Exactly. Necromancy uses the weird relationships between the Winds of magic to let a Mage do more than they should be able to. And even without being a Necromancer, a single priest once destroyed thousands of undead by reading out a single incantation written in this book. Just having that power would let us go farther than Van Hall ever imagined possible in his ambition of clearing Sylvania of undead, let alone the crazy progress we could make in our understanding of magical theory by reading the book which was after all the genius masterwork of Magical Evil Einstein.
We can't be directly corrupted by reading the book, but we can get insights into the nature of undead and how to kill them again with magic efficiently, into how to do crazy stuff with out magic that other Grey Mages couldn't dream of...
Of course here's what I'm expecting to happen:
We read the book. It's hard, but we do eventually get new insights into the nature of magic and undead and all that. We get some nice trait and maybe figure out a cool spell or two. Then we have a vote about experimenting "just a little" to gain terrible power/eternal life/Van Hal alive again... That's when we decide whether or not to be a Necromancer!
Well, some people are advocating taking up necromancy precisely to bring Abelhelm van Hal back and let him carry on his own legacy, since his successor is a butt.
I'm not advocating taking up necromancy. But the Libris Mortis is a masterpiece written by a genius; it contains incredible magical secrets that are unavailable to most wizards because reading the book is usually a bad idea on so many levels. If you look at the Sylvania 101 informational entry, you'll see this: "...in 2132, the Third Vampire War kicks off when Mannfred leads an army to Altdorf. The Grand Theogonist of the time pulls the Liber Mortis out of the vaults and it turns out there's a spell of Making All The Zombies Fall Apart. Mannfred runs off with his tail between his legs..."
Some of the major concerns about reading the book are 1) Dhar makes you insane, which Mathilde can now avoid thanks to Kragg's Gift, 2) Necromancy makes you stupid, which can be avoided by not doing the necromantic parts, 3) lots of people will try to kill you for reading it, whether because they want to have it or because they think no one should read it, which can be avoided by reading it somewhere discreet and far from wizards, like a dwarfhold.
It's still something to be very careful about. But cautious investigating into the abstract magical secrets side of Libris Mortis seems like it could produce some good things!
Well, some people are advocating taking up necromancy precisely to bring Abelhelm van Hal back and let him carry on his own legacy, since his successor is a butt.
I'm not advocating taking up necromancy. But the Libris Mortis is a masterpiece written by a genius; it contains incredible magical secrets that are unavailable to most wizards because reading the book is usually a bad idea on so many levels. If you look at the Sylvania 101 informational entry, you'll see this: "...in 2132, the Third Vampire War kicks off when Mannfred leads an army to Altdorf. The Grand Theogonist of the time pulls the Liber Mortis out of the vaults and it turns out there's a spell of Making All The Zombies Fall Apart. Mannfred runs off with his tail between his legs..."
Some of the major concerns about reading the book are 1) Dhar makes you insane, which Mathilde can now avoid thanks to Kragg's Gift, 2) Necromancy makes you stupid, which can be avoided by not doing the necromantic parts, 3) lots of people will try to kill you for reading it, whether because they want to have it or because they think no one should read it, which can be avoided by reading it somewhere discreet and far from wizards, like a dwarfhold.
It's still something to be very careful about. But cautious investigating into the abstract magical secrets side of Libris Mortis seems like it could produce some good things!
Plus, if we try real hard, we might just be able to make a perfect non-Dhar based elixir of life. Those bottles of qhaysh have to come in handy for something. I have complete confidence that absolutely nothing horrible will happen. (Plus if it does the tale of Vampire Weber would be an interesting read)
Well, some people are advocating taking up necromancy precisely to bring Abelhelm van Hal back and let him carry on his own legacy, since his successor is a butt.
[*] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are ranging far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them.
[*] Help Esbern teach Seija to Dispel.
[*] Ask him to teach Johann to Dispel.
[*] Purchase the Helldrake scales (100 gc).
[*] Purchase the strange Lustrian eggs (200 gc).
[*] Do not purchase the title of a Border Princess.
The more time you spend with the dwarves, the more sick you grow of humans. A dwarf mistrusts magic, but your deeds are enough that most will accept you regardless, especially among the Rangers. But a peasant - and the overwhelming majority of the forces under Petrescu are peasants - is filled with equal parts superstitious fear and religious disgust for magic and its wielders, and the deeds you've done seem only to inflame their suspicions. So you work with Ulthar and his men, slotting yourself into the roster and being assigned a section of the landscape to sweep.
This portion of the Border Princes is not quite the Badlands, but still noticeably more barren than the territory you've been marching through so far. The landscape is filled with wickedly thorned bushes that scratch in vain against the form of your shadowhorse, and apart from that sparse scrubs lend the only texture to jagged landscape. An army on the march here could be seen for miles from the column of dust it would kick up, so the area to be swept for greenskins is huge. You cloak yourself in concealing magics and ride with ease across what would otherwise be a punishing landscape, your horse caring not a jot for thorns and gullies that would torment a mortal beast.
Glamorous work, it isn't. You spend a couple of days doing nothing but spooking wild goats, and then on the third day you spot a single goblin trying to hunt those goats. You effortlessly ride down and decapitate the hapless greenskin, which livens things up for all of a minute, and you bring the head back to camp to add to the growing pile and get a series of approving nods. It doesn't seem to have any purpose, but the dwarves seem to derive a great satisfaction from a pile of greenskin heads and as long as you avoid being downwind of it you can see a certain charm to it.
And then it's back to patrolling an empty landscape for greenskins that just refuse to appear and distract you from the boredom of it all.
Journeymen teaching journeymen is the sort of thing that never ends well for anyone involved, but needs must, so you encourage Esbern to share his knowledge of it with Seija and oversee it to hopefully leap onto any mistakes in it. Esbern's teachings are quiet but confident, and it seems that the two of them are used to discussing Ghur. You don't spot any problems with his teaching of it, and by the third day Seija has begun trying to manifest the magic to puncture Esbern's spells. You leave the two of them to it, and move on to Maximilian. Which proves to be rather trickier.
"No," he says flatly without looking up at the book. "Not happening." You try to probe further, and all you get is an equally flat "he knows what he did."
The Expedition camps at the far side of the first tributary, the 'temporary' bridge proving more solid than many permanent ones you've seen in the Empire. The Ironclaw Orcs, as far as you can tell, have yet to detect you; however, they can't fail to notice how many of their fellows have gone missing, since the piles of heads left in the Expedition's wake show that everyone but you has harvested bountiful crops of greenskin hunters and wanderers. There's another tributary ahead to be bridged, and then the river itself needs to be crossed; if all goes well the Expedition is two weeks from the lost riverport and the entrance to the Underway.
Choose as many as you wish from the below; the THREE with the most votes will be Mathilde's actions for the coming week. Any purchases you make will not take actions.
Contributing to the Campaign:
[ ] Forces have been sent ahead once more to bridge a second inconvenient tributary; join them and aid in standing guard against any that may try to stop you.
[ ] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are continuing to range far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them further.
[ ] If any resistance does start to gather, they will be smashed apart by the very heavy cavalry of the Knightly Orders. Stand ready with them.
[ ] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[ ] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
[ ] Have Ulthar handpick his best sharpshooters to be equipped with envenomed bolts.
Spend time with the Council of War:
[ ] Thane Skaroki Grimbrow
[ ] Master Engineer Durin Wutokri
[ ] Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
[ ] Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
[ ] Marksman Codrin Petrescu
[ ] Marshal Titus Muggins
Other Preparations:
[ ] You've heard that greatswords and greataxes are near identical in the way they're used, and you happen to be surrounded by experts in the art of the axe. Learn how to use one.
Spend time with your Journeymanlings:
Esbern and Seija of the Amber Order
[ ] Test their skills in battle.
[ ] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
[ ] Work with them to see if your eggs can be encouraged to hatch.
Maximilian de Gaynesford of the Gold Order
[ ] Ask him to reforge your sword into a superior one.
[ ] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
[ ] Ask the smiths to teach him as a favour to you (-2 favours)
Johann of the Gold Order
[ ] Help him find a place with the dwarf artillery crews so that he can supplement their abilities in combat.
[ ] Keep tabs on his interactions with the dwarves, making sure he's not fishing for information that the dwarves want to keep for themselves.
- A short and uneventful turn; such is the will of the dice.
[X] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are continuing to range far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them further.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
Okay, people, these three are things we are one of the most suited units in the army for.
We are fast, we are stealthy and if we are caught it's pretty damn hard to kill us, especially if we do our best to GTFO.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Continue to supervise the dispellinglessons.
[X] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
[X] Work with them to see if your eggs can be encouraged to hatch.
Ranald must have taken a nap.
Lets do some advanced scouting. Between our spells and the belt theres few better.
The dispelling absolutely needs supervision though. And I'd like the verify the contents so we can deal with them properly
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
[X] Test their skills in battle.
[X] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
Once the siege starts in earnest, we're going to miss this peaceful week. "Remember when we got to spend the days riding across the plains?" Siege is likely to involve lots of boring sitting in one place and waiting, with occasional bursts of blood and screaming and panic.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
[X] Test their skills in battle.
[X] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
[X] Marksman Codrin Petrescu
[X] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are continuing to range far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them further.
[X] Forces have been sent ahead once more to bridge a second inconvenient tributary; join them and aid in standing guard against any that may try to stop you.
New
[X] Marksman Codrin Petrescu
[X] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are continuing to range far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them further.
[X] Forces have been sent ahead once more to bridge a second inconvenient tributary; join them and aid in standing guard against any that may try to stop you.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Continue to supervise the dispellinglessons.
[X] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
How about we look at the eggs and check that our Journeymanlings won't die to a stiff breeze?
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Test their skills in battle.
[X] Work with them to see if your eggs can be encouraged to hatch.
@BoneyM Can we tell if there is any life in the eggs right now or do we need the Amber wizard action to know? Also if we don't encourage them to hatch now will they hatch at a normal time?
Spend time with the Council of War:
[X] Marksman Codrin Petrescu
He commands the Stirlanders, he could be a useful friend to have later on.
Johann of the Gold Order
[X] Keep tabs on his interactions with the dwarves, making sure he's not fishing for information that the dwarves want to keep for themselves.
Since the dwarves see us as in charge of him, any potential fallout would fall on us. I'd rather head off the chance while things are still low risk.
Contributing to the Campaign:
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
The most grey wizardy option
[x] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
[x] Have Ulthar handpick his best sharpshooters to be equipped with envenomed bolts.
[x] Marksman Codrin Petrescu
[x] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
[x] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
[x] Help him find a place with the dwarf artillery crews so that he can supplement their abilities in combat.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
[X] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
[X] Work with them to see if your eggs can be encouraged to hatch.
[X] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
@BoneyM Is there a reason our Martial or Intrigue don't get added to the scouting roll but our Learning does to dispelling lessons? Would we need a scouting trait/proficiency or something similar for it to apply?
[X] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
[X] Work with them to see if your eggs can be encouraged to hatch.
[X] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
[X] Help him find a place with the dwarf artillery crews so that he can supplement their abilities in combat.
[X] Marshal Titus Muggins
[X] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
[X] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
We should talk with the Halflings at this point. Also, magic spells always carry an inherent risk and better to continue supervising the duo. Finally, we should earn some brownie points with Max and hopefully, he could tell us some of his issues regarding Johann.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
[X] Work with them to see if your eggs can be encouraged to hatch.
[X] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
[X] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[X] Have Ulthar handpick his best sharpshooters to be equipped with envenomed bolts.
[X] Introduce him to the dwarven smiths so he can try to convince them to teach him.
[X] Work with them to see if your eggs can be encouraged to hatch.
[X] Marksman Codrin Petrescu
[X] Test their skills in battle.
[X] Ulthar's Rangers and Petrescu's marksmen are continuing to range far to ensure that any greenskin that claps eyes on the Expedition don't live to tell the tale. Assist them further.
[ ] If any resistance does start to gather, they will be smashed apart by the very heavy cavalry of the Knightly Orders. Stand ready with them.
[ ] Volunteer to ride ahead and scout this long-lost port.
[ ] Volunteer to perform a sweep further out so you can spot any substantial forces that might be marching in your direction.
The rangers are managing just fine for the closer scouting, so one of the further-ranging options is more appropriate for Mathilde's higher mobility. That or the heavy cavalry option, which she's also well-suited for, but which is apparently unlikely to have her see any action.
The Halfling Marshall seems to have captured at least part of the thread's imagination, but we still haven't met with the commander of the largest force in the army. The knights are useful for checking up on the Amber journeymen's backgrounds and relations founded on wolves respectively. My choice this turn would probably be the Marksman again, because the situation with the Stirlanders seems to be souring now that they're not seeing us fighting for them.
[ ] Continue to supervise the dispelling lessons.
The only real option for the journeymen this turn. You really don't want journeymen teaching each other basic skills like this, but we're stuck with it now. It requires supervision until it's done. Fortunately there's nothing urgent happening with them at the moment.
@BoneyM Can we tell if there is any life in the eggs right now or do we need the Amber wizard action to know? Also if we don't encourage them to hatch now will they hatch at a normal time?
You can't tell whether there's life in them, and you have no idea whether it's on the way to hatching on its own or whether it will keep indefinitely or what.
@BoneyM Is there a reason our Martial or Intrigue don't get added to the scouting roll but our Learning does to dispelling lessons? Would we need a scouting trait/proficiency or something similar for it to apply?
There's no skill that applies to whether or not greenskins happen to be in the area you're scouting. The actual rolls for the scouting are hidden to prevent metagaming.
