Skoegir

**Skoegir** was an assassin and lieutenant of the Mársmidr gang, but was killed shortly before the Third Great War by Hallvard.

## Background

Skoegir was an assassin and member of the Mársmidr gang from Strand. He eventually became the lieutenant of its varl leader Kjallak. After stealing one half of the amulet called the "Gift of Hadrborg" from Olaf per Kjallak's order, Johan went to Halsar and started blackmailing the gang to let his brother Hallvard, who was forced to flee after stealing their profits, back in. Ottar however soon sent Skoegir after him, and he succeeded in killing the thief as well as acquiring the half of the amulet he possessed. He later went to Karlshus before proceeding back to Strand, but Olaf and his kendr Ulfvalgr were able to follow his trail till there.

## Recent events

Learning about Olaf and Ulfvalgr's arrival to Strand, Kjallak decided to spring a trap for them by offering to help them and inviting them to *The Shattered Shield*. Skoegir was deployed there with a few other Mársmidr members, to make sure they did not escape. Olaf and Ulfvalgr, along with the boy Stefnir, took the bait, and were provided hospitality by Kjallak. When Ulfvalgr stated that he wanted to kill the Mársmidr leader Freystein, Skoegir laugghed at his statement. Kjallak introduced him and apologized for his behavior, stating that he was a man with a strange sense of morbid humor. Olaf then asked him how he knew him, with Kjallak replying that they both worked in the business of imports and exports, and Skoegir was one of the few people who knew how ot find Fresytein.

When Ulfvalgr stated again that he wanted to kill Freystein and called him a varl, Skoeh=gir told him that he was no man at all. The meaning of his words slowly dawned on Olad, Stefnir and Ulfvalgr. Olaf asked Kjallak if he was working for Freystein, but Kjallak revealed to them he had killed Freystein and taken over his gang a while ago, and was pretending to be him the entire time. They were however saved by the intervention of Eirik and Valgard, agents of the Governor's Guard. Skoegir attacked the two with a hot poker, but was beaten back by Valgard's attacks. The group soon escaped the building, and Skoegir chased after them with the other Mársmidr, but they were forced to let them leave, after Eirik bribed the merchant Frode into taking them under his protection.

With his plan foiled, Kjallak told Skoegir to inform his allies, the Vak'auga leader Magnus and the Aetla Hilmir leader Nikolas, about what had happened, and ask them to offer him their aid in order to speed up their plans, before going to the Vak'auga warehouse at the western docks to ensure their next shipment was on time. Skoegir did as ordered and his men captured Hallvard when he tried infiltrating it to expose his old gang in revenge for Johan's death. Skoegir badly mutilated Hallvard after learning why he was there and left him to die in a meat locker, but he was soon rescued by Eirik and his allies, who also found that the Mársmidr were storing varl skeletons at the warehouse, after being directed there by the turncoat Vak'auga spymaster Leiknir.

Eirik and his allies, including Leiknir's aide Runa and Hallvard, who had decided to join them to take vengeance for Johan, later captured Ottar. Hallvard tortured Ottar mercilessly, forcing him to offer them information which could lead to capture of Magnus or Kjallak. Though Hallvard initially refused to let him go, he relented when he tried mentioning about Skoegir murdering Johan. Eirik's allies later decided to go without him as he wanted to get the City Watch of Strand involved, and they didn't trust them. They tried to capture Magnus at the Ninth Pier, where Ottar directed them to, but failed as they did not know there were two Magnuses.

Stefnir and Runa fell into a sea after fighting one of the Magnus twins they were trying to capture, and were soon found by Skoegir and his men. He took them to a warehouse of the triumvirate and realized that Stefnir was wearing the other half of the amulet Kjallak wanted, after the latter started describing it in detail. He then desired to use Runa as a bargaining chip to free Ottar after their meeting with the varl warlord Vilmundr, but she mocked him by revealing how the man he wanted to save had betrayed them. Skoegir tried to kill her in anger, but was stopped by Kjallak, who stated that her and Stefnir's fates would be decided later.

Skoegir went with the other triumvirate members to the temple of Hadrborg, where Kjallak expected to meet Vilmundr and fool him into believing that he could resurrect the dead varls with the Gift of Hadrborg, in order to convince him to have him installed as the King of Varls by toppling Jorundr. Stefnir and Runa meanwhile escaped from the warehouse, and the former left a trail of mead for Eirik and his allies to follow to the triumvirate's location. As Skoegir later went to check on one of the patrol gaurds, he was confronted by the group of Eirik, Hallvard, Olaf, the Governor's Steward Olvir, Runa and Ulfvalg.

Hallvard decided to fight and kill Skoegir on his own in order to personally take revenge for Johan, and sent his allies to go after the triumvirate instead. As Skoegir mocked him, Hallvard revealed how he had inflicted the same injuries on Ottar that Skoegir had inflicted on him, which made him provide information to get him out in the open. Skoegir was infuriated at this and agreed to fight him alone. As Hallvard's allies left, the two fought a duel to the death, but Skoegir proved to be superior at fighting and eventually succeeded in stabbing him in the kidney.

When Skoegir tried to finish him, the fatally wounded Hallvard mocked him about how he had wasted time in fighting him, when he could have instead alerted his fellow gangsters about the intruders. He made him realize that this meant that he would have to go on the run even if Eirik's group failed, as Kjallak would never forgive him, leaving him shocked. Skoegir attacked Hallvard in anger after coming to this startling realization, but his poor judgment cost him heavily as it allowed his foe to slash him in the stomach and kill him.