Little Ragnarok

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Summary

GM

Andrew W

Session

Winter 805 WK

Level

High+

Party

Amber

Amelia

Darien

Isil Eth

Silverfoam

TDP

Vychan

Employer

Siegfried Volsung (Alfred Wolsung), Norse Demi-godling hero on the plane of Albion.

Mission

To kick his folk (the Norse Godlings) out of their drinking-hall to face the rival clan across the valley (the Frost Giants). In short, to start a little Ragnarok.

Pay / Rewards

Mythical Artifacts

Meeting Legendary Heroes

Saving many Innocents

Saga & Doom interpretation

Goat Breeding tips

Time on adventure

1 Frost to 9 Frost 805 WK

Details

The Shadow of Ragnarok has fallen over Albion, forcing it to follow the great cycle of destruction happening on other planes. The party are summoned to Albion just as Ragnarok is about to start, except only the Giants are ready to go - the Aesir are still trying to stop the omens. The party triggers enough omens to get them going, while rescuing the Niblings (halflings), Svartalfs (drow), and trying to save any other innocents they can find. Seir had been trapped into the role of Loki, but Vychan nobly stands in for him - remember what happens to Loki?

The different sides - the Aesir (Ash), Vanir (Vain), Giants, Valkyries (Vale Carers), Volsung, etc are interbred and inbred. A partial explanation was given to the party.

The party is guided by the Poetic Edda, and is very careful to avoid being in any of the verses, often leaving the scene as an opening line occurs. This way they avoid being caught in the doom affecting the plane.

Survivors

Almost, but not quite, everybody was destroyed in the Apocalypse as the land caught fire, and then sank beneath the sea. Survivors of two races were spirited away to Alusia:

Niblings

Amelia has rescued just over 100 Niblings (Nordic halflings) from becoming winter stores for elves. The rest of their settlements (around 2,000 people) are now beef-jerky or salami. Niblings are usually hunted or aggressively ignored by elves, dwarves, humans and giants, and thus fear all of these races. They have been relocated to Gracht, but with their old world ripped away they will take time and nurture to regain their stability and begin living again.

Their skills are mainly in animal husbandry and gardening, and they are good at eking out a living from poor soils and harsh climates – which is not at all useful when in Gracht! They are hard-working and insular, but should slowly blend in with other halflings. Physically, they are a little blockier and more heavily built than most halflings, with square, chiselled features rather than rounded faces. They all see Amelia as their hero/saviour/messiah, which may be a little uncomfortable to live with.

Svartalfs

Thirty anthropophagic elves, speaking only Drow, and hating all elves, dwarves, and humans, have been rescued by Isil Eth. They will have a great deal of trouble adapting to Alusia, with their ethics, culture and world-view being alien to co-operation, dependence or trust. However, those saved were the youngest and least set in their ways, and some of them will slowly learn, while others will hide their hatred and fear, and bide their time.

They have skills in mechanician, assassin and woodcutting. They include 10 Celestial (Dark), 4 Celestial (Shadow), 7 Necromancers, 4 E&Es, and 5 too young to have a college. They have all their generals and a few specials at low ranks.

Poetic Edda

The translating magic which allows them to speak Old Norse (though not Frost Giant, Svartalf, etc.) also anglicised the names of most of the Aesir and Vanir. Thus Odin becomes Owen, Thor -> Arthur, Frey & Freyr to Frances & Francis. The translated version follows:

1. Hearing I ask from the holy races,

From Harold’s sons, both high and low;

Thou wilt, Valefather, that well I relate

Old tales I remember of men long ago.

2. I remember yet the giants of yore,

Who gave me bread in the days gone by;

Nine lands I knew, the nine in the Vale

With mighty roots beneath the mould.

3. Of old was the age when Ymir lived;

Sea nor cool waves nor sand there were;

Earth had not been, nor heaven above,

But a yawning gap, and grass nowhere

4. Then Bur’s sons lifted the level land;

Mithval the mighty there they made;

The sun from the south warmed the stones of the earth,

And green was the ground with growing leeks.

5.The sun, the sister of the moon, from the south

Her right hand cast over heaven’s rim;

No knowledge she had where her home should be,

The moon knew not what might was his,

The stars knew not where their stations were.

6.Then sought the goods their assembly-seats,

The holy ones, and council held;

Names then gave they to noon and twilight,

Morning they named, and the waning moon,

Night and evening, the years to number.

7.At Ithavale met the mighty good,

Shrines and temples they timbered high;

Forges they set, and they smithied ore,

Tongs were wrought, and tools they fashioned.

8.In their dwellings at peace they played at tables,

Of gold no lack did the good then know,

Till thither came up giant-maids three,

Hugh of might, out of Jotunheim.

9.Then sought the good their assembly-seats,

The holy ones, and council held,

To find who should raise the race of dwarfs

Out of Brimir’s blood and the legs of Blain.

14.The race of the dwarfs in Dvalin’s throng

Down to Lofar the list must I tell;

The rocks they left, and through the wet lands

They sought a home in the fields of sand.

17.Then from the throng did three come forth,

From the home of the good, the mighty and gracious;

Two without fate on the land they found,

Ask and Embla, empty of might.

18.Soul they had not, sense they had not,

Heat nor motion, nor goodly hue;

Soul gave Owen, sense gave Henry,

Heat gave Luke and goodly hue.

19.A flood I know, Straggle its name,

With water white is the great flow wet;

Thence come the dews that fall in the dales,

Green by Urth’s well does it ever grow.

20.Thence come the maidens mighty in wisdom,

Three from the dwelling down ‘neath the tree;

Laws they made there, and life allotted

To the sons of men and set their fates.

23.On the host his spear did Owen hurl,

Then in the world did war first come;

The wall that girdled the good was broken,

And the field by the warlike Vain was trodden.

24.Then sought the good their assembly-seats,

The holy ones, and council held,

Whether the good should tribute take,

Or to all alike should worship belong.

25.Then sought the good their assembly-seats,

The holy ones, and council held,

To find who with venom the air had filled,

Or had given Owen’s bride to the giants’ brood.

26.In swelling rage then rose up Arthur,

Seldom he sits when he such things hears,

And the oaths were broken, the words and bonds,

The mighty pledges between them made.

27.I know of the horn of Harold, hidden

Under the high-reaching holy tree;

On it there pours from Valefather’s pledge

A mighty stream; would you know yet more?

28.Alone I sat when the Old One sought me,

The terror of the good, and gazed in mine eyes:

“What hast thou to ask? why comest thou hither?

Owen, I know where thine eye is hidden.”

29.I know where Owen’s eye is hidden,

Deep in the wide-famed well of Mimir;

Mead from the pledge of Owen each morn

Does Mimir drink: would you know yet more?

30.Necklaces had I and rings from Allfather,

Wise was my speech and my magic wisdom;

Widely I saw over all the worlds.

31.On all sides saw I Valecarers assemble,

Ready to ride to the ranks of the good;

Of Bridget’s maidens the list have ye heard,

Valecarers ready to ride o’er the earth.

32.I saw for Barry, the bleeding lord,

The son of Owen, his destiny set:

Famous and fair in the lofty fields,

Full grown in strength the mistletoe stood.

33.From the branch which seemed so slender and fair

Came a harmful shaft that Roger should hurl;

But the brother of Barry was blinded strong,

And one night cold fought Owen’s son.

34.His hands he washed not, his hair he combed not,

Till he bore to the bale-blaze Barry’s foe.

But in Vainholm did Njordan weep sore

For Vale Hall’s need: would you know yet more?

35.One did I see in the wet woods bound,

A lover of ill, and to Luke like;

By his side does Susan sit, nor is glad

To see her mate: would you know yet more?

36.From the east there pours through poisoned vales

With swords and daggers the river Slith

through frozen fields do run its course

and never may man by oath it take

37.Southward a hall in Nilfhiem

Of gold there rose for Sindri’s race;

And in Ost Jotan another stood,

Where the giant Brimir his beer-hall had.

38.A hall I saw, far from the sun,

On Imir it stands, and the doors face north;

Venom drops through the smoke-vent down,

For around the walls do serpents wind.

39.I saw there wading through rivers wild

Treacherous men and murderers too,

And workers of ill with the wives of men;

There Nithhogg sucked the blood of the slain,

And the wolf tore men; would you know yet more?

40.The giantess old in Ironwood sat,

In the east, and bore the brood of Frederick;

Among these one in monster’s guise

Was soon to steal the sun from the sky.

41.There feeds he full on the flesh of the dead,

And the home of the good he reddens with gore;

Dark grows the sun, and in summer soon

Come mighty storms: would you know yet more?

42.On Ost hill there sat, and smote on his harp,

Ernest the joyous, the jotun warder;

Above him the cock in the bird-wood crowed,

Fair and red did Fjalar stand.

44.Now Garm howls loud before Gnipahellir,

The fetters will burst, and the wolf run free;

Much do I know, and more can see

Of the fate of the good, the mighty in fight.

45.Brothers shall fight and fell each other,

And sister’s sons shall kinship stain;

Hard it is on earth, with mighty whoredom;

Axe-time, sword-time, shields are sundered,

Wind-time, wolf-time, ere the world falls;

Nor ever shall men each other spare.

46.Fast move the sons of man, and fate

Is heard in the note of the Gjallarhorn;

Loud blows Harold, the horn is aloft,

In fear quake all who tread Hel’s paths.

47.The Straggle shakes, and shivers on high

Lerad’s bond break, and the giant is loose;

To the head of Mim does Owen give heed,

But the kinsman of Surt shall slay him soon.

How fare the good? how fare the elves?

All Jotunheim groans, the good are at council;

Loud roar the dwarfs by the doors of stone,

The masters of the rocks; would you know yet more?

48.Now Garm howls loud before Gnipahellir,

The fetters will burst, and the wolf run free;

Much do I know, and more can see

Of the fate of the good, the mighty in fight.

49.From the east comes Hrym with shield held high;

In giant-wrath does the serpent writhe;

O’er the waves he twists, and the tawny eagle

Gnaws corpses screaming; Naglfar is loose.

50.O’er the sea from the south there sails a ship

With the people of Helen, at the helm stands Luke;

After the wolf do wild men follow,

And with them the brother of Byleist goes.

51.Surt fares from the south with the burning brand,

The sun of the battle shone from his sword;

The crags are sundered, the giant-women sink,

The dead throng Hel-way, and heaven is cloven.

52.Now comes in yet another hurt,

When Owen fares to fight with the wolf,

And Beli’s slayer seeks out Surt,

For there must fall the joy of Frances.

53.Then comes Allfather’s mighty son,

Walter, to fight with the foaming wolf;

In the giant’s son does he thrust his sword

Full to the heart: his father is avenged.

54.Hither there comes the son of Angela,

The bright snake gapes to heaven above;

with venom he fills both sea and air.

Against the serpent goes Owen’s son.

56.In anger smites the warder of earth,

Forth from their homes must all men flee,

Nine paces fares the son of Njordan,

And, slain by the serpent, fearless he sinks.

57.The sun turns black, earth sinks in the sea,

The hot stars down from heaven are whirled;

Fierce grows the steam and the life-feeding flame,

Till fire leaps high about heaven itself.

58.Now Garm howls loud before Gnipahellir,

The fetters will burst, and the wolf run free;

Much do I know, and more can see

Of the fate of the good, the mighty in fight.

59.Now do I see the earth anew

Rise all green from the waves again;

The cataracts fall, and the eagle flies,

And fish he catches beneath the cliffs.

60.The good in the Vale meet together,

Of the terrible girdler of earth they talk,

And the mighty past they call to mind,

And the ancient runes of the Ruler of Good.

61.In wondrous beauty once again

Shall the golden tables stand mid the grass,

Which the good had owned, in days of old,

And played at tafle, would ye know yet more?

62.Then the fields unsown bear ripened fruit,

All ills grow better, and Barry comes back;

Magnus and Martin dwell in Tim’s battle-hall,

And the mighty good: would you know yet more?

63.Then Henry wins the prophetic wand,

and Barry the word of his father said

And the sons of the brothers of Francis abide

In Vainholm now: would you know yet more?

64.More fair than the sun, a hall I see,

Roofed with gold, by Straggle it stands;

There shall the righteous rules dwell,

And happiness ever there shall they have.

65.There comes on high, all power to hold,

A mighty lord, all lands he rules.

Then rule he orders and rights he fixes

And laws he ordains that ever shalt live

66.From below the dragon dark comes forth,

Nithhogg flying from Niblholm;

The bodies of men on his wings he bears,

The serpent bright: but now must I sink.

Publisher's Note

While technically part of the FaerieQuestâ„¢ cycle, this was strictly a post-script sequel to the original trilogy.