Part 10: 5-1: Umbrage: -1 ARM, +5 STR

PART 10: UMBRAGE: -1 ARM, +5 STR
OK, y'all voted to stick around in hopes that Iver comes to and can do something more useful than offer "die on a bridge" or "piss off all the varl."

And actually, the vote was so close that had it gone the other way I'd have done a bit of fighting and left before any plot triggers. The caravan needs the rest, and we need the kills and renown for food and leveling.


We can leave or destroy the bridge, but Eyvind said that maybe we should go talk to Jorundr. Let's give that a shot.


: You'll do as I say.
: I'm not here to argue. I'm telling you that we're dying by the dozens every day now. You sent our best away with Hakon. How long do you expect us to last?
: You asked for this command, Fasolt. Don't let them get across that bridge.
Fasolt takes his leave just as you approach. Not great timing, you think to yourself.

: Thank you for the audience.
: I forget your name.
: Rook.
: Rook, how is Yngvar? Will he survive?
: I believe so.
: That is good, then. If I remember Yngvar well enough, he hasn't told you why he faced down Bellower alone, did he?
: I would be interested to hear.
: Yngvar confronted a Sundr in his youth, during the great wars. He won that fight. None other but the menders have done that. He proved us stronger. Maybe he thought to do it again.
: Iver killed a Sundr? How did he end up in Skogr?
: You'd have to pry that from him yourself. I don't know. He disappeared when the last king tried to name him kendr.
It occurs to you that Jorundr would not be sitting on the throne had that happened.
: But why are you here, Rook? Be brief.

Buddy, see reason. Fasolt is telling you the same thing...
: That bridge needs to be destroyed.
: Oh, you have the answers? Wonderful! Come, sit upon the throne! Every man I've ever met thinks he'd rival the gods himself, if only he were in charge. I am over four hundred years old, and I know that I know little. You are a child, an infant, and yet you know everything! Listen, human. This story is not about you.
: If you jumped from that bridge today the world would not change. Now either help Fasolt retake it or leave my city. I don't care which!
Guards are quick to usher you from the great hall. You don't resist.

Well...that could have gone better. Guy is stubbornly clinging to a bridge that's going to get us all killed.

Talking to Jorundr does open up a new option, though: we can fight on the bridge alongside the defenders. It'll take a day to do so and won't really change much when it comes to the invading army, but it's a day for our caravan to rest, improve morale, and get us some much-needed renown to buy supplies. Even if we flee the city right now, we'll be killed by starvation as surely as we'd be killed by dredge. There are supplies here I can buy to prevent this, but I need renown to do so.




And so we find ourselves on the same bridge as before--but on a segment much closer to Einartoft proper.


Krumr's in sorry shape, and Iver's completely unavailable, what with getting his arm cut off and being near death.

But Krumr doesn't really have to fight--he just has to stand next to Eyvind and help him cast arc lightning 2 turns in 3. Fasolt's playable too now, and if you gave him something when he was in Hakon's caravan, he still has it now. Items are not shared across caravans, but they do persist with characters that switch caravans.


My kingdom for a warhawk; I could wreck so many slingers early on. Instead, this is gonna be a slog.


Egil is easily the MVP of this playthrough. Because I spent so much renown in Frostvellr on supplies, I'm fairly underleveled and Egil's the only reason I'm able to hang in long enough to win.


The other nice thing about Egil is that if you let him tank long enough, things will surround him in a pattern that makes them very susceptible to arc lightning.


I've never really used Alette, but honestly she's pretty damn strong when she has the opportunity to use her special.



"Come back tomorrow if you're looking for more," says Fasolt. You sleep poorly, Eyvind's suggestion to collapse the bridge repeating in your mind.
Rook goes down at some point, but overall a pretty decent effort. We get 10 renown for our troubles.


That renown immediately is applied to buying 30 supplies.

The "statue of a sightless man" is a pretty good relic--+2 strength, 20% chance to dodge strength attacks. But we don't have any level 5s that would want it (Eyvind doesn't rely on strength and shouldn't be getting attacked) and we already have the Namejs Ring and Godscale as useful level 5 items. And honestly we can't afford it. Maybe we'll get lucky and see another one later on.


Day 2 of our siege. Everyone rests overnight, including Rook, whose 2 day injury from the last battle is now just 1 day.



Back into the fray.


No sense changing anything that worked well before.


Our opponents are more melee-oriented this time. And the 23 strength colossus is a threat to Egil--if in fact he can ever get close enough to attack.


Some bad luck early on as a slinger moves to hurt Rook before I can do much about it.

This is the real problem with our being underleveled. We just don't have the armor to defend against an alpha strike.


The enemy AI is really stupid when it comes to the shield slam move. It moves Egil over but does 0 armor damage, and absolutely cripples its ally.


I make a pretty bad mistake here. I planned to move Eyvind over to arc lightning the colossus, and then double up with a Forge Ahead from Krumr. Which I did! But I forgot Rook, despite being able to attack with bow-and-arrow, doesn't have puncture and couldn't finish the job maiming the colossus.


The upshot of this is that the colossus lives long enough to summon an ally instead of die right before it. And the ally spawns RIGHT NEXT TO EYVIND, and puts him down. Not a terrible character to be injured since he doesn't rely on strength, but menders take a 4 day injury. Not great, either.



All told, Oddleif, Alette, and Eyvind go down. The first two aren't so bad since archers only take 2 days and you get a bonus rest day between battles in Einartoft. But still, sloppy work on my part.


We clean out the last of the supplies here. I'd have left town at this point had the vote gone that way. Instead...



Oh hey, Iver's back. And...he's gonna fight with one arm?
PS: Fasolt, you were kind of a dick.


Yes. He is going to fight with one arm. That probably won't go so well.


...or...maybe it'll be incredibly good somehow?

You get the opportunity to reallocate skill points on Iver from previous levels because his stats have changed. The loss of his arm has made him...stronger, somehow. He loses his "return the favor" passive that does chip armor damage when attacked, since he doesn't have a shield to chip armor with. Instead, he gets "heavy impact"--the same thing that Gunnulf, Bersi, Krumr, and Hakon have.

Oh, and he gets 3 exertion to go with the absurdly high armor and strength caps. Given that he starts with 8 willpower, that means he can do crazy shit like "attack with 20 strength" or "break 6 armor without items" for 2 turns at the start of battle.


He gets a new battle model, too. By the way, it's rare that I'll use it, but he still has "battering ram" as his active ability. Only instead of slamming his shield into something to knock it back 4 tiles, he...headbutts it.


The battle itself is fairly uninteresting, even by the standards of this game. With Iver back we've got 2 tanks (and 3 tiles worth of tanks) which means our archers and mender can wreck shit from safe distances.


Iver has had enough fighting on the damned bridge.


: Yngvar, glad to see you well.
You swear you catch a note of trepidation in his voice.
: Jorundr, enough. This fight cannot be won.
: Again, this? I'll be damned if that bridge falls during my reign!
: You'll let our whole race die?
: We'll all be gone someday, Yngvar. I need not tell you. There are no more varl being made tomorrow...or a thousand years from now. We are it. And I will not destroy what we have made! Would you leave no trace of us when we are gone? As if we never existed?!
: I know this, but yours is one voice of many. I know that the varl are equal. The days of kendr are over. I ask these varl, all there is left in the world, to follow me. And live another day. Who do you think they will choose?

: Go on. Take the mender. Destroy the bridge. Do it and leave. Take whoever would join you, and do not return to my city. The alliance of man and varl is through.
Iver is almost out the door before Jorundr has finished his sentence.

Well...that's probably not good long-term, but if Hakon survives the trip to Arberrang with Ludin, maybe it'll be OK. Jorundr's as good as dead, so Hakon will be the new king. Problem is, Hakon fucking hates Ludin, and for good reason.




This is the shortest chapter in the game. Y'all damn near voted to make it even shorter. It ends as soon as you leave Einartoft, which you have the ability to do from the very start of the chapter.

Anyway, we get some surviving varl that don't want to seek a glorious death in Einartoft amongst their brethren.


We'll pick this up later on--I have another thing I need y'all to vote on.