Just to re-emphasize how absurd IFs productivity is:
There are 260 Threadmarks. 1 is the Hiatus note, the rest are story updates.
259 Story posts.
The 259th day of this year will be the 16th of september. (31+28+31+30+31+30+31+31+16=259)
IF could post nothing for a month and he'd still average 1 post of quality story per day in the year so far.
One conversation on the Discord server was on the possibilities of Egyptian Cultivation. Imperial Fister immediately joined in with some great ideas. The system would be even more top heavy than Feudal Cultivation and features an Orthstirr equivalent which only refreshes during the flood season. Monuments serve as batteries to store power during the rest of the year.
I suggested that the populace might have a shared soulspace in which the peasants provide spiritual labor for those higher up the pyramid. One person called it a pyramid scheme which raises some interesting questions at least in my opinion.
One conversation on the Discord server was on the possibilities of Egyptian Cultivation. Imperial Fister immediately joined in with some great ideas. The system would be even more top heavy than Feudal Cultivation and features an Orthstirr equivalent which only refreshes during the flood season. Monuments serve as batteries to store power during the rest of the year.
Important additional note on how this would work from the same conversation: They would need to use this resource to 'farm' their Odr-equivalent Internal Power. Which is a neat idea, and I suspect how the Chinese system would also work (not the flood season part, but the needing to turn External Power into Internal Power part).
[X]Abjorn
[X] Plan This Is Our Kenning, How Do You Like It?
-[X] Unassign Firebomb Strike and assign Sailwind before the fight. Also reassign Chuck from our Fylgja.
-[X] Invest 2 Orthstirr in Hugr, 1 in Composure, 4 in Tactics, 3 in Scouting (-11 Orthstirr)
-[X] 79d6 Attack (79d6 tricks)
-[X] 25d6 Defense (25d6 tricks)
-[X] 0d6 Intercept
-[X] Put 4 Orthstirr into 8 layers of Reinforce Shield before the combat begins (-4 Orthstirr) and add Explosive-Reactive Armor (-9 Orthstirr) to it
-[X] Activate Slipstream (-8 Orthstirr), and Ember-Wing Cloak (-6 Orthstirr) as combat begins and take to the air and stay there (all attacks and defenses below include +1d6 from Skyfire).
-[X] Put up a 170d6+9 (w/Hugareida) Sword Guard defenses (-174 Orthstirr), a 2d6+9 (w/Hugareida) Sword Guard (-6 Orthstirr), and a 2d6+9 (w/Hugareida) Atgeir Guard (-15 Orthstirr). The latter two will not defend against anything the first one does.
-[X] Open up with a 100d6+5 (w/Hugareida) Orthstirr-Enhancedx61 use of our 3Fold Kindle Spinner from our Fast w/Puncture (-70 Orthstirr) followed by a 100d6+5 (w/Hugareida) Orthstirr-Enhancedx66 3Fold Inetia-Arresting Throw from our Fast w/Puncture (-75 Orthstirr), if he gets caught by that, use the opportunity for a 7d6+5 (w/Hugarieda) Sharpenedx2 Lightning-Enhanced Flashfire Cleave w/Puncture (-18 Orthstirr) and a 6d6+5 (w/Hugareida) Orthstirr-Enhancedx3 Sparkbomb w/Puncture (-27 Orthstirr) while he's trapped and if he's still up after that retreat back to the sky with EWC (-6 Orthstirr if needed). At that point, whether he was trapped or not, if he doesn't have a Guard type ongoing defense and the first Kindle Spinners weren't completely useless after hitting him, hit him again with another eight 6d6+5 (w/Hugareida) Orthstirr-Enhancedx3 Kindle Spinners (-5 Orthstirr each), adding Puncture to the first one (-9 Orthstirr each) if he actually got caught by the IAT so they are sure to hit.
-[X] Against the first melee attack using Puncture we use a Contested Movement adding all our Stoker State dice and one use of Fight of Our Life (-3 Orthstirr, 30d6+5) and counterattack with a Sparkbomb w/Puncture (-24 Orthstirr)
-[X] By default use Halting Vortex (-4 Orthstirr) or another perfect defense as appropriate against anything without Puncture (or something else that makes them unusable) targeting either us or or primary Sword Guard. Against attacks with Puncture or other methods of avoiding our Perfects (other than the one melee one mentioned above), use our largest Sword Guard to defend against everything. In response to anything with Puncture (or other ways of getting past perfects) that gets through the first Sword Guard and is still coming rely on our Reinforce Shield to take the blow. If the big Sword Guard goes down and more attacks are incoming thereafter, first use the other Sword Guard and the Atgeir Guard as ablative defenses if possible and then use up to five 75d6+9 Reinforced x69 Hefty-Halter-Chop defenses (-72 Orthstirr each)
-[X] If our Orthstirr drops below 100 or so, stoke an Aspect, do this again as needed if it happens again, though we will not use Calm Charges on this.
-[X] Tactics – Fly out of his reach and try and nova him down with fire attacks immediately is the basic plan here. If he weathers those and there's no round break, we try and whittle down his defenses a little with relatively cheap attacks.
0~0~0
"So, your husband against my second, eh?" Hal casually asks as you finish swapping out your Fast-stowed tricks. He was watching you all the while, so he knows what used to be in your Fasts, but that won't tell him what they now contain. "How'd you meet the big guy anyways?"
You grin as fond memories bring warm feelings. "It's a bit of a long story, so I'll just say that I saved him from getting stuck in a tree and leave it at that." A shared laugh slips free from both your lips as a thought occurs to you. "Say, Hal, do you have a wife or somebody waiting for you back in Vestfold?"
The smile freezes on Hal's face, "I, uh, something like that, yeah," he coughs and waves a hand towards the sparring field, "Regardless," a sharp edge gleams in his eye as he locks his with yours, "we've got a spar to fight."
As the grins fade into sighs and tension falls across the sparring field, Hal's lack of weapons stands out prominently. A man like him would have more then enough silver for a skillfully crafted sword, let alone a fine axe or sax, so where are they? He doesn't even have a work-knife, for crying out loud!
Despite his apparent lack of weapons, you can't help but shiver as dread trickles down your spine. After all, you know all too well that a lack of arms does not mean a lack of danger—Abjorn alone proves that theory.
Twin hearts hammer a harmonic rhythm as steel meets steel. If he's skilled in wrestling, then close is the last place you want to be. As Hal darts forward with crimson fire swirling in his palms, you kick off the ground and let your Fasts release a trick. (Countered)
As a trio of Folded Kindle Spinners burn a path across the tent-filled sparring grounds, another trio of Kindle Spinners race to meet them. Crimson fire strikes red flames and both explode together. However, it's clear to both you and Hal's eyes that your Ignition is stronger—which means that his Kindle Spinners are worthless against you and, more importantly, that your fire is effective against him!
Drawing your hands back, you loose a laugh as a barrage of crimson flames rains down around Hal. He darts this way and that, his eyes never leaving yours as he skillfully dodges in between flaming raindrops. Suddenly, he drives a foot into the ground and throws himself to the side, putting a tent's cloth between you and him.
Your flames swiftly devour the woolen folds of the tent, but it gives him just enough time to emerge with shining metal in his hand. Your eyes widen as you trace the shape of the fleinn in his grasp—where in all the realms did he get that?!
His fleinn-arm draws back as his free hand takes aim, fire raining down around him all the while. He takes a powerful step forward—his full weight adding further momentum to the iron-headed throwing-spear—and lets it fly with all his might behind it.
Crimson orthstirr explodes from the fleinn as it leaves Hal's fingers—a leather strap flapping in his hand. It spins as it flies, crimson power streaking off it in great arms of might. It blurs across the sky at such speeds that you struggle to follow it—but that was never something you had to do. (Honed Trick Attack: 67+6=73 vs Sword Guard: 605+9=614, Sword Guard Wins, but Fleinn disables it!)
A Sword Guard bursting at the seams with orthstirr dives in from where it floated next to your shoulder. Crimson power spills free with every movement as it deftly intercepts the fleinn and smacks it aside, only for something to happen.
As the spectral sword met shining iron, the ghostly material shatters! Though the sword still ruins the fleinn's flight, the throwing-spear still manages to disable your protector. Shattered pieces of your Sword Guard accompany the fleinn as it tumbles through the air.
But even as the fleinn falls, your eyes stay locked to Hal's. After all, something isn't quite right. The way he casually dodged your probing fire barrage was well beyond the capabilities of a mere First-Grade Berserk and the way his latest attack flew just confirmed your suspicions. The bastard's hiding his Frenzy!
As your mind races at speeds far beyond a mortal's ken, Hal's forefinger curls and an invisible length of orthstirr tightens. The fleinn shudders and leaps from the ground towards his outstretched hand. The moment it crosses the halfway point is the moment you make your move.
Flinging out a hand, you let the next trick in your Fast fly free. Spiraling out from your hand is a trio of overlapping fields of stilling force. And as Hal's fingers wrap around his fleinn, so too do the frozen folds of Standstill wrap around his limbs.
He freezes on the spot and his shocked eyes swivel towards yours. A smug grin spreads across your face as crimson lightning crackles across Sagaseeker's blade while he purrs in your hand. Spinning him around, you throw yourself into a laughing, thunderous dive. Fire explodes from both your and Sagaseeker's backs as you stoke yourselves to ever-faster speeds.
Moments before the Flashfire Cleave makes contact, you meet Hal's eyes one last time—just in time to catch the last dregs of false fear. The corners of his mouth quirk up into a smirk as his fingers twitch. The fleinn vanishes as it's replaced by a pair of simple, unadorned swords. The sudden appearance of the swords ruptures Standstill, freeing Hal from its grasp.
Crimson power surges down the lengths of his swords as a pair of small explosions throw them into motion. Iron swings in, racing to strike you as you prepare to deliver the Flashfire Cleave. There's no trick here, it's just a contest between warriors of equal speed. (Halla's Hamr: 115+5=120 vs Hal's Hamr: 43+6=49, Halla Wins! Punctured! 13 Damage!)
As the furnace of your heart stokes your strength to ever-grander heights, you slip through his intercepting blades and drive Sagaseeker's edge into his chest. But just before Sagaseeker strikes iron chain, a crimson flash shines out and your eyes spark.
Thanks to your spark-filled eyes, you spy the flickering shape of a wolf's hide appearing just long enough to absorb the blow before disappearing in that flash.
Hal flips as he's thrown back and he lands on steady feet—undaunted, undamaged, and undeterred. But as he lands, it's not to a breather or a pause in the fight. No. He lands just in time to receive your follow-up charge.
Sparkbomb screams in your palm as he staggers back, only for the trick to sputter out as you make contact with his armor. His steely eyes flash with wolf-like, bloodthirsty joy as he winks and grins. "Looks like I've the better Emberwind, eh?"
Though outwardly calm and collected, you don't miss the spark of relief flashing behind that mask of his. He wasn't sure of his superiority, but that doesn't change the result.
You drive a foot into the ground as your wings surge with strength, but he's just as fast as you. Strips of shaven iron fall from his swords as your defenses race to contain his attacks. (Sharpened Attack #1: 12+6=18 vs Sword Guard: 7+9=16, Attacker Wins! Sharpened Attack #2: 10+6=16 vs Atgeir Bodyguard: 6+9=15, Attacker Wins! Halting Vortex'd!)
As his attacks reduce your Sword and Atgeir Guards to splinters, your hand springs up just in time to catch the blades on a Halting Vortex. As his swords bounce off the spiral of momentum-halting force, you drop the shield and launch yourself into the air. Hal doesn't hesitate and leaps up after you a heartbeat later.
Swiveling around, tongues of crimson flame spill from your hand as you turn to meet the pursuing Hal. Kindle Spinner leaps from your hand, a punishment for the ground-dwelling fools who dare to challenge the goddess of the skies! It burns through the air with a majestic spin to its arc, only for Hal's hand to twitch. (Shield Sacrifice)
His sword disappears, replaced by a simple, poorly-crafted wooden shield. A low-quality shield it may be, but a shield it still is. Though Kindle Spinner reduces it to kindling, the shield does the job it was made for.
Hal's other arm swings down and releases the sword-replacing fleinn. It spins as it flies, crossing the space between you in no time at all. Your hand springs up with Halting Vortex already spinning into existence—that'll stop it in its tracks! (Halting Vortex'd, but Fleinns disable shields and guards)
Stop the fleinn it does, but the weapon punches through the shell of stopping power regardless. Something cracks deep within your soul, in the place where your knowledge of Halting Vortex is stored. It's not broken and the damage will heal quickly—a few seconds at most—but until it does, Halting Vortex cannot be used.
You're forced to drop Halting Vortex as a sword appears in Hal's hand—for fear of him further damaging the trick. The fleinn tumbles through the air as Hal starts to swing. The blade draws closer, the world slowing down as Sagaseeker's words slip into your ears.
"Trust me, mother-mine," he purrs out encouragement as your grip tightens around his haft. "I won't fail you."
Your nod is nearly imperceptible, but you make it all the same. Twisting on the spot, you aim Sagaseeker and let him fly into a blisteringly fast Hefty-Halter Chop. (Halla's Attack: 241+5=246 vs Hal's Attack: 10+6=16, Halla Wins!)
Hal's sword spirals from his hand as Sagaseeker strikes true. His eyes follow the gentle spinning of his sword as you twist around, free a hand from Sagaseeker, and stoke a handful of flames. (Trick Attack: 24+5=29 vs Reinforced Defense: 15+11=26, Attacker Wins! 8 Damage! Armor Pierced!)
Stunned as he is by the impossible speed of Sagaseeker's strike, Hal can only barely muster a basic—if strongly Reinforced—defense as you deliver your own. He crosses his orthstirr-coated arms before his head, but your hand darts under and crimson fire meets the armor over his stomach.
Broken links of iron chain explode out as the force sends Hal hurtling to the ground. He hits the dirt with a heavy crunch, but a fall from that height matters little to a man of Hal's strength. Hal grits his teeth as he climbs to his feet—just in time for you to give him something that does matter. (Shield Sacrificed)
Another Kindle Spinner comes spiraling from the sky, only to meet the wooden surface of another poorly-constructed shield. The wood splinters and disintegrates under the force, but it fulfills its purpose all the same. It gives Hal all the time he needs to bend down and scoop up a rock.
His eyes meet yours as crimson power coats the rock with both his strength and Puncture. Taking a step forward, he whips the rock forward with all his might. As the rock streaks across the sky, he's already gathering more from the ground. In the blink of an eye, they too will join their brother in their flight.
You have a split-second to make a decision here. You can either deliver Hefty-Halter-Chops to each of the incoming rocks—a true waste of orthstirr—or... You can accept the blow, let it strip your Reinforce Layers, and then use the opportunity to plan and reassess.
You nod to yourself as you make up your mind. As the trick-enhanced rock strikes your orthstirr-coated armor, it triggers the coating of explosive strength you layered in. The explosion devours it and its fellows as you throw yourself to the ground under the smokescreen.
The sparring grounds are even further ruined. There's only a single tent left standing, though there are plenty of rocks scattered about. Small fires burn everywhere you look, the leftovers from your battle so far.
Hal Wolfhound is a dangerous man, that much is clear. Overall, he's physically stronger than you but lacks the same mental fortitude. He thinks slower then you do, is what that essentially means. He beats you out on Frenzy and is clearly very clever, but you have the greater Hugr between the two of you.
He has access to Ignition (Weaker) and Emberwind (Stronger), though it's not clear if he has any Alloys or not. He's got some kind of 'hot-swap' ability, that allows him to swap out his weapons at a near-if-not-truly-instantaneous speed.
He himself is not hurt, though his armor is damaged. Something appeared to protect him from an attack, something you're not entirely sure on the details. Is it part of his fylgja? Maybe! Either way, you've got a spar to fight.
Hal is planning on ramping up the aggression. He's going to try and force you into positions where you either take damage or give up in some other way.
Endurance: (13/13) | Frenzy: (5/5) (+5 to all Combat Rolls) | Armor Health: (17/17) (+4 to Defense)
Orthstirr: (35/623) | Odr: (16)
( ) Frami: 208 | ( ) Virthing: 208 | ( ) Saemd: 207
Sagaseeker has 49 orthstirr in his reservoir.
Your Armor has 13 orthstirr in its reservoir.
Shapeshifting is granting you (+1 Damage and +1 Attack-Speed)
Your combat pool is 104d6 and you have 0d6 Stoked Dice
What do you do?
[ ] (Plan Name)
-[ ] (Dice) Attack
-[ ] (Dice) Defense
-[ ] (Dice) Intercept
-[ ] (Dice) (Trick) (Orthstirr)
-[ ] Tactics Write in
0~0~0
AN: The hiatus is now over—until this supply of medicine runs out, of course. It'll last me till early September, so we've got some time until then.
15-minute moratorium. I hope this was up to snuff, I'm a little bit out of practice.
The smile freezes on Hal's face, "I, uh, something like that, yeah," he coughs and waves a hand towards the sparring field, "Regardless," a sharp edge gleams in his eye as he locks his with yours, "we've got a spar to fight."
So, given his reaction here, I'd say either he's sleeping with a married woman or his lover is male. My money is on the latter. This fellow doesn't seem to be the type to have an affair, although we obviously don't know him all that well.
I feel that this is either Fast fuckery or Armory Pocket fuckery, also those throwing spear fleinn thingys are bullshit. Lets get some of them if its an inherent feature that they fuck up defences.
Hmm. Interesting, could've gone better, could've gone worse. We need to figure out and duplicate that Shield/Guard-Break he has with Fleinn with our Atgeir or Sword. That's good stuff.
Otherwise, I'm not sure what we do, honestly. We could return to range or stay in melee and activate Mire Ward. Either seems defensible. Not much point in Guards vs. this guy so we won't make any more, we'll just defend with Perfects and rolled defenses to back them up. Dunno what we do aside from that.
Obviously we Stoke at least two Aspects and probably all three.
Maybe. If so, I guess we need to get one? I actually have no idea what a Fleinn even is. Google searches were uninformative beyond something spear-like.
Maybe. If so, I guess we need to get one? I actually have no idea what a Fleinn even is. Google searches were uninformative beyond something spear-like.
@Imperial Fister
if we somehow managed to restore the sight to aki's left eye. would that do something more than merely giving him the ability to see out of that eye.
I'm aware, but I was thinking that was an effect of a Fleinn Hugareida. It could just be the weapon itself but that does sort of bring up the question of why fleinns have a potentially game-breaking special ability and none of the other weapons we've used seem to have anything of the kind.
Your flames swiftly devour the woolen folds of the tent, but it gives him just enough time to emerge with shining metal in his hand. Your eyes widen as you trace the shape of the fleinn in his grasp—where in all the realms did he get that?!
Moments before the Flashfire Cleave makes contact, you meet Hal's eyes one last time—just in time to catch the last dregs of false fear. The corners of his mouth quirk up into a smirk as his fingers twitch. The fleinn vanishes as it's replaced by a pair of simple, unadorned swords. The sudden appearance of the swords ruptures Standstill, freeing Hal from its grasp.
His sword disappears, replaced by a simple, poorly-crafted wooden shield. A low-quality shield it may be, but a shield it still is. Though Kindle Spinner reduces it to kindling, the shield does the job it was made for.
He has access to Ignition (Weaker) and Emberwind (Stronger), though it's not clear if he has any Alloys or not. He's got some kind of 'hot-swap' ability, that allows him to swap out his weapons at a near-if-not-truly-instantaneous speed.
Sparkbomb screams in your palm as he staggers back, only for the trick to sputter out as you make contact with his armor. His steely eyes flash with wolf-like, bloodthirsty joy as he winks and grins. "Looks like I've the better Emberwind, eh?"
@Imperial Fister what is causing the guard break? Is it just the weapon being a fleinn or some Trick, and if it's the weapon what benefits do other weapons get that are remotely as good? Because that's miles better than anything we've seen any particular weapon type allow...by, like, several orders of magnitude.
Moments before the Flashfire Cleave makes contact, you meet Hal's eyes one last time—just in time to catch the last dregs of false fear. The corners of his mouth quirk up into a smirk as his fingers twitch. The fleinn vanishes as it's replaced by a pair of simple, unadorned swords. The sudden appearance of the swords ruptures Standstill, freeing Hal from its grasp.
Maybe. If so, I guess we need to get one? I actually have no idea what a Fleinn even is. Google searches were uninformative beyond something spear-like.
the guard break is either material or rune effect, i think.
...Norse Mythology had "invincible being wounded by something" in it too, right? probably a similar material to that, or just a rune phrase to the effect of "The defenses are broken as the gates of X" or something relating to a siege?
as for ideas what to do... i think we are free to use shatter wrist or stunning strike.
Perhaps try to drown him in ignition tricks?
