Ominous Gate



This is a Forest exploration event. It can occur once per playthrough and offers the chance to acquire Orichalcum Bead and  Sage Powder.

Check the Rune
Skills:
 * Wisdom

You crouch and run your fingers on the rune, thinking...

Try to remember meaning
Skills:


 * Wisdom

Success
You recognize *EIHWAZ, the 13th rune, symbolizing yew, omen of death and rebirth.

Are those doors the entry to Hel's realm? You wonder...

+wisdom

Failure
And then something clicks in your mind: it's the rune of death! You fall backwards.

You know runes have several meanings but right now you can only think of this... and it terrifies you.

+ Depression, +scared 5

Approach the Gate
Skills:
 * Courage

You climb the few steps to reach the threshold. Each step makes you feel more and more uneasy.

Check the chains
Skills:


 * Courage

Success
You touch the chains. The small one breaks right away and falls on the floor. The bigger one gets loose and slides to the ground. You freeze.

Without you even touching the door, you see it slides open. You feel... a presence on the other side but see nothing. You can't help but avert your eyes.

It smells like death even [sic] since the gates opened. You gulp, feeling even more uneasy than before. Is this a challenge by the gods?

Making a huge effort, you try to gaze at the opening. You squint your eyes and see... A CORPSE! IT'S MOVING TOWARD YOU!

Panic makes you jump on your feet and take a defensive stance. But no one's there... You could swear you saw it on the other side of the opened gates!

You walk around the gate, there's nothing. Each time you try to look directly into the opening, you swear you can see, for a split second, more corpses gathering.

And then, you blink and they're gone. What the hell have you unleashed!

+ Depression

Failure
+ Injury

You wake up a few hours late. Your head hurts.

Check the Stone
Skills:
 * Wisdom

The stones look like any other stone except for the rune carved on it. You place your hands around the stone, trying to lift it up.

You realise your hands are getting colder, and number. You get them off the stone and slowly recover.

+ Injury

Cross the gate (Appears after successfully approaching the gate)
Skills:


 * Courage

You feel you have to cross the gate. BUT, would you really dare step out of the living to enter the land of the dead? And what about the creatures you saw?

You know that, according to Norse Legends, Hermos the Brave did it to retrieve the deceased Baldr from Hel's embrace but... He is a god. And you're merely human.

Give up now
''You feel too intimidated to cross the gate right now. Maybe tomorrow. Or the day after. When you're well rested... and the weather is right. Just... Not now...''

Cross from the backside
Skills:


 * Courage

Success
If this side is the living one, maybe the other side is death. With that thought, you walk to the other side. You feel slightly less uneasy.

You take a deep breath, close your eyes and run through the door. Your body crashes against a wall of heat. Past it, you feel as is you were back in your mother's womb. You could stay here forever.

- Depression

But the force starts pushing you forward. You leave the warmth. Your're beginning to feel short of breath. You take a deep breath.

+ Injury

IT HURTS. A lot. You feel liquid leaving your lungs as air gushes in.

You finally manage to open your eyes. It's a bit blurry. You're on the groud, on the other side of the door, now closed.

Then, you notice you have a small bead in your hand. how long have you been holding it?

+ Orichalcum Bead, + Sage Powder

Failure
You're afraid you'll die if you cross the gate. To be fair, you're even afraid of getting near the gate. Or turning your back to it.

You stare at the threshold, debating with yourself what you should do. The more you think, the more you're afraid. Your mouth begins to feel dry.

+ Depression, +paranoid

Cross from the frontside
Skills:


 * Courage

Success
You know it's a challenge from the gods (MISSED DIALOGUE)

Around you are several skeletons. They're wearing... your companions' garments! Are they...? They point at you. You look at yourself and see you're a corpse as well!

You pass out from the shock. When you wake up, you touch your arms and are relieved to feel flesh again. But... BUT... YOU CAN'T SEE ANYMORE!

+ Depression, +blinded

It's with a bitter taste you remember the tale: "Nine nights did Hermod ride to enter Hel, through valleys do deep and dark that he saw nothing."

Failure
You're afraid you'll die if you cross the gate. To be fair, you're even afraid of getting near the gate. Or turning your back to it.

You stare at the threshold, debating with yourself what you should do. The more you think, the more you're afraid. Your mouth begins to feel dry.

+ Depression, +paranoid