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NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

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My only sorta issue is aren't like most magic tricks and such that people get are from Muna aka a highly personal experience. Well excluding stuff like the campfire type
 
Lunoros said:
My only sorta issue is aren't like most magic tricks and such that people get are from Muna aka a highly personal experience. Well excluding stuff like the campfire type
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Seidr and normal Tricks are both entirely teachable. Of our current non-skill Tricks (ie: ones that cost orthstirr and are thus 'magical'), we have 11-13 that could be taught (depending on whether you consider Rough Tricks in the count), and only 6 that couldn't be due to being Hugareida and we lean heavier on Hugareida than average (doubled capacity, remember?).

Like, Hone, Reinforce, Reinforce Shield, Power Chop, Leaping Cleave, even First Impression and Probe Trick are all mystical powers in a sense...they cost orthstirr to use and do something miraculous (and even visibly so in the case of most combat tricks). We've learned them from dad for the most part (and maybe the social ones from mom? We started with those at 12 so who knows where they're from), but not everyone has as skilled an instructor, and we are thus limited to ones he has or can advise us on. A library we could look through for specific stuff rather than asking dad 'Hey, what have you got for X?' and needing to accept his answer.

Now, some tricks can clearly be figured out on your own, but codifying them is still gonna help a lot.

And even on Hugareida, there seem to be a limited number of them. Not a small number, but limited, so after enough generations of everyone putting their ideas for tricks in their Hugareida into the library (an obvious way to pay for learning other tricks, swapping knowledge for knowledge), there'll probably be at least a few ideas for whatever Hugareida the knowledge-seekers who come there are looking for. Hugareida themselves can't be taught, but as Blackhand's tutelage of us demonstrates, the Tricks can be if you have the right information or a tutor who understands your Hugareida.
 
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Summer 5/Raid 1/Attacking the Manor 4
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Plan Stand By Your Man
    -[X] 27d6 Attack (all tricks)
    -[X] 0d6 Defense
    -[X] 10d6 Intercept (all tricks)
    -[X] Launch a 15d6 Honed x6 Leaping Cleave Attack (-9 orthstirr) on the squire followed up by three 12d6 Honed x6 Power Chop attacks at him as well (-7 Orthstirr each).
    -[X] Prepare a 16d6 Honed x6 Reinforced Intercept (-7 Orthstirr) to protect Abjorn if Halting Vortex fails or is unavilable, or Audrikr if the attack looks lethal
    -[X] In response to any Trick Attack directly targeting us or Abjorn use Halting Vortex (-4 Orthstirr)...if an attack somehow gets through that attempt to Sidestep (-4 Orthstirr) if possible.
    -[X] Tactics – Tell Stigmar to go help Fabvir with the falcon, while moving to back up Abjorn in melee with the squire.
    0~0~0

    "Stigmar, the falcon!"

    Your huskarl stares at you, torn between keeping you safe and following your orders. That single moment of hesitation is all it takes for the Falcon to make its move.

    It throws itself into a dive — wings tucked to its chest and murder in its eyes. Fabvir musters up his golden orthstirr and coats his blade in its might but it's feeble, barely there and as light as a fallen feather. It won't hold up to any real assault, not with that little strength behind it.

    Stigmar's teeth grind together as he makes up his mind.

    Springing into motion, he races across the field of battle — leaving dirt-walled divots in his wake. He's probably the slowest felagi, he's not gonna make it in time!
    (Prayer Attack: 34 vs Trick Defense: 28, Attacker Wins! 2 Endurance Damage Dealt!)
    Stigmar skids to a halt as the Falcon laughs as blood trails behind it from the meaty mass it clutches between talons — the remains of Fabvir's neck.

    Fabvir falls down with a heavy thump, his face flat against the grass as blood pools around him. His orthstirr hasn't left his body, yet, so he's still alive. ...for a given definition of the word, anyways, but he's definitely incapacitated for the rest of the fight and perhaps for the rest of his life, for that matter.

    After all, he's missing his damn neck! That's not exactly something you can slap a Stabilizing Palm on and fix, you know!

    Regardless, the Squire takes a step and — as the Christians say — all Hel breaks loose.

    Water drips from his blade and forms little pools in the grass. Audrikr leaps up, helmet glinting in the sun as he lands between the Squire and Abjorn. Bracing his spear against the ground, he glares as the Squire flows into a waterlogged lunge.
    (Prayer Attack: 56 vs Trick Defense: 38, Attacker Wins! 3 Armor Damage Dealt!)
    Mere moments before the spear would've met armor, the Squire slips into an armor-laden slide. The muddy ground helps him along, smoothing the passage of his body as his armored foot drives against Audrikr's ankle.

    A terrible, straining cry of pain rips from Audrikr as his ankle snaps with a sickening crunch. He falls, just as the Squire rises with sword in hand. Swinging up, he carves through Audrikr's gambeson and bats him aside with great force.

    Audrikr hits the grass with a rolling crunch — leaving nothing between him and your husband.

    Nothing except you, of course.
    (Trick Attack: 53 vs Defense: 44, Attacker Wins! 5 Armor Damage Dealt!)
    You fall through the air, orthstirr streaming off you like water off a cliff. A bloodlust-filled purr rumbles through the air — from you or Sagaseeker, maybe even both.

    Sagaseeker held high above your head, you twist and shift as you fly and bring it down with the thunder of the Gods backing it.

    The Squire stumbles back as if struck by Thor himself. Small cracks spread through the armor as small pieces break free and fall away in the wind.

    With Avow in both hands, Abjorn doesn't waste the opportunity you gave him. Red orthstirr flows as he brings his sword down on the Squire's armored head.
    (Trick Attack: 29 vs Defense: 42, Defender Wins!)
    Only for steel to meet crossguard as the Squire steadies himself. Shoving Abjorn back, he raises an armored foot as Fervor springs from within.
    (Prayer Attack: 55 vs Trick Defense: 33, Attacker Wins! 2 Endurance Damage Dealt!)
    Thinking quickly, Abjorn drives his hand into the ground and takes ahold of the dirt. With the power of his muscles alone, he drags a wall of earth up from the ground just as the kick flies free.

    Squire meets earth and finds it lacking.

    Dirt explodes as Abjorn is sent flying. Avow spins from his hand and lands point down in the ground as he sails through the air.

    The bastard just kicked your husband! You snarl and feel his eyes snap to you as you throw yourself at him.
    (Trick Attack: 34 vs Defense: 54, Defender wins!)
    He spins away from Sagaseeker's path as he brings his word to bear on your exposed back. But before he can strike, Stigmar's already there with gritted teeth and burning eyes.

    Forgoing sword or shield, Stigmar stomps the ground and simply decides to tackle the bastard.
    (Trick Attack: 18 vs Defense: 49, Defender wins!)
    The Squire ducks and Stigmar goes sailing over his head as he turns to meet Sagaseeker's rising form. The Squire's starting to tire, he can't keep this level of defense up forever!
    (Trick Attack: 51 vs Defense: 49, Attacker Wins! 2 Armor Damage Dealt! Armor Penetrated! 1 Focus Damage Dealt!)
    Sagaseeker tears through already weakened armor plating as sends the Squire stumbling back — just as Audrikr's ankle finished healing.

    Winged spear in hand, he aims the shining spearhead square at the back of the Squire's head.
    (Trick Attack: 46 vs Defense: 47, Defender Wins!)
    Only for him to slip ever-so-slightly on the mud and miss his target by a hairsbreadth. Sparks fly as iron grates against iron and the Squire twists, batting the older man away.

    The Squire throws a hand up in the air, palm facing the sky and fingers spread wide. Golden light pours from his hand as he growls out some kind of prayer.

    Before any of you can do anything, he slams his fist against the ground and throws everyone back.

    You land on your back about twice Abjorn's height away from the Squire, but swiftly kick back up to your feet with Sagaseeker in hand. It didn't hurt or anything, but it did damage the flow of combat enough that the Squire is able to center himself and plan.

    Great.

    But before you can start your own planning, a terrible dread washes over you like the ocean on a stormy day.

    A member of the felag just died. The invisible chain of orthstirr snuffed out like a candle. Who it was you don't know — the chains are simply too close together to tell who it was.

    You swallow a gulp, certain that the longer you take here, the more felagi will both Truly and merely Bodily die.

    (Premature Round End: Squire was too pressured)
    (Unspent Orthstirr Refunded)
    0~0~0
    (Hugr (Tactics): 5, 6, 1, 3, 6, 4, 2, 1, 6, 3) 8 Successes

    The Squire is surrounded on all sides by the felag. Abjorn's back on his feet and Avow is back in his hand, though he's looking a little worse for wear. Audrikr's armor is damaged here and there, but is otherwise okay. Stigmar's fine, if looking a little low on orthstirr even with his virthing active — it resembles a cloak of hands clawing at some aimless goal.

    Fabvir, on the other hand, is Bodily Dead, though not Truly Dead. While he isn't Truly Dead, he might as well be as — as far as you know — nobody here has the ability to heal a missing neck. Guess you'll just have to get him to a healer and hope he doesn't rot too much in the mean time.

    The Squire's armor is damaged, but not all that much. He's already shifting his stance to counterbalance the broken parts, meaning that you'll have to break through again. His Focus is steady, for the most part. He's a little lacking in Fervor, probably about half-full if you had to make a guess. He doesn't feel all that much stronger than Gabriel... guess the armor really does make a difference!

    He's planning on taking a more cautious approach — the fires of his rage having cooled slightly. He's likely going to try some kind of movement technique to escape being surrounded, likely... downwards? What?

    The Falcon is looking towards taking a more proactive role and has landed on Abjorn as its next target.

    You have 5/5 Endurance | 8/8 Armor | N/A Shield | 4/4 Reinforce Layers
    You have 90/127 orthstirr in reserve, your Frami (43) and your Virthing (42) are tapped, your Saemd (42) is untapped.
    Sagaseeker has 8 orthstirr in its reservoir
    You can put 0 more points of orthstirr into your Combat Pool.
    You have 37d6 in your Combat Pool

    What do you do?
    [ ] (Plan Name)
    -[ ] (Dice) Attack
    -[ ] (Dice) Defense
    -[ ] (Dice) Intercept
    -[ ] (Dice) (Trick) (Orthstirr)
    -[ ] Tactics Write in

    0~0~0

    AN: Not a whole lot to say here other than that Knights and Squires are fucked up enemies to fight. If you guys don't manage to kill him next turn, I'm going to start putting in a 'retreat' option.

    25-minute moratorium.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Well, that didn't go super well, did it. Hmmmm. Thinking through tactics and how to make them work...

    Imperial Fister said:
    Fabvir, on the other hand, is Bodily Dead, though not Truly Dead. While he isn't Truly Dead, he might as well be as — as far as you know — nobody here has the ability to heal a missing neck. Guess you'll just have to get him to a healer and hope he doesn't rot too much in the mean time.
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    Would Stabilizing Palm not work to keep him from rotting? That seems within its remit from its description. Like, he'd still need a healer, but isn't keeping him stable until then its whole thing?

    Either way, I definitely think we're headed home after this excursion. With casualties including one we need a healer for, and (if we win) hopefully good loot but huge Heat, I think we're gone after this.
     
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    Hmm, I suspect the Squire is going to dissolve into water, or do some sort of "jump into one puddle and come up out of another one" trick. Time to catch him with one of our Standstill options, I suppose. But damn, this guy is not to be trifled with, those dice pools are murder.
     
    DeadmanwalkingXI said:
    Would Stabilizing Palm not work to keep him from rotting? That seems within its remit from its description. Like, he'd still need a healer, but isn't keeping him stable until then its whole thing?
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    Can't exactly keep a dead body 'stable'. Halla mentioning rot is more because she doesn't want to have to sit next to a bad smell generator all the way back to Norway.

    If you can grow a whole new body and it works a-okay, a little rot isn't anything to worry about
     
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    I think we need to kill the falcon. It's both less durable and focused on Abjorn now, which is not healthy for our husband...but trapping the squire with IAT and then cutting the falcon up seems potentially workable. That's what I'm thinking anyway.
     
    Okay, as far as cultural adjustments go, combat medics should be accompanying every raiding party, because I guess the 'dead but not truly dead' thing happens more often than I thought.
     
    @Imperial Fister an important couple of questions about Contested Movement: Can we use it as an intercept (ie: to defend Abjorn), and can we use it while IAT is out?

    Obviously not on the squire, but the falcon might be beatable on that.
     
    Hmm, the Felag bond is pretty neat. I wonder if other cultivation styles have something similar. Does a Felag bond require a Jarl Soul to make or does it just require something that Halla doesn't know.
     
    Huh

    Come to think of it, has his numbers went down since we damaged his armor? Leaping Cleave is supposed to be our anti-armor option, right? And we definitely hit him with it...

    Because if he's a skillmonkey, with really high skill scores as opposed to a super high Soma score, Contested Movement might very well be a good countermeasure to him.
     
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    Alectai said:
    Huh

    Come to think of it, has his numbers went down since we damaged his armor?
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    Didn't look like it, though he burned hard last round...he's outpacing his Fervor regeneration. Also, 'repairing' it may have cost him something...but he was rolling just as well after we Leaping Cleaved him as before, maybe better. And the same applies after it was actually penetrated.

    Alectai said:
    Because if he's a skillmonkey, with really high skill scores as opposed to a super high Soma score, Contested Movement might very well be a good countermeasure to him.
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    Given his dice pool and the spear throws I'd lay good odds it's both. Like, yes his skills are high, but I'd assume he's the equivalent of at least Hamr 6 as well, which makes Contested Movement too dicey for me. Heck, even if he's got only a 5...that's what Halla's got, too so it's a toss-up and the counterattack probably doesn't get through the armor. I'm willing to use it on the falcon, who's likely a tad less beefy, but the squire seems too risky.
     
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    [X] Plan Trapping Knights And Slaying Falcons
    -[X] 20d6 Attack (all tricks)
    -[X] 0d6 Defense
    -[X] 17d6 Intercept (all tricks)
    -[X] As soon as the falcon comes within atgeir-reach make two 11d6 Honed x6 Power Chop attacks at it (-7 orthstirr), if it never comes within reach, use them on the squire.
    -[X] Prepare an 17d6 (19d6 w/Hugareida) Inertia-Arresting-Throw (-6 orthstirr) to trap the squire when he tries to use his trick and escape. Prepare a 16d6 Honed x6 Hefty-Halter-Chop primed to defend Abjorn if he's attacked while IAT is out (-9 orthstirr).
    -[X] In response to any Trick Attack directly targeting us or Abjorn while IAT is not in use, if it's from the falcon use Contested Movement (-3 orthstirr) and then us use Halting Vortx if that fails (-4 Orthstirr). If it's from the squire while IAT is not out, just use Halting Vortex (-4 orthstirr). If IAT is out, use Sidestep (-4 orthstirr) on attacks targeting us personally.
    -[X] Tactics – Again, direct Stigmar to target the falcon and protect Abjorn from it (we need help and he's low on orthstirr...which is needed to get through the squire's armor). Tell Abjorn to focus on killing the squire while we watch his back. Then carefully prepare to trap the squire when he tries to escape and defend our husband from the falcon (ideally by killing it).

    That's my current plan. I'm actually not super happy with it...I feel like there's some cleverer way to accomplish these objectives, but I'm a decent linear tactician rather than really good at lateral thinking. If anyone's got better ideas I'm all ears. Maybe go for the falcon offensively with EWC? That seems expensive and risky, though...
     
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    Slickji said:
    Wait who died? it has to be the other group, right? since fabvir is onyl bodily dead
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    Yeah. Has to be someone in the other group...which makes sense. They have Folkmarr and numbers, but I think we actually may have more heavy-hitters (evidence suggests that Audrikr is a scary dude, plus us and Abjorn), and they're the ones fighting an actual knight.
     
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