"Ha! I not convincing liar"
Red Raven shrugs
How come I expected an answer like this? Then Mr. ogre, open the door.
Attalas achieves this by using a heavy boot, not set on a quiet entrance...
With a thunderous noise the door flies open and you find yourself in the Jarl's throne room.
A vast icy hall with mead benches on both sides of a central path that leads to the throne. The throne itself is about the size of a cabin and is entirely made of mammoth bones and adorned with the skulls of dire polar bears and linnorms.
Large shields and spears, weapons made for the giantkin, hang on the walls and rune-etching like engravings have been chiseled into the ice.
On the throne sits a giant of a man (about 9 ft. tall) sporting a fiery red beard and wearing blue harem's trousers. He looks like a strange mixture between a frost giant and an efreet and you're not sure what kind of species he really is.
A jovial grin flashes over his face at Attalas' entry and he bellows a surprisingly friendly welcome
Hah! At last someone who knows how to knock!
"One who greets a group of armed maniacs kicking in his door with a warm welcome? I'll either like him or hate him."
Taken aback by the strange appearance of the Jarl, Kosti whispers
What sort of creature is that supposed to be?
Come to my throne and state your business!
the Jarl yells and beckons you over.
Attalas bunches up his face at his fellows, as if to suggest that him answering might not be so good.
RAgnvald shrugs and simply strides up to the throne his naked sword straddled across his shoulders.
Jez, the naive, steps forward:
We are here to retrieve the Vernal Key. If you would be so kind to give it to us, we can leave. If you choose otherwise, then I do not believe there there is much to discuss.
Diplomacy: <-- apparently blue hair is not the Jarl's thing
The Jarl snorts and grabs a large tankard from the foot of his throne. Swinging the thing high over his head and showering everything nearby with beer he exclaims
Hah! The Vernal Key! My most precious trinkt!...ok, you can have it...BUT...only if you help me to use it to get out of this icy maze!
You...you are rapped in here? How...what prevents you from leaving?
A curse...a curse of ice that drains a portion of my power...but that shouldn't be of your concern.
The Jarl says and empties his tankard in one go.
Stepping forward, Nymeria asks And what do you intend to do if we help you escape? This vernal key seems a small reward for helping you escape your icy prison...
Small reward?
The Jarl's face turns a shade of purple and small flames lick out of his ears.
"We can't eat the key nor guarantee it will eb worth anything once we leave this place. Outside of here it is a trinket that helped villagers have an everlasting spring. One in which was bound to end in any case."
You cannot think that trinket is worth as much as your freedom from that curse? If as powerful as you seem to be can not lift the curse on his own, I must assume what we have to do is not easy work and thus us asking for a reward could not be taken as pretentious, could it?
...Especially if we wouldn't even get to keep the key. And even if we did decide to keep it for ourselves, what use would it be to us?
Attalas looks on, the conversation being over his head, but he likes the reaction it had on the Jarl!
I don't care who keeps the Vernal Key after we are out of the maze! I just want to be free again and roam the northern wilds! So...a reward, right? What kind of reward could that be? A powerful magic weapon? A magus' staff? A shiny piece of armor? A precious necklace? Mhm...tell me what you would prefer and I will take a look in my treasury, hah!
First answer my question: what do you intend to do if we do help you escape? And it would also interest me to know who imprisoned you...
I will return to the frosty wastes and that should not be of your concern...imprisoned I am by my own fault, the maze is my creation but I can not find the exit anymore...but now enough of this useless talking! Do you help me or not?
"Hmmmmmm let's help him."
"May as well. Is he putting on lunch?"
Attalas is up for helping.
Fully embracing his new habit of mumbling to himself: Sure...lost in his own maze...I hope this won't turn into an even greater desaster
Maybe you have a piece of jewelry or clothing that would help me concentrate my magical energies? Asks Nymeria. I think a small reward for each of us would be in order for our help, don't you?
Jez looks confused by the Jarl's request.
How can you send messages out, but not find your own way out? How did you communicate with the Red Raven to get him to steal the Vernal Key?
RAgnvald shrugs. "It matters little. His freedom will cause conflict and give us a powerful ally. But still, our ogre needs feeding, and the elves provide pittance in meat."
The Jarl smiles and barks some orders - soon several frost imps and ice elementals brings roasts and large tankards with mead into the hall
It is like this... the JArl says turning to Jez
Sometimes you are in a prsion and while others can come in and you are able to send messages out - you are still unable to escape...
then he moves over to Nymeria and towering over her lets a bracelet adorned with shards of amber fall into her hands
For your cooperation, hah!
Thank you! However, I still await your answers to my questions. I am not entirely convinced that you created this maze and simply "lost your way". Why couldn't one of your servants help you find the way out before now?
Nymeria eyes the bracelet and tries to determine its effects on the wearer.
Spellcraft:
Jez continues to look at the Jarl suspiciously:
But, this is not a prison, it is a maze. If one can find their way out of the maze, another can follow the one. It is not as though you are trapped behind iron bars and only able to slip a message through.
With that, Jez turns to the Red Raven.
How did the Jarl get his message to you, and where is your supposedly trapped wife?
As she speaks, Jez begins to absentmindedly play with her huge falchion.
A good qeustion... the Raven says and looks at the Jarl It seems like the maze is only a prison for the Jarl, but not for us...I'v seen him wandering through the corridors at night and whenever he came close to the exit, walls shifted and the passage vanished...
The Jarl glares at Raven but doesn't say anything.
"Hmmm that hard to work out, good thing i got smart friends!" Attalas adds reassuringly.
"And so he hopes to use the Vernal key to melt the maze entirely? Interesting. This much ice would cause an enormous flood."
"I don't like swimming. That would be a bad idea" Attalas adds rather worriedly.
The mead benches begin to bow under the enormous mass of roasts, honeyed bread, stews and tankards with foaming beer and mead.
No no! We just melt a passage - just big enough for me to get through, ok?
the Jarl says and gives Attalas a friendly pat on the back
Eat my big friend, it's good and free, hah!
Kosti steps pretty close to Nymeria and whispers in elven:
This feels like Desna laughing...I have a really bad feeling about this Jarl...
If he sees any possibility to do so inocuous, perhaps hiding Attalas for a few seconds, Kosti casts detect magic and starts looking around a bit.
The Jarl himself, as a creature of magic, emits a magical aura and so do some of his possesions - besides that, there is a faint magical aura that is emanated by the icy walls.
The Jarl seems to revel in the fact that he has company and boasts of the deeds he has done in the far north...
One day I swum a race against a whale and won! And then I wrestled with polar bears and ate more than a whole family of trolls, hah! I also once rode on a rimefeather owl and lifted a full-grown linnorm by its tail!
Jez looks at the Jarl:
Did you ever bathe in the blood of a freshly killed gold dragon? How about were you raised by a succubus?
Attalas stares a little dumbfounded, this conversation going way past his meaty head. he seems concerned that all the talking is some lengthy custom he is supposed to be observing before he can tuck into a feast.
RAgnvald seems to thive in the sharing of tales and shares more than a few of his own. While not nearly as extravagant or far fetchd as the outsider's his ability to convey them through a sung poetic saga more than makes up for it.
Perform
The Jarl looks at Jez and a wicked grins splits his face
No, but I would like to get to know you...more intimate and hear more of your stories? What do you say?
while he keeps his eyes on Jez and ignores Mobo, he can't ignore Ragnvald's well sung saga
It has been a very long since I have heard someone do poetry like that...tell me where you're from, skald.
Jez, who is about the most naive girl in the world, looks a little confused.
What stories are you interested in? The Worldwound is a wonderful place to see lots of abyssal creatures. You might not want to hang out with them, because that likely would want to eat you. But they are most interesting. Four arms, seven eyes, hundreds of tentacles, you name it, they are all there.
As she says this, Jez begins playing with her blue hair, causally twirling it around her finger while she talks.
Standing back, watching and listening, pondering why this seems all surreal and wrong and how to get to the heart of the matter - how the Jarl really ended in this maze, without becoming a target for him to eviscerate.
Great mother Desna...is this why it is called the Vernal Key ?