Isn't overwork on T44? I think you might have to swap the order of your last two turn plans around.
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
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- Fantasy Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
I think we should intentionally delay it until T45, so that it lines up with the Elfcation. We don't have to overwork the second it comes off cooldown.
I don't want to switch the turns around, because I want to deal with Orodreath and do the Druchii negotiations before we set out on the Elfcation.
Oh yeah, I forgot we can do that.
I don't see a reason to delay the overwork, we could use it to capture a second apparition for example (if the Apparition binding worked and we think that two wouldn't be too much) to give our new spell a lot more punch and split the Elfication into two turns instead.
Otherwise a great preliminary plan.
I'm not sure how the room of Serenity works exactly, if we took one action to write the first part of the book with Max, could we use the Serenity action to write the second part in the same turn instead of the coin paper?
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- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
That's theoretically valid, yeah. We could split the Elfcation across turns 45 and 46, and shift the Ulthuan negotiations to Turn 46 as well. (Maybe even switch the Coin to Gambler for it to really maximize our odds?
infinityDivided
Prince Of Doom
- Location
- USA
Oh hey Omegahugger, haven't seen you in a while.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
I miss Omegahugger.
Parabola
Divided Loyalties Librarian
- Location
- The Destination of Fate
- Pronouns
- She/Her
We're doing the Foundation right now, so it's possible that we could get a prototype done this turn. Not necessarily likely, but quite possible - we thought that the Rune and the Capstone might take more than one action each to get prototypes for, and they didn't. So maybe next turn we will have the Build A Waystone action available, which would allow us to reasonably put Everyone in it. I don't think anyone would complain if that's the single Waystone action we did the entire turn - if there's anything that deserves the full attention of the whole group, it'd be that.
It's worth keeping in mind that the difficulty of the spell increases directly with how many Apparitions are bound to it:
Adding a second Rider in Red to the spell would be my personal limit.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
Do we need to get good at it?
I'm pretty sure we've got a higher bonus to casting Necromancy than we do Ulgu.
- Location
- USA
This would be the QM's headache when writing it, but, narratively, how does this actually work? "I've never done this before in practice, but since I have perfect theoretical knowledge, I won't fail this attempt" sounds remarkably BS for a story that attempts to hew as close to reality as it can.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
I hesitate to ever say that the thread is 'done' with a discussion.
Temporarily paused, maybe.
QuietlyObserving
The Railgun That Walks Like a Bear
- Location
- Here.
At this point our knowledge of Necromancy is basically our Dangerous Forbidden Technique Powerup.
"Forgive me, Master. Just this once...I'll have to go all out." Mathilde, as most Shadowmancers, went through a chuunibyou phase when she was younger. She's never quite let go of her desire to use some lines in earnest.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
I expect the main reason Boney was willing to give us a whole +20 to wielding Dhar is that he doesn't expect us to actually use it.At this point our knowledge of Necromancy is basically our Dangerous Forbidden Technique Powerup.
"Forgive me, Master. Just this once...I'll have to go all out." Mathilde, as most Shadowmancers, went through a chuunibyou phase when she was younger. She's never quite let go of her desire to use some lines in earnest.
Like, imagine if we got a trait that just gave us +20 to using Ulgu. It'd be insane. Every other trait would pale in comparison to the sheer advantage.
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
We can still improve further, too - there's W'Soran's prophecies, Vlad's notes on the Ring, in-person observation of Druchii spellcasting during the Elfcation...
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
I struggle to see a connection.
The main effect of the Ring is that it kept bringing Vlad back near-instantly from death.
There is that story in Night's Dark Masters that the Ring initially bound the Vampires to Nagash's will (with that effect ending when Vlad intentionally dies to Alcadizzar and all the vampires run away), but mind control and covering an apparition in Ulgu to the point it hits the things we want it to don't seem especially connected.
QuietlyObserving
The Railgun That Walks Like a Bear
- Location
- Here.
So...hypothetically...
"It is said that when Dread Nagash rose once more to scourge the world, and gathered the dark practitioners to his side, one caught his baleful eye. A woman shrouded in mist and shadow and fear, slight yet terrifying to all who beheld her gruesome trophy, the hat of the Witch Hunter that some said she slew.
Dread Nagash looked upon this bane of the light, this woman who even the greatest of wizards feared, and spoke thus:
'Oh, thank the gods, a professional. Finally. I haven't had anyone to talk shop with for millennia.'"
infinityDivided
Prince Of Doom
- Location
- USA
I've been rereading the entire thread (okay, I've been skimming the entire thread), and I found this old Boney-quote:
It feels like an immense accomplishment, though I can't help but also feel that "most recognizable ninja" means we're a really shitty ninja.
For the record, here's our current rep:
We are, at this point, one of the most well-known members of the Colleges. Actually, given everything, I think we're the most well-known member of the Grey College period.
It feels like an immense accomplishment, though I can't help but also feel that "most recognizable ninja" means we're a really shitty ninja.
- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
We serve a valuable function in the ecosystem of the Grey Order. Being the fabulous and well-known super-spy James Bond who draws attention means that all the other spies have more cover, because obviously they're not a Grey Wizard spy, we know what Grey Wizard spies are like and they're like that maniac Mathilde Weber! And so the rest of MI6 gets to do their job with less concern, because James Bond misleads the world by the fact of his existence. It's a misdirection trick on the level of an organization; I assume that in every generation they cultivate a super-spy or two, because it's so damn useful to the rest of the Order.
Being a showman doesn't just mean being flashy, it means being selectively, distractingly flashy while your accomplices in the crowd are picking pockets.
Well, we can always get that arcane mark to make everyone forget our face to solve that!
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Mathilde is, as has been said before, basically magical James Bond.
She doesn't really do spying in the traditional sense (at least not personally, the EIC remains a fairly effective intelligence network) but she fulfills the Grey Orders duties in other ways - certainly nobody can doubt her diplomatic credentials at this point given what she's done with the Karaz Ankor and Laurelorn.
And, as @picklepikkl says, us acting as the showman distraction is entirely within the themes of Ulgu and is legitimately useful to the Grey College as an institution, for the same reason that MI6 are in favor of the IRL James Bond movies.