So, a couple of thoughts, first about the Lore of Stealth v. Lore of Necromancy and then on possible Elemental research.
While I don't know much about the Lore of Stealth, I find that there exists a vast disparity of power between the Lore of Stealth and the Lore of Necromancy. Which I find a bit peculiar given that my understanding from this quest and what I can find is that the Lore of Stealth mixes Ulgu and Dhar similar to how the Lore of Necromancy mixes Shyish and Dhar. I understand that Shyish just seems more potent than Ulgu (with the downside of being much more noticeable) but I just don't understand how both lores which seem to mix Dhar with a wind can have such drastic disparities between their power. Or is the Lore of Stealth just Ulgu with some Dhar mixed in while Lore of Necromancy is using Shyish to control and manipulate Dhar?
Different focuses. Ulgu doesn't like direct action much, it doesn't even get ANY attack options until Fiendishly Complicated.
Shyish on the other hand is all about interacting with the dead, but when its not chatting up the dead its also astonishingly killy.
So what happens when you work Dhar in?
-Necromancy gets animating the dead, and also got its offensive spells made more killy.
-Lore of Stealth gets teleportation as
simple, as well as differently lethal attack spells from Shadow Knives.
Seems to be working as intended.
Now, on to an intriguing Elemental research idea that I don't think has been discussed yet. Using Ulgu and runic magic to craft something akin to the Gholam from the Wheel of Time. For those who haven't read the Wheel of Time, or can't remember what the Gholam is, the Gholam is basically what would happen if you gave our 'Bok' friend the ability slip through the smallest hole, immunity to magic, and he was an assassin rather than a tour guide.
My idea, then, is to figure out how to create not an earth elemental like 'Bok' is, but either a shadow elemental or a mix of earth/shadow elemental that can cast some simple shadow magics like Doppelganger and program it as an assassin. The ability to send a magical construct on risky assassination missions where it can't be destroyed (much like 'Bok' can't be) would be amazing for high risk/high reward targets. It would take an extraordinary amount of work, however, as we would have to reverse engineer 'Bok' and then change/improve on the design.
The problem with the idea here is that 'Bok' is technically a projection. Its drawing power directly from the Eight Peaks Waystone network, you can't kill it unless you target the projection's origin.
Its like being astounded by a hologram reforming after you disperse it, you need to identify and hit the projector, the building's power supply or the power grid.
Wouldn't be useful for offensive actions, though it might be useful on the defense we don't actually know how much power it consumes before we overload the grid and blackout.
I'm not in a position to read through the thread right now, so can someone tell me what's the consensus on the Sorcerer's motives here?
Way i see it:
A) Sorcerer delivers a real message, but does not want it getting to the Seers, so he was prepared to attack unless the envoy brought overwhelming forces.
B) Sorcerer is delivering a false message, and is prepared to attack if the message is discovered, but will let the envoy leave if he believes it.
C) Sorcerer only delivered the message as a safeguard in case he fails to kill the envoy, delivering the message himself would be the preferred outcome. Have to be willing to die for this, or is very confident he can pull this off (secret master assassin nearby?).
So, possible messages:
1) Actual account of the events in K8P, not the best outcome for Eshin, but important info nonetheless.
2) False account of the events, doctored to make Eshin look better.
3) Information Eshin feels should get to the Seers, Dragon? New Dwarf tactics?
4) Just a letter confirming that Mors is effectively gone, no more info.
I feel we should at least try to understand what's going on before moving forward.
Does the letter need to be intercepted or do we gain by letting it get to it's destination? Is the letter to be trusted should we get it? Does the Sorcerer have backup nearby?
Why would an Eshin sorcerer wish to kill an envoy of the Seers if it's not for the letter? Maybe the information is correct, but he does not want the destruction of the Eshin Outpost known?
We don't have a lot of visibility but reasons:
--Personal gain
---Agent had personal feud with Sorceror, suppressed by circumstances of mutual foe. With Mors dying the Three is now a Two.
---Agent had blackmail over Sorceror. Opportunity to take them out in the chaos.
---Sorceror had command of whats left of Eshin. Kill Agent, take credit.
--Eshin's Orders
---Clan Eshin is ashamed of the general incompetency happening for this campaign arc, wants to wipe the slate and pretend it was just as planned, instead of
Eshin being forced into a straight fight, almost being annihilated, and winning by luck as much as anything else.
---Clan Eshin wants to withdraw from the peaks to lick their wounds, but the Agent is going to force them to confirm the kill on the Trench once they learn Mors' field forces are broken. This would certainly kill Eshin to try, the Trench is fortified against a stealth approach last they knew, and when we assaulted it the Trench has about twice as many Skaven as what Eshin has left at all. Kill the Agent and pull out, they can probe another day.
--Paranoia
---Three is now Two. The Agent might betray Eshin and take the credit - Solution: Betray first.
The reveal of the Agent's presence is quite interesting really. It explains why Eshin had been so quiet once you run the numbers(discounting non-Skaven initially, as both dwarves and orcs were behaving like hostile terrain and will not-attack or always-attack).
At the start of this turn:
-Mors:
--Faces Skryre and Eshin. Three is peace. Present strong front to avoid being weakest, wait for opportunity
--Dragon removed Skryre. Two is War. To the knife with Eshin.
--RIP
-Skryre:
--Faces Mors and Eshin. Three is peace. Present strong front to avoid being weakest, wait for opportunity
--RIP surprise Dragon
-Eshin
--Faces Mors, Skryre and Council. Four is Feed, raid Skryre for techloot because Mors is strong.
--Faces Mors, and Council. Three is Peace, but Mors is attacking Skryre so they must defend.
--Faces Council. Two is War. Betray or be betrayed.
The documents I think we can assume to be legitimate, because the Agent was Chamon-ing while reading them, which suggests intense logical thought.
Presumably the equivalent of a Compelling paper being used as a distraction, contents unknown.
(Just woke up, haven't had time to catch up at all from the 40's...)
Actually, a question -- if the Council Agent dies in Karak Eight Peaks, what's going to happen?
Aren't they going to investigate? I mean, would they just blame it on the battlefield and write it off? Or are they going to send somebody over to check it out?
Of course they would, but if their priority lies with ensuring Mors is dead...then we could probably expect some kind of scouting effort, and finding an Empty Trench is going to be worrying if we had time to clean up the scene(we should, if Eshin buggers off, by the time they're back we should have already fully scoured the place).
Consider:
• Moulder knows that a sneaky rat blew up their attempted alliance with the goblins, then a bunch of human mercenaries and dwarves uncharacteristicly bumrushed them and allowed Mors to expand.
• Skryre was being hit by probing attacks around the fringes by Eshin for weeks, before their main processing plant got sabotaged, killing all their leaders and setting a dragon on them.
Neither of them is gonna be feeling charitable towards Eshin at the moment. If the Council's Agent goes down, and the scattered remnants of Eshin are the only ones to report back, their words are going to be pretty heavily doubted.
The whole thing will look like a plan by Eshin to steal all the credit gone badly wrong when the dragon woke up and ate them too.
Yeah, we can bet Moulder and Skryre had some Skaven get away alive in the chaos, and report back, but what they HAVE to report with is Eshin work.
