Day Four of the Odinsleep (Korbin's Ordeal Begins)
Day Four of the Odinsleep (7:40-Noon)
Korbin turns and flies off in the wake of the two massive ravens and disappears from sight. The two black birds lead the crow over the embattled landscape and beyond the fields of the dead and dying. As they fly, the air continues to warm as the spring of morning gives way to the rising heat of the summer noon. Hours pass as they soar, seemingly with no destination in mind until they begin to descend into the trees beyond the Plains of Vígríðr. Like umbral blots against the green background of the forest, the two ebony birds descend into the trees until the dark pool outside of the rickety wooden shack of the three women.
The ladies, Maiden, Mother, and Crone emerge.
The Mother speaks, “Hugin and Munin, thee returneth and I seeth yond thee bringeth K'rbin of Aesopica with thee. Doest this cullionly that gent hast reconsid'r'd our off'r?"
The birds nod as one, “He has, Mother Norn.”
The crone sidles forward, slipping through the space between Mother and Maiden and smiles, her gray iron teeth exposed for all to see, “Then is shalt beest done. Thy sparketh of imm'rtality shall passeth to the Swan Moth'r and we shall giveth pow'r undream'd of to thee in exchange. Doth thee concur?"
Korbin nods, “I do.”
The Maiden approaches, “Come with me and we shall beginneth the c'remony. I might not but warneth thee, this first parteth shall did hurt."
The beautiful young Norn leads Korbin over to the exposed root of a massive tree. "This is a root of Yggdrasil, the W'rld Ash. It binds and supp'rts all of the Nine Realms togeth'r and tis through it, yond thy pow'r shall floweth. One stream coming out, anoth'r coming in. Maketh yourself eft, K'rbin.”
The Maiden takes Korbin by the wing and lays him prostrate upon the root. A pair of silver stakes appears in her hand and she presses the cold metal tips down through his feather, piercing the flesh beneath and affixes him to the wood.
Blinding pain rips through Korbin’s outstretched wings and his vision blurs as he feels something take hold of his…soul? Is that what he’s feeling? Time becomes lost to him as the wood leaches away his essence, leaving an empty space deep in his spiritual center and his head lolls to one side.
- - - - -
Most of the party looks on in stunned bewilderment at the unexpected display of physical prowess by Idunn. As the Jotuns, trolls, and ogres thrash about in the mud at the base of the wall, Shadow asks if anyone wants to go down and finish the brutes off.
Raven raises one eyebrow and looks at the dark elf, “Can’t you just change the mud back into rock?”
Shadow opens his mouth to reply, closes it for a moment, and then responds, “Well, that would be a neat trick had I thought to learn that spell today. I will prepare better in the future.” Instead, the drow waggles his fingers and conjures tiny flying dagger and sends it down to harass and torment the mired foes. The tiny blade flits back and forth like a mosquito and does about as much damage as the insect but its incessant buzzing does annoy the giants and their kin enough for them to swat and grab at it, only to have it slip between the gaps in their fingers.
“Breathtaking!” exclaims Cedron, “absolutely breathtaking! And what you did with the ladder was nice as well.” The minstrel throws the goddess a nervous wink, still wary of flirting with her given the nature of her divine husband. “So…if this Loki is deceptive, then an attack on the wall would be more of a distraction, especially with your grand power, Idunn. He would know that these creatures pose no threat to you. What would he gain by taking attention away from the orchard? Is there a way to enter the orchard other than through the wall? Tunnels perhaps? To defeat the devious, we must think like the devious. That is where we will find the greatest threat, m’lady.”
Idunn nods, “To say that the Jotun pose no threat would be an overestimation of my own power but yes, this attack was a ruse, or more accurately a ruse within a ruse. The few Jotuns and their minions would not have been able to hold this section of wall long enough to inflict any damage on the orchard or the city beyond but they would have drawn defenders from other sections of the wall, leaving their army’s actual objective less well defended.”
Grotto chuckles, commenting that Idunn would make a fine wife for his own god Hanseath while Desmond takes a pull from a flask stashed in an inner pocket of his vest. Arthur shakes his head in awe to clear it while Morn murmurs, “When gods wage war…” Niklas manages to whisper a choked “How the…” before turning his attention back to the wallowing giants and loosing a few arrows at them from his bow.
Drax, only mildly shaken by the display of the goddess’ power resumes a stance of watchful readiness while Hansuke prowls the wall in his cat-form.
Kysek joins Ra’ziir as the bladesinger continues to ponder the re-enchantment of Raven’s damaged armband, convinced that the magical dweomer Shadow detected was some sort of binding magic but what sort of creature or spell was bound within the gems?
Korbin turns and flies off in the wake of the two massive ravens and disappears from sight. The two black birds lead the crow over the embattled landscape and beyond the fields of the dead and dying. As they fly, the air continues to warm as the spring of morning gives way to the rising heat of the summer noon. Hours pass as they soar, seemingly with no destination in mind until they begin to descend into the trees beyond the Plains of Vígríðr. Like umbral blots against the green background of the forest, the two ebony birds descend into the trees until the dark pool outside of the rickety wooden shack of the three women.
The ladies, Maiden, Mother, and Crone emerge.
The Mother speaks, “Hugin and Munin, thee returneth and I seeth yond thee bringeth K'rbin of Aesopica with thee. Doest this cullionly that gent hast reconsid'r'd our off'r?"
The birds nod as one, “He has, Mother Norn.”
The crone sidles forward, slipping through the space between Mother and Maiden and smiles, her gray iron teeth exposed for all to see, “Then is shalt beest done. Thy sparketh of imm'rtality shall passeth to the Swan Moth'r and we shall giveth pow'r undream'd of to thee in exchange. Doth thee concur?"
Korbin nods, “I do.”
The Maiden approaches, “Come with me and we shall beginneth the c'remony. I might not but warneth thee, this first parteth shall did hurt."
The beautiful young Norn leads Korbin over to the exposed root of a massive tree. "This is a root of Yggdrasil, the W'rld Ash. It binds and supp'rts all of the Nine Realms togeth'r and tis through it, yond thy pow'r shall floweth. One stream coming out, anoth'r coming in. Maketh yourself eft, K'rbin.”
The Maiden takes Korbin by the wing and lays him prostrate upon the root. A pair of silver stakes appears in her hand and she presses the cold metal tips down through his feather, piercing the flesh beneath and affixes him to the wood.
Blinding pain rips through Korbin’s outstretched wings and his vision blurs as he feels something take hold of his…soul? Is that what he’s feeling? Time becomes lost to him as the wood leaches away his essence, leaving an empty space deep in his spiritual center and his head lolls to one side.
- - - - -
Most of the party looks on in stunned bewilderment at the unexpected display of physical prowess by Idunn. As the Jotuns, trolls, and ogres thrash about in the mud at the base of the wall, Shadow asks if anyone wants to go down and finish the brutes off.
Raven raises one eyebrow and looks at the dark elf, “Can’t you just change the mud back into rock?”
Shadow opens his mouth to reply, closes it for a moment, and then responds, “Well, that would be a neat trick had I thought to learn that spell today. I will prepare better in the future.” Instead, the drow waggles his fingers and conjures tiny flying dagger and sends it down to harass and torment the mired foes. The tiny blade flits back and forth like a mosquito and does about as much damage as the insect but its incessant buzzing does annoy the giants and their kin enough for them to swat and grab at it, only to have it slip between the gaps in their fingers.
“Breathtaking!” exclaims Cedron, “absolutely breathtaking! And what you did with the ladder was nice as well.” The minstrel throws the goddess a nervous wink, still wary of flirting with her given the nature of her divine husband. “So…if this Loki is deceptive, then an attack on the wall would be more of a distraction, especially with your grand power, Idunn. He would know that these creatures pose no threat to you. What would he gain by taking attention away from the orchard? Is there a way to enter the orchard other than through the wall? Tunnels perhaps? To defeat the devious, we must think like the devious. That is where we will find the greatest threat, m’lady.”
Idunn nods, “To say that the Jotun pose no threat would be an overestimation of my own power but yes, this attack was a ruse, or more accurately a ruse within a ruse. The few Jotuns and their minions would not have been able to hold this section of wall long enough to inflict any damage on the orchard or the city beyond but they would have drawn defenders from other sections of the wall, leaving their army’s actual objective less well defended.”
Grotto chuckles, commenting that Idunn would make a fine wife for his own god Hanseath while Desmond takes a pull from a flask stashed in an inner pocket of his vest. Arthur shakes his head in awe to clear it while Morn murmurs, “When gods wage war…” Niklas manages to whisper a choked “How the…” before turning his attention back to the wallowing giants and loosing a few arrows at them from his bow.
Drax, only mildly shaken by the display of the goddess’ power resumes a stance of watchful readiness while Hansuke prowls the wall in his cat-form.
Kysek joins Ra’ziir as the bladesinger continues to ponder the re-enchantment of Raven’s damaged armband, convinced that the magical dweomer Shadow detected was some sort of binding magic but what sort of creature or spell was bound within the gems?
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