The two men set to trying to free the bound man. What is visible of his skin shows that he has indeed been tortured.

A man tortured in an oven.  It is hard for Hruun to wrap his mind around.  He harbors both a new disgust and a new admiration for the Jotuun.

Seeing the difficulty with the iron wrappings, Hruun steps in to give a hand.  He grabs a couple of the wraps and pulls hard, lending strength from years of log house building.

---

11:08, Today: Hrunnwulf Jorgaldsen rolled 45 using 1d100.  Bend bars.  Wrap no. ?  3 maybe... .

Hrunnwulf and Vermunder working together loosen the plowshare that was warped to compress the mans chest. With effort they manage to squeeze him out of the now wider open, and place him gently back on the ground.

His lungs greedily suck in the air, where small breathes were all that was possible, he can now fill his lungs through his nose, an act he seems to take great pleasure in.

The markings on his chest imply that he was also scourged at one point, the lash marks red and seeping blood.  Buried in his chest is a stone, about four inches across, it's depth unknowable, but something appears written on it. A rune...





OOC: Runes are mad powerful juju in the Viking world, words, when properly crafted, can form, or deform reality. They are not necessarily evil.

Odin all-father gets much of his power and wisdom from them.

The legend tells that Odin hung himself from a branch of Yggdrasil, the world-tree, pierced himself with his spear, and peered downward into the shadowy waters below. He forbade any of the other gods to grant him the slightest aid, not even a sip of water. And he stared downward, and stared downward, and called to the runes.

He survived in this state, teetering on the precipice that separates the living from the dead, for no less than nine days and nights. At the end of the ninth night, he at last perceived shapes in the depths: the runes!

This was how important it was for him to gain the knowledge and wisdom of the runes.

"There is another one of those in the oven, it is fire, looks like some kind of stone that glows red hot. It is how they kept the heat going long after they left here, to keep this poor soul in agony for days, maybe longer."

Icredible. Inhumane! Such evil intent! The sheer horror of it, the complete lack of compassion, it is enough to send Klaengr back to prayer. A dark prayer. A prayer of fierceful vengeance.

"Here us now, Aegir. Let us be the storm. Let us be the whirlwind, the storm of vengeance. Let us be the trident, the spear of avenging justice. Help us smite these despicable foes."

Try has he might, Amund cannot remove the sword wrapped around the man's face, but he is relieved when Hrunnwulf manages to give the man some relief.  He looks the man in the eyes.  "Why have they done this?  What was there purpose?  This is not acceptable.  Amund will avenge you and your clan."  Amund is unusually calm as he talks to the man, but there is clear hatred in every word he says.

"This is not normal behavior for them.  They prefer to watch those they torture to death"   Starting to pry at the sword around his mouth again.  "help me with this would you"

The winds swirl angrily around Klaengr and the others, as if his prayer has been heard and the gods anger echoed your own.

It took an effort, but the sword was removed from the large mans mouth. His lips were clearly parched, broken from the heat, and dehydrated. His tongue was swollen as well, and though he tried to speak, his words were unintelligible. His eyes struggled to focus on Amund when the man bends over him. Geri looks concerned, but does not step forward to lick the face, the smell of burnt flesh and hot dark iron keeping him at bay.

Twenty yards away, Dragnor kept his keen eyes on the horizon, but he spied no threats...

Klaengr finished his prayer, his anger somewhat abated.

He moved to inspect the man from the oven. Klaengr softly touched the tortured man's face, and cast a soothing, healing magic on the burns and swelling. Hopefully it healed the damage around his face. Klaengr retrieved his water skin, and offered the man some water to drink.  He offered up a bit of dried meat, if the man could take it yet. He examined the strange rune in the man's chest also, thinking back if he'd ever seen it before, or what it might mean.

"The rune, do you know what it is?" he asked softly. "What can you tell us about how this all happened?"

OOC:
02:27, Today: Klaengr Aegirson rolled 4 using 1d8.  CLW.
02:29, Today: Klaengr Aegirson rolled 9 using 1d20.  INT 10 check for anything on the rune.

The healing touch causes the heat radiating from the injured man's face to lessen, and his expression relaxed a bit; though he was clearly in pain.

He took a small sip of water, let it roll around his mouth, and let it seep out onto his lips before swallowing it.

His teeth had been badly battered, many missing, and only one the remaining ones not chipped or broken.

He took another sip of water, then tried to speak again.

"Jo... jo..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:53, Wed 13 Apr 2016.

"Sip slowly speak when the thirst is gone. We should continue to unbind him"  Starting on another piece of twisted metal.

" If others could watch the perimeter, I would like to study the runes and see what I can discern."

Ludvig returned to the group just in time to hear Dragnar. He looked to Klaengr, but he was in no danger... yet. "There were wheels," he said as he left to secure the periphery.

Dragnar comes to the man that was wrapped in items and examines the rune embedded in his chest. Then takes the other rune examining it, he then takes out some of his own rune stones. "Odin, your son needs your guideance and help. These runes are a key but I seek knowledge of them which only you can give."

---

Klaengir will take a turn being the lookout .... He will nt nbe much help remoing the metal

Hruunwulf again helps with the removal of the wrapped metal.

---

19:56, Today: Hrunnwulf Jorgaldsen rolled 73 using 1d100.  Bend Bars.

Amund is compassionately looks at the man, and a tear rolls down his face.  Through gritted teeth he soothes the man "Yes, Jotunn, the scum of the earth; and this band seems more evil than most.  Amund will seek vengeance for you, mark Amund's words."  He attempts to remove more of the wrapping using his short sword for leverage, but it is proving difficult. In frustration he jumps up and throws a fist to the sky: "Dam those Jotunn!"

Ludvig heads back to the perimeter, which remains quite. A light snow starts to fall... keeping his thoughts to himself, Klaengr joins Ludvig, the two silently watching the nearly barren countryside slowly turn white.

Amund, Vermundr and the powerful Hrunnwulf work together to remove the metal constraints. Gloves, if owned, prove useful as the metal is cooling, but still hot.

Dragnar carefully examines the rune embedded in the mans chest, then carefully uses his long sword to fish the one Klaengr had mentioned which was still in the oven.

Reaching into a pouch at his hip, he pulls out a set of rune stones, a bit of a surprise to the three fighters at his side. They all knew what the runes were, but they all held them in a bit of superstitious awe.

Deciding to dig deeper into the Provenance of the runes, Dragnar stacks his stone face down into piles of eight.

Taking the to from each of the eight piles of eight, he builds a new pile of eight. He then does the same with the other stone.

Drawing a five bone-dagger from it's sheath, he slices his left palm, for such magic is of the left hand path, he spills blood on the ground in the middle of the new stacks, now forming a circle on the ground.

Wrapping his hand in a cloth, he examines the pattern left by his blood, then picks a stuck of runes, spilling the rest on the ground away from the red puddle.

He unfolds the runes onto the ground, reading from them...

"These runes are both magical, I want to study them more over time. How is it coming getting the metal off of our friend."

All of the metal has been removed from the man.

"Jotunn, Jutunn, attacked. Big cats, Jotunn... took the women, too the children..." he stammered.

"Why did they leave you?  How did you come by the runes?"  Unwrapping his hand and picking up his battle ax.

Klaengr felt the winds blowing harshly, urging the group to be on to their next target. However, it had been an eventful day. He examined the shadows and the position of the sun to determine how many more hours of light they had. It might be better to hold up among the ruins of the village tonight if they did not have long left before dark. After dark, the bitter cold wind chill would be a deadly obstacle.

OOC -
20:45, Today: Klaengr Aegirson rolled 7 using 1d20.  Wisdom Check for survival / telling time.

This message was last edited by the player at 01:46, Fri 15 Apr 2016.

Ludvig watched Klaengr as he studied the environment. The large warrior looked about for birds and small animal tracks, if this would help his friend at all.

The Summer Solstice had passed, and the days were getting short. Klaenger estimated two to three hours until the sun was completely below the horizon.

Balancing that against women and children taken hostage by the Jotunn, for dark ritual or feasting, there is no way to know, decisions would have to be made soon.

For a moment the man's eyes cleared, though the pain was still evident. He locked eyes with Vermundr. "They... pounded it into my chest with a hammer... They had a... a Jotunn who seemed to be in charge. Not the biggest... not the biggest, but he had black skin and he seemed to control the others. He had the runes..."

He paused and sipped some more water.

"The dogs... the runes somehow stopped our dogs from smelling them. They surprised us. I killed three, they said I would pay..."

If the understanding of the runes was correct, the man would have stayed alive for a long time. Had they left him alive to deliver the message of their coming?

Geri growled deeply when the man mentioned 'big cats' and then whimpered as he looked around after the mention of 'the dogs'.  Then he sniffed around the near vicinity profusely.