Session 072

# Daughter of the Fire Giant King

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Autumn, Laelun Toil 2, Day 3**

*In the midst of battle, an intriguing figure rises from the depths of the volcano, inspiring a berserker rage in the fire giant horde. For Esbjorn, the beautiful woman inspires a different reaction. Irrian returns once again to aid his new companions in their time of need. The battle rages upon the summit of the volcano, as the party contends with an army of fire giants, raining fire from the sky, and the flaming hand of Surtr himself.*

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## Player Characters Involved

* King Nygäär the Fey Blooded Rogue/Fighter/Crusader played by Dana
* Esbjörn Fireforge 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
* Vindr Skreevarson the Mongrel Blooded Human Scout/Ranger/Cleric played by Donnie
* Jor the Emberwrought the Giant Blooded Human Transmuter/Beguiler/Human Paragon/Ultimate Magus played by Jason
* Irrian the Shadowborn the Human Shadowcaster played by Koski

## Logandi Lumsdottir Rises

The battle on the summit of Odin's Heart raged on, when suddenly a new foe emerged:

*As the fire giants close in all around you, the mouth of the volcano belches black smoke. Rising from the recesses of Odin’s Heart you see a beautiful woman, with fiery red hair, float up out of the smoke and ashes. She seems to stand upon the rising smoke, and stares down her nose imperiously at you all, bellowing a war cry. The giants immediately respond, working themselves into a righteous frenzy, chanting the name “Logandi” over and over in unison. The tall woman, clearly of giant blood, settles high above the yawning volcano at a height of some fifty feet.  Far below her, a massive flaming hand weaved by seidr emerges from the fiery depths and flies directly towards the party.*

Esbjorn, steeped in the lore of his kindred, immediately recognized the beautiful and fearsome woman as Logandi Lumsdottir, the daughter of the fire giant king Lumgrýmr who he sacrificed to Surtr long ago to win his throne. It seemed the girl was still alive, a seeming favorite of Surtr and de facto guardian of Odin's Heart. Jor also recognized the girl, and his face became drawn in concern as to what this might mean for him and his comrades. As the party watched with dread, the giants surrounding them became infused with a berserk fury, frothing at the mouth and charging recklessly towards them. Esbjorn, meanwhile, found himself staring at Logandi. He felt an unfamiliar feeling wash over him, as a wave of profound love settled deep within his heart. He vowed to himself that he would have Logandi as his own. This love had a terrifying effect on the giant blooded warrior, as a new level of rage infused him with seemingly god-like strength and vitality. He had little time to think deeply about his newfound love, however; the giant flaming hand grasped him in it's crushing embrace, which even with his enhanced strength he could not resist.

Nearby, Heida and Nygaar worked together, falling on a raging giant who had scrambled to its feet in wake of the arrival of the princess. They dispatching it together, their weapons a flurry of glistening steel. South of them, Vindr and Glaer stood together as well, readying themselves to face the large group of newly berserk giants charging towards them. Jor hovered high above, and watched with concern as a group of five chained up elves were cast into the raging inferno. The volcano smoked and boiled ominously at this sacrifice. Heida took high to the air as well, and began a dark spell to summon some tortured souls from Hel. Meanwhile, seeing his comrades become surrounded, Esbjorn called forth all his strength and once again struggled mightily to break free of the massive flaming hand attempting to crush him. After a few tense moments, in which it seemed he would not be able to escape, he finally screamed in righteous fury and shook free of his captor. Droog, who had been waiting for just such a chance, immediately enveloped his master in a thick cloud of white hot cinders and smoke.

## The Shadowborn Returns

Vindr and Glaer had watched with trepidation as Nygaar had transported himself, Esbjorn, and Heida into the thick of the battle, leaving them to face a large group of giants on their own. Shrugging off this inconvenience, Vindr got to work, sprinting across the battlefield and lodging three arrows of force into a charging giants forehead, dropping him in the blink of an eye. Glaer surged forward, brandishing his massive hooves in defense of his master, stomping one of the giants viciously. Jor watched from on high, and judging that Vindr and Glaer had things well in hand, thought again about the elves who had been cast into the pit. Suspecting the worst, he enveloped the remaining elves in a billowing cloud of solid fog, in an attempt to prevent them from being sacrificed as well.

On the trail leading to the summit, a familiar friend emerged from the shadows. Irrian had received an urgent message from Nygaar, and felt compelled to turn back from his task to find Egil Gislason in order to aid his new companions. Cresting the rise, he watched as Vindr and Glaer fought a large number of giants. Calling upon his mastery of shadow seidr, Irrian opened a rift into the shadow realm, drawing forth an arcing shadow that blasted the nearby giants one after another with a black storm of lightning and cold in an attempt to drain their lifeforce. As if in response, the volcano suddenly belched black smoke; sheets of roaring flame erupted all around the battlefield engulfing heroes and giants alike. Five elves were immediately incinerated, but luckily Jor has woven seidr prior to the battle to protect the party from just such a fiery attack. The fire giants were unharmed, and immediately began to prepare flaming boulders to pummel Heida who flew above them. Nygaar was snatched up by the giant flaming hand, unable to fight off the relentless strength of the hand of Surtr. Vindr and Glaer were charged, and fought off their berserk attackers as best they could.

## The Battle Continues

Meanwhile to the north of the summit, Heida had finally completed her spell. In a burst of smoke and fog, the spectral remains of two hideous creatures known as Allips appeared, stark raving mad and craving revenge upon the giants before them who they mistook for their tormentors in life. Even raging, four of the nearby giants soon stood entranced, hypnotized by the incoherent babbling of the undead horrors. Heida nodded in grim determination, and to add insult to injury she animated one of the freshly killed giants to stand against his former fellows. As the surviving elves scrambled back into the solid fog as best they could, Esbjorn turned towards Nygaar, and unleashed a furious attack against the flaming hand that held him. In an attempt to distract Logandi, who seemed to be directing the firestorms towards them, Droog created an illusory elvish army as far from he and his master as he could. The battle raged on, with Vindr consistently killing one foe after another with the seemingly superhuman accuracy of his bow shots. Jor rained down an explosion of ice that detonated with a low roar and engulfed a number of the giants. With Esbjorn unable to free him, Nygaar slipped out of the clutches of the flaming hand using his magical boots, and made ready to kill any giants foolish enough to come within range of his sword or axe. Yet just as the party seemed to gain the upperhand, another cascade of flames came shrieking down upon them, testing the limits of the magical protection Jor had bestowed upon them.

Esbjorn grimaced in fury, yet was once again stopped from killing the giants nearby him. The massive hand closed around him once more, and he bellowed in impotent rage. Heida knew that the time had come to execute the tactics she and Nygaar had spent countless hours preparing for just such a circumstance. Barking orders, she was able to maneuver Nygaar into position to gain the advantage and allow him to unleash a devastating attack upon the nearest giant, cutting him to shreds. She then prepared for the worst, recognizing she might soon be wounded. She called upon her seidr to make her very blood take on a mystical potency that made it more corrosive than the strongest acid, and waited patiently for her foes to strike if they dared. Meanwhile Droog was not idle; flying invisibly, he brandished the wand given to him by Jor, and magically swapped the undead skeleton Heida had animated with his master Esbjorn, laughing maniacally as he did so. If it were possible for a magical hand made of flames to show frustration, it would have done so. Three times it had held a hero in its grips, and three times it had been thwarted.

To the south, Vindr continued to kill one giant after another, striking his latest victim with four arrows all placed in a coin-sized target directly in the middle of the lumbering creature's forehead. Jor aided Vindr in his fight, weaving his magic to slow a number of the giants around his friend as if they were walking underwater. Irrian continued to draw upon his mastery of the shadows, creating a wall of frigid shadow that wracked the giants he dropped it upon with frigid cold. As another burst of flames erupted from above, Vindr and Nygaar tumbled free of harm. The flaming hand turned to its next potential victim. Dropping the useless skeleton it held, it reached out and plucked Heida from the air, crushing her in its fiery grip. The battle had taken its toll on the heroes; with over twenty giants still standing, it was anyone's guess what the outcome of this deadly contest would be.

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