Should we make the offer to realize something of his? Like his sword or armor? He already has accesses to two cultivation systems I wonder what will happen if he gets accesses to a third (even if it's only through his equipment) and we could get a good amount of gold for it.

And probably othstirr too considering that a king carrying an item we forge (and technically reforging something means we are forging it) is pretty prestigious.
 
It might also be an object lesson even if he claims responsibility "Well, you didn't want to spend for the Danegeld, so I sent some Danes to show you why you should." I suspect these are people far from the border and he wants to show them what the Norse are like. Deniability is still more likely, but there are pluses even if he cops to hiring us.

That's a good point.

Yeah, if we're allowed to loot I think the price is fine. Plus the offer of future work...

Yeah, if this is a road to becoming one of his designated hitters in the future, it could be both lucrative, and also help us to build up our reputation. Similar to going and serving in the Guard, but closer to home, if a bit less prestigious.

Should we make the offer to realize something of his? Like his sword or armor? He already has accesses to two cultivation systems I wonder what will happen if he gets accesses to a third (even if it's only through his equipment) and we could get a good amount of gold for it.

And probably othstirr too considering that a king carrying an item we forge (and technically reforging something means we are forging it) is pretty prestigious.

It would massively up our prestige to have a king carry a weapon we've made. But I feel like an offer like that only makes sense once we've gotten to know each other a bit better, assuming this is not a one-time meeting. He's also likely already got some pretty potent equipment, and realising his sword might not be possible if it's Steel, or already has whatever the Christian equivalent* of Realizing is. Or is already Realized for that matter, since I imagine the Saxon version of Realizing a weapon is more or less the same as ours.
 
Should we make the offer to realize something of his? Like his sword or armor? He already has accesses to two cultivation systems I wonder what will happen if he gets accesses to a third (even if it's only through his equipment) and we could get a good amount of gold for it.

We don't know Alfred well enough to entrust a child to him, I don't think. Based on him historically it'd probably be fine...but, well, 'probably' and that'd be metagaming as well.
 
I feel that's the wrong way to look at it.

I, personally, could hardly care if the Danelaw gets thrashed black and blue on English soil; from that perspective, he may gain more than us, but what do we actually lose? Better English ships are near-irrelevant to us, especially as we're already uncomfortable with marauding.

We show the king how cool our boat is for a half an hour get paid A Significant Amount. Considering how much we're running already to get silver-for-food- well, that's pretty easy money, isn't it?
It's more that we're not getting anything of actual value out of it (our farm makes 10% more).

Beating up Alfred's rebellious Thanes and Nobles gets us 20x as much Silver and Orthstirr to boot, even if it's honestly pretty sketchy.
 
It's more that we're not getting anything of actual value out of it (our farm makes 10% more).

Beating up Alfred's rebellious Thanes and Nobles gets us 20x as much Silver and Orthstirr to boot, even if it's honestly pretty sketchy.

Then I feel you're letting your pride get on the way of practicality.

Eleven silvers is eleven silvers, and if it comes with the King's favour, then all the better, no?
 
But I feel like an offer like that only makes sense once we've gotten to know each other a bit better, assuming this is not a one-time meeting. He's also likely already got some pretty potent equipment, and realising his sword might not be possible if it's Steel, or already has whatever the Christian equivalent* of Realizing is. Or is already Realized for that matter, since I imagine the Saxon version of Realizing a weapon is more or less the same as ours.
While he probably dos have some potent equipment I don't think he has steel as that's something we would probably notice, same for the sword already being realized but even if it is, we could do the armor or something else we aren't limited just for the sword.
 
He's also likely already got some pretty potent equipment, and realising his sword might not be possible if it's Steel, or already has whatever the Christian equivalent* of Realizing is. Or is already Realized for that matter, since I imagine the Saxon version of Realizing a weapon is more or less the same as ours.

I'm pretty sure realizing is Norse exclusive or very close to it
 
It's a bunch of knowledge for like 11 silver, which is just sad. I'd rather get like, knowledge for knowledge.

I feel like the real reward here isn't the silver per se, but getting to spend some face time with Alfred in a private setting, and built trust with him. That could lead a lot of interesting places for us, gaining us access to all kinds of resources. But ultimately that depends on whether we want being a hired gun for the king of England to be part of Halla's Saga or not.

Odin clearly set up this opportunity for us, but I don't think he'd be offended at us refusing it if it's not what we want.
 
I feel like the real reward here isn't the silver per se, but getting to spend some face time with Alfred in a private setting, and built trust with him. That could lead a lot of interesting places for us, gaining us access to all kinds of resources. But ultimately that depends on whether we want being a hired gun for the king of England to be part of Halla's Saga or not.

Odin clearly set up this opportunity for us, but I don't think he'd be offended at us refusing it if it's not what we want.
All of that only matters if we want to make repeated trips back to England as Halla, though.
 
Honestly, I'm fine with making more trips to learn more about the Thanes. They seem really interesting as a closely related cultivation system to the Norse.
 
[X] You'd prefer the deal in some other product or service (Write in)
-[X] You came here for food, and the King can probably get a better deal from his subjects than you can. Ask for 3/4 the value of the whetstone trade in coin, and the rest in food.
-[X] (Optional) Haggle on the Wolf Pelts (Opposed Silver-Tongue Check)
--[X] We will flatly not accept anything less than 20 pounds no matter what. We'd rather just not make the deal on them.

[X] Accept only the mercenary offer
 
All of that only matters if we want to make repeated trips back to England as Halla, though.

Yeah, that's why I said Halla's Saga. It seems like a good compromise option, since I think the quest is maybe less inclined for us to travel to Constantinople or Vinland or wherever, but England is pretty close to him.

At only a week's journey, and given magical long distance communication methods are probably a thing, it would be fairly doable to commute to work, as it were. We could spend every spring or summer going out trading/fighting, and the rest of the year back home. Or stay on retainer for whenever we're needed. Like, it's a bit ambitious for right now, but as we become stronger, we become a bigger stick he can hit stuff with, and a semi-deniable asset who comes with no political baggage is always going to be useful.

I would personally rather see the outcome of our Mercenary work here for Alfred before any of that, honestly.

That's definitely a fair point.

I think the value of seeing him on the ship is that it helps us build trust and a relationship... assuming we actually want to work for him longer-term. Which depends on this being something us/Halla actually wants, and also on working for him being good, and not meaning we have to do a bunch of shady shit which risks Nid, or him deciding we're disposable.

So essentially we're making a bet. There's some chance that a good relationship with the King of England is really good for us, and some chance it's not so good, based on a few factors... and if we let him on the ship, we're betting on it being the former.
 
[X] You'd prefer the deal in some other product or service (Write in)
-[X] You came here for food, and the King can probably get a better deal from his subjects than you can. Ask for 3/4 the value of the whetstone trade in coin, and the rest in food.
-[X] (Optional) Haggle on the Wolf Pelts (Opposed Silver-Tongue Check)
--[X] We will flatly not accept anything less than 20 pounds no matter what. We'd rather just not make the deal on them.

[X] Accept only the mercenary offer

We gotta find a way to get some of that ink the scribe was using
 
I feel like the real reward here isn't the silver per se, but getting to spend some face time with Alfred in a private setting, and built trust with him. That could lead a lot of interesting places for us, gaining us access to all kinds of resources. But ultimately that depends on whether we want being a hired gun for the king of England to be part of Halla's Saga or not.

Odin clearly set up this opportunity for us, but I don't think he'd be offended at us refusing it if it's not what we want.

How much is the King's favor worth if he doesn't respect us because we don't demonstrate we know our own worth?
 
That's definitely a fair point.

I think the value of seeing him on the ship is that it helps us build trust and a relationship... assuming we actually want to work for him longer-term. Which depends on this being something us/Halla actually wants, and also on working for him being good, and not meaning we have to do a bunch of shady shit which risks Nid, or him deciding we're disposable.

So essentially we're making a bet. There's some chance that a good relationship with the King of England is really good for us, and some chance it's not so good, based on a few factors... and if we let him on the ship, we're betting on it being the former.
I mean. Personally I feel that there's a fair chance we'll feel a bit soured on Alfred after the Mercenary trip, depending on how it goes down.
 
I mean. Personally I feel that there's a fair chance we'll feel a bit soured on Alfred after the Mercenary trip, depending on how it goes down.

Eh. We'd have some regrets then, but they'd be pretty minor.

Thinking about it, I'm pretty much positive Alfred has access to other Viking ships (or has in the past), this is just a comparative thing. I'm thus changing my vote from neutrality to taking both offers.
 
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