Warhammer Fantasy: Thirteen Tolls - An Apocalypse Quest

The fact that the chief Priest of the Myrmidians is a Red and corrupted in some form is disheartening, though we already knew that the Rot was both deep and in high places in this city. While most of the corruption we've seen so far has been Red Faction aligned, I have a feeling that it's only due to the lack of interactions with White Faction members/partisans that we haven't seen the same with them. Tylos and Kavzar would not be doomed this irrevocably if the threat was coming solely from without.

[X] Hire in-house care.

I sincerely doubt that we're going to find a better situation in the Cleansing Flame's asylum. This is our best option for now, maybe we'll be able to move them into a different location later.

[X] Take the bribe, and sign.

This is the windfall we need to restore the Roost and possibly even buy a place to house our maddened brothers outside of it. Accepting a bribe from what seems to be a Morai-Heg assisted murder is minor in comparison to everything that's happening in this damned city.

[X] the twin-bladed obsidian dagger

Don't want to be using the proto-Hashut mace or Necoho's blade for our main weapon. We're not combat-focused anyway, so hidden daggers will be fine for now. Something we can always have on hand for an emergency without outwardly appearing to be armed is useful.
 
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@Graf Tzarogy another lovely update! I know you said that you struggled with this update and u said the tone may be weird but I did not notice that at all. In fact I throughly enjoyed it a ton just as much as previous updates so do not fear at this chapter being worse or anything. Will prob have a reaction post sometime tommrow.

[X] Hire in-house care.
[X] The twin-bladed obsidian dagger

ahhhhhn extremely conflicted on the bribe and whether or not to take. Feel like it could be the first step on the road to dammination/have morr not like us as much espically since the supposed grevining lady was quite intresnted in what we were gonna do at the play to/generally weird to us. Also the fact with how powerful and wealthy this man is too...there more at work I feel but

MONEYYY we need the money badly to restore the roost to get more brothers and more! aghhh

def in house care the shayylans have fallen to the corruption of the city and obsidan dagger just cause I like the dagger we pull out asthetic nothing more.

edit: very happy @reignonyrparade plan won this netted us some extremly impormant intel on the city situation
 
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and probable tonal weirdness;
You are nailing the tone of a city going to hell in 13 handbaskets so well that I remain stricken with awe and envy alike.

The third, Ambrose apparently purchased only at the repeated insistence of a member of the Cleansing Flame. It's a slightly rusted iron gladius, a standard one, like any in the legions would bear. A name is engraved, though almost worn away with age: N - - - HO. It makes you very uneasy – it seems to have no magical energy in it whatsoever, not even the expected Chamon. Your nervousness turns to panic when you pick it up. You feel your stomach drop, as some deep connection in you, some inner reserve of respite that you've had since you knew you had the favour of Morr, for a moment, breaks – and you feel a yawning void. You drop it, and that sense of divine connection returns; you experiment again, and - the same feeling. That night - well, rather the opposite of miracle in a technical sense – no dreams at all. Your first peaceful rest in months. You're properly frightened with that. You spend the whole day your mind racing with the idea that Morr would somehow – find out? Be angry? Abandon you, before you used this dagger to abandon him? But a part of you, beyond the terror at your God, is glad. There's a way out of this madness, out of the infinite portents – if just for a moment.
Mein Gott, a sword of the Doubter! Yes, this is perfect, in these god-troubled times.
 
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[x] Hire in-house care.
[x] Take the bribe, and sign.
[x] the divine-denying iron sword.
[OPTIONAL] What do you name your weapon?
[-] NOTHING AT ALL. It is just a sword. Just a sword. Tell yourself that, hold on to that belief even if the twin cities drive you to madness. It is just sharpened iron.

We can't stick our noses into everything, and frankly I'm much more worried about someone disseminating hypnotic dhar infused books rather than yet another religious death cult (ours is the best of those anyways). The amount of money on offer can be put to use with future recruitment and investigations.
 
[X] Hire in-house care.
[X] The twin-bladed obsidian dagger
[x] Take the bribe, and sign.


- we just bought 10 tzeenchian-influenced rebels... the result of which will be interesting...

Edit: also what is the House being referred to?
 
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FREE FOOD – Do you need to eat? Do you want to make your city better? Do you want to show the Senate what for?! Come to an Open Banquet! As much food as you can stuff yourself (on behalf of our Moulder supporters) for the low, low cost of nothing at all! With entertainment too – here some of the best and brightest candidates for Senate speak! Come to any of the following addresses…
You throw the book into the fireplace. It doesn't burn right; not at all, and then all at once with a woosh of Dhar and red-purple flame.
@Graf Tzarogy Moulders are Red right? If it's the case, we now know for sure they use mass-distributed corruptive ways to influence people. We should absolutely go to that food distribution. We could maybe denounce them to the Princeps, but he's bad enough himself. Maybe later, after we tried to use our freed maybe Tzeentchians to shake things a little?

shuddering. The air is heavy with the static of latent magic; the wards of the Roost strained almost to breaking in saving you.
I'm really glad we stayed there. @Graf Tzarogy what would have happened if we had stayed somewhere else?

It is almost Shyish, but not quite – divine; the domain of a God of Death. It's like Morr, but it lacks His candid cold. An elven god, you'd presume – but you know not much of them.
That's likely Morai-Heg, the only other non-choatic death god is Gazul and that's not really his style.

- we just bought 10 tzeenchian-influenced rebels... the result of which will be interesting...
They may be Tzeentchians, but they were also diagnosed with a « disease » that make them unwilling to be enslaved. I wouldn't be so sure of that. We could let them go and ask them to spread mayhem and instability among the slaves to disturb plots.

[X] Keep looking.
[X] Take the bribe, and sign.
[x] the divine-denying iron sword.
 
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[X] Hire in-house care.
[X] Take the bribe, and sign.
[X] the ever-flowing brass aspergillum.

Any good temple has a blessed relic, and maybe some calming Morrite water will do our patients good as they are given in-house care. At first I didn't want to take the bribe, leave the unnatural death to the authorities, but then I remembered: fuck the authorities, their political parties are distributing mind-altering dhar materials and the head honcho eats souls. Much better to stick with our fellow death-god homies.
 
[X] Keep looking.

People have been planning on expanding the clergy of Morr. Hiring in house care will explicitly make that harder, what with not having any rooms for them to stay in.

[X] Don't.

The Twin-Cities may be doomed regardless of what we do, but I don't think we should sink to their level. We've already been paid for our services, no reason to sully ourselves by looking the other way towards murder.

[X] the ever-flowing brass aspergillum.

I just think its the coolest of the three.
 
[X] Hire in-house care.
[X] Take the bribe, and sign.
[X] The twin-bladed obsidian dagger

The spousal murder for inheritance sucks but is probably not relevant to the downfall of the city. (Watch me eat my words.)
 
we just bought 10 tzeenchian-influenced rebels... the result of which will be interesting...
It's a typical sign of chaos corruption to not want to be enslaved by the people who attacked and sacked the city you used to live in, I agree

It has to be chaos corruption to not want to live your life in chains as the property of another being and wanting to get out from that, indeed.
 
Edit: also what is the House being referred to?

The House is the House of Tyleus, a district. It's a haven for escaped slaves and freedmen because one of Tyleus' last acts was to declare any man who was a guest in his house was free, meaning anyone who reaches the House is legally manumitted. It's also where the Casino is, the most famous entertainment destination in the Twin Cities!

@Graf Tzarogy Moulders are Red right?

Moulders are split, you think. They have a White senator at the moment in Summerland, but there does appear to be significant support for Reds in their periodicals and such. You'd have to investigate Summerland to be properly sure, especially in regard to the specific opinions of their leadership.

@Graf Tzarogy what would have happened if we had stayed somewhere else?

Would have been a flip, if failed, locked-in one of your actions next turn to be a political partisan for the Reds, and then potentially further consequences if you didn't find a way to break the enchantment.
 
But at least you know another player on the board.
Well, this is concerning, but an important lead. The big problem is if this is related to the forecoming DOOM, or if this is a third party at work screwing things up. Either way, it seems someone in undermining the Temples and by extension the ability of the Gods to protect their followers.
"So pleased" he simpers "that we have such an honored clergyman considering our services, yes, yes. May I ask the nature of your relatives' affliction?"
Oh I already don't trust you. That speech feels like it could come straight from a Skaven.
And you're both off. The Ward, it turns out, has four wings, for the four types of mental affliction the Shallyans believe can occur per the imbalance of the humours, and the resultant vulnerability to corruption from, as Spivoni calls them "outside forces".
On the one hand, with the Four as a thing it's not wildly implausible for things to develop this way. On the other, this does not bode well.
First, and what you walk by quite quickly, is those who have an excess of yellow bile, and are therefore prey for the rageful. Here is the dark end of the care of lunatics, where they have not progressed a bit from the days you imprisoned your mad uncle in the cellar of your house. Here are fellows; mostly men, mostly soldiers, as Spivoni says, that have perhaps indulged too deeply in the arts of Khaine. They are chained to their beds, their legs manacled, each not able to walk perhaps a foot away, only to their toilet and sink in their prison cells. Still, they shout and jeer as you wander by, screaming obscenities and a thousand ways to kill you.

"Is there no way to calm them?" you ask.

"Sarriel's Draught, yes, yes – but the expense is too much. Twelve patients in here in the last two weeks! Better to let them tucker themselves out; in the cages, they're hardly any harm".
Another incident of repeating words, and I already don't want to leave the other Morrites with them.
The doctor seems to take note of your alarm. His face finally turns a bit grave. "We accept everyone, Master Xenophon. Anyone at all. People take advantage of that charity – but we cannot say no."
That one I can't actually blame him for. As horrific as it is, it's a symptom of the greater decay (hah) of the city. I imagine if we investigated the Shallyans we'd find a similar problem to the Temple of Myrmidia.
"Ignore them, please."

"But what do they do?"

"Nothing."

"Isn't that torturous?"

"Pleasure inflames the blood. Boredom dulls it and has never killed anyone."
You know, I have to wonder if you're a fan of the Failbetter games (Fallen London, Sunless Seas, Sunless Skies etc.) because this whole section feels like something I'd have expected to see from those games. A few of your scenes have made me think that actually.

Also JFC this place is disturbing.
The last wing is one great cell, with about a hundred people in it. They are not moaning or threatening or begging, though crammed in they are, with hardly a place to lie down. In fact, they seemed to be calmly conversing, only to lapse in perfect silence as you and the Doctor pass by.
I'm filled with dread.
He seems slightly embarrassed. "Too much phlegm. Plotters. Mostly drapteomaniacs."

"I'm sorry?" You're not familiar with the term.

"Slaves, my lord – slaves who keep rebelling."

You're angry now. "What?"

"The Princeps' reform, my lord. A mercy! No more capital punishment for a slave's treason. They cannot help it, you see, a disease of the mind – so if their masters cannot deal with them, we take them." A pause. "We cannot afford to not take the funding."
What's drapteomania?

*Looks it up*

Well now I'm pissed!
"Morr speaks." You take off your overwrought silver-and-obsidian crown. You toss it to the Doctor, who brightens.

"Of course, milord – this shall be more than enough for-

"Ten."

"More than suitable."
Sigh... Xenophon, I understand the feeling, but you could've at least waited to see what his original offer was. You could probably have got double or more free.
A few days later, a box is delivered to the Roost.

You open it. It's full of casino chips – probably a thousand sestertii worth. Further, there's a note.

"Hail, Son of Aoife, Friend of the House. Room 9 is reserved for you."
The House is sounding a bit like a Railroad. It's probably worth investigating at least. At the very least, we might be able to arrange an evacuation under the guise of freeing slaves, though that's getting a bit close to metagaming.

The Lady Tophania sends for you to bury her husband.
So, the Elf lady we met who seemed more curious at what we'd do at the theatre than the multiple murders is calling for us to perform funeary rights for her husband. I did initially forget the man was human, which made me suspicious as to why an elf would call for a human god to perform the rights, but I suppose it's fair for her to have a human God intern her human husband.

Definitely feels like she only married the man for his money though. I half suspect this isn't the first time a spouse of hers has suffered a sudden death.
He had two sons, and two daughters; Lucanius, who is a banker, Sonia, a spinster, Angelus
and Angelus Spania, my brother-in-law and Keeper of the Prison of Mirrors –oops"
So this is possibly an error. Angelus is mentioned in Turn One Results (Part 2) - Overture as her brother-in-law, but in this chapter he's mentioned as the son of Sercopius, which would make him her nephew-in-law.

The first option is a retractable punch dagger, oozing with Ulgu.
Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

So, a hidden blade style weapon. On the one hand it's pretty useful, on the other it's particularly vulnerable to magic. Then again, what isn't?
The second weapon is a brass aspergillum.
I do not trust this. Brass and bull head? This feels like a piece of Khornate artifice. We don't sense any divinity from it, so I'd guess it was either never finished or something, but I'm not a fan of touching it.
The third, Ambrose apparently purchased only at the repeated insistence of a member of the Cleansing Flame. It's a slightly rusted iron gladius, a standard one, like any in the legions would bear. A name is engraved, though almost worn away with age: N - - - HO.
Oh goody, Necoho. This'd be perfect if we took the other origins. As is, I'm not going to vote for it. The connection to Morr is too valuable to lose. If we still have it, we could see about giving it to any servant we hire though.

[X] Hire in-house care.
[X] Don't.
[X] The twin-bladed obsidian dagger

For the first vote, I literally do not trust the Law Gods to be any better than the Shallyans and the Myrmidians; I feel like they'd be one of the first groups you undercut. For the second, I feel taking a moral stance is an important step in doing as much good as we can. For the third, it's pretty much just that the other two are not things I want.
 
You know, I have to wonder if you're a fan of the Failbetter games

Very much so! The original stat system for this quest was a flat rip-off of Fallen London's till I decided to simplify it, but very happy to be evoking a similar vibe.

So this is possibly an error. Angelus is mentioned in Turn One Results (Part 2) - Overture as her brother-in-law, but in this chapter he's mentioned as the son of Sercopius, which would make him her nephew-in-law.

Thanks for the catch, Turn One is in error (and has been corrected), Angelus is her nephew.
 
I do not trust this. Brass and bull head? This feels like a piece of Khornate artifice. We don't sense any divinity from it, so I'd guess it was either never finished or something, but I'm not a fan of touching it.
Bulls are typically associated with Hashut. If it were Bronze, i'd be more sure of it's Hashutian origin, but it's brass... so it might be aesthetics. But I wouldn't bet on it.

None of the weapons are particularly good.

The anti magic and divine gladius is just particularly bad.
 
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Bulls are typically associated with Hashut. If it were Bronze, i'd be more sure of it's Hashutian origin, but it's brass... so it might be aesthetics. But I wouldn't bet on it.
While Bulls are something of Hashut, they're also Khornate. Though considering the water dispenser, that feels like a piece of kit that a Khornate warrior wouldn't be happy with, so you're probably right on the Hashut side of things.
 
Moulders are split, you think. They have a White senator at the moment in Summerland, but there does appear to be significant support for Reds in their periodicals and such. You'd have to investigate Summerland to be properly sure, especially in regard to the specific opinions of their leadership.
Thanks. If they look split, they're in a very good position to play both sides.

Would have been a flip, if failed, locked-in one of your actions next turn to be a political partisan for the Reds, and then potentially further consequences if you didn't find a way to break the enchantment.
Ouch.That's the second time we're faced with magical influences on our mind, we should seriously think about protecting us from that kind of things. The anti-divine glades could maybe help us.

Definitely feels like she only married the man for his money though. I half suspect this isn't the first time a spouse of hers has suffered a sudden death.
On the other hand, she's an elf. She can probably afford most of the time to just wait that her husband dies of old age.

The anti magic and divine gladius is just particularly bad.
On the contrary, it could protect us from people trying to influence our mind. If we had it at the theater, it would have allow us t intervene. That's twice now that we have narrowly dodged spells thrown at us, we should prepare defenses against that.
 
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