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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Egrimm van Horstmann, Hero of the Empire
  • Apocrypha
    • NuclearConsensus said:
    The real bait and switch would be Horstmann being a Ciaphas Cain like figure, currently preoccupied with finding a way of talking Alric out of sending him to the Chaos Wastes, and worried that the Grey Magister in the expedition will expose him as the fraud he is.
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    Article:
    Once again, I was plunged into the deepest and vilest parts of this troubled world, without warning and entirely without my consent.1​ My first clue should have been when, one cheerful morning, Patriarch Alric kindly informed me that I could take a break from assisting him in filing the paperwork for new robe orders2​. At the time, I was simply relieved that I would be able to catch up on my rest, but if I had known then what horrors would soon await me in the frozen wastes, I would have fled screaming into the Altdorf streets at once. For what was to follow would be my most harrowing adventure yet, and also the one where I would first encounter a woman who would become a perpetual thorn in my side3​ - then Magister Mathilde Weber...

    [1] As you will see later, there were many points in time where Van Horstmann could have chosen to not participate in the mission.
    [2] Having spent some time assisting the Grey Bursar, I can entirely understand Van Horstmanns relief here.
    [3] I assure you, the feeling was mutual.
    Source: Fumbling Into The Light: An Autobiography of Egrimm Van Horstmann, Part XII
     
  • Apocrypha
    • Alratan said:
    I was thinking of devices like the Runic conduits for draining and transferring magic around that we're built into some of our towers, assuming they could be built only to slow controlled amounts of magic through the 'pipe' at once.
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    DragonParadox said:
    I wonder if runes could help? We know runes can sweep all the magic out of somewhere, could they moderate the intake?

    Note that I'm not really expecting this to be something we can miniaturize to the point of making and item, just curious if the dwarfs could build a tower of 'less magic' or say an altar.
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    There's never anything better for channelling magic than a thinking being able to handle unpredictable circumstances. Putting things between the Wizard and the magic just makes it harder for the Wizard to perceive and react to whatever malarky the Winds try to get up to.
     
    Angelform said:
    And our scouting has found that the only problems were pre-solved the moment any wizard joined the expedition.
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    Knowing direction is great, but you need to pair it with careful recordkeeping about travel speed and duration to navigate without landmarks. This way the expedition will consult with sailors and treat it seriously instead of realizing the extent of the issue three days in.
     
    Redshirt Army said:
    Article:
    Once again, I was plunged into the deepest and vilest parts of this troubled world, without warning and entirely without my consent.1​ My first clue should have been when, one cheerful morning, Patriarch Alric kindly informed me that I could take a break from assisting him in filing the paperwork for new robe orders2​. At the time, I was simply relieved that I would be able to catch up on my rest, but if I had known then what horrors would soon await me in the frozen wastes, I would have fled screaming into the Altdorf streets at once. For what was to follow would be my most harrowing adventure yet, and also the one where I would first encounter a woman who would become a perpetual thorn in my side3​ - then Magister Mathilde Weber...

    [1] As you will see later, there were many points in time where Van Horstmann could have chosen to not participate in the mission.
    [2] Having spent some time assisting the Grey Bursar, I can entirely understand Van Horstmanns relief here.
    [3] I assure you, the feeling was mutual.
    Source: Fumbling Into The Light: An Autobiography of Egrimm Van Horstmann, Part XII
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    His familiar is a skunk called Jurgen. No, no one knows why a skunk. Probably a sign of the stink of his guilty conscience.
     
    Personally, when it comes to Van Horstmann, I'm placing my bets on "Secret desire for revenge against The Light Order and/or Alric specifically, but hasn't fallen to Chaos over it. (Yet?)"

    Not because of any sort of intuition or evidence, but because it would tickle me if he was a counterpart to Mathilde in that regard. One having the perfect temptation and means both for Necromancy fall right into her lap, and resisting it, and the other being the exact same occur with a quest for revenge and Chaos. Or at least having the potential to go down that path of "tempted but unfallen."
     
    You know, I kinda hope that Horstmann is still a secret Dhar user.

    Because historically speaking, the most impactfull thing a Light Wizard of capable of is exploding into everburning fire, and I'm kinda expecting we're gonna need more than that on this expedition.
     
    On the matter of Kurgans and approaching them I think we should do it. Sure they 'serve Chaos' in the abstract but that does not mean all of them are particularly pious or filled with dark gifts . Norscans also serve Chaos and their longships routinely trade all over the Old World. These are people, foreign people whom we do not know the customs of so it's unlikely we are going to get much out of them without getting lucky, but any information is better than nothing and we do have two major incentives to get them to talk:
    1. Gold, which spends as well here as elsewhere
    2. Being a terrifying shadow wizard
     
    NuclearConsensus said:
    The real bait and switch would be Horstmann being a Ciaphas Cain like figure, currently preoccupied with finding a way of talking Alric out of sending him to the Chaos Wastes, and worried that the Grey Magister in the expedition will expose him as the fraud he is.
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    Going by her track record, she'd be completely oblivious (or maybe suspect him of something completly different, like Chaos influence), and absolutly befuddled when at the end of his character arc, he thanks her for giving him a chance to prove himself despite seeing the coward beneath his facade. She'd then smile mysteriously and nod graciously, and then spend the next week wondering what that was about.
     
    Redshirt Army said:
    [1] As you will see later, there were many points in time where Van Horstmann could have chosen to not participate in the mission.
    [2] Having spent some time assisting the Grey Bursar, I can entirely understand Van Horstmanns relief here.
    [3] I assure you, the feeling was mutual.
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    Is... is Mathilde writing commentary in his personal memoirs?

    That's a Grey wizard flex if there ever was one.
     
    Omegahugger said:
    Okay, I have an idea for a compromise:

    What if, instead of just contacting the Kurgan, we charge in sword swinging, murder them all and then raise their corpses as our loyal servants? That way, we get the benefits of having no attacks/reliable information without the risk of knowledge leaking out, all for the low cost of a few karma points.
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    This has all the energy from the rowboat plan in Road to El Dorado. Technically possible, but impractical and ignoring several roadblocks.

    Enthusiast#117 said:
    Is... is Mathilde writing commentary in his personal memoirs?

    That's a Grey wizard flex if there ever was one.
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    It's casting Mathilde in the role of Amberley Vail from the books. Which means less "writing in private memoirs" and more "writing in classified documents, which I collated".
     
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    Rafin said:
    I'm curious how often nominally Order aligned traders (from Kislev or the Empire) voluntarily pay tolls and tariffs to the Chaos Dwarves, or even visit Uzkulak. And if the Chaos Dwarves haven't constructed literal toll booths on various points of the Skull Road then I really don't understand how they think and why they do what they do.
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    Trade caravans don't have infinite supplies, and having the approval of the local polity is also usually a good idea if you're travelling a large distance and are not an invading army. And even invading armies usually prefer having it.
     
    On another note: People are joking about the Van Horstmann romance but I can see a clear path to it actually happening.

    Everyone keeps an eye on him at first out of paranoia and curiosity alike and as a result we have both characters sharing a lot of screentime together.

    As a natural result, if there's any significant chemistry there... well, then people are going to start keeping it up for entirely new reasons. Should anything happen to then allay the lingering suspicions?

    *Makes domino falling hand motion as if to convey things naturally spiraling out from there.*
     
    The Phoenixian said:
    On another note: People are joking about the Van Horstmann romance but I can see a clear path to it actually happening.

    Everyone keeps an eye on him at first out of paranoia and curiosity alike and as a result we have both characters sharing a lot of screentime together.

    As a natural result, if there's any significant chemistry there... well, then people are going to start keeping it up for entirely new reasons. Should anything happen to then allay the lingering suspicions?

    *Makes domino falling hand motion as if to convey things naturally spiraling out from there.*
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    Not how it works in this quest, Boney explicitly writes the characters to have no interest in each other on a romantic level unless the player base has voted for it to be a thing.
     
    The Phoenixian said:
    On another note: People are joking about the Van Horstmann romance but I can see a clear path to it actually happening.

    Everyone keeps an eye on him at first out of paranoia and curiosity alike and as a result we have both characters sharing a lot of screentime together.

    As a natural result, if there's any significant chemistry there... well, then people are going to start keeping it up for entirely new reasons. Should anything happen to then allay the lingering suspicions?

    *Makes domino falling hand motion as if to convey things naturally spiraling out from there.*
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    This would have been more convincing if Johann had actually won the Romance vote.
     
    The Phoenixian said:
    On another note: People are joking about the Van Horstmann romance but I can see a clear path to it actually happening.

    Everyone keeps an eye on him at first out of paranoia and curiosity alike and as a result we have both characters sharing a lot of screentime together.

    As a natural result, if there's any significant chemistry there... well, then people are going to start keeping it up for entirely new reasons. Should anything happen to then allay the lingering suspicions?

    *Makes domino falling hand motion as if to convey things naturally spiraling out from there.*
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    I think the biggest hurdle for him is that there's already a better Hysh wizard around.
    Now, if he could get himself a shadow dragon...
     
    BoneyM said:
    That's a strong judgement about a character that has not even personally appeared yet. I'd appreciate being given at least a chance to make it work.
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    I don't generally use such strong language about a plotpoint, but I have to make the exception in this case.

    It's not about the character per se, it's about the meta.

    Every interaction with him will have the thread engaging in paranoia and ooc knowledge, no matter the truth in-universe (unless ironclad WoG on the contrary, which I doubt will happen).

    It's like if we found out ooc during the k8p expedition that Petrescu was secretly Mannfred von Carstein.

    It makes every interaction with the character potentially toxic and likely to overshadow the rest of the plot arc.
     
    BoneyM said:
    "Asarnil," he says, frowning. "Worked alongside him in Kislev. Thought he was heading west."

    "I managed to lure him away from Marienburg."

    "Marienburg? Glad to hear it. Would be a costly day if we had to take that pair down." He scratches his beard thoughtfully, and looks to the two other Wizards standing nearby. "Esbern, Seija, your thoughts?"

    "We'll be going with the Magister," Esbern says firmly, and Seija nods.

    [Rolling...]

    Kriegersen grunts and nods. "Says all that needs saying. We've got commitments here in the Empire for this coming Spring, but none that require our full numbers. I'll peel off a pair of Wings and send them north. Praag, you said?" You nod. "Right then. Let's wrest this mountain from the grip of the Ruinous Powers."
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    Kriegersen thought Asarnil was going to work for Marienburg.
    "Would be a costly day if we had to take that pair down."
    Commitments in the Empire this coming Spring

    Folks... is it possible we're going to miss the entire dust-off with Marienburg? It could well kick off in Spring while we're in the North. Indeed, if the time-bending effect from the books proves true and we spend any significant time in the karak, we might miss the whole damn war.
     
    NuclearConsensus said:
    I presume when making contact that Mathilde will take every precaution possible? It might be a bit difficult to explain what a lone woman is doing out on the steppe, with no caravan in sight, and the wrong time of year besides. It might be worth it though, just to gain some news of Kurgan affairs. Don't want to run into a growing horde after all.
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    Alratan said:
    What woman? A lone great and mighty spellcasting chaos champion coming down from the north to see if the wider world has thrown up anything that can challenge him perhaps, or a terrible daemonsmith of the Dawi-Zharr coming north to enslave yet more daemons into a mechanism of black iron and brass. Not a woman.
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    Surely your positions don't actually contradict each other completely. The overlap is "a great and mighty spellcasting chaos champion alone out in the steppe, who happens to be a woman". I don't think there's any law that says women can't be chaos champions. If there is, well, it's Chaos, rules are there to be more like suggestions.
     
    Briefvoice said:
    Kriegersen thought Asarnil was going to work for Marienburg.
    "Would be a costly day if we had to take that pair down."
    Commitments in the Empire this coming Spring

    Folks... is it possible we're going to miss the entire dust-off with Marienburg? It could well kick off in Spring while we're in the North. Indeed, if the time-bending effect from the books proves true and we spend any significant time in the karak, we might miss the whole damn war.
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    If it was Marienburg, we probably wouldn't be getting anyone. My guess is Spring brings bands of Beastmen emerging from their winter hideaways to pillage and do other Beastmeny things.
     
    Horium said:
    I don't generally use such strong language about a plotpoint, but I have to make the exception in this case.

    It's not about the character per se, it's about the meta.

    Every interaction with him will have the thread engaging in paranoia and ooc knowledge, no matter the truth in-universe (unless ironclad WoG on the contrary, which I doubt will happen).

    It's like if we found out ooc during the k8p expedition that Petrescu was secretly Mannfred von Carstein.

    It makes every interaction with the character potentially toxic and likely to overshadow the rest of the plot arc.
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    You're really not giving the thread any credit here. I think they can handle Egrimm being a character without melting down.
     
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