King Kazador is practically exuberant at the thought of a second or even third battle on the same day.
He's certainly an experience. I can certainly see this dwarf hounding orcs up vertical walls.
Kragg has finally emerged, and on any other day this would cause for the long-delayed showdown between him and Thorek. But the ego of Dwarven Grandmasters are put aside on the verge of battle against their ancestral foes, and the two can be seen examining Kragg's anvil and tutting over remaining imperfections completely imperceptible to any other eye. The one concession Kragg would grant to Thorek is that he has a greater level of battle experience with Anvils of Doom, and thus has had more occasion to perform repairs on the ancient relics. Meanwhile, Thorek's Anvil is being hoisted by gyrocopters atop one of the two tallest towers of the Citadel. You've never even heard of two Anvils being deployed in a single battle, and you're starting to hope that anyone will prove foolish enough to try to get involved.
God, just imagine the papers we could make if that happened.
"Consider," you continue, "what it would take to convince you to charge a fortified Dwarven position. Orcs do so routinely. Before your arrival, they did so multiple times and came uncomfortably close to succeeding in battles that pitched their weaknesses against Dwarven strengths. Right, Johann?"
"Battle of the Citadel, I was almost sure that the line would crumple and the Orcs were going to punch right through to the siege weapons, where I was," he says gravely. "That they didn't was so shocking that King Belegar granted all of them citizenship and named them 'Mountain Guards'. And this was while every projectile we had was accounting for a hundred Orcs a second or more."
"And the Dwarves take both mountains and guards with utter seriousness, so they don't grant titles like that lightly. The Orcs live for violence. They are very good at violence. Their two Gods are based on two different forms of violence. If they get half a chance they'll kill you and they'll enjoy doing so." You look over your shoulder, and are pleased that your students seem to be taking your words with the gravity they deserve. "Even an unexceptional Orc will be stronger than you, tougher than you, and will probably have more combat experience than you, and they only get bigger and nastier from there. It wouldn't surprise me if even with me and Johann watching over you, today will involve me having to heal what would otherwise be a fatal injury."
We're probably going to need to run through an analogue of this lesson with the Skaven next. One thing to pick off Skaven watchposts, another to actually fight a Vermintide.
"But Ulgu can't-" Adela begins, and then cuts herself off.
"It can't heal, no," you say. "Nor can Hubert throw fireballs, nor can Gretel channel lightning. Each of us is part of the Colleges of Magic, and they're spoken of collectively because even though we sometimes squabble, we are allies. Once you've started to impress your betters and spread your name around, I strongly advise you take advantage of that fact. I spent every scrap of Wizardly goodwill that my campaign in Sylvania and my Magisterial graduation earned me on a little something from Panoramia's colleagues, and I'd have died somewhere between once and thrice over these past few years if I hadn't."
Its really good advice to save up some College Favor as a Journeyman for such things.
For Journeymen, that means publishing lots I guess.
[Finding a suitable target: Martial, 62+23+20(mapped Karagril)+10(Windsage)=115.]
Between your mapping of Karagril and your acute magical senses, you're able to find a suitable target for your students. Seven Orcs is a bit much, but Johann's unexpected charge all the way through the chamber and out of sight crash-tackles two of them out of the picture, and a single shot through the forehead takes the total down to four. Slightly outnumbered is usually the best someone could hope for when it came to Orcs, so you nudge your students into action and sit back to observe.
You can just see the "Wut" as they see Magister Johann bodyslam two orcs out of sight.
[Adela vs Orc: Martial, 56+12=68 vs 64+15=79.]
[Hubert vs Orc: Martial, 37+17=54 vs 39+15=54.]
[Gretel vs Orc: Martial, 98+15=113 vs 50+15=65.]
The opening volley of spells prompts the shockingly fast charge that's just one of the many shocks fighting Orcs can deliver, and you observe the unfolding chaos carefully. Adela holds her attacker off with impressively rapid-fire bolts of flame, Hubert's sword clashes with his Orc's choppa in a respectable display of skill, but it's Gretel who excels and cements her status as your favourite as one Orc stares befuddled at his choppa arm hanging limply from his body, as a second has several neat wounds torn through his torso by her summoned scythe.
Decent opener, Hubert is lacking in lethality, though I suppose Azyr doesn't have a lightsaber.
[Adela vs Orc: Martial, 54+12=66 vs 82+15=97.]
[Teacher interrupt: Martial, 26+23=49 vs 52+15-20(unprepared)=47.]
[Hubert vs Orc: Martial, 89+17=106 vs 39+15=54.]
[Gretel vs Orc: Martial, 40+15=55 vs 67+15-10(Limbwither)=72.]
Adela's flaming sword flickers from an underpowered casting as it emerges from her wand, and the second of focus it takes to restore it would have gone very badly for her if your bullet from the darkness hadn't sent the Orc recoiling backwards. What you see of Hubert's swordplay gets your grudging approval as his parry sends the Orc's choppa flying and his blade makes it most of the way through the Orc's chest with a crunch of bone. Meanwhile Gretel's initial advantage is lost as her remaining Orc falls back on the fist of his off-hand, sending the slight girl tumbling backwards.
And a mistake like that could probably have seriously wounded Adela without supervision.
The lightsaber worked on paper, but switching fire modes when already in melee is dangerous. Switch sooner, or don't switch at all.
Hubert on the other hand is competent, but he's not doing damage fast enough I think. Can't be helped with a regular sword.
[Adela vs Orc: Martial, 30+12=42 vs 16+15-10(wounded)=21.]
[Hubert intervention: Martial, 16+17=33]
[Gretel vs Orc: Martial, 56+15-10(bruised and prone)=61 vs 9+15-10(Limbwither)=14.]
Adela's sword pushes her Orc back and starts to burn wounds in its body as Hubert looks uncertainly from one ongoing combat to the other. Gretel rises to her feet at the approach of the Orc and a smooth swing of her scythe divests him of his remaining functional arm, and the Orc looks from missing limb to non-functioning limb and yells in confused outrage.
[Adela vs Orc: Martial, 79+12=91 vs 41+15-20(heavily wounded)=36.]
[Gretel vs Orc: Learning, 9+15-5(bruised)=19.]
[Hubert intervention: Martial, 52+17=79.]
Adela's Orc gives a soft sigh as the fiery blade passes through his chest and slumps downward, his weight tearing the weapon through and out his shoulder.
Needs work but nothing for it except practice.
With one fight well and truly over, Hubert makes up his mind and turns his blade on Gretel's unarmed Orc, striking it down as Gretel fumbles with Shyish trying to tear itself free of her control.
[Gretel attempting to ground miscast: 55.]
[Rolling...]
[Teacher intervenes: Learning, 71+26=97.]
The normal procedure when a student miscasts is to stand back and pray, but recently you've done a fair bit of reading and thinking on the topic of unruly Shyish and you have no fear of Dhar. As the curdling energies within her start to concentrate in her jaw and reality begins to fray, you reach out and press your hand against her cheek, your will unable to prevent the magic from rebelling but able to at least command where it goes. As two awestruck students watch, you tear the miscast spell from Gretel's head and clutch it in your fist, where it immediately comes under the influence of Dwarven Runecraft and ignites into sullen purple flames.
And now for the regularly scheduled Lesson On Miscasts.
A miscast gathering anywhere near her head is super bad news, but it seems we might well be on our way towards a dispel specialist trait.
And of course, the legend grows
"Damn easy to miscast under combat conditions," you say gravely. "What were you trying to do, Gretel?"
She rubs her jaw and takes a few tries before she's able to answer. "Steal Life, Magister," she says in a small voice. "I've done it-"
"Yes, you've done it a dozen or a hundred or a thousand times in controlled conditions." The purple fires burn low as the last of the Shyish corrodes away to Dhar and is destroyed. "Doesn't matter. If you can't give it your entire attention, don't cast a spell if you don't have to. How much damage did the Orc do? Cracked ribs, bruised organs?"
"I think just normal bruises, Magister," she says, carefully rubbing her side.
And thats Gretel having a Serious Think about having nearly blown her head off to heal a bruise.
"If there wasn't a battle tomorrow, I'd say better to let them heal naturally. As is, you should take a moment to clear your head before you start snatching up the life-force of the fallen." You glance around the room. Adela's Orc is dead and so are the two Gretel had faced, but Hubert's is still stubbornly gurgling air through a lung filling with blood. "That one. You've got at least half a minute to clear your head. If you can, attempt the spell again. If you can't, we can find another and you can take your time." As Gretel walks shakily over to the last living Orc, you turn to the other two. "Decent work, Adela. Work on quick casting of that sword, or get your hands on an actual one that you don't need to wrestle with Aqshy to use. Better to be good at one of fireballs and fire-sword than half-good at both. Hubert, good swordplay but don't hesitate in combat. It takes a lot of experience to read a fight at a glance, and if you can't it's better to just pick one and hope it's the one that needs you more than hesitate and help with neither."
Both Adela and Gretel needed that lesson pretty badly I think. Minimum spells to maximum effect in battle is how you not explode.
Gretel Maurer, Journeywoman of the Amethyst Order
Armament: Summoned scythe
Speciality: ???
Mission: Wealth
Martial: 16 - Her talents in combat have begun to blossom.
Learning: 17 - She's whip-smart and very well read in the Lores of Shyish and Morr.
Magic: 3 - She has superb control, but not a lot of power.
Grim Harvester: Gretel has twin talents for deft work with the summoned scythe of Shyish and the manipulation of stolen life-energies.
Morrite: Like many Amethyst Wizards, Gretel worships the God of Death and Dreams.
Unnerving Appearance: Gretel's limbs appear too long for her body.
Known Spells:
Aethyric Armour
Reaping Scythe
Limbwither
And neat, Gretel had gotten what looks like a good melee trait. Either that or a spell mastery.
[Anton rounding up mercenaries: 35]
[Anton getting in touch with a pen-pal: 51]
[Anton convincing Asarnil: 56 vs
71]
[One roll for Dogs of War: 2. Braganza's Besiegers.]
[Other, less notable sellswords: 80]
To your considerable surprise, Anton's ability to regularly produce miracles seems to have failed him, and he wasn't able to convince Asarnil to make an appearance, apparently being outbid by Tzar Vladimir Bokha of Kislev. On top of this, he's returned with only a single regiment of Dogs of War. Has the Baron of Blutdorf lost his silver tongue? Apparently not entirely, you note, as although only the heavily-armoured pavise crossbowmen of Tilea are worth noting, Anton seems to have depopulated a significant portion of the Border Princes by circulating tales of Dwarven generosity. What they lack in skill and discipline they make up for in numbers and value, as it doesn't take all that much Dwarven generosity to outbid the rugged and hostile landscape of the Border Princes.
Nothing too exotic, but a lot of meat.
It'd do.
Mathilde
[ ] MATHILDE: Join the sellswords, who will be going in first.
[ ] MATHILDE: Join the Throng of Karak Azul, who will be going in second.
Good way to score a lot of Protector credit, and stiffen the front with a heroic combatant, but we're mainly our really killy sword here.
[ ] MATHIDLE: On dispel duty for Karagril, avoiding combat and watching for any hostile magics.
We got a bajillion runepriests and journeymen wizards. We're fine.
[ ] MATHILDE: Infiltrate Karagril early, and rampage through enemy lines once battle begins.
Also good for Protector credit, spreading terror would make it much easier on those going in first.
[ ] MATHILDE: Infiltrate Karagril early, and pick off any competent leaders.
Or we can just make sure the civil war never ends.
[ ] MATHILDE: Stay in reserve just outside Karagril, to respond to anything unexpected in the mountain or the caldera.
I think thats what Kragg and Thorek are on.
Not needed. Cautious though.
[ ] MATHILDE: Join the Winter Wolves, who have travelled from Ulrikadrin to dominate the caldera.
[ ] MATHILDE: Stay in reserve in the Citadel, to be ready to rebuff hostile forces or magics from other Karags.
May or may not see battle at all.
Ducklings
[ ] DUCKLINGS: Kept together and going into Karagril with the Dwarves.
This should be reasonably safe, I think.
The dwarf line would keep them from being overwhelmed.
Adela can function as second row fire support without messing around with melee she's not good at, Hubert can play switch hitter and Gretel is actually pretty damned good with the lightsaber.
[ ] DUCKLINGS: Kept together and firing from the Citadel.
This means Gretel sits out the fight. She's melee only.
[ ] DUCKLINGS: Split up and placed with units going into Karagril.
[ ] DUCKLINGS: Split up and placed with units firing from the Citadel.
Not comfortable with them splitting up, they've definitely not shown the capacity to be good enough for that.
[ ] DUCKLINGS: Remaining by your side.
We can supervise them, but I'm pretty sure they don't have the Intrigue to do ridealongs on assassinations, or the ability to disengage like we do.
Maximilian
[ ] MAX: Firing from the Citadel.
Decent option.
[ ] MAX: Firing from a gyrocopter.
Really awesome.
[ ] MAX: On dispel duty for Karagril.
[ ] MAX: On dispel duty for the caldera.
Probably not needed.
[ ] MAX: Remaining by your side.
Definitely not.
Johann
[ ] JOHANN: Joining the siege weapon teams.
Not sure how much use the engines will be seing this battle.
[ ] JOHANN: Fighting in melee in Karagril.
This could be good if we assign the ducklings to the melee I think.
[ ] JOHANN: On dispel duty for Karagril.
[ ] JOHANN: On dispel duty for the caldera.
Plenty of runepriests.
[ ] JOHANN: Remaining by your side.
He actually DOES have the survivability to contribute to an assassination run. Quite a bit more overt once we start killing orcs though.
Conclusion:
[ ] MATHILDE: Infiltrate Karagril early, and pick off any competent leaders.
[ ] DUCKLINGS: Kept together and going into Karagril with the Dwarves.
[ ] MAX: Firing from a gyrocopter.
[ ] JOHANN: Fighting in melee in Karagril.
[ ] Set it to the Protector, so that all will know your exploits.
My thought is that Mathilde woul doppelganger up and continue killing orcs while pretending to be orc. They'd take a while to figure out and if it goes well they'd still be infighting when the dwarves get in.
The Ducklings should be okay in melee, as long as they stay together. Adela's fire support strategy can work if shes behind a sturdy dwarf line instead of out by herself.
And Johann goes to the front line where he's as tanky as any dwarf unit, and can keep an eye on the ducklings.
