The Stench of Treachery 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.
Description[]
Eivor met with Soma to identify the traitor amongst Birna, Galinn, and Lif.
Dialogue[]
Eivor returned to Grantebridge and found Soma interrogating an Anglo-Saxon soldier outside the longhouse while her advisors looked on.
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: You'll get nothing out of me. Nothing!
- Soma: Insects like you would not be crawling out of the muck if Wigmund wasn't hurting. Talk!
- Eivor: Something has happened...
Eivor approached the group.
- Soma: Eivor. The plan worked. One of Wigmund's captains. Caught him sniffing around Duroliponte. Remember, you don't need to kill him. Have fun. I'll be planning our next move in the longhouse.
Eivor and Soma's advisors prearing to interrogate the Anglo-Saxon captain
Eivor and Soma's advisors shared smiles and circled around their captive.
- Birna: Little boy, little boy. Where is your daddy hiding?
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: Godless heathens. Grantebridge is the province of Lord Wigmund of Walden. The city is rightfully his.
- Galinn: Poor soldier. Doesn't know what heathens do to men of God like him. Hasn't heard the stories it seems.
- Lif: We can educate him. Look at those ham hands! Could make a nice pair of gloves!
- Birna: And his heart! A heart that beats in a lad like this? Feed a family of six for a week!
- Eivor: Let's cut his throat now and water the orchards with his blood.
The captain revealing Wigmund's location
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: No! Sweet Lord no! No, no! He's on the Isle of Ely! Ealdorman Wigmund! In the monastery. I swear!
- Birna: Hm. Thought that would take 'til the next morn. Let's tie him up and let him rot away.
Realizing they were bluffing, the captain grew angry again.
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: Fucking Dane half-wits! The Lord will smite you from this land. All of you! May God have mercy on—
Galinn abruptly stabbed the man in the heart with a knife. Eivor, Lif, and Birna watched as he fell dead between them, then looked as one to Galinn for explanation.
- Galinn: That home-thieving snake might have cast a curse on us. I couldn't risk it.
Eivor, Birna, and Lif stared at the body again before looking back at Galinn in confusion.
- Birna: Christians don't curse.
Lif and Birna staring at Galinn for his actions
An awkward silence filled the air as Galinn uncomfortably scratched the back of his head.
- Eivor: Wigmund's on the Isle of Ely. I'll tell Soma what we've learned.
Eivor left. Still incredulous at their captive's murder, Birna tilted her head and pointedly looked at Galinn with the question written on her face, but Galinn spread his hands and shrugged in response, silently asking his friends in turn how he was expected to know what Christians practiced, while Lif shook his head in disappointment. Unaware of the events behind her, Eivor met up with Soma at the longhouse's map table.
- Soma: Eivor. What did Wigmund's little man have to tell us?
Eivor informing Soma of Wigmund's location
- Eivor: Wigmund is at the monastery on the Isle of Ely.
- Soma: Hiding among the church mice. I'll need to plan our attack. But I won't face him while the traitor he commands is still under my roof. So what have you learned?
(Leave – I need to ask around.)
- Eivor: I need more time to think.
- Soma: Of course. Feel free to search the shire for more clues. And speak to anyone you wish.
Eivor began her investigation in the longhouse. In Soma's room, she found an entry from Soma's journal amongst a pile of scrolls.
- Soma's Journal
Last night was a night of celebration. We spilled much ale and we drank. We laughed. Told stories of the battle we faced. Shat all over Wigmund and the saps he calls an army.
I felt pride. Joy. Relief. For a moment, it was as though we never left. The smell of the longhouse, the sounds of a crackling fire—everything was right.
And then it was not. My smile faded to a frown. My jaw clenched. I thought of blood again. There is a traitor here. One who helped Wigmund escape the city. One who wishes to extend this war rather than see it end.
There will be no recourse. Those who follow Wigmund in life shall follow him in death.
Eivor questioning a lady by the road
Eivor left the longhouse and walked up to a woman standing across the dirt road from a store.
- Eivor: You there. Did you see anything strange around Grantebridge before the attack?
- Norse Woman 1: I didn't. I was in the longhouse, drinking with Birna and her men all night. She can really put it away!
Eivor walked through the market and approached a vendor near a stall selling fish and grain.
- Eivor: Did you see anything strange on the night of the attack?
- Norse Man 1: Hm. Come to think of it, I noticed one of the longships wasn't where it usually is. It was beached further north, on the riverbank.
- Eivor: Where was this?
- Norse Man 1: Northeast of here, along the shore. It's been a few days, though. May not be there now.
Eivor saw a woman outside her home and stopped to ask her a question.
- Eivor: Hail. Did you see anything strange on the night before the attack?
- Norse Woman 2: I saw someone run from the outskirts of Grantebridge to the shore, just before the fighting started. Too dark to see who.
Eivor questioning another woman by the city gates
Eivor spoke to another woman who stood near the city gates.
- Eivor: Did you see anything the night of the attack?
- Norse Woman 3: Only Lif! Fighting bravely. Did you know Lif carves a poem in each of his longships? He's a craftsman and a wordsmith!
- Eivor: Where are these longships now?
- Norse Woman 3: Lost in the fog of the Fenlands, sadly. If I could reclaim them, I would. To return his works of art? He'd be so grateful!
- Eivor: To be sure. Good luck to you.
Eivor talked to a stablehand outside the stables.
- Eivor: Did anything strange happen before the attack on Grantebridge?
- Norse Man 2: I saw two Saxons riding past the city while I was on guard. One for the Meldeburne monastary, and one toward Utbech. I think they were messengers. Didn't think anything of it since they weren't coming here.
Eivor took a horse and rode to Utbech. Along the way, on an island in the swamp about 300 meters north of Grantebridge, Eivor found a dead body partially hidden in a bush with a note nearby.
- Waterlogged Smuggler's Note
Brunwold,
I've received your payment and marked the crate with the weapons for your man in Utbech. Rest assured they are of the finest quality. He will be most pleased.
Our agreement is complete. Burn this letter. I do not want any trace of this in the open.
Eivor finding Wigmund's note in Utbech
Eivor continued on to Utbech. There, she entered a hut and found a note on a table set with food.
- Wigmund's Orders
Soldiers of God,
Kill every heathen dog that escapes the attack on Grantebridge, but do not fire upon the longship painted yellow. That vessel carries the herald of our great victory.
Lord Wigmund
Eivor mounted the horse again and rode to Meldeburne. Inside the settlement's church, she found a copy of the same note in Utbech among a pile of scrolls on a bench near a door. Eivor then returned to Grantebridge and entered the secret tunnel entrance in the longhouse.
- Eivor: Soma was smart to build this tunnel.
She continued through the tunnel until she reached the palisade gateway at its mouth. Exiting, she saw a large yellow "X" on the rock wall beside it.
- Eivor: A painted cross...
Eivor looked closer at the mark. In her imagined reconstruction of the scene, Eivor saw the traitor paint the mark on the stone, before standing aside and pointing the invading forces into the tunnel.
Eivor discover a trail of yellow paint
- Eivor: This tunnel leads to the longhouse. The traitor marked it with a yellow cross. Then opened the way and led them in.
Eivor turned to look at a hill short distance away, where she imagined the traitor running with their paint bucket as they led a handful of soldiers elsewhere.
- Eivor: The traitor must have exited here with a few more, heading away... towards the riverbank.
Eivor turned away from the stone and saw something in the grass.
- Eivor: A trail of yellow paint drops...
Eivor discovering an empty bucket and brush
Eivor followed the trail of paint marks over the hill, through a field, and down a road until she found the paint bucket abandoned on a stump. In her mind's eye, she saw the traitor set down the bucket before heading to the shoreline.
- Eivor: Someone hauled this bucket of yellow paint all the way down to the riverbank. They quickly painted a longship beached here. Then they sailed off. With allies to help crew the vessel.
Eivor searched the shore until she came to a fishing dock, where she commandeered a boat, or called her personal longship, the Sea-Chariot, to investigate the deeper swamp waters. After sculling northeast for some while, following the merchant's tip, she found the hastily-painted missing longship beached on the shore and guarded by a number of soldiers at the Abandoned Bog Hamlet.
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 2: It's a good longship, but powerfully ugly. Why's it splashed all yellow like that?
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 3: Danes and Saxons, sailing on the same damned boat. The world is going weird.
Eivor taking a closer look at the prow painted in yellow
Eivor eliminated the troops and resumed her hunt for clues, looking closely at the ship's prow.
- Eivor: This longship is splashed with yellow paint. A quick job. Why would it be painted a different color than the others?
Eivor climbed inside the longship and saw a small note by a carving along the inner hull behind a shield.
- Longship Inscription:
Pathed by a volva, a destiny writ,
Clear in his vision, rigid his grit.
- Eivor: This carving references Galinn in verse
Eivor looked at a small, looted supply pile near the shore. In her mind's eye, she imagined how the scenario unfolded, with the traitor and their crew fighting unseen assailants before running into the woods.
- Eivor: This longship was ambushed by bandits. The survivors ran into the fog, pursued by half the party, while the other bandits looted it.
A trail of bodies led up the hill to the ruins where she and Soma had rescued Galinn, but she found no further clue. Her suspicions immediately raised, especially as she and Soma had not found Galinn's ship when searching for the advisors earlier, Eivor went back to Grantebridge to continue her search. She found Galinn in his cabin, where he knelt as he hammered a plank to the floor, and saw a note on a back table.
- Galinn's Vision Interpretation
Ouroboros on her shield.
Lion on his banners.
This mountain?
Two cannot balance on a peak. One must fall.
Eivor questioning Galinn in his hut
Eivor turned around and spoke to Galinn.
- Galinn: Eivor. This is a surprise.
("I want to ask you some questions about...")
- Eivor: I was wondering...
(If "What does your vision about Soma mean?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: The visions you've had about you and Soma, how do you interpret them?
- Galinn: A piercing question. Hm. I believe it means that Soma will lead me to greatness, however difficult. That she is linked to my destiny.
(If "Why were you wandering on the brink of death?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: Why were you at death's door when Soma found you?
- Galinn: I left my clan to pursue my vision. I don't remember much. The sacred plants addled my memory. But I was hungry for more visions. You may not understand. But Soma does. She knows the gods have a plan for me and that following it is worth any risk.
(If "Do you know this letter about a yellow longship?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: I found a letter to the Saxons from Wigmund. It says not to attack any longship painted yellow.
- Galinn: Strange. Only Lif would have the tools to alter the color of our longships. Something to ask him about.
("Why was your longship painted yellow?")
- Galinn: Was it yellow? I don't recall. You could ask Lif. He's our shipmaster.
(If "Did you see anything the night of the attack?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: Did you see anything odd when the attack began?
- Galinn: I did. I saw a wave of Saxons appear in the heart of Grantebridge as if by magic. Odd as wings on an eel. I fought ragged to the brink of death, from one night to the next. You saw the end of it. Wolves almost took me.
- Eivor: Somebody let the Saxons into Grantebridge's secret tunnel, Galinn... I believe there's a chance that it was you.
Galinn grew angry.
- Galinn: I fled a harrowing attack, cutting down Saxons and praying a Valkyrie would take my men when they fell. You pick at me like a scab. And I won't have it. Be happy I don't strike you down for adding a sour note to my battle song.
- Eivor: I'm trying to find who betrayed Soma to the Saxons. I could use your help.
Galinn stood up.
- Galinn: I wish I could help. The night of the attack, I was meditating on the shore, far from prying eyes. I was alone that night. And until Saxons appeared, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I hope that's enough.
Eivor questioning Lif outside his shipyard
Her questioning finished, Eivor left the cabin and went in search of Lif, whom she found outside his hut, near the shipyard, as he peeled potatoes
- Lif: Eivor, you look like the wind had fled your sails. What's going on?
("I want to ask you some questions about...")
- Eivor: I was wondering...
(If "You told me you don't think Soma is a good leader." is chosen.)
- Eivor: You told me you often disagree with Soma's orders.
- Lif: I do. But I follow them. It's my duty to this clan, to my jarlskona. A man's honor comes from his acts, not his wishes.
(If "Were you jealous that Guthrum chose Soma to lead?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: How did you feel when Guthrum named Soma the steward of Grantebridge and not you?
- Lif: If being honorable were easy, we'd have no evil men. It it something I... I wanted, sure. But I am a man of honor above all.
(If "Do you know this letter about a yellow longship?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: I found this odd letter telling Saxon forces not to attack any longship painted yellow.
- Lif: I've never painted any longship yellow beyond a few small touches. It's expensive. I know of no such letter.
(If "Your yellow paint was stolen." is chosen.)
- Eivor: You said your yellow paint was stolen before the attack?
- Lif: Aye. And yellow's not an easy pigment to mix, let alone acquire. I was furious it was stolen.
(If "I found your paint bucket." is chosen.)
- Eivor: I found your yellow paint barrel near the river.
- Lif: Did you? It was stolen from my workshop not long ago.
- Eivor: I found it on the riverbank. It was empty.
(If "What did you see the night of the attack?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: How did the night of the attack play out, from your view?
- Lif: I was working in the shipyards. Next thing I knew, the city was burning from the inside. Then Soma led our retreat.
- Eivor: Someone told the Saxons about the tunnel under Grantebridge, Lif. There's a possibility it's you.
Lif grew angry.
- Lif: You insult me, Eivor. The night Grantebridge fell, I was working. In the shipyards. I could already hear fighting by the time Soma gathered me to retreat. I was nowhere near where the Saxons came in. I hope that's enough for you, Eivor, because we're finished here.
- Eivor: Lif, someone showed the Saxons the longhouse tunnel. Where were you when the attack started. What were you doing?
- Lif: When the fighting started, I was in my workshop, decorating a sail for our allies in Grimsby. Without my yellow paint. By the time Soma gathered me to retreat, the city was under attack from within. I was nowhere near that tunnel. Nowhere.
Her questioning finished, Eivor entered the hut and read a scroll on a table.
- Lif's Inventory
4 bolts of canvas
6 barrels red paint
7 barrels blue paint.
4 barrels yellow paint—if can haggle down East Francia trader. If not, 2 barrels.
Soma allocated resources elsewhere. Again. Reasons I cannot fathom.
Will need to drive hard bargain to get any more than that.
Eivor left the shipyard and made her way to Birna's house, where she was inside, preparing food. On entering the home, Eivor saw a large pile of full bags beside the door.
- Eivor: These bags are Birna's. Packed for a long journey.
Eivor also saw a note on Birna's bed.
- Note on Birna's Bags
I am not noble. Honor is noise to me. But for the first time, I wonder what is the better thing to do. To stay at your elbow, smiling with a thorn in my chest, or to leave you behind and pull this barb from me.
I will stay, but only as long as you need me...
Birna being questioned by Eivor
Eivor turned around and spoke to Birna.
- Birna: Well, you're not the regular Sunbeam I've come to know. Something weighing on you?
("I want to ask you some questions about...")
- Eivor: I was wondering on a few things...
(If "You love Soma." is chosen.)
- Eivor: It must ache to serve under someone you love so deeply, one who doesn't love you back.
Birna looked down, saddened.
- Birna: Some days, the pain hits hard. I need to press my hand into my heart to keep it from digging through my chest.
(If "You used to be a smuggler." is chosen.)
- Eivor: You were a smuggler. Some would say that's not a trustworthy past.
- Birna: And water is wet, what a surprise. I'm an opportunist. I see a chance, I take it. It's helped Soma so far. She knows what I am, what I was. But she trusts me. Who would better know the difference between a joke and the truth?
(If "Have you seen this letter about a yellow longship?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: I found a letter telling the Saxons not to attack a longship painted yellow.
Birna frowned.
- Birna: None of our longships are painted yellow. I don't think...
(If "It looked like you were planning to leave." is chosen.)
- Eivor: I found your things packed for a long journey. Were you planning to travel?
Insulted, Birna frowned and crossed her arms.
- Birna: If I had betrayed this city, I'd be gone now, wouldn't I? No, I stayed. I'm happier near Soma with a broken heart than far away with a heart still longing.
(If "Did you see anything the night of the attack?" is chosen.)
- Eivor: What happened the night of the attack?
- Birna: The people were at peace. A beautiful night, fog and all. Then came the Saxons, all around, and Soma roaring like a great bear. When she called a retreat, we ran for the longboats, aiming to regroup in the swamps. It was an ambush, no more, no less.
- Eivor: Birna, Grantebridge was not taken by fluke. Someone showed the Saxons the longhouse tunnel. And there's a possibility it was you.
Birna grew angry.
- Birna: I was drinking under the noses of dozens that night. I would never betray my people. We're done here. And it'd be good for your health to take a walk, away from me.
- Eivor: Someone in the city led the Saxons through the longhouse tunnel. When the fighting started, where were you?
- Birna: Drinking with my warriors in the longhouse. When the Saxons came, I fought. I couldn't have shown anyone the tunnel. Eyes were on me all day and night.
Eivor reporting her findings
With her investigation finished, Eivor returned to Soma in the longhouse.
- Soma: Did you find enough clues in Grantebridgescire? Are you ready to choose the traitor?
- Eivor: Birna is in love with you. Unanswered love is a volcanic emotion.
- Soma: Birna has always been unpredictable. But she's a warrior grown. She does not let her emotions guide her actions.
- Eivor: Lif wishes he had stepped up to lead... and to be where you are now.
- Soma: Lif has a celebrated place in my clan. As a shipbuilder, he is without peer, and he knows I know this.
- Eivor: Galinn puts his visions above everything... to the point of fanaticism.
- Soma: Visions are like clouds. Each person sees a different meaning in the shape, and Galinn sees an important meaning.
- Eivor: A local said they saw someone running from the outskirts of the city to the river, just before the attack.
- Soma: Did they recognize the person?
- Eivor: No, they couldn't be seen in the fog. But whoever it was, they knew something bad was coming.
Soma frowned in thought, before glaring in the direction of the swamps.
- Soma: There's no yellow on our longships beyond some small details... if there's a yellow longship in the Fens, I want to know.
- Eivor: I already know who I suspect.
- Soma: Your instincts must be strong if you're so quick to judge. So who is the traitor?
- Eivor: Galinn betrayed you.
Eivor nodded.
- Soma: This will be the hardest thing I have ever done. Stay close by me Eivor. I will need you.
- Eivor: How to you plan to deal with this?
- Soma: As a leader must...
She nodded and beckoned the three advisors over.
- Soma: My family, my inner circle. Today we make sure what has happened to us will never happen again. We end Wigmund's life. But not all together. For you cannot survive the winter with a rat in your larder.
Soma pulled a dagger embedded from its spot in the table where it pinned the map in place.
Soma confronting Galinn
Soma faced Galinn.
- Soma: Galinn. You have betrayed me, Galinn.
- Galinn: I haven't! Soma! You're the key to my life. You must lead me to my destiny. Carry me to the summit of victory!
Soma surged forward and grabbed his throat.
- Soma: Do not warp was is real with the stories you tell yourself. I have seen no signs of your destiny.
Soma released him and stepped back.
- Soma: What I have seen is my people slaughtered, my city befouled, and your delusions fueling the destruction. How dare you think your destiny, your greatness, outweighed all of ours?
Galinn outed as the traitor and executed
Soma rushed forward again, grabbed Galinn by the shoulders, and slit his throat. Moved by the momentum of Soma's action, Galinn spun once and fell dead to the floor. Soma briefly stared at his body.
- Soma: He believed too much in faith. And not enough in us. Take him away.
- Soma: Birna. You betrayed me.
Birna laughed nervously at the accusation.
- Birna: No. Wait. I could never. Never!
Soma remained silent. Birna looked down at the dagger Soma held at her side.
- Birna: My heart grew so warm here, in spite of the cold.
Birna stepped closer to Soma.
- Birna: You do not love me as I love you. But love is not possession.
Soma nodded
- Soma: You love me, you admire me.
- Birna: Even under your blade... I would do anything to stay here with you, anything.
- Soma: You would do anything to get an edge. Say anything to spend one more day alive. It's how you served me so well...
Soma stepped forward and slashed Birna across the throat. Birna stared in shock and grasped her throat, before falling to her knees and collapsing dead. Soma briefly stared at her body.
- Soma: Lif. Galinn. Take her away.
- Soma: Lif. You have betrayed me, Lif.
- Lif: Soma! That's not true!
- Soma: A grown man should have a better grasp of his jealousy. It must not drive him to madness and destruction.
Soma paced in front of the table, before turning and gesturing with the dagger at Lif as she got in his face.
- Soma: But with you? Every one of our warriors, our slaughtered people, are dead because you couldn't be where I am now.
Soma turned away again, and Lif stepped forward to plead his case.
- Lif: I have only ever served you, Soma! I would never betray my clan. My family! I'm a man of honor!
- Soma: And ambition...
Soma rushed forward, grabbed Lif by the shoulders, and slit his throat. Moved by the momentum of Soma's action, Lif spun once and fell dead to the floor. Soma briefly stared at his body.
- Soma: Wigmund took you from us long before I ever raised my blade. Clear the body.
- Soma: I feel as if I have torn off my own arm.
- Eivor: Wigmund deserves death, but killing him won't make your family whole again.
- Soma: You think I don't know? This is for those who follow! To join me is to take an oath! To break it is to suffer!
Eivor trying to console Soma on the death of her associate
Eivor put her hand on Soma's shoulder.
- Soma: We make camp on the outskirts of the Isle of Ely. Join us there.
As Soma left, a ghostly Odin appeared beside Eivor.
- Odin: She carries the weight of leadership on one shoulder and the bonds of her people on the other.
- Eivor: Now that she's lost one, she walks lopsided. It will take years of toil to rebuild those bonds with her people.
- Odin: Yet she is unburdened now. Lighter. She is a leader, not a friend, Eivor. Her mistake was thinking she could be both.
Outcome[]
Eivor discovered the traitorous advisor's identity.
Behind the scenes[]
The player's decision on which advisor to accuse and have executed impacts the end of the next mission "An Island of Eels", when Eivor and Soma move to attack Wigmund.
It is possible to find Galinn's longship before rescuing him in the memory "Orphans of the Fens". Doing so will prompt Soma to comment that Galinn "[...] Must have been panicked to have strayed to such a place." Despite this, all characters will still act as though the boat had not yet been found during this quest.
While this quest will not be tracked until all of the support quests have been completed, Eivor can begin her investigations as soon as the memory "Glory Regained" has concluded. Only the questioning of the advisors is unavailable, until they return to the city.
Gallery[]
