pucflek
Verified simpleton
- Location
- Czech Republic
You can say that as many times as you want but her rejection of our weeding plans says different
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Earth
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
- Location
- Russia
[X] [MONEY] Zhufbar
[X] [SHEETS] No
[X] [ARMARIUM] Council of Manhorak
[X] [SCROLLS] You
[X] [FLESH] You
[X] [RING] Take
[X] [SHEETS] No
[X] [ARMARIUM] Council of Manhorak
[X] [SCROLLS] You
[X] [FLESH] You
[X] [RING] Take
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
Yep; barring something funky happening I'd expect the primary hazards to be dhar contamination, curses and spells, and the temptation to use the knowledge. Of those, Mathilde's well equipped to handle the first thanks to her belt, has some of the best magesight around and her belt will eat at least one spell, and is guided by a playerbase that- while not precisely sane- does generally avoid trying touching the evil magic.
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[X] [MONEY] Zhufbar
They did most of the heavy lifting on this trip its only fair they be compensated
[X] [SHEETS] Yes
Its a collectors item, maybe not entirely "mint condition", but still: Think of the bragging rights
[X] [ARMARIUM] You
[X] [SCROLLS] You
[X] [FLESH] You
[X] [RING] Take
It seems silly to hand over knowledge to people who either already have copies of their own or are just gonna destroy it.
They did most of the heavy lifting on this trip its only fair they be compensated
[X] [SHEETS] Yes
Its a collectors item, maybe not entirely "mint condition", but still: Think of the bragging rights
[X] [ARMARIUM] You
[X] [SCROLLS] You
[X] [FLESH] You
[X] [RING] Take
It seems silly to hand over knowledge to people who either already have copies of their own or are just gonna destroy it.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I think it's fitting that Johann is being taken care of by miners considering his preoccupation with the teachings of Grungni's Pick.
This Strigoi was pretty smart. Yeah there is a disadvantage to hiding in Castle Drakenhof, but he cleverly hid his hunting location.
Although apparently he didn't hone his Magesight enough to be able to see the Magic Alarm. I suppose that's a pretty difficult thing when you're just returning from a routine hunt to your own headquarters and I don't think the Alarm would be particularly noticable. There's also the fact that Strigoi aren't often amazing spellcasters. They're one of the more physical bloodlines.
It takes a long time to wear such heavy armor, and Ironbreaker armor is probably worse because of the heavy gromril. I can't imagine it's super comfortable, but Dwarves are tough and Ironbreakers are tougher.
I would argue that Curse of the Midnight Winds and Melkoth's both make a Vampire more susceptible to damage, but I suppose Mathilde is thinking in terms of Vampire weaknesses. Something like Hysh's magic.
For those who don't know, Urannon's Thunderbolt is the standard lightning BM that deals a lot of single target damage. Chain Lightning is the same power, but it moves from one enemy to another to another dealing AoE damage. Chain is significantly more difficult. Also a neat clarification on Urannon's interaction, but I can't help but think in game terms. A model and its mount are always treated as a single model, so of course the Thunderbolt hits both targets. Then I remembered that before End Times, Monstrous Mounts had a separate profile to their riders, which made things more complicated than they had to be.
Anyways, Urannon's follows the concept of "if it's close enough I'll zap it". Good to know. I suppose that might also confirm that Urannon's knocked Johann out.
Curse of the Midnight Wind is a hex spell. It forces the enemy to reroll 6s on the tabletop. I'm not sure if Boney resolved it as the enemy is forced to reroll their dice or as a flat negative modifier.
I haven't seen anybody comment on this so maybe everyone already knows, but yes Vampires can be vulnerable to Gromril. And Ithilmar, as presented later on. There's also garlic, Daemonsroot, Witchbane, Silver, specific types of wood etc. If you want to hunt Vampires, you need to have a utility belt as big as Batman's.
I think I can provide some additional substance. Dark Moor, which Abbot Ionel is from, is a Swamp that serves partially as the headwaters of the River Templa, which flows into the River Stir. Concurrently, the River Drak is also a river flowing from the World's Edge to join the River Stir. I suspect there is some sort of connection between these rivers and the divine powers that the Council of Manhorak draw from.
I'm not entirely sure who's answering Thori here. Is it Ionel? He's the last one that responded to Thori and there is no line stating which one is explaining the timings.
I note that the Dwarves don't refer to her as "Thane" here, but as "Lady Magister". I suppose the demonstration of an Arcane Mark influences their subconcious view, since what they're looking at is Mathilde's magic side, not her military one. They're also pretty nervous and worried, which I think is cute. They're grizzled veterans who've risked their lives countless times and all of them are older than Mathilde, yet they still don't know exactly how to approach this situation.
At least they nod in understanding rather than grumble about Zhufokri nonsense. Mathilde's reputation and time spent with the Dwarves has its benefits.
I don't know why this particular part makes me chuckle so much. I find it so goddamn funny, mostly because of the "Vlad with Regimand's beard" thing. It perfectly captures the weirdness of dreams while sending across a symbolic message. Boney's clarified the circumstances behind the dreams' conception, and I find it a very interesting thought to compare the militarisation of magic with the dull monotone of Dhar.
I don't blame Magnus for making the Colleges a military institution first. He needed to legitimise his choice and that was the greatest method to do so. Still, I think there is something to be said of the Colleges being a flawed system that could improve. And it's not like people aren't doing it. Dragomas has significantly improved the lives of Battle Wizards after all.
Ah, I got carried away.
Ironbreakers are extraordinarily stealthy for a bunch of Dwarves in extremely heavy gromril armor. They'd have to be if they want to survive long term against the hordes of ratmen and goblins in the tunnels. Not even their stout shieldwalls can handle constant battle.
Ambushes may not be the most honorable tactic, something that Dwarves don't like, but Ironbreakers would probably understand the necessity of it as much as Rangers do. Such is the cost of living in a world where almost everyone outnumbers you.
Fully grown Terrorgheists are the size of Dragons, so that is to be expected. They don't really give a damn about the square cube law, and I imagine the blood they feed on from the Strigoi they're bound to doesn't help things.
It's funny how this opening shot was the Terrorgheist's effective death. The instant it was hit it just went down. If it had Regeneration, the fire certainly wouldn't help. I'm happy we're getting to use the Dragonflask as of late. It really makes up for Mathilde's lack of direct ranged firepower.
I assume the Terrorgheist is debuffed from being heavily injured, because juvenile or not it has to have a stat bonus greater than 10. I suppose the confined space is also not helping, and neither is any surprise modifier, although I assume it would have faed by now.
Also, I would like to note the oddity here of Mathilde casting MMM here despite just using the Dragonflask. If I remember correctly it kills her voice for a little while, preventing vocalisation. I would think that would make it difficult to cast, especially since she rolled a nat 14.
This prayer certainly reminds me of the Manaan prayer "Drowned Man's Face":
"You chant your prayer at someone within range. His lungs immediately fill with salt water, making it impossible for him to speak, and other actions far more difficult."
Of course, with swamp water instead of saltwater, and it seems to have filled the Strigoi's stomach rather than lung, which might be more useful considering the Strigoi likely doesn't need to breath. I also suspect that Boney collated Ionel's first 91 with his 1 here, giving him the excellent cast while also downing him. Maybe that's part of how the Strigoi's attack didn't deeply wound him.
Pure brute strength isn't going to pierce Gromril. If he focused his power on shoving them around and destabilising them instead of stabbing them then maybe he would have been winning, but Strigoi are feral at the best of times so I doubt he was thinking very clearly. He's probably used to just being stab people to death.
I suppose we can add another person to the "partial parry" list, although this is probably one of the clumsier ones. Not that he would have any ways of knowing the sword is that strong. I suppose he got lucky in attempting to catch the sword instead of block.
Thattagirl! Tarni finally gets her moment, and what a moment it is. Mathilde gets in the kill confirm like the killstealer she is. Payback for Horstmann's killsteal I guess.
I assume it's some sort of healing salve, but probably swampy/mossy in nature. He got pretty lucky with the shallow cuts.
I'm happy he got something out of this trip. Everyone got their moment in the spotlight, even if that meant their moment got them subsequently knocked ass over tea kettle. It's easy to say that the dice craft a narrative, but it's up to Boney to connect the dots and make every moment meaningful and learn where best to apply and resolve die rolls.
I'm honestly surprised Tarni has Ithilmar tipped bolts. Gromril makes sense, but the only source of Ithilmar are the Asur, and aside from the trade during the Golden Age and possible looting/plundering during the War of Vengeance, they shouldn't have any source of it. I suppose Dwarves repurpose what little Ithilmar they have for things like bolts for Gazulite Witch Hunters.
When it comes to Ithilmar weakness, the Night's Dark Masters table says that both Gromril and Ithilmar are a 5% chance on a D100. Equally rare weaknesses. It's probably harder to come across Ithilmar in the Old World than Gromril though. Asur don't come around that often.
In regards to the Strigoi, his name is present in the Character Sheet as Druthor, and yep he's an End Times character. I remember him during my read-along of the End Times. I also remember something funny about him. Let me try to find it:
"Elsewhere in the cavern, the newly arrived throng from Karak Azul had quickly dispatched the undead before them when something foul rose to answer the challenge of King Kazador's horn blasts. Druthor, the Strigoi King, sought to snuff out the dwarfs' burgeoning hope. The twisted vampire stabbed his dewclaws into the rotted flanks of his terrorgheist, urging the beast upwards. With a few flaps of its great bat-like wings, it soared into the cavern's heights before Druthor steered the creature into a hurtling descent towards the dwarf king and his banner.
King Kazador saw the oncoming monstrosity and was not afraid. He sounded his horn one last time before hefting up the great Hammer of Karak Azul. Forged from the finest gromril, this weapon had been borne by his royal predecessors since the time of Grungni. Its runes glowed in the darksome underground, for it was made for battles such as this. Standing proudly beside the king was his nephew Kazril, a beardling thane who carried the banner of Karak Azul. Around these two were the Blackhammers, burly dwarfs who formed the king's bodyguard.
Its blackness like some nightmarish thundercloud, the terrorgheist swooped low, shrieking as it came. King Kazador swung a windmill hammerblow, timing its hefty delivery perfectly so that it landed full force upon the screeching maw of the attacking undead creature. Broken fangs and fragments of skull were battered a great distance, and with that single blow the vast terrorgheist crumpled, the fell power animating its long dead carcass shattered. From out of the ruin of bone and bent wings stepped Druthor, his claws fully extended. Before the ancient horror could unleash his feral savagery, he was beaten down and broken by the Blackhammers. Druthor had intended to quell the hope of the dwarfs, but his spectacular destruction accomplished the very opposite: the cavern rang to the hearty cheers and rude oaths of the dwarfs."
I remember now. That was a hilarious part of the book. Seems Druthor can never escape the beatdown no matter what timeline he's in.
Mathilde's inner musings are always a good way to add color to the update and worldbuilding, and it suits her character's contemplative/inquisitive nature.
This was an exceptionally fortunate outing. Not a single permanent casualty, whether it be death or permanent injury. This might not be the preferred methods of the Dwarves, but it is certainly effective. Also, Thori saying let's get to looting is funny when taking this previous line by Mathilde into account:
Dwarves definitely don't loot.
Just ask Viggo Hexensohn- oh wait, we can't. Probably because he died to a trap inside a catacomb or something.
Wise of Mathilde to refrain from Substance. I do find it funny that she considered Warpstone and then asked for explosives to blow up the hinges. I suppose if she and the miners are far enough away then it's not an issue, aside from destroying the room. Maybe the blasts are very controlled. I don't really know how precise the Dwarve's ballistic callibration is.
I assume the Prophecies of Nospheratus and the whole Pale Prince thing is from Vampire Slayer, which I'm not super familiar with. The Scrolls of Zandri and the story behind them though, that is the centrepiece for an entire 2nd Edition WFRP Adventure Book appropriately titled the Thousand Thrones. I've never fully made my way through that book, but the wiki has a summary of a few things here. If I consider it worth my time I might delve deeper into it.
Mathilde getting really excited there. I almost suspect this is getting her worked up more than seeing Vlad and Isabella's room.
Human skin. How original. Let me guess, the ink on the pages of the book is actually blood? Necromancers need to get new materials.
One wonders why the Tomb Kings haven't come to collect on these scrolls. I suppose their connection to W'Soran probably irritates the Tomb Kings enough for them to part with it. They usually aren't the type to live and let live. Partly because they aren't exactly alive.
What can I say that hasn't already been said on Nyklaus? I'll just say that it would be a hilariously funny jebait if Boney made Nyklaus just some dude instead of Nyklaus von Carstein, but I wouldn't be surprised if Boney did something like that. Let's not forget that Horstmann is literally part of our research group, whereas in canon he betrayed the Colleges before the quest even started. Boney is fully aware of metagaming and isn't above messing with us. It could be a guy who would have been Nyklaus von Carstein in another timeline, but because of some background rolls Boney decided he never ended up as a Vampire.
Or maybe he really is a Vampire and he rolled the perfect collection of Vampire abilities to avoid the scrutiny of a paranoid vampire hunting Van Hal and the Witch Hunters of Sigmar and likely that of Morr. Unlikely, but possible, even if it's not plausible.
Gaelen is a High Elf. Read more about them here. Some of the information there comes from 4th Edition, so keep your eye on the citations there.
I can't find anything on the Creeping Flesh from cursory searching aside from there being a movie from 1973 with the same name.
If there is some sort of "Rep Meter" that exists for the types of books we have in our library, we could schmooze so many groups with these books at the cost of reputation hits with the Morrites.
What a wonderful callback and parallel of Mathilde's first steps in this quest, and a demonstration of her growth and change as a character through the ages. Bravo
I assume the preceding ransacker must have been Mannfred. He always was unimaginitive. Just imagine Mannfred using Vlad and Isabella's "bedroom accoutrement" as a final "gotcha" against his predecessors, just to rub salt in the wound and show his superiority.
I mean, c'mon! He's the character who says "Nagash was weak! Let me show you true power!".
It's interesting to me that Mathilde mentions the "rumor" that Mannfred was the one responsible for the Ring's theft, but doesn't mention Felix Mann, the "greatest thief of an age", who was employed by the Grand Theogonist to steal the Ring. Mannfred logically intervened to help Felix, but I would have expected a Ranaldite to mention Felix as well. Ah, I checked and there's this complicating factor:
"In the immediate aftermath, Felix Mann, wanting to claim his reward, discovered that with no physical proof of the deal he had with the Grand Theogonist, nobody would believe he had committed a theft on behalf of a holy man. Wronged and angered, Felix stole one of Vlad's Books of Nagash. However, while fleeing from the Sigmarites, he became conscious that someone was following him from the shadows. When Felix was finally cornered by the stranger in a back alley he tried to buy him off with the dead Count's signet ring.
The stranger, who was in fact Manfred von Carstein, severed both wrists of the thief, took the ring and the book and left Felix for dead."
I suppose Mathilde wouldn't have heard of him. Or if she did, then she would know he stole a Book of Nagash.
That sounds like Mannfred alright.
Yeah, the Ring was made by Nagash:
"Legend has it the Carstein Ring was created by Nagash himself as a gift for Vashanesh. Through the ring, Nagash was able to control the Vampires and make them his warrior-slaves. To free the Vampires from this control, Vashanesh killed himself, knowing that the ring would eventually return him to un-life and that, without the Vampires, Nagash would fall." Page 123 Night's Dark Masters
It's really tempting to take a look at Vlad's notes on one of Nagash's handcrafted creations.
They've been dead for about 400 years. I'm sure any fluids they produced, what little their corpse bodies produce, should have dried long ago. I'm sure it's fine.
There's also something to be said about having sex with your girlfriend on Vlad and Isabella's sheets. I'm not sure what that something is, but it's there.
The Liber Mortis was not trapped. I would not place any bets that the Liber Necris is also not trapped. Mannfred's the type of guy to trap his book to high heaven, and I doubt we want to take our hand at handling that alone, which we will have to if we want to read it in secret.
We have two Strigoi skulls now, and a Varghulf one too. Our collection is expanding. I think the only bloodline we don't have any on are the Lahmians. And there is the lesser known ones like the Jade Blooded and Mahtmesi, but those aren't local.
Mathilde's grown used to riches by this point. She's barely even keeping track of the vow of poverty at this point, with all the loopholes given to her.
I say use it to tide the Morrites over, particularly if we want to start having books that might miff them around our library.
I'd try to work on reading them first. W'Soran provides a different perspective to Frederick's Vlad assisted insights.
I'm tempted to keep it as an attractive factor to our library, but that might ruffle some feathers.
This is two layers separated from Nagash's direct work, so I'm fine at taking a look-see. The Ring is probably impossible to recreate without dabbling into some seriously forbidden magic, but that doesn't mean we can't get some insights on magic from it. Nagash was a genius when it came to magic.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] [MONEY] Zhufbar
[X] [SHEETS] Yes
[X] [ARMARIUM] You
[X] [SCROLLS] You
[X] [FLESH] You
[X] [RING] Take
[X] [SHEETS] Yes
[X] [ARMARIUM] You
[X] [SCROLLS] You
[X] [FLESH] You
[X] [RING] Take
- Location
- A Pit Of My Own Making
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm currently reading Nagash: The Undying King, and the "Drak" are a human tribe that live in the north of Shyish. Interesting connection
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
We ensure the vampire sheets are properly scrubbed before handing them over.
- Location
- Germany
Unusual way to say this I think?
Doesn't leaving someone "for dead" imply that they might not be dead?
Or is that just something a non-native speaker like me is getting wrong?
- Location
- Who knows?
[X] [MONEY] Council of Manhorak
[X] [SHEETS] No
[X] [ARMARIUM] You
[X] [SCROLLS] You
[X] [FLESH] You
[X] [RING] Take
Might be tempted to give Zhufbar the money and Manhorak the Armarium, but I do think the money would make a bigger impact for the small, just founded Sylvanian religious order vs military force from a Dwarfhold. I admit to liking SWAP DUDE more and more now, turning blood into bogwater is kinda gross, but also super cool. And yay Johann is good! YOU STILL DID WELL GOLDEN ABS MAN.
[X] [SHEETS] No
[X] [ARMARIUM] You
[X] [SCROLLS] You
[X] [FLESH] You
[X] [RING] Take
Might be tempted to give Zhufbar the money and Manhorak the Armarium, but I do think the money would make a bigger impact for the small, just founded Sylvanian religious order vs military force from a Dwarfhold. I admit to liking SWAP DUDE more and more now, turning blood into bogwater is kinda gross, but also super cool. And yay Johann is good! YOU STILL DID WELL GOLDEN ABS MAN.
So. You're focusing on whats in the cabinet. I want to know who else has seen this in addition to Mathy. Update implies Mannfred which is fun.
Point of order, Verenians are pretty decentrailized/infighty so giving it away might only lead to a specific group of book nerds being happy while others feel slighted. I think going "we have this cool centerpiece, all interested parties hit me up" is more likely to be generally neutral and not step on any interfactional toes.
Don't wanna vote police, but if you want to give stuff to Manhorak's council this collection of votes doesn't actually seem to actually give them anything?
- Pronouns
- She/Her
- Location
- A Pit Of My Own Making
- Pronouns
- He/Him
No, that's right. He might have survived, Vlad just didn't care enough to kill him properly
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It does mean that they're not dead yet but that they will probably die in the future.
- Location
- Germany
So it would take some very unlikely events for the thief to have survived?
Okay Ranald, I think this one learned his lesson.
