Category: Shroud

  • 7.14 – Search

    7.14 – Search

    It was good, Einarr thought, to have someone watching his back again. Not that the forest would ordinarily have been that dangerous. No, it was just that after spending most of his life on a longship, solitude could feel a little unnatural. Onnir was more a presence ahead of him on the trail than a…

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  • 7.13 – Lodge

    7.13 – Lodge

    The same qualities that made the woods about the Shrouded Village pleasant to live in – their brightness, their openness – also made them accursedly easy to get lost in. Within half a day Einarr learned to set his blazes within sight of each other to avoid walking in circles. The hunting lodge he sought…

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  • 7.12 – Broken Cage

    7.12 – Broken Cage

    The thief’s fiery sword, flaming no longer, fell to the floor with a clatter as the man backed towards the cellar ladder. The man’s eyes were wide, and it was like he couldn’t tell what was most horrifying. Einarr, though, was too stunned to pursue. Sinmora still shone with the magic it had stolen… from……

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  • 7.11 – Rematch

    7.11 – Rematch

    Einarr blinked back to consciousness with the faces of Melja and Mira staring down at him and a strange tingling on his forehead and shield arm. He knit his brow. “What happened?” “The fool has gone to free the Shroud!” Melja’s voice was husky, as though from shouting. “Our runes had no effect. At this…

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  • 7.10 – Wards

    7.10 – Wards

    “Mind your step,” Melja warned as he entered the room. The warning was well-taken. At first glance it seemed as though every surface of the chamber was covered in gently glowing runes in baffling configurations. Einarr stopped in his tracks, scanning the room. Gradually, the overwhelming formations resolved themselves into more recognizeable, if not comprehensible,…

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  • 7.9 – Temple

    7.9 – Temple

    The Shroud, Melja said, was stored in an inner chamber of the village’s temple to the gods. The morning, like most mornings on the island, was bright and clear even under the fluttering canopy of birch and ash as Melja led Einarr down an unfamiliar path. The path sloped gently upward here, and the ground…

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  • 7.8 – Syntax

    7.8 – Syntax

    The scorched weed stood, accusing, before them. “Show me what you drew, exactly.” Melja’s voice was more serious than Einarr had ever heard. Einarr peered at the base of the weed, searching for his mark, but in their haste to stop the blaze it had been obscured. “It was sol, with five points. I will…

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  • 7.7 – Apprentice Runecraft

    7.7 – Apprentice Runecraft

    As agreed, Einarr rose with the sun the next morning and was promptly set to work gathering eggs and drawing water. When that was done there were goats to milk, and Mira quite cheerfully set him to building up the hearth fire while she prepared breakfast for the three of them. Einarr did the work…

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  • 7.6 – The Shrouded Village

    7.6 – The Shrouded Village

    The light had dimmed from its lustrous gold by the time Ystävä led Einarr out of the trackless wood and onto a broad path – broad enough that a wagon could be driven down it at need, if barely. The sky had turned the white of early dusk, and from the trees about them he…

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  • 7.5 – The High Road

    7.5 – The High Road

    Their farewells said, with a smile and a wave Einarr turned away from his family to face Ystävä and the Whispering Wood and they started off down the trail. The alfr offered no conversation, but Einarr was content to enjoy the cool summer morning in quiet. They passed into the shade of the forest, and…

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