If you complete one of these tasks, that NPC will grant you ordstirr in addition to free upgrades.
Gudrun Ravensight, Seeress
-Lots of blood, preferably fresh
-Locations of spiritual significance
Hrolfr Jurgensson, Shapecrafter
-Natives, alive or dead, rewards given per native supplied
-Interesting flora or fauna
--Magic Hell Moss Acquired
Major Request: A Source of Frenzy
The Norse are all cultivators by at least some definitions, gaining power via Ordstirr, a measure of their glory and reputation. Universal powers that come with Ordstirr and experience include being physically and, to some degree, mentally superhuman.
Being physically superhuman involves being inhumanly strong and fast and so on, but also notably includes them receiving physical damage and just keeping going...just about any adult Norseman can receive an apparently fatal wound and just walk it off and eventually heal with how many fatal wounds they can take varying from Norseman to Norseman. As they grow in power they also develop low-level shapeshifting abilities, allowing them to boost their senses, strength, speed, and so on...they can keep a few of these alterations active at any one time, and swap them out outside of combat (at very high levels, they can do these swaps in combat as well). Norsewomen are generally worse at this than Norsemen (seldom reaching the shapeshifting levels), but that's cultural rather than actually enforced by the cultivation system. These abilities all fall under Hamr, the Norse word for 'body'. PCs are generally assumed to have hit the level where they possess shapeshigfting, but just barely, getting two 'slots' of shapeshifting for things like increasing speed or durability or senses. Those with Giant's Blood are gifted in this area and generally better than those without it (in game terms, they are considered to get a free level of an Improved Shapeshifting trait, which grants another 'slot' of shapeshifting per level as well as just generally being physically impressive)...also they are 7'-8' tall or even more.
Being mentally superhuman notably does not include superhumanly smart. It's more a matter of superhuman sensory perception, willpower, and the speed at which they think. Still very useful of course. At higher levels, they gain the ability to alloy together multiple Kunna (see below), creating cool meldings of those things. At extremely high levels they also gain Rewrites, the ability to impose their will upon reality and very occasionally (a few times per season) temporarily just change a detail about how their magic or abilities work. Norsemen are normally worse at this than Norsewomen, but again that's just a cultural standard, not enforced by anything. These abilities all fall under Hugr, the Norse word for 'mind'.
All Norsemen also have a Fated Day, a day when they are doomed by fate to die. No injury, no matter how severe, that they receive before that day can really kill them in a metaphysical sense. Which means that, any time they die prior to that, a seeress can shove their soul back in their body if the body is even vaguely intact, and if the body is not intact, a shapecrafter can make a new one out of any piece of the body, even a lock of hair. Most Norse people thus keep a lock of hair somewhere hidden in their house just in case. There are some ways around this, such as 'soul killing' attacks (a bit of a misnomer, the soul eventually recovers, but not in time to get brought back like this), or formal duels that call upon the Gods (the Gods make sure the loser is not brought back).
In addition to just baseline superhuman abilities and not dying, the Norse have what they refer to as 'Tricks'. These would likely be called 'Techniques' in a more traditional xianxia, and can do most of the stuff you'd expect of that, allowing flashier superhuman feats like leaping attacks, deadly palm-strikes, and so on, but also social and mental feats or superhuman prowess at farming, all at the cost of Ordstirr when used. Anything you have invested PT into, you almost certainly have Tricks for. Many Tricks have very prosaic names and get reinvented enough by different people that these names are not standardized. Example names include things like Sowing Sense (a farming Trick) and Leaping Cleave (an attack Trick).
Ordstirr and Nid:
Ordstirr is, as mentioned above, how the Norse gain power. Specifically, their Ordstirr pool determines how long they can fight and how many abilities they can use in rapid succession. Relatedly, all Norse have three 'Aspects' which can be called upon to replenish their Ordstirr pool (1/3 of it for each) or power particularly large and impressive effects. Generally, Ordstirr recovers more quickly than Aspects so you usually only use them once you're out, meaning that if you're talking about using your Aspects you're talking about tapping into the bottom half of your total power. Ordstirr and Aspects recover relatively quickly outside of battle (we're talking minutes to hours, not more).
In a game rules sense Ordstirr that is 'spent' on PT is still around providing this pool, spending it is just an abstraction for ease of use.
Gaining Ordstirr is done by gaining fame and renown, by being seen as a laudable and honorable person (wealth counts for this, by the way). Contrariwise, one can gain Nid by being seen as dishonorable and unpleasant, such as due to being caught in a lie or breaking an oath. Gaining nid permanently strips some Ordstirr from the person in question, and can even kill you if you gain too much (and such a death is damaging to the soul). Stealing is also nid, as is attacking human enemies from surprise (you can sneak up on them, but need to make them aware of your presence before attacking...a warcry is fine, but not stabbing them before making them aware).
It is worth bearing in mind that not resorting to violence when insulted can lead to nid for the insulted person, so be very careful when insulting people, as their choices tend to be nid or stabbing you. The same is true of 'shaming blows' which include attacking people with your feet, a closed fist, or an improvised weapon, and some specific tactics like groin shots...using these kinds of attacks on other Norsemen inflicts nid and thus pisses them off (note that this does not include wrestling or even palm strikes...it isn't all unarmed attacks).
Muna and Twists:
Muna are important memories that the Norse gain power from, think moments of enlightenment in a more traditional xianxia. They can be about anything, and can grant many abilities that are below this Quest's level of abstraction, or can grant access to Kunna (this is how Kunna are gained and does not need to be paid for separately), but can also grant discrete and unique magical powers or Twists (both of which do generally need to be paid for with PT).
Twists are 'twists in the narrative' either gained through Muna or from a Skald (who can give them out). They give benefits when playing into a specific narrative trope. There is a Twist for a man never being recognized if he's wearing a dress, for instance, or the Punching Up Twist, which grants bonuses when fighting opponents who are significantly superior. The most common Twist among experienced warriors is Puncture, which allows you to ignore 'perfect' defenses, those that are assured to always work. You become the narrative moment when such perfection fails. Puncture, and perfect defenses, are generally below this Quest's level of abstraction, so you don't need to pay for it, but it can be used in description.
Norse Trick Basics:
Most Tricks of the Norse are wildly individualized, but a relative handful see very common usage either among everyone, or everyone who reaches a certain level of combat skill, they are as follows:
Hone: Creates an edge of Ordstirr over your weapon, improving its cutting ability. A trick basically all warriors are familiar with. Reinforce: Reinforces and item with Ordstirr allowing for better defenses with a shield, weapon, or even clothing. Not super powerful, doesn't even fully negate home, also known by all warriors universally. Recall: The ability to send out a string of Ordstirr and pull items toward you. There is a combat version called Quick Recall that does so instantly. Not necessarily universal among warriors, but common among the more intellectual Norse. Sharpen: This lets you actually shave off the edge of your weapon with Ordstirr rendering it supernaturally sharp and deadly. Of course, you also just literally peeled off a piece of your weapon, so overuse is gonna destroy it. Known only among experienced warriors. Fortify: A suped up version of Reinforce that also has the disadvantage of freezing whatever object you are using to defend in place, which can be awkward. It is notably more powerful than Fortify, though. Again, known only among experienced warriors.
All of these tend to be below the game's level of abstraction, and most other Tricks are much more interesting, but these are what every Norseman probably at least knows the existence of.
Non-Universal Magics and Traits:
This is technically universal magic...or would be if everyone was literate and good at writing. The way it works is that you carve runes into something saying a phrase, and then when a liquid is poured into the runes (this is why they need to be carved into something) whatever effect they say happens, happens, with the effect being more powerful but shorter in duration the more valuable the liquid used (this destroys the liquid over time, paint is standard and least valuable, then animal blood, then human blood as humans are descended from the Gods). This can be used to conjure liquids, but not solids, and may have some limitations even on liquids. Other effects can include personal enhancements, mind control effects, and all sorts of other weirdness.
Exact wording is very important here. We know of at least one accidental love spell, which ended badly for everyone involved.
The Norse have a lot of stuff they can do with magical crafting, here's a quick summary: Skill Alone: As part of being superhuman the Norse can make impossibly perfect items...these don't have special powers, but you don't need anything but skill to do it, either...you can just make super-good swords, plows, cloaks, etc. Animal Parts: The Norse can gain some of the power of a magical creature by eating its heart, and use the other pieces of such creatures in crafting to grant appropriate abilities. Bone-ash from any creature may also similarly be added to smithing, granting abilities based on its thematic appropriateness. Other Ingredients: Magical plants and such can also obviously be used to great effect similar to animal parts. Stored Experiences: Individuals dedicated to their crafting may give up one of their senses or suffer the death of their Fylgja (see below) to gain the ability to infuse experiences into the items they craft, granting those items magical powers independent of runes or magical ingredients. This is also an important prerequisite for many more advanced seidr abilities (again, see below).
A Fylgja is a reflection of a Norseman's soul. It generally just serves them as intuition, but a Seeress can, with a ritual, externalize it, "unveiling" it and putting it in animal form. Once this is done, it may be either physical or spiritual at the owner's discretion (it needs to not be viewed to go into spirit mode, but can do things like duck behind a tree), and the Norseman may see through its eyes, making it useful for scouting when physical (when in spirit form, it is in the spirit world, and cannot scout physical things).
Additionally, when the spirit is unveiled its animal form is determined by the Norseman's personality and it grants a permanent bonus to the Norseman based on their impression of the creature it represents (ie: a Wolf grants bonus damage, a Raven grants prophetic visions, an owl grants greater facility with magic, a bear grants greater resilience, and so on). If you invest more into Fylgja beyond the basics, it evolves, becoming first a specialized creature of it's type (a War Hound rather than just a dog), then a supernatural creature (a phoenix would fit here, if a bit outside the Norse paradigm), then a specialized supernatural creature (a War Dragon or what have you). At each level it provides increasing bonuses to its bearer on top of the initial one and becomes more resilient and capable in a fight. All fylgjas also have some amount of extradimensional space, allowing them to carry and provide cool stuff to their better half.
Now, there's a downside to this, and a potentially really severe one. If your fylgja dies, you die. It is you, after all, an external manifestation of part of your soul. This death is not necessarily permanent, but it's harder to recover from than most...assuming it is not your Fated Day, your soul is trapped in Ginnungagap...that's what happens to all Norse souls when they die and it's not their Fated Day, but the Fylgja part of their soul normally puts them to sleep and keeps them from going insane...if your fylgja is dead, it can't do that, so you're just trapped in complete sensory deprivation until you are either resurrected or driven insane. Which brings us to the other problem, which is that a seeress bring back Norsemen's souls uses their Fylgja to do so...so with the Fylgja dead, that doesn't work. Instead, someone has to physically enter Ginnungagap and rescue you...luckily, a Seeress can call upon the family's fylgjukonna (a family guardian spirit) to do this, but that better happen quick or there's a problem.
Seeing Eyes is a trait available only at chargen that allows greater insight into the spirit world and comes with your Fylgja unveiled for free.
Are exactly what they sound like. You have a magic bloodline with cool magical effects...many bloodlines enable specific Martial Styles (see below), but there aren't really any strong commonalities in what they do. It varies a lot.
As discussed in the initial post, Kunna are conceptual magics. Generally gained through specific pivotal life events, they provide conceptual power over a specific area like 'Fire' or 'Swords', and allow summoning up and manipulating the thing in question. Items created by this are not permanent, and last only until the Ordstirr composing them is withdrawn, but they can still do all sorts of impressive stuff.
Martial Styles are, well, what they sound like. Most are tied to something important like a geographical feature, bloodline, specific Kunna, and so on. Regardless, they're basically anime/xianxia martial arts, allowing all sorts of cool stuff within their thematic domain. A potent kind of Trick only available to Martial Styles are Finales, which tend to auto-win fights if they land, but cannot be used too early in a fight and cost an entire Aspect to use.
Of particular note is Glima, which is Norse wrestling, and a Martial Style all characters are assumed to possess at least the basics of. It can do some seriously impressive stuff in combination with Norse general physical prowess.
This is the magic of seeresses. It primarily involves dealing and bargaining with spirits, but that makes it very versatile magic indeed, capable of divination, blessings, curses, healing, warding, and a host of other things. It's not usually great for direct combat and applications of force, but it can do a lot of subtler things. Most women know a bit of seidr for household stuff, but not much of the theory of how it works or things that are generalizable. Seeresses are more inherently vulnerable to spiritual attacks and predators than other Norse people, though they have the magic to overcome that disadvantage.
Exactly what it sounds like. A shapecrafter can manipulate the physical forms of others (or themselves) granting permanent effects for as long as the body lasts (if they have to grow you a new one, the effects they put on your old one would not apply). They can also create horrible constructed monsters and similar things. Do not let a shapecrafter you are fighting touch you or you are deeply screwed. Notably, they do this by manipulating the natural shapeshifting abilities of the Norse, so it wouldn't necessarily work on non-Norsemen. As mentioned, they can grow whole new bodies for people and similar things.
The downside of being a shapecrafter, however, is madness. Exact forms vary but expect paranoia and mad scientist tendencies. They are not well.
Skalds have power over illusions, some interesting tricks blunting the weapons of others or making their clothing count as armor, and most importantly knowing things and enforcing narrative rules on the world (Norse cultivation does this already, but a powerful skald can weaponize it). They are trapped in only speaking in rhyme as they become more powerful.
Berserks are made by a shapecrafter. They receive an inhuman ability to analyze their opponents in combat and act appropriately, making them very dangerous foes, as well as somewhat greater resilience. They can also take advantage of the Berserkergang Martial Style, which allows them to enter a truly mad state, where they are absurdly powerful but also unable to tell friend from foe, and fall unconscious after only a few minutes and are then bedridden for up to months.
Steel is magic in Norsequest. It is the essence of stasis and unchangingness, is effectively unbreakable, and a body killed by it cannot be brought back (you need a shapecrafter to make a new one). It is bad juju and hard to make. We are unlikely to run into it. What would be called 'steel' in real life is instead called 'forged iron' and making it is a secret of the dwarves. 'Bog iron' is, well, iron and what most Norsemen generally use.
A secret trick that allows for drinking the blood of a more powerful creature and gaining permanent empowerment thereby. None of us would be clear on how to do this.
Like Orthstirr but much more hardcore. None of the characters here would know much about it, not even the word, probably. Seeresses do some stuff with it.
Other cultivation systems all work completely differently from this. The Christians of the Carolingian Empire are mostly not cultivators at all, and those that are, are powered by their faith rather than glory, live hundreds of years but cannot come back from the dead if killed, and are broken into multiple kinds of cultivators (Knight, Priests, and Nobles) with very different abilities. They just don't work the same at all. Details of local cultivation systems are unavailable, just remember they may look nothing like those of the Norse.
Mission Report: Northern Marshes Scouted
Gunnar returns from his expedition carrying the body of a horse sized toad over his back, a number of spines jutting from its skin. He tells the tale of how he encountered a great number of the beasts in a marsh to the north, capable of releasing clouds of boiling steam which they then electrify with electricity released from the spines along their back, which then need to be recharged by the newly-dubbed Storm Toad's own movements before they can repeat that trick again.
He regales a number of fascinated onlookers with the story of how he hunted the creature he returned with, of how he learned that coating his knife with the Hell Moss discovered earlier would turn the blade into copper, and how he hoped to use that to trick the beast into electrifying itself. How the blade bounced off its thick hide, but the Hell Moss coating it caused a large portion of its back to dissolve into a puddle of sludge and melt away, before turning into yet more Hell Moss. And finally, how he battled the creature, evading its blasts of superheated steam and finally driving his seax through the roof of its mouth as it attempted to swallow him whole.
Once he is done, he delivers the body to the Seeress and Shapecrafter, hoping that the Seeress can use its blood for her rituals, while the Shapecrafter can use it for… whatever it is he does, though he does claim one of the spines for himself.
-Your immediate surroundings are the bay, then a small, jungle-choked semi-flat area that leads into hills topped by more jungle before rapidly becoming mountainous yet still retaining the jungle. There's about five miles between the shore and the mountains. The shore seems to continue undisturbed as far as the eye can see, with south being the ocean and north being the mountains, beyond which you have no knowledge.
The Report on the West: Rikard Villeson, Njall Redaxe, Valo Halvarson As Related by Rikard Villeson
"Brothers! Sisters! Kinsmen of all shapes and sizes! This place is a deathtrap full of all manner of horrors and wonders, I cannot wait to set our mark on it."
"All things aside, our trip to the West was well timed. Valo Halvarson took charge of the navigation of our boat, and we were able to make good progress mapping out the shore, we identified a fruit tree with some interesting yellow morsels on the way, but didn't take the time to get any samples, still, should be worth a look down the line. We were able to spy a river, where our trip came to a brief end, because we found a pair of the locals! What looked like an elder and a boy, no features I recognize, so we're definitely well off the beaten path at this point, but the point is that there's people here, which means there's opportunity for us in the long run and this is a place where people are able to live, all the dangers and calamities aside--I heard you guys were attacked by a tree of all things? And someone got drained of all their blood and someone else eaten by some giant eagle? Yeesh, plenty to do here.
All that aside, while we didn't have a shared tongue, food is a universal language, and when someone looks as hungry as this fellow did, even biscuits and dried meat can look appealing. Might have been able to hash some basics on communication out, but we had a spot of interruption by way of..."
He pauses for a moment to withdraw the carcass of a strange creature from the back of the boat, its neck clearly broken and its chest surprisingly wobbly looking, presumably from getting hit really damn hard there."
"Two of these little bastards, one tried to ambush me, but my good brother Njall's keen eye spotted it in time and he stood against it. The two of us together were able to bring the beastie down in short order, Njall through an incredible application of Kunna and strength like the bloody red arm of Thor!--they're sneaky and quick but not very well suited for a stand-up fight--Hollow bones as best as I could tell while I wrung its neck, it snapped pretty good. There was another that jumped the elder man and savaged him, but brother Valo moved like the first light of day off the sea, put his foot on the thing and booted the damn thing into the bush! Hopefully eaten by some other beastie.
The elder was out and hurting, but we decided to bring him and his boy to camp with us. Way I see it, we've got a chance at a local guide who might know the hazards if he can be saved--Njall did his best staunching the wound but we're no healers--and worst case scenario, the boy probably at least knows the local tongue, which'll save us some headaches while we poke around no doubt.
All in all, I think I'd call this a pretty damn solid little trip. So how'd everyone else do?
Started East, found some berrys, fruits, things that look weirdly like bananas (and I say that's weird because IRL bananas needed a massive breeding effort to be made properly human edible), leafy greens, etc etc, point is we have local plants we can gather for domestication efforts.
Ragnarr fell down a hole deep enough to be life threatening but managed to improvise a parachute in the moments he had to spare and landed like a badass rather than a dead man.
Said dead man was a skeleton that Ragnarr smote in one quick blow, brought the bones with us if anyone cares about that.
Meanwhile, Ivor and Bjorn were poking at vines to see if any were snakes, and it turns out there weren't any snakes.
Instead there was some sort of shelled ocotopus tentacle bastard that was going for Ivor's ears and I presume his brain while we were mildly distracted. Bjorn bone sharded the tentacles while Ivor smote the bastard right quick with his seaxe.
After that we decided to mark the cave on our maps, grabbed the corpse of the probable brain eater, some fruits and whatnot, and continued on our way to our objective, the ship out East.
No troubles worth a Nord's mention on our way there from the cave, and when we arrived we discovered that the ship had been dragged away from the shore, left on top of a hill, and an area around it cleared of the jungle with the stumps having snip marks on them.
Bjorn also smelled crab scent, which was noticed before we looked at the boat details.
We decided to try a diplomatic method of contact, because obviously something with intelligence did all of this and hopefully they'd be friendly crab people, right?
In return, we heard a loud Clackng sound.
We came to the decision to leave the tentacle monster out as a sort of offering, and to Clack Back using Bones.
The loud Clacking became louder.
The decision was made that we'd want to provide the intel we'd gathered and come to a more cohesive community decision on the topic of Crab Diplomacy, instead of diving in and getting ourselves killed due to being the wrong party build to deal with a "too many emotions to discern anything" amount of crabs.
So we returned back to base, swinging by and grabbing more edibles on our way back.
Anything I'm missing guys?
Edit: I swear I was working on this before the revelation of "Better Reports get more XP", but eh.
Our Foray was mostly peaceful. We saw one of those weird lizard things the western expedition saw but it had a weird boot print on it's face. HA!
The only other living beasts we encountered were weird flat mosquitos or were driven off by Brynjar before we ever saw them
We then came upon a pool with strange trees growing out of them. After throwing a few stone into it Brynjar decided to drink from it. Whih proved to be a dangerous mistake the supposed "water" was a viscous slime that began to choke him. However he skillfully used his Bone Kunna to create an air tube and scrapped the gunk out. And through this we learned that the slime absorbed blood and could have applications in stopping bloodflow.
As we neared where the hills end and the mountains began we saw a glimmer of metal and discovered a natural copper vein! However on the vein was a strange moss that shivered with anticipation at our prodding with a stick. We scrapped it off with a spear blade and carefully did not touch it with bare flesh. It seemed like a REALLY bad idea. Both will be taken to the Seeress for further inspection.
Mission Report: Northern Marshes Scouted
Gunnar returns from his expedition carrying the body of a horse sized toad over his back, a number of spines jutting from its skin. He tells the tale of how he encountered a great number of the beasts in a marsh to the north, capable of releasing clouds of boiling steam which they then electrify with electricity released from the spines along their back, which then need to be recharged by the newly-dubbed Storm Toad's own movements before they can repeat that trick again.
He regales a number of fascinated onlookers with the story of how he hunted the creature he returned with, of how he learned that coating his knife with the Hell Moss discovered earlier would turn the blade into copper, and how he hoped to use that to trick the beast into electrifying itself. How the blade bounced off its thick hide, but the Hell Moss coating it caused a large portion of its back to dissolve into a puddle of sludge and melt away, before turning into yet more Hell Moss. And finally, how he battled the creature, evading its blasts of superheated steam and finally driving his seax through the roof of its mouth as it attempted to swallow him whole.
Once he is done, he delivers the body to the Seeress and Shapecrafter, hoping that the Seeress can use its blood for her rituals, while the Shapecrafter can use it for… whatever it is he does, though he does claim one of the spines for himself.
Alright, I've compiled your reports together, did a bunch of work on Drawing (aka Linux Paint), and after some poking on Discord, I believe this should be what the local area map should look like!
Cough, cough you haven't told the thread yet, but if any live he'll give it back cough cough
(I'll give you the ordstirr when you do and you can spend it as desired)
0~0~0
Alright, I'm going to go ahead and close the summer phase. You are now free to spend your gathered PT on leveling up.
@DeadmanwalkingXI I leave the managing of that to your capable hands. I need to do a bit of set-up for winter.
Scheduled vote count started by I.F. Ister on May 20, 2024 at 6:41 PM, finished with 513 posts and 26 votes.
[X] Harald will accompany His Second Favorite Njal to clear the land with Njal's kinsmen. Harald will focus on using Soil and hand tools to loosen the roots of bushes and trees, making it easier for his Giants Blooded comrades to topple them over or rip them out.
[x][Second Action] Torgarr Villagefeeder will farm. We've got a variety of fruits. The fruits have seeds. We have a variety of cultivatable edible plants. Torgar will cultivate them. Churn the Earth, plant the seed, encourage the Plant, grow the food. Torgarr does what he was born to do. We may have enough for now... but every now has a later.
[X] Bjorn Bjarneson tries to Smell Weakness in the giant lizard monster of his dreams, and then lines up his own shot to try to exploit said weakness. Burn Aspects for the Shot.
[X] There's no taking this fucker in a straight fight, sound the Alarm when this gets spicy and look for an opening in the carnage, burning Aspects freely as needed to hopefully find a blind spot to jump onto it's back or something and stab a vulnerability, or something.
[X] Bjorn is going clear the area immediately surrounding by removing tree and rocks. tbh I have no idea HOW strong Bjorn is narrative wise. If he is strong enough to pull tree up by their roots and smash stones with his fists he will, if not he will just use tools like a "normal" person, also having seen a tree almost eat someone he will make sure to throw a BIG ROCK at each tree hs about to cut down, just to be sure
[X] Bjorn will also dig basic ditch around the parameter of the village and use the dirt to make basic defensive earthwork Behind the ditches so villagers will always be able to fight on the high ground (the most important ground)
[X][Second Action] Intrigued by the weird bird corpse the scouts brought home, Arnleif Whistler tiptoes off into the jungle humming something appropriately sneaky. They try to find a living example to serenade and befriend.
[X] Gefjosa second action: I'll take the rocks and trees we removed from clearing the land and put them towards this proposed fortification. Will also clear the land for it with Plow Kunna, if that's going to be required. And do the heavily lifting of putting the raw/worked materials in place.
[X][Second Action] Gunnar joins those working on living areas, his fairly average skills in construction still a direly needed pair of hands as he sets about working on somewhere for his family to live in this new land.
[x] Liv organizes the construction of a stone building, intended firstly as a safe storeroom forfoodstuff etc. She'll use her kunna and Demolition knowledge to help with the procurment of suitable stones.
[X] Gudsrun ???sdottir's Action
-[X] (Summer of Action) Scout around the Settlement's boundaries in search of strange locations or oddities. (Try to look for 'places of spiritual significance' due to the Seeress's request?)
-[X] (Winter of Respite) Help watch over the Children, Orphans?, and maybe teach those interested on writing and words? (Help other mothers with the burden known as CHILDREN? I didn't mean it in a bad way.)
The Company of Gutes made landfall, chased by storm and hounded by thunder, to this strange and uncharted land, of ivory beaches and humid brush. They made camp upon the shore, turning their boats to ward the waters of the firmament while the most courageous sons of Gotland ventured forth to survey this fey expanse. Woe to Kare Sky-Dancer! Who clashed against the fearsome Void Eagle and found his lightning arts insufficient to lay it low, and found his end in the Eagle's gullet as it twisted a hundred leagues to tear out his spine. We will welcome him home from Ginnigugap with a feast!
Woe to Bjorn Drakeslayer! Who found himself bothered by a pest with a belly deeper than the sea, who drained the last drop of lifeblood from his veins. In this, we learned to overlook no threat, no matter how small!
To the West sailed Njall Redaxe, Rikard Villeson, and Valo Halvarsson, who sought what could be found in the sun's setting trail. There did they encounter a local man and his boy, attempting to satiate their hunger through fishing in these perilous lands. Upon the mouth of a river was the meeting, and with promises of food and conversation did they seek an accord. But ware the beasts! Sharp-clawed lizard-birds sought a meal in the company--but no younglings, the sons of Gotland put them to rout! Killing one and driving its companion to flight, though not without the elder taking wounds. Collecting him and the boy, the company returned to camp, where the Shapecrafter Hrolfr learned the people of this land having curious flesh, easy to mold!
To the East traveled Ragnarr Fair-Spoken, Ivor Lindholm, and Bjorn Bjarnesson, where they found many a wonder themselves! Brave Ragnarr found himself caught in a pitfall, where he crossed blades with a Draugr of the land! Smiting it with his skill at arms despite the ambush, he brought it to camp, in hopes of gleaning something of interest from the bones. His companions were not left absent adventure either! As they found themselves under assault by a strange creature with a hard shell and many grasping hands! Smiting it, the two were able to recover their comrade and continue their journey, where they came across a strange ship with many oars! They called out to it, only to hear a cacophany of clacking! For within it lay a veritable horde of creatures! Clever enough to drag a wrecked ship to shore for shelter, clever enough to clear the land around them! They left the many-armed shell beast behind as a peace offering and left, wary of their strength.
To the North first travelled Brynjar Bonespear and Amlóði Tooth taker, the fellows fending through scythe-claw and flat-drinker to find a strange pond--wise to the threats of this land now, Brynjar sought to take a portion of the lake's substance to test for poison. Unexpectedly, it turned to be a terrible threat when imbibed, and it was only through clever thinking and use of his bone-arts that he was able to extract the terrible mass from his maw. Taking a piece of it, the two moved on. discovering veins of copper and a strange, eager moss that pulsed like blood. Especially wary, the two took a piece of it--taking great care not to make contact, and returned to the camp, where many great discoveries were made.
Metal secured and dangerous hazards identified, many would call the deeds of the Company of Gutes well done, but not all were satisfied yet, not all content. So it was that Gunnar Tifferson, contemptuous of the peril of travelling alone in these foreign lands, sought to explore the foothills of the great wall of mountains that bar the path further north. Taking a piece of the newly named Hell-Moss with him on the path ahead. It was here that he learned of its peculiar properties, to transmute good iron to copper! A strange thing, but not one that interfered with his journey. Just before the foothills though, he found a marsh, and it was there that he discovered a pack of strange, giant frogs, bearing bone spines capable of harnessing the powers of lightning! Through great cunning did he discern the limitations of their prowess, the source of the energy they built up, and their speed and agility. It was this that he discerned a clever strategy to bring it low! Applying the Hell-Moss to his knife, he threw it from ambush! The moss proved its lethal effect, wounding the beast terribly as it melted its back to slag and forced it to discharge it's lightning. With it wounded sorely, Gunnar descended upon it and cut it down with skilled blows, his keen eye enough to take the beast down! Three cheers and a song to Gunnar Tifferson! The carcass of the newly named Storm Toad and its curious powers met him with a mighty reward from both Seeress and Shapecrafter, and he has become the talk of the town since!
And we cannot forget Arnleif Whistler! Who through wise words and clever tactics was able to capture one of the many-armed shelled beasts--now called Skellarmr by some. Alive as well! Surely, our knowledge and mastery of these lands grows by the day! Though not all is well, as Grid Frostsdottir has vanished--gods willing, it has not been her Final Day, and the good Seeress and Shapecrafter will be able to pluck her from the shores of Ginnigugap.
With the labor of many and the courage of the adventurers who sought to go a viking even in this strange land. The rudimentary camp was beginning to show signs of becoming a home. But it was not to last, for a great King of Beasts sought to test the mettle of the Norsemen. A towering monstrosity, with sharp teeth and a wicked tail-flail, its gait alone brought a terrible weight, But it did not reckon upon the courage of the children of the Gods! Spear, lance, and good iron flashed--wary, the beast did withdraw, unwilling to test us in a life-or-death battle when easier prey could be found.
Though this land be perilous, and its threats myriad, the soul of Gotland burns bright even here!
Redaxe fresh from the wind-horse(1)
Suffers the path of the sole-thorns(2)
Slaughter-reeds(3) grown of wolf's wine(4)
turns his foe to wolf's food(5)
Decided to try something with kennings, meanings below
1. Wind-Horse = ship
2 the path of the sole thorns= claw wounds
3 slaughter reeds= weapons
4 wolf's wine = blood
5 wolf's food = corpse
Grid Frostdottir stirred from the shadows of death, the scent of herbal smoke and chanting of the Seeress still lingering in her nostrils. Her body ached as though it had been reassembled from a thousand pieces, but her mind was sharp, filled with a renewed sense of purpose. Her younger brother, Vlos, clung to her side, his small face wet with tears. "Grid, I thought I lost you," he sobbed. Grid pulled him close, her heart aching at the sight of his fear.
"I am here, little one," she whispered, stroking his hair. "And I am not going anywhere. But I have work to do." She lifted his chin, meeting his eyes with a fierce determination. "That mouth-tree made a grave mistake, and I will see to it that it pays. But first, I need to grow stronger. I need to gain Ordstirr and perfect my Ice Kunna." Vlos nodded, his trust in her unwavering, and with a final hug, she sent him off.
Grid wasted no time. She knew she needed Ordstirr to become strong, and the only way to gain Ordstirr was through acts of glory. While she is confident she can kill most of the creatures surrounding the village as long they don't catch her off guard, she would rather focus on improving her relationship within the village to gain future allies. With the village in its current state, there currently is no method to preserve food. By making use of her Ice Kunna and the runes she learned when studying the Norse language she should be able to make a contraption to preserve food.
With that contraption she would earn the respect of the village and gain Ordstirr. It will also make it easier to recruit allies to help her with her revenge. She will then go and recruit allies to hunt the Mouth-Tree, and she will show that mouth-tree that it made a very dangerous enemy that day.
Gather a sufficient quantity of salt. We likely have salt in our supplies, but we can also look to eventually harvesting sea salt. We would want to create an artificial, water-tight pool. Maybe we could line a pit on the beach with enough rocks that the water would mostly evaporate over the course of a day.
Take a whole fish and clean it and de-scale it. We're feeding Norsemen, so we want a large one! We likely have fishing going on, but we might want to look into the creation of an artificial fish trap on the beach. (You do this by creating an artificial pool using stones; if done correctly, fish will congregate there during high tide and will be trapped when low tide comes).
Shave a portion of truffles into rendered animal fat which has been pounded and salted, store in a cool place (perhaps buried in a jar in the beach) for enough time for the truffle flavor to infuse.
Clean the fish, removing the innards, and stuff with aromatic herbs, sliced truffles and nuts, if available.
Coat the fish in a light layer of the rendered fat.
Moisten the salt with water so it becomes a paste, then pack the paste around the fish.
Wrap the salted fish in banana leaves and tie.
Leave the fish in the embers of a fire until it is cooked through.
Break the crust, clean the salt off the fish. Apply some of the truffled fat as a finisher, to taste.
