NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

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(Silver-Tongue: 6x2, 5x3, 4x3, 3x1, 2x2, 1x2)10+1(First Impressions)+1(Friendly)+1(Beautiful)+5(Day's Events)=18 Successes
Mingling with the rest of the felag goes about as well as you can expect it to after your father reminded everyone of his status and strength. People clamored to be around you, your status as Steinarr's daughter improving their status simply by proxy.

Regardless of how stifling and claustrophobic the crowd made you feel, you never were one to let an opportunity pass you by! Reaching out and grasping tight with both hands, you made the most of a bad situation.

In doing so, you managed to familiarize yourself with the names of the top warriors in the Valley. Unfortunately, there were just too many to get much beyond that—though you did manage to glean the strength and standing of the Berserks in the crowd.

Not only that, but from socializing and asking after recommendations, you've managed to amass a selection of willing candidates for your expedition in the coming months. All in all, there are a few broad categories of people that want to join up for something in particular—with some level of overlap, of course. Everyone who was recommended to you wants to trade, but some would rather trade and raid or trade and explore or even a combination of the three. A number of Berserks also came recommended, about five in number.

Of course, you'll have to actually sort through the recommendations—and that can only really be done once they show up to apply, as there's no point in sorting when you don't even know if they'll show up!—but you can do that while you're getting the Wavedancer ship-shape.

After sending Tryggr and Trausti home with the valuables, you settle in for a night spent in Eric's house.

(The names and Berserk-Grades of the top warriors of the Valley have been added to the general power rankings chart)
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Abjorn's Armor (Armorcraft: 6x2, 5x5, 4x6, 3x2, 2x1-1, 1x3-3)22+15+3=40 Successes. Runes (Artcraft: 6x3, 5x6, 4x3, 3x3, 2x4-4, 1x1-1)24+15+3=42 Successes. Decoration (Artcraft: 6x6, 5x3, 4x3, 3x3, 2x2-1, 1x3-3)23+15+3=41 Successes. 31 Orthstirr Reservoir
Ting! Goes the hammer in your hand as you mark the place to strike.

Clang! Goes the sledgehammer in Abjorn's hand as he strikes where you marked.

Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, you work together to forge ring after ring. Together, as husband and wife, you stride boldly towards that golden, glimmering dream. Armor for a man with giant's blood in his veins. The bloodline of those monsters of the deepest of wilds runs strong through the veins of Abjorn and your children, to armor them well requires significant time, skill, and lots of sweat.

But many hands make light work. With Abjorn at your side, the work isn't quite so grueling. When you look over and see the focus on his face, you find your fatigue lifts just that little bit. When you see the soot mixing with sweat on his brow, the ash on your own doesn't bother you quite so much. When sparks fly and singe your hair and skin, the knowledge that he feels the same pain soothes your irritation—and stokes the fires of your heart.

More than once, you've ended up a pile of writhing limbs on the floor after a day spent hard at work.

But finally, from your blood, sweat, and loving tears, you and Abjorn together have done it.

Iron clinks together as Abjorn stands with the heavy slabs of his muscled back facing towards the rising sun. Light plays off the silver-and-gold-etched links as the iron sways across his body. Made from amber and shells both turtle and sea is the image of a bear's paw upon his chest.

He's not belted it to his waist—not that there's much to belt up in the first place—so it's simply hanging freely from his broad shoulders. Fortunately—or unfortunately, as your fantasies may lament—he's not moving those big muscles of his, so he doesn't have to deal with all that weight throwing him off-balance.

When he's in the light like this, the bear pelt about his shoulders is nothing more than exactly that, a the hide of a bear. While normally the pelt stops before it covers his shoulders, when he steps into the shadows it stretches long and wide, closing around almost his entire body as it merges with the shadows on the floor.

From testing you know that when the armor is swamped in darkness like now, the shadows actually start to repair any damages that have been accrued over battle. Of course, that requires the armor having taken damage at all! With the runes it has, that's no easy feat!

The runes you've added to the armor—which was done via a rather ingenious method of shaping and carving the links in such a way so that, when assembled, they come together to form the runes—extend his skin's ability to resist weapon-bites to include the mail within its aegis of protection.

Unfortunately, it does mean that the mail has to touch his skin if you want the effect to work, but you're certainly not complaining! Now, that doesn't mean he has to be naked under his armor. Like now, he'll be wearing trousers when going into battle—which isn't exactly a new experience for him, thanks to his near-permanent presence in the local wrestling competitions.

Of course, that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy the view!

(Abjorn now has Realized Armor, who has taken the name of 'Shadeclaw' for herself. As you do not wear Shadeclaw, you can't hear her voice without poking her with seidr.)
(Shadeclaw is capable of granting her wearer access to her 31 points of orthstirr. She also can perform battle-repairs on herself while in shadows and is functionally immune to fire, thanks to having been quenched in fire-resistant oil. Thanks to her runes, she is able to extend her wearer's damage resistance to also protect her.)
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Wolf Time
As you approach the Headsman's camp with Abjorn in tow, you realize that you're a little bit early.

What would you like to do before the Headsman arrives?

[ ] Socialize with someone here
-[ ] Write in someone in particular
-[ ] Write in the parameters that you look for
[ ] Spar with someone here (not a full spar, to note)
-[ ] Write in someone in particular
-[ ] Write in the parameters that you look for
[ ] Nothing, you'll just settle in and wait.

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AN: Apologies if this one is a bit sub-par or if the prose is overly purple, I had a bit of a weird day today and that may have bled through

No moratorium, I'm unsure if I have it in me to do another update today.