First Impressions [Warhammer Fantasy Wizard Quest]

[X] An elderly Priest of Verena, wandering the room with a watchful eye.

The priest has been circling the room since you first arrived, drifting from group to group like a cloud on the wind. He is an old man, slightly hunched over, and walks with a gnarled cane of bronze, topped by the scales of Verena. A golden pendant of an owl hangs low from his neck.

Examining the priest: +1 Wizard's Sight – 4d10 = 7 + 10 + 4 + 4 = 21, Efficient Success

As you draw closer, you see that what you had once thought a simple wary gaze looks to be much more in your mind's eye. Somewhere behind the priest's gaze is a bright spark of Divinity, a Mark of having delved deep into Verena's mysteries and emerged touched by Her will. As he sees you staring, his expression softens slightly, but you still cannot help but feel watched, not by the hungry eyes of a predator or the envious leer of a scoundrel, but the calm, judicious gaze of someone who has sought the heights of Justice.

Magic and Faith: +1 Shared Deity – 4d10 = 9 + 4 + 10 + 3 = 23, Efficient Success

"Ah, a young wizard," the priest begins, his timbre deep and imposing in spite of his aged, bent frame. "It gladdens me to see your fellows pass through this Temple; truly, Verena's hand guided the Emperor when he gave his Empire the gift of such Knowledge, and those learned enough to apply it to Just ends. On behalf of the Temple of Verena, I bid you welcome." He takes a slight bow, and you return the gesture, careful to go slightly lower.

"I am not so learned yet, I fear; I left the Colleges for my Journeying but one day ago. I came simply to ask Verena's protection, for myself and for my College in these times."

"Good, good," the priest mumbles. "There are still too many of your kind who lean too close to Elven arrogance, dismissing the gods as mere magical curiosities. While I admit, the arguments of the Loremasters are perhaps not wrong," he grumbles, and you recognise the familiar tone of a Verenan whose mind has been convinced of something while their heart holds out, "the power of the gods in this world draws on more than their image in the Aethyr."

"Ah, my master was a student of divine miracles and omens, and-"

The priest shakes his head. "No, no, nothing so petty as that. Tell me, young wizard; when one of Sigmar's templars calls down His Comet into battle, there is magic to be sure, but is it magic which fills the hearts of his fellows with courage? When a Shallyan priestess approaches the diseased, is it the touch of the Goddess that wrings relief from their families?" He gestures around the room, at the clusters of scholars, students, and even a few wizards who fill the Temple of Verena. "What miracle of Verena do I cast which draws you, and all these others, to this place at this time, to receive Her gift of thought and learning?"

"Well, if I desired the debate," you start, and the priest chuckles, "I would note that Sigmar's followers in battle would naturally draw the passion of Aqshy, and likewise Shallya's priestess is a new life, bearing Ghyran, which battles Shyish for the sickly. And the air here thrums with Hysh and Azyr, though I feel the latter more strongly." You shrug. "As it happens, though, I agree; the Winds of Magic are no more what makes the Gods than stone is what makes a temple. Verena teaches that we learn; to learn of another reflection of Verena makes her greater, not less." The priest nods, and you smile. "I cannot speak for all my fellow Wizards, of course; but I suspect neither can you speak for every priest, Verenan or otherwise."

"There are few in the Cult, least of all here, who object to new avenues of knowledge being welcomed in the Empire, or to the hand of Justice reaching out to those who would otherwise be damned by chance." There's fire in the priest's words now, a conviction born from a life of service to an impossible ideal. "Though I cannot say the other Cults have done much to endear themselves to your fellows. I dare say Verena would knock down the gates of Sigmar's realm if some of his priests ever made deeds of their words."

The Priest's Schedule: +1 Enlightening Conversation – 4d10 = 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8, Setback

At this time, a younger acolyte of the temple approaches the priest, and whispers something to him that you could overhear, if you pried it from Azyr, but you elect to remain politely ignorant. After all, Knowledge must always be tempered with Wisdom, even in the house of Verena. The priest draws a small book from within his robes, and scowls as he looks it over.

The old priest shakes his head, sliding the book back into his robe. "Alas, that the Temple's preparations ask so much of my time. It seems we shall have to continue this another time. Perhaps once the Emperor's procession has arrived?" He reaches back into his sleeves and draws out a small disc, which he presses into your palm. "Present this token to any priest of this Temple, and they will see you to me." He smiles. "It does my old bones good to warm by the fires of youth, every now and again." With a twinkle in his eye, he chuckles. "Or perhaps, in this case, the lightning?"

You look at the disc. It is a smooth disc of granite, inlaid with a beautiful carving of an owl. Its talons grasp the Scales of Verena as it descends towards a burning mountain pass, where impossibly small carvings of men and dwarves prepare to battle. The craftsmanship alone marks it as not the work of human hands, something quickly confirmed by the maker's mark cut into the reverse side: a wholly mundane, but unmistakably Khazalid rune.

You look back up at the priest, and he smiles. "Speak truth, young wizard."

"Be truth, good priest." The traditional parting words of the Cult of Verena fall naturally from your mouth, and the priest walks back into the temple, towards two growing flocks of arguing students.

The Cult of Verena has no formal mortal head in the manner of most of the Empire's cults. To worship in Verena's halls is to accept that Verena alone can balance Knowledge with Wisdom and Law with Justice in such harmony as to lead the Cult down Her path. Individual temples choose High Priests from their number on the grounds of their ability and adherence to Verena's virtues. For one temple to directly interfere in the affairs of another would be taken as a grave insult: to claim that one High Priest holds true dominion over another would be to name the latter temple fools incapable of comprehending Verena's tenets themselves.

Of course, this does not preclude some level of informal hierarchy among temples. Many Tilean priests look to the High Priests of Luccini for inspiration, though they are as likely to denounce their proclamations as to support them (either, well-argued, would bring glory to Verena). In Estalia, the temples in Bibali and Magritta feud as openly as Her tenets allow, filling debate halls and taverns alike with eloquent but bitter debate.

And in the Empire, more sensible men look to one city as the capital of learning and law. A city with a grand scholastic tradition, and a small Temple of Verena bridging two institutional titans of education. While no Priest of Verena from outside the Altdorf Temple would name him as the leader of the Cult, few would deny that the High Priest of Altdorf is a leader, and a credit to the Cult within the Empire.

From the token in your hand, you have just impressed him.

Contact gained: High Priest Detlev the Reckoner, de jure head of the Altdorf Cult of Verena and arguable de facto leader of the Verenans in the Empire writ large.

* * *

So yeah, that happened. All of the options for the last vote were essentially 'networking' votes, with a 1d100 rolled to see how important the people you're talking to would be with their respective organisations. Detlev was a 100.

For generating major NPCs, I have some tables and some rolls made up behind the scenes. Of particular note, "How did he become a contender for High Priest?" was a critical success on a +2 skill roll (30 on the highest three of 5d10). Azyr has found the dice already.

Post for a full Altdorf "turn" vote will be up tonight, covering the days before Magnus's body arrives.