Session 123: When Last We Met 4/28/25
General Summary
When last we met, The party had just defeated a whole squadron of Star Spawn and saved the kingdom of Norheim as well as, unbeknownst to them at the time, Its Queen. The fighter known as Freya revealed herself to be Queen Fiusnath and offered to let the party rest and recover at her keep and revealed plans to hold a great feast in their honor for their valiant work.
A healer tends to the wounds of the queen as well as the party and they are brought to their chambers. A multi bed barracks of some kind on the western end of the Emberforge Keep. They spend the better part of 3 days exploring the city of Balmora with the Queen's escort, a man named Rasmus. He shows them around and acts as their guide. On the eve of the third day, Rasmus brings them to a longhouse just outside the city. Inside they find a large gathering of people making merry. The party are sat at a place of honor near the Queen And she raises a drinking horn to toast the party for their bravery making a speech and giving them the Titles of Huskarl, which appear to be some sort of protector title. The party gets underway and many of the party members get good and drunk.
They are constantly crowded by other guests who heap praise upon them and treat them like the celebrities they are. one Dwarf, Challenges the party to a drinking contest to which Vandread, Romaia, Mistral, Sebastian and Ukko take him up on. One by one the party and their allies drop unconscious from the obscene amount of alcohol they consume. Until only vandread remains standing and this dwarf drunkenly proclaims him the winner before stumbling off to likely vomit or pass out.
Later on in the night, A goliath woman approaches their table and challenges one of them to an Arm Grapple. Mistral, in his highly intoxicated state, takes her up on this and surprisingly comes out victorious! This Goliath woman congratulates Mistral and praises his strength before walking away confusedly. Unsure how he could have won.
He then drunkenly admits to killing his dad multiple times to multiple people.
Finally, The queen joins them at their table and continues to thank the party profusely and tells them that "What's done in kindness echoes 2-fold" and says they may ask of her anything to repay the kindness they did for her. The party say they'll need soldiers for what's to come and she offers them freely. Vandread also asks if she has some sort of magical way to fix their "two-sun" problem. She laments that beyond intervention from one of their cruel gods, there isn't much she can help with that.
Vandread then admonishes her people for forsaking magic and says things could have gone a lot different if they had magic users in the country. A sort of handshake deal is brokered where, if they come out on the other side of this, Ukko will bring over a few professors to act as Envoys to kind of change the citizens perception of magic, and perhaps, build their own magical academy there.
From there, the topic of other Jarls in her country come up and Fiusnath laments that many of them disapprove of her rule. Calling her illegitimate because she is a woman and refuses to remarry for the loss of her husband Ulmo. At this, one of these Jarls, Kolbjorn, crashes the party and scornfully chides the queen partying instead of governing. And Mockingly offers his hand in marriage to her so that "Her country will start respecting her". She balks at this and says That if he has a grievance with her, He should challenge her to Holmgang and be done with it. Kolbjorn refuses to fight the Queen one on one and offers to have her battle his daughter whom he brought along. Vandread offers to act as the Queen's champion if it means getting to fight Kolbjorn himself. A 4 way tag team match of sorts is then decided where Queen Fiusnath and Vandread will take on Kolbjorn and his warrior daughter.
The 4 meet at the fighting pit along with the party and a few other witnesses to see the Holmgang take place. Rasmus lays down the ground rules and states there will be no killing. With that, the battle gets underway. Kolbjorn's daughter immediately goes for the queen, Bashing her with her Greatsword. Then Vandread goes on the offesnive and basically cuts this woman to ribbons. She yields soon after. To the great shame of Kolbjorn.
Vandread then asks if The Queen would allow him to fight Kolbjorn one on one. To which she agrees.
The duel gets underway and blows are exchanged back and forth. Eventually Vandread gets Kolbjorn to finally yield. Vandread forces him to proclaim this right to the Queen's face and for all to see. Kolbjorn limply walks away seemingly with his tail tucked between his legs.
Once he reaches a safe distance though, He orders the men he brought with him to attack and Kill the queen. Proclaiming "I will become High King this night!"
The rest of the party witnessing this immediately jump into action
Character(s) interacted with
Queen Fiusnath - Queen Regnent of Norheim. Crowned and Anointed on the Dragon Throne. She did not reveal herself to the party until she knew she could trust them. But then kept the party at her castle as her guests and threw a great feast in their honor.
Rasmus - The Queen's Steward. Acted as a guide for the party while they were staying at the castle.
Balmoran Dwarf - Challenged the party to a drinking contest at the great feast. Ended up losing to Vandread
Balmoran Goliath - Challenged Mistral to an Arm wrestling match and lost despite being unsurpassed in muscles
Kolbjorn - Jarl of Tarthwaste. Challenged the Queen to a trial by combat known as Holmgang. To threaten her rule and leadership.
Yasha - Kolbjorn's daughter. Took part in the Holmgang fighting by the side of Jarl Kolbjorn
Notes
8th of Dagda
- Party defeated the Star Spawn
- was reintroduced to Queen Fiusnath
- offered to stay at the castle by Queen Fiusnath
- Party took a few long rests
11th of Dagda
- Party have spent three days in Balmora as guests of the queen
- Attended a feast held in their honor
- took part in a drinking contest and Arm wrestling
- Went to help fight a Holmgang for their new ally The Queen
It is nighttime when we pick up next time.
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