Session 050

# A Path Forward

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Autumn, Aerlun Toil 3, Day 10**

*The heroes find an abandoned treasure hoard, and escape the perils of claiming it largely unscathed. They encounter starving and sickly simian beasts, and use creativity in dealing with dungeon quicksilver. Byrmoor reveals one of his powers, and Heida finds a light in the darkness to guide them forward. They confront a covey of hags, and emerge victorious.*

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## Player Characters Involved

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

## An Abandoned Hoard

Making their way forward through the magical door, the party soon discovered a false wall in an adjoining passage. A large pile of treasure lay untouched and forgotten behind it. Heida boldly flew forward, and a large iron portcullis fell from a cleverly hidden recess in the ceiling, momentarily trapping her on the wrong side with the hoard and separated from her companions. Esbjorn, eager to flex his cramped muscles, stepped forward and grasped it, and strained to lift it open. Unfortunately, this triggered large chunks of stone and ice to fall down upon him from the ceiling, momentarily knocking him prone. Luckily, he was able to roll partially away, and narrowly missed being badly injured. Nygaar worked quickly to pile up the fallen stone, wedging the portcullis above the floor enough to allow the smaller amongst them to duck underneath. The party cautiously inspected the piled treasure, and eventually (after some cautious probing with Byrmoor in the form of a glaive) the heroes collected the riches. Handing out the items infused with seidr power amongst themselves, to include a magnificent silver axe, a headband that broadened one's intellect, a ring that allowed one to see through walls, and other various items of rare and exotic arcane might, they made ready to continue. Scantily clad, Valindr gratefully snatched a large ermine cloak, dusting it off and throwing it over her broad shoulders.

With the skeleton howler leading the way, the party cautiously continued. After a short time, they spotted some strange beasts:

*You come across a group of savage ape-like creatures, emaciated and wild-eyed. Perhaps eight feet tall, broad-chested, and covered in thick white fur, a group of these four armed simians are feasting upon the desiccated remains of one of their own. At full strength, these beasts would probably weigh as much as eight hundred pounds.*

Heida sent the undead howler in to attack, and it soon became clear that these animals were hungry and desperate as opposed to hostile. Jor attempted to sooth one of the creatures, and he seemed to communicate the parties lack of ill intent. Unfortunately, Esbjorn was still on his guard after being partially buried alive, and the creature standing before him made a sudden move to escape that he mistook for aggression. With little fanfare, Esbjorn hacked the beast in twain with his wickedly sharp vorpal blade. The other apes lumbered away, their howls and hoots of fear and hunger echoing through the passageways of the labyrinth.

## Liquid Metal

As some of the party puzzled over what Heida and Jor recognized as Frost Girallons, and how these magical beasts had ended up in the labyrinth, Byrmoor broke his silence. Only some in the party knew the sentient weapon could speak at all, and his booming voice suddenly echoing out caught them all off guard. The weapon vented his frustration, and invoked one of his many heretofore unknown powers. The glaive suddenly pulled in Heida's hands, pointing in a definite direction, and the veleda suddenly knew with no doubt in which direction the Linnorm known as Isorm lurked. Nygaar and Heida excitedly began to check the passages and walls in that direction, searching for a secret door or passage that allowed them to follow that path. They found some yellow mold blocking their way, and Nygaar burned up a portion of it with arcane flames, using the captured sword of Marlowe Payne to invoke fire magic. Pressing Jor to remove the rest, they wondered if the path to the Isorm may well lie behind this impediment.

Meanwhile, Valindr crept south, wondering where the beasts that had run away had gotten to. After a short time, he came upon a shallow pool of liquid metal, that moved slowly and inexorably towards him across the icy labyrinth floor. Calling out to his companions, and falling back and away from the quicksilver, the party pondered over this new obstacle. Jor recognized it as dungeon quicksilver, and knew that it sapped ones strength if it was so much as touched. Esbjorn, clearly fascinated with the material, experimented with the metal by throwing one of the decimated Girallon corpses into it. The metal passed over the corpse, and a noxious smoke issued forth as the remains were slowly dissolved in some kind of sinister chemical reaction. Jor and Esbjorn puzzled over some way to obtain the metal for themselves, and after some discussion it was determined that the metal needed to be hit with arcane cold magic in order to safely obtain it. After an urging from Nygaar and Valindr, who wanted to search the passages blocked by the yellow mold, Jor used his magic to create a magical oven in order to safely dispose of the rest of the fungus. While Nygaar and Valindr carefully searched the walls to the north, Esbjorn and Jor began filling wineskins and potion bottles with the quicksilver, after Jor has largely disabled it with a combust spell reconfigured to do frost damage. Strangely, it took Droog to point out to his master and Jor that wineskins may not be the best receptacle for the metal, and ultimately Jor was forced to use shadow invocation seidr to create a chest of force to carry the strange material. Meanwhile, Heida had flown forward, clearly eager to be out of the labyrinth and patiently surveying the direction of the linnorm as she went.

## The Weeping Maiden

While the others (fruitlessly) searched for secret doors to the north and collected the dungeon quicksilver, and they all patiently waited for the mold to be destroyed, Heida cautiously flew south to see what else she could find. Peering into one winding passageway after another, she saw what looked to be a statue down a long hallway. Before examining it closely, she quickly flew into a side passage to take a quick look. Unfortunately, her movement triggered a scythe trap, which swung from the ceiling and gashed her viciously. Feeling momentary nausea and fatigue, she was able to fight off the effect of yet another poisoned blade that the labyrinth had unleashed upon them. Sitting quietly to collect herself for a moment, and thankful the poison had not done her any further harm, she pressed onwards to get a closer look at the statue she had spotted:

*A fifteen foot statue of a lovely girl, unmarred by time, stands before you. Next to her are the shattered remains of another statue, close enough that the body may have once held her outstretched hand. The feet of this larger statue are all that remain affixed to the passage floor – the rest is scattered around the base. Water, clean, pure, and unfrozen, travels down her face in steady rivulets but leaves no erosion there.*

The statue beckoned to her to drink and heal her injuries, and Heida, while uninjured, took a chance and brought some of the magical tears to her lips. An overwhelming sense of peace and calm descended upon her, and every minor ache and pain she had carried with her (largely subconsciously) abruptly disappeared. The entity, which Heida learned had once been named Gilfiel, revealed that she was a one time priestess of the goddess Eir, a handmaid of Frigga and the goddess of healing and purification. For her loyalty to the Aesir, the soul of the fey maiden and her lover had been trapped here for time immemorial by the servants of the Trickster. The statue of her lover, whose very name had been erased from her memory, had been smashed in an act of cruelty. Once Heida revealed that they were in the labyrinth to rescue a boy, or at least that that had been the parties original objective, the spirit of Gilfiel floated forth as a pulsating ball of light, and pledged that she would lead them to Isorm. It seemed there would be no escape until the party faced this ancient and terrible creature.

Eventually the yellow mold was destroyed, but Valindr and Nygaar were unsuccessful in their search for any secret doors beyond it. As Jor and Esbjorn were finishing up gathering the last of the quicksilver they could carry, Heida rushed back to the party and revealed their way forward. Following eagerly, the party returned to the patiently waiting soul of Gilfiel. Those in need drank of her tears and were healed, and the party offered to take her out of the dungeon with them. Gilfiel refused, stating that some remnant of her lover remained, and she couldn't bear to part with even this meager connection to her lost love. The pulsating ball of light led them quickly forward, revealing a secret door that they must needs pass through. Nygaar recognized this area of the labyrinth, and pointed to what he was sure was a doorway out. Unfortunately Gilfiel revealed that the door was no doubt locked now, as the labyrinth had ways of keeping those it chose trapped. Passing through a cleverly concealed secret passage, the party eventually came upon a mural on the wall with graven arrows that seemed to be offering directions. Next to these engravings there was a fine red curtain blocking a passageway. Speaking quickly, Gilfiel conveyed a quick warning before her light blinked out and left them:

*“Trust not your eyes if you encounter the crones three. They are rank deceivers. My light will guide you to them. Seek within their filthy den to find your path.”*

## The Duplicitous Hags

The party all looked at one another, wondering what they might encounter next. After a moment they heard the rustling of someone approaching from the other side of the strangely incongruent curtain hanging nearby:

*You hear the sounds of soothing music, and vibrantly colored and beautiful tapestries adorn the passageway ahead. An interesting but not unlovely humanoid woman peers out at you from a side passageway, holding aside a hanging curtain. She is a jotun kin humanoid of some sort, perhaps some eight feet tall yet slender and shapely. Her skin and hair are ghostly pale, and as she smiles warmly at you you notice her teeth are slightly pointed. Wafting through the passageway you smell something savory cooking, and you hear the movement and murmuring of other feminine voices. What you can see looks like a paradise compared to the rest of the dungeon, with finely crafted pillows and rugs piled up upon the floor and more gorgeous tapestries adorning the sliver of wall in your view.*

The female introduced herself and her sisters, and bid the party enter to rest and eat. Fortunately for the party they had not come upon this scene unawares, and they questioned the woman sharply. The strange jotun-esque creature answered a query from Esbjorn about their loyalty by claiming that her and her sisters worshipped the Norns. Nygaar listened carefully for any lies, and once he started questioning them about Fang Li and the linnorm it became clear that they lied as easily as they breathed. Heida and Nygaar walked into the area, looking around and surreptitiously looking for secret or illusory doors that would lead them to their goal. Eventually, the others followed, and the women's façade of welcome and hospitality suddenly disappeared when the party approached a certain area of their lair. Suddenly they began to chant in an ancient arcane language, and battle was joined.

Moving quickly, with the magical aid of Jor, Esbjorn got the jump on their enemies, and rushed forward slamming his massive fist into the face of the nearest humanoid. Crying out in agony, with blood gushing from her broken teeth and nose, she looked back to her sisters with dread in her eyes. Nygaar tumbled into the fray, but the close quarters caused his blade to get partially lodged into a nearby wall, and he missed the stroke that would have finished the creature off. Luckily, he invoked the power of the Aesir, and filled Esbjorn with inspiration, calling out how the witche's defenses had been left open. Esbjorn didn't hesitate, slashing what turned out to be a hideous hag in half, and bounding forward to press the attack against the remaining two. Above his head, Heida readied her glaive and flew in a charge to attack from on high, narrowly missing one of the remaining hags. The women were then able to cast their spells, trapping both Esbjorn and Droog below and Heida above in cages of impenetrable force. Behind this prison of arcane force, Esbjorn laughed maniacally, gesturing to the hag that entrapped him that she was next.

Though trapped, Heida still had control over her terrifying undead howler skeleton, and ordered it in to attack. The beast charged in, tearing a large chunk from one of the hags with its razor sharp teeth and leaving four foul barbs protruding from her now collapsing chest cavity. With a grunt the hag fell down, as hideous and diseased as her other fallen sister in death. With the second sister slain, the illusions around the party collapsed, and the sumptuous environment disappeared to be replaced with filth and squalor. Nygaar charged in to dispatch the remaining hag, after Jor had spoken a single draconic word that left her doubled over with nausea. Attacking with righteous abandon, Nygaar invoked the Aesir gods once more and his blow fell like a thunderclap upon the hag. She slumped backwards, her back broken and her entrails slowing slipping from her bloody corpse. Esbjorn used his boots to teleport out of his cage, and stood grinning at their victory. The party peered at their remaining trapped colleagues, and Jor began contemplating how to get them free of their imprisonment. It seemed that, after finally receiving some much needed aid, that they were at last close to their goal of finding the linnorm and escaping this horror once and for all.

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