- Location
- Australia
[X] You are a faithful of Ranald, being in the right place at the right time to unbalance the scales. Try to steal the energies.
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Aotearoa
I just wanted to say I love this little bit.
After Mathilde grumbling a little at being taught the toolless enchanting techniques after so long spent tying to buy tools, she's certainly made very good use of them- Lenses and the like.
And now, elegant tools of assassination.
Indeed, the perfect murder weapon, for there are none to be found when it was made of shadows all along.
I also thought you did a good, fun job with the characterisation of Mathilde as she absorbed more Mork-iness in the update, @BoneyM influencing her (+5???, +15???) choices of action and descriptions. Very cool, though the "mortal steps into the playground of gods, has to defuse divine bomb" situation we're in is indeed about as scary as result as I was expecting from ganking a black orc priest in his temple...
DocMatoi
Theoretical Lover of Girls
- Location
- within 2 hours of the White House
- Pronouns
- They/Them
"wahhhhh someone had ulterior motives while doing something that benefited the empire and made it so our PC could live without fear in a safe magic space"
I wonder if it would be possible for Ranald to grow a new aspect, that of Ranald the Magician, which would extend from the fake magic that's part of his portfolio as the Deceiver (sleight-of-hand, legerdemain, etc.). Some parts of his nature as Ranald the Protector would also apply, gien wizards social position. In general, Ranald's nature as the order god 'opposition' to Tzeentch would also make this appropriate, given that Tzeentch is the Chaos God of Magic, and miscasts are blamed on his Curse by Magisters.
There isn't a human god sponsoring magic, after all.
There isn't a human god sponsoring magic, after all.
- Location
- France
I'd expected "just" having to fight a squad of black orcs in melee while counterspelling the horrible spells of the priest. This is way, way crazier than anything I'd thought to be afraid of.
...
Which makes sense, considering we're fighting Orcs.
Wow, rude.
- Location
- Norway
Well, this looks like ten pounds of trouble in a five-pound bag. But that's Warhammer for you!
None of the options look clean or reliable. Trying to accept the energy seems by far the worst idea, though, so that's right out. Hunkering down and doing nothing is probably worse than the moderately reasonable ideas, so... Ranald, Lore or Dwarf? Lore, IMO, Mathilde has a lot of magic skill and there's a lot of inert nearby mountain to ground the energy in. Kragg's belt isn't designed for this and Ranald is deeply unreliable. (I'm not saying Mathilde shouldn't pray to him, but she shouldn't trust him to solve problems.)
[X] You are a Magister of the Grey Order, and follow the traditions laid down by Teclis and Magnus the Pious. Try to ground the energies.
Okay, so first, I was under the impression Stockholm Syndrome refers to hostages siding with captors, or victims siding with abusers, and Teclis was far from an abuser. Could he have been nicer? Sure, just about everyone in Warhammer could have been nicer. But Teclis&co went out of their way to give the barbarians a power-up. If the elves benefited too, win-win!
Second, the Magister vote as I read it isn't about whether Teclis cared, it's about Teclis having the relevant expertise, which I think is undeniable. Some of it might have been lost in transmission at the colleges, but that's still much better than nothing or gambling!
Third, Battle Magic isn't "scraps" by any reasonable interpretation of the term. It may be less than the Elves have, but the Elves have the advantage of getting in centuries of practice.
None of the options look clean or reliable. Trying to accept the energy seems by far the worst idea, though, so that's right out. Hunkering down and doing nothing is probably worse than the moderately reasonable ideas, so... Ranald, Lore or Dwarf? Lore, IMO, Mathilde has a lot of magic skill and there's a lot of inert nearby mountain to ground the energy in. Kragg's belt isn't designed for this and Ranald is deeply unreliable. (I'm not saying Mathilde shouldn't pray to him, but she shouldn't trust him to solve problems.)
[X] You are a Magister of the Grey Order, and follow the traditions laid down by Teclis and Magnus the Pious. Try to ground the energies.
That's... disquieting. OTOH, if small numbers of orcs could often throw around enough ritual energy to blow up mountains, I imagine there would be a lot fewer mountains, so I'm going to hope you're speaking of the distant outlier potential results.
Okay, so first, I was under the impression Stockholm Syndrome refers to hostages siding with captors, or victims siding with abusers, and Teclis was far from an abuser. Could he have been nicer? Sure, just about everyone in Warhammer could have been nicer. But Teclis&co went out of their way to give the barbarians a power-up. If the elves benefited too, win-win!
Second, the Magister vote as I read it isn't about whether Teclis cared, it's about Teclis having the relevant expertise, which I think is undeniable. Some of it might have been lost in transmission at the colleges, but that's still much better than nothing or gambling!
Third, Battle Magic isn't "scraps" by any reasonable interpretation of the term. It may be less than the Elves have, but the Elves have the advantage of getting in centuries of practice.
Sigmar's domain isn't healing either though, it's smiting people with hammers and comets. Also rulership and courage. If you want healing, best to look to Shallya or Rhya.
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PanoramiaQuest: "Nooo, my XP!"
:3
Well, our shadow is probably still wandering around as we sleep, making waking us rather thrilling!
@BoneyM
Does this mean that Grey Wizards are perpetually sleep deprived like IT professionals and Noir Detectives?
The weather is a mixed blessing.
While it makes it much less likely for the orcs to notice the attack, we have a LOT of archers, and their bows will not be at peak condition past the first couple volleys if it starts pouring.
Orcs charging uphill against a line of human mercenaries in the rain is a lot more even than I'd like.
Never ever let enemies finish their rituals!
Especially rituals which took a whole freaking day to cast.
Mathilde: *Fails Learning Check*
"Oh well, I should stop it anyway."
Also that is a lotta orc.
We're a horror movie happening to the orcs.
All the classics. Light goes out. Annoyed guy goes to turn it back on, disappears once he enters the darkness.
He may have been the funny guy too.
Also interesting quirk on the spell. Creatures are affected as a whole, objects are affected by mass, but if the object was still a (dying) creature initially it stays affected.
The second one to die is the one bitching about the first one slacking off. Horror movie tropes check 2.
The third one successfully saw the horror, but simply dropped dead as a result.
Man the dice were close on these. Bless Ranald.
Anyone notice the growing ??? bonus?
And Mathilde suddenly knowing the altar's name?
Also whoops. Putting blood on Orc altars while doing Kunnin Brutality gets...interesting.
So...we took another decap on the boss of the mountain. A Hero boss at that.
The dwarfs are going to be simultaneously happy and annoyed lol.
By Ranald, the Orc gods by be so absolutely transcendentally livid at this heresy that they're willing to borrow a HUMAN for this.
We went HULK on the warboss.
The itty bitty tiny wizard went hulk on the warboss and smashed him to paste on the altar of his god.
So, Mathilde knows about Chaos Dwarves now.
The question is, is there any dwarf she can trust to talk about and not overreact to hide their shame?
Or should she just quietly bring that report to the Grey Order and let the investigation happen elsewhere?
Winds of destiny CHANGE!
[ ] You are merely a human that has gotten in the middle of forces you cannot begin to understand. Try to survive the energies.
This is "energy field does whatever it wants".
Waagh energy wants smash. Mathilde would likely survive between the Seed and the Belt, but anything could happen to a Battle Magic grade Waagh spell stomping the mountain or buffing the orcs or just exploding.
Probably a pure luck roll with a pure consequences roll.
[ ] You are the justice of Mork, delivering swift death upon the heresy of Only Gork. Try to accept the energies.
Attempt to consume an energy field larger than your entire body. Potential for large permanent changes, which may include turning 10 ft tall, broad, male and green. Or exploding.
Ranald might actually appreciate the sheer brass balls of this though. Its what HE did!
Probably based on Magic stat.
[ ] You are a faithful of Ranald, being in the right place at the right time to unbalance the scales. Try to steal the energies.
Give the power unto our God. Who knows what he'd do with it, but I dare say he'd be HIGHLY AMUSED.
What he would use the power for I'm not sure of, but based on past experience with Ranald is that he wouldn't use it for anything harmful to his dudes, though theres a good chance that he uses it on something really funny instead of useful.
Probably based on Piety stat, though Intrigue may apply as well. Ranald's blessing absolutely would kick in here.
[ ] You are a Magister of the Grey Order, and follow the traditions laid down by Teclis and Magnus the Pious. Try to ground the energies.
Its magic and we're a wizard. Release and dispel.
Now normally dumping magic into the ground is safe enough, but note that grounding a lesser spell caused things like the grass we were practicing at the time to go monochrome.
Grounding this much Waagh energy into the ground is going to have interesting side effects, most of which are likely to be destructive. Dwarf runes probably would be fine, but expect some kind of fungal bloom happening. And if theres Skaven below us then well...the warpstone probably goes off.
Probably based on Magic and Learning stat to do it effectively and quickly enough not to explode us or the conductor we're using..
[ ] You are Dwarf-friend and you bear upon your person a masterpiece developed by the oldest and wisest Runepriest of the Karaz Ankor. Try to destroy the energies.
So main points of this plan is that:
-The belt is designed to tank a spell and then burn it out of the caster. The question is, since Mathilde is the current bearer of the energy does it consider Mork the caster and try to boom the god, or Mathilde the caster(like if a shaman cast a spell it wouldn't be smiting the god but their earthly channel) and boom her instead.
-The belt is designed to convert dhar into fire. Waagh is not Dhar, but frankly its super easy to convert any kind of magical energy into Dhar so thats not a big obstacle. The sheer volume of Waagh here however, translates to a lot of fire(like, BoneyM told us that may be enough energy to potentially make this Karak Seven-and-a-half Peaks with a slightly higher roll). Mathilde is immune fortunately, but the expedition would find a little trouble.
Probably magic stat based, though theres a chance roll element in that as above highlighted, theres a bunch of ambiguities.
Also I think we just realized WHY this mountain was empty: Most of the Greenskins wanted as far away from this heresy as possible in case it explodes.
Ah yes... without fear.
*glances at witch hunters and Sigmar fanatics who would gladly slit our throats *
And again you are saying that Mathilde should be grateful for the for the discrimination and ostracism because at least she is not dead. We should be loyal for the gift of life they so graciously gave her should we?
No.
Not killing someone for your own ends does not a hero make and should not engender gratitude.
DocMatoi
Theoretical Lover of Girls
- Location
- within 2 hours of the White House
- Pronouns
- They/Them
neither of those are the fault of the college system, or Teclis. Teclis' actions were 100% good for Mathilde, and I don't know why youre blaming him or the colleges he established for the abuses of the church or the uneducated peasants. By Teclis' actions Mathilde and every other wizard gets to live and prove themself to the idiots. Are you saying he shouldn't have done it?
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TimEd
Meteor maker
... well, at least Ranald was there.
In this comparison Teclis was simply using the barbarians for his own, granted necessary aims. It's the Empire tha is the hostage taker.
SuperSonicSound
Shadowmancer of the Shadow Cabal
Dude, this is a gross characterisation of what Dragonparadox posted, you should be ashamed.
Yes, they are the fact of the college system, because it's part of and loyal to the Empire which is practicing the institutional abuse. The colleges are protecting us from dangers are are outgrowths of the same system, institutions which mages are helping to propagate and protect.
- Location
- Aotearoa
I at minimum expected a Big Waaaagh Magic Ritual of some kind, maybe animating some sort of giant Idol like people suggested, and that us killing the shaman would mean that Waaaagh energy needed to go... somewhere.
This is at the higher end of the ritual space, I grant you...
Have we got this? Maybe.
[X] You are a Magister of the Grey Order, and follow the traditions laid down by Teclis and Magnus the Pious. Try to ground the energies
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It reads to me like the particular issue is that the ritual is attempting to split off aspects of Gork and Mork.
Which is to say the whole orc race is involved to some extent.
DocMatoi
Theoretical Lover of Girls
- Location
- within 2 hours of the White House
- Pronouns
- They/Them
sorry, but "The Colleges are bad because the church sucks" just seems like a weird thing to take from the warhammer lore to me
- Location
- Aotearoa
I think the Black Orcs (as created by the Chaos Dwarves) as a rule only revere Brutality, and hence Gork.
Thus it was the creation of the Black Orcs that eventually created this Only Brutality aspect of Gork (think Ranald and his many aspects), leading to this ritual attempt to Make That Real, or at least Real Enough To Create A Brutal Gork Champion. Thus Only Cunning Mork comes into partial being as a response, and what would have been Skarsnik Champion-energy hopped into us.
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Teclis did a lot more than he absolutely had to. Despite the elves being in absolutely desperate straits he still gave them multiple valuable magic items (giant powers tones), and he made permanent modifications to the Waystone network around Altdorf to create the mono-Wind environment in each College. He didn't just teach them, he built major permanent magical infrastructure.
The Colleges have problems, but most of them come from the way the Winds of Magic interact with humans, meaning that wizards are incredibly dangerous to themselves and others, and even a wizard that does everything right will end up at best on the extreme edges of the normal/acceptable human mindset.
It seems like a very long term grand ritual that involves the black orcs fracturing the unity of the Waaagh field, with this as its culmination. Whose plot it is though, is unclear. I suspect Tzeentch working through the Chaos Dwarves aiming to sabotage one of their major rivals.
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Younger ones often are, but older ones tend to have grown out of it as their body and soul adapt.
- Location
- Austria
I mean, stealing stuff from Shallya actually was a pretty dick move, come to think of it. Ranald strikes me as more of Chaotic Neutral than Good, all in all.
Depends on whether given thing is her speciality. Her relying on others in matter of healing or growing plants, for example, is the proper attitude, and anything else would be folly.
MInd, stealing gods' shit is in Ranald's wheelhouse - but so is going "fuck you" to Greenskin energies firmly Kragg's thing.
Like, look at this:
He does not need dispels, that's for lesser ones. He just does not give a fuck, and winds slink off.
Honestly, I think that his belt, while not being him, is still quite good.
[X] You are a Magister of the Grey Order, and follow the traditions laid down by Teclis and Magnus the Pious. Try to ground the energies.
[X] You are Dwarf-friend and you bear upon your person a masterpiece developed by the oldest and wisest Runepriest of the Karaz Ankor. Try to destroy the energies.
Depends on whether given thing is her speciality. Her relying on others in matter of healing or growing plants, for example, is the proper attitude, and anything else would be folly.
MInd, stealing gods' shit is in Ranald's wheelhouse - but so is going "fuck you" to Greenskin energies firmly Kragg's thing.
Like, look at this:
He does not need dispels, that's for lesser ones. He just does not give a fuck, and winds slink off.
Honestly, I think that his belt, while not being him, is still quite good.
[X] You are a Magister of the Grey Order, and follow the traditions laid down by Teclis and Magnus the Pious. Try to ground the energies.
[X] You are Dwarf-friend and you bear upon your person a masterpiece developed by the oldest and wisest Runepriest of the Karaz Ankor. Try to destroy the energies.
- Location
- France
Basically the Empire as a whole is a source of fear and terror for wizards. Then the Colleges take them as children, raise them in their image, and make them serve the Empire for the rest of their lives. And the mages are grateful to the Colleges and Empire for saving their lives!
It's kinda fucked up, and that's where the Stockholm Syndrome thing came in. They love the Empire, despite the Empire being the source of their problems.
It's not like the Empire puts a lot of effort into ending the hate and persecution of wizards, you know? They can cover-up the existence of the entire Skaven species, but they can't give their Colleges some good PR? And it just so happens that this persecution is convenient for them...
And the mages clearly want this persecution to end. Indeed, they put in effort to stop it. But does the Church help? Do other Imperial institutions help? Of course not.
It's kinda fucked up, and that's where the Stockholm Syndrome thing came in. They love the Empire, despite the Empire being the source of their problems.
It's not like the Empire puts a lot of effort into ending the hate and persecution of wizards, you know? They can cover-up the existence of the entire Skaven species, but they can't give their Colleges some good PR? And it just so happens that this persecution is convenient for them...
And the mages clearly want this persecution to end. Indeed, they put in effort to stop it. But does the Church help? Do other Imperial institutions help? Of course not.
Wasn't the infrastructure necessary for the teaching to work?
I'm just imagining this from the perspective of the orc gods...
Gork: New idea only Cunning! Prophet do the thing!
Mork: Stop trying to split up the band you git! You want only Cunning? Try some Only Brutality to the face! Brutal Great sword to prophet's face!
Gork: What? Eh' where you get the great sword? No seriously where?
Mork: Its right there! Embedded in you boyz face.
Gork: I realize that, but where did it come from in the first place? Your Brutality not spontaneous Sword generation.
Mork: Eh? Suddenly ninja? Ninja with a great sword? I like it... wonder if she'd like a job?
Gork: Seriously... where did she come from and why is she even there? That doesn't make any sense at all. *pauses* Now there are sneaky stunties everywhere killing are dudes?
Mork: What? Oh neat! They are going around poisoning boyz with liquid brutality? Sweet!
Gork: So wait if we split up the band everyone else steals are stick? I fear we have erred.
Mork: 'h ninja with great sword! Want a job?
Gork: Why is she even here to be Brutal? Ninja girl explain!
Primary Thread: I'z in your base... killings your dudes! I'm here for your shiny divine gubbins!
Gork: Lovely I try to do things on my own for bit and my boyz get ganked by ninja Lolcat girls... This is my life now!
Mork: I like 'er! Gurl I give you job! I'z use to sharing with another god! I'm okay with the god of taking gubbins! You can be working for us both!
Gork: New idea only Cunning! Prophet do the thing!
Mork: Stop trying to split up the band you git! You want only Cunning? Try some Only Brutality to the face! Brutal Great sword to prophet's face!
Gork: What? Eh' where you get the great sword? No seriously where?
Mork: Its right there! Embedded in you boyz face.
Gork: I realize that, but where did it come from in the first place? Your Brutality not spontaneous Sword generation.
Mork: Eh? Suddenly ninja? Ninja with a great sword? I like it... wonder if she'd like a job?
Gork: Seriously... where did she come from and why is she even there? That doesn't make any sense at all. *pauses* Now there are sneaky stunties everywhere killing are dudes?
Mork: What? Oh neat! They are going around poisoning boyz with liquid brutality? Sweet!
Gork: So wait if we split up the band everyone else steals are stick? I fear we have erred.
Mork: 'h ninja with great sword! Want a job?
Gork: Why is she even here to be Brutal? Ninja girl explain!
Primary Thread: I'z in your base... killings your dudes! I'm here for your shiny divine gubbins!
Gork: Lovely I try to do things on my own for bit and my boyz get ganked by ninja Lolcat girls... This is my life now!
Mork: I like 'er! Gurl I give you job! I'z use to sharing with another god! I'm okay with the god of taking gubbins! You can be working for us both!