Warhammer Fantasy: A Dynasty of Dynamic Alcoholism

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Wonder how high on the totem pole of Khainite artifacts the First Draich is.

No prizes for guessing what's #1.

If it exists there's the Warpsword of Khaine Malus found.

Possibly maybe the sword Daith made from a splinter of Widowmaker if it exists.

So, maybe #4 or 5 competing with Hellebron's stuff.
 
NutMaster said:
Thanks for the info posts torroar. Also do we know anything about that Commander Argyle who was with Magnus? Bull guy and wolf captain lady were a bit obsious, if I'm not wrong high guardian and high seeker are Morrites but I couldn't find anything about commander dude.
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No worries, it's a big reach backwards all the way to SHS 9, with the 'remaining' list?

So you've got these folks, though it's most all cavalry at the moment as they're the fastest possible troops to do what Magnus is doing, the rest following behind more slowly. Including the replenished but massively green light Ostland state troop cavalry, due to their majority dying at Salkalten, Magnus heavy cav is the cav from the below that survived Salkalten and came south with him to Talabecland.

The Bull Warriors
1 Grand Master Karl Kaiser
1 Mounted Preceptor Ludwig Brandt
1 Foot Preceptor Sven Voit
25 Knights of the Inner Circle
400 Infantry Knights
100 Mounted Knights
300 Bowmen-At-Arms
300 Crossbow-Men-At-Arms
7 Attached Shallyan Priestesses

Knights of Morr/Black Guard of Morr
1 High Guardian of the Garden
2 Warrior Priests of Morr
40 Guardians of the Garden [Inner Circle]
500 Infantry Knights

Knights Raven
1 High Seeker of the Raven
3 Warrior Priests of Morr
20 Seekers of the Raven [Inner Circle]
50 Infantry Knights
100 Mounted Knights

Knights of the North Star
1 Chapter Commander
15 Knights of the Inner Circle
75 Infantry Knights
275 Mounted Knights

But you also had this group come along:

White Wolves
1 Company Captain Mia "der Wirbelsäulenbrecher"
5 Fellwolves [Inner Circle]
50 White Wolf Knights on Foot
250 Mounted White Wolf Knights

Come along. The Cold Dawn and the main force of the North Star Order headed back to Nordland, but the Ostland Chapterhouse of the Knights remained and went with Magnus.

By virtue of surviving Salkalten and everything else, I decided that the North Star Chapter Commander got to have a name, hence, Commander Argyle of the Knights of the North Star.
 
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torroar said:
Thing is, a real Verenan High Prosecutor or a real Ranaldian Crooked One (i.e. real upper upper level extremist sect Cultists) might have seen through things. But the Yellow Fang Cultists were the ones pretending to be said High Prosecutors and Crooked Ones, and they themselves were being manipulated by the Lahmians.

So...yeah.
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Actually this feels like the kind of thing that would piss off the god of thievery, trading, trickery and revolution the most. They the follower of the god of con men. Got conned. And not even by the dark gods but by rat men who were in turned conned by vampires. Disgraceful!!
 
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torroar said:
The transferal of a single signal of pain from one nerve slows to molasses, and then more, burning in the brain the entire while.
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Uh...is this description for us the readers? Or does Frederick know what a nerve is?

torroar said:
"My lady," Roland, the old dependable Bretonnian says, having left behind the two weeping little lilies who could barely hold a sword now that their third was a dead and trampled pile of meat somewhere on the Ark with their erstwhile leader Jaqueline trying to console them. "…what do you plan to do now?"
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So do we know what happened to Breonna's soul?

Also having now finally read this chapter with my own exacting standards of what counts as proper reading:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KIVXaZrL4U

that is the song I had going trough my head for this now previous chapter. Onto the next one.
 
[X] Turning A Bloody Leaf

I think hope is a beautiful thing, and saving victims of a hell society is always so too. And maybe we can make a whole new religious schism!
 
Hmm... Am a bit indecisive on things still, but... thinking about it;

[X] A Bloody Hand

I don't want the Youngest Witch Elves/Khainites here with our party to lower cohesion. Natasha doesn't care for it, the Bretonnians don't care for it. Natasha is focused on her husband, not on being a philanthropist and rescuing souls.

Furthermore... we could use the Chaos that Kerillian would kick up if she organized and rallied as many Khainites as she could. The Druchii youth are better off away rather than here causing cohesion trouble. And it is better if the Khainites, or general Druchii, start rebelling against Alyssa's forces; perhaps they could even make her step away from her tower as things go very wrong.

Can things go wrong? Yes. Kerillian can fail to organize or rally the Khainites. Kerillian can organize them and lose. Kerillian can lose control.

But. That comes down to rolls. And the rolls can also determine that things go wrong if we keep her and the kids here with us too; the kids might be hard to corral. Our own party members might be pissed with the kids. The kids might not contribute much -- they are, after all, young and inexperienced and weak fighters.

The rolls can determine if things go good or bad, but the choices can lay the framework for what kind of good and bad; as well as what kind of payoff (or level of wealth/strength of payoff) might happen.

If you just don't want to send Kerillian out? If you're really worried about Splitting The Party, or about Kerillian losing herself to the Draich?

Pick "One Red Nail"! It's right there. It's that option.

Why pick "Bloody Leaf" though? Is it for the kids? "We did get something from this option, so let's not throw out everything from it" or something?

But what do the Druchii kids get us? More souls turned away from Khaine or the Druchii maybe? That's a big maybe though. Maybe they turn away from the Druchii, by becoming Asrai. Maybe they turn away from Druchii-style Khaine worship, by turning to Asrai style of Khaine worship -- which is still Khaine worship, mind.

But do we want that for them and for ourselves? Shouldn't we be choosing for ourselves, for our current problems and issues? It might be sad if we can't help them I guess, but like... they're Druchii. Natasha doesn't like them. Nobody really likes them. Maybe Sadrina has pity for them. Maybe Kerillian has a "Well, maybe they'll make something of themselves?" attitude towards them. The rest of the party are traumatized by or hating the Druchii.

Granted, that's not necessarily the only reason or motivation to pick Bloody Leaf. They are a group of combatants. Maybe we want to pick them for that. A few more fighters can be a good pick. Though if that's the case, are you willing to throw them in fights and sacrifice them for yourselves? If you are willing, are you capable -- that is, will the rolls make that work or not? Can be tricky. Maybe they'll be useful, maybe not.


What is most useful for us here? What adds the best value? What does not harm us or risk us as much?

((Yeah yeah don't split the party or send Kerillian off with the damned murder-tool. Okay yes there is some truth or concern to that. But like... Kerillian is a big girl. This isn't purely a "Oh no, we made the Evil Choice of letting our party member go off with an evil sword, we lost them!" It's a narrative and thematic and roll quest; it contains multitudes. Kerillian could just die rather than go mad. She could also die with us too, mind.))
 
Dmol8 said:
Uh...is this description for us the readers? Or does Frederick know what a nerve is?

So do we know what happened to Breonna's soul?
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Hultressa mutters about biology when she's Dr. Frankensteining/Bondrewding, as well as when she was explaining to Frederick about the hows and whys of torturing him for practice. He's not quite perfectly knowledgeable about it, but he knows of a strange network in the body similar to veins that actually informs the mind about pain, nowadays.

As for Breonna, she died flat out. Whether or not the Daemonettes who cut her to pieces managed to snag her soul for Slaanesh, or if the bolts from the repeating crossbows that killed her sent from Cult of Pleasure members did, or if the Lady did stretch out a hand to defend her, or Morr gathered her soul up, is unknown IC.

EVA-Saiyajin said:
Wonder how high on the totem pole of Khainite artifacts the First Draich is.
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So the First Draich is described as thus in the 8ED armybook, it might have different stats in other ED, but I don't have earlier armybook editions for the Dark Elves:

The First Draich: This weapon claimed the first victim during the great sacrifice that led to the creation of the Executioners and has thirsted for blood ever since.

Magic Weapon. Attacks from the First Draich are resolved at +2 Strength and have the Always Strikes Last special rule. To Wound rolls of 5 or 6 made with the First Draich benefit from the Killing Blow special rule.

So we also know that the 'first great sacrifice' of Har Ganeth was basically 'da big christening of Khaine' for the city as an increasingly solidified actual national entity after the Druchii screwed off to Naggaroth. They had to build their cities there first, and the greatest Temple of Khaine in the world was built in Har Ganeth as well as with the whole Vermillion Gate thing there, after the whole deal with the generals fleeing reprisal from Malekith headed there. Plus the two thousand years of warfare after Naggorond was the first and basically only one built, it took until after they got thumped after said two thousand years to really build up other cities. Including Har Ganeth, which wasn't even originally heavily Khainite. Though they did build it over the Vermillion Door, so, like, who knows, godly planning and nudges and fate and what not.

And the First Draich is the weapon that was the first kill for the first great sacrifice to Khaine as Har Ganeth was solidly claimed for Khaine forevermore, yeah?

Contrary to that, the Warpsword of Khaine is supposed to be a fabled weapon of immense power, and is one of the only treasures of the five that Malus Darkblade had to collect to try and free himself from the daemon, but it's sort of hard to tell just how fantastical it's supposed to be given that the whole shebang with the rumors and legends that led Malus on his ill-fated expedition on the first place was most certainly at least partially because of the fact that the whole THING was all Chaos related. Five powerful Chaos Sorcerers went through the effort to permanently - mostly - bind Tz'arkan. And the only thing that could save Malus' soul from the daemon who'd possessed him was to find artifacts once belonging to the original five Chaos Sorcerers who did the binding. So why the fuck did one of them have something called 'the Warpsword of Khaine'? I mean, honestly. And despite his name, Tz'arkan, the Drinker of Worlds, is not Tzeentchian or Khornate, but a Slaaneshi daemon.

It's Armybook Notation is given as thus:

Warpsword of Khaine. This is one of the five fabled treasures that Malus had to retrieve in his quest to rid himself of the daemone that possesses him.

Magic weapon. Failed To Wound rolls made with the Warpsword of Khaine must be re-rolled. In addition, armor saves cannot be taken against Wounds caused by the Warpsword of Khaine.

Also, this is a thing too:

The Warpsword was guarded by an ancient Dragon Ogre, who was impervious to all of Malus' weapons. Malus had to draw the Warpsword of Khaine, which killed the Dragon Ogre with a single slash of its blade. The name of the sword was certainly justified as the sword consumed the blood of its victims, as one would expect from the Dark Elf god of murder himself. However, the sword did not appear Elven in origin. It was a double-edged blade, a length similar to a draich, and a blade slightly wider at the point for extra cutting power, hinting that it was a blade much older than the religion of Khaine, as indicated by the Daemon Tz'arkan.

Radiating invisible heat like the hottest Dwarf furnace, the hilt was always warm to the touch. The blade infused the wielder with great strength and could send its user into a murderous frenzy that would not stop until there were no enemies left in sight for it to drink. The sword also possessed a quasi-sentience, which was able to help guide its wielder's hand, allow them to know when enemies were nearby, and "remember" the taste of creatures it had touched before, such as Tz'arkan.

^ So that's sourced from the Warpsword novel from the Chronicles of Malus Darkblade series.

So really, it's all kind of a bit of a joke that they keep calling it the Warpsword of Khaine when it's literally older than Khaine. But, it has been co-opted by the faith, in fact, as there is a fake Warpsword of Khaine in Har Ganeth at the moment meant to one day be taken up by the so-called Scourge of Khaine who is supposed to be some sort of mega ultra uber champion of Khaine who will basically overturn the entire faith if they ever show up, because at the moment Malekith is supposed to be the proclaimed Scourge of Khaine, the living mortal avatar of Khaine, yeah? And so if someone takes up the Warpsword and becomes the 'true' Scourge of Khaine, it means Malekith isn't, which, well, is a big ol' uh oh. And that's not even including the whole Chosen of Khaine that is/was Tullaris Dreadbringer.

Elven religious politics can be tricky.

Anyway, the Warpsword isn't really meant to be a big deal unless a sect of Khaine worshippers make it a big deal by trying to proclaim themselves living saints of Khaine and the Scourge and what not, because, like, there's all kinds of prophecies:

A prophecy of Khaine existed that claimed a being known as the "Scourge" would one day arise and usher in an age of blood and death. The Warpsword was part of this prophecy, and so, he who wielded it was considered a candidate to be the Scourge.

But, like, candidate doesn't actually mean flat out that you ARE the Scourge, so anyone trying to proclaim they are would immediately mean Malekith and Morathi are coming down on you like a metric ton of bricks. Religious civil war, etc. So that's a whole thing.

Anyway, the Warpsword of Khaine can do things like the aforementioned junk, plus kinda dispel/pierce magical spells and what not, sometimes? Overall, however, in terms of religious importance, it is part of a very specific prophecy, for only some, and is meant to proclaim someone the Scourge of Khaine, which is not necessarily the same thing as the Avatar of Khaine, or the Chosen of Khaine? You know what I mean? But given that it sort of just sits in Har Ganeth, the fake one, and the real one is somewhere in the Chaos Wastes, it's difficult to say how powerful a symbol it is. When it actually showed up, and people passed through the Vermillion Gate and all that, there was definitely a full on civil war for a while in some of Naggaroth. BUT then Malus became a somewhat trusted subordinate of Malekith, to the point of being put forth as the General of the Witch-King's armies. So, like, eh?

The First Draich, by contrast, is definitively of elven make, but definitely has a bit less straight up power compared to the true Warpsword 'of' Khaine. It's been used across the entire world, the point of making Tullaris become Tullaris Dreadbringer across the entire planet. Even people who don't know dick all else about elves know about Tullaris thanks to the sheer thousands of years of monstrous acts and murderization he's done. So that carries its own sorts of metaphysical weight, because all Druchii everywhere know about Tullaris, and there has been a growing constant murmur of just how wildly Chosen he was and the impending friction and conflict between Malekith and Tullaris over who really is the 'most' chosen/avatar of Khaine, you know? So I don't necessarily think it's a more potent weapon, as a weapon, but as a symbol, it's much more widespread in terms of, well, notoriety? The Warpsword of Khaine really only becomes a big ticket issue during the Malus series, and by the end of it, is just known to be the powerful weapon of Malus, that crazy fucker who lost, gained, and lost his soul, spent 10 years in the Chaos Wastes soulless and wandering, and never sleeps ever ever ever ever with alchemical aid because otherwise the daemon takes control of his body. But those events are/would be in the future, yeah?

As for Daith's Reaper, as you mentioned:
Magic Weapon
During the war between the Elven pantheon and the Chaos Gods, Khaine and Slaanesh soon came to blows. Though Khaine was ultimately cast into the mortal realm, he inflicted great harm upon the Dark Prince, and gouged onto his otherwise perfect face a scar that has never fully healed. During that battle, a small shard was struck from Khaine's Widowmaker, andfell upon the realm later known as Athel Loren. It is this shard, reforged and reshaped, that forms the spine of Daith's Reaper, a weapon that many Elves hold to be the smith's finest work.

All failed To Hit and To Wound rolls made with Daith's Reaper must be re-rolled, as must all successful armour saves taken against Wounds caused by this weapon.

According to the Asrai about it, it's probably one of the best possible swords around, but we have to remember that the Asrai don't elevate Khaine above all other Gods. The top of their big wheel is Kurnous and Isha, with a hefty chunk of majority prominence going to Loec. They appreciate it for being a super good sword, don't go falling on their knees or going into civil wars or conflicts or invasions over it like the Widowmaker or Warpsword, but again, remember the Warpsword's very wiggly nature in terms of actual true importance and prominence.

As for the Deathsword/Cursed Blade duo from Hellebron, they are admittedly quite powerful, but I'm not sure if they're nearly as important in the faith of Khaine as the one wielding them is. They're really not nearly as mentioned, meanwhile Hellebron is so inured to the secrets of Khaine that it's said that the merest touch from her can kill people, and a whispered word can re-open old wounds to gushing blood. So they're probably quite powerful and important, but ironically, I think they might become more influential if Hellebron ever died as a martyr to the faith and therefore you'd have them become elevated in that manner. Meanwhile, the First Draich is super noted as the 'ooh ahh' of being the first weapon to kill at the first great sacrifice to Khaine in Har Ganeth. Hellebron certainly does lead the cult and knows all the rites of the faith, organizing it, sending out raiding fleets, ensuring that Har Ganeth is always fat with slaves and prisoners that can be released during the Death Night so that she can bathe solely in cauldrons of blood full of Death Night spiced blood.

Overall, though, it's difficult to say just where the First Draich is on the pyramid, it could very well be parallel horizontal with others, with of course the Widowmaker being the greatest of them.

NutMaster said:
After watcheye's quote, I felt like re-reading this chapter and came upon this. I don't want to "side-track" too much but I wonder if this was some sort of destabilizing attemp by Yellow Fang. Not a deliberate plan but more like seeing a chance at sowing discord between two cults and painting Gunther/Ulricans in a bad light to GT.

Man, I'm so glad Evangeline drop kicked Kaufmann. Hope she gets to do the same to Steinroth.
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It's important to remember that even with multiple clans sabotaging one another, ruining each other's schemes, Thanquol and the skaven did in fact almost manage to take Nuln outright were it not for a tiny smidge of luck as well as Felix+Gotrek. They burned the central armory down while trying to steal the war machines inside, unleashed a plague into the water supply, sent out a horde of rats who ate all the food and mass-bred, subverted the head of the secret police of the city, managed a full double-pronged assault on the city, attacking citizenry and corralling all the citizenry, etc.

That's while they were constantly assassinating each other, blowing each other's schemes up, etc.

The Yellow Fang think that the skaven arising to take full dominance is inevitable, but they are not, in fact, despite these new loyalties as actually skaven in thinking and tendencies. They're willing to play longer games, as they think is necessary.
 
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Derain VonHarken said:
Actually this feels like the kind of thing that would piss off the god of thievery, trading, trickery and revolution the most. They the follower of the god of con men. Got conned. And not even by the dark gods but by rat men who were in turned conned by vampires. Disgraceful!!
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As so the holy war began. By the decree of Ranald all cults across the Old continent are to be eradicated with maximal prejeduce, with aid and exploatation of existing sructures, systems, cults and organizations that can be goaded into performing the heavy lifting...

Garlak said:
What is most useful for us here? What adds the best value? What does not harm us or risk us as much?
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Carcer said:
A Bloody Hand :
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:
.
Secondary point of concentrated contermesures,
Actvation of dormant combatants to preferable actions,
A wall of zeaolous flesh bettwen enemy and Keri,
More Druchii dieing in general,
A significant source of problems for Alyssa and her coven
Further reduction of slave oversight
Possible agitation of Cyntrai influence remaining
Reduced average deamon presence
A signinfican distraction from action of Natasha warparty
Secondary party looking for Hultressa

all of that for the low risk of Kerillan getting herself into something she can not run away from.

I am sorry, but Bloody Hand is simply too logical of a choise from strategic point of view. Plus, we actually have to find Hultressa, in order to proceed to preferable outcomes. Since she could actually cow Druchii into taking orders from Nat.
And it is a funny realization
 
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watcheye456 said:
As so the holy war began. By the decree of Ranald all cults across the Old continent are to be eradicated with maximal prejeduce, with aid and exploatation of existing sructures, systems, cults and organizations that can be goaded into performing the heavy lifting...



:
.
Secondary point of concentrated contermesures,
Actvation of dormant combatants to preferable actions,
A wall of zeaolous flesh bettwen enemy and Keri,
More Druchii dieing in general,
A significant source of problems for Alyssa and her coven
Further reduction of slave oversight
Possible agitation of Cyntrai influence remaining
Reduced average deamon presence
A signinfican distraction from action of Natasha warparty
Secondary party looking for Hultressa

all of that for the low risk of Kerigan getting herself into something she can not run away from.

I am sorry, but Bloody Hand is simply too logical of a choise from strategic point of view. Plus, we actually have to find Hultressa, in order to proceed to preferable outcomes. Since she could actually cow Druchii into taking orders from Nat.
And it is a funny realization
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Exactly. Starting a second front is too valuable to pass up. Even if you think the friction won't be as disastrous as I do, the Brides do us much more good operating separately from Natasha than with her.
 
EVA-Saiyajin said:
Wonder how high on the totem pole of Khainite artifacts the First Draich is.

No prizes for guessing what's #1.

If it exists there's the Warpsword of Khaine Malus found.

Possibly maybe the sword Daith made from a splinter of Widowmaker if it exists.

So, maybe #4 or 5 competing with Hellebron's stuff.
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Sounds like its within the same ball park as ace or at least close enough to f
watcheye456 said:
all of that for the low risk of Kerigan getting herself into something she can not run away from.
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And now we have the Queen of Blades in Warhammer Fantasy. How does she scale here anyway?
 
Well since everyone else is throwing out their reasoning. Here was mine.

torroar said:
"It might work, it might not. To follow the Bloody-Handed God in a way divergent from those championed by the Druchii, as we Asrai do? It might be too much for their little minds. Might break them," she notes in her accented Reikspiel. "Could try, but the moment we start rescuing more slaves, breaking cages, slashing chains, might get harder to keep them on our side."
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Either they change or they die.
 
torroar said:
They're really not nearly as mentioned, meanwhile Hellebron is so inured to the secrets of Khaine that it's said that the merest touch from her can kill people, and a whispered word can re-open old wounds to gushing blood.
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...Man, I imagine her fighting Freddy as THE most annoing opponent she everr encountered. He just have the right counters to all her trump cards!
Set him on fire? dude's armmor is made of solid winter!
Bleed him to death? Not with his regen!
Reopen all the wounds he suffered? They be fozen shut next moment!
Curse him into brain hemmorge? He'll just drink it of like any other hangover!

He would be so annoing, not because of skill, but because he just; do. not. go. down.
I still hopw it will be either Arthur or Nariel to off her thou... but the events needed for that to happen would be nothing more than Black arks sailing at Marienburg, so...

buli-buli said:
Either they change or they die.
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So, taking them with us is likely to reduce their performance even further. Kari really does perform better whenn separate from our force. her speciallty is stealth and hit and runs, not whatever clasyfication of Natasha warband actions. so long as she's told "not to get caught" she'll be more than fine kicking druchii into action.
That way, they at least get to act as catalist for something bigger.
 
Without hultressa i do not trust our ability to social Drucchi, especially considering the recent and severe asswhooping handed to the Druchhi by Laurelorn. An Asian, whom the Khainites know is working with a Handmaiden, and any survivors of the temple massacre would also know is in league with THE ELECTOR COUNT OF OSTLAND. To the Drucchi who aren't in a position of crushing weakness, they're either going to be hostile or stab us in the back when they think they can kill two birds with one stone.

Considering Nat's good roll, I think the Khainites are sufficiently cowed so that they can enter the fold. I do not wish to test our luck with wild strategies.

[X] Turning A Bloody Leaf
 
... huh, do alergies... exist ? in the world of Malus? never heard of anyone havinga reaction to anything...


It would be funny thou, if the Grand Emperor of norska died dou to some imported nuts...

WinterLantern said:
Without hultressa i do not trust our ability to social Drucchi, especially considering the recent and severe asswhooping handed to the Druchhi by Laurelorn.
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Actually... if we wnat to find Hultressa spliting up may speed it up. Keri did see her and Hul may very well be atracted to a big resistence movement growing than some randomly moving humans.
I don't know but I think it's actually benefitial that Keri an Asrai and not Eonir...
Who knows, it just feels like the time we voted extra farm bombs instead of rest and preperations which would be more usefull as it turns out...
...
 
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