- Havi: What do these future voices say?
- Gunlodr: They seek the wisdom of the past. They speak of things to come. But even they cannot turn the tide of Ragnarok.
- Havi: There is to be a feast in my honor. Your father sent me to fetch you.
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A Feast to Remember
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Where are the paintings? This article is in need of more images and/or better quality pictures from Assassin's Creed: Valhalla — Dawn of Ragnarök in order to achieve a higher status. You can help the Assassin's Creed Wiki by uploading better images on this page. |
A Feast to Remember was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan in 2020 through the Portable Animus HR-8.5, in which a vision of one of Odin's memories could be seen.[1]
Description[edit | edit source]
Havi met with Suttungr at Útgarðar.
Dialogue[edit | edit source]
After retrieving the missing cauldron, Havi went to Utgard. Avoiding the guards, he sneaked through the city to find Suttungr. As he traversed the city, he overheard the chatter of thralls.
- Thrall (female 1): No sense trying to change fate. What counts is how you face it.
- Thrall (male 1): My father was a thrall, as is my wife, as will our children be.
- Thrall (female 2): If there is another life beyond this, I hope it is a better one.
- Thrall (male 2): Toil and drudgery is our lot.
As Havi explored the city, he overheard the boasts of the towering jötnar guards and soldiers.
- Jotun (female guard 1): War brings glory, but there is no greater joy than a plump harvest.
- Jotun (female guard 2): From earth we came, and to the earth we will return.
- Jotun (male guard 1): The Æsir may have beaten us back at Asgard, but our time is coming.
- Jotun (male guard 2): Rock and snow, stone and squall, Utgard's walls will never fall.
- Jotun (male guard 3): Suttungr is always thinking. Don't trust anyone that thinks that much.
- Jotun (male guard 4): These walls are strong, but I long for the peace of the Ironwood.
He followed the winding path upwards and eventually found Suttungr standing outside a large hall. Havi approached and spoke to him.
- Suttungr: You are small to my eyes, stranger.
- Havi: Small in stature but great in deed. I am the one they call Havi, the High One of Asgard, and I come bearing a great gift.
- Suttungr: Your name is known to me. But what could mighty Suttungr want that a little thing like you could provide?
- Havi: Your great cauldron, stolen by Hymir's sons. Let this offering be a beginning to the end of our hostilities.
Havi pulled out the cauldron, still the size of a cup.
- Havi: Such a small thing, yet so much deeper than it seems. Appearances can be deceiving, can they not?
Suttungr knelt before Havi to take the cauldron from him, then stood again.
- Suttungr: Well spoken, Havi. Our people may be enemies, but you have earned your welcome here. Thralls! An honored guest has come! Prepare a feast!
- Havi: I hope also to meet your daughter, Gunlodr. I have heard much of her skill in the mystical arts.
- Suttungr: She will be toiling at her work, as ever. But be forewarned, she shuns the company of others.
- Havi: I could summon her to the feast, if you like. We might discuss matters of alchemy on the way.
- Suttungr: That would please me. You will find her in her grotto, up the path, within the circle of stones. Have a care, though. You are safe in my presence, but you wander Utgard at your peril.
- Havi: I will be discreet.
- Suttungr: And Havi... be kind. Gunlodr is... different from you and I.
Suttungr left for his hall and Havi continued to explore the city. He may have passed by the great entrance to the vault, the target of his quest.
- Havi: The vault is still closed. When will Suttungr open it?
Havi spied the giant keep that rose above and stood as namesake of the city proper. He may have taken some time to infiltrate it and obtain some valuables, dealing with the guards as he saw fit.
- Havi: Utgard, ancient keep of the Joiner. Suttungr holds sway within those walls.
Eventually, he decided to make for the Grotto to find the circle of stones.
- Havi: I promised to bring Gunlodr to the feast. I should not keep Suttungr waiting.
When Havi found it, the stone was as a solid slab with no apparent entrance into the Grotto.
- Havi: Here is the stone circle, but no way into the sanctum. Another illusion!
Havi went around the circle and as he passed one of the pillars, an entrance appeared in the center of the circle.
- Havi: The way inside is revealed.
Down the first set of stairs, he found a makeshift bedroom set up along with tables full of scrolls. Near the bed, he found a piece of paper.
Leaf from Gunlodr's Diary
- I sent Kala and Vindr away again. What persistent oafs they are, impervious to logic and sense. The more I dissuade them, the harder they try. As if I would let either of them paw at me, as they desire to. The very idea is not only repulsive, but boring. I have more important things to do than marry.
On one of the tables he found a note.
Gunlodr's Notes - Entry 72
- I have heard a voice! No, a reply! I called, and he answered! But I must not get ahead of myself. It was a moment so fleeting, there is a possibility it was nothing more than the trickery of an overwrought mind.
I must eliminate this possibility. Repeat the procedure. Test, test, test.
But what if...?
Down the second set of stairs he found a sort of lab set up. On the center table he found another note.
Gunlodr's Notes - Entry 91
- The seidr is strong. The threads are holding. But who is at the other end?
It doesn't matter. Anyone. If this doom cannot be avoided, I will leave hope, as a squirrel buries nuts in hope of the thaw.
Someone will hear my words. Someone will. I must believe that.
On a shelf full of scrolls he found another.
Gunlodr's Notes - Entry 37
- It is said that the Norns have spun all there is to spin, that our fates are fixed like patterns to a tapestry. But if the threads already exist, is it not possible to follow them? If I trace one, ten, a thousand, a million, surely I will find one that does not end in Ragnarök.
By such a thread will I touch the world beyond the void. By such a thread will I lead those who come after to that which will soon be lost.
To the other side of the room stood an arch of what looked like a large, broken mirror, shattered in the center. Before it was Gunlodr.
- Havi: Gunlodr? What is this place?
- Gunlodr: Some time ago, we made powerful magic here. We sought to see all futures. But every road led to Ragnarok. Father does not visit here anymore. He sees no profit in it. But I am not yet ready to give up.
Gunlodr turned from the mirror to look at Havi for the first time.
- Gunlodr: You are Æsir.
- Havi: I am.
She turned to look at the mirror again.
- Gunlodr: I have seen images of the future. Heard the voices of those who will come after us.
- Havi: Voices from... in there?
- Gunlodr: Yes. I leave them words. Little packets of possibility, waiting for unknown ears, many ages hence.
- Havi: It may be you need a break from your toil, Gunlodr.
- Gunlodr: There is no time for rest. Ragnarok will be upon us soon. My people rely on me.
- Havi: There is to be a feast in my honor. Your father sent me to fetch you.
- Havi: There is to be a feast in my honor. Your father sent me to fetch you.
- Gunlodr: No, not yet. Listen. I want you to hear the voices.
They both turned their attention to the mirror.
- Gunlodr: Are you there, prophet? Can you hear me?
They waited, but no voices came.
- Gunlodr: Perhaps another day. Another thread. Come. We must not keep Father waiting.
Havi and Gunlodr left the sanctum. Behind them, unheard, a voice came through.
Outside, a heavy snow had begun to fall. Havi commented to himself.
- Havi: Winter's knife cuts deep and sky-pearls fall thick in this land.
He followed Gunlodr to a couple elk nearby. They mounted and began making their way to the feast hall.
- Gunlodr: It... it is cold out here!
- Havi: How can that surprise you?
- Gunlodr: I haven't been outside in... hm, I don't know how long.
- Havi: You are devoted to your work.
- Gunlodr: Not my work. My responsibility. My people ignore the disaster bearing down on them. Someone must do something. We have long searched for a solution, until the burden of it has bent my mind. I do not think as clearly as I once did.
- Havi: I have heard there is one method still untested.
- Gunlodr: There is. But to activate it would mean defiling our well of knowledge, from which all of Midgard drinks. There is no telling the change it would wreak on humankind. It would bring chaos at the least. And I do not wish to hurt them.
- Havi: Even if it means the death of all Jötnar?
- Gunlodr: We will find another way. We must.
They continued riding.
- Gunlodr: This land is quite beautiful. I had all but forgotten.
Gunlodr paused at the set of large stone doors sealing the vault.
- Gunlodr: The vault, wherein our greatest discoveries are kept. Such things would do great harm in the hands of evil people.
She continued up the path.
- Gunlodr: No stone walls will defend us when Ragnarök comes. All we have built here will be swept away.
They reached the entrance to the feast hall. To one side, across the city, a tall but worn down tower could be seen.
- Gunlodr: For so long we made magics there in that tower. Enchantment has seemed into its very walls. The wind and snow have gnawed that tower to the bone. Soon we will knock it down.
Havi dismounted and followed Gunlodr through the Feasting Hall to Suttungr's throne.
Having completed his escorting of Gunlodr, Havi wrapped up any outstanding business in the city and stood before Suttungr's throne, ready to greet his host.
- Suttungr: Havi, your feast is prepared. I hope it pleases you.
- Havi: You are generous and hospitable indeed, great Suttungr. None can say otherwise.
- Suttungr: And see, your gift stands in pride of place, brimming with freshly fermented mead. Enough for a hundred Jotnar and more!
Suttungr gestured to the side of the hall, where Ægir's cauldron sat, huge once more.
- Havi: This is... an unexpected honor. You have filled it already with mead from your vault, then?
- Suttungr: No need! It has filled itself. Such is the magic of the cauldron.
- Havi: Impressive. But what if it should run out of mead?
- Suttungr: Do you hear this? Havi fears he will drink us dry!
Suttungr laughed.
- Suttungr: My cauldron is deep, but my vault is deeper. Do not worry about my stores of mead. I have plenty to go around.
- Gunlodr: Father, you know revelry does not suit me. Must I attend this feast? I have work to do.
- Suttungr: Your work can wait, my daughter. Take a moment, enjoy yourself.
- Gunlodr: Father, we have very little time—
- Suttungr: Enjoy yourself. I insist.
Sullen, Gunlodr left to join the feasting.
- Suttungr: Havi, the guests are uneasy. They see an Æsir, but they do not know you. Will you address them?
- Havi: I am ready.
Suttungr stood to draw the attention of the guests.
- Suttungr: Now we will hear from our honored guest! The Lord of the Æsir has come in peace, and has brought us a mighty gift. Attend!
Suttungr sat again and Havi introduced himself to the hall.
- Havi: Havi, I am called, whose axe is never slaked! The blood of my enemies is my mead, their skulls my pillow!
The crowd cheered.
- Suttungr: You brag well. They were ever pleased by violence.
- Havi: I am Havi, deft of tongue and quick of wit, here to spin you a tale!
- Suttungr: Your stories are wasted on them. They respect deeds, not hollow talk.
- Havi: I am Havi, dreaded hunter of your kind! One hundred Jotnar I have slain.
- Suttungr: You tread on dangerous ground, Æsir.
Havi addressed the gathered jötnar.
- Havi: You are all brothers and sisters to me!
The crowd shouted disapprovingly.
- Suttungr: Do not be too familiar. Jotnar are slow to trust.
- Havi: Though our people are enemies, I come here to do you honor, for I know that none feast, nor fight like Jotnar.
- Suttungr: Your words are well chosen.
- Havi: Great Jotnar, I stand here in awe of your might and majesty.
- Suttungr: They do not respect weakness. Show some backbone!
Havi concluded his speech.
- Havi: I offer a toast to great Suttungr!
The crowd shouted disapprovingly.
- Suttungr: They do not love me as much as they love to feast.
- Havi: Now I will sing you the lay of Idunn, whose apples gave life eternal!
- Suttungr: Those with rumbling bellies will not stand for long tales.
- Havi: I could go on, but who wants to hear words when there's meat and mead to be had?
- Suttungr: You know your audience well, it seems.
- Havi: Now we will drink deep and eat heartily!
Suttungr stood.
- Suttungr: Let the feast begin!
Havi looked out over the feast for a moment before joining it, his mind fixed on the fullness of the cauldron. If his speech was well-received, the cauldron had already shed some of its capacity.
- Havi: What can I do to get them to drink faster?’’
The guests are not drinking fast enough. Perhaps I can speed things along.’’
I need to empty that cauldron. Then Suttungr will open his vault.
One female jötun resented throwing a feast for Havi while her friend assuaged her.
- Jotun (female 1): Two of my brothers died in the attack on Asgard. Now we throw a feast for Asgard's lord? Is Suttungr under a spell?
- Jotun (female 2): Patience. They cannot outlast us. You will have your chance at vengeance.
As Havi walked amongst the tables, he thought to himself and overheard many more jötnar feasting and gossiping.
- Havi: Is there any sweeter music than the clash of drinking horns?
- Jotun (male 1): Ægir's cauldron has come to Utgard? I'll never be sober again!
- Jotun (male 2): A feast is for meat and mead, not empty chatter.
- Jotun (male 3): Suttungr keeps strange company. Strange company indeed.
- Jotun (male 4): Must we drink to our enemies now?
- Jotun (female 3): An Æsir? I think I've lost my appetite.
- Jotun (female 4): Raising our horns to an Æsir? I never thought I'd see the day.
- Jotun (female 5): Cold winds howl and snows may fall, but the mead is always warm in Suttungr's halls.
- Jotun (male 5): What is an Æsir doing here?
- Jotun (male 6): Humble foes are thralls in waiting. Give me an enemy worth the swing of an axe!
- Jotun (male 7): You can measure a warrior by the notches on his blade.
- Jotun (male 8): Tales and songs are naught but wind and clamor. It's deeds that matter here.
- Jotun (male 9): Suttungr is keen of mind, but he does not have our hearts. We need a warrior to lead us!
- Jotun (male 10): This Havi must be mighty indeed, if Suttungr honors him so.
- Jotun (male 11): Is that Gunlodr? Not often you see her dragged away from her work.
One Jotun belched contentedly.
- Jotun (male 12): Aaah, better out than in.
Another bemoaned the drinking and lack of readiness.
- Jotun (male 13): Ale dulls both mind and blade. What if the Æsir should attack right now?
- Jotun (male 14): Does anything bring you joy?
- Jotun (male 13): The feel of my opponent's skull giving way beneath my axe.
- Jotun (male 14): (sigh)
As the feast dragged on and the cauldron emptied from Havi's activities, the mood relaxed for a few more jötnar.
- Jotun (female 6): You know, you are not so repulsive when I'm drunk.
- Jotun (male 15): More mead here!
Near the center of the hall, Havi found Ægir, the former owner of the cauldron, drinking alone. Havi approached and spoke to him.
- Havi: Ægir, mighty friend to the Æsir! Are you not sorry to lose your cauldron?
- Ægir: It was never mine by right. Thor won it from Hymir so he might feast in my hall. I only kept it on his behalf. And after that bloody business with Hymir's sons, well, I'd as soon be rid of it! I'll have no strife beneath my roof.
- Havi: The end of strife. I'll drink to that!
- Ægir: And I'll drink to anything!
- After completing a task, a particular jötun leaned against the pillar on the south side of the hall, not far from Ægir. Havi may have spotted him.
- Havi: Is that Loki there? Surely he would not dare...
- Havi approached the jötun.
- Havi: Loki?
- Thokk: Not me, friend. My name is Thokk.
- Havi: Forgive me. I... I thought you were someone else.
- Thokk: Too much drink in too little time. The cure for that is sleep.
- Havi left the jötun to his drink.
Havi noted the tables full of food.
- Havi: The right food will inspire thirst. I should head to the kitchen.
Havi went to the kitchen doors to find them closed, a cook standing before them.
- Thrall (kitchen): No guests in the kitchen! Out!
With that path blocked, Havi searched for another entrance. On the other side of Suttungr's throne he found a much smaller door that led into a larder, and past that the kitchen.
- Havi: The kitchen. Here I might find some way to make the guests thirsty.
On one long table, Havi found bowls of spices.
- Havi: Hot spices call for a cooling drink. Now how can I use this?
The doors to the kitchen swung open, where the thrall from outside entered and shouted at Havi once again.
- Thrall (kitchen): No guests in the kitchen! Out!
Havi returned to the feast. At the end of a table was a roast boar. Havi added the spices to it.
- Havi: These guests will drink more with fire in their mouths.
He found a few more boars he could season if the need arose.
Near the kitchen door, a group of musicians sat, but they weren't playing anything. Two female jötnar bemoaned the lack of music.
- Jotun (music-seeker 1): What is a feast without music? I want to dance!
- Jotun (music-seeker 2): I've seen more life in a grave mound.
- Havi: I see musicians... but where is the music?
Havi spoke to the musicians.
- Havi: Somber souls will only sip at their drinking horns. Conjure us a tune to raise their spirits.
- Thrall (musician): We are keen, but my harp has been stolen. We cannot play without it.
- Havi: Who would steal a song-bringer's instrument?
- Thrall (musician): There was a group of children playing round us earlier with mischief in their eyes.
- Havi: I will get your harp back. And then you will play.
Havi pondered as he walked away.
- Havi: Thralls. Humans kept in bondage, bred to serve. Such is the fate of the lowly.
As Havi neared the cauldron, he heard children arguing.
- Thrall Child 1: Give it to me! I want a go!
- Thrall Child 2: Get your grubby paws off my harp!
- Thrall Child 3: My turn! My turn!
- Thrall Child 2: Not you too! You'll break the strings with your sausage fingers!
At the top of the stairs around the cauldron, Havi found three human children. Two seemed to be fighting over something. Havi spoke to the third.
- Havi: That harp does not belong to you, little thief. You should give it back.
- Thrall Child 2: What are you going to do? Fight me for it?
- Havi: Why don't you give me a real challenge?
- Thrall Child 2: All right, you want this harp, go dive in that mead! Climb as high as you can, though! I want a big splash!
- Havi: Watch and learn.
Havi climbed the supports holding the casks nearby.
- Thrall Child 1: Bet they won't do it!
- Thrall Child 3: How many broken bones, you think?
- Thrall Child 2: Fifty at least. Maybe a hundred!
A platform extended out over the cauldron near the ceiling. Havi dove from it into the mead.
- Thrall Child 2: Did you see that? He flew!
Havi returned and spoke to the child again, vision swaying from the mead.
- Havi: There. Now give back the harp, so the musicians may play.
- Thrall Child 2: Ymir's hairy balls, that was amazing! You must be half raven!
- Havi: Who taught you such language?
- Thrall Child 2: Mother. Why?
The children ran off to return the harp while Havi continued to look for ways to encourage the guests to drink. Later, Havi passed by the cauldron again and heard the children speaking.
- Thrall Child 2: You jump next!
- Thrall Child 3: No, you!
- Thrall Child 1: I'm not going, no way.
- Thrall Child 2: Coward.
- Thrall Child 1: I don't see you jumping.
- Thrall Child 2: I'm... I'm not ready yet!
Along the north wall of the hall, Havi saw a group of jötnar form a circular fighting pit, where two fought in the center. Another jötun called out for challengers.
- 'Jotun (pit-master):’’’ Who will challenge our champion? Who among you is brave enough?
Who is in the mood for a brawl?
Don't be shy! Test your fists against the champion! - Havi: They are calling for challengers to face their champion. A fight would make them drain their horns faster.
Havi spoke to the leader.
- Jotun (pit-master): Havi! Show us your might! Beat our champion, and we will drain our horns in your honor.
- Havi: Bring me this champion, and I will shine my knuckles on his jawbone.
- Jotun (pit-master): Behold!
Another Jotun entered the ring; a small, frail-looking old woman.
- Havi: Do you mock me? I will not fight a withered old crone.
- Jotun (pit-master): If you are too afraid to face her, well, that is that...
- Havi: If she is truly your champion, then so be it. I will try not to break her brittle bones, but I promise nothing.
Havi fought the hag while the Jotnar around jeered.
- Jotun (male spectator 1): Can you not beat an old woman?
My lambs hit harder than you! - Jotun (male spectator 2): Don't be scared of that crumble-bones!
Is she too strong for you? - Jotun (female spectator): Perhaps a babe would be more suited to your strength.
The fight leader clapped.
- Jotun (pit-master): Indeed, you are mighty! You have fought old age and won. No one has ever done that before.
- Havi: Drink to me, then, as you promised you would.
- Jotun (pit-master): All of you! Empty your horns for Havi!
- Jotun (pit-master): A brave try, but you have failed.
- Havi: She is more formidable than she seems.
- Jotun (pit-master): Do not be downhearted. You may battle old age, but old age will win in the end.
- Havi: I'm back.
- Jotun (pit-master): Found your courage, have you? Are you ready to face our champion now?
- Havi: I will not underestimate her this time.
- Havi: This challenge is beneath me. I will not dance for your amusement.
- Jotun (pit-master): Scared of an old hag? Well, come back if you change your mind.
- Havi: I'm back.
- Jotun (pit-master): Found your courage, have you? Are you ready to face our champion now?
With the fight over, the crowd around the ring dispersed, as a few of the spectators gathered in a row to drain their cups as promised.
- Jotun (female spectator): They beat the champion? Nobody's ever beaten the champion!
- Jotun (male spectator 3): Drink in the name of Havi!
Along the south side of the feast hall, Havi heard a couple Jotnar talking beside an archery contest.
- Jotun (bowmaster): Come, give it a try! What's the worst that can happen?
- Jotun (bow contestant): Last time I played your game, I got so drunk I shot my brother in the leg.
- Jotun (bowmaster): What's the second worst?
Havi thought to himself.
- Havi: I should try the archery contest. No doubt they will toast my prowess if I succeed.
Havi spoke to the Jotun running the contest.
- Jotun (bowmaster): Greetings, Havi! Will you test your arm at archery? You must hit three targets in a handful of heartbeats.
- Havi: I can shoot the wings off a wasp.
- Jotun (bowmaster): Ah, but can you do it while mead-addled? Before each attempt, you must take a drink.
- Havi: I'll take your challenge on one condition. For every drink I take, you take two!
- Jotun (bowmaster): Ha! That's a condition I'll gladly accept. Are you ready?
- Havi: Show me those targets.
- Jotun (bowmaster): Then take a drink, and let fly!
- (If Havi forgot to drink before shooting)
- Jotun (bowmaster): Did you forget your mead? Drink from the cup and start again.
- Havi drank his mead and retried.
Havi downed one of the mugs set on a nearby barrel. Some onlookers turned from their long table to heckle Havi.
- Jotun bow-heckler 1: Let us hope you hold your beer better than you hold a bow!
Havi shot the first pot.
- Jotun (bowmaster): Fine shot! Now have a drink and try another.
Havi drank another mug.
- Jotun (bow heckler 1): Close your eyes, your luck will improve! (appears to be a random call with the other lines)
He shot the second pot.
- Jotun (bowmaster): Steady eye, now! The last one is the hardest.
- (If Havi walked away before shooting all three pots)
- Jotun (bowmaster): Not so easy after supping at the brook of the cheer-cup, eh? When you feel ready, take a drink and try again.
- Havi left and spoke to the Jotun again later.
- Jotun (bowmaster): You return! Keen to stretch your bow string?
- Havi: Show me those targets.
- Havi drank and shot the first two targets again.
Havi drank again.
- Jotun (bow heckler 2): You look a bit wobbly there. Careful!
Havi shot the final pot and spoke to the archery master again.
- Jotun (bowmaster): You are a keen shot, Havi! Your hand grows steadier with drink, where others lose their eye.
- Havi: Another round?
- Jotun (bowmaster): Not for me. My belly roils like a knot of eels... and I see three of you. I think I should walk this off...
- Havi: We can do this later.
- Jotun (bowmaster): Not so easy after supping at the brook of the cheer-cup, eh? When you feel ready, take a drink and try again.
- Jotun (bowmaster): You return! Keen to stretch your bow string?
On the south side of the hall, Gunlodr stood alone, looking out over the city.
- Havi: Gunlodr looks glum, and she has not touched a drop of mead. Maybe I can raise her spirits.
Havi spoke to Gunlodr.
- Havi: You are not drinking, Gunlodr.
- Gunlodr: I do not care for it. Drink is the heron that steals away one's memory.
- Havi: Some would say it frees the spirit of worry.
- Gunlodr: We call those people drunks.
Havi chuckled.
- Havi: I see your wit is as sharp as your intelligence.
- Gunlodr: Wit? I was simply stating a truth.
- Havi: Let us play a game. Ask me some riddles. I will see if I can guess them.
- Gunlodr: I enjoy a good riddle. How did you know?
- Havi: All great minds enjoy riddles. You fashion order from disorder. Sense from nonsense.
- Gunlodr: You have me at that. Very well, I will play.
- Havi: Give me an easy one to begin.
- Gunlodr: Would that I had now what I had yesterday. Find out what that was.
Mankind it mars, speech it hinders, yet speech it will inspire.
- Havi: The answer is courage.
- Gunlodr: No, the answer is ale. I thought you would get that, as you seem so fond of it.
- Havi: It is ale, of course.
- Gunlodr: A child could have solved that one.
- Havi: It must be gold.
- Gunlodr: A worthy guess, but wrong. The answer is ale.
- Gunlodr: Would you like another?
- Havi: All right. I'm ready.
- Gunlodr: Who is that shrill one who rides a hard road and has fared that way before?
He kisses hard who has two mouths and goes only on gold.
- Havi: It is a hammer.
- Gunlodr: Well done! I hope that wasn't just a guess?
- Havi: An arrow, surely?
- Gunlodr: Arrow fly shrill and kiss hard. But two mouths? Gold? The answer is hammer.
- Havi: A river has a mouth, and sometimes flows on gold.
- Gunlodr: A good try, but the river's kiss is soft. It is a hammer.
- Gunlodr: One more?
- Havi: I feel good about this one.
- Gunlodr: Be prepared. This is the hardest yet.
White haired women, servants two, bore ale-tub to the larder.
No hand turned it, nor hammer beat it. But there, outside the island, the upright one who made it.
- Havi: Snow on the trees.
- Gunlodr: You have a poet's heart. But you should have used your mind. It was swans and eggs.
- Havi: It can only be swans and eggs.
- Gunlodr: Very clever, Havi. Yes.
- Havi: Old age is the answer.
- Gunlodr: Old age? I think age is slowing your brain. The answer is swans and eggs.
- Havi: Well, now the game is over. Have I raised your spirits at all?
- Gunlodr: That was disappointing. Perhaps you'd better find someone more suited to your intelligence.
- Gunlodr: I feel a little better. You are kind to attend to me, Havi. Most have given up trying.
- Gunlodr: I feel better. Much, much better. I might even go and have a drink!
- Havi: I've had enough.
- Gunlodr: O. Very well.
- Havi: I have changed my mind. Riddles bore me.
- Gunlodr: Did I do something wrong?
- Havi: Enjoy the feast.
Through Havi's various acts of encouragement, the jötnar drank half the cauldron’s reserves. Havi was pleased by the pace of the drinking.
- Havi: The mead is half gone. Then Ægir's cauldron can be drained!
His labors completed, Havi had succeeded in inducing the hall full of jötnar to empty the cauldron to its last drops, at which point it was covered from the top.
- Havi: The cauldron is empty. I should tell Suttungr.
With the cauldron drained of ale despite its size, Havi approached Suttungr's throne again.
- Havi: Great Suttungr, your guests thirst for mead yet the cauldron is dry.
- Suttungr: All gone? I never would have thought it possible! Gunlodr!
Gunlodr came at her father's call.
- Gunlodr: Father?
- Suttungr: Open the vault. Instruct the thralls to bring more mead for my guests!
- Gunlodr: Do they really need more, Father? Several are unconscious already.
- Suttungr: Do as I ask, Daughter. Give them all they can drink.
- Gunlodr: As you wish. I will open the vault.
Gunlodr left for the vault.
- Suttungr: None will say that Suttungr is less than generous.
Havi chuckled.
- Havi: None will be capable.
Havi left the feast hall and made his way to the vault. When he reached it, the door was ajar.
- Havi: Finally, the vault is open. The Mead awaits within.
Havi entered the vault. Before he could begin his search, though, Gunlodr emerged from a side room and spotted him.
- Gunlodr: Havi! I heard a noise, and I... What are you doing here?
(Only available if "A Gift from the Past" was completed)
- Havi: I wanted to speak with you, away from the others. I brought something for you. A gift.
Havi took out the bridal circlet and gave it to Gunlodr, who took it, looking confused.
- Gunlodr: For me? Thank you, but... why?
- Havi: Fate, Gunlodr. We are helpless to escape it. And we were fated to be here now, together.
- Gunlodr: You and I? How? It makes no sense.
- Havi: The Nornir spin their patterns, and we can only surrender. We are entwined, spun together. There is perfect sense in that.
Havi stepped forward and took Gunlodr's hands in his own.
- Gunlodr: Your words, your gift, your eyes when you look upon me. You bewilder me, Havi. I do not understand you.
Gunlodr stepped back, looking away.
- Havi: Listen and attend. I will show you all you need to know.
- Havi: Fate, Gunlodr. We are helpless to escape it. And we were fated to be here now, together.
- Gunlodr: You and I? How? It makes no sense.
- Havi: The Nornir spin their patterns, and we can only surrender. We are entwined, spun together. There is perfect sense in that.
- Gunlodr: No. You tease and mock, but I do not believe your lies. Your only desire is the Mead! You are a thief and an agent of chaos. I'll see you pay for this deceit. Guards!
- Gunlodr: The Mead is no treasure for the ignorant!
- Gunlodr: You're here to steal our secrets!
- Gunlodr: Don't do this! You cannot know the consequences! No one can!
- Havi: I have come for the Mead, and neither you nor your father will keep me from it.
- Gunlodr: You are a thief and an agent of chaos. I'll see you pay for this deceit. Guards!
- Gunlodr: The Mead is no treasure for the ignorant!
- Gunlodr: You're here to steal our secrets!
- Gunlodr: Don't do this! You cannot know the consequences! No one can!
Havi searched the vault. Within the side room, he found a piece of paper.
The Creation (I)
- Before there was earth or sky, there was the Ginnungagap. Muspelheim lay to one side, the realm of fire. Niflheim lay to the other, land of eternal ice. In between, only silence and the dark.
In the main area of the vault, on a crate in the middle of the room, he found another.
The Creation (II)
- At last, frost and fire met, and in the hissing scalding mist, Ymir was born, father of the Jotnar. He was as vast as creation, and from the sweat of his armpits, giants were born.
On a table to the side of the room was another.
The Creation (III)
Behind a large cask nearby, he found another.
The Creation (IV)
Further into the room, on an upper level, Havi found another paper.
The Creation (V)
- From Ymir's blood came the oceans. His skin and muscles became soil, and his hair the plants that grew there. The clouds are his brains, the sky his skull, held aloft by four dwarves.
At the back of the vault, in a cold room full of fish and meat, he found another paper.
The Creation (VI)
- The Æsir, being vain and desirous of inferiors to worship them, created the first humans, Ask and Embla, from two trees. Afraid of the wrath of the Jotnar, they build a fence around Midgard to keep us out, and left them there to thrive, penned like chickens with the foxes at bay.
On the other side of the room, Havi found a list on a small platform.
Eventually, Havi found stairs that led into a short hall, lined with six large, engraved stones, three on either side. On each, a symbol was set in gold.
Carving of Four Towers
- First were the four towers of iron to capture and disperse the sun.
Carving of Linked Rings
- Second were the silver rings fashioned by Idunn to encircle the Nine Realms.
Carving of Radiant Orbs
- Third were Idunn's apples to amplify the hugr of all creatures.
Carving of a Triskele
- Fourth was the seidr by which we spoke the first language of the Nine Realms.
Carving of a Warrior Facing Flames
- Fifth was the armor we donned to guard our bodies against cosmic shocks.
Carving of a Person Inside Yggdrasil
- Sixth were the vessels into which we sent our hugr.
At the end of the hall sat a large golden horn, filled with an amber liquid.
- Havi: The Mead. By this strange magic, might the Æsir evade our doom?
Havi took out a flask and filled it with the Mead, then made to leave the vault.
- Havi: Hyrrokin has promised answers at the Well of Mimir.
Gunlodr was nowhere to be seen. Havi exited the vault, only to be met by an angry Suttungr with Loki close behind.
- Suttungr: Havi!
- Loki: There! See! The robber caught red-handed!
- Suttungr: Betrayer! Deceiver! I treated you as an honored guest, and this is how you repay me?
Havi glared at Loki.
- Havi: I saw you at the feast, Loki! Small wonder you disguised yourself, after all you have done!
- Havi: Loki? You should have the sense to stay far away from me, after what you did.
- Loki: Someone needed to warn my people of the treachery in your heart. Suttungr, show this Æsir how the Jotnar deal with thieves.
Loki raised his hands and a ring of ice spikes rose to trap Havi in with Suttungr, who unsheathed his sword.
- Suttungr: Come. Embrace your death!
Suttungr attacked, while Loki jeered from outside the ring.
- Loki: You are not going anywhere, Havi!
- Suttungr: Deceiver! False-tongue! Dishonorable trickster!
You would gamble with uncountable lives!
What have you done with my daughter? - Havi: Suttungr's ice... it looks unstable.
That ice looks fragile.
Havi shot Suttungr's sword as he tried to call down ice, freezing the Jotun in place.
- If Havi missed and failed to interrupt the spell, Suttungr rained icicles down on him.
- Havi: Ah! I should take cover.
Need to get out of this.
- Havi: Ah! I should take cover.
- Havi took shelter from the storm near the warm braziers lining the perimeter. Their heat sheltered him from the storm, but confined him to a smaller area not suited to dodge Suttungr for long. When the storm settled, Havi put some distance between him and the Jotnar leader.
- Loki: Are you getting weak, Havi? Is the strength in your arm fading?
After some time, Suttungr began to weaken.
- Suttungr: I have lived too long to suffer one such as you!
Suttungr went to the center of the area and pulled an axe from the giant split bust of a helmeted head.
- Suttungr: Your bones will splinter beneath my boots!
The fight continued. Suttungr charged his axe with jotnar magic before unleashing it, which Havi was able to exploit similarly to his sword. Havi climbed Suttungr's back, swinging around and using the jötnar's helmet horns to drive his head into the ground. With an angry gesture, Loki retracted the spikes trapping Havi and disappeared.
- Havi: Be thankful it was me who took your Mead and not Loki. What I do, I do for the safety of the Æsir and Vanir.
- Suttungr: You will change countless fates, Havi, but not your own.
Havi began to walk away.
- Havi: We will see.
Havi left.
- Havi: Hyrrokin said to find her at Mímir's Well. I will deal with that venomous trickster another day.
Outcome[edit | edit source]
A feast was held to honor Havi, who used the festivities to slip away to steal a sample of the mead, before defeating Suttungr in battle once his treachery was unveiled.
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
Tasks at the feast can be completed in any order, but once the cauldron is empty, any unfinished tasks will be disabled and their associated dialogues made unavailable. Correct answers during Havi's initial speech will start the player off with greater progress; it uses the same scoring system as the flyting events and the advisement of Birstan during the pledge to Essexe, in that the good response is worth 2 "points," the median response is worth 1, and the bad response is worth 0. Here, each point is worth roughly one small "notch" on the cauldron's progress bar. If the player scores 4 to 6 notches, it will not ordinarily be possible to complete every feast task.
To that point, the boar-seasoning task only has one remark from Havi for the first application, while the other applications essentially act as margin-of-error for the speech to ensure there are enough events in case of the lowest possible start. They can still be interacted with after the cauldron is emptied but will not do anything to the maxed bar. Additionally, the harp retrieval task will not increment the bar until the thrall child physically returns it back to the musician, creating a buffer to run and complete a different task—although the archery challenge would be interrupted due to the multiple steps and downtime between them, and the fistfight has post-victory commentary that would get cut off in this manner. Thus, saving Gunlodr's riddles or the quick chat with Aegir for last, while the child runs back to the musician, would be the best way to effect a "perfect" route that sees all dialogue play out without choosing "non-ideal" dialogue options.
Some of the background comments at the feast seem to correspond to choices available during Havi's speech, but they will all play no matter what was said. This memory also has the distinction of having the highest number of generic NPC ambient lines in a single segment, with "Jotun" being the most recycled name at roughly 26 speakers. For the purposes of this page, the dialogue has been organized to prioritize exploring the hall and exhausting the ambient gossip first before completing any activities. As all of the Jotun NPCs have no names beyond their generic moniker and even recycle voice actors, it can be hard to pinpoint specific trigger locations and assigned speakers—some comments trigger with consistency at the corners of each feasting table, while many others seem to have no specific NPC attachment and fire randomly when crossing the center of the hall, marked by a large brazier. Some lines do not start to trigger until the cauldron's progress bar is filled halfway. Some speakers have consistent connection to activity dialogues and have been labeled accordingly. Lastly, for the purposes of keeping the speakers somewhat organized, the generic NPCs have been labeled by gender in a way they are not labeled in-game i.e. 'Anglo-Saxon Woman' or 'Norse Man'.
The great stone main entrance to the kitchen will not open until the spices are taken from the table inside. If they are not obtained before emptying the cauldron, this will leave the doors sealed shut for the remainder of the game, as completing the progress bar will disable the interact point for the spices.
No matter what the progress bar says, the cauldron will appear full until it is empty, at which point the top is covered.