Not a word passes between your lips as you race through the Hading. Trees blur into one long wall of wood as each and every step taken sends dirt and grass flying from holes ripped in the ground.
Anyone tracking you would have a field day with the trail in your wake, but that's not something on your mind as you burst through a tree trunk — not slowing for even a moment as wood splinters and falls around you.
Trees scream as you toss them aside. They claw at your skin and flay flesh from bone as you ignore it all in your maddened frenzy. Blood splatters around you as you bust through one final tree, a trail of utter destruction in your wake.
You skid to a halt as your heart sinks further and further, the remains of your home coming into view.
Where once stood a proud, happy farm now holds the massive, gaping maw of a sinkhole.
Steinarr stands at the top of the nearest hill, his body caked head-to-toe in gore. Blood spills off of him like water from a glacier as he stands as still as a statue, his eyes transfixed by where your home once stood.
Scattered all across the land you once called your own are the bodies of ugly, gray-skinned and bristle-backed monsters. They lay in crumpled, mangled heaps as the bloodied forms of your friends and family pick through the wreckage.
When you started moving you don't remember, but you come to a stop next to Sten as he works to pile bodies.
"What happened?" Your words are hoarse and hollow yet filled to the utter brim with barely contained fury. You're on the verge of tears as, no matter the face you land on, you don't find your children anywhere. "Where are my children, Sten!"
"Safe, with Mina. Not a scratch on them." Sten sighs as he runs a hand through his blood-slicked hair. He says something about your house, but you're too far gone at that point to care.
Your legs wobble like rubber before you collapse, the weight of relief hitting you like a longship's ram. The only reason you don't fall flat on your back is thanks to the sudden, supportive appearance of Abjorn's hand.
The last thing you see before you fade out is Abjorn's handsome face twisted in concern.
0~0~0
Drifa sits with your children, playing with them like she would with Sterki. Hallotta sits near them, in her mother's arms. She's a bit too young, a bit too normal of a child to be spending much time with yours just yet.
Footsteps approach your blanket-swaddled, Abjorn-held form. You're forced to pull your eyes away from your children as Randi offers you a steaming hot cup of some warm beverage with a soft smile on her face. Thanking her, you silently nurse the beverage — a soothing, calming brew — as you work to recover from the surge of whiplashing emotions.
The door to Steinby opens and its master walks in. Steinarr deposits his cloak on the rack before scanning the room. Eyes locking with yours, he makes his way around the throng of children scattered about as he arrives before you.
He sits down, elbows on his knees as his shoulders fall with the heavy sigh escaping him. You eye him silently as he works to gather himself, the man who was your father returning for the briefest of moments.
"Halla... I'm sorry that this happened." He's clearly working himself up for something, but you're not looking for an apology. All you want is answers.
So you cut him off at the turn. "What happened?"
"Troll-men on a raid. They dug up from beneath your farm, nobody could've seen it coming," he doesn't really believe that, though. It's obvious in the glimmer in his eyes and the set of his shoulders that he's holding himself accountable for failing to catch it in time. "The first place they breached was beneath your floorboards, where your children were napping. Stigandr," his eyes dart to where the shrouded form of Stigr lays — dead, but not truly so, "was alone at the time. I don't know what went down, but he kept your children safe."
Stigr had been found with the broken blade of Wanderlust imbedded point-out in his arm — the only hint towards the events that took place before the fight spilled out into the farm-at-large. Already, some of the men of Asvir who had come to help out were calling him 'Safety-Bringer'.
You don't know how to repay him for this act. It's the sort of thing that you'd marry a man over, were you not already married.
"After that, the battle took on a new heat as the Troll-men breached your barn and carried off your animals — your huskarls fighting like mad to stop them from reaching the children." You stare at the ceiling, a new white-hot and sticky hate sparking in your heart. "I don't have the stock to replenish your herds, but I'll give you what I can."
"Thanks, dad."
"Thanks are unnecessary, but appreciated." The small, goofy grin that flashes over his face is at odds with how he's acted these past few years, but it's a welcome respite from the dourness of Steinarr Freedfire. "I entered the scene soon after, when Tryggr and Trausti shot off some kind of ice-air bomb," the explosion you heard from the Hading, "but by then the battle was mostly over. I killed what few remained and then you arrived."
With that said and done, Steinarr slaps his hands against his knees as he rises to his feet. Before he goes, he asks if you need anything. You tell him no and he nods before getting back to work outside.
Abjorn's soft snores slowly lull you off to sleep but before you slip off to that warm slumber, you notice the lack of something in your soul.
The weight of an owed debt is missing.
(Journal Entry Added: Troll-men Reprisal)
(Muna: A Mother's Fear added)
0~0~0
Personal (Pick 2/3, if no Exploration is picked):
[ ] (Troll-men Reprisal) The sinkhole where your house once sat, does it lead anywhere?
[ ] (Empty Sack) ...Maybe you should try stuffing that empty sack full of straw?
[ ] (Violent) Pick a fight or spar with... (Sparring with people reveals a summery of their character sheets)
-[ ] Spar with Abjorn, your husband
-[ ] Spar with Gabriel, without armor
--[ ] (Optional) With armor
-[ ] Spar with Stigmar
-[ ] Spar with Stigr
-[ ] Spar with Aki
-[ ] Someone else (Write in)
[ ] (Personal) Spend time with... (Write in)
[ ] (Shopping) Ask Abjorn to buy something for you (Write in) (Can only be used to buy or sell things you are already aware of and cannot haggle)
[ ] (Court) Send Abjorn to make a case at the Thing (Write in) (Unavailable)
[ ] (Crafting) Try to make something (Write in) (Hugr+Some kind of crafting skill)
-[ ] (Optional) Focus on repairing something (Write in)
[ ] (Poetry) Try to realize an Inspiration (Write in one of your Inspirations)
0~0~0
Exploration/Travel (Pick 1 or none):
[ ] (Visit) Go visit...
-[ ] The Witch!
-[ ] Asvir!
--[ ] (Optional) Attend the Thing (Unavailable)
-[ ] Vidby, Vidar's Farm
-[ ] Kerby, Stigr's Farm
-[ ] Buriby, Osborn's Farm (Has a guaranteed chance of ending in a fight)
-[ ] Glebby, Sverre's Farm
-[ ] Runby, Aki's Farm
-[ ] Horrby, Horra's Farm (Has a very good chance of ending in a fight)
--[ ] Rather than visiting normally, you instead stealthily approach and try to scout it out.
-[ ] Halfdanby, Halfdan's Farm
[ ] (Exploration) Go on a walk through...
-[ ] The fields!
-[ ] The Hading!
--[ ] (Optional) Try to find those bandits you heard about
-[ ] The hills!
[ ] (Battle) Go and attack somewhere...
-[ ] Attack the bandit camp to the North
0~0~0
Training: You have 32d6 training dice to spend as you see fit.
[ ] (Research) Try to figure out how things work (Write in)
[ ] (Blackhand) Try to develop old/train new hugareida tricks (Write in)
[ ] (Steinarr's Training) Ask Steinarr to teach you a trick/some tricks (Write in)
[ ] (Training) Hamr (29 successes to rank up)
-[ ] (Optional) Train a hamr skill or trick (Write in)
[ ] (Training) Hugr (21 successes to rank up)
-[ ] (Optional) Train a hugr skill or trick (Write in)
[ ] (Training) Fylgja (5 successes to rank up)
-[ ] (Optional) Train a fylgja skill or trick (Write in)
0~0~0
Orthstirr Available: 139
How do you want to use your orthstirr? You can turn on passive tricks here.
[ ] (Orthstirr Usage) (Write in)
0~0~0
Fylgja Capacity: 4/7
Do you want to withdraw or deposit anything in your fylgja?
[ ] Write in (Optional)
0~0~0
Equipment Management
What do you want to have equipped? Leaving this blank means that no changes are made.
[ ] Write in (Optional)
0~0~0
AN: You're currently staying in Steinarr's house and he's bearing the load of keeping you and yours well-fed.
I don't think that there's anything I missed.
Also, you guys managed to guarantee everyone so good job on that!
25-minute moratorium.
