'We're already through the pass, so I don't want to risk the salvation of my people for the sake of doing errands for a witch, and in the worst case scenario one witch will be easier to deal with than an entire angry Kurgan tribe. Tell her to walk home.'
Woah. Borek would shit on his debts for this? Or worse, demand that his ally do so for his benefit?
Actually, what's more surprising is not that there is a Dwarf that thinks like this. Dwarves are people too, just as varied as any other members of the same civilization. It's that Mathilde knows up front that he's that type of Dwarf without having asked him.
What made her think that he's this Elgi-like?
Or am I misunderstanding something fundamental when it comes to allies accruing debts you don't know about for your benefit in Karaz Ankor culture?
While I was thinking that we only want to directly control the wizards, if this is Borek's state of mind, controlling a bunch of levers of power suddenly seems a lot more important
To be a hundred percent fair, this isn't Borek's state of mind. It's a state of mind that, given Mathilde's read of him, is likely enough to rather not risk telling him about this if she wants to be sure that she'll be able to go on the errand on the way there. This read is based on the one hand on her long experience being around Dwarves and her more general talents, but might on the other hand be influenced on the fact that she's never interrogated one and has interrogated plenty of Humans and Skaven.
That said, even if her read is right, we could still leak it on purpose and thus either try and convince Borek and thus do it more safely with his support, or have him be the guy to veto it and settle for doing it on the way back.
I mean, I'd think it's fairly reliable considering if we'd waited on the departure any longer it's likely he'd have led the expedition into the snows and damn the consequences.
But that would be foolhardy behavior that would still be considered honorable and pro-social. This thing now is the stuff that others would start grumbling about how he would make a fine Slayer.
Dwarfs are not actually the stereotype, and in fact, do have complexities and shades of grey, (and even just right up bad guys)
now if only the thread will remember that instead of defaulting to 'dwarfs can do no wrong!'
though considering how much you have hammered this point in with comments, background and even two brothers murdering each other for power...
ya...
They're not stereotypes, but they do have an average type of behavior that differs from that of humans. And what's being described here is definitely possible behavior for a Dwarf, but it isn't expected behavior for a Dwarf.
and dictate matters on the strength of our towering rep.
Our rep is the kind of rep foreigners get among Dwarfdom, not internal Dawi-to-Dawi rep.
Granted, it is high enough to upgrade us from a honorable Human (Zhufokri) to our own "Mathilde" category, but I think Karak Eight Peaks is the only place where a Dwarf that never met us might still trust us more than a fellow Dwarf noble in good standing.
On the third hand, I don't know how much Borek is in good standing. And not a single Dwarf other than him on this expedition is actually from Karak Dum. I don't know what types of oaths, if any, bind all the other Dawi to this expedition, but given that most of them are Rangers and Engineers, I don't expect them to be majority suicidal ones.
People should vote for what they want, but lot of the arguments for why people should vote for one or the other get bit spurious.
I feel this way so often. Pretty much any time this thread gets truly heated over things that aren't about the direction this quest takes for the foreseeable future as a game. BoneyM is a good QM and usually gives us choices he considers all valid. Any argument how one choice is clearly increasing the likelihood of dooming us while another will almost definitely lead to rainbows and sunshine is probably an overblown argument.
Mechanically speaking we are choosing to take on more action sinks and military responsibilities in exchange for personal sway during the expedition, a chance to lead cavalry attacks, and an improved resume if this expedition doesn't end in failure.
Anyone who doesn't have a strong opinion on the above dichotomy still has plenty of varied narrative reasons to consider when making their choice, but those reasons are never reasons that are clearly right or wrong.