There is a small cutter anchored in the harbor — the “Pride of Hjalland”.
“Hey, isn’t that Swafnild Egilsdotter’s ship?!” [NAME] calls out excitedly.
You take a closer look at the vessel.
You have seen quite enough ships for one day.
As you approach the ship, you see a woman of robust stature aboard, gathering equipment together.
She is totally preoccupied with her work and doesn’t take any notice of you.
The ship is lying at anchor without a guard, apparently there is nobody aboard.
Nothing to be done about it now.
You look below decks.
You’ve hardly climbed aboard, when a fisherman comes running down the quay.
“Hey, you! What are you doing?! That’s Swafnild Egilsdotter’s ship, you get off there right away, you hear!”
“Okay, okay, we’re leaving…”
Just who does that guy think he is?
“Holla! Help! Thieves!” the fisherman cries.
From everywhere around the harbor people come running. Since you couldn’t possibly win against a mob like that, you’re forced to admit defeat and leave the ship.
You leave the harbor and go into town.
After leaving ship, you exit the harbor area to look around the town.
“Hey there, are you Swafnild Egilsdotter?”
“Hello…”
Startled, the woman jumps up and turns around.
“Yes, I am — and who are you?” she asks with a firm voice.
The woman doesn’t react.
“Heeelloo!!!”
Startled, the woman jumps up and turns around.
“Yes?!”
“Are you Swafnild Egilsdotter?” [NAME] asks her.
“Yes, I am — and who may you be?” she asks with a firm voice.
You introduce yourselves.
“We are here on the hetman’s orders!”
“And what do you want from me of all people?”
“We are looking for a map…”
“It’s about Hyggelik!”
“My great-great-grandfather?! — but he’s been dead for ages. What could possibly interest you about him?”
“A map?! What kind of map?”
You tell her the whole story.
“Oh, that’s it. Yes, I know what you want! Good ol’ Hyggelik — pity he had to die like that. Flecking orcs!… And you want to return his sword?!
Well, let me think. There must be some way I can help…”
She stands deep in thought for a moment.
“Yeah, I guess, that’s it. I hope you find it a bit of a help…”
“Oh yes, very much so. Thank you!”
“And you don’t know anything about a map?”
“Ah, who cares, I can’t use that scrap anyway! I’ve got a map I inherited from my grandmother, but it won’t be much help, I can tell you that, because there’s more than half of it missing.”
She thinks a while.
“No, I really don’t know what you’re talking about there but I do hope my information is of some use to you anyway.”
“I have to lift anchor now, I’m late enough as it is so you’ll have to shove off. Good luck then!” she doesn’t even wait for you to get completely off before she’s casting off.
“Besides, there’s a problem with that map — I haven’t got it with me. It’s in [NAME], and we’d have to go get it.”
“Hmm, thanks anyway, but that would take too long.”
“If you could…”
“It was just a suggestion. Well, I hope you can manage without the map.”
“Sure! Get ready, we’re about to cast off!”
“Well, we do have some things to take care of first.”
“Aye aye, skipper!” you go on board.
“There’s no time for that, and I’ve got enough rations aboard for you all — well?”
“All right then!” you go on board.
“In that case we can’t come along.”
Swafnild gets the ship ready right away, and a mere fifteen minutes later, you lift anchor… quite a feat with a ship this size.
You follow the coastline for the whole trip and within a few days, you reach [NAME].
“Wait here,” Swafnild tells you and is gone.
Two hours later, she returns and hands you a yellowed scrap of parchment.
“There’s the map! I just hope it’s of more use to you than it was to me.”
You stare at the parchment.
“I’m going to [NAME] now, via [NAME] and [NAME]. If you want, I can take you along for part of the way.”
“No thanks, we can manage!”
“That would be a great help.”
“So, where do you want to go?”
“Just to your first stop.”
“Up to your second stop.”
“All the way, actually.”
One hour later, you’re travelling along the coast again. A few days later, you reach [NAME].
“Well, there we are! I enjoyed giving you a hand.”
You thank Swafnild, and after a lengthy and emotional goodbye, you leave ship. The Thorwalian waves to you a last time, then the “Pride of Hjalland” sets off again to sea.
“I enjoyed giving you a hand.”
You thank Swafnild, and after a lengthy and emotional goodbye, you leave ship. The Thorwalian waves to you a last time, then the “Pride of Hjalland” sets off again to sea.
Startled, the woman jumps up and turns around.
“Oh, hello! It’s you. I’ve been looking for you, you know.”
“You see, I remembered something. Now I know, what map you were talking about. I inherited a scrap of parchment from my grandmother, but I can tell you now, it won’t be much use to you. More than half of it is missing.”
Unicorn
You see the unmistakable white horse galloping towards you from the distance.
“The unicorn, it’s come back. Didn’t I tell you!” [NAME] cries excitedly. Once again you can barely catch [NAME] words as [NAME] tosses out:
“Wait here…” with that, [NAME] starts running.
You follow him.
You wait at a distance.
[NAME] and the unicorn are again standing face to face a mere inches away from each other. Still as statues, they seem to gaze deeply into each other’s eyes. After about 5 [N] minutes, you see the same scene you’ve seen before: the unicorn brings its head around in a sudden movement and runs away.
As before, [NAME] keeps standing still, as if dazed, for a few minutes more before jerking awake. You see [NAME] coming back towards you, waving a scrap of something.
As [NAME] is getting closer, you can make our a yellowed scrap of parchment in [NAME] hand.
“Look, a piece of the map!” [NAME] says with a slightly arrogant tone. You stare at the parchment.
Still amazed, you ask: “It’s true. Where did that unicorn get the map?”
[NAME] shrugs.
“I don’t now, but it helped us, helped me!” there is a triumphant glow in [NAME] glistening eyes. Try as you might — you can’t get any more information out of [NAME].
You continue on your way.
Try as you might, you cannot catch up with [NAME]. The distance between you gets larger all the time. Finally you have to stop from exhaustion, while [NAME] continues running toward the unicorn. You can only observe from a distance.