Characters
Toki, a skald
Sigridur. a scout
Hallbera, a berserkr
Gorm, a seer
Revna, a pyre
Events
The world passes under the heroes in a blur as massive ravens carried them in their talons, yet they still got a sense of the Broken World that now existed after a failed Ragnarok. Farmsteads and great jarldoms alike were naught but ruins. Wide rivers of fire cut swaths through the sundered land. And corpses, of men and monsters, choked the soil with their blighted black blood.
And still, there were signs of life. New settlements had appeared where forsaken people banded together for survival, eager to find the bonds of fellowship that would sustain them. Monsters, too, roamed the Broken World; they saw lonely giants in the mountains, bands of elves creeping through forests, and hordes of the walking dead riding forth from blood-soaked battlefields.
At last, their destination came into view. At first, they mistook it for a citadel, but as it neared they saw that it was the corpse of a great lindworm rising from a crack in the earth, forever frozen in the moment of its demise. The ravens dropped them at the foot of the grand worm, where a bonfire burned bright. As they wheeled away, one of the corvids said, “If thou seekest justice, enter the unhallowed worm and findest the five treasures that will call forth an end to the world's misery.”
After scouting around the perimeter of the lindworm, they discovered a way to enter it--a large wound gaping in its side. They fashioned torches and lit them in the bonfire, then proceeded in. Inside the first chamber, they found a family of trolls sleeping. Their attempt to sneak past the trolls failed, but Revna was able to slip behind the trolls and take one of their children hostage. Using the child's life as leverage--so dishonorable!--they convinced the trolls to leave without further conflict.
Further inside the lindworm, they found a "waterfall" of bile running from a pierced organ above. Behind the horrid fluid were handholds they could use to ascend further up the worm's decaying body. A few members of the party were cursed by the shower of bile as they traversed it, but they soon located a new bonfire that cleansed them of the evil.
In another hollowed-out "chamber" within the lindworm, the reality of their situation fell away and they found themselves once more in one of Idis's orchards; as before, the mother-maiden-crone tended a massive apple tree basking in a shaft of pure sunlight. Idis was able to tell them that the treasures they sought were likely to be a mistletoe-wrapped dart, a silver chain, a great hammer, a horn, and an iron spoon. Idis also added another draught to their mead horns before they departed.
Further exploration brought them to a pool of bubbling hot "mud," but when the substance proved corrosive they decided to return when they had a better idea of how to deal with it. They also encountered an ongoing spectral echo of Ragnarok in which Vikings allied with their jarl fought eternally against Norsemen allied to the jotunn. At another juncture leading upward, they battled a withered undead being who called himself "Hel's Champion.' After he was beheaded, he continued talking, warning them that death still awaited them.
Within the next "level" of the lindworm's body, they met a tall, thin man wearing a luxurious fur cloak and a horned helm. He offered them a hundred souls for the mistletoe dart they had found below. When they balked at his insanely generous offer--and his emphasis on the fact that they would be as powerful as gods with a hundred souls in their possession--he simply left, bewildering them. The heroes believed they had just met Loki, the trickster.
In another chamber, they found two monstrous wolves snarling at each other, apparently fighting over a horn that lay between them. Hallbera attempted to offer a meal of fish to one of the wolves to get it to be her friend, but it bit her viciously. Battle commenced! During the fight, two of the party were slain--Hallbera and Sigridur awoke at the last bonfire they had rested at and had to backtrack to where the others fought the Children of Fenrir.
Continuing on after besting the wolves and taking the horn, they found a young jotunn chained to stone slab. Above him, a diseased organ dripped the corrosive "mud" substance onto him; whenever it touched his flesh, he thrashed wildly, causing the entire worm to shake. Revna smashed the chains that held him with her hammer; before he disappeared, the jotunn gave her a smile of thanks. When they retraced their steps back to the pool of "mud," they found that it had drained through holes in the lindworm's flesh and that they now had access to a single soul that sat at the bottom of the pool.
Back above, Hallbera became entranced by an orb surrounded by hooded wraiths; Toki slapped her back to consciousness; Hallbera then shattered the orb, causing mist to flood the chamber. The group beat a hasty retreat.
At last, they once again encountered Jarl Angraboldr. However, this time his specter begged them to forgive him for asking for their blood and souls in the cave. After forgiving him, they climbed higher, but were ambushed by an enormous serpent who tried to swallow Gorm as it slithered down from the ceiling. The battle was fraught, but once slain they were able to take the hammer roped around the serpent's neck. Realizing that they had probably missed one of the treasures on the first "level," they returned below and found the sharpened iron spoon in the possession of a dead, dismembered dwarf.
Back up top, they at last emerged out onto the lindworm's wide-open mouth. A crazed, battlesorrowed valkyrie flew down from the heavens; around her waist was the silver chain they sought. The valkyrie summoned four undead warriors to join her in the fight, but ultimately the heroes were victorious and gained the last of the treasures the ravens sent them to gather.
Once out of the decaying lindworm, they stood at the edge of the sea and blew a long, melancholy note from the horn that resounded over the sound of the crashing waves. The water stirred, becoming tumultuous, and then the dragon-headed prow of a warship broke the surface as it emerged from the frigid deep. Water poured from the ship. There was something strange about its construction. And then, they realized--the ship was made of the fingernails of the dead.
The frozen waves bit at their skin as they swim to the ship. A rope ladder was tossed overboard by unseen hands. As they clambered aboard, they saw that a woman was watching them. She stood in profile. She was blonde, thin, and comely of face. When she turned, they were horrified to see that the other side of her body was withered and blackened. She smiled a grim smile. The ship lurched downward, taking them into the fathomless mystery of the sea.
To what realm do our Viking heroes now speed? We'll find out next time.
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