On each of the exposed faces of the frustum, if they have not been covered by accumulated dirt or grime, is the Rune used in Eltharin to represent Waystones: a diamond atop a pyramid, and above that, a teardrop. Whether this Rune is upon the Waystones simply as a label of its purpose, or whether the Rune in Eltharin is based off the Rune that marks each Waystone and the marking on the Waystone serves a deeper purpose, is an open question.
I've been examining Eltharin for a while now so I can get a familiarity with it, and the Rune here is a bit of a puzzle. I don't remember any Rune that correlates one to one with this, so perhaps it's a Rune outside the standard list or maybe it's a combination of Runes. There are plenty of "Teardrop" shapes in Eltharin, Quyl-Isha being perhaps the most notable, and I've seen Diamonds before, particularly with the Druchii's Cadai rune (they use a Diamond to represent them, whereas they represent the Cytharai with a Pentagon. Generally. There are exceptions). The Pyramid mention is putting me off guard, because I don't remember any straight up Pyramids.
However, there is another language which might hold useful tidbits here. Both Eltharin and Dark Tongue are derived from a common Old One origin, and the names for Azyr, Hysh, Aqshy, Chamon, Ghur, Ghyran, Ulgu, Shyish, Dhar and Qhaysh are represented in Dark Tongue. Notably, The rune for the letter "Dh" is a Pyramid, and the rune for the letter "Rh" is a Rhombus (Diamond). Perhaps the symbols adapt from a common origin, which creates this Rune representation of a Waystone that "Purifies" (Teardrop could stand for "Quul" the Eltharin rune of regrowth and decay) "Dhar" (Pyramid/Diamond). This is all just idle speculation.
At the base of the Waystone, though this is almost always underground, is a much larger square base ringed with an eight-pointed star that align precisely with the cardinal and ordinal directions. These Waystones absorb magic and, through means you seek to determine, add it to the leylines flowing beneath them.
The eight pointed star. Symbol of Chaos and the Winds of Magic. Oddly enough the symbols for Sevir and Sariour, which refer to Winds and Magic respectively, do not have any sort of star shape at all, which I find curious.
Unfortunately, this 'basic' model is far from the only one that exist. For each of these 'normal' Waystones there are many menhirs, large standing stones of irregular shape. Many possess no Runes at all, and those that do have carvings of ancient Belthani script. What few that have been partially translated usually tell a tale of some ancient figure or another, leading most historians to believe them to be mere memorials, and many have been toppled or harvested for stone over the millennia. But they, too, absorb the ambient Winds, and to those who can see the direction of the leyline flow below, they always point towards one of the Elven Waystones. From what you've heard, a similar dynamic can be found in the east, with Scythian-made standing stones supplementing the Elven network. Most scholars who note the connection believe the ancient humans were merely apeing the Elven visitors, but it's seeming to you that the original network of Elven waystones was supplemented by a titanic effort by the much more primitive local populations that increased the covering of the full Waystone network substantially.
Never underestimate the ingenuity of humans. Regardless of time, humans have found all sorts of baffling discoveries that were lost to time and recovered only centuries later.
On the other extreme are the nexus points, where multiple Waystone-controlled leylines come together into one place to form a larger deluge of energy leading directly towards Ulthuan. Most were erected in easily-accessed areas, many at the heart of ancient Elven communities, so most of these nexuses can be found in the heart of modern human cities. The Waystone at the heart of the Jade College in Altdorf is one of these great nexuses, and it is fed not only by nearby 'regular' Waystones but also by much greater tributaries from the direction of Talabheim and Nuln, and all this energy flows 'downstream' towards Marienburg. You speculate from there it would flow to Castle L'Anguille, and then either further along the Bretonnian coast or directly towards Ulthuan. You don't have access to enough of these to draw conclusions, but the one at the heart of the Jade College seems like a massively upsized version of the Belthani menhirs, rather than being visibly Elven in any way.
This is obviously a representation of the major cities of the Elves during the Golden Age, but I think I might have an answer to Mathilde's unspoken question here. Nuln appears to have been an Elven city. Talabheim was Athel Maraya, a prosperous city and woodland in its own right. L'Anguille was Tor Alessi. Marienburg was a Sith, which referred to ports and port cities. Altdorf, however, was not a Tor, Athel or Sith. it was a Kor, which refers to Elven towers, and it is believed that the highest tower of the Celestial College is all that remains of that Tower. The reason that the major waystone network is Jade in nature rather than Elven appears to be because the Elves did not build up Altdorf like they did their other major cities.
Eventually you settle on a garrison of the Army of Reikland called Fort Brachsenbrücke that has a Waystone just outside of its main gate, leaving you protected by the patrols and sentries as you turn your full attention to the Waystone.
Ah, that name triggered a memory. Turns out I remembered it from Vermintide, which is the only time I remember seeing that name. Quite memorable in the sense I can recognise it. No way can I spell it.
insulating stone it is made of
The historic return of "Stone is an excellent insulator of magic".
You feel like a daytime stargazer as you try to ignore the beautiful glow of everyday life around you in favour of peering at the impossibly dim workings of the Waystone before you
Unfortunate, Mathilde is acting like a Celestial. The horror!
Interesting note here. Boney said before that Azyr does not come from Stars. And apparently the moons interfere with Azyr? Morrisleb makes sense, but what is it about Mannisleb that would interrupt the flow of Azyr? I don't actually know which wind resonates most strongly with the Mannisleb. I guess it reflects the Hysh of the Sun? That would be pretty muted Hysh.
I do know that the moons, even Mannisleb and not just Morrisleb, have some mystical properties used in rituals, enchanting and all that good stuff. The Asrai for example, bless some of their arrows under the light of the moon to create Moonfire Arrows, the counterpart to the Starfire arrows made by Starwood Trees. While Starfire Arrows burn the Forces of Destruction, Moonfire Arrows burn the Forces of Order.
Let's not even get in the mechanics of how Starfire and Moonfire determine what is Order and what is Destruction, because it clearly doesn't use Chaos allegiance to determine that. Starfire works on Greenskins just as well as they do on Warriors of Chaos. Starfire doesn't work against Wood Elves even if they use Dhar, only Moonfire works on them because they're "Order". Abstractions ahoy.
After almost a week spent in concentration, you finally begin to make out the precise point when magic enters the leylines, as constellations of tiny sparks drip from the points of the foundational star into a position directly below the Waystone, and then drop with sudden speed downwards to join the leyline.
Lovely descriptions Boney. I absolutely love it when you provide these detailed and lovely visualisations of the way Magic moves and acts from Mathilde's perspective. It's very vivid and colorful.
Sometimes eight, but often less, as there is definitely not exactly equal amounts of each Wind present here. But though at certain points during the daily cycle the amount of Winds being dropped into the leyline sometimes falls as low as two at a time, you never see a single Wind being dropped in, always at least two.
This sounds like the Waystones are incredibly complex programmable functions. They detect the balance of the Winds, store the excess when there's about to be a destabilisation, and compensate for a lack or despose of excess in times where the winds are running low. Very complex systems, assuming the Waystones aren't somehow sentient and have souls or something. In canon Warhammer some Waystones do have souls because the Elves stored their souls in them so they wouldn't be eaten by Slaanesh, but that's not quest canonical so no guarantee there.
You suppose this explains why in Altdorf, a city practically riddled with Waystones, mono-Wind environments such as the Colleges still exist - because the Waystones seem to need at least two Winds to be present to drain away magical energies, and thus a specific Waystone would only be able to drain away as much of a given Wind as there exists the total of the other seven Winds.
I suppose that's also why all the Colleges are spaced relatively far apart from each other instead of clustered together in walking distances like I would expect a College of their size would tend to work. But if the Jade College holds the largest and most significant waystone in Altdorf, how does that work? The Colleges are supposedly mono-wind environments, but Waystones can only do their job if they get a balanced intake of Winds. They can't even store and redistrubute the winds unless they have at least two stored up. Is the Jade College's Waystone an exception to the mono-wind nature of the College?
You carefully make notes on your observations and then finally break camp, passing along your thanks to the fort's captain before heading back towards civilization.
Mathilde is 100% the type of person to thank the bus driver when she leaves for her destination and I appreciate her for it.
The final night of observation happens with Morrslieb's baleful influence overhead, with the hideous throb of Dhar creeping along the landscape and being drawn into the Waystone. To your consternation, it proves impossible for you to see anything of the Dhar after it enters the Waystone itself, even as the Waystone absorbs amounts of it that would leave one of the storage mechanisms visible if it were one of the Winds. Perhaps the Waystones are built to contain the malign energies of Dhar and so not even a glimmer of them can be seen by the sharpest of Windsight, or perhaps they are dumped into the leylines below immediately, rather than a few sparks at a time.
I notice that Mathilde indirectly referred to her sense as "the sharpest of Magesights". I think it's a well deserved title, but it's nice to see Mathilde indirectly acknowledge it in her head without all the qualifiers to put herself down. It can be hard working with so many people who are so much older and more accomplished, so it's nice to bask in what you're good at.
Since your last meeting with with the memorable Vicereine of Oldenlitz,
This and a later line makes me think that Mathilde does in fact find Cadaeth pleasant to look at. It's very entertaining how even when Mathilde finds someone attractive, she's very roundabout about it. I've noticed the same thing with Panoramia, her very own partner. I think the most blatant physical attraction she's shown on screen was about Panoramia's legs.
you've heard quite a few stories about the nature of the beings of the Ward of Frost, many of them quite fanciful, and in the past days you've sought out even more. In other parts of Laurelorn, the Faniour and Dryads keep a cautious distance between each other, but in the Ward of Frost the two have intermingled so thoroughly and for so long that it may no longer be possible to draw a meaningful distinction between them - or at least so go the stories told in Tor Lithanel, which straddle the line between horror and titillation at the exact nature of the intermingling.
Interesting. I suppose the close proximity of the forest spirits and Elves of the region and their need to unite in the face of the shared encroachment of humans led to this development. The Ward of Rain is incredibly inhospitable to human settlers and grants an immense advantage to the Elves of that region. The Ward of Storm is a very big ward encompassing a wide area that allows the Forest Spirits and Faniour to spread out without interacting with each other, and no settlement was built west of the Demst, so the concerns of the Storm Ward inhabitants would be faced towards the Wastelanders (not as numerous as the Nordlanders) and raiders from the north.
The Ward of Frost, being a smaller Ward that was getting smaller with time as Nordlanders encroached upon their territory, would have likely had many opportunities for spirits and Elves to... mingle.
While biologically there's no way to make sense of a cross between flesh and wood, on a spiritual level there's more possibilities, especially since the Tree Kin of Athel Loren are quite well attested and seem to be the result of an Elven soul being forcefully inserted into a Dryad's body. If said insertion was more, well, gentle and consensual, who knows what the result may be?
I've noticed that Boney did not include the Tree Kin bodyguard of Queen Marrisith in DL, although they were a thing in Archives of the Empire. It seems like Boney wants to make a greater distinction between Athel Loren and Laurelorn, and the separation between Spirit and Elf is part of that. The Ward of Frost's strong connection with the spirits is their highlight.
It also creates all sorts of interesting opportunities for variation and exploration on the themes of Forest Spirits and Elven Souls without having to involve Slaanesh, which is always a positive.
As soon as you cross the Demst into the Ward of Frost, you find yourself shadowed by an escort of marshlights, which you presume to be the variety of spite known as Mischiefs. In most of the Old World an encounter with the aptly-named spites is quite likely to lead to disaster, but here in Laurelorn they serve the Eonir rather than their own whims, and you take this as a sign that your passage into the Ward of Frost has been noticed.
Mischiefs are as the name implies, mischeivous. They have the special ability to make people drowsy and sleepy. One can only guess at the variety of pranks that you could inflict, deadly and otherwise, with that ability. Thankfully that Mischief is restrained here, but not totally gone, considering the "Prank" they pull on Cadaeth.
Sure enough it doesn't take long until you are accosted, and you're quite sure that if you had entered the Ward from the other end of the road you would be met with an arrow, rather than a pair of Elves stepping from the treeline into your path, all bared limbs and gleaming muscle and garments made of very few leaves protecting their modesty. Their bows are nocked, but not yet drawn. "Traveller," they address you in unison.
I suppose Mathilde is starting to get used to odd Elves popping up with shiny muscles and barely clothed. I also notice that their gender has never once been mentioned here. Neat.
"Greetings," you respond. "I am Mathilde Weber, and seek an audience with the Council of Frost."
"You are known to the Ward of Frost," one says.
"You are welcome in the Ward of Frost," says the other.
"But the Council is scattered, and will not meet until necessity drags them from their home soil."
"What is your purpose?"
Wood Elves of all kinds enjoy "finish each other's sentences" and odd synchronisation I suppose. Naestrahan in Athel Loren and these individuals in Laurelorn.
You look thoughtfully at the two, and need only a moment's concentration to spot the tendril of magical energy linking the two. A Familiar bond, or something very similar to it. An Elf and a Dryad, perhaps? But which would be the Master? "I seek the wisdom of those of the Ward of Frost to join the effort to unlock the secrets of the Waystones."
Could be a Naestrahan situation where they're two parts of the same soul. Maybe the "Familiar Bond" doesn't have to be the same as the one Mathilde maintains and there is no master, it's fully mutual. Maybe they're both Dryads, both Elves, or both have a mixture of both. Mystery is a way of life for these people.
The two look at each other. "There are perhaps those better suited to that business," one of them says with a smile.
"But none more desirous, or more likely to seek vengeance should they be thwarted, than the one you are already on course to find," continues the other.
"The Vicereine of Oldenlitz?" you ask, and take the two of them disappearing back into the treeline as confirmation. Still shadowed by the Mischiefs, you spur your Shadowsteed onwards once more.
It's a good thing that they think it's a good idea to approach Cadaeth. Somewhat reassuring to have their vote of confidence.
In the year and a half since your last visit, the ruins of Oldenlitz have receded even more into the soil, and the saplings have grown into... well, you don't have the vocabulary for tree sizes, so whatever comes after saplings, and now most of them have grown slightly taller than you.
Absolutely shameful. You've been dating Panoramia for three years now Mathilde. You should listen to her rants on trees more often.
But unlike your previous visit you are not expected by Vicereine Cadaeth, and it seems you are not awaited either. As the Mischiefs titter to each other over your head you wander through the ruined roads, carefully giving each of the lornalim plenty of space as you do so, and probe your surroundings with your Magesight. If Cadaeth is an Elf then she will have some sort of residence here, and if she is a Dryad she will have a tree that she resides within, and if the lurid tales of Tor Lithanel are correct and she is a little of each, then she will... have a dungeon within which she will lure innocent yet consenting young Elves into for all sorts of wondrous torments. Perhaps there's only so much accurate insight that can be distilled from those tales.
Who says it's just Elves being lured for a good time? Cadaeth didn't seem overly discerning on species.
At any rate, you find neither the treetop residence of the Faniour nor a tree glowing with the large and complicated soul that you know Cadaeth to possess. Instead, you find what you presume to have once been a cottage of Oldenlitz, except instead of being torn down it has been almost completely buried by the undergrowth, and you have to look quite closely to see even a single brick beneath the layers of vines, shrubbery, and leaf litter. With some difficulty you identify part of the solid wall of green that the door is buried under and work your wrist through the foliage to knock upon it, and after a moment a vine covering a nearby window twitches aside for a startled and familiar face to peer out at you, before slamming back into position. You carefully keep from laughing and wait patiently until the Vicereine finally emerges, the foliage sliding away from the door as she steps out dressed in leather and bark. "Lady Magister," she says to you in greeting. "I had no forewarning," she pauses to direct a glare upwards at the Mischiefs, which zoom away with a chorus of tinkling laughs, "of your visit."
I think it's funny and entertaining to see this side of Cadaeth, so I appreciate the Mischief's prank. Always nice to see someone when they don't have time to prepare a mask of confidence. I suppose Mathilde also sees the humor in this. By far one of the most harmless pranks a Mischief could do perhaps.
"I apologize for the abruptness, but none of Tor Lithanel could give me a better way to get in touch with the Council of Frost than to wander into your territory, and the sentries on the western road said that you were the most suitable to take the matter two."
"And what matter would that be," she says, and you allow her to lead you back into the ruins as the door swings closed and is once more wrapped in green.
"The Waystone Project. You were the one that first broached the subject, and though you may have simply been the messenger, I had the impression that you would be interested in the research itself, not just the results." Well, you had a vague idea she might be, but it had just been pretty much confirmed by the road sentries.
Classic Mathilde. Pretending she knows what she's doing based on very little information, making wild guesses, and then acting like she knew things would go according to plan all along when that does happen.
"We will have the contribution of Lord Hatalath, but though his familiarity with the arcane is clear, he may not possess as grounded a perspective as someone like yourself."
"You are correct. I have... some measure of curiosity about the nature of your kind," and you very carefully do not look back at the stolen cottage she had chosen to live within, "and I doubt that even the Grey Lords would know as much about the lornalim as those that tend them."
Something about a guy spending thousands of years stuffed in a pocket dimension tells me that they would lack much of a grounded perpsective on anything.
You take a great deal of mental notes on what she is willing to reveal about the lornalim, glad that your latest recruit to the Project is already proving as useful as she is charming.
It seems that Cadaeth's initial goal as an:
She smiles as she approaches, brushing imaginary dirt off her outfit of leather and scale, with what looks like bark standing in for steel. "I was an envoy seeking to charm
Was successful. A fortuitous success on her Charm roll.
You spend the chilly months of late winter and early spring working with your employees on various subsets of magical academia. With Max, you alternate between lessons in Altdorf and research in Tor Lithanel as you grapple with the bizarre and confusing world of ritual magic. This field serves the purpose of proving that the Colleges of Magic are far from a thorough understanding of the underpinning logic of magic, as the connections between cause and effect are as tenuous and fleeting as dream logic. It makes a certain amount of vague sense that the blood of a judge might be used in a ritual to force an oathbreaker to follow through on their promise, but trying to look deeper into it than that is a sure path to madness. Why blood, specifically? And why does it need to be written on the skin of a stillborn lamb? Despite involving a great deal of research, the creation of a new ritual is more similar to a fever dream or a vision quest than any form of logical undertaking, and involves many months of meditation, experimentation, and trial and error, and the requirements of it accumulate new and often ungainly accoutrements along the way. By the end of the lessons, you reach the conclusion that neither of you have actually been taught how to perform or invent rituals - you have simply been shown how to get started, and have to let instinct and mysticism take you the rest of the way, and been told in exhaustive detail how terribly it can all go wrong. Both you and Max agree that it would probably be for the best if you never need to engage in ritual, but at least now you have the option.
Yeah I had a feeling this would be the result. The chosen example was even the "Inescapable Bindings of Duty" and not "Impossible March of the Damned Soldier", which the Colleges might not want to divulge so freely. The College's mysticism doesn't really give us much to work with here. It's one of the most dangerous fields of magic, and personally I don't find the rewards worth the risk for the grand majority of them.
With Egrimm, you take your first tentative step into the art you're thinking of as 'Windherding' by working together to try to enchant a saddle with a Light and Grey spell simultaneously - Shadowsteed to provide a steed to ride upon, and Clarity to keep the rider's mind free of exhaustion for the duration of the ride. Not the most dramatic of enchantments, but both spells are relatively simple, so it should serve as a testbed and proof of concept.
[Mathilde Windherding: Learning, 6+29=35.]
[Egrimm's contribution: Learning, 92+22=114.]
[Miscast roll: Unnatural Aura. Chance of Arcane Mark. Rolling: Shrouded.]
Damn, garbage roll. I guess Horstmann sort of makes up for it. We also got this Minor Chaos Manifestation:
"Unnatural Aura: Animals within 10 yards (5 squares) of you get spooked and unless controlled with an Animal Training Test, flee the scene."
Not that big of a deal in the long run, and we got one of the better remaining Arcane Marks. We could have gotten an Arcane Mark that makes Mathilde more fragile and physically weaker at the cost of greater agility, which would have sucked. There is another which makes Mathilde untrustworthy, reducing her diplomacy. There is also the infamous "Forgettable", which needs no introduction. It does, however, lower the number of options further, increasing the chance of messing up worse later.
It comes to a head one day as you try to plow through the hesitation and overcompensate, and are barely able to shout a warning that has Egrimm jumping away and grounding his Hysh with a flare of harsh light before the magic tears itself entirely free of your control, some of it exploding into raw magic and the rest burrowing itself deep into your being.
The two of you stand there, hands on weapons and senses alert for any sign of Daemons or other malignancy, and after nothing visibly occurs you exhale shakily. "Nothing," you say. "I'm sorry about that."
"I'm wearing the wrong outfit to be put off by a little miscasting between friends," he says breezily. "And I get it, I really do. I have the voice of my Master in me screaming to ground the magic and get clear too. I suppose I just have a bit more practice in disregarding mine."
It's nice and heartwarming that Horstmann considers Mathilde a friend. On the other hand, this guy can't go a single conversation without mentioning Alric and how much he dislikes him.
"Have I talked about Alric yet? Did you know that he sucks? I hate Alric. I wish that guy would retire. Did you know that Alric once told me to do this exact thing once upon a time? I wanted to tell him to fuck off, but I said "Yes sir". God I hate Alric".
You wrap up work for the day and you take yourself back to your quarters on shaky feet. It takes you some time examining yourself in the mirror to notice the difference, but you felt the Ulgu sinking into your soul and you know that something's changed. Eventually you spot that some of the dark whisps that conceal your form are shadow itself clinging to you tighter than usual, rather than simply shadows cast by the smoke that has been drawn to you for some time already. You've acquired the Arcane Mark known as Shrouded, and descended deeper into the grip of Ulgu.
[Arcane Mark acquired: Shrouded. Shadows you are in grow deeper and cling more tightly to you. +2 Intrigue.]
You return to work, and eventually you manage to eke out possibly the worst enchantment you've ever performed, and only because Egrimm had managed to squeeze his own enchantment into the pommel and left almost the entirety of the saddle for your own sloppy work. Still, the fact that there's no leakage between the two and no disruption of either effect proves that there's merit to what you're attempting, you're confident that if you manage to contribute at least basic competence to a future enchantment you'd be capable of even better things.
This is very sad. I feel bad for Mathilde. First time Windherding and she was the weak link. Not very good for her ego, especially when she was shown up by the just recently promoted Lord Magister who happens to be her subordinate.
What will you do with the Nightrider Saddle?
[ ] [SADDLE] Give it to the EIC
[ ] [SADDLE] Give it to the Hochlander
[ ] [SADDLE] Donate it to Ulrikadrin
[ ] [SADDLE] Donate it to the Undumgi
[ ] [SADDLE] Donate it to the Colleges
Hochlander? I wouldn't want to give this subpar piece of work to Horstmann, not that he's an option. Maybe he's fully kitted out.
With Johann and Egrimm, you sit down to write a paper on your observations of the prosthetic arm. After a few false starts, you and Egrimm take Johann to his quarters to sleep off the concussion he managed to pick up in his latest adventures with Kadoh.
Kadoh and Johann are up to some rough play I see. Johann needs to take more precautions next time. Safety is important.
It's slightly more difficult to write an arm on the prosthetic with the bearer of that prosthetic no longer involved, but you took copious notes and your memories of the investigation are still fresh enough that it doesn't matter too much. You know the paper itself isn't really going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things, as there's only one of these arms and there's unlikely to be any other users of it in the near future, but it's not just utility that makes a paper have an impact, but also novelty. A prosthetic arm of completely unknown origins - no, a prosthetic talon, acquired in hazy circumstances, and stitched onto a bold volunteer? That gets attention.
And perhaps there might be some utility to this paper. Though the arm is unwilling to give up its secrets, being able to state for a fact that it's possible for Hysh to interface with the nerves of the human body could make some people more willing to experiment with achieving that, especially since it's confirmed it can be done without harmful leak-through to a non-Hysh Wizard. The Empire has quite a few amputees, and some of them would be in positions to pay quite well for a functional prosthetic, or would be of sufficient importance that the Empire would pay on their behalf. Perhaps one day this paper could lead to some sort of replication of this phenomenon by the Colleges.
By the time you and Egrimm wrap up the paper, you're feeling a lot happier about having spent the time to write it than you had been at the start. There is no such thing as useless information, you remind yourself, merely information you haven't found the use for yet.
At least this part was more productive. This is particularly nice to expand Mathilde's recent journey into being a sensationalist writer. I'm starting to think people in the Academic sphere who pay attention to her are starting to look forward to her work. Exotic, thorough AND well written/engaging. You couldn't ask for more.
[Mathilde's contribution: Learning, 87+29+10(Fresh)=126.]
[Johann's contribution: Learning, 1+19=20.]
[Egrimm's contribution: Learning, 39+23=62.]
[Observations on a Golden Prosthetic Talon of Unknown Origin, 2488. Subject: Unique, +3. Insight: Revolutionary, +2. Delivery: Compelling, +1. Exotic, +1. Total: +7.]
Alright, so we finally get a good look at rolls from Egrimm. Notice that his learning for the paper was 23.
[Egrimm's contribution: Learning, 92+22=114.]
For enchanting his learning was 22. Chances are Egrimm's base learning is lower than 22 and he has a bonus to Enchanting and to Academia, and his Academia bonus is one point higher than his enchanting. Overall pretty good. Not as good as Mathilde, but Mathilde is stupidly stacked, and I'm sure he has fields in which he most likely surpasses Mathilde in.
On the very few occasions in your life you have gone unnoticed in a crowd, it has been by dint of a carefully-crafted disguise. To be dressed as you usually are and still go unnoticed in the crowd takes a bit of getting used to, as instead of people staying a polite distance as they usually do in Altdorf or Karag Nar, or a wider and more cautious berth as they usually do anywhere else, with the blessing of the Night Prowler coiled around you the crowd flows closely around you like water flows around a rock. It's a deceptively subtle effect, but one with a great deal of utility for those who intend mischief. You spend some time testing the exact extent of the effect and causing a handful of minor disturbances in the street of Altdorf before setting off on your mission.
This is a neat throwback to the fact that the last two areas she used Night Prowler in, it wasn't nearly as civil and pleasant as this. The first was Teufelheim and Alkharad, and the second was the Greenskin infested Karagril. Both were pretty hostile environments where she couldn't really experiment. Nice to test the limits of the Coin in a safe space at least.
You arrive at the docks of Taalagad with your supernatural unnoticeability enhanced with a carefully bland disguise of a moderately well-off clerk by way of a ferry from Altdorf whose captain has already had all memory of his brief encounter with you snatched from his mind, and from there you make your way into the tunnel through the rim of the Taalbaston crater that leads into Talabheim proper with the help of a counterfeit letter of passage.
Nothing quite like Mathilde casually strutting her stuff and showing off her "stealth" skills. With the amount of cheats she has, I doubt there was even a roll for this.
According to legend, Taal once encountered and subsequently fought a particularly large and ill-tempered Dragon, with the Dragon's lashing tail carving out the Talabec and the fight ending with Taal throwing the Dragon into the air with so much velocity that its return carved out a crater sixty miles wide. The legend goes on to say that the crater went uninhabited until the arrival of Taal's chosen people, the Taleutens. Noticeably absent from this tale is mention of the Dwarven highway that runs right alongside this allegedly undiscovered crater, the Dwarf-carved tunnel through its walls, and the ruins of the Elven trading city of Athel Maraya that you know for a fact Talabheim is built upon. The supernaturally fertile fields within are simply the result of the Dragon's flesh mixed with the soil, and the fragments of supernaturally tough metals occasionally found by farmers are clearly its scales. All credit goes to Taal.
Hey, at least this isn't bad as Ulric. If you can think of a single thing in the world, there's a creation myth about Ulric have done something to cause it to become the way it is now. His followers have a vast insecurity complex that they cover with some of the most outlandish stories out there. Makes the Dragon story look quite tame.
[Examining EIC reports: Learning, 86+29=115.]
You casually collect the latest reports from the EIC's agents in Talabheim from a dead drop in an alley and find a moderately upmarket tavern to read them in. You frown as you do so, something about the latest rumours of the terrible fates suffered by members of the Unfähiger dynasty tickling a memory you can't quite reach, and you frown with frustration at being so far away from the shelves of notes you've accumulated over the years. But long meditation and several surprisingly decent local ales eventually uncover why this seems so familiar - the chain of dynastic death seems to be violent parodies of the apparent 'natural causes' that carried off the Haupt-Anderssens of Stirland in rapid succession, and led to the title being vacant for the Van Hals. That is cause for concern. The conspiracy that is likely to have performed the assassinations of the Haupt-Anderssens included the former Empress, and the current incumbent is posing as a part of that dynasty. That matter coming under scrutiny could cause that whole house of cards to come crumbling down. Hopefully nobody else has made that connection yet - the whole matter was classified rather severely, initially because the final genuine Haupt-Anderssen managed to suck himself into the Warp in a botched Daemonic summoning and later even more so due to the connection to the fate of the Vampiric conspiracy.
Alright, this is dangerous. The way in which Mathilde says "Violent Parody" and the general manner in which Lahmians do things makes me think that the person performing this whole thing is not related to the Lahmians. It's far too stupid of an act to be done by them after having their conspiracy dismantled. So either it's someone who knows Heidi's true identity and wants to expose it, which I find somewhat unlikely because of Ranald's involvement here after he sucked up Mork juice, or the individual in question knows of the Lahmian Conspiracy and wants to highlight them again for retaliatory strikes from the Empire.
There's dozens of options for people who dislike the Lahmians, but I think the most signficant would certainly be the Strigoi. They would fit the "Violent" bit, they hate the Lahmians because Neferata conspired to ruin Ushoran's Kingdom thousands of years ago and the Strigoi still cling to Strygos' legacy and hate Neferata for playing a part in its destruction. The only problem with that is that they're not all that subtle often, and they lack the ability to disguise. I suppose there are workarounds, but we still don't know enough to definitely say either way.
You consider your options carefully as you indulge in another flagon of the best of Hargrinson's Brewery.
I recognise that name. From Page 25 of Terror in Talabheim:
"Hargrinson's Brewery is owned and operated by a Dwarf brewmaster named Bellok Hargrinson. Though Bellok's cantankerous demeanour is well known, he is possibly the finest brewer of ales and beers in Talabheim. His powerful ale, made from locally grown hops and barley mixed with the blessed water of the Crater Lake, is distributed throughout Talabheim at premium prices. Occasionally, Bellok's brew makes its way out of the city-state, where it is snatched up and sold at exorbitant prices to upscale bars and taverns across the Empire.
Bellok attributes his success to a mixture of Dwarf know-how and the quality of the locally grown ingredients used in his ales and beers. Demand for his product constantly outstrips his ability to produce it, but he doesn't seem to mind. His indifference is for good reason, and he is more than happy to set his own prices. This comes as little surprise, especially when one considers that Bellok is among the wealthiest Dwarfs in Talabheim."
[ ] Approach the Unfahigers openly
[ ] Approach the Unfahigers in disguise (specify: as what)
The Unfähigers should be scared enough to take any help they can get at this point.
[ ] Interrogate the Unfahigers
Sneak your way in, interrogate, Mindhole, sneak your way out.
[ ] Approach the Hunter's Council
They have authority over the City Watch, and the rank to know not to gossip about a Lord Magister of the Grey Order. See what they can tell you.
[ ] Approach the local Witch Hunters
The Longshanks of Taal are a lot easier for Wizards to get along with than most Witch Hunters, and would know about strange goings-on in Talabheim.
[ ] Other (write in)
I honestly don't have much desire to approach the Unfahigers in case that reveals us to Alric. The Hunter's Council sounds like a good choice. Aside from the City Watch, the Council is also in charge of the Garrison, the Taalbaston Guard, Taal's Chosen (Elite Taalite sort of-Templars) and the Talabheim Army, which as a City State they are authorised to raise. Aside from the Elector Count of Talabecland and the Krieglitz-Untern family, they hold the greatest power and authority in the city. They can provide a lot of support, as long as we don't meet with corruption in the ranks, which is possible I suppose.
[ ] Approach Alric directly
This is too serious to play politics over. Team up with Alric and bury this matter as efficiently as possible.
[ ] Bring in Regimand
He was both your Master and your partner in dismantling the conspiracy that killed the Haupt-Anderssens, and likely knows more about them than anyone living.
[ ] Bring in Heidi
As a counterfeit Haupt-Anderssen, this is a matter that she would have a great deal of interest in keeping quiet, and she enough influence to open just about every door there is.
I want to bring in Regimand, but considering the situation I think it'd be wise to get Heidi in first. This situation sort of involves her and she has unique insight from the inside of the conspiracy.
