Wait, was Thor warning us that they will be a probing attack in the future, or that there was going to be a probing attack during Yule but Thor stopped it?
I think the latter, but the latter implies the former going forward since, y'know, if it tried once it will try again. Like, he was saying he stopped an attack...but by saying that he's also definitely warning us that additional attacks are probably coming in the future.
lmao, with the reduction of management and the simplification of 1d6 training rolls, the time to complete the rolls has been reduced to a third or even a quarter. This is nice.
lmao, with the reduction of management and the simplification of 1d6 training rolls, the time to complete the rolls has been reduced to a third or even a quarter. This is nice.
May I suggest that whatever new version of the Management System you come up with not involve rolling much or at all, mostly or entirely just investments of the pool ala Maintenance? That'd keep the rolling down even once it gets going again without making the Management Pool (which I actually think is a neat idea in isolation) irrelevant.
Like 'Field: Provides 1 Silver per turn for 1 Maintenance' or whatever numbers seem right to you. Little to no rolling but still allows us to assign our Management Pool in different ways at different times for different purposes if we want (realistically, we'd probably just assign them one way and then leave them until something changed).
May I suggest that whatever new version of the Management System you come up with not involve rolling much or at all, mostly or entirely just investments of the pool ala Maintenance? That'd keep the rolling down even once it gets going again without making the Management Pool (which I actually think is a neat idea in isolation) irrelevant.
Like 'Field: Provides 1 Silver per turn for 1 Maintenance' or whatever numbers seem right to you. Little to no rolling but still allows us to assign our Management Pool in different ways at different times for different purposes if we want (realistically, we'd probably just assign them one way and then leave them until something changed).
That's what I was planning on doing, actually. I'm currently in the process of spreadsheet making, which I really should've already been doing but here we are.
3. Any and all trickster/adversary spirits. Loki/Eris/Satan/Hissi/Set, any or all of the above. Maybe aspects of one being. One of my personal favorite theories, because linking Satan in brings in a connection to Christianity, bringing in something like The Apple explains how the Enemy could fuck with cultivation,and explains some of the fuckery involved with the connection to the Sea Peoples if we assume there is a force that's just Fucking With everyone on a civilizational level. Eris could link the Bronze Age Collapse to the Trojan War, which is so cool as a history/myth concept. Satan also fits the timeframe we have for the Enemy.
[X] Saga Establishment
[X] Plan Stalking Horra
-[X] (Crafting) Try to make something
--[X] Forged Iron Wood Axe (+7 Successes from Tools/Workshop)
-[X] (Personal) Spend time with...
--[X] Aki, Abjorn, Stigr, and Stigmar
--[X] Try telling some of our allies as much as we can about the steps not to die in our cultivation quest and see what they have to say, or if they can even hear what we're saying
---[X] Strongly suggest they not actually try it as it's a very good way to die
---[X] Be careful not to tell them the imagery precisely
-[X] (Visit) Go visit...
--[X] Horrby, Horra's Farm
---[X] Rather than visiting normally, you instead stealthily approach and try to scout it out.
---[X] Send our Fylgja using Dressed in Rags and its natural stealth skills to avoid notice
---[X] Attempt to follow Horra's tracks (using our tracking skills) to any secluded locations he goes to looking for where he works his magics. Specifically, we're avoiding actually following him within his actual line of sight so as not to get caught.
-[X] (Rolled)
--[X] Train Kindle-Spinner 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Train Firebomb-Strike 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Train Ember-Winged Cloak 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Train Campfire 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Train Beaconlight 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
-[X] (Research)
--[X] Go investigate our new grove of weird magic trees 1d6
--[X] Try feeding more odr (up to 6) to the bush gradually and see what happens, stopping if it seems 'full', then see what we can do with the Hearthroot's berry (probably by eating it, but we'd at least look if there were other options) 1d6
--[X] Do more bible reading with Jerasmus 1d6
-[X] (Blackhand's Training) Try to develop old/train new hugareida tricks
--[X] Train Halting Vortex 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Tricks
--[X] Train Goal-Tell 1d6 x
--[X] Train Cool-Off 1d6 x
--[X] Train Skewer-Flick 1d6 x
--[X] Train 'Sax' Weaponcraft Skill-Trick 1d6 x
--[X] Train 'Mail' Armorcraft Skill-Trick 1d6 x
--[X] Train 'Tracking' Wildcraft Skill-Trick 1d6 X
-[X] (Training) Hamr (62 successes to rank up)
--[X] Train Hamr itself 1d6 x
--[X] Train Chop 1d6 x
--[X] Train Cut 1d6 X
-[X] (Training) Hugr (28 successes to rank up)
--[X] Train Hugr itself 1d6 x
--[X] Train Armorcraft 1d6 (+1 Success from Sten) x
--[X] Train Composure 1d6 x
--[X] Train Housecraft 1d6 (+1 Success from Sten) x
--[X] Train Scouting 1d6 X
--[X] Train Silver-Tongue 1d6 x
--[X] Train Weaponcraft 1d6 (+1 Success from Sten) x
--[X] Train Wildcraft 1d6 (+1 Success from Sten) X
--[X] Train Wordplay 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Fylgja (11 success to rank up)
--[X] Train Fylgja Itself 1d6 x
-[X] (Orthstirr Usage)
--[X] 6 Hamr
---[X] 4 Chop, 4 Defend, 4 Dodge, 4 Glima, 3 Bash, 3 Pierce, 3 Throw, 3 Cut, 3 Labor, 3 Overland (34 total)
--[X] 6 Hugr
---[X] 3 Barb-Tongue, 3 Composure, 5 Housecraft, 3 Management, 4 Scouting, 3 Silver-Tongue, 3 Strategy, 3 Tactics, 4 Wordplay, 5 Wildcraft (36 total)
--[X] 4 Fylgja
---[X] 3 Command
--[X] 1 First Impression
--[X] 189 free for tricks
-[X] (Fylgja Capacity)
--[X] Remove Shield, Boulder, and Tools.
--[X] Add Halting Vortex
--[X] Add Kindle Spinner
--[X] Add Ember-Wing Cloak
0~0~0
Tracking
Cut
Scouting
Wildcraft
0~0~0 (Kindle-Spinner: 5, 5) 5 Successes (Firebomb: 4, 5) 4 Successes (EWC: 1, 1) 1 Failure (Campfire: 1, 6) 2 Successes (Beaconlight: 3, 6) 4 Successes
...
(+5 to Kindle Spinner)
(+4 to Firebomb Strike)
(+2 to Campfire)
(Beaconlight is now Rough!)
Grove investigation
Long blades of grass brush against your dress as your shoe-clad feet brings you before the grove of golden boughs.
The trees gently sway in the wind as their metal leaves shine bright in the light of the sun. A smell like pine sap floats in on a gust of wind — the source of either nowhere in sight.
With a sense of slowly building trepidation growing in your gut, you pause before the nearest tree and rest a hand on the trunk. The bark is soft to the touch, yet hides sharp points in its wrinkled folds — as you quickly learn after a dagger-sharp thorn tries to prick your finger, only to be stopped by the strength of your skin.
Pulling palm and finger away, you take a step back as the tree almost yearns for your blood. Not a lot, only a drop, but you hesitate to give it even that much.
Leaving the tree behind, you step further into the circle and find yourself standing upon a large stone circle set into the earth. Frankly, it reminds you a bit of the place you found under the ancient ash, where you practice your cultivation.
In comparison, that place is dead. This place, though? It's not just alive, but thriving! The very air hums with power as hidden runes reveal themselves in your presence.
'Home to Oinn, Patti, and Toki, Dwarfs of Clan Duckling'
Your brows rise to the top of your head as you read the letters once again, to make sure you read it right.
Scratching the top of your head, you decide to return later, when you've got gifts to offer the dwarfs.
0~0~0 Hearthroot Berry Investigation
With six motes of poetic power orbiting around your spiritual form, you 'stand' before the spot the Hearthroot chose to grow. With a flexing of willpower, you hold out your hand and allow the motes to slowly, carefully, feed the needy plant.
Odr flows and the plant is all the better for it. Drip after drop falls upon its red-swirling leaves, travels through the branches, and feeds the roots as it suckles from your might in a manner not too dissimilar to your children.
As the final mote leaves your orbit and enters the Hearthroot, the plant seems to spring to life once more. Its growth rockets upwards like an arrow through the sky as branches sprout and leaves uncurl.
Another berry joins its brother-from-another-branch. But while that holds your attention, the truly interesting development is the trio of fronds growing from the center stem — each larger than your hands put together. They look easily pluckable and seem to shine with some kind of slick, oil-like substance.
Squinting, you put the sudden appearance of the fronds aside as you return to the second reason you came here; the berry.
...The only question is, how to eat something when it is in your soulscape?
'I remember this, though the context is lost to me now.' Blackhand's words provide needed knowledge as he clears his throat and carries on. 'Simply put; you take it in hand and will it forth.'
Shrugging, you reach your spiritual hand down and with thumb and forefinger, you pluck the first berry from the branch. As you do, it vanishes from your soul with a flex of will and, with an involuntary flick of the wrist, it reappears in your hand.
The berry is a soft yellow with orange and red swirls covering it from tip to stem. A sprig of leafy green rises from one end as you swallow the lump in your throat. If this is poisonous... you're going to be very mad.
With a deep breath steeling your spine, you screw your eyes shut as you toss the berry down your throat.
A surge of firepower floods your body, temporarily adding itself to the force of your fire. You grin as sparks fly from your eyes. When you exhale, tiny, harmless explosions burst before your mouth.
(When you eat the Berry of the Hearthroot, it temporarily increases the damage dealt by fire hugareida by one. This only lasts for a single round of combat, but that should be more than enough to get the job done, yes?)
(-6 Odr)
0~0~0 Bible Study
"Wait, what was that you said about the 'Songs of Solomon'?" Your words seem to have caused the older man a slight level of pain.
"We..." he scratches at his cheek as he glances away from you, "will cover that when we get to it and no sooner."
You squint. "Alright, I guess..."
(+1 to understanding the Bible)
0~0~0 Teaching Aki, Abjorn, Stigr, and Stigmar as much as you can about the initial dangers of Cultivation
"So, why have you gathered us three fine, young, strapping men together?" Stigr asks as he swaggers into the hearthroom of your house, where Stigmar and Abjorn already wait. "And one child," he says, amending himself as Aki follows half a step behind.
Aki scoffs. "When Halla was my age, she'd already killed a man."
"And you're not Halla," Stigr replies, a gleam in his eye, "nor have you killed a man."
"Your point?" Aki scoffs harder as Abjorn helps him to a seat — his seeing-eye raven too big to fit inside the house, "Neither have you."
Sigurdr babbles something nonsensical as he sits politely in your lap — big eyes watching the goings-on with clear interest. Asgeirr is on the floor next to your leg, trying to hit a wooden owl with a tiny toy axe as your fylgja looks rather distressed from the rafters. Eyvor seems to have decided that Abjorn is hers and scowls until he returns from helping Aki.
As your friends sit around you, you begin to speak, "I seem to have discovered something similar to the Zeal that Christians have," you frown as you're met with a chorus of blank stares, "and none of you know what that is, do you?"
"Great," a scowl passes over your face as the chorus of blank stares turns to one of shaking heads. You'll just have to give them a rundown of what your best understanding of it is. As you open your mouth to give context, something happens.
Something deep inside you — deeper than even the very depths of your soul — vibrates in a way you can only describe as like someone took a finger to a thread drawn taut. A warning from a higher power.
Though its meaning should be about as clear as a peat bog during a blizzard, it instead shines as bright as the sun on a cloudless summer day; the words you were about to speak would bring warriors of The Enemy up under you.
The scowl deepens as you're forced to rethink things. Of course The Enemy would put contingencies in for other methods being used as examples or for context. Why wouldn't it just let you have this one damned thing?!
'Because it hates us. Because its victory is us not progressing as a culture and it really wants to win.'
0~0~0 Scouting Horra's Farm
With your fylgja dressed in rags and its natural sneaking skills — curtesy of it being an owl, of course — you easily make your way undetected to the outskirts of Horra's Farm.
The farm is as you recall it. A palisade of logs marks the place where the out becomes the in. Only a single entrance at the steepest part of the hill provides entry into the otherwise inaccessible compound. A dozen buildings belch smoke from their chimneys as a dozen farmhands and their families go about their business.
They look well armed, with good iron weapons at the very least. Not a one of them looks like they'd be out of place on a raid. In fact, judging by the ships turned into houses, that's exactly what this was at one point — a felag.
Horra's house sits upon the highest part of the hill, overlooking the rest of the farm-turned-village.
What do you do? (The current level of Suspicion is 0)
[ ] Write in
0~0~0
AN: I decided to forgo the forging of the Wood Axe because, well, it wouldn't really do anything with the current farming mechanics being overhaul. As recompense, I've given you +1 to Born With Hammer in Hand and +1 to your Mail Skill-Trick, while not costing you any Forged Iron.
As you do things, the Suspicion level of the residents of a place you're scouting will increase. Eventually, you'll be found out (if you don't leave before hand).
Well shit, apparently we can't actually tell anyone about it, even using a point of comparison. Ugh.
Fucking Enemy, of course they won't have left any obvious openings.
Or rather, we can tell others, it's just that it'll trigger an immediate and overwhelming response. We need to find a sneaky way to distribute information that the Enemy hasn't anticipated yet. Charred Soul helps but that's not a winning solution in itself.
Gonna be tricky I think, I'm sure we can figure it out in the long run, a way to do an end-run around this, but it's going to require a fair amount of effort.
As for the Horra Scouting Bit... Welp, the man's basically raising a host under everyone's nose. How the hell does someone as squirrely as Horra apparently manage to raise a Felag equipped with quality armaments who are willing to accept him as their Boss?
Mysteries abound. I mean, it's not even like "Horra is a dink" is a secret, apparently nobody likes him--and yet he's got a dozen well equipped warriors hanging out around his farm alone? "I'll give you money" only goes so far when the one offering it is a known Odrengskapr.
Ahhh, so basically, it'll respond immediately, but that can be used to our advantage in a sense, if we prepare the right battlefield for it and bring a strong posse, huh?
Hmm alright, repeated references to the Enemy being an It and underground definitely raises the chances of it being Nidhoggr. Seven guesses and I still missed it. 🥲. I'm assuming it's warriors are the Dragon's Teeth.
Though given the serpent's association with Satan/Lucifer/The Devil I'm not ruling out a connection by any means.
Further question, do the berries regrow? And the amount on the Hearthroot is just 'What we have access to in any given event?"
So at Tier 2, it's effectively got two Fire Damage steroids per event? + whatever the Fronds do?
EDIT: Ah, found it, they regrow every year. That's still not bad, + damage on Fire Attacks for a round is really good, especially once we start integrating our Hugareida with our Tricks.
I'm sort of drawing a blank on what to do scouting beyond opportunism. Like, the idea is to wait for Horra to show himself, then see where he goes. I'm honestly not sure how to phrase that or make it work, though.
We know they trade with our town for food, animals, clothes and other stuff like that. I'd suggest mead too, see if the D&D dwarves love of alcohol has backpollinated to this setting.
Mysteries abound. I mean, it's not even like "Horra is a dink" is a secret, apparently nobody likes him--and yet he's got a dozen well equipped warriors hanging out around his farm alone?
I imagine he led (or advised) a very successful raid one time, given they seem to all be one former Felag. That seems plausible...Horra is certainly not incompetent, however awful he might be.
I imagine he led (or advised) a very successful raid one time, given they seem to all be one former Felag. That seems plausible...Horra is certainly not incompetent, however awful he might be.
He's not incompetent, but they're willing to allow him to stay in charge. That's a bit sketchy considering that the honor of your leader (Or lack thereof) reflects on the ones willing to follow them.
That's dangerous if he's considered such a controversial figure that his close family won't willingly talk about him for some reason.
Anyway, I'm not really sure what the play is here? Like, is this a long term infiltration or are we doing this all in one go? If so, we definitely shouldn't be moving around during the day, Owls are nocturnal after all, and our protection only lasts as long as nobody finds our presence odd enough to look closely.
On a side note, it seems my gut feeling was right and our Odr Condensation rate is derived from the tens digits of our Aspects, that means our income is 9 per turn, not too bad!
I imagine he led (or advised) a very successful raid one time, given they seem to all be one former Felag. That seems plausible...Horra is certainly not incompetent, however awful he might be.
Oh, a question incidentally, and I think it got missed in the press last night, but has our Standstill reached the point where it contributes Dice to the Hamr Contest brought on by Contested-Movement @Imperial Fister ?
I wonder how extensive the Enemy's detection radius is. Could we bypass it by going to a faraway land, for example? Any place with long-term Norse presence is no go, obviously.
My suggestion is to check whether Horra's farm(lands) look like enough to feed him and a felag. If they do, that's a lot of farmland and a lot of time spent by him and his dudes and servants. If not, he's likely importing it somewhere. This can be done relatively safely outdoors.
Well shit, apparently we can't actually tell anyone about it, even using a point of comparison. Ugh.
Fucking Enemy, of course they won't have left any obvious openings.
Or rather, we can tell others, it's just that it'll trigger an immediate and overwhelming response. We need to find a sneaky way to distribute information that the Enemy hasn't anticipated yet. Charred Soul helps but that's not a winning solution in itself.
Gonna be tricky I think, I'm sure we can figure it out in the long run, a way to do an end-run around this, but it's going to require a fair amount of effort.
Ahhh, so basically, it'll respond immediately, but that can be used to our advantage in a sense, if we prepare the right battlefield for it and bring a strong posse, huh?
[X] This isn't the sort of investigation you can accomplish recklessly, and the closer you get to Horra's sanctum, the more risk you're taking. Advance slowly, bit by bit, keeping your ears and eyes open for irregularities. Remember that the cover of darkness is your best friend, as even an Owl wearing a funny outfit is going to be hard to notice in its natural environment whether it be shrouded by your Twist or not. You don't... Think that Horra's secrets are going to be widely known by the fighters and farmhands present here, if only because you sincerely doubt people would willingly and knowingly follow a sorcerer like him of course, but rumors still spread, and you never know what bits and pieces might slip into your ears if you're careful.
-[X] How is he paying for all of this anyway? You know better than anyone else how expensive it is to equip people with quality arms, and you've got a good idea of how much space is needed to feed this many people and maintain their arms--and if Horra was a well regarded Raider, you don't think people would be quite as reluctant to speak of him as they are, and yet he's got a proper Felag apparently living on his territory? You doubt he's so well regarded that they'd sit nearby without significant reimbursement, so how is he pulling that off without doing anything that would make him well respected, and the talk of the town? Figuring that out might give you some insight as to the story here, or if there's anything you need to be aware of.
I think formatting it as more of a set of actions than questions might be helpful?
[x] Conduct a broad aerial survey of Horra's lands, looking for any suspicious earthworks, pits, altars, standing stones, or anything else unusual from the air that might be a ritual site. If that fails, survey the largest longhouse and if Horra leaves, surreptitiously follow him and see what he does.
Hmm I'm wondering if odr is a bypass for the losses caused by normal nid. If thats the case then Horra begins to make more sense. Get some odr early in career and use it to hold on to power and bypass the downside of dishonorable acts later down the road. Just a thought I had.
Mmm, fair enough, but I think that's a bit too obvious. It wouldn't be his home that he does this in.
[X] Do a broad aerial survey of Horra's lands, take note of his fields, and do an estimate of how many people he should actually be able to support with what he has on hand. When time and discretion allows, attempt to get closer--paying that many fighters with that kind of equipment shouldn't be something that just anyone can afford without being a famously successful leader of warbands--and yet nobody's willing to talk about him, which suggests otherwise. He's clearly not getting that money in an honorable fashion, and people might let some details slip if they don't think they're being watched. Follow the money, see where it points, if you get a chance to track Horra himself though, it's obviously worth a shot--but approaching his home should be the final step in your investigation--who knows what defenses he has on hand.
