I would not be so sure about that, keep in mind even one of the Poor Fellows gets the Divine casting of Ranald and they can be as strong at it as any other casters. What makes the power of a priest is not agreeing with the majority it is the strength of their zeal. If the GT thinks that all the poltics advances the cause of Sigmar and be believes it strongly enough he can get the casting as strong as any other.
[WHF] The Broken Mirror - A Divided Loyalties Peggy Sue
I would not be so sure about that, keep in mind even one of the Poor Fellows gets the Divine casting of Ranald and they can be as strong at it as any other casters. What makes the power of a priest is not agreeing with the majority it is the strength of their zeal. If the GT thinks that all the poltics advances the cause of Sigmar and be believes it strongly enough he can get the casting as strong as any other.
- Location
- Utrecht
I was putting on my Mathilde bias glasses on. I.e. Grand theogonist bad.
I.e: If Algard brought word of something, GT would disbelieve him on principle.
Ooc, i know it probably wouldn't work that way. But attributing malice to someone you dislike is very easy
My point was that he could be both bad (objectively so from the perspective of Imperial unity) and a powerful caster. I mean consider the following chain of logic:
- Sigmar is the best god for any imperial, any human to worship primarily because he is the Ur Emperor and bastion against the Ruinous Powers (not really contentious for any priest of Sigmar)
- Ulricans are competing for the same niche (war/protector god) and they are working against the Cult of Sigmar (historical fact, if an incomplete one)
- The people who worship Ulric would otherwise be perfect doughty Sigmarities in the service of Him and His Empire (Opinion but not entirely unresonable)
Long story short the GT could be a fanatic and fanatics get magic powers just fine.
As DragonParadox says, you could have various takes on how to advance Sigmar's will, and indeed on Sigmar himself. It wouldn't be hard to see Sigmar as the unifier and uplifter of humanity, to worship him as Emperor rather than as warrior. When Sigmar was born 'the' people of the Empire were a fragmented set of warring, semi-nomadic pastoral tribes wielding bronze speaking different languages. When he went east he left behind an Empire of steel wielding people growing crops, living in cities of stone, and with a single codified written language.
We often, in quests, focus on the first part of Sigmar's life. The Cult of Sigmar may not. He may have started as a barbarian warlord, but he ruled for fifty years after he was crowned Emperor at the age of thirty. The great majority of his adult life was spent being Emperor and dealing with the challenges of founding and ruling an Empire that would be strong enough to survive without him with the additional difficulty of working with the dwarves as they uplifted humanity from the bronze to high Middle Ages in a couple of generations.
Think what that process would have involved. Sigmar must have been a consummate, incredibly skilled politician, diplomat, and ruler in general in addition to his skills as a warrior and general. Given that written Old Reikspeil was invented in Sigmar's reign, there are much more likely to be contemporary written sources of him as an experienced Emperor than of him as a young warrior.
This aspect of Sigmar, Sigmar the nation builder, is presumably why the Cult of Sigmar has focused on internal development as opposed to the Cult of Ulric's expansionism.
The one area I'd disagree with DragonParadox on is that Sigmar isn't primarily a war god. He's a god of the Empire, and when the Empire goes to war, he goes with them, but that's a subsidiary aspect of the greater Imperial portfolio. I'd say that conflict between Ulric and Sigmar's cults is more fundamental, it's a matter of ideology. A cult of rugged individualism and a cult of the imperial state aren't very compatible. This is another way to look at their historical conflict over imperial expansion. The Ulricians want to go out to conquer and win glory, carving out new provinces they can rule from the wilderness. The Sigmarites want to stay at home and build up infrastructure and institutions. It's an individual versus communitarian divide.
The Sigmarites might well believe that the Ulrician ideology is wrong and possibly even harmful and so should be opposed and their influence reduced. I can't even, hand on heart, say that I'm sure they're wrong. I can even come up with excuses for why things like refusing to help the dwarves try to recover Karak Eight Peaks are actually doctrinally consistent. Even Belegar seriously doubted whether the attempts to reconquer lost holds were good for the dwarves. The Cult of Sigmar is a truly ancient institution. It may well have seen and even assisted with many attempts, and seen them all fail and leave the dwarves worse off - and perhaps even seen that the ones that achieve some initial success have the worst long term consequences.
We often, in quests, focus on the first part of Sigmar's life. The Cult of Sigmar may not. He may have started as a barbarian warlord, but he ruled for fifty years after he was crowned Emperor at the age of thirty. The great majority of his adult life was spent being Emperor and dealing with the challenges of founding and ruling an Empire that would be strong enough to survive without him with the additional difficulty of working with the dwarves as they uplifted humanity from the bronze to high Middle Ages in a couple of generations.
Think what that process would have involved. Sigmar must have been a consummate, incredibly skilled politician, diplomat, and ruler in general in addition to his skills as a warrior and general. Given that written Old Reikspeil was invented in Sigmar's reign, there are much more likely to be contemporary written sources of him as an experienced Emperor than of him as a young warrior.
This aspect of Sigmar, Sigmar the nation builder, is presumably why the Cult of Sigmar has focused on internal development as opposed to the Cult of Ulric's expansionism.
The one area I'd disagree with DragonParadox on is that Sigmar isn't primarily a war god. He's a god of the Empire, and when the Empire goes to war, he goes with them, but that's a subsidiary aspect of the greater Imperial portfolio. I'd say that conflict between Ulric and Sigmar's cults is more fundamental, it's a matter of ideology. A cult of rugged individualism and a cult of the imperial state aren't very compatible. This is another way to look at their historical conflict over imperial expansion. The Ulricians want to go out to conquer and win glory, carving out new provinces they can rule from the wilderness. The Sigmarites want to stay at home and build up infrastructure and institutions. It's an individual versus communitarian divide.
The Sigmarites might well believe that the Ulrician ideology is wrong and possibly even harmful and so should be opposed and their influence reduced. I can't even, hand on heart, say that I'm sure they're wrong. I can even come up with excuses for why things like refusing to help the dwarves try to recover Karak Eight Peaks are actually doctrinally consistent. Even Belegar seriously doubted whether the attempts to reconquer lost holds were good for the dwarves. The Cult of Sigmar is a truly ancient institution. It may well have seen and even assisted with many attempts, and seen them all fail and leave the dwarves worse off - and perhaps even seen that the ones that achieve some initial success have the worst long term consequences.
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I mostly agree with this but I would say that all national gods in Warhammer are to at least some extent war gods because war is so prevalent and necessary. I mean look at Myrmidia, how many of her spells are focused on fighting, look at the Lady and her knights. everyone has to fight and so any god that is concerned with keeping a nation alive must have battle as a meaningful section of their portfolios IMO. Why they fight may be different, but if you lead men in battle and harden their hearts to the horrors of war you are a war god.
Well, yes, it is Warhammer. War will always be important to nation building and national survival.
Of Myrmidia, I think that she's probably quite a lot richer and more diverse a god in Tilea and Estalia than she is in the Empire. In the south, she's the goddess of civilisation and the arts, of which the way urban civilisations make war and the martial arts are just one part. I think that as the Empire urbanises, Myrmidia's other aspects may become more relevant. I think this is relevant:
Article: In Tilea and Estalia, the many orders of the Myrmidian Cult practise an array of different prayers, rituals, and rites that reflect the many aspects of the Goddess. In the Empire, where the Cult has less influence, prayers tied to Myrmidia's association with the art of war are most common.
As a total side note, I'd not realised before that there are some sections that could sort of be interpreted hinting that Myrmidia may have been a disguised high elf. And a wizard that could use Ghur as well.
Lahmian Interrupt Part 3: Here Comes the New Boss.
- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Pronouns
- He/They
Grabbing the Lahmian's head in your hands you incant the spell words of Mindhole - not to make her forget, but rather for the opportunity it offers you to remember from her point of view.
Casting: 59+30=89
Normally you might face a battle of wills with a vampire such as her - but with her mindless rage combined with her fading consciousness her mind is undefended, and you rip those memories from her.
She knew of you as an apprentice; she approved of your reassignment to Stirland, under Van Hal, to strengthen him against the Von Carstein's; she knew that the long-term plan was to recruit you into the Lahmian Sisterhood; she had recently heard of the Dämmerlichtreiter and that it was likely you, increasing your perceived value; and, of course, she was just burnt with fire, tears and witchbane by an unknown grey magister.
Two glimmers of context shine through: she knew it was Lady Hanna Volck who first suggested you as a candidate for the sisterhood; and Countess Gabriella von Bundebad - who you know better as the once-future Empress Heidi - recommended your placement in Stirland as Spymaster.
That done you focus your magical senses on her body, in case there's any you need to deal with immediately - she carried two items of potent magic; an elegant sword imbued with a necromantic enchantment sits at her hip, and there's something smaller which has pulled in the Aqshy gathered by the Lahmian's rage.
The Aqshy you find to be a blood-red book and quill held in a pocket of her cloak. Inside the book - a list of names, written in blood and in pairs. A couple you recognise as members of the conspiracy. You flip through to the last filled page and find something particularly worrisome: "Regimand Speiseschrank † Otto von Bitternach" - she's tried to spell your ex-master to kill the Imperial Chamberlain.
You take the book, and then with four swift strikes you dismember the vampire's corpse.
Then you decide to examine the pile of dhar-soaked skin that the vampire shed on transformation, and in its midst you see Regimand's arm - still somehow holding much of its blood despite the ragged wound at the shoulder, and still bearing a trace of his mystical signature, but also very definitely tainted with dhar.
And that's when you sense Starke and Melkoth catching up to your location.
Deciding that Regimand has likely fought off the outside influence, and even if he hasn't he's cautious enough not to act immediately, you stay in the sewers to meet them, and inform them of the situation as it stands.
----
Reiner Starke stares into you with his swirling grey eyes; covered though they may be by a doppelganger illusion you still know they're there, and for that you're thankful. "You got lucky."
You can't exactly deny it, so you don't: "I did. I stacked the deck with this gun, protected my king by being halfway into sunlight, and then I rolled the dice, and I hit the jackpot." Melkoth smiles at your mixed metaphor, and crosses two fingers in the sign of Ranald. "Everyone gets lucky, everyone gets unlucky. But not everyone knows what to do about either."
"Good." Starke replies warmly. "I've had to teach far too many, journeymen and magisters both, who mistake luck for judgement." His voice turns ice-cold in an instant: "And I've had to mourn just as many who didn't prepare for their opposition to be the lucky ones."
He turns to look at Regimad's arm. "Pity about the Dhar levels. Would be great if he could have it reattached, but that level of corruption wouldn't be healthy."
You wince. "If we can keep it on ice we should - Kragg the Grim could cleanse it, and I managed to earn his trust once already."
Melkoth snorts. "If you hadn't just killed a several-hundred year old vampire without a single spell..."
"I did use shadowcloak." You interject.
"Hmmm, I guess that makes it 0.1% less impressive." He grins. "Good luck to you."
-----
Half an hour later you're sat in a comfortable chair back in the Grey College infirmary while Regimand sleeps beside you - mind now proven to be clear of Aqshy or Dhar - as you work your way through the crimson book the Lahmian had been carrying. Its title page labels it "The Book of Bad Blood" and it seems to function as an item of Burning Vengeance - one that has seen far too much use in Altdorf, especially amongst the listed members of the conspiracy.
The Empress herself appears no less than seven times, although if you're right about it being one entry a day none of them are within the last six months. They've been stoking her anger so that they could then use that anger as a tool to manipulate her, to push her deeper into their grasp.
Does that even matter? The spells can be removed, but that in no way guarantees that she'll turn back from the darkness.
You think about Regimand and yourself - not everyone on that list was a player in the conspiracy, some were simply pawns. You know you're unlikely to be involved in unravelling this mystery, but you hope that the knowledge of the Lahmian's trickery will help pull them down.
And you can't help but wonder who it is who made the book. A vampire acquainted with Aqshy, some Black Magister out in the wilds, or a member of the Bright Order who they'd acquired for their schemes?
-----
A few hours later you're sat around the Grey Council's table with Melkoth, Starke, Krammovich and Algard, going through a final debrief and building the timeline of the event:
1. Regimand went to question Hans König, an individual on the list he had never met and could thus safely Mindhole, and once he began the questioning and started digging into the issue of the conspiracy the Lahmian agent shed her false skin and attacked. He barely escaped alive - and his arm got left behind.
2. He couldn't find any Lord or Lady Magisters but stumbled across Mathilde in Algard's writing room - she then went to Algard for aid.
3. After a brief meeting, Mathilde went to recruit aid, while the four Lord Magisters checked on Regimand, and put him in a Sleep+Mockery stasis in case of Vampiric Domination, before heading to Hans König's townhouse.
4. Mathilde failed to get her Witch-hunter contact's direct aid, but sent him to provide warning to the Palace.
5. The Lord Magisters arrived at the townhouse and were spotted by the Lahmian, who had just unleashed a surge of Dhar from a ritual - it's unknown if this ritual was successful or not, or what its purpose was, as Watchmen had disrupted all the remnants by the time we could examine it.
6. The Lahmian fled into the sewers in the direction of the palace while wearing Regimand's form - including having his missing arm attached at the shoulder through necromantic means. Melkoth and Starke gave chase, while Algard headed towards the Palace, and Kurtis went to acquire a Celestial tracker.
7. Mathilde reached the townhouse, and went to follow Algard, but fell behind.
8. Algard arrived at the palace to find that a group of priests of Sigmar had also arrived with a warning. Given the Lahmian's shapeshifting he advised no further entry be allowed until the situation was resolved.
9. The priests of Sigmar put into place a protective spell drawing on Sigmar's strength within the palace.
10. Mathilde discovered the approaching vampire in front of the palace, and slew her.
11. Melkoth and Starke caught up to the scene of the vampire's death, and arranged transport of her remains to the Grey College.
12. Kurtis arrived with a celestial magister who had tracked the arm.
13. Kurtis went to investigate the townhouse for further clues, and found that watchmen had disrupted the remnants of the evidence, and the real Hans König had been found in a state of Mockery of Death - he was awakened and taken into Grey Order custody.
----
"And as we're all here, it's time to discuss how we'll be using the Magister Grey. Starke - your suggestion first."
"Since your jaunt the majority of my attention has been on the Skaven in Under-Altdorf, which we now know also calls itself New Skavenblight. There are four primary factions down there, and it seems as though they are constantly switching allegiances and that means constant war."
You interrupt. "Four is feed - the strongest attacking the weakest."
"I have read your report on Skaven warfare. Feed would be a reasonably acceptable situation - especially once it fell into Three as Peace - but we don't have that. We don't know the exact situation but it seems as though all of the factions have enough subfactions to make things complicated, with several floating allegiances.
"The four prime factions seem to be the Pestilens-supremacists, those loyal to the Grey Council, 'Skavenblight Supremacists' and 'Skavenheim Separatists'. With the first two waxing and waning based on movement of forces into and out of the city, the latter two keep switching alliances. Meanwhile some minor factions like the Clan Skab presence in the city are switching allegiance from one group to another based on unknown reasoning likely connected to changes in leadership.
"You're likely our best bet at actually infiltrating the Skaven in a more concrete way - I've got operatives disguising themselves as Skaven already but they stand out due to lack of practical familiarity with the language - especially in terms of manually creating musk-scents - and the culture, which means they can't even get casual gossip safely. You have more experience than almost all of them.
"Your first task would be in training my operatives further, but from there I'd want you equipped and actively talking to skaven - whether prisoners or in the warrens - to find out more. If possible I want to find a way to stabilise everything long enough for us to put some focus on investigating other regions; or better yet find a way to make the whole situation implode and leave Altdorf without an undercity." He makes the sign of the Hammer. "Sigmar forbid they set off one of their superweapons. We've been threatened with the Wormstone in the past, and from the nature of those threats we suspect it would be a repeat of The Black Plague - so unless we can locate that, or prove that neither of the outsider factions have it, we can't act against them unless it's absolutely decisive."
Algard points to Melkoth "Now for you."
"My thinking is simple - you were obviously authorised for Battle Magic, so we need to get you to that level again; and we need you teaching some of my battle-mages about Waaagh so that they can tear them apart." He frowns. "I don't know what The Plotter is up to - unless you have more insight?"
You just shake your head.
"Well then - we don't know what it's up to but for now I'm betting on one or more Waaaghs led by Black Orcs, which could be cataclysmic if we're not ready.
"I'd also like you to join our KV expedition as you're familiar with the terrain and the waystone's location." It's been tacitly decided not to mention Karak Vlag by name just in case The Excessive is listening for it. "Potentially Belegar's mission as well. From what you said you can get his trust, and if it's going to be facing worse greenskins they'll need the help. With Kurtis handling the Eonir situation there should be less distracting the Elector Counts - albeit that's dependent on whether we're playing whack-a-rat." Melkoth grins. "Oh, and we can maybe play with time a bit, if you've got any insights on that."
"And lastly, Kurtis."
"It's simple - I need someone who can get the dwarves to listen. You'll have to find ways to earn their trust; the Sylvania mission could be a fine start but it'll be a slow one." "You as Magister Weber need to be getting credit for KV, so you'll be there even if you need bodyguards for it - oh and you'll need that knighthood sorted, being a minor umgi-thane was almost certainly a factor in earning their trust." You nod. "Which means you'll also need to prove yourself in battle, maybe even show leadership. Not a repeat of your previous life, Abelhelm is a good one to have in play, but some sort of leadership position. Maybe if you're graduated we could throw a journeyman, or a late apprentice, at you."
"I'll give you a lot of free reign - you seem to do well with it - but your focus needs to be the dwarves; we can even reveal some of your achievements as Magister Grey to the higher-ups among them."
Algard turns back to you. "My current inclination is to put you under Starke for now - KV can wait, from what you said the Dawi there are in a stable siege - and Kurtis has the Eonir situation in hand for now. The rats around here are fundamentally unstable and another Black Plague... well, it can't be risked. If you feel you'd do more good under another councillor I'm happy to hear your argument, but today you've seen how much the need to keep an eye on the undercity is costing." He takes a deep breath. "You have until you leave Altdorf to make your case."
----
After that fateful meeting you take the time to meet back up with Emanuel at the Temple of the Silver Hammer, and let him know he did good work.
Emanuel is looking down at you, but seems almost like he's talking to himself. "I've been thinking about where to go, and if vampires are reaching all the way here, maybe I should be down in Stirland with you, rooting them out? Then again, maybe I'd be more use up here - I might be able to feel some of them when they're hiding in plain sight?"
He's on the cusp of making a decision, but the slightest nudge could change what that decision is.
----
No Moratorium for these two votes:
You've memorised and copied out all the names within it, what're you going to do next with the "Book of Bad Blood"?
[ ] [Book] Keep it for yourself
[ ] [Book] Gift it to the Grey order (5 college favour)
[ ] [Book] Gift it to the Bright order (???)
[ ] [Book] Give it to the Order of the Silver Hammer (???)
And what about the Witch Hunter who wants to join you in Stirland?
[ ] [Hunter] Take him under your wing [will take up a half action delegation slot]
[ ] [Hunter] Kasmir could be a good role model, and tutor, for him.
[ ] [Hunter] He should come on his own recognisance.
[ ] [Hunter] He should hunt vampires in Altdorf
[ ] [Hunter] You have a different suggestion for him: Write-in.
If you take him under your wing you'll have the option to move to only one delegation action for the Watch as a whole, removing the Wurtbad Watch delegation through Thekla
12 hour moratorium for this one.
Who do you want to work for, and why? Algard will choose to assign you to Starke and dealing with the Skaven unless your explanation changes his mind.
[ ] [Boss] You're happy with Starke cleaning up under-Altdorf.
-[ ] [Boss] Write-in an argument for his proposal.
[ ] [Boss] Extensive training under Melkoth sounds more your speed
-[ ] [Boss] Write-in an argument for his proposal.
[ ] [Boss] Kurtis' free pass to aid the dwarves fits your goals.
-[ ] [Boss] Write-in an argument for his proposal.
Casting: 59+30=89
Normally you might face a battle of wills with a vampire such as her - but with her mindless rage combined with her fading consciousness her mind is undefended, and you rip those memories from her.
She knew of you as an apprentice; she approved of your reassignment to Stirland, under Van Hal, to strengthen him against the Von Carstein's; she knew that the long-term plan was to recruit you into the Lahmian Sisterhood; she had recently heard of the Dämmerlichtreiter and that it was likely you, increasing your perceived value; and, of course, she was just burnt with fire, tears and witchbane by an unknown grey magister.
Two glimmers of context shine through: she knew it was Lady Hanna Volck who first suggested you as a candidate for the sisterhood; and Countess Gabriella von Bundebad - who you know better as the once-future Empress Heidi - recommended your placement in Stirland as Spymaster.
That done you focus your magical senses on her body, in case there's any you need to deal with immediately - she carried two items of potent magic; an elegant sword imbued with a necromantic enchantment sits at her hip, and there's something smaller which has pulled in the Aqshy gathered by the Lahmian's rage.
The Aqshy you find to be a blood-red book and quill held in a pocket of her cloak. Inside the book - a list of names, written in blood and in pairs. A couple you recognise as members of the conspiracy. You flip through to the last filled page and find something particularly worrisome: "Regimand Speiseschrank † Otto von Bitternach" - she's tried to spell your ex-master to kill the Imperial Chamberlain.
You take the book, and then with four swift strikes you dismember the vampire's corpse.
Then you decide to examine the pile of dhar-soaked skin that the vampire shed on transformation, and in its midst you see Regimand's arm - still somehow holding much of its blood despite the ragged wound at the shoulder, and still bearing a trace of his mystical signature, but also very definitely tainted with dhar.
And that's when you sense Starke and Melkoth catching up to your location.
Deciding that Regimand has likely fought off the outside influence, and even if he hasn't he's cautious enough not to act immediately, you stay in the sewers to meet them, and inform them of the situation as it stands.
----
Reiner Starke stares into you with his swirling grey eyes; covered though they may be by a doppelganger illusion you still know they're there, and for that you're thankful. "You got lucky."
You can't exactly deny it, so you don't: "I did. I stacked the deck with this gun, protected my king by being halfway into sunlight, and then I rolled the dice, and I hit the jackpot." Melkoth smiles at your mixed metaphor, and crosses two fingers in the sign of Ranald. "Everyone gets lucky, everyone gets unlucky. But not everyone knows what to do about either."
"Good." Starke replies warmly. "I've had to teach far too many, journeymen and magisters both, who mistake luck for judgement." His voice turns ice-cold in an instant: "And I've had to mourn just as many who didn't prepare for their opposition to be the lucky ones."
He turns to look at Regimad's arm. "Pity about the Dhar levels. Would be great if he could have it reattached, but that level of corruption wouldn't be healthy."
You wince. "If we can keep it on ice we should - Kragg the Grim could cleanse it, and I managed to earn his trust once already."
Melkoth snorts. "If you hadn't just killed a several-hundred year old vampire without a single spell..."
"I did use shadowcloak." You interject.
"Hmmm, I guess that makes it 0.1% less impressive." He grins. "Good luck to you."
-----
Half an hour later you're sat in a comfortable chair back in the Grey College infirmary while Regimand sleeps beside you - mind now proven to be clear of Aqshy or Dhar - as you work your way through the crimson book the Lahmian had been carrying. Its title page labels it "The Book of Bad Blood" and it seems to function as an item of Burning Vengeance - one that has seen far too much use in Altdorf, especially amongst the listed members of the conspiracy.
The Empress herself appears no less than seven times, although if you're right about it being one entry a day none of them are within the last six months. They've been stoking her anger so that they could then use that anger as a tool to manipulate her, to push her deeper into their grasp.
Does that even matter? The spells can be removed, but that in no way guarantees that she'll turn back from the darkness.
You think about Regimand and yourself - not everyone on that list was a player in the conspiracy, some were simply pawns. You know you're unlikely to be involved in unravelling this mystery, but you hope that the knowledge of the Lahmian's trickery will help pull them down.
And you can't help but wonder who it is who made the book. A vampire acquainted with Aqshy, some Black Magister out in the wilds, or a member of the Bright Order who they'd acquired for their schemes?
-----
A few hours later you're sat around the Grey Council's table with Melkoth, Starke, Krammovich and Algard, going through a final debrief and building the timeline of the event:
1. Regimand went to question Hans König, an individual on the list he had never met and could thus safely Mindhole, and once he began the questioning and started digging into the issue of the conspiracy the Lahmian agent shed her false skin and attacked. He barely escaped alive - and his arm got left behind.
2. He couldn't find any Lord or Lady Magisters but stumbled across Mathilde in Algard's writing room - she then went to Algard for aid.
3. After a brief meeting, Mathilde went to recruit aid, while the four Lord Magisters checked on Regimand, and put him in a Sleep+Mockery stasis in case of Vampiric Domination, before heading to Hans König's townhouse.
4. Mathilde failed to get her Witch-hunter contact's direct aid, but sent him to provide warning to the Palace.
5. The Lord Magisters arrived at the townhouse and were spotted by the Lahmian, who had just unleashed a surge of Dhar from a ritual - it's unknown if this ritual was successful or not, or what its purpose was, as Watchmen had disrupted all the remnants by the time we could examine it.
6. The Lahmian fled into the sewers in the direction of the palace while wearing Regimand's form - including having his missing arm attached at the shoulder through necromantic means. Melkoth and Starke gave chase, while Algard headed towards the Palace, and Kurtis went to acquire a Celestial tracker.
7. Mathilde reached the townhouse, and went to follow Algard, but fell behind.
8. Algard arrived at the palace to find that a group of priests of Sigmar had also arrived with a warning. Given the Lahmian's shapeshifting he advised no further entry be allowed until the situation was resolved.
9. The priests of Sigmar put into place a protective spell drawing on Sigmar's strength within the palace.
10. Mathilde discovered the approaching vampire in front of the palace, and slew her.
11. Melkoth and Starke caught up to the scene of the vampire's death, and arranged transport of her remains to the Grey College.
12. Kurtis arrived with a celestial magister who had tracked the arm.
13. Kurtis went to investigate the townhouse for further clues, and found that watchmen had disrupted the remnants of the evidence, and the real Hans König had been found in a state of Mockery of Death - he was awakened and taken into Grey Order custody.
----
"And as we're all here, it's time to discuss how we'll be using the Magister Grey. Starke - your suggestion first."
"Since your jaunt the majority of my attention has been on the Skaven in Under-Altdorf, which we now know also calls itself New Skavenblight. There are four primary factions down there, and it seems as though they are constantly switching allegiances and that means constant war."
You interrupt. "Four is feed - the strongest attacking the weakest."
"I have read your report on Skaven warfare. Feed would be a reasonably acceptable situation - especially once it fell into Three as Peace - but we don't have that. We don't know the exact situation but it seems as though all of the factions have enough subfactions to make things complicated, with several floating allegiances.
"The four prime factions seem to be the Pestilens-supremacists, those loyal to the Grey Council, 'Skavenblight Supremacists' and 'Skavenheim Separatists'. With the first two waxing and waning based on movement of forces into and out of the city, the latter two keep switching alliances. Meanwhile some minor factions like the Clan Skab presence in the city are switching allegiance from one group to another based on unknown reasoning likely connected to changes in leadership.
"You're likely our best bet at actually infiltrating the Skaven in a more concrete way - I've got operatives disguising themselves as Skaven already but they stand out due to lack of practical familiarity with the language - especially in terms of manually creating musk-scents - and the culture, which means they can't even get casual gossip safely. You have more experience than almost all of them.
"Your first task would be in training my operatives further, but from there I'd want you equipped and actively talking to skaven - whether prisoners or in the warrens - to find out more. If possible I want to find a way to stabilise everything long enough for us to put some focus on investigating other regions; or better yet find a way to make the whole situation implode and leave Altdorf without an undercity." He makes the sign of the Hammer. "Sigmar forbid they set off one of their superweapons. We've been threatened with the Wormstone in the past, and from the nature of those threats we suspect it would be a repeat of The Black Plague - so unless we can locate that, or prove that neither of the outsider factions have it, we can't act against them unless it's absolutely decisive."
Algard points to Melkoth "Now for you."
"My thinking is simple - you were obviously authorised for Battle Magic, so we need to get you to that level again; and we need you teaching some of my battle-mages about Waaagh so that they can tear them apart." He frowns. "I don't know what The Plotter is up to - unless you have more insight?"
You just shake your head.
"Well then - we don't know what it's up to but for now I'm betting on one or more Waaaghs led by Black Orcs, which could be cataclysmic if we're not ready.
"I'd also like you to join our KV expedition as you're familiar with the terrain and the waystone's location." It's been tacitly decided not to mention Karak Vlag by name just in case The Excessive is listening for it. "Potentially Belegar's mission as well. From what you said you can get his trust, and if it's going to be facing worse greenskins they'll need the help. With Kurtis handling the Eonir situation there should be less distracting the Elector Counts - albeit that's dependent on whether we're playing whack-a-rat." Melkoth grins. "Oh, and we can maybe play with time a bit, if you've got any insights on that."
"And lastly, Kurtis."
"It's simple - I need someone who can get the dwarves to listen. You'll have to find ways to earn their trust; the Sylvania mission could be a fine start but it'll be a slow one." "You as Magister Weber need to be getting credit for KV, so you'll be there even if you need bodyguards for it - oh and you'll need that knighthood sorted, being a minor umgi-thane was almost certainly a factor in earning their trust." You nod. "Which means you'll also need to prove yourself in battle, maybe even show leadership. Not a repeat of your previous life, Abelhelm is a good one to have in play, but some sort of leadership position. Maybe if you're graduated we could throw a journeyman, or a late apprentice, at you."
"I'll give you a lot of free reign - you seem to do well with it - but your focus needs to be the dwarves; we can even reveal some of your achievements as Magister Grey to the higher-ups among them."
Algard turns back to you. "My current inclination is to put you under Starke for now - KV can wait, from what you said the Dawi there are in a stable siege - and Kurtis has the Eonir situation in hand for now. The rats around here are fundamentally unstable and another Black Plague... well, it can't be risked. If you feel you'd do more good under another councillor I'm happy to hear your argument, but today you've seen how much the need to keep an eye on the undercity is costing." He takes a deep breath. "You have until you leave Altdorf to make your case."
----
After that fateful meeting you take the time to meet back up with Emanuel at the Temple of the Silver Hammer, and let him know he did good work.
Emanuel is looking down at you, but seems almost like he's talking to himself. "I've been thinking about where to go, and if vampires are reaching all the way here, maybe I should be down in Stirland with you, rooting them out? Then again, maybe I'd be more use up here - I might be able to feel some of them when they're hiding in plain sight?"
He's on the cusp of making a decision, but the slightest nudge could change what that decision is.
----
No Moratorium for these two votes:
You've memorised and copied out all the names within it, what're you going to do next with the "Book of Bad Blood"?
[ ] [Book] Keep it for yourself
[ ] [Book] Gift it to the Grey order (5 college favour)
[ ] [Book] Gift it to the Bright order (???)
[ ] [Book] Give it to the Order of the Silver Hammer (???)
And what about the Witch Hunter who wants to join you in Stirland?
[ ] [Hunter] Take him under your wing [will take up a half action delegation slot]
[ ] [Hunter] Kasmir could be a good role model, and tutor, for him.
[ ] [Hunter] He should come on his own recognisance.
[ ] [Hunter] He should hunt vampires in Altdorf
[ ] [Hunter] You have a different suggestion for him: Write-in.
If you take him under your wing you'll have the option to move to only one delegation action for the Watch as a whole, removing the Wurtbad Watch delegation through Thekla
12 hour moratorium for this one.
Who do you want to work for, and why? Algard will choose to assign you to Starke and dealing with the Skaven unless your explanation changes his mind.
[ ] [Boss] You're happy with Starke cleaning up under-Altdorf.
-[ ] [Boss] Write-in an argument for his proposal.
[ ] [Boss] Extensive training under Melkoth sounds more your speed
-[ ] [Boss] Write-in an argument for his proposal.
[ ] [Boss] Kurtis' free pass to aid the dwarves fits your goals.
-[ ] [Boss] Write-in an argument for his proposal.
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- Location
- Wherever I feel like being
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Got a hanging sentence here.
Nice chapter, one small thing jumped up at me though, Lead Magister seems really odd in a feudal society.'Lord' and 'Lady' mean something rather special, specifically they harken back to the people with power of life and death over the peasantry. Lead can just as easily be the lead horse in the team. How about Honored for a gender neutral term?
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- Location
- Norway
You might want to say "Karak Vlag" once before you abbreviate it.
Funny, because when I first read it it sounded like the term for a turned Gold Magister.
- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Pronouns
- He/They
I specifically don't for the dialogue, but I may add Mathilde thinking it somewhere. There's the whole "not drawing any attention to the place" thing going on as a just-in-case - will work out how to clarify.
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Sounds like we're going to be continually Divided between the Grey College and Stirland moving forward. Twice the work, same amount of AP. ¡Fun!
I kinda want to work with Starke for now? The Skaven civil war isn't going to last forever, and it's relatively less dangerous to help train others to do Skaven spywork. Plus I don't want Mathilde to become too powerful too quickly as she would working under Melkoth, since that's something others can sense and would be quite suspicious.
I kinda want to work with Starke for now? The Skaven civil war isn't going to last forever, and it's relatively less dangerous to help train others to do Skaven spywork. Plus I don't want Mathilde to become too powerful too quickly as she would working under Melkoth, since that's something others can sense and would be quite suspicious.
- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Pronouns
- He/They
Have decided to just go back to Lord or Lady. Lead does sound wrong on a reread.
- Location
- USA
[X] [Book] Gift it to the Bright order (???)
[X] [Hunter] Kasmir could be a good role model, and tutor, for him.
[X] [Boss] You're happy with Starke cleaning up under-Altdorf.
-[X] [Boss] Makes great use of Mathilde's familiarity with Skaven, helps cement her reputation and trustworthiness for those Read In on the conspiracy, gives her more deeds of worth when she presents herself to Belegar and the Karaz Ankor
Why gift to the Bright Order? You want to replace that awesome Dragonflask!
Kasmir + Emanuel might help pull Kasmir to a better understanding of Sigmar, and provides additional protection for Abelhelm
Battlemagic is pretty tempting, but getting a chance to sneak, thieve and kill the vile Ratmen is a good adventure, and hone the skills back up to a razor's edge. Karak Vlag is holding secure for now.
[X] [Hunter] Kasmir could be a good role model, and tutor, for him.
[X] [Boss] You're happy with Starke cleaning up under-Altdorf.
-[X] [Boss] Makes great use of Mathilde's familiarity with Skaven, helps cement her reputation and trustworthiness for those Read In on the conspiracy, gives her more deeds of worth when she presents herself to Belegar and the Karaz Ankor
Why gift to the Bright Order? You want to replace that awesome Dragonflask!
Kasmir + Emanuel might help pull Kasmir to a better understanding of Sigmar, and provides additional protection for Abelhelm
Battlemagic is pretty tempting, but getting a chance to sneak, thieve and kill the vile Ratmen is a good adventure, and hone the skills back up to a razor's edge. Karak Vlag is holding secure for now.
Fayhem
Definitely not an escaped SCP
- Location
- At large
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You're ofc welcome to run it differently as QM here, but I thought I should at least bring up this Boney post:
Now, for the votes.
[X] [Book] Keep it for yourself
WANT. This is insanely useful for an infiltrator sowing havoc, especially against already chaotic and betrayal-prone enemies like greenskins and skaven. If we don't keep it we should give it to the Greys, but we're still not exactly hurting for CF here.
[X] [Hunter] Take him under your wing [will take up a half action delegation slot]
Reason I like this: if we can guide this baby Witch Hunter, who seems quite promising talent-wise, into becoming some kind of Witch Hunter hero who also believes that the politicization of the Cult under the current Grand Theogonist and his ilk is unworthy of Sigmar's blessing, that could be quite helpful towards our political vendetta against the Grand Theogonist. When you've picked an enemy on the scale of the GT, there is almost certainly not gonna be One Weird Trick to take care of them. That means spotting opportunities and planting seeds.
Plus, he could just be useful period.
As far as the Big Vote goes, I'm thinking just take the assignment to Starke. The others aren't as urgent. And, we can lay the groundwork for the others with whatever side actions we have free. E.g., we're already planning to (re)build our magic arsenal (though to be fair personal training from Melkoth including on messing with time is SO SEXY HNNNGH), we're already planning to (re)claim our knighthood, and we already want to (re)build trust and friendship with the dwarves.
In fact, while I still think we should tackle Starke's thing first, focusing on powering through back to Battle Magic would be helpful in multiple levels. If we can demonstrate ourselves as a Battle Mage, then it becomes more plausible for the Grey Order to both contribute some Battle Mages to Abelhelm's push into Sylvania (already a big win) and perhaps even put them under our command. Which would then count towards the "prove yourself in battle and in a command position" thing.
Related, since we just got another big chunk of CF, we should take advantage of this CF option:
And see if anybody has some dragonbone. If we could produce another staff that can drop even some BM spells to FC levels, that's huge. It would still be an "if" to be fair, but I'm now more interested in the attempt. Though it should still take second priority after just rebuilding our spell library.
So I'm planning on
[X] [Boss] You're happy with Starke cleaning up under-Altdorf.
-[X] [Boss] This is the most time-sensitive issue, and the one that's most likely to cause immediate major problems for the Empire if it goes sideways. The other jobs on offer will all entail laying a lot of groundwork as a starting point, and much of that groundwork can be worked on in the natural course of our other duties. Not so with Under-Altdorf. So, we're in agreement: that's where our focus should go first.
once the moratorium drops. With the argument part basically being "whatever of that stuff from above fits." I can write that up more formally if desired.
Edit: I just realized. For our "suggested projects" with Abelhelm, we can literally tell him (if Melkoth is still willing, tbf) "after taking out a vampiric infiltrator in Altdorf, the Rector of the Grey College was impressed and offered me personal tutelage. I think I should take him up on it; it will take up my time, but he thinks I have the potential to advance swiftly to Battle Magic, which could be a big help to us in any future conflict in Sylvania. And could even perhaps make it more likely I could draw in other Battle Mages."
I mean, that's not even false. All of that is actually true, AFAICT. And if Abelhelm goes for it, that means we would basically have a free pass from our boss to spend our work time on learning spells, which should do a LOT to alleviate AP Hell IMO.
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- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Pronouns
- He/They
Desperate times. Also, no deep infiltration just the standard "man on the street" attempts that aren't really working great. Will make it clearer that it's not really going great.
- Location
- Norway
[screaming in action points]
At least merge Thekla's delegation into the Watch if this happens. Right?
OK. Serious consideration of alternatives time...
1. Starke and under-Altdorf.
Oh hey there Second Secret of Dhar, maybe it's time to see if you can explode Warpstone.
Apart from that, opportunity to use the Deceiver and Skaven psychology again, and while the Wormstone is a problem, this situation did resolve itself OTL without anything terrible happening to Altdorf.
First idea that comes to mind for the Deceiver side of the coin: tell a Skaven we don't care about what they're up to underneath, in fact we'd like to sever ties harder, tell us the names of human surface contacts you've been dealing with and we'll go after them and you can [appropriate concession].
I really don't think Mathilde should go into warrens personally, because she still can't imitate musk and other parts of Skaven language, though that might theoretically be fixable with the proper illusions.
2. Melkoth, Waaagh magic and Battle Magic.
Something like this is what I've been worrying about too - orkdom splitting into many more of the disciplined, intelligent, properly trained Black Orcs on one half, and a neo-Skaven faction of extra cunning sneaky Goblins on the other half, now with actual tech. And I wonder if the QM might borrow inspiration from Marvel's Green Goblin. It seems a thing Warhammer would have.
Waaagh lecture repeat would be easy points, filling out the spellbook ASAP would be nice for contributing in Stirland and Sylvania too, and to disagree with @Derpmind , I don't think there are many people in Stirland whose marginal suspicion meter would budge much. Dåmmerlichtreiter and Enchanted Magic Weapon Cauldron are already quite a bit of reputation for weird magic, bigger magic is going to be more of the same to most Stirlanders.
3. Kurtis, dwarves, and slack.
Mmmm. Hmmm. Rushing the Waystone Project plans, are we?🤔 Smash face in Sylvania, buddy up to Zhufbar, keep Stirland working, and it's nice to hear the Lord Magister is in favor of keeping Abelhelm around.
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- Location
- Earth
[X] [Book] Gift it to the Grey order (5 college favour)
There's always a need for CF, and we have no use for that item.
[X] [Hunter] Kasmir could be a good role model, and tutor, for him.
I am not inclined to give up another 0.5 AP, but I am all for sending him to Kasmir
12 hour moratorium for this one.
Who do you want to work for, and why? Algard will choose to assign you to Starke and dealing with the Skaven unless your explanation changes his mind.
[ ] [Boss] You're happy with Starke cleaning up under-Altdorf.
Dealing with ratties is fun, so I would like that.
[ ] [Boss] Extensive training under Melkoth sounds more your speed
We would all like to have some AP to recover our spells
There's always a need for CF, and we have no use for that item.
[X] [Hunter] Kasmir could be a good role model, and tutor, for him.
I am not inclined to give up another 0.5 AP, but I am all for sending him to Kasmir
12 hour moratorium for this one.
Who do you want to work for, and why? Algard will choose to assign you to Starke and dealing with the Skaven unless your explanation changes his mind.
[ ] [Boss] You're happy with Starke cleaning up under-Altdorf.
Dealing with ratties is fun, so I would like that.
[ ] [Boss] Extensive training under Melkoth sounds more your speed
We would all like to have some AP to recover our spells
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
We don't have The Belt, and we're not likely to get it (or anything similar) soon. Second Secret of Dhar would have a permanent physical effect on us in addition to any mental effects, plus the risk of a Dhar Arcane Mark.
- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Pronouns
- He/They
Yeah, unless you explicitly choose not to. I'll work out how to handle that vote if it comes up - but I fully expect you to only want one Watch delegation if it'll cost you a whole AP for the second
- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Pronouns
- He/They
Oh - on this note your Xenolinguistics trait would definitely allow inventing a specific "Skaven non-verbals" spell. It's very much within Ulgu's ballpark and very precisely fitting the trait, so it's doable.
Fayhem
Definitely not an escaped SCP
- Location
- At large
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Advancing swiftly in magic with the personal tutelage of the Rector of your College isn't suspicious, it's the expected result. We have no reason to keep training with Melkoth a secret, and with taking out the vamp we have the perfect excuse for why he'd take an interest in us if anyone needs one.
The solution to this is: Night Prowler coin face + Doppleganger. It's worked for us before in K8P. We may not be able to interact with people, but prowl around nearly at will? Yes-yes.
And then there's what the QM just posted, as well.
Wh- we have no use for that item??? HARD DISAGREE. Here's the spell description, for reference:
Please imagine, if you will, being able to take any two members of an enemy faction whose names we've learned through infiltration and magically compel one of them to actively seek the death of the other. I literally can't imagine how that wouldn't be useful to us. It's like having a Death Note, but instead of killing somebody directly you induce somebody else to do it for you, which I believe would be VASTLY increasing the likelihood and severity of any resulting chaos. "Our boss just keeled over, oh fuck" is one thing and certainly isn't without its uses, but "our boss just got ambushed and murdered by those fuckers we're supposedly allied with" (or what have you) is quite another.
- Location
- Earth
The real problem is that we only have the general Skaven language and not any of the Clan specific ones.
While all Clans share the written language, they have their own Spoken Language and we only ever got the Inter-Clan communication language.
I suspect without polyglot we wouldn't have a chance at all.
With it, we could choose to spend a month down there with the Nightprowler and learn.
If successful.
It won't work on any member with a significant Will save.
While it wouldn't be wholly without use, it won't be as useful as you'd think.
And Betrayal is business as usual with the ratties and nothing unexpected for them.
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- Location
- Norway
Yeah it's awesome. But it's got a will save, and saves against items are easier than saves against living casters. Also it still sounds too good to be true, and was made by a vampire, so I have a sneaking suspicion it might require the names to be written in blood or some other drawback.
I'd love to have it, but I think the Grey College would get tons of use out of it too. And I imagine the Bright College might be able to take advantage of book's safe casting + living caster's harder save in some fashion, with users who know the spell.
Honestly both of these sound good...
I'm not sure about the book (I have no idea what giving it to other orders would do, though for sure Mathilde doesn't need the book) and the witchhunter, though I would like to bring him back to Stirland.
fasquardon