Winds of the North Playtest Session pt3 (Eyjolf, Fall, Year 1)

Previously, Eyjolf went on his first Raid and didn’t do too bad. Between some sales and his share of the plunder, he earned 35 silver. For his End of Month event, he was visited by a house spirit and rewarded with Happiness and Recovery Points. But the fall harvest looms, and Eyjolf is a very bad farmer.

Month 1, Fall

Before attempting to Harvest, Eyjolf needs some help. At the very least, a Sickle which gives +1 to Harvest. He’s also got a stockpile of Oil to sell off. To the Market! Unfortunately, he doesn’t get a very good deal on his Oil but sells the six of them for 24 silver. Still a decent amount of silver for this early. Luckily, for the available Hirðmenn, he did roll a Farmhand which gives +1 to Plant Crops and Harvest! With now 57 silver, it’s tempting to buy them and the other Bondi, a Berserker with +1 Damage (and 3 HP). But, Eyjolf only gets 4 transactions per visit with his 1 Wisdom, and the first transaction was selling his Oil. Instead, he buys his Sickle, hires the Farmhand, and buys a 1-handed Spear so he can start using his Shield in combat. Not a bad haul, and he still has 11 silver left over. It’s a good idea to keep some cash on you. A failed attempt at working on the Smithy finishes the first Week.

Week two sees Rain, so we’ll hold off on Harvest for now. Eyjolf goes out Hunting and brings in 5 Meat and 1 Hide from a stag. No illness from going outdoors. To fill the Week, he attempts to Craft, just some carving for bonus Happiness. With a good roll, his Happiness creeps up 1 more. Soon, he’ll actually get a bonus to Recuperate, which is good because he tries to rest some the following Week to no avail. The next carving also fails. It was Rain again, so Harvest had to wait again.

Finally, the weather clears and it’s time to Harvest! With the Farmhand and Sickle, Eyjolf has a +2 and thankfully can’t lose any crops. He gets some decent rolls, and thanks to his new bonuses, he gets a full harvest and seeds from each crop! Maybe next year the crops will be more varied and numerous. For the end of the Month, we have Ale for once and get Happiness up to 5. And we get an Event! A cousin is on the run from a noble and we have a choice. Sort of. One option is combat with the noble, and that is obviously what Eyjolf is going to do. With the Farmhand as backup, a new Spear, and a Shield, Eyjolf makes quick work of this noble. We get +2 Happiness and our cousin joins the Hirð! Though this means that he’s full on Hirð members for now until he can increase his Fame. Not a bad month.

Month 2, Fall

We start with a Storm. Not great. A bad omen for this Month. Time for some indoor activities. Thankfully, festivals can use tents and mead halls, so we can safely attend Vertnaetr Festival. I sacrifice a pig and roll for 2 Ancestor Spirits. These can be really handy but are typically available only once a year; spend them wisely. We hold off on feasting, we don’t have a huge supply and already have 7 Happiness. During the mock combat, we actually do all right and earn a free goat! I then try to slaughter the goat at home (Eyjolf’s Farming is too low to try and hang on to most animals for gathering milk) but the goat gets the best of him. No slaughtering this Week.

The Storm is reduced to Rain so we go out to Explore (no illness). We come upon a rune-stone but Eyjolf immediately forgot what he read… We go Fishing in the Rain and at least get something. The next Week, despite the good weather, was also bad. Failed Hunting thanks to a 1, but some okay Fishing. Our last dismal Week was spent in the Rain again with more failed Hunting and meager Fishing. Might have forgotten an illness roll.

We’re up to 15 Preserved Meat, but Food is down to 4, so we’re probably going to be hitting up that stockpile soon if these Hunting trips continue to come up empty. And now we’re 8 mouths to feed thanks to our full Hirð. No event this Month. At least we’re still happy.

Month 3, Fall

We begin again with Storms. I Craft another Shield to try and sell, then head to the market. The Oil sells for 14 silver, awesome! But the Hides and Shield were only going for 70% of their normal value. Gross. Keeping those for now. At least I have enough for some Tongs to help with more Crafting. Due to a counting error, Eyjolf only had 3 silver left over, but he should still have 11.

Some failed Mining the next Week due to Rain (and a bad roll), but Eyjolf does some more carving for +1 Happiness. More Rain follows, so time to slaughter some animals. With a surprisingly good roll, Eyjolf hacks up both the pig and goat. Meat! And since Eyjolf has decent Survival and a Horse, we head out to Explore. The Farmhand does get sick, however. Unfortunately, with a bad roll, we get a Mishap and disturb a troll nest. With the Horse as my only Animal left, it becomes sick from the curse. Not good. Eyjolf is pretty poor at healing.

We finish the month with failed Building and a bit of Cutting Wood. For End of Month, we hit 19 Preserved Meat, but we have to start eating it since the rest of our supplies have dwindled. Still 16 left. The Smithy is slowly being built thanks to the Household. For an event, we attend a local wedding (but Eyjolf dreams of an encounter with Draugr that he swore happened, but that was an error) for +1 Happiness. However, we now enter Winter, and we have a bad start. 5 of us get sick, dropping Happiness to 4. And my sick Horse dies. I probably should have done something about that… this might be a rough Winter. We’ll probably need to see a bunch of things at the market to buy medicine and food. We just need to survive. Next year will be better. Just survive!