Sunday, August 23, 2015

Review 08/22/2015 (Three Glaciers Fjord, a Firth Monster, and the Tower of Issvardr)

After our separation from the Leviathon we find ourselves on a frigid coast we eventually learn is Three Glaciers Fjord. We soon come upon a long ship in distress, lead by Nord Alrekson who is escorting his granddaughter Fanna to the Þing. The long ship struggles as it takes on water. After Nord and Vorware exchange greetings the boisterous old man explains he travels from Skari to Viezla for the Ice Break Þing with hopes that Fanna is the next Winter Lady. He happily invites us to take shelter, exchange stories and travel- once they are on their way.

After about an hour of travel we are assaulted with a horrible sound as large hunks of ice are displaced and forces the longboat against a vast ice shelf; then from out of the depths a Firth Monster rises, grabs the long boat with its massive jaws and throws it against the glacier breaking off hunks of ice.

The attacks of the sea monster eventually break away a three hundred foot section of the glacier revealing a white tower listing north. A door sits above the broken ice and its only window it as the top level.

It took great skill to evade the chaos wrought by the monster climbing and jumping from ice flow to hand hold but we eventually made it to the tower along with Nord, Fanna, and a terrified merchant named Nial Kormakson as well as six survivors.

After some amazing investigating we believe this could be the Tower of Issvardr, the one cursed by Boreas and incased the Vetrdis (Winter Lady) in Illska (crewel glacier) centuries ago.

We decide to investigate further and enter to find dimly halls and people sealed in ice each with their souls, like motes of light, frozen in the moment of death. Deeper in the tower we find northman ice pickers frozen in place seeming like they offended the Illska. All about are tools and after melting some ice we learn these to be about a year old. We also recover twenty sets of cloaks and boots; rope, torches and lanterns; thirty flasks of oil; and six frozen potions.

We are set upon by undead who are defeated which earned us a brief respite before continuing to the heart of the tower. Here we find stair cases ascending and descending down to the darkness, and an ice elemental.

After melting the elemental it was agreed that Orathian shares his wild shape changing everyone into owls to more efficiently explore the Tower of Issvardr. Leaving Ghost with the nine others we fly out taking note of the two cliff faces by which this glacier flowed and entered the window at the top most level.

We eventually come to an area of ice wrought with fissures; on the other side is a human sized figure of ice, she too with her soul frozen. Battle ensued against more Boreal Frights. After defeating them we realize this must be the Vetrdis from the tales and to be released she must be included as the next Winter Lady with Fanna by bringing the festival here.

We begin next session in the tower after resting.




Saturday, August 22, 2015

Review 07/18/2015 (Temple of Starry Lovers, Comet Balls, and Elushiell the Magic Sword)

Levontolin was excited, nervous and proud all at once as he floated to the guest quarters where the Visitors had slept last night. He felt confident they would welcome his offer of guidance through this holy day, and was anxious to speak more with the man who was a book. Arriving at the door, he took his humanoid shape, that of an ancient elf of Midgard's, and firmly rapped at the entrance. Head already bowed as it opened, the ancient stellar fisherman offered to escort the Visitors, and could not contain his smile as he heard the book translate his celestial tongue.

Priestess Mydella of the Temple of Starry Lovers heard the Visitors enter, but calmly finished her current mantra of meditations before opening her eyes to acknowledge them. It pleased her to see that Levon had made friends with them, for she knew that most of his fellow archons thought him strange for his willingness to leave the citadel. It pleased her even more to feel the presence of Thor and Loki enter her temple. She proved to be an amenable and talkative hostess, welcoming them all and sharing information. In exchange for agreeing to help them get back to Midgard regardless of the Court's decisions, Vorware agreed to spread the word and influence of Hecate through the North and all their travels. She told them of the duality of her temple and her welcoming of Veles and his dragon spawn, particularly the great dragons and beasts of the void. She gives the two clerics space to proselytize, and the rest of the Visitors decided to split off as supplicants and skeptics alike paused to consider the philosophies of Midgard's warrior and vessel of change.

Lady Sorella had been anticipating the Comet Ball for some time, as it was a favorite event of hers.On this day in particular she imbibed prodigious amounts of spice, wine, and the heady narcotics the alchemist supplied to the whole citadel. Still, it was not just inebriation that caused her excitement to discover Elise and the other visitors wandering in the commons. Even in the ethereal heavens the woman's beauty was breathtaking, such that the elven woman could not ignore. She was thrilled when they accepted her invitation back to her apartments, where her and Elise tried on clothes and outfits for the ball. Like Levon and Mydella before her, the first topic she brought up was to  wonder if the Visitors had decided what to do with the Leviathan. This branched to her explaining who Abdiel the Butcher was and what the Alchemist did in concert with him. She revealed Abdiel having come about 200 years ago, bringing with him the alchemist, his bridle, and the wonders of his "spiced" leviathan flesh. She spoke of the guardian hound archon only briefly, confirming that he was not part of the court, but she also didn't know exactly why he was here. After several hours, as Lady Sorella soared ever higher on her trip, the Visitors reconvened and decided to investigate this Butcher, and get to the bottom of the strangeness none of them could make any sense of.

Levon showed them to the hall that would lead them to the chambers of Abdiel the Butcher, and as they entered Draco cast a nervous eye about, spotting a floating ball of light that, crazy as it sounds, looked and felt familiar. Draco knew it was Elushiell, the enigmatic archon that had first approached them. This was most remarkable, for every time they had seen him before, he had always taken his elf form. The Visitors entered, suspicious and wary, and were not surprisedwhen the elf that introduced himself as Abdiel attacked them after failing to poison them! Surrounded with sinister auger krytrons,  Abdiel put up a vicious fight, but was ultimately defeated. At the moment of his demise, a distraught Captain Elushiell charged in accusing the Visitors of murder. However, all the evidence stood before him, and he could do more than hang his head in shame as he realized exactly what he had enabled for the past two centuries. The visitors watched as he shuffled off, and they decided to make their final preparations before they announced their decision to not release the leviathan to the needs of the court at the Comet Ball.

That evening at the ball, events unfold quickly. It is apparent the entire citadel is out of their minds high on exotic narcotics. Mostly, the visitors are exciting, but ignored the way celebrities are often seen as unapproachable. Much fanfare is made of the appearances of the King and Queen, but this is quickly over shadowed by a glowing light in the astral opening of the throne room. Very soon the light takes the form of an unearthly beautiful angel, who announces herself as Harbinger, and says  this.
"King Iorotus and Queen Astakia"
Though you have fallen far into your decadent stupors, and taken a kingdom of archons with you leading them to abandon their duties and purposes, it is still my duty to honor the station of the Citadel of a Million Stars. Perhaps if the shepardos of good we're not enslaved by the lurid dispositions of your court, this calamity could have been avoided!!  Know this, former shepards of Midgard, the Original Beast is Risen! He swims here, to this galaxy, your home.  The World Eater comes!Abandon your decadent ways and return to the shparding of Good that Midgard most sorely needes. I must ravel on to warn the rest of this galaxy, but I bid you, Even beg you toprepare. You will all have to fight to your last breath to defeat the Terrasque!!"

Wit that, she flew on to Asgard, and left the stoic royal pair to demand the Visitors anser them.Upon hearing the words of the Visitors, they commanded them to leave immediately and take their property with them.As they left, our heroes wondered many things, but their reverie was broken by a final visit, from a shamed, embarrassed and repentant Elushiell. He thanked them for their visit, expressed much disappointment in himself, and then rather abruptly killed himself, transforming into a gleaming magical sword to be used against evil in what ever form it reared. The great Leviathan took a parting shot at the citadel, sending the Alchemisits tower into a shambled ruin with a flick of its mighty tail as it swam back to the great western oceans of Midgard.