Session 17: Isulf and the Horrors of Lilladenau

General Summary

On the 19th day after Midsommar the adventuring party known as the Blood Krakens found themselves fighting a summer snowstorm high up in the Toes Mountains, only a few hours away from where they believed the lost city of Lilladenau to be. Led by Aela, the former Tide Wolf captain determined to take the enchanted head of Freyeth to the Sleeping Queen, they numbered seven strong. Isulf the dark paladin sworn to serve the Crows of Valdryssil, and his magic sword Hunger. Obi the helpful tomte ranger, and his one-horned ruen ruen companion Ori. Kiadux the trollock, a devotee of Ragnarr, god of war and storms. The bold Kenard Greenwood, a man with a message of warmth and friendship. And the Shadythorn brothers, Cikaac and Rook, mercenaries with loyalty that went as deep as Aela's coin pouch.
As night fell and the snowstorm deepened with the darkness, the Bloodkrakens discovered a grisly sight. A dead man hung upside down from a tree, hung by a length of his own skin braided into a rope, his entire lower body devoured down to the bone. Besides armor, weapons, and normal traveling gear, the man possessed the magically preserved hand of a Vaettir, its skin as white as the purest snow. Isulf surmised that this man must also be a servant of the Sleeping Queen, as it appeared he too was bringing an enchanted body part to Lilladenau, just as they were bringing a magically preserved head. But why, the Bloodkrakens could not fathom. Aela took the hand and added to the satchel which carried the head she brought for the Sleeping Queen.
The Bloodkrakens looted the corpse, and then decided to move a safe distance away to find a place to camp for the night. As they were leaving, Kiadux lingered behind to conduct some strange ritual on the body, which seemed to cause it to putrefy rapidly. Kenard lingered as well and witnessed the ritual. There was a moment of tension, the two men being of radically differing ideologies. But before anything could come of it, Kiadux noticed that they were being watched. The trollock turned and caught a brief glance of a massive creature, tall as the pines, with black skin and a horned skull head, watching them. It then vanished in the darkening snowstorm. Without discussion or pause, Kiadux and Kenard dashed to catch up with the rest of the party.
Kiadux described what he had seen to his companions. Several of them speculated what the beast could be, but Rook was confident that he knew what they faced. The ogn elf barbarian had heard many tales around the campfires of the Splintered Folk about a monster known as the Huldetr, or Flesh Eater. A cursed spirit, perhaps demonic or undead, of pure hunger and cold. A ravenous and tireless hunter that feasts only upon man flesh, and grows larger each time it feeds. It was known to drive men mad with chilling whispers, and could mimic any sound it heard. Fire, silver and salt were its only weaknesses according to the tales.
The Bloodkrakens decided to find a defensible position to face the beast, and Obi led them to a low cliff face that they could put at their backs. They began to build a fire when suddenly they heard their own voices, coming to them from the snowy darkness beyond what their eyes could see, taunting them with phrases taken out of context. Then a barrage of maddening whispers assaulted Isulf's ears. The paladin suddenly felt ravenously hungry for the flesh of his companions. Quickly realizing the madness that was taking him, the paladin summoned the power of his devotion to the Crows and cured himself of the affliction.
The ancient and massive Huldetr then made a game of tormenting the Bloodkrakens, dashing into attack them with cold, long claws of razor-sharp ice, then just as quickly dashing back into the snowy darkness to vanish from sight, then afflicting them with maddening whispers that compelled them to devour each other. Kenard and Aela worked feverishly to start as many fires as they could, hoping to drive the beast away. Rook drank a magic potion that would help protect him from the Huldetr's freezing cold claws and readied the silvered axe he found at the witch's hovel outside of Two Lakes. Obi set about making arrows that could be lit with fire. Isulf continued to use his powers to heal any who became afflicted by the hunger of the Huldetr's maddening whispers. Cikaac and Kiadux got into defensive positions, hoping to be ready when the beast dashed in and out of the fire light. Despite all their efforts, the Bloodkrakens soon came to the realization that the Huldetr was toying with them. If they stayed here the beast would eventually wear them down, or drive one or more of them made with hunger, causing them to turn upon themselves. A decision was made to flee to Lilladenau through the night and seek shelter in the ruins there.
And so the hunt began, with the Bloodkrakens racing through the snowy mountains in pitch blackness, trailed by the crafty and tireless Huldetr. During this flight the Bloodkrakens overcame many obstacles, including keeping their way in the freezing darkness, dispatching a yeti that sought the sweet taste of ruen ruen flesh, treacherous terrain caused by a rockslide, crossing a half-frozen creek, and scaling a cliff lined with ice and snow. When dawn finally came, and the snowstorm softened to a mild flurry, the exhausted and bloodied companions found the ruins of Lilladenau!


Slumbering beneath layers of ice and snow in a bowl between several peaks, the ruins sprawled farther than the eye could see in any direction. It must have been home to thousands of elves at the height of its glory. Now it laid in decayed ruin, with every building the Bloodkrakens searched fully collapsed into rubble. They desperately sought for a place to hide from the Huldetr, perhaps a place so small that that the behemoth could not follow, but they found nothing. Nothing until Aela saw a collapsed building with a mosaic of a sleeping figure eight on one of its walls. It was just like the vision from her dreams, which foretold of a secret door behind the pattern of a sleeping figure eight!
Aela instructed her Bloodkrakens to find the secret door behind the sleeping figure eight mosaic. Upon investigating, the companions discovered that several pieces of glass from the mosaic had fallen off into the snow around it. Perhaps fixing the mosaic would trigger the secret door to open? Just then the Huldetr appeared, and it no longer wished to toy with its food. It charged and would be upon them in a moment! Desperately the companions searched through the snow for the glass pieces needed to fix the mosaic, and with the grace of Valdryssil smiling upon them with fortune they found the five pieces needed! Aela and Isulf completed the mosaic and a secret door opened, revealing a ten-foot tunnel leading down and a lever to presumably close the door behind them. The companions raced into the tunnel as Rook held the Huldetr at bay for a brief moment with his silvered axe, before fleeing himself. The lever was pulled, and the secret door was closed (knocking several of the glass pieces loose again), barring the Huldetr from following. The companions then realized that there were a handful of peepholes behind some of the glass pieces, and through them they could see the Huldetr trying to figure out how to open the door. They weren't sure if the Huldetr was clever enough to figure it out, or if it could squeeze into the ten-foot tunnel to follow them, but they decided not to stay and find out.
The tunnel led down into three interconnected circular rooms. In the first room the Bloodkrakens discovered that they were not alone down here. Three other servants of the Sleeping Queen had been camped here for some time. The spokesman for this trio was a man garbed in black leathers with a great sword called Jorgen. In the second room was a massive ring of silver lined with five pillars of silver. Inside the ring was a collection of enchanted body parts, formed up and nearly completing a body, just missing a head and a hand (which Aela so happened to have in her satchel). Behind the ring of silver and the almost completed body was a massive chest full of thousands of silver pieces. In the third room were five cages of silver, each containing the skeletal remains of a child.
Jorgen and the two with him welcomed Aela and the Bloodkrakens, as they carried the final two enchanted body parts needed to complete the body in the ring of silver. Some of the companions were coming to realize that the body being completed from the enchanted parts was to probably be either a vessel or a powerful servant for the Sleeping Queen, which caused some of them to rethink their purpose here. Isulf made a plea for caution and deliberation before completing the body, which caught Aela by surprise, and then disappointed her. She asked the paladin to keep faith in her a little longer, as he always had. The others positioned themselves defensively, not sure what would happen, regardless of the body being completed or not. And then, without warning, Kiadux summoned forth the fires of Ragnarr and tried to burn the body parts laid out in the ring of silver. When the sacred flames died down the body parts remained unharmed, as they bore enchantments beyond what a simple spell could undo.
Aela and the other servants of the Sleeping Queen called for Kiadux's death, or at least banishment from the chambers. Isulf once again pleaded for caution and calm heads, stating that he would ensure the trollock caused no more mischief while the body was completed. Trusting him, as he trusted her, Aela took Isulf's advice, and Kiadux was allowed to stay and watch the body be completed. Aela stepped into the ring of silver, placing first the head and then the hand. When the last part was placed in the ring of silver a burst of energy shot through the chamber, pushing everyone back. The thousands of silver pieces in the open chest then flew into the air to swirl in a figure eight pattern. Within its loops formed a portal to another world shrouded in mist! A palpable hum of power emanated from the silver cages, flowing to the ring of silver to form an invisible shield of sound over the body. A wispy, yet powerful, woman's voice trickled out of the misty portal.
"Thank you, my faithful servants and dreamers...now it is time for your just reward..."


And with those words, Aela and the three other servants of the Sleeping Queen screamed in mortal pain. Helplessly the others watched as Aela and the servants melted before their eyes. Skin then muscle then even bone melted into puddles of steaming goo, leaving only the skulls, which burned with green fire and floated on their own accord. And so, thus did Isulf watch his ill-fated captain and lover Aela die a painful death in her quest for power and eternal life. If he felt any pain, the dark and bent man did not show it. Perhaps he was past any such attachment or sentiment? Perhaps he had already lost far more than that? Perhaps the Crows had already devoured within him what parts of a man cause him to feel?
Regardless of Isulf and any reaction he may have to Aela's horrible death, Cikaac had seen enough, and it was time to punch some shit. With lightning reflexes, the wild elf sprang into action, strange runes glowing upon his neck, and he began punching one of the flying skull dreamers. Without discussion, the rest of the companions followed his lead. In response, the dreamers started weaving a whispered lullaby which enchanted several of the companions, causing them to fall into a nightmare-laden slumber which would eventually kill them if not quickly awakened.
With grim determination and Hunger in hand, Isulf made quick work of the dreamer that once had been his captain and lover. It was a tragic but poetic ending to the fiery relationship between a woman who wanted to suck the marrow out of the broken bones of the world and a man who saw no point to it all except to eat and be eaten. The remaining companions that resisted the dreamers' enchantment woke up their sleeping companions. Kiadux summoned the power of Ragnarr to turn one of the undead dreamers, sending it scuttling away in fear. As this was all happening, the companions watched the thousands of silver coins fly into the ring of silver and start to meld together to form a throne. The enchanted body parts were also fusing together, and the skin was becoming a uniform shade of sickly green. They realized they had to destroy it before it could fully form into whatever it was becoming. But before they could do that, they needed to destroy the barrier of sound that protected the ring of silver. The protective sound seemed to be emanating from the silver cages full of skeletal child remains, so the companions set to destroying the cages while fending off the remaining dreamers.
A mere moment or two before the body in the ring of silver could be completed to sit upon a towering throne of silver, the companions shattered the last of the five silver cages. Their quick-thinking and teamwork had paid off. An angry scream reverberated from the portal, "Noooooooo!!!!" before it collapsed upon itself, sealing the passage between worlds and preventing whatever was coming through from finishing its journey to Valkheim. The barrier of sound protecting the ring of silver suddenly fell silent. The green body, nearly complete in its transformation into whatever it was becoming, suddenly decayed and putrefied into a black mass of necrotic flesh that shambled about mindlessly. The companions turned all their fervor and rage upon the husk, making quick work of it. The body fell apart, dissolving into pieces of dead flesh no longer enchanted by the magic of the Sleeping Queen.
At last, no longer threatened after hours of running and fighting, the weary and wounded companions took stock of the nightmare they had just endured. Whatever the Sleeping Queen had planned to happen here, they had foiled it. Would they ever know what the powerful being from beyond the mysterious portal wanted? Would the mystery of what happened to the missing souls that had lived in Lilladenau nearly 900 years ago go on unanswered? And Aela, their leader and the common thread that tied them all together, was now no more. What would they do with themselves? Would the Shadythorn brothers return to the Two Lakes area to continue their mercenary careers? Would Kiadux return to the Thu' um Woods to hunt beasts and monsters in the name of his warlike god? Obi said that he wanted to go to Giantsfall, an ancient battlefield where Ragnarr and the gods killed giants by the hundreds, solely to see what there was to see there. Kenard said he had been there but did not openly offer to accompany the tomte. Would these two wandering souls embark upon a journey together to see one of the most terrifying places in all of Valkheim simply for fun? And what of Isulf? The paladin of carrion had left the Storm Eaters to follow his captain and lover to her doom. Would he return to them, and aid in their important quest to end the Third Plague? Or would the Crows of Valdryssil call him down a different path? A pointless path that led nowhere except to eat and eventually be eaten? And would the efforts of this band of cutthroats, mischief makers, and misfits have any impact upon the world of Valkheim? They had foiled whatever plans the Sleeping Queen had been striving for, be it for good or for ill. Only time may tell.

Report Date

25 Jan 2023