Petulant Children

I'm convinced that's all that the Gods are. Just whiny self-entitled children.

So, the trek down the root of Yggdrasil into Nifilheim was no simple walk in the park. Aside from it getting progressively colder (I'm glad for that little bit of Utgard-Loki influence) the path inflicted it's own torments and temptations on us. No one said travelling to the underworld would be a walk in the park.

When we got to Nifilheim, we got to a bridge spanning a massive river with three shields on the ground next to it. Hal said there was supposed to be a guardian and Claire found her corpse under the bridge. She looked like a giant and something very big with big claws tore her to shreds. Hal was able to use his connection to Death to ask her a few questions. We learned she was killed by something called a "Kur" and that we'd come under no harm if we were under Hal's protection and didn't leave the path to Helheim.

So, some vigil branding followed and off we went to Helheim (Claire and I also took a shield for ourselves). The Hall was... large, to say the least, with engravings of Fenris and Jormungadr on the outside. We went inside and, as to be expected, one half of the all was beautiful and pristine, the other half rotten, and decayed. On the far end of the hall, passed a depression filled with blood and wailing souls with serpent's venom dripping on them, was a loud, angry god banging on a door behind Hel's throne.

We crossed the pool of blood (and I had to fight the urge to vomit) and Hal greeted the god as "Father." so, this was Vayu. I really don't like him. He's a chauvanistic brute who clings to the outdated ways of his ancient culture. He's damned charming but... what a brutish jackass.

Anyway, seems the issue at hand is Hal. Vayu and Hel are arguing over Hal and neither side is listening to the others reason. Lexi piped up and started playing couple's councilor. I... wish she was there when Claire and I had our fight. She seemed to make some headway in the discussion, getting Vayu to make an appology, even if it was an arrogant one. Vayu seems to have decided Lexi's going to be his second wife. Ass.

Well, the pleasant conversation couldn't last forever. That kur showed up and litterally tore the roof off the hall. I've dealt with big baddies like this plenty of times already. We'll rip this thing apart and get back to the business at hand.

Dam Removal

It wasn't quite as simple as smashing through stone and dirt. I uncovered buried undead as I "shoveled" away the earthen dam, as well as rune engravings that I smashed. The runes were some sort of spell woven into the dam. Andrew did whatever it is he does and literally grappled with the spell.

Everyone else did their thing. Kennedy was my cover fire, Lexi and Claire were distractions, and Hal was the anvil to my hammer. Five long hours was spent ripping that dam apart, but in the end, we took it down. That was a good feeling, seeing the well refill.

It was good to see our efforts produce positive results and not end up with us getting dug deeper into our own hole. The path we'd taken was much more lush, streams were flowing, and we saw more animals. When we got back to the Norns, they looked much younger and revialized (and is it just me, or does every divine or semi-divine being we run across either made of divine hotness or beaten with the ugly tree?).

We took a bit of a breather and started to make ready to make the descent into Nifilheim, itself. Clair and Ken are planning to make some cold-weather gear from hunted animals, as it's apparently a realm of bitter cold. How this slipped Hal's mind while we were still in the world, I don't know. But then, he's not affected by the common concerns of hot and cold anymore (neither am I, to a certain extent), so I guess I can see how one would forget.

Anyway, according to the Norns, the journey will take nine days, regardless of how fast or how slow we travel. We should probably pace ourselves. We've been doing a lot of walking down here, I wonder if the flow of time is similar. I'd hate for this to be all over only to find several years have passed in the world. Though I suppose that's only in Irish myth, I guess.

Favor for a Favor

So much for stopping Ragnarok and keeping the world safe. We stopped the end of the world, but we didn't stop it's prelude; fimbulvinter. "Final Winter" isn't just an ice age, it's also a metaphorical hardening of hearts and brothers killing brothers. All those wars and tensions we saw in the news? That was Fimbulvinter at work.

The solution, as the norns told us, is to make an apocalypse happen. The world needs to end and start over. I'm hoping we get to sit down with the more knowledgeable members of our band and pick through our options. We can restart Ragnarok, but Odin and most of the Norse won't be too happy with that, or us. There are some other options, the only one I'd heard mentioned, though, was the Aztec's since their myths place us in... what... the 6th world? 5th? I don't remember.

Anyway, the climb had some of us desperately needing sleep (especially Lexi). The norns let us sleep in their cave with the promise we'd check on a well here in Yggdrasil's roots. If it'd run dry then the rivers of the world would run dry. That's something that we really couldn't afford.

We set out the next day and it took another couple of days to get there and when we reached the "well" it was empty. When I say well, it's more like... a caldera. It's a good 15 miles across and 8 miles deep. However, it's not run dry, exactly. There's a three-mile thick dam being built by an army of undead svartalfar. I do wanna know who's behind it, but we've decided to wreck this dam before continuing on.

The plan is for Lexi, Claire, and Rufus to play distraction and cover-fire while Kenny plays lookout and silences me while I work. I'll be smashing my way through the top of the dam and Hal will be working his way up from the bottom. This shouldn't be hard. We just have to punch a hole and let the pressure do the rest.

Time for some idle musing and catching up.

I didn't mention before, but I want to talk about now. Before we went into the underworld, I had an opportunity to see my mothers. I was drawn away from camp by faerie fire, will-o-the-wisps, whatever you want to call them, to a large lake, and I was greeted by Rhiannon, Kennedy's mother. She took me across the lake to her mansion where her other aspects were chatting with Indigo and Kyria was fighting with The Morrigan. Yes, my mortal, amazon mother was having a duel with a goddess. She didn't win of course, but I think there was some warriors respect earned.

Anyway, I got to see my mothers and basically unloaded my baggage on them. They gave me some good advice and were there to help me deal. Even Rhiannon and the Morrigan were sympathetic to my personal issues. I also got a bit of a glimpse at what my birth mother meant to Artemis. They'd been lovers. I guess I understand her anger a bit more. It's just something I'm going to have to endure, I guess.

When I left, Rhiannon gave me a bag containing some small relics to give to the group. The Morrigan also made me an offer, which surprised me. She explained that she appreciates me travelling with her daughter and keeping her safe, even though Kenny really doesn't need my help, but its a safety in numbers thing. Anyway, I took the bargain and the Morrigan laid a geas on me.

Before we get into position for our dam smashing, I'll pass out the relics to everyone.