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It Belongs to a Museum

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Personality 13: Lootfur The Rat New
  • Apocrypha
    • Personality 13: Lootfur The Rat
    My Dearest Lady,

    It seems your once-servant has many surprises left to show. A new personality has revealed itself in the last few days, with some quite surprising behaviours. I am also at a loss to explain where this identify has come from.

    From the beginning then; I first became aware something was afoot when the Steward began to make several large purchases of two differing items. One needs no explanation - warpstone - although I was not aware of any upcoming rituals or such, so it did cause some interest. The second item was far stranger - cheese. In staggering amounts, might I say. There were some I recognised - Bretonnia cheddar, Tilean Parmigiano, even some hard Dwarf Cheese. A few more were rarer - Kurgan Byaslag by the saddlebag, Ussingen Red Cheese. And there were also several barrels filled with a vile mix of mould, which I have been informed - against my will - is a delicacy to certain Skaven Clans.

    My interest fully piqued, I decided my Host was either enacting some plot, or something far stranger was occurring. I devised a reason to meet with him, and despite the objections of the Steward I was able to do so. Upon entering the throne room, I discovered where the warpstone and cheese had gone - it was piled under, on and a top the throne! Perched a top was my Host, although he was not sitting. He hunched over the pile, like a dragon guarding it's hoard. As I approached he began to stare at me with piercing red eyes, a different kind of madness evident with them. His teeth were also prominent in his face - not his canines, but two front incisors.

    His initial response was to demand I keep away from his pile of "shiny-glowing warpstone" and "tasty-chewy cheeses". He inquired if I came to offer tribute - thankfully I had prepared, and offered a crate of warpstone, and one of fine Rushan. He was most pleased, and I took the chance to question his gathering of such items. He seemed legitimately confused - he was collecting them because "they are mine-mine, all the greeny and cheesy is mine, all mine! All belongs to me-me, Lootfur Harkhark!" He then seemed to loose himself in mutters about "filthy lizard things" and "disbelieving council-rats", and so I took my chance to swiftly depart.

    That was a few nights ago. Just this morning a large number of crates were taken from the castle and dumped into the swap - those seem to have been the most foul or pungent cheeses. The rest, I understand, have been held onto for now, in case of a resurgence. My Host is back to his more normal self, and I suspect quite eager to forget his lapse into stranger madness.

    Until such a time something of note occurs, I remain your devoted servant and loyal sister,
    Lady Zang Shi

    P.S. Your uncle's latest project is progressing well. I have attended a few of his exhibit openings, and they have all proven educational and enjoyable, regardless of the subject matter. I wish you could come and see it for yourself.
     
  • New
  • Apocrypha
    • [X] Plan The Story of Skjold
    -[X] Investigate (Kraken Sea and the Tide of Skjold)
    -[X] Acquire Relic (Set of Norscan Grave Goods)
    -[X] Excursion - Tide of Skjold (Kraken Sea, Sea Beasts, priority being one of a species that the Norscans of the Kraken Sea offer their dead to, preferably with the body in good enough condition to be stuffed and preserved rather than just the skeleton.)

    [X] Plan: Preparations through Peers, Plants and Plumbing the Depths
    [X] Plan: Lustrian Magic

    I hate doing this, but with the current leading plans I'll take the one that isn't sending the Tide of Skjold off to Mousillon, since that not only makes it even harder for my plan to get headway in the future if our main Acquisitionist is occupied on a different excursion, but I find sending them to get relics from Mousillon to be a complete mismanagement of their skillset, and liable to get us Relics that we are poorly suited to set up an actual exhibit for given our complete lack of expertise on Bretonnia. A better source for relics that would specifically appeal to Harkon that fits our skillset I think would be something like investigating the stories of Haakon the Reaver so we can see what sort of shenanigans he got up to in Norsca, where we have ample skillset for study of whatever we find.

    If my plan regains a lead I'll take my vote for Lustrian Magic off, but right now I prefer it to Peers, Piracy, and Plants. Save a trip to Mousillon for if we get Cylostra as an Acquisitionist in the future.
     
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    Cylostra also has a specialty for Ulthuan, so there's other reasons to recruit her as an Acquisitionist besides Mousilon, what with all of the High Elf connections we've been building up.

    So yeah, I say save the whole Mousilon visit for after we've spent some Goodwill acquiring her. She'd be perfectly suited for the role, whereas the Tide of Skjold doesn't really have much for the job besides being our only acquisitionist right now. Save that job for after we have someone who's suited for it.
     
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    My understanding of why Mousillon was originally selected is that it's a known centre of vampiric activity, easily raidable and unlikely to be able to mount any kind of reprisal. The particularity of these being Bretonnian vampires was never really at issue - more a matter of providing breadth and colour for an eventual vampirism exhibit while we wait for the ability to recover Lahmian artefacts. Still, it would be nice to be able to know more about such places once we do go retrieving far-flung vampiric artefacts!
     
    ...an exhibit on Vampires of the world would be intriguing. And might attract the ever-elusive Witch Hunter audience, in a semi-friendly way!
     
    Even so, the Tide of Skjold doesn't know the first thing about Bretonnia. They don't know the environment, where the best goods would be hidden, any of the local legends or stories that might indicate something greater. They're a bad pick for the job because it's outside of their skillset. They'll probably get something, but it won't be particularly impressive.

    If we want to use the Tide of Skjold to pick up vampiric or necromantic artifacts, I'd rather we do it by doing some investigation as to what sort of things Haakon the Reaver got up to in Norsca and use the Tide of Skjold to look into that. Norsca at least, is within their skillset, and even without Haakon, I'm sure there's been some necromancy practitioners in Norsca at some point, that far north where the Winds of Magic blow strongly. Even if they're much more obscure.

    I mean, I consider Lustrian Magic's plan to also be flawed given that it tries to look into Nakai the Wanderer with an Asur Princess who has none of the requisite skillset instead of the Vampire Skald who actually saw Nakai in person, but I think that's less of an error than sending the Tide of Skjold off for a two turn trip to Bretonnia, a land they have no specialty or familiarity with, to look for Necromantic artifacts, a field which they have no expertise in.
     
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    Chimeraguard said:
    Even so, the Tide of Skjold doesn't know the first thing about Bretonnia. They don't know the environment, where the best goods would be hidden, any of the local legends or stories that might indicate something greater. They're a bad pick for the job because it's outside of their skillset. They'll probably get something, but it won't be particularly impressive.

    If we want to use the Tide of Skjold to pick up vampiric or necromantic artifacts, I'd rather we do it by doing some investigation as to what sort of things Haakon the Reaver got up to in Norsca and use the Tide of Skjold to look into that. Norsca at least, is within their skillset, and even without Haakon, I'm sure there's been some necromancy practitioners in Norsca at some point, that far north where the Winds of Magic blow strongly. Even if they're much more obscure.
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    This.

    Alternatively, if you just sort of generically want the Tide of Skjold to get vampire/necromancy stuff, you might consider sending them after Noctilus ('s minions); their Theology (Oceanic) specialty ought to give them an angle on poking Galleon's Graveyard.
     
    Spending a whole Goodwill to get a whole new Acquisitionist just to get the perfect result from a single AP action is nonsense. The Tide can raid just fine.

    Chimeraguard said:
    Even so, the Tide of Skjold doesn't know the first thing about Bretonnia. They don't know the environment, where the best goods would be hidden, any of the local legends or stories that might indicate something greater. They're a bad pick for the job because it's outside of their skillset. They'll probably get something, but it won't be particularly impressive.

    If we want to use the Tide of Skjold to pick up vampiric or necromantic artifacts, I'd rather we do it by doing some investigation as to what sort of things Haakon the Reaver got up to in Norsca and use the Tide of Skjold to look into that. Norsca at least, is within their skillset.
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    A museum doesn't just need Centerpieces. Normal relics are just fine. Like, on a mechanical level, three regular relics are literally just as good as a Centerpiece. Spending two AP to get one sweet Haakon relic is fine and a decent plan, but it genuinely isn't actually better than just raiding a region for regular relics with the guys we spent already spent a Goodwill on. And relics aren't something you need to be a full regional expert for. If a Skink blowpipe or a Saurus skeleton is a full relic, then the Tide shouldn't be struggling with finding equivalent goodies in Mousillon.
     
    Chimeraguard said:
    Even so, the Tide of Skjold doesn't know the first thing about Bretonnia. They don't know the environment, where the best goods would be hidden, any of the local legends or stories that might indicate something greater. They're a bad pick for the job because it's outside of their skillset. They'll probably get something, but it won't be particularly impressive.
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    That's a reasonable assessment. While the Tide probably would be able to bully a local village or three into coughing up many of those details, it will likely be a bit hit and miss on where to start... Somewhere like Mousillon, and I imagine in a lot of similar places, there'll be a lot more noise than signal when it comes to hunting down items of vampiric import.

    In that case, it may be a better idea to focus specifically on Lahmia (or perhaps on Nehekhara more broadly) and seek the ultimate prize first, then go for smaller exhibits on specific vampiric populations and influences once we have the Goodwill to make them feasible and effective with more appropriate Acquisitionists or Contacts. (Having one set of Acquisitionists aboard who seem outwardly reasonable enough to dock at most ports would probably be helpful, since they could ask local experts first about legends and the like and then go and raid for the artefacts they point to!)

    (Of course, as Broccoliccoli noted above, combing a region for the good stuff isn't the be all and end all! If we're just looking to support a exhibit with broader themes, perhaps non-specialists are enough.)
     
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    Broccoliccoli said:
    Spending a whole Goodwill to get a whole new Acquisitionist just to get the perfect result from a single AP action is nonsense. The Tide can raid just fine.

    A museum doesn't just need Centerpieces. Normal relics are just fine. Like, on a mechanical level, three regular relics are literally just as good as a Centerpiece. Spending two AP to get one sweet Haakon relic is fine and a decent plan, but it genuinely isn't actually better than just raiding a region for regular relics with the guys we spent already spent a Goodwill on. And relics aren't something you need to be a full regional expert for. If a Skink blowpipe or a Saurus skeleton is a full relic, then the Tide shouldn't be struggling with finding equivalent goodies in Mousillon.
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    I think we'd want Cylostra anyway even without Mousilon. Her other specialties include Ulthuan, and we're getting increasingly interested in doing stuff with Ulthuan, so having another Acquisitionist in that role can't go amiss. But since there's a strong argument to acquiring her anyway, it makes more sense to delay a Mousilon raid until we have the specialist in it we'd probably plan to get anyway, and send the Tide of Skjold after something they're better at.

    But we have nowhere to put a normal Relic. None of our current exhibits have anything to do with being Necromancy at a broad enough level to easily slot in a Mousilon relic, so we'd have to do something like take out the Siren's Wail from its current exhibit for a valid Centerpiece and set up a new exhibit (presumably about Necromantic magic in general, or different kinds of Necromancy in different parts of the world.) Which is, make no mistake, a perfectly valid exhibit. But it's a lot of work for not a lot of gain if we're only going to be picking up a common Relic or two due to a lack of expertise in the field.

    And if we're waiting until we've got better stuff before making a necromancy exhibit, then again, it doesn't make much sense to send the Tide of Skjold after the target when instead we could wait until we acquire our most likely Ulthuan specialist Acquisitionist who also has a Bretonnia specialty and send her after the job instead.
     
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    [X] Plan: Preparations through Peers, Piracy and Plants
    [X] Plan: Preparations through Peers, Plants and Plumbing the Depths
     
    Another option for Lahmian stuff is to simply [ ] Investigate: Lahmia and see what falls out as options. We've used/talked about Investigate mostly in terms of local targets, but its not actually limited that way. It may be that an Investigate turns up some collector or primary source (like our dear niece) that we can trade with via correspondence rather than (or in addition to) making an expedition to the Cursed City itself.
     
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    I also have to say that it's kid of infuriating to see people criticize one plan for inefficiency, only to then turn around and vote for a different plan that uses an action that's pretty much described as 'Sure, use this if you've got surplus AP' in its very text. And on a mechanical level the subjects of the exhibition that plan targets is also something our Audiences and Patrons don't give much of a shit about.

    Chimeraguard said:
    I think we'd want Cylostra anyway even without Mousilon. Her other specialties include Ulthuan, and we're getting increasingly interested in doing stuff with Ulthuan, so having another Acquisitionist in that role can't go amiss. But since there's a strong argument to acquiring her anyway, it makes more sense to delay a Mousilon raid until we have the specialist in it we'd probably plan to get anyway, and send the Tide of Skjold after something they're better at.

    But we have nowhere to put a normal Relic. None of our current exhibits have anything to do with being Necromancy at a broad enough level to easily slot in a Mousilon relic, so we'd have to do something like take out the Siren's Wail from its current exhibit and set up a new exhibit (presumably about Necromantic magic in general, or different kinds of Necromancy in different parts of the world.) Which is, make no mistake, a perfectly valid exhibit. But it's a lot of work for not a lot of gain if we're only going to be picking up a common Relic or two due to a lack of expertise in the field.

    And if we're waiting until we've got better stuff before making a necromancy exhibit, then again, it doesn't make much sense to send the Tide of Skjold after the target when instead we could wait until we acquire our most likely Ulthuan specialist Acquisitionist who also has a Bretonnia specialty and send her after the job instead.
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    We can also just hit Mousillon twice? There's enough lore there for a dozen relics. And I wouldn't be that sure Cylostra will ever win a vote or even be up for selection again.

    Also, we have literally yet to even use an Acquisitionist for a generic raid. Can we maybe try it before we judge their abilities like that? Those guys lived a full life as chaos vikings before they ever started messing with either of their specialties.

    I also don't see the worry about this supposed difficulty of creating a Necromancy exhibit. Lutr ain't gonna disappear. We will always have a big reason to hunt down Necromancy bling since that's half of his agenda.
     
    [X] Plan: Preparations through Peers, Piracy and Plants
     
    Broccoliccoli said:
    I also have to say that it's kid of infuriating to see people criticize one plan for inefficiency, only to then turn around and vote for a different plan that uses an action that's pretty much described as 'Sure, use this if you've got surplus AP' in its very text. And on a mechanical level the subjects of the exhibition that plan targets is also something our Audiences and Patrons don't give much of a shit about.
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    This is just blatant falsehood. The main targets of the Skjold exhibit would be Magic, History, and Sea Beasts, all three of which are something there is Audience Affinity for.

    Additionally, I think there's a very good chance that the exhibit will have something that will gain either Harkon or Citadel of Dusk Patron Affinity. One of the main subjects of the exhibit is the magic that ended up reviving the Norscan dead as the Tide of Skjold, which from the description of the Runestone, was something actively done by Harkon's magic. Given that it happened in either Norsca or Lustria, it will either fit into Harkon's desire for Necromantic Diaspora (if it happened in Norsca and made use of those local conditions, creating a new spin on Necromancy), or Lustrian Magic (if it happened in Lustria and the bodies of the foresaken Norscan dead were just drawn to it.)

    Norscan Grave Goods as an acquisition is something that I'll admit is unlikely to appeal in particular to any of our audiences, but I consider it important to the authenticity of the exhibit from a roleplaying perspective, and if people feel that strongly about it it can be taken out for work elsewhere (probably getting the Arabyan audience.)
     
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    Here's my vague non-mechanical plan-idea, yes-yes.:

    1) Get an acquisitionist who's also Tomb Royalty, preferably one who's had occasion to see the inside of an Altdorf Museum
    2) Beef them up and get them as OP as possible
    3) send them to raid Altdorf to grab the Emperor, how the turns table
    4) ???
    6) profit
     
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    xamaplak said:
    Here's my vague non-mechanical plan-idea, yes-yes.:

    1) Get an acquisitionist who's also Tomb Royalty, preferably one who's had occasion to see the inside of an Altdorf Museum
    2) Beef them up and get them as OP as possible
    3) send them to raid Altdorf to grab the Emperor, how the turns table
    4) ???
    6) profit
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    Make sure to let your pet emperors have a small civil war on occasion, it's mental enrichment for them.
     
    Chimeraguard said:
    This is just blatant falsehood. The main targets of the Skjold exhibit would be Magic, History, and Sea Beasts, all three of which are something there is Audience Affinity for.

    Additionally, I think there's a very good chance that the exhibit will have something that will gain either Harkon or Citadel of Dusk Patron Affinity. One of the main subjects of the exhibit is the magic that ended up reviving the Norscan dead as the Tide of Skjold, which from the description of the Runestone, was something actively done by Harkon's magic. Given that it happened in either Norsca or Lustria, it will either fit into Harkon's desire for Necromantic Diaspora (if it happened in Norsca and made use of those local conditions, creating a new spin on Necromancy), or Lustrian Magic (if it happened in Lustria and the bodies of the foresaken Norscan dead were just drawn to it.)

    Norscan Grave Goods as an acquisition is something that I'll admit is unlikely to appeal in particular to any of our audiences, but I consider it important to the authenticity of the exhibit from a roleplaying perspective.
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    The stone having History and Magic doesn't add those tags to all the other associated relics. Maybe we can luck into some more History stuff, but neither their background nor their deeds are all that Magic-flavored.

    And even if you manage to get a relic that is literally Sea Beast + Magic + History, that will just be a 4x after we pick up Araby. Meanwhile a basic Necromancy starts at 3x before adding any other tags.

    Like, let's look at your Tide action. It keeps the Tide busy for two turns and with the micromanaging will get us a Sea Beast Rare or Centerpiece. But Sea Beast is just an interest for a single audience, so even a Centerpiece will merely tie with a single mundane Necromancy relic. Literally, even if Mousillon only earns us a single disappointing trinket, some no-name Necromancer's staff or something, that will still be just as mechanically powerful as the outcome you are specifically asking for in your plan.
     
    Broccoliccoli said:
    I also have to say that it's kid of infuriating to see people criticize one plan for inefficiency, only to then turn around and vote for a different plan that uses an action that's pretty much described as 'Sure, use this if you've got surplus AP' in its very text. And on a mechanical level the subjects of the exhibition that plan targets is also something our Audiences and Patrons don't give much of a shit about.
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    Tend to agree; I rather dislike Paht's personal Acquire Relics action. It's historically been the weakest of our acquisition options, and the options on the table have only gotten better over time. Given that, on every turn, I'd literally rather do anything else than that action, and I don't want to vote for any plans that include it. It seems like a particularly bad idea when acquiring Norscan stuff... like, if you want to get Norscan Grave Goods, send the Tide out for them. If you already have them doing something else, wait. Or do something else in the meantime.

    Chimeraguard said:
    Norscan Grave Goods as an acquisition is something that I'll admit is unlikely to appeal in particular to any of our audiences, but I consider it important to the authenticity of the exhibit from a roleplaying perspective, and if people feel that strongly about it it can be taken out for work elsewhere (probably getting the Arabyan audience.)
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    I'd be willing to consider subplans that don't include that Acquire Relics action, but there doesn't seem to be much momentum there. I guess Plan: Preparations through Peers, Plants and Plumbing the Depths is worth a symbolic approval vote?
     
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