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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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I'm convinced that becoming a Lord/Lady Magister/rix is only a formality at this point.

BoneyM said:
Hubert!" roars a happy voice, and before you can react the youth is disappears into a crowd of back-slapping and chattering off-duty Winter Wolves.
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"the youth disappears" (or "is disappeared")
BoneyM said:
It's built atop a trade thoroughfare, it would be difficult not for it not to thrive,
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one "not", not two "not"s.
 
Mopman43 said:
Eh, I think going simpler on this one is better. I like Shadow Shiv, personally. (Then again, I also like Dame's Dark Dirk...)
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I wouldn't recommend that latter name. Far too vulnerable to uncouth corruptions of the words involved.


On another topic, Melkoth has jumped up in both my list of favorite characters and in my list of possible threats. Given his mastery of using Ulgu to do wibbly wobbly things with time, he's the most likely candidate for inventing a time machine, something which must be prevented at all costs, lest Mathilde drown in a tidal wave of angry apprentices. :V
 
BoneyM said:
[Learning Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma: Learning, 91+28+5(Library: Ulgu)+20(Coin)+20(Room of Dawn and Dusk)+???(Melkoth's tutoring)=???.]
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Even before Melkoth's unknown tutoring bonus, this result is 164; the highest we've ever gotten in the quest. (We've never gotten more than 130-ish IIRC.) So whatever the DC for learning this in only one turn was, we probably blew straight past it. Given the description I'd be surprised if Melkoth and his spiffy chair gave anything less than a +20 himself, possibly even up to a +30.

Edit: Turns out this post was ninja'd multiple times. Whoops?
 
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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.
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MATHILDE: Oh my, can I as a Grey Wizard get away with owning a share of a prosperous trading company?

REGIMAND: Nothing new under the sunset, kiddo.
 
Mathilde's Outstanding Machete, or MOM for short. "Stand down, Witch Hunter, or I will call upon my MOM."
 
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Some minor proofreading notes:
BoneyM said:
Karak Kadrin is planning an expedition for Spring of '83 to learn their fate.
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Should this not be '86? Or do the Ulricans use yet another different calendar?
BoneyM said:
discrete housing
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"discreet" for low-key and avoiding notice, because English is terrible.

Also, over on the Spellbooks threadmark, some sort of formatting glitch has crept in because both Gold and Amethyst Magic seem to now have two spoiler tags of their own:
Spoiler: Spellbook of Gold Magic

Spoiler: Spellbook of Gold Magic


Spoiler: Spellbook of Amethyst Magic

Spoiler: Spellbook of Amethyst Magic
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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.
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I kind of love the secret to the Miasma. Of course the Grey College would mislead people about what's going on with their most basic Battle Magic. Everyone thinks they can power through with "a strong will" or throw off the effect with their great vitality and strength or something. Then they get hit with it, time goes janky, and every move they make has the timing off and leaves more openings than a child holding a sword for the first time.
 
BoneyM said:
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.
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To the shock of no one.

BoneyM said:
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.
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this says more about you Mathy then him

BoneyM said:
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.
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A little more skittish and grumpy than I was expecting, but I guess its not a convenient trip for him.

BoneyM said:
[Learning Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma: Learning, 91+28+5(Library: Ulgu)+20(Coin)+20(Room of Dawn and Dusk)+???(Melkoth's tutoring)=???.]
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... we have 73 base for learning battle magic... if that's not a sign that we should push for Loremaster of Shadows I don't know what is.


BoneyM said:
"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."
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ha, this conversation would physically hurt any dwarf that we in hearing range.


BoneyM said:
You nod. "Fair enough. I want you to help me hone my skills at assassination."

He frowns. "The entire process?"
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its little things like this that make me think he's both looking forward to and dreading the moment where he doesn't know enough to teach Mathy anymore. you can hear the 'oh, boy, please not to much'. and the silent relief that it's still within his ballpark.

BoneyM said:
"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."
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its stuff like this that shows Boney is paying attraction to the thread arguments
 
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