SV ate the start of this post, so here's a summary of the most interesting/relevant points.
-Gunnars is great. The "Zhuf soul, so no possession" bit was really great. It would've made for a really good resolution in a plotted novel, having it in the unpredictability of a quest is damn impressive. We wouldn't have been able to call it out beforehand with certainty, but there was enough info to at least conjecture without going into pure speculation. That's some very impressive quick thinking.
-"Start slowly, like an avalanche" is a great line. Very dwarfy, generally badass, and quite appropriate to the scene.
-The trajectory of Panoramia's relationship to Mathilde is kinda similar to Mathilde's to Kragg. The end point is Dorky Boss instead of Grumpy Granpa, and there's lots of other differences, but in the end it's about approaching a distant unapproachable figure (the dork revelation for Panoramia happened after she got the shit scared out of her by Mathilde).
[Counterspell: 79+20=99.]
[Induce miscast: 100.]
Killing an ork army with a dispell/miscast was a super badass moment. It makes me recall my old flame, Mathilde the Dispeller. I'm sure when I get back to the Eye, I'll switch back to Mathilde the Superweapon Builder, because that's much less sensible, but still.
I kinda want to built a superweapon that makes others miscast. I think the runesmiths would enjoy that too.
Codrin departs to pass on the message, and you watch him thoughtfully
We never did figure out what's his deal. Maybe that plot thread will be picked up at some point in the future. Or if enough time passes that it's no longer relevant, Boney might be mercyful to just tell us.
This suggests a future in Stirland, whether Roswita likes it or not.
Huh, Mathilde is pretty tsundere for Roswita.
...We're entering the visual novel part of the quest (and I genuinely wish there was Divided Loyalties visual novel. The characters are strong enough to carry it). But I never realised it would be a sequel/spinoff of Roswita's Magical Romance Adventure, where she awkwardly gets romanced by wizards of the differnt winds. The darkhorse Mathilde proved so popular she got her own novel about her hijinks.
You also receive a few unexpected requests, and after a word to an equally bemused King Belegar, you plot out the future locations of shrines to Grimnir and Valaya.
Hmm, would they be receptive? On the one hand,
ancestor gods. On the other, I think Valaya at least would appreciate a defender of the hold, no matter the shape.
[ ] The Grand Abyss
If you value secrecy over all else, you could go just as far down as you can up. Deep below Karag Lhune lies the Lhune Deeps, and below that is the Grand Abyss. The Dwarves never were able to plumb the extent of its depths, and that is somewhat concerning, but it would certainly be impressive to have a tower built atop a bottomless pit.
I'm gonna be honest, I'm still sad we missed out this. Panoramia probably wouldn't like living over a depthless abyss, or we could build her a tower there as a courting present.
though no other powers have followed the Dwarves into the sky, some of the strange weapons that bristle upwards and track your approach suggest that they are determined not to be caught unprepared when they do.
So they do have some sort of flak. If Zhufbar doesn't have that as well (they might, since Gotri was running their air force and might have introduced it), we won't get access until the feud is resolved, but it's certainly something to look into.
@BoneyM Is this something we can buy with dwarf favor for an AA tower, or is that exclusive to the Everpeak and so locked?
