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NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

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Skippy said:
Yes, but I am willing to bet actual money that Runor and Framarr must have known it too, and IF simply did not consider them in the list of viable options, given they're dead. Solrun has textually stated to us that she told it to Framarr initially, and Runor must have known to start this mess in the first place.
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He didn't say "The only living people"

he said "The only three sources of this information".

Presumably, even if we through unspeakable arts, managed to get them, and managed to compel them to talk somehow despite us having no leverage on them. They'd just find their memories gone like Blackhand's have been.

The impression I get is that this is very much a Self Keeping Secret for the most part.
 
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Alectai said:
He didn't say "The only living people"

he said "The only three sources of this information".

Presumably, even if we through unspeakable arts, managed to get them, and managed to compel them to talk somehow. They'd just find their memories gone like Blackhand's have been.

The impression I get is that this is very much a Self Keeping Secret for the most part.
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I don't think it's some sort of antiemetic property like that, I think IF simply did not include dead people whose souls who are probably in Hel's realm in a list of "people", for abundantly obvious reasons.

But it's a wildcard solution which is worth considering.
 
Skippy said:
I don't think it's some sort of antiemetic property like that, I think IF simply did not include dead people whose souls who are probably in Hel's realm in a list of "people", for abundantly obvious reasons.

But it's a wildcard solution which is worth considering.
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It sounds like a solution that's worse than the Problem to me.
 
Huh, not being willing even to save his daughter's life... kinda makes me downgrade my assessment of Runor from "maybe in over his head" to "probably a bad dude". Although it's also possible that he's just really stubborn and still holding onto a lot of bad feelings from the whole affair.

Anyway, here's my vote.

[X] Refuse her charge and let her live
-[X] "Solrun, I think I can guess the secret you carry. But it is not worth your life to me."
-[X] "If I can't banish Drysalt, then I suppose I'll just have to settle for killing him instead."
 
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Skippy, the "Secret" you deduced doesn't help us at all though.

It's a ballpark guess, but we have no data and no ability to suss it out, and it's explicitly obtuse enough that there's no real way to allude to it.

Presumably, if Drysalt could be killed normally, Hasvir Hadinghero would have done so. And he was an Odr Cultivator who was a comparable badass to Blackhand.
 
Alectai said:
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Skippy, the "Secret" you deduced doesn't help us at all though.

It's a ballpark guess, but we have no data and no ability to suss it out, and it's explicitly obtuse enough that there's no real way to allude to it.

Presumably, if Drysalt could be killed normally, Hasvir Hadinghero would have done so. And he was an Odr Cultivator who was a comparable badass to Blackhand.
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Sorry, I think you've misread me? I'm was not suggesting that it does help us. Apologies for the miscommunication.

Knowing that the secret of Drysalt summoning/banishment exists does nothing for us without knowing the details. We'd need Solrun, Dorri, or Drysalt to tell us - I don't think there's any way to suss it out from first principles, unless there's some incredibly subtle hints that have been dropped. But honestly we know very little about Drysalt to begin with.

No, I think we're just going to have to do it the hard way.
 
Skippy said:
Sorry, I think you've misread me? I'm not suggesting that it does help us

Knowing that the secret of Drysalt summoning/banishment exists does nothing for us without knowing the details. We'd need Solrun, Dorri, or Drysalt to tell us - I don't think there's any way to suss it out from first principles, unless there's some incredibly subtle hints that have been dropped. But honestly we know very little about Drysalt to begin with.

No, I think we're just going to have to do it the hard way.
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If the information doesn't exist, how do you expect to get it?

More importantly, how do you expect to get Dorri to spill? Because getting Drysalt to spill is laughable, given how he apparently could have taken Last Stand Steinarr on. If we corner him, he'll have every incentive in the world to take that knowledge to his grave, and IF just confirmed that even if we could interrogate the others involved, they straight up wouldn't tell us under any circumstances.

There is no magical way to narrow things down, and the stakes are as high as they come. Are you willing to ante up Halla's family and friends up to buy Solrun a few more years?

Because that's the price if we fuck this up. The last time Drysalt had free reign to ruin everything, the Hading was practically depopulated. And they weren't nearly as threatening as Halla and her family are.

This is solving a puzzle where the variables are all hidden, and you only get one shot to deduce it. It cannot be done
 
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[X] Accept her charge and doom Solrun to death

Sooo, price of life is death etc and otherwise, I feel this makes a better narrative beat for NorseQuest. Solrun is already halfway to death's door, and lumping obligations on Halla is a good narrative tangle to add to the story. You can see the weight and narrative beat held out for us, it's there to be written into tale and tune. The actual value of the information is somewhat less than that to me.
 
Skippy said:
I don't.

I think we are just going to kill Drysalt.
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Oh, okay.

You just expect to kill something that could have thrown down with Last Stand Steinarr, an absolute unit who chewed through an entire 40 man felag of Heljarskinn's handpicked elites and only actually bit the dust because it was his Fated Day.

And that it'll actually stick, because clearly we're stronger than Hasvir Hadinghero was in his prime.

Got it.

Look, I'm admittedly getting a bit sarcastic here, but you are literally going "Buying Solrun a few more years of life is worth risking our entire family, community, and friends ramming our head against an Absolute Peak Level Monster who almost singlehandedly depopulated the Hading, and he's had the better part of a century to get even better since.

I repeat, our High Water Mark for Terrifying Combat Strength was Last Stand Steinarr.

Drysalt could have taken him.

I sincerely doubt we can round up a stronger killteam than that. And that assumes Drysalt faces us alone, rather than with a bunch of the monsters that he's apparently been recruiting on the sly.
 
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On the flipside of this, not bringing Solrun into the Vestfold arc is sighhh, yet another path sacrificed on the altar of choices made moment.

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Having said all that you guys need to chill out and take breathers, hypocritical as it may be coming from me.
 
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Alectai said:
I sincerely doubt we can round up a stronger killteam than that. And that assumes Drysalt faces us alone, rather than with a bunch of the monsters that he's apparently been recruiting on the sly.
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I mean, we can sic Corpsemaker on him. A Steelfather is on par with Last Stand Steinarr only invulnerable, which is impressive. Dunno if it'll be enough, but it's worth bearing in mind we do actually probably have a kill team stronger than Last Stand Steinarr available.
 
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
I mean, we can sic Corpsemaker on him. A Steelfather is on par with Last Stand Steinarr only invulnerable, which is impressive. Dunno if it'll be enough, but it's worth bearing in mind we do actually probably have a kill team stronger than Last Stand Steinarr.
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I mean, that might work, but it also might not--we know they've been poking around to find a Solution to Corpsemaker, and things that can take out a Steelfather aren't unheard of, just Deep Lore and Secrets.

And Drysalt's had almost a century to figure this shit out while nobody was watching him.

He's also not, you know, compelled to fight to the death. Worst comes to worst, he throws his monsters out and goes to ground for another century, waiting until the head dies down. He's apparently ageless, we're not. Time favors him and there's absolutely nothing compelling him to pick a losing fight.

Whatever this Secret is, it's important to winning, and it's important enough that Solrun feels like it's worth her life. Assuming we can just brute force our way through that anyway feels like it's folly.
 
Alectai said:
Oh, okay.

You just expect to kill something that could have thrown down with Last Stand Steinarr, an absolute unit who chewed through an entire 40 man felag of Heljarskinn's handpicked elites and only actually bit the dust because it was his Fated Day.

And that it'll actually stick, because clearly we're stronger than Hasvir Hadinghero was in his prime.

Got it.

Look, I'm admittedly getting a bit sarcastic here, but you are literally going "Buying Solrun a few more years of life is worth risking our entire family, community, and friends ramming our head against an Absolute Peak Level Monster who almost singlehandedly depopulated the Hading, and he's had the better part of a century to get even better since.

I repeat, our High Water Mark for Terrifying Combat Strength was Last Stand Steinarr.

Drysalt could have taken him.
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Yes, it's crazy to think we could kill a Troll king who had deliberately fortified himself against the light of the sun with sorcery.

Why, to do that, you'd need some kind of legendary hero who could wield sunlight itself as a weapon, and was a powerful witch to boot.

Clearly an impossible task, not something IF has obviously been building up to throughout most of the Quest as one of our final antagonists if you had the narrative reading comprehension of a fruit scone.

Who would have the sheer temerity to suggest that the hero would kill the monster in a story?
 
Skippy said:
Yes, it's crazy to think we could kill a Troll king who had deliberately fortified himself against the light of the sun with sorcery.

Why, to do that, you'd need some kind of legendary hero who could wield sunlight itself as a weapon, and was a powerful witch to boot.

Clearly an impossible task, not something IF has obviously been building up to throughout most of the Quest as one of our final antagonists if you had the narrative reading comprehension of a fruit scone.

Who would have the sheer temerity to suggest that the hero would kill the monster in a story?
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Alright, I think we should probably both step back and cool off. There's no way this argument ends anywhere other than us getting infracted if we carry on.

We'll both have to agree to disagree and see where the votes shake out.
 
Alectai said:
I mean, that might work, but it also might not--we know they've been poking around to find a Solution to Corpsemaker, and things that can take out a Steelfather aren't unheard of, just Deep Lore and Secrets.

And Drysalt's had almost a century to figure this shit out while nobody was watching him.

He's also not, you know, compelled to fight to the death. Worst comes to worst, he throws his monsters out and goes to ground for another century, waiting until the head dies down. He's apparently ageless, we're not. Time favors him and there's absolutely nothing compelling him to pick a losing fight.
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Oh certainly, though I'll note that Corpsemaker is also eternal. I'm not saying killing Drysalt is easy or even that Corpsemaker can do it, I'm just noting that saying we don't have better than Steinarr level kill squads is inaccurate, we very probably do.
 
A couple years on the hyperbolic boat chamber and we will be better than Steinnar. 😉

Anyways i think this secret potentially is the difference between an easier victory with less losses and a hard fought epic victory where the Hading is scarred forever. We might be able to kill Drysalt without it, but I expect it to come at great cost. Far greater than one person's life.
 
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I apologise for getting sarcastic there.

But in all seriousness, I think this sort of reflexive refusal to think of ourself as an epic hero who is capable of doing heroic deeds kind of holds us back a bit? It's a self-limiting mindset. Drysalt isn't a named character from the Sagas. He isn't a god. He isn't even a Jotun. He's just a monster. Sure, if you live in the Hading he's a big deal, but if you asked someone a couple of Jarldoms away?

In a raw power matchup, absolutely, Drysalt is still likely a couple leagues ahead of us, and stronger than Steinarr was. But IF has repeatedly hit us around the head with the lesson that raw power level comparisons can matter a lot less than what abilities you have and how you are able to use them. We have abilities that Steinar never had, and including some powers which seem like such obvious silver bullets that you can read the "Chekov Firearms and Ammo Co, Ltd." stamped on the casing.

Killing Drysalt wouldn't be some totally unbelievable achievement. It would be one of Halla's more notable heroic deeds in her early twenties. Blackhand was probably knocking off the Drysalts of the world when he was a teenager.
 
KittyEmpress said:
A couple years on the hyperbolic boat chamber and we will be better than Steinnar. 😉
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Taking couple as 'two':

2 Years x 365 Days/Year x 31 exp/Day = 22630 exp
730 Days x 6 Odr/Day = 4380 Odr

Well I guess that's enough exp to guess Hamr, Hugr and Fylgja to 27 with like 13k exp to spare, then perfect every trick we have right now, then get to infusions ~12ish to everything. Plus about 18.25 Bad Events, and probably need a million words or two to get to the end. That'd probably burn out IF's writesight for good.
 
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