Gates of the Gods

We make our way through the gate that was behind the troll, back to the kobold clearing. When we get there. they're still busy stuffing random leaves and bits into the slot up at the top, though as we walk in covered in the viscera of our battle they seem quite a bit more respectful than the last time we spoke. We put the crystal up in the top, speaking Freyja in Celestial and Giant, and this gate opens just like the last one. This time, a warm breeze washes out of it, both invigorating and calming us like a warm hug, with even the kobolds seeming suddenly quite relaxed.
 
We get to chatting with them a bit - they're quite impressed with us after killing that troll, and they bring up the Arenian Games. They say that their dragon masters - there are three of them, apparently - quite enjoy watching them, and sometimes seek their own champions to send to the games. Jormund suggests that this whole forest might have been a test set up by the dragons - after all, it's quite strange to find drakes and wyverns so close to home, and that troll said he's dragon blessed.
 
Dragons or no, we'd like to repair that first arch for the pixies, hopefully protecting them like it used to. Me and Jormund carry it over, Mikkil fuses it in place, and as we do it's magic comes back to life. There's another flash of light, this time brighter than the others, the shimmer inside it more visible, and humming with a latent power. Jormund spots silvery threads above our heads connecting the three arches in a triangle. Despite that, we don't expect anything different to happen as we walk through, but how wrong we were...
 
We're about to leave the forest, all going through the newly repaired gate at about the same time, when we get hit with a wave of nausea, suddenly seeing things that aren't there, laid on top of our vision like looking through painted glass. We're looking up from a cloth on a table, with two figures standing over us. One's sopping wet and the other's missing an eye and clad in simple robes, yet they give off an aura of incredible majesty. That, plus the huge, gorgeous hall we're in, make it quite clear that these are Aegir and Odin we're seeing, and we appear to be seeing it from Gorm's missing eye in Valhalla!
 
While we have only the eye and can't hear them, we can pick up more or less what they're talking about - Aegir seems to be tiring of something or someone, and wants to take a new one as replacement, while Odin questions the wisdom of doing so now. While Gorm can do little to communicate with them but make his eye writhe around on the table, Svenya uses her magic to assist him, impressing on them that Gorm can hear, and wants to serve them. They laugh and nod, and Odin picks us up - well, picks the eye up - runes magically springing into existence at the tip of his finger where he traces them in the air, telling us "Stay in Midguard warriors; we will be there for you soon." Then, they place the eye in a cloth bag, and the vision fades... Meanwhile, Shepard's been walking around with a dazed, dopey expression on his face - whatever vision he was given certainly wasn't the same as ours, but he certainly seems happy enough about it.
 
I wanted to go and take a look through the Freyja gate and see if there was anything else in the forest that way, or if that had simply taken the kobolds out of it, but it turns out though that Odin's gate wasn't the only one that has interesting effects now. As I step through it, there's another wave of that warm, soothing sensation, almost overwhelmingly strong now - and suddenly it's broad daylight! The trees spiral up higher, their arms crisscrossing in fascinating patterns, while beautiful, vibrant flowers abound on every surface. I don't seem to be in Midguard anymore, but Vanaheim, and I'm eager to go explore. I wander in a few yards, picking flowers with Carmilla, though one seemed quite offended at my touching it... Luckily I don't think anyone else saw though, and after a moment Svenya, still hiding behind the bushes where we came from, called us back. Although we'd only just walked in, Jormund said that we'd been in there for an hour, and Svenya could even see him from where she was inside, flitting about sped up as if he were a fly.
 
While we were gone, Gorm went to the last gate and received another vision, this time of Aleson. Unlike every other time Gorm had seen him, he didn't look angry or vengeful; only deeply, deeply sad. Gorm reached out to touch him, but as he did, he stepped through the portal and the vision disappeared. Fascinating as these gates are, we're tired and don't know what to do with them at the moment, so with those out of the way, we all make our way back home, reaching the longhouse just before midnight.
 
Outside are a few new horses hitched to a target - we're told that there's a traveling horse salesman in town. For the most part, everyone is happy as ever inside, though we hear that some people have been getting sick again. Thornhild's been coughing up that nasty tar again, having apparently been infected by it after gathering herbs at a bend in the river that hadn't cleaned itself out yet. Fortunately for us, Ingrid is more than capable of healing the people infected by it, though we aren't the only one that have to worry about it. Not long ago, that old elf that used to live in the Treehouses was here to buy a cloak for himself, but he looked quite unwell, his skin darkened to almost grey by what was probably the same poison as we've been worried about. Tomorrow we'll go to the Treehouses and ask around, see if anyone there remembers him and knows where he went, then go back to where we lost the trail earlier and see if we can't pick it up again this time. If not, we'll probably keep going northeast, making a few stops along the way and hopefully being able to reach the Seidr's Tower, before looping around the tip of the river to the Faerie Throne and using that to teleport back home.
 
It's the next morning, and we've decided to take a look at the horses this guy is selling, though he's far more interesting than simply "horse salesman" would imply him to be. He has not just horses of varying builds and qualities, but he has a gorgeous, tall and proud horse who he claims is actually a unicorn! Of course they can't be found in Mordia; he claims he got them from the Unicorn Clan, all the way off in Kiga, and they say that if you ride the beast far enough, their fur will turn snow white, and they'll grow their very own horn... Though we're all rather skeptical of the claim, Jormund decides it's worth a try and buys it.
 
There's more where that came from though - he's got saddlebags of holding, though they're quite expensive at 1000 gold each, but also some gems with an enchantment allowing them to store a mount inside of them for only 100 each. He's already got quite the collection of more unusual mounts stored inside such crystals - a juvenile purple worm, a bullete, a chuul, an axolotl, a hippogriff, an owlbear, a nightmare, a giant toad, and a basilisk (who of course comes with a few purification potions).
 
Of course I'm interested in the water creatures. The chuul is much too expensive though, so I bought the axolotl for just over a quarter of its price - he has slightly grainy, speckled grey skin that makes me think of the moons. Mikkil also got a normal old horse, while Carmilla bought the owlbear and Svenya the hippogriff. The latter might take some training, though. It's scared of heights and has refused to fly for some of its previous masters, but we'll see if Svenya can instill in it a bit of our heart!