[b]Monavdu, Alysfyn[/b]

"Investigated?" Said Prince Haalenstern with an amused snort. "I am a son of Veden, not a judge. I will drag these troublemakers to thy feet squirming in chains. Allow the tribunal to decide if they are guilty or not, but rest assured that any antics they may or may not commit will be a nuisance to this realm no longer. Tell me where they may be found and I shall deliver them unto thee."

[b]Vidna, Veden[/b]

Falling water roared as it fell upon the rocks; a soothing din that sounded in the background against the workings of the town. Hammer pings, cowbells, clucking fowl, and the creaking of rocking boats joined into the song of the town nestled cozily into the notch carved by falling waters. Though people of the more cosmopolitan parts of the world might consider it but a village, to the people of this land Vidna was a port city vital to trade in the region. The waterfall around which the town was situated constituted the northernmost point of the navigable River Istrid; from Vidna on down to the Three Inner Seas and beyond them to the ocean, all waters could be sailed by smaller vessels. Situated in the heart of Veden and only three leagues from the Haalenstern seat of power at Ersthaal, Vidna was crucial in linking this remote hinterland to the wider world.

Creaking jetties extended into the choppy pool where Vidna's waterfall deposited its frothy, turbulent flow, tethered to which were a score of sailing boats built in the traditional kalga form. These wide, low draught vessels were ideal for traversing the often-shallow waters of the Istrid River and beyond. With their low draught and relatively light weight, even heavily-laden kalgas could sail across the fordings downstream. Even in the driest summers, the vessels were light enough that a modest crew could drag them over shallow riffles without great effort. Despite their light weight, most Vedic kalgas handled well enough in the open water beyond the coast. As such, kalgas bearing Vedic merchants and adventurers had sailed to the Great Eastern Delta, Damarskan, Monavdu, and hundred ports in between. Despite the versatility of these boats, the spring - half a moon after the vernal equinox when snowmelt from the mountains filled the banks of the Istrid - was the most favorable time to set out for long voyages.

On the cliffs above the town and tucked into a clearing of the giant firs and spruces that grew along the waterfall, a slab of worn granite carved with ancient runes was set upon a ledge overlooking the rude harbor. Beard-sporting boathands from one of the boats below stacked a neat pile of tinderwood upon the altar as another scooted soggy mats of pine needles off the slab with his boot. Once the altar had been cleared, the half-dozen of them stepped away from the great stone and stood in solemn silence around its mossy edges.

Into the clearing came another two. One a tall, broad shouldered northman much like the other boatmen; the other a pale, ancient looking man with skin gnarled with deep wrinkles and a beaklike nose. He dressed in a dark gray robe with a black minkfur cap atop his balding head. Sauntering along behind the two with a cord of rope around its neck was a young calf that followed blithely toward its doom. The eyes of all the boatmen followed the reddish-orange heifer expectantly as the fitter of the two led it up onto the altar. The younger man beckoned for one of the boatmen to join him on the dais while the he-crone stepped back among the ferns and crocuses of the grove. He produced a scroll of goat parchment as his companion took the leash of the calf from him. The gathered northmen stood in solemn silence for a time, leaving only the roar of the Istrid falling down the cataract and the soft hum of wind blowing through the pines.

"O Krammeg!" The man with the scroll in his right hand proclaimed, stretching his arms outward as he interrupted the silence. "Lady of Fortune! Hear me now! My companions and I entreat thy aid!" The calf mooed dumbly as the man with the parchment paused briefly.

"I am Breitur, and they my companions Oveyn, Ganeg, Kron, Eoric, Bosiigr, Negar, and Joten! We set sail tomorrow for the lands to the west seeking fortune and adventure on distant shores! Our aim is righteous and has been ordained by our mortal lord Dragan Haalenstern!" He called out into the clouds, waving the scroll in his hand up to the sky. "Today, on the vespers before our voyage, we come to ensure our journey be ordained by our immortal protector! Preserve us upon this venture, and bestow upon us what fortune thoust see fitting!"

Breitur tucked the charter scroll within his leather vest and turned to the man holding the leashed calf. With a nod of understanding, he leaned over the young beast and wrapped his arms around its midsection. The heifer kicked and mooed with unease as it was hefted over onto the bundle of sticks and branches. On the tinder pile, Breitur's companion held the calf down onto its side while he unsheathed the dagger upon his hip. Breitur grasped the cow's head with his free hand and stretched the neck outward such that the throat was exposed. With a simple, graceful stab, he pushed the knife into the panicking calf's throat and slid it free with a deft outward slice. Bright red blood spurted out onto the sticks and down onto the stone beneath it as the dying calf thrashed helplessly against her subduers. A trickle of blood slowly drained out from underneath the tinder pile and pooled into the grooves of the carved runes.

"See now, Lady of Fortune, this show of devotion!" Breitur exclaimed, raising his bloodied knife into the air once the life had faded from the calf's eyes. "We offer this beast unto thee, that you may bestow upon us your great fortune and wisdom!"

The two stepped off of the altar while another with a torch in his hand assumed their place. He laid the burning end upon the foot of the tinder pile and then joined the others in watching the tongues of fire consume the slain calf. Their supplication and the spirit of the sacrificed beast joined with the bluish gray smoke as the wind carried it upward to Krammeg's haunt in the heavens.