AP Report: A Cliff in Iceland
So we played a game of Sagas of the Icelanders in Iowa City, IA on Sunday, and here's a brief recap of what happened:
Our cast consisted of Helga (A Woman, played by Val), Isgurd the Lean (A Matriarch, played by Dan), Mjøl (A Shield Maiden, played by David), and Oddleif Red-Cloak (A Wanderer, played by Jim)
We used the standard family tree included with the Sagas Kickstarter centered around Reykhólar (Beneath the Seabird Cliffs), such that the following facts were established:
• Isgurd the Lean is married to Hrafn, a Go?i who is becoming fanatical about his devotion to Odín in his august years.
• Hrafn and Isgurd possess a Slave Thora, a capable young girl, as well as a Bound Debtor Tór, who is bad news and well-and-truly hated by the spirits.
• Hrafn and Isgurd also have three children (that they know of): Helga, her brother Orm, and youngest sister Unn. Orm is an adventurous sort who’s looking for the hidden treasure near Pelle Strand together with Tór. Unn is a precocious young girl who is best friends with Thora.
• Mjøl was betrothed to Orm in order to tame him and make him a man. (And GRANDBABIES - Isgurd wants some of those.)
• Helga is married to Gísli Greyback, Iceland’s most boring and hardworking husband, and has a foster daughter Ísar Pálldottir, who is a Shield Maiden in Hrafn’s warband.
• Also included in Hrafn’s warband: Orm, Gísli, Tór, Mjøl, and Mjøl’s ugly drunkard Huscarl Ref (son of Sturla the Bald, who was good friends with Mjøl’s far-flung-but-generous father Magni Salt-Beard).
• One of Mjøl and Helga’s dear friends Solveig the Sei?kona hails from Aedaklettar (Island of Monsters). She is traveling in the area, exchanging her medicines for hospitality.
• Hafni Hafnisson is a bold, rich go?i with a band of Huscarls, searching for the hidden treasure on the Pelle Strand.
• Last, but not least, Oddleif Red-Cloak is related to no one… but has just recently arrived.
What happened:
It’s spring on the Reykhólar settlement. Mjøl can be found sewing in her small hut away from the main homestead lodge where Isgurd and the rest dwell. Orm suddenly bursts in, bearing a nasty, bleeding cut on his right hand. Shivering, he lays down and Mjøl quickly stitches up his wound. Orm is evasive about how he received it. “I fell,” he says, and she can’t get anything more out of him. She uses the opportunity to have him promise to no longer seek the treasure on Pelle Strand, as it is taking him away from his other household duties.
Meanwhile, Helga and Gísli are at home, with the latter having just returned from chasing a goat all day. Helga has been managing the household very well, and has saved up some silver. They discuss what should be done with the silver, and Helga makes the case that they ought to purchase a gold armband to adorn her arm, so as to increase her visibility and prestige in the community for being such a good keeper-of-house. Gísli acquiesces to go have one forged for her, but only if Helga takes it upon herself at some point to talk to Hrafn about being more present in the daily lives of his own family.
Isgurd is making yogurt with Thora as Hrafn moves a boulder from the garden, grumbling all the while. Thora accidentally drops something in the yogurt and, in her irritation, curses Odín’s name. Hrafn hears this, flies into a rage, and comes over to beat Thora. Isgurd intervenes and defends Thora against his wrath. It is during this exchange that Oddleif approaches the family. Very quickly, Hrafn begins to assume that Oddleif is Odín in the flesh and acts servile toward him. He brings Oddleif up to the temple, and gives to him a gold anklet (for women) that he is nevertheless to wear concealed under his clothes… were he the true Odín. Oddleif takes the anklet, but says little.
The family all sits down for a meal, welcoming Oddleif to the homestead. Isgurd uses the opportunity to offer Mjøl her fine dress for her wedding to Orm. Thora and Mjøl are both enamored with Oddleif, but it is only Thora who makes an overt gesture to try to seduce him, which he rebuffs. Mjøl nurses her passion quietly.
Summer arrives. Mjøl knows that Oddleif bears some sort of secret, but she cannot quite get at what that is during their many long conversations. Solveig arrives at the homestead expressly to heal Orm. The reduced warband (Tór, Ísar, and Ref) were sent on a trivial task and now have not been seen for several weeks. Meanwhile, rumors of the treasure at Pelle Strand have spread, and now numerous warbands from various families are there, looking for the treasure.
Helga and Solveig nurse Orm, whose condition has considerably worsened, as they get some fresh air on the Seabird Cliffs. It is then that Solveig suggests Helga go down to the Pella Strand to retrieve some rockfur – an herb that grows on a butte there – for an herbal remedy for Orm. Because the warband is gone, Helga has to enlist the help of Mjøl for her journey to the Pelle Strand. Mjøl has just prayed to Odín and received word from the wind spirits that she must beware her own heart, and should take up some activity to distract herself from her feelings for Oddleif. Helga’s task is just the remedy needed. The two of them borrow a boat from the three nearby fishermen who live and sleep together and head to Pelle Strand. There, they see the trading post at Pelle Strand in flames. Not deterred, they make their way to a nearby part of the beach (where the butte is) and climb halfway up the butte to retrieve some rockfur. No sooner have they retrieved it, however, when Hafni Hafnisson and his loyal Huscarls come marching down the beach. After a heated exchange of words, it is obvious that Hafni’s designs on the two women are less than noble. As they gear up to kidnap the two women, they are suddenly ambushed by Hrafn’s delinquent warband. Ísar and Tór manage to each kill a Huscarl, and Mjøl plants her spear in such a way as to stab Hafni’s horse and crush him under it. The three remaining Huscarls flee dishonorably and in duress, swearing revenge. Mjøl most notably takes Hafni Hafnisson’s sword as her own. Ísar looks pregnant, and it is established that she is having Tór’s baby.
Isgurd sends Oddleif to go find word of the treasure, as she is increasingly interested in what wealth it may bring to her family. She also then confronts Gísli and makes him re-affirm his commitment to Hrafn’s warband, should the others never return. He reluctantly signs on. Oddleif meets the rest of the party – Helga, Mjøl, Tór, Ísar, and Ref – and then presents them to Isgurd. Mjøl and Helga rush to Solveig and then create the herbal remedy for Orm. Orm immediately starts feeling better. Some chaos and confusion ensues around what is going on with the treasure, etc.
Later, Helga meets Ísar and establishes that, no, Ísar doesn’t actually want to settle down with Tór. So Helga agrees to deal with her foster daughter’s child in her own house. Oddleif is seen talking to himself on a cliff, talking about how he’s keeping his promise. Mjøl has a tender scene with her forbidden crush Oddleif and gives him Hafni Hafnisson’s sword as a gift. Isgurd oversees the wedding between Orm and Mjøl, and ensures that they go off together to lie together and conceive a child. However, they did so in Hrafn’s temple to Odín, which bears many many ill portents. Orm will pass away within a few months after their marriage.
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What will happen to Oddleif and Mjøl’s simmering, suppressed passion?
How will Isgurd seize power from Hrafn?
What unique piece of adornment does Gísli wind up bringing to Helga?
What manner of revenge do Hafni’s Huscarls have in store for them?
Find out next time!
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