Posted: 12 September 2021 (reading time: 7 minutes; 1381 words)
Recap by Melissa Savlov
After vanquishing a Shadow Demon, some Merregon guards, and some demons, Asgardeyða rounds up the sailors they’d recruited at the Vestri Keep Festival and returns to Hrafn’s ship, the Aegir Vargr, for some well-earned R&R.
But not everyone gets the benefits of restorative slumber. Greunthrn, dreams he is ground up into meat and reconstituted as color and light reconstituted at the end of a rainbow bridge—the bifrost. Disoriented and sick to his stomach, Greunthrn sees the god Heimdal standing before him…and then pukes all over his own shoes. He’s deeply humiliated, but Heimdal just laughs good-naturedly and comments that he doesn’t have to bear the indignities of the human body. He waits for Greunthrn to collect himself.
At length, Greunthrn finally bows to Heimdal and asks, “How can I be of service?”
Heimdal offers Greunthrn a quest to find a magical horn that used to belong to Gunnläg, a Horizon Walker ranger who fell during The Horrors. Heimdal shares that the horn is located in the mountains beyond Vestri Keep. After accepting his quest, Greunthrn’s journey back is quite short; all he needs to do is wake up!
Laguza, of course, is the first one to jump at the chance to embark on another adventure. Then, Belnirith consults his familiar Asja, the Valhallan raven, and Viggo, the puppy direwolf; the three of them decide to join in the quest. When Laguza asks Vyshka if she will come along, the hermit shrugs and nods. Greunthrn says: “Hrafn, you coming?” But Hrafn tells them that he can’t go because he must perform a variety of tasks to prepare the ship before they can head off to Raven’s Watch. They say their goodbyes and head for the mountains.
They trudge on through the cold and a light snowfall. They are exhausted, but Greunthrn is able to find the path. Soon, they come upon a loner who is acting skittish and won’t make eye contact with them. They try to engage with him, but he is disinclined to communicate with them. Later, they learn that this skittish stranger was actually a serial killer on the run!
As the intrepid team travels along the side of a mountain with a narrow path when both Greunthrn and Vyshka lose their footing and fall off the side of the mountain. Both of them manage to grab onto something, but they are swinging in the icy wind and their efforts to pull themselves up prove unsuccessful. Fortunately, Laguza manages to pull Vyshka up onto solid ground. Then, Greunthrn manages to swing his seax hard enough to wedge it into the mountainside and catapult himself up. The group takes a breath of relief and continues around the mountain pass, which gradually widens as the weather turns temperate.
Later on their journey they encounter a 50-foot rope bridge, with a 100-foot drop. The bridge appears to be in disrepair — so much so that it would take Belnirith hours to mend it, even with her handy mending spell. Since he brought them on this journey, Greunthrn feels it’s his responsibility to try the bridge.
Laguza suggests that the team tie a rope around Greunthrn and keep a firm hold on it, in case he falls. Things start out well. Greunthrn makes it halfway across. But then his foot goes through a deteriorated plank and he dangles over the ravine below for some time before he manages to pull himself back up. But the danger isn’t over just yet because through Asja’s eyes Belnirith notices that two large flying creatures are headed their way. They look mean and hungry.
While Laguza fires at the first vulture, Greunthrn makes away across the remainder of the bridge and takes cover. Vyshka distracts the vultures with a couple more arrows while Greunthrn takes aim from his hiding place. He hits the second vulture, impaling it in the right breast. Then Laguza uses an axehammer to take down the second vulture. She manages to shackle it and light it afire.
They resume their journey and eventually encounter two carved totems on each side of their path. It looks like two gargoyles are perched atop the totems. They appear to be made of stone, but Belnirith senses that they are real. Gargoyles are known for being malicious guards. So they think it best to shoot first and ask questions later.
Eventually, the team vanquishes both gargoyles, using a combination of combat and spells. Although Vyshka gets bitten in the neck during the skirmish. Laguza also gets bitten in the thigh. But, fortunately, Vyshka’s earlier blessing remains in effect; so they don’t suffer very much.
At this point, it’s around 3:00 in the afternoon and they need to decide whether to approach the outdoor shrine. The team decides to take a short rest. Once they feel recovered, Greunthrn leads them inside the shrine, from the south. There are tombs and dead bodies strewn all around. Greunthrn observes that the nearest body looks about 60 years old. It appears to have been chewed to death. The tombs look very old and correspond with Gunnläg’s time period. Hence, Greunthrn is fairly sure that this is the shrine where Heimdal’s promised horn is hidden. He informs his companions, and they decide to take action.
They notice a larger tomb in the center, atop a pedestal; that one has a scary-looking skull on its lid. Belnirith sends Asja 40 feet up, above the skull, to see what they might learn. The skull responds by flying up itself and then shooting a flame straight up into the air and incinerating Asja to nothingness. The group is stunned, and Belnirith’s eyes flare with hatred and a hunger for revenge. The skull then shocks them further by speaking. It says: “If my master can’t have it, then you can’t, either!”
Six zombies rise from the collection of bodies and make their creepy way toward the group. Vyshka shoots a Guided Bolt at the skull. It hits and does a lot of damage, but not enough to vanquish it. Greunthrn uses his Hunter’s Mark. Belnirith shoots a sphere of fire 40 feet into the air above the skull, hoping to exact Asja’s revenge. Laguza goes large and moves in closer.
The flameskull shocks them all again by shooting a fireball directly at the group behind Laguza. It hits Greunthrn, Belnirith, Vyshka, and even the puppy Viggo. Vyshka gets quite hurt. The others get moderately hurt. But poor Viggo. He’s not moving. Then, suddenly, Viggo hops up, wags his tale, and lets out a friendly little yelp!
Laguza smirks and calls back over her shoulder: “See, I told you he was just playing dead!” Belnirith commands Viggo to run, and the little dire wolf obeys immediately. He hides in some nearby bushes as his master and her friends fight the evil skull and his zombie soldiers.
Vyshka heals herself and the fierce foursome redouble their efforts to fight their foes. Greunthrn succeeds in piercing the skull with an arrow. Green smoke bursts out of the head and the skull shatters to bits. Together, they fight off all the zombies. When Laguza splatters the last one to pieces, she calls out: “Let’s find this horn and get outta here!”
Greunthrn removes the lid of the stone casket. The body inside has long since disintegrated. But the silver horn looks as shiny and new as the day it was made. It’s the most beautiful horn any of them had ever seen. Greunthrn takes a moment to thank Heimdal for the Horn or Aesir and takes it into his possession. From the dead bodies, the team collects quite some loot from the fallen shrine raider bodes strewn around: lots of coins, a potion of greater healing, a Spider Climb scroll in a case, and a Wand of Secrets.
Before they leave the shrine, Vyshka suggests to Belnirith that they hold a ceremony to memorialize Asja. Belnirith looks touched and they all join in to share a solemn moment in honor of Belnirith’s beloved familiar, the beautiful black raven. Afterwards, Vyshka and Belnirith perform ceremony to purify the area.
Marking the end of their adventure, Greunthrn inhales a mighty breath and blows the Horn or Aesir to celebrate the end of the quest.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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