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IF YOU EVER PLAN TO PLAY THE BETRAYER OF ASGARD CAMPAIGN, DO NOT READ FURTHER.
Betrayer of Asgard is about the return of Logri the Binder, an ancient Hyperborean necromancer who threatens the Northlands. One of his trusted servants, the Hand, will be a close ally of the characters before they discover his true nature. The GM has the choice of three possible identities for the Hand, between the rogue Olaf, the king Cneph, and the priestess Irda. The campaign uses a system of Victory Points, an abstract measure of the characters successes or failures, which will determine the strength of the final encounters.
The Crossing of the Dead
Where the heroes encounter Olaf one-arm, an Aesir rogue and make a daring theft from Jormanshalt, a Vanir holy place, regaining the fabled Horn of Hrulf, an Aesir relic lost to the Vanir. Of course, the Vanirs are not the kind of people that let desecrators get away so easily, and they chase the heroes through the Blue Mountains, led by their famous berserker Rorik Hodderson. Olaf guides the heroes through an ancient Acheronian tunnel that crosses the mountains. Mountain dangers, blood crazed Vanirs and their war dogs, a wandering frost giant, hungry snow devils and their deformed god await the heroes.
The Hall of Heroes
The party has finally crossed the Blue Mountains and arrived into Asgard, the Vanirs still hot on their tails. As they get into King Cneph’s ringfort, the Vanir manage to steal back the horn. The heroes chase the thief through the town and beyond and fight Vanir raiders, regaining the relic once again. But Rorik Hodderson has captured Irda, the Aesir high priestess and holds her hostage against the return of the Horn. Of course the characters are sent to rescue Irda. They track back the Vanir to an old Hyperborean tower, site of an ancient battle, fight the Vanir once again, kill Rorik and save the priestess. But Logri the Binder’s foul magic raise the dead (old and new) from their graves and an army of zombies march to King Cneph’s ringfort. The heroes fight their way through the undead and organize a desperate defense of the ringfort against the army of the dead.
Tale of Shadows
Having understood there must be some kind of link between the Horn and the rise of a greater evil, the characters are sent to find Mimir the Wise, a ghost-catcher hermit shaman. To reach the shaman, the heroes must face series of dreamlike encounters, fight ghosts and undead to pass through Mimir defenses. Once they reach the hermit he tells them how the Horn was used to imprison Logri the Binder, an ancient Hyperborean Witchman of great power. With the help of Mimir, the characters are about to revive their past lives and are hurled back in time in the bodies of Hrulf and his party, to hunt the sorcerer once more. In the past the adventurers have to escape Logri’s keep and fight his guardian manticore, get into his personal tower to steal his spellbook and then return to the Witchmen who sent them for their next step: catching Logri’s Soul into the Orb of Souls. The trail leads to the Hyperborean city of Skolja, where the heroes must sneak past the guards and reach the sorcerer for a final showdown.
Hand of the Necromancer
Back in their bodies, the heroes know they must find the Orb of Souls to prevent Logri from returning. They have to cross Hyperborea and look for clues of the artifact in three places mentioned by Mimir: the Circle of Cherzbog, where the Witchmen gather, the Library of Kolu Castle, where the sorceress Urska dwells and the Graskaal Mountains inhabited by an all-knowing spirit Oracle. The party will have to cross the territory of the Black Ram Cimmerian tribe, pass the Skull Gate of Hyperborea and fight an Ice Worm to reach their goals. The heroes finally discover that the Orb is still hidden in the ruins of Skolja. The ruined city is occupied by Kozaki bandits, hiding from their Turanian pursuers. The characters will have to side with one party or the other, fight their way through the ghosts that haunt Skolja and conquer the Eater of Corpses, a huge scavenger that prowls the ruins.
The party finally enters the Vault of Souls, where the Orb rests, and must survive its traps to reach the artifact.
Going back to Mimir, the party finds the shaman dead, along with clues about the identity of the Hand. From there they will go either to Cneph’s ringfort, to the mining town of Rahut to find Olaf or to the holy mountain of Atali’s Spire to meet the priestess and confront the Hand in one final battle.
Betrayer of Asgard
The next step is now to find Logri’s tomb, to prevent the sorcerer from fully rising from the dead. Here, they’ll have to fight Logri’s undead servants, including the undead manticore, before their last battle with the disembodied necromancer.
