NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)
- Thread starter I.F. Ister
- Start date
- Original Fantasy Action
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- Tags
- norse mythology (mythology) original xianxia cultivation western cultivation ask sirihand did your mother tell you anything? discussion pleases yggdrasil farming gloating gets people killed granary management hubris is a coward's word you will die norsemen do not die when they are killed the qm has a bad memory the qm is bad at math viking courtroom drama (legal drama) vikings
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I don't think 'use EWC to cover the whole battlefield' is conceptually more than one action here, is the thing.
Well, fair enough, although we presumably have to get close enough various groups of our guys so they can receive the aura, so there's some turning around. On a practical level, honestly probably I'm overthinking it and both work and there's not a lot of difference, but even assuming supersonic speed for zooming around, I think that using a big flashy spell is *slightly* quicker. Whether that actually matters or not, IDK.
Anyway IF has confirmed that a Finale-powered counterspell should rattle the other wizard, which honestly seems good to me here? Might even convince them to negotiate, since we don't particularly want to hurt them. Reposting my plan for this page with the amusing plan name I editted in:
[X] Plan: Fireball is the Universal Counterspell to Everything
-]X] Attempt to dispel the magic
--[X] Use a Rewrite to Alloy our Banishing Rebuke and Thermic Reckoning, creating ULTIMATE ABJURATION ART: THERMIC REBUKE. Unleash our empowered counter-spell to break the enchantment of the opposing caster, as well as eardrums and tree branches within a six to ten mile radius.
--[X] Give chase towards the enemy caster as fast as we can fly.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This part specifically worries me a lot. This could easily wind up with us alone fighting, like, 40 people if the enemy caster has his people with him. We want to advance in good order, not rush into a trap, especially given that Slavs are experts at such traps.
I'm also not enthused about spending an Aspect when I don't think we have to, but this part is the really worrisome bit.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
I feel like that definitely takes more time than the methods we've come up with for just breaking it.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Hunt for the magician
AeonIlluminate
The power of friendship and aggressive landscaping
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] DeadmanwalkingXI
- Location
- San Ramon, CA
[X] DeadmanwalkingXI
So it wasn't really Gabriel but an illusion?
Now i feel really dumb for not realizing it.
[X] Attempt to dispel the magic
-[X] Use a Rewrite to instantly Alloy "Banish the Night" and "The Mind's Eye Blinks" (replacing Solar Flare) to try and create an area of light that dispels illusions.
-[X] Fly around the battlefield at high speed dispersing illusions to get rid of them as quickly as can be arranged. Proceed from there.
Now i feel really dumb for not realizing it.
[X] Attempt to dispel the magic
-[X] Use a Rewrite to instantly Alloy "Banish the Night" and "The Mind's Eye Blinks" (replacing Solar Flare) to try and create an area of light that dispels illusions.
-[X] Fly around the battlefield at high speed dispersing illusions to get rid of them as quickly as can be arranged. Proceed from there.
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
'Depends on who qualifies as a Norseman, I suppose. Do the Gods? You and I have both met Odin and he's older than Midgard. Probably Careful-Stepper, though, if we're talking non-Gods. I grew up hearing stories about him, after all. He's been around for a long time.'
You did it perfectly. Anyone can ask characters anything, no special privileges needed
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It was a really good illusion, even those of us who thought it was maybe illusory weren't positive and thought it must be overlayed on a person or something not just...empty air.
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
'...It did, yes. I was gearing up to console you if you had to kill Gabriel, which is why I was silent. My apologies.'
1) They do not
2) How important it is to you
Interesting... So we ran into the village... but most of the warriors aren't there, huh?
Hm... Could our tricks also dismiss the illusions where their light shines if we alloy Mind's Eye Blinks + ignition... wait, Stroker state would be better, due to devouring flames...
Now would be nice to have a firestorm trick that lets us saturate the area with small fires to illuminate it....
oh, right, @Imperial Fister random question: Did Halla ever seen fireflies?
Hm... Could our tricks also dismiss the illusions where their light shines if we alloy Mind's Eye Blinks + ignition... wait, Stroker state would be better, due to devouring flames...
Now would be nice to have a firestorm trick that lets us saturate the area with small fires to illuminate it....
oh, right, @Imperial Fister random question: Did Halla ever seen fireflies?
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Here's an attempt at drawing out Halla's Virthing and Saemd. Very much did not get everything I wanted onto the image, in part because I had no idea how to put them in.
(Like, how do I draw a cloak made of owl feathers with my mediocre drawing skills? ffs)
Drawn in Linux's Drawing
Virthing - Imagine this is made out of Cindersoot Owl Feathers (Cindersoot Owl Fylgja)
Bear Paw Pendant on left (holding the Virthing together)- Abjorn/Marriage/Vows of Love
Bear, Wolf, Albatross and Beaver pendants - Eyvor, Asgeirr, Sigurdr, Hallbjorn
Broken Sword w Plants - Steinarr/Honor Thy Father
Black Feathers - Aki (They're supposed to be swordraven feathers)
Bow/Arrow - Stigandr
Tree w/Halla&Abjorn - Kiss under a Falling Tree
Frog - Kurt Frogtongue
Twin Saex - Trausti (Supposed to be windy)
Atgeir - Halfdan
Wheel - Vagn
Red Boat - Eric
Weaving symbol on left of boat - Asva
Teal Axe - Tryggr (Supposed to be made of Ice)
Hammer/Anvil - Sten + Our own smithing (Sten should probably be the Anvil, our own skill would be the Hammer.. i.e the Hammer/Anvil should be differently styled)
Shield (This is supposed to be a clay shield) - Stigmar
Eye - Sundersight + Solrun
Blood w/Clashing Sword - Fight of Your Life
Grey Mountain - TSS Style
Red Heart - Stoker State
Sun - Banish the Night/Sunshine
Saemd - Made of Iron/Steel (Odin bloodline)
Fires - Campfire + Ignition + Born in Fire (9 in total, because 9 is special))
Sword - Sword 2 (2 Swords, see)
Argeir - Atgeir 3 (3 Atgeirs, see)
Droplet of water - Clearwater 1
Wind Symbol on rightmost Atgeir - Gale 1
///
Not shown:
Dressed in Rags (Rags???), Puncture (No idea), Determination from Defeat (No idea), Mother's Fear (No idea), Punching Upward (Fist??), Hooknails' Reckoning (No idea), Gotland Calls (Gotland??), Gabriel (Knightly armor??? Coal????? Coal-Colored Knightly Armor??????????)
Virthing - Imagine this is made out of Cindersoot Owl Feathers (Cindersoot Owl Fylgja)
Bear Paw Pendant on left (holding the Virthing together)- Abjorn/Marriage/Vows of Love
Bear, Wolf, Albatross and Beaver pendants - Eyvor, Asgeirr, Sigurdr, Hallbjorn
Broken Sword w Plants - Steinarr/Honor Thy Father
Black Feathers - Aki (They're supposed to be swordraven feathers)
Bow/Arrow - Stigandr
Tree w/Halla&Abjorn - Kiss under a Falling Tree
Frog - Kurt Frogtongue
Twin Saex - Trausti (Supposed to be windy)
Atgeir - Halfdan
Wheel - Vagn
Red Boat - Eric
Weaving symbol on left of boat - Asva
Teal Axe - Tryggr (Supposed to be made of Ice)
Hammer/Anvil - Sten + Our own smithing (Sten should probably be the Anvil, our own skill would be the Hammer.. i.e the Hammer/Anvil should be differently styled)
Shield (This is supposed to be a clay shield) - Stigmar
Eye - Sundersight + Solrun
Blood w/Clashing Sword - Fight of Your Life
Grey Mountain - TSS Style
Red Heart - Stoker State
Sun - Banish the Night/Sunshine
Saemd - Made of Iron/Steel (Odin bloodline)
Fires - Campfire + Ignition + Born in Fire (9 in total, because 9 is special))
Sword - Sword 2 (2 Swords, see)
Argeir - Atgeir 3 (3 Atgeirs, see)
Droplet of water - Clearwater 1
Wind Symbol on rightmost Atgeir - Gale 1
///
Not shown:
Dressed in Rags (Rags???), Puncture (No idea), Determination from Defeat (No idea), Mother's Fear (No idea), Punching Upward (Fist??), Hooknails' Reckoning (No idea), Gotland Calls (Gotland??), Gabriel (Knightly armor??? Coal????? Coal-Colored Knightly Armor??????????)
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Fiiiine.
[X] Plan: Fireball is the Universal Counterspell to Everything
-]X] Attempt to dispel the magic
--[X] Use a Rewrite to Alloy our Banishing Rebuke and Thermic Reckoning, creating ULTIMATE ABJURATION ART: THERMIC REBUKE. Unleash our empowered counter-spell to break the enchantment of the opposing caster, as well as eardrums and tree branches within a six to ten mile radius.
--[X] Give chase towards the enemy caster with whichever allies can be gathered quickly, using Mind's Unblinking Eye at regular intervals and remaining watchful for traps.
Spending the Aspect is expensive, but I think it may produce a better result given we know there will be magical backlash on the other end, and is generally a cool scene.
EDIT:
Oh wait, really?!
Hot damn, that's a result then!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This is much less of a problem, yeah.
That said, are we sure we want to go to them and fight them? Like, they have fled leaving behind all their stuff, slaves included, which is what we are here for. It seems to me like the thing to do is maybe begin our looting (in an organized fashion, preparing for them to try and stop us).
Now, to be clear, I'm pretty sure that doesn't avoid the fight (they will come and try and stop us, I think), but it does force them to come to us (unless they want us to steal everything that isn't nailed down and some stuff that is...we'd likely leave food, because of the whale, but not other valuables), which seems more advantageous than going to them at what is likely a prepared defensive position where they are, in fact, likely keeping their families and thus desperate. Force the fight on our terms rather than theirs, make them leave people to guard their families, and avoid killing a bunch of noncombatants for no gain.
Going after them is also definitely an option, don't get me wrong, I'm just thinking through decision trees here, and staying and having our people loot while we jack up our Perception shapeshifts and use Mind's Eye Blinks to keep watch may be the right play here. It constricts their decisions to 'let us win' and 'come stop us with less forces and at a disadvantage' and that's nice. It does give them some prep/planning time so it's not all straight upside, but I think it's probably still right.
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Honestly I had assumed at the time I was making the plan that they'd taken the scholar with them.
Other than that Halla might be personally annoyed about the illusion of Gabriel, we've certainly gotten what we came for here. There's no particular feud we have with these people, and whatever retribution might need to be meted out for having stolen Johannes's property has been paid already in the blood of the warriors we've killed. They've essentially given us what we wanted here.
So, yeah, we could chase them down for the thrill of the fight, but there's not a compelling reason to do so. Is it really worth losing a good man over, when neither honour nor necessity compel us to fight here?
So yeah, screw it, third version of my plan:
[X] Plan: Fireball is the Universal Counterspell to Everything MK II, Thermic Boogaloo
-]X] Attempt to dispel the magic
--[X] Use a Rewrite to Alloy our Banishing Rebuke and Thermic Reckoning, creating ULTIMATE ABJURATION ART: THERMIC REBUKE. Unleash our empowered counter-spell to break the enchantment of the opposing caster, as well as eardrums and tree branches within a six to ten mile radius.
--[X] Gather up our men and make preparations for an organised departure scholar and stolen goods we came for, as well as any other thralls who would like to be freed and dropped off along our route/come to Norway to work as waged farmhands.
--[X] Keep using Mind's Unblinking Eye and Banishing Rebuke at regular intervals to forestall any trickery. Use it on the Latin scholar (without being too intimidating) to ensure he's not a fake.
One thing I would say in favour of my plan if we're leaving right now, then spending an Aspect is less of a cost as it's less likely we're going to engage in combat. Also "rattling" the Wolonian illusionist with a big fuck-off-and-die spell may well help signal that we're Not To Be Fucked With, dissuading them from any further attempts at trickery whilst we collect our winnings and go. But I imagine both should work out.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's fair. Personally, I don't think we're evading combat even if we stay here and start taking stuff. They are coming for us...rattling their magician might dissuade them, but I'm dubious. The Mind's Eye Blinks/Banish the Night alloy is also an ongoing anti-illusion effect, which is good if playing sentry while our people loot.
Yep, but what screwed those people was splitting up and looting without being ready for the Slavs to attack in response. If we loot in an organized fashion expecting attack and using all of Halla's perceptive stuff to watch for it, I think that's better than chasing after them at preventing that kind of thing.
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So, in retrospect, it seems kind of fortuitous that we went for the element of surprise here. If this was the illusion they were capable of with essentially no prep time, would anyone like to have seen what kind of nonsense they'd have managed with prep time? Not to mention how badly they might have managed to deceive our scouting, depending on whether Halla went herself and if she realised or not.
The other thing which occurred to me is that given that Wolin is apparently a tributary of Jomsburg, what are the chances that the Jomsvikingar will see this as an attack on a vassal? They may not care about their tributaries, but if they do, even to the point of being a minor affront, that could produce some fun ripples down the line.
The other thing which occurred to me is that given that Wolin is apparently a tributary of Jomsburg, what are the chances that the Jomsvikingar will see this as an attack on a vassal? They may not care about their tributaries, but if they do, even to the point of being a minor affront, that could produce some fun ripples down the line.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, that's a large part of the reason that I, at least, voted for attacking quickly...them having time to prep their defenses when they specialize in ambushes struck me as bad. I didn't expect this quality of illusions (I don't think any of us did), but the principle stands.
That's possible. I think they mostly care about their revenue stream, but we are messing with that here, in a minor way anyway.
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