Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] [LIBRARY] Dark Lands: Extensive + Esoteric Imperial (200gc), Marauder Tribes: Extensive Imperial + Extensive Dwarven (200gc), Karaz Ankor: Esoteric Dwarven (150gc, 4DF), Enchanting: Esoteric Imperial (50gc, 2CF)
[*] [DWARF] Runesmith briefing on Karag Dum (2 gallons AV)
[*] [COLLEGE] Aqshy item emulating Dragon Breath (20 Favor).
[*] [PURCHASE] Commission a painting of the duckling club together from an artist.

"You understand that every word of this is to go no further than yourself," Thorek says gravely. "These are not Guild secrets exactly, so you would not be Grudged, but you would still earn the enmity of the Guild if you spread what I am about to tell you."

You nod. "I understand."

"Very well." Thorek sighs. "The leaders of the Runesmiths Guild of Karag Dum call themselves 'Runemasters'."

You contemplate that as you look at Thorek's grave expression. "That's it?"

"'Runelord' is the title Thungni bestowed upon the son that succeeded Him when He departed," he explains patiently. "Those that oppose Karag Dum's Runesmiths say that to declare that insufficient is to say that they have reached heights that one taught by Thungni Himself could not reach."

"So it's something of a religious schism."

"And a Clan feud, and a Guild dispute. That is the foundation of the conflict, but not the climax of it. In the Runesmith Conclave of 6769, the last that Karag Dum attended, they announced that Chaos was waxing and that all efforts needed to be spent preparing to withstand it. This was taken poorly, seen as an attempt for Karag Dum to increase their status. Karag Dum has always been focused entirely on the threat of Chaos and has always called for more efforts spent to oppose it, so this was seen as their usual rhetoric, only more so."

You make the mental conversion to the Imperial Calendar - 2246 - and you're pretty sure you know where this is going. "But it wasn't. They were right."

Thorek sighs. "It is easy to see that now. But from what I've been told - and it seems to be true - that century was a tumultuous time in the Old World. High King Alrik had died in battle at the Battle of Black Falls, Bretonnia was tearing itself apart over succession, humans marched on Nehekhara time and time again and agitated the Tomb Kings into a great deal of activity beyond their borders. Worst of all, at the time of the Conclave, Ulthuan's forces were on the march in the Old World. In the face of all that, it seemed very self-serving for Karag Dum to announce that it was Chaos that was the real threat. A great deal was said in hot blood, every word of it recorded for posterity."

"What were the Elves doing?"

"Pursuing the Beastman demigod Cor-Dum, but that was not known at the time. The Phoenix King Finubar was still new to the throne, and many Dwarves suspected the worst when his forces made landfall in the Old World."

"So when the Great War Against Chaos proved Karag Dum right..."

"Influential and ambitious Runelords had their words against Karag Dum indelibly recorded. If they had taken the warnings seriously, and fifty years had been spent exerting all effort of the Karaz Ankor to prepare against the coming storm..." Thorek shrugs. "Perhaps the High King would not have fallen. Perhaps Karak Vlag and Karag Dum would not have been lost. Perhaps the Norse Dwarves would not have fallen. Perhaps the Silver Age would not have ended. Anyone that accepted that burden upon their shoulders would have no choice but to shave their head and seek their Doom. But they have not. I did not ask why not, but they answered the unasked question anyway, and what they gave me was not justification, but accusation."

You think back to all the dark warnings you've heard about Karag Dum. "Argumentum ad, er, Dawinem. You can't be blamed for ignoring a warning if the messenger could not be trusted."

Thorek nods. "In my recent travels, I've heard a lot of accusations levelled at Karag Dum. Unstable. Unreliable. Undwarflike. Spent too long too close to Chaos, closer even than the Fire Dwarves were when they fell. Karak Kadrin was once brother to Karag Dum - the former dedicated to Grimnir the Slayer, the latter to Grimnir the Foe of Chaos - but all but the eldest there now half-believe this new truth." He sighs and scratches at his beard, and for a moment he seems very tired. "I don't know any of this for sure, or I'd already be levelling accusations and tearing the Guild asunder. But what I do know indicates that that's how it stands."

---

After a great deal of internal back-and-forth, you've decided to burn most of your accumulated favour with the Colleges by commissioning as mighty an enchantment as you possibly can from the Bright College: an item emulating the spell Breathe Fire, only much more so. Enchantments aren't usually scalable like that, but one notable exception is when asking Aqshy to make fire.

Months later you travel to collect it from the Enchanter, Magister Wolfgang Scheunacht, a neatly-dressed and well-groomed young Magister with black hair and a fresh-looking burn stretching from his eyepatch to his neck. "Magister Weber," he says with an easy smile. "Allow me to introduce you to what might be my finest work yet." With hands covered in neat leather gloves, he presents you with a flask covered in red scales with a brass topper. "The flask is imitation dragonskin, from a local curio shop - it's the inner workings that do the magic. Fill it with something flammable, spirits for preference but in a pinch lamp oil or animal fat will do, and leave it over a fire hot enough to melt lead for a day. The scales will turn red when it's ready - they're normally black. To activate, drink the contents in a gulp - it's less than it looks, the inner workings take up much of the volume - and point your face in the direction of whatever it is that you so strongly disapprove of."

"Any residual Aqshy?" you ask, turning it over in your hands.

"As long as you give it a few minutes before doing any verbal spellcasting, none to speak of. Oh, but do refrain from drinking anything magically-active for at least twelve hours after using it."

You look up at him, and the angry red scar marring what would otherwise be a handsome face. "Is that burn from the enchantment?" you ask.

"The process of creating it, yes," he says breezily. "It's of no matter, normal hazard of the Wind, and a small price to pay for the opportunities that so much goodwill will afford me."

You take it out to a cratered clearing almost entirely free of vegetation near Altdorf that the Colleges own collectively to put it through its paces, brace yourself, hold the arm that has the Seed in it behind your back just in case, and drink. The taste is both painful and confusing, as if your tongue can't decide if it's unbearably spicy or more conventionally boiling but does know it doesn't like it, but it seems to evaporate before it hits your stomach. You stand confused for a moment until a sensation very like an oncoming sneeze starts to build, and you do your best to aim your face as the charred tree stump you'd decided on as a target before you unleash whatever's trying to happen. With a sound like a reverberating bark, Aqshy explodes from your mouth and nostrils, and you're momentarily blinded as the world before you transforms into fire.

After you collect yourself, you examine the site of the former stump as best you can as you wipe your streaming eyes and brush pieces of ash from your scorched eyebrows. Everything above the ground and several inches below it was apparently transformed into splinters and sent directly away from you at a substantial speed, and the field beyond is peppered with small, smouldering craters. A crunch underfoot reveals that wood wasn't the only victim, as some of the soil surrounding the stump was apparently vitrified and shattered by the heat and force of the blast. It's certainly effective, but as you blow your nose and consider the soot it leaves in your handkerchief, you think you might have been better served if you had specified something more self-contained.

While you're in the Empire, you also make a concession to sentiment by commissioning an artist from the University of Altdorf to travel to the Karak to paint a group portrait of the resident Wizards. Normally you'd think that sort of thing is just tempting fate, but travelling into the Chaos Wastes is tempting fate plenty all on its own, and you'd very much regret not having a keepsake should members of your little Order not make it back. You go back and forth on whether to include Esbern and Seija, and eventually instruct the artist to leave space to add them in later if an opportunity presents itself - after all, the two of them aren't on hand to sit for it in person.

---

"The end is in sight," Belegar says wearily. "The gleam of ore at the end of the tunnel."

"Our Clans have banded together to keep from giving the Okral any excuse to start trouble," Edda says soothingly. "It's brought them together. I don't want to say 'common enemy', but..."

"Common affliction," you say, and Edda smiles and nods.

"I think the dragon has the Okral off balance," Kazrik chimes in. "It's one thing for them to be told it's around, it's another for it to fly overhead every so often."

"Everything okay on that front?" Belegar asks you.

"It's never encountered Dwarves directly before, it's borrowed some reading material to get to know a bit more about you." You figure that's a better way to put it than to let it be known that it's trying to draw direct links between the Ancestor-Gods and the Elven deities.

"It's not acting like any dragon I've ever heard stories of," Dreng says, sounding a little put out.

"It's a Hysh dragon," you say, to blank looks. Right, Dwarves. "To channel a Wind, a being has to cultivate a mindset that aligns with it. For example, fire dragons channel Aqshy, the Wind of Fire, which makes them impulsive and temperamental. Hysh, the Wind of Light which Cython channels, requires a calm and thoughtful mental state."

"And yours?" Kazrik asks curiously.

Deception, skulduggery, and plots. "A focus on ambiguities, mystery, and the unexpected," you say instead, and Kazrik nods thoughtfully.

"Dreng, any news?" Belegar asks.

"Since we now know for sure that Birdmuncha is dead, I've had my Rangers prodding Karak Drazh to get the name of their new Warboss. Apparently they now answer to Warboss Gorfang the Hungry, which according to captured Skaven intelligence," he pauses as he grimaces at the thought, "was the Big Boss in charge of the Red Fang's Underway front before the Battle of the Caldera."

"Hopefully the experience has taught him to be wary of the Dwarves," Belegar says, to a chorus of approval. "In six months time, we'll be opening a new chapter in this Karak's history, and I intend it to be one of prosperity and growth."




Mandatory Actions: Pick one from each category.

Magister Maximilian de Gaynesford, Gold Wizard
[ ] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his metalworking studies.
[ ] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations.
[ ] MAX: Have him train Hubert (optional: specify in what) (NEW)
[ ] 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 continue to teach Adela what he knows of engineering.
[ ] JOHANN: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations. (NEW)
[ ] JOHANN: Have him train Hubert (optional: specify in what) (NEW)
[ ] 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.
[ ] 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: Aid Hubert in his search for a Familiar.
[ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Gretel and the Besiegers for the Karag Dum Expedition.
[ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Adela and some human siege weapons and operators for the Karag Dum Expedition.
[ ] DUCK: Recruit all the remaining ducklings for the Karag Dum Expedition.
[ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Panoramia and a team of crack Fieldwardens for the Karag Dum Expedition.
[ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Esbern and Seija and their compatriots of the Knights of Taal's Fury.
[ ] DUCK: Each of your three ducklings can fight in melee. Spar with them, and teach them what you can.
[ ] DUCK: Study an artefact with one of the Journeymen: specify who and which.


The Eastern Imperial Company
Your share of EIC profits: 175 crowns / turn
Current Focus of the EIC: Expansion along the Aver
EIC Handler: The Hochlander
[ ] EIC: 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.
[ ] EIC: Have the Hochlander set up a shadow headquarters for the EIC in the Sunken Palace. (NEW)
[ ] EIC: Have the Hochlander set up a shadow headquarters for the EIC in your fief. (NEW)
[ ] EIC: Found an auditors division, to make sure the ledgers are in order.
[ ] EIC: Insert agents into a particular province, cult, company, or institution to start gathering their secrets. (specify who)
[ ] EIC: Reach out to Julia to find out if she's interested in being poached or passing on information.
[ ] EIC: Reach out to Roswita, and have the EIC start passing on tips about any tax evasion or other naughtiness by the EIC's rivals.
[ ] EIC: Expand the EIC's paramilitary river navy. (NEW)
[ ] EIC: Improve the EIC's paramilitary river navy. (NEW)
[ ] EIC: Sell some of the Grand Urbaz Bank coins to collectors and museums on King Belegar's behalf.
[ ] EIC: Integrate the Gong Farmers and the Niter Factory into the EIC, and expand production.
[ ] EIC: Have the EIC keep tabs on mercenaries so that they can be more easily hired if needed.


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: Karag Dum Expedition preparations
[ ] Seek out merchants who have travelled the Skull Road to learn what they know of it.
[ ] Trawl around the bars and brothels of Tilea, looking to talk to the actual mercenaries that have walked either the Skull Road, or the Great Steppes.
[ ] Attempt to recruit assistance for the Karag Dum Expedition. (specify the individual, mercenary group, cult, College, or other; two choices per AP spent)
[ ] With the help of a gyrocarriage, personally scout part of the route (specify: High Pass, Road of Skulls, Western Great Steppes, Karag Dum vicinity)
[ ] Attempt to learn the Greenskin tongue to communicate with the Hobgoblin Khanates of the Steppes.
[ ] Attempt to learn Kurgan to communicate with the Kurgan of the Steppes.
[ ] Learn what you can of dealing with the Hobgoblin Khanates of the Steppes.
[ ] Learn what you can of dealing with the Kurgan of the Steppes.

Spoiler: Qrech

Qrech
[ ] 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 a Qrech option):
[ ] 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 or College 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.
[ ] Attempt to finish off the Grey College spellbook by learning Shadow of Death, Cloak Activity, and the MAPP.

Research and Publishing:
[ ] Study an artefact: select which.
[ ] Write a paper: select which.
[ ] Write something else: write in.
Once per turn, you can write a paper or write a 'something else' 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.

Aethyric Vitae (12 gallons):
[ ] Experiment with integrating the Vitae into enchantments.
[ ] 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 Fiendishly Complex 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)
[ ] Continue to work on your 'Fog Path' spell (NEW-ish)
[ ] Attempt to create a spell (see Approved Spells threadmark)
[ ] Attempt to capture an Apparition (optional: specify which)
[ ] Turn a staff from mundane materials.
[ ] Turn a staff from the horn of a Storm Dragon.

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: -150gc for 6 rooms.
[ ] 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.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: Add preservation Runes to your library: -4 Dwarf Favour, can be paid for with book budget DF for next two purchase periods.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: No additional construction.
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:
[ ] Involve yourself in the Sylvanian campaign (specify how)
[ ] Involve yourself in the Marienburg affair (specify how)
[ ] Involve yourself in the Black Waters project (specify how)

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: Accumulated Artefacts

Ranald's Coin (note from Ranald: don't)
Vampire skulls

Spoiler: Potential Papers

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.

Warp Lightning observations - shared with Adela (FADING)

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)

Preliminary paper on Aethyric Vitae. (TIMELESS)
Coins of Nehekhara's Fifth Dynasty (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 Currency of Strygos
The Currency of Tylos
Coins of Nehekhara's Fourth Dynasty
Coins of Nehekhara's Sixth Dynasty

- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- Next turn, when the Expedition begins, will have two less AP than normal, with an option to spend a third AP to be with the Expedition from Praag instead of meeting it at High Pass, which is where everyone else (Wizard volunteers, Winter Wolves, Asarnil, et cetera) will be joining it. There will be no serenity action, everything else as per normal.
- For reference, here's the sustainable speeds for various possible recruits for the Expedition:

Spoiler: Travel speeds

Steam-Wagon: 3-6 MPH, 12-16 hours/day. Estimated 50-100 miles/day.

Human: 3 MPH for 6 hours/day. 18 miles/day.
Dwarf: 3 MPH for 10 hours/day. 30 miles/day.
Heavy Cavalry: 4 MPH for 8 hours/day. 32 miles/day.
Light Cavalry: 5 MPH for 8 hours/day. 40 miles/day.
Ogres: 4 MPH for 12 hours/day. 48 miles/day.
Steppe Horse: 6 MPH for 10 hours/day. 60 miles/day.
Cold Ones: 10 MPH for 6 hours/day. 60 miles/day.
Steppe Horse w/ remounts: 8 MPH for 10 hours/day. 80 miles/day.
Bretonnian Horse: 8 MPH for 10 hours/day. 80 miles/day.
Demigryphs: 10 MPH for 8 hours/day. 80 miles/day.
Winter Wolves: 5 MPH for 16 hours/day. 80 miles/day.
Shadowsteed: 15 MPH for 6 hours/day. 90 miles/day.
Mathilde's Shadowsteed: 25 MPH for 10 hours/day. 250 miles/day.

Bretonnian horses have Magical Bullshit Genes from crossbreeding with Elven horses. Demigryphs and Winter Wolves are slightly cranked up numbers from cougars and wolves. Steppe horses are based on what the Mongols achieved.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] Plan Perfectly Balanced
-[*] Contains 1 Overwork action
-[*] With the help of a gyrocarriage, personally scout part of the route: Western Great Steppes
-[*] Attempt to recruit assistance for the Karag Dum Expedition: Karak Azul Runesmiths + Light Wizards
-[*] Branulhune's ability to disappear and reappear at a thought allows entirely new forms of combat. Try to create them.
-[*] Enchant an item with a Fiendishly Complex or easier spell: Aethyric Armour Robes
--[*] Goal: Incorporating mastery and persistent effect
--[*] Using powerstone(s) + helldrake scales + We silk as available/necessary
-[*] Continue to work on your 'Fog Path' spell.
--[*] Coin: The Gambler
-[*] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations.
-[*] JOHANN: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations.
-[*] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Esbern and Seija and their compatriots of the Knights of Taal's Fury.
-[*] EIC: Integrate the Gong Farmers and the Niter Factory into the EIC, and expand production.
-[*] PENTHOUSE: Have a tower built atop Karag Nar: -100gc for 1 room, bonus to room's purpose.
-[*] SERENITY: Write a paper: Warp Lightning observations - shared with Adela (FADING)

Having finally been told the details of the rift between Karag Dum and the rest of the Dwarves, you're in a position to weigh the decision of whether to seek Runesmith recruits for it. On the one hand, there's none better at shielding against the machinations of Chaos, into whose land you will be venturing. On the other, as Thorek said himself, it's a situation that could have massive repercussions on the wider Karaz Ankor. In the end, pragmatism wins out. If there are political aftershocks, then so be it. It's not your responsibility to shield Runelords from the consequences of their own decisions.

[Rolling...]

Thorek hears you out, and spends some time considering it. "If you had asked me a decade earlier, I would have said yes," he eventually says. "Karak Azul as it was then could have lasted without me, should the worst happen. But now, my priority needs to be maintaining my Karak's renewed connection with the Karaz Ankor. Should your Karak come under threat, my Anvil and my Apprentices must stand ready to defend them, and we cannot do that if we are journeying in the frozen north, or never return from doing so." You open your mouth to thank him for his time anyway, but stop yourself as you notice he's still lost in thought. "However," he eventually says, "I can contribute in some small part to the preparations. I shall send my most promising Apprentices to assist Karak Kadrin in outfitting the Expedition."

"I thank you, Runelord Thorek, as does King Belegar and the Expedition," you respond formally.

He nods. "May the Ancestor Gods watch over your path. And my advice to you: enjoy your youth. A time will come when the burden of responsibility will outweigh the pull of adventure."

You consider pointing out that you're thirty-five, but decide against it; by Dwarven standards that's barely an adult. You instead thank him once more, and move on to your next recruitment candidate.

---

Ah, the Light College, natural conceptual rivals to the Grey. Perhaps time spent with Cython was rubbing off on you, or perhaps you've no choice but to acknowledge there's no better Wind for directly combating Chaos, but you were eventually forced to acknowledge that securing their assistance was one of the best ways for you to contribute to the Expedition.

As much as the Light Order enjoys their privacy - or at least, enjoys denying entrance to any outsiders - sending a letter in advance saying you are acting with the full authority of King Belegar Ironhammer, King Ungrim Ironfist, and the delegated authority of King Thangrim Firebeard is enough to open even their doors. An Apprentice waits by the appropriate street corner to let you in without having to go through their bizarre entrance ritual, and reality unfolds before your very eyes as the buildings and streets are pushed back to make way for the Light College: a massive pyramid of pure-white marble so filled with ethereal light as to be transparent. And that you didn't immediately mentally question that light made marble transparent, and that you mentally described the light as 'ethereal' rather than 'garish', rather suggests that your initial reaction of awe was not entirely natural. You scowl up at the towering display of magical puissance- No. You refuse. You glare upwards at the overgrown caltrop and dare it to insert any more purple prose into your internal monologue.

"Um, Magister? Sorry, Loremaster?" says a voice, and you turn to the Apprentice who's awkwardly shuffling from foot to foot. "The entrance is this way," they say, as if the massive building-sized opening that is the only interruption in the otherwise smooth sides could be overlooked.

You give the exterior a final glare before following the Apprentice inside.

---

Magister Patriarch Alric is the kind of person best described with 'was' instead. He was a great hero, who fought in countless battles for the Empire. He was a widely-respected Supreme Patriarch. He was, indeed, the Savior of Apesto. But he also was the one in power on the Night of a Thousand Arcane Duels in 2415, when High Luminary Horx ambushed him, sealed him in crystal, and went on to unleash a Storm of Magic upon Altdorf that led to fifteen years of the Colleges being outlawed and besieged. He stepped down from the position of Supreme Patriarch in the immediate aftermath, and that should have been the end of his chapter in history. But he kept going, apparently on sheer inertia, and apparently had sufficiently recovered from his shame to retake the position of Supreme Patriarch in 2439, and then lost it in '47, then regained it again for '55-'62. In recent years he's been alternating leadership of the Light College with part-time Magister Matriarch Mira, and from the outside it's not clear if it's an arrangement to take pressure off failing faculties or if leadership is being yanked back and forth like two dogs with a bone, but either way it bodes poorly for the Light College.

The man you are introduced to is unbent by age and rises to greet you when you enter, and glows with a luminescence that matches the walls around him to an extent that you have to squint to tell where the building ends and the Wizard begins. "Ah yes," he says, in a quiet voice that nonetheless seems to echo through the room. "The Dwarf-Friend of the Greys. I have heard good things of you in recent years."

"Thank you, Magister Patriarch," you say respectfully. Though not too respectfully, as you used the standard title instead of whatever it is they call the position within the Light Order.

"Karag Dum, the letter said," he says thoughtfully, his long, boney fingers drumming out a melody on the arm of his chair. "It was lost when we were founded. Perhaps something must be lost for something to be gained. Still, no reason not to try. Are you going yourself?"

"I am, as are several of my colleagues."

[Rolling...]

"Mmm. Much as I would like to join such an adventure, I fear the Light College requires my leadership too much. Instead, I will send with you the greatest assistance it is in my power to give: my former apprentice, Magister Egrimm van Horstmann. He has been a stalwart assistant of mine in internal matters, but I am sure I could spare him for a few months."

"My thanks, Magister Patriarch." A single Magister. Well, better than nothing.

---

Some knights venture across the Old World and even beyond, making them difficult to get ahold of. Not so with the Knights of Taal's Fury, who believe they must return to the Talabec to renew their vows to King Taal and refresh his blessing upon them, and since they're returning anyway they might as well do so in time to winter in their nice comfortable chapterhouse, right?

You greet Esbern and Seija at the entrance with hugs, and Wolf greets their demigryphs with a series of barks which they answer with squawks. Leaving the three beasts to frolic together and probably find something in the forest to kill and eat, the three of you make your way inside the peak as you explain the details of the expedition to your fellow Magisters.

The Grand Hall of the not-Chapterhouse is made of carved stone, with the walls covered in wall hangings that can be rolled up and securely stored when the Knights are abroad. Each is dedicated to a victory of either Taal or the Knights, and from the few moments you get to glance around you recognize depictions of greenskins, Skaven, Marauders and Ogres, but more frequent than the rest combined are Beastmen. Of all of the forms of Chaos, King Taal hates Beastmen most of all, as they are His beings twisted into unnatural forms and bent to serve the Chaos Gods. The room is filled with a haphazard assortment of sturdy wooden chairs and tables with no indication of who should sit where. You know not to be too taken in by this - the Knights still believe in hierarchy, they just believe it should be unadorned, with all men knowing where they stand without needing ornamentation to remind them.

"Magister Weber!" calls out a booming and faintly familiar voice, and you bow in greeting to Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen, who's warming his hands by the fire. You never spent much time with him during the Expedition, but you did share the Council of War with him.

"Thank you for receiving me, Grand Master," you say as you approach him.

"A brother-in-arms - or sister-in-arms, for that matter - needs not stand on ceremony with us. Look." He points across the room at one of the wall hangings, and after a moment of looking at the depiction of Knights striking down greenskins, you recognize the silhouette of the Citadel in the background and what the ring of mountains around it must represent. "Most glory fades, but the glory of Eight Peaks is only growing as it proves it's not going anywhere. And I hear you might have another opportunity, and one that would be a thumb in the eye of the Great Enemy besides."

"Karak Kadrin seeks to re-establish contact with the Dwarven stronghold of Karag Dum in the Great Steppes, which was lost during the Great War Against Chaos," you say, taking a seat. "They've built a convoy of cannon-armed land-ships that will be setting out from Praag this coming spring. They're formidable, but the pace they'll set means that conventional cavalry would be left in the dust."

"So you came to us. Who's involved?" he asks thoughtfully.

You smile at the question. If the preparations for the Karak Eight Peaks Expedition taught you anything, it's that success breeds success. Nobody wants to be the first one to volunteer, but nobody wants to be last, either. "Karak Kadrin's supplying the Dwarves and gold, Zhufbar the expertise, Karak Azul the Runes, and Karak Eight Peaks is supplying Wizards - we have four Magisters confirmed so far - as well as having reached an accord with the Ice Witches of Kislev to guarantee that High Pass will be open. A substantial portion of the Winter Wolves have also joined, and the Expedition has reached an accord with the mercenary Asarnil."

"Asarnil," he says, frowning. "Worked alongside him in Kislev. Thought he was heading west."

"I managed to lure him away from Marienburg."

"Marienburg? Glad to hear it. Would be a costly day if we had to take that pair down." He scratches his beard thoughtfully, and looks to the two other Wizards standing nearby. "Esbern, Seija, your thoughts?"

"We'll be going with the Magister," Esbern says firmly, and Seija nods.

[Rolling...]

Kriegersen grunts and nods. "Says all that needs saying. We've got commitments here in the Empire for this coming spring, but none that require our full numbers. I'll peel off a pair of Wings and send them north. Praag, you said?" You nod. "Right then. Let's wrest this mountain from the grip of the Ruinous Powers."

---

Though the exact size varies depending where one draws the line between steppe and Chaos Wastes, the Great Steppes are undeniably immense, at least four times the size of the entire Old World. The Kurgan-populated Western Steppes, sandwiched as it is between the Chaos Wastes and the Mountains of Mourn, is the smallest section, about half the size of the Central Steppes and a quarter of the Eastern Steppes. That still leaves an area the size of the entire Empire. Thankfully, you aren't concerned with the entirety of the Western Steppes; your only concern is the narrow corridor between the Skull Road and Karag Dum. All you have to work off is a Dwarven map that was out of date even before Karag Dum fall, annotated by Borek's only slightly more recent recollections.

Even for someone well acclimated to gyrocopter travel, the trip from Karak Eight Peaks to northern Kislev is quite a marathon, and you have only the drone of the engines and your books for company. That voyage takes you through two Karaks and two cities, as even a gyrocarriage modified for endurance cannot cross the Old World in a single trip and must stop every so often for fuel and maintenance. Your journey finally terminates on a narrow plateau high above High Pass which currently serves as a supply depot. The Karak Kadrin Rangers that are currently calling it home are glad for company and pass on everything they've seen, which amounts to the occasional heavily-armed caravan, and less and less of those as the year wears on and winter approaches.

You fill a pack and the gyrocarriage with food, ale and other supplies, and set off even further. Not east, as you've no desire to fly over Chaos Dwarf airspace. Instead you go north, over the first leg of Borek's original intended route - across the ice of the Frozen Sea - and then flying directly east towards the steppes. Though it avoids enemy territory it has its own dangers, as if one goes too far north the laws of physics upon which Dwarven machines depend become less reliable, which would be annoying for steam-wagons but disastrous for gyrocopters. After setting you off in the seemingly endless grasslands beyond, the pilot sets off once more to identify a suitable mountaintop to set up a forward base and watch for your signal from.

Your first priority is simply to get a feel for the terrain. The terrain remains identical day after day, a gently rolling series of hills covered in hardy grass, with occasional herds of deer and goats peppering the terrain. The skies are almost always empty of clouds, the only interruptions in the blue being birds of prey hovering far overhead. The wind is almost always strong and almost always blowing from north to south, and if you don't keep an eye on your course you find yourself veering southwards to go along with it. And though to mundane eyes the terrain might grow tiresome, to Magesight the sky blazes with every colour. This far north the Winds constantly blast from the Chaos Wastes in vast bands of magical energy, and on hilltops they're so close you could reach out and touch them. You can see how spellcasting would be fraught out here - there's no ambient energy to draw from, you have to reach upwards and grasp one of the magical rivers overhead and do the best you can to control the flood of magical energy.

From this sojourn, you can reasonably conclude that the terrain itself won't be much trouble to the steam-wagons, as slopes steep enough to trouble them are rare and easily circled around. The biggest problem is likely to be navigation, as once the mountains on the edge of the steppe disappear into the distance, the only way to tell direction is the sun and the only way to tell distance travelled is the passage of time. It's not a novel problem, however - it's one that sailors have to wrestle with every day. You're sure that Barak Varr will be able to supply some solutions, and make a mental note to pass on the advice to Borek.

That said, while the terrain might be easily manageable, you doubt the inhabitants would be. You're not entirely sure how far to go in investigating them. Scouting from overhead might give you a general idea of how many there are in the area, but any hard information on a nomadic people expires very rapidly. Should you be content with what you've uncovered so far and what a few flights overhead might reveal, or should you seek to make very cautious contact with the locals? They're said to serve Chaos, but so did the Kislevites once. You don't speak Kurgan, but as it did with Qrech, Khazalid might prove a common tongue. After all, the Kurgan are said to deal with the Chaos Dwarves for weapons and armour.

[ ] Make contact with the Kurgan
[ ] Do not make contact with the Kurgan


- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- Canonical events involving Egrimm van Horstmann have yet to pass, and therefore may or may not lie in the future of this version of history.
- I've read that there is a novel telling the full story of Alric and Egrimm van Horstmann. I have not read it, and what I do know indicates it is incompatible with what has already occurred in this quest, so it should be disregarded for quest purposes.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] Make contact with the Kurgan

In the end, you decide that there's no reason not to try to make contact with the locals. You figure that any tribes this close to the Chaos Wastes that react violently to wandering magical strangers won't have survived long, and you have the mobility to avoid any unfavourable meetings. The people of the Steppe are rightfully known for their prowess in the saddle, but no horse of flesh and blood can match one of shadow.

The process of making contact is not difficult. You simply ride until you spot a large herd of sheep and halt your Shadowsteed atop a hill overlooking them. Despite how empty the plains around you look, no domesticated herd is ownerless in the Steppes, and somewhere nearby a watcher has a puzzle on their hands. You're clearly not attempting to steal any of the herd, but neither are you moving along, and your horse and your dress makes you impossible to place in any mundane category. The only sensible conclusion is to send word back to the tribe and make it someone else's problem.

As the time passes, you refresh your memory with one of the books on the Kurgan you'd brought with you while waiting for them to present themselves. Eventually, riding in clear view and at a speed that gives you plenty of time to notice and react to them, a party of Kurgan are approaching, all visibly carrying bows that are currently unnocked. 'We don't offer violence, but it is an option' is a solid foundation to build first contact on.

[Rolling...]

At the head of the band is a man who looks slightly younger than yourself, dressed in leathers and wearing multiple necklaces of fangs and claws. Your books say there's no one mark of a Shaman as cultural practices vary widely across the Steppes, but that he thrums with the power of Ghur seems a solid indication to you. The band pauses at the next hilltop to consider you and exchange words, and then the Shaman approaches further. You tuck your book away and grip your staff in the same way that the watchers are gripping their bows - not quite ready to use, but not far from it either. He calls out what you hope to be a greeting in a language that sounds very slightly like Kislevarin, then again in another that makes the Winds ripple unpleasantly, and then a third time, in guttural almost-Khazalid, "blood or tea, stranger?"

That he speaks the Chaos Dwarf equivalent of Khazalid makes things a great deal easier. "Today, tea," is your response, and one of only two acceptable answers. Your books tell you that the Cathayan drink is even more popular amongst the Kurgan than it is in Altdorf cafes, and is a central part of the culture of the tribes who live close enough to the trade road to steal or buy it. You carefully dismount as the Shaman does the same; the Shaman makes a show of removing the knife from his hip and placing it in a saddlebag. You normally carry no knife as you can summon them as needed, but you'd brought one for this purpose, and leave yours next to your horse as the Shadowsteed can only carry a rider, not cargo. He approaches cautiously, and holds out a flask to you; you wet your finger in it and flick some northwards before taking a sip and suppressing your grimace. If tea would be inconvenient, a guest will be offered alcohol, and for most of the Kurgan, the alcohol is fermented horse milk.

Your host seems to relax slightly. "I am a Shaman of the Dolgan Tribes. I serve the Untamed of the Eight."

"I am a Shaman of the Mountain Ring Clans. I serve the Shadowed of the Eight. I travel from the west and will travel to the south."

He nods. "You are far from the salt-water," he observes. "Your business must be important for you to travel so far."

You nod but don't elaborate, happy to leave him with the misconception that you're from Norsca. "Can you tell me of the neighbouring tribes?"

He nods. "You came through the mountains? The proud Kul are to the north of the mountains, their claim stretches all the way to the Blessed Lands. Dolgan land stretches to the Tea Road. Between Tea Road and Dwarf-Land is the Iron Wolf Tribes, who serve an Old One. East are the Kvelliges and Khazags, and north are the Yusak, who have lost favour with the Four and seek lands further from them."

You nod thoughtfully, checking that against your mental map of the Eastern Steppes. It sounds like the Expedition's route will go through Dolgan and then Yusak territory, and that Karag Dum itself would be about at the border between Yusak and Kul, and the Yusak are currently vulnerable, while the Kul... you don't know their current state, but about 180 years ago their leader Asavar united the Kurgans and was anointed as Everchosen, sparking the Great War Against Chaos. Your books had some information on the Dolgans, describing a people on the edge between civilization and barbarism to the extent that some served Kislev as mercenaries - but that described a people between Kislev and Norsca, far from here. How similar are these Dolgans to the ones your books spoke of?

The information this Shaman has given you out of simple courtesy is already valuable, but if you could reach an accord with his people, even greater things could come of it. An agreement to allow passage would make safe what could otherwise be a very dangerous leg of the journey. If they would sell livestock to the steam-wagons, supply concerns would vanish. If they would take advantage of the weakened Yusak at the right time, the entire passage from the Dark Lands to the Chaos Wastes would be laid open, and it's likely all that would take is the Dolgan being prepared to take advantage of the Yusak being distracted by the steam-wagons and the many knights passing through their territory. Or if they could even be talked into selling military aid to the Expedition... Dolgan mercenaries would be able to live off the land and wouldn't need transporting all the way from Praag, they'd be in their element for any conflict that might need them, and they might help in dealing with any other Kurgan that might present an obstacle to the Expedition.

Or on the other hand, it might be best to leave well enough alone. Any deal would likely involve precious metals changing hands, and paying the servants of Chaos is unlikely to sit well with many - though you should be able to keep the details concealed from most. And though you'd do your best to not give away details that would leave the Expedition vulnerable to betrayal, could any deception serve if the Plotter might be involved? Then again, if the Plotter's attention does turn this way, it's very possible that no amount of secrecy would serve...

If an accord is to be reached, it should be now. The Dolgans are more likely to be amenable to a deal now than when they have giant metal behemoths on wheels show up on their lands. You're not sure whether they'd see the steam-wagons as as a threat, as prey, or as loot, but they'd probably not see them as a potential trade partner.

[ ] Only seek passage for the Expedition
[ ] Seek passage and supplies for the Expedition
[ ] Seek passage, supplies, and for the Dolgan to attack the Yusak
[ ] Seek passage, supplies, and to purchase the service of Dolgan mercenaries
[ ] Do not seek any accord with the Dolgans
[ ] Seek to make contact with the Yusak instead
[ ] Other (write in)


- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- If Mathilde seeks to make contact with the Yusak, she can't safely fly into Yusak territory, so would have to ride. This means the Dolgan would know she went out of her way to speak to the Yusak.

Spoiler: Updated Map

This represents Mathilde's estimation instead of being necessarily accurate. For reference, these six territories make up an area about half the size of the Empire.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[X] Seek passage and supplies for the Expedition

You look at the Shaman, weighing him up. "My Clan," you eventually say, "will be travelling through here on a pilgrimage to the Blessed Lands, north of what you say is Yusak territory. We do not wish to expend our strength before we arrive. We would be willing to pay for safe passage through Dolgan land and for cattle to feed us on our journey, and then again as we return, in silver or gold or amber."

The Shaman nods. "It is wise to not seek conflict with the Kurgan on the steppe, just as we would not seek conflict with the Norscan on the waves. How many mouths have you to feed?"

"Eight hundred, some hungrier than others due to their form."

He looks curious. "You travel with your Blessed? That will be a sight to see. Remain here." The Shaman remounts his horse and rides back to the other Dolgans, hopefully only to confer on a reasonable price. You do your best to suppress any signs of nerves as he returns back. "Silver," he says as he dismounts once more. "It spends easiest." He names a price for passage that would be challenging for a Norscan clan but trivial for a Dwarven Karak, as well as a set of prices for livestock that seem, if your mental conversion is correct, no dearer than an Averland stockyard.

You nod thoughtfully. "I will take this price back to my Clan," you say. "We will arrive in the second half of the coming spring, carrying both steel and silver."

The Shaman nods, not at all taken aback by the warning. "May the Gods find your efforts entertaining."

---

The way Kragg told you of the Rune of the Unknown and the way you've been using it so far is that it means you don't need a scabbard, freeing up space on your back for your newly-turned staff. The only other utility it was designed for was that it would prevent you from being disarmed. However, there are many more possibilities to the Rune than that. A great deal of the sword training you have undertaken is focused on bypassing defences and recovering your guard after a swing, both of which are difficult when swinging what amounts to a large and heavy piece of metal around. Both of which could become much less so if you learn how to apply the Rune of the Unknown properly.

Your early experiments with the Rune proved that all momentum that Branulhune possesses is lost (or possibly harnessed) when the Rune is activated, even if it's just 'flickered' for an instant. This should allow for more rapid changes in direction, especially since Kragg's signature Rune ensures that the blade always hits with sufficient force, making preserving momentum less important.

[Developing the momentum dump: Martial, 17+23=40.]

It turns out to be significantly easier said than done. You've spent a not inconsiderable fraction of your life learning, honing, and retaining techniques built on certain assumptions about physics and biology. Being able to make most of the momentum of a swing vanish with your blade undermines every one of those assumptions and you're forced to start from the very basics, running yourself through the basic drills and forms and forcing yourself to pay attention to what had become second nature. Something as simple as a pattern of alternating cuts uses a figure-eight pattern to let the momentum from one swing carry over to the next, which is much more efficient than using muscle force to negate that momentum and then start it afresh from a new direction, but is less efficient than vanishing the blade at the most downward point and having it reappear in your hands when they're in position to begin the next swing. Complicating matters further is the jerk of summoning an unmoving sword into moving hands, which takes a lot of getting used to.

In the end it takes you an entire month of self-study and adaptation to rebuild your sword style to incorporate this new technique, leaving no time to even scratch the surface of the other possibilities.

[Branarhune aspect developed: momentum dump. Remaining aspects: guard bypass, quick-draw, hand switching.]

---

It's been almost eight years since you constructed the enchantment in your robes, but even though said enchantment has prevented most of the wear and tear that clothing would typically see after that much daily use, it's still come time for you to replace it. Since the time you made it you've become a better Wizard, a better Enchanter, and your knowledge of the spell Aethyric Armour specifically has evolved into an effect that shields your muscles from fatigue even as it shields your skin from blades. Unfortunately the local spider-silk industry is still mired in technical difficulties, so with the Expedition rapidly approaching and filled with the perverse certainty that every one of those technical difficulties will evaporate as soon as you complete your new robes, you settle for wool. Though you are quite pleased that you managed to get your hands on a bolt of naturally silver-grey wool, a rarity in this modern age of animal husbandry that has lead to pure-white sheep becoming the norm.

You spend some time considering the Helldrake scales that have been gathering dust ever since you acquired them on impulse in Barak Varr. The only mention of them you can find in your library is in the books on dragons, and even there more ink is spent on speculation on the nature of their relation to 'true' dragons than on their properties or inclinations. Still, the few paragraphs reveal to you that they're known primarily for being bred by the Elves of Naggaroth for war, and for such unbridled ferocity that their handlers are often unable to prevent them from attacking each other in the heat of battle. That gives you something to work with. Scales are, of course, a good fit for a component in defensive enchantment, but a nature of unflagging aggression is something you might be able to tap into for tirelessness.

[Drawing board: Learning, 10+28+5(Library: Enchantment)=43.]

That's the theory, anyway. You've come a long way since your first clumsy attempts to bind magic into permanent enchantment, and part of that is a healthy respect for planning ahead. The health of that respect begins to suffer quite a bit as every thaumaturgic equation runs right into a brick wall, as you try to put your instincts into numbers and run into mathematical insistence that what you're trying to do is impossible. Days evaporate in a blur of numbers and symbols and stacks of reference materials until you finally reach your limit and shove the stacks over in frustration.

Gentle shoves, of course, and onto rugs. Even if they are being obstinate, those books are far from cheap.

It isn't necessarily hubristic to bypass the preparations, you tell yourself. Putting magic to paper is a much less developed art than putting magic into reality. Every Magister of the Colleges is capable of a number of things that have no theoretical underpinnings proving them possible. There comes a time when a Wizard simply must put aside the books, start throwing magic around, and see what happens.

[In the workshop: 74+28+20(Room of Dawn and Dusk)+10(Enchanter)+5(Library: Enchantment)=137.]
[Integrating power stone: 48+28+20(Room of Utter Neutrality)+10(Enchanter)+2(Library: Power Stones)=108.]
[Integrating scales: 10+28+20(Room of Utter Neutrality)+10(Enchanter)+4(Library: Dragons, halved)=72.]

Success, it is said, requires no explanation. It may not be required but an explanation would be nice, you think to yourself as you're torn between pride and frustration that you couldn't even begin to put to paper why those painstaking equations were proven so thoroughly wrong by the end results. Guided by instinct and Ulgu, you've managed to rather literally weave your unique form of Aethyric Armour into your robes, anchored by the Helldrake scales you've turned into pauldrons and powered by the pearl of Crystal Mist, taking the appearance of a jewelled brooch though it's quite firmly fastened in place.

Truth be told, you're not entirely happy with the individual elements; the Crystal Mist seems to be reasonably integrated as a power source but its full potential as a lodestone of altered reality has a lot more to offer, and the scales are about as well-utilized as an atlas being used to pin down one corner of a map. But the overall effect is much greater than the sum of its parts: any mundane blade would shatter long before it could mar the weave of the robe, and a tap of the brooch extends the effect around your full body while filling your muscles with vigour. The length it lasts is frustratingly inconsistent, seeming to vary based on time of day, the level of light around you, and another variable you suspect to be the phase of the moon, but even under the worst of conditions it lasts fifteen minutes - about five times the duration of the spell cast conventionally. And you're quite pleased with the imposing touch the scales add to your silhouette.

---

You return once more to your many chalkboards, and spend a day carefully copying everything down into notebooks before erasing the notes that lead to the eleven symbols you've reduced Skywalk to. You've got the most basic component of your 'Fog Path' spell completed, but there's more to a sword than just the blade. Even in this energy-efficient form it would take an unfeasible amount of power to create an entire surface for prolonged periods out of this spell, so you don't just need a mechanism to deploy it over and over, you need a way to identify where it must be deployed.

[Identifying targets: Learning, 34+28+5(Library: Ulgu)+20(Coin)=87.]

You spend a great deal of time wrestling with a single question: can Ulgu itself recognize the difference between surfaces? It could tell a well-illuminated surface from a dim one, sure, but determining material properties is much more in the realm of Chamon, and determining properties of soil specifically is Ghyran. Rock and soil have no inherent properties that would resonate with Ulgu enough to use the Wind itself as the means of identifying where the spell is needed.

And that's the result you're stuck on until you break the question down a step further. Inspired, perhaps, by Panoramia's chatter about the many different components you'd previously lumped under a collective label of 'dirt', you realize that Ulgu can't tell whether a surface is stable, but it can tell whether a surface is uniform. The caster will still need to determine whether the surface itself is suitable for passage, but if pointed at a suitable surface, it can identify what isn't entirely of that surface. And by that mechanism, it can identify the trouble spots. Mud? Soil interrupted by water. Pothole? Stone interrupted by gravel. Ditch? Grass interrupted by air. Even thin ice - though Gods forbid the Expedition ever has to travel over ice - could be identified by Ulgu recognizing that the ice is interrupted, just under the surface, by water or air. And once identified, the nature of those interruptions - being neither one thing nor the other - means they can also act as anchor points for the overarching spell, from which the individual iterations of Skywalk can sprout.

[Implementing identifier: 94+28+5(Library: Ulgu)+20(Coin)=147.]

Days turn to weeks as you painstakingly construct this identification framework and make sure it stands up to any imaginable scenario. You visit Gotri and ask him and his Engineers of every obstacle they've ever encountered in getting a siege weapon from point A to point B. You visit Kragg and Thorek and ask if they've ever encountered any particularly difficult obstructions when it comes to getting their Anvils to commanding positions. Francesco contributes stories of wagon break-downs, Oswald his father's adventures with Steam Tanks, Soizic every hazard she has ever encountered or heard of that could lame a horse. At each stage you make tweaks to the design to cover more and more obscure edge cases.

Now all that stands before you and a finished spell is the final component: the way the spell travels from the Wizard to the anchor-points.

---

The final project for the year is the second half of paper-writing for the results of the Warp Lightning experiments you undertook with Adela. Unfortunately, it proves to be far from a culminating high note, as the two of you struggle to bring to bear any insight that hasn't already been documented in the scarce few books the Colleges have on the subject. It's a struggle to fill an entire paper, but in the end you think the result just manages to be worth the effort it takes. It might not bring anything new to the table, but it does present a thorough and detailed description of something usually only seen in flashes across a battlefield. And perhaps more importantly, Adela seems much more satisfied than you with the end result, and practically radiates satisfaction at having put her name out there as a budding scholar of esoteric sciences - especially one linked to an already-established figure of some prominence.

[Mathilde paper writing: 16+28+4(Library: Skaven Warp Magic)=48.]
[Adela paper writing: 26+20+4(Library: Skaven Warp Magic)+10(Uncanny Memory)=60.]
[Observations on Warp Lightning, 2485. Subject: Rare, +1. Insight: Agreement, +0. Delivery: Competent, +0. Thorough, +1. Precious, +1. Secondary Author, -2. Total: +1.]

---

Mathilde has begun a romantic relationship with Panoramia of the Jade Order. What are her future intentions in this realm?
[ ] [ROMANCE] Continue a monogamous relationship with Panoramia.
[ ] [ROMANCE] Seek a romantic relationship with a second partner.
[ ] [ROMANCE] Break up with Panoramia in favour of seeking a relationship with a new partner.
[ ] [ROMANCE] Break up with Panoramia in favour of remaining single.

If Mathilde seeks a new partner, who is your preference for that partner?
[ ] [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


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? 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
[ ] Gretel, who's apparently spending her newly-earned wealth to make herself at home.
[ ] Hubert, as he settles in to his niche with Ulrikadrin.

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.
[ ] Cython, to discuss the Gods of Kislev and the Kurgan.
[ ] Qrech, to discuss his newly-acquired diploma from the University of Altdorf.

Foreign Relations
[ ] Stirland, to see for yourself how the war against Sylvania is progressing.

Friends Abroad
[ ] 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.
[ ] The Dolgan, to get to know the people of the western Steppes who will hopefully be feeding the Expedition.

Following Up
[ ] The Amber College, to check in on the salamanders.
[ ] The Gold College, to see what's become of their research into Skaven technology.
[ ] Follow up on your donation of the Skaven organ-vat, and see what has been made of it.
[ ] Pay a visit to your fief, to see if anything has changed. It probably hasn't.

[ ] Other (write in)



- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- It would be possible to try the robes enchantment again, but trying to disentangle the scales and power stone risks destroying one or both of them.
- As always, new suggestions for social actions are welcome. They're most likely to be added if they're a shared activity that allows for interesting interaction or a specific topic to be discussed, rather than 'be social at [person]'.

- This is a bit more abrupt than I'd preferred the romance process to be, but it appears that on this matter a choice must be made between voter agency and thread civility.
- Speaking of civility: I do hope that drastic measures won't be needed to maintain it during the coming debate.
- If Mathilde seeks a polygamous relationship, it will be with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved.
- The romance vote assumes that a voter's preferred romance partners are the same whether they are pursued polygamously or monogamously. My apologies if this is not the case for you, but it is required to keep voting straightforward.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] [ROMANCE] Continue a monogamous relationship with Panoramia.

[*] Cython, to discuss the Gods of Kislev and the Kurgan.
[*] Qrech, to discuss his newly-acquired diploma from the University of Altdorf.
[*] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
[*] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.

"It seems I have erred in overlooking what you call the Old World - an admirably egocentric label - in my research of the Gods," Cython says as it peruses the books on Kislev you've brought down into the guest room dedicated to it. "I visited it a few times in the aftermath of the Elf-Dwarf War, but their Gods seemed mostly aped from the Elves whose ruins they built upon. Hoeth and Morai-Heg as parents, Isha as the daughter, Myrmidia being the only novel element. But then they decided on a new addition to their pantheon, and I admit that at first I was as fooled as they. A horned God of savage competition and self-interest? Kurnous, clear as noon. When I next visited, the few survivors were scattered far and wide."

"We call them the 'Classical' or 'Southern' Gods," you note, "as opposed to the 'Elder' or 'Northern' Gods that the ancestors of the Empire brought with them - Taal, Rhya, Manann, and Ulric."

"The wilds, fertility, the ocean," it says dismissively. "Ulric is another puzzle. Ellinilli, perhaps?"

"I once heard a Laurelorn Elf theorize the same. Who or what are the Ellinilli?"

"Elven Gods of natural destruction fathered by Ellinill, who then grew mistrustful and devoured most of them. Some of them have grown beyond their origins - Mathlann became God of the Sea, Drakira the Goddess of Vengeance, Addaioth has been trying to become a God of Weapons. Ulric may have been a God of blizzards or similar that grew beyond His origins."

"Ulric is said to be brother to Taal," you note.

"It is my suspicion that mortal labels do not apply well to relationships among the Gods." It snorts. "Or perhaps they do, and they are as tumultuous and variable as those of mortals. Ask a Priest of Asuryan who sired Nethu."

"Why do you theorize that there must be so much crossover between the different pantheons?"

It tilts its head. "Why would there not be? Do two dragons share a hunting ground? Two kings a kingdom?"

You consider the point, and have to admit there could be merit to it. You've yourself witnessed Ranald in conflict, first against Stromfels and then against Mork. You've also recently read of Kislevite Gods, and Ursun's Cult is said to have a fraught relationship with Ulric's. Did that reflect the relationship between the Gods, where Ulric and Ursun's conceptual territories are too similar, bringing the two into conflict because it causes them to... what? Detract from each other? Be able to prey upon each other?

"I can see the question roiling inside you like a gathering storm," Cython notes. "To Hysh, it is the moment of realization that is most satisfying, and the rest is simply the thrill of the hunt. To Ulgu, the seeking itself must energize."

You turn your attention to your Windsight, and note that indeed the Ulgu in the room has gathered around you like an aura. It's not enough for you to notice unless you're looking for it, though maybe that changes as one grows more and more attuned to a Wind. "As a Wizard, maybe," you say. "As a scholar, I'd like some hard answers."

"And as a dragon, it is a matter of great regret that I cannot hunt and eat light. We can never satisfy every facet of our nature."

---

"The Kurgan worship the Chaos Gods," you say to Cython later, after it had moved on from Kislevites to Chaos Marauders. "Which I expected. But they have a pantheon of one-two-four-eight - one sun, two moons, four Chaos Gods, and Eight Winds. It was surprising to me to read about, and then encounter, a people that consider Priests and Wizards to be so similar."

"I doubt they worship Asuryan or Lileath, so it might be erroneous worship - I doubt the celestial bodies care for or respond to worship. Their worship of..." It flips through the book. "'Ghyranek' might be an aspect of Chaos worship, perhaps a representation of Chaos Undivided. I have heard of Beastmen that worship Chaos itself and spurn the Chaos Gods. But as for the Winds, to worship them as Gods is incorrect, but why is it incorrect?"

"I assume you're going for something deeper than 'because Winds aren't Gods'."

"Correct. What is the vital difference between these two varieties of foreign energy with distinct preferences?"

A hefty question, but one you are not approaching unassisted. "Winds are reliable and ambient. 'I do not wish to trust the continued benevolence of a deity whose need for my faith and dedication might far outweigh my own need for His or Her aid.' That was said by Volans, the first leader of the Empire's Colleges of Magic."

"It is a vital difference, and one that makes all the difference in the wisdom of adopting one or the other. The Winds are available freely, acting according to their nature in the same way that air and water and soil are. But I observe that though Hysh asked nothing of me, it has dictated as much of my life and preferences and activities as the most demanding God. Could you say differently?"

You consider the question, and have to admit that as much of a constant presence Ranald is in your life, Ulgu is more so. "No, I couldn't. Are you suggesting that the Winds are, what, Gods playing the long game?"

"I do not believe that to be the case," Cython says, ruffling its wings in a draconic shrug. "But I have yet to find a way to prove that it isn't. There are many theories as to why the energies of the Aethyr change so drastically and fundamentally when they enter this world, and that there are Eight guarding the entrance to this world and countering the corruption of the Four is far from the least likely of those theories. There is also an argument to be made that the Winds are Gods that exist primarily in this world, where the other Gods exist primarily in the other. To prove or disprove either requires more insight into the nature of the Gods than I possess." It grins, a sudden flash of glinting vertices. "Yet."

---

To all to whom these Letters shall come, Greeting; The Warden of the University of Altdorf, on the recommendation of the Council of Masters and by virtue of the authority in them vested, have conferred on Quirin Waramunt who has satisfactorily pursued the Studies and passed the Examinations required therefor, the Degree of Baccalaureate Philosophiae in the Social Science of Near Eastern Studies with all the Rights, Privileges, and Honours thereunto appertaining. Given this Eighth Day of Vorgeheim, Two Thousand Four Hundred and Eighty-Five.

The framed certificate is on display on the wall of Qrech's cell, nestled amongst the many shelves filled with books and carved wooden figures. Qrech chitters with pride every time his eyes fall upon it, but judging by the papers resting upon his desk Qrech is far from finished with his terrorizing of the University of Altdorf. Ever since he learned that an advanced degree would confer upon him the title of 'Doctor' his eyes have been set on it, apparently as a balm to a sense of inadequacy that every Skaven of House Moulder who do not participate in the art of their Clan feels.

"And then I shall teach," Qrech says, in between carefully gnawing a fresh point onto his quill. "And in doing so, reveal the vulnerabilities of the Chaos Dwarves to the surface races. Every blow that weakens them will strengthen Moulder." He seems to mean it, but there was more conviction and pride in his voice at the start than at the end. He seems to be trying to convince himself that the comfort he's found in his academic niche is still serving his distant Clan. And then he perks up and waves a claw at his bookshelf. "And when all respect my words as master of the doom of the eastern foes? A book. All Qrech's knowledge carved onto wood and stamped onto a hundred, a thousand copies. And when those books grow old, copied into new books. I have read of the Ambush at Mount Cragg, words from ten lifetimes ago. The Battle of Kurgel's Gulch from fifty lifetimes ago. The song of Sir Baldrin of Brionne from seventy lifetimes ago." He chitters, patting the spines of his books. "Qrech will die, but Qrech's words will outlive all. Even the favoured who get the long-life concoctions. Even Throt. Even Lord Verminkin."

"That's a worthy ambition," you note.

"Qrech has many advantages," he says with clear pride. "One Professor has personally fought Chaos Dwarves. Did so during an attack on his caravan. A paltry skirmish with their lowest soldiers. Very respected, treated as an authority." He sniffs. "Qrech has lead small armies against the Eastern Dwarves. Qrech has slain them. Qrech has feasted on their flesh. Qrech has seen Bull Centaurs and Daemonsmiths and K'Daai. Qrech's victory is assured."

---

"Gods above," Wilhelmina says, settling back gingerly into the well-cushioned seat on the balcony of the EIC's headquarters. "The years sneak up on you. I've spent too many years sitting on hard wooden carriage seats and the bill's come due."

"From the paperwork, you don't seem to have lost a step," you observe as you sit yourself on a significantly less cushioned one.

"Here's hoping you're right, and it's just my back that's playing up. It's easy to hunker down, we'll really see how well I'm doing when that canal is finally done and we have to fight off everyone with a boat and a dream." She sighs, and runs her hand through her hair. "Anyway, what brings you here today?"

"I wanted to spend some time with Eike, get to know my future partner."

"Good idea, better to inculcate the proper terror of the Grey Order early on. My sons might have turned out worth a damn if I had you around to scare them into submission. Tillie!" A few moments later a frazzled-looking assistant pokes her head out. "Go get Eike and bring her up."

"Do you want to be there while I talk to her?"

She shrugs. "Probably for the best not to, she and I haven't been getting along of late. Inherited my temper, probably." You let that pass uncommented as Wilhelmina hauls herself back up with a groan.

A few minutes after Wilhelmina disappears back inside, Eike appears at the doorway. "You wanted to see me, Dame Weber?"

"Take a seat," you say. She moves to do so, but hesitates halfway. "Something wrong?"

"Your shadow is looking at me," she says - her voice wary rather than outright scared, to her credit.

"It does that. It's harmless, it moves around a bit but in other respects it's like any other shadow."

Eike takes a seat, still watching the shadow. "Is that a Wizard thing?"

"A Grey Wizard thing, yes. Give it a poke if it will make you feel better." She does so hesitantly, then with a frown of concentration as her pokes try to chase the retreating shadow along the wall. You take the opportunity to give her a once-over - she's neatly if plainly dressed, sports a few inkstains, and seems to be in good health. Under your Windsight she's largely untouched, but close scrutiny reveals a few traces of Chamon and Aqshy. She'd probably been in tutoring before being called to meet you which could explain the Wind of Metal. The Wind of Fire is tricky, it could be the result of enthusiasm or annoyance, so it's hard to draw any conclusions from that. You refocus on the physical world as the shadow finally retreats entirely from Eike's reach and she turns back to you. "You're going to be my partner in the EIC one day," you comment.

She nods firmly. "When oma retires. Going to Keep The Wagons Rolling and help everyone by getting the things where they need to be." You can practically hear the capital letters in her voice as she parrots a phrase she probably heard from Wilhelmina.

You smile. "That's one way to describe what we do."

"Oma says that you're here to Keep Us Honest and it's a good thing that I'd be in charge because if my father was you'd have to shoot him." She eyes the revolvers on your hip curiously. "Would you?"

"If I had to," you admit. "Getting everything where it needs to be is important. Some people think they can make money by interfering with that."

"They try to Skin The Sheep," she says, nodding. "Oma says not to, and that when my Dooming said to 'beware the cloven hoof' it wasn't talking about sheep, and it's a metaphor anyway."

"She's probably right." You consider all the other possible cloven-hoofed dangers, and decide to move the conversation along. "So if you've had your Dooming, have you had your Quickening too?"

She makes a face. "The Priestess explained a whole bunch of things she said I'll be interested in one day."

You nod. The Dooming and the Quickening are supposed to happen at about the same time, but in small villages they happen whenever the right Priests come by, so you'd ended up never having yours. "And what did you do after?" you ask casually.

"Fed the doves. I had to go to the park to do it because oma said if I fed them here they'd hang around and poop on her chair."

You nod. She's a Shallyan, then. You can work with that.

---

"Done?" Wilhelmina says distractedly as you enter her office.

"Seems like a decent kid," you say, and note Wilhelmina's frown. "You don't agree?"

"She's ten, she's supposed to be an adult now, but she's nowhere near where she should be. Her tutors say she's getting there, but I half-suspect they're just saying that so I don't fire them. She seemed so bright when I adopted her."

"If she's getting there, she'll get there. Are you in a hurry to retire?"

"Far from it. I just don't want what I build collapsing the second I settle down or keel over." She sighs, and shuffles some papers. "While you're here, I might as well get you updated, save some money on scribing."

"Sure."

"Short version: Sylvania's still quiet and those last two holdouts are still besieged, and there's rumours that Roswita will finally finish it this coming spring - but then, there's been rumours of that for every spring since she showed up. Piracy is still huge, still taking big chunks out of the competition, still taking very few chunks out of us - those galleys have been a big help in filling gaps in River Warden schedules."

She slides over papers and you run your eyes over the distilled reports to see if anything jumps out at you. "Outbreak of disease among the canal workers?"

"Bad meat or bad water," Wilhelmina says with a shrug. "It happens, especially with that many people in one place. The Dwarves say it shouldn't set back the schedule too much."

"You think it's natural?"

"You don't?"

"It'd be normal most of the time, but this is a Dwarven project in a remote area. They'd be supplying food and water, and they'd be making sure they were clean."

"Surely the Marienburgers wouldn't..." She frowns. "They wouldn't, would they? I mean, sure, piracy and sabotage, but fomenting disease? That would be..." Her frown deepens. "I'll have a word with some Witch Hunters."

"Good. I do hope that it's nothing, but if they're willing to even flirt with the Ruinous Powers like that..."

She shudders. "Gods, I hope it's nothing. In other news..."

You raise your eyebrows as Wilhelmina drops two bulging purses on the table. "Business has been that good?"

She shakes her head exasperatedly. "It's not your cut, it's already yours. You haven't touched the profits from that factory since you first left for Eight Peaks."

"Oh, right." You frown and eye the purses, trying to calculate if the Bursar is going to get snippy about this.

"Bloody Wizards. That shadow of yours and the smoke and the candles playing up, that's par for the course. But 'oh, right'? That's just not natural. It's enough money to buy a house and you just had it sitting there."

"I am supposed to be under a Vow of Poverty," you protest. "That's why I asked you to plough it all into expanding instead of buying me out."

"Which I did, but I'm not taking your actual money to do so. There's a line and that's it." She shakes her head again and rummages in her papers. "Right, gong farming. I kept the model you were using - subscription to pay for the collectors, fertilizer sales to pay for the factories. Where it already existed it was mostly ad hoc for fertilizer, only a few big towns were doing it for cleanliness and health, so Rudiger was able to use the threat of undercutting and a promise of better wages to absorb what there was without much trouble. We've broken ground on factories in Blutdorf and Franzen, should be ready when the first round of the material is ready for processing. The only question is the output." She eyes you across the desk.

"How do you mean?"

"It's a lot of management and set-up for a modest return on investment. You wouldn't be bothering if it wasn't about the niter. Zhufbar has the current output locked into a contract, but a lot more is about to be made. What's the plan for it?"

[ ] Sell the niter to Zhufbar
[ ] Sell the niter to Karak Eight Peaks
[ ] Sell the niter to Nuln
[ ] Plan to set up EIC gunpowder production in Stirland
[ ] Plan to set up EIC gunpowder production in Karak Eight Peaks
[ ] Other (write in)


- Qrech's portion was meant to be a fair bit longer as he and Mathilde hashed out a suitable future for him, but while double-checking Skaven lifespans I came across the death scene of Sleek Sharpwit and Qrech's ambition fell right into place.
- Keep in mind that Cython's theories are not WoG about the setting's metaphysics. This is recreational for Cython, rather than being approached as a hard science.
- The text of Qrech's diploma was originally posted here.

Spoiler

You think... you think any beyond your own scrap of hill knows or cares who you are? You think in fifty years any will remember? You are impossible, mad-thing. You do not know the meaning of forever. Look at me! I am still alive and already forgotten! [...] We scurry through time, like the rats in Fizqwik's wheel. Over and over the same mistakes. I am glad to be done. I am sick of it. We steal so much from the dwarf-things, more than any care to admit, but never that. Respect for what is past. [...] It would be nice... to be remembered.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] Plan to set up EIC gunpowder production in Stirland

"Stirland is currently reliant on importing gunpowder, and dealing with the unreliable quality of Nuln's gunpowder - since the purest goes to those currently in the Elector Count's favour - or paying a hefty premium for powder from Zhufbar," you say, steepling your fingers. "Considering how reliant the Repeater is on good powder, it's a limiter to how much the Army of Stirland will be willing to expand its use."

"Can you get your hands on the proper techniques?" Wilhelmina asks, leaning forward.

You consider it for a moment. "I might be able to get Dwarven ones, but I'd be on the hook for them - that's an uncomfortable position when I'd usually be a continent away from the factory. But I've got an in or two with the Imperial Gunnery School. If we tie it into non-compete contracts I should be able to get Nuln's techniques out of them, and I doubt we'll be able to exceed the requirements of both Stirland and the Undumgi."

"Alright, we'll stockpile any excess niter production for now." Wilhelmina frowns thoughtfully. "The factory will probably have to be in Wurtbad. I can't see Roswita allowing it outside her demesne."

You nod. "We've got a lot of eggs in Blutdorf's basket as it is. And Wurtbad's better located to take in niter from a province-wide network."

"Not what I expected for the EIC, but it's not like gunpowder will ever not be needed," Wilhelmina says, then smiles and pats the hip where a pistol would usually be, though her gunbelt is currently hanging from a hook on the wall. "I like the idea of being able to pull good powder right out of the factory too, instead of paying a king's ransom for the good stuff."

---

"A question for you, Magister," Algard says as he leads you through the halls of the Grey College. "What is the location of the Grey College?"

You've mapped it out, most Grey Wizards do as Apprentices. You have to decide based mostly on guesswork which access points are physical and which aren't to get a solid answer, so most end up with different answers. "Just below the Imperial Mint. I assume to add its defences to our College's, and vice versa."

He smiles. "It's the sort of thing we would do." He stops at a blank section of wall, and your mental map of the Grey College tells you you're on the outer edge of the College - or at least, the portion you know.

You eye it suspiciously for any trace of secret entrances. "'Would do', but not 'have done'."

"To hide something from a Grey Wizard, give them enough false clues to reach a wrong answer that makes them feel clever," he says with a smile. "To hide it from many, have enough wrong answers for them to argue over. Who says any of the access points are physical?"

"Basic logic," you retort. "The College has to be somewhere, so having at least some of the access points be physical is only sensible. Saves magical power and effort, and allows an access point in case of local magical collapse."

"The College has to be somewhere," he repeats, his smile widening. "A logical assumption." He places a hand on the wall and it ripples and melts away, revealing... nothing. A uniform field of grey on the other side, stretching as far as you can see in all directions. "The problem with logical assumption is that logic often has nothing to do with our profession."

He walks through the opening and without any visible trepidation you follow suit, walking atop an invisible floor. The wall heals below you and vanishes, enfolding the pair of you in an endless grey void. It's just as featureless to your Magesight as it is to your eyes. "Where are we?"

"To everyone else, the border between this world and the Aethyr is as thin as a dream. To those with the right attunement, the border can be a plane in its own right." He takes a seat on a chair you're certain was not there a moment ago. "It is the source of some of our most potent abilities. This is where objects enfolded within Substance of Shadow reside, this is the impossibly thin and thus infinitely sharp edge summoned by Penumbral Pendulum, this is where the Pit of Shades opens into, creating a wailing as the air itself is crushed. And through Teclis' techniques that I've only begun to scratch the surface of, it can be permanently expanded into a pocket big enough for a College."

"It is the Hedge," says Provost Kurtis Krammovitch, and you turn to see him sitting just beside Algard. "And the Hedgewise have been visiting it since before the time of Sigmar."

"It is the Shadows that give the Forest of Shadows its name," says Lord Magister Walther Kupfer, "stolen by the Goddess Halétha to empower those who are opposed to it."

"It is a portion of the Aethyr that has been cut off from the rest, which happens more often than you might think," says Lady Magister Grey.

"It is a metaphor, fed by Ulgu until it grew fat enough to visit," says Bursar Wilhelmine von Bucht.

"It is part of the Grey Vaults, the threshold of Morr's Realm," says Porter Reiner Starke.

"It's simply a novel application of existing principles," says Lord Magister Melkoth.

"It's a secret, even to us," says Algard. "Ours to puzzle over, and ours to keep." You complete your circuit, and see an empty eighth chair in the circle surrounding you. "And now yours. Take a seat, Lady Magister Weber."

Without a moment's hesitation you do so, happiness and pride radiating through your body. You knew you might be close to earning it, but after the promotion to Magister you half-expected it to be a curt letter or something. But a circle of chairs in a secret pocket-dimension formed by Teclis? This is exactly the sort of thing you had hoped for. Part of the upholstery of the chair springs to life, throwing itself onto your robes and forming the ornamental trimmings that indicate a Wizard Lord of the Empire to those who know the patterns.

"Don't ask me how long it took to set that up," Lady Magister Grey grumbles. "Eight years wearing the same robe, and you make a new one just as we're about to promote you."

"We had planned to let you season a few more years," Algard says with a smile, "but if you're going into hell, it's only proper you shall do so in the rank you have earned."

---

Master Baker Hluodwica, Elder of the Karak Eight Peaks Halflings and High Priestess of Esmerelda, is easily the most important personage in Karak Eight Peaks that you haven't spent much time with. It's easy to justify why - the Halflings are happy to be left to their fields and their food, and if there were any problems Kazrik or Edda or Panoramia would be the logical people to handle them - but it's still something you've been meaning to correct when you had a spare moment.

The local Temple to Esmerelda is a three-sided building placed amongst the fields equidistant between Karag Nar and Karag Lhune, with an entrance on each side for Halflings from the fields, Dwarves from Karag Lhune, and humans from Karag Nar to visit it freely. This is an offer taken up much more often than those unfamiliar with Halflings would expect, for Esmerelda is worshipped by making, supplying, and consuming good food. Some might consider this a trivial sphere for a Goddess, especially one that is the head of a Pantheon, but only if they were very sure where their next meal is coming from. In many of the darker periods in Imperial history, simple lack of food has killed more than disease or greenskins or the forces of Chaos.

Even the humble pie, the much-derided object of worship during Pie Week, has more to it than those that dismiss the Halflings as simple gluttons would realize. In the distant past, long before humanity had come to the Old World, food preservation was poorly understood and starving during the winter was a constant threat. Pottery was fragile, difficult to transport, time-consuming to make, and required access to the right sorts of clays. Granaries were immobile and took a lot of effort to make, and meant all your food was in one place and fire or rot or vermin could take the whole structure in one fell swoop. But encasing food in a shell of flour before you cook it? That was quick, easy, portable, divisible, and if done right, delicious. It was that secret that gained the Halflings a position in the nomadic tribes that predate the Empire, and it's why the human tribes had Halflings among them when they entered the Reik Basin.

You introduce yourself to the Priestess at the bench, and know better than to resist as she pushes the meal of the day on you before she goes off to fetch the High Priestess, and put a couple of silver coins into the offering bowl before taking your seat and examining the meal. It's a thick wheat-based soup with beans and vegetables of a sort that had been mildly popular in Altdorf when you were an Apprentice and you've made good progress on it by the time Hluodwica arrives and seats herself across from you, placing a bowl of her own in front of her.

"Magister-" She looks again, and corrects herself. "Lady Magister Weber. Are you enjoying the meal?"

"Haven't had this in almost twenty years," you say. "Minestrone, right?"

"So it's known in the Empire, but that's simply Tilean for 'soup'. They now know it as polus but the basic recipe dates back to their earliest records, from the times when they'd boil spelt in salt water and add whatever vegetables they had on hand, and called it pulte."

"You study history?" you ask curiously.

"I study food, and food is history," she says, with perfect confidence. "Or at least it is to those of us who didn't have the fortune of being given magical paradises by their Gods. You can't build a city until you have enough food that someone can focus on building instead of hunting or gathering or farming. How many missed meals would it take to reduce Altdorf to rubble?"

You smile. "I was there for the Dunnage Tax riots. Sometimes it seems like you'd barely need one."

"You might be right. I'm glad it's Hisme that has to deal with it, and not me. So, is your business here today mild enough that it can accompany eating?"

"Purely a social call," you say, and she nods and takes up her spoon. "As you've just pointed out, the Halflings are important to the Karak, and you lead them. I've been meaning to find the time to get to know you better for some time."

"And unlike our Panoramia, you don't have a lazy winter to fill with socializing," she notes. "Dusk and dawn she said, and it's never far from one of those, is it? Busy as..." She smiles. "Almost said busy as a bee, but even they're lazy as anything when the snows come."

"Sow that you may reap, then reap that you may sow," you say with a shrug. "Always something that needs doing."

"That's a Stirlandian saying," she notes. "You're from there, then?"

"Spymistress there for eight years," you say, not inaccurately.

"There's very few of our kind that isn't aware of that. Many a tragedy for us wandered over from the Haunted Hills or the Ghoul Wood, and it seems that course in our history is finishing. But that's not what I asked."

You consider several answers. "Kelham," you say eventually.

"Ah," she says, looking at you with an undecipherable expression. "I thought I heard a trace of it in your accent."

"I left when I was ten," you continue, "and have not practiced their traditions in twenty-five years."

After a long moment, she nods. "Carrots and weeds grow in the same soil, and Panoramia and Titus both have nothing but good to say of you. I apologize for bringing it up." You think of the many figures hanging from trees and being beaten with sticks in your earliest memories that you're only mostly sure were straw-stuffed effigies, and nod in acceptance. "So! That Panoramia, hm? Quite a girl."

You're happy to seize the change in topic. "I quite think so."

"Our kind only very rarely produce Wizards, even more so than yours, and while we're happy not to have the fire and death and wild animals, we could use a few more Panoramias. Only has to spend a day in a field and she knows it like her family has been farming it for three generations."

You're happy to let the conversation linger there until the meal is concluded, and then make your farewells. Not quite what you expected, but you've still gotten to know the disconcertingly perceptive Elder of the local Halflings at least a little.

---

The applause when you arrive at the meeting is almost instant which leads you to suspect Panoramia had tipped them off, but it's heartfelt and gratifying nonetheless. You don't think you'll ever get sick of hearing 'congratulations, Lady Magister'. But as tempting as it is, your ego cannot be the sole focus of the last official meeting of the Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks before you leave for Karag Dum, so you wrap it up and move the meeting along.

Even as the meeting goes through its usual patterns the shadow of Karag Dum is ever-present, as most of those present have been focusing on their preparations for it these past months. Adela and Gretel don't have much to contribute, having been busy working their way deeper into the local Gunnery School and the Besiegers respectively. If nothing else, it's something to be proud of that each of your Ducklings have found a niche for themselves here in the Karak.

Afterwards, Panoramia lingers as the rest of the Wizards file out. "Hey," you say with a smile.

"Hey," she replies.

"Something wrong?"

"You haven't asked me if I'm coming," she says softly.

"I figured you'd tell me when you decided if you would."

"Do you want me to come?"

You take a moment to consider that. "I have a preference," you admit, "but it's much less important to me than you deciding for yourself."

She smiles. "That's sweet of you." She sighs, and stretches out her legs while leaning back in her chair. "I think I could. Missing most of the spring would set the timetable back, but probably only by a year - the Halflings know the conditions well enough to maintain them. I think. And it's not like the Karak is in danger of starving, or running out of gold to buy food." She looks at you. "What's it like up there?"

"It's the same terrain as the Veldt in Ostermark. It all seems shockingly normal, except for the sky. The Winds blow so hard that they can't settle, and they flow in rivers overhead, lighting up the sky. It's supposed to be worse further north, but Kurgan land stretches all the way up to the Karag so I think logically it can't be any worse than Mordheim. I suppose it makes sense that it couldn't be too disrupted until it's nearer the pole, there's supposed to be Norscan tribes living as far north as the far side of the Frozen Sea."

"Do you think it will succeed?"

"Succeed," you muse. "I think it'll find out what happened. I think that if it's necessary, I can make the Expedition turn around. And I think that in the worst case scenario, I can make it home."

"I'll hold you to that." She goes quiet as she considers it some more. "I don't think I can. I've been doing this for seven years. If I went north, my mind would be here the entire time. Are they keeping it in check, have there been any spore outbreaks, is the soil enrichment staying balanced without any ability to gauge it..." She sighs. "I'm sorry."

You shake your head firmly. "Don't apologize. I asked you to decide. I'm glad you did."

"Thank you for understanding." She reaches across the table and places her hand on yours. "You know, I've been noticing a pattern," she says a few moments later with a teasing smile. "Dragonbone staff, enchanted flask for firebreathing, dragonscale pauldrons. Should I be worried about the time you're spending with Cython?"

"No," you say simply. "I chose you."

She laughs, then stops when she realizes you're serious. "Wait, really?"

"I mean, we are dating now, aren't we?"

"That's not what I-" She realizes you were playing with her, and you can see her eyes dart around the area to see if there's anything she can throw at you that's not so heavy that it could actually hurt. "I mean, you're attracted to dragons?"

"I'm attracted to clever and interesting," you say with a shrug. "And I guess dangerous, a bit. Beyond that, it's all just..." You wave a hand. "Details, and logistics."

She considers that. "I'm not dangerous."

"Have you seen the thorn thing you do?"

She cocks her head. "I guess put that way, I can kind of see it." She nods to herself. "Plus your Magesight is visual. I suppose Cython's just one big flare of Hysh to that, just like I am with Ghyran."

"I admit, you look really impressive drawing on the Waystones."

"Really?" She leans back in her chair to place her fingers on the smoothed stone of the wall, and after a moment she brightens in your vision as Ghyran trickles into her. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

---

[ ] [TOWER] Battery (COLOUR)
Seek to expand the capability of a tower to absorb and store its wind for future use. 50gc.
[ ] [TOWER] Far Sight
Filled to the brim with refraction cantrips, this tower would allow anyone in it to see in detail any point within line of sight. 2 College Favours.
[ ] [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.
[ ] [TOWER] Greenhouse
A tower infused with the Jade Wind and temperature controls to allow for horticultural experimentation and fresh fruit year-round. 50gc, 2 College Favours, 2 Dwarf Favours.

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

Dwarf Favour Purchases
Aethyric Vitae can be spent instead of favour at an exchange rate of 3 favour per gallon; for Rune-related purchases, this will also guarantee the cooperation of Runelords who may otherwise be disinterested. To use this, simply add 'paid by Vitae' or similar to an item you are voting for.
[ ] [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 two hour moratorium.
- This is the last chance for purchases before the Expedition.
- Suggestions for new towers are welcome.
- The promotion portion of the update was originally posted here.

 

[Boney]

At long, long last, the Okral have finished their work, packed up, and returned to Karaz-a-Karak. Though the tension never really eased through their long stay in Karak Eight Peaks, it never came to a head either, which is a relief. Belegar isn't quite looking for an excuse to escalate his feud with Karaz-a-Karak, but he wouldn't turn one away if it knocked on his door either. It's a small miracle that he never received one.

The planned celebration, officially for the reclamation in general but unofficially because the Okral is finally gone, is still some time off as its preparations are put on the backburner in favour of moving everyone around. The growing Clans of the refounded Karak are spreading out into the newly-restored twin peaks of Karags Rhyn and Mhonar, which have been dedicated to Valaya and Smednir respectively. Karag Lhune was far from running out of space, but the logic is that it wouldn't do to leave too much of the mountains empty as it would invite something to fill it. You fully expect to have a nice and long quiet period to put the finishing touches on your preparations for the Karag Dum Expedition.

Unfortunately, the sounding of the Citadel's signal horn just as the sun is setting - a design gifted to the Karak by King Kazador Thunderhorn, which says all that needs to about how loud and impossible to ignore it is - dashes those hopes, and as quickly as you safely can you wind down your manipulation of magical energies and rush to the balcony. You're supposed to look to the signal flags first, but your attention is firmly grabbed by the first full demonstration of Gotri's 'honeycomb' hangar design as Karag Lhune's slopes expel its full complement of gyrocopters, each of which circles the mountain to throw itself northwards at all possible speed. You're already developing a suspicion as you tear your eyes downwards to see the signal flags on the Citadel - 'Karaz-a-Karak, army, under attack'.

With a moment's concentration you expel a cloud of Ulgu in the shape of your coat of arms, and you're hugely relieved to see that of the Angrund clan answer it, and a gyrocarriage is already touching down outside the King's Gates. After it collects its cargo, you're mostly glad and only a little nervous to see it beeline straight in your direction, rather than immediately following the angry swarm of copters north. In what seems like a moment it's touching down on the landing pad on your balcony and you're clambering aboard to see three familiar faces - Belegar, Gotri, and Dreng.

"Part of the Okral's been attacked," Belegar yells over the sound of the engine. "Skull River, near the southern edge of the Forest of Gloom."

"Forest Goblins?" you say. You really hope it was Forest Goblins.

"Bandits." Even over the engine you can hear the suspicion in his voice.

"How many casualties?"

"Gotri?"

[Rolling...]
[Rolling...]

"Unconfirmed," he says, double checking some hastily-scrawled notes, "but it sounds like a lot. An entire passenger monitor went down while carrying several hundred passengers, perhaps as many as a thousand. My pilot who was escorting the convoy said there was some sort of explosion below the waterline, then musket fire from the shore. And that's not a good river to go down in." You suppress a shudder at the thought. Skull River is named not so much for the bones that litter its banks, but for the skull-shaped markings on the ravenous swarms of predatory fish that fill it.

"Weber, we're all thinking it. Can you rule out Marienburg's involvement?"

You remember your own suspicions regarding the disease outbreak in southern Stirland. "I can't," you admit. "If it was their agents, they might have mistaken the passenger ships for a supply convoy, bound for the canal."

"Damn," is all Belegar says.

"On top of the river itself," Dreng says, "that's right on the border between Black Spider and Bloody Spear territory. If the explosion attracted their attention they could do even more damage."

If it had been quieter in there, you'd have described the atmosphere that falls upon the passenger bay as a grim silence.

---

The journey is as tense as it is long; as much a miracle of engineering the gyrocarriage is, it's still a long way from Karak Eight Peaks to the Skull River, especially once the sun fully sets and the pilot has to follow the Blood River north to keep on course. When you finally arrive, it's to see by the light of a gibbous Mannslieb and a crescent Morrslieb that the Okral's convoy has beached itself on the eastern bank of the river, and the very tip of the steam funnel of the wrecked ship just peeking out from the top of the rapidly-flowing waters. Several burning fires illuminate a nearby hill where this segment of the Okral are fortifying themselves and gyrocopters buzz overhead in wary circles.

"Barak Varr's reinforcements should arrive by dawn," Belegar says as the gyrocarriage begins its descent. "Our first priority is to make sure that nothing further happens to them. Second is answers. Third is vengeance. Understood?" You, Gotri, and Dreng nod as the gyrocarriage alights atop the hill, and the four of you clamber out and are instantly met with a crowd of angry, shouting Dwarves.

As the Okral lists its grievances, primarily the apparent death of the leader of Karaz-a-Karak's Metalsmiths Guild, you consider your options for how you can best contribute. Your Magesight makes you the best option for scouting, tracking, or investigating, where everyone else has to wait for the rising sun to make their contributions possible. But there's only one of you.

[ ] Remain here and guard the Okral
[ ] Try to track the bandits
[ ] Scour the river banks for anything the bandits left behind
[ ] Use Substance of Shadow to check the wrecked passenger ship for survivors
[ ] Scout for any approaching greenskin forces


- There will be a one hour moratorium.
- You can only choose one thing to do right now; there might be opportunity to do more later, but with every passing moment the tracks get fainter, evidence could be washed away, and any greenskins could get closer.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] Use Substance of Shadow to check the wrecked passenger ship for survivors

Dwarves don't skimp when it comes to building... well, anything, but doubly so for something that Dwarven lives will be depending upon. The passenger monitor may have sunk, but it hasn't broken apart and it remained upright. There could be Dwarves still alive in air pockets, and any rescue attempts must not only contend with the frigid waters, but also the ravenous fish surrounding the waters, undoubtedly in even larger numbers than usual, drawn to the spilled blood and the bodies of the fallen. Their only chance of rescue before Barak Varr's forces arrive at dawn is you.

"Do the monitors have sailcloth? Or any other very large pieces of fabric?" you say, interrupting the Okral leaders.

"What?" says one of them, bristling, the eldest by the look of his beard, but the others are already looking around for the captains of the beached vessels, and one of them hurries over.

"Yes," he says after you repeat your question. "As back-ups in case the engines fail, and for fothering. Why?"

"I need the entire submerged vessel cast into moon-shadow. And at least one river bank, ideally both."

"What? Why?" says the captain.

"Do it," says Belegar firmly.

There's grumbling, but it's accompanying the scattered Dwarves moving to do so, likely glad to have something productive to do. It doesn't take long for sailcloth and ropes to be fetched from the beached vessels, and very quickly a spiderweb of ropes tied to trees and rocks and spikes hammered into the ground begins to form as you explore the layout of one of the vessels, trying to get a feel of where you'd be most likely to find access, while its captain tells you as rapidly as he can of what would have likely occurred in the ship after the explosion - what would have been sealed, what would have been opened, where survivors might be. You could simply step through the hull of the ship with Substance of Shadow, but if any survivors inside have a lit lamp or any other source of light - unlikely, but possible - that would cause your messy and probably painful death.

Once that's done, under your direction Dwarves throw long chains towards the ship, one end secured to the shore, so that hopefully no part of the ship is far from a gleam of Chamon that will lead to dry land and safety. And with that done there's nothing left but to have the Dwarves row you out to the funnel, centre yourself, wrap yourself in the magic of Substance of Shadow, hold your breath, and cautiously lower yourself into the water.

It's a disconcerting experience. The water surrounds you but does not touch you, so you drop through it as if it was air, landing on the top of the sunken deck with a reverberating clang. Then you let yourself drop through that surface as well, knowing that you're positioned just right to fall into the central corridor of the topmost enclosed deck, which would certainly have flooded and thus would be filled with water and, more importantly, darkness. And though the darkness prevents your magical protection from vanishing and leaving you halfway embedded in metal plating, it also means you've only your Windsight to navigate by, which is as disorienting as you feared.

Above ground, every day the land is illuminated by the Hysh-rich sunlight, swept by the weather of Azyr, and pulses with Ulgu at dawn and dusk. The water knows nothing of any of that. There's traces of natural Ghyran in the river itself as flowing water resonates with the Wind of Life, but water cut off from the flow stagnates quickly and fades into magical inertness. The only magic around you is the faint Chamon residing within Dwarven steel and, everywhere you look, tiny daggers of Ghur flitting about, full of ravenous hunger and gathering in clouds around pockets of Shyish. Magesight has many advantages over conventional vision, but one that it lacks is depth - regular sight has two eyes, but Magesight only has one soul, so with Chamon on every side it takes utter concentration to make out any details. With rising discomfort in your chest you move down the corridor, running your hand down the wall. The corridor is filled to the ceiling because there's a hatch in the roof, but each room connected to the corridor has an ovular doorway, and even if they were open - which they easily could have been in the rush to escape the sinking ship - there'd be an air bubble in the ceiling. You're proven correct, and take a few deep breaths with relief before pressing on.

You don't have much hope for finding survivors on this uppermost deck as anyone up here could have easily reached the deck and swam for it, but you check it anyway, both to be thorough and to acclimate yourself to this strange new environment. You find many reasons to be glad for the peculiarities of Substance of Shadow, as its selective intangibility lets you refill your lungs without having to bring yourself into contact with the water that surrounds you, leaving your robes dry and your passage through the corridors unencumbered, and not least of which because you're sure that if you could see the water, it would be red with blood. You have to push past several bodies who by their silhouette of Shyish are all but skeletonized.

It's on the next deck down that you encounter the first sealed door, and find yourself hesitating before it. You can't open it without water and hungry fish flooding in, almost certainly dooming anyone who might be inside. But you won't help them by stepping through the door and being fused with it as some lantern or candle on the other side shatters your spell. You concentrate your Windsight as much as possible, straining to see any hint of Aqshy on the far side, but you're not entirely sure you'd be able to see the Aqshy of a candleflame on the far side of a wall of steel.

There could be nobody inside. There could be someone inside who's dry and safe and perfectly fine to wait for Barak Varr's forces to arrive and perform a more conventional rescue. Or they could be neck-deep in freezing water and on the verge of hypothermia. What are the chances that whoever's inside has a light source? One in ten? One in five? Fifty-fifty? How do you weigh an unsure chance of death against the equally unsure chance that whoever's inside needs immediate assistance?

You move on.

The individual rooms, you remind yourself, are not your primary objective. Your exploration of one of the beached ships revealed that these monitors are dual-purpose, and when they're not holding passengers they hold cargo. So just above the bilge are the cargo holds, equally capable of holding row after row of crates and barrels as they are of holding row after row of passengers sitting on wooden benches. They're where most of the Dwarves would have been, and unless the deck hatches were open or breached, that's where the largest air pockets would be. You make your way down several ladders and pause at the final one, which would lead into the aftmost cargo hold. It's sealed. Why would it be sealed? During normal operation, it's left open to allow air to circulate, especially with hundreds of Dwarves inside. After the explosion, Dwarves escaping would have left it open. It would be sealed if water was entering through it, but the explosion was near the front of the ship, and the doors between cargo holds are kept sealed while moving so that one being breached won't fill all of them. The only scenario it would be sealed is if water started pouring in from above. That would prevent anyone from being able to climb out, but the hatches are designed to still be easily closable in any scenario.

You knock on the steel of the hatch and after a few long moments a rapid, almost frantic hammering responds from many hands at once.

You picture the cargo hold of the beached ship you explored, the row after row of wooden seating. At least a hundred, probably more.

That shifts the odds.

You mutter a prayer with the last of your breath and drop through the hatch...

[Rolling...]

And fall with another clang into a pitch-black room, filled with a babble of Dwarven voices as they try to scramble away from whatever just dropped into the room.

"I am Loremaster Weber of Karak Eight Peaks. I am here to rescue you."

You climb partway up the hatch's ladder - rematerializing inside water is ill-advised - to release the spell, and then fold Ulgu into a simple light. In a ring around you, shivering and miserable and wet and waist-deep in water, are scores of Dwarves staring at you in confusion and hope. And on the far side of the hold you can see an open door, and more Dwarven faces peering through at you from the next hold.

You allow yourself a moment of relief and happiness before you get to work.

---

'Rescue' is easier said than done, but there are few problems that arbitrary amounts of Dwarven artifice can't make easier and this proves to be no exception. A series of pulleys is set up with a chain threaded through them, and one of them is affixed to a boulder that is sunk right outside the cargo hold. Through sheer muscle-power the chain is pulled by a team of Dwarves so that it constantly rotates at a steady speed. In theory, anyone affected by Substance of Shadow in such a way that they are not subject to gravity that then grips onto the chain will be pulled through the water and onto the shore and moonlight will first fall upon them as they dangle slightly above the ground. At that point gravity would reassert itself, the Dwarf lets go, and they can be led away to warm up and recover. Then comes the next one, and so on. The Dwarves inside are lined up roughly in order of how badly they need to go ashore, with the wounded and frail first under the stern direction of their Guildmaster. It's all ready to begin. The only bottleneck in this basic machine is you.

Chain-casting is very strenuously warned against by the Colleges. Much as someone who says the same word over and over will soon find themselves garbling it, someone casting the same spell over and over is in extreme danger of garbling that, with much worse consequences than some mangled syllables. But here and now, there's no real choice in the matter. With the cargo hold as flooded as it is and the river filled with snowmelt from the mountains, the only reason there's still survivors is the legendary toughness of Dwarves. But even that can't last until dawn, and until more mundane methods of rescue are able to reach them. So there's nothing for it but to do your best to not garble.

With a small lantern brought from the shore on the far side of the compartment and a stack of benches casting your half of the compartment into shadow, you take the first Dwarf's hand, envelop the pair of you in Ulgu, and pull him through the hull of the ship. It only takes a moment to recognize the moving Chamon of the chain and you place the Dwarf's hand upon it, and it only takes a few grasps for the spell to recognize his intentions and for his hand to make contact with the metal. They disappear into the Windsight-obscuring murk of the water and you step back through the hull, step atop another stack of benches to be out of the water, and release the spell.

And repeat.

And repeat.

[Rolling...]

And repeat.

You can't claim to have done it all perfectly. Several times the spell escaped your control and you were unable to discharge it in time, and your ears are plugged with wax, a milky film is covering your vision, and your muscles ache in a way they shouldn't. But these are the most minor and temporary of manifestations of magic run amok, and after what can't have been much more than two hours but felt like a lifetime, the compartment is finally empty of living Dwarves - an unfortunately necessary qualifier, as three Dwarves heavily injured in the initial blast did not survive the wait. Knowing what you know of Dwarven beliefs surrounding death you try to think of a way to recover them too, but unfortunately one of the many quirks of Substance of Shadow is that it is much easier to apply to living beings than inanimate objects, including formerly living beings. An entire body is beyond your capabilities.

You hesitate before leaving the compartment for the final time, thinking of the sealed rooms above. It was pure luck that the lanterns in the compartment you dropped into had fallen off their hooks in the initial blast, and the compartment was too flooded for them to be relit. Do you roll those dice again and in larger numbers for fewer Dwarves? If every sealed room was filled to standing room only, that could represent as many as fifty or more, but if there's at most one or two in each, less than a dozen. And there's still the matters on shore you could concern yourself with. Any approaching greenskins could present a much greater threat to many more lives, and discovering the instigator of this attack and ensuring the Grudge is levelled against the correct party could have geopolitical ramifications that could affect, or even end, thousands of lives.

[ ] Return to shore and guard the Okral
[ ] Try to track the bandits
[ ] Scour the river banks for anything the bandits left behind
[ ] Scout for any approaching greenskin forces
[ ] Despite the risk to yourself, attempt to save any Dwarves left in the ship
[ ] Use your spare Power Stone to save any Dwarves left in the ship
This will be achieved by supercharging an Illusion to make it loud enough to be heard throughout the ship, despite the water and metal muffling you. This will tell them all to douse any lights they have on them, making it safe to enter their compartments and retrieve them. Mathilde will only enter compartments that return her knocking, which would signify that there's someone inside who would have heard and followed her instructions.


- There will be a one hour moratorium.
- Roll for number of survivors was made here and here.
- To be clear about the danger SoS rescues represent, if you had rolled a 1 when dropping into the compartment, the quest would have ended instantly. Other results of varying unpleasantness were lined up, up to a threshold I won't share.
- Current headcount: 300-400 rescued, including KaK Metalsmiths Guildmaster.

Novel rescue plan FAQ:
- Using a SoS'd stick to see if there is light on the other side of a door or wall would not result in the stick neatly and quietly merging with the wall. The result would be completely unpredictable, probably dangerous, and have a high chance of breaching the compartment.
- Likewise, Branulhune is not an implement for neat incisions. Trying to use it to cut open compartments will be functionally identical to hitting that wall with a cannonball, with negative results for anyone on the other side and on the structure as a whole.
- A Dwarven equivalent to morse code does exist, but those aboard would not know it. It's a Guild secret of the Miners and Engineers.
- Ulgu-based illusion spells cannot penetrate through the Chamon-rich metal without a lot more Ulgu than is available inside the ship.
- Ulgu-based illusion spells can't communicate through water and steel. Sound can't create speech, and Illusion requires too much power to crank up the volume enough.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[*] Scour the river banks for anything the bandits left behind

You shake your head. You've gotten lucky so far that your miscasts have been relatively benign, pushing that luck any further could have disastrous results not just for you, but for those you'd be trying to rescue. You wrap yourself in Substance of Shadow one last time and step through the hull to grab the chain, allowing you to be pulled onto the shore.

"That's the last of them in the passenger holds," you say to the waiting Dwarves. "There's still some sealed compartments, but I can't access them without risking breaching them. They'll have to wait for Barak Varr." You try not to pay too much attention to the expressions of those that were waiting. Though you saved more Dwarves than you could have hoped and there's still some possibility of rescue for the others, there were still plenty that died long before you arrived. Not everyone is coming out of this with a happy ending. Instead you seek out Belegar who's deep in conversation with the leaders of those present, including the one you had rescued from the sunken ship.

Belegar notices your approach and wraps up the conversation before coming over to you. "Near as I can tell, there were about five hundred and fifty aboard the ship when it went down," he says. "Only twenty reached the shore. You just added three hundred and twelve to that tally."

"Not a bad night's work," you say, trying to resist the urge to speculate how much larger that number would be if you'd cleared every compartment.

He's squinting at you in the lamplight. "Are you okay? Your eyes look odd."

You shrug. "It's temporary. I had to do a lot of magic in a short time."

"If you need to rest, you've done your share and then some. One of the gyrocopters brought word from Barak Varr's incoming reinforcements, they're fully equipped for rescue and retrieval, and Dreng is leading a band of volunteers from the Okral to try to track down the ambushers, more to keep their minds occupied than in the hopes of actually finding them. Everything's in hand."

You shake your head. "I've got enough left in me to at least search the shoreline for anything the attackers left behind."

"You're sure?"

"I'm the only one that can usefully do so right now. Could be something they left that'll be washed away by dawn."

Though Belegar doesn't press the issue, he does assign a few of his Hammerers to go with you. In case any of the ambushers are still out there, he says. You don't try to argue. You think you're still more or less okay, but if you're wrong, you'd much rather be carried back than pass out in the river mud.

---

To the eyes, the banks of the river are an indistinguishable mess of mud and tangled vegetation in the moonlight. Magesight makes it much easier to pick out the details, as the vegetation thrums with Ghyran while the mud only glows faintly with it. Picking out something out of place is as easy as looking for the inert silhouette amongst a background of jade. This strategy quickly pays off, as not far behind the sunken ship you find a length of thick rope leading into the water. It has a series of knots tied at regular intervals towards the end, and judging by the marks in the mud the current has been tugging at it insistently. The Skull River will have to go without this piece of detritus. With the help of the Hammerers you overcome the weight of water and mud and reel it in. It ends abruptly, and after wiping the mud off the end you frown at it. It's heavily frayed and feels stiff to the touch, more so than the fibers in the rest of the rope. So you suspect this was used to hold the explosive in place while the ambushers waited for their prey. You don't see any Aqshy. So no Bright Magic was involved in the explosion, and this confirms the reports that it happened under the waterline. If either or both of those were the case, the Aqshy in the explosion - either directly from a magical component, or drawn in by the moment of detonation - would have been embedded in the rope with such force that it would take days or weeks for it to fade.

It doesn't take long to find what you expected to on the other side of the river - another length of rope tied to a gnarled tree. Pulling that up as well reveals similar fraying and singeing to the other end, and an identical lack of Aqshy. So they use the tree as an anchor and hold the rope at the other end. The explosive charge is either weighted or heavy enough to sink on its own, but not all the way to the bottom because it's being held in place. The first ship in the Okral's convoy arrives, and... it explodes. Somehow. Set off by the musket fire? No, it exploded below water. By a pull on the rope? Too easy for it to have been set off by the pull of the river. On impact? That has possibilities. You've read books on Dwarven chemistry that mentioned chemicals that could be ignited by impact or by mixing them with other chemicals or even on contact with water. But while anyone with gold can get their hands on a barrel of gunpowder, those chemicals are significantly more exotic, with much fewer sources...

You shake your head. Speculate when you've exhausted the available evidence, not before. The explosion happened underwater, that means the explosive was either weighted or heavy enough to sink on its own, which means the weight or the remains of that explosive would have sunk to the bottom of the river. You commandeer one of the rowboats from the beached monitors and have the Hammerers row you out to a point between the two ropes and secure the boat in place by tying it to the shade cloth still suspended above the river. Substance of Shadow served well before, but that was when you were moving through a ship full of air pockets. To search the riverbed you'll need to come up to the surface for air, and that would risk coming up outside of any cast shade and then having the moonlight dispel the effect and suddenly finding your body existing in the same place as the river water. But unlike the boat, your only obstacle here is the water and the fish.

With a summoned knife you prick your finger and allow a drop to fall into the river, and after a moment you activate your Robes and dip your hand in after it. The blood has already attracted the attention of several fish and it takes only a few seconds for you to feel the slight pressure of powerful jaws closing on even more powerful Aethyric Armour, and then blood blooms in the river as the Rune on your belt returns the chomp twofold to the fish. You withdraw your hand, double-check that it's unmarked, and then take a breath, summon Branulhune, and jump over the side.

Of all the possible uses for a runic gromril greatsword made by one of the greatest Runelords in the Karaz Ankor, being a sinker is a particularly humble one, but it serves as admirably in that role as it has in every other you have put it to. The weight of the star-metal pulls you straight downwards as you do your best to ignore the bolder fish attempting to make a snack of you and being immediately punished for it. The river water around you is still flowing and vibrant with Ghyran, but that just makes it easier to pick out what doesn't belong.

Over the course of several dives you retrieve several fragments of metal, and when your lungs start to ache you dismiss Branulhune - which disappears with an odd flash of light that it's never displayed before, which is a puzzle for later - and allow the buoyancy of your still-full lungs to bring you back to the surface. When you're unable to find more, you have the boat return to shore, and you spend some time drying out as best you can at the fires that were built for the Dwarves you rescued. When your teeth are no longer chattering, you confer with Belegar and Gotri.

"Steel," Gotri is saying, "not the worst I've seen, but definitely not Dwarven. If I had to guess, I'd say Tilean or Imperial."

"They're all curved back on each other," Belegar observes. "Every one."

"Hoops," you say, "around an exploding barrel."

Gotri turns the fragment over in his hands. "That would cause these stress patterns," he concedes.

"Barrel full of gunpowder - or something else - hanging from a rope, one end of the rope tied to a tree, the other held by the ambushers. It's heavy enough to sink and it's held below the waterline, either to avoid the monitor's armour or to prevent it being seen or both. If they had a particular target in mind they could give it enough slack for the barrel to sink to the bottom and allow non-targets to pass by unharmed. When this monitor arrives, it hits the barrel and it explodes. Don't know the exact mechanism."

"I could think of a few ways to do it," Gotri says after a moment, "but it would require very careful manufacturing, and not minding terribly much if it explodes prematurely."

"It could also be done with magic, and I suspect chemistry. But even if you combine all three possible triggers, that narrows it down a lot more than just a barrel of gunpowder." You turn the steel over and over in your hands. "I might be able to find out more back in Karak Eight Peaks. And if Barak Varr can find the slugs shot at the ship, I could get something out of that too."

"I'll see to it," Belegar says.

---

Dawn arrives without further complication, and everyone present breaths a sigh of relief as a deep, reverberating horn signals the arrival of Barak Varr's reinforcements. Like an outraged goose rushing to the protection of its goslings, the Karaz Ankor's only riverine ironclad rushes upriver bristling with both guns and with heavily armed Dwarves, and leading a convoy of smaller but equally battle-ready monitors. It pauses only long enough to disgorge a King, several Guildmasters, and a small army to begin taking control of the situation, then turns its attention to the stricken ship.

How long does it take to divert a river? Months? Years? Decades? You don't know. But you now know how long it takes to divert half a river, at least if you're Barak Varr: about a couple of hours. With extremely precise driving it lines itself up so that its bow is almost touching that of the sunken ship and its stern is on the verge of running aground, and somewhere inside the massive vessel, a certain series of valves that are very rarely turned are turned, and water floods in. With an almost stately grace it settles lower and lower in the water until it touches the river bottom, its top decks still well clear of the surface. The water level on one side of the wreck begins to sink as it rises on the other, and working with coordinated grace, hundreds of Dwarves begin to fill and stack sandbags to further increase the discrepancy. By the time the first hour is over the top of the wreck is piled high with sandbags to keep all the water on one side and not the other, the river has receded enough on the dry side for some wary Dwarves to start bludgeoning beached fish, and water from inside the ship has begun to pour over the massive hole in its front. By the second, the first new survivor emerges, blinking in the light as they're lead to warmth and care. You'd like to bask in that moment, but like two Kings and more Engineers than you can count, all your attention is fixed on the hole that sunk the ship.

"Dead center of the bottom corridor," says the Grandmaster of Barak Varr's Slotchokri, the Riverine Shipwrights, speaking loudly to be heard over the rushing of the nearby river. "And the blast radius was large enough to partially open up the corridor above and the compartment below. They couldn't have found a more crippling shot if they tried."

"We see this sometimes, from-" a moment of hesitation from the Grandmaster of Barak Varr's Skarrenokri, the Oceanic Shipwrights. You turn to him, and find his eyes on you.

"She knows," Belegar grunts.

"The Frurndar have weapons that strike below the waterline. We've begun armouring against it, but..." He shrugs. "You can only put so much weight on a ship. More steel below the waterline means less above it. The Slotchokri were thought to never need to protect against more than an errant boulder."

"We'll explore whether that was in error later," King Byrrnoth says. "Focus on this."

"A barrel of an explosive substance was held in place by rope," Gotri says. "One side tied to a tree, the other held. The ship hits the barrel, the barrel explodes. Possibly some sort of impact trigger mechanism."

"Gunpowder?" One Engineer says.

"Must have been a hell of a lot of it for a hole that big," says another.

"I'll be able to say how big the barrel was as soon as I get the metal back to my workshop," you say. "From there you should be able to determine whether it was gunpowder or something..." Your voice trails off as you stare at the jagged edge of the hole.

"Something what?" says one of the Engineers, but you're already halfway up a ladder against the side of the hole. The last trickles of bloody water have just finished emerging from the frontal compartment, and without that steady stream of Shyish you think you can see a trace of something, something that fire and water haven't quite washed away. Embedded in the steel here and there are what you'd call splinters if they weren't so pulverized. Magically speaking, many types of live wood are very mutable and can absorb just about any magical energy that it finds itself surrounded by, for better or worse. Dead wood retains these properties to an extent, so prolonged exposure can leave a mark. You wouldn't be surprised to see Ghyran from the river or Shyish from the dead Dwarves in the pulp, but you're not seeing that. Lurking inside the wood pulp is the very faintest touch of Dhar.

"Traces of Dark Magic," you say. "Not from the trigger mechanism, a Dhar trigger wouldn't have lasted long enough for the wood to absorb it. It's from the explosive substance. And I only know of one explosive substance that would radiate Dhar."

"Skaven blackpowder," Belegar says, and you nod. The atmosphere wasn't exactly jovial before, but it darkens even further as hands tighten on weapons.

---

There's still a great deal of work to be done, from tending to the most badly in need of it to the recovery and standing vigil over the corpses of the fallen to the refloating of the stricken ship for it to be towed back to Barak Varr and restored. But your work here is done. You'd intended to discuss the matter further with Belegar and the others in the Gyrocarriage, but as soon as you sit down and are enfolded in the now-familiar thrum of the engines you find your eyes closing of their own accord, even as Dreng begins to launch into an extended grumble over not finding anything useful. It's been a very long day, and there'll be time for talking later.


- Start of the new turn to come shortly.
- Rolls were made for what you were able to find, but were not displayed to avoid giving OOC information. Mathilde does not know if what she found is all there was to find.

 

[Boney]

Spoiler: Voting results

[x] [TOWER] Greenhouse
[*] [LIBRARY] Chaos Dwarves: Extensive Imperial + Extensive and Esoteric Dwarven (300gc + 4DF), Chaos Sorcery: Extensive Imperial + Extensive Dwarven (200gc), Hobgoblin Khanates: Extensive Imperial + Extensive Dwarven (200gc)
[*] [COLLEGE] No purchase.
[*] [DWARF] No purchase.
[*] [PURCHASE] No purchase.

Unfortunately, you don't have the privilege of seeing the Council react to your new promotion. Among Dwarves the news of such things spread quietly behind the scenes so nobody inadvertently gives offence by addressing a newly-promoted craftsman by their former title, and everyone transitions seamlessly to referring to you by your new title, or at least various attempts at it. Khazalid doesn't have established labels for Wizards - not complimentary ones, anyway - so you find yourself referred to as everything from the relatively brief Dalokri to the intimidating mouthful Dalmhornzhufokralaki, which isn't precisely correct but you take the compliment in the spirit that was intended.

The beginning of the Council meeting is dedicated to touring the work of the Okral, which you suspect is being treated with a great deal more respect than would have been the case if their trip home had been uneventful. Karags Rhyn and Mhonar have been restored and dedicated to Valaya and Smednir respectively, and most of the Clans of Karak Eight Peaks are moving into them from Karag Lhune. It's far from necessary as Karag Lhune would only begin to approach cramped if every Dwarf, Halfling, and human in the Karak decided to live there, but it does mean that five of the Eight Peaks are at least partially populated. It's never a good idea to leave a vacuum in the mountains for too long, as there's a great deal of hostile beings that will eagerly fill it if given half a chance. Besides, the smelters and forges that have been established in Karag Mhonar are a big step on the way to the Karak being self-sufficient.

Also toured are the exterior Sentinels and Morzund's Wall, a series of walls and watchtowers that keep a wary eye on the gaps between the southern Karags where the terrain isn't quite difficult enough to fully dissuade a determined attacker on its own. The Western Gates are the final stop and certainly impress, as the towering stone edifice looks forbidding enough even before you factor in the cannon that line the battlements. Not toured, but definitely important, was the great deal of work put in to the tunnels below the Karak, mapping their extent, exterminating anything left in there that shouldn't be, and collapsing, filling, and barricading until what was left presented as defensable and patrollable an underground perimeter as possible.

"Time for settling in properly," Belegar says as you all make your way back from the Western Gates. "No doubt there'll be some sort of teething troubles as entire Clans move in to what will hopefully be their homes for the rest of time." Belegar grimaces. "I'd planned a celebration, but with the attack on the Okral it seems like it would be in poor taste. And speaking of which," he nods to you, "anything you can uncover before it's time for your Expedition will be of great help."

"I wish the timing was better," you say with a frown. "The attack, matters with Marienburg... I worry I'm going to come back to a war."

"If we waited for good times to get things done, we'd never do them," Belegar says, to nods of agreement from the other Dwarves. "Karag Dum called for help a hundred and eighty-five years ago, it's about time somebody answered."



Mandatory Actions: Pick one from each category.

Magister Maximilian de Gaynesford, Gold Wizard
[ ] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his metalworking studies.
[ ] MAX: Have him scour all the reference materials at his disposal for any other Dhar-radiating explosive, as well as how difficult it might be for non-Skaven to replicate their blackpowder. (NEW)
[ ] MAX: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations.
[ ] MAX: Have him train Hubert (optional: specify in what)
[ ] 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 continue to teach Adela what he knows of engineering.
[ ] JOHANN: Have him investigate the metal evidence taken from the Skull River ambush. (NEW)
[ ] JOHANN: Allow him to spend all his time on his own preparations.
[ ] JOHANN: Have him train Hubert (optional: specify in what)
[ ] 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.
[ ] 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: Aid Hubert in his search for a Familiar.
[ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Gretel and the Besiegers for the Karag Dum Expedition.
[ ] DUCK: Attempt to recruit Adela and some human siege weapons and operators for the Karag Dum Expedition.
[ ] DUCK: Recruit Gretel and Adela for the Karag Dum Expedition.
[ ] DUCK: Each of your three ducklings can fight in melee. Spar with them, and teach them what you can.
[ ] DUCK: Study an artefact with one of the Journeymen: specify who and which.


The Eastern Imperial Company
Your share of EIC profits: 175 crowns / turn
Current Focus of the EIC: Expansion along the Aver
EIC Handler: The Hochlander
[ ] EIC: Completely and 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.
[ ] EIC: Have the Hochlander set up a shadow headquarters for the EIC in the Sunken Palace.
[ ] EIC: Have the Hochlander set up a shadow headquarters for the EIC in your fief.
[ ] EIC: Have the Hochlander investigate how feasible it would be for a non-Skaven to acquire warpstone-enhanced blackpowder. (NEW)
[ ] EIC: Suggest Eike spend a few weeks in Karak Eight Peaks, so she can grow familiar with Dwarves and their ways. (NEW)
[ ] EIC: Found an auditors division, to make sure the ledgers are in order.
[ ] EIC: Insert agents into a particular province, cult, company, or institution to start gathering their secrets. (specify who)
[ ] EIC: Reach out to Julia to find out if she's interested in being poached or passing on information.
[ ] EIC: Reach out to Roswita, and have the EIC start passing on tips about any tax evasion or other naughtiness by the EIC's rivals.
[ ] EIC: Expand the EIC's paramilitary river navy.
[ ] EIC: Improve the EIC's paramilitary river navy.
[ ] EIC: Sell some of the Grand Urbaz Bank coins to collectors and museums on King Belegar's behalf.
[ ] EIC: Have a blackpowder factory built in Wurtbad. (NEW)
[ ] EIC: Have the EIC keep tabs on mercenaries so that they can be more easily hired if needed.


Personal Actions: you have TWO 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: Karag Dum Expedition preparations
[ ] Join the Karag Dum Expedition in Praag, rather than at High Pass. (NEW)
[ ] Seek out merchants who have travelled the Skull Road to learn what they know of it.
[ ] Trawl around the bars and brothels of Tilea, looking to talk to the actual mercenaries that have walked either the Skull Road, or the Great Steppes.
[ ] Attempt to recruit assistance for the Karag Dum Expedition. (specify the individual, mercenary group, cult, College, or other; two choices per AP spent)
[ ] With the help of a gyrocarriage, personally scout part of the route (specify: High Pass, Road of Skulls, Western Great Steppes, Karag Dum vicinity)
[ ] Attempt to learn the Greenskin tongue to communicate with the Hobgoblin Khanates of the Steppes.
[ ] Attempt to learn Kurgan to communicate with the Kurgan of the Steppes.
[ ] Learn what you can of dealing with the Hobgoblin Khanates of the Steppes.
[ ] Learn what you can of dealing with the Kurgan of the Steppes.

Spoiler: Qrech

Qrech
[ ] 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 a Qrech option):
[ ] 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 or College 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. Continue to work on them. (NEW-ish)
[ ] Have one of Prince Gotri's pilots teach you to fly a gyrocopter.
[ ] Attempt to finish off the Grey College spellbook by learning Shadow of Death, Cloak Activity, and the MAPP.

Research and Publishing:
[ ] Study an artefact: select which.
[ ] Write a paper: select which.
[ ] Write something else: write in.
Once per turn, you can write a paper or write a 'something else' 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.

Aethyric Vitae (13 gallons):
[ ] Experiment with integrating the Vitae into enchantments.
[ ] 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 Fiendishly Complex 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 complete your 'Fog Path' spell (NEW-ish)
[ ] Attempt to create a spell (see Approved Spells threadmark)
[ ] Attempt to capture an Apparition (optional: specify which)
[ ] Turn a staff from mundane materials.
[ ] Turn a staff from the horn of a Storm Dragon.

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: -150gc for 6 rooms.
[ ] 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.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: Add preservation Runes to your library: -4 Dwarf Favour, can be paid for with book budget DF for next two purchase periods.
[ ] PENTHOUSE: No additional construction.
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:
[ ] Involve yourself in the Sylvanian campaign (specify how)
[ ] Involve yourself in the Marienburg affair (specify how)
[ ] Involve yourself in the Black Waters project (specify how)

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. Rule of thumb: if you have to explain why this might apply, it probably doesn't.

Spoiler: Accumulated Artefacts

Ranald's Coin (note from Ranald: don't)
Vampire skulls
Branulhune - investigate the odd flash when it is desummoned underwater

Spoiler: Potential Papers

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.

Comprehensive notes on possible terrain obstacles (FRESH)

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)

Preliminary paper on Aethyric Vitae. (TIMELESS)
Coins of Nehekhara's Fifth Dynasty (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 Currency of Strygos
The Currency of Tylos
Coins of Nehekhara's Fourth Dynasty
Coins of Nehekhara's Sixth Dynasty

- There will be a two hour moratorium
- This turn has two less personal actions and no Serenity action, due to Mathilde leaving for the Karag Dum Expedition partway through it.
- If the Coin is set to the Protector, it will cover the actions Mathilde undertook during the Ambush on Skull River.
- For this turn and this turn only, I am allowing a conditional in the form of 'if we fail to complete X, use overwork to try again'.
- Any negative effects from Overwork taken during this turn will not begin until next turn.
- This concludes my three-month rendition of Immigrant Song in the threadmark names.

Spoiler: Word Nerding

Let's conjugate 'ok':

Ok - cunning or skilfull
Okri - Craftsman
Okrak - the craft itself
Okrul - craftsmanship
Okral - Group of craftsman, Guild (informal)
Okralaz - Guild (formal, usually only applied to respected Dwarven Guilds)
Okrali - Guild member in good standing
Okrit - Apprentice
Okreni - Journeyman
Okrari - Master ('Okri' is often used instead, 'Okrari' is only needed when specifically referring to the rank)
Dalokri - Grandmaster (informal)
Dalokruli - Grandmaster (formal)
Dalokrali - Grandmaster in good standing with a guild
Dalokraki - Grandmaster of exceptional skill
Dalokralaki - Foremost Grandmaster in a specific guild
Dalokralazi - Leader of a specific guild
Dalokraz - something very well-made
Dalokrulaz - something made by a Grandmaster
Dalokrulakaz - greatest pinnacle of a particular craft in the current era
Dalokralakaz - most impressive work created by a specific guild in the current era
Dalokrulakaz-ha - greatest pinnacle of a particular craft era, usually reserved for the works of the Ancestor Gods
Dalokrulakazi-ha - greatest ever craftsman of their type, usually reserved for the Ancestor Gods.

Words to specify the specific craft go before the 'ok'. Eg: Grungokri = miner, wutokri = carpenter, zhufokri = Wizard, mhornzhufokri = Grey Wizard.

Dalmhornzhufokralaki = Foremost Grey Wizard Lord of their Guild, applied to Mathilde due to a lack of understanding of the internal structure of the Colleges and how the K8P Wizards fit into them.