i'm not entirely sure whats he's asking but if he's asking if we would like to work with him then I think the answer should be yes.

>>338280
He wants to stay here and try to get another spirit animal with the head's assistance. He plans on going back to Istanbul at some point, but he's feeling underpowered. He's off to do some leveling up before he joins us again in shitsville.

I say we let him, he know's where to find us.

Provisional plan for binding Silja and making her safe:
- Armas' soul is partially divine, so he has the appropriate relative status to a mortal
- He gets drugged up, with ShadowBro and Sake on overwatch but careful not to touch his flesh
- He shares one of the Erinyes hearts with her, with him taking the larger piece and the first mouthful, and then feeds her the rest
- When she activates, and becomes increasingly fleshy he cuts both him and her with the mere, and mingle the blood, and the grasps the stock with his unwounded hand and says,
- "I offer part of my regenerating soul to aid in your rebirth, in return for your service." three times
- Sake knows how to construct Rule of Three based bindings, so check the wording with him first.
- Armas can regenerate in both body and soul, so he has more leeway than most people to experiment with this.

He should investigate doing this before leaving, so afterwards he can see if he can feed her some high value creatures from the grounds.

Apart from this, Armas should take BC's offer of shooting lessons up. It's probably worth also practising the trick of shooting two handed using ShadowBro to aim the offhand pistol, through gentle nudges.

With reference to Hillevi, you shouldn't resent her demands on your time. This is your opportunity to shape the entire framework by which she approaches the outside world. If she is ever to grow into the desirable friend, ally, or source of genetic material for the next generation of Laines that she has the potential to be, you need to start the process now. Discuss with her the people you are looking for to introducing her to, like Camella, and the things you're looking forward to watching her learn, like shooting.

Now Einrik has shown you the landline, you should ask to borrow it again, and ask SM “Are you interested in a similar deal to the one we made about the Valkonens? I have encountered a potent entity who would be interested in purchasing items of such value as the Nevernever gates, one who, in the judgement of the Valokonens, is in the same league as the Christian god. Would you be at all interest in being put in contact? I am prepared for you to pay us the fair price for what you perceive the relationship to be worth when you have had opportunity to judge the entity for yourself.”

When you've teased him with this, implicitly telling him the magnitude of the entity in question, then go on to tell him, “I have been offered the right to ask this entity questions on occasion, with the sole limitation that they do not pertain to itself. By any chance, would you perhaps be interested in purchasing the rights to decide the first question we will ask, and exclusive access to the answer when we receive it? But, I beg you do not decide on a price quite yet, I have one more piece of information that you may wish to purchase...” If he says he will, then go on to say, “This entity, apparently of Winter aspect, wishes to upset the balance between his seeming Court and their opponents in Summer – but in Summer's favour. I hope this informs the price you will offer for the two deals we have on the table...”

Guile 2011/08/09(Tue)12:09 No. 338288 ID: f8aa66
File 131291695549.jpg - (156.81KB , 2195x1689 , Armas\'s scurvy dogs1.jpg )

Art because we really do have the makings of a full-fledged pirate crew to battle Blackbeard. Frilly pirate shirt and parrot: Big. Rakish tricorne and eyepatch: Armas. Peg-leg first mate: Camella. Go Ping can be our bosun.

>>338281
Yeah, that's fine. Armas will miss his human shield and distraction, but we must all make sacrifices. Since we're flying back to Istanbul and we need to do something about the escalade, might as well leave it here for Big to return in.

Here's hoping Big's new magical spirit animal will be a vahana parrot he can ride on, like the Hindu diety Kama has. Or the two-headed parrot you see in Tibetan thangkas sometimes.

I don't know what we should do for our last two days, but we might wanna call our friends back in Istanbul, let them know our ETA (so what, 2 days, plus a day looking for einherjar, plus 6-12 hours for travel?).

>>338286
I'm heavily against binding Silja. Mainly because:
>>..Yes, I suppose if you bound a fellow mortal soul as servitor and minion, even if it became self-aware later the blood within it would still be under your ownership

I am NOT enslaving another human soul. Sake isn't our slave, he's our brother and he works with us under a contract - And he'd be dead, otherwise. Amen needs to be bound for damn good reason. Silja doesn't need to be bound to be loyal to us - we are responsible for her life and her power.

>>338206

"B.C. you're a helluva guy, and there's no finer compliment a man can be paid than what you've just told me. For what it's worth, I think you'll be able to do it. Just keep your eye on that end goal. Give me a call before you head back to Istanbul, and I'll line up some jobs for us both, hunting Neo-Nazis or whatever. There's always something. You're a fine friend to have in a fight.

"And you don't owe me anything. We agreed to just start fresh back in Istanbul, remember? This whole trip was supposed to be like a trial run. You passed. Whenever you want to work with me, just call.

"Anyhow since you're staying here, you ought to keep the Escalade. It'll be good for ferrying the kids around, and you could fit, well, some of the Valkonens in it. Probably want to change the VIN and plates though. And not just because it was Olga's, but because of the mess on the ferry. The plates, at least, are going to be in the ferry company's records.

"Do you plan to learn Finnish?"

>Nevertheless, I fall asleep thinking but one thing-that girl needs to learn to fucking control herself.

Well that's one of the reasons behind bringing her out to Istanbul. She's seven years Armas' junior, but she's led such a sheltered life that she's got only limited experience in containing her emotions and suppressing her startle reflex. This will be good for her. Just, plan for little problems to crop up. The first annoying stranger she meets, for example, will be in far more danger than he could ever know. And God help someone who tries to feel her up in a crowd.

So, set aside some bribe money.

>[EV][In English]...A rather impressive amount of Emotion, Regret and Ego, to have lasted so long...

This bodes ill for trying to bind her. If a mortal animal is dangerous to even attempt to bind, and requires sticking to orthodox methods to bind safely, how the hell can Armas hope to bind a willful mortal soul, even one that is not awakened yet?

>[EV][In English]...Yes, I suppose if you bound a fellow mortal soul as servitor and minion, even if it became self-aware later the blood within it would still be under your ownership. ...I do not offer ethical advise...

Einrik has a very good point. He didn't outright say it, but there are not many moral codes that would allow that kind of binding. For a man born and raised as an American it is extra-sketchy to do that to someone. And Silja is a someone, even if she's not aware again yet. Pretty much the only reason to even consider it is because Amen is incredibly dangerous, and Silja's personality is unknown.

If Armas could make a friend of her, and if he helped her understand just how fucking dangerous Amen is, then binding Silja wouldn't be necessary.

Well, that's a problem for later. Armas is still exploring all options.

>I have two and a half days before we leave December 31st at midnight-what shall I fill my time with?

Familiarize yourself with what Hillevi's glamored identity will look like, if she is using one. She can pass as a normal human, unlike her brother, so she may not bother.

Make sure she's aware of metal detectors and other completely mundane detectors (like backscatter scanners and chemical detectors), so she can plan ahead about what weapons she chooses to conceal on herself. She can certainly store whatever she wants in the house, and when you or she is expecting a fight she can use whatever she wants, but in normal public life concealable weapons are the rule. And in higher security areas even those must be chosen with care.

You've been putting it off, but you should take the Escalade and go into a town (not one that Kyrpä Peikko visited either). You need to make a trip to a bank that will let you do a transfer from your Istanbul account. Get a couple of thousand, and then make the time to get a new cell phone. You need to be able to check your messages and return calls without linking your phone number to the Valkonen land line. An encrypted phone is just a good idea at this point, even if it is extra expense.

Be ready to fight, when you do go into town. You never know, you may get lucky and find an Einherjar.

Call Camella, let her know you're bringing a couple of friends you'd like her to meet.

Call Amen and have him prepare the house. Find out what the house's current status is, and remind him that you don't want any hint of whatever he's been up to with his extra-curricular activities to be present in the house. He's had a free hand with how he deals with intruders (probably been selling them to the goblins or something) but that'll have to end while we have guests.

And if nothing else, make sure to make time on the way to the airport to buy a bottle of Teerenpeli Single Malt for Arkvad.

oh, we almost forgot. we still have to broker the deal between the sometimes merchant and the Valkonens. we should defiantly do that before we leave.

>>338281
Asking our permission? Huh... really?
I thought he was asking us to acknowledge if we think he is able to fulfill that task. Like a little motivation.

"...Are you sure this is not because you want to spend more time with a certain giant?" *wink*wink*smile*

Anyway, if what you say is the case, then of course he could stay and try to bind new and exciting magical creatures.

Though, there is a problem for BC if he actually binds one. When binding a supernatural animal spirit one loses the ability to bind mundane animals, something about the link to mundane being burned off. This means that BCs snake and bear spirit might die or get free during that process.

Also, tell him what Sake told us about possessing regenerating and/or shapeshifting creatures. I suspect that Spirit Shamans will face the same problem that Sake warned us about when trying to dominate an animal.

>[Big]"You finally want to learn how to shoot properly?"

..... Actually, we should take on that proposition. I forgot that BC is an expert marksman (probably because of his huge gun), at least in pistols so we could use some training and tips on that matter. We aren't really good at shooting truth to be told, we rely much on magical weapons as a crunch.
So if he is willing to teach something, then shoot.

>>338289
I don't give a fuck about ethics of binding a human-ish spirit (after all what she has been through and all the "eating", I don't think she qualifies a normal human spirit) if that means we will have firmer control over Amen.

>>338290
>You need to make a trip to a bank that will let you do a transfer from your Istanbul account. Get a couple of thousand, and then make the time to get a new cell phone. You need to be able to check your messages and return calls without linking your phone number to the Valkonen land line. An encrypted phone is just a good idea at this point, even if it is extra expense.

Am I missing something? Is buying an encrypted phone in Finland somehow better than doing it in Turkey? If we buy one here, we will have local subscription, meaning that when we go back to Istanbul they will charge us for making calls from abroad and since it is an encrypted phone, it is going to cost us shitload of money to make calls.
Perhaps we should wait till we get home?
Having a grand in our pocket cannot hurt though.
We can always call Amen and Camella through an phonebooth if we really need to.


>I have two and a half days before we leave December 31st at midnight-what shall I fill my time with?

Preparing and finding out more information on binding Silja. Be it questioning Einrik and BC or trying to find out relevant info in the library.

Also, spend some time teaching Hillevi basic manners and common sense. I know it will never be enough but still, no hurt in trying.

Train Einrik more in Goblin Stealth.

Also, we are forgetting our Chakras. Don't forget your daily meditations.
Besides that, we never did speak with Einrik about Chakras and their manipulation. The first time we mentioned them, he said that he could talk off our ear for 30 minutes, later on we dropped the topic because we cannot teach him anything new in that field. Well.... he can definitely give us some advice and perhaps train us on some bits, or maybe share some secrets or whatnot.


Hmm, don't forget that we need to pay Ogrimmir a week worth of service.
How is it going to work? Are we going to become hi agent immediately when we arrive in Istanbul, or can we choose the week?
And do we even need to pay service this season? I was of the mind that it will be going into effect from the next season.

We should totally bind Silja. By this point Silja is gone beyond being human and is becoming something else. Something that can eat almost anything whole. We need to keep her under control for everyone's safety.

>>338313
>>338304
What? Should we go start eating the homeless next? Have some morals guise. No spirit animal Silja.

>>338413
You are the one who needs to have some morals. Amen is hate incarnate and is more powerful then a wizard and must be held in check.
If you have an alternative method of keeping amen contained we are all ears, but right now we are balancing the lives of billions against the freedom of one soul.

>>338428
I think we should look for an alternate method before we enslave the poor girls very soul. maybe some sort of pact?

>>338428
Doesn't binding the soul of a "living" being kill the physical form? Won't this potentially leave Amen completely unbound?

>>338441
As I said, NAME ONE. I don't want to do this but so far it is the only plan ANYONE put forth.
>>338449
I raised this very issue in IRC, this is why I am against rushing with the binding, and doing more research first.
Experimenting with spirit binding is extremely high mortality rate
And performing a standard binding kills the host, Silja is technically alive right now with the Keihas as her body. This is why amen is actually bound.

Also, there is quite a likely possibility that she isn't exactly all daisies and sunshine herself. She is fueled by revenge and has spent decades in a non-sentient state feeding on people's blood, regardless if they deserved it or not.

Anyways, its not that we are horrible evil monsters who want to enslave her for "lulz evul" but that amen must remain bound. And so far that is the only plan we have. We should very well investigate further, please feel free to come up with alternative plans yourselves.

>>338290
Really-how else can I react to this?
"B.C. you're a helluva guy, and there's no finer compliment a man can be paid than what you've just told me."
>[Big]"As the elder would say 'Dreams are never to be taken lightly.'"
"For what it's worth, I think you'll be able to do it. Just keep your eye on that end goal. Give me a call before you head back to Istanbul, and I'll line up some jobs for us both, hunting Neo-Nazis or whatever. There's always something. You're a fine friend to have in a fight."
>[Big]"Yeah-something tells me you won't have trouble finding things in need of a shooting, stabbing or beating."
"What can I say. ..Oh, you don't owe me anything. We agreed to just start fresh back in Istanbul, remember? This whole trip was supposed to be like a trial run. You passed. Whenever you want to work with me, just call. Anyhow since you're staying here, you ought to keep the Escalade. It'll be good for ferrying the kids around, and you could fit, well, at least one of the Valkonens in it. Probably want to change the VIN and plates though. And not just because it was Olga's, but because of the mess on the ferry. The plates, at least, are going to be in the ferry company's records."
>[Big]"Jeeze, first you make me feel old and now you try to mother me-you do realize I was working as a mercenary doing less than legal things for years before I met you, right? I am familiar with the basics, thank you."
"So, you plan to learn Finnish?"
>[Big]"We'll see-I got Helmi and Tartalo here to translate, but I'm not going to be using any crutches. We shall simply have to see how it goes."
"Nice repitition."
>[Big]"Kiss my ass-so, we're even, it's fine-we're good then."
"Seems that way-take care of yourself."
>[Big]"What, you think I won't tag along to see this jet I keep hearing about?"
"Never took you for a gawker."
>[Big]"Wanted to be an astronaut when I was little, sue me."

We smile, each chuckling a bit-clasp hands and turn our separate ways, each with pursuits to chase.

I get to thinking about Hillevi's incessent naive exuberance and flighty mood... that's probably what I'm really going to want to focus on. Of course I'll be teaching her about modern concerns, what she needs to watch out for-but all the knowledge in the world does nothing if she doesn't apply it.

So my goal, while she's my ward, isn't really to familiarize her with the outside, modern world, how to interact with the mundane, and gain fighting experience while making contacts.

It's to use all that as a means to instill caution, patience and a measured approach to violence. I need to help her learn how to not just keep a lid on her emotions-but to push through them and keep using her brain, even when distressed. I need to teach her how to be the definition of a deliberate warrior, only striking what she genuinely has chosen to term a foe, and only striking as hard as she desires. Restraint, and Control.

>[Sake]"And YOU'RE going to teach her these things?"
Yeah yeah....

It's in this next period of time-this moment without immediate direction-that some of my concerns begin to crop up. Surely, I may now have an idea of how I might try to bind my rifle.... but I haven't yet asked the question: Should I? This isn't some animal-this is a fellow person's soul, their life, their hopes and memories-it's everything they are except the wrapping-can I really do that, just take away their rights, make myself their master simply because I think I can? I heard what was behind Einrik's words-I can't even think of a group that has a positive view on the binding of mortal souls, not without applying that view to all mortals. And even then-claiming a Spirit Animal from a living creature destroys their body, doesn't it? And wouldn't Keihäs be Silja's body now?

...Eh, I'm going to need to think about this.

I take the Escalade, browing radio stations until I find someone commenting on the Kyrpä Peikko sightings. After carefully making note of which towns were mentioned as visited, I carefully choose the nearest town I HAVEN'T been to already-and drive.

The drive takes an hour, a little less, after I'm told how the Valkonen's driveway works.

Takes another hour and a half to find a bank that has done business with my own in Istanbul-and another hour to work out the details-

But shortly enough I'm walking out of the bank, with fifty five hundred euros in my pocket. ...Get a weird buzzing in my head, so faint I barely notice it-and shortly I pay it no more mind.

And finally, one hour later from THAT, with only FORTY five hundred euros in my possession, I insert my cracked sim card into a brand new, encrypted satellite phone, a clunky thing to be sure-but more importantly, both secure and excessively reliable.

My first order of business... is finding thirty three pictures in my phone I do not recall taking. After checking each one to be thorough, I promptly delete them, and excise their discovery from my mind. ...Nothing to see there...

It is at this point I call Camella, deciding to check in, inform her of what's happening... and after the phone rings an unusually long time, a somewhat familiar masculine voice answers.

>[???]"...Who is this?"
"...Maybe I should be asking why Camella's not answering."
>[???]"Oh-it's you. Ah... Camella's not available right now."
I place the voice finally-it's Hafaz.
"And why is she not available?"
>[Hafaz]"Because at the insistence of a Triad enforcer she's getting some medical treatment from our side of things."
A cold sweat begins at the nape of my neck.
"...Why does she need it?"
>[Hafaz]"I'd say losing the majority of her left leg'd be the reason."

..Okay, so maybe I get a bit irate with Hafaz. Maybe I'm not as smooth as I normally am-hey, that happens. Maybe I was a bit erratic and overly frantic to find out about.... it doesn't matter, I know this now:

-Camella, along with Go Ping, Hafaz, Hadar, Ahmed, Shaya, Yomi and an independent contractor Hafaz brought in all attacked Blackbeard, after getting a tip as to where he would be.
-Long-and disturbingly impressive-story short, Camella traded a leg to destory seventeen of Blackbeards charms-leaving him with nothing but a trio when he finally managed to escape-and she did this while chasing him nearly blind through slime-coated tunnels and running into 'friends' from her last trek beneath the earth. Color me impressed.
-Seems besides taking the charms, Blackbeard's left arm, and right knee got reasonably mangled-and he hasn't popped up in the two days since the attempted hit went down.
-Can't really tell what's more impressive-that Camella pulled all that off-or that Blackbeard was able to weather a concentrated, planned assault from multiple professionals, and still have enough steam for the sewer altercation-and STILL flee.

...As she's not even, strictly speaking, conscious right now, I opt to leave only the simplest of messages: A wish for her recovery, and a comment I shall be returning soon-with friends.

>>338286
...It's along the drive back to the Valkonen estate, the afternoon waning, that I again revisit... the Silja issue. ...It's getting easier and easier to come up with ways to ignore Big's heavily stressed warnings of the dangers-after all, my body AND my soul regenerate, that has to give a margin for error... right? And even then-I can see gains beyond those driven by greed, waiting to be had. Should I successfully bind Silja, I suspect I'll not have any more worries of Amen breaking free-for he will serve that which is perpetually bound to me-perhaps it would not be perfect, but it would be a sight better than the ramshackle way I approach the issue now!

...God, is it really that easy for me to justify doing something like that to another person's soul? ...Shit, what if it was me?

I shake the thoughts out of mind as, light fading, I return to the Valkonen estate.

And... I have an idea. I find Big cleaning his Door Bell by a torches light-and bring up that offer of shooting lessons.

Now, he asks me?
Now, I say.

Darkness or not, night approaching or not, Big stays true to his word, and does his very best to teach me but one thing-how to be fast and accurate with a one handed pistol-in other words, I'm going to learn, or try to, from one of, to hear Big tell it, one of Bob Mundon's students.

We labor deep into the night-and I quite literally run out of normal bullets for the matebas. But I view it as an inconsequential loss: I've gained a greater... sense of surety, of confidence, with hip-firing, with the art of quick draw. I couldn't say how much of it is just confidence, and how much will actually stick-but the important thing, is that as the night progresses, it seems that Big wouldn't rather be doing anything else.

And so we while the night away-and I regret it not a whit.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29th, 2010
FUNDS: $71,017.51
CASH: $4,500.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 50%

I start the day-by trying my satellite phone on the house grounds. At first it doesn't work-but when I get fully outside the house-not just to one of its open air indoor gardens, but actually outside the defined bounds of the house... I get through.

Having called a most specific number.

The phone does not ring-instead, the moment the call begins to connect-I hear a voice coming from within my nostrils.

>[SM]"It would seem you wish to deal with me again-how fare thee, Mortal Armas?"
"Oh, well enough Sometimes Merchent."
>[SM]"If it is enough, then good. ...Now, you called me for a reason."
“Are you interested in a similar deal to the one we made about the Valkonens?"
>[SM]"Possibly-if you can be more specific?"
" I have encountered a potent entity who would be interested in purchasing items of such value as the Nevernever gates, one who, in the judgement of the Valokonens, is in the same league as the Christian god. Would you be at all interest in being put in contact?"
>[SM]"No."
"I am prepar-"
Wait did he say no?
>[SM]"I have not made it this far throughout the endless paths of existence without learning what is and is not out of my reach. Deals with or involving the Divine-that can be mustered, to be certain. But to risk the attention of those at the top? Why would I put myself directly into the focus of a being so potent as to stand at the summit? Rarely do those they deal with fair well, when viewed on a temporally... broader... scale. Point of fact-and I offer you this information for free, so that you may understand what it is you offer-every goblin in Istanbul together would be as dust before even the most meager of such beings, should they wish it. No-safer to not ever attract attention to begin with, rather than be distracted by short term greed."

...I... well... shit.

There goes THAT plan.

>>338304
As SM thanks me for the call and disconnects, I decide to call a different number-and am soon connected with the very same store I purchased my new phone from. I wait as I get transfered, by request, to the same salesman I worked with yesterday. I explain I'm from Turkey, and that I want to know what options I have to switch my service. Turns out those that market such... specific cellular devices are a great deal more accustomed to accomodating their customers than the cell phone conglomerates I'm used to-and while I'll have a transfer charge when it happens, I have them set up to have the transfer take place the first time the system detects me placing a call from Istanbul-nice and simple.

From there.... I again find a way to busy myself, this time holding yet another double-length session with Einrik, instructing him in the Wyld Goblin arts-really just critiquing his amateurish skills-and in exchange am given a new book to read as Einrik now performs assorted moves of the Valkonen style without explanation, for my Shadow to patiently study-

While I get a better sense of the mindset and powers of of the common Einher-even learning the singular of Einherjar to BE Einher-and in general try to keep myself focused. Soon enough, the day ends as the one before it did.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30th, 2010
FUNDS: $71,018.33
CASH: $4,500.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 40%

>>338302
PROTIP: Usually, only suggestions that are thorough in their presentation and analysis of how to achieve the suggested actions, or those that gain the support of other posters, gets used. For example, if you had given even a rough estimate as to what kind of terms you'd like to negotiate, concretely stated whether it was just for steady mead or something, anything I could have worked with it.... oh well.

>>338289
>>338313
>>338413
>>338428
I don't wake, for I never slept: All night long, I tossed and turned, agonizing over an ethical quandery, something far outside my field of expertise.

What is the lesser evil, enslaving a mortal soul, or through inaction running the risk of letting a titanic monster loose to raze everything it can?

How do you even compare a guaranteed, comparatively small loss, and a possible massive loss, when you have no hard numbers by which to compare?

Spent all night on that-and I couldn't find an answer. I grumble as I rub at eyes that should be blearier, trying to pop my jaw and clear the buzzing noise I barely hear.

I spend the whole damn day trying to distract myself-first by running Hillevi through a crash course of what kinds of things common mundane sensors can pick up, and where she might run into them-I check to see her father and brother did indeed warn her of how quiet she must be with her magical attributes amongst other mortals. I spar again with Tuomo and Veiko-even getting a chance to spar with Helmi, though her flexibility and unpredictable manipulations of weight and body position take everything I've got to dodge even semi-reliably. I speak with Einrik, and get a promise from him to introduce me to a Zenmaster he knows with an estate in Turkey-apparently Einrik learned the vast majority of what he knows of chakras from this man. I shoot with Big some more-after he surprises me with a few new crates of .454 Casull, marvelling at how easy it is to pinpoint targets this time, with actual sunlight.

I even push harder than normal in my training exchange with Einrik that night-

And none of it really gets that haunting question out of my mind-or the buzzing.

Finally, exhaustion claims me, and I find a few hours of fitful slumber.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31st, 2010
FUNDS: $71,018.00
CASH: $4,500.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 30%

I am awoken by Markku knocking at my door, just shy of dawn. Again trying futilely to pop my jaw and clear that buzzing sensation, muzzily noting it far sharper than before, the Head of the Valkonen house speaks.

>[MV][In Finnish]"....There is a man here to challenge you."
With nothing coming to mind to say about that-I say nothing.
>[MV][In Finnish]"He's an Einherjar-it would seem he is convinced we harbor a Fire Giant, and demands to face the one his soul draws him towards. It is my understanding that even if you are not a fire giant he will be perfectly happy to face you in mortal combat. Do you wish to fight inside the house for a more three dimensional combat arena, use the hall's sand pit for some highly thermally transient battleground, or face him outside where you may find chance to involve the land's game in your contest? As your host I can make any of these options real."

His analytical, slightly bored analysis of the situation, the blasé way he responds to someone at his door desperate to kill one of his guests... well, if I needed any more proof this was a warrior family.....

I stand, pulling on the Valkonen garb as I realize I'm not stressing about my rifle just now.

>[MV][In Finnish]"As I imagine you may not know this-as I am required to be arbiter to this match as Host to one of the parties, I am unable to tell you what implements of war and / or protective devices the Einher has brought, just as I could not tell him."

Which begs the question:









What am I going to load up with?
I have: SIlja Keihäs and it's elven bayonet, the ever-mysterious buntline, my pair of Matebas, my pair of Judges, the mere, a gargantuan Valkonen bear spear with an eve-rice blade....and with the right words I might be able to either borrow Big's weapons... or even some of the Valkonens. All it'd take are the right words to the right person... but should I?

>>338502
Don't borrow other's weapons.
Do take all of your own.
That buzzing sensation, the one you first felt at the store? that is the feeling of einherjar, your new einherjar sensing sense given to you by ogrimar.

if you do pick Keihäs, dont feed her since we want to eat his heart

>>338502
WEAPON LOADOUT:

Ice spear, because our main style of combat utilizes long weapons, it will be more effective in this environment, and it is intimidating.

Matebas and judges, to open the fight. you don't have speedloaders, so expect to discard them.

WHERE TO FIGHT:

The grounds, without a doubt. Plenty more room to set shit up, more shadows and whatnot. Also, locks in with you overall skillset.

Move in on your own strength, these are weapons you know how to use. Borrowing shit you aren't sure with will fuck you over. You need to be tip-top for this.

curse my complete lack of understanding of bargaining.

>>338516
the forest sounds good, large and shadowy. I agree with you on the load out, though If we can take it without slowing us down we might want to take the spear. we are good with it, and if we do hit and fade attacks having more distance between us would make disengaging much easier. we should not take Keihas, in fact we should probably stop feeding Keihas as much as we do until we work out how to keep amen from getting loose.

>>338502
Bring Silja, the Matebas, and the mere. Too many guns will just weigh us down; those three should be enough for this- particularly since we've still got some special ammo for the Matebas should we need it. We can throw in the Buntline and/or a couple grenades if we really need more weaponry, but it's very important to remain mobile here.

The best combat arena for us is one where there will be plenty of opportunity to make use of our goblin stealth abilities and the long range of our weapons. Remember, an Einher will be super-strong and accordingly super-fast; while facing him at short range won't be impossible it certainly isn't preferred. Because of this, I would go for an outside match, preferably in the hills where there will be both cover and line of sight for shooting, and we'll be able to use our attention-sensing abilities to detect all the native fauna rather than risking undead and spirits coming after us.

See if we can use the buzzing sensation to detect the direction and distance of the Einher. That would give us a huge advantage in a ranged stalking fight, assuming that he can't also sense our direction and distance as a fake fire giant.


With that decided, thank Markku for the invitation and ask if there are any points of protocol we should be aware of, as we're not really accustomed to doing this in a formalize manner.

If we're allowed to do so, I would prefer to avoid letting the Einher see us at all prior to the match- it will let him know what he's dealing with. Using our goblin stealth abilities to avoid his gaze even in his presence when accepting the challenge would probably be extremely difficult, but the payoff of keeping him clueless could be extremely valuable.

Why do we have to bind Silja? Couldn't we do the same thing we did with Sake?

Thank Markku.

Though I'm intrigued by the idea of borrowing armaments from the Valkonen, I don't think a duel to the death is the right time to try and master a new weapon that we only have Einrik's memory graft to work with.

Loadout: Matebas- load with Death ammo as a last resort weapon. Judges. Mere. The Buntline, why not.

Keihas is a long-range/short-range weapon, and I doubt we'll have the distance to put it into play properly, and if we're close enough to bayonet him, then we are TOO CLOSE. Don't bring the Ever-ice boar spear for the same reason.

I'm curious about this 'sand pit', but sand is a little tricky to run in, and we'll want as much distance as we can manage. I think the forest would be ideal- we know what we're liable to find and how to deal with it, and the trees will provide shadows for Shabro to work with.

Changed my mind: you're a giant in this fight, right?

Say, "Hmm, what to bring, what to bring..." Then ask Tartalo very nicely if he'll let you borrow his club- cite guest-right, or maybe offer him some meat you have left over for the loan, or even since he's a giant himself, he might like to see an Einherjar get pasted.

Don't even blink when the Valkonens (and probably the Einherjar) look at you like you're crazy when you come to the fight with a giant fucking troll hammer over your shoulders.

Then when the opening bell rings, throw it at the einherjar as hard as you can - or just drop it if it's too heavy - then turn and leg it in the other direction to open up distance.

>>338502
Get the Matebas and have both loaded with the converted Mammon's Device rounds. Grab the Buntline too, it's not that weighty and it might be helpful as it at least has some magic to it. And I guess grab the Judges with their arm rigs as our holdouts. I hope the valkonen clothing covers them well enough, if not ask for a jacket. Put the spear on your back since a good portion of our fighting style involves the use of spear-like weaponry and can't afford to take the Keihas. Keep the mere tucked in your back pocket because you never know when a spiritual weapon could come in handy.

I would actually like to talk to Big, not to borrow his weaponry, but to talk. Markku is not allowed to tell us what the Einherjar has as the arbiter and host of the match, but this limitation does not apply to Big. He can use Dirt Snake to look at the Einherjar and tell us everything we want to know. Hell he probably did a look over of the Einherjar already as Dirt Snake doesn't seem to mind peaking at people. Anyway get the information this way as opposed to sneaking up on him and looking. Our magic senses aren't really keen enough to get us the good information and since he can sense us because of Einrik's workings he might be able to catch us in the act where he might not have otherwise.

Take the fight outside too, it's better for us out there. It's not as hemmed in as the other options and reduces the chances of us having to get close to him. Try to get all of your preparations done as quickly as possible. It's right before dawn which means Shadowbro has a small window of time where he's got a lot more to work with, we don't want to squander that and have to start the fight in with the morning sun against us.

I think all of this is a pretty decent way to set up the battlefield to our advantage, shouldn't piss off the Norse Pantheon either since we still are facing him in an arranged battle and not ambushing him out of nowhere.

>>338542
Good idea, upvoting asking Big.

>>338449
No. Did you even read the post in the disc thread? Anyway, in my interpretation Silja doesn't jet have a living body to be destroyed, she's just a possessing spirit. This may change if she eats more flesh, so we shouldn't feed her until we bind her, but for now it should be safe.

>>338538
No. By the time Silja is sentient enough to make a deal, it will be too late, as she will then be Amen's master, not us, and will have no need to make a deal, as we have nothing to offer her. At this point she will be she's the mad cannibal ghost of a dead woman obsessed with revenge and murder, brought back as a giant misshapen Frankstein's monster of blended together supernatural creatures. What leverage do we have over such a being? At this point, we won't have any leverage. Oh, and as she was non-sentient during the period when we were feeding her, she won't remember any of it and will so have no reason to feel any gratitude to us.

To placate the influences who prefer destroying the world to getting an interesting upgrade, we should try the following, and see if any of them will work whilst Silja is still non-sentient:

Einrik belongs to an old, old family. It might be worth investigating whether they have:

- any records of bindings applied to vassals that make their bonds of loyalty unbreakable
- marriage bindings to subordinate brides
- from his own work, runes/charm enchantment that enforce ownership
- We should also check with Sake whether he knows of any weapon focused winter style that focus on absolute mastery of a chosen weapon, particularly naginata based ones. Any where you enter into some form of mystical relationship with the weapon would be useful.

Also, on the Eninher jar, wtf are you guys doing throwing away our biggest advantage. This guy has come expecting a fire giant, and prepared to fight one. He hasn't come expecting to fight a stealthy gun wielding assassin. We need to exploit this as hard as we can.

We should chose to fight outside, where we can keep hidden from him, and use a combination of goblin stealth and the terrain to keep out of his sight. Then, we should use Keihas/Silja for her design purpose, and shoot him in the head from a couple of hundred yards. This is our opportunity to ambush him, as it's dark ShadowBro should grab him and try to hold/freeze him in place for long enough for us to make a good shot. We should then scoot, and ShadowBro can rinse/repeat

As a side note, we slept very late again. It's 8 in the morning, as dawn is at 9. Weren't we planning to optimise our remaining time here?
He will be expecting a fight at close/medium range, so don't give him what he wants.

We should take the pistols as back up weapons, but he will tear us apart in close combat, so we need to stay at range. Do not waste time with the spear, although the mere might be useful if we have a backup.

ok, can't make a more indepth post here- but i most definitely downpost any attempts to make keihas a spirit animal.

Whatever jutification we tell ourself, doing it would be about convenience and power, because there are many ways to enforce Amen that do not include doing that.

Take Keihas, Matebas, Judges, the buntline and the mere. (we don't have any flashbangs, do we?)
Choose the outside grounds for the battle. They are better for stealth and will have plenty of shadows to exploit.

We could take the bear-spear and put it somewhere on the grounds in case we need it.

I do not think we need to borrow any weapons....

No to loading matebas with Doom rounds, they are only useful against things that are hard to put down by killing their body.


Do not become cocky and rush into battle without first getting to know your enemy. Also, assuming that the Einher is going to fight in melee just because he is a Einher is preposterous. For all we know he is going to use his improved strength to wield a minigun in one hand. So be ready for a gunfight too.
Don't take unnecessary risks because you have a regen powers either. They can help you to pull through moderate wounds and bleeding will not be as bad, but losing a limb or sustaining critical damage will put you out.

Also, do not plan to fight in close quarters with him. Remember, this is a guy who want to fight a Fire GIANT. He is going to be extremely powerful at melee fights.

Ask Shadowbro if he can use anything he learned from Einrik in the coming fight. In fact, we need to reassess his abilities. Last time we were in combat situation, he was too "young" for us to get a sense of his combat prowess.
Remember that you can call shadowbro inside your body and increase your speed for a level or two. This will be crucial in avoiding the Einher.

Could Sake help us with sensory input at least? Having eyes on our back would be pretty useful .... I guess.

>>338673
>Leave the charm making you feel a fire giant in the room, as he might be able to track you down with it.
That's a good idea.
... Actually, do we even need the charm anymore?

On second thought. This should be done only depending how the fight will start. Will Markku insist on traditional introduction and the announcement of mortal combat before starting the fight or could we potentially leave for the woods without first meeting the Einher and wait for him there?
If we can do the second option, we might want to leave the charm on and set up an ambush, when the Einher comes close enough, we will rip the charm off, seemingly vanishing from his senses which could leave him flatfooted for a second or two.


Also, now is not the time to be discussing the binding of Keihas. We should take it to discussion thread unless you want Armas to be distracted during a crucial battle.

Downvoting loading either Mateba with death bullets. The description we got of them was that they made immortal things not immortal for a bit, and that's it. Using them on a Einherjar will be useless and a waste of money.

Asking Big about the Einherjar sounds good. Bringing Silja, the Matebas, judges, and mere. Also, bring the Erinyes hearts that came in. Two emergency heals sounds good.

>>338681
I was unaware that the charm was attached to our chest. Thought it was a pendant or something with the paper attached to it, so we could just leave it in our room. Since removing it is something a bit more permanent, I'm going to downvote the idea of taking it off. We need five Einherjar to fully upgrade our bloodline, so I'm sort of against taking it off before we get them... Unless we could grab, say, two Einherjar, and then mix that base with bits from some other bloodline to create a completely new one.

I'm just going to put forth the idea that, since Silja will become the true master of Amen when she awakes to consciousness, perhaps we should instead of binding her soul, which Armas has a moral problem with, try to reason with her and convince her to assist you in preventing Amen from breaking free. Getting the willing help of an external entity is generally a better option than enslaving them against your will, I think; soul-binding is something that's only usually performed on animals for a reason.

I say this because I'm reading his frequent moral quandaries as Bob hinting that if we go through with the binding, Armas may gain a sociopathic or darwinist trait, which I think we should try to avoid.

We should have several litres of supernatural blood.
Perhaps put it into small plastic bottles as emergency healing material?

Still no update, so i have time to say a few things.

While this is impossible right now, we must remember to make a Penis Troll Flag when it comes to epic battles.

We need to show the world our banner after all :-)

Obviously, Camella will have first right to become flag-bearer. I cannot for the life of me her turning down this privilege. *grins*

As for right now- do try to check if it still won't be possible to find something that could work as a temporary banner, have big bring you to the fight site in the car, but stay behind the car, and have big pick up dust and try to sneak behind the Einher.

Of course, this would only be possible if you can turn off the charm somehow, or if it's not price at short range.

>>338972
>we must remember to make a Penis Troll Flag when it comes to epic battles.
>We need to show the world our banner after all :-)
No we fucking don't. Armas can get away with being habitually quirky and having gone briefly insane amongst his friends, but something like that is just disturbing. I mean, seriously, it's far too ridiculous and inappropriate to go over well with anyone that we know.

>>338905
If we've got any hearts on hand, those would work better. But our stored internal magic is probably enough to keep us going through most wounds; we don't need that much healing on-hand, if I understand how our abilities work, although a small amount could staunch bleeding if we get seriously injured.

>>338690
>Unless we could grab, say, two Einherjar, and then mix that base with bits from some other bloodline to create a completely new one.
I would consider this far preferable. We have a fairly unique opportunity here to gain the skills of multiple Winter bloodlines and thereby gain massive levels of power and flexibility; investing all of it in the Einherjar ability would be kind of a waste. Double Einherjar is as much as we could reasonably need, particularly since we've only got one level of healing abilities- eventually we'll start hurting ourselves more than even we can reasonably heal by breaking our limits.

>>338539
>giant fucking troll hammer
How about no. We don't need the quarter-second of stunned distraction that will buy us and I'd much rather do this using only our own stuff.

>>338542
>can't afford to take the Keihas
Why not? It's still the best long-range gun that we've got.

To those advocating using multiple winter bloodlines of different formats as the base of Armas' Winter Bloodline-way, way harder to do than just pile up the same style of bloodline until it fills Armas' blank Winter Slot. It's something that's POSSIBLE, but not for Armas currently. Whereas, where he to have five Einherjar, he could fully max the Winter Bloodline right now.

rolled 50 = 50

---

If we are going to have some kind of an "official" fight (like standing 15ft from each other before someone announces the start of the fight), then just as the fight is announced, quickdraw your Mateba(s) and shoot him in the head.

  The Buntline doubtless can only harness its full potential when certain restrictions and conditions are met. At a guess I'd say that the shooter believing he's an agent of ultimate justice or law and facing enemies he believes are criminals (or who actually are criminals) are conditions, but that's nothing more than a guess based on the intended function of the Buntline specials in the first place. It might work better for Americans. No way to tell without some experimentation and observation by Einrik or someone else good at detecting magic. Since we won't be able to get the full use out of it without knowing what it does, we'd we better off leaving it as a secondary weapon.

The Matebas, on the other hand, are fully understood. Hell, they awakened in Armas' hands. Armas should load them with the magic ammo (since it's all that he has left from them) and plan on opening with them.

Armas' bast style is based around Keihas. It'd be dumb to not use it.

Bring the mere too. An empowered spiritual weapon is an awesome thing.

Shadowbro should be capable of moving sand around, including very small amounts of it. If Armas fights in the sandpit, Shadowbro will be able to dynamically move sand out from beneath the Einherjar's feet, slowing him. He could also pack extra sand under Armas when it counts, giving him much better footing for the melee battle (because let's be honest, it always turns into a melee battle). If Shadowbro conserves his power and uses the minimum application of his ability to maximum effect we're going to be able to keep up the fight for quite some time.

Also, couldn't Shadowbro have sand stick to him? He could spread out and throw up a thin wall of sand if Armas needs visual cover. He could even just toss it up for a brief second, creating faux sand-storms.

Basically, the sand pit is perfect for this fight.

So here's the general plan:

0) Ask Big to collect information on the Einherjar.

1) Fight in the sandpit. Open by having Shadowbro knock out whatever lighting he can by throwing sand or teleporting the light source away. Whatever he can't put out, you should shoot out. Use the goblin sneaking arts if the Einherjar's ability to sense your fire giant charm isn't very high in resolution. If it is good enough to pinpoint you, you won't be able to let the fight drag out. Shadowbro's stamina will be the limiting factor.

2) Shadowbro should use small teleports to soften the sand under the Einherjar's feet. We want him to be slogging through this shit. At the same time, Shadowbro should be ready to teleport extra sand under your feet, packing it in harder, whenever you need a stable platform.

3) Open up with a volley from the Matebas. If the death magic bullets can affect the Einherjar, wonderful. If not, fight with Keihas.

4) If the Einherjar is using ranged weapons, or you just need breathing space, have Shadowbro throw up a wall of sand or teleport a large chunk of sand out from under the Einherjar, or both. You want him to have trouble seeing you at all.

5) Using Keihas, the mere, and the Matebas, finish the Einherjar off. Don't feed Keihas the Einherjar until after you have cut his heart out.

>>338518
Agreed for Loadout and place + the Mere.

Stick to your own weapons.

Try and stick to areas with heavy shadow, not just for stealth, but for shadowbro to work with.
He should be able to pull of tag-team attacks with you and the spear(since he is also learning the Valkonen style, though I don't know where he has gotten to yet) and also weaponize the shadow around you for his own attacks, as well as providing a layer of defense for you when useful.

Also, ask shadowbro if he can act as a speed loader for you when he has the attention to spare and you don't (like in a case where you have to keep running and the enemy isn't in enough shadow, or in it long enough for him to attack)

>>338550
>Silja
>At this point she will be she's the mad cannibal ghost of a dead woman obsessed with revenge and murder,
>Mad Cannibal Ghost

Sell her to Waitari. With Amen in the deal who knows what you can get.
I would suggest at the base of this pyramid deal a promise not to move against you in any way and to oppose those that do, and inform you.
Of course this is a horrible idea, BUT THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES

rolled 35, 80, 22, 43, 71, 4, 19, 79, 82, 52, 93 = 580

---

Gah! Dammit!
I guess the shot will not make it.

But not all is lost. We can easily make a second shot with the same revolver only a split second later.
In fact, use shadowbros ability to increase your speed so that you are even faster when drawing and shooting.


[Rolls for: 2nd quickdraw shot with the mateba + unloading its barrel afterwards + shooting with the second mateba (not entirely decided if Armas should draw both matebas or just go with a single one]

>>339081
> Shadowbro's stamina will be the limiting factor.
Possibly not. Remember how an einherjar works: he'll be stronger and faster than you, but he'll be literally eating himself to gain that power.

WE have to outlast HIM.

A few thoughts:
We're short on either gas attacks or flashbangs unfortunately, and his senses are better than ours so our stealth might or might not work. But he's probably going to come right for us, which can work for us. Depending on how long we have before the match, we could map out a route to take him on.

Deadfalls are particularly easy to set up, and spring snares could be useful both for slowing him and speeding yourself up. Circling around the domovoi section of the woods so his senses tell him to head straight through, as the crow flies.

Do the Valkonens have any ways of moving through the woods quickly? We may want to ask Einrik. An M1 Abrams in Markku's stash would probably be too much to hope for, but maybe an ATV or something?

If he does catch up with us, kicking up a spray of sand or snow between us might help us slide out of sight, or if his weapon happens to slide through our shadow, well...

When we teleported Keihas out of the bone while we weren't holding it, it was from some other shadow to our own. Our shadow teleportation is two-way. We should be able to, if shadow-bro is set-up for it, shoot our gun while it's in the holster and have the bullet come out of our shadow towards our enemy. See small boulder sitting in a shadow? Teleport it right in front of the guy charging at us. See something valuable unattended? Steal it with ease.

Actually, teleporting bullets could be very useful. Set it up in a heavily shadow area and we can keep the bullet(s) moving from shadow to our shadow to shadow to our shadow repeatedly, making sure that inevitably, all our shots hit. We need to ask Shadowbro his though thoughts on this. How much energy it would require, how long he could keep it up, how well he can control what part of the shadow something is teleported out of, ect ect.

>>339076
>>339112
Downvoting. We don't want to start face to face, and if we do, our first priority is using our stealth and mobility to not be face to face. Not give the guy a chance to cleave us in two.

>>338981
>Why not? It's still the best long-range gun that we've got.
It is, but to be honest I don't trust us to keep it just that. If the Einherjar managed to close in on us someone will want to use it as our primary weapon and while she has gotten slightly more durable due to the recent magic saturation she's still a rifle. I'm concerned with that now because we're fighting a man with an ability that allows grandmothers to lift up cars, but on what is most likely a large Scandinavian man. I'd rather not have him smash her. I'm not that adamant on the point though.

Ah also we should toss some kelpie meat in a bait bag. The local shellycoats keep the kelpie population down so they must have a taste for the meat, though any animal out in this wilderness would appreciate it. We can use the meat stored in the bag and teleport it onto his person when we near a stream and hope a shellycoat jumps him in the middle of the fight.

Bob!t/UKid4z5s 2011/08/11(Thu)21:32 No. 339170 ID: a76809
File 131312353541.jpg - (159.90KB , 800x691 , Einherjar at Valkonen Estate.jpg )

>>338512
...Yeah, gonna have to assume that buzzing sensation is part of how I sense Einherjar... would have been nice if Ogrimir told me that. For a moment I think about taking all my weapons... but that seems unnecessarily unwieldy. Having a wealth of guns with me in a mission is great because I can pick the gun best suited to the moment-a duel though? Not exactly something I'll end up having the TIME to switch weapons in all that much.

>>338518
>>338522
>>338539
>>338542
>>338546
>>338550
>>338681
>>338690
>>338692
>>338905
>>339111
Nothing for it-the first thing I do is bow to Markku as he stands before me.

"I thank you for being so accomodating-and wonder if you know of any other intracacies of... more formal fighting that I should be aware of? I've not fought off the battlefield much at all, where rules are... scarce to be found."
>[MV][In Finnish]"...Perhaps there is another detail you'd need know, to avoid embarassing yourself-as he did find you and challenge you, you must stand face to face with him, and answer his challenge before attempting to slay him."
"An important distinction from warfare."
>[MV][In Finnish]"Yes-one of those oh-so important social trappings, to mark us as different from the monsters we slay-choosing to exercise restraint, even at potential personal cost. ...Well."
The gargantuan leader of the Valkonens moves to depart.
>[MV][In Finnish]"Where do you wish to fight?"
"The forest."
>[MV][In Finnish]"Then I shall wait for you with your challenger-ready yourself."
He's gone-

>[RRRR Trait activated]
>[MMMMM Trait activated]

And I'm making choices.... okay, Einher, one of the Einherjar, those warriors chosen by the Norse gods-imbued with power in life that's use hastens their deaths, and eventual ascension. It's hard not to see how this bulks the Einherjar ranks quickly-

An important detail in my situation, as it suggests that stamina, and the ability to fight a prolonged battle, may prove as effective a way to win as cutting his throat at the start. Force him to tap his power too much, keep out of his grasp during that time-and without a regenerative ability, the win could be mine. So I don't really want to weigh myself down. By the same token, I want a melee implement that doesn't get me as close as knife range. I end up with only one real choice, since an Einher that thought it could take a Fire Giant would likely be able to dice up Silja of Keihäs-and that's not something I can afford to risk. So... the Valkonen ever-ice bear spear and the mere-I'm covered for melee options. The Judges and Matebas both are easy to secure-the holdout rigs sitting well enough beneath the bulky Valkonen garb-and that covers me for ranged implements. I make sure to bring a pair of speed loaders for the matebas, and two for the buntline-whatever the gun's magic, it is well built and quite accurate. The judges are too awkward to reload, strapped into the holdout rigs-I'll only get ten shots of sabot from them. ..Got to be enough.

But that's not ALL one can bring for a battle. I have several liters of blood now-magically imbued, and safe for my consumption. I rig up a leather ruck sack I secure to waist and shoulders, loading it with a plastic water bottle I transfer the two glass vials into, and the pair of Erinyes hearts delivered to my minifridge. ...Gotta love the Wyld Goblin delivery system.

With all that, and a quick breakfast to top off my already ample magical reserves-and I walk out of the room-

To my next pitstop before the fight-Big's room. Sure enough, he's still asleep. After I get him to open his eyes and explain the situation, he sends off Dirt Snake to get a sense of what's outside-and in two minutes is back with a report.

>[Big]"Seems like there's a soul out there... one hell of a wild thing, so jittery Dirt Snake can't read it too well. Don't feel like a youngin, though , that for damn sure."
"Any chance of magic beside the Einherjar thing?"
>[Big]"He's got a magic weapon, no doubt about that-but Dirt Snake's not tasting anything else."
"It'll have to do-thanks."

As I depart from Big's room, the fellow American swiftly dresses and follows after me-as I make one last stop.

Upon opening his door Tartalo glowers at me.
>[Tartalo][In Russian]"Whatever you plan to ask I'll answer only in Russian."
"...Okay, that's fine with me."
The glower becomes confusion.
>[Tartalo][In Russian]"You know more than English and Finnish?"
"[i]Not so many as some, to be certain, but definitely more than just two."
>[Tartalo][In Russian]"...You crack taunt open before me, Darkling Mortal-what'd you come for?"
"Well, quick explanation...."

I march up to the main entrance to the Valkonen estate, hearing Helmi and Hillevi both chatting outside-and seeing Markku grin at my approach. The moment I step through the doorway the chatter dies-

As I stride onto the battle field, spear on my back, guns at my side-and a massive, whitened amber maul, it's head only slightly smaller than my torso, it's titanic top wrapped in bands of blackened stone etched with cold, rough symbols.

Before me.... stands something I didn't expect.

.....An archer.

Clad in layers of boiled leather, shaded in greens and browns as well as brown, layer after layer-yet he leaves his forearms bare, only fingerless catskin gloves providing his manipulators protection from the cold... though I wonder if an Einher needs it?

It isn't the oddly colorful leather layers garb my mutton-chopped foe is swathed in that draws my attention.
Nor is it the THREE sets of quivers at his hip, each filled with more than a score of arrows.
Nor even is it his strange stringless bow, seemingly wrought of some greenish bone or stone, rather than wood, or the heavy brace wrapped about his straightened arm hefting that bow, from shoulder to wrist.

No, it's the single arrow he idly hefts between two fingers. It's the normal length, it's got fins, doesn't have an arrowhead-sounds like a normal arrow right?

Except it's two inches thick and all-metal.

How much must that damn thing weigh? And it's all tapered down to a single point-no wonder he's fine with fighting a giant, that shit would punch through just about anything-like flechettes for a titan.

>[DDDD Trait activated]
The hell if I'm letting him see my surprise.

I look into those eyes of madness, rage and bloodlust held in restraint, those lidded eyes like the chains on his aggression, thinking how best to 'accept' his challenge. I go for Finnish, assuming that, since Tartalo was not present, this guest would have to speak it for Markku to understand him.

"Kill me if you can, then."

I feint a charge, pushing off the hammer on the rebound-and as my hand flies to the mateba on my right, I see my foe still mid-backwards leap, hastily opening distance from what he assumed to be a melee fighter.

Yeah, that's what you get for tricking me, mr 'ohimaneinherigotsuperstrengthbutnoillbearangedfighter'.

Fucker.

>>339076
[PLANNED SHOT: 050/100]

FIRST SHOT:
(50+7Supernatural Bonus+4)=6%

My quickshot isn't as good as I'd hoped-the bullet cores through his side, carving a funnel through his flanks layers of leather-but drawing no blood. ...Guess I still need more quickdraw practice, he's only forty feet away... in the dark.

Weird, maybe I missed it but he didn't flinch or even react to that...

>>339112
[PLANNED AUTOMATIC FIRE: 35, 80, 22, 43, 71, 4, 19, 79, 82, 52, 93]

Well then.

My left hand blurs, mind guiding the faint magic in the Matebas, the twin's grip leaping into my hands a shade faster than humanly possible-as I unload everything I've got, keeping the barrels tightly focused on the single target.

Three shots miss entirely. Another three just core out new channels through his increasingly ragged leather garb-
But four of them catch him in the body-two in the gut, one in the shoulder, one in his right thigh, each one accompanied by a splatter of blood-
The Eleventh and final bullet of the barrage gouges out a few millimeters of bone from the left side of his skull, taking with it a ridge of hair.

As those mad, lidded eyes keep stairing, feet planted, braced arm rising, heavy metal arrow in hand-

He does not smile-the word denotes far too much societal niceties-a certain jovialness, geniality. It couldn't be called a leer, or a smirk-neither carries the dark hunger that lies beneath his visage.

Instead I shall say he directs the slavering madness of a starved jackal my way-

I think I need to move now.







[ROLL A 1D100, AND SAY WHICH DIRECTION ARMAS SHOULD DODGE IN, LEFT, OR RIGHT]
Markku and Einrik are to his left, Helmi and Hillevi to his right.

rolled 88 = 88

---

Fake right, then head left and low. Move your ass!

rolled 79 = 79

---

Right or left? Screw that, dive down and forward, and prepare to skewer him with the spear.

>>339176
[88/100]

I feint right, then dart left and low, feeling Shadowbro lend some weight to my movement when my body falls in shadow.

Unsurprisingly, the archer is not fooled in the slightest by my feint-

The trouble is, he didn't adjust for me ducking and accelerating far faster than should be humanly possible without falling-

For the briefest of moments, there is a faint flickering line of light-

My ears start bleeding as a wall of wind knocks me rolling-I scrabble upright before a second's passed, seeing Einrik clutching a semi-frozen arrow a foot away from his father's chest, while the Head continues to look at my impassively.

I scrabble upright as the EInher finishes dumping the absurd recoil of what he did into a pirouette-saw him turn twice-and without a moment's hesitation starts raising the new arrow in his hand-

Looks like he drew a new one in his little dance, great.

On the plus side, I'm in the shadow of the two large Valkonens behind me, am low to the ground, crouched, and ready to take off in any direction.






What's my next move from here?

>>339180
[79/100]

Seems kind of obvious what I should do, really.

I take the spear off my back after slapping the mateba's in their holsters-and I start charging forward, low and fast, abusing the hell out of my shadow's assistance, trying to shake his attention as I dart through the pre-dawn gloom.


Looks like he's a moment away from firing... but I think I can finish closing the distance.... gonna be close.....







What do I do?

Do your best to pierce his off-hand, the one holding the arrow, then leave it there. Hopefully having a fucking massive boar spear through the hand will slow him down slightly.

I'm undecided if after that we should go for the bow (see if we can shadowport a 'hostile' item when it falls into our shadow) or use our mere to cut the straps on his quivers (Not being able to do his little spin dance will slow his reload time down a bit) before escaping from melee range.

1. Don't assume he has no melee capabilities at all just because he is an archer. With his massive strength his strange bow can double as an effective club.
2. You cannot truly hide from him, as he can sense you as a wounded fire giant. Keep that in mind when working on tiring him out.

rolled 75 = 75

---

Use your shadow to stab him from his obviously.

"dice 1d100"

have shadow bro telport a foot or so worth of dirt out from his left foot.

@newguy: You need to type it in the email field
No parenthasis just the following line:

dice 1d100

rolled 20 = 20

---

have shadow bro telport a foot or so worth of dirt out from his left foot.

rolled 34, 37, 87, 77, 2, 97, 57, 49, 86, 23, 42 = 591

---

Use your forward momentum to put a little extra power behind the spear and THROW it at him.

Afterward, drop into a baseball slide and blaze away with the Judges. Aim for the hands and try to throw his aim off, perhaps, or ideally remove some damn fingers.

Also consider that the chambers of the Matebas are full of shadow, likewise your speedloaders are in the dark. Maybe you can get the empties shadow-ported out and replaced with fresh rounds for hands-free reloading.

Rolls for spear, then holdouts.

Right.

Prepare Shadow Jacket for extra defense support.
Also good for opponents that don't normally miss, forgot to mention that but you get the idea.

Slide into shadows.
Don't stay still though, I have a feeling that stealth won't be as much use as we may have hoped, but ti might throw him off for a few seconds.

Shadowport rock from ground onto shadow from leaf over his head.
Distraction.
Even if he does not react to being shot, being hit from an angle he does not expect should give him a start or at least make him wary of something that does not exist.
Hopefully it doesn't turn into a GialgorraVSilc situation and he just ends us /just in case/

If it's dark all over- does he have ownership of his metal arrow-spikes after he fires them? Unless he's got some kind of magical hold on them, I doubt it. And if he doesn't, then Shadowbro might well be able to grab an arrow even in flight and teleport it elsewhere- even potentially use some kind of shifty trick to have it fire right back at him.

Got to be careful about using our shadow boosting for speed; it won't last forever because Shadowbro is only so powerful. If we're planning to play the endurance game here, we can't rely on tons of wild teleportation tricks either unless we really have to (like if we're about to get shot, as above). We need to break this battle out of the open and into someplace where we'll have cover from his attention, and preferably more distractions of some kind so that we'll be able to stealth out of his successfully shooting us instead of relying on dodging and melee which could go horribly wrong.

Alternately, once we get in close with the spear we can Ghost Spear it up and dodge continually, taking advantage of our training with the Valkonen brothers against super-strong people and carving off one bit of him at a time when the opportunities present themselves. That would work too.

rolled 89 = 89

---

mmm... HOLD this roll and hopefully don't have to use it... but if he it does look like he is about to hit armas' body with an arrow then have shadowbro try to catch the incoming shaft and teleport it so it comes out of the einherjar's own armor folds and into his body so that he hits himself with his own arrow.

>>339213
>If it's dark all over- does he have ownership of his metal arrow-spikes after he fires them? Unless he's got some kind of magical hold on them, I doubt it. And if he doesn't, then Shadowbro might well be able to grab an arrow even in flight and teleport it elsewhere- even potentially use some kind of shifty trick to have it fire right back at him.
HOW do I keep getting ninjaed tonight? I come up with these awesome creative ideas only to read back and notice someone made a post I missed with the exact same idea...

rolled 64, 81, 75, 74, 72, 86, 68, 66, 59, 100, 91, 23 = 859

---

>The trouble is, he didn't adjust for me ducking and accelerating far faster than should be humanly possible without falling-

Next time, he will be. So be careful with that.

The suggestion to catch the arrow in the shadowportal and send it back has been suggested again. I have some additional stuff to say about it.
I don't really know in what position and which shadow we will be inside when he shoots it at us but there is a fairly high chance that it will be under a tree (if not, we could guide the fight there) so when sending the arrow back, we shouldn't do it from the same location or from the ground infront of him. If possible, we should send it from a shadow right behind him but there is a good chance that he will be too far away for our shadow to touch him or he could be in a bright area, if that is the case, I suggest sending the arrow from the tree from as high as possible, as close as possible. People don't really pay attention to the things above them, so we will catch him even more flatfooted than otherwise.
Also remember that he uses the recoil to turn around, try to time the arrow in such a way that it hits him in mid-pirouette, it will be harder for him to dodge and it will be easier to surprise him that way.
Since we saw for ourself what kind of magic drives the arrows, we need to ask Shadowbro if he thinks he can catch it.


There were suggestions to reload Matebas using the shadow-trick. This is a great idea, not only we will not waste useful time doing that ourself, but we draw our Matebas which from Einher's point of view are empty and catch him flatfooted for a split-second when he initially thinks that in the heat of the battle we made a mistake.
So, rolling for both matebas, quickdraw, again.

rolled 76, 53, 45, 32, 68, 56 = 330

---

Reach for your Buntline but do not draw it, instead shoot it inside a shadow portal (by putting the barrel in it) and shoot it from within ambient shadows. If possible have each round shoot from different points.

.... Actually, why reach for buntline in first place? We know that Shadowbro can move and interact with objects (right?). Why not have HIM pull the trigger?
In fact, why not have ALL of our guns shoot from withing our pockets into portals?
At the same time reloading them and shooting again?

Shit, if it works, it will be awesome!

>>339339

Gonna burn your sides and thighs, but maybe it'll work.

>>339340
>>339339
Shut up stupid thoughts. Muzzle flash means that while the bullet passes through there won't be any shadows in our pocket, meaning we'll shoot ourselves.

>>339384
fair point, I join with the SUST, also AFAIK shadowbro doesn't have an infinite capacity to affect the real world, it drains him.

Finally, shoowing through our pockets like that would actually be inferior to just aiming at someone and shooting, since it's harder to aim and its unlikely magic aiming bonus will take effect. It's not like the enemy is dodging our bullets, or taking cover so that we have no line of sight. The only issue we have right now is to dodge HIS attacks while we keep on shooting him.

>>339384
Yeah, that's kind of silly. Honestly I'm uncertain if even the arrow-catch thing will work; the arrow was described as creating a faint line of light so it might be somehow lit up as well.

Besides, firing without drawing a gun is really the sort of thing that should be practiced first instead of suddenly tried out in the middle of a life-or-death combat situation. Armas has a great deal of military training and habit which will make his instincts fight against shooting his guns in their holsters, and we need surety and certainty here. Go with what we're pretty sure works instead of relying on random gimmicks unless there's good reason to do otherwise.

>>339333
The reloading trick should be well within Shadowbro's abilities, I hope. I do agree that the little spin move this guy pulls after shooting provides us with a rather excellent opportunity- because it would be almost impossible for such a thing not to provide a break in his attention. That's something we can definitely exploit, assuming that we don't get blasted around by his arrows again. Whether we do so by entering stealth mode, by using spear of the ghost and entering hellishly-difficult-to-catch-in-melee mode, or by just shooting him while he's busy spinning is up for grabs, though.

Wait, you think the shadow shooting trick works by shooting first and then catching the bullet in a portal to expel it?
Because that wouldn't work even if there was no muzzle flash.
The idea is to put the BARREL through the shadow first, have the barrel exit from another place and then shoot.

The arrow catching idea will probably not work though, so better not experiment with it unless we do not manage to evade the attack and will clearly be hit.

>>339399
Okay then, light travels faster than the bullet, making the muzzle flash cut off the shadow the gun would be going to, pushing it back into our pocket before the bullet leaves the barrel, making us shoot ourselves.

>>339400

Aiming into a shadow would work as long as Shadowbro can re-establish a portal faster than the bullet moves.

Fire bullet, muzzle flash momentarily removes shadows, muzzle flash ends and shadows return, Shadowbro opens portal, bullet passes through portal and out the other end, bullet hits target in the balls, target talks in high pitched voice like Savoy.

Lets take this whole discussion into questdis.
This is something for armas to experiment with LATER, not in the middle of combat.

>>339184
>>339187
>>339196
>>339196
[75, 34]]
Heart thundering, mind blazing, I cobble together a scheme-and really fucking hope Shadowbro's paying attention.
>[Sake]"Proceed as you will."
I keep up my forward momentum, thrusting at my foe-and listing purposefully a bit left, as if somewhat unfamiliar with the weapon. Predictably, even as the weapon reaches far past my body the Einher manages to avoid it, the already off-kilter attack nothing he troubles himself with-truly, he hardly needs to do more than shrug to stay clear.

Which is why I see something clicking behind those maddened eyes as I hurl the spear forward, on into the forest-

And the shadows within.

Shadowbro takes over from there, the gloom-swaddled shaft and glistening, icy blade flickering out of view as that Damned Einher gets his bow justa bout next to my skull-

When with a whump of impact, a sound not sharp but sickly sounding, the Einher's body spasms, his arm goes wide-

I strain not to blink as sharp winds hound my face, ears shrieking in protest-and the metal arrow that had been instants away from carving through my skull goes haring off into the woods.

My spear stands out starkly from my foe's back, made to enter the Dark through one shadow and exit another an instant later-to great effect.
>[Sake]"code]Your Soul Shadow and our Brother warns that magical items are harder to convey than he originally anticipated-he asks you be conservative in his use.[/code]"
>>339194
So if I wanted him to teleport-
>[Sake]"code]No-something that close to another soul would have potential issues of contamination, claim and ownership.[/code]"


I find my time for wondering ends as, despite, between the spear impact, the spinally driven full-body contortions, and the massive recoil his weapon gives, the guy's tumbling is rattling, jarring, and likely incredibly disorienting-the massive spear sunk half a foot deep into his back doesn't help.

All the same he rolls to his feet, hand moving to his quiver-

As he again favors me with that feral, starved grin-yet something feels a shade different this time around.

>[Einher][In Finnish]"Will you give me my final battle?"

His hand comes out of his upper quiver, clutching two of those titanic full-metal arrows, those colossal flechettes.

[PLANNED SHOTS]
[37, 87, 77, 2, 97, 57, 49, 86, 23, 42 = 557/100 55.7%]

Which is why I'm happy my arms are still forward post spear-tossing-I just need to flick my wrists and hey, presto, I've got a new pair of guns in my hands-and this time I'm at ten feet's distance.

Chew on this one.

With my feet already planted and shoulders squared, I need focus on but one thing-keep barrels on target.

I make one mistake.

Nine other times, I manage to avoid failure. Two I lose track of somewhere in his ragged garb and the flashing, hectic barrage. Three catch him in the gut, new gouts of blood heralding further intestinal trauma.

Four though-four catch him square in his center mass, all clustered over his heart, a successive hammering the tears a sopping hole in garb, flesh and bone alike-

I flick the Judges back up my sleeves, hands once more empty.

Spear in his back, shot more than a dozen times-he stands. It is now I notice something that should have puzzled me before-his lack of bleeding. To be certain I wound him when I strike... but those earlier wounds I gave him? Not a one bleeds As I look more closely, I see that beneath the blood and gore he has scar tissue sealing up his gaping chest wound-looking weeks old, shriveled and gnarled.

....Now that's a trick.

He continues raising his arm, paying no mind to the weapon in his back-but moves more slowly now.

>[Einher][In Finnish]"Don't you dare disappoint me."

Again, those quite, rasping words whispered into the wind, so filled with lightly leashed rage and violence. This... is a voice you listen to, whether you wish to or not-something that deep in your bones you and your ancestors recognize as danger.

>>339201
Again I move-this time only moving deeper into the shadow with my lunge, not asking for Shadowbro's assistance-and I note the Einher initially over-leading with his bow.

It's not much of an error-maybe a tenth of a second's worth. In most cases that would be useless, with my hands empty.

>>339333
[PLANNED SHOTS]
[ 64, 81, 75, 74, 72, 86, 68, 66, 59, 100, 91, 23 = 859/1200 85.9%]
But a new idea has come to me-a perfect way to use Shadowbro's talents, and not use magical materials. Mind racing, I bring my concept together as fast as thought-
Trusting my soul's other side as I attend to the Matebas, again calling to that faint magic they claim, I draw the empty guns, spent shells still in their chambers-

Or so my foe must think.

Not even giving myself time to doubt my plan, I raise the guns, center the barrels-and open up in full automatic.

I honestly couldn't say who's more surprised it worked-that Shadowbro had swapped out the spent shells with those on a pair of my speed loaders, still within my shadowed satchel.

Given I don't miss once, I can't say I really care.

This is where it comes together-where I 'get' Big's lessons. Definitely no luck involved, no accidental optimal footing for this particular way of shooting, no random happenstance-nope, all skill, a culminating, epiphany laced moment, a veritable 'levelling up' of my skill-

Well okay it's not that but I shoot damn well.

One bullet catches him in the left bicep-okay, fine, not the best shot.

Four join my first cluster, catching him in the chest like a massive molten metal fist, sloughing through that dense scar tissue, blood spurting in that monstrous way that denotes a central artery being breached, possibly even the heart itself-a spurting that I now can actively observe terminating in an instant-new, deeper set scar tissue already in place. A man could get pissed about that, shooting someone for their body to just get a few month's worth of time to cope in an instant.

The three that I send through shoulder, elbow and wrist of his drawing arm, however-that I have to assume is going to matter. Instant scarring's great for bloodloss-but what about joint mobility? Last I checked, scar tissue isn't your friend there.

I put two bullets in his neck, one on either side-even if it does seal up, he's only got so much room for blood vessels to his brain-and I didn't just nick him. Scar tissue for your neck then-enjoy.

To cap it off-heh-the last two bullets of the dozen I fling Einher-bound?

One an inch above his left brow.

One cuts through the heart of his right eye in a gooey explosion.

Could be braindeath-could be I actually hurt him with that-could be I just shot him in the right places. But unlike the earlier times, he doesn't just keep trucking, visibly unfased-he flops the fuck over-

Boneless arms releasing his held arrow duo-

As the light flickers on his bow.

>>339214
[89]
One of the bolts goes wide. I know this, because the angle it had last I saw it means it'd have no chance to hit me. The other... was looking me square in the face.

So imagine my surprise when, instead of dying, I find myself doubling over in a pain more vicious and gutwrenching, more sudden and sickening than anything I've ever felt, my every muscle locking up as I tumble to the ground rigidly locked in a fetal position as I retch, every nerve raging, enflamed.
>[Sake]"I am occupied assisting our brother-that bow imbues something in those arrows, and moving it cost him dearly."

...Shadowbro saved me then-the hell if I can lay on the ground bitching about some pain. I know pain. Not as well as some-but well enough.

The agony, horrifically unprecedented in it's scale-still, oh so slowly, wanes, rather than chaotically shifting in intensity. It takes me a moment, but I start unfolding my body, I unclench my hands, dimly noting I bent the triggers of both matebas in my clawed grip. I get my shoulders off the ground, support myself with elbows... then a knee....


And finally I stand again as the pain keeps receding-noting the vomit to have slowed completely off the Valkonen garb, like water off a duck's back.

Eleven feet away, lays the unmoving form of the Archer Einher, his torso twisted askew by the spear still lodged in his back, unable to lay at rest, mouth open and sweat-slicked hair covering his eyes.








What should I do?

DO NOT EAT THE HEART RIGHT NOW.

This shouldn't be a decision to tae on the spur of a moment.

Ok, if Ogrimmir wants to know our question right now (no delay possible), then i suggest asking how to meld bloodlines together in as much detail as possible.

If not, i suggest calling the SM and be clear we will leave his existence out of it, but does he want to buy what question we ask (and we tell him the answer after that).

If he ups the price, he could even take our memory of that answer.

>>339456 But presumably not the memory of telling shadowbro that we're going to ask him what it was?

>>339451
>What should I do?
Do not assume that the Einher is completely dead just because he's not moving and has been seriously fucked up. He's a supernatural beastie, and supernatural beasties don't die easy. Still, he's not moving for now and doesn't seem to recover any more if given a minute, so we might be able to afford a bit of time before moving to finish him. Keep a wary eye on him, and down some of the blood we brought. Maybe chomp on one of those erinyes hearts as well- that's spiritual recovery, and Shadowbro runs on spiritual power. Eat the heart to aid our overstressed brother.

With that done, reload the Matebas and address the Einher. "Looks like I take this one." If he's capable of talking, feel free to hold a short conversation; not like we actually have anything against the guy just because we were killing each other, after all. If there's no response or he seems to be attempting any kind of hostile action, empty them into his head until there is no significant possibility that he's still alive.

Once he's dead, pull our mere and cut out his heart. I am inclined to eat it right there for the health benefits and a symbolic gesture of victory. It's not like the Valkonens are going to object; they know perfectly well that we have a partially divine cannibal soul and thus are disposed to that sort of thing, even if it hasn't been mentioned much.

>>339456
>DO NOT EAT THE HEART RIGHT NOW.
>This shouldn't be a decision to tae on the spur of a moment.
What decision? Gaining the Einherjar bloodline abilities isn't dependent upon eating his heart, it's dependent upon killing him, at least as far as I know. And our cannibal status is pretty much known to everyone else here, unless Big Crazy somehow didn't get the memo and I doubt he's going to freak out over it.

>Ok, if Ogrimmir wants to know our question right now (no delay possible), then i suggest asking how to meld bloodlines together in as much detail as possible.
Asking for a method that we can use to create our own unique bloodline out of other available Winter ones would certainly be a worthwhile use of a question, as it's been made clear that we don't know how at the moment on our own. Given that we have five times the standard bloodline to play with, we should put in the effort needed to craft ourselves something truly powerful and special instead of just killing a bunch of Einherjar and getting whatever result pops out of that.

I would really rather not sell our question, and particularly not sell the memory of our question. It's a viable option, but unless we have a specific thing that we really want from Sometimes Merchant in exchange it's not something we should try. Particularly because Sometimes Merchant's desire to not attract attention may well extend to using us as a proxy to ask questions, so the offer might annoy him.

Behead him with the mere.

You know.

Just to be sure.

before we do anything else, make sure he's dead. I recommend putting a few rounds though his skull.

Now, we pretend like we have some integrity, and not just some kind of jackal to pounce on a fresh corpse. Of course, the other reason not to jump on him is that the guy might not be entirely dead yet. Just our luck that we go over to him all sure in our victory and he stabs us in the gut.

Give him some words to send him off. I can't really think of anything profound, so I'll just paraphrase from the movie 13th Warrior: "Final battle, indeed. Death take you, warrior. Your brother and sister Einherjar no doubt bid you to join them now. To Odin's halls take you, to take your place among those who will live and fight forever."

The guy was a bit of a mad dog, but we can afford it, and we're being watched anyhow. Put on a good show.

He isn't dead - or you haven't checked or made sure at least.
Try to lodge the Mere in the gap between the two vertebrae situated where the neck meets the shoulders.
Just in case he manages to do some crazy shit that I won't mention here.

Chomp down on an Erinyes heart to help Shadowbro out.

>>339481
>What decision? Gaining the Einherjar bloodline abilities isn't dependent upon eating his heart, it's dependent upon killing him, at least as far as I know. And our cannibal status is pretty much known to everyone else here, unless Big Crazy somehow didn't get the memo and I doubt he's going to freak out over it.

How would just killing the Einherjar get us it's soulbits? We know however soulbits can be gained by chomping down on someone's heart. It's why it helps with our soul healing. In the case of the Einherjar, we'd be eating the heart to grab soulbits for our bloodline.

First, drink some of the magic blood you carry, we need to get some curative energies to hasten shadowbro's healing.

Be prepared to meet a valkrye, be polite. Toss aside the vomit covered shirt (keep your pants).
You are honored to have faced such a strong opponent in mortal combat, Einherjar are everything you expected and the combat made you stronger. Convey your thanks to him for presenting you with such a challange and opportunity.
Insist on claiming the heart as a throphy and ask if there are any specific last rites they would like to do for the corpse.
Do not scarf down the heart right away in their presence. Let them depart after you take the heart and only then eat it, offer Einrik and Big Crazy to watch the changes in real time if they want. I am sure its not every day you see a blank winter bloodline get aspected.

Indeed you should consult with SM, we have much more info to sell him. The einherjar you fought, and perhaps your subsequent encounter with the valkrye (if one occurs). Note to him that by your deal with this Ogrimar character "every time you slay an Einherjar, I shall let you name a facet of Winter, Summer, the Dark or the Nevernever as a whole, even a carefully kept secret-and I will make it yours, for paying me homage with their valiant, entropic deaths. This knowledge may of course be of arcane nature, as well-but know that there is one topic on which I will not answer: Myself, and naught else."

Ask him which he thinks you should ask for, stipulating that you intend to tell him exactly what the answers are. Point out that beyond the value of the knowledge itself, which might be things that SM already knows, there is also the value of knowing what is the extent of Ogrim's knowledge.

Tomorrow summon Ogrimar, but off the house grounds. Claim your reward of knowledge and then also trade with the goblins for a copy of said knowledge (I am going to have to watch my phrasing with their ability to remove knowledge from your mind).

>>339496
Downvoting summoning Og immediatly as well as calling up the Goblins just for that. If we call SM, we better be prepared to negotiate the deal with the Valkonens.

>>339500
Tomorrow isn't immediately. If waiting a whole day is "immediately" and against your wishes, how long DO you wish to wait before summoning him?

>>339513
I'd wait until' we're ready to summon him to train Shadowbro. Which given the time he needs before that, would be after we go back to Istanbul, complete the auction, and have gotten a decent idea of what's going on. What we plan to ask may not be what we would after getting a good idea of what we're going to be up against in the near future.

>>339496
Downvoting eating the heart before we are sure we really want the einherjar bloodline.

It honestly meshes really badly with Armas' fighting style, so i am against getting it if there is a possiblity of finding something actually useful for its primary attribute.

The einjerhar would be useful for secondary effects like faster thinking time and adrenaline/toxins resistance, but its primary bonus, the strength, just isn't useful for amras.

>>339515
this is more of a discussion thread issue. Also strength isn't its primary focus.
It offers strength, speed, and durability.
Notice how many bullets it took to bring him down? We DID look, we looked far and wide and Einherjar was the best we found, and it shores up armas greatest weakness, that his strength, speed, and durability are that of a normal human.

I agree with the general plan of making sure he is dead and then using the mere to crack open his chest and remove his heart, but really don't just scarf that thing down right away. This isn't because I don't think we should take the power, but because taking out his heart and eating it right away angers the Norse gods. Seriously, we were specifically told we should not do that without having some amazing speech prepared to give to the Valkyrie that comes to pick him up. So SUST to any all post saying we should even considering gobbling that thing down right here.

Anyway once he's dead and the heart is safely tucked away leave the body at least some respect and don't tamper with it further. I would like to grab his bow and quivers but we'll have to wait and see if the Valkyrie takes those with him.

My suggestion is that we reload a mateba if we can and then draw the mere. It should warm up if the Einherjar is dead, as a spiritual version should emerge from the corpse.

If this doesn't happen, he's faking, so empty another six shots into his skull.

When you're sure he is dead, don't desecrate the corpse until your mere cools down after the spirits depart, then you can cut out his heart with the mere. Do NOT eat it. Einheir powers don't seem worth a bloodline slot.

Also, don't invoke Oggrimir yet. We should probably pay SM to train ShadowBro for a couple of dozen hours first, to give him the foundations, then we can summon Ogrimmir for training, and hopefully it will be advanced enough that it's worth something to SM. So we can sell it.

>>339578
We all decided to go with einherjar. Their powers are massive durability, strength, and speed. Totally worth a slot and the best we could find.
If you really feel that we shouldn't consume it at ALL (rather then just waiting to consume it) then how about debating the issue in questdis?

>Some suggestions to use Matebas
>They have bent triggers that cannot be pulled-weapons are currently unusable.
Also quick announcement, a poster drew my attention to the fact I haven't really stated Armas' age in quest-and when double checking my timeline, I realized I hadn't been right either. Armas is, as of this moment in-quest, twenty eight years old. His birthday is April first.

>>339456
>>339478
>>339486
>>339495
>>339496
I keep my distance, mulling over a plethora of thoughts as I holster the now inoperable matebas, and pluck from my bag my sanguine water bottle, and one of the Erinyes hearts. I have myself a snack, wreathed in sable shadow, and wash it down with a heart swig-unsurprisingly, the heart-and possibly the blood as well-markedly step up how fast my shadow's pain diminishes.... Still feels so weird to have pain coming from a non-body part, but I have to assume I'll get used to it at some point.
>[Sake]"Our brother asks that rather than get used to it, you avoid forcing him into it."

I start pondering my next step-what questions I could ask Ogrimir, how I can best use this chance to start catching up with those that've known of magic's vagaries since birth. After all, I could hardly command respect as a teacher if I know less than my student. Several seconds pass as I run through a bevy of possible questions-to ultimately put it aside, as I realize I'm apt to meet a Valkyrie in what comes.... right? I know I read lore about them coming for those chosen as Odin's warriors, but did I ever confirm whether they exist, and are at all like common lore? I scratch about my mind for a moment, continuing to stare at the unmoving body sprawled not too far from Tartalo's borrowed hammer-and just can't seem to recollect.

>>339481
>>339482
>>339483
>>339489
>>339543
>>339578
..Well, I can put all that aside for now, I think. After putting the half-full water bottle away, I fill my hands with my only remaining weapons, Buntline in my right hand, mere in my left, and cautiously approach the fallen figure. I need to be absolutely certain he's dead. I approach, carefully, warily, creeping closer inch by inch, happy to step away from my pile of cooling vomit. My knees are bent, I'm keeping myself as light on my feet as I can muster-as ready as I get, really.

It's the only reason live through it.

That unbreathing, unmoving form, that corpselike figure, rockets into motion, damaged arm joining legs in viciously throwing his body into motion, a miniature snowstorm all my eyes see-

Until that massive hammer's head slams through the whirling frost, and into my chest.

>[AMBUSH EXPERT Trait activated]
I was waiting for something like this-an attack I had to dodge. I hurl myself backward, use the flex of my joints and get my hands about the incoming amber face, further giving my body time to 'catch up' the weighty maul's velocity.

Now, I'm not saying it didn't hurt. Pretty sure I just cracked two ribs and fractured my sternum-it is anything BUT painless. ..But you know, I've been hurt a fair few times, over my working career in general, and my freelance career in particular. And now that Injuries aren't permanent-hell, I grew back a damn arm, aches and pains I'd had since high school are gone-I find myself a great deal less concerned with it. Suppose that's part of what motivates an aversion to pain-a fear of permanent harm, something irreparable. If that's taken away, and it's just transitory?

You can find yourself with the clarity of mind to get your gun-bearing arm leveled even as you are hit in the chest with better than eighty pounds of tinted metal that sends me flying. I can't see my foe, to be sure-the ice still obscures too much with the predawn darkness as it's friend. But I can feel his attention on me-and this close I know where he is.

No time to think-I have to shoot.








[Roll a 1d100, first come first serve]

rolled 51 = 51

---

>>339634
[51]
It's not my best shot. It's not my worst shot.

Fact is, it's about as middling of the road as it gets.

When your shooting from all of four feet away at a target nearly a foot across, an average shot is just dandy.

The buntline, a few flecks of the Einher's blood mixing with the fine spray I coughed up when struck, roars in my hand-

The Einher's head snaps back-I don't see it, but I know it to be true. The arms that swing that hammer falter and sag, and the blow that could have caved in my chest breaks apart nearly the instant it touches me.

So I'm only thrown some twenty feet into the air, to crash into a snowdrift.

Knowing that lying prone is absolutely not where I want to be, I scrabble out, feeling the Einher's attention still ratcheted on me-

Coming to my feet to see the Einher airborne, hammer clasped in his once-braced arm, bow nowhere to be seen, a mad look of joy on his face.

Five rounds in the cylinder, some twenty in my bag, Shadowbro still pained but recovering by the moment, another Erinyes heart in my bag........

The Einher's ten feet away, about six feet above the ground, and should reach me in a little over a second, body thrown into a clear overhead swing. ...I think I see a gleam in his eyes, and find myself wondering how he's expecting me to dodge...

Well, my chest is on fire but my legs are fine and my arms work.






What should I do?

rolled 92, 38 = 130

---

Midair means he can't really change the way he's moving, and an overhead swing limits the area he can swing at to a forward arc barring midair acrobatics. This means you should, dodge foward. Try and swipe at his calves with the mere as you move past him.

(roll for dodge, roll for mere)

rolled 1, 76 = 77

---

>>339636
Don't use the mere, do, however, continue to use the Buntline. After throwing yourself forward underneath him, try to knee cap him on his way past. Given how he scars up, that could cripple him.

Empty our gun into him while the hammer is out of the way, so he can't try using it to block our shot.

Usually when someone is using a weapon that big, the idea is to get in past its ideal range. And our knife is a stuck-in, close-range weapon.

But considering he could also presumably pulp us with his bare hands, I'd rather just stay out of the hammer's range, try and get him to keep swinging. No matter how strong he is, Tartalo's maul is ridiculously huge; it's got to have SOME windup, and he's probably using his Einherjar power to be swinging it around like that anyway.

Basically, go for the win by decision, not KO.

rolled 77, 72 = 149

---

Jump under him, backwards.(i.e. back to the ground)
Buntline shot to the Elbow.
(Dodge and shot)

Anonymous 2011/08/13(Sat)12:34 No. 339645 ID: b44a1a
File 131326405533.jpg - (75.19KB , 500x686 , Photo0196.jpg )

dammit Al
Did Wut infect you?

Draw your shadow into your body, if you remember it help to cope with pain better and heal faster.

I think we should dash forward, under him, and try to get behind him.

Thinking of sneakiness, why aren't we employing our stealth arts? What is with the assumption that Einhers senses work like a radar? For all we know, he gets the same kind of buzzing in his head which doesn't really show the direction and position of the target. Employ your Blind Spot Brawler technique to stay in his blind spot and avoid attacks.
Is the spear still lunged in his back? If possible, retrieve it and use it as a weapon.

You COULD try to shoot him out of the air but it is pretty dangerous, if we miss then we have lost precious time to dodge.

rolled 20, 73, 25, 8 = 126

---

Assuming we roll under him like this >>339636 and shoot while sliding like in >>339637 and >>339644 we should attempt to flip around and move backwards while we fire. Try for a shot to the spine in particular the area the spear is in to drive it further. Then fire another to his neck, and pair to the back of his dome.

rolled 92, 63 = 155

---

Once past him, get whatever opportunity to try to shoot one of his kneecap off with the buntline with two quick shots.

>>339636
No time for shenanigans-he's set to paste me, and I know he's strong enough to do it.

Which is why I don't plan to be where his hammer falls.

[92]
I assume he expected me to dodge to his flanks-he probably expected a feint too. Hell, if we're being thorough, he probably expected me to get low and dart about with my shadow's aid like before. And it's because he expects this, that I do none of it. There is no feinting, no abrupt reversal of motion. There is no quick footwork to aid me in slipping by his side.

I charge him, full-throttle, without hesitation-I take off building from a dead stop to a sprint in three steps, closing the distance before Tartalo's hammer finishes being swung around. And so it is that I step into and past his range in my dash-

[38]
Mere flashing in my hand.

The blunted blade strikes layered leather-and does nothing, failing to cut through the armor as ably as it did the flesh of the Fext, or the spirit of the Domovoi.

Snow slams into my back as the hammerhead impacts where I was, kicking up a massive flurry as the now heavily scarred face of my foe reels back to headbutt me.

>>339637
>>339644
>>339666
[PLANNED SHOTS]
[ 76, 72 20, 73, 25, 8]
>>339645
[FANART BONUS]
[ROLL SUBSTITUTION:]
>>339637 >>339644 >>339668
[REVISED PLANNED SHOTS]
[1, 76, 77, 72, 92, 63]

Which is why I duck under his semi-crippled right arm, right hand rising as I turn the Buntline on his back, looking to again chip away at his strength, drag this warrior down low and slay him-and in some visceral, thoughtless way, I feel something resonate with my desire to be every bit as powerful as what I face.

[666 Bonus]
[Buntline: From +7 Bonus to +8 Bonus]

So, my first shot's a dud. It... it REALLY pisses me off, but I set the anger aside to keep focusing on the here and now, trying to squeeze off as many point blank shots to my foes back as I can.

Three bullets I wedge into his spine, destroying his torso's flexibility while my left hand resheathes the mere and starts reaching for my spear, still jutting from his shoulder. Blood sprays-and I could swear that he moves, he's shaken... more, than should be the case. He seems hit less by a .44, more hit by a sledghammer-and rocks unsteadily forward from the onslaught.

Sadly, this means one of the last two shots I send haring after the joining of spine and skull misses, instead catching him in the neck, adding to his already impressive scar tissue. I start to get worried as I see that hammer flit through the air like it's balsa wood, redirected into a vicious, sweeping backhand blow-

That falters and proves easily ducked, as the final bullet finds it's mark, severing spine and brain, divorcing thought and form-

And The Einher does not crumple even as I feel the mere at my back beginning to heat, and a strange glow surrounding his body as his eyes go flat and listless. An echoing voice responds to me as I open up room, reholstering the buntline to firmly grasp the spear, watching the jerking motions of the maimed body before me.

>[Einher][In Finnish]"Good, GOOD-you gave me my final resting place-now prove your worth."
The glow intensifies.
>[Einher][In Finnish]"Survive my rage through this broken shell of mine till I am claimed-and sing what songs you will of your glorious victory. Or fall short, and die with me."

The Einher lurches back into motion, jerky and erratic, all the while eating up the ground. The trees sway in the burgeoning dawn as the echoing voice intensifies into a crazed cry.

>[Einher][In Finnish]"SHOW ME YOUR RESOLVE-SHOW ME THE FATE THIS BATTLE BRINGS YOU!"

From fifteen feet away, the Einher's charging me with an overly stiff spine, a slack, drooling mouth, and only one functioning arm-all the same he hefts that hammer like it's a toy, lifeless eyes glued to my form. I idly note my spear is.. a little longer than my foe's hammer.






What should I do?

rolled 86, 68, 46, 34, 77, 34, 20 = 365

---

Alright, he is dead, but until the valkyrie comes his corpse will be animated and fight you. Don't panic, just because you can't "kill" it doesn't mean you can't stop it. Simply chop it up or mangle it.
Think of it as the Black Knight from monto python, cut off his arms, then his legs.

With this in mind you should attack. Shoot at his joints. Aim for the knees first to trip him up, then try to destroy his one remaining arm with your spear. first 6 rolls for shooting his right knee, seventh for getting his arm with the spear.

>>339713
Dude, Buntline's out, and would need reloading. Matebas are out of commission since the triggers are so warped-and you don't have anything to reload the Judges with. So shoot him with WHAT?

>>339714
Well, the bunt-line is currently in our hand and is not damaged. We have been quick reloading via shadowbro but in retrospect shadowbro is totally in no condition to tele-reload for us so that plan is shot due to lack of bullets