Salve for a Fresh Wound

Salve for a Fresh Wound was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.

Description

Eivor went to search for Hunwald who ran off in tears after hearing his father died.

Dialogue

Eivor went to search for Abbess Acha, who followed a crying Hunwald. Eivor saw the abbess at an entrance of Lincoln.

• Eivor: Acha. Where is Hunwald?
• Acha: I tried to console him, but he pushed me away. I love the boy, I do. But I fear what would happen if he took his father's title. He's fragile and scattered. I saw him ride north, following the paved Roman road. To the old tall tree where he often passed time with his father, I imagine.

You broke an oath to your wardWho put you up to this grand lie?I have nothing more to say to you

• Eivor: Hunwald loved you like family. And you lied to his face.
• Acha: In my way I was trying to protect him. O Saint Cuthbert, give me strength.
• Eivor: Oaths and ale work better than your prayers and saints.

• Eivor: What devil put you up to all this deception?
• Acha: I wasn't put up, Eivor. I felt compelled to carry on for the good of the shire. Until I knew the truth.
• Eivor: A pretty answer for an ugly lie.

• Eivor: I have better people to speak to. Wallow in your self-made grief, abbess.
• Acha: Go then. Why linger here?

Eivor spoke to Acha once more, before departing.

• Acha: I must beg forgiveness from my God. The Lord lifts up the meek... we must praise Him.

Eivor left and traveled all the way to Ealdorman's Overlook.

• Eivor: That must be the tree Acha mentioned. Hunwald may be nearby.

Eivor neared the grand red tree, where she heard a drunk Hunwald slurring his words.

• Hunwald: These woods, Father. O, these woods... I remember the days we spent here together. Here upon this spot. Ducking and hiding through the rushes. With bow and arrow. Chasing rabbits and squirrels. A thousand arrows I fired, and a hundred trees I bled, but not a single animal could I catch. All of them, fled.

Eivor drew near to Hunwald, who barely recognized her in his drunken stupor.

• Hunwald: H-hello! Eivor? Is that you?

Eivor spied an engraving on the red tree.

Tree Engraving

Hunwald and Swanburrow

Eivor sat down to drink with Hunwald

Eivor spoke with Hunwald.

• Hunwald: Eivor, what a pleasant surprise! Would you drink with me?
• Eivor: Hunwald...
• Hunwald: Come! Sit, sit. Stay with me a while and comcemplate... conmemtate... contemplate the view.

You're grieving, I understandPull yourself togetherLet's have a drink together

• Eivor: Be easy with your grief, Hunwald. If you're not careful, it's a poison you'll bear in your blood for the rest of your life.
• Hunwald: No need to worry! For I have found the antidote for it!

Hunwald drank a cup. Eivor grabbed a cup herself before continuing to console him.

• Eivor: Collect yourself, Hunwald. There's many a man in Lincolnscire who'd pay to see your head on a pike.
• Hunwald: Well they can wait a moment!

Eivor grabbed a cup while Hunwald drank.

• Eivor: Let's have a drink. To the memory of your father.

Eivor grabbed a cup and drank with Hunwald.

• Hunwald: Here we go a wassailing, among the leaves so green!

• Eivor: Do not gorge on grief, nor give in to sadness, but let your aching love light the mead of your eyes and lead you to triumph.
• Hunwald: That is... quite lovely. My father would have liked you. He liked all those who could swing a sword and speak a verse with ease.

I would have liked him too, I thinkNo, he would have hated me(Drink)

• Eivor: He had a large heart and a love for his people. I think I would have liked him, too.

• Eivor: An outsider whose people ravaged his shire? I think he would have hated me.

They both drank some more.

Hunwald stared out at the fields the hill overlooked.

• Hunwald: He and I used to wander up this way all the time. He would take me hunting. And I would catch the most wretched little things, if I caught anything at all. I was a rubbish hunter. But he always said he was proud. Each and every time.
• Eivor: A toast...

...to your father...to you, Hunwald...to Lincolnscire

• Eivor: ...to your father, Lord Hundbeorth of Lincolnscire. He may have dwindled from this world in death, but in life, he was as stalwart as this tree.
• Hunwald: A wise old oak, yes!
• Eivor: Skal.

• Eivor: To you, Hunwald. You have love in your heart and hope in your eyes. That's more than many can say.

Hunwald was overcome by Eivor's words of praise.

• Hunwald: Eivor, I... can't begin to...
• Eivor: All right, lord. You're all right. Skal.

• Eivor: To this great land that bore you. It was here long before your father, and it'll be here long after he's gone. Skal.

• Hunwald: Skal!

Eivor drinking with Hunwald while listening to his stories

They drank even more as time passed on top of the hill.

• Hunwald: And then ... and then my father says, "It's the right goat, but it's the wrong end!"

Eivor and Hunwald laughed.

• Hunwald: Ah, my Swanburrow loves that one. She has a great sense of humor, my ladylove. Father would have liked her.
• Eivor: Right, your Dane ladylove. She sounds lovely. Too lovely to be real.
• Hunwald: You know what? We should visit her! We should go to Brimsgy! Er, Grimsby! Yes, yes, there's no time to lose!
• Eivor: After you.

Eivor and Hunwald departed to meet with Swanburrow.

• Hunwald: Nothing like drinking and riding to jostle your troubles away.
• Eivor: And the contents of your gut.

Eivor following Hunwald on horses

Both drunk, Eivor and Hunwald started to ride on their horses.

(If The Thegn of Lincoln is already completed)

• Eivor: Before I let it pass, Hunwald. I spoke with Aelfgar before this. He gifted me a weapon of your father's. Should I find that odd?
• Hunwald: Hmm. I'm not sure. They often went hunting together, so it's not strange that he should have something of my father's.
• Eivor: You don't want it yourself? As a memento mori?
• Hunwald: No, no. You're better suited to such gifts. I'm a talker, not a fighter.

• Hunwald: Now come... and enjoy the splendor of my shire.
• Eivor: You Saxons and your tiny splendor. You have never seen mountains, have you? Or deep fjords like a giant's axe wound. Or towering falls that steam in the dead of winter. Snow sparkling like a blanket of jewels. That is splendor.
• Hunwald: Well if your homeland is so splendor-ful, why come to England at all?
• Eivor: You cannot grow crops on a blankets of jewels.
• Hunwald: Ha! Very true.
• Eivor: I'll admit, your countryside does take the breath away.

Eivor and Hunwald entering the Spitalgate

• Hunwald: Quite so, quite so. I love this land. And should I follow my father's footsteps, I shall do my solemn duty to protect her. I know many think me foolish, inexperienced... but I would ask that they judge me by my future hopes, not my past reputation. If I am given sway over this land and show myself to be a poor leader, shame me, punish me, of course. But give me that chance. By God, I just want to have that chance.

Eivor heard a noise.

• Eivor: What was that?
• Hunwald: Birds, Eivor! Has no one told them today is a day of grief—
• Eivor: Hsst! Quiet...

Eivor and Hunwald entered a shallow ravine, an ideal place for hostiles to lay an ambush. A civilian above hurried away from them after spotting them.

Eivor discovering the hidden attackers

• Eivor: Stop here. Something isn't right. I'll find the trouble before it finds us.

Hunwald stopped and Eivor began stalking up the hills through the bushes.

• Hunwald: Eivor! I am sweating from pit to toe! Do not leave me here.
• Eivor: Hush! Stay calm.

Eivor found the mysterious assailants and overheard them.

• Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: Oi! Stay down! They're close!
• Anglo-Saxon Soldier 2: Wait for my signal. You'll get yours, bloody heathen.

Eivor crouched and slashed at them with the Hidden Blade for quick assassinations. She made her way through the bushes and carefully scanned for the remaining ambushers.

Eivor may have been detected, at which point the ambushers sprang their trap.

• Eivor: Hide or fight, Hunwald! Now!
• Hunwald: Father, give me strength to survive this!

Eivor started to fight the ambushers.

• Hunwald: Ah! Eivor! Help!

Eivor went to aid Hunwald and kill the ambushers.

• Hunwald: Devils! Who sent you? Speak or be damned!

Eivor eventually killed all the assailants.

• Hunwald: Well struck, Eivor!

She regrouped with Hunwald.

• Hunwald: I'm over here.
• Eivor: That's twice they tried to kill you, Hunwald.
• Hunwald: And twice failed!
• Eivor: We had luck. But if you're not more careful, they will succeed. Someone in Mercia wants you dead. And they'll kill anyone in the way to see it done.
• Hunwald: Yes! Including my dear Swanburrow. My ladylove! Come, let us hurry away!
• Eivor: I'm serious Hunwald. Are you hearing me?
• Hunwald: Plain and clear! Follow me!

Hunwald led the way to Swanburrow.

• Eivor: Hunwald, are you sure this place is safe!
• Hunwald: The safest spot in the shire, yes! Here I am, with a chance to be ealdorman, but I have yet to prove myself worthy. To you. To the shire. To her! I can do nothing without my darling lady. You've made me realize how much I neglected her through this fatal stupor of mine!
• Eivor: This I must see for myself.

Eivor and Hunwald traveled to Grimsby, where they arrived at Swanburrow's abode.

• Hunwald: O, thank the heavens, there she is!

Hunwald and Swanburrow kiss each other after a long absence

Eivor and Hunwald go to Swanburrow, who was paying tribute to one of her gods, Odin. Swanburrow, worried, looked up to see Hunwald.

• Swanburrow: Hunwald! I thought for sure you'd be dead. Why didn't you send word?
• Hunwald: It has been far too long, my little jewel. I'm so very sorry for that.

Swanburrow and Hunwald kissed.

• Swanburrow: I am fine, my love. I wilted without you, but still I grow. And who is this?
• Eivor: Ah, yes, I am proud to present, Eivor of the Raven Clan.
• Swanburrow: Hello, Eivor. A pleasure to meet you.

It's good to meet you as wellI don't have time to chatYou make an interesting couple

• Eivor: And you, Swanburrow. I wasn't sure what to make of Hunwald's stories, yet here you are.
• Swanburrow: Surprised to find a Dane by his side?
• Eivor: Not quite. I'm surprised to find a Saxon at yours. Hunwald seems to endear himself to all sorts.
• Hunwald: Eivor agreed to help me find my father. But I'm afraid it hasn't gone well as I'd hoped.

• Eivor: Getting to know one another will have to wait. Hunwald's in danger and so are you.

• Eivor: You really have been courting a Dane. It's a side of you I didn't expect.
• Swanburrow: People say we're an odd couple. I do not care much what people say.
• Hunwald: As every boat needs an anchor, every man needs his Swanburrow. The light of my life. Eivor has been my champion as I stake my claim in Lincolnscire. But I'm afraid it hasn't gone well as I'd hoped.

• Swanburrow: What's happened?
• Hunwald: My father is dead. Died of a cruel disease, apparently. Then shunted off to a cellar for burial.
• Swanburrow: O, my love, I'm sorry.
• Eivor: And someone in your shire wants to make sure Hunwald follows his father to the grave.
• Swanburrow: Let them try. I'll cut their throats.
• Eivor: A Shiremoot will soon be held. Hunwald should stay here, out of sight, until he can attend.
• Hunwald: What if I left it all behind, my love? Forget my father's seat. What if I stayed here with you? Just the two of us.
• Swanburrow: Hunwald, no. This shire must be led with courage and heart. Follow in your father's footsteps and lead this shire as he did.

Listen to herWe had a dealYou need rest

• Eivor: Whatever strength you lack, you have in Swanburrow. Heed her advice.
• Hunwald: Yes... If anyone can lift my spirits in time for the Shiremoot, it's you, my dear.
• Swanburrow: Come inside and rest your bumbling bones, love. Be well, Eivor. And thank you.

• Eivor: We had a deal, Hunwald, my aid for an oath. If you won't stake your claim here, then I have no reason to lend you my sword.
• Hunwald: I'm sorry. My will falters from time to time. After some rest, my senses will return.
• Swanburrow: Lie down, love. You'll be fine.

• Eivor: Rest, Hunwald. By sunrise, you'll have shed all your tears and pissed out the last of the ale.
• Swanburrow: Eivor is right, Hunwald. Tomorrow is a new day.
• Hunwald: Yes... yes, resting next to my angel will heal all that is broken within me.
• Swanburrow: Be well, Eivor. And thank you.

Eivor urging Hunwald to stay safe

Eivor stopped Swanburrow.

• Eivor: Keep watch over that one. Men have come for him, more than once.
• Swanburrow: My blade will keep him safe.
• Eivor: I do not doubt it.

Hunwald went to rest and Eivor found a letter within Swanburrow's home.

Letter from Hunwald

My lady-love,

I have gone through much trouble to ensure this letter finds you, but I needed you to know that I am all right. That I did not leave you on the wings of some change of heart.

The truth is that I have been exiled for reasons I do not understand. Every inquiry I have made has fallen on deaf ears. They simply will not let me back into the city. Now I fear my father is in grave danger. Without me there, something could happen to him.

I must find a way back. There is a Dane camp that has newly settled. I will be riding out in the morning to speak with their leader. My hope is that we may strike a deal. For now, I ask that you please stay out of sight. When the time is right, I will find you.

We will lay together on the apple carts once again, feeding each other on the sun-kissed fields of Lincoln just long enough so that my pasty skin does not redden.

Have faith in me,

Hunwald

Outcome

Eivor found a drunken Hunwald and consoled him. They survived an ambush on their way to Grimsby, where they met with Swanburrow.

Behind the scenes

The enemies that make up the ambush in the ravine are not easily detected; they cannot be highlighted by Odin's Sight or the Stealth Recon skill. However, their weak points will still glow and their health bars will appear by sweeping a bow's targeting reticle over them. Some at the entrance may not spawn until several are already slain further in, but the green indicator arrows pointing out the remaining enemies will still appear when enough are slain. Additionally, NPCs may randomly load in on the slopes near the ravine entrance. It is unknown if these NPCs were originally part of the ambush but were ultimately cut from the quest.

Gallery

• 
  Eivor speaking to Acha by the gate
• 
  Eivor and Hunwald arriving in Grimsby

References

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla