[X] Plan: Leader of Men
-[X] Upgrade Agility x2.
-[X] Upgrade Intellect
-[X] Upgrade Presence

Lady Loki returns the next day, your teacher bringing all of the ingredients needed to restore the statues back into women with her. While others might consider the timing of her return to be a fortunate coincidence, you know better and are certain that your teacher had been watching the entire time.

"Congratulations," says Lady Loki as she looks you up and down, "I'm glad to see you have gone above and beyond what I was expecting. I'm unsurprised to see that you defeated the witch, but to get a Kenning out of it and such a powerful one at that, well, you impressed me."

"Thank you, my lady," you tell her because you just impressed a god.

Or maybe it is goddess? Um, deity might work best. Yeah, deity is a good way of describing your teacher.

"We'll discuss what your Kenning means for your future later," says Lady Loki, "Next I will walk you through making the cure to give you the experience of it."

"Okay," you agree before deciding to ask a question about your Kenning anyway, "Will I be able to keep my Kenning beyond being Torhild? Beauty is a womanly thing."

To your surprise, your teacher just laughs at you and you barely refrain from bristling at her.

"Young Torhild, you might not have noticed this, but men can be considered beautiful as women," replies Lady Loki after a moment, a gleeful smirk on her face, "Though with your preferences, I'm not surprised that didn't occur to you."

"Ah, okay," you say, feeling a little embarrassed, but mostly just pleased with the discovery that you will be able to keep your powerful new Kenning when you are Torvald again.

"Speaking of beauty, how are you enjoying yours?" asks Lady Loki slyly as her grin somehow gets even bigger.

"I'm even prettier than Astrid," you reply, instinctively looking down at the two large mounds on your chest, "Bigger than her too. I don't mind the look, but I would enjoy it on another woman than my own body."

"Hah, of course your mind went there," sniggers Lady Loki as she gives you a mirthful look, "Those are pretty big, but that's what happens when a lady has high Presence. I suppose you would like to be smaller than your childhood friend again?"

"Can you do that?" you ask eagerly.

"Absolutely," replies Lady Loki and your teacher snaps her fingers.

You wait for the changes to take place, but nothing happens as Lady Loki gives you a pleased grin. Then it hits you as you go over the exact wording that the deity used. Lady Loki only implied she would make your chest smaller again, but there are two ways to make your chest smaller than Astrid's.

"You made Astrid bigger than me," you accuse your teacher and she just laughs at you.

"Guilty as charged," replies the Trickster God because that is what you get for trusting such an infamous prankster, "Nothing untoward, just a godly boon of Presence so don't worry your pretty little head. Want me to do it to Brunnie too?"

"Would you listen if I said no?" you ask her drily as you cross your arms.

"Nope!" says Lady Loki cheerfully as she snaps her fingers again with crackling laughter.


With Lady Loki instructing on each step, you easily brew up the potion to restore the cursed women. It is a fairly standard anti-magic potion with a few parts tailored towards this specific curse with you brewing a large pot of it as you need to make potion eight times, one for each victim. A sufficiently skilled seer or seeress could even break the curse with just their knowledge and seidr mastery, but while you have no doubts that your teacher is one of them, Lady Loki seems content to play the part of a lesser seeress.

The entire village is gathered around the centre as you pour the potion on each victim. Each saved woman is disoriented as they go from emotionally-locked statues into being flesh and blood again, but they soon get swamped by their kin. As Thane Alvar embraces his older daughter Sigurda in a fierce and hearty hug, you begin to pour the final potion on Erika.

As the purple liquid flows down over the iron, it rapidly shifts back into what it once was. Erika stumbles forward and she rapidly looks around before her eyes locked onto you.

"I knew you could do it, Torhild!" exclaims Erika as she drops her iron sword and embraces you in a surprise hug that leaves you yelping, "That traitorous witch was no match for you!"

"I'm glad to see you're okay," you reply as you hug her back because you may have only known her for a couple of days, but you fought a witch together and that means something.

"Wow, you feel all weird," says Erika as she runs her hand through your hair.

"My body is living Adamantine now," you answer, "That means my skin is metal not flesh now"

"Well, not all weirdness is bad then," replies Erika as she strokes your metal hand.

"My father says that good weirdness is the spice of life," you tell her.

"I agree with him," says Erika cheerfully.


With all the women free and restored, Thane Avlar and his village hold another feast to celebrate and once again, you are the guest of honour through this time you are sharing that position with your teacher. While you are again honoured for defeating the witch, Lady Loki is credited with actually saving the women from Dagrun's curse.

The women you saved all come up to you with their families professing their thanks and gratitude towards you. You would be a liar to claim you didn't enjoy the praise because it felt good to be recognised for your deeds. It might not have been the deeds you expected to do growing up, but they are deeds to be proud of.

Beyond a generous payment of silver that the entire village chipped into, you receive other gifts of gratitude. For the most part, those gifts are simple things like some iron ingots or a few foreign gold coins from lands overseas. Most impressive of all is a bundle of soft silk that Thane Alvar gifts you with, the fabric almost humming with magical power inherent to it.

"That's Seersilk," says Lady Loki as she looks at it from over your shoulder, "Also known as Sorcerersilk. It is sought after as any clothing made from it boosts the magical prowess of the wearer. Also extremely comfortable to wear too. You can turn it into something when I teach you about enchanting. We should really get around to that aspect of seidr at some point."


The next morning sees you awake early as for whatever reason, you didn't get a hangover from all of the booze you consumed last night. Your Constitution is that good for it so you suspect that your new Kenning may be behind it. It does make sense that a body of living metal doesn't get hungover. Or drunk for that matter. And thinking about it, you haven't felt the need to eat or drink since your body became living Adamantine even if you are still able to do those things.

"Hey Torhild," says Erika, disrupting your thoughts as she makes your way over to you.

Unlike you, Erika is definitely hungover if the way she is carrying herself is anything to go by. That said, the fact she is here with her sword indicates that Erika is here for another spare with you.

"Hello Erika," you reply, "Want another spar?"

"I wouldn't mind that, but I have something to ask first," replies Erika.

"Want me to make a tonic for your hangover?" you suggests.

"I wouldn't mind that, but there is something else I wished to ask of you," answers Erika before taking a deep breath, "I would like to become your shieldmaiden, to swear an oath to serve as your huskarl."

"Wait, what?" you say in a rather undignified manner because you were not expecting that.

"I don't want to give up on my preferred path in life, but there isn't much opportunity to earn glory here in the village," continues Erika, "And Father is having trouble finding marriage prospects for me. I'm the second daughter and most men are put off by a woman who likes to fight."

"So you want to join me," you say.

"Yes!" exclaims Erika, "You're awesome and powerful and you travel about a bunch. I know you are already a better fighter than me and you are a mistress of seidr when I don't have any, but I figured you could still do with someone around to watch your back."

No plan voting.

Erika Alvarsdottir wishes to serve you as a shieldmaiden. Do you accept?
[ ] Yes. You accept her oath. Gain Erika Alvarsdottir as your Huskarl.
[ ] No. You decline her oath.

Pick a Hamr Trait to gain.
[ ] Shapechanger. You are able to cosmetically alter your appearance. Cosmetic Shapeshifting.
[ ] Magic Resistance. Your body is naturally good at rejecting magic. All unwanted magical effects are downgraded by one degree.
[ ] Sword Master. You are innately skilled at wielding a sword. Gain Advantage on rolls involving using a sword.

Pick two Hugr Traits to gain.
[ ] Lightning Mage. You are innately talented when it comes to Lightning Seidr. Gain Advantage when using Lightning Seidr.
[ ] Deception Mage. You are innately talented when it comes to Deception Seidr. Gain Advantage when using Deception Seidr.
[ ] Emotion Control. You have a talent for keeping firm control over your emotions and feelings. You have control over your emotional state.
[ ] Metal Insights. You have gained insights into the nature of metal. Gain Advantage on rolls involving metals.
[ ] Alert Mind. Your mind is inherently alert and on the watch for important details. Automatically pass the first Perception check in any encounter or battle.
[ ] Empowered Seidr. Your magic is inherently powerful and abnormally strong. Your spells and other magic are more potent and powerful.




We are approaching the end of the arc. I wasn't originally planning to drag it out longer, but I realised we hadn't gotten around to covering making enchanted items despite the vote to go down the magic path. So we'll be covering that plus Astrid finding 'Torhild' before moving on.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.

[X] Yes. You accept her oath. Gain Erika Alvarsdottir as your Huskarl.
[X] Magic Resistance. Your body is naturally good at rejecting magic. All unwanted magical effects are downgraded by one degree.
[X] Emotion Control. You have a talent for keeping firm control over your emotions and feelings. You have control over your emotional state.
[X] Empowered Seidr. Your magic is inherently powerful and abnormally strong. Your spells and other magic are more potent and powerful.

"You are getting the hang of it," you tell Erika encouragingly as you finish her swordswoman lesson for the day.

It is an odd sensation as you are effectively on the other hand of your own lessons from Father. Erika might be older than you, but you are both physically superior to her and have greater skill with the blade. Despite the best efforts of your huskarls, her village life has not given her the opportunities to grow strong like you have and the daughter of a thane isn't as prestigious as the son of a high chief.

Still, Erika is learning and with a few more months, she will be good enough that Father would accept her into the ranks of his warrior albeit as one of the most junior. If she continues to stay by your side, she will be a cut above the average Norse warrior within a couple of years.

That new Hamr Trait of hers helps too. Erika has recently gained enough Prestige to improve her Strength to the point of gaining a Trait, in which your huskarl used to gain a body of living Steel akin to your own body of living Adamantine.

"Thank, my lady," replies Erika with a metallic grin.

"Just keep up with your practice and in a few years, you'll be as good as I am," you say and the woman beams even brighter at the prospect.

"Now if you ladies are done swinging swords, I'll need to borrow my apprentice," says Lady Loki as your teacher steps out of the shadows.

"Of course," says Erika respectfully before leaving as your huskarl has been very deferential towards Lady Loki ever since learning her true identity.

"Still haven't told her about Torvald, Torhild?" asks Lady Loki teasingly once Erika is out of earshot and you grimace.

"It is an awkward subject that hasn't come up yet," you answer evasively.

"Procrastination is a valid way of dealing with things," says Lady Loki and you flush in embarrassment, "Now, we are getting around to enchanting."

"Are you finally going to let me make a proper enchantment?" you ask.

"Enough time has passed since your last practice," says Lady Loki, referring to the fact that it has been a month since you enchanted your gambeson.

There are a few rules to the art of enchanting items. The first is that the power of your enchantments is limited by your Hugr and Presence with a certain amount of the two being required to make even a simple enchantment. While you have exceeded the minimum requirement, someone like Erika would fall short though your huskarl is close to meeting the lowest benchmark.

The next is that you can only make a single enchanted item per month. Sometimes a Bloodline, Kenning or Trait can improve upon that timeframe, but you lack any of those so you have to wait an entire month between enchantments.

The third rule is that you must have the Seidr access to the nature of the enchantments you are making. Given the wide variety of Seidrs you have, it isn't much of a problem for you, but things like fire-based enchantments or wood-based enchantments are beyond you as you lack any Seidr for such things.

What sort of Enchantment did Torvald add to his gambeson? Must be related to one of your Seidrs.
[ ] Lightning Speed.
[ ] Deceptive Appearance.
[ ] Steel Strength.
[ ] Write-in.

What sort of Enchantment(s) does Torvald add to Torhild's Seersilk Dress? You have three points to spend. Must be related to one of your Seidrs.
[ ] Write-in.




Not the greatest of updates, but I don't really have much inspiration for it so enchanting time, I guess.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.