<em><strong>Hrothgunsen's Holdt</strong></em><br/><br/>Hrothgunsen's Holdt is a medium sized village in the lee of a mountainside.  While the mountain does protect from the worst of storms and weather, it is still often cold, and the hunting is hard; crops are hard to keep alive, though they serve as bait for the deer and boar.  Hrodin the Boarbreaker rules the small village with an iron fist, but is fair and just otherwise as befits one who rules in the name of Magni the Strong, son of Thor by Sif the Beautiful.<br/><br/>The Holdt is a large building, built off the ground on large posts and actually set into the mountainside.  The snows are rarely heavy enough to threaten an avalanche, and it is a particularly unpleasant duty for the youth of the village to travel up the mountainside and cause the calving of the heavier drifts and then clear the snow from the high-angled roof of the main hall.  It serves to make the young men and women stronger.  The small, meager gardens are protected by heavy fences, put that does not prevent them from attracting the attentions of the local wildlife.  The heavy log houses are surprisingly snug and well built, and fires go constantly in many of them.<br/><br/>There are three smiths; part of why the mountain has been bored into was to collect the iron ore there that has been the source of the Holdt's wealth; they standard of living is quite good, especially since two of the smiths are very good at their work, and there is enough work for them to have taken apprentices.  Only one has been lamed; the others serve out of familial duty to the founder of the village; the lesser known of the three is often delegated to making chain mail and shields.<br/><br/>Food, while hard to find, has been plentiful the past season; the larders are well stocked with boar and venison.  The mead is rich and aged well, though much of it is brought in for trade.  Every family has a number of furs, wood for the fires, and a warm place to sleep.  There is less inbreeding, as trade is common enough here that youth travel in and out of the village regularly.  However....<br/><br/>As of late the overabundance of hunting has caused people to wonder what has been driving the animals so far into the cold.  There has been no disease, no wounded animals.  but something is most definitely driving them.  While no one has read the omens yet - fearful of inviting disaster where there may be no need - there are words being spoken quietly in the homes of the village, and the warriors of the Holdt are concerned.....