Mead Hall - River Jarl Steading (7)

There is a skald's song that starts out "Mead Hall, Mead Hall - Home of Heroes Brave and Tall!"  And it has, indeed, been a home for many heroes over the years.  If there is a Steading of Storm King barbarians that fits the stereotypes that Westroners believe in - it is definitely Mead Hall.

Interior of Mead Hall, preparing for the nightly hero's feast

Mead Hall is structured with a great hall at the center of the settlement, surrounded by huge long houses in a double thick circle around the central hall, and then small plots of artisans, craftsman, and houses of huscarls, etc, out to the edge of the central settlement (which is about a mile across, a little over three miles around the perimeter).  It is all protected by a very tall wooden palisade, and a deep ditch, and a wall of spikes outside the ditch.

The great hall (itself properly referred to as Mead Hall, the rest of it referred to simply as The Steading) is home to the Jarl, his (extended) family, huscarls, women, travelers, wandering warriors, and lots and lots of skalds.  The favorite past-time in Mead Hall is to have warriors go out on adventures, and then come back and have skalds sing of them.

The Jarl and his men, enjoying the tales of the skalds

The current Jarl is Snorri Halftrollsson.  His father, old Halftroll, was the Jarl before, and ruled the hall for some four decades, before being killed on a hunt for giant wooly boar.  Snorri has a wife, and a dozen proper children, not to mention a large number of young women attached to the settlement, who all have children with the curious Snorri twinkle in their eye.  His band of Huscarls numbers close to three hundred, although at any one time more than half of them will be out on adventures, or viking raids.  Snorri's favorite skald, named Alvin Lyremaker, often sings a series of sagas that compare Mead Hall to the great hall in the Storm King's castle at Windkeep.

Windkeep - home of the Storm King

What is commonly known, but not talked about, is that Snorri's sister, perhaps showing more of the troll side of the family, from old Halftroll, is a witch.  She lives in a hovel, outside of the steading, in a marshy place beyond the poorest of peasant farms, but frequently comes into Mead Hall for the nightly feasts, in disguise.  She has a long and burning hatred for Snorri, his men, the steading, and most things from the world of men.  She scorns the religion and culture of her fathers, finding even the worship of Helgor (the Black Chieftain) to be too close to the family of the Storm King.

Instead, this witch, Heizelnag, chooses to worship the demigoddess of the underworld, Noxecatt, a foul creature related to the pantheon of the Westroner Church (the three Goddesses).  In the understanding of Heizelnag, however, Noxecatt is actually a daughter of the Old One deity, the Earth Weaver.  Sufficient understanding of the nature of the Earth Weaver is not known, so that this can be confirmed, however it is suspected among some of the Archivists at Parn Tandalorn. 

Many a hero from Mead Hall has come to a dark, grisly ending due to the magics and summonings worked by Heizelnag against all those allied to her brother, Snorri.

The writeup of the Roaming House of the Elkmen King was originally an adventure location that was part of this article.  It was part of the Week of Adventure Locations, but has been removed to make its own article.