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NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

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wrecksalot said:
Didn't we owe the witch something? Her acting against our household might have rendered the debt void.
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... We Did.

That was the only debt I can recall that we didn't square away.

I wonder if that's the trick? The Enemy can co-opt or buy-out debts from other people, and while it has this, it can observe you more closely and gain the freedom to act, but once it expends those openings, they close and it has to get a new one to act again.

And that's the budget it has to work with. If you're indulging in honorable behavior and making sure to repay kindnesses and obligations, the Enemy has little ability to fuck with you outside of daisy-chaining other events (Which is more expensive on account of it having to burn multiple debts in order to direct people in your direction).

It fits, as a force of primordial Malice, that the Enemy gains strength when you're acting like a dink, even to people who were a dink back to you. But if you indulge in honorable behavior, it has little ability to directly meddle in your affairs.
 
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I now definitely want to go have a word with the Witch, but the Horra situation still takes precedence until its done with (since that would be a Visit). The question is if we want to explore the hole in the ground (since that would not). What do people think?

Without a home to ward, I think the rune-warding plan is postponed, and while I have ideas for up to three 'normal' actions that I had before all this, we should definitely discuss what we're doing.

wrecksalot said:
Man, the fact that they took our herds does make me quite mad. We had a Fine Bull and a superior Cow, those jerks.
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We have an in with the livestock merchant (Haydis is related). I'm pretty sure we can buy new Fine animals. The Superior ones are gone, but we'll survive the loss.

Imperial Fister said:
Other than a fresh one to Stigandr, she does not.
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Do we have a debt to Stigandr? We'd do just about anything for him either way, but didn't he have a debt to us for saving him from the nidheart before, or does this more than balance that out leaving us owing him?
 
...If this is the Witch's debt, then I'm very curious what "from a certain point of view" BS is being used on the original terms.

Imperial Fister said:
"I don't know the identity of the being that did it, that is." She corrects herself, eyes staying locked on you as your crestfallen expression turns to one of hope. "I know of many possibilities, but all of them would require rituals to identify them, which I require time to prepare. And they wouldn't be free, for that matter."

Determination lances through you like an arrow from a bow. "Your price?"

Pick your price carefully, Daughter of Cats.

"Just a simple favor, equal in value to your desires, no more, no less." The Witch hurriedly states. A tiny bead of sweat rolls down her brow.

"That seems fair, I accept." You frown as you catch her wide-eyed gaze. "Is something wrong?"
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I think it was more that The Enemy was meddling with what was said there. The price of a Fylgja Unveiling is not high. We saw that from the Seeress' thing

I think she asked for something much crazier as her first Offer, but the Enemy meddled with what we heard so it seemed reasonable to us, which is why she was so shocked when we agreed. We already saw that the Enemy isn't above meddling with what people hear, even when you shouldn't be on its radar yet.
 
Silverking said:
...If this is the Witch's debt, then I'm very curious what "from a certain point of view" BS is being used on the original terms.
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I don't think this is her calling in the debt per se, it's more either she was involved and being involved at all cancels it, or she sold it to the Enemy (or Horra, or someone) and they used it to nudge open a hole in our defenses, mystically speaking.
 
Alectai said:
Right, I think we can work with this then. What's his primary weapon and what Quality is it?
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He's best with his bow, which is of Fine make.
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Do we have a debt to Stigandr? We'd do just about anything for him either way, but didn't he have a debt to us for saving him from the nidheart before, or does this more than balance that out leaving us owing him?
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This is true, that had slipped my mind. You don't actually have a debt to Stigr, though Halla may feel like she should pay him back anyways.
 
Alectai said:
I think it was more that The Enemy was meddling with what was said there. The price of a Fylgja Unveiling is not high. We saw that from the Seeress' thing

I think she asked for something much crazier as her first Offer, but the Enemy meddled with what we heard so it seemed reasonable to us, which is why she was so shocked when we agreed.
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No. Blackhand shut her doing that down. We never agreed to anything big...I'm pretty sure this is an example of a tiny debt being used for, say, 'invite me to your home' and then cheating that as hard as it can.

Like, I'm thinking that any inherent defenses our home had were opened because they were 'invited' and the debt was enough for one invitation in.
 
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TehChron said:
Pretty straightforward. Everything that came from the original exploitation of that Fyjalla, that jumpstarted Halla's journey as a Cultivator. Possibility for possibility. Potential for potential.
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If that's the case, that's a hell of a chip the Enemy just played, especially since it could have waited to play it even longer and had even more resources.

That almost feels like it was desperate and using what it had rather than what it could have in the future. Well, less desperate and more "This is all I've got but letting you operate unmolested would potentially be even more painful to me."

But yeah, if it's smaller and the Enemy just rules lawyered it into a massive hit, then it's given away a Lot in this whole endeavor, it blew its major chip to interfere with us for little gain and now it has to start from square one.

Well, the biggest gain it's received is that we're now obligated to retaliate against the Troll-Men for this bullshit, which limits our ability to interfere with Horra's bullshit.
 
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Imperial Fister said:
He's best with his bow, which is of Fine make.
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We could make him a killer sax as a sidearm (and might want to, he did apparently break Wanderlust, our last sidearm gift, in the fighting), but we're not improving on his bow any time soon (we'd need to learn to make one and our dice are spoken for, and it'd be maybe a die better anyway with our current cap at Superior). Like, once we have Forgefire maybe? If that even helps with bows?

I'm all for making him a sax, honestly, but we should consider whether we want to do that this turn specifically. I'm down if we do, but it could wait a minute too if we wanted. Like, I'm 100% on doing it...maybe 50/50 on doing it this turn.

Mystic Pentagram said:
Why is this Unavailable?
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Wrong time of year.
 
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Still, it does mean the Enemy's 'Interference Budget' is probably blown right now. Which makes this an ideal time to do a Disclosure.

Especially since its attack largely whiffed, and there shouldn't be any outstanding Debts it can use to trigger a similar retaliation over.

I think it's time to get our Inner Circle together and tell them what we know. The people sworn to us one way or another, through bonds of friendship or obligation, that seems to provide some level of protection from the Enemy's shenanigans.
 
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Alectai said:
Still, it does mean the Enemy's 'Interference Budget' is probably blown right now. Which makes this an ideal time to do a Disclosure.

Especially since its attack largely whiffed, and there shouldn't be any outstanding Debts it can use to trigger a similar retaliation over.

I think it's time to get our Inner Circle together and tell them what we know. The people sworn to us one way or another, that seems to provide some level of protection from the Enemy's shenanigans.
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I'm very worried that this is exactly what the Enemy wants. Like, this was my immediate visceral 'screw you' reaction about it killing people we care about and so, after calming down, I thus worry this is playing into its hands.
 
Well, you're all on the same farm anyway, so its not like you can get a greater concentration of force together than you already have as is
 
TheCount said:
hm.... the witch? She is the only one i can think of.... and wow, Stigr got a kenning too!
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Likely a powerful one too given the Shit He Pulled.

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
I'm very worried that this is exactly what the Enemy wants. Like, this was my immediate visceral 'screw you' reaction about it killing people we care about and so, after calming down, I thus worry this is playing into its hands.
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We can't overestimate it either, but if Debts are the vector it uses to attack through, we need to keep Sten and Steinarr from hearing the disclosure, since both of them probably have some that it can use. Might actually be wise to keep things limited to our 10/10 people actually who are from our generation.

The real sucker-move is the Reprisal, that has trap written all over it. We have to do it, but it's absolutely playing into the Enemy's hands by waltzing into its domain.
 
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So, dangerous actions to take this turn, do we want one or both of them:

-Go investigate the hole. Kill Troll-Men. Maybe retrieve our livestock?
-Have a full cultivation class with our friends where we read them in on what's going on.

What do people think?
 
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