On the Trail of Tersites
In the spring Grettir makes ready his great ocean-going longship, the Stigandi, for a voyage to the far North where lies Skagnar This icy isle was the last known whereabouts of the sorceror Tersites, whose lair the party discovered and looted the previous year (D20). According to legend Skagnar was colonised centuries ago by a wizard from the Southlands, whose descendants dwell there still. The magicians in the party are particularly keen to secure powerful artefacts thought to be about the person of Tersites: the heart of Kinslayer, the Black Sword; a demon for which they have the heart – believed to be in the form of armour; the Nihrain Steed – some kind of transport demon.
For his part Grettir is just as interested in the adventure and the opportunities for lucrative trade with the legendary island. His sloop the Kistin has but recently returned from the Southern Seas with silks, lotus wine and lotus dust in its holds. Grettir reasons that there should be an eager market for such southern exotica on a northern isle where such luxuries must be hard to source. He gathers together a crew of adventurers and household warriors, crams his hold with trade goods. They set sail from Chittagong in late March. They have no rutter nor chart but Wurra, their sailing master, turns the helm eastward from the Otanga estuary, then north past Port Town, Aemilia, round the Guria peninsula and past Cansey. Expertly helmed and sails constantly filled with favourable winds conjured by Girindor, the weather-mage, the Stigandi makes good progress ever northwards.
The Selkie Says
There are several adventures along the way. At one point they encounter a Selkie, who after a sticky start speaks them fairly. He warns them of the Jotun, the malign sprit of the North that rules over the Eternal Ice and does not welcome sun-dwellers in its realm. Grettir gifts him a dwarf-wrought magic dagger. On parting, the seal-man warns both Grettir and Salrod to beware women and sorcery. This is old news to Grettir who always seems beset by both. However, Salrod seems an unlikely victim of feminine wiles. Salrod’s taste in bedfellows lies elewhere and he has never shown the slightest weakness for the ladies.
Pirates and Spiders
Despite local advice against doing so, Grettir decides to take the narrow channel between the Island of Falmar and the mainland, a notorious haunt of pirates. There they are attacked by two longships packed with ……… pirates! The corsairs lay their ships along either side of the Stigandi and a stiff fight on two fronts ensues for the crew. One pirate ship is commanded by a witch who can ensorcel men’s minds. At one point Grettir is forced to subdue Jason, whose mind has been mazed by the sorceress into attacking his own side. At length, the witch is slain along with the huge demonic spiders that burst from her body as she falls. The other longship surrenders.
Oaths are sworn and the captain of this second longship, a man called Ayrtan, along with the surviving crew of both ships swear service to Grettir. They agree to accompany him to Skagnar with both captured longships. Upon completion of this service Ayrtan will be free to depart with his crew and one longship. Ayrtan also agrees to reveal the whereabouts of the witch’s lair on Falmar. Grettir is left with the impression that all-in-all Ayrtan is not unhappy with this outcome, for it seems that the demise of Drusella the Spider-Witch leaves him as the undisputed ruler of Falmar.
All three ships steer into Heflavik, the main settlement on Falmar. There Grettir purchases cargoes of timber for the captured longships, for in Falmar he learns that there are few trees on Skagnar and that wood is in much demand. While this is being arranged, Grettir leads a shore party to explore the witch’s lair. Following Ayrtan’s direction they find a large cavern entrance. Paradoxides flies ahead and is ambushed by a demonic Phase Spider. Stung, incapacitated and cocooned in its web, he is very nearly transported to another dimension, there to be devoured. However, a fusilade of missiles from Grettir and Wilfred slays the spider and Paradoxides is rescued. Much treasure and some interesting lore is found in the cave, along with an evil fane. It is destroyed.
The Sea Dragon
So it is a small flotilla that departs Falmar and heads north on the last leg of the voyage to Skagnar. According to Ayrtan they still have a good couple of weeks to sail – even with Girindor’s conjured winds. The most notable encounter on this part of the voyage is a Sea Dragon. This fearsome creature might have swallowed a smaller ship whole, so it was fortunate that it attacked the Stigandi, where it swiftly perished amid a welter of blows and magics from its elite crew. Brought alongside, it is flensed and its ichor – a valuable alchemical requisite – drained. In its gut is a sword of strange configuration, that the magicians pronounced a Sword of Summoning Sea Creatures. The warriors nod at this but note that while it might summon one, it is evidently not sovereign protection from a Sea Dragon’s annoyance once summoned. Grettir buys it from the company for 8 talents and tucks it away in a chest marked “might be useful some day”.
Skagnar
Arriving at last in Skagnar, they are given a warm welcome on that frigid isle. The Stigandi is the first ship from the south to arrive that year and it seems that despite a two week lay off in Falmar, their arrival so early in the season is unprecedented, thanks to Girindor’s wind mastery. The day after their arrival they are greeted by Hilda, a statuesque blonde beauty, who it seems has been left in charge while her father Thorgard, the ruler of Skagnar, is away “on business”. Notable crew members are invited to the castle. Hilda meets each in turn in the bath house. Perhaps this was a common diplomatic protocol in the Empire, but it certainly seemed strange to Grettir and his companions. However, Grettir could appreciate the cleverness with which it ensured that there could be no hidden weapons carried by either party.
Hilda is charming, and informative regarding Skagnar and its history – founded many centuries before by a sorceror called Petanias – and their struggles to maintain standards of “civilization” in the harsh and barbaric North. She tells of the Eternal Ice and the creatures to be found there – great white bears, snow tigers, snow trolls, golden ice hounds. These last are of great interest to Grettir because they had been told that Tersites had gone to Skagnar to seek a Golden Ice Hound. According to Hilda they are demonic creatures the size of a great white bear and their pelts are valued because they offer great protection against the cold. She has never heard of Tersites, but there is an archive in the castle. She tells Grettir that she will make enquiries.
After the bath-house interviews, all are invited to a great feast that evening. It is a lavish affair. Inevitably some of the crew drink overmuch: Wilf and Salrod both leap onto tables and swear oaths that they will stand upon the Eternal Ice ere they return to Chittagong. Grettir, for his part, is too busily engaged in commerce to drink beyond politeness, for there is huge interest in his cargo, especially the lotus dusts – some of which are deadly poisons – and in the weapons and armour. Every person of rank and wealth in Skagnar is at the feast. It appears that they must all be related, for all claim descent from Petanias. Indeed Paradoxides mutters in Grettir’s ear that they all seem very closely related indeed and the signs of inbreeding are everywhere. Many of them seem quite mad. It is also plain that they all hate each other. Soon they are vying to outbid each other for Grettir’s trade goods. By the evening’s end, Grettir has agreed sales on all his cargoes and goes to bed very satisfied with the night’s work.
Meanwhile another deal is sealed that evening that he will not learn of until the morning.
A Surprise Engagement
The following morning, a surprisingly chipper Salrod seeks a meeting with Grettir who is stunned to hear that his faithful huscarle is seeking to be released from his oaths. He is further astonished to learn the reason. For Salrod – a man who has never before so much as looked at a woman – wishes to be wed. He intends to wed their host, Hilda, and she is in full agreement. They have already exchanged rings.
Grettir has little choice but to go along with the marriage. He makes an attempt to hold out for Thorgard’s return to ensure that he approves of his prospective son-in-law. However, Hilda conjures the face of a man, with a bristling black beard, in a bronze bowl of water. He introduces himself as Thorgard and says that he trusts his daughter’s judgement in this matter and bids them not delay for his sake. Grettir and Paradoxides have no doubt that a sorceress who can so captivate the woman-averse Salrod, would have little difficulty in conjuring a mummer’s visage of one that none there has ever seen in the flesh. Reluctantly Grettir gives his assent and the wedding goes ahead. The whole crew attend amid much ribald humour concerning Salrod’s love-life up till then, including much speculation about the reaction of Crispian the Fop, Salrod’s long-time boyfriend. Aderbarg mutters in Grettir’s ear that he would have got long odds in Sequarl if he’d laid a bet on this outcome.
It is bruited abroad that Salrod will fulfill his oath to stand upon the Eternal Ice and then return to take his place beside Hilda and rule Skagnar as her consort (at least until Thorgard returns). Salrod buys his own ship, a heavy-hulled sloop of local design known as an ice-breaker. It is called the White Witch and is crewed according to advice given by Hilda. On her advice too Grettir buys dogs, sleds and tents, for Hilda confirms that she has found records in the archive saying that Tersites bought such things from Petanias for his journey across the Ice to seek his Golden Ice Hounds. Their departure is delayed by bad weather but on the appointed day Hilda comes down to the harbour to see her beloved depart. As they cast-off she steps on board the White Witch. Hilda is leaving Skagnar and does not intend to return.
Already as they leave the harbour there are signs of disturbance and conflict as the descendants of Petanias vie to fill the power vacuum left by Hilda, no doubt deploying the arsenals so recently put at their disposal by Grettir Strongarm. He sighs, thinking that this is yet another place to which he will never be welcome to return.
The Eternal Ice
The journey to the Eternal Ice is dogged by ill-weather. At the heart of the storms they encounter, Girindor detects the malevolence of the Jotun. Nearly midsummer, they find it is always day. Thus Girindor is unable to greet the dawn in the ritual that restores his power each morning and must husband his magical resources, knowing that should they find what they seek, they will still have to escape the Eternal Ice and the Jotun. Their only guide to their objective is Kinslayer, for the demon sword can sense its own heart and in Paradoxides’ hands it points ever towards it. Unfortunately the route they must take is not a straight line. They make several landfalls (at least allowing Wilf and Salrod to fulfill their foolish oaths), before they find a promising path across a frozen lake. Grettir, Salrod, Wilf, Aranath, Jason, Paradoxides and Girindor take sledges or skis across the lake and come to a huge icy chasm that lays across their path. They have reached their destination.
Girindor communes with the place and describes the chasm as a festering gash in the body of the ice. Like a putrid wound, it is infested with worms, which manifest themselves, darting out of the walls of the chasm, when Aranath tries to fly down there, snapping at him with their mouth-parts. Girindor says there is one huge worm in particular that seems to occupy the space in which he can sense three alien entities – that must be the artefacts they seek.
Unfortunately, the entrance to this worm’s tunnel is far too small for any of the bulky warriors to enter. Attempts by Paradoxides to widen the entrance come to nought. In the end the only person small enough to enter is the wizard himself. So they form a plan, Paradoxides will enter the tunnel and do battle with the worm, ideally slaying it or at least occupying its attention. Meanwhile Girindor, who finds he can walk through the ice, as he can pass through the earth in warmer climes, will collect the artefacts. The five big warriors are effectively to be bystanders, standing by with missiles in case an opportunity presents itself. For a change, the plan works perfectly. Paradoxides slays the worm with his magics; Girindor returns with the artefacts. Reasoning that it is unwise for the two demons to be in proximity to their hearts, lest they try to obtain their freedom, Paradoxides teleports immediately back to Sequarl with Kinslayer and the heart of the armour demon.
The rest of the party flee across the ice with their loot, pursued by snow and ice and biting winds. That night their bivouacs are assailed by Golden Ice Hounds, so that Grettir and his companions get encounter the wondrous beasts that Tersites gave his life to find – and take their pelts. The following day they make it back to the ships where they find Paradoxides awaiting them (after a comfortable night in Sequarl). They cast off immediately and ride a gale southwards, with Girindor using the last fragments of his power to mitigate the worst of the Jotun-storm.
The Homecoming
The Stigandi sails into Chittagong at the beginning of September after a much less eventful home leg, with much treasure in its hold. There is loot aplenty from their encounter with the pirates, the sack of Drusella’s spidery temple and the requisites of the Sea Dragon. However, as Grettir had anticipated, there was even more treasure in the hold from trading in Skagnar, where he had not only sold two shiploads of timber but one of the longships as well. (Ayrtan had sailed back to Falmar, as promised, in the other). In addition he had parted with his original cargo of Southern exotica and Chittagong armaments in Skagnar at excellent prices. In return he received gold, northern trade goods (furs, amber, uncut gems) and magical and alchemical items from the magicians of Skagnar. Every remaining nook of the Stigandi’s hold was crammed with sealskins culled from the shores on their way home. These in turn were sold, with many other goods in the markets of Chittagong at further profit.
A Dream of What Might Have Been
No-one seemed dissatisfied with their share and a great celebration took place in Sequarl Castle to celebrate their return from a profitable voyage. It was a happy occasion, for Salrod was also showing off his new wife – and dancing with all the girls in a way he had never done before. Grettir’s wife Kistin glanced over at her husband, who was gazing at Salrod and Hilda a frown upon his visage. “What ails ye, my lord?” asks Kistin. “Are you not pleased to see Salrod so blithe and carefree, dancing with his new wife?” Grettir thinks a moment. “It is the lack of a choice that troubles me. Salrod has had this new life pressed upon him without consent. We may look upon him and see happiness, but whose happiness is it that we are witnessing? What would the old Salrod make of it? Is it a path he would have chosen for himself?”
There was only one person to whom he could take these thoughts. So Grettir made his concerns plain to Hilda herself. He asked if her sorcery could be reversed so that Salrod might make an informed decision and choose his own future. The tables were now turned: but though Hilda was in Grettir’s stronghold, surrounded by Grettir’s men she answered him levelly. She said that it was not a simple spell, to be cast, dispelled and recast at whim. It was a mutual bond into which much of her own essence was bound. She doubted she could restore the magic once dispelled and could not predict the effect it might have on Salrod. He might be sent mad by the contradictions left in his mind. However, she did have an alternative approach to offer. She could arrange for Grettir to meet the “old Salrod” in a dream world and there pose his questions.
That night in a secluded part of Sequarl Castle, Hilda and Grettir met. Grettir was not alone, for though he had come to respect and even like Hilda, he knew her to be determined, ruthless and perhaps desperate. He was not about to be asleep in her presence without witnesses. Hilda brought various herbs and unguents and explained to Grettir that they would both fall asleep into a shared dream and she would call Salrod (who was abed, and knew nothing of this). Hilda burnt her paraphernalia in the fire, spoke some runes and Grettir fell into a deep sleep.
So Grettir was transported to dark world of tunnels and spiderwebs, where he met with Salrod and they talked. This seemed to be the old Salrod, but he retained knowledge of what had occurred in Skagnar. Grettir posed his question and his friend’s initial reaction was that he did indeed wish to return to his old self. Though Grettir had posed the question in the first place, he found that this was the answer that he had dreaded. He knew that to force Hilda to reverse her sorcery would lead to a path of pain for all of them. He doubted that she would do so willingly and feared for the consequences if put under duress. However, Salrod was still talking and as they discussed the matter further, he began to waver on his initial judgement. As he weighed the arguments he eventually came round to the opposite view. He told Grettir firmly that he would embrace his new reality and his bond with Hilda. He seemed coherent and convinced, so Grettir took him at his word, content that Salrod had given his informed consent, and the matter resolved.
E-1
OE Date: March – September 689
Characters: Grettir, Salrod, Paradoxides, Girindor, Wilf, Jason, Aranath, Tilissiril, Banthil NPCs: A ship’s crew – mostly Sequarl folk
Real World: October 1993; Where – Whitchurch (last part in Putney, Lacy Road)
See also Salrod’s Diaries