Author Topic: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1  (Read 79771 times)

Offline Risada

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #340 on: November 05, 2014, 06:13:35 AM »
"Is everything okay, Skulda?" Asks Agni when he sees Skulda casting a spell.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #341 on: November 05, 2014, 10:15:23 AM »
Skulda says in a whisper "We're being followed." Then smiles, turns toward the bird, and raises her voice (in Rashemi, I guess) "Bram, I presume? We've come here to deliver the talisman Ásdís made for you, and speak with you about a growing menace of fiendish trolls that we're investigating. I am Skulda, and my companions are Agni, Bjartr, and Throgrim*."

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« Last Edit: November 05, 2014, 11:33:17 AM by phaedrusxy »
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline skydragonknight

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #342 on: November 05, 2014, 11:26:20 AM »
Thorgrim, startled, turns to find who or what Skulda is talking to. He blinks - twice, and nods his head in acknowledgement. He puts the blade of his fang on the ground as a gesture of peace, but keeps a firm grip on it in case he is mistaken. He will let those that can speak to the land speak to each other.
Hmm.

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #343 on: November 05, 2014, 02:49:10 PM »
Einar keeps an eye on the bird but does not make any movements threatening or otherwise.  He is unsure if this bird could truly be the man they seek.

Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #344 on: November 10, 2014, 09:22:33 PM »
The nuthatch continues to move in sudden bursts, hopping down a tree trunk, or flitting across the road to another tree.  It doesn't seem to respond to Skulda's address in any way.  As you all stand around waiting for an expected response, Bjartr's face grows increasingly bored, then annoyed.  Hymir looks to the priest of Odin, opening his mouth to crack a joke, when his eyes divert past Bjartr, looking in the opposite direction from the nuthatch.  Several of you see an osprey glide out of the fog to the north, and swoop down behind a cluster of pines about 70 feet away.

A few moments later a lanky man with a modest frame steps out from behind the pines.  His light brown hair is tied back, away from his face, exposing slightly pointed ears.  He wears sturdy leather boots, and wool garments colored in browns, grays, and dark greens.  "Could you repeat that, please?  What you said a few minutes ago.  I only saw the last bit, and was only using his eyes."  As he speaks, he walks toward your party a bit, but moves to place a birch tree just in front of his left shoulder before he stops about 50 feet away.

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Offline Nanshork

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #345 on: November 11, 2014, 09:55:33 AM »
Einar snorts in amusement.  He knew the little bird wasn't him.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #346 on: November 11, 2014, 10:13:27 AM »
Skulda hides her surprise and continues to smile, and even curtsies to the man, and says "I said, we've come here to deliver the talisman Ásdís made for you, and speak with you about a growing menace of fiendish trolls that we're investigating. I am Skulda, and my companions are Agni, Bjartr, Hymir, Einar and Throgrim."

As she speaks, those of you nearby might see her cheeks flush a bit, making you wonder what's going on with the old gal. Does she have the hots for this new guy or something?

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« Last Edit: November 11, 2014, 10:27:50 AM by phaedrusxy »
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #347 on: November 11, 2014, 10:52:58 AM »
"Ah, the talisman!  And delivered to me, no less.  Quite fortuitous, as I used the last one just a few days ago."  The man steps forward to accept the small leather pouch, and when he bends forward to place the thong around his neck, you can see he has a few other assorted talismans hanging inside the neck of his shirt.  "I am Bram, the watcher of this region of the Yuirwood."  His friendly tone turns more serious as he asks, "What is this troll menace of which you speak?"

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #348 on: November 12, 2014, 08:52:39 AM »
Skulda unfurls their tale, saying "We traveled with a caravan for many days to reach Nothri's land. Along the way, we saw many abandoned farms and fought several battles against trolls, including some that could use magic, some which could only be killed by fire, and most of which had fiendish blood in their veins. When we arrived, we found that the king's son, Eyvind, had gone out with some of his warriors to battle trolls at a nearby village and none had returned. Through a divination, I was warned that there is an army of trolls forming which numbers in the thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Due to their fiendish nature, and also due to us blundering through a portal into Nidavellir, we believe that perhaps the cairns which hold many fiends through these lands are weakening, allowing these trolls to muster."
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline skydragonknight

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #349 on: November 12, 2014, 05:23:33 PM »
Thorgrim nods, adding what he knew.
"I was among a party that found a message in a pack that a troll had stolen. The message was from the Nentyarch to the Hathran, and told of seals that would weaken by midwinter and a tide that would trickle out. We had no idea at the time, but we now believe the 'tide' to be these trolls. And we believe the release of their brethren to be their true aim. We seek the wisdom of one who communes with the land. While we have learned bits and pieces, our knowledge cannot stop an army nor hold it at bay. Any aid you or other druids could lend would be a boon beyond measure."
Hmm.

Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #350 on: November 13, 2014, 01:29:05 AM »
Bram rubs his chin as Skulda and Thorgrim speak their information, and as the Rashemi warrior finishes relaying his part, the druid's eyes begin to meander upward, lost in thought.
"An interesting tale, full of adventure and ominous portents.  Yet though you have the pieces before you, like a blasphemous Halruaan unable to grasp the meaning of a godly kenning through the cloud of his own ignorance*, you do not recognize the pieces for what they are, or how they work together as a whole.  I mean no disrespect; it is the burden my people have taken on..."  He says that last bit while looking at Skulda.  "... and in so doing, spare most people from the necessity of knowledge."

"I take it from your accent that you are Rashemi?" he asks Thorgrim.  "The witches teach your people to avoid standing stones, do they not?"**  "They do this, as do our people in these lands, because such stones are dangerous.  They imprison ancient fiends, locked away and warded so as not to inflict their malice on the world of men.  Still, the fiends found a way to exert their influence.  Though they cannot leave their prisons, and wardings strong enough to kill a healthy warrior were erected to keep out troublemakers, there was an unforeseen flaw, of sorts.  Some trolls are unable to be killed by the wardings."

"Evil beings that they are, trolls approached the imprisoned fiends for aid and succor; though trapped, many of the fiends are still able to wield powerful magics.  Aid was given to the trolls, for the giants were in a unique position to collude with the bound demons.  Whoring themselves to fiends for magic or trinkets, trollwives would bear fiendish progeny for the demonic sires; heirs to act as hands through which the bound fiends can exert their will."

"Now the trolls see such half-fiends as boons to their own tribes, performing errands and tasks for the privilege of being raped and strengthening their tribe with fiendish blood.  They horse-trade both ways, offering a womb for magical assistance, or trading something to the fiend for the chance to strengthen their tribe through the womb."

"No, the fiendish trolls are not coming here through weakened seals; they were bred right here in Midgard.  Beneath the very noses of their jailers..."  He says that last sentence quietly, almost as an afterthought.  "We are too few to watch them all, all the time, and we have other matters to attend to, as well."

He shakes his head as if to wake himself, and says, "my apologies; I didn't mean to carry on like that."

*
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Offline Nanshork

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #351 on: November 13, 2014, 10:41:48 AM »
Einar pats the hilt of his sword.  "Some of us have become very good at hunting trolls, fiendish or otherwise."

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #352 on: November 13, 2014, 10:57:51 AM »
Ignoring the bragging berzerker, Skulda says to Bram "No apology necessary. What do you mean by your people? Those of elfen blood? I would like to hear more of that. I was raised by my mother, a human, and so have no knowledge of elven ways, and indeed have met very few others who share my heritage. I had heard tales of Alfar-blooded who watch over the cairns, though, and wondered if they were true."

She looks around a bit self-consciously and says "Perhaps this isn't the proper time to discuss such things, though."
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #353 on: November 14, 2014, 12:15:45 AM »
"Then perhaps we should make time.  Come, dusk is almost upon us; we should be able to make it to my home before all the light has failed."  He leads you a bit further north along the trail you had been following, then leads you west on another trail.  The trees press in, to the point that you must all dismount and lead your horses rather than ride atop them, and your view of the trail ahead is occasionally obscured by errant rays of the falling sun piercing through the canopy and blinding you.  The sun finally sets, and you walk for nearly an hour in total, noticing a rise in the terrain as you head west.  With about fifteen minutes of usable light remaining, you step into a small clearing that faces a rocky outcropping from the slope ahead of you.

A very large wolf laying at the north edge of the clearing picks up its head and begins to growl, until Bram orders him to quiet down.  As Bram continues walking toward the small rocky cliff-face, you notice that the middle of it has an odd bulge about twenty feet in diameter, and half as high as the twenty-foot cliff it exudes from.  It also has a wooden door, which Bram opens.  "It'll be a bit cramped with all of us in there, but at least that'll help keep us warm," he says as he gathers up an armload of various-sized pieces of wood and sticks, and heads inside to stoke the banked coals.

Offline Risada

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #354 on: November 18, 2014, 07:36:45 AM »
Agni follows after the druid with a curious face.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #355 on: November 18, 2014, 09:40:47 AM »
Skulda smiles and says "Thank you for your hospitality, Bram." and follows the man into the cave.

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"I had guessed much of what you revealed to us. Part of the divination said that "Sires raise their sons with a mind to raze the lands of men." So I thought the fiends were behind organizing this army, but I did not know that the fiends could impregnate trollwives from within their prisons. That is the missing piece to the puzzle.

There is more to our tale that we should probably share, though. Nothri's son is missing, and when I inquired as to what happened to him through my divinations, the answer I received was disturbing. It said that Nothri's seed had been choked out by another. I wonder what this means. It could mean that the son of another has strangled and killed Eyvind, but I suspect that it means that Eyvind has been corrupted somehow, making him no longer the son of Nothri, but the son of a fiend..."
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #356 on: November 18, 2014, 09:52:37 AM »
Einar follows as well but remains quiet, he is not sure what to say to this man.

Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #357 on: November 20, 2014, 01:13:50 PM »
Down on his knees before the coals, Bram pauses in his gentle blowing to listen to the divinations as Skulda relays them.  He returns to his work, giving no reaction to the information that was provided.  He works methodically, using sticks to reposition the live coals where he wanted between two split quarters, and continued to blow as he added the smallest of twigs and thinnest shavings of wood to the coals.  Before long the glowing bed gave way to bright flame burning through the tinder, and catching the kindling he had arranged on top.  Within a few minutes the roughly 20-foot by 12-foot room began to warm, and larger logs placed on the fire began to catch.

Bram points toward the small table and two chairs, as well as the raised bench along the back wall.  The bench looks much like what you would find in a longhouse, complete with his sleeping pallet on the end near the fire, though the sidewalls of the raised bench are formed of solid stone, not wood.  Bram takes a seat on the ground beside the fire, eyes distant, as if still thinking.

After everyone finds a seat, he says "The first one makes sense; trolls, fiendish or not, have been known to convene large warbands in the past.  But the second... perhaps he was subjected to possession?  But that would mean there is a fiend running free... quite an unpleasant idea, though not impossible.  Your guess is as good as mine."

With that he stands up, picks up a pot and several clay jugs, which he places together, and then recites an incantation above them.  They are instantly filled with fresh water.  Bram hangs the pot on a hook over the fire, then rummages around for items stored in barrels and sacks.  He begins placing leeks, turnips, and other various vegetables into the pot.  A small amount of dried fish goes in as well.  As he works he asks a few questions about what else you know about the trolls' activities.  "Do you know where they are mustering?  What are your plans regarding figuring out what has happened to Northri's son?"

Offline Risada

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #358 on: November 21, 2014, 08:37:46 AM »
"We thought about following Eyvind's trail and see what we find... As for the troll army, the Hathran must be made aware of this." Agni pauses for a moment to breathe then continues. "On our travels we met a few of them, but sadly we do not know where they are gathering yet."

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Mythic Sagas: Chapter 1
« Reply #359 on: November 21, 2014, 10:15:22 AM »
At the mention of telling the Hathran, Einar nods in agreement.