*redacted*

[Urist McLurker]

D: The reasons Esquilax pointed out.

E: It certainly changed our nature.

A: Booyah!

This/these.

 

[Esquilax]

B: I'm tempted to vote D, but what are we going to do once we get there? We are not leading a band of viking warrior bros - our companions are a baker and a leatherworker. Maybe if we make this tribe strong enough... C is also tempting - do this colonization right. May flip on this.

B: A is going to take this one anyway, so why not. If the gods were worth worshipping, why did they let our family die? Either they were not powerful enough to stop it, or didn't care. Either way, to hell with them (a Conan-like choice imo).

Angatyr had a mystical experience. He knew those Christ-Men stories about Lazarus being raised from the dead were nonsense, and his faith in his own gods was wavering as well. But when he was out in the ice, dying and then resurrected, he felt the touch of a greater power. He had a profound mystical experience that changed everything.

In my mind, it's pretty much the equivalent of Moses and the burning bush or Muhammad's encounter with the angel Gabriel in the cave. How the hell could you go back to your mundane, purely rational existence after something like that? You can't just shut your eyes and say "oh well, fuck the gods", because the experience left such a deep mark on him. Or at least, that's the way I interpreted it - I just can't see him as some will-to-power Conan type.

I think that the real dangers in D won't be physical, our guy is a warrior with a great weapon for cutting up Injuns. The threats are going to be supernatural/spiritual variety. Another big reason I'm voting for it is because in fighting this Chief, perhaps our character can begin to come to terms with the as-of-yet unknown trauma he's suffered.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Angatyr had a mystical experience. He knew those Christ-Men stories about Lazarus being raised from the dead were nonsense, and his faith in his own gods was wavering as well. But when he was out in the ice, dying and then resurrected, he felt the touch of a greater power. He had a profound mystical experience that changed everything.

In my mind, it's pretty much the equivalent of Moses and the burning bush or Muhammad's encounter with the angel Gabriel in the cave. How the hell could you go back to the hum-drum, mundane routine of life after something like that? You can't just shut your eyes and say "oh well, fuck the gods", because the experience left such a deep mark on him. Or at least, that's the way I interpreted it - I just can't see him as some will-to-power Conan type.

Eh, A is going to take this anyway - I voted B precisely because I want him to be a Conan type warrior. And besides, if the old gods are powerful, give a shit or even exist in the first place, why is the old religion losing to the worship of a guy that got nailed to a tree? As for our experience, we didn't see no burning bush, no booming voice, no revelation from beyond, no nothing. Our character doesn't know if it was the gods that saved him... or something else.

I think that the real dangers in D won't be physical, our guy is a warrior with a great weapon for cutting up Injuns. The threats are going to be supernatural/spiritual variety. Another big reason I'm voting for it is because in fighting this Chief, perhaps our character can begin to come to terms with the as-of-yet unknown trauma he's suffered.

But we are the only capable warrior of our entire band of three. What of our friends - are we leading them to die? Sword or no sword, arrows and spears are still dangerous in great numbers.

Edit: I'm definitely staying with B as my first choice. I think between our character, a baker and a leatherworker we could teach these people a lot. Later we should mount an expedition back north to the settlement, for supplies and more settlers. This place has a lot going for it - warmer, fertile, lakes (can ships get directly to the lakes from the ocean?), friendly neighbours. Emeralds can wait until we have a stronger force to take them.

 

[CappenVarra]

D There can be only one.
G Break the bones and the body will heal; break the spirit and the body will die.
A If Odin did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

 

[Monty]

D
F
A

 

[anver]

B
F
A

 

[Tigranes]

BFA. D is cool too, but I think there's great potential for developing a small powerbase without bringing in Vikings too early and letting everything go Aztec. Then we can travel down when we are ready.

 

[Collage]

CFA

 

[Bloodshifter]

D. Ragnarok Need I say more?
E. Death changed us...
A. ODIN!!!

 

[ScubaV]

BEA

 

[Stygian Lurker]

D: The reasons Esquilax pointed out.

E: It certainly changed our nature.

A: Booyah!

This/these.

 

[Cassidy]

*redacted*

 

[Tigranes]

....weird choices. I'm not so keen on ignoring the child, but options like going back to Vinland just seem a bit pointlessly flipfloppy after all we've done. After all, if the child is right, then the problem will remain whenever we return; and if we are to never return and deal with this threat, then we're changing our entire long term strategy because of what we've just heard.

 

[Zero Credibility]

I'm tempted to vote 2, but why would our friends be in danger? And how would we know that - the ghost didn't tell us that. And why not try to find some emeralds and then check up on our friends?

 

[Cassidy]

Alright, added another Jew choice.

As for why the protagonist friends could be in danger, it is because if the ghost is right it means the shaman of that tribe either lied or was deceived to manipulate Angartyr to deliver what the mentioned Eldritch abomination needs: a soul, which in turn means that tribe is a puppet to worshippers of Deep Ones or equivalents, which aren't known for caring about human life.

Of course, the ghost could have been equally deceived to disrupt his quest. And in any case going further does not mean you wouldn't have ways to prevent the impending disaster that was mentioned even if the threat of the ghost becoming snack for something is real.

In essence I wanted for a major moral dilemma in this update: to risk the soul of a child or to risk for something horrible to rise from its sleep at the depths of the sea and potentially cause much more tragedy?

 

[Baltika9]

1.

 

[Zero Credibility]

In that case I'm voting 5. Let's get some more green, then check up on our friends. If they are alright, then the ghost is full of shit and we can return to our quest. If not, then we should deal with this new threat before continuing east.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

1

 

[Monty]

1 - The greater good. We can't give up our quest just because the ghost of a boy tells us to.

 

[ironyuri]

1, but only if we get more ghost boy cut-scenes and he later turns out to be the catalyst. Cassidy, you need to write paragraphs describing our protagonist slow-motion running through the forest trying to save ghost boy. And flashback scenes.

 

[Bloodshifter]

1

 

[oscar]

1. I do not trust this ghost and in any case this thing being awoken is far worse a thing to happen. Though I am tempted to go "fuck it" to this supernatural shit and just get enough emeralds to fund our colonisation effort.

 

[Smashing Axe]

4

Merchant empire sounds fun

 

[Anabanana]

1. I look forward to whatever it is eating the boy's soul and awakening and dooming us all. FWAHAHAHA.

5 seems incredibly hedgy to me. If you're sincerely worried, you should be voting 2 so you can figure out what's going on with this entire supernatural business ASAP instead of wasting time on petty mortal concerns like money.

 

[Zero Credibility]

5 seems incredibly hedgy to me. If you're sincerely worried, you should be voting 2 so you can figure out what's going on with this entire supernatural business ASAP instead of wasting time on petty mortal concerns like money.

Yeah, it is. I took it partly also because I don't think that going east alone like this is a really good idea. I think that our friends probably aren't in danger at this point - clearly the shaman wasn't lying about the evil here, or why else would the ghost be spooked like this? But 1 is going to win this anyway, so what the hell.