Hurried Heroine

Guidance on the "Hurried Heroine" achievement, and detailed suggestions for one way to do it (Sorceress).

Introduction/Timeline

For those of you who want to give this achievement a go on your own and only get a few tips about what's required, I'll start with a basic breakdown of the game's minimum timeline.

Day 1 - the Heroine is too weak to venture far, and you are forced to sleep before the game really begins.

Day 2 - the next main objective is to rescue Sigurd, and doing so automatically places you in Munarvagir at evening. I've literally maxed climbing before while trying to avoid the thieves' lodge and it is NOT possible to do so. You must either sleep in Munarvagir and deal with the theives' lodge, or wait until the gate opens at dawn to avoid it. You will lose most of this day if you don't postpone the rescue until the evening.

Day 3 - after warning Volund, the next time you sleep in the evening you have a vision of Heime getting kidnapped, and time automatically advances to morning regardless of how long you chose to sleep.

Day 4 - if you rescue Heime ASAP, then time automatically advances to evening when you return to Midgard, and time automatically advances to morning when you escape the blizzard.

Day 5 - okay, okay, a lot was beyond our control, but surely there's plenty of time now? No. You have to get both the eyes, and that's a lot of hoops to jump through.

You might think Warriors can challenge Sigurd and skip Munarvagir, but what are they left with? They have to do everything for the people of Fornsigtuna, which includes eliminating a haugbui that can only be found at night and uniting Lithrasir and Liff (that can't be done without waiting until evening to escort Lithrasir, and they loiter in the holt for a long while before going back to their respective cities). It may be possible to do, but you need to do everything just right and it'll be cutting it close in the end.

You might think Sorceresses can challenge Aurvandel and skip Fornsigtuna, but what are they left with? They have to do things for four of the people of Munarvagir - the same dilemma applies with Liff, you can't reunite Helgi and Sigrun without doing all three of the Nidavellir trades (getting news of Alviss requires the eitur, which requires eliminating the Haugbui, which in turn requires waiting until night to find its grave when don't have time to spare), and if you want to get Kraka released you either need to have 100 silver to spare (where do you find the time for that?) or collect a favor from the Jarl the morning AFTER you save him.

Rogues can't challenge anybody, but they can steal the eyes IF people can figure it out. Those that do can finish the game in 6 days rather than 7.

Day 6 - if you go warrior or sorceress, you probably had to advance a day to get both the eyes. Congrats: you're in the final stretch. Time will automatically advance to evening as you walk to Gastropnir keep.

Day 7 - You still have to get through Thrivaldi - he always turns to stone in the sunlight, which means - you guessed it - time automatically advanced again. Now you're on the 7th day, the last day you have to complete the game and still earn the achievement.

So in all, there's not a lot of margin for error. You need to decide what you're doing before you do it, then make sure you cover all the prerequisites in order to do the things that need to be done. Sometimes you have to figure out how to get money, how to get things purchased when shops are open, and how to train certain skills or stats to their required levels.

Like I said, you're going to cut it close.

Sorceress Day 1

I decided to do this achievement with the sorceress, because it's easy to botch things with the warrior and I do not think I know how to do it with the Rogue.

The problem with the sorceress in earlier versions was that you needed 37 or more health to survive the final battle*. They don't start with health, and if you're rushing through then you probably aren't training endurance in battle or thinking about the fact that you need to do it all. The best thing to do is to spend your points on endurance when you create the character, and spam click those two trees outside Fornsigtuna and Munarvagir that train herblore (you'll get endurance on occasion).

*note: newer versions should no longer have the 37 or more health requirement, making this somewhat easier to accomplish because extra training is not involved.

Day 1 is the perfect time to do it - you can't go anywhere else and do most things. When you stop getting levels, walk offscreen and cast magic dart to gain a level in something new, then go back and train herblor/endurance more. Might as well get to 37 health ASAP.

The other major thing to do is save/load repeatedly and gamble for money. You need to be able to buy Shadow Clone, Blessing, and two mead (because I suggest reuniting Sigurd and Brynhild).

Otherwise, make sure to read the notice board and ask Lithrasir for the letter, and you're done.

Sorceress Day 2

It's a good idea to do what you can before saving Sigurd. You have to talk to the Jarl, and after you may as well grab the tinderbox downstairs, then swing up to Aurvandel and get the Flame Aura and Shadow Clone.

Hang a right out the Fornsigtuna gate and go collect the net and Arctic Wind spell from the flying boat. Make a beeline south to Munarvagir and deliver the letter to Liff for Channel.

If Liff's shop isn't open, swing by the library and do the hunt for Sixth Sense. Buy Blessing at the earliest opportunity, and If you think you have time, you can go back North and use it to catch a fish (because I suggest returning the lost cat for the Librarian later).

Save Sigurd, but say hi to Regin and pick up his quest before sleeping. Sixth Sense leads to our stolen stuff, then we wait for the gate to open.

Sorceress Day 3

Mainly we need to warn Volund about the troll. If anything needs to be trained, then train it before sleeping in the evening.

Sorceress Day 4

Collect the wooden sword and show Aurvandel, then speed over to Svartalfheim.

Make sure to encounter a Svartalf and get Blink first thing, then swing South past the chasm to find Regin's chest.

Proceed to Nidavellir and visit the trader to exchange the tinderbox for Disrupt?Dispell? I forget the name.

Rescue Heime.

Sorceress Day 5

There's no clearly best way in which to order the next laundry list of things. We need to:
-catch the fish if you haven't already
-visit Arngrim and ask about Fornsigtuna so you can ask about the Adventurer's guild
-collect Shield from the hidden stash
-rescue the Jarl*
-give the fish to the cat in the holt so we can return it to Munarvagir
-return the chest to Regin
-use the figurine to return to Nidavellir and challenge Skrymir with it. (Use the 2nd mead to win the first trial, lose the middle trial, and win the combat trial to gain the mead of poetry)
-give Sigurd the mead of poetry
-talk to Brynhild about the eyes
-the Battle of Munarvagir may trigger

and head back to Fornsigtuna when you're ready to advance to day 6 and collect the Jarl's reward (if you have time to spare).

*Technically, the absolute minimum you need to do is rescure the Jarl, so that you can collect the reward on day 6.

Sorceress Day 6

Speak to Kraka in the jail. It doesn't matter what you say, you just need to know that she's there.
Speak to the Jarl and ask him to release Kraka.

Make sure to complete anything that was mentioned previously, but was not completed yet.

Challenge Aurvandel now, and time will freeze. Some steps that will win the game:

1. step (3 times), flame, step (2 times), blink, step, flame, step, flame, step, flame, step, blink, step (until you win)

2. step, shield, step (3 times), wind, step (2 times), dispel, step, shield, step (7 times), wind, step (11 times, wind, dispel, step (until you win)

3. step (9 times), wind, step (14 times), bless, step (25 times), channel, shield, step (8 times), channel, flame, step (14 times), dispel, step (6 times), shield, step (4 times), flame, step (until you win)

Teleport to Munarvagir with Regin's figurine and collect the last eye. Head to Gastropnir keep if you have 37 health or more. Otherwise, make sure you train herblore/endurance on the trees so that you get it before it's too late.

Sorceress Day 7

After you fight Thrivaldi, the last day begins. There's nothing special to do, unless you haven't done this bit without the shovel before.

When you're in the past, you can pick up the trowel to plant the tree seed, then use the trowel on the ground (where you found it) to put it back down.

You'll probably need to use a healing potion before you go through the ice door. You need to have health in order to survive channeling spells (unless new versions have removed channelling your character to death). The sequence is the same as always for the sorceress:
Shield
Blink
Disrupt/Dispell
Blessing
Sixth Sense
Flame Aura
Shadow Clone
Arctic Wind

The achievement will unlock during the credits, provided you did not finish in 8 days or more.

[Marcycle]

Oh, I didn't see this guide until now. I've been able to get Hurried Heroine and 500 points for each class. Here's the spreadsheet I created for it. There is very little margin for error, so you have to follow it very closely. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1i8fWIONZYAul1JxAKqWQngW5KeKZCb4cM3Fnwfd4usY/edit?usp=sharing

[nampahcfluap]

I'm fairly sure that in the absence of cross-class abilities, only a Rogue can get both 500 points and the Hurried Heroine achievement in the same run. To get Liff and Lithrasir together on the evening of day 5, you have to get Fremont off of the bridge on night 2 or 3, and only Rogues and Warriors have the skills to do that (Climbing and either Fast Talk or an axe). Unless you bribe him with Andvari's Ring twice, which is technically possible but requires quite a setup...

Also, further to my previous post about the Haugbui: I think only a Rogue or a Sorceress could take it out before day 5.

[nampahcfluap]

Correction to my previous post: It is possible to defeat the Haugbui on the evening of day 3 and then run back to Fornsigtuna before the gates close. You'll then find Aurvandel in the tavern, and he will give you the eitur and the silver.

[nampahcfluap]

My guess is that the biggest time crunches for 500 points (assuming that it's possible to get both 500 points and Hurried Heroine) would be for the Liff/Lithrasir quest and the Sigrun quest; you would need to defeat the Haugbui, deal with Fremont, and talk to Liff, Lithrasir, and Aurvandel all on the evening of day 5, and in that order.

[mistermiller]

It may not save much time, and it's a little late, but you don't have to actually talk to Kraka. As long as you just quickly enter and exit the jail while she's in there, you can request her freedom from the Jarl. I use it in my speedruns.

[PunkSteve]

Ver coolguide :)
I will use it if i try for the Achievement :)

[Radiant]

That's a nice guide. Well, it was supposed to be difficult but not impossible, so I think that's worked rather well. There are a few hidden tricks that you could use to shave off a couple hours, but overall the timeline is clear. I've already seen people tackle this as a rogue but I'm curious how you'd do it with a warrior :)

[ultramage]

"time automatically advances to morning when you escape the blizzard."
Actually, for me it advanced to Afternoon (day 1 starts at this time too).

[ultramage]

PS: It's possible to both do hurried heroine and be done with the pre-finale part of 500/500 by morning of day 7, but again, you need to haul ass and use every spare second to train spell levels. Keep your eye on the clock, make a new save every few ingame hours, and plan ahead for forced jumps in time that can screw you, especially in Nidavellir where time of day is not announced; for example, the automatic travel to the portal stones after freeing Heime is an Evening event, and if you're late, it will silently advance to the Evening of the next day.

A note on spell levels: some spell tasks have a success % roll, so be sure to train those ahead of time to at least 25. Train by reloading whenever a spell cast doesn't result in skill increase, and keep reloading if the % roll fails. Applies to Shadow Clone, Arctic Wind, Flame Aura, Blessing, Disrupt. And level Channeling to 100 to make it stop interfering with training.

[ultramage]

It's possible to sequence-break a bit and do the Haugbui + Alviss thing at night of day 3. For some reason, Aurvandel will wander in front of the adventurer's guild at the beginning of "Late Night", giving you a chance to pick up your Eitur reward. But then you have to seriously haul ass, because the Heime kidnapping event happens mid-way through Late Night, and if you're not sleeping by then, the whole thing will get postponed for a day and you're screwed. I advise sprinting to Alviss, then to the fire ring to warm up and save (potential sleep spot if you're out of time), then sprinting back to town.