Keep in mind the action categories are for organizational purposes only. They don't hold inherent meaning.
So our task:
"If you can figure out a means of communication that works after your Gorzhufokri leave and find them a place behind our defences that doesn't let them crawl into anyone's beds if they're of a mind, they can stay. Otherwise, point them into the Underway with a hearty goodbye."
We have two tasks:
1) Figure out a means of communications that don't rely on two temporary employees. We have a few turns to do this before Esbern and Seija wander off, and we have, Word of Boney, the option to try to retain them before they go.
1.1) Actions which directly advance this:
[ ] Current Task: Have Maximilian teach the We written Reikspiel.
[ ] Current Task: Have Johann teach the We written Reikspiel.
[ ] Teach the We written Khazalid.
[ ] Teach the We written Reikspiel.
[ ] Teach the We Dwarven semaphore.
[ ] Deliver King Belegar's request to the College for a translation item (does not cost an action).
[ ] Request the translation item yourself (does not cost an action; converts 3 College Favour to Dwarf Favour).
As a non-urgent task we do not need to take more than one action in this category, and have a few turns to hash something out.
Actions which indirectly advance this:
2) Resettle the Spiders somewhere thats not a dwarf housing estate. OR send them off with our regards.
2.1) Actions which directly advance this:
[ ] Help the We establish their new nest below the Citadel.
[ ] Help the We establish their new nest below Karag Lhune.
[ ] Help the We establish their new nest below Karag Nar.
2.2) Actions which indirectly/circumstantially advance this:
[ ] Allow him to spend all his time investigating Clan Mors.
[ ] You've mapped the territory of Clan Mors. Go down there and cause some havoc.
[ ] You've mapped the territory of Clan Mors. Go down there and see what you can acquire.
If we settle the spiders into Citadel zone, disrupting Clan Mors lets the spiders get established better.
[ ] Investigate underneath Karag Lhune: the Lhune Deeps and the Grand Abyss.
If we settle the spiders into Karag Lhune, this helps identify what food sources they can tap and what threats they need to beware of.
[ ] The Second Secret of Dhar teaches how to collapse it upon itself. Practice upon local Dhar taint, and see if this works with Warpstone.
If we settle the spiders into the Citadel zone AND take actions to disrupt Clan Mors. Explodifying their warpstone may potentially help. A lot of ifs here though.
Actions in the Current category which doesn't actually advance the mission:
[ ] Current Task: Have Maximilian perform or assist with spider autopsies.
[ ] Current Task: Have Maximilian investigate the properties of the spiders' webs.
[ ] Current Task: Have Johann perform or assist with spider autopsies.
[ ] Current Task: Have Johann investigate the properties of the spiders' webs.
[ ] Study the webs the We produce.
[ ] Perform a series of autopsies upon the corpses of the We; they have confirmed they are okay with this, and would otherwise simply eat them.
None of these actually advance the task, these are academic curiosities to write papers for OR determine what other ways we can benefit from spiderfriends.
Now, heres the thing:
At the moment the two leading plans spread us about doing a dozen different things, some of which I judge to be very risky; it just so happens that one of those is in my opinion less risky than the other. Not that is' good, but that if we fail at a number of things in it it puts less on the table. But they each have way too many moving parts doing way too many different things.
Doing a dozen different things is a given. We cannot directly place multiple actions into an activity. We can choose multiple options, but its also not just the sum of their cumulative probabilities either.
We are expected to invest between 2 to 4 actions into a task, including subordinate tasks.
This turn that means we have only 2 directly contributing actions, which cannot be taken with variants of themselves for obvious reasons:
-Teach Spiders X language with Y character.
-Help Spiders migrate to X location.
So how do we get that last 2 actions for full commitment?
You take actions which can logically project support.
We can help with the language task by assigning multiple characters to it, which can grant a second roll to succeed. However the language task is only urgent on the 2-3 turn range, not the 1 turn range, and Max/Johann cooperation is poor enough to potentially backfire. So nothing there.
So whats left is helping the spiders migrate.
How then, can we help them migrate?
What are the failure points?
-The spiders leaving the Chiselwards isn't a problem, and it is unlikely that they are interrupted moving to the Citadel, the Valley is already walled off so the trolls won't come, and the halflings in the valley are just going to give Mathilde a bemused look as she goes spiderherding.
-Settling into the Citadel basement shouldn't be a major problem. There are complications in that there are vaults and stuff down there, but theres no dwarves living there and spiders currently only value food and don't care about metal or tools.
-Starting up the spiders hunting for food is a potential failure point. If they can't acquire Many-Food, the alliance is poof. We do not have enough in the way of herd animals to feed them that way yet. If the food is too good at fighting back, the spiders might not reach the numbers needed to outskaven the Skaven.
--Therefore, we can help by weakening the food in the area they are in. Skaven without flamethrowers are really a terrible match against giant spiders.
Net result:
3 actions directly contributing to job taken: 2 translation actions, and 1 resettlement action.
2 actions taken supporting the resettlement action. As indirect assistance we can count it as half-an-action towards the job, because we're getting other stuff done while doing them too.
Investment level perceived: 4 actions. A respectable effort, if things go wrong it cannot reasonably be said that Mathilde could have tried harder than this..
