Mead Hall - River Jarl Steading (7)

There is a skald's song that starts out "Mead Hall, Mead Hall - Home of Heroes Brave and Tall!"  And it has, indeed, been a home for many heroes over the years.  If there is a Steading of Storm King barbarians that fits the stereotypes that Westroners believe in - it is definitely Mead Hall.

Interior of Mead Hall, preparing for the nightly hero's feast

Mead Hall is structured with a great hall at the center of the settlement, surrounded by huge long houses in a double thick circle around the central hall, and then small plots of artisans, craftsman, and houses of huscarls, etc, out to the edge of the central settlement (which is about a mile across, a little over three miles around the perimeter).  It is all protected by a very tall wooden palisade, and a deep ditch, and a wall of spikes outside the ditch.

The great hall (itself properly referred to as Mead Hall, the rest of it referred to simply as The Steading) is home to the Jarl, his (extended) family, huscarls, women, travelers, wandering warriors, and lots and lots of skalds.  The favorite past-time in Mead Hall is to have warriors go out on adventures, and then come back and have skalds sing of them.

The Jarl and his men, enjoying the tales of the skalds

The current Jarl is Snorri Halftrollsson.  His father, old Halftroll, was the Jarl before, and ruled the hall for some four decades, before being killed on a hunt for giant wooly boar.  Snorri has a wife, and a dozen proper children, not to mention a large number of young women attached to the settlement, who all have children with the curious Snorri twinkle in their eye.  His band of Huscarls numbers close to three hundred, although at any one time more than half of them will be out on adventures, or viking raids.  Snorri's favorite skald, named Alvin Lyremaker, often sings a series of sagas that compare Mead Hall to the great hall in the Storm King's castle at Windkeep.

Windkeep - home of the Storm King

What is commonly known, but not talked about, is that Snorri's sister, perhaps showing more of the troll side of the family, from old Halftroll, is a witch.  She lives in a hovel, outside of the steading, in a marshy place beyond the poorest of peasant farms, but frequently comes into Mead Hall for the nightly feasts, in disguise.  She has a long and burning hatred for Snorri, his men, the steading, and most things from the world of men.  She scorns the religion and culture of her fathers, finding even the worship of Helgor (the Black Chieftain) to be too close to the family of the Storm King.

Instead, this witch, Heizelnag, chooses to worship the demigoddess of the underworld, Noxecatt, a foul creature related to the pantheon of the Westroner Church (the three Goddesses).  In the understanding of Heizelnag, however, Noxecatt is actually a daughter of the Old One deity, the Earth Weaver.  Sufficient understanding of the nature of the Earth Weaver is not known, so that this can be confirmed, however it is suspected among some of the Archivists at Parn Tandalorn. 

Many a hero from Mead Hall has come to a dark, grisly ending due to the magics and summonings worked by Heizelnag against all those allied to her brother, Snorri.

The writeup of the Roaming House of the Elkmen King was originally an adventure location that was part of this article.  It was part of the Week of Adventure Locations, but has been removed to make its own article.

Rookroost - River Jarl Steading (5)

Rookroost is the name of the steading of the Daughters of the River Raven.  It was once an impressive castle, built high on a rocky abutment that rises some 200 feet above the surface of the Erantor river, which runs out of the Great Owl Forest, to join the Greywater River.  Today, the remains of the ancient castle are still standing, but the steading itself is built into the stone mound that it stands upon.

The Erantor is not a particularly wide river at this point (only about 500 yards from bank to bank), but wide enough to require ferries and other means of crossing.  It is also not particularly deep, but it does run swiftly down from the hilly rises of the eastern Great Owl Forest, and cuts deep into the rocky terrain of this area.

Rookroost built into the the rocky escarpment named Carnockle rock.  The ruins of the ancient castle offer a commanding view of the Erantor, and in the distance, even the Greywater can be spotted.

Rookroost is the home of the Daughters of the River Raven.  As a group of Storm King barbarians, this steading is really at odds with the other steadings in the area.  The reason for this is the culture of the Daughters.  The steading is ruled by a woman (which is not unheard of amongst the Storm King tribes), however, all of her huscarls are also women.  This is rare, and it is perpetuated by the culture of the steading.  Long ago, the Black Chieftain, in an attempt to slay the son of the Storm King, put on the disguise of a great black wolf, and he followed Tyrros, the prince of thunder, to a lonely spot on the Greywater, and under cover of darkness, he almost slew the son of the Storm King.  However, Tyrros summoned his two great blue oxen, Glangor and Feory, and they came and trampled the Black Chieftain in his guise as a black wolf. This allowed Tyrros to escape with his life.

The great black wolf lay on the bank of the greywater, bleeding out his life's blood, when he was discovered by runewoman, once very powerful, who lived in the empty towers of the castle what would become to be known as Rookroost.  She was flying in the guise of a giant raven, known as the River Raven (she would fly up and down the Greywater, the Terrapin, and even the Erantor, every night in the form of a giant raven, as part of a curse put on her by a devil, in exchange for her seeing ability).  She saw the wolf, had pity on him, and landed to take care of him.  In daylight, once again in the form of a runewoman, she took him back to her home high up on Carnockle rock, and slowly brought the black wolf back to life.  Some say as a raven she came to love the wolf, some go further to say as a woman she came to love the wolf.  Far to the east, in the Riven Moor, this legend is known, and some attribute the fell beasts and death birds that haunt the barrows there as the children of the River Raven and the black wolf.

The story is as it is, but over the years woman of stature from among the tribes and steadings would occasionally have disagreements with the men of their steading.  In many cases, these would flee to Rookroost and join the community there.  The population of the steading is near to parity - half women and half men - yet those who hold power and positions of authority are all women.  And they all revere the River Raven and her innocent love for the black wolf (even though, when pressed, all would clearly admit that he was the Black Chieftain, or Helgor).

The current leader of the Daughters is Jarless Embra Innamor.  She rules fairly, but does not have much use for trade or bargains with the other steadings.  The Daughters of the River Raven (although this is properly the nickname of Embra Innamor's woman huscarls, it is also applied to the community in general) have a small, but efficient fleet of small dragon ships.  These are able enough to travel up and down the Erantor, down to the Greywater, and can transport fyrd and huscarl warriors, but would not do to stand up to the dragon ships of one of the larger steadings in a battle.

As to the original origins of the castle on Carnockle Rock, it is assumed to be very, very old.  Whether it was built by the Old Ones or not is a matter of conjecture.  When the gather of the Daughters began to dig into the rock to make their steading, they did find a number of underground structures already there.  Some of these still exist, and who knows how many more, still deeper than the Daughters themselves have burrowed out.

There was originally an adventure location that was described as part of this description of Rookroost.  That was part of the Week of Adventure Locations, and it was location number 4, The Celerium of Great Truth, which is a ruined library, halfway between the western edge of Rookroost, and the Great Owl Forest.

The Storm King's Pantheon

The various tribes of Storm King barbarians vary one from another in many different ways, however they all share one thing in common - reverence and worship of the Storm King and his associated pantheon. This is a brief overview of those gods.

Bronc is the King of the Destriel Gods, and also the King of Storms. He is rarely seen, but always present. He is in every storm cloud, and looks down on his people. The Destriel Mountains, marking the northern boundary of the Valley of the Old Ones is a cold, windy place, often wracked by mysterious storms of all sorts. It is fitting that the king of storms dwells here. When the broody Bronc (who is much more frequently called, simply, the Storm King) appears, either in artwork, or during his very rare appearances on earth, he is a dark hulking being, with a horned helmet, wearing a great black shag-cow's hide as a cape. He carries a single broadsword, called Arrios which sings to the Storm King when in combat. His common foes are the many Sun Worms sent against him by the Sun King, Photos. The Storm King dwells in his cloudy castle Windkeep with Tyrros and Othero.

Tyrros is the son of the Storm King, and is the Prince of Thunder. He is the god of thunder and lightning, and has a personality to match. He is often roaming the world, in search of combat and warfare. He carries a great warhammer named Bloodthunder. When roaming the world, he is often in his chariot, which is pulled by a pair of great blue oxen named Glangor and Feory.

Othero is the lady of the Storm King, sometimes called the Storm Lady. She is pale and golden and beautiful, but she is also freezing cold. She dwelt alone at the top of the tallest peak in the Destriels until she attracted the interest of the Storm King. He rescued her from her mountaintop by beating the giants keeping her imprisoned, and then took her back to Windkeep with him. She bore him the son, Tyrros. Now she dwells at Windkeep and controls the coming and going of winter. She sometimes, for sport, will shoot at the sun worms that encircle the fortress with her bow, Icefinger.

Helgor is the Black Chieftain. He is the ruler of the Dark Shore, and is the lord of the domain of the restless dead. All those who die an unsatisfying death are doomed to dwell on the Dark Shore, where they may be called upon by sorcerers to perform foul deeds, or worse. Nobody wants the Black Chieftain to appear, however some will pay homage to him when affairs of the dead are concerned. He appears as a tall dark man, with a helmet set by two great curving goat horns. He carries a black longspear named Soulteaser, with a slender tip that ends in flame. By his side, when he is seen traveling the face of the earth, he is sometimes accompanied by a Fell Beast (a huge wolflike creature the size of an elephant, and quite ferocious).

Week of Encounters Day 2: The Fell-Beast of Riven Moor

This encounter takes place in the Sildur Reaches region of the valley.  It is near the Greywater River, up where it rolls south out of the Destriel Mountains.  This is Stormking Barbarian country, and this encounter features elements of the Stormking mythology.

Just north of the Shadow Woods, but south of the Greywater is an area known as the Riven Moor.  The area is home to many of the crypts and barrows of the Storm King tribes. It is a high flat place, nearly 100 miles wide, and approximately 30 miles north to south, with the Greywater along the northern edge, and clumps of forest marking the beginning of the Shadow Woods along the southern edge.  There are no permanent habitations up here, but occasionally bands of traveling Storm King tribesmen will be encountered.  They almost always travel through the area well armed, and in groups consisting mainly of fighting men, because of the number of Fell-Beasts in the area.

The Fell-Beast appears as a very large wolf (approximately the size of a forest elephant), but is much more dangerous.  The beings are supernatural in origin, and come from the underworld realm of the Black Chieftain.  In the pantheon of the Storm King, the enemy of the Storm King himself is their barbarian god of death and the underworld, known as the Black Chieftain.  He dwells in a domain known as the Dark Shore, and it is pictured to be a cold, forested island, in the middle of a bleak icy sea, under a sunless sky.  The island is populated by foul beasts of all sorts, who hunt the lost souls through the forest night after night.  One of the types of creatures are the Fell-Beasts.

One of the reasons there are so many Fell-Beasts in our realm, especially on the Riven Moor, is because of the magical protections put on the barrows there, and the fact that so many barrows become plundered and robbed.  Many of the protections and curses used by priests of the Storm King tribes consist of curses based on beings and magic from the Dark Shore, so when a barrow is violated, the arrival of a being from the cursed realm is the result.  This being then usually hunts down the offending party, and exacts revenge.  The number of barrows, and the strength of the magic on the Riven Moor means that some of these beings remain in our world, savagely and viciously hunting the living.

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Fell-Beast
Num Appearing: 1-2
Alignment: neutral-evil
Movement: 90'
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 8d (48h.p.)
Attacks: 3 (claw, claw, bite) plus special (if bite is successful)
Damage: 1d4+1; 1d4+1; 2d8
Save: F8
Morale:8
Special Attack: Level Draining Bite - whenever a Fell Beast makes a successful Bite attack, there is also a 20% chance that the Fell-Beast will attempt to drain a level from the character that was bitten.  This can be avoided by a successful save vs. Petrification.

The Fell-Beast is an undead being, and so a cleric would have a chance to turn one.  It appears as a large, black wolf (the size of a small elephant), with hollow ghostly eyes and blood and ichor matting its fur around its horribly large fanged mouth.  The Fell-Beast can howl a dreadful howl that will cause all beings below 3rd level within 100' to save vs. magic, or flee in terror.

If encountered (or worse, if one is cursed to be hunted by a Fell-Beast) other than fighting the creature with means both physical and magical, one would have to worry about the ability of the Fell-Beast to be able to summon to its side death birds from the Dark Shore.  These death birds are described below, but the Fell-Beast can summon 1d12 of these beings, twice a day.

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Death Birds
Num Appearing 1-12
Alignment: neutral-evil
Movement: 120'
Armor Class:6
Hit Dice: 2d (9h.p.)
Attacks:1, plus shriek
Damage: 1d4
Save: F2
Morale:9

The Death-Birds are also undead beings, so a cleric would have a chance of turning them (2HD undead beings).  These appear as undead ravens, with red eyes and blood stained beaks and talons.  They appear to be quite dead, with feathers missing here and there, and sometimes chunks of flesh torn from their bodies.  They exude a horrid stench of decaying flesh.

Whenever one is in combat with death birds (whether 1 or a dozen), the constant shrieking (the Storm King tribesmen call it "crying for the dead") of the birds will cause one to make a saving throw vs. magic at the beginning of the combat round.  If the save is failed, then the character may not move during that round - it may still attack or defend, but it may not move.  Magic User spells are also not allowed if this saving throw is failed, however Clerics of a good alignment may still cast spells.

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Encounter: The players are moving across the Riven Moor for some reason, when they hear the horribly howl of a Fell-Beast in the distance.  Should they move to see what is afoot, they will encounter the Fell-Beast and a cloud of Death Birds feasting on the remains of a (now) deceased grave robber.  The nearby open barrow mound attests to the reason for the attack, and there are bags of treasure spilled about on the ground near the body.  If they Fell-Beast or the Barrow Mound is approached in any way, then both the great undead wolf and the flock of birds (eleven) will attack the players instantly.