![]() ![]() ![]() He was approached by a tiefling woman with light blue skin. Later, however, Hugin was drunk at a local tavern. Nevertheless, he still felt no flow of power from the Frostmaiden upon the completion of the ritual. How much of this symbolism Hugin understood is uncertain, but as a goliath completing the challenge was an easy feat when walking among humans. The Kiss of Eternity, for in ice that which would elsewise be lost will be forever preserved (Winter’s Womb ascendant, with the Maiden).The Kiss of Darkness, also known as the Kiss of Isolation, for in the darkness each man stands alone, revealing the lonely truth of all sentience (Crone ascendant, with the Maiden).The Kiss of the North Wind, which is also known as Auril’s Breath or the Breath of Death it is one and the same with the cold lack which is the air in a dead man’s lungs (Winter’s Womb ascendant, with the Crone).The Kiss of the Open Door, for Auril holds that no structure should be made fast against the wild cold (Maiden ascendant, with the Womb).The Kiss of Fire’s Quenching, which is not only the literal quenching of fire’s warmth, but also symbolically the destruction of civilization as personified in the hearth (Crone ascendant, with the Womb).The Kiss of Ice, which is fairly self-explanatory it is the crucible in which faith and mortal strength are tested (Maiden ascendant, with the Crone).The Six Kisses each represents a different principle of Auril’s faith, while also physically combining two of Auril’s three forms (which are the Cold Crone, the Brittle Maiden (Lady Icekiss), and the Winter’s Womb (the Queen of Frozen Tears)): There is some similarity between Luskan’s Wet Parade and the Blesstide “parade” of Waterdeep: On Auril’s Blesstide, an informal festival held on the first day of frost, paraders dressed in white cloaks (but otherwise naked) run from Cliffwatch in the North Ward across the city, through West Gate, and then leap into the icy waters of the Sea of Swords. Those who finish the race are thought to have helped make the winter easier, and they rarely have to pay for food or ale all winter long. The parade runners are cheered on by patrons who come out of nearby taverns to place bets on the stamina of the participants. In winter, there is the added risk of frostbite and injuries caused by falling from the ice-slicked pillars. Upon reaching a pillar, a supplicant must climb it and then “kiss the lady,” touching lips to a rusty iron plate at the top. The worshippers move from pillar to pillar, chanting prayers to the goddess. They then journey between six white pillars known as the Kisses of Auril, which are dispersed throughout the city. The Wet Parade is a ritual in which supplicants don garments packed with ice. The rituals of Auril’s worship often seem cruel to outsiders. The structure is a roofless array of pillars and arches carved of white stone. The white-spired Winter Palace is Auril’s temple in Luskan. In the City of Sails, a member of the Arcane Brotherhood named Nass Lantomir convinced him to take part in the Wet Parade at the Winter Palace. Frustrated, Hugin took a pilgrimage to Luskan. Hugin emerged from the Crawl into adulthoos. Hugin hoped that things might change when he passed into adulthood, and so he gave up his “blood ball” (a mock javelin his father had made for him that was, in truth, little more than a pointy walking stick made of bone), and entered the Crawl: Passing through the tunnel, Hugin hallucinated that the wyrm which made up his home came back to life and melted the bones of his friends and family, only by plunging deep into the ice was he able to survive. Talos, however, did not seem to wish to use him as a conduit of power. Recognizing Hugin’s divine spark, Kapanuk sought to train Hugin to become a cleric of Talos, the God of Storms. (For a goliath, “wrangling” – which might be more accurately translated as something closer to “competing” – is the childhood word of playing.) During this time he was given the honorific of Athukavore, a goliath word which translates as “noisemaker.” But he grew apart from his playmates when he was taken under the wing of Kapanuk, one of the tribe’s Dawncallers. When he was young, Hugin wrangled with Jaagrik, Kaga, and Zuri, goliaths who were a little younger than him. ![]()
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