Back cover blurb on a yellowing copy of The Witch-Knight and her Vampire Hunter 1: Sylvania Fare by Stabreim Knockenbeinern, unbought and unloved in the window of Wurtbad Books, Periodicals and Printing.
When we last left our heroes, MAGDA WESSEN, acclaimed KNIGHT-WIZARD OF THE GREY ORDER, had joined forces with the noble ALBRECHT VON HAAST, former Witch-Hunter, to reclaim his ancestral lands in DREAD SYLVANIA and PURGE THE UNDEAD. TRAGEDY struck when erstwhile ally COUNTESS VAN KARSTEIG revealed herself as a VAMPIRE and betrayed Albrecht, turning him as her VAMPIRE COUNT, intending to claim all of STIRLAND from her Dread Castle with legions of undead!
Will the Countess' schemes succeed? Will Albrechts love for Magda overcome the DARK CURSE OF THE VAMPIRE and return him to her side, or will the dark path seduce Magda too? Will her pure heart, magic, and blade again be enough to triumph, or must she seek unlikely allies to reclaim her destiny and TRUE LOVE?
[*] The fog of war is a bitch, to all involved.
[*] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.
Ignorance.
That was the greatest enemy and the most potent weapon of the campaign. During the Purge, a great deal of time and effort was frittered away where it wasn't needed because of unknowns. In the assault on the town of Drakenhof, striking quickly and without warning allowed the gate to be captured while wide open, and thus allowed you to take the walls and bombard enemy positions with impunity. You caught the garrison of the Castle napping, and trapped their forces inside by collapsing the gatehouse with artillery fire, where they were pounded for days by mortar and grudge thrower fire. A column of skeletons were found by your scouts moving through underground tunnels, and had the roof collapsed on them for no cost to your own forces; if they hadn't been spotted, they could have appeared where you least expected them and done terrible things to your forces.
The Fog Of War. Such an evocative phrase. And who better than a Grey Wizard to master it, to banish it, to weaponize it?
[Trait Gained: Warrior of Fog. +2 martial, bonuses to scouting and hidden gambits while in command, unlocks creation of battlefield spells for revealing or concealing troop movements.]
But deeper than that is one burning memory that you will never be free of: Kasmir's bleak expression as he prays over Abelhelm's dying body. Sigmar's light does not shine here.
Abelhelm and Kasmir are- were- great men. Together they had been giving you a new appreciation for Sigmar and his followers. But Sigmar had ignored the prayers of the latter and let the former die, and now you know that Sigmar is unworthy of the great men that have dedicated their lives to him. You remember Abelhelm's crisis of faith, the trust he lost in the institutions of the Sigmarite church and thus in Sigmar himself. You regret not reaching out to him, leading him to a faith more worthy of him - to a God that wouldn't abandon him.
You'll never make that mistake again.
[Trait Gained: Disdain for Sigmar. Piety +1, will not allow faith in Sigmar to flourish in the institutions under her control - will do her best to encourage faith in worthier gods, or face a heavy malus while it goes undone.]
---
To your extreme relief, word has outrun your slow march to Wurtbad, at least to Anton and Wilhelmina. Both of them look stricken, but are carrying on with their duties nonetheless.
First order of business: inheritance. Anton, his voice breaking every now and then, tells you he has left a letter in a drop box that Abelhelm gave him the location of, and he is to await a response. One will be forthcoming, apparently, within a few months, as news filters through the layers of protection around the Van Hal progeny, and then news will filter out once more as to whether said progeny will be making their existence known to the wider world, or whether the world will be allowed to think that Abelhelm's line died with him. For now, you are in limbo, and soon the rest of the Empire will step in to decide a new Elector Count. There's already an Elector's Meet scheduled for midway through the year, so it's likely they'll pick a candidate there, should no heir be forthcoming.
Second order of business: Eagle Castle. Mothballed during the campaign, apart from the guards protecting it it has been uninhabited. You make your way through the silent corridors, your footsteps echoing around you, and open the door to Abelhelm's study with the key he gave you so long ago for you to borrow books from him. Slowly, agonisingly, you crate up his belongings and try to fight back memories. Books, trophies, weapons hidden in a dozen different locations, a bottle of the Ostland brandy the two of you would share during your twice-yearly meetings - you pour a glass for yourself, another for Abelhelm's spirit, and drink to his memory. The halberd that was his weapon of choice during his career as a Witch Hunter that was supplanted by his Runefang. A spare hat, hanging from a corner of a bookshelf, that added another foot to the height of an already towering man. The door itself, that once withstood the battering of an ensorcelled berserker as you stood there with Abelhelm in your underthings.
You cry a lot in the process of cleaning out that study.
Finally, as crate after crate is loaded into a wagon for you to tuck away in your hidden sanctuary until an heir arrives to claim it all, you find the hidden compartment in his desk. You knew it was there from about five minutes after inspecting the desk simply because of the amount of space unaccounted for by drawer depth, but it still took you days to find and you had to cheat by disassembling part of the desk to get at it. But finally it swings open, presenting an empty space about the size of the lead box that holds the Liber Mortis, and at the bottom of it, a letter. Addressed to you. You eventually crack the cipher - it's encrypted using the Epistolary of Kurt III, which Abelhelm recommended to you so long ago - and, you recall, who was the Grand Theogonist who read the Spell of Unmaking from a copy of the Liber Mortis during the Third Vampire War.
Dame Weber,
If you're reading this, you either succumbed to the temptation inherent in that key I lent you or I've fallen in battle. If the latter, I trust you've avenged me upon whatever entity orchestrated said death.
I once told you that I have children; Anton has the details for contacting them, but should he have fallen also, then the experiment can be considered to have failed; let the Elector Counts choose another to sacrifice to Stirland. Likewise, if they are contacted and they respond with letter and not in person, leave them be. I hope to spend my life in lessening the hold of Sylvania over my line, not to strengthen it.
Your company has been of great value and comfort to me.
Yours,
Elector Count Abelhelm Van Hal
PS. I hope the books I have given you have been enlightening.
The letter was the last blow to your faltering self control, and you spent more time than you care to admit blubbering alone in Abelhelm's study. But the last line itched at the back of your mind. He hadn't given you many books; he had given you a key, and recommended books in his office, but the only book he had given to you was the Liber Mortis.
You return to your Sunken Palace and expose the letter to lights of various colours and strengths with the array of mirrors and prisms in your workshop, and find that pure sunlight does the trick, exposing a string of letters. With trepidation, you crack open the cover of the ancient grimoire. The title page, thankfully, is all that is necessary for the key, and you decrypt the string of letters.
I am now free. You should be too. Tell your Magister this: And then a string of names, dozens long, each with a set of letters next to them - H-W and H-BM are the most common, but some have L and others vC. Most of them are unknown to you, but three leap from the page:
GW M. Regimand Speiseschrank, H-BM
GW D. Mathilde Weber, H-BM
C. Gabriella v. Bundebad. vC(?)
---
The meeting with the EIC Board of Directors is grim, since it consists solely of you and Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina says that she intends to buy out Markus' share of the EIC, and that she has the votes to force it through no matter what the heirs say - some cousins, apparently. She's offered you the chance to split the shares with her as a courtesy. If you accept, it will increase the size of your debt significantly, and you and Wilhelmina will each hold 36% of the company. Otherwise, Wilhelmina will hold 48% and you 24%. Either way, the two of you will have enough votes to overrule whoever the new Elector Count of Stirland turns out to be. She also mentioned that she is going to resign as soon as the new Elector Count takes up his position, and focus on the EIC and trying to rein in her sons. Her loyalty was always to Abelhelm personally, not Stirland.
News from abroad trickles in, and Ostermark has apparently concluded its 'campaign' without setting a single foot in Sylvania, contenting itself with clearing the forests around Mordheim. You're less than impressed.
Julia reports on her attempt at milking money from gossipmongering; she's broken even, but that's it. You filter through the information she presents to you, both written and verbal, and can't find any indication as to why the profits just aren't there. Infuriating, but at least you didn't lose money in the attempt this time, which means you've ended the war with a scant handful of coins left in your discretionary coffers. Without the burden of the Attachés, you'll be comfortably in the black once more.
Jack reports the Watch's mood is acceptable for now, mollified as they were by internal training. The dogs are starting to join the patrols, too. You're currently in a healthy financial position with the Watch, but that was from Abelhelm's perspective. The new Elector Count will most likely take the status quo when he begins as the norm. Now might be the time to spend.
It feels surreal. Not long ago you were in this very position and everything was different - there was a war on and Abelhelm was alive. But you will continue on nonetheless.
ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIONS - pick ONE from each category.
Information Network - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[ ] Expand your information network into another province (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into another county or barony (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into the military (choose a Division)
[ ] Expand your Intelligence Attaché program to another Division (choose one)
[ ] Open a dialogue with Zhufbar, offering an information exchange.
[ ] Off the Leash: Let Julia handle the network without your micromanagement from now on.
Information Network finances - can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Gossipmonger: Maybe it was just bad luck. A long streak of bad luck. Maybe this time it will work.
[ ] Fixer: Work with the Wurtbad Thieves Guild, supplying them information in exchange for a portion of profits.
[ ] Special Branch: Pull some financial trickery to get the information network classified as part of the Watch, so that their costs are covered by the Stirlandian treasury.
[ ] Trade Delegation: Convince Wilhelmina to partner your network with the EIC based on the value of market information. Especially likely to work since Wilhelmina will soon be losing her position of power in Stirland's government. (NEW-ish)
Stirland Watch - pick ONE (no action expenditure required), currently at +1 Budget Points:
[ ] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of their covered area. (-1 Budget Point)
[ ] Expand the Watch into a new county or barony (choose which) (No Budgetary Impact due to expanded Gong Farming)
[ ] Expand the Special Branch into areas already covered by the Watch, so you have an additional pool of manpower you can call upon to supplement the full-time Watchmen. (-1 Budget Point)
[o] Improve the training of the Watch further, hiring trainers and dedicating paid time each week to sharpening skills (LOCKED until administrative staff acquired) (-1 Budget Point)
[ ] Integrate the Roadwarden network of covered areas into the Watch.
[ ] Investigate the possibility of adding a River Warden branch of the Watch.
[ ] Headhunt administrators from other organizations in Stirland.
[ ] Attempt to hire administrators and clerks from Altdorf and Nuln.
Stirland Watch finances - can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above, will yield an unknown number of Budget Points.
[ ] Set up saltpeter production facilities using the information Jack has gathered. (-1 Budget Point) (NEW)
[ ] Set up saltpeter production facilities using headhunted experts from Nuln. (-2 Budget Points) (NEW)
[ ] Set up saltpeter production facilities and call in favours to bring a dwarvern expert in. (-1 Budget Point, -2 Dwarf Favours) (NEW)
[ ] Formalize and organize the payments people make for the Gong Farmers to perform their service, as well as having the Watch start enforcing existing laws against dumping human waste in the street or the Stir.
[ ] Currently, solid waste is sent by cart and wagon out to the fields for a pittance. It could instead be used to create market gardens along the banks of the Stir (hopefully downwind) and increase revenue and provide jobs for the desperate by growing a variety of cash crops.
[ ] Tanneries have a seemingly limitless demand for urine, which explains a lot about the smell. A bit of fragrant research would allow you to identify how much demand there is and how much of a profit you can wring from this.
Stirland Watch faith - can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above, penalty to any Watch actions Mathilde takes unless/until one is taken. Sigmarism must be driven out. (NEW)
[ ] Verena is the Goddess of Justice. Enshrine her as the patron goddess of the Stirland Watch.
[ ] Shallya is the Goddess of Mercy. An odd choice for the Watch, but it would ensure that they remember their duty to the common people.
[ ] Ranald is the God of Thieves, yes, but he's also the God of protecting the common folk. It's worth a shot, right?
[ ] Seppel is the Minor God of Vengeance, popular in Stirland. Vengeance is sort of like justice.
[ ] Grungni, the principal Dwarf Ancestor God, actually has some following among the Stirlandian populace - and he is their Lawgiver to boot. Bring in a few priests to make it happen. (-1 Dwarf Favour)
PERSONAL ACTIONS - CHOOSE BETWEEN FIVE AND SEVEN. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST FIVE WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASK:
Aftermath (NEW):
[ ] Abelhelm left you with a list of notarized names. Pass them on to your Master and let the fireworks fly. (does not take an action)
[ ] As above, but insist on being a part of whatever happens.
[ ] It may be a moot point, but you can still send off the entirety of information gathered on undead types in Sylvania to your string-pullers. (does not take an action)
[ ] Concentrate the gathered information on undead types in Sylvania into a single dense tome and publish it. It's likely to be of some use and interest to Morrites and Amethyst Wizards. Not ground-breaking, but a nice feather in your academic cap nonetheless.
[ ] Buy out half of Markus' shares in the EIC. (does not take an action; increases your debt to Stirland)
[ ] Visit the Amethyst Wizards in Altdorf and ask what the hell they were playing at.
[ ] Investigate the Valley of the Singing King.
[ ] Investigate the underground tomb complex in the southeastern Haunted Hills.
[ ] Investigate the very ruined ruins of Castle Drakenhof. Sure, there's several hundred thousand tons of rubble on top of anything interesting, and sure, the only tunnel you found to the castle catacombs was caved in by the dwarves, and sure, even if you do get in there's every likelihood that undead monsters still roam free in there and will eat you, but why not do it anyway?
Power Vacuum (NEW):
[ ] Your debt to Stirland is recorded in a handful of documents in the Archives, and the current Steward is leaving the position. If said documents were to be slightly altered at the right time, nobody would notice in the handover and your debt could evaporate.
[ ] Though the Haunted Hills have always technically belonged to the Elector Count, they've suddenly skyrocketed in value. If you could backdate some purchases from the Elector Count, you could make a killing reselling them, and still retain your own slice of prime grazelands.
[ ] There's never been less oversight on spending. Embezzlement now would be impossible to trace later. Scrape up whatever funds can still be found in the treasury, and pocket them.
Groundwork - should Van Hal's heir decide not to make themselves known, the question of who would take power is a very interesting one (NEW).
[ ] Spend time with Anton, possibly talking about how good a candidate he would be - local support, known to external powers, and a few powerful friends supporting him, and so forth.
[ ] Spend time with Gustav, securing his subordination to you.
[ ] Spend time with Wilhelmina. As emptied as the treasury of Stirland was by the campaign, the EIC may be the wealthiest institution in the province.
[ ] Attend the Elector's Meet yourself, to take any opportunity that arises to manipulate events in your favour.
Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: The war cost you your combatant friends, but training is always for sale. Go out and buy some. (-personal gold)
[ ] Gun Shopping: You're currently using a pistol that was a spare for the pistoliers. Visit Nuln or Zhufbar to upgrade. (will trigger a subvote next turn for what type and how many) (NEW-ish)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.
Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Dwarf: You could call in some favours and get the entire place cleaned out with dwarven reticence and expertise (-personal gold for ale, -2 Dwarf Favours) (NEW)
[o] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room) (currently being used as a storage room)
Research:
[ ] Undead Research: You know the basics, now. Perhaps a great deal of effort will allow you to advance further.
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. You've got several gallons of the stuff and it's still coming out. It's got to be good for something.
[ ] There's always room for more shadow spells in your repertoire. Send off to the Grey College for the basics on one of the others and get started on trying to learn it.
[ ] Read the Liber Mortis. (NEW)
[ ] Your experience with the so-called Fog of War has given you a lot of ideas for new applications of Ulgu. (NEW)
Influence:
[ ] Information Network: Work alongside to Julia to administer the network. Choose another Organizational Action for the Network.
[ ] Stirland Watch: Work alongside Jack to administer the Watch. Choose another Organizational Action for the Watch.
[ ] Financial Jargon: Everything with the EIC flew right over your head last time. Try again. Succeeding here will mean that you can take a more active hand in the company, adding it to the organizational actions; failing or not attempting means Mathilde will remain a silent partner.
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god. If it could be expanded under your aegis, it could be a powerful tool.
[ ] Non-Thief Guilds: Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.
Relations:
[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors, your liege, or any of the other important figures you've come to know, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one) (can be taken multiple times).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: Trust, but verify. Spend some of your time seeing what a certain person spends their time doing (choose one) (can be taken multiple times).
[ ] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (does not take an action)
Currently paying Grey College tithe (-6 personal gold/turn)
Currently paying Grey College student loans (-35 personal gold/turn)
Not currently embezzling
Currently selling gossip (+50 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding regional informants (-90 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding Watch informants (-10 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding EIC informants (-20 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently employing Julia Massif (-30 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently maintaining the staff of a townhouse in Wurtbad (-20 discretionary gold/turn)
[ ] Begin plumping the informer rolls (choose ratio of real:fake informers. Almost impossible to detect, but also very difficult to increase or decrease the amount quickly) (does not take an action)
[ ] Change tithe payment/loan payment/embezzlement (specify)(does not take an action)
- Voting will be in Plan Format. If you've got a Cunning Plan regarding the succession, please explain what the plan is alongside the choices you make.
- The Elector's Meet will begin at the end of this turn.
- You currently have +15 Dwarf Rep. The explanation for how this works and a partial price list is in the Collection of Important Information threadmark. Feel free to ask for price-checks for anything not listed.
- Don't forget Ranald's Blessing!
- There were a lot of balls up in the air and it's possible I missed one - let me know if I did. The Elf Books will come up at the end of this turn.
- When the new Elector Count begins, the state of the watch's budget will be the New Normal, effectively resetting Budget Points to 0. Now might be the time to start spending relentlessly.
- There would be a great many financial opportunities open to you right now if you were a non-silent partner in the EIC. Might want to consider Financial Jargon.
- There are a lot of time-sensitive opportunities you could jump on during this power vacuum, if you're so inclined. Now might be the ideal time for overwork.
- EIC shares: your current outstanding debt is 750 gold. Markus' share of the EIC is worth 1500, so if you accept Wilhelmina's offer to join in on the buyout our debt will double.
10 Haupt-Anderssen's, 1 Van Hal (yes those Van Hal's), and then 3 nameless 'heroes' chosen for the great 'honour' of being the Elector-Count of Stirland, all within 50 years, the average serving roughly 10 years. And that was only so high because the four non-Haupt-Anderssens managed to not get shanked after 6 months in office.
Now here you are. The latest sacrifice sent to lead the land and people of cursed Stirland. After all, it wasn't like you could turn down the Emperor, and the Grand Theogonist, AND the majority vote of your now 'fellow' Elector Counts. Forced into the role as the heir to death and shadows.
With a grimace you throw yourself into the cushioned chair of your new private study, made all the more private (and secure you're sure) by the heavy door that an ogre would have difficulty smashing through.
"To the Elector-Count of Stirland! Long may he reign!" You toast, a cup of Ostland brandy held high briefly before being turned bottom-up, the sweet taste a magnificent distraction from your inevitable death.
"Long may he reign indeed." A second cup taps down on your desk, it's contents already gone.
"Gack!" Your brandy makes a reappearance as you fall out of the chair, shock running through veins and bone alike. You're on the floor for only a few seconds, but you come back up pistols in hand...
Only to be met by the look of the old woman sitting across from you, her face a myriad of emotions, amusement key among them, but also judgement, sharp eyes cooly evaluating you. You hesitate, you'd be foolish to think that an old woman couldn't be a threat. In the Empire, age just meant more experienced, and in Sylvania worse. But... wizard robes and a Witch Hunter's pointed cap imply far more than age.
Narrowing your own eyes you holster your pistols and set your chair back up. Unless this woman could launch beams of fire from her eyes with no notice, it would be easy to redraw before any fight. Easy to land almost point blank shots before drawing your new runefang.
Once more you sit down in your chair.
"So, to whom do I owe the honour of this meeting Ms. ...?"
"That would be Dame Mathilde Weber my Lord." A playful smirk dances across her pale lips and faded scars as shock once more fills you.
"D-Dame Weber!?" The Witch-Knight! The Dämmerlichtreiter, said to be able to ride across the whole of Stirland in a under a night, riding a demonic steed made out of living shadows that she had captured using her magics! The Destroyer of Drakenhof! The Shadow of War?! Possibly The Greatest Hero of Stirland!?
You don't even see her taking the bottle from in front of you, but then again you would probably miss a Von Carstein barging into your room and making their grand return speech before dissolving into a mass of bats and fireworks to flee into the night.
"I'm glad to see my reputation precedes me. Much as it can be a hassle in my line of work. Nonetheless," She takes another sip of your brandy, giving you enough time to re-school your features. "In this case it lets us save some time. Oh, and it's Wizard. A witch is an unsanctioned user of magic. I am a fully vetted Magister of the Order of Shadows, and it's quite the faux-pas to mix the two of those up. Ah well, we'll ween you of that eventually."
"...Eventually?" You hazard.
"Oh yes. Did you think this was a courtesy visit? No no, you see I am here in my capacity as Spymistress of Stirland." She states it plainly, like explaining to a child why they shouldn't be eating dirt.
"I was under the impression that Johanna Massif was Stirland's Spymaster. She was even the one to meet me with the other advisers. Unless there's been a change in plans?" A vague sense of unease settles in your stomach. Wait, when did you call her a witch?
A nostalgic gleam shines over the old woman's face, a fond smile easing the straight look she had held since appearing in your study. "Ah yes, Johanna. Cool and brilliant, much better at the whole money problems than Julia was, and just as good at the whole spying part. But no. One of your oh so wise predecessors decided that having a 'witch of that damned order of paranoid backstabbers' be the master of intrigue in Stirland was not what he wanted. My Chief Attendant Julia took up the mantle...but never quite stopped asking for 'advice and assistance' from her friend. After Count Whathisname got eaten by a wild Vargheist and the next one got appointed, the two of us kept to our previous arrangement. And when she retired, her daughter took to a similar thing. Only instead of two friends, it was her and her favorite Aunt Weber. And when she retired, well. Johanna has always been a good...lass.
But things are coming to a pitch. Another Count dead, likely murdered, you, inexperienced and untested chosen to replace him, and the dead rise in 'eastern Stirland' once more, and in greater numbers than I've seen in over 70 years..."
She pauses, her eyes scrunch up minutely, the only reason you can tell is because of how enraptured you are in this living hero, and you know whatever it is she's seeing, it's not you and it's not now. With smooth movements she reaches up and brings the Witch Hunter's cap into her lap, staring at beaten and worn leather.
"I remember the last time it was this bad. I was young, fresh out of my apprenticeship, Stirland was at it's lowest in at least a century, and Abelhelm..." She meets your eyes and for a second you think she really can light you on fire her visage so intense. "It won't end that way again. This, I swear to you or die trying."
"...Thank you... Dame Weber."
She smiles at you. Not a memory, or thoughts of friend's or family. You.
"What a nice boy you are. It's good to see my report's about you weren't wrong. Now, I'm sure things today have been a bit hectic, what with you just moving in, so take the rest of tonight off, maybe some of the morning as well. The work of an Elector-Count is trying and constant so you should take your free time when you can. We can discuss things between the two of us later, after your meeting with the rest of the Advisers. Oh! And don't worry about ordering around Johanna tomorrow, we can figure out how we'll do things with the Stirland Web in our personal meeting. Goodnight. Oh, and buy more of that brandy! It brings back good memories."
And with that, possibly the greatest wi...zard you've ever met straps a massive greatsword (!) to her back and strolls out the front door.
You take a look at the now empty bottle of brandy on your desk and the cup you never got around to refilling. The only signs that anything had even happened. Despite never taking a drink, you already feel a headache.
Natural 100 on Intrigue Adviser!
Johanna Massif loyalty revealed - In service to Dame Mathilde Weber
Mathilde Weber is a veteran player in all facets of Stirland. Politically, martially, magically, and most importantly in Intrigue. She's been loyally assisting the Elector Counts of Stirland, whether or not they liked it, for twice as long as you've been alive. As long as you strive to protect Stirland and it's people, she'll do the same for you.
A Magister-grade Grey Wizard with unique Battle Magic spells, in combat she is also a master of wielding (of all weapons) a greatsword to masterful effect. But her greatest weapon is her masterfully crafted spy network that incorporates both the Cult of Ranald (and the equally present Stirland Thieves' Guild) and the Stirland Watch as well as numerous other spies, informers, and merchants that she lovingly refers to as the Stirland Web. And Mathilde's Web in private.
So this got a bit away from me, but I loved the idea of Mathilde being some legendary hero unit in some other Elector Count quest/sequel quest and I had to run through how her Intro scene would go. Other aspects of the story would be, Weber would always be a part of the story, with Johanna's loyalty always to her, and whose typical first appearance would be when the PC talked or trained with the Greatswords where she would be referred to as 'The Old Bitch' who would show up and train them in how to use a greatsword. It would also be revealed that she was the one who taught the current Greatsword Champion of Stirland how to use his sword.
She would also be mentioned in the social links with both Johanna and Antoine, the diplomacy adviser, as being their 'great-aunt' or great-godmother. It would also be revealed that Mathilde and Julia became very close 'friends' for at least a short time.
Other details would include Anton's grandson being the current Diplomacy Adviser and being a carbon clone of his grandfather, possibly being childhood friends with Johanna if they weren't related (I could kind of see Julia and Anton getting together, and then keeping the names separate for reasons, or using the Massif name to keep the relation between the advisers secret, sort of like how every 007 is James Bond). And speaking of Johanna, they would actually be born as Johan, the grandson of Julia, but would dress-up as a girl and serve as a transgender character in Warhammer Fantasy (something I don't think has ever been portrayed in it), possibly even as a romantic option for the PC.
[*] Plan Protector Of Stirland
-[*][Intel] Special Branch: Pull some financial trickery to get the information network classified as part of the Watch, so that their costs are covered by the Stirlandian treasury.
-[*][Watch] Expand the Watch into a new county or barony (choose which) (No Budgetary Impact due to expanded Gong Farming)
--[*] Drakenhof
-[*][Free] Abelhelm left you with a list of notarized names. Pass them on to your Master and let the fireworks fly. (does not take an action)
-[*][Personal] As above, but insist on being a part of whatever happens.
-[*][Free] It may be a moot point, but you can still send off the entirety of information gathered on undead types in Sylvania to your string-pullers. (does not take an action)
-[*][Free] Buy out half of Markus' shares in the EIC. (does not take an action; increases your debt to Stirland)
-[*][Personal] Financial Jargon: Everything with the EIC flew right over your head last time. Try again. Succeeding here will mean that you can take a more active hand in the company, adding it to the organizational actions; failing or not attempting means Mathilde will remain a silent partner.
-[*][Personal] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
--[*] Martial
--[*] Diplomacy
-[*][Personal] Stirland Watch: Work alongside Jack to administer the Watch. Choose another Organizational Action for the Watch.
--[*] Ranald is the God of Thieves, yes, but he's also the God of protecting the common folk. It's worth a shot, right?
---[*]Ranald's Blessing
-[*][Overwork] Stirland Watch: Work alongside Jack to administer the Watch. Choose another Organizational Action for the Watch.
--[*] Set up saltpeter production facilities and call in favours to bring a dwarvern expert in. (-1 Budget Point, -2 Dwarf Favours) (NEW)
-[*][Social] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (does not take an action)
--[*] Kasmir
---
The expression on your Master's face as you gave him the decrypted list of names on top of the information garnered from Sylvania is gratifying - an instant of complete shock before being replaced by calculation. He opens his mouth to ask a question, then closes it again as his calculations skip ahead. He almost turns into a different person, when he's working for real instead of focused on being your Master, and the glimpses you get used to terrify you and now inspire you.
"I want to be involved in- in whatever happens now," you say firmly.
"Do you now?" your Master says, his eyes still locked onto the list of names you gave him. "Well, I would hope you're ready for it, because what happens now is a great deal of murder. Of the..." he scans the list. "Fifty-three names here, thirty-nine will die as a direct result of you handing this list to me."
Despite all you've seen and done, you're still shocked, but refuse to show it. "Very well. Give me my half."
He laughs, and long-dormant reflexes come to the fore as you duck his attempt to ruffle your hair. "Half? Not a task for a journeywoman. I'll be calling in a number of favours to go through the list in a timely manner. But if you insist..." he gives the list another look through. "Here. A peer of yours. Dame Sofia Hoffman, right here in Altdorf."
---
You did this a hundred times in your teenage years. Your Master picked a random citizen, and you tailed them for a week or two, learning as much as you could about them and then coming up with plans to kidnap, kill, or suborn them. But you never actually went through with it.
You've seen a lot of bloodshed since then, and caused your fair share of it and then some. Cold-blooded murder was not that far from the evils you'd paid unto evil in the past. You remind yourself of this often as you tail the young noblewoman, learning every intimate detail of her life. Her oddly formal and stilted relationship with her husband, her mornings sharing breakfast with young ladies of similar stature in the cafes of upper-class Altdorf, the needlework she's terrible at but perseveres at gamely. Nearly every detail of her life speaks of a normal girl of the middle nobility living a normal middle nobility life. The only missteps in her act are when she takes one of her friends aside for a brief but intense conversation, or the letters she pens in the middle of the night and then leaves wedged in a crack in the brickwork of her husband's manor.
You don't even know what crime she's complicit in, save that it snared a Grey Wizard and forced him to send his apprentice to Stirland to act as their catspaw. You spend many days wondering whether that's enough, and in the end, you decide that it is. That, and that this is what Abelhelm knew would happen when he gave you that list of names.
Luckily she doesn't share a bedroom with her husband. That would make things difficult.
It had been some local festival or another, celebrating Sigmar if you had to guess, and she had partaken rather heavily in Bretonnian wines. There were a thousand different ways you could gain entry, but in the end you opted for walking on thin air up to a third-floor window that had been left open. The house staff were all out enjoying the festival in their own way, and the guards were all at the entrances. The only ones within the depths of the house were you and your target. You walk the halls of the manor like a ghost, pausing to admire the occasional painting.
Finally, you reach the bedroom she has ensconced herself within, led by the sound of light singing. You slip silently into the room and observe your target as she tries clumsily to undo the intricate style her hair is bound in, and when she finally spots you in the mirror it's far too late. She tries to shriek, but Ulgu shrouds her in silence for just long enough. She stares at you in terror.
"Tell me of your society and of your fellows within it, and you can live," you lie.
Thankfully, she's too terrified to deny it. Information tumbles out, and you take mental notes. At first, a social club. Deeper, an organization for the mutual benefit of its members, trading favours in society. Deeper still, odd little rituals that bring luck and favour from frowned-upon Gods, tip-toeing on the edge of blasphemy in a manner designed to thrill, and you frown to hear Ranald mentioned. And deepest yet, the layer this woman exists within: scandalous and titillating rituals to a grab-bag of truly forbidden gods, to Khaine, to Stromfels, to Gunndred and Ahalt. What next, you wonder? Do they take the final terrible step into the worship of Chaos, or is all this designed to filter out those who would balk and drag people deep in before revealing to them their vampiric masters? Or is this a strange hybrid of chaotic and vampiric, or an intersection of two separate societies? Or did one suborn the other?
It doesn't matter, not really. The cure is the same. The woman spills names and levels in the cult, and you memorise them eagerly. And as the last name hangs in the air and the woman is babbling pleas for her life, you inhale Ulgu and exhale forgetfulness.
The woman freezes, then looks around the room, wiping confusedly at tears running down her face as her eyes slide right by you. She shakes her head and mutters something about wine before coming to her feet and staggering towards the bed, collapsing into it facedown. She's wriggling deeper into the sheets in an effort to get comfortable when your sword slices cleanly through her neck and deep into the mattress below.
---
The next day, as the city swarms with alarmed activity at the murder of so many members of high society, you pass on the names extracted to your Master, get a nod of recognition of a job well done, and disappear from Altdorf without any of its citizens knowing you were there. By midsummer, the entire society will be eradicated root and branch, and you will be free of their damned instructions.
When you return to Wurtbad and throw yourself back into work, it's the Stirland Watch that takes up a great deal of your attention. The burgeoning institution deserves better than Sigmar, so you act decisively. Craftsmen are commissioned, priests contacted, and a few holy icons are crafted and consecrated and shipped to every location the Stirland Watch is active in. Almost overnight, a shrine to Ranald the Protector is erected in every Watchhouse in Stirland.
And just as quickly, almost all of them are torn down. And there's no witnesses, even when it happened in front of a crowded room.
You're incensed, and your response is... less than measured. You order Jack to spread word that if the shrines are not restored and the men responsible for their defacing punished, you'll hold every man in each of the Watchhouses in question responsible. Slowly, sullenly, they obey. The shrines are restored, and men claim responsibility for the vandalism and are stripped of their position and expelled from the Watch. Morale hits a brand new rock bottom, and you doubt that any of the men are likely to embrace Ranald now... but the shrines are there, and they aren't openly revolting. It's a foundation you can build upon.
While the rank and file are dangling on the precipice of mutiny, the merely rank is humming along splendidly. A mid-level chemist has been sent from Zhufbar - why they leave the 'al' off alchemy, you've no idea - and after he performs a few tests to determine the difference between dwarven and human waste, he designs the entire facility from scratch, built outside the western gate of Wurtbad. It takes a great deal of intervention from you to make happen because he has no patience for or knowledge of human business practices, but you're hoping that it will be worth the effort. The initial process, you frown to discover, is not all that different to the methods Jack 'acquired' from Wissenland - business with clay floors and waterproof roofs and a great deal of busy activity over months - but where he shows his mastery is in the purification, a step completely missing from the Wissenland techniques. Filter through wood ash, then boiled and filtered through mesh, and needle-like crystals of pure niter are produced - worth their weight in gold for use as fertilizer or producing gunpowder. Not the prettiest of victories, but you'll take it nonetheless.
---
With the factory churning out niter crystals, you turn to the other bizarre and inscrutable alchemy you've decided to master: that of economics.
If anything, it's gotten even more difficult to learn as the EIC has grown in size, but you persevere anyway. The part where products are moved around and sold at a higher place where they're needed more, that much you understand, but it is the strange magic of ledgers and banking that eludes you. If you're going to double your debt and become even more interwoven with the EIC, you need to understand it.
Eventually, it is magic of all things that allows you to understand it. You are well used to imagining things impossible under the rules of the mundane world, and your mistake with economics was trying to fit what was going on into what you understood of it. Once you started thinking of it as an outcropping of the real world where the normal rules have no sway, it became a great deal easier to start internalizing the bizarre alien logic used to juggle numbers. You wonder if this is what being a Gold Wizard is like.
By the time you sign the documents to take on the debt to acquire Markus' stake, you understand the transfer of debt, the mechanisms by which it will be paid off, and the horrific spectre of compound interest that Wilhelmina has spared you from. You go back to the documents outlining your student loan, once completely inscrutable, and after a page of calculations find that you're actually paying off the very last of it now, and after midsummer you'll be freed of it. It's enough to make you feel giddy.
You've not quite mastered economics just yet, but it's enough that you'll be able to meaningfully contribute to the EIC.
With your newfound grasp of financial theory, you meet with three key figures in the production of the Memoirs of Asarnil the Dragonlord: Wilhelmina, the publisher selling it within the Empire, and the merchant that agreed to ship it to the elven isle of Ulthuan.
"There's a great deal of interest in Stirland, after his contributions to the Siege of Drakenhof," Wilhelmina says. "The only real problem is that most of those interested can't read. Still, it's proven to be quite popular." Your share ends up being a good handful of coin; less than a year's pay, but still a decent handful of coin. You dutifully tithe a tenth of it to the Grey College and add the rest to your coffers at home.
"Word did trickle out about events down south," the publisher says to you. "But really, it's Wizard Chic you've to thank for driving up interest in our Elven allies and magical creatures like dragons. Apparently they find it all rather romantic, the centuries-long quest to prove himself against those that cast him out by selling his sword to all the noble races of the Old World." You expected a handful of coin; you get a chest. You worriedly tithe, raising a few eyebrows at the Bursar's Office which leads you to write a report on the whole business to submit to the College, just in case questions start being raised about all this money.
"There was barely any interest at all, then the King forbade its sale in Lothern," the merchant chortles to you. "So entire fleets of pleasure craft would sail out to our ships to buy copies before we made port, just for the thrill of it. Then word reached Caledor, and a bloody dragon flew out to buy out an entire shipment." You expect a coffer; you got a crate, and the loan of a wheelbarrow and pair of bodyguards until you found somewhere to stash it. The Bursar is openly staring as you tithe near a year's pay, and you submit receipts and a copy of the memoirs along with the tithe.
[Does it sell in Stirland? Roll: 93]
[Stirland sales: 44+40=84]
[Does it sell in the Empire? Roll: 50]
[Empire sales: 84+10=94]
[Does it sell in Ulthuan? Roll: 73]
[Ulthuani sales: 66-20=46]
When you get home to the Sunken Palace, you carefully separate your savings: on one side, what you've saved from your income and the accumulated dragonfunds. On the other, the proceeds of your accumulated embezzlement. Better not to risk tripping yourself up.
Seeking to distract yourself from having been too successful, you attempt to reach out to Kasmir. The man was failed by Sigmar just as much as you were, after all. And find, to your shock, that he's nowhere to be found. None of your fellow councillors have seen him, none of the castle guards have seen him. You check the gate records the Watch keeps and find that he never returned to Wurtbad. You reach out through your information network, and get nothing but silence in return.
[Finding Kasmir: Intrigue, Req ???: 19+17=36]
---
With that attempt at self-distraction failed, you turn to memory. The campaign was a fantastic trial by fire for your nascent career as a general, after all, and you want to capitalize on that.
Time is spent with the General of the First Division, whose name you'll certainly get around to remembering one of these days, as well as delving through the books that Abelhelm left behind. Scraps of information you would have skimmed past before become vital in the light of what you learned. The Purge of the Haunted Hills and the Sieges of the Drakenhofs were campaigns full of great victories and terrible failures, and you seek to learn from every one of them, both under Abelhelm's command and your own.
It's when you're lost in your reminiscing that word is passed through your network and the innkeeper you befriended so long ago knocks on the trapdoor to your Sunken Palace: Anton is looking for you.
---
"Is that-" you begin, looking at the letter in his hands.
"It is!" he says. You're in the council room, despite it being abandoned to dust. He insisted. Wilhelmina, Gustav and Schultz have also been summoned, but Anton is apparently as clueless as to Kasmir's location as you are.
"So what does it say?" you press.
"I haven't opened it yet," he admits. "I wanted to wait until everyone was here."
"Close enough," you say, with nods from the others, and Anton buckles and slides his knife under the wax seal of the letter.
[Will Abelhelm's heir take up the mantle?]
[Base: Req 50. Inglorious death, +20. Campaign completed, -10. Letters to them spoke well of his councillors, -10. Result: 50/50.] [Die Roll: 98]
Anton's mouth moves as he reads through the document. "Out loud!" you hiss at him, and he nods and returns to the start.
"To the Council of Stirland. I will be arriving forthwith to continue my father's legacy. Yrs - it says 'yrs' instead of yours - R v Hal."
There's exhales all around. "Laconic," you note.
"They can be mute, for all I care," Wilhelmina muses. "I honestly didn't think that one of his children would take the role. I might have to rethink my resignation."
"Might not have a choice," Schultz notes. "New Elector Count, new council."
"Best foot forward, it's time for interviews," Gustav says, to strained chuckles all around.
---
As midsummer, the Elector's Meet, and the arrival of the new Van Hal approach, you check in with your underlings. The expansion of the Watch into Drakenhof is hampered threefold: by the truculence of the Watchmen, by the size of the town, and by the low-level hostility between Stirlanders and Sylvanians. Jack reports apologetically that if he has another six months he can guarantee that Drakenhof will be brought under the control of the Stirland Watch.
Julia and Jack have worked together to bring the Information Network payroll onto that of the Stirland Watch, finally relieving your strained discretionary budget from carrying the entirety of the ever-growing Network. The result would be painful for the Watch's budgetary impact under normal circumstance, but without an Elector Count it goes gloriously uncommented upon.
You consider preparing a report of your activities to date for the incoming Elector Count, both to fill them in and make a good impression to retain your position. You've built quite a power base here, but with your string-pullers being utterly devastated by your Master (mysterious deaths are still being reported) and your loans almost paid you wonder if you even want to continue as the Spymistress of Stirland.
Report for the incoming Elector Count:
[ ] You'll not beg for your own job. No report.
[ ] Sketch out in broad strokes your activities over the past eight or so years.
[ ] Write a detailed report covering every major operation you performed under Van Hal's orders.
[ ] Write in.
Your attitude towards retaining your position:
[ ] You will serve the heir of Abelhelm as you did Abelhelm himself.
[ ] Even if you do not continue as Spymistress, perhaps you could find another job on the Council. Your talents have flourished since you arrived in Stirland, and you could perform near any of them satisfactorily, thanks to Stirland's lowered standards.
[ ] If they wish you to retain the position, very well. If not, that's fine too. You do not feel strongly one way or the other.
[ ] You will make sure there's a secure handover of power, brief your successor, attend the long-delayed funeral of Abelhelm, and then finally give up the burden of Spymistress.
You've also got to consider your financial windfall. The Grey Order is yet to comment, but their gears grind slow but fine and this is too much for them to ignore. They'll soon ask pointed questions as to which of the cavernous loopholes in the Grey Order's Vow of Poverty you'll be shoving the funds through.
[ ] All but eliminate your debt from the EIC purchases.
[ ] Inject into your Discretionary Fund.
[ ] Label it a Rainy Day fund, deposit it in the Grey College's coffers, and withdraw it at a later date when liquid funds are needed.
[ ] Donation to some institution (choose one)
[ ] Improve your land near Sonningwiesse.
- [ ] Improve the arms and armour of the local populace for when they are called as militia.
- [ ] Rebuild the local manor house, complete with fortifications to shelter the locals should danger threaten.
- [ ] Closely investigate the area for any mineral wealth.
- [ ] Build farms and import farmers to compliment the herdsmen.
- [ ] Other (write in)
[ ] Other (write in)
Finally, as the day that your new boss arrives approaches, word reaches you from Altdorf. The Elector's Meet, originally called to discuss the possibility of Imperial contribution to the Dwarven reconquest of Karak Eight Peaks, has turned completely from that to address the growing crisis between Middenland and Nordland. Entire towns between the rivers Salz and Demst have been razed to the ground with their populace disappeared, and though no evidence is present Nordland is accusing Middenland, who in turn neither claims nor denies responsibility, but instead are once more accusing Nordland of stealing land they have no claim to. The Elector Counts near came to blows in the Meet, with the Ar-Ulric and the Grand Theogonist almost following suit as they backed their respective sides. The Empire seems to teeter on the brink of civil war, as the Elector's Meet stretches on and the Emperor tries to soothe tempers.
Belegar Ironhammer, heir to the throne of Karak Eight Peaks, has abandoned Altdorf in disgust and is calling for any who seek their fortune to join him.
Skill Acquired: Economics (Advanced)
Memoirs of Asarnil the Dragonlord - Stirland sales: +76g
Memoirs of Asarnil the Dragonlord - Empire sales: +423g
Memoirs of Asarnil the Dragonlord - Ulthuan sales: +792g
Total: 1,291g
Skill Increase: Martial +2
Skill Increase: Diplomacy +2
Trait Lost: Student Loans
Motivation Lost: Sleeper Agent
- It was possible to redeem Ranald the Protector in this way. But trying to do so with Mathilde's motives compromised and the Watch's morale already low was risky, and then the roll was flubbed. Things only narrowly avoided being even worse. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that.
- The plan for the funds doesn't need to begin immediately, but should you choose one then the funds will be earmarked for that and you should probably show some progress towards it in a timely fashion.
- There is no wrong choice as to whether you continue as Spymistress or whether you find another path. Despite the title, this is the story of Mathilde Weber, whether she is an advisor or not.
[*] Sketch out in broad strokes your activities over the past eight or so years.
[*] Even if you do not continue as Spymistress, perhaps you could find another job on the Council. Your talents have flourished since you arrived in Stirland, and you could perform near any of them satisfactorily, thanks to Stirland's lowered standards.
[*] Plan Dame Weber
-[*] Improve your land near Sonningwiesse.
--[*] Rebuild the local manor house, complete with fortifications to shelter the locals should danger threaten.
--[*] Closely investigate the area for any mineral wealth.
--[*] Build farms and import farmers to compliment the herdsmen.
You sketch out your plans for investing the money in the lands of House Weber, building a protective keep and investigating the mining and farming possibilities that the treacherous land may yield, and because this is officially official business instead of the playful parry and thrust of your relationship with your Master, you seal it with your coat of arms and send it to the Grey College by post. You receive no response from the Bursar; or to put it another way, their lack of response is, itself, a response. You've no doubt they'll be checking up on you to make sure you follow through on your plans for the wealth. It's something of a reassurance to bring your lands to the attention of the Grey Order and to receive no censure for it, glad that your separation of Journeyman Weber from Dame Weber was accepted. The Vow of Poverty is easily sidestepped with a hundred possible excuses, but that just means they come down all the harder when someone flouts it.
Also put to paper is a summary of your activities over the past eight years, which leads to quite a bit of reminiscing on your part. The trouble with your predecessor, the raid on the Mound, the retrieval of the Stirland Archives, the elimination of the former Count of Leicheberg. The founding of your Intelligence Network, the rounding-up of infiltrators in Eagle Castle (the details of which are very much left out), the revelation of the so-called Elector Countess, and the rolling mass arrest of the Stirlandian League and the seizing of their assets, which led to your Knighthood. The founding of the Stirland Watch and its expansion underground, and then the Purge, a year and a half of bloody battles and minimal oversight. And then, capping it all off, the Siege of the Drakenhofs. One annexed, one obliterated.
Near a decade of your life spent thusly, and with all you've achieved and learned that you wouldn't have if you'd followed the traditional career arc of a Wizard... you find that it was well worth it.
You and your fellow councillors gather in the hall of Eagle Castle, where you first met Abelhelm all those years ago, and looking much the same as it did since it's seen little use these past two years while everyone was off on the Purge. Anton is practically bouncing on his feet, he's so nervous, and it seems that he's the only one nervous about keeping his job. Wilhelmina is on the brink of resignation, Schultz has been bemoaning his work on field fortifications and roads instead of the glorious fortresses he imagined, Gustav let you of all people take the lead on the assault on Drakenhof and has been lost in thought whenever you saw him ever since, and Kasmir remains absent. You would like to continue as Spymistress, but you'd also fancy your chances trying any of the other positions, or shutting yourself away in your Sunken Palace for a while and getting to work on a hundred different projects that have been gathering dust for years, or going back to Altdorf and finally going for your Magister rank, or even answering the call of Belegar Ironhammer and venturing beyond the borders of the Empire. Those and hundreds of other possible roads are open to you, all of them enticing, and that you can only take one of them is galling.
You wonder about the person you're to meet, this 'R v Hal'. You don't even know for sure if it's his eldest child, or merely the one that decided to answer the call. Abelhelm said that his wife died in childbirth in '66, so they must be at least eleven, but could be as old as... early twenties, you suppose? Depends how young Abelhelm was when he fathered them. Surely not as old as you. Surely.
Finally, the gate guard gives the signal that Anton convinced him to pass on and Anton quickly shuts the door he had been peeking through. "They're here!" he says excitedly. You give yourself a final once-over, despite wearing the same robes and hat and sword you always do. First impressions count, after all.
After a moment that stretches for an eternity, the door swings open, and for a heartbreaking instant you think Abelhelm has returned. Then your senses return, and you study the Witch Hunter that stepped through the door and is scanning the room; shorter than Abelhelm, more scarred, older. Not his ghost returned, and not his heir, either. A bodyguard, perhaps. The man gives you an extra-hard stare, but steps aside allowing the entrance of another.
Tall, but thin, her hair short-cropped and looking unsuited to the leathers that she wears. Late teens, early twenties, if you had to guess, with a sword on her hip and carrying herself with the awkward over-awareness of someone who has yet to grow into the instincts of combat. You glimpse fear and doubt in her eyes, but kept at bay by a will of iron. "I," she announces, "am Roswita van Hal. The Elector Countess of Stirland."
Anton is the first to introduce himself, bowing to her and almost stuttering over the ritual greeting of nobility, but she returns his bow with an inclination of her head. Gustav is next, and you can see from his expression that he's weighed her up just as you have and found her wanting, but he too knows the rituals and speaks them flawlessly. Schultz is next, and presents himself as the skilled craftsman he is, with deference but not obsequiousness. Then you step forward, dredging up the ritual from Anton's lessons to you so long ago; Mathilde Weber of Stirland, at your service, and a bow. Wizards and knights alike bow, rather than curtsy. She follows through on the courtesies, her eyes on you the entire way through, reconciling you with the character from her father's letters, perhaps.
[Among a great many rolls to generate her attributes and attitudes:]
[Her attitude towards magic-users: Roll, 9.]
Then she steps outside the formality of the greetings. "My father spoke well of the service you provided him," she says, her voice stilted and formal. "I thank you for this, and will provide you with a glowing letter of recommendation. It may be that the curse of magic you labour under is undeserved. Nevertheless, I will not take the chance, and release you from your service to Stirland."
Your eyes narrow as you stare back at her wordlessly, and she leans away from you as the silence stretches, nervousness growing in her eyes. But then you incline your head. "As you wish," you murmur.
---
The report you had written weighs heavily in a pocket inside your robes as you walk from Eagle Castle, perhaps for the last time, as your mind ticks over, swinging between duty and vengeance. You've got the report, you've got the intelligence network, you've got the Liber Mortis, you've got the sodding Runefang. You've the entire contents of Abelhelm's study gathering dust in your spare room. Any sensible candidate would have waited, but no, she's got a headful of Sigmarite rubbish and thinks that every second in a magic user's presence is a danger to her very soul.
You realize through your warring thoughts that someone's calling out to you, and find Anton running up behind you. For an instant you think that the girl's changed her mind and sent him as a runner, but Anton catches his breath after a moment. "I resigned," he says, outrage warring with exhaustion in his voice - it's barely a minute from the castle, he needs to work on his fitness - "I'll not be having with that."
You smile at him, remembering what you found so long ago while rifling through his things: the letters written in secret to his aunt in the Jade College, long since slain in the service of the Empire. "Thank you," you say simply, and the two of you walk down the road from Eagle Castle into the town of Wurtbad.
[TITLE LOST: Spymistress of Stirland]
---
Report on the past eight years
-[ ] Keep
-[ ] Give
The Runefang of Stirland
-[ ] Keep
-[ ] Give
Abelhelm's repeater rifle
-[ ] Keep
-[ ] Give
Liber Mortis.
-[ ] Keep
-[ ] Give
Miscellaneous contents of Abelhelm's Study
-[ ] Keep
-[ ] Give
Information Network
-[ ] Keep
-[ ] Give
Gong Farmers and Niter Factory
-[ ] Keep
-[ ] Give
Discretionary Funds
-[ ] Keep
-[ ] Give
Where will you call home now?
[ ] You're quite comfortable where you are, thank you very much. Wurtbad is your position of power; Spymistress was just one arrow in your quiver.
[ ] Good riddance to Wurtbad; you've got a nice bit of land up in the hills and a commitment to invest in it, and some solitude will do you good. Lock up the Sunken Palace in case you ever need a safehouse in the future.
[ ] There's another way to secure Abelhelm's legacy. Travel to the town of Drakenhof and sink your claws into it.
[ ] Anton's as unemployed as you are. He'll be happy to let you crash at his place, and 'his place' is his father's castle so there's plenty of room.
[ ] Put Stirland behind you. The rest of the world is waiting to be seen, and your land and investments will keep.
And what will you be doing?
Staying in Stirland:
[ ] Enjoy a well-deserved holiday catching up with personal projects and living off your accumulated embezzlement.
[ ] Managing your institutions - the EIC, your land, and the Information Network and Gong Farmers if retained.
[ ] Other (write in)
Leaving Stirland:
[ ] That blasted girl will likely follow through on that letter of recommendation. Send words to the Elector Counts, see if anyone's got a spot in their council for a Grey Wizard.
[ ] Hang about. Why bother with that lot? Send word to the Dwarfholds instead. Maybe one of them could use a councillor.
[ ] Belegar Ironhammer's call to arms is open to all. It's not the most traditional vacation choice, but you're not the most traditional vacationer.
[ ] Traditionally, a Journeywoman journeys, flexing their arcane might and seeing the world. Find Asarnil and seek instruction in the fine art of being a mercenary - one that only serves the Empire and its allies, of course.
[ ] Other (write in)
Either:
[ ] Return to Altdorf to face the Magister's tests, and determine what to do with your life later.
---
- It's almost as if there's inherent flaws with the concept of inherited power. The heir hates and distrusts magic and there's no way they'll have a magic-user on their council at all, and that's that. I know this will upset some people, but this was a possibility inside the universe that Mathilde lives in, and dice are the medium to determine whether it occurred.
- Leaving Wurtbad means that Ranald's Blessing will linger for about a year before fading; you'll have that much time to create a new holy place to him.
- If the Information Network is retained, you have enough personal funds to keep it paid for about half a year, then you'll have to find a new source of income. The Watch cannot be extricated from the grip of Stirland, not with how little loyalty the rank and file hold towards you, but you can pull the gong farmers and the niter factory from it.
- Voting will be in plan format, due to how interconnected things are.
Everyone watches with still breath as Mathilde walks out of Eagle Castle's front door, greatsword lightly swinging on her back, and head held high.
As the door slams shut, there is a moment of silence.
Wilhelmina frowns to herself. She and Mathilde hadn't been friends, a bit too much of an age difference and her own personal hangups, but over the years she had looked at the girl as a keen ally, a polite buisness partner, and finally the daughter she never had. But perhaps just as much as any of those, she knew that the girl's loyalty to Van Hal... to Abelhelm, was probably second only to her own. There had been no doubt that Mathilde would have served any one of his children with the same loyalty, and to see that loyalty, that respect (and maybe more) for Abelhelm so casually dismissed... Roswita may have been a Van Hal, but she was no Abelhelm. Mentally, and again, she went to work composing her retirement papers for the council.
Gustav was another matter. He was newer, and, he knew, not the best choice for Marshal, but there was respect for Mathilde, wizard she may have been. Sure she had been sneaky and mysterious, but he had heard the tales of her training with the greatswords, fighting time and again to the last next to Van Hal, and then leading when he could not. He could never of destroyed Drakenhof. He may not of even taken the town. And so when Mathilde walks out, he worries for when the next war comes for Stirland, and whether he'll be enough to help stop it.
Schultz does not know Mathilde at all, for all that they've served together as long as they have. But even he is remiss at the loss of a colleague, the one who had discovered the threats inside Eagle Castle's very walls, broke the Stirland League, and then lead the final effort of Van Hal's crusade...he is sure of one thing, if Mathilde desires revenge on this girl, he does not doubt that she would find a way.
Anton simply stands there, a pit in his stomach. Mathilde had been a friend. Maybe not as close as he'd like, but she was nice to him, and was the only one close to his age on the council, and...memories of an older woman, light brown hair, a kind smile, and green robes. Auntie...
The final echoes of the door fades.
And the girl gives a sigh of relief, a smile already forming. "Well, now that that's out of the way..."
"I quit."
The girl freezes. Her smile strains as she looks at the man who was part of her father's council, one who he had written to be open, likable, and kind, from a nice family, and a surprisingly capable diplomat. Someone...she might have liked to know more. "I'm...sorry?"
"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."
And with that Anton storms past her, past her guard, and throws open the gates once more and takes off running.
Life in the Stirland watch was, in many ways, similar to life in the army; lots of boredom, gambling and drinking. The occasional instance of pants shitting fear that only the undead can inspire was much lessened though. It was payday and the end of the week and in many, if not all, watch houses in Stirland the 9pm rounds were officially finishing and the sounds of dice, drinking, laughing and complaining can be heard.
"I ain't sayin' she can't handle a necromancer wot raises the restless of Sylvania", slurrs a particularly grizzled looking watchman, before making the sign of the hammer at the mention of the undead.
"But I don't trust no one what tells me I hav'ta pray to, lest its Father Kurt or Sigmar 'imself!"
At this statement, most of the table loudly agrees, slamming down their tankards or banging their fists.
After a respectable amount of grumbling in agreement, the younger man holding the dice blows on them one final time, silently praying to Ranald for luck, before rolling them.
Triple 4s look back at him. Not a terrible final roll.
"B'sides, it isn't propa' for us men of the watch to worship Ranald like a bunch'a thievin' 'alflings. Just lookin' at the bleedin' statue makes me feel dirty" declares a slightly less grizzled but equally intoxicated watchman, before putting 2 silver on the table and grabbing the dice. Blowing on the dice for luck before rolling them; two 3s, two 1s and a five.
Old Gunther balls all three finger he has into a fist before slamming it into the table before he grunts; "I never trusted me a witch, folks round 'ere been burning 'em since Holy Sigmar walked among us and it aint steered 'em wrong. They never had to piss and shit into jars. Saw a dwarf setting it up too. Mark my words, this dwarf magic will bring doom to us all!"
After a few secconds of furious nodding and grunting, a voice from the back of the room, near the kennel adds, "she aint done nothing but give us more work and i aint sign up for trudgin' round the sewers looking for shit to put in no damn jar!", before he goes back to happily patting his faithful work dog and drinking ale.
The man who rolled last nods aprovingly along with everyone before scooping up the two 1s and the 5, blows on his dice, then rolls.
Triple 3s. Not enough.
The younger man picks up his two dice in quiet apprehension. Wordlessly, both he and his opponent (along most of the spectators) invoke Ranald as he blows on the two dice before rolling them one last time.
In a slightly divergent reality:
...
You wonder about the person you're to meet, this 'R v Hal'. You don't even know for sure if it's his eldest child, or merely the one that decided to answer the call. Abelhelm said that his wife died in childbirth in '66, so they must be at least eleven, but could be as old as... early twenties, you suppose? Depends how young Abelhelm was when he fathered them. Surely not as old as you. Surely.
Finally, the gate guard gives the signal that Anton convinced him to pass on and Anton quickly shuts the door he had been peeking through. "They're here!" he says excitedly. You give yourself a final once-over, despite wearing the same robes and hat and sword you always do. First impressions count, after all.
After a moment that stretches for an eternity, the door swings open, and for a heartbreaking instant you think Abelhelm has returned. Then your senses return, and you study the Witch Hunter that stepped through the door and is scanning the room; shorter than Abelhelm, more scarred, older. Not his ghost returned, and not his heir, either. A bodyguard, perhaps. The man gives you a resigned stare, but steps aside allowing the entrance of another.
Tall, but thin, her hair growing out awkwardly and looking unsuited to the loose robes that she wears. Late teens, early twenties, if you had to guess, with a large sword on her back and carrying herself with the awkward over-eagerness of someone who has yet to grow into their own identity. You glimpse both hesitation and enthusiasm in her eyes, barely kept from bubbling over by a will of iron. "I," she announces, "am Roswita van Hal. The Elector Countess of Stirland."
You are rendered speechless by the implications, so are pleased when Anton is as ever the first to break an awkward silence and introduces himself, bowing to her and almost stuttering over the ritual greeting of nobility. She returns his bow with an inclination of her head, dislodging her... ludicrously pointy hat. Gustav is next, and you can see from his expression that he's weighed her up just as you have and found her wanting, but he too knows the rituals and speaks them flawlessly. Schultz is next, and presents himself as the skilled craftsman he is, with deference but not obsequiousness. Then you step forward, wincing as she claps her hands together and lets out a small squee of delight.
You dredge up the ritual from Anton's lessons to you so long ago; Mathilde Weber of Stirland, at your service, and a bow, sensible hat remaining firmly in place. Wizards and knights alike bow, rather than curtsy. She eagerly follows through on the courtesies, her eyes on you the entire way through, reconciling you with the character from her father's letters, and an impressionable young mind enthralled by... Wizard Chic. Everyone looks between you and the Elector Countess bemusedly. If they're not familiar with the fashion trend, it would look rather as if Roswita was attempting to disguise herself as... well, you, if she only had a vague description and stereotypes to go on.
[Among a great many rolls to generate her attributes and attitudes:]
[Her attitude towards magic-users: Roll, 90.]
Then she steps outside the formality of the greetings. Only well-honed instincts developed avoiding hair-ruffling by your Master let you avoid her grab for your hat. "I looove your hat! My father spoke so highly of the service you provided him, I just knew I had to learn more about you, and Wizards. Amazing!" she says, her voice giddy and too familar. "I'm sooo pleased to meet you! A real Wizard! And a war hero too! The Dämmerlichtreiter! I am sucha fan! You're sooo lucky to be able to cast magic! My first... command is- please can you show me a Spell?"
Your eyes narrow as you stare back at her wordlessly, and she leans away from you as the silence stretches, nervousness growing in her eyes. But then you incline your head. "As you wish," you murmur.
Briefly, you consider Mindholing everyone here and disappearing from Stirland forever, to hunt down whichever fool was responsible for this fashion craze. But only for a moment.
You flutter your fingers and make some arcane gestures. You notice the older witch hunter tensing up, but pretend to disregard him. The enormous hat floats up off the ground and hovers in front of Roswita. "You appear to have misplaced your hat, your Grace."
Roswita claps her hands together with glee and grabs her hat before perching it precariously on her head once more. "I just know we're going to be the best of friends! You're going to be my Spymistress, and Court Wizard and you'll tell me all about Magic, and the Winds, the Colleges... Oh! What was apprenticeship like? Were you taken from your parents as a child? Did they cry to see you go? Soooo romantic!"
"Ahem. Your Grace?" says the older Witch Hunter. "Perhaps you can quiz... Journeywoman Weber later. We have some other formalities to attend to."
Mindhole. Take No Heed. You could be out of here and on your Shadow Steed in minutes. But, no. It seems, once more, you have a heavy duty to Stirland.
---
Finally got around to that omake about the Elector Meet.
The Count Is Dead
BoneyM's Advisor Quest omake
The rearmost table, tucked into a little alcove by the organizers to better forget it existed, housed a sullen pile of robes. A snifter of brandy - good stuff imported from Ostland at great expense - sat untouched in the center of the table. The table lamp's light that glittered in the glass like a dozen tiny stars entirely failed to illuminate the spectre save for the occasional shine within the depths of the cavernous hat.
The flame suspended over the lamp oil flickered like it was trying to crawl out and escape, throwing strange shadows against the walls. Most disconcerting was perhaps the shadow on the wall behind her, a hulking thing that shifted and flickered with the flame, a beast with variable horns and claws.
The tables nearest to that one stood empty or their inhabitants drawn and quiet. It was as though the creature in the Hat spread its own gloom like dark tendrils amongst its neighbors. Horst could fancifully imagine a chill like fog emanating out to where he sat two tables away. Like the moor beasts of childhood tales, that crept out under cover of night, bringing the chill of the moor with them to freeze naughty children in their beds.
His bodyguard and friend Malte, a barbaric Ostlander himself, knocked back another brandy uncaring of both childhood fears and the judging stares of nearby nobles.
"Caught your eye did she? You are a braver man than me, my friend," Malte toasted his boss before quaffing several gold coins worth of brandy. He'd said before the Meet that he intended to 'get his money's worth', whatever that meant to a man who was stuffing his face free of charge thanks to the movers and shakers of the Empire.
"Oh, god no," Horst said feelingly. The soft, well-read women of Altdorf were much more to his taste than whatever that was.
"I wouldn't be looking to fill the hole a Van Hal left in a woman," Malte mused, ignoring Horst's protestations. "The size difference alone!"
Horst wrinkled his nose. His Ostlander bodyguard could be positively filthy at times. The only thing he luxuriated in more than his own crudity was-
"Aye, the Van Hals're different men from you and me," Malte said soberly, holding up his brandy to the light as though a toast. "Giants of men. Heroes. Larger than life, making up a debt to the Empire that can never be repaid. But by the gods, none try harder than them to make it so."
Oh. Horst bowed his head, chastened in his thoughts. Even a man like Malte had heroes. The only thing the rough Ostlander liked more than indulging his own crudity was history, and the heroes that could be found in every page of the Empire's long and illustrious past.
"Why Horst," the bastard said innocently, "what did you think I meant?"
The only thing the bastard liked more than crudity and history was making fun of Horst.
"So she's the old Elector Count's, what, lover?" Horst said doggedly, determined not to give his amused bodyguard more satisfaction than he'd already gotten.
"So 'tis said," Malte nodded. His voice took on the dramatic cadence of an experienced storyteller. "They say when the Hunter Count fell on the push to Castle Drakenhof, Dame Weber held the line alone until the attack was over, and carried him from the field herself. She would let none administer to him but her, and when she could not save him, she bound the tent with fell magicks so that any who dared to desecrate her lover's body would join him in death."
Horst was aware that tales grew in the telling, but even accounting for hyperbole that was… quite a tale.
"She went on to lead the war into Drakenhof, and personally oversaw its destruction until not one stone stood upon another. She hasn't been seen much lately, but I expect that she came to ensure Van Hal's successor has the right stuff." Malte clapped a hand to Horst's shoulder. "You've got the chops, boss. Don't let some witch-woman from the frontier put a scare into you."
Horst shrugged urbanely, taking a sip of his own brandy and letting the burn sear its way down his throat and warm his belly. It was very good brandy, not that he was a connoisseur of such things. He could fake it well enough if he had to; his time at Court had done wonders for his ability to bullshit. Did he, perhaps taste flowers and pear behind the burn of the alcohol? With a nose of dried fruit, yes yes. And so on, like that.
"I think I have the support, but Stirland is a rough land. They might want a hero rather than a bureaucrat."
Horst could lead if necessary but he was no more than a passable warrior, instead making his name for some years in the Reikland court, and later as the advisor to two different Elector Counts. After the Ostland Elector-Count had released him from service he'd been snapped up by Talabecland for a number of years. Trade, diplomacy and seeing to the heart of things, those were his talents, along with a certain talent for being in the right place at the right time.
"Well that's what you have me for, isn't it," Malte told him, stomping a booted foot on the stone floor. "Nobody really expects the Elector Count themselves to chop a heretic in half, do they?
"True enough," Horst smiled. Malte was the most gifted fighter he'd ever seen swing an axe, and he'd been pleasantly surprised when the mercenary had followed him to Talabecland those years ago and now, to Stirland.
"You'll do fine," Malte reiterated. His eyes gleamed slyly as he added, "And if you think you're man enough to take up her as well as the mantle, more power to you, I say!"
"I think the candidate from Averland is going to speak," Horst said, stubbornly trying to change the subject. The Averland man was as grizzled as any bull or ram. Horst didn't actually make any of the jokes that came to mind; he'd heard them all in Ostermark, and often enough when Malte got into his cups, but a gentleman didn't repeat slanderous gossip about what the men of Averland might get up to with their cattle. No matter how funny it was.
He shifted uncomfortably. It was, he hoped, only his imagination of gleaming eyes from the shadow of that hat boring into the back of his head. Wizards could be damned useful, but for all he knew 'Dame Weber' really could burn a hole through him with her stare alone.
[*] Plan Be the Bigger Witch
-[*] Give
--[*] Report on the past eight years
---[*] Add a note that wishes her well in her position as Elector Countess and our willingness to remain in correspondence by letter, so we could provide some advice.
--[*]The Runefang of Stirland
--[*] Information Network
---[*] Give Julia our full blessing (and recommendation, if Julia wants it) to go for Spymaster.
--[*]Abelhelm's repeater rifle
--[*] Miscellaneous contents of Abelhelm's Study
---[*] Minus Abelhelms' spare hat, brandy flask, and the books
-[*] Keep
--[*] Books from Abelhelm's study
--[*] Liber Mortis.
--[*] Gong Farmers and Niter Factory
--[*] Discretionary Funds
[*] Plan: Magic Duties to clean up!
-[*] Enjoy a well-deserved holiday catching up with personal projects and living off your accumulated embezzlement.
--[*] We can't abandon our Sunken Palace until we've figured out the various leaking and/or unsafe magical items (Snake Box, that book, and Shyishkebabs) and worked out how to secure or transport them in our absence.
-[*] Managing your institutions - the EIC, your land, and the Information Network and Gong Farmers if retained.
-[*] Return to Altdorf to face the Magister's tests, and determine what to do with your life later.
Sitting in the privacy of your Sunken Palace, you sort through the various bits and pieces the new ruler of Stirland may have claim to. The Runefang is easiest of all; fun as it might be to think about keeping it, it would draw far too much of the wrong sort of attention. Abelhelm's hat remains on the shelf atop your desk, and you also take his battered steel flask, still half-full of Ostland brandy, and slip it into a pocket. The books, you sort through over a couple of hours; most are books on the Empire, its historical events and figures, its people and environs. Those dedicated to the study and extermination of the undead are a small but significant minority, and you smile at the very slim Extremely Redacted Liber Mortis (Approved Edition) that Abelhelm recommended to you so long ago - a tiny piece of misdirection, so easily overlooked.
In the end, there's no shelf filler, no dead wood to cull - it seems that Abelhelm's frequent movements before becoming Elector Count had pared his library down to the necessities and he hadn't had much time to expand it since. So you keep the entire lot. The various mementos, souvenirs and trophies are crated up to go to the Castle, along with the repeater rifle - as fine a piece of craftsmanship as it is, you've no training in long arms. On top of it all you add the written report you had prepared earlier (after slightly revising it to exclude all matters of gong farming and niter) and you choke down your resentment long enough to pen a note indicating your willingness to correspond with her, if she desires.
The final matter is your discretionary funds, and that's a matter of taking the coffer dedicated to it and pouring it into the coffer of your personal funds. That's that, then. You carry the crates up to the tavern and flag down a couple of patrolling Watchmen to fetch a wagon and drive it all up to the castle - as unhappy as they are with you recently, they know better than to disobey. On top of that, one glimpse of the Runefang convinces them of the importance of the request. You shadow them all the way to the castle gates to ensure it all arrives safely.
With that done, you convene, possibly for the last time, with your subordinates.
Julia takes the news well; she had prepared for a shake-up from the change in leadership, and needs only your indication that you're okay with it for her to openly start preparing to try to take your former job, and with you giving her the okay to take the Network with her, she's got a decent shot at it. You've a suspicion that a Witch Hunter might end up with the job instead, though. They were all but invisible under Abelhelm's reign, and you doubt that will continue under Roswita's. You do tell her that if things don't work out under Roswita, either directly or under whoever the new Spymaster may be, then there'll be a position available to her in the EIC if she wants it.
Jack is already packing his office when you visit him. You've deliberately kept a blind eye on his personal activities to tacitly sign off on whatever compensation he decides is suitable for the job, and he considers the past few years well spent, but with you off the council he's decided it's high time to seek his fortunes (or, at least, more of his fortunes) elsewhere. He boxes up all the records on the gong farmers for you on your request, and says that if you've ever a need for the services of a thief again to track him down.
You return once more to the Sunken Palace, and wander through it with new eyes. For the past eight years, this has been a place that you snatched sleep in where you could and stored things for some hazy future day when you had spare time. Well, now that day has come.
---
Library Acquired - see Character Sheet.
As you are no longer employed, there is no longer a distinction between 'personal' and 'organizational' actions. Pick six of the below; you can take up to two extra actions as Overwork - if you do, mark them accordingly. All of your Organizations can be safely 'ignored' if you desire - they will continue operating as they have been.
The Weber Estate Earmarked Funds: 1,291 gc
Estate Profits: 10 gc / turn
You can spend money instead of turns here to have someone else oversee the work; this will increase the cost by half again, and double any dwarf rep cost. For instance, an option costing 100 gc will cost 150 gc. It also means that your personal stats will not apply to whatever is being done.
[ ] Build a modest home for yourself, equal in size to the rooms you're using in the Sunken Palace (3 rooms, 50 gc).
[ ] Build a large home for yourself, with plenty of spare rooms to expand into (6 rooms, 150 gc).
[ ] Why muck about? Build a proper manor (10 rooms, 300 gc).
[ ] Build a tower, either into an above structure or on its own (1 room, 100 gc, bonus to room's purpose).
[ ] Build fortifications into your home, turning it into a hillfort, or motte (50 gc for wood, 200 gc for stone, optional dwarf help for -1 dwarf rep).
[ ] Build a communal granary to store food for lean times (50 gc).
[ ] Build a well (50 gc).
[ ] Build a bailey for your subjects to shelter in and to encompass other structures (100 gc for wood, 400 gc for stone, optional dwarf help for -1 dwarf rep).
[ ] Have the dwarves build you a fortress. (1000 gc, -2 dwarf rep. Protects but does not build living area. No, there is no cheaper option. If you want cheap, get manlings to build it.)
[ ] Bring in prospectors to search for minable metals (100 gc).
[ ] Bring in dwarvern prospectors to search for minable metals (-1 Dwarf Rep)
[ ] Investigate the farming possibilities of the land (50 gc for test crops).
[ ] Bring in dwarvern farmers to investigate the farming possibilities of the land. (-1 Dwarf Rep)
The Eastern Imperial Company Outstanding Debt: 1,450 gc
Your share of EIC Profits: 50 gc / turn
[ ] Use your reputation to build trade ties with Zhufbar.
[ ] Use your reputation to build trade ties with Karak Kadrin.
[ ] Use your friendship with Anton to build trade ties along the Nuln Road.
[ ] Expand the EIC into Sonningwiese; this is unlikely to increase profits, but would indirectly improve the lot of your subjects.
[ ] Have the EIC print and sell a second edition of Asarnil's memoirs.
[ ] Investigate whether Ostermark is building a Talabec-Stir canal near Karak Kadrin.
[ ] Spend some time getting to know Wilhelmina's sons.
Gong Farmers Currently Revenue Neutral due to supporting the Niter Factory
[ ] Fold them into the EIC; no need for you to have personal control of them. (no action needed)
[ ] Formalize and organize the payments people make for the Gong Farmers to perform their service.
[ ] Expand the Gong Farmers into the rest of Western Stirland.
[ ] Create market gardens outside the walls of Wurtbad, fertilized with the solid waste collected by the Gong Farmers.
[ ] No longer linked to the Watch, the Gong Farmers might be vulnerable. Arm and train them so they can defend themselves in the sewers.
Niter Factory Goods currently unsold; costs covered by Gong Farmers.
[ ] Fold it into the EIC. (no action needed)
[ ] Sell the factory itself.
[ ] Sell the produced niter crystals to Nuln.
[ ] Sell the produced niter crystals to Zhufbar.
[ ] Sell the produced niter crystals as fertiliser in Stirland.
[ ] Sell the produced niter crystals as fertiliser to the Moot.
[ ] Investigate the rest of the process for making gunpowder.
[ ] Bring in dwarven experts to expand the factory to produce gunpowder (-5 Dwarf Favour).
Personal Actions Personal Wealth: 483 gc
Living expenses: 10 gc / turn
Magister:
[ ] Go to Altdorf and submit yourself to the Magisterial examination. (takes three actions)
Self-Improvement:
[ ] Internalized Lessons: If you've been using a particular trait a fair bit in the last year, you can spend some time on it to internalize what you've learned and increase the trait (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective the more you've used the trait lately).
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: If you haven't been using a particular trait lately, you can try to practice it anyway.
[ ] Combat Training In The Free Market: The war cost you your combatant friends, but training is always for sale. Go out and buy some. (-20 gc)
[ ] Gun Shopping: You're currently using a pistol that was a spare for the pistoliers. Visit Nuln or Zhufbar to upgrade. (does not take an action; will trigger a subvote next turn for what type and how many; will cost 100-300 gc, don't take this just to window shop - this is committing to the purchase)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.
Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-100 gc)
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Dwarf: You could call in some favours and get the entire place cleaned out with dwarven reticence and expertise (-20 gc for ale, -2 Dwarf Favours) (NEW)
Research:
[ ] Expand your library to cover a new subject or go deeper into an existing one (choose which; -50 gc).
[ ] Volatility: Examine how to move your various fragile and magically sensitive bits and pieces without endangering them.
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. You've got several gallons of the stuff and it's still coming out. It's got to be good for something.
[ ] There's always room for more shadow spells in your repertoire. Send off to the Grey College for the basics on one of the others and get started on trying to learn it.
[ ] Your experience with the so-called Fog of War has given you a lot of ideas for new applications of Ulgu. Investigate them to see what might be possible.
[ ] Read the Liber Mortis.
Influence:
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god. If it could be expanded under your aegis, it could be a powerful tool - especially considering you no longer have official power.
Relations:
[ ] The New Boss: Keep an ear to the ground, learning what you can of Roswita's actions and plans.
[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with someone, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one) (can be taken multiple times).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: Trust, but verify. Spend some of your time seeing what a certain person spends their time doing (choose one) (can be taken multiple times).
[ ] It's literally none of your business, but you can try to track down Kasmir anyway.
[ ] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (does not take an action)
Familiar: You've grown much in power; it might be time for you to seek a familiar. Animals that are suitable to be familiars are incredibly rare. You can hunt for them and spent a great deal of time doing so, or you can buy one for an agonizing price. Or you could make one.
[ ] You'll have a cat, damn it. Spend time with the alley cats of Wurtbad and see what you can find. (low chance)
[ ] Wander the streets of Wurtbad and see if any animal jumps out at you. (moderate chance, could be any tame or feral animal)
[ ] Spend some alone in the woods. What could go wrong? (high chance, but no telling what animal would be. chance of dangers in the woods)
[ ] Travel to Altdorf and see what suitable animals are for sale. (will cost 300-600 gc; can decide not to purchase if you don't like the type or look of the animal. Options for loans or dipping into EIC/earmarked funds will be available if you can't afford it)
[ ] Why trust in nature or the free market? You'll damn well make your own familiar. (50 gc, resulting familiar is unpredictable in appearance and will be visibly unnatural).
- As always, voting will be in Plan Format.
- Don't forget Ranald's Blessing!
- If there's anything you think Mathilde should do that isn't on the list, let me know.
