To things she's personally seen, it would seem yes. Seersight might not be valid, though, and even if it is we know he's protected against it since he knows about her and has taken steps. She might be able to back up some of Steinarr's testimony of old sins and could maybe investigate the grave robbery thing real quick (well, to the extent of figuring out any grave robbing occurred anyway), but that's probably about it.
To things she's personally seen, it would seem yes. Seersight might not be valid, though, and even if it is we know he's protected against it since he knows about her and has taken steps. She might be able to back up some of Steinarr's testimony of old sins and could maybe investigate the grave robbery thing real quick (well, to the extent of figuring out any grave robbing occurred anyway), but that's probably about it.
Also the runes. She most likely knows them, just like everyone who matters, by IF. so she can look through the runed items to discern their purpose as well as to make quick work on the inactive daurgrs and stuff.
Also the runes. She most likely knows them, just like everyone who matters, by IF. so she can look through the runed items to discern their purpose as well as to make quick work on the inactive daurgrs and stuff.
I mean...she definitely can't see into the sanctum, we don't need her for the Scorn-Pole, and we have no other runed stuff associated with Horra, so we don't need her testimony for anything rune-related, I don't think?
I don't think it would matter if he legally owns the land the draugr are on, making draugr isn't allowed to begin with and I doubt most of his family even knows where the sanctum. That's a lot of draugr that I'd prefer him to not have a chance to unleash.
Best case scenario he dies before getting back to his tree after being outlawed then we go into his sanctum and kill each draugr before activated. Or burn the place to the ground.
Speculation, and I'm aware I may not have all the facts:
Unless draugr are much weaker than I believe, the presence of 50-60 of them isn't just a crime on Horra's part, it's an actual military threat to the surrounding area. The sort of thing that the jarl might feel a strong reason to react to and take out of play over and above just outlawing Horra directly and canceling his claim to any property or rights in the valley.
Or, for that matter, even if Horra wasn't outlawed in the first place.
If nothing else, because you don't rack up enough orthstirr to become a Steelfather by cultivating a reputation as the kind of guy who sits back chilling while a military challenge to your authority and rep is building up.
So it's entirely conceivable that if we can succeed in getting Horra outlawed, that Step Two will be that a fairly strong posse (or whatever the Norse equivalent is) is heading up to Horra's sanctum to investigate whether he's been grave-robbing and creating a zombie army and, if so, sort that shit out.
I mean...she definitely can't see into the sanctum, we don't need her for the Scorn-Pole, and we have no other runed stuff associated with Horra, so we don't need her testimony for anything rune-related, I don't think?
The storage room, we couldn't look into it so no idea what was in there and there is whatever else was worked on the farm as well.
Sure, the Jarl's people can do it, but it never hurts to bring a back up in case there is some serious magic going on.
Unless draugr are much weaker than I believe, the presence of 50-60 of them isn't just a crime on Horra's part, it's an actual military threat to the surrounding area. The sort of thing that the jarl might feel a strong reason to react to and take out of play over and above just outlawing Horra directly and canceling his claim to any property or rights in the valley.
Or, for that matter, even if Horra wasn't outlawed in the first place.
If nothing else, because you don't rack up enough orthstirr to become a Steelfather by cultivating a reputation as the kind of guy who sits back chilling while a military challenge to your authority and rep is building up.
So it's entirely conceivable that if we can succeed in getting Horra outlawed, that Step Two will be that a fairly strong posse (or whatever the Norse equivalent is) is heading up to Horra's sanctum to investigate whether he's been grave-robbing and creating a zombie army and, if so, sort that shit out.
Speculation, and I'm aware I may not have all the facts:
Unless draugr are much weaker than I believe, the presence of 50-60 of them isn't just a crime on Horra's part, it's an actual military threat to the surrounding area. The sort of thing that the jarl might feel a strong reason to react to and take out of play over and above just outlawing Horra directly and canceling his claim to any property or rights in the valley.
Based on our own experience Horra's Draugr are not a serious threat to someone like Steinarr, but are roughly on par with a random 20 year old Norseman (we were about on par with an average 20 year old Norseman when we killed one in single combat, or maybe just above that). So probably not a serious threat to the Jarl, but in combination with Horra's own men and supplying bandits, enough that he's not gonna be happy about it on this level either.
That assumes they are all equally powerful of course, which may not be the case...draugr are pretty variable in power level and only the common origin makes me think they might be about on par with each other. 54 of them is definitely enough that he's not gonna want to take the chance.
Or, for that matter, even if Horra wasn't outlawed in the first place.
If nothing else, because you don't rack up enough orthstirr to become a Steelfather by cultivating a reputation as the kind of guy who sits back chilling while a military challenge to your authority and rep is building up.
So it's entirely conceivable that if we can succeed in getting Horra outlawed, that Step Two will be that a fairly strong posse (or whatever the Norse equivalent is) is heading up to Horra's sanctum to investigate whether he's been grave-robbing and creating a zombie army and, if so, sort that shit out.
I think that's very plausible, yes. Honestly, I'll be surprised if the Jarl doesn't get a war-party together and clear out the draugr. He may delegate it, depending (I could see Folkmarr getting sent to gain some orthstirr, for example), but it's happening.
I think the Jarl will take care of the draugr almost no matter what...whether he will also occupy Horra's lands in a meaningful fashion is a somewhat different matter and likely depends on how well we roll and react during the trial.
That assumes they are all equally powerful of course, which may not be the case...draugr are pretty variable in power level and only the common origin makes me think they might be about on par with each other. 54 of them is definitely enough that he's not gonna want to take the chance.
Off-topic, but I wanna fight a monster one day. We know they exist - that they're in the valley, even - but we've never seen one, and it sounds like something that'd give a decent amount of orthstirr. And, well, mostly it sounds cool.
"And if an elephant tries something funny, break its fucking back over your shoulders."
-Lesson #99 of Greg Animal-Puncher's best selling book '101 Ways of Showing Animals Who the Fucking Boss is'
Off-topic, but I wanna fight a monster one day. We know they exist - that they're in the valley, even - but we've never seen one, and it sounds like something that'd give a decent amount of orthstirr. And, well, mostly it sounds cool.
We saw one of the monstrous deer with the ribcage jaws as a kid when we were looking for the witch. We also fought the corrupted nisse and a draugr, depending on what your definition of monster is.
We saw one of the monstrous deer with the ribcage jaws as a kid when we were looking for the witch. We also fought the corrupted nisse and a draugr, depending on what your definition of monster is.
Monster has a specific definition in-setting of being an 'animal' with Frenzy (magical animals without Frenzy are instead spirit beasts). The deer might count by that definition but the other two don't.
We saw one of the monstrous deer with the ribcage jaws as a kid when we were looking for the witch. We also fought the corrupted nisse and a draugr, depending on what your definition of monster is.
Oh right, I actually forgot about the deer. The fleshcrafted nisse was a 'monster', yes... but I don't think it was an actual monster, as we've been told that monsters are essentially spirit beasts but with Frenzy. That nisse didn't seem to have the combat foresight that Frenzy grants, given how incoherent and barbaric it was. Same with the draugr.
By the way, are monsters actually any more intelligent than normal animals are? Well, they probably are more intelligent than a normal animal, otherwise they probably wouldn't be able to utilise Frenzy efficiently, but how smart can a monster be?
[X] Plan Let's Go To Court
-[X] (Crafting) Try to make something
--[X] Putting Runes on the Silver Arm-Ring (+7 Successes from Tools/Workshop)
--[X] Wording: "Weaken, defy, and resist what is drawn to the beacon's light, what is found near the troll's cave, what is held in the swimmer's hand."
--[X] Meaning: Protects against spiritual predators, curses, and destructive magics. Hopefully works especially well against Horra's family and Hasvir for a couple of reasons (it's symbolically a symbol of victory over their family, and the second reference is specifically to Horra while the third is specifically to Hasvir).
--[X] Spending **1 Odr** and 24 Orthstirr to enhance the crafting process
-[X] (Personal) Spend time with...
--[X] Stigulf Snowbeard
--[X] Bring a [tafl game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_games) and some food gifts, while playing (with Frenzy), aks questions/discuss
---[X] Most important: Our upcoming trial and if/how we could use Frenzy
---[X] Uses for Frenzy outside of battle, like in social situations, or could it help avoid mistakes while crafting?
---[X] Uses for Frenzy in battle (besides the obvious)
---[X] General advice
-[X] (Visit) Go visit..
--[X] Asvir!
---[X] (Optional) Attend the Thing
--[X] Bring charges against Horra and Hasvir
--[X] Coordinate with the seeress and our own friends and family first, strategizing how we'll do this
--[X] Bring Abjorn and Sten with us.
--[X] Also go shopping if there's time before things kick off (we have a couple of things we could use)
-[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 a Trick combining Ember-Wing Cloak and Leaping Cleave that compensates for Leaping Cleave's weaknesses 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Train Hugr itself 29d6
--[X] Undo our internal nalbinding (leaving 12 Pockets for now no matter how well we roll) 1d6
-[X] (Research)
--[X] When investing Odr into Hugr and Composure we will take the same precautions as last time...we will do Composure first, Sten, Steinarr, and Abjorn will be there, Sten will chain us up, and then Abjorn will bear-hug us from behind to hold us in place. We will be completely unarmed (work-knife included). Additionally, for this activity only, we will use shapeshifting to actively reduce our speed and damage (reversing our usual bonuses).
--[X] See how many soul fruits or other small items (like explosive charms, or, more mundanely, mundane fruit or fist-sized rocks) we can store in a single Pocket (we'll try putting them in a bag if that helps) and if we can make them appear in different places when conjured (soul fruit in our mouth, charms in our hands or 10 feet away, shields in the hands of someone next to us, things like that), and how large an item we can fit in one 1d6
--[X] Try investing Orthstirr into a Pocket and see what it does in terms of what can be stored there (can an invested Pocket store more, store better, do something else entirely?) Definitely includes seeing if we can store Frenzy more efficiently this way 1d6
-[X] (Blackhand's Training) Try to develop old/train new hugareida tricks
--[X] Train Halting Vortex 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Tricks
--[X] Ask Tryggr what kind of Gale Tricks he actually knows and would recommend. He knows the specific Hugareida better than we do and he's seen us fight, his advice seems relevant. Have him demonstrate so we can get a better idea of what they do, especially in terms of actual attacks.
--[X] Train Recall 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Hamr (125 successes to rank up)
--[X] Train Hamr itself 1d6 x
--[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 (19 successes to rank up)
--[X] Train Tactics 1d6 x
--[X] Train Weaponcraft 1d6 (+1 Success from Sten) X
-[X] (Training) Fylgja (3 success to rank up)
--[X] Train Fylgja Itself 1d6 x
-[X] (Orthstirr Usage)
--[X] 4 Orthstirr to Hamr
---[X] 4 Chop, 4 Defend, 4 Dodge, 4 Glima, 3 Bash, 3 Pierce, 3 Throw, 3 Cut, 3 Farmwork, 3 Labor, 3 Overland (37 total)
--[X] **4 Odr** and 3/4 Orthstirr to Hugr (depending on whether it goes up)
---[X] 5 Artcraft, 5 Armorcraft, 3 Orthstirr to Barb-Tongue, **4 Odr** and 1 Orthstirr to Composure, 6 Housecraft, 3 Management, 4 Scouting, 3 Silver-Tongue, 3 Strategy, 3 Tactics, 5 Weaponcraft, 4 Wordplay, 5 Wildcraft (50 total)
--[X] 1 Orthstirr to Fylgja
---[X] 3 Command
--[X] 1 First Impression
--[X] 116/115 free for tricks (depending on whether Hugr goes up)
-[X] (Fylgja Capacity)
--[X] Remove Sidestep
-[X] (Shapeshifting Slots)
--[X] Assign our slots to High-Twitch Muscles, Dense Muscles, and Target-Tracking Eyes
--[X] Assign Fylgja's slot to Sharpened Senses
0~0~0
Chop
Weaponcraft
Rolled (Hugr: 6x9, 5x2, 4x3, 3x5, 2x4, 1x6) 20 Successes (Kindle Spinner: 1, 5) 2 Successes. (Firebomb Strike: 3, 1) 1 Success. (EWC: 4, 6) 4 Successes. (Campfire: 1, 2) 1 Failure.
...
(Hugr Rank Up!)
(+2 to Kindle Spinner)
(+1 to Firebomb Strike)
(+4 to EWC)
0~0~0
New (Flashfire Cleave: 4, 4) 3 Successes)
Flashfire Cleave, that's the name you've come up with for this new trick of yours.
Rocketing forward on wings of blazing fire, Sagaseeker sings strong and proud. The earth shudders as you cleave a deep trench in the ground, a gleeful grin on your face.
Wispy smoke trails rise from your shoulder blades as you skid to a halt — twin trenches left in your wake. Brushing some dirt off your shoulder, you turn to examine your handiwork.
...Well, at least it's not as slow anymore.
Unfortunately, Flashfire Cleave deals far less damage than Leaping-Cleave. It still possesses its ability of armor penetration, but the actual damage is barely anything.
(Flashfire Cleave is now Rough!)
Pocket Storage
Well, this is certainly a nice surprise!
No matter how much grass you shove in the Pocket — which was chosen arbitrarily, of course — it never seems to fill up. Unfortunately, while your fylgja can ferry in items like shields and arrows, you can't store them inside the Pockets.
You also can't summon them very easily and certainly not beyond your hands.
0~0~0 Pocket Investing
As you push orthstirr into another Pocket, it happily absorbs as much as you're willing to give it — which isn't all that much, given what happened last time.
However, once the orthstirr is inside the Pocket, you find that it can be *directed* towards different results. One result feels like an armory of sorts while another feels like it could be used for fermentation? Those are just the two possibilities that immediately spring to mind, though there are many on the outskirts.
Looks like you'll be doing some experimentation with this!
Whatever the result you desire, it will take ten more drops of orthstirr to reach.
0~0~0 Pocket Unraveling (3) 1 Success, 6 orthstirr returned to you.
After a small amount of work, you mostly unravel another Pocket.
(+6 Orthstirr returned to you)
0~0~0 Frenzy Up
"So..." you trail off as Abjorn, Sten, and Steinarr turn their gazes upon you. "Uh, how do Alloys work? Do I just, like, mix them together or something?"
Sten's brows shoot up, but he quickly wrestles back control. "You've reached that level of hugr already? Impressive."
Pride straightens your spine as the sun warms your smiling face. "I know, right?"
You turn to watch your father's face, to see what manner of praise he has, only to be stopped cold by pride half-cut with sorrow glimmering in his wet eyes. "Dad... Hallr would be so proud of you." Steinarr sighs as he presses a palm to his eyes. "If only he could see you now."
'If only he knew... Well, he's not wrong. I am very proud of you.'
"I'm sure he is, wherever he is now." Steinarr offers a half-hearted nod as you say that.
"Yeah..." Steinarr glances away for but a moment, his steel eyes fixed to the horizon, "You wanted to know how Alloying works, right?" You nod and he continues. "You take hold of one hugareida with one hand and the other with the other hand."
Steinarr holds out his hands with the fingers splayed wide. With a flexing of willpower, he calls upon two hugareida. A whipcrack of Wildfire greedily burns in one palm while a sapling sprouts from the other.
'Steinarr always was talented at farming. We used to call him 'Greenfinger' when he was little.'
Steinarr presses his palms together and it's like Ragnarok has come early.
A surge of power tears from his body as orthstirr lashes at his surroundings. Tufts of grass and dirt rip away from the ground as red energy flows around him like a raging inferno — a wildfire of power.
By the time it subsides, Steinarr cups a ball of smoke in his pressed-together hands.
'Your mouth is open,' says a rather bemused Blackhand as you quickly realize that, yes, your jaw has dropped. Sten, on the other hand, is standing like nothing really happened. But then again, he's got Alloys of his own — probably, anyways.
(+1 Frenzy)
(You have 3 Alloy Slots available to use.)
0~0~0 Crafting (Hugr (Artcraft): 6x1, 5x2, 4x2, 3x3, 2x2, 1x3-1=1x2)7+7+4=18 Successes.
By the time you finish carving the runes into the arm ring, the sun had already set over the horizon. But, with the work you did on the silver, you managed to inscribe the runes with fine detail. It's not enough to improve upon the overall quality of the ring, but it looks good regardless.
(Fine Silver Armband has gained the runes 'Weaken, defy, and resist what is drawn to the beacon's light, what is found near the troll's cave, what is held in the swimmer's hand.' which protects against hostile magics and spirits with a specific focus on Horra and Hasvir.)
0~0~0 Tryggr
Tryggr pauses in his dressing as you enter the barn, a smiling, barely-clothed once-maiden laying in the hay beside him. You don't know her, but...
He freezes as he meets your arched-brow gaze, the maiden softly sleeping in the afterglow of their activities.
"Oh... hey boss..." He trails off, a wince waiting in the wings.
You squint. "I don't care what you do in your free time, just don't bring any trouble down on me or mine."
"Alright, that's fair." A pregnant pause falls between you as the former maiden turns over in her sleep. "Uh, did you need me for something?"
"I had some questions about your hugareida, but... it can wait if you need it."
He waves his hands, taking them off his undone belt. "No! No, it's, uh, it's fine. I'll just-" his pants fall down around his ankles.
You politely avert your gaze as he lets loose a rather unmanly squeak while fumbling for his belt.
"I'll wait outside," you say to no one in particular as you pivot on the heel and exit the barn.
A few moments later, Tryggr appears fully clothed and a smile on his face — like nothing happened at all. If there's anything going for him, it's that he's got a frankly unbelievable level of confidence. Seriously, the knowledge that the rest of your family was just outside your house while you and Abjorn were consummating your relationship wasn't exactly a pleasant experience — you can't even begin to imagine what it'd be like if they were in the room with you.
Blackhand's laughter finally dies down as Tryggr coughs. "So... you wanted to talk about my hugareida?"
You nod, swiftly moving on to greener pastures. "Yes, I actually managed to acquire Gale myself and I was wondering if you had any tricks that I might want to learn."
He grins, quickly nodding along. "You did? Congratulations!" He offers a round of applause, which you gracefully accept. "But, on the topic of Gale tricks that would be useful to you..." he purses his lips. "Breeze Tripper is a fun one to nail people with, nothing better than forcing someone to trip in a fight. Breeze Rebuke works similarly, except you're more just shoving your enemy back then tripping. Gale Spear can deal decent damage and Cutting Wind can absolutely ruin someone's day if you use it right. I don't think that the movement tricks would be super relevant to you, what with your fire wings and all, and I'm not sure that you want to know the other uses of Gale that I've found," he eyes the barn door.
You squint as Blackhand starts up again. "Why did you even bring that up?"
He winces. "I don't know why I did that, I'm sorry."
Well, at least you've got some tricks to work off of now.
0~0~0 Stigulf
You frown as you find Stigr's old farm empty, the Hading already working to reclaim its lost property. It seems that Stigulf and their mother left for the Danelaw during the summer.
Damn, and you'd brought snacks too!
You sigh, slumping over. Well, at least you can eat these... what were they called again?
'Sandwiches.'
Sandwiches, that's right!
0~0~0 Attending the Thing (Hamingja: 6x5, 5x2, 4x2, 3x1, 2x1)16-5=11 Successes
As you arrive at Asvir — having taken a different route than usual — you get the oddest feeling that you somehow avoided something rather ominous...
Regardless, Asvir is a bustling hub of activity as men and women from all three regions under Asvir's aegis arrive for the Thing. At least three, four-hundred men and women perform a variety of tasks and activities ranging from setting up camp to the proposing of marriages. Merchants both native and travelling hock their wares to the throngs of chattering people.
The Seeress' tent is still here, as is the Seeress. She doesn't appear to be pleased with all the crowds and noise going on around her.
It'll be a few days before the trials start properly, so you get started with setting up your family's tents. Sten and Abjorn are the people here with you — while you love your father, you don't entirely trust him to keep his cool if Horra himself shows up. Once you're done setting up the tent, you'll have some time to yourself.
What would you like to spend it on?
[ ] Write in
0~0~0
AN: And here we are in the pre-trial period. You have two days to prepare and you can do up to five 'things' per day.
-5 on the Hamingja roll there? That's pretty spoopy. Though fortunately, our roll was good enough to still get a Good Tier Result even through that, even if it cost us a Fine Level one.
So, 3 Alloy Slots! That's pretty good! Do we just get to define them freely or do they take actions to lock in?
EDIT: Oh boy, our Birb slot can also be filled with an Alloy instead of a Shapeshift, that's nice. Presumably it'll unlock another two slots when it hits Rank 7 and evolves.
SON OF EDIT: So, Flashfire Cleave, how's that stack up in general compared to the original version? The narrative suggests it's a stupidly fast attack and still has great anti-armor effects, but it's not very great at actually doing Endurance Damage. Is that about right? It's a set-up move at a hefty expense, but is very good at set-up?
Huh, nice to know Hugr 3 does retroactively unlock a slot. I suspected it did, but nice to have that confirmed.
By the way, was Cutting Wind the Gale claw thing Tryggr did, or was it the trick that negated Kindle-Spinner? Or were both instances examples of Cutting Wind? @Imperial Fister
Also, is Flashfire Cleave's damage due to it's low level of mastery? If anything, I thought the speed from EWC would've increased its damage (I doubt this would've actually happened, since it already does a hefty amount of damage, but I'm trying to say it seemed more probable than it doing less).
Also... Wildfire + Unnamed Plant Hugareida = Smoke Hugareida? That feels weird... but at the same time, makes sense?
I think Flashfire Cleave is a stupidly fast gap closer that doubles as doing lots of damage to Armor or other passive defenses, but isn't really a good finisher.
Still, a good gap-closer is great, and it'll be cheaper than EWC when mastered, letting us save EWC for pure movement instead of as a gap-closer. I think it's described as being really god damn fast too? Like, on par with Kindle-Spinner?
Huh, interesting that it's straight up considered a Hugareida though rather than a Chop technique.
EDIT: You know, I just realized it.
But because our Birb can hold an Alloy for us, we don't actually need to use any of our current internal Alloy Slots to hold Forgefire. We can just have our Birb carry it for us when we need it to craft with.
Alternately, we could give Emberwind to our Birb and get the Wildfire/Forgefire/Firestorm trifecta for Halla personally. Emberwind looks like a really good option for our birb to give it some combat utility, given how precision and range are very much what it wants. Though Wildfire or Firestorm might be better.
Aw, it's a shame Steinarr couldn't come and testify.
...Although in hindsight, yeah, it's probably for the best he didn't come. He most definitely would've started a fight had Horra appeared. Do we have enough time to make Alloys?