by Mikey "Janus" Donnelly
Ulric reached out to the adventurers of the Realms as things were really bleak. The many worlds of Norlund were in chaos, and their gods were no longer responding. As such, us heroes of the realms were called in to go to Asgard and find out how to rebuild the worlds of Norlund from the gods directly. Our one hint was a single Asir-rune we had deciphered ahead of time. And so, with that, we took to the bifrost to begin our trip to Asgard. We arrived in Midgard with fighting happening all around. Death and destruction was rampant, but we fought our way successfully to the other gate. The one we discovered how to make last year. And so, through said gate, we found ourselves at the true beginning of this chapter of the story. Our first steps into Asgard.
Upon stepping into Asgard, it became clear to us that there would be much to do this day. Prominently in the room, there were 6 battle maps set up, one for each of the realms where mortals resided. It was readily apparent that things were not going well for the forces of the Jomsvikings in these worlds. Near them were small forges with which to make troops should we have the materials. Then there was what appeared to be an altar made of tiles with the symbol of Thor on it. And finally, a canvas with supplies to mark it up. Once we all had arrived through the gate, Thor finally spoke to us in a booming, but weak voice. He stated. That since bedlam had attacked, and the lack of Ragnarok, the Asir were slowly dying. That the worlds were beginning to unravel due to the deaths of many of the Asir. To prevent this unravelling, we would need to travel to various worlds with the Asir-runes and place the rune within the Aether. Next, we also had to keep the lands of Norlund safe. We could command armies and while we could not create life, we could create forces from primal clay should we use them the correct way. Finally, we discovered we needed to create unique aspects for creating new gods, also using this primal clay. With this knowledge, we began ordering troops around, crafting the first of the Asir-runes and eventually departed to our first destination.
When we arrived, we discovered a force of clay elementals opposing us, which would become a bulk of the forces we would continue to encounter throughout the day. We fought through various corridors finding ways to make a new Asir-rune along with elemental clay, until we came to an area covered with vines and plant monsters while reptilian creatures began to attack us. We slowly discovered a way to make us immune to plant toxin and found the schematics for a structure which when constructed would lead us into the Aether to deposit our banner containing the first Asir-rune we had.
From there, we returned to Asgard, where we worked on the tiles for aspects of gods, ordered troops around the various realms and created our next Asir-rune banner. With it, we fought our way towards a swiftly flowing river with a small island in the middle. We fought various fish in it’s waters as we scavenged supplies to make ships and found the schematics to construct the next structure to make our way into the Aether, and hang our new banner. From the aether, we returned to Asguard once more, made a new Asir rune, and started our journey anew once more.
Here we fought our way to where two glaciers were being held back by faltering campfires as the Aurora-Borealis shone on us. As we began building a new structure to take us to the Aether, we noticed the glaciers slowly creeping towards us, bringing with it impending doom. Quickly, heroes of the realms cut down some trees and used them to bolster the fires while the Aurora-Borealis slowly kept disorienting us, and made our building of the newest structure take longer than it otherwise would have. Eventually, the structure was completed, and we left that place to hang the new banner.
With the new Asir-rune we had gathered we fought our way to a great sea which was truly dangerous to navigate. The dragons and currents made the path difficult, but we navigated across the sea successfully and built a structure to lead us into the Aether. This time, upon heading to Asgard, we feasted on delicious foods (exactly what we needed after the day we had so far) before going to create a new rune to bring us to a place we recognized for once: Ashenmark.
In Ashenmark, we found an old temple that was overrun by demons, and what appeared to be a corrupted banner of a god. Specifically, of Dio. We slowly managed to recreate the image of Dio by removing the corruption from tiles the demons had, but the image this time also contained a phoenix’s feather. Upon completing the mosaic, we felt energy flow as Dio was reborn as Vivant, based from the High Auroran word Vive, or life. He was reborn as a blank slate, and stated he would provide us aid in what was to come. So, we hung the next Asir banner, and returned to Asguard.
This time, as we readied to leave Asguard we heard the voice of Udr speak to us as we were given a poem of what was needed to create the new Asir. First we needed to snatch orbs of power from the air that we could only gather after defeating our foes. We did this by killing clay elementals and grabbing actually gathering the energy from the air. We then went to a place where six alter stones waiting for new Asir. We layed 3-4 tiles down in front of each alter stone, and there was water with unlit candles within it. Upon each tile we placed 3 orbs of power, and emptied into the water powder from a realm where we were having troops battle. We lit the candles in the water with the spark of divine fire from the Asir runes we raised into the aether earlier. And then we all gave our final breaths to be the first breath of the Asir. It was in this way that the following Asir were born; Lormar, the Patron of Helheim who embodies Storm, Defence and Loyalty; Crow, the Patron of Nivlheim who embodies Vengence, thunder and Fortitude; Sovereign, the Patron of Muspelheim who embodies History/Saga, Reality, and Progression; Graynar, the Patron of Svartalvheir, who emboies Law, Balance, and Freedom; Tychiesaurus, the Patron of Midgard, who embodies Dinosaurs, Fun/Hooray, and Luck; and finally Vivant, the Patron of Jotenhiem who embodies Hearth, Community/the commonfolk, hope and the Deer/Stag. Upon their creation, with all of us dead, we heard the voice of Crow thank us for the creation of all, with a request of giving them one year to gain strength. In one year, I shall return to see how their world has changed, and find out how it has gone.