Don't forget that we're rich. Well not rich rich, but solidly upper-middle-class and likely to climb. Food insecurity etc are less of an issue for our children than the median norse child.
It's arguable we are starting to be actually rich with the recent addition of 150 oz. of gold (the equivalent of 1200 oz. of silver), but yeah, we were definitely upper middle class even before that. We are an employer, not an employee.
Yeah, fair. The set number of children definitely has a lot to do with the way things seem to work as well. And the average would likely be around 4-ish, barring magic, given it's based on Hamingja and the average Hamingja is 5-7. Which explains why fertility magic to increase that is in demand, as I suspect most Norse families want more kids than that.
"Of course I can," she smiles behind her teacup, "It doesn't take long to learn, but gathering the materials does. This spell specifically makes use of three cow fetuses, nine fertilized chicken eggs, and eighty-one golden elm leaves." The Seeress shrugs, "Your sister paid a high price, so I put in extra effort with the numbers and ingredients. By swapping out the ingredients and varying up the amount, one can produce a variety of different strengths to the spell. And as for if it's a good training tool... only if you want a lot of children all at once," she snorts, "maybe if you sacrificed the right things, you might be able to convince the Nornir to let you have more children than you otherwise would."
Note that having lots of kids is also how you do family connections (as long as their marriage matches are good). A few productive generations and Halla's descendants could be as interconnected as Horra was.
There's probably a fun campaign or story idea about a Norse thrall getting freed and released into Christian lands and discovering just how superhuman they really are comparatively...
I'll jack up the Reward Dice issued for that as well, as it interests me.
0~0~0
I'm on the home stretch of the Training+Research+Management stuff now. I'm still rather miffed about so much of my time being eaten up, but alas, such is life.
True, though I bet it's easier to get the Norns to allow extra kids the lower the starting number and the better your Hamingja. Not easy, but easier than it would be for someone like Halla who's gonna have a bunch already.
Don't forget that we're rich. Well not rich rich, but solidly upper-middle-class and likely to climb. Food insecurity etc are less of an issue for our children than the median norse child.
Oh, we are definitely fairly well-off by the standards of most Norse farmers, but what I mean is more that given what a crazy amount of work a Norse adult can do, and the ability to gain Skills/Tricks in stuff like farming, even a "poor" Norse farmer is... kind of in a ludicrously enviable position by the standards of a medieval peasant farmer. It's notable that when we talk about how a farm is doing well, it's mostly in terms of how many livestock it has for trade and bragging rights. The idea that there might simply not be enough grain for everyone to eat seems not to be seriously considered.
Like, even if your farm doing poorly by Norse standards, you can barely afford to pay taxes and own no cattle, one adult Norse man and his wife can easily sow enough cereals and beans to keep a family fed with enough calories, and probably have a few sheep for milk. Land seems fairly abundant, at least going by how much unused space there is around us. The Hading is probably a bit of an outlier here because of Drysalt, but culturally it still seems like it's seen as fairly normal for young Norse couples set up new farms on virgin land like they're living in the Old West, which implies land is not that scarce. Presumably warfare/monsters acts as a natural counterbalance to population growth and expansion.
So I guess what I'm saying is... there's food insecurity and there's food insecurity, you know? I think for Norse children, a lean year looks like one when you don't really get to eat meat at all. In a medieval community unfortunate enough to suffer a few years of bad harvests... you're down to trying to eat crickets and grind up acorns for flour at best, and at worst, providing inspiration for fairy tales.
Making a Norse baby requires 10 successes on a combined Hamr check which is actually pretty tough to manage for regular couples. Most people also don't have amazing absurd Hamingja too, probably enough to roll 4 or 5 successes on maxbabies.
Subsistence farming can't really exist when workers are superhumans though. A Farming 7 Norseman by implications should do the work of 7 ordinary people, though the Hamr stat isn't included here..
[X] Training Dice: The next time you encounter Hooknails, you will have to fight him. However, you'll gain an extra 12 training dice until that time comes.
[X] Refined Semi-Halting Vortex: A field modification of Halting Vortex that sacrifices stopping power for reusability and mobility. If an enemy trick has more orthstirr, then Semi-Halting Vortex fails.
[X] Plan Recovering From That Whole Thing
-[X] (Crafting) Try to make something
--[X] Tools for ourselves (+11 successes from Tools/Workshop)
--[X] Use bone ash from salamanders if we can arrange it (hoping to draw on their symbolic connection to fire and maybe regrowth for smithing)
--[X] Switch Forgefire Slots to Dice before starting and back to damage afterwards
--[X] Spending ****9 Odr**** and burning Frami, Virthing, and Saemd (for +1 Success each, +3 successes total) to enhance the crafting process.
-[X] (Playdates) Set up a playdate between one/multiple of your kids and one/multiple of other kids. (Write in)
--[X] Inviting the Henrik-Helga (Coast Family) and Klaus-Kjaran-Kadrina (Coast Family) families
--[X] Suggesting our kids spend particular time with Helga, Klaus, and Kadrina
--[X] Adding 3 Reward Dice to how well our kids get along with them courtesy of [@Shard](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/members/6983/)
-[X] (Wavedancer) Check out your new ship!
-[X] (Exploration) Go on a walk through...
--[X] The hills!
---[X] (Optional) Send your fylgja in your place (Does not cost an action)
-[X] (Seeress) Learn seidr with the Seeress (Only available during Summer)
--[X] Learn Time Heals All Wounds
--[X] Learn a seidr spell for finding a person
--[X] Talk about the Hading Witch and needing to confront her and ask for whatever defensive spell would best protect us from her magic (this might get either a specific spell or a list, either would be okay)
-[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 Clearwater 5d6
-[X] (New Tricks)
--[X] Train Forge Weld 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Try and train a combination of Reinforce Shield and Kindle Spinner that acts as Reinforce Shield but explodes with fire and damages the attacker when broken (should be an Ignition Trick) 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Try and train a fire-based Trick for multiple weak attacks in a single trick to eat through multiple ablative defenses (maybe with Emberwind? Wed prefer Ignition, if possible, but it may not be) 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
--[X] Try and work on merging our _Flashfire Cleave_ and _Sparkbomb_ Tricks into a single finishing move, hitting extremely fast and hard, at the cost of needing to "stoke" as we fight 2d6 (1d6) (+1 Success from Born of Fire)
---[X] Suggested name is 'Blood-Stoked Sword Flame' (though some of us might prefer something simpler) and spending 1 Reward Die courtesy of [@Skippy](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/members/166/) to help ensure the final version works as intended.
--[X] Train 'Residence' Design Skill-Trick 1d6
--[X] Train 'Utility' Design Skill-Trick 1d6
-[X] (Research)
--[X] Continue working on our soulscape's fence (hopefully with new insight from Security) 1d6 + 2 Reward Dice courtesy of [@Alectai](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/members/391/)
--[X] Begin actually setting up our soulscape's land as a farm 1d6
--[X] Investigate the Dwarven grove and stone and compare it to our own cultivation site to see what's different and how we could improve our own site 1d6
--[X] Move one of our Frenzy from our Fasts to Pockets, use the empty Fast to experiment with putting Tricks in it and see how that works (in particular, does it get around the main downside of Folded Tricks by putting, like, a 4Fold Trick in it and releasing it instantly), starting with non-damaging Tricks and lower Folds before moving on to bigger and scarier stuff 1d6
--[X] Try alloying Sword and Standstill (Peacebond?) 1d6
--[X] Try alloying Sword and Ignition 1d6
--[X] See if we can apply the principles behind Recall to make another Trick operate at range (ie: make a Kindle Spinner appear 100 feet away in the first place rather than throwing it) and if channeling it through different thematically fitting materials (ie: Ashen Kiss for Kindle Spinner) makes any difference 1d6
--[X] Try practicing the body switch trick with Blackhand to throw of enemy tactical analyses, especially from berserks 1d6
-[X] (Drifa) Teach Drifa some of your tricks
--[X] Continue our basic combat curriculum 1d6
--[X] Discuss with her when it is and is not appropriate to aim for the groin
-[X] (Training) Solo Seidr Training
--[X] Train Abjorn in Eye-Speech 3d6
--[X] Quickest Stitch 1d6 x
--[X] Draw Poison 1d6 x
--[X] Sear Diseased Flesh 1d6 x
-[X] (Blackhand's Training) Try to develop old/train new hugareida tricks
--[X] Consult with Halfdan, see if he knows any good Atgeir Hugareida Tricks and what they might be.
--[X] Train Halting Vortex 1d6 x
--[X] Train Mire Ward 1d6 x
--[X] Train Slipstream 1d6 x
--[X] Train Gale Spear 1d6 x
--[X] Train Sword Guard 1d6 x
--[X] Train Sword Strike 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Tricks
--[X] Talk to Sten about how to make Jewelry and how to Decorate weapons
--[X] Train Fast Recall 1d6 X
--[X] Train Sharpen 1d6 x
--[X] Train Focus Guard 1d6 X
--[X] Train Sowing Sight 1d6 x
--[X] Train Harvesting Sense 1d6 x
--[X] Train 'Security' Design Skill-Trick 1d6 X
--[X] Train 'Stealth' Wildcraft Skill-Trick 1d6 x
--[X] Train 'Jewelry' Artcraft Skill-Trick 1d6 (+1 Success from Sten) x
--[X] Train 'Decorate' Artcraft Skill-Trick 1d6 (+1 Success from Sten) x
-[X] (Training) Hamr (120 successes to rank up)
--[X] Train Hamr itself 1d6 x
--[X] Train Farmwork 1d6 x
--[X] Train Labor 1d6 x
--[X] Train Defend 1d6 x
--[X] Train Dodge 1d6 x
--[X] Train Shoot 1d6 x
--[X] Train Strike 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Hugr (58 successes to rank up)
--[X] Train Hugr itself 1d6 x
--[X] Train Artcraft 1d6 (+1 success from Sten) x
--[X] Train Design 1d6 x
--[X] Train Management 1d6 X
--[X] Train Strategy 1d6 X
--[X] Train Silver-Tongue 1d6 x
--[X] Train Tactics 1d6 x
-[X] (Training) Fylgja (29 success to rank up)
--[X] Train Fylgja Itself 1d6 x
--[X] Train Command 1d6 X
-[X] (Assign Hugareida Levels)
--[X] Assign 2 Forgefire Levels to Damage
--[X] Assign 1 Emberwind Level to Damage
--[X] Assign 3 Standstill Levels to Instances
--[X] Assign 2 Ignition Levels to Dice and 1 to Damage
--[X] Assign 1 Campfire Level to Instances
0~0~0
Fast Recall is complete
Focus Guard is now Rough
Sword Guard is now Rough
Security Skill-Trick is complete
Management is now Rank 3
Command is now Rank 3
New (Forge Weld: 4, 3) 3 Successes. (Residence Skill-Trick: 3) 1 Success. (Utility Skill-Trick: 5) 2 Successes. (Explosive Reactive Armor: 1, 5) 2 Successes. (Fireside Barrage: 4, 1) 1 Success. (Flame-Tending Blade: 6, 6)5+2(Reward Dice)=7 Successes
Your heart rumbles like steady, non-stop thunder as you focus your orthstirr towards keeping a certain shape.
A sword of hardened flames burns painlessly in your hands as the blade grows larger and larger with every rumbling heartbeat. Every inhale seems to encourage your heart to greater heights while every exhale seems to bring it back down to earth.
The sword towers over the landscape, a burning beacon of firepower in the afternoon sky. It's easily nine times your size and still it grows larger. You breathe deeply as you harness your will, banishing the latent fear of what you might unleash.
Your heart thunders and you swing.
Flame-scorched trees crash against the ground as hilltops are flattened. Dirt flings into the air as both sizzle and boil together. More air rushes to fill the vacuum as a thunderous boom! echoes across the land. Birds flock to the skies as animals dive into their holes and burrows.
The Flame-Tending Blade, that's its name. You didn't pick it, it just came to you in a flash of inspiration, like something deep within revealed itself to you rather than any sort of dedicated brainstorming.
'I've seen this before... but where?' Blackhand frowns as you pant — the trick requires a great deal of orthstirr, after all. 'No, I've not just seen it. I've also used it!'
"You've used the Flame-Tending Blade before?" You ask after taking a cool swig of water.
'That is what I said, yes.' You roll your eyes as Blackhand snorts. 'But, I seem to remember that there's more to it, or more things like it? I'm having difficulty describing what I mean, the word is on the tip of my tongue yet I just can't quite get it!' He sighs and grumbles, 'I'm sorry to say, but I'll need to see whatever it is I'm missing before I can remember more.'
The Flame-Tending Blade does seem rather odd. For one, it's not part of a hugareida, a twist, or any kind of seidr you've heard of. In fact, it seems to rely on your hamr rather than your hugr. It would be nice to learn what the heck it is, but you're not super sure where to start.
(Forge Weld is now Rough!)
(+1 to Residence Skill-Trick)
(+2 to Utility Skill-Trick)
(+2 to ERA)
(+1 to Fireside Barrage)
(Flame-Tending Blade is now Rough!)
0~0~0
Rolled (Kindle Spinner: 6, 4) 4 Successes. (Firebomb Strike: 4, 5) 4 Successes. (EWC: 6, 4) 4 Successes. (Campfire: 3, 4) 3 Successes
You make steady progress on your various Ignition tricks, but nothing outstanding other than that.
(+4 to Kindle Spinner)
(+4 to Firebomb Strike)
(+4 to EWC)
(+3 to Campfire)
0~0~0 Teaching Abjorn Eye-Speak
The fact that teaching Abjorn Eye-Speak requires staring into each other's eyes for extended periods of time has nothing to do with the thought process behind teaching him it, alright?! Just because he's you husband and he's so damn handsome and the way his lovely straw-blonde hair slightly curls at the ends and the way his clothes cling to his body and how his fingers weave together when he's relaxing and-
"Mama's drooling," Sigurdr's voice pulls you from your stupor as he snickers from his spot near the window. Abjorn's eyes flash with amusement as your cheeks start to burn.
"Mama's down bad for Papa," Eyvor adds while playing with a pair of figurines, a wolf and a bear. Abjorn had carved them for Eyvor and Asgeirr respectively, but Eyvor had won the right to the wolf from Asgeirr after their most recent brawl.
The table rattles as Abjorn smacks it. He presses a knuckle to his mouth and struggles to suppress his laughter as you stare open-mouthed.
"And where did you learn that word?" Seriously, whose been teaching your children these things?!
"Promised not to tell," Eyvor replies as you scowl and turn your attention to Asgeirr. Eyvor's like a lockbox, you're not getting anything out of her. Asgeirr, on the other hand, is a lot more pliable to things like bribes. However, you don't imagine you're going to need bribes.
"Asgeirr, who made you promise not to tell? And stop trying to make Hallbjorn touch the, the frog? Where did you even get that?" Asgeirr pauses shoving a frog into Hallbjorn's hands. He looks down at it and then up to you, like he doesn't really understand the question.
"Outside," he shrugs as he tucks the frog into his belt. The frog doesn't so much as twitch... this likely isn't the first time its been there, knowing Asgeirr. "Uncle Eric and Uncle Stigr, different times."
Asgeirr's vocabulary may be lacking somewhat — or maybe he just doesn't like to speak — but it's enough for you to start plotting your revenge.
(Abjorn's nearly learned Eye-Speaking. A little more and you've got it)
0~0~0 Teaching Drifa
"Alright, Drifa," you say as you start the day's training, "I've been talking with Sten and, listen," you sigh, "while it's a good tactic, it's not really honorable to hit men in the genitals."
She blinks, quirking her head to the side. "But how else am I supposed to bring them down to my level?"
"Knees and ankles, Drifa, knees and ankles." You smile as you tap the side of your head. "They're just as effective, though not as emotionally devastating."
She scowls, not particularly pleased with this information. "Well... since you're the one telling me I guess I'll try..."
0~0~0 Consulting with Halfdan
"Hey, Halfdan? Are there any good atgeir hugareida tricks?"
Halfdan snorts as he corrects a minor flaw in your stance. "Any good tricks? All of them are good, Halla," he shakes his head as he laughs. "But, to answer your question I shall posit one of my own: what is the atgeir good for?"
"Good for?" You frown as you run thumb and forefinger across chin and jaw. "Well, fighting, I guess."
"The atgeir," Halfdan begins as an atgeir forms in his hand — which you now recognize is a hugareida, "is a weapon meant for controlling the battlefield. It is the supporter's best friend and closest ally. You can hook, push, pull, prod, ward, and so much more. The atgeir is best used for protecting those closest to you and striking out at those that would wish them harm. It allows you to control the battlefield, to stop people from ganging up on your allies, and to expose your enemies to attack."
Hook, he says? You know... if you had to fight that Squire again, having some way to pull him off his horse would've been rather handy. Not to mention the appeal of having some kind of ability to defend Abjorn or someone else even when you're busy fighting a different foe.
(I'm trying a new thing where instead of simply giving you tricks, you get examples of things that a hugareida trick could do so you can come up with them on your own)
0~0~0 Training with the Seeress
"A spell for finding someone?" The Seeress hums as she brushes Kolla's hair — she'd apparently been trying to catch a frog for some spell and had gotten it tangled with sticks. "Well, what manner of 'finding' do you intend? Would you like to track them down by a strand of hair, a footprint, a half-faded memory, or something all-together different?"
You frown, not exactly expecting that but feeling a bit silly that you didn't. Seidr is rather expansive, after all. "Wait, a half-faded memory? How does that work?"
It's Kolla that answers. "A thoughtful gift, a wisp of smoke, and a whisper on the wind. It's basic, kiddy stuff."
You scowl, but manage to hold yourself back. She's only a child, she doesn't know what she's saying. A flicker in her dull eyes says otherwise, though.
"Kolla," the Seeress chides her daughter, who only offers a half-hearted shrug. The Seeress sighs and rubs at her wrinkled brow, "Capturing whispers on the wind is a rather annoying process that I'm in no mood to undergo. We'll go with a strand of hair, is that okay?"
"I guess..." You trail off as the lesson begins.
"This is high seidr, as most tracking spells tend to be. For this, you will need three tail feathers, the hair of the person in question, and an eyeball. The ritual can only be done at high noon or midnight. Place the feathers in a circle around the eye — the pupil must be staring at the sky and the feathers must be facing away from the eye. Next, take the strand of hair and puncture the eye through the lens. Enter the Trance and consume the hair-pierced eyeball. Do not chew, you have to swallow it whole. If you need help entering the Trance, you may take some herbs with you."
After noting that down on a piece of bark, you think of another question to ask. "I'm planning on visiting the Hading Witch, as I need to confront her over something she did, and was wondering if you had any defensive spells to protect me from her magic?"
The Seeress arches a brow. "The Hading Witch?" Orthstirr steams from her eye as it swivels in her head, pointing in the direction of the Hading. "Hmm... it appears that you're going to have trouble confronting her, though her defenses won't be a problem."
"And why is that?" Does she have some kind of protection magic up? Well, no, if she doesn't have any defenses then... what?
"Her front door has been kicked in, all her defenses have triggered, and there's a skeleton in her ritual chamber that's wearing her clothes. There's also a man there, but he's unaware of the body. I don't recognize his face, though he has Horra's look."
That... is a revelation. "How long as she been dead?"
"Years, it's difficult to tell the exact number." The Seeress' eye swivels back to normal as the flow of orthstirr ceases. She sips her tea and you frown.
Well, shit.
(High Seidr spells do not take up capacity, but do have component requirements)
0~0~0 fence (Labor: 6x4, 5x4, 3x2, 1x1)17+4(Reward Dice)=21 Successes. Setting up a farm (Farmwork: 5x5, 4x1, 3x3, 1x2) 12 Successes
The fence posts are, quite frankly, works of art. You've painstakingly carved little pictures of yourself, Abjorn, and your children onto the wood. Images of your friends and kin join you and yours as you tell stories through the wood.
All that's left now is to put them in the ground!
While the digging of farmland proceeds nicely, it isn't quite as wonderful as the fence posts. The ground is ready for planting, though.
0~0~0 investigating dwarven grove
When comparing the dwarves' grotto to your own, you can't shake the feeling that if their grove is a locked door, yours is a door with a broken lock. Well, perhaps that's not entirely accurate.
It's more like your grove's keyhole has been blocked, if that makes any sense.
0~0~0 experimenting with fasts
While normally, after fueling a folded trick, you let it loose into the world, this time you instead focus it inwards. Instead of the Kindle Spinners blasting out like you're familiar with, they instead shrink in on themselves before disappearing all together.
A flicker of warmth burns in your chest as the Kindle Spinners wait patiently to be released. Without much reason to keep them there, you... how does this wo- Oh there it goes!
All it takes is an ounce of will to draw the Folded Kindle Spinners out from the Fast they were stored in. One after the other, they race across the ground and explode in a pile of leaves — which you swiftly extinguish with the bucket of water you had on hand for just such occasions.
Hmm... While they were shooting off, you were free to move around and, after a cursory Halting Vortex, defend yourself! And not only that... but you imagine you could also attack while that's happening too!
There's a lot of potential in this, that's for sure!
Unfortunately, storing and then releasing seems to have exhausted that particular section of the Fast...
Well, still, they've got potential!
With that set of experimenting done, you move onto the next. Which is, namely, messing around with your Recall in regards to creating tricks at range.
After an hour of screwing around, you swiftly realize that just trying like you would with Recall isn't going to cut it. Hmm... maybe you can try making some kind of framework around it? Treat a Kindle Spinner like an arrow with this potential framework being the bow?
That could very well work...
0~0~0 Alloying sword and standstill. Alloying sword and ignition
Unfortunately, neither of the ideas you had towards Alloying were able to work. Swords don't stop doing sword things when they're sheathed, they're just swords with a cover on them. Weapon hugareidas also seem to have difficulty alloying in general.
What changes if you were to light a sword on fire? Not much. The sword is still a sword, just now on fire. There's no real change to it, neither practically or conceptually.
Drat. And you were so hoping that you'd get something cool...
0~0~0 body switch trick
It's very difficult to time things correctly so that you 'let go' and Blackhand 'steps in' without there being any sort of hitch in tempo.
This feels like its going to require dedicated training, rather than simple experimentations in your free time.
0~0~0
+11 Food
+16 Goods
+10oz Silver
29/80 Free Storage Space Left
Meat-Keeping Sticks: 5 Food
0~0~0
AN: Auggh, I had fun writing this one, but boy oh boy was it difficult to get time away from people.
Sigh, oh well.
I didn't include the weapon metal channeling material research thing because that feels like it would be its own research dice rather than just being tacked on to another.
What the hell is the Flame Tending Blade? It seems we accidentally figured out something Real Special.
Good on Skippy for pushing for it though!
That aside, the Hading Witch has been dead for a while, and Horra's remaining son is squatting in her sanctuary, but somehow hasn't found her remains.
Something fucky is going on here, on the same level as 'Nobody mentioned Horra's relations with the rest of the valley'.
Hrm, it also looks like our Fence is nearing completion as well, and apparently fairly high quality too.
All that aside at any rate though. What the hell did we do differently to create the Flame Tending Blade anyway? The only thing I can think of is that it's a super technique that draws on two separate Hugareida at once without actually Alloying them.
The Flame-Tending Blade does seem rather odd. For one, it's not part of a hugareida, a twist, or any kind of seidr you've heard of. In fact, it seems to rely on your hamr rather than your hugr. It would be nice to learn what the heck it is, but you're not super sure where to start.
"Her front door has been kicked in, all her defenses have triggered, and there's a skeleton in her ritual chamber that's wearing her clothes. There's also a man there, but he's unaware of the body. I don't recognize his face, though he has Horra's look."
Also, I think we just figured out how the Enemy takes advantage of the Debt mechanism. If someone you owe a Debt to dies and they have no successor, the Enemy gets to lay claim to it instead.
And the Enemy can just have someone killed if they want that debt.
In other words, it's extremely dangerous to owe anything to isolated strangers, because they don't have any family to inherit any outstanding debts with, which means the Enemy gets it and can use it to critically hit you where it hurts.
Oh, we are definitely fairly well-off by the standards of most Norse farmers, but what I mean is more that given what a crazy amount of work a Norse adult can do, and the ability to gain Skills/Tricks in stuff like farming, even a "poor" Norse farmer is... kind of in a ludicrously enviable position by the standards of a medieval peasant farmer. It's notable that when we talk about how a farm is doing well, it's mostly in terms of how many livestock it has for trade and bragging rights. The idea that there might simply not be enough grain for everyone to eat seems not to be seriously considered.
There's mention of Winters being hard. We have good land and plenty of livestock, and don't have to worry about that, but you need to store the whole Winter's food for you and all livestock, and storage is not unlimited. My impression is that a Norseman probably could make enough food to feed a family for five years in a year...but they can barely store and keep good enough to last out a single Winter. Which means that one bad year involving something that labor alone won't fix (a blighted crop, for example) and things get dicey.
Making a Norse baby requires 10 successes on a combined Hamr check which is actually pretty tough to manage for regular couples. Most people also don't have amazing absurd Hamingja too, probably enough to roll 4 or 5 successes on maxbabies.
At 16 most couples are gonna be rolling 7-8 dice for this, and at 20, more like 9 dice. That's unlikely to succeed on any individual roll, but they also roll 6 times per year until you succeed, which makes even a 10% shot likely to happen sometime within a couple of years of trying. And that's without fertility blessings, which likely add to the dice pool significantly if you use them (the one at our wedding added 3 dice, IIRC).
Sorry, wrote that before the update, and it does seem relevant to the previous discussion.
Yep. I think we need to spend an action on that situation this coming turn, unfortunately. Like, not combat hopefully, just grabbing Hasvir and going on a day trip (we would bring our people, but that's paranoia, not an expectation of combat).
Also, I think we just figured out how the Enemy takes advantage of the Debt mechanism. If someone you owe a Debt to dies and they have no successor, the Enemy gets to lay claim to it.
And the Enemy can just have someone killed if they want that debt.
1. Sword Guard hitting Rough should probably be listed in Steady Rank Ups. It went up properly, but it's not listed.
2. Clearwater seems not to have been rolled or added yet?
3. Low Seidr spells were supposed to be 6 Progression to learn like skill-Tricks rather than 9, weren't they?
More importantly, apparently the Enemy also needs to conceal that the person is dead if he wants to do this. Because if it's known that this person is dead, well, obviously nobody owes anything to the dead if they don't have a successor.
Because Hirkir can't actually see the fact there's a dead woman's bones in the place he's hiding in, which matches the last time we've seen one of the Enemy's Perception Filters in place.
More interestingly, she was killed from behind her defenses while in the middle of casting a spell. That's freaky shit.
More importantly, apparently the Enemy also needs to conceal that the person is dead if he wants to do this. Because if it's known that this person is dead, well, obviously nobody owes anything to the dead if they don't have a successor.
Because Hirkir can't actually see the fact there's a dead woman's bones in the place he's hiding in, which matches the last time we've seen one of the Enemy's Perception Filters in place.
They might also actually be hidden (ie: her ritual room is behind a hidden door, and by 'there' Solrun just means he's in the house). I'd want a look at the place before determining whether it needs to keep the death a secret and is using its powers to do so. Given that we're likely gonna go there, we should take that look while we're there.
We don't have Shield so it's a bit of a non-starter to try. I doubt it, though, since like a Sword, a Shield is still a Shield whether in motion or not.
Anyway, how does Flame Tending Blade work anyway @Imperial Fister? Is it something where we pull the trigger and spend more Orthstirr on every turn until we fire it off? Or is it something we pull the trigger on and then just wait and steadily build its force up?
Or is it a straight up Spirit Bomb where we pull the trigger and then are stuck until we fire it off?
...
Hrm, come to think of it, that might be what's different about the Flame Tending Blade. It's effectively using your body to amplify a 'Spark' of Orthstirr until you produce an effect far outside the scope of what the initial cost involved.
Your heart rumbles like steady, non-stop thunder as you focus your orthstirr towards keeping a certain shape.
A sword of hardened flames burns painlessly in your hands as the blade grows larger and larger with every rumbling heartbeat. Every inhale seems to encourage your heart to greater heights while every exhale seems to bring it back down to earth.
The sword towers over the landscape, a burning beacon of firepower in the afternoon sky. It's easily nine times your size and still it grows larger. You breathe deeply as you harness your will, banishing the latent fear of what you might unleash.
Flame-scorched trees crash against the ground as hilltops are flattened. Dirt flings into the air as both sizzle and boil together. More air rushes to fill the vacuum as a thunderous boom! echoes across the land. Birds flock to the skies as animals dive into their holes and burrows.
The Flame-Tending Blade, that's its name. You didn't pick it, it just came to you in a flash of inspiration, like something deep within revealed itself to you rather than any sort of dedicated brainstorming.
'I've seen this before... but where?' Blackhand frowns as you pant — the trick requires a great deal of orthstirr, after all. 'No, I've not just seen it. I've also used it!'
"You've used the Flame-Tending Blade before?" You ask after taking a cool swig of water.
'That is what I said, yes.' You roll your eyes as Blackhand snorts. 'But, I seem to remember that there's more to it, or more things like it? I'm having difficulty describing what I mean, the word is on the tip of my tongue yet I just can't quite get it!' He sighs and grumbles, 'I'm sorry to say, but I'll need to see whatever it is I'm missing before I can remember more.'
The Flame-Tending Blade does seem rather odd. For one, it's not part of a hugareida, a twist, or any kind of seidr you've heard of. In fact, it seems to rely on your hamr rather than your hugr. It would be nice to learn what the heck it is, but you're not super sure where to start.
Because Hirkir can't actually see the fact there's a dead woman's bones in the place he's hiding in, which matches the last time we've seen one of the Enemy's Perception Filters in place.
More interestingly, she was killed from behind her defenses while in the middle of casting a spell. That's freaky shit.
What I don't understand is why the Seeress can see her body. She's shown no indication of being able to pierce the Enemy's veil, so why can she do so now?
Also, apparently we found an entirely new type of category for tricks, wtf? What the hell is Flame-Tending Blade supposed to be?
What I don't understand is why the Seeress can see her body. She's shown no indication of being able to pierce the Enemy's veil, so why can she do so now?
That feels rather sloppy for the Enemy, considering it knows the Seeress is a thing.
Also, why would they bother hiding the Seeress' corpse to begin with...? Hirkir should've found her corpse long after she died, considering the troll-men attack was years ago, and he only moved out of Horra's estate recently. Feels like we're missing info here.
