Ursula Ragnarsdόttir

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

She's short and stocky, as she's a quarter dwarvish.

Body Features

Her horns spiral out to the sides like a ram's, and she has straight, short, almost shoulder length hair.

Identifying Characteristics

There's a perpetual breeze emenating from her, and if she gets upset it tends to increase in strength and small sparks might flit across her skin.

Apparel & Accessories

Although she lives in the frozen north, she wears relatively light clothing - some simple furs without an overcoat is usually enough for her.
For her arcane focus, she has a silver staff. At the top of the staff it flares out into a lumpy, couldlike portion, and down from the cloud spiral three lightning bolts in black metal. On the relatively flat top on the cloud is a triskel, also in black metal, and at the center of the triskel is fixed a hexagonal, pale yellow gem.
She wears a small Mjölnir pendant above her heart, and she has a shield of hardened leather over polished black wood.

Mental characteristics

Gender Identity

Cis gal :P

Sexuality

I dunno man, what's hot is hot

Intellectual Characteristics

Personality traits: My friends know they can rely on me, no matter what. I'm in love with the sea - it's been calling to me ever since I was little. I would simply live in it if I could. Nothing can shake my optimistic attitude.
Ideals: Honor and glory. I will one day be a great hero! Freedom. The sea is freedom — the freedom to go anywhere and do anything.
Bonds: I protect those who cannot protect themselves.
Flaws: I’m convinced of the significance of my destiny, and blind to my shortcomings and the risk of failure.

Social

Religious Views

Ursula's mother has told her much of her life that the gods may disapprove of her because of her fiendish heritage. The idea that she may be lesser to them, simply for how she was born, has caused her to be somewhat irreverant towards the gods, although she greatly respects their great deeds and power. She primarily worships Thor, as to her he is the one most exemplifying her ideals of honor, glory and freedom.

An shining-eyed young warrior, she dreams of sailing the seas and one day being a great hero.

View Character Profile

Alignment

Lawful Good

Age

Date of Birth

12th of Indra, 505 EC

Birthplace

At sea

Children

Current Residence

Braudavik

Gender

Female

Eyes

electric blue (#30E7ED)

Hair

black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

hot cinnamon (#EF7823)

Height

5'2"

Weight

156

Known Languages

Common, Dwarvish, Primordial, Infernal

The Journal Entry’s title

Begin writing your story here...

Tentacles
Kronday, 16th of Indra, 522 E.C.

The tower's walls are crumbling, covered in mold and reeking of whatever these fish creatures are while the floor is coated in their bile. There's a spiral staircase and humming audible from above, which Svenya and Carmilla go to check out. Though there don't appear to be any other creatures left in there, I don't like them going off alone and after a few moments summon Kuukivi back into the amulet on my wrist, leaving the others to guard the entrance. The source of the humming is soon apparent, a crystal ball embedded in the wall, glowing with a beam of energy coming from - or going to - a large stone tablet outside, and from there to more tablets. While we don't really know what this thing is, it seems to be connected to all the poison around, and may be summoning the creatures we just fought. Outside the tower, we can see not just more of those creatures, but giant tentacles coming out of the water! They're busy fashioning more of those purple webs from all the poisonous ichor about, but I can't help but wonder where they're coming from - the river is far too shallow to hold a creature large enough to wield such limbs. Could they be growing directly out of the river bed, or perhaps are there portals allowing the tentacles of a real kraken through them? Perhaps there's a massive underground water reserve here that isn't visible from above. In any case, if we can disrupt this crystal, we might be able to disrupt the poison that's been wracking the environment. Given that magical crystals currently channeling large amounts of energy have a tendency to explode when you break them, we all step as far away from it as possible, and I throw a windborne dart at it. It glances off, but shifts the orb slightly, the light that was channeling through it now much less focused. At that point we hear something rising out of the water outside - we go to look out a window and see a large figure, almost elvish but distorted, dark greyish skin and tentacles all over him. He starts making some generic villain monologue, blah blah I'll poison everyone and summon the kraken and you can't stop me, before Carmilla shoots an arrow right through his head and the illusion collapses in a splash of water. Ugly poison man out of the way, we keep trying to hammer the orb, Svenya hitting it with and illusory dagger with much the same effect. We notice now though, that it seems to be moving; it's possible that we don't need to break the orb, but might be able to merely move it out of place. We call Jormund up, and with all three of us together putting our weight on a spear, we manage to pry the orb out, where it pops through the wall and splashes into the water below. There's still magical light shining into the room, but scattered now without it's focus - I guess we know which way it was flowing. The tentacles outside can certainly sense that something's changed; they're now waving wildly around as if trying to ward off an attacker or repair the damage, though they don't seem to be able to accomplish anything. As we walk out along the side of the tower, getting a better look at what's channeling the magic, we see several stone tablets atop of large rocks. Beams of magic connecting each one, and at the end of the chain is another tower like the one we came from. Each point the magic flows through seems to channel and expand upon it - if we're going to remove this poison for good, we're probably going to have to destroy all of them. I take the lead, riding up to the edge of the river on Kuukivi before launching off of him, two massive tentacles whizzing by me as I hit the tablet with a loud crash and- FUCK that hurt! I miscalculated the trajectory of my leap, sending myself into a tumble as I tried to correct it with my magic and ending up banging my thumb knuckle on the rock. Though I tried to scramble out of the way, a tentacle grabbed me, and by the time I had escaped it's grasp Jormund appeared to have the tablet under control, so I ran off up river towards another tablet. As I near the base of anther large rock, a large fish man grabs my attention, slowly slithering towards me with his harpoon raised. He throws a lightning bolt at me, striking me square on the shoulder as I try to dodge, and-

Al Hazir
Kronday, 16th of Indra, 522 E.C.

Me, Carmilla and Svenya decide to take our new mounts for a quick race around town to get used to the feel of riding such unusual creatures. Though they seem to be getting along with eachother more, me and Kuukivi work well together and manage to pull ahead, weaving through obstacles and launching out of the water across the finish line - though, maybe he was just busy trying to get away from the others. After a bit we settle down and make our way to the Treehouses, with barely any Nidhoggs to get in the way this time. While Svenya takes a quick stop to the library to see if there's anything useful she can learn about the graveyard and deurgar there, the rest of us ask around to see if anyone knows of the elf. The grung man serving drinks at the tavern was able to tell me a name: Al Hazir. A rather strange and eccentric old man, he wasn't well know, though he worked in the observatory and would probably be better know to Hulin or Hje, so we go over to the greenhouse to find them. After a quick reunion, those two being some of the ones that helped us in fighting off the twig blights, they tell us what they know. Though they have somewhat differing opinions of him, from a mad old fool to merely a bit strange, they agree that he was quite obsessed with the kraken. He kept trying to grow some black, inky stuff - suspicious - and after he was eventually banished they think he went down to the coast to try to find the kraken. Svenya reminds us that one of the fishermen blamed the poison on the kraken - if Al Hazir is worshiping it, could he be not a victim of the poison, but its source? Either way, we don't have much of a way to track him, but Hlarifa is quite well connected to the forest. She sees dead animals and plants scattered all around upriver, far too fresh to be blamed on the poison from last winter. Whatever may be of the elf, we've got a fresh lead to the poisoner. While we were there, Tek popped out of a hammock to say hi - and he seems to be a bit of an aspiring young wizard! He's found a spellbook (or on closer inspection, more of a spell scroll), and he's been making some good progress on learning it despite the best efforts of everyone else in the Treehouses who would rather the child not learn to throw motes of fire. Svenya takes him aside and offers to try and teach him the light spell, as a safer first step, telling him if he can master that then perhaps the others will be more willing to trust him. On our way out they also offer to sell us some more stamina potions, for a discounted price being that we're on such good terms with each other. Several of us buy a few before heading back home and up the river, me and Kuukivi swimming up the river with the others following alongside. There certainly seems to be more poison in the water than last time we came up here, as well as fresh traces of activity at the cabin. We follow the trail up a small branch of the river, and before long we're surrounded by the death described by Hlarifa, with not the sound of a single chirping bird to be heard. Near the source of a river is a lagoon, with thick forest all about and the only way to reach it being under an archway over the river. There are some faint traces of writing on it, but if its anything like the other arches the magic is long since faded, overgrown and covered by moss. After swimming across to the land on the other side of the lagoon, we're at the foot of a large tower with a purple light at the top, bright enough to be easily visible even in broad daylight. The water is thick and murky, bile slipping off me and Kuukivi where our bodies dipped into the water, and large purple webs spanning across the rocks. Gorm tries cutting them and they knit themselves right back together, though fire seems to slow them. I went to quickly scout around the sides of the tower, thinking there might be a better way to go about this than simply walking in the front door. As Kuukivi steps into the water though, several heads pop up, putrid green scales lying flat against their skulls as they crawl towards us, trying to bite chunks out of Kuukivi's legs. A couple of them have not even scales, but bare bone covered in moss and ichor, while two large, human-fish creatures appear and start throwing tethered spears at us. Although I was rather surrounded out at the edge of the river, none of these creatures are terribly tough and after trading a few blows we've beat them off, for the time being at least. Still, better we fought them off now than letting them surround us once already inside the tower.

Gates of the Gods
Kronday, 16th of Indra, 522 E.C.

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!

Bigger Giant, Harder Fall
Cothsday, 15th of Indra, 522 E.C.

Over in the clearing Carmilla ran off to earlier is an eviscerated body, probably the remnants one of the wyverns more successful hunts. Off to one side can be heard some tiny, chittering and laughing little voices through a set of bushes, and to the other can be heard hissing and grunting from much larger creatures. Of course, we want to investigate the more threatening of the two sounds first. On the other side of the bushes is an absolutely enormous troll, one of it's four green arms holding a green drake that, despite being big enough to swallow one of us whole is little more than a dog in comparison to it's master. There's another arch behind him, and he acts friendly at first, inviting us to check it out and he can show us how it works, but we're rightly suspicious and he soon throws a boulder trying to crush us. I was in the back of the group, stunned for a moment looking up at the boulder that suddenly me cut off from the others, but quickly jumping atop it to join the fight. I see Gorm dodging and weaving, the big oaf unable to land a single blow on him, and his drake similarly ineffective. Svenya called up a wall of flame to surround the troll and although it ran from them, a few moments later it seems to summon a fire from inside itself, cauterizing its own wounds. Some people really just can't make up their minds... Fortunately, one of those weapons we got from the pirates was quite effective, the flames flickering and dying out as Mikkil plunges it into him. Without them the troll couldn't withhold much longer, its face soon beaten beyond recognition by a Jormund who almost lost his dog again. It's strange that he seemed to firey magic, though it may have something to do with how he said he was "dragon blessed." Certainly a lot of talk about dragons recently, despite so few people having seen them. Anyhow, the troll had a big satchel with him with a few nice items, most importantly a gem that likely goes in the gate that the kobolds wanted open, as well as a large chunk of stone with the Giant runes "OD." Put that together with the ones on the first arch we came in under, and you get Odin - perhaps a password, a dedication, a destination? The arch in this clearing is fully intact, with another riddle in Celestial and no Giant at the top. This riddle is simply "What never gets wetter no matter how much it rains?" Yet despite having a crystal in it, it remains closed. It seems that the answer must be put in some other way, and the gem is only a part of the key. Since the other arch says Odin, perhaps this one is related to a god as well. Though we don't expect it to work, Svenya speaks aloud in Celestial several words for water with nothing happening, but when she tries the name Aegir, glowing runes in Giant start appearing, spelling out his name. I'm taking a closer look at them, wondering if I should use them as guides to go carve the runes in, when Carmilla says the name in Giant and they go carve themselves in, opening the gate with a tiny flash. Though there's a bunch of plant matter piled in the way, after hacking through I can hear the kobolds again on the other side. We're leaving them for later though, as first we'd like to go see the source of that chittering Gorm heard before our fight. The voices resemble pixies, or at least something too small to be a likely threat, so we call out in Elvish and Common to announce our presence as we hack through the bushes. Once we're through though, the little clearing on the other side seems to be empty. The grass is worn and trampled away, with a half circle of bright red mushrooms on the side away from the entrance, but otherwise no signs of life. That is, until Carmilla goes to eat one of the mushrooms, and Svenya sees a little hatch on it fly open. She makes her put it down, and with her helmet is able to see an invisible little person inside. She calls Mikkil over to mend the new hole in their roof, and with that a little old man comes fluttering out, apparently the only resident that speaks Common. After a few moments of a rather odd conversation which we could only hear one side of, they realize we killed the giants that had been terrorizing them, and suddenly come flooding out, finally visible now, literally dancing for joy! Though the old man is still the only one we can meaningfully speak to, they're all quite clearly friendly to us, offering whatever help they may be able to give us. Of course, given there size there's not much physical help they can offer us, nor do they know much about these gates. They say that they're called Gates of Loki's, and may be usable as portals by the gods, though it hasn't happen for as long as any of them have been alive - but then, the old man says he's only four years. Perhaps the dwarves that said they set up the trap here could tell us something more about them, and if we do come back, perhaps some of us will take up their offer to teach us Sylvan - I only hope that their short life span doesn't take them before we get an opportunity.

Cowardly Giant
Cothsday, 15th of Indra, 522 E.C.

Our plan is that Svenya will make an illusory wyvern, attempting to goad the ogre into fighting the real ones, and I'll stay here with her while the others go around to the other entrance to the clearing, so they're ready to attack the wyvern that the ogre doesn't go after. Of course, that plan instantly goes to shreds. We were foolish enough to assume that the ogre would have a heart as stout as his body, but the big oaf only ran from the wyverns, nearly crushing me and Svenya without even noticing us. I shoved him off of Svenya with a crash so I could heal her, and Carmilla ran off in the commotion while the others came around the back to try and help us. With that crash though, the wyverns get curious and start shambling over, but they aren't the smartest creatures and I'm able to distract them for a while getting them to bat at an illusory person. While we hold our positions and let the ogre run off, Svenya healing herself up and the wyverns sniffing around distracted by the lights, but Shepard is practically shaking from excitement. I reach out to try pet him like he likes, when he starts and bites me, making me lose concentration as my lights fizzle out, and one of the wyverns spots Carmilla across the clearing. They're stupid enough that I'm able to distract the other one with another light, but there's no holding back now. As the one wyvern flies towards Carmilla, the rest of us pile up on the other, and with a flurry of valkyrian blades from Svenya it goes down faster than any of us expected. The ogre comes charging back in and gives Shepard a good wack, but it isn't long before him and the other wyvern are limp on the ground as well. We take a few moments to salvage what we can of their bodies before retreating back to the kobold clearing for a short rest. The others said they heard the ogre talking about a 'master', one likely enough still in the forest, and we think it best to catch our breath before pressing forward.

Kobold Forest
Cothsday, 15th of Indra, 522 E.C.

We set out early in the morning, following the river at easily several times the speed of our last venture. Although I didn't particularly care for it, the others seem quite heartened by the remnants of the dragon Gorm cooked up for us last night - well, that's what you get for trying to eat people, isn't it! Before long we find more black stuff coating the rocks on the river bank, residue of the same poison we're looking for, and likely there was quite a lot of it for it to have lasted this long. When we reach the hunting cabin, we notice more residue at the end of the dock, as well as a few barrels with residue in their bottoms. Unfortunately, no sign of the culprit is to be found. Since they must have either come up the river or on land, and the river would have taken them straight through Braudavik, we decide to follow the easiest route they could have gone on land by, taking path east and across the river. There's some pieces of meteorite that Mikkil's fairly excited to harvest for metal, but still no sign of the vandal. We decide that there's not much else we can hope to accomplish wandering around without an actual trail, and as we're quite near the suspected-kobold forest we decide to go check that out. As we near, we hear a brief scream before it's cut off suddenly like a door being closed between us. We move forward slowly and cautiously, though we have to make some noise hacking through the brush to make a path for ourselves. The kobolds don't seem to be too observant though, and we still manage to sneak up on them except for Mikkil. They're scared of a troll in the area, and Mikkil too when they first see him, assuming he's someone they already know. Svenya steps forward quickly and convinces them we mean no harm, and they tell us they're scared of the people of Braudavik. They have a new master they're trying to feed, and that's the reason they were stealing our sheep - or at least, they think they have a new master. None of them have actually seem them, but one says they saw a shadow of something flying over them. Anyhow, They're in the forests now trying to get the various teleportation gates to work, since they don't want to pass near Braudavik, and on one side of us is the ocean, and on the other is "some crazy priest." Well, if they won't bother us again, we may as well help them and try to get the gates working. The one we walked under just before meeting them is missing it's top, and has runes engraved all about it. On the sides is written in Celestial: "As time moves, so it creates. Lessons learned and the ways of fate. I am each one, yet still more. All you've known, seen and done before." We suspect "moments" is the answer, but there doesn't seem to be any way for it to be input. On the top, what little remains reads simply "in" in Giant. There's another arch a bit further in, this one in tact and with kobolds crawling all over it trying to activate it. The first two we met were friendly enough, though the rest took some convincing to let us help them, being rather eager to get in a fight with their new dragon scale shields. On this second arch arch there are no words in giant but a slot for a crystal at the top and the riddle "What's dead half the year, and lives the rest. What dances without music, and breathes without breath?" The answer is likely leaves, but again there isn't a clear way to input the answer, as stuffing leaves into the receptacle has no apparent effect. We decide to keep exploring the forest, hoping to find some sort of key around. Close by is a very strange clearing. Within the clearing the grass whips about violently as if in the midst of a storm, while just outside it there's not a breeze to be felt. Well, not more than I usually feel, that is. Not only does the grass keep whipping about, but when Svenya steps into the clearing, the wind seems to stamp down a symbol - the one used for evocation magic. So, I use some evocation magic and make a little person, sitting on a log in the clearing, yet the spell doesn't seem entirely under my control. It soon duplicates itself, another one in rainbow appearing, hugging the first person so joyfully I swear I could almost hear them laughing. The grass stops rippling until Svenya takes another step into the clearing, where the same thing starts happening again, but this time it stamps down some sort of musical symbol. Svenya tries playing a little tune on her lyre, but must have done something wrong, as the ground goes and swallows up Mikkil, the person furthest into the clearing. She tries again, and the same thing only happens to her, before Gorm comes and uses magic to play just the right note, and Mikkil gets spat back out. Next there's the symbol for necromancy, and Gorm sends a surge of necromantic energy into the ground, causing it to release Svenya. We gingerly take anther few steps into the clearing with no further effects, whatever ward that was placed here apparently being sated. The log aforementioned is hollow, with enchantment runes inside of it that may have had something to do it. There's two more paths out of this clearing, with one leading to an area with two wyverns and an ogre, the other leading to a hallway like area before connecting to another part of the same. If we're going to find anything useful in this forest, we're going to have to find a around them or through them...

Ready for Anything
Wilsday, 14th of Indra, 522 E.C.

Train, train, train. A hundred days at home is a hundred days to train and be sure that I'm ready for our next expedition, and that's exactly what I'm going to use them for. Gorm's been practicing his cooking as usual, and I hear that he's learned some recipes that might help should we need to dive deep in the ocean. Carmilla found some sort of spell book somewhere, which she asked me for a bit of help deciphering as Mikkil was busy crafting weapons, as well as finally outfitting Shepard with some armor. It seems to have a bunch of summoning ritual type things, like those I hear where wizards get a little animal servant for themselves. Svenya's been talking to her mom, a little freaked out about the whole situation with that valkyrie. She thought that maybe she ought to keep her not-so-human nature a secret, lest people come try and defeat her to prove themselves, but decided that it's not going to stay a secret very well anyways, so she might as well own it. Of course, that doesn't mean we don't have to worry about some unsavory creatures coming to bother us... Carmilla's also been training up with her blades, so much so that she's even getting rather famous. We've garnered quite a reputation in the village, and people have started giving us supplies for free, hoping to see our boat finished as soon as possible - and soon indeed it should be finished! Jarl Niklas says when we're done we ought to get outfitted with a crew, setting off on our own expeditions and earning our arm rings. Oh, how I look forward to it, finally setting sail like a real Viking! While everyone else has been training with their weapons magic, I've been focusing on more general skills. More of the theory behind magic rather than just it's effects, as well as getting Ingrid to teach me some medicine, learning how to navigate properly, and training physically with Odr. Svenya and Gorm also did some sort of meditating-ritual thing with Yngvild, and seem more connected to the spirits now, able to draw on their power much how I've been able to more naturally. It makes me wonder, could some of my own powers come from my heritage more than the circumstances of my birth? It does feel a bit different to create some of my effects than others... Of course I haven't neglected to work on my own spells, and it was quite fun too - who would have thought I could learn to throw a punch like the hammer of Thor? I've also been learning how to alter my body, making it more suited to the water, and even managed to store some of that magic in a ring to help me without expending more effort. I got ma to make everyone those Mjölnir pendants she had offered, too. She made me help her around the shop of course, but, oh well, more than worth it for any help to keep my friends safe. But we've been home for a hundred days, just past my birthday and well into spring now, and we're itching to get out there again. We're rather overdue for trying to find whoever poisoned the river, and they're likely enough long gone by now, but I suspect that if we're going to find them it'll be quite close to home so we may as well give it a shot. After that, who knows, we might keep following the river northeast and go to the Seidr tower Gorm keeps talking about, or we might go east and investigate the various happenings over that way. We heard just tonight that the dwarves are having quite a problem with kobolds in their mines, and it's near the area Magnus' group heard a bunch of screaming from the forest trap, and if we go even further southeast we might find out some more about the dragons. Whatever we decide and wherever our road may lead, may Thor bless our travels to be ripe with opportunity for glory!

A Dally with Dragons
Loriday, 6th of Tobi, 522 E.C.

While Mikkil cuts off the monk's head to take back as proof and Svenya helps Gorm get bandaged up, I gather up the bodies to burn and give a proper sendoff to Valhalla. There's a hole in the ice inside each of the tents giving quite comfortable access to the hot springs as well as making the tents themselves quite warm, but apparently nobody thought to move Carmilla into them, and she was pretty upset when she stumbled in, having woken up hours later alone out in the snow. We spend the rest of the short day gathering supplies for the impending blizzard before resting the night, and set out for home the next morning. I'm a bit disappointed to cut off such a large leg of our journey, but with Ulfhild missing and Gorm without an eye, I can't blame them for wanting to just get back to safety for a while. We still need to figure out what we're going to say to her parents... That large river gives us some trouble again, with Jormund and Gorm falling in this time. Gorm simply turns into a fish and hops back out, while Svenya uses her new lyre to make Jormund levitate back out and starts flying him like a kite. All in all, no real difficulties getting back to the throne. Carmilla, daft bastard that she is, immediately goes to sit on the throne again, but this time nothing happens. Svenya talks to the pixies again who tell her that there's no court today, so of course nothing happened. We ought to be able to speak to Freyja any time we wish though, particularly if we give her an offering, so long as we genuinely mean it to please her. It's a bit odd watching her as she talks to what appears to be no one at all, but at least the throne seems to have some sort of charm over it, protecting us from the brunt of the storm. We go through the portal as soon as Svenya's finished with her chat, and step out onto a shelf of yellow, springy, mushroom-like material, much higher than the other two doors we've gone through. There are quite a few more obstacles between this doorway and our home, and as I clamber over the tree roots, all the little tree-dragon wyrmlings rouse up threateningly. We take more care the rest of the way and nearly reach the door without incident, but with the tangled mess of roots along the ground not all of us are able to make it over without touching them, and the wyrmlings start attacking. Despite how young they are they're incredibly strong, quickly trapping Jormund and Shepard with some heightened-gravity field. Despite all of our best efforts and some help from Mimyr who happened to be nearby, we barely got them out alive, and not every piece at that. Gorm's not the only one missing an eye now... I wonder if an eye patch would look good on Shepard? But, we're back. Almost a month later, and with more treasure than most of us have seen together at once. Yet, we failed to complete our plans, we failed to rescue those who needed us, and we return with four less eyes in the party... Is this going to be the price of our adventures? No! We may have had some poor luck this time around, but the only thing to do is keep trying, train ourselves up to be stronger, and use every new tool at our disposal. Then, next time when the time comes, we try even harder!

A Scrape With Death
Draday, 2nd of Toby, 522 E.C.

Well. That was nearly disastrous. Carmilla snuck up while invisible as I suggested, but we didn't give her much time for fear that she would be captured without us realizing it, and rushed in to attack before she could help the prisoners. We're able to release them in a few moments regardless, and the elf seems quite proficient with the crossbow I tossed her, while the dwarf merely gets himself stuck in the ice while we fight. We take some wounds, and unfortunately our new friend Fus has his head split open, but we've already killed several of the pirates and badly injured more, and the battle is looking up for us - until their leader steps in. Their leader is that Kigani monk we had heard about, with a bounty out for her though not one we had intended to seek out. She's here now though, and she's a formidable opponent. Not only does she punch like a cannon, but when our swords and arrows hit her, her body seems to turn to water as they go right through, and she keeps summoning these blasts of water shaped like dragons. At one point she jumped up to the highest crest of the hill, launching a massive bolt towards Gorm, which Svenya manages to just tug out of the way before it practically craters the ground around him. She seems impressed and somewhat drained, taking a drink as she steps back from the ledge. We follow her up, now cornered at the top of the hill, but still putting up quite a fight. She seems quite inebriated, stumbling towards us as she fights, yet she uses it to her advantage, easily ducking and stumbling away from our attacks, throwing her own back with unpredictable ease. By now we're all quite tired as well, and she isn't out of magic either, blasting us with shards of ice and raining daggers on us. As Gorm tried to hit her, she even managed to pluck his eye right out! I ran up to her, vengefully charring her skin, hoping I could burn her again if she hit me, until she launched me into the air. Svenya again just deflected her fist before she could hit me again, but before I could react, I hit the ground and the world went black. A few moments later, I wake up to Mikkil pressing a healing potion to my lips, Gorm's bleeding having just been stemmed by Svenya's light, and Carmilla unconscious but apparently stable. I sputter a bit as I feel the potion mend the tears in my insides, though Gorm isn't quite so lucky. Nor are any of the prisoners; Fus as well as the other two we were trying to rescue all having died in the fight. We didn't even get their names...

Freyja's Throne
Kronday, 32nd of Junal, 522 E.C.

As we near the faerie throne, the elk stops for us to dismount. True to it's name, the only structure in sight is a large gnarled ironwood throne, rooted in the ground as if carved from a living tree. As I approach the throne, I can't help but feel compelled to go up and sit on it, almost as if it's actually calling to me... Then Svenya calls out, says she can see "you" pointing at me and Gorm, and Gorm starts swatting around his head as if pestered by gnats. She tells me that there were invisible pixies about our heads, whispering to us, and they were probably what I heard, though I still feel almost as if it were the throne. One of them approached and said something to Svenya, though not in a language that we could understand this time, before they all scattered. Taking a closer look at the throne, there's a clear aura of fey magic coming from it, which Svenya says her helm identifies as enchantment and divination magic. It's quite large, not as though meant to frame a jötunn, but much larger than one would expect for a humanoid like us. Though we're all suspicious of it, Carmilla with her blithe confidence sits on it with nary a moment's hesitation. At first nothing happens until she her put her arms on the armrests, which seems to have triggered something in the throne, as the vines lying wrapped about it grab her, binding her arms to the sides. I worry the enchantment magic has already taken hold, as she seems completely unfazed while we try to cut her out of them. Jormund is only exasperated, mockingly calling her a princess, when thorny vines wrap around her head as well, pulling back against the chair as her eyes glow and she starts reciting some poem - something about a jabberwock being beheaded by a vorpal blade. We keep trying to cut through the vines, but they're so tough and keep regrowing so it's little use, but after a moment, once she's finished her poem, they simply slacken as she's released from both her trance and her bindings at once. Not only does Carmilla not seem to remember the poem she recited in her trance, but she had a different experience entirely - she claims she had a vision where she spoke to Freyja! She says that they had a nice little chat, that Freyja has heard of us and wishes us well, and that she thinks Odin will have the pleasure of seeing Svenya soon. Now, the vision I can believe, but she's either crazy or lying if she expects us to believe that she got on just fine with an ACTUAL goddess! Though I do wonder, does this mean the throne would more properly be called Freyja's Throne than the Faerie Throne? Ah well. As much as we'd all like to stay and chat with Freyja of all people - well, all except for Jormund - we deem it best to not waste any more of her time and take our leave. Fortunately, we won't have difficulty coming back to the throne should we ever require an audience with her, as the tree that throne was carved from seems to be another born of Yggdrasil; another spot we can teleport whenever we like. There are two rivers between the throne and the hot springs, the first of which is quite the ordeal to cross and nearly causes Mikkil and Shepard to get washed away under the ice, but the second is smaller and we're much more careful, crossing without note. We sit now at the base of the hill that houses the hot springs, catching our breath and making sure everything is in order. The prisoners should be up at the top of the hill, set on some ice atop one of the springs, but to get to them we'll unfortunately have to go up the main route through the pirates, as the hilltop is a quite defensible position without any back ways accessible barring the ability to fly or climb - though, perhaps Carmilla could sneak up the back and get them out without their captors noticing?

The Majesty of Nature
Cothsday, 31st of Junal, 522 E.C.

Well, it turns out that we're fighting the pirates sooner than we planned to. After a couple hours rest at the cottage, we spot some shadows darting around the trees, and soon they've surrounded us. Lejkins jumps out the window and tries to run, but almost immediately gets his head cut off, while Fus was able to sneak off successfully. The pirates were a lot tougher than we expected; they forced me to use two healing potions and gave Svenya another nasty scar, nearly slicing her arm off - some stories she'll have to tell! Once we had killed and the others started running away, the Fus reappeared to help too. One got away though, so if we do want to take on their camp we'll unfortunately be lacking surprise. There was a bounty out for that monk known to disappear in clouds of smoke like they used too, I wonder if they could be connected to eachother? Fus apologized for running off, but hey, when he saw that we could handle ourselves in a fight he came back to help, so it's not all bad, eh? There was another dwarf and an elf that had been captured by the pirates, still with them when Fus escaped, and we're hoping to go rescue them too, but after how tough a battle we had with the last one's we'd be wise to use some caution. Svenya uses that magic lyre she got to create a wall around the cabin, effectively patching up the holes, we rest the morning away before setting off to be sure that the pirates can't get another jump on us. We were going to skip the faerie throne, just skirting the dancing groves and going right to the hot springs, but those plans quickly turned around on us. Despite my attempts to just skirt the edge, the groves, with their trees constantly waving and curling, truly quite like a dance, somehow manage to pull us in across the river to their center. We keep seeing a massive figure in the distance, worrying it may be something dangerous, but it turns out to just be a massive elk, perhaps 30 or 40 feet tall, and twice that if you count the horns. The trees' movements seems to follow the elk's, spreading apart to make way for it, and we decide it may be advantageous to follow it. Carmilla and Gorm use their beast speech magic, and the elk seems quite friendly, though not much more intelligent than your average beast. It's pleased to see humanoids for the first time in a while, but it hasn't seen and fey for a few days and is worried about them. It offers to guide us to the faerie throne, and after some deliberation we decide that the pirates can wait a bit. While I'm worried that the pirates might have moved on or prepared for our arrival if we delay reaching them, I can't say I'm displeased with how this has gone. Carmilla convinced the elk to let us ride on it, which not only gave us the speed of its massive footsteps, but from where I write this now, I have a majestic view from up in its antlers... The wind in my hair, the encounter with such a marvelous creature, that feeling like I can see for miles: now this, this is why I love adventures!

Finding Fugitives
Wilsday, 30th of Junal, 522 E.C.

Before we settle down for our rest, I go to see if I can talk to that water creature that grabbed Carmilla. I can feel a magic emanating from them, and it reminds me so much of my own magic, my connection to the sea, the way it calls to me. I don't know how, but I'm able to talk to them, a language as natural as the rumble of the waves washing out on its own and the creature responding in kind. They seem to have been living with, but not particularly attached to, the dragon we killed. They're not mad at us for it, and warned us that the dragon considered many creatures of the forest its children, feeding and protecting them, and now that it's gone they may pose a threat to us. The creature was quite friendly and said they might come visit me in Braudavik some time, and I hope they do. It would be a pleasure to speak with such a fascinating creature again, though I only now realize I never asked their name. I am glad to meet such an intelligent one as well, as most give little to no response when I try to speak with them, but I wonder why they had so many little trinkets in their pool. What does a creature made of water need with a spoon? What does a creature without legs need with boots? We took another look at that gold mask from the valkyrie as well, but we're still not really sure what it is. We've heard stories of theses masks being put on the dead, but given the source of her wounds whatever she got it from might not have been so dead. It's mostly smooth gold, with no holes for any parts of the face, but there are a whole lot of runes covering the back side of it. I'm not entirely sure what they mean, but they do seem faintly familiar. I feel like they are an ancient language, perhaps a predecessor of one I speak now, yet the script they're written in is one I've never seen before. Whatever they say, I don't think they're a proper language like the one I'm writing in but more of a formulaic language, perhaps for mathematics or magic. During our afternoon night we hear some sounds outside, most likely bears as the tracks later confirm, but they don't cause any trouble. While we go harvest what remains of the dragon, Trus takes his leave, telling us if we ever come to Jötunn's Crossing he'd be happy to repay us for our help. I don't think any of us are too concerned about payment though, just happy to have an ally that I'm sure will prove invaluable. While most of us were satisfied to then leave the cave, Svenya wanted to go follow the giant owl and all the cries of the beasts that could be heard further into the cave, through a pit filled hallway with a slight breeze emanating from it. Before she gets far though, the wind forms itself into a creature that doesn't seem too friendly, and we quickly make our leave. Since we took that lengthy nap in the middle of the day, we're now setting out after nightfall, with a beautiful aurora borealis in the sky. Before long we come to the primitive bothy as expected, but what we didn't expect was to see smoke rising from its chimney. It's quite dilapidated; whoever's in here likely isn't a regular inhabitant. Me, Jormund and the others go up to it one way, while Carmilla goes behind some trees to get up to it another way, because of course she does. And wouldn't you know it, she got lucky and found the main door. We hear some whispering from them, they seem to be hiding from someone and worry that we're the ones chasing them, but they open the door to Carmilla and seem rather relieved seeing that she doesn't look like whoever it is. There's just two of them, Lejkins and Fus, and they invite us inside. Fus is a dwarf from the area, but his friend is a human from The Green Lights of the East. They were both captured by Kigan pirates, probably to be sold as slaves, escaping them and getting to the cottage only a few hours ago. It's a pretty run down old place with holes in the walls, but it's a decent shelter and with a barrel of ale in the corner Gorm makes us a hearty dragon steak dinner. They think the pirates are camped up by the hot springs, and since we're going by there already, why not go and teach them a thing or two when we get there?

A Friend and a Fiend of Fire
Kaiday, 25th of Junal, 522 E.C.

Although all a bit dazed by what we just witnessed, we took a closer look around the cave. The pool that the valkyrie was next to went a bit further into the cave, and was filled with treasure. While Gorm ritual-cast a spell to turn him into a fish so he could explore the water, Svenya noticed sounds from outside like a screeching owl and a roaring beast. Going back to investigate, she encountered a dragon with a man in its mouth, flaming his captor both literally and figuratively. The dragon simply shrugs him off though, tossing him into its den, most likely planning to eat him later. Carmilla had been climbing on the walls over the pond, and found a strange creature made entirely of water. She snuck up on it gave it a poke, causing it to whirl around and fling her into the water. The dragon heard the splash and started towards us, where upon it noticed Svenya and accused her of stealing it's treasure. She very loudly tells it that she didn't and we mean no harm, when we notice that Shepard did in fact take a large ruby out of the pool. We toss it back in as dragon comes closer, before it notices that the flaming man has used the distraction as an opportunity for escape and blames us for it's own lax guardianship. It's about to attack, but Svenya's able to use a shower of sparks to make it think that the flaming man is still there for a moment, long enough for us all to get past it and start running out of the cave. We make a break for the mouth of the cave, using a few spells to slow the dragon hot on our tails, but it just manages to jump over our heads and block the exit. It blasts heat like a forge onto us but the flaming man is able to teleport us to the other side, and we nearly escape-- but it hooks its claws into Svenya, dragging her back with it into the cave... Now we're the ones chasing, this time with a vengance. We surround it and eventually manage to get Svenya away from it, then just as we're about to get away for real this time, it charges up its fire breath, and just as it's about to blast us with another inferno, our flaming man launches searing bolts into its mouth, causing its flames to erupt while still inside of it and blasting it to pieces. We've got a few new battle scars in the group, Svenya with some nasty claw marks on her back where the dragon grabbed her, and Carmilla with some burns on her face, but we make our way back near the pool to rest, thanking Odin that we still live. We've finally gotten a real introduction to the flaming man too - his name is Trus, a fire genasi in charge of the giants working at Jötunn's Crossing. We also take a closer look at the treasure in the water and, well, Thor strike me down if that isn't a damn lot of money! No wonder the beast was so jealous of his horde, not to mention the magical items...

The Valkyrie
Draday, 24th of Junal, 522 E.C.

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.

Carmilla's Pets Just Keep Dying
Kronday, 22nd of Junal, 522 E.C.

After a lunch break back at the bridge, we're on our way again with hopes as high as the flock of hares in the sky - more chimerabbits, migrating for the winter. Before long we come to another river, and though it's much smaller it gives us some difficulty to cross. So much of the wood around here is wet, and with only one decent sized axe among the group we have a hard time getting good enough materials for Mikkil to make us a bridge across, but eventually we find just enough that with my freezing part of the river to make it a bit narrower we manage to make it over. Some walking later we come across another river where we meet some grung who are probably some of the ones who live at the treehouses, since they recognize us as the ones who saved them. After helping them catch some fish, and them warning us of some big cats near the portal, we cross this river without much trouble and continue on our way. Just past the river Carmilla finds a wild elk, befriending it with her charm and some charms, but Jormund decides that causing problems is funny and scares it off. It would have come back once it realized that it had thrown off Carmilla, had the grung's warning not been quite so accurate, for right at that moment it was snatched by a pair of lions and dragged out of sight, being killed a moment later. Carmilla gave chase of course, and we tried to scare off the lions and their pack, but ended up having to fight them.

The Infected Graveyard
Gucsday, 19th of Junal, 522 E.C.

Well energized from Gorm's lovely feast last night, we left bright and early in the morning, and arrived at the site of our battle with the troglodytes without difficulty, though there wasn't much more we could learn once there. There was however a giant owl there, which seemed to be having trouble catching the salmon in the river, so I helped Jormund catch a couple, one of which we gave to the beast, which seemed about as grateful as one might expect from an owl. We continued to the graveyard, and here found much more of interest. Not only were there a few draugr wandering around the place as we expected, but once we killed them, things got decidedly more exciting. The bones from the skeletons we killed started moving on their own, rolling along the ground into the ship in the middle of the graveyard, forming themselves into a guard for the real threat of the area. A giant skeletal hand burst from the ground, grasping the top of the broken down ship and pulling out a armored body to match, a green mist flowing out of it and murder glowing green in it's eyes. It seemed to speak a language, but not one any of us could understand further than to see that is was anything but holy. A formidable opponent, it withstood many blows from us, and impaled Ulfhild with a brutal thrust; but with Gorm's blood curse and Svenya's biting tongue, it had difficulty landing any other blow, and eventually fell to a bolt of radiance fired by Gorm. As it collapsed, it's sword crumbled to pieces of what appeared to be the same type of rocks we came to investigate - perhaps this infection is worse than we thought. But which way does the causality run? Did someone create this monster, with the infection as a byproduct, or did the infection itself cause this to happen? Regardless, Svenya took a piece of it's no-longer-sword, hoping that the druids of the treehouses would know more about it, and I took it's shield - barely more than a buckler on it, but quite a comfortable fit for me. It's quite an attractive shield, made of hardened leather over dark, polished wood, and it seems to carry a bit of holy power that may make it more than simply defensive. After the battle, I took a quick round about the graveyard, and noted quite a few more of the infected rocks, especially inside the ship, as well as that many of the graves are shaped into protective runes relating to life and death. Although they seem to have been broken, they may be useful should we ever have to combat more draugr in the area.

Ever Further We Must Venture
Devday, 17th of Junal, 522 E.C.

In the last forty days since we defeated the decapus, we've all been hard at work training, crafting, and expanding our knowledge. After a bit more training, I've finally got down how to use a shield, and Jormund and Svenya joined me in learning how to make a shield wall. Orvar, Hjalmer and Ærinmund beat us pretty good in what I had hoped was a friendly sparring match, but it seems Ærinmund isn't too fond of me and Carmilla... "Horned beasts and fanged fiends" indeed! Ingrid has been helping me to control and expand my powers, though I don't seem to be having much luck with the whole lightning-in-a-bottle thing. Oh yeah, remember when Gorm fell into the river as we crossed that first bridge? Well, I didn't think anything of it at the time, but apparently more happened there than a little dip in the water. It was black as night under there, and the only thing he could see was some withered, ghoulish looking man, telling him that he was "unworthy to be chosen" or something. Gorm asked Ingrid what that might mean, and she said that since it was the day after the full moon, that may have been Aleson the Arisen. He is the jarl of Nyonem, chosen by Aegir, but he was banished to the seas and can only return to the surface during the full moon. Once all the moons are full at once, he'll be able to return indefinitely and lead his people, and could cause some real problems for us then. I went with her and Gorm when they went to make a sacrifice to the sea, hoping that the gods would tell Gorm what they wanted of him, and what he should do. In doing so, Gorm received some sort of vision, with a stormy sky and a fleet of ships with Aleson at it's front. A massive figure of Aegir pointed over Aleson at him, and told him he was chosen. Gorm told the Jarl Niklas about his visions, but he didn't seem very concerned, as we are not particularly wealthy, and he knows of no grudges they hold against us. This does little to assuage our own fears however, as we remain wealthier than them, and Aleson may well hold a grudge against Gorm for being "the chosen one." While Ulfhild has been sparring with bears, Gorm has been working on a longboat, which I hope will take us on many a voyage someday soon, and Mikkil and Jormund made some better armor for themselves. Svenya offered to clean for Ingrid's family, and got us each an extra healing potion, and Carmilla offered her chimerabbit to Skadi, hoping she might influence Odin in our favor. I asked Nylmyr about the strange yellow-green rocks we found, and she said it looked like an infection, perhaps caused by many people dying in that area recently. She'll show that rock to the jarl, and we'll soon go back to the place we found them to see if there's anything else we can glean. She also gave me a small Mjölnir pendant she and Sven forged, and said that she could get my friends some if they wanted. Of course, the rocks aren't the only thing we'd like to leave town for - we're excited to venture further from our home than last time! We've heard of draugr in the graveyard, just south of the place where we found the rocks. After going to exterminate them and investigate the rocks, we'll cross the bridge and go north to the area Ulfhild thinks she was fighting the bear, and see if we can't take it down together. We'll then go further north to that primitive bothy we've heard about, and perhaps from there take a detour to the dancing grove, faerie throne, and hot springs. Detour or no, we'll then go to the sylvan temple, and finally reach the old dwarven door, where we suspect that "The Underhill King" - some self-important racist dwarf that's been going around killing elves and humans - may reside. Finally we'll go south again, passing by the obelisk before we reach the treehouses, which can take us right back home - thanks, Mimyr! We'll set out tommorow and ought not be gone even a month, unless we take it especially slow.

Through the Roots of Yggdrasil
Devday, 7th of Lori, 522 E.C.

Decapus defeated, the vine blights seem to have disappeared. Svenya noticed that the plants around it in the greenhouse had revived and regained a bit of their color, while the roots leading to the decapus's nest had withered... Perhaps it was siphoning their energy to feed its minions? Carmilla uses a tentacle of the decapus, a buyllywug tongue, and a dead blight to make a very strange, yet quite effective splint for Jormund, and we take the last of the people hiding from the monsters over to the tavern, where Mimyr thanks us by giving us a variety of interesting items. I took a potion that might come in handy if I ever need to cross some difficult ice or snow, but by far the best of them was a green crystal, much like the ones in the center of the tree, which can be used to travel through the roots of Yggdrasil to any tree born of it's seed, so long as we know the proper rune to connect to it. As of now, it lets us travel between the Treehouses and Braudavik in an instant, whenever we like, and with luck we'll soon enough be able to travel many leagues further with it. I asked Clarifa if she could decipher what the Chanters - who I now know are a group called The Eye That Sleeps - were doing with their astrological equipment, and she said that it seems they were not only making a map with the stars, but a map INTO the stars. The reason they had been focused so heavily on Vruas may have been that they intended to travel right to it! Yet, is such a thing even possible? Would the gods allow someone to simply walk into their realm? And what could their purpose in it be? While Svenya and Gorm stay at the Treehouses for the time being, the rest of us return through the portal to sleep in our own beds tonight. But before we take our rest we go to the longhouse and tell our tale the remnants of those feasting, though my storytelling really can't compare with Svenya's. We weren't the only ones back though; Magnus and co. had returned with a new guy called Ærinmund Skurfasson and a half-lizardfolk prisoner called Ikersess. They seem to be in quite a heated discussion, and for good reason: it turns out that the reason the lizardfolk were encroaching on our hunting grounds is that three massive dragons had settled themselves near the lizardfolk's home, and were extorting from them more food than they could possibly hunt on their own territory. This puts all of us in quite a pickle, as the lizardfolk can't simply refuse a triad of dragons, and we can't simply drive off the lizardfolk, as the dragons would only come after us next. We saved a village and slew a monster, and thus concludes our first real excursion. With the looming threat of dragons on the horizon, and the mystery of The Eye That Sleeps, whatever may come, I feel that our future is full of promise and adventure.

Decapus Decimation
Devday, 7th of Lori, 522 E.C.

After a weak attempt by Carmilla and Svenya at resolving the situation nonviolently, the Chanters are cowardly enough to cast a darkness spell and run away. We would have given chase if it weren't for the hordes of plant creatures wreaking havoc on the place, but as it stands those were of more pressing concern. Gorm and Jormund went and found a big tree creature trying smash in a door, and it did quite a number on them before we were able to kill it, knocking Gorm out and breaking Jormund's leg. Nobody died though, and we arrived just in to to rescue the druid we had seen from the scrying stone downstairs. She went to a crystal, similar looking to the one on the lower floor and used it to contact someone. She warned them about the monsters attacking here, and they were seemed to be able to counter the magic that the decapus was using to make the vine bridges attack us. I took a look at the Chanter's room as well, and they were definitely trying to make a map. It's quite a fascinating device they were using, able to artificially move the stars so that they can chart them without waiting for them to actually move into that position. They seem to have left it in the configuration the were using it for, so hopefully one of the residents of this place will be able to tell us what they were doing with it. Downstairs, we used more of the stamina potions and took a rest before taking on the decapus. We had intended to split up and pincer it, but it sensed us coming and attacked the boys before we could get there to back them up. It seemed to be bearing our attacks quite well until it nearly killed Sheperd, bringing the full fury of all of us down upon it. I gave it a hearty zap, but Jormund got the finishing blow, impaling its brain with his halberd.

Twigblight Trimming
Devday, 7th of Lori, 522 E.C.

Up in the Treehouses, there's no apparent sign non-plant life to be seen. Inside the trunk of the largest tree is a green gem that appears to be some sort of scrying device, showing a dryad defending herself against more twigblights higher in the tree. The party splits up, with me, Gorm, and Ulfhild going to a sort of residential area near the northwest. I found a halfling child named Tek hiding in a chest in one of the houses, and he thought I was another of the monsters come to get him! I mean, I know I look rather unusual, and I can't blame the kid for being on edge, but still, ouch. Regardless, I was able to calm him down, and he came with us and warmed up to us quite quickly. I also gave him a real dagger in case he needs to defend himself, rather than that butter knife he was brandishing at me. Gorm and Ulfhild found a few others in the area, but they stayed where they were as we and the rest of the party reconvened at the tavern, Carmilla and Svenya having brought a grung warior and some sort of frost druid along. While Svenya tries to eat the table because it's made from a mushroom, those two tell us that the creature here causing the problems is called the decapus, and the vine we fought down below was only its guard. Jormund tells us he took a peek up the stairs around the main tree, and heard some ominous chanting and saw a purple light coming from under a door up there. After taking care of a few twigblights, we go up to investigate this apparent ritual in progress, and ones conducting it don't seem to be terribly friendly...

Into the Treehouses
Devday, 7th of Lori, 522 E.C.

When we killed the giant ice toad the bullywug leader was mounted on, he tried to flee and call his soldiers to defend him, but they had been caught by a net thrown by the grung. It was looking as if we'd defeat them with ease, until their shaman started making a horrid croaking noise. It made my head start swimming, Ulfhild fell unconscious, and the rest seemed to be faring little better. Mikkil gave chase to their leader, and was knocked down with a nasty stab through the thigh. Still, we defeated the rest of them, and the grung were very grateful, offering to take us to their druids who have healing magic. Fortunately Vruas, the largest of our moons, was in full last night, so we were able to cross the Moonbridge easily. Jormund spotted some chwingas after they gifted him a pipe, though nobody seemed quite sure how to use it, somehow... Though the grung usually live in the treehouses, they can't at the moment as they've been taken over by the monsters, so their current residence is hidden nearby. When we get to them, we're greeted a halfling and two very tall (and very hot) women. These are the druids we were told about by the grung, and they must be dryads, judging from the petals covering their skin like dragon scales. They only have a few healing potions, as most of them were left in the treehouses before they fled. They taste like bile, but they do the job, and I feel incredibly well rested after only an hour around a campfire. With that, the dryads open a portal in the trees, taking us within a hundred feet of the treehouses, and stand back to watch as we go towards the base of the largest tree. As we approach, a horde creatures made of branches emerge from our sides, but are easily dealt with. The real battle comes from the tree as an enormous, living vine unwinds itself from around it, and under our feet a network of vines come alive and try to restrain us. I had hoped that, being a plant creature, this thing would be easily dealt with with a blast of fire. Mikkil seems to have had the same idea though, and his fire bolt seemed barely to affect it, so I tried to hit it with a witch bolt instead, and accidentally gave a little zap to Carmilla instead (sorry, Carmilla!) We defeated the vine, but it was really rather easy... as we ascend into the treehouses, I suspect that there will be tougher monsters ahead.

Defending the Grung
Devday, 7th of Lori, 522 E.C.

I started to feel a bit unwell after we fought the troglodytes. Carmilla and Svenya say the same, so it's probably from those mushrooms we ate; but I think this is only a temporary side effect, as I feel the the myconids are unlikely to try to hurt us. I skinned a troglodyte, hoping I could get someone to make a camouflage blanket out of it's hide. Ulfhild caught up with us just then, and starting mucking around smashing rocks. The rocks were a strange, greenish yellow color inside of them, but none of use knew why, so I took a piece with me hoping mom would know what it was. Soon, though, Ulfhild spied another small group of troglodytes across the river, and charged across the bridge to attack. The rest of us followed, but the bridge was rather unsteady and Gorm and Svenya fell through into the river. While they swam out and got dried off, Carmilla failed spectacularly at taming a wild elk, causing it to charge and nearly kill me! We rest and continue on our way, and soon enough run into another group of humanoids - this time two of them. There are some tiny frog people up in the trees, and human sized ones, their leader riding a giant toad made of ice, who are hunting them for heresy against the "froghemoth." The large ones tell us that we can pass them by if we are not enemies of the "the bullywog," but we seem to have come to a silent agreement that hunting people down for heresy is worthy of battling against, and so enter battle we shall.

The Mushroom Men
Devday, 7th of Lori, 522 E.C.

After everyone finished their preparations, we set out for the Treehouses, though perhaps the route we planned wasn't the best. We reached the Fungal Mass, with many types of fungi scattered around, shooting their spores into the air and causing several members of the party start to feel quite ill. There were some myconids there as well, and they were able to communicate telepathically with those that were ill, warning them of the troglodytes in the area which had been attacking them. They also gave us some mushrooms, telling us that we would understand them better if we ate them. Me, Carmilla and Svenya gave them a try, but didn't feel any different. We took a rest on the other side of the Fungal Mass, hoping the ones that were feeling ill would recover a bit, and me and Carmilla were able to make an antidote to the poison, which we tried to give to Mikkil, but he gave it to Sheperd. On the way to the wood bridge, we saw some shadows flitting through the trees and took a small detour to investigate, coming across a horde of troglodytes. We took them down without much trouble. Mikkil did get knocked out for a moment, but Gorm healed him right up, and Mikkil got them back good, freezing a ton of them at once with a big blast of cold from his troll tusk seax!

Planning a Monster Hunt
Khalday, 6th of Lori, 522 EC

Mom gave me this life runestone 10 years ago today. She always stressed that I have to keep it on me and safe, but she never says why. I've asked her what it does, but she never gives me a real answer. Carmilla says it may protect me if I'm ever near death, but I haven't been able to puzzle anything out of it. A I was sitting in the Sky Tree, looking at it, when I overheard some people talking about a few dangers around the town, like the monsters in the treehouses northwest and some lizardfolk found in an old bandit encampment southeast. Ulfhild seemed eager to go do something about it, so us and our friend decided to go hunt down the monsters. We planned our route, going past the fungal mass, down to the wooden bridge, through moonbridge, and north from there to the treehouses. It's too late to go there today though, so for now it's time for the feast. In the longhouse, Svenya starts telling an old story again, but she does it so well that everyone is entranced by it. The other bard of the village tries to outdo her, but she's much better at it than him. Over at the opposite end, is the jarl's son and his friends. They seem to be planning their own expidition. Carmilla goes over and challenges them to a breath-holding contest, which they change to a drinking contest, but she wins anyways. Ulfhild and them keep insulting eachother, and nearly get into a fight. When it's time to eat after the jarl's short speech, we go back to our table and plan for the trip tomorrow.

Ulfhild Killed a Troll!
Khalday, 6th of Lori, 512 EC

Mama gave me a pretty rock today! She seemed to think it was very important that I don't lose it, but if it's so valuable I don't know why she wouldn't just keep it herself. Later me and my friends went out of the village to play. I buried Jormund with a whole avalanche I blew off the hill! Then I was able to shoot a rabbit with my ice, and Carmilla caught and ate another one raw! At the top of the hill we saw a cave with a raven perched over it, and it looked like it was calling us in. When we went in to explore the cave, we heard a whimpering dog, so we went to help it. We found a starving wolf cub and I fed it my frozen rabbit, which Mikkil and Gorm helped thaw, but then we heard a big troll stomping around in the cave! When it came in the room, everyone scattered to hide near the walls, but when I looked back, Ulfhild was still right in the middle challenging it! I told Ulfhild to run while I ran up to it and tried to distract it by zapping it, but it didn't seem to feel a thing. Ulfhild wouldn't run, and bit the troll on the finger! It put her in its mouth then, and I ran and called for help. Soon Ulfhild's dad came running into the cave and helped fight the troll, but I didn't see what happened next. When they all came out of the cave alive, I was so relieved! I ran and hugged Ulfhild, but I was scared and my sparks were making her uncomfortable so I let her go. Mikkil was hurt too, so I helped him back to town while Jormund carried the wolf - they told me that when they let it out, it went and attacked the troll, probably saving them! Back at the village, Gorm's mom was able to heal everyone right up, and Svenya made our battle sound really amazing! Ulfhild had made the killing blow on the troll, and now people call her Ulfhild the Trollslayer!

Ursula Ragnarsdόttir