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.
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