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Since priests first raised temples, the devout have traveled to pay their reverence. Pilgrims cross rivers and mountains, brave war zones and bandit attacks to see relics, hear the word of seers, and feel the touch of the divine, demonstrating their piety through sacrifice and journey.

Midgard is no different than our own world in this regard. So take up your walking staff and begin down the trail as we look at pilgrims, pilgrimages, and holy sites in Midgard.

Hot Blood in the Cold North

The faithful of Sif hold no holy books, but keep oral traditions regarding the founding priestesses of their local churches, individual orders, and famous champions. Those who dedicate themselves to the Swordmaiden are known as sifjar, and while they keep few temples and shrines, they maintain a rich and diverse spoken history.

However, an important and ubiquitous tradition of instruction, regardless of region, is the tale of the Great Musters held inside the walls of humble Jarshallen in Vidim, and of the three feasts shared each year. While there is no requirement to attend these musters, and the ancient customs dictate sacrifices may be made on any battlefield, Jarshallen attracts sifjar because Sif’s valkyries appear regularly and give gifts to those who make the best sacrifices from the greatest foes defeated in her name. Many ask their bodies to be brought to the blot-fires and burned in death to assure the smoke of their flesh, and their spirits will be certain to ride back to Valhalla with the valkyries.

The Pilgrimages of the Holy Musters of Jarshallen

With a permanent population of about twenty-three hundred trollkin and human souls, sages might say Jarshallen barely seems as if it should be a site of any significance. However, the faithful sifjar transformed this small community into a sprawling square mile of devotion, with workshops and structures needed to sustain itself.

Now carved from the hills and surrounded with a modest, 15-foot wall, the most holy site in the Northlander god of family, archers, and homes sports a host of cut stone structures, paved streets, stone cisterns, broad plazas, verdant courtyards, and rising, open-roofed basilicas. No one, other than its permanent residents, may stay more than three nights without special permission, and no structures are allowed within three bow-shots of its walls. The Tsar of Vidim offers special dispensation, paid through the meager donations of the pious who visit and celebrate one or more of the dedicated Muster Days of Remembrance, Fortitude, or Repentance. A feast marks each occasion, and attendees compete to see whose sacrifices will be prepared at the tables of the elder hierophants and artisans.

Muster of Remembrance: Spring

Held at the Altar of Undying Flame in the enormous Basilica of St. Astrid on the first day of spring, the sifjar light a blot-fire stretching for the length of a bowshot. A blot-fire is a sacrificial pyre of white hot charcoal, brought to deep radiant heat over two days. Faithful arrive for the Muster on the third, bringing specially prepared wood infused with incense, votive offerings, and holy dead, all meant to burn through the night. Oxen, boars, and magical creatures are prepared, shared among the attendees who sing and pray until sunrise.

For the last 73 years, at the height of this gathering, with the first rays of the daybreak, valkyries appear and land first on the bare spines of the basilica’s unfinished ceiling. Then they land unburnt in the coals, drawing souls up and departing into the air with the thunderous beat of wings. Occasionally, magical feathers float to the ground, and extinguished black footprints in the charcoal to indicate their passage. Pious attendees collect these souvenirs; a few remain enchanted long after the valkyries leave.

Muster of Fortitude: Autumn

This muster is meant to renew the sifjar’s oaths to defend hearth and home through the coming winter. As the cold winds of Boreas threaten the horizon, the sifjar arrive on the last day of Autumn on the Field of Geiravor. Here, they light thirteen blot-fires with the sunrise and hold various competitions between sacrifices.

More than any other, this Muster is for giving thanks for successfully defeating foes in combat, for defending one’s home from reavers, for facing great adversity and not only surviving, but thriving in the face of such challenges. Targets are raised on high poles to reflect the eyes of giants. Some champions are magically enlarged to serve as symbolic giant raiders who will attack communities throughout the dark months. Single champions or small groups spar with them, testing their tactics.

Particularly valiant battles draw the attention of valkyries, who watch from the skies above, sometimes dropping feather tokens to the victors or to competitors who show great prowess.

Muster of Repentance: Winter

Celebrating the defeat of Loki by the Asgardians when he stole Sif’s hair, this muster is dedicated to atonement, forgiveness, thanks, and gift giving. Sifjar reenact Loki’s geld price, the gifts he gave to Sif to demonstrate his remorse for shearing her hair and keeping it to shame her.

Faithful pilgrims sacrifice the weapons of opponents and prisoners they’ve captured to demonstrate the strength of their piety and their desire to be absolved of the dishonor of broken oaths, lost battles, and fallen comrades. Valkyries sometimes appear in the blot-fires to accept the sacrifices directly, leaving a prayer on the wind, an image fading in the shadows or mirror, and sometimes a feather token or scattering of valuable twice-burned charcoal to show that the Asgardians see the sifjar’s devotion. This is the most subdued of the musters, and sees the most faithful dead burned for the journey to Valhalla.

Gifts From the Golden-Haired Goddess

The following items are occasionally granted to those who sacrifice a worthy trophy from a defeated foe to Sif at one of the Jarshallen musters.

VALKYRIE’S FEATHER TOKEN

Wondrous Item, Rare 700 gp

These bright, ivory pinion feathers glow with a dim azure light in a 10-foot radius. It extinguishes at your command. Tokens are often affixed with a short cord and hang from a helm or the haft of a weapon. As a bonus action, you can spend hit dice to heal as though you had taken a short rest. In addition, while carrying the token, you automatically succeed on death saves.

After you use it, roll a d6. On an odd result, the token disappears. On a 2 or 4, the token remains but cannot be used to spend hit dice again until the following dawn. On a 6, the token remains and you can use it again to heal before dawn. If you personally struck a blow that reduced a foe to 0 HP during the fight that you used the token, you can roll twice and take the better of the two rolls.

TWICE-BURNED CHARCOAL

Wondrous Item, Uncommon (Requires Attunement) 800 gp

Gathered from the cooling ashes of rich sacrificial feast bonfires, you can break these fist size chunks of charcoal into nine smaller fragments. You can use each fragment to mark a creature’s face three times with black, sooty war marks. You can mark one creature three times, three creatures once, or any combination. Applying the marks takes 1 minute.

As a reaction, a creature can expend one mark to have advantage on a weapon attack of its choice or expend two marks to score a critical hit when it hits normally with a weapon attack. Alternatively, a creature can consume a fragment as a bonus action to roll damage for a successful spell twice, and take the better result.

Marks smudge off and partially used fragments crumble into smoke by the next dawn.

Story Seeds

These options give potential stories involving elements of the pilgrimage.

Up in Smoke

An elder sifjar and former mentor of one party members has passed away. Their dying wish is to be burned on pyre during the Feast of Remembrance. In usual circumstances, this trip would be challenging, but a lindworm lingers along the route. The creature has been harassing pilgrims, looting gear, eating their mounts, and causing a great deal of trouble.

The beast attacks in the night, stealing the wagon containing the mentor’s coffin and fleeing to its home. The foul creature’s lair is only accessible by swimming in an icy river and emerging in a half sunken cave system, and the worm is said to be a cunning necromantic spellcaster. If the body isn’t recovered, it could be eaten, or worse, turned into an undead creature bound to serve the lindworm.

Tax Time

The great cache of silver used to pay the Tsar has been stolen by a group of raiding centaurs. They ambushed the guards and now ride to Misto Cherno with their wagon of loot. Powerful honors will be granted to the group who infiltrates the roaming bandit city of the Rothenian Plain, steals back the casks of silver coins and delivers them to the fortress of the Tsar’s Scarlet Palace. The race across the plains will take cunning, as centaur bandits rarely suffer thieves well. Can the party arrange a double-cross, or perhaps fool the raiders into chasing the wrong wagon, while the group escorts the true prize back to Vidim?

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