Warhammer Fantasy: A Dynasty of Dynamic Alcoholism

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NutMaster said:
torroar I have a question regarding Ledstahli if you wouldn't mind. I looked through the thread but couldn't find it. Excluding ongoing politics/intrigue/Civil War how did people react to Alex succeding at forging Ledstahli? What do ice priestesses and ice hags think about it? I think for the former it would depend on whether they are Romanov affiliated or not but I'm not sure about ice hags, I don't think we heard about them since they left Katarin.
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There was a lot of polite applause, wonder, interest, etc. from various wielders of the Widow's Grace, but there weren't any lessons set up before things went down. Alexandra was a bit too busy to show how anyone else how to make it, but she was working on a few different things. The Ice Hags are gone, but they were certainly interested at it in a distant sort of sense. Non-Romanovs were not happy, certainly.

TheOmnimercurial said:
A suggestion was made by someone about the Skinks using the Salamanders.

Is this possible?
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So I did answer this somewhere in the thread, but the issue is the lack of skink handlers, the ones with the knowledge/training for it, who the Druchii killed. Now Hultressa could have compelled them to service with Ghur, but that would have required constant concentration and effort on her part as time went on that were liable to have been more useful elsewhere.
 
Yeah, just because there are lizardmen who can handle salamanders, doesn't mean any of those are present right now.

You don't expect every human you come across to know how to properly ride a horse, after all.
 
TehChron said:
And I imagine some Romanovs weren't happy, either :V
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Well yes, there was the one Romanov who had long greatly disapproved of the foreigner with too much power and influence on a national and local level in Kislev. Who was also a more than willing perpetrator and organizer of the absolute brutalization and torture and suppression of anyone deemed an enemy to the Tzarina or the Tzarina's wishes and plans.
 
torroar said:
That would depend on a lot of things, like how she's feeling soul-wise and all that. One of her big things was internal balance, which is what her eventual canonical end-point of being a Sister of the Thorn to the whole of the Mandala of the Gods rather than just to Isha is about. She goes to the knife's edge of the Cadai and Cytharai in terms of worship and empowerment. At the same time, the 'Shade' career is an example of an alternate self where she listened ever more to Khaine, and ends up glorifying 'the count' of her kills over any point of redemption or other cause. Just the killing. And the Shade version of her was satisfied enough with that. So I suppose it really does depend, you know? Especially as this Kerillian is rather against the Druchii after being gagged, put in a cage, tortured, and surrounded by other people in cages being tortured. So Khaine whispering to her about her blood-relations existing alive as Shades in Naggaroth isn't liable to be nearly as convincing to her.

Psychology is wiggly.
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All we can hope for is that, even if she keeps wielding the Draich, she'll still be able manage to find her internal balance again, instead of going on a path similar to a shade. My hope for this mainly lies in her newly found disgust about Druchii culture, as well the fact that she's been seeing several examples of people whom she actually gets along with (Frederick, Natasha) being very ruthless in battle, but also still showing kindness outside of it: e.g. both Frederick and Natasha showing sincere care for Gwendolyn, as she still is a child, even if she's a Druchii one.

I hope that especially Natasha's case might leave a strong enough impression on her, as Natasha was still capable of showing that kindness to Gwendolyn after several days of doing the following kind of things:
torroar said:
"Should you find love, my daughters, then always remember thus: Destroy all those who would seek to make you a Widow."

Then you, Natasha von Hohenzollern, draw your leg up high as the sorceress screams in denial before slamming your Ledstali boot straight down onto her face again and again and again and again.

Skin, then muscle, then bone, breaks and chips like a block of painted ice.

Teeth shatter into smaller and smaller shards.

Eyeballs burst as liquid flash-freezes and bursts their fragile confines.

A scream of pain, a scream of pleading, is cut off as the passageway that is throat and mouth are crushed closed with repeated impact.

Only when you are hitting pure stone road, a fingernail thin layer of frozen shards sprayed out around your boot, do you stop.
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torroar said:
Her screams rise even higher as she arches her back like a bow, practically to the breaking point.

"I thought your kind loved pain just as much," you murmur. "Oh well."

Then you grab her by the right side of the head with your left hand, and drag her partially up the length of your sword while grabbing her flailing right limb and freezing it solid to the ground.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She howls to the uncaring before your thumb crosses her mouth and seals it shut with ice.

You can't look away from her. Part of the enchantment of her tattoos, you recognize that now. What kind of insanity would be required to enchant your enemies to focus so greatly upon you? What sort of grossly distended pride and vanity would make such necessary?

Alas for the priestess, that you don't wish to bother looking away.

"You said you had something to show me?" You say aloud, making sure that you aren't covering her now bloodshot but functional remaining eye, forcing the eyelids open with a thin sheen of ice. "I have something to show you too."

The Visage of the Widow, that terrifying effigy that Alexandria faithfully carved into the Ledstali of your breastplate, has become a truly monstrous thing now, and you make her look straight at it.

(Fear In Death: 37+Broken Balance(10)+Destroyed Honor Guard(10)+Fatal Wound(20)+Visage of the Widow(20)-Empowering Tattoos(10)-Druchii Veteran(15)=72/100)

"Nnn…no…no…noo…!" She moans in your grip, frostbite steadily starting to spread over her head where you hold it.

She doesn't break outright, even as her eye whirls about in the socket with fear and terror and desperation.

But on some level, you like that.

You like that she is not granted the sweet oblivion of a truly shattered mind brought about by terror.

"Here's a fun new experience for your damned God to learn," you growl at her before reaching out with your other hand to grab both sides of her head. "THE FURY OF MYSELF AND MY GODDESS!"

And you slam her face-first into your breastplate, straight into the Visage of the Widow.

Again and again and again.

By the time you are holding chips of ice made up of frozen blood, brain, hair, and skin, the rest of the Druchii force is dead and your warband is forming up once more. The Bretonnians are exhausted, it is plain to see. So much time without sunlight, adequate food, or even modest sleeping arrangements compared to the horrors of the aquafarms has not done them favors. Their fervor can only do so much. The Asur are better off, but you can see the trembling in their limbs, hear the rawness of their throats as they breathe hard. The rage of the Whitewings has taken them far, but they are starting to shake from exhaustion simply while standing. The former brides seem all right, but perhaps that is no surprise that devotees to the God of Murder would only ever be invigorated after a slaughter such as what you've crafted. You are ready to do more, eager to do more!
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torroar said:
"Now let's get some more killing done!" You roar, pointing your blade down the street.

The district is still aflame, the smoke still chokes the air, and the sound of fighting abounds.

But you don't need to go looking for enemies when you already know where they are.

"Come out, come out," you half-sing under your breath as you glare at the Tor of Dominance in the distance. "Come out, and die," the trill turns into an angry hiss.
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Massgamer said:
That's pretty hard core, though obviously hope Jade Wizards can help regrow teeth later, lol.

And beards and mustaches, but pretty sure that is dwarf influence, lol.
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Might already be solved.

During the Second Arena assault, Hultressa hit everyone with a healing spell. Given its potency was enough to heal far more dire wounds than missing teeth, Natasha probably had her mouth fixed then and there.

She just didn't notice or care at the time, having higher priorities and Frederick's shared pain in her head.
 
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