- Location
- Under your couch
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Is "Hey Blackhand" the new Siri now?
NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)
- Thread starter I.F. Ister
- Start date
- Original Fantasy Action
-
- 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
Is "Hey Blackhand" the new Siri now?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean...I'm not sure it's worth it even if it works. All quality does for weapons is extra d6s and all it does for armor is extra health and maybe a +1 or +2 on defensive rolls. We already have tricks for all those things and I'm not convinced that we need another.
- Location
- Bretonnia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I have no basis for this theory, but I feel like Steingrimr is that guy we got a PoV of, the one with the guy stuck in the trees made of ice (or something along those lines).
Ah, wait, no - I don't think that's right. Since Imperial said that we'd be meeting that guy with one of our descendants, not Halla. Oh well.
Would be nice to meet our aunts, though. They sound pretty cool.
If you say so, I guess 🤷♂️. I just thought a party buff that increased damage/increased defence or damage reduction would be good, and I can't think of any other Forgefire tricks that would be any use.
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean, Forgefire is still fire and some of the hottest available, I'm hoping we can get ongoing flaming weapons as a Trick for extra damage on melee attacks in general. Other than that, crafting Tricks seem the way to go.
You said you used crowfeeder until you turned thirty two.... compared to that time, how much, if anything changed about crowfeeder that you noticed or can recall?
Winter 7/Pre-Trial 1.1
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
[X] Plan: Take the Pulse of the Land
-[X] Meet with the Seeress, touch base with her and bring her up to date with your findings, ask if she'd have any way of tracking Horra if he decided to do a runner.
-[X] Check out the merchants, see if there's any interesting curiosities we might want to pick up on while we're here, like interesting plants or other things to add to our Soulscape. Maybe also look in and see if anyone's got something we could use as paper? Also, definitely touch base with the Blacksmith, even if the metal issues are still a thing
-[X] Chat up the locals, see if we can pick up on any useful news or rumors
-[X] As part of the former, maybe see if we can get some networking in while we're here? See if there's anyone we might want to establish a connection with.
-[X] RNG Take The Wheel I guess?
-[X] Meet with the Seeress, touch base with her and bring her up to date with your findings, ask if she'd have any way of tracking Horra if he decided to do a runner.
-[X] Check out the merchants, see if there's any interesting curiosities we might want to pick up on while we're here, like interesting plants or other things to add to our Soulscape. Maybe also look in and see if anyone's got something we could use as paper? Also, definitely touch base with the Blacksmith, even if the metal issues are still a thing
-[X] Chat up the locals, see if we can pick up on any useful news or rumors
-[X] As part of the former, maybe see if we can get some networking in while we're here? See if there's anyone we might want to establish a connection with.
-[X] RNG Take The Wheel I guess?
Shopping (Hamingja: 6x2, 5x3, 3x2, 2x3, 1x1) 8 Successes
"Halla!" The Blacksmith greets you with open arms and a wide smile as you walk into his booth. "What brings you here today?"
"Oh, you know," you pick through the selection on display. It's slim pickings, all things considered, "this and that."
"This and that, eh?" A brow arches as he folds his arms atop each other. "Did you hear about Haklangr?"
You frown, returning a work knife to the table. "The name rings a bell, but..." You offer a shrug, which has the Blacksmith nodding along.
"One of the people who competed in that wrestling competition three or so years back now. You lost to him, if I recall correctly."
You blink, brows shooting up. "Big belly, red hair, drunk?"
"That's the one."
"Then no, I haven't heard anything. Did something happen?" You squint as a sneaking suspicion creeps up your spine.
"Went missing from his farm about two weeks ago, no idea where he got off to." The Blacksmith shakes his head as he sighs. "Didn't seem like the type of guy to abandon his family like that, but there's no evidence of a fight so...?" He trails off with a shrug.
'Big belly and red hair? I don't know about you, but that sounds familiar to me.'
You nod, both to Blackhand and the Blacksmith. "Well... I didn't just come here to catch up, though it is nice."
"Business," he grins, "let's get down to it."
"First things first, how's the iron doing?"
His smile stiffens. "Ah, well..."
Your face twists into a grimace. "Poorly, I take it?"
"You've got the right of it." The Blacksmith heaves a heavy sigh. "Damn dwarves, entering all out war right when the eggs were hatching..."
"Eggs?"
He freezes, eyes darting to you and to the surroundings. "You heard nothing, alright?"
"Sure, as long as you tell me what you mean." You're not letting this slip by that easily.
He squints, but acquiesces. "Fine," he gestures for you to lean in, so you do. His voice drops to a low whisper as his eyes stay locked on your surroundings, "Bog Iron comes from bogs, Forged Iron comes from the mountain-forges of the dwarves, but the best iron?" His voice is nearly imperceptible, forcing you to lean in closer, "It comes from eggs. Eggs found deep underground, where only the dwarves can reach."
"Interesting..." You trail off as you stand back up, running finger and thumb across chin and jaw. "Well, I've got one other thing to ask you."
"Yes?" He arches a brow as he returns to his casual, crossed arms stance.
"Is there anyone around with any writing utensils?" While you're not expecting much, maybe there's somebody selling charcoal sticks or somethi-
"Yes, actually." The Blacksmith laughs as he directs your open-mouth gaze to the booth across from him. "Wax tablets, perfect for practicing your rune work on."
'Wax tablets are perhaps the single worst surface to record runes on — save for dirt, dust, and sand.'
You grin as you make your way over to the salesman.
'Which makes them perfect for our purposes.'
There are 8 tablets for sale, 5oz silver each. They come with writing styli carved from bone and capped with a sharp tooth of iron — the back end flattening out into a fan with which you use to erase and make corrections.
How many would you like to buy, if any?
[ ] Write in
0~0~0
Talking with the crowds (Hugr (Silver-Tongue): 5x3, 4x3, 3x2, 2x3, 1x1)7+1=8 Successes
After spending a few hours moving through the crowds and making small talk here and there, you learn that there are a total of two cases being plotted out for this Thing.
The first will held tomorrow and consists of the farms across the fjord continuing their ancient feud. Apparently, the Hading-side is accusing the Jurgdby-side of having riled up the Troll-men living in the fjord.
You might be able to earn some allies through having Sten testify for that. Or, at the very least, deprive Horra of allies should the courts find Horra not guilty. Things will get very hot, very quickly in such a scenario.
The other case, the one that's held in two days' time, is yours. Horra hasn't arrived yet and, if he never shows, then that means you win the case by default.
Hmm... maybe you could do something with that?
0~0~0
Networking (Hugr (Silver-Tongue): 6x5, 5x3, 3x2, 2x1, 1x1)16+1+1(Reward Dice)=18 Successes
As it turns out, your fears of the courts being against you were unfounded. Not only is the Blacksmith one of the nine judges presiding over the case, but so is Audrikr and Haklangr's brother, Haleikr.
The Blacksmith's vote is assured and Audrikr is your friend. If you can get Haleikr on your side, then no matter how persuasive Horra is, the case will be deadlocked!
The Gods have surely smiled upon you this day!
0~0~0
Seeress Talk
The Seeress glowers over her teacup's rim at anyone who dares draw near her tent. Her eyes lug heavy bags and her frazzled hair ends with split ends. She's not been sleeping well, not at all.
Teacup rattling in shaky, shivering hands, she sets her drink down on the table as she smooths out her dress. Deeper than normal wrinkles cover her face as her lips form a thinly-pressed line. You feel rather small as you meet her bloodshot eyes.
"Um," you gulp as she pins you with a piercing stare, "are you okay?"
"I hate crowds." She takes up her drink once again.
You blink. "R-right."
There's more to it, you're sure, but you're not getting much more out of her than tha-.
(RNG: 99) 99?! Well, at least it's not a one-hundr- (Reward Dice: 3)... that's... uh, that's a fuckin' 102.
The teacup falls and shatters against the ground, but the Seeress pays it no heed as her head snaps to the south. Her eyes blaze with smoky power as the pupils shrink to pinpricks. She stiffens as every muscle in her body tenses up.
The corners of her eyes twitch as words spill from between unmoving lips.
"Ironjaw just killed Rainmaker."
Blackhand gapes, his 'eyes' bulging in your mind's eye. 'I... what...'
He doesn't have the words, neither does the Seeress for that matter. You, however, are once again out of the loop.
"Rainmaker?"
'Steelfather of the Jomsvikingar, one of my killers. If Rainmaker's dead... then Ironjaw now has a piece of the Weapon.'
You open your mouth to speak only for nothing to come out. Just who is Ironjaw?
"That... is a major upheaval of the status quo." The Seeress' voice is shaky and her face is ashen with a sickly pallor.
Blackhand beats you to the punch, 'Are you okay?'
"Ye- No, no I'm not." A queasy green blossoms on her cheeks as she presses a hand to her stomach. She winces, fear flashing in her eyes, "I'm... I'm sorry, but I'm going to need a moment. Please come back tomorrow."
With that, you're swiftly ushered from the tent and left standing next to a completely oblivious crowd.
"Why was she... you know?" You whisper your question, hoping that her once-husband would know her better than you.
'I've only seen her like that once before, when she was grieving over the corpse of her father.' A prickly sensation tickles the back of your neck. Turning around, you lock eyes with Kolla, the Seeress' daughter, as she stares from a tent window. 'If I had to make a guess, I'd say that she has something to do with it.'
Kolla disappears into the darkness of the tent and you find yourself in wholehearted agreement.
'Regardless, I expect that we'll be witnessing the destruction of the Jomsvikingar in the coming decades. With Rainmaker and the ones I killed gone, their rival Warbands will have enough Steelfathers to match them blow for blow, ounce for ounce.'
"How long have the Jomsvikingar been dominant?"
'Nine-hundred years.'
Your fear-tinged thoughts turn to the future of your children and the world you're bringing them into.
A world without the Jomsvikingar.
What would you like to do tomorrow?
[ ] Write in
0~0~0
AN: That RNG roll, man. Over half the writing time was me trying to figure out how to work Ironjaw in without completely demolishing the court narrative. But I managed to do it!
And I set up some interesting stuff for your next character to explore too! I'll call that a success and a half!
25-minute moratorium.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Well, we've confirmed without a doubt the location of one of The Weapon's pieces.
And notably, even in an incomplete state, it's still enough to kill a Steelfather.
That aside, welp, that's another bit of evidence we found. We saw his body in the depths of Horra's evil sanctum.
Which means that one of those judges is absolutely on our side. And will join us in the subsequent "Kick Horra in the shortribs until he dies" event.
But yeah, things are going to get spicy real soon. The Jomsvikings pissed everyone off, but now they don't have enough Steelfathers to be able to continue to Assert Dominance.
And notably, even in an incomplete state, it's still enough to kill a Steelfather.
That aside, welp, that's another bit of evidence we found. We saw his body in the depths of Horra's evil sanctum.
Which means that one of those judges is absolutely on our side. And will join us in the subsequent "Kick Horra in the shortribs until he dies" event.
But yeah, things are going to get spicy real soon. The Jomsvikings pissed everyone off, but now they don't have enough Steelfathers to be able to continue to Assert Dominance.
Last edited:
Huh. Depending on how Xanatos the Enemy is, they might have just accomplished two goals at once by destabilizing things *and* taking out Hallr.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
I don't think the Enemy planned this. The Jomsvikings were very much a force of stasis in the overall setting, by way of having more Steelfathers than anyone else and tending to throw their dominance around whenever they showed up.
And Ironjaw knows about True Cultivation, which means he is by definition no ally of the Enemy.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I don't know what to do for the other four actions, but one of them absolutely needs to be talking with the seeress about freeing Wolfwind. That has to be priority #1.
@Imperial Fister is it one action to talk with the Seeress on multiple subjects or one action per subject?
Only if he practices it. We actually don't know that, though it's likely enough.
@Imperial Fister is it one action to talk with the Seeress on multiple subjects or one action per subject?
Only if he practices it. We actually don't know that, though it's likely enough.
Last edited:
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
That's the real issue here, as far as the outside world is concerned, the 9 Steelfathers always were on the way, it was only the target who kept getting "All Clear!" signals until suddenly they were retroactively there.
- Location
- Three feet to the left
- Pronouns
- He/They
I have a stupid question: how exactly are we going to prove this stuff? We don't have pictures, or videos, or such. Is there a magic equivalent?
- Location
- Bretonnia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I got the impression Ironjaw took a piece of the weapon from Rainmaker, not that he used it to kill him. Since he said 'now has' after talking about Rainmaker's death, rather than just 'has', which suggests he got it after Rainmaker died. And like, we already knew that Ironjaw was considered a Steelfather without Steel, but I'll be very surprised if he's not a True Cultivator, considering he killed a Steelfather.
'Hey, Blackhand? Were you considered a Steelfather, since you were clearly strong enough to count as one, even if you don't have Steel? Also, did Rainmaker have a piece of the weapon? And if so, do the other Steelfathers that killed you have pieces of it?'
Last edited:
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Testimony is enough to get them to look, and we have a way directly into his sanctum.
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
1 action for multiple subjects
- Location
- Three feet to the left
- Pronouns
- He/They
Okay, but what stops him from just moving all his stuff now that he's been accused?
- Location
- Bretonnia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
He doesn't actually know that Halla is aware of his Sanctum. From what I understand, we haven't actually accused him of anything yet...? Might be wrong there.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
We've accused him of fuckfuck games, but his real damning secrets are in his Super Secret Sanctum. Which he has no reason to believe we've penetrated.
He probably thinks we're behind the stolen ballista and the bandit stuff, which is damaging but he's got proxies who can deflect this. But he has no way of knowing that we actually know where the real skeletons are literally hiding.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We have our sworn word. Which is very meaningful in this society. We can also literally show them both the arrow-thrower and the sanctum full of draugr, the latter on Horra's land and including things he unambiguously bought (most notably the elephant).
I mean...if they're sending people to examine the sanctum, nobody on Horra's side will be allowed to go warn him until after they send the inspectors, it's not like they're stupid.
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
Voting is now open
Ah, Magoosedice are on the loose again it seems.
From the reactions that is dead-dead killed, not body-dead killed.
So it is possible to kill steely steelfathers without the weapon. Or just parts of it can do wounds.
Went missing rather than robbed from a grave?
FUCK.
That could mean that Horra abducts people to experiment on, and when they are killed by the experiments he uses their corpses to make draugr. (Waste not, want not)
(Or his draugr making starts with living people)
If so, that would put the "Horra, Hasvir, and Wolfwind going to the Sanctum, Horra giddy, Wolfwind unhappy" in a new context.
It could already be to late for Wolfwind.
If Seeress is available again we should start with trying to locate Wolfwind.
- Location
- Three feet to the left
- Pronouns
- He/They
Necromancer 101 right there!
- Location
- Bretonnia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean... what is Horra's end goal? Like, this definitely goes beyond just killing Steinarr - Wolfwind, Hasvir, himself and whoever else he has under his sway could undoubtedly kill Steinarr, even if it might be costly. But he's got an entire draugr army to boot. But like... given from what we've heard about Steelfathers, I'm under the impression that if the Headsman (who is a Steelfather) teamed up with the rest of his felagi, he could easily take care of Horra's upstart revolution. Not to mention he might even be able to get the Jarl to come and help. Does he have something that'd let him take down a Steelfather or two? Because even if he does manage to kill the Headsman and all of his men, the Jarl certainly won't like it.
- Location
- Three feet to the left
- Pronouns
- He/They
He's probably going to use that army to assault and conquer the half of the valley he's not related to. You know, the ones he doesn't control. That's what I'd do if I was an evil necromancer.