Twice as Cold: Shattered Heart
Scribe Notes
Notes for Twice as Cold, the party working for King Osidar Dagen.
By Portal By Sea
Introductions and briefing from Guild Security and Yarl Jaro.
We organise to depart tomorrow morning. The Guild has arranged for our employer and his party to be quartered above the Namers so they can be thoroughly divined overnight.
- W'ansday 2nd Frost
We meet up just after dawn, Broc portals us to the first of my portals then I lead us through to the Pagan Mountains.
From there Jaro's Rune Mage takes us to the north of Harbaal where we are due to meet up with Jaro's raiding fleet.
- Th'rsday 3rd Frost - Frysday 4th Frost
Sailing north up the coast. We are kept away from a couple of the boats in the fleet, Lucius investigates and finds those ships are carrying slaves captured in the raiding.
- Reapsday 5th Frost
Mordrin's team parts from us to land at Rydaen in the morning, we are due to arrive at Bilun later in the day.
Bilun
Bilun: Ruled by Jaro, Winter Home of King Osidar, Sheltered deep water harbour, long wharf big enough for two long ships, small town around harbour, keep on the hill.
King's Mission: Gather all of the pieces of Orm's heart and restore them, Orm doesn't want all of the pieces back and is likely to eat us or turn us to Iron if he finds out. King's Astrologer foresees our path as starting with a voyage to Swenway to the Throne of the High King. We will learn more during the voyage.
Southern (human) mercenaries arrive to check us over. Company: Bloody Mace. This group led by Jack (a Necro) with 2 other Necro's, an E&E, Air, Mind (wearing chain), and non-mage. Their company is employed by Erlon to help win the war. Jack has obvious concerns we may be a risk to their contract, he may have discrete orders to see us discredited so Jaro loses favour and Erlon gains. They spy on us and everything we do, we try not to notice or react.
Check out local town and 2 pubs (the one at the west end of town is a dive, makes F&F look classy). The other is clean and serves strong mead. Toledo deals to the local shipwright who is a mean drunk. The drunk has effective furs & chain, rune armour, over-human strength, and can throw lightning. - Disciple/follower/blessed of Thor?
Dine with nobles and significant townsfolk, impromptu and reasonably casual feast.
The lead Priestess here is discretely friendly to us. They need to maintain appearances and distance to maintain their position. Many of them were captured in raids and found refuge with priestesses if they couldn't adapt to being wives. They do not trust Jack & Co and subtly use us to warn them off any attempted poisoning. They tell me of the stone at Dagenholm that is a doorway to the lands of the dead. They may call the dead back through the doorway, resurrection at the stone is less draining.
Establish a travel point about a mile north of town.
- Sunday 6th Frost
The King has loaned us a 75' Longship and crew led by Captain Snorrie. I summon a Mage Current and start teaching their Water Mage how it is done. We sail south covering about 100 miles then see unnatural trails of smoke entwined above an island known to be a haunt of Fae. We stop to check it out.
A Seer from the Island Kingdom of Lorkis is there awaiting us, they have held a piece of Orm's heart (Justice) and do not wish to hold it any longer, they give it to us with some relief and share what they know of other fragments.
We spend the night there.
Sitri
Prompted by the presence of the Lorkis Seer, the captain mentions an old prophecy by the Seers relating to Svenway. We ask the sailors who each remember some of it and manage to piece together most of the prophecy. The interpretation seems fairly clear, the virtue from Orm is holding the Kingdoms together, when we remove it things are likely to fall apart. The only oddity is the Isle of Gly, why did the founding kings need to go there?
I alter the Isle a bit to create a better wind-break. Anooke starts making a Snow Simulacrum, finds it hard to concentrate so sits in an ice-block to complete the ritual.
After a while, Lucius notices blood splatter inside the block of ice, he alters his perception to reveal a Spectral Warrior slaying Anooke and alerts the rest of us. Faster than most of us can react, Toledo strikes the block of ice, shattering it and slaying the Spectral Warrior in one blow. We've no way of knowing who sent it but the Bloody Mace Necromancers are on the short list.
After being healed, Anooke tries again, this time sitting within the scry-shielded area and succeeds. He's very pleased with his ice monster, until it spooks the sailors and we make him send it further from camp.
- One-way communication from Mordrin's group: They show us the demands to be delivered from Orm, tell us of the Iron wives and of their plans to visit the Dwarves and the crows.
A few hours later we are woken by Anooke and Vychan, creatures have emerged from the sea on all sides to attack us: Ice Elementals, Earth Elementals coated/bound in Water, Humans, a Halfling, a Dark Elf, and a tough six-armed Naga that seems to be in charge.
The fight is nasty, the Naga almost sends Vychan to the Plane of Air; Toledo is cut down, kept alive by Trollskin and thrown clear of the melee by Vychan so I can heal him up; the Local Fae offer to help but Lucius, wise to the tricks of Fae calls for their surrender instead; I accidentally kill two of the attackers then Vychan finishes the fight by slaying the Naga.
I stabilise the wounded, healing is applied, Lucius charms the Dark Elf, Vychan and I talk to the surviving Earth Elemental and we start the questioning.
Vychan and Anooke loot our attackers, Vychan finds a scroll on their Naga-ish leader.
Our attackers are members of a cult of Sitri formerly of Eltrandor, now based on the Isle of Gly, they were here to kill the Seer and were surprised by our presence and solid resistance.
The Earth Elemental was summoned by a Stone Giantess on the Isle of Gly, she is bound/charmed/turned by the cult. It wants to free a Princess of the Sea who is captured by a destiny not of her making and it wants to beat on Mermaids and Kelpie because their incessant noise annoys him. These things may or may not be related to each other, concepts like causality are not necessarily the same for Elementals as they are for us.
While we are talking Sitri starts whispering to Lucius, enticing him to serve a new master, then a Valkyrie (Lynraal) arrives and Sitri goes silent. She is here for the souls of the Naga and the Human I killed, they owe a debt to Thor and Hel. We chat and establish credentials and mutual acquaintances, she shows us exactly where the Isle of Gly is but warns us that some of us, probably Lucius and Anooke will be turned if we go there. She also warns Lucius not to remain dead for too long in this area, otherwise she will have to come for him. We (except Lucius) may visit Lynraal at her temple in Lorkas, Lynraal is the newest Valkyrie.
I resurrect the Halfling I killed and leave him tied up with our other prisoner.
The Elemental mentions the ship they came on and the magic rock that allowed it to travel over the sea, Toledo and I retrieve the ship, as soon as it touches shore the Elemental leaps into the magic rock.
Rydaen
- Moonday 7th Frost
A storm blows in before dawn, we raise some temporary shelter and apply some cold protection to the sailors.
Lucius chats with the Fae, they will return within a day or so to tell us what they can find out about the shards of Orm's heart.
Two Ogres have snuck away with the Naga's corpse, Toledo and I talk to local Selkie, the Ogres have gone south and sought help from Kelpie. We ask if they know of anyone in their realm known for their Knowledge, they tell us of the Mermaid Princess who is missing. Asking more about her they refer us on to the Oracle who is a long way away but could summon us. We invite Anooke and Lucius into the water to meet the Selkie so they can be summoned too, Vychan declines as they won't remember him anyway.
While waiting for the Fae, we decide to take the captured ship and loot to the Guild Namer and Rune mage at Rydaen for Divination. Captain Snorrie and his mate join us so we don't get lost, Anooke creates an Iceberg, we tie the ship on and get towed through the bad weather to Rydaen.
Leaving the ship dragged up on the beach and tied off we slog through the blizzard to the main hall where the guild reps are. The locals are sleepily full and drunk after a long feast, we make contact without drawing too much attention. Duncan and William are happy to start the Divinations, but their allocated corner of the main hall is neither very secure nor discrete. I carve out an underground chamber, Anooke and Lucius conceal the stone-slab-trapdoor entrance behind the granary. Vychan tries to shrink to better fit in the chamber but something goes wrong and he start shedding bits of himself. William divines Vychan, Duncan divines the Earth Rock, Disenchanting Sword, and Mana Mace for us so we can take them away now.
Taking our leave we hike away from town but can't get lost, someone or something is observing us. I call on Deep Street to take us underground to a mile out of town where we try again but are still being observed, changing plans we start walking to the beach when the four of us are summoned into the water, leaving Vychan alone on the beach.
- Vychan
Abandoned by the party, he waits on the beach for their return, they said they would only be gone 7 minutes...
10 minutes later, they're late, it's cold, Vychan raises a ring of stone then settles down to rest within its shelter...
Some time later, heavy footsteps on the beach, voices on the wind, and then a hammering on the ring of stone. Vychan drops the wall to see who it is.
The Frost Giant and his two wives are initially surprised to find another Giant on the beach, then he starts getting annoyed as Vychan turns on the charm to steal his wives. Posturing, threats, apologies, an invitation to answer to Orm, more flirting and finally the fight begins.
Vychan initially holds back then strikes a couple of solid blows, another Giant heals Vychan's opponent, a Drow with them recognises Vychan, the fight resumes until Vychan decides to bribe his way out of it.
Left alone he starts walking back to Rydaen until he is met by a familiar giant Wolf. The wolf gives him a message to deliver and a head start before he is hunted down.
Vychan runs to the village then on up to the main hall.
We race across the water and then descend into the depths, our summoning ends with us facing an octi-woman (mostly humanoid head and torso with octopus-like tentacles instead of legs).
The Oracle knows of two of the heart shards that are underwater, one is the Dwarven Axe in Dergen Fiord, the other was with the Mermaid Princess. She doesn't know exactly where the Princess is but she's not in the sea, she will ask the searching mermaids to contact us and tell us what they know. About that time we notice Vychan is getting badly damaged, healed, then damaged again. We ask to be returned to the beach but that is not possible, the closest we can be returned to is the island where we met the Selkie.
Rushing through the water again we reach the island, then cross to the larger island to the south to get lost to near Rydaen. Following the Locate on Vychan we get to him about 5 minutes before we would have forgotten him.
Anooke raids the food on the tables and we're starting to attract too much attention, leaving quickly we head out of town and this time manage to get lost.
From the southern island we cross back to our half-frozen crew, raise a fresh windbreak, treat some frost bite, then get some rest. Except for Lucius who gets hounded by the returned Fae who have been waiting for AGES!
7 Days by Sea
Lucius negotiates with the Fae, at our request they take our two prisoners to serve for a year and a day as the price for bringing war to their Isle.
- Duesday 8th Frost
With a favourable gale we sail south then west and make it to Fuhrelling just after sunset. This is a bustling town, the big city of the area. We explore town while the crew trade and refresh supplies.
A fox boldly walks through town attracting stares, tracks down Vychan then sits and stares at him for a while until he shoos it away.
Two giant white wolves are sitting outside the temple of Loki, it turns out they are waiting for us to deliver a message sent to their seers in dream. (paraphrased) Further intrusions of our young gods are not welcome in this land. We primarily interpret this as admonishing Lucius to stop consecrating their land to the powers of light. We chat a bit more with the Wolves, they are puzzled by Vychan as he seems familiar but he is not part of the dream. Vychan later reminds us that he was once host to Loki, we smile and nod - we all recall the story and know that it was someone else that hosted Loki, Boulder or Motley maybe. The Wolves also ask if we are assassins like the other Elves, looking around the edge of the crowd I locate Raithe & see Moonshae.
Taking our leave from the Wolves, we head over to meet with Raithe. We exchange pleasantries and discuss business. They are looking for Destinian ships, I describe my ship but their quarry is another older ship. They guess we are working for the Dagens so we might come into conflict as they plan to accept work helping the Kingdom of Menglana, we clarify we are not involved in the war, another mercenary company is involved in that. We finish our tea and part ways.
Heading west out of town I find a rocky gully I could get lost in or to just over a mile from town. Then we return to town, have a hot dinner and drinks at a tavern and return to our ship to camp for the night.
- W'ansday 9th Frost
Leaving early, we spend the day sailing around the coast to Suteling. This is a smaller town, similar in size to Bilun but they are doing lots of construction work.
We maintain a low profile and scry the keep while our crew engages in trade, later that night we sneak past town and find a spot to the north where we could get lost then return to the ship.
- Th'rsday 10th Frost
Captain Snorrie has a lead on a good deal for buying pelts but it's about a day's march up river, to hurry things up we offer to mage current the ship up. A peaceful village, we talk, explore and rest while the captain makes his deal.
- Frysday 11th Frost
Back down river then out to sea heading west for Tavu Isle, sailing all day and through the night. Mordrin and party arrive shortly after their Windspeech to Toledo, we catch up as we sail into Tavu Isle.
- Reapsday 12th Frost
The Captain makes a show of resupplying, we sneak inland to find somewhere Mordrin and I can get lost and to dig a bunker where Broc sets up a Rune portal. The others depart and we set sail south.
- Sunday 13th Frost
Sailing South West across open sea.
- Moonday 14th Frost
Arrive at Chelamby, a Destiny backed trading port and a bustling city. Our crew need a week to make their deals, we leave them and island hop until we find one big and unoccupied enough to get lost to Borin. We spend the rest of the day creating a discrete but more extensive underground camp.
Stormy Weather
Waiting for daylight, we make stone tablets with the message from Orm for Indeheim and Suteling. Toledo engraves them with his blood.
- Duesday 15th Frost
We decide to head to Indeheim, getting lost to just south of the Fae Isle, we head out over water and land towards Indeheim.
Stormy seas, strong currents, heavy snow and gales slow our progress. An estimated 5 hour trip becomes 15 hours.
Toledo gets snippets of Elven conversation on Wind Speech, talking about a job to kill a group of people operating from a ship from the castle. Other snippets follow, and later there is a message suggesting it would be beneficial if Toledo could meet someone (Raithe) in Dagenheim for lunch on the 17th.
We also pass through a forested area where there are sounds of wood chopping but no sign of woodsmen and in weather that would be deadly to most woodsmen. We decide not to investigate.
Some time after midnight we eventually make underground camp about 2 miles down the coast from what we presume is Indeheim.
- W'nsday 16th Frost
We sleep late then take time to make Lucius, Toledo, and Vychan (at human size) unremarkable so we can discretely scout the town. We're about to head out when Vychan's Elemental reports that there are 3 other Elementals and a large group of people about half a mile from town. We discuss strategies to avoid them, most of which would expose us to scrying or seem rather suspicious.
We decide on brazen stealth, making Anooke and myself unremarkable we start walking into town down the main trail with loads of firewood. The group of burrows and dwellings where the Elementals are is covered by an area of calm and an Air Elemental hovers over it. We carry on walking and try not to break our cover, as we're almost through an Earth Elemental emerges and looks us over very carefully, we try to look scared, when it lets us proceed we move on at a fast pace until we reach the gates.
Inside the palisade we dump our firewood in a worthy corner and walk through town looking for signs or Orm's Wealth Virtue. The main hall has a silver statue of a large fish hanging about 30' above the main doors, we confirm this contains the Virtue.
We accept invitation to enter the hall, going with the Mercenaries for hire story. Unremarkable as we are we get put at the bottom of the queue which means a wait of several hours to talk to the Jarl.
It's warm, food and drink are bought for us, we check out others in the hall, chat with locals, and pick up that this is not a normal day. The Jarl is urgently hiring mercenaries to prepare for a threat his seers have told him to expect to strike tonight.
We are introduced to a cursed child of Lucius' race, a Drow child of 42 who is cursed not to age. She only speaks Drow so I translate for Lucius who offers the child a home in Ladlaugh, the child accepts and we negotiate her slave price with the locals.
We try to jump the queue by mentioning we carry an important message, it piques their interest but not enough to make those ahead of us wait.
Eventually it's out turn, we hand over the tablet with Orm's message and ask for the Virtue, initially the Jarl thinks we are attempting blackmail, we manage to convince him of our sincerity but we will need to convince the elders tonight before he can consider agreeing.
We mention the group with the Elementals on the road, the Jarl tells us they are working for him, providing protection against the mercenaries working for the Dagens. We admit to working for the Dagens but distance ourselves from the other mercenaries (Bloody Mace) that are working for them. The Jarl tells us they are expecting an attack at sunset, there will be death on the air. He offers us refuge with their women and elderly which we decline.
Ships in the Mist
We sit and wait and chat. After sunset we head out the side of the hall to refresh spells and let Anooke summon some more ice friends. The clan elders talk while we're outside, some of the talk gets loud and heated, a little while after Anooke is finished we are summoned in. The Dagens hold a Gauntlet that has significant ceremonial value to Indeheim, they will give us the heart in return for the Gauntlet, we agree. They bring in the fish, I carefully extract the virtue and pass it to Toledo to keep safe. We are to return the gauntlet to them as soon as possible, if we cannot then we are to return the virtue and they will present it to Orm themselves.
The attack has not happened yet, if we leave with the virtue then it may not happen at all.
We leave and get lost to Bilun and make our way through the snow and ice to the keep, finding an empty corner we settle in to get some sleep. A couple of hours later Toledo and I are awoken by the Priestesses for a chat, we catch them up on events, they knot a cord for us to pass on to their sisters in Dagenborg and they will speak to the king about the Gauntlet in the morning.
- Th'rsday 17th Frost
6am, we're woken for breakfast with the king. He gives us some runes on a string to authorise the Gauntlet being given to us.
Outside, Toledo sends a message to the other party to let them know what's going on.
Down to the beach then floating west by iceberg and mage current, 4 hours later with 10' visibility through the storm, we float into the outer harbour and head for shore, then I realise this isn't the harbour and the ships are not local, these are Destinian ships and the crews are not Destinian, I recognise one of the people on watch on deck as one of The Bloody Mace. Overhearing a snippet of conversation they mention virtues and whether 'she' has found any more of them.
We back off while Lucius searches the ship with his Eye, below decks he finds a beautiful mermaid imprisoned in a large tun. Below the ships the water is only 20' deep, I can see some Selkie lurking near the ships, kept at bay by Bound Water and an Elemental, the Elemental is starting to pay attention to us so it's time to leave.
A couple of bays further on we find the correct harbour, dismissing the ice and landing on the beach we make our way into town to the foreigners Inn where we are due to meet Raithe.
Saldorolt decides to skip our meeting and have lunch separately, I incorrectly decide to keep Claire (our young Drow) with us, as soon as we enter the meeting room, Moonshae (from outside somewhere) shoots Claire dead. Raithe is insulted we bought a Drow into their presence, Lucius is livid they killed his charge, it almost devolves into an all out fight then we manage to get Lucius to retire to the main common room. I tell Raithe we may have found the ships they're after, he tells us the Engravers Guild of Khatovar has put a 150,000sp bounty on Toledo's head, they have agents in town who tried to hire M&R to do the job and claim to have the reward available in Chelemby.
Meanwhile Lucius and Moonshae have been chatting out front, all going well until Lucius brings up reconciliation with Drow, Moonshae gives Lucius a warning stab in the shoulder, Lucius defends himself by consecrating the ground. M&R disappear in puffs of black smoke, R. leaves behind a swarm of poisoned seeker darts which hit and poison Toledo, Anooke and one of the serving women. The ground ripples, smokes and writhes, an Agent of Loki arrives to call Vychan to account for consecrating ground to angels after it was specifically forbidden, Vychan trades an old favour to get us out of trouble.
I barely manage to cure the poison and stop the bleeding before Toledo dies, then I cure Anooke, cure and resurrect the waitress, and resurrect Claire. Toledo and Anooke have some damage that will require further healing.
Pirate Bay
We make our way up to the castle and in to see the priestesses. There we explain who we are and why we're here and present the message string from the priestesses in Bilun. We discuss the ritual to restore the fragments of Orm's heart, they will reluctantly teach a few of us but would prefer to do it themselves, it is mostly the undoing of the previous rituals to extract the virtues.
Leaving Toledo in charge, I leave town (by Windwalk from the Priestesses) and then get lost to Tavu Isle, there I find Mordrin's party and lead them back to Dagenborg.
Toledo has been communicating with Wraithe by windspeech, M&W want the ships and their cargo, they will take them at dusk tomorrow, they don't want us tracking them or interfering with them in any way. We respond we'll attack and remove what we need (the Mermaid Princess and by midday tomorrow. We later find out that M&W have coerced the Priestesses into helping to take the ships, the Priestesses suggest it would be best if we weren't near the castle tomorrow night.
- Frysday 18th Frost
We finish our preparations, have a hearty breakfast, then leave the castle. First flying to about a mile from the bay where the ships are, then Deepstreet takes us closer. As we get close Deepstreet stops, Vychan can see a water filled underground cavern ahead of us, Broc scries the cavern and is wary of a large number of undead within it. We carefully manoeuvre around the cavern, following Lucius' locate of the Mermaid, trying to get closer. We emerge underwater near the rear of one of the ships, I dismiss Deepstreet, raise two walls through the water, then open a tunnel to the surface, Anooke bridges the gap to the deck with ice, Shemin-ah provides Ice Traversal, Mordrin, Toledo, and Mebh lead the charge on board.
The decks are well populated with fighters and mages, they are evidently expecting trouble. An area effect (presumably Bane) makes our spell casting a lot (-50%) harder. There are land camps on either side of the bay, reinforcements from these start coming through some sort of brazier-based Teleport. Broc hits the mages on the upper deck with a couple of fireballs, this slows their spell casting but doesn't stop it as they seem able to drain some of the fighters to heal themselves. A Water Elemental emerges near our mages, Vychan engages it. The deck melee is going our way so far...
The Bloody Mace
All but the earth mages make it on board before Vychan's flash flood goes off and we disappear under the flood waters. Mordrin and Anooke get washed downstairs, the melee splits up a bit, Broc gets isolated and surrounded, Toledo mixes it up with the mages and their brazier. The Bane ends.
Mini-Vychan and I leap from the flood waters and glide to the rescue (NB Vychan denies he was being rescued by Braegon, it was a joint tactical manoeuvre), Vychan tramples most bad guys on deck, Shemin-ah gets shot down by magic, I start a losing battle of tug-of-war over her body with the Water Elemental, ending it by commanding it to flee, this worked all too well, the elemental fled, so did half the bad guys on deck and half the party on deck. Anooke stops the mill below decks, the bad guys become easier to hit. More Necrosis and Shemin-ah dies, we're swigging down healing potions and the bad guys are draining minions to stay standing. Heading downstairs I resurrect Shemin-ah, Toledo nimbly leaps over me then Vychan bowls me off the stairs with Lucius' corpse, I resurrect Lucius. Mebh beserkly charges down stairs leaving Eltan alone on deck, Eltan is unable to fight free before he is overwhelmed and killed.
Fighters and mages teleport in, Mordrin and Broc engage them, Broc floods the area with blinding light - unfortunately all of the bad guys can see through it and most of our side can't. Things go badly, the enemy mages throw Hellfire and Necrosis, Mordrin collapses from magical damage, Broc collapses before he can counter his light then is killed before I can get close enough to heal him. Another Bane takes effect.
Mebh banishes the light, Toledo, Mebh, and Anooke engage the enemy mages, including their leader Jack. I command the Bloody Mace to withdraw, some do but Jack rallies the rest. Broc's body is mutilated by one of the Necromancers (some form of attack that Toledo resists) then she teleports away with it. I heal Mordrin up and she rejoins the melee, Vychan turns into a rat to get across the crowded hold and runs into three Spectral Warriors that have just arrived for him and promptly kill him.
Badly damaged by our melee team, the enemy mages teleport away, I resurrect Vychan.
| Anooke | Ok, at 0% Death Buzz | Broc | Dead and abducted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Braegon | Ok, at -30% Life Buzz | Eltan | Dead on deck |
| Lucius | Resurrected, no buffs, full EN, 5 FT | Mebh | Ok |
| Toledo | Ok | Mordrin | Ok |
| Vychan | Resurrected, no buffs, 1 EN 0 FT | Shemin-ah | Resurrected, no buffs, healed |
An Angel and a Valkyrie walk into a ship...
A moment of breathing space, Toledo, Shemin-ah and I head downstairs to get the Mermaid, the others will hold this deck.
More fighters and mages teleport in, bloody battle ensues, apart from the Spectral Warriors that return and kill Vychan again, the fight swings our way. Mebh resurrects Vychan, this time Vychan gets a Necro counterspell down before the Spectral Warriors return. We break the Mermaid out and I carry her upstairs while Toledo clears the way.
At the other end of the deck, some Undead appear, including Broc and Eltan who hurt Mordrin before she and Mebh kill them. There are reports of Angels and Valkyrie fighting on the deck above us, then one of each comes down the stairs behind the undead, Mordrin beserkly charges them, Angelic white-fire flashes over the deck striking down the undead and evil giants - Vychan dies again.
We talk down Mordrin, the Valkyrie and the Angel, I resurrect Broc, Eltan, and Vychan. We are required to present ourselves at the temple in Fuhrelling in two days time. Broc opens a portal to Tavu Isle and we leave.
Broc needs both eyes regenerated, Eltan is missing a hand, and the rest of us have many lesser injuries.
The Willing Prince
The Healing begins.
- Reapsday 19th Frost
Resting and Healing.
Toledo sends a message to Raithe asking after the gear that was stolen from Broc and Eltan while they were dead.
Vychan believe Seir is in the area hunting for those who killed his agent, he expects that we'll be attacked when we get to Fuhrelling. With Broc (an Angelic agent) in the other party they are likely to be killed on sight, so we decide we should go to Fuhrelling first to intercept Seir and try to clear the air.
- Sunday 20th Frost
We head out before dawn, getting lost to near Fuhrelling then getting out to more open ground before Vychan attempts to summon Seir.
There's a twinkling in the air then Vychan disappears, we wait...
Seir deposits a Gorgon near us, we don't share a language, she blames us for dragging her away from home and attacks. We manage to capture her without harm but in stepping out to knock her out, Toledo leaves our Air counterspell and gets teleported away by Seir.
I try to negotiate with Seir but he accuses me of trying to charm him and leaves.
Seir sends an agent, some of the explanations have sunk in, Seir no longer accuses us of killing his agents, but we should make it right by destroying the agents of Sitri, Toledo is being sent to Gly to do so, we agree to help, Anooke and I arrive next to Toledo and Vychan, Lucius has been deliberately left behind.
The shore of the Isle has undead embedded into it, stepping out of the water will probably lead to us being drained and attacked, at best it would probably trigger alarms. We can see a couple of Cyclops are already heading our way from inland.
We float around the island to look for a better landing point. We find a shallow harbour protected by a reef and pause to check it out, Seir takes Vychan and Anooke. Toledo and I consider for a moment whether we could take the island by ourselves, then move on to trying to work out what plan B is.
Seir takes Toledo away to negotiate, Toledo agrees to acquire a vial of Valkyrie blood in return for the bodies of Anooke, Lucius and Vychan (once Seir has finished with him). It seems their negotiations with Seir didn't go well. Seir returns Toledo, we have 30 minutes to acquire the blood
We make our way further around the island to the sea-cave home of local Selkie, they loan us the space to try summoning a Valkyrie. I take Toledo (who is inarguably a Hero) to the point of death and bring him back to try attracting the attention of a Valkyrie, it works.
Toledo and the Valkyrie talk, then fight. Toledo earns the vial of blood, the Valkyrie gives Toledo a rod, if he breaks it when we are all together it will help restore our balance with the Norns, then she leaves.
We leave the cave and call to Seir, his minion appears and we are transported to Hell to complete the deal. Trust is an issue on both sides but we make the exchange and get the bodies back. Seir's minion asks whether we would like to be transported to see the Norns and settle things with them, or somewhere else. We take the not-given advice and ask to be taken to the Norns.
On arrival outside the Norn's cave, Toledo and I agree now would be a good time to use the Valkyrie's gift, he breaks the rod, we find ourselves back outside Fuhrelling and a Valkyrie is there. She tells Toledo he can break another hand span off the rod to summon them again if he has need.
Lucius no longer has Jus and cannot summon it.
Not Breaking Swenway
We pause to rest, sitting in a ring of stone recovering energy and recasting magic when a Demonic hit-squad turns up for Vychan the oath-breaker. It turns out that everyone can now remember Vychan but he has a price on his head for renouncing Seir and breaking his pact. Lucius tries again and manages to summon Uriel's sword but it comes embedded in a young woman from Brandenburg, mortally wounded she dies during the attack. The hit-squad seem satisfied with petrifying Vychan and withdraw, we hide and recover, Vychan shakes off the petrifaction and the hit-squad starts back then appears to be attacked by an Earth Elemental, we hide.
Eventually we feel armoured enough to venture out, there is no sign of the hit squad nor of what attacked it, while checking for tracks we spot a cloud descending, assuming it is another group coming for Vychan we disappear into the snow storm and head for town.
Making our way to the temple we are met by one of Loki's Wolves, if we enter the temple we will bring trouble. To meet with the Valkyrie we should kill some of the evil cultists or go to the funeral pyre of a great hero whose funeral is today. We head out of town to find the cultists but have to give up when we realise we've no way of finding them and head for the pyre instead.
It is a big and lavish funeral, the pyre is large enough to burn the hero in his longship. Waiting within the bonfire we attract the attention of the Valkyrie. We talk and settle matters, we are not popular in these parts but at least we are no longer on the kill on sight list. They mention that Hel will help us with a virtue and that her priestess is looking for us.
Back at the temple I resurrect the girl who came with Lucius' sword, she is a minor noble of the Summers family of Brandenburg (a cousin of Lizette), she was given the sword by a Urielite priest and tasked with taking it to the capitol, just out of town she was attacked and remembers nothing more. We figure she is safer staying in Fuhrelling than travelling with us but promise to return later to take her home.
Leaving Fuhrelling we get lost to Indeheim, there Toledo gives the Jarl the Gauntlet, they are in the middle of celebrating laying the keel of a new ship, our gift ups the tempo of the celebrations, we stay and celebrate with them for a couple of hours before making our excuses and heading to Dagenheim.
We meet with the high priestess and receive the sanctuary of their tower to rest.
- Moonday 21st Frost
We spend the day resting, in the evening we get lost to Suteling and sneak up to the keep. Entering through the dungeons we find a couple of Elves and some Western Kingdom humans captured during raiding, with some difficulty we sneak into the throne room and remove the dragon shaped virtue from the throne, then leave taking the prisoners with us.
Back at Dagenheim, Vychan and Lucius wait outside while we take the virtue to the lands of the dead. Hel creates a lesser copy of the virtue for us.
Returning to Suteling we sneak up to the keep, this time Toledo uses his Wall Walking to pass through the outer wall and put the new copy in the throne in place of the old. Apart from the jail break we hope they will not suspect anything.
- Duesday 22nd Frost
Lucius and his young Drow fall-out over approaches to Elfheim politics. We make a deal with Raithe for Eltan and Brocs equipment, the Drow will join them as their new apprentice.
Getting lost to Chelamby, we track down our Longship crew.
- W'ansday 23rd Frost - Reapsday 26th Frost
Set sail for Bilun getting there without incident a couple of days later.
Session 13
Buffs
| Magic | Rk | Effects | Dur | Caster | Bra | Tol | Vyc | Ano | Luc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armour of Earth | 21 | +44 Def -2 Damage | 11 hrs | Br | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Strength of Stone | 20 | +20 EN | 21 hrs | Br | A | ||||
| Strength of Stone | 20 | +20 EN | 21 hrs | Vy | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Greater Heart Rune * | 9 | 8 EN cured on 1st EN Damage | 10 days | Broc | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Willow Healing * | 6 | 3EN/pulse for 8 pulses once Broc enables | 12 Hours | Broc | |||||
| Fire Armour | 20 | 100 Ablative Mag. Fire | 21 hrs | Br | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Heat Shield | 9 | 40 ablative Mag. Cold | 10 hrs | Br | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Fireproofing | 7 | Prot. Normal Fire, -3 Dam | 7 hrs | Br | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Cold Resistance | 12 | Increases Gauge +4, max 7, -4 Dam | 13 hrs | Ano | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Cold Resistance | 9 | Protect to -18°C, -3 Dam | 10 hrs | Br | |||||
| Waterproofing | 7 | Dry, protection from Rainstorm | 8 hrs | Br | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Water Breathing | 6 | Breathe and see in Water | 7 hrs | Br | |||||
| Buoyancy | 6 | Up/down 17'/pulse, withstand pressure | 3½ hrs | Br | Y | ||||
| Weapon of Cold | 18 | +19% + 6 dam | 23 min | - | - | ||||
| Ice Traversal | 6? | 2 people +3 TMR on ice | 140 mins | Ano |
- * NOTE: Broc must draw this on the skin of the targets heart
- Lucius - Rk 10 Enhance Enchant
- Braegon - Hair Braiding (Rk 7 Skill)
- Sometimes (30 mins per person per day): +50% resistance vs Charm (Demonic, Spells, Bardic Voice). -25% melee damage from attacks from behind. Enhance Duration of one 2+ hour spell until next dawn.
- Rarely (1 hour per person per day) +3 AG (or +2 over racial max).
- Anti-scrying (Rk 21 Spell)
- Braegon + 3 hex radius while on the ground. Undetectable to scrying (including Wizards Eye); Blocks Rk 20 (or lower) Locate, Telepathy, ESP.
Mil Sci
| Watches | |
|---|---|
| 2h | Toledo & Braegon |
| 4h | Toledo & Lucius |
| 4h | Vychan & Anooke |
| 3h | Vychan & Braegon |
| 3h | Toledo & Braegon |
Loot
| Item | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Longship | 75' Longship in need of repair | Rydaen |
| Rock of Earth | Ambergris, counts as contact with Earth for mages. | Braegon |
| Chains | Distraction | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| Rock | Medium Enchantment | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| H1/2 Sword | +5% +3 Dam, Resist vs E&E or unable to cast for D Mins | Toledo |
| H1/2 Sword | +5% +5 Dam or +7 Dam vs mages | Vychan |
| Armour | Blackened Rank Armour | Toledo |
| Staff | Stores up to 10 FT for casting, requires Robes | 'Vault' |
| Mace | Catastrophic Impact - does B & C Class | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| Vial of Air | Magic & Long-Lived Sentient, Contains an Air Spirit | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| Iron Armour | Protection | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| Padded Armour | Protection | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| Robes | Elemental, Enchantment, from Freetown | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| Robes | Elemental, Enchantment, from Freetown | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| Improved Leather | Non-magical 5pt Leather | Rydaen 'Vault' |
| Glowing Beads | Grant light underwater | Toledo |
