On the topic of spending dwarf favor to get runic items, I'm inclined against weaponry right now, and am thinking more along the lines of anti-magic capabilities. Dwarfs do that "very well", and in both of the Drakenhof sieges our anti-magic options were "point guns at it until it stops being a thing". Which is entirely satisfactory...if you're a dwarf. We are, much as we like them, not a dwarf. We're a waterfall crafter, and our job on the battlefield is to keep other casters from having their wicked ways with our charges (and to have our own wicked way in turn, if practicable). We have shirked dispelling duty before, but at our magic level we're running low on excuses. We're a trained magister with an embarassingly high magic rating, while our Learning isn't anything to sneeze at. Yes, I'd prefer to kill the shamans and seers before the battle ever begins, but that won't always be practicable. Case in point; if there had been a fight this update, we wouldn't have had much of a chance to poison them the night before. To that end, I am in favor of something to help us dispel enemy magic, like a rune of spellbreaking or whatever other option there is. A metal tablet that is, functionally, a rechargeable Dispel Scroll we could use once a month would be very handy, or a dwarfen wand that gives us a flat +20 on dispel attempts or something like that? Do not just us but the entire army a favor.
My other reason for opposing getting an admittedly impressive dwarf weapon is that, in addition to already having a perfectly serviceable sword right now (that is automatically magical, plus we have the potential of letting the cute gold journeymanling reforge for us later, and our own enchanting efforts) it doesn't really feel...necessary. When Mathilde will need a magic sword she'll need one, but when Mathilde will need to dispel an enemy spell everyone will need one, and we can't exactly get a half dozen burly Nordlanders to serve as a bodyguard unit against that sort of eventuality. We'll be protecting everyone else from that, not the reverse. Guns are still a preferred option of course, so long as we have dwarfen gunnery crews working them, but that won't be a thing forever.
Voting:
[x] Rangers appreciate an anticlimactic victory. Enchant a spider-horn for them to commemorate it. (+rep)
The +rep is actually secondary to me here, I'm looking more for the greater integration with the rangers. We're not less of an outsider, but it's one more thing they can grudgingly point to and say "She's not as bad as she could be".
[x] Have Ulthar handpick his best sharpshooters to be equipped with envenomed bolts.
I'm wondering if we can pick up other plant-based poisons and have Panoramia supply appropriate compounds to the sharpshooters as a continuation of this policy.
[x] Barak Varr has a number of Runepriests, and Kragg the Grim himself is marching with the Expedition. There's not likely to be a better time to commission a runic item (Specify: type of item, desired effect, number of favours to be spent)
-[x] Anti-magic
See above for reasoning.
[x] The Forest of Gloom is still accessible if you summon a horse for her. Guard her as she ventures back into the Forest of Gloom to hunt for useful ingredients.
There were areas she couldn't get to because of giant spiders. I wonder what she might get with help.
[x] Ask the smiths to teach him as a favour to you (-2 favours)
Spend favors to make favors. The sooner he starts the sooner he can git gud, and he'll be able to spend his own dwarf rep on more advanced applications. A dwarf-trained gold wizard blacksmith is a great boon, but a dwarf-trained gold wizard gunsmith a greater one. We're short on College favors right now, and this is starting things rolling to get more later. Yes, he might not survive the campaign, but that applies to everyone, including our own self, and we earned two favor points from the spiders this turn. Spending them now means we're no less well-off than we started the turn with.
[x] Help him find a place with the dwarf artillery crews so that he can supplement their abilities in combat.
I imagine Mathilde will make it sufficiently unambiguous about him being caught stealing dwarf tech and how sharp Imperial disapproval would be. Whether he focuses on 'stealing dwarf tech' or 'getting caught' is up to him, but assuming he really is here for the Skaven we don't have much to fear on that count. And while dwarf guns tech would be a great boon to the Empire, it isn't worth losing the dwarfs as a natural ally.
