#Wilhelm the Holy Knight's weapon is a shield

[randomnameless]

The thrilling conclusion of the lizard paralogue!

Rhea reveals the Ochain shield was actually crafted by Indech (Macuil just puts magic in it) for Cichol, but Seiros the Warrior decided to gift it instead to the First Emperor of Adrestia - for some reason 

“Let me tell you how awesome he was.”

“He’s the only “great emperor” in Adrestian History, the others are just losers”

“You’re not going to tell them that nonsense about the covenant of the red blood and white sword, right? Flayn is here!!”

“Blink of an eye? Your chronology says it took him 30 years.”

“Yes, blink of an eye. What, you don’t live up to 6000 years yourself?”

That’s what usually happens when you start a war of unification

Really? What abotu the Dudes who were seen as heroes too??

Barney doesn’t know Fodlan’s official history. Who does nowadays?

I love you.

“defeated”

Jugding by the timeline, if Lycaon was his son, either Willy got him quite late in his life or lycaon was a hybrid explaining why he would be still alive while being Willy’s son and not his grandson or great grandson

It makes me think of the situation between Felix and Rodrigue, Felix is the new Head of House Fraldarius, but Rodrigue is still here to assist him in battle and all.

!

Lycaon died young - Willy really got a kid while he was 80 (with a crest prolonging his life) or Lycaon was really a hybrid?

“And they held their hands a lot during this journey.”

What happened to Nopes!Willy next? We won’t know, but funnily enough, instead of hiding in a pond, Indech returned to his workshop in this verse?

“Right. Even if I returned to the monastery 20 years ago, and someone could have told me where to dig to recover the shield that was initially meant for me.”

Barney, plot related weapons never rust. Don’t you know that?

“Zoltan is an amateur next to him!”

Watch out Flayn, the sword nerds in this kingdom might not be happy to hear you badmouth their idol.

Cyril also looks at Flayn, she has an uncle?

“Haha, I misspoke, I just saw him being called uncle in a novel, like the one where women who are not related to Cichol call him “Daddy” while mating.”

“At least it will be put to good use”

“since someone doesn’t want to give it back to its rightful carrier, right Rhea? Rhea, I’m looking at you.”

“He didn’t defeat jackshit, he sucked ! And you can’t defeat people with a shield! Stop painting that guy as better than he was!!”

Nice use of wayward here lol, Rhea thinks Supreme Leader is lost and doesn’t follow the path of her ancestors.

“... Are you sure you are not forgetting someone? The man for whom that shield was created? Rhea, I am looking at you, stop ignoring me.”

:)

#3 nopes #is it the wilhelm hour? #Lizard family time? #this disregards FE16's canon in several places but #Wilhelm lore lol I never thought I'd see the day #Wilhelm the Holy Knight's weapon is a shield #poor seteth #is it wolf (fe16)'s hour? #He died at a young age for Rhea #she already said 30 years are 'a blink of an eye' but #did Lycaon really die that young? And willy noped the eff out of Adrestia? #Rhea stuff #and you want to think this person was alone b4 U billy since zanado? #we still don't know why she took Cichol's shield to give it to Willy lol

[doycetopia]

Ravenloft Ironsworn, part 5, The Burgomaster's Home

Ismark leads us down the street, past Mad Mary’s to E4, which is the Burgomaster’s home.

A weary-looking mansion squats behind a rusting fence. The gates are twisted and torn. The right gate lies cast aside while the left swings crazily in the wind. The stuttering squeal and clang of the gate repeats over and over and over…

Weeds choke the grounds and press in on the house itself, but against the walls the growth has been trodden under to form a path all about the place. Heavy claw marks have stripped the finish. Great black blotches tell of the fires that have assailed the walls. Not a pane nor shard of glass stands in any window. All the windows are barred with heavy planking, each plank marked with stains and gouges.

It’s obvious Ireena only lets me in because Ismark is with me, and vouches for me, and even then only because I apparently came at their father’s request.

The interior of the house is well furnished, although the fixtures show signs of considerable wear. Obvious oddities are the boarded-up windows and the overuse of holy symbols in every room. The Burgomaster’s body is in one of the sitting rooms — on display as if for a wake that never happened. His body has not been preserved in any way, and it’s been 10 days, so despite the candles burning in his honor, the smell in the house is quite horrible.

Ireena and Ismark barely seem to notice, so I don’t comment on it.

A bit of time passes….

It’s already the third time I’ve assured Ireena I’m here to help, but her reluctance or outright disbelief is starting to get to me.

“Sister, this farwarden tapped iron and swore to free Barovia!” Ismark exclaims. “Let her help us!”

[I’m trying to Secure an Advantage and build up some momentum.]

Ugh. Okay, that’s… not great. Either a miss, or I have to burn all my momentum for a weak hit. Basically the opposite of what I’m looking for. If I burn momentum to get a weak hit, I’ll be down from 6 momentum to 3. Bleh. Otherwise, I either fail or “your assumptions betray you”, and in either case I pay the price. Hmm. Give me a second so I can think about what my assumptions are.

My assumptions are:

There are vampires.

This “Strahd” is in some way obsessed with Ireena, and may be hundreds of years old, so… vampire.

Lot’s of women I’ve encountered so far have been victimized in some way by either vampires or the Baron (or maybe both).

Members of the farwardens have come here or been lured here before, and none have come back.

The villagers are on my side now (this one is new, and FAIR, since I just swore an Epic vow and forged a bond with them. sheesh.)

Hmm. So either I fail (to secure an advantage – getting Ireena on my side like Ismark is) or my assumptions betray me, and in either case, Pay the Price. Or… kill my Momentum to get a weak hit, but still a hit.

Pay the Price, if I go that route, would be…

Hmm. Okay, for that I’d go to the “Oracle” of the module and check the random encounter table for “Barovia Daytime”, in order to complicate things.

1d8 gets me a 3, which is…

Okayyyy… One. Angry. Villager.

You know what? Fine. Let’s see where this goes. There’s an angry hammering on the front door of house. Ismark and Ireena tense. I keep my hand free from my weapons, but the hand holding my shield tightens where no one can see, and I move to the door.

Who is it? Oracle says…

That’s… a lot to unpack.

“Come out of there, Ismark!” shouts a deep but somehow reedy voice. “Bring that foreign bitch with -”

I open the door fast enough that he cuts off what he’s saying. His eyes widen, he takes a step back, but then his expression pinches down and the grip on a nasty little fisherman’s knife tightens.

“Chenda?” Ismark says, stepping up on my right. “What in four hells are you doing here?”

“I heard about that blasphemy and treason at the tavern – you and your little -” he shoots a look me sidelong and chooses better words. “foreigner, too far in your cups, saying things you ought not, and her making promises she can’t keep, and be hanged if she tries.”

“Hanged? Treason?” Ismark snorts. “Wishing the monster Strahd dead isn’t treason, Chenda, and blasphemy? Are you entirely out of your mind?”

“The Baron is the Land, the Land is the People, the People are the Blood,” says Chenda, and it has the rhythm of a prayer to it. Something memorized. Something believed without thinking about it.

I step forward, through the door, and man takes another step back, scowling. “Your ‘baron’ is sucking the blood out of this land, fisherman. Literally, I think. How much can you lose before dying?”

[I’m looking to Compel this guy to back down, but while it might be nice for me to go in with +heart, I don’t think that’s how it’s going down. I’ve been binging the Witcher too much…]

Okay, weak hit on a threaten, but that’s fine because I’m not being especially threatening. (And maybe this was a heart-based convince, but whatever – the result would have been the same either way. So.)

The move says they ask for something in return. I already rolled “Collect a Debt” on character goals, but I’m really not sure what that is.

[Meanwhile, I’m scrolling through the oracles idly, while thinking, and I spot “your actions benefit the enemy’, and the first batch of oracles on old Chendra says something about ‘in league with the enemy.’ Okaaaay. Yes.]

The man’s eyes narrow. “You speak like one who knows and fights evil. And you claim to be a farwarden, but I don’t know from a scarecrow, and the last farwarden that came through here promised much and then ran off. Tell me who you are, girl. Who exactly – by what right do you interfere?”

[Basically he’s demanding my bonafides, which we know from the oracles he’s going to jog off and report to who’s knows who. It’ll eventually get to Strahd, who’ll know that much more about me. Awesome.]

Brigitte glares at him, then lets out a sound that’s somewhere between a sigh and a grunt.

“I am Brigitte Lindholm, youngest daughter of Torbjörn and Ingrid Lindholm. I’ve been a farwarden proper for three years, and before that I squired under Reinhardt Wilhelm, one of the greatest knights of the order, and my godfather. Traveling alongside him was the greatest honor of my life.”

She sighs, and it’s a proper sigh this time. “I craft armor in my spare time, horse hair makes me sneeze sometimes, and my favorite food is semla. Is that quite enough?”

Before the man can answer, Ireena steps forward, her arms wrapped tightly around her waist. “It is enough, farwarden. Thank you. Chenda…” Her said eyes come up to meet the angry fisherman’s, and he looks away first. “Your behavior embarasses this village. Go away.”

He opens his mouth to reply, but she is already walking back into the house, and I and Ismark follow, closing the door in the man’s face.

So, that’s a pretty big scene from my poor Secure Advantage. Fates forfend I try a Gather Information anytime soon. Anyway.

Strictly reading the text of the move, I still secure an advantage, I think, because of the choices I picked. Let’s review:

“On a miss, you fail or your assumptions betray you. Pay the Price.”

Okay, cool. My assumptions betrayed me and I pay the price. My betrayed assumption is “the villagers are all on my side, and the Pay the price is

… which is Chenda reporting back on everything he learned about me. Sweet.

However, I don’t get the momentum I’d get from either a strong or weak hit. I just secure an advantage in the narrative, which I’m fine with: that result is why I had Ireena come to my aid at the end of the exchange with Chenda – she’s on my side now. Not enough to form a bond with, but enough to be “NPC generally on my side.” Cool.

Also, since I have a bit of Oracle-level knowledge about what Strahd is generally up to, I’m going to say “getting Ireena a bit on my side” counts as a single tick in a single box on my epic quest to kick Strahd in his pointy teeth.

Given that, I actually will Gather Information.

“Thanks for the help out there,” I say, trying a smile. “I feel like I’m swimming in dark water with very, very large fish bumping my ankles. Can you help me understand what’s going on here?”

Well okay! I’m going to infodump on Brig (and mark +2 momentum!), because I don’t feel like writing everything out as dialogue. Here we go.

Ireena seems nice enough, but troubled.

She’s very scared, but no helpless victim.

She can’t remember anything about her early childhood before the burgomaster found her and adopted her.

“My father only ever told me that he couldn’t bear to see a child alone and helpless, and I seemed immediately to be a daughter to him. I remember no time before that, so to me he has always been my father.”

“He found me at the base of the waterfall that drops from the Ravenloft peak.”

Each night, wolves and other creatures came and attacked the house – eventually, her father’s heart couldn’t take it – he died a ‘natural’ death – his heart simply failed under the strain.

“The wolves stopped attacking 10 days ago. They come from the forests, though they are – ultimately – Strahd’s creatures, I believe, and follow his command.”

No one in the town has the guts to help them bury their father.

Strangely, the wolves haven’t attacked since their father died, but Ireena believes it’s only a matter of time, and not much time.

With the greatest of the holy symbols – an ancient holy artifact – stolen from the house – both siblings fear the house is now defenseless.

They MIGHT be safe in the church for a time – the priest seems to be able to keep the place protected – but they don’t know how long that will last, either.

“The holy symbol was a great golden thing – ” Ismark marks the distance with his hands, like a small dinner plate – “a sort of Sun symbol.”

Ireena: “It was stolen during one of the attacks – so… very likely it lies in Strahd’s cursed castle.”

“The priest might be able to tell you more about it, though it had been in my family’s home for several generations.”

Ireena looks at me. “What do YOU think? What should be done?”

“If you’re going to the castle,” Ismark says. “I’m going with you. We’re doomed here, but I’d spit in that monster’s face and try to drive a stake in his heart, if I can.”

“And leave me here?!?” Ireena says. “I’m coming with you!”

I frown, still thinking. “Are you sure?”

Irena thinks, and nods, her mouth a firm line. “if it’s what you decide to do, after talking to the priest, then yes.”

“All right,” I say, “grab what you need.” I turn to Ismark as Ireena leaves. “Help me with your father.”

Ismark looks confused.

“I want to talk with your priest,” I say, “and the Burgomaster needs a proper burial.”

original post

#Actual Play #ironsworn #pbta #ravenloft #randomaverage

[randomnameless]

You talked of a role reversal between Edel and Wilhelm, but aren't they similar? They both want to conquer Fodlan.

Yes, they are similar, but also different.

As units first, Willy isn't a front line unit, I was wrong about the HK's utility, but actually, it's not a pure support unit, it's a combat unit.

Edel’s toolkit (using her base form and canon classes) is geared to make her a formidable unit (lol armor) who is supposed to be able to solo maps on her own. Aymr enables her to act again and to basically smash something dead on her own.

I joke a lot, but to be fair, I don’t know what Willy was like, as a unit.

I know one thing though, Holy Knights aren’t supposed to solo maps, and they’re not supposed to kill things on their own.

Edit :

lol that thing's old

Then we got Nopes, and I still think it's very telling how Willy is associated to his shield, in Nopes, when Supreme Leader, while she has a shield in her model, always ends up with new axes, first it's Aymra, then Labrunda (who doesn't even have backstory like Wilhelm's shield, but is just in a pile of weapons the Empire had in store in Enbarr). Shield + Holy Knight vs Axe + Armor unit -> they're kind of different, right?

#necroposting my own drafts #I have so many cleaning to do lol #anon #replies #if you're still here i mean #is it the wilhelm hour? #it reinforces the mandate and fall of the dynasty #oh well #FE16 #3 Nopes #just for the best paralogue mention

[randomnameless]

no headcannon about labrunta?

Labraunda?

Let's see...

In Nopes, a NPC says it was found in the Imperial palace, like some other Holy Weapons (other sacred weapons) so maybe after the WoH Macuil and Indech didn't recover them and left them to their human friends, or Adrestia seized them from whatever place they were left in...

And current Adrestia is the kind of entity who will "seize" useful weapons if they happen on them (thanks to a NPC).

Granted, for who Labraunda would have been made? Rhea already fights using a sword, and she has no rank in axes.

Wilhelm? Willy was a Holy Knight, and you can bet your ass off that if Labraunda was Willy's weapon, it would have been identified as such (maybe by Supreme Leader who MAGAs or even Rhea who would be royally pissed), but nope, the weapon associated to Willy in 3 Nopes is Seteth's a shield.

If Labraunda really is from the WoH, Rhea only gave her blood to Wilhelm, which was passed on to his descendants, and we know who was his son (or at least one of them?).

Was Labraunda Lycaon's weapon?

HC it was but

with the added twist that it's super weird that Labraunda is, in 3 Nopes, a very plain weapon without any additional effects like the other Sacred Weapons.

And so, because MH has been eating at my mind and to celebrate today's legendary hero in FEH, Labraunda isn't a regular axe, but some sort of switch axe/weapon like Eckesachs but if Zeph used its spear mode.

lycaon was very sad he couldn't transform like mom so his uncles made a weapon that would transform for him

Supreme Leader cannot unlock the "switch mode", just like other emperors before her -

Helga I, who succeeded Lycaon after his "illness" swore on his axe to continue his fight to bring prosperity and peace to Adrestia, and used it to behead her the co-conspirators who planned the previous Emperor's "illness".

The weapon's association to Lycaon was lost to time, and it just became a random "holy axe" stored in the vault of Adrestia's glorious past - in fact, when Supreme Leader used it in Nopes to sack the Monastery, Rhea didn't immediately recognise it because it wasn't as shiny and polished as it had been back then and moreover, it didn't switch. Then she was in denial when they clashed blades, because it really looks like Labraunda but it cannot be, okay the Hresvelg opposes her but she wouldn't dare to use her own son's weapon against her, would she?

(maybe this is the reason why she was so adamant to recover Willy's shield?).

When Rhea recovers Labraunda from Supreme Puppet, she feels bad because this was Lycaon's weapon, he would never have used it like it was used for during this war, and she will keep "him" with her, until the Goddess walks the land again.

Then, she activates the "switch mode" to see if it's broken - which make the BL weapon nerds happy and super curious because "wow what kind of weapon is this" and even Supreme Puppet watches in awe, this thing is seriously super cool!

#anon #replies #fodlan nonsense #fodlan AU #lizard family time? #is it wolf (fe16)'s hour? #fun fact i checked and in nopes the ochain shield makes you immune to status effects #and gives a huge boost to def #like Willy was a wall? #what is the point of being an Emperor if you don't have super cool gimmick weapons?? #Supreme Leader didn't know how to use the switch mode #Labraunda perpetually stayed in axe mode #but at least none of her previous ancestors knew how to use it too #tfw you have to use nabatean magic to fill some vials and activate the switch #3 nopes #willy was so jealous his kid gets the super cool weapon and he only has a golden armor #at least he had a kickass horse #and wasn't forced to suffer the feather on his helmet like Lycaon bcs Seiros said it looked cool #and you don't tell Seiros her aesthetic sucks

[randomnameless]

Wait, if Nopes!Willy didn't die during the War of heroes, does that mean that he could have written his own sekrit history?

IDK anon,

But if he really didn't die, then why would he write the lizards took control of the world when he and Seiros embarked on a trip to drop his shield to Indech's cabin in the mountains?

If Indech returned to his workplace in the mountains, if Cichol effectively went missing with Cethleann after the War and if Macuil flew away in a desert, then he knew Rhea and her fam weren't controlling shit, but rather scattered around the world to deal with their own business.

Funny thought, Wilhelm stayed around Lycaon when Lycaon became Emperor to help him (a bit like rodrigue and felix?) but when Lycaon dies, Wilhelm doesn't return to Enbarr or to the Empire to help the people there.

We don't know what Nopes!Willy did after the war - bar that trip with Seiros where they hid the Ochain Shield - but we know he did not return to Adrestia.

Given how even Leigh sounds excited and happy to talk about him, I can't wait to hear Inoue talk about the Dude, but I'm pretty sure he and Rhea parted on good terms.

I still stand by my HC about House!Willy dying during the War of Heroes, making Rhea go red (but not completely berserk) - as opposed to Nopes!Willy surviving and abandoning Adrestia to its own devices (and we know what happened with it) after Lycaon's death.

Cherry picking, I can take from this nopes paralogue regarding Willy is and integrate in my general HC is :

Rhea gives him stuff that was supposed to belong to her brothers because reasons

Willy first started as the leader of Enbarr (HC wise I had him start from ground 0 and then become one of Enbarr's Senator, ultimately pulling an Augustus and becoming the sole ruler)

He associated Lycaon, his presumptive heir, to every important decision he was making to "show him the ropes" and to teach him how to become Emperor in his own right later on

Wilhelm's signature weapon was not a sword or lance, but a shield - which has all kinds of implications when you consider his class as a Holy Knight - he was not the kind of unit to kill enemies, but more like the leader who heals, support, protects and does various things bar killing stuff.

Rhea totally thinks he is the only "great" Adrestian Emperor to have existed

as for the rest, i'll just consider it to be the Nopes!AU.

#3 nopes #is it the wilhelm hour? #anon #replies #FE16 #war of heroes stuff #House Hresvelg started as something great but then fell #lol for Rhea it was only Willy who was great the others sucked lol #lizard family time? #Poor cichol