accomplishedApril 24th, Year 101 (since founding of Ulvfrist)
Dagmar Ivarsdottir (Tammy) observes the attackers, and sees that they are primitive bandits riding what appear to be vargr (wargs). As the warg riders approach them at speed, Dagmar turns to Gerda Herildasdottir (NPC), her apprentice, and sees that she is frozen with fear - and that there are five riderless wargs moving towards them from the rear. She nudges Gerda, breaking her paralysis, and the girl shouts "Wargs!" Dagmar yells for Gerda to put her spear up and defend herself.
Hulm Runolfsson (NPC) and Adalstein Ulfarsson (
spross) are attacked by wargs and its rider each, while Dagmar protects Gerda from attack after she's been attacked by one of the riderless wargs. Once more, Ronja Magnisdottir (NPC) acts impulsively and charges one of the wargs with her spear. This forces Adalstein to leave himself open to one of the wargs and rider, while he races to her defense. When he kills the warg attacking Ronja, a pair of mystical eyes appear in the air, and observe the battle. Dagmar sees them in passing, and continues to defend the rear, at the same time being protective of her apprentice. The middle of the fight finds the player characters holding their own, with Hulm's spear and strength being effective against the wargs and their riders, killing several, but the various characters are wounded to varying degrees (Gerda, Dagmar, and Adalstein take severe injuries). Suffering injuries of their own, the wargs choose to retreat, but Adalstein's striking down another of the wargs enrages them and the riders, and the surviving creatures and their riders renew their attacks. After Hulm comes to Dagmar and Gerda's rescue, killing two more of the riderless wargs, the surviving wargs and the lone rider race off in retreat back to the forest, leaving the characters to lick their wounds. As the fight comes to an end, Dagmar sees the two eyes in the sky vanish.The player characters assess their situation and health, determining that Dagmar, Adalstein, and Gerda are the worst off; Hulm is also injured, but not as severely, and Ronja was not injured during the fight at all. Using his survival skills, Hulm heals Dagmar of some of her wounds, and then uses the two draughts of healing that he got at a steep price from the Ulvfrist healer, Osk Arvesdottir, on Dagmar and Adalstein. [He pays a Furor point to possess these.] Dagmar then uses her Seidr healing abilities on her apprentice, Gerda, as well. Hulm checks the various wounds and injuries for infection. The various characters feel much better, though both Adalstein and Gerda are still injured, and sport lots of impromptu bandages. Hulm tells Dagmar that he owes the healer a lot for the two healing draughts.
The player characters continue on after the medical ministrations, and head for the dilapidated shack. As they walk, Dagmar talks to Ronja, and realises the girl is too reckless for her own (and their) good and that she doesn't see the dangers that she's putting the rest of the characters in. She tells Dagmar that she saw the eyes, too... Tricky eyes, she calls them. Perhaps they're those of Loki?
As the characters approach the broken shack, they see a somewhat time-ravaged, shattered wagon near the shack. As they get close, Hulm has Adalstein check the east side, while he takes the western end, while Dagmar, Gerda, and Ronja check out the wagon. Ronja points out a sword that she spots near the overgrown left wheel. They also notice that the wagon is only part of a wagon, the other half seemingly missing or destroyed somehow. As the get close to where the sword is, Dagmar spots a winter/milk spider on the wheel itself, and the three women avoid it. There are no goods in the wagon, but the evidence shows indications that there was. When they look at the weapon, it seems to be a Norse long sword, with a rune on the hilt [Gebo] and one on the tip of the blade [Ingvi], as well as the word "SKAVMUND" inscribed down the length of the blade. Dagmar tells Gerda and Ronja that the weapon is a "named blade" and that they should leave it where it lies. She is surprised to learn that Ronja knows her letters, and understood the word.
Adalstein heads east along the edge of the building, looking around as he goes. He finds the windows along the south wall shuttered and seemingly locked. As he rounds the corner, he comes across a skeleton with several winter spiders clambering through it. Nothing in evidence, though he sees that the skull has been smashed in. He continues around the east wall of the building, but doesn't come upon anything that is obvious. He hears the snorting and grunting of some sort of animal at the junction of the east and north faces of the building, where it is very close to the forest. He moves on cautiously, and comes across a section of ground that is slick with red stains, and a wet, mulchy, rotten smell to it. He sees that an extension has been built at the northwest edge of the shack. He tries to see through the fallen and collapsed section of wall there, and there is a stench, a charnal smell. He can see what appear to be dead animals and body parts hanging from a tree-like structure inside, though the light is faint and full of shadows. Adalstein wants to get away from there quickly, and go back and consult with the volva. Too late, he realises his mistake in going with haste, as he hits the slick area that he passed earlier, and loses his footing on the slick mulch. He falls to the ground, landing on his rear end with a SQUISH!!, releasing a noxious urine/rotten eggs miasma into the air. Clambering to his feet and now covered in the muck and foul stuff, Adalstein heads back to find the others.
As noted elsewhere on my blog, I had a pretty good session of the Yggdrasill game yesterday. While there were a few problems with
spross as per usual, the session went quite well, and the players both did a relatively good job of it. I'm rather enjoying the interactive moments between Tammy's Dagmar Ivarsdottir and her apprentice, Gerda, though I was hoping that spross would have interacted more with Ronja Magnisdottir (the Jarl's daughter), as there is potential for some good stuff there as well. Ah, well.So, for the moment, I'm looking forward to next week's game session on Sunday.
