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Welcome to Vikings and Valkyries, an actual play podcast. We are playing When the Wolf

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Comes, a role-playing game set amid tangled timelines where the Norse rule the seas and

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stars with restless fleets. My name is Ian Stuart Sharpe and I will be your Raven Tester

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for the ongoing campaign which we call the Thought and Memory Saga. Woven into the web

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of fate this week are Becky, Bill, Steve, CJ and Sam. Welcome, Wolfdroppings.

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Thank you.

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Well that's new. Tasty.

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I like to mix up the insults. Vargdropi, as you may know in Old Norse fans, is a term

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for outlaws and you skirt on the edge of that each week. So I thought I'd throw that into

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our proceedings. So let's start by introducing our new players. Becky, you are joining us

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close to midnight, the chimes of midnight from the UK. Having just finished your usual

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local D&D session, the question is why?

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Because I'm a sucker for anything Norse, anything Viking-y, mythology, history, everything in

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between. I just love all of it and I've read your book. I've supported the world of the

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Viking-verse-Kickstarter. So when I thought, oh, I can actually play it with Ian Sharpe,

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like, yeah, I'll do that. I'll push my bedtime past midnight to do this thing. So here I

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am.

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I'm sure most people would have run a mile. You also run Valhalla Conversations on YouTube.

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Will you be inviting this lot when they kick the bucket?

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Absolutely. Absolutely. I'd love to have any and all of you, of course, on my humble podcast,

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Valhalla Conversations, where I just speak to all Norse creatives, whether they're game

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designers, authors, poets, artists, such as yourself, Sam, who I would love to get onto

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my channel. I just see people who like Norse stuff and then I have a way of venting all

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this passion because no one in my immediate normal life circle has a clue or gives a damn

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about this wonderful culture, history and mythology. And the stories that inspire so

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much.

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Welcome to our collective pain. And Sam, you run Fateful Signs, which is a collection

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of your amazing artwork and illustrated books. But you've chosen to ignore all of the omens

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and record with us today. Have you read something in the runes?

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Oh, I have some runes over there. I could do it real quick. But no, I guess as far as

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reading goes, I read your email earlier.

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You're really bringing the right attitude. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

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But you've gamed before, Sam. You've been a DM for many years and you happily grant

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favors for pizza.

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That's true. I've, gosh, been gaming since I was 15 and I'm way past that now. And yeah,

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I played D&D for years in college. I actually ran a bunch of Vampire, the Masquerade LARPs,

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the largest game I've ever run had 900 players in it at a convention.

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Holy crap.

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I don't know if that counts as street cred, but yeah, going back. And then I still run

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a current D&D game that meets every other week or so. So yeah, been doing this a long

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time. But this will be my first foray into your world and into the system, which is based

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on Shadow of the Demon Lord. Am I remembering that right?

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That's right. Shadow of the Demon Lord is Rob Schwalb.

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He lived really close to me, actually. Yeah, yeah. He lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee,

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which is near Nashville. And I also live outside of Nashville. At least he used to four or

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five years ago when I ran into him at a local game store. So there we go. It's not like

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we're friends or anything, but we are from the same neck of the woods.

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Wow, what a close-knit community we have forged here. Well, feel free to pop around to his

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house afterwards and tell him you played When the Wolf Comes, which is based on his ruleset.

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Everything that goes wrong is his fault, understood.

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Exactly. Now, let's warm things up a little and get people's Norse thoughts into gear.

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There's a concept in this game called inspiration points. You can use them to turn a failure

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into success. And we're going to give them away on the basis of the correct answers to

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the questions that I'm about to pose here. For an inspiration point, can you name me

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three Valkyries attested to in the Old Norse poetic corpus?

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Am I allowed to look at the Voluspa that have with me right here?

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So if the question is, can I name three Valkyries, the answer is no. Do I win?

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I think they can. I can name at least two, maybe three.

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I spoke with somebody today who has a publishing company named Hildur, and I believe I remember

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them saying, that is a Valkyrie, is Hildur. H-I-L-D-U-R. That is one. Yes, that means

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battle. I thought CJ, you were going to say you were

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speaking to a Valkyrie today. Well, does that count if they name themselves

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after one? I would think so.

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I would not actually want to talk to one because that would mean I were close to death. Let's

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see how the episode goes, CJ. I think I know one more. May I?

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Then I think Rebecca can finish us out. If you can't get it right, then Sam, having

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illustrated the book on the subject, can presumably fill in. This will be the first inspiration

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point that this group has ever won. So good.

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Wonderful. CJ.

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So I just was perusing through Jean Shinoda's The Ring Cycle book, and one of the Valkyries

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in there is also associated with Oda. Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde.

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You can have that. That means armor battle or bright battle. And Brünnhilde is one of

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the more famous Valkyries drawn from the opera. Becky, let's give you a chance to earn these

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points.

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Skogul. S-K-O-G-U-L.

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Skogul. Skogul is indeed one. And could you have a guess at what it actually means?

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Oh, this is a thing. I don't know if it should be something with a spear or not. I could

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be wrong because they've all got so many different meanings.

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It's shaker. So it could apply to spears. Sam, do you want to just throw one in for

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a bonus point since you've got the illustrated the book?

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Skuld. S-K-U-L-D.

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Yeah, that is another good one. Meaning debt or future is actually a mythic path in this

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game that you can take later on. Very good. Now, Steve, I'm a little bit disappointed

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in you because...

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All right. You're not the only one.

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What's your character's name, Steve?

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Eir?

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And how many Valkyries are called Eir, Steve?

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Oh, a good dozen. Yeah, a good dozen.

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So whilst in modern Icelandic, Eir does mean copper, the Old Norse Valkyrie, as attested

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to in the Nafnaþulur, Eir translates as peace, clemency, or help and mercy, all of which

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are things that you habitually go alongside your name.

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I thought it was like a make of Eastern European car.

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Is that similar to the goddess of healing? Is it spelled the same?

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E-I-R. And as we know, there's a lot of kind of... because these things were all mish-mashed

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together through all of these texts, there's no definitive source apart from, I don't know,

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the Fiend Folio or something like that, back in the second edition.

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Oh, I've got that right here.

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There you go. Why didn't you flick through it, Bill? That would have sold everything.

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I thought we were told not to cheat. I mean, I feel like I'm getting mixed signals. There

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we go.

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Now.

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So I once owned a piece of clothing from a brand called Nafnaf, and I always thought

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it was a French brand because I bought it in France, and I just thought, that's just

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terrible branding. But now that you've mentioned Nafnaf folder, whatever that text is, I think

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you might have been Scandinavian.

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Wow. CJ, I don't want to frighten you, but that sounded like one of the Norse references

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I might make. Nafnaf, or whatever you just said.

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Remember, my expertise is in the Latin and Francophone world, not the Norse world.

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I'm just worried that Steve and I are dragging you down. You're just becoming a blowhard

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who doesn't know anything and tries to kill stuff. But I mean, there's nothing wrong with

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that if that's your personal choice.

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We've established that you two are the demons of death in the title Vikings and Valkyries.

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And now we've got the nomenclature to back it up. Steve is officially in that camp. Now,

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I will grant you that inspiration point. Well done. You can use that. That's in your collective

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tank. Don't use it as has been the case in the past few episodes in the first five minutes.

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That was exactly my plan. Damn.

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Ian, I've got one for you. I've got a question for you. Who is, and I've been practicing

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this, Puhusta Frudan Doudousta?

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I have no idea. Do let me know.

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Okay. The real name is about four times that long. That is the real name of the Swedish

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chef who was named totally on improv by Danny K, who finished it off with, but we call him

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Tom.

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So if you would have gone the hoody, goody, goody, hoot, hoot, hoot, hoot, hoot, I might

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have got it. Right. There's that guy.

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I had no idea Steve was so scholarly. Look at him. Quoting the classics.

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Thank you for bringing Muppet Show knowledge to this podcast.

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You're welcome.

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It's almost like you are one of either Statler or Waldorf.

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So we have this veritable conclave of the wise assembled today and two scowls to scoff,

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scold, jeer and rebuke them. So let's just hear a little bit about the new characters

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that are joining us. Sam, let's hear about your character. Who will you be playing today?

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Tell us a little bit about them.

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Sure. I'm playing a folk, the fair. He's a handsome gentleman with a full blonde beard

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and blonde hair. He is quite eye catching, but worry not. He is oath to one woman and

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he's a family man. He's a bit of a gambler and he spent some time as a scout in the military

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back against all those dirty trolls that were causing problems. He is a scold as well.

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Very good. Well, we would doubtless find out more as the next couple of hours progresses.

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And Becky, who will you be playing today?

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My character is called Bryn Ivaldisdottir. She is quite young. She is a scientist, but

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she is not a typical scientist. She is not entirely biologically human. She has a few

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implants, bionics, cyborg parts to her. As anyone who knows, the Ivaldis are famous for

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cloning their brains and mentality and psychology into man-made, hand-picked, kind of self-crafted

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bodies of their choosing. Their family just never dies out. It just keeps growing.

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In your search for immortality, the sons and daughters of Ivaldi upload their conscious

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minds into these mechanical bodies. You're almost the Elon Musk of this world. So that

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is the two new characters who will be joining us in due course. But we do need to hear from

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our existing three heroes and understand where they got to after the exciting details of

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the last episode. Question on everyone's lips is how did the wedding go?

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The wedding went great. It was delightful. The air was nowhere near it, but I understand

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it went great. There was a hall full of extremely drunk Norse people available, and so his solution

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was to use Glamour Sight to make one of them look like him and then make sure that the

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bride-to-be and an officiant found the drunk Viking before they found air.

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More of your damned witchcraft.

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Damned witchcraft? It's very helpful witchcraft at that moment. But yes, damned witchcraft

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it is. So the Abomination headed to the hills and left some nameless Viking to enjoy married

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life. I wish them well.

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There is that famous myth about Thor posing as a bride with Loki as the bride's maid.

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So did CJ, did you stand in? Did you wear something bridal?

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No, he watched from afar. He couldn't take the smell, couldn't handle it.

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Ljomi caught the bouquet.

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I was assuming that Ljomi would actually just be the wedding arch.

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As well, that's what made it so easy to catch.

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Ljomi was the bouquet.

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Yes, obviously I didn't think you would go through with the nuptials. I assumed that

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you would jilt your poor Jotun lover and leave her at her Christian altar. I assume that

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you also returned a full blob of pots to the grasping Gunnar and then barricaded yourself

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into your trapper cabin for the past two weeks.

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Yes, we had, well the two of us had determined a great way to get by. I continued to adopt

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more of the local insect fauna and air stared at the wall as is his wonk.

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CJ, you're rich enough to have got yourself a decent room at the cooking kettle or perhaps

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you've checked into the local Raudrson Hotel.

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Yeah, you know, Grjotgarth is not one for camping or staring at walls. He has places to be

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and people to see and so he's taking care of himself quite well.

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Now you've all leveled up to the heights of level two and that has involved adding a few

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more spells to your craft repertoire, is that correct?

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It is, yeah.

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Indeed.

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Some good ones. Wonderful. So we won't drill into them all now but just to make sure that

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you are prepared, that you have your spell songs and your runes ready for the challenge

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ahead.

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I expect to be even more terrifying in combat than I was last time and those who were present

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or have listened to the episode will understand the meaning of that.

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I'm not sure that there are any more depths left to plumb. Let us begin proceedings and

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introduce everyone to the scene. The adventure will begin today with an invitation to lunch

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at the house of the local Lawspeaker, Krapti Thorfridsen. You last saw him officiating at

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your holmgang that went entirely awry. His house itself is a modest dwelling that serves

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both of his residence and his office. Becky and Sam, you are already inside when these

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three are invited to lunch. You've been invited there also and this is the location in which

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you will all first meet and be able to introduce yourselves to each other. So the building

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is a red two-story rectangle with a saddle roof connected to a tower which rises above

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the shoreline nearby. As you ratatat on the door responding to the invitation, the kind

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invitation to lunch, Krapti opens the door wide. He is an unassuming fellow. He doesn't

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have servants. He just has a reputation for working hard and doing the right thing. As

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you knock on his door, he says, my dear fellows, do come in. It is such a pleasure to meet

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you after the fracas that we had to endure the other week.

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This guy has seen Eir's true form, right?

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He has.

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Okay, well, no need to disguise myself then. I'll just hang out as the abomination I am.

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You do you.

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May I say what a magnificent specimen. 14th century, is it? The headdress, the reign of

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the Grand Prince, Danir of the Rus.

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Well, you remember, yes. Thank you. I tried to model it accurately based on my memory.

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And this must be the Hersir himself. Welcome, Drottin. I must say the Leda forest is looking

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lovely on the sightbands. I would love to go there myself one day and frequent Asgard.

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Alas, I am not of your noble lineage.

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Does Gryotgarth sit through the door?

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Everything but his ego.

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Yeah, him or his ego.

210
00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:13,200
Well, both.

211
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:21,080
Perhaps go in sideways. Gryotgarth, or Gigi to his friend, is a sizable gentleman, genetically

212
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:27,720
enhanced and you are reminiscent of Ganger Hrolf, that's what we said, right?

213
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,760
Something to that effect, yes.

214
00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:31,920
Does he look like a jotunn?

215
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:39,600
He's a jofurr and he looks like, he looks very pretty, dresses like a peacock. So he's very

216
00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:49,320
ostentatious, I think is the right word. So easy to spot, not someone you would want on your team

217
00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:51,680
if you were trying to hide from someone.

218
00:19:51,680 --> 00:20:00,000
I have laid a table and set out some chairs, but perhaps you might take the couch, dear

219
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:05,440
Hersir, and spread yourself upon it so as not to constrain your buttocks.

220
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,040
That sounds lovely.

221
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:16,400
And then by Ask and Embla, another Alfar. We were happily surprised that Oldunger has stayed

222
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:22,080
with us so long, but we're delighted to make room for another of the Scions of Yggdrasil.

223
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:28,680
Very kind indeed. I wonder if you have any water? I would like some water, please.

224
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:30,080
Well, I am.

225
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:31,280
A pot to stand in.

226
00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:38,400
Can I tempt you with some lutefisk? Rehydrated cod, it's quite the delicacy.

227
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:46,040
I'll have simply the hydration. Without the cod would be delicious. It looks excellent,

228
00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:53,320
I'm sure the menfolk will enjoy it. We need them to eat so they are more attractive to the bears.

229
00:20:53,320 --> 00:21:00,720
Perhaps if I may avail you, kind Alfar, please do keep off the carpets. I don't want an infestation.

230
00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:05,560
Fair enough, I'll stand in the corner.

231
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:15,040
Now, do excuse me for a moment. I must attend to the lunch. I shall be serving shortly and then I have some

232
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:23,600
very important matters that I wish to get your help with. Before I do so, if I might introduce the delightful

233
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:30,440
Bryn Blar, Ivaldisdottir from the Firefox Institute, and my own hireling Falk the Fair.

234
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,640
You may well have heard his latest drapa.

235
00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,600
Falk standing there completely wide-mouthed.

236
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:38,000
We get that a lot.

237
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:39,360
Good morning, good morning.

238
00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:46,000
When you address him, he hits the bottom of his chin with his hand and pushes his mouth back closed.

239
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:54,200
Ljomi addresses him and says, man, do you enjoy the company of bears? Big white thing.

240
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:58,120
I'm sorry, I'm married.

241
00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:02,240
Then bring your wife. That would be excellent.

242
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:07,600
To the bears? Maybe this means something different where you're from.

243
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,080
Yes, yes, yes, it does.

244
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:15,960
I'm sorry, you are not making a euphemism. You speak to the rider of the icebergs.

245
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:26,320
Yes, well put. We have had several interesting encounters with them. I like this man.

246
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:33,840
The law speaker is fiddling with the Utvarp, this universe's equivalent of the radio.

247
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:42,840
He is scanning through the frequencies, twisting the dial, and then with a frustrated sigh,

248
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:47,440
he clicks the device off and returns to the table.

249
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:54,080
Uh, you'll excuse me a moment. I'm afraid the Utvarp appears to be broken.

250
00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:59,880
I've been playing around with the dial and I just can't get a different signal.

251
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:07,920
Every single channel appears to be playing this infernal racket.

252
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,960
Something is wrong with the sound machine?

253
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,680
Exactly. It's driving me insane.

254
00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:16,680
Is that what it's for?

255
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:19,200
Would you permit me to have a look at it?

256
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,200
By all means, by all means. Please, please, please.

257
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:26,400
I'll get back to saving the lunch and if you can have a tinker and solve whatever's going on,

258
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,120
I would be most appreciative.

259
00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:35,120
Do I remember, Ljomi says, was someone here from the Institute?

260
00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:37,480
That would be me from the Firefox Institute.

261
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,680
I'm very interested. I'm very interested in the Institute.

262
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:48,080
The Daggerfall, terrible thing. Damage to worthwhile beings and the worthless alike.

263
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:54,960
Terrible mess. I would very much like to help correct all of this horrible damage.

264
00:23:54,960 --> 00:24:04,360
I'd very much like to meet the other members of the Institute and contribute in what small yet meaningful way I may be able to.

265
00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:09,200
And we can bring the atrocity along as well, if that's useful.

266
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,200
Sir, where am I going now?

267
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,280
Not to worry. We'll have some men in front of us. It'll be fine.

268
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:16,200
Oh, these ones?

269
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:25,120
Yeah, you're talking there to Becky in order to try and get an invite into the Firefox Institute that she represents.

270
00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:29,640
The Firefox Institute is the local bastion of the Winterwise,

271
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:41,480
the scientists who have gathered to try and solve the puzzle of the Fimbulvetr after the Swordfall has brought a world of Midgard to its knees.

272
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:55,800
Ian, I'm curious, hearing the angelic tones from the radio earlier, did it actually sound like a chorus singing or was it a single person holding the note that we heard?

273
00:24:55,800 --> 00:25:05,160
I'm going to suggest that Becky makes a wits challenge roll based upon her scientific experience.

274
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,160
She only just got here, Ian.

275
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,440
I know. Gosh, best roll of the night, guys.

276
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,920
OK, a wits challenge roll.

277
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:20,160
And your wits is fairly high because you are an erudite individual.

278
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:26,240
I am. I am very curious. I try, I think, to be intelligent. I strive to be intelligent.

279
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:33,360
OK, that's 11 on the d20 and it's plus two from my wits, which makes it 30.

280
00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:43,400
Very good. So we will allow you to surmise that there is a single frequency being played there.

281
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:52,360
It is something akin to Alfsongr. Alfsongr, the song of the elves.

282
00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:55,800
Bill, it's unlike anything that Ljomi has ever heard.

283
00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:01,080
It's like a bastardization of your sacred song.

284
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:06,720
So it wasn't instantly recognizable by you as the as the language of the spirits,

285
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:16,200
but it's someone trying to approximate that and it is echoing out whenever the radio, the Utvarp, is turned on.

286
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:23,560
And again, just for background, as the real world uses Wi-Fi and radio waves to transmit information,

287
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,800
in the Viking verse, the equivalent is the evergreen.

288
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:35,520
And in our world, whereas Hertz was the person who conclusively proved the existence of electromagnetic waves

289
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:44,600
and came up with the first unit of frequency, in this world, the Skald Heimrich Hjartz named it.

290
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:53,000
And if I also have the Alfar song language, is that enough to recognize what our Woodland friend recognized

291
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,600
as well as a human or would it sound too weird to me?

292
00:26:55,600 --> 00:27:10,080
It's almost as if you as Manfolk had composed a poem or a drapa or some kind of Eddic verse and used this elf song.

293
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:14,560
Does it sound like it has any sort of magical backing, like a Galdr craft?

294
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:21,440
It's not magical. It's lacking in any artistic merit whatsoever.

295
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:28,720
As I see the daughter of Ivaldi messing with it and the sound kind of comes on and off again,

296
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:35,440
I kind of keep putting my ear towards it, trying to puzzle out exactly what I'm hearing.

297
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:45,280
And then I'll finally say, while it is of the Alfar, it's certainly not expertly put together.

298
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:49,680
Well, it may not be expertly put together, but it's coming through on a particular frequency

299
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:52,240
that is overstepping all the other ones.

300
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:58,600
It is slightly concerning if our hosts did indeed say it's happening all over town.

301
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:02,680
Look at these two already showing their mental muscle.

302
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:12,960
The best way to describe this thing in wearing the mantle of a dad myself is, oh, my God, it's all just noise.

303
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,080
So perhaps it is something that's cool for the kids.

304
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:25,680
But as far as the older and wiser people around this table are concerned, it's definitely newfangled and noisy.

305
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:29,040
Is this the Vikingverse equivalent of a faulty Wi-Fi router?

306
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,800
Am I understanding correctly?

307
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:37,280
It could well be. This is what you need to determine.

308
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:45,240
Krapti comes back from the kitchen carrying a whole bunch of plates that he puts down on the table in front of you

309
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,520
and says, please, please do help yourself have whatever you need.

310
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:53,480
I do want to talk to you about a matter of import.

311
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,880
And I do want to test your minds.

312
00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:02,520
You see, I brought you all here today because you are such clever people.

313
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,520
You might not know this. I put together the local paper.

314
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:11,920
This is the front page of the most recent edition.

315
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:18,720
And if you would, I'd like to test your mental metal if you wouldn't mind indulging me for just a moment.

316
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:25,680
Perhaps look over the headlines and tell me if any of them tickles your fancy.

317
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:35,040
Gryotgarth is getting more and more irritated because that sound interrupted the introductions.

318
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:39,360
And he did not have time to introduce himself to the new people in the room.

319
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:44,480
And so he's going to say, hold on that sound interrupted introductions.

320
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:50,880
I must go say hello. So he goes over to her new characters, struts his stuff, holds out his hand and says,

321
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:56,240
I'm Gryotgarth, the magnificent. My friends called me Gigi for short.

322
00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:02,480
He had to get that in. It's obligatory every time there's new people.

323
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,080
It's also part of the custom. He has to say it's a custom.

324
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:10,320
It's just like we say in French, on dit bonjour d'abord, we say hello first.

325
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,720
I'm so sorry for the hubbub and the confusion. Where are my manners?

326
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:21,600
I should have made sure that everyone was introduced, but the infernal noise was bamboozling my brain.

327
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:27,280
Please do talk amongst yourselves. I will get you some water, kind alfar.

328
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:35,920
Thank you. Thank you, sir. Above the table, could I get a description of the physical appearance of our son of Ivaldi?

329
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:42,560
Like, are there obvious cybernetic attachments and things or is it all pretty much internal?

330
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:50,480
I don't know. I will say, as you observe, the rather large man of the room approaching Brynn,

331
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,200
she will look quite small compared to him.

332
00:30:53,200 --> 00:31:00,160
She is visibly young in the face, not even in her early 20s, you're going to say late teens.

333
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:06,400
But it's mainly her face, which is human. Her hair seems to be tied up in a ponytail,

334
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:11,600
but inside the hair is almost like a plait of wires and lights and cables,

335
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,800
and they wrap around at the back and go back into her neck.

336
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:22,320
She's wearing a long arctic waistcoat. It's padded, it's fur lined, but she clearly has no need for it

337
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,560
because her arms are bare, but her arms are clearly synthetic.

338
00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:33,280
It's like a slightly translucent blue pale skin showing wiring and joints and mechanics and cables

339
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:38,080
and all those different panels on one side, particularly her left shoulder.

340
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:46,000
It's the same for her legs. It's just her torso that seems to be covered in a formal blouse under the vest.

341
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,800
On her ears, she's got three different studs in different colours.

342
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:56,800
Every now and then, if you look closely, one of them will flash just randomly in an interesting sequence.

343
00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:02,800
But she will look up at... How do you pronounce your name again, CJ?

344
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:04,800
Zizi for short.

345
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:12,800
They'll say, well, my name is Bryn, Ivaldisdottir. I'm not a son, I'm a daughter of Ivaldi.

346
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:14,800
I am of the Firefox Institute here.

347
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:16,800
Well met.

348
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:24,480
Well met. I take Gigi's hand as he offers it and I'm probably about half your size.

349
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:30,640
And as I shake your hand, I'm not particularly strong. I don't know how strong your character is,

350
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:41,040
but I assume stronger. But I try to take it. And then I say, well met, feeder of ravens,

351
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:48,800
mighty of both hand and stature. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Falk, though my friends call me Fair.

352
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:51,200
Well met, Falk.

353
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:57,280
It's at this point that Bill normally mangles a name and Falk is a very dangerous one to play around with.

354
00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:03,680
Anyway, I'm going to draw your attention back to the Weekly Runic.

355
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:13,520
Again, bear in mind, because this is an audio vehicle, if you would, as you discuss, read out the various headlines.

356
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:19,840
Bear in mind that what the slightly excited Krapti is doing, he's sitting one near the end of the table,

357
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:25,920
he's rubbing his hands and tapping his feet. He's hoping that he has met some kindred spirits

358
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:37,360
and he is hoping that you will be able to puzzle out the most compelling stories that are on that front page of his newspaper.

359
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:42,000
You said this gentleman we're speaking with is also the law speaker.

360
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:42,960
Correct.

361
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:48,480
OK, so would he have knowledge of some laws and customs that might be relevant?

362
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:56,400
He would. He has been the judge and administrator in Hjalpmakaar for many years now.

363
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,040
He is the eyes and ears of the town.

364
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:05,120
Several years ago, he decided to take over the voice as well and become the editor of this local newspaper.

365
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:11,840
He's slid it across to you. If you do have questions beyond this plethora of headlines,

366
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:19,360
then he'll happily answer them once you have satiated his curiosity.

367
00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:26,880
Yomi is standing very close to Brynn, staring at her hairline and her arms and

368
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,240
tutting just a little under his breath.

369
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:36,800
Is there a reason for that? Are you just being inherently sexist or is it a tree thing?

370
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:40,400
No, it's a tree thing.

371
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,800
It's you. You seem.

372
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,840
Pardon me, man. You seem different than the other man.

373
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:49,600
There's you have something on you.

374
00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:52,880
Oh, you mean my cybernetic.

375
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:56,720
Yes, it seems very odd. I am.

376
00:34:56,720 --> 00:34:59,360
I am. No, no, not.

377
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:04,320
Well, consider this my nature companion.

378
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:06,880
Trees grow flowers.

379
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:11,280
I seem to happen to have nuts, bolts, and maybe the odd wire or two.

380
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,280
Did you have a collision with one of the wheeled ones?

381
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:16,720
Is that what happened?

382
00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:18,720
No, no, this was all self designed.

383
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:20,260
OK.

384
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:22,240
And Ljomi tried.

385
00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:27,680
All of these stories buzzing around us in this godforsaken spot.

386
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,040
Please do indulge me. Which is the most important?

387
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:37,280
And I must say the most pertinent that I see is the Evergreen Outage Network

388
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:39,760
experiencing major service disruptions.

389
00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:44,480
We just heard that damned infernal noise that came from your receiver.

390
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,240
That seems quite pertinent.

391
00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:51,600
And perhaps the fifth headline, Northern Lights that are not actually Northern Lights.

392
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:56,160
Could they be related? I don't know, but it looks suspicious to me.

393
00:35:56,160 --> 00:36:00,800
I knew there was something about you, Hersir.

394
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:08,560
Whilst the Evergreen Outage is nothing much, coverage in Heimslit is always patchy at best.

395
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:13,040
I do think that there is something in these Northern Lights.

396
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:16,560
Anyway, please do give me any other thoughts that you might have.

397
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:26,240
I'm trying to tell which of you has the razor sharp wits required for the adventures ahead.

398
00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:29,200
Well, I'm pleased to see that the Institute's manager, Bangsi,

399
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,240
is one of the headlines. Scientific discovery?

400
00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:33,120
Most definitely.

401
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:38,640
He's always out and about looking for new discoveries and this worm that he claims to have found.

402
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:43,120
Well, who knows, it might be destroying infrastructure which supports the Evergreen.

403
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:49,840
There is no end to the Ivaldians vanity. Your present company accepted, of course.

404
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:52,160
We all strive to be great.

405
00:36:52,160 --> 00:37:01,200
Grey Goose win. Havander wins the Cup in icy conditions. Was he competing alone? That man is rubbish.

406
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:06,240
The sports of the henbane of the masses, next.

407
00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:15,680
Well, it seems people should be concerned about this temperature trend. How long has the temperature been going down?

408
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,080
It says here it's accelerating. Won't that freeze all the living people?

409
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:22,160
Not mine.

410
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,080
It seems like something that some...

411
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:25,680
Some of us are built with anti freeze.

412
00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:32,960
Assume there's not been any other signs like wolves eating either the sun or the moon.

413
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:46,720
It's a fair question. The people who live in this town of Hjalpmakaar are afeard that Ragnarok is upon them ever since the Swordfall erupted.

414
00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:54,960
It rained down radiation on large parts of the planet and tumbled the world into this new ice age.

415
00:37:54,960 --> 00:38:03,760
So whilst no one has seen a literal wolf devouring the sun, there is the metaphorical equivalent that has already happened.

416
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:11,360
I'm also wondering about this artist. What is it called? The Experimental Alfsonger Band.

417
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:15,520
Is that what was coming out of the sound machine? Was it their noise?

418
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:30,640
If you were to put two and two together, then indeed it may be the case that this experimental Alfsonger Band has been bombarding the airwaves with their latest single.

419
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:48,560
Ljomi stares at the newspaper and puts forward a question. The woman who was killed in the accident with the Skidverg, did she also end up with pieces of equipment in her skull?

420
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:50,960
Is this a bit of an outbreak?

421
00:38:50,960 --> 00:39:01,200
Quite possibly, my friend. But while the accident is tragic, the moral is do not rent Skidverg from Gunnar Weatherbag.

422
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:12,320
Perhaps Filck could make up a poem about her passing. The name is Filck. I remember names very well. Filck.

423
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:22,240
Sam, one of the things you'll find, since you might not have followed too closely, is that he will mangle your name at every available opportunity.

424
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:28,880
Yeah, it's fine. I'm just excited that one of the Alfar is speaking to me.

425
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:36,720
I try and use small words when talking to men. You're welcome.

426
00:39:36,720 --> 00:39:49,040
As you do acknowledge me, both the Alfar and the Dokkalfar will notice that I've taken a portion of my lutefisk and have placed it in front of each of them as an offering.

427
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:53,280
I did this while other things were happening, making no grandstanding.

428
00:39:53,280 --> 00:40:07,600
But much like in modern society, you see people praying before their dinner, even out at restaurants, my character would engage in that religious notion of leaving a portion of his food for the ancestors.

429
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:19,440
Ljomi looks down at the fish and says, thank you to Filck, and then quietly passes it to Eir and says, you can have mine.

430
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:30,560
Eir acknowledges the now two pieces of fish. Thank you for this, and thank you for your respect for the ancestors. He will decline to eat it because he can't.

431
00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:36,800
Yeah, that's often what happens to the ancestor plate.

432
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:41,600
And now you know why.

433
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,960
We have no mouths, and we must scream.

434
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:46,960
The giant man wants to speak.

435
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:52,400
Just a point of order, shouldn't Bill roll for trauma looking at that newspaper?

436
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:56,560
Oh, what a paper. Oh my God.

437
00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:00,400
Wow, good one.

438
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:04,000
Damn, that's a good one.

439
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:18,240
The law speaker again clasped me in his hand. He's been delighted by the conversation, the camaraderie, and the offerings of fish to his ancestors.

440
00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:22,160
He says to you, I feel you are close to something.

441
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:34,400
Gigi, if I may call you that, you did notice the northern lights, and one of the reasons why I have brought out distinguished Ivaldi's daughter here is,

442
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:45,040
while there are plenty who believe the northern lights are reflections of the Valkyries and their armor, or the breath of brave soldiers who died in combat,

443
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:55,440
or the Bifrost Bridge itself, its utter horse shit, of course, the northern lights are a natural light show caused by disturbances on Sol.

444
00:41:55,440 --> 00:42:06,080
And these cosmic undulations launch electrons at high speeds into Mother Eir's atmosphere, where they create these aurora.

445
00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:09,440
But here is the crucial thing, my friends.

446
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:17,520
You cannot see them in daylight, at least not with the naked eye.

447
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:31,040
So if the scar in the sky that hovers above our heads is not the njodrlos, then the question is, what is it?

448
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:34,880
And that's what I want you to find out.

449
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:43,440
The Institute itself, people who are employed to measure this kind of phenomena have not batted an iron end.

450
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:48,960
Why is that? We need to get to the bottom of this.

451
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:56,720
Well, just to clarify, I cannot speak for my other brothers and sisters, but I personally have had a very fascinating project of late.

452
00:42:56,720 --> 00:43:00,240
I was returning to the Institute only, was it a week ago?

453
00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:07,840
Yes, and I came across a pole with three fish heads on, three fish heads and the fish, they were still mouthing.

454
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:12,480
It was very serious. I've never seen such animated dead life before.

455
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:17,120
And I've been studying them all this week, trying to work out why they are what they are.

456
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:24,720
And if we can use their abilities, whatever energy gives them their energy, literally to keep going.

457
00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:40,080
And what Becky is talking about, presumably, is the very same curse pole that was hammered into the ground outside your trapper hut by the delightful jilted jotunn bride.

458
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:48,240
So even after you left with the teeth chattering and clattering and gnawing at the air,

459
00:43:48,240 --> 00:43:57,200
presumably the electrical impulses continued or something else is afoot.

460
00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:05,280
My good law speaker, is there a means to track the alfar song to its source?

461
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:16,160
Do you have a machine or something that would allow us to point to a direction, a path to follow?

462
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:20,080
I think your best bet is to ask the delightful Brynn here.

463
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:25,520
Perhaps she may take you into the Firefox Institute and they may be able to help you.

464
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:34,160
If anyone has the scientific equipment in order to trace this signal, then they will have.

465
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,840
I'm willing to pay you for your trouble, of course.

466
00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:44,320
Three crowns if you can find out the truth about that glowing red cross.

467
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:49,200
And I am somewhat skilled in the nature of spacecraft.

468
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:57,120
I have the ability to divine from the runes to use the broad span, the sacrificial chip.

469
00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:00,480
If you wish, I may augur on your behalf.

470
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:08,560
I'll just clarify. So the Northern Lights are in fact not the last breaths of dead warriors?

471
00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:10,640
No, absolutely not.

472
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:17,280
I know that may be disappointing to you as a dead warrior, but no, there's some kind of...

473
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:22,800
Yet another lie I was told.

474
00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:27,200
Your science is about seven centuries behind Becky's science, for example.

475
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:29,680
What other heresies will I learn?

476
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:31,760
I like to think that both are true.

477
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:32,880
Thank you.

478
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:34,880
That's very skaldic of you.

479
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:42,000
Well, we Ivaldias like to look forward into the future and what lies beyond and what we can further achieve.

480
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:51,760
But yes, the Institute may well have some equipment and tools that we could use to try and monitor and proximate the origination of the lights.

481
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:55,920
Because, as the newspaper says, they are not the Northern Lights.

482
00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:57,520
They are in daytime.

483
00:45:57,520 --> 00:46:01,760
And if they're not the Northern Lights, then it is a perfectly good question to ask what made them.

484
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:10,000
And I think it would please my brothers and sisters and indeed my elder father himself if we were to deduce what they were.

485
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:16,640
And if they're of benefit, maybe seek out ways we can monetize it.

486
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:24,560
I'm sure someone will be signing up for a subscription to this, scouring the sky sometime soon, if you do want to monetize it.

487
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:41,280
You are, if you wish, able to use the law speaker's offer of a casting of the sacrificial chip spell to ask me one question to which I must answer yes or no.

488
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:48,640
And just as a reminder, Sam, I think you have a similar ability in terms of Udal Rite.

489
00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:54,880
You can at some point ask me a similar question to which I must answer yes or no.

490
00:46:54,880 --> 00:47:02,000
And that represents the divinatory spirits of the land that flock to Norse heroes.

491
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:11,920
And your ability to cast the runes and ask of the landvaettir and get the benefit of their wisdom.

492
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:15,120
So the question now with the law speaker, you must ask now.

493
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:17,840
Sam, you can keep your one for a little bit later on.

494
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:21,680
If you wish to formulate that question, then please do so.

495
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:29,040
And in the meantime, while you're thinking about that, CJ, do you want to just give me a wits roll, please?

496
00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:29,920
Good luck.

497
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:31,600
Do it magnificently.

498
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,400
Yeah, that's not that's not too bad.

499
00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:35,840
Ten.

500
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,000
Just enough.

501
00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:49,280
Where you were staying in the past few weeks, you actually remember that there was a huge commotion as some kind of dignitary,

502
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:56,480
some kind of rock star, some kind of some kind of nuisance was interrupting you one night.

503
00:47:56,480 --> 00:48:05,440
You did see what this universe is called the sight bands, the equivalent of a television was hurled out of a window,

504
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:10,160
causing all kinds of mayhem in the middle of the night glass everywhere.

505
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:13,920
And it really did disturb your sleep.

506
00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:31,920
Now that I think of it and looking at the newspaper, I do believe the hotel I was staying in was also housing the potentially producer of this strange noise

507
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:36,000
coming out of our that machine over there.

508
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:40,960
She doesn't know how to say any of these things.

509
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:44,480
We could the grant was also staying at your hotel.

510
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:50,240
Just come to think of it, since it's a song that relates to what they do, it could be them.

511
00:48:50,240 --> 00:48:51,760
They could help point us.

512
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:53,120
We can go to the Institute.

513
00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:55,120
It's a backup plan.

514
00:48:55,120 --> 00:49:00,960
Go back to my hotel and find these artists with air quotes.

515
00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:07,760
If they're creating songs, replicating the songs of the Alfar, do they not do they not risk angering the Alfar spirits?

516
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:09,760
Krapti speaks up.

517
00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:17,200
Uh, we can ask the spirits directly using my spacecraft.

518
00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:29,840
OK, uh, so she says, well, if if you don't have anything to ask now, I do have something I want to ask him, but it's private.

519
00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:39,920
Oh, so I would be using it for myself only, which is all right with me.

520
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:43,280
How mysterious.

521
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:45,040
And none of your business is private.

522
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:46,480
That's not understood.

523
00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:46,880
Understood.

524
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:48,080
Yeah, no, that's what private means.

525
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:51,760
Yes, I'm intrigued as to how you're going to ask a private question.

526
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:56,800
You're just going to ask everyone to like, plug their ears, mute you.

527
00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:58,880
What's what's what you're going to do?

528
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:10,800
No, I'm going to send them off to the hotel ahead of me and I'll stay behind for a couple of minutes or as you will stay behind for a couple of minutes and and ask the question.

529
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:18,800
You know, me, Leans in close to Brynn and says, when will your hair and arms get better?

530
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:21,600
Oh, they already are better.

531
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:25,280
Trust me, they can do a lot more than my arms and head could do before.

532
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:25,600
Very.

533
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:28,960
This hair doesn't need washing, it doesn't get greasy.

534
00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:31,840
These arms, these can do that.

535
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:36,480
They can type a lot faster than before, which is really helpful with my scientific research.

536
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:44,400
I was just getting used to the marble atrocity and the wheeled thing exploded.

537
00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:46,160
No fault of ours.

538
00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:48,080
So that was good.

539
00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:50,320
I didn't have to deal with that anymore.

540
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:52,960
And the men are useful for certain things.

541
00:50:52,960 --> 00:51:00,400
But no, I think it's the men have real I've recognized their severe limitations and are trying to do something about it.

542
00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:01,280
I think it's admirable.

543
00:51:01,280 --> 00:51:03,200
It says it seems unnatural.

544
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:05,600
That's unnatural.

545
00:51:07,760 --> 00:51:08,720
You're unnatural.

546
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:12,400
Yes, I've had quite enough of you.

547
00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:13,280
I've noticed.

548
00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:14,000
I'll tell you that.

549
00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:16,320
And on that bombshell.

550
00:51:18,720 --> 00:51:20,320
CJ, do you want to ask your question?

551
00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:22,160
Yes, in private.

552
00:51:22,720 --> 00:51:28,560
So if everyone could start the quest, meet me at my hotel room.

553
00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:30,000
Don't look under the bed.

554
00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:35,280
We will go to the institute and I will recruit some equipment for us.

555
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:37,280
Because that's the most logical.

556
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:37,760
Oh, the institute.

557
00:51:37,760 --> 00:51:38,240
Yes.

558
00:51:38,240 --> 00:51:38,800
Approach.

559
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:39,280
Yes.

560
00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:43,440
I'll come with you and hopefully they will know how to make you better.

561
00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:45,280
Well, I have air has a.

562
00:51:45,280 --> 00:51:46,560
They made me.

563
00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:47,760
They made me, darling.

564
00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:48,480
They made me.

565
00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:50,160
They made me, darling, they made me.

566
00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:51,760
Literally.

567
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:55,520
Eir has a legal question for the law speaker.

568
00:51:55,520 --> 00:52:00,480
So he would like to hang somewhere out of earshot.

569
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:02,720
Oh, another private question.

570
00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:03,600
Okay.

571
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:09,600
Before we exit, he walks up to the alfar and says,

572
00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:10,560
Mighty is the sea.

573
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:15,040
Mighty so that Skidverg carried Frasvin into arms.

574
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:17,840
Arms of she who chooses the slain.

575
00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:22,400
Long will her kin remember never to follow in her rental practice.

576
00:52:23,200 --> 00:52:24,560
And then I walk away.

577
00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:29,280
Oh, most, most excellent.

578
00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:30,080
Most excellent.

579
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:32,640
I have a question for Filck as well.

580
00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:38,880
Do you think the her name Filck?

581
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:39,440
Yes, Filck.

582
00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:43,360
Do you think Brownie, whatever.

583
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:47,040
Whatever Brownie, the young one.

584
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:50,160
Do you think she'll get that soon?

585
00:52:50,160 --> 00:52:51,680
I'm quite concerned.

586
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:58,560
I'm going to shimmer dissolve to the outside having this conversation.

587
00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:04,160
In the meantime, I'm going to first of all, let CJ ask his question.

588
00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:09,520
And then Steve, I will return to you for an aside with Krapti.

589
00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:14,800
I think it's a good idea to have your legal questions answered.

590
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:17,120
CJ, if you want your question to be really private,

591
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:21,760
I think you might be able to message Ian individually in chat.

592
00:53:21,760 --> 00:53:26,000
I think that that would defeat the object of having an audience.

593
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:30,960
I see what you're saying, but we just might have to be a little creative.

594
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:33,040
I have to answer it.

595
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:38,640
I think in the essence of creating a narrative podcast where we tell a story,

596
00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:41,280
and your characters are going to have to pretend they haven't heard.

597
00:53:41,280 --> 00:53:43,520
What if you both use sign language?

598
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:44,160
Just a thought.

599
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:49,920
See, Bill, the thing with a podcast is it's mostly verbal.

600
00:53:50,480 --> 00:53:52,240
I almost entirely.

601
00:53:52,240 --> 00:53:53,200
That's the pod part.

602
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:57,760
OK, I'm going to make Ian do separate crew, so I'm going to stop.

603
00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:06,320
Well, let's play it out and have Gigi get close to the last speaker and lean into his ear.

604
00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:14,960
And ask a question to the effect of understand he understands that Bill and Steve had been part of

605
00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:18,560
a home gang with a droid, Dvergar, right?

606
00:54:19,280 --> 00:54:25,840
And ask, does he know what happened to the carcass or the remains of it?

607
00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:26,400
Oh, shit.

608
00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:29,040
Yes.

609
00:54:30,480 --> 00:54:31,200
And.

610
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:32,640
Because it's a yes, no answer.

611
00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:34,400
It's a yes.

612
00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:35,440
He knows where it is.

613
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:35,920
Good.

614
00:54:35,920 --> 00:54:36,320
Good.

615
00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:37,440
And wait, that's.

616
00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:41,040
Two different questions there, buddy.

617
00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:46,960
And once more, the genie fools the poor.

618
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:47,280
Right.

619
00:54:48,720 --> 00:54:52,320
And then would he have the goodwill to tell Grjotgarth

620
00:54:52,960 --> 00:54:56,000
above and beyond this one yes, no question where that might be?

621
00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:03,120
Well, I do feel that you have rather inexpertly and

622
00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:07,520
inadvisably used the casting of the runes.

623
00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:14,320
But I will tell you that it is common knowledge that the dverger who was cleaved in two

624
00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:22,320
in the home gang was taken as a trophy by the victor, Finnbogi Asbjornsson himself,

625
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:25,440
a fellow jöfurr and the Jarl of the town.

626
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:27,040
Rumor has it.

627
00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:27,840
All right, that's it.

628
00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:30,800
Rumor has it as he hangs on his mantelpiece.

629
00:55:31,680 --> 00:55:32,080
Lovely.

630
00:55:32,080 --> 00:55:38,720
You know, I am still baffled by the display of your dverg friend between you and me.

631
00:55:38,720 --> 00:55:45,200
They only needed to prove the Jarl's bear killed two freemen and he would have been paying them.

632
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:52,720
All right, that piece of detective work done, Steve, we will now go to you so that you can

633
00:55:52,720 --> 00:55:56,560
entertain all of our listeners with your legal analysis.

634
00:55:57,520 --> 00:55:59,360
Are we back to mining law, Steve?

635
00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:04,560
Are we going because we spent a little bit of time on that in episode two mining law.

636
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:06,560
Property law.

637
00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:08,080
We're going to start to think.

638
00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:08,720
Yes.

639
00:56:08,720 --> 00:56:10,800
Yeah, it's at the core of the adventure.

640
00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:13,120
It is totally the core of it.

641
00:56:13,120 --> 00:56:19,360
When we were in the South, last speaker, we met a gentleman named Daniel, who claims that

642
00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:22,000
he is the rightful heir of the entire North.

643
00:56:23,200 --> 00:56:27,680
I have heard these rather whimsical tales of flights of fancy.

644
00:56:27,680 --> 00:56:32,480
Both him and Bjarnie Bjarnason would always tell such things.

645
00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:37,520
You ply them with enough ale and they would tell you that they were the king of the bears.

646
00:56:38,720 --> 00:56:43,920
They claimed that Bjarnie had a deed on his person, which would prove it.

647
00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:46,160
Is such a document even possible?

648
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:50,240
It is possible.

649
00:56:50,240 --> 00:56:58,160
It is possible, whether the story as I understand it is that when their forebear,

650
00:56:58,160 --> 00:57:05,760
Vilhelm Bjarnasson, first discovered the archipelago, that he signed the deed with the local

651
00:57:05,760 --> 00:57:06,880
Skraeling.

652
00:57:06,880 --> 00:57:12,960
They assigned him the whole land in return for, I don't know, a handful of beads.

653
00:57:12,960 --> 00:57:21,520
And they proffered him a vellum parchment inscribed in their local language that

654
00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:25,920
allegedly gave him the land in perpetuity.

655
00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:29,760
Of course, the land would come with all of the mineral rights.

656
00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:37,440
And as you know from your dealings with the denizens of darkness, the dökkálfar of Kongstein,

657
00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:42,400
there are many minerals beneath the ground that are of great value.

658
00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:48,560
Yeah, my people may have questions about anyone who claims to own what's below the ground,

659
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:50,480
but that's a separate thing.

660
00:57:50,480 --> 00:57:58,480
So if someone, if a person were to physically possess this deed, is that what is the custom

661
00:57:58,480 --> 00:57:59,200
of today?

662
00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:01,920
Is that sufficiently legal to grant them ownership?

663
00:58:01,920 --> 00:58:06,960
Is it enough to merely pound claim stakes into the ground and claim whatever is encompassed

664
00:58:06,960 --> 00:58:07,760
within them?

665
00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:14,000
If someone can claim a deed and that deed is proved legitimate and accurate, then there

666
00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:20,480
is no reason why the courts of the empire would not give it to whoever owned the deed,

667
00:58:20,480 --> 00:58:23,520
whoever had titles, so to speak.

668
00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:26,800
So whoever physically possesses the deed?

669
00:58:26,800 --> 00:58:29,440
It's not a case of possession.

670
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:33,920
Possession is not nine-tenths of the law, no matter what the dvergar will tell you.

671
00:58:33,920 --> 00:58:41,520
If the deed is legitimate and assigned by the original, Skraeling owners of the land,

672
00:58:41,520 --> 00:58:49,200
then if we can ascertain its legitimacy, then the person to whom the deed is assigned and

673
00:58:49,200 --> 00:58:54,960
their heirs would indeed own the mineral wealth of this region.

674
00:58:54,960 --> 00:59:00,240
Of course, I have yet to lay hands on such a legal document.

675
00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:06,320
Bjarnie Bjarnardson would always talk about it when he was in his cups, but no one ever

676
00:59:06,320 --> 00:59:07,440
saw it.

677
00:59:07,440 --> 00:59:13,440
I think it's just one of those urban legends that sweeps the tundra from time to time.

678
00:59:14,240 --> 00:59:14,640
Okay.

679
00:59:15,360 --> 00:59:17,040
I appreciate your time on the matter.

680
00:59:17,040 --> 00:59:19,680
I shall take what you have said under advisement.

681
00:59:19,680 --> 00:59:21,440
Thank you again for their hospitality.

682
00:59:21,440 --> 00:59:29,520
One last thing, as the two of you leave the building, Gigi, you sidling out in order to

683
00:59:29,520 --> 00:59:38,400
duck under the doorframe, you pass by two gentlemen who are trying to enter in at the

684
00:59:38,400 --> 00:59:38,960
same time.

685
00:59:38,960 --> 00:59:43,760
And there is this awkward dance, this little tussle as you try and pass each other in the

686
00:59:43,760 --> 00:59:46,400
corridor to the law speaker's house.

687
00:59:46,400 --> 00:59:54,000
And as the two of you leave, you notice that both of the gentlemen who are well-dressed

688
00:59:54,000 --> 01:00:02,480
in rather pristine suits, their suits are emblazoned with the insignia of the Nóatún

689
01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:03,440
launch sites.

690
01:00:03,440 --> 01:00:08,960
Now, the Nóatún launch sites in this universe are the equivalent of NASA.

691
01:00:12,160 --> 01:00:20,480
If ever there was a Viking equivalent of the X-Files with Scully and Mulder, you have just

692
01:00:20,480 --> 01:00:27,200
passed them by in the hallway, trying to squeeze past your immense girth.

693
01:00:29,200 --> 01:00:29,600
Good day.

694
01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:30,720
Excuse me, pardon me.

695
01:00:31,600 --> 01:00:31,920
They...

696
01:00:31,920 --> 01:00:33,040
So sorry.

697
01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:33,920
Yes, it's real.

698
01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:41,920
They simply scowl at you and make their way into the dining room where the law speaker

699
01:00:41,920 --> 01:00:44,320
is clattering plates and tidying up.

700
01:00:45,120 --> 01:00:49,200
We won't split the party because that's a recipe for disaster.

701
01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:53,920
So you can choose one of two locations that you have identified.

702
01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:56,160
The first is the Firefox Institute.

703
01:00:56,160 --> 01:01:03,440
And the second is the kettle where you took lodgings and where some of the party have

704
01:01:03,440 --> 01:01:10,960
been before having talked to the proprietor Solveig Cooking Kettle, for whom the place is

705
01:01:10,960 --> 01:01:11,360
named.

706
01:01:12,640 --> 01:01:14,400
Would I remember what room they were in?

707
01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:19,040
You wouldn't have to remember the room because there'd be this time in the afternoon

708
01:01:19,760 --> 01:01:20,960
propping up the bar.

709
01:01:21,440 --> 01:01:22,560
So that's where you want to go first.

710
01:01:22,560 --> 01:01:26,080
You want to go to the Cooking Kettle as a collective.

711
01:01:26,720 --> 01:01:32,640
But she'll be busy making notes kind of like on an electric notepad about what she thinks

712
01:01:32,640 --> 01:01:36,000
she can request from the Institute to go for.

713
01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:38,240
I don't believe this and that'll be good.

714
01:01:38,240 --> 01:01:40,240
And yes, definitely this and that.

715
01:01:40,240 --> 01:01:41,200
Oh, and more of those.

716
01:01:41,200 --> 01:01:43,440
She'll just kind of follow along at the back.

717
01:01:43,440 --> 01:01:49,520
We won't leave you hanging for too long as we will get to the Institute in due course.

718
01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:54,800
So the Cooking Kettle, as you know, is a fine establishment.

719
01:01:54,800 --> 01:01:56,880
It is teeming with life.

720
01:01:56,880 --> 01:02:00,640
All of the townsfolk pass through there.

721
01:02:00,640 --> 01:02:04,640
I've referred to it in previous episodes as the Cheers Bar of Hjalpmakaar.

722
01:02:04,640 --> 01:02:14,160
Low and behold, as you do enter, you see the Jarl, Finnbog, Finnbogi Asbjörnsson.

723
01:02:14,160 --> 01:02:20,320
And he is drinking at a table with his two bodyguards, who you know as Thorbjorn and Thorodd.

724
01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:25,840
And he's also talking with a third and more distinguished gentleman who wears the robes

725
01:02:25,840 --> 01:02:34,560
of office, who you imagine is the Governor Eldring, the ultimate authority in this town.

726
01:02:34,560 --> 01:02:37,120
Now, none of them look in your direction.

727
01:02:37,120 --> 01:02:42,400
They look like they are in heated debate about something.

728
01:02:42,400 --> 01:02:49,600
Also to your right, you notice the Dverg Miners, Wetkret and Rockpulse,

729
01:02:49,600 --> 01:02:55,280
who you had spoken to in a previous encounter as well.

730
01:02:55,280 --> 01:03:01,920
And obviously at the bar bustling around is Solveig herself, serving the many people who

731
01:03:01,920 --> 01:03:05,520
are hammering on the bar, trying to attract her attention.

732
01:03:05,520 --> 01:03:10,720
There is a new figure who is also slumped over the bar.

733
01:03:10,720 --> 01:03:17,520
Perhaps it is the errant rock star who has been causing so much commotion.

734
01:03:17,520 --> 01:03:22,560
It's up to you to engage with any and all of them.

735
01:03:22,560 --> 01:03:28,480
Ian, I'd like to use Second Sight to scan the room to see if there's any invisible or

736
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:32,320
sort of supernatural qualities in the room.

737
01:03:32,320 --> 01:03:39,680
I'm impressed with both your inherent skepticism and attention to detail.

738
01:03:39,680 --> 01:03:49,920
And no, this is a normal hostelry where there is nothing of ill repute or harmful intent.

739
01:03:49,920 --> 01:03:51,200
All right.

740
01:03:51,200 --> 01:03:55,920
Ljomi steps forward and walks towards Solveig and announces to the group,

741
01:03:55,920 --> 01:03:59,120
I shall greet her in the manner of her people.

742
01:03:59,120 --> 01:04:03,040
He walks up to Solveig and says, hello, Lather.

743
01:04:03,040 --> 01:04:04,160
Oh, hello, my darling.

744
01:04:04,160 --> 01:04:05,040
You're back already.

745
01:04:06,320 --> 01:04:06,720
Yes.

746
01:04:06,720 --> 01:04:08,080
Do you have water?

747
01:04:08,080 --> 01:04:08,800
Yes, I do.

748
01:04:08,800 --> 01:04:10,080
I have a great thirst.

749
01:04:10,080 --> 01:04:12,080
Are you still happy to pay for it, my darling?

750
01:04:12,080 --> 01:04:12,560
Certainly.

751
01:04:15,040 --> 01:04:23,200
She beams from ear to ear as she fleeces you a second time for a simple glass of water.

752
01:04:23,200 --> 01:04:29,120
Meanwhile, behind you, Eir, the Dverg miners, wander up to you,

753
01:04:30,080 --> 01:04:34,560
bristling with electronic rage.

754
01:04:34,560 --> 01:04:41,600
And they say, ahead the jotnar called you a pilchard, a proper plonker.

755
01:04:41,600 --> 01:04:45,120
They said you landed right in the oopsie-ploopsie.

756
01:04:45,120 --> 01:04:49,040
And now we know you have all of our sums added up.

757
01:04:49,040 --> 01:04:51,120
You have been winking the hood at us.

758
01:04:51,120 --> 01:04:54,240
And so we rotate our rear ends at you.

759
01:04:55,120 --> 01:04:55,840
Thank you for that.

760
01:04:56,720 --> 01:05:01,760
Obviously done something to offend them, because if they had arms to cross,

761
01:05:01,760 --> 01:05:03,840
they would be very firmly folded.

762
01:05:04,640 --> 01:05:10,480
Could you help me clarify, who have I offended now by existing?

763
01:05:10,480 --> 01:05:13,920
And yes, what could I do about it?

764
01:05:14,720 --> 01:05:15,120
We should.

765
01:05:15,120 --> 01:05:17,600
Well, there's a couple of things that are going on.

766
01:05:17,600 --> 01:05:21,760
First of all, you've been asking lots of questions about mining.

767
01:05:23,920 --> 01:05:29,520
Number two is, you also now have a fairly high shame score.

768
01:05:29,520 --> 01:05:31,040
Is your shame score five now?

769
01:05:31,760 --> 01:05:32,000
Yeah.

770
01:05:32,560 --> 01:05:32,880
Yeah.

771
01:05:32,880 --> 01:05:34,400
I can do better than that.

772
01:05:35,840 --> 01:05:40,720
You have established something of a reputation in town.

773
01:05:40,720 --> 01:05:44,080
You are mocked and despised wherever you go.

774
01:05:44,080 --> 01:05:47,360
Now, there's something to be said for being a dökkálfar. .

775
01:05:47,360 --> 01:05:49,200
You are a benighted race.

776
01:05:49,760 --> 01:05:50,720
You're uncommon.

777
01:05:51,440 --> 01:05:56,480
You've certainly caused, or rather your folk have caused,

778
01:05:56,480 --> 01:06:00,400
all kinds of problems for this region in the past.

779
01:06:00,400 --> 01:06:05,120
But you also carry with you the whiff of deviancy,

780
01:06:05,120 --> 01:06:09,360
the stench of ergi from being a sorcerer.

781
01:06:11,120 --> 01:06:13,360
Eir will ask them, could I have your names again?

782
01:06:14,880 --> 01:06:16,560
No, you may not have our names.

783
01:06:16,560 --> 01:06:18,400
We have given them to you already.

784
01:06:19,120 --> 01:06:22,480
It is very rude and insulting for you to be ignoring us.

785
01:06:23,440 --> 01:06:24,800
Living people are so dear.

786
01:06:25,520 --> 01:06:27,920
What and what should I be doing?

787
01:06:28,640 --> 01:06:29,760
Are you asking them that?

788
01:06:29,760 --> 01:06:30,480
Yes, I'm asking.

789
01:06:31,280 --> 01:06:33,360
God is just going to set them off again.

790
01:06:33,360 --> 01:06:33,920
Quite.

791
01:06:33,920 --> 01:06:41,520
Their lips are now very firmly sealed and they go back to drinking whale oil back.

792
01:06:42,080 --> 01:06:43,280
Thanks to God for that.

793
01:06:43,280 --> 01:06:46,800
Maybe they'll choke.

794
01:06:46,800 --> 01:06:52,400
The Jarl Finnbogi does beckon to you, CJ, and call out.

795
01:06:53,360 --> 01:06:55,280
What are you doing here, Hersir,

796
01:06:56,000 --> 01:07:00,400
cavorting with these miscreants and malcontents?

797
01:07:01,200 --> 01:07:03,120
I'm happy you should ask.

798
01:07:03,120 --> 01:07:06,960
I'm looking for something and it's none of your business.

799
01:07:06,960 --> 01:07:14,000
Never break the peace which good men and true make between thee and others.

800
01:07:15,280 --> 01:07:20,640
Bear in mind a good friend here, a true friend like Governor Eldring,

801
01:07:20,640 --> 01:07:23,920
is like a shining star on a bright night.

802
01:07:25,200 --> 01:07:27,040
I'm glad you think so highly of him.

803
01:07:28,080 --> 01:07:31,920
I should say a shining star on a dark night,

804
01:07:32,560 --> 01:07:34,160
because a bright night wouldn't make any sense.

805
01:07:34,160 --> 01:07:39,840
Well, the map, given the unusual light.

806
01:07:39,840 --> 01:07:49,200
Gryotgarth walks over to Finnbogi and gets a little bit closer to him,

807
01:07:49,200 --> 01:07:51,520
and there's presumably a lot of noise around.

808
01:07:53,120 --> 01:07:53,360
Yes?

809
01:07:54,240 --> 01:07:54,640
There is.

810
01:07:54,640 --> 01:07:56,560
Lots of cluttering.

811
01:07:56,560 --> 01:08:00,720
There is chatter and clutter and arguing and bickering,

812
01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:04,560
the bickering between the dökkálfar and the Dverg that you just heard.

813
01:08:05,520 --> 01:08:09,920
Yeah, and he's going to address Finnbogi and say,

814
01:08:09,920 --> 01:08:15,600
there is a matter I would like to address with you in private, if you could.

815
01:08:16,480 --> 01:08:17,120
It's all about-

816
01:08:17,120 --> 01:08:21,120
My bodyguards attend me everywhere I go.

817
01:08:21,760 --> 01:08:27,840
You may make an appointment and visit me at my manor in due course.

818
01:08:27,840 --> 01:08:30,160
With whom will I make this appointment?

819
01:08:30,160 --> 01:08:31,040
You, directly?

820
01:08:31,040 --> 01:08:35,760
Or do you have an assistant who could write it down so you don't miss it?

821
01:08:36,960 --> 01:08:43,200
I have often heard that no one is a total fool if he can be silent.

822
01:08:43,680 --> 01:08:45,200
Away with you.

823
01:08:45,200 --> 01:08:47,280
Oh, lovely.

824
01:08:47,280 --> 01:08:47,920
All right.

825
01:08:49,440 --> 01:08:52,320
Is this what you get for associating with us?

826
01:08:52,320 --> 01:08:56,560
So, Gryotgarth is going to just nod and walk away because that's fine.

827
01:08:57,360 --> 01:09:01,440
And he's going to walk over to the bar and sit next to our washed up rock star.

828
01:09:02,400 --> 01:09:06,000
And he's hunched over the bar, correct?

829
01:09:06,000 --> 01:09:07,200
Passed out, drunk?

830
01:09:07,920 --> 01:09:14,240
He's not passed out, but he is definitely leaning heavily on the bar,

831
01:09:14,240 --> 01:09:19,360
propping it up as if he has had one tankard of ale too many.

832
01:09:19,360 --> 01:09:21,440
And you may all engage with him.

833
01:09:21,440 --> 01:09:25,280
His name is Rognvalder Oss.

834
01:09:25,280 --> 01:09:29,680
And he is the lead singer referred to in the newspaper that you've just read

835
01:09:29,680 --> 01:09:33,920
of the Alfsonger band Svarta Sunnadagr.

836
01:09:35,600 --> 01:09:40,480
And I will give bonus points for anyone who can translate that from the book.

837
01:09:40,480 --> 01:09:44,640
I will give bonus points for anyone who can translate that from the Old Norse.

838
01:09:44,640 --> 01:09:45,360
Is it going to be something recognizable?

839
01:09:45,360 --> 01:09:46,080
Yeah.

840
01:09:46,080 --> 01:09:47,440
Well, Svartar is dark.

841
01:09:48,640 --> 01:09:50,880
Or black, yes, close.

842
01:09:50,880 --> 01:09:52,160
And so what's the second word?

843
01:09:52,960 --> 01:09:53,760
Svarta Sunnadagr.

844
01:09:55,600 --> 01:09:56,640
Is it Black Sabbath?

845
01:09:56,640 --> 01:09:57,680
Is it Black Sabbath?

846
01:09:58,560 --> 01:09:59,920
It's Black Sabbath.

847
01:09:59,920 --> 01:10:00,800
You've got it right.

848
01:10:00,800 --> 01:10:01,680
Well done.

849
01:10:01,680 --> 01:10:04,640
Finally, my deep knowledge of Norse comes to an end.

850
01:10:04,640 --> 01:10:06,000
Well done, well done, Ljomi.

851
01:10:07,280 --> 01:10:07,920
And you can...

852
01:10:07,920 --> 01:10:09,760
I wish there was a little bit of yes from me.

853
01:10:09,760 --> 01:10:13,280
And you can have bonus points, Bill, then, if you can translate

854
01:10:13,920 --> 01:10:18,960
the name of the lead singer, Rognvaldr Oss.

855
01:10:20,960 --> 01:10:22,320
Not a heavy metal guy.

856
01:10:25,360 --> 01:10:27,200
No, that helps you with that one.

857
01:10:27,200 --> 01:10:27,920
Thinking.

858
01:10:27,920 --> 01:10:28,800
I can hear the typing.

859
01:10:28,800 --> 01:10:29,520
Thinking.

860
01:10:33,520 --> 01:10:34,880
Rognvalder Oss.

861
01:10:34,880 --> 01:10:36,880
Oss meaning God.

862
01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:38,880
Any help?

863
01:10:38,880 --> 01:10:39,920
Is it Dio?

864
01:10:39,920 --> 01:10:40,560
Is it Dio?

865
01:10:42,240 --> 01:10:44,640
Is Ronnie James Dio in the Vikingverse?

866
01:10:44,640 --> 01:10:46,640
That I know from my Tenacious D.
867
01:10:46,640 --> 01:10:47,840
So, you know.

868
01:10:47,840 --> 01:10:51,520
Every character in the Vikingverse does have their parallel universe,

869
01:10:51,520 --> 01:10:57,520
their Norse-fied version, and Ronnie James Dio, or his Norse equivalent.

870
01:10:57,520 --> 01:11:03,520
Instead of being a heavy metal performer, he is an Alfsonger performer.

871
01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:07,520
The rest of his band are nowhere to be seen.

872
01:11:07,520 --> 01:11:16,160
But as the headlines in the article said, his recent release, his chart-topping single,

873
01:11:16,160 --> 01:11:17,600
did not do very well.

874
01:11:18,160 --> 01:11:20,560
And he is obviously drowning his sorrows at the bar.

875
01:11:21,280 --> 01:11:23,360
But he has rocked for a long, long time.

876
01:11:27,120 --> 01:11:32,400
As you all come over and CJ sits next to him, he does see you, Bill,

877
01:11:32,400 --> 01:11:33,920
and he looks up and he says,

878
01:11:33,920 --> 01:11:36,960
Al-far-out, man.

879
01:11:36,960 --> 01:11:42,480
I'm sorry, could you repeat that?

880
01:11:42,480 --> 01:11:43,840
Small words.

881
01:11:43,840 --> 01:11:45,360
Small, yes.

882
01:11:45,360 --> 01:11:48,800
I'll use small words and you use small words.

883
01:11:48,800 --> 01:11:52,560
You know, that's just like your opinion, man.

884
01:11:52,560 --> 01:11:54,560
Oh, Jesus.

885
01:11:54,560 --> 01:11:59,600
I had a rough night and I hate the fucking dökkálfar, man.

886
01:11:59,600 --> 01:12:03,600
Well, yes, I think, man, we could be friends.

887
01:12:03,600 --> 01:12:07,600
Hey, hey, hey, hey, this is a private master.

888
01:12:07,600 --> 01:12:13,600
Brynn will just tap on the alfars shoulder and say, I think he's asking you to leave him be.

889
01:12:13,600 --> 01:12:17,600
Why don't you just let Gigi handle it?

890
01:12:17,600 --> 01:12:19,600
Yes, yes.

891
01:12:21,600 --> 01:12:25,600
As I pass Brynn again, I say, are you feeling better now?

892
01:12:25,600 --> 01:12:27,600
Is it getting better?

893
01:12:27,600 --> 01:12:29,600
Is the healing just started?

894
01:12:29,600 --> 01:12:31,600
I have healing songs.

895
01:12:33,600 --> 01:12:35,600
He has a problem with cybernetics.

896
01:12:35,600 --> 01:12:37,600
Yeah.

897
01:12:37,600 --> 01:12:39,600
Not the only problem, I think.

898
01:12:39,600 --> 01:12:43,600
Feel free to engage with Rognvalder as you wish.

899
01:12:43,600 --> 01:12:51,600
If you do not talk to him or poke him or prod him, he will simply dare into his ale.

900
01:12:51,600 --> 01:12:53,600
Brin will just tap him on the shoulder.

901
01:12:53,600 --> 01:12:57,600
Brin will just tap Gigi and say, it's your turn.

902
01:12:57,600 --> 01:13:01,600
Then Gigi will say, ah, well met, Rockstar.

903
01:13:01,600 --> 01:13:03,600
Someone finally at my level.

904
01:13:03,600 --> 01:13:05,600
You may recognize me.

905
01:13:05,600 --> 01:13:09,600
I won the silver medal for Toga Honk at the All Asgard Games.

906
01:13:09,600 --> 01:13:13,600
I was recognized in this town quite frequently, just recently.

907
01:13:15,600 --> 01:13:17,600
I can't be worrying about that shit, man.

908
01:13:17,600 --> 01:13:19,600
Life goes on.

909
01:13:19,600 --> 01:13:24,600
You don't watch the Asgard Games, the All Asgard Games.

910
01:13:24,600 --> 01:13:26,600
What's wrong with you?

911
01:13:26,600 --> 01:13:32,600
All I can say, man, is don't write in starlight because the words may come out real.

912
01:13:32,600 --> 01:13:34,600
Aha.

913
01:13:34,600 --> 01:13:45,600
Then Gigi is going to step away, look back at everyone and say, it's almost like he's trying to speak to me, but I can't understand what he's saying.

914
01:13:45,600 --> 01:13:57,600
I'll walk up to him and in alfsongr, it sucks when they don't understand the art.

915
01:13:57,600 --> 01:14:00,600
Yeah, man, you know what I'm saying.

916
01:14:00,600 --> 01:14:02,600
I dig you.

917
01:14:02,600 --> 01:14:08,600
It's like these people riding minor keys and when you do that, you just scare people, right?

918
01:14:08,600 --> 01:14:10,600
You got me?

919
01:14:10,600 --> 01:14:13,600
Yeah, I think I got you.

920
01:14:13,600 --> 01:14:19,600
It's easy to repeat the poems of the past.

921
01:14:19,600 --> 01:14:29,600
It's far harder to create something of any lasting value, something that your ancestors' ancestors might sing or praise.

922
01:14:29,600 --> 01:14:31,600
Yeah, man, that's right.

923
01:14:31,600 --> 01:14:41,600
You see, I have rediscovered sound healing, solfeggio frequencies, Benedictine monks,

924
01:14:41,600 --> 01:14:45,600
long before the fall of Rome, brother.

925
01:14:45,600 --> 01:14:52,600
I could demonstrate to you, but every time I turn on the Utvarp, they turn it off again.

926
01:14:52,600 --> 01:15:00,600
But I tell you, all of my songs are exactly the frequency 1111 Hjartz

927
01:15:00,600 --> 01:15:02,600
And you know why?

928
01:15:02,600 --> 01:15:04,600
No, why?

929
01:15:04,600 --> 01:15:13,600
Because you can tune in to the energy of the Englar, man. You can feel the angels on your shoulder, man.

930
01:15:13,600 --> 01:15:16,600
Ain't that a wonderful thing?

931
01:15:16,600 --> 01:15:22,600
You mean angels like the Christ ones?

932
01:15:22,600 --> 01:15:31,600
That's right, man. This world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams. It's heaven and hell.

933
01:15:31,600 --> 01:15:33,600
Interesting.

934
01:15:33,600 --> 01:15:46,600
And so you're saying that you've taken the language of the alfar and combined it with the chants of the ancient Christian monks from Rome.

935
01:15:46,600 --> 01:15:52,600
You're a true gentleman. That's exactly it. Solfeggio, baby.

936
01:15:52,600 --> 01:15:59,600
But is there not some dissonance created when you combine these opposing cultures?

937
01:15:59,600 --> 01:16:05,600
I mean, one is our ancestors and the other is a fallen culture. Where do you find the commonality?

938
01:16:05,600 --> 01:16:13,600
In beauty. In beauty, my friend. You bet your sweet ass in beauty.

939
01:16:13,600 --> 01:16:26,600
Well, I must admit, I do often see the value in things that at first seem disparate, much like, and I gesture at both the wooden guy and the stone guy.

940
01:16:26,600 --> 01:16:30,600
Uh-oh.

941
01:16:30,600 --> 01:16:33,600
We've been treated them.

942
01:16:33,600 --> 01:16:40,600
Have you tried any of the other languages with this Gregorian chant?

943
01:16:40,600 --> 01:16:47,600
This latest albums be a disaster. I do not know where I'm going to go next.

944
01:16:47,600 --> 01:17:01,600
The band they have deserted me, Solveig, used to be my roadie, but now, now she's moved on and everyone's abandoned. I think it's time that I get to my bed.

945
01:17:01,600 --> 01:17:11,600
Well, wise is he who knows when to take rest. Drink with your brothers when they drink, but know when fast one should go to bed.

946
01:17:11,600 --> 01:17:16,600
I should have written that down. Could have used that in my next song.

947
01:17:16,600 --> 01:17:20,600
I say it's from the Havamal.

948
01:17:20,600 --> 01:17:31,600
My darlings, us here is no choir boy, but I don't want him to get lynched. He's caused a bit of commotion around town with that infernal racket.

949
01:17:31,600 --> 01:17:39,600
Wherever you go, it's on the Utvarp, and no one can get a moment's peace. Would you mind just taking him to his bed?

950
01:17:39,600 --> 01:17:42,600
Which is here in this hotel?

951
01:17:42,600 --> 01:17:44,600
He has a room upstairs, my lover.

952
01:17:44,600 --> 01:17:46,600
I look back to everyone else.

953
01:17:46,600 --> 01:17:49,600
We will happily escort him.

954
01:17:49,600 --> 01:18:04,600
He looks up from his, putting his face on the bar, his tongue lolling all over the place, and he looks up at air and says,

955
01:18:04,600 --> 01:18:10,600
Sooner or later, man, you're going to have to face the fact you're a moron.

956
01:18:10,600 --> 01:18:16,600
I hope you die in your sleep.

957
01:18:16,600 --> 01:18:18,600
Shall we help him to his room?

958
01:18:18,600 --> 01:18:28,600
Bryn will suggest that the Dökkálfar and the Alfar stay here, and we of more humanoid types take the human man up to his room.

959
01:18:28,600 --> 01:18:30,600
And smother him.

960
01:18:30,600 --> 01:18:36,600
Okay, so Bryn, you escort upstairs. Anyone else going with?

961
01:18:36,600 --> 01:18:38,600
I'll go with her.

962
01:18:38,600 --> 01:18:51,600
Okay, two brave and conscientious people taking this bedraggled star to his bed to sleep off whatever he's under the influence of.

963
01:18:51,600 --> 01:19:03,600
As you tuck him into his sheets, he does turn to you and say, They're here, man. They're here.

964
01:19:03,600 --> 01:19:08,600
And then he passes out completely comatose.

965
01:19:08,600 --> 01:19:16,600
I'll activate second sight and look around to see if anyone's here that I can't see, or if he was just drunk.

966
01:19:16,600 --> 01:19:20,600
Again, impressive use of the spells. That's your second casting of that for today.

967
01:19:20,600 --> 01:19:23,600
So you're going to need to rest before you can use it again.

968
01:19:23,600 --> 01:19:33,600
But looking around using the second sight, again, you detect nothing in the room.

969
01:19:33,600 --> 01:19:43,600
Bryn would like to see if he's got any equipment that enables him to hack into the radio frequencies of the Evergreen third speak in the room.

970
01:19:43,600 --> 01:19:50,600
Good detective work. You do look around and you find a variety of recording equipment.

971
01:19:50,600 --> 01:20:00,600
There is stuff that could have been used to hack a signal to hack the Evergreen third speak the Wi Fi signal.

972
01:20:00,600 --> 01:20:10,600
And unfortunately, it has been smashed up beyond repair as if in a drunken range.

973
01:20:10,600 --> 01:20:20,600
That saves me a job then. That is fine. She'll note it down to inform the Law Speaker that hopefully after tonight the noise won't disturb anyone else.

974
01:20:20,600 --> 01:20:24,600
But that is still not the mission he sent us on. So we return downstairs.

975
01:20:24,600 --> 01:20:27,600
Backing off of Bryn, I would see her looking around the room.

976
01:20:27,600 --> 01:20:34,600
I'm going to see, does he have any like music or notes or instruments that he has left around? Sheets of paper?

977
01:20:34,600 --> 01:20:39,600
He does. There's a range of paraphernalia that you can peruse.

978
01:20:39,600 --> 01:20:44,600
Yeah, since she's having a look and he's asleep, I'll have a look.

979
01:20:44,600 --> 01:20:52,600
Artistically, you find it without merit. It's the scribblings of an amateur.

980
01:20:52,600 --> 01:20:59,600
You're certainly nothing to compare with the skaldic verse that you and Gigi are able to come up with.

981
01:20:59,600 --> 01:21:08,600
I don't think he'll be making music of that kind for anyone anytime soon. Shall we read on the others and see if they haven't caused any more commotion?

982
01:21:08,600 --> 01:21:12,600
I'm not entirely sure he made music to begin with.

983
01:21:12,600 --> 01:21:21,600
Oh. Indeed, some could call it that. But art is always in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?

984
01:21:21,600 --> 01:21:25,600
I think Sam might be hinting at something more sinister.

985
01:21:25,600 --> 01:21:37,600
But we will find out if you wander your way over to the Firefox Institute, a large copper domed building on the other side of town.

986
01:21:37,600 --> 01:21:46,600
The Firefox Institute is a privately financed facility, focused, as I said previously, on kind of boreal geophysics and technology,

987
01:21:46,600 --> 01:21:52,600
which explains why Brynn is quite so adept in these scientific fields.

988
01:21:52,600 --> 01:22:01,600
Inside, it feels very much like a university. There's open, pine clad spaces that form warm gathering spots.

989
01:22:01,600 --> 01:22:14,600
Brynn, you know your way around and you're probably best to speak to Blain Ivaldison, a young clone like yourself recently birthed.

990
01:22:14,600 --> 01:22:27,600
Before we go in, can I ask, Aire would like to ask Brynn, will the people of the Institute get worked up about seeing dokklar in here?

991
01:22:27,600 --> 01:22:28,600
Good question.

992
01:22:28,600 --> 01:22:33,600
If not, I can not look like myself. Maybe that would be nice.

993
01:22:33,600 --> 01:22:38,600
Out of character, Ian, what would Brynn say in response to that question?

994
01:22:38,600 --> 01:22:47,600
Fair question. So bear in mind that the Elder Ivaldi, the patriarch of your lineage,

995
01:22:47,600 --> 01:22:56,600
was actually inspired by the rise of the dokkalfar to enhance your race cybernetically.

996
01:22:56,600 --> 01:23:01,600
In that case, we'll say no, not at all. If anything, they might consider it an honour.

997
01:23:01,600 --> 01:23:06,600
After all, we meet your people so rarely these days.

998
01:23:06,600 --> 01:23:13,600
And she'll turn to the Alfar and say, I want you to understand that all my brothers and sisters are very much like me.

999
01:23:13,600 --> 01:23:21,600
And she'll just have to do a whole kind of form. So please do not be alarmed. We are not all hurt. We are all absolutely fine.

1000
01:23:21,600 --> 01:23:31,600
We have good medics, good health care. Sick days are a rarity these days. So please just try not to freak out.

1001
01:23:31,600 --> 01:23:42,600
So this strange condition will resolve, is what you're saying. You will look more like the other men. I understand. Thank you.

1002
01:23:42,600 --> 01:23:53,600
You come to the reception desk where and behind it is a small office where Blaine Ivaldison sits like you.

1003
01:23:53,600 --> 01:24:04,600
He has cranial implants and a couple of rotator arms that are reminiscent of a Dvergs.

1004
01:24:04,600 --> 01:24:16,600
He is beaming as you enter. He is a very smiley person. And he looks at the assembled group and simply says,

1005
01:24:16,600 --> 01:24:25,600
Oh, hello. How are you? How are you all? How are you, sir? And how are you, sir? And how are you, sir?

1006
01:24:25,600 --> 01:24:27,600
Quite well, thank you.

1007
01:24:27,600 --> 01:24:34,600
There, Ljomi offers, you should go first. It seems they may like you here.

1008
01:24:34,600 --> 01:24:39,600
Ah, yes. Hello, sir. Pining for the fjords, was it, sir?

1009
01:24:39,600 --> 01:24:41,600
Yes, yes, I am.

1010
01:24:41,600 --> 01:24:48,600
Just a little antecedent joke, sir. We must respect our elders, of course.

1011
01:24:48,600 --> 01:24:56,600
After all, I am intrigued by the sleep of the sword, sir. We sons and daughters of the greater Ivaldi would not be here were it not for you.

1012
01:24:56,600 --> 01:25:00,600
Would you allow me to call you Grandfather?

1013
01:25:00,600 --> 01:25:04,600
I would be honored. Thank you for your hospitality.

1014
01:25:04,600 --> 01:25:14,600
Then Grandfather, Grandfather, please do. Take a pew, rest your weary feet. I am not sure if that's exactly how you work,

1015
01:25:14,600 --> 01:25:24,600
but you must have aeons of baggage weighing upon you and benighting your soul.

1016
01:25:24,600 --> 01:25:26,600
Oh, very true.

1017
01:25:26,600 --> 01:25:29,600
And you, sir, Alfar, sir?

1018
01:25:29,600 --> 01:25:30,600
Yes.

1019
01:25:30,600 --> 01:25:32,600
What can we do for you, sir?

1020
01:25:32,600 --> 01:25:45,600
Were you in the accident with the Skidverg? I have healing spells. Oh, also, also, I am very interested in working with you,

1021
01:25:45,600 --> 01:26:02,600
how to put this delicately, unusual men. The Sword fall, the damage, the suffering, I would very much like to help with correcting this.

1022
01:26:02,600 --> 01:26:15,600
Very kind of you, sir. We can certainly take an application form. Is this radiant young lady vouch for you, sir? If so, Form Eiwaz Seven.

1023
01:26:15,600 --> 01:26:18,600
Excellent. Yes.

1024
01:26:18,600 --> 01:26:29,600
And of course, fieldwork. Fieldwork would be most indispensable. We don't let just any Thomas, Rickard or Heinrich into the Firefox Institute.

1025
01:26:29,600 --> 01:26:36,600
I understand. What is your name? For future reference, what is your name?

1026
01:26:36,600 --> 01:26:45,600
Blaine, sir. Mark it well. We wouldn't want you to get tongue-tied and mispronounce it, lest it affect Form Eiwaz Seven.

1027
01:26:45,600 --> 01:26:51,600
Yes, yes, no blame. Yes. OK. Thank you. I will fill out the form. Thank you very much.

1028
01:26:51,600 --> 01:26:57,600
And you, Sirah, don't I know you from somewhere, sir?

1029
01:26:57,600 --> 01:27:02,600
I think that's... I think he's looking at you.

1030
01:27:02,600 --> 01:27:11,600
Oh, me, yes. Hi. Hello. I am Gryotgarth the Magnificent. My friends call me Gigi for short.

1031
01:27:11,600 --> 01:27:21,600
Is an Institute of Science not your liking, sir? You appear to be distracted. Not the kind of thing that you're interested in as the all Asgard toga honk champion.

1032
01:27:21,600 --> 01:27:27,600
Oh, you recognize me. Now I am interested. Thank you. Prefer pulling ropes, do we, sir?

1033
01:27:27,600 --> 01:27:40,600
I'm more of a physical person, yes. Yes, I can see that, sir. And whom else might we have? I just look around.

1034
01:27:40,600 --> 01:27:47,600
Lay in, brother. We are requiring certain equipment on a special expedition we have been set by the Law Speaker.

1035
01:27:47,600 --> 01:27:55,600
And what is that? There'll be another form. We are certain. I fully aware of that and I'm quite a depth of field.

1036
01:27:55,600 --> 01:28:01,600
Form Thurisaz Two, if you would please annotate it appropriately.

1037
01:28:01,600 --> 01:28:07,600
What do you think of these shoes? They're an interesting design. What material are they made from?

1038
01:28:07,600 --> 01:28:14,600
Walrus Hide. High rebuttons. Now, sorry, equipment. Why are you... what are you investigating?

1039
01:28:14,600 --> 01:28:22,600
The unusual light that pretend to be the aurora borealis, but are not in the daytime. That is what the Law Speaker would like to solve.

1040
01:28:22,600 --> 01:28:31,600
Every freshman can tell you that. Doesn't take a Skirrlock Holmr. Fair enough. But the Law Speaker needs proof, so we need to provide it to him, do we not?

1041
01:28:31,600 --> 01:28:42,600
Very well, very well, very well. I am personally of the opinion it is light pillars. Sun reflecting off ice crystals falling through the air, you know, that kind of thing.

1042
01:28:42,600 --> 01:28:50,600
But anyway, we cannot get an accurate reading until such time as we get fuel station operational.

1043
01:28:50,600 --> 01:28:56,600
There is a jamming signal and the weather station being remotely managed must be fixed manually.

1044
01:28:56,600 --> 01:29:03,600
I'm about to send a maintenance crew. Field work. Form  Eiwaz Seven.

1045
01:29:03,600 --> 01:29:12,600
Very well, we will fill in the form as requested. And if we can help get the weather station fixed sooner, then we will do so.

1046
01:29:12,600 --> 01:29:21,600
I have two men leaving shortly, hopping in a speedboat to fix the problem at source.

1047
01:29:21,600 --> 01:29:25,600
Brynn will turn to the others and say, would you like to join me on an expedition trip?

1048
01:29:25,600 --> 01:29:39,600
There it just as as you ask that question, they hear a commotion, some thumping down the stairs above you and the facility director who you recognize as Bangsi Ivaldisson and makes an appearance.

1049
01:29:39,600 --> 01:29:46,600
He has a flurry of whirling drones around him and he's dressed all in the white overhauls of an overseer.

1050
01:29:46,600 --> 01:29:55,600
And he descends a few steps and then yells out, I cannot hear myself think, get it fixed.

1051
01:29:55,600 --> 01:30:05,600
And then stops immediately back upstairs. The embarrassed Blaine mumbles his excuses and shuffles some papers.

1052
01:30:05,600 --> 01:30:10,600
I haven't played the frequency 1111 again, in case it drives you all insane.

1053
01:30:10,600 --> 01:30:20,600
But you can imagine the light music that might be playing in the elevators of this institute. It's everywhere and it's appalling.

1054
01:30:20,600 --> 01:30:23,600
Well, seems these two things are connected somehow.

1055
01:30:23,600 --> 01:30:31,600
Well, we need to stop the sound in order to relieve my much older brother, the founder Bangsi of his headache.

1056
01:30:31,600 --> 01:30:35,600
And then we can actually do some productive scientific research. What say you all?

1057
01:30:35,600 --> 01:30:37,600
Yes, sounds good, says Ljomi.

1058
01:30:37,600 --> 01:30:38,600
I'm game.

1059
01:30:38,600 --> 01:30:51,600
We'll take that as unanimous since the rousing enthusiasm that exuded from the rest of the team there about getting in a speedboat and sailing off into the Arctic ice was almost palpable.

1060
01:30:51,600 --> 01:30:54,600
He's thinking about his droid.

1061
01:30:54,600 --> 01:30:58,600
There's no way for this plan to go wrong.

1062
01:30:58,600 --> 01:31:03,600
We've never had problems on the sea before, let us assure you.

1063
01:31:03,600 --> 01:31:05,600
Perfectly safe.

1064
01:31:05,600 --> 01:31:09,600
Did you say a speedboat?

1065
01:31:09,600 --> 01:31:10,600
Correct.

1066
01:31:10,600 --> 01:31:12,600
Will I fit?

1067
01:31:12,600 --> 01:31:14,600
Let us find out.

1068
01:31:14,600 --> 01:31:16,600
Your body may.

1069
01:31:16,600 --> 01:31:19,600
It is a high-

1070
01:31:19,600 --> 01:31:20,600
Officers, we shall put it to the test.

1071
01:31:20,600 --> 01:31:23,600
I had to use two sleds for the record.

1072
01:31:23,600 --> 01:31:27,600
They'll provide you with extra inflatables, just in case.

1073
01:31:27,600 --> 01:31:38,600
Certainly when you step into the boat, it lurches in an alarming way, but it will just aid the aerodynamics or the hydrodynamics, I should say.

1074
01:31:38,600 --> 01:31:45,600
You are escorted by two technicians who are from the Institute.

1075
01:31:45,600 --> 01:31:49,600
They will help you when you get to a fuel station.

1076
01:31:49,600 --> 01:31:57,600
That's T-H-U-L-E. It is an old weather station, research outpost and meteorological facility.

1077
01:31:57,600 --> 01:32:02,600
It hasn't been used for some time, at least hasn't been manned for some time.

1078
01:32:02,600 --> 01:32:14,600
It was automated and depopulated during the war and operations are normally run from Hjálpmakaar, which is why its hijack signal needs to be fixed at source.

1079
01:32:14,600 --> 01:32:21,600
So, if you're all happy to board the boat, then you will leave the sheltered harbor of Hjálpmakaar.

1080
01:32:21,600 --> 01:32:23,600
The wind picks up.

1081
01:32:23,600 --> 01:32:25,600
The ride is a bumpy one.

1082
01:32:25,600 --> 01:32:30,600
Birds keep pace all around you with the frantic flapping of their wings,

1083
01:32:30,600 --> 01:32:39,600
flying over the icy ocean surface until they get bored and veer back off to their perches on the coastal mountains.

1084
01:32:39,600 --> 01:32:42,600
Can everyone just give me an awareness roll?

1085
01:32:42,600 --> 01:32:44,600
Oh, can do.

1086
01:32:44,600 --> 01:32:47,600
I rolled a 35. Oh, wait.

1087
01:32:47,600 --> 01:32:50,600
Oh, wait. You sure you did that right?

1088
01:32:50,600 --> 01:32:52,600
Gigi ruled a 4.

1089
01:32:52,600 --> 01:32:54,600
Oh.

1090
01:32:54,600 --> 01:32:56,600
I don't have...

1091
01:32:56,600 --> 01:33:01,600
He was busy admiring his own form. I got a 19, 17.

1092
01:33:01,600 --> 01:33:05,600
I got a 17. Also, I'm wearing a life jacket.

1093
01:33:05,600 --> 01:33:06,600
Very good.

1094
01:33:06,600 --> 01:33:08,600
And I have tree sight.

1095
01:33:08,600 --> 01:33:12,600
Life jackets always work for beings made of stone.

1096
01:33:12,600 --> 01:33:13,600
Yep.

1097
01:33:13,600 --> 01:33:17,600
You're the only one that routinely doesn't notice.

1098
01:33:17,600 --> 01:33:24,600
Perhaps you're navel gazing or flexing your biceps or perhaps you're doing a power pose or something like that.

1099
01:33:24,600 --> 01:33:26,600
Anyway, everyone...

1100
01:33:26,600 --> 01:33:28,600
Thinking about the droid.

1101
01:33:28,600 --> 01:33:30,600
The sex droid.

1102
01:33:30,600 --> 01:33:32,600
Everyone else...

1103
01:33:32,600 --> 01:33:49,600
Everyone else notices a slinky serpentine form glide through the icy waves with a slow hiss.

1104
01:33:49,600 --> 01:33:51,600
No.

1105
01:33:51,600 --> 01:33:52,600
No.

1106
01:33:52,600 --> 01:33:55,600
Are you just refusing to accept that?

1107
01:33:55,600 --> 01:33:58,600
No, no, I just don't notice.

1108
01:33:58,600 --> 01:34:01,600
You asked, does anyone notice? No.

1109
01:34:01,600 --> 01:34:08,600
Brynn will turn to Fair and say, did you see that large shadow through that wave just over there?

1110
01:34:08,600 --> 01:34:13,600
She'll point somewhere over the boat, simply, in the direction of it.

1111
01:34:13,600 --> 01:34:19,600
Jörmungandrs kin is afar afield and hopefully will not grow closer.

1112
01:34:19,600 --> 01:34:29,600
Brynn will just point out to the technicians, saying, I'm not entirely sure what that was, but we should try not to crash into it.

1113
01:34:29,600 --> 01:34:35,600
Ljomi checks to see if air is determining the depth of the water beneath the boat.

1114
01:34:35,600 --> 01:34:39,600
Eir is now wearing two life preservers like water wings.

1115
01:34:39,600 --> 01:34:48,600
One of the technicians who goes by the name of Magnus says to you, oh, did you see something out there?

1116
01:34:48,600 --> 01:34:52,600
Or what did you see, lovely old tree?

1117
01:34:52,600 --> 01:34:56,600
A great serpent. We have seen them before.

1118
01:34:56,600 --> 01:34:58,600
Are you sure about that, alfar?

1119
01:34:58,600 --> 01:35:02,600
Yes, we've seen them before. It was not good.

1120
01:35:02,600 --> 01:35:05,600
Are my words all right or should I make them smaller?

1121
01:35:05,600 --> 01:35:07,600
Well, I don't know.

1122
01:35:07,600 --> 01:35:23,600
He's stammering and clearly afraid, but he guns the engine steers closer to shore in case it was indeed the stall worm that you tangled with that may well be lurking off the coast of Hjálpmakaar.

1123
01:35:23,600 --> 01:35:38,600
Your warning to the technicians is enough to ensure that you glide safely to your destination after a couple of hours and the boat glides onto the dark, sandy shore.

1124
01:35:38,600 --> 01:35:44,600
Fog hangs mournfully over the tip of this peninsula.

1125
01:35:44,600 --> 01:35:47,600
There is an eerie silence.

1126
01:35:47,600 --> 01:35:56,600
You can see the coastal facility, the meteorological station in the near distance.

1127
01:35:56,600 --> 01:35:58,600
Power is still on.

1128
01:35:58,600 --> 01:36:09,600
The antenna that sits atop the building are glowing and clearly the signal is emanating from here.

1129
01:36:09,600 --> 01:36:13,600
Magnus is joined by another colleague called Heimrich.

1130
01:36:13,600 --> 01:36:17,600
Magnus and Heimrich drag out a drone.

1131
01:36:17,600 --> 01:36:29,600
They plug it in with a motion tracker and a camera, and they begin to explore the site from the shoreline whilst you all sit comfortably on the beach.

1132
01:36:29,600 --> 01:36:33,600
And Magnus says, completely empty it is.

1133
01:36:33,600 --> 01:36:36,600
Nobody here.

1134
01:36:36,600 --> 01:36:48,600
Is there, is the beach a significant enough feature or is there one to work as a natural landmark for a warden stone?

1135
01:36:48,600 --> 01:36:58,600
What you can use is your Udal Eight in order to get asked a yes no question that I must answer truthfully.

1136
01:36:58,600 --> 01:37:09,600
Then my question would be, is there danger of violence within the station?

1137
01:37:09,600 --> 01:37:11,600
Yes.

1138
01:37:11,600 --> 01:37:12,600
Okay.

1139
01:37:12,600 --> 01:37:14,600
I would let everyone know.

1140
01:37:14,600 --> 01:37:18,600
A round of applause for someone who's for the first time ever.

1141
01:37:18,600 --> 01:37:20,600
Udal right.

1142
01:37:20,600 --> 01:37:33,600
And also I'd like to point out that at this moment in time, not a single member of the playing party has landed a melee blow at any point in the preceding episodes.

1143
01:37:33,600 --> 01:37:41,600
So were you to affect a palpable hit, a whopping strike, then you would be the first to do so.

1144
01:37:41,600 --> 01:37:44,600
So it's all up for grabs.

1145
01:37:44,600 --> 01:37:47,600
Five episodes. Five episodes.

1146
01:37:47,600 --> 01:37:49,600
And whose fault is that?

1147
01:37:49,600 --> 01:37:53,600
As a group, we are not so much about the military.

1148
01:37:53,600 --> 01:37:56,600
We're more about social engineering.

1149
01:37:56,600 --> 01:38:01,600
I think the way we've interacted with the locals has gone perfectly well.

1150
01:38:01,600 --> 01:38:03,600
Very few people have died.

1151
01:38:03,600 --> 01:38:06,600
There's only been a few court judgments against us.

1152
01:38:06,600 --> 01:38:09,600
All in all, stunningly effective.

1153
01:38:09,600 --> 01:38:12,600
Even the miners loved us briefly.

1154
01:38:12,600 --> 01:38:13,600
That's all very true.

1155
01:38:13,600 --> 01:38:24,600
Heimrich is a chain smoker, and when you refer to the danger within, he is puffing suddenly through these packs of squealing tobacco.

1156
01:38:24,600 --> 01:38:36,600
And he looks up at the blood red streaks in the sky, the cross that has been streaming across the heavens for the past few weeks.

1157
01:38:36,600 --> 01:38:42,600
And he says, told you Magnus, it's an omen.

1158
01:38:42,600 --> 01:38:49,600
I can't understand a few words, but that's all he says beyond.

1159
01:38:49,600 --> 01:38:55,600
The spirits of the dead playing games with a worrisome skull.

1160
01:38:55,600 --> 01:39:00,600
Something ain't right.

1161
01:39:00,600 --> 01:39:10,600
Is it possible to use my military background of scout to look around for any like tracks or markings?

1162
01:39:10,600 --> 01:39:15,600
You see nothing on the beach or the immediate shoreline.

1163
01:39:15,600 --> 01:39:20,600
There's no one has no one has arrived at this facility on the coastal route.

1164
01:39:20,600 --> 01:39:29,600
You can take a broad perusal of the circumference of this area if you wish and look at the outskirts of the installation.

1165
01:39:29,600 --> 01:39:33,600
Or you can go into the installation itself and I can give you a description of that.

1166
01:39:33,600 --> 01:39:35,600
I don't want to go by myself.

1167
01:39:35,600 --> 01:39:40,600
What kind of shirts are Heinrich and Magnus wearing?

1168
01:39:40,600 --> 01:39:45,600
They're wearing wearing simple technician overalls.

1169
01:39:45,600 --> 01:39:51,600
Magnus says to you, come on, let's be a way.

1170
01:39:51,600 --> 01:39:52,600
Chin up now.

1171
01:39:52,600 --> 01:39:55,600
Anyone tell you you look like you've seen a ghost.

1172
01:39:55,600 --> 01:39:59,600
There's a perfectly good explanation for everything.

1173
01:39:59,600 --> 01:40:08,600
Before we enter the facility, Eir will use black sight to look through the walls.

1174
01:40:08,600 --> 01:40:15,600
You'd have to go considerably closer if you go to the walls and I can give you a description.

1175
01:40:15,600 --> 01:40:17,600
What's the range on that?

1176
01:40:17,600 --> 01:40:19,600
Short range.

1177
01:40:19,600 --> 01:40:21,600
Oh, okay. Doesn't say.

1178
01:40:21,600 --> 01:40:28,600
Basically, you have to press your nose up to a wall in order to be able to see through it.

1179
01:40:28,600 --> 01:40:33,600
So range is nasal is what I'm hearing.

1180
01:40:33,600 --> 01:40:44,600
I'll give you a brief description of the facility, the station to the north.

1181
01:40:44,600 --> 01:40:56,600
The very top at your 12 o'clock is a meteorological laboratory to your 10 o'clock is a storage building.

1182
01:40:56,600 --> 01:41:01,600
In the center of the clock is the main control station.

1183
01:41:01,600 --> 01:41:06,600
And on top of that is some kind of observational deck.

1184
01:41:06,600 --> 01:41:14,600
You are close to the boathouse. The boathouse is at maybe five o'clock.

1185
01:41:14,600 --> 01:41:24,600
There is a path that leads around the main control station that links up all of those various buildings.

1186
01:41:24,600 --> 01:41:29,600
Brynn would turn to Magnus and ask, is the weather usually this dark?

1187
01:41:29,600 --> 01:41:35,600
It is foggy. It is a fog-strewn peninsula.

1188
01:41:35,600 --> 01:41:39,600
So you can see the glinting of the lights. You can see the powered antenna.

1189
01:41:39,600 --> 01:41:43,600
You can see the electric lights. Power is clearly on.

1190
01:41:43,600 --> 01:41:47,600
But there's no one to be seen, no one to be heard.

1191
01:41:47,600 --> 01:41:52,600
And just the oppressive damp of that fog.

1192
01:41:52,600 --> 01:41:57,600
Does Blaine mention how it became automated? Did he not?

1193
01:41:57,600 --> 01:42:04,600
This station. So then there shouldn't be anyone here, technically, if it was automated?

1194
01:42:04,600 --> 01:42:06,600
Or should there be people here?

1195
01:42:06,600 --> 01:42:09,600
No, there shouldn't be anyone. That's why you've had to bring in the technicians.

1196
01:42:09,600 --> 01:42:18,600
It is not like the local Jotnar have raided and hijacked this place and used it for their own nefarious means.

1197
01:42:18,600 --> 01:42:26,600
Those would be the trolls that folk is not so fond of.

1198
01:42:26,600 --> 01:42:32,600
So you may wander up to any of those buildings as a group or individually.

1199
01:42:32,600 --> 01:42:37,600
Magnus is happy to stomp ahead.

1200
01:42:37,600 --> 01:42:45,600
Again, he has the motion tracker and he's looking around.

1201
01:42:45,600 --> 01:42:49,600
There's nothing here at all. What's your step, Thor?

1202
01:42:49,600 --> 01:43:00,600
Thanks for that. Is Heinrich always so suspicious of phenomena that we do not yet understand?

1203
01:43:00,600 --> 01:43:06,600
He's not someone that you know well, but he says to you,

1204
01:43:06,600 --> 01:43:16,600
it ain't no tobacco you can smell.

1205
01:43:16,600 --> 01:43:21,600
Sure, I can have like four heads of Magnus. Which building do we go to?

1206
01:43:21,600 --> 01:43:27,600
Come on, lovely, let's go straight to the control center. I can't be messing around now.

1207
01:43:27,600 --> 01:43:31,600
Old Bangsi will have his knickers in a twist.

1208
01:43:31,600 --> 01:43:38,600
Because I am generous as a raven feeder, I'm going to say that on the boat,

1209
01:43:38,600 --> 01:43:45,600
on the journey, the four hour journey on the speedboat, you were able to rest and therefore meditate and replenish your spells.

1210
01:43:45,600 --> 01:43:53,600
Oh, OK. So let me just clarify. There's the boat house, there's the storage area, and then there's the tower.

1211
01:43:53,600 --> 01:43:58,600
The control room has the observation area on top of it, like a deck.

1212
01:43:58,600 --> 01:44:05,600
There are stairs that lead up past the main entrance to a kind of roof area, which is enclosed,

1213
01:44:05,600 --> 01:44:13,600
but would enable you from that lofty vantage point to look out at the sweeping and desolate tundra.

1214
01:44:13,600 --> 01:44:17,600
Insofar as you could see, were there not lots of fog.

1215
01:44:17,600 --> 01:44:23,600
Learning that I just now feel quite a lot more rested than I did after that boat ride,

1216
01:44:23,600 --> 01:44:28,600
I will activate second sight and start looking around.

1217
01:44:28,600 --> 01:44:33,600
You got to get a winner one day.

1218
01:44:33,600 --> 01:44:44,600
There is an odd scene to you all as you walk up, and I'm going to describe various different things to various different people.

1219
01:44:44,600 --> 01:44:59,600
Fulk, using your second sight, you get hints of something, black shadows flitting between the doorways.

1220
01:44:59,600 --> 01:45:02,600
Just the vaguest hint.

1221
01:45:02,600 --> 01:45:09,600
And because you're attuned to the spirit world, you can feel that they're not true spirits.

1222
01:45:09,600 --> 01:45:17,600
They're not the spirits of the land. They're not the spirits of the sea. They're not spirits of nature that you would be familiar with.

1223
01:45:17,600 --> 01:45:28,600
Ljomi, using your tree sight, which is you naturally do, you don't detect anything invisible or hidden or illusory,

1224
01:45:28,600 --> 01:45:32,600
but you do detect something unearthly.

1225
01:45:32,600 --> 01:45:40,600
There is something here knotted into the warp and weft of existence itself.

1226
01:45:40,600 --> 01:45:42,600
Becky, what's your trauma?

1227
01:45:42,600 --> 01:45:44,600
Trauma is two.

1228
01:45:44,600 --> 01:45:46,600
Not a worrying question.

1229
01:45:46,600 --> 01:45:48,600
CJ, yours is one.

1230
01:45:48,600 --> 01:45:55,600
The pair of you notice these black, crawling masses.

1231
01:45:55,600 --> 01:45:57,600
Hmm.

1232
01:45:57,600 --> 01:46:04,600
They drift completely silently between the buildings.

1233
01:46:04,600 --> 01:46:11,600
You can smell this stench, a cloying tobacco smell.

1234
01:46:11,600 --> 01:46:14,600
Steve, your trauma is seven.

1235
01:46:14,600 --> 01:46:16,600
Seven.

1236
01:46:16,600 --> 01:46:18,600
Oh, God.

1237
01:46:18,600 --> 01:46:25,600
You see something entirely different that I'm not going to reveal to everyone at this stage,

1238
01:46:25,600 --> 01:46:33,600
but let's just say that you recoil in horror and shock.

1239
01:46:33,600 --> 01:46:36,600
Can you make a will challenge for me, please?

1240
01:46:36,600 --> 01:46:38,600
A will? Okay, sure.

1241
01:46:38,600 --> 01:46:41,600
Nine.

1242
01:46:41,600 --> 01:46:57,600
Whatever you do detect with your maddened, traumatized, shocked psyche is beyond the ability of the others to sense, but it permeates into your stony core

1243
01:46:57,600 --> 01:47:03,600
and causes you to freeze as an icy chill tingles down your spine.

1244
01:47:03,600 --> 01:47:09,600
You can almost taste the emotion.

1245
01:47:09,600 --> 01:47:15,600
The whole area is redolent with grief and loss.

1246
01:47:15,600 --> 01:47:27,600
Meanwhile, Magnus, who appears to be entirely immune to whatever is going on, to whatever you can sense, to whatever you can see,

1247
01:47:27,600 --> 01:47:33,600
is striding straight towards the observation room and saying,

1248
01:47:33,600 --> 01:47:37,600
Come on then, boyo, we haven't got a day, have we?

1249
01:47:37,600 --> 01:47:45,600
I think Fulk's military training would take over a little bit, and he'd give like a hand signal to stop thinking he's back with his unit

1250
01:47:45,600 --> 01:47:51,600
and then realizing that they may not realize what that is, he would turn and say,

1251
01:47:51,600 --> 01:48:02,600
With the second sight, I see that here ahead, not of land or of sea, but spirits nonetheless.

1252
01:48:02,600 --> 01:48:13,600
Also, do you smell that strange smoke? Something is not right ahead, and there is violence waiting for us within that tower.

1253
01:48:13,600 --> 01:48:16,600
Of that, the spirits are also sure.

1254
01:48:16,600 --> 01:48:24,600
Oh, Ballyhoo and nonsense. I'm just going to knock on the door here. I've got the key code. Hang on a moment.

1255
01:48:24,600 --> 01:48:38,600
And then suddenly there is an explosion of scintillating light, a coruscating cloud, a kaleidoscopic fracture in the universe itself,

1256
01:48:38,600 --> 01:48:48,600
and Magnus is ripped from existence and vanishes into an eldritch dimension beyond your ken.

1257
01:48:48,600 --> 01:48:53,600
And on that, we will leave things for this episode.

1258
01:48:53,600 --> 01:48:55,600
Wait, we also got...

1259
01:48:55,600 --> 01:48:59,600
Always the engineers. Always the engineers.

1260
01:48:59,600 --> 01:49:08,600
Good news, we only lost one man, not to a bear, and an NPC as well. This is like high point.

1261
01:49:08,600 --> 01:49:25,600
The sea serpent didn't kill anybody. I mean, I thought that's where I was dying. I was like, oh, this serpent is here to kill me for sure.

1262
01:49:25,600 --> 01:49:32,600
The Vikings and Valkyries podcast is hammered together by a dedicated team of scouts and smiths.

1263
01:49:32,600 --> 01:49:38,600
Please don't forget to like, share and sacrifice to the old gods.