Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

LightLan · Nov 30, 2020

[x] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider
[x] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[x] Preceptor Joerg von Zavstra
[x] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
[x] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[x] Hunting

ScottishMongol · Nov 30, 2020

[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Preceptor Joerg von Zavstra
[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
[X] Asarnil the Dragonlord

Tomcost · Nov 30, 2020

[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[X] Deathfang
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard

OswaldRabbit · Nov 30, 2020

[X] Asarnil the Dragonlord
[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson

Rafin · Nov 30, 2020

ChronOblivion said:
I suppose the Rite of Way will be unveiled when we actually reach the Wastes. I've been really looking forward to the Dwarves' reaction to this surprisingly practical piece of magic, and the Wizards' reaction to the news that Mathilde has apparently custom-built a Battle Magic for this trip that she can cast at will without danger.

Most Journeymen are probably not up to date on the latest Ulgu Battle Magic spell selection, and I'm also not sure that Michel is the type of guy to notice this stuff. So the only Wizard to be impressed beyond the typical "look a LM casting Battle Magic" is Horstmann.

NuclearConsensus said:
Picked Joerg since he's more interesting, plus we're currently in Kislev so it's thematic.

The Kislev part is fair, but Ruprecht Jr is more likely to already have a positive opinion of us.

Sinsystems said:
So who else wants to keep the Volans after this and turn it into our mobile wizard base?

I'd rather have a device called "Volans" permanently remaining in the Dwarven arsenal.

Zero Gravitas said:
As a feudal title that almost certainly means that Mathilde will perpetually remain in Belegar's service in her capacity as Belegar's vassal (just like she's Roswita's vassal as Dame of Stirland) - since Dawi rarely leave their holds in the long run Mathilde going somewhere else to do something is likely to be viewed as a temporary arrangement (sort of like Gotri being in Karaz a Karak or Kragg going to K8P for a few decades to study runes).

I'm pretty sure that's not true. "Thane" in thos capacity is akin to a life-long "Lord Commander" that simply denotes that we are an experienced military commander in our own right, with all the related honors that come with that in a militarized society. We could break from Belegar, even in anger (as long as no Grudges or Slayer Oaths are involved) and join a different Karak and we would still be a Thane. Just as Borek was made a Thane by Zhufbar, but isn't now a Thane of Zhufbar in perpetuity.

Or at least that's my understanding.

Historyman14 said:
Borek greatest flaw and weakness is his obsession with finding Karag Dum and saving his people on top of the controversy around Karag Dum before hand and even now. To that end he is willing to screw over those who joined and do stuff both stupid and insane if again he brings him to his home and clan.

(Never mind the extremely strong risk of him going Slayer and leaving the group for a good death.)

None of this is confirmed other than him being desperate to wait no longer. We gave him a bunch of logistical problems in the last couple of years and he didn't take the time to adapt to them. Everything else is third hand information, conjecture and being ready for the worst case.

Anyway...

[x] Preceptor Joerg von Zavstra
[x] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
[x] Asarnil the Dragonlord
[x] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[x] Thane Borek Forkbeard

Night_stalker · Nov 30, 2020

[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[X] Deathfang
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard

Asheram · Nov 30, 2020

Rafin said:
I'd rather have a device called "Volans" permanently remaining in the Dwarven arsenal.

I'll have to agree with this. Owning a landship might be neat but would be prohibitively expensive to operate.

das_slash · Nov 30, 2020

[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[X] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider

The leaders and the Duckmaster.

"So, when a choir miscasts, do you explode sequentially or concurrently? any preferences between catapult, trebuchet and cannon?"

Asheram said:
I'll have to agree with this. Owning a landship might be neat but would be prohibitively expensive to operate.

Not to mention disgustingly slow, Mathilde is all about mobility.

NSMS · Nov 30, 2020

BoneyM said:
To be fair to Borek, the original plans for the Expedition had enough for the round trip and then some, before a lot of hungry mouths and hungry guns drastically changed the equation.

On the one hand, this is true. On the other hand Borek told us 'I look forward to you fulfilling your reputation', when I'm sure a large part of that reputation comes from how many allies we managed to gather for Belegar prior to K8P, and we spread our recruitment efforts out over several years. He had plenty of time to tell us 'please don't recruit more than X' or send a message saying 'you've done wonderful work gathering support, but if you recruit many more people we'll have supply issues', but he didn't.

Zero Gravitas said:
The expedition is trading reserves food for killing power/troops. That increases the risk of food running out but also decreases the risk dying due to enemies; right now most forces that can kill the convoy can't catch it.

An army without gunpowder weapons can still fight, retreat, march, etc. An army without food can't do any of those things for long. If we were recruiting too many troops, if Borek had even a modicum of sense he'd have told us to stop before it got critical (probably immediately after we recruited the Knight of Taal's Fury).

Saidoro · Nov 30, 2020

BoneyM said:
"Slower than the estimates," you comment.

"If you find an Engineer who can go from blueprint to battlefield without a hiccup, it's Morgrim paying us a visit. We can do higher speeds, but as we learned on the way here, it's hell on the axles if we keep it up long-term. Four miles an hour, ten hours a day. That's what we can do and still have steam-wagons for the trip back."

"That gives us more room to work," Joerg says. "If the steam-wagons were going eighty miles a day, our Demigryphs would not be able to do much more than keep up. But half that? We can range ahead, scout an encampment position, then scout and hunt in the area."

"Our wolves can keep pace with the steam-wagons, keep the flanks secure and be a moving picket around the convoy," Ruprecht says. "Then when camp is made, do our own hunting. The twilight hours belong to wolves."

BoneyM said:
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.

For reference, for anyone who didn't want look it up themselves, here were the estimates. Looks like the main issue was the hours of operation even with the wagons operating at less than full speed. This works out well for both the demigryphs and the winter wolves. The Gryphs only have to split up about two hours of downtime throughout the day, which should be much easier than the longer period of time we were expecting and the wolves get six hours a day to hunt.

fictionfan · Nov 30, 2020

BoneyM said:
If you find an Engineer who can go from blueprint to battlefield without a hiccup, it's Morgrim paying us a visit. We can do higher speeds, but as we learned on the way here, it's hell on the axles if we keep it up long-term. Four miles an hour, ten hours a day. That's what we can do and still have steam-wagons for the trip back."

This seems like the sort of problem that the gold spell enchant item can fix. Also considering that they are talking about fuel limitations I wonder when the other spells will come up?

Rafin · Nov 30, 2020

NSMS said:
On the one hand, this is true. On the other hand Borek told us 'I look forward to you fulfilling your reputation', when I'm sure a large part of that reputation comes from how many allies we managed to gather for Belegar prior to K8P, and we spread our recruitment efforts out over several years. He had plenty of time to tell us 'please don't recruit more than X' or send a message saying 'you've done wonderful work gathering support, but if you recruit many more people we'll have supply issues', but he didn't.
An army without gunpowder weapons can still fight, retreat, march, etc. An army without food can't do any of those things for long. If we were recruiting too many troops, if Borek had even a modicum of sense he'd have told us to stop before it got critical (probably immediately after we recruited the Knight of Taal's Fury).

Did we actually give him reports of all the actions we took on his behalf? Let alone actions we planned to take, before actually doing so?

And the Knights of Taal's Fury were our last recruitment, less than a year ago.

For all I know we gave him a tally and a scouting report (Dolgan deal included) by letter just a couple of months ago.

fictionfan · Nov 30, 2020

Saidoro said:
For reference, for anyone who didn't want look it up themselves, here were the estimates. Looks like the main issue was the hours of operation even with the wagons operating at less than full speed. This works out well for both the demigryphs and the winter wolves. The Gryphs only have to split up about two hours of downtime throughout the day, which should be much easier than the longer period of time we were expecting and the wolves get six hours a day to hunt.

As we start to eat though supplies and lose slayers there will be more room for the calvery to hitch a ride every now and then.

NSMS · Nov 30, 2020

fictionfan said:
This seems like the sort of problem that the gold spell enchant item can fix. Also considering that they are talking about fuel limitations I wonder when the other spells will come up?

Can enchant item affect an object that large? Genuine question, I'm not super-familiar with the spell.

Rafin said:
Did we actually give him reports of all the actions we took on his behalf? Let alone actions we planned to take, before actually doing so?

If we didn't then it's must more understandable, but I'd assume Mathilde would have the sense to at least tell him who she'd recruited.

Rafin said:
And the Knights of Taal's Fury were our last recruitment, less than a year ago.

I thought that was the Ulricans? Must have got things backwards. The point was that the recruitment was overall very spread out, and that there was a clear cutoff point to say 'stop' after we recruited the first batch of knights.

fictionfan · Nov 30, 2020

NSMS said:
Can enchant item affect an object that large? Genuine question, I'm not super-familiar with the spell.

I don't know, but if it can't he should be able to cast it only on the axles which seems to be the limiting factor.

Parzival95 · Nov 30, 2020

[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson
[X] Head Ranger Snorri Farstrider
[X] Preceptor Joerg von Zavstra
[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart the Younger
[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[X] Asarnil the Dragonlord

Maybe Mike · Nov 30, 2020

[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Asarnil the Dragonlord
[X] Deathfang
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson

I feel the need to talk with Gotrek because we got asked to rather then any ooc need.

Lightwhispers · Nov 30, 2020

BoneyM said:
You take the opportunity to examine the nearest steam-wagon as he approaches. Up close, the scope of the modifications that have been made to the River Monitor designs to build the steam-wagons becomes clear. Eight larger wheels in two clusters seem to provide locomotive force, with large steel rods connecting the rods on the outside, presumably to transfer motion from the boiler. To the fore and aft of each are additional, smaller wheels that presumably are there to further distribute the weight of the behemoths, and from the furrows they left in their wake it seems like there's additional wheels underneath.

"Morgrim weeps," Gotrek says as he reaches you, "but in the service of recovering the last places He saw His father, I hope it can be forgiven. We just couldn't make the four-wheel design work, not if we ever wanted to cross anything but solid stone. Didn't even have enough time to cover up the coupling rods, could feel the eyes of manling tinkerers on them all the way here."

Looks like each is basically a steam locomotive, but with wheels set up for off-rail travel. Also, (bolded bit): lewd.

BoneyM said:
"We mostly stuck to roads built by our ancestors. Only tricky part was crossing rivers, since our bridges are long gone and the manling ones weren't built for anything like this sort of traffic, so to be safe we shut off the engines, caulked them up, and pulled them across by hand. Much easier said than done. But nobody tried to block our path, the beasties and bandits that haunt the roads wanted no part of us and the few Roadwardens with the stones to try to stop us relaxed when they saw beards pop over the parapets. Could have used a test to the weapons, but I'm sure there'll be opportunity aplenty."

Well, the Rite of Way should help with rivers. Although I do hope that the amount of power needed is not proportional to the weight carried...
Somehow I am not surprised that the "beasties and bandits" looked at the convoy and came up with a tactical assessment of "nope".

BoneyM said:
"He's trouble on two legs, that Gotri, but he knows what he's about. I'd rather have a good broadside of Organ Guns, but nobody's giving those away, are they? We've got eight on each, and we've been working on drills to unmount and remount them in a hurry. When we're just trundling along we'll have two pointing each way and the other hatches will be for firing crossbows and handguns out of, and if we come under sustained attack we'll form a ring around the Urmskaladrak and shift them all onto the outer side."

You turn your eyes to the largest of the steam-wagons. "It's unarmed?"

First off, it's not unarmed. There's a dragonfire turret on top.

And yeah, I'm not surprised that even Gorek considers Gotri trouble. (But also that he knows his stuff.)

BoneyM said:
"Thorek's lads did some amazing work on the boilers, setting up runes to shunt heat out of one compartment into the boilers so we've got a freeze-room for meat and need much less coked peat to keep the boilers going at full steam, but we only broke even trading peat storage for meat storage, and then we needed powder and shot for the cannon. We went heavy on the former at the expense of the latter because if we've got powder but no shot we can still fire gravel or scrap metal or what-have-you. The mother-ship helped, but if we rely only on stores we'll be down to stonebread by halfway."

Well, that's nice of the Apprenticeswarm - useful in multiple ways. And yeah, food will be an issue, but fortunately, there are a bunch of capable hunters around. And both the kittybirds and wolves should be quite okay with eating horses.

BoneyM said:
"Aye, that's what Snorri has been saying. 'Four horses a day' is what he reckons, and that if we can't take on four Kurgan a day we should all shave our heads and join the lads in the Urmskaladrak."

"I'm hoping none of the events of the next few months lead anyone down that road."

Here's hoping.

BoneyM said:
"Oh no," Gotrek says firmly. "They both fly, but that's where the similarities end. I'd barely know which end of the damn thing to feed, let alone how to command it."

"I can take responsibility for communicating with Asarnil and Volrothrai," you say confidently. "We worked together well during the Sylvanian campaign."

"Then they're yours, with my gratitude. Second, the matter of the Knights." He looks at Snorri hopefully.

"Completely different paradigm. Aye, 'range far, range fast', but not that fast."

Gotrek: Nopenopenope. Elf+Dragon != Engineer responsiblity
Mathilde: I can work with him. Loremasters are supposed to handle Weird Shit, after all.
Snorri: I'm with Gotrek on the nopetrain. Not my wheelhouse. Dwarves don't do cavalry.

BoneyM said:
"The second week will take us through High Pass, the third across the plateau, the fourth up the Skull Road and skirting along Iron Wolf territory, and the fifth is the final sprint through Dolgan and Yusak territory to Karag Dum, which is also the point where we'll be leaving anything resembling a road."

"Slower than the estimates," you comment.

"If you find an Engineer who can go from blueprint to battlefield without a hiccup, it's Morgrim paying us a visit. We can do higher speeds, but as we learned on the way here, it's hell on the axles if we keep it up long-term. Four miles an hour, ten hours a day. That's what we can do and still have steam-wagons for the trip back."

Slower than hoped, but not too bad. And Gotrek is right about translating theory to reality. And 40 miles/day is not too bad, given that it's a caravan of mobile fortresses.

BoneyM said:
"That gives us more room to work," Joerg says. "If the steam-wagons were going eighty miles a day, our Demigryphs would not be able to do much more than keep up. But half that? We can range ahead, scout an encampment position, then scout and hunt in the area."

"Our wolves can keep pace with the steam-wagons, keep the flanks secure and be a moving picket around the convoy," Ruprecht says. "Then when camp is made, do our own hunting. The twilight hours belong to wolves."

Cavalry will be fine, and should have time to hunt which will stretch provisions. Overall, a fairly promising start. Logistics are going to be strained, but there should be ways to mitigate that... and the combat power of the expedition is so much more than it was when Mathilde initially poked her nose in.

Who to spend time with?
[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann
[X] Magister Michel Solmann
[X] Asarnil the Dragonlord
[X] Head Engineer Gotrek Gurnisson

Some time for Asarnil, to make sure nothing bad/weird is up on that front, get to know the magisters we're not as familiar with, and check in with Gotrek. We have some Zhuf options to stretch the fuel supplies, but that's something that we should check with him first on.

Looking at Magister Solmann's spell list, he's heavy on elemental Azyr, which likely means he and Hubert will get along well. (I hope.)

Rafin · Nov 30, 2020

BoneyM said:
so we've got a freeze-room for meat

...wait a moment. The Karaz Ankor has functioning technology for fridges and freezers? Why isn't one of those already installed in our penthouse? And in the largest Halfling inns of the valley? And being sold to Altdorf? And other large manling cities?

Holy shit. Freezers!

Omegahugger · Nov 30, 2020

Rafin said:
...wait a moment. The Karaz Ankor has functioning technology for fridges and freezers? Why isn't one of those already installed in our penthouse? And in the largest Halfling inns of the valley? And being sold to Altdorf? And other large manling cities?

Holy shit. Freezers!

They don't actually have freezers.

It's just that Dawi stubborness infuses the meat and it categorically refuses to spoil.

fictionfan · Nov 30, 2020

Rafin said:
...wait a moment. The Karaz Ankor has functioning technology for fridges and freezers? Why isn't one of those already installed in our penthouse? And in the largest Halfling inns of the valley? And being sold to Altdorf? And other large manling cities?

Holy shit. Freezers!

Rule of pride. Runesmiths don't do mass production.

picklepikkl · Nov 30, 2020

Rafin said:
...wait a moment. The Karaz Ankor has functioning technology for fridges and freezers? Why isn't one of those already installed in our penthouse? And in the largest Halfling inns of the valley? And being sold to Altdorf? And other large manling cities?

Holy shit. Freezers!

Because it's not technology, it's runes, and that's holy. They don't sell that.

If we had gotten the Provisions Room for our penthouse, then probably we'd have gotten the cold storage.

fictionfan · Nov 30, 2020

Omegahugger said:
They don't actually have freezers.

It's just that Dawi stubborness infuses the meat and it categorically refuses to spoil.

You would not want that. It would fight you on the way down.

Saidoro · Nov 30, 2020

Rafin said:
...wait a moment. The Karaz Ankor has functioning technology for fridges and freezers? Why isn't one of those already installed in our penthouse? And in the largest Halfling inns of the valley? And being sold to Altdorf? And other large manling cities?

Holy shit. Freezers!

In addition to the reasons others are listing, they may not scale down well from room-sized to home freezer size which would greatly reduce how many places would be able to afford or fit them.

MooseHowl · Nov 30, 2020

[X] Thane Borek Forkbeard
[X] Asarnil the Dragonlord
[X] Magister Egrimm van Horstmann

[X] Journeyman Cyrston von Danling
I find him suspicious. Yeah, there were Green is sus! jokes after his introduction, but his explanation of 'Don't worry about my magic getting more powerful as summer approaches and we coincidentally head into the Chaos Wastes, that's just my seasonal attunement acting up' is awfully convenient for him.

Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

Slava Ukraini!

Not quite altogether

Probably evil, unfortunately.

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Probably evil, unfortunately.

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Inattentive Idiot

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

This isn't even my nerdiest form

Please sir, may I have some Meows?