Okay, time to take a look at the critical portion of this vote: Who deserves hangout time. A big part of the primary consideration here is who we want to see on-screen, of course, but more than that...
- There may be long-term benefits to getting close to people, but there won't be any direct consequences for this decision. Consider this a short break from the fighting.
...there's this. The people who we talk to are the ones that we build friendships with, contacts who will hopefully last for decades and shape Mathilde's options in the future. We only have time for so many friends.
Chose as many as you like; the three with the most votes will be selected.
[ ] King Belegar Ironhammer
[ ] Head Ranger Ulthar Alriksson
[ ] Thane Skaroki Grimbrow
[ ] Master Runelord Kragg the Grim
[ ] Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
These are, I think, all the people who fought in the battle in our general area. They're likely to have heard of our deeds already just as we've heard of theirs, so we can celebrate the battle properly and show mutual respect for each other being badasses. Except with Kragg, that guy is probably going to be angry for the next fifty years over the Temple being despoiled and corrupted to foul greenskin gods, so I wouldn't recommend coming within fifty meters of him.
In terms of long-term connections Belegar has obvious prominence and is keenly aware of the importance of Mathilde's role in the recent battles, so he's a very good bet if we want to solidify our recent deeds into lifelong friendship. Ulthar has shown himself willing to put a staggering level of trust into Mathilde and is very trusted by Belegar, so he would also be an excellent connection to cultivate in Eight Peaks. We don't have anywhere near as much of a basis for relations with Thane Grimbrow so I don't think we can expect as high a return for action slot with him, although admittedly if we want to move to build that relationship now would be a prime moment.
Special mention for the Grand Master here; he is probably the single best choice for Mathilde's career as a Magister within the Empire. Friendship with the dwarves is something that Mathilde has at this point whether she focuses in on her relationship with Belegar and Ulthar or not, but she is very short on human friends, particularly ones in prominent positions in the Empire. Remember that part of being a Wizard Lord is having a lot of politically prominent friends, and making a Grand Master's opinion shift from "Dame Weber and I both fought at Eight Peaks, but not together" into "Mathilde is my old war buddy!" could have a
very significant impact on her future career.
[ ] Asbern and Seija
[ ] Panoramia
[ ] Maximilian de Gaynesford
[ ] Johann
All of the journeymen have fairly similar profiles; in terms of immediate benefit we can hear about how they've done in battle but this is mostly just making friends for when they're Magisters. Admittedly, having friends across several other Colleges is of significant value, if we want to get heavy into College politics later.
I guess Panoramia might care about getting a heads-up that she might want to look into the mushrooms that we didn't scavenge because that option was silly, and the Amber duo may need direction in order to engage the giant spiders... but honestly both of those seem like things that don't need Mathilde to be hanging out with them during a party to have happen. Presumably we will be able to reallocate our journeyman forces when the campaign moves to its next battle phase.
[ ] Engineer Durin Wutokri
[ ] Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
[ ] Marksman Codrin Petrescu
[ ] Marshal Titus Muggins
All of these people were fighting elsewhere and could tell us more about how they're doing, though that will be redundant with official reports soon enough except on unofficial objectives, like discovering how many of his men Codrin's gotten killed yet. In terms of long-term friendships I am inclined to say that once again the Grand Master of a knight order is a powerful contact for anyone in the Empire, although Mathilde would be starting pretty cold there as she wasn't even anywhere near him. Titus at has a history of murdering things with Mathilde around to build on and would probably strongly approve of her habits of assassination, but he's likely to be staying at Eight Peaks and if we want a contact here Belegar is likely the one to put the action on.
Who's a lovable ball of fuzz? That's right, it's this guy! Isn't he cute? Vote this if you want Mathilde to love her puppy deeply, more than she loves politics or people. No expected gains, many expected affectionate face-licks.
So, my choices:
[x] King Belegar Ironhammer
[x] Head Ranger Ulthar Alriksson
[x] Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart