On Borrowed Time

On Borrowed Time was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan in 2020 through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.

Description

Eivor met with Vili to talk about his role as future jarl.

Dialogue

At Ulkerthorpe Fort, Eivor found Vili and talked with him.

• Eivor: Vili!
• Vili: There you are, come! Ride with me to the falls. They are Freyja's gift to these unforgiving lands.
• Eivor: All right. But if I don't faint at the sight of them, you have oversold the view.

Eivor and Vili got on their horses and rode out of the fort.

• Vili: You fight with impressive skill, I should say. I taught you well, I think.
• Eivor: You taught me how to fight empty air, Vili. And trees and snowdrifts and the like.
• Vili: No, I am certain I saved you from a snowdrift once. And a murderous tree. That's how I remember it.
• Eivor: Any man who would call a tree murderous is a man who has had one too many blows on the head.

They passed by a ruined tower.

• Vili: That tower there... it recalls the broken wall in Norway, on the road to my uncle's, remember?
• Eivor: I do. I remember the bite of that winter's chill as we sheltered from the wind for hours. It was you who got us stuck there.

Eivor riding alongside Vili

• Vili: Searching for the chickens you let loose before the Yule feast, I'll have you remember.

The path along the slope broke downwards.

• Eivor: It's good to ride with you again, Arse-Stick.
• Vili: I told you, that was meant to be a dragon's tail—
• Eivor: It was a woody little twig in my eyes. No dragon's tail.
• Vili: Must I remind you of your own disrobed adventures in the predawn streets of Stavenger? Eivor the Pant-less, a head soaked with mead, and many pockets full of vomit.
• Eivor: A dragon's tail it was then.
• Vili: Are you sure you want my father's mead? Not afraid you might wake up tomorrow, naked, face down in a hog's pen?
• Eivor: Is that what you call your house?
• Vili: (laugh)
• Eivor: (laugh)

At a crossroad, both warriors came across the sight of smoke above Stoneburgh in the distance.

• Vili: Stoneburgh! Was Trygve not sent there by Father to help? We must go!

Eivor and Vili galloped to Stoneburgh. They dismounted and Eivor ran to Trygve outside its perimeter, who was speaking with a survivor.

• Eivor: Trygve!
• Trygve: We will get you back to Hemthorpe and the seer will see to your wounds. For now, bear the pain. You will live.

Eivor convened with Trygve.

• Trygve: Eivor!
• Eivor: What happened?

Trygve reporting on the Picts fire attack on the settlement

• Trygve: I came too late to stop this. The Picts set fires and ran. They mean to spite us! There are more people trapped within. Free them, Eivor!

Eivor nodded.

• Eivor: Tend the wounded. We'll get them out.

Eivor may have talked with Trygve during her rescue of the survivors.

• Trygve: I will tend to the injured, but there are many more in danger. Bring them here if you can!

Eivor entered the settlement and heard a man cry out.

• Norse Man 1: Help! Someone, please!

Eivor looked around and saw a house on fire where the sound originated.

• Norse Man 1: Move quickly, please!

Eivor rescuing a man trapped inside the house

Eivor went inside the burning house and revived the man.

• Eivor: Leave your things! Get to Trygve, you will be safe with him.

Eivor left to find more injured. She found a house and breached its door, finding the residents already immolated.

• Eivor: No survivors here. But there may be others that still draw breath.
• Norse Woman 1: Quickly, everyone! Get the wounded to Trygve. He is by the gates! Come, quick! Help anyone you can!

Eivor passed by Vili, who was breaching a door.

• Vili: There are more people to save! We are running out of time!

Eivor passed by a scared child.

• Norse Child 1: Please, my parents are trapped! Help me and help them!

Eivor went inside the burning house and broke down the door.

• Norse Man 2: Please! Anyone! Save my family! We're in here! Save my wife, please. Leave me be!

Eivor saw the mother unresponsive and the dad struggling.

Saved the manSaved the woman

Eivor grabbed hold the man and slinged him over her shoulders.

• Norse Man 2: Not me! My wife. Save her first!
• Eivor:I have to move fast.

Eivor carried the man out before the house collapsed.

• Eivor: Forgive me. There is nothing you can do now. Get to safety.
• Norse Man 2: O, my dear Hilda... why! I cannot live without you! I cannot bear to go on.

• Eivor: She has drawn her last breath...

While Eivor unknowingly saved an already dead woman, the man perished in the flames as well.

Eivor left to find more survivors.

• Norse Man 3: Is anyone, anyone out there?

Eivor revived the man.

• Norse Man 3: Thank you, thank you. There are others, please help them too.

She overheard a woman trapped in a ruined tower trying to save a man.

• Norse Woman 2: Please hurry, he cannot breathe!

Eivor climbed into the tower and cleared the exit while the woman carried the man out.

• Norse Woman 2: Stay with me! We'll get you out.

They escaped

• Norse Woman 2: Thank you, drengr. Thank you!

Eivor left and saw another woman in peril.

• Norse Woman 3: No! No, no, ah!

Eivor revived this woman.

• Norse Woman 3: Thank you, stranger, I thought this was my last day on Midgard.

After Eivor saved who she could, Vili called out for her.

• Vili: Eivor! Eivor, where are you? Get over here!

Eivor signaled to more survivors.

• Eivor: Move! Move! Get to safety!
• Vili: Eivor! Over here!
• Eivor: Vili? Where are you? Answer me!

Eivor assisting Vili in moving away a pillar obstruction

Eivor found Vili struggling with a fallen pillar blocking the entry of a burning house. Eivor helped to lift it.

• Vili: We need to clear a path!

Eivor and Vili entered the burning home.

• Vili: I will get the man, Eivor. You carry the woman!

Eivor and Vili carried the woman and man, respectively, out of the house.

• Vili: Niflheim will have to wait. You are staying here today.
• Anglo-Saxon Man 1: O, thank the All-Father...
• Eivor: Hold on to me. I can get you out.

Eivor and Vili checking on the last rescued villager

Eivor and Vili brought the man and woman to safety, near Trygve.

• Anglo-Saxon Man 1: O, thank you, Vili, thank you. I draw breath because of you.
• Eivor: I thought I might have to rescue you, Vili.
• Vili: Had I died, it would have been my time. My fate is already spun.
• Trygve: I'm sorry, but you cannot endanger yourselves like this, lords. You have people to lead, a future to consider.
• Eivor: The old man has wisdom, Vili. You have the full weight of this clan on your back.

Vili and Trygve disputing their clan status

• Vili: My father carries that weight. I do the fighting and feasting and I am expert at both. It is good to have you watching my back again, Eivor.
• Trygve: You see what I deal with, Eivor? The mind of a troll in the body of an Æsir.

Eivor laughed.

• Eivor: Still the same Arse-Stick as when we were children.
• Vili: Pff... I'll never change.
• Trygve: This is hardly the time for lightness, you two. We have many injured to comfort.
• Vili: That is your domain, Trygve. I don't wish to be seen as a savior and healer all in one afternoon. The waters at Kinder Downfall will soothe my wounds. If my father needs me, I'll be there.

Vili left quickly.

• Eivor: Vili, stop...
• Trygve: Eivor... wait a moment. Hemming Jarl has confided in you? About his health?
• Eivor: He has. He said Vili wasn't taking it well.
• Trygve: Vili lives in another world entirely, right now. He is cracked inside, and will not face the full truth laid before him.
• Eivor: How are you? Have you braced yourself for what is to come?
• Trygve: I... I have made my peace with the future, yes.
• Eivor: Worry yourself with the wounded here. I will talk to Vili myself.

Eivor left to find Vili. Eivor later traveled and neared closer to Kinder Downfall.

• Eivor: Vili was right. The Kinder Downfall is beautiful. Now where is he?

Eivor noticed a little light behind the waterfall. Eivor went forward and found Vili, singing, in his hideout.

• Vili: It's a cold, dark day,
  Hel's door is ajar.
  Little cubs of mine, don't stray too far.
  It's a cold, dark day, come sit by the hearth!
  Come hear of the tales, from before your birth.
  O'er the mountains, o'er the seas, the flame of Surtr grows...

Eivor went and talked with Vili.

• Vili: Eivor, you found my secret haunt.
• Eivor: I would be deaf to have not heard you singing. Your crow's cackle could awaken the dead.
• Vili: (laugh)
• Eivor: These skirmishes with the Picts, they've worn you down.
• Vili: Not at all. The more scars, the better the boast. Look at my father, a battle-worn veteran, carved up like a goat on a spit.
• Eivor: Not a metaphor I'd use just now. Not in his state.

Vili paused.

Eivor and Vili catching up

• Vili: These waters are magnificent, no? They comfort and heal. They are Freyja's gift to man.

Vili walked back to the fire.

• Eivor: Vili. You need to face it. Your father is dying. When he departs for the corpse hall, you will take his place. As expected.
• Vili: The novelty of this soggy North has worn on me, Eivor. Too warm for winter living, too cold for summer. I have heard Mercia is more temperate. Dense forests, bright colors, thriving streams. Is that how it is in your settlement?

My clan could use your strengthYou have responsibilities hereYour father's dying

• Eivor: You would always be welcome to live and prosper with us. But that is a matter between you and your father.
• Vili: I could make the old man understand. For I have no desire to be jarl, and he must accept that.
• Eivor: You defy a long tradition, Vili. The son takes after his father, that is the way of things.

• Eivor: You are to be jarl, Vili. Your father expects it, the people of Snotinghamscire expect it.
• Vili: I only want sun on my skin and an axe on my hand. Ale and adventure! Not the staid life of a jarl.

Eivor shook her head and smiled.

• Eivor: You defy a long tradition, Vili. The son takes after his father, that is the way of things.

• Eivor: You defy a long tradition, Vili. The son takes after his father, that is the way of things.

• Vili: Eivor...

Eivor stood up and sat besides Vili.

• Eivor: I have my own reasons to see you made jarl. The Raven Clan wants friends in England. And you are among my very best.
• Vili: You do not need me in that seat to secure an alliance. You and Sigurd are beloved here.
• Eivor: Your father is dying, Vili. Now is the time to get your house in order.
• Vili: It is not my house. It is the clan's house, and the clan will decide what happens next.
• Eivor: You have a chance to end on good terms with your father. I wasn't afforded the same luxury. Don't squander it.
• Norse Warrior 1: Vili! Vili, come fast!

A clan member report to the two warriors' on Hemming's health

Vili and Eivor reached the waterfall cliff's edge to hear the warrior below them.

• Vili: Another attack?
• Norse Warrior 1: It's your father! He hasn't got long. Come to the longhouse!

Vili's eyes widened as he left quickly.

• Eivor: Hemming Jarl is at the edge of death. I must see him before he goes.

Eivor followed and traveled to Hemthorpe.

• Norse Warrior 2: This must be Loki's doing.
• Norse Solider 1: No, no. This is life, my friend.

Eivor made her way to the settlement's longhouse as she passed by its residents.

• Anglo-Saxon Child 1: Will Hemming Jarl go to Heaven, mother?
• Anglo-Saxon Woman 1: I... I hope he will. If he has accepted Christ into his heart, the Lord will most certainly receive him.

Eivor and Vili entered the longhouse to find Hemming Jarl.

• Norse Woman 4: O, dear Hemming! Our jarl!
• Norse Man 4: He'll soon join our forefathers.

Eivor neared closer to finding Hemming Jarl.

• Norse Soldier 2: Eivor. Hemming Jarl still clings to life.

Eivor and Vili by Hemming's side

Eivor arrived and found Hemming, lying on his bed. Vili joined besides his father, with Eivor behind him as Trygve sat nearby.

• Hemming: To see you both together again, like this. It recalls days long past. Makes me feel... young again.
• Eivor: Hold on to that feeling. And take it with you to the hall of the slain.
• Hemming: You've become a great warrior, Eivor. A warrior and a leader, worth song and verse.
• Eivor: I had many good teachers, Hemming Jarl. You chief among them.
• Hemming: I beg of you now... do not let my lessons die. Pass them on.
• Vili: The seer is on her way, Father. She has remedies for you. Cure and charms.
• Hemming: I held you here, Vili... in one proud hand when you were fresh from your mother's womb. I watched you grow, a dirty-haired boy, swinging sticks and running through the mud, dreaming of glory. I... I am proud of what you have become, Son. And I am proud... proud of what you will become. No matter... I... I...

Hemming took his last breath as Vili kneeled at his side.

• Vili: Father...

Vili mourned as Trygve appeared behind him.

• Eivor: Vili...

Eivor and Vili mourning Hemming's death

Vili held his father's hands together while Eivor and Trygve gave Vili space to mourn solely.

• Trygve: We must prepare for the funeral.
• Eivor: I'll send for my clan. You call on the nobles of this shire.

Trygve nodded in agreement and left to prepare the funeral. Time passed as the preparations were made. Meanwhile, Eivor went to Vili, who still sat at the deathbed of his father.

• Eivor: The nobles have begun to arrive. Trygve needs our help to see this through.

Vili remained in grief as Eivor started to leave.

• Eivor: We will be at the funeral pyre, overlooking the village.

Eivor began to leave and found a note on a table nearby.

Towards a Brighter Future

Vili, I pray you find this after I have left. I watched you grow as we have spent these many years together. I know you will be a great jarl, so forgive me, as I do this one last thing to serve your father.

Eivor started to travel to Odin's Rest. Upon arrival, Eivor overheard one of the attendees.

• Anglo-Saxon Man 2: Should a new threat to Hemthorpe emerge, who will step up to meet it? Vili? I am not sure...

Eivor found Trygve on top of Hemming's pyre.

• Eivor: A worthy pyre for Hemming Jarl. His journey to the Halls will be heralded by roaring flames.

Eivor went and talked with Trygve.

• Trygve: Eivor.

Sunniva arriving to meet with Eivor and Trygve

Sunniva walked into the conversation.

• Sunniva: Drengr.
• Eivor: Sunniva, thank you for coming.

Sunniva and Eivor grasped each other's arms.

• Trygve: Ah, the sight of old friends lets my heart rest easy.
• Sunniva: We came as soon as we heard. Bearing gifts for Hemming Jarl.
• Eivor: The celebration will last many days. How soon 'til we begin?
• Trygve: The pyre's construction is underway, and all of our guests are lodged and welcomed. We could begin shortly.
• Eivor: Good. You handled this well, Trygve.
• Trygve: I pledged my life's oath to Hemming Jarl. There is nothing I would not do for him. The Althing must be held when the week is out and the funeral is done. The nobles of this shire will name Vili the jarl of our clan. This assumes they will be sober after a week of drinking and weeping.

Vili walked into the conversation.

The group discussing Hemming's funeral plans

• Vili: It will be a grand funeral. Father will have a clear view of his lands from here. The flames will burn bright and tall for all the shire to see. You've done well, Trygve.
• Trygve: This was his favorite spot in the shire. I suppose we should get started. Our guests need looking after.
• Eivor: I will look for you later, to save you from them once the mead has really soaked in.
• Trygve: You are a true gift, Eivor. Thank you.

Trygve left to complete the funeral preparations.

• Vili: Trygve is Hemthorpe's rock. With him around, the city can keep its peace.
• Eivor: He's a good man.
• Vili: I must be away for a short time, Eivor. I want to retrieve something for my father. A gift.
• Eivor: When did you have time to make a funeral gift?
• Vili: It was something I had hoped to give him in life. You must see it to believe it.
• Sunniva: I brought a gift from the Raven Clan. I stored it at the watchtower on the far side of Hemthorpe.
• Vili: Very kind, thank you. I should like to see it.
• Eivor: I should look over the gift first. It must be worthy of Hemming Jarl.

Vili left to tend to his gift.

Eivor confiding in Sunniva on the Hemmingsons leadership troubles

• Sunniva: There is a heaviness to your look, Eivor. What troubles you?
• Eivor: Hemming desired my counsel before he died. Wanted my opinion on the future of this clan's leadership.
• Sunniva: That would be Vili, would it not?
• Eivor: If tradition held, yes.
• Sunniva: Trygve has tasked me to help the volva with the sacrifices. Could we speak with her to ease your thoughts?
• Eivor: It is a good idea. But let me go alone.

Eivor started to leave and stopped momentarily.

• Eivor: Set scouts around the village. The people here must mourn in safety.

Sunniva nodded as Eivor left to return to the village and see about preparing for the funeral, overhearing some residents.

• Norse Woman 4: What will happen now that our beloved jarl is lost? Who will take his place?

Outcome

Eivor rescued trapped survivors from the fires in Stoneburgh and then met with Vili at Kinder Downfall. Afterwards, Eivor and Vili rushed to Hemming, who died among his friends and family. Later, his clan and allies helped with the preparations of Hemming's funeral.

Behind the scenes

Despite the player's best efforts to rescue the NPCs, at least one spawns too close to fire to properly get away, with actor pathfinding being what it is, before the flames knock them back into a "downed" state. This has no long term bearing on the narrative, and Stoneburgh returns to normal after the memory is completed.

Gallery

• 
  Trygve watched as Eivor and Vili set off to rescue the trapped villagers
• 
  Eivor arriving at Kinder Downfall
• 
  Eivor met with Vili in the cavern
• 
  Eivor leaving to prepare for the funeral

References

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla