[X] The Order of Light
[X] The Longshanks
[X] The Templars of Sigmar
It won't make a difference at this point, but I've read so many good arguments from all sides that I feel any of these choices would be good ones. So I'm voting for all three now, instead of just one.
All it points to is a magic sword or super strength either of which are frankly probably more likely for Longshanks or Witch Hunters then a light or grey wizard. Matty is of course known to have a magic sword.
This was a running battle at night. In this kind of frantic scrum, the best description most witnesses would have is "person with big sword and dark robes...no, I don't know what actual color they were, didn't I say it was nighttime?", possibly with "and a Witch Hunter hat" at the end. So, yeah, apparently there was a random Witch Hunter in town who went choppy-choppy.
Talabecland Branch of Sigmarite Witch Hunters: "I'm sorry, not one of us was there at the incident that night."
Talabeclander Public: "Oh! Of course! 'Nudge nudge, wink wink, nod nod' kind of stuff, right?"
Talabecland Branch of Sigmarite Witch Hunters: "Er, yes, that's right!"
Talabeclander Public: "Well, keep up the good work!" *leaves*
Talabecland Branch of Sigmarite Witch Hunters: *closes door* "All right, who were they talking about?"
Prediction: he's going to critique a few elements of our assassination (he's the one who taught us how to kill demons from ambush), praise the improvements in our tradecraft, drop a few mysterious comments hinting that he knows that we didn't tell him the full story of what we were up to, and then share any relevant intel he's got for the next stage of our activities before giving us a fond hug and then engaging in a game of Grey Wizard oneupsmanship for "who spots who leaving".
What are the main gods worshipped there and/or the most prevalent Witch Hunter organizations? For some reason I'd have thought that Taal would still be more prevalent than Ulric there. Some vague memory tells me Taal is northeast while Ulric is north-northwest (Sigmar west-southwest, Morr southeast, Manaan on the coast and everyone else without wide primacy).
I don't think that truly devoted champions of single Chaos Gods that have previously sabotaged some major gambit of another Chaos God can become Everchosen. Especially if they made an enemy out of Khorne or Slaanesh specifically. Nurgle I can see being forgiving and Tzeentch actually approves of messing with Tzeentch and then changing allegiance to Tzeentch, but the other two are hate and petty spite incarnate.
@veekie Overall I think your analysis is pretty accurate but if you check what we said to Regimand we never said that we would give Mira the credit. We did imply that we agreed to actively interfere in Alric's plans instead of just promising to look into it.
So given that we don't know if Mira wants to advertise that she is actively interfering with Alric's plans I think the safest option is the Longshanks. They may not be immediately useful to our plans but being friends with Templars that wander around the empire seems like it could be a useful when investigating the state of waystones in the empire, and other scenarios that require scouting lots of terrain. They may even be helpful with investigating the Gryphon Wood.
This is where the Influence starts affecting Mathilde, and she starts at a +6 bonus, greater than the +2 of the Taalites. The inner monologue isn't overly wolfy, but the "focus on your quarry" seems to be the precursor to her thought processes changing. Not only did she howl a Wolf's Cry across the city and start chasing a Magus across Taal's holy city, but she's thinking like a predator chasing her target. Kind of like the beginnings of her thought process being changed by Mork (or was it Gork?).
Yes, though where the bar is set between spirit and God varies from place to place, and in the Empire it's set fairly low. There's a whole bunch of River Gods in the Empire that would be considered spirits elsewhere, which at first glance makes the Empire seem pretty lacking in spirits compared to places like Kislev.
So the Empire is actually a great place for (established) spirits when it comes to getting respect and offerings. Something one wouldn't expect if one just looks at the surface and classic "For Sigmar" cliches.
What i imagine the conflagration of gods helping Mathilde to be like.
As the grey wizard concentrated on staying alert for any signs of mutated individuals a significant portion of the fourfold god of trickery is seated on a lavish couch in the inmaterium, a gauntlet resembling an enormous hand whit a single pointing finger extending upward on his left, tankard of ale on his right and a shirt adorned whit the heraldry of House weaver covering his torso, his concentration firmly placed on a wide window displaying the aforementioned grey wizard on her hunt.
"The hell are you doing in my city Ranald? I don't want none of your nonsense tonight"
"Well, hello to you too my friend, your manners are impeccable as always; as for my being here, I feel one of my champions is going to do something impressive today so I reserved the night off to watch the play, wanna join me?
"Whatever you are planning I swear… wait, that's her, she is the one who started this whole thing!
"Yep, my pride and joy, are you sure you don't want to join me?, I have more ale"
After a second of tough the horned god shrugged and sat on the couch, tankard already at his lips
"there he is, and she saw him as well, now is where the fun begins"
"I have to admit, even if she is cheating whit your help, following her nose is clever, not all would have thought it"
As the grey wizard approaches the Sedan the two gods shift closer to the edge of their seats, and the appearance of branulhune makes the hunter god's eyer bulge.
"No way, that is a fucking runefang, I got two of those recently but… I KNOW HER!, SHE'D ALREADY WORKED WITH MY LADS.
The trickster god laughed with mirth, gestured to his friend to shut up and paid close attention to the swinging sword simultaneously.
Dwarven craft cut through wood like it wasn't there but where it was supposed to bisect the heretic clean in two a foul presence coaxed him away from the blow instead, trading his mutated arm in favor of having her charge live a while longer.
"BULLSHIT!"
Now it was the time for the hunter god to laugh, but he still pay close attention to the action, until the diminutive wizard howled and a third divine ass sat on the couch.
"yoo boys!, what's cracking?!"
The youngest of the gods present mutely passed a tankard to the wolf god, who wore a shirt similar to his own, representing the blessing gifted to the trickster's champion.
Finally, the wizard lost her prey but the longshanks pic it up and shot a volley of arrows, Taal excitedly wave a tiny flag with their heraldry; bystanders armed themselves with knives.
"even your civilians are badass"
"i know right?"
a second flag depicting a beheaded snake joined the first and the wizard prepared a spell
"OH FUCK, HE DODGED!"
"SHE GOT THIS!"
"DARN RIGHT SHE DOES!"
As the mutant charged the gods hold their breath…
*SLASH*
"WOOOOOOOO" the three cheered and howled, limbs moving or flexing with wild abandon as the gods celebrated the mortal's success.
If you mean "how are the Hedgewise treated by the Hedgefolk", quite well. Their existence is fairly important to the continued existence of the Hedgefolk.
No. I mean "How are the Hedgefolk treated by Imperial authorities and Witch Hunters specifically". They aren't illicit magic users, but they belong to a secretive and non-integrational culture known for harboring illicit magic users.
Also, I wasn't even sure if there was a difference between the two terms. I thought that maybe Hedgewise were a magic mystery cult of interconnected hermits with access to the Hedge that make their living by helping Empire peasants and such. Now that I know that they are (also?) leaders of their own insular and not necessarily magical culture I notice that I actually know next to nothing about said Hedgefolk culture. Where do they live? What is their life like compared to other peasants and woodsmen of the Empire that worship minor deities? How separated are they from mainstream Imperial culture? Do the non-magical ones still interact with the Hedge proper?
The implication of him having all 4 Sacred Numbers as his potential blessing allowing him to survive the sneak attack is that Regimand's intel suggesting that he was dedicated to Chaos Undivided was accurate
And given the alarming amount of attention and power he was receiving on a moments notice, Alberich may well have outright been an Everchosen candidate
Any of the 4 could have intervened to save him, it just happened to be Slaanesh by chance
I'm talking more about the fluff part than the crunch part. Slaanesh's first buff was supernatural reflexes and speed, allowing the actual evasion to happen and making running away the logical choice. Khorne might have also given reflexes and/or a way to parry, but he wouldn't have encouraged running away and trying to get lost in the crowd. But hiw would Tzeentch or Nurgle have dealt with the opening sword blow?
We don't even know if the mutations were Slaaneshi, they was speculated to be, but we didn't experience any attack on our willpower in the form of Soporific Musk nor did we see Alberich hypnotize anyone with his eye
They weren't necessarily Slaaneshi. They were all from Slaanesh's d100 shortlist, but they can also be found in the larger d1000 random mutation list. So I was curious if the dice, crazy as they are, just happened to always fall on a Slaanesh style mutation despite being rolled on the larger list, just because a QM deliberately screwing with player expectations isn't enough and clearly Ranald wants to screw with players and QM both.
As for how the other 3 would have intervened
Nurgle is easy, he'd have gifted Alberich with unnatural resilience and constitution, such that Alberich would be able to potentially just ignore having his guts split all over the floor, uncaring of the damage to his body
Khorne could have gifted Alberich the toughness and strength to mitigate the damage, or maybe preternatural combat reflexes to avoid it, or maybe the sheer willpower and berserk savagery to keep going
Tzeentch is hard to say, he could have gifted Alberich all kinds of magical defences, or bizarre mutations
Thing is the mutation ramped up. And while super evasion seems possible, Khorne or Nurgle making Alberich's flesh instantly durable enough to survive Branulhune without evasion sounds kind of crazy even for Chaos Gods. Also I am curious what a Tzeentch blessed Alberich would have done instead of/while running away.
I'm pretty sure that this roll wasn't low enough for Dad to bungle anything beyond being unable to catch up with Alberich, but I still want to know if he got there in time to see Mathilde's awesome execution. If we're not going to take official credit I at least want those headpats.
You are also very aware that you had more company than that of Ranald on this night's work, and you don't mean your colleagues among the Longshanks. Perhaps you should not have given a wolf's howl with sword in hand while pursuing a Slaaneshi Magus through the streets of a holy city. That is an uncomfortable density of resonances, and you feel uncomfortably watched from multiple angles right now.
How often does Mathilde act in worship or show sincere reverence towards the other gods of the Empire? I know that she is a Ranaldite (who have a complicated view on other religions) and a Wizard (who are supposed to lean secular-ish), but she is also an Stirlander and a faithful citizen of the Empire. We haven't seen her do any non-Ranaldite professions or rituals of faith other than warding off Manhavok and avoiding water, but we also don't see her close the windows when Morrslieb waxes, participate in various holy day feasts or use the bathroom, so I don't know how much of it is just off screen.
I ask because if the lack of on screen reverence is actually indicative of Mathilde's constant behavior and being neglectful of other gods is her default, then I'd like to have her show thanks and appreciation towards Ulric and Taal for once, even if "slaying a Chaos Cultist is thanks enough" as you say.
A sleep deprived thought:
We should take a class on religion so Mathilde can deliberately attract the attention of gods, rather than just letting it happen at random.
Prediction: he's going to critique a few elements of our assassination (he's the one who taught us how to kill demons from ambush), praise the improvements in our tradecraft, drop a few mysterious comments hinting that he knows that we didn't tell him the full story of what we were up to, and then share any relevant intel he's got for the next stage of our activities before giving us a fond hug and then engaging in a game of Grey Wizard oneupsmanship for "who spots who leaving".
Regimand might also begrudgingly acknowledge that at times there is something to be said for stealthily sneaking up and whacking things with our behemoth of a sword.
"Fair enough. I want you to help me hone my skills at assassination."
He frowns. "The entire process?"
"No, just the moment of. I'm going to be venturing into the Chaos Wastes, and I don't want to have fair fights against whatever I end up facing there."
"Good policy. You planning on whacking whatever you encounter with that behemoth of a sword?"
"Only if I have to. It's not exactly quiet." You concentrate for a moment and summon a dagger of solid Ulgu into your hands. "Mostly I'd be using this."
Extremely important question. Do ya think Mathilde look better in a Single/Double Breasted Suit or in a Waistcoat? Relevant to something I'm working on.
What are the main gods worshipped there and/or the most prevalent Witch Hunter organizations? For some reason I'd have thought that Taal would still be more prevalent than Ulric there. Some vague memory tells me Taal is northeast while Ulric is north-northwest (Sigmar west-southwest, Morr southeast, Manaan on the coast and everyone else without wide primacy).
Tome of Salvation (p79) lists Morr, Sigmar, Taal and Rhya, and Ulric as the most popular. Morr makes sense because of Mordheim and its border with Sylvania, Sigmar for its independence from being Talabecland's Eastern March and unity in the face of the enemy, Taal and Rhya from its woodlands and Talabecland influence, and Ulric because they're a northern border province.
Tome of Salvation (p79) lists Morr, Sigmar, Taal and Rhya, and Ulric as the most popular. Morr makes sense because of Mordheim and its border with Sylvania, Sigmar for its independence from being Talabecland's Eastern March and unity in the face of the enemy, Taal and Rhya from its woodlands and Talabecland influence, and Ulric because they're a northern border province.
One would suppose that Dazh holds a not-insignificant amount of sway there as well, given that Ostermark borders Kislev and has historically had a sizable Ungol minority in its populace. Not being mentioned with the rest can be put down to Dazh only ever coming up in Realm of the Ice Queen.
We also may or may not have butterflied Grimgor Ironhide becoming Gork's (or possibly Mork) champion because of us interrupting that ritual. Depriving the world of the "Once and Future Git" does remove one of Order's greatest champions for the coming storm.
Woah that's sad and new to me. Thanks for sharing. By the way, are Hedgewise and Hedgefolk the same thing or are Hedgefolk the non-magical lay version of this secretive underground culture. If it's the latter, how are they treated?
I'm not sure if you read my previous post on this, but I made a huge, relatively comprehensive post about the Hedgefolk a while ago. I recommend you check it out. I don't believe that I posted every single detail, but I think I put down the most relevant details:
I'm reading through Shades of Empire, and the section of Hedgefolk is extremely interesting and possibly quite relevant so I'm going to do an overview/summary of them. It's gonna be a long one, but even if you don't want to read all of it, I implore you to at least read the spoiler in the end containing the Hedgecraft Spell List. It's very interesting stuff.
Alright, getting into it. First off, the Hedgefolk are an ancient group of magic practitioners that have existed for "as long as humans wandered the Reik Basin", and they seem to be geographically locked around the region. There are dozens of splinters and distinct cultural differences between many of the Hedgefolk, but they follow a lot of the same generalities that is mostly modified by the history of the area they're in and who they worship. And that's something important.
The Hedgefolk don't seem to be secular. The defining factor of the Hedgefolk is that they all practice "Hedgecraft", a series of rituals, rites and practices handed down from Master to Apprentice over the years to harness the "Hedge". The Hedge is defined as the conceptual border between wilderness and civilisation in folklore, but the Hedgefolk take this even further and define it as the border between the material and spirit realms. However, while all the Hedgefolk may practice Hedgecraft, only the "Blessed Few" can actually manifest magical abilities.
The Blessed Few are aethyrically attuned individuals that are viewed as being blessed by the gods and capable of channeling their power to access the Hedge through the rituals of Hedgecraft. Except their magic is distinctly not Divine, and it is not an Arcane or Dark Lore either. Their magic is classified in Shades of Empire as a "Witch Lore", just like the Ungol Hags and Ice Witches of Kislev. It is also stated that a person with a Witch Lore can only learn one Witch Lore, and may never learn a Divine, Arcane, Dark or another Witch lore. I'm not sure this extends to DL, as Kurtis Krammovitch seems able to use Hedge and Grey Magic.
In terms of their structure, the Hedgefolk are typically village folk who live in rural areas and small communities, tending to live at the edge of these communities to bring themselves closer to the border/boundaries, pushing them closer to the hedge. They are generally known as "Cunning Folk" or "Wise Ones" and typically consulted for all manner of potions, talismans, charms, cures and all sorts of stuff, and act as the town's apothecary and "magic consultant". Hedgefolk tend to have insular communities centered around their extended family and tuned in to the local community due to intermarriage and consistent contact.
Hedgefolk have a hierarchy. It goes with the Apprentices at the bottom, Hedge Masters/Mistresses above them, and then the Hedgwise at the top within a local community. A Hedgewise rules based on tradition and respect, as the Hedgefolk respect traditions and most end up apprenticed to the Hedgewise or a Hedgemaster that turns into a Hedgewise. A Hedgewise is determined by a council of Hedgemasters when the Hedgewise dies, and it's typically the oldest and wisest of them. The apprenticeship traditions of the Hedgewise can vary wildly between master to master and province to province, but the general commonality is that if you're one of the Blessed Few you're guaranteed to be apprenticed and turned into a master or Hedgewise. Many of these Blessed Few end up being taught their traditions by masters who don't have magical abilities, due to lack of Blessed Few these days.
In terms of their history, it's mostly a tragic one. The Hedgefolk were respected and accepted by most communities for a very long time, but with the passage of time and the establishment of the major cults, the Cults of Sigmar, Taal and Ulric took issue to these witches and during the Time of Three Emperors pursued and persecuted them. Specifically the Cults of Sigmar in Reikland and the Cult of Ulric in Middenland, the Cult of Taal was busy with its own things.
After a long period of persecution, the Great War against Chaos happens and the Colleges form. In DL, many of the Hedgefolk left to join the colleges, but many also stayed. They didn't view the seers, druids, elementalists, alchemists and the like that were joining the Colleges to be anything like them, they weren't Hedgefolk or Blessed Few, so they shunned the Colleges.
It was a mistake, because they ended up being hunted too. For extermination by Witch Hunters, and recruitment by the Colleges. And while the Colleges would be happy to accept Hedgefolk, the response to them refusing the invitation usually isn't to let them go.
The Hedgefolk try to not attract the attention of the authorities and they hate Chaos and other untrained practitioners of magic like Witches, Warlocks and Necromancers. They will hunt them down as they attract attention that they do not want to come to their heads. Hedgefolk will often be protected from Witch Hunter attention by locals who have good relations with them, and the Hedgefolk escape to areas they call Hedgeholes to hide out. Hedgefolk don't practice secret signs and codes after a disastrous massacre in the Veldt in Ostermark followed by burnings across Reikland in 2231 IC at the hands of Sigmarite infiltrators who found out their codes. Now they generally keep to themselves and have people watching out for the urban centers to keep unwanted attention away. Most Hedgefolk are concentrated around the forests.
It is of the utmost importance that Hedgefolk pass on their knowledge so that it doesn't die out, so every Hedge Master is required to have at least one apprentice. More traditional provinces like Nordland and Middenland make this a religious imperative.
Hedgefolk have many splinters based on their province, so I'll list them one by one. The commonalities between them seems to be that all of them are dedicated to one god or another, typically Ranald or Haletha I believe, but they're not restricted to that as some worship Verena. The only province that hasn't had any Hedgefolk mentioned is Stirland.
Ostland: Reside in the Forest of Shadows, worship their protector goddess Haletha. Fairly insular but has good relations with Ungol Hag Witches from Kislev, which results in them sheltering Hag Witches during a crackdown and the Hag Witches doing the same to the Hedgefolk. The Hag Witches dislike male mages because they believe they fall to the Ruinous Powers easier and will not assist male Hedgefolk. Thankfully for the Ostlanders, they believe the same, so this isn't much of an issue. They are currently dying out as a result of an encounter with a Necromancer in DL and their subsequent refusal to accept help from the other Hedgefolk.
Ostermark: Known as "Wise Ones", which is described in the book as those who believe that they were granted the knowledge of the Hedge by Verena. Have the same deal with Hag Witches that Ostlanders have as well as female dominance of the trade for the same reasons. As mentioned above, they were infiltrated by Sigmarites so they're probably quite cautious.
Nordland: Reside in the Forest of Shadows and worship Haletha, they watch over the forest. Some hardliners from the province ritually brand/scar their apprentices as initiation.
Averland: Believe themselves to be descended from "Brigundian Priest-Kings". Brigundians are the Averland pre-Imperial tribe, well known for their horses and chariots. The phrase Priest King and the chariots remind me of a particular civilisation down south that has at one point or another conquered all the way to the south of the Empire, Nehekhara, so it's possible that their traditions descend from them if my theory is correct.
Wissenland: Known as "Wise Ones" and worship Verena. They only take apprentices from outside their extended family, eager to expand Hedgefolk acceptance among as much of the local family groups as possible for their safety.
Middenland: Known as Cunning Folk and worship Ranald. Tricky and dislike the Ulricans in their province due to long term prosecution by the Ulricans due to the enmity between Ulricans and Ranaldites.
Talabecland: They were not pursued as significantly as their Reiklander and Middenlander cousins since the Cult of Taal was not as… passionate about cutting them down. Still a tense relationship though. The Talabeclander Hedgefolk only take apprentices from within their extended family.
Reikland: Known as Cunning Folk, so likely worship Ranald. They were pursued and significantly persecuted by Sigmarites, including a range of burnings that resulted in them being very careful. They mostly train their apprentices straight after their Dooming.
Hochland: Not much is known about them aside from them requiring long oaths of obedience from their apprentices.
Now we get into the meat of things: Hedge Magic.
Hedge Magic is sort of unique. It's a Witch Lore that is heavily based around material components, generally with a ritualistic significance. Stuff like a cup of blood drawn when Morrisleb is full, a rod polished on Sonnstill or other equally ridiculous thing. If they do not have this material ingredient, then they roll extra casting die equal to the bonus the ingredient gives them (1 dice if it gives +1, 2 dice if it gives +2 etc). This dice does not count towards casting, but counts towards Tzeentch's Curse (miscasting). Basically, narratively Hedge Wizards without ingredients are really risking it, and some of these ingredients aren't that easy to get.
While most Hedgefolk can produce the charms and potions and stuff that the tradition allows, only the Blessed can cast these spells. The Blessed are capable of binding familiars, and their spells are largely focused on the Hedge, the conceptual border between physical and material. This generally means they have a lot of ward spells, as well as spells to interact with spiritual/ethereal stuff. Hedge Magic is split into three "lists" for balance reasons, but narratively it could be justified as different focuses.
The first list is Cunning Folk/Wise One. This is the most well known one, focused on warding and protection spells against Daemons, spirits and even other Witches(and to be clear, I'm talking Witches, not Wizards, necromancer, priests or Chaos Sorcerers). The second list is called "Craftsmen", focusing on charms and talismans. The last is a relatively unknown art, "Hedge Walking" focused on walking through the Hedge, these individuals are "masters of the spirit world".
The spell list is under the spoiler:
Relatively Simple:
Invigorate: The Adrenaline Spell. Using a live snail, the user fools the body into feeling fresh and alert, giving a boost to movement, agility and intelligence to represent boosted reflexes. After one minute, the spell ends and the user needs to tough it out or suffer a caffeine crash as their body rebels against the effort it was forced to endure.
Purify: Using a reed filled with fresh toad spit, the user can purify any non magical contaminants within a target receptacle, including poisons and pollution from a liquid, rendering it drinkable.
Dagger of the Art: Using a thorn cut when Mannisleb is new, you craft a wooden dagger. The weapon is magical and deals significant additional damage to spirits and "Chaos Tainted Creatures". The Dagger lasts for roughly a minute, but you can struggle to make it last a bit longer.
Part the Branches: Using the ash of a hawthorn branch that has been burnt at noon, you can see into the "Spirit World". What this means is largely up to the GM (the literal words of the book), but at minimum it allows one to see Daemons, spirits, as well as invisible and ethereal creatures. This spell lasts for 1 hour per "Magic Level" (max 4 hours, although Hedgewise cap out at Magic 3 so more like 3 hours).
Moderately Complicated:
Protection Pouch: Using a small leather pouch made from the flesh of a bat, the user creates a few small purple herbs. Whoever holds all of these herbs have a bonus to resisting magic, poison and disease for as long as it lasts. The herbs last for 1 week per magic level.
The Ousting: Using a spherical stone buried for a month within a fresh stream, you can banish one spirit or Daemon 6 yards to its place of origin. The creature may be able to resist, but if it works then they're banished for 1d10 years per Magic level (max 30 years).
Haletha's Joy: Using a rod of poplar polished with beeswax on Sonnstill, the user can bless a couple. Assuming the partners are fertile, conception is guaranteed. Lasts for 1 day per magic level or until it is used up.
Sightstep: Using the wings of a dragonfly that has been killed with a silver pin, the user obscures themself with the Hedge. Individuals with the "magical sense" skill get nothing from one who has cast sightstep. Daemons, Spirits and ethereal creatures find it much harder to detect whoever has cast the spell.
Nepenthe: Using a fingernail from the individual the target wishes to forget, the user can create magic smokey liquid to fill a small cup. If a willing individual drinks from this cup, they will forget one individual (that they want to forget) and everything involved with that individual. The spell is permanent.
Silvertide: Using a lodestone dipped in honey, the user attracts wealth. They can get money from the ground, more money than expected from deep pockets, from nooks and crannies, behind people's ears and so on. This spell lasts for 6 hours. However, if the user fails in casting the spell, they immediately suffer a miscast. If they miscast while failing to cast the spell, the miscast is worse as it compounds on it.
Wyrd Ward: Using a hair from the warded witch, the caster touches an opposing Witch and they become cursed for one hour per magic level. Every time the Witch attempts to cast a spell, they must resist a near irresistible compulsion to stop casting, or else their spell is wasted. This only works on Witches.
Fiendishly Complex:
Nostrum: Using a toe or finger from the target, the caster produces a greenish liquid from their fingertip. When the target drinks from it, they will be immediately cured of one disease.
Myrkride: Using the freshly boiled heart of a mouse, the user steps into the hedge, the border between the spirit and material worlds. The caster becomes ethereal for 10 seconds per magic level, and can extend it with some effort. While ethereal, the user is insubstantial, weightless and completely silent. The user can pass through solid objects and may not be affected by non magical means, and has the ability to directly interact with Daemons, spirits and other ethereal creatures.
Fellstave: Using a cup of blood drawn when Morrslieb was full, the user may enchant an area so that any creatures of a specific race that are within a hundred yards are endlessly compelled to move away from it within its duration. The race specification lump in all Daemons together, and strangely enough lumps in Skaven along with Beastmen. The caster must learn a different variation of the spell for each individual race they want to exclude. The spell lasts for 1 month per magic level.
Lovelock: Using a lock of hair from the target, the user creates a love potion. If the target drinks it, they fall in love with the first person they see of their race and of the "sex they find attractive" (this is the wording of the book, I'm of a mind to use gender myself). The exact extremes of "in love" are determined by the GM (book's wording). Spell lasts until midnight.
Hedgewalk: Using a bone that has been buried beneath a hedgerow for 1 month, the user sends their spirit into the Hedge. The body is considered helpless while the soul can wander. The soul is still limited by physical boundaries, but is completely invisible and silent to anyone in the physical realm. Spirits, ethereal creatures and Daemons are visible and may be interacted with. The soul cannot interact with things in the physical realm. The spell lasts for one hour per magic level, but can end prematurely by touching the physical body with the spirit.
As you may guess, the Grey Order takes an interest in an order of magic users that dwell in boundaries, are appropriately secretive and well connected, and uncorrupted by Chaos, as the Hedgefolk are so often pure of taint despite practicing extensive magic use. This is why the Grey Order seeks out the Hedgefolk for recruitment, which has resulted in the whole deal with Kurtis Krammovitch.
Which is another thing I want to mention. Lord Magister Kurtis Krammovitch is a canonical character, but if you're expecting the book to portray him like Boney has, then it is not the case. The broad strokes of Kurtis being an Ostermarker Hedgecrafter who saw his parents burnt by a Bright Magister, became one of the Blessed Few and infiltrated the Grey Order is all the same. But in the book his "double agent" status is supposed to be a secret that he's trying to keep from the authorities. The congenial relationship he shares with Algard in DL and the whole multiple flips between loyalties are all things unique to DL, in canon he takes dozens of apprentices and trains them in Hedgefolk tradition while maintaining them in the Grey Order.
A notable thing is Kurtis taking in and training the Reiklander Hedgemaster Markus Fischer around 2502 IC. I note him because he's a Grey Lord Magister in canon who carries a sword and seems to be very competent and skilled. It's unfortunate he's on the verge of insanity due to sheer stress from his continued loyalty to the Hedgefolk and his position in the order putting him at odds. He's definitely not a thing yet in DL, but I imagine Boney would do him differently.
Fun fact, that story about Verena tricking Ulgu and picking up the sword of Tlanxla to fight at a great Pyramid which apparently inspires the Grey Order's symbol of the sword? The story was told by Markus Fischer in canon, who apparently is really chummy with elves. He has Arcane Language (Arcane Elf +10%), indicating he somehow charmed Anoqeyan out of elves.
Vote looks to be one sided and unless we get some new information I do not see it changing. Now how can we use being friends with a witch hunter faction to help Mathilde in her goals. I thought about trading dawi leather armor but it was point out that Tallintes usually make their own armor. But I think we can use them to help find and cultivate rare herbs and other things for potions and other things. Or maybe we can get a team of them together to help patrol the forest of the empires.
How often does Mathilde act in worship or show sincere reverence towards the other gods of the Empire? I know that she is a Ranaldite (who have a complicated view on other religions) and a Wizard (who are supposed to lean secular-ish), but she is also an Stirlander and a faithful citizen of the Empire. We haven't seen her do any non-Ranaldite professions or rituals of faith other than warding off Manhavok and avoiding water, but we also don't see her close the windows when Morrslieb waxes, participate in various holy day feasts or use the bathroom, so I don't know how much of it is just off screen.
Not sure about any of the others, but I think that she is less concerned with Morrslieb than most given that she is at all times warded to the best standard Kragg the Grim could manage. As long as she does not look into the thing I thin she could sleep under the open sky on Hexennight and not worry about it... well not worry about the moonlight, other things might pester her.
We saw Grimgor in canon having the brutality but lacking the cunning. I don't even want to imagine the brutality of Grimgor combined with the cunning of Skarsnik in one person. That sounds terrifying.
We saw Grimgor in canon having the brutality but lacking the cunning. I don't even want to imagine the brutality of Grimgor combined with the cunning of Skarsnik in one person. That sounds terrifying.
