Signy too enters the hall last of all in the shadows of the rest of the party, accompanied by a swishing of dresses and the occasional rattle of charms. You've grown to know the strangely raven-haired woman well over the winter months and while she fully acts the image of a mysterious cunning woman you know that, although possessing surprising innate talent, she is only new to start proper mastery of her sorcerous powers. "As my jarl wishes", her words spoken softly and lost amid the hubbub.
...........................
As the two men talk and boast in earnest you are largely left to listen to the tales and talk among yourselves, enjoying an early lunch of black bread, butter, the last of the winter’s pickled flounder, fresh spring greens (cooked with white beans and a ham hock), and several pints of beer. As the meal draws to a close Jarl Olaf bids you farewell, "There are horses for you at the stables, mind you don't leave my daughters waiting long at the gates."
You take your leave and stop by the stables, where several of the jarl's fine horses are ready and waiting for you. You know it is a great responsibility to be charged with use of the jarl's horses as they are extremely valuable and the trade of such brings much-needed coin to the region.
Spoiler: Horses
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Light horse on loan for anyone who wants one - Mørkedrømevandrer, Skorri, Signy? Gunnar has his own horse and Freyja is too big!
You arrive at the Silvermeade stockade wall to find the gate open and three young women astride fine horses waiting there impatiently. The oldest wears a dress of blue linen with a squared border of small yellow flowers embroidered around the neck. She is tall and fair of face, her golden hair coiled about her head in braids and covered in a silver net. Her face favors her father, and she is introduced by your escort as Inga, the Jarl’s oldest daughter. Next to her upon a skittish mare sits a girl of perhaps thirteen. Her dress is a plain green smock, and her hair and eyes are dark like her mother’s. She is named to you as Fastvi.
The third girl is the smallest, perhaps nine or ten years old, with a distant and dreaming look on her face. Her hair is fair like her older sister’s but the resemblance ends there. You have heard the rumors of Little Runa’s troubled birth near ten winters ago whispered around the hearth fires out of the jarl’s hearing. The truth of these tales seems to be told in the angry red birthmark that covers her face from left ear to chin, the girl seemingly unaware of the rough, wrinkled texture or the ill portent it marks. Worse from the standpoint of omens are her eyes, one blue and one pale green, the eyes of the aglæcwif — the witch-wife. Nevertheless, though dreamy and precocious, the jarl and his wife have loved Little Runa dearly, and she has enjoyed the privileges and upbringing of a devoted family despite the ill omens of her birth. If anything can overcome the spinnings of the wyrd at her birth, it would have to be the good Jarl Henrikson, a man favored by fate as much as any man can claim.
Inga's eyes settle on Gunnar, ignoring everybody else. "We've been waiting. I trust your companions won't keep us any longer? Let's be off". Signy barely stifles a snort at the insolent elder girls attititude.
Spoiler: Knowledge (Local) check - Gunnar & Skorri:
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Knowledge (Local) DC15
Gunnar (1d20+6)[26]
Skorri (1d20+5)[16]
You have heard rumors that Runa's birthing was a difficult one. You recall that at Runa’s birth the midwives of the holdfast were afraid that both child and mother would be lost. Fearing the worst, the jarl sent his best huscarls across the Moors and into the Barrow Lands to seek out a seiðkona — a witch for all purposes — named Sibbe the Unkempt. They found the filthy, rag-covered witch and brought her back to aid in the birthing. True, the witch’s magic saved Runa and her mother, but the child has never been quite “right,” marked by fate for the sorcerous interference at her birth. Furthermore, she seems to see and hear things that are not there, and has on more than one occasion spoken of things she could not know of or of things that occurred well before they happened. Still, the jarl and his wife love the girl and dote on her a great deal of time.
Re: The Northlands Saga - Spears in the Ice IC
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