West Marching Wolves Session 2

31 Oct, 2026

Dramatis Personae

Frodi and Mundfal, ex-thralls, and Hrolf, the son of the former master. A crew of 9 Marines.

Events

Having landed on the isle of Abhaus, guided by a large stele on a hill, the crew makes camp for the night. The next morning, the three PCs and three of their crew, Erland, Stale, and Karl, hike up to the stele, entrusting an NPC with a bow to hunt while the rest of the crew forages for food. Upon reaching the stele, they find that it marks the tallest point of the isle, but is worn and illegible. From the stele, the group can see a stone mound in a clearing off to the southeast that appears to be the only manmade structure on the island.

They send Karl back with information about where they are going and instructions to bring a search party if they don't reappear at camp by the next day. Within the mound, they find chambers of worked stone patrolled by a large worm-like creature with purple flesh weeping a caustic serum. Hrolf collects some of the serum, and they travel along a passage to the northeast, taking care not to touch the coils of worm mass. They pass through some more chambers and hear the sounds of gnashing getting closer before they duck into a side area and discover an altar with a golden hammer on it. Hrolf takes this as a sign of blessing by the gods, and collects the hammer. Mundfal notices a seal on the west wall depicting a hammer-crushed skull, and siphones some of her blood into a groove below the seal. The seal opens to a secret chamber containing a corpse preserved in wax.

The group melts and chips away at the wax, revealing a set of heavy armor and a greatsword along with some mysterious trinkets: a leathery orb and beaten key worn as necklaces and a ring seemingly made of brownish twine. They discover more valuables are held within the wax and decide to take the preserved corpse whole out of the complex. Once outside,¹ they set a fire to fully melt the corpse, discovering some old valuable coins and golden thread, and then cremated the corpse out of (perhaps too little too late) respect for the dead.

Returning to camp, they find the foraging has produced much food but that Claudina, who had gone off hunting, did not return to camp. They spend the next two days searching for her, but she is nowhere to be found² and Hrolf and Frodi resolve to make for Faroe to sell their hold full of goods.

Footnotes