NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

[seekingflame]

using FTB will cause an immediate reprisal before fully completing it, unlike Sunorb.

Also, one thing important to note that at the worst case situation, we don't need to be strong enough to kill him, we were the closest hunting a party, not the only one. There is no need for a hail mary gamble because winning or dying aren't our only end state. So forcing the fight into a high gear and using a possibly high risk move at the start Isn't necessarily the best option.

 

[Threnodist]

We should break his Seidr spell and then fight him/hold out until reinforcements come. There are 24 other wolves besides him and only 5 other humans and as people have pointed out wolves deal double damage.

If we try to cast our Finale our allies will have to defend us, but I doubt they'd be able to hold out against all 25 wolves. We would basically be sacrificing 2-3 people to take a chunk of damage out of the boss, but then we'd be fucked imho.

Break his spell superiority then turn the battle and fight.

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

It gives significant narrative defensive penalties. Because you can't attack back.

Also unlike the Steinarr spar, we are not in an environment where we can buy time by flying around waiting for FTB to charge. We're in a stone wolf circle, practically a Holmgang.

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Yeah, but we also aren't alone. Nainn Rotting is someone else we would probably get Punching Up against if we were fighting him...I'm dubious that the Wolf can afford to ignore him and go solely for us without getting its face rotted off, y'know? Like, Nainn probably can't take it alone or anything, but he's enough of a threat that it can't ignore him, and the same may well be true of Heima Smiles.

using FTB will cause an immediate reprisal before fully completing it, unlike Sunorb.

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Sure, but once we've completed UTitS, he'll come for us as hard as he can arrange, so it makes no difference in how hard he's coming for us if we try for FTB.
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That said, if everyone is against the idea, I'm certainly willing to try something else, but we really need an answer to the Capacity and round break questions on UTitS before we actually make the plan either way.

 

[Shard]

Oh yeah, the 24 other wolves.

Can't forget them.

 

[I.F. Ister]

The Xianxia tag. Also I was curious about how you would incorporate Norse stuff into it.

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I thinnk I was scrolling the front page and saw a new Xianxia quest.

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I like Norse Mythology and Xianxia, and had actually been thinking about alternate culture cultivation systems and how neat comparing those was (largely from those portrayed in Threads of Destiny), so I was curious to see how this Quest would handle it.

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Something a bit funny is that I've gotten a couple PM's asking me what xianxia is, so there are some people out there who decided to click on this quest purely for the norse part.

I saw a xianxia tagged fic, sniffed for harem taint and didn't find any, so it got added to the read list.

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I'm not the biggest fan of harems in my fiction, so you're not gonna find any generic isekai protagonist-level harems in my work.

The only real reason that there's anything resembling it in NorseQuest is because it would be inauthentic to exclude the prevalence of concubines in Norse society. Now, the concubines of Norse society were very much not wives. There was no legal agreement or formal alliance between families, they did not inherit—though potential children could if acknowledged by the father.

And I have to say after catching up and then actively participating, it's basically a giant adrenaline rush to be a part of SV history. Doubly so because it's just so good due to your own efforts, IF.

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Oh stop, you're making me blush ;P

I just happened to be online when it was posted, took a peek, read it, and I went "Damn, this has potential". Then as it kept getting better I started hyping it to people I know.

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You were literally the first person to ask me a question in the entire thread, which is kind of impressive

I am just slowly working through SV's quest backlog for interesting looking stuff to read, sorting by highest wordcount. I got to this one and it was still going so why not join it

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And I'm happy to have you

I have alerts for new quests, I came over, pressed the Watch button, gave a like, then waited for the quest to stew into something I would like (or not).

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I suppose the stew's tasty, then ;P

Someone recommended it in the Threads of Destiny discord.
I kept reading it because it's good

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Aw, thank you!

Man, it's weird to think about people recommending my work to others. That's crazy.

This, Threads of Destiny, and the Path Unending are pretty much the Big Three Xianxia quests at this point on the site. XD

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Oh no, my ego! ;P

I've clicked every Norse quest and non-Oriental-themed-xianxia since running across Casualfarmer's Einherjar (see SFW thread on QQ) years ago, hoping for something half as awesome. This is a solid nine-tenths as awesome and trending gradually but steadily upwards, and it's basically made my year.

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Let's see if I can't hit 10/10 before the year is out, eh? ;P

Unironically, writing NorseQuest has been a major boost to my self-esteem, so thank you everyone for that!

This quest might have (comparitivly) weaker powerlevel (so-far) but has covered a far longer period of time and I personally like that. Not knocking on Path or Threads but the timescale made it unique amongst all other Xianxia quests.

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Sometimes I feel like I'm not progressing fast enough, so it's nice to see that you folks don't feel that way.

I got hooked on your In Service quest a while back. When I saw you had created another quest, I dived in feet first.

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Oh man, that's a throwback. I wasn't even an adult when I was writing that, crazy how the time flies, eh?

But also, I cringe at my past, I cringe at it!

@Imperial Fister there appears to be significant confusion on how swapping Capacity and using Unending time In The Sun would work. So we need some clarification...does the swapping Capacity happen pre combat? And would casting it cause a round break?

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Swapping Capacity is pre-battle, casting anything starts combat. Depends on if the night spell breaks, I suppose

Additionally, is there some penalty for using a Finale on the first round? That's not usually a good call, but is there some actual penalty?

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Not really, though the story-weavers don't particularly like it when people skip straight to the end

 

[seekingflame]

Sure, but once we've completed UTitS, he'll come for us as hard as he can arrange, so it makes no difference in how hard he's coming for us if we try for FTB.

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True, but at this point we would have already changed the playing field, and not just hold in our hand the building poetinal for it.

By the way, can FTB be used for an area attack to not only hurt him but thin the herd of wolves faster then we could kill them with conventional means?

 

[Alectai]

And yeah, given the Nornir are the biggest Story-Weavers, 'Don't particularly like it' is a bad place to be in.

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

Swapping Capacity is pre-battle, casting anything starts combat. Depends on if the night spell breaks, I suppose

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@Imperial Fister How much Odr can we put into UTitS? Would we need to put in dice for this?

Not really, though the story-weavers don't particularly like it when people skip straight to the end

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Okay, yeah, that's not good and we should avoid it. Consider my advocacy of FTB over.

 

[Shard]

Are the wolves surrounding us going to attack in? Cause if they are we need to mop them up before we try fighting The Boss.

 

[I.F. Ister]

@Imperial Fister How much Odr can we put into UTitS? Would we need to put in dice for this?

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If you wanted to, you could put, uh, like, 135 odr before the pattern simply cannot handle that much power

Are the wolves surrounding us going to attack in? Cause if they are we need to mop them up before we try fighting The Boss.

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The wolves are staying out of it

 

[Alectai]

Yeah, I think the regular Spell wouldn't help, but backing it with enough Odr will likely remind reality that it's supposed to be afternoon in midsummer. Even if he can pop it again, I don't think he can do it fast enough to prevent anyone else from slipping in during that window.

 

[weeblypanda]

Guy's I'm getting a real bad feeling. Fenris (mythologically speaking) had the ability to go through any protection so I would like to caution against heavily investing on 'Perfect Defenses' I get we have ways around it but I would like to caution y'all.

Especialy since he has Odr.

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

@Imperial Fister do we have any idea of how much Odr it would cost to break the spell? Could we burn a Reward Die for a hint of not? That's sort of important information to possess.

 

[Grytorm]

I just love the throne of bones because the image of all the wolf minions having to figure out how to carve bones with their teeth is just very funny to me. Best thing since Tuskpuncher just whipping out his boat and using it as a weapon.

Also I want to know how cultivating works for monsters. Does a giant wolf monster have to worry about Nid?

 

[Shard]

If you wanted to, you could put, uh, like, 135 odr before the pattern simply cannot handle that much power

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Wow. I am now curious as to what that would look like if we even had that much Odr to shove into that spell and then decided to actually do that.

 

[weeblypanda]

@Imperial Fister Does 'Moonless Night' have a similar elemental typing to his subordinates (can we even tell)?

 

[I.F. Ister]

@Imperial Fister do we have any idea of how much Odr it would cost to break the spell? Could we burn a Reward Die for a hint of not? That's sort of important information to possess.

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You have more than enough odr to do it. If you want more details, that'll be a dice

@Imperial Fister Does 'Moonless Night' have a similar elemental typing to his subordinates (can we even tell)?

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You're not sure if he has any elemental typing at all

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

You have more than enough odr to do it. If you want more details, that'll be a dice

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I'll burn a Reward Die to know how much Odr is necessary.

Oh, also, our Reinforce Shield is still up, right?

 

[Alectai]

Okay, yeah, that's not good and we should avoid it. Consider my advocacy of FTB over.

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I told you bro Finales are for the end, not the start.

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

Okay, tentative plan:

[X] Plan Rising Sun
-[X] Swap capacity from Fireside Barrage to Unending Time In The Sun and activate Punching Up (-35 Orthstirr)
-[X] Stoke Frami, Virthing, and Saemd (+604 Orthstirr)
-[X] 64d6 Attack (64d6 tricks)
-[X] 92d6 Defense (92d6 tricks)
-[X] 0d6 Intercept
-[X] If we have time while swapping Capacity and before the fight begins put another 5 Orthstirr into another 10 layers of Reinforce Shield (for 20 total, -5 Orthstirr)
-[X] Activate Slipstream (-8 Orthstirr) and Ember-Wing Cloak (-6 Orthstirr, all attacks and defenses have the Skyfire bonus)
-[X] Put up two 200d6+9 (w/Hugareida) Sword Guards adding 2 Odr to each (-209 Orthstirr each, so -418 total, -4 Odr total).
-[X] Activate Unending Time In The Sun with 9 Odr added (-72 Orthstirr, -9 Odr) immediately to try and break the ongoing night effect
-[X] Make a 71d6+5 Orthstirr-Enhancedx7 3Fold IAT from our Fast using Puncture at the Fenriskin to trap it (-27 Orthstirr), followed by a 71d6+5 (w/Hugareida) Sharpened x38 Lightning-Charged Flashfire Cleave Attack w/Puncture (-53 Orthstirr)
-[X] Against the first melee attack against us, use Contested Movement, adding our remaining Stoker Dice and all three uses of Fight of Our Life (-3 Orthstirr, total of 35d6+5) and using the 3Fold Sparkbomb from our Fast w/Puncturex3 as our counterattack (-27 Orthstirr), even before using Sword Guard. If that doesn't work, use Sidestep (-2 Orthstirr) or Focus Guard (-14 Orthstirr) as appropriate and available, and rely on our Reinforce Shield to cancel it if that doesn't work.
-[X] By default use Sword Guard #1 to defend against everything, not using Sword Guard #2 on any attack that Sword Guard #1 is used on (it only kicks in on the next attack after Sword Guard #1 is broken). In response to anything that gets through Sword Guard use Halting Vortex (-4 Orthstirr), Sidestep (-2 Orthstirr), Backstep (-6 Orthstirr), or Focus Guard (-14 Orthstirr) as appropriate, and if something gets through that use up to two 100d6+9 Reinforcedx53 Hefty-Halter Chop defenses (-56 Orthstirr each).
-[X] Tactics – So, the plan here is to break the spell immediately after setting up some big defenses. The rest of the plan is a solid offensive plan to do some actual damage with a Bomb Boulder and a Flashfire Cleave, but to be honest breaking the spell is probably a round-break.
-[X] When we activate UTitS say something like "Then behold the Rising Sun and remember why your kind fears it."

The Odr on UTitS is listed as "?" because the amount put in will just be 'enough to break the spell' after I spent a Reward Die to know that. I'll edit it in as appropriate for that.

I told you bro Finales are for the end, not the start.

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I mean, one round fights exist, so the first round can be the end. But I suppose in that case maybe a Finale isn't warranted.

EDIT: Added Contested Movement. Added 9 Odr after confirmation. Replaced Bomb Boulder with IAT. Added some additional Reinforce Shield if we have time.

 

[Alectai]

Honestly, I would very much prefer to stay entirely on the defense in the opening round if possible, Make sure Stoker State is on as well!

Hefty-Halter Chops might be useful here? He's a monster, which means it'll be attacking his arms instead of a weapon, so he takes clapback from it. I'm also more inclined to play keep-away than to get stuck in close, but it is what it is.

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

Honestly, I would very much prefer to stay entirely on the defense in the opening round if possible, Make sure Stoker State is on as well!

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Stoker State is only relevant if making Basic Attacks which seems less than useful this turn. And I think if the spell doesn't cause a round break we want to contribute at least some damage, and it only costs about one 'backup' defense to make the two attacks, which seems worth it.

Hefty-Halter Chops might be useful here? He's a monster, which means it'll be attacking his arms instead of a weapon, so he takes clapback from it. I'm also more inclined to play keep-away than to get stuck in close, but it is what it is.

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Yeah, that's fair. I'll swap that out.

 

[Alectai]

Stoker State is only relevant if making Basic Attacks which seems less than useful this turn. And I think if the spell doesn't cause a round break we want to contribute at least some damage, and it only costs about one 'backup' defense to make the two attacks, which seems worth it.

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Basic Defenses work too though?

EDIT: No they don't, my bad. Still might be better to stack bonuses and use Contested Movement as our "Oh SHIT" response button though, because I expect he's got easy access to Puncture.

 

[Shard]

Can we make sure to include Halla giving a dramatic counterpoint to Moonless Night's opening intro:

"Long have I waited," the Fenriskin's voice is disturbingly human—a voice perfectly suited to tricking households out into the open, "long have I fed from the scraps thrown to me from the feasting table, but now it is time for me to feast. He calls me Moonless Night and I am why you fear the setting sun."

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"Then behold the Rising Sun and remember why your kind fears it."

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I think it's much better to go full defence this round instead of spending anything on attacks.

 

[MajorCringe]

Reading that this wolf has Odr is really scary, because that means he can pull our bullshit at will. Dudes already a Big Deal from birth, and now he potentially has infusions and the ability to overcharge his attacks. We are operating at a Narrative Disadvantage.