More seriously, killing you off when you decided to place your trust in me would've been a surefire way for you to never trust me again. While I am a QM through and through and enjoy watching you squirm, I'm not out to break your trust in me.
That's nice to know now and for the future, but I an honestly say that when I voted to place Halla's fate in your hands back then, I gave it fifty-fifty odds on whether or not she would survive and voted for it anyway.
Scheduled vote count started by Imperial Fister on Jan 13, 2024 at 2:49 PM, finished with 64 posts and 20 votes.
[X] Plan Let's Not Go Outside
-[X] Ask Stigmar and Abjorn if there's anyone in their family lines they'd like to consult or speak to.
-[X] Talk to the cold eyed woman quietly eating a table away
-[X] Ask the Boar for something
--[X] Food and drink for your group
--[X] News and rumors
[X] Plan We Can Do Three Things
-[X] Ask Stigmar and Abjorn if there's anyone in their family lines they'd like to consult or speak to.
-[X] Go outside and watch the fight for a bit, see if we can see anything interesting.
-[X] Talk to the cold eyed woman quietly eating a table away
There was no loss in this situation and that was what ultimately convinced a majority of voters to vote for it. The thread was very against it until it was made explicit by WoG that there was basically no real thing to Lose.
That was IF taking over after saying he had a really cool and climactic scene in mind. You'll note that it's probably the most bold thing she's ever done, and almost every vote before we swapped to giving IF control was 'run away and maybe throw out a finale to dissuade following'.
You mean when we stacked the deck against him and basically didn't engage him until we had numbers superiority? That wasn't exactly a brave fight, it was basically forced on us.
This is like the one, singular time in the whole thread where we took an action that could have serious consequences and did the bold thing for rewards. And even then we only got into that situation to begin with because IF/The Nornir overwrote your guy's exceptionally tricky deck stacking manuever and forced Halla into a one on one. No one wanted a one on one before that.
We have voted to turn down dangerous fights, to hedge bets until everything is a sure thing, so continually through the story that yeah, I think Bold is a misnomer.
I mean, that's clearly not true? It's a good a analogy, but the situation like, Piccolo watching Goku and Vegeta fight. The gap between us and these guys is not so large as between Superman and a regular person. We're very far from helpless.
There is not a robust, evidence-based case which can be sustained for this mindset which treats us like a fragile little mouse. It's coming from somewhere else.
Eh, I remember Halla went to that dead realm to get Aki back and really freaked out at how powerful that goddess we met was when she flexed her muscles. Not wanting to risk fights with individuals far more powerful than her fits in with how Halla reacted back then.
The situations are not comparable. We are far older, the relative gap is smaller, and we can literally stop time and could probably dodge any attack not deliberately aimed at us. It's not like worrying about accidentally pulling a lion's whiskers.
I mean, that's clearly not true? It's a good a analogy, but the situation like, Piccolo watching Goku and Vegeta fight. The gap between us and these guys is not so large as between Superman and a regular person. We're very far from helpless.
Fair enough. Maybe it would be better to describe us as a soldier during an alien invasion, we're not going to get vaporized arbitrarily but if someone peels away from the fight and tries to kill us it could go very bad very quickly.
We're clearly standing away from the scrum and just watching the fight, so whilst an element of risk exists, I think it's a limited one, and at most would present a moderate challenge in where we have to dodge crossfire in exchange for gaining a Hugareida rank-up or something. (The more likely scenario is it's just scenery.) But instead we kneejerk towards the most extreme possibilities of peril - and this becomes basically impossible to argue against because the most remote disaster scenarios are treated as certainties, despite this objectively not being how Fister writes the quest.
I mean, an actual deific being said "I can't recommend going out while you wait"...that's not a warning that should just be casually dismissed with 'nothing bad will happen'. You generally seem to assume that no matter what we do things will turn out fine and minimize risks and that's...really not true historically. We've been warned about getting overconfident quite a lot.
IF has also actually brought up the 'einherjar will just kill you, forgetting you can't come back' thing several times when talking about them. And we got this specific warning despite being people capable of coming to Folkvangr and showing the spotlight effect of Odr cultivators...the combination makes it seem real likely that something more than just getting to watch is likely to happen. Us getting blindsided by some sort of fairly extreme attack is very well foreshadowed.
And the real worry (and what got my vote away from going out) was, in fact, Shard bringing up Finales. A lot of those are AoE or otherwise might hit even bystanders, and the only defense we have against them is other Finales, which might not be sufficient if the Finale we're avoiding is Perfected since ours are only Mastered. Is that a sure 'we're gonna die'? No of course not, but it is a risk. And it's also one for our comrades...Stigmar and Abjorn are not gonna let Halla go out alone...could we save them with TSS? Maybe, but it's probably even more of a maybe.
Should we have gone out anyway? Also maybe. I was fairly torn to be honest, and presented the option partially simply because it seemed like there should be such an option, rather than the only voting option for the full three things taking the risk, but it was certainly not a risk free option to go outside.
We definitely should go outside - the idea of locking in an Experience of seeing (half) of the world's greatest warriors to ever live is well worth that, even if that's all we gained from it.
The risk is less major since we can defend ourselves pretty well, with multiple perfect-type defenses, including ones that work against Puncture.
The only things we have that work against Puncture are TSS and Stutter Step and the latter is really bad against the kind of things likely to have collateral damage. I'm very dubious about anything other than TSS allowing us to dodge the kind of things being thrown around in Einherjar level combat (and certainly TSS is the only one we could use to protect Abjorn and Stigmar as well). TSS probably does allow for dodging most of them, most of the time, but we don't have a good barometer on what 'most' is likely to mean.
I mean, even ignoring the Jotun fight (because yeah, that was IF more than us)...fighting a berserk in single combat and taking the forefront of battles regularly are pretty bold, to say nothing of taking on adult Norsemen in combat while still a child when Halfdan's home was burning, and fighting a 5th Decade priest in single combat or challenging a Knight's Manor on her first raid (the latter while pregnant)...the riddle contest with the Jotun was also us, and straight-up risked Halla's life (and pregnancy) for something she did not personally need (our farm could have made it through the famine fine), as was taking Alfred's mercenary job (which we did not have to take) and so on. Halla takes risks pretty regularly...not literally every time, but then she's Bold, not Reckless.
I'd say that the thread's decisions have gotten slightly more conservative over time as Halla has gradually accumulated more and more to lose, but that's realistic even for a Bold person, I think, and we still make fairly Bold decisions pretty regularly.
Hell, look at this whole thing with Drysalt...as a thread we haven't even considered just moving to Farbjorn's lands in the Danelaw rather than face something literally unkillable...we instead decided to head to the Heart of the Hading and then Folkvangr, figure out how to mess him up anyway, and are making methodical plans to do so. That's pretty bold by all reasonable definitions. Ditto our continuing cultivation experiments...sure, we try and be careful with those, but we could also just stop, they've already killed us once, after all, but that's not happening.
We have voted to turn down dangerous fights, to hedge bets until everything is a sure thing, so continually through the story that yeah, I think Bold is a misnomer.
I mean...what fights specifically are you referring to that we've turned down? There's the Moonless Night thing where we decided not to go it alone, but that was an isolated incident in many ways. What other than that? We do try and stack the deck but that's where the 'bold, not reckless' thing comes in...you need to be stupid not to do that when you have the option.
I'm going to need a hamingja check for Halla (34 dice)
I'm going to need a hamingja check for Abjorn (25 dice)
I'm going to need a hamingja check for Stigmar (18 dice)
I'm going to need a hamingja check for Hasvir (30 dice)
[X] Plan Let's Not Go Outside
-[X] Ask Stigmar and Abjorn if there's anyone in their family lines they'd like to consult or speak to.
-[X] Talk to the cold eyed woman quietly eating a table away
-[X] Ask the Boar for something
--[X] Food and drink for your group
--[X] News and rumors
0~0~0
The sounds of battle fill your ears with a song so sweet you'd think you were dreaming. It takes every ounce of strength in your body to not leap from your seat to watch more legends and true experts do their work. Alas, such things are not do be, for though you do not fear death, you do fear the shame of leaving your travelling companions abandoned.
As such, there's nothing for it but trying your damndest to ignore the ringing of swords and clashing of iron just beyond the door. Like drawing yourself from the deepest, most restful of slumbers, you pull your mind away and turn it upon your companions sitting next to you in a house in the hall of a God.
Abjorn, as always, looks more or less content with his situation as he chases around the last portions of soup with a chunk of torn-off bread. The Boar had brought mead and fine food for you to eat, as is the custom of any good host, and you and yours were making the most of it. The only person close to challenging Abjorn's appetite is Hasvir, but even he falls behind the endless abyss that is a Giant Blooded's stomach.
Of course, you know him well enough to know that he's just using food as a way to cope with how out of his depth he truly is. Laying a hand on his shoulder, you offer him a silent smile as you turn your gaze to the next of your companions.
Stigmar Kersson is many things, but in his element is not one of them. Seated directly to your left and closest to the door, his pupils dilate and his muscles tense whenever the door so happens to rattle in its hinges—the result of some massive attack or another that shakes the very foundations of the house.
As the door rattles and shakes once more, Stigmar grits his teeth and has enough, "I..." he sighs before the words even leave his lips and slumps down in his chair, "What am I even doing here?"
Abjorn pauses in his eating as Hasvir's lips thin. A frown crosses your face as you turn towards your sworn shield, "Is everything alright, Stigmar?"
He sucks down a sharp hiss and shakes his head, "No, no it's... Well," his shoulders fall as he lets his head hang, "I just shouldn't be here, you know?" He snorts and looks away, "What am I saying? Of course you of all people don't know!"
"Stigmar, what are you saying?" You shuffle around until you're facing him fully, hints of worry creeping their way into your heart. "What is it that I don't know?"
"What it's like to be a normal person," Stigmar's words are sharp and shocking, his eyes wide like even he didn't mean to say it like that. But it's too late now to stop himself, "Like, Abjorn's got the blood of giants racing through his veins and Hasvir's impressive in his own right, not to mention that you're you," he waves a hand at you, as if to emphasis how you you are, "In comparison to that, to the caliber of people who'd find themselves in Vallhalla or Folkvangr, what right have I to be here even as a visitor?"
"Stigmar," your brows furrow as you lean in, "you are my sworn shield and you go where I go, you've said it yourself more times than I can count. Your right to be here is the same as mine."
Stigmar squints at you, "Is it? Is it really? I'm your sworn shield, but that's all I've got going for me. I'm not Stigulf, I'm not Stigandr, I don't have any special bloodline heritage or once-in-a-generation genius talent, I'm just me." He scoffs and shakes his head, "It's not like I'm even a very good sworn shield anyway. When have you ever needed my services?"
Though it, admittedly, does take you a few seconds to recall any situation where Stigmar... Well, when his shield protected you, you do manage to find one. "There was the time during the revenge raid!"
He stares at you, eyes half-lidded and unblinking, "Halla, I watched you explode two people in the blink of an eye and you're telling me you wouldn't have dodged that? I had enough time to climb to my feet and run over there, for crying out loud! If I didn't know any better," a hint of bitterness slips under his words as he sighs, "I'd have thought you were doing that just so I could have a chance to shine."
...Could he be right? It's not like you remember all that much about that fight—most of it just being a blur to your memories—and certainly nothing of what you were thinking at the time. Maybe he is right. Maybe you were trying, even subconsciously, to do something like that...
"Why does it matter?" Hasvir's words catch the both of you off-guard, "Seriously, does it matter if you do or don't have the right to be here? It's not going to change anything either way."
"But it should!" Stigmar throws his hands to the sky as he jumps to his feet, anger on his face. "It should matter, because if I, a useless nobody, can get in, then what's the point of having it in the first place?!"
"Maybe you do have a bloodline heritage thing and you just don't know it?" Abjorn speaks up as anger flashes in Hasvir's eyes. All eyes fall to Abjorn as he shrugs, "We're in Folkvangr, after all, it might be a good opportunity to look around for ancestors who might be able to teach us."
"That's..." Stigmar sighs as he sits back down, "a good idea."
"One I imagine our boar friend would be able to help us with," Hasvir adds as he nods towards the bristle-backed boar—a younger boar than the one who had met you at the entrance—in the corner, who had been silently watching and waiting to serve you whatever you wish. "Boar!" Hasvir snaps his fingers as the boar blinks, "Is there anyway of finding out if we have relatives in Freyja's service?"
The boar shuffles forward as he adjusts the flimsy pair of glasses balancing upon his snout, "There are, yes, and I shall consult the namekeepers of any Einherjar who may be your kin." Turning towards the door, the boar starts to trot before pausing and looking back over his shoulder, "Before I leave, are there any more requests for food?"
"Mutton, please!" You're not one to waste a chance for your favorite food, not when it's given so earnestly!
"What would you like on it?" The boar's next question, however, pulls you up short. Your silent blink is all the answer the boar needs as a sigh leaves his lips, "I'll just tell the chefs to do their best, how about that?"
"Works for me!" You reply with a grin as the boar nods and steals away out the door, leaving the room in silence save for the crackling hearth fire.
Time passes quickly in the awkward silence that follows, too quick for it to be natural. The hearth never needs to be stoked nor does it need more fuel, it simply burns with the same heat, with the same intensity, for as long as you desire. You get the feeling that it would even shut off should you leave it unattended.
In what feels like the blink of an eye, the door swings open and the boar re-enters with a cold-eyed woman in tow. She's clothed in a flowing dress of falcon-feathers and is clearly older than she looks, her pale gray eyes give it away.
She takes the lone seat that wasn't there a moment ago—when it appeared is a mystery, for your memories tell you it always was there but your mind simply can't accept that as an answer—and laces her fingers in her lap, "I am Locri, a namekeeper, and I am here to answer questions of heritage."
You exchange glances as you look around the room in silence, nobody overly eager to be the first person to speak. Sighing to yourself, you guess you might as well go first.
"I'll go," you say as Locri nods, "do I have any relatives in Folkvangr?" Halla's Hamingja (Hamingja: 22) 22, Superior Success
"Halla Sunshine," the namekeeper speaks, clearly not needing to know your name, "you have five relatives on your mother's side in Sessrumnir."
Building up his strength, Abjorn goes next, "Do I have any relatives in Folkvangr?' Abjorn's Hamingja (Hamingja: 15+1) 16, a Fine Success
"Abjorn Bearbreaker," the namekeeper's eyes glow ever-so-slightly as she speaks, "you have four kinsmen in Folkvangr. Three from your mother and one from your father."
Gritting his teeth, Stigmar goes after as he stares dead center on the namekeeper, "Alright, what've you got for me?" Stigmar's Hamingja (Hamingja: 24+2) 26, a Grand Success
"Stigmar Kersson," the corners of her mouth twitch upwards as she eventually continues, "you have six kinsmen in the service of Freyja. Four from your father, two from your mother."
Stigmar blinks as a weight seems to fall from his shoulders, "C-can I meet them?"
This time, the boar answers, "Of course, you'll just need to catch them in the morning, before the daily war begins."
Stigmar nods like a tree in the wind, "I-I will, yes."
"And the last?" Locri turns to Hasvir, who shrugs.
"I don't really care, to be honest. All that matters is that I'm going to be here," he jams a finger to his chest before pausing and adding, "or in Valhalla."
"Very well," Locri nods before standing up and offering a short bow, "I will see to it that your families are notified of your presence. Good day to you all."
With that, she turns and leaves out the way she came. The boar shuffles forward to take her place in the semi-circle, "I recommend you get some sleep, for the day comes quicker than you may expect." After speaking such cryptic words, the boar trots on over to the corner to curl up with his eyes closed.
A soft snore soon fills the air as you exchange shrugs with your companions and do the same. In the morning, there'll be time for questions to ask.
When it is morning, however, what will you do? You'll only get the chance to speak with one before the time comes for the war to begin, so you'd best choose wisely.
[ ] Speak with Hasvir Hadingshero
[ ] Speak with your mother's kinsmen
0~0~0
AN: And there we go, update done.
No moratorium, I'll probably leave this one open for a bit.
Argh, the temptation is real. But on the other hand, we're here to do a job. Argh. We could maybe stay one more day and talk with our mother's kinsmen (that would be three days total), but the job comes first.
