I mainly wanted to see if the Joms actually had a reason to go kill Hallr, or had no obvious reason to do so if it was the latter, I would've suspected shenanigans at play. Well, ai mean, the Enemy already interfered, but I mean shenanigans beyond the Enemy obfuscating the movement of the Jomsvikings.
The Enemy always prefers to co-opt people with outstanding grudges over just magicking them into place whole-cloth. Presumably it's cheaper on its interference budget to do so.
We do know it has the capacity to just magic assets into place retroactively, that's part of why Disclosure is so dangerous. But it doesn't like to use this unless someone effectively slaps it directly in the face or it faces a significant breach in omerta. In which case it will respond. It's much better for its agenda to simply set up a network of Agents throughout the region who do general suppression duty and discreetly smooth things over so that they can get away with it for an extended period of time, as opposed to directly putting out fires with its own creatures.
Presumably, paragons of the sort of society it wants to create get discreet support from it as well, like we've seen with Horra and his whole shtick being something he gets away with repeatedly and yet nobody notices, not even by Sheer Dumb Luck.
I mainly wanted to see if the Joms actually had a reason to go kill Hallr, or had no obvious reason to do so if it was the latter, I would've suspected shenanigans at play. Well, ai mean, the Enemy already interfered, but I mean shenanigans beyond the Enemy obfuscating the movement of the Jomsvikings.
Presumably, paragons of the sort of society it wants to create get discreet support from it as well, like we've seen with Horra and his whole shtick being something he gets away with repeatedly and yet nobody notices.
I think it's less 'paragons' and more 'people who keep society static'. Like, it doesn't actually want a society of people like Horra, but he keeps society from advancing so he's protected.
[X] Plan Horra's Sanctum
-[X] (Personal) Spend time with...
--[X] Gabriel
--[X] Ask if there's anything we can do to help him with his cultivation.
--[X] This is a sincere offer, but we also want to, well, talk about his cultivation and see what he says.
-[X] (Sten) Sten's been looking for you, saying that he wants to talk to you about Drifa.
-[X] (Visit) Horrby, Horra's Farm
--[X] Rather than visiting normally, you instead move to break into the sanctum
--[X] First send our fylgja using Dressed in Rags and tracking to make sure Horra is not there
--[X] Then going in person but with Dressed in Rags active and our allies relatively nearby
-[X] Notes: Giving Stigr the sword we helped make. Sending the Seeress a message via our fylgja to stick around for the Thing if she wants to see our progress on the Quest.
-[X] (Rolled)
--[X] Train Kindle-Spinner 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Train Ember-Winged Cloak 6d6 (3d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Train Hamr itself 15d6
-[X] (Research)
--[X] Invest **1 Odr** into Puncture, not paying for it but attempting to enhance it. See what happens.
--[X] See if we can get out the sealwood wax and what it can be used for 1d6
--[X] Undo our internal nalbinding (not exactly research but didn't have another idea for a category to put it in) 1d6
-[X] (Blackhand's Training) Try to develop old/train new hugareida tricks
--[X] Train Halting Vortex 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Tricks
--[X] Train Recall 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Hamr (9 successes to rank up)
--[X] Train Bash 1d6 x
--[X] Train Chop 1d6 x
--[X] Train Cut 1d6 x
--[X] Train Pierce 1d6 x
--[X] Train Throw 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Hugr (20 successes to rank up)
--[X] Train Hugr itself 1d6 x
--[X] Train Tactics 1d6 x
--[X] Train Weaponcraft 1d6 (+1 Success from Sten) x
-[X] (Training) Fylgja (4 success to rank up)
--[X] Train Fylgja Itself 1d6 x
-[X] (Orthstirr Usage)
--[X] 3 Orthstirr to Hamr
---[X] 3 Chop, 4 Defend, 4 Dodge, 4 Glima, 3 Bash, 3 Pierce, 3 Throw, 3 Cut, 3 Farmwork, 3 Labor, 3 Overland (36 total)
--[X] 4 Orthstirr to Hugr
---[X] 5 Artcraft, 5 Armorcraft, 3 Barb-Tongue, **2 Odr** and 2 Orthstirr to Composure, 6 Housecraft, 3 Management,4 Scouting, **1 Odr** and 3 Orthstirr to Silver-Tongue, 3 Strategy, 3 Tactics, 4 Weaponcraft, 4 Wordplay, 5 Wildcraft (50 total)
--[X] 1 Orthstirr to Fylgja
---[X] 3 Command
--[X] 1 First Impression
--[X] 102 free for tricks
-[X] (Fylgja Capacity)
--[X] Add Sidestep to the Fylgja
0~0~0
None!
0~0~0
Rolled (Kindle Spinner: 3, 4) 3 Successes. (EWC: 6, 5, 5, 4, 5, 4) 11 Successes
...
(+3 to Kindle Spinner)
(EWC is now Mastered!)
Sealwood Wax
After a couple hours of playing with the waxy leaves, you come to two conclusions.
The first is that you might not even have to get the wax off the leaves in order to use it. When you place a leaf on, say, your arm, the long parts of them wrap around and tie themselves into knots. Which means that they are automatically secured in place, which means that they could be worn to protect yourself from the sap!
The second is that you can melt the wax off the leaves, which is pretty handy all things considered!
0~0~0 Needlebinding (Roll: 5) 2 Successes, 12 Orthstirr back!
After a light session of working at the Pockets, you manage to finish undoing one before starting in on another.
(+12 Orthstirr)
0~0~0 Puncture
Odr flows through your soul as you let it sink into your imagination, into your understanding of the world.
Words on a story unfurl like blooming flowers as your breath hitches and your vision darkens.
Twisting your words, twisting the myth.
Changing the story.
Through the alteration of words, of how they flow together, of the meaning behind them, you too can have a say in how the story plays out.
You blink as your consciousness returns to you and the world suddenly seems to sparkle in your vision. Limitless possibilities tempered with yet unknown rules.
'Welcome back to the land of the conscious. It's been an hour since you left.'
(You have gained the ability to create Twists, though you don't know how to do such a thing yet.)
0~0~0 (Hamr: 6x4, 5x1, 4x3, 3x3, 1x4) 12 Successes!
Your body...
It's simply more malleable than before. With a flexing of will and a smattering of concentration, it shifts to suit your desired form.
One moment, you've got arms hairier than a bear's!
The next, your arms are smoother than polished iron!
It does take a degree of concentration to maintain the more advanced ideas floating around in your head as your body always wants to return to its base shape. The shape it knows to be yours.
Fortunately, it seems like your hamr has a degree of 'memorization' that it allows you to, more or less, keep your body shapeshifted in certain ways without having to hold concentration.
Nifty!
'Nifty? Really? And don't think I missed what you did with your chest.'
Your face turns bright red as you swiftly correct your, ahem, experimentation.
'There's no shame in it, it's perfectly natural. I was, more or less, the same way when I learned to shapeshift — just with things below the belt rather than above it.'
Still... there are things about yourself that you'd change if you had the chance. Your lips could be plumper, your hips could be wider, your breasts... well, they could be larger, you guess. The life of a warrior doesn't lend itself to finer things like smooth, pale skin or perfectly-kept fingernails.
Blackhand sighs. 'Halla, are these thoughts for yourself or for others? Iknow, for a fact, that Abjorn is delighted with you as you are. You've got the kids to prove it!'
"W-what?" You find yourself stammering as your brows furrow. Yourself? Others?
'If changing those things about yourself will make you happier, then go for it — do what makes you happy. But if you're wanting to change to better fit with society's image of a perfect woman, then society can go fuck itself. Take it from me, a guy who spent a long time trying to be the man society wanted, it's not worth it.'
After a long moment spent thinking it over, spent listening to your heart, you come to a conclusion.
"I... I am a daughter of ash, not elm." You are a Warrior-Wife, through and through.
'Attagirl.'
If, after that, your hips got a little bit wider, then it was merely a trick of the light.
Besides, even if it was a product of shapeshifting, who can blame you? You've got five more kids to get through, dammit!
(Hamr Ranks Up!)
(Shapeshifting Has Been Unlocked!)
(You have 3 Open Shapeshifting Slots!)
So, the rules for Shapeshifting are as follows:
You have 'slots' for shapeshifting and every further hamr rank up gives you an extra slot. You also retroactively get a slot from reaching Hamr 4, as well as Hamr Infusion 3. You can swap out slots during turn-planning/combat downtime/whenever I give you an opportunity to.
Your fylgja, since it's at Infusion Rank 3, has also unlocked a shapeshifting slot of its own.
Shapeshifting powers stack, as well.
-Thickened Skin (1 Slot) - Reduces incoming damage by 1
-Dense Muscles (1 Slot) - Increases outgoing melee damage by 1
-Target-Tracking Eyes (1 Slot) - Increases outgoing ranged damage by 1
-Offensive-Tuned Reflexes (1 Slot) - Increases dice rolled for attacks (basic and trick) by 1
-Defensive-Tuned Reflexes (1 Slot) - Increases dice rolled for defend (basic and trick) by 1
-Sharpened Senses (1 Slot) - Doubles 'sensing' rolls, such as trying to detect something via sight or smell.
-Softened Steps (1 Slot) - Doubles 'stealth' rolls.
-Ambidextrous Hands (1 Slot) - Allows simultaneous use of two weapons at once
-Counter-Tuned Reflexes (1 Slot) - When you tie while defending, you deal 1 damage to your opponent.
-Supported Grip (1 Slot) - Allows two-handed weapons to be effectively used in one hand.
-High-Twitch Muscles (1 Slot) - Increases attack-speed by 1
-Broad Frame (1 Slot) - Increases enemy morale loss
-Fast Creation (1 Slot) - Creates a Fast in your body, which can be used to store up to 3 things. Some examples are Frenzy (1 Fast for 3 Frenzy), pre-fueled tricks, or things like extra weapons, replacement shields, or any manner of tools/items.
0~0~0 Gabriel (Silver-Tongue: 6x1, 5x1, 4x2, 3x1, 2x1, 1x5) 1 Successes
You find Gabriel as he's polishing his armor after a day's training session. He's stripped to the waist — his sweat-stained shirt left to the wayside — giving you a good look at the chiseled physique of a Knight-in-training.
After a long moment spent looking respectfully, you come to the conclusion that yes, toned muscles do indeed look good.
But they are not the heavy, fat-covered slabs of a Norseman, of a lifelong farmer. These are the soft-looking, work-avoidant muscles of a Christian Nobleman. So, while they do have a certain appeal to them, Abjorn easily beats him out for raw attractiveness.
Though, the wicked scarring across his shoulders and upper back — from a Troll-man cracking his armor, or so you've heard — does add a certain something to his overall appearance.
"How goes the armor, Gabriel?" Gabriel looks up from his work as you announce your presence. His golden hair has gotten long, so he's taken to tying it back while he works. It still looks a bit silly — as that's how a married woman has her hair! — but he's refused to have it cut so he'll just have to live with it.
"It's going," he says as he nods, turning his head back to his work. "How're the kids? They doing okay after... y'know." He seems rather uncomfortable with talking about the battle.
You rock on your heels, feeling a bit bad for bringing it up. "That's, uh, that's actually why I'm here." His blue eyes meet your steel gaze as he pauses in the polishing. He's apprehensive, but he slowly nods for you to go on. "Specifically, I wanted to thank you for fighting to protect my children."
He grimaces. "I'm sorry."
His words catch you flat-footed. "Wh-what?"
"I could've done more, but..." He dry swallows as his body tenses up, like he's expecting some kind of punishment. Now that you mention it, some of those scars on his back look older than others... "But I failed and... and I'm sorry."
Well, that... You definitely weren't expecting that!
"There's nothing to apologize for," you say as you frown, hands falling on hips. "There's only one group that needs to answer for anything and they live underground."
"I know, but..." He can't meet your eyes. "I swore to protect the innocent, to use every drop of myself towards that goal... but I didn't." His shoulders shake as he shivers head-to-toe, voice breaking as he tries to continue, "there were... there were just so many of them..."
He's... is this a Christian's version of nidheart?
'I don't know, but I don't think he's in the mood for further conversation. Give him some time to process, it might just be trauma talking.'
0~0~0 Sten talk
Sten's leaning against a tree as you walk towards him. He nods and pushes off from the tree, feet spread shoulder-width apart and his arms folded together. Steel meets steel and you find yourself slowing down to a halt.
"Sten?"
The wind whistles between you as the air itself grows heavy with iron tension. Sten's brows form a deep canyon on his face as he breathes in and out at a steady, calm pace.
"Drifa's been begging me to let her train with you." Okay, that explains why he wants to talk, but what's with the hostility? "I've seen you fight, but you don't know how good someone is until you face them yourself."
His eyes flash with potent fire as his hands curl into fists — the popping of knuckles like music to your ears.
"If I'm to let Drifa train with you, I need to know how good you are."
You grin, big and wide. "I'm happy to show you!"
[ ] "Let's do it now!" (You'll spar with Sten now, which might leave you weakened while you're exploring Horra's Sanctum.)
[ ] "Just give me some time, first." (You'll have to spar with Sten next turn, else face the consequences)
0~0~0 Horra Situation
Your fylgja sits in a tree with an owly smirk on its beak. An extremely smug hoot passes through its beak as it reports back to you — Horra's not at his sanctum.
Which means that it's open for you to get funky with it.
Your face mirrors your owl's as you make your way towards the Sanctum — where more evidence awaits your grubby little hands.
But, before you go off to the sanctum, are there any other preparations you'd like to make?
[ ] Yes
-[ ] Write in
[ ] No
(This is to give you an opportunity to do some shapeshifting/any other last-minute thing you might want to do.)
0~0~0
AN: You thought that Shapeshifting was gonna be the only interesting thing you unlocked in this update, didn't you? ;P
Anyways, there's no moratorium, but it's late enough that I'm probably not gonna be doing another update today.
You know, I wonder what would have happened if Hallr decided to loudspeaker the secrets of Odr at one of the centers of Norse power. Pretty sure the Enemy would have put in place safeguards for such an event, but I wonder what those are.
You know, I wonder what would have happened if Hallr decided to loudspeaker the secrets of Odr at one of the centers of Norse power. Pretty sure the Enemy would have put in place safeguards for such an event, but I wonder what those are.
'If changing those things about yourself will make you happier, then go for it — do what makes you happy. But if you're wanting to change to better fit with society's image of a perfect woman, then society can go fuck itself. Take it from me, a guy who spent a long time trying to be the man society wanted, it's not worth it.'
I can see arguments for either option on the Sten thing...doing it this turn saves an action, and our orthstirr should replenish, I'd think. So we're maybe going in with, what, damaged armor? We have two sets and Sten might well even repair our mail if he damages it.
[X] "Let's do it now!" (You'll spar with Sten now, which might leave you weakened while you're exploring Horra's Sanctum.)
-[X] Assign our shapeshifting slots to High-Twitch Muscles, Dense Muscles, and Target-Tracking Eyes. Assign our Fylgja Sharpened Senses.
[X] Yes
-[X] Assign our shapeshifting slots to High-Twitch Muscles, Softened Steps, and Sharpened Senses. Assign our Fylgja Sharpened Senses.
Unrelated note, in terms of "Being Weakened", it's a better idea for this to happen now than it is for it to happen next turn when The Happenings unfold. Ideally, we don't get in a fight at all in this expedition, because if we do it's going to be impossible to hide that someone meddled in his sanctum, which means Horra is going to go in full fortress mode.
Also, should we specify our Shapeshift Build for the Sten Fight too?
Further question @Imperial Fister , even though we don't have the Stealth Wildcraft Trick ourselves, would Softened Step effectively count as us having it anyway? Or can we just borrow it from our Fylgja or something? Or is it going to be our Twist that lets us count as having it and the Shapeshift would make us even better at it?
Unrelated note, in terms of "Being Weakened", it's a better idea for this to happen now than it is for it to happen next turn when The Happenings unfold. Ideally, we don't get in a fight at all in this expedition, because if we do it's going to be impossible to hide that someone meddled in his sanctum, which means Horra is going to go in full fortress mode.
On that note, what do people think about waiting to tell people about Norse Cultivation and the Enemy until we're on our post-Horra trip to Wessex? If the Enemy is linked to the concept of Original Sin, something I personally find likely, holy ground may offer some protection from reprisal.
On that note, what do people think about waiting to tell people about Norse Cultivation and the Enemy until we're on our post-Horra trip to Wessex? If the Enemy is linked to the concept of Original Sin, something I personally find likely, holy ground may offer some protection from reprisal.
The Enemy will still find out, it just means it can't respond instantly.
That's a double edged sword however, because it means it can spend more time preparing assets to fuck you up in particular instead of just shaking loose what it has in the area.
Further question @Imperial Fister , even though we don't have the Stealth Wildcraft Trick ourselves, would Softened Step effectively count as us having it anyway?
The QM has hinted pretty heavily that we should basically view the Reveal as a bossfight, and possibly the close of an entire Book (not just a Chapter). Personally I anticipate a dragon attack.
The good news is that if we can lure out such a big attack and overcome it, we should come out stronger and the Enemy weaker. But we should probably be at the next Realm, have made enough friends with the dwarves we can have ballistas armed with rune-bolts, rune-stones to buff our side and hamper the enemy, and generally stack the deck as much as possible in ways we can't really do on foreign ground.
[X] "Let's do it now!" (You'll spar with Sten now, which might leave you weakened while you're exploring Horra's Sanctum.)
Anyway, Deadman, have you considered going double-Softened Steps instead of High-Twitch? If we can't add Wildcraft, we want as much out of our limited dice pools as possible, tripling-successes will go far, and getting into a fight at all would be very dangerous there.
I hesitated with regards to the lack of Fasts, but then I realized we still have our Pockets doing Work, so that's fine, we can take full advantage of our current setup. Notably, there's something else that can fit into the Birb Slot too instead of just Shapeshifting, I wonder if that's part of Seidr? Or if it'll show up after we unlock our next level of Hugr.
Oh hey, @Imperial Fister , we're pretty close to it now, but how do we level up an Alloy? Is it just trained like we do Campfire? Or do we need to get Muna attached to that too? Or is it just linked to the growth of the individual Hugareida we're using in that Alloy and grows to match them?
EDIT: Come to think of it, I wonder if having a 3x Hugr Infusion will mean we can get a second Alloy Slot when we unlock those? Getting Wildfire and Forgefire would be awesome.
Or, you know, maybe the Sten fight is awesome enough that we can unlock Forgefire on it's own there, who knows!
Also we should get that stealth wildcraft trick sometime.
It may not be a mainstay, but it has its uses.
And doubling a higher base always sounds better.
So sneaking is normally Hugr (7d), Stealth adds Wildrcraft (5d) and the shapeshifting doubles it. Check. That makes getting stealth a good call long term, but we can make do with this.
Anyway, Deadman, have you considered going double-Softened Steps instead of High-Twitch? If we can't add Wildcraft, we want as much out of our limited dice pools as possible, tripling-successes will go far, and getting into a fight at all would be very dangerous there.
That's defensible, but I was thinking quick reflexes help to avoid traps and give us something if it comes to a fight. After all, the hope is we don't need Stealth at all because Horra isn't here. That might not pan out, but that's true of the 'no fighting' as well.
I hesitated with regards to the lack of Fasts, but then I realized we still have our Pockets doing Work, so that's fine, we can take full advantage of our current setup. Notably, there's something else that can fit into the Birb Slot too instead of just Shapeshifting, I wonder if that's part of Seidr? Or if it'll show up after we unlock our next level of Hugr.
Yeah, right now we have the Pockets and not much else to do with them. That won't be true forever, but it is for now. Let's let them do the work while it remains true.
EDIT: Come to think of it, I wonder if having a 3x Hugr Infusion will mean we can get a second Alloy Slot when we unlock those? Getting Wildfire and Forgefire would be awesome.
Also we should get that stealth wildcraft trick sometime.
It may not be a mainstay, but it has its uses.
And doubling a higher base always sounds better.
In the long run definitely. In the short run, Dressed in Rags and our Fylgja already counting as having Stealth have made it a somewhat lower priority.
A lot of moving stealthily is just in being smart about how you move, having a lot of patience, and keeping an eye out for people and opportunities
0~0~0
I think I'll call the vote here in a bit, probably 30 minutes or so. I'd like to give you folks ample time to strategize for the first round of Sten Spar.
