Northern Winds
- Thread starter Azel
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
Chapter 1 - ᚲᛖᚦᛃᚢᚱ ᛊᛇᛏᚨᚱ ᚲᛖᚦᛃᚢᚱ
- Location
- Germany
[X] Plan: Shadows in Ice
-[X] Thief
-[X] Woman
-[X] A Clan
-[X] Thief
-[X] Woman
-[X] A Clan
ᚲᛖᚦᛃᚢᚱ ᛊᛇᛏᚨᚱ ᚲᛖᚦᛃᚢᚱ
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
As you are led down the stage, your knees nearly buckle as the tension leaves your body. For better or for worse, your fate is now decided. Though all things considered, it seems not all that bad. The Viking holding you by the chains even lets you sit down for a moment as your buyer approaches, giving you a moment to look him over as he approaches.
The man himself stands out from the crowd, his grey hair cropped short and his face cleanly shaven, wearing a heavy robe of black wool with red trim. Your instincts peg him as a target. Wealthy, but not so much that you would get in trouble just for getting close enough for him to take his purse. However, the two other men he is with dispel any such notion.
Both are heavy set, bearing sword on their belts and shields on their back, the latter painted a solid black with angular patterns in the middle and around the edge. The leathers they wear are dyed red with black iron studs serving as both decoration and armour. Guards, you think, even though the matching clothes and colours of these people remind you more of legionnaires then the paid thugs of a trader, or even the retainers of a magistrate.
Without much ceremony, your shackles are taken off, revealing raw and tender skin beneath. Immediately the older man steps forward and coils a chain around your wrist, making you flinch back. But his grip is tight and as he presses the cold metal deeper into your skin, he whispers something, too faint for you to hear. Then the pressure is gone, and you stare curiously at your wrist. Instead of a chain, there is now an iron bracelet, looking like a knotted rope inscribed with the angular symbols the Northmen seem to use with everything. It seems completely solid, without any clasps or hinges, making you wonder what just happened.
"ᛏᚨᛚᚨᚱ ᚦᚢ ᛏᚢᛜᚢᛗᚨᚢᛚ ᛟᚲᚲᚨᚱ?" You look up when you hear the mans voice, who makes an effort to have the harsh sounding words come of soft. The only problem is that you do not understand a single word. "ᚹᛁᛖᛚᛚᛖᛁᚲᚺᛏ ᚨᛚᛚᛖᛗᚨᚾᚾᛁᛊᚲᚺ?" He tries again, but you just slowly shake your head, unsure what else to do.
"Do you perhaps speak Imperial?" This time you understand him, even though the way he speaks sound much harsher than you are used to. So you nod this time and he smiles in return. "Good. You will learn the local tongue in time. What is your name?"
When you try to speak, only a rasping sound comes out at first, sending you into a coughing fit. It is only now that you truly notice that you have not spoken a single word in weeks, having stopped to try after your captors responded to nothing. "Lucia," you answer him once you can speak properly. "From Burdigala." That you say with less surety, even though he looks like the type to know a far away city, since you could be on the other end of the world for all you know.
"You may call me Gunthar. I am the Seneschal of clan af Dagr." With that he turns, waving you to follow.
It takes a while for you to reach the 'clanhold' as Gunthar calls it, but when you stand before it, the term begins to make sense. It looks like a cross between a villa and a fort, the lover level made from polished stone blocks without windows and with a large, wooden gate the only entrance. The gate is richly decorated though, each wing bearing the same sigil as on the guards shields surrounded by twisting carvings of snakes, wolves, bears and ravens. Above it sits, like a crown, two more stories made from wood that is lacquered bright red with the occasional carvings and pictures outlined in black.
The gate opens for you group without a word or command from Gunthar and his steps speed up as you approach the house. For most of the walk, he kept a rather sedate pace that you are rather grateful for, but now you must hurry again and notice how every fast step drains the wind from you. You quickly stride over the small courtyard and into the hold proper, noticing from the corner of your eyes how the guards stay behind at the gate. Gunthar walks on though and aside from him likely expecting you to follow, you have little interest to be separated from the only person who you can speak to.
The entrance hall of the hold is just as lavish as the outside, every bit of wood and stone decorated with finely made carvings, some of them inlaid with gold and silver. Large tapestries hang on two of the walls, depicting scenes of battles and ships, though something else has you full attention. In the middle of the rooms stands a woman, long red hair falling down her shoulders and onto a chainmail shirt, her hand resting on the hilt of a blade in a silver sheath.
Gunthar bows before her and begins to speak in the Northmen's tongue again, leaving you to stand awkwardly, unsure what to do. "ᚲᚹᛖᚦᛃᚢᚱ, ᚠᚱᚢ ᛗᛁᚾ," he says before rising and gesturing at you. ᛃᛖᚷ ᛖᚱ ᚲᛟᛗᛁᚾᚾ ᚨᚠᛏᚢᚱ ᛗᛖᚦ ᚾᛁᛃᚨ ᚦᚱᛇᛚᛁᚾᚾ ᚠᛁᚱᛁᚱ ᛖᛚᛞᚺᚢᛉᛁᚾ."
She looks expectantly at you for a long moment and only when it slowly shifts to annoyance do you understand that she is apparently important. Hastily you bow too and keep your head down while she turns back to Gunthar. "ᚷᛟᛏᛏ ᚨᚦ ᚺᛖᚾᚾᛁ ᛖᚱ ᛖᚲᚲᛁ ᛇᛏᛚᚨᚦ ᚨᚦ ᚦᛃᛟᚢᚾᚨ ᛊᛏᛖᛚᛈᚨ. ᛉᛁᚦᛗᛖᚾᚾᛏ ᚺᛖᚾᚾᚨᚱ ᛊᚲᛟᚱᛏᛁᚱ ᚠᚱᛖᚲᚨᚱ." Slowly you look back up, hoping to at least catch the gist of what they talk about from tone and expression. Unfortunately, the important woman seems a bit annoyed, taking a low tone when she speaks on. "ᛃᛖᚷ ᚹᛟᚾᚨ ᚨᚦ ᚦᚨᚦ ᚹᛖᚱᚦᛁ ᛖᛜᛁᚾ ᚹᚨᚾᛞᚨᛗᚨᚢᛚ ᚨᚢ ᛞᛟᛖᚠᛁᚾᚾᛁ."
The seneschals bows again, making you guess he was reprimanded. "ᛃᛖᚷ ᛗᚢᚾ ᛊᛃᚨᚢ ᛏᛁᛚ ᚦᛖᛊᛉ ᚨᚦ ᚦᚨᚦ ᚹᛖᚱᚦᛁ ᛖᛜᛁᚾᚾ, ᚠᚱᚢ ᛗᛁᚾ. ᚦᚹᛁ ᛗᛁᚦᚢᚱ ᛏᚨᛚᚨᚱ ᚺᚢᚾ ᛖᚲᚲᛁ ᛏᚢᛜᚢᛗᚨᚢᛚᛁᚦ ᛟᚲᚲᚨᚱ ᛖᚾᚾᚦᚨᚢ, ᛊᚹᛟ ᛃᛖᚷ ᛒᛁᚦᛊᛏ ᚨᚠᛉᛟᛖᚲᚢᚾᚨᚱ ᛖᚠ ᚺᚢᚾ ᛊᚹᚨᚱᚨᚱ ᛖᚲᚲᛁ ᛊᚲᛁᛈᚢᚾᚢᛗ ᚦᛁᚾᚢᛗ ᛏᚨᚠᚨᚱᛚᚨᚢᛊᛏ." Again, the woman glances at you with annoyance, but then nods to Gunthar and leaves without another word.
It is not until she has closed the door again that he rises and turns to you. "That was the lady af Dagr. You would do well for yourself if you bowed before anyone unknown you meet in these halls. Not all members of the main clan are as forgiving as her." There is no real threat or menace to his words, but you know what he means just the same. You would prefer not to get beaten and whipped for disrespecting someone who considers themselves important.
The thought reminds of you of your home and how some of the freemen treated their slaves. It also reminds you why you choose to live in the gutter and steal to stay fed instead of selling yourself to someone. "And what am I supposed to do when I get an order? You are the only one I understand here." A bit of heat creeps into your voice. Somewhere in the cramped ball your mind became in the last weeks, your old temper stirs.
However, Gunthar seems unperturbed by that, keeping the same calm and pleasant demeanour he has shown you the whole time. "The words are: ᚠᛁᚱᛁᚱᚷᛖᚠᚦᚢ. ᛖᚲᚲᛁ ᛊᚲᛁᛚᛃᚨ."
You give him a dubious look, but try to say it none the less. "ᚠᛁᚱᚱᛃᛖᚠᛟᚢ. ᛖᚲᚲᛁ ᛊᛃᛁᛚᚨ." It sounds close enough to your ears, but it is not as if the sounds mean anything to you.
"Passable," is Gunthars assessment, though his tone betrays that it was anything but. "It should not be an issue since you are supposed to work in the kitchens. As you are a woman, I take it you are skilled at cooking and cleaning?"
The implication that you are a pampered housewife rankles somewhat and you are not skilled at either of those. At least you are certain that roasting rodents over a campfire does not constitute cooking and you never owned anything that would have needed cleaning. However, you are not stupid either. This sounded a lot better than whatever other labours he might have for you. "Of course," you answer in what you hope is a demure tone, bowing slightly before him.
It is hard to say if Gunthar buys the lie, but he does not show either way and just turns again, motioning you to follow. "Then you will be housed with the kitchen staff. The head cook and some others speak some measure of Imperial, so they can teach you Norse. If you comport yourself well and learn it soon, you might get other duties."
As he speaks, he leads you through the hallways, past many doors and tapestries, but also people. This clanhold seems to be a busy place, with warriors, servants and important looking folk passing you. The latter part you mostly identify by how Gunthar bows before them as he passes and this time you make sure to do the same every time, even though you still get a few strange looks for the dirty rags you are wearing. You deeply miss the public baths of Burdigala already.
The house is truly huge, with far too many twisting paths and stairways. You just hope you will not be asked to navigate it any time soon, or you might get hopelessly lost. After a while, Gunthar stops in a less important part of the hold, or at least the lack of décor and plain, unlacquered wood implies that. "There we are." With this he gestures towards a plain door. "The cook, Nechtan, will explain your sleeping arrangements and duties. Or do you have any questions?"
Do you?
[] (Optional) Ask something:
-[] Write-In
What will you do in your first days in this house?
[] Work lightly. You need to rest to recover from the ordeal on the ship.
[] Work lightly. You would rather spend some time to get to know the other servants.
[] Work lightly. Sneak around and explore the clanhold.
[] Work hard. Gunthar seems to be important, so impressing him might be helpful.
AN: Mostly a setup chapter. Keep in mind that Gunthar might note like it if you ask something like 'how do I get the bracelet off?' or 'how do I sneak out of the clanhold?'.
- Location
- Germany
If you ask too many questions, I'll have to cut them off at some point. He isn't going to narrate the history of the world to you.
Also, no rape questions please. I would really like to just leave that subject alone for the time being.
- Location
- Pilipinas
Alright, just that i work in the Foreign Affairs office and female foreign domestic workers are extremely likely to be sexually abused. In any case, here are the questions
[X] (Optional) Ask something:
-[x] What are the basic rules and traditions of your clan, i might serve the wrong food on a holy day or something (i.e. pork on the sabbath)
-[x] Any important person that i should obey post-haste?
-[x] Can i keep property like clothes and so on?
-[x] Do I have certain rights as a slave? Like i can buy my own freedom?
-[x] Why did you buy me?
[X] Work lightly. Sneak around and explore the clanhold.
- Location
- Germany
Thank you. I'll add that tidbit to my list of reasons to drink.
On a more serious note, that's a topic too delicate for me to tackle while everything still has this fresh quest smell.
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- Location
- United States
I liked this detail. Only a few runes off yet the dialogue is probably vastly different than what it should be.
- Location
- Germany
It's not quite Engrish, just a thoroughly mangled pronunciation. You would still get the gist of what she is trying to say.
The big question is if Lucia can manage that again when it becomes necessary.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
[X] (Optional) Ask something:
-[x] What are the basic rules and traditions of your clan, i might serve the wrong food on a holy day or something (i.e. pork on the sabbath)
-[x] Any important person that i should obey post-haste?
-[x] Can i keep property like clothes and so on?
-[x] Do I have certain rights as a slave? Like i can buy my own freedom?
-[x] Why did you buy me?
[X] Work lightly. Sneak around and explore the clanhold.
-[x] What are the basic rules and traditions of your clan, i might serve the wrong food on a holy day or something (i.e. pork on the sabbath)
-[x] Any important person that i should obey post-haste?
-[x] Can i keep property like clothes and so on?
-[x] Do I have certain rights as a slave? Like i can buy my own freedom?
-[x] Why did you buy me?
[X] Work lightly. Sneak around and explore the clanhold.
- Location
- United States
I just hope bad slaves are simply sold rather than sacrificed. I guess that's one good thing from not going to the priests.
Chapter 2 - ᚱᚨᚾᚾᛉᛟᚢᚲᚾᛁᚱ
- Location
- Germany
[X] Work lightly. Sneak around and explore the clanhold.
ᚱᚨᚾᚾᛉᛟᚢᚲᚾᛁᚱ
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
After however many days on the ship, the cot next to the kitchen was feeling like a luxury. You had fresh bedding and a blanket to ward of the cold and sharing the room with all the other kitchen slaves was not all that bothersome. It took a lot more then a few quiet conversations to keep you from sleeping at the best of times and your first evening was anything but. Nechtan the cook had taken one look at you, almost forced a bowl of cabbage soup into your hand and told you to sleep the moment it was empty. That was an order you gladly obeyed.
It was only on the next day that the tall, thin man properly introduced himself and the other slaves properly. Nechtan himself was born into slavery, knowing not much about his ancestry except that he came from folk that the Northmen called something that roughly meant 'the painted people'. He was also the one in charge of the kitchen staff, which consisted of two more cooks, four servers and a about a dozen other people who were tasked with cleaning, cutting, goat a milking and a host of other minor things. You tried your best to memorize at least the names and faces, especially those few who spoke a lick of Imperial, but the rush in which it was explained to you made it hard.
The head cook was not one for dawdling, keeping everyone around him busy all the time. Despite that, the other slaves liked him, as he was kind and fair to them and quite friendly company whenever there was no work to do. To you though? He quickly became a bane. On the first day in the clanhold, he had you follow people around all the time to learn where the most important places where. The larder, the cellars, a place he had called the ice room, which indeed was cold as the deepest winter and coated in a thin layer of frost and the rooms of the slaves whose duty it was to clean the clanhold. There was also apparently a stable housing goats, pigs and hens nearby, but you were not allowed to leave the hold for now.
The work was, all things considered, not that bad. After a few days, you had learned a bit and Nechtan lowered his expectations a lot, leaving you with tasks you could do to his satisfaction. That meant mostly cutting onions, beets and other things that you could not really mess up, and fetching things from the many storage rooms of the hold. In return, you got two meals a day, sometimes even a few scraps of meat that were left over from the masters meals, and a warm cot for yourself. No need to grab something from a merchants stall and run for it. No need to catch and skin rats on your own. No walking through cold rain all day.
However, the routine rankled. Not in the first few days, when everything was still new and strange, your body weak and your mind fearful of the people around you. Yet after the first time you moaned about having to cut onions yet again, the seed was planted, and it grew quickly. You wanted out. Leaving this gigantic house to roam the streets. Even sleeping under open sky began to sound inviting after a while. You could have had the same arrangement back in Burdigala, yet had chosen to make it on your own. And now that the fear and novelty had worn off, you remembered why. You weren't meant for chains, no matter how comfortable they were.
Instead you began to dawdle whenever you had a reason to leave the kitchens, taking detours and peeking into any room whose door was not closed entirely. The problem were the guards and other people walking through the hold all the time. Without a clear reason for you to be somewhere, they quickly became suspicious and there was one terrifying moment when one of them started to yell at you in the Northmens language. Luckily, he dragged you to Nechtan instead of doing anything worse and the cook managed to placate the guard after you lied to him that you had just gotten lost. It was a close thing though and you doubted that you would get away with it a second time.
The solution came to you a few days later, when you had been sent to fetch the cleaned tablecloths from the housekeepers. That time, you truly had been lost, but this time, no one seemed to mind you wandering around. A slave with a stack of cloth in his arms looked busy after all, and a busy slave was a good slave. And unlike a bowl full of cabbage that looked out of place to be carried around far away from the kitchens, the stack of cloth made sense no matter where you went with them.
It was still a risk though and you could not walk around endlessly without raising suspicion in the kitchens instead. After the second trip, Nechtan had a few stern word to offer about your time wasting and even when you cut them shorter, it became clear that you were not exactly becoming his favourite. It did not matter though. You were learning a lot and that was worth more then his approval.
The hold was huge, encompassing multiple yards, training halls, a horse stable and even a smithy that seemed to be constantly busy making and repairing weapons. The Northmen truly were a warlike folk, many of them training all day. Once you even glimpsed the lady af Dragr again who was handily defeating a handful of guards in a mock duel. Only her last opponent, who looked a lot like a younger version of the lady and fought with two axes, managed to give her any trouble. The display reminded you of the few times you managed to sneak into the coliseum of Burdigala and you left with great reluctance when the duel dragged on, wondering who had won it the entire evening.
Most of the building was dedicated to living quarters though, with those of the highest ranking clan members being in centre of the hold, right above the great feast hall, while the guards had to make due with bunks near the outer walls. You carefully tried to tease a bit of information out of the other slaves whenever you could and were quite surprised to learn that even them belonged to the clan. Apparently, the Northmen held that blood was blood, no matter if a child was sired to a mans wife or his lovers and thus the families were quite sprawling after a while. A whole part of the city was nothing but people belonging to the clan af Dragr, who all paid homage to the main family living in the clanhold.
However, the strangest discovery you made was not a place, but a man. He was blonde and still with a boyish look to him, his beard and hair kept short. His clothes seemed rather expensive, making you think he is important, but he did not behave like anyone else in the hold. You often saw him skulking around, sneaking up on guards and slaves alike. The former seemed to accept his antics with some annoyance, while some of the latter seemed to like him. Once he even tried to sneak up on you, though you spotted him while he was quite a distance away. When he noticed that he had been spotted, he spoke something, then bowed, bowed, to you and went away, leaving you reeling from how the terror of the moment had turned to confusion into the blink of an eye.
After that, you decided to stay put for a while, dodging any duty that would bring you of the kitchen for a few days. The change of pace was not lost on Nechtan and neither that you were rather unfocused when working, but still got a lot more done then before because you were not dawdling somewhere. He also was not checking the linen cabinet quite as often as the weeks before, making you dread that he had noticed how you borrowed a few things from there now and then. He had not said anything to you, but you certainly noticed how he had begun to only send someone on errands when you were already busy and could not volunteer.
At least you learned the lay of the hold somewhat.
What do you want to do in the coming days?
[] Work lightly. You would rather spend some time to get to know the other servants.
[] Work lightly. Try to learn the local language from the other servants.
[] Work lightly. Sneak out at night and explore the parts of clanhold that are too heavily frequented during the day.
[] Work hard. Nechtan does not treat you badly or single you out, but maybe putting some extra effort into your work might get you into his good graces again.
AN: Generally favorable background rolls, though the encounters were more on the boring side right now. Language learning is now available, but since you didn't socialize with anyone yet, only Nechtan would be willing to teach you.
- Location
- United States
Some lord's son who fancies himself a sneak?
Anyway, we really should learn the language before doing anything else. At least a bare minimum would be nice.
[X] Work lightly. Try to learn the local language from the other servants.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
[X] Duesal
Y-eah, we arent getting anywhere without those language basics.
The lay of the land is nice to know, but isn't exactly all that useful immediately.
I do hope we don't gather ire by "working lightly" for too long. I reckon, the freebie of "easy start" only stretches so far.
Y-eah, we arent getting anywhere without those language basics.
The lay of the land is nice to know, but isn't exactly all that useful immediately.
I do hope we don't gather ire by "working lightly" for too long. I reckon, the freebie of "easy start" only stretches so far.
Namer
ᵘʷᵘ
- Location
- Bangladesh
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Work lightly. Try to learn the local language from the other servants.
I'm really torn between this and [ ] Work Hard. Work lightly seems like it's effective for progress, but it also seems like setbacks are only one bad roll away. At the very least, I think we should choose to work hard the next time the option comes up. The only reason I'm not picking it now is because the local language is even more important.
That guy reeks of protagonist-ness. Were this story from the side of the Vikings, he'd undoubtedly be one of the odd vikings who think slavery is bad or at the very least, iffy, and so tries to treat slaves with respect whenever he can.
Who knows, he may also be our ticket out of here.
I'm really torn between this and [ ] Work Hard. Work lightly seems like it's effective for progress, but it also seems like setbacks are only one bad roll away. At the very least, I think we should choose to work hard the next time the option comes up. The only reason I'm not picking it now is because the local language is even more important.
That guy reeks of protagonist-ness. Were this story from the side of the Vikings, he'd undoubtedly be one of the odd vikings who think slavery is bad or at the very least, iffy, and so tries to treat slaves with respect whenever he can.
Who knows, he may also be our ticket out of here.
- Location
- Virginia
[X] Work lightly. Try to learn the local language from the other servants.
- Location
- United States
I'm not sure he's necessarily benevolent in an anti-slavery sort of way. Since this is a norse mythology quest I'm guessing this guy is a trickster Loki-esque archetype or something. Maybe because a rogue template was chose in character creation this is the person who showed up as a result. Someone with no boundaries of who he tricks. But of course it's very likely I'm reading too much into it. He could also be utterly mundane.