NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)
- Thread starter I.F. Ister
- Start date
- Original Fantasy Action
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- Tags
- norse mythology (mythology) original xianxia cultivation western cultivation ask sirihand did your mother tell you anything? discussion pleases yggdrasil farming gloating gets people killed granary management hubris is a coward's word you will die norsemen do not die when they are killed the qm has a bad memory the qm is bad at math viking courtroom drama (legal drama) vikings
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Seems fine to me barring an alternate plan and extremely close voting or something like that.
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On an unrelated note, it seems likely we're going to be forging a main for ourselves soon, right? We doing a sax, sword, axe or another atgeir? Any ideas for runic effects we'd want?
[X] Plan Fiery Aggression
[X] Plan Fiery Aggression
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We're keeping Sagaseeker as our primary weapon for a bit, I think. We've just gained the Sax Trick and have exactly enough Molten Iron for a Sax, so we'll be forging a very nice backup weapon with some cool effects, which makes sense as something we'd do before tackling our primary one. From there, I think we learn to make an atgeir and reforge Sagaseeker rather than getting a new weapon per se...atgeirs are cool.
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
Given that it's been an hour since posting, and I'd like to give myself as much time as possible to work on this, I'm gonna lower the time to 40 minutes
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So, Sidestep is not rare, this means that likely neither are other absolute defense effects, which has significant long-term tactical relevance to fighting other Norsemen that I thought I'd get into, so here are some important things to remember:
1. Absolute defenses can be very cheap (Sidestep is 2 Orthstirr...down to 1 if you've Mastered it) and require no dice invested in them, which means investing too much in any one attack is a very risky strategy that we should generally avoid if possible. Like, last turn we invested 4 Orthstirr and 16d6 into an attack our enemy countered with 2 Orthstirr and no dice at all. That's not a sustainable exchange rate.
2. Most such Tricks likely have weaknesses to be exploited, like Sidestep's giving the enemy an opening to do things and not working vs. AoEs at all or Reinforce Shield only being able to have one instance out per turn (and being wrecked by effects that cut through it like Leaping Cleave)...even Halting Vortex (which is the best defense in this category we've seen) is more expensive than most such defenses, making it weak to lots of small attacks.
So, the first round of most fights going forward should generally be probing attacks powerful enough to force them to use any absolute defenses they have (and to kill them if they don't have any...I'm thinking a fair number of Honed Power Chops are a good first-round standard), but not expensive enough to be a major loss if they fail to hit, and then the second round is when we adjust our tactics to actually take advantage of any specific weaknesses in their defensive tricks. We, meanwhile, should try and keep at least one of our defenses and some of our attack options unused in the first round like we did here in order to confound that strategy on the part of enemies.
Picking up another absolute defense or two is also not a bad idea at all...more options for that are always gonna make things less predictable for our enemies, after all.
1. Absolute defenses can be very cheap (Sidestep is 2 Orthstirr...down to 1 if you've Mastered it) and require no dice invested in them, which means investing too much in any one attack is a very risky strategy that we should generally avoid if possible. Like, last turn we invested 4 Orthstirr and 16d6 into an attack our enemy countered with 2 Orthstirr and no dice at all. That's not a sustainable exchange rate.
2. Most such Tricks likely have weaknesses to be exploited, like Sidestep's giving the enemy an opening to do things and not working vs. AoEs at all or Reinforce Shield only being able to have one instance out per turn (and being wrecked by effects that cut through it like Leaping Cleave)...even Halting Vortex (which is the best defense in this category we've seen) is more expensive than most such defenses, making it weak to lots of small attacks.
So, the first round of most fights going forward should generally be probing attacks powerful enough to force them to use any absolute defenses they have (and to kill them if they don't have any...I'm thinking a fair number of Honed Power Chops are a good first-round standard), but not expensive enough to be a major loss if they fail to hit, and then the second round is when we adjust our tactics to actually take advantage of any specific weaknesses in their defensive tricks. We, meanwhile, should try and keep at least one of our defenses and some of our attack options unused in the first round like we did here in order to confound that strategy on the part of enemies.
Picking up another absolute defense or two is also not a bad idea at all...more options for that are always gonna make things less predictable for our enemies, after all.
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Thought for an atgeir inscription - "Dwarf-flaw like nifl-fingers, as moon-sister flies over trees, at first-raven's touch."
Translated:
Dwarf-flaw = Haft, from Mjolnir's haft, left too short by the dwarves after Loki's trickery
Nifl-fingers = Shadows
Moon-Sister = Sun
First-Raven = Huginn (since it's almost always written Huginn and Muninn, as I've seen it)
Basically, "the handle lengthens and shortens like shadows cast by the sun through trees, controlled by the wielder's thoughts" Bit of a Monkey King Staff vibe.
Translated:
Dwarf-flaw = Haft, from Mjolnir's haft, left too short by the dwarves after Loki's trickery
Nifl-fingers = Shadows
Moon-Sister = Sun
First-Raven = Huginn (since it's almost always written Huginn and Muninn, as I've seen it)
Basically, "the handle lengthens and shortens like shadows cast by the sun through trees, controlled by the wielder's thoughts" Bit of a Monkey King Staff vibe.
- Location
- some computer lab
Of this guy's still standing next turn we could go for as.mant standard attacks as possible, since he doesn't seem to have Reinforce-shield up and making him burn Orthstirr on basic attacks seems prudent.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
He does also have a dice pool to use vs. those...but yeah, something like that is probably an option if he somehow avoids all the fire. That's a very long-term solution, though, as he has, like, half our Orthstirr pool meaning he could dodge at least 60 or 70 attacks of that sort pretty readily with Sidestep before even getting low (and maybe as many as 80 or 90). If it were a duel I'd be more inclined that way, but we'd like to go help our friends as quickly as possible.
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- Location
- Bretonnia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan Fiery Aggression
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
And voting is now closed
Adding in some more rune ideas for a weapon:
"Let the arms of the foe be before me as glaciers before golden sky-spears" - Let an enemy's weapons and armor melt like ice in the sun's rays
"My blows turn fertile land to snake-filled swamps" - Leaves wounds that fester and fill with "snakes" ie maggots.
"Wolf's-muzzle I be, unconquerable as the sea, strong as the Tree" - The weapon is as unbreakable as Gleipnir, cannot be defeated anymore than Thor could drink the sea at Uthgard-Loki, as mighty as Yggdrasil. A threefold enchantment of general resilience and power.
"No matter where the raven-father wanders clad in grey, I will know him by his hoist-scar" - No matter where a blow from this weapon lands on an enemy, the wounds will appear on the target's throat (ie, where Odin hung himself). Variant on a vorpal sword.
"Let the arms of the foe be before me as glaciers before golden sky-spears" - Let an enemy's weapons and armor melt like ice in the sun's rays
"My blows turn fertile land to snake-filled swamps" - Leaves wounds that fester and fill with "snakes" ie maggots.
"Wolf's-muzzle I be, unconquerable as the sea, strong as the Tree" - The weapon is as unbreakable as Gleipnir, cannot be defeated anymore than Thor could drink the sea at Uthgard-Loki, as mighty as Yggdrasil. A threefold enchantment of general resilience and power.
"No matter where the raven-father wanders clad in grey, I will know him by his hoist-scar" - No matter where a blow from this weapon lands on an enemy, the wounds will appear on the target's throat (ie, where Odin hung himself). Variant on a vorpal sword.
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I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
Oh boy, this was a fun one to write!
I finished the main text and am now working on the after-round report.
I did take a little bit of a liberty while writing, but I think it's okay given how cool the result is.
I finished the main text and am now working on the after-round report.
I did take a little bit of a liberty while writing, but I think it's okay given how cool the result is.
Summer 6/Attacking Bandit Camp East 1.2
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
[X] Plan Fiery Aggression
-[X] 45d6 Attack (all tricks)
-[X] 0d6 Defense
-[X] 0d6 Intercept
-[X] Make a total of three 9d6 (11d6 w/Hugareida) Kindle Spinner attacks (-2 Orthstirr each) alternated with two 9d6 (11d6 w/Hugareida) Firebomb-Strikes (Kindle Spinner, then Firebomb-Strike, then Kindle Spinner, and so on)
-[X] In response to any Trick Attack against us or our allies near us use Halting Vortex to avoid giving him his planned for opening (-4 Orthstirr).
-[X] Tactics – Just get in his face and refuse to leave using our ignition Tricks to really go to town on this guy in a way he is very much not prepared for. Our first Kindle-Spinner will be aimed at his face to hopefully blind and confuse him as much as possible.
-[X] 45d6 Attack (all tricks)
-[X] 0d6 Defense
-[X] 0d6 Intercept
-[X] Make a total of three 9d6 (11d6 w/Hugareida) Kindle Spinner attacks (-2 Orthstirr each) alternated with two 9d6 (11d6 w/Hugareida) Firebomb-Strikes (Kindle Spinner, then Firebomb-Strike, then Kindle Spinner, and so on)
-[X] In response to any Trick Attack against us or our allies near us use Halting Vortex to avoid giving him his planned for opening (-4 Orthstirr).
-[X] Tactics – Just get in his face and refuse to leave using our ignition Tricks to really go to town on this guy in a way he is very much not prepared for. Our first Kindle-Spinner will be aimed at his face to hopefully blind and confuse him as much as possible.
You breathe in. He readies his spear.
You breathe out and, as the Christians say, all hell breaks loose.
He leaps into a lunge, orthstirr coating his spearhead and Honing it to a fine point. You suppress a cheeky grin as he bears down on you — it wouldn't do to give away the play just yet!
(Honed Attack: 9 vs Defense: N/A, Attacker Wins! 3 Damage Dealt to Layer!)
Three layers of crimson orthstirr fail as the spearhead crashes through your defenses. Or rather, you allow it to.
Credit where credit is due, he got farther through than you thought he would.
Shame, really, that it's about to end.
Mere inches away from his face, you see the exact moment his confidence turns to worry as you take his blow like it was nothing. The fire reflecting in his wide-open eyes are just the cherries on top.
He jerks back, but not nearly quick enough to avoid the Kindle Spinner. Not as close as you are.
(Trick Attack: 31 vs Trick Defense: 25, Attacker Wins! 3 Armor Damage Dealt!
He sways so hard he drops to the ground, but it's not enough to escape your well-honed aim. The vortex of fire explodes with a flick of the wrist. While you don't catch his face in the blast, you do blow a hole in his armor.
The slick sound of unsheathing iron reaches your ears as the Sentry hits the ground. His sax glows with orange orthstirr as he swings at your leg.
(Trick Attack: 15 vs Trick Defense: Autopass (Halting Vortex), Defender Wins!)
Only for his jaw to drop as his sax hits a whirling vortex of stopping energy.
"Oh come on! Really?" The Sentry complains, gesturing at where he just tried to hit you.
You shrug as you raise Sagaseeker overhead. "That's just how she goes."
He scowls. "Well, I'm not gonna make it easy for you, you know."
You grin. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Sagaseeker blurs into motion as crimson orthstirr streaks of it in streamers. The Sentry digs his hand into the ground to throw himself out of the way.
(Trick Attack: 32 vs Trick Defense: 35, Defender Wins! 1 Armor Damage Dealt! Armor Broken!)
To his credit — which you find yourself giving quite a lot throughout this fight — he manages to avoid most of the explosion.
'Most of', being the keyword there.
He throws himself out of the way of the worst of the damage, but some licks of flame still devours the bare shreds of armor protecting his body. He rolls to his feet, spear in one hand, sax in the other.
He breathes in as you dart after him, another Kindle Spinner already twisting into existence in your palm. His eyes lock to the ball of raging fire and dread pools in your stomach as you know you made a mistake.
"You need a hand free to use that fancy shield of yours, don't you?" There's a gleam in his eye as he knows he has you. The spearhead glows as orthstirr flows into the metal — Storm Iron. Lightning arcs along its surface as he draws it back, more orthstirr feeding into a trick as he prepares to throw.
Your instincts scream at you, telling you that there's not enough time to extinguish the Kindle Spinner. Which means that you're going to have to make a choice.
Drop Sagaseeker... or take the hit?
The Sentry roars as he stomps, throwing the spear with all his might.
You make your choice.
Not stopping for an instant, you meet the spear head-on.
(Honed Trick Attack: 42 vs Defense: Declined, Layers Stripped! 1 Armor Damage Dealt!)
It hits you with the force of a thunderbolt. It strikes with enough power that the pole splinters on impact. It completely blows apart your feeble shielding as it tears a shallow hole in your armor.
But it goes no further.
The spearhead clatters to the ground.
You laugh at the look on the Sentry's face as you drive the Kindle Spinner into it.
(Trick Attack: 42 vs Trick Defense: 26, Attacker Wins! 3 Endurance Damage Dealt!
His head jerks back as the skin is scorched from his face. A foot darts out to stop him from falling, but that is all he can do as you pull Sagaseeker back for another Firebomb Strike.
Swinging forward with all your might, the explosion takes his arm at the shoulder.
He spins around like a ragdoll, arm and legs flailing every which way. Unfortunate, really, that the way he spins is directly into the third and final Kindle Spinner.
His body goes limp as his head disappears in a gore-filled explosion.
Blood rains down around you as you smile.
Ah, glorious bloodshed.
You stretch your shoulders as you move to join your fellows in the scrum.
0~0~0
(Hugr (Tactics): 6x3, 5x2, 4x2, 3x1, 2x1, 1x1)11+2(Rounds)=13 Successes
As you join your fellows inside the fence, you're treated to a sight of a number duels going on all at once. Turns out, there had been thirteen warriors inside the fence.
Had been, that is.
Sten had accounted for three of the kills while Abjorn, Stigmar, and Gabriel each took one. The weaklings all died in the initial onslaught, but their deaths allowed the stronger members to arm and armor themselves.
Sten seems to have broken his shield inside of someone's ribcage, which works well for him as he's a hugareida user. He's currently dueling a mail-clad man and seems to have the upper hand in that fight.
Abjorn and another Giant's Blooded man are rolling around in the blood-soaked mud, locked in a deadly wrestling match — their weapons discarded nearby. Abjorn has his work-knife out and is working on forcing the tip through his opponent's eye.
Stigmar's starting to flag in his duel, his limbs weary from spilling blood — he'd been trying to keep up with Abjorn, Sten, and Gabriel and.... well, that just doesn't work out. His opponent, another Giant's Blooded — the brother of the man Abjorn's fighting — is armed with a pair of saxes and a thick gambeson.
Gabriel is fighting two men at once — both would-be archers, by the looks of things. He's handling himself well, but it's clear that he's not used to fighting in armor. Both of his opponents are wearing thin gambesons and are fighting with axes and shields — their bows forgotten in the fighting.
The Bandit's captain stands alone — atgeir in hand, mail on body, and helmet on head. He seems... well, you can see the wisps of gray in his beard. You know he's dangerous. He's seemingly content with guarding the third and final archer — who is having an archery duel with Stigr and Joarr.
There are three places you can go. You can take Stigmar's place and duel the Giant's Blooded man. You can take one of Gabriel's opponents. Or you can challenge the captain.
Either way, you have to make a choice.
[ ] Tag Stigmar Out
Your opponent will be the man we will be referring to as 'the Brute'. He's tall, very strong, and well-armed and armored. He's got a wind hugareida, the same as Eric's — you recognize the patterns of it well. He also doesn't seem to be all that winded by his fight with Stigmar.
[ ] Join Gabriel
Your opponent will be the man we will be referring to as 'the Archer'. He's a bit reedy and has a ratlike face. Just by looking at him you know that that fight will be nothing but bullshit left and right.
[ ] Challenge the Captain
Your opponent will be the man we will be referring to as 'the Captain'. He's an older man, with a more-pepper-than-salt beard. Definitely in his 30s. You can't glean anymore than that from him.
Endurance: (7/7) | Armor Health: (7/8) | Shield Health: (NA)
Orthstirr: (175/279) | Odr: (25)
( ) Frami: 93 | ( ) Virthing: 93 | ( ) Saemd: 93
Sagaseeker has 8 orthstirr in its reservoir.
Your combat pool is 45d6.
What is your plan for combat?
[ ] (Plan Name)
-[ ] (Dice) Attack
-[ ] (Dice) Defense
-[ ] (Dice) Intercept
-[ ] (Dice) (Trick) (Orthstirr)
-[ ] Tactics Write in
0~0~0
AN: I took some liberties with the end of that fight, as I'm sure you're well aware. I hope you're all okay with that, as I think that the outcome was pretty cool.
No moratorium, as it's getting a bit late.
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Nice and dramatic!
I think we should help Stigmar, he seems the most in need of it. Gabriel's armor and Fervor regen should let him survive even if he's having trouble. And we are not a match for the Captain one on one.
I think we should help Stigmar, he seems the most in need of it. Gabriel's armor and Fervor regen should let him survive even if he's having trouble. And we are not a match for the Captain one on one.
CedeTheBees
Probably high right now
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Tag Stigmar Out
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That outcome seems fine, yeah.
[X] Tag Stigmar Out
We need to tag out Stigmar, he's the one most in need of it. He can go help someone else (maybe Gabriel?) if he's still got the energy.
[X] Plan Feeling Out Our Foe
-[X] 45d6 Attack (all tricks)
-[X] 0d6 Defense
-[X] 0d6 Intercept
-[X] Use Reinforce Shield on our armor for 8 Layers (-4 Orthstirr)
-[X] Make a total of two 10d6 Honed Power Chop attacks (-2 Orthstirr each) and three Honed Shatter-Wrist Trick attacks (also -2 Orthstirr each) in whatever order seems likely to catch him off guard for the Shatter-Wrist Tricks. If he's already got two broken wrists by the time the third Shatter-Wrist Trick would be aimed his way, replace it with a Honed Power Chop (same cost and dice pool).
-[X] In response to any Trick Attack it is viable against use Sidestep (-2 Orthstirr), if attacked with a Trick Attack it isn't viable against that seems likely to break Reinforce Shield, or if such an attack comes and Reinforce Shield is already gone, use Halting Vortex (-4 Orthstirr)
-[X] If the Captain moves to attack any of our allies or tries something big we will use Ember-Wing Cloak to leap between him and them and Halting Vortex to stop the attack as best we can (-16 Orthstirr total)
-[X] Tactics – Move in and attack fairly aggressively to size up our foe, aiming particularly for the wrists. We want to try and see what this guy can do before committing to an expensive or tricky battle plan.
And this puts my above tactical analysis into play. We have no idea what this guy can do, so let's start simple and cheap. We could start things off with a Knee-Groin Trick, but if we do he'll be expecting it later and I'd rather try and figure out what openings his fighting style has so we can use it to set something up (or use it from surprise on a later foe).
[X] Tag Stigmar Out
We need to tag out Stigmar, he's the one most in need of it. He can go help someone else (maybe Gabriel?) if he's still got the energy.
[X] Plan Feeling Out Our Foe
-[X] 45d6 Attack (all tricks)
-[X] 0d6 Defense
-[X] 0d6 Intercept
-[X] Use Reinforce Shield on our armor for 8 Layers (-4 Orthstirr)
-[X] Make a total of two 10d6 Honed Power Chop attacks (-2 Orthstirr each) and three Honed Shatter-Wrist Trick attacks (also -2 Orthstirr each) in whatever order seems likely to catch him off guard for the Shatter-Wrist Tricks. If he's already got two broken wrists by the time the third Shatter-Wrist Trick would be aimed his way, replace it with a Honed Power Chop (same cost and dice pool).
-[X] In response to any Trick Attack it is viable against use Sidestep (-2 Orthstirr), if attacked with a Trick Attack it isn't viable against that seems likely to break Reinforce Shield, or if such an attack comes and Reinforce Shield is already gone, use Halting Vortex (-4 Orthstirr)
-[X] If the Captain moves to attack any of our allies or tries something big we will use Ember-Wing Cloak to leap between him and them and Halting Vortex to stop the attack as best we can (-16 Orthstirr total)
-[X] Tactics – Move in and attack fairly aggressively to size up our foe, aiming particularly for the wrists. We want to try and see what this guy can do before committing to an expensive or tricky battle plan.
And this puts my above tactical analysis into play. We have no idea what this guy can do, so let's start simple and cheap. We could start things off with a Knee-Groin Trick, but if we do he'll be expecting it later and I'd rather try and figure out what openings his fighting style has so we can use it to set something up (or use it from surprise on a later foe).
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"Lock on the ball"?
"Runs along"?
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Evil Abjorn!
Shenanigans huh. Wait is this guy related to Horra? They both have ratlike faces.
The strongest.
Possibly a Jarl.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Not every commander is a Jarl, but with grey in his beard he's definitely a scary guy not to be underestimated.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
He was with us outside, so I assume his fylgja came in with us and will join the fight now, but some note of where he's heading would be nice, yeah.
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
He's working with Stigr and Joarr, acting as a spotter for their arrows.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
More comments.
Alive
1 Bandit Leader
2 Giantblood Bandits
3 Archers (2 w/o Bows)
1 Unfortunate person with a broken ribcage
Dead
6 Weakling Bandits
1 Sentry
---
Alright, while we should probably tag Stigmar out, I think we should try for a more offensive trick approach. By which I mean nuke him with magic until he dies. He probably has good Hamr, but (hopefully) not so good tricks and Hugareida available.
It's a full Felag, Halla!
Alive
1 Bandit Leader
2 Giantblood Bandits
3 Archers (2 w/o Bows)
1 Unfortunate person with a broken ribcage
Dead
6 Weakling Bandits
1 Sentry
Carry Sten go go go!
Behold the power of our fully operational 15+ Endurance Abjorn. Our man has practice. You're doomed.
How did you even run out of Orthsirr in two rounds, Stigmar? You should have like 200 Orthsirr!
GL HF getting past the OP Knight Armor Damage Reduction. Do you guys even have the Orthsirr to pierce?
Please remain doing nothing so that we can gang up on you and execute if/when we win the rest of the duels, thanks.
---
Alright, while we should probably tag Stigmar out, I think we should try for a more offensive trick approach. By which I mean nuke him with magic until he dies. He probably has good Hamr, but (hopefully) not so good tricks and Hugareida available.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Wow, almost twice the strength that they should have had. Either both camps consolidated here or their numbers are increasing. Neither are good prospects--though on the plus side, coming out on top in a fight like this would be fantastic Orthstirr for the ones fighting.
Still, we won our first fight relatively cheaply, and it looks like our strategy closed the numbers gap in the opening--six down before they could respond? Plus the downed Sentry (Who was no amateur either, he was making some solid dice pools and you don't send a weakling to guard considering we just saw how devastating a surprise attack can be). There's still an expert present, but the balance still seems to be in our favor. The problem will come when the Expert decides to intervene, and I think he's waiting for the moment he can do the most damage, or confident he can take us all on. Neither are promising possibilities.
But yeah, Stigmar's flagging, we need to have our team's back, kind of closes our options.
Man though, none of these guys are amateurs, maybe the scrubs we swept in the first few moments, but everyone else here knows their shit. They're also extremely well equipped to boot.
Still, we won our first fight relatively cheaply, and it looks like our strategy closed the numbers gap in the opening--six down before they could respond? Plus the downed Sentry (Who was no amateur either, he was making some solid dice pools and you don't send a weakling to guard considering we just saw how devastating a surprise attack can be). There's still an expert present, but the balance still seems to be in our favor. The problem will come when the Expert decides to intervene, and I think he's waiting for the moment he can do the most damage, or confident he can take us all on. Neither are promising possibilities.
But yeah, Stigmar's flagging, we need to have our team's back, kind of closes our options.
Man though, none of these guys are amateurs, maybe the scrubs we swept in the first few moments, but everyone else here knows their shit. They're also extremely well equipped to boot.
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