The wards have dropped. It’s an abrupt thing with no warning or fanfare; it simply happens, and suddenly the castle is approachable.
There is no door on the outside either; rather, the same riddle as inside, taking up the space of a door, guarded by a beautiful woman in leather armour and fur robes- who has a tufted blonde tail swaying behind her. She tells you that only the worthy may enter. She asks you your intentions. If you answer this question to her satisfaction, she will continue; if not, she will tell you your journey has been insufficient and that you must prove yourself further.
Her second question is the same as what’s on the door: “Who are you?”
Only when you have truly answered it will you be allowed passage into the castle.
The Cure
When all those who will make it into the castle have finally crossed the threshold, Skadi appears on her throne, holding an appropriately sized staff of ice. “Greetings, villagers,” she says, giving no pause for answer before continuing. “Your worthiness to enter means you are potentially worthy to cure your fellows. I have prepared them for this moment as best as I can, but my power only goes so far. It is up to you to heal them. Otherwise, I cannot allow them to return with you and continue corrupting the balance of things.”
That means exactly what you think it does.
“They have behaved heinously but it has not been their doing; rather, my old foe caused this chaos. It is something powerful that has taken hold of them, and only a truly human gesture will be able to shake them from its grasp.”
She gestures around at the assembled Nissen. “With the help of your ancestral spirits, I have determined that there are three sacrifices you can make to free them. A sacrifice of the heart, in which you offer true forgiveness for those who have wronged you. A sacrifice of pride, in which you share something deep and true for all to hear. A sacrifice of blood, in which you inflict upon yourself a wound that will leave cold scars to last through to your final day.”
After her last sentence, a platform appears in front of her, bearing a knife made of ice.
“Be warned,” she says, her voice booming. “A shallow sacrifice will be nothing but a wasted opportunity, for you each only have one chance. Pick your sacrifice- and who you wish to save- wisely. Declare them, and then proceed.”
And then she is silent and waiting.
How This Works
❄For the purposes of explanations, Group A is Bellatrix, Sirius, Rodolphus, Ronnie, Valkyrie, Harry, Trish, Lisa, and George. Group B is Albus, Minerva, Narcissa, Scorpius, Ginny and Severus.
❄All of the Nissen in the village- each and every single one of them- will tell their people that it’s time to go a few hours after the wards drop. They will be adamant about bringing tents, clothing, food. It’s clear they think this will take a while. Group B’s Nissen will further insist that the journey be done on foot rather than by Apparition.
❄An NPC bergsra will evaluate the answers for entry.
❄Once inside the castle, the same rules for the ice-eyed apply: physical violence will be met with being forcefully repelled to the opposite side of the room, and magical violence will result in a wand time out.
❄For those who aren’t the ice-eyed, the temperature is ridiculously cold inside.
❄Villagers who have entered can also leave simply by walking through the riddle. Ice eyed who try the same will get a face full of wall.
❄As Skadi stated, each villager will have one attempt to heal one of the ice eyed. Nissen will offer guidance should anyone care to ask them. The knife, for the record, is cursed- it’ll feel like ice in the veins going in, the kind of pain that most people will not be capable of continuing to inflict on themselves, and leave a scar that’s cold to the touch and cannot be magically healed.
❄Each sacrifice will be judged on whether it is enough, and a verdict rendered via Skadi. If it works, the eyes and skin of the affected will fade back and their memories will instantly return.
❄The healed ice-eyed are capable of saving others supposing they aren’t too emotionally wrecked to manage.
❄This process is expected to take several days so don’t feel like everything has to happen at once. If it becomes clear that there are ice-eyed who are not going to be healed, Skadi will… take care of things.