Having +1 armour from our aytheric armour is not a waste nor is the duration of a lot of our spells getting bumped a waste. Magic 8 is very useful. Not to mention making all our spells more easily cast in difficult circumstances. Higher magic means there will be less circumstances where we need to roll for using non-battle magic spells.
Honestly, we should probably try to poach Julia. A subordinate whose dedicating their full time to it can get a lot more done and she has the experience in leading a spy network. We also know she can be trusted. More than that, her ambition was basically to turn Stirland into the empire's centre of trade. She'd love to get in on the position.
More magic improves everything. Well not quite everything but it improves a lot of spells and it also means that narratively Mathilde is a lot better at magic.
Couple that with getting a staff in a few turns and she's going to be in the ballpark of Magic 9 or the equivalent of a lvl III wizard in the tabletop which is the domain of wizard lords.
And how much of Stirland's budget is drawn from EIC taxes and taxes collected by the EIC? And those that steal from the company are easily turned into agents of others. Greed of a middle manager, can quickly turn to treason when a vamp learns of his theft and blackmails him.
I dunno. I think good intrigue stat and corresponding talents are more useful here, and a perpetual is unlikely to have that kind of expertise or experience.
I think I already have my ideal anti-vampire infiltration specialist: Gretel. She may need a bit of tutoring in the management side of things, but she has great promise.
Gretel's a journeywoman though, so she may not be up for sticking around long term. Julia meanwhile lives for the intrigue and her goal aligns with the EIC's.
I don't see it. Gretel is a thief build. There is a difference between that and a proper spy-master. Julia has been a spy-master for about a decade, is a noble, has a trade background, isn't distracted by magic and potentially comes with her own pre-existing apparatus.
Hm, from the description of when Mathilde bought another gun, and stopped wearing a greatsword sheath because she didn't need it anymore, I believe that Mathilde usually wears snug clothes rather than loose and billowy.
"Though a pair of under-robe shoulder holsters had some popularity amongst the Grey College, ever since you began learning the greatsword you've favoured practical snug tailoring secured with belts instead of the loose and billowy robes that would allow easy access to a hidden arsenal, though your accurate and conveniently slim Marksdwarf's pistol does find a home within an inner pocket."
Might want to run sweep of the EIC just for the sake of it sometime plus I think there was some issue with Wilhelmina sons may want to make sure that did not blow up.
Gretel's a journeywoman though, so she may not be up for sticking around long term. Julia meanwhile lives for the intrigue and her goal aligns with the EIC's.
We have a lot to offer her, though. Her leaving after getting to magister is not a given, if she doesn't want to - as is her reaching magister status at all. Remember, fir all her badassery, she seems to be realtively weak magically, and may in fact never reach magical power expected of a magister. And she has a much higher potential. It is no sure thing, but I would like to try.
We have a lot to offer her, though. Her leaving after getting to magister is not a given, if she doesn't want to - as is her reaching magister status at all. Remember, fir all her badassery, she seems to be realtively weak magically, and may in fact never reach magical power expected of a magister. And she has a much higher potential. It is no sure thing, but I would like to try.
I don't think I want Gretel as full time EIC person - Wizards might be good at management/analysis/handling, but imo, due to scarcity, they tend to be better as agents rather than paperwork people. (Maybe one or two of the easy spells in a lore might be handy).
There are probably a bunch of non-wizards that we can get the college of Shadows/college of Light/other, to send to us that they say can be trusted for the roles - I was wondering just if a pupetual would have a useful spell or two.
I would want to finish up the spell list because having an intimidator that does not cause our shadow to go killing is helpful and cloak activity is useful with the coin. After that I would want to start mastering the spell list starting with petty magics I see no point in going to battle magic now and would rather focus on mastery of all spells and enchantment.
[*]Plan gemkeeping
-[*] GARNET: Cede
-[*] GEM: Claim and research
-[*] COINS: Cede
-[*] VAT: Send to College and split
-[*] QUEEK:Claim
[*] PET: A puppy, of a smaller but non-ratting breed.
[*] BOOK: Rarer Dwarven books on the Ogre Kingdoms.
Pending actions:
-[*] MAX: Study an artefact: Skaven book on the Anatomy of Chaos Dwarves.
-[*] EIC: Have the Eight Peaks branch keep a careful eye on the mood and actions of the Undumgi.
-[*] Travel to the Grey College and attend lessons there. (1 College Favour per class; 100gc can be paid instead for non-magical classes)
--[*] Spend 10 Favour to get all remaining spells.
-[*] Supply a steady stream of Queekish documents for him to translate, and carefully check the results for consistency.
--[*] Convince Qrech that the Empire has already translated Queekish, but his help could provide a faster turnaround and better help you plan an attack on Clan Mors.
-[*] Serenity: Write a paper: Your personal understanding of countering Waaagh Magic.
-[*] Penthouse: Add security measures to your Penthouse to prevent surreptitious entry.
-[*] The Deceiver: Support Skaven Gambit.
To Gretel's delight, you pass over the material wealth in favour of the unknowns of the black gem and the vat of organs, the latter of which is sent to the Colleges for someone with more time on their hands to poke at.
---
Though your previous experience with canines are limited to working dogs and whatever it is that Wolf is, your need for one that will be content sharing even a roomy cell with their companion leads you further afield to the lap-dogs of the nobility. After some thought you bypass the currently-in-vogue Bretonnian Phalène in favour of the less energetic Spaniel Gentle, an offshoot of fowling Spaniels more comfortable with dozing with their owner than diving into a lake to fetch a shot duck. The books can be introduced the customary way accompanying Qrech's meals, but introducing a puppy the same way is likely to result in a fat puppy and no meal, so you do so in person instead.
Though he seems thankful but relatively unmoved, when you leave the cell and the newly-supplied curtain swings back into place, your observations reveal a different side of the Skaven as he chatters in Queekish to it while bribing it with food he'd stashed away in his bed-nest. Puppy appetite eventually trumps its wariness towards an oversized bipedal rat, and soon enough Qrech's claws are gently scratching the spaniel behind its ears and it's quickly won over. You make a mental note to install a flap when Qrech is next asleep so that Wolf can take the pup for a walk every few days, and trickle your stash of stolen Clan Mors correspondence in over the coming weeks. Sure enough, Qrech's plates (now licked clean by the spaniel) are soon accompanied by translations, and you subject them to careful examination, first to ensure they're consistent and then to extract any useful information they might contain.
[Rolling...]
Clan Mors' situation, you discover, is better than they appeared during your raids. Most of their forces are rebuffing the constant assaults from Karak Drazh, and between the Clan's discipline, fortifications, overlapping fields of fire and a stockpile of ammunition they've been building up for centuries, they're doing damn well to the point where they're actually gaining more in food than they're losing in clanrats and supplies. With an inside perspective, their piecemeal defence against Clan Skryre is revealed as a deliberately elastic defence, ensuring only the least useful or favoured Skaven are exposed to surprise attacks from Skryre technosorcery, and with the element of surprise lost, a response can be tailored to whatever devilry Clan Skryre has brought forward this time. And Clan Eshin has been remarkably uninvolved, though Clan Mors doesn't realize it since they've been attributing to them the attrition of the We and the raids you and your fellow wizards have been engaged on. A stalemate, then. Though if the Red Fang become distracted and Clan Eshin remains on the sidelines, Clan Mors would be able to turn their full force on Clan Skryre. You pass the information on to Dreng and King Belegar, and then see to turning it into the beginning of a lexicon.
[Building a lexicon: Learning, 89+26+9(Library: Linguistics)+5(Strategy - Skaven)=129]
Clan Mors, more than just about any other Skaven clan, focuses on the fundamentals of warfare rather than a niche speciality, and it shows. The reports flowing between the Skaven leadership and the outposts are detailed and varied, and the beginnings of a lexicon starts to come together, and as he reaches the end of what you've got to pass on to him, you've developed an understanding of basic sentence structure and developed a rather broad dictionary of Queekish military terminology. It's not an entire language, but it's undeniably useful - not just to any future intelligence operations against the Skaven, but also for Max and his long slog through the anatomy textbook.
[Max vs textbook: Learning, 3+17+10(Patient)+6(Library: Anatomy)=36.]
Which he desperately needs, because without a basic framework to build upon he's definitely struggling. With a foundation of grammar and common words, he throws out his accumulated notes and begins anew.
[Max vs textbook, round 2: Learning, 21+17+10(Patient)+10(Queekish foundation)+6(Library: Anatomy)=64.]
It's still a long, slow process, but slow is better than stationary. Like a jigsaw where each piece needs to be hand-carved from a block of featureless wood, fragments of information begin to emerge from the text.
---
With time much more at a premium than your influence within the Colleges, you expend enough of your accumulated goodwill to bend the schedule to your will. When you arrive at Altdorf, it's with the full knowledge that every moment of your time here will be spent fruitfully, rather than wasting time waiting for things to line up.
[Learn Cloak Activity: Learning, 23+26=49.]
Cloak Activity is not, in theory, a difficult spell. But it is one that by definition requires you to split your attention. You can maintain it well enough when you give it your full concentration, but when you try to do something else - and there's no point to the spell if you're not doing something else - it frays at the edges before collapsing in on itself. You're right on the cusp of grasping it, you know you are, but with your schedule so efficiently filled there's no more time to give. You curse your own hubris and move on.
Shroud of Invisibility proves much simpler, as it proves similar to Substance of Shadow, but much easier to maintain. This proves to be a mixed blessing, because while it does mean that most of what you know from Substance of Shadow is directly applicable, that's not the same as all. You slip into the habits you picked up from the more complex spell one too many times, and as you ground what you can of a malformed spell and cough up thick grey clouds of billowing fog that flickers between real and unreal, you notice how drawn to you it seems, and later discover it's apparently universal to any sort of visible gas or vapour. You take the lesson on overconfidence to heart, and thoroughly memorize the process for casting Shroud of Invisibility before resuming practice, and you're able to finally fill that gap in your arsenal.
[Arcane Mark acquired: Mantle of Mist]
[Learn Illusion: Learning, 41+26+20(Partial)=87.]
[Learning Universal Confusion: Learning, 90+26+20(Partial)=136.]
You're also able to wrap up some unfinished business from Illusion, finishing off what the lessons you took a year ago started without any trouble, but you're not sure you're able to say the same for Universal Confusion. Though you're quickly able to successfully cast the spell, you're not immediately able to keep the spell from immediately being drawn back to you until it becomes dense enough to collapse into a cloud of bewildering fog. It takes a fair bit of work to finally manifest the spell as it should be, and then a little more to study the interesting possibilities of the spell as it has entwined itself with your latest Arcane Mark.
[Mastery acquired: Universal Confusion]
[+1 Magic due to total spells learned]
---
With Max splitting his time between the massive chalkboard on one wall and the nest of pillows he's built next to the fireplace, you've no need to pull rank to commandeer the desk in the Room of Serenity and you settle yourself in amongst the gentle trickle of water and the occasional gentle chorus of chalk in use to write what may be the most influential paper of your career thus far. The magic of the Waaagh has proven far too alien for anyone to wrap their mind around and instead attempts at countering or dispelling it ended up being a contest of raw power, and with greenskin Shamans empowered by the Waaagh field their allies generate and lacking any sense of self-preservation in the heat of combat, it's a contest that rarely goes well for human spellcasters. But you've had an inside glimpse of the mind of Mork Himself, and have successfully applied cunning instead of brutality to spells of the Waaagh on multiple occasions. You take a deep breath, flex your quill hand, and begin.
It's... okay. It definitely communicates some of what you're trying to say and would prove useful to anyone going up against the greenskin and their Shamans. But in a haunting reminder of your very first paper, you know that just out of reach is something earth-shaking, something brilliant. "Max," you say, breaking the companionable silence that has dominated the room for weeks. "Take a look at this."
In the strange time-dilation that takes hold when something you wrote is being read, you wait impatiently for Max to weigh in. "Why are you doing it backwards?" he asks, confused.
"What do you mean?"
"You're starting from the actual magic and then breaking it down into the foundational elements over the course of the paper. You're not trying to prove how it works, you're trying to show where it's weak. Lay out the groundwork and then use the actual magic as demonstrations of the principles."
You ponder his words for half a second, then give a hurried "thanks" as you grab the paper back and scrabble through the drawers to find a pair of scissors to rearrange the attempt into a draft of a proper paper, as Max returns to his cushion nest with a satisfied smile.
As the year 2481 comes to a close, you split your attention between your Penthouse and the Karag that it sits upon. The Undumgi are on the verge of being granted the same rights and recognition of any Dwarven Clan, and the would-be Thane is in the pocket of the EIC. This could be either an incredible opportunity or a complete disaster, and you want to find out in advance if things start trending towards the latter. A few letters here, a few words in the right ears there, and without any visible changes the EIC presence starts soaking up and forwarding information on the hybrid society it is immersed in.
The Dwarves crawling through your living quarters are certainly deferential, but it's more than slightly irritating to have them tearing through your newly-acquired comforts, especially when they take your beloved bathroom out of operation for a week. You hold your complaints and are rewarded for doing so as you observe the new and improved boiler, which at the pull of a lever will close off the pipes to the baths and open them up towards almost-invisible nozzles scattered throughout the hallways approaching and throughout your domain, and a mere minute later a series of dormant Runes will have awoken and turned the comfortably warm water into highly-pressurized steam, ready to spray into whichever hallways the control console dictates, and the controls are keyed to your magical signature. Since you share that with Wolf, you ensure the activation glyphs are large and sensitive enough to be operated with paws.
That represents the limitations of their creativity; Dwarves dedicated to fortifications tend to be distrustful of novelty and instead put their faith in good solid steel and stone. Tasteful wooden doors are replaced with solid and intimidating Dwarven steel, complete with hidden openings to allow for peeking out or harrying any besiegers with gun or spell. The main entrance's door is even more intimidating, and its keyhole has the sole purpose of magically alerting you to any attempt to pick it. Actual ingress is gained through Runes quite similar to the ones on the control console, and the Dwarves gravely applied the same process to a rather smaller door for Wolf to come and go freely through. A keen eye might be able to spot the ceiling recesses, but a portcullis needs no element of surprise, especially when enhanced by a few members of Thorek's ever-useful swarm of apprentices. These are not only restricted to the entrance of your Penthouse, but also to each and every window of the lovely 360-degree view your Penthouse boasts, complete with steel shutters behind them in case any exterior attackers have any cheeky ideas about guns or bows. The spiral staircase leading up to the towers is made able to retract upwards, leaving any attacker with the problem of how to ascend a vertical shaft.
It's not perfect - to Dwarves, fortification is a process that continues over centuries - but it's far more secure than it was, and as long as you or Wolf are there to defend it, it could easily hold out long enough to deal with any distractions that might be keeping reinforcements from the rest of the Karak from reaching you. You've still yet to decide whether that's sufficient, or whether you should go further and aim for the ability to withstand a prolonged and determined siege. But you can certainly worry less about attempted infiltrations and opportunistic attacks.
You also find the time to check in with the We, and while the Priestess of Esmerelda has still yet to find any way of communicating her deity into terms the We can understand, she has built on previous success to the extent that they now completely understand the idea that each individual human, Halfling and Dwarf are distinct entities, though they're still preoccupied with how terrifying it must be to be limited to a single body. From that foundation, she's gradually making her way in the direction of the concepts of barter and value, instead of measuring everything in terms of nutrients and energy as they currently do. You certainly can't call her progress quick, but with your time and attention elsewhere you can't really say whether she's managing gradual success in the face of overwhelming odds or just delivering mediocrity.
While being able to start negotiating a price is still some way away, they have realized that their silk is of some sort of value to their strange new allies, and where they'd normally devote excess production to an ever-growing maze of defensive silk they're instead leaving it by the defensive walls for the Dwarves to bring up with them as their shifts end.
---
Thus concludes the work Mathilde performed these past months, but not every waking moment was filled with work. With whom did she spend her free time, this past year? The five with the most votes will be chosen, not counting those locked in.
[+] The Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks (locked in)
[+] EIC Results (locked in; does not cost an action)
[ ] King Belegar, as he arranges for Clan Ironspike to rejoin their ancestral home from Karak Hirn.
[ ] Prince Gotri, who is enhancing the underground defences of the Karak.
[ ] Princess Edda, as she oversees the reopening of a long-dormant silver mine north of Death Pass.
[ ] Prince Kazrik, as he builds on his relationship with Nuln.
[ ] Gunnars, to see if you can pierce his terse nature.
[ ] Gretel, who's apparently spending her newly-earned wealth to make herself at home.
[ ] Max, during the few breaks in the silence as the two of you worked on Queekish in the Room of Serenity.
[ ] Titus Muggins, who's returned to farming with every avenue of attack defended.
[ ] Elder Hluodwica, as the Halflings prepare for their first proper harvest festival in this new home.
[ ] Francesco Caravello, proud leader of the Undumgi and possible future Thane.
[ ] Oswald Oswaldson, newly-minted Chief Bombardier of the Undumgi.
[ ] Soizic, newly elevated to military leader of the Undumgi.
[ ] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart, as the new home of the Winter Wolves takes shape.
[ ] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.
[ ] Karak Hirn, to satisfy your curiosity about Prince Ulthar.
[ ] Roswita, as she campaigns through Hunger Wood.
[ ] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[ ] Anton, to see how his firearm factory is going.
[ ] Wilhelmina, to see how she's going when she's not a terrifying financial juggernaut.
[ ] Julia, to see what she has gotten up to as Stirland's most experienced spy master.
[ ] The Amber College, to see how your donation of Lustrian eggs is going.
[ ] Investigate the aftermath of the Empire's campaigns against the Skaven in Nuln and Ubersreik.
[ ] Investigate the aftermath of Bretonnia's campaigns against the Skaven in Mousillon and the Black Chasm.
[ ] Kragg, who's begun to be seen around the Karak once more, indicating he might be finishing his study of the rune-axe you and Johann found.
[ ] Check in on the Gong Farmers and the Niter Factory.
[ ] Check in on your fief in Stirland.
[ ] Other (write in)
Additionally, would the thread choose to sacrifice one social action each turn to be replaced with someone else initiating an extended interaction with Mathilde? This will reduce the thread's control over her free time, but will grant some agency to other characters. If the vote results in 'yes', it will go into effect on the next social turn.
[ ] Yes, have one social interaction be initiated by someone other than Mathilde.
[ ] No, the social actions should remain as they currently are.
- There is a one hour voting moratorium for the purposes of suggested additions or anything I've forgotten. I've taken to adding 'pending' favour options to the list; these won't change your rewards for them, but will give you an extended view of these occurrences and allow you to be present for any headpats you may have earned. Otherwise, they will be summarized in a handful of lines once they've fully played out.
- I've added a locked-in EIC results to this list entirely to keep me from forgetting them. This does not change how many social interactions you will have.
- This is the final magic increase available through filling out the spellbook.
A 20+ base intrigue while being still young and malleable (and open for getting traits in new areas) , for starters?
I think Julia was around 16, with all traits - while we had decent rappiot, she was just a moderately competent employee, nothing more. She was good - for Stirland, that is.
Gretel is just good, period, and young enough to re-specify herself.
Plus, she is an Amethist. There are no better counter-vampire specialists.
I am not sure getting Julia is all that realistic.
She is currently powerful (she has only two real superiors), influental, enjoying the fruits of that influence if Boney's remarks are to go by, probably considerably wealthy and is about to witness the fullfillment of her life's dream - Stirland as a trade nexus.
You will notice that tbe option of contacting Julia only says that we will be trying to have her tell us some info on the side.
If we want a spymaster, we will probably have to find a new one, possibly by the same way we found Julia (ie choosing from multiple candidates).
A different tangent: while there are no doubts more prolific authors in the Colleges, I doubt that there are many who wrote so much tactically-relevant papers in such a short time. So while we only contribute a small portion of total papers written by wizards, we contribute much greater portion of papers read by the generals (even if we take into account engineering and other non-magical papers).
I'll say it here so that when I inevitably forget someone can remind me: I intend to add to the next social vote a subvote along the lines of 'do you want to sacrifice one of your social actions to add a 'mystery box' option where some other character instigates an extended interaction with Mathilde?' It would go some way as to solving the 'only Mathilde has agency' problem without adding to my workload.
Invent your own Battle Magic by combining your masteries. Create Avatar of Ulgu/Warrior of Fog/Shadow Knight Battle Spell.
Possible Synergy: Figure out Theurgy first, and name it Shadowy/Mist Protector/Guardian. Make it Ranald's ultimate new spell. Ranald is already close to Ulgu. Giving him a spell that turns the greatest of his priests into a Intangible Knight mounted on a steed of shadows, with an aura of Dread and Confusion would rock.
Yeah, I'll add this, slightly modified. I think I'm going to lower the requirements of adding a plan also, as I think it will promote engagement and make sure good ideas aren't forgotten.
I think we actually hit Magic 8. Since the below quote, we have learned 5 spells: Throttling, Shadow Knives, Shroud of Invisibility, Illusion, and Universal Confusion. @BoneyM, Is this correct?
Mathilde needs to learn five more spells to get the final point of magic available for learning spells. Stick with that. The magic system has gone through a lot of changes throughout the quest and I'm not enthusiastic about trying to retcon it all into one all-encompassing system.
I wonder why Eshin aren't active against Mors? Are they just letting Skyre soak up the casualties before they steal credit for the final kill, or is there something more to it?
