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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Interesting. Mediocre roll for the first and poor for the second roll on our Arcane Mark work. Still the result isn't bad, but it looks like Arcane Mark actions are a good candidate for using the Coin on. The fact that there was two rolls and it looks like we missed out on a some potential possibilities such as a potent intimidation effect that could have boosted Diplomacy indicate such.

I think it's pretty much just the Nut to go now, should be interesting.
 
What we got in regards to Arcane Mark control was actually near the top of what I thought might be possible. The fact that she managed it with such a low roll comparatively (admittedly she had significant aids making that roll stretch further than it could've) is actually very promising in regards to how high the ceiling regarding Mark control actually is. Probably not something I'd come back to working on for the shadow anytime soon, as what's already been done is most of the low hanging fruit, but still something to consider in the future.

Also seems like Mathilde did part of the writing bundled in with the orb action? So might actually complete the book this turn with the serenity action and give people the all in one flex without delay. Kind of a cool little bonus if so.
 
WorldSlayer said:
Interesting. Mediocre roll for the first and poor for the second roll on our Arcane Mark work. Still the result isn't bad, but it looks like Arcane Mark actions are a good candidate for using the Coin on. The fact that there was two rolls and it looks like we missed out on a some potential possibilities such as a potent intimidation effect that could have boosted Diplomacy indicate such.

I think it's pretty much just the Nut to go now, should be interesting.
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Thomasfoolery said:
What we got in regards to Arcane Mark control was actually near the top of what I thought might be possible. The fact that she managed it with such a low roll comparatively (admittedly she had significant aids making that roll stretch further than it could've) is actually very promising in regards to how high the ceiling regarding Mark control actually is. Probably not something I'd come back to working on for the shadow anytime soon, as what's already been done is most of the low hanging fruit, but still something to consider in the future.
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For rolls like this in general, there's a threshold where if you roll above that, you will get the best result that can be got. The threshold is different, sometimes wildly different, for different investigations. Sometimes the best possibility is reasonably obvious and therefore you only need to not completely flub a roll to get it, sometimes there's a very difficult to find or unintuitive best case scenario where if you crit you can get the super good result.

Thomasfoolery said:
Also seems like Mathilde did part of the writing bundled in with the orb action? So might actually complete the book this turn with the serenity action and give people the all in one flex without delay. Kind of a cool little bonus if so.
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No, that was just her doing the writing action. It's hard to make doing academia interesting two turns in a row about the same subject, so I'm saving the full write-up for when it's completed.
 
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Boney said:
But within minutes of the point you estimated, a visible change occurs - the stones keep pulling in new Winds, but they stop being absorbed by it and instead form a cloud floating around it. You shut off the drips and chase off the clouds with an effort of will, pushing them into the corners to be absorbed into the drains that keep the room neutral, and then move the stones - or the Orbs, you hope - closer to the central point and repeat the experiment, smiling at the identical clouds that form. Perhaps the dimensions of an Orb of Sorcery is an upper limit for a single discrete instance of the material-solid phase of magical energy, or perhaps some other, more exotic process is required to exceed them.
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Hmm. So if, as we theorized, Warpstone is a Dhar equivalent of a power stone, the existence of big chunks of it (up to literally moon-sized) suggests that it is able to ignore or bypass that limitation. Something about its nature makes it at the same time more and less stable within Reality than the other Winds: On the one hand it can solidify in apparently unlimited amounts, but on the other said solidification can result in a self-destructing loop when poked in a certain way (Second Secret of Dhar), unlike power stones or Orbs made with other Winds. Truly fascinating.
 
Ergosum said:
Hmm. So if, as we theorized, Warpstone is a Dhar equivalent of a power stone, the existence of big chunks of it (up to literally moon-sized) suggests that it is able to ignore or bypass that limitation. Something about its nature makes it at the same time more and less stable within Reality than the other Winds: On the one hand it can solidify in apparently unlimited amounts, but on the other said solidification can result in a self-destructing loop when poked in a certain way (Second Secret of Dhar), unlike power stones or Orbs made with other Winds. Truly fascinating.
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Dhar sticks together, and has the unique property of turning other winds into more of itself, which makes things easier.
 
Well can't say I am overly enthused about the Arcane Mark results, it is unlikely to ever meaningfully impact... anything really. Anyone we care to talk to isn't going to care overly much about how much our shadow moves and for sneaking we have more thorough means of hiding the whole Mathilde, like invisibility and illusion but... at least it is off the list and we can do more interesting things going forward

Nice to see we do not have to roll the book, a bad roll there would have messed up all kinds of AP calculations and started a conversation about involving Max or not.

Looking forward to the Ghyan Nut and the Ithilmar trade.
 
Nice update and while we can not completely control our shadow to do things we do have the ability now to blend in better with non magic society. So now we have left the Ilthimar action, the hiring language tutors, and the nut study with Pan. I am optimistic that we will finish these and the social actions in May.
 
Seeing young Mathilde again was fun.

Boney said:
With a few measurements of viscosity in hand, is a straightforward affair
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"it's"

Boney said:
The effect of the Arcane Mark to influence the nature of the one marked, or to change small details about the nature of reality in various ways related to the Wind's idiom in that person's immediate vicinity.
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This sentence needs a lookover.

Boney said:
Fire burns low near you because in your presence not because of a direct magical effect
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Remove first 'because'.

Boney said:
that which gathers around question
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questions

Boney said:
a completeness your only capable
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you're

Boney said:
practicing
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'practising' in both British and American.
 
Typo fixes for @Boney:
Boney said:
With a few measurements of viscosity in hand, is a straightforward affair to commission an apparatus that will drip Aethyric Vitae at steady intervals.
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is a straightforward -> it's a straightforward

Boney said:
but you begin a sort of cabin fever begin to set in as the second week draws to a close
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Repeated 'begin'
but 'you begin' a sort of cabin fever begins to set in

Boney said:
which is given as an explanation for why the effects are so often deleterious and prone to lead to further mutation.
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prone to 'lead(ing)' to further mutation

Boney said:
The effect of the Arcane Mark to influence the nature of the one marked, or to change small details about the nature of reality in various ways related to the Wind's idiom in that person's immediate vicinity.
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The effect of the Arcane Mark (is) to influence

Boney said:
Fire burns low near you because in your presence not because of a direct magical effect, but because the natural state of fire in your presence is to burn low.
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Repeated 'because'

Boney said:
This attitude represents both an obstacle and a wasted opportuntiy, you feel.
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opportuntiy -> opportun(ity)

Boney said:
going through your sword drills - can be done while maintaining this mindset and therefore your more natural shadow,
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(they all) can be done while
 
Nurgle said:
Nice update and while we can not completely control our shadow to do things we do have the ability now to blend in better with non magic society. So now we have left the Ilthimar action, the hiring language tutors, and the nut study with Pan. I am optimistic that we will finish these and the social actions in May.
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Technically everything we can do now we could do previously, just cast a spell, illusion say to make the shadow look normal. That takes mental effort so does controlling the shadow, the only ones who would notice the difference would be other magic users. So elves, maybe, hopefully, would care... that is about it.
 
The fact that Wolf is apparently disconnected from our Marks is an interesting note. I hadn't thought about it, but it is interesting that he doesn't share in the effects. Huh.
 
Boney said:
but you begin a sort of cabin fever begin to set in
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"you begin" needs to be removed, and "begin to set in" changed to "begins".
Boney said:
Fire burns low near you because in your presence not because of a direct magical effect, but because
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First "because" needs to be removed, also either "near you" or "in your presence" need to be removed.

The shadow experiments could've gone better, but at least now we can get it to sit tight.

On the other hand, Orbs of Sorcery get.
 
Doing the other arcane marks could still be usefull even if the result we got was pretty dissapointing.

Control over Mantle of Mist could allow Mathilde to drop the cleansing candle for another magic item if it allows her to filter anything she breathes.
Strengthening the dimming effects of Flicker and Shrouded could make Substance of Shadow way more safe to use in tons of situations.

And that's discounting what benefits Mathilde might get from practicing more forms of soul manipulation, this could be considered the fifth one she has so far :
- Spellcasting and most related magical skills like enchanting from the 'front' of her soul.
- Interacting with Wolf via the familliar bond and it's upgrades.
- Apparition binding from the 'back' of her soul.
- Directly poking Ranald from that spot 'sideways' she can get to gods from.
- Manipulating her Unnatural Shadow.

The other marks could bring her up to height, I have no idea what benefits there might be but it's worth at least considering.
 
I'm still surprised that we went with the Shadow arcane mark which seemingly has a mind of it's own compared to the smoke or the fire related on that would have been easier to test, along with not tainting the whole process with thoughts of mentality and what not being attributed to the mark's result (shadow) from the get go.
 
flogoyog said:
Doing the other arcane marks could still be usefull even if the result we got was pretty dissapointing.

Control over Mantle of Mist could allow Mathilde to drop the cleansing candle for another magic item if it allows her to filter anything she breathes.
Strengthening the dimming effects of Flicker and Shrouded could make Substance of Shadow way more safe to use in tons of situations.

And that's discounting what benefits Mathilde might get from practicing more forms of soul manipulation, this could be considered the fifth one she has so far :
- Spellcasting and most related magical skills like enchanting from the 'front' of her soul.
- Interacting with Wolf via the familliar bond and it's upgrades.
- Apparition binding from the 'back' of her soul.
- Directly poking Ranald from that spot 'sideways' she can get to gods from.
- Manipulating her Unnatural Shadow.

The other marks could bring her up to height, I have no idea what benefits there might be but it's worth at least considering.
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Even if Mantle of Mist could do that I'm not sure we want a defense against poisonous gasses we have to consciously control. Generally when one is exposed to poisonous gasses one has other problems as well. Also I cannot say I am too interested in 'another magic item' in place of the candle when no suggestion has yet been brought up as to what that might be. Personally I think we should take the hint that while this aspect of magic is not entirely worthless (like Tongs turned out to be) it is probably not AP-efficient or more wizards would have made use of it.
 
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