HeroQuest: The Mage of the Mirror, picture of Sinestra, sister of a previous queen of the Eonir
It looks like the Eonir incorporate runes into their magic gear that look like dwarf runes. I believe Mathilde's internally monologued about that kind of thing before and does the same thing with her own rune gear. Also, that is a very good staff.
Dwarfs 8e page 28 has what I believe is an error:
Ullek Redaxe was a thane beneath the first High King, Snorri Whitebeard, and his descendants still loyally support Thorgrim Grudgebearer.
Grungni was the first High King to my recollection. Certainly the DPG says so.
Chapter 2 of the Headtaker novel gives us a treat.
Beneath monolithic carvings of the ancestor gods and proud kings of past ages, there hung the banners of dwarfs from the length and breadth of the Karaz Ankor. There were thanes from nearby Ekrund, and from the Everpeak, from Zhufbar, Barak Varr, Karak Hirn, Karak Norn, Karak Izor, Karak Kadrin and even the wild tangled beards and fiercely roving eyes of their kin from Kraka Drak.
Turns out you've had Kraka Drak dwarfs about the Karaz Ankor even in 2013 AD, when the book came out. It's not a new thing introduced by WFRP 4e: Sea of Claws like I thought.
Chapter 6
The Ninth Deep was the lowest level of Karak Azul. [...]
Now craftsmasters of the Masons' Guild puffed out their chests with pride as cannon and ballistae were installed in the towering basilica, accepting with beaming modesty the compliments of the engineers and work crews sent to bed in their engines.
Karak Azul has cannons. In general, canon's version of Karak Azul is significantly more connected with the Karaz Ankor (to the point of supplying all of them with weapons) than DL's Azul, so it'd naturally follow they would've gotten cannons too.
The king stood glorious in the Armour of Kings, the resplendent glory of aeons past rendered with timeless honour in gromril and a hundred varieties of gold. Heavy bracers girdled his thickset arms, straining against his taut muscles as he relived the ancestral hate bound in the pages of the dammaz kron. His arms were crossed over his neatly braided beard, ham-like fists joining around the long haft of the Hammer of Azul, a heavy anvil-shaped club of unleavened gromril capable of shattering rock and bone with equal ease.
In WD 315, they're called the Armour of Karak Azul and the Hammer of Karak Azul. Also, what the heck is "unleavened gromril"?
Oho, we get some very interesting dialogue from Thorek.
'Will the earthworks slow them?'
At the king's question, Thorek and Handrik looked at the steeply sloping bulwark of granite blocks bristling with spear points that lay at the confluence of the hurriedly excavated trenches directly in front of their own position.
'I imagine they will,' said Thorek
'I don't like them,' Handrik grumbled.
'I'm sure neither will the thaggoraki,' Thorek said stiffly.
'We never needed such contraptions in the past.'
'They've been proven many times,' said Thorek. 'Before the time of Grungni, our most distant ancestors tilled the earth like men without knowledge of delving or smelting. What's new is not always to be shunned, if its worth is proven.'
Handrik grumbled, but offered no contradiction.
'I oversaw every step of their assembly and smote the runes myself. Have no doubt, Handrik, they will function as they should. Today, the thaggoraki will suffer a taste of their own trickery, and our ancestors who had not such weapons will weep at the justness of it.'
We have contemporary use of spears (in a sense) by dwarfs, and Thorek's willing to put his runes on new contraptions. This is quite unlike his wiki's characterisation where he's very conservative and has no respect for engineering and all that. However, I've actually looked at the wiki's source for that, and it's all coming from a very-universe source - a hammerer talking about the good old days and how everything was better back then, and how all the great heroes of today are old-fashioned old souls who, like the hammerer, respect the old ways. In other words, a very biased source, not to be trusted 100%.
Not to be completely distrusted either. He says that Alrik's an ultra-conservative, doesn't use modern engineering like gyrocopters and flame cannons. His rules reflect that to a degree: gyrocopters, flame cannons, and organ guns cost double points, and you can't have more handgunners than crossbowmen. It's still hardly completely accurate that he uses no new tech at all though, just it's got a nugget of truth there.
For those interested, here's what the runes were for:
As the charge closed with the earthworks, the air behind it shimmered. Light bent, broke and reannealed, disappearing like blood into the vortex of a whirlpool as a pair of squat four-barrelled shapes materialised from behind runes of cloaking. In unison, the crew of the two guns lit fuses and the eight barrels bloomed in deadly, concussive sequence.
Organ guns.
Now we have a description of the Thunderhorn, which is quite different from how it is in WD 315.
Kazador reached to his belt and unhooked the clasp of the Thunderhorn. The instrument was as old as time. It had been carved by masters of long-forgotten holds from the ivory tusks of the beasts of the southern plains and its golden ancestor runes were unblemished by the passing millennia. He pursed his lips to the mouthpiece and blasted a note of such clarity and purpose that it cast back the shadows, rendering insubstantial the din of the Ninth Deep. It was a sound to uplift the spirit, like the sight of dawn rays on the icy crown of the karak, a vision to true-hearted dawi of all that was everlasting.
First off, "ancestor runes". That's the term used for the big Storm of Magic runes, but "Ancestor Runes" are also 20-point normal banner runes in Dwarfs 8e. Could also just be a poetic term, as with "old as time". However, that's runes, plural. In WD 315, it has a single rune: the Master Rune of Dismay, (enemies must pass Ld test to charge). Here, it seems to be a morale
booster.
Kazador lowered the Thunderhorn from his lips. The throng regarded him attentively.
'Hear me, children of Grungni,' he roared, his deep voice pitched to stir the distant corners of the Deep. 'How many times have the ratkin come here? Or urk, grobi and drakk? How many times has our strength thrown them back?' He turned slowly on his shield to meet every pair of eyes. 'Every time!
'And yet back they always come, like a tide of evil that cannot know when it is beaten. And always they will come back. Because this is Karak Azul, and there is no mightier prize. Grungni dwelt here. By the skill of his craft and the sweat of his toil were these halls carved. I see his work in every stone. I feel his blood in my veins. It boils at the presence of trespassers, and by that same blood I swear that not one inch of Grungni's soil will be forsaken unto thaggoraki paws this day.
'Here we stand, rock and earth. Here we fight and spill vermin blood. This is the line we hold to our final breath, until the Iron Peak falls to rust and ruin!'
The Deep erupted with angry yells, but Kazador shouted them down. 'What say you then, descendants of Grungni? When will Karak Azul fall?'
'Never!'
'Tell me when!'
'Never!'
'Let your defiance echo through the ages!'
'Never!'
The king tightened his grip on his hammer. 'Let the ratkin gnaw on this!' He thrust the Hammer of Azul upwards amidst a rapturous chorus of oaths and pledges of undying resolve that made the very roots of the Deep tremble with shared purpose.
Handrik, no tender beardling, felt the goose bumps rising on his skin.
This was his king, the Kazador he had thought forever lost. He roared his approval with the others.
Karak Azul would never fall.
I'm so glad we got the good version and can have this baller energy around 24/8.
Chapters 6 and 7
'I believe it one of the new repeater handguns the humans have devised,' said Thorek
[...]
Thordun squeezed the trigger of his handgun. He roared as the spinning barrel of the repeater sprayed indiscriminate death into the verminous hordes. The mechanism clicked empty, the overheated metal of the barrel glowing hot in the smoky pall.
The description of this repeater handgun is a bit odd. It sounds like it's only got one barrel, but it's also "spinning". Why would a single barrel need to spin? I don't think it's multiple barrels being called a single barrel either, because it's glowing hot, which isn't what you'd expect if each barrel only fired a single shot.
Chapter 7
The assassin peered over the edge, pointing out individuals from the group and directing them down. Wordlessly, they obeyed, spooling out rope from coils beneath their black cloaks. The first to go wrapped the rope under his left thigh and over his right shoulder and backed towards the ledge as Dao himself checked the line was secure. The gutter runner snarled, possibly in prayer, and threw himself tail first from the precipice and rappelled down the sheer chasm.
Sharpwit watched approvingly as the remainder of the advance team followed suit. It was said that the training Clan Eshin agents received was intended to instill loyalty and fellowship as well as martial skill. They were a model that all Skavendom should follow.
This lends a little bit of context to our interaction with Eshin-Friend. Eshin are outright trained to have a measure of fellowship.
Sharpwit smiled but said nothing.
Skaven smile.
Queek tittered as though tickled. The sensation was arresting, as if he were being pulled into the sky by tiny blue faeries.
Seems skaven have their own fairy tales.
He felt the dwarf-thing fading and clutched him tightly to his breast, forcing his bearded and bloodied face into his breastplate.
'There, there, dwarf-thing. You are with Queek now.'
The dwarf struggled, coughing harshly as he inhaled a lungful of warpdust shaken loose from Queek's armour. Suddenly, his struggles grew more acute. He thrashed and jerked in Queek's hold, green-black foam spilling from his nose and mouth, choking his cries to an agonised gargle before that too drowned in the mucilage of his melted lungs. The dwarf's body shuddered one last time and went still, his eyes rolling white into his sockets.
Well damn, I knew breathing in warpstone dust was bad for you but I didn't think it was this immediately lethal. Thought it was more a mutation threat than a lung-melting threat.
I don't know if I'll end up reading more Headtaker, so I'll post this now instead of waiting to accumulate more quotes.
