|
Jorgen Perception check DC12
A serving girl plants a final large platter of breads and cheeses in the centre of one table and cuts off some for the dwarf prisoner, who she feeds.
Having pondered for a while, Kurn goes back into the hall and up to Stefnir. He whispers in his ear " A word outside please? It's important" says Kurn glancing toward the door.
Perception
Quickly he rattles off a phrase in the runic language hands making a pass before his eyes designed to highlight any poisonous substance.
|
|
Sawrik casually takes a bite from a lump of goats cheese, wiping crumbs from his chin.
Having pondered for a while, Kurn goes back into the hall and up to Stefnir. He whispers in his ear " A word outside please? It's important" says Kurn glancing toward the door.
Stefnir sighs and nods his ascent. He know this relaxing time couldn't last forever. "Very well Kurn", he says rising to follow the man outside.
Griining hugely at her victory, Anya claps the woman om her shoulder in cammaraderie, loosens her shoulders and arms, then sits back down for her match with Ari
"Not the first time we've wrestled" she says under her voice to him, "and you didn't seem to mind me pinning you down last time"
DM
Satisfied that there is no poison, Jorgen mutters a different phrase, a white glow flicckering in his eyes for a brief second as he is granted Deowmersight. He moves closer to Sawrik his sharp eyes closely scrutinizing the man and woman.
|
|
DM
Jorgen
As the bread and cheese is devoured by guards and the party, there is another thinning of the locals. The elderly leave now until there is just a few people remaining. No one pays much attention to Stefnir as he joins Kurn outside, except to nod gratefully as if he has already helped in some way.
The young Lord gets up and speaks out loud, "Now I'm for bed. See you in the morning." The boy pushes past the back curtain behind his throne and the heavy old furs flop back across.
Taking this as a sign, Sawrik gets up and joins the few guards stood around Ari and Anya to watch the arm wrestling. The brawny man has muscles upon muscles but Anya has some presence that shows to all her natural aggression and will to win.
Sawrik puts a silver coin on the table and slides it over next to Anya, "I bet on you. Any takers?"
Once outsidfe with Stefnir, Kurn looks to make sure they are unheard and then speaks quietly "All may not be as it appears here. I spoke to the Dwarf prisoner briefly. His name is Cort and is a relative of the Dwarven Thane, Gimli. He says that his people had an alliance with this village, food for metal. Bombur broke that. Now that he is a prisoner there will be war over this, if he's not set free. Although I'm willing to help the villagers, I don't think their leaders are being honest with us and we may end up in the middle of a war that they may have started! What is your view on the situation here?"
|
|
An old man of wiry arms who smells of fish comes up to Stefnir and Kurn and grabs the priest. He fixes the servant of the Stormlord with a broken toothed grin and shouts from close range, "the druid said you needed a boat to get to the shrine. I'll be up at dawn for the tide, if you want me to take you there. What do you say? Ehh? Ehh? What? Is that a nod?"
An old man of wiry arms who smells of fish comes up to Stefnir and Kurn and grabs the priest. He fixes the servant of the Stormlord with a broken toothed grin and shouts from close range, "the druid said you needed a boat to get to the shrine. I'll be up at dawn for the tide, if you want me to take you there. What do you say? Ehh? Ehh? What? Is that a nod?"
Kurn looks at the man with surprise." Who are you and how do you know that I'm going to visit the shrine tomorrow?" Kurn takes a step back and looks warily at the stranger.
"Speak up, young man. My ears not so good. Oh, well Tavnia is the druid. Ask him. So yes or no. Just nod!"
Exasperated Kurn just looks at the old man and nods, then shrugs his shoulders at Stefnir.
Ragnar approaches Helga, one eye on the arm wrestling match.
"Huhguh, d'yuh knuh uhnuhthuhn uhbuht truhlls? Tuhvnuh-uh suhd thuh mught buh suhm uhn duh wuhds; uh cuhld fuhx muh thuht wuhth thuh bluhd."
Translation:
"Trolls? Let me think a moment," Helga tries to recall what she can glean from stories, folklore, songs and the books the druids kept.
Knowledge (not sure):
|
|
The old man leaves Stefnir and Kurn alone at the nod. He wanders off whistling tunelessly.
Helga
Once outsidfe with Stefnir, Kurn looks to make sure they are unheard and then speaks quietly "All may not be as it appears here. I spoke to the Dwarf prisoner briefly. His name is Cort and is a relative of the Dwarven Thane, Gimli. He says that his people had an alliance with this village, food for metal. Bombur broke that. Now that he is a prisoner there will be war over this, if he's not set free. Although I'm willing to help the villagers, I don't think their leaders are being honest with us and we may end up in the middle of a war that they may have started! What is your view on the situation here?"
"This is ominous news indeed". "Now that they have offered us hospitality, it would go against our honor to turn on them". "We must gather more information". "Who's to know if the dwarf can be trusted". Stefnir steps away as the old man approaches with his offer to Kurn.
After they are alone again. "We must inform the others of our group as soon as we can without raising suspicion". "Can nothing be easy"?
Kurn nods in agreement with Stefnir. " I'll visit the shrine tomorrow morning with the old man. I suggest we talk to the others once we return to our quarters and away from from prying ears".
|
|
Sawrik gets bored with the verbal sparring and picks his coin back up. "Its time to lock the Hall and leave our Lord to his sleep. Hurry up and decide the matter now or save it for another day."
Just like before Anya needs to lose one to make her win, she gets angry and begins to work Ari's arm and slams it down twice after winning the bout and bruising his knuckles just like Breda before him.
"Of course, we shall depart at once, our thanks for a most generous evening," Helga motions Ragnar to leave and walks with him back to the guest hall. Along the way she tells Ragnar what she knows of troll-born.
"Legends say that trolls are like huge men, grown savage in the wild. Where they come from isn't spoken of, though it may be they were bred from dragons or giants. They have healing blood inside their bodies and are wounded by fire, they eat of flesh of men but are lovers of music, though that may be a fiction made by the bards that repeated the tale! So far as I know, Ackrieg is the only place they are found commonly now."
The sailor nods.
"Hnnn. Whuhn spruhng cmms, uh'll huhn uhn duhn."
Translation:
Once everybody is back at the lodge and no locals are around. "Well I hope you all had a good evening. It was nice to have some good and drink. I'll be visiting the shrine in the morning courtesy of a lift from a local that came up to Stefnir and I earlier while we were talking. I also spoke to the Dwarf prisoner, who's name is Cort and is a relative of the Dwarf Thane Gimli. He said that Bombur broke an agreement with the Dwarves and that if he isn't released there will be war! Although I'm grateful for their generous hospitality, I don't think all is as it seems in this village. Anyway, I mentioned it to Stefnir, so I'm off to sleep. Good night everybody". With a smile Kurn moves towards his bed.
"We should post a watch, just in case there are any other ... incidents," Helga warns. "I think we should secure this dwarf's freedom, if it avoids an attack on the village that's one foe averted. We'd have our hands full with just this pirate."
|
|
The watches and the night passes uneventfully. Kurn wakes early before several others and after prayers, he is ready to head down to the stony beach.
Opening the longhouse door, he can see the first light of a red clouds, a warning sign for those of a superstitious nature (including most of the villagers).
Kurn gets up, has a wash and shave, then makes sure he is as smart as possible for the visit to the shrine. He then goes to look for some breakfast before heading down to the beach.
|
|
Kurn grabs a bite of slightly stale honey bread. The last of it.
Down at the beach there are several elderly men and women at their coracles and boats. One is the slightly deaf man from last night. He is chatting loudly to the neighbouring boat, "don't know why you all want to come too. P'haps he wants a piece of quiet to do his shrine work."
Helga is also up early, and quietly follows Kurn to the shore.
"Mind if I accompany you?" she asks him.
Ragnar wordlessly follows Kurn as well. A sailor's got to pay his respects, after all. He has his quarterstaff in hand, but leaves his recently washed padded armor to dry back at the longhouse.
Kurn smiles at Helga and nods Ragnar. " You are both welcome to join me if you, although you may find it a bit boring Helga" he chuckles, having seen Helga's fun nature.
Kurn turns to the old man "there will be three of us for the trip to shrine please. Your offer is kind, so can we help you in any way for your service?"
"More interesting than standing around on the beach," Helga laughs. "Anyway, we need to prepare this village's defences, and I wanted talk about that with you."
Sleeping off the remains of her hangover, Anya is oblivious to the departure of the early risers and continues to snore loudly.
|
|
"Three! That is crowded but not a problem." The old man finishes preparing the boat and with a few caustic directions it scrunches down the last few stones and into the water. Everyone can find seats around the small mast while the fisherman takes the tiller. The smell of fish and sheen of fish scales that rubs off every surface shows how many years this vessel has worked without cleaning.
Around the boat, two others and three coracles skim out to make the crossing to the tiny stone beach with its black entrance of Krakis.
As we sail out across the harbour Helga looks around intently.
"How deep is it here?" she asks the old man, raising her voice so he can hear her.
|
|
"Deep did you say? Yes its deep, has to be when they say Bombur's grandfather caught a black whale in here and got enough oil for two years."
The old man spits over the side and watches it float away. Soon the boat bumps into the stones. The man doesn't get out but as the coracles draw up two old men and an old woman, all wiry dark skin from working the fish for most of their lives are soon waiting to see what happens.
Ahead is a black crack about five foot wide at the ground narrowing to about two foot at the top. Above is the mark of Krakis. The reddish morning light is creating shadows across the entrance, hiding the way ahead.
Finally when Helga, Kurn and Ragnar have disembarked the old man speaks from behind them, "red sky, we got another snow storm coming. You best pray good priest ha ha ha," he cackles.
"More foul weather, just what we needed," Helga mutters. "We need a way to bar the harbour, or make the beach untenable for a ship."
She glances to the old man.
"Thank you for bringing us here - we'll not be long, I hope."
Ragnar frowns at the sky.
"Th' wuhthuh cuhld duh thuht fuh uhz, fuh nuh. Wuh shuhld uhff-uh uh pruhr fuh Druhguh whull wuh huh. Cuhmmuhnd huhm tuh Kruhkuhs uhf huh uhz duhd."
Translation:
"You are right about the defences, especially a boom across the harbour mouth but we can talk about that later". Kurn looks at Helga and Ragnar seriously. "It will best if you let me go first".
Kurn moves to the shrine entrance and holds up his arms and speaks forcefully. "Hail Krakis! Your servant bids admittance to your holy shrine so that he may receive your blessing and instruction. Allow your servant and his friends to pass in peace". With that Kurn walks slowly into the shrine after lighting one of the torches that hung outside the entrance if necessary.
|
|
Looking out to sea, Kurn and Helga can make out the low lying mists and fog which are gradually moving into the land. The bank is about forty feet high.
Soon the entire cove will be shrouded and obscured. The red warning sky begins to lose its colour going grey and heavy.
Kurn finds a single torch remaining just inside the entrance in a natural niche. It gasps and splutters into life, like limp wood. As he calls into the shrine, the four old people share a look.
|
|
The narrow passage drips briny water and reeks of stale moisture with a thin layer of crunching pebbles underfoot. The cave ahead feels cold and is lightless, unusual in a shrine and a sign of its lack of use.
When Kurn enters, he passes through the narrow point and then the alcove widens on both sides before opening out into a central area. Then are four other similar alcoves narrowing to points which come off the middle making a starfish shape.
In the middle, the stone floor has been smoothed and curved into a fifteen feet bowl about ten inches deep at the very centre. This would usually have seaweed lying in seawater however the seaweed is dry and rotten now that the bowl is empty.
Standing in the epicentre of the bowl is a coral jagged plinth that rises three feet to a perfectly smooth top. This is where the gifts to Krakis are left. Gifts like pearls, rare silver, gold and coral, and large fruits of the sea.
There is also patches of green mold on the walls, patches like diseased mold all mottled and one has several thirsty vines draping down into the bowl. The torchlight shows up dozens of grey and red mushrooms all over the surface of each patch.
Knowledge (Religion) DC15
After the second loud thud a curse is called out "By Thor's hairy testicles! Can't a woman get some sleep around here!"
But now awake, Anya blearly moves to the door. Her vibrant constitution though aids her significantly in recovering from the massive amounts of mead she consumed so that with each step she is slightly improved and by the time she reaches the door she is hardly wobbling at all.
Opening the door with a glare, both for the brightness of the day and the intruder to her rest, she grunts aquiensence to the bard, opening the door slightly wider so he can enter. "What do ye want?" She says without preamble or courtesy, the sour reek of her breath washing over the man before her. As she continues to glare at Sawrik it is clear that his waking her up has not gained him any points with the barbarian lass.
Knowledge Religion
Kurn looks around the shrine, not recognising the mushrooms, then turns to the others. "Do either of know what type of mushroom they are?" he asks pointing at the mushrooms. He looks back toward the entrance and calls the villagers. "When was the last offering made here" he says in disgust. "No wonder my Lord Krakis has abandoned you!".
Knowledge (religion):
Helga digs deep into her belt pouch, then steps up the pedestal placing her last four pieces of silver onto it - literally all the money she owns.
"Lord of the waves, receive my thanks for our deliverance from the sea this last seven days, and my prayer for good fortune on your realm in the days to come."
Stepping back she raises her voice in a hymn to the lord of the waves.
Perform (sing):
Knowledge (nature): for the mushrooms ...
Knowledge (religion)
Survival:
Ragnar watches Helga a moment, looks to Kurn, unsure. It's clear Ragnar was never a shrine-goer. He dumps out his meager coin purse after Helga however.
|
|
Helga places her coins on the coral altar plinth then steps back a pace next to Kurn. As she begins to sing something stirs in the deep recesses of that sponge of knowledge...
Stefnir also sleeping in a bit due to the strain of the last few days,...and perhaps a bit of overindulgence, blinks the sleep from his eyes as Anya throws the door open, wincing a bit at her loud voice. Noticing the late hour, and the presence of company...as well as the call of nature in one of its more insistent urges. Rises to his feet, as the news is relayed.
"Give us a minute to prepare, and we shall go there", Stefnir exclaims walking towards the door.