Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

There are a variety of ways for a Lord Magister to send an urgent message at considerable speed, but unfortunately none of them were intended to be kept secret from an extremely well-connected Magister Patriarch in good standing. You spend some time balancing stealth against speed and eventually settle on sending a message through the local EIC office, who would be able to find a trustworthy ship captain or reliable messenger bird to send a message downstream to Altdorf, from where the Grey Order can get it on its way to wherever Regimand happens to be. And you know the code-phrases the Hochlander has set up for the local agents, so you don't even need to reveal yourself to the staff of the office. And even if the office is under surveillance it would be reasonable enough for the clerk Alys Schmidt to have business with the EIC. It is technically possible that someone very thoroughly surveilling the office might connect Alys Schmidt to a coded letter being sent by messenger pigeon, extremely unlikely but not completely impossible they'd be able to connect that pigeon's departure to another pigeon's arrival in Altdorf, and perhaps they'd be well-informed enough to know that the apparent receiver of that letter is actually under the employ of the Grey Order, but even then the most likely conclusion that they'd reach is that Alys Schmidt is one of the Hochlander's agents, and the letter being sent to the Grey Order is intended for Lady Magister Mathilde Weber.

[Rolling...]

Unbeknownst to you, the letter turns right back around in Altdorf and comes back to Talabheim before being handed off to a mounted courier. Not knowing how long you had to wait, you prepare an entire itinerary for Alys Schmidt's visit to Talabheim. First priority, of course, was seeing if you could snatch a glimpse of the local Waystone nexus, but after eyeing the local leylines and consulting a map you suspect it to be the namesake of the sacred grove known as the Horn of Taal within the Taalgrunhaar Forest, and the local Priesthood is rather protective of the place. You do, however, find a Waystone known to the locals as the Obelisk of Laws, upon which local laws and commentary on them are posted, and one of those laws is it's forbidden to remove anything posted on the Obelisk of Laws, so over the years it has accumulated quite a density of faded paper around its base. The part of the Obelisk emerging from the paper is in the same shape and proportions as the Elven Waystones, but is made of black marble and the part of it that is visible is unadorned by runes. You make a mental note of another Waystone oddity and add it to the growing list.

You barely have time to also visit the public park of the Taalgarten and the conservatory of the Sea of Roses, taking advantage of the Coin's effects to take a few interesting cuttings for Panoramia while you do so, before your vacation plans are interrupted by an Illusion-clad Regimand arriving at the daily rendezvous point a mere four days after the letter was sent. Alys Schmidt makes a show of greeting him politely while he wraps the two of you in Cloak Activity.

"Thank you for coming," you say, as the magic conceals you from prying eyes. "I wasn't expecting you to be here so soon, though."

"I was up in Bek, keeping an eye on the biggest agitators for Talabecland-Ostermark conflict over the canals. A favour for Lady Magister Wilhelmine."

"I thought that business was settled years back?"

"It was, but there's a few sparks left. They'd usually go out on their own if left be, but we can't really trust the Empire's many enemies to pass up such an opportunity to sow discord, can we? So while there's even a hint of bitterness, it's best to keep a careful eye on the situation. But it can wait. What's the trouble here?"

You hand over a piece of paper you'd been using to cross-reference the rumours of bloody fates of Unfähigers with the supposedly natural deaths of the Haupt-Anderssens, supplemented by the archives of local newspapers that you'd been breaking into at night. "A chapter that I'd been rather hoping we'd closed."

He examines the chart you'd made, his face growing blank. Eight dead Haupt-Anderssens, five dead Unfähigers. "Even the time between the deaths lines up," he observes, "just with months instead of years. Which gives us two months until the next murder."

"Someone knows more than they should, and is bringing attention to where it shouldn't be."

He considers that for a while. "No," he rebuts simply.

"No?"

"If they had something on us - either the original business or, Gods forbid, the way we solved it - they'd have either outed it or tried to get their hooks back into us. Instead they're putting on a sanguine pantomime unrelated to anything that would endanger us. Getting involved seems like it has a higher chance of bringing unwanted attention to you and I than just sitting back and letting things play out." He frowns down at the paper. "And that's if that's what's actually happening."

"You don't think so?"

"It's too much trouble to go to if you don't have to, so I'd say they have to, or they want to. I'd normally say a Spectre or even a Wraith, but considering what happened to the last Haupt-Anderssen Elector Count, I'd say he made new friends where he ended up, and is trying to get his revenge on who he believes to be to blame for his family. He might even be right, the Unfähigers were Elector Counts of Stirland before they were Emperors, they might have thought they'd be the natural choice to re-inherit if the Haupt-Anderssens went extinct." He taps the descriptions of the killings. "The methods seem like the Violent, the pageantry of the Tempter, the echo of past events smacks of the Changer, and the mood this'd be inflicting on the rest of the Unfähigers rounds out the Four. There's been a fair bit of activity from that lot lately, and this is the sort of game They like to play."

"And if that was the case..."

"Then the perfect man for the job is already on top of it." He eyes you thoughtfully. "What's this really about? You never struck me as the sort to get involved in College politics, and as far as I know you're one of the few of your rank without an axe to grind against Alric."

Perhaps you've gotten too used to being distant and inscrutable. Though you've outstripped him in rank, Regimand has known you since you were a girl of ten, and has spent large parts of his life matching wits with beings older, cleverer, and more sinister than you. If you want him in on this, you're going to have to tell him something more. And if it is the last Haupt-Anderssen behind this, then it just became even more important that this be resolved quietly.


[ ] Favour to Mira
Tell him you're getting involved in this as a favour to Mira in exchange for Light Order assistance with the Waystone Project. While almost true, it does mean the stakes aren't high enough to demand his attention, and he may return to his previous task.
[ ] Favour to the Empress
Tell him you're getting involved in this as a favour to the Empress, who has a natural interest in the fate of her dynasty. Not exactly a lie, but definitely misleading, and far from the whole story.
[ ] It's important
Say that it's important, and that's all that you can say about the matter. That would probably be enough to sway him and he would probably understand, but it will also inflame his curiosity.
[ ] Say nothing
Thank him for his insight, and for putting your mind at rest about the matter, and allow him to return to his business in Bek.
[ ] Other (write in)


- There will be a two hour moratorium.