Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Eighteen-and-a-Half

Traveling to Upsala
Wednesday, March 14th, 988 AD

While sailing up the coast of Sweden, Thalia, Edward the Penintent, Ivan Svyatoslavich, and Nicolae Faa see a giant plow near Lake Logan. When they ask around, they're told that in ancient times, a woman was promised as much land as she could plow in one night, so she plowed up Lake Logan. The party also passes the ghost town of Burka before landing in Ostra Aros. In order to walk to Upsala, they have to cross the Plains of Furys Veler. The party's told that it's customary to look for gold when crossing these plains because of an old story about a thief and his scattered gains. Once in Upsala, the harbormaster there says the next ship won't be sailing until the seventeenth, so we'll have a few days to kill. The harbormaster tells us to talk to the ship's captain tomorrow and book passage for work. He also recommends the Serpent's Road, an inn with reasonable rates. We rest for the night.

Rumors, a Strange King, a Sacrificial Boar, and an Awesome Party
Thursday, March 15th, 988 AD

At breakfast, a messenger from King Erik the Victorious comes in and gives a note saying the King would like to meet with us at noon. Once he leaves, we hear a bevy of rumors: Ali, a great Russian warrior, has conquered Ireland; sea monsters have returned to the Baltic after being originally killed by a man named the Wolf of Bees; in Kebnegard there is a princess who vomits gold and many people want to conquer the land for her; the King of Denmark, Svain Forkbeard, has abandoned Christianity in favor of the old gods; the magical sword of the great Estonian hero Kalavipveg, named the Sword of the Nine Waters, was stolen about 20 years back by a German named Zundelfreider.

After breakfast, we speak to a Captain Gormfin about passage on his boat. He says it's 20 gold per person, or 10 if you work. Most of us opt for the working fare.

At noon, we go to King Erik's palace. Once there, we meet an elf named Dorn, who's also been called to see the king. We are forced to wait until precisely noon before we can go in, so we look around a little. We see a temple of some sort to the right of the palace and a broken cage to the left. Ivan thinks we'll be conscripted to capture whatever escaped from there. At noon precisely, a guard opens the door and we walk into a dark hallway. About 20 feet in front of us, there is a throne or high chair with a figure sitting in it. It starts to move backwards, as if on rollers, and we follow it down the long, dark hallway. There are tapestries that hang all the way from ceiling to floor on either side of us as we walk and Thalia quickly surmises that there are probably no walls behind them, but hordes of guards in case we do something stupid like attack the king in his own hall. We walk about 120 feet before the chair finally stops moving and the figure raises its hand to signal us to stop walking as well.

King Erik: Why are you here?
Edward: We're traveling to Kebnegard.
King Erik: Who do you know there?
Dorn: I'm not traveling anywhere, so why am I here?
King Erik (to Dorn): We'll get to you later. (To Edward) Who do you know there?
Ivan: A friend of ours by the name of Thorvald. His family lives there.
King Erik: Interesting. I thought you knew somebody else. Do you know Orm?
Ivan: We know of him. He's the king of Kebnegard, right? We don't travel in those circles.
King Erik: That's what he thinks, but he misunderstands his position. Kebnegard belongs to me; Orm is merely a Jarl.
Thalia: Then surely you must know about how Kebnegard is being overrun by giants.
King Erik: I do, but I can do nothing about it. My army is needed elsewhere.
Ivan: So is this all you called us for? To find out our travel plans?
Dorn: Because again, I'm not going anywhere. I don't even know these guys.
King Erik: Actually, I need you to retreive the Sacrificial Boar that has escaped from the priests in the neighboring temple.
Ivan: Told you.
King Erik: I thought I had something to trade you for your services, but since you do not know Orm, I guess I do not.
Edward: What did you think you had to trade?
King Erik: Orm's man Thorbjorn, a Greek, was sending messages up and down the coast and into the continent looking for specific texts. While staying in Ketelheim, he found one and had it sent up to Kebnegard. It passed through my hands and I made a copy of it. He also found a poem in Ketelheim that he seemed to think was very important. I thought since you were traveling up there, maybe you'd like these texts as well.
Thalia: Maybe we do. What exactly would we have to do?
King Erik: Just catch the Boar, and bring it back alive.
Dorn: What exactly do I get? I don't much care for these texts.
King Erik: Are we not the Ring-Giver?
Ivan: I don't know, are we?
King Erik (ignoring Ivan): We will give you 30 gold.
Dorn: How about a sword? I can't hunt Boar without a sword.

King Erik raised his hand and somebody slid a sword from under the tapestries.

Thalia: Told you. Can I get a sword too?
King Erik: You will get the text and the name, just like your companions.
Thalia: I really need a sword though.

King Erik seemed to be annoyed and took the ring that was hanging around his neck and put it on a finger. A hole in space suddenly opened up underneath Thalia, but she was able to jump back before she fell in.

King Erik: I think it's time for you to leave.

We left King Erik's hall, Ivan grumbling all the way. We visited the temple next door and asked for the whereabouts of the Sacrificial Boar. The priests said that it had been terrorizing the farmers outside of Upsala. The party went out there and saw a farm that had been recently destroyed. Like, really recently. Ivan gives the poor farmer 50 silver pieces as the Boar comes into view. It attacks us, but we quickly subdue it after Nicolae blinds it. We drag it back to its cage, which has been fixed in the interim. Then we have a ridiculous party. Edward withdraws, but the rest of us drink 'till we're blind. While partying, a guy tells us that about a month back, about a dozen men, possibly Italian, passed through. One guy had a tattoo of an arrow over his eye, and they said they had passed through the Marshan Veldt.

We go see King Erik and he gives us the The Golden History of the Sword of David and its Magnificent Scabbard as well as tells us the name of the poem: Hjorungavagsmal. He also gives Dorn his money and he gives us all a gold ring. We leave and go back to the party, where most of us stay for the entire night.

Ivan and the Boar
Friday, March 16th, 988 AD

While the rest of the party rests and does a little shopping, Ivan uses his time to rub it in the Boar's face that its been captured again. He goes up to the cage and taunts the Boar until it marks Ivan with its scent. Ivan is incensed and starts throwing rocks at the boar, hitting it right on the snout, until the priests of the temple come out and stop him. But Ivan's not done, oh no. Later, after a long bath and with a full bladder and cups in hand, he rushes back to the Boar's cage and taunts it some more, filling cups with his urine all the while. When the boar gets close enough, Ivan throws the cups, scoring a direct hit on the boar. Ivan leaves, secure in the knowledge that no stupid Boar, no matter how big, will ever get the best of him.

Sailing
Saturday, March 17th, 988 AD

We board Captain Gormfin's ship, the Web of Men, and sails towards Hudic. At nightfall, we make camp on shore.

Two Dogs: One Talks, One Blinks
Sunday, March 18th, 988 AD

After a good breeze, we pull into Hudic in the evening. We go outside of town where Edward summons some horses for us to ride to Ketelheim. However, a talking dog also shows up. He explains that awhile back, King Eyestein gave the town of Trondheim a choice: either accept some flunky of Eyestein's to be Jarl of the region, or a dog. Trondheim chose the dog, but Eyestein ensorcelled the dog so that it would talk like a man and live as long as a man. Then the dog ran away. Thalia brings out the Blink Puppy so that it can play and the talking dog can talk to it. Edward and Ivan complain that it's a monster and should be killed, but Thalia will have none of it. The talking dog tells us it can't go with us to help train the Blink Puppy (who has been named Trevor), so we ride north alongside the coast of Helmsgland.

We camp when night comes.

The Masters of Llewellyn?
Monday, March 19th, 988 AD

During midday, we ride north and are stopped by two almost translucent men, who seem to fade in and out of existence. They seem genuinely puzzled by Nicolae and call themselves the Masters of Llewellyn, or something similar, and then they begin attacking. One of them starts to cast spells right out of Edward's head, freaking him out immensely. The other one attacks with two swords, quickly felling Thalia. Dorn, Nicolae, and Edward beat on the one casting spells and Ivan and the double-weilding man go toe to toe. Ivan nearly dies in the process, but he finally takes the guy out. The other one, having run out of Edward's spells, curses us to reside in Hell with Ihala and Huvalempi before also expiring. Both men left no bodies behind; they simply vanished.

We rest after moving for a bit and the rest of the day passes uneventfully.

Traveling towards Ketelheim
Tuesday and Wednesday, March 20th and 21st, 988 AD

We ride towards Ketelheim for two days straight.

Ketelheim
Thursday, March 22nd, 988 AD

Upon reaching Ketelheim, we begin to look for somebody who knows the Hjorungavagsmal. We're told that the composer Haldor Ochristney taught it to a local skald named Jamte. Jamte would be happy to recite it for us, but he won't be back in town for a couple of weeks. The party decides this poem is important enough to wait for, even though Kebnegard may fall to the Octopus hordes in the meantime.

End Chapter Eighteen-and-a-Half