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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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The Karag Dum Expedition, Part 20: Kul Encampment
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    [*] Use Rite of Way for the worst patches of rough terrain
    [*] Use Rite of Way for the moderately difficult ground
    [*] Attempt to steal the Chaos artefact
    [*] Journeywoman Alexandra Kohler
    [*][HEIST] Ljiljana

    As the steam-wagons begin to make their winding way between the Chaos Wastes and the mountains, you and Ljiljana separate from it to perform the duty she has come all this way for: the theft of what the Ice Witches call the Za-Goblet, a filled chalice that mutates those that drink from it and, when emptied, shatters and vanishes to be rediscovered intact and refilled in another place and another time. The Ice Witches hope to take this potent tool of Chaos out of circulation permanently, and in doing so leave one less tool for the followers of the next Everchosen to arrive at Kislev's doorstep.

    As you leave sight of the steam-wagons, Ljiljana walks a zig-zagging path through the steppe, stopping here and there to sniff the air or touch a stone or have a whispered conversation with a breeze. Then, with the suddenness and intent of a loosed arrow, she takes off in a straight line slightly west of north. She'd turned down your offer of a Shadowsteed but her pace is impressive for any person, let alone one of her advanced years, and as she strides the muted heat of a northern summer begins to fade away and a chill radiates out from her. You've heard that the Ice Witches have their power muted the further they go from Kislev, but evidently nobody has told her that, and storm clouds begin to gather overhead as you nudge your Shadowsteed to a trot to keep up with her.

    "This land was our land until the Widow called," she says, apparently for your benefit as she does so in Reikspiel. "It is not beyond the Widow's reach, and it still remembers the Bear and the Sun and the Sky, who will answer the call of Their sister." Despite the clouds roiling overhead, the sun still shines brightly through, and somehow the pitiless glare of the sun and the biting chill of winter do nothing to cancel each other out. "By your Wind and your God, I would label you a sneak, but your reputation speaks of sword and gun. Does that reputation speak true?"

    "To an extent," you say cautiously.

    "Then let us remind the Kul why they celebrated when the Gospodar departed these lands." The snow beginning to fall does not seem to impede her. If anything, she seems to accelerate as the landscape turns white. You urge your Shadowsteed to a canter and then a gallop as you do your best to keep up with her, who never seems to walk faster than a determined stride even as the carpet of snow flows beneath her. If you'd known it was going to be this sort of adventure, you might have brought others along with you, but it's too late to do anything but curse the tight lips of the Ved'ma as the rising blizzard begins to howl. You're pretty sure you must have crossed into the Chaos Wastes by now, but all you see is a blanket of white as the power of the Widow stretches out to reclaim this land. Thunder rumbles overhead and you catch glimpses of hulking ursine figures through the snow keeping pace alongside you. Ljiljana has shed her coat and scarves along the way, but though her bared arms are thin and pale, the wiry muscles underneath give no impression of weakness as strange energies crackle along her fingers.

    All you can do is mutter a prayer to your own God and do your best to withstand the simultaneous heat and cold as you ride alongside this manifestation of Kislev's wrath.

    ---

    Slaakhamshy'y Yg'a'tedaar threw his head to and fro, ignoring the suddenly-falling snow and trying to taste the strange energy to the air. He was not one of the Tzeen'ksy that could feel and twist the God-Winds, but his elongated head had unlocked new senses when Slaaneth had gifted it to him. "Azyr'ksy!" he shrieked in anger, calling upon his Shaman in the only language he could still form the words of.

    "The future is clouded," said the cringing man who claimed to see fate in the sky as he approached, and Yg'a'tedaar's crab-like claw snapped at the Shaman's head in irritation, though stopping just shy of crushing him. One does not destroy a Shaman lightly.

    "Azyr'iakash?" he asked, and the Shaman shook his head. "Tzeen'iakash? Hysh'iakash? Ksy'akhshami!"

    "This is nothing from the Blessed Realm, Slaakhamshy'y," the Shaman said, still shaking his head. "The sudden snow, the piercing sun. This is the work of southerners, it must be."

    "Mnahn'akami?" Yg'a'tedaar asked, contempt and disbelief in his tone. "Mnahn'akami syha'hagl? Naflehye!"

    Perhaps if he had used that opportunity to rally his followers to his side instead of scoffing at his Shaman, he may have been able to put up a defence and survive the day, and perhaps eventually been awarded the final syllable that would mark his ascension. But instead Slaakhamshy'y Yg'a'tedaar found himself looking down at the spears of ice that had punched through his armour and into his chest, and his final thought was that his patron would not smile upon such an inglorious and uninteresting death.

    ---

    "Vdova, cześć, Kislev!" is Ljiljana's cry as the storm she has become the center of impacts and bowls over the palisade of the Kul settlement, and you guide your Shadowsteed to jump over the shattered wood and then dismiss it, landing lightly on your feet inside the camp. You pride yourself on your adaptability, so it's time to adapt. You reach out with your magical senses to try to read the terrain around you, even as your eyes and ears insist there's nothing but the white of snow and the howl of wind.

    [Magesight: Learning, 95+28+10(Windsage)+10(Avatar)=143.]
    [Read the battlefield: Martial, 13+23=36.]

    With the Divine energies contrasting against the Dhar that stains everything this far north, the world becomes clear in an instant. But seeing doesn't always mean understanding, if there's anything to understand of the mess of Kul warriors scrambling to get away from the onslaught of snow and spectral bears and jagged shards of ice. But Ljiljana's unspoken plan comes into focus as you gaze around the chaos and recontextualize the task once more. This is still a heist. Stealth doesn't always mean being unnoticeable, it can mean being merely less noticeable than whatever else is going on. And here and now, that covers just about everything. So you stealthily march straight across the battlefield, stealthily cutting down those unfortunate enough to get in your path. You reason that whether it's on display in a temple or protected as the treasure of a Champion, the Za-Goblet would be towards the center of the camp, so that's the way you go, pausing at the edge of the swirling snow to call down a torrent of Ulgu to shroud yourself in.

    [Spot check: Learning, 96+28+10(Windsage)=134.]
    [Stealth: 56+28+20(Distracted)=104.]

    After a short detour to bisect a Shaman attempting to call down Azyr, you weave your way through the crowd of warriors running to or from the blizzard towards a hideous stain of Dhar that itches at your eyes and parches your throat even at this distance. You beeline towards the shockingly large silk tent that you have to squint through the Dhar-taint to even make out and, checking that your presence has still gone unnoticed, duck through the ribbons that cover the entrance, only to stop abruptly as an overpowering wall of scent overwhelms you.

    As your senses struggle to make sense of the overwhelming smell, your eyes adjust to the candles inside the tent and you begin to make out a figure sprawled on the bed of pillows before you. Your Magesight immediately identifies horns and a claw and an unmistakable aura and screams Daemonette, but under your mundane eyes the figure shifts from a deeply tanned, battle-scarred, and severely underdressed maiden to a much more recognizable and equally underdressed figure, every detail exactly as you remember it.

    "You've come to rescue me," breathes what your eyes insist is Panoramia.

    [Bewitchment: Piety vs Intrigue, 71+26+20(Windsage)=117 vs 14+25+20(Glamour)+10(Musk)-10(Surprise)=59.]

    "Impersonating a Wizard is a capital offence." The Daemonette just has time to look startled before your bullet sends Daemonic ichor splashing across the pillows, and you shake your head as your senses immediately begin to clear - except for your hearing, which will be ringing from the gunshot for a while. Perhaps a bullet was an unwise choice, but in the moment you thought it preferable to getting closer or trying to wield magic in a Daemon's presence. You head right for a pile of chests and crates and push hurriedly through them, spilling precious metals and ornamented weapons across the silk floor until you find the case that glows with malign light, and before you realize what your fingers are doing you've opened the clasps and thrown the lid open.

    [Bewitchment again: Piety, 15+26+20(Windsage)-10(Again)=51.]

    You stare at the deep red liquid that bubbles softly within the embrace of the chalice, suddenly thirstier than you've ever been in your life. It seems to whisper to you, speaking of the gradual transformation that began twenty-five years ago when you first channelled Ulgu into your soul, and how much it could accelerate your ascension. If your Magesight wasn't quite so potent, if your soul wasn't already claimed, you might already be drinking. As it is you stand transfixed, torn between two equally overpowering urges: to embrace and to reject the Chaos Gods from whom your magic ultimately flowed.

    [Interrupt: Martial, 30+23-20(Surprise)=33 vs 35+15-20(Surprise)=30.]

    You'd owe a debt of gratitude to the Kurgan that burst into the tent at that moment for breaking your fixation on the liquid if they hadn't immediately drawn blades and attempted to kill you. Thankfully Branulhune is never further than a thought away, and it appears in midair to block the first blade as the second shot from your revolver sends the other two reeling back, trying to avoid it.

    [Round two: Martial, 72+23=95 vs 98+15=113.]

    You take one step back, then another, as Branulhune has to flit from place to place to fend off three different blades trying to find a way into your guts. The Kurgan are shouting either warcries or calls for help as they push forward, and you're very grateful for the tumult Ljiljana's causing outside that seems to prevent anyone else from taking heed and joining the three. But three would seem to be plenty, as part of the force of a few blows slipping through makes it through your Aethyric Armour, leaving aches that are vastly preferable to stab wounds but still an unwelcome distraction when fighting for your life.

    [Round three: Martial, 69+23=92 vs 15+15=30.]

    One opening is all you need, and you get it when one of them slips on Daemonic ichor and clutches at a second as he fights to retain balance. For one crucial moment, the three-on-one becomes a very lopsided duel as Branulhune shatters the sword of the third Kurgan and goes on bite deep into his torso. The second takes a bullet to the chest as he tries to shrug off the grasping of his fellow, and the one who originally slipped goes sprawling as he tries to duck under Branulhune, and your downward thrust pins him to the silken floor before disappearing once more. You exhale, close the case, and shroud yourself in invisibility once more as you slip out of the tent and back into the tumult.

    [Ljiljana vs everybody: Learning vs Martial, 19+???+???(Widow?)+???(Tor?)+???(Dazh?)+???(Ursun?)=??? vs 66+20=86.]

    Outside the Kul have rallied, and their forces are forming up and delving into the blizzard to seek the mortal focus of the power at work here. You hesitate as you double-check the clasps on the case and secure it to your person, your eyes flicking over the hundreds of Kul and more charging to the assistance. You're not fully able to gauge the balance of power here, but it seems to be tilting against Ljiljana. She seemed quite ready to die to see the Za-Goblet denied to the forces of Chaos, so she'd likely consider it a win if you took the goblet back to the Expedition and turned it over to the other Ice Witches upon your return to Kislev. But on the other hand, perhaps that need not be how her story - and her life - ends. Given the opportunity to gird yourself with the many potent magics you know, you could be capable of tilting the battle single-handedly, routing the forces of Chaos as a second magical maelstrom is unleashed upon them. Or perhaps that is the voice of hubris, and you should make sure Ljiljana's sacrifice is meaningful by focusing on the fulfilment of her mission.

    [ ] Fight
    [ ] Retreat


    - There will be a one hour moratorium.
    - Part of this update was originally posted here.
    - Dark Tongue has only a handful of canon words, so I'm using Lovecraft's Cthuvian (which it seems to be partially based on) to fill in the gaps. Kislevarin is likewise fairly scarce, so I pick words from various Slavic languages based on whatever sounds best to my monoglottic ear. In general if I don't give a translation in the text, it's because the gist of what's being said is made clear by context.
    - With apologies to Sandy Mitchell.
     
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    • That would have been a really good time for L-dawg (we've gone into battle together, I claim the right to call her L-dawg) to roll higher than a 19, but such is life and questing.

    Anyway, I will probably be abed before the vote opens, but I say Fight. Right now is a very good time to bust out the Dragon Flask. This is exactly the shit we commissioned it for: outnumbered against largely conventional forces. We can catch them off-guard -- we're invisible and we can flank them while they focus on Ljiljana. Send them into disarray by deleting a whole bunch of them, drop Cloud of Confusion and a Miasma on the remainder, run like hell.

    (Our Robes and their Mastery are also earning their keep, if this turns into a chase scene. Not having to refresh AA and being physically tireless are really useful right now.)
     
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    I am kinda tempted to let Ljiljana die here because of her own idiocy in not having warned us of her plan (which would have led to us take more people).

    I doubt that's going to be very popular, however. Plus, we got to field-test the Dragonflask.

    @BoneyM would we need to specify that we want the Dragonflask deployed here? If so, would it look like this?

    []Fight
    -[] Use Dragonflask

    Or do we need to be more specific?
     
    Yes, time to fight. Mathilde isn't much one for abandoning an ally on the battlefield.

    Also we kinda need her for sealing the Cup. :V

    Also also Ljiljana is rolling a stupid amount of bonuses right now and I kinda want to watch.
     
    buli-buli said:
    Agreed. Besides Mathilde is terrifying in melee.
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    Melee doesn't mean much here, there's simply too many. It would be our spellcasting that would matter here, little else. And retreat seems like the better option to me, but I don't know. We survived two roll or dies. A miscast here is likely death, and we'd basically be rolling Melkoth's Miasma here, followed by using the flamethrower. I'm a little worried here, tbh, but if the Liljana dies, we can retreat with some safety.
     
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    I'd say we should fight, if only because it will delay pursuit if we break this camp reasonable and have whatever remnants of her magic are left after this disrupting them for a time yet.
     
    Well, bye.

    She chose this, in multiple ways. The mission comes first, and she can apparently keep up anyway if she chooses to disengage.
     
    tapkomet said:
    I am kinda tempted to let Ljiljana die here because of her own idiocy in not having warned us of her plan (which would have led to us take more people).

    I doubt that's going to be very popular, however. Plus, we got to field-test the Dragonflask.

    @BoneyM would we need to specify that we want the Dragonflask deployed here? If so, would it look like this?

    []Fight
    -[] Use Dragonflask

    Or do we need to be more specific?
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    IIRC we don't specify it when we use consumable magic items and Boney just uses their judgement on whether it should be used, and no one gets snippy if it turns out not to have been the optimal choice in retrospect.

    EDIT: Eshin'd.
     
    Abhorsen said:
    Melee doesn't mean much here, there's simply too many. It would be our spellcasting that would matter here, little else. And retreat seems like the better option to me, but I don't know. We survived two roll or dies. A miscast here is likely death, and we'd basically be rolling Melkoth's Miasma here, followed by using the flamethrower. I'm a little worried here, tbh, but if she dies, we can retreat with some safety.
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    We don't necessarily need to kill them all, just break them such that we can slip away.
     
    This seems like a good use for our shadow, really. It broke an army of Skaven, and I doubt the chaos warriors are going to handle yet another horrifying shock well.

    But yeah, we actually have a decent number of tools for this. We only need to cause enough of a commotion that both of us can break through. And picking off any leaders we see in the process will probably make the caravan less likely to come under attack before we get out of range.
     
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    This is what we have the Dragon Flask and the "Battle Magic + Power Stone" combo for, I reckon.
    picklepikkl said:
    Send them into disarray by deleting a whole bunch of them, drop a Miasma on the remainder, run like hell.
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    Fanhunter696 said:
    Unfortunately our fighting style is great for taking down individual opponents and holding Chokepoints, not so much in an open battlefield when we are surrounded by enemies... Our best bet o affect this battle is MMM.
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    Speaking of MMM, think it might be time to use that Power Stone to boost its casting if/when we use it at an opportune time?

    Maybe with a Power Stone to boost the area of affect, we can hit enough people with the slow-down effect, to be able to make it out.

    I mean, if there's a time to make use of a Power Stone, "When invading a Kul encampment and going 2vEVERYONE in it" is probably it. Don't want video game tendencies of "But what if I'll need the Full Heal in the next Real Ultimate Final Dungeon?" to catch us dead, eh?
     
    I say retreat both because denying the goblet should always be our top priority here and while it is sad to lose the Ice Witch she came here prepared to die, If she dies ensuring we get away then that will be well worth the cost. And the second reason I say retreat is just to form a dissenting voice on the issue I won't really care which wins even though I would prefer us leaving entirely.
     
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