They call me Vorstag. My father and his forefathers were some of the finest mazers around. Their mead would go from port to port and make our family wealthy compared to other northern houses. The vast amount of affluence the mead hall provided was enough to have people move to it permanently creating a small town. Gerhimund’s Court was the name of the town and was called that because it is my clan's name. We are a highlander clan in the Kingdom of Norland. It was a beautiful town with bees flying above the flowery fjords. Ships would come in and out of the port bringing tales from far away with little green men, islands as hot as fire, and even old wives tales about the dreaded beast Hybora, the Herald of Boro Kon. I wanted to see the world, so I joined the navy. Navy life was hard but it was rewarding. We would be at sea for almost three weeks before we’d see land but that didn’t bother me. When I was on stern lookout I would peer over the aft end of the ship and just look at the Abyss totally fixated at the blank nothingness that was the ocean. Sometimes you would see whales and other sea creatures and other times you’d find whales with massive chunks ripped out of them, but never the culprit, possibly done by the dreaded Lubba.
One time I Captained the ship The Prowler and we were going into colder, northern waters. According to sailor stories, Boro Kon laid his court in the most coldest parts of the realm. He was a mad god who would bring fortune or misfortune to any ol pollywog or master. As cruel as the climate around him, Boro Kon was important to appease. It was the master's duty when you crossed the line of the north to rub the deck with whale blubber. It became a tradition of some sorts to appease Boro Kon this way. I had two new mates and the chief was asleep so I didn’t trust the helm in their hands especially when we were this far north. I chalked the appeasement ceremony was just a tradition that just was passed down since the years of yore. We continued in the icy reaches of the realm and all of a sudden a rogue wave hits The Prowler and knocked one of the mates overboard. I turn the ship around and try to get him back on the ship but he quickly sinks to the bottom almost like a rock. Another wave hits and the water slaps me and it feels like hard steel hitting you. Winds begin to pick up and one of the masts falls apart. We are dead in the water and strangely being entrapped by ice. Out of the corner of my eye I see a gigantic visage appear over me. It was a beastie with foul, cold breath and a cobra-like tongue. It just stares at me, towering over me like an aquatic monolith. Chief wakes up and shoots the beast with a crossbow bolt. The Serpent didn’t think kindly of it and encased him in ice. This gave me time to get a harpoon and I threw it into the devilish creatures eye. The beast retreats and I get the hell out of there. Due to the thinning out of our crew it was decided that we travel to Gerhimund’s Court which was only a couple of days away. We repaired the mast and set sail for my home port. During my off hours I tried to get some sleep but every time I did I’d see the beasties menacing glare. We finally arrive at Gerimund’s Court to find it in a complete frozen ruin. Ice covered the whole town and everyone was gone. I walked through the empty streets and the abandoned Mead Hall and saw the remements of a once peaceful place. Now it is desolate and ravaged. I look back at the ship to see it sinking and it being completely encased in ice. I run down the dock and I once again look at the abyss except for this time I see the dreaded beastie that took down my ship. It was Hybora, the Herald of Boro Kon. It lunged at me but I avoided its attacks. Hybora whips his tail and takes me off my feet. It traps me in ice and with the harpoon that is still lodged in his eye pokes out my right eye with the other end of it. The beastie flees shortly after almost like it was summoned. I get out of the ice and go to the mead hall one last time and just feel defeated. I knew from that day forth that there was no red faith, or even any faith that was bearing on my life. The only higher power that has meaning are the seven cruel daemons of the sea.
I spent the next couple of years continuing to sail but not because I was passionate about it but because I need hope in my life again. I miss the days of my father being proud of the mead and town he made, the crew I sailed with, and the years of my life I spent going mad due to “The Call of the Deep”. I spend all of my coin on ale and mead on each one of our port incursions. The only thing that keeps me going today is upholding my family's values as Mazers or pursuing the dreaded beast they call Hybora. Perhaps I will build a new mead hall to commemorate my lost loved ones. Or maybe I should do it for the mead that I can drink.
