I find this greatly amusing. Mathilde is just ruining this guy's day. I did not expect him to stick around, but having "just a guy" be hanging around these scenes does give a level of levity. It's like sticking a normal dude in a meeting between powerhouses is always good for lightening the mood. I think it would be a funny running joke if he stuck around the narrative so that Mathilde could keep terrorising him.
I like all the mentions of the differences between Kislev and the Empire in this update. It's really good for putting an emphasis on the difference between the Empire and Kislev to define what makes Kislev Kislev. Kislev. Kislev.
I find it amusing that Kislev's militia is a match for the Empire's full time Knightly Orders, the shining exemplars of combat prowess in the Empire. This feels ripe for a
"Strongest Empire Man vs Weakest Kislevite Man" meme
It's been a while since we last saw Milica, but hm. She is "equally large" compared to a Boyar who is either well-muscle, well-fed or both.
This passage almost feels like it's targeting my neuron activation centres directly. I thank you for this gift Boney.
That is... certainly a huge comparison. A single Pulk consists of several Rota. I understand that Mathilde saved Liljiana's life and she's quite formidable, but man is that one hell of a retelling if that's the level she believes Mathilde operates in. I'm pretty sure Mathilde's involvement here pushed things up significantly.
I do find the mental image of Liljiana bragging about how climactically destructive the Kul fight was. And you know, to be fair, she wouldn't be wrong. If you think about it, two casters really destroyed a camp of high level Warriors of Chaos consisting of like 300 people. Sure they had the advantage of surprise and several Gods at their back, but it's understandable why the feat would snowball in retellings.
Mathilde clearly says "I have pierced it", which is a lie. She did it with the help of the Hedgewise. It completely went unremarked on because Mathilde succeeded her bluff check, but it makes perfect sense why she wouldn't want to advertise working with illegal casters, even if this is Kislev. No need to reveal more than is needed and implicate herself in violations of the Articles when she doesn't need to.
Also, Daemon-Elves is one description of the Asrai I guess. Not the best outlook on them, but I guess they wouldn't have much reason to know the Asrai in their "good" moments. As loose as that word is in relation to the Asrai when they decide not to string you up on trees.
I also had to look up bunting several times to even understand what Kirill was saying there. I assume he means that Bretonnians are fancy horses waving around flags? Or that they prance around on horses waving around fancy flags? Something like that I imagine. If Kislev thinks the Empire is soft, they probably have an even worse image of Bretonnia.
Johann should probably take that "Allies of the Empire" lesson if it's available in the Gold College. He seems to lack general knowledge about places outside his zone, which would be fine if he wanted to stick around one place constantly, but if he's going to be jumping around with Mathilde he needs to learn about other cultures and societies so that Mathilde doesn't have to navigate everything by herself. He's got great diplomacy, but he's so out of his depth here it's not even funny. He lacks certain skills that Mathilde had that makes her good at intercooperation. Poker face is one aspect. If Mathilde bristles, she tries to at least hide it.
Also, in case you guys want visualisation of the places the Boyar talks about:
This map includes Fort Jekova, Gerslev, Resvynhaf, Vitevo and Zavstra. Rakhov and Ryazan are on this map:
As a side note, I like Boney implementing simple phrases/sayings that indicate the culture or beliefs that a person holds/is a part of, like "Race Dazh" to refer to pushing sundown/sunrise to a place. The 2E books has plenty of them, but they're a lot to keep track of and it's probably easier to make up your own than try to stuff the pre made ones into conversation.
The Empire is an absolute mess of bureaucracy and things move incredibly slowly in there. Kislev? Not the same. Well, the City Boyars probably operate on a similar principle, but I suppose the advantage of rural vs urban is that you can mobilise much quicker and there's less tape to go through. No wonder the rural Boyars don't have much good to say about city Boyars. Insert "those damn scots they ruined scotland" meme here.
I've made extensive posts talking about this a while ago so it's nice to see that some of my theories and parts of Realm of Sorcery that I liked are confirmed to be somewhat canonical to DL:
Another shout out to Boney's excellent flavor sprinkles. He keeps adding little things to flesh out the world that he doesn't need to but still contributes to making the world feel lived in. Like Ungols clowning on Gospodars for coming late.
"Unrest in the mountains" close to Fort Jekova combined with a mangled Goblin corpse flowing down the Talabec in a previous update:
I'm guessing something's going on with Karak Ungor/Red Eye Mountain. Skaven and Goblin related most likely, but could be something else. I do wonder if the Tzeentchian host released from Karak Vlag's ruins managed to breach through the Skaven Combes, got enough sacrifices, and decided to hang out in Karak Ungor where there's a constant supply of fresh bodies for sacrifice to maintain their forms? It's probably too much paranoia, but we never tied up that thread, so for all we know they're still out there. Either way something's probably going on with Karak Ungor. It's very close to Jekova and we know that Goblins were being washed down the Talabec.
Give them a break they're marching on foot in full plate armor. Also, Loza's pretty funny here. I don't think he feels great having to translate Milica's grouching over the city Boyars.
I also notice that Boney is using the older "Kreml Guard" term instead of the newer Total War term "Tzar Guard". I never really understood why they changed the name but I do prefer Kreml Guard over Tzar Guard.
Mathilde succeeding on her Intrigue check here. I'm glad she decided to stick around. Kislevites are great, but they have some blindspots, especially the rural Boyars. I don't think this operation might be their forte.
The current Tzar has many faults, but at least he's good for it when it counts and he needs to kill stuff.
I'm pretty sure this is the kind of battle where the Tzar is likely to lose his life. Cavalry force chargining into a forest inhabited by Dryads who have had time to set up a trap? Perfect killing field. Something needs to change to make sure that doesn't happen.
Bad ass words that signify the differences between the Empire and Kislev, but there is a reason the Empire doesn't try to wipe all hostile forces within their borders. It's not for lack of effort.
Also, I'm not sure if this was intentional, but "there will be a red day" brings in mind images of Boris Bokha's canonical title of "Red Bokha" where he got his title form the river Lynsk running red with blood from the massacre he caused fighting his enemies.
In this case though, the red blood only belongs to the humans. Dryads are likely to bleed sap. I would prefer the rivers to not run red.
This seems to be the biggest game changer. Heavily armored flexible infantry troops are highly needed against the enemies we're facing. We can't be fighting them with just Cavalry.
2-5 Ice Witches capable of altering the outcome of the battlefield just there ready for deployment in Kislev city is certainly a thing. I can see several reasons for that. Either Ice Witches are generally not as busy as the Colleges of Magic, which is certainly a possibility. Or perhaps since they're withing the confines of Kislev the level in which they can turn the tides is lower. Or maybe this is the kind of situation that would be equivalent to the Emperor's Decree against Sylvania.
Kislev don't have a Chekist/Akshina equivalent right now, so no stealth specialists. It's only during Tzarina Katarin's reign that they were made I think? Anyways, I hope this whole chain of events causes some degree of change in terms of border policy. Either create an agency dedicated to cooperation between the Empire and Kislev to keep the border safe or work on some sort of organisation to be able to scout and stealth like Grey Magisters can.
I was about to say something here but I forgor💀
