Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[Boney]

Winning vote:

[X] [Julia] Plan Townhouse
-[X] Hire her, buy her a home in town near your residence. Somewhere where people coming and going at odd times won't draw a fuss.
-[X] Her job would be to manage your informant networks in general, particularly sorting through the reports and picking out what's significant versus chaff. It'd also involve independently expanding the networks as funds and opportunities allow after she has settled in.
-[X] The only ones who are should specifically know her position should be Van Hal, yourself, Markus and your assigned greatswords and anyone you assign to work for her. Otherwise, be subtle.
-[X] Provide funding for a handful of retainers to keep up appearances. If she has any family contacts she can call on to provide reliable and vetted guards and servants, or to assist with background checks on any such new hires, have her do so.
-[X] Introduce her to Van Hal.

[X] [Greatswords] Greatswords will stay in the castle, except when we're going somewhere publicly, or interrogating potentially hostile persons.

[X] [Public Report] Plan Points for public consumption.
-[X] The castle infiltrators were sleeper agents.
--[X] They have not been conducting any significant sabotage.
--[X] Their loyalty was secured by a necromantic spell that would kill them if they even thought of betraying their master, or if their master did not meet them for more than a few days.
--[X] Said master had fled the area the very night an infiltrator got caught.
--[X] The monsters in the castle walls were previous victims of the spell. Refer to Van Hal's paper on details if anyone is interested.
--[X] They were lying about having any religious beliefs, but got away with it because nobody could probe them further on Morrite or Shallyan practices.
-[X] All other castle servants have been examined, their backstories hold up and all future servants would be rigorously examined to prevent more of this.

[X] [Private Report] Plan Shorter Meeting
-[X] Tell him about everything you learned in the interview. Especially how they produce infiltrators.
-[X] You have acquired some subordinates.
--[X] You have hired a lieutenant, Julia Massif, to help manage your information networks. In case any unfortunate 'accidents' happens to you, he can have some continuity through her so he wouldn't need to start from scratch.
--[X] Several veterans have been assigned to gather low-level information.
-[X] You have a lead on permanently sealing the snake away. Give him as much information on the process as you have, if he's interested. Suggest he approve a one-time increase in the discretionary budget in the interests of keeping his favourite spymaster un-eaten-by-a-snake. It'll be around a hundred gold for the mirrors, plus the cost of a skilled artisan to assemble the mirrorbox.

[X] [Orders] Plan Now, Back To That Other Guy...
-[X] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, especially since he's actively trying to sabotage the hunt for him. He must be found, and you've got a lead: Julbach.
-[X] The Stirlandian League is a cancer eating at Stirland's economy, and it must be destroyed.
--[X] This would likely be difficult while the previous spymaster is still at large to run counterintelligence, but it can be done.
-[X] The spell used by the informants is like nothing you've heard of before. You want to investigate it, and see if you can detect or replicate it.
--[X] If you can replicate the technique, it will be a powerful tool for the Empire's defense. There's the problem of killing the user, but that is potentially a problem of source -- Dhar is corrosive by nature.
-[X] There's definitely evil afoot in Drakenhof. Perhaps there's a way to survive investigating this.
--[X] Recommend against it. With their sleeper agents uncovered and in the wind, there's no immediate threat, and the potential gain isn't worth the risk of a dead spymaster. Hint hint.

Click to shrink...

---

When he arrives and opens the meeting, Van Hal's first order of business is the introduction of the newest member of the council. Outrider Champion Gustav von Jungfreud, proven warrior and able commander, et cetera, et cetera. You're all introduced to him, and you give him a smile and nod when it is your turn, though in all honestly you doubt he'll last much longer than the Professor did.

"So, Gustav," Van Hal begins the meeting proper. "We've spoken at length of your plans to establish pistoliers in Stirland. I feel it will be a worthy addition to Stirland's forces, both in times of war and to keep the roads clear in times of peace. Work with Wilhelmina and Anton in arranging the importation of the firearms you'll need. Make sure there's close ties between the pistoliers and the Roadwardens - they'll be working hand-in-hand." Gustav looks pleased, but he's barely given an opportunity to express his thanks before Van Hal's moving on. "Anton, report."

"Everyone along the Stirland-Sylvanian border is on board with the fortification plans, and the corvée are being organized for Herr Schultz now," Anton says, looking pleased with himself. The news causes Schultz to perk up a little too, though only barely.

HORNAU COOPERATION: Secured.
STEINBACHTHAL COOPERATION: Secured.
SIEGFRIEDHOF COOPERATION: Secured.

"Speaking of, Schultz, how goes the road?"

"It cuts right through a place called the Haunted bloody Hills! How do you think it's going?" he snaps, then quails under the look Van Hal gives him. "It... progresses. There's been attacks, nothing organized, including one where I damn near got my head bitten off by some glowing green ghost thing waving a farming implement around, but they seem unorganized and they're being suppressed by patrols from the 2nd and 3rd divisions."

LEICHEBURG-LANGWALD ROAD: Construction commenced.

"When you go back, it'll be with several squads of Greatswords at your back." Schultz looks even more perked up at that. "Begin construction of a permanent fortified barracks at Leicheburg, large enough for two divisions. And don't forget the embrasures for cannon and mortar - there's ten of each assigned to the 3rd. Use local labour as much as possible without sacrificing the strength of the walls." He consults his notes. "Anton... pack for..." he hesitates, and drums his fingers on the table while he considers. "Flensburg. We'll try to unravel that terrible knot while things are quiet. " Anton winces, but nods. "Wilhelmina?"

"Archives are as secure as a dwarven vault. Nothing's getting in there that isn't allowed to be. Apart from that, nothing new on the money front - we've still got a bit of a surplus but that'll change soon." She glances at Gustav and Schultz.

EAGLE CASTLE: Archives reinforced.
WEALTH OF STIRLAND: Poor.
INCOME OF STIRLAND: Mediocre.
TREASURY OF STIRLAND: Poor.

"Money is for spending," Van Hal says dismissively. He checks the papers in front of him again, and then compares two side-by-side. "Weber, report."

"The castle infiltrators were sleeper agents," you report confidently. "They have not been conducting any significant sabotage, and I can confidently say that all other castle servants have been examined, their backstories hold up and all future servants will be rigorously examined to prevent more of this. These agents escaped detection because while they were lying about having any religious beliefs, they got away with it because nobody could probe them further on Morrite or Shallyan practices." You consult your own notes to keep from giving Kasmir an accusing look. "Their loyalty was secured by a necromantic spell that would kill them if they even thought of betraying their master, or if their master did not meet them for more than a few days. Said master had fled the area the very night an infiltrator got caught. And on a side note, the monsters in the castle walls were previous victims of the spell." You look up once more and note that your audience is rapt. You suppose it's no wonder - they're talking about humdrum matters of construction and travels and infrastructure and you're telling tales of necromantic thralls being purged from the castle.

Van Hal nods. "A thorough investigation. Well done." He glances down at his notes once more. "You and Wilhelmina are to work together. The Stirlandian League has been allowed to continue for long enough. Crush them, seize everything of value they possess, and restore normal trade." You note that Schultz is unable to conceal the sudden increase in attention he's paying. "With the archives restored, you should be able to draw suitable legal authority based on non-payment of taxes." Van Hal pauses for a moment before turning to the last man at the table. "Kasmir..." He seems to struggle with himself for a moment, then sighs. "Continue with your chaplain project."

---

"Subtle," is the first thing you say to Van Hal as you step into his office, drawing a questioning look from him. "Regarding Kasmir, I mean."

He barks a humourless laugh in return. "I damn near told him to go back to Reikland and tell the Grand Theogonist that his services are no longer required. He tests me sorely." You don't know how to respond to that, so you remain silent as he pours the two of you drinks. "So, what have you been getting up to in the shadows of late," he prompts, pushing the steel mug across the desk to you.

"Not so much in the shadows - as you may know, I spent nearly every waking moment ensuring the castle remains purged."

"Mmm. Couldn't have done much of a better job myself," he notes, a note of pride in his voice. "I had my doubts about you, but you've really come into your own."

You fight down a blush and forge forward with your report. "But I have started to build a staff. As you know, I've taken on some veterans from the Army of Stirland, and I've hired on an assistant in the form of a young lady from Flensburg, who'll be compiling information from my informants. Julia Massif. If anything happens to me, she'll be a decent candidate to act as an interim replacement and will be able to hand over my intelligence network."

"Gods forbid," he mutters. "Wait, Massif... isn't that-?"

"Yes, she's the third child of the Grand Mayor."

"I really hope we're able to find a solution to that whole issue," he sighs. "Bloody Flensburg..."

"I've also got a lead on the Wisdom's Asp," you say, and Van Hal perks up, visibly interested. "My Master recommended a device theorized by da Miragliano, originally designed to trap light, that hopefully will. It's going to be rather expensive to build, though - if you could-?"

[REQUESTING FUNDS, Req ??, Stewardship, 89+10=99. Of course you can.]

"Of course, of course," he says, sketching a note to Wilhelmina. "Can't have my spymaster being eaten by a dream snake. da Miragliano - do you just have his blueprints, or do you have one of his writings?"

"A copy of Light and Its Properties, from the archives of the Grey College."

"If you don't mind I'd quite like to borrow that once you're done with it," he says, smiling in anticipation. "I once fired a da Miragliano crossbow - it would recock itself, though you had to wind it quite vigorously every ten shots. Amazing device."

"Of course," you say with a smile.

---

With the meeting done, you make your way to the townhouse that Julia is busy settling in to, nestled snugly against the road between Wurtbad's main road and the entrance to Eagle Castle. She's busily importing furniture and staff from the family manor in Flensburg, and when she isn't having the Greatswords you introduced her to arrange furniture to her exacting specifications she's writing letters introducing herself to your informants and asking that they start sending all that they hear, rather than what seems significant. She says she'll be hiring locally since most of the staff back home would be tied into the inter-family intrigues of the most powerful burghers of Flensburg, and has started to carefully vet candidates to act as various maids, footmen and retainers. It's expensive, but a small price to pay to have a public face of your department to draw attention away from the privacy of your Palace-Shrine.

---


PLAN FOR THIS TURN - CHOOSE BETWEEN SIX AND EIGHT. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST SIX WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASKS.

As Per Orders: Perform your current assignment.
The destruction of the Stirlandian League will take two actions. You will attempt to round up as much of every part of the League as you can, but you must select ONE priority to focus on:
[ ] The leaders of the Stirlandian League need to be rounded up so you can question them regarding their former patron.
[ ] Rounding up as many of the individual members of the League as possible will make it clear that nobody can engage in this sort of behaviour without facing eventual consequences.
[ ] Though Van Hal didn't mention it, you could work with authorities in Talabecland and Averland to help them do their own purges parallel to yours. They'd likely be grateful, but it will come at the expense of your activities in Stirland.
[ ] The documents of the Stirlandian League will allow you to rebuild the north-south trade network with speed and efficiency.
[ ] The assets of the Stirlandian League will be a huge boost to Stirland's coffers.

Delegation:
[LOCKED as Julia settles in]

[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors or your liege, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: You've been given good reason to mistrust your fellow councillors. Perhaps you should see what they spent their time doing (choose one).
[ ] Letters Home: You might be able to wring more information out of your Master, or you might just be able to get news, information and guidance in general from the Grey Order.
[ ] Hang Out A Shingle: Spymasters don't advertise, but wizards sometimes do. Make an official announcement that there's a wizard in residence, and see who comes out of the woodwork.
[ ] A Crisis of Faith: Van Hal's ongoing alienation with the Sigmarite faith is worrying. Maybe there's something you can do? (write in)

Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
[ ] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who).
[ ] Pretty Good Swords: You've struck up a friendship with the Champion of the Greatswords and have discovered a talent for wielding them. Continue to cultivate this.
[ ] Combat Training: You're virtually surrounded by armed warriors of various sorts. See if you can convince one to teach you (choose who).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: You haven't made many heavily armed friends yet, but gold is good for that. Go out and buy some training. (-personal gold)
[ ] You've got a handle on most of the Petty and Minor magics, but some still elude you. Dispel in particular could have come in very handy recently. Time to round up the rest of them. (NEW)
[ ] You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.

Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: So far you've failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try again with local goods. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room)

Research:
[ ] This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead.
[ ] Personally construct the Mirrorcatch Box. Though being around that many mirrors for that long makes you antsy, there's nobody else you can trust with the task. (expense paid for by Van Hal) (NEW)
[ ] Commission a craftsman to construct the Mirrorcatch Box. Having to explain every facet of it means you're not going to save time, but it will minimize your exposure to the mirrors... though you wonder if any Wurtbadian craftsman could successfully craft a da Miragliano device. (expense paid for by Van Hal) (NEW)
[ ] The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu. (NEW)
[ ] As a Journeywoman, the path to Magister is marked by mastering more than the two shadow spells you already know. Send to the Grey Order for the basics and work on figuring out one of the others.

Influence: Though you haven't taken these over (yet?) you could still spend some time to influence or tap into them. Write in what you would like to do with them.
[ ] The Wurtbadian Thieves Guild is currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god.
[ ] Biderhof, a village based on woodcutting and agriculture, has adopted you as one of it's own.
[ ] Your grip on the Wurtbad Watch is extremely tenuous, and would be difficult to tighten without official backing. Difficult, but not impossible.
[ ] Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.
[ ] There's a vacuum where a dozen trade guilds should be. Found one of your own, and let information and profits flow through you, and see what the Stirlandian League does about it. (warning: expensive, will need Van Hal or Wilhelmina to sign off on it)
[ ] Your time in the sewers made you realize just how much of a maze there is down there, and you wonder what could be lurking down in the dark (apart from your fellow devotees of Ranald). Get in touch with the various groups of rat catchers, sewer jacks and gong farmers that deal with it.

[ ] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)



FINANCES: NO ACTION POINT EXPENDITURE.

Personal Income: 50 gold/turn
Discretionary Income: 150 gold/turn
Informer Payroll unlocked

Currently paying Grey College tithe (-5 personal gold/turn)
Currently paying Grey College student loans (-35 personal gold/turn)

Currently embezzling 1/4 of discretionary income (-35 discretionary gold/turn, +35 personal gold/turn)

Currently employing 4 veteran informants (-40 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently employing Julia Massif (-30 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently maintaining the staff of a townhouse in Wurtbad (-20 discretionary gold/turn)

[ ] Begin plumping the informer rolls (choose ratio of real:fake informers. Almost impossible to detect, but also very difficult to increase or decrease the amount quickly)
[ ] Change tithe payment/loan payment/embezzlement (specify)
[ ] These agents are getting expensive. Write up a proposal for your discretionary budget to be increased, instead of waiting for Van Hal to decide to increase it. (warning: attracts oversight to your current budget) (NEW)

- The cost of purchasing the townhouse for Julia will be 150 gold, and will be added onto your discretionary expenses next turn.
- I've removed all of the 'no action required' actions apart from the new free social action, with the hope of making a plan easier and avoiding 'automatic' picks.
- I've thought about it, and I've removed the 'create-a-spell' option for now. It will return once (if?) you graduate to Magister.
- You can write in orders, but something worth writing in is probably worth adding to the list of possible orders, so feel free to ask if your idea can be added.
- As always, voting will be in plan format.

 

[Boney]

Winning plan:

[*] Plan Bless The Snake
-[*] The documents of the Stirlandian League will allow you to rebuild the north-south trade network with speed and efficiency.
-[*] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
--[*] Intrigue
--[*] Learning
-[*] You've got a handle on most of the Petty and Minor magics, but some still elude you. Dispel in particular could have come in very handy recently. Time to round up the rest of them. (NEW)
-[*] Personally construct the Mirrorcatch Box. Though being around that many mirrors for that long makes you antsy, there's nobody else you can trust with the task. (expense paid for by Van Hal) (NEW)
--[*] Ranald's Blessing
-[*] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)
--[*] Julia

Click to shrink...

---

Your first thought when planning your offensive against the Stirlandian League was that you needed to move against the entirety of the League at once, to prevent the next town over from being tipped off and scattering to the winds. But it occurs to you as you are staring thoughtfully at a map of Western Stirland, you don't actually need to move everywhere at once. You just need to move faster than a conventional rider.

Wurtbad to Tarshof, fifty miles. A desperate enough rider could make that in eight hours. You could make it in two without breaking a sweat. Thirty from Tarshof to Potting, thirty more to Worden, sixty more to Vigaun. You could personally see to the raids in every single town and village, spread over a couple of days, and still move faster than news could travel.

Several companies of troops are borrowed from the First Division and sent southwards over several days, ostensibly to end up in Central Stirland to do patrols into Hundsheimer Wald, the only hint to their true purpose being a word that Van Hal had personally with the Captain of each. They were reminded that, should they just so happen to linger for a time in a certain town or village, and should the Spymaster just so happen to meet them there, they were to remember that she spoke with his authority and they were to obey her orders. And while troops were on the march in the open, information was flowing in the dark.

The Wurtbadian Watch knew the Stirlandian League well, as they tipped them generously to keep the streets outside their properties clear of unsavoury elements. The tips had been accepted - very few in Stirland were so well off that they would say no to extra money just for doing their jobs - but to the proud veterans of the Watch, this engendered resentment, not gratitude, and you soon had a detailed list of every League property in Wurtbad. Their counterparts in the criminal underworld came through as well, and the list was supplemented by off-the-books properties containing smuggled goods and mistresses. And from out of town, the Headman of Tarshof was happy to pass on which building in the village acted as the warehouse and waystation for the Stirlandian League. When added to Wilhelmina's exhaustive records, you were confident you knew of every single possession of the Stirlandian League in Wurtbad and Tarshof.

It was upsetting that you had no information flowing from the bureaucratic snarl of Worden, but you hoped that Wilhelmina's records and supplementing documents you might find in your raids would do the job.

[Tapping the Innkeeper: Roll, 21.]
[Tapping the Watch: Roll, 77.]
[Tapping the Thieves Guild: Roll, 57.]
[Tapping the Headman of Tarshof: Roll, 41.]
[Wilhelmina's contributions: Roll, her Stewardship, 68+16=84.]

So after a solid month of planning, on a clear, moonlit night when the Wurtbadian Watch was out in force and a substantial amount of the Greatswords slipped out of the castle and took up positions in the city, you set off a rumble of illusory thunder in a cloudless sky as a symbol to begin, before personally kicking down the door of the administrative headquarters of the Stirlandian League and leading a charge of Greatswords into the building.

For a tense moment, it seemed as though the inhabitants - suspiciously scarred and muscled clerks with clubs close at hand - were going to put up a fight, and you almost regret that they don't. Some of the Greatswords clap them in chains and lead them away while the rest load up documents into a cart to be taken to Eagle Castle, while you quickly skim what you can find. You gravitate right to a bookshelf kept right next to a roaring fire and are glad you did - a record of investors, debtors, assets and agreements fills tome after tome, and though you can't easily get an up-to-the-minute record of their current assets from the chronological list of entries, it does give you a number of addresses to investigate in the southern towns of the Old Dwarf Road. The most recent of the tomes is now to join you on your journey south.

[Shock and Awe: Req 50, Martial, 27+10+20(Greatswords)=57.]
[Searching the place: Breakpoints 30/50/80, Intrigue, 59+14=73.]
[Skimming the documents: Roll, Stewardship, 54+10=64.]

Elsewhere in the city, doors were kicked down as Greatswords raid what turns out to be, in an amazing stroke of luck, the Stirlandian League's annual board meeting and shareholder gathering. Everyone with an inch of power in the League is clapped in irons and led out under the horrified eyes of the League's shareholders. Things are sewn up so quickly they join the Watch in raiding the lodgings of every known worker of the League, and soon Eagle Castle's dungeons are full to overflowing.

Though the Wurtbad Thieves Guild is currently unworthy of the title, Wolf and Heideck put the word around to their flocks and you found plenty of takers for the flip side of the high-profile arrests. Almost every known warehouse and one affiliated bank has their guards either bopped firmly over the head or 'encouraged' to take the night off, and when morning rolls around and the now-exhausted Watch make their way to follow up on arrests with a wave of confiscations, they find almost every entry on their list completely unguarded and only mildly looted.

[Greatsword raids: 99+20=119. Overflow goes to gathering up rank-and-file members.]
[Wurtbadian Watch raids: 44+10=54.]
[Thieves Guild raids: 86+6=92.]

You, however, don't hear about how well the morning asset seizures go until much later, because you're already in Tarshof, overseeing a dawn raid on the League's local headquarters. The swordsmen aren't nearly as suited to the work as the Watchmen or the Greatswords you oversaw in Wurtbad but they still do sterling work, rounding up every single person, every bit of paper, every crate of cargo, and a flock of bewildered sheep. You even nab an exhausted rider who rode in just before you were about to launch the raid yelling a warning that the Wurtbad offices had been raided. The look on his face as you personally shackle him will keep you smiling for months to come. You're even able to convince him to tell you who he was going to tip off in the next town over. Then with all the cargo and prisoners on the road back to Wurtbad, it's time to head on to Potting.

Potting is almost a disaster. You're not sure how word beat you down the road until you see the pigeon coop on the roof of the building, but being able to go right to the building in question means you're able to salvage things somewhat. A good many people fled into the evening, some with carts, and there's paper ashes in all the fireplaces, but you still seize papers, people, goods, and still more sheep. Mindful of how close you came to getting nothing, as soon as everything's rounded up and on the road to Wurtbad, you're on your way to the largest target after Wurtbad: Worden.

Worden, amazingly, had no warning. You can only conclude that a hawk or a bow-armed peasant had messenger pigeon for tea, because when you raid the Worden Weaver's Guild, the local face of the Stirlandian League, the local leadership stares at you in sleepy shock over their breakfast until they're chained up and forced out of the building. The weaving equipment is too delicate and bulky to seize, so you leave the soldiers to stand guard until given further orders and make your way to your final stop on your journey, Vigaun.

Vigaun goes poorly entirely because when you launched your raid, most of the membership were out of the building because some sheep escaped from their pen. You round up a few of the members and the sheep, but at the end of the day you're still missing some of the tiny amount of assets to be found in Vigaun. You can't really find it in yourself to be too concerned. There's limited amount of skulduggery that can be done with a few off-the-books sheep.

When you get back to Wurtbad, you sleep for a day straight.

[Tarshof raids: 94+10(Headman cooperation)+20(Wurtbad paperwork)=124. 24 overflows to next roll.]
[Potting raids: 6+20(Wurtbad paperwork)+24(overflow)=50.]
[Worden raids: 96+20(Wurtbad paperwork)=116. 16 overflows to next roll.]
[Vigaun raids: 23+20(Wurtbad paperwork)+16(overflow)=59.]


Final haul from shutdown of the Stirlandian League:

100% of records pertaining to assets, investors, creditors and debtors.
100% of records pertaining to trade agreements, suppliers, and buyers.
100% of League leadership in Stirland.
73% of rank-and-file members of the League.
60% of the Stirlandian League's assets seized, 30% 'missing'.
100% of Tarshof branch.
50% of Potting branch.
100% of Worden branch.
60% of Vigaun branch.


League's remaining assets:
26% of the rank-and-file membership.
10% of their material wealth.
50% of Potting assets.
40% of Vigaun assets.


The final tally is mind-blowing. All that remains of the Stirlandian League is low-level members, a tenth of their former wealth, less than half of the two smallest nodes of their trade network, and anyone that was out of Stirland at the time. The Stirlandian League is done. The only problem left is what to do with all these sheep.

---

With so much of the League in custody, you've got plenty of chance to practice the arts of intrigue. You perform dozens of interrogations, then Mindhole the participants and interrogate them again. You turn them against each other, against the League, against their backers; you pull every scrap of information out of their head over and over and over. You engineer a phoney escape attempt, pretending to be in the previous Spymaster's employ. Then you engineer another, pretending to be in your own employ, and it's amazing how many of them would agree to become a mole in the League if offered their freedom - if it wasn't utterly dismantled, it'd be trivial to destroy it. You see their faces fill with desperate hope as they slip out of their cells and down the corridor, and see their expression fall as they run into a wall of Greatswords waiting for them.

After you've convinced three of them in a row that you're their long-lost and long-forgotten sister by using the details of their youth they told you before you Mindholed them, you realize you've reached the limits of what can be learned with a captive audience like this. But you've learned so much about what makes people tick, and what would make them break down.

Unfortunately, you're not able to learn much about your predecessor, simply because they don't know anything. He's been leveraging the blackmail material he collected as spymaster to force the Stirlandian League to keep paying him the same level of bribes they used to, but he hasn't actually done anything they know of in years. If he's still in Stirland, he's keeping his head very far down.

[Intrigue Increase Roll: 66. +1 Intrigue. Base intrigue was <14, additional +1 Intrigue.]
[Information acquired: 25+16=41. No location for predecessor.]

---

You share what you learned, if not how you learned it, with Julia over a series of lunches, and she listens eagerly each time. To have joined the intelligence apparatus of Stirland as it dealt a mighty blow to revitalize free trade delights her, and she speaks with passion and enthusiasm of her vision of Stirland as a trading hub of the Southern Empire. You raise an eyebrow at this, prompting her to go on; you always primarily saw Stirland as the front line in the war against the Undead, but she's got a geopolitical point - with land borders to five other states of the Empire, six if you count the Moot, Stirland does have that potential.

"If his Grace's plan works," she says animatedly, "or even if it's just partially successful, because Southern Stirland is irrelevant to this, then all we need is safe roads - and the new Marshal is tailor made for it - and the Praager Road to Ostermark is locked down. Look," she sketches a map on a notepad, "Anton Senior is a huge believer in trade with Wissenland, and honestly to hell with whoever's calling themselves the 'Count' of Flensburg, so that's Reikland and Wissenland trade nailed down. You've just swept up the biggest obstruction to North-South trade, which opens up trade with the Moot as well. Bam, Stirland's a trade nexus. If you want to get really crazy, if Southern Stirland is secure we can work on the roads to Black Water, and from there we unlock trade with Zhufbar and Karaz-a-Karak, without having to go through the nest of vipers in the Border Princes!"

You stare at her, and at the map. What she lacks in people skills, she definitely makes up for in ambition, and in contagious enthusiasm.

---

After the excitement of the start of the year, the next few months pass quietly in peaceful study, brushing up on long-forgotten spells and adding a couple of new ones to your repertoire. Drop and Sleep could both be amazingly useful in certain situations, and it's trivial to brush up on what you remember of it. The newer spells are trickier, but still fairly straightforward; the small books sent to you from Altdorf contain the basics and soon you're able to unravel magic when you concentrate. Silence is trickier, until you spend a handful of copper coins on a chicken, and after some long days spent trying to visualize freezing the movement of the air, you finally force the clucks to freeze in it's throat.

Then you move on to the other books your Master sent you, describing magic itself rather than any way of using it. They're a collection of ways of describing magic, through the lens of a dozen different metaphors favoured by master wizards. Though known as 'Winds', many don't actually see the substance of magic as such - some see them as threads, some as light, some as waves of liquid overlapping our reality. Some don't even see them - there's a section by a Gold Wizard that describes magic as sounds, and how each wind corresponds to a specific type of instrument.

The book starts an itch at the back of your head, and one day you head to the castle and borrow your copy of Light and Its Properties back from Van Hal, and read through it cover to cover in the courtyard, ignoring everything around you. It's a fantastic reference for light itself, of course, but if read as a metaphor, or rather as a lens for understanding... you stare into space as the evening rolls in, and see the Ulgu growing in prominence, and then fade as dusk gives way to night. You draw magic into you, and watch it flow into your frame. You relax, and watch as it disperses.

Everything still looks the same, now. But it looks the same like a page of text would look the same to an illiterate as it would to a scholar. Where once you saw shapes, now you see meaning.

[Spell study: Roll, Learning, 68+13=81. All Petty and 2 Lesser spells learned.]
[Learning study: Roll, Learning, 95+13=118. +2 Learning, trait acquired: Windreading.]

---

Finally, as midsummer approaches, it's time to see to your long-absent but not forgotten pursuer: Wisdom's Asp. With Van Hal's financial backing, you were able to cut through Wizard Chic and find someone to commission the innumerable small and oddly-shaped mirrors, and several months later it was time to start work putting them together. You ensure your sword is close at hand, wrap yourself in precautionary magical armour just in case, and sit down to begin work-

-mrroOOOOOOOOOOOWRL-

-and jump back up as the cat on your seat protests being sat on. How do they keep getting in here?! There's a skittering of its claws clicking against the tiles as it flees somewhere into the depths of the Hidden Palace, and you sigh as you look down at the fragments of the broken piece of mirror. You're going to have to get that commissioned all over again...

Then you look closer, and see the tiny, pointy fragments of shimmering colour among the broken shards. The thorns of a shimmering snake, severed.

You sigh again, and begrudgingly thank Ranald.

Weeks pass in a haze of slotting tiny mirrors into mind-boggling patterns, forming some sort of concentric cube design of refracted light. Your mind melts into a haze of angles and patterns, and time fades into meaninglessness. Once the final mirror is slotted into place, you stare blankly at what you've created as you try to remember something other than light and angles. Then you remember, and smile.

You hold your candle (you haven't actually lit the candle in ages, but it's a convenient target to cast Light upon) to the open lid of the box, and the light seems to be drawn into the box, and the visible mirrors glow brighter and brighter. You snap the lid shut, release the spell on the candle, and pause for a moment in darkness, before opening the lid again. For a brilliant second the room is illuminated white, and then fades once more.

Then, as you Light the candle once more, you feel rather than hear a nightmarish skittering reverberate through the room - the sound that's haunted your dreams for many years. The sound of that damned snake manifesting in your reflection. Without a moment's hesitation, you snap the lid of the box shut.

The Mirrorcatch box shivers on the desk, then jerks so violently it flips onto it's side. For half a second beautiful, malignant light coruscates out of the lid of the box where it's opened less than a crack. Then it lies still.

A few seconds later, a multi-hued liquid starts to ooze out of the crack.

You lay a finger against the box cautiously. You can feel the hostile energy of the snake contained within the box, and the movements of the box as it writhes in agony. You flip the box right way up again and clean the spilled fluid up with a rag, smearing a shimmering rainbow stain across the top of your desk. You place a weight on top of the box to keep it in place.

A few days later, the box begins to overflow with the rainbow liquid. You stare in horrified fascination.

By the end of the month, you've collected a pint of the liquid in the glass bottle you placed underneath it. It writhes with softly glowing magic, every colour intermingled but uncurdled. It evaporates slowly into raw magic when exposed to air, but when contained within a bottle it remains stable, untainted. You spend hours staring in suspicion for any sign of Dhar and find none. The leak never slows or speeds up, dripping steadily and unceasingly out.

What have you created.

[Thorned One made its roll for the first time ever but Ranald's Blessing prevented manifestation.]
[Constructing the box: Breakpoints 60/80, Learning, 99+13=112.]
[Thorned One roll after box construction: 9. It manifests again, but at the worst possible time for it.]
[I thought to myself, 'more than fifty, the snake is killed. Less than fifty, it is trapped alive.': 50. Schrodinger's Snake achieved.]

---

WORKED WELL TOGETHER: +1 to relationship with Wilhelmina. Stewardship stat revealed.
STAT INCREASE: +2 Intrigue
RELATION INCRASE: +1 with Julia, learned more of her beliefs, traits revealed
STAT INCREASE: +2 Learning
TRAIT GAINED: Windreading
SPELLS LEARNED: Drop, Sleep, Dispel, Silence
ALL PETTY SPELLS KNOWN!: +1 Magic
ITEM ACQUIRED: Schrodinger's Demon Snake.
INCOME ACQUIRED: One gallon of raw something every turn.
TRAIT REMOVED: Snakehunted


Discretionary Income: +150g
Embezzlement: -35g
Veteran informants: -40g
Julia: -30g
Replacement mirror and emergency glass bottle: -5g
Townhouse for Julia's base of operations: -150g
---
Net: -110g

Personal Income: +50g
Embezzlement: +35g
Tithe: -5g
Student Loans: -35g
---
Net: +45g

---

The Councillor's Table is much livelier this time around, with you and Wilhelmina animatedly chatting about your shared success against the Stirlandian League and even Gustav getting in on things, since his soldiers helped. To one side, Anton and Schultz are chattering happily away about the small uptick in Wissenland-Talabecland trade through Stirland that has already begun. Only Kasmir is left out of the chatter, his expression determined and the papers in his hands creased from his grip.

Van Hal spoke with you and Wilhelmina earlier, and told you that your success with the League has earned you both a boon and to consider what you will ask for; you've been turning that over and over in your mind since then, exploring the possibilities.

---

Public Report: Write in (optional; can write in word for word, or just outline what is focused on)
Public Report: Select boon.
[] Increase in personal pay
[] Increase in discretionary income
[] A holiday (no assignment next turn)
[] Knighthood (???)
[] Sheep! (substantial confiscated grazelands, many sheep, and related woolworking infrastructure in Wodern)
[] Trading company (found a new trading company in the vacuum using the League's confiscated resources, with the official backing of Stirland)
[] Your own military force (write in type)
[] Serving Stirland is reward enough
[] Other (write in; keep it sensible)

Private Report: Write in (optional; the private meeting is traditional at this point and will take place, simply say whether there's anything specific you want to bring up here)

Potential Orders:

Investigation:
[] There's definitely evil afoot in Drakenhof. Perhaps there's a way to survive investigating this.
[] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, but according to the Stirlandian League he's pulled out of the game with all his ill-gotten gains. If you're not willing to let that go, maybe you could track him down anyway.
[] You built something you don't really understand and trapped something you very much don't understand and now something you really don't understand is leaking out. Um?
[] The spell used by the informants is like nothing you've heard of before. You want to see if you can detect or replicate it.
[] Something your new Lieutenant said gave you an idea. Investigate the shores of the Black Water, see if it can truly be tamed.
[] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.

Infrastructure:
[] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it.
[] The Wurtbadian Watch has proven it's usefulness; despite their reluctance, perhaps it should be made part of your bailiwick and expanded to cover more of Stirland.
[] You've got the town of Biderhof eating out of your hand. If you could think of a reason to justify it, maybe all the taxes from it's lumber sales could flow into your pocket instead.
[] The Wurtbad Thieves Guild, despite barely being a loose gossip network, really came through during the take-down of the Stirlandian League. Maybe you should cultivate this useful tool.

[] Other/s (write in)

 

[Boney]

Winning vote:

[X] [Boon] Knighthood (???)

[X] [Public Report]: Nearly complete success in taking over the League. We have enough information to rebuild trading networks, enough prisoners to make examples or show mercy as desired. Even physical assets have been captured to 60%, with a further 30% lost to damage or scavengers.
-[X] It is unlikely the League would recover even if left alone from now on, under careful oversight (Like Wilhelmina's, especially if she sets up a Guild) it will be impossible.

[X] [Private Report]: We captured the damn Snake, we yet have to find out what exactly happened to it in that box, but it's not bothering me anymore, so no risk for you to loose your spymaster over that.
-[X] Include the assistance that your intel sources(Watch, Thieves, Villages) have contributed to the raid and highlight that the Wurtbad Thieves are likely currently holding onto a fair chunk of the missing assets in exchange for making the seizures much more painless. Taking them under your control should help keep the newly enriched thieves out of trouble.

[X] [Orders] Plan Order Backlog
-[X] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, but according to the Stirlandian League he's pulled out of the game with all his ill-gotten gains. If you're not willing to let that go, maybe you could track him down anyway.
-[X] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
-[X] The Wurtbadian Watch has proven it's usefulness; despite their reluctance, perhaps it should be made part of your bailiwick and expanded to cover more of Stirland.
-[X] The Wurtbad Thieves Guild, despite barely being a loose gossip network, really came through during the take-down of the Stirlandian League. Maybe you should cultivate this useful tool.

Click to shrink...

---

Van Hal bursts into the council chamber with exuberance and takes his seat at the head of the table. He accepts the rounds of salutes from the more militant members of the Council (including you, because you can't help yourself) with a nod, and dumps his handful of paperwork on the table in front of him and accepts more of the same from each of you. He skims through them, pauses on one with raised eyebrows, then nods to himself.

"First off," he says with a uncharacteristic grin, "the women of the hour. Wilhelmina and Mathilde."

You take the lead. "The Stirlandian League is dead," you begin triumphantly. "Every single mover and shaker within the League is in the dungeon. We have every scrap of paperwork the League has generated in the past decade. Even though it was the least of our priorities, we have seized two thirds of their assets, and all evidence indicates that the overwhelming majority of the remaining third was actually looted by criminal elements taking advantage of the chaos. The remaining elements of the League are a small handful of lower-level minions and some escaped sheep in the countryside around Potting and Vigaun. This chapter of Stirland's economic history is closed."

"As for the follow-through," Wilhelmina says, "we've got every scrap of paperwork the League has generated in the past decade. The few holes have been filled by what Mathilde recovered from the regional offices down south. All the existing supply contracts are being filled by freelance traders pro tem with Stirland taking a cut, with a more permanent arrangement awaiting your decision as to whether we step in in any official capacity to fill the void. I expected trade to slump before improving, but both overall trade and our revenue from it are already up from six months ago."

Everyone at the table already knew this, but there's a congratulatory round of applause anyway. Anton and Schultz especially look delighted. "Even better than I expected," Van Hal says, "and I've come to expect a great deal from the two of you. Very fine work, you'll be rewarded for this. But first, let's wrap up the rest of our business today. Gustav?"

"Better than I'd feared, worse than I'd hoped," he reports. "Stirland's nobles seem to have forgotten the virtue of horsemanship, but I'm whipping them into shape. By the end of the year I should have two cohorts of pistoliers worthy of the name for you. But Stirland would benefit from either importing horse or setting up a proper breeding program here."

"Stirland would benefit from a lot of things, and most of them are expensive," Van Hal notes. "Schultz?"

"The Leicheburg barracks should be completed by the end of the year," he says. "The corvée has been an enormous help. But the Leicheburg-Langwald road has slowed to a crawl - we've actually had to deploy the entire Second Division just to secure supply lines on the Leicheburg side, and construction has stopped entirely on the Langwald side. There's just too many terrible creatures coming out of the Haunted Hills - and never a more appropriate name has ever been given."

Van Hal grimaces. "It might be time to organize a cull. Though I suppose it's fortunate news that the inhabitants are still pushing at borders instead of rallying under any banners. Anton?"

Anton grins. "So, I spoke to the Massifs. They say they're never going to give up their Chartered Free Town status because it'd undercut their trade relationships with Wissenland and they've got a point. So I spoke to Petra. Petra says she won't be pushed out of Flensburg because the county can't be run out of Lochen or Ramsau, and frankly, she's right, they're tiny. So I looked at a map for a while, then I went and spoke to Artur, who's absolutely thrilled about the Stirlandian League being kicked apart by the way, and I talk to him about Wolfsbach. Now, Artur likes Wolfsbach, because it's almost as big as Franzen these days, but he's still dreaming of the River Lammer trade, so I say to him, if Nussbach was transferred from the County of Worden to the County of Franzen, would he be okay with Wolfsbach being transferred from the County of Franzen to the County of Flensburg? And he says, only if we also allow his traders free passage through the County of Purgg and docking rights at Pramet. So then I go to Petra and say, hey, you can't run the county out of Lochen or Ramsau, but could you run it out of Wolfsbach? And she looks at a map, and she says, only if my traders get docking rights at Pramet, because now she's thinking about trade from Averland going up the River Teichd to Talabecland too. And I almost say yes, but then I think that wouldn't be nice, so I tell her that Artur's planning something similar, and she looks at the map some more, and then she gets on a horse and heads to Franzen, and she and Artur talk for like three weeks and then her daughter is betrothed to his third son and they're talking about something they're calling the Western Stirland Riverine Trading Company, so if you just..." he rummages around in his satchel and pulls out a sheaf of documents, "if you sign all of these, Flensburg will only be the Chartered Free Town of Flensburg and the County of Flensburg will now be the County of Wolfsbach, and you won't control Nussbach any more, but I spoke to the local representative of the Emperor's tax collectors and they spoke to the Emperor and they've agreed that they're willing to grant taxation rights back to Stirland as long as Stirland pays half of all collected taxes from Flensburg to the Emperor, and taxing Flensburg is worth more to us than taxing Nussbach, I checked with Wilhelmina."

You look around the table. Everyone's eyes are glazed over except for Wilhelmina's, who steps in. "The Count of Franzen gets Nussbach, the Countess of Flensburg gets Wolfsbach, the County of Flensburg becomes the County of Wolfsbach, and we tax Flensburg and send half of the proceeds to the Emperor. Everyone wins except for the tax-dodgers in Flensburg."

"Well," says Van Hal. "Okay. Excellent. Good work, Anton." Anton beams, and slides the thick pile of papers over. Van Hal flexes his writing hand and winces. "Okay, then." He pauses, his face wooden, and he looks over to Kasmir.

Kasmir slides over the creased paperwork. "As you can see," he says neutrally, "chaplain recruitment has increased dramatically."

Van Hal glances down, then does a double take, and picks up the papers. He flips through them, his eyebrows raising. "Morrites," he says, "Verenans, Shallyans, Ulricans, Myrmidians... a Manannite?" He looks over to Kasmir in surprise.

"With the increase in recruitment levels," Kasmir says levelly, "I took the liberty to expand the project to encompass the Second and Third Divisions."

Van Hal looks for a moment longer, then nods. "Good work, Kasmir," he says sincerely. Kasmir nods in return, but there's a hint of a smile on the edge of his lips.

Looks are exchanged across the table as Van Hal flips through the papers, only Gustav missing the significance of what just happened. Then Van Hal lays down the papers.

"I spoke to Wilhelmina and Mathilde previously," he says, "and told them that for their excellent work, both with the Stirlandian League and in general, they have earned a Boon each. If it is within my power to grant it, they can ask it of me. Now, I ask that they tell me their desires."

Wilhelmina's first to respond. "I want to recreate the League," she says. "A state-sanctioned corporate entity, with ownership divided between myself and Stirland. All I need is your signature, the papers we've seized, and an initial capital injection that the League's assets will more than cover."

"Done," Van Hal says instantly. "Will this interfere with your work as Steward?"

"The day-to-day work will be taken care of by my sons," she says. "And since Stirland will be part-owner, what enriches the corporation will enrich Stirland."

"Do you have a name in mind?"

"Since trade is initially going to be concentrated between Averland and Talabecland," she says, "I was thinking the Eastern Imperial Company. I even had an idea for a logo." She holds up a piece of paper.



"Three swords, intersecting," she says. "The three that made this possible: yours, Mathilde's, and Markus'."

"Eastern Imperial Company... it has a ring to it," Van Hal says thoughtfully. "Consider it done. Mark today's date as the founding date of the company." Wilhelmina smiles delightedly, and Van Hal turns to you. "And to our resident Wizard? How can Stirland repay its Spymistress?"

"Nobility," you say instantly. "I wish to be Knighted."

There's a sudden silence at the table, and everyone exchanges thoughtful looks. "Hmm," Van Hal says, eventually. "Knighting a Wizard... can we do this? Anton?"

"Precedent's entirely on your side," he says with a grin, seemingly delighted to welcome you into noble ranks. "Dieter IV's open sale of knighthoods went unchallenged, after all. You can knight anyone you damn well please. As for the titles, they'd exist side-by-side. The Knightly Orders are technically monastical organizations, but noble and ecclesiastical titles are held together."

"Wilhelmina?"

"I could bundle up some of the land seized from the League and make it a token estate, it'd just require your signature."

"Kasmir?"

Kasmir closes his eyes thinks for a moment, before reciting from memory. "Article XI: All Magisters may expect to receive accommodation, benefits, respect, and fair treatment, as would befit any noble of Sigmar's Holy Empire, while in the employ of the Electors of Sigmar's Holy Empire. If you say her conduct is such that 'fair treatment' would be to be knighted, none can gainsay you."

"Gustav?"

He looks bewildered at what is happening, but rallies. "Well, the law does say that a Knight must have an estate from which they draw the income necessary to maintain their arms, armour, and retinue. If that would take precedence over the customs of her Order..."

Kasmir chimes in again. "Article I: The first obedience of every Magister must be to the ideals and laws of Sigmar's Holy Empire of which these Articles form a part; the laws and ideals of their Order is fourth in order of priority. Article III: Every Magister of said Colleges must adhere to the laws of Sigmar's Holy Empire."

"Well, there you go. Law of the Empire comes first, rules of her Order second. Doesn't get clearer than that."

Van Hal smiles. "Then, Mathilde, you will have your knighthood. Pick a date, we'll hold the ceremony then."

---

The rest of the meeting is shockingly prosaic after that. Gustav, Schultz and Kasmir are sent east, to continue their work from Leicheburg, which is rapidly developing into the military capital of Stirland. Wilhelmina is told to take on whichever of the League's trade agreements that she wishes and to auction off the rest, with proceeds to go to the Stirlandian Treasury. Anton is to make his bewildering land trades happen and finally solve the Flensburg Issue. And your orders are skimmed past, so you know to expect for them to come in your meeting with Van Hal.

The drink he pours you is as traditional as the meeting at this point, but he raises it in a celebratory toast to you anyway. "Dame Mathilde," he says, testing the sound of it. "As Magister, you would be traditionally referred to as 'dame', but there's a distinction to the capital letter of 'Dame'. You can hear it being pronounced."

"Dame Mathilde," you echo, testing the feel to it. It has heft. Mathilde has always just been your name, but Dame Mathilde sounds almost unreal; like a historical figure rather than a regular person.

"So, what skulduggery has Stirland's newest knight-to-be been up to of late?"

You check your mental notes. "The snake is..." you hesitate. You have no words for the snake's current state. "No longer a problem."

He raises an eyebrow. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," you confirm. "I've been avoiding mirrors for so long that when I was around that many, it mustn't have been able to resist."

"I'd drink to that, but at this rate toasting all of your accomplishments is a quick route to intoxication," he jests, a smile on his face. You return it.

"When I mentioned criminal elements looting the Stirlandian League, they were elements that I tipped off. They took a third in exchange for preventing the League from being able to escape with the goods, allowing us to capture the remainder unopposed."

Van Hal frowns at that, but just for a moment. "Lesser evils," he says. "That could be a third toast."

"If you're willing to sanction those lesser evils..." you prompt, but he shakes his head.

"Not... quite no," he says, frowning. "But not yet. Realpolitik must wait at least a little longer before it sinks its claws into me." You open your mouth to acknowledge, then pause - you know Van Hal well enough to know that he's thinking. "If," he says, "if you were, one day, to go down this road, I want you to be sure that you can reverse course." He nods, his voice growing in confidence. "The Watch. Take it in hand. Grow it. Feed it, like a dog being taught to fight. I want it able to fall upon and destroy any Guild of Thieves. Then I will consider sanctioning the creation of such a Guild."

You smile and nod, and you lift your mug in a silent toast.

---

PLAN FOR THIS TURN - CHOOSE BETWEEN SIX AND EIGHT. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST SIX WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASKS.

As Per Orders: Perform your current assignment.
[ ] Rewrite the relevant part of the legal code of Stirland so that the Watch reports to you, personally. (will face pushback from existing Watchmen; will take two turns; the Watch will come permanently under your control)
[ ] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of Wurtbad.
[ ] Integrate the Roadwarden network into the Watch.
[ ] Integrate the rat catchers, sewer-jacks and gong farmers into the Watch.
[ ] Expand the Watch to cover the rest of the County of Wurtbad.
[ ] Spread some coin around so that a cross-section of the Watch passes on information to you as well as their superiors.

Delegation - pick ONE (no action required):
[ ] Consolidation: You currently have a patchwork of useful contacts. Backfill so that you can rightfully claim to cover entire towns. (NEW)
[ ] Ground Floor: Start putting people on your payroll into the EIC before it even begins, so you'll have information flowing right from the start. (NEW)
[ ] Financial independence: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself. (NEW)

[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors or your liege, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: You've been given good reason to mistrust your fellow councillors. Perhaps you should see what they spent their time doing (choose one).
[ ] Letters Home: You might be able to wring more information out of your Master, or you might just be able to get news, information and guidance in general from the Grey Order.
[ ] Hang Out A Shingle: Spymasters don't advertise, but wizards sometimes do. Make an official announcement that there's a wizard in residence, and see who comes out of the woodwork.
[ ] A Crisis of Faith: Van Hal's ongoing alienation with the Sigmarite faith may be on the mend. But still. Maybe there's something you can do? (write in)
[ ] Investment: Wilhelmina has offered you the limited-time chance to become a founding shareholder in the EIC; the buy-in will be a cool 1000 crowns, but with Van Hal's permission, Wilhelmina has offered you an interest-free loan from the Stirlandian Treasury to cover it, and promises that unless something goes terribly wrong, the dividends will more than pay for it. (NEW)
[ ] Knighthood: There's a ceremony, of course. And a number of oaths to make. And you'll have to visit your 'estate'. But gosh. Dame Mathilde. (NEW)

Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
[ ] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who).
[ ] Pretty Good Swords: You've struck up a friendship with the Champion of the Greatswords and have discovered a talent for wielding them. Continue to cultivate this.
[ ] Combat Training: You're virtually surrounded by armed warriors of various sorts. See if you can convince one to teach you (choose who).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: You haven't made many heavily armed friends yet, but gold is good for that. Go out and buy some training. (-personal gold)
[ ] Final Round-up: You're so close to mastering all the lesser magics. Just one final push and you'll have them all. (NEW)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.

Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: So far you've failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try again with local goods. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room)

Research:
[ ] Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead.
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
[ ] Weber's Box: It has a nice ring to it, but you've got no idea what 'Weber's Box' actually is, or what's going on in there. Have a very, very careful look at it. (NEW)
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. It's got to be good for something. (NEW)
[ ] As a Journeywoman, the path to Magister is marked by mastering more than the two shadow spells you already know. Send to the Grey Order for the basics and work on figuring out one of the others.

Influence: Though you haven't taken these over (yet?) you could still spend some time to influence or tap into them. Write in what you would like to do with them.
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god.
[ ] Biderhof: This village based on woodcutting and agriculture, has adopted you as one of it's own.
[ ] Non-Thief Guilds: Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.
[ ] Trade Guilds: There's a vacuum where a dozen trade guilds should be. Found one of your own, and let information and profits flow through you, and see what the Stirlandian League does about it. (warning: expensive, will need Van Hal or Wilhelmina to sign off on it)
[ ] Down Below: Your time in the sewers made you realize just how much of a maze there is down there, and you wonder what could be lurking down in the dark (apart from your fellow devotees of Ranald). Get in touch with the various groups of rat catchers, sewer jacks and gong farmers that deal with it.

[ ] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)

---

DYNASTY FOUNDED

[ ] (optional) Write in a new surname, if you don't wish to keep Weber
[ ] (optional) Suggest a coat of arms, either by description or linking an image
[ ] (optional) Family motto

---

FINANCES: NO ACTION POINT EXPENDITURE.

Personal Income: 50 gold/turn
Discretionary Income: 150 gold/turn
Informer Payroll unlocked

Currently paying Grey College tithe (-5 personal gold/turn)
Currently paying Grey College student loans (-35 personal gold/turn)

Currently embezzling 1/4 of discretionary income (-35 discretionary gold/turn, +35 personal gold/turn)

Currently employing 4 veteran informants (-40 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently employing Julia Massif (-30 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently maintaining the staff of a townhouse in Wurtbad (-20 discretionary gold/turn)

[ ] Begin plumping the informer rolls (choose ratio of real:fake informers. Almost impossible to detect, but also very difficult to increase or decrease the amount quickly)
[ ] Change tithe payment/loan payment/embezzlement (specify)
[ ] These agents are getting expensive. Write up a proposal for your discretionary budget to be increased, instead of waiting for Van Hal to decide to increase it. (warning: attracts oversight to your current budget)

- You can write in orders, but something worth writing in is probably worth adding to the list of possible orders, so feel free to ask if your idea can be added.
- As always, voting will be in plan format.
- Don't forget Ranald's Blessing!
- The Dynasty voting will be separate to the Plan.

 

[Boney]

Winning votes:

[*] [Surname] Weber
[*] [Motto] Unseen, but not Unfelt.
[*] [Coat]:


[*][Action] In The Darkness We Watch
-[*] Rewrite the relevant part of the legal code of Stirland so that the Watch reports to you, personally. (will face pushback from existing Watchmen; will take two turns; the Watch will come permanently under your control)
-[*] Spread some coin around so that a cross-section of the Watch passes on information to you as well as their superiors.
-[*] Delegation - Ground Floor: Start putting people on your payroll into the EIC before it even begins, so you'll have information flowing right from the start. (NEW)
-[*] Investment: Wilhelmina has offered you the limited-time chance to become a founding shareholder in the EIC; the buy-in will be a cool 1000 crowns, but with Van Hal's permission, Wilhelmina has offered you an interest-free loan from the Stirlandian Treasury to cover it, and promises that unless something goes terribly wrong, the dividends will more than pay for it. (NEW)
-[*] Knighthood: There's a ceremony, of course. And a number of oaths to make. And you'll have to visit your 'estate'. But gosh. Dame Mathilde. (NEW)
-[*] Enchantment: So far you've failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try again with local goods. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
--[*] If unable to buy the stuff(again) do this instead of setting it up:
---[*] Final Round-up: You're so close to mastering all the lesser magics. Just one final push and you'll have them all. (NEW)
-[*] Weber's Box: It has a nice ring to it, but you've got no idea what 'Weber's Box' actually is, or what's going on in there. Have a very, very careful look at it. (NEW)
--[*] Ranald's Blessing on Weber's Box

-[*] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)
--[*] Kasmir
---[*] Apologize for your previous sharpness, which was partly due to finding out just how badly the castle was infiltrated and having spent nearly the whole year on rooting them out.

Click to shrink...

---

Dame Weber. Gosh.

You sleepwalk through the next few days, unable to shake the amazement from your mind. Knighthood. The actual knight part of things was going to be pretty straightforward, since Ulgu could supply the horse and armour at a moment's notice and you were in the habit of going around with your sword anyway, but the fact that you were being elevated to actual nobility...

After wallowing in the thoughts for a few days, you force yourself to shake them off. Knight or not, you've still got a job to do, and it's time to take the Wurtbad Watch in hand. That jumped-up Brettonnian peasant didn't take kindly to being ordered to report to you, so you would make it his legal duty to do so and then he'll either fall in line or you could force him out of the position and replace him with someone more pliable. So you make your way to the castle archives and start digging for the formative documents of the Wurtbadian Watch.

And you dig. And dig. And dig.

Over three hundred years of paperwork and weeks of digging later, you finally find it. Early in the 2130s, during the Third Vampire War against Mannfred von Carstein, the modern iteration of the Wurtbad Watch was founded, superseding a previous organization of the same name. They were given the remit to pursue corruption both mundane and supernatural, were to be funded from the purse of the City of Wurtbad, and no man without military service was permitted to join its ranks. The document also states the authority they were to report to: 'The Elector Count, or designated military subordinate thereof'. Which would definitely discount you; you play with the idea of using your new status as a Knight of Stirland to qualify, but you want to be able to act as the Spymaster of Stirland while commanding the Wurtbad Watch, rather than having to act as two separate legal entities.

So you get to work writing up a new document. It takes you days to get used to the jargon of legal documents, but you copy sentences from here and there and piece them together like a puzzle. And since you're already making a document, you decide, you may as well go all in and remould the foundation document of the Wurtbad Watch to your purposes. Weeks more pass in a manic haze of editing and revisions, as you craft a document that takes the existing loose gang of thief-takers, bellringers and busy-bodies and turns them into what could very well be described as your personal army.

Or, at least, the founding company of it.

When you present the document to Van Hal, he reads it three times before he signs it. When you take the signed document to the Watch's headquarters, 'Lefty' Ragnier resigns on the spot after reading it. But that doesn't even slow you down, and you plump the rolls of the Watch with veterans willing to swear loyalty to you personally as well as adding a number of existing members to your informant network. All in all, a good result for a few months' work. Now you just have to rebuild it in your image.

[Finding the document: Req 40, Stewardship, 67+10=77.]
[How restrictive is it? Roll, 26. Technically excludes you; new document required.]
[Writing a new document: Breakpoints 40/70, Stewardship, 97+10=107.]

---

After so long dealing with paperwork, you need to toy with the Winds of Magic once more to cleanse your palate. So you turn to the strangest creation of your Wizarding career: 'Weber's Box'. If you're going to call it that with a straight face, you need to understand what's happening in it, surely. So you tilt it on its side, let the liquid drain out into a bottle, and take a glimpse into the inner workings of the device.

It's structurally unchanged. It's still a series of concentric mirror cubes with gaps in the 'top' to let in light and a mirrored lid to trap it. But now, intersecting those mirrors, is a mess of butchered snakeflesh, constantly writhing. It's quite disturbing to look at, and difficult to figure out what it is that you're looking at. You stare at it with mundane and magical senses, trying to figure out what it is you're seeing, but none of it makes sense. So you stop staring and instead try to reason it out. And once you do, a theory emerges.

The most basic fact of the Thorned One: it can pass through mirrors. To it, the mirrorcatch box isn't solid, it's a tangle of overlapping portals.

So, you reason, when it tried to move through one of the mirrors to reach you, it can't have moved more than an inch or so before running into another mirror, and then it would have passed back into the demon realm. And, if the portals possess the same relative location in the Warp as they do in realspace, maybe it passes through a second portal to appear back in the box while its back half is still in there, and intersects itself. And then add in that the smallest cube within the box is made of mirrors too small for the snake to pass through - or, at least, for all of the snake to pass through...

So parts of it are obliterated as different parts of its anatomy tries to exist in the same place as other parts of it, and other parts are sliced neatly off by the edges of portals where they meet entirely different portals, and the portals too small for the snake to fit through. But the snake doesn't just die - it's not that fortunate. Half of it is still within the realm of unreality where demons (you theorize, far beyond the limits of your knowledge) cannot die, and the energies of that place are drawn into it to repair the damage done. But before those energies can become snakeflesh, the part of it that was in the warp has passed through the snarl of mirror-portals into reality, and the raw energy, suddenly subjected to the laws of reality instead of the non-laws of the warp... well, apparently it pours out of the box in the form of what you theorize is raw, liquid Qhaysh. Or at least an untainted and balanced combination of every colour of magic at the same time - isn't that what Qhaysh is? Or is there more to so-called 'high magic' than that? You don't know. You're not sure if any human knows.

And it just keeps on happening, because to the snake there is no solid surface in the box. The parts of it in reality are subject to gravity, but can never stop falling because the closest thing to a bottom is a portal into the warp. It is suspended in an eternal free-fall, forever unable to either heal or die. And in that state it constantly drains magical energies into reality.

That realization sends a shudder through you. If the demon that pursued you was any other warp-entity, the energies leaking out would... well, you'd be lucky if they were only Dhar. But this is the All-Knowing Serpent, Wisdom's Asp, and apparently the ever-shifting hue of its scales is mirrored by the pure combination of magical energies that it is formed from. Instead of liquid corruption pouring forth, this is pure, untainted, liquid magic.

[What's in the box? Learning, Req 50, 34+16+20(Ranald's Blessing)=70.]

---

Finally, the Big Day is upon you. You wear your greyest robe, polish your sword until it shines, make good use of your newly restored ability to safely look in mirrors to make sure your hair is cooperating, and summon a horse and wrap Ulgu around you to ride into Eagle Castle in a manner at least vaguely reminiscent of a Knight. The ceremony, it was decided, is going to be fairly low-key, and nobody would be invited on the grounds that any protests would be a lot less effective after the fact than if they occurred before or during. But even so, there'd be plenty of people there - Van Hal himself, of course, and Wilhelmina, Anton, Julia, and Markus. Kasmir had returned from Leicheberg to act as the ecclesiastical witness. On top of all those, there were the usual courtiers, a representative from the Wurtbad City Council, a visiting diplomat from Talabecland, representatives from a half-dozen barons and counts who were in Wurtbad at the time... by the time it was all added up, it was quite the crowd for an event that was supposed to go unnoticed.

And then as you enter the Great Hall, you see someone among the chatting crowd that completely derails your train of thought - your Master, shamelessly looting a plate of entrees from a plate held by a hapless servant.

"What are you doing here?" you ask as you sidle up to him, half enthused and half suspicious.

"When a pawn reaches the end of the board," he says through a mouthful of cold meats, "it turns into a different piece. The question to ask is, what piece shall it become?" He smiles that infuriating smile of his, the one you spent years practising until you could project mysterious smugness as well as him. You also learned the counter to it: deliberate obtuseness.

"I can clear that up for you," you say brightly. "I'm being made a knight." He opens his mouth, gives you an annoyed look, and then closes it with a snap. "I am glad you're here, though," you say, and his expression softens.

"Wouldn't miss it, my girl," he says gruffly. "You were thrown in to the great wide ocean to sink or swim, and by Sigmar you swam." He clears his throat. "That said, I'm not just here to celebrate with you."

"Ah," you say. Grey Order business? No, he'd send that business encrypted, standard procedure and besides, all the better to show off his encryption with. Sent either by post if it was business as usual, or pinned to your nightgown when you woke in the morning if you'd done something to irk the Order. For him to deliver it in person... "The other business."

Without seeming to move or speak, he shapes Ulgu around the two of you. An illusion wrapped in ignorability, the show-off. "Afraid so. There's whispers of a campaign into Sylvania in the air, and it seems to have drawn the attention of our mutual acquaintance." He produces an envelope from his robes. "I took the liberty of reading it - I've got a different cipher glued to my eyelids than you do, but I haven't met a cipher yet I couldn't crack."

"Except one-time pads," you note as you take it, ignoring his scowl, opening the already-broken seal and skimming the contents, the cipher burning to life once more. With ease of long practice you tune out his usual spiel about the problems with pseudorandomness and the in-his-opinion crippling handicap of key distribution.

Have means in place to gather information re: undead types and density in Sylvania if and when Stirland forces sally across the border. When information is acquired, send via your Master. If possible, collection of live samples will be rewarded; send news of any you secure via same and we will arrange collection.

"Troubling," your Master says, neatly summarizing your thoughts on the matter.

"Seventh Article," you reply.

"Applies only to the Orders," he responds.

"Are they?"

"Good question."

You brood over the wording of the message. "Will be rewarded. A test? Or an acknowledgement?"

"Carrot and stick, perhaps. Handling 101."

You scowl. "I am not handled. I am the one who handles."

"Not quite yet, Journeywoman," he says.

You mull that over. "Journeywoman, yes. But also Spymistress. And now: Knight."

He smiles indulgently. "Dame Weber. But still; spite alone is poor reason. It chafes, yes - but it does not throttle."

"Yet," you say darkly.

"Today has enough problems without borrowing tomorrow's," he replies, and you subside. "This is a grand day. You'll regret it if you let this taint it."

---

In the privacy of Ulgu, you hug your Master, and resolve to follow his advice. The illusion shimmers and Ulgu shifts as you walk away, and you don't bother to look around, knowing that your Master would not be visible. You make your way to the head of the hall, where Van Hal is deep in discussion with Talabecland's diplomat, who is sketching figures on a slate. As you approach, he wraps up the conversation, pats the diplomat on the back, and turns to you.

"Mathilde," he says in greeting. "You're looking..." he thinks for a moment. "You're looking very you, only more so than usual."

"Thank you, your Grace," you reply politely, falling back on formulae for lack of a better response.

"If you're finished saying farewell to the origins you've thoroughly outgrown, we can begin the ceremony."

You nod, and he makes his way to the throne, standing before it. He does not call for silence, but he receives it nonetheless, conversation trailing to a halt all over the hall as all eyes move to him. Anton hurries out of the crowd and takes up position next to the throne - Van Hal never bothered to appoint an envoy, but the ceremony demands one so Anton is it - and he calls out, "The Count now calls Mathilde Weber to come before this Court."

Okay. Just like Anton taught you.

You walk forward and stand before Van Hal. You notice all over again just how tall the man is.

"Mathilde Weber, have you undertaken to accept the accolade of Knighthood that was offered to you at Eagle Castle?"

"I have."

Without turning, Van Hal addresses Anton. "Sir Anton Kiesinger II, as a member of the Peerage, do you now affirm that Mathilde Weber has grown in virtue and honour, the hallmarks of a true and faithful Peer?"

Unable to keep the smile from his face or his voice, Anton recites: "May it please my Liege to know that having heard the counsel of my Peers, and from my own certain knowledge, I am able to affirm that Mathilde Weber is a worthy lady whose achievements on the field of honour have been matched by her services to the Empire."

"Mathilde Weber," Van Hal intones, "you have been deemed fit for this high estate. Do you now swear, by Sigmar and all the Gods of the Empire, that you will honour and defend the Empire of Man?"

"This day do I render homage and fealty to my Lord, the Elector Count Abelhelm Van Hal of Stirland, who will, from this day forward, be my Liege. I will remain true in all ways, serving him faithfully - this do I swear, by my life and by my Gods. So say I, Mathilde Weber."

"I accept your homage and fealty, and pledge to you that from this day forward until the end of my reign, you are my Liegewoman, and that I will honour and defend your rights as a Knight." You brace yourself, knowing what's coming next. "Let this be the last blow you receive unanswered." And with that, he delivers a heavy blow to your face that near sends you sprawling and marks the culmination of the ceremony.

---

To all nobles to whom these present letters shall come. Abelhelm Van Hal, Elector Count of Stirland, sends greetings. Whereas Mathilde Weber has shown excellence in her feats on the field of honour, rendering high and noble service to the Empire in war and in peace, I am minded to elevate her to the rank of Knight. We do hereby elevate and affirm the attached Arms by these Letters Patent, to wit: Sable, bend argent, sword argent bendwise inverted, base dexter serpent supine vert and or, which Dame Mathilde Weber shall hold for her sole and unique use throughout the Empire. To which I set my hands this 9th day of Brauzeit, 2473. Abelhelm Van Hal, Elector Count.

---

As the various coworkers, courtiers and visitors mingle and accept food from circulating servants, you find your way to Kasmir as he signs off on the papers marking you as a Knight. "A great honour," he notes without looking up.

"One I will prove myself worthy of," you reply, just a touch of defensiveness in your tone. Then you wince at yourself. "Kasmir, I wanted to apologize. That business with the infiltrators, what I said-"

But Kasmir has looked up from his papers, and shakes his head firmly. "You were right to make my failure known. One cannot serve Sigmar at the expense of Sigmar's Empire, and Sigmar is not the only God of Sigmar's Empire. I had forgotten that." He runs a finger along the spine of the Deus Sigmar strapped to his belt. "Had but one of them claimed to hold Sigmar as their patron God, I would have uncovered them in moments. But Morrites? Shallyans?" He sighs. "You succeeded where I failed." He seems to struggle with himself for a moment, then offers, "will you pray with me, Dame Mathilde?"

That's as close to an apology from him as you're likely to get. You reach back to the prayers of your childhood, and intone with him:

Lord Sigmar, hear my prayer. Let not my weapon fail me, but strengthen it against the foe. Give my blade your wisdom, to cleave the guilty from the innocent. Let your holy fire infuse the powder to burn in the eyes of the heretic. Keep your hand on mine, Sigmar, so that my grip and my faith will not slip. My arm shall strike in Thy name, against the heretic, the witch, the unclean. Amen.

---

To anyone else, your estate would be an inconvenient distance from Wurtbad, up treacherous slopes and along paths riddled with potholes. But your horse, formed of Ulgu and shaped by your will, cares not for the conditions of the roads, and you contemptuously gallop across terrain that would cripple any flesh-and-blood horse attempting the same. When you arrive deep in the hills around Sonningwiese, you find an estate consisting of hill and rock and scrub. The local peasants are a scattered and hardy lot, so different to the lowland peasants of your youth. Instead of spending lifetimes working the same plot of land season after season, they drive herds of sheep over land too steep and rocky for crops and flocks of goats over land too steep for sheep. In times of war they muster with slings, and though it certainly doesn't sound like much, a chunk of rock the size of a man's fist delivered at speed to the skull deters a great many of the enemies of the Empire. It is, you ponder, a tough land; not a rich land, never a rich land, but never a poor land either. Not a threat in the Empire will ever choose to climb up the rocky foothills to chase sheep, not when there's leagues of farmland and town all around, and the hardy hill sheep ignore droughts that would leave farmers ruined. It is a land that you could ignore for a century and still be much the same as you left it.

The closest thing the locals have to a leader (apart from yourself, of course) is a man with a slightly larger herd and a slightly larger hut, and representatives from the hill clans gather there to give you their oaths. The reception they give you is muted but not hostile; the general consensus seems to be that yes, you're a witch, and therefore probably a dangerously insane meddler in powers man was not meant to meddle in - but at least you're not a merchant. You ride a horse of shadow, but at least you can ride, and that sword on your back sends a clear message; you're an odd sort of knight, but you're infinitely more a knight than those of the Stirlandian League that 'owned' the land previously, so you'll do, seems to be the general consensus.

Your position as lesser evil secured and your right to taxation acknowledged, you bid your subjects farewell and head back to civilization, where you're greeted with something you didn't expect: you've received mail. You've gotten letters from your Master before, and from whoever it is that's pulling your strings, but there's more in front of you now than you've received in all the years you've served as Spymaster. You sort through the envelopes, noting the ornate seals on them. You recognize one as belonging to Anton's family, and a second from your little romp through Leicheberg. Each of them, you discover, contains congratulations from the ruling classes of Stirland, welcoming you to their ranks, all stock phrases and rote best wishes. You frown, your well-honed cynicism doubting their sincerity.

Okay, you grant, maybe not all of them. Anton's father is probably being sincere, or at least Anton writing on his father's behalf - you're pretty sure you recognize the handwriting. Okay, and maybe the Stirlandian League business might have won over Franzen and Wolfsbach, and considering you've got his daughter on your payroll, maybe the Grand Mayor of Flensburg is sincere too.

You re-read the well-wishes from them, and smile.

---

With that emotional roller-coaster out of the way, it's time to deal with cold, impersonal business. You sit in a townhouse not too far from that of your deputy spymistress, at a table that already has the EIC logo carved into it. Around the table, at the three hilts of the logo, sits three people: Wilhelmina, Markus, and you.

(technically Wilhelmina is present not only as herself but also as Stirland, so in a business sense there's actually four people at the table. You're already confused.)

Wilhelmina has tabulated a list of the ongoing contracts inherited from the Stirlandian League, sorted first by profitability and second by their likelihood to survive a newly reopened market; a quarter are to be dissolved by mutual agreement, a further third will be renegotiated with less profit per weight but a much higher throughput, and half of what's left are being auctioned off to the other traders of Stirland, who are eager for part of the North-South trade now that the way is clear. This leaves... a fraction, possibly, that the EIC will inherit unchanged, and the first order of business is filling them. To do this, the EIC is buying the transport infrastructure of the Stirlandian League off of Stirland; 'buying' is apparently the correct term for it even though no money is moving. The loan you took out, Wilhelmina explains, is remaining in the Stirland treasury because the funds are being used to purchase said infrastructure, so Stirland's 'loan' to you is actually in the form of what you worked so hard to have confiscated off the Stirlandian League.

Are you being conned? This feels like a con. But it can't be, right? Wilhelmina's heard your reports to Van Hal. She wouldn't dare.

Days pass in an ocean of numbers and terminology and jargon. As far as you can tell, things are moving back and forth, and being sold and bought, and money is changing hands, and everything's going well. The first contract is completed, and payment arrives in Wurtbad, and there's wine for the three of you and you get your first dividends, except you don't, what you get is a piece of paper saying that your dividends were used to repay your loan to Stirland, except the 'loan' never left Stirland's treasury, it's still there, and so are your dividends. What? And then Wilhelmina explains that the client in Talabheim didn't actually send money from Talabheim to Wurtbad. They sent a piece of paper to a bank in Wurtbad, and the bank has given the EIC money, except it's actually the client's money because the bank, which holds all the client's money, now owns some of that money it was holding anyway?

You are so confused.

[Contributing to the EIC: Stewardship, Roll, 9+10=19.]

---

You finally escape from the EIC offices after what feels like the eternitieth time you tried to figure out what the hell is going on. After all that, you need a break. You'll go shopping. Finally buy that enchantment gear you wanted, surely fashion has moved on, right?

[Mathilde vs Wizard Chic: Req 40, Stewardship, 10+10=20.]

It hasn't. It's gotten worse.

And you are to blame.

Stirland's newest knight has inflamed the imagination of the feckless youths of Wurtbad, and somehow the availability of magical equipment has fallen from its previous level of zero. Everywhere you look, some twit is using something that would be very useful for your magical experiments as a necklace. And the worst part is you can't even be mad at them because whenever you go to yell at them, they notice you and start squealing in excitement and ask for you to sign their wizard hats! How can you be mad at someone that's idolizing you so thoroughly?

So after your encounters with business and fashion, you retreat to something that's actually understandable: bending the very fabric of reality to your will. You write to your Master and have the last few tomes sent over, and you shut yourself away from the oh-so-frustrating world for a while and make the physical realm your plaything. Among a pair of new spells you finally pick up Magic Alarm again, and try to develop the habit of setting it on the entrance to your Buried Palace, which is instantly stymied because every single time you cast the spell, a cat wanders over and sits directly in it. The world is conspiring to drive you insane, you're sure of it.

[Rounding out the last few spells, Req 50, Learning, 62+16=78.]

---

TITLE, RIGHTS, AND DUTIES ACQUIRED: Knight
APOLOGY NOT ACTUALLY NEEDED: +2 to relationship with Kasmir
BUSINESS PARTNER: +1 to relationship with Wilhelmina, Markus.
STAKE ACQUIRED IN EIC.
ANOTHER MASSIVE DEBT ACQUIRED.
SPELLS LEARNED: Move, Skywalk, Magic Alarm
ALL LESSER SPELLS KNOWN!: +1 Magic
CURRENT QHYASH-JUICE STOCKPILE: 1 gallon

Discretionary Income: +150g
Embezzlement: -35g
Veteran informants: -60g
Watch informants: -10g
EIC informants: -20g
Julia: -30g
Townhouse staff: -20g
---
Net: -25g

Personal Income: +50g
Estate Profit: +10g
Embezzlement: +35g
Tithe: -6g
Student Loans: -35g
---
Net: +54g

---

Once more, you're all gathered around the council table. Anton sits with a look of concentration on his face, trying to think of a new pretence to ask you something just so he can call you Dame Mathilde; you'll tell him to stop it as soon as you get tired of hearing it, which will probably be never. Wilhelmina looks smugger than usual, or maybe you're just projecting that onto her after your failure to even begin to understand what it is she's doing with the EIC. Kasmir's looking serene; you actually heard word from your friends in the Thieves Guild that he's been asking around for a Priest of Ranald, putting word out that there's a chaplaincy open for one. You doubt it would ever be filled, but it's more evidence of his newfound openness to non-Sigmarite faiths. Schultz is missing an ear, but actually doesn't seem that put out about it - he's recently taken to hauling around what looks like a genuine Hochland long rifle and is animatedly engaged in conversation with Gustav about the interplay between height and range.

---

The Wurtbad Watch has been completely subsumed, and you personally rewrote the document they draw their legitimacy from. What, exactly, did you write into this document?

[ ] Pick a new name to reflect your Stirland-wide ambitions for the force (optional)

Pick one of the following to be explicitly named in the founding documents, giving you the opportunity to shape the Watch into a force that can perform this as well as their regular duties:
[ ] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.
[ ] Road Network: Bringing the Road Wardens under the Watch's banner will allow them to project force along the roads connecting the towns, not just within the towns themselves.
[ ] Riverwardens: With the addition of a fleet of very small warships, the Watch extend their reach onto the waterways of Stirland, fighting piracy and smuggling in the rivers that are the Empire's lifeblood.
[ ] Self-Sustaining: If the Watch took on officially sanctioned side jobs protecting caravans and merchant ships between cities, they could basically fund themselves instead of being a constant drain on Stirland's coffers, effectively fueling their own growth.
[ ] Sally Force: Small unit tactics and woodsman training makes the Watch able to sally forth in strength to combat hotspots of corruption, crime and restless dead in the woods and hills of the countryside on top of their city duties.
[ ] Siege Training: Training with ranged weapons and the basics of siege engineering will turn the Watch into a ferocious force multiplier if their city comes under siege.
[ ] Militia: Focusing on military training will allow the Watch, in times of war, to join battlefields and give a showing equal to that of any full-time military unit.
[ ] Other (write in)

Note: while you could, at a later date, fold groups like the Road Wardens or Sewer Jacks into the Watch, they would act as a special branch of the Watch rather than something the mainstream Watch can do. This is a unique opportunity to create a second purpose for the organization that it can perform just as well as the first. They will not have this capability immediately, of course, but the goal of being capable of it will be written into their founding document.



Public Report: Write in (optional; can write in word for word, or just outline what is focused on)
Private Report: Write in (optional; the private meeting is traditional at this point and will take place, simply say whether there's anything specific you want to bring up here)

Potential Orders:

Investigation:
[ ] There's definitely evil afoot in Drakenhof. Perhaps there's a way to survive investigating this.
[ ] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, but according to the Stirlandian League he's pulled out of the game with all his ill-gotten gains. If you're not willing to let that go, maybe you could track him down anyway.
[ ] You kind of regret learning exactly what you did to the Thorned One, but you did it. But the liquid leaking out? That's still an unknown. Will Van Hal let you look into it on the clock?
[ ] The spell used by the informants is like nothing you've heard of before. You want to see if you can detect or replicate it.
[ ] Something your new Lieutenant said gave you an idea. Investigate the shores of the Black Water, see if it can truly be tamed.
[ ] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
[ ] Wilhelmina said a lot of really complicated words at you. Maybe she's up to something. Or maybe you just don't know a goddamn thing about large-scale inter-provincial trade. Either way, something to look into.

Infrastructure:
[ ] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it. And, ideally, Stirland could pay for it directly instead of it eating your discretionary income.
[ ] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your pet. Given more time, you can make it your attack dog.
[ ] You've got the town of Biderhof eating out of your hand. If you could think of a reason to justify it, maybe all the taxes from it's lumber sales could flow into your pocket instead.
[o] The Wurtbad Thieves Guild, despite barely being a loose gossip network, really came through during the take-down of the Stirlandian League. Maybe you should cultivate this useful tool. (Van Hal has said: not until the Watch is greatly scaled up)
[ ] For no particular reason, it'd be a good idea to see about informants within the military.
[ ] Also for no particular reason, how about I see about building a unit in the army dedicated to catching terrible necromantic gribblies?

[] Other/s (write in)

---

- The Knighthood Ceremony owes more to SCA tradition than Warhammer lore; I make no apologies.
- This may be the longest chapter to date of this Quest; it certainly feels like it.
- Plan for the Watch and for the Reporting are separate.
- Your increase in income and continued payment of the tithe means I finally have to surrender my dedication to multiple-of-5 gold amounts.

 

[Boney]

Winning votes:

[*][WatchDuty] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.
[*][WatchName] Stirland Watch

[*] [Public] Plan The Watched
-[*] The Watch is now legally under the office of the Spymaster and no longer doing their own thing on the city's budget. If anyone has areas of concern regarding law enforcement needing attention they could bring it up as well.
--[*] You'd also want to talk to Kasmir about arranging some appropriate spiritual guidance for the Watch, since it doesn't have anything formal set up, and this being Stirland, they could probably use someone to talk to when they come across dead bodies, or help answer the more complicated questions they encounter in the course of their duties, like when some burgher are simply following a legal cult too enthusiastically rather than conducting an unholy sacrifice to the dark powers.

[*] [Private] Plan Team Mystic
-[*] Much to your chagrin the efforts at setting up a lab had been hit yet again by the latest fashion statement. Which was your own damned fault. You hope this is funding expansion in somebody's fancy glassware industries somewhere and the price drops once the fad wears out.
-[*] In addition to publicly taking over the Watch, you've also put in agents throughout the middle layers to make sure that thing with the servants never happens again.
-[*] Apparently you've somehow captured the Wisdom's Asp in such a manner that it got stuck threading between the mirrors, so it's half alive and half dispersed, half in the material realm and half in the Warp...well this particular snake is not going to reform as slain daemons and their ilk are wont to while the box exists. Unfortunately the method wouldn't work safely on anything BUT a Wisdom's Asp, and it'd have to be very very unlucky or extremely stupid to get stuck in this exact manner.
-[*] The lands you were granted for your knighthood were very well suited to your limited availability to oversee the estates. Thanks for that.

[Orders] Plan Who Ya Gonna Call?
[*] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
[*] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it. And, ideally, Stirland could pay for it directly instead of it eating your discretionary income.
[*] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your pet. Given more time, you can make it your attack dog.
[*] Write In: Given the many forms and threats of undead in the region, perhaps it might be useful to have a dedicated unit to track them down and dissect them to learn how to better kill the things, how they might form, and how they might disguise or hide their nature, so as to actually push the undead back permanently. Something like what you did together on the transformed servants, but on a bigger scale.
Number of voters: 11

Click to shrink...

Van Hal finally arrives, carrying his usual burden of papers that is swiftly added to by everyone around the table. He takes a moment to skim through them and, apparently not seeing anything unexpected, opens the meeting. "Most of my time has been spent in Leicheberg," he says, "and thus far, my impressions have been positive. The as-yet unnamed Fort outside of Leicheberg has come into its own as a new center of military might in Stirland, and to Gustav, Kasmir and Detlef, I give my thanks." The three of them accept the gratitude with nods, grins on Gustav and Schultz playing counterpart to the slightest hint of a smile on Kasmir's face. "Schultz, your report?"

"The barracks now deserve the title of a Fort, which at your Grace's suggestion has been named Fort Redemption. And while the Fort is not complete - no fort is ever complete, there is always more that can be done to make it more secure - it is now completely in operation. Two Divisions call it home, and the administrative infrastructure for them is now in place. Unfortunately, I can't say as much for what the troops insist on calling the Haunted Highway - attacks have increased even further, bringing work to a standstill on both ends. Gustav has the details."

At Van Hal's nod, Gustav chimes in. "The newly-formed Outriders have been taking hits just keeping the roadworks going. I've tried to scout out the Hills both myself and by sending some of the more skilled recruits, but there's just too many of the buggers out there to get far without being chased out, so I can't tell whether we've just stirred up the area or if this is indicative of some 'critical mass' of Sylvaniism. There's some good news - apart from a few gaps in the ranks from casualties, there's now two cohorts of pistoliers formed."

"Attach them both to the 2nd Division," Van Hal says. "Kasmir?"

"The chaplaincy project is well underway," he says. "I estimate another six months until the 2nd and 3rd are fully served. The chaplains already recruited are setting up shrines to the six most common gods within the wall of Fort Redemption; Sigmar, Ulric, Myrmidia, Verena, Shallya and Morr. These should serve the needs of the men, though I would like it to be a priority in the medium-term for these to be expanded into temples."

"That road is a priority - with it, the 4th would be only a week away. Without, it's closer to three, and that's if the Moot has no objection to our forces marching through their lands. I'll return to Leicheberg with the three of you, and decide there whether the Divisions will deploy in force to protect roadworks, or whether it's time to sally into the Haunted Hills. Wilhelmina, how's the home front?"

"Trade is picking up well," she says, glancing down at a page full of figures. "The EIC is already profiting from continuing the trade agreements we picked up, and the sale of the rest has been a welcome addition to Stirland's coffers."

"Speaking of trade, I want you to make sure the supply chain for Fort Redemption is secure. I think the army is currently buying from the open market in Leicheberg and that's mostly been working out because the local traders have been importing from the Moot, and if that's a viable long-term solution then fine, but I don't know that it is. Come with us back to Fort Redemption and look the situation over. Mathilde, how's law enforcement?"

"The Watch is now legally under the office of the Spymistress, and drawing funds from the Stirlandian treasury rather than that of the City of Wurtbad. I'll be working to expand their coverage and skills in the coming years, and I'd like for the army's chaplaincy program to be expanded to cover them - they're currently without any formal spiritual guidance."

"Kasmir, when it comes time to provide Chaplains to the 1st, take care of the Watch as well," Van Hal orders. He looks down at the papers you handed him thoughtfully. "This idea you have about investigating and countering undead threats... it's an interesting idea, but how do you envision its organization?"

"A tricky question," you reply. "As this is a completely new idea, it's difficult to see where it would work best. It could be attached to the military, or the Watch, or be an independent organization under the office of the Spymistress."

"It does seem a natural fit for the Witch Hunters," Kasmir chimes in.

"Or a branch campus of the Colleges," Van Hal says thoughtfully. "Or possibly under me directly. Too many unknowns. If you have spare time, put together a proper proposal, including where they'd fit into existing hierarchies, and I'll consider it in the future. For now, expand the Watch along the Old Dwarf Road - if the troubles in the Haunted Hills are indicative of a general uptick in undead activity, those hills east of Potting are going to become a problem, and I want forces able to maintain order in at least Worden and Potting, and ideally along all population centers along the Road. Anton, what about you?"

"There was a lot of talk about how much land east of the Matting the County of Wolfsbach would get, but it all worked out in the end," Anton reports happily. "Everyone's happy with the arrangement and I made sure that everyone knew that you were to thank for it, so everyone in Western Stirland is really happy with you."

Van Hal gives Anton a thoughtful look. "Including Blutdorf?"

"Oh, dad was already happy," he explains. "He likes me having this job, and he likes all the pistols that we've been buying from Wissenland, and he likes that the Stirlandian League has been stomped on."

Van Hal just stares at Anton blankly for a moment, then smiles. "Good to hear. Talabecland will be your next stop - they're still getting used to the idea of a Stirland that actually does things instead of slowly decomposing into a puddle of grift on their southern border, so I'd like you to remind them that I'm not a Haupt-Anderssen. Say things about trade, and sound them out regarding any assistance they'd be willing to give for an invasion in force into Sylvania. It's a long shot, but worth asking."

The meeting drifts to a close after that, as Van Hal starts discussing travel arrangements with Schultz, Kasmir and Gustav. You gather up your papers and head off to await Van Hal in his office.

---

"I really need to start a Leicheberg to Halstedt road," Van Hal groans as he enters his office, and takes the mug of brandy from you gratefully - you fished the bottle out of his bottom drawer while waiting for him. "Thanks. Blasted Sylvania - Stirland could be a wealthy and productive land without that millstone around our collective necks."

"If wishes were fishes, there'd be no room in the rivers for water," you reply, and he snorts.

"True, true. But by Sigmar, we can't even build a bloody road without ghosts coming out of the hills to try and eat us."

You nod in commiseration, and he sits himself down, broodily sipping at his mug. "Not that there aren't upsides," he admits. "Any other province and I would have been drawn into Imperial politics immediately. Stirland, I had some breathing room until they started playing games."

"Talabecland?" you guess.

"Talabecland are the loudest of them, but that's just because they see an opportunity to rebuild southern trade and want to get the lion's share of profits from it. We'll see how well Wilhelmina does at preventing that. But Averland and Ostermark are watching, because Sylvania's partly their problem too, and Wissenland and Reikland... god, it's easy to forget that Stirland's got half the Empire as neighbours. But there's an Elector's Meet coming up, and that's going to mean all eyes on the newcomer."

"Oh? What's the topic?"

"Dwarf business. Some hold they want to reclaim. But there'll be the usual politicking on the side - marriage will probably come up."

"An unmarried Elector Count usually doesn't stay that way for long," you note neutrally, not sure how you feel about this.

"Widowed, actually," he corrects, and smiles a little sadly at your look of shock. "Ancient history. She died in childbirth in '66. There's three little Van Hals out there, ready to carry on the family mission should this experiment fail, but nobody knows about them but a few trusted allies." He lets the silence stretch a little moment, then breaks it. "Anyway. Report. How's Knighted life treating you?"

You take a moment to get your thoughts in order. "Very well. The lands seem capable of thriving from neglect - thank you for that." He nods in acceptance, and you move on to the next topic. "On top of those in command reporting to me directly, I've got informants throughout the ranks of the Watch. It won't be able to wriggle free of my grip."

"I'd expect nothing less. How goes that snake of yours?"

"Fashion is making it aggravatingly difficult to get my hands on equipment for a proper study, but I managed to figure some things out. I somehow captured the Wisdom's Asp in such a manner that it got stuck threading between the mirrors, so it's half alive and half dispersed, half in the material realm and half in the Warp... it's not going to be able to reform like slain demons usually do, not while the box exists. Unfortunately the method wouldn't work safely on anything but a Wisdom's Asp..." You frown at a sudden thought. "Unless there's other types of warp entities out there that use untainted winds... anyway. It'd have to be a very, very unlucky or extremely stupid entity to get stuck in this exact manner."

"A shame, but considering the cost, it's unlikely that the same method would enter a Witch Hunter's standard arsenal. Still, once your studies are concluded, if there's nothing unusually sensitive about the information have it written up and sent to the Archives in Altdorf. Undistributed knowledge is wasted knowledge."

You nod, and he looks down at the papers he dumped on his desk when he entered and sighs. "If there's nothing else, I've got a lot of paperwork to get through before I can go gallivanting around the Sylvanian border." You take the hint, and your leave.

---

Fort Redemption built outside Leicheberg
2nd and 3rd Division now have attached chaplaincy corp
1st and 2nd Pistolier Cohort added to 2nd Division
Wealth of Stirland: Recovering
Income of Stirland: Mediocre
Treasury of Stirland: Mediocre
Flensburg Issue: Solved!
Western Stirland loyalty is now unshakeable.

---

PLAN FOR THIS TURN

ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIONS - pick ONE from EACH of the categories 'Information Network' and 'Stirland Watch':

Information Network - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[ ] Consolidation: You currently have a patchwork of useful contacts. Backfill so that you can rightfully claim to cover entire towns.
[ ] Interweave your network with the Watch as it expands, so that you can use the Watch to cover your network's communication lines and actions. (NEW)
[ ] Expand your information network into another province (choose one) (LOCKED until information network is financially independent or discretionary income expanded) (NEW)
[ ] Expand your information network into another county or barony (choose one) (LOCKED until information network is financially independent or discretionary income expanded) (NEW)
[ ] Expand your information network into the military (choose a Division) (LOCKED until information network is financially independent or discretionary income expanded) (NEW)
[ ] Off the Leash: Let Julia handle the network without your micromanagement from now on. (LOCKED until information network is financially independent or discretionary income expanded; will remove this from Organizational Actions) (NEW)
[ ] Choose a formal name for your information network (write in - does not count as your choice for the Network)

Information Network finances - expansion is hobbled by it's dependence on your discretionary income, and so is your budget. Perhaps you can get past that. Can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
[ ] Fixer: Work with the Wurtbad Thieves Guild, supplying them information in exchange for a portion of profits. (NEW)
[ ] Special Branch: Pull some financial trickery to get the information network classified as part of the Watch, so that their costs are covered by the Stirlandian treasury. (NEW)
[ ] Trade Delegation: Convince Wilhelmina and Markus to partner your network with the EIC based on the value of market information. (NEW)

Stirland Watch - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[ ] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of their covered area.
[ ] Improve the training of the Watch, hiring trainers and dedicating paid time each week to sharpening skills.
[ ] Integrate the Roadwarden network of covered areas into the Watch.
[ ] Expand the administration of the Watch so that they can expand into other counties without your personal oversight.
[ ] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.


PERSONAL ACTIONS - CHOOSE BETWEEN FIVE AND SEVEN. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST FIVE WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASKS.:

As Per Orders: Perform your current assignment.
[ ] Complete taking control of the renamed Stirland Watch. (spend an action to complete the takeover begun last turn)
[ ] Investigate the possibility of adding a River Warden branch of the Watch.
[ ] Integrate the rat catchers, sewer-jacks and gong farmers into the Watch, and begin having the rank-and-file of the Watch learn from them (Watch speciality action).
[ ] Expand the Watch into the rest of the County of Wurtbad, first priority being Tarshof.
[ ] Expand the Watch into the County of Worden, prioritizing Worden and Potting.

Miscellany:
[ ] Financial Jargon: Everything with the EIC flew right over your head last time. Try again. Succeeding here will mean that you can take a more active hand in the company, adding it to the organizational actions; failing or not attempting means Mathilde will remain a silent partner. (NEW)
[ ] Hang Out A Shingle: Spymasters don't advertise, but wizards sometimes do. Make an official announcement that there's a wizard in residence, and see who comes out of the woodwork.
[ ] Can I Come Too?: Everyone seems to be riding off to Leicheberg lately. Tag along and see what's going on with these Haunted Hills. (NEW)
[ ] Formal Proposal: Your idea for an undead research team intrigues Van Hal, but he wants more information. Write up a full proposal, including where it will fit in the existing heirarchy, and spend some time sourcing the equipment it would require. Write in details: Name, who it is technically a part of (Watch, Witch Hunters, Military, College, none), and whether it reports directly to you (becomes a new Organization you command) or not. (NEW)
[ ] A Crisis of Faith: Van Hal's ongoing alienation with the Sigmarite faith seems to be on the mend. But maybe you feel like meddling anyway. (write in)

Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
[ ] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who).
[ ] Pretty Good Swords: You've struck up a friendship with the Champion of the Greatswords and have discovered a talent for wielding them. Continue to cultivate this.
[ ] Combat Training: You're virtually surrounded by armed warriors of various sorts. See if you can convince one to teach you (choose who).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: You haven't made many heavily armed friends yet, but gold is good for that. Go out and buy some training. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.

Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: So far you've still failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try to throw your authority behind commissions from glassblowers and blacksmiths. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room)

Research:
[ ] Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead.
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. It's got to be good for something. (NEW)
[ ] As a Journeywoman, the path to Magister is marked by mastering more than the two shadow spells you already know. Send to the Grey Order for the basics and work on figuring out one of the others.

Influence:
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god. If it could be expanded under your aegis, it could be a powerful tool.
[ ] Biderhof: This village based on woodcutting and agriculture, has adopted you as one of it's own. Maybe you should adopt it as your own, in a literal sense.
[ ] Non-Thief Guilds: Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.

Relations:
[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors or your liege, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: You've been given good reason to mistrust your fellow councillors. Perhaps you should see what they spent their time doing (choose one).
[ ] Letters Home: You might be able to wring more information out of your Master, or you might just be able to get news, information and guidance in general from the Grey Order.
[ ] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required)

---

WAIFU VOTE

Who, if anyone, does Mathilde desire a romantic relationship with? This only determines who, in the privacy of her own mind, Mathilde likes the look of - it does not begin a relationship or even guarantee that such a relationship is possible, and by itself it will not change anything but some of her internal dialogue when faced with the person in question.

Elector Count Abelhelm Van Hal: An ambitious choice. But you are a noble now, and you do share a number of interests...
The Honourable Anton Kiesinger II: The heir to the Barony of Blutdorf appears to be completely lacking in subtlety and realpolitik knowhow, but he makes friends easily and seems to be remarkably competent at his job.
Sir Markus von Pfaffbach: He's well-off if he was able to invest in the EIC, he holds a position of great honour, and he's damn skilled with his sword.
Outrider Champion Gustav von Jungfreud: He's a newcomer to the game, but maybe you like a guy as at home on a physical horse as you are on a shadow horse.
Brother Kasmir Heinz: Is he bound to a vow of chastity? Maybe not. Or maybe it would be fun to make him break it.
Magister Regimand Speiseschrank: Mandatory sensei option.
Wilhelmina Hochschild: Maybe you swing the other way. She's got children, but no mention of any husband.
Julia Antoinette Massif: Another option of the fairer sex. She's a member of the ruling dynasty of the technically-democratic Chartered Free Town of Flensburg and has keen interest in archery and skulduggery.
None of the above: Mathilde is open to the idea, but none of the current options really do it for her.
None, period: Mathilde is not for romance.
Ranald: NO, THAT'S HERESY
Wisdom's Asp: DEFINITELY NOT

---

FINANCES: NO ACTION POINT EXPENDITURE.

Personal Income: 60 gold/turn
Discretionary Income: 150 gold/turn
Informer Payroll unlocked

Currently paying Grey College tithe (-6 personal gold/turn)
Currently paying Grey College student loans (-35 personal gold/turn)

Currently embezzling 1/4 of discretionary income (-35 discretionary gold/turn, +35 personal gold/turn)

Currently employing 6 veteran informants (-60 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding a number of Watch informants (-10 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding a number of EIC informants (-20 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently employing Julia Massif (-30 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently maintaining the staff of a townhouse in Wurtbad (-20 discretionary gold/turn)

[ ] Begin plumping the informer rolls (choose ratio of real:fake informers. Almost impossible to detect, but also very difficult to increase or decrease the amount quickly)
[ ] Change tithe payment/loan payment/embezzlement (specify)
[ ] These agents are getting expensive. Write up a proposal for your discretionary budget to be increased, instead of waiting for Van Hal to decide to increase it. (warning: attracts oversight to your current budget)

- You can write in orders, but something worth writing in is probably worth adding to the list of possible orders, so feel free to ask if your idea can be added.
- As always, voting will be in plan format. The WAIFU VOTE will be separate to the plan. The WAIFU VOTE will not be a lock-in - it will change her inner monologue and unlock new personal actions, but if none of the relevant actions are taken and discussion in the thread starts to favour a different candidate, I will hold a new WAIFU VOTE. Yes, the all-caps is necessary
- As more organizations are founded or absorbed, this will become more of a 'traditional' CK2 quest, with choices in a range of specialized areas each turn and personal actions separate. This can be 'walked back' if desired by allowing leaders to act independently and not bringing more organizations on board. I know that no choice will please everyone; some people will be excited for Mathilde to go from a single confused journeywoman muddling her way through things to ruling over a personal fiefdom of powerful organizations, but other people will be sad to see the quest lose the 'down-to-earth' tone of early turns. If you've a preference, express it through voting and explaining your point of view in the thread.
- Don't forget Ranald's Blessing!
- Take note - you now have FIVE actions, with the option to overwork up to seven. This represents the time taken to manage both your information network and the Watch - there is no way to eliminate this without completely giving up personal control over them.

 

[Boney]

[*] [Actions] Plan Our Jobs Take Priority
-[*] Interweave your network with the Watch as it expands, so that you can use the Watch to cover your network's communication lines and actions. (NEW)
-[*] Expand the administration of the Watch so that they can expand into other counties without your personal oversight.
-[*] Complete taking control of the renamed Stirland Watch. (finishes action begun last turn)
-[*] Integrate the rat catchers, sewer-jacks and gong farmers into the Watch, and begin having the rank-and-file of the Watch learn from them (Watch speciality action).
-[*] Expand the Watch into the County of Worden, prioritizing Worden and Potting.
-[*] Can I Come Too?: Everyone seems to be riding off to Leicheberg lately. Tag along and see what's going on with these Haunted Hills. (NEW)
--[*] Ranald's Blessing on Can I Come Too?

-[*] Overwork - Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead.

-[*] Formal Proposal: Your idea for an undead research team intrigues Van Hal, but he wants more information. Write up a full proposal, including where it will fit in the existing heirarchy, and spend some time sourcing the equipment it would require. Write in details: Name, who it is technically a part of (Watch, Witch Hunters, Military, College, none), and whether it reports directly to you (becomes a new Organization you command) or not. (NEW)
--[*] Name: Autopsy Agency
--[*] Membership: College
--[*] Control: Van Hal
--[*] The organization would have wizards from the colleges, along with surgeons and hunters to best locate, combat, capture and dissect the undead encountered. The key difficulties will lie in detection, location and capture, where a wizard is best suited to the parts of detection and capture, being able to identify the Dhar at work and also counter or trace any necromancers involved.
--[*] While there may be political costs to a formal expansion of the colleges, the value here in Stirland should be well worth it, and there is the alternative of hiring Journeymen and keeping the control under Van Hal's personal authority if the politics prove stubborn about a formal expansion, as his position makes commanding journeymen wizards simple by law.
--[*] With the information gathered, it'd be helpful to the roles of Gustav, Kasmir and your own office to get the detailed reports. Specific tactics to fighting the unliving would greatly ease the losses on the forces combating the supernatural in the field, while your informants would also greatly benefit from identifying the more subtle forms of undead hidden within the populace or lurking where the people will only report otherwise vague rumors.. Then Kasmir's office to assess if the locals are coerced, duped or in collusion.

-[*] Enchantment: So far you've still failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try to throw your authority behind commissions from glassblowers and blacksmiths. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
--[*] Just buy. Defer setup if you get anything
-[*] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required)
--[*] Wilhelmina
-[*] These agents are getting expensive. Write up a proposal for your discretionary budget to be increased, instead of waiting for Van Hal to decide to increase it. (warning: attracts oversight to your current budget)
--[*] Budget increase dearly needed as the information network need huge expansion to refill the void left by the demise of the League, as well as watching the Watch to prevent corruption and hostile plants. Push for increase of 100 Gold at minimal, due to need to finding and keeping reliable officers.
-[*] Cut Embezzlement to 0. You have your own estate income now to cover your fees.

[*] [WAIFU] None of the above: Mathilde is open to the idea, but none of the current options really do it for her. - Number of voters: 30
[*] [WAIFU] Van Hal - Number of voters: 23

Click to shrink...

Waifu Vote Result: Mathilde will be married to her job, but will have certain thoughts regarding Van Hal.

---

There was a time, you reminisce, when every problem given to you was solved by running at it with sword and magic armour at the ready, and whatever happened, it was all wrapped up in time for dinner. Now, you've got bureaucracy.

Tragically, it's entirely a necessary evil. The newly-renamed Stirland Watch could be a fantastic tool in all sorts of ways - for your information network, for presenting a credible threat to the criminal underworld to force them to fall in line under your authority, and, of course, for the good of the citizens of Stirland. So you have to grit your teeth and sit down and hammer together an organization pretty much from scratch because the blasted Bretonnian peasant who used to run the Wurtbad Watch took one look at your incoming regime and chose retirement.

You secure oaths of loyalty from the remaining subordinates of the Bretonnian and move the headquarters to a townhouse that just so happens to be next door to that of your information network. You try to require them to give reports in writing instead of the verbal reports they used to give, but quickly run into the problem of widespread illiteracy, so you once more set up a literacy program for your underlings. You're getting sick of working with uneducated peasants, but when recruitment for the Watch is restricted to military veterans, you don't have much of a choice.

Things rapidly start falling apart when you try to build a bureaucracy, however. You spend weeks on interview after interview, and in the end you're able to divide them neatly into two categories: incompetent and infiltrators. You invite a few of the second lot back to face rather more intensive interviewing, and as it turns out there's far greater demand for competent administrators than there is supply, thanks to the trade vacuum caused by your removal of the Stirlandian League. The EIC have snapped up a number to start with, but there's also other trade leagues moving into Wurtbad, and they're looking for bureaucrats of their own. And a few of those new hires have been sent on to you, in what appears to be a defensive measure - there's concerns that your brutal breakup of the Stirlandian League and the seizure of their assets may be habit-forming, and they want agents of their own in place to tip them off should you attempt the same with them.

You put away your implements, thank your interviewees for their time and honesty, and have Julia return the rather distressed candidates back to their paymasters with your best regards.

You spent some time with her later, trying to find an easy solution, but there just isn't one. There's no competent administrative staff left unspoken for in Wurtbad; the only way to get your hands on some is to go elsewhere to hire some on, or to start headhunting those already hired by other organizations, and there's just not the time for that right now. At least, Julia says brightly, it makes it easy for her to sink her hooks into the Watch unimpeded, but it's no comfort to you.

Fine. If you've got to do everything yourself, so be it.

---

Your last task before heading off to Southern Stirland is the expansion of the Watch downwards. You're acquainted with how sprawling the underways of Wurtbad are, and you want to start projecting power down there as well as the Watch currently does on street level. The first stop is the Sewer Jacks - technically already part of the Watch, they've just been operating independently for so long that they ran as a separate organization. A reminder of their charter and they fall in line, but talk of a greater focus on their duties gains their interest. You meet with the leader of the Jacks, a short and scarred man known as Lower Hans, a number of times over several weeks in their offices beneath the southern gatehouse of Wurtbad's inner walls. You explain that you envision the Sewer Jacks with improved equipment and training as an elite force dedicated to patrolling the sewers, whereas the rank-and-file of the watch will 'only' be brought up to the current level of expertise of the Sewer Jacks. His eyes brighten, but he speaks a single word: dwarves.

Given time, you manage to extract further words from him. Dwarves, he explains, are the undisputed masters of tunnel warfare. The Stirland Watch can either spend a dozen lifetimes getting anywhere close to catching up to them, or they can bring in Dwarven trainers to teach them. Stirland has a trade relation with Zhufbar, you remember, albeit one strained by all the Sylvania in between, so it's not entirely impossible - and there was mention of some dwarf issue being raised in the coming Elector's Meet, wasn't there? Something to keep in mind. You say you'll keep it in mind, sketch out plans for the Sewer Jacks to begin training the rest of the Watch, and move on to the more difficult part of the job.

You hold a series of rather fragrant meetings with representatives from two of the most avoided guilds in Wurtbad: the Rat Catchers and the Gong Farmers. You paint a picture for them: one of a new, modern Watch that ruled the streets below as well as they did those above, of the sewers being a hidden but vital part of the Wurtbad machine instead of a hive of vermin and pestilence. Either as independent contractors or officially as employees of Stirland, they would be brought aboard and their roster expanded so that no more would any street in Wurtbad know the smell of human excrement and the skitter of paws in the dark.

It's a surprisingly impassioned pitch, and it wins them over - it takes you weeks to hammer out the details but in the end, both guilds are being formally adopted by the Stirland Watch. Both start to expand their rosters, taking in the poorest and most desperate of Wurtbad's populace and offering them an income and a purpose. The Rat Catchers, no longer bound by the requirement to collect tails for bounty, begin to experiment with new ways to wage war on their eternal foe (it sounds a little melodramatic to you, but hey, whatever helps them find purpose) in the form of rat traps and poisons. As for the gong farmers, the tiniest outlay of funds from the Stirlandian treasury to purchase carts, wagons and barrels pays for itself within the month, as waste flows out of the city and, to your shock, money flows back in - solid waste goes to the farms to act as fertilizer for a modest fee, and it's downright shocking what the tanneries outside Wurtbad's walls will pay for liquid waste. And every drop and dollop that flows out is no longer lying on or under the streets of Wurtbad, or being dumped into the poor River Stir.

If nothing else, you can claim with pride that Wurtbad is a better-smelling city for your intervention.

[Finishing the takeover: Req 50, Stewardship, 71+10=81.]
[Expanding the administration: Req 40, 14+10=24.]
[Spotting the plants: Req 60, Intrigue, 53+16=69.]
[Julia interrupt? Roll, 4. Nope.]
[Sewer Jacks: Req 30, Stewardship, 95+10=105.]
[Rat Catchers: Breakpoints 30/60, Stewardship, 64+10=74.]
[Gong Farmers: Breakpoints 20/40, Stewardship, 69+10=79.]

---

With all that set up, it's time to join the rest of the group in Southern Stirland. They set off weeks back, but with all you've got to do in Wurtbad you can't spend all your time wandering around the Haunted Hills, so instead you decide to join Wilhelmina's rather more relaxed journey south. It'll be far slower than if you had just ridden a shadowhorse, but a lot more comfortable and it gives you the opportunity to spend some time with Wilhelmina, your long-time coworker and now cofounder of the EIC.

At least, that was the idea.

In reality, Wilhelmina is entirely occupied with her own concerns, and the entire column was forced to wait awkwardly outside the EIC building as Wilhelmina has a screaming row with her eldest son; you can clearly hear the details, as can everyone in this quarter of Wurtbad. The son in question apparently feels that the EIC has no business getting caught up in an inevitably disastrous crusade into haunted Sylvania, and that she was putting some damn fool of a noble ahead of her own family; Wilhelmina shoots back that that 'noble' made the EIC possible, and continues to do so, and even if he didn't she'd still throw the full weight of the EIC behind him, and if he, the son, didn't like it he could resign his place in the company and go out into the world and find some other mother figure to leech off of.

From there, things spiral downward awkwardly.

You don't know how things ended, because after the first hour you summoned your shadowsteed and galloped out of the city on your own.

[Spending time with Wilhelmina: Roll, 2.]

---

You've got a fair bit of reading to do on your way to Southern Stirland to keep you occupied, and you're comfortable enough on shadowy horseback to read as your horse gallops. You've got a number of books on the undead, and more importantly you've got all the information your still-growing network has collected on Southern Stirland. You've honestly been neglecting to read the reports that flow in, leaving it up to Julia to make sure that there's nothing important in there - there's only so many hours in the day, after all - but you suppose now is as good a time as any to start tapping into it, and Julia had busily distilled those reports into solid nuggets of background information on every corner of Stirland.

Southern Stirland, you soon realize, is actually the richest third of Stirland proper. Though Wurtbad is by far the largest population center in the province, Schramleben, Hornau, Leicheberg and Sigmaringen are second through fifth, the fertile soil between the Moot and the mountains supporting fertile fields and vast herds of cattle. It comes as something of a shock to you, as you'd assumed that Western Stirland, furthest from Sylvania and where you'd spent most of your time and attention, would naturally be the biggest part of it - but it's only Wurtbad that makes Western Stirland so important, and without it, the average wealth and size of the towns and villages is far below that of Southern Stirland.

You suppose it makes sense, when you think about it. Most of Western Stirland (and Central Stirland, for that matter) is hills and woods; good for sheep and hunters, but not the sort of place that makes an area rich. For that, you need crops and cows. There were decent farmlands along the Aver, but they lacked the fertility of the lands tucked up against the Moot. You think you're starting to understand why generations of Stirland's Elector Counts have resented the halflings for the loss of Stirland's most valuable soil.

The next report to fall under your eye was on Maksim von Stolpe, the young man that was elevated to rule after his brother got 'disappeared' by you, and his lands. Leicheberg's largest claim to fame (before Van Hal made it the military headquarters of Stirland, that is) was that it was, technically and arguably formerly, Sylvanian. The people were Stirlanders, but when the border was still a legal entity, Leicheberg was on the Sylvanian side of it. But generations of hard work and dedication and military might had forced back the terrible things in the night that made Sylvania what it was, and now the land was as solidly Stirland as any other, with the least haunted of the Haunted Hills supporting vast flocks of sheep and the lowlands of Swartzhafen supporting cattle. Every indication was that he was very enthused about the military presence in his lands, and considering that half of those lands fell within the 'Haunted Hills' and the other half in the shadow of the 'Ghoul Woods', you can certainly see why.

You skim a single page on the neglected barony of Texing, which reverted to the Elector Count after the owning family died off. Decent farmland and some timber industry, but isolated from the rest of Stirland. Perhaps that would change if Van Hal keeps building roads - a Leicheberg-Halstedt road could easily go through Hirtenfeld. Another single-page report, on Sigmaringen and Countess Alexandra von Munsterburg - the least prosperous of the southern counties, but still well off. A pious and quiet land filled with shrines and shepherds, only mildly terrorized by monsters wandering down from the mountains from time to time.

Schramleben, ruled by the Grand Mayor Victor van Grissenwald, is the largest city in Southern Stirland and second-largest in Stirland proper; it is also a Chartered Free Town that has somehow expanded into the area of a county. Built on the shore of the Aver and the crossroads between Averland, the Moot, and Zhufbar, it makes incredible profits selling its famous ale to all three. It also has more head of cattle than any county in Stirland. Its wealth makes it the political juggernaut of Southern Stirland, and it apparently hosts an informal meet between its Grand Mayor and the three Counts every year to discuss business.

Finally, there is the county of Hornau and the Count Robert Toppenheimer; the richest farmlands in Southern Stirland, held back by a lack of enough peasants to work them all. Nobody's that keen to live right up against the Sylvanian border, and crops need a lot more hands to tend them than cattle or sheep do. As a result, he's as positive about recent military developments as Count Maksim is, and has ordered his levy train every weekend in anticipation of a push into Sylvania.

An idyllic corner of Stirland, on paper; but the fact that a simple road can't be built to link it up to Central Stirland tells otherwise.

You spend a pleasant night in Schramleben, sampling their famous ales and taking in the wealth of the city for yourself in a way that you didn't manage to when you galloped through in the past. It's far smaller than Wurtbad, but it's richer, cleaner, and more cosmopolitan. About one in four of the people on the street are dwarfs, halflings, or Averlanders, and the locals are dressed much more finely than the current fashion in Wurtbad. Then you realize that the current fashion in Wurtbad is thrice-accursed Wizard Chic, and you extend your stay in the city a few more days to make some purchases, cackling with glee as you're finally able to clean out the glassblowers and smithies of a city that Wizard Chic hasn't reached. You find stills, alembics, calcinators, retorts, flasks, lenses of every colour, vises, sets of chisels and pliers, an anvil, a very small pedal-forge, and all are purchased and packed in straw and sent up the road to Wurtbad, addressed to Dame Weber, care of the EIC. The cost is outrageous but you don't care. You've finally beaten Wizard Chic.

[Shopping for enchanting equipment: Req 60, Learning, 89+16=105.]

---

You finally arrive in Leicheberg with a light purse and a lighter heart, and introduce yourself to skeptical soldiers at the gate of an entirely new building: Fort Redemption. Word is sent up a chain of command, and before long Van Hal arrives and welcomes you in, and the guards relax. The barracks is all tall walls and small buildings, with tents in places and ongoing construction in other places, and it bustles with activity. Something like five thousand troops call this place home, and thousands more call it their job; you pass an open-air kitchen with a long line of hungry soldiers patiently waiting, and a small shrine to Ulric, and a tent out of which wafts the smell of blood, death, and the screams of the wounded. Past all this you are led and then into the central keep, past another guard checkpoint and through a series of hallways into what can only be called a war room. Gustav, Schultz, Kasmir and Markus are already there, leaning over a map of the area, along with a face you only recognize after a moment's thought - Maksim, last seen as the dilettante little brother of the Count, now ruling in his own right, and constantly tugging at his belt as the unfamiliar weight of his rapier drags it down.

You all exchange greetings as you join the huddle. "No Wilhelmina?" Markus notes.

"I left a couple hours ahead of her," you reply, leaving out the 'why'. "She should be here within two or three weeks - she's at the head of an entire trade caravan, by the look of it."

That draws a few surprised looks, and you practice your smirk in reply. Wizard, you don't say, but in such a way that everyone hears you not saying it.

"She'd probably want to sit this out anyway," Van Hal says. "There's a burial mound about half a day into Sylvania - some local hero that was dug up and his remains resanctified in the early days of the Empire. Unlike most of the other Wight Kings, he doesn't get up and go wandering on his own - the only thing that drags him out of his rest is enslavement, and him and his retainers make their way back home after the necromancer in question is slain. If he's still there, then we'll know that our problems are the natural pulse of the Haunted Hills. Worst case scenario, the petty kind of necromancer that can only bind the already-restless dead. But if we get there and it's empty, it means there's something with real power lurking in these Hills."

"I'm in," you say instantly.

Van Hal smiles and nods, and you draw a thoughtful look from Gustav. "You, me, Kasmir and Markus; Gustav will lead a company of his Pistoliers with us, and we'll have flares to signal for reinforcements if necessary. Should strike a decent compromise between moving fast and moving in force."

"In and out before sundown," Kasmir states firmly, and Markus nods in agreement.

"Bezahltag," Van Hal says, "unless the weather shifts, in which case we push it back. Three days to prepare."

---

You take the time to burrow into the bureaucracy at Fort Redemption. You know that the retirement package for soldiers is fairly generous, which means that someone must be handling that money; you make your way to the Paymasters' offices, and from there find a mess. The pay is centralized, certainly; but each Regiment handles retirements internally, and draws up the paperwork to request that their coffers are reimbursed after the fact. You had hoped there was one person you could talk to that would be handling all retirements, but no such luck. So instead you go to the paymaster of each of the eight regiments stationed at Fort Redemption and speak to them individually, braving their suspicious looks and asking them to pass on to men that retire that the Stirland Watch would welcome them with open arms. All they need do is bring their discharge papers to any watchman in Wurtbad, and they'd be directed to the offices of the Watch and welcomed into their ranks.

To your surprise, each and every one of them is open to it, and tells you that they'll pass on the suggestion to their men.

In hindsight, it's probably because you kept it straightforward and minimized your own place in it. "Go to Wurtbad, talk to any watchman you see" is easy to remember and seems unlikely to be part of any weird Wizard plot. But now you'll have enough manpower coming in that you can afford to send some of Wurtbad's officers down south when you get back.

[Retirement bureaucracy: Roll, Stewardship, 35+10=45.]
[Speaking to the paymasters: Breakpoints every 10, Diplomacy, 84+8=92.]

---

You spent so much time chasing down the paymasters and convincing them to pass on your message to their retiring soldiers, you don't have a chance to catch up with anyone before it's time to go venturing off into the Haunted Hills. One hundred pistoliers, two champions, one Elector Count, a priest and a wizard head out in the first light of dawn across the uneven countryside of the Hills. The atmosphere is tense, and every horse but your own is spooked.

Justification for the atmosphere is provided barely an hour into your ride. Atop a hill between you and your eventual goal, two ghostly figures float in midair, shimmering green energy glinting off the transparent scythes in their arms. You're glad you've started skimming books on the undead every night, instead of your usual reading material; you're able to identify these as cairn wraiths, the lingering souls of novice necromancers with just enough know-how to preserve their spirit, but not enough to bind it to a body. They're staring at you malevolently, but not even trying to conceal themselves.

"What in Sigmar's name?" Gustav asks in shock.

"Cairn Wraiths," Van Hal states, confirming your own identification. "Nasty - they can't be harmed by normal weapons." He unslings his repeater rifle and hands it to you, and after a moment's investigation work out how to pop out the cylinder and start weaving Ulgu into the bullets. This soon after dawn, it's trivial. "Fortunately for us, we're not so limited. Gustav, pass Kasmir your pistol." He does so, and the murmurs of Kasmir's prayer joins your silent concentration as you seal the doom of these fallen wizards.

"Is this," you murmur distractedly, "proof enough? Of necromancers?"

"Unfortunately, these will wander of their own accord just as readily as they will at a necromancer's bidding." He accepts the rifle back from you, checks the cylinder is secured, then aims down the sights. "Though they're rather limited - they tend to come from a time," the sharp crack of gunfire breaks the uneasy silence, and then shrieks rise from one of the figures as hideous spurts of Dhar pour from the spectral wound, "before gunpowder."

The other figure charges, and runs into shots from both Gustav and Van Hal, and joins its fellow in shrieking in unexpected agony. Further shots from both of them finish off the figures without further trouble, and they disappear, either dispersed back into the Winds of Magic or sucked directly back into the Warp.

"Shall we carry on?" Van Hal says, a hint of a smile on his lips, and you find your own smile mimicking his.

[Various rolls to determine whether a threat is present and its nature and potency]
[Scouting: Roll, 84.] vs [stealth: Roll, 19.]
[Van Hal and Gustav clown on them]

---

The rest of the trip to the Barrow is uneventful, and the sun is bright overhead as you approach it. In darkness it would be intimidating, but in the cold light of day it looks like a sad ending for a once-powerful ruler.

"Mathilde?" Van Hal says, and you concentrate your senses. The ground is stained with Shyish, of course, and like everywhere in these blasted hills there's the lingering taint of long-forgotten atrocities staining everywhere with a faint overcoat of Dhar. But as far as you can see, there's no evidence of any recent magical activity, and you say so. "A promising start," he says, dismounting, and you and the other three follow suit. The Pistoliers remain mounted; Gustav barks an order for them to form a cordon, with scout patrols in every direction.

"Just like last time," you say wryly as you draw your Greatsword; you give it a frown, uncomfortably aware that you've been neglecting your study of the blade since then, but you shake the thought free and begin folding Ulgu into it.

"If only duty took us somewhere nicer," Van Hal agrees. "Mathilde, you take the lead this time. Keep an eye out for any magical tripwires. We're much closer to Drakenhof here."

Kasmir says prayers over Gustav's repeater pistols, then Markus' sword; Van Hal's blade needs no such assistance. Orc Hewer's runes were carved when this mound was freshly dug, and rendered the blade's edge able to pass unhindered through armour and flesh and bone alike.

You tear yourself away from enchantment envy, and lead the party into the darkness of the barrow.

There's something different about this one; something you can't quite put your finger on. The torches carried by those behind you barely penetrate the darkness, but the Shyish in every surface means everything glows amethyst to your senses, and you step with confidence through the murk. The passage is winding, sloping downwards under the hill, and finally you emerge into a room - an antechamber, you realize, as an ancient door of long-fossilized wood bars the way further into the chamber. And to each side, skeletons stand upright against the walls, blades in hand to defend their dead king; you feel a pang of sadness, because their protection endangers the king they swore to serve in life and death, as it makes his resting place all the more tempting for those that wield the tainted magic of necromancy. Not just a Wight King, but his honour guard too; lieutenant and shock troops in one convenient place.

Twenty empty eye sockets stare at you, empty of the sinister witchlight of a wraith. Shyish cloaks them, and deep in their bones, the taint of Dhar from being bound and animated again and again for countless long-forgotten battles, and each time they found their way back to this place, to stand in defence of their master; but with no defence against the hideous magic of Necromancy, they only stand ready for the next fiend who wanders this way to enslave them.

Behind you, the others peer over your shoulders into the antechamber, taking in the sight.

"Should we check the main chamber?" Gustav asks, his voice breaking the silence of the tomb.

"If there was a necromancer anywhere near here, this honour guard would be gone," Van Hal says firmly. "I won't disturb their rest any more than it has been already."

"Is there something we can do for them?" you whisper, your voice almost breaking as you stare back into the empty eyes of one of the would-be wights.

"I'm no Morrite," Kasmir says gently, "and even if I were, to lay all the dead of Sylvania to rest would be the work of a hundred lifetimes." A hand falls on your shoulder, and squeezes it comfortingly. "We fight for the living. I pray that one day, we will have the luxury of fighting for the dead, as well."

Boot scrapes on stone as the others turn to leave, making their way out once more. You look once more at the long-dead men, still standing in a doomed effort to protect their king from those that would defile him, and then turn and follow.

---

The light of noon seems unreal to you, after the Shyish-tinged gloom of the barrow. You accept a drink from Van Hal's flask, the liquor burning down your throat and radiating from your gut, chasing away some of the sadness of the tomb that had seeped into your bones.

"That answers that," you manage to say, though you can't find it in you to sound victorious. "No necromancer, not here. Just... Sylvania."

"Still threat enough," Gustav mutters, drawing murmurs of agreement.

"A predictable and manageable threat," Van Hal says. "No threat of strategic trickery, just the ebb and flow of the restless dead. We deploy the 2nd and 3rd in force to guard as the road is built, then the 4th comes down and joins a push into Sylvania to bring their numbers down."

"Timeline?" you say, managing to make it sound like simple curiosity.

"Mmm... a year?" Van Hal says, looking questioningly at Gustav.

"If Schultz can hold up his end of things, I can make a year work."

"Call it a bit longer for the muster. In just over a year, we purge the Haunted Hills."

---

You spent some more time with Van Hal in the coming days. His office here is far from the comfortable one back home, but there's a pair of chairs and a fire so it's not too bad. He's currently reading through your budget proposal, and the attached paperwork showing your current expenditures, completely free of embezzlement for the first time since you began; he looks at you wryly, and you return the look blankly, and he smiles.

"Look, I'll grant you another 50 for the Discretionary," he says, "that should cover you for a while longer. But this is supposed to be discretionary, for unexpected bits and pieces that pop up as you go along. It's not supposed to be for you to maintain an entire staff filed under miscellany." He holds up a hand to stall your coming objection. "Yes, they're important, I've no doubt. But if you keep scaling up, you can't count on Stirland to cover the cost - not when we've got so many other drains on our resources. Either find a way to make your network revenue-neutral or stop throwing money at everyone you want to tell you things. I hope patriotism is still legal tender for these purposes, but if not, I've always found a great deal of value in threats of violence."

"I'll find a way to make it work," you promise.

He nods. "I've no doubt. What else do you have for me?" You hand him your proposal for the Autopsy Agency, and he sits back and reads through it. "Under the authority of the Colleges," he notes.

"Under the authority of my Master as a Magister of the Colleges; it'll pass to me once I graduate."

"Which means that it's not bound as tightly as I'd like to Stirland proper," he says with a frown. "Oh, it'll be fine for the foreseeable, but what happens after our time?"

You... hadn't actually thought that was a concern. "I... suppose it would either dissolve, or a new head would be appointed by the Grey Order," you say.

"If this is to happen at all I want it ironclad," he growls. "This organization is to be a partnership between the Grey Order and the Elector Count of Stirland. When we're both dust I don't want this turning into anonymous wizards using Stirland as a laboratory."

"I... can write something up to that effect," you say, more than a little confused.

"Okay. Good. Go on," he says, settling back down.

"Okay, uh, members would be drawn from surgeons and hunters as well as the Colleges, with the goal being to form teams that can locate, capture, and then research subjects. It's my opinion that a wizard being part of this would be vital, so they can identify the Dhar and counter any necromantic control."

But Van Hal is shaking his head again. "No. Any organization that requires a wizard to function, let alone wizards plural, is doomed. The supply of competent wizard back-up we can count on, not including yourself, is measured in man-hours," he pauses. "Wizard-hours? Anyway, it's not measured in actual full-time wizards assigned to this. I'm sorry Mathilde, but this plan is good on paper but sure to end up with either incompetent baby wizards getting good people killed or, if we restrict it to competent wizards, a bunch of hunters and surgeons sitting around wondering if they'll ever see a single wizard to fill in the trio. And this part?" He points. "I control it directly? Has something led you to believe that an Elector-Count has nothing to keep them busy from day to day?" He rereads the entire the entire proposal as you sit there, feeling very small. "Unless you can make the current plan work without wizards, scrap the entire thing. Actually, if we're using regular surgeons for the actual examinations, cut out the Colleges entirely. And for Sigmar's sake decide whether it'll be under Gustav or Kasmir or Schultz or yourself or, in fact, literally anybody but me."

He subsides back into his chair, then sighs and pulls out a flask, offering it to you. You drink gratefully, and mutter an apology.

He shakes his head. "Look, I get it. In a perfect world this would be a fantastic way to expand our knowledge of the undead. But you and I both know that this is so terribly far from a perfect world, and we need to work with what we have. And what we have is barely-trained peasants." He waves an arm towards a window. "Look out there, the 2nd and 3rd. Ten thousand peasants with spears. Five thousand with swords. Five thousand with crossbows made of wood and scrap iron. One thousand horsemen with pistols. How many cannon? Ten. That's the kind of ratio we can sustain." He points at you. "You are our cannon. Now figure out how to make things work with thousands of peasants."

You take the proposal he passes back to you and leave the room, your mind starting to go to work.

---

On your way back to Wurtbad, you pass Wilhelmina as her caravan makes its way from the Moot to Schramleben; her palpable jealousy at your shadowhorse follows you all the way up the road to Halstedt, where you spend the night. More inspired than ever, you spent sleepless nights digging through books of undead, sent from the College libraries with dire threats regarding what would happen if you lose them. Not because they were especially rare or anything; the libraries were just like that. Wraiths and wights, skeletons and spirits, a hundred varieties of undead and a hundred more accursed living creatures that flock to them. You're barely scratching the surface.

You pop in at Worden on your way through, and announce your annexation of the local guard; you had brought a copy of the founding charter of the Stirland Watch for this very purpose, and allow the local representatives of the tiny bands of thuggish thief-takers to read through them - or, more accurately, to find someone to read it to them - and let them decide whether they wanted to be part of the law enforcement juggernaut that was forming, or be in its way. They opted for the former, and with that in hand Potting puts up even less resistance, accepting that it was time for their local law enforcement to fall under the aegis of a province-wide organization.

Since you had the momentum and manpower, you went all in. Vigaun didn't even try to say no, apparently glad that the three-man team that handled law enforcement was going to be supplemented by trained men from the capital. Nussbach didn't even have anyone acting in that roll, so you told the Headman that now there'd be someone around to deal with crime. They seemed reluctant to give up the traditional punishment for thievery, which was nailing the thieves' hands to the door of the village tavern, but he's not enough of a fool to stand in your way. And with that, your work was done, and it was time to head back to...

You sigh, and turn your horse along the dirt road to Kelham. You have a duty.

---

The Headman is a tall man, still muscled despite his advancing years, and well used to getting his way. But he sees the robes and the hat and the sword and the paperwork. He bows and stammers and welcomes you to the humble village of Kelham, and what could it do for such an august and powerful figure? What he doesn't see is you.

He doesn't see the face of the girl that he dragged into the village square fourteen years ago, screaming for her to be burned; her mother and father had stood and watched and said nothing as the villagers started to gather firewood. Then someone arrived who argued, the single man that served as law enforcement in Kelham, who said that there was laws. That the girl had done no crime with her magic; that she hadn't harmed anyone nor raised the dead nor summoned creatures, only made a toy horse neigh. And the man that had once fought and bled for Stirland placed a hand on the hilt of his battered sword, and he insisted.

Two weeks later, of living in that man's spare room and not seeing another human being and asking every day if her family had asked about her, and they hadn't, nobody did... two weeks later, answering the summons that had been sent to Wurtbad, a man by the name of Magister Regimand had arrived in the town, and demanded to see the child blessed and tainted with magic, and took her away to learn to control and cultivate the blessing and curse of magic.

The Headman is still standing there, awaiting your answer, not daring to ask again even as the silence drags. And then you talk of law enforcement, and are told they have none, not since six, seven years ago when bandits got the last one, and though the news hits you like a punch in the gut you simply nod and tell him that watchmen will be sent to oversee Kelham. And he thanks you, and you leave.

You spend some time looking down the even fainter dirt road leading off the village square, that you knew would lead to a too-small farm and too-busy adults and too many children and, somewhere, maybe, a carved wooden horse that had once been made to neigh.

And then you leave. Never to return.

Not if you could help it.





---

[Undead research: Req 40, Learning, 34+16=50. Progress gained.]
[Expanding watch into County of Worden: Diplomacy, 68+7+20(manpower secured)=95.]


WATCH STUFF TO BE WRITTEN UP IN A NEW INFO THREADMARK
HAUNTED HILLS PURGE BEGINS TURN 12
BUDGET EXPANSION ACQUIRED: +50g/turn
TRAIT ACQUIRED: Bureaucrat
UNDEAD LORE: Novice


Discretionary Income: +200g
Veteran informants: -60g
Watch informants: -10g
EIC informants: -20g
Julia: -30g
Townhouse staff: -20g
Enchantment equipment: -150g, including shipping
---
Net: -90g

Personal Income: +50g
Estate Profit: +10g
Tithe: -6g
Student Loans: -35g
---
Net: +19g


The Council Meeting is in Fort Redemption, since most everyone is there anyway; only Anton is absent. The council room is a far cry from back in Eagle Castle, but it will have to do, and you can be back in civilization soon enough anyway. Everyone else seems to be energized by the martial atmosphere; even the previously-timid Schultz is going around armed these days.

You put your papers in order, and frown a little, remembering the knockbacks your proposals got earlier. But as your Master says, if you survived then you didn't fail. You just have more work to do.

Public Report: Write in (optional; can write in word for word, or just outline what is focused on)
Private Report: Write in (optional; the private meeting is traditional at this point and will take place, simply say whether there's anything specific you want to bring up here)

Potential Orders:

Investigation:
[ ] There's definitely evil afoot in Drakenhof. Perhaps there's a way to survive investigating this.
[ ] The disappearance of your predecessor is very concerning, but according to the Stirlandian League he's pulled out of the game with all his ill-gotten gains. If you're not willing to let that go, maybe you could track him down anyway.
[ ] You kind of regret learning exactly what you did to the Thorned One, but you did it. But the liquid leaking out? That's still an unknown. Will Van Hal let you look into it on the clock?
[ ] The spell used by the informants is like nothing you've heard of before. You want to see if you can detect or replicate it.
[ ] Something your Lieutenant said gave you an idea. Investigate the shores of the Black Water, see if it can truly be tamed.
[ ] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
[ ] Wilhelmina said a lot of really complicated words at you. Maybe she's up to something. Or maybe you just don't know a goddamn thing about large-scale inter-provincial trade. Either way, something to look into.
[ ] The Purge of Haunted HIlls will begin in a year. Perhaps there's a way you can contribute to the preparations.

Infrastructure:
[ ] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it. And, ideally, Stirland could pay for it directly instead of it eating your discretionary income.
[ ] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your attack dog - let its reach spread across Stirland.
[?] The Wurtbad Thieves Guild, despite barely being a loose gossip network, really came through during the take-down of the Stirlandian League. Maybe you should cultivate this useful tool. (Van Hal has said: not until the Watch is greatly scaled up, does it count yet?)
[ ] For no particular reason, it'd be a good idea to see about informants within the military.
[ ] How about a military police? It would mesh well with your current organization, and could be useful in keeping tabs on the military.
[ ] Also for no particular reason, how about I see about building a unit in the army dedicated to catching terrible necromantic gribblies? In a way that conforms to Van Hal's criticisms.

[] Other/s (write in)

- Van Hal's criticisms of the Autopsy Agency aren't my criticisms; they're his, and shaped by his prejudices and experiences, and also by a roll I made behind the scenes. That said I don't think it was entirely polite to say to a non-wizard that's been fighting the undead for his entire adult life that wizards are required to properly fight the undead.
- As discussed between posts, I'm trying to make Mathilde's information network more... okay, I'm sorry, I've been fighting this for days and I've just got to use the word: verisimilitudinous. So enjoy the Southern Stirland 101 that Julia condensed out of all the reports she's been getting.

 

[Boney]

Winning vote:

[*] [Public] Plan Watch Expansion
-[*] The Watch takeover and the underground Watch had gone well enough, and theres a surprisingly untapped market for waste of all sorts. If we could get that organized, it could probably make even more money.
-[*] You have the southern regiments funneling their retired soldiers into the Watch and the Worden, Vigaun, Potting, and Nussbach local law enforcements had happily folded into your efforts. Considering the lack of any organized efforts there, this has been long in coming.
-[*] However, the market for competent and reliable administrators had been largely wiped out over recent years, unless some local schools are set up and given a few years to produce the needed clerks you'd probably need to hire from aboard, or to poach from existing organizations for the manpower to manage the Watch.
-[*] Though half the council already knows firsthand, the Haunted Hills are just regular Sylvanian and 'wild' undead. No sign of any necromancers or other organized efforts going on, thankfully, they can be handled not unlike wild beasts.

[*] [Private] Plan Minor Matters
-[*] To nobody's surprise you already have agents from the local merchants and nobles looking to penetrate into the Watch.
-[*] The Sewer Jacks report that dwarf trainers are unmatched for teaching people how to fight in tunnels, if we want them to reach professional capacity, a couple of dwarf trainers would be extremely useful. Still, dwarfs by reputation don't come cheap, so you'd be working on their finances before you start looking, but if he has or can make a few dwarf contacts at the Electors' Meet, that might be nice.
-[*] You've finally got the gear for your lab after literal years of trying. You should be able to more safely investigate the box, the juice and the swords soon. One at a time of course.
-[*] You've also been brushing up on your undead lore in preparation for the push. If he has any recommended readings you'd gladly prioritize them

[*] [Orders] Plan Watch The Dead Shit
-[*] The Purge of Haunted Hills will begin in a year. Perhaps there's a way you can contribute to the preparations.
-[*] Also for no particular reason, how about I see about building a unit in the army dedicated to catching terrible necromantic gribblies? In a way that conforms to Van Hal's criticisms.
-[*] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your attack dog - let it's reach spread across Stirland.
-[*] Write in: You could look into financing for your intelligence operations. It'd probably be worth a pretty penny to sell some of the less sensitive information to the various nobles and traders out there. You'd probably need to collaborate with Anton and Wilhelmina to be pointed to the best buyers however.
-[*] Write in: You could look into the financial possibilities of the gong farmers. If Wurtbad's situation is representative, simply having someone scooping up the crap stinking up the air and selling it to the farmers and tanners should make everyone happier and Stirland richer. Not glamourous and dirty work, but its money literally left to rot.

Click to shrink...

---

"As most of you are aware," Van Hal begins, "a purge of the Haunted Hills will begin in one year's time. So for the next year, most of our focus will be on martial matters." There's a round of nods at that; nobody benefits from Sylvania spilling into Stirland, so nobody can really disagree. "With that in mind, Schultz: how goes our Haunted Highway?"

"Apace, very much apace," he says with a smile. "With the 2nd deployed in force, the dead are no longer interfering with construction, but the threat of them is a fantastic motivator. I estimate another six months until it reaches where construction was abandoned on the Langwald end."

"Good. Keep at it. Gustav, how are the troops?"

"Casualties are low and morale is high," he says. You check your mental notes; according to the casualty figures your Network has access to he's underplaying casualties somewhat, but then, most of them were walking wounded and should be back to fitness by year's end. "The pistoliers are a fantastic fast response force, reinforcing the rank and file where needed. Which is often - I'd very much like to discuss an upgrade in armament."

"To rifles?" Van Hal asks, and gives a mirthless smile when Gustav nods. "After the purge, we'll look into the possibility. I'd rather have the troops stick with their tried and tested - only a year to acquire and train with new weapons could too easily end in disaster. For now, when the troops aren't on rotation protecting the Highway, I want them drilling."

"Yes, your Grace," Gustav acknowledges.

Van Hal turns to Wilhelmina. "How's the supply?"

"It's more or less as you said - supply was entirely ad hoc purchases from the open market. It was doing the job, but prices were already rising and it was completely vulnerable to market fluctuations, either natural or induced. I've set up a system of supply contracts at a set price to ensure that supply will continue uninterrupted no matter what happens to the market." Skimming right past that the one she signed those contracts with was herself, you note. The cost of the contracts was carefully calibrated, too; enough above the market price that the EIC would make a neat profit from buying in Southern Stirland or the Moot and selling to Fort Redemption, but not so much so that any one other trade group could offer a substantially better deal.

"Good. Set up something similar for the 4th up in Steinbachthal - keep it flexible, they'll be part of the Purge and I'm planning on rebasing them at some point in the future. Speaking of, Schultz, can the Fort hold the 4th?"

"With tents and hot-bunking, yes," he says after a moment's thought. "I'll have to add new stories to some of the existing buildings for anything more permanent, though."

"Good enough." He shuffles papers for a moment. "Oh yes, I've a letter here from Anton - he's getting on well with the Talabeclanders. While they're not willing to commit to full-scale military support, a company of each of their Knightly Orders is going to join in the Purge - I think that adds up to four hundred knights, though I can never keep track of them all. Gustav?"

"The Order of the Black Rose," he responds promptly. "The Knights Panther, the Knights of Sigmar's Blood, and the Order of the Blazing Sun."

"Thank you. They'll be a welcome addition to our ranks - when you add the Black Guard, that's fourteen companies of Knights."

"More heavy cavalry than light," Gustav notes disapprovingly.

"Stirland had no light cavalry at all until very recently; we go to war with the army we have, not the army we want. Anton's next stop is Ostermark; even if he can't convince them to join in, he's been authorized to hire any mercenary bands he can find, and Ostermark usually has a few skulking around." Wilhelmina winces, but doesn't voice her disapproval; you know for sure the treasury can afford it, but money spent on mercenaries is money not spent on the enrichment of Stirland, you suppose. "Mathilde, your report?"

"The Watch takeover has gone well enough," you say, glancing down at your notes, "as has the integration of the Sewer Jacks, the Rat Catchers and the Gong Farmers. There's a surprisingly untapped market for human waste - if I can get that organized, it could be very profitable for Stirland. The 2nd and 3rd are funnelling retired soldiers into the Watch, and I've expanded it to cover all the population centers in the County of Worden; considering how unorganized efforts were there, not before time, too.

"That said, my efforts at expanding the Watch has uncovered a troubling bottleneck: there's a dearth of competent and reliable administrators in Wurtbad, since the trade leagues have been hiring them up. Short term, we'll need to hire from abroad or poach hired ones at a premium for the Watch and for all other organizations; long term, it may be worthwhile to set up a clerk school in Wurtbad."

"Stirland can always use more people," Van Hal notes. "Altdorf is bursting at the seams with paper-pushers. Nuln, too. I'd rather import them than spend time and money making more. Anything else?"

"Though most of us know this already, I'll state it just so we're all on the same page: our foray into the Haunted Hills has given us good reason to believe that there's no Necromancy or any organized efforts behind the uptick in troubles in the Hills - it's just 'wild' undead causing these problems."

"And thank Sigmar for that," Van Hal says, with a murmur of agreement from around the table. "Very well, continue your work on the Watch. I want it to cover the rest of the population centres around Wurtbad, and if possible the Barony of Purgg as well - nastiness has crawled out of the Stirhugel in the past. Kasmir, what news?"

"The Chaplaincies for the 2nd and 3rd are filled. Many of them are 'learning as they go', so to speak - faithful laypeople ordained specifically for the Chaplaincy, but there's at least one experienced member of the clergy for each of the Gods watching over them."

"Good. Do the same for the 4th - reach out to the Black Guard while you're up there, they may be willing to provide the Morrite chaplains." He shuffles through the papers. "That would appear to be everything. To those of you heading back to civilization, safe travels."

---

You find Van Hal atop the keep, sitting on a stool and looking out at the Fort - and you feel a warm happiness when you notice that a second one is next to him, awaiting your arrival. He'd turned his head to look back at you as you clambered up the ladder, and he gives you a smile as you approach. "Not our usual setting," he comments, passing you his flask, and you sip it gratefully.

"Hell of a view, though," you say, and it is. The sun is starting to set, setting the clouds ablaze with reds and oranges. Below you, the Fort is, as always, teeming with life, as people walk this way and that in the thousands of daily tasks that keep an army operating, and at the opposite end of the Fort, one of countless carts of food and goods is coming through the gate. Besides the view, this time of day is always exhilerating for you, as Ulgu surges forth and claims the world for a time, before fading with the light.

"Mmm," he says. "Twenty-one thousand, two hundred men under arms. Plus Sigmar only knows how many administrators and camp followers. And that's only half of my army." He grimaces. "My army. It still sounds impossible."

"Your province, too. Your people," you say teasingly, and in response he reaches over and takes his flask back.

"Our province," he corrects. You wildly misinterpret what he could mean for a moment. "Seven people, responsible for all of Stirland."

Right. That's what he meant. "Better than bearing it alone," you comment vaguely, and he nods.

"So, what other fruit have your efforts borne of late?"

You take a moment to collect your thoughts. "There were a number of efforts to insert agents into the Watch; all from local merchants and nobles."

"They're probably feeling a little uneasy with how thoroughly you destroyed the Stirlandian League. Well, good. Teach them a little humility."

"The Sewer Jacks say that if we're serious about taking control of the undercities, we should look into dwarf trainers - they're unmatched for tunnel fighting. Though I recognize it won't be cheap-"

"Nothing worthwhile ever is," he interrupts. "Let me guess, the Elector's Meet?" You nod, and he thinks for a moment. "Unlikely. They'll all be heading off into the Badlands with their King Ironhammer." He snorts. "I think it's getting a bit ahead of yourself to declare yourself King before you even seize the Kingdom, but I'm not going to be the one to say that. Touchy lot, dwarves. That said, unless something else comes up Anton's next stop after Ostermark is going to be Zhufbar - letting them know that we're going to be pushing into the Haunted Hills, so if they've got scores to settle with the greenskins in the Ghoul Woods they can do so without the rest of Sylvania interrupting. Hopefully that'll give us a good starting point to talk about cross-training."

"Greenskins? I assumed... well, the Ghoul Woods, so-"

"Oh, it's got those too."

"Eugh. As if Sylvania wasn't obnoxious enough. Anyway, next point: finally got the equipment for enchantment studies. I can get started on looking into those swords and the box. And I've been brushing up on my undead lore, too - if you've got any recommendations...?"

He closes his eyes in thought. "The... second bookshelf on the left as you enter my study, top three shelves. There's all the standard Witch Hunter references: for the Undead, try the Malleus Immortuous, the Codex of the Insufficiently Dead, the Extremely Redacted Liber Mortis (Approved Edition). And parts of the Book of the Silver Hammer, and there's some useful bits in the Epistolary of Kurt III." He fishes a heavy iron key out of his pocket and hands it to you.

You had a copy of the Codex of the Insufficiently Dead, but the College didn't even mention the others. "Thanks, that should be a big help."

"Not at all. You've been at my side against the undead twice now, can't have you improperly armed."

You smile, and he returns it, and the two of you sit in silence together, watching the sunset and the bustling of Fort Redemption.

---

PLAN FOR THIS TURN

ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIONS - pick ONE from EACH of the categories 'Information Network' and 'Stirland Watch':

Information Network - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[ ] Consolidation: You currently have a patchwork of useful contacts. Backfill so that you can rightfully claim to cover entire towns.
[ ] Expand your information network into another province (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into another county or barony (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into the military (choose a Division)
[ ] Openly expand your information network into the military in the form of an Intelligence Attaché (choose a Division)
[ ] Off the Leash: Let Julia handle the network without your micromanagement from now on.

Information Network finances - expansion is hobbled by it's dependence on your discretionary income, and so is your budget. Perhaps you can get past that. Can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
[ ] Fixer: Work with the Wurtbad Thieves Guild, supplying them information in exchange for a portion of profits.
[ ] Special Branch: Pull some financial trickery to get the information network classified as part of the Watch, so that their costs are covered by the Stirlandian treasury.
[ ] Trade Delegation: Convince Wilhelmina and Markus to partner your network with the EIC based on the value of market information.

Stirland Watch - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[ ] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of their covered area.
[ ] Expand the ranks of the Gong Farmers, both increasing coverage of Wurtbad and expanding it to the other population centers covered by the Watch.
[ ] Improve the training of the Watch, hiring trainers and dedicating paid time each week to sharpening skills.
[ ] Integrate the Roadwarden network of covered areas into the Watch.
[ ] Hire administrators and clerks from Altdorf and Nuln.
[ ] Headhunt administrators from other organizations in Stirland.
[ ] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.


PERSONAL ACTIONS - CHOOSE BETWEEN FIVE AND SEVEN. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST FIVE WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASKS.:

As Per Orders: Perform your current assignment.
[ ] Investigate the possibility of adding a River Warden branch of the Watch.
[ ] Expand the Watch into the rest of the County of Wurtbad.
[ ] Expand the Watch into the Barony of Purgg.
[ ] Expand the Watch into the Barony of Munzhausen.
[ ] Formalize and organize the payments people make for the Gong Farmers to perform their service, as well as having the Watch start enforcing existing laws against dumping human waste in the street or the Stir.
[ ] Currently, solid waste is sent by cart and wagon out to the fields for a pittance. It could instead be used to create market gardens along the banks of the Stir (hopefully downwind) and increase revenue and provide jobs for the desperate by growing a variety of cash crops.
[ ] Tanneries have a seemingly limitless demand for urine, which explains a lot about the smell. A bit of fragrant research would allow you to identify how much demand there is and how much of a profit you can wring from this.
[ ] In Wissenland, there are a number of techniques in use to derive saltpeter from urine. It would take a great deal more effort than selling to tanneries, but saltpeter could be exported to Nuln for fantastic profit, or used to start gunpowder production in Stirland.
[ ] Use a Personal Action to perform another Organizational Action; can be taken once per organization.

Miscellany:
[ ] Financial Jargon: Everything with the EIC flew right over your head last time. Try again. Succeeding here will mean that you can take a more active hand in the company, adding it to the organizational actions; failing or not attempting means Mathilde will remain a silent partner.
[ ] Hang Out A Shingle: Spymasters don't advertise, but wizards sometimes do. Make an official announcement that there's a wizard in residence, and see who comes out of the woodwork.
[ ] Formal Proposal: Your idea for an undead research team was received poorly, but Van Hal is still open to the idea in theory. Write in details: Name, who it is technically a part of (Watch, Witch Hunters, Military, College, none), and whether it reports directly to you (becomes a new Organization you command) or, if not, who it would report to.

Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
[ ] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who).
[ ] Pretty Good Swords: You've struck up a friendship with the Champion of the Greatswords and have discovered a talent for wielding them. Continue to cultivate this.
[ ] Combat Training: You're virtually surrounded by armed warriors of various sorts. See if you can convince one to teach you (choose who).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: You haven't made many heavily armed friends yet, but gold is good for that. Go out and buy some training. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.

Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You've finally got the equipment, now you've just got to unpack it all and set up your laboratory. (NEW)
[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room)

Research:
[ ] Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead, this time with the addition of Van Hal's personal library. (NEW-ish)
[ ] Snooping: Van Hal gave you a key to his Study. He didn't specifically say not to poke around and see what you could find. (NEW)
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. You've got two gallons of the stuff and it's still coming out. It's got to be good for something.
[ ] As a Journeywoman, the path to Magister is marked by mastering more than the two shadow spells you already know. Send to the Grey Order for the basics and work on figuring out one of the others.

Influence:
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god. If it could be expanded under your aegis, it could be a powerful tool.
[ ] Biderhof: This village based on woodcutting and agriculture, has adopted you as one of it's own. Maybe you should adopt it as your own, in a literal sense.
[ ] Non-Thief Guilds: Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.

Relations:
[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors or your liege, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: You've been given good reason to mistrust your fellow councillors. Perhaps you should see what they spent their time doing (choose one).
[ ] Letters Home: You might be able to wring more information out of your Master, or you might just be able to get news, information and guidance in general from the Grey Order.
[ ] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (can be used to perform Snooping without spending an action)

---

FINANCES: NO ACTION POINT EXPENDITURE.

Personal Income: 60 gold/turn
Discretionary Income: 200 gold/turn
Informer Payroll unlocked

Currently paying Grey College tithe (-6 personal gold/turn)
Currently paying Grey College student loans (-35 personal gold/turn)

Not currently embezzling

Currently employing 6 veteran informants (-60 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding a number of Watch informants (-10 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding a number of EIC informants (-20 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently employing Julia Massif (-30 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently maintaining the staff of a townhouse in Wurtbad (-20 discretionary gold/turn)

[ ] Begin plumping the informer rolls (choose ratio of real:fake informers. Almost impossible to detect, but also very difficult to increase or decrease the amount quickly)
[ ] Change tithe payment/loan payment/embezzlement (specify)
[ ] These agents are getting expensive. Write up a proposal for your discretionary budget to be increased, instead of waiting for Van Hal to decide to increase it. (warning: attracts oversight to your current budget)

- You can write in orders, but something worth writing in is probably worth adding to the list of possible orders, so feel free to ask if your idea can be added.
- Don't forget Ranald's Blessing!
- If you take another swing at Formal Proposal, I would strongly recommend carefully reading through Van Hal's feedback to the previous iteration of the plan.

 

[Boney]

Winning vote:

[*] Plan Everything Checks Out
-[*][Information Network] Consolidation: You currently have a patchwork of useful contacts. Backfill so that you can rightfully claim to cover entire towns.
-[*][Stirland Watch] Hire administrators and clerks from Altdorf and Nuln.
-[*][Personal] Expand the Watch into the rest of the County of Wurtbad.
-[*][Personal] Expand the Watch into the Barony of Purgg.
-[*][Personal] Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead, this time with the addition of Van Hal's personal library. (NEW-ish)
-[*][Personal] Pretty Good Swords: You've struck up a friendship with the Champion of the Greatswords and have discovered a talent for wielding them. Continue to cultivate this.
-[*][Personal] Use a Personal Action to perform another Organizational Action; can be taken once per organization.
--[*][Stirland Watch] Openly expand your information network into the military in the form of an Intelligence Attaché (Second Division)
---[*] Ranald's Blessing
-[*][Free Time] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required)
--[*] Wilhelmina
Number of voters: 23

Click to shrink...

---

"A what?" Gustav asks distractedly, his eyes locked on the hills to your right as the two of you rode side-by-side along the completed section of the Haunted Highway.

"An attaché," you repeat. "Observers attached to a military unit."

He turns his full attention to you, a frown visible only by the movement of his moustache. "Observing what, exactly," he asks stiffly.

"The enemy," you say, as reassuringly as you can. "I want to get a complete overview of the type and numbers we're dealing with."

"And you don't trust my scouts to do so?" He's standing stiffer in the saddle now, his eyes blazing with indignation.

"Your scouts are the pistoliers, aren't they? So they'd be where the fighting is thickest?"

"Of course! Bravest men in Stirland!" he booms.

"They can't fight and count rotting heads," you explain, resisting the urge to roll your eyes.

"Well... alright," he agrees, reluctantly. "They'd better not get in the way, though."

"I'll see to it they're well-prepared for life in the army," you say, concealing your smile.

---

Back in Wurtbad, you organize another round of recruits fresh from the Army. For now, they'll be going through a round of literacy courses, but you also start considering how you'll train them to identify undead. You sketch out the beginnings of a training course, but the real stroke of genius comes when you have the idea to make a series of forms that could be filled out in the field to gather the required information. You'll still teach your attachés to tell their wights from wraiths and ghouls from ghasts, but if they distribute the form to the officers of the unit they're attached to, you could have that many eyes collecting useful information. And they don't need to go through specialized training to fill in a form.

You also look in on Julia while your attaché candidates learn written Reikspiel in the next room. With the foundations of an information network in place, she's no longer inserting full-time agents; a handful of shillings here, a gold crown there, the occassional round of drinks, a little encouragement to the newly-hired Special Watchmen to send in reports of local events, and suddenly the influx of information has grown severalfold. Julbach has finally been ensnared, bringing you complete knowledge of goings-on in the County of Wurtbad; a few subtle enquiries later and you learn of a well-off noble from Wurtbad who maintained a house in Julbach and greatly valued his privacy, including, unfortunately, that he hasn't been seen there in several years.

On top of that, she's piggy-backed off both the Stirland Watch and her family's merchants to expand the network along the Nuln Road, covering Purgg almost as completely as Wulfbach. You've instructed her to keep a careful eye on the Stirhugel, and the news is worrying - there's been attacks on herds all across the range. Without the full picture, the local leaders attributed it to wolves, but when the reports from Lochen, Purgg and Ohlsdorf are compared, they paint a worrying picture that something is going on in those hills.

On top of all that, it seems almost rude of her to also have brought a few innkeepers and ferrymen in Munzhausen onto the payroll.

She's thoroughly proud of her accomplishments, and preens even further under your praise.

[Convincing Gustav to cooperate: Diplomacy, Req 50, 43+7=50]
[Attaché training: Learning, Roll, 67+16+20 (Ranald's Gift)=103.]
[Julia's network expansion: Intrigue, Roll, 89+14=103]

---

You will never cease being grateful for Shadowsteed, you reflect as you return once more to Leicheberg to resume your training with Markus. Anyone else would spend weeks travelling to and fro. You've started cutting across the countryside from Halstedt to Leicheberg, your shadowy horse not caring for a moment about the broken terrain, and with that you're leaving Wurtbad at dawn and arriving at Fort Redemption at dusk, and not even that day is wasted because you're so confident on your horse of Ulgu that you spend the ride reading.

Markus is pleased to see you returning to his practice field, but not for long, because it quickly becomes clear that your skills have rusted. So you spend days hacking at dummies with a wooden practice sword once more until he decides your grip and endurance are back an acceptable level, then days more sparring with the youngest member of the Greatswords, who learns to take you seriously after you smack the grin right off his unprotected face. After that you're finally declared ready to pick up where you left off, and Markus starts teaching you personally once more; weeks fly by in a haze of exertion as you learn new techniques, then practice them until they're ingrained bone-deep. More than once you spot Van Hal watching you train, which only spurs your efforts.

Once you've achieved proficiency, Markus has drilled into you, then you can work on style. For now, your only priority is to swing the sword in such a way that it goes where you want it to, and to be able to do it over and over and over again until your lungs are burning and your muscles aching and then do it some more. Any fool can swing a sword when they're fresh; the mark of a soldier is to be able to keep swinging, no matter the conditions. At one point, a nasty bow slips past your guard and your entire arm ends up bruised from wrist to elbow, but you keep swinging anyway. There may come a time when the blade or claw does much worse to you, Markus instructs, and you need to keep swinging.

As dusk falls on another day spent entirely in the training yard, you're sparring with Markus for possibly the thousandth time, and you finally think you're holding your own. There's a look of concentration on Markus' face as he counters his swings and returns with his own. You're not pressing him - it'd take years of training until you can make the Champion of Stirland break a sweat - but he's actually having to focus on the fight, and you redouble your efforts. Minutes pass with the clatter of wood on wood, and then "hold," Markus commands suddenly, and the possibility of disobeying doesn't even occur to you.

You step back, breathing hard, and give him a quizzical look; in response, he nods at the sword in your hand. You look down at it, frowning. You're pretty sure it hasn't splintered; granted, it's a little hard to tell through the evening fog, but...

You stop, and look around at a training field utterly bereft of evening fog. And you concentrate, and release a tiny piece of concentration you never even noticed forming, and the fog emanating from the practice blade dissipates in an instant. You flex your fingers, and can feel the energies that are always within you itching to extend through your hand once more.

Hmm.

[Greatsword practice: Martial, Roll, 93+10=103]

---

There are, you know, just over forty thousand men enlisted in the Army of Stirland. The standard term is twenty years. On average, thirty-five men in every hundred would live to see retirement - and that's during times of relative peace. So, if one does the calculations, that means that around seven hundred men are retiring from the Army of Stirland every year, or about sixty a month.

So why is it so godsdamn hard to find recruits? For months you've been delaying your expansion of the Watch because the numbers weren't available to support it, especially after you snapped up so many for the attaché program, but eventually you get so frustrated at looking at week after week of no new recruits that you go into the Archives and dig twenty years into the past, and quickly find the source: the transfer of power from one ill-fated Haupt-Anderssen to another, which left the political apparatus of Wurtbad in limbo for a year until they finally arrived from their holiday home in Marienburg. For that year, there was nobody to authorize even the most routine of expenditures, so there was absolutely no recruitment into the ranks of the Army of Stirland. Which means that there's nobody entering retirement now, twenty years on.

Okay. Fine. That just means that in the near future there'll be a glut of them.

While you're neck-deep in the archives, you go through the roster of previous retirees. They're all drawing pensions or they accepted land in lieu, so either way you've got their addresses, and sure enough the majority are living in Western Stirland - it seems that twenty years in the Army left them with an urge to be as physically far from Sylvania as they could.

You spend weeks on the road, tracking down and meeting with dozens of retired soldiers. The initial reaction to you is almost universally suspicion, but that you're offering them more money from Stirland's coffers gets their attention. Half the standard pay of a Watchman is the offer, with all the rights and authorities thereof; they'd spend a month in Wurtbad being trained, then return to their homes and spend a couple of days a week working as Watchmen and the rest of their time enjoying their retirement or working on their land.

A gratifying number accept, and in the end you've got enough to cover the territory, at least until recruitment picks up. And, it occurs to you, having an additional pool of manpower you could draw from in emergencies could prove to be very useful for the Watch...

[Expanding into Wurtbad: Req 40, Stewardship, 22+13=35.]
[Expanding into Purgg: Req 50, Stewardship, 2+13=15.]
[Making it work without the numbers: Roll, Stewardship, 95+13=108.]

---

With the Watch's numbers expanded again, there's more reason than ever to expand its bureaucracy. But actually achieving that turns out to be more difficult than you expected.

"So," you ask, leaning slightly back in your chair to put some more distance between you and your interviewee. "What makes you think you would be a good fit for the administrative staff of the Stirland Watch?"

The man scratches at his chin as he considers the question, creating a rasping sound, like sandpaper on rock. "Well," he says thoughtfully through a Kislev accent that rendered him barely understandable, "I heard somewhere that if you're in Watch, they cannot arrest you."

You stare at him blankly, and he returns the look just as blankly. He drums his fingers on the table idly; you glance down and take in the tattoos of rings on his fingers, crudely done, each of a different design.

"Can you read and write?"

"I can spell my entire name," he says proudly.

This isn't even the worst candidate you've interviewed today. Either the word 'Stirland' has scared off all the qualified candidates or somehow the Empire has run out of bureaucrats.

[Hiring administrators and clerks from Altdorf and Nuln: Req 30, Stewardship, 6+13=19.]

---

When you return once more to Wurtbad, you're greatly relieved to have a chance to relax for a change. Days pass in a relaxing blur of books both referential and recreational, including the reference books borrowed from Van Hal's study. They're not as much help as you'd hoped, since most of the Witch Hunter's handbooks are less about identifying and more about burning, but you're gradually building up your general knowledge of the undead. And when Wilhelmina returns to Wurtbad at the head of a caravan of fleeces, you're waiting in the sunroom EIC headquarters to greet her. She stops in her tracks when she sees you. "Mathilde?" she asks. "I thought you were at the Fort."

"I was," you reply. "And also at Altdorf, and Nuln, and Oberwil, and Purgg..."

"Gods, that'd make magic almost worth it," she says with a sigh, stretching and then collapsing into an armchair. You swallow your reply. "How goes the Watch?"

You groan. "Could be better. Did you hire every competent clerk in the Empire?"

"Hah! I'm pretty sure I cleaned out Stirland, but I can't claim credit beyond that."

"Something must be up, then," you gripe, then your eyes narrow. "Actually, something might be up. Heard any news from the rest of the Empire?"

"Greenskin problems in Averland," she replies. "Beastmen activity in Ostland. Dwarves are up to something, Elector's Meet soon. Nothing major."

"That doesn't help. Maybe Van Hal will hear something at that Meet, though." Comfortable silence stretches, with Wilhelmina almost dozing in the sunbeam illuminating her chair. "How's things with your boys?" you ask gently.

She frowns, then sighs. "Off managing deals with Worden herders. Hopefully it'll teach them some humility." She sighs again, then falls quiet for a moment, as she considers whether to continue. "I kept my sons well clear of my work with Van Hal," she finally says, "thinking that it was going to lead to an early death for both of us, like it did my husband. Instead, there's all of this. But they've got no loyalty to him. A whiff of a burgher lifestyle and suddenly they see the Hochschilds as the next Great Merchant House and are in a hurry to get there, no matter how many sheep they have to flay in the process. Gods know what they learned at university, because it sure wasn't economics." That hangs in the air for a while, before she says with forced cheer, "what about you, Mathilde? You ever think of having kids one day?"

Now there was a line of thought you definitely weren't going to make public. "Maybe," is all you answer.

"So you can, then? I mean, I know the Brights and Jades do, and the Golds don't..."

You smile. "There's a joke in the Grey College: the ones that do probably shouldn't, and the ones that don't probably should."

[Undead study: Roll, Learning, 31+16=47.]
[Spending time with Wilhelmina: Roll, 77.]

---


Information Network: Wurtbad and Purgg now completely covered; Munzhausen and Wolfsbach improved.
Information Network: Gustav's agreement secured for attaché program, training has begun; creation of 'Undead Identification Form' ongoing
Stirland Watch: Special Branch formed; covering Purgg and Wurtbad. Further expansion impossible for next two turns.
Greatsword proficiency achieved!
Fitness increased to Advanced.
Spell mastered: Bless Weapon.
Undead Lore increased to Intermediate.
Nice chat with Wilhelmina: +1 to relationship


Discretionary Income: +200g
Regional informants: -90g
Watch informants: -10g
EIC informants: -20g
Julia: -30g
Townhouse staff: -20g
Literacy lessons: -10g
Attaché program: -60g
---
Net: -40g

Personal Income: +50g
Estate Profit: +10g
Tithe: -6g
Student Loans: -35g
---
Net: +19g

---

Once more the council meeting is in Fort Redemption. This time Anton has managed to make it down, fresh from Ostermark, and is deep in conversation with Van Hal. "Now, Anton," he's saying, "when I said that I was authorizing payment for mercenaries, did you note the plural?"

"Well, technically..." Anton begins.

"A steed doesn't count."

"I think this one does," you murmur. Once more, you look out the window at where an enormous jade-green dragon is being fed whole roast pigs by awed troops, under the watchful eye of an elf clad in bejewelled armour.

---

Public Report: Write in (optional; can write in word for word, or just outline what is focused on)
Private Report: Write in (optional; the private meeting is traditional at this point and will take place, simply say whether there's anything specific you want to bring up here)

Potential Orders:

Investigation:
[ ] There's definitely evil afoot in Drakenhof. Perhaps there's a way to survive investigating this.
[ ] You kind of regret learning exactly what you did to the Thorned One, but you did it. But the liquid leaking out? That's still an unknown. Will Van Hal let you look into it on the clock?
[ ] The spell used by the informants in Eagle Castle is like nothing you've heard of before. You want to see if you can detect or replicate it.
[ ] Something your Lieutenant said gave you an idea. Investigate the shores of the Black Water, see if it can truly be tamed.
[ ] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
[ ] The Purge of Haunted HIlls will begin in six months. Perhaps there's a way you can contribute to the preparations.
[ ] It looks like something is stirring in the Stirhugel. This should probably be looked into.

Infrastructure:
[ ] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it. And though Van Hal has knocked back Stirland financing it directly, there might be a way for costs to be reduced or defrayed...
[o] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your attack dog - let it's reach spread across Stirland. (impossible for the next year)
[?] The Wurtbad Thieves Guild, despite barely being a loose gossip network, really came through during the take-down of the Stirlandian League. Maybe you should cultivate this useful tool. (Van Hal has said: not until the Watch is greatly scaled up, does it count yet?)
[ ] How about a military police? It would mesh well with your current organization, and could be useful in keeping tabs on the military.
[ ] For no particular reason, how about I see about building a unit in the army dedicated to catching terrible necromantic gribblies? In a way that conforms to Van Hal's criticisms.

[] Other/s (write in)

- I was going to come up with a generic mercenary unit instead of using the Regiments of Renown, but Anton critted so I rolled a d28 against a list of them, and uh. Yeah.

 

[Boney]

Winning vote:

[*] [Public Report] Steady Progress, Spotted Issue
-[*] The Watch has continued to expand at a steady rate; we have solid coverage over the counties of Purgg and Wurtbad. Bureaucrats have continued to be difficult to come by- even when we went to Altdorf and Nuln. We need that problem to be solved or this kind of expansion won't be sustainable. Further, our source of new Watchmen is cut off for the next year or so since no one will be retiring from the army, putting a temporary halt on expansion from that as well.
-[*] Gustav has kindly authorized our implementation of an intelligence attaché program; we hope that by the time the army moves into Sylvania we'll have enough well-trained observers alongside them to furnish us with detailed, accurate records of exactly what they encountered and where which we'll be able to analyze to produce all kinds of useful intelligence.
-[*] We have noticed some troubling trends in the Stirhugel- nothing blatant, but the attacks on herds throughout the area are an obvious sign once all the reports are gathered together, even if the locals are attributing it to animal attacks for now. In our opinion there is something going on there.

[*] [Private Report] He's Long Gone and Other Sundries
-[*] We finally got decent intelligence work done in Julbach; there was a reclusive noble from Wurtbad with a home there who hasn't been seen in years. Likely our predecessor as it fits with what else we know of him, but it could be some other group and there's nothing to follow up on easily.
-[*] With the Elector's Meet coming up, we're interested in Van Hal's take on external intelligence. We haven't prioritized it at all given Stirland's internal concerns and the importance of growing our network around home, but does he want us to be thinking about getting eyes elsewhere in the Empire?
-[*] You suspect that Gustav might be understating the army's casualties a bit, more as a result of his personality than anything malicious. Still, something to keep in mind if he's making a habit of it.
-[*] If Van Hal wishes, you could write the Colleges requesting that wizards come to Stirland for the upcoming campaign. They won't come cheap, but there's a lot to be said for a more battle-oriented wizard than you being part of any venture into Sylvania.
-[*] Are we expecting to confront the Von Carstein believed to live in Castle Drakenhof, who claims the title of Elector Countess, during this campaign? Our information on her from the captured infiltrator is sparse, but she has at least one skilled necromancer in her service based upon the spell they were using, so that could turn ugly fairly quickly.

[*] [Orders] Magic And Vampire Lore Would Help The Attack Too, You Know
-[*] The spell used by the informants in Eagle Castle is like nothing you've heard of before. You want to see if you can detect or replicate it.
-[*] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
-[*] The Purge of Haunted HIlls will begin in six months. Perhaps there's a way you can contribute to the preparations.
-[*] It looks like something is stirring in the Stirhugel. This should probably be looked into.
-[*] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming increasingly costly, and Stirland's finances are limited; perhaps you could dedicate some time to pursuing means of making it self-financing so that it can expand without constantly demanding more of the budget.

Click to shrink...

---

"Okay," Van Hal says as the last of the council take their seats. "Anton, I believe you have some interesting news to share with us."

"I spent a lot of time with Chancellor Hertwig, and we got on quite well." Van Hal opens his mouth to interrupt, then thinks better of it as Anton continues happily on. "He's very interested in pacifying his southern border, as it turns out. By the time I left they had already started mustering the army. Not to help down here, though - they're going to begin their own purge of the Dead Woods and the Eerie Downs in Ostermark, and then if all goes well they'll cross the border and see to Hel Fenn and the Misty Wood. He says that this way, if there's any pushback from Sylvania, we'll have it flanked."

"Not as immediately helpful as I'd hoped," Van Hal says, "but as long as they're killing undead in and around Sylvania, it benefits Stirland, even if it doesn't benefit the immediate campaign."

"Did he mention how much of the Army of Ostermark he'll be dedicating to the effort?" Gustav asked.

"About four fifths, I think," Anton replied happily.

Eyebrows rose all around at that. "A significant investment," Van Hal notes. "Hmm. Hertwig's a sensible man in his fifties, so it's not glory. Luitpold is young and healthy and recently married, so it probably isn't an attempt to burnish his good name for a bid at the throne. Buying a favour? Though the Elector's Meet is supposedly about dwarf business, far in the south." He frowns. "Now I'm wondering why he's bothering at all. The Dead Wood has been left be for near five hundred years, and for damned good reason. And the Eerie Downs has only been trouble to those foolish enough to wander into them."

"Their population is concentrated along the Talabec and the mountains," Schultz notes. "The Veldt is fertile and vast, and they could log the Gryphon Woods for another thousand years and not run out of trees."

"The southern border is also the banks of the Stir," you note. "Trade?"

Wilhelmina frowns. "Ostermark's riverboats serve it very well, but they're all on the Talabec. If they've got ambitions for Stir trade, they'd have to send their boats all the way to Altdorf and then back up the Stir. That's near two thousand miles. And there's nothing to trade, anyway - southern Ostermark doesn't produce much worth trading, and anything from northern Ostermark has to go over the Bleak Moors to get there."

Something tickles at the back of your mind - something Julia mentioned, in one of her fits of ambition. It never seemed all that practical for Stirland, but maybe... You know Van Hal always has his maps available at the Council meetings, and you search through them for Ostermark's and spread it out on the table, and immediately spot what you're looking for.



Right at the bottom of Ostermark, you trace a line between the uppermost reaches of the River Blut and the Stir North.

"Ten, maybe fifteen miles," you say. "Manpower from Eisental, expertise from Karak Kadrin..."

Wilhelmina sucks in a breath. "It would be hideously expensive, but if it worked... it would give them access to trade with the southern Empire and beyond without having to go through Talabecland." You glance sideways at Schultz, who is staring wide-eyed down at the map. "It would be well worth the cost."

"But it would require the upper Stir to be tamed," you say.

Van Hal frowns down at the map. "I would prefer nobler motivations," he says, "but this would give them more of a vested interest in bringing Sylvania to heel. Assuming that it is what's motivating them, of course."

"It's entirely guesswork," you admit, "but I can't think of any other reason they'd invest so much, and in the way they are."

"For the good of the Empire?" Anton suggests. You and Van Hal snort in unison.

"Well, whatever their motivations, we've got another Province willing to shave away at Sylvania from the North. And that isn't the only new ally we've acquired, as some of you may have noticed."

Eyes swivel to the window. The dragon is taking up one of the drill yards with its napping form, and the elf is imperiously watching over a few camp followers as they erect a gaudy silken tent to his specifications. "Prince Asarnil," Anton says happily. "Nice fellow. A bit impressed with himself, but I would be too if I'd done even a tenth of what he has. The stories he tells! I've sent away to the University of Altdorf for someone that speaks the elf language so that they can all be recorded - he really liked the idea but insisted it be in his language, which I suppose is fair enough, but it's jolly difficult to find someone that speaks it in Stirland."

"I speak it," you mention casually. Eyes swivel to you. "The language of magic, Lingua Praestantia, is technically a dialect of Eltharin." To be more precise, it is a devolved dialect, and blended with Old Reikspiel. But you, like the rest of the Grey Order, learned both, as it's necessary for some of the more fiendish and paranoid ciphers of the Grey Order. Only those that spoke Eltharin would be able to read the true message, and those that spoke only Lingua Praestantia would get a completely different one.

(And then there was another cipher, where those that spoke only Eltharin would get a false message, and knowledge of the debased dialect was required to find the true message. Such is the way of things in the Grey Order.)

"Gosh," Anton says. "I speak a little Bretonnian. For their poems, mostly."

"I know some Kislevarin," Wilhelmina chimes in.

"I learned Tilean in College," Schultz ventures.

"I suppose it won't surprise anyone to learn I'm quite fluent in Old Reikspiel," Kasmir says, smiling.

"Can we please get back on topic," Van Hal says. "More immediately relevant than stories is that we have a dragon on our side. I never thought I'd ever encounter something I'd consider overkill, but..."

"Seems kind of a waste to only purge the Hills," you say, voicing the thought shared by all present.

"I'm leery of overambition, but such an opportunity may not come around again in any of our lifetimes. The forces of two provinces, one and a half Orders worth of Knights, and one dragon. We start the purge here and push east, and if there's been no organized resistance by the time we reach the eastern edge of the Haunted Hills..." He smiles grimly. "We march on Castle Drakenhof, and tear the dark heart from Sylvania."

---

After that, you take a short recess; it would be hard to follow that up with mundane reports on recruitment figures and such. Upon reconvening, Van Hal's first nod is to Gustav. "So tell us. How are the Hills?"

He sits a little straighter, a proud smile twitching his moustache. "There's still all manner of creature crawling out of them, but they've stopped being trouble. The troops form an unyielding anvil and the pistoliers, the hammer."

"And the road construction is uninterrupted?"

Schultz consults his notes. "It will be done well in time for the 4th to travel down it to join us before the year is out."

"Excellent. How goes the drilling?"

"Well, there's been some interesting developments there," Gustav says, stroking his moustache. "The problem with pistoliers is that they've quite a short range and a long reload time. Conventional tactics involve either a volley followed by charging with sabers, which is bloody good fun but, I feel, doesn't make the best use of the pistols, or harassment, where the unit rides quite close to the enemy, fires as one, then rides off to reload and the whole process repeats quite tediously. So I've designed a maneuver I'm calling the Schnecke; a company advances towards the enemy, and the front rank fires and then falls back to the rear of the formation, and then the second rank - now the front rank - does the same, and so on. By the time all the ranks have fired the first rank has finished reloading, and thus the maneuver continues indefinitely, with the company as a whole remaining in place. The result is a constant withering hail of gunfire; a drain on morale for those that can feel fear and still a heavy weight of lead for those that don't. And it could even be quite easily adapted for use with repeater pistols," he finishes hintingly.

"Very good," Van Hal says after a pause, ignoring the hint. "And the infantry?"

"Oh, they're doing quite well, from what I've heard. I've left it to the Colonels, they seem to know the business better than I do."

You feign a cough to cover your smile, and after a further moment Van Hal nods, and then turns to Kasmir. "What news?"

"Morale in the ranks is good," he says; your own information agrees, and you know that morale would be poor if the drilling was going poorly, so that answered Van Hal's unasked question. "The 4th are now well-served with Chaplains; the Black Guards, sadly, declined to supply any from their ranks, but they did offer training to any Morrite chaplains that travelled to Siegfriedhof."

"Not ideal," Van Hal says, "but it does show a willingness to help on their part, I suppose. Wilhelmina?"

"The 4th's supplies are taken care of," she says. By the EIC, you mentally add. Though it's less to her benefit than you'd expected; apparently she lacked contracts in Central Stirland and had failed to find a local source of food, and had to eat the cost of bringing it up all the way from the Moot, which removed a significant portion of the profits. "I also looked into their logistical train, since they'll be moving here soon enough; a few wagons needed replacing or repairing, but it's all up to spec now."

"Good initiative. Everything looks on course for the Purge. Gustav, continue with the drilling. Schultz, once the road's completed, start putting together a siege train, just in case we need it. Nothing too dramatic, just the men and materials to make rams and siege towers. And possibly some catapults - rocks and muscle are cheaper than cannonballs and gunpowder, after all. Kasmir, Wilhelmina, repeat for the 1st what you did for the 4th - we may need them.

"And with all these military matters done with, we're left with the only one seeing to it that Stirland doesn't fall apart in our absence. How fares the Watch, Mathilde?"

"The Watch has continued to expand at a steady rate; we have solid coverage over the counties of Purgg and Wurtbad. However, we may have reached the limits of expansion for now - we haven't been able to find any suitable clerks for the Watch, even after looking through Altdorf and Nuln. On top of that, because of an army recruitment freeze twenty years ago, there won't be anyone retiring from the Army for around the next year, and thus no potential Watchmen.

"Our new eyes in Purgg has brought our attention to some troubling trends in the Stirhugel - nothing blatant, but the attacks on herds throughout the area are an obvious sign once all the reports are gathered together, even if the locals are attributing it to animal attacks for now. In our opinion, there is something going on there.

"Finally, Gustav," you nod to him with a smile, "has kindly authorized our implementation of an intelligence attaché program; we hope that by the time the army moves into Sylvania we'll have enough well-trained observers alongside them to furnish us with detailed, accurate records of exactly what they encountered and where which we'll be able to analyze to produce all kinds of useful intelligence."

"A mixed bag," he says thoughtfully. "The Stirhugel will probably keep until less busy times, as long as attacks remain restricted to herds. Will you be joining us on our jaunt into Eastern Stirland?"

"Of course," you say automatically. "I mean, if my duties allowed for it."

"Then for the next six months, I task you with preparing yourself. Consider what we may face, and arm yourself accordingly - with weapons, with knowledge, and with magic."

---

"There is a dragon in my Fort," Van Hal says in a tone of voice somewhere between wonder and outrage, as he stares over the keep's battlements.

"You did give Anton a rather free hand in Ostermark."

"I thought he'd come back with a few thousand Tileans with halberds and odd ideas about politics." He shakes his head again, then tears his eyes away. "So, what other news do you have for me?"

"I finally managed to get eyes into Julbach," you report. "There was a reculsive noble from Wurtbad with a home there, though he hasn't been seen in years. Chances are it's my predecessor, but the trail is truly cold by now."

"As expected. If he was still lingering there I'd have you grab him, but I feel it's not worth going out of our way for."

"Gustav's understating the army's casualty figures, though it's probably a personality quirk rather than any attempt to mislead. Still, something to keep in mind."

"Mmm. I'll go to the Generals for accurate figures, then."

You move down the mental list of things you meant to bring up. "If you want, I could write to the Colleges requesting that wizards join to the campaign. They won't come cheap, but a true battle wizard could come in very useful in Sylvania."

"I had considered it. Not for the initial stages of the campaign - the Purge is going to be long, slow, and methodical, which in my experience is poorly suited to most battle wizards. When it's time to march on the castle itself, then..." he hesitates for a moment, his brow furrowing. "Hmm. A formal request from an Elector Count, or an internal request from a fellow wizard... if your Master can recommend someone suitable, I'll have you write to them, otherwise I will."

"Very well. Speaking of the campaign, do you expect we'll face the Von Carstein claiming the title of Elector Countess? I don't have much information, but she has at least one skilled necromancer in her service based upon the spell they were using, so it could turn ugly fairly quickly."

"I would be shocked if there was only one," he replies. "I will be prepared for them, you can be sure of that. And yes, if all goes well, this campaign will be the end of this would-be usurper." He frowns suddenly. "At least I assume that's her intention. I do hope she doesn't see herself as a suitor."

So do you. Hope, that is. "Finally, with the Elector's Meet coming up, I'd like your input on our external intelligence. So far my efforts have been concentrated within Stirland..."

"Mine too," he says with a smile.

"But would you want us to start looking without as well?"

He muses on that for a while, looking at you oddly. "Sometimes I forget how young you are." You open your mouth to reply, but no reply presents itself. He continues on. "Have you fully grasped the fact that you are the second most powerful person in Stirland?" You blink rapidly as you try to take in this sudden change in direction. "Gustav's new to the role. Kasmir was damn near fired. Anton is..." he hesitates, then moves on. "Schultz serves a very specific niche. And Wilhelmina... is a very close third, actually. She's blossomed. But none of them have the combination of abilities, resources, trust and wide-open mandate that you do. And by Sigmar you do the job damn well. But your problem is that you don't believe in yourself to the degree that this job requires you to.

"You have access to all the information I do, and you have the luxury of spending the majority of your time and focus on intrigue, where I am pulled a dozen different ways. There is only one reason for you to ask me that question, rather than reaching a conclusion for yourself: because you lack confidence.

"I wish I had words to instil that confidence in you, but all I can do is tell you that if you allow self-doubt to erode your resolve, you will fail in the duty to Stirland we share. And while I would not hesitate to stand alone and die against all the evils of Sylvania, I would rather have you by my side and win.

"So stop thinking like a journeywoman, and start thinking like the Knight I know you are."

He claps you on the shoulder and leaves you there atop the keep, and you slump against the battlements to process his words.

---

PLAN FOR THIS TURN

ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIONS - pick ONE from EACH of the categories 'Information Network' and 'Stirland Watch':

Information Network - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[ ] Expand your information network into another province (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into another county or barony (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into the military (choose a Division)
[ ] Expand your Intelligence Attaché program to another Division (choose one)
[ ] Off the Leash: Let Julia handle the network without your micromanagement from now on.

Information Network finances - expansion is hobbled by it's dependence on your discretionary income, and so is your budget. Perhaps you can get past that. Can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
[ ] Fixer: Work with the Wurtbad Thieves Guild, supplying them information in exchange for a portion of profits.
[ ] Special Branch: Pull some financial trickery to get the information network classified as part of the Watch, so that their costs are covered by the Stirlandian treasury.
[ ] Trade Delegation: Convince Wilhelmina and Markus to partner your network with the EIC based on the value of market information.

Stirland Watch - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[o] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of their covered area. (cannot be taken until army retirement resumes in one year)
[ ] Expand the Special Branch into areas already covered by the Watch, so you have an additional pool of manpower you can call upon to supplement the full-time Watchmen. (NEW)
[ ] Expand the ranks of the Gong Farmers, both increasing coverage of Wurtbad and expanding it to the other population centers covered by the Watch.
[ ] Improve the training of the Watch, hiring trainers and dedicating paid time each week to sharpening skills.
[ ] Integrate the Roadwarden network of covered areas into the Watch.
[ ] Headhunt administrators from other organizations in Stirland.
[ ] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.

---

PERSONAL ACTIONS - CHOOSE BETWEEN FIVE AND SEVEN. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST FIVE WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASKS:

Miscellany:
[ ] Financial Jargon: Everything with the EIC flew right over your head last time. Try again. Succeeding here will mean that you can take a more active hand in the company, adding it to the organizational actions; failing or not attempting means Mathilde will remain a silent partner.
[ ] Hang Out A Shingle: Spymasters don't advertise, but wizards sometimes do. Make an official announcement that there's a wizard in residence, and see who comes out of the woodwork.
[ ] Formal Proposal: Your idea for an undead research team was received poorly, but Van Hal is still open to the idea in theory. Write in details: Name, who it is technically a part of (Watch, Witch Hunters, Military, College, none), and whether it reports directly to you (becomes a new Organization you command) or, if not, who it would report to.
[ ] Scribe: Anton's sent away to Altdorf for someone that speaks Eltharin. Well, you speak Eltharin. Maybe you can find the time to act as amanuensis for the prince-in-exile, though it would cut into your learning-how-to-not-get-eaten-by-Sylvania time. (NEW)

Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).
[ ] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who).
[ ] Really Good Swords: You have achieved proficiency with the Greatsword. Future progress is possible, though it will take more effort to see results. (NEW)
[ ] Combat Training: You're virtually surrounded by armed warriors of various sorts. See if you can convince one to teach you (choose who).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: You haven't made many heavily armed friends yet, but gold is good for that. Go out and buy some training. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.

Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You've finally got the equipment, now you've just got to unpack it all and set up your laboratory.
[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room)

Research:
[ ] Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead, this time with the addition of Van Hal's personal library.
[ ] Snooping: Van Hal gave you a key to his Study. He didn't specifically say not to poke around and see what you could find.
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. You've got two gallons of the stuff and it's still coming out. It's got to be good for something.
[ ] Qhaysh Skunkworks: It would take careful study to unlock the secrets of the liquid. It would take considerably less time to find out if it can be made to burn, or explode, or do something militarily useful. (NEW)
[ ] As a Journeywoman, the path to Magister is marked by mastering more than the two shadow spells you already know. Send to the Grey Order for the basics and work on figuring out one of the others.

Influence:
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god. If it could be expanded under your aegis, it could be a powerful tool.
[ ] Biderhof: This village based on woodcutting and agriculture, has adopted you as one of it's own. Maybe you should adopt it as your own, in a literal sense.
[ ] Non-Thief Guilds: Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.

Relations:
[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors or your liege, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: You've been given good reason to mistrust your fellow councillors. Perhaps you should see what they spent their time doing (choose one).
[ ] Letters Home: You might be able to wring more information out of your Master, or you might just be able to get news, information and guidance in general from the Grey Order.
[ ] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (can be used to perform Snooping without spending an action)

---

FINANCES: NO ACTION POINT EXPENDITURE.

Personal Income: 60 gold/turn
Discretionary Income: 200 gold/turn
Informer Payroll unlocked

Currently paying Grey College tithe (-6 personal gold/turn)
Currently paying Grey College student loans (-35 personal gold/turn)

Not currently embezzling

Currently funding regional informants (-90 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding Watch informants (-10 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding EIC informants (-20 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding Intelligence Attaché program (-60 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently employing Julia Massif (-30 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently maintaining the staff of a townhouse in Wurtbad (-20 discretionary gold/turn)

[ ] Begin plumping the informer rolls (choose ratio of real:fake informers. Almost impossible to detect, but also very difficult to increase or decrease the amount quickly)
[ ] Change tithe payment/loan payment/embezzlement (specify)
[ ] These agents are getting expensive. Write up a proposal for your discretionary budget to be increased, instead of waiting for Van Hal to decide to increase it. (warning: attracts oversight to your current budget)

---

- Last turn I rolled for Anton's mercenary recruitment efforts to see who came back to the Fort with him; this week I rolled his diplomatic efforts in Ostermark, and now Ostermark is going all in.
- For those ready to beatify Anton, I will remind you that his efforts in Talabecland resulted in one notch above doing nothing. His dice aren't always ridiculous.
- Technically, Lingua Praestantia is more often known as 'Magick'. With a K. I refuse to use it because it is dumb.
- Just as I finally get done with figuring out the knock-on effects of Anton, Gustav nat 100s the drilling and I have to go research cavalry tactics.
- A write-in order from Van Hal, but as it was due to rather unpredictable circumstances, there was no relationship loss.
- A matter on the side: I invite the thread to suggest musics best suited for Mathilde's training montage. Excellence in one's suggestion may result in the granting of A Boon; the exact details of a Boon will be disclosed only to the recipient. And before anyone tries: No Rocky, and no Team America. Limit one per person, once you submit one you're locked out of further submissions, and for god's sake please at least glance at the lyrics and spend more than a couple of seconds thinking about it's suitability.
- Voting will be in Plan Format; don't forget Ranald's Blessing.

 

[Boney]

Winning Vote:

[*] Plan Practical Combat and Magic
-[*] Expand your Intelligence Attaché program to another Division (choose a Division)
--[*] Fourth Division
-[*] Expand the ranks of the Gong Farmers, both increasing coverage of Wurtbad and expanding it to the other population centers covered by the Watch.
-[*] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who).
--[*] Gustav
-[*] Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead, this time with the addition of Van Hal's personal library.
-[*] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu.
-[*] As a Journeywoman, the path to Magister is marked by mastering more than the two shadow spells you already know. Send to the Grey Order for the basics and work on figuring out one of the others.
--[*] Take No Heed
--[*] Burning Shadows
---[*] Ranald's Blessing
-[*] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (can be used to perform Snooping without spending an action)
--[*] Gustav

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Winning training montage music

It's not what I expected would win, but the lyrics are incredibly suitable and actually a little dark in the context of a Warhammer wizard. I looked up the song: it was written to be the training montage music in a movie called No Retreat No Surrender, about a teenager who is trained by the ghost of Bruce Lee to stop Jean Claude Van Damme from taking over all the dojos in America. The eighties were a magical time. The entire movie is on Youtube if you want to experience it for yourself. The winner, @HanEmpire, has been granted their Boon, and has decided the form it will take; if they wish they may share the details of it, but the thread is not to badger them for it if they decide to keep it to themselves. Do know, however, that they were explicitly forbidden to seek the thread's help with deciding the Boon.

---

In the coming years, very much will rely on Gustav. Your past investigation of him revealed that he was a suitable if not outstanding candidate, but there's no way to tell if he'll flourish or flail with thirty thousand lives resting on his shoulders. So, you reason, there's two possibilities: either he'll rise to the occassion and therefore will be worth learning from, or he'll be a burden in the near future and will need a very close eye kept on him. Either way, you'll benefit from having spent time with him now.

That reasoned out, you approach him one morning in the dining room of Fort Redemption's keep, and say to him: "Gustav, I would like you to teach me to be a better warrior."

He looks up from his breakfast of bread, sausage and cheese. "Hmf. You are an odd one. Known a wizard or two in my time, and none of 'em like you - but then, none of them were your colour." He carefully cuts a piece of sausage and chews on it while he thinks. "You left that vague on purpose, I suppose?"

"Yes. Whatever you think is most important."

"Hmm. Hell of a question, that is. Ask fifty fighters, get fifty answers." He thinks it over for a while, munching his way through the rest of his sausage. "Suppose that was your intention. That ghost horse of yours, it only does what you want it to, right?"

"That's right."

"Damned useful, that. Half of training a cavalryman is teaching him how to get his horse to cooperate." He puts down his knife and fork and strokes his moustache thoughtfully, and then nods at the scabbard on your back. "I've seen you training with that thing, you seem to be decent at it, so I won't try to argue you into using a nice sensible saber instead. But here's something a lot of young would-be warriors die learning: there's many a thing in this world you cannot win against once they get at blade's length. There's no amount of training that will make you stronger than a minotaur or faster than a vampire or bendier than an elf. For things like that," he pats his hip, "you shoot them. Sure, there's a lot of things that won't die to a bullet, but nothing that fights better with a bullet in them." He takes a long drink out of the wooden mug, then stands. "Let's go. No better time to start than in the dawn light."

---

You'd think it was simple - point it at the target and pull. But it turns out there's more to it than that, and as you send hundreds of rounds through the spare pistols from the Pistolier regiments, if it weren't for Gustav's instructions progress would have been agonizingly slow. Every time he visits you at the earthen bank used as a firing range, he has you fire a few shots, corrects some small thing that surely wouldn't make a difference, but sure enough you're that much closer to the target. After a few months of daily practice, you're hitting a target the size of a man's torso reliably at twenty yards, a puff of sinister-looking fog arising from each impact. You're happy with the progress you've made, but you're aware that to truly call yourself proficient, you have to start doing so without taking time to line up a shot. In what little free time he has, you spend time with the man, getting to know him better while picking his mind further; while a master of light cavalry, you're starting to get the impression that as a Marshal, he's out of his depth. Time will tell, you suppose.

[1-10 Saber, 11-40 Pistols, 41-70 Rifles, 71-85 Leadership, 86-100 Military Tactics: 29, 46. Both rolls are firearms, so he will focus entirely on the first.]
[Learning roll: Martial, Breakpoints 20/50/80, 35+11=47.]
[Teaching roll: Martial, Breakpoints 20/50/80, 69+16=85.]

Your days are also filled with reading; both of the few as-yet-unread books of undead lore that the Colleges are willing to loan out, and of the very heavily encrypted spell-scrolls delivered directly to your hand by a harried apprentice with stern instructions to burn them after reading. They are densely packed with intricate and jargon-heavy instructions in the language of the Colleges, so it's doubtful any thief could even begin to understand them even if they could crack the code, but you take the warning to heart anyway.

Take No Heed is in an interesting spell. Where Mindhole assaults the mind of your target, Take No Heed changes you in such a way that you slip right through the minds of all but the most attentive or the strongest of will. One morning, you're sitting in what may be the only quiet corner in Fort Redemption - the 4th has arrived, and though a number of tents have been set up outside the walls there's still nearly twenty-five thousand men inside them - when Gustav stumbles across you on his way to one of his innumerable other duties, and evidently finds himself curious enough to delay them. As he approaches and asks what's consuming your attention, you're grateful that you don't have to make up a lie about what you're reading - you left your other reading materials in Wurtbad. You pat the small pile of reading material beside you. "The scrolls are from my Master, instructing me in spells; the books are on the topic of the Undead, and how to destroy them."

He looks torn between wariness and curiosity at that. "Spells, eh? Anything useful?"

You close your eyes and let Ulgu flow into you, and take a pinch of nothing, and release it into the air, disturbing its fall with a few gestures and whispering a few mystical words. "Turn around and walk ten paces, then turn and return back to me."

He gives you a quizzical look, but does so; when he turns back around, his eyes look back and forth, and rest on you for a moment before passing by. Then he frowns, thinks, shakes his head and looks back at you, then returns to you. "That was bloody odd," he says. "I could clearly see that there was a person there, but I didn't notice anything about them, and it didn't occur to me to pay any attention to them until I stopped and thought about it and reasoned that you must be that person."

You smile. "It's not quite invisibility, and it fails if against the strong-willed and the determined, but it should prove useful."

---

Burning Shadows is not so easily demonstrated on a live target, but you can practice on scrolls from your Master and reports from Julia that need destroying anyway. It's more complex than any spell you've ever attempted, and the typical material component is the poison known as Black Lotus, and is ruinously expensive and sourced from half a world away besides. And you don't know enough about pharmacology to find a local source you could harvest yourself.

So you find yourself hunched over a candle night after night, trying to instil magic into the the shadows your hands cast. Doing so at all is easy - Ulgu needs little encouragement to fill the shadows - but to have it turn corrosive is an entirely new skill. It's only after long weeks of effort that the scrolls that you're targeting start to blacken where your shadow falls, but once you've learned the knack of it, it grows in effect by leaps and bounds, and soon the parchment is turning to liquid where your shadow falls, and leaving nasty stains and burns on your writing desk.

The tricky part, both magically and mechanically, is distance. Within about twenty yards, it's simple enough to both cast the shadow and instil it with the required effect, but beyond that it takes a brighter light and greater concentration. You practice at night from the watchtowers of the Fort, where a shadow thrown by a torch can go for hundreds of yards; it takes commensurately more time and concentration to perform, but with enough time and concentration you manage to blacken the shape of your hand into a large patch of grass at just under two hundred yards. Now that could come in handy.

[Learning Take No Heed: Learning, Req 60, 93+16=109.]
[Learning Burning Shadows: Learning, Req 70, 58+16=74.]
[Burning Shadows at a distance, Roll, 30+16+20 (Ranald's Blessing)+9 (rollover from Take No Heed)=75.]

You also spend some time trying to recreate the bound spells back from the business with the infiltrators; sadly, with almost three years passed you spend most of your time trying to recall hazy details. Weeks of concentration and meditation refreshes the memory of the spell's structure in your mind, but your attempts to divine how it works so you can start to replicate it with Ulgu instead of Dhar are frustrated at every turn. You don't even have the enchantment vocabulary to keep notes. All you can do is hold a picture of the spell's structure in your mind, and you know it will fade with time. If you had more time or more general knowledge or if the memories were fresher, you know you could manage this, but with so many other priorities you eventually have to put it aside.

More prosaic is your continued readings into the restless dead. With your upcoming excursion into Sylvania, your Master appears to have pulled some strings and had the College library send a few of their more restricted tomes, along with the usual dire warning as to what would happen if you were to lose them. Explanations into the magical side of the undead are conspicuously absent, but there's still a great deal of data, sometimes contradictory and pulled from a thousand sources though it may be. By the time you finish reading your way through the document, you're ready to put the finishing touch on the paperwork for your Intelligence Attachés, refining it down to a single page of twenty questions that, if answered accurately, would allow the knowledgeable - such as you - to identify the form of undead as reliably as if they had seen it themselves. You have the finished form delivered to Julia, who takes a moment away from her expansion of the Attachés into the 4th Division to commission some time from a printing press in Altdorf, and soon enough you have a stack of forms taller than you to be distributed to every officer in the Army of Stirland.

[Bound Spell reverse engineering: Breakpoints 50/70, Learning, 58+16-20 (two full years passed)=54. Time penalty reset.]
[Studying the Undead: Breakpoints 20/50/80, Learning, 86+16=102.]

---

Before you threw yourself into training in earnest, you empowered the former leader of the Guild of Nightsoilmen and the de facto leader of the equivalent branch of the Watch to increase their ranks and scope, and now it is your unfortunate fate to have to read the report this produced; you really must see about getting a leader for it one of these days. The report says that recruitment was easier than expected; that it was on the government payroll meant that it was seen as a more stable and legitimate occupation than when it was an independent guild, though it was still necessary to offer slightly more pay than usual for unskilled labour to make up for the obvious downsides of the job. They also found no trouble expanding alongside the Watch, absorbing local guilds in Worden and Purgg and bringing new but badly needed services to the villages.

The end result is impressive - it's still not close to making the Watch revenue-neutral but it is defraying a significant portion of the costs. And depending how the next few months go, Stirland might badly need every shilling.

Your other reports make for easier reading, as information from all over Stirland flows to you:
- The mood across Stirland is acceptable as rumour of the Purge's ambitions spread, split between those that think that Van Hal's ambition is going to lead to a lot of deaths and those that think that finally putting a Witch Hunter in charge might allow actual process in pushing back the Dead.
- Morale in the 2nd is high, though only average in the 4th.
- Events in the Stirhugel came to a head much faster than you expected, with the Watchmen in Ohlsdorf managing to pick up a trail of whatever it was that was preying on the sheep. To the relief of everyone involved, it turned out to be mere bandits; the Watchmen went back to Ohlsdorf, deputized a number of the burly locals with strong opinions about the theft of livestock, and led them into the camp with sword and bludgeon. Those that survived the assault were subjected to swift and merciless trial, and had already been hanged by the time a report had been prepared. The rural folk of Western Stirland take a very dim view of rustlers.
- The Knights promised by Talabecland are on the way; when the report was written, they were in Wurtbad, so they're likely at least at Halstedt by now.
- The Attachés to the 4th was mostly without problem, though with no retirees coming out of the Army of Stirland she had to cannibalize the Watch for recruits. Their numbers are now stretched worryingly thin, and they may be less effective until numbers are brought back up to a good place.

In closer news, the would-be scribe that arrived from the University of Altdorf didn't manage to perform the duty expected of him; the banished Prince quickly grew sick of being asked to explain things every few minutes and sent the scholar packing. As a member in good standing of the University of Altdorf's longstanding rival, it pleases you to see one of them humbled, but as someone that was looking forward to reading the end result it's more than a little frustrating. A shame, but then, you have more pressing concerns than elf stories.

---

Information Network: Intelligence Attaché attached to 4th Division.
Stirland Watch: Gong Farmers have now expanded into every city the Watch has a presence in, and will continue to do so automatically if/when administrative staff or a Leader is acquired.
Acquired skill - Pistols: Advanced.
Take No Heed learned!
Burning Shadows learned!
Undead Lore proficiency achieved!
Weapon acquired: pistol.

---

Discretionary Income: +200g
Regional informants: -90g
Watch informants: -10g
EIC informants: -20g
Julia: -30g
Townhouse staff: -20g
Literacy lessons: -10g
Attaché program: -120g
---
Net: -100g

Personal Income: +50g
Estate Profit: +10g
Tithe: -6g
Student Loans: -35g
---
Net: +19g

---

There is no formal meeting of the council this month; there may not be one for quite some time. You've delivered written reports to Van Hal, though you're not sure if he's been able to read them - he's been entirely occupied with the finishing touches to the plans for the Purge, and in a rare minute you manged to snatch with him he said to use your judgement and then hurried off. You did manage to get informal updates on everyone's progress - Wilhelmina and Kasmir have the 1st provisioned and serviced by Chaplains, Gustav is happy with the preparedness of the men, and Schultz's road is long-finished and he's putting the last touches on a rather uninspired siege train. You even have a rare chance to talk to Anton as he returns from Zhufbar; they're apparently quite pleased, in their understated Dwarvish way, that the manlings are taking action against the blasted dead, but they're too engaged in battle with some sort of beastmen in their lower hold and the greenskins in their immediate surrounds to sally forth in the immediate future. Then he's off again to Averland.

As thirty thousand men break camp and prepare to march, you consider your own path for the coming months. You itch to join them, though you're not sure if that's the best use of your time. Will the initial push into the Hills be more or less frantic than later on? Would it be useful for you to be personally present for every yard of five thousand square miles of purging?

---

PLAN FOR THIS PURGE TURN

ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIONS - pick ONE from the category 'Information Network' and NONE from 'Stirland Watch':
The Stirland Watch actions can still be taken with personal actions; the action chosen for the Information Network will be their direction for the next three Purge Turns.

Information Network - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[ ] Expand your information network into another province (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into another county or barony (choose one)
[ ] Expand your information network into the military (choose a Division)
[ ] Expand your Intelligence Attaché program to another Division (choose one)
[ ] Off the Leash: Let Julia handle the network without your micromanagement from now on.

Information Network finances - can be chosen INSTEAD of a selection from the above.
[ ] Attaché Paperwork: The Intelligence Attachés are your biggest expense by far - see if you can have them paid for by the Army of Stirland instead.
[ ] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
[ ] Fixer: Work with the Wurtbad Thieves Guild, supplying them information in exchange for a portion of profits.
[ ] Special Branch: Pull some financial trickery to get the information network classified as part of the Watch, so that their costs are covered by the Stirlandian treasury.
[ ] Trade Delegation: Convince Wilhelmina and Markus to partner your network with the EIC based on the value of market information.

Stirland Watch - pick ONE (no action expenditure required):
[o] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of their covered area. (cannot be taken until army retirement resumes in one year)
[ ] Expand the Special Branch into areas already covered by the Watch, so you have an additional pool of manpower you can call upon to supplement the full-time Watchmen.
[ ] Improve the training of the Watch, hiring trainers and dedicating paid time each week to sharpening skills.
[ ] Integrate the Roadwarden network of covered areas into the Watch.
[ ] Headhunt administrators from other organizations in Stirland.
[ ] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.

---

PERSONAL ACTIONS - CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO AND THREE. ANY CHOSEN BEYOND THE FIRST TWO WILL COME WITH RISKS - PLEASE SPECIFY THE 'ADDITIONAL' TASK:

Genießt den Krieg - join the divisions entering Sylvania:
[ ] Attach yourself to the general staff, so you can be present for anything interesting that might happen and keep a finger on the pulse of the war.
[ ] Attach yourself to a specific regiment so you can spend some time in the thick of things.

Miscellany:
[ ] Financial Jargon: Everything with the EIC flew right over your head last time. Try again. Succeeding here will mean that you can take a more active hand in the company, adding it to the organizational actions; failing or not attempting means Mathilde will remain a silent partner.
[ ] Hang Out A Shingle: Spymasters don't advertise, but wizards sometimes do. Make an official announcement that there's a wizard in residence, and see who comes out of the woodwork.
[ ] Formal Proposal: Your idea for an undead research team was received poorly, but Van Hal is still open to the idea in theory. Write in details: Name, who it is technically a part of (Watch, Witch Hunters, Military, College, none), and whether it reports directly to you (becomes a new Organization you command) or, if not, who it would report to.
[ ] Scribe: Altdorf's scribe did not get on well with the Prince. He's going to be rather busy with burning things, but maybe that'll put him in a better mood if you offer your own services. (NEW-ish)
[ ] Gun Shopping: You're currently using a pistol that was a spare for the pistoliers. Visit Nuln to upgrade. (Choose: dueling pistols for accuracy and range, repeater pistols for weight of fire, dragons for hand shotguns. Choose: whether you will acquire and use two pistols at once or keep one hand free.) (NEW)
[ ] Write up a proposal for Wilhelmina to approve a short-term increase in Discretionary Income, for the duration of the crisis. (NEW)

Self-Improvement: Things have been going well so far, but the skills of a Journeyman Grey Mage can only go so far.
[ ] Practice, Practice, Practice: Having been thrown into the deep end of imperial politics, it would probably be a good idea to brush up on your skills and internalize the lessons you've learned (choose which trait; can be taken multiple times; will be more effective if you've used the trait a lot lately).

[ ] Tutoring: One of your fellow councillors may be willing to teach you in their chosen field (choose who; can choose which, or you can let them decide).
[ ] Really Good Swords: You have achieved proficiency with the Greatsword. Future progress is possible, though it will take more effort to see results.
[ ] Pistols at Dawn: You've taken some great strides in an entirely new form of combat, but you're still not entirely proficient. Finish your training. (NEW)
[ ] Combat Training: You're virtually surrounded by armed warriors of various sorts. See if you can convince one to teach you (choose who).
[ ] Combat Training, In The Free Market: You haven't made many heavily armed friends yet, but gold is good for that. Go out and buy some training. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.

Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Remixed: You're getting sick of having workmen tramping in and out of your abode. Recruit an entire team and personally oversee them to clear out all of the reachable portions of the Palace-Shrine and be done with it. (-personal gold)
[ ] Enchantment: You've finally got the equipment, now you've just got to unpack it all and set up your laboratory.
[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there and get started on equipping it. (write in the purpose of the room)

Research:
[ ] Undead Research: You know the basics, now. Perhaps a great deal of effort will allow you to advance further. (NEW)
[ ] Snooping: Van Hal gave you a key to his Study. He didn't specifically say not to poke around and see what you could find.
[ ] Shyish-kebabs: The Shyish swords are hideously dangerous as weapons, but fascinating as a subject of study. Try to reverse-engineer the lost enchantments woven into them.
[ ] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. The memories had faded but you've managed to refresh them. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu. (NEW-ish)
[ ] Qhaysh Juice: Whatever it is, it's dripping out of the box at a steady rate. You've got two gallons of the stuff and it's still coming out. It's got to be good for something.
[ ] Qhaysh Skunkworks: It would take careful study to unlock the secrets of the liquid. It would take considerably less time to find out if it can be made to burn, or explode, or do something militarily useful. (NEW)
[ ] As a Journeywoman, the path to Magister is marked by mastering more than the two shadow spells you already know. Send to the Grey Order for the basics and work on figuring out one of the others.

Influence:
[ ] Thieves Guild: It's currently little more than a church group, albeit of a very unconventional god. If it could be expanded under your aegis, it could be a powerful tool.
[ ] Biderhof: This village based on woodcutting and agriculture, has adopted you as one of it's own. Maybe you should adopt it as your own, in a literal sense.
[ ] Non-Thief Guilds: Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.

Relations:
[ ] Getting To Know You: Spend time with one of your fellow councillors or your liege, offering your help in their tasks and generally getting a feel for them (choose one).
[ ] Getting To Know You Whether You Like It Or Not: You've been given good reason to mistrust your fellow councillors. Perhaps you should see what they spent their time doing (choose one).
[ ] Letters Home: You might be able to wring more information out of your Master, or you might just be able to get news, information and guidance in general from the Grey Order.
[o] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (not possible during Purge Turns)

---

FINANCES: NO ACTION POINT EXPENDITURE.

Personal Income: 60 gold/turn
Discretionary Income: 200 gold/turn
Informer Payroll unlocked

Currently paying Grey College tithe (-6 personal gold/turn)
Currently paying Grey College student loans (-35 personal gold/turn)

Not currently embezzling

Currently funding regional informants (-90 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding Watch informants (-10 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding EIC informants (-20 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently funding Intelligence Attaché program (-120 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently employing Julia Massif (-30 discretionary gold/turn)
Currently maintaining the staff of a townhouse in Wurtbad (-20 discretionary gold/turn)

Totals:
+19 personal gold/turn
-90 discretionary gold/turn

Bills will be paid every third Purge Turn. You can go into 'debt'; normally this would draw negative attention as you defer payments and take on loans in Stirland's name, but during the Purge it is to be expected; if you make good by the end of the turn immediately following the end of the War, all will be well.

[ ] Begin plumping the informer rolls (choose ratio of real:fake informers. Almost impossible to detect, but also very difficult to increase or decrease the amount quickly)
[ ] Change tithe payment/loan payment/embezzlement (specify)
[o] These agents are getting expensive. Write up a proposal for your discretionary budget to be increased, instead of waiting for Van Hal to decide to increase it. (Van Hal does not have the attention to spare)

- Welcome to the Purge. Each Purge Turn will be two months; you get two actions per turn and Julia will get an action every three turns. Feedback and oversight will be at best utterly minimal and more likely nonexistent; if there ever was a time for boldness, or to try to get away with something, it is now.
- Size comparisons: the Haunted Hills, at about 5000 square miles, are about the size of Connecticut or Northern Ireland, and makes up about a quarter of Sylvania. While we're at it, Stirland (without Sylvania) is about 80k square miles, or the size of Kansas or Austria. Squinting at a map of the Empire gives me a figure of about 650k square miles - Alaska, or two and a half Texases, or two Germanies.
- If you use a personal action to get a leader for the Watch, they'll be able to take actions on their own like the Information Network is during times like this.
- If you venture into Sylvania, you will be accompanied at all times by your bodyguard platoon of 25 greatswords.
- I didn't give you a Mastery for Take No Heed despite the crit because it didn't occur 'in the field' - you can't develop a deeper understanding of it while learning it by rote from scrolls.
- What you learned of Gustav has already been added to the Dramatis Personae threadmark.
- Ranald's Blessing will still be available, but will have a lesser effect during these turns.
- Note that there's two sets of finances in the post, which could get confusing. The first set is the finances for this turn; the second is the projected income and costs for next turn.