Session 025

## Drawing First Blood

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Summer, Aerlun Toil 2 day 5-7**

*The volva departs for destinations unknown. The party completes their exploration of Storm Hammer Keep and meets a sacred dwarven denizen. An ambush of a Frost Giant hunting party is successful.*

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## Player Characters Involved

* Nygäär the Dark the Fey Blooded Rogue/Fighter played by Dana
* Esbjörn Sigvardson the Giant Blooded Barbarian/Cleric/Surtr's Chosen played by Greg
* Brydd Hjarta the Jörmung Human Sorcerer/Marshal/Sand Shaper/Incantatrix played by Jason

## The Seer Departs

Finding it difficult to open the locked iron chest they found, the party decided to go back to the surface where Esbjorn had more room to pry it open. As the party reached the surface, Heida went to one knee as if in pain, and her eyes rolled back in her head. Sensing she was speaking with the spirits, the party waited patiently for her to recover from her trance. After a few moments, Heida stood and calmly relayed to the party that she had to depart. Any questions the party posed fell on deaf ears and with little fanfare the volva left camp, running briskly down the incline. With reluctance, the party watched her go, but the gods were fickle and they accepted that Heida's mysterious ways were beyond their understanding.

Turning to the chest, Esbjorn was able to pry it open with the help of a tool created from stone by Brydd. Among the treasure was a magical spear; a little experimentation uncovered that the weapon would return to the user's hand after being thrown. That done, the party decided to rest and recuperate and continue their exploration of the keep the next morning.

## Spirit of the Mines

Refreshed, the party once again plumbed the depths of the keep. They began by exploring the deepest level, remembering that Esbjorn's tiny servant Droog had witnessed and felt some strange things there. The entrance to the under-mines was a simple shaft that spanned one hundred feet. Esbjorn had come prepared and produced a knotted rope that he, Nygaar, and Brydd could use to make their way down below. Unfortunately, this climb proved more difficult than expected. Esbjorn went first and was able to easily work his way down. But Brydd and Nygaar (perhaps due to the rigors of their adventures over the last few days) were unable to hang on and plummeted to the floor below. Esbjorn made an attempt to catch Brydd but was unsuccessful, narrowly avoiding losing his grip himself. Fortunately, both adventurers were able to break their fall somewhat by clutching at the rope, and both survived and were able to heal themselves by magical means. Dusting themselves off, the party surveyed this level of the mines:

*Having traversed the mine shaft, you see a ten-foot-tall dwarven statue standing before you.  Upon the floor, you see that part of the cavern floor has been meticulously inlaid with silver and iron, forged with sacred dwarven runes. Behind the statue you see the glitter of ore within the rock; the ore has the strange bluish hue of cold iron.*

 Almost immediately, a ghostly figure emerged from the statue and demanded to know the party's business. Using his dwarven belt, Nygaar addressed the spirit and said that they were there on behalf of the dwarven king Grammar Oakspine. The spirit's attitude abruptly changed, and he introduced himself as Maldruun. The spirit said that Grammar was his brother's grandson, and relayed that even as a boy the dwarven king had been difficult to deal with. Nygaar went on to say that the party had come to destroy the Crag Drake and help the dwarves reclaim the keep. Maldruun then asked if the connection between Midgard and Svartalfheim was still intact, and after learning about the unnatural cold he was convinced that is was.

Maldruun then went on to explain that the keep had been attacked due to this connection, and the dark elves had used this connection to summon evil beings from their homeworld. He relayed to the party that the only one who could sever this connection was a swan maiden named Swanhilde, a fey creature and one-time lover of the god Volund himself. Muldruun asked the party to seek her out, as he believed the swan maiden was still in Midgard and lived on an island in the center of Viborg Lake. The name of the city of Viborg was familiar to the party and brought back painful memories for Nygaar of his time spent with the Wulfling clan. As the party contemplated this, Brydd moved to explore the cold iron mine in more detail. Esbjorn and Nygaar were unable to follow, as some part of their nature forbid them from crossing the threshold of silver and iron outlined on the floor without becoming ill. To prove their story, Muldruun allowed Esbjorn and Nygaar to gather up some of the cold iron ore. Muldruun also advised them to mention the nickname "Grammy the Grump" to the dwarven king.

Brydd found a number of additional features within the cold iron mine, including a twenty-foot tall partially damaged statue of the god Volund carved from the walls of a chamber and a warm, slowly swirling pool with steam rising off of the water and an edge adorned with dwarven runes. Brydd said a quick prayer at the shrine and then turned to the pool. Remembering Muldruun had mentioned the pool's healing properties, Brydd lowered himself into the pool and watched in wonder as his wounds miraculously healed. He then returned to the party and they clambered back up the rope together, with Brydd clinging to Esbjorn's bulky back.

## The Keep is Cleared

Turning next to the remaining keep two levels above them, the party immediately began the process of fully exploring the keep. The first room they explored had the look of a one-time barracks:

*This room has a number of identical stone pallets and stone chests at their feet. It has the look of a barracks. The chests are all ransacked, their tops thrown open or hanging broken. The room is cluttered with pieces of rusty armor, broken swords, and moldy clothing.*

After searching carefully, Nygaar found an overlooked piece of stone on the floor under a bunk. Esbjorn flung the pallet to the far wall, and Nygaar removed the stone and claimed a number of small blue gemstones. The party then continued their explorations, and once again they heard the wailing of spirits longing for rest echoing throughout the hallways. It soon became apparent what had happened to these unlucky souls as the party explored the next chamber:

*Stone steps ascend to a balcony above the south wall, and several pieces of rotting wood are scattered throughout the room. The remains of a few of what look like wooden practice dummies still stand haphazardly around the room. On the balcony, there is a wooden chair with a plush red cushioned seat. Chained to the platform is a hideous creature, an emaciated, roughly humanoid creature with an almost-hairless mottled, decaying hide stretched tight over its bones. It has the sharp teeth of a carnivore and sunken eyes that burned as if they were hot coals. At this creature's feet lay the bones of what looks to be a woman and several children. Above this creature is scrawled a message in the dialect of the dark elves: “watch for eternity Lord Tunnel-Worm.” Next to this message is a strange symbol, a black hand with six fingers.*

 The party later learned that the black hand was the symbol of Grazz't, the demon lord of Svartalfheim. It seemed the dark elves had turned an important dwarven figure into a ghoul, but not before slaying his family in front of him. Disgusted with this revelation, Esbjorn laid the fiendish creature to rest with a swing of his mighty bastard sword. The party then made their way into the last recesses of the keep. They next found a strange sight; a filthy cage with the remains of a cave bear wearing barding:

*This room has a filthy cage in it. Inside you see the corpse of a brown bear, long dead. It is wearing what looks like ceremonial barding, adorned in a sigil of a hammer and lightning. The door of the cage looks battered and clawed, and is covered in blood and adorned with broken bits of claws and teeth.*

Esbjorn claimed the barding, and Nygaar fearlessly crawled into the filthy cage to search for treasure. As luck would have it, the fey blooded warrior found a hidden door in the back of the cage and claimed a strange glowing blue cube that radiated faint abjuration magic and some platinum pieces in a small wooden chest. Moving on, they soon found what was once a throne room:

*Huge braziers hang from one side of each of the eight marble columns. Marble icons look down upon the granite floor of this ceremonious hall. A dirty and torn ruby rug runs down from the throne and marks the closest spot people can stand when addressing the erstwhile lord. Ancient forked banners with gilded margins cover parts of the walls. A dignified throne of granite sits at the center of a small platform and is adjoined by two slightly lower almost identical seats. The throne is covered in dwarven runes and a large carving of a hammer split by a lightning bolt is carved upon the wall above the throne. Three white gems sparkle and glow with white light, adorning the top of the throne.*

 The party recognized the gems as magical, with the quasit Droog informing his master that they radiated faint evocation magic. Brydd was eventually able to use his dispel magic spell to remove two of the gems and the party learned why the gems had remained untouched when a creature Brydd summoned to pry the last gem loose was burned to a cinder by a lightning bolt. Brydd's most powerful magic exhausted, it was up to Nygaar to remove the final gem. Summoning all his skill as a rogue, Nygaar was able to pry the last gem loose without electrocuting himself. Esbjorn realized these gems could be used to enhance weapons, and the party put them in his keeping for future use. Exhausted, Brydd asked that they return to the surface to recuperate. Gathering the remains of "Lord Tunnel-Worm" and his family, the party returned to the surface and buried them. The keep had been cleared, leaving only an iron golem in the shape of a dark elf, a powerful demon safely trapped in a cage and a strange connection to Svartalfheim undealt with.

## A Successful Ambush

Upon their arrival back to camp, Vungar ran up to Esbjorn with a look of excitement in his feral eyes. The old winter wolf informed his giant-blooded friend that a small hunting party of Frost Giants was nearby, and could be easily attacked if the party so desired. Esbjorn agreed, and the party rested until after dark in order to regain their strength. Just before midnight, Esbjorn, Nygaar, Brydd, Vungar, Droog, Heedi, and Harald Greycloak set off into the mountains to find these giants in an attempt to slay them. After two hours, they spotted a glow upon a ridge.

The party could clearly hear frost giants talking loudly in the Jotun tongue on a ridge perhaps one hundred feet above them. Creeping up slowly and quietly, the party surveyed the camp and found only two giants and a pile of game animals next to a roaring bonfire. It seems these giants had drawn the short end of the stick and been sent out on a hunting expedition. The party prepared carefully, casting beneficial spells to give them the best chance to succeed during battle. That complete, Nygaar crept down towards their camp. As Harald Greycloak fired an arrow into the large chest of one of the hulking humanoids, Esbjorn and Vungar closed in on one giant as Nygaar attacked the other. Soon Brydd had summoned a large celestial bison which he ordered to attack, and even Heedi and Droog got in on the action. Eventually, the party wore down the two ambushed giants, and Nygaar was able to strike the killing blow upon both, decapitating one with his elvish blade and then using his famed dwarven axe to teleport to the other side of the fire and bury that axe into the neck of the other. Covered in gore, Nygaar grinned fiercely at the rest of the party. First blood had been drawn in the party's new war upon the jotun-kin.

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