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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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[X] While everyone is distracted, head straight for the Study. Hopefully you can find Van Hal before this gets into even more of a farce
 
A natural 1 isn't someone dies on it's own unless it's in a highly dangerous situation - combat or cutting-edge magical experimentation, basically. Outside of that, a natural one is a combination of bad luck and human error that completely derails whatever it is you were trying to do.
 
[X] While everyone is distracted, head straight for the Study. Hopefully you can find Van Hal before this gets into even more of a farce
 
BoneyM said:
A natural 1 isn't someone dies on it's own unless it's in a highly dangerous situation - combat or cutting-edge magical experimentation, basically. Outside of that, a natural one is a combination of bad luck and human error that completely derails whatever it is you were trying to do.
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E.g deciding in a panic that you should use a missile spell rather than the sound spell to get someone's attention.
Not to worry too much since the missile spell is pretty unlikely to kill someone in armor in one hit.
 
Fun little observation: We just knocked out the super zealous Sigmar's Paladin type- the sort of guy who'd burn a wizard as soon as look at them- with magic.
Let's make sure he's not selected to work with us, hmm? less chance of him randomly deciding to find a pyre to put us on
 
DocMatoi said:
Fun little observation: We just knocked out the super zealous Sigmar's Paladin type- the sort of guy who'd burn a wizard as soon as look at them- with magic.
Let's make sure he's not selected to work with us, hmm? less chance of him randomly deciding to find a pyre to put us on
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Thankfully I am already of the opinion that he is one of the worst candidates since while he himself isn't implicated he seems to encourage an extremely pro Sigmar mindset in those that follow him to the point where I fear he'd cause a ton of unneeded religious tensions and fights.
 
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Interlude - Counterespionage in Eagle Castle 2
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    • [*] While everyone is distracted, head straight for the Study. Hopefully you can find Van Hal before this gets into even more of a farce
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    ---

    You turn and immediately retreat back into the depths of the castle. Stupid, you think to yourself. You could have cast a Sound spell at their feet. It's not good for replicating speech, but you could have made the noise 'walk' in your direction and directed their attention to you. Instead, you did the magical equivalent of throwing rocks at them, and managed to smack the Knight directly on the temple.

    It will serve as a distraction, you rationalize as you backtrack. Everybody's eyes are going to be on the courtyard now. You can go to Van Hal, tell him what's happening, and let him decide what must be done.

    As you reach the hallway outside the room you were holding interviews in, you come to a sudden halt. The woman you Mindholed earlier was fiddling with the lock and swearing, and stopped her actions guiltily at your approach, but then gives you a bewildered look. With no remaining memories of you, all she knows is that some complete stranger in her underwear is running around the castle in a wizard's hat.

    You don't give her a chance to get her thoughts in order. Drawing your flamberge, you smack her upside the head with the flat of the blade, and she crumples to the ground. You stand at the ready for a moment, ready to swing again if she demonstrates any inhuman resilience, but she seems to be completely unconscious. You release the lock on the door, drag the woman in to keep the corpse company, and then lock it back up again.

    Okay. Onwards to the study.

    [SURPRISE ATTACK: Breakpoints 40/70, Martial, 80+10=90. Greatsword!]

    You manage to make your way to the study without encountering anyone else by dint of lurking around corners until the coast was clear. You try the handle, and are overwhelmingly relieved to find it unlocked - Van Hal always locks it when he's not in his office, and it's a fiendishly complicated lock too, specially ordered from the craftsmen of Nuln. You barge right in and Van Hal is halfway out of his chair in an instant, his hand going for the rifle on the wall behind him-

    Then he sees you and freezes, his mind grinding to a halt.

    Under any other circumstances you'd be bashful, but you don't have time for this. "Your Grace, one of the servants attacked me during the interviews," you say urgently, "and displayed inhuman speed, though not, thankfully, inhuman resilience."

    That bypasses whatever is going on in his head, and he continues the gesture reaching for his rifle. It's a new one, you remember, supplied by the Master Engineer in the hopes of currying favour - instead of the single-shot design of a conventional rifle, this has the mechanism similar to a repeater pistol, allowing six shots before reloading.

    "Any sign of other infiltrators," he says, opening a drawer and scooping a fistful of speedloaders into a pouch.

    "At least one other - I caught her trying to break into the room where the dead infiltrator was. I knocked her out and stashed her inside there."

    "Good work. And..." he hesitated. "Your, uh, clothes?"

    "Covered in blood," you say. "I didn't want to tip off any other infiltrators, so I left them behind."

    "So instead you..." he shakes his head. "Okay, I guess I see the logic in that."

    Then there's a clatter of feet in the hallway outside, and the door bursts open. "Your Grace!" Markus cries, "there's been an attack on-" Then he trails off, looking from you, standing there in your underwear with a greatsword strapped to your back, then to Van Hal, standing next to you with his rifle cradled in his arms. The moment stretches out for an eternity, and you feel heat rising to your cheeks. "I apologize for interrupting, your Grace," he says with a surprisingly level voice, "but this is a matter of urgency. Berthold was attacked in the courtyard."

    "They must realize they've been discovered," Van Hal says to you, and you open your mouth to correct him, and then shut it again as he turns back to Markus. "Where is the man now?"

    "Out cold, the guards on the gate are tending to him. I've told them not to let anyone in or out of the castle until they hear further orders."

    "How many men do you have in the castle?"

    "Ten men at the gate, a few more at the treasury, a handful of men off-duty in the barracks. Maybe a single platoon. The rest are out practicing manoeuvres with von Jungfreud, won't be back for about an hour."

    Van Hal frowns, his grip tightening on the rifle. It's obvious he itches to get out there and slay, but he also realizes the odds could be against you. His eyes turn to you.

    What do you suggest?

    [ ] Our main priority is defending Van Hal. Hole up somewhere defensible and wait for the rest of the Greatsword cohort to return.
    [ ] Our main priority is defending the leadership of Stirland. As above, but also find a way to get a message to Wilhelmina, telling her to seek safety.
    [ ] Act natural. Investigate the two infiltrators you know about and hope none of the infiltrators realize they've been detected.
    [ ] We only have a limited amount of time to act. We must round up the infiltrators now. (write in how)
    [ ] Close the gates. Nobody in, nobody out. Not until we get to the bottom of this.
    [ ] Other (write in)
     
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    • [X] Our main priority is defending the leadership of Stirland. As above, but also find a way to get a message to Wilhelmina, telling her to seek safety.

    We might be the Witchhunteriest Witch I've ever read about, by the way.
     
    BoneyM said:
    Then there's a clatter of feet in the hallway outside, and the door bursts open. "Your Grace!" Markus cries, "there's been an attack on-" Then he trails off, looking from you, standing there in your underwear with a greatsword strapped to your back, then to Van Hal, standing next to you with his rifle cradled in his arms. The moment stretches out for an eternity, and you feel heat rising to your cheeks. "I apologize for interrupting, Your Grace," he says with a surprisingly level voice, "but this is a matter of urgency. Berthold was attacked in the courtyard."
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    Oh boy. If we live through this, the rumors are going to hilarious.
     
    So we know Markus's worries are about us and there isn't actually a super infiltrator who can oneshot the Knight of Sigmar out of nowhere. How many real infiltrators do we think there are, overall?
     
    BoneyM said:
    hen there's a clatter of feet in the hallway outside, and the door bursts open. "Your Grace!" Markus cries, "there's been an attack on-" Then he trails off, looking from you, standing there in your underwear with a greatsword strapped to your back, then to Van Hal, standing next to you with his rifle cradled in his arms. The moment stretches out for an eternity, and you feel heat rising to your cheeks. "I apologize for interrupting, Your Grace," he says with a surprisingly level voice,
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    And this is how the rumours start
     
    [x] Our main priority is defending the leadership of Stirland. As above, but also find a way to get a message to Wilhelmina, telling her to seek safety.

    oh and maybe find something too dress yourself with before more rumors spead
     
    A suggestion for potentially rounding up the conspirators (after we get Van Hal to safety). Have Wilhemina hold performance reviews - it's been a few weeks, the changeover in management's gone well, it'd be a good time for them. And now that the Important People - most of the Important People - have been made aware of this, they can supervise.

    Get servant into room. Knock them out. Inspect. If conspirator, chuck in box. If not conspirator, mindhole, review, and back out they go.
     
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