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So, how do you propose to reinforce a karag in chaos wastes?

Borek thought that establishing a road to Karad Dum was possible if they haven't fallen.

"We'll see," Borek repeats firmly. "Our Norse kinfolk lasted near four thousand years. Karag Dum will not have fallen in a mere two hundred. If we can establish a new road to them..."

The extra familiarity with the divine magic being used would be worth it of nothing else.

Actually, could we use this to gain insight into how Divine Magic work?
 
Even if the dwarfs of Dun wanted to share the knowledge they can't. None of us are runesmiths and its blasphemy to write it down.
I mean, does that have to stop us?
They feel they're doomed. They're already engaged in blasphemy.
We're also already engaged in violating several ethical oaths, and have published papers with information gleaned from a source which could get us tied to a pyre.

I'm not above cutting a backroom deal.

The update makes it seem like an hour or so has passed, that's more than enough time for Borek to have been questioned and for the dwarves to know that we came to reinforce or evacuate them.
I don't think you're following. Borek walked off because he assumed that the moment we saw Beastmen guarding his hold, and Cor-Dum give him a hug, we'd nope the hell out and no longer want anything to do with his Kharak. That is the message he likely conveyed to the people in the Kharak. Combined that with funny Dwarfen tendencies and ideas about what is and is not dishonorable, and Borek's fatalistic attitude, and I feel that yeah, the Coin gives us a good shot to get through to them.


The beastmen is what the protector coin option is aimed at, not the Karak.

Did Boney say this? If so, fair enough. If not, I'm inclined to say that's a rather silly take on it.
The Coin is a conduit to Ranald. Ranald is not an idiot. It's like arguing that if we defended K8P from Skaven, only the troops manning the under-defences would become subject to its' effects.
 
I mean, does that have to stop us?
They feel they're doomed. They're already engaged in blasphemy.
We're also already engaged in violating several ethical oaths, and have published papers with information gleaned from a source which could get us tied to a pyre.

Given that the cult of Thungi would be obliged to kill us yes that should stop us. There is a way back from the College's bad books, not so the Dwarfs'.
 
There's always, you know, parlay? There's little indication so far that this Morghur is hostile to us.

The Kurgan think we're part of their Shadow shaman religion, I'd rather not interact with Morghur when we know the Tribes have been fighting him, we're priming people to think we're part of the tribes and he's been killing them. Parlaying with Morghur is exactly the kind of risk I think is a a step or two away from just straight up voting to commit suicide, I know Morghur isn't quite doing what we expect but that's not good enough to vote for what is the next best thing to suicide if he goes hostile.

We don't know enough about this incarnation of Morghur to be able to make anything remotely like a sensible risk assessment, there's one option that could potentially gather information on Morghur semi safely for us personally but it doesn't matter because the dwarves aren't responding to communication attempts.
 
[X] Approach the Kul camp peacefully and attempt to discuss the Karak with them
[X] Approach the Kvellige camp peacefully and attempt to discuss the Karak with them
[X] Attempt to approach Morghur to see if he can be communicated with
[X] Attempt to infiltrate the Karak with magic
[x] Attempt to infiltrate the Karak without magic
[X] Fortify here and see if anything interesting happens over the next day
 
Something I've been thinking about. Does meat really go bad that quickly, especially this far north? Meaning, if worst came to worst and Mathilde's spellcasting abilities were unavailable for any reason, would it be possible for the Expedition to replace Mockery of Death with regular actual death for the cows and just stack their bodies on the steam tanks that way? I mean, I doubt the humans or even the famously hardy dwarves would be all that stoked to eat week-old meat or whatever, but AFAIK obligate carnivores like wolves tend to have fairly strong stomachs for this kind of thing - they're not necessarily above eating some carrion in the wild. And the carnivorous mounts are a huge percentage of the expedition's food requirements IIRC. I did some quick google-fu and this page from the International Wolf Center, which is apparently a thing, says:

Taken mostly from the material under "What do wolves eat?" and the end snippet is from "How much do wolves eat?". Unfortunately, it seems there is no International Demigryph Center, or I'd include some material from them as well.

From what I've gathered from hunting communities, even in a cold environment a kill is no good after 24 hours. The Expedition can try to experiment with feeding bad meat to their heavy-hitters, but nobody's really keen on the idea.

Related, have we tried to estimate the feasibility of Ljiljana producing ice for purposes of janky field refridgeration in concert with carrying dead cows on the steam wagons? Can we, if not?

Summoned ice doesn't last long enough for it to be feasible.

...sheperd's tone? Like, from a sheperd's bell, used to summon herd animals?
@BoneyM could you tell us if the tone heard by Citharus was labelled according to the real-life phenomenon linked above, or if it had something to do with the occupation of a shepherd?

IRL equivalent would be a Shepard tone, renamed because it'd bug me to have something named for an IRL person in a fantasy setting.

@BoneyM can Asarnil recognise Asyryan influence?

It's unlikely that anyone but Mathilde would be able to see the energy at work, let alone identify it.

@BoneyM what does Mathilde know about the Hedgefolk or Halétha? She did grow up in the Grey College after all.

She knows they exist, but not much more than that. Dealing with them is Kurtis Krammovitch's job.

Did Boney say this? If so, fair enough. If not, I'm inclined to say that's a rather silly take on it.
The Coin is a conduit to Ranald. Ranald is not an idiot. It's like arguing that if we defended K8P from Skaven, only the troops manning the under-defences would become subject to its' effects.

It's a catch-all for those that want to try to persuade the Karak and those that want to try to charm the Beastmen.
 
Did Boney say this? If so, fair enough. If not, I'm inclined to say that's a rather silly take on it.
The Coin is a conduit to Ranald. Ranald is not an idiot. It's like arguing that if we defended K8P from Skaven, only the troops manning the under-defences would become subject to its' effects.

here's the literal description of the action.

[ ] Attempt to intercept a Kurgan war-party en route to attack the Karag and the Beastmen
- Hopefully, this will trigger the Protector and implant the knowledge that you protected them in both the Beastmen and any remaining inhabitants of the Karak.

It's aimed at both/either. So if a poster's plan is aimed at the beastmen, it holds up.
 
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I know it's early days but infiltrate with magic is literally the 2nd most dangerous option we have on the list and if we do it and get chaos spawned every one on the expedition probably dies.
 
The above is like saying uncertainty exists therefore there can be no value judgement on what is more or less safe. We are working with incomplete information not no information.

I would argue that more than incomplete information we are working with almost none.

Sure we got some info of the way back. But not that much either. ( are there raiders there right now taking steel from the wreck? Who knows? Will the tribes we passed change their mind?...)

That together with the fact we know absolutely nothing of what is in front of us.

Makes people claiming They know what the smart thing is, or safe, etc...
Really anoying.
 
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[X] Approach the Kvellige camp peacefully and attempt to discuss the Karak with them
 
Just put the knowledge in a sealed box only a skilled runesmith can open, or just send a runesmith down south, it isn't some herculean task if we just talk to them.
I doubt any runesmith, or knowledge from a runesmith, from a Karag that seems to have allied with beastmen, is going to get much study.

"a Karak has been lost, oh no, let's write down to send an army to reclaim it if we live that long, say, mathilde, did you see what the state of the defenses were like"
You can't be serious. :facepalm:
Borek thought that establishing a road to Karad Dum was possible if they haven't fallen.
Yes, Borek, the well known authority on prudent and reasonable courses of action. :V
 
The Kurgan think we're part of their Shadow shaman religion, I'd rather not interact with Morghur when we know the Tribes have been fighting him, we're priming people to think we're part of the tribes and he's been killing them. Parlaying with Morghur is exactly the kind of risk I think is a a step or two away from just straight up voting to commit suicide, I know Morghur isn't quite doing what we expect but that's not good enough to vote for what is the next best thing to suicide if he goes hostile.

We don't know enough about this incarnation of Morghur to be able to make anything remotely like a sensible risk assessment, there's one option that could potentially gather information on Morghur semi safely for us personally but it doesn't matter because the dwarves aren't responding to communication attempts.
We can always just approache the edge of the forest, and scream that we are the Loremaster of K8P, and that we ask audience with the Elders of Karag Dum... If the Dwarfs consider themselves member of Karaz Ankor, they should let up pass.

@BoneyM Wold that be a viable option?
 
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We can always just approache the edge of the forest, and scream that we are the Loremaster of K8P, and that we ask audience with the Elders of Karag Dum... If the Dwarfs consider themselves member of Karaz Ankor, they should let up pass.

@BoneyM Wold that be a viable option?

You can, though from what you were told about Beastmen behaviour, going up to the forest and screaming might provoke something of a reaction from them.
 
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I know it's early days but infiltrate with magic is literally the 2nd most dangerous option we have on the list
Again, yes, but maybe no?

Morghur isn't using his corruption on his enemies (the bones). He isn't using it on his surroundings (the trees). He isn't using it on dwarves. He isn't using it in any way we can detect.

He's also not around right now; we can't see him. He can't be everywhere; his forest encircles a mountain, and the other two fronts have actual Kurgan war-hordes assailing them.

Mathilde is understandably worried about trying it, but to me, that seems to have good odds of success.
and if we do it and get chaos spawned every one on the expedition probably dies.
And that's just silly.
 
Honestly so far we've had pretty good results with talking to the Kurgan, and even if that doesn't pan out this time I think our chances of getting away are very good now that I have a better grasp of the positioning. The fact they're an hours walk on the other side of the desert adds up to it taking Mathilde probably only around 15-30 minutes to reach them, or to escape back to the expedition if need be. While still meaning the interaction takes place far enough from Dum to avoid any likely interference.

Right now also seems like the best time to talk with them, based on how the Yusak Shaman talked the testing business is quite a communal thing as long as you stay in your lane, so going over to sort out everyone's boundaries seems a pretty reasonable thing to do.
 
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You can, though from what you were told about Beastmen behaviour, going up to the forest and screaming might provoke something of a reaction from them.
I don't think this Morghur is anything like his tabletop incarnation, but it's interesting to note that Tabletop Morghur has a rule where any beastman he leads gets the Unruly trait.

Unruly units roll a 1d6 every turn, and on a 1 frenzy and charge attack the nearest enemy.
 
I doubt any runesmith, or knowledge from a runesmith, from a Karag that seems to have allied with beastmen, is going to get much study.


You can't be serious. :facepalm:
Are you saying that dwarves wouldn't try to reclaim a lost karak? because we've got a cushy job and a badass tower that says otherwise. Of course, this is not a short term concern, but the fact that the army of people one way or another we would be sending to their deaths only happens if the dwarves don't all die before they can get around to it does nothing to alleviate the guilt I would feel.
 
Given that the cult of Thungi would be obliged to kill us yes that should stop us. There is a way back from the College's bad books, not so the Dwarfs'.
For sure, that wouldn't be good. Hence why it'd be a backroom deal! Psh, no one needs to know! Just like no one needs to know we went window shopping in Uzkulak!


From what I've gathered from hunting communities, even in a cold environment a kill is no good after 24 hours. The Expedition can try to experiment with feeding bad meat to their heavy-hitters, but nobody's really keen on the idea.
Speaking personally as a hunter... it really depends. Your immune system plays a big part. If you've eaten frozen, vacuum sealed meat your whole life, and you regularly wash your hands, your immune system is going to be far less hardy than some nutter who lives in the woods and leaves his meat on a drying rack in the elements. Our knights of Taal would probably be able to gamble on meat that's been left out for two days with good odds of nothing worse than feeling slightly queasy as long as they cooked it thoroughly before eating. You can find some time lapse videos of meat decay on youtube which are fairly illustrative.
Animals such as their mounts? 3 days should be fine, not ideal, but fine; anything older than that is rolling the dice unless you doused it in salt or smoked it. Scavengers on the other hand can eat some very nasty stuff with few ill effects.

It's a catch-all for those that want to try to persuade the Karak and those that want to try to charm the Beastmen.
It's aimed at both/either. So if a poster's plan is aimed at the beastmen, it holds up.
Thank you, that's what I figured. The effect should propagate to the Dwarfs, if there are any - assuming of course they aren't sufficiently warded against divine effects anyway. Then again, Ranald would probably take that as a challenge.
 
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[X] Approach the Kvellige camp peacefully and attempt to discuss the Karak with them

I'd prefer to do this first so we can gather information, and thus expand our options. We can find out just what's been happening here and what they know of it's history, but more importantly for us whether using magic turns you into a chaos spawn. If it does, well that's more than off the table, if it doesn't then it unlocks a way to get past the forest with Mathilde's Unseen trait and various traits.

@BoneyM - although maybe having Deathfang carry us over the forest and to the mountain itself would be sufficient, given we have Skyfall and can just bypass it all.
 
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It's the Chaos Wastes, the only reason the dwarfs sent anyone (after 180 years) is because they are dwarfs and thus insanely stubborn. No one else is coming
The known factions here are the tribes and Dum. We've turned up with a large and interesting force and they have no reason to be immediately hostile. We don't necessarily need to go to them for diplomacy to occur.

On a different note as you've noted this is likely the only chance we'll get to gain information on what's going on. Determining the divine backer here is very achievable and it seems we're basically guaranteed to determine their signature if we hang around for a bit. Anything else we can gain is gravy.
 
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