On the night appointed, Yspadadden summoned the Night Wind and bade it carry him to the Nine Barrow Downe, there to meet with William the Marshall. The Marshall awaited him there, armed and armoured and carrying a strange sceptre that the Dwarf could immediately tell was an ancient and eldritch artefact. The Marshall greeted him and explained that the sceptre was an heirloom of his folk. It allowed him to summon the lich of the barrow they stood upon and ask of it questions. Five questions it allowed him each year. He would summon the lich now. He had already asked his questions but it would repeat the answers. The Marshall raised the sceptre and spoke the words of summoning. The air turned chill and from the barrow rose a draugr.
Concerning a Conversation between the Marshall and the Lich …..
1. THIS SUMMER THE WITCH-WIND BLEW: WHAT PRESAGES THIS?
- The Storm is a warning,
- Of a New Lord’s Dawning
2. HOW COMES THIS TO BE?
- She that shrieks Runes of Calling
- Dragging Forth Star-Fire Falling
- Plots Your Death, Your Life’s Ending
3. WHEN SHALL THIS BE?
- At this Year’s End the New Year Dawns
- For You My Lord the Grave-Pit Yawns
4. HOW THEN AM I TO DIE?
- She that Brought the Fire-Demon’s Fall
- Bane-metal took to the Dwarf’s Dark Hall
- Dread-Rites Will Forge the Blade Fell
- To Drag Your Screaming Soul to Hell
5. AM I THEN DOOMED, OR CAN THIS FATE BE THWARTED
- I Speak of Things that May Yet Be
- Still Time Has Not Run Out For Thee
- Slay the Dwarf! Slay the Witch!
- And Life May Still be Long and Rich
- In Either Fail and the Tomb Shall Beckon
- Your Life in Weeks She Shall Reckon
With that the Lich returned to the earth whence it came. The Marshall turned once more to the Dwarf. “You see now why I was so quick to suspect you. It seems so unlikely that a Dwarven weaponsmith of arcane powers should cross my lands and come to my castle just this summer – yet not be the Dwarf of the prophecy. However, it is my judgement that you speak true. Moreover, hunters loyal to me have sworn reports of another dwarf seen recently in the forests to the northwest of my lands. If you would further impress upon me your goodwill I would have you seek out this dwarf and slay him for me. I will furnish you with guides and supplies. What do you say?”
Yspadadden thought a moment. “It is not the custom of my folk to slay each other. However, pacts with witches and the forging of bane-weapons for assassination does not sit well with me. And plainly his deeds have impinged upon my own reputation and that of my folk. I will seek for this “Dwarf’s Dark Hall” for you – though this may be no easy matter if these forests are not small. I will gather such friends as I can interest in this endeavour and seek you at your castle, as soon as I may”.
The Man and the Dwarf shook on it and then the Dwarf summoned the Night Wind once more and returned to Chittagong. There he sought out Ranulf, Wilfred and the Elf Lorandil who agreed to join him. Lorandil and Yspadadden transported Ranulf and Wilf to the Marshall’s castle. There they were furnished with a ship and crew, for the quickest means to their destination was to row up the North Otanga and then up a smaller tributary. They were also furnished with two of the Marshall’s huscarles. The first was a bear of a man called Smerlas; the other was taller and rangy and named Jamet. Smerlas was plainly first and foremost a warrior and was accoutered with a hauberk; Jamet was more lightly armed and professed to have some hunting skills.
The boat took us to the nearest navigable point to the forest where the dwarf had been spotted. Lorandil and Jamet cast around for hopeful trails. The process took several days which were not uneventful – there were encounters with Ogres and goblins. However, Jamet proved an excellent woodsman and Lorandil’s skills were beyond human. Eventually they found a trail that lead to a cave at the back of which the dwarves could detect a hidden dwarf-door. They opened the door with a Knock spell and entered. Led by Lorandil with assistance from Ranulf they began to explore a vast complex of tunnels seeking the resident. Meanwhile the resident dwarf had detected the intrusion. Armed with a cunningly wrought crossbow, that could shoot five times without a reload, and many magic bolts, he severely wounded Jamet at the entrance. There then ensued a game of cat-and-mouse around the complex before the party had him trapped – though in a strong defensive position. However, as Yspadadden squeezed through the narrow tunnel, his assailant missed his blow. On equal terms once more, Yspadadden’s axe-work proved superior and he dealt the dwarf a mortal wound.
As he lay dying the dwarf beckoned forward Yspadadden and Ranulf and spoke to them in the Dwarvish tongue. He gave his name as Regir. He told them that they were now his heirs, and might take Dingradur as their own with his blessings and those of his dead kin, for he was the last of his family. He asked only of them that they inter him in his prepared crypt and not to disturb his grave goods, nor those of his kin nearby. In return he also told them when and where to expect the witch, Oona, his ally. Then he died and the dwarves took his body and laid it out as instructed. (Wilf was all for looting the crypt anyway but the dwarves stood firm on this. He was somewhat mollified to receive the dwarf’s crossbow in his share of the loot.)
The party found Jamet and tended his wounds – he would survive. Then they awaited the arrival of Oona at the Watergate – a hatch over an underground stream. The attempt to take her was botched due to misfortune, but Yspadadden grabbed a handful of her scalp before she turned into an otter and slipped away. Smerlas was distraught, for it was his shot that went awry, but when they returned to the Marshall’s castle, William professed himself well pleased. With the name and the personalia taken by Yspadadden it was not difficult to identify her and her kin, who hoped to benefit from her plotting. Soldiers were dispatched, arrests made and executions ensued.
So it was that Yspadadden became the new Hren of Dingradur and Ranulf his Zahren.
D-6
OE Date: August – September 686
Characters: Yspadadden, Wilf, Ranulf, Lorandil NPCs: Smerlas, Jamet
Real World: When – Autumn 1989; Where – Totton