Rhiassa invited us to a festival, and of course the heroes of the realms showed up to partake in the festivities. Early in the morning, Tao ran the casino while only Areni was there on the behalf of Rhiassa to greet us. She informed us that Aeston took many of his countrymen to investigate lightning strikes, but that he should be back shortly. As she was starting to explain the food she had prepared for the day, a large band of armed people dressed in furs crested the hill asking if they had found "the Realms." As we prepared for battle, the one addressing us, who I later found out was called Ulric, continued that he was looking for us as his lands were in great trouble due the aftermath of what we presume was Bedlam. You see, in his lands, the Norlunds, every so often an event called Ragnarok would occur leading to the death and rebirth of the world. On the day this started the darkness attacked them, destroying many of their gods, such as Odin and Freya, during the war. Then one day, the darkness stopped, and the few oracles they had amongst them were able to divine that the Realms was the reason that the darkness stopped attacking. He then stated that some of the surviving gods had sent him and the Jomsvikings here to seek aid from us, as if we could stop the darkness, we may be able to help restore the land, and allow it to begin the cycle once more.
Of course, there was a catch. They needed to construct a Vanfrost to return to their world, and to allow us to follow them in the future. Their gods would help us construct the Vanfrost, but we had to earn their favor first. We were instructed to form groups of three, a group called a wedge which is the formation favored by the Norlund gods. Wedges not only fight well together, but know each other and know how to work together. A group that is bigger than the sum of it’s parts. We were allowed to sign up our groups for two or three quests to prove ourselves to the gods. When not proving ourselves on a wedge, we could prove ourselves to Tyr, the god of war, in combat tournaments. Winners were granted a circular rune on a piece of paper with a Furthark rune in two corners.
Out of the eight gods, my wedge went to Baldr, Loki, and Hoenir. For Hoenir, god of silence and creation, we had to show our ability to cooperate by assembling a boat without talking. For Loki, god of trickery and secrets, we had to overcome his tricks and uncovering his secrets by getting inside of giant puzzle boxes, and for Baldr, god of art and beauty, we had to show the true understanding of art and beauty in our creation of a painting of the Norlunds from the description provided. Any wedge that was successful in their endeavor earned a marble pillar with elaborate circular runes on it.
Over dinner, which was a fantabulous create-your-own hamburger bar, people worked on translating the runes on the marble pillars. Ulric informed us that to form the Vanfrost, we have to compose two larger pillars that formed rhyming couplets. After composing it, the Vanfrost opened, and Ulric led the Jomsvikings back to Norlund to find out how we can help repair their world to the way it used to be. He will be calling us this autumn when he knows the next step.
