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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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I don't think the idea that we can just snap Karak Vlag back into place is likely, but I just want it to be true to see Thorgrims reaction to it.

"High King, our messengers from Karak Kadrin report that the Karak Dum expedition has just left Kislev."
<Foolish endevour - at least when they're inevitably lost, Belegar will have to name a Dwarf Loremaster instead of that...>
Karak Dum Waystone: Online
Karak Vlag Waystone: Online

"Oh, come on! They can't have even gotten there yet!"
 
Fayhem said:
I mean, if they were just dumping it into the magical equivalent of a big open-top pool of glowing radioactive goop, probably it would be super visible, sure. But the reason that Mathilde cites in the text for concluding this is a ritual is that she thinks the only way there wouldn't be the magical equivalent of a hyper-irradiated nuclear meltdown site that would be clearly visible even though stone is an excellent insulator of magic is if the magic is not just pooling there/radiating out randomly.

I.e., her conclusion is that this torrent of magic has been actively channeled into something for this entire time. To use an analogy, she thinks the reason that there isn't a big pool of toxic magic down there is that something has been burning it for fuel as quickly as it pours in ever since Karak Vlag got stoneified. And even if it is being stockpiled, there's no reason to think that they wouldn't be storing it in something that's got the magical equivalent of lead lining (whether that be in the form of special materials or specialized wards) to tamp down the radiation leakage drastically, and hence limiting its visibility to Windsight commensurately.

Also, y'know, it's hard to see what anybody would get out of magically convincing somebody who sees through the first layer of obfuscation (stone is an excellent insulator of magic) that there's actually a dire threat when actually nothing important is happening down there. Like... what's the motive supposed to be there, exactly? Do you think Ranald is gonna pop out, yell "psych! lol gotcha noob" and then scarper off back to the divine realm snickering to himself because it was all one enormous practical joke?

Infohazards are spooky by nature, but I don't think we need to go out of our way to invent reasons why this one is spookier than it already seems.
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Mathilde explicitly thinks in terms of gathering power. "what could be done with that amount of power multiplied by one hundred and eighty-five years". This means large scale effect that can go off. Ritual is magic. To pull off ritual mean gathering and shaping that energy. This would be visible. But it's not. Despite that Mathilde still thinks it is possibility. It does not mesh. Hence suspicion of infohazard.
 
Anyway, I am very excited for Mathilde if she doesn't die. Cracking this mystery would be a real feather in the cap. Even if it doesn't bring anybody or anything back, a lot of dwarves want closure.

"Whatever did it isn't playing silly buggers with time, it's playing silly buggers with us," Snorri finishes, to a rumble of anger from the other Rangers.
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That's anger over and above the loss of the karak itself. The Laugher of Thirsting Gods (to steal a quote) is somehow even worse. They all know that someone, somewhere, thinks this is hilarious. Went the extra mile to "play silly buggers" with them.

And that's just on the dawi side. Any story you're telling the Colleges that starts with, "So I decided to follow up on Teclis's work and I found something he must have missed at the time...." is the ultimate brag if you can back it up.
 
What Mathilde is worried about in-update is that the expedition painted a huge target on its back that would be noticed by the operators of this probably-chaos doomsday device. Our response is... to lure away all hard hitters from said expedition?

The karak has been frequented by all sorts of observers over the years, and the cogitohazard targets all indiscriminately. The only reason to panic would be to assume that an attack is imminent, but as we have no indication that we are found out, why would one be imminent now?

[X] Act normal
 
Siual said:
What Mathilde is worried about in-update is that the expedition painted a huge target on its back that would be noticed by the operators of this probably-chaos doomsday device. Our response is... to lure away all hard hitters from said expedition?

The karak has been frequented by all sorts of observers over the years, and the cogitohazard targets all indiscriminately. The only reason to panic would be to assume that an attack is imminent, but as we have no indication that we are found out, why would one be imminent now?
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- Snorri has a horn, you have Illusion to make the same sound except louder. Asarnil can be here within a couple of minutes, and the Knights soon after that. Stand your ground and if it does anything, you might be able to disrupt it.

Key phrase bolded. From this spot, maybe Mathilde can do something to disrupt. From a mile away? Probably not.
 
guyfromtheplace1 said:
My bet is still on "Teclis 'repaired' the waystone network when he passed by, redirecting the flow from obviously doomed Dum, for however little time it would last, into the elf-feeding waystone network, hiding it in the process, and incidentally preventing the mountain for turning into a mess of magic-twisted chaos mountain a hundred years down the line. It's not like the continental primitives would ever notice anyway, it'd take too much effort to reconnect Dum to the Karaz Ankor network, and obviously the elves need that magic more than the dwarves, who (as far as he can tell) might not even be using it for anything."
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This is not what Mathilde sensed - she sensed the energy from Dum being funneled here and then *not* being redirected anywhere.

Assessing the situation:
We have an entire Karak's worth of magical energy directed to Under-Karak-Vlag, and then something is being done with it. This state of affairs has been going on for close to 2 centuries. So, no reason to believe it's about to be used for something soon... except that Warhammer seems to frequently run on Narrativium. The only reason I consider it likely that someone active would be there, is because of the pass-clearing... well, and the other signs that the Expedition is heading out this year. And whatever is using the magic coming from Karak Dum may well want the situation there unchanged. However, we have no mining capability here, which means that we are highly unlikely to be able to do any excavation, so unless we provoke action, nothing much is going to happen.

What I'm wondering is, how will Mathilde be able to do anything through all that stone (which is an excellent insulator of magic)? Frankly, the best thing that the Something could do, if they don't want to attack immediately, is to just turtle and try to deny as much information as possible. (And then gather forces/prep to disrupt whatever return visit is planned.)
 
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