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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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The Void said:
Out of curiosity, is there a full list of Winds Elemental and Mystical Categories?
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As far as this quest is concerned, it's a theoretical framework that only has general agreement in broad strokes and the exact details vary from Wizard to Wizard. There's neat divisions in the Realms of Sorcery book for 2e but they were divided for game balance rather than fluff so I don't want to use those.
 
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Turn 32 - 2485.5 - We'll Fight the Hordes, and Sing and Cry
  • Threadmarks
    • [*] [LIBRARY] Dark Lands: Extensive + Esoteric Imperial (200gc), Marauder Tribes: Extensive Imperial + Extensive Dwarven (200gc), Karaz Ankor: Esoteric Dwarven (150gc, 4DF), Enchanting: Esoteric Imperial (50gc, 2CF)
    [*] [DWARF] Runesmith briefing on Karag Dum (2 gallons AV)
    [*] [COLLEGE] Aqshy item emulating Dragon Breath (20 Favor).
    [*] [PURCHASE] Commission a painting of the duckling club together from an artist.

    "You understand that every word of this is to go no further than yourself," Thorek says gravely. "These are not Guild secrets exactly, so you would not be Grudged, but you would still earn the enmity of the Guild if you spread what I am about to tell you."

    You nod. "I understand."

    "Very well." Thorek sighs. "The leaders of the Runesmiths Guild of Karag Dum call themselves 'Runemasters'."

    You contemplate that as you look at Thorek's grave expression. "That's it?"

    "'Runelord' is the title Thungni bestowed upon the son that succeeded Him when He departed," he explains patiently. "Those that oppose Karag Dum's Runesmiths say that to declare that insufficient is to say that they have reached heights that one taught by Thungni Himself could not reach."

    "So it's something of a religious schism."

    "And a Clan feud, and a Guild dispute. That is the foundation of the conflict, but not the climax of it. In the Runesmith Conclave of 6769, the last that Karag Dum attended, they announced that Chaos was waxing and that all efforts needed to be spent preparing to withstand it. This was taken poorly, seen as an attempt for Karag Dum to increase their status. Karag Dum has always been focused entirely on the threat of Chaos and has always called for more efforts spent to oppose it, so this was seen as their usual rhetoric, only more so."

    You make the mental conversion to the Imperial Calendar - 2246 - and you're pretty sure you know where this is going. "But it wasn't. They were right."

    Thorek sighs. "It is easy to see that now. But from what I've been told - and it seems to be true - that century was a tumultuous time in the Old World. High King Alrik had died in battle at the Battle of Black Falls, Bretonnia was tearing itself apart over succession, humans marched on Nehekhara time and time again and agitated the Tomb Kings into a great deal of activity beyond their borders. Worst of all, at the time of the Conclave, Ulthuan's forces were on the march in the Old World. In the face of all that, it seemed very self-serving for Karag Dum to announce that it was Chaos that was the real threat. A great deal was said in hot blood, every word of it recorded for posterity."

    "What were the Elves doing?"

    "Pursuing the Beastman demigod Cor-Dum, but that was not known at the time. The Phoenix King Finubar was still new to the throne, and many Dwarves suspected the worst when his forces made landfall in the Old World."

    "So when the Great War Against Chaos proved Karag Dum right..."

    "Influential and ambitious Runelords had their words against Karag Dum indelibly recorded. If they had taken the warnings seriously, and fifty years had been spent exerting all effort of the Karaz Ankor to prepare against the coming storm..." Thorek shrugs. "Perhaps the High King would not have fallen. Perhaps Karak Vlag and Karag Dum would not have been lost. Perhaps the Norse Dwarves would not have fallen. Perhaps the Silver Age would not have ended. Anyone that accepted that burden upon their shoulders would have no choice but to shave their head and seek their Doom. But they have not. I did not ask why not, but they answered the unasked question anyway, and what they gave me was not justification, but accusation."

    You think back to all the dark warnings you've heard about Karag Dum. "Argumentum ad, er, Dawinem. You can't be blamed for ignoring a warning if the messenger could not be trusted."

    Thorek nods. "In my recent travels, I've heard a lot of accusations levelled at Karag Dum. Unstable. Unreliable. Undwarflike. Spent too long too close to Chaos, closer even than the Fire Dwarves were when they fell. Karak Kadrin was once brother to Karag Dum - the former dedicated to Grimnir the Slayer, the latter to Grimnir the Foe of Chaos - but all but the eldest there now half-believe this new truth." He sighs and scratches at his beard, and for a moment he seems very tired. "I don't know any of this for sure, or I'd already be levelling accusations and tearing the Guild asunder. But what I do know indicates that that's how it stands."

    ---

    After a great deal of internal back-and-forth, you've decided to burn most of your accumulated favour with the Colleges by commissioning as mighty an enchantment as you possibly can from the Bright College: an item emulating the spell Breathe Fire, only much more so. Enchantments aren't usually scalable like that, but one notable exception is when asking Aqshy to make fire.

    Months later you travel to collect it from the Enchanter, Magister Wolfgang Scheunacht, a neatly-dressed and well-groomed young Magister with black hair and a fresh-looking burn stretching from his eyepatch to his neck. "Magister Weber," he says with an easy smile. "Allow me to introduce you to what might be my finest work yet." With hands covered in neat leather gloves, he presents you with a flask covered in red scales with a brass topper. "The flask is imitation dragonskin, from a local curio shop - it's the inner workings that do the magic. Fill it with something flammable, spirits for preference but in a pinch lamp oil or animal fat will do, and leave it over a fire hot enough to melt lead for a day. The scales will turn red when it's ready - they're normally black. To activate, drink the contents in a gulp - it's less than it looks, the inner workings take up much of the volume - and point your face in the direction of whatever it is that you so strongly disapprove of."

    "Any residual Aqshy?" you ask, turning it over in your hands.

    "As long as you give it a few minutes before doing any verbal spellcasting, none to speak of. Oh, but do refrain from drinking anything magically-active for at least twelve hours after using it."

    You look up at him, and the angry red scar marring what would otherwise be a handsome face. "Is that burn from the enchantment?" you ask.

    "The process of creating it, yes," he says breezily. "It's of no matter, normal hazard of the Wind, and a small price to pay for the opportunities that so much goodwill will afford me."

    You take it out to a cratered clearing almost entirely free of vegetation near Altdorf that the Colleges own collectively to put it through its paces, brace yourself, hold the arm that has the Seed in it behind your back just in case, and drink. The taste is both painful and confusing, as if your tongue can't decide if it's unbearably spicy or more conventionally boiling but does know it doesn't like it, but it seems to evaporate before it hits your stomach. You stand confused for a moment until a sensation very like an oncoming sneeze starts to build, and you do your best to aim your face as the charred tree stump you'd decided on as a target before you unleash whatever's trying to happen. With a sound like a reverberating bark, Aqshy explodes from your mouth and nostrils, and you're momentarily blinded as the world before you transforms into fire.

    After you collect yourself, you examine the site of the former stump as best you can as you wipe your streaming eyes and brush pieces of ash from your scorched eyebrows. Everything above the ground and several inches below it was apparently transformed into splinters and sent directly away from you at a substantial speed, and the field beyond is peppered with small, smouldering craters. A crunch underfoot reveals that wood wasn't the only victim, as some of the soil surrounding the stump was apparently vitrified and shattered by the heat and force of the blast. It's certainly effective, but as you blow your nose and consider the soot it leaves in your handkerchief, you think you might have been better served if you had specified something more self-contained.

    While you're in the Empire, you also make a concession to sentiment by commissioning an artist from the University of Altdorf to travel to the Karak to paint a group portrait of the resident Wizards. Normally you'd think that sort of thing is just tempting fate, but travelling into the Chaos Wastes is tempting fate plenty all on its own, and you'd very much regret not having a keepsake should members of your little Order not make it back. You go back and forth on whether to include Esbern and Seija, and eventually instruct the artist to leave space to add them in later if an opportunity presents itself - after all, the two of them aren't on hand to sit for it in person.

    ---

    "The end is in sight," Belegar says wearily. "The gleam of ore at the end of the tunnel."

    "Our Clans have banded together to keep from giving the Okral any excuse to start trouble," Edda says soothingly. "It's brought them together. I don't want to say 'common enemy', but..."

    "Common affliction," you say, and Edda smiles and nods.

    "I think the dragon has the Okral off balance," Kazrik chimes in. "It's one thing for them to be told it's around, it's another for it to fly overhead every so often."

    "Everything okay on that front?" Belegar asks you.

    "It's never encountered Dwarves directly before, it's borrowed some reading material to get to know a bit more about you." You figure that's a better way to put it than to let it be known that it's trying to draw direct links between the Ancestor-Gods and the Elven deities.

    "It's not acting like any dragon I've ever heard stories of," Dreng says, sounding a little put out.

    "It's a Hysh dragon," you say, to blank looks. Right, Dwarves. "To channel a Wind, a being has to cultivate a mindset that aligns with it. For example, fire dragons channel Aqshy, the Wind of Fire, which makes them impulsive and temperamental. Hysh, the Wind of Light which Cython channels, requires a calm and thoughtful mental state."

    "And yours?" Kazrik asks curiously.

    Deception, skulduggery, and plots. "A focus on ambiguities, mystery, and the unexpected," you say instead, and Kazrik nods thoughtfully.

    "Dreng, any news?" Belegar asks.

    "Since we now know for sure that Birdmuncha is dead, I've had my Rangers prodding Karak Drazh to get the name of their new Warboss. Apparently they now answer to Warboss Gorfang the Hungry, which according to captured Skaven intelligence," he pauses as he grimaces at the thought, "was the Big Boss in charge of the Red Fang's Underway front before the Battle of the Caldera."

    "Hopefully the experience has taught him to be wary of the Dwarves," Belegar says, to a chorus of approval. "In six months time, we'll be opening a new chapter in this Karak's history, and I intend it to be one of prosperity and growth."




    Mandatory Actions: Pick one from each category.

    Magister Maximilian de Gaynesford, Gold Wizard
    [ ] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his metalworking studies.
    [ ] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations.
    [ ] MAX: Have him train Hubert (optional: specify in what) (NEW)
    [ ] MAX: Learn a skill: specify what from who. You may pay for a trainer.
    [ ] MAX: Learn a spell: specify which.
    [ ] MAX: Study an artefact: specify which.
    [ ] MAX: Write a paper: specify which.
    [ ] MAX: Receive dictation: specify which. Must be taken with a 'dictate' action.

    Magister Johann, Gold Wizard
    [ ] JOHANN: Have him continue to teach Adela what he knows of engineering.
    [ ] JOHANN: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations. (NEW)
    [ ] JOHANN: Have him train Hubert (optional: specify in what) (NEW)
    [ ] JOHANN: Learn a skill: specify what from who. You may pay for a trainer.
    [ ] JOHANN: Learn a spell: specify which.
    [ ] JOHANN: Study an artefact: specify which.
    [ ] JOHANN: Write a paper: specify which.

    Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks
    [ ] DUCK: Work with Panoramia to try to implement the Waaaghsoak Mushrooms as an aid to spellcasting.
    [ ] DUCK: Panoramia's about ready to test for Magister, but she's putting it off because she doesn't have a lot of free time to prepare. Work with her to help make the most of every spare minute.
    [ ] DUCK: Aid Hubert in his search for a Familiar.
    [ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Gretel and the Besiegers for the Karag Dum Expedition.
    [ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Adela and some human siege weapons and operators for the Karag Dum Expedition.
    [ ] DUCK: Recruit all the remaining ducklings for the Karag Dum Expedition.
    [ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Panoramia and a team of crack Fieldwardens for the Karag Dum Expedition.
    [ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Esbern and Seija and their compatriots of the Knights of Taal's Fury.
    [ ] DUCK: Each of your three ducklings can fight in melee. Spar with them, and teach them what you can.
    [ ] DUCK: Study an artefact with one of the Journeymen: specify who and which.


    The Eastern Imperial Company
    Your share of EIC profits: 175 crowns / turn
    Current Focus of the EIC: Expansion along the Aver
    EIC Handler: The Hochlander
    [ ] EIC: Completely hand over management of the EIC intelligence apparatus to the Hochlander. Will remove this section from future turns and regain the half-turn invested in it.
    [ ] EIC: Have the Hochlander set up a shadow headquarters for the EIC in the Sunken Palace. (NEW)
    [ ] EIC: Have the Hochlander set up a shadow headquarters for the EIC in your fief. (NEW)
    [ ] EIC: Found an auditors division, to make sure the ledgers are in order.
    [ ] EIC: Insert agents into a particular province, cult, company, or institution to start gathering their secrets. (specify who)
    [ ] EIC: Reach out to Julia to find out if she's interested in being poached or passing on information.
    [ ] EIC: Reach out to Roswita, and have the EIC start passing on tips about any tax evasion or other naughtiness by the EIC's rivals.
    [ ] EIC: Expand the EIC's paramilitary river navy. (NEW)
    [ ] EIC: Improve the EIC's paramilitary river navy. (NEW)
    [ ] EIC: Sell some of the Grand Urbaz Bank coins to collectors and museums on King Belegar's behalf.
    [ ] EIC: Integrate the Gong Farmers and the Niter Factory into the EIC, and expand production.
    [ ] EIC: Have the EIC keep tabs on mercenaries so that they can be more easily hired if needed.


    Personal Actions: you have four actions you can apply without engaging in overwork.
    Current overwork status: [ ] [ ] [ ]
    Each box will be filled by one action of overwork, and will take the two turns after that to fade as you recover. The first box incurs no penalty. The second will give a -10 penalty to all actions during the first turn of recovery. The third will give a -20 penalty to all actions on both turns of recovery.
    Overwork incurs no penalties on the turns taken, only on the turns recovering from it. You can take as many actions of overwork as you have unfilled boxes.
    When you use overwork it fills the left-most empty box, so [-][ ][ ] becomes [-][+][ ], not [+][-][ ]. All boxes recover in parallel and independent from one another, but second and third apply maluses on your actions during that cooldown period.


    Current Task: Karag Dum Expedition preparations
    [ ] Seek out merchants who have travelled the Skull Road to learn what they know of it.
    [ ] Trawl around the bars and brothels of Tilea, looking to talk to the actual mercenaries that have walked either the Skull Road, or the Great Steppes.
    [ ] Attempt to recruit assistance for the Karag Dum Expedition. (specify the individual, mercenary group, cult, College, or other; two choices per AP spent)
    [ ] With the help of a gyrocarriage, personally scout part of the route (specify: High Pass, Road of Skulls, Western Great Steppes, Karag Dum vicinity)
    [ ] Attempt to learn the Greenskin tongue to communicate with the Hobgoblin Khanates of the Steppes.
    [ ] Attempt to learn Kurgan to communicate with the Kurgan of the Steppes.
    [ ] Learn what you can of dealing with the Hobgoblin Khanates of the Steppes.
    [ ] Learn what you can of dealing with the Kurgan of the Steppes.

    Qrech
    [ ] Despite him considering it treasonous, push Qrech to share the Moulder dialect of Queekish.
    [ ] Despite him considering it blasphemous, push Qrech to share High Queekish.

    Qrech Gambits (can be taken for free alongside a Qrech option):
    [ ] Convince Qrech that you seek an arrangement with Clan Moulder, and that you will release him as an ambassador for that arrangement once you are satisfied he'll cooperate.
    [ ] Convince Qrech that the Under-Empire has no way of knowing he's even alive, and that he should prioritize the comfort with which he will live the rest of his life.
    [ ] Convince Qrech you're ambitious and loyal only to yourself, and you're willing to repay his cooperation in ways that will benefit the Under-Empire.
    [ ] Other (write in)

    Self-Improvement:
    [ ] Ask an acquaintance to train you in a skill: specify who and what.
    [ ] Attempt to learn a spell from scrolls (specify which, will be harder than studying it at the Grey College)
    [ ] Hire a trainer to come to Eight Peaks and teach you: specify what. (costs favours for Dwarf or College trainers, money for human ones)
    [ ] Travel to the Grey College and attend lessons there. (1 College Favour per class; 100gc can be paid instead for non-magical classes)
    [ ] Attempt to learn Battle Magic at the Grey College. (1 College Favour per attempt)
    [ ] Gain enough control of your unruly shadow to still it temporarily.
    [ ] Gain enough control of your attraction to smoke and gases to have it collect away from your face.
    [ ] Try to see through Pall of Darkness with your improved magical senses.
    [ ] Practice shooting while invisible. (applies to Substance of Shadow and Invisibility)
    [ ] Branulhune's ability to disappear and reappear at a thought allows entirely new forms of combat. Try to create them.
    [ ] Have one of Prince Gotri's pilots teach you to fly a gyrocopter.
    [ ] Attempt to finish off the Grey College spellbook by learning Shadow of Death, Cloak Activity, and the MAPP.

    Research and Publishing:
    [ ] Study an artefact: select which.
    [ ] Write a paper: select which.
    [ ] Write something else: write in.
    Once per turn, you can write a paper or write a 'something else' without spending an action thanks to your Tower of Serenity.
    [ ] Dictate papers: select which two, must be taken with Max's 'receive dictation'.
    [ ] Investigate the possibility of using one Wind to directly manipulate another.
    [ ] The Second Secret of Dhar teaches how to collapse it upon itself. Practice upon local Dhar taint, and very cautiously see if this works with Warpstone.
    [ ] Try to establish a relationship with the Cult of Verena, with the intent of offering them access to your rarer tomes in exchange for copies of some of their own.

    Aethyric Vitae (12 gallons):
    [ ] Experiment with integrating the Vitae into enchantments.
    [ ] Investigate how the Vitae reacts with Divine Magic.
    [ ] Investigate how the Vitae reacts to a power stone.
    [ ] Investigate how the Vitae reacts to being subjected to power stone creation methods.
    [ ] Using the secrets you already know of the Vitae, attempt to weaponize it.

    Enchantment and Spell Creation:
    [ ] Enchant an item with a Fiendishly Complex or easier spell (specify what and which)
    [ ] Attempt to enchant an object to translate Windsight into a visual image.
    [ ] Attempt to deepen your skill with Enchantment (will be more difficult than studying it at the Grey College)
    [ ] Continue to work on your 'Fog Path' spell (NEW-ish)
    [ ] Attempt to create a spell (see Approved Spells threadmark)
    [ ] Attempt to capture an Apparition (optional: specify which)
    [ ] Turn a staff from mundane materials.
    [ ] Turn a staff from the horn of a Storm Dragon.

    Karag Nar Penthouse: each turn, you get ONE free choice in this category. Additional selections cost actions.
    [ ] PENTHOUSE: Have a tower built atop Karag Nar: -100gc for 1 room, bonus to room's purpose.
    [ ] PENTHOUSE: Have additional rooms excavated underneath your Penthouse: -150gc for 6 rooms.
    [ ] PENTHOUSE: Add security measures to your Penthouse to prevent forcible entry.
    [ ] PENTHOUSE: Have firing platforms built around the Penthouse so that it can be defended from flyers or climbers without granting access to it.
    [ ] PENTHOUSE: Add preservation Runes to your library: -4 Dwarf Favour, can be paid for with book budget DF for next two purchase periods.
    [ ] PENTHOUSE: No additional construction.
    Setting up rooms for specific purposes will have to wait until new rooms are constructed or excavated. Only one construction or excavation can take place at a time, but you can do one of each.
    Building downwards will increase by 1 each time; second set of excavated rooms will be 3 rooms, third will be 4, and so on.
    Building upwards can be added upon; towers can be added on to or additional towers can be built. The distinction between the two is entirely cosmetic.

    Foreign Relations:
    [ ] Involve yourself in the Sylvanian campaign (specify how)
    [ ] Involve yourself in the Marienburg affair (specify how)
    [ ] Involve yourself in the Black Waters project (specify how)

    Personal Relations:
    [ ] Spend time assisting with a fellow councillor's task: specify who and how.
    [ ] Spend time investigating a character without their knowledge: specify who.
    [ ] Wolf is fully grown, very smart, and a Very Good Boy. Train him further. (specify what he will be taught)
    [ ] Wolf is fully grown and very magical. Deepen your familiar bond. (may unlock a new familiar ability; risks obsession)


    Ranald's Coin - specify which face it will be set to
    [ ] The Gambler: specify an action this will apply to.
    A +20 bonus to up to two dice rolls resulting from a single chosen action.
    [ ] The Night Prowler
    As long as you are outside of private property and within a town or city, nobody will question your presence and nobody will be able to find you if you do not wish them to.
    [ ] The Deceiver: specify how this will be used.
    Lies you have developed beforehand will be delivered perfectly. The listener may believe you to be mistaken, but they will never believe that you are lying. Cannot be used to tell truths.
    [ ] The Protector
    When you act in a way that defends an individual or group from a danger that you did not cause, they will become aware of what you have done and will believe you acted selflessly in doing so.


    Ranald's Coin (note from Ranald: don't)
    Vampire skulls
    Note: Fresh and Refreshed papers confer a +10 bonus; faded ones a -10 malus.
    Papers get one step less 'fresh' each turn: Fresh; Fading; Mostly Faded: Faded. Only the first and last have an effect on the diceroll.

    Warp Lightning observations - shared with Adela (FADING)

    Waaagh energy and magic witnessed during the Expedition. (FADED)
    The Black Orc Warboss' worship of Only Gork, and what you saw of the Rogue Idol ritual. (FADED)

    Preliminary paper on Aethyric Vitae. (TIMELESS)
    Coins of Nehekhara's Fifth Dynasty (TIMELESS)


    You can literally write the book on a topic for the same amount of effort as two papers; this can be split over multiple turns. You don't need to have all the pieces to do so, but it would be more efficient and impressive if you did.
    The Currency of Strygos
    The Currency of Tylos
    Coins of Nehekhara's Fourth Dynasty
    Coins of Nehekhara's Sixth Dynasty

    - There will be a two hour moratorium.
    - Next turn, when the Expedition begins, will have two less AP than normal, with an option to spend a third AP to be with the Expedition from Praag instead of meeting it at High Pass, which is where everyone else (Wizard volunteers, Winter Wolves, Asarnil, et cetera) will be joining it. There will be no serenity action, everything else as per normal.
    - For reference, here's the sustainable speeds for various possible recruits for the Expedition:
    Steam-Wagon: 3-6 MPH, 12-16 hours/day. Estimated 50-100 miles/day.

    Human: 3 MPH for 6 hours/day. 18 miles/day.
    Dwarf: 3 MPH for 10 hours/day. 30 miles/day.
    Heavy Cavalry: 4 MPH for 8 hours/day. 32 miles/day.
    Light Cavalry: 5 MPH for 8 hours/day. 40 miles/day.
    Ogres: 4 MPH for 12 hours/day. 48 miles/day.
    Steppe Horse: 6 MPH for 10 hours/day. 60 miles/day.
    Cold Ones: 10 MPH for 6 hours/day. 60 miles/day.
    Steppe Horse w/ remounts: 8 MPH for 10 hours/day. 80 miles/day.
    Bretonnian Horse: 8 MPH for 10 hours/day. 80 miles/day.
    Demigryphs: 10 MPH for 8 hours/day. 80 miles/day.
    Winter Wolves: 5 MPH for 16 hours/day. 80 miles/day.
    Shadowsteed: 15 MPH for 6 hours/day. 90 miles/day.
    Mathilde's Shadowsteed: 25 MPH for 10 hours/day. 250 miles/day.

    Bretonnian horses have Magical Bullshit Genes from crossbreeding with Elven horses. Demigryphs and Winter Wolves are slightly cranked up numbers from cougars and wolves. Steppe horses are based on what the Mongols achieved.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • BoneyM said:
    "Influential and ambitious Runelords had their words against Karag Dum indelibly recorded. If they had taken the warnings seriously, and fifty years had been spent exerting all effort of the Karaz Ankor to prepare against the coming storm..." Thorek shrugs. "Perhaps the High King would not have fallen. Perhaps Karak Vlag and Karag Dum would not have been lost. Perhaps the Norse Dwarves would not have fallen. Perhaps the Silver Age would not have ended. Anyone that accepted that burden upon their shoulders would have no choice but to shave their head and seek their Doom. But they have not. I did not ask why not, but they answered the unasked question anyway, and what they gave me was not justification, but accusation."

    You think back to all the dark warnings you've heard about Karag Dum. "Argumentum ad, er, Dawinem. You can't be blamed for ignoring a warning if the messenger could not be trusted."

    Thorek nods. "In my recent travels, I've heard a lot of accusations levelled at Karag Dum. Unstable. Unreliable. Undwarflike. Spent too long too close to Chaos, closer even than the Fire Dwarves were when they fell. Karak Kadrin was once brother to Karag Dum - the former dedicated to Grimnir the Slayer, the latter to Grimnir the Foe of Chaos - but all but the eldest there now half-believe this new truth." He sighs and scratches at his beard, and for a moment he seems very tired. "I don't know any of this for sure, or I'd already be levelling accusations and tearing the Guild asunder. But what I do know indicates that that's how it stands."
    Click to expand...
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    First Ulthar's dad, now this? I'm starting to wonder if something is rotten in the state of Denmark the Karaz Ankor. If we get a third example, well...
     
    BoneyM said:
    After you collect yourself, you examine the site of the former stump as best you can as you wipe your streaming eyes and brush pieces of ash from your scorched eyebrows. Everything above the ground and several inches below it was apparently transformed into splinters and send directly away from you at a substantial speed, and the field beyond is peppered with small, smouldering craters. A crunch underfoot reveals that wood wasn't the only victim, as some of the soil surrounding the stump was apparently vitrified and shattered by the heat and force of the blast. It's certainly effective, but as you blow your nose and consider the soot it leaves in your handkerchief, you think you might have been better served if you had specified something more self-contained.
    Click to expand...
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    Oops. Yeah, maybe should've specified a form factor. Well, at least it'll definitely be useful! Will easily wipe out any hardened target we need gone.
    BoneyM said:
    To activate, drink the contents in a gulp - it's less than it looks, the inner workings take up much of the volume - and point your face in the direction of whatever it is that you so strongly disapprove of."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    "Whatever it is that you so strongly disapprove of", hah. Sounds like the Bright College doesn't get requests for this much fire every day. Or maybe even every year.
    BoneyM said:
    Thorek nods. "In my recent travels, I've heard a lot of accusations levelled at Karag Dum. Unstable. Unreliable. Undwarflike. Spent too long too close to Chaos, closer even than the Fire Dwarves were when they fell. Karak Kadrin was once brother to Karag Dum - the former dedicated to Grimnir the Slayer, the latter to Grimnir the Foe of Chaos - but all but the eldest there now half-believe this new truth." He sighs and scratches at his beard, and for a moment he seems very tired. "I don't know any of this for sure, or I'd already be levelling accusations and tearing the Guild asunder. But what I do know indicates that that's how it stands."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Wellllllll, that's going to be a bitch. I have a feeling we're going to end up recruiting some Runesmiths to live at K8P, rather than just visiting from another hold.
     
    Heh, I suppose we should have specified something a bit more "self-contained". A flask you have to quick-drink is a bit more inconvenient to use in desperation than, say, the Seed, but it should hopefully be fine. The recharge conditions are rather inconvenient as expected...

    @BoneyM do the steam-wagons come with ability to produce fire "hot enough to melt lead"? Alternatively, could we up a forge or something? And would they be okay with it?
     
    With us gone, I think the Fieldwardens would be best at Karak Eight Peaks rather than on the expedition.

    With the whole mess of people going on the expedition, I'd really like to fit in another diplomacy class to try to get our Kislev and Bretonnian diplomacy skills, but I'm not sure how that would be possible.

    For the Ducklings, as we've asked him to come along and spent very little time on him previously, I'd like to help Hubert find a familiar.
     
    tapkomet said:
    @BoneyM do the steam-wagons come with ability to produce fire "hot enough to produce lead"? Alternatively, could we up a forge or something? And would they be okay with it?
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    Lead melts just above 300C, which can be achieved with a well-built campfire. That's one of the reasons it used to be used so much for bullets, especially before interchangeable parts and machine tools that could build guns with perfectly identical bores - you'd issue every gun with a matching bullet mold and soldiers would cast their own bullets in between battles.
     
    Vebyast said:
    Lead melts just above 300C, which can be achieved with a well-built campfire.
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    Oh? Should be fairly easy to recharge in most conditions then - the bigger limiter is waiting a whole day for it. A friendly camp of some sort is necessary.

    Still pretty good as far as recharge conditions go, I think.
     
    Thorek nods. "In my recent travels, I've heard a lot of accusations levelled at Karag Dum. Unstable. Unreliable. Undwarflike. Spent too long too close to Chaos, closer even than the Fire Dwarves were when they fell. Karak Kadrin was once brother to Karag Dum - the former dedicated to Grimnir the Slayer, the latter to Grimnir the Foe of Chaos - but all but the eldest there now half-believe this new truth." He sighs and scratches at his beard, and for a moment he seems very tired. "I don't know any of this for sure, or I'd already be levelling accusations and tearing the Guild asunder. But what I do know indicates that that's how it stands."
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    Ah fun. So as usual the reward force job well done is more work except replace work with political hot potatoe.
     
    @BoneyM do we need to use an incantation to cast Smoke and Mirrors (or specifically any of the Fiendishly complex spells that we can chain with it)? I ask because the condition of using the flask is that we not use such spells a few minutes after drinking from the flask.
     
    so. gambler on fog-path cause its battlemagic and can therefore kill us if we screw up.
    start improving our sword style.
    see through pall of darkness.
    make our new armor.

    just go whole hog on the self improvement this turn?

    and save the overworks for next turn?
     
    DragonParadox said:
    @BoneyM do we need to use an incantation to cast Smoke and Mirrors (or specifically any of the Fiendishly complex spells that we can chain with it)? I ask because the condition of using the flask is that we not use such spells a few minutes after drinking from the flask.
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    It's significantly more difficult or significantly slower to cast silently, but you should have at least a little breathing room after sneezing out that thing.
     
    tapkomet said:
    Heh, I suppose we should have specified something a bit more "self-contained". A flask you have to quick-drink is a bit more inconvenient to use in desperation than, say, the Seed, but it should hopefully be fine. The recharge conditions are rather inconvenient as expected...

    @BoneyM do the steam-wagons come with ability to produce fire "hot enough to melt lead"? Alternatively, could we up a forge or something? And would they be okay with it?
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    Just about any fire can melt lead, you could hold it over a candle flame if you have literally no other option.
    Though that would likely take a long while.
     
    I don't actually think that little bit of dwarven politics was worth two gallons of AV to learn, in retrospect, but I'm glad that it wasn't something worse...
     
    Alratan said:
    I don't actually think that little bit of dwarven politics was worth two gallons of AV to learn, in retrospect, but I'm glad that it wasn't something worse...
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    We didn't learn any useful positive knowledge, i.e. confirming the presence of something, but we did get useful negative knowledge, we ruled out the Karak Dum was doing something especiall stupid like playing with daemons and such, we know it's safe to treat them like any other Runesmith guild, albeit a particularly prideful one.
     
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