Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[Jyn Ryvia]

Runesmith/WEB-Mat Project ideas. (for the future)

because despite people claiming that the 'Work with Divine' College branch was better than my idea of an enchantment guild (I'm not salty, your salty!) not a lot of people are trying ideas that doest just involve wizards, so I'm going to do their work for them!

Banner of Courage and Dread (Rune of Courage/ Dread Aspect or Shadow of Death for easer level)
'A Banner that inspires allies as powerfully as it spread fear in enemies'

The Door of Sword and Scythe (Rune of Gazul? whatever it is that gunner can do/Death's Release)
'A door that protects the dead from the living and the living from the dead, good for gardens of morr and tombs'

Hammer of the Swift Storm (Rune of Speed/ Lightning Bolt)
'A hammer that makes the wielder as fast as lightning and hits with a burst of... well...'

Axe of Grudges against the Dark (Rune of Grudge/Radiant Weapon)
'A weapon for slaying the true enemy'

so @Boney what do you think as ideas to test? and don't worry, I'm not going to do any more tonight.

 

[TaliesinSkye]

The 'won't need to poke around' is where things start to fall apart in regard to grey wizards. Trust or no trust if there's a juicy secret available they generally will want to at least take a crack at solving it.

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If he does solve it, the drinking problem he gets as a result will be his own fault.

 

[Ericwinter]

That makes a great exit, but if you want him to help you have to twinkle back out of the mist again at some point and it'd be awkward.

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Though if we were going to be awkward with anyone… we'll, it would probably be Panoramia, but Regimand is a close second.

Anyway, even outside our godson, just saying family and friends in general would probably get his attention and is a fair point. As people have pointed out, Roswita is also a possible future target, and that means another important person who Mathilde is known to be close with. An Elector Countess, the Empress, the Prince… wow, Mathilde is really well connected for someone who spends very little time in the Empire.

 

[zxzx24]

We do have a habit of poking our nose into places, and then getting sucked in.

 

[duskrider42]

[X] The Truth
'the Empress you had assassinated was replaced by a woman who had previously pretended to be a member of the conspiracy you assassinated the Empress for being a part of, who was able to pull off the deception partly using Ranaldian magic which I personally gathered by being possessed by Mork and then funnelling that power to Ranald, and now I seek to bury this matter for the safety of my godson, the heir apparent'.

 

[kingreaper]

Hmmm, potential serious write-in:

[ ] Other (It started as a favour to Myra, she just asked me to find out what Alric was up to, but now I've found out it feels like unfinished business from Stirland - and I owe it to my old friends to make sure the business is finished properly.)

thoughts?

It's not untrue, and it will make Regimand less likely to dig for ulterior motives while still being a perfectly reasonable thing for him to help with if he has any insight.

 

[TaliesinSkye]

[ ] The Truth
'the Empress you had assassinated was replaced by a woman who had previously pretended to be a member of the conspiracy you assassinated the Empress for being a part of, who was able to pull off the deception partly using Ranaldian magic which I personally gathered by being possessed by Mork and then funnelling that power to Ranald, and now I seek to bury this matter for the safety of my godson, the heir apparent'.

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I guess there is something to be said for the truth being so outlandish no one would believe him anyway. XD

 

[zxzx24]

[ ] The Truth
'the Empress you had assassinated was replaced by a woman who had previously pretended to be a member of the conspiracy you assassinated the Empress for being a part of, who was able to pull off the deception partly using Ranaldian magic which I personally gathered by being possessed by Mork and then funnelling that power to Ranald, and now I seek to bury this matter for the safety of my godson, the heir apparent'.

Click to shrink...

While I appreciate boldness and honesty. I imagine Regimand would greatly appreciate not getting more tangled in our schemes than he has to.

 

[Boney]

Runesmith/WEB-Mat Project ideas. (for the future)

because despite people claiming that the 'Work with Divine' College branch was better than my idea of an enchantment guild (I'm not salty, your salty!) not a lot of people are trying ideas that doest just involve wizards, so I'm going to do their work for them!

Banner of Courage and Dread (Rune of Courage/ Dread Aspect or Shadow of Death or easer level)
'A Banner that inspires allies as powerfully as it spread fear in enemies'

The Door of Sword and Scythe (Rune of Gazul? whatever it is that gunner can do/Death's Release)
'A door that protects the dead from the living and the living from the dead, good for gardens of morr and tombs'

Hammer of the Swift Storm (Rune of Speed/ Lightning Bolt)
'A hammer that makes the wielder as lightning and hits with a burst of... well...'

Axe of Grudges against the Dark (Rune of Grudge/Radiant Weapon)
'A weapon for slaying the true enemy'

so @Boney what do you think as ideas to test? and don't worry, I'm not going to do any more tonight.

Click to shrink...

I think this is jumping the gun a bit, Step 1 would be a foundational test that would establish what enchantment plus rune might even look like, while Step 0 would be finding a Runesmith that would be willing to go maximum kickflip like this in the first place.

 

[Ericwinter]

…You know, I am painfully reminded of the fact that SV questers, a breed usually famed for their sheer desire for honesty and loyalty, somehow managed to choose the most deceptive and sneaky character design ever. And then somehow managed to play both of those sides to the hilt for years on end.

And Mathilde isn't even the only one! I've seen several of these!

 

[Swantree]

I also think that people are valuing honesty too much.

Regimand doesn't want, deserve, nor need to be told the truth. He thinks this is removed from him personally. He won't get into danger, he doesn't mind Mathilde keeping secrets other than for curiosity.

Mathilde doesn't harbor guilt for having kept this for Regimand, she won't feel proud of herself for telling the truth either.

Neither Mathilde nor Regimand abide to the virtue of honesty really.

 

[Jyn Ryvia]

I think this is jumping the gun a bit, Step 1 would be a foundational test that would establish what enchantment plus rune might even look like, while Step 0 would be finding a Runesmith that would be willing to go maximum kickflip like this in the first place.

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technically, Kragg already did do something this kickfliply with the tower.

though statting so in that way would lead to a hammer in the face.

 

[Boney]

technically, Kragg already did do something this kickfliply with the tower.

though statting so in that way would lead to a hammer in the face.

Click to shrink...

To protect a retaken Karak, at the request of a King, with the involvement of a High Priest, while being Kragg. Finding someone willing to experiment without any of those four justifications would be tricky.

 

[Jyn Ryvia]

I'm going to bed, but if nothing changes much I'll be voting for [ ] Favour to the Empress when im back

a) because its true enough to satisfy.
b) a lot of people were going to pull her in next turn anyways.

 

[ReImagined]

Regimand almost certainly has to know about Mathilde being a Ranaldite, right?
[ ] Favour to Ranald
You've worked with Ranald to achieve great things, enough to know when He wants something and why listening to that feeling might be a good idea. Meeting in four days is the least of the signs you've gotten about this mess.

 

[Nerdasaurus Rex]

Also just realized two things chaos sorcerer Haupt-Anderssen is probably one of the ones who is part of the Everchosen bracket, the next logical target for his vengeance would be Roswita who actually took over the province.

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I actually predicted Haupt-AndersonAnderssen would be an Everchosen candidate at the time, but apparently like an idiot I didn't actually post that theory to the thread so I can't pull it up as evidence and you're just going to have to trust me that I've suspected something like this will happen all along.

 

[MossPiglet]

[ ] Favour to Mira
Time to stop playing politics and team up with Alric. If this is actually a chaos plot , and one big enough for him to retain his position after all his historical and recent blunders even though we are here to downplay his involvement in the aftermath if necessary, Mira can't really complain that we did our best to help. I don't value Heidi enough to play silly buggers with a chaos plot to keep her secret in this case, we will probably gain some goodwill from Alric if we start cooperating with him right now , and might even prevent him from finding out anything by pointing his investigation away from inconvenient paths. Regimand will probably have great advice on how to navigate the political situation with the Light College, and gave us a big hint on what we are dealing with, pretty satisfied with choosing him. And I agree with him on the best way to proceed.

 

[Glau]

So, here's what I think:

Believable, sharable motives:
- we are concerned that Roswita is going to be the follow-up target, and she slighted Alric already.
- it's political. We got buy-in from Mira on our waystone project with the elves and dwarves, and we are concerned Alric coming home in glory would kick the supports out from under that. Especially since we kinda knifed him as a favor to Egrimm.
- we are friends with the empress, and she's under threat with something imitating the deaths of her family so closely.

Believable but dubiously sharable:
- our secret godson is the heir to the throne, we are protecting him.
- we are doing this to knife Alric, because our somehow-protege now partner LM Egrimm really doesn't like him and we picked his side.

Believable but not sharable:
- we are doing this to protect our friend the empress from the truth that she isn't a Haupt-Anderson.
- we are doing this so our dedicated-to-Ranald godson becomes emperor some day.

 

[Garlak]

"Someone knows more than they should, and is bringing attention to where it shouldn't be."

He considers that for a while. "No," he rebuts simply.

"No?"

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Yeah, I didn't think so myself either. My own theory was "Chaos stuff maybe? Either knocking down an Empire noble family because that's damaging to the Empire and is good for Chaos on its own... or maybe somebody is trying to take out the 'linked ruling family' of each province; and thereby ritually undermine or screw over the Empire that way. i.e. Wipe out all the families of each Elector Count in a province. Either as a magic thing, or a this-is-just-obviously-damaging-to-the-Empire thing."

After all, just above that, we have this:

He examines the chart you'd made, his face growing blank. Eight dead Haupt-Anderssens, five dead Unfähigers. "Even the time between the deaths lines up," he observes, "just with months instead of years. Which gives us two months until the next murder."

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Eight. An auspicious number for Chaos or Khorne.

Might just be me seeing patterns where there aren't any, but. Let's be careful not to let 3 more Unfahigers die, huh?

Juuuust in case all 8 Unfahigers dying results in maybe-the-last-Haupt-Anderssen-Elector-Count ascending to Daemon Prince or something. Or maybe just summoning a Daemon.

EDIT:

For reference, [ ] Favour to Mira is definitely not the truth. The truth is 'the Empress you had assassinated was replaced by a woman who had previously pretended to be a member of the conspiracy you assassinated the Empress for being a part of, who was able to pull off the deception partly using Ranaldian magic which I personally gathered by being possessed by Mork and then funnelling that power to Ranald, and now I seek to bury this matter for the safety of my godson, the heir apparent'.

You can write that in if you want.

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Wait, I thought the truth was the Waystone-favor-for-Mira thing, and the Empress connection was just Mathilde and the thread's paranoia about Alric and/or this business acting up?

Like, Mathilde got involved here because Mira asked her to, right? I mean, she also started worrying about the Empress connection, but that's Grey Wizard paranoia (which may or may not be right).

 

[Boney]

Wait, I thought the truth was the Waystone-favor-for-Mira thing, and the Empress connection was just Mathilde and the thread's paranoia about Alric and/or this business acting up?

Like, Mathilde got involved here because Mira asked her to, right? I mean, she also started worrying about the Empress connection, but that's Grey Wizard paranoia (which may or may not be right).

Click to shrink...

That's why Mathilde came here, but it's not her only current reason for being concerned about matters now. Calling in Regimand wouldn't have been an option if this was just for Mira and there was no connection to the conspiracy. And if 'Favour for Mira' was the truth, then the natural response now would be 'thanks for coming, good luck in Bek' now that Regimand has laid out why he thinks this isn't a danger to them.

 

[primemountain]

@Boney As a Grey Lady Magister, is Mat allowed to invoke this thing and does it mean what I think ti means(There's nothing to see and don't go looking, and if you do happen to figure it out, don't tell anyone) :

The final quarter of your study is entirely between you and your Master: the postmortem of the organization that you helped your Master to take apart. You sit together by a fire, waiting for him to begin.

And waiting.

You clear your throat.

"My student," he says, apparently apropos of nothing, "tell me what you know of the highest level of secrecy ratings."

The sudden swerve in topic comes as a surprise, but you're used to thinking on your feet."Not much," you say. "It's when something is considered so secret that you're not even allowed to reveal that-" you pause, realising, and then continue the sentence "-that there is anything to be classified."

"Correct," he says. The fire crackles as your Master stares into it, perhaps weighing how much could be communicated versus the danger in doing so. Then, he sighs. "Your progress is satisfactory. Return to your studies."

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So the write in would be something like:
[X] "In part, I am doing this as a favor to Lady Magister Mira for the Light Order's contribution to the Waystone project. There's also some personal curiosity on my part, from Egrimm's tales. I could use the help, but I understand if you find yourself more useful elsewhere. " Give him a bittersweet smile. "Reginald. My teacher." you say, apropos of nothing, recalling his words from last time an Empress hung in the balance, "tell me what you know of the highest level of secrecy ratings." Becasue there's another reason for the Four to be doing all this. One where Alaric is a potentical problem, not help.

IE: Give him the cover story, further excuses if someone digs in to refer to us and our propensity for inter-colegiate cooperation and taking care of our people/ducklings, and actual hint/tell him it's so secret we can't tell him, and he shouldn't look. That should inflame his curiosity but also put a leash on it. He might still figure it out, but hopefully he won't go digging in the direction we don't want him to. Risks him going to the Grey Patriarch to report Mat invoking it, but I don't think the Grey College works that way. Or him figuring it out, though I'm not sure what happens then and how he ranks his loyalties.

 

[Deathbybunnies]

To protect a retaken Karak, at the request of a King, with the involvement of a High Priest, while being Kragg. Finding someone willing to experiment without any of those four justifications would be tricky.

Click to shrink...

Ah, so we just need to ask Kragg specifically!

 

[Boney]

@Boney As a Grey Lady Magister, is Mat allowed to invoke this thing and does it mean what I think ti means(There's nothing to see and don't go looking):

So the write in would be something like:
[X] "In part, I am doing this as a favor to Lady Magister Mira for the Light Order's contribution to the Waystone project. There's also some personal curiosity on my part, from Egrimm's tales. I could use the help, but I understand if you find yourself more useful elsewhere. " Give him a bittersweet smile. "Reginald. My teacher." you say, apropos of nothing, recalling his words from last time an Empress hung in the balance, "tell me what you know of the highest level of secrecy ratings."

IE: Give him the cover story, further excuses if someone digs in to refer to us and our propensity for inter-colegiate cooperation and taking care of our people/ducklings, and actual hint/tell him it's so secret we can't tell him, and he shouldn't look. That should inflame his curiosity but also put a leash on it. He might still figure it out, but hopefully he won't go digging in the direction we don't want him to. Risks him going to the Grey Patriarch to report Mat invoking it, but I don't think the Grey College works that way. Or him figuring it out, though I'm not sure what happens then and how her ranks his loyalties.

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You could, but invoking it to protect Heidi instead of to protect the Empire would be a complete betrayal of Mathilde's vows to the Grey Order.

 

[ReImagined]

Wait, I thought the truth was the Waystone-favor-for-Mira thing, and the Empress connection was just Mathilde and the thread's paranoia about Alric and/or this business acting up?

Like, Mathilde got involved here because Mira asked her to, right? I mean, she also started worrying about the Empress connection, but that's Grey Wizard paranoia (which may or may not be right).

Click to shrink...

Doing this investigation as a favor for Mira is true, but it's not the truth. Strictly speaking, we could drop the matter entirely now and go back to her with a report that it's probably a Chaos Plot, since we only agreed to investigate, and it'd be up to Mira to do anything more actionable. After all, anti-Chaos is the Lights' specialty, and Mathilde didn't agree to take direct action herself. Mathilde's more invested personally because of Heidi and Ranald shenanigans and the old Stirland connections.

Edit: Weber'd.

 

[Garlak]

It will be amusing if it turns out to be the case that one of Mathilde's most effective ways to spike Alric ambition might be to...

... genuinely be annoyingly cheerfully helpful and stop the Chaos (or possibly Vampire) plot.

So that we could take half -- or more if we did more of the work -- the credit for doing so. Thus denying Alric the big boost of credit and fame, because we'll have done a lot of the work.