Regarding library topics: Skaven, obviously, since we can get that last point without spending Favour. Anatomy, also obviously, since getting +3 more on that just costs gold and it's been assisting the translation dicerolls. Beastmen and Chaos Mutants are out, since the stuff about how they mutate into what they are is classified. Dragons are probably worth picking up to some extent, just in case we get pulled in to consult on that topic (and in case we want to post a bounty for dragonbone). We should get Dwarf books on the Aethyr, to flesh that topic out. Do we want Physics or additional Chemistry stuff, for AV testing? It didn't modify dicerolls last time, but it did come up in narration.
(Keep in mind that because of our library stipend, it makes sense to make smaller purchases of only-what-we-expect-to-deal-with-next-turn, rather than buying a ton of stuff at once that will come in handy eventually.)
If we are talking about next turn purchases I'd like to push buying an item of Cleansing Glow, which can be used to cleanse Mathilde of smoke when she is sneaking.
So if she is forced to traverse an area with a lot of smoke she can just use the item and continue sneaking.
Dwarf Reputation: 64
Dwarf Favours: 19
Due to the icy relationship between High King Thorgrim and King Belegar, favours cannot be spent at Karaz-a-Karak.
If you're just taking on an apprentice of your own, just indicate that you're willing to take on one and you can start considering new Apprentices as they enter the College. If you mean an entirely new branch of the College, you'd need quite a few Magisters in residence and a reason why Eight Peaks would be preferable to the much more central Altdorf.
There isn't one really, beyond players thinking it would be cool. It's by no means a universal opinion though - I rather think it'd be tedious to manage, and it would pretty mch have to consume the lion's share of our attention.
Also caveat emptor, there'd be a roll to see the quality of what you get and a very low roll might result in Totally Legit Dragon Bones™, fresh from the plasterworks of Ostermark.
Now that really is a grudging, we might not have the time to track them down and smite them for the insult if she doesn't uncover the deception immediately, but Mathilde should be careful enough to verify the bones before exchanging large sums of cash for it
Really if they're stupid enough to try and cheat a Grey Magister who holds a high position and esteem amongst a dwarf hold they deserve whatever we do to them
Actually wrong way round. This is a premodern society. Everyone uses fires constantly, for cooking, making drinks, making weapons, keeping warm, for light.
Intelligent creatures smelling smoke would dismiss it because they are constantly smelling smoke, it actually helps with stealth to smell of smoke instead of smelling of human sweat in a place with no humans.
Animals on the other hand, don't expect to smell smoke at all frequently and would be alarmed.
Huh, you know I never thought of it that way
Actually, unless it's really pungent, and it shouldn't be most of the time especially if she takes care of it even semi regularly, the smell could even be considered pleasant depending, at the very least it really wouldn't be distinctly unpleasant
I think this might be the pessimistic setting kicking in again; reeking of smoke, for this quest at least if the attractive force isn't so powerful as to overpower all other forces acting on the smoke, given how the universal confusion mastery works, that shouldn't be the case
Careful with meteoric rises - the last person to blast up the ranks so quickly was Van Horstmann, and that's not necessarily something we want to be compared to...
-distant future I'm going to have to roll a will check to keep van Horstmann from being entirely loyal to the Empire and an overall charming and helpful person just to fuck with the thread, and that's going to have a really high DC.
Van Horstmann is actually really bad for us to fight because of Van Horstmann's Speculum. Basically, if you're good at swording, he goes lol, nope, now I'm good at swording, and you're shit.
Again if we go by the Special Characters book we got Kragg from he's a way better fighter. Especially as you remember the speculum switches the attacks too. His stats in that have him at S5 T5 I8 with A5. Switching would make Mathilde way more dangerous.
yea i used old statlines from when he was still just a wizard, or from when he was only slightly chaos championed. The statline you're using also comes with a chaos dragon, if i'm not mistaken...
There isn't one really, beyond players thinking it would be cool. It's by no means a universal opinion though - I rather think it'd be tedious to manage, and it would pretty mch have to consume the lion's share of our attention.
eh, it'd be a good branch for several things:
1. Celestials being high in mountains
2. Goldies being close to dwarfs - or any other mage who is into engineering.
3. No Conspiracy of Silence, so can talk about Skaven all day long with dwarfs.
4. If someone wants to go into Cathay or start exploring Darklands, K8P is a better base of operations than Altdorf.
It can be a useful position for Colleges to have; won't be the main campus, of course, but having an 'outpost' like this can be handy.
If various ducklings keep coming in K8P in search of their own missions, then it'd be just formalization of the trend more than anything, really.
yea i used old statlines from when he was still just a wizard, or from when he was only slightly chaos championed. The statline you're using also comes with a chaos dragon, if i'm not mistaken...
This...probably doesn't count as a 'sneak peek', as opposed to just adding in something we knew about, but just in case, i'll spoiler the minor addition to the org sheet:
I think we already knew that 1. Gerber was involved with the factory, and 2. they were trying for repeater rifles, so no new info, but does confirm that they at least managed that much; It'll be interesting to see if they did in fact manage to go with the 'rotating cylinder like revolver, instead of rotating barrels like the existing repeater rifles' design gerber was interested in
Edit: for anyone who has forgotten, Gerber was one of Anton's suitors, the one for whom the solution was 'Anton gets a gun and distracts from flirting by asking for help at the firing range when she shows up '. Also, relevant WoG:
Nuln rifles are the current standard for Empire handgunners, and are single-shot muzzle-loading flintlocks, similar to the 'Brown Bess' rifle.
Thunderer rifles are breech-loading single-shot guns, like a larger caliber and all-metal Ferguson rifle. IRL these required advances in machining technology, but the Dwarves manage it by being extremely precise.
Reinhild Gerber, the Engineer working on the factory, has ideas for a revolver rifle that only revolves the chamber instead of having separate barrels for each shot like the existing Repeater Rifles. These never really took off IRL because the way you aim a rifle means your face is right next to the chamber, and a revolver mechanism means you get a gunpowder explosion right next to your face.
Im pretty sure battle magic items would be worth the favors . Especially if u get the good battle magic ones . Wouldnt hate trying to learn the flying steed battlemagic tough to be even more mobile as a action or two.
Hell we could get battle magic items from other winds aswell i think since the grey battle magic is abit meh. Outside the one we know and the pit thing i think.
Looking forward to the skaven campaign news tough.
War. Carnage. All the things that should be expected in a scrum to the death involving greenskins fighting dwarves fighting greenskins fighting greenskins fighting humans.
"SONS OF MEN, RALLY!"
Of the last group, the most unproven and gold-greedy of them are the first into the breach. Unlike the get of Undumgi with their gleaming silvery spears daubed with runes ancient and thought forgotten, these are the Dogs of War. Hounds and whoresons one and all, these eclectic mix bleed to ensure their paymasters don't.
Well, normally that'd be the case.
"DAWI, CHARGE!!"
For two years, the Throng of Karak Azul yearned to wet their weapons with the blood and gore Greenskins and Ratfolk. For two years, they satiated themselves only with the meagre skirmishes and probes from enemies high and low all too scared and too disorganized to brave hails of cannonfires and more.
And so, as the ranks of men braced themselves against a charge of Big Uns, the ranks of dwarves who they were supposed to be protecting made a counter-charge from the flanks, hacking away with alacrity and vigour many of their kins have forgotten.
And perhaps if some of the more infinitesimally irreplaceable Dwarves of Karak Azul died... then that's that. "Ohohohoho, what's this lads, we got ourselves some green boys in here." Torches aplenty lit the high - for dwarven standards - room, illuminating the two sides of the fight. One side, roughly armed and coarse. The other, Orks. The 'Tattered Tits' are but one of the many bands dragged from the Border Princes by the woven words of one Anton Kiesinger II with the backings of dwarven gold aplenty. This particular rugged band is led by one Carten Estrazza, a particular rough-mouthed nobody who would perhaps one day die with a blade sticking out of his gut.
"'n wots it to ya?" The other side is much better armed, for a wonder. The mines of Karagril have fallen for a millennia and more and used to the benefit of those who oppose Order. The results show themselves. Heavily armed orks with unpolished silvery metals, this group - about three dozens of them - would be an un-insignificant roadblock for a good number of conventional opponents.
"Your heads looks fetching, chickenshit." That earned a ripple of anger. For as uninventive and unoriginal as he is, Estrazza have the gift of the gab that all but the most weak of mercenary leaders have, the capacity rile up opponents aplenty. "Them Dwarves paid good gold for your heads and also, can you let my lads polish those dull blade of yours? I'd imagine," The rasp of steel exiting their scabbards rippled throughout the ranks of the Tits. "That Orkish offals make for good polish, eh?"
"Well come and get." And with that unamused end and a bellowing roar, the scrum begins in earnest. "Arrer Boyz coming up, boss."
"Ah, target practice. Roman, set up your newbies in front, this is as best a training session we'll get here."
"Sir!" Roman Spackenkill nodded to Braganza as he rapped his sheathed axe on the pavises mounted on his charges' backs. "Right you rank shits, time for you to earn your keep. Luc," At that, he rapped the axe at one particular Besieger with force. "What danger Arrer Boyz pose at us?" At that cue, an errant arrow plinked right at the top of the section commander's head, to no effect on the plate.
"Minimal, Lieutenant! Their arrows are crude, their aim worse than a Sartosan's attempt at morning piss, but their strength is just about as strong as our crossbows." As if on cue, one of the milling mercenaries near the Braganzans - mingling like carrions following the paths of true Dogs of War - found Morr's embrace from an arrow that struck clean through his throat, mercifully dying instantly even if the manner of death is disquieting and gruesome in equal measure.
"Excellent. Paulus, the countermeasures?"
"Line up the shots and lower the visors?"
"Are you asking or telling?"
"Asking, Lieutenant." At that, the clang of metal being hit by solid oaken axe haft resounded through the din of combat for the briefest of moments.
"Correct. No need to rush to match the one-eyed snake down in your crotches. Now," With the bark, the ingrained disciplines of the fresh Besiegers took over. As their breaths stilled, they picked their targets. "Show these misbegotten Boyz what real archery looks like." "CAPITAN QUIXATO, THERE'S A WARBOSS!!" The panicked cry of the messenger echoed through tunnel as men bloody and wounded scampered back. Even those who aren't starts to panic for Warbosses are beyond their paygrade. Some men rallied in spite of this, knowing that the survival rate of an unopposed rout against Orks is worse than trying to oppose it.
"Oh for," Atop his hardy Estalian pony, the aging Captain peered to the dim distance lit by candles. Just about, he could make up the outline of an errant and angry figure taller than any other he had fought in his many campaigns as a mercenary captain. "Blast it, where's the hedge wizard?"
"Out harder than the dead." Miscast then, the veteran decided. Always the danger with magickers and Elementalists.
"The pikes?"
"Too spread out around, Captain. And he's leading the charge with a lot of Orks behind him." Small mercies, the tunnel funnelled the greenskins into manageable twos and threes. But with the Warboss in front, it's a cruel mercy for few could tangle with one and survive.
...It would be too easy to not be the Reckless Capitan, as they call him decades ago. Lucky as he was, he received no crippling blows even as scars mount. But age is catching up to him, as silver and white strands mount on his moustache and beard.
Perhaps it's time to cash out on the biggest paycheck he can get, or die trying.
"Well, rally the men anyway. Tell Salazar he has the reins. As for me, Rocinante!" The pony received a strong kick and with a high pitched whine, the pony charged onward, unheeding that the target closing in view has a chopper longer than it.
"Hark, fiend! You face Capitan Quixato, Saviour of Carrazo, the Batterer of Al-Farsah, and here, you will meet your doom!"
Before the Warboss could react, he received his first and last experience of having a stomach rammed by the momentum of an Estalian pony and its rider clad in plate mail. "Stand still and die, humie!"
"Not until you give us those choppas, green boy." With a deft sidestep, Estrazza dodged the overhead cleave from the leading Big Un and slammed the spiked buckler on the downed hand, ripping through green flesh in large gobs. "And your heads too."
"Gghhraahh!!" It's too easy, perhaps, to dismiss the name of the band that Estrazza lead to be an uncouth joke typical to that of a mercenary band. Well, it is but it's not all.
Titlingur. The frozen north where the Norscans lived in aren't always inhospitable, even as its inhabitants became hardy to a fault to compensate. The songbird up in the taigas do not quite sing, they cry a pitched trill that is said to disorient their morsels aplenty as they weave through what few growth the land has to offer.
Add in inventive and crass mercenaries to the mix, 'tits' it was. Like the songbird, the Tattered flit through their preys, using short axes to chop off their limbs into pieces. Not all made it, as the matter of course. Lightly armoured as they are to allow the strenuous manoeuvres, a single hit is all it takes for the mercenaries to end up coarse pieces.
"Stop movin' aroun- hrk!" The bellow of the biggest Big Un were cut short alongside his vocal chords as Estrazza clambered up, the multitudes of jags and crags all around the Ork's chest plate becoming a detriment to its wearer, and stabbed his sword through the Big Un's neck.
"No you." With a grin, the Captain used both of his hands on the grip and yanked it around, decapitating his foe. Grabbing the head with one hand, Estrazza leaped off, the momentum sending the headless corpse toppling down with a thud. As he finished, he looked around the chamber, finding that most of the Big Uns have been sent packing or dead. That, and alongside a good number of his band. Not him, of course.
Carten Estrazza would perhaps one day die with a blade sticking out of his gut, but not today. "Get the spoils boys, let's get our pay!" "Capitan?" Eyes bleary and bloodshot meet a concerned single eye.
"Ahhh, Panz-" The old veteran spat out a gob of blood from his mouth. "Panza. W-Wha-" He gulped, unable to crane his neck anywhere. "Did I- Did I get him?"
"You did." The lieutenant smiled reassuringly. He didn't. But he came closer than most human fighters against a Warboss. Orkish resilience is unnatural but as any sons of Breton would vouch, a powerful charge, even by a singular rider, can topple and unbalance the biggest of Warbosses, momentum willing.
"A-Ah, that- that's lovely. And where's Rocinante?"
"He...he didn't make it." The lieutenant could not lie. No hardy pony - as aged as his Master - could survive a head-on crash with an Warboss. The pony died instantly then, sending both human and ork toppling to a close ranged melee on the ground.
"A-Ah, that's a shame. Well, he's getting on the years anyway. T-The paygrade would be grand wouldn't it?"
At that, Panza smiled, more sincerely without merciful deceit. "Thanks to you, Capitan." Thanks to the Captain's valour, the spines of the mercenaries stiffened and like wildfire, they braced and held as one, with spearmen and halberdiers counter-charging in to fend their Captain's body and rendered the wounded Warboss and his entourage to casualties one and all.
"Good." With eyes open and a smile on his face, Alonso Quixato exhaled his last. A few seconds after, his mourning lieutenant closed his eyes.
"May Verena balance your scales and may her husband guide you to solace forevermore." With those final words, the lieutenant stood up, and starts taking reign as the sole living Lieutenant.
For such is the life of the Dogs of War, to flirt with Morr and Ranald in equal measure. For glory and fortune at the end of a blade is always awash for death. And thus it shall continue, until the End Times and mayhaps beyond.
Well, I had this mostly sorted out for since the end of Karagril but never posted it because I wanted to marinade it a bit until I feel satisfied revising it. I feel like it's a shame that we never get to go have a looksie at the Dogs of War and fight with the lads in the front - from a narrative perspective. So well, this is the result of that 'shame' and uh, I hope you lads enjoy this.
I think we already knew that 1. Gerber was involved with the factory, and 2. they were trying for repeater rifles, so no new info, but does confirm that they at least managed that much; It'll be interesting to see if they did in fact manage to go with the 'rotating cylinder like revolver, instead of rotating barrels like the existing repeater rifles' design gerber was interested in
Regarding library topics: Skaven, obviously, since we can get that last point without spending Favour. Anatomy, also obviously, since getting +3 more on that just costs gold and it's been assisting the translation dicerolls. Beastmen and Chaos Mutants are out, since the stuff about how they mutate into what they are is classified. Dragons are probably worth picking up to some extent, just in case we get pulled in to consult on that topic (and in case we want to post a bounty for dragonbone). We should get Dwarf books on the Aethyr, to flesh that topic out. Do we want Physics or additional Chemistry stuff, for AV testing? It didn't modify dicerolls last time, but it did come up in narration.
This...probably doesn't count as a 'sneak peek', as opposed to just adding in something we knew about, but just in case, i'll spoiler the minor addition to the org sheet:
I think we already knew that 1. Gerber was involved with the factory, and 2. they were trying for repeater rifles, so no new info, but does confirm that they at least managed that much; It'll be interesting to see if they did in fact manage to go with the 'rotating cylinder like revolver, instead of rotating barrels like the existing repeater rifles' design gerber was interested in
I doubt it. Revolver-action rifle design hasn't been solved in real life -- there's just a fundamental problem about the maximum chamber size limiting your ammunition, and with having a flash gap near your face or arms. That said, it would be awesome if they managed to do a genuine lever or bolt-action repeating rifle using a cartridge-and-magazine design, rather than having to swap out parts for each shot.
Most of Dwarf magical insight is part of Runesmith Guild Secrets, and even they don't have enough knowledge to contribute to individual magical lores. But they are capable of discussing the winds in general, hence the Dwarven Aethyr books.
'. Also, relevant WoG:
