FIFTH SESSION

Warriors in Attendance

Albert, now the Hero, "Bonebreaker"

Vic, now the Swashbuckler, "Untouchable"

A brief recap: the gang went out on a quick land trip while Albert and Vic were in the court of King Vagn. They returned bearing the body of a serial killer who had used enchantments to remain invisible during his preying on the village of Husvik. King Vagn rewarded them, but bade them to seek bigger fish to fry.

FAROE,

looked so much smaller on the map they had just purchased. The money was meant to be divvied up into shares, but as the rest of the band were not at hand at the moment, Albert and Vic figured they could "borrow" some spare change and get a little intelligence on the region. The interior forests and mountains were a mystery, but there was a string of settlements they figured they could look into.

The first stop was Breidrtorp, which while a profitable place to find employment, had nothing of interest to the two. Klaholm was quite the improvement however; the local young men had much scrumpy, well distilled by freezing the water out of it. Over a drink with a warrior missing an arm, Vic boiled down the rumors floating around the tavern into a story of an off shore island with an abandoned hold, in the grasp of a man-monster holding a throne that could be claimed by anyone with the guts for it. The man made it quite clear he did not want to hear of the local youth being drafted for such a death sentence.

Noting the details and bearing of the island for later, the two and their companion moved on towards Axlarhagi, a burgeoning town with a thriving economy based on plunder and shipbuilding. In the driving snow they saw firsthand why the town didn't take to agricultural pursuits; as they followed alongside a man delivering a cattle they saw a great Wyvern swoop down and impale the beast, flying away with it like a duck chomps on a weightless morsel of bread. The alarm was lowered when they made their way inside and helped explain the commotion to the Jarl... he had made it clear, he remarked, that livestock were not to be brought here in bad weather, so as not to attract such a great predator.

None the less, the wolves made their intentions clear in their desire to find work. They offered to track and hunt down the Wyvern, but the Jarl said he was more concerned about a nearby village that had slipped out of his grasp. He offered a just reward to those who would succeed where his picked men had failed, as he could spare no more of the towns defenders to go out lest he lose order at home.

Albert and Vic picked a few mercenaries, and when they did so an Axeman of proud bearing offered himself to their cause for merely a half share of the treasure.

Their band set out towards the village, knowing that some manner of necromancer had sway over bones and was raising them to serve as troops. Indeed, at night they fell upon a score of the walking bones, carrying barrows full of yet more bones to the south of the village. The warriors set in, expecting the foe to crumble... but the deathless vigor, and their inability to be fazed made these skeletons a terrifying foe. It was a miracle the mercenaries' morale did not falter, and Albert seized on their stubbornness by boasting he would smash this host twice the size of his own with their own bones! The battle began to swing against the mindless undead as men dropped blades and picked up femurs, before Vic shouted aloud that she would not take one step backwards in the face of death! The skeletons faltered: as Albert began to feel the sting of their daggers, his companion Argon stepped forward and proclaimed that he had saved his life once before, and he would not let that be pointless now. The undead seemed paralyzed by fear for a precious moment, and their advance was halted in the face of such boastful heroics. Several men went down before the job was done, however.

In the aftermath, strewn amongst the bodies and bones there was discontent and mutiny. Albert held his troops to their pledge, and demanded their continued service; he boasted he would kill that necromancer --

But then!

Kristjan, the axeman they had hired for a half share, stepped forward. Albert's leadership was shit, the battle a terrible fools play. If he couldn't handle this decisively, Kristjan said, the rest of this expedition was shot. He would assume control, lead the party back to town, hire more mercenaries, and pay out a half share each to Vic and Albert for being his hangers on while he got the job done.

This did not sit right with Albert you could say, who swaggered up to him and pointedly told him to his face no, he would kill the sorcerer responsible, and end the village's occupation... with just the 7 men present.

Kristjan laughed in his face, and said he was more than ready to settle this ballsy attitude of his down by honorably trading blows... when Vic stepped forward, and boasted she'd take this dance, and that Kristjan would not land one blow on her before she had won.

The two settled into position, both equipped in full maille with heavy weaponry. Vic's Sword of War, Kristjan's Dane Axe.

Cockily, Kristjan offered her the first shot. Vic laid the first hit into him, and ducked low under his axe swing. Right as he had recovered, she slid in with a stab to his breast. Narrowly avoiding letting her put her full weight into it to burst the rings, he readied himself for an overhead which she yet again dodged. Frustrated and weary from these overcommitted swings, he knew he had just one shot.

As she swung, and missed, he launched forward, with a blow that would strike her down.

The blow never connected.

As he stood there with his axehead in the dirt, Vic laid a telling blow right into his side that left him wounded and sprawling, begging for mercy. Magnanimously as she had in Borg with that noble son, she let him live as an example, putting the name of "Untouchable" on the lips of the men around her, as Albert had made himself out as a "Bonebreaker" to them as well.

The mercenaries admitted their leading duo had balls. They still wanted their pay, and they made it clear they'd leave as soon as things became unwinnable, but for now order was kept and the party was whole.

The morning yet awaits; with a score of the undead now disassembled who knows how the necromancer will fair...? Will Albert's mad quest succeed, or shall he find his fate? Worse yet, will his courage leave him, and see him abandon his foolhardy boast? It would not do for the captain of their nascent fleet to be of such low character... but what is a pirate if not the scum of the sea?

The Romans said "Audentes Fortuna Iuvat", the Giants said "Akur Akir Akam", but the message is always the same:

Champions are rewarded by fortune!