Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Voting is open
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to Stirland
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to the Undumgi

I am against the idea of using the saddle for EIC's sake since it's a joint creation (unless she actually pays Egrimm for it and he agrees). And as for the proof of concept - it's a shoddy work. Better do something else and present an item without a miscast in the process of its creation.

[X] Approach the local Witch Hunters

We wear the hat.

[X] Bring in Heidi

Or at the very least inform her.

[X] Bring in Regimand

I'm just far too interested in the option to not vote for it.

That might be contributing, but it's hard to say for sure.

This calls for Science! to be done.
 
Gaining an Arcane Mark, and without even rolling a nat 1, makes me really damn reluctant to do Windherding again. The list of not-awful Arcane Marks grows even shorter.

Next time we do Windherding, I hope we use The Gambler on it. It's very clearly not a safe line of experimentation, and we've underestimated the consequences of failure here.
[Egrimm's contribution: Learning, 92+22=114.]
[Egrimm's contribution: Learning, 39+23=62.]
I think Egrimm might have gained +1 Learning this update from critting the windherder enchantment. Especially since the saddle only really works because Egrimm managed to do the hard part of compressing the enchantment to only the pommel.
 
Egrimm is drawing a salary as an employee of WEB-MAT, he's already been paid for it.

Ah, I see. Adding those options then.

[X] [SADDLE] Give it to the EIC
[X] [SADDLE] Give it to the Hochlander
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to Stirland
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to the Undumgi

[X] Approach the local Witch Hunters
[X] Bring in Heidi
[X] Bring in Regimand

For the record, what sort of budget does WEB-MAT have? The scale, if not the number?
 
Last edited:
Gaining an Arcane Mark, and without even rolling a nat 1, makes me really damn reluctant to do Windherding again. The list of not-awful Arcane Marks grows even shorter.
I can't pull the citations now, but IIRC we tend to miscast on any single-digit spellcasting rolls. It's just that we generally don't have to roll to cast spells, except when we're enchanting (Windherder or not).

In related news, gaining our fourth Arcane Mark (of ten) made me think the phrase "forty percent Ulgu" and I spent the rest of the walk to and from the coffeeshop trying to come up with alternate lyrics to "Remember the Name" that would actually scan. Alas, Polyhymnia did not see fit to bless my efforts.

[X] [SADDLE] Give it to the Hochlander
I have made no secret of my desire to put the random bits and bobs we make for practice to work as opportunities to develop side characters.
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to Stirland
Approval vote because I like Roswita and Stirland.

[X] Approach the local Witch Hunters
On the subject of the Hochlander, the connections he's made with Witch Hunters should prove useful if we want to go this route.
[X] Bring in Regimand
Alternately, Regimand is the perfect external consultant to bring in, and any agenda of his should be compatible with our own.
 
Last edited:
Is this how it works? I thought just the low dice rolls were what do it, so even a +20 wouldn't affect whether Mathilde gets a mark or not.
I can't pull the citations now, but IIRC we tend to miscast on any single-digit spellcasting rolls. It's just that we generally don't have to roll to cast spells, except when we're enchanting (Windherder or not).
We miscast when we've failed the hidden DC for casting the spell. The boost from The Gambler is sometimes able to prevent a miscast, or help Mathilde succeed at a miscast-handling roll. Though she didn't get any chance to handle the miscast this time...

Normally Mathilde doesn't roll for casting her spells, (exceptions like being really tired after gaining the coin and stuff mean she does start rolling for basic spells) but IIRC she's always rolled when making enchantments.
 
Gaining an Arcane Mark, and without even rolling a nat 1, makes me really damn reluctant to do Windherding again. The list of not-awful Arcane Marks grows even shorter.

Next time we do Windherding, I hope we use The Gambler on it. It's very clearly not a safe line of experimentation, and we've underestimated the consequences of failure here.


I think Egrimm might have gained +1 Learning this update from critting the windherder enchantment. Especially since the saddle only really works because Egrimm managed to do the hard part of compressing the enchantment to only the pommel.
In-universe there's probably an indefinite amount of effects an Arcane Mark can have. So it may not be technically guaranteed that we'll get a negative one, but if we pull from a smaller list of Marks that the College has seen frequently enough to be codified. Then yeah we'll probably hit a pretty bad one eventually, but at the same time I believe Boney has made a unique mark for Math's Master with the smoke beard. So it's not implausible to keep getting good ones, just very unlikely to happen consistently forevermore.
 
To those curious, we currently have Flicker, Mantle of Mist, Unnatural Shadow and Shrouded Arcane Marks. The remaining Arcane Marks, at least until Boney starts throwing custom made ones at us, are the following:

  • Trickster: You cloak yourself in deception and misdirection, making you untrustworthy to others.
  • Aspect of Ulgu: Your frame lightens and tightens whilst your hair colour changes to grey.
  • Forgettable: People can't seem to remember your face.
  • Disturbing Eyes: Your eyes become grey and swirl with unnatural darkness.
  • Insubstantial: Your body becomes slightly insubstantial.
  • Mark of Ulgu: The rune of Ulgu appears somewhere on your body.
Aspect of Ulgu is the only remaining Arcane Mark with a purely cosmetic effect. Forgettable can be overcome with a successful Intelligence Test, but the Test has to be done every time someone looks at Mathilde, so it would be very rough. Mark of Ulgu is excellent, but 1/6 chance. Insubstantial gives a boost to Stealth, but it inflicts a penalty to Toughness and that would suck severely. Trickster is just a bad one to get hit with, it affects diplomacy, which Mathilde needs for her current project. Disturbing Eyes makes you look more intimidating, and I'm pretty sure Reiner Starke and Algard both have it as their "Stormy Grey Eyes" were mentioned at one point or another.
 
[X] Bring in Heidi

Want to bring in Heidi. Also I think we should keep in mind that there is a risk of bringing in Regimand, namely the chance that he could find out about Heidi's con which could cause issues.
 
[X] [SADDLE] Give it to the EIC
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to Stirland
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to the Colleges

[X] Bring in Heidi
[X] Bring in Regimand
 
Last edited:
[X] [SADDLE] Give it to the EIC
[X] [SADDLE] Give it to the Hochlander
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to Stirland

[X] Bring in Regimand
 
To those curious, we currently have Flicker, Mantle of Mist, Unnatural Shadow and Shrouded Arcane Marks. The remaining Arcane Marks, at least until Boney starts throwing custom made ones at us, are the following:

  • Trickster: You cloak yourself in deception and misdirection, making you untrustworthy to others.
  • Aspect of Ulgu: Your frame lightens and tightens whilst your hair colour changes to grey.
  • Forgettable: People can't seem to remember your face.
  • Disturbing Eyes: Your eyes become grey and swirl with unnatural darkness.
  • Insubstantial: Your body becomes slightly insubstantial.
  • Mark of Ulgu: The rune of Ulgu appears somewhere on your body.
Aspect of Ulgu is the only remaining Arcane Mark with a purely cosmetic effect. Forgettable can be overcome with a successful Intelligence Test, but the Test has to be done every time someone looks at Mathilde, so it would be very rough. Mark of Ulgu is excellent, but 1/6 chance. Insubstantial gives a boost to Stealth, but it inflicts a penalty to Toughness and that would suck severely. Trickster is just a bad one to get hit with, it affects diplomacy, which Mathilde needs for her current project. Disturbing Eyes makes you look more intimidating, and I'm pretty sure Reiner Starke and Algard both have it as their "Stormy Grey Eyes" were mentioned at one point or another.
So 1 good, 2 neutral, 1 which has both positive and negative aspects, with the negative being the greater and 2 pure bad marks. Lets hope for no more low rolls with magic.
 
[X] Bring in Regimand
[X] Approach the local Witch Hunters


[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to the Colleges
[X] [SADDLE] Donate it to Stirland

Colleges to brag about the double enchantment and show their work, or Stirland to play up her legend a bit , now that there's an entire generation that's grown up hearing about a shadow horse riding across the province.
 
Last edited:
The problem with bringing Heidi in is that while she'd no doubt have a lot of sway we very much does not want Alric to get disrupted here and start looking into the Empress instead. The Empress' influence is anything but subtle, regardless of how deftly it's used someone like Alric might notice it. The former Patriarch of the Lights would be a nightmare for our Ranaldian conspiracy if he caught sight of it. Regimand has the same issue. We care about stopping Alric, keeping the Heidi conspiracy secret and stopping whatever is happening here, but Regimand only cares about the last. If we bring him in specifically for his knowledge about the last conspiracy against the Haupt-Anderssens he's likely to start looking into Heidi. We might be able to leverage our personal relationship but I'm not sure we can stop him if he uncovers something he shouldn't.

If either of these two men find anything strange we're in a lot of trouble. Maybe we should take on this one on our own.
 
Voting is open
Back
Top