So I've heard a lot about making a fancy grounding rod but before we do that maybe we should look into our special magic grounding option.
We were going to look into grounding magic into Ranald. Fortunately it's a very simply research action, all we have to do is flub a spell and attempt to use Ranald to ground it out. It should only take a few second to try it out. Clearly it's a good idea right?
Good thing Belegar has a truly impenetrable vault already? Three thousand years of greenskins and Skaven going at it, and they only scuffed the paint.
If you just want a vault, that's even more horrendously wasteful. The most tested, and perfectly successful, vault in the world is Belebro's.
And you are probably seriously underestimating what meters of stone and inches of the best Dwarven steel and engineering money can buy can accomplish. They can most likely make a vault that would only open if you blew up the top of the mountai. Maybe not even then.
Good thing Belegar has a truly impenetrable vault already? Three thousand years of greenskins and Skaven going at it, and they only scuffed the paint.
If you just want a vault, that's even more horrendously wasteful. The most tested, and perfectly successful, vault in the world is Belebro's.
And you are probably seriously underestimating what meters of stone and inches of the best Dwarven steel and engineering money can buy can accomplish. They can most likely make a vault that would only open if you blew up the top of the mountain, maybe. Not even then.
The idea is to build a lab that can ground out miscasts and keep our secret stuff secret and close to hand. Thus spending a lot of favors on making a lab that a Dwarf can look at and go "The stupid Umgi wizard won't blow herself up in here". We have a few volatile and big things that might blow up in spectacular fashion.
Additionally they are the best tool makers in the world when it comes to precision. They can make anything we want for wizarding/enchanting/ritual implements to our specifications and we should leverage that in my mind.
I genuinely think we'll get enough favors to get a really killy weapon and a really swank base, but am generally treating the base as the more important of the two.
We have to activate SoR, otherwise it remains dormant. We can wait for the effect to run it's course and say, rot off our toe before triggering it to heal.
That sounds like a job for the Amethyst Order and they're more then welcome to dig up the shattered remains of Drakenhoff to go dungeon diving if they want.
It does, doesn't it? Sadly we have GM word that Ranald is a jealous god with respect to his gambling domain; Mathilde using any magical effect based on luck or probability control that's not sourced from him will be something he finds offensive. This rules out both the luck rune and a lot of the Lore of Heavens' better spells.
It's a bit premature to start wanting to spend a million favors on tricking out a wizard tower right now.
For a start we don't actually know if the place we initially set up is going to be our permanent choice. Half the point in setting up in Karak Eight Peaks is we can set up in a really fantastic magical locus, it's entirely possible that right now we'll only find a place that's 'good enough' and set it up a bit and sell it later on and grab a better place. We might even turn a profit for the land development and getting in early.
Second is we don't really have any massive projects that demand a super tower. Right now we just need small scale tests to see if stuff like the Snake Juice is useful for anything, we likely won't be scaling up for a while yet so we have time to call up favors for runesmiths/wizards later on when we need it.
Thorgrim's mindset (or rather, the one he has instilled, belief in the Age of Vengeance) is still healthier than the vast majority of dwarfs. His new idea is not that they can make the world right if they are willing to destroy themselves, it's that the fall that many see as inevitable will have some meaning to it.
First thing I want to do once we get back to regular turns, is poke at our soul and figure out what the fuck might be up with it after getting possessed by Mork, and then it being used as a conduit for Ranald to mug the bastard in exchange.
First thing I want to do once we get back to regular turns, is poke at our soul and figure out what the fuck might be up with it after getting possessed by Mork, and then it being used as a conduit for Ranald to mug the bastard in exchange.
Regarding the place for a wizard hideout/lab, i got the feeling it will be smack down in the middle of spiderville.
Which is cool. We might be one of the few who can hunt down those many legged gits in the dark.
Mathilda came out of this adventure with significant power improvement. Spend a turn mastering and knowing herself, praticing the more pratical side on a more beastly enemy.
He was certain we weren't still possessed by Mork or some other nasty horror. That doesn't mean that combo of divine encounters didn't leave their own marks for good or ill.
Regarding the place for a wizard hideout/lab, i got the feeling it will be smack down in the middle of spiderville.
Which is cool. We might be one of the few who can hunt down those many legged gits in the dark.
Mathilda came out of this adventure with significant power improvement. Spend a turn mastering and knowing herself, praticing the more pratical side on a more beastly enemy.
That is a terrible idea on every level. A research lab is when you go to perform complex and delicate arcane experiments in peace. Those do not benefit from eight-legged horrors scratching at the door.
[*] There's a lot of prime real estate currently unclaimed. Stake out a prime position for a wizard's tower.
[*] Travel to Karaz-a-Karak with King Belegar for the striking out of several well-aged grudges.
[*] You could help the Undumgi and the Ulricans establish themselves.
The sheer power of concentrated Runecraft in the hands of Clan Angrund, the spectacular display of the Anvil of Doom, the induced inversion of a Waaagh field. All sights unknown, as far as you are aware, to the Colleges of Magic. It feels wrong to let this opportunity slip away, and yet in such a pivotal moment in history there are more opportunities than any one person can grab, so the best you can do is have your flock of Journeymanlings jot down their observations so that they will still be available when you have time to fully translate them into something more suited to academia. With Esbern and Seija looking like they would soon depart, it could be that there would never be an opportunity to get this many perspectives on foreign magic.
With that task finished, you travel with the three Knightly Orders and the mass of now-united Ulricans as they march out the East Gate, up Death Pass and through the Underway to the once-pristine valley that was soon to be colonized, the Demigryph Knights having agreed to help the Winter Wolves range out from what is to be their new home to ensure a lack of immediate threats and carefully gauge the inevitable less immediate threats. You decide to lend your own horse to this task. Thunder Mountain lies nearby, the mighty volcano that the Anvils of Doom were once forged in, and the possibility of Dragon Ogres atop it concerns you greatly. The only thing that keeps the terrible beasts in check is their reliance on revitalizing lightning, and if the constant storm of ash and volcanic gases serves to bypass this weakness, the colony might be doomed before it even begins.
As it turns out, the cure may be worse than the disease. Your careful scouting reveals to you many Dragon Ogres living at the rim of the volcano, but each is sickly and listless. Their inhuman constitutions may allow them to survive the horrific environment, but they certainly aren't thriving, and it seems the volcanic lightning lacks at least some of what makes the power of storms so revitalizing to them. Though they remain quite capable of picking off individual greenskins to feed upon, you fancy the chances of the Winter Wolves against this enemy, and are able to turn away from them with a clean conscience.
Turning your attention west, you range across quite a lot of empty land. According to conventional maps this is the Border Princes, but it is the southernmost part of it, sandwiched between Iron Rock and the Badlands. Those foolhardy enough to settle between the Howling River and the Blood River discover even poorer soil and drier weather than the rest of the region, and soon come to the attention of the Ironclaw Orcs. It doesn't take long to realize why most of the inhabitants of the Border Princes remain north of the Black Gulf. With the Blood River to act as a barrier and land that seems better worth the effort, you think that the Ulricans will have much better chances.
You return to the valley, where already trees have begun to fall as the Ulricans turn their axes to timber instead of greenskin. The Barak Varr traders delivering supplies to Karak Eight Peaks have been talking to the Ulricans, and before you leave the valley the first Dwarf Monitor has docked at what's being called Ulrikadrin, accepting silver and disgorging tools and supplies. For now, the Winter Wolves will be living in tents, and as soon as the tools are put to use they'll be living in wooden bunkhouses, but as soon as the Knights make up their mind on some of the details, the residents of Karak Eight Peaks will be travelling here to carve paths and a suitable Chapter House into one of the peaks overlooking the valley.
---
Back at Karak Eight Peaks, Karag Nar is the site of no small amount of grumbling and you wade in before it gets much worse. Though the men are currently sleeping on bedrolls in communal halls in the Karag, what their future situation will look like is still undecided, and in between making final preparations to leave Codrin is keeping the peace but making no long-term decisions for his soon-to-be former charges. You're not sure if some new leader would have emerged if things went on much longer, but you'd much rather not risk the future of Death Pass on a maybe, so you step in.
Everyone, it seems, wants to stake a claim on a set of quarters adjoining the central staircase, and with no other landmarks in the entire mountain you can see why. You refresh your own scouting memories with some poking around, and in a temporary office you work on a MAP of the main branches of the Karag. You map out a market for visiting merchants, a dining hall for group meals, and an armoury for the tools of the Undumgi's trade, and put word out for anyone who wishes to stick around without combat in their future, and there's a handful - young mercenaries think they'll be happy to fight their entire lives, but old ones start to dream of a tavern or a grocer or some other peaceful retirement, and you carefully distribute some of the larger rooms to them. Some are of a religious bent, and you approve shrines to Shallya, Ulric, Myrmidia, Ursun, and the Lady. You also receive a few unexpected requests, and after a word to an equally bemused King Belegar, you plot out the future locations of shrines to Grimnir and Valaya.
With landmarks more plentiful and more scattered, instead of fighting over the most central positions the Undumgi start making decisions based on their preferences. Some want a nearby tavern, some want a favoured shrine close by, some want to be a good distance from the shopping and the prayer. Before long everyone has a room that you've had the few literate Undumgi write the names of their owners onto in charcoal, and you have full blueprints tucked away in case anyone gets cheeky and tries to replace a name with their own. Soon, wood will flow from Ulrikadrin and supplies from Barak Varr will include trade goods, and people will be able to start making proper homes for themselves. Long term, you expect companionship to be a concern, but word of almost six thousand newly enriched, well-employed and very eligible bachelors will soon reach Barak Varr and start radiating through the Border Princes and heading towards Black Fire Pass, and with a little luck the problem will solve itself.
[Total payment: 54.]
[How did Mathilde's share do?: 37.]
Speaking of payment, the first round of it has gone out. Belegar had expected to pay in ingots, but at you presenting the paperwork of your one-night gambling hall, he had grumbled in an extremely unconvincing way and then hurried enthusiastically off to rummage through the carefully packed heirlooms that had been passed down through generations of exile. With the careful oversight of suitably skilled Longbeards, for the first time in three thousand years a coin is struck bearing the Eight Peaks you had all fought for. Each of the ingots would make 60 silver coins, each similar in weight to the silver shilling of the Empire but a great deal purer in content, and 20 silver shillings were worth a gold crown. The final division of the ancient stockpile of silver, minus the amount Belegar saw fit to keep for his Kingdom, saw each share worth fourteen ingots. Any man foolish enough to trust the sums of an Empire moneychanger would receive 42 gold crowns for them, whereas their true value would be closer to 55. The striking out of money owed to and from the dead saw your own 'share' fall by about a quarter, but that still left three thousand, six hundred and seventy set aside in the safety of the King's Armoury for you to decide the fate of. The equivalent of fourteen thousand gold crowns, give or take. You try not to think about the Oath of Poverty you were supposed to be following, and start trying to make plans for the money. You've some available loopholes, but that does mean you'd have to predestine at least three quarters of it towards a single area.
[ ] This is Dame Weber's money. The funds will largely go towards investment in Stirland - possibly your fief, possibly the EIC, possibly investing elsewhere within the province.
[ ] This is Magister Weber's money. Make no attempt to push the funds through any of the available loopholes and spend it all in plain sight of the College. You would be beholden to spend it on ways at least nominally good for the Empire, and soon.
[ ] This is Dawongr Weber's money. The funds will largely go projects within the Karaz Ankor - your tower for one, but also investing in the Undumgi or Ulrikadrin, or purchasing goods made by Dwarven artisans or sold in the markets of Barak Varr.
[ ] This is tomorrow's problem. Let the money sit in the King's Armoury for now. Once you've decided what your future will be, then you can decide what to do with the money.
---
To distract yourself from your unseemly wealth, you go shopping for a tower.
...okay, perhaps that only makes it seem worse, but it is something that needs to be done. As Karag Nar has demonstrated, there's a lot of real estate being snapped up right now and if you want something nice you better make a move early.
[ ] Karag Nar penthouse
The first possibility that leaps to mind is the uppermost dwelling of Karag Nar, with a beautiful 360-degree view and a commanding position. The Black Orc Warboss' reasons for taking it for his own are obvious, and though it will take some time and effort to clear out the possessions that hadn't been safely stowed in the King's Armoury, it is bursting with potential and would allow you to keep a careful eye on the Undumgi and Death Pass.
[ ] Karag Lhune secondary peak
The second possibility is the secondary peak of Karag Lhune that the greenskins positioned their Doom Diver battery atop. The landing pad atop it was made redundant thousands of years ago when a full hangar was built atop Karag Lhune, and it's just as redundant for modern gyrocopters as it was to ancient airships so it would be yours for the taking. The storerooms below offer plenty of room for expansion and you'd be conveniently close to the heart of the resurgent Karak.
[ ] Citadel Tower
Third, the Citadel is being repaired of the damage that Kragg and cannon dealt to it, as well as three thousand years of neglect, and though the two towers were once a key part of its defensibility, with the only enemy approach being within the caldera that height advantage should no longer be needed. It makes for a much more traditional Wizard's Tower than one in a mountain peak, and though it's currently part of the defensive line against the untaken parts of the Karak, that also means that there'll always be plenty of protectors on hand, and perhaps you'd like to be able to help repulse any attackers.
[ ] Karag Nar temple
Your previous 'tower' was nothing of the sort, and perhaps you wish to continue that trend. If so, the site of you and Ranald triumphing over Gork and Mork would certainly be equally auspicious. It's a convenient distance from the population centers of the Karag and has a nearby side-entrance you could properly conceal and keep for your own use. (note: if you don't choose this as a tower, you can still use it in the future for a shrine or some other purpose. Nobody but you, Belegar, and Kragg know its significance, and everyone else just sees it as a former greenskin temple an inconvenient distance from the rest of the Karag.)
[ ] The Grand Abyss
If you value secrecy over all else, you could go just as far down as you can up. Deep below Karag Lhune lies the Lhune Deeps, and below that is the Grand Abyss. The Dwarves never were able to plumb the extent of its depths, and that is somewhat concerning, but it would certainly be impressive to have a tower built atop a bottomless pit.
[ ] Und-Uzgar
Soon to be an outpost for the Undumgi, Und-Uzgar was the site of your shadow becoming outputtingly independent. Built into the side of Karag Lhune, it boasts a commanding view of Death Pass and the passage to the rest of the Karag will be excavated any day now.
[ ] Eastern Valley tower
Though it's soon to be filled with Halfling fields and cottages, they'd be happy for you to become their neighbour, and if you want to start from scratch you certainly have enough wealth and favours accumulated to build a tower of your own.
[ ] The Silver Tower
Legends of the Silver Tower have been told and retold a thousand times over - the place where plucky adventurers caused the downfall of the Gaunt Summoner. You're not entirely sure if this is the same Silver Tower, but you could make a claim on it even though it is built upon the as-yet unreclaimed Karagril.
[ ] Other (write in)
Perhaps you picture your tower somewhere as yet unreclaimed, perhaps you've got a different idea.
Once chosen, there'll be a great deal of paperwork to fill out. Those few manlings allowed to live in Dwarfholds are typically given 'only' a lifetime lease, and for you to have an actual permanent claim to what you've decided upon takes a lot of carefully-worded documents that basically say 'no really, we mean it, forever'.
---
King Belegar stuck around long enough to greet King Kazador and the Throng of Karak Azul, and was introduced with the subtlety of a thrown brick to King Kazador's daughter, Princess Kazrina. There's some grumbling that they've missed the actual establishment of the Karak, but are heartened that there's still six peaks left untaken and Ulthar steps in to pass on everything the Expedition knows of the other concentrations of greenskins and Skaven. A slightly smaller group splits off from the Throng, as for the first time in a dozen Dwarven generations the rest of the world is accessible to Karak Azul without incredible danger to life and limb, and they're not letting the chance pass. A third group is happily accepted into Karag Lhune - those of the lesser Clans of Karak Eight Peaks, who for three thousand years have longed for a return to the home of their ancestors rather than putting down roots where they were. In the coming weeks, others will join them from further holds, as many Dwarves have lived and died in exile rather than letting themselves find new homes among other holds. Both tragic and typically Dwarvish.
Kragg has decided to stay just a little longer in Karak Eight Peaks, which is absolutely nothing to do with the arrival of Thorek Ironbrow, the closest thing to an equal Kragg has. The two very loudly criticize every detail of each other's work in terminology too arcane for you to begin to understand, and you're not entirely sure if this is a feud or a friendship, but either way Kragg seems to be enjoying himself, and he's finally surrendered his iron grip on the Gyrobomber that was to be his Anvil of Doom's escape route if everything went wrong. Without the incredibly dense weight of gromril weighing it down, it's more than capable of taking passengers, and with representatives from Karak Izor, Karak Norn, and Karak Hirn, you set off.
You had thought your Shadowsteed a miracle of transportation, but even though the gyrobomber is built for cargo rather than speed, it must be covering ground at least twice as fast as you could, as well as easily capable of flying over terrain you'd have to ride around. It doesn't help that the 'passenger rack', though sturdy enough, offers little more protection from the elements than the back of a wagon, and does nothing to block out the noise of Dwarven machines. The pilot flies low to prevent the ambient air from freezing his passengers, so the view is as breathtakingly beautiful as it is terrifying, even though you're flying over the thoroughly unimpressive terrain of the Border Princes. As it begins to pall, the terrain changes to the endless green of the Forest of Gloom, and you keep your eyes peeled, knowing the next destination would be Karaz-a-Karak.
You had braced for it, and still you find yourself stunned.
You had seen drawings, and heard the boasts of Dwarves, but nothing prepared you for the reality. The Gates of Karaz-a-Karak stand four hundred feet tall, unadorned save for the Rune of Valaya similar to the one on your Belt. Once, according to history so far back as to be legend, the Gates stood open to welcome all to the capital of the Karaz Ankor, but when the earth shook and the Underway was shattered and greenskins and Skaven poured in, they were closed, and now only open when the Dwarves march to war.
Visitors, you've heard, can enter through a smaller door that the Gatekeeper can open in the face of the gate, and the tallest visitors have found themselves having to crawl. You need not worry, for though the Dwarves have found the surface and below crawling with foes, they have found dominance in the sky. The airport of Karaz-a-Karak is a long row of landing pads protruding from each of a row of tunnels drilled into the mountainside, and though no other powers have followed the Dwarves into the sky, some of the strange weapons that bristle upwards and track your approach suggest that they are determined not to be caught unprepared when they do. Following the waved signals of some sort of conductor, the gyrobomber makes a smooth landing on one of the airpads. A careful eye is run over the pilot and cargo, which pauses on you for a handful of seconds, before the conductor waves an okay at the gate, which slowly pulls up. Inside, a set of attendants are carefully reracking the axes and hammers they had taken up in case the conductor had waved a different sign, and take up positions to push the gyrobomber inside once the passengers finally disembark on shaky legs and follow the conductor inside.
On the inside, beyond a side tunnel that your gyrobomber will be trundling down to be stored deeper in the mountain, a gyrocopter lurks, fueled and ready to be pushed out and flown wherever needed at a moment's notice. Your conductor leads you past a dozen or more similar tunnels before finally leading you down a set of stairs, and you find yourself wondering at this strange, silent arrival, and then you arrive at an imposing (though not quite four hundred feet tall) gate and realize why. Tradition must be followed, and the way the Dwarves had reconciled that with the gyrocopters is the fiction that these visitors haven't even arrived yet. A Gatekeeper, runic hammer and all, waits at this miniature gate, and it is he that finally asks who has come and what their business is.
"King Belegar of Karak Eight Peaks, here to see the High King," is the ritual answer. That is how King Belegar would have always introduced himself, and how each of his ancestors would have, so the news he brings remains uncommunicated, and though curiosity burns on the Gatekeeper's face he will not go against tradition. He hammers on the gate, and traces a rune with his hammer, and a smaller entrance opens in the larger gate. You wonder if it, too, only opens for war, or if the larger gate has never opened and exists only to mirror the one below. Your relative lack of height proves an advantage as you need only duck through instead of crawling, and on the other side of the gate you find... more stairs. With an internal sigh, you begin your long trek downwards.
Clearly news would have to have been sent ahead, though you don't see the precise mechanism; you wonder if it is due to some clever invention of the Guild of Engineers or an ancient mechanism the Dwarves have always known. Either way, when the stairs finally give out and place you at the entrance to the famed Great Hall as if you had entered from the front, the doors open for your party. The Great Hall itself you had heard tales of, of its massive size and towering height, and sure enough you're able to see for yourself that an entire human town could fit comfortably within it. But despite its size the Great Hall does not hold the population of a small human town, or anywhere close to it. Even though every major Hold and Clan, and every minor Hold and Clan with ambitions to become Major, each has a representative in the Great Hall during its hours of operation, the crowd would be a poor gathering for the Marktag of a medium-sized village. It is a walk of considerable distance before you approach the nearest member of the small, sad gathering of the remnants of the Karaz Ankor, and the constant murmur of discussion echoes through the emptiness.
No wonder they despair. The traditions they would never abandon are a constant reminder of how great they once were.
The crowd falls silent and parts as King Belegar approaches, and recognition is on every face; each then scans those following him, and most then school their expression into stony impassiveness, but you catch despair on some before they manage. It takes you a second to realize what they're seeing - they're seeing what they expected to see. The leader of the Expedition has returned, and without Kragg. There surely will have been enough vengeance to strike off a debt or two, but then Kragg's loss will be written in in their place, and the Karaz Ankor would have receded a little more. You see only a single exception: the representative wearing the stylized sea-gate Rune of Barak Varr, whose eyes are locked on the silver crown atop King Belegar's head, two sapphires twinkling in the torchlight.
The others in King Belegar's party break off to meet their counterparts, and a murmur of conversation begins to break the mournful silence as Belegar climbs the stone steps at the head of the hall. Atop them sits the Throne of Power, the one place the High King is permitted by tradition to sit. It is said to bear the Rune of Eternity, the sole work of the Ancestor-God Grungni that he was ever satisfied with. You cannot see it for yourself, because it currently also bears the High King, Thorgrim Grudgebearer, who stares impassively down at the approaching King.
"What news of the Everlasting Realm?" the High King asks, and you're glad you've been picking up Khazalid because of course tradition would trump politeness.
"The Queen of the Silver Depths is once more the home of Clan Angrund."
The hold falls silent once more, the whisper from Dwarf to Dwarf rendered unnecessary by the simple proclamation. To you King Belegar's words were a puzzle until you remembered the ceremonial name of Karak Eight Peaks, but to the Dwarves behind you the words of King Belegar hung in the air and shattered what the Dwarves thought they knew about the world they live in.
A lesser Dwarf might have asked King Belegar to repeat himself, but instead the High King's eyes flicked to you, and you saw his curiosity, and then to the others that had come and noted who they were standing next to. The Younger Holds, who the High King had been told had contributed significantly to the Expedition, and in response the High King had not sent his own forces, but something possibly more precious and definitely harder to replace: Kragg the Grim, and his Anvil. So the High King simply gave a nod, granting King Belegar permission to continue.
"Crescent Mountain, Sunrise Mountain, and the Citadel have been taken. The Hall of Oaths and the King's Armoury survived. Death Pass is open."
"The cost?" asks the High King, his eyes flicking to the crowd again.
"There are still some that may or may not survive their wounds, but of the fifty thousand Dwarves that marched, the final tally will be about nine thousand Dwarves dead, seventeen hundred of them Slayers. Additionally, of forty thousand humans, three thousand died for the Queen of the Silver Depths." King Belegar sees the eye-flick again, and answers it. "Runelord Kragg has remained to study the hammer-runes found in the King's Armoury, and further contribute to the rest of the retaking."
"And of Vengeance?"
"The Crooked Moon and the Broken Toof were shattered. If they have no other branches, they are destroyed."
"Our Rangers will watch for them." The Throne of Power features a lectern to hold a single book of overwhelming significance: The Dammaz Kron. The High King lifts the book from where it rested alongside his throne, and runs a finger along the pages before opening it about a third of the way along its pages, and needs only leaf a few more to reach where he was looking for. "There are many Grudges from that time that cannot be clearly attributed," he says musingly. "And much of what happened are the acts of Skaven. But you have accounted for many an Old and heavy Grudge. The Elders wise in Grudgelore will measure your Vengeance against the Grudges and determine what will be struck out."
---
The Great Book of Grudges, as all who know even a little of the Dwarves know, is the single tome containing every wrong the Dwarven Empire has yet to avenge. What even a little knowledge of their history would indicate is that no one tome could contain those Grudges with enough detail for those born long after those acts to avenge them. King Belegar was told to follow the High King, and King Belegar in turn told you to follow him, and the three of you walk out of the Hall and into a room that could be described as large were it not for the one you just left. Row after innumerable row of bookshelves of the Archives of the Karaz Ankor bridge the terse inventory of the Dammaz Kron with the exhaustive detail that would allow the Dwarves to know that vengeance has been done, and the room is a hive of busy activity, as a dozen venerable Longbeards each act as the center of their own swarms of younger disciples. As the High King orders the retrieval of the books on the Siege and Fall of Karak Eight Peaks, your eyes widen as you run your eyes over perfectly-preserved tomes of recorded history.
The Light Order do their best, but the Colleges have only been around for a fraction of the Empire's length, and before that a hundred tragedies each shaved away a record of history. The Great Library of Mordheim died with the city, the Sieges of Altdorf each resulted in a freezing populace burning books for heat, the Imperial Library suffered attrition every time the capital moved and was stolen back and forth a dozen times during the Age of the Three Emperors, and Dieter IV sold a good deal of what little survived to reach him to anyone willing to pay. And if that wasn't enough of a reason for his soul to be damned, when he sold Marienburg its independence, it took the Great Library of Verena with it, and ever since the self-righteous custodians have delighted in denying entry to citizens of the Empire. The Vaults of the Great Cathedral of Sigmar are purged every time a more conservative Grand Theogonist takes office, and there's Witch Hunters out there who consider literacy to be compelling evidence of witchcraft, and even when some poor scholar escapes the pyre it's not always guaranteed their books will.
A hundred hundred roadblocks between the average human and their past, but since the first founding of Karaz-a-Karak, every single event to ever befall the Dwarves has been carefully recorded and remains right here, carefully preserved by rune and artifice. Three thousand years ago the ancestors of the Empire had barely migrated, but every wrong done to Karak Eight Peaks had been recorded in exhausting detail, as demonstrated by the series of mighty tomes hauled over by the Dwarven attendants. The most venerable of the Longbeards begins to leaf through at the High King's instruction, who then turns his attention to King Belegar. "If you can keep the fight going until a Throng gets there, we may be able to double the harvest of avenged Grudges. How long can your foothold last?"
"How long can yours?" King Belegar responds, and you fight to keep your expression neutral. The moment stretches as the two stare obstinately at each other. "The East Gate is taken and fortified. Karag Nar is completely cleared, Karag Lhune has only a colony of spiders that are deciding whether to starve or be shot until it is the same, and both are fortified against any intruders from below. The Citadel is taken, and the caldera has been burned clear and by the time I return there will be enough artillery mounted that anything foolish enough to show itself will die. Kvinn-Wyr is infested by feral trolls, as much an obstacle to our enemies as it is to us, and that flank too is being fortified. Karak Azul's Throng has reached us and King Kazador has sworn to me that each one will die before he lets his people be cut off again. Karak Norn is selling us war machines on credit. Karak Izor sent colonizers three months ago. Barak Varr is already counting their profits. There are manlings building houses. There are Halflings building houses. As far as I can see, Karak Eight Peaks has a brighter future than any Hold east of Black Fire Pass." He points at the Book, which stopped having its pages flipped as the Elder turned to watch. "That Karak is three thousand years dead. If the one that exists today holds no interest to you, I have no business here."
The entire room is still, as all present turn to watch the confrontation. You included. You've never even heard of a Dwarven civil war, but you might be about to witness the beginning of one.
High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer is famed for being as implacable as the Dwarf Kings of old, and not a hint of what he could be thinking is visible upon his face as the silence stretches. Then he blinks once, and nods, and turns and leaves, pausing at the door to give a 'well?' look at the two of you, and you follow.
---
The Council Chamber of the High King is adorned with a model of the Old World, with what looks like the accurate to-scale height of every mountain from the Sea of Claws to the Sour Sea. You find the easy landmark of Barak Varr and follow the Blood River to where its tributaries disappear into the valleys, and then you spot the now-familiar cluster of mountains you've been calling home. Seconds later the door opens once more and a red-faced and surprisingly young Dwarf enters at a run, the summoning apparently as unexpected as it was urgent. "This is Prince Gotri Stoneheart. The title is still being debated, but for now he is 'Sky-Thane'. Gotri, put a branch of the Aircorp in Karag Lhune."
"Isn't it-"
"Yes. It's retaken. Have the hangars been cleared?"
"Aye," says King Belegar, too stubborn to show any bewilderment.
"They'll need a branch of the Engineer's Guild to maintain them, so see to that as well." The rest of the details are shaken out in rapid-fire fashion, and mere minutes later you find yourself climbing the innumerable stairs once more.
---
"I'd intended to tell of your contributions," King Belegar says to you, as the gyrobomber is hastily refuelled for an unexpectedly early departure. "Now I daresay that you'd find it no favour to have your name attached to mine in the halls of Karaz-a-Karak."
"I thought it was about to be war," you admit.
"Might have been close. Never could tell what he was thinking." But the message of your abrupt departure was clear - if King Belegar wanted to focus on tomorrow's victories, he would be denied yesterday's glories.
It's hard to hear brooding silence over the sound of a flying gyrocopter, but somehow King Belegar manages it as the whirling rotors take the bizarre vehicle into the sky. You have to nudge him to get his attention, and he perks up as he sees behind you that every other hangar gate is rising, and as your gyrobomber starts to make the trip back to Karak Eight Peaks, dozens more fly in formation around you.
---
[Joined the Expedition: +1]
[Battle of Und-Uzgar: +2]
Taking a watchpost without a fight and causing many deaths to Skaven +2.
[Battle of the East Gate: +4]
Defeating enemy heroes in battle +4.
[Battle of Karag Lhune: +12]
Sabotaged the Doom Divers +2, assassinating the Warboss +2, tripping the troll trap +4, preventing disaster in the Chiselwards +4.
[Battle of Karag Nar: +5]
Assassinating the Warboss +2, sabotaging Idol of Gork +3.
[Battle of the Citadel: +8]
Countering the Shamans +4, dispelling the Waaagh-field that empowered the Orcs +4.
[Grudges Avenged: --]
Nullified by Belegar-Thorgrim troubles.
[Finished the Expedition: +3]
[Total: 35.]
[Dwarf Favour cannot be spent in Karaz-a-Karak]
---
As before, the three with the most votes will win. You can vote for as many as you like. Selections here will not bind you to a future career, but can prove beneficial for them.
[ ] There's a growing concentration of royalty here. Get to know King Kazador, and this 'Sky-Thane' Prince Gotri. This suggests a future assisting Karak Eight Peaks with foreign relations, as a Spymaster focused on threats outside the Karak.
[ ] Scout the rest of the Eight Peaks, to find out what other horrors are waiting out there. This suggests a future assisting Karak Eight Peaks with its reconquest, as a Spymaster focused on threats within the Karak.
[ ] Convince Esbern and Seija to stay long enough to deal with the spiders in the Chiselwards. This suggests a future assisting Karak Eight Peaks with its reconquest, as a Spymaster focused on threats within the Karak.
[ ] Join Karak Azul as they raid and scout in force the other portions of the Karak. This suggests a future assisting Karak Eight Peaks with its reconquest, as a battlefield wizard.
[ ] Claim the site where Ranald mugged Mork and build a shrine to Ranald there. This suggests a future assisting Karak Eight Peaks, as leader of the Undumgi and point of contact for the Ulricans.
[ ] Write a series of papers on the magical phenomena you witnessed. Or better yet, get your Journeymanlings to do the actual writing. This suggests a future of investigation and study at Karak Eight Peaks, and perhaps helping Johann poke at Skaven technology.
[ ] King Belegar is allowing you to use the King's Armoury. Recover your extant study materials from Stirland and tuck them away safely in there. This suggests a future catching up on your pre-existing study topics.
[ ] Convince Esbern and Seija to stay long enough to hatch the supposedly Lustrian eggs and study and possibly train whatever hatches. This suggests a future catching up on your pre-existing study topics.
[ ] All this time away has made you miss your friends. Visit Anton and Wilhelmina. This suggests a future in Stirland, whether Roswita likes it or not.
[ ] You're going to have a rough time explaining your windfall to the Bursars. Better to get that over with. This suggests a future performing an assignment the Grey Order thinks is suited to you.
[ ] You've been out of touch for a while. Head to Barak Varr and then Altdorf, and catch up with what's been happening in the Empire. This suggests a future seeking employment on the Council of an Elector Count.
[ ] Not every sellsword will accept King Belegar's offer of employment. Travel with them. This suggests a future as a travelling mercenary.
- The above says Mathilde is not entirely sure if this Silver Tower is the Silver Tower of Warhammer Quest. Neither am I. Can anyone shed some light? Edit: Turns out it's an Age of Sigmar thing. Still, the legends are generic enough that I'll leave them in.
- This period is going to be pretty vague on the timekeeping.
- If you make the money 'tomorrow's problem', that will mean deciding again in the future with only one additional option - spending the majority of the money in the performance of the duties you take on.
- If there are other significant and publicly known achievements I've missed, let me know.
- There's a Dwarf Favour pricelist in the Collection of Important Information threadmark. Opportunities will arise to spend it in the future. If it's not covered in there, ask.
- This will be your last opportunity to convince Esbern and Seija not to leave with the Demigryph Knights.
It's not a matter of 'Our call', I think it's likely how the Dwarfs would handle it, because it's really an excellent weapon, especially with the caveat of needing to use the shaft as a grounding rod (And thus we'll want it to have as clear a channel as possible and as little damage to the haft itself as we can get. A Lochaber axe can serve as an adequate cavalry weapon, a solid formation fighting weapon, and has the dimensions such that relearning how to fight with it would be relatively easy--it's also not especially divergent as a weapon compared to typical Dwarfen waraxes either, so they'll likely stick with what they know)
EDIT: I mean, look at this beautiful beast.
And you tell me that isn't how a Dwarf runesmith would make a waraxe for a human who usually fights pitched battles on a steed.
Honestly would not a better idea be to get a blinged out telescopic Runed Staff and then Research a Blade of Shadow that can shift forms?
That way you have a Handle that could have a Shadow Knife or Sword, which could then extend into Staff mode and use many Spear Heads from Yari pig stickers to Naginata Slashy and Choppy modes.
[X] This is Dawongr Weber's money. The funds will largely go projects within the Karaz Ankor - your tower for one, but also investing in the Undumgi or Ulrikadrin, or purchasing goods made by Dwarven artisans or sold in the markets of Barak Varr.
[X] This is tomorrow's problem. Let the money sit in the King's Armoury for now. Once you've decided what your future will be, then you can decide what to do with the money.
[X] Karag Nar penthouse
[X] Claim the site where Ranald mugged Mork and build a shrine to Ranald there.
[X] Write a series of papers on the magical phenomena you witnessed. Or better yet, get your Journeymanlings to do the actual writing.
[X] Convince Esbern and Seija to stay long enough to hatch the supposedly Lustrian eggs and study and possibly train whatever hatches.
[X] Convince Esbern and Seija to stay long enough to deal with the spiders in the Chiselwards.
[X] Claim the site where Ranald mugged Mork and build a shrine to Ranald there.
[X] Write a series of papers on the magical phenomena you witnessed. Or better yet, get your Journeymanlings to do the actual writing.
[X] Convince Esbern and Seija to stay long enough to hatch the supposedly Lustrian eggs and study and possibly train whatever hatches.
[X] There's a growing concentration of royalty here. Get to know King Kazador, and this 'Sky-Thane' Prince Gotri.
Oof. That could have been a pretty damn solid chunk of favor judging by what we got from this after Silvanian campaign. Not having Grudgebearer's armies supporting us is a damn pity, we could have accelerated reconquest of K8P by a lot.
[Obligatory "Thorgrim is an asshole who is trading actual future of dorf race for feelzgoodz" comment goes here.]
Still, they avoided a civil war. Now Belebro just needs to keep recolonization effort going and eventually his growing rep and Age of Vengeance turning into... Second Silver Age? Age of Rebirth? Age of something positive - will fix this on its own.
It's a pity we can't spend favor in Karaz-a-Karak, I had some ideas about maybe raiding the armories of captured elven magic items the dwarfs would not be using anyway. Still good for Belagar that he was willing to look to stand up for his principles, even the unorthodox ones.
Holy crap I think we can all say we weren't expecting so many favours. We got enough for Everything.
