General News - Turn 4

A story told by one of the Glorious Dead of Valhalla - a warrior named Wendy

So I was out after the drinking. Well, before the drinking. Before and after. You know how it is, the bit in-between that's not the fighting. And what do I hear but the earth moving and parting. So I look at the ground by the hall and its moving and the stones are shifting and then a beak! A giant beak.

I called over Shona, but she was busy with some bloke and wouldn't believe me. So then the rest of the giant rooster comes out. It's making this awful clucking, chocking, coughing noise. Digging through the ground and all that.

Then it crows!

And it hits me! Ragnarok! Gullinkambi! And that's the heralding of the Ragnarok and the battle. So we're up soon. Honestly, ever since we heard it was nosing around the fields I was expecting it to turn up, but I guess someone kept it busy for half the year. Good that. Got more drinking and fighting in. Now we'll get a little more in, hopefully there's some time before the proper good fighting starts so that we can get some proper drinking in!

Valhalla! Ragnarok!

RAGNAROK COMES!

Many have heard the rooster crow before the Hall of Valhalla.

(from “The Slaying of Fafnir, a Lucky River documentary”)

The camera pans around, the voices of Atlas, Skjoll, and a representative of the dwarves overlaid onto a montage of gods and humand preparing for the battle.

“OK, so here's the plan, Eric will make a fake version of me, Reysa, and Olrik on Reysa's boat (which will also be fake).”

The camera cuts to Eric feverishly knitting the model boat, with wolly Reysa, angora Olrik, and silk Skjoll posed on the deck, making obscene gestures up at the dragon.

“We get the dragon's attention”

A bolt of lightning shoots out, and skims across Fafnir's nose. The beast turns, to see a great figure made from water, performing a frankly unprintable act (the original video is blurred, but uncensored versions are easy to find online).

“We lure Fafnir down the river with the boat”

The boat skims over the water, the dragon chasing in hot pursuit. Olrik stands, his arms raised, calling the lightning to strike at the beast's flank.

“Lelantos provides overwatch and sniper fire”

A gunshot rings out, and a great hole tears in Fafnir's wing, bringing them crashing into the river.

“Jaeger tackles the beast”

The water shakes as Jaeger bursts from it, growing swiftly into his titan form, and taking the full brunt of the charge.

“Reysa will try and limit the collateral damage from the flames”

Fafnir rears back, spewing white hot flame towards Jaeger. Just before he is incinerated, a wall of water rises in front of him, shocked straight into steam, but quenching the fires.

“And then, once the dragon is dealt with, we'll all go back for a drink”

Eric uses his needles to scale Fafnir's flank, and the great beast rears back, throwing Jaeger into the air. Suddenly, Fafnir's eye explodes in a gush of blood and they collapse to the floor as Lelantos takes the final shot.

“All the dwarves will have been moved away from the river, so there should be no collateral damage, just a few buildings to fix at the end”

The camera pans up and switches to slow motion, following Jaeger as he sails through the air, the great titan slamming into the Hall of the Dead high above, sending the swirling filigree of light that surrounds the great structure down over the city in a million shards. The cheers of the dwarves as the dragon falls are quickly silenced, and the camera focuses in on several dwarven avatars collapsing in the crowd.

The narration changes, and the Voice of the Hall speaks.

“The Hall is damaged. The wards that have kept the dwarven dead from passing to Hel for so long are weakened. We are losing hundreds every day. We will rebuild, but it will take time, and we do not know how many we will lose by then. The flow seems to be increasing.”

The screen fades to black, a list of dwarven names scrolling past, listing those lost to the inexorable pull of Helheim.

After a long and protracted fight with the Jotunn colossus, Utgard-Loki, a party from Asgard and Midgard have successfully felled the Giant. What began as a duel between Kopr and Cavour, and Utgard-Loki was quickly mired by deception and treachery before devolving into open combat. All of the fighters were valourous in combat, but of special note were the humans Anacharsis Demotte and Gideon McQueen: who were able to topple the giant with their human 'nukes'.

Heimdall confirms that the Jotun master of illusion was in fact killed by the attack, and General Medjar was able to (with help from Dame Fiona Rutherford and the Asa Eydis) were able to pacify the Jotunn armies. Initial reports from General Medjar say that Jotunn withdrawal from Vanaheim is underway, but that all should be on the lookout for the deserter Throdemar, who has not been seen since the fall of Hygrad.

(The Son's of Svanir logo, a picture of Mjolnir, appears on the screen, then fades, showing a well dressed dwarf)

“Welcome everyone! I am pleased to announce that it is that time of year again, the Annual Craftsman's Challenge is once again upon us. As an introduction for our new friends from other worlds, the Craftsman's Challenge is an opportunity for mundane craftsmen to show their skills, and compete for a once-in-a-lifetime apprenticeship with the Sons of Svanir to study enchanting! And this year, in honour of a quarter of a millenium of challenges, we have not one, but two apprenticeships to offer to a pair of winners! But even if you don't get the top prize, there is still plenty to be won!” (the camera pans over a row of dwarven items)

• “A pair of Jetboots!” (A pair of boots with stylised flames on the sides, and small stabilising fins)
• “An automagical washing do-er!” (A stange contraption with a laundry hamper, a tub of water, a mangle, and a spinning drying rack)
• “An everfull mead barrel!” (A large barrel of mead)
• “A ring of water walking!” (A small silver ring with a blue-white gemstone inset)
• “A fireproof stay-clean cloak, we can even adjust it to your size!” (a footnote appears: not guaranteed for Muspellheim or interacting with fire giants)
• “A cuddly toy!” (A small cuddly Thor doll)
• “A flying fuzzwidget!” (It looks insanely cute and fluffy, and flits over the other items)
• “A Midgardian furturebox!” (A black sphere with a white circle on it, the number 8 in bold type in the centre)
• “A Point-You-Home!” (This appears to be some kind of compass, but the arrow has a stylised house on it)
• “The flying fuzzwidget again!” (it flits back through the frame)
• “A water-airifier!” (A small box sits in a tank of water, a large stream of bubbles coming out as the water flows in, seemingly converting the water directly into air. As far as you can tell from the creatures in the upper part of the tank, it's breathable. A dial on the side is turned down fairly low)

“In light of recent events, this year's theme is 'Fixing the City'. Build the best building you can, or improve an old one, the choice is yours! There's plenty of plots available, so don't delay, enter today! The deadline is, as always, in 4 months time. As usual, weaponry is not allowed in contest entries, and for this year, the Hall is off limits, as we have our own experienced specialists working on it. Now, a few words from last year's winner, Virvir!”

Another dwarf, wearing a lab coat, with disheveled looking hair comes on screen and gushes about how amazing it is to work for the Sons, and how glad he is that he had this opportunity.

(ooc note: When turnsheeting for this action, please indicate (in order) your top 3 or 4 choices for runner up prizes, to make things simpler)

A wonderful marriage has been formed between Robert Sykes and the elven maiden Astrid. The ceremony was beautiful and the couple are said to be very very happy together. This comes at a perfect time for inter-world diplomacy as routes are rumoured to be opening up into Alfheim, and so a Midgard-Alfheim marriage already is excellent progress!

With a number of pilot projects in full swing for some months now, the Cavenson Domes, officially the “Hodmimmir's Holt Project” are now a dominating sight across many countries. Almost every state and every major government has invested in at least one dome for a city. Many smaller, private domes are also visible everywhere.

Even more are being added and construction working 24/7 around the world. With dropping temperatures and rising sea levels, the domes are an attractive solution available easily to those willing to lay in the construction costs.

Curiously there is a strange competition of guerrilla painters going on as the domes are pasted with corporate logos for Midgard Enterprises, the Lucky Rivers Corporation and even Winterlight and Slate Engineering. Those of Midgard and Lucky Rivers are the dominant projections, but nobody is quite sure who ought to be thanked…

Huge walls, great defensive points and large “shock absorbing” towers have been erected all over Asgard. Those involved have destruction tested these and say that Asgard could not possibly be in any better position to defend against whatever Ragnarok may throw at it!

The Oceanic Alliance would like to extend its gratitude to the Winterlight Corporation for the building of a giant dome in Central Australia, near Coober Pedy. It is hoped that this dome will protect at least two cities worth of Australian citizens during the coming apocalypse.

In return for this great favour, Sebastian Ark has been granted citizenship in the Oceanic Alliance. There are wide rumours that he would be a strong candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.

Speaking on the AEF Kurteisliga has pledged a home in Vanaheim for up to 50 thousand displaced Australian civilians. The Vanir diplomat has further promised that additional Midgardians, with vital skills - doctors, scientists, technicians may be offered refuge in the Vanir's homeland along with their families, to escape the apocalypse that will shortly befall earth.

The interview, conducted by AEF frontman Mikel Vaughn, has buried UNITED's administrative departments under a wave of admission applications, and world governments are said to be jockeying to ensure parity in the number of civilians accepted from each state.

Exact details are unclear, but rumours circulate through both UNITED and Asgard that Odin has been returned. At the request of the Allfather and Frigg there is considerable secrecy concerning his absence and his condition now, but there is much speculation that his time away from Asgard has left him injured or sick.

Currently he is recuperating in his hall Valaskjalf.

Kvasir has declared that after further investigation, the same effect that curbs Asgardian powers in the UNITED meeting hangar can also at some times be observed sometimes not far from the so-called 'Alpha Site' on Asgard. He has declared that there is an opportunity to hold a meeting on the coming Ragnarok in Asgard and put forward the proposal to Director Jefferson.

After some consideration, Director Jefferson has agreed to Kvasir's invitation. The meeting is to be held under Kvasir's protection in the sheltered area near the 'Alpha Site'. Some UNITED security forces are present and passage through the ITP gate remains fairly tightly controlled.

The Director and Kvasir hope to help further the relationship and discussion of the 'Ragnarok' scenario.