I have a way to make Pall of Darkness more exciting to the thread next action: Pair up with Johann. Imagine we took these two actions:
[ ] JOHANN: Learn a skill: Improve his Windsight to see through Pall of Darkness.
[ ] Try to see through Pall of Darkness with your improved magical senses.
Now we're talking. I threw a little shade on Pall of Darkness because we can cast Invisibility, but being able to fight with Johann in the dark against opponents that can't see either one of us... now that's starting to cook with some juice.
Was going to wait till after the update to maximize ratings but fuck it I want to go to bed.
Even better reason to do that:
And you just know he go along with it at least once. And yes the cloud is just there to cover up the lack of legs, like seriously there aren't that many full body shot of Armstrong.
So in summary:
1: Learn to see through Pall of Darkness
2: Teach Johann to see through Pall of Darkness
3: Acquire Stand.
4: ???
5: Profit.
Trickster makes your first impression untrustworthy, it doesn't make you a compulsive liar and Insubstantial makes the body only slightly insubstantial, not to the point of making touch impossible.
I'd compare Insubstantial to neurological damage wrt to touch. You can touch things, sure, but i doubt you'd really be able to feel anything unless someone's punching you. Neurological feedback is kind of hard when your neurons are partially incorporeal. Also Trickster doesn't mention anything about first impressions, it just says "You cloak yourself in deception and misdirection, making you untrustworthy to others. You take a –5% penalty to your Fellowship characteristic. Modify your starting profile accordingly." which reads as 'compulsive liar' to me.
I'd compare Insubstantial to neurological damage wrt to touch. You can touch things, sure, but i doubt you'd really be able to feel anything unless someone's punching you. Neurological feedback is kind of hard when your neurons are partially incorporeal. Also Trickster doesn't mention anything about first impressions, it just says "You cloak yourself in deception and misdirection, making you untrustworthy to others. You take a –5% penalty to your Fellowship characteristic. Modify your starting profile accordingly." which reads as 'compulsive liar' to me.
I wouldn't. We have no idea how being partly insubstantial interacts with bodily functions, especially with magic involved and "partial loss of touch" would not be my guess.
You take a penalty to Fellowship because you are literally covered in magic that feels like deception and misdirection, therefore people don't trust you - you just feel off to them. But it doesn't make you engage in deception and misdirection.
[*] Plan: Battle Huskies, Fog Path, Record Coins, and Proper Security Measures
- [*][MAX] Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations. (NEW)
- [*][JOHANN] Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations. (NEW)
- [*][DUCK] Attempt to recruit Hubert and some Winter Wolves for the Karag Dum Expedition.
- [*][EIC] Start building a paramilitary river navy to ensure the coming trade explosion doesn't lead to a similar explosion in riverine banditry.
-[*] Hire a trainer to come to Eight Peaks and teach you: Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma by Lord Magister Melkoth (10 College Favor)
--[*] COIN: The Gambler.
-[*] Attempt to create a spell: Fog Path also with help from Melkoth and possibly Regimand
-[*] Ask an acquaintance to train you in a skill: Regimand, Assassination
-[*] Record all the entries of the Grand Urbaz vaults and select a good-quality example of each minting to save from the smelters.
-[*][PENTHOUSE] Your dungeon was built with a reasonable amount of paranoia. Apply an unreasonable amount of paranoia.
-[*][SERENITY] Azyr Lighting mechanism
To your very great relief, Kislev's weather continues to be Kislev's weather and the Winter is just as harsh at High Pass as it is everywhere else that far north, and every indication is that there's no hope of the Expedition setting out this year. With Johann and Max unleashed to see to their own preparations with instructions to let you know if there's anything you can help with, you turn your attention to Hubert. There are people upon whom you'd need to unleash all of the guile that the Grey College is known for to get them to go on an ill-advised adventure into the Chaos Wastes, but Hubert isn't one of them.
"I'm in," he says, almost before you've finished asking.
"Great," you say, making up for in enthusiasm what you lack in surprise. "I'd also like your help bringing in some of the Winter Wolves. They'd be right at home on the Steppe, and able to keep pace with the steam-wagons."
He nods. "Some of them are getting a bit restless. There's only so many times you can pick off a straggler from Iron Rock or Thunder Mountain before it gets old."
"Are you speaking from experience?" you ask suspiciously.
"As part of being the Karak's diplomat to Ulrikadrin," he says as innocently as he can manage, which isn't saying much.
"I suppose it's better than you doing so solo."
The trip to Ulrikadrin is largely uneventful, though this time you have to meet Hubert there instead of travelling with him, as he much prefers his own newfound ability to fly to subjecting himself to a Shadowsteed once more. It seems like the Ulricans are still arguing amongst themselves what form the headquarters that the Karak still owes them will take, as construction has yet to begin and they're still living amongst the people of Ulrikadrin. You're starting to wonder if it will linger that way long enough that they'll get used to it and the mountaintop monastery will never be built. Whatever the case, that's not your problem, and with Hubert at your side you once more make your way to the Temple of Ulric that serves as the current headquarters of the Winter Wolves.
"Hubert!" roars a happy voice, and before you can react the youth disappears into a crowd of back-slapping and chattering off-duty Winter Wolves. It's good that he gets on with them so well, but you'd brought him with you for a reason. Which might be why he was so enthusiastically greeted and removed from the picture; despite the primitivist trappings of their God, the Ulricans are quite familiar with politics.
"Loremaster Weber," comes the voice of Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart, right on cue.
"Sir Wulfhart," you reply, turning to greet him. "How fares Ulrikadrin?"
"It's built atop a trade thoroughfare, it would be difficult for it not to thrive," he says, though he's plainly conflicted about that. You imagine it's quite far from the hardy self-sufficient frontier town he'd imagined.
"Things have grown rather peaceful in this corner of the continent," you say leadingly. "Ideal for the settlers, but I imagine the idyll chafes the Winter Wolves."
He considers you for long enough that you're fairly sure he suspects where you're going with this. "Our first duty is the protection of our flock," he eventually says, "but we are lacking in challenges. Some are beginning to look outwards, wishing to seek new foes, lest our claws grow dull."
"I have something in mind that could serve very well, then. I've been looking north. Very north."
"Is the Great Enemy stirring?" he asks instantly.
"No more so than normally, at least as far as I know. This is leftover business from last time. Have you ever heard of Karag Dum?"
He frowns. "One of the Norse Dwarf Holds?"
"Not quite. Karag Dum is in the Steppes, rather than Norsca, and hasn't been heard from since the Great War. Karak Kadrin is planning an expedition for Spring of '86 to learn their fate. Ideally to reopen a line of communications with them, but otherwise to evacuate survivors and relics. Myself and two of my Wizards have already joined the Expedition, and I'd like Hubert and some Winter Wolves to join us."
[Recruiting the Winter Wolves: Diplomacy, 72+14+2(Library: Ulric)=88.]
"The Steppes, you say," he says thoughtfully. "The Winter Wolves have had many opportunities to test themselves against the Norscans, but never in my lifetime against those who gave rise to Asavar Kul. Who will be commanding the Expedition?"
"In overall command is a noble from Karag Dum, Borek Forkbeard of Clan Grimnar, who carried the last communication we had from the hold. The military commander is a Ranger by the name of Snorri Farstrider."
"I've found Rangers easy to work with. The Expedition's size?"
"Between three and four hundred."
He frowns. "So few?"
"If we need more than that, we'd probably need an army. The focus is on maximum efficacy per head, which is why I've come to you."
"I thought the Grey College was supposed to be subtle," he says, but with a smile. "Anyone else of note associated with the Expedition?"
"I've brought in a mercenary of some repute, by the name of Asarnil."
"Never paid much mind to-" he pauses. "Wait, the Dragon?"
"The Elf that rides him, but yes."
"This is beginning to sound like something that songs will be sung about," he says with a grin. "And I'm of the opinion that there ought to be a verse or two in glory of Ulric in those songs. The Winter Wolves will ride with this Expedition."
---
Melkoth is a formidable individual. He'd be a legend outside the Grey College if most of what he did isn't extremely secret, and he'd be a legend inside of it if he didn't hate people making a fuss over him. Most Apprentices get introduced to him by an older Apprentice telling them the year Melkoth was born and asking them how old he is. Some Apprentices who can't let the puzzle go have their sense of time compromised for weeks or even months afterwards, and though it leads to a fair number of missed classes, the Grey College considers this very good training on avoiding harmful mental influences. Through trial and error you'd managed to deduce it down to a five-year range before you'd realized it was wiser to let the matter rest.
He'd declined your offer of a gyrocopter and had travelled via rivercraft all the way from Altdorf with a few detours he doesn't comment on and you know better than to ask about, though you make a mental note to check if there's any impact to piracy along the Aver. He settles himself into your guest quarters, rummages through your library, side-eyes Wolf suspiciously, and spends a fair bit of time grumbling about Khazalid before he's good and ready to start teaching, but you wait patiently, confident his advice will be worth it.
[Learning Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma: Learning, 91+28+5(Library: Ulgu)+20(Coin)+20(Room of Dawn and Dusk)+???(Melkoth's tutoring)=???.]
And it is, in a way.
---
"You know how Ulgu gets wibbly when you're pulling on just enough of it that the shadows start to quiver?"
"Wibbly?"
"Sideways-upwards from reality."
"Oh, that tugging?"
"Yes, like a stutter. You need to grab it during that and pull. Not a yank, just a long, steady pull. And don't pull into you, pull towards you and then let the inflow do the rest."
---
"No, you're twisting it. Feel the unevenness there? That fraying?"
"Just here?"
"No, a moment ago. While you were condensing on the other side."
"That flow's been steady the entire time, why's it only now playing up?"
"That flow's been waiting the entire time."
---
"Okay, what am I doing wrong here? I know I've got the mental state right."
"You've got it exactly correct?"
"Yes!"
"And what's your dog doing?"
"...playing?"
"Either get him to cut it out, or overshoot to compensate. Actually, just overshoot. It's good training. Need to be able to do that on the fly when you don't have time to centre yourself."
---
"Stop thinking of the Miasma as a delivery mechanism."
"How do you know I have been?"
"Because I've watched three generations of Battle Wizards screw up the same spell in the same way for the same reason. That mental separation is just enough of an opportunity for the Miasma to be able to break free from the Mystifying. They need to be interwoven in your mind to be interwoven in the spell."
---
It's a long and exhausting process that severely drains the Ulgu reservoir of your Grey Tower, and Ulgu itself seems to fight you every step of the way. But through it all Melkoth is there, nestled into the armchair he brought with him from Altdorf and with one eye on you and one eye on a book from your library. He seems to intuitively grasp every twist and turn of the Grey Wind and has a knack for communicating what would normally be incommunicable. As the weeks pass, you learn how to form and unleash the most basic Battle Magic of the Grey College: Melkoth's very own Mystifying Miasma. The secret behind it is that it doesn't actually affect the mind of those caught in it, which could be resisted by the strong-willed - it alters reality in such a way that to those inside it time runs just a little bit slower, indirectly slowing reaction speeds and disorienting even the most highly-trained of combatants. Many elite warriors train to be able to fight when in altered states, but you've never heard of any that have trained to fight effectively when the passage of time becomes a variable.
[Spell learned: Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma]
---
You'd built your guest room to be modular so you could subdivide it into two for your two Grey Wizard guests, but Regimand turns down your offer in favour of making himself at home in some of the Karag's nicer establishments. Though you're a little put out, you're fairly sure you know why and that it isn't official business - Regimand owns inns and taverns across the Empire, because being able to guarantee secure and discreet housing at zero notice is Of Direct And Practical Use To His Cause. It also justifies any wealth he might accumulate as being an unavoidable necessity to expand his network, and of course he has to collect the profits from them or otherwise that lack of financial outlay might give away the true motives of the owner. Completely justifiable. And now it seems he might be expanding into the newest friendly corner of the Old World, which says good things about how secure the Karak seems from an outsider's perspective.
"So," he says, as he shimmers into view on the chair beside you. "What did you need?"
"If I didn't know you were here, I probably would have shot at that jumping patch of Ulgu," you comment as you slip a bookmark into Beyond the Great Bastion. "Smoke and Mirrors, I take it?"
"With enough Skywalks to keep downwards velocity down." He looks out at the view he'd just teleported his way up. "Your Magesight must have gotten pretty good to pick up an Ulgu chain-cast."
"Speaking of, I seem to recall you lecturing me at length about why one doesn't chain-cast."
"Normally I'd stick by that, but I honed this particular chain-cast rooftop-hopping across Marienburg back in the sixties. Only have to fall in the river a couple of times before you learn not to."
You nod. "Fair enough. I want you to help me hone my skills at assassination."
He frowns. "The entire process?"
"No, just the moment of. I'm going to be venturing into the Chaos Wastes, and I don't want to have fair fights against whatever I end up facing there."
"Good policy. You planning on whacking whatever you encounter with that behemoth of a sword?"
"Only if I have to. It's not exactly quiet." You concentrate for a moment and summon a dagger of solid Ulgu into your hands. "Mostly I'd be using this."
He squints at it thoughtfully. "Is that a Shadow Knives manifestation?"
"Sort of, I think. Or halfway between that and a shadow chisel."
"A what?"
You dismiss the dagger and reform the energies into a chisel. "Cantrip to replace enchantment paraphernalia. Learned it from who I think was one of Algard's Hands."
"I take it the chisel doesn't bypass armour like Shadow Knives?" You nod. "Pity. Let me know if you do manage to codify the dagger." He looks at it thoughtfully, drumming his fingers on his armrest. "Have you ever studied anatomy?"
"Not in its own right. A little for interrogation, a little for autopsying, a little for study of some species..."
You know the basics, of course. The organs someone needs to stay alive, the tendons they need to be a threat. When someone is unaware that you're about to introduce a blade to one of those possibilities, you're quite capable of removing them from the tactical situation with one of those options. You're even capable of scaling up appropriately when the target is an Orc. What you've not previously been introduced to is the idea that these are not necessarily constants. When the followers of the Daemonic Powers are involved, things like organ locations and how necessary they might be for their owner's continued survival aren't quite as nailed down. This changes things dramatically. It's no longer a solved question, it's a puzzle with several unknowns, and the answer can differ quite a bit based on whether you need a lack of noise, a lack of mess, or both.
As well as going through his own personal experiences with the anatomy of those that serve the Ruinous Powers, both Beastmen and those that were at least originally human, he runs you through his preferred techniques for dealing with them. A stab that skewers the heart and both lungs would usually be considered overkill, but not when you can't really rely on those organs being where they're supposed to be, or be entirely sure that there wouldn't be a back-up somewhere.
The other half of what he has to teach you is both more complicated and less known to him: the anatomy of Daemons. Yes, they're made of warpstuff rather than flesh and blood, but that warpstuff is often formed into facsimiles of flesh and blood to strengthen the ability of a Daemon to exist in the physical world. Puncturing a Daemon's heart doesn't guarantee the end of the encounter, but it's slightly more effective than stabbing whatever's closest to hand and hoping for the best.
Or at least, that's the case for unaffiliated Daemons, and for at least the lesser Daemons of the Violent and the Obsessive. Daemons of the Diseased have the organs but in such a state that it's hard to make the situation worse with a mere blade, and Daemons of the Plotter have bodies made of sinuous, flickering warpstuff that in any given moment is as likely to be a liquid or a gas as it is to contain anything recognizable as an organ. Those require a completely different approach entirely, and it's here that Regimand's depth of experience starts to grow thin, as he's only had a few encounters with manifested Daemons, and most of them only taught him a single lesson: try to avoid encounters with manifested Daemons.
Despite the usable information running thin at the end there, it's a depth of hard-won experience that would have taken a significant amount of time and effort and risk to accumulate yourself. You feel like you're that much better equipped to avoid fair fights with whatever it is you might encounter on the journey to Karag Dum.
[Skill increased: Advanced Assassination 3/3: You know how to end a variety of forms of life with a single stab. +2 Intrigue]
- To be continued. Writing will likely resume about two days from now after dealing with IRL stuff.
I wouldn't. We have no idea how being partly insubstantial interacts with bodily functions, especially with magic involved and "partial loss of touch" would not be my guess.
You take a penalty to Fellowship because you are literally covered in magic that feels like deception and misdirection, therefore people don't trust you - you just feel off to them. But it doesn't make you engage in deception and misdirection.
Though you're a little put out, you're fairly sure you know why and that it isn't official business - Regimand owns inns and taverns across the Empire, because being able to guarantee secure and discrete housing at zero notice is Of Direct And Practical Use To His Cause. It also justifies any wealth he might accumulate as being an unavoidable necessity to expand his network, and of course he has to collect the profits from them or otherwise that lack of financial outlay might give away the true motives of the owner. Completely justifiable.
Ah, so that's where we get it from. All is made clear.
1-shot on the spell, and we are now more prepared to stealthmurder daemons, which is something I don't think anyone brought up as a consideration but seems obvious in hindsight. Also, we've learned the valuable information that recruiting people who aren't one of our wizards requires a roll. Good thing we rolled so well on the Winter Wolves; is Wulfheart coming himself?
For at least degrees. A lower roll would probably have just meant he'd just have let any volunteers join of their own accord, rather than making it an official Winter Wolves jaunt.
As the weeks pass, you learn how to form and unleash the most basic Battle Magic of the Grey College: Melkoth's very own Mystifying Miasma. The secret behind it is that it doesn't actually affect the mind of those caught in it, which could be resisted by the strong-willed - it alters reality in such a way that to those inside it time runs just a little bit slower, indirectly slowing reaction speeds and disorienting even the most highly-trained of combatants. Many elite warriors train to be able to fight when in altered states, but you've never heard of any that have trained to fight effectively when the passage of time becomes a variable.
Ah, that explains it, and it's even foreshadowed in his obfuscating his age! Quite clever, really, and it gives an insight into how he made it. Looking elsewhere, Algard's pocket dimensions no doubt have some relation to his (in)famous towers.
Well, Melkoth's definitely earned his position as a battle caster and a teacher. He clearly knows his way around both Ulgu and MMM, inside and out. Not that that was surprising, but it's one thing to know someone is a ridiculously skilled magister and another entirely to see them in the act of passing that knowledge on.
"Some of them are getting a bit restless. There's only so many times you can pick off a straggler from Iron Rock or Thunder Mountain before it gets old."
"Are you speaking from experience?" you ask suspiciously.
I wonder how much Reputation Asarnil and Deathfang have accumulated over the centuries? Clearly enough to be name recognisable by someone with absolutely no contact with them or their work.
I feel that I have learned much, yet am somehow more ignorant than when I started.
Regimand owns inns and taverns across the Empire, because being able to guarantee secure and discrete housing at zero notice is Of Direct And Practical Use To His Cause. It also justifies any wealth he might accumulate as being an unavoidable necessity to expand his network, and of course he has to collect the profits from them or otherwise that lack of financial outlay might give away the true motives of the owner. Completely justifiable.
It seems like the Ulricans are still arguing amongst themselves what form the headquarters that the Karak still owes them will take, as construction has yet to begin and they're still living amongst the people of Ulrikadrin.
The funny part is that the dwarves probably completely approve of taking this completely reasonable amount of time to make the initial design decision ... and by grumbling arguments too.
