Part 12: 6-2: Sigrholm

UPDATE 12: SIGRHOLM

A quick update tonight because there's another thing that requires a vote.


Not long afterward, one of the women comes to you. "Its swaddling was being held by this," she says, giving you a hair pin that looks distinctly un-dredge-like. An inscription ont he silver almost slips your notice: 'persevere.' "From the goddess herself, if you ask me," the woman tells you.

We gain the Vadrun Silver Brooch, a rank 3 artifact that ignores 1 strength damage. Useful, but we've got a better version of it on Iver.


Soon after leaving Godstone Ingrid, this happens.


: Ubin, you'd rather be known for falling asleep and dying in the corner of a mead house than battling a Sundr?
: I'd rather be known for not dying.
: Don't even know what you're worried about. I did this a hundred times in the great wars. Take some warriors. Plow headfirst into the dredge. They follow you into the hills, get lost, now they're not following you.
: When you did this "a hundred times," did they have Bellower leading them?
: Have you never heard about the time I hit Bellower in the head with a throwing axe?
Both varl halt their debate when they suddenly notice you watching.
: You're planning to confront the dredge?
: Careful, my friend. A lot of old history getting thrown around here.
: The warriors were just noticing that there's a damn good number of dredge on our asses.
: Bellower pulling up the rear. This one thinks he can just wander up there and throw them off our tracks.
: How about some gratitude? Thought you'd be happy to finally be oldest varl in the land, Ubin.
: I'm never happy to lose more varl, Krumr. Besides, I'm not convinced you're really older than me.
: Old rivalry you've got here.
: Comments like that remind me, I've already wasted too much time doing nothing. In the old days I'd be halfway to the battlefield by now. Speaking of which...you coming, Yngvar? You could ask Bellower for your arm back.

: Don't think so. Not exactly in the mood right now.
: Alright then. I'll tell Hadrborg you said hello.
Krumr and a good many varl warriors head out toward the growing army of dredge.
: Is he going to come back?
: He always has before.
: But this time feels different, I fear.

So...yeah. Krumr's gone, along with 40 varl. Can't be avoided. Unless Krumr can die in Einartoft somehow--he will always leave you at this point.


It's here that I make a fatal mistake. Morale is poor and I want to play along with the varl who are cool and good.
Taking the mead, you shout, "Skal!" The crowd cheers and laughter echoes through the camp for hours as each person comes up wiht increasingly more absurd stories of woe. The varl's remedy is a success and the caravan is in a much better mood the following day, albeit hungover and with less mead than before.
Guess what our supplies include large amounts of, apparently.


We have 1 day of supplies left, and Sigrholm (seen just barely at the left of the screen) is more than a day away. It's going to take a miracle to reach there without starving. I've been on the knife's edge so long...


Here's one miracle. Krumr returns victorious, along with 37 of the 40 varl he left with.



He gives us 20 renown--we can buy a lot of supplies with that in Sigrholm, albeit likely too late. He also has Dundr's Hand, a rank 5 relic that gives +3 strength. Handy!


I can see Sigrholm. It's only hours away. But...


: As Sigrholm approaches we fear the worst. The once calm lake surroudning it now looks like a bowl that has been flipped, proud homes sinking quietly into muddy water. A side effect of the quake...


We were so close. A handful of our caravan starves to death, including 4 fighters from a diminishing supply of fighting-capable men and women.


Maybe Juno can help us. Can she conjure food?




Well...shit. Juno's not here yet.


: All I'm saying is how long are you willing to wait?
While taking stock of the caravan you've inadvertently walked into a debate between Oddleif and Eyvind.

: As long as we need to.
: And I think we need to get out of here. I don't feel good about this place.
: Why? What's wrong?
: Something doesn't feel right. The people here are staring at us like those vultures in the wastes.

: I'm sorry, Eyvind. I think Oddleif is right. I saw a man...the whole time we were setting up he was just watching me. Uh...in a creepy way. And how long before the dredge find us here?
: Juno will come. Just give it a little more time, Rook. Listen to me. I need you to trust me on this.


We can't wait at all if we don't have supplies, so...


Ooh. The Bjorg av Leander is awesome. +2 armor per turn. I really should spend all 28 renown on supplies, but I'll take this and buy 54 supplies instead.


OK, we've got enough to last a week. Let's go talk to Eyvind and see how long this'll take.


: You're really worried about her, aren't you?
: What? Oh, Juno. Worried doesn't begin to describe it. If she doesn't find us here, or if something has happened to her...
: Are you sure what you saw was real? It could have been a dream. Or, I don't know. You were pretty exhausted.
: I...I don't know. To be honest, I'm not sure anymore. Everything is a blur. Uh...dont' tell the others I said that. I have to hope it wasn't just a dream.
: Why is Bellower still following us?
: I saw Grofheim as it burned.
Eyvind gets a far away look in his eyes.
: The Sundr blew through it like a tempest. The varl fell in the thousands. Most of the Sundr left the city and headed south. Who knows where they are now. They might be destroying every town they come to, or heading toward Arberrang. Bellower stayed in Grofheim, just for the sport of it, I think. As we fled to Einartoft I thought he must want to wipe the varl off the map completely. But then he came after us.
: Maybe he knew Iver was the one who killed Raze.
: Maybe. But I...let's just make sure he doesn't catch up.
: What's it like being a mender?
: Being a mender? I guess I never really thought about it like that. It's just part of me. They knew very young that I would join the order. Born into it, you could say. My mother and father, both menders. The guild is for lots of people now, builders and healers.
: Do they all pull lightning out of the sky?
: No. No...that's...not normal. It's one of the reasons I know Juno. She's one of the council. She helps me control things like this. So we don't end up scaring people.
: How does mending work, anyway?
: Well, the hardest part is usually seeing the threads. Everything is part of the tapestry. It's made of threads woven together. If you can see the threads you can manipulate them. I don't know how to explain it, really. It's like trying to play a harp with invisible strings. Look at my staff, for example. Some menders carve intricate patterns in the wood to help them remember the shapes of...er, like I said. Hard to explain.
: Do you think this is the end times?
: I...I don't know whwat to think. I wish I could give you a better answer. Even if we escape the dredge, that serpent said a darkness was covering the world. I don't know how long that will take. Or what it means, even. I'm just trying to solve one problem at a time. The menders are in Arberrang. If we can find ships and make it to the capital, we might have a chance.
: I won't take any more time.
: No, it's ok, Rook. I appreciate the talk. It's good to stay grounded. I spend all day worrying about serpents or Sundr. I think a lot of people are intimidated, or scared maybe. Of me. Don't worry, it's nothing new. I'm used to it. Maybe sometime we can talk about things that don't include the world ending.



We make camp for a night, but the minute we do, this happens. We give chase, which predictably leads to a fight.


Fucking archers.


Rook takes an injury but otherwise we wipe the floor with them. Oddleif now has 14 kills so she can promote to rank 5. But first she has to promote to rank 4. But first we need to not be starving to death constantly so we can use renown to level up.



And...that's actually not so bad because the store still has the remaining 30 supplies from before, and now I have 10 renown with which to buy it. But still--we're now in a town where we have 7 days of supplies and no sign of Juno.

And if we rest another day...


We can leave right now and not lose anyone. But Sigrholm is fucked, we can stay a week at most before people start starving (and the distance to the next town is probably significant, so the choice is starving in town or starving in the road if we wait too long.)

On the other hand, giant world-ending serpenet and only Juno has managed to do anything about it so far. And Eyvind seems dead set on staying, is a stand-up guy, saved Iver's life, and also really helpful in battle.

VOTE TIME!
I'm only willing to wait 3 more days. After that, there's too great a risk of starvation. Unless mending includes conjuring food, even if Juno shows up 4 days or later she's gonna be too late to save the lives of a lot of clansmen.

Or we can leave now. Or anywhere in between. We will absolutely have people disaffect and/or be attacked or murdered if we stay. Eyvind may well disaffect if we go.

As usual, bad choices abound.
A.) LEAVE IMMEDIATELY
B.) WAIT 1 MORE DAY
C.) WAIT 2 MORE DAYS
3.) WAIT 3 MORE DAYS