NorseQuest: Collective Edition (Group-Based Xianxia Settlement-Builder)

Leaving

In the wake of her 'failure' at the Quarry, Eirny locked herself away. Even as Gunnar was resurrected by the seeress, the girl seemed... unable to move past her failure. She didn't dance, she didn't train, she didn't even eat, as she squirreled herself away from everyone. Every attempt to approach avoided, every outstretched hand refused. The small girl grew gaunt, her eyes darkening, and the fire of life disappearing from her gaze. Instead she simply sat, on the edges of the land, alone, silently whispering to herself in a language the Norsemen found most foreign. Though nothing they would have heard would have been comforting.

Soon enough though, something was responding. As she wavered on the edge of life and death. Perhaps it was her imagination, perhaps she had gone truly insane, perhaps the hunger, the self-isolation, the constant berating of her inability to protect anything - or a combination of them all, had pushed her past the breaking point. But she heard it, in the language of her Father - no, not only the language, but the voice. As if he had returned. A warmth spreading through her at the thought that a part of her Father remained in her blade.

"You waste yourself on these people, child."

The words echoed from within her own head, but she felt her eyes drawn downward towards her blade. The only remnant of her Father's people amongst the wreckage that was her new home. There was no other thing that could so perfectly speak as him. Nothing but her own mind, and the sword that rested in her hand, even as she found herself unable to wield it in training. Her hand gripped it tighter, the one comfort in a world of terror and failure.

"You fail because you attempt to be something you are not. You are a killer. You are born to be alone, bathed in the blood of any and all. Your attempts to deny this has weakened you. Listen to me. Leave them. You do not belong with them. You never have. You never will."

Why did it speak to her, why did it make her feel worse as it spoke in the voice of her own Father, whom she knew had long passed upon the island she once called home? But also, why did the slight woman stand, a wobble to her unfed gait? Why did she walk into the trees at its direction? What madness had taken her mind, that she left into those branches, heeding the call of something perhaps not even real?

-----

As IF said, I'm stepping back from the game for at least awhile. I have been spending way too much time thinking about this game, and getting way too emotionally involved. But I wanted to at least have Eirny wander off from my own writing.

Ragnarr, upon his return from a successful expedition, smiles happily and announces loudly to the people:

"We have acquired grain, other foods to farm, and potentially livestock, though the latter are still eggs at the moment. We have also acquired alcohol, though that is the personal property of we who went on this quest. We have also killed an onigar, stronger than the one killed last year, and with longer horns, as it seems the previous information about these people's rulers was outdated and the onigar are the ones who rule them now.

Sadly, Hrosvior died in that fight, but it was not his Fated Day, so he will be back, and I must say that the evidence is strong that more powerful oni become even faster and more arrogant, as well as devilishly strong of course. They still die when hit properly, though. Particular credit should go to Anja and Ivor who set it up and Sigmund, who struck the deathblow.

Of particular note is the grain we have acquired, called maize, which is apparently adapted from the golden grass we are currently eating, but a better grain and food source in many ways, and is best grown besides squash and beans, which have also been provided. I suggest that at the next Thing we amend the law to allow growing maize instead of golden grass, though it's a bit late this year. The maize can also be used in brewing, which is where the alcohol we have purchased came from.

We have also gained a great deal of information about this place and its denizens. The mountains are called the Vertebrae Range, and we learned much of the local peoples. The Rattock are the source of the necromancer we fought, and are found under the earth in great numbers. They are physically weak even by mortal standards, but use magic and trickery to compensate. The Jaltuar, who I have already mentioned, have social class based on the type of animal head they have, with rare or impressive animals leading, and mundane ones like donkeys and pigs serving.

They also told us much of the Horned Ones, who are not one people, but a leader group called the Damaskari, and their various servant peoples. The most common of these servant peoples are the Impari, who use multi-pronged spears and fire magic, as has been mentioned. But the most important part is that they are not a united people, but many feuding cities or clans. Supposedly 600 throughout the world.

And finally, we have heard from the people of a man who resembled us with eyes like a storm and a great hammer, who brought justice to these lands for a time and smote down the kings of all these people, before he and his retinue left. I believe the man in that story to be Thor himself. We are traveling in the footsteps of the Gods themselves."

Ragnarr will also pass along how to grow maize (plant it with a rotten fish head, squash, and beans), how to brew it into alcohol and make other foods out of it, and how to take care of egging-frogs (which are apparently finicky and tricky to take care of, requiring additional wetting, always from front to back, among other things). And that these folk claim the flatsquitos can be used medically to get out 'bad blood' as long as you are careful and remove them at the right time. He is somewhat dubious about that last claim, though he believes the rest.

I made another scribble.