Remove ads

Mercenary Mage Quest: Asur Dogs of War in Warhammer Fantasy

Reader mode
[X] Write-in - Bring the Swordmasters, and you may be able to deal with the threat here and now.
-[X] Scout ahead of the Swordmasters invisibly and soundlessly to ensure that the path is unwatched (or to deal with any such watchers), as well as to get a sense of the cause of the magic and its defences before the Swordmasters arrive so that, if necessary, you can order a withdrawal with the aid of The Wilds Undisturbed before they catch the attention of anything that might be present there.
--[X] Use The Wilds Undisturbed on the Swordmasters on the way, too, if it's possible to avoid creating Dhar by casting it on them but not yourself.
-[X] Leave the Sea Guard behind (and Eöl with them). They won't be as suited to the thick woods as the Swordmasters, nor as familiar with Chaos' hidden enclaves and what it takes to root them out, and a group of ten will hopefully be quicker and quieter than a group of thirty.
 
Sertorius said:
[X] Go alone, you can slip in and out invisible and soundless with minimal risk.

Fanriel will prepare orders beforehand for the group, she is not stupid and knows her job. We are not paid nor ordered to check out the source (and the Count won't be as generous as our previous employer if we start smashing skulls needlessly). We do it, because of Fanriel's Dark Curiosity. Therefore I prefer to avoid combat, simply scouting out the thing is enough.

This is a test of our capabilities as a commander and I would prefer not to screw up. If we do well, we might get a bigger command later.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Also if need be we haven't lost our ability to sly marbo things. Going in by ourself doesn't necessarily mean we won't have the capability to handle what's there either.
 
Netos said:
I will propose an alternative write-in, specifying that the Swordmasters are not there to fight at all, but only to follow our primary scout (Fanriel) and provide a discreet, distant backup.

[] Write-in - Bring the Swordmasters, as bodyguards following the trail of the primary scout (us)
-[] Scout ahead of the Swordmasters invisibly and soundlessly to ensure that the path is unwatched (or to deal with any such watchers), as well as to get a sense of the cause of the magic and its defences before the Swordmasters arrive so that, if necessary, you can order a withdrawal before they catch the attention of anything that might be present there.
-[] The Swordmasters are not there to fight anything, nor are we. They are there to follow our trail. Even if we are jnvisible, we will be inevitably leaving a trail, so let us use it to have them close, at the edge or just out of visual range, in case we get trapped.
-[] Leave the Sea Guard behind (and Eöl with them). They won't be as suited to the thick woods as the Swordmasters, nor as familiar with Chaos' hidden enclaves and what it takes to root them out, and a group of ten will hopefully be quicker and quieter than a group of thirty.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Don't like saying this about a plan but I fear that this may be the worst of both worlds... Fanriel in Ulgu mode has invisibility and a short-range teleport - I imagine it very unlikely that she wouldn't be able to slip away from a given threat if necessary. That leaves the Swordmasters almost entirely as a liability; if we aren't going to bring them to fight Chaos, they're increasing the chances of getting spotted without really offering anything in return.
 
Last edited:
Imperious said:
Also if need be we haven't lost our ability to sly marbo things. Going in by ourself doesn't necessarily mean we won't have the capability to handle what's there either.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
True, yet we only wish to scout the thing, not engage is combat. We have our orders and cannot afford delays. If a fight shall start, we risk our whole group, since the enemy can start hunting us down and follow our little expedition, something nobody wants. Notice, that the Wolf Riders seem to have disappeared. They know, that something dark is brewing in these woods, therefore they stopped following us here. Oh, they will still be there once we put some distance between us and the forest, but in general some quick scouting by Fanriel (which will be always faster alone) is the preferred solution to the problem.
 
Last edited:
[X] Go alone, you can slip in and out invisible and soundless with minimal risk.

I wonder if Fanriel will take out a certain gold ring that will make her invisible and it would be her precious.
 
[X] Go alone, you can slip in and out invisible and soundless with minimal risk.

this is a scounting mission, numbers are actively detrimental.
and taking away most of the elites from their actual job to indulge in our curiosity is a bad look
 
I will briefly note regarding the 'do not deviate from orders' argument - presuming that we're angling for command of a larger group of mercenaries, we need to show not just an ability to stick to the plan but also that we can be trusted to show initiative that isn't disruptive to that plan. If we can handle this here and now without compromising the forestry in force (or, more precisely, bring the most capable force that we can justify to the problem here and now and then judge whether or not we need a better one), it's an excellent demonstration of the latter.
 
Last edited:
Nimbus said:
I will briefly note regarding the 'do not deviate from orders' argument - presuming that we're angling for command of a larger group of mercenaries, we need to show not just an ability to stick to the plan but also that we can be trusted to show initiative that isn't disruptive to that plan. If we can handle this here and now without compromising the forestry in force, it's an excellent demonstration of the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's also a demonstration of how if the count wants us to handle bigger missions then forestry then he should give us the forces to do so. The count left us with a force that we've been explicitly told will not be willing to head deeper into the forest to deal with this. Him getting upset at us for not dealing with mission creep he left us unequipped for, when instead what we've brought is a mission excellently done and additional intelligence beyond the mission requirements is rather much.
 
Nimbus said:
I will briefly note regarding the 'do not deviate from orders' argument - presuming that we're angling for command of a larger group of mercenaries, we need to show not just an ability to stick to the plan but also that we can be trusted to show initiative that isn't disruptive to that plan. If we can handle this here and now without compromising the forestry in force (or, more precisely, bring the most capable force that we can justify to the problem here and now and then judge whether or not we need a better one), it's an excellent demonstration of the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Agree.

Going alone makes Fanriel look like a gloryhound, going with a small elite force makes her look like a competent commander.
 
Mystic Pentagram said:
Agree.

Going alone makes Fanriel look like a gloryhound, going with a small elite force makes her look like a competent commander.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Every man we take off to check this with us is one that's not there to defend the carravan, which is our actual mission. If anything reducing the carravan's defenses further by taking additional forces then ourselves seem more "gloryhoundy".
 
[X] Go alone, you can slip in and out invisible and soundless with minimal risk.

Nimbus said:
I will briefly note regarding the 'do not deviate from orders' argument - presuming that we're angling for command of a larger group of mercenaries, we need to show not just an ability to stick to the plan but also that we can be trusted to show initiative that isn't disruptive to that plan. If we can handle this here and now without compromising the forestry in force (or, more precisely, bring the most capable force that we can justify to the problem here and now and then judge whether or not we need a better one), it's an excellent demonstration of the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Eh...personally, I think a successful scouting does a perfectly adequate job of making this point, while being vastly lower risk. And it's not like we can't go back for the Swordmasters and make a commando raid if we really think that's needed after scouting, as long as we get away clean. There's some risk we won't get away clean, sure, but I think it's more manageable than the risks to bringing the Swordmasters along. The swordmasters are, collectively, just not that sneaky and bringing them along increases the odds of getting spotted and having to fight our way out drastically.
 
Imperious said:
It's also a demonstration of how if the count wants us to handle bigger missions then forestry then he should give us the forces to do so. The count left us with a force that we've been explicitly told will not be willing to head deeper into the forest to deal with this. Him getting upset at us for not dealing with mission creep he left us unequipped for, when instead what we've brought is a mission excellently done and additional intelligence beyond the mission requirements is rather much.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This is only true if we are actually unequipped to do so. If we scout ahead and realise that we could have taken on whatever this is if we brought the Swordmasters, reporting to the Count that we had the tools to take care of it but didn't use them won't be a good look.

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
And it's not like we can't go back for the Swordmasters and make a commando raid if we really think that's needed after scouting, as long as we get away clean.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
(Just a brief point: thought this myself at first but Blackout has clarified that we won't have the time to do so!)
 
Last edited:
Nimbus said:
This is only true if we are actually unequipped to do so. If we scout ahead and realise that we could have taken on whatever this is if we brought the Swordmasters, reporting to the Count that we had the tools to take care of it but didn't use them won't be a good look.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

If the count is unsatisfied that aside from a mission well done and obtaining additional intelligence beyond the mission parameters we didn't also complete a mission he didn't equip us for when pursuing such a task would have also required to compromise the original mission then if he considers that a bad look that's on him. We're talking about a task that such a case of mission creep that more then 90% of the people he left in our command would refuse to take part in it at all if told about it.

And again, even just going by ourself still leaves us with some ability to handle matters there between our magic and personal combat ability. Going with the swordmasters doesn't make us ten times more effective in a fight, but it does mean not being able to make as quick a getaway since we'd be the only one with Shadowsteed as well as make a subtle approach more difficult, since the Swordmasters don't have our stealth spells.
 
Nimbus said:
This is only true if we are actually unequipped to do so. If we scout ahead and realise that we could have taken on whatever this is if we brought the Swordmasters, reporting to the Count that we had the tools to take care of it but didn't use them won't be a good look.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Fanriel has Diplomacy 30 and Intrigue 25. She can present things from a solo mission in a way to make herself look good.

Nimbus said:
(Just a brief point: thought this myself at first but Blackout has clarified that we won't have the time to do so!)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I feel like we could make time if it's truly a 'this must be handled now' emergency worth violating the mission parameters for. And if it's not that urgent, we probably shouldn't remove the Swordmasters from guarding the logging party.
 
Nimbus said:
I will briefly note regarding the 'do not deviate from orders' argument - presuming that we're angling for command of a larger group of mercenaries, we need to show not just an ability to stick to the plan but also that we can be trusted to show initiative that isn't disruptive to that plan. If we can handle this here and now without compromising the forestry in force (or, more precisely, bring the most capable force that we can justify to the problem here and now and then judge whether or not we need a better one), it's an excellent demonstration of the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think we'll benefit from showing the Count that he can trust us to actually follow orders and not risk the entire job because we decided to pull away units to take care of something unrelated.

We're mercenaries, I think he'll place a premium on actually doing what he wants us to do.

[x] Go alone, you can slip in and out invisible and soundless with minimal risk.
 
Though I have an idea. @Blackout do we have rope with us? On the chance that we encounter there something that we want to carry, but is too much for just us to take, we could conjure some Ghur elementals and tie it to them while giving them the command: "Follow me" so they take it with them.
 
Last edited:
[X] Go alone, you can slip in and out invisible and soundless with minimal risk.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top