In a forest of ancient oaks stands a Tree of Death,

Amidst a Grove of Unlife,

Blown still by Odin’s breath,

And in its trunk there lie the bones of an unknown king,

The mountains rise,

The castles fall,

And the Norns of doom take wing.

image [https://cdn.myportfolio.com/977b3e60-0a05-4373-91c8-1e7540397f0e/87b5903d-c872-448c-9c5b-fc68808ed869_rw_1920.jpg?h=7dc8a08cf0552fa87a48b09f90e847ac]

“What a crappy poem. Sounds like it was written by a kid. So what’s the quest?”, said the Rogue.

“Looks like we need to find a skeleton. Unknown King? Guys, we’re going to have to go to the Library and look this up. Maybe we get lucky and it’s in a book of crappy poems.”, smiled the leader of the party, a big imposing Paladin, dressed in the latest transmogs.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Or a book of Prophecy.” said the Rogue.

“Do Norns fly?”, asked the Mage.

“Only when you kick them hard enough”, grinned the Berserker.

“We aren’t going to have anything to do with them just yet”, said the Paladin. “I bet they are legendary mobs surrounded by hundreds of Undead.”

“Like we haven’t killed our share already and not hundreds but thousands”, said the Mage.

“What are Norns?”, asked the Healer.

“I really don’t have a clue,” said the Paladin, “but if we don’t find out soon AA will find the king and we will be left in the dust again. Let’s go.” And he led the party away from the ancient stone tablet standing in the middle of the clearing.

I came out of the shadows staring at them as they disappeared into the night. Very good. They had taken the bait. Samuel was going to love this. They weren’t bad guys at all, but we had been running them through a gauntlet for the last 2 weeks testing them without their knowledge. If they passed we would reward them, go out to drink a few and extend them an invitation to join AA. If they failed (it was a hard test), we would still reward them and take them out for beer, but we wouldn’t ask them to join. Personally? I hoped they would pass. They were strong and we needed them for our third team. And. They had a sense of humor. Chuckling evilly, I snapped my fingers and the tablet shrank and flew to my hand. This was a lot of fun.