Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 2

Mouth full of food, Radiance jams his helmet back on and sprints for the Humvee. He vaults over it drawing the shorter of his two blades as he does so. As he reaches the other side he stabs down at the creature. Aiming to draw blood or mark it so the others could have something to attack.

The two revolver shots loudly rang in the air and flew into the distance somewhere, hitting the snow a couple dozen meters away.

As Radiance tried to stab down at the creature, his sword cut through empty air without any resistance. The next second, an invisible force rammed into him, smashing him against the humvee and knocking the wind out of him completely.


The invisible beings were eerily silent. You couldn't hear their breath or their body movement. The only things giving them away, were the crunching of snow under their limbs and every time they made contact with something.



"Your weapons are no good!" A voice rang in alarm in Rains head "Just run! There's over two dozen approaching!"



Johan opened the door and dragged Radiance inside, before Kaylee smashed the gas pedal and the humvee rolled into motion.
Speeding down the snowy plains at 70 kilometers per hour, Kaylee kept throwing weary glances in the rear mirror.

You could see the grass begin to turn yellow and die, on the fields behind you, as countless footprints pursued the vehicle. Some of the trees on the edge of the plain began to wither as well.
This continued for several moments, before the footprints began to fall behind and finally vanished from view.


"...what the hell was that..." Kaylee slowly exhaled, looking down the road and wiping the sweat from her forehead with an armored glove.


"I was sure the gun shots and the sword would hit their bodies.." Johan looked back: "But its like.. there was nothing there..."

"For gods sake its like our weapons are comoletely fucking useless out here! Why bother even bringing them!" She says in frustration reaching in her ammo pouch and pulling out two rounds, she rotates the cylinder on her revolver and unloades the two shells before replacing them, "The guns dont bloody work. Our blades might as well be blunted! At least then we would break bones and cause pain! Even then that wouldn't work!" She shakes her head, "Next thing we meet we might as well not even bother." Her tone is boiling with frustration and anger towards their situations, "Sorry to use you as an example Squiggles but take them for an example! I basically shoved this revolver down your throat and it passed through perfectly! Not even a flinch!" She sighs, "We might as well be defenseless and armor dependant at this point."

"...humans were not meant to live on Nifelheim." the voice quietly said in Rains head: "You cannot physically harm us... not like this"

The humvee continued to roll down the snow plains, under the cover of night. A thick forest to your left, an endless plain to your right. Everything seemed eerily silent, as if spooked and in waiting, for something to pass.


An hour ticked by with nervous driving, before Kaylee leaned forward and squinted ahead:


"...guys... I think I see a settlement, a few kilometers ahead. Looks like the houses are made of stone or wood. A three meter tall wooden wall surrounds it. A large wooden gate, just in front..

This might be the village Kaznachey mentioned.." she briefly looked back at you, through the rear window:

"How do you wonna approach this?"

"Approach it in a friendly and well kept manner." She clears her throat, "We dont need to be suspicious. Some of these people know soren, we have some simple words in their language if we need them." She takes a deep breath holstering her revolver.

"And if Kaznachey's reaction to us was anything to go by, they will probably be familiar with us 'machine people' " Rogue adds, only just now having the opportunity to climb out of his sleeping bag in the back of the number after the rough ride, "Let's just hope they aren't the type to hold centuries-year old grudges..."

Kaylee nodded, then looked at the settlement in the distance:

"Should I.. slowly drive up to the gates?"

"Kaylee I know vehicles are forgine here but yes... please... drive up to the gates. We are to hold ourselfs with respectability and hold some sort of decorum. We are NOT hostile." She says slowly removing her hardsuit to make herself more presentable, "Twilight... Mist... Keep your sass at a minimum, hell even im going to be putting on a smile for this and you all know how much I hate interacting with anyone ever. We follow their rules unless it leads to us dying, which in that case we should probably drop the act and go on with our standard negotiation procedures which consists of arguing and belittling each other until the guards feel so bad for our little group that they end up leaving us to tear our throats out." She puts on a smile, "Now smile and wave princess."

A Sinner wrote:"Kaylee I know vehicles are forgine here but yes... please... drive up to the gates. We are to hold ourselfs with respectability and hold some sort of decorum. We are NOT hostile." She says slowly removing her hardsuit to make herself more presentable, "Twilight... Mist... Keep your sass at a minimum, hell even im going to be putting on a smile for this and you all know how much I hate interacting with anyone ever. We follow their rules unless it leads to us dying, which in that case we should probably drop the act and go on with our standard negotiation procedures which consists of arguing and belittling each other until the guards feel so bad for our little group that they end up leaving us to tear our throats out." She puts on a smile, "Now smile and wave princess."

"Well I agree with the charm tactics, and i'd like to add that weapons should not be visible, but I have to disagree on the transport front" Rogue says "I think it would be more advisable to park up abou maybe fifty metres away and then walk to the gate.

They aren't familiar with cars, so depending on their level of sophistication, we don't know whether they might mistake it for a wild beast charging at them, and as we've already seen ourselves, there're plenty of those in the surrounding woodland for them to be wary of.

They might decide to attack first and ask questions later, especially if communication proves difficult due to our only basic grasp of their language, and no there's guarantee that anyone in the village will speak Soren."

"Hmmm, it could be that Kaznachey was an exception to the rule, given his profession. We should proceed with caution, they may not be as tolerant with us "machine people" as we hope." Twilight says.

"On the other hand..." She says pondering. "If their ancestors were all from out world, we may actually be well-known. And if Zoy is there, we'd definitely be in the clear."

She then looks back. She seems to wonder about something. "These people survived... What have they learned here?"

Kaylee seems to be thinking, watching the settlement in the distance:

"What's our final plan? Leave the humvee behind or slowly drive toward the gates?
Should we keep the hard suits on, or remove them entirely?"


"..the suits and the humvee provide a level of protection" Johan said, thinking: "But it may also spook them"

Kaylee Brown wrote:Kaylee seems to be thinking, watching the settlement in the distance:

"What's our final plan? Leave the humvee behind or slowly drive toward the gates?
Should we keep the hard suits on, or remove them entirely?"


"..the suits and the humvee provide a level of protection" Johan said, thinking: "But it may also spook them"

"And as Rain so delicately put, they're also pretty much useless here" Rogue adds "I'd go without them."

"I'd say we leave the humvee behind, but keep the suits." Twilight says.

"Depending on their hospitality, we may be able to play up the angle of confused displaced strangers."

"I agree with leaving the humvee behind. Might be a good idea to leave the majority of our weapons back as well. They're useless at this point but they don't know that. A large group armed to the teeth walking up to a settlement is not a good first impression."

Radiance unshoulders both of his blades and sets them down.

"I still say we keep our suits on. They might not be of any use against the air here but they do provide some physical protection."

Rain sighs, "My suits been breached so its not like it matters much, i prefer to be able to use my wings." She pulls off the rest of her gear setting it to the side, all apart from her ammo pouch and she stuffs her revolver into her waistband, "At least we can slow something down if we're rushed." She sighs as she steps out of the vehicle.

"Okay, lets do this" Kaylee quietly said, turning off the cars engine.

Stepping out of the vehicle, you begin a slow approach toward the settlement up ahead. Kaylee and Johan kept their suits on, but left the helmets off.
On foot, the journey took several minutes. As you begin to near the wooden wall, you notice the main gate was wide open.

On the other side, you can see many stone and wooden houses, with a few dozen people walking around. Further inside, was a large lake, with several fishermen grouped by its edge. You can see a few campfires and hear idle chatter.

It seems like a nice, cozy village. Some of the houses decorated with beautiful carvings on nature on their wooden walls.


As you approach the main entrance, no one seems to have noticed you yet.

Kaylee wearily looked around, then asked: "...so far so good... should we walk inside?"

"Where are the guards?.. I don't see any weapons or men in distinct uniforms.." Johan wearily said: "Everyone is just wearing plain winter clothes"

"It's a nice place. The peace of it reminds me of Ponyville."

She looks around, with her helmet off. She then turns to the group.

"Do we approach someone?"

"I think we should take the "Firewing Approach" we have storys and we should make ourselfs friendly and at home among the townsfolk... also we should find the nearest bar, I would like to know what this place passes for alchohol." She takes a deep breath and slowly steps in and smiles, "It is a comfy little town isn't it twi."

As you walk into the village, at first everything seemed fine. Until one of the villagers noticed you.

He froze exactly where he stood, a basket of groceries he held in his hands, slowly fell to the ground, scattering some sort of fruit everywhere. The man turned pale, beginning to suffocate and backpedal away from you, as his face began twisting in terror.


He bumped into another villager, who asked him something in an unfamiliar language. Following the sight of his comrade, the other villager froze up as well.


"MACHINAAAAAAAAAAH!!! MACHINAH PAVIPADALYYYYY!!!!" one of them shrieked at the top of his lungs, pointing his shaking hand at you and trembling in horror.


The village went silent in seconds, as every soul on the streets turned in your direction and froze in their tracks. The feeling of uncontrollable terror was palpable.
A deafening silence lasted for several, painfully long seconds, before the entire village was filled with horrified shrieks and every single person in sight, broke into a mad sprint away from you, as if death itself was on their heels.


People were dropping their belongings, running out of their homes, grabbing their children and sprinting away from you, to the other side of the village, where another similar gate was in sight.
The entire village was running away, the brief glances they threw at you, showed only horror, as they looked at you and the hard suits.

Radiance brings his palm up to the faceplate of his helmet with a loud thunk then lowers his head. Even with the helmet covering his face the 'I'm about done with this shit' expression underneath is clearly there.

In Nyx: "I hate this place so much" he sighs under his breath

"... I guess that makes my plan a dud." Twilight says dryly.

"Do we try to patch things up or try the next village?"

Rain sighs and her ears perk at radiance speaking the nyxian language, she replys in the same language, "You aren't the only one." She gives out a gentle but clearly annoyed laugh before returning to the soran language, "ok... well... that worked wonders." She shakes her head, "I told you bringing the hardsuits was a bad idea." She trys to communicate with the little knowlage of their language she knows, "Hello! Im Rain Runner!" The language comes out broken but somewhat comprehensable.

With a glance back at the group she frowns, "This isn't working."

"I say we leave a trail of good in our path... its better then the bad rep we already have mabye we can... clean this place up a little? Knock on some doors... or raid the bar i like that idea."

Mist shook her head and pulled off her helmet, growling. "I am done with this helmet. I can't hear anything properly, I can't tell what could be sneaking up on me. Whatever alien thing infects me can bring it on. It's claustrophobic in there. And I don't think the suits are doing us any favours with the locals."

She looked around at the village, closing her eyes for a moment. Now with her senses unobstructed, she could focus on her surroundings, on how everything felt and smelled and sounded like.

The village smelled of freshly baked bread and fish. The sound of fleeing villagers was loudly echoing at the edge of your hearing.


Kaylee was about to say something but stopped, as a red spark of light suddenly flew into the sky, from amidst one of the houses.

"What is that?.." Johan asked, squinting.

"Dunno.. almost looks like a flare" Kaylee said, thinking.


The red spark shot high into the sky, dozens of meters into the air, until it suddenly exploded, manifesting into a transparent pony skull, massive in size. The red skull slowly opened its jaw and began to silently hover over the village.

It was extremely bright. In this thick darkness that coated the plains, it probably shined bright enough to be noticed for miles.




"Umm.. " Johan took a small step back: "..I don't like where this is going"



A large arrow suddenly whizzed just past Radiances head, missing him by sheer inches. The speed and force behind the arrow, made it fly hard into the wooden fence, getting stuck deep in its surface.


"THAT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT! AND NEITHER WILL BE THE NEXT ONE THAT GOES INTO YOUR HEAD! NOW TURN AROUND AND LEAVE!" a hoarse female voice shrieked at the top of its lungs, from somewhere above.
She spoke Soren with a heavy accent, but you could understand her.



As you look up to the source of the voice, you notice about a dozen figures standing atop the wooden houses of the village. They all had bows and all had arrows aimed at you. Their clothes were plain, no armor. Just some winter furs.

In the middle of them, stood a figure in snow white plate armor. A white helmet with wings atop her head.

In her hand, burned a green fire rapier, its flames licking her palm but doing no visible harm.



The village was all but deserted now. Only you and the figures on rooftops remained. Everyone else had fled beyond the walls in a hurry, leaving behind their belongings, scattered over the streets.



"GO BACK TO YOUR WORLD - NOW!" the woman in armor shrieked at you in palpable anger.
The dozen or so figures around her looked tense, watching your every move and aiming their arrows at your heads.

Rain calls up to the woman, "HOLD YOURSELF!" she calls stepping up, "WE AREN'T HERE TO HARM ANYBODY!" she raises her hands up, "We aren't here to take or destroy or anything of that nature..." she glares, "...Witchers right? I assume you protect this place from whatever is out there. You speak our language so clearly you have met our kind before! Can we at least TRY to talk!"