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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheBard" data-source="post: 66373" data-attributes="member: 2821">Episode 19: Yellow SnowTime Elapsed: 8/25-8/31/495 A.I. SummaryThe dragon dead, Ingolf, Theodorus and Zaccara quickly located its lair, an icy cave hollowed out of the iceberg, and removed what loot the creature had managed to gather. Martaine, Nicasia and Aoelif, meanwhile, rescued the two half-frozen alfar fishermen from underneath the wreck of their boat where the drake had trapped them. Their names were Hermund and Olvir, and they were exceedingly grateful for their rescue. Olvir was the least frostbitten of the two, and so helped guide Zaccara towards the island known as Ravensguard where the two made their home. Along the way, Theodorus managed to dispel the enchantment that held Ingolf in the shape of a hobgoblin, but he was unable to remove the similar effect from himself and Martaine, so they were forced to remain as ogre and hob themselves for the time being. A day or so later, the misty shores of Ravensguard came into view, and Zaccara guided the magical boat carefully to a landing that Olvir pointed out to him.The alfar villagers were amazed to see a boat full of humans, elves and goblins sailing into their village, but Olvir quickly called out, explaining to them what had happened. Olmir, the jarl of Ravensguard, was summoned to the docks and came to question the strangers. He thanked them for rescuing Hermund and Olvir and offered to feast the group in his longhouse.Olmir was a typical alfar jarl – part Viking raider, part chieftain, part faerie warrior. Theodorus and Nicasia were astonished and dismayed at the way he was treated by his “subjects” – accosted on the street with demands to repay old loans, yelled at in greeting from across the waves by returning sailors, and generally treated almost like a commoner by his people. Ingolf tried to explain that all alfar regarded themselves as free and equal men and women, and that at any rate, a jarl who was chosen by vote, as Olmir surely had been, could just as easily be voted out at the next allthing. The concept was beyond the humans nobles, and clearly more than a little distasteful to them.Olmir, for his part, plied the group with food, ale and mead while Aoelif and Ingolf told the tale of the dragon’s death. He also inquired as to the “ogre and hob” traveling with the group, but seemed satisfied with Ingolf’s explanation that they’d had to sneak across Rolgulka to avoid a war. Finally he wanted to know the reason for their visit so far north. Ingolf explained that they were searching for a great white bear, one with a crippled and burned front paw. Olmir knew of no such bear, but one of his villagers, a fisherwoman, claimed that such a bear lived on Trollhaven, a nearby island, and was in fact “one of the sacred bears of Odin that guard the great shrine.” In the druid’s Skallagrim’s vision of his brother, Ingolf had seen a bear with a mutilated paw being given an offering of food by an alfar. So this was not a complete surprise to him. Of course, he needed to know more about this.At about this point, a very small and somewhat aged alfar woman came into the longhouse, who proved to be the druidess Haldis. She and Olmir exchanged a rude gesture or two and then she sat down at his left hand. She questioned the group about their presence in the North and Ingolf told her the bare bones of the tale – the group was searching for a maimed white bear. Haldis confirmed the story of the sacred bears of Odin, and also explained that the Ollave of Odin on the neighboring Isle of Trollhaven, an aged alfar man named Keldan , was very hostile to the druids and in fact had chased members of the order from the island before. They gave their worship only to the gods, and not to the earth itself, and this was clearly a sign that they were a broken people. At some point, Ingolf’s brother’s name was mentioned, and Olmir claimed that a great warrior by that name had sailed with him and his men several years before. This Halvor had lived on Trollhaven and was in love with Astrid, the daughter of Jarl Lundt, the berserk leader of the men of that island. Ingolf asked Olmir if this great warrior had a scarred or burned hand, and Olmir said that yes had had – and that he claimed to have received the wound fighting a Fire Giant. Sadly, Olmir went on to say, Halvor had died two years ago after falling in a sudden crevasse while walking with some friends across one of the glaciers on Trollhaven.Ingolf of course suspected some sort of treachery at once, and the last little piece of the puzzle fell into place when Haldis revealed that after Halvor’s “death” Astrid had been married off to a berserk named Rungnir – Keldan’s son. It seemed clear at once to Ingolf that his brother had been betrayed by this Rungnir and turned into a bear by his father, so that Rungnir could marry Astrid. All that remained (in Ingolf’s mind) was to find Halvor, change him from a bear back into a man, and then extract vengeance on his betrayers. But Haldis had one more bit of information for the group, an ancient story that revealed much. She produced a scroll which Halvor had left with her when he first came north, and after he’d read it, Ingolf began to see the truth behind the whole mystery.[See “The Straw Death of Bjorn Jotunhammer"]Ingolf was familiar with the tale – all but the last section. He had never heard that Odin compelled Loki to retrieve Bjorn’s body and treasures, nor had he heard of the island of Trollhaven before that day. But what was going on was beginning to become more clear. His brother, it seemed, had not renounced his vow to take vengeance on the fire giant Ingemur, but instead had merely gone north to Trollhaven, seeking the Jotunhammer that would make this victory possible. On Trollhaven he had met Astrid and perhaps fallen by the wayside in his quest for the hammer, but it was Rungnir’s treachery that had finally defeated him – trapping him in the form of a great bear. Ingolf was more determined than ever to find and free his brother from the curse that held him, and if possible to learn if the Jotunhammer was really to be found on Trollhaven. Together he and Zaccara made plans as how best to approach Trollhaven, for they had been warned that the inhabitants were unfriendly to strangers. They decided to wait a few days time, for the men of both islands would soon be sailing off on Viking raids, to gather the loot they needed to appease the Frost Giant Jarl Andvari. Once they were gone raiding, the group would be more easily able to explore the island unseen. Haldis gave them some advice, and also the name of a local alfar man friendly to Ravensguard – a trader named Hrut. She also gave them a general idea of the layout of the island and suggested that Odin’s Shrine might be found in the mountains on the northern end of Trollhaven.She and Ingolf conferred for a while on the possibility that Loki himself was the true focus of Keldan’s worship and the aged druidess thought the idea might have some merit. It would at least explain the hostility of the Trollhaveners towards the druids and it was also clear that Loki had some connection to the island, if the tale of Bjorn Jotunhammer was to be believed. Nonetheless, she warned them against injuring the sacred bears, for as far as she knew, it was Odin’s shrine they guarded, and angering the Allfather was always a bad idea. Theodorus scoffed at thi, but Martaine warned him against the folly of assuming that all “pagan” deities were mere figments of their worshiper’s imagination. Odin no doubt held power, Martaine argued, even if it was a false power and not equal in glory or might to that of Logos, the true god. In two days time, the group was ready to depart, with a fresh supply of rations of dried fish and water, as well as mead and some of Olmir’s excellent Rolgulkan liquor, which proved to be an amazingly potent brew. Haldis was gracious enough to use her magic to revert Martaine and Theodorus to their proper forms, though it took the mage a day or two to adjust to the fact that he was no longer stronger than any ox. Trollhaven was not particularly remote, only a day or two away from Ravenguard, and after receiving dire warnings regarding icebergs and other dangers, the group set sail.The first day back at sea passed without incident. Zaccara sailed the magic Knorr well east of Trollhaven itself, hoping to circle around the island, avoid any alfar raiders intending piracy, and find a secluded stretch of rocky coastline somewhere close to the northern mountains to make landfall. Ingolf was taking his turn keeping watch from the prow of the little boat in the late evening’s fading light when he thought he saw an odd shape – an iceberg, perhaps – lying in the boat’s path.He turned to shout a warning to Zaccara when suddenly the air was filled with the strangest babble, almost like a hundred voices at once competing to see which could shout the most gibberish. Reflexively, everyone on board reached for their ears, trying to block out the voices that threatened to drive all coherent thought from their minds. Ingolf shook his head, throwing off the worst of the effects, and looked quickly behind him to see Martaine reaching grimly for his crossbow while Theodorus and Nicasia both prepared their spellcasting materiel. Aoelif and Zaccara, though, simply stood with tortured looks on their faces, Aoelif’s half-drawn sword grasped limply in her nerveless hand. It was then that Ingolf felt the first physical touch of whatever it was that caused all this confusion, when the thing’s teeth sank suddenly into his calf, causing the alfar to whirl about in pain.Coming over the prow of the boat was a demon of fevered dreams, a mass of eyes and teeth and grasping jaws, with no constant form or shape at all. It was huge, larger even than the dragon they’d recently fought, and its mass threatened to swamp the boat completely. Aoelif stood nearest Ingolf, still with a slack expression on her face, clearly not knowing if she should flee or draw steel. In moments the thing would be upon her as well as Ingolf.From the back of the boat Martaine let fly a bolt from his crossbow while Theodorus summoned up an arrow of acid which struck the beast as well. As Martaine worked the crank on his weapon, the incessant babbling still battered at his hearing, threatening to make even the simple task of reloading his crossbow beyond him. Suddenly, Martaine heard something completely unexpected – the fair sound of an alfar voice raised clearly and strongly in song – Ingolf’s voice. Even as the bard drew his sword and plunged it into the thing’s hideous form, he was singing loudly and even lustily - an old Iconian drinking song he’d no doubt learned in Tavia. The bard’s voice cut through the gibbering confusion like a blade, overcoming the bewilderment and confusion spawned by the thing’s voices.Aoelif almost seemed to wake as form a deep sleep, drew her sword and lunged at the thing with vigor. Zaccara likewise threw off the worst of the effects, and with a thought transformed himself, taking on the fomorian characteristics he was granted by his strange tattoo – and suddenly dove overboard, with Balor’s spear clutched in his hands. The monster was not without other weapons, however, and suddenly several of its mouths seemed to rear back before spitting a long stream of mucous into the air. This erupted with a flash, sending a wave of blinding light over the boat that Theodorus was unfortunately looking directly into. The mage stumbled back with a cry, reaching for his eyes.Ingolf and Aoelif both plunged their blades into the thing’s midst, or tried to, while Zaccara swam quickly the length of the boat and drove his spear into it from below. Aoelif scored several hits, and the beast was clearly in pain. Six snapping jaws flailed at the two alfar impotently as a barrage of magic missiles from Nicasia ripping into the creature’s bulk. Finally, it had had enough. Its many mouths that had seized hold of the wooden prow of the ship released, and the monster tried to slip backwards into the water and escape, but Aoelif was having none of it – with a shout she drove her flaming blade Sig into the creature one last time, and it literally caught fire from the blow. It slipped lifelessly into the icy water and sank into the depths, trailing a strange glow as if Sig’s fire was still burning it all the way to the bottom.Theodorus blindness passed quickly, and Martaine determined quickly that none one was seriously wounded, though Ingolf did have several nasty-looking bite marks. These he tended to while the others wondered exactly what the thing had been. Zaccara pulled himself back aboard, having followed the thing down into the deeps a short ways to make sure it was truly dead, and then transformed himself back into his more typical, human, form. Martaine seemed not to be thrilled at the ease with which his warrior friend took on the characteristics of the unseelie, Balor-worshipping fomorians, but at the moment it seemed like a bad time to bring up the fact. The worst horror behind them or so they hoped, the group sailed on.The next morning they spotted the peaks of Trollhaven’s mountains for the first time, and before mid-day they had landed on a secluded spot of beach not far from a great glacier. They secured all their gear and hid what they could not carry, then Ingolf spoke the magic phrase that caused his ship to fold itself back up. He placed the resulting itme, hardly bigger than Martaine’s copy of the Logrithon, into his pack, and they set out for the mountains.The rocky peaks above them were not particularly high, certainly not as high as those they passed through to reach Rolgulka, nor as high as Delenach Mor in the cimbri lands, but they were steep and the wind was cold. Even though it was late summer, as the group climbed higher they left behind any sign of green, growing things and passed into a gray and white landscape of stone and snow. Everyone had their cloak pulled tight around their neck and their eyes cast downward when Ingolf spotted a strange mound or drift of snow ahead – strange in that it had eyes, and was watching them. He called the group to a halt. As they watched, the snow drift made an odd “hrrmph” noise, and sat back on its haunches to observe them. It was a great, white bear, and it was wearing a red leather collar. It watched the group, who all remained motionless, from a distance of 50 yards or so. Finally, when they made no move either towards or away, it seemed to look at them with a disgusted eye, then stood and ambled off, up the mountainside. By this point it was late in the day, too late to follow, though Aoelif had hopes she would be able to track the thing the next morning. The group pitched a single tent while Aoelif built a fire. They cooked the last of their fresh meat that night and no one looked forward to a diet of dried fish for the next few days. Finally they all gathered into the lone tent and fell asleep, except for Theodorus who’d drawn the first watch.No more evidence of any bears was forthcoming and the group spent a miserable cold night camped out on the mountainside. The next day, Aoelif was easily able to track the bear’s prints in the crusty snow and the group followed in its steps. They lead to a stair, partly natural, partly carved into the side of the mountain. It was wide and nearly snow-free, and the group headed up it at once. They almost missed the sign that the bear had left this path a few hundred fee up the mountainside, and headed out onto the glacier, but Aoelif spotted the paw prints from above.The group headed out onto the ice, moving slowly and cautiously. This time, even Ingolf’s keen eyes failed to notice that the large snowy drift they were passing was only partly snow – it was mostly bear. With a snort, the huge white figure rose up to look at the group, this time from very close range. Theodorus got a good look at black gums and the thing’s tongue when it opened its jaws wide to roar in his direction from only a few feet away. No one moved.The bear seemed a bit confused by this. Everyone began to back away slowly, which brought on another roar of displeasure, so the group froze in place. A few moments passed. The bear roared again. Suddenly Theodorus was laying on the snow, face down, in a posture of supplication. The bear shuffled back a foot or two, and the young mage produced from his pack everything edible he could find – mostly dried fish. This he placed on the snowy ground before him, all the while bowing and genuflecting in a manner most appropriate to a mere man suddenly face to face with one of the “Sacred bears of Odin.”The bear bought it. He tucked in ravenously to the fish and other food in front of him, and the group stared in slight disgust as several day’s worth of provender disappeared into the bear’s gullet in the space of seconds. The bear burped. Theodorus produced more food – the last he was carrying. This, too, vanished. The bear looked up expectantly. At a loss for what to do, Theodorus pulled out a gift he’d received from the jarl of Ravensguard – a bottle of Rolgulkan liquor, supposedly made from some sort of root vegetable. He knew only that it was very strong. The bear looked puzzled, but when Theodorus poured some of the booze into the ice, it sniffed first, then lapped up the potent booze with relish. Theodorus emptied the bottle onto the ground.After it polished off the mage’s liquor, the bear sat back heavily on its haunches, licking its lips and generally looking quite pleased. Acting on his hunch regarding the shrine’s true purpose, Ingolf suggested that Theodorus present the holy symbol of Loki that he’d claimed ages ago as part of his share of Svear’s hoard. Theodorus located the silver symbol and brought it forth with immediate and unpleasant results. The bear snarled and growled angrily, and as Theodorus began to back away it rose somewhat unsteadily to follow him.Ingolf yelled out quickly “Show your scorn for Loki somehow! Quickly! Throw the symbol down and – and urinate on it!” To the bard’s surprise, this is exactly what Theodorus did, prompting Martaine to ask Ingolf if he could make the mage perform any other tricks. Theodorus shot Martaine a withering glance, but then they all suddenly noticed that the bear had stopped snarling, and in fact seemed to be making a strange noise not unlike laughter. Theodorus asked the creature where the shrine to Odin could be found, and the great bear rose to its feet and began to amble off towards the mountain once more.He lead the group back up the “stairs” to a narrow defile near the peak of the mountain. Near the end of this they cam to an overhang of rock, under which was a huge, smooth slab of some other stone, clearly not natural. In the middle of the slab was the Ansuz rune – Odin’s symbol. And sitting next to the door was another great white bear, bigger than the first – with a burned and twisted paw. Halvor, Ingolf’s brother, was guarding the entrance to Odin’s shrine.NPCs EncounteredHermund and Olvir— Two ljosalfar fishermen, the party saved last adv.</blockquote>

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