Day Five of the Odinsleep (Confirming the Plan)

Day Five of the Odinsleep (5 am, 2 hours until sunrise)

Grotto and Niklas both rise before dawn. The sky has only just begun to take on a silvered-gray hue of the coming day. Several inches of snow fell overnight but by now, both have learned that by noon, the blistering heat of summer will be upon the land. They do not train together but the courtyard is not so large that they are out of each other’s view. 

 

Niklas focuses on his grip and the breathing techniques Raven was telling him about the day before while Grotto revels in powerful swings that stretch his muscles and warm his body (and burn through the remaining haze of his alchemical sleep aids).

Cedron, Drax, and Morn all remain asleep while Ra’ziir takes some time to enter the Reverie, replenishing his mind and focusing his spirit. Kysek gives the group a passing glance before retreating to a private alcove to cast a spell of Sending to enable him to send a message to his wife Coelia back on Hyboria.

“My Dear, I know not know how the next day will unfold but know I love you and our son forever.” The elf then closes his eyes and imagines what it will be like when he is finally reunited with his loved ones.

Shadow rises shortly thereafter and reviews his grimoires one last time, committing his spells to memory.

Grotto comes inside after his morning practice and scrounges for leftovers from last night. The dwarf begins mixing everything together and before long the aromatic odors of his sublime cooking begin to fill the air. “We will need to keep up our energy if we mean to confront Loki!”

The smell wakes Raven, cranky and ill-rested due to his failure to enter the Reverie the night before, and he enters the common room. He looks around to see who is up and moving and hears Grotto’s exclamation, “We still intend to make our pursuit of Loki the focus of today’s efforts?”

“Aye!” replies Cedron, “Let the obstacle become our path. If this Loki is the cause of all this madness, then I think we may gain an advantage by bringing a bit of our special madness his way. Regardless, this daily fighting of giants and other creatures seems repetitive and futile at best and terminal at worst. We’re gaining nothing by continuing this approach.”

There is a commotion out in the courtyard the sound of heavy wings flapping followed by the neighing of a horse. The door swings open and two women walk through. The first is Idunn, Asgardian Goddess of Youth. The other is a powerfully build woman with reddish-gold hair. She tops six feet by a hands-breadth, and is clad in scale armor with a shield strapped to her back, and carries a silver spear in her right hand. It is the Valkyrie that Shadow had flirtatiously pursued for the past two nights.

Idunn looks directly at Cedron and he feels the weight of her gaze boring into his heart as she speaks, “And tell me, how exactly do you plan on reaching the home of the Sly One?”

Across town, Korbin continues to eat the food offered to him by the dwarf and replies to his bearded benefactor’s question, “I have never understood why a black bird would fly in the blue sky. It makes more sense to go at night. Also, I get anxious when I have to wait for new treasures.”

The dwarf nods, “I kin understand the thing about the treasure. When I saw ye upon my windowsill, I thought mebbe ye had come to barter fer some trinkets.”