[X] Plan: Fog Path and Fog Mark
-[X] Contains an overwork action
-[X] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations.
-[X] JOHANN: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations.
-[X] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Esbern and Seija and their compatriots of the Knights of Taal's Fury.
-[X] EIC: Integrate the Gong Farmers and the Niter Factory into the EIC, and expand production.
-[X] Gain enough control of your attraction to smoke and gases to have it collect away from your face.
-[X] Try to see through Pall of Darkness with your improved magical senses.
-[X] Continue to work on your 'Fog Path' spell.
--[X] The Gambler: specify an action this will apply to: Fog path spell
-[X] Enchant an item with a Fiendishly Complex or easier spell: Robe with AA and AA mastery (always on).
--[X] Use Ulgu power stones and drake scales to assist with the enchantment if it would help.
-[X] Attempt to recruit assistance for the Karag Dum Expedition. (Damsels of Bretonnia, Runesmiths of Azul)
-[X] PENTHOUSE: Add security measures to your Penthouse to prevent forcible entry.
-[X] Write a paper: select which. [ Warp Lightning observations - shared with Adela ] (Serenity)
If you want Mathilde to do any scouting either just ahead of the Expedition as a forward scout or as actual scouting actions then taking the Mantle of Mist Arcane Mark action is an imperative choice. I've brought it up the reasons why before but I'll mention it again below.
If Mathilde stays with the Steam-wagons that means dealing with the gunpowder smoke of repeated weapon firing and if she's moving ahead then she faces the risk of dust storms and worse threats that she would be vulnerable to due to her Mantle of Mists. There's also the danger of a damaged steam-wagon creating smoke from the burning of fuel or supplies. There's also the other less likely threats that can turn up in the Wastes due to their shifting nature such as toxic mists, burning forests, snow storms and stranger things.
Kinslayer said:
Borek Forkbeard hooked his arms under Snorri's shoulders and dragged him back from the wreckage of the steam wagon. Smoke was billowing from the portholes in its squat, armour-plated chassis and rolling like cooling magma from the open rear hatch. Two dwarfs lay dead on the barren, oily rock beside it. Aside from a coating of ash, there wasn't an obvious mark on them. The smoke had killed them.
Other potential threats that utilize deadly miasmas include daemons of Nurgle, poison breathing chimeras and other such assorted horrors that can be found in the Chaos wastes. Certainly we have the candle but that's really more of an after battle aid. Using both hands to hold it close while being flooded by Hysh for 5 minutes doesn't seem like the sort of thing that's conducive to letting Mathilde keep fighting.
The same Arcane Mark skill will also be useful after the Expedition if we ever fight similar toxin spewing critters or machines. For example fighting Skaven gas weapons so it's going to have uses after the Expedition too by preventing us from worrying about such threats.
"The active end has the Rune of Hysh on it. Tap it - any person, or any living creature for that matter, can activate it - and it will begin to emit light from the top, not unlike a candle. Hold it in both hands close to your body and it will go to work. It takes about five minutes, no matter the severity of the malady."
The next problem is dust storms. A quite likely threat we may face in the Chaos Wastes. To expands on the issue of dust storms and why working on the arcane mark would be helpful it should be noted that Mathilde has to deal with the problem that the dust is going to be actively attracted to her, a problem no ordinary human would have to deal with and likely to reduce standard mundane means such as a mask. Also the while a mask would be helpful against the larger particles in the air it would be much less so against the smaller particles in the dust, and in the Chaos Wastes who knows what crap the dust could contain. And of course having the warpstone infused dust all get set on fire due to Mathilde's belt certainly isn't going to be doing her mask any favours so it's hard to say how long the mask would stay intact since it won't be any more fireproof than the material is naturally.
Herself. Most of her things are fire-retardant but it does mean no lava diving without a change of clothes.
Finally there's the potential, if unlikely benefits we may see from controlling the Arcane Mark. It may result in positive Fog related skills, reduce apparition binding problems or give insight into Mathilde's soul or windsight.
[X] Plan Mark Control, EIC Spies and Directed Learning.
