Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] Plan Snek, Spider, and Squeak
-[*] MAX: Receive dictation: Queekish-Khazalid Dictionary, including spoken Low Queekish
-[*] JOHANN: Attempt to take advantage of his temporarily blindness to improve his Windsight.
-[*] DUCK: Work with Panoramia for her to finally get around to investigating the greenskin mushrooms she found.
-[*] EIC: Bring in a Perpetual Apprentice to start grooming as a handler for intelligence matters of the EIC. (1 favour/turn)
--[*] Gambler
-[*] Travel to the Grey College and attend lessons there.
--[*] Practical Diplomacy
-[*] Dictate papers: Queekish-Khazalid Dictionary, including spoken Low Queekish
-[*] Investigate how the We communicates with... itself?
-[*] Investigate how the Vitae reacts to Dwarven magic-dampening Runes. (2 Dwarf favours)
-[*] PENTHOUSE: Have a tower built atop Karag Nar: -100gc for 1 room, bonus to room's purpose.
-[*] SERENITY: Write a paper: Queekish-Reikspiel Dictionary, including spoken Low Queekish (1/2)
-[*] COIN: The Gambler

Panoramia's priority is the fields of the Eastern Valley, and considering it was a lifeless desert when you arrived and is now lush with life and growing more so with every year, you can't entirely fault her on that. But the strange magic-absorbing mushrooms she discovered being farmed by the Night Goblins within Karag Lhune have received only enough attention to confirm they can be grown from spores, and ever since have been tucked away somewhere in her sleeping quarters while the original field has been razed. Well, enough is enough. You've finally found enough spare time to pry her away from her crops and assist in her figuring out the fungi she's tentatively named 'Waaaghsoak Mushrooms'.

The mushrooms, from the quick look-over you and Panoramia gave them back when you discovered them, absorb ambient magical energy as they grow, and are then consumed by greenskin Shamans in the blithe assumption that the energies will act entirely predictably and be able to be channelled directly into their spellcasting. It would be possible to write an entire book on the myriad ways that could go terribly wrong, but you're hoping there are non-stupid applications for the mushrooms that you and Panoramia could discover.

Planting beds are set up, one in Panoramia's quarters for her to closely monitor, one in the fields outside, one in the Grey Tower, and one deep below Karag Nar to act as a control, and every day a portion of the growing mushrooms are plucked from their beds for study and dissection inside your laboratory within the White Tower.

[Studying the mushrooms: Learning, 46+27+20(White Tower)=93.]

Though it's not her speciality, Panoramia is much more educated in the ways of the mushroom than you are, and you quickly learn that the parts you recognize are merely the delivery mechanism for its spores, and the majority of a fungus remains underground. The first few days are spent dissecting and examining fungal roots, which prove stubbornly mundane under even the closest of magical examination, showing only as much magical energy as any living thing would have absorbed from their respective surroundings. It's not until the button stage when the fruiting body begins to form that you begin to see anything of interest, and magic begins to be actively absorbed and stored within the flesh of the mushroom.

Despite a great deal of study, including transplanting some samples into your White Tower for hours of mind-numbing observation, you can't see any active use that the Winds are being put to within the growing mushrooms. The mushroom is simply a more natural conductor of the Winds than the air, and so magic flows in and lingers there. You suspect this is advantageous for the mushrooms growing in the fields outside, as they would be most likely to absorb Ghyran and be subject to the beneficial effects of ambient life magic, though their larger size might be due to richer soil. But cave mushrooms would be most likely to encounter Ulgu, not Ghyran, and the Crooked Moon Night Goblins were definitely growing these underground. Are they native to caves, and perhaps Ulgu-rich mushrooms are more likely to be overlooked by those that might otherwise feed upon them? You borrow the services of a particularly gluttonous goat from the Halflings, and the creature proves the defensive hypothesis incorrect by being just as able to spot and consume the Grey Tower mushrooms as it is the control mushrooms. Perhaps the mushrooms originally grew in a more Ghyran-rich environment and were transplanted by the Night Goblins, possibly via trade with Forest Goblins, or perhaps they cultivated the ability in the fungi from scratch somehow.

After careful observation of the test goat, you move on to stage two, and the only negative side-effects noted from consumption of the control mushrooms is a great deal of complaints about their rubbery texture. Stage three has identical results, and none of the subjects show any unexpected effects from a sudden boost in their ambient levels of Ghyran or Ulgu, only mild elation in the former and slight confusion in the latter. So you finally subject yourself to stage four, and you and Panoramia consume some of the mushrooms yourselves and are able to confirm previous reports - the texture is like a slug, except somehow able to become stuck in your teeth. But shortly after you force it down, you can feel the slow trickle of energy as the mushroom is digested and the magic freed to flow through your body.

Okay, maybe the idea of consumption isn't completely off-base, but before you credit the greenskins with a good idea, you'll want to see what happens if the process is performed under less-than-ideal conditions. You leave Panoramia to write up the paper introducing the species to the scholarly world, and she agrees to leave out the trait that drew your attention to it until you're able to provide further testing.

[A Novel and Edible Species of Psalliota Found Cultivated by the Night Goblins of Karak Eight Peaks. Subject: Rare, +1. Insight: Revolutionary, +2. Delivery: Dull, -1. Exotic, +1. Thorough, +1. Secondary Author, -2. Total: +2.]

---

To call Johann skeptical about improving his Windsight would be an understatement, as it apparently sounds to him like some of the more esoteric parts of the arts of the Pick of Grungni that he tried and failed to reach an understanding of. But either out of respect for you or gratitude for the company, he barely puts up a fight and allows you to drag him into the White Tower, and you don't protest at the pack following him - both because you doubt you'd be able to separate them without a lot of trouble, and because they'd work quite nicely as subjects for observation.

Magical senses are tricky things, right down to appropriately naming them. Current convention amongst the Colleges is 'Windsight', which is misleading on two levels as it isn't restricted to the eight Winds, nor does it always manifest as sight. In the recent past 'Magesight' was preferred, but one does not need to be a Mage to possess it - many people can perceive magic without any ability to manipulate it. Some more mystical types say 'Spirit-Sight', which might be the most correct of all if certain theories about the nature of magic and souls are correct. And in the common parlance it's 'Witchsight', which is just plain rude. Whatever name it goes by, the fact is that it's not a single sense at all, but a label applied to however a person perceives magic, and there's as many ways to perceive magic as there are people capable of doing so.

To you, Windsight is mostly sight, though Dhar has an accompanying smell and the Waaagh is more of a mingling of taste and sensation. The sense Johann describes to you is very different to conventional senses, and he haltingly does his best to explain a constant awareness of his surroundings, and eventually settles on describing it as being able to know where a fire is by the sensation of heat on your skin. To this sense, open air feels different enough to inert stone walls that he's still mostly able to make his way around, and various types of magical energies are sensed as a sort of once-removed emotion. But, naturally enough, it is various metals that his magical sense is most able to perceive, including the ability to discern alloys and roughly gauge purity at a touch. It does present something of a stumbling block for direct study, but you're still hopeful.

[Mathilde's teaching: Learning, 33+27+10(Windsage)+2(Library: Chamon)=72.]
[Johann's learning: Learning, 90+14+10(White Tower)-10(Inflexible Magic)=104.]

It goes a lot better than you expected. Your own magical sense manifests omnidirectionally, so after some trial and error you're able to find common ground and develop a good understanding of how he's perceiving the world. From there, you take him through some of the more basic meditative exercises of the Grey College, which is a lot better received when you tell him that absolute stillness is not required, nor is refraining from playing with his wolf-rats. Under your thoughtful gaze, he quickly and unknowingly hones his senses on the nimble and energetic creatures, and it's not long until there's no hesitation at all in his reaching out to rub ears, scratch shoulders, and tickle bellies.

From there, it's simply a matter of escalation, starting with simple sorting exercises and quickly moving on to more energetic pursuits, from throwing sticks for his wolf-rats to making his way carefully through the sprouting cabbage fields without crushing too much of the crop underfoot. Eventually you reach the point where you're throwing an ovular ball wrapped with iron wire back and forth, hindered to no small extent by the wolf-rats and their ability to jump higher than a man when they feel they're being left out of the game. By that point, Johann has regained his old confidence, and only the blindfold over his eyes indicates that he's not currently able to see.

---

Ever since Chieftain Qrech Anuvongeni of Seventh-and-Final-Combe fell into your hands two years ago, you've spent no small amount of time working on building an understanding of Queekish, and the final chapter of the efforts you have made will be no less difficult than the others as you and Maximilian endeavour to distil everything you've learned of this alien tongue into a pair of tomes.

[Mathilde's efforts: Learning, 32+27+11(Library: Linguistics)=70.]
[Max's contributions: 76+18+10(Amanuensis)+10(Patient)+11(Library: Linguistics)=135.]
[Groundwork for Reikspiel edition: Learning, 54+27+11(Library: Linguistics)=92.]

Maximilian, as you're well aware, is fairly middling compared to some of the scholars of the Colleges you've encountered, but what he lacks in raw talent he more than makes up for with a willingness to dedicate himself fully to the insights of others, and to persevere at it long after others would have given up. It's no small task to build a dictionary from scratch and mistakes and ambiguities seem to spontaneously arise in your shared manuscript, but Maximilian runs each and every one into the ground, tracing back the source of each word and finding the original cause of the confusion as your towering stacks of translated documents sprout hundreds of multicoloured tags.

Most of your attention turns towards the appendix dedicated to spoken Low Queekish, the lingua franca of the Under-Empire. You suspect the other dialects would put up much more of a fight, but Low Queekish has been deliberately stripped of complexity and adapted so that it can be shared not just amongst Skaven from every corner of the world, but by their slaves of innumerable species and possibly their allies as well. So it doesn't require whiskers or musk, and it doesn't dip above or below what human ears are capable of hearing, and doesn't contain any other linguistic complications that the other dialects might have. The end result, you feel, would give a dedicated student at least a fighting chance at being able to develop an understanding of the spoken language.

The end result of your work is a single handwritten tome given the title Rakilid un Thaggorhun, ready to be presented to King Belegar and then on to either scribes for copying or to carvers or etchers for creating printing blocks. But while there's no question that it will be quickly distributed throughout the entire Karaz Ankor, when it comes to something this substantial, how it is presented will make a major impact. And while the decision would be King Belegar's, after the whole 'you never sent to Karaz-a-Karak for help' thing, you're almost certain that your own recommendation will carry an immense amount of weight in the matter.

[ ] From one King to his Fellows
A personal gift from King Belegar to his Brother-Kings and Sister-Queen.
[ ] From an Old Hold
A symbol of the re-emergence of Karak Eight Peaks as a major power in the Karaz Ankor.
[ ] From a Young Hold
A symbol of new kinds of thinking for a new time.
[ ] From the Karaz Ankor
Sent by the King to his High King, and from the High King to the Empire, to be a unifying force in the Karaz Ankor.
[ ] From a Very Impressive Loremaster
All efforts will be made to emphasize your role in the creation of the tome.

[ ] Make no recommendation
Leave it entirely in King Belegar's hands, and hope for the best.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] From an Old Hold
A symbol of the re-emergence of Karak Eight Peaks as a major power in the Karaz Ankor.

Unfinished business:
-[*] EIC: Bring in a Perpetual Apprentice to start grooming as a handler for intelligence matters of the EIC. (1 favour/turn)
--[*] Gambler
-[*] Travel to the Grey College and attend lessons there.
--[*] Practical Diplomacy
-[*] Investigate how the We communicates with... itself?
-[*] Investigate how the Vitae reacts to Dwarven magic-dampening Runes. (2 Dwarf favours)
-[*] PENTHOUSE: Have a tower built atop Karag Nar: -100gc for 1 room, bonus to room's purpose.
-[*] COIN: The Gambler

Grey Wizards have a reputation as spies and diplomats, and while your abilities as a spy have served you well, you'd have to admit you're not quite as diplomatic as you could be. So with pride firmly swallowed, you make your way to Altdorf and enrol yourself in some of the foundational courses on practical diplomacy that you never got around to completing during your apprenticeship, and try to ignore how many ways you're leagues beyond the other Wizards in the room, including the lecturer.

You're reminded almost instantly why you did your best to avoid these classes as an Apprentice as you are bombarded with terminology and minutiae from every corner of the Empire, each of which insists on doing things differently entirely, you're sure, to frustrate everyone else. Why can't they just all go by the title of Elector Count? Why does there need to be Grand Dukes, Grand Counts, a Grand Baron, a Grand Prince, and a Chancellor, all of which are equivalent to each other? Your question was confined to the inside of your mind and rhetorical besides, but the lecturer must have picked up on it anyway, because over several excruciating days the exact differences between the titles are enumerated and explored.

You find it slightly easier than your younger self to force yourself to pay attention as you have some context as to why those differences can be important in the form of Stirland's relations with its neighbours, as well as the conflict between Middenland and Nordland, so despite your distaste you're able to force yourself to pay attention throughout. A vast set of power structures is sketched out, from the nobility to the military to the burghers to the cults, and where they overlap, interlock, and conflict with each other, and where the Colleges fit into them and how a member of the Colleges can make those power structures work for them - for the greater good of all, of course.

Once the lessons on the Empire is complete, a much less detailed description is given of the more important neighbours of the Empire, and though the lessons on the Dwarves are all things you already know, you do your best to take mental notes as the most prominent neighbouring human realms are described, just in case you might need it some day.

[Practical Diplomacy: Diplomacy, 92+13=105.]
[Skill: Diplomacy / Empire of Man advances to Basic.]
[Skill: Diplomacy / Bretonnia advances to 1/2.]
[Skill: Diplomacy / Kislev advances to 1/2.]

---

You've extensively tested the reaction of Aethyric Vitae to both the Winds and to Dhar, but you've yet to test how it reacts to Runecraft, and the most basic test is how it reacts to the closest thing the Dwarves have to magic-manipulating Runes: those that repel it. You don't need full-power masterpieces capable of deflecting battle magic, so you gather a trio of examples from Thorek's apprentice swarm: the Rune of Valaya which repels magical energies, the Rune of Sanctuary which confers magical inertness, and the Rune of Spellbreaking that disrupts magical energies. All broadly similar in objective, but all very different in how they go about it.

The Rune of Spellbreaking is the one that worries you the most, so you set to it first to get it out of the way. The Runes are normally only usable by Runesmiths as they require... some sort of control that they refuse to elaborate on to target it, but this one is stripped down and will target a 'spell' directly above it. You place a very small vial of Aethyric Vitae above the slab of granite bearing the Rune, then do your best to retreat to a safe distance as the Rune activates. As you pick glass out of your hair, you do your best to interpret the very rapid process that had resulted in the disintegration of the Vitae, and conclude that the Rune of Spellbreaking - or at least this basic version of it - counters a spell in the most straightforward way possible, by projecting very thin blades or spikes of some sort of magic-repelling energy to disrupt it. Unfortunately, you're unable to tell whether this energy itself triggers the transformation, or whether it's a result of mere magical turbulence. Perhaps a Light Wizard with very keen Magesight using Speed of Light and some very thick goggles could, but then, perhaps not.

With the causing explosions portion of the experiment hopefully behind you, you turn to the Rune of Sanctuary. Testing it proves very difficult, as the effect is distributed throughout an area instead of being concentrated on a single subject. A series of long, frustrating tests later confirms that however the Rune of Sanctuary works, its effects do not have any effect that you can notice on the Vitae itself, as it remains just as reactive as ever. But on the bright side, it doesn't show any negative effects from its exposure to the Rune, and you confirm that it does add an additional layer of resistance to storage vessels, which you make a note of as a way to reduce the likelihood of inadvertent reactions.

The Rune of Valaya is a particularly infuriating Rune to study, as it is one that almost all Runesmiths know but none will speak much of, including the myriad forms it apparently comes in - from the Runes of personal protection, to the Banner Runes, to the massive Hold-Runes that protect entire Karaks, to the variation upon your belt. And, as Gunnars revealed to you, there's the Rites of Valaya performed upon every Dwarf shortly after birth to grant them their magically-repellent nature, and there's no doubt in your mind that the Rune and the Rites are related. So it's near certain you're not going to get any straight answers from the Dwarves about the nature of Valaya's repelling of magical energies, so you go directly to experimentation.

Dwarven magical resistance extends to all known forms of magic, including Chaos Sorcery, so you've high hopes that the Rune of Valaya will work on the Vitae, but you're not quite sure what form it 'working' will take. So in a now-familiar routine, you begin with the contents of a tiny vial from a safe distance, and you're just able to make up the minute amount of Vitae oozing upwards to distance itself from the Rune it is held above. Your next experiment denies its desire to escape from the Rune, as with a system of pulleys you force a stoppered vial to make contact with the granite upon which the Rune is carved, and sure enough, another vial is added to the toll as rapidly expanding magical energy bursts its way free. You're not sure if that's the result from overexposure to the Rune, or simply from the compression as it is forced against the side of the vial, but it amounts to the same.

Out of curiosity, you get your hands on two more of the Runes and after some time spent calculating angles, you manage to prop up the three Runes in a triangle and suspend a blob of Vitae in midair as the repellent force of the Runes proves stronger than the pull of gravity. It's certainly a striking effect, but you suspect that with more powerful and permanent Runes, the same effect could be used to suspend a much larger amount in mid-air in the centre of overlapping repellent forces to keep any rogue magical energies at bay. Overkill, perhaps, considering the 'put them in a barrel and lock them away' storage plan has thus far proven quite sufficient, but something to keep in mind for if you ever need to transport them to a more at-risk location.

---

How does the We communicate? Well, it communicates with you via the magics of the Amber College with a little help from some enthusiastic pedipalp gesture, but its internal communication is a lot more mysterious. You don't think you quite managed to communicate what it was you were trying to achieve, but they're happy for you to spend time inside their nest while they engage in their habitual internal communication, and you turn your Magesight onto the Karak's strangest allies.

It's easier said than done, of course. If their communication method was easily visible, you would have seen it already, and the We were unable to describe it without making the chirping noise they make when the translation magics fail. So after double-checking that there weren't hitherto unnoticed packets of magical energies flowing back and forth, you settle in to get a good, long look at their souls, which is also easier said than done. Magesight is often described as the ability to see souls, but what is usually seen is the ambient energies given off by souls, and the traces of Winds swirling about inside them. Seeing the soul itself is like trying to see the wick of a burning candle, both in difficulty and in likelihood to result in headaches.

The fundamental question you first seek an answer to is the nature of a We soul, and what you piece together over long days punctuated by headaches in your soul is that the answer is in a grey area. The We in their colony share a single soul, but it is a shapeless and amorphic one compared to that of the beings you're used to, and when a Hunter leaves a fragment of the greater oversoul breaks off to go with it. It's not dissimilar to theories you've seen referenced on the nature of the souls of other eusocial insects. So that means that internal communication via the soul is quite possible, and with the help of the bemused but cooperative We, you set to work testing for it. Which itself wasn't that difficult, because all it takes is a tunnel adjoining the Hall of Pillared Iron that the We call home, where a Web-Weaver carried in your arms rejoins the oversoul of the We but remains unmoving, as per the last set of instructions it received before leaving in the first place.

So, sound. Perhaps higher pitched than you can hear, perhaps lower, it doesn't matter terribly much. Either way, the We appear to be entirely non-magical, despite how alien they are from sentient life as you know it. You must admit a little disappointment that the answer is so mundane, but it does fill in the few remaining gaps in your knowledge of the We.

---

Ask a citizen of the Empire of the Colleges of Magic, and they'd likely picture a wise Wizard Lord or a powerful Battle Wizard. But for each graduated Magister there's at least five Perpetuals, those with just enough magical ability to be a danger to themselves, but for whatever reason forever unable to cast anything but the most basic of spells. Some lack power, others lack control, and some unlucky few are too traumatized by early miscasts to continue their education, but despite their lack of power they are still subject to the Articles Of Imperial Magic. Some are given magical dampeners and allowed to return to their former lives, and through them the Colleges have an Empire-wide network of information-gatherers and safehouses, but the majority remain within the Colleges, performing the myriad tasks required for the Colleges to operate but don't actually require feats of magic. Many work as servants and assistants, but many more act in more trusted and important roles, as guards and bureaucrats and librarians and lecturers and, yes, as spymasters.

[Rolling...]

You send a request in, and the turning gears of the College process it and eventually a single encrypted scroll is returned to you, and the number of applicants takes you by surprise. Their names are false and their particulars are less detailed than you'd like, but the Grey College is always very careful about the amount of biographical data that is allowed to leave the grounds, no matter who it's directed to.

[ ] Hochlander
The first possibility is a recent transfer from the Hochland College of Sorcery, who proved to be an excellent candidate for Grey Wizard in every way except for magical power. He has strong affinities for cryptography, languages, and intimidation, as well as being a fair woodsman and an excellent marksman.

[ ] Nordlander
A recent wash-out from her apprenticeship, the second candidate has been dampened after a nasty series of escalating miscasts, which you can definitely sympathize with, considering your own experience with Wisdom's Asp. Though her education has been very limited so far, she has been judged as possessing very strong loyalty and willpower.

[ ] Stirlander
A middle-aged woman with a work history as long as it is classified, fresh from a recently-concluded long-term project somewhere in your home province. She boasts significantly more experience with spycraft and espionage than you do, but she's likely to have her own ideas about how things should be run, and you're a little put out that there was apparently a Grey College operation happening in Stirland that you never heard a whisper about.

[ ] Marienburger
A young man who passed up the College of Navigation and Sea Magicks in favour of the Empire's Colleges, this candidate has an unsurprisingly nautical background and an apparent familiarity with those Ulthuani that leave their island home to trade amongst the wider world. He also has an impressive knack for mists.

[ ] Tilean
A lady from the crowded streets of Verezzo, this candidate has twin talents for mathematics and intrigue, and apparently had a rather successful career as a wandering charlatan before her modest magical gifts manifested and she made her way to the Empire. Undoubtedly skilled, but you've got the feeling that her name being put forward to you was more a vote of confidence in your ability to keep an eye on her, rather than in her loyalty to the Colleges or the Empire.

[ ] Wissenlander
A bandit that earned some infamy when they mugged a travelling Reiksguard Knight, and then even more when they used their fragment of magical ability to escape their cell and lead the Witch Hunters that the local authorities called in on a merry chase across Solland. Apparently their brush with the pyre caused them to rethink their life, as they made their way to Altdorf to present themself to the Grey College. A talented criminal, and one who still has a bounty on their head in Wissenland, which makes for quite a sturdy leash.

[ ] Middenlander
A long-time resident of Middenheim's Guild of Wizards and Alchemists seeking a posting as far away from the City of the White Wolf as they can possibly get until unnamed circumstances blow over, this candidate is one of those rare few Wizards that has contacts within the Cults of the Empire, and he also has a knack for inspiring loyalty in others.

All of them seem useful in their own way, but as much as you might want to, you can't hire them all. You're expected to somehow pare this list down to three candidates, and their schedules will be made to align with yours for interviews before you make your final choice as to who to hire. Perhaps a blank slate will be desired so you can imprint on them the required skills and make sure that proper loyalties are instilled, or perhaps you should lean towards a more experienced candidate and count on your own canniness to keep them in line.

- The three with the most votes will be interviewed in the next update. There will be a two hour moratorium for discussion. You can vote for as many candidates as you like.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] Hochlander
[*] Stirlander
[*] Nordlander

You interview the Hochlander in one of the College's less hostile meeting rooms. He's a young man with a short and wiry build, with a handsome face slightly marred by pockmarks. He listens intently to your explanation of the role you're seeking to fill, and thinks carefully before responding to you asking if he had any questions. "No," he eventually replies.

"Very well. Tell me how you'd go about it."

Again, he takes his time considering it. "The position of authority means that cooperation can be assumed," he says slowly, "so it is a matter of infrastructure. Of creating avenues for the information to flow to you without being intercepted. The job will necessarily be a highly mobile one at first, travelling wherever the EIC reaches to embed institutional knowledge of encryption amongst the clerks and managers. After that, it will be largely reactive."

You nod thoughtfully, having expected an answer like that. Show a tree to a lumberjack, and he'll assume the job is to fell it. But it may be that he is simply putting his best foot forward. "The job will also likely involve troubleshooting for the EIC on occasion. I'll run you through a few hypotheticals, let me know how you'd go about the shooting of those troubles."

Bandits in Talabecland was first, and it was a trap, but instead of saying that he would descend upon the forests with gun and axe he explains that the only major overland route where a traveller can't put their back against a river was along the Old Forest Road between Uckrofurt and Lieske, which meant the Farlic Hills, which meant the hill tribes. The EIC should seek a good relationship with the Roadwardens of Lieske, not just in this scenario but in general, in order to secure overland trade, and if the hill tribes are getting up to enough mischief to challenge the Roadwardens then it's serious enough to take all the way to the Grand Duke. You nod along, making mental notes.

You posit the same question in Averland, which is much further than his native Hochland. Heideck is his eventual answer, and for a moment you think he means the Priest of Ranald before you remember the town located in the heart of Averland. It is also, you are told, a hotbed of competing elements as the local nobles seek a Charter to elevate it to an semi-autonomous city-state, rather than being subject to the whims of the infamously unreliable Leitdorfs, and those appointed by the Leitdorfs to oversee it seek to thwart these ambitions. An accord sought here would be swift and firm, as either side would seek to lock down a potential partner before the others could get wind of the opportunity.

After a few more questions, the general impression you get of the Hochlander is that he is simple in the sense that is far from stupid. He thinks carefully, knows his limits, and seeks to lean on the existing power structures of the Empire wherever possible, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel whenever a novel problem is encountered. You thank him for his time, and let him know you'll have an answer for him before long.

---

The Stirlander is old enough to be your mother, and is likely not one to be swayed by your titles, reputations, and an official setting. The best way to deal with a battle you can't win is to not fight it in the first place, so you instead interview her in a much more casual setting: a cozy little tavern in a dubious neighbourhood that Regimand controls, and possibly outright owns. Wizards in Altdorf are treated with cautious respect by anyone that knows what's good for them, and this close to the slums, Grey Wizards are treated with terrified deference, so you have no trouble making sure that nobody's near enough to your booth to overhear your interview with the experienced spy.

She arrives exactly on time, has the barkeep bring over a succession of large drinks, and every moment that her mouth isn't occupied with drinking or talking, she's puffing on a pipe that wreathes the two of you in smoke, which seems as drawn to her as it is to you. "What would you like to know," you lead, doing her the courtesy of assuming she's already done her research.

"D'ye have a goal in mind with this EIC, or are ye letting opportunity court ye?" Her accent and mannerisms make it clear that she's either from one of the most remote corners of Stirland, or doing her best to seem like it.

"It is largely reactive," you admit frankly, "but I do want to use it to have more of an ear to the ground in the Empire at large."

"Is the EIC to prop up the van Hals?"

You consider the question. Under the Articles, Wizards are to be obedient to the Emperor second only to the ideals and laws of the Empire, but only required to 'render service to the ... Electors of the Empire upon request'. Understandable, considering it was written right after the end of the Time of Three Emperors, and Magnus the Pious would not want the Colleges able to throw their support behind over-ambitious Elector Counts. So under the letter of the law, one could say that there is no duty for a Wizard to provide unasked-for assistance to an Elector Count. "Yes," you say at last. "Sylvania being brought to heel benefits the Empire and everyone in it."

She gives you a piercing look, and you return it as best you can, and she apparently decides against any follow-ups. "Better than the Haupt-Anderssens," she concedes. "Ask your questions, then."

"If you can, tell me of your most recent experience." You can't not ask.

She considers that. "The last Haupt-Anderssen sought help where he oughtn't've, though he botched it in the end. His help let them get their claws in deep. Been working towards dismantling it. Got enough information that having to run was worth it, and soon enough there'll be pyres aplenty in Thalheim."

You nod, frowning as you remember your time in Stirland. Western Stirland was under the watchful eye of the Elector Count, Southern Stirland was subject to your intervention a time or two, and 'Eastern Stirland' was, of course, the subject of much attention. Central Stirland was often left to take care of itself. Perhaps that was a mistake, or perhaps the Vampires were the more immediate threat.

The Stirlander's much-redacted work history is enough that you don't feel the need to test her with hypotheticals, and simply have her fill in what gaps she can to get a better idea of who she is. She's been dismantling enemies of the Empire since you were in diapers, and is now moving up to managing the escapades of others. She could take the entire EIC in hand and form it in her own image tomorrow if you handed the reins to her. But that's the thing - it would be her image. She has her own ideas as to how things should be done, and is quite eager to put those ideas into practice. And you're unlikely to ever be able to make her more personally loyal to you than she is loyal to the Grey College and the Empire - assuming, of course, that that's where her loyalties lie. You're not sure if that's a problem.

You thank her for her time, and let her know you'll have an answer for her soon.

---

The Nordlander is... a woman. You're fairly sure. You can recall her voice, husky and thick with the Nordland accent that sounds something like an angrier and faster Dwarven one, but the moment you take her eyes off her face all memory of it evaporates. Whatever the nature of her magical mishaps, they so marked her features with Ulgu that they can't be recalled by others.

It takes little prompting to get her to speak of her history, and she tells of the tiny fishing village of Kreideklippe, and of the Cult that grew within it like a tumour, and of the brutal battle when it rose up and tried to take control of the village by force. According to the reports passed on by the Grey College, she accounted for at least three cultists with her trident and was holding off some sort of blue-skinned, many-handed demon when the militia arrived. The Witch Hunters winnowed through the villagers to separate the loyal from the heretical, and though the Nordlander passed the conventional trials, the Warrior-Priests spotted the gift of magic within her, either awoken or perhaps instilled by the workings of the Cult, and she was turned over to the Grey College for further testing. Those, too, she passed, and she elected to join the ranks of the College.

It would have been a wonderful origin for a future Grey Wizard, but fate or chance or darker powers had other plans, as her magical ability firmly outstripped her ability to control it, and you can't help but raise your eyebrows at some of the destruction that she inadvertently caused - including, you're slightly upset to hear, to what had been your favourite reading nook when you were an Apprentice. It eventually culminated in every orifice above her neck being sealed shut by a miscast, and only the intervention of her former Master's knife prevented her suffocation, and she decided then that wielding magic was beyond her, and that her service to her College lay in more mundane means. Her voice cracks a little as she says that; she reached that decision less than a month ago, and you can't tell if it's the terror of the miscast or the loss of her future that still haunts her.

In all fields except spearfishing, she is easily the least trained and experienced of all the candidates, but what she boasts is moldability. She's a sharp young woman and is very obviously searching for a new purpose, and if you were to provide it, you're fairly confident you could count on her to die for you. You thank her for her time, and with the interviews concluded, you start to contemplate which of the three candidates you'll be entrusting the EIC to.

[ ] [EIC] Hochlander
[ ] [EIC] Stirlander
[ ] [EIC] Nordlander

---

Thus concludes the work Mathilde performed these past months, but not every waking moment was filled with work. With whom did she spend her free time, this past year? The four with the most votes will be chosen, not counting those locked in.

[+] The Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks (locked in)
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
[+] EIC Reports (does not cost a choice)

Fellow Wizards
[ ] Johann, as he once more tries to gild his eyeballs.
[ ] Maximilian, who has been especially invaluable lately and is still neck-deep in translations.
[ ] Panoramia, as she goes about her business in the fields of the Eastern Valley.
[ ] Gretel, who's apparently spending her newly-earned wealth to make herself at home.
[ ] Adela, to see where she's at in deciding her future.
[ ] Hubert, to go deeper into discussion on Ulrican matters.

Karak Eight Peaks Notables
[ ] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.
[ ] Francesco Caravello, proud leader of the Undumgi and possible future Thane.
[ ] Soizic, military leader of the Undumgi.
[ ] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart, leader of the frontier town of Ulrikadrin.

Foreign Relations
[ ] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.
[ ] Karak Hirn, to satisfy your curiosity about Prince Ulthar.

Friends Abroad
[ ] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[ ] Julia, to see what she has gotten up to as Stirland's most experienced spy master.
[ ] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.

Following Up
[ ] The Amber College, to see how your donation of Lustrian eggs is going.
[ ] Follow up on your donation of the Skaven organ-vat, and see what has been made of it.

[ ] Other (write in)


Furthermore, with relative peace descended upon the Karak, now might be a good time for Mathilde's thoughts to turn towards her love life. Do they?

[ ] [ROMANCE] Yes
[ ] [ROMANCE] No


- There will be a two hour voting moratorium.
- Feel free to suggest other candidates for social actions, especially any I may have forgotten about.
- This is not the time for Waifu Wars or Husbando Hostilities; the question is whether you wish to see romance in Mathilde's life at this time, not specific candidates.
- If a romance vote is held, it will not be a lock-in for romance, but for which person or persons Mathilde may be interested in, and who Mathilde will seek to get to know better.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] [EIC] Hochlander
[*] [ROMANCE] Yes

[+] The Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks (locked in)
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
[+] EIC Reports (does not cost a choice)
[*] Johann, as he once more tries to gild his eyeballs.
[*] Maximilian, who has been especially invaluable lately and is still neck-deep in translations.
[*] Soizic, military leader of the Undumgi.
[*] The Amber College, to see how your donation of Lustrian eggs is going.

---

Of the three candidates for EIC handler, you end up deciding on the Hochlander, and as they are officially recorded as entering into your employ you receive their full file from the Grey College. Rudiger von Bechafen is his full name, his family once burghers of Ostermark that were pushed out by the influx of more wealthy and influential notables fleeing the destruction of Mordheim. Like many Hochlanders, he has spent a significant portion of his life hunting the forests of eastern Drakwald with a long rifle, a hobby he was able to maintain through his education at the College of Sorcery in Hergig, and since his 'graduation' to Apprentice-in-Perpetuity due to his relative lack of magical power, he has been acting as a messenger for the Grey College, and has proven his loyalty, tenaciousness, and adaptability by getting messages quickly and safely to some of the most dangerous places in the Old World. He then transferred to Altdorf in search of a greater challenge, and may have found it in what is to be his new task. You introduce him to his quarters and to the local representatives of the EIC and leave him to settle in.

---

Once more, Johann has gone ahead to perform the ritual preparations forbidden to anyone outside the Gold Order. Gold Perpetuals will be assisting him with everything that requires eyes, Johann apparently not being the first to seek to apply Gilding to blind eyes. You had nudged him to perhaps get some sleep beforehand, but apparently the ritual doesn't allow for it, so all you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best. He's succeeeded at least six times that you know of, so hopefully the mishap last time was merely a freak accident, not to be repeated.

So while Johann sees to that, you make your way to the Imperial Zoo to check up on the donation of Lustrian eggs you made four years ago, after you found and bought them in the marketplace of Barak Varr. Seija had told you that the creatures inside were predators with sharp senses, though neither apex nor especially bright, which hopefully meant that they would be tamable. You'd donated them to the Amber College rather than the Zoo itself, but with Supreme Patriarch Dragomas having firmly ensconced himself within the Zoo, the two were growing less separate by the day. Though that little fact was kept from the general public, lest ticket sales take a dive.

Your robes get you into the secure areas and your rank into the high secure areas, but only your name gets you past the skeptical guard outside the insecure areas, where the beasts weren't even a little bit tamed and armour was very strongly suggested. Clad in Aethyric Armour, you follow a twitchy and leather-clad zookeeper past high walls and steel doors towards your own potential contribution to the arsenal of the Empire. And then, in a deep pit carved into the rock and lined with stone parapets like an inverted castle, you spot them, perched atop rocks sticking out of a large, central lake - blue lizards the size of a horse, with red fins and frills and long, vicious claws. And as you cautiously approach the edge, four heads swivel to look directly at you, and you can almost see them considering their chances of somehow getting their teeth into you.

"Don't get too close, ma'am," the zookeeper warns. "They spit fire. I'll go get the Magister that's been raising them."

To your surprise, the Magister that arrives isn't from the Amber Order, but a Bright Magister who introduces himself as Hans Scheunacht. He's overweight, twitchy, and radiates heat like a furnace, but he speaks with confidence as he walks fearlessly to the edge of the enclosure and waves a hello at the lizards within. "Stroppy things," he says, fishing a chunk of unidentifiable meat out of the bucket he brought with him and throwing it in a lazy arc towards the nearest, who snaps it out of the air with surprising speed. "And lazy. They spit something that ignites on contact with the air, but whatever it is, it's hot when it's inside of them too, so they spend a lot of time trying to keep cool. They can run pretty fast when they're of a mind, but prefer to ambush, which is why we have them in here, so you can do a headcount and make sure they're not hiding."

"Chance of weaponization?" you ask hopefully.

He shrugs. "If we needed to we could cage them up and point them at an enemy today, but we're not going to get people killed trying to control them beyond that unless we can establish a breeding population. Right now, the immediate possibilities are in the saliva, and there's a preliminary paper on its way through the usual channels now. The Asur Navy use something similar to great effect, and if we can harvest or recreate it, it could be a great boon to our own efforts at sea."

As you watch, he lowers a ladder into the enclosure and walks among the lizards, who eye him thoughtfully but make no attempt to make a meal of him. He tries to encourage you to come down and give them a pat, demonstrating on one that ruffles its frill in either enjoyment or agitation at his attentions, but you're quite happy to leave him to it. Perhaps in a decade or so there'll be teams goading these creatures into battle, or riders atop their backs, or their saliva or something derived from it will be burning the enemies of the Empire at sea, but for now it's one curious creature amongst many.

[Chemical Properties and Possible Applications of the Autoignitive Saliva of the Lustrian Salamander: +4 College Favour]

---

You're shown into a different but near-identical laboratory, where events echo themselves eerily, from Johann's greeting to the final preparations to the funnels to apply the boiling gold to Johann's eyes. This time he does accept your help in setting it up, as the air is too thick with Chamon for him to be entirely confident in aligning everything using only his Magesight, and you hope you're not contributing to another horrible maiming.

"On the bright side," he says distractedly as he concentrates on the crucible, "even if things go wrong in the same way, it can't do any more damage than has already been done." Evidently his mind is running along similar lines to yours.

"You said you had enough savings for one more try last time, though," you probe.

He shrugs. "The Order has very competitive moneylending rates for just this sort of occasion. Or I still have the Boon from King Belegar I could call in."

You consider that, and wince at the idea of an overambitious Wizard getting himself deep into debt to his own College while trying over and over to restore a crippled limb. While the Gold and Grey Orders get on fairly well, bonding over being more practical types than the more airy and mystical Orders, they still do things very, very differently.

Johann removes the blindfold he's been wearing for the past six months, and you're glad he's not able to see you wince at the sight of the fleshy pink and cloudy grey that the previous attempt left of his eyes. He lifts himself atop the bench and you place a hand on the side of his head to direct him exactly under the two funnels, and then guide his hand to the bulb that will open the valves. "Wish me luck," he says half-jokingly, and though this is far from his jurisdiction, you think a quick but fervent prayer to Ranald.

[Rolling...]

An awful sense of deja vu sweeps through you as golden strands stretch towards Johann's eyes, but this time there is no screaming or thrashing as the molten gold makes contact, just the click of metal on metal as Johann releases the bulb and the funnels snap close, and the sound of boiling flesh underpinning the silence. For a terrible moment you think he might be dead, but his trembling arm lifts towards his face, then hesitates before dropping to his side. Just as last time, there's nothing that can be done, and the only mercy is that anything near his eyes capable of feeling pain burned away in the previous attempt. All you can do is take his hand as he stares upwards and waits for the terrible heat to fade as magically-altered gold melts into his ruined eyes.

---

"That could have gone better," you say to him later as the two of you sit in a quiet room somewhere closer to ground level, and he gives a sad little smile.

"Could have gone worse, though," he says. But he doesn't sound like he believes it.

"You're still among the living," you say gently, "and we can try again, in another few months."

He lifts a hand to touch the blindfold he's once more wearing. "I was watching it the whole time," he says. "From a very close perspective. Last time, the integration failed. This time, the cohesion failed too. The gold is supposed to remain contiguous, which made it simple to remove last time. Now, it's... throughout."

You look at him through Magesight, and though he's the big ball of Chamon he always is, you can also see it shining brightly in his eye sockets. "Can't it be removed?"

"Throughout," he says simply. "There'd be so much removed there'd be nothing left to gild."

"And you can't gild if there's residual Chamon," you say, remembering. He nods. The two of you sit there in silence for some time.

"Silver lining," he says suddenly. "There's a hell of a paper in this."

---

When you first met him, Maximilian was an ambitious and slightly pompous creative type with a penchant for drama. Now, he is... still those things, admittedly, but also a patient and thoughtful partner in your scholarly pursuits, having so far joined you in the writing of five papers and two books, with a third well on the way. It would be easy to let him fade into the foreground as simply an extension of your will, but even if you were okay with doing that to someone you've grown to consider a friend, the Grey College taught you that highly-skilled but underappreciated underlings are one of the most common and vulnerable weak links there are. So you make the time to show some appreciation to the more junior of the Gold Wizards under your authority.

He is a man with two lives right now, and when he is not wrestling with Queekish grammar in your Tower, he is bending metal to his will and soaking up every scrap of metallurgical secrets his Dwarven teacher deems fit to pass on. When you find him, he's labouring over a workbench in the massive communal smithy of Karag Lhune, that the Dwarves consider a shoddy temporary set-up and many human smiths would give limbs to have access to.

"Evening, Magister," he says distractedly as you approach, marking a flattened piece of iron with a piece of charcoal. "Everything alright?"

"Thought I'd pay you a visit," you reply, trying to work out what he's up to from the many oddly-shaped pieces of scrap metal covering his bench. "See what you're up to when you're not writing."

"Practice right now," he says, picking up a file and starting to grind away at an errant protrusion. "I need to get better with the fiddly bits, so I'm building a crossbow for myself."

"Isn't that an engineer thing?"

"That's what my teacher said," he says with a smile, "but me using it with Silver Arrows makes it Zhufokri nonsense instead of a breach of guild boundaries." He pauses, thinking. "I've read that some Wizards manifest a magical bow, instead of just the arrows. I'm not actually sure if this would disrupt the conceptual framework. Guess I'll find out."

His progress, he explains distractedly as he carefully shapes the metal, is nearing a solid foundation for him to start introducing his magic to the process, using Enchant Item and Law of Logic to enhance his own abilities to create, thus turning the temporary transfigurations of Chamon into something permanent, including a suitable Masterpiece. After that, he's not so sure. Once he dreamed of a very upper-class blacksmith in Altdorf or Nuln or Talabheim, but he admits he's found a liking for his part in pushing back the boundaries of what is known.

There is, you reflect, something of a magnetism to Karak Eight Peaks. You suppose it's hard to turn your back on history in the making, and a new chapter being added to a story thought finished three thousand years hence very much qualifies. So far, Esbern and Seija are the only Wizards to have spent much time here without putting down roots.

The two of you chatter as he puts the crossbow together, resulting in something that does seem at a glance to be similar in shape to what the Quarrelers use, but closer examination reveals as having no actual mechanisms, and the two of you make your way out into the Eastern Valley to some archery butts near the base of Karag Lhune. "Who was Arha, anyway?" Maximilian asks as he fiddles with the crossbow.

"An Elf, probably. It sounds Eltharin."

"Figures," he says, and lifts the crossbow to his eye and takes aim. "Oh, that's a lot easier to aim than a bow. Let's see..." He concentrates, and Chamon flows from his hands and through the crossbow into the notch, and a silvery bolt forms and flings itself out of the crossbow and towards the earthen butt. "Huh," he says, surprised.

"That was new," you say. "With the bow, the arrows just sort of appeared near your hands, not actually in the implement."

"Maybe because it's metal?" he says, unsure. "The bow was wood, maybe its nature meant it didn't interact with the magics. Or maybe it's a matter of visualization? Because I made the crossbow myself?" He runs a finger down the bolt notch, then takes aim once more, and again the bolt forms in the notch before firing itself forward. This time he maintains the pose, and a moment later another appears and fires, and then another. You've seen better rates of fire, but only from your revolvers and the most skilled archers.

"Silver Bolts of Maximilian," you say, and he grins broadly.

---


With the Karak secured and the future more or less calm, Mathilde's mind is turning to the possibility of romance. There are a number of possibilities of varying suitability, some of whom Mathilde knows well, some she's only met once or twice. Vote for the person or persons you wish Mathilde to spend more time with to see how romantically compatible she might be with them.

Wizards
[ ] Supreme Patriarch Dragomas
[ ] Magister Patriarch Algard
[ ] Magister Johann
[ ] Magisters Esbern and Seija
[ ] Journeywoman Panoramia
[ ] Journeyman Maximilian de Gaynesford
[ ] Journeywoman Adela Burgstaller
[ ] Journeyman Hubert Denzel
[ ] Journeywoman Gretel Maurer

Humans
[ ] Viceroy Francesco Caravello
[ ] General Soizic
[ ] Chief Bombardier Oswald Oswaldson
[ ] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart
[ ] Empress Heidi Haupt-Anderssen
[ ] Elector Countess Roswita Van Hal
[ ] Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[ ] Governor Wilhelmina Hochschild
[ ] Brother Kasmir Heinz
[ ] Julia Antionette Massif

Dwarves
[ ] King Belegar Ironhammer
[ ] Prince Kazrik and Princess Edda
[ ] Prince Gotri
[ ] King Kazador's sons

Other
[ ] Field-Marshal Titus Muggins
[ ] Vicereine Cadaeth
[ ] Ambassador Daroir
[ ] Asarnil the Dragonlord
[ ] Chieftain Qrech Anuvongeni
[ ] The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
[ ] The We


- This vote is not a lock-in, it is who Mathilde will be attracted to and seek to explore the possibilities with.
- Whether Mathilde pursues one person or plays the field with multiple depends on the result of the vote; the exact details I will leave unsaid to prevent attempts at gaming the system. Vote for who you want to see Mathilde with instead of attempting anything strategic.
- Similarly, don't vote for some of the more unusual possibilities just to see if I'd do it. I absolutely would. Don't vote that way unless you want the story to go that way.
- Yes, there are power imbalances in several of the possible relationships. This is a time period where such imbalances come standard. While it's valid to not like a given pairing because of that, you can trust in the power of GM fiat to know that nobody will be under any duress.
- If there's any candidates you feel are missing and wish to vote for, feel free to suggest them.
- I will have zero tolerance for any sort of malarkey. Keep it civil.
- There will be a one hour moratorium.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

372 voters

177 for Journeywoman Panoramia
177 for Magister Johann

119 for Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
114 for Baron Anton Kiesinger II
103 for The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
95 for Chief Bombardier Oswald Oswaldson

75 for Vicereine Cadaeth
47 for King Kazador's sons
46 for Empress Heidi Haupt-Anderssen
44 for Asarnil the Dragonlord
36 for Journeyman Maximilian de Gaynesford
35 for Viceroy Francesco Caravello
33 for King Belegar Ironhammer
31 for The We
27 for Magisters Esbern and Seija
18 for Journeywoman Gretel Maurer
17 for Ambassador Daroir
14 for Chieftain Qrech Anuvongeni
14 for Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart
13 for Prince Gotri
12 for Prince Kazrik and Princess Edda
11 for Journeywoman Adela Burgstaller
11 for Magister Patriarch Algard
8 for Julia Antionette Massif
7 for Supreme Patriarch Dragomas
6 for Governor Wilhelmina Hochschild
6 for Ranald
6 for Journeyman Hubert Denzel
5 for General Soizic
3 for Brother Kasmir Heinz
3 for Field-Marshal Titus Muggins
1 for Asarnil and Deathfang

According to the few historians bold enough to have travelled to the newly-reclaimed Karak, the great hall at ground level in Karag Nar was originally a Mustering Hall, but when Karag Nar was turned over to non-Dwarven residency during the Golden Age, it was transformed into a great market that grew to rival that of Barak Varr. Now the hall has returned to its original purpose, and it once more rings with the clack of wood on wood as sparring Undumgi fight back and forth. Overseeing it all is Soizic, standing a head below many of her soldiers but projecting an aura of being the tallest in the room as she moves from spar to spar, distributing advice and encouragement freely.

You take a moment to watch her, and how the men react to her. As a Wizard, you're treated by most as a Wizard first and a woman second, which bypasses a lot of prejudices - often, admittedly, in favour of worse ones. But Soizic exists within a more martial world, and you have to wonder how many of the men of the Undumgi might object to being led by a woman. You don't see any evidence of that here and now; perhaps she has proven herself to them, or perhaps she is in the process of sidelining those objectors and none of them are currently present. Either way, that's not your business, it's hers and Francesco's. At least as long as they stay on top of it.

The Undumgi are accustomed to your comings and goings, but you still draw a few curious looks, and it doesn't take long for Soizic to follow one of those looks and notice you. She doesn't immediately break off from what she's doing, but her trajectory through the room does curve in your direction, and it doesn't take long for her to stand before you. She's wearing an unadorned quilted doublet and woolen hose, the simple but hardy clothing of a currently-unarmoured knight, with a sword upon her waist that you recognize as one of the seven brothers of your own. "Dame Weber," she greets you with a bow.

"Sir Soizic," you reply, and you return it with a slightly shallower bow, due to your higher place in the Karak's heirarchy. Her current title is General, but your own is Loremaster. If she wants to speak to you as one Knight to another, then you're happy to cooperate. As for 'Sir', Bretonnian Knights are always Sir, and a Bretonnian Knight she claims to be.

"To what must I thank your gracing of my training hall?" she asks. Her melodic accent makes her easy to listen to, even if the phrases of Bretonnian manners sound roundabout and evasive to an ear accustomed to the more straightforward speech of the Empire. Around you the training continues, though those closest to you are clearly straining to overhear.

"Courtesy and curiosity," you reply, though in truth the latter was definitely the foremost. "You've become a prominent woman in the Karag I call home, and I've yet to greet you as General of the Undumgi." You'd met her briefly when the candidates for Karag Nar's Viceroy were being considered, but not since her elevation to her current title.

"Honesty compels me to admit that I am unaccustomed to considering those blessed with magic as so near to a peer to myself," she says slowly. "In truth, had I not come to count Freiherr Denzel as a friend, the thought would still be alien to me." It takes you a moment to realize she must be referring to Hubert - in Middenland, sons share the title of their father.

You consider this as an avenue to ask about the Damsels, but decide against it as you've heard that Bretonnians are touchy about them. "How fare the Undumgi?" you venture instead.

She half-turns and runs her eyes over the training. "A difficult time. The enemy is not quite so close now, so they must become new. They are Knights Errant, bringing a specific foe to battle, but they must become Knights of the Realm, watching over their land against all who may trespass."

From what little you know of Bretonnia, her meaning is easy to guess. "From Swordsmen to Roadwardens," you say.

She nods. "Patrols and sentries are not so glorious as pitched battle, but they are necessary. The greenskins and the ratmen, it is not enough to shatter their ranks and drive them from the field, as they will have returned and restored their numbers before the victory feast is concluded. You must hold what you have won, or you have won nothing."

The two of you speak a while longer, and you find yourself impressed by how seriously she is taking her new role. From her words, it seems she has taken personal responsibility for the safety of all travel east of Death's Crossing and west of the Badlands. More generally, you're reminded that though she joined the Expedition as a vagabond warrior, she was raised and educated amongst Bretonnia's nobility. She seems as skilled an orator as she is a swordswoman, and you've no doubt she could be quite charming and convincing if she wanted to be. Part of you is uneasy that you don't have a good grasp of her motivations - she seeks the Grail, and you know little enough of what that means normally, let alone what it means when the seeker is quite happy to play games with the exact wording of the Grail Vow.

You thank her for her time, and watch as she turns back to her men, transforming in an instant from one noble talking to another, to a stern taskmaster teaching discipline to her charges.

---

The Citadel's North Tower is atop a spiralling staircase that would be quite daunting to anyone that doesn't live atop a mountain, which is why in the centre of that spiral there is a newly-restored system of pulleys and counterweights to lift residents, visitors and cargo to the lofty peak. The room awaiting you at the top is a chaotic jumble of a room, being part kitchen, part reading room, and part shrine, with the windows on each wall firmly blocked by thick curtains to keep the heat in. Thick rugs cover the floor, cushions are strewn about in place of chairs, and a softly glowing ball of Shyish provides illumination. You give a carefully respectful bow to the shrine - a haughty-looking raven perched atop a skull, carved from stone - and busy yourself investigating the half-filled shelves. The books on Morr and Shyish you expected, but you do raise an eyebrow at the books on ritual magic, as you do at the ones on Tilean history.

There's a creak as a trapdoor in the roof opens and you turn to see Gretel climbing down the ladder on the wall next to it. "Magister," she says to you in greeting.

"Journeywoman," you reply with a smile. "You've made the place quite homey."

"Easier said than done," she says, shooting a glare at the nearest window. "I don't think Dwarves even feel temperature."

The two of you make small talk as the rest of the wizards begin to arrive. Most of them arrive via the elevator in ones and twos, but Hubert's entry through a window is impressive enough that you suppress your initial instinct to treat it as completely mundane. As Gretel fussily refastens the curtains and everyone prepares their own pile of cushions to recline in, you call another meeting of your Duckling Club to order.

"First of all," you say, "my thanks to Gretel for hosting us today." The other Wizards murmur variations on thanks and admirations for her home, and Gretel is visibly delighted. It's likely she's never had a home to call her own apart from the spartan quarters of the Amethyst College, and she had leapt at the chance to show her tower off when you asked her. "Second, my congratulations to Hubert for learning what I assume is Wings of Heaven."

"It is, and thank you, Magister," he says, smiling with pride. "It's quite exhilarating."

"I imagine it must be. Unfortunately, I've not been engaging in anything quite so grand of late - most of my time has been spent in the laboratory or writing papers, none of which are quite ready for publication. But I have faith in the rest of you to bring excitement to this meeting."

Johann, Maximillian and Panoramia fail to supply excitement, as most of their time has been spent on ongoing projects or engaged in research with you. Adela has been making her way through some of the more accessible books in your library on the subjects of engineering and chemistry, which has kept her busy when she hasn't been spending time with her newly-arrived brother. Thankfully, Hubert has some more interesting news.

"I've entered the employ of Prince Kazrik," Hubert says proudly, "as the official delegate to Ulrikadrin from Karak Eight Peaks."

"Impressive," you say, but you frown internally. It's definitely an impressive and important task, but it could also mean he's cleaving to his background as a noble and an Ulrican, rather than a Wizard of the Celestial College. A person can't always serve every facet of who they are equally, but Hubert definitely seems to be favouring every part of himself that isn't magical. If it weren't for his newfound ability to fly, you'd start to wonder if he was on a path to becoming Perpetual, rather than proceeding towards graduation.

"It's a sign the Dwarves are taking Ulrikadrin seriously," Johann says thoughtfully. "And respecting their faith. Which is good, since they're sitting atop our only safe link to the rest of civilization."

The conversation gets sidetracked into talk of geopolitics and travel routes, but as Gretel seems to be getting more and more fidgety, you don't take long to bring matters back on topic and turn attention to her and her recent activities.

"I had my first contract with the Besiegers," she says proudly. "Some dispute between a few different Princes between the Khyprian Road and the Hvargir Forest, which just needed us to stand around and look intimidating, and then protecting the local lumberjacks from Forest Goblins while they harvested a grove of old oaks, then escorted the wood to Barak Varr for shipping."

"Can Border Princes afford mercenaries?" Adela asks dubiously.

"Of course not, it was on behalf of some Bordeleaux merchant. Bretonnia needs oak for ships and the merchant was offering a good price, but the Border Princes kept fighting over it instead of actually cutting down and shipping trees. So they paid us into strongarming them into cooperating with each other."

Perhaps not the most glorious of tasks, but undoubtedly a well-paying one. You smile and join the others in congratulating her, glad that she's found an acceptable way to afford the comforts she was fond of.

---

Baronet Willus Husserl, of the Menshenfresserhoffen Husserls of Ostermark, wiped the sweat off his brow and felt sorry for himself, the activity that had consumed most of his time this past week. When he had been sent on this mission he had been filled with pride, convinced it was at least partially for his good showing at the First and Third Battles of Mordheim, rather than entirely a sop for his father, the Baron of Menshenfresserhoffen, and his objections to the League's over-emphasis on riverine trade at the expense of overland. But that had been back in Ostermark at the start of a great adventure, and after leaving the boats he'd had a long trip through the dark of the underground highway and now had the baking sun high overhead, and the whole time he'd had nothing but Ulricans for company. So Willus was deep within a well-cultivated sulk. He hadn't even been able to bring his horse, since so much of the trip had been by riverboats.

Wizards, he mused, staring up at one of the dozens of seemingly-identical mountains that surrounded the cart he was riding in. What business did he have getting involved with wizards? Apart from that charming Druidess he had pined over from afar during the Mordheim campaign, the closest he'd come to dealing with wizards was a visit to the Tomb of Loremaster Yrtle when he was a child. Now he was supposed to interrogate one about some trade rivalry? He'd pictured some half-crazed Alchemist or an inscrutable Astrologer, but when he had been told exactly who and what he was to seek, his blood had run cold at the idea of an encounter with a Shadowmancer.

Most citizens of the Empire would, when something went bump in the night, fear the Beastman or the Undead, but to those with noble titles who grow up surrounded by stone walls and armed guards, fear takes on different shapes. Every noble family has secrets; the least of which would be of great interest to the Excisemen, the more middling to spies from rival families, and the worst of all must be protected at all costs from the agents of the Imperial Spymaster known as the Emperor's Eyes. And should one of those most terrible of secrets be uncovered and the powers-that-be didn't wish to make a spectacle of it, the sword that prunes errant branches from even the most ancient and respected of families were the Shadowmancers, the Illusionists of the Grey Guardians, the wielders of the Sword of Judgement who answer only to the Emperor.

Or so the stories go, anyway.

And he was to probe one of them for trade information. And not just any anonymous cowled figure, but the Dämmerlichtreiter of Stirland. Hushed whispers at dances and balls recite a list of her most prominent victims: Marshal Verezzo of Stirland, Count Petr of Leicheberg, Baron Alexis of Teufelheim, Countess Gabriella of Nachthafen, and all the burghers of the ill-fated Stirlandian League. They say that during the Sylvanian campaign she struck down a Ghoul King with her shadow, burned a quarter of Drakenhof with mystical fire, and summoned a dragon to battle the winged vampires of Castle Drakenhof. Some whisper that when Grand Count Abelhelm died, she disguised herself as his daughter to finish the job, which is why nobody had even heard of 'Roswita' before, and the wizard has been seen so little since. Others say the Dwarves were so impressed with her assault on Castle Drakenhof that they hired her on the spot for the Reconquest of Karak Eight Peaks, and she was so respected by the Army of Stirland that six entire regiments deserted to join her.

"Well spotted, young lord," said the wagon driver, and Willus blinked as he was shaken from his thoughts. "Had many a passenger on edge on account of not having seen them, worrying about greenskins and the like."

Willus refocused his eyes on the mountain he had been gloomily staring at. Even with the hint, it took him a few moments to spot the pattern in the chaos, the rounded parapets amongst the unworked stone. "Watchposts?" he hazarded.

"Those are what puts the Und in Undumgi. Not just those pretty halberds they've got, any unwelcome visitors'll also have to deal with their cannon and mortars. Makes this road as safe as a Reikland highway."

Willus looked up at the mountain with new interest, pleased to have something to occupy his thoughts for at least a while on this interminable voyage.

---

By the time he entered the mountain he was told was called Karag Nar, Willus was already rattled. Instead of a gate in the side of a mountain he'd been expecting, a gate between two mountains had opened into an idyllic farm valley dotted with cottages and filled with Halflings, giving him the momentary but terrifying thought that he'd gotten turned around at some point and ended up at the Moot. In the Karag he saw the grand underground passages he had expected, but the overwhelming majority of those going to and fro were human and the passageways echoed with conversation, only some of which was in Reikspiel. He'd resorted to wandering until he'd found some of the 'Undumgi' to ask directions, and had dismissed what they'd said until the next two sets had said the same. So he reluctantly followed the advice and found himself back outside, weaving through the fields and following the directions of halflings until he found a field lying fallow, where it seems two teams were playing some sort of ball game - one team consisting of Halfling children, the other of wolves.

On closer inspection, most of the wolves were actually rats the size of wolves.

Resolutely refusing to think too much about what he was doing, Willus politely interrupted the game and explained his purpose to the terrifyingly shrewd gaze of the wolf, who cocked his head at him thoughtfully for a moment before nodding, yipping a farewell at his rodent teammates, and trotting back towards the Undumgi mountain. In something of a daze, Willus followed.

---

You read through the letter of introduction, then read it again more closely to check for any hidden messages, then read it a third time to make sure it follows the mind-bendingly intricate protocols for addressing someone of your muddled status, which must have taken some poor courtier several hours. The tone is very much respectful, but just shy of being obsequious, as they technically are, to a certain point of view, a competitor to the company you own just over a third of. Then you turn your gaze to the well-dressed but severely rumpled young man who has been alternating between drinking water to recover from his hike to your front door and nervously side-eyeing the pillar in the center of the room. "Very well," you say. "What business does the League of Ostermark have with the Eastern Imperial Company?" The lad opens his mouth to reply, and you interrupt mercilessly. "That is, what business that couldn't much more conveniently be taken to the Governor." He hesitates before trying to respond and you gesture for him to go on, noting with some satisfaction that he flinches away from the tendril of woodsmoke that the motion sends wafting towards him.

"I assume you know of the Ostermark League's interests in the Stir?"

"Of course," you say. You're going to have to double-check the gazetteer later, but you're pretty sure Menshenfresserhoffen is landlocked somewhere in the moors, and thus wouldn't have any interest in the Stir unless they were made to. One of that family being sent on this matter would have to be a statement that Ostermark is united on this - though you can't be sure whether that statement is targeted at you or at Menshenfresserhoffen.

"Ostermark is likewise aware of the Eastern Imperial Company's interests in the Aver of late." You wonder if that's true. Does he mean the incorporation of the West Stirland Riverine Company, which everyone would know about, or the Black Water canal-and-lock project that Wilhelmina and Barak Varr are attempting? "There's currently no overlap between our interests, but that's likely to change in the near future as we extend westwards. What we'd like to know-" he pauses and licks his lips nervously, a stark contrast with his confident and likely practiced speech. "-is what competition between Ostermark trade interests and Stirlandian ones would represent, precisely. Considering that..." he pauses again, and you keep your gaze level on his as he fumbles his words. "Considering the, uh. Considering."

Considering that you are a terrifying snarl of competing powers and limitations, he might have been about to say. Or words to that effect. You lean back in your chair and consider him while you digest the question, trying to decide whether it represents a nervous query or a cunning threat. The - what was he, a Baronet? In the sense of the son of a baron, or as an honourary non-landed title? You can't remember which Ostermark uses. Whatever he is, he's clearly very nervous, but you can't tell whether it's the nervousness of someone who hasn't seen their comfort zone for months and is now talking to a wizard, or it's the nervousness of someone who's delivering a veiled threat to a being that could obliterate him.

The naive read on the situation is that a trade interest - which the nobles of Ostermark often cooperated as - might be nervous about going up against a rival backed by a Grey Wizard, and are asking permission to start competing without it being treated as interfering with an obscure wing of the Empire's intelligence apparatus. A slightly more thoughtful analysis might consider their question to be asking whether to lock swords with Shareholder Mathilde would also earn the enmity of Dame Weber, or whether competing with Loremaster Weber might by extension be working against Karak Eight Peaks, which might jeopardize Ostermark's relationship with Karak Kadrin. But the sufficiently paranoid wizard might take the question as a veiled but very real jab at Magister Weber, who is bound by the Articles of Imperial Magic and the oaths of the Grey Order. A warning shot to say that Ostermark is coming downriver, and if the EIC stands in their way, to a certain point of view that could be seen as a Grey Wizard interfering with the legitimate business of an Elector Count for their own personal profit. Which is the sort of thing that gets the Bursar very tetchy indeed.

There's a whole shelf of maps that Wolf could fetch for you, but you instead use a sliver of concentration to call to your aura of woodsmoke and gather it in your hand, and then cast it forward like a fistful of dice. As the Baronet's chair clatters against stone, the smoke shapes itself into the familiar contours of the eastern Empire. For the sake of your audience - who is very resolutely trying to continue looking serious while picking his chair back up - you concentrate a moment longer, and helpful labels form, hovering above towns and rivers. "The Eastern Imperial Company has no concerns upriver of Wurtbad," you note, as if to yourself. "And we are not seeking any at this time. Ostermark has a free hand to develop what looks to me like three quarters of the Stir unimpeded. Marburg, Thalheim, Siegfriedhof, Ossino, Gersdorf, Krugenheim. Two counties, three baronies, and a chapterhouse. It seems to me that any competition between Stirlandian and Ostermarker traders is some time off, and if and when it comes, there'd be enough prosperity to go around that said competition would take the usual customary forms, rather than anything exotic."

You hope that serves to thread the needle. If they came with an innocent question, that should reassure them that business can continue as usual; if there's a threat, then it costs nothing to let them think the upper Stir is a concession. Wilhelmina's fixated on the Aver-Reik to try to claim as much as she can of what will hopefully be the new Altdorf to Barak Varr trade route, so the Stir will be all but free for the taking anyway. And in either scenario, a veiled threat of your own: if Ostermark gets too Marienburg-y with their trade tactics, it will be taken as an escalation and responded to accordingly.

Grey Order diplomacy at its finest: Don't Make Me Come Over There.

You allow the clearly rattled young man time to memorize what you said, as he will be asked to repeat it word for word when he returns to Ostermark, and then engage in the usual pleasantries that nobles always demand. When he leaves, he's collected enough of himself to take it with grace when you tell him that Wolf will see him out, but not so much that he doesn't jump when you appear to vanish from your seat.

---

That's as good a reminder as you're likely to get to go through the latest from the EIC. Count Maksim von Stolpe was only too happy to sign beneficial trade deals with the EIC, and Wilhelmina now only needs an accord of some sort with Count Robert Toppenheimer of Hornau to have complete dominance over the Stirland side of the Aver. The project itself is still in the opening stages, Dwarves not being ones to rush at the best of times, let alone when building on a lake notoriously full of terrifying monsters, but at least that means nobody else has gotten wind of it yet.

Moving on to less direct reports, the military of Stirland remains garrisoned as their stockpiles grow and Roswita seeks to cut off the peat trade that is financing the remaining vampires. That's how it's described by those reporting from Stirland, but those coming from Talabecland are much more detailed, and much more entertaining. Roswita's first attempt at dealing with the nobles of Talabecland was diplomatic, which went poorly, then her second pass consisted of a great deal of threats, none of which were taken seriously. The notes from this time give a general impression of her returning to Stirland in failure.

The tone of those reports change quite drastically a few weeks later, when the Holy Order of the Templars of Sigmar descend in force upon Talabecland. You're quite disappointed when you get up to date on the latest reports when their investigation has only just begun and nobody important has yet to feed the pyres.

The only other piece of information that catches your attention is rumours that the Moot is in negotiations with various powers to acquire riverboats. Most are taking this as an indication that the Halflings are looking to get involved in trade; you take it as a strong indication that Elder Hisme Stoutheart knows about the Black Water project and wants to be able to take full advantage of it to keep close ties with their colony.

---

[ ] [TOWER] Oh Dear
With a series of very prominent buttons easily accessible from anywhere in the room, be able to drain all magical energies in three heartbeats. Near-complete immunity to miscasts and any other conceivable magical threat. 100gc, 3 College favours, 3 Dwarf favours.
[ ] [TOWER] Grey Battery
Seek to expand the capability of the Grey Tower to absorb and store power, whether for firing the Eye of Gazul or other purposes. 50gc.
[ ] [TOWER] Protection (COLOUR)
Build a tower to magically reinforce or protect the others. Specify wind. 5 College favours.
[ ] [TOWER] Anti-Air (COLOUR)
Build a tower to magically attack any airborne enemies. Specify wind. 5 College favours.
[ ] [TOWER] Smoke and Mirrors
Build a tower to enable longer-range teleportation. Will require an action to set up, exact implementation will be determined by rolls and choices with that action.

Library Purchases
Budget: 300gc, 2 Dwarf Favour. Anything not spent will not accumulate.
[ ] [LIBRARY] No purchase.
[ ] [LIBRARY] Write-in.

Dwarf Favour Purchases
[ ] [DWARF] No purchase.
[ ] [DWARF] Write-in.

College Favour Purchases
[ ] [COLLEGE] No purchase.
[ ] [COLLEGE] Write-in.

Other Purchases
[ ] [PURCHASE] No purchase.
[ ] [PURCHASE] Write-in.


- There will be a 24 hour moratorium, to allow people time to notice the quest is back, to refresh their memory, and because I left things on a complicated vote.
- Feel free to suggest other towers.
- If there's anything I've forgotten, please let me know.

- On the subject of the romance vote: Panoramia and Johann are the foremost candidates with a clear lead, and as such will have an effect on her internal monologue in the future. Roswita, Anton, Oswald, and the Ice Dragon all have at least a quarter of the vote, and as such will be options for social actions intended to get to know them better and investigate the possibility of a deeper relationship. You can consider this a 'soft lock' on those candidates. If those possibilities fizzle out, then the candidate list could be revisited in the future.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] [TOWER] Oh Dear
[*] [LIBRARY] Esoteric Imperial Ranald (150gc), Esoteric Imperial Sevir (50gc, 2CF), Antiquarian Dwarven Dragons (100gc, 2DF), Dwarven Romance (50gc), Bretonnian Romance (50gc)
[*] [DWARF] No purchase.
[*] [COLLEGE] No purchase.
[*] [PURCHASE] Post a bounty of 300 gold at Barak Varr for enough dragonbone to make two staffs.

Of all your towers, the Tower of Calamity is possibly the least groundbreaking. Everything it does is a technique already used in one of your other towers, just applied differently, so it takes very little work on your part to set the construction in motion. But though the construction isn't of much interest, the possibility of investigating dangerous phenomenon with some modicum of safety is one you find very intriguing.

Your other new expenditure is a bounty posted at Barak Varr, with word also spread into the Empire by the EIC: intact dragonbone wanted of any variant, with enough of a prize attached to interest anyone who might have some but not so much to inspire anyone to actually go hunting a dragon, or so you hope. It will take time for news to spread and the results to reach you, but if all goes well you should have some very intriguing magical material to work with in the near future.

---

The Council meeting is a litany of grumbled complaints about the Okral, intermixed with grudging admission that once they do set their minds to working instead of tugging the beards of the Karak's clans, they're certainly industrious. Most effort is currently focused on Karags Rhyn and Mhonar, the two linked Karags that were once home to the majority of the Karak's population, and though reversing three thousand years of neglect is no small task, it seems well apace. Personally, you think it's misspent effort when the entire population can fit comfortably inside Karag Lhune, but it's a fool's errand to try to talk a Dwarf into a half-measure.

Your own report is not quite as well-received as you'd hoped - sure, everyone makes the suitable impressed noises, but you can tell that none of them quite grasp what you've accomplished. Most Dwarves just aren't wired to grasp the sort of tactics that this tome will make possible - after all, it doesn't make it any easier to strike a Skaven down with an axe or a quarrel, so how much of a difference could it possibly make? You have a feeling Kazador would get it once Kazrik passed on a copy to him, as would Prince Ulthar when one reaches Karak Hirn. It might not be quite as dramatic as destroying a charging Waaagh with the fires of a Dwarven God, but you think that of all your accomplishments, Rakilid un Thaggorhun could, in the end, have the strongest cumulative effect on the fate of the Old World - if it's used properly.

---

Finally the last of the court files out of the Great Hall, their footsteps echoing through the vast empty space. High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer allows himself to relax fractionally in his chair, his shoulders slumping slightly. Another day over, another day closer to-

Well. Not anymore, perhaps. His eyes flick sideways to a readout only he could see. Vala-Azril-Ungol, functional.

As if summoned by his thoughts, an attendant hurries in, still young enough to be in a hurry to get everywhere. A Gunnisson, he recalls. His Ancestors were once Kings of Mount Silverspear, and now they are mere warriors in Karaz-a-Karak. "What is it, lad?" he asks.

"Package from Karak- from Vala-Azril-Ungol, your Highness," the beardling says, laying a weighty bundle atop the desk in front of the High King. "Marked for your eyes only."

"Very well, take a step back," Thorgrim says, leaning forward to examine it. Plain cloth, wrapped in twine. Boxy, so likely not a head, which he sometimes received from his more rowdy subjects as proof a Grudge has been settled. The twine easily parts to a knife usually used to sharpen quills, and he unfolds the paper to see a book - leatherbound, good and sturdy. Rakilid un Thaggorhun, he reads. Some report on the Skaven?

He opens it, and turns a page. Then two. Then flips through the pages, his eyebrows rising.

"Good news, your Highness?" the lad asks.

"You could say that," Thorgrim replies thoughtfully. "Get me... well, let's start with my Loremaster."

---

Deep underground, under the lowest official level of the vast archives of Karaz-a-Karak, the air stirred for the first time in years as a door swung open, creaking on hinges older than civilizations. The light that fell upon it was not the flicker of lamplight, as no flame was allowed deeper than the second level of the archives - this was runelight, and save for the sun itself, no steadier illumination could be found. In stark contrast to the neat and orderly shelves above, these were dotted with a chaotic mess of assorted writings, from tattered books to half-torn scrolls to individual scraps of paper, each kept in a custom-made compartment to keep it safe from the ravages of the years.

"All of it, your Highness," the Loremaster says, his voice still strong despite his centuries. "Every book, every scroll, every letter, rubbings of wall carvings, even the warpstone-tainted ones are around here, in runed crates. Not quite as glorious as skulls and captured weapons, but it still does the heart good, to gaze upon it all."

High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer nodded in thought. "Is that why they've been collected? As trophies?"

"Mm, perhaps. The decree itself is from High King Morgrim, and I suspect it would be Morgrim Ironbeard because Morgrim Blackbeard would have specified. Blackbeard, I think, would have been the type to seek trophies, but Ironbeard strikes me as more likely to be looking for answers."

"And have any been found?"

The Loremaster sighs. "Many have tried, but it's like mining through mud. They have two separate alphabets of thirteen letters which we believe to be formal and informal variations, and numerous logographs besides, some of which seem to be morphemes and some whole words. There's also a great deal of inconsistency, which we believe to be due to differing dialects of the language. Every generation there's one or two that will sink years into pursuing it, but all have failed. Lost a promising linguist to it after he swore a Slayer Oath, though he did find a suitable death to a war mammoth in the far north."

"Right, then." Thorgrim lifts his hand, bringing the book he is carrying to the Loremaster's attention.

"A new addition?" the Loremaster asks, peering down at the book as the High King hands it to him. "No, that's proper writing. Rakilid... maybe not. Never saw the purpose in making up new words, the old ones served our ancestors fine." He falls silent as he opens the book, and then his mouth opens slightly as he flips the pages, though no sound comes out.

"Will this help?"

It takes a moment for the Loremaster to find his voice again. "Assuming this is all correct..." he pauses as he flips through some more, his brow furrowing. "We will need many more hands..."

"You'll have them. Send to Zhufbar and Barak Varr for all the scholars they can spare, in my name. And keep me apprised of everything of interest that you uncover."

---

Your assignment for the remainder of this year is a light one, as Belegar knows you've still got to finish the Reikspiel version of the translation - to create, commission, devise, or otherwise see to some sort of plan for if the Ice Dragon turns hostile, ideally something that could also come in handy against other dragons or any other variety of enormous flying beast. A number of possibilities immediately leap to mind, and it's up to you to decide upon the best of them.


Mandatory Actions: Pick one from each category.

Journeyman Maximilian de Gaynesford, Gold Wizard
[ ] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his metalworking studies.
[ ] MAX: Learn a skill: specify what from who. You may pay for a trainer.
[ ] MAX: Learn a spell: specify which.
[ ] MAX: Study an artefact: specify which.
[ ] MAX: Write a paper: specify which.
[ ] MAX: Receive dictation: specify which. Must be taken with a 'dictate' action.

Magister Johann, Gold Wizard
[ ] JOHANN: Have him teach Adela what he knows of engineering.
[ ] JOHANN: Learn a skill: specify what from who. You may pay for a trainer.
[ ] JOHANN: Learn a spell: specify which.
[ ] JOHANN: Study an artefact: specify which.
[ ] JOHANN: Write a paper: specify which.

Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks
[ ] DUCK: Work with Panoramia to try to implement the Waaaghsoak Mushrooms as an aid to spellcasting. (NEW)
[ ] DUCK: Panoramia's about ready to test for Magister, but she's putting it off because she doesn't have a lot of free time to prepare. Work with her to help make the most of every spare minute.
[ ] DUCK: Help Johann train his rat-wolf children.
[ ] DUCK: Spend time with Hubert to try to ensure a good relationship between him and magic, and between him and his identity as a Wizard. (NEW-ish)
[ ] DUCK: Tag along on one of Gretel's mercenary contracts. (NEW-ish)
[ ] DUCK: Each of your three ducklings can fight in melee. Spar with them, and teach them what you can.
[ ] DUCK: Magical target-shooting is rough on normal targets. Set up a specialized target range for your ducklings, and for any other wizards at Eight Peaks.


The Eastern Imperial Company
Your outstanding debt: 100 crowns
Your share of EIC profits: 175 crowns / turn
Current Focus of the EIC: Expansion along the Aver
EIC Handler: The Hochlander
[ ] Completely hand over management of the EIC intelligence apparatus to the Hochlander. Will remove this section from future turns and regain the half-turn invested in it. (NEW)
[ ] Have the Hochlander introduce a series of ciphers to the EIC to allow it to communicate internally in much greater security. (NEW)
[ ] Lend the services of the Hochlander, and the EIC's intelligence and contacts, to Roswita to help track down the Talabeclanders buying peat from the vampires. (NEW)
[ ] Found an auditors division, to make sure the ledgers are in order.
[ ] Start hiring handlers who can then start hiring informers and begin to collect non-public information.
[ ] Reach out to Julia to find out if she's interested in being poached or passing on information.
[ ] Reach out to Roswita, and have the EIC start passing on tips about any tax evasion or other naughtiness by the EIC's rivals.
[ ] Start building a paramilitary river navy to ensure the coming trade explosion doesn't lead to a similar explosion in riverine banditry.
[ ] Sell some of the Grand Urbaz Bank coins to collectors and museums on King Belegar's behalf.
[ ] Integrate the Gong Farmers and the Niter Factory into the EIC, and expand production.


Personal Actions: you have four actions you can apply without engaging in overwork.
Current overwork status: [-] [ ] [ ]
Each box will be filled by one action of overwork, and will take the two turns after that to fade as you recover. The first box incurs no penalty. The second will give a -10 penalty to all actions during the first turn of recovery. The third will give a -20 penalty to all actions on both turns of recovery.
Overwork incurs no penalties on the turns taken, only on the turns recovering from it. You can take as many actions of overwork as you have unfilled boxes.
When you use overwork it fills the left-most empty box, so [-][ ][ ] becomes [-][+][ ], not [+][-][ ]. All boxes recover in parallel and independent from one another, but second and third apply maluses on your actions during that cooldown period.


Current Task: Anti-Dragon (NEW)
[ ] Commission a suitable magical artefact from the Colleges of Magic, and train some dubious Dwarven volunteers in its use (specify what; does not cost favour).
[ ] Build a new tower with anti-dragon capabilities (specify Dwarven Rune or College spell it would be based on; does not cost favour).
[ ] Other (write-in; material and favour costs will be paid by Belegar)

Current Task: Queekish
[ ] Use King Belegar's pull to bring in some linguistics experts from the Empire's universities, though after proper vetting and swearing them to silence.
[ ] Despite him considering it treasonous, push Qrech to share the Moulder dialect of Queekish.
[ ] Despite him considering it blasphemous, push Qrech to share High Queekish.

Qrech Gambits (can be taken for free alongside pushing him for additional dialects or 'ask an acquaintance to train you' action targeting Qrech):
[ ] Convince Qrech that you seek an arrangement with Clan Moulder, and that you will release him as an ambassador for that arrangement once you are satisfied he'll cooperate.
[ ] Convince Qrech that the Under-Empire has no way of knowing he's even alive, and that he should prioritize the comfort with which he will live the rest of his life.
[ ] Convince Qrech you're ambitious and loyal only to yourself, and you're willing to repay his cooperation in ways that will benefit the Under-Empire.
[ ] Other (write in)

Self-Improvement:
[ ] Ask an acquaintance to train you in a skill: specify who and what.
[ ] Attempt to learn a spell from scrolls (specify which, will be harder than studying it at the Grey College)
[ ] Hire a trainer to come to Eight Peaks and teach you: specify what. (costs favours for Dwarf trainers, money for human ones)
[ ] Travel to the Grey College and attend lessons there. (1 College Favour per class; 100gc can be paid instead for non-magical classes)
[ ] Attempt to learn Battle Magic at the Grey College. (1 College Favour per attempt)
[ ] Gain enough control of your unruly shadow to still it temporarily.
[ ] Gain enough control of your attraction to smoke and gases to have it collect away from your face.
[ ] Try to see through Pall of Darkness with your improved magical senses.
[ ] Practice shooting while invisible. (applies to Substance of Shadow and Invisibility)
[ ] Branulhune's ability to disappear and reappear at a thought allows entirely new forms of combat. Try to create them.
[ ] Have one of Prince Gotri's pilots teach you to fly a gyrocopter.

Research and Publishing:
[ ] Study an artefact: select which.
[ ] Write a paper: select which.
Once per turn, you can write a paper without spending an action thanks to your Tower of Serenity.
[ ] Dictate papers: select which two, must be taken with Max's 'receive dictation'.
[ ] Investigate the possibility of using one Wind to directly manipulate another.
[ ] The Second Secret of Dhar teaches how to collapse it upon itself. Practice upon local Dhar taint, and very cautiously see if this works with Warpstone.
[ ] Try to establish a relationship with the Cult of Verena, with the intent of offering them access to your rarer tomes in exchange for copies of some of their own.
[ ] Record all the entries of the Grand Urbaz vaults and select a good-quality example of each minting to save from the smelters.

Aethyric Vitae (21 gallons):
[ ] Attempt to interest a prominent and knowledgeable Runesmiths in the interaction between Runes and Vitae. (will start at the top and work your way down)
[ ] Attempt to interest a young Runesmith with ambition and flexibility in the interaction between Runes and Vitae. (will give a selection of candidates)
[ ] Call in favours to get a specific Runesmith to examine the interaction between Runes and Vitae with you.
[ ] Using what you've learned of how it reacts to Runes, create new means of storing and moving the Vitae in complete safety. (NEW)
[ ] Experiment with integrating the Vitae into enchantments. (NEW)
[ ] Investigate how the Vitae reacts with Divine Magic.
[ ] Investigate how the Vitae reacts to a power stone.
[ ] Investigate how the Vitae reacts to being subjected to power stone creation methods.
[ ] Using the secrets you already know of the Vitae, attempt to weaponize it.

Enchantment and Spell Creation:
[ ] Enchant an item with a Moderately Complicated or easier spell (specify what and which)
[ ] Attempt to enchant an object to translate Windsight into a visual image.
[ ] Attempt to deepen your skill with Enchantment (will be more difficult than studying it at the Grey College)
[ ] Attempt to create a spell (see Approved Spells threadmark)

Karag Nar Penthouse: each turn, you get ONE free choice in this category. Additional selections cost actions.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: Have a tower built atop Karag Nar: -100gc for 1 room, bonus to room's purpose.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: Have additional rooms excavated underneath your Penthouse: -125gc for 5 rooms.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: Your dungeon was built with a reasonable amount of paranoia. Apply an unreasonable amount of paranoia.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: Add security measures to your Penthouse to prevent forcible entry.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: Have firing platforms built around the Penthouse so that it can be defended from flyers or climbers without granting access to it.
Setting up rooms for specific purposes will have to wait until new rooms are constructed or excavated. Only one construction or excavation can take place at a time, but you can do one of each.
Building downwards will increase by 1 each time; second set of excavated rooms will be 3 rooms, third will be 4, and so on.
Building upwards can be added upon; towers can be added on to or additional towers can be built. The distinction between the two is entirely cosmetic.

Foreign Relations:
[ ] Join the war between Stirland and the vampires in northern Sylvania.
[ ] Personally search for the Talabeclander buyers of peat from the vampires. (NEW)
[ ] Throw your reputation, and that of the Grey College, behind Roswita as she tries to browbeat the Talabeclanders into submission. (NEW)

Personal Relations:
[ ] Spend time assisting with a fellow councillor's task: specify who and how.
[ ] Spend time investigating a character without their knowledge: specify who.
[ ] Wolf is fully grown, very smart, and a Very Good Boy. Train him further. (specify what he will be taught)
[ ] Wolf is fully grown and very magical. Deepen your familiar bond. (may unlock a new familiar ability; risks obsession)


Ranald's Coin - specify which face it will be set to
[ ] The Gambler: specify an action this will apply to.
A +20 bonus to up to two dice rolls resulting from a single chosen action.
[ ] The Night Prowler
As long as you are outside of private property and within a town or city, nobody will question your presence and nobody will be able to find you if you do not wish them to.
[ ] The Deceiver: specify how this will be used.
Lies you have developed beforehand will be delivered perfectly. The listener may believe you to be mistaken, but they will never believe that you are lying. Cannot be used to tell truths.
[ ] The Protector
When you act in a way that defends an individual or group from a danger that you did not cause, they will become aware of what you have done and will believe you acted selflessly in doing so.

Spoiler: Artefacts to be studied

Ranald's Coin
Vampire skulls

Preserved bodies of the Rat Mothers of Clan Mors.

Eshin:
Throwing star, still dripping venom.
Eshin Sorcerer crystal sword.
Eshin Sorcerer amulet, shattered.

Moulder:
Electric whip, stolen from Clan Moulder.
Vials, stolen from Clan Moulder.
Captured Clan Moulder devices (as yet uninspected)

Skryre:
Firearms; jezzails, pistols, bullets, gunpowder.
Warp Lightning Cannon (misfired, possibly broken)
Lighting mechanism, stolen from Clan Skryre. (shared project with Adela)
Breathing apparatus, stolen from Clan Skryre. (shared project with Johann)
Brass orb, stolen from Clan Skryre.

Spoiler: Papers to be written

Note: Fresh and Refreshed papers confer a +10 bonus; faded ones a -10 malus.
Papers get one step less 'fresh' each turn: Fresh; Fading; Mostly Faded: Faded. Only the first and last have an effect on the diceroll.

Ratling Gun mechanism and countermeasures (FADING) (can be written by Johann)
Brief observations on Eshin Sorcery (MOSTLY FADED)

Waaagh energy and magic witnessed during the Expedition. (FADED)
The Black Orc Warboss' worship of Only Gork, and what you saw of the Rogue Idol ritual. (FADED)
The physiology and venom of the We. (FADED)
The psychology and social structure of the We. (FADED)

Preliminary paper on Aethyric Vitae. (TIMELESS)
Insight on Skaven tactics and strategy, acquired from the Liber Mortis but justified by your current encounters (TIMELESS)
Basic Written Queekish: grammar, signs, common words (TIMELESS)
Low Queekish, the common tongue of the Skaven (TIMELESS)
Military lexicon of written Queekish (TIMELESS)
Medical lexicon of written Queekish (TIMELESS)
Technical lexicon of written Queekish (TIMELESS)


You can literally write the book on a topic for the same amount of effort as two papers; this can be split over multiple turns. You don't need to have all the pieces to do so, but it would be more efficient and impressive if you did.
The We
Queekish-Reikspiel Dictionary, including spoken Low Queekish (Half Completed)

- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- If there's anything I've forgotten - and that's quite likely - please let me know. Similarly, speak up if there's anything you think should be added.
- The exact favour payoff for the translation into Khazalid is pending, and will depend on whether and how it is put to use in other holds.
- The dragon task has a huge amount of latitude, and creativity is encouraged.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] Plan: Fight Dragon with Dragon
-[*] MAX: Receive dictation.
-[*] JOHANN: Write a paper: Ratling Gun mechanism and countermeasures
-[*] DUCK: Spend time with Hubert to try to ensure a good relationship between him and magic, and between him and his identity as a Wizard.
-[*] EIC: Lend the services of the Hochlander, and the EIC's intelligence and contacts, to Roswita to help track down the Talabeclanders buying peat from the vampires.
-[*] Commission an altar based on (boosted) Transformation of Kadon.
--[*] Able to transform non-wizards.
--[*] Optimized to reduce destructive consequences in case of miscast.
--[*] Can only be activated by a Dwarf not currently being transformed.
--[*] Can only be activated with one of three keystones.
--[*] Transportable but heavy and unwieldy enough that even the resulting dragon can not just carry it away.
--[*] COIN: The Gambler
-[*] Travel to the Grey College and attend lessons there: Staff Turning
-[*] Attempt to interest a prominent and knowledgeable Runesmiths in the interaction between Runes and Vitae. (will start at the top and work your way down)
-[*] Dictate papers:
--[*] Queekish-Reikspiel Dictionary, including spoken Low Queekish
--[*] Insight on Skaven tactics and strategy
-[*] PENTHOUSE: Have a tower built atop Karag Nar
-[*] SERENITY: Write a paper: Brief observations on Eshin Sorcery

You brief the Hochlander - he has a name, but it sounds so very mysterious to just call him the Hochlander - in a gyrocopter headed north, telling him his task is to provide what support he can to Roswita in the matter of tracking down whoever is bankrolling the remaining land-holding vampires in Sylvania by buying peat from them. Not only is it a worthy task, but it will also give you a better idea of how he operates, whether he works through the EIC, establishes an entirely new network, or tracks the merchants personally.

You drop him off in Nuln for him to make his own, less attention-getting way to his task from there, and then move on to Altdorf. You have a massive commission on behalf of King Belegar to drop into the laps of the Amber College, one the result of a great deal of thought on your part. You spent a great deal of time consulting your library, trying to decide which piece of battle magic would be most helpful in a fight against a dragon, but in the end you realized you were coming at it from the wrong direction. The Dwarves are entirely capable of directing a bewildering and varied barrage at a dragon, should the need arise, and it makes no major difference to add a magical shot to that volley. What is needed is a reason for the dragon to expose itself to that barrage in the first place, and though you spent some time considering mental trickery to accomplish that, eventually you decided you needed a genuine motivation, one that did not require directly influencing the foe.

In the end, you settled on Transformation of Kadon. How better to counter a dragon, than another dragon?

Through the process of internal requests that the Colleges operate on, you've received word that the person to talk to on this matter is Lord Magister Luuk Schild, as well as allowing you to arrange a meeting. It is oft said that the Amber Order has no College in Altdorf - you may have said it a time or two yourself - but while that is true, they do have a tower, if something so squat and festooned with gargoyles can be described as a tower. Built before Teclis reached an accord with the shamanic brotherhood that is the ancestor to the modern Amber Order, it exists today solely as a letterbox and very occasionally as a meeting room. It is said that the door appears only when the Amber Wind blows strongest, but that would be extremely impractical.

Lord Magister Luuk is a squat and muscled man, hairless except for bushy eyebrows and exuding an aura of Ghur that puts your teeth on edge. He is a man of few words, and when you explain to him the specifics of what you want, he furrows his brow and says a single word: "Why?"

"To fight other dragons," is your wonderfully succinct answer.

"What sort?"

"Our main concern is ice."

He wrinkles his nose, and then nods. "Come back at midwinter."

You're quite pleased at how simple that was to commission, but you can't help but go over the final words he said as he walked out: "It'll be uglier than you think it'll be."

---

Staff turning, you quickly discover, is all the most boring parts of enchantment made even more boring.

Everything needs to be perfect, because it is to have every ounce of power a wizard wields run through it, as well as helping absorb ambient energies to cast those spells in the first place. There's no creativity, no cleverness, no puzzles. You make it as conductive to the Wind in question as you possibly can, and the only variation in results is in imperfections. There can be more to staffs than this - the Bright Order in particular delights in ones able to amplify specific spells - but that's not covered by the class.

Day by tedious day, you rote memorize the various ways to attune materials to a Wind. If you hadn't already spread word of the bounty on dragonbone, you might be tempted to drop the idea altogether and be satisfied with your sword and guns. But at long, long last, the day finally comes that there's nothing more for them to torment you with, and you flee before they change their mind.

[Skill added: Turning]

---

Returning to the sanctuary of your home, you settle in for a just as quiet but infinitely more interesting task. Once more Max and Johann are calling your Room of Serenity home while a bevy of papers are prepared, with only minor hitches as Johann experiments with different types of metallic inks to allow him to proofread his own work. This time, however, you're not quite able to fully lose yourself in the comfortable routine of academia, as you have to be careful exactly how your insights are presented. All three of the papers currently being written use understandings that you owe to the Liber Mortis, either directly in the case of Skaven strategy or indirectly via the understanding of Dhar it gave you that allowed you to puzzle out both the Ratling Gun and Eshin magic. You do have very good alternate explanations for how you could have come by that knowledge, but you'd much rather not have to explain in the first place.

The Ratling Gun paper is simple enough, as you have to rewrite a set of your notes for Johann anyway in inks visible to his Windsight; you simply leave off some of the more exact details of the firing mechanism, leaving it explained as a Warpstone-induced explosion instead of explaining precisely the flash-decay that the Warpstone firing crystal induces. The rest requires no more than an Apprentice-level understanding of magic's nature, as the attraction between Dhar and other magics is warned against early and often.

The second part of the paper is trickier, at least for Johann: countermeasures. He gets as far as Fault of Form and speculates on whether Law of Gold would be applicable, and runs out of steam. You take a break from your own papers to sketch out a few ideas, then a few more, and next thing you know the sun's gone down and you're looking at half a manuscript that spells out exactly how anyone with a modicum of magical talent can turn a firing Ratling Gun into a rapidly expanding cloud of shrapnel. Johann is more than happy to append it to the end of his effort and call it a day.

[Ratling Gun paper: Learning, 11+16+10(Breach the Unknown)+15(mostly thorough notes)=52.]
[Ratling Gun countermeasures: Learning, 6+16+9(Library: Warpstone)=31.]
[Mathilde interrupt: Learning, 100+27+5(Tactics: Skaven)+9(Library: Warpstone)-20(multitasking)=121.]
[Internal Mechanisms of the Ratling Gun, and How to Foil Them, 2483. Subject: Rare, +1. Insight: Revolutionary, +2. Delivery: Dull, -1. Precious, +1. Thorough, +1. Tactically Significant: +2. Classified, -2. Total: +4.]

Your work with Max quickly falls into a rhythm of surging forward with the paper on Skaven warfare when inspiration strikes, and falling back to the Queekish-Reikspiel Dictionary when it flags. There's no lack of information to draw from, ranging from your own experience, to that of human and Dwarven authors in your library, to the precious few texts on the subject you have from Skaven writers, to the insights provided by Qrech. And, of course, most precious of all, the war diary of Frederick van Hal, containing not only his own keen intellect but a few pearls of wisdom that must have come from he who would become Vlad von Carstein.

(You're distracted from your task by a while by an unexpected pang of regret that you levelled Castle Drakenhof. How much could you have learned from but a single book written by him?)

The paper does, you feel, suffer from the need to conceal the greatest source of your knowledge, as you're forced to reverse engineer plausible chains of logic of how you could have derived that information from your experiences or from more suitable texts. But Max once more rises to the occasion, and he manages to wrestle many a clumsy passage into submission where you were on the verge of excising it completely. The final product isn't as great as it was in your imagination, but so very little is, and it's readable, accessible, and delivers a lot of very useful information in a way that doesn't, you hope, raise questions. That's enough.

[Skaven strategy and tactics paper: Martial, 58+23+5(Strategy/Tactics: Skaven)+13(Library: Skaven)+10(Amanuensis)=109.]
[Winning the War Below, 2483. Subject: Uncommon, +0. Insight: Confirming, +1. Delivery: Competent, +0. Thorough, +1. Varied, +1. Alien, +1. Accessible, +1. Tactically Significant, +2. Classified, -2. Total: +5.]

Writing the lexicon is, in comparison, no effort at all. Every possible stumbling block has already been encountered and defeated in the process of writing the Khazalid equivalent. You do spend some time on the side trying to come up with a better pronunciation guide, as well as spending a fair bit of effort on excising the text of any linguistic flourishes that you feel are identifiably yours or Max's, but it's more to keep your mind occupied while doing the long and dull task of cataloguing an entire language than anything that has much of an effect on the final product. After some discussion you label it simply: Queekish.

[Queekish, 2483. Pending.]

The final paper is more of a report than a full essay as you distil your lingering memories of the Eshin Sorcerer, and the notes you took at the time, into as much raw data as possible. Grey Seers are notorious and feared, as are the Warlock-Engineers of Clan Skryre, but the existence of an Eshin-specific brand of warp magic was known only by a few dubious accounts and mostly thought to be fictional. You saw proof to the contrary, and saw one wield magic that seems to be to Ulgu what necromancy is to Shyish, and thus is completely distinct to the magic of the Grey Seers, and disproving theories that the possibility of such a hybrid with Dhar was unique to Shyish. So even with its brevity, and even with the necessity of secrecy, you've no doubt that even this short a paper will turn some heads.

[Eshin Sorcerer paper: Learning, 37+27+10(Windsage)+4(Library: Skaven Warp Magic)=78.]
[An Eyewitness Account of a Distinct Variety of Skaven Sorcery, 2483. Subject: Rare, +1. Insight: Shattering, +3. Delivery: Competent, +0. Exotic, +1. Precious, +1. Classified, -2. Total: +4.]

When you return to Altdorf, not only will you be collecting a Battle Altar, you'll be dropping quite a payload of intelligence upon the Grey College. You can barely wait. The only question is: who will you present this linguistic coup to?

[ ] Emperor Luitpold
[ ] The Imperial Spymaster
[ ] Supreme Patriarch Dragomas
[ ] Magister Patriarch Algard
[ ] Other (write in)


- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- The identity of the Imperial Spymaster is unknown to you, as they officially do not exist. But this could get you a meeting.
- Whoever is chosen, it will be kept as secret as the Empire is capable of keeping it, and it will get to where it needs to go.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting result

[*] Magister Patriarch Algard

Spoiler: Unfinished business

-[*] DUCK: Spend time with Hubert to try to ensure a good relationship between him and magic, and between him and his identity as a Wizard.
-[*] Commission an altar based on (boosted) Transformation of Kadon.
--[*] Able to transform non-wizards.
--[*] Optimized to reduce destructive consequences in case of miscast.
--[*] Can only be activated by a Dwarf not currently being transformed.
--[*] Can only be activated with one of three keystones.
--[*] Transportable but heavy and unwieldy enough that even the resulting dragon can not just carry it away.
--[*] COIN: The Gambler
-[*] Attempt to interest a prominent and knowledgeable Runesmiths in the interaction between Runes and Vitae. (will start at the top and work your way down)

With all the tests and experiments you've performed with the Aethyric Vitae, it's come time to bring in a Runesmith to examine the interactions between Runes and Vitae, foremost of all your hope that it could be used to rapidly charge Runes dependent on absorbing ambient magic. You've decided to start at the top and work your way down, and though there could be much debate on the matter of which Runelord could be considered the greatest of all, you start with Kragg on the grounds that the two of you have worked together well in the past.

Rolling...

You find Kragg in his workshop, as expected, tinkering with an axe while shooting surly looks at Bok looming in one corner. The glare he levels at the vial of Vitae you brought threatens to detonate it as it shrinks away from his gaze, and though he does you the courtesy of hearing you out, he eventually declines, citing that the future of Runecrafting will always lie in the greatness of the past, not in material oddities from the Warp. But he does suggest you take it to someone who isn't doing anything useful with their time so they can see if it might be of some use, and though he doesn't specify, it's more than clear who he means by that.

Thorek Ironbrow doesn't spend much time at Karak Eight Peaks of late, but he does pass through it quite regularly as he travels to every corner of the extant Karaz Ankor to establish his status in person. Your status as Loremaster means you're able to secure a meeting with him when next he passes through, and he spends some time inspecting the vial.

"The undifferentiated substance of the Polar Realm," he says slowly. "It can be contained safely?" You hand over your design for a runic array to keep it suspended and isolated, and he spends even more time studying that. "And division can be reliably induced. If the repellent fields could ensure a specific amount is dropped onto a catalyst..."

It's clear he doesn't care much for the substance, but the idea of being able to supply large but precise amounts of magical energy on demand intrigues him, and after much grumbling he concedes it wouldn't be a complete waste of time on his part to pursue the project. A week later the more portable portions of his workshop arrive and he establishes himself deep within the largely-unoccupied Kvinn-Wyr, and the two of you get to work - he reluctantly concedes that your senses are much sharper than whatever equivalent Runesmiths use to feel the movement of magical energy. He gets to work on experimenting, and you're given a chance to see how his approach differs to Kragg's.

Kragg, from what you've seen, knows exactly what he is doing at all times. If a Rune is to be struck, he strikes it in utter confidence that it will work as he demands. Thorek is very different, starting each step with filling a large block of slate hung on the wall of his workshop with notes in chalk, and then he acts with extreme care and precision. A few prototypes are laboriously created and rejected until he settles on a simple design for a containment vessel - a steel bowl with a hole in the base and inscribed with the Rune of Valaya forms the base, and another inscribed with the Rune of Sanctuary to sit atop it. The Rune of Valaya suspends a portion of Aethyric Vitae in the centre of the sphere the two bowls form, while the Rune of Sanctuary keep any errant magical energies from interfering with it. The sphere is suspended above a steel ingot with a Rune of Spellbreaking, and then from a safe distance the Rune of Valaya is deactivated. The suspended blob of Vitae drops through the hole, falls upon the Rune of Spellbreaking, and detonates, filling the room with magical energy that is siphoned away into Runic collectors Thorek had set up.

This success prompts Thorek to return to the drawing board, and he designs a more self-contained system, calculating precisely how much energy could saturate a specific area until the Winds are forced to intermingle and form Dhar. Eight vents are built on each side of a precisely-measured cubic detonation chamber, one for each Wind, and the energies are funnelled into an adjoining hinged octahedron, which can be opened to place an Anvil Rune inside - or a newly-made absorption Rune, for Thorek won't risk an Anvil Rune on this just yet. A mechanism is added to empty a flask into the containment chamber from above, Thorek observes the detonation in action several times, and then he returns once more to the drawing board, and you have to bite your tongue to refrain from commenting.

After weeks of work, the final prototype is shown, and you have to admit to being impressed. The uppermost mechanism allows for a row of sealed containers to be held ready a safe distance from one another, and then delivers them at precise intervals into the containment chamber. After enough time has passed for the Vitae in the containment chamber to have formed a sphere from the semi-spherical repellent field that suspends it, the Rune of Valaya is deactivated and the Vitae drops into the detonation chamber, with a metal lid sliding over the hole a heartbeat before the Vitae reacts to the Rune of Spellbreaking. The energies are siphoned out of the chamber and delivered not just to the charging chamber, but also to the other Runes that control the process, ensuring it could run indefinitely with the only intervention needed being to refill and replace the Vitae containers. And with Thorek's face lined with concern, you watch as for the first time a precious Anvil Rune is placed into the charging chamber, one of the ones exhausted during the rebuffing of Waaagh Birdmuncha, and then the mechanism begins its work, with the gentle noises of metal sliding over metal only interrupted by the splash-THOOMF of the Vitae being dropped and detonating. And after a number of containers are emptied, Thorek gingerly opens the charging chamber to stare at the Anvil Rune within, which now glows with contained power.

"I've no doubt," he says slowly, "that your manling craft has uses for the substance. But every drop you could spare would be of great value to the descendants of Thungni."

[1 gallon of Vitae expended on experimentation]

---

Hubert is a bit of an odd duck. To be an Ulrican and a Wizard is an untenable position in the first place - Ulric dictates self-reliance, and a Wizard is by necessity reliant on the whims of the Winds of Magic - but to be an Ulrican and a Celestial Wizard is particularly so, as it would be difficult to find two groups more different in temperament. And on top of that he's from a noble family, and they rarely react well to finding the gift of magic amongst their offspring. So it's no surprise to you that he often seems rootless and irresolute, torn in mutually exclusive directions.

If there's a glimmer of hope, it's that he's recently added Wings of Heaven to his magical repertoire. Consulting your books on Azyr, you find that the spellbook of the Celestial Order is split neatly between those that look to the sky for the portents in the stars, and those that look to the sky and weaponize it. Hubert does seem to be a poor fit for astrology and scrying the future, but he may very well be a good fit for throwing lightning around, even if that doesn't fit the approved mold of the Order.

So you spend some time with him when he's not off dealing with his coreligionists of Ulrikadrin, to feel out where his mind is at and, if necessary, try to nudge it in a better direction. The easiest way to nail him down is with sparring - he's often to be found in the sparring chambers, even when Soizic isn't there to keep him company - so in between bouts, you turn the topic to the history of the Empire and his order to try to determine what it is he admires and aspires to, and after the usual suspects of Magnus the Pious and his companions, and Teclis and Yrtle and Finrier, you hear an unexpected name - Casandora, the Seeress of Mordheim, one of the Sisters of Sigmar in their efforts to prevent the tainted bounty of the comet from falling into the wrong hands. Sigmarites say that her foresight was a gift from Sigmar, but some of the Celestial Order theorize that she was channelling the power of Azyr instead, and the powerful Battle Magic to call a comet down from the heavens is said by some to have been named for her.

"A member of a cloistered order who nevertheless crossed blades with the enemies of the Empire," you muse.

He opens his mouth to reply, then frowns and shrugs. "Okay, when you put it like that..." You raise an eyebrow, and he sighs. "Look, I'd have been okay with the Bright Order. Or the Golds or the Greys. But I dreamed of the stars at night and I could feel a change in the weather coming three days off, so I ended up stuck with, well..."

"The Celestials," you say, nodding in understanding.

"Stargazers and fortune-tellers."

You nod again, thoughtfully. "Just as the Greys are diplomats, and generally work completely unseen."

"Right," he says, and then frowns.

"And the Brights are unthinking fire dispensers instead of aspiring mechanics, the Amethysts are ascetics, and the Golds are cold and analytical and definitely don't take up punching and puppy rearing as hobbies..."

He sighs. "Okay, point made."

"And I'm going to keep making it," you say, prodding him with your wooden sparring blade. "I'm sure your Apprenticeship was astoundingly tedious, but now you're clear of it you can blaze your own trail. If you want, you can make the choice to never set eyes on Altdorf again, and be able to throw lightning and flit around the sky for the low price of one coin in ten. Or if you really want, I can write a letter and get you a full set of dampeners, and you can go back to Middenland and do whatever it is Middenlander nobles do, or go to Ulrikadrin and join the Winter Wolves, or stick around and join the Undumgi. But if you really set your mind to it, you can be whatever kind of Wizard you want to be and still find success and respect among the Colleges, even if you don't fit the archetype of your classmates."

[Pep talk: Diplomacy, 71+14+2(Library: Azyr)=87.]

For a moment you think you might have pushed him a bit too far, but after a long moment he looks down at his hands as lightning crackles along his knuckles. "I never wanted to be a Wizard of the Celestial Order," he says quietly. "But I find I've liked being a Wizard of Karak Eight Peaks."

You smile, and reach out and ruffle his hair. "If that's what you want to be, that's what you can keep being. You've got it in you to achieve greatness whatever path you end up taking, but not if you never pick a path."

He doesn't reply, but he does look thoughtful. And over the coming weeks, you do seem to notice him flitting about the sky more often.

---

When you return to Altdorf as the nights grow long, it's with a fair bit of anticipation and a touch of trepidation. Lord Magister Luuk's words echo in your imagination, and you can imagine quite a few different ways he could have meant 'uglier than you think it'll be'. But you definitely weren't imagining what you found when you approached the Amber Tower on the appointed day and found it almost dwarfed by a massive pillar of stone propped up against it, heavily splattered with the dark stains of old blood.

"You know what Herdstones are?" Lord Magister Luuk says after you enter the tower, not looking up from the battered kettle he was patiently watching.

"Gathering points for the Beastmen," you say. They'd come up a time or two in tales of Regimand's travels.

"They're also the complete opposite of Waystones, which scares the shit out of anyone with sense." He scratches at his shoulder, where the angry red of a new scar is visible under his leathers. "If you can interrupt them while they're setting one up, and drag the thing away before they summon reinforcements, you've got a menhir attuned to Ghur but not yet tainted by their rituals. It was a stroke of luck to find one just as you asked for this." You suppress a smile. "I carved out a recess in the side of this one, and you need to fill it with heart-blood of wild animals spilled by the blade I left in it, that's the 'key' you asked for. Wild, mind - nothing domesticated. Once it's full, the chosen subject drinks it, and as long as they drink most of it the transformation should take hold. Tea?"

"Yes, please."

He busies himself, and a minute later hands you a chipped stone mug of surprisingly pleasant dandelion tea. "When one of us transforms, we hold what we truly are inside of us, and so when the spell ends we revert. Someone else does not have the training to hold who they are within them, so the transformation sinks deeper into them until nothing remains untouched. So the menhir also imbues a second spell into them, which does the remembering of what they were."

You nod along, but are struck by a sudden suspicion. "Imbues how?"

He shrugs. "Some strange tangle of energies one of the other Colleges came up with a few years back." You repress a sigh. Ambers. Sometimes it seems like they keep more secrets by accident with their disdain for the trappings of civilization than the Greys do on purpose. "Assuming nobody dispels it, it should activate when the subject sleeps. Ideally that will be when whatever emergency they were transformed for is dealt with, but I figured if they were rendered unconscious they're probably done for anyway."

"And if someone does dispel it?"

"That would be a problem, and it's not an unlikely one, because someone might figure that would get rid of the dragon. If that does happen, might be kindest to wait until they sleep and then give them a quick death. They won't have the training we have to retain our selves when in the form of another, and it won't take long for them to lose themselves, and then you've got a feral beast on your hands. I recommend you don't use it if there isn't an immediate problem for them to address, because there being an enemy in the here and now should keep them concentrated for long enough. Assuming they get back to their old form in a timely manner, there shouldn't be too many long-term effects."

You grimace at the thought. "What sort of dragon? Great Fire? Horned?"

He sips his tea to conceal a grimace. "A dragon. Definitely a dragon. You'll see what I mean. One more reason not to let anyone get trapped that way."

You thank him for his time and expertise, and he thanks you for the ephemeral promise of repayment that will likely be traded a half dozen times or more before Belegar is ever called upon to make good. And he leaves you with the not inconsiderable problem of transporting tens of tons of stone halfway across the continent.

---

You're quite pleased with yourself as you enter Algard's office, as filled with anticipation as your arms are brimming with papers. He looks up as you enter, takes in your expression and your cargo, and slides his paperwork off his desk and into a sideways dimension. "Last time you came in here with that expression, we cleared the Skaven out of Ubersreik," he notes.

"Funny you should mention them," you say, and slide your trio of papers across his desk to him.

"There's a process for publishing these and this isn't it," he gripes, but he picks up the first anyway and winces. "Ever been on the receiving end of one of these things?"

"Not personally, though I've shared a battlefield with them." The closest you came, Johann punched the operator out before they had a chance to get it operating.

"Do your best to keep it that way." He skims through it, comes to the simple cantrip that will guarantee a very bad day for anyone within the blast radius of an exploding Ratling Gun, and his eyebrows rise as he mumbles and does a few experimental gestures. "That easy?"

"There's a shocking amount of mechanical energy in the storage mechanism. It only takes the right nudge for a failure cascade, and that sets off the Warpstone."

"This could... no, this will save lives. Probably a lot of them. Do you have other copies of this?"

"Yes, and one's on its way through the system."

"Good." He makes a series of gestures that does strange things to the shimmering aura of sideways dimensions in his office, and the paper disappears somewhere into his storage system. "An Eyewitness Account... You're sure? The more skilled ones can certainly look like they're using magic, but..." he opens the paper and skims through it, then stops abruptly. "Oh fuck. You're sure of what you saw?" You nod. "Never thought I'd be thankful for the Eshin ability to keep secrets. The Amethysts have a devil of a time with Necromancy, if an Ulgu equivalent got out it would be an utter nightmare. You dropped this one in the classified pile, right?" You nod again. "Good. Bloody rats." A few more gestures, and that report disappears. "And a third... Winning the War Below? I suppose you've earned some hubris," he says with a smile, but the smile slips away as he gets deeper into it.

"I do think I've got some insights to share," you say with clearly false modesty.

"This is... very detailed. Just a moment." He opens a drawer, rummages through the clutter inside, and then underhand lobs something to you. "Think fast."

You catch it, and frown as the crystal orb glows with a shocking amount of Hysh, a tendril of pure light extruding to wave lazily through the air. "What in the-" you grimace as the Ulgu inside you rebels at so much Light magic in close proximity, and there's a crashing flutter as one of Algard's paperwork dimensions collapses. "Seriously? Did you seriously just daemon-check me?"

"If any of your underlings drop three different flavours of extremely convenient and extremely unlikely insight on you in a row, I'd be very disappointed if you didn't do the same." The orb subsides, the energy tendril retracting back into its depths. "What are your sources with this one? Sudden flashes of inspiration in your dreams? Whispers on the wind? A conveniently insightful underling that appeared out of nowhere?"

You begin to rebut, but then you frown. He's kind of got a point, considering the order you're delivering these in. Maybe you shouldn't have saved the best for last. "My sources," you say, standing and dropping your freshly-printed tome on his desk with a dramatic thump, "are primary."

He stares down at the single word on the cover: Queekish. With slow and careful movements, he lifts the cover and begins to flip through page after page of laboriously catalogued pictograms and phonetics. "We've lost more than one to Frederheim in their attempts at unpicking their tongue," he says. "How? Your captive?"

"I convinced him that we already had it translated, but internal politics meant that my requests for translations were getting stonewalled. Then I fed him a great deal of papers stolen from the Clans that were present in the Karak. He thought he was helping me defeat just those Clans, since his own was already defeated there."

"This..." He frowns. "In the wrong hands, this would obliterate the Conspiracy of Silence. Who knows?"

"Johann and Maximilian de Gaynesford of the Gold Order. King Belegar and his council. By now, a Khazalid version would have reached the High King of Karaz-a-Karak."

"A Khazalid version is no threat, the Dwarves have been in open war against them since time immemorial. Johann... he was given dispensation, wasn't he? I'll have a word with Feldmann. Would you vouch for Maximilian?"

"Completely."

He looks at you, then nods. "Your security?"

"Dwarves consider it sufficient to guard a holy superweapon."

He snorts a laugh. "How could I forget. Very well, consider me mollified, for now. But find the time in the coming year to go through anti-Chaos training. That's an order. I'd be surprised if you hadn't already drawn the attention of at least the Changer." He turns his attention back to the book. "This is astounding work, Magister. And it's about to make the War Below a lot more interesting. Most will never learn of this, and even fewer will know that it was done by you, but those that matter will."

As you make your way out of the College, you find yourself unable to stop from smiling. Your papers were so good he thought you were cheating, which is quite a compliment. Though to be fair, for some of it you were, it's just that your source was necromantic rather than daemonic.

[GREAT DEED performed.]

---

Thus concludes the work Mathilde performed these past months, but not every waking moment was filled with work. With whom did she spend her free time, this past year? The four with the most votes will be chosen, not counting those locked in.

[+] The Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks (locked in)
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
[+] EIC Reports (does not cost a choice)

Romance
Any victors from this category will trigger a subvote for how you'll spend time with them. This isn't a lock-in, this is getting to know them better to see how compatible you might be.
[ ] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[ ] [ROMANCE] Magister Johann
[ ] [ROMANCE] Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
[ ] [ROMANCE] Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[ ] [ROMANCE] The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
[ ] [ROMANCE] Chief Bombardier Oswald Oswaldson

Fellow Wizards
[ ] Gretel, who's apparently spending her newly-earned wealth to make herself at home.
[ ] Adela, to see how she's going with her mechanical aspirations.

Karak Eight Peaks Notables
[ ] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.
[ ] Francesco Caravello, proud Viceroy of the Undumgi.
[ ] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart, leader of the frontier town of Ulrikadrin.

Foreign Relations
[ ] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.
[ ] Karak Hirn, to satisfy your curiosity about Prince Ulthar.

Friends Abroad
[ ] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[ ] Julia, to see what she has gotten up to as Stirland's most experienced spy master.
[ ] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
[ ] Empress Heidi, to pay her a social visit and see how Mandred is growing.

Following Up
[ ] Regimand, to finally get the full story behind the Lahmian plot you were both ensnared by.
[ ] The Amber College, to check in on the salamanders.
[ ] Follow up on your donation of the Skaven organ-vat, and see what has been made of it.

[ ] Other (write in)


- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- If you have ideas for other people to spend time with, let me know.
- The results of the Hochlander's actions will be part of the EIC reports.
- You get four options total. This can mean you take multiple romance options, or none.
- The Coin did apply, the action just took place off-screen.
- The exact method for how Vitae can be translated into Runesmith gratitude will be determined in coming turns.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[+] The Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks (locked in)
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
[+] EIC Reports (does not cost a choice)

[*] [ROMANCE] Magister Johann
[*] Empress Heidi, to pay her a social visit and see how Mandred is growing
[*] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[*] Karak Hirn, to satisfy your curiosity about Prince Ulthar.

You first visited Karak Hirn five years ago, shortly after joining the Expedition. Since then, you've visited most of the surviving ancient holds that date back to the Time of the Ancestor Gods, and the differences are many and obvious. Though its population is significantly smaller than the Old Holds, Karak Hirn is filled to the brim with Dwarves, as its population has never been significantly bigger than it is right now, and parts of it ring with the sound of excavation and construction as more room is dug out for their still-growing population. It was never connected to the Underway, so any enemies it might face must approach overland or tunnel through untouched rock to reach them, and if anything does manage that feat, a warning and call to arms is sounded through the massive caverns that give the Hornhold its name. And situated where it is high in the mountains between Wissenland and the Border Princes, it does not face the constant threat of nearby enemies that the World's Edge Mountains so often crawl with.

It's a tragic contrast, and you hope one that Karak Eight Peaks can begin to change - though thinking of Kragg's seemingly doomed obsession with the ancient elemental Bok, and how the Dwarves of the Karak are already spreading themselves thin trying to populate the same halls as their ancestors instead of more practically calling a single mountain home, it might be that your hopes are already in vain. The ancient masterpieces from before the Time of Woes are a source of great pride for the Old Holds, but also a constant reminder of how far they've fallen.

You shake your morbid thoughts as you enter the Hornhold, your name alone being enough to grant you entrance, and see to the tedious task of making your way up the chain of courtiers and officials before you can gain access to the heir apparent. In contrast to how this usually goes, the higher you climb the faster it goes, as the more important Dwarves in this process are more familiar with events in the distant south, and do not doubt your claim to having reason to meet with the Prince you once fought alongside.

At last you're led through the bustling passages, and you find your lips quirking in a smile as you finally set eyes once more on Ulthar, who could not be more different from the last time you saw him. Though he's still wearing the universal Dwarven 'casual' outfit - leather and chain, with a hand weapon on his hip - the small differences you've learned to spot are the equivalent to a particularly vain Altdorf noble. The chain is a silvery colour, not gromril but pretending to be, an expensive and militarily pointless variation on the silversteel of Karak Eight Peaks, his axe glints with jewels instead of Runes, and instead of braids, his sable-black beard bears silver rings, dotted with sapphires. He looks up from the table overflowing with accounts and reports, and takes a moment to blink in shock before leaping up and hurrying forward to greet you, clasping your arm in his. "Utkazakali!" he roars in delight. "Grimnir smiles on this day. What brings you to these mountains?" He waves a hand dismissively at the courtier who brought you here, who hesitates a moment before scurrying off.

"Mostly a social call," you say, returning his smile. "I hear the Head Ranger of the Karak Eight Peaks Expedition has gone up in the world."

He barks a grim laugh. "You could say that, but I'd disagree. Chains of gold still chafe, and I'd kill to be back on the open road."

"Nobody would give me a straight answer about this whole..." you wave a hand vaguely.

"Of course they won't. Some shames are too great to speak aloud in polite company." He sighs, and runs a hand over his face. "Good thing neither Rangers nor Zhufokri are polite company. I was third in line, and had my differences with my father besides, and in my rebellious youth I joined the Rangers to aggravate him further. And found astounding success in doing so - I was disinherited. Which at least meant he'd stop hounding me to get married. Then during the Expedition, my two more traditional and favoured brothers went out hunting together, and were found days later with their axes tangled in each others' guts, and their bodyguards similarly slain by one another. The only surviving bodyguard blamed the paranoia of the elder before his execution, but some dubious evidence was uncovered in their quarters that suggested the ambition of the younger was the cause."

You wince. Such a tale wouldn't be out of place in human histories, but to Dwarves these events would feel as shameful to them as the reign of Dieter IV was to the Empire. "So you were reinherited?"

"No such thing exists, except through forgetfulness and destroyed records. But I'm now my father's only child, and if you trace back the lineage to find the next in line - and my father did - the result is a Salkalten shipwright who has never seen the mountains. Apparently I'm preferable to that. So records were destroyed and forgetfulness was induced, and everyone who knows better stays silent, and in the privacy of their own minds their respect for my father diminishes with every day he does not travel to Karak Kadrin and take the Oath." Ulthar's face is stony, disgust thick in his tone.

There's not much that can be said to that, so you place a hand on Ulthar's shoulder in comradely commiseration. "Could be worse," you eventually say.

"How so?"

"Let me tell you about my parents..."

---

On a gyrocopter is possibly the worst place to nurse a hangover, but you do your best to recover as you make your way to Altdorf several days later, while also trying to remember how old this heir presumptive is. You were there for his first birthday, which was almost a couple of years ago, which makes him almost three, which means he's... still fairly helpless, you're pretty sure. Ridiculous. Wolf was fully grown and capable of killing a man by the age of two.

You've mostly recovered by the time you touch down in Altdorf, and you pass through the security of the Imperial Palace without trouble after handing over your pistols - they don't know about Branulhune, but they do know you're a Wizard and thus capable of summoning a variety of forms of magical death if so inclined, so it's entirely a matter of being polite instead of a security measure. You make your way through the massive building until you enter the part of the palace that is the domain of the Empress, and from there you are pointed towards her current location within the gardens, a surprisingly small patch of green sandwiched between the bulk of the palace and the sprawl of the Imperial Zoo, and pause to consider your formidable coreligionist as she holds court amongst her coterie of retainers and ladies-in-waiting.

The Empress looks not a year older than when you first met her as Gabriella, and is half-dressed in furs that she's partially removed as the early winter sun provides some heat, giving her a chance to also show off the silks beneath. Some of the crowd around her hold drinks and light snacks for their mistress, but others hold paper and slates, and every now and then one is dispatched to send or retrieve a document for some obscure purpose. Heidi is not resting on her laurels, and though her official station begins and ends with the creation of the heir that is currently charging around the grass waving a wooden sword at imaginary foes, the position can allow immense amounts of unofficial influence, and Heidi appears to be taking full advantage.

As you approach, a wave of nudges spreads through the small crowd and you find yourself facing an array of speculative looks. They part at your approach, and Heidi makes a delighted noise and unceremoniously unseats the previous favoured who had been sitting beside her on the bench. A rapid-fire series of orders scatters the coterie with a series of tasks, including fetching drinks and snacks for you, and the two of you are very quickly left alone. "So," she says with a smile, "I hear you're making a wave or two amongst the Colleges."

"There's been a bit of interest in my research," you say, matching her airy understatement. "How goes the business of Empressing?"

She smiles with what seems like genuine fondness at the boy currently menacing at swordpoint the statue of Emperor Jürgen the Opulent. "It gives new meaning to 'long con', but it's not without its charms. Especially now that the northern troubles have faded to a dull roar. There's always something somewhere, but that just means there's something to keep the mind occupied." She scratches her chin thoughtfully, looking sideways at you. "Do you think you could take on Dragomas?"

"What?" You consider that for all of two seconds. "No. Absolutely not. He went off the edge of the map to the 'here be dragons' and came back with the ability to turn into one. And it's even stronger than the ones the other Ambers can turn into."

"That's a shame. He's a surprisingly difficult nut to crack."

You shake your head in exasperation. "Be that as it may, he's very good at his job and the Battle Wizards adore him. I don't envy anyone that succeeds him."

"Any idea who that might be?"

You consider it. "Elspeth von Draken probably could if she wanted to, but she only took up leadership of the Amethyst after whatever happened to Hexensohn and there were no better candidates. Paranoth might be able to, he was Supreme Patriarch for a few years, but that was years before I was even an Apprentice. Algard likes him too much, No-Relation Reicthard doesn't seem the type... I think the most likely candidate to try is Feldmann of the Golds, he's said to be ambitious and he's very good at getting along with non-Wizards... but to me, that suggests that he's not dipped enough into his Wind to stand a chance." You shake your head. "I think Dragomas is going to be a fact of life for the foreseeable future. And though that might not be ideal for your ambitions, I think he's good for the Empire."

"Oh, fine. It was just a passing thought, anyway."

"If your palms are getting itchy, watch the rivers."

"Is this about the peat thing? The Grand Theogonist will not shut up about it."

"No, no. The channels."

"Ostermark's project?"

"And between the Aver and the Black Water."

"Oh, that." She frowns. "Isn't it a series of locks?"

You sigh. "It will have both. My point is, it's going to stir things up for trade throughout the southern Empire. There's going to be plenty of opportunities for you to get up to mischief without causing another Night of a Thousand Arcane Duels."

"Trade is just fencing for the boring," she says loftily, but you can see her considering it. "Mandred darling," she calls out, and the lad turns from tormenting the former Emperors. "Come and say hello to your Godmother."

"Speaking of," you say as the boy approaches, "what's the cover story for how we know each other?"

"The truth told sideways is the best lie. We met in Stirland and hit it off, and I've decided you'd make a suitable protector for the lad if anything were to happen."

"Hit it off? I seem to recall giving serious consideration to hauling off and whacking you with my sword," you grumble, and turn to the child. With a look of great concentration on his face, he gives you a solid attempt at a courtly bow.

"Pleasedtomeetyoufairlady," he recites in a practiced burst, then smiles, pleased with himself.

"Quite charming, isn't he?" Heidi says, ruffling his hair. Mandred lifts his arms up at her, and she obliging picks him up and perches him on her lap, and he snuggles against her happily.

"Fairly," you concede, watching the future Emperor pluck at loose hairs on Heidi's stole. You refrain from mentioning that Wolf is capable of talking in complete sentences. You suppose teaching someone to talk is harder when they're not directly linked to your mind.

---

As you make your way out of the Palace some time later, you find yourself tailed by someone that's so overflowing with nervousness that you can feel them coming. You seriously consider summoning Branulhune as they finally summon their courage enough to approach, but instead of coming at you with a knife, they bow nervously and stutter, "Dame Weber! I am Baronet Holzkrug, in the service of the Chamberlain of the Seal. He would like to meet with you, and talk of matters of state."

Though you keep from showing it, you're quite surprised. The Chamberlain of the Seal answers directly to the Emperor and is responsible for foreign relations, and the current holder of the role is Graf Otto von Bitternach, who despite his youth has been able to cultivate a reputation for fair and straightforward dealing with the allies of the Empire. "What matters, specifically?"

"He would like your insight into the inner workings of our steadfast allies of the Karaz Ankor." Though the young man is clearly a bundle of nerves, you can't see any misdirection in him, so you give the only answer one can give when called upon by the Imperial Council - you accede. And as you follow the man into the part of the palace dedicated to the bureaucratic warrens that do their best to run the Empire, you consider what you will say. You owe loyalty to the Empire, but also to King Belegar, and there's likely to be questions put to you in the following meeting where your answer cannot fully serve both.

[ ] Speak honestly of everything you're asked about, even outright secrets of the Karaz Ankor
[ ] Speak honestly of everything not explicitly secret, including rifts within the Karaz Ankor
[ ] Conceal matters you know the Dwarves would prefer you conceal

---

You have also resolved to embark on the first tentative steps of romance, starting with getting to know Johann and Panoramia better. How exactly will you go about this?

Johann:
[ ] You've got a puppy, he's got several. Easy. Spend time with him as your pup plays with his.
[ ] Though you both use your magic to cheat, you both have an interest in personal fitness. Work out with him.
[ ] There's a festival to Grungni coming up, and Johann has taken to observing the Holy Days of the Ancestor-God. Join him in this.
[ ] Other (write in)

Panoramia:
[ ] Though you rarely think of those days, you did grow up on a farm and know something of the soil. Spend time with her as she goes about her work.
[ ] The Halflings are renowned chefs, and several restaurants have opened clustered around the base of Karag Nar. Share a meal with her.
[ ] Panoramia currently calls a small cottage somewhere in the Eastern Valley home, help her expand it into a proper tower.
[ ] Other (write in)


- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- If you have a different set of criteria in mind with the meeting with the Chamberlain, please suggest them.
- The suggestions given for romance are off the top of my head. Write-ins are absolutely valid here.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[X] Speak honestly of everything not explicitly secret, including rifts within the Karaz Ankor
[X] The Halflings are renowned chefs, and several restaurants have opened clustered around the base of Karag Nar. Share a meal with her.
[X] There's a festival to Grungni coming up, and Johann has taken to observing the Holy Days of the Ancestor-God. Join him in this.

The nervous Baronet leads you through the bureaucratic sprawl and then out the other side again into the more sumptuous portions of the palace, finally leading you to a room you recognize by reputation - the room that houses the Great Chart. In it, most of the floor is inlaid with various materials making up a massive scale model of the Empire, with rivers of pearl, lakes of silver, and forests of ebony, with ivory buttons representing individual cities. The man you are here to meet is sitting on a stool, staring thoughtfully down at the flowing rivers of the southern Empire, and he turns to meet you as you enter and the Baronet flees.

Graf Otto von Bitternach is a serious-faced and prematurely balding man with a very neat beard, and has risen to the Council of State due to possessing the rare gift of somehow managing to reach accords with Dwarves and Elves, Royarch and Tzar, and every variety of despot and demagogue known to the southern realms. "Magister Weber," he says, inclining his head toward you. "An honour."

"Chamberlain von Bitternach," you reply, bowing. "The honour is mine."

"When I heard you were gracing the Palace, I could not miss the opportunity to draw on your knowledge." He speaks with the practiced tones of a trained orator, and from his reputation, you've no doubt his words are chosen carefully.

"How can I assist the Council of State?"

"I have at my disposal a dozen experts on the Karaz Ankor, but all draw what they know from the same teachings, and none can give me a satisfactory answer. You have lived amongst them, and serve the King of one of the greatest of the Old Holds." He gestures at the map, towards where Karak Kadrin is symbolized in steel. "My envoys all tell me that High King Thorgrim cares little for trade, and my own personal meetings with him reinforce that. And yet everywhere I look there are channels and locks being constructed, and the trade companies of the East and South maneuver to purchase boats and docks, and Barak Varr is fundamentally restructuring their navy for construction. What conclusion am I to draw from this?"

Ah. "You described Karak Eight Peaks as an Old Hold. Is that what your experts tell you?"

"Some believe they may be strongly influenced by the Young Holds, but King Belegar was raised in Karaz-a-Karak and their closest ally is Karak Azul."

You take a moment to consider how to put this. "When I first started living with the Dwarves, I was struck by the cultural divide between the Young Holds and the Old Holds. It's an easy impression to reach, and one that few Dwarves will discourage. But the truth is..." You pause, trying to find the best way to tell him what he needs to know without speaking ill of those you live amongst. "I know a radical engineer who once told me that the only Old Hold is Karaz-a-Karak, and the more I see of the Karaz Ankor, the more truth I find in his words. Set aside Karak Azul, which has been isolated for generations. Karak Kadrin is pragmatic, Zhufbar is progressive - at least by Dwarf standards - and Barak Varr is cosmopolitan. And to assuage the guilt they feel for veering from the path of their ancestors, they speak a great deal of their admiration for the Old Ways, and allow themselves to be labelled an Old Hold, and allow Karaz-a-Karak a certain level of cultural primacy."

He considers your words. "So you're saying they're no different to..." He waves a hand vaguely at the Empire, with its borders picked out in rosewood. "There's never been a recorded Civil War amongst the Dwarves," he says dubiously.

"Not quite. They don't think like we do. A human is very good at convincing himself that he's in the right. A Dwarf will obsessively dwell on them being in the wrong. I suspect they find it literally impossible not to. So an Elector that is upset at the Emperor will convince himself why it's okay for him to divide Sigmar's Empire, but a Dwarven King upset at the High King will brood endlessly on how they are failing Grungni's Karaz Ankor. So instead of rebellion, you have a growing silence, until the King succumbs to despair and relations are normalized with the heir's ascension." You think of Belegar and suppress a wince. "So Karaz-a-Karak is able to project an image of unity because those that disagree are silenced by the shame of failing their Ancestors."

"And any Dwarf I ask about the matter will clam up instead of acknowledging the fiction. How independent are they, truly?"

"They have the same values and the same enemies, but differ in how they go about things. So while Karaz-a-Karak cares nothing for trade because it is astonishingly wealthy, mostly self-sufficient, and relatively isolated, the other 'Old' Holds care very much. Barak Varr is a trade port, Karak Kadrin taxes Peak Pass and trades with Ostermark, and Zhufbar relies on trade for the components of gunpowder."

"That explains why nobody in Karaz-a-Karak had much to say on the topic of canals, even when so many Dwarves and resources are being applied to them." He sighs. "Could they be convinced to stop?"

You blink in surprise. "Stop? But this would be hugely to the Empire's advantage. Shortening trade with the Southern realms would-"

"Yes, everyone loves to cut out the middleman," he interrupts you, "but then are so often taken by surprise at the middleman cutting back."

You turn your eyes to Marienburg, still depicted here as an Imperial province. "Ah."

"They're threatening an embargo, and these canals won't be functional soon enough to stop it from biting. And the Chancellor says that would do unacceptable things to our budget. So we'd have no choice but to try to force the issue. The Battle of Grootscher Marsh was a disaster for the Empire, and though some are keen for a rematch, the timing is terrible. Stirland is locked in combat with Vampires, Wissenland took heavy losses against..." he hesitates, eyeing you and frowning.

"Skaven," you supply.

"Oh, good. Against Skaven. And the trouble in the north over..." He hesitates again.

"The Eonir."

"Right, Grey Wizard. And Ostland's still nervous about spillover from Kislev and their Ogre problems, and we're not fully sure we've stamped down the latest from Drachenfels here in the Reikland. So that leaves two provinces ready for war." He pauses, frowning. "Three. Forgot Hochland. Against every mercenary the bloated coffers of Marienburg can lure, and if history charts the same course as last time..."

"Ulthuan," you say grimly.

"They've done quite well out of their partnership with Marienburg, and they're even less willing to give a straight answer than usual on the matter. So I put it to you - can the Dwarves be convinced to stop building the canal between the Aver and the Black Waters?"

Under the piercing gaze of the Chamberlain of the Seal, you consider your answer carefully.

[ ] The High King could make it so
This is likely to cause discontent within the Karaz Ankor.

[ ] For sufficient concessions
This would weaken the Empire.

[ ] They can make up for the loss in trade
This would weaken the Karaz Ankor and the Empire until the canals are complete.
To clarify: this would involve the Karaz Ankor paying the Empire for what they lose in trade income, as well as arranging alternate routes for crucial goods.

[ ] No, but they could help break the blockade
Barak Varr is the main force behind the project, and would not hesitate to deploy their navy in support of the Empire's to reopen trade routes.
To clarify: this would involve destroying Marienburg's navy and any chains, booms, and gates capable of blocking the river.

[ ] No, but they would fight beside you
This could easily be spun as Elven sabotage of a Dwarven project. Dwarven pride would have the Throngs march alongside the Imperial Army, and Marienburg could be reclaimed.

[ ] No, they cannot be dissuaded
It's hard to say what this would result in.

[ ] I don't know
Wash your hands of the matter.


- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- Most of the Empire's rivers flow to the Reik and meet the sea at Marienburg. By refusing to allow foreign vessels to pass, they effectively blockade the Empire without having to project power outside their territory.