Revenge for the Laxbrynjungs! Part 16 - A Favour for a Favour

The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part fifteen the party  got into a fight in the Songheim harbour and worked some sorcery to craft Hrafn's cloak of concealment. Now Hrafn prepares to visit the Hall of Riddles, the great school of skaldic learning on an island in Songheim's bay, where rumour has it the Grandmaster is hosting an unusual guest with some much sought after news...

The Cast

Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. Having fallen in combat with the ancient ghost of a long-dead giant, Ingvild now lives only by the grace of his bargain with that giant's spectral kin, and his soul bears the giant's mark as evidence of the deal they struck.

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.

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

With the party's other business concluded for the moment, Mundr expresses his desire to visit the Hall of Riddles on the isle of Vískenna, where the skalds of the college have memorized vast troves of ancient lore. Mundr's hope is that if anyone can help him better understand his condition and the power of the giants, they can be found there.

Hearing his plan, Hrafn immediately proposes to go with him, urging Mundr to forge bravely ahead while Hrafn follows along—wrapped up in his enchanted cloak of concealment. Hrafn has his own motives for visiting the Hall of Riddles, it seems, which he has not shared with the rest of the party.

The truth of the matter is that Hrafn has a mystery to investigate. On their first night in Songheim, when the others were about their own business, Hrafn went carousing. During the night he fell in with two fellow skalds, who introduced themselves as veterans from the Hall of Riddles. Over the course of the night the two plied Hrafn with drinks—and then tried to catch him in a geas when his wits were at their most befuddled. Even in his drunken state Hrafn was not to be tricked, however, and managed to avoid their verbal snare and slip away—only to slink back through the crowd and eavesdrop on his two former drinking partners.

While keeping out of sight, Hrafn was able to hear the two speaking about the task they had tried to bind him into performing, learning that they wished to spy on the Grandmaster of their very own school, who has been closeted in private discussions with a guest who arrived bearing a message from someone named Tuve—and that the two had been paid by someone to find out what the Grandmaster and his guest were speaking about.

Though he avoided the entanglement, Hrafn's curiosity is aroused, and Mundr's visit gives him the perfect opportunity to snoop around. On the short boat trip over to the isle, he cautions Mundr to not verbally agree to anything nor answer any riddles posed to him, much to Mundr's confusion, and then follows along silently in the shadow of his larger companion when their rowboat arrives.

Climbing out of their boat, the two find themselves before the ornately carved and gilded hall, with skaldic students dotting the grounds practicing their lessons or speaking with one another. Marching to the door with Hrafn trailing along behind, Mundr pushes open the portals and steps inside—only to immediately be confronted with two students, one of whom rounds on him as he enters and belts out a riddle without provocation.

"I am horse of iron with a tail of flax; the faster I run, the shorter my tail grows."

Mundr is taken aback but rallies himself, and manages to respond that the answer is a needle and thread, despite Hrafn's warning. The two students are satisfied with his answer, however, and welcome him to the Hall, inviting him to accompany them to dinner and asking what the reason for his visit is. On the way Mundr describes his wish to hear tales of those who have been touched by the giants, and the students suggest that their master, is a veteran skald, is likely to know more.

As Mundr is led off to the dining hall, Hrafn takes advantage of his cloak to sneak off, hiding in plain sight and avoiding notice while seeking out the Grandmaster's chambers by following in others' shadows. Eventually he finds a servant bringing the Grandmaster his dinner, and is able to follow him to his destination and slip in the door behind him.

Inside he finds the Grandmaster sitting before a fire with a thrush perched on a small stand next to him, listening intently to as it speaks to him—it seems that the Grandmaster's guest is not a human being but a bird!

With man and bird concentrated on their conversation, Hrafn is able to sneak closer and overhear their words, his own knowledge of the skald's arts sufficient to allow him to understand the language of animals as the Grandmaster does. Listening in on their conversation, he learns that the thrush is growing impatient and wishes to return to his mistress Tuve with the Grandmaster's response to his news—the Alþing is only a month away, after all, and Tuve wishes to know how the Grandmaster intents to act when Otso the Diver attends and makes his demand.

Though Hrafn does not know of anyone named of Otso the Diver in particular, he does recognize the name Otso—it is no Bodvi name, but a trollish one. A troll, it seems, will be attending the national assembly of the Gap, and making some kind of demand. Satisfied, he goes to draw back and begins investigating the Grandmaster's library of books, which are rare in the Gap—and then the thrush notices him, its attention drawn by the rustling of pages and cracking of spines.

The Grandmaster leaps to this feet, alerted by the thrush, and Hrafn takes the opportunity to snatch some books and slip under a table, hidden from sight once more. As he hides, however, the Grandmaster gestures, and his harp sounds from its stand in the corner, ringing out as though it were in his hands. The Grandmaster begins reciting the words of a saga of wrathful storms, and a wind fills the chamber, threatening to tear Hrafn's cloak from him and reveal him.

At risk of being found out, Hrafn runs for the window, but his cloak is snagged as he dives out, and he tumbles onto the grass below in plain view. Quickly he wraps his pilfered books in the garment and flees for the water, even as lightning strikes behind him, conjured by the Grandmaster's galdr as he shouts from his window.

Hrafn's escape is soaked and uncomfortable, forced as he is to swim back to the mainland through the cold waters of Songheim's bay. Meanwhile, Mundr enjoys his dinner and listens to the tale of a giant-touched hero of the south, who escaped from slavery in a giant's hall became a great chieftain in his tribe. Comforted by this tale of an óttimaðr who used his power for the betterment of his people, Mundr departs in peace and rows back dry and warm.

Returning to their comrades, Hrafn shares what he learned while Mundr merely contemplates. While the news about Otso the Diver is interesting, the Alþing is still a month away. Though the party is considering attending and will need to prepare for the presence of trolls when they do, more pressing matters distract them from such concerns in the present. It is nearly time to go after Kettil Sea-Strider, after all.

Before setting out, however, the party wishes to secure the services of a second mercenary company. Already the Jarl's son and his men have agreed to sail with them; now they wish to hire on Harun al-Azraq and his corsairs to their cause. The only issue is that they cannot afford to do so.

Instead, when they sit down with Harun the next day, it is with the exchange of a favour that they seek to sway him—surely there must be something that he needs help with that would be worth his assistance in their raid. As it transpires, there is.

Harun recounts how he and his men arrived in Bodil's Gap in the employ of a merchant who had hired them back in their own lands. They protected him and his ship on the voyage back to Bodil's Gap, and had been promised continued employment once they arrived. Except when they arrived, the merchant broke his contract with them and refused to pay them, leaving them short of coin and without work in a foreign land—it was for that reason that his band is currently available for hire to begin with.

Harun's teeth are bared when he explains that if a merchant dared such a thing back in his homeland, his corsairs would have made an example of the man. Here, however, they are foreigners who mostly do not speak the local language, and he thinks it ill-advised to take such retribution when he cannot be certain of the law's protection or the response of the city's rulers. If some locals took vengeance on his behalf, however, he would certainly be indebted to them.

The party is more than happy to make an example of an oathbreaker and swindler, and agree to teach the man a lesson on Harun's behalf. Investigating, they learn that the merchant—a man named Eirik the Swart—has been staying at a seedy inn on the waterfront with his new bodyguards, a group of local warriors hired far more cheaply than he agreed to pay the professional Azraqi Corsairs. Eager to fulfil their bargin with Harun, the party goes there to confront him.

Arriving at the inn, they find that it has as much in common with a brothel as with a traveler's guest house. The main hall is lit by a roaring firepit around which guests dine and cavort, while a balcony at the back overlooks the hall from the second story, where a number of private bed closets can be seen. An external stair opens off from the main hall and leads up to the second floor, where the hall's business appears to be in full swing.

Barging in, Mundr wastes no time on subtlety and immediately calls out Eirik as a wretch and and a liar. Up on the balcony, three burly men stand from their seats and come to the railing to look down at the commotion below. One calls out that no such person can be found here, but his deception is entirely perfunctory, relying on his size to intimidate rather than sincerely hoping to fool anyone. Having faced far worse, the party is not in fact intimidated, and Mundr insists that Eirik come down and redress his dishonourable behaviour. A brief staring match stretches between Mundr and the bodyguard—and then Hrafn snatches a plate from a nearby table and hurls it into the crowd of diners while shouting "Eirik, how could you!"

The brawl that everyone in the party was expecting immediately kicks off far sooner than they had anticipated. An angry and food-spattered man starts pushing his way through the throng to try and find whoever's plate caught him from behind, while up on the balcony Eirik's bodyguards begin making their way for the stairs down while one of their number goes to fetch their employer.

While Ingvild and Ylva guard the hall's door to prevent Eirik from escaping, Mundr pushes through the crowd towards the stairs with Hrafn on his heels. As they forge ahead, Eirik the Swart emerged onto the balcony and makes his own way to the stairs down, where his bodyguards have run up against Mundr.

Blows are exchanged as the bodyguards draw knives and axes from their belts, and while Mundr works to force his way past his opponents, one of Eirik's men jumps down from the external staircase to help his employer escape without having to pass through the main hall. As Eirik prepares to drop down into the waiting arms of his guard, Hrafn catches sight of him, and goads him to stand and fight or be branded a coward forever. Incensed, Eirik wheels around to push forward towards Hrafn, and his bodyguard is forced to run back around to the front of the hall in order to rejoin those inside—only to be intercepted at the door by Ingvild, who lays him out.

Ylva, meanwhile, works her seiðr against one of the men assailing Mundr, turning his bones to the rubbery flesh of a squid. The man drops limp to writhe on the floor, and then screams out when one of his fellows steps on him in the fray. Aided by this distraction, Mundr is able to dispatch the other bodyguard facing him—but Eirik has drawn his own knife, and is prepared to fight like a cornered rat. Ylva curses him as well, clouding his sense with a waking dream that turns all around him into dripping corpses. Suddenly surrounded by draugar, Eirik's courage fails, and in the throes of his terror, Mundr manages to seize him.

As they drag him from out of the brawl, he clutches at one of the serving girls trying to escape the fighting, pleading with her to rescue him from the living dead, and his fevered grip is so strong that the woman is dragged along with him until Hrafn is able to wrestle her away.

Out in the street, Ylva tells the party to carry Eirik to the nearest shrine of the Goddess of Law, where she should be able to find a spirit to work with in ensuring Eirik's punishment is a lasting one. Running through the streets while hauling a frantic Eirik still in the grip of his vision, they finally find a small roadside shrine. There, Ylva bargains with the spirit watching over the place to turn Eirik's hands into crab claws—a seeming favourite of hers—not until she releases the spell, but until he publicly apologizes to Harun and repays his debt. Glad to punish an oathbreaker, the spirit agrees, and the magic is done. The party abandon Eirik in the street, now a literal penny-pincher with his hands transformed into crustacean pincers, and return to Harun—but not before rifling through Eirik's belongings and taking all the coin he had on him.

Harun is pleased by the news of their success and welcomes the gift of Eirik's money; though it isn't nearly what he was owed, it is symbolic restitution enough. Glad of the party's help, he agrees to accompany them when they sail to find Kettil Sea-Strider and bring their feud to an end.

And sail they will, the very next morning.

Behind the Scenes

I think the bar brawl with Eirik's bodyguards is the most traditionally dnd-like this campaign has ever gotten, and it was a lot of fun to have a somewhat un-serious diversion from the regular tone and plot. I'm looking forward to getting to the raid on Kettil, however—it's the culmination of everything we've done up to now, and could easily serve as the conclusion to the campaign if the players are satisfied to leave things there. If we do continue the campaign, it will involve attending the Alþing, so I'm glad to be able to foreshadow events there ahead of time.

Revenge for the Labrynjungs! Part 15 - Sorcery, Retribution, and More Sorcery

The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part fourteen the party arrived in the great port city of Songheim and met the prospective mercenaries available to be hired for their mission of vengeance against Kettil Sea-Strider. Now they continue their stay in town as their preparations continue—but trouble has a way of finding them.

The Cast

Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. Having fallen in combat with the ancient ghost of a long-dead giant, Ingvild now lives only by the grace of his bargain with that giant's spectral kin, and his soul bears the giant's mark as evidence of the deal they struck.

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.

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

After their meeting with the Jarl of Songheim and his son, the party is pretty much in agreement that Arvid the Younger and his huskarls are their best choice for hiring mercenaries—after all, Kettil Sea-Strider is notorious for his piracy in Songheim's waters, and both Jarl Arvid and his son share the Laxbrynjung clan's animosity towards him. Even so, Kettil is a fearsome opponent with a loyal following of fellow outlaws, and with the remaining ships of the Laxbrynjung's raiding fleet still missing, the party fears that their one band of mercenaries may not be enough.

Thoughts of securing a second band are delayed, however, by Ingvild's business at the great temple of Songheim, where the phantom giant Gottyr has bade him go and await further instructions. Arriving at the temple gates, Ingvild's ear is filled with the low and rumbling whispers of the giant as it makes plain its request. 

Gottyr speaks to Ingvild of one of the priests of the temple, a woman named Audgunn Erlandung, who is renowned across the region as a mediator and settler of disputes. Desiring only dishonourable death and the swelling of the phantom giants' army of ghostly slaves, Gottyr promises to absolve Ingvild's debt to him should Ingvild end the priestess' efforts to quell disputes and forestall blood feuds—and offers him even greater rewards should he do so in a way that results in the temple's defilement.

Ingvild stands in the temple's gate and refuses. Though he owes Gottyr his continued existence and promised him the destruction of a temple to the gods, he will fulfil that promise on his own terms with the destruction of whatever temple is most favoured by his enemy, Kettil Sea-Strider. Gottyr is displeased but withdraws, his ire yet to manifest.

While Ingvild visits the temple, Hrafn and Ylva set out on a different errand. In their plunder from the giant's tomb, Hrafn gathered the nearly ephemeral bones of fallen elves, buried with the giant to show his dominion over his enemies. Now, Hrafn intends to have their essence infused into his cloak, hoping it will allow him to vanish from sight as the elves themselves do. This act of magic is beyond him, however, and it is to Ylva that he turns.

Calling on her knowledge of seiðr, Ylva quickly determines that the project will require a loom crafted of wood taken from a place of dying—from a gallows tree or a home that burned with people inside, for example. Considering the matter, Hrafn recalls that in the past Songheim suffered an attempted invasion that was rebuffed, and suggests that there may still be wrecked ships sunk below the harbor. 

Timber from such a ship would suit Ylva's magic perfectly, so while Hrafn goes to find Ingvild and fill him in on their plans, Ylva takes Mundr down to the waterfront to search for a suitable wreck. Arriving at the docks, however, Mundr is quick to spot a familiar figurehead. The proud wooden head of a wild-maned horse stands out among the prows of other ships, marking what can only be Vágarhlaupna, the Wave-Leaper. The famed ship is Mundr's inheritance from his fallen Þejn, Arnolf, but was stripped from him before he ever set foot on it by the machinations of his uncle Trond and given to his cousins Gunnar and Finnar—and was then stolen from those same cousins by mutinous cowards who had preferred to draw Laxbrynjung blood than face the kraken to rescue their kin. 

At this sign of the traitors who slew one of his cousins and nearly killed the other, Mundr immediately forgets all else and storms towards the ship. There he finds the crew hard at work unloading casks of wine—the fruit of profitable raids on the southern coast undertaken in preference to their sworn mission of vengeance against the Sea-Strider. His ire growing, Mundr mounts the gangplank with Ylva following resignedly behind and confronts the former steersman of his cousins, Sindri, now claiming the captaincy of the famed ship.

Sindri is obviously displeased to see Mundr, but surround by his crew of fellow mutineers, his discomfort doesn't last long. When Mundr threatens the man, he is quick to react by seizing Ylva and putting his knife to her throat, while his men advance on Mundr with hefty oars raised, prepared to beat a lesson into him.

Drawing on the power of the primordial flames, Mundr attempts to fight back—but is soundly clubbed in the head for his troubles. Dazed and reeling against the side of the ship, he draws deep to spew forth a thick and choking cloud of smoke to obscure the deck. While Mundr struggles through the smoke, dodging half-blinded sailors, Ylva calls her magic to briefly transform Sindri's hand into a crab's claw, forcing him to drop his knife and release her.

Vastly outnumbered and with panic starting to spread in the harbour at the sight of a ship that appears to be fire—filled as it is with Mundr's smoke—the two PCs bail out the side of the ship to splash into the cold water. Turning herself into a shark, Ylva drags Mundr away from Vágarhlaupna while the crew aboard begin fanning the smoke away and making ready to leave port again. Her sense attuned to the landscape beneath the water, she quickly locates a wrecked ship, and with little other choice, Mundr agrees to help her recover some of its waterlogged timber even as he plots his vengeance should Sindri and his mutineers ever cross paths with Mundr again.

Ylva's cursed wood acquired, the party reconvenes to find a place for her to work her magic. Seeking cooperative spirits, she decides to venture out of the city proper into the surrounding wilderness. Journeying into the woods, she calls out to the spirits, but is nearly skewered by a mistletoe-tipped spear when they answer her—for emerging from the trees themselves come two elfin tree spirits bristling with anger. Incensed by the party's intrusion, the spirits demand that Ylva and her companions leave, citing a disastrous wildfire that spread through the forest the last time seiðr was invoked beneath its canopy.

Not eager to press the issue, Ylva agrees to depart—but leads the group to merely skirt the forest rather than leaving it entirely, recognizing that the hostile spirits cannot follow them any farther than the edge of their grove's root system. Reaching the border of their influence, the spirits are forced to watch as the party penetrate back into the forest's shadow, now outside the spirits' reach.

As the party travels, they begin to see the truth of the spirits' words, for the forest shows more and more signs of the fire they spoke of—trunks stand scarred by flames, patches of underbrush are burned away, and ash carpets more and more of the forest floor. Seeking the heart of the conflagration, the party at last comes to a towering tree blackened to little more than charcoal, split down the middle as though by a lightning strike. The echoes of seiðr hang in the air, and it is here that Ylva calls for the spirits a second time.

Hearing her call, the spirits answer. The ashes of the split tree kindle to a slow smoulder, its great crack filling with smoke and fire—fire that then leaps free of the tree to caper about in the shapes of little goblin men of crackling—and cackling—flame. Decrying their great boredom ever since they came down to earth in a lightning strike and ran free through the forest, the fire spirits agree to aid Ylva's work of seiðr. While she bargains with them, Ingvild, Mundr, and Hrafn put their heads together to dredge up what they know of carpentry in order to assemble the loom from Ylva's shipwrecked planks.

The loom erected, Ylva sets to work unweaving  and reweaving Hrafn's cloak while the fire spirits leap up to perch on the loom's crossbar. Under their feet, the wet wood smokes and smoulders, and Hrafn's powdered elf bone burns into the fabric'swarp and weft. When the work is done the loom shudders and falls into ash, and Hrafn tries on his newly enchanted cloak.

Looking right at him, Hrafn is plain as day, but as soon as Ylva's attention is drawn away from him by the spirits' departure, he vanishes from her sight, reappearing only when his words draw her gaze right to him again. It seems that Hrafn's cloak hides him only from those who aren't paying attention, rather than turning him truly invisible, but even that is a mighty piece of magic indeed.

Now armed with his cloak, Hrafn plans his next move, and considers paying a visit to the Hall of Riddles, the premier hall of skaldic learning in the Gap, located right here on an island on Songheim's bay.

Behind the Scenes

Bringing back the mutineers who killed Mundr's cousin Gunnar and almost filled Finnar as well is something I knew right away that I wanted to get to. When they showed up, though, I expected Mundr to go and get the rest of the party and maybe the crew of their ship, not storm up to Sindri with just Ylva to accompany him. Needless to say, two PCs agaisnt thirty mutineers isn't exactly a winning proposition, and Mundr's consistently poor rolls in the resulting brawl didn't help either. I have no doubt Sindri and his men will show up again later—we'll just have to see when and how.

This was a fairly short session, coming in the middle of the party's stay in the big city—next session is their last one in Songheim before setting out properly, and also the last session that has already been run. After that we'll have caught up with and even overtaken the campaign itself, since I post these weekly but only run every second week. I'm not sure what I'll fill the gap with, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

In any case, next time we'll see the party engaging in a bit of spying and doing a favour for some of their mercenary contacts, hoping to secure their services with payment in kind rather than cold hard cash. Seeking vengeance is never easy!

Revenge for the Laxbrynjungs! Part 14 - The Giant's Command

The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part thirteen, the party laid to rest the angry ghosts of Olaf Mangler and Torhild, whose spirits had been accidentally bound by Ylva's seiðr, and learned of the death of their kinsman Radulf at the hands of Kettil Sea-Strider. The feud with Kettil and his kin grows ever bloodier, so to tilt the odds in their favour the party prepares to sail to Songheim, one of the greatest cities of the West, seeking mercenaries for their cause.

The Cast

Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. Having fallen in combat with the ancient ghost of a long-dead giant, Ingvild now lives only by the grace of his bargain with that giant's spectral kin, and his soul bears the giant's mark as evidence of the deal they struck.

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.

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

While Ingvild, Mundr, and Hrafn discuss their next move, Ylva decides to consult the spirits. As is her habit in these matters, she gives the others a password before slipping free of her body in spirit form. Venturing into the woods, she encounters a verdant meadow where wild goats graze freely under the watchful eye of their keeper, a spirit of grain and herd animals whose farm lies beneath the soil in a hidden realm lit by a sun of burning dung.

Descending into the spirit's realm, she asks for its advice but is told only to leave lest her presence bring down the attention of the phantom giants. The spirit, it seems, can sense the influence of one such spectre nearby, and is terrified of confronting it—for at the creation of the world, the spirits of the land were born from the last vital breaths of the dying giants washing over earth, waking the rocks and trees to life. Born of a giant's dying moments, the spirit cannot hope to match the enduring phantom of one, and has no desire to have it led to his door. With her questions unanswered but with greater understanding of the ways of giants, Ylva departs.

Back at camp, Ylva's body jerks, draws breath, and sits up. It turns to look Ingvild in the eye and gives him the password. The other PCs ask what Ylva learned speaking to the spirits, but the answers are cryptic and sinister, and delivered in a demeanor that is strangely sly and knowing. The others grow suspicious, but it is only when Ingvild's habitual insults are met not with antipathy but flirtation that the truth becomes clear—it is not Ylva's spirit that occupies her body.

It is at this time that Ylva herself returns to see her own body pinned to the earth by Ingvild's iron grip, smirking up at the berserker as he demands that whatever spirit has come among them relinquish its hold and speak plainly about its intentions. The grin on the face of Ylva's body grows wider as the spirit within tells Ingvild that it has only come to check up on him and ensure that he's following the pact he made—and to tell him to go to the great temple in Songheim, where they will speak again. Then Ylva's body turns to lock eyes with Ylva in spirit form, its grin turning mocking as her body goes slack and the vast and shadowy form a phantom giant comes pouring out, visible only to the seiðkona's spirit sight. With a final laugh it vanishes, and Ylva slips back into her own mortal shell. She doesn't bother giving her password; instead, the others ask her questions about her past until they're satisfied that it's really her.

With the party unsettled and Ingvild's hand forced by the giant's interference, he admits to his allies what he experienced in the giant's barrow—his death; waiting for a valkyrie that never came; and his bargain with phantom giant, Gottyr. Little can be done now but press on, however, and so come morning the party sets sail for Songheim.

The trip is uneventful, and the party arrives to see the largest settlement any of them have ever visited. The bay is dominated by an island on which stands the famous school of skalds, the Hall of Riddles, while the shore is a sprawling tangle of ships and docks. Overlooking the water, the city rises up the surrounding hills to the crest on which the Jarl's hall stands, its scale-like roof sparkling in the sun.

On shore, the party splits up. Ingvild and Ylva go to replenish their supplies, while Mundr explores the docks and Hrafn goes seeking one of his merchant contacts.

While exploring, Mundr encounters a number of warriors gambling with dice on the steps of a longhouse down by the water, and is invited to join them—only to narrowly avoid being embroiled in a brawl when one accuses another of cheating. The fistfight is broken up when a stern young woman bursts from the longhouse's front door to tell everyone off for their ill conduct, which risks spoiling the clan's reputation—again. Turning to Mundr, she invites him inside for food and drink as an apology, and he agrees.

Inside, the longhouse is incredibly dim and dingy, filled with smoke from a smouldering fire. Though hatches line the roof to let the smoke out, all are firmly shut despite the heavy and near-impenetrable air. There, Mundr is introduced to Vetle Þrymsson, the head of the Ormfaering clan—the collection of sailors and warriors dwelling in this hall. Speaking with Vetle and the young woman, whom Vetle introduces as Sollaug Biting-Eyes, his kinswoman, Mundr learns that they and their clan are foreigners who have recently arrived in Bodil's Gap from the Old Lands, the distant kingdoms from which the first settlers in the Gap sailed. Having settled in Songheim for about a month, the clan is looking for work.

Mundr admits that he and his companions are seeking to hire mercenaries for their mission of revenge against Kettil Sea-Strider, but says that he cannot simply hire the Ormfaerings without consulting the others. While speaking, Mundr notices that at the mention of revenge Vetle's eyes flashed yellow and he and Sollaug both tense, but that they relax on hearing Kettil's name. Parting from the Ormfaerings amicably but wondering who might be seeking revenge against them, Mundr returns to his allies.

Meanwhile, Hrafn tracks down his contact in the Mustakshaf quarter of Songheim, an area on the south side of the city largely occupied by foreign traders who have settled in the Gap. Born of a Bodvi father and a Mustakshaf mother, Aisha has a wide net of contacts both within the Gap and abroad, and acts as much as a middleman for others as a merchant in her own right. Meeting Hrafn in the marketplace, she tells him of a mercenary company of her acquaintance known as the Azraqi Corsairs, who are currently staying in Songheim after a previous employer abandoned his contract and left them in the Gap without work. Their captain, Harun al-Azraq, will be taking lunch in the feast hall Sirocco, and Aisha invites Hrafn and his comrades there to meet him.

Reconvening, the party discusses their findings. Ingvild proposes that they visit the Jarl's court to present their case, as Kettil Sea-Strider is a notorious pirate who preys on ships in Songheim's waters, but doing so can wait; there's no harm in meeting Harun al-Azraq at noon in the mean time.

Visiting Sirocco, the party is greeted by Aisha, who points them to a table, saying that she'll introduce them to Harun after the meal. In the meantime, the feast hall is participating in one of its unique traditions; the Hour of Rumours. The feast hall is filled with foreign traders and local Bodvir who likewise trade overseas, and during the Hour of Rumours, one spokesperson from each table is required to stand and share with everyone assembled a new rumour or piece of news from their travels before their table will be served—after the meal, the teller of the best rumour will be awarded a free bottle of rice wine.

The party listen as rumours are shared of ships being lost at sea, of conflict brewing between the Jarl of Songheim and his rival to the north, and of the outlaws of the great southern swamp sending a representative to the regional assembly back in the spring—perhaps even intending to choose their own þejn and attempt to attend the upcoming Alþing. They also learn that the Ormfaerings are rumoured to have moved to Songheim not because they wished to, but because they were banished from the Old Lands for sorcery. When the party's turn arrives, Hrafn stands and recounts the death of Olaf Mangler, impressing all assembled—with the notorious raider dead, travel north with ships heavily laden with tradegoods may be considered somewhat safer.

Hrafn's rumour is judged the best, and the free bottle of wine arrives with their lunch. After the meal, Aisha reappears at the table and invites the party over another table near the back of the hall, where Harun al-Azraq and some of his men sit. Harun explains that he and his men are bodyguards by trade, warriors who focus more on safeguarding their employers than on marching to battle. True professionals, the Azraqi corsairs will be unflinchingly loyal as long as they're paid, but Harun and two of his officers are the only ones who speak the Bodvi language—if hired by the party, all orders will have to be relayed through Harun, for the corsairs themselves won't share a tongue with their employers.

The professionalism of the Azraqi Corsairs appeals, but the party again refuses to commit to anything without some time to consider. When they part, Harun tells them he will be staying in Sirocco for another week before he'll be forced to seek work elsewhere—assuming he isn't hired by someone else in the meantime.

Finished their lunch, the party finally decides to visit the Jarl's court. Climbing through the city, they arrive at the peak of the great hill and approach the door of the hall, where two huskarls stand guard. When the PCs introduce themselves as the kin and allies of the fallen Þejn Arnolf, the guards react with some surprise and tell the party that their other ally is already present and speaking with the Jarl, Arvid the Elder, even now.

Perplexed, the party is ushered in only to find that the one speaking to the Jarl is not their own ally but Ragnar Tryggvasson. The trading partner and ally of Trond, Ragnar sailed with the raid against Kettil but has not been seen by the party since the fleet was scattered by the kraken. Ragnar is visibly displeased to see the party, and quickly confers with his mercenary aide, Dagrún Gold-Tooth, while the Jarl of Songheim greets the PCs.

The Jarl doesn't waste time, however, before asking Ragnar to continue speaking—and as he does so, it comes out that Ragnar's request to the Jarl is very different than the party's. Clearly uncomfortable with the party's presence, Ragnar continues to explain how Trond, the rightful Þejn of Ymafjord and head of the Laxbrynjung clan, is currently in the care of Ragnar's servants on his estate. Ragnar claims that Trond, still wounded by his encounter with the kraken, no longer wishes to pursue a feud against Kettil Sea-Strider, and that he has asked Ragnar to implore the Jarl of Songheim to mediate on his behalf at the upcoming Alþing. Specifically, he wants to negotiate for Kettil to pay weregild for the deaths of Arnolf and Steinar, which would allow the blood feud to be forgotten—and as Trond's emissary, Ragnar would of course take charge of this payment, just as he has taken charge of Trond's care during his convalescence.

The party bristles at this and immediately begin to dispute Ragnar's claims. They argue that Trond is dead, slain by the kraken, and question whether Ragnar has him in his care; they deny that the clan seeks an end to the feud, having come here to ask for Jarl Arvid's support in prosecuting it; and they call Ragnar a coward and a liar. Ragnar tries to argue that the PCs are the ones telling falsehoods, citing the discord between Ingvild and Trond as motive, but Hrafn cuts his arguments apart with the talents of a skald, goading Ragnar into a shame-faced flight from the Jarl's hall, abandoned by his own mercenary and with his reputation forever in tatters.

Impressed by the party's boldness, Arvid the Elder introduces his son, Arvid the Younger, who is a renowned warrior and captain in his own right. Though the Jarl will not command his men to aid the Laxbrynjungs, needing them as he does for the upcoming Alþing, he makes no objection to his son seeking glory by raiding Kettil's holdings in a mercenary capacity—and Arvid the Younger has the wealth of a Jarl with which to prepare and supply himself should the party hire him.

Parting with the Jarl on good terms, the party retreats to consider their options. Of the three groups of mercenaries available to them, they only have the funds to hire one, unless they can secure greater wealth. Returning to their ship for the evening, they pass their first night in the big city contemplating which company to hire, and what they can do to secure the services of a second.

Their sleep is fitful, for on the morrow, Ingvild must visit the city's temple to hear what the phantom giant wishes of him.

Behind the Scenes

I had a lot of fun coming up with different companies of mercenaries for the party to discover and interact with. Each has its own pros and cons, so it was interesting seeing which resonated with them and which the different players favoured.

I also had a lot of fun with the possession of Ylva's body. Her player rolled a 6 on his move to travel in spirit form, and it was the perfect opportunity to bring in Ingvild's giant to vex the party. Ylva's player has given the party a password every single time Ylva leaves her body, a sensible precaution against most spirits that might seek to possess her. It was a true misfortune that Gottyr is keeping an eye on the party through his link to Ingvild, and could listen in.

Next time, Ingvild will hear from his giantish patron, while Hrafn gets embroiled in some intrigue among skalds.

Revenge for the Laxbrynjungs! Part 13 - Omens of Misfortune

The ongoing playtest of Bodil’s Gap continues! In part twelve, the party delved into the barrow of an ancient giant, battled his ghost, and plundered his grave goods to arm themselves for their feud against Kettil Sea-Strider. Now they must return to the abandoned fortress of Olaf Mangler, where they agreed to reconvene with their allies and plan their next move.

The Cast

Ingvild Scoreslayer, Dýrsark - Ingvild is an old and bitter warrior, cunning but prone to the rage of a berserker. Having fallen in combat with the ancient ghost of a long-dead giant, Ingvild now lives only by the grace of his bargain with that giant's spectral kin, and his soul bears the giant's mark as evidence of the deal they struck.

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.

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

With the phantom giant destroyed and Ingvild back on his feet, the party is free to loot. In addition to the massive steel spear-blade that Ingvild now wields as a sword and the bronze, elf-wrought blade and shield discovered in an earlier chamber, the plunderers find an enormous chest of silver coins, an enchanted harp, and a giantish talisman of good luck—a knot tied from the severed end of the giant's own umbilical cord, petrified and kept in a leather pouch. When shaken, a faint sloshing reveals that the knot still contains mingled traces of the giant's caul-water and birthing blood. Mundr, wise to the ways of giants, recognizes this substance as eitr, a deadly poison.

Stowing their new treasures, the party returns to the surface to set sail on the two-day trip back to Olaf Mangler's fort. During the first night at sea, however, Ingvild is beset by a strange dream. Finding himself aboard a ship, he is forced to watch as two animals, a stag and an osprey, do battle back and forth across the deck. The stag defends itself with its antlers while the osprey swoops about its head, slashing with its beak and talons. Then one of the stag's antlers breaks in the grip of the osprey's claw, and the raptor's beak plunges down to tear out the stag's throat. Ingvild wakes unsettled, but little can be done about dreams.

After the second day of sailing, the party reaches Olaf's fort to discover that they have arrived before their ally Rurik, and will be forced to wait for him. They begin settling into the abandoned village on shore, but misfortune strikes as they start unloading. The currents around the shore have grown unruly, the wind rises against them, and their efforts are hindered by ill luck provoking accidents and minor mishaps among the crew.

Ylva recognizes something unnatural in this, and casts about for the cause. Peering across the water to the fort itself, which stands apart from the shore on elevated pilings, she's able to spot something that was not present when the party left the fort four days ago—standing on the deck of the fort is an upright pole topped with the severed head of a deer, the points of its antlers still dripping with blood.

Ylva knows this to be a niðstang, a cursing pole erected to bring misfortune wherever its gaze falls. Someone has deliberately erected this object of seiðr to thwart and inconvenience anyone returning to the abandoned fort or the village on the shore. Turning into a bird, Ylva crosses over the water to the fort's platform—on reaching the fort, however, what she finds brings her up short. Standing in the doorway of the fortress proper, beyond the niðstang that has been driven between the boards of the deck, the restless ghost of Olaf Mangler himself can be seen, axe in hand. Recalling her accidental binding of the ghosts of Olaf and his wife Torhild, Ylva decides against entering the building, and quickly uses her seiðr to undo the magic of the niðstang before abandoning the fort to the spirits haunting it.

The ghosts are not satisfied by this, however. Dusk falls and the party makes camp in one of the longhouses of the village, but during the night the campfire suddenly rages out of control, flames leaping upward to lap at the beams of the roof even as they spill out of the stone-lined fire pit on every side, threatening to catch on the supplies laid out around the fire and on the bedrolls of the slumbering party members.

Fortunately Hrafn is on watch. Quickly the skald shouts to wake his comrades, even as he takes up his new harp to recite a saga of storms. Buffeting wind fills the longhouse, throwing open the doors and swirling about the hall, and the fire is forced down as the wind robs it of breath and heat. If Hrafn stops for even a moment, however, the flames spring up again, and Ylva recognizes in them the ill-will and hunger of the ghosts. It seems they cannot be ignored, and must instead be dealt with.

While Ingvild and Mundr cross over to the fort in a rowboat, Ylva makes the journey in spirit form, leaving her body in the care of Hrafn, who agrees to remain in their camp and continue keeping the ghosts' anger from burning down the longhouse and all of their supplies.

Entering the fort, the party is immediately attacked by the ghost of Olaf. Mundr has already defeated him once in a duel, but now his opponent is an ephemeral spectre, rather than a man of flesh and blood, and the character of the battle is quite different. Fortunately, Mundr's primordial flames are sufficient to harm the spirit, as is Ingvild's new sword taken from the giant's barrow. While the two engage Olaf's ghost in melee, Ylva wields her seiðr to hamper and impair the spectre.

Olaf's ire is almost entirely taken up by the one who bound him, however, and though Mundr was the one who killed him, he almost entirely ignores his previous enemy and the blows of his two attackers to focus on rampaging towards the seiðkona. When his spectral axe rakes across her spirit form, wounds spring open on her physical body, alarming Hrafn as her clothes are quite suddenly soaked in blood. While his comrades are banishing Olaf's spirit, Hrafn leaps towards Ylva's pack, juggling his harp in one hand and digging out bandages with the other, trying to balance maintaining the saga that keeps the fire from spreading with patching up his ally's wounds before she bleeds out.

While Hrafn saves Ylva and keeps the camp safe, the three in the fort finally dispatch Olaf's spirit from the mortal world. Ylva realizes that the ghost of Torhild must remain, and all three ascend to her workshop to seek her out. There they find that unlike Olaf, who seemed somewhat lucid, Torhild's spirit appears to be trapped in the recollections of her death, pacing across the floor in an echo of her final moments. Behind her, Ylva's carved message has turned the wall nearly to ash, its warped magic straining the wood's structural integrity.

Rather than battle a second ghost, Ingvild takes his sword to the accidentally-created spirit trap. The whole wall collapses under his blow, wood and ash exploding outward to rain down onto the waves. As the trap is destroyed, Torhild's ghost vanishes, and back in camp the flames that struggled against Hrafn's wind immediately go out. Returning to the camp, everyone collapses exhaustedly into bed.

In the morning, Rurik arrives, bearing bad news. While he was at home in Ymafjord gathering supplies and reinforcements, a broken oar washed up on shore, its blade carved with the image of a stag and its shaft cloven in two by the stroke of a sword or axe. His elder sister, Ranveig, found it on the sand and immediately tried to hurl herself into the sea, and had to be dragged back on shore to keep her from drowning herself—for the oar belonged to her husband, Radulf, one of the captains who sailed with the raiding fleet seeking revenge against Kettil Sea-Strider. Though Radulf survived the kraken rising from the depths and separating the fleet, it seems his luck ran out when he encountered the ship of the Sea-Strider himself, for the broken oar can only be an omen of his death.

The Laxbrynjungs have drawn the blood of Kettil's son Olaf, but it seems that their feud has not left their own family unscathed.

Behind the Scenes

The folkloric nature of magic in Bodil's Gap is one of my favourite aspects of the setting, and in this session I really enjoyed the opportunity to use omens and prophetic dreams to show the party what was happening elsewhere, and to emphasize the danger of their enemy, Kettil Sea-Strider. In this case, I gave the dream to Ingvild since Ranveig is his niece by blood, making him the closest kin to Radulf among the PCs, but Ranveig herself would have shared the same dream, contributing to her despair.

As the Laxbryjnung family continues to shrink, their problems change. The political mess caused by the death of Arnolf has almost entirely been resolved by the deaths of nearly everyone else who could hope to claim the Þejnship, but with every political rival slain, the party also loses a family member and potential ally against Kettil. Knowing their numbers are dwindling, the players decided to try and secure some help—next time we begin their adventures in the big city as they sail to the metropolis of Songheim, seeking to hire themselves some mercenaries...