Lords of the North • Chapter 04

## Iron Lord

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### Exile's Reach*(11th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

With axe in hand, Arlak begins trekking silently south. The warband follows. During their travel for the rest of the day, Kalahan speaks to Arlak about the axe, learning its name to be Oldurnar. Arlak acquired it from the hands of a great warlord, claimed by blood. He speaks of the experience tersely, though clearly has great respect and complex attachment to the axe and the attached history.

That night, at camp, they speak of what comes next when they enter Kavavhik. Arlak tells them that his brother, Zavek, who had become Iron Lord in his stead, was a reasonable man with no appetite for senseless war. He believes that if Kalahan were to speak with him directly and convince him of the threat from the north, he would be able to convince the other Iron Lords in turn.

### Exile's Reach*(12th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

The following day passes uneventfully, with the warband pressing the pace once again in the hopes of reaching the border quickly and with plenty of time to spare before the fighting worsens. By the evening, Ku'arr catches the first distant glimpses of smoke, which they believe to be the edges of the frontlines.

While making camp later that night, Torfin asks Arlak for a look at Oldurnar, and is impressed by the craftsmanship, which he determines to be elven in origin, despite the dwarven runes along the blade.

### Exile's Reach*(13th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

Before noon the next morning, they come into full view of no man's land, spotting an Urski war camp nearby on their side of the wasteland. The region is clearly under heavy watch, with frequent patrols scouting the perimeter. Crossing without being detected would be difficult, if not impossible, given the total lack of cover.

"*Those of you below, you crest a hilltop and come into full view of the frontlines. Spread out in front of you is a scorched strip of wasteland that has clearly seen recent battle. Burnt grass, craters from cannonfire, and the remains of broken weapons and armour spread out southward. The charred remnants of a small village lie between the nearby hills, long since devastated.*"
 ― The Storyteller

While debating what to do next, Arlak suggests instead that they cross via an old smuggling cave that used to be nearby, bypassing the patrols entirely. He leads them slightly east, skirting the edge of no man's land, until they come to a hidden cave entrance by the mid to late afternoon.

Once inside the cave, which has clearly been abandoned for a long time, they are met with the stale, musty smell of dust and rock, but no imminent danger. Pushing onward, they venture into a lengthy tunnel that winds its way south for a further few hours. Along the way, Kalahan and Ku'arr notice strange splotches of dried lichen growing into cracks on the sides of the tunnel. Growing in patterns akin to a spider web, the growths also have strange finger-like protrusions reminiscent of some kind of fungus. Fortunately, the lichen is long since dead, and there is no sign of its origin or any danger stemming from it.

### Aldrhingaz Forest*(13th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

When they reach the end of the tunnel and emerge in the waning daylight at the edges of the forest, now past the frontlines and into Kavavhik, Arlak informs Kalahan that he would go no further.

"*I am an exile. I will remain an exile, until I am forgiven. These are the laws of my people. I will respect them. You must continue to Krosholm alone. I will remain here. It is safe.*"
 ― Arlak the Cliff

Respecting the decision, Kalahan tells Arlak to remain in the cave and avoid any trouble. Marcella, who is concerned that Arlak could not reasonably take care of himself with the effects of the warmweed still troubling him, decides to stay with him. Though reluctant, and troubled at the thought of leaving her in potentially unsafe circumstances while he was not nearby, Kalahan eventually sees the validity of the decision. He vows to return quickly, and makes Marcella promise she would stay safe, and stay alive. Then, not looking back, he and the remainder of the warband press on southward.

They make camp that night in the northern reaches of Aldrhingaz Forest, amidst the tall pine trees with little to no sign of civilisation. The night passes unventfully, with few of the group in the mood to talk.

### Aldrhingaz Forest*(14th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

The next day, they press south at a quick pace, moving into the old growth of the forest: vast thickets of ironwood trees with trunks almost thirty feet in diameter and hundreds of feet high. Amidst the trees, they also see scattered signs of ancient jötnar civilisation, remnants of an age long past, some that still glint with the last traces of magic.

By noon, they come across a road arching south, and follow it between the hills until they eventually reach the edge of the forest. Up ahead, they spot the fortress of Krosholm, the home of Kalahan's ancestors.

"*The fortress is a formidable one, dominating the landscape from atop a towering crag of sheer rock that was once a mountain. The summit, precarious as it was, has been cleared of whatever trees used to grow there, in whose place instead are stout, stubborn walls of grey stone that look as formidable as the cliffs they top. You can make out the tops of buildings beyond, the plumes of white smoke from chimneys and the sloped roof of a great hall, towering even higher than the walls. A path leads up to the singular gatehouse of the fort on the leeway side of the crag, but it is steep and narrow, passing almost entirely beneath the walls themselves where defenders could rain arrow, stone, and shot the entire way on the heads of anyone who wished to assault this place.*"
 ― The Storyteller

### Krosholm*(14th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

Coming up to the base of the path leading up to the forst, they come across an extremely old goliath elder, called Tvarak, cleaning a shrine to three gods: the Allfather, the Bannerlord, and the Earthmaven, which seems to have been left unattended. While talking to him, he recognises Kalahan's face as familiar, and learns that Arlak is still alive (to his surprise).

"*You will wish to speak to the Iron Lord then. He is up in the fort. Come, I will get you past the gates.*"
 ― Tvarak

 While walking up the path to the gates, Kalahan speaks to Tvarak about his uncle, Zavek Ironjaw. Tvarak says he is a strong leader, fearsome and battle and cunning in war, though some in the group notice he hesitates in this description. He also mentions that Zavek has sought his council less and less with his successes and victories, though cannot fault what he has accomplished.

After a long climb, they enter the fort proper with no trouble from the guards thanks to Tvarak's help. He brings them up to the main hall, where a large feast is ongoing, and leaves to announce them to Zavek. Several of the group join the festivities, while some others remain outside to keep an eye on things. Kalahan is eventually brought, alone, to speak with Zavek, a grim mountain of a goliath with a very notable lower jaw bolted with sheet metal.

"*Sit. Eat.*"
 ― Zavek Ironjaw

While eating at Zavek's table, Kalahan goes over the reason for his coming to Krosholm. He tells Zavek of his journey, his talk with the Voice of the Gods, of their rescue of Arlak, and of the growing threat from the north. The Iron Lord listens grimly, speaking in short, gruff tones that betray no emotion. He asks for proof of these threats, but Kalahan has no answer.

"*I will think on this. Your men may eat and drink as they see fit. I will set aside a longhouse for your use.*"
 ― Zavek Ironjaw

Only a short time after the conversation has begun, Zavek leaves the table, with no commitment to help Kalahan. Disheartened, the latter returns to his warband to tell them of his limited progress. While traversing the chaotic hall, he notices off to the side a shrine to the Bannerlord. Upon approaching, he finds it abandoned, and notes also that it appears to not even be consecrated any longer.

Worried by this revelation, Kalahan gathers his warband together and urges them to be on guard. They retire to the longhouse that has been set aside for them, posting watches despite the apparent comfort of a warm house and a roof above their heads. Despite his misgivings, the first hours of the night pass uneventfully, and all seems quiet, until just past midnight they hear the approaching sounds of footsteps, and see Tvarak hurrying towards the longhouse.

"*Son of Arlak. Listen to me. There is not much time. You must leave this place, with haste. Men are gathering to kill you while you sleep. You must make for the gate before they are ready. Your uncle sees you as a threat. There are some still that whisper Zavek took the Eagle Ring illegitimately. You are a challenge to that legitimacy he cannot ignore.*"
 ― Tvarak

Out of breath, Tvarak urges the warband to wake and gather their belongings for an escape. He warns Kalahan that Zavek had sent his hounds to hunt Arlak, hoping to eliminate any proof of Kalahan's lineage. Already the hunting party was headed north at great pace. The warband scrambles to break out of Krosholm while they still can, hoping it's not too late.

"*Do not worry about me. I failed your father once, I will not fail him again. Nor his son. Go. Quickly, and may the gods be with you, Kalahan sva’Arlak.*"
 ― Tvarak

### Krosholm*(15th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

In the cover of darkness, the warband heads for a wall off to the side of Krosholm, avoiding the more heavily-guarded areas near the gatehouse. Here, they dispatch a few guards that were patrolling the length of the wall, and leap off the ramparts. Through magical means, they descend safely the few hundred feet to the bottom of the crag, while alarms begin to ring behind them. With a substantial headstart, they sprint north as fast as they could, sending Ku'arr ahead in the hopes he may reach the cave where Arlak and Marcella were hidden. Before long they enter the woodland and hear ahead the cacophony of wolf howls shattering the midnight silence, as the hunt presses on ahead of them.

### Aldrhingaz Forest*(15th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

In the pitch black of the forest, the warband crashes through the trees at full pace, trusting to instinct and the sounds of the hunt ahead to lead them true. What previously took them a day of walking now takes only hours, but they are hard hours. With burning legs, heaving chests, and aching shoulders, they nonetheless do not slow, until they come into view of the flicker of firelight on a hillside that marks the cave which is their destination. From that direction, they hear a gunshot, and the continued howling of wolves.

In a mad scramble to reach Arlak and Marcella before they get overrun by Zavek's hounds, they run head first into an ambush by massive wolves with raging eyes of orange flame. A difficult chase in the uncertain dark ensues, wherein many of the group are bloodied and wounded before they even run into the true core of Zavek's hunt, an enraged varúlfur with the same fiery orange eyes.

The deadly creature tears through the group, picking them off one by one, until most lie bleeding to death on the ground. In these last desperate moments, Kalahan manages to sound the Horn of the Valkyrie, summoning the awoken warrior spirits of the Valkyrie and other Einherjar to their aid. With these allies, they manage to turn the tide of the battle and barely scrape a victory, with Kalahan felling the varúlfur and watching the orange flame leave its eyes in its dying moments.

In the aftermath of the fight, the group gathers at the cave, where Arlak and Marcella are bloodied but alive. Arlak, having suffered a horrific bite from the varúlfur that mangled his leg, severed the limb at the knee. Several of the group were also bitten, but under the Valkyrie's guidance Kalahan's curse is lifted, and the others, Vanya and Ku'arr are able to learn of the cure.

"*The fever will strike you still, in a day or two. But when it passes, you will remain yourself.*"
 ― The Valkyrie

With the night wearing on, and their adrenaline fading to exhaustion, the warband takes a welcome rest in the cave, while the Valkyrie watches over them for the night. Starlight hangs on the air, and all of them feel the tension ease, the pain fade, and the comfort of restful sleep seep in to lull them into its embrace.

When they wake, some hours past first light, the Valkyrie is gone. The warband sets about gathering their things, still recovering from the wounds of the previous night. Before they can make any decisions, they are approached by an elderly eagle, who quickly takes the form of Tvarak. Happy to find them alive, he explains that Zavek had gathered his bannermen and marched his forces north overnight, to a campsite by a circle of sacred stones where the original Iron Lords sworn their oaths. Tvarak warns that Zavek would be expecting Kalahan to come to him, but also says that were was really no choice other than to go.

"*He is expecting it of course. He believes you will come to him, and he is correct. You must. Your uncle has the Iron Lords under his thumb, through intimidation or some other means, I do not know. I do not think they see what corrupts him. But regardless, he has brought them success, and they will follow him. His hold upon them is absolute. There is only one way to break that hold. You must kill Zavek Ironjaw.*"
 ― Tvarak

"*When he is dead, you have to take the Eagle Ring and become Iron Lord. If you hope to unite Kavah, you cannot do it through words. You must lead. That is the way of our people. That is how it has always been.*"
 ― Arlak the Cliff

Reluctant, but understanding the path laid before him, Kalahan acknowledges the seeming inevitability of his confrontation with Zavek and accepts his fate. He gathers the warband around him one last time and marches west, to the Weeping Stones.

### The Weeping Stones*(15th of Allfen, 4E 776)*

It takes only a few hours to reach Zavek's camp, where hundreds of goliaths have already begun to gather. Taking the frontal approach as always, Kalahan and his warband ride down to the camp, where Kalahan declares his challenge to Zavek's claim on the Eagle Ring. As Arlak's son, and with Arlak by his side to prove the truth of it, it is his right, and he is brought before Zavek and his most loyal men in the shadow of the five runestones arranged in a loose circle.

Here, a storm has begun to gather. Black clouds, angry with lightning, swirl above the stones, which are glowing with a sickly orange light that is spreading through the runes. Zavek is waiting for Kalahan to arrive, and accepts his challenge willingly, seeming eager to face down a champion of the gods.

"*We have no need of your gods. We have strength. Conviction. Rage. That is all a man needs to secure his legacy and that of his people.*"
 ― Zavek Ironjaw

After exchanging words and threats, the two contenders face off one another under the raging sky. In a series of brief engagements of brawn against speed, they deal significant wounds to one another, and Zavek seems to grow angrier and more reckless as the fight wears on.

"*When I am done with your corpse, I will not rest. Your friends will die. Your lover will die. I will hunt down ever remnant of your family and make them beg for the end.*"
 ― Zavek Ironjaw

At last, passing through Zavek's guard on wings of starlight, Kalahan deals what should have been a mortal blow, driving his claymore through Zavek's chest. The two break apart, Zavek falling to one knee and spilling his life blood onto the grass.

"*Son of Arlak... your father was weak! He tasted power, and threw it aside! I... have no such weakness.*"
 ― Zavek Ironjaw

Above, the storm grows fiercer, and lightning cracks down to strike Zavek, who begins to grow. Muscles swell. Veins bulge and begin to burn. Bones crack, and fiery wings erupt from Zavek's back. His eyes surge into a bonfire of orange flame, and when he stands again, now some 20 feet tall and grown monstrous, he speaks with the hundred voices of the storm.

"*This world will burn. I will scorch it to its foundation. Tear apart its fragile walls and reforge it into one worthy of salvation.*"
 ― Zavek Ironjaw

With the storm turning into a maelstrom, and Zavek's personal guard bursting into demonic creatures themselves, the warband enters the fray. A desperate fight ensues, where the warband struggles against the remade form of Zavek and his demons.

Amidst the fighting, Ku'arr manages to break the crescendoing magic that was building upon the Weeping Stones, causing them to shatter into fragments under a radiant beam of sunlight that pierces the clouds. In fury, Zavek attempts to tear him apart, cutting a swathe through several party members and almost succeeding, before at the last moments Kalahan pierces his uncle's skull with his mother's sword, and defeats the newly reformed champion of Rhagorak in an explosion of ash and flame.

Amidst the falling cinders of Zavek's remains, Kalahan finds the simple metal ring with an eagle crest and retrieves it from the ash. Around him, the goliaths of the Krosvanir begin to kneel, much to Kalahan's annoyance. He steps forward, under some prompting from Tvarak and Gera, and addresses the people he now must lead.

"*Get up. All of you, rise! I do not want you on your knees. That is no position for fighting men.*"
 ― Kalahan Krasnyalyy

"*I am Kalahan. Sva'Arlak. Krasnyalyy. It was never my intention to become your Iron Lord. But...I guess it is so now. There's a storm coming. From the north. A storm the Bannerlord has seen fit to let me know of. A storm that will hit us at some point. And I have seen you all, under my uncle's thumb. And I hated it. I hated how you quarrelled amongst yourselves. I hated how you drink yourselves to stupor. As though that is all there is to life.

I don't agree.

But, at the end of the day, I believe in free choice. So, as battered and bruised as I am now, I give you all a choice, and it is a rather simple one. Keep taking what you are taking, through violence and fear. Keep going through conflict, and see it wrested from you in the same way. Or, put down roots. Evolve. Progress. Prosper. The southerners are soft, yes, but they are not stupid. We would be smart to take the good things they have done for our own. That is the road I offer you.

The choice is yours. Wait until I rest before you try to strike me, however. It has been a long fight, and I have grown weary of long fights.*"
 ― Kalahan Krasnyalyy

With the echoing clamor of his people's approval rising around him, Kalahan sits, his warband close around him. This long journey he had started so many long years ago was now at an end, and a new chapter was about to begin.

He would face it as he always did: with his kin, his gods, and his sword by his side.

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