Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Voting is open
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[X] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider
[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Citharus, Barbitus, and Timpania
 
If we want to look for the Lord of Change then we should vote to scout.
I mean practically speaking, the Scouting options aren't going to win. And even counting Magesight and Avatar, trying to track down a Lord of Change is... something that's not guaranteed if it really doesn't want to be found. In this case, passive scouting likely to pay different dividends, and of course, giving other opportunities. Which well, people may or may not agree with, but they are there.

More than that, we have the Knights of Taal's Fury. Wilderness survivalists with demigryphs specced against Chaos. And they do scouting normally as part of their Expedition assignment. So if there's signs of Tzeenchian frippery — which in case likely wouldn't be immediately actionable because trade-offs —, we'd have the active scouts reporting. After all, NPCs do their own stuffs without our input, Esbern and Seija can provide the magical tracking help in this regard while we do other, more Grey stuffs.
 
[X] Citharus, Barbitus, and Timpania
[X] Visit Uzkulak, the Chaos Dwarf equivalent to Barak Varr
[X] Visit the combes that Qrech told you about
 
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Visit Uzkulak, the Chaos Dwarf equivalent to Barak Varr
[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
[X] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider
 
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VOTE
[X] Visit Uzkulak, the Chaos Dwarf equivalent to Barak Varr
[X] Visit the combes that Qrech told you about

Same argument as I made when voting for Karag Vlag: Reconaissance and scouting for potential threats along our line of advance, in places that literally only Mathilde has the skills and mindset to get into and out of unimpeded. That kinda requires taking a look at Chaos Vegas, because ignoring a threat does not mean the threat will ignore you.

I am singularly disinterested in buying any books or trinkets on this trip, or executing any covert ops on the Dawi-Zharr. Because I think @Simon_Jester might have a point about the potential perils of taking something from such a market deeper into the Wastes. And we dont need Chaos Dwarf aggro while escorting an expedition, so no covert ops in Vegas.

Next trip perhaps, when we have the Night Prowler coin active.
 
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If we want to look for the Lord of Change then we should vote to scout.
Lots of people can scout. Whatever information can potentially be gotten out of Uzkulak regarding the Lord of Change, probably only Mathilde can get. It's potentially the difference between "no sign of the Lord of Change, no idea whether that's because it's gotten the necessary sacrifices and is waiting to ambush us or whether it's because it faded away" and "Taalites found no sign of the Lord of Change, but we know that's because it's doing shit even further east than they're ranging."
 
We know that IFF is specifically not a problem, because Burning Shadows accomplishes it just fine.
Burning Shadows:
-Creates damage onto area
-Area is defined by natural Ulgu conductor(shadow) up to a certain limit.
-Targets applied based on wizard's definitions. Upscaled to strategic scale requires either identification through magical signature of the category, or mentally taxing target designation sequence.
-Maximum area is undefined but requires overcasting the spell to extend beyond squad scale.

Pall of Darkness
-Creates vision obscuring darkness effect onto area - Base effect
-Area is small and supported/transmitted by itself.


Biased Fog:
-Creates vision obscuring fog effect onto area
-Area is large and supported/transmitted by itself.
-Fog has observer dependent attribute of visibility - it is invisible/visible to selected targets. Spell must either perform logic, key off a Ulgu-detectable designator, or poll the spellcaster for a decision on a per-observer basis.

As such, I strongly suspect that the best way to create a selectively visible fog would be to actually approach it from a light perspective and make two spells based on Illusion and Invisibility.
Specifically the mechanics of polarized light. One spell creates the goggles on allies which will specifically render any image with the spell key invisible to them. One spell creates a strategic scale Polarized Illusion that has the key tag attached.

Of course, while this does engage Warrior of Fog it does not engage our hax staff.
I interpreted it as that the usual methods would bounce, so Protector helped Mathilde with the inspiration of exactly what to say that would succeed as much as possible, given the Vlag paranoia.
I interpreted it as them being aware that she saved them, but they're just too paranoid to accept it. They have the knowledge, but not acceptance of it.
I could make a strong argument that history shows we're not very good at getting an impression of people based on a first or second meeting, and thus should be doing it more.
Well, Mathilde's diplomacy is merely okay-ish, and her first impression tend to be an Intrigue/Martial threat analysis more than anything else.
I wondered how long the Karak Vlag was trapped by their own reckoning, and then I realized that they themselves have no way to know. No sun, no moons or stars, no seasons. Only endless darkness lit by daemonic lights. Sleep only when so exhausted you can't stay awake any long, eat or drink only when your body can take no more. Was that a month or a year that just passed? Who knows? In fact, literally the only firm means of time measurement they might have had is how many inches their beards grew. Brutal stuff.
Note that hair growth is partly determined by stress and nutrition.
The thread perception that murdering Borek was ever on the table is baffling to me.
As a thread's size increases, so does the probability of fringe opinions being attached to vocal individuals.

The number of times a statement is made has little to no relation to how widely it is believed. The number of unique individuals does, but even then, we have a thread of 300+ active participants. 10 people being vocal about a thing barely reaches notability.


So a random thought, but... don't most dwarves only live till about two hundred or so? Because it occurs to me that if Vlag's timestream stayed constant with reality, or was even sped up... there might not be any dwarves who have actually lived outside the hell mountain anymore. Who have ever not been in constant and direct war with daemons. And that... that makes me really sad. But also happy, because they actually get that chance now.

Naw, they pretty much keep going until they get stopped. "Natural" lifespan seems to be around 400+ years, more if they have something driving them.
 
Well, Mathilde's diplomacy is merely okay-ish, and her first impression tend to be an Intrigue/Martial threat analysis more than anything else.
No, I'm talking about the questers. Roswita, horrid stupid bitch, fuck her! Johann? Suspicious asshole aiming to learn nasty Skaven secrets that'll blow up in everyone's faces and worse, make us look bad; keep an eye on the bastard. Borek? He's a single-minded idealistic moron who isn't considering the particulars.
 
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No, I'm talking about the questers. Roswita, horrid stupid bitch, fuck her! Johann? Suspicious asshole aiming to learn nasty Skaven secrets that'll blow up in everyone's faces and worse, make us look bad; keep an eye on the bastard. Borek? He's a single-minded idealistic moron who isn't considering the particulars.
In discussion? Yes.
In voting? No.

Observe the previous point about how five very vocal people do not even represent a statistically significant sample of the thread population.
 
Trying to find the Lord of Change and force it into combat is difficult.
Trying to find the logistics for the number of sacrifices needed to keep it and its entourage from dissipating is not.

A greater demon is hundreds if not thousands of sacrifices every day, and their are only two factions with the numbers to supply that for hundreds of miles.

If it hits the Skaven, we will find evidence of that when we take a look at the combes. Because they will be responding to a full demonic invasion.
If it hits the Chaos dwarfs, there will be a major mobilisation at Uzkulak. And finding out about it will be known to a good number of inhabitants.

We are more likely to find evidence of the Lord of change hanging around by looking into the military responses of the organisations dedicated to fighting a major war in the region then by trying to chase it down ourselves.
Although it does make it more likely we come across traces of it far away from backup from the expedition. It could very well be attacking the combes for sacrifices when we scout them out.

Still if you are treating it as the major threat for this section of the road, there are two groups with a dedicated interest in watching out for demonic incursions, and significant infrastructure dedicated to keeping track of major battles down this section of the pass.

[x] Visit Uzkulak, the Chaos Dwarf equivalent to Barak Varr
[x] Visit the combes that Qrech told you about
 
In discussion? Yes.
In voting? No.

Observe the previous point about how five very vocal people do not even represent a statistically significant sample of the thread population.
While I can agree with you in principle, there have been votes decided by margins smaller than 5, so that observation is not particularly reassuring.
 
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[X] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider
[X] Visit Uzkulak, the Chaos Dwarf equivalent to Barak Varr
[X] Visit the combes that Qrech told you about
 
If the vote is that close it implies there's enough heft behind for other reasons that it's not being pursued on the basis of fringe interests though?
Of course. Most options have good cases that can be made for them, and people vote for many different reasons. The point I'm trying to go for is that even if an opinion is not remotely close to a majority, it can be the deciding factor and have a significant effect on the outcome of the vote and what happens.
 
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[X] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider
[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
[X] Asarnil the Dragonlord
[X] Deathfang
[X] Ice Crone Ljiljana
[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[X] Citharus, Barbitus, and Timpania
[X] Ranging far ahead of the convoy
- With the Knights of Taal's Fury
[X] Visit the combes that Qrech told you about
 
Of course. Most options have good cases that can be made for them, and people vote for many different reasons. The point I'm trying to go for is that even if an opinion is not remotely close to a majority, it can be the deciding factor and have a significant effect on the outcome of the vote and what happens.

Sure a fringe interest can occasionally tip the scales, but I don't think that really matters. Many times I'm sure I've voted the same way as Omeggahugger on some issue, it doesn't cause me to feel I've strengthened the necromancy bloc by voting in solidarity with him though.
 
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Citharus, Barbitus, and Timpania
 
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[X] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider
[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
[X] Asarnil the Dragonlord
[X] Deathfang
[X] Ice Crone Ljiljana
[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[X] Citharus, Barbitus, and Timpania
[X] Ranging far ahead of the convoy
- With the Knights of Taal's Fury
[X] Visit the combes that Qrech told you about
 
I've gotten a free moment to read the ongoing debate and I think I've partly changed my mind.

[x] Citharus, Barbitus, and Timpania
[x] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[x] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[x] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider
[x] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
 
It's tradition, really. KaK send only Kragg the Grim to Belegar's expedition.

Did KaK send him, or did he elect to go on his own?

I would rather not visit slave-torture-central, unless it's part of a specific mission to rob and/or destroy it.

Preliminary scouting. Maybe we'll get some free time in a decade or so where we can perform a spate of assassinations among the Dawi Zharr and make it look like the Skaven did it, and having a basic knowledge of the city from that time when we were on the Karak Dum expedition will let us know stuff that lets us plan the mission out better, like 'the city guard is supplemented by mercenary captains but the core is chaos dwarf professionals who are adept at telling foreigners apart and are primarily concerned with keeping trade open'.

Also I like the idea of walking out of there with more goods than we paid for, just as a matter of course.

It depends on the kind of trouble. If it's the right kind, it may act as a good distraction for the way back.


Look at our spell list. We can very easily look like, say, the Norscan shaman that the Kurgan thought we were.

Don't think we could pull off the cultural aspects properly, but 'sufficiently disreputable witch from Sylvania' shouldn't seem too outlandish. We probably know enough to hint strongly that we're running an errand for a von Carstein or something.

That's a very poor argument. We know that this expedition is very likely to end in a social showdown where the forces of "stay and fight" are arrayed against "evacuate what we can." We know because everyone has been telling us that for ingame years. We have zero special indication that the skaven are up to something.

That said I would imagine 'Skaven' and 'are up to something' are phrases understood to go together quite comfortably. The concern as I understand it is to check and see if the Skaven are up to something we should worry about, as I can imagine, say, a Lord of Change making a beeline to a Skaven outpost and telling them 'dwarf-things convoy coming through, reward for Moulder if capture-killed'. That's pretty straight line thinking so I doubt that that'd be the entirety of the scheme, but it'd be a threat to us if true.

...of course now I want to see Mathilde: Fury Road with some Skaven or Chaos Dwarf shenanigans as they're trucking along the Great Skull Road.

We are going to Chaos Vegas to buy the forbidden shiny things. Maybe we'll find, in the double black market, a Chaos Weapon that was forged out of Shallyans and unicorns and ended up super holy by accident (a canon thing); that'd be a neat find.

Desire to know more intensifies.

Mostly don't think it's a good idea to poke around the choas dwarf or Skaven places when we'll need to come back this way at some point. If we're going to draw the attention of probably hostile forces we should do it on the way back, when we'll be out of retaliation range before they can do much about it.\

We were warned about being too confident about returning by the same route we left by. It even makes a degree of sense; if one of our primary concerns is being able to outpace any trouble, turning around where people we may have annoyed with our passage are ahead of us seems like maybe not a great plan.

Sometimes good things happen.

*eyes narrow suspiciously*

I been convinced that we should check the combes, in case there an army of Skavens or CDs waiting to raid us.

I read that initially as trying to steal the CDs of the local Skaven. I am, as it is often said, most observant.

Paper Title: Look At What I Did To This Lost Dwarf Karak
Subject: This Lost Dwarf Karak I Found
How To Reproduce: Just Look For Lost Dwarf Karaks Better Than Teclis And Volans Did, IF YOU CAN YOU FILTHY CASUAL

"You know, I don't normally truck with such manling 'academia' nonsense, but there's just something about this particular paper that I wouldn't mind seeing a few more of."


Karak Vlag was visiting a rock on the off chance that our personal exceptional mage sight solves an unsolvable mystery.

What is the specific argument of value for Mathilde visiting Moulder right now?

As I see it, the non-Chaos Wastes portion of the Darklands trip has three threat angles; the Chaos Dwarfs, the Skaven, and (later) the Kurgan. Scouting the Skaven might tip us off to a large number of doomflayers and Stormvermin with cool motorcycle leathers, a number of our potential routes mapped out and a neatly written note from a Greater Daemon of Tzeench saying 'many warp tokens if you attack them on this date' or something else.

The other two I'm...not comfortable with per se, but we manage what threats we can, as we can.

As long as she doesn't rub it in any noses, the Dwarves of this Expedition are practical enough to look the other way, and Mathilde has good enough rep to spin up a justification. They're already on board with buying cattle from the Dolgans.

What was the verdict on Rites of Gazul re: Slaaneshi Slayers? "Pass the buck to the Ancestor, He'll sort it out"?
 
[X] Visit Uzkulak, the Chaos Dwarf equivalent to Barak Varr
[X] Visit the combes that Qrech told you about
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
 
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Oooh, as a potential side note, if we can steal any of that Skaven "Weird goop thing that is edible and can turn organic material into more of itself" stuff, we might be able to solve the food problem of this trip right then and there, and if any clan is likey to have plenty of that freaky biological miracle on hand it's probably Moulder.

It might not be easy to walk out of there with a full barrel, but if we can get a small container we can probably grow it into a more worthwhile size later.

After all, grass should count as organic, I think, and Kurgan territory at least has to have plenty of grass for their horses.
 
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