Session 008

## Into the Belly of the Beast

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Spring, Toil 2, day 2**

*The party entered Raendale, in search of their colleague Brydd and to attempt to execute their plan to destroy the remaining Umbrian troops and ambush the coming ship. They met unexpected allies and found out the fate of Nygäär's underworld contact. Meanwhile, Brydd suffered alone.*

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## Player Characters Involved

* Nygäär the Dark the Fey Blooded Rogue/Fighter played by Dana
* Heiða the Seer the Dökkálfar Blooded Dread Necromancer played by Justin
* Esbjörn Sigvardson the Giant Blooded Barbarian/Cleric played by Greg
* Brydd Hjarta the Jörmung Human Sorcerer played by Jason

## The Party Enters Raendale

Following the battle in which they wiped out the Umbrian troops they had drawn out by burning the boom outpost, the party overlooked the village of Raendale from the hills. While they contemplated what to do, they heard and saw some kind of commotion taking place in the center of town. Thinking the locals may finally be joining in an attack against the Umbrian troops, badly in need of rest, and in search of their lost companion, Heiða, Esbjörn, Nygäär, Vungar, and Kirg entered the town, bypassing the troops manning the incomplete wall and crossing the river in an attempt at stealth.

Nygäär crossed the river stealthily but was unfortunately spotted by a pair of roving Umbrian foot soldiers on patrol. Disguised as an Umbrian, Nygäär was able to lure the two troops back across the river. With the help of Heiða, he was able to take them by surprise, and the party overcame and killed them both. Unfortunately, there were some witnesses to the skirmish - two slaves tanning hides by the riverside and a giant-blooded local named Stig Witch-Breaker. The party was able to bribe the slaves into silence (mainly due to Heiða terrorizing them) but the large man was a different matter. He had a black mohawk, sharpened teeth, and half his face and his left arm were covered in tattoos. He wore an iron breastplate inlaid with the symbol of Thor, and upon his back was a bronze great axe of incredible quality. Heiða had heard of him - he was renowned as a slayer of witches, a strange vocation for a warrior of Seron. The party learned that he served the Young Falcon Elof Orrison, who the party had fought alongside earlier in the day. Despite this, Stig refused to join them, saying he was waiting for word from his brother, the blacksmith Unther Gunderson. Stig also told Nygäär that he had killed his companion, Olof Bloodeye, saying his fate was deserved and that he would welcome a fight with Nygäär if he wished to exact vengeance. What Stig did offer them was an opportunity to meet some possible allies - he introduced them to a lovely young girl of ten named Aelfwin ("Winny"), an initiate of the Umbrian church.

The precocious girl introduced herself and seemed incapable of keeping quiet. She revealed that she and her sister were actually Ruegians, who were infiltrators of the Umbrian Church of the One God. Furthermore, she contended that the true Church of the One God worships "Baldag" as the One God, otherwise known as Baldur in the Seron pantheon. When Heiða insisted Baldur was dead, Winny laughed and said that he would soon ascend. Stig encouraged them to go with the girl, and the party agreed.

Winny led them to a longhouse in town, sneaking along the river behind the town longhouses. Along the way, the girl pointed out Olof, staked and castrated in the center of town. That was the commotion the party had seen from the hills - the execution of their one-time ally for his crimes. They reached the longhouse without incident and met perhaps the most beautiful young woman any of them have ever seen, Winny's sister, a young woman named Leofee.

Leofee wore her hair in long blonde plaits and was in the robes of an Umbrian church priestess. She confirmed her young sister's story and further revealed that their friend, Brydd, had been taken into the newly built temple by Gunhild the Hag, the guardian of the Geatling princess Asleif and a witch of terrible power. As they were speaking, the alarm bells began to sound. Perhaps the slaves had betrayed them, or perhaps another had seen them, but the party now knew that they were hunted within the village. Leofee agreed to hide the weary party in the hayloft in the barn behind the longhouse and helped Heiða disguise herself as a normal Seron girl by aiding her in removing her black Volva paint. The party bedded down for the night, trusting that the young priestess would not reveal them.

## The Mystery of Brydd's Disappearance

In the morning earlier that day, Brydd had returned to the ruins where the party had obtained Raen's Arm Rings. Looking for a modest ring of personal value, he was lost in thought scouring the ground. Suddenly, he was wrapped in magical iron bands. Bashed repeatedly in the head, he went in and out of consciousness. He did hear before he passed out the twanging of bowstrings and a howl of pain that must have been Vungar the wolf attempting to come to his aid.

When he next awoke, he was stripped to his small clothes and chained in a dank cave, with the sea breeze whipping through the caverns. A bent-over woman of extreme old age was standing before him, grinning hideously. She had white hair that was missing in patches, possessed only a few teeth, and wore the robes of a Volva. The witch began by introducing herself as Gunhild the Hag, the Geat clan witch. She cast a spell which Brydd easily identified as Suggestion, but he was unable to withstand its effects. She suggested that he answer her questions truthfully and that if he did, he would be released unharmed. Bewitched and compelled, Brydd answered truthfully but had a shard of sense remaining to keep his answers minimal. In the course of being questioned, Brydd revealed the party member's names, that they were no friends of the Umbrians and their goal of (and success in) obtaining an item of power from the goddess Raen. Fortunately, he did not need to claim any animus against the Geats per se, and was able to avoid any specifics of their plans. She seemed satisfied, and turned Brydd over to a masked Umbrian who referred to himself only as "Pain." Unfortunately, before she left, she noticed something strange about Brydd's eyes. Asking about and confirming his dragon lineage, she decided she wanted one of his eyes for herself. Though Brydd fought against it, headbutting his tormentor a number of times, his chains were unbreakable and the torturer eventually took his eye.

The next hours were filled with unbelievable pain, as the masked man known only as "Pain" beat, whipped, and branded Brydd. He was left with the star of the One God branded all over his body. As the rays of dawn became visible on the far side of the cave, the masked man laughed in Brydd's face and promised to return. Perhaps most horrifying of all, the masked man never asked Brydd any questions - it seemed he tortured him simply for sport. A short while later, shortly after the rising of the sun, Brydd heard men fighting, animals growling and snarling, and a magic-user chanting somewhere nearby in the cave complex, before passing out once more.

## Descent into the One God Temple

Waking up refreshed, the party was given breakfast by the priestess Leofee and her little sister Winny. Winny revealed to them excitedly that she had heard Gunhild and some priests talking about a golden eye they had cut out of a prisoner's head. Furthermore, the girl revealed that she had seen Gunhild appear in the temple early this morning when the girl was there by herself replacing candles, meaning that there must be a hidden passage somewhere in the new temple. After pondering what to do, the party ultimately decided that before they mount an attack on the remaining troops they should attempt to find their captured colleague. With the girl Winny leading the way, the party entered the temple which was deserted at this early hour after prayers were complete.

Esbjörn, Heiða, Nygäär, and Vungar entered the temple, and after about a half an hour Nygäär uncovered a secret door, which looked much older than the newly constructed temple which surrounded it. The party descended a steep stairway which led to a rough cut tunnel. Following the tunnel, they emerged into a large, dank cavern that smelled of the sea. Looking around, they saw two pairs of ominous red eyes glowing across from them deep within the cave. As the eyes came closer, they revealed the hideous forms of two skeletal brown bears! The party moved forward to attack, and the bears seemed to focus on Esbjörn to the exclusion of the others. A hard-fought battle ensued - had it not been for Heiða driving one of the skeletal creatures back by filling it with magical fear the party may very well have been slain. Eventually, the party was victorious, though Esbjörn took some injuries and barely evaded a number of wicked swipes of the bear's claws. Ahead of them, the party saw the opening to another cavern and a hint of sunlight and sea air that indicated there may be a way out into the open nearby. Surely their companion was close at hand - those undead creatures were certainly set to guard this cavern for a reason...

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