The Valkyrie

We killed most of the cats in the original group, but one got back to it's den at the portal where there were more cats, and these we were able to scare off. The portal itself seems to be an ancient construct of the giants, with massive stone rings and gateways surrounding a dias, all with a thick coat of runes covering their surface. There were also many cauldrons of water surrounding them, covered in a strange, transparent substance like glass but as warm to the touch as if it were wood. As far as I can tell there's nothing special about the cauldrons themselves, but Svenya says their arrangement reminds her of something, perhaps the stars over another realm, which may be what gives them purpose.
 
In any case, the portal is long since inoperative and could take a good deal of effort to repair fully, but we may be able to get away with repairing just a bit of it to be able to get it operational again. There appears to be a mechanism for inputting runes, suggesting that this works on a rune-coordinate system much like our tree-teleportation crystal. We also found under a panel of the dias quite a few dead bodies, likely killed by the cats as they still had quite a few valuables on them; mostly money but also a few healing potions and a spell scroll.
 
We make camp for the night shortly after leaving, but Ulfhild isn't doing too great. She's still going strong, but she has a pretty nasty looking infection from where that draugr stabbed her earlier - whatever this unholy magic is, it's not something we'd like to get hit by if we can avoid it. The others tell me they suspect that the rumors are true, that if we were to be killed by the draugr we wouldn't go to Valhalla, but I have a hard time believing that. How ironic it would be, for what death could be more terrifying than a battle where you believe that you won't be sent to Valhalla? Yet dying in such a way, the gods could let you be sent to Helheim?
 
Jormund seems to have miffed Freyja a bit, for after scoffing at an omen given by a giant owl, that night he was given a little present by the same, as a giant rat was dropped on him, covering him in viscera and stench. It seems to be a sort of charm to attract animals to hunt him, strong enough to make even Shepard try and take a bite of him.
 
Early the next morning we've reached the area Ulfhild thinks she saw the bear, but there aren't any clear signs of it around. There are however a variety of caves around where it might be hiding, so we go to explore one in search of it, but what we found was far more interesting than a bear. After following a trail of fresh blood which seems to react magically to Svenya's touch, we find it's source: a glowing, gravely injured woman lying at the edge of a pool. I almost don't dare believe it, but could she be a valkyrie?
 
Me and Gorm try to help her, but new wounds keep opening up faster than we can possibly bandage them; it's as if shes being torn apart from the inside. When Gorm casts cure wounds on her, somehow it only makes it worse, but Svenya discovers that she has some sort of diving power. She's able to heal her with a simple touch, and then Svenya even starts taking on the glow of the wounded woman! She starts talking in a language that none of us except Svenya can understand, but she seems to want the rest of us to move away. She knows she's dying, and she wants Svenya to slay her in battle so that she may go to Valhalla. Despite her bleak condition she put up quite a fight, their blades clashing on each other many times, and Svenya only able to avoid some nasty blows by use of her magical redirection, but she needed to land only a single blow, and with it decapitated her.
 
Her helmet and sword clattered to the ground, but the rest of her armor and body disappeared, bursting into a swarm of ravens, cawing and flying off. Svenya seemed more than a bit stunned, but she told us that the valkyrie - and we harbored little doubt that she was so, by now - the valkyrie had told her that there was an enemy in Odin's court, perhaps even many, and we must find the one who bears the golden mask and put an end to them. She gave Svenya a golden mask as well, though what it does, if anything, we don't yet know.