"No you don't!" Nick shouts at the troll that attacked Ulf. He leaps across the room towards the beast, his head narrowly missing the ceiling. He sticks Gram out in front of himself bracing the pommel with his right palm. The blade lands in the troll's gut a blink before Nick's feet hit the ground.
The blade digs into the Troll! It's starting to look pretty beat up.
"Hey, derros," says Chase, spinning his spear around in his hand and stomping the butt of the weapon into the ground as hard as he can, stomping his foot down for emphasis as he speaks. "Don't you know how giants are supposed to work? Are you all mental? You're supposed to follow the orders of the biggest guy around. Dustin killed the big bugger and he's the tallest one left so he's your king now, you understand? So why don't you stop being stupid and hear what your new king has to say, you dig?"
The Trolls try a couple more attacks, but miss. Chase, they don't seem responsive; they look as though they're in a rage, far beyond words.
Erika and Ulf, you may go.
Ulf hops from the one Troll's head to the far end of the chamber, his legs landing in a squat on the stone wall as he fires another shot before dropping spryly to the ground.
The boys were pulling off some crazy stunts! This was like Crouching Tiger meets The Avengers; sadly, she felt neither Black Widow nor Yu Shu Lien. Perhaps their blessings were different, but she didn't feel capable of running up the walls and somersaulting on troll's heads. Or perhaps, not yet. Regretting that one missed opportunity to sign up for a capoeira class, Erika takes aim again at the closest of the trolls.
Ulf, you hit, but the slug bounces off of the Troll's thick hide.
We go back now to the top of the key. Nick, Chase, Dustin and Chloe have turns.
In the future, I think I need to keep better trap of ticks, given how combat works. This has sort of been a tutorial; in the future, when in combat, please let me know the speed of the actions you are taking (Aim, of course, varies) and I will update the tick order every time I post.
Chase charges at one of the surviving trolls, Queen Anne's Revenge gripped tightly in his hands as he runs, his long hair trailing after him almost as if blown by the breeze of a ship at sea that has long since sunk beneath the waves. As he approaches the troll, he jumps, letting go of the spear with one hand and bringing both of his feet down on top of it so that the full weight of his body drives the weapon into the troll's flesh.
Chase lashes out in an acrobatic maneuver, drop-kicking his spear into the troll. It pushes into the Troll's chest and meets a bit of resistant, but Chase strikes hard enough that the head of Queen Anne's Revenge explodes out of the troll's back, killing it.
Dustin withdraws Dainsleif, one of the trolls falling to the ground dead and the other bleeding profusely.
Dustin knew dozens techniques that he could have employed, and in this battle, with his adrenaline pumping, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. He ran through the hundred fancy moves he could employ, but at that moment, a battle-lust like none he'd ever felt was on him.
There was no art. Dustin simply grabbed his blade in two hands and cleaved straight down, aiming for the center of the troll's head.
5 + 4 Auto= 9 successes
5 Aggravated
The hulking Scion swings downward and Dainsleif cleaves straight through the monster, blood and gore erupting in a spray as the now halved creature falls apart.
There are no more foes. They came out of what appears to be an office; now that battle has ended, you can hear muffled voices from inside. Ulf, you can clearly make out that they are just sounds; no words are being formed, but the voices do sound plaintive.
Ulf will gesture with his gun towards the door. "Some voices coming from in there." he says quietly. He checks his gun again, frowning at it. "Doesn't seem to hit any harder than a normal gun." he mutters.
"Oh wow, you guys, where did you all learn this stuff? That was amazing! Better than in the movies!" Erika lowers her rifle as the last of the trolls collapses in a fountain of blood. While her contribution to the just-concluded fight has been minimal, if non-existent, she doesn't feel too bad about it after witnessing the fantastic battle techniques that Dustin and Chase were employing; and Ulf's magical gun was definitely spectacular as well.
Easing towards the office door, she calls out. "Anyone alive in there?" After a moment's thought she adds. "And human? Er... mostly human?"
"Hell yes," says Dustin with a pump of his fist before offering a high five to anyone who's willing to take it. "That was killer! Did you see the way that Dustin cut that giant in half like it was nothing? And then all those little ones coming after us? Oh man, that was awesome!"
After taking a few celebratory selfies with one of the downed monsters Chase examines the giant's corpse, looking to take something off of it--preferably a bit of hair or skin but a piece of it's clothing of none of the body is salvageable.
"Hey, wait," says Chase as Erika heads to the door. "We don't know what's in there. Could be more monsters, you know?"
Chloé lets her sword drop to her side. She whispers, "So... what to do we do? Can anyone, I don't know, hear it?"
Ulf leans closer to the door, listening for some sign or discernable words.
He holds up a hand, gesturing for quiet.
6 successes.
Before continuing on, he stares at the doorway they came through. after a moment he takes his foot and drags iit along the threshold,
4 successes, so 4 days.
He nods to himself, satisfied.
Dustin breathes deeply, permitting the ministrations of his body rather than mastering them. He felt...good. He had been worried that he would be scared or something, but he was calm, cool, exultant in what the had all done.
He brushed a splatter of gore from from his face, then began to do what he had done in every video game and tabletop he had ever played.
He looted the bodies.
Bad guys should have treasure, right?
After that, Dustin high fives Chase and convenes with the rest of the group.
”Well, if you’re all ready, I’ll open the door so we can check it out. If I wasn’t catching a pass, I was blocking a rusher for my QB, so I’m no stranger to taking a hit.”
"Hold on mate, I think I've got an idea," says Chase, taking his moonstone out of his pocket. He takes his hair out of his ponytail and grips a long strand of it between his fingers, wrapping some of the giant's hair into the length of it. When he finishes, he tosses the moonstone up into the air and catches it in his hand--
And then, Chase is gone. In his place the giant that Dustin cut in half stands in his place.
"So, did it work?" says the giant--but he's speaking in Chase's voice--in fact, his accent seems to have gotten thicker, somehow. Chase looks down at himself and grins as he examines the illusion. "Sweet! See, now if we run into more of those monsters we might have a chance to try and get them to tell us where the Heart of Winter is. And if not, maybe it'll confuse 'em long enough for us to get the drop on them, right?"
Dustin- you are able to recover several trophies.
In the case of the Trolls, you find three separate gemstones. All three are smooth and perfectly round. One is black, one brown, and one red. Handling them for a second, you get a sense that there is power connected to each of these; in game terms, all of these serve as relics that will allow you to channel a Purview. The red stone is for the Fire purview, the black is for the Darkness purview, and the brown is for the Earth purview.
The giant's trophy is it's heart. The heart still contains some of the giant's eitr, and consuming it will give you three bonus dice you can allocate however you wish to your Strength and Stamina. The dice last for one scene. There are nine doses of the giant's eitr you can get from the blood; we'll say you have enough water bottles to hold the eitr.
Chase- you are able to obtain whatever you like of the giant, and your Illusion boon fires without a hitch.
Nick is shaken up for a second. He has seen scenes far, far, more grisly than this but he's never been part of the cause for it before. He takes a moment to pull himself together. Come on Nick, this ain't got nothin' on doing an autopsy on a toddler who was killed by his own Mama. And these guys deserved it.
Back in a good state of mind he searches one of the trolls for a decently bloodless piece of cloth to wipe the blood off of Gram with. He sheathes his blade just before he notices Chase.
"Damn son, and I thought boots with shorts were bad."
Erika turns around from her intense scrutiny of the office door and yelps. There was another giant! One second later, the giant speaks in Chase's voice, and noticing that the others were rather relaxed around it, as well as the conspicuous absence of the teenager...
"Chase...? Is that you? How did you do that?"
She casts a curious gaze on the things scavenged from the dead giant and the trolls, finding the gemstones very pretty. Good, so one obstacle down, time to move on. She clap her hands. "Alright, people, shall we?" One of her hands extends invitingly towards the office door.
"Yeah, it's pretty--wait, what's wrong with my boots," says Chase, looking down at his magically disguised feet.
"Magic!" says Chase, grinning a giant's grin as he holds the moonstone up to his eye. "Pretty neat trick, right? I can look like whoever I want."
"Alright, time to see what's behind door number one," says Chase, stepping forward and opening the office door.
Erika- when you spoke, you did hear voices call out in response, but again, you weren't able to catch any words. They sound human to you.
Once you open the office, you find find a pair of people. They are tied up and gagged, and appeared to be captives. One of them is a young woman with gray eyes and short red hair, and the other is of middle age and appears to be a dwarf. When you come in the door, Chase, in the countenance of the Giant, they both freeze in fear.
Once they see the rest of the Band, they look confused.
Dustin brushes past Chase, making his way over to the captives. He sheathes Dainsleif as he does so, talking in a low, calm voice.
"Don't worry, it's just an illusion. We're the good guys."
He moves over to the captives and begins removing their bonds. He begins with their gags before moving to their limbs.
"Sorry. Thought that there might have been more of those trolls around and I they seemed to take orders from the giant guy so I figured this might let us get the drop on 'em. You don't know if there are any more of them around, do you?" says Chase, sheepishly scratching the back of his head and staring at his feet as he talks.
The woman rubs her wrists and works her mouth around a bit, trying to get feeling back.
"Don't have any grub, do you? I'm freaking starving."
Without waiting for you to answer, she continues on.
"I don't think there are any more of them right now. I'm guessing since you're all standing here...and some of you are pretty splattered in viscera...that you took out the giant and the trolls, yeah?"
The other woman grimaces, but then she nods.
"Better dead than a troll."
Erika, you distinctly here traces of an Icelandic accent in the dwarf's voice.
"It's best we be gone from this place as soon as possible. I'm Ola. The chatterbox over here is Cybil."
Cybil shoots Ola a wry look, but from the warmth in Ola's tone, "chatterbox" is probably a term of endearment between the two. Cybil does continue talking though.
"So, I'm guessing you're all...like me? Of course you are, there's no other way you could have taken out those guys. Who are you people? Not that I'm ungrateful, but what are you doing here?"
"I've got some skittles on me. And some licorice. And more candy back at our cars. Oh, and some energy drinks, if you're thirsty," says Chase as he reaches into his hair, pulling out the strand of giant's hair he intertwined with his own--and suddenly it's obvious that he's not a giant, he's just a teenager with really bad fashion sense. He offers the woman the candy before continuing.
"Yeah, it was no trouble. Should have seen it though! Dustin," says Chase, gesturing towards the football player, "cut the giant in half like it was made of cardboard! It was like an action movie but we were right there, it was killer."
"We're the heroes," says Chase with a grin. "Can't clear out just yet though. You all wouldn't happen to know what the giant was doing round here in the first place, do you? Cause a couple of birds told us that we were supposed to poke around here. And I mean that literally. Anyways, you ever heard of the Heart of Winter?"
"Like you? Well, Dustin and Chloe are rangas too so I guess they are," says Chase, affecting a quizzical look. "Nah, I'm just kidding. If you're talking about what I think you're talking about then the answer is yeah."
"I'm Chase, son of Ran, goddess of the sea," says Chase, taking an exaggerated bow. "And you are Cybil, daughter of...? I had kind of gotten the impression that we were the only ones running about right now."
Chase was being serious competition for the title of chatterbox, so Erika lets him talk while she takes some fruit and nut bars out of the pockets of her hiking pants. She herself would have been far sparser with information than the kid, but the cat was out of the bag now - all the cats, in fact. She manages to intersperse a question of her own, though.
"Is that motorcycle outside yours? If so, in what condition did you last see it?" She is aware that she sounds like she is cross-questioning a witness, but she cannot trust these people just yet.
Ulf will listen to the two talk and quietly analyze their words to tell if they're trying to deceive them in any way.
4 successes.
He looks at Chase quizzically for a moment, before reaching into his coat pockets and producing 5 Cliff protein bars, in assorted flavors.
"Here. Something better than candy on an empty stomach." he says. "Can you tell us why you were here, and what they were doing when they captured you?" he looked the woman in the eyes.
Chloé takes in the rest of the office. Any signs of desks? File cabinets? Computers?
"If you're goin' for the cowboy look you gotta have blue jeans." Nick tells Chase but lets if drop there. More important things are happening.
Nick nods along with Ulf. In his estimation that was the real question. Or better yet, do they know about the Heart of Winter? He decides not to let that cat out of the bag just yet however...
He pulls the first person he sees not talking to the pair off to the side, preferably Ulf since he knows the man is an investigator, and asks, "Didn't the ravens say we were the first spawn of the gods to be made aware of it?"
Ulf lets them eat, but does wait expecting an answer to his question.
Cybil takes the proffered food gratefully, and Ola has a bit as well. Cybil speaks.
"Well, it's like this. Ola lives in Bixby Knoll, down in Southern California. Whole community of dwarfs. A big part of it is just mundane little people...but then there's an entire hidden community of, you know. Dwarves with a capital D. Anyway, they like their modern conveniences, so I...sort of did my thing to help it be above board and legal but also pretty much hidden. Their community is as off the grid as they can be, and I've helped them a couple of times.
Anyway, I was visiting, and these huge black SUV's rolled up. Bunch of Jotun popped out, some of the Dwarves. They..."
Cybil hesitated and Ola took over, voice pained but strong.
"They were taken here, and made into Trolls. Cybil came with me to try to get them back, but...well, we were found out and caught. At least you put them down, as well as the monster that turned them. We'll mourn our kin, but they've been avenged. It seems that it's Fate that brought you here, young Scions. I appreciate what you've done for me...and so will my community. If we can impose on you a bit further, and you can get us back home...well, it might be that we can help fine young Godspawn like yourselves."
Cybil responds to you, Erika.
"Yeah, that was my bike out there. What about it?"
Chloe, the office doesn't have much in the way of files. There are a couple of cabinets but they're empty. There is, however, a computer. It is connected to an outlet that has power. It is password protected.
"Sooo... does anyone's movie-like preternatural skill extend to computers?" says Chloé. "These folks must've been down here for a reason... and an abandoned gold mine isn't a great reason, so maybe it's something else down here."
"Norse dwarves right?" he thinks for a split second, remembering what he's researched after he found out that myths are reality. "Do they have a problem with sunlight? It's currently (insert time of night here)."
"I have some computer skills." Ulf offers. "I've had to search for background info on customers and different jobs... and research you all, of course." he doesn't seem apologetic about having pried into your lives. "It always pays to come prepared and well-informed."
He will look over the computer and frown. "It's possible that I could figure this out." he mutters, careful to look over everything. "No one's touched this keyboard yet, right?"
+2 auto=9 successes!
"...Also, did the giant have anything that looked like it could be a password in his pockets? Did he have a phone?" he asks absentmindedly.
Erika doesn't immediately answer Cybil's question about her bike, appearing to be musing instead. "This whole godspawn thing is rather new... How did you find out that you were, you know? Do you know who your, erm, divine parent is? Did they talk to you?"
Once, or if, her questions are answered, she moves to help Chloe and Ulf with the computer.
Cybil grimaces.
”I, uh...I sort found out that I could make people...uh, see things my way. Which was handy, growing up in an orphanage. But after they did they were usually pretty pissed at me. I pissed the wrong guy off and I was looking at some jail time. Guy showed up, said he could get me out of it. Slick looking, nice suit...made me feel icky. I just had to sign up to figjt the forces of darkness. Or maybe work to his good unknowingly...it’s unclear.
Loki’s my dad, but I swear I’m not a bad person! I mean, he’s technically one of the good guys, right? At least...good guy adjacent? Look, I’m no fighter, but you all, finding me here...it’s gotta be Fate, right? I have some powers...let me just find my bowl and I might be able to help you!”
Based off of your rolls, you can tell that she seems entirely earnest, and very much wants you to believe her. She does not seem disingenous or threatening at all.
This does, however, conflict with the information that Hugin and Munin gave you, as Erika wisely noticed.
Ola also vouches for her, chiming in.
”The way I see it, none of you had any say in who your parents were, but Cybil’s one of the good ones...so don’t go getting smite happy. Especially you, son of Donar! This isn’t one of your comic book films!”
Ulf, you’re able to puzzle out the password without much difficulty. It ends up being “slamit1234”. The OS boots up; it’s a somewhat older version of Windows.
What are you looking for?
Dustin spreads his hands and grins, looking as harmless as possible for someone big enough to play pro football and who had just proclaimed to teair mythological giants in half.
”Don’t worry on my account! Live and let live, yeah? I’d rather have Loki or his family as allies than enemies, personally. I’ve never really, uh, smote before, so I’m not likely to stary now.”
Dustin considered a moment.
”What can you do with thay bowl?”
"Oh man, I love Tom Hiddleston! Huh, do you think Marvel are onto something, making all these movies with Thor and Loki and Ragnarok? Maybe on of their execs is a Scion..." Erika makes a mental note to look into that later.
"Anyway, Cybil, your bike outside was all frosty when we arrived. Is that part of your... powers?"
Cybil scrounges around the room and finds an unornamented copper bowl. She pauses before doing anything with it.
”Like I said, I’m no fighter, but I have some talent with magic and prophecy. I figure that if ever Fate might be forthcoming, it would be at a time like this, right? What do you say? Should we sneak a peek at what might be in store?”
At your question, Erika, she shakes her head.
”Nah, just a normal bike. Cheap, too; got it for a couple hundred bucks at a police auction. Can’t get much over 70 on the stupid thing. I dunno about the execs at Marvel but....ooooh, Hiddleston. The things I would do to that man...not that you’re not some specimens yourself,” she adds somewhat conspiriatorially, glancing appreciatively at some of the more attractive members of your group.
Cybil does a bit ot a double take for Dustin,
”I could swear I’ve seen you without your clothes on...oh! Hey, didn’t you play for the Seahawks a while back? Oh...oh,” she says, and blushes a bit. You’ve gotten this reaction from people before. One of your revenue streams was commercials and endorsements, and you briefly modeled for a sportswear line. One of the advertisments showed you in little more than your boxer briefs.
Chloe, when she sees you, Cybil’s jaw drops completely,
”You’re RED FREAKING SONJA!”
Dustin grins.
”Always good to meer a fan,” he says, and he calmly lifts up his shirt and vest, revealing a simply ludicrously contoured sixpack, complete with the “v” disappearing down below the waistline of his pants.
”More familiar now? Dustin Reinhard, in case you forgot,” he said, laughter bubbling in his voice.
Dustin was clearly not body conscious, or in any way shy. In his private life he had been ethically non-monogamous and was an outrageous flirt; he didn’t see any reason to stop.
”Anyway, I can’t speak for everyone, but I wouldn’t turn my nose up at an oracle! What do you say, guys!”
"Prophecy...? I, for one, do not have questions for the future at this time. We do, however, have something that we need to do here." She tilts her head at her companions, trying to hint at their mission and the Heart of Winter. No matter how earnest Cybil was, Erika could not help but feel wary towards the woman. Just too many things didn't add up and she doubted that the legendary ravens of her stepfather made many mistakes. And there was no reason for them to try and deceive herself and the other Scions, while - on the other hand - Loki was an equally legendary trickster. Perhaps not ill-intentioned, but deception was deception. Not ok, in Erika's book.
Your Occult knowledge informs you that Loki is the subject of several prophecies but is not really linked to the giving of them. Scions, however, are not limited solely to their parents purviews; those merely come the most naturally to them
"I think I need a cigarette. Somebody should come with me, we shouldn't be alone around here, Nick practically makes this a command, "Any takers?"
Once outside Nick starts pacing. It's clear that he didn't come outside just for a nicotine fix, though he does spark up. He starts talking very fast to any and all who came with him.
"I don't like it. Not one bit. The ravens said that we were the only scions to receive visitations. I could see Loki doing it without telling the other Aesir though. But is that really any better? If I remember the legends right he may not be on our side. And even if he is her story is too convenient for me. Her dad just so happens to be the one god who might sneak around behind the others' backs and she just so happens to be here where we were sent? Nope, don't like it. But maybe I'm just paranoid, what do y'all think?"
Ulf watches the display and discussion of man-meat and snorts, shaking his head as he filters through the computer's files. "Yep. This is my life now." he mutters.
"Oookay... let's see what we have here..." he says, tapping at the keyboard.
"As a side note, I hope the prophecy thing isn't too set in stone. Otherwise our divine parents might have some problems, Cybil..." he says aloud, not really elaborating beyond that.
Chloé quickly interjects, "That was just a movie - this is the real deal. No special effects, no stunts. Say, did you get a chance to see any of the rest of the mines before you were captured? Any idea what your captors were up to?"
She carefully stows her arming sword and tosses her hair back, using one hand to gather it again. Somehow, just running her hand through her hair seems to cause it to fall back into perfect place.
"I'll go with you, Nick," she adds. "We should never go somewhere alone."
As Nick takes a drag and goes over his thoughts, Chloé shields her face against the high winds that sometimes whip through the plateau of Bodie.
"I think that judging people solely on the basis of parentage is a bad idea, and I think you probably feel the same way," she says. "Loki may have plans for her, and may have misdirected her, or obscured that he visited her before we received our visit, but that isn't a guarantee that she's our enemy. Loki probably has his own plans. She may or may not be privy to them. The only way we'll know - barring some kind of power that lets you force people to tell the truth, or something like that - is to see how she plays out. But this makes a kind of sense; Loki would get himself into trouble and then Thor would have to bail him out, right? So he repeats that pattern with his offspring and sends her to do something without proper backup and hopes that if it doesn't work out, Fate will intervene. And here we are."