Episode Four: In the Halls of the Mountain King
Along the walk to Vaaringard, Toki and Luutvig are more talkative than they were along the first leg of the journey. They tell of the proud people they belong to, and of their noble, albeit ageing leader Crasmar, who rallied the broken, disbanded, and shattered tribes of Fildegarne under one banner to rise up slay the red dragon menace. They tell of cultural rites of passage for children in to adulthood. Both boys and girls accompany a hunting party to kill a stag or boar in the eastern woods, to be served as part of the banquet at an annual feast called Kierst-rin, or "Coming of Age". All members of the clan, no matter their age, sex, or race, learn to fight. They prefer isolation from the outside world, because they are a proud people, and believe that if they can't stand on their own, that they don't deserve to stand at all. They don't generally care for the elves, but they don't hate them either. They have a warrior's respect for them, despite their sometimes frequent not seeing eye to eye.
They cherish strength and self reliance above all, and have a disdain for those who wont fight for themselves (which is further explained as not having a disdain for the weak, but a disdain for the lazy).
All Fyreworm men and women are both hunters and farmers. The populous is spread among hamlets and villages with their own governing body, a Jarl, who oversees at least three settlements and reports directly to the Chief (Crasmar) and his adviser Irja Ginnar, a Fyreworm shield maiden who has proven herself in battle many times over. They make it a point of distinction though that she isn't a wife or consort. The chief's wife passed away 24 years prior in childbirth with Crasmar's only child, a son named Sigurd. He has since never remarried, or taken another woman (at least, that anyone knows of).
The Fyreworms are excellent cave explorers, having made a kinship with the dwarves under the Shattered Top, as well as having about a quarter of their people living underground in the cave networks that twist and wind under the pains and beyond. They too are hunters and farmers, living in the light of bio-luminescent mushrooms and molds. They also act as a bulwark against the denizens of the underworld, giving them good reason to stay put rather than try to breach the surface in large numbers.
Toki explains that now that he has thought on the matter, the bugbears from earlier would have been a foraging party, but that also meant a bugbear camp or even larger settlement wouldn't have been too far down the cave that was spotted.
Magic user are rare among the Fyreworms, and are called shaman. The women of the clan seem to have more of an affinity for spell work than the men.
They worship two gods that are twin brothers, Vignor and Rhornur. Vignor is associated with strength and battle, while Rhornur is associated with cunning and magic. The men mostly pay homage to Vignor, while the women mostly to Rhornur, but both men and women honor both for fear of making the other jealous and being turned away at the gates to the afterlife, which they call Siegendurn.
Several hours since the trek resumed, the party now stands in sight of a large city a few miles out. Its high walls extend out from a natural recess in the side of the mountain, and stretch outward in a half circle. Watch towers line the wall, and the shapes of men standing guard can be faintly made out atop the parapets. Behind the walls, numerous building tops can be seen, with a large central castle tucked further back, presumably butting up against the stone face of the mountain. Wood and stone from this distance are all the civilization seems to be made of, and in many way, it feels like stepping back through time by looking at it.
"Vell, dere it is. Vaaringard, de city of Varriors".