Session 38: Nydaugg

General Summary

And so it had come to this. This dire, desperate moment in the deepest bowels of the world. A daring group of ragtag champions against the most impossible of odds, their sole chance of victory an artifact of terrible power. The penultimate moment of the third wormborn plague played out in darkness, deep below miles of cold stone where no skald would ever witness it for song or story. But moments such as this, grand moments that shape the world, are all too often played out without an audience, where none can witness the glory...or horror...of their passing.

Nydaugg howled with primordial rage as it resisted the power of the godtrap that Bloodroot had unleashed upon it, savagely fighting to keep its soul from the terrible artifact. And then the great wyrm turned its horrible attention upon the adventurers that had dared to disturb its feast. And so, did the battle between Nydaugg and the Storm Eaters begin.
The ground and air itself, completely corrupted with Nydaugg's wormborn essence, came to the defense of the wyrm. Ensnaring tendrils of filth and noxious clouds of spores swirled about the Storm Eaters. The daring adventurers fought through the environmental assault to again use the godtrap upon Nydaugg, and again the great wyrm resisted the artifact through sheer primordial strength of will. And then to the horror of the Storm Eaters Nydaugg unleashed its full fury upon Bloodroot, who was the sole threat to the wyrm so far. Within seconds Nydaugg lashed Bloodroot to shreds with its barbed tentacles, the druid teetering on death's door.
Rowena and Svagnir came to where Bloodroot lay broken and bloody, barely clinging to life. They used their magicks to heal and place protective wards upon Bloodroot, knowing he was the sole key to victory. They even selflessly placed their own bodies in harm's way to shield Bloodroot as best they could. If he fell, they knew their cause was lost. Meanwhile, Yngvild threw up walls of fire to distract and harm Nydaugg, giving an opportunity for Bloodroot to be healed and regain his footing. Ottar used his magical gauntlet of controlling corruption to twist the foul essence deep within Nydaugg, weakening the colossal wyrm at its core. Sysnk also joined the fray, hacking at Nydaugg with the dwarven blade he was borrowing from Ottar, trying to draw the wyrm away from Bloodroot. During all this Bjargi was fighting his own personal battle. The mere sight of the gargatuan primordial wyrm had driven him nearly mad with fear. He clambered away into a small crevice to hide, to flee, to just get away. But then the sound of his companions locked in battle with Nydaugg caught his ears. His companions...nay, his friends. Bjargi had friends, and they needed him now! Steeling himself against the iron fear that had infested his heart, the tomte warrior rushed out of the cliff-side crevice where he hid and jumped upon the back on Nydaugg, burying the broken blade of Loretooth into the wyrm's hide!
Rallied by his companions' actions, Bloodroot used the godtrap on Nydaugg again, and yet again the great wrym resisted the powerful artifact. Nydaugg once more unleashed his full fury on the druid, delivering him back to near to death. As the healing magic of Rowena and Svagnir returned him to consciousness a moment later, Bloodroot knew in his weary soul that desperate times called for desperate measures. He caught the magical leaf that perpetually swirled around him in his hand, and with a gentle sigh full of both regret and determination, he crushed it. He destroyed the most precious thing in his life, the symbol of his purpose, his love, and he called upon Valdryssil itself. He called to the tree the world was built upon, asking it to empower his sacrifice and focus its energy against the wyrm that devoured its roots. The druid's plea had been made, and mighty Valdryssil answered. The great tree poured as much of its ancient vitality as it could into the druid, and a reinvorated Bloodroot rose again to turn the godtrap on Nydaugg! Once more Nydaugg resisted the terrible artifact, but the effort of constantly resisting its unbelievable power was starting to wear upon the ancient wyrm.
Atop Nydaugg's head Bjargi was stabbing the broken blade of Loretooth again and again into the wrym's maw. Sysnk used his mental powers to fly up and join his wee companion, both warriors assaulting the softer flesh around Nydaugg's mouth. Enraged by the audacity of the two warriors, Nydaugg turned his attacks upon them. Bjargi was slashed over and over by the barbed tendrils, nearly killing him, his unconscious body falling to the ground with a stoney crunch. Nydaugg then twisted back upon itself to nearly swallow Synsk whole! Only one foot and the tip of the raate's tail stuck out from the mouth of the great wyrm. Sysnk, bleeding out and dying, began to be digested within the wyrm.
Rowena and Svagnir shifted the focus of their healing magic from Bloodroot to Bjargi and Sysnk. As Bjargi came back to consciousness he saw the peril Synsk was in, still stuck in the maw of Nydaugg, and with a fervor near madness jumped and climbed and clambered his way back up to Nydaugg's mouth. He then selflessly dove into the wyrm's maw in a daring attempt to rescue Synsk, yelling "must save kitty!!!" at the top of his tiny lungs!
Amongst the tulmult of Yngvild's walls and balls of fire, Ottar's harassing arrows from the back of his magical giant fly, and the distraction of Synsk and Bjargi in Nydaugg's mouth, Bloodroot once more staggered to his feet, weary and wounded, the great wyrm looming above him. He pointed the godtrap at Nydaugg, and with grim determination said, "I am Rolf Shepherdsson, the Butcher of Arnsted! I have ended countless souls, and I shall end yours, wyrm!" Again he unleashed the terrible magic of the godtrap upon Nydaugg. And finally, unbelievably, Nyduagg could no longer find the strength to resist it. With a roar that deafened all and shook the earth itself, Nydaugg surrendered his soul to the godtrap. The air suddenly fell quiet, heavy, filled with weighty stillness. And then a lifeless Nydaugg collapsed, his mighty soul now captured within the shimmering confines of the godtrap. The wyrm that devours the world was dead!
The avalanche of wyrm flesh that fell to the ground as Nydaugg died nearly claimed a few of the nearby Storm Eaters. Synsk and Bjargi crawled out of its now slack maw, both battered and near death. Rowena and Svagnir used what healing magic they had left to stablize everyone as best as possible.
The Storm Eaters took a moment to realize what they had just done. The world would be forever changed. The great wyrm that gnawed upon the roots of Valdryssil was dead. What did that mean? They stumbled and mumbled about the corpse of Nydaugg and the roots of Valdryssil for a bit before deciding that they needed to return to the ruined dwarven temple above this cavern to rest and treat their wounds.
Once back in the relative safety of the temple ruins, the Storm Eaters began to settle in for a much needed rest, tending their wounds and replenishing their strength. They spoke of the unbelievable weight of what they had just done, and of what came next. At the end of the conversation Bjargi asked Synsk what his plans were after the quest was complete, to which the raate said he would return to his people and his mistress in the Azure Cave. Bjargi asked if he could come with Synsk, and the raate warrior nodded and grinned.
Bloodroot used some of his druidic magic to complete the healing process on Synsk's crippled hand, making it fully functional again, but it is now permanently covered with bits of pale bark where the crippling scars had once been.

Finally the Storm Eaters slipped into sleep, and as Svagnir slept (his first real sleep since this quest began, as he was no longer an Eater of Worms) he dreamt. He dreamt dreams that came with a powerful visitor: Helka. The archmage and master of the Lodge Eldritch's seventh circle, and one of the original Eaters of Worms, poured congratulations and gratitude upon Svagnir and the Storm Eaters in the magical dream she controlled within Svagnir's mind. But Svagnir immediately focused the conversation onto three points. One, he knew how the Traitors Three controlled the wormborn, and he would only share that knowledge if his demands were met. Two, the young dragon the Lodge had captured and planned to feed to the god gash as a contingency was "his dragon", and it was to be released immediately. And three, they had just killed Nydaugg. They had just done the impossible, and he threatened that they could do more "impossible things" if the Lodge dared to cross them.
Helka instantly capitualted to Svagnir's points. She apologized for capturing the young dragon, as the Lodge did not know it was precious to Svagnir, and said it would be released immediately. Now that they had Nydaugg's soul in the godtrap, the contingency plan to feed the dragon to the the god gash was no longer necessary. Helka also said that whatever knowledge Svagnir had regarding how the Traitors Three controlled the wormborn was quite valuable, but not for much longer. Once Nydaugg was sacrificed to the god gash the wormborn would be no more, and the knowledge of how to control them would simply be of academic value. She implored Svagnir to save any knowledge he had, regardless of its time-limited value, as she had seen so much knowledge lost in her life when the nation of Aelvalla fell 200 years ago that she could not bear the loss of more. Svagnir agreed to bring the source of knowledge he had on the subject (the tomes containing the ritual the Traitors Three had invented to control the wormborn) in a possible exchange for the freedom and safety of the young dragon Mabd. Helka said no exchange was necessary as she would free the young dragon regardless, but asked that Svagnir bring the source of the knowledge for posterity sake. Svagnir then asked Helka to pass a message to Mabd the dragon. He showed the mage the primitive doll-totem Mabd had made for him long ago and said, "Tell her you saw this, and that to wait for me." Helka agreed to complete his wish.
Once Helka and Svagnir came to an understanding and a bit of trust, the mage said it was critical that the Storm Eaters be brought back to the surface of Valkheim (and to the god gash) as soon as possible to end the wormborn plague. Svagnir described what he knew of their location far down in the bowels of the world, and Helka said she believed that they may be near the ancient dwarven city of Uthaarn. She then weaved a short tale of that ancient fallen city. Uthaarn was perhaps the deepest the dwarves of Svarthalla had even lived, when their underground empire was young. The city was built to support a temple dedicated to placating Nydaugg, before the dwarves realized there was no placating Nydaugg. Helka believed the Storm Eaters were in that temple, and the ruins of Uthaarn should be close. Uthaarn was said to have been abandomed by the dwarves and then nearly destroyed in a subterranean volcanic eruption centuries ago, but parts of it were rumored to still be intact. Somewhere in Uthaarn there might be what is left of a dwarven mages guild which once had a teleportation circle that the Lodge Eldritch had knowledge of. If the Storm Eaters could find the teleportation circle within Uthaarn and use the command words "Trakal Uppsala", the Lodge could activate the ancient magic and bring them to the surface.
Helka said there could also be one possible complication...a rather large possible complication. The ruins of Uthaarn were said to have once been the lair of the fire wyrm Surtira, an ancient wingless dragon of the deeps, a creature of greed and hate and flames. Helka doubted Surtira would still be in Uthaarn with Nydaugg being so near, but nonetheless warned that the Storm Eaters should be careful and quiet during their search for the teleportation circle within Uthaarn.
As Helka's dream spell came to an end she told Svagnir one final thing, revealing a rare bit of emotion with the druid. She said she has lived in regret for the actions she took to end the 2nd wormborn plague, killing not only the entire race of djorruk, but also a friend. But she said she would do it again if she had too, because she understood that sometimes the greater good required sacrifice. And that was something she felt Svagnir also understood. She said we are alike in that way, and with that the dream ended. Svagnir awoke and shared his experience with his companions.
Now rested as much as they could in the dire temple, the Storm Eaters planned their search for the teleportation circle within the ruins of Uthaarn. Yngvild and Svagnir discussed what they knew of teleportation magic and recalled that a specific component (domacious white soil) was usually required. Rowena said that she had a spell which could possibly locate any domacious soil in Uthaarn, but the range was limited so they should get to a central part of the ruins before using the spell. With this general plan in place, the Storm Eaters left the temple and proceeded through a series of tunnels and shafts that led to what remained of the dwarven city of Uthaarn. The ruins sat above a subterranean sea of molten lava, constantly baked in the eathy heat and glow. The Storm Eaters moved steathily to what remained of a marketplace near the city's center and discovered a few wormborn mindlessly searching the ruins for food. This made them wonder if Surtira had also been claimed by the wormborn corruption, if she was even here. Rowena used a spell of divination to query what remained of her dead goddess's soul for information about Surtira. A soft reply came to her, stating that Surtira was no more, but still a threat. The Storm Eaters took this to mean that dragon was some sort of wormborn abomination now.
Proceeding with even more caution now, the companions took shelter in a ruined smithy away from where they saw the wandering wormborn. Rowena used her spell to locate any domacious soil that may be nearby. She sensed the presence of the rare component somewhere below them in the lower level of the ruined dwarven city, where the structures sat just above the sea of lava's surface. The Storm Eaters needed to go down to the lower city if they wished to find the teleportation circle. It would be hotter there, much hotter. And would Surtira, or what remained of the ancient dragon, also be there?

Report Date

31 Aug 2024