Normally I would post the next part of Revenge for the Laxbrynjungs, but I'm taking two weeks off for the holiday season. Instead, let me share a little something that's been in the works for a while!
My ultimate goal for Bodil's Gap is to release a proper sourcebook, and to that end I've been working with an incredible artist, Anton Vitus, to get some illustrations done. For the Yuletide season, here is a sneak peak of some of them:
The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part eleven, the party penetrated into the lower level of a giant's barrow, where the bones of slaves and defeated enemies had been piled up to accompany the fallen giant in death. Now they ascend to the upper level where the giant himself must lie, seeking grave goods from the dawn of the mortal world...
The Cast
Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. He was brother-in-law to the murdered Þejn, Arnolf, and was once a close advisor to the Laxbrynjung clan's leadership. Now things are in disarray, however, with one pretender to the þejnship missing and presumed slain by the kraken.
Mundr Ivaldisson, Óttimaðr - Mundr is a promising but untested young man endowed with the strength of giants by a mysterious incident during his travels abroad. A Laxbrynjung by birth, Mundr is the only child of the late Ivaldi, the youngest of Arnolf's brothers. Since Arnolf's death, he has ingratiated himself to his uncle Trond in an effort to keep the family from splitting apart—only for Trond's ship to fall victim to the kraken's attack on their convoy. Now it is unclear who rules the clan.
Ylva Blood-Cup, Seiðkona - Ylva is a sorceress endowed with the power to see and speak with spirits, and uses her magic to curse her enemies with great misfortune. Though dwelling apart from the clan in the woods, Ylva is an ally of the Laxbrynjungs, having been a close friend and confidant of Arnolf's murderd heir, Steinar.
Hrafn, Skald - Hrafn is a travelling merchant blessed by a drop of the Mead of Poetry. Left with neither trade goods nor coin by an accident on the road that destroyed his cart and belongings, Hrafn has joined the Laxbrynjung raiders to avenge their Þejn and enrich himself.
The Game
Ascending the stairs, the party quickly reaches the upper level. The barrow is shaped much the same on this level as below, with a semi-circular structure extending out from the cliff face and a large doorway cut into the rock of the cliff itself. Here, the larger structure is divided instead of left open, however; two narrow wings are separated from the main space by huge wooden doors. The passage into the rockface itself, meanwhile, is barred by massive stone slabs. Here too the barrow shows its age. The cliff is cracked in places, and dirt from above has sifted in to pool on the floor, while great stone blocks have fallen in from the crumbling ceiling.
The PCs quickly decide that the stone doors must conceal the burial chamber, where the greatest treasures will lie alongside the giant's body, and set at once to opening them. The heavy basalt slabs are difficult to move, but with the combined might of Ingvild and Mundr, the doors are slowly pushed aside, revealing the chamber beyond.
Within, an enormously long bier fills the centre of the room, and on it the corpse of the giant lies. In death, his flesh has turned to earth and stone, still rent by the great wounds of his final battle against the gods at the dawn of the world; within his fossilized wounds, iron bones can be seen laid bare by the swordstrokes of his enemies. Lying beside him is a hewing spear with a steel blade the size of a troll's sword, while around the room other treasures are laid in chests or on low stone plinths.
The party has little time to examine, however, for at their intrusion, a sound of stone clattering on stone grows louder and louder behind them, rising in a cacophonous and arrhythmic din. Turning to look, the PCs see three of the fallen stone slabs skipping across the floor in dizzying circles.
As they watch, the dirt pooled on the barrow's floor flows to join the prancing stones, taking the shape of a massive three-legged horse; standing tall enough to dwarf any one of them, its earthen legs extend down to meet the stone blocks that form its hooves. As it prances in its maddening gait, its earthen skin splits and a ragged mane of human hair spills over its neck, while two milky eyes emerge from its face, weeping tears of rancid corpse-fat.
As the foul and now fully-formed horse creature rears back one its one hind leg to stamp at the floor, a voice from the burial chamber calls out in deep and rumbling tones to greet its steed. Turning now to glance back into the chamber, the party sees the translucent and ghostly shape of a towering giant standing waist-deep in the bier on which his lifeless body lies. The shadow of its presence lies heavy on all who behold it, for it is a walking portent of doom and death without honor.
Knowledgeable about spirits, Ylva recognizes at once that they face two of the denizens of the underworld, the Realm of the Dead ruled over by the phantoms of those giants who were slain in the war between giant-kind and the gods.
Not waiting for any explanation, Ingvild immediately lunges for the spear lying by the giant corpse's side, even as that giant's spirit levels a ghostly version of the same spear and thrust's towards him. Dodging beneath the shimmering, spectral point, Ingvild leaps upon the shaft, snapping the ancient wood and hefting the spear's hewing blade as though it were a sword. As he cleaves at the giant's ghost, it's with some relief that he sees the steel blade bite into its spectral flesh—having lain so long in a tomb, the spear blade has some affinity for the creatures of the dead.
While Ingvild attacks the phantom giant, its steed charges Hrafn and Ylva where they stand in the doorway, its massive stone hooves crushing and stamping even as the unholy sound of its three-legged gait drives them to distraction. As his allies are trampled, Mundr puts his giant strength into trying to grapple the beast, and barely halts its advance. Meanwhile, Ingvild trades blows with the giant, and though he lands a cut with his stolen spear-blade, the giant's backhand sends him flying to smash into the stone wall of the tomb, coughing blood.
As they recover from their trampling, Hrafn chants a saga of war to strengthen his allies, while Ylva attempts to transform the giant's steed, turning its crushing hooves into the ineffectual wings of a butterfly. The magic twists out of her control, however, and a wave of fluttering motion overtakes the spirit as the animate grave-dirt making up its flesh is transformed into a cloud of grey-winged moths. Dissolving into a cloud of fluttering insects, it slips free of Mundr's grasp to cross to the the giant's side, reforming in time for its master to mount its back.
Urging his mount onward, the giant charges the party, spear levelled, and spews forth a breath of pestilent wind even as he slashes with the hewing blade of his spear and his mount's lashing stone hooves cut the air. Those caught in the giant's breath feel their bodies growing frail under the assault of sickness and advancing age, while the point of his spear draws blood wherever it strikes. Hard pressed, Ylva, Hrafn, and Mundr assault the giant with their weapons and magic, but are steadily worn down.
Rising from his collision with the wall, Ingvild feels broken ribs grind within his chest, but nevertheless takes a mighty leap onto the giant's back to lay into it with his weapon. Buoyed by Hrafn's saga of battle and by the depths of his berserker rage, he strikes a terrible blow against the giant even as he's caught in its crushing grip. Ingvild falls, the life squeezed out of him by crushing hands that drive his shattered ribs into his heart and lungs—and even as he falls, the burial chamber goes still and silent, the giant fading away from the back of its mount, dispelled by his terrific blow.
Lying between life and death, Ingvild draws his last breath, and is unable to muster the strength to draw another. In the stillness and silence of the threshold, his spirit waits only for the valkyrie that will surely come to carry him away to the reward for his glorious death in battle.
No valkyrie comes, however.
Instead a looming shadow grows as the presence of yet another phantom giant fills the burial chamber. Towering over the fallen Ingvild, it mocks him and the valkyries that abandoned him, and prepares to drag him away to the Realm of the Dead, which lies so close to this place, where a giant was once entombed. A mere ghost now, his hands unable to hold the weapons he carried in life, Ingvild has no hope of escaping the phantom giant's grasp—until it asks if he prefers to bargain. If Ingvild wishes to remain in the mortal world, the giant will permit it if he agrees to use his murderous strength to kill in the giant's name—to slay a priest of the gods and defile one of their temples.
His business in the mortal world unfinished and freshly resentful against the valkyries that failed to come for him, Ingvild agrees. The giant laughs at his expense, and the cold mark of its hand appears on Ingvild's spirit, spreading from his heart in a spiderweb of dark veins.
Drawing breath again, Ingvild stands up once more, glancing around to find that no time seems to have passed between the moment he fell and his rise. Everyone is relieved, not only at Ingvild's survival, but at the flight of the grim horse spirit, which dissolved into moths and fled at the destruction of its master.
Everyone, that is, except Mundr. His own spirit altered by his exposure to the Primordial Realm of Fire, Mundr is attuned to the influence of other worlds and giantspawn, and was able to sense the presence of the giant that spoke to Ingvild. Though glad to see his uncle drawing breath, Mundr cannot shake his suspicion of what must have transpired between Ingvild and the unseen titan—the giant's presence can still be felt, after all, clinging to Ingvild much like the flames that still cling to the spirit of Mundr himself...
Behind the Scenes
It's always exciting when you get to see a Last Breath roll—it doesn't happen very often, and the results are always interesting. I'm especially pleased about them in this campaign, where the roll has two parts: one very much like the standard version, where a dying character attempts to live but may be forced to bargain for their survival, and one to determine just what kind of spirit attends their death, and with whom such bargains must be struck.
Having fallen in glorious combat against a noteworthy foe, odds were good that Ingvild would be greeted by a valkyrie, but his luck was incredibly poor, and he was confronted by a peer of the same ghostly giant he died destroying. The matter of his clan's revenge was simply too pressing for him to embrace death, so he agreed to the giant's bargain—but coming back to life under a giant's yoke will have lingering affects for everyone. Mundr already knows that something is up, and Ylva could very easily discover the same with her insight into matters of the spirit, after all. Having to balance the desires of his giant backer with the needs of his mortal life will be an ongoing challenge for Ingvild, I think, and one I look forward to playing with.
Next time, the party get to reap the rewards of their adventure into the barrow, looting the treasures of the burial chamber before returning to rendez-vous with their allies and lay their plans against Kettil Sea-Strider and his men.
The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part ten, the party finished their conquest of the Mangler's fort and resolved to venture east, where an inscription they claimed suggested that a giant's gravesite could be found, its treasures ripe for the taking. Now, they sail down the coast seeking to plunder the ancient grave goods of one of the oldest creatures in the universe.
The Cast
Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. He was brother-in-law to the murdered Þejn, Arnolf, and was once a close advisor to the Laxbrynjung clan's leadership. However, he has since had a falling out with the new Þejn, Trond—Arnolf's younger brother—over the execution of Arnolf's will.
Mundr Ivaldisson, Óttimaðr - Mundr is a promising but untested young man endowed with the strength of giants by a mysterious incident during his travels abroad. A Laxbrynjung by birth, Mundr is the only child of the late Ivaldi, the youngest of Arnolf's brothers. Since Arnolf's death, he has ingratiated himself to his uncle Trond in an effort to keep the family from splitting apart.
Ylva Blood-Cup, Seiðkona - Ylva is a sorceress endowed with the power to see and speak with spirits, and uses her magic to curse her enemies with great misfortune. Though dwelling apart from the clan in the woods, Ylva is an ally of the Laxbrynjungs, having been a close friend and confidant of Arnolf's murderd heir, Steinar.
Hrafn, Skald - Hrafn is a travelling merchant blessed by a drop of the Mead of Poetry. Left with neither trade goods nor coin by an accident on the road that destroyed his cart and belongings, Hrafn has joined the Laxbrynjung raiders to avenge their Þejn and enrich himself.
The Game
Taking leave of their ally Rurik and his men, the party steers their ship east following the description carved into the oak plank taken from Olaf Mangler's ship. The going is slow, for a strange headwind presses against them and forces them to rely mostly on their oars. Then, as the PCs' ship draws near to the where the barrow is supposed to be found, their proud figurehead splits open with a resounding crack. As the crewmen begin to mutter about this dire omen, a tattered sail becomes visible on the horizon, racing toward them on the same headwind that has stymied the party's own progress.
Peering ahead, the keen-eyed among the party are able to spot that the ship approaching them appears to be already half-sunk. Its sail is too ragged to hold the wind that fills it, its hull is holed and leaking water, and the oars hang splintered and half-broken from its sides. Nevertheless it races on, and as it draws nearer, the grim shapes of three waterlogged corpses become visible standing at the bow—it seems this ship is crewed only by the dead.
The party quickly prepares to meet the draug-ship, readying their weapons. As Hrafn begins recounting the saga of a great storm, the sky splits with sudden lightning and the draug-ship rams headlong into the party's own.
Mundr and Ingvild greet the boarding draugar in close quarters, while Hrafn continues drawing down the lighting upon them with the magic of his galdr-song, and Ylva employs her seiðr to weaken the draugar's blows and make frail their swollen flesh. As the walking corpses do battle, an unnatural sea mist spreads from them, obscuring the deck and forcing the crew to fight almost blind.
The draugar are ultimately no match for the PCs, but their swords turn out to be the least of the danger they pose. As the last draugr falls, the deathless will keeping their ragged ship afloat fades and it begins to sink—its prow still jammed into the side of the PCs' own ship. Pulling for the bottom, it threatens to capsize the party's vessel and drag them all down alongside it. They and their crew leap to separate the two ships, hacking with axes to break them apart where they have become tangled together.
As the last splintery beam is pried out of the party's ship and the draugar's craft sinks beneath the waves, the headwind that blew against them vanishes, and a breeze comes up behind them. Forging on, they sail the rest of the way to the place described in their plundered inscription.
Leaving their ship in the hands of their crew, the party take a rowboat out to the barrow's entrance clamber through the hole. Each stone block of the wall nearly dwarfs any single member of the expedition, and it's clear to the PCs that gigantic hands were responsible for the construction of this place.
The interior is dark and crumbling, lit only by the party's torches. The floor slopes down towards the sea, and the front half of the large, semi circular chamber they find themselves in is flooded. Navigating the slick and treacherous rocks in the dark, the party begins looking for anything of value.
In the main chamber, the floor is mainly covered in ancient human bones, while from the walls and pillars of the chamber hang iron manacles; it seems this giant was buried with his slaves. As the party picks through these remains, Ylva turns into a snake to descend into a great seam in the floor where something glinted in the torchlight. In the bottom of the crack, she finds nothing but bones and a handful of silver coins—and the sickly smell of rot and old graves, seeming to filter up from below, where the crack narrows to a hairline fracture.
Reemerging, she transforms back into the human form only to shriek in sudden fright as something moves in the dark just beyond the range of her torchlight. The others come to her aid, but nothing is there.
Pressing on, the party discovers the chamber where the stairwell rises up to another floor, while a short passage at the back leads to a locked gate of unusual construction: its every beam is a spear, its cross-braces are swords, and it has been bound shut by barbed iron chains that wrap around the sword blades. Under Ylva's spirit sight, the whole assembly is evidently cursed to badly cut anyone who touches it for the sake of undoing the chain and opening the gate.
As the PCs stand examining the gate and debating whether to attempt opening it or venture up the stairs first, a black mist begins pouring into the room from the opposite door, an unnatural dread sweeping along with it. Ylva can tell at once that the mist is a spirit, and calls out a warning to the others. Hearing this, Mundr takes a deep breath and draws on the primordial flame burning within him to spew for a hot cloud of choking smoke in the mist's direction.
The two clouds clash, obscuring the far side of the of the room. Then, from beyond the billowing smoke and outside the door, the sound of a weeping woman comes into the chamber. Wracking her brains, Ylva recognizes the creature as a mara, a shapeshifting spirit of sickness and dark dreams able to enter the mortal world through open graves, and which seeks to feast on the luck of mortals. The whole barrow, now open to the outside, is a passage for such spirits emerging from the realm of the dead, and will have to be closed to prevent them from escaping.
Armed with the knowledge that they face a shapeshifter, the party aren't fooled by the weeping voice, and venture through the dispersing smoke to dispatch it. Ylva works her seiðr to bind the spirit to one form, and the others attack it. The hands of the woman's form it has taken twist into claws, and its foul breath brings sickness wherever it washes, but most troubling is the way that its presence saps the party's good fortune. More than once the spirit wields their own luck against them, turning solid blows into glancing ones. But though the party are able to strike the spirit down, they can do little to be permanently rid of it; as it falls, the black mist of its true form seeps away back to the realm of the dead from whence it came.
With the mara dispelled—at least for the time being—the party turns back to the locked gate. Ingvild chooses to take the direct route and attempts to smash the gate to pieces, rather than risking injury undoing the barbed and cursed chain. The gate has been spelled to great resilience, however, and it takes the use of the runed dagger Hrafn claimed from Torhild's corpse to weaken the gate enough for Ingvild to batter it down.
Passing through, the party uncover a chamber with yet more bones—but these ones are strange. To the sight they seem almost insubstantial, nearly disappearing unless looked at directly. In the hand, they feel unnaturally weightless. Considering the matter, the party comes to the conclusion that these are the bones of elves, the ancient enemies of the giants, and that they must have been kept here as a sort of grim trophy of battle, interred with the one who slew them and symbolically imprisoned behind the cursed gate.
In amongst the bones the party discovers two items of note: a sword and shield, each forged of unblemished bronze, the shield emblazoned with icons of the gods casting down defeated giants. These weapons are incredibly light, and their condition is pristine despite long centuries in a tomb—it isn't difficult for the party to identify the craftsmanship of the elves despite never having seen any before. Used to wielding a sword, Hrafn claims the blade, while Mundr takes the shield to replace the one he lost in his duel against Olaf. Hrafn also fills a sack with elf bones for later use, failing to share the details of his plan with his comrades.
Their expedition already proving fruitful, the party prepares to venture up to the second floor of the barrow, where actual burial chamber of the giant himself must surely be found.
Behind the Scenes
I don't have much to say about the first part of the giant's barrow; for me the real highlight comes in the second part, and I don't want to talk about it until we get there.
I will say that I had a lot of fun running the mara: stalking the PCs in the dark, observing them from outside their torchlight, and sapping their own luck to use against them. I may have said it before, but I think spirits are my favourite aspect of Bodil's Gap as a setting, and the folkloric treatment of spirits and magic is something I think a lot of games could benefit from.
The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part nine, Mundr faced Olaf Mangler—the son of the party's hated enemy Kettil Sea-Strider, and a famous raider in his own right—in a duel to the death. Though Mundr emerged victorious, it remains to be seen if Olaf's men will abide by the terms of the duel...
The Cast
Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. He was brother-in-law to the murdered Þejn, Arnolf, and was once a close advisor to the Laxbrynjung clan's leadership. However, he has since had a falling out with the new Þejn, Trond—Arnolf's younger brother—over the execution of Arnolf's will.
Mundr Ivaldisson, Óttimaðr - Mundr is a promising but untested young man endowed with the strength of giants by a mysterious incident during his travels abroad. A Laxbrynjung by birth, Mundr is the only child of the late Ivaldi, the youngest of Arnolf's brothers. Since Arnolf's death, he has ingratiated himself to his uncle Trond in an effort to keep the family from splitting apart.
Ylva Blood-Cup, Seiðkona - Ylva is a sorceress endowed with the power to see and speak with spirits, and uses her magic to curse her enemies with great misfortune. Though dwelling apart from the clan in the woods, Ylva is an ally of the Laxbrynjungs, having been a close friend and confidant of Arnolf's murderd heir, Steinar.
Hrafn, Skald - Hrafn is a travelling merchant blessed by a drop of the Mead of Poetry. Left with neither trade goods nor coin by an accident on the road that destroyed his cart and belongings, Hrafn has joined the Laxbrynjung raiders to avenge their Þejn and enrich himself.
The Game
As Mundr stands over the body of his fallen foe, Olaf's shield-bearer throws that self-same shield down and surrenders. Though Mundr's arm has been hewn to the bone by the Mangler's axe, he still musters the strength to tip his enemy's corpse off the edge of the small island on which they fought; clad in his mail shirt, Olaf quickly plummets out of sight, lost to the waves and kept from any proper burial.
More concerned for Mundr's health, Rurik, his kinsman and shield-bearer, comes to support his injured cousin while the rest of the party row out to collect their companions. Returning to the Shore, Ylva begins to patch Mundr up with bandages from her pack while the group collects their men and prepares to meet Olaf's warriors.
The duel between Mundr and Olaf was clearly visible from the deck of the fort, and plenty of Olaf's men were watching. As the party approaches aboard their longship, one of these warriors steps forward, clearly elected as some kind of spokesperson by his fellows.
Ingvild takes the lead in speaking with the raiders, and learns that the men who once fought under Olaf have little interest in further conflict. If the party will guarantee them safe passage away from the battleground, they're more than happy to abandon the fort and village—all they ask in return is that their ship be returned to them so they can actually leave.
This proposal sparks some debate among the PCs. On the one hand, taking over the fort without any further fighting—and potential loss of men—is an attractive prospect; on the other hand, so is keeping the ship they captured. Weighing the number of sailors they have to crew an additional ship against their desire to keep it, the party ultimately decides to retain the ship, and begins ferrying Olaf's men back to the shore so they can depart on foot.
As the warriors abandon the fort, however, their spokesman warns the party that Olaf's wife Torhild remains, refusing to abandon the fort and having locked herself in her workshop. He cautions the PCs that she will almost certainly seek revenge against them for the death of her husband, and asks that they remember that he warned them and had no part in her plans.
Hearing this, Hrafn of course sneaks off to confront her alone while the rest of the party is still dealing with offloading the men.
Finding the workshop on the upper floor, he knocks politely on the runed door, and is invited in by Torhild's cold voice; at her words, the door opens under his hand, and he is able to enter unharmed. Within, Torhild paces like an animal, her body vibrating with cold fury. Though Hrafn tries to talk her down from her vengeance, she dismisses his words and tells him that she only allowed him in to serve as bait for the rest of her husband's murderers. As he argues his case, she tries to cow him with her power over the runes, assaulting him with a supernatural wave of terror emanating from the inscriptions on the pillars holding up the roof and reminding him of the lingering weakness in his limbs brought on by her curse of the day before.
Hrafn is able to shake off the terror, but the weakness does indeed sap him. As Torhild goes to close the door through which he entered, trapping him in with her, he acts, lunging as best he can despite his supernatural frailty to stab her in the back with his sax. Unfortunately, in his weakened state his blow lacks in force. He and Torhild both fall to the floor, his blade in her back, but the sorceress still lives. Cursing, she invokes the runes again, and the lamps of her workshop flash with dazzling light to blind her attacker. Gritting his eyes shut, Hrafn stabs her again, finally managing to dispatch her.
The other PCs, having noticed his absence, arrive to find him getting to his feet, his weakness fading now that Torhild is dead—Mundr likewise finds the blindness in one of his eyes receding as the enchantment upon him fades. Hrafn tells his comrades only that Torhild fell, without elaborating on how, and the PCs make ready to depart—except for Ylva.
While the others begin looting the rest of the fort, having already picked over Torhild's workshop, Ylva begins working her magic to leave behind a grim message for Kettil Sea-Strider, left where he'll find it should he ever come to visit his son. While burning her taunt about the slaying of Olaf and Torhild into the wall, however, the magic roils out of her grip. As Ylva looks on in horror, the ghastly shades of Olaf and Torhild are drawn out and bound into her inscription, their angry ghosts trapped in her hateful message. She quickly turns tail, and urges the others to hurry up and get ready to leave without explaining why or what she's done.
Finally everyone is prepared to depart. Consulting with Rurik, the party decides to split their forces. Rurik will return back to Ymafjord, his name bolstered by their victory over Olaf Mangler. There he'll stash their plunder, fetch fresh supplies, seek reinforcements to fully man the new ship—which now has only a skeleton crew—and gather any news of the other ships from the raiding fleet separated by the kraken's attack. Meanwhile, the PCs will take their ship to the giant's barrow, seeking to plunder any additional treasures that may aid them in their campaign of vengeance against the Sea-Strider.
Promising to reconvene back at the now-empty fort in ten days' time, both groups set sail. Ahead of the PCs, the water grows cold as they journey toward the burial place of one of the oldest creatures in the universe.
Behind the Scenes
Hrafn's confrontation with Torhild was interesting to run. As a practitioner of rune magic, her spells rely on a lot of preparation and are limited by the runes she knows: in this case blinding, terrifying, and weakening. When it comes to combat, her magic can really only debuff, and she has to rely on her knife to actually injure anyone. As a duo paired with her husband Olaf, the two can be very dangerous, but having been separated she was much less trouble to take in a straight fight once Hrafn was able to overcome her sorcery—especially as he had her somewhat off-guard. Getting hit by that blinding flash before he was already grappling her might have made things go very differently!
With the party headed off to plunder a giant's barrow, I get a chance to play with the world of spirit primordial powers—which is one of my favourite aspects of the setting—and the PCs have the opportunity to do some actual dungeon crawling, which is always nice. All in all, something to look forward to!
And when they return, surely the angry ghosts bound into the fort won't cause any kind of trouble at all.
The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part eight, the party launched their raid against the coastal fortress of Olaf Mangler, a notorious pirate and raider, and the son of their hated enemy Kettil Sea-Strider. Infiltrating the fortress, Hrafn and Mundr found themselves standing alone against Olaf and his men, and challenged Olaf himself to a duel to resolve their differences. Come the morrow, Mundr must fight to the death against the Mangler for the fate of the fortress and all within.
The Cast
Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. He was brother-in-law to the murdered Þejn, Arnolf, and was once a close advisor to the Laxbrynjung clan's leadership. However, he has since had a falling out with the new Þejn, Trond—Arnolf's younger brother—over the execution of Arnolf's will.
Mundr Ivaldisson, Óttimaðr - Mundr is a promising but untested young man endowed with the strength of giants by a mysterious incident during his travels abroad. A Laxbrynjung by birth, Mundr is the only child of the late Ivaldi, the youngest of Arnolf's brothers. Since Arnolf's death, he has ingratiated himself to his uncle Trond in an effort to keep the family from splitting apart.
Ylva Blood-Cup, Seiðkona - Ylva is a sorceress endowed with the power to see and speak with spirits, and uses her magic to curse her enemies with great misfortune. Though dwelling apart from the clan in the woods, Ylva is an ally of the Laxbrynjungs, having been a close friend and confidant of Arnolf's murderd heir, Steinar.
Hrafn, Skald - Hrafn is a travelling merchant blessed by a drop of the Mead of Poetry. Left with neither trade goods nor coin by an accident on the road that destroyed his cart and belongings, Hrafn has joined the Laxbrynjung raiders to avenge their Þejn and enrich himself.
The Game
Their negotiating done, Mundr and Hrafn must quickly leave the fortress again. Fortunately for them, the party they dispatched to capture one of Olaf's ships was successful, and the skeleton crew aboard are able to bring the longship alongside the fortress for the two PCs. Leaping down from the raised deck of the fort into the ship, they quickly make their way back to shore to report what they've done.
When they reconnect with Ingvild and Ylva ashore, it is to find them tallying the spoils of the raid in one of longhouses that was left intact. As well as a wealth of coin and plundered goods, they also find a parcel of particular interest: taken from Olaf's captured ship, this package contains only a wooden plank with a strange runic inscription, and an oddly constructed torc engraved with images of powerful oxen.
Mundr eyes the torc and at once senses the power of giants upon it. Examining it more closely, he recognizes that the oddities of its construction stem from the fact that it was once a solid ring—likely worn on a giant's finger—and that it was only later converted into a torc for a human neck. Hefting it, he determines that the wearer of the torc will be granted a measure of the giant's physical strength.
Curious about the ring's provenance, the PCs put their heads together to decipher the runes engraved on the plank that the ring was packed with. With their native cunning and Mundr's sense for all things giantish, they soon determine that the text is a description of the place the ring was found. Down the coast, it seems, the ancient barrow of a slain giant has been steadily crumbling into the sea—and with the wall now breached, the way lies open into its depths. The party are awfully tempted by the prospect of plundering a giant's grave goods for anything else that might be of use in their vendetta agaisnt Kettil Sea-Strider, but the matter will have to wait until after they've dealt with the man's son.
As Hrafn and Mundr describe their encounter with Olaf and his wife, the sorceress Torhild, Mundr's cousin Rurik interjects, demanding to stand alongside Mundr as his shield-bearer. It was the murders of Rurik's father and half-brother that sparked this feud with Kettil and his kin, and so it is only appropriate that Rurik be allowed to participate in the duel with Olaf.
Mundr is torn between keeping Rurik safe and honouring his determination to fight. Ultimately he agrees, and offers Rurik his own shield as one of the three allowed to them by the customs of holmgang, the formal duel. This shield is painted with a leaping salmon, the crest of the Laxbrynjung clan, and was given to Mundr as reward from his uncle Trond—Rurik's direct rival for control over their clan after the death of the previous þejn. With Trond likely killed by the kraken, however, such rivalries must be put aside. Rurik accepts, and together the two spend the evening discussing their strategy before settling into a fitful sleep.
While Mundr and Rurik talk, Ylva releases the magic that transformed Olaf's face into that of a spider, fulfilling Mundr's part of the bargain with the Mangler. Her seiðr doesn't end there, however—once Mundr and Rurik settle in to sleep, Ylva slips free of her body to roam as a spirit. Silent and invisible, she creeps through the halls of Olaf's fort, seeking the place he himself lies sleeping.
It seems he and his wife share the upper floor of his hall, where Torhild has turned their chambers into as much a workshop as a bedroom.
Crossing to the bed, Ylva sees that Olaf has indeed regained the countenance of a man. Strangely, a trickle of blood from within his mouth stains his lower lip, and his face seems bruised. Paying it no mind, she plunges down into Olaf's dreams.
There she discovers the Mangler seated upon the throne of his hall, an array of knives laid out across the floor in front of him. The image of his wife Torhild whispers in his ear, urging him to take up one of the knives and as she advised him, and so doing destroy his enemies. Using her magic, Ylva begins twisting his dream into a nightmare. The knives spring up, sprouting arms and legs, dancing and swarming about, while the wall of the hall becomes Mundr's face, mouth wide to swallow Olaf whole.
Even as horrific images assault Olaf, however, Ylva's magic twists in her grasp, and the dream grows dangerous to her. The swarming knives cut at her legs, and in her efforts to escape into a deeper realm of Olaf's subconscious, she sustains several wounds to her spirit form.
Plunging down, Ylva finds herself in a black abyss over which hangs a vast spider's web. There, Olaf stands facing down a spider that towers over him. Surging forward, he swings his axe, cutting off one of the spider's fangs, which drips cruel venom. As it falls, he catches it in his hand, and the dream dissolves, expelling Ylva. She lingers only long enough to see that Olaf's sleep has become fitful and restless in the grip of the nightmare she crafted, and then returns to her own body for the night.
In the morning, Mundr and Rurik row out to a tiny island nearby, little more than a patch of bare rock jutting from the sea, where they will meet Olaf for the duel. When he arrives, he is accompanied by a shield-bearer of his own. Olaf is haggard, dark circles under his eyes and deep bruises around his jaw, but he stands firm as the duel begins.
At once Olaf's shield-bearer charges into Mundr, keeping him off-balance while Olaf calmly raises his massive two-handed axe and brings it down on Rurik's own shield, absolutely shattering Trond's gift to Mundr. Rurik is left holding nothing more than an iron boss with a few scraps of wood clinging to it, but nevertheless rams it into Olaf's side in a ferocious punch before Mundr can pull him back. Calling a halt, they take up the second of their allotted three shields before joining battle once more.
Moving together more cautiously than before, Mundr and Rurik are able to turn aside a few of Olaf's blows while fending off the interference of his own shield bearer. Seizing an opportunity, Mundr manages to hook the head of his axe over the rim of his enemy's shield and jerk it out of his hands. The shield goes skittering across the rocks, and Olaf's companion calls a halt as well. Both party's are now down to two shields.
During the next exchange, Olaf's shield bearer rushes in again, and Mundr and his enemy exchange blows. Mundr scores a serious wound on Olaf, but Olaf comes in on Mundr's blind side, taking advantage of the eye his wife cursed with sightlessness when Hrafn and Mundr infiltrated the fort. Bringing his massive axe down on Mundr's shoulder, he delivers a terrible blow that cleaves Mundr's arm to the bone. Immediately Mundr's grip goes slack and his arm limp, and he understands how Olaf came to be called the Mangler.
Despite his injury Mundr fights on. Rurik stays close by his wounded side, using his shield to protect his kinsman's vulnerable flank, while from the shore, Hrafn's saga of battle echoes across the water to bolster Mundr's strength. In the next exchange, Mundr delivers a terrible blow of his own, his axe cleaving into Olaf's side.
The Mangler gasps and drops his own axe before hurling himself at Mundr. Rurik cries out in alarm and warns Mundr of the incoming attack, but to Mundr's eye Olaf is unarmed. From the shore, however, the other PCs can see what Rurik saw—that Olaf is now clutching what appears to be a the massive fang of a spider, cut from his own face before his transformation was ended, the stump wrapped in leather cord to provide a grip. Wielding the thing like a knife, he attacks Mundr again, and Mundr is hard pressed to avoid the dangers of a weapon that has apparently been made proof against his sight.
Fortunately Mundr has Rurik to aid him. As his shield-bearer interposes himself between the Mangler and Mundr, Mundr raises his axe in his good hand one last time and brings it crashing down on Olaf, shattering his collar bone and plunging deep into his body. The Mangler falls dead, and at once his shield-bearer surrenders. The duel is won, and the fort belongs the Laxbrynjungs.
Now all that remains is to claim it from Olaf's widow: the dangerous and bereaved mistress of the runes, Torhild.
Behind the Scenes
I had a blast running this part of the adventure. The duel has been a highlight of the campaign for me—the chance to do combat in greater detail between fewer participants is always interesting, and I think it went well enough this time. In retrospect I could have done better, I think, but everyone seemed to enjoy it—even those who didn't actually participate.
We also introduced the first real dungeon crawl-y part of the campaign with the giant's barrow. The attack on the fort was originally intended to play out in a crawl-y kind of way, but that obviously went to the wayside pretty quickly—not that I'm complaining. When the party decided to plunder the giant's tomb, I knew I would get another chance to do some actual delving, something the campaign has so far had very little of.
The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part seven, the party narrowly escaped a catastrophic encounter with the kraken. Now they sail towards the fort held by Olaf Mangler, the son and right hand of the man who murdered their old þejn, Arnolf, and his own soon Steinar.
The Cast
Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. He was brother-in-law to the murdered Þejn, Arnolf, and was once a close advisor to the Laxbrynjung clan's leadership. However, he has since had a falling out with the new Þejn, Trond—Arnolf's younger brother—over the execution of Arnolf's will.
Mundr Ivaldisson, Óttimaðr - Mundr is a promising but untested young man endowed with the strength of giants by a mysterious incident during his travels abroad. A Laxbrynjung by birth, Mundr is the only child of the late Ivaldi, the youngest of Arnolf's brothers. Since Arnolf's death, he has ingratiated himself to his uncle Trond in an effort to keep the family from splitting apart.
Ylva Blood-Cup, Seiðkona - Ylva is a sorceress endowed with the power to see and speak with spirits, and uses her magic to curse her enemies with great misfortune. Though dwelling apart from the clan in the woods, Ylva is an ally of the Laxbrynjungs, having been a close friend and confidant of Arnolf's murderd heir, Steinar.
Hrafn, Skald - Hrafn is a travelling merchant blessed by a drop of the Mead of Poetry. Left with neither trade goods nor coin by an accident on the road that destroyed his cart and belongings, Hrafn has joined the Laxbrynjung raiders to avenge their Þejn and enrich himself.
The Game
The party arrive at the place where their ally Odd told them Olaf's fort could be found. There they discover the their kinsman Rurik and his crew waiting for them, his ship beached in the cover of a rocky point jutting out from the shore. Beyond and down the coast, the fort can be seen standing up from the water, a massive hall built on a stilted platform rising above the waves.
The causeway used to extend to the shore, but I redrew it when it was destroyed in game
Reconvening with Rurik and his crew, the party shares what happened to them during the Kraken attack, including the likely loss of Trond's ship and the rescue of his son Finnar from the water. Rurik is of mixed opinion about the fates of his uncle and cousins, but everyone is forced to sideline the affair in favour of more pressing matters—namely, the fort the PCs and their allies are about to attack.
Ingvild, veteran of a thousand battles, takes charge at once as the group begins formulating their plan. The assembled forces will be divided into several teams: one body of warriors will be placed under the command of Rurik, prepared to assault the settlement and the ship beached there. A smaller group, enchanted to breathe underwater for a time by Ylva's seiðr, will stealthily attack the ship tied up near the fort in an attempt to steal or sabotage it, so it can't be used by the defenders to escape their siege. Finally, the PCs will attempt to capture the shore end of the causeway and light it on fire, trapping the defenders of the fort inside.
Their plans laid, the party need wait only until nightfall to begin their raid. As the sun sinks behind the waves they spring into action, sailing swiftly towards shore where they will land alongside Rurik's men. As they race towards land, however, a cry of alarm goes up as some keen-eyed person on the shore chances to spot their sails against the night sky, blotting out the stars.
The party lands in haste and immediately rushes for the place the alarm went up, hacking down half-drunk revelers around the settlement's central bonfire before seizing as many burning logs as they can manage. Laden with the seeds of the fire they intend to start, they rush for the causeway even as all around them chaos descends, Rurik and their crews setting to with axes and swords to slaughter the settlement's defenders.
Arriving at the mouth of the causeway, the party can see the men of the fort already rushing down the boards towards them, alerted by the alarm of moments before. While Ylva and Hrafn jump to setting the causeway aflame, Ingvild and Mundr position themselves in a choke-point created by a pile of cargo left out on the causeway, and prepare to defend their allies.
Hrafn quickly manages to get the cargo to catch fire even as Olaf's men clash with his two comrades. The planks of the causeway, however, are both sturdier and made constantly damp by the spray of the sea below. To help the fire spread, Ylva works her magic, chanting a curse to weaken and make vulnerable the wood of the causeway. As the boards wither and dry out, the flames quickly catch, and soon the fire roars from the pile of cargo down onto the actual causeway itself.
Unfortunately, Mundr and Ingvild are now locked shield to shield with their attackers right where the fire is spreading. Ingvild leaps back to safety on the far side of the flames, but Mundr presses forward, laying out one of his opponents. His triumph leaves him vulnerable, however, as he finds himself outnumbered and with the growing fire at his back. Cursing, Ingvild and Hrafn both leap through the flames to stand at his side, singeing themselves in the process.
The three of them are able to dispatch their enemies, but already more men can be seen massing at the far end of the causeway, where the towering figure of Olaf Mangler can be seen, brandishing a massive axe and shouting orders. Even more concerning, however, is the woman moving down the line of fighters, painting bold runes on the face of every shield she passes.
As the more orderly formation of fighters begins advancing down the causeway towards the shore, the grim runes blaze with power, and a wave of unnatural terror washes across the party, forcing them to shrink back against the growing flames behind them. The line of fighters quickly crashes into their own defense, shields clashing against shields as spears thrust and axes swing.
The PCs rally themselves as best they can. Mundr weathers the assault behind his shield despite taking a few blows, while Ingvild cleaves men with his axe and Hrafn chants a saga of war to bolster his allies, and cunningly cuts at the exposed legs of their enemies from behind the lower rim of Mundr's shield. Ylva, meanwhile, is trapped behind the flames that separate her from her allies, only able to contributes with curses to weaken and befuddle her foes.
The enemies' numbers and the runic enchantments given to them are too great to continue to battle head-on, however. Thankfully, the damage to the causeway is already enough to satisfy the plan Ingvild laid. Retreat is in order, and Ingvild and Hrafn leap once more through the flames to rejoin Ylva on the far side. Mundr retreats more slowly, backing into the blaze with his shield raised to protect his allies as they escape. The power of the Realm of Fire flooding through his veins and protects him from the scorching heat and searing tongues of flame, but not from the continued thrust of his enemies' spears.
Seeing Mundr suffer countless blows as he backs through the fire, Hrafn dives to his friend's aid, leaping into the heart of the fire—not to join the battle, but to bring the both of them crashing through the charred and weakened planks of the causeway in a shower of embers and flaming splinters, plunging into the water below. The flames continue to spread up the causeway, driving the fort's defenders back, but now a massive gap also bars the way back to shore.
As the men retreat and begin hacking through the causeway with axes to protect the fort from the fire, Ylva gives her enemies a parting shot. Locking eyes with Olaf through the flames and the press of warriors, she curses him with a wicked transformation, turning his face into the terrible visage of a spider. His bellowed orders immediately cut off as his men spring back in horror, and at once the Mangler turns on his heel and rushes back into the fort, accompanied by the woman who cast the runes upon their warriors.
Meanwhile, Hrafn and Mundr struggle back to the surface after their plunge into the sea, and begin to swim—not to shore, but to the pilings that hold the fort above the waves. Stealthily circling the platform, they find a place at the back of the fort, and Hrafn tells Mundr his plan to climb up and infiltrate the fort, to see what can be seen.
Together the two make their way up the pilings in a harrowing climb, nearly slipping on the spray-soaked wood and filling their hands with splinters. At last they reach the platform, however, and carefully sneak to the rear door of the hall. Stepping in, they get their first glimpse of the interior.
Olaf Mangler sits on his massive chair, his spider's face now concealed by a closed helmet while his frenzied men gather around to discuss what to do next. The Mangler is silent, but for the soft chittering that sometimes emerges from behind his faceplate. But while Mundr is prepared to observe stealthily, Hrafn steps forward and announces himself.
Olaf's men immediately crowd around, weapons drawn, but an audience is just what Hrafn wants. Addressing everyone gathered in front of him, he begins making his pitch: that all of this bloodshed can be avoided by a simple duel between Olaf and a champion from their side—if Olaf wins, the party will forfeit their ships and plunder, while if he loses, his men will give up the fort.
Hrafn can sense Olaf's eyes heavy upon him, but with the face of a spider, the Mangler cannot respond verbally. Just at that moment, however, a woman's voice rings out demanding to know why her husband should agree to such terms. Turning, Hrafn and Mundr can see the sorceress from the causeway, descending a ladder from the upper floor, who introduces herself as Torhild, spouse of Olaf.
Hrafn immediately attempts to charm her, but she finds fault with his every word, and invokes the runes of her ritual knife to sap his strength, weakening him and bringing him to his knees. Only the timely and sudden fall of the nearby statue of the Hvalarkyn, the Sea God, prevents her from slitting his throat—it seems the offerings the party made during their journey have indeed won them some measure of divine favour from the lord of the waves, who Olaf evidently also worships.
At this sign, Olaf stands, and the sorceress allows Hrafn to get back to his feet, though his magical weakness persists. When Mundr comes to aid his ally, Torhild rounds on him, and the flashing of her runed amulet strikes him blind in one eye. Hrafn turns back to Olaf, and makes his final statement: that if Olaf agrees to the duel, they will return his face to its natural form, and he will have the chance to kill his opponent in holmgang, honourable and legally binding single combat. Torhild attempts to interject, but Olaf silences her with a gesture and nods his agreement.
On the morrow, Olaf Mangler will fight a duel to the death with a champion from among the party. Hrafn immediately, and without consulting his partner, nominates Mundr.
Behind the Scenes
I had set up Olaf's fortress as a kind of dungeon, so was very much not expecting Hrafn and Mundr to waltz in the back door and challenge Olaf to a duel. A lot of the dungeon-crawly aspects of the fort never really got a chance to shine, since the PCs never had to storm the place. I guess that's the nature of Dungeon World, and at least the duel was an interesting angle to pursue.
Hrafn's constant attempts to make Mundr a famous hero are also pretty funny to me. Even though that isn't really what Mundr as a character wants, his player has been a real sport about it, and it's been fun to see that dynamic form within the party. Each of the characters has a very different relationship with each of their party members, and all of them are interesting—but this one has definitely been the most consistently surprising.
