Olaff drops the skewer at once and draws his sword. "Vhat is this meat, man? My frriend says it is human flesh and I have no rreason to doubt his vorrd!" He moves closer, menacingly, ready to strike the strange.
Search Posts
Olaff frowns at the man's description of this morozko. "This is clearrly not trrue, since ve rreceive tien merrchants in my land that have crrossed this trrail."
To Olaff, the man's words seem honest enough, but with Ahreni's warning, he remains guarded for now.
Olaff follows in silence, wondering if they too will be invited to join their caravan.
Olaff cheers once his arrow kills the creature and then approaches as the beast falls into the ground. He then draws his sword and severs its draconic head. "Ha, this vill make a fine trrophy!" Once the others are taken care, Olaff joins in the attempt to free Koya's wagon, even asking Helgarval to breath fire from time to time to help with the process.
Olaff continues to send arrows towards the creature, his attacks far less potent than Shalelu's.
Once freed, Olaff moves to grab his longbow and shoots at the creature.
At first, Olaff doesn't know what to do once he is engulfed and trapped in the snow. He tries to moves his arms and legs, but the weight of snow is really incredible. Luckily to him, he hears the voice of Helgarval. "Stop moving your head, Olaff. I'll help you." Olaff feels the front of his helm heating up a bit and soon after he can see flames leaping in front of his face and bursting forward.
Knowing he isn't good with the animals, Olaff feels powerless at the situation. Know it would be stupid to risk his life, he seeks shelter.
Knowing he is not good with animals, Olaff runs towards Thanara's wagon in order to make sure Ahreni is free and able to help.
Olaff shakes his head at Thanara's demand, but doesn't say anything about it. Instead, he offers his support to Ameiko. "Ameiko, ye arre shovin' visdom and I trrust ye know vhat ye arre doin'. I vill accept and supporrt any decision ye make."
"You did well, Olaff, and I'm proud of you." A voice comes from the log Olaff was sit before, and Olaff notices his "helm", Helgarval. With his burnt hand, Olaff grabs a handful of snow, which alleviates the pain just a bit, before tossing it on the angel, mocking his praise. "Ye did vell, Olaff... my frreakin' ass I did." Once he gets his stuff, Thanara is already gone. He then heads towards Relisha for some help. In truth, he thought it actually went well.
Caught by surprise, Olaff loses its balance and falls. In reflex, he tries to stop the fall, accidentally shoving his left hand on the embers of the fire. "Holy crrap!" He yells as he rolls, his hand red and burnt. "Frreakin' gods... this is a terrible vay of sending omens!"
Without thinking properly, Olaff embraces Thanara and kisses her back... but after a couple seconds he gently pulls his head back. "Ve can't do this yet."
Olaff is momentarily disarmed and can't stop himself from wrapping his arms around Thanara as well. "I know it and it vas not yerr fault. I vasn't mine eitherr... ye vanted a differrent verrsion o' me as much as I vanted a differrent verrsion o' ye. It vould neverr vorrk." He wanted to add that it would never work, but surprisingly he couldn't. "People die. It sucks, but it is trrue, no matterr how ve trrie to prrotect them. I have lost the numberr o' frriends I've lost and it neverr get easierr." "Ye arre allowed to be scarred. Ve all do... vhat ye can't do is to let the fearr parralyze ye. I do not know o' yerr wyrd, but ye should know that ye arre not shackled to it, no matterr vhat that vitch o' yerrs says." He adds, showing more bitterness and concern in the end.
Olaff doesn't move from his position. "Ye arre in pain, but I can't comforrt ye. I'm not good at it and honestly I do not vant to." "Ye burrnt a lot o' brridges and now find yerrself on the otherr side o' the chasm... if ye arre rreally sorry, betterr to starrt rrepairrin' them back. I von't do it forr ye." He simply says.
Olaff remains silent for a couple seconds, inspecting her. His posture is not the relaxed one he adopts when sitting around with Sandru and the others, but instead a tense one, as if he was facing a stranger. It pains him to see Thanara in that state, considering what he once felt for her, but this is a feeling he is doing whatever he can to smother now. "Night." He then points to the fire where the other ulfen are. "Rrognarr is therre..."
Olaff storms into the caravan livid with anger, saying nothing to anyone and moving towards Sandru. He shoves his torch towards him. "She is back therre. Ye can follow my steps in the snow. I'm done." He wants nothing more to grab a bottle of liquor and drink into oblivion, but then realises that even that was denied to him, since he doesn't trust half of the caravan anymore and can't risk getting drunk.
The Olaff of the past would probably grab his sword and attack Ahreni during her shift. Instead, Olaff gets up approaches Ahreni, livid in anger. "YERR FURRRY A$!&*#+ I DO! I must be f*%+in' currsed! F**$IN' CURRSED! Ye killed a voman in cold blood and rrun avay. I, the stuppidiest man alive, decide to follow ye in the darrk to help ye and now ye decide to pull this f++&in' s%!+ at me! VHY? F~&*IN' VHY? Is it fun to ye?" He then turns around and grabs his torch. "Ye know vhat? F*&$ YE." Turning his back to Ahreni, Olaff starts to return to the caravan. "I'm honestly, f$!+in', frreakin' tirred o' this s++!. I'm done trryin' to help. I'm done trryin' to underrstant ye all. Do vhateverr ye vant. I do not underrstand, but again, honestly, I don't give a s+&@. Come back, orr do not."
"I do not know if she vas that evil, and now ve vill neverr know... perrhaps ye arre rright, but..." Olaff looks confused, only knowing that he probably isn't the right person to be talking with Ahreni. He half expected that she would just run from him. "Forr Gorrum, this is difficult. I honestly do not give a farrt forr Savah's death to be honest, but I do carre about ye, girrl." "The otherrs vill be pissed Ahrreni. Rrelisha has a hearrt too good, vithout considerring how sacrred she considerrs life itself. Thanarra vill not forrgive ye forr a long time, if everr." "Can ye see how difficult if vill be forr us be a pack again?"
Olaff approaches carefully, as if she was a regular wolf and could bolt in the darkness at any moment. He rests his torch nearly to free his hands but makes no gesture towards drawing his sword or anything like that. Instead, he sits on a nearby rock. "Oh, Ahrreni... this vill not be easy... Savah vas a bully and an a%@++$~, but that vas no rreason forr herr to die. Vhy ye did it?"
Olaff looks for a torch before following Ahreni's tracks in the snow. "I'll look forr herr." He then leaves the caravan behind before calling for Ahreni. "Girrrlll! Come back! Let's talk!"
"F%+~! I hate to be rright!" Olaff curses as he runs towards the confusion and then jumping towards Ahreni, trying to tackle her away from Savah.
Olaff nods to Relisha and as he is about to move away, he notices Ahreni caressing Thanara and then following her towards Savah. He shakes his head. "That vill not end vell, and this time I know frrom perrsonal experrience..."
Olaff nods to Sandru and walks away, waiting for a moment where he could talk with Relisha. When the opportunity arises, he moves towards her, trying to not look too much suspicious. "Rrelisha... Me and Sandrru arre vorried. As ye can see, Thanarra is not the same since she rreturrned and ve arre vorried about herr intentions. Rright now, most o' the carravan arre loyal only to herr, most o' them varriorrs, and she seems to be eagerr to buy yet morre crreaturres into herr serrvice." He sighs and shakes his head. "I do not speak this o' hatrred, orr anything, and do not vant to cause furrtherr a divide betveen herr and the rrest o' the orriginal carravan, but I do vorry. Please, talk to Ameiko and keep yerr eyes opened forr anything strrangerr."
Olaff remains silent during the negotiations, not happy with the prospect of having a frost giant following them, one of his people most frequent enemies. He is specially worried that the giant would be under Thanara's orders, which adding to her ulfen mercenaries, meant she could try to take control of the caravan. Once it feels safe, Olaff moves towards where Sandru is, taking care to speak with him when none connected to Thanara could listen. "Cousin... I'm vorried. I'm cerrtain ye noticed Thanarra has morre than half o' the carravan underr her pay, and all arre varriorrs. I do not trrust herr anymorre... do ye think she vill be a prroblem?"
Olaff frowns, half annoyed and half having some fun. "Hey, I varrned ye soon enough, as ye arre still vith yerr clothes... I could have said something earrlierr, surre, but ye verre so fast vith the negotiation that I thought ye knew!" He then shrugs, measuring the giant and imagining how hard would be fighting him. "Rällingerr is just dance, but it is cerrtainly possible this giant might vant somethin' morre afterrvarrds." He looks at the giant and then at his own arm, nodding. "Yeah... let's just fight him... he must have a huge cock, prrobably the size o' my arrm. I don't vant this burrnt in my mind and novherre nearr ye all."
The girls agree too much fast to the giant's request, which leads Olaff to imagine they knew what Rällingerr was, but when Relisha keeps asking about the music, he decides to check if they really know. "Hum... Rrelisha... vhy arre ye so concerrned vith the music? I thought ye vould not agrree to a Rällingerr despite the music..." Noticing she is still a bit confusing. "Rällingerr is no music, but dance... the one done between marrried couples, vherre the voman will take off theirr clothes piece by piece? I must confess that I had not thought ye to be so bold, Rrelisha!"
Olaff nods to the others. "Ve cerrtainly could." He says as he readies his shield and starts to walk forward towards the creature, though making sure to let Ahreni scout it. "Do any o' ye speak the language o' giants?"
While certainly tired, Olaff encourages the others in moving the wagons and animals into a safer position so they can rest. He'd prefer to rest on a more sheltered place, but he was confident that if such place existed Ulf would have led them there.
Olaff climbs over a nearby rock, trying to see as far as he can in order to better guide the caravan, pointing to the others the direction to follow. He then climbs down, inspecting the wheels and junctions, making sure nothing will break. Taking advantage of his military training, he encourages the others, treating them as they were soldiers under his charge and then finally joins Ahreni ahead of the caravan, looking for dangers.
Olaff looks around, trying to identify any hazards in their path.
Olaff spends the following days watching Thanara from a distance, trying to figure out how far gone in madness and evilness she is, as well as watching Varla for any more open uses of dark magic. He avoids any of his kin that can't see the problem with Thanara and spends his time with the original members of the carvan, specially Sandru and Ahreni. As they reach the village, Olaff renews his stock of alcohol and makes sure his clothing are good enough. Once the temperature drops, Olaff does whatever he can to help the animals and the other members of the caravan.
Olaff was shocked about the change in Thanara, turning her back to friend after friend, blaming them for her own change. He draws his sword and moves forward towards the drake, but commends at Thanara's provocation. "Ye arre lucky ye vas borrn rrich... forr it looks like in no time, only those at yerr side vill be those underr yerr gold." Olaff then quickly dispatches the drake, doesn't lowering his guard even if Thanara had commanded the thing not to fight. She was a dangerous stranger to him, not worthy of his trust.
"Ye could have destrroyed the scrroll, which vould be betterr than this. Look arround ye, Thanarra, since yerr eyes arre so open now... can ye see how everryone is affraid?" He points to everyone of the older companions. "I'm not speaking only forr myself, which opinion is so meaningless to ye, but frrom all o' yerr friends!" "If all o' us say ve don't vant this monsterr, vill ye let me destrroy it, orr vill ye ignorre vhat ve think and do only vhat ye vant? Ye arre not petty, childish, and closed minded, arre ye?" Olaff asks once more, hoping the others will side with him.
"Have ye rrealized ye need to eat and sleep O' Smarrt One?" Olaff yells from the ground. "Let us know vhen ye two need to s+@$, so ve can coverr ourrselves frrom the flying turrds!"
GM:
"Vhat ye ask can't be done, Aunt. She doesn't listen to anyone but herrself... she neverr did. She did not listen vhen herr fatherr said she vas a monsterr, she did not listen vhen ve all told herr she vas not, she did not listen vhen ve told she vas a good perrson. She vill not listen now." Olaff says, distressed.
"She sees me as an unlearrned ignorrant, vhile she considerrs herrself to own the trruth. ve arre blind in herr eyes..." He then shakes his head. "I'll make no amends. She carres only forr herrself, she ignorres how ve feel about herr actions... I von't abandon herr, though. Vhen and if she sees how vrrong she is, I'll be therre to help herr, if it is not too late... if she does not, I'll be therre to stop herr." Once the undead drake and the witch returns, Olaff moves towards it, his shield in his back and his sword in his sheath. "I'll destrroy that thing. If any of you vant to stop me, do so now. I von't rresist, but ye'll have to keep me in chains forr the rremaining of the jourrney, forr if frreed, I'll take my shield and svorrd and destrroy it."
Olaff ignores Rognar's question and simply spits on the ground as he passes by, walking towards where Ahreni and Relisha are while keeping a looking on the sky for when the undead drake will return. On close to the sane girls, Olaff speaks somberly. "That vitch Thanarra brrought vith us... she vorrships darrk gods. Helgarrval can see the taint in herr." Olaff removes the helm so he can speak to the others without making his ears ringing. "It is the truth!" The angel voices his concern. "There is a dark aura around that woman... not a particular strong one, which means she is either an initiated of an Evil God or a powerful evil woman."
"Unprrovoked? Ye two rraised a dead beast!" Olaff opens his arms at Thanara's threat and laughs in despair. "Vhy vait? Do it now. DO IT! Ye say yerr eyes verre opened, but ye arre blind if ye think that ve arre safe vith that abomination!" He steps closer, his shield in his back, his sword still in his scabbard and his arms wide open. "Come on! Do yerr magic, zap me vith lightnin'! Do it now and see, vith yerr open eyes, vhat ye have become, for vhen that thing rreturrns, I'll fight and destrroy it, orr I'll die trrying. Vill ye let me destrroy it, orr vill ye make it attack me? If so, therre is no rreason forr ye to vait... go ahead, Thanarra, kill me!" Olaff then lowers his arms and head, defeat and more broken than ever in his life. "Kill me and sparre me to see vhat you'll become. The monsterr yerr fatherr said ye verre..."
Olaff falls but tries to get to Varla as she flies away. He draws a throwing axe but can't reach her in time, causing the axe or arch into the snow. He breathes heavily as he sees the drake flying away, trying to calm himself. He goes after his hammer, then sword and shield. He turns first to Rognar. "Jeg kæmper ikke med dig, broder ... men jeg skammer mig over, at du har beskyttet en heks. Vi ved begge, hvad de er i stand til ... vi har kæmpet mod Irrisen ... har du glemt, hvor mange gode venner vi har mistet? Så mange ... Jeg kan ikke håbe på at huske alle deres navne ..." Skald:
"I won't fight you, brother... but I'm ashamed you have protected a witch. We both know what they are capable of... we have fought against Irrisen... have you forgot about how many good friends we have lost? So many... I can't hope to remember all their names..." He then turns to Thanara as he moves towards the others. "This is the rroad to yourr grreat destiny? Darrk magic? Filthy vitchcrraft?" He then points to the undead dread, in the sky. "Vhen I die, rraise me as ye did to that thin', forr it is the only vay forr me to be at yerr side... It pains me to say, but I have failed and the voman I LOVED, have died in that forrt. Ve brrought back somethin' else, so go ahead and change yerr name once morre, Thanara Deathbrringerr..." As he reaches the others, Olaff looks for Relisha, Ahreni, then Ameiko, Koya, Sandru and even Savah. "Arre ye fine vith this? This disgustin' darrk magic? Have I lost my mind?"
Even without his weapon, Olaff is undeterred as he believes he can still crush the witch with his hands. He then shoves his way past Thanara and Rognar. "AHHHH, I'LL KILL'YE! VITCH! YE'LL NOT TAKE HERR!"
Olaff's eyes are fixed and vague on where the drake had fallen for a couple minutes, his thoughts completely lost, as if his mind was having difficulties to process what had happened. His posture was frozen in place, appearing that the frost breath had affected him the most. When the ulfen retreat to the caravan and Savah yells to them, Olaff snaps out of his denying mind. He looks at the "witch" with hatred, almost expecting her to change into the too familiar ogre-like creature that had killed Thanara and maimed Relisha. He steps forward as he drops his shield on the ground before charging with blind fury. "ARRRRGH! I'LL KILL'YE VITCH! YE'LL PAY FORR IT!"
"F+~&!" Olaff exclaims as he is showered with ice, his muscles becoming painfully hard to move. While he could try to shoot it with his longbow, Olaff remains armed with his shield and sword, ready to defend the animals if the drake decides to try its luck with them.
Olaff watches as Ahreni, Relisha and Thanara ready themselves for this battle without even flinching and feels proud of them as much have them changed from the frail and inexperienced girls he first met. Looking around as he readied his shield and drew his sword, he called to the others. "Prrotect the horrses! Ve have alrready lost one..." He then moves towards the drake, trying to figure out where it will attack.
As the whole disaster unfolks in front of him, Olaff moves towards the front of the wagon, drawing his sword in the proccess. Once in position, Olaff tries to cut whatever is tieing the lead animal to the wagon.
After the reading is done, Olaff can't stop himself from feeling nervous. "So, the futurre depends on me being silent? Stubborrn I am, but quiet?" He shakes his head, not feeling specially confident about the future.
Olaff's mood slowly improves as the days go on and he is able to talk with his kin. To his new companions it is obvious how much Olaff missed his people and when among themselves they always speak in Skald. He catches up on the news, share tales about more recent battles and slowly start to feel himself again, even getting closer to the ulfen shieldmaidens if they allow him.
Not willing to lose this opportunity, Olaff looks for a tavern to spend the night.
Olaff nods to Thanara, but the mention of this mysterious woman being a witch makes Olaff both worried and unconfortable. Thanara already had access to strange magic that he decided to overlook so far due to how he felt about her, but now she seems changed. He'd remain at her side for sure, but only time could tell if in the end he won't need to stop her... not all "great things" are good. In fact, most aren't. --- As Ulf mentions the name "Vyalldehun", Olaff shudders involuntarily. "Happy to see ye two arre not considerrin' to enterr that place, orr I'd have to strrap ye to yerr vagons. Vyalldehun vas an ancient linnorm o' grreat renown... and ye know vhat drragons arre famous besides theirr poverr and hoarrds? Currses."
"I'll be at yerr side as I have prromised, even if I have failed and got yerr killed... this Varrla ye arre talking about, who is she?" Olaff asks concerned. "Have she said anything about my own fate?"
Olaff's mood is still somber and knowing this could be his last chance of a proper drink, he was sure to enjoy it as much as he could.
Olaff has no words for a while after Rhada gives him the news of his dead son. He doesn't cry for the loss though, as losing something he was never sure of having was something strange. Thanara's voice bring Olaff out of his torpor. He looks at her, completely lost. "No, not a good evening at all... Asta vas telling the trruth. She had my child, a boy, but he is dead. My father, mother, my mentor and friend, Asta, my child... you, all died." "I've hearrd Gorrum's vorrds as they prromised blood. I thought it vas o' my enemies, but I vas mistaken..."
Olaff's eyes go wide when Rhada reveals the baby is a boy and that he was sick. "Is he still alive? Ve have found an... uh... a thing that could curre anythin' I guess. Ve can't save my child! Verre is him, Rrhada? Is he still in Trrolheim?"
|