Session 22: The Road of Fang and Claw

General Summary

On the 25th day after Midsommar, the Storm Eaters, along with Gretchen, three elven women, and two half-elven girls followed the road north of Gardenholm, debating on what course of action to take. After some thoughtful discussion and input from all, a way ahead was chosen. The group would follow the instructions of the Lodge Eldritch, proceeding to Hafrsted to find a fast ship that had been arranged by the Lodge to deliver them to Thaneshall, where they would meet Skordal and receive further instructions. The point of contact to meet the ship in Hafrsted was a woman named Herja. Once in Thaneshall, the group planned to discuss the possibility of using the godtrap to capture Nydaugg rather than a god, as the Lodge was thinking, thus eliminating the source of the Wormborn, rather than just suppressing them for a few more centuries.
After settling on this plan, the Storm Eaters then discussed what to do with the elven women and their children they had saved from Maeldun. Bringing them to any city or village within the Clans of the Throat would surely be delivering them back into thralldom, and the Storm Eaters knew of no elves nearby, other than the Sed Hellen hideout in the Elvish Gardens far to the south and opposite of the direction they are heading (not to mention, the Storm Eaters may have made enemies of the Sed Hellen when they killed Vintior Bluehand and Siofra and her Daughters of Hervora when they dealt with the Dragon Scalding Rain). It was decided that they would try to hire Breg Wind-in-Ears and his band of wild mercenaries to take the women and children to the Vaettir community in the Nuin Hills, several weeks travel to the northwest.
Svagnir used his druidic magic to task a magpie to find and deliver a message to Breg. After waiting for a few hours (in a comfortable and protective dome of magic that Maldgrim summoned, while Halstein diligently cleaned Ottar's road weary feet as helpful tomte are wont to do), Breg and his pack of savage men and wolves arrived. The Storm Eaters offered a king's ransom (three sapphires from the dragon's hoard!) to Breg to safely take the elven women and their children to the far off Nuin Hills. Breg said wealth meant little to him and refused the sapphires, but said he would do it if Eiuin, the "queen of beasts" as he called her, would be his. Janicka responded with a curt "fuck off", to which Breg replied that he doubted she was worthy to be in the company of the queen of beasts and challenged her for possession of the mighty giant ibex. Words quickly gave way to steel, and the battle for Eiuin began!
Breg gave an unnatural howl, and his already muscular body swelled and transformed. Fur and fangs and claws sprouted from his hulking bestial new wolf-man form. He and the three men in his pack were Ulfhednar, or "wolf warriors" in the old tongue, savage hunters that had been blessed by Eika, the goddess of the beasts and the wilds. He attacked Janicka with savage fury, biting and clawing her. Breg's men did not assume their beast form, but attacked with beast-like power nonetheless. Svagnir summoned a pair of dire wolves to aid in the battle against the Ulfhednar, pitting wolves against wolves.

Breg in his preferred form as an Ulfhednar Elder

Halstein and Ottar joined in the fray, both coming to Janicka's aid against the mighty Breg as Svagnir's dire wolves kept the other Ulfhednar occupied. But it was too little too late. With a savage bite to the shoulder and neck, Breg tossed Janicka to the ground unconscious, her tribal yklwa breaking in the process. Eiuin immediately bit an edge of Janicka's armor as gently as possible and drug her away from Breg and his fury. As this was happening, Ottar made Breg pay for his attack on Janicka. Wielding the magical elven sword he had found in the dragon's hoard, called Wither Blade, he stabbed Breg repeatedly in the back. He invoked the sword's power, giving it a year of his life and a bit of his health each time, to deal deep wounds that withered Breg's flesh away. Despite his blessing from Eika, Breg's superhuman strength and the health fell beneath the withering wounds Ottar dealt him.
With the Ulfhednar Elder and leader dead, the pack of wolves that accompanied the group of mercenaries wanted nothing to do with this fight and cautiously departed. However, the three remaining Ulfhednar, fiercely loyal to their pack and leader, fought to the death. Svagnir healed Janicka with a magical berry, closing her terrible wounds and bringing her back to consciousness, while Ottar and Halstein took the fight to the remaining Ulfhednar. Maldgrim dispelled his protective dome of magic to join the fight as well, hurling spells into the fray (as Gretchen fled in terror, tossing him to the ground).
Finally the last of the Ulfhednar fell to the mighty Storm Eaters. The wolf cloak Janicka had bartered away to Maeldun (who had passed it onto Breg) was recovered by Ottar. Svagnir summoned his deathly whispers to speak to the dead Breg. The only new information learned was that Breg had been blessed with his Ulfhednar powers by the bite of a great wolf long ago, which was the only other beast he had seen that rivaled the majesty of Eiuin, queen of beasts, according to him.
The Stom Eaters decided to rest after the brutal fight, and Maldgrim once more summoned his magical dome of protection. With the plan of hiring Breg to take the elven women and girls to the Nuin Hills now in ruins, the Storm Eaters discussed what to do with their charges now. They asked the women what they wished. The eldest of the elven women spoke on their behalf and stated their best odds for a future were with the Sed Hellen in the Elvish Gardens to the south. The Storm Eaters dare not go back in that direction, both losing time and also daring retribution from the Sed Hellen, so it was decided the elven women would have to make the trek alone. The Storm Eaters gave them every morsel of food they had (three days' worth for the elven women and girls), along with three swords from the fallen Ulfhednar and three sapphires from the dragon's hoard. With these three gifts of three, the elven women and girls departed south for the Sed Hellen hideout, hopefully bearing luck and fortune with them.
The Storm Eaters, now free of their charges (other than Grecthen who wore Maldrim upon her comely brow) pressed northward towards Hafrsted. Late in the morning the keen eyes of the group spotted three large flying creatures diving at them directly out of the glare of the rising sun. It was hard to make them out with the backlit brightness of the sun, but the Storm Eaters could sense these creatures meant to do them harm. The group prepared for battle. Maldgrim summoned an illusory bush for he and Gretchen to hide behind. Svagnir summoned a lightning storm then transformed into a badger to burrow into the safety of the ground. The others scattered and took what defensive positions they could, with Ottar firing an arrow as the diving monsters of the sky. And then the creatures where upon them! A pack of three hungry griffins, great hunters of Valkheim's skies, had come for breakfast.

Griffins are clever and deadly predators of the Windbend Wastes

The trio of Griffins dove in and snatched up three targets in their mighty talons; Halstein, Ottar, and Gretchen (with Maldgrim held in her arms). Svagnir the badger emerged from his hidey hole to blast a griffin with his lightning storm and Janicka hurled javelins, wounding the flying beasts, but not enough to get them to drop their prey. The girffins began to rise into the air, bearing their captives away. Only Gretchen was able to wriggle free with panicked strength, but unfortunately she plummeted to the ground directly onto her head, breaking her neck. Maldgrim fell from her dying grasp to roll about on the earth. But not for long! Ottar (also in a bit of a panic) used the power of the necklace of baby fingers Maeldun had placed upon his neck to magically pull Maldgrim to him, hoping the enchanted helmet would have a way to free him from the griffin.

Gretchen, may she finally find peace in the boughs of Valdryssil

The Griffins continued to gain altitude and fly away, quickly moving beyond the range of Janicka's javelins. The Vaettir jumped upon the back of the fleet Eiuin and began to give chase, hoping to follow the griffins to their nest. Svagnir continued to blast the griffins with his lightning storm, which had a much wider range to deal pain. Halstein, Ottar, and Maldgrim continued to attack their captors while in their grasp, not looking forward to the fall should they be successful. Maldgrim blinded and deafened the griffin that bore him and Ottar, hoping that it would panic and drop them, but it kept its head with uncanny animal instinct.
Eventually the combined attacks lead to the deaths of the two griffins that carried prey. When Ottar and Maldgrim were released the enchanted helmet used a spell of Featherfall to bring them gently to the ground fifty feet below. Halstein was not so lucky. When his griffin died, at the altitude of one hundred feet, all the tomte could do was scamble as high onto its back as he could as it crashed into the earth. The stalwart little man of stone skin survived the brutal crash, but it took its toll. The last remaining griffin had had enough and gave up the fight to go hunt easier prey.
After the griffin attack the Storm Eaters gathered themselves, rested, and healed as best they could. Svagnir and Maldgrim had a discussion on how the helmet chooses which mortal becomes his bearer in the future, as Gretchen was perhaps a poor choice. The young woman had a hard, short life. The daughter of an abusive father who sold her off to a hag to become a sex slave. The mother of a child that was taken from her and devoured. And finally, the coerced bearer of Maldgrim, an enchanted helmet who perhaps cared little for her beyond what she could do for him. Svagnir used his magic to slow her decay, and her body was then loaded upon Eiuin to be taken to the next village so that proper funeral rites could be performed.
The Storm Eaters continued north to the village of Anselm in a pouring rain, where they were met with distrust and a total lack of hospitality. Svagnir was able to convince the village elder to give them shelter for the night and to give Gretchen proper funeral rites beneath the village elm in exchange for him bolstering their crops for the next year with his druidic magic. Svagnir did his grueling eight-hour ritual to increase the bounty of the local land as part of the Blot Harvest Ceremony already underway, where a virgin from the village sacrificed a hare with a spear covered in her menstrual blood.
And so, on the morn of the 28th day after Midsommar, the Storm Eaters departed the village of Anselm, following the road north to Hafrsted to meet with the ship the Lodge has arranged to take them to Thaneshall. Fang and claw had plagued them as they left the last of the untamed lands surrounding the Elvish Gardens, but now that they were back in the lands that men of the Clans of the Throat controlled perhaps their remaining trek to Hafrsted would be safer? Then again, men were sometimes far more dangerous than beasts, so they best keep their wits and steel sharp.

Report Date

12 Jun 2023