Session 046

# The Knot-Weaver's Web

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Autumn, Aerlun Toil 3, Day 8**

*The party makes their way into the Hoarfrost Labyrinth. Quickly separated, they do their best to survive. Nygaar unwittingly tracks down the boy, while Heida's boldness may lead her to her doom.*

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## Player Characters Involved

* Nygäär the Dark the Fey Blooded Rogue/Fighter/Dualist played by Dana
* Esbjörn Sigvardson the 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 Bastard Blooded Human Scout/Ranger/Cleric played by Donnie
* Jor the Emberwrought the Giant Blooded Human Sorcerer/Dracolexi/Incantator played by Jason

## Separated

Moving cautiously into the labyrinth, the heroes immediately noticed the biting cold of the maze. Vindr studied the ground, and found no traces of tracks. Nygaar, with Vindr's help, cautiously moved forward, checking for possible traps and a clue as to the way forward. Esbjorn and Jor waited patiently behind, their bulk making them a liability in traversing the dungeon, while Heida proceeded in-between the scouts and the jotun-kin. After a short time, with Nygaar peering cautiously around corners using a mirror, he and Vindr saw a strange sight:

*Frozen and withered corpses dressed in rags are chained to the corridor walls and floors here. Frozen solid, their dead eyes seem to call out to you in horror. By the look of their emaciated bodies these people starved to death long ago.*

While Nygaar took a closer look, Jor attempted to scrape the ground along their path, and felt a shiver of electricity in his spear. Esbjorn, ever throwing caution to the wind, plunged his blade through the ice, and received a mighty jolt for his trouble. The blue light dancing upon the metal surfaces below the ice was now better understood. Meanwhile, Nygaar checked the chained bodies, and noticed that one of the chains actually moved on it's own. Sensing a trap, the party left the bodies alone, with Heida declining to animate them as trap triggering pawns despite Vindr encouraging her to do so. This soon proved to be a costly error, as just a short time later as Nygaar crept through the dungeon, he suddenly disappeared! Using their magical knowledge, it soon became clear to Jor and Heida that he had been teleported somewhere else. Shaking their heads, and now eager to find and be reunited with Nygaar, the party proceeded forward.

## Nygaar Stands Alone

To Nygaar, it seemed as if he had taken a step and was instantly somewhere else. Frowning furiously, he looked around for his allies to no avail, and it soon became clear to him that Loki's seidr trickery had struck. Hearing the sounds of what he recognized as wolves, he downed the potion given to him by Aada and her father Tiwaz Flat-Nose in Ringsted, protecting him from wolfish attacks. This was the correct decision; within moments as he slowly explored this new section of the maze on his own he was fallen upon by a large group of ravenous and diseased winter wolves. Knowing full well their propensity to shoot cold breath weapons from their mouths, he dropped the cube of frost resistance at his feet and stood his ground, willing the beasts to come to him. Fortunately the bulk of the wolves did so, as they were starving and Nygaar looked like a tasty morsel. After a furious combat, in which the potion and the cube surely saved his skin, Nygaar stood breathing heavily, piles of dead wolves at his feet.

Forging ahead, Nygaar soon saw that many paths lead to nowhere, as he fruitlessly and meticulously explored a number of dead end passages. Eventually, his caution paid off, as he detected a pit trap. Springing the trap, he bounded over it, landing safely on the opposite side. Planning for possible failure, he had used his magical rope anchored to some wolf bodies in the event that he fell. Luckily this precaution proved unnecessary, and he continued forward. Unfortunately, his precarious leap was done for no good reason, as he once again found only empty passages beyond the pit. Bounding back to the opposite side, he continued on. Unfortunately, he soon ran afoul of a magical trap he could not detect. A magical ray of frost shot down from the ceiling, encasing him in ice he could not escape. Standing prone, encased, and slowly suffocating, he attempted to break himself free but was unable to do so. It seemed as if the Trickster had done for him, and he held his breath in anguish as he slowly weakened.

## The Remaining Party Forges On

After Nygaar's disappearance, the party was eager to track both he and Fang down at all costs. Vindr took the lead, with Heida trailing closely behind attempting to aid him in his search for traps. Unfortunately, Vindr's skills were not as honed as Nygaar's, and before long he sprung a hideous trap. Stepping on a pressure plate, he unleashed a massive spiked flail that swung down from the ceiling, critically harming both himself and Heida. Still alive, but badly injured, the two heroes stood up and brushed themselves off, tending to their new wounds as best they could. Vindr proceeded with renewed caution, and soon found a strange engraving upon one wall:

*The ice walls here have been engraved with incoherent labyrinths, and you see frozen blood stains on the ice as if someone was scratching these markings into the ice with their raw fingers.*

Approaching to take a closer look, and even touching the engraving, Vindr heard a strange voice in his head. It told him to seek out the elf maiden and wipe away her tears, and in exchange she would aid them in their quest to traverse the labyrinth. None of the others had heard these instructions, and Vindr informed them to their puzzlement. Knowing that this was a treacherous dungeon, Heida next reasoned that all the traps they had encountered were triggered by walking on the floor. Consequently she took flight, moving quickly forward through the passages ahead. Yet the Lie-Smith had many and myriad ways, and within a few moments as she traversed a cross section of passages she was bombarded by magical missiles of unusual force. Falling back, Heida landed on the ground and informed the other heroes of what had happened to her. Within an hour, they had had Nygaar disappear and taken many and various injuries. Having nothing to do but venture on, they did so. Fortunately the trap Heida had sprung seemed to be spent, and they made their way through with no more magical bolts of force to contend with.

Next the party found a strange pit, emanating unnatural heat. Exploring it in more depth, they saw a large pile of bones at the bottom and what looked to be cells within the walls of the pit. After a short time, they spotted the glint of metal in one of the cells, and Heida bravely plunged inside the pit to retrieve what turned out to be a magnificent magical mithral shield. Taking the shield gladly, she took the lead, giving Vindr a much needed break.

Heida summoned an undead minion, thinking that this would be the best way to clear the dungeon going forward. This proved correct, as a short time later the undead creature exploded in a burst of magical energy. Peering around a corner, Vindr saw what seemed to be the source of this attack, which Jor had identified as being infused with some kind of powerful chaos magic. Venturing closer, Jor saw a strange sight:

*You see a pedestal five feet tall, covered in frost and worn, largely unintelligible runes. Of the runes that you can read, you make out the message "Cloak yourself in chaos. Accept my blessing" written in an archaic form of elvish script. You see the glitter of a large gemstone laid upon the top of the altar, which appears to be a diamond with a faint bluish tinge.*

While the party urged Jor not to fall for Loki's treachery, the large diamond first slid upon the stone edifice and then began to spin like a top. Using the identification quartz, Jor saw that this was a relic of the Trickster himself, and gave those with the right ideological perspective the power to use a powerful abjuration spell once per day. Yet caution prevailed, and Jor decided not to take the gem for his own. The heroes moved on, Jor deciding to ride upon a floating disc of magical force while Heidi once again took flight. Jor took the added precaution of making both himself and Heida invisible. This proved to be a wise decision, as they soon encountered two skulking trolls, some ten feet tall, lying in wait as if planning an ambush. Sniffing enthusiastically, one of the trolls seemed to sense them, but they proved cautious and held their ground. Meanwhile, Heida traversed another passage, determined to find a way around the hideous jotuns. She saw a pile of treasure that shone with magical energy, but chose not to approach too close. Jor also looked for another route, floating silently forward and finding a large pit trap that had been sprung, some seventy feet deep and ten feet across. Both returning, Esbjorn urged them to draw one of the trolls out into the open. Eventually one of the creatures did enter the passageway where Vindr and Esbjorn patiently waited, but Vindr immediately struck the troll with an arrow and both the troll and his companion retreated into a nearby room with a swiveling metal door. Cursing, Esbjorn moved forward, hoping to find an enemy to sink his blade into. Heida, acting recklessly, moved past the door. Suddenly, the door swung shut, and she peered back to see that she was cut off from her companions. Looking around, she quickly took in her surroundings:

*A frozen fountain of water sits in an alcove here. At the foot of the fountain there is a small silver chest covered in ice. Meanwhile, a one-foot-thick wall of ice suddenly appears along every wall (and blocks the doorway) reducing the temperature substantially and harming you from extreme cold.*

The echo of chuckling trolls greeted her as she shivered, preparing to face them alone with only Imra and Byrmoor for company.

## The Wulf and the Boy

Meanwhile, Nygaar stood frozen, contemplating the ignominious death that should not have been his fate. After what seemed like an eternity, Nygaar saw the silhouettes of two figures, one large and heavily armored and another small and covered in warm furs. He heard their muffled voices, then was thrown to the ground as the large figure smashed the ice that encased him. Desperately attempting to catch his breath, Nygaar peered up to see a noble and powerful figure, clearly giant-blooded, standing sternly above him. Upon his back was a magnificent great sword, and huddled behind him was a small boy with strange and hypnotic golden eyes. Nygaar had found the boy Dreki, and, it seemed, Esbjorn's prodigal brother Wulf as well. Waiting patiently, Wulf allowed Nygaar time to recover himself, while the boy Dreki's teeth rattled in the unforgiving cold of the dungeon. What Nygaar, and Heida for that matter, would do next would be indelibly woven upon the world tree Yggdrasil for good or ill.

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