Remove ads

Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Voting will open in 10 hours, 51 minutes
Reader mode
FallenPears said:
Do dwarves actually really know what power stones are? Because thinking about it, 'single strand of magic that over many months of determined will has been condensed and solidified into stable and reliable form' sounds about the most sensible use of human magic from a dwarf perspective. It's (debatably) not a new runecraft technique, just changing the world to be more susceptible to such techniques. If it does actually enhance runecraft enough I could see a power stone for runic items trade being culturally viable from their perspective.

Assuming it is effective; if you need eight power stones for an improvement… we'll we know some human uses already call for arrays of power stones to be used, but it would hopefully be a more than marginal power boost or it's probably not economically viable.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This has been brought up before, albeit in relation to orbs of sorcery rather than power stones.

NuclearConsensus said:
Just woke up, so my brain's a bit fuzzy, but skimming the discussion and seeing all the mentions of AV and runes made me wonder: would placing an anvil rune in a chamber with a full set of Orbs of Sorcery recharge it faster?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Boney said:
No. Orbs don't create Winds (except when expended), they make it so you can get more magical effect out of the same amount of Winds. But Runes aren't doing magic with the Winds they capture, they're directly converting it into something else, so would either be unaffected or hindered by the presence of Orbs.

To use a car analogy, an Orb of Sorcery makes your magical gasoline burn hotter and longer. This is really useful if you plan on using your gasoline to fuel your car (as Wizards do), but is somewhere between useless and really bad if you're trying to do petrochemistry with it (as Runesmiths do).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The biggest meaningful difference between power stones and orbs is scale though, not qualities. The same should apply.
 
Last edited:
Humbaba said:
There is precisely nothing indicating this in the turn 41 voting options which includes the option to study both.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Mathilde was very explicit in-text that she'd at least need Nehekharan for W'soran's writing.
Boney said:
You'd have to learn Nehekharan to even begin to try to extract anything from the scrolls, but they'd make quite a crown jewel in your library, or a great icebreaker for dealing with the Priory of the Spear. And the books on prophecy have been drawn from quite a wide selection, including some sources that aren't usually the types to share their insights.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The option to study an artifact, and the papers being among our list of artifacts to study, doesn't mean that it wouldn't be a very good idea to study Nehekharan first.
 
Jyn Ryvia said:
for me, the big question that @Boney has yet to answer: is it safe to put the stones in mould blocks while we are doing it.

Orbs of Sorcery is one thing, Orbs of Sorcery that each Orb is shaped (taking the limitations of moulding as a medium) as the runes of each wind is a flex on top of a flex.

Orbs of Sorcery that spell out Mathilde (8 letter, 8 stones) is god mode flexing.

and for the life of me, I cant see why not. It might not be able to be tight: but it should take shape around the free space in the block (area of least resistance.)

So rough shaping should be fine.



this, but stone/wax/whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Redshirt Army said:
Eh. That's tacky. For stuff that's so impressive I think it's better to just let it speak for itself.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's a good point. We should save personalized morbs for our next flex.
 
Mopman43 said:
Mathilde was very explicit in-text that she'd at least need Nehekharan for W'soran's writing.


The option to study an artifact, and the papers being among our list of artifacts to study, doesn't mean that it wouldn't be a very good idea to study Nehekharan first.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Allright I'm getting tired of going around in circles on this.

@Boney Do we need to write in an action to learn High Nehekharan before we can take the Action to study the Notes on the Von Carestein ring or the Prophecies, or is a sufficient learning of the language part and parcel of the [] Study action(s) for those artefacts?

If we do need to spend AP to learn the language before we can study them, could you please add a note alongside their entries in the Accumulated Artefacts spoiler (i.e. Requires knoweldge of High Nehekharan), similar to Ranald's coin having the [Don't] note?
 
deathofrats0808 said:
I'm pretty sure the possibility that the Tomb Kings are going to come looking for the stuff worries people also. Especially considering that Arkhan attacked Altdorf within living memory.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Coming for them where? In a dwarf king's vault? That makes Aldorf look like a walk in the park, also those are literally the papers that Vlad left behind Arkhan attacked for one of the Books of Nagash, different scale of prize altogether to go with the much harder attack.
 
On an entirely different note, how would the average dwarf who hasn't known Mathilde for years or is incredibly famous in their own right react to meeting Mathilde?

Would they treat her a bit like how the dwarves on the initial Eight Peaks expedition treated Kragg? This seems the closest comparison I can think of given the whole "She's a dawi in a different body" idea the announcement stirred up.

Edit: My other curiosity is what if anything the higher levels of the Sigmarite church think about her given it's one of the religious commandments to aid dwarves and the whole announcement. I'm certain that the official position is that there is no official position, but I would be very curious what if any thoughts might be going around the ranks.
 
Last edited:
Does anyone remember where it was revealed who the Strigoi we killed under Drakenhof was?

I recall it being somebody of some importance, but I can't find the passage.
 
Mopman43 said:
Does anyone remember where it was revealed who the Strigoi we killed under Drakenhof was?

I recall it being somebody of some importance, but I can't find the passage.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I don't think it was confirmed in the text of the quest, we got his name from when his skull was added to our list of trophies under the "K8P home" spoiler on the character sheet.

Boney said:
Flensed skull of the Ghoul King Druthor, a Strigoi Vampire that had taken up resident in the ruins of Castle Drakenhof.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

If I remember correctly, he only appears briefly in Warhammer canon, where he and King Kazador have a duel. I believe Kazador wins.
 
Mopman43 said:
Does anyone remember where it was revealed who the Strigoi we killed under Drakenhof was?

I recall it being somebody of some importance, but I can't find the passage.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The character sheet calls out via his skull that he's Ghoul King Druthor, a character from End Times who got dunked on by Kazador.

Codex said:
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.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I don't know whether that's also confirmation that Mathilde knows that's what his name is IC, though. Maybe Tarni confirmed that's who he was after checking with the Witch Hunters or something.
 
DragonParadox said:
Coming for them where? In a dwarf king's vault? That makes Aldorf look like a walk in the park, also those are literally the papers that Vlad left behind Arkhan attacked for one of the Books of Nagash, different scale of prize altogether to go with the much harder attack.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You were talking about the decision makers being worried about the knowledge contained within Nehekharan texts. My point was that they were also likely to be worried about Tomb King attacks. The Dwarfs never come into because Belegar isn't going to care about what Mathilde's reading; he trusts her too much.
 
deathofrats0808 said:
You were talking about the decision makers being worried about the knowledge contained within Nehekharan texts. My point was that they were also likely to be worried about Tomb King attacks. The Dwarfs never come into because Belegar isn't going to care about what Mathilde's reading; he trusts her too much.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Only in so far as they think we are an idiot and they generally do not appoint idiots to Lord Magister. There are plenty of Nehekaran texts for us to read that no tomb king has come after for centuries, the empire had a brief cultural fad about it and while that ended with plenty of texts and artifacts being taken back by vengeful tomb kings not all of them were
 
DragonParadox said:
Only in so far as they think we are an idiot and they generally do not appoint idiots to Lord Magister. There are plenty of Nehekaran texts for us to read that no tomb king has come after for centuries, the empire had a brief cultural fad about it and while that ended with plenty of texts and artifacts being taken back by vengeful tomb kings not all of them were
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Smart people do stupid things all the time.
 
Boney said:
You're passed the point of 'for a wizard'. You're skilled at combat by the standards of professional warriors.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think this should be "You've passed" or "You're past".

Jyn Ryvia said:
for me, the big question that @Boney has yet to answer: is it safe to put the stones in mould blocks while we are doing it.

Orbs of Sorcery is one thing, Orbs of Sorcery that each Orb is shaped (taking the limitations of moulding as a medium) as the runes of each wind is a flex on top of a flex.

Orbs of Sorcery that spell out Mathilde (8 letter, 8 stones) is god mode flexing.

and for the life of me, I cant see why not. It might not be able to be tight: but it should take shape around the free space in the block (area of least resistance.)

So rough shaping should be fine.



this, but stone/wax/whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I've wanted to try this out for a while now. We can start with something small - just seeing if adding the magical runes associated with each Wind on their respective Orbs does anything, for example - and then go from there.

What if we made staves entirely out of Powerstone? What if we made just giant Powerstones the size of people? What if we made giant magical runes out of their associated Powerstones?

I'm excited to find out someday, even if we don't immediately jump on it as our next research chain.
 
Last edited:
I would be shocked if the colleges' course on Nehekaran didn't start with a safety lecture all about why and how you don't provoke the tomb kings. It's a real and valid concern for the colleges to have, but probably just one they deal with using normal bureaucracy rather than anything we'd need to be concerned by.
 
Deathbybunnies said:
I think this should be "You've passed" or "You're past".


I've wanted to try this out for a while now. We can start with something small - just seeing if adding the magical runes associated with each Wind on their respective Orbs does anything, for example - and then go from there.

What if we made staves entirely out of Powerstone? What if we made just giant Powerstones the size of people? What if we made giant magical runes out of their associated Powerstones?

I'm excited to find out someday, even if we don't immediately jump on it as our next research chain.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
See here:
Garlak said:
Could you put make an Orb of Sorcery a part of a staff? I've been wondering about that -- Power Stones are expendable equipment, but Orbs of Sorcery aren't. (Well, they can be expended... if you want deadly amounts of energy.) Adding a Power Stone to a staff gets you a staff with a one-shot nitro boost. But adding an Orb of Sorcery to a staff...

Setting aside how much energy or unique circumstances to make an Orb of Sorcery, and how they can fuel magical warmachines rather than just a wizard's stuff, but.

Is "put an Orb of Sorcery on a staff" a thing you can do? Or "make a casting booster of some sort" otherwise? We do have that Storm Dragon horn left over; we decided to use the other dragon part for our staff, but...

Is putting an Orb of Sorcery on a staff something we can try to do, if we get one? ((I've actually been wondering if Teclis or Volans staff has something like that going for it...))
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Boney said:
Try it and find out.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Also see here:
pucflek said:
Since Orbs are the size of a mans head, it seems really bad to put them on staff, its rather impractical.

Would it be possible to instead shape the power stone into staff itself via this process?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Boney said:
The reason Mathilde's immediate reaction is to shoot for the Orb of Sorcery size and shape is because she knows it works. Any other sizes and shapes would be 'try it and find out' territory.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Let's actually finish AV before going for the impractical experimentation.
 
I'm not sure making Orbs into specific shapes would have any effect, aside from volume.

The purpose of the orb is to make the surrounding area "less real" to make spell casting easier.

Changing it's shape shouldn't change its function, unless we do so in a way that increases or decreases it's volume, which will probably strengthen/weaken it's effect.
 
Nerdasaurus Rex said:
I'm not sure making Orbs into specific shapes would have any effect, aside from volume.

The purpose of the orb is to make the surrounding area "less real" to make spell casting easier.

Changing it's shape shouldn't change its function, unless we do so in a way that increases or decreases it's volume, which will probably strengthen/weaken it's effect.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's questionable whether it would have any effect on the functionality, yes, but AIUI the idea behind making them specific shapes is mostly an aesthetic "look what I can do".
 
Nerdasaurus Rex said:
I'm not sure making Orbs into specific shapes would have any effect, aside from volume.

The purpose of the orb is to make the surrounding area "less real" to make spell casting easier.

Changing it's shape shouldn't change its function, unless we do so in a way that increases or decreases it's volume, which will probably strengthen/weaken it's effect.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well, I'm curious to see if we can enhance that functionality by the runes of magic that make up arcane marks. And staves in particular work by way of carving a bunch of wind-adjacent runes into them, and being made up of suitable materials - I'd like to see what a Powerstone staff would do.

And for the really big Powerstone, quantity has a quality all of its own sometimes. If casting is easier near a Powerstone, what would a giant Powerstone do? There might be a critical mass at which something exciting happens.

I don't really have any ideas beyond those three special cases, though.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Voting will open in 10 hours, 51 minutes
Remove ads
Back
Top