Session 063

# Beguiling Water Maidens

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Autumn, Laelun Toil 1, Day 6**

*The heroes enter the Dark, and fight a battle with wicked fey maidens and their elemental servants. The evil taint at the heart of the Boars Wood is thus revealed to them, and the party ponders what horrors might await them deeper in the forest.*

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## Player Characters Involved

* King Nygäär the Fey Blooded Rogue/Fighter/Crusader played by Dana
* Esbjörn Sigvardson the Fire Giant Blooded Barbarian/Cleric/Surtr's Chosen played by Greg
* Heiða the Mother Fucking Veleda the Dökkálfar Blooded Dread Necromancer played by Justin
* Valindr Ymirsdottir the Frost Giant Blooded Human Scout/Ranger/Cleric played by Donnie
* Jor the Emberwrought the Giant Blooded Human Transmuter/Beguiler/Human Paragon/Ultimate Magus played by Jason

## Battle is Joined

The heroes stood ready, watching the bewitching fey maidens seem to dance upon the creek waters. The evil fey creatures eyed the party warily, and immediately moved in unison to summon supernatural creatures to slay the heroes. Jor, calling upon his newfound wizardly abilities, recognized their natural druidic magic, and wove a clever spell in an attempt to change the fundamental make up of the creatures summoned. The two monsters affected, noting the weave that Jor spun, were able to end their summoning ritual. As the party surged forward to face the four evil fey maidens, two massive thirty foot tall water elementals emerged from the waters, summoned by the two fey creatures who had not been targeted with Jor' spell. Yet the fey creatures were not done; before the heroes could get within striking distance, they began a strangely beguiling song, which resonated eerily in the forest air and sought to bend the heroes to their will.

As the haunting song echoed in the clearing, all of the heroes except Heida were compelled to come and stand transfixed near the fey creatures in a daze. Imra protected Heida from the mind altering effects of the song, and the volva watched with trepidation as her fellows trudged forward under the geas of the creatures. Flying towards her foes, Heida made ready to strike the monsters down with her seidr, but the gods were not smiling on the volva. The spells she attempted to unleash failed time and again, and she watched with rising horror as Jor was wrapped in the long hair of one of the creatures and dragged down, nearly submerged in the five foot deep creek. Meanwhile, Esbjorn, Nygaar, Valindr, Droog, and even Glaer were beguiled, and stood defenseless, moving to stand adjacent to the fey temptresses, as the massive water elementals pummeled them relentlessly.

Fortunately, the rusalka who grappled with Jor had made a mistake; the attack had broken the hold the creature had over both he and Esbjorn. As the creatures drew upon the waters of the creek to raise the water high above Esbjorn, Nygaar, and Valindr's heads, submerging them in a cube of icy water some twenty feet tall, Jor sprung into action. Targeting Nygaar and Valindr, who were still under the effects of the compulsion of another of the fey enchantresses, Jor cast a spell to disrupt the enchantment. Ghostly great helms that only he could see appeared around Nygaar and Valindr's heads, warding their mind against seidr control. Finally all of the heroes were free of the wicked compulsion that had bewitched them, and a fearsome battle began in earnest.

## The Tide is Turned

The party found the rusalki to be no easy foes; many a strike they felt sure would hit home missed inexplicably, as the fey creature's outlines appeared blurred, shifting and wavering as they moved effortlessly upon the water. Sensing the battle had become a more even contest, the two massive water elementals suddenly changed tactics at their mistresses' behest, transforming themselves into massive vortex whirlpools. Esbjorn and Valindr, each caught in the respective vortexes of the elementals that faced them, were bounced and bludgeoned underwater, both at first unable to escape the massive pull of the whirling waters. Meanwhile, Heida and Nygaar closed in on one of the fey creatures, in an attempt to turn the tide of the battle.

Using tactics they had honed over countless hours of training, Heida and Nygaar floated and danced around the rusalka they had targeted, creating openings for the other to strike. The difficulties in landing blows was soon overcome by the sheer number of strikes, and the fey creature eventually went down in a wet pool of its own blood, it's mangled corpse floating away on the muddy creek current. Roaring in victory, the two servants of the All Father turned to see how their companions fared. Valindr had finally broken free of the vortex she had been trapped in, and was standing upon the shore peppering one of the fey creatures with arrows. Jor was drawing deep upon his spell repertoire, first drawing forth a cool mist that rose up and blanketed the surface of the water and the nearby shoreline in a freezing fog, turning the ground white with frost and blocking the vision of the rusalka engulfed within it. Watching as another fey creature fled downstream, Jor unleashed a powerful spell of transmutation, turning the creature's flesh to ice and leaving a mindless, inert ice sculpture in its stead.

Meanwhile, Esbjorn fought to free himself from the vortex he had been drawn into to no avail. Exploding in rage, and still submerged in icy water, he continued to be buffeted by the shore and creek bottom. Turning his attention to a nearby rusalka, he finally found a release for his unbridled anger, and wrapped his massive hands around the fey creature's throat, pinning it to the creek bottom and pummeling it over and over again as it screamed wordlessly in horror at the intimidating spectacle that was Esbjorn. After what seemed like an eternity underwater, but had only been a few short moments, Esbjorn finished the rusalka by stomping a heavy boot into it's once beautiful face, smashing it to a bloody pulp. The water elemental had recognized it's mistresses' distress, and had finally released its grip on Esbjorn, reforming as a vaguely humanoid combatant, but too late. As Esbjorn's gore covered boots of water walking raised him back to the surface, he turned his indignation towards the elemental, and with the help of his fellows both that creature and the other summoned elemental were cut down. Two of the fey creatures had escaped in the waters, but the battle was finally over. The party breathed a collective sigh of relief, and wondered what horrors might remain in store for them deeper in this cursed part of the woodlands.

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