Chapter 1 - Change

"I can vaguely recall hearing of a ceremony that was supposed to call the tylwyth teg , but I don't recall ever hearing of one being summoned successfully. But this one's after us anyway, so way may have better luck." Gawen briefly outlines what he can remember or the ceremony - a fairie mound or place of merriment, a circle of fresh wildflowers, and a song. "Perhaps an inn would suffice for the location, but I feel this is something best done in private."

"Perhaps the temple then? The priestesses of Freya know much of merriment." 

Gawen looks to Kara for her thoughts on the suggestion.

Kara shrugs. "Not many of Freya's kind would take kindly to dealing with the smaller folks. They are to not be trusted, for they live to trick those better than them. We can ask, but I am unsure they would know."  She wasnt exactly sure how much help the temple would be, but she for sure was not looking forward to involving innocent priestess.

"They would not need to help, just allow us use of their mead hall. We need a place of merriment." 

"No harm to be found in asking. If not, we could see if an inn anywhere would give us use of a mead hall for the evening, though no doubt they'd want fair compensation. Unless there are other suggestions?"

"I cannot think of anything."

It doesn't take the Red Wolves long to return to the temple of the Æsir . It is lunch-time and inside the main hall priests and other servants gather around the large central table to eat and drink together. From the far end of the hall the  Goði  they met the night before nods towards them as they enter, seemingly surprised to see them still in Caerwysg .

Magan looks over at Kara "Can you find someone of your faith? See if they will let us have use of their hall for a few hours." Turning to Branok, "Perhaps we could take Isolde and find some fresh flowers?" "Gawen, what else do we need?"

Branok nods to Magan and ushers Isolde away towards the temple gardens.

Kara frowns softly but goes to find  Conwenna, not exactly hopeful this will resolve in the manner the group wishes. She would fill the older woman in, her concern obvious

Conwenna gives Kara a look of both concern and intrigue and rises to speak with the  Goði . She exchanges some quiet words with him and soon returns to the group as a whole. "Well met, friends of Kara. We will do what you ask. You may use our hall once the midday meal concludes - it will not be long. May I join you in this? Kara has told me the most unusual tales of your travels."

"I would be glad to have you join us in this."

Magan nods to the priestesses request and heads out to the garden to watch Isolde picking flowers with Branok.  It's sad but she will have to grow up fast. Her training will resume as soon as we are back on the road. 

An hour or so later the temple's general population has filtered out of the main hall and Conwenna helps Gawen to begin laying the circle of flowers as the others gather for the ritual.

"I think music and drink would help too, if we're to 'make merry' - Conwenna, is that something you could help arrange?"

Music are drink are never far away in a hall like this and Conwenna has a reputation for knowing where both can be found. "Aye, company too?" She asks.

Kara sniffs and with an air of superiority says "We will have company, for if nothing else we shall throw the best party to glorify Freya's name. Why else do you think Odin comes to Freya? She always throws the best parties."  She was excited, for it had been quite a while before she had time to let her hair down and party the proper way due to Freya.

It's not long before Conwenna has gathered a musical trio of lute, drum and flute, as well as a bundle of assorted revellers eager to accept the temple's hospitality. They dance, drink and make merry around the flower circle that has been lain out.

(what next?)

(Huh, feels like longer than two weeks since I posted that. We're currently waiting on Gawen, who has just done a major intercontinental move IRL. He's essential to this scene, so we need to wait until he has some more time again.)

The air seems to grow thicker and heavier as the time passes, laden with sweet scents and heady flavours. At first all look to Gawen for guidance, but he too seems to be lost in the reverie of the celebration. Conwenna twists and turns entrancingly, dancing about the temple in her light robe with the carefree grace of a girl half her age. The drink flows free and the food is rich, bringing lethargy in its wake, and slowly but surely each of the travellers succumbs to the torpor calling them away from the waking world... As Magan slumbers he sees his cousin standing before him on a field that he, in his heart, knows is Wessex. He smiles and waves to Cynegils and the boy smiles back, returning the greeting, but as he does so a trickle of blood slowly begins to fall from the corner of his mouth. It is followed by more from the other corner, and then more again as the boy opens his mouth to talk and a thick, congealed mess of it cascades down his front. He twists, falling to the ground as though in slow motion. Magan tries to run to his side, but it's like wading through molasses, and as Cynegils crumples in a heap upon the grass two shining blades can be seen protruding from his lower back. Gawen walks the golden glens of an otherworldly realm with Pen frolicking at his side. He knows he is on a journey, but not where it leads. He follows the mutt to the top of a cliff overlooking dark water. Far out to sea lightning jumps from cloud to cloud and an oncoming storm approaches the shore. The golden light fades behind dark clouds and he hears a malevolent cackling echo around him behind the booming of the thunder. He searches for its owner, but it seems to come from all around him. Pen whines at Gawen's feet and the big man crouches besides his loyal companion to scratch behind the dog's ears, before seating himself upon the clifftop and closing his eyes in concentration. Felix runs through a city, darting down dark alleys and deftly swinging over fences. Behind him a man is hot on his tail. He glances over his shoulder and every time the man has a different face. He tries to hide, but a golden light surrounds him. No matter what path he takes the many-faced-man can see the light. He breathes deeply, closes his eyes momentarily, and when he opens them he begins to run as fast as he can, faster than he ever has before. His feet burn a golden trail in the ground behind him, leaving the many-faced-man far behind. Kara sees her homeland in the distant north, the village she grew up in, friends she knew as family. They stand together around a warm hearth and she tries to go to them, but her feet are rooted to the deck of a boat she cannot leave. Behind her a woman stands upon the waves and reaches out, calling to her. Kara turns to look and woman's face is a beacon of blinding light. Her own eyes begin to glimmer, echoing the same golden light, and two luminous, incorporeal wings sprout suddenly from her back, filling her with an intense burning sensation from within. Reflexively, she doubles over, before throwing her head back to look up at the woman. She can see features behind the light of the woman's face now, smiling and beckoning to her. Coelred dreams of his lover, far away to the east. They lie in each other's arms beneath sheets of thin cotton in a room he knows to be his own in Sussex. A fantasy that can never be, but lost in the dream as he is he cannot tell. To him, nothing has ever felt as real as this moment and the waking world seems bland and grey besides it. He rises from his bed and goes to the tall double doors to his balcony. In the distance he can see Æthelwald's homeland of Kent. It rushes up to him as though it were much closer than it really is. In its heart a battle rages, but the King does nothing, and fear rises in Coelred's heart that his love's home will be overcome by darkness. Magan, Kara and Coelred awake to the sound of gulls and the rocking motion of waves beneath them. Their heads pound and what sunlight pierces the clouds above them is too bright for their eyes. They are aboard a longboat, on the estuary of the Exe judging by the sight of the city in the distance. Gawen, Felix and Theli are nowhere to be seen, although Branok and Isolde are also aboard the boat.

"What the... Did I drink too much?" Magan rubs his eyes. Looking around the boat a look of concern falls over his face. "What happened? Where are the others?"

Kara slowly awakens, the burning feeling still itching, as if something is missing. She tries to roll over and scratch it, before she comes to realize several things. First, she was on a moving boat, which wasnt too bad. It wasn't the worst sleep ever. But upon blinking and looking around, she remembers she was on dry land, and was feasting and making merry.  "Where are we? What happened to the feast? Where is Theli?"  She seems to be bothered by the loss of the companions, but not knowing where Theli was seemed to bother her more, since she did take on a job for her.

Branok is still fast asleep, but as Magan and Kara come to they realise that Isolde is leaning over them, her big eyes watching them carefully. She takes Kara's hand and points. The boat is slowly drifting south east towards  Lydwicnaesse , but between here and there river water swirls and churns, seemingly dropping away into the depths under a patch of golden light where the sun pierces the cloud cover to strike the water.

A large figure with a fittingly large mass of hair and beard rolls over from under a mass of tarps and sacks. "Branok...where did the green man go? Seems he had a great joke, but he wouldn't tell me."

Branok snorts another snore before abruptly waking with a stutter as Guthric shakes him. "Wha... Guthric? Magan, where are we? Why are we on a boat?"

The ragged man seems confused, but resolute simultaneously, "We're not on a-" the scene finally catches his eyes, "Why are we on a boat...?"

Magan blinks again. His fingers brush over his belt casually to see if his weapons are in place.  "Who is this? Isolde, what happened? We need to get back to the temple and find the others." 

"Oh," Branok adds sleepily, "this is Guthric, Magan. He was one of the revellers at the temple. I don't think you met." The old man stretches stiffly and begins to orient himself. He peers over the edge of the boat and promptly straightens, suddenly wide awake. "...maybe we should be more concerned with this for now though. In my experience that is not normal behaviour for a river." Meanwhile, Isolde continues to insistently point at the whirlpool that has formed in ahead of them in the waters of the estuary. It doesn't seem to be pulling the boat in, but rather the water is circling the 'hole' that has formed in the river under the concentrated sunbeam.

Magan looks over at the whirlpool, the concern heavy on his face. "I'm not sure we want to know more. I'm starting to forget what normal looks like after the past few days, but I am pretty certain that this is not it, even by our new standards. Can anybody see an oar?" 

The boat does in fact have oars lying inside it, amongst other boating gear.

"Found them, let's just get back to land!" Guthric will throw an oar to whoever wants it and start paddling.

Kara's eyes are drawn to the deep pool in the middle of the river. A golden light glows from the bottom, calling to her.

Magan takes the oar and nods to Guthric, trying to pull the boat out from the pull of the current.

"Anything seem odd to you all?" Guthric pulls hard at the oars, but keeps turning back to the pool, "Either those drinks were of the gods, or this pool is more tame than we thought."

Holding up a hand Kara says " Wait. I am not sure this light is harmful. It is hard to explain, but I think Freya has guided us here. I feel no evil here, and we have awoken before it was to late to escape if it was ill towards us."  Kara wasnt sure, but all she knew was she needed to reach the golden light. It felt safe

Another voice calls from beneath a heavy woolen bundle. “So sure of that, are you?”  A thin form emerges from beneath, the first thing visible is hair so pale blonde to look almost white, cut short on the sides and long on top. A long, drawn out yawn as the figure stretches. He blinks his eyes that are perhaps slightly too large, or almond shaped, but as the lids part and the sunlight finally hit them you see something even more disturbing; one bright blue eye mismatched with a bright green eye. “Can they tell you what we are doing here, then?”

"Another reveler? Kara, if you want to do something here make it fast. I am anxious to find Gawen, without him, we have no way to complete what we were sent out for. Though I am beginning to feel that other things may be happening of more importance." 

As Kara peers over the edge of the boat, she can see that the source of the light is coming from the riverbed. She can barely make out what looks like a blackened figure, grasping the beacon in its hand.

Looking over the side, Kara starts to take off parts of her armor. She then tries to judge the distance to the bottom, before looking around  "Can someone help me? Tie some rope around my waist, and hold it, and I will just jump in and get it. Something is clasping it, but whatever it is... We need that light. I feel it in my skin. Freya brought us here for this reason." Her voice seemed steady, but looking at her face revealed she wasnt sold on the idea that this items from an unknown area was key to their future

Guthric scours the boat for rope present, "Can anyone tell me why diving after strange objects and people is a good idea?"

Guthric quickly finds a rope lying in the bottom of the longboat.

Kara looks at Guthric and shakes her head, taking the rope and tying it to herself, before handing it back and saying "The gods send us signs. We do not question them when we are in danger. For now, ensure I do not drown."  And with that she jumped down from the boat to swim to the object, unsure what she will find.

Kara plunges into the dark water and rapidly propels herself towards the bottom with the powerful strokes of long practice. As she approaches the riverbed, she can see the bright light piercing through the turbulent wall of water and when she reaches out in that direction her fingers pass the barrier and she can feel air on the other side. She swims up to the edge and tries to step through. It's a challenge to keep her balance - going so abruptly from swimming to walking feels unnatural to her, but soon enough she finds herself standing, dripping wet, on the open soil of the riverbed. Besides her, she can see the same blackened figure that she glimpsed from above. Close up it is, or was, obviously a person, but whoever they once were, they are now dead. Their corpse is burned and shrivelled, lying sprawled across the damp earth. A soft red glow emanates slowly from within it and parts of the body are falling away as it gradually falls to ash. However, stranger still is the mass of scorched, golden feathers that litter the riverbed either side of the remains. Beneath them, Kara can just about make out the sooty outline of wings upon the ground. Almost immediately her eyes are drawn to the source of the light that called her down here. Grasped in the decaying, outstretched hand of the corpse is what looks like the hilt of a sword with no blade. The radiant light shines brilliantly from it.

The pale-haired newcomer stands and begins to wrap a thick, grey woolen cloak with embroidered designs upon it around his shoulders as he listens to Kara's words. "I cannot argue it is best to listen to the words of the Gods. Be careful below, we know now what is in those waters." He gives her a nod of respect and others to assist with the rope. As Kara is below he looks around at the others on the boat. "I am called Ewen. What of the rest of you?"

Kara grasp the sword, and then tries to figure out if she can be any more respectful of the corpse, as it seemed just a shame that the body may not be properly cared for. Once she is able to fully understand that, she would try to collect the feathers as well, unsure why they alone remained, as she knew that feathers burned as easily as cloth, and they surely were unique as well. It felt like such a crime to her to not ensure the body had its proper rites, and she made a quick prayer and signs for the departed, before trying to lift whatever parts of it she can along with the sword hilt and the feathers.

As Kara closes her hand around the sword's grip, the diffuse light emanating from it condenses into a long blade of radiant energy extending from the hilt. Above her, the gap in the clouds gradually begins to close and thunder rolls above them once more. The pool of golden light around Kara starts to slowly shrink and the water outside it churns and broils, rolling back down to fill the space in the estuary!

I should give a pull to see if she's alright,  Guthric thought, but if she pulls back, that means to come up, right? So if she doesn't pull, she wants to stay down. But what if she can't pull....she would be in trouble. So pull would mean to come up, right? Frustrated by the quandary of communication, Guthric starts pulling on the rope, "We never decided how to talk to each other. She'll have to just dive back down after we decide." As he pulls, the brawny man peers over the side, "This place is strange. It looks like she's holding light in her hand."

Magan shifts uncomfortably in his seat, Kara heading into the water has him even more uneasy than he already was. He glances at Ewen as he speaks. "They call me Magan.  Any memory of how we got here Ewen?" Somebody on this boat must have put us here, what it was for though is anybodies guess, some sorcery is at work.