NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

Skippy · Jul 21, 2023

Shard said:
I'm not sure if it's a great idea to grow the demonseeds right now, personally. Study them, yeah, but grow them? We'll probably have to murder a demonplant in our farm soon and be down a seed.

I don't think we can really meaningfully study one without planting it somewhere and watching it develop? Also I'm not sure, but I think we may have already done an action where we looked at the seeds? There are probably limits to what we can usefully learn from just looking at them.

Like fundamentally if they just produce demonic trees which we have to cut down, then we're not going to mind that we're down a seed, because I'm not sure we'd have much use for them anyway? But we don't actually know that for sure.

We're keeping them away from the rest of our crops, we could maybe specify that we want to find a sort of "exclusion zone" which is as far away as practicable from anything else important too.

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Using the hide for bling just reduces the costs of bling, not gives additional abilities, at least from what we've heard. There's also the idea of using the third use on the book to make it concealed, which isn't a bad idea all things considered. I'd consider adding the skin to the armor if it actually provided a separate bonus but we don't have evidence it does.

I think we should see if we could use it for bling and give it magical abilities. Also if we had to choose between 125 oz of silver, or making the armour power powerful, it feels like the latter is probably worthwhile. We can check on the separate/enhanced bonus thing, but consider that if we're spending a an extra finite 1/3 of the bear's spirit/magic on the armour, we should logically expect to get something from it. Imperial Fister is pretty fair about that sort of thing.

The reason I don't want to save it for the book is because my honest opinion is that I don't think that's very likely to work. The Shadow-Bear was formidable and cool, don't get me wrong, but ultimately it was a sort of middle-to-high ranking miniboss we got from our local Random Encounter table. We're expecting its innate shadow ability to produce an anti-memetic effect so strong that it blinds the Enemy? Could be me, but it feels like a bit of a stretch.

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
I'm trying to keep it to over half the dice we've got on that stuff for the next little while. We'll see how well that works out.

Awesome!

Constenanto · Jul 21, 2023

Shard said:
I wonder if a Puuko is a 'nascent' Realized item? Specifically, it Realizes itself when it's given to a newborn baby. Up till that point it's 'just' a T8 item.

I recall Imperial saying there's nothing special with Puukos inherently. It's this Puuko in particular that's special... given the mini interlude, I'm pretty sure it's Realized.

Shard · Jul 21, 2023

Skippy said:
The reason I don't want to save it for the book is because my honest opinion is that I don't think that's very likely to work. The Shadow-Bear was formidable and cool, don't get me wrong, but ultimately it was a sort of middle-to-high ranking miniboss we got from our local Random Encounter table. We're expecting its innate shadow ability to produce an anti-memetic effect so strong that it blinds the Enemy? Could be me, but it feels like a bit of a stretch.

Yeah, if the Shadowbear Pelt actually had magical benefits as part of the Abjorn Armor (instead of just reduced Bling cost), I'd be in a knife-fight with Alectai to get it onto Abjorn's armor. As it is I don't really have a strong opinion on it.

I do agree that it's unlikely to protect the Book from The Enemy. A Shadowbear is not a meaningfully powerful enough to achieve that sort of feat against The Enemy themselves, but it would depend on the mechanism the Enemy uses to track people. But if mere pelt could blind it, we could have solved the Disclosure matter by erecting a bunch of Runestones that muted the Enemy, then did the Disclosure, then called it a day. Obviously that wouldn't work.

Skippy said:
We're keeping them away from the rest of our crops, we could maybe specify that we want to find a sort of "exclusion zone" which is as far away as practicable from anything else important too.

An exclusion zone would be a good idea, like maybe even grow it in a pot, just it case it's weedlike in nature we can eliminate it with extreme prejudice without being concerned about collateral damage.

How to get rid of a demonic plant fast: Sparkbomb!

DeadmanwalkingXI · Jul 21, 2023

Skippy said:
I don't think we can really meaningfully study one without planting it somewhere and watching it develop? Also I'm not sure, but I think we may have already done an action where we looked at the seeds? There are probably limits to what we can usefully learn from just looking at them.

Like fundamentally if they just produce demonic trees which we have to cut down, then we're not going to mind that we're down a seed, because I'm not sure we'd have much use for them anyway? But we don't actually know that for sure.

Yeah, this is pretty much the logic. We were told we needed to plant it to find out more, IIRC.

Skippy said:
We're keeping them away from the rest of our crops, we could maybe specify that we want to find a sort of "exclusion zone" which is as far away as practicable from anything else important too.

I feel like asking Steinarr's advice mostly covers this, but I'll add the note to do it in an exclusion zone anyway. EDIT: And added.

Skippy said:
I think we should see if we could use it for bling and give it magical abilities. Also if we had to choose between 125 oz of silver, or making the armour power powerful, it feels like the latter is probably worthwhile. We can check on the separate/enhanced bonus thing, but consider that if we're spending a an extra finite 1/3 of the bear's spirit/magic on the armour, we should logically expect to get something from it. Imperial Fister is pretty fair about that sort of thing.

I mean, 125 oz. of silver is quite a lot to get from it already. We have a fairly large amount of money but that's still a significant percentage of it. It's better than a year's worth if income. Expecting additional rewards on top of that is not something we should assume. It's possible, but far from certain.

Skippy said:
The reason I don't want to save it for the book is because my honest opinion is that I don't think that's very likely to work. The Shadow-Bear was formidable and cool, don't get me wrong, but ultimately it was a sort of middle-to-high ranking miniboss we got from our local Random Encounter table. We're expecting its innate shadow ability to produce an anti-memetic effect so strong that it blinds the Enemy? Could be me, but it feels like a bit of a stretch.

The idea is not that it can actually blind the Enemy, just that it can make it harder for the Enemy's minions to find and mess with when it's not actively in the process of Disclosure. Like, it being sneaky is helpful, and if we Realize it we can start stacking additional sneaky things into it as it consumes them.

Skippy said:
Awesome!

We do want at least Glima 4, Fang 4, Hamr 8, Hugr 8, Fylgja 7 before we hit the next Realm and before we head to Vestfold. That's probably doable, depending on rolls.

TheCount · Jul 21, 2023

Shard said:
Yeah, if the Shadowbear Pelt actually had magical benefits as part of the Abjorn Armor (instead of just reduced Bling cost), I'd be in a knife-fight with Alectai to get it onto Abjorn's armor. As it is I don't really have a strong opinion on it.

i mean... thats why it would count for realization no? Because of the magic in it, same as the heart and the bone ash.

DeadmanwalkingXI · Jul 21, 2023

TheCount said:
i mean... thats why it would count for realization no? Because of the magic in it, same as the heart and the bone ash.

Yep. The question is whether it would do anything beyond reducing the cost of realizing by half. I personally don't think so, as that's a pretty hefty monetary bonus all on its own, but we don't know for sure.

Constenanto · Jul 21, 2023

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
We do want at least Glima 4, Fang 4, Hamr 8, Hugr 8, Fylgja 7 before we hit the next Realm

Why before we hit the next Realm???

Shard · Jul 21, 2023

So.. anyone have ideas on what Realm 2 will achieve for us when we hit it? More Odr regen? Orthsirr creation? Improvements in our capabilities? Entirely new abilities?

Constenanto said:
Why before we hit the next Realm???

There are concerns that hitting the next realm may well provoke The Enemy to try and murder us horribly.

===

With how well Abjorn used Recall, should we teach him Fast-Recall?

Should we teach Drifa Recall?

DeadmanwalkingXI · Jul 21, 2023

Constenanto said:
Why before we hit the next Realm???

Two things:

1. As Shard notes, one very likely scenario is that breaking through provokes an actual attack from malevolent entities which we need to fight off. So that's a factor.
2. Just a timing thing. The hope is to hit all that within the next, like, six turns which is probably about when we're breaking through.

Shard said:
So.. anyone have ideas on what Realm 2 will achieve for us when we hit it? More Odr regen? Orthsirr creation? Improvements in our capabilities? Entirely new abilities?

I honestly have no idea whatsoever. I don't think it directly improves Odr gain hugely based on Gabriel (whose Zeal Gain is higher than our Odr gain, certainly, but not vastly so by any means, and he's in the 4th Realm to our 1st Realm), and I'm pretty much positive our Soulscape will start providing food, which seems handy, but other than that it could be almost anything.

Constenanto · Jul 21, 2023

Shard said:
So.. anyone have ideas on what Realm 2 will achieve for us when we hit it? More Odr regen? Orthsirr creation? Improvements in our capabilities? Entirely new abilities?

Gonna be real, I'm just expecting more odr regeneration tbh. Even if it takes us the entire quest to reach it (because I really don't think we're reaching Realm 3 on Halla)... it's still only Realm 2.

DeadmanwalkingXI · Jul 21, 2023

Constenanto said:
Gonna be real, I'm just expecting more odr regeneration tbh. Even if it takes us the entire quest to reach it (because I really don't think we're reaching Realm 3 on Halla)... it's still only Realm 2.

A modest increase in Odr gain seems possible. And I think we probably do hit Realm 3 on Halla eventually, though not for a long time. It's Realm 4 or, if we get lucky, Realm 5, that I expect we die on.

Shard · Jul 21, 2023

Personally I imagine if we get anything big it's probably at Realms 1, 3 and 9. Cause, you know, 3.

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
A modest increase in Odr gain seems possible. And I think we probably do hit Realm 3 on Halla eventually, though not for a long time. It's Realm 4 or, if we get lucky, Realm 5, that I expect we die on.

I think that's pretty optimistic IMO.. we had so much trouble figuring out Realm 1,and it's almost definitely the simplest of the Realms.

Constenanto · Jul 21, 2023

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
A modest increase in Odr gain seems possible. And I think we probably do hit Realm 3 on Halla eventually, though not for a long time. It's Realm 4 or, if we get lucky, Realm 5, that I expect we die on.

I'm very doubtful we'll even reach Realm 3... find out it's requirements, maybe. That's likely in fact. But Realm 4 and 5? That seems like a little bit too much hope, given our current rate of progress and incoming dangers.

TheCount · Jul 21, 2023

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Yep. The question is whether it would do anything beyond reducing the cost of realizing by half. I personally don't think so, as that's a pretty hefty monetary bonus all on its own, but we don't know for sure.

i mean, there is an easy solution for that.
@Imperial Fister Would the shadow bear cloak have magic on its own if we spent the last remaining charge from the shadow bear on it? Or would said charge just halve the cost of realization?

And on the note of cloaks.... we should get some too.
Like, Horra managed to get one that hid his passage. i am sure we could make a better one.

Shard said:
So.. anyone have ideas on what Realm 2 will achieve for us when we hit it? More Odr regen? Orthsirr creation? Improvements in our capabilities? Entirely new abilities?

i am hopping for Odr gain to be independent from the Orthstirr system. but thats probably a bit higher...
Improved capabilities seems a safe bet, yeah, just as new abilities.... and new mines to step on *sigh*

Hm... should we try making the air walk boots?

DeadmanwalkingXI · Jul 21, 2023

Constenanto said:
I'm very doubtful we'll even reach Realm 3... find out it's requirements, maybe. That's likely in fact. But Realm 4 and 5? That seems like a little bit too much hope, given our current rate of progress and incoming dangers.

To be clear, those are the Realm-Ups I expect we die on. Like, I think we'll hit Realm 3 eventually if perhaps not until after the kids are grown up, without dying. I then expect we die trying for Realm 4 or, if we get very lucky and make it to Realm 4, definitely die trying for Realm 5. All assuming nothing kills us in the interim, of course.

Toboe · Jul 21, 2023

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
m trying to keep it to over half the dice we've got on that stuff for the next little while. We'll see how well that works out.

Then the smaller half-ish on research and research adjacent new tricks?

Shard · Jul 21, 2023

Has Drifa finished our Basic Combat curriculum?

Speaking of Curriculum, should we be designing one for our Children?

Nobody wants another Steinarr!Quest incident..

AeonIlluminate · Jul 21, 2023

Shard said:
Speaking of Curriculum, should we be designing one for our Children?

We've got 3-4 years before they're old enough to consider training, and therefore surviving Vestifold and maybe the War is first. We have a while

Shard · Jul 21, 2023

My list of Seidr Stuff we should try to get:

1) 'Detect Curses' or 'Detect Enemies' spell - Stuff like 'Is there a Nithing Pole on my lands/equivalent' or 'What dangers do my lands hold (stuff like the Shadowbear, Trollmen, etc'
2) Fylgja Unveiling Ritual - Not immediately useful but something we should know.
3) How the Seeress got rid of the Magical Charge on Harald Wolfwind, how we can do it ourselves.
a) Same, but for Stigandr's Dark Spirit plight.

===

We should try to attract a Nisse to our Farm soonish. Do we have a Horse?

===

Speculatively, I think the Tribulation for Realm 2 has 2 steps:

1) The actual soul transformation. Your farm and farmhouse is relevant to making it through alive here. Possibly you spawn a Farm-spirit of your own?
2) An Enemy-Initiated Dark Spirit attack to try and get you right when you're at your weakest, and hopefully after 1) has screwed you over. If you don't have walls you get wrecked.
3) If 2) got anywhere, a normal attack to try and finish you off.

AeonIlluminate · Jul 21, 2023

Shard said:
Do we have a Horse?

Nope, but its on the list of stuff to do when we go to Asvir in Deadman's Plan.

Toboe · Jul 21, 2023

Shard said:
a) Same, but for Stigandr's Dark Spirit plight.

We have a spell that can do that.

Imperial Fister said:
-Banishing Rebuke: A spell that forces hostile spirits and spells away by sheer power. (0/6)

Shard said:
1) 'Detect Curses' or 'Detect Enemies' spell - Stuff like 'Is there a Nithing Pole on my lands/equivalent' or 'What dangers do my lands hold (stuff like the Shadowbear, Trollmen, etc'

We could try my "summon moon spirit and bribe it with odr to get it to chat with us" to ask it if it/a sun spirit could help with finding such things. They are used in the tracking ritual after all. That would move it from a Seeress slot to a research die.
Freeing that die up for stuff like "looking into the future". Or other awesome stuff.

Shard said:
2) Fylgja Unveiling Ritual - Not immediately useful but something we should know.

Long term stuff but interesting, imho.
(not needed for any kid with the "Seeing eyes" trait, as they have theirs auto-revealed)

Shard · Jul 21, 2023

Seidr-based future-scrying isn't as good as Fylgja-based scrying, which is merely possibilities.

(Seidr-based scrying is also probably 'ask spirit to tell you the future'..)

I.F. Ister · Jul 21, 2023

Skippy said:
When you wake up, I'd be interested in your thoughts @Imperial Fister.

I've always used shields in an offensive manner in-setting, but they should probably have some actual combat bonuses to them.

AeonIlluminate said:
@Imperial Fister Just thinking about Helms for us, and do Helms have the same double cost thing that Armour does for Giant-Blooded people, or some lesser increased cost, or do Giant-Blooded people have basically normal sized heads?

Giant-blooded people have normal proportions, just on a much grander scale

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Assuming that's viable anyway. Hmm. @Imperial Fister how exactly does that work? Say we roll 48 successes on the crafting itself, does a, say, 26 on the Decorate roll just keep that from coming into effect at all and mean we need to reforge starting from scratch, or can the quality be technically high enough and just sort of in stasis (counting as 'only' Wondrous) and waiting for a better Decorate roll?

2/3 need to be Realizing quality rolls, or else it doesn't work.

TheCount said:
@Imperial Fister Would the shadow bear cloak have magic on its own if we spent the last remaining charge from the shadow bear on it? Or would said charge just halve the cost of realization?

Yes

Shard · Jul 21, 2023

Imperial Fister said:
Yes

*deep breath*

BEARCLOAK ON THE BEAR ARMOR

Toboe · Jul 21, 2023

Shard said:
Seidr-based future-scrying isn't as good as Fylgja-based scrying, which is merely possibilities.

(Seidr-based scrying is also probably 'ask spirit to tell you the future'..)

It was mentioned by Solrun as one of the main things.
I kinda want to get a foot into the main Seeress tasks.
And it could still have interesting information in vague possibilities. I doubt IF would have put it in without some remark from Solrun if it was (next to) useless.

Shard said:
*deep breath*

BEARCLOAK ON THE BEAR ARMOR

Did I hear a cloak n bear?

Imperial Fister said:
TheCount said:

@Imperial Fister Would the shadow bear cloak have magic on its own if we spent the last remaining charge from the shadow bear on it? Or would said charge just halve the cost of realization?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Yes

@DeadmanwalkingXI
Can we use the cloak in all its glory? (i.e. using one charge)
Only the best for bearhubby!

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