I don't have my books in front of me to check, but I was under the impression that trying to directly target a bloodthirster with magic was a fool's errand. Am I mixing this up with Black Crusade or something?
You have to roll an additional willpower test to target them if they've got a Collar of Khorne, I think, and they get +10% to willpower rolls on top of an absurd base stat (which means that they'd have to crit-fail to get hit with any spell that allows a resistance roll), but Light's Demand gives them -x*10, where X is the magister's magic score, so it would still appear to be possible.
Each Karak was transformed into an enormous Waystone, and all magic, whether ambient and benign or the shaped power of the spellcasters of other races, would be absorbed into the leylines and redirected to the mighty and ancient Runic arrays at the heart of Karaz-a-Karak, which would shackle and transform the magic into the energy of Runecraft. Which in turn would power the Great Works left behind by the Ancestor-Gods.
But now, it powered much less than it once did.
The Gas-Forge of Morgrim, lost, and with it the airships that were once held aloft by the airs it created.
The Tectonic Shackle of Thungni, lost, and Thunder Mountain unleashed once more. When it could no longer be permanently garrisoned due to poisonous gases and magma outflows, it did not take long to fall.
The Sally Port of Gazul, lost, and now every Dwarf fallen far from the protection of Gazul's priests is defenceless.
The Eyes of Grimnir, thousands of scattered monitor runes throughout Silver Pass, lost, and with them the ability for Karaz-a-Karak to safely project power along the pass, which lead to the loss of what was now Mount Grimfang.
The Great Pumps of Morgrim, lost, and now most believe Zhufbar was named for the miniscule waterfall it now hosts, rather than the torrential flash-draining of the Black Water for the mining of its bed, which destroyed the dark and terrible forests that once dominated what was now known as Averland and the Moot long before the arrival of humanity.
The Third Axe of Grimnir, lost, and now all have forgotten that once Peak Pass only opened when Karak Kadrin wished it to be open.
And dozens of other miracles of the Ancestor-Gods, so far lost as to be forgotten. And the energy network that once powered them is as far beyond the understanding of even Kragg as the creations of the Ancestor-Gods were to the Dwarves of the Golden Age.
How does that even work? How can you possibly keep the monster focused on you and stop it from just ignoring you and horribly killing your ranged fighters who're dealing all the actual damage?
IIRC those things aren't just melee murderblenders, they're also all geniuses with excellent mobility and defenses.
This sounds like another case of "my GM quietly nerfed it so we would win".
Light's Demand costs a single wound per turn to maintain, appears to only let the daemon roll once to resist, and doesn't indicate that it has any action cost. A Light Magister could hold one still, heal themselves, and let a Duellist poke holes in it from range pretty convincingly.
The question at that point is why they're fighting it in melee at all, though.
Lights Demand actually failed to work until the end.
I can't remember all the details, but largely there was a chock point and some rule about large characters not being able to move passed a group of characters if there is no logical space for the character to do so.
it was mostly the Duellist with the guns that were taking chunks out of it.
Are we sure about that? We don't know if it has lesser modes then 'flood entire provinces' to be used. Karak Varn would be a lot easier to retake without it being partly flooded... or by flooding it enough temporarily to kill all the skaven.
Personally, as far as long term plans go, I'd be interested in Mathilde setting up a joint research institute at Karak Eight Peaks.
It plays into Windherding, windsage, her growing library, her ducklings, her rise in the college ranks, her diplomacy, and the themes of K8P being strengthened by its allies. Not to mention the looming waystone project.
My primary concern is that it might tie her down too much, but I feel like the setup, especially if it's intentionally international, might be able to provide a ready-made reason to go haring off across the known world from time to time. With something like that there's always need for new topics of study, and the diplomatic side is good reason to cultivate foreign allies and strengthen those bonds.
All that said, I'm not sure whether that's best as a this decade plan, or next decade plan. It feels like there might be a space to do something else that helps build towards that and keep that one looming in the distance for a bit.
I don't see why we need to go haring with internationally. It's not as if we don't have multiple massive strongholds of the forces of destruction on our doorstep.
I don't have my books in front of me to check, but I was under the impression that trying to directly target a bloodthirster with magic was a fool's errand. Am I mixing this up with Black Crusade or something?
Bloodthirsters aren't immune to magic, just very resistant to the point that it's normally not worth trying. Depending on system, edition, and setting, it manifests as lots of extra bonus dispel dice, 2+ saves to ignore magic/psychic powers, etc.
I don't see why we need to go haring with internationally. It's not as if we don't have multiple massive strongholds of the forces of destruction on our doorstep.
I'm actually curious whether that Anvil Rune strengthens/induces Dwarven nature or whether it instead strengthens/induces Karaz Ankor culture and values. If it's the former the Undumgi could be an interesting insight into the difference between the two. If it's the latter it could well be that the occasional casting of it in generations of Dwarves is what keeps the Dwarves so culturally homogenous, relatively speaking.
Can anyone give me the flavor text and mechanics of the tabletop version of the Rune?
I'm actually curious whether that Anvil Rune strengthens/induces Dwarven nature or whether it instead strengthens/induces Karaz Ankor culture and values. If it's the former the Undumgi could be an interesting insight into the difference between the two. If it's the latter it could well be that the occasional casting of it in generations of Dwarves is what keeps the Dwarves so culturally homogenous, relatively speaking.
Can anyone give me the flavor text and mechanics of the tabletop version of the Rune?
I don't remember which one was used, but canonically there are 3 Ancestor Runes:
1) Grimnir is direct damage, so it couldn't be it
2) Grungni gives "Fight in extra ranks" special rule (usually only first two rows can attack, this rules allows third row to attack) and allows to re-roll failed to-hit rolls (improves accuracy).
Its flavor text is pretty bland "Grungni's rune inspires smiting of foes and valour of arms"
3) Valaya heals/resurrects (like Regrowth) and confers "Unbreakable" special rule (what it says on the tin, immune to panic/fear/terror and auto-passes Break tests).
Its flavor text is "When released from the rune, Valaya's blessing instils the Dwarfs with determination, lending new strength to severely wounded and fresh resolve to wavering hearts"
My bet that it was Valaya's rune or some kind of innovative mix of effects.
The closest canonical anvil rune I can find to the noted effects is this:
The Rune of Hearth and Hold was originally the gift of Valaya to the dwarfs. With each blow of the hammer, a low brass note resonates across the battlefield, reminding all friendly dwarf units of hold, clan and ancestors. Ever friendly Dwarf units may re-roll failed Fear or Terror tests while the note lasts.
Ancient power: If the runelord attempts to use the full power of the runes then all friendly Dwarf units may re-roll failed Panic and Break tests and are immune to Fear and Terror.
Canonicity (for Quest purposes)
Tier 1: The Quest itself is primary canon.
Tier 2: WoQM applies unless it violates Quest canon (which I assume it has or will at some point).
Tier 3: Army Books (6th+), WHFRPG (2e) - reasonably safe to assume that the fluff in these is canon unless the Quest or WoQM says otherwise. Game mechanics should not be taken as canon.
Tier 4: Black Library, White Dwarf articles, WHFRPG (3e/4e) - canonish but the QM may not be familiar with them, and the details may vary.
Tier 5: Licensed video games, Warhammer Armies Project - mostly only used for things that aren't otherwise covered in higher tiers. Tier 6: Army Books (pre-6th), WHFRPG (1e) - the Dwarf Priests Know Necromancy Zone, and may be looted for ideas from time to time but is usually incompatible.
[*] Scour the river banks for anything the bandits left behind
You shake your head. You've gotten lucky so far that your miscasts have been relatively benign, pushing that luck any further could have disastrous results not just for you, but for those you'd be trying to rescue. You wrap yourself in Substance of Shadow one last time and step through the hull to grab the chain, allowing you to be pulled onto the shore.
"That's the last of them in the passenger holds," you say to the waiting Dwarves. "There's still some sealed compartments, but I can't access them without risking breaching them. They'll have to wait for Barak Varr." You try not to pay too much attention to the expressions of those that were waiting. Though you saved more Dwarves than you could have hoped and there's still some possibility of rescue for the others, there were still plenty that died long before you arrived. Not everyone is coming out of this with a happy ending. Instead you seek out Belegar who's deep in conversation with the leaders of those present, including the one you had rescued from the sunken ship.
Belegar notices your approach and wraps up the conversation before coming over to you. "Near as I can tell, there were about five hundred and fifty aboard the ship when it went down," he says. "Only twenty reached the shore. You just added three hundred and twelve to that tally."
"Not a bad night's work," you say, trying to resist the urge to speculate how much larger that number would be if you'd cleared every compartment.
He's squinting at you in the lamplight. "Are you okay? Your eyes look odd."
You shrug. "It's temporary. I had to do a lot of magic in a short time."
"If you need to rest, you've done your share and then some. One of the gyrocopters brought word from Barak Varr's incoming reinforcements, they're fully equipped for rescue and retrieval, and Dreng is leading a band of volunteers from the Okral to try to track down the ambushers, more to keep their minds occupied than in the hopes of actually finding them. Everything's in hand."
You shake your head. "I've got enough left in me to at least search the shoreline for anything the attackers left behind."
"You're sure?"
"I'm the only one that can usefully do so right now. Could be something they left that'll be washed away by dawn."
Though Belegar doesn't press the issue, he does assign a few of his Hammerers to go with you. In case any of the ambushers are still out there, he says. You don't try to argue. You think you're still more or less okay, but if you're wrong, you'd much rather be carried back than pass out in the river mud.
---
To the eyes, the banks of the river are an indistinguishable mess of mud and tangled vegetation in the moonlight. Magesight makes it much easier to pick out the details, as the vegetation thrums with Ghyran while the mud only glows faintly with it. Picking out something out of place is as easy as looking for the inert silhouette amongst a background of jade. This strategy quickly pays off, as not far behind the sunken ship you find a length of thick rope leading into the water. It has a series of knots tied at regular intervals towards the end, and judging by the marks in the mud the current has been tugging at it insistently. The Skull River will have to go without this piece of detritus. With the help of the Hammerers you overcome the weight of water and mud and reel it in. It ends abruptly, and after wiping the mud off the end you frown at it. It's heavily frayed and feels stiff to the touch, more so than the fibers in the rest of the rope. So you suspect this was used to hold the explosive in place while the ambushers waited for their prey. You don't see any Aqshy. So no Bright Magic was involved in the explosion, and this confirms the reports that it happened under the waterline. If either or both of those were the case, the Aqshy in the explosion - either directly from a magical component, or drawn in by the moment of detonation - would have been embedded in the rope with such force that it would take days or weeks for it to fade.
It doesn't take long to find what you expected to on the other side of the river - another length of rope tied to a gnarled tree. Pulling that up as well reveals similar fraying and singeing to the other end, and an identical lack of Aqshy. So they use the tree as an anchor and hold the rope at the other end. The explosive charge is either weighted or heavy enough to sink on its own, but not all the way to the bottom because it's being held in place. The first ship in the Okral's convoy arrives, and... it explodes. Somehow. Set off by the musket fire? No, it exploded below water. By a pull on the rope? Too easy for it to have been set off by the pull of the river. On impact? That has possibilities. You've read books on Dwarven chemistry that mentioned chemicals that could be ignited by impact or by mixing them with other chemicals or even on contact with water. But while anyone with gold can get their hands on a barrel of gunpowder, those chemicals are significantly more exotic, with much fewer sources...
You shake your head. Speculate when you've exhausted the available evidence, not before. The explosion happened underwater, that means the explosive was either weighted or heavy enough to sink on its own, which means the weight or the remains of that explosive would have sunk to the bottom of the river. You commandeer one of the rowboats from the beached monitors and have the Hammerers row you out to a point between the two ropes and secure the boat in place by tying it to the shade cloth still suspended above the river. Substance of Shadow served well before, but that was when you were moving through a ship full of air pockets. To search the riverbed you'll need to come up to the surface for air, and that would risk coming up outside of any cast shade and then having the moonlight dispel the effect and suddenly finding your body existing in the same place as the river water. But unlike the boat, your only obstacle here is the water and the fish.
With a summoned knife you prick your finger and allow a drop to fall into the river, and after a moment you activate your Robes and dip your hand in after it. The blood has already attracted the attention of several fish and it takes only a few seconds for you to feel the slight pressure of powerful jaws closing on even more powerful Aethyric Armour, and then blood blooms in the river as the Rune on your belt returns the chomp twofold to the fish. You withdraw your hand, double-check that it's unmarked, and then take a breath, summon Branulhune, and jump over the side.
Of all the possible uses for a runic gromril greatsword made by one of the greatest Runelords in the Karaz Ankor, being a sinker is a particularly humble one, but it serves as admirably in that role as it has in every other you have put it to. The weight of the star-metal pulls you straight downwards as you do your best to ignore the bolder fish attempting to make a snack of you and being immediately punished for it. The river water around you is still flowing and vibrant with Ghyran, but that just makes it easier to pick out what doesn't belong.
Over the course of several dives you retrieve several fragments of metal, and when your lungs start to ache you dismiss Branulhune - which disappears with an odd flash of light that it's never displayed before, which is a puzzle for later - and allow the buoyancy of your still-full lungs to bring you back to the surface. When you're unable to find more, you have the boat return to shore, and you spend some time drying out as best you can at the fires that were built for the Dwarves you rescued. When your teeth are no longer chattering, you confer with Belegar and Gotri.
"Steel," Gotri is saying, "not the worst I've seen, but definitely not Dwarven. If I had to guess, I'd say Tilean or Imperial."
"They're all curved back on each other," Belegar observes. "Every one."
"Hoops," you say, "around an exploding barrel."
Gotri turns the fragment over in his hands. "That would cause these stress patterns," he concedes.
"Barrel full of gunpowder - or something else - hanging from a rope, one end of the rope tied to a tree, the other held by the ambushers. It's heavy enough to sink and it's held below the waterline, either to avoid the monitor's armour or to prevent it being seen or both. If they had a particular target in mind they could give it enough slack for the barrel to sink to the bottom and allow non-targets to pass by unharmed. When this monitor arrives, it hits the barrel and it explodes. Don't know the exact mechanism."
"I could think of a few ways to do it," Gotri says after a moment, "but it would require very careful manufacturing, and not minding terribly much if it explodes prematurely."
"It could also be done with magic, and I suspect chemistry. But even if you combine all three possible triggers, that narrows it down a lot more than just a barrel of gunpowder." You turn the steel over and over in your hands. "I might be able to find out more back in Karak Eight Peaks. And if Barak Varr can find the slugs shot at the ship, I could get something out of that too."
"I'll see to it," Belegar says.
---
Dawn arrives without further complication, and everyone present breaths a sigh of relief as a deep, reverberating horn signals the arrival of Barak Varr's reinforcements. Like an outraged goose rushing to the protection of its goslings, the Karaz Ankor's only riverine ironclad rushes upriver bristling with both guns and with heavily armed Dwarves, and leading a convoy of smaller but equally battle-ready monitors. It pauses only long enough to disgorge a King, several Guildmasters, and a small army to begin taking control of the situation, then turns its attention to the stricken ship.
How long does it take to divert a river? Months? Years? Decades? You don't know. But you now know how long it takes to divert half a river, at least if you're Barak Varr: about a couple of hours. With extremely precise driving it lines itself up so that its bow is almost touching that of the sunken ship and its stern is on the verge of running aground, and somewhere inside the massive vessel, a certain series of valves that are very rarely turned are turned, and water floods in. With an almost stately grace it settles lower and lower in the water until it touches the river bottom, its top decks still well clear of the surface. The water level on one side of the wreck begins to sink as it rises on the other, and working with coordinated grace, hundreds of Dwarves begin to fill and stack sandbags to further increase the discrepancy. By the time the first hour is over the top of the wreck is piled high with sandbags to keep all the water on one side and not the other, the river has receded enough on the dry side for some wary Dwarves to start bludgeoning beached fish, and water from inside the ship has begun to pour over the massive hole in its front. By the second, the first new survivor emerges, blinking in the light as they're lead to warmth and care. You'd like to bask in that moment, but like two Kings and more Engineers than you can count, all your attention is fixed on the hole that sunk the ship.
"Dead center of the bottom corridor," says the Grandmaster of Barak Varr's Slotchokri, the Riverine Shipwrights, speaking loudly to be heard over the rushing of the nearby river. "And the blast radius was large enough to partially open up the corridor above and the compartment below. They couldn't have found a more crippling shot if they tried."
"We see this sometimes, from-" a moment of hesitation from the Grandmaster of Barak Varr's Skarrenokri, the Oceanic Shipwrights. You turn to him, and find his eyes on you.
"She knows," Belegar grunts.
"The Frurndar have weapons that strike below the waterline. We've begun armouring against it, but..." He shrugs. "You can only put so much weight on a ship. More steel below the waterline means less above it. The Slotchokri were thought to never need to protect against more than an errant boulder."
"We'll explore whether that was in error later," King Byrrnoth says. "Focus on this."
"A barrel of an explosive substance was held in place by rope," Gotri says. "One side tied to a tree, the other held. The ship hits the barrel, the barrel explodes. Possibly some sort of impact trigger mechanism."
"Gunpowder?" One Engineer says.
"Must have been a hell of a lot of it for a hole that big," says another.
"I'll be able to say how big the barrel was as soon as I get the metal back to my workshop," you say. "From there you should be able to determine whether it was gunpowder or something..." Your voice trails off as you stare at the jagged edge of the hole.
"Something what?" says one of the Engineers, but you're already halfway up a ladder against the side of the hole. The last trickles of bloody water have just finished emerging from the frontal compartment, and without that steady stream of Shyish you think you can see a trace of something, something that fire and water haven't quite washed away. Embedded in the steel here and there are what you'd call splinters if they weren't so pulverized. Magically speaking, many types of live wood are very mutable and can absorb just about any magical energy that it finds itself surrounded by, for better or worse. Dead wood retains these properties to an extent, so prolonged exposure can leave a mark. You wouldn't be surprised to see Ghyran from the river or Shyish from the dead Dwarves in the pulp, but you're not seeing that. Lurking inside the wood pulp is the very faintest touch of Dhar.
"Traces of Dark Magic," you say. "Not from the trigger mechanism, a Dhar trigger wouldn't have lasted long enough for the wood to absorb it. It's from the explosive substance. And I only know of one explosive substance that would radiate Dhar."
"Skaven blackpowder," Belegar says, and you nod. The atmosphere wasn't exactly jovial before, but it darkens even further as hands tighten on weapons.
---
There's still a great deal of work to be done, from tending to the most badly in need of it to the recovery and standing vigil over the corpses of the fallen to the refloating of the stricken ship for it to be towed back to Barak Varr and restored. But your work here is done. You'd intended to discuss the matter further with Belegar and the others in the Gyrocarriage, but as soon as you sit down and are enfolded in the now-familiar thrum of the engines you find your eyes closing of their own accord, even as Dreng begins to launch into an extended grumble over not finding anything useful. It's been a very long day, and there'll be time for talking later.
- Start of the new turn to come shortly.
- Rolls were made for what you were able to find, but were not displayed to avoid giving OOC information. Mathilde does not know if what she found is all there was to find.
Are we sure about that? We don't know if it has lesser modes then 'flood entire provinces' to be used. Karak Varn would be a lot easier to retake without it being partly flooded... or by flooding it enough temporarily to kill all the skaven.
So it looks pretty certain that our true enemy is at least allied with the Skaven. Which is pretty good news, because they are also the ones we're best at fighting. Especially using our Secret Weapon.
