like trying to "game the system" by trying to stick extra enchantments on the same item is asking for trouble. Plus, it'd be awkward as heck to switch between them - both of those are two handed weapons.
 
[X] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
[X] All this time away has made you miss your friends. Visit Anton and Wilhelmina.
[X] You've been out of touch for a while. Head to Barak Varr and then Altdorf, and catch up with what's been happening in the Empire.
 
Alliterate said:
I've got a idea about armament options and a couple of questions, @BoneyM when you get a chance.

Essentially, If two Greatswords would fall under 'rule of cool', would carrying a Greatsword plus Runed Great(ish)axe do likewise?
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No, it would look wonky, which breaches the aforementioned rule. She'd need to move the sword to her waist, which would mean a shorter sword.

Alliterate said:
If so, then comes my maybe less reasonable idea.
We'd also like a Channeling Staff/Grounding Implement, which from what I've understood of the earlier conversation is in most circumstances, best in Wood(?)
So- and please knock me back if it's too much, it's just a thought- could, hypothetically, the haft of a Runic Great(ish)Axe be such a Staff? Maybe get a little help from Panoramia sourcing the wood from the local slopes, Turn a standard staff, and give it a Runed axehead? I suppose it hinges on if Runes are self-contained enough to be unaffected by Ulgu channeling through the same implement.
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Possible but tricky as hell. You wouldn't just be making a staff, you'd be making a staff and also trying to make it functional as an axe shaft. Axes and magical staffs are two skillsets that don't overlap very often, and it would need to overlap on a Grey Wizard. So to make this works Mathilde would learn not just how to wield, but also how to make axes.
 
Alliterate said:
I've got a idea about armament options and a couple of questions, @BoneyM if you get a chance.

Essentially, If two Greatswords would fall under 'rule of cool', would carrying a Greatsword plus Runed Great(ish)axe do likewise?

Yes, a sword is the symbol of the Grey Order, and we're pretty synonymous with being The Grey Greatsword (well, Flamberge) Wizard now.
However, we're also No.1 manling BFF to Belebro, Dwarfbestie, and all.
So, extending our armament to carry a Dawi warriors preferred armament as well might be cool, too? And it seems we could learn to use it reasonably quickly with proper instruction.

Then we could drop hints to surly Runelords about how much we really admire those fine Runic Greataxes, and my what an impressive Rune you have there.
Then as suggested, when he's ready, also do a Maximillian-forged collaborative Ulgu-enchanted Greatsword, and have the best of both worlds.

All good so far?

If so, then comes my maybe less reasonable idea.
We'd also like a Channeling Staff/Grounding Implement, which from what I've understood of the earlier conversation is in most circumstances, best in Wood(?)
So- and please knock me back if it's too much, it's just a thought- could, hypothetically, the haft of a Runic Great(ish)Axe be such a Staff? Maybe get a little help from Panoramia sourcing the wood from the local slopes, Turn a standard staff, and give it a Runed axehead? I suppose it hinges on if Runes are self-contained enough to be unaffected by Ulgu channeling through the same implement.
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If nothing else, that's a hella sweet idea. And I like symbolism. Man and Dwarf, Wizard and Runesmith, working together to create something they never could on their own. But in that case, there should be a second axe for our bro, to show our eternal friendship. I just can't think of something for us to contribute that they'd want to use.

Now, how to express it with a mining metaphor?
 
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Something I was interested in taking a look at, after one poster or another mentioned the mercenaries in a post.

After the battle of Karag Nar:
BoneyM said:
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
10,000 6,700 miscellaneous mercenaries, adventurers, and vagabonds.
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After the battle of the Citadel:
BoneyM said:
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
10,000 5,400 miscellaneous mercenaries, adventurers, and vagabonds.
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And checking the losses in general:
BoneyM said:
Losses at the Battle of Karag Nar:
Karak Hirn: 50 Rangers
Karak Izor: 150 Longbeards, 400 Warriors
Unaffiliated Dwarves: 500 Adventurers

Demigryph Knights: 5 Knights.
Unaffiliated Humans: 800 Adventurers


Losses at the Battle of the Citadel:
Unaffiliated Humans: 1,300 Adventurers
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So, to clarify... Before Karag Nar they had 7,300 and then lost 800. Before the Citadel, they had 6,700 and lost 1,300.

So, what does that look like in percentages?

800 losses out of 7,300 total is 10.96% losses. That's not great, but (and I am kinda pulling this memory and knowledge out of my butt) IIRC armies would outright route if they took... what was it? Was it 20% or 25% casualties? I think the magic number was "25% is where you go 'Holy shit'."

The Citadel: 1,300 losses out of 6,700. That's 19.4%. That's brutal. Taking 20% casualties in a single engagement is brutal.

... Of course, you know who's had it even worse this expedition? Karak Izor. They brought about 16,000 Dwarfs of their own Karak, and another 16,000 unaffiliated Dwarf adventurers. They lost about 3,850 of their Dwarfs, and 5,000 of their Adventurers.
BoneyM said:
Losses at the Battle of the East Gate and the Battle of Karag Lhune:

Karak Izor: 600 Longbeards, 1,100 Warriors, 400 Miners, 1,200 Thunderers.
Unaffiliated Dwarves: 400 Quarrelers, 200 Rangers, 4,400 Adventurers.

Losses at the Battle of Karag Nar:
Karak Izor: 150 Longbeards, 400 Warriors
Unaffiliated Dwarves: 500 Adventurers
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Now, that combines 2 battles into one (East Gate and Karag Lhune) so it wasn't all at once, but...

3,300 dead in the East Gate + Karag Lhune assault; another 550 dead at Karag Nar. 5,000 Adventurers (and then another 500) dead at Karag Nar.

3,300 / 16,000 is 20.625%, going up to 24.06% after Karag Nar.

Their Adventurers took 31.25%, going up to 34.375% losses.

Oof. Those are some brutal losses for an army. Much less Dwarfs. ><
 
Alliterate said:
Oh well. I was picturing both a greatsword and greataxe on Mathildes' back, like some Conan the Smolbarian.
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I think we should get our hands on a runefang, just to further the walking pile of weapons that is Mathilde. We can come up with a way for our shadow to hold a weapon later.

And then, we can reclaim our rightful territory and become Dame Wizard Priest Elector Count. Drakwald would be fitting, and our dwarfbro's would probably approve of civilizing the badlands for the Solland one.

Seriously though, we should've gotten that princess title back in Barack Var. Then we could be a princess locked in a wizard tower. Imagine the power of that in the romance novel network.
 
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[X] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
[X] Write a series of papers on the magical phenomena you witnessed. Or better yet, get your Journeymanlings to do the actual writing.
[X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
 
[X] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
[X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
[X] You could help the Undumgi and the Ulricans establish themselves.
 
[X] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
[X] Scout the rest of the Eight Peaks, to find out what other horrors are waiting out there.
[X] You could help the Undumgi and the Ulricans establish themselves.
[X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
[ ] Write a series of papers on the magical phenomena you witnessed. Or better yet, get your Journeymanlings to do the actual writing.

There's a problem of so many good possible paths that synergize with one another, that I find it hard to narrow down my choices to just three.

For example, the Mayor of Karak Nar synergizes very well with building a Wizard Tower on the peak of Karak Nar, which in turn synergizes well with writing a paper on magical phenomena within Karak Eight Peaks.

Likewise, writing papers corresponds well with scouting the rest of Karak Eight Peaks, since horrors also are accompanied by interesting publication-worthy magical phenomena that the Magisters of the Empire ought to know.

Similarly, I can see Mathilde interspersing her scouting of the rest of the Eight Peaks, with a job of an external-facing Spymaster who helps with foreign relations; which goes along very well with helping the Undumgi and Ulricans settle Karak Eight Peaks.

Edit: Because of how close the vote is, and a very persuasive argument to prioritize the Undumgi further down the thread, I've withdrawn my vote from writing papers.
 
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[X] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
[X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
[X] You could help the Undumgi and the Ulricans establish themselves.
 
[X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
 
Oh yeah, speaking of, regardless of whether or not Mathilde sticks around (even though it certainly looks like she will) I really do hope Karak Azul ends up taking the West Gate. It would open up an entire new front to further reinforcements and would be a nice jumping off point for a push against Karag Zilfin, which would in turn open more resources for the whole Karak reconquest campaign. A successful reconquest there would temporarily open the whole campaign to fighting a two front war, but it would also make it easier to take the southern half, but cutting them off from the ever present Karak Drazh.
 
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Orc Shaman Quest has a bad day
  • Apocrypha
    • You know I can't read this update without seeing MC explaining the whole time on anti-magic duty the horrors of miscasts to the Journeymen and using the Orc shaman as a practical example of when things go wrong. They managed to provide examples of:
    -Tripping off defensive enchantments
    (Player: My shaman's actions are Headbutt spam! Most important mages first. I need to use the bathroom. BRB.)
    (GM: Error! Action 'Headbutt' is unrecognized command. Error! Action 'Headbutt' is unrecognized command.)
    -Just botching
    (Minor Shaman Players: Cast Foot of Gork!)
    (GM: Error! Target not selected targeting position zero/zero units from casters. DOH!)
    -Getting counter spelled by your betters
    (Minor Shaman players: Mass buff on our army 'ere We Go!...)
    (GM: Err... I don't know how to tell you guys this... but that one mage declared it opposite day.)
    (Minor Shaman Players: What does that even mean?)
    (GM: It means in Soviet Russia Comrade WAGH! miscast You!)
    (Player: Okay back how are things going?)
    (Orkish infantry Player: How did you idiots manage to crash the WAGH!)
    (Player: Err... what?)
    (Minor Shaman Players: We did what?)
    (GM: You idiots botched so badly that the WAGH! Server is down for maintainence! I didn't know that could happen...)
    (Infantry player: I can't even command my boyz they are all milling around baffled by the lack of WAGH! and get over run.)
    (GM: Oh and all four of you WAGH! as hard as the entire army combined so you kind of exploded.)
    (Player: How many did I even get to off with my headbutting?)
    (GM: Basically you got countered so hard you forgot how to headbutt and stood around trying to remember what you where doing... then exploded.)
    (Player: Sigh... at least I won't have to live that down.)
    ---
    (Kragg's Player: I don't care how much evidence there is to prove the point. I refuse to subscribe to the theory that Dwarven Grudges are best resolved trough wacky hi jinks.)
    (Random Dwarven Long Beard Player: Think harder guys.... There must be a way to write the song and tales in a manner that makes sense and explains how we can we managed to take this many peaks in a week without acknowledging we aren't being wacky enough to Grudge efficiently.)
    (Other Random DLBP: A wizard did it.)
    (RDLBP: That is just going to make people ask more questions!)
    (Other Random DLBP: It was a ninja wizard and she is being mysterious for reason that are mysterious?)
    (RDLBP: Better! We can work with that angle!)
    ---
    Tune in next week when the reinforcement find out it was too later to help with the first wave of conquests before the messenger got half way to the first city with the messages.
     
  • Apocrypha
    • Garlak said:
    Something I was interested in taking a look at, after one poster or another mentioned the mercenaries in a post.

    After the battle of Karag Nar:

    After the battle of the Citadel:

    And checking the losses in general:

    So, to clarify... Before Karag Nar they had 7,300 and then lost 800. Before the Citadel, they had 6,700 and lost 1,300.

    So, what does that look like in percentages?

    800 losses out of 7,300 total is 10.96% losses. That's not great, but (and I am kinda pulling this memory and knowledge out of my butt) IIRC armies would outright route if they took... what was it? Was it 20% or 25% casualties? I think the magic number was "25% is where you go 'Holy shit'."

    The Citadel: 1,300 losses out of 6,700. That's 19.4%. That's brutal. Taking 20% casualties in a single engagement is brutal.

    ... Of course, you know who's had it even worse this expedition? Karak Izor. They brought about 16,000 Dwarfs of their own Karak, and another 16,000 unaffiliated Dwarf adventurers. They lost about 3,850 of their Dwarfs, and 5,000 of their Adventurers.

    Now, that combines 2 battles into one (East Gate and Karag Lhune) so it wasn't all at once, but...

    3,300 dead in the East Gate + Karag Lhune assault; another 550 dead at Karag Nar. 5,000 Adventurers (and then another 500) dead at Karag Nar.

    3,300 / 16,000 is 20.625%, going up to 24.06% after Karag Nar.

    Their Adventurers took 31.25%, going up to 34.375% losses.

    Oof. Those are some brutal losses for an army. Much less Dwarfs. ><
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    Presumably, those are casualties, not deaths, so its a little less bad. And I figure since Dwarfs are so much tougher than humans that a lot more of their casualties are recoverable given time.
     
    [X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
    [X] You could help the Undumgi and the Ulricans establish themselves.
     
    I wonder what Kragg will do. I'm like 65% sure he'll stay to make sure he didn't waste his time in making the Karaz Ankor a bit more like the Good Old Days, especially since he get some old runic stuff to study.
     
    [X] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
    [X] Write a series of papers on the magical phenomena you witnessed. Or better yet, get your Journeymanlings to do the actual writing.
    [X] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
     
    Mathilde continues her illustrious publishing career for years to come.

    Coming this fall! The newest edition in Dame Weber's fantastically popular Select Your Own Quest novels. The retaking of the Peaks: A series in 8 parts. Buy yours today!
     
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