Deity - Votan - Father God of the Fruzti
The youngest of the three brother Gods, Votan, Veli, and Ve, it is Votan who is worshipped by the Fruzti, though the rest of the pantheon such as Fray the Oerth Mother, Veylund the smith, Tor the storm lord, Tyr One-Handed, are worshipped by all the Volke or the 'Suel barbarians' as outsiders label them.
While Votan is a warrior as are his brothers, it is he who learned the Sedr magic from Fray and sacrficed himself and his eye for knowledge, thereby gaining the runes and altering the Sedr to his own liking. The runes he has taught to his followers, the skalds, and they use it to the benefit of the Fruzti and themselves. Dark sorcerers also use the runes but seek power only for themselves. They become enemies of the skalds and of Votan.
A cult of warrior maidens has grown over the years that venerates Votan and it is said on their deaths the serve him still, choosing the worthy dead of the Fruzti to fight for Votan. This cult is secret as the Sedr magic among the Volke is meant for women and Votan's alteration of the Sedr is not approved. Most skalds are men while the cult of the Valkyr is made entirely of women. While both skalds and Valkyr serve Votan they do not mix and the Valkyr do not reveal their membership to outsiders.
Skalds exist only among the Fruzti as both Veli and Ve have a clergy rather than skald. A skald works magic mainly through knowing the appropriate runes. They can cast priestly, druidic, and magical spells and are learned in illusion as well as direct forms of magic. They are story-tellers and few know or use musical instruments, though some of them tell their stories in a kind of poetic-song speech. Among the Fruzti they are the givers of names to children, and judges, especially to the frequent duels that are fought. A hall-lord or chieftain will normally have a guest skald, but they all wander and make no permenant abode. A skald is always welcome among any dwelling, great or small, of the Fruzti and even among the Schnai and Cuski though only as guests and story-tellers rather than judges or name-givers.
Ship - The Styrkarsarjar - The Sea Strength
The Strykarsarjar is a Fruzti longship, In late 579cy it joined a force of several dozen ships and sailed south to raid and trade down the eastern coast of the Flanaess, but during a terrible fog became seperated from the others and has sailed into the deeper and unknown waters of the east.
Luckily an island was spotted and good harborage found in time to ride out a beastly storm. The island possessed a fire mountain throwing a black plume of smoke into the air and appeared to be of a good size. On arrival the ship was attacked by several boatloads of pig-faced orcs, perhaps expecting to come upon some stranded merchantman or trade ship. The Fruzti warriors, skalds, and priests put them all to the sword and axe and seized a number of the small-craft for their own use.
The ships compliment is 63. Two skalds, seven priests, three druids and fifty-one warriors of varying experience. They are all members of the Sarjar tribe or allies of good standing. The ship master is the Tor-ish priest Asger and a good number of the Sarjar tribe of Fruzti are Tor worshippers and four of the other priests are of Tor while one is a follower of Veylund and the other of Fray the Oerth-Mother. The skalds are servants of Votan as are all Fruzti skalds while most of the female warriors (23 of the compliment) know at least a smattering of the Sedr magic.
The ship is low on supplies of fresh water as several kegs came loose in the storm and where cracked open. Sylvi, the leader of the warriors, plans to take half the crew to the beach in three of the captured pig-orc boats and find some drinkable water and fresh-meat. Loot would be nice as well but the pig-orcs possessed little of value and she expects nothing more to bloody their spears.
NPC - Sylvi of Fruzti
Sylvi comes from a family where almost all women follow the warriors path of Tor, Votan's son. She is the oldest of five sisters, all warriors, while her two brothers are blacksmith-priests of Veylund.
She has traveled south with her younger sister Solveig on a raid of the Sothron lands (as they call the coast of the eastern Flanaess) and their ship became lost in a fog. Currently they are harboring in a secluded bay of a small island. The natives seem to be a pig-like kind of orc and a great mountain belches black smoke into the sky constantly from somewhere inland.
While they've already been attacked twice by boatloads of the pig-faced orcs Sylvi and the others have beaten them off with no trouble and have a mind to go exploring. Her sister Solveig thinks it a waste of time as she cannot see what loot they will gain from it, but fresh water and food would not be amiss.
The ship is rather large and around 60 warriors and priests and a pair of skalds are on board. They have three of the pig-orc boats lashed to their sides and rather than beach their ship it has been decided to take half the crew and at they very least restock some supplies.
Project - Demons and Devils of the Flanaess - The Fire Stag
One of the summonings of the Hierarchs of the Horned Society that has broken free of their control and gone astray is the Great Fire Stag now haunting the Fellreev Forest. The beast is gigantic, a towers image of a stag composed of deeply burninbg flame without apparent source. Strangely the creature seems to give off no heat and the flames do not burn.
Weapons and spells appear to pass through the creature and do it no harm, but the horns pierce and the hooves crush those beneath them. It can shove aside trees as it passes. It consumes vegitation and can bite a person in half as easdily as it comsumes a plant or strip a tree limb bare of leaves,
It does not appear to have a desire to go beyond the confines of the Fellreev but will kill anyone it comes across.
Project - Cairn Hills - The Bandits Retreat - Part 1
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tombs, barrows, vaults and graves litter the Cairn Hills. The Bandits Retreat is one such that has long ago been looted and desecrated. Now it is home to Osgar's Band, a group of dangerous and succesful brigands.
The old tomb complex sits on a small hill surrounded by low valleys and dozens of other rolling hilltops.
Sections of the old tomb Rooms 1-9 have been opened to the elements. Once they were filled with debris but in centuries past tomb robbers dug away the fallen earth and rock and scraped down to the tiles in search of gold and loot.
Osgar and his men have covered these chambers and passages with wooden roofs and tarps then dirt and light rock shoveled atop them. The work was poorly done by captives and slaves and heavy weights from horse or wagons runs the risk of collapsing them. The chambers are only ten feet high so injury has a greater chance for those below or any horses that might fall in.
There is a reasonable chance that anyone seeing the covered chambers or walking across the crude roofs will notice the flatness and uniformity of this area as oppossed to the surrounding hilltop.
The original entrance to the Tomb complex is a chamber further east on the map than Room 9 and is through a doorway crafted to look like a natural rock. All of the Rooms in areas 1-9 have trapdoor entrances and ladders except for Room 1 which has a hidden sloping entrance at the north wall and a double wide trap door to allow horse or mounts or cattle to be led inside.
The Brigands keep a guard post hidden under tarps near the original entrance and can see all of the surrounding hilltop and anyone approaching. In the past they kept guard post on nearby hilltops and patrols day and night but since they have never been troubled in this out of the way location they have grown lax and rarely bother with any extra guards or patrols.
NPC - Malarith Salamander Lord
From the Elemental Plane of Fire the great Salamander Lord Malarith has been sent as an ambassador to the Fire Giant King Snurre. The Drow, at least those who worship Elemental Evil, stand in high regard with the strongest of Salamander kingdoms from the Fire Plane. It is at their urging that an alliance be formed with the Fire Giants and plans for a massive summoning of Salamander warriors is underway.
Deep in human lands is a fire mountain, a volcano, sleeping but waiting to be awakened. In the burning magma of the Oerth the Salamanders can run free. With rivers of Lava to renew themselves they can bear the chilly climes of the Oerthly Plane and bring flame and terror to the nations of the Flanaess.
Already it has been agreed for the Salamanders to be summoned to the Drachenscrab Hills to awaken the Fire Mountain and release a legion of Salamanders upon the unspecting lands within reach.
Unbeknowest to the Salamanders or Snurre the intent of this first foray is to weaken the worshipers of Lolth and their alliance with the Slave Lords.
NPC - Solvi - Caretaker of the Sacred Ash
Solvi is a druidess and one of the followers of Gynbyrg. She is devoted to the priestess and would gladly kill Runa herself to further the plan for increasing the power of the caretakers.
She has been sent to travel from Hall to village and recruit young women for the new order. So far she has been extremely successful and over two dozen young women have sworn allegiance. Now she travels with a band of half-a-dozen of these acolytes and has set up a secret camp where the others are being trained by three other members of the Caretakers loyal to Gynbyrg.
