Muspelheim

A couple Fridays ago we finished our impromptu Runecairn mini-campaign. Here's how things wrapped up.

Characters

Gorm, a seer

Hallbera, a berserkr

Sigridur, a scout

Toki, a skald

Rezna, a pyre

Events

Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, plunged into the sea, but under the auspices of some dark magic the characters were not swept away into the deep. They stood fast above deck as dead men rowed ever deeper into the fathomless sea. The cold of the water lanced them with pain, but then the water grew warmer, and then hotter still, until it seems to boil and burn at their flesh. 

The ship turned, then pitched upward, breaking the sea's skin. They emerged before a great tangle of enormous tree roots; fire rained from above, casting down embers bigger than a mead hall. The tree above burned. The air was sweltering, and the vikings were drenched in sweat. Upon the roots of the tree, a lonely bonfire blazed; beyond that, they spied a black gap in the roots leading inward.

Hel beckoned with her withered hand, urging them to approach. In her living hand she rattled five souls in her palm. Once they took the souls, she pointed a blackened finger toward the shore, urging them to leave the Ship of the Dead and approach the great tree.

After resting at the bonfire, the group climbed the roots and entered the shadowed gap. The fire raging above provided inconstant light to navigate by. However, there was enough light for them to tell that they had returned to the undead state they awoke to inside the sea cave at the beginning of their quest. Though weakened in undeath, they managed to defeat a fire giant sentry who tried to block their way.

As they explored, they found a giant egg wrapped in new, green roots. Revna tapped the top of the egg open with her blacksmith's hammer and reached inside the vitreous yolk. Within the yolk, she found a milky white gemstone with a glowing dot of color at its center. Holding the gem to her eye, Revna saw a vision of a woodland glen. The light in the gem then went out, and it provided no further visions. 

In another area within the tangle of roots, they found an old skald named Lofnar lounging among tables heaped with a feast's worth of food and drink. He invited the group to eat and drink their fill; a few members of the group did--and were immediately poisoned. At this point, Lofnar went mad, dropped his harp, and attacked the group with a dagger. As he died, Lofnar told them one last riddle. 

After a fight with bonewheel skeletons, the group found the skeletal remains of a giant strung together with wire; the bones were held in place by withered tree roots. The group freed the bones, which animated on the floor. The giant skeleton pushed past them, leaving the chamber in which they found it. When they followed, they watched as the giant skeleton knocked a living fire giant that had been preparing to ambush them to the ground and then ripped its head off. The skeleton then collapsed, inert.

In the areas they found next, they realized they could use the items they had collected inside the lindworm to re-enact the great deeds of the dead gods and restore themselves from unlife. Hallbera helped a hooded old man throw the mistletoe dart into a wooden statue of Baldr. Toki and Sigridur figured out how to bind an iron approximation of Fenrir with the silver chain. Revna stepped into the coils of a metal representation of the World Serpent and smashed it with the great hammer. Gorm cut out one of his eyes with the sharpened spoon, hung himself from an iron tree, and watched as a well within the chamber filled with water--he had a taste from Mimir's well. 

They also had another encounter with Loki, who was disappointed they had made it this far in their quest. Still, he assured them that Surtr, King of the Fire Giants, would be their doom. Once they crossed a barrier of mist, they knew their fight with Surtr had arrived. Surtr was the most massive giant they had encountered yet; he wielded an enormous flaming sword. Their usual tactic of dogpiling a big enemy proved to be ineffectual here; up close, Surtr could hit all of them with a single sweep of his sword. They changed their strategy by keeping some of the group up close with Surtr to do damage, but with some of the party backing off to strike from afar and rotate in when someone needed to drink their mead and heal. After a harrowingly close fight, Surtr fell to the gravesword. 

Once Surtr was vanquished, they were able to free Lif and Lifthrasir, the new woman and man meant to restart the new age after Ragnarok. The group guided them out of the tree, which was no longer burning, and once again blew their horn. Instead of summoning Hel and the Ship of the Dead, a craft made of silver feathers emerged to take them into the healed world.

The heroes felt the urge to return to their cairn and sleep, but Lif and Lifthrasir would not forget them. In time, their descendants would come to regard their saviors as gods worthy of worship. We hail Gorm, God of Wisdom and Prophecy! We hail Revna, Goddess of the Forge! We hail Toki, God of Song! We hail Sigridur, God of the Hunt! We hail Hallbera, Goddess of War!

All will be well, until the new cycle comes to its own apocalyptic end.