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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Like, here is another one I was playing with just now.

Put your left hand above your right hand as if your holding a big sword.

Now swing this 'sword' from your left shoulder to your right hip across your chest.

That sword disappears, you bring your right hand above your left and 'reappear' the sword

and bring it up In frount of you.

You just want from a diagonal slash to a guard in no time.

No momentum, no readjustment, just boom, boom.

You would have to train your off hand a lot, but...
 
I'd say there's a difference between 'Capitalizing on a strange blade's advantages' and 'making a style of combat for a notional sword-patterned-force-effect-with-inexorable-strength-behind-it that emanates from your hands'. Earlier suggestions for the style trended towards the former, as an extension of our existing training, but the more it's thought about the more the latter seems like it makes more sense.

Yes, we'd have to build it from the ground up, and yeah, it'd be incredibly alien to any existing old-world style, but the power of a notional sword isn't that we can ignore that it exists sometimes, it's that it doesn't exist until it'd be convenient.

Like... Iaijutsu techniques, the anime ones. I'm not sure if I'm quoting from a Dark Souls item description or something from an anime, but when the blade is exposed and out in the open its potential is 'dead'. It's doing one thing, so you know where the blade is and can account for it. When the blade is sheathed its potential is 'live', because you can draw it out for the next attack and make it do anything.

That sounds a bit silly in the context of a piece of metal because the sheathe is a worse place for a blade than being in a guard or something is, unless you're using anime magic to change that, but in the context of our sword there's a similar situation; When our sword Exists, it's heavy and has to be maneuvered. When our sword Doesn't Exist, it's lighter than air and can assume any position we wish it to.

It's just straight up more powerful to only have it exist when we're committing to an action (attacking or defending), because the transitions are what get us, and while even anime Iaijutsu has to deal with the silliness of constantly unsheathing and then resheathing their swords we don't. No backswings, no repositioning. We can go straight from the top of one sequence to another because all the recovery doesn't exist anymore.

And we've got two hands, so we can be lining up positions while our other hand manifests the sword and carries out the attacks. A constant barrage of attacks.

(Obviously, that'd be a very high end interpretation of the style, but part of going for high-concept things is having a broad idea of what you're trying to accomplish.)
 
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I mean, there's no reason we can't have both, aside from AP expenditure which might put people off. In fact, I believe it would be beneficial if we had both, compared to just one or the other. The biggest reason is the advantage of surprise. In my ideal engagement, Mathilde would use Flicker style, where the blade is mostly there, to deal with mooks. Ideally, the image she would give off would simply be of a skilled swordswoman with a fancy sword. The boss goes in with that expectation and prepares to engage accordingly, at which point Mathilde transitions into Reverse Flicker, where the blade is mostly not there, and catches the opponent of guard and kills him. Such an engagement with just one style would, I feel, be a lot more difficult than if Mathilde adds on the element of surprise and misdirection to her bladework, and would also be quite thematic for Grey Wizard.
 
I'm rather relieved by the briefing really, even if we spent two gallons of AV to be told relatively little, at least we know that they weren't dabbling in daemons or heretical runes. To put it another way, we know the Runemasters of Karag Dum weren't being Runemasters of Karag Dumb.

[X] Plan Perfectly Balanced
 
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Oh, @picklepikkl, do you think it might be necessary to specify the always-on nature of the robes? We've talked about it a lot, but it isn't actually specified in the Perfectly Balanced vote.
 
NexusEye said:
I'm rather relieved by the briefing really, even if we spent two gallons of AV to be told relatively little, at least we know that they weren't dabbling in daemons or heretical runes. To put it another way, we know the Runemasters of Karag Dum weren't being Runemasters of Karag Dumb.
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While the less I say about my satisfaction level with the process and results of our favour-spending this turn, the happier everyone else will probably be. :V

[X] Plan Mark Control, EIC Spies and Directed Learning.
-[X] Contains 1 Overwork action
-[X] Gain enough control of your attraction to smoke and gases to have it collect away from your face.
-[X] Attempt to recruit assistance for the Karag Dum Expedition: Karak Azul Runesmiths + Light Wizards
-[X] Branulhune's ability to disappear and reappear at a thought allows entirely new forms of combat. Try to create them.
-[X] Enchant an item with a Fiendishly Complex or easier spell: Robe with AA and AA mastery (with an aim to have physically indefatigable always on (Overwork)
--[X] Use Ulgu power stones and/or Helldrake scales to assist with the enchantment if it would help.
-[X] Continue to work on your 'Fog Path' spell.
--[X] Coin: The Gambler
-[X] MAX: Learn a spell: Armour of Lead
-[X] JOHANN: Learn a spell: Armour of Lead
-[X] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Esbern and Seija and their compatriots of the Knights of Taal's Fury.
-[X] EIC: Insert agents into a particular province, cult, company, or institution to start gathering their secrets: Altdorf (Politics and Commerce?)
-[X] PENTHOUSE: Have a tower built atop Karag Nar: -100gc for 1 room, bonus to room's purpose.
-[X] SERENITY: Write a paper: Warp Lightning observations - shared with Adela (FADING)

Let's have the EIC information gatherers gather information- the EIC has a presence in Altdorf, the capital of the Empire. Sounds like a great place to expand to.
We are paying for Max and Johann, we're the ones doing all the Chaos Wastes research, let's provide some instruction and direction.
And I want to start on the accursed Marks.
Ambivalent on all the Duckling recruitment, but Esbern and Seija are full Magisters, responsible for themselves, and apparantly the Taalite knights are especially anti-Chaos somehow, so I'm taking that advice.

Approving this, as it also specifies the really worthwhile spell.
[X] PLAN: Escape Cavalry
 
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NuclearConsensus said:
I mean, there's no reason we can't have both, aside from AP expenditure which might put people off. In fact, I believe it would be beneficial if we had both, compared to just one or the other. The biggest reason is the advantage of surprise. In my ideal engagement, Mathilde would use Flicker style, where the blade is mostly there, to deal with mooks. Ideally, the image she would give off would simply be of a skilled swordswoman with a fancy sword. The boss goes in with that expectation and prepares to engage accordingly, at which point Mathilde transitions into Reverse Flicker, where the blade is mostly not there, and catches the opponent of guard and kills him. Such an engagement with just one style would, I feel, be a lot more difficult than if Mathilde adds on the element of surprise and misdirection to her bladework, and would also be quite thematic for Grey Wizard.
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Not sure switching styles like that is practical. A lot of muscle memory involved
 
NuclearConsensus said:
I mean, there's no reason we can't have both, aside from AP expenditure which might put people off. In fact, I believe it would be beneficial if we had both, compared to just one or the other. The biggest reason is the advantage of surprise. In my ideal engagement, Mathilde would use Flicker style, where the blade is mostly there, to deal with mooks. Ideally, the image she would give off would simply be of a skilled swordswoman with a fancy sword. The boss goes in with that expectation and prepares to engage accordingly, at which point Mathilde transitions into Reverse Flicker, where the blade is mostly not there, and catches the opponent of guard and kills him. Such an engagement with just one style would, I feel, be a lot more difficult than if Mathilde adds on the element of surprise and misdirection to her bladework, and would also be quite thematic for Grey Wizard.
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I appreciate the idea of deceptiveness, but we can effectively already 'hold back' in the manner described by just using the sword like a normal greatsword. Developing a hybrid variation that has weirder muscle memory than either of the other two styles doesn't really seem like the most efficient investment of AP.
 
Well there goes another chance to make contacts in a foreign land and see unique applications of magic. How disappointing. As one of the voters for xenophile trait its disappointing how often people come out and say its against her character to try and reach out.
 
BoneyM said:
"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.
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On one hand I am surprised that this has never come up before, but the I realized that dwarfs were not going to ask about magic unless we bring up the the topic or it is very important and even then they would be tactful. Don't want to accidentally ask someone to talk about guild secrets.

No more then they would ask a runesmith for details on the underlying principles on how runes work. Wizards fill a sort of similar mental slot of a sort of manling runesmith.
 
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SuperSonicSound said:
Well there goes another chance to make contacts in a foreign land and see unique applications of magic. How disappointing. As one of the voters for xenophile trait its disappointing how often people come out and say its against her character to try and reach out.
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As someone voting for getting them...this really isn't likely to persuade anyone. More likely the reverse.

Don't know if its the tone or something else, but it generated nearly instant antipathy for the idea you're trying to advocate for.
 
SuperSonicSound said:
Well there goes another chance to make contacts in a foreign land and see unique applications of magic. How disappointing. As one of the voters for xenophile trait its disappointing how often people come out and say its against her character to try and reach out.
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Honestly if people just don't find it interesting or think the odds are too long then that's fair enough to me. The strain of thought that comes up about how we can't because of our lack of an in to Bretonnia though I find a bit off. You have to start somewhere afterall, and you make connections by going out and actually trying to connect with people. It's not just going to spring fully formed from nothing, and a half action on a relatively appealing project to pitch to their sensibilities seems good enough odds at low enough cost to give building some a go personally.
 
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veekie said:
As someone voting for getting them...this really isn't likely to persuade anyone. More likely the reverse.

Don't know if its the tone or something else, but it generated nearly instant antipathy for the idea you're trying to advocate for.
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Whatever. I wasnt trying to change minds at that point. That was essentially me throwing in the towel.
 
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