View source for Twice as Cold: The Dragon's Embassy

<div style="float: right; font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10px; ">__TOC__</div>
[[Category:Kelsie McArthur]][[Category:Scribe Notes]]
Return to [[Twice as Cold]]<br>

This is a combined game. There are two games involved, one GMed by Jono and the other by Kelsie. 

It will involve:
* A journey to [[Ivinia]] which is in the far cold [[Maps of Western Alusia|north of Alusia]].
* The parties will be working for Yarl Jaro Dagen, who is a son of King Osidar Dagen of Ibanvaal. 
* Guild Security feels that it will also involve working for a Evil Dragon.
* Some Good fairies, which may be Elves or Sea Elves (its unclear).

Other infomation:<br>
[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B12BfjlQDqeMOWNlMjI4MGEtMmFhMy00NjlhLWJlYWEtY2NkYjAzZDQ2M2M5&hl=en_US&authkey=COPfgKcC An Astrology reading] from Nilus Voldtars ([[Seagate_Guild#Astrology |Guild Astrologer]]) may be of interest. 

'''Payment:'''<br>
Jaro Dagen is offering to pay the parties with a [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B12BfjlQDqeMZGU3MGU4Y2MtNGQwMC00Mzk3LWJiOTEtNWVmZmEwZjE4MWE0&hl=en_US&authkey=CLygpNgI Deed to two ships].   [[Father Broc]] has purchased the larger ship for 200,000sp and [[Braegon]] has purchased the smaller one for 90,000sp. This will be split as 20,000sp each and the remainder to cover expenses or awarded as discretionary bonuses. 

'''From the Guild and employer''' <br>
12 X [https://docs.google.com/document/d/12ieHYY4IkqbLeNf_BgGpviqtJfqO13CITzEAZTZdpbU/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CKXMoBQ Salamander tears] 5 X [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c6B9tK6SzbK5xt5o-Q2Mr4ovX4bBuszZYfDV3OczQaE/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CKj1sOsH Crown of Hair]
1 X [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B12BfjlQDqeMNGQxNjY3ZGYtNWZiNy00NjM3LWFkODUtNGU5MmU3MGFlNDFj&hl=en_US&authkey=CKH4m_EI Virtue of Majesty]
<br>
The Guild is sending along three members to do some research:<br> 
* Elder Duncan Carwill Rune Master from Freetown (Guild Rune mage). 
* Lord Dilworth of Brastor (Released from Duke Leto's Court a Warrior & Mind Mage who will be acting as Bodyguard) and his Batman 
* William Boldman (Namer, and cooking).

=Summary - Kelsie= 
'''Adventure:''' Twice as Cold - The Dragon's Embassy<br>
'''GM:''' [[Kelsie]] <br>
'''Session:''' Winter 811 <br>
'''Night:''' Monday starting at 6:30pm<br>
'''Location''' Albany<br>
'''Level''': [[Experience#Quest_Level|Medium]]. <br>
'''Information''': Print out this form - [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_yPTvXGLRnkNTBiYTM4ZjEtODQ2ZC00YTc3LTg2MzItYWNhNWZhNzBlOGM5&hl=en_GB&authkey=CJHoiMgL Character info]- and fill it out, or vice versa. Bring me hard copy<br>
'''House Rules''': None at this point.
<br>
Bonus Exp will be given out from time to time, and serious exp for up to date scribe notes.

=The Party:=

* [[Mordrin]] - Clare Baldock - Party Leader
* [[Father Broc]] - Chris - Scribe
* [[Shemin-ah]] - Rosemary Ice mage [[Shemin-ah]]
* [[Mebh]] - Julia - Mil Sci
* [[Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature]] - Joe

= Father Broc's Research ==
* on [[Politics in Ivinia]]<br>
* on [[Orm the Dragon]]

= Scribe Notes =

= Guild Meeting day - 1st of Frost  =

'''This is the start of the Winter 811 session.''' <br> 

We get briefed by our party employer Jaro after being briefed by the ever vigilant guild security. We discover that the employer may not be telling us all the relevant information and while he is esrtwhile employing us on his father, the King's behalf, our local information will be slanted towards making Jaro look good over the bodies of his competitive family members and possibly our bodies. We learn some of the information that he wanted kept from us but there's a lot of duplicity in his head and so we will depart being wary of him and his motives.<br> 

The Guild is sending along three members to do some research; 

*Elder Duncan Carwill Rune Master from Freetown (Guild Rune mage). 
*Lord Dilworth of Brastor (Released from Duke Leto's Court - he is a Warrior &amp; Mind Mage who will be acting as Bodyguard to Elder Duncan) and his batman/valet William Boldman, who is a Namer and good with cooking etc.

These 3 will be 'researching' some things while in the north and they and the guild would be grateful if both adventuring parties could keep them safe from harm and a general eye on them. I am sure that once there we will arrange some means of keeping an eye on them and quickly getting to them in times of need as we seem that sort of group <br> 

We are being employed to undertake work for Orm the Dragon by Jaro. We are to .... <br> We have been given some items to help, assist or further our mission. These items are a [[Rashak's Rod of Control|Sceptre]], A [[Crown of Hair]] and some [[Salamander tears]]. 

Our part of the super (there are 2 parties) party will be dealing with the [[Orm the Dragon]] and so we have been lent "Crowns of Hair" which hold mind cloak magic so that he can't discover what we know of him or what our thoughts are at times. We have decided that since the culture of the area gives greater importance to men with beards and who have 3 or more wives that I will be the husband of our group which comprises some very feisty women and [[Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature|Eltan]] who will be an accompanying child or some such. [[Mebh]], [[Shemin-ah]] and [[Mordrin]] will be my 'wives' (I don't think I could have found a more dangerous, vicious, nasty and brutally beautiful group of guild women if I'd tried) and do as their husband instructs (hopefully and of course after I consult with my wives as to what I am thinking/doing) as is the local culture. My role is explicitly to be the 'husband' to my 'wives' (in name only) and to play the role as husbands do in these northern climates.  <br> 

We have also been given silver bracelets with runes on them that will let anyone who finds or captures us that the Dagen clan will pay our ransom and we have had linking life forces cast upon all of us as well. 

We plan to leave early the following morning and so after so preparation the party largely settles down to rest while I spend yet another long evening and into the morning doing research in the guild library on our likely destination, local politics, notable denizens and whatever else I can find. I have a lot of specialty philisophical knowledge mainly covering [[Western Kingdom]] topics but I do have some others that may be applicable to our mission. <br> 

== W'ansday 2nd Frost  ==

We meet up just after dawn, I portal us to the first of Braegon's portals then he leads us through to the [[Pagan Mountains]] and 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 &amp; 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  ==

The day starts cold and chilly with a reasonable breeze bringing the temperatures below zero but after 2 days of travel we find ourselves at our destination, the settlement of Rydaen. Jaro tells us that Rydaen is looked after by one of his Jarls, a man named Stein Erjolafson who holds the settlement and pays tribute to Jaro. Stein has the Dragon Orm living in a cave 5 miles from his settlement and it was he who prompted Jaro to get us up here to help. The dawn at 9am shows us a small but orderly settlement of the rounded solid houses favoured up here in the cold north. <br> 

We are soon beached on the shore and we alight the longboat along with Jaro, Duncan, Dilworth and William and head up to the high point in the settlement which has an earthen rampart and palisade around a large 'longhouse' that marks it as important and of higher standing than those around it. The people of the settlement recognize Jaro and mouth welcome and then watch us as we move up to the elevated longhouse. Outside the palisade are some guards on the gate who greet us and then fetch Stein to meet us. We soon see a huge red headed and heavily bearded human male who greets his lord Jaro and is introduced as Stein Erjolafson and we introduce ourselves before Jaro takes his leave having accomplished his task and returns to the longboat and out to sea. <br> 

We enjoy Stein's hospitality in his large longhouse and he tells us a tale of why we are now here. Stein says "The Dragon Orm, who resides in a cave near here has awoken after a slumber of 7 generations and he sent me a message in my dreams that has lead to you being here at this time. In my dream Orm told me to get a party of adventurers from the 'Seagate Guild of Adventurers' and bring them here to help him. <br> 

Orm the next day then sent back to us 9 wives that he had been sent 7 generations ago as a sign of goodwill" We ask questions around Orm and the area where we discover that he is in league with Drow, Orcs and Giants, many of whom have recently (in the last 5 years) come to reside near Orm in his cave system in/on a nearby hill. The local Skald (which is an equivalent bard) doesn't know much about Orm or what has happened in the past Stein tells us and so we need to find out more specific details from Orm. <br> 

Stein goes on to say "Orm wants more courage and he wants his courage back from the Dagens who have stolen it from him when they beat him 7 generations ago. The Dagen clan of which Jaro is the King's son is known for its courage and strong leadership. <br> 

We ask to speak with some of the 9 wives that Orm returned and we learn that they were returned with the start of Spring 810 and that 6 of the 9 have been sent back to where they came from but 3 can't remember where they came from or where they originated no longer exists and so they are here with Stein until something can be done with them. The 3 remaining returned wives are Hervor, Heldys and Aea who we talk with and get information on the cave and miscellaneous information on the area, what they did etc. DA results are LMTI no answer, Age 33, and were they petrified - no. The 9 wives were driven back to the settlement by Poison Fart the nasty smelly Orc minion of Orm at the start of spring but the women can't remember doing anything lately. <br> 

We get William to do an ancient divination on Aea while we sample Steins hospitality in wheat beer and sweetmeats. We note that Stein has 3 wives, one of whom is currently pregnant. William's major information to report when he has finished his 3 hour ritual is that Aea was turned to Iron by dragon breath and the magic that did so was reversed or 'withdrawn' by the same method or ability of Orm. <br> 

Its now 1pm and we decide to go and see Orm to discover what he wants of us and so we grab a guard Heng to guide us to the cave before the daylight passes as we judge that it will darken around 3 and sunset will be around quarter after 4. <br> 

We walk the 5 miles to the discomfort of some soft members of our party who complain about the lack of carriage, horse or cloud to travel on. We get to the cave at 2.30pm and dismiss Heng with our thanks which he may not have heard as he ran off towards the settlement the moment to said we didn't need his company anymore. <br> 

We move up and outside Orm's cave we come across several frost giants lounging around. There are; 

*Baugi, a male frost giant Rune mage 
*Laufey, a female frost giant Air mage 
*Bestla, a female frost giant Celestial Dark Mage 
*Skoll, a male frost giant E&amp;E mage

We ask to be shown to Orm and are told that they can't fit through the narrow winding tunnels but they'll get some Orc's to escort us. <br> 

We are soon walking through the narrow caves escorted by 2 repugnant Orcs named Piglet and Boar (or at least that's what their names roughly equate to) deeper into the smoke filled, dimly lit, badly ventilated, full of chasms, holes and refuse caves that Orm calls home, along with his servile associates. <br> 

We make our way to the main chamber and we see dimly a large shape in the smoke that we can guess to be Orm. He is an iron dragon showing signs of age and dare we say it rust on his body. He appears to be around 100ft long between his nose and tail end and generally slender along his body. Once he knows we are there he instructs us to stop and its then we notice that we are on what seems to be an iron like floor except that it looks like metal that has flowed over the ground and then cooled rather than laid pieces of metal plates - we all fail to feel mana flowing and take a breath (lucky we all had vapour breathing on) and await his next action. <br> 

He pauses and must try to pierce our mind cloaks but hopefully fails to do so and instructs us to speak. I greet him in my nearest draconic tines informing him that we are form the guild and have come at his summons but wonder why he has summoned us. <br> He seems a bit 'scatty' but he replies; <br> "I am not as I should be as I have had my heart broken by mighty magic and I desire it returned to me. The Gythya and the Dagen did this to me and I want to be better once more. I want you to recover my heart which is in 9 pieces but I have learned of 6 locations where the pieces reside and I have for you a Runestone / Letter of Demand for each of the realm rulers who hold the pieces. There are 3 pieces that I cannot get to are in various places like the bottom of the ocean, one is being held by Drow in a place far from here (I suspect this is Rashak's Rod of Control aka the Virtue of Majesty) and the other is being held by the Dagens who have my 'Courage'. <br> 

You are to visit each of these realms and secure the piece and inform them that I want my tribute of Furs (white bears preferred), Food, Jewels, Fish, sacks full of feathers and new wives delivered here soon or I will go forth and eat them, destroy their lands and take all that I want till their bones litter the lands. I also have a number of old wives that I wish exchanged for new wives who must be clever, beautiful and dancers of some sort - I will give you 10 wives to take with you but I want a wife from each kingdom back by this time next year" <br> 

Link to [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u25bBPwjJB3A1qsTW2qBalGjBcPFmclp6YMAHI7KDb8/edit?hl=en_GB Letters of Demand]

I ask how he knew of the guild and he relates that the Drow here told him and he dreamed of us as well. He then rolls out 10 of his old wives and these land at our feet. Orm gives us a small hammer to enable us to change the wives back to living creatures rather than iron statues but tells us to do this once they have left the cavern as he can't stand their voices and whining anymore. He also provides us with some of his spit in a ceramic vessel which Eltan retrieves and Orm tells us that adding fire and breath to it will enable wives to be turned back to iron wives if necessary. <br> 

We do make the point of reminding him that we are a mercenary guild and require payment for any services and he says he will find things in his horde as suitable recompense for our time. He dismisses us and retreats back deeper into the thickening mists. <br> 

We haul the 10 wives outside the cave with help from the Orcs and lots of rope, with only 1 almost loss down a chasm which was saved by Mordrin's nimble feats climbing down to get it. <br> 

Outside it is 4pm and full darkness is about to fall which we judge is a less than opportune time to turn the wives back into humans again and walk through the darkness down the hill to the settlement so we access another cave nearby and make camp for the night very vigilantly in case of foul play. We also pass some time chatting with the giants outside the cave who relate us some stories about Orm. The most important detail is "''It seems that he is afraid to leave the caverns and is very fearful of almost everything - its like he's lost heart or his courage''" and we then retire to our cave. The night passes.

== Sunday 6th Frost  ==

Dawn breaks at 640am and we break camp after a restless night keeping a vigilant watch over our party, Duncan, Dilworth and William as well as our 10 iron statue wives. <br> 

Once we have checked the weather, cleaned up and gotten prepared we start the process of returning the 10 wives to life using the small hammer Orm provided us and the women are confused and scared until we calm them and inform them we are taking them home but it has been around 7 generations since they were last alive. <br> 

Mebh has sent a whispering wind to Toledo to establish when we shall talk each day via use of our crystal of vision and we have decided on 9pm each night when we will sign each other the details of the day and pertinent information. <br> 

Once all the women are restored and we share some of our clothing and items to help provide warmth we exit the igloo and cave to start our trek down the hill to the settlement below. After 3 hours we get back to the settlement to find Stein is there and a feast is waiting for us. <br> 

Stein laments that he has 7 of his family women staying with him and these are 2 of his father's wives, his mother in law of 2 of his wives, his 3 wives (1 of which is foreign) and his 17yr old daughter. These are as well as the other 3 wives previously returned and he passes comment to me that it's like living in a henhouse at the moment. We settle down to have the feast this day and catch up on local news but we also do some small tasks to make life easier for all with the increased number of wives due to the current problems. <br> 

Shem-inah makes 2 huge igloos for the wives each of which is big enough to take all of them but having the second one provides an alternative place of repose in case of friction amongst the wives. I also establish a portal end in Steins house.<br> 

We share the feats with Sturla, a Eldeskaalan priest of Thor and we all discover that Stein has some very fine drinking vessels that are made from Gryphon claws that his father bought back when he ventured to Eldeskaal in his youth on the holy pilgrimage that most locals take once in their life. <br> 

The feasting lasts all day and we discover during the feast that Halldis-Aldizzina doesn't wish to be returned to her clan and wishes to become an adventurer instead like my wives - my dear and dangerous shield maidens. The wives happily give her some stuff to start her adventuring career including armour and some small items but we are forced to get an axe from Stein when we discover she isn't so good with swords of which we seem to have plenty spare.<br> 

The day passes getting acquainted and warmed to the bone with Stein's hospitality. We have also discussed with Stein the letters of demand we have been given by Orm and we decide to head off to the Dwarven [[Kingdom of Kuzjera]] and then up to Eldeskaal to deliver 2 of the letters of demand. 

== 7th Frost  ==

We depart early around 7am (before sunrise) with Mordrin leading the way to her dwarven homelands of Kuzjera but she gets us lost and so at 10am we finally emerge from a small copse of trees near the dwarven hold which we happily discover is heated by local thermal vents. <br> 

We enter the hold without challenge and ask where we can find the King. Once we get there the guard informs us that there is an audience period between 2 and 4pm unless the matter is of utmost importance. Apparently my wife doesn't think letters of doom on the dwarven lands is important enough so I am dragged off shopping for the next 4 hours where I am encouraged to buy for me and my wives many things including 4 'Polks', bundles of clothes and furs, baubles, beer and a fine dog sled along with 2 dogs husky feisty dogs whom I will name as Orthoros and Cerobrus. <br> 

We leave the gear with an urchin and head off to the audience chamber where we are greeted with a long line awaiting the arrival of the King. Since we don't wish to wait upon the others timeliness I decide to announce that "We have business regarding the doom of the realm from the great reawakened dragon Orm" and shoulder our way to the front of the queue past mumbling disgruntled dwarves but I pay them no heed as they simply can't appreciate that I am here to meet their king for their greater welfare. <br> 

The guards allow us to see [[King Inkanar of Kuzjera]] and we share our news and handover the [[Letters of Demand]] we have for him as king of the dwarves. The King and his advisors tell us of times past. They tell us of ages ago there was treachery on the part of humans where they used great and terrible magic on the dragon Orm where they defeated him and had his heart torn asunder into may pieces. The dwarves took their piece and created a finely crafted and superbly balanced sharp axe but they soon got rid of it. The strange metal in the axe seemed to cause the wielder and those nearby to not want to cause harm but instead spread the opposite emotions (which we suspect are akin to love, compassion and kindness) and this was disconcerting to the dwarves so they dropped it into the deepest part of the nearby [[Lake Dergen]]. We say we will recover the axe and take it far away from this land which pleases the King who gives us his blessing and bids us farewell as he needs to assess the tribute demands of the dragon. <br> 

We depart the hold at 3pm using our dog sled and our dogs who have recently suffered from 'animal growth' and are now the size of small ponies at 4ft tall (they stand tall and menacing over the smaller members of our party) and weighing around 120 pounds. The dogs have a thick black and grey fur double coat, consisting of thick undercoat fur with a soft outer fur coat and this keeps them warm in the freezing temperatures in these lands. <br> 

We decided to use the tunnel and head through the dwarven highway (which 20ft wide and 10-20 ft. tall in places) to Harhakeim.   We load our sled and get Ice Traversal on and head down the tunnel with a lantern on the front of the sled.   3 hours later the sounds of Mordrin whipping starts to slow and we reach Harhakeim where we find an Inn for the night where we pick up that Harhakeim is ruled by a governor named Ralin who is the 3rd son of King XXX.

== 8th Frost ==

Purify etc.    Visit the market and discover Lars a fish monger there has a brother who is a water mage who we should talk with about getting the lost item from the bottom of the lake.   Selkie live in the lake.    We have to wait for his brother to come in from the days fishing and so we shop.   I find an unusual Amulet shop and discover the following stocked there.
* A reindeer amulet of speed - this gives you a 'bump of north' as per the ranger skill and adds to your TMR.   Value XXX
* Cold Damage reduction Amulet - this reduces the physical damage you receive from Cold based attacks.   Value XXX
* Dark Sense Amulet - this provides the wearer with the ability to see in the dark.  Value xxx
* Anti-Glamour amulet - this helps see through illusionary fey magic and the like.   Value xxx
* Amulet of Self - this helps resist being changed from your true self, such as resisting petrification etc.   value xxx
* Amulet of day - the wearer always knows when day will end and begin (the times of dusk and dawn).  value xxx <br/>

I buy The Amulet of Speed, Amulet of Self and Anti-Glamour Amulets, Mordrin buys the Amulet of Self and Anti-Glamour Amulets, Mebh buys the amulet of speed as does Eltan.
We buy a great Rank 10 battle axe for Altazinna and then we spend the rest of the day doing our compulsory wedge training under Mebh.    3pm sees us waiting at the docks when the fishing boats come in and we go see Olaf who agrees to help us as we hire him and his boat for 500sp on the morrow.     I make some 400sp selling healing services to the dwarves and we spend another night at the Golden Ale Inn inside Harhakeim.




== 9th Frost ==

We depart at 1st light and Olaf takes us around to see some Selkai in a nearby bay as they might be able to help us locate the lost axe of the dwarves.   We get to the Selaki at 9am and negotiate with them for some beer and fish and a favor.    They have had a sister taken by orcs and her skin hidden - if we get her back they will help us.   We readily agree and take cloud north across the mountains where we find another set of Selkie who give us more precise directions by pointing to a track coming down a mountain. <br/>

The weather is atrocious but we soldier on, after all who would expect to be attacked in this sort of weather.    Several hours later around 4pm we find fresh orc spoor and prepare for battle.   We soon locate the Orc camp and are steered into a narrow defile.    Through superior Military planning and sterling footwork we pass though into the camp, killing most of the Orcs and the battle at the ravine ends with all 8 of the assailants down, 2 are dead, 3 are simply unconscious and 3 are bleeding to death.   We take a moment to stabilise the dying and then we move on past the mouth of the ravine after liberating some potions on each of the bodies that we find are Rank 4 waters of Healing.   4 are quickly used up and we proceed. <br/>

We next come across some longhouses that we quickly search to no avail and we then move to pass the longhouses and see a cave with a substantial block of ice (12ft thick) and the walls have a few holes around 25ft up that the enemy mages can use to cast spells at us.    We offer surrender terms to them but they refuse telling us evil ones to go away and leave his wife to him.   A long period of ice bashing mixed with hell-fires ensues and we almost break through the plug of ice before they surrender finally.
We enter the caverns and 'recover' the Selkai and her pelt.   We also see 'tribute' (as Mordrin our Party leader called it) and so they give over to us 9 amulets and 5 sets of goat boots.    I mention that I have another 13 wives to provide for (in terms of food and clothing) when I am assaulted by Shem-inah.  Mebh asks if I need her to deal with the assault and I reply" no, I'll deal with it".<br/>

Once we have gathered our liberated items and given the Orc's orders not to attack anyone or the Selkai and we then follow our world renowned ranger and get lost once more to the Selkai's beach near the city.   7pm sees us back at the beach and we return the sister to her family.   We finish camp actions by 8pm and are safe and warm in our igloos and defensive preparations.   We sleep.    Night passes.

== 10th Frost ==

We purify and the Selkai go off to get the axe as we requested.   We do wedge training and I spend the remainder of the day divinating some of the amulets.   The Selkai return after dark and give us the axe which I divinate from a safe distance.    The Axe of Compassion is Rank 10 weapon-smithed and it provides +20SC vs Dark aspected creatures and +25SC vs Light aspected creatures.   Anyone hit by the axe doesn't feel any pain or get stunned by it and it has a greater chance of decapitating a target than normal.    The user of the axe is unwilling to attack (not unable) and attacks require WP checks that are theorized to get worse over time.   We decide Eltan will carry the axe for many reasons. <br/>

9pm Mebh messages Toledo, then one to Lucius, then another to Toledo telling them that we can send them more wind whistles and to use some and talk to us.
Another night passes on the beach and I divinate yet more stuff - where's a namer when you need one?



== 11th Frost ==

6am sees us break camp and say goodbye to the Selkie, and get lost back to the city where I retrieve my dog sleds and dogs and then we exit the city and find a deserted stretch of hill. In the cold rain I create a rune portal and then at 8am Mebh and I pass through along with the dogs and sleds to Rydaen so we can see how the 3 guild members there are and drop off the dogs and sleds.  Mebh comes with me to protect me from anything that I may not be able to handle. We quickly pass the items to Stein, pass of some news, see that the 3 guild members aren't there, see that the other party has been and Vychan had an altercation on the beach with some giants a short time ago. <br/>

'''Braegon left with the guild reps at Rydaen on the 7th of Frost - Found in the igloo.'''<br/>
''Beware of Drow, reported working for Orm but likely ulterior motives.'' <br/>
''Justice gifted to us, on our way to Throne, will get Wealth on return.'' <br/>
''Sitri cult on Isle of Gly trying to acquire pieces, may have Knowledge,'' <br/>
''May need your assistance to deal with, will scout first.'' <br/>
''Prize Longship on beach needs repairs.''  <br/>
''Vault for your use.'' <br/>
''Loot here for divination, borrow if needed.'' <br/> 
''- B.''

We discover Ofeg has been creating amulets of fate for us and doing some readings on our behalf which we gratefully accept. 

=== Ofeg's reading ===
The reading from the oracle at Rydaen.

1: '''This is the rune of the present and will show the problem as it is now''' <br/>
Fehu (F: Domestic cattle, wealth.) Fehu Merkstave: Loss of personal property, esteem, or something that you put in effort to keep. It indicates some sort of failure. Greed, burnout, atrophy, discord. Cowardice, stupidity, dullness, poverty, slavery, bondage.

2: '''Signifies the past and will tell you what was in the past that caused the situation''' <br/>
Nauthiz: (N: Need.) Delays, restriction. Resistance leading to strength, innovation. Distress, confusion, conflict, and the power of will to overcome them. Endurance, survival, determination. A time to exercise patience. Recognition of one's fate. Major self-initiated change. Face your fears.

3: '''This indicates the help that you can expect to receive in the problem at hand''' <br/>
Ansuz: (A: The As, ancestral god, i.e. Odin.) A revealing message or insight, communication. Signals, inspiration, enthusiasm, speech, true vision, power of words and naming. Blessings, the taking of advice. Good health, harmony, truth, wisdom.

4: '''Indicates the obstacles to your success''' <br/>
Thurisaz: (TH: Thorn or a Giant.) Thurisaz Merkstave: Danger, defenselessness, compulsion, betrayal, dullness. Evil, malice, hatred, torment, spite, lies. A bad man or woman.

5: '''This rune indicates the final outcome, given the other factors in the runecast''' <br/>
Algiz: (Z or -R: Elk, protection.) Protection, a shield. The protective urge to shelter oneself or others. Defense, warding off of evil, shield, guardian. Connection with the gods, awakening, higher life. Follow your instincts. Keep hold of success or maintain a position won or earned.

We leave a note for the other party and return to the rain sodden dwarven hills. We share the reading and other news and decide that we need to see how the other party are doing as the communication method we had discussed previously wasn't working at all.      Mebh casts flying on us and then summons a whispering wind to whom we impart a message for Toledo and then it departs heading for Toledo.   We cunningly follow it far to the SW out to sea and finally to a boat near the island of Tegu.    -   We have a bloodhound wind for locating other party members. <br/>

We land on the boat and talk with the other party about recent events and do a big sharing of our news.   We discover Toledo has lost his invested wind speaking item which is why they haven't replied to us and they haven't been able to locate us because Lucius doesn't have the range for it.   We lament past mistakes in so many ways but we will press onwards with our mission.
I go with Braegon and we land on the island in a secluded bay where Braegon creates a special cave for us out of the raw earth and rocks.     I create a rune portal and the others land as we will camp the night here.    We have agreed to return here on the 17th at midday to mount a joint operation against the shard holders here.      Night passes.

== 12th Frost ==

We depart early at 6am via my rune portal and we find ourselves back near the dwarven city where we do some magic before taking Mebh's ephemeral cloud into the sky heading NW to Eldeskaal departing at 8am.   
We fly for many hours and move along steadily on our cloud.     However 1pm sees us run into a mountain (I am instructed to not single out anyone commanding our cloud's movement, height and speed as having any fault in this matter however) which sees us unceremoniously rolling down a steep mountain side towards steeper precipices.    <br/>

Eltan, Mebh and Shem-inah recover quickly while Altazinna and I are tumbling down the mountainside with me trying to hold onto her to save her and find steady footing. <br/>

The situation becomes more complicated when a flight of gryphons swoops on us and attacks viciously our spread-out party in nasty terrain.   A fight ensues where Eltan is bitten, clawed and taken into the air followed doggedly by Shem-inah, I hold onto Altazinna and stop our rolling only to have us pounced on in our prone state by gryphon who almost kill Altazinna while I almost kill my Gryphon and Mebh fends multiple off while coming to our aid along with Mordrin who kills one outright.     <br/>

We have almost won the fight when a murder of crows/ravens flies over the mountain ridge and descends on the gryphons forcing them to let their captured party members go along with my warning that they will die if our friends aren't returned now! We recover our party members and regroup to discover the murder has been led by 3 giant crows/ravens named Blacky, Sooty and Midnight and who appear unsteady (perhaps drunk) and most likely having a joke at our expense.    They say they have expected us and know where to find what we are looking for. <br/>

We agree to owe them a favour of commiserate value in return for their help.   They say "he sits in his throne of Ice still, the man who took it there"    We toast our agreement over a warmed wine and seal our bargain for their help and our future favour to them. <br/>

Once we have sealed the bargain we realize we need shelter and somewhere to rest up so Shem-inah starts on her Igloo while I cut all the claws off the dead griffon and also cut off the front and hind leg as I figure they would make great wizards staves and the claws we already know make good drinking vessels.    <br/>

We speak with Blackie who explains that the man holding what we look for is frozen solid and it would appear that the shard of Orm's heart makes you calm and relaxed so we need a way to avoid being affected by this shard and Blackie recommends that we go down to the city of Molima and get some fortifying draughts from the wise old men / priests who brew a special draught called Frenzy Brew or Battle Beer.    We arrange to catch up with Blackie and co outside Molima once we have sourced our materials.    <br/>

Midnight has a notched beak, Sooty has a white tuft on his head and Blackie is just black all over without a distinguishing feature. <br/>

3pm sees us in our Igloo sheltering from the winds.  The rest of the day and night passes with the stormy winds outside and us snug-ish inside.


== 13th Frost ==
The winds and weather are still inclement so we stay in our Igloo and rest.  The day and night pass with the stormy winds outside and us snug-ish inside. <br/>

== 14th Frost ==
We notice a full moon is up today which Mordrin confirms isn't a bad omen so we are slightly pacified by this.    Blackie casts the Runes for us and tell us "There is a hidden treasure north of the Kings home, it's a bad idea to let the Dragon get too cunning and the most troublesome thing in our way of fulfilling our tasks is something relating to death" <br/>

We thank them and arrange another meeting before taking cloud and flying the 75 miles down to Molima over Lake Temis where we land outside the village and walk in.   We pass the Dragons demands onto King Paal the 5th and then head off to the local temple where we try to get some Frenzy Brew aka Battle Beer.  <br/>

The Temple has a lot of windows showing the vast scenery around us with the large lake, huge peaks and snow covered lands and it also boasts 11 statues representing 11 Valkyrie shield maidens of Odin. They can trade some with us but we have little to trade with so they ask us to return tomorrow when we have something to trade - they tell us the Local Bloody Axe Inn is just down the road.    We bid Syrlan Beldesa farewell until the morrow. <br/>

4pm: At the Bloody Axe we pay for accommodation and food (6sp all up) and discuss local politics with the Innkeeper Tarlis.   We discover that the crown prince Kiltar isn't well thought of martially as he wears heavy armor whenever he fights on the field of battle each year, his sister fights very well and desires to be a shield-maiden and the youngest brother, the 16yo Harkson looks to be a preferred candidate over his 'shy and pansy boy' older brother Kiltar. <br/>

We decide we need some more trade goods for the morrow so we go for a walk in the nearby woods and I create a portal then activate it to take us back to Rydean.   We leave Eltan and Altazinna with Shem-inah who is redoing the igloos and I then portal Mordrin, Mebh and I to Boren, then Harbaal, then Drakensberg and then Konigburg where we buy some trade goods in the form of Fresh Fruit, 24 bottles of wine, a dozen bottles of good strong brandy, some herbs, some spices, some small fine needles, some other little trinkets and some silk to the value of 3000sp.    We stop to have some decent non reindeer based food and wine before portalling back with the goods back to Molima as well as grabbing the half of the party still in Rydean. <br/>

When we return to the inn with our boxes of goods we are greeted by a crowd who it seems has come to interact with us.  The night is spent in conversation with the locals discussing everything and nothing and some of us are shown true hospitality by a local who shares openly with us.
The night passes


== 15th Frost ==
The day dawns with clear skies and a full moon in the sky still.  We eat and bid farewell as we go to the Temple to conclude the trade.   We meet the Priest of the Feasts named Lur and we trade for 12 x Frenzy Brew, 2 dark bear skins for Eltan and Altazzina and 3 white wolf skins for Mordrin, Mebh and I.   I trade away 2500sp of our goods which seems a fair exchange. <br/>

We depart and leave the town and then hook up with the Ravens who guide us to Mt Dagenholm in the Elegrin Mountains which is 8223ft tall.   We are advised to drink the beer before we go to wrest the shard from the frozen man and so we all drink and then land on the mountaintop.    We quickly reach the frozen man in our bolstered state and hack away the ice to reveal a shard of metallic crystal we discover to be the virtue of Serenity, We give it to Mebh along with another drink of the battle beer and then we get lost back to Orm's cave as we judge the shard too dangerous for us to hold or store. <br/>

2pm sees us back at Orm's cave where we quickly give him Serenity and Compassion before beating a hasty retreat and Eltan by accident.    We decide that Mebh's heightened state is dangerous so we get lost to Tavu Island and bunker down to wait for the other party and the 17th rendezvous as arranged. <br/>

The day and night pass

== 16th Frost ==
On Tavu Island - The day and night pass  <br/>

== 17th Frost ==
On Tavu Island - The day passes with messages finally from the other party and late in the day Braegon arrives to take us to the pre attack point. <br/>
We get lost with Braegon to a fort/castle near our intended target which is 2 ships of destinian types holding a mermaid captive and which we are going to release while at the same time keeping [[Moonshae]] and [[Raithe]] happy by leaving them the ships and cargo.   We do preperations and get some sleep.

== 18th Frost ==

We complete our preperations and fly to within a mile of the bay the ships are anchored in and we go to ground - well underground actually via Braegons fascinating moving gallery of earth. <br/>

We close and get near our prey before we come up, lay down some walls to enable us to get to the boats and start our assault.    Several walls and constructions later see some of us in the midst of the main deck crew of guards and skeletons with mages and heavier fighters on the upper levels.   2 fireballs to the upper levels do some damage which results in a crew member dying from horrible burns we suspect were transferred to him so as to heal the others.   Onshore the enemy have reinforcements that will enter the fray soon and we need to clear the decks to enable the smash and grab of the mermaid below decks.    No reaction yet from the other vessel but things could get hairy indeed.    With [[Mebh]], [[Mordrin]], [[Toledo Steele]], [[Anooke]] and Eltan on the main deck, [[Lucius]] and [[Father Broc]] moving forward alongside the side of the vessel, [[Vychan]] toying with a water elemental, [[Braegon]] casting his support magics and Sheminah casting we have a long fight with many deaths but we finally get the mermaid and the piece of the heart we are wanting.    We gather our walking wounded and once we are ready I expend myself and rip open the dimensional fabric and create portal back to the island where both the party's pass through each pulse until they are all through and I am bleeding from many orifices and I finally thrown myself through to close the portal rip.    I land almost dead on the floor of the cave and Breagon helps me back to health.

We spend the rest of the 18th resting

== 19th Frost ==
Resting

== 20th Frost ==
We present ourselves at the appointed time and place

== 21st Frost ==
We decide to head for Govyna to see if there is a piece of the heart there.   We return to Rydean and pick up 2 of the wives that hail from there, namely Leonor and Rannveig.   We fly and 6 hours later land somewhat north of our intended destination to the consternation of our mater ranger.    We quickly adjust and fly south to land at Rosby.    We stay at the Red beard Inn run by Brand Thanis Olfson who has distinctive scars, big red beard and a limp. We are regaled with tales of the disaster of Mandeb where the raiders tried to plunder the 5 sisters but suffered horrible losses in a storm and were driven off never to return.   The night passes

== 22nd Frost ==
Up early and have a quick look around the village. There is the house of Brym, priestess at the other end of the village to the Inn and there is a priest of Odin there.There is a temple of Thor behind the Inn.

We go see the king who is King Alis Olafson who is around 41 years of age and has 4 wives ranging from 30 to 13.     He is known as a good king who likes fancy things from the south.
They have started rebuilding some of the fortifications in stone rather than wood no doubt in preparation for near future hostilities.

We are told that they apparently had a piece of the heart but they sent it to the Dagen's as a gift.   It was sent over 10years ago to the Dagen's by Ligen.    They say that the piece they sent was serenity.
It appears 2 of the wives have different views of this with one being sad and another smug, so 2 of my 'wives' are despatched to console and share with and we discover the following information.    Yorlaf of Ligen was sent to Dagen Mountain and the other lost a brother named Vermont Kosenburg 10yrs ago when he went away and never returned.

We return the wives as instructed and pass on Orm's message.

I speak quickly with the priest of Odin, Brym who warns that deception and trickery are involved with the hunt for the pieces and the wise woman Arnkatler is involved.
We go speak with the local fairies in the late afternoon but are warned against the bigger meaner fairies.  Things go well until the dragon is mentioned and then the fairies disappear in the twinkling of an eye.     We stay overnight again without event.

== 23rd Frost ==
We depart early and get lost to Eldeskaal thinking to discover what we have missed there.   We summon giant ravens, getting 2 that we know and 2 new ones, who are all upset at being summoned but understand when we describe our air mage and their legendary lack of ....

They cast the runes for us and we get "A Great warrior has courage but a close one covets it for another far-away"
We get lost back to Rydean.

== 24th Frost ==
<i> I think we missed a day here </i>

== 25th Frost ==
In the morning we head out to deliver more of the dragon's messages and return wives to their home clans.  Brock stays in Rydean with the Guild investigators.  We start with the King of Seldenbaal, Faral II Ulderson, in Inderheim.  He already had the words of the message, but was pleased to see the official tablet.

Early afternoon we start a cloud towards the Isle of Lokis, knowing we'd be flying through the night, but the wind was just right.  We arrive in the general area before dawn but circle around until the sun was up and we could make sure of the correct island.  The wife who was a trainee Oracle had made another amulet overnight - Not My Fate (make the die roll of damage always = 1).

== 26th Frost ==
As Mehb was concentrating for 18 hours we stop at the inn and rest until lunchtime. After lunch we visit King Calgis Thorin.  Compared to many of the viking leaders we have previously met he is very low key and friendly, more like a village mayor from down south.  He gives us each a gold braclet in thanks for delivering Orm's message (unlike most, his message is positively friendly).  We agree to escort the the young oracle onto Kiriheim (nothing to do with taking the oppurtunity to consult the Oracles on our own behalf, no we are completely selfless messengers).

We hire a boat and arrive in Kiriheim an hour later.  The beach has carved pillars, and the village is quite large as it serves many pilgrims in summer.  Behind the village is a hill with barrows for the mortal remains of Valkiries, and in the hill are caves where the Oracle Branwyn is consulted (and presumably other oracles live and train).

Mordrin donates a set of silver goblets with minor locating magic on them, and we are allowed one question each.

Q) Should Wisdom be in the hands of Orm or remain with the ravens?

a) It makes no difference

Q) How do we get Wisdom off the Ravens without conflicting with the favour we owe them?

a) we don't

Q) The Gythia of Hel broke the heart originally, should we now pass the peices to them?

a)If we give the peices to the dragon directly they will be unstable.  There is healing to be done.

Q) How do we get Courage off the Dagens?

a) be courageous.

We head back to Rydaen that evening, and have a long discussion about whether Bragon would be able to heal the heart, rather than risking the priestesses changing which of their two faces are turned toward Orm.  Stein Erjolafson tells us that Irlon Dagenssen is with the army in Froybee for Winter, about so we decide that is our next destination.


== 27th Frost ==
After dawn We cloud directly east towards Froybee, and stop and camp towards dusk.


== 28th Frost ==
The weather has changed to heavy snowfall & we know the army has air elemental scouts so Mebh negotiates with an wind spirit to guide us towards the mountain pass and assist us in avoiding trouble (mountain sides, air elements, et al).  We land mid afternoon when the spirit detects an elemental ahead.  We are still several miles west of the pass so we hike through the snow storm for 3 hours (yeah Ice Traversal) then camp.

== 29th Frost ==
We hike through the pass, making sure any scouts can see us coming, and approach the army camp.  They escort us to the Village of Froybee where Irlon Dagenssen is based.  Over various discussions while camping we decided the most courageous approach was to be quite open and truthful with Irlon.  Mebh, as our spokesperson, tells him what we are looking for, and asks about magical things that he holds that could be part of the heart.

We discover that it has been made into Irlon's favourite armour, a lovely suit of chain, with a stylised dragon motif on the chest.  Obviously he doesn't want to give this up, and we offer the Iron Armour that the other team had gained as loot.  He counter bargins a martial challenge, the winner of a single combat gets the dragon armour, and the looser gets the iron armour.  We negotiate the challenge terms to 1st blood, and Mebh represents us.

Although they look very evenly matched to the knowledgable in the audience, Mebh is the warrior of the hour, touching on every blow and drawing 1st blood.

Mordin & Shemin-ah get lost back to Rydean to pick up the Iron Armour, while Mebh and Eltan remain to show good faith.  When return an Gythia of Hel questions us to confirm we are returning the armour to Dagens Castle and advising us that the peices we gave the dragon already will be needed for the ritual.

Once back in Rydean we contact the others and discuss how we need to proceed.  They suggest we get as many peices as possible together in Dagens Castle and Brock divinates them to see if Bragon will be able to heal them or if we need to give everything to the priestesses of Hel for their 'ritual in the dark time'. 

== 30th Frost ==
We plot out carefully how we are going to move Serentity to Dagens Castle without falling into a daze (which mostly involves making sure Eltan isn't touching it); then go up the hill to visit Orm.

He is noticeably under the effects of Serentity, even patting folk on the head, and easily agrees to let us take the two peices to be joined with the others.

Brock sets up a portal as close to the peices as we can arrange and we relay the peices though the portal, making sure that at least two people are out of range of Serenity all the time.

As soon as we arrive the preistesses bustle to get the ritual underway (as this is the last of the 'days of darkness').  This involves a group of them going thru a portal to the Lands of the Dead.  Bragon, Mordin, Shemin-ah and Toledo Steele accompany them.

The Lands of the Dead is an icy hell deep in blizzard.  We travel for some hours and arrive at a small log building.  Inside is an extremely elderly Gythia (maybe Hel herself?).  After some discussion she agrees to heal the heart, and is assited by Bragon and a couple of the visiting priestesses.  Some hours later Mordrin is handed a large metalic heart and a twisted knife.  The Gythia tells her that Orm will need to plunge the dagger into the heart to complete the ritual.

We return through the blizzard to Dagens Castle and, after catching the others up, decide to go straight on to Rydean and Orm.

We arrive at Orm's caves in the early hours of the morning and give him the heart & dagger and explain the instructions.  We have deliberately not sheilded our minds from him, and after some hesitation, he plunges the knife down.  There is obviously great pain and then he curls up like a cat, and a sheen of metal covers him, leaving a life size statue of Orm.  

It is not clear if he is hibernating or dead; but as he solidifies he gasped out that the five who had me him before can each grab an item from his hoard without being cursed. 

Once he is no longer showing any signs of life (and has no aura) we decide to block up as many of the cave entrances as we can so that he isn't disturbed and his hoard isn't looted while he is comatose.  We bind ice and into everywhere we can (distracting the Giants with the last of the dwarven beer).

We then stumble back to Rydean for food and sleep.

== 1st Snow - 5th Snow==
We go up to Dagenscastle to report to the King.  He seems very happy with our work.  Over the next few days we return the remaining wives to Javenmark & Svenway, and escort Altazinna to Lokis so she can join the shield maidens training there.  We barely have time for visiting Mordrin's family and tehn return to the guild by portals on the 5th.

= Buffs =
<css>
.buffs td { text-align: center; }
.buffs td.text { text-align: left; }
</css>
{| class="buffs" |
!Align="left"|  Magic
!  Rk  
!Align="Left"|  Effects  
!  Dur  
!  Caster
!width="30px" title="Mordrin" | Mord
!width="30px" title="Broc"    | Broc
!width="30px" title="Sehminah" | Shem
!width="30px" title="Mebh"    | Mebh
!width="30px" title="Eltan"   | Eltn
|-
| class="text"| Rune Armour
| 16
| class="text"| +21 Def +4 Armour
| 8.5 hrs 
| Broc
|   <!--Mordrin--> Yes
|   <!--Broc--> Yes
|   <!--Shem-->
|   <!--Mebh--> yes
|   <!--Eltan--> Yes
|-
| class="text"| Cold Resistance 
| 12
| class="text"| +3 on Temp Gauge; -4 cold damage
| 13 hrs 
| Shem
|   <!--Mordrin--> Yes
|   <!--Broc--> Yes
|   <!--Shem-->
|   <!--Mebh-->
|   <!--Eltan-->
|-
| class="text"| Ice Traversal 
| 12
| class="text"| 4 targets, +5TMR
| 4 hrs 20 
| Shem
|   <!--Mordrin-->
|   <!--Broc-->
|   <!--Shem-->
|   <!--Mebh-->
|   <!--Eltan-->
|-
| class="text"| Greater Heart Rune *
| 9
| class="text"| 8 EN cured on 1st EN Damage
| 10 days
| Broc
|   <!--Mordrin--> Yes
|   <!--Broc--> Yes
|   <!--Shem--> Yes
|   <!--Mebh--> Yes
|   <!--Eltan--> Yes
|-
| class="text"| Willow healing *
| 6
| class="text"| 3EN back each pulse for 8 pulses
| 12 Hours
| Broc
|   <!--Mordrin--> Yes
|   <!--Broc--> Yes
|   <!--Shem--> Yes
|   <!--Mebh--> Yes
|   <!--Eltan--> Yes
|-
| class="text"| Vapour Breathing 
| 6
| class="text"| 
| 210 mins
| Mebh
|   <!--Mordrin--> Yes
|   <!--Broc-->  
|   <!--Shem--> Yes
|   <!--Mebh--> Yes
|   <!--Eltan--> Yes
|-
| class="text"| Feather Falling 
| 6
| class="text"| 
| 210 mins
| Mebh
|   <!--Mordrin--> Yes
|   <!--Broc-->  
|   <!--Shem--> Yes
|   <!--Mebh--> Yes
|   <!--Eltan--> Yes
|-
| class="text"| Armour of Earth
| 15
| class="text"| +32 Def -1 Damage
| 8 hrs 
| Elt
|   <!--Mordrin-->
|   <!--Broc--> 
|   <!--Shem--> 
|   <!--Mebh-->
|   <!--Eltan-->
|-
| class="text"| Strength of Stone 
| 9
| class="text"| +9 EN
| 10 hrs 
| Elt
|   <!--Mordrin--> Yes
|   <!--Broc--> Yes
|   <!--Shem--> Yes
|   <!--Mebh--> Yes
|   <!--Eltan-->Yes
|}
: * GHR: Broc must draw this on the skin over the targets heart
: * Willow: As GHR and I must expend a fire action on target 
: All times stated are unmodified

; Mordrin - Hair Braiding (Rk 6 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).
: can't braid hair and have crown on

;Mebh
: +8 Defence and +8 Initiative