Return to the Hall of the Trickster (26th June
2013)
The Dragon Warriors
Aethelfrith – Thane
Sir Erich of Barton – Knight
Hillson – Warlock
Nazir al Khalid – Barbarian
Solaran – Elementalist (NPC’d)
Karban Telos – Sorcerer (NPC’d)
The Chair of the Spear (Day 36 – the early afternoon (116)
Sir Erich, Hillson the warlock, and Aethelfrith returned to
the ship again to rest and relay their news to the rest of the party. In an
attempt to escape the boredom of the last couple of days re-provisioning the
ship and hiding in nervous anticipation of the reappearance of the Bloody Bitch,
two of the crew decided they wanted to join the adventurers on their next foray
back to the Trickster’s Hall. Nazir also determined that he wanted to join them
for an outing too.
So, the small band of six headed to the buried halls to seek
adventure. The sight of the illusionary hall wowed the two crew members and
they made to wander off on their own to investigate until they were called back
to heel by the rest of the party. Sir Erich warned the crewmen not to wander
off and sit at the tables when the adventurers disappeared when they sat on the
next chair, or they might end up lost to the world forever.
The party sat upon the chair one at a time and each suddenly
appeared in the midst of a huge battle between men, elves, dwarfs and giants.
They quickly formed a defensive ring but realised quite quickly that they were
actually being ignored as the battle raged around them. This gave them time to
look around but they could see nothing of interest to head towards as a goal.
Suddenly they heard a huge wolf howl from the distant side of the battlefield,
but nothing came of it so they continued surveying their environs.
After a few minutes, a natural break in the ebb and flow of the
battle meant that a path began to clear between the combatants and down the
avenue between the fighting warriors loped an enormous wolf. Sir Erich and
Aethelfrith managed to leap aside as the wolf attacked the party but Nazir and
Hillson were not so quick and were bowled over upon the wolf’s arrival. Sir Erich
tried to grip his battle axe for a firm blow but it seemed to slip from his
fingers. Aethelfrith attempted to draw his sword but was unable to do so for the
same reason. Nazir and Hillson tried to ready their weapons but they also had the
same problem. They all decided to re-sheathe their arms and fight the beast
with their mailed fists.
The battle proved deadly for the fighters, each of them was
mauled severely by the giant wolf, but each gave a few mighty blows in return that
obviously harmed the beast. It was down to Hillson to heal each of the warriors
in turn to prevent their imminent deaths. Aethelfrith, remembering some of his
childhood tales, realised that this was Fenris; the great wolf from the battle
that would end the world – Ragnarok. He shouted to the others to draw their
weapons but to use them with their left hands – they could not grip them with
their right hands as that was the hand that Tyr had lost when the great Fenris
was captured and bound by the gods. This proved to be just the inspiration the
party needed and they fought back with a vengeance; the great wolf was slain
quite swiftly thereafter as the three fighters hewed mighty blows upon their
foe. As the body of the wolf hit the ground, one of its huge canine teeth fell
loose. Aethelfrith picked it up and began to examine it. As he touched the huge
fang, the path through the battle began to form again and a shimmering mist
appeared a short distance away. The party rushed towards it and as they made
their way through the mist they found themselves back in the great hall covered
in blood and hurting badly from their wounds.
The sight of the injured warriors proved a bit too much for the
two crewmen who had been left behind and they asked to be taken back to the
ship. The adventurers were also eager to return to the ship with them, so they
all hobbled back to the cog for a good sleep, a hearty meal and the healing
powers of the sorcerer.
The Chair of the Snowflake (Day 37 – morning)
When the four adventurers awoke the following day, they quickly
collected some more foodstuffs from the ship’s stores and returned to hall under
the mountain; this time without the two crew members who had told the rest of
their ship mates the tales of the Trickster’s Hall and decided that adventuring
was a bit too much for them.
This time, it was Aethelfrith who sat upon the chair first.
One-by-one they were pulled through to another world. They immediately found
themselves surrounded by trees and a couple of berry bushes; the whole vista
covered in a huge blanket of deep snow. There was no way to get through the
trees as they were so close together, and as a result the party could not
figure out what the quest might be with this one, but they did however notice
that it started to become perceptibly colder as each minute wore on. They
decided to collect some wood and kindling to light a fire, but each time the flames
began to lick at the dried material, they went out. Sir Erich suggested that
they should build a snow shelter in the hope that it would keep them out of the
worst of the cold, but the small shelter they were able to construct did
nothing to abate the bitterness of the biting cold.
Aware that they needed to do something fast before they all
froze to death Sir Erich and Aethelfrith grabbed a few sprigs of the red and
white berries from the bushes nearby. They threw a few of each colour onto the fledgling
fire, but it was only the white berries that seemed to have an, albeit minor,
effect. The warriors then nibbled at the berries but only encountered a very
bitter and foul tasting juice contained within. Sir Erich, who realised that
maybe the only wood that would burn would be from the white bush, rushed off to
cut a few armfuls of the branches. These he fed into the fire and the fire did
start to smoulder gently. The smoke from the small fire rose directly up
towards the sky but a small amount of it also began to form a hazy mist off to
one side of the clearing. The party gathered more branches from the white berry
bush and fed them into the now slowly growing conflagration. This led to the
hazy smoke forming a more distinct doorway through which the party stepped
carrying a few handfuls of the white berry bearing twigs. The party now had a
sprig or two of mistletoe to add to the wolf tooth and eye that they had
previously earned from their encounters through the other chairs.
The Chair of the Bow (Day 37 – around noon)
Buoyed up by their relatively easy victory in the last
encounter, the party quickly decided to try the next chair in line. The bow
carved into the back of it suggested either more combat or hunting, so the
fighters readied their missile weapons before passing through to the other
side.
They were greeted by a warm, sunny day in part of a large
forest. However, when they looked around they noticed that their companions
were not with them. After just a few moments all of them noticed unmistakeable deer
tracks leading away from where they were stood. Aethelfrith tried shouting out
at the top of his lungs to see if his companions were nearby but all that he
succeeded in doing was making his throat sore.
They all decided to follow the tracks with bows (or spells
in Hillson’s case) at the ready. Hillson and Aethelfrith managed to come upon
their quarry within a short space of time, but Sir Erich and Nazir wandered
around aimlessly following the tracks but finding no sign of their prey.
After he had crept up on the deer to get a closer shot, Aethelfrith
let fly with one of his arrows and struck the deer in the rump. This caused the
deer to turn at bay and charge him down.
Meanwhile, Hillson tried to creep ever closer but never
seemed to gain upon his quarry. Sir Erich also seemed to be losing track of his
prey but decided to carry on following the path all the same.
Nazir soon spotted a grizzled and bearded old man trailing
him. He made to call out to the old man but was shot at for his troubles. The
arrow hit him but failed to penetrate his armour. He charged at the old man,
drawing his morning star as he did so.
Aethelfrith took the charge of the deer (whose horns did not
penetrate his armour) and struck it with his magical short sword, again causing
a wound.
Meanwhile Hillson kept on stalking his prey but it kept
getting further away from him. Sir Erich began to feel a little uneasy, as if
he was being stalked, so he holed up in a tree to see who might be following
him. Hillson’s prey seemed to disappear from sight, so he sat down on the
forest floor to see if his prey would come to him.
Nazir, was charged down in return by the hunter and received
a nasty sword wound to his side just after he struck the huntsman.
Aethelfrith, being a hunter himself back in the real world, thought
that there was something unusual about the deer confronting him. Deer just did
not act in that way. He stepped back from the melee and assumed a defensive
stance. The deer backed away a few steps and did the same. Aethelfrith then put
his weapon away. The deer then faded away to become Nazir – the illusion had
been broken. As Nazir’s animal form finally faded, the antlers that were on his
head (from Aethelfrith’s point of view) dropped to the floor. Aetheflrith
picked them up.
Whilst Hillson waited for his quarry to turn up and Sir
Erich looked about for his stalker, they too realised the illusion and both
faded back to their original bodies. Sir Erich picked up the antlers that were
now at his feet.
A haze started to form not far from the adventurers, so they
all stepped through it and back into the Trickster’s Hall.
As a couple of them had taken a few blows in the illusory
world, they decided to call it a day and headed back to the ship for another
rest and round of healing from the sorcerer.
The Chair of the Boar (Day 38 – morning)
After a refreshing sleep and some decent victuals the four
adventurers set off again. They mentioned to their companions still on the boat
that they were now close to cracking the entire Trickster’s Hall conundrum and
would probably only need a further day to resolve it completely. They would
then set sail in the hope that this interlude had put off all manner of pursuit
by the Bloody Bitch and her gang of pirates. They totted up their prizes thusly…
Well chair eye
Spear chair wolf canine
Snowflake chair sprig
of mistletoe
Bow chair rack
of antlers
Boar chair to
be investigated
Lyre chair to
be investigated
Flame chair they
know that the last person to sit upon it got burnt
This time upon their return to the hall, they made their way
straight back towards the Boar chair. Sir Erich immediately sat upon it,
closely followed by Aetheflrith, Nazir and Hillson.
As soon as Sir Ercih stepped through to the other world he was
immediately confronted by a beautiful woman in a chainmail hauberk, with a
shield and spear. She was standing before a chained up golden-coloured giant
boar that was gnashing its tusks. She spoke to Sir Erich in the ancient tongue
that the party had heard previously but he found that he could understand
perfectly what she was saying to him. She asked him whether he would like to
face the wild boar or her in mortal combat to test his bravery, or would he
rather leave? Sir Erich, being the chivalrous type decided it was best he went
toe-to-toe with the great golden boar. The woman shouted a command, the chain
binding the great beast slipped away and the golden boar charged at his
adversary just as Hillson and the rest of the companions arrived on the scene
one by one.
The fight with the boar was ferocious and went on for
several minutes, each combatant striking the other in turn, but eventually the
superior strength and virility of the wild boar took its toll on Sir Erich and
he collapsed to the ground with a final drive of the boar’s tusks into his
stomach. When he had let out his last breath, a raven fluttered down from above
and landed on his chest.
Aethelfrith’s blood by now had grown hot and he wished to
avenge his comrade. The armoured woman bade him whether he would rather fight
her, the boar, take his leave or honour his companion? He was sorely tempted to
just charge down the woman and beat her senseless but his valour got the better
of his temper and he asked whether he could join the fight right away. The
woman smiled and said that that boar would be healed before he fought his next
opponent. Aethelfrith said that would make no difference and charged into
battle. The boar glowed faintly for a few seconds and did the same.
Aethelfrith’s fight went the same way as Sir Erich’s. He
matched the boar blow for blow, and blocked many of its attacks with his superior
shield craft, but eventually he too was taken down by the great golden boar’s
tusks. Again, as his last breath left him, a raven fluttered down and landed
upon his chest.
Nazir, seeing his comrades slain before his eyes swore an
oath to avenge them. The lady asked again whether he would like to test his
bravery and skills against the boar or the woman herself, honour the dead, or
leave. Nazir’s response was “I will not fight the
boar. I will take on its master - You!”
The boar was pulled back and magically re-chained as the warrior
woman took up a combat position. The fight again only lasted a minute or two. Nazir
could only match the warrior woman for a short time before her superior skill
began to tell. He too crumpled to the floor, whereupon a raven landed upon his
chest.
With the final warrior vanquished the woman turned to
Hillson and asked him the same question. Realising he could not defeat either
the warrior woman or the boar in mortal combat he realised he must think his
way out of this predicament. He chose to honour his dead comrades.
The warrior woman bade him to pick up his colleagues’ bodies
and place them onto the pyre that had just appeared nearby. He did as he was
bid and then she handed him a torch. Upon her command he lit the pyre, but to
his surprise the fire did not consume his comrades’ bodies. Instead the ravens
sat upon their chests until the flames had died down and then the three warriors
arose as if from a deep slumber.
Once the warriors had come to grips with their near death
experience the warrior woman strode up to them and applauded them for their bravery
and honour. She handed each of the warriors a small golden spear each and then
ushered everyone through the now familiar smoky gateway back to the Trickster’s
Hall.
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