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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Have folks come to a (speculative) consensus about Eshin?

Their non-involvement is interesting. At least to me, it suggests one of two possibilities:
1: Clan Eshin, in true Skaven fashion, is waiting for their various rivals to weaken one another before they swoop in and try to take everything. This is possible, but does pose the question of why they didn't take a stab at things when we ousted Moulder. If this is the case, we probably want to wait for Mors and Skryre to duke it out & for eshin to swoop in before we surprise-counterattack them and ideally sweep all skaven remnants from Karak Eight Peaks.

2: they've been preoccupied by something other than Clan Mors, and have made that their priority. It's conceivable that they have some other long-running plot going that they don't want to interrupt (allying with the dragon, shenanigans with the trolls, Spooky Scary Skeletons in Mhonar, etc). I suspect if this is the case we want to interrupt their scheme asap, or at least find out what it is.

Ultimately, I think this requires some more information on Eshin (which, admittedly, is in short supply). Perhaps we can make a raid for their correspondence?
 
Nix's Warden said:
Your right, sorry, I just woke up and people have been jumping down my throat for wanting to learn battle magic and hoping we get the Rune of Ulgu on the side, so I'm kinda short tempered at the moment. I'll try and keep it undercontrol in the future.
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You'd have more people who agree with you about learning battle magic (such as me) if you didn't pair it up with the "deliberately trying to get an arcane mark" thing.
It's ok to hope that if we were to get an Arcane mark, we'd actually get the Rune, but arcane marks are a bad thing that Mathilde wouldn't want.
The best one is a power increase, with a side of branding...

It's the deliberate courting of Arcane marks that got the harsh reaction from the thread, which to me is perfectly justified.

I'm on board with eventually learning more battle magic: something that powerful is incredibly useful to have. But it's always going to be a nuclear option that we take out at two minutes to midnight; and not a regular arrow in our quiver.

If we eventually invent a Battle magic spell (like the Avatar of Ulgu, mentioned above, which combines all our masteries), and the bonus for casting it makes it safer, I can see that becoming an arrow in the quiver.
 
BoneyM said:
Enchantment: Able to enchant objects with Moderately Complicated spells and below.
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BoneyM said:
M / Universal Confusion: Bewilder, but applies to a whole group at once, up to about a ten meter diameter. Short range.
Mastery - Cloud of Confusion: You can cast the spell as a billowing cloud of bewildering gas, which pours from you for several minutes, constantly effecting everyone nearby.
- Mathilde can cast both the normal spell and the Mastered version. Both are indiscriminate, but the normal version applies to anyone within that radius at the time of casting, whereas the Mastered version continues outputting the gas over minutes to effect everyone touched by it.
- The Mastered version does not need to be inhaled to take effect. Mathilde is immune to it, as is Wolf; everyone else will suffer from Bewilder unless they're strong-willed enough to shake it off.
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We have tons of more important things to do, but if we ever get called on to do some underground fortification, upping our Enchantment skill so we can do Fiendishly Complicated and setting up ways the Dwarves trigger a Cloud of Confusion further down the tunnel seems like a good method.
 
[X] Yes, have one social interaction be initiated by someone other than Mathilde.
[X] Prince Kazrik, as he builds on his relationship with Nuln.
[X] Soizic, newly elevated to military leader of the Undumgi.
[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart, as the new home of the Winter Wolves takes shape.
 
[X] King Belegar, as he arranges for Clan Ironspike to rejoin their ancestral home from Karak Hirn.
[X] Francesco Caravello, proud leader of the Undumgi and possible future Thane.

[X] Yes, have one social interaction be initiated by someone other than Mathilde.
 
veekie said:
@BoneyM noticed a typo in Skaven name?

@BoneyM missed update here? Its already been translated after all.
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Fixed and fixed. Thanks for pointing them out.

veekie said:
Do we wind up importing nutrients from Karak Drazh via the Orc -> Skaven -> We lifecycle?
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Only in the form of silk, so far. Negotiating for their middens so the bones and chitin can go into the fields and the warpstone pearls into long-term isolation is a lesser priority and can wait until their education is complete.

veekie said:
Ooo, Magic 8 is at the peak of what the Grey College can muster without tools?
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It's the peak of what is codified and formalized into instruction. There are those that have gone further, but to follow them you have to find your own way.

Kornet said:
You are really fishing for someone to ask for a social action with Melkoth, aren't you?
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Pretty much anyone at the Wizard Lord level is going to be full of quirks and eccentricities.

Prospalz said:
@BoneyM

Would Warrior of Fog trait give us any bonuses for learning/using Melkoth's miasma?
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Possibly.

Nix's Warden said:
Say @BoneyM if we put on The Gambler on learning battle magic, while I expect it to trigger on the actual learning part, would it trigger on the Casting part and effectively negate the partially learned malus, or would it only apply to the Mistcast handling roll?
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It would apply wherever it is most needed and can be most helpful. If it'd take you out of miscast territory, it would apply there. If it wouldn't, it might make the miscast less severe. It depends on the rolls in question.
 
IronFist said:
You'd have more people who agree with you about learning battle magic (such as me) if you didn't pair it up with the "deliberately trying to get an arcane mark" thing.
It's ok to hope that if we were to get an Arcane mark, we'd actually get the Rune, but arcane marks are a bad thing that Mathilde wouldn't want.
The best one is a power increase, with a side of branding...

It's the deliberate courting of Arcane marks that got the harsh reaction from the thread, which to me is perfectly justified.

I'm on board with eventually learning more battle magic: something that powerful is incredibly useful to have. But it's always going to be a nuclear option that we take out at two minutes to midnight; and not a regular arrow in our quiver.

If we eventually invent a Battle magic spell (like the Avatar of Ulgu, mentioned above, which combines all our masteries), and the bonus for casting it makes it safer, I can see that becoming an arrow in the quiver.
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I mean, people say this, but I really do not understand the issue. We can get Arcane Marks on failing a roll spell roll, or Critically Succeeding on a spell roll, and if we're learning Battle Magic obviously we're going to put The Gambler on it to make it as likely to succeed as possible. Thats the kind of situation that screws probability to make it more likely we get an Arcane Mark anyway. I'm just saying that is a good way to get The Rune Of Ulgu.

Speaking of The Rune actually manifests itself on our body right? Like we could have The Rune of Ulgu replace our pupils but not affect our sight or something crazy like that right? Wonder if that would crack Belegar's Wizardry Nonsense Resistance he's built up...
 
[X] Yes, have one social interaction be initiated by someone other than Mathilde.

Any chance to give others a feeling of agency is one I'll vote for!
 
Mathilde's job is not mass destruction. True power is outsourcing that sort of thing. That's what artillery and gromril clad heavy infantry are for. If she doesn't have access to them, that's what items and towers are for.

Mathilde's job is to make the enemy force stop working properly and then look smug about it. If arcane marks replace her face with a yawning void she can't look properly smug.
 
Prospalz said:
I vaguely recall Boney once mentioning that we could get a +Magic trait for inventing lots of spells.

Could someone confirm or deny?
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Looks like a very old statement, before the great spell creation overhaul. It's the other way around these days: you need lots of traits, possibly +magic ones, to create spells.
 
chocolote12 said:
It doesn't actually do that, it just makes your face forgettable. 'Mathilde sure is great, but I couldn't draw a portrait of her if I tried', not 'Who's this Mathilde again?'.
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"Characters who've met you must succeed on an Intelligence Test to recall who you are." suggests otherwise.

Nix's Warden said:
Speaking of The Rune actually manifests itself on our body right? Like we could have The Rune of Ulgu replace our pupils but not affect our sight or something crazy like that right? Wonder if that would crack Belegar's Wizardry Nonsense Resistance he's built up...
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Actually, there is a separate Ulgu Arcane mark that changes your eyes:
Disturbing Eyes: Your eyes become grey and swirl with unnatural darkness. You gain a +5% bonus to Intimidate Tests.
 
noliar said:
Mathilde's job is not mass destruction. True power is outsourcing that sort of thing. That's what artillery and gromril clad heavy infantry are for. If she doesn't have access to them, that's what items and towers are for.

Mathilde's job is to make the enemy force stop working properly and then look smug about it. If arcane marks replace her face with a yawning void she can't look properly smug.
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I looked to long into the void and it looked smug
 
@veekie

Given our newly acquired affinity for fog/mist, combined with the Warrior of Fog trait, could I convince you to do the Alkahard turn to Mist paper next turn, instead of the other Orc paper?

It's about to fade the turn after that, and will be trickier to refresh - and it seems like it might be thematically in-line enough with Ulgu that with a good enough success, we might be able to start reverse-engineering it for Grey College use, same as we did with the Matrix.
 
[X] Yes, have one social interaction be initiated by someone other than Mathilde.
[X] Francesco Caravello, proud leader of the Undumgi and possible future Thane.
[X] Kragg, who's begun to be seen around the Karak once more, indicating he might be finishing his study of the rune-axe you and Johann found.
[X] Check in on your fief in Stirland.
 
Nix's Warden said:
I mean, people say this, but I really do not understand the issue. We can get Arcane Marks on failing a roll spell roll, or Critically Succeeding on a spell roll, and if we're learning Battle Magic obviously we're going to put The Gambler on it to make it as likely to succeed as possible. Thats the kind of situation that screws probability to make it more likely we get an Arcane Mark anyway. I'm just saying that is a good way to get The Rune Of Ulgu.

Speaking of The Rune actually manifests itself on our body right? Like we could have The Rune of Ulgu replace our pupils but not affect our sight or something crazy like that right? Wonder if that would crack Belegar's Wizardry Nonsense Resistance he's built up...
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Most of the Arcane Marks that remain are OK. Two of them are quite bad for us. One is really good. I don't like those odds.

I mean, being a practicing wizard does mean we'll collect Marks, but deliberately speeding up the process of becoming a mutant through magic radiation because maybe we'll get a superpower instead of making everyone we meet distrust us just seems like lunacy to me, especially since you proposed doing it through Battle Magic casting rolls, which might also kill us.
Redshirt Army said:
@veekie

Given our newly acquired affinity for fog/mist, combined with the Warrior of Fog trait, could I convince you to do the Alkahard turn to Mist paper next turn, instead of the other Orc paper?

It's about to fade the turn after that, and will be trickier to refresh - and it seems like it might be thematically in-line enough with Ulgu that with a good enough success, we might be able to start reverse-engineering it for Grey College use, same as we did with the Matrix.
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I strongly agree with this. I wanted to slip in the Waaaghbane paper this turn because both it and the Alkharad mist had 2 turns before penalty and the Waaaghbane one seemed narratively better, but just a generic "observations on the Waaagh" doesn't seem so urgent that it's worth eating a penalty on an extremely rare observation. Our new mistiness is just the icing on the cake.
 
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noliar said:
Mathilde's job is not mass destruction. True power is outsourcing that sort of thing. That's what artillery and gromril clad heavy infantry are for. If she doesn't have access to them, that's what items and towers are for.

Mathilde's job is to make the enemy force stop working properly and then look smug about it. If arcane marks replace her face with a yawning void she can't look properly smug.
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To be fair, three of the Grey Battlemagic Spells are about making enemy forces stop working properly compared to the two that do mass destruction. One is about enhancing battlefield mobility and the last one is a pretty powerful buff to your side.
 
I think we should write up the skaven lexicon even if it's timeless. It has utility with all future skaven actions and means that any skaven papers in the empire grabbed in these raids or in the past might be translatable. Also the faded penalty is only -10 which isn't such a big issue.
 
Redshirt Army said:
@veekie

Given our newly acquired affinity for fog/mist, combined with the Warrior of Fog trait, could I convince you to do the Alkahard turn to Mist paper next turn, instead of the other Orc paper?

It's about to fade the turn after that, and will be trickier to refresh - and it seems like it might be thematically in-line enough with Ulgu that with a good enough success, we might be able to start reverse-engineering it for Grey College use, same as we did with the Matrix.
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While I agree with working on this I think it bears mentioning that vampires turning into mist is not a spell, it's a Blood Gift. They do not use ambient magic to do that, but the power of their own souls, so it may not be as Ulgu-like as it appears. That said the observations are likely to have some applications, more than random orc memories. There are a lot more orcs to refresh their paper than there are vampires with that particular Blood Gift.
 
DragonParadox said:
While I agree with working on this I think it bears mentioning that vampires turning into mist is not a spell, it's a Blood Gift. They do not use ambient magic to do that, but the power of their own souls, so it may not be as Ulgu-like as it appears. That said the observations are likely to have some applications, more than random orc memories. There are a lot more orcs to refresh their paper than there are vampires with that particular Blood Gift.
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For starters, it might be useful to our forces conducting anti-vampire operations to know to secure their HQs against mysterious mists.

Misteries.
 
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