It started as a further exploration of the great ice mountain they had found in the northlands on the edge of the Breaking of the World – the mountain that Valakar had called Denali and described as the Bones of the World. It turned into something completely different.
They teleported to the Werewolf Cave discovered on the previous trip (G3 – Cold Drake Killers). After dispatching some sort of giant corpse-worm that was in the cave when they arrived they flew up the mountain – Paradoxides carrying Grettir. It was while scouting around they spotted Ullr. He was chasing down an elk on foot through the snow lying on the slopes of the mountain. It was only once they flew down that they realised that both Ullr and the elk were of giant stature.
At first they took him for a frost giant, for he was rimed in ice. Their usual modus operandi was simply to slay Frost Giants and take their treasure. However, as they approached, Ullr looked up from his butchery of the elk, introduced himself and greeted the adventurers in perfectly good Common Tongue. In their experience, Frost Giants grunted in Black Speech and that rarely. There seems an unspoken convention that once a creature speaks fairly to the adventurers they cease to become immediate prey. It may eventually come to blows but the engagement follows a different pattern. So they accepted the greeting and replied in similar vein.
Ullr spoke persuasively. He seemed to know or deduce much about the party members; he spoke of injustices done to him by his family and his plans to seek restitution; and offered the party gold and glory if they were to follow him in this venture. Ullr gave few details of his family and they asked few questions – too few, perhaps – but gold and glory was good enough for them. Ubaron and Jason were from far away; Paradoxides had never had much truck with religion; Girindor the Elf scarcely believed that gods existed; Grettir, though an Osiran convert, had been raised in the Old Faith and might have thought on; Kolgrim a practising follower of the Gods of the North raised an eyebrow but said nought, perhaps believing that his boss had matters in hand. He was quite wrong about that. So the party and Ullr swore a blood oath and he led them to the summit of the mountain.
It was a hard path. Some of the humans struggled with the altitude and there was snow and ice all around. However, with assistance from Ullr they all made it to the summit and a mighty gate into the mountainside. There were Storm Giants there – whether guarding or besieging the entrance, it was not clear. Ullr banished them with a word and the party followed him into a great hall, with several options off it. Following Ullr they come to a chasm spanned by a narrow bridge of rainbow hue. It was then that it dawned on Grettir that this was Bifrost and that were about to storm Valhalla. The single giant-sized figure sheathed in light standing upon the far side must be the god Heimdall. No-one took a backwards step.
Ullr charges across the bridge and is met on the far side by Heimdall. Jason shoots an incendiary bolt from his crossbow into the Bright God. Paradoxides is able to cast a fly spell – though with great difficulty – and flies Grettir across the chasm. Ubaron and Kolgrim seeing how difficult it is to cast magic, follow Ullr on foot along with Girindor. Jason, having stopped to reload his crossbow, brings up the rear.
Heimdall lands several mighty blows upon Ullr, who is plainly not his equal in combat, and he falls to his knees. However, the arrival of Grettir and Paradoxides forces Heimdall to abandon the bridge and make a stand near a mighty ash tree. There he throws off his golden cloak and the blaze of light emanating from him blinds Paradoxides. Grettir, his head encased in his helmet, the Master of Fire, is not dazzled. Heimdall and Grettir square off and Grettir lands two mighty blows upon the god. Heimdall for his part hews Grettir’s shield in half. Grettir strikes the god again as Ubaron and Kolgrim join the fray. Heimdall steps smartly back and puts his horn – the Gjallarhorn of legend – to his lips and blows a long note. Grettir is stunned and knocked senseless by the blast. Ullr, who has regained his feet, immediately turns tail and runs back across the Bifrost bridge, only to encounter Jason, crossing the bridge in the other direction. Jason levels his heavy crossbow at the god. “To the death, you swore,” says Jason in iron tones. Ullr, stops in his tracks, mumbles his contrition and turns back.
Meanwhile Girindor has managed to animate the ash tree under which Heimdall had made his stand and it wraps itself around him. Nevertheless, the alarm is raised and it is plainly time to leave before the gods and heroes of Valhalla descend upon them with vengeance. With the chastened Ullr’s assistance, the party manages to get the unconscious Grettir and blinded Paradoxides back across Bifrost where both swiftly recover. Ullr declares himself well satisfied with the party’s performance – it was only ill-luck that prevented his complete victory. He gives Grettir a very large golden ring – one of the children of Draupnir, Odin’s golden ring that would reproduce itself eight-fold every nine days. He departs but before he does so, he offers Jason a permanent role as his retainer. Jason regretfully declines. They teleport back to Sequarl.
It does not take long for Grettir to conclude that they really need to make peace with the Northern Gods. He goes to temple of Odin in Chittagong, tells the tale and gives them the ring to confirm his words. The High Priest acts as an intermediary to negotiate a weregild. Each of the companions pays a weregild of five talents and Grettir ten for the wounding of Heimdall. It has been an expensive venture, particularly for Grettir (especially when the cost of (another) new magic shield is factored in). However, Grettir is well satisfied. What other man living can boast that he has fought a god and had him take a backward step? The weregild publicly confirms his tale. Money cannot buy reputation like that. His god-cloven shield joins the others upon the walls of his feasting hall in Sequarl.
A few days later they teleport back to Denali to try to recoup their losses and look once more for dragons. They return after a week with a modest amount of loot and a captured ice-goblin, a race of creature they have never before encountered, which they trade to Guildmaster Tharakor. They have encountered a troll, some sort of undead giant or tupilak. Paradoxides detected no dragon, but a dragon detected them. Once more it flew out of a blizzard one night to breathe its icy breath upon them. As before, no-one was seriously injured and the dragon flew off. There was no sign of it in the morning and it was plainly out of range of Paradoxides’ detection amulet.
G-4
OE Date: November 694
Characters: Grettir, Ubaron, Paradoxides, Girindor, Jason NPCs: Kolgrim
Real World: September 2004; Where: Surbiton
See also Ubaron’s Diaries