Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 2

Radiance wrote:You notice the blindfold covers more area than it should. Single strip would do fine. You also take note that the material is not standard hospital bandage. It looks softer.

Radiance turns to Rain.

“When I was facing my Glysteria I was able to see for a bit. If it wasn't for his choice of scene then things may be different right now. But it was the after effect that made me realise I have no desire to see.

It was like someone handed me a pallet of unmarked paints and asked me to paint a sunrise. Colours don't make sense to me and with the world ending every year learning something like that isn't worth my time.

While I really do appreciate the offer. At this point in my life I consider my lack of sight a part of who I am.”

Radiance chuckles after a moment. There's something dry and bitter about it.

“Plus the last time someone stuck something in my head I was mind controlled. So it's also a matter that I don't trust cybernetics that are near or directly attached to my brain.”

"I have heard of incidents where hackers have altered the software controlling cybernetic eyes, so that if they detect a certain barcode they instead display nothing. Wearing one of the barcodes as a badge on your clothes made you practically invisible..." Rogue mentions.

After Twilight nodded, Tim visibly relaxed. As if a great weight has been lifted from his shoulders. That or the new coat finally got him warm enough to stop shivering.


"Twilight, perhaps we should set up a small camp out here" Johan said, looking around:
"If we absolutely can't have Tim wandering into the village, we could try to get comfortable out here. Ursula won't be back for another six, maybe seven hours. Its a long time to just be standing aroud" He nodded and trotted back to the village.





"...a barcode badge... making a person invisible to cybernetic eyes.." Kaylee repeated, staring at Rogue:
"..wicked.." she smiled a bit, the idea seemingly giving her a lot of food for thought.


Johan came charging in after a moment, already out of breath. Stoping next to you, he doubled over for a few seconds, then waved to Rogue, Kaylee, Mist, Rain and Radiance, signalling everyone to gather round:


"...guys.. I think we stumbled onto something big.. or something big stumbled onto us" He began, trying to slow down his breathing:

"Tim.. is some kind of scholar.. I think. Whatever he found in his research in the libraries.. made him believe that humans were not the first to be exiled here. The implications of this.. are..."


He looked at you: "Where ever he wants us to go, we shouldn't rush there unprepared, at half strength.
Waiting for Ursula is probably the safest option. She should be back within six, seven hours. We could set up another temporary camp for Tim, outside the village and wait for Ursulas arrival there"


Kaylee began smiling all of a sudden and energetically nodding. You get the feeling she really wants to go as well.

Kaylee Brown wrote:After Twilight nodded, Tim visibly relaxed. As if a great weight has been lifted from his shoulders. That or the new coat finally got him warm enough to stop shivering.


"Twilight, perhaps we should set up a small camp out here" Johan said, looking around:
"If we absolutely can't have Tim wandering into the village, we could try to get comfortable out here. Ursula won't be back for another six, maybe seven hours. Its a long time to just be standing aroud" He nodded and trotted back to the village.





"...a barcode badge... making a person invisible to cybernetic eyes.." Kaylee repeated, staring at Rogue:
"..wicked.." she smiled a bit, the idea seemingly giving her a lot of food for thought.


Johan came charging in after a moment, already out of breath. Stoping next to you, he doubled over for a few seconds, then waved to Rogue, Kaylee, Mist, Rain and Radiance, signalling everyone to gather round:


"...guys.. I think we stumbled onto something big.. or something big stumbled onto us" He began, trying to slow down his breathing:

"Tim.. is some kind of scholar..  I think. Whatever he found in his research in the libraries.. made him believe that humans were not the first to be exiled here. The implications of this.. are..."


He looked at you: "Where ever he wants us to go, we shouldn't rush there unprepared, at half strength.
Waiting for Ursula is probably the safest option. She should be back within six, seven hours. We could set up another temporary camp for Tim, outside the village and wait for Ursulas arrival there"


Kaylee began smiling all of a sudden and energetically nodding. You get the feeling she really wants to go as well.

"So it's not urgent then? That's a relief, having Ursula around would be advantageous" Rogue nods to Johan.

“I’d prefer to head out now, but I have to agree with the wisdom in waiting,” Radiance scratches the back of his head. Seeming to be in momentary internal thought.

“We do need to keep a careful eye in Tim though. My gut’s telling me there is more to him than meets the eye.”

Radiance wrote:“I’d prefer to head out now, but I have to agree with the wisdom in waiting,” Radiance scratches the back of his head. Seeming to be in momentary internal thought.

“We do need to keep a careful eye in Tim though. My gut’s telling me there is more to him than meets the eye.”

"It would be useful if we could set up another bubble, seperate from the village's one, then we could put him in it to hide him from outsiders whilst still protecting the settlement from him just in case, I wonder how they produce the field?" Rogue wonders.

//Hey everyone, sorry for the inactivity lately, the new job got a bit overwhelming again >.<
The pressure at work is slowly dropping though, should be back to regular posting soonish.
Sorry again

Take care everyone, stay safe and have a good week =)





In the next couple of hours, Johan had hastily set up a small tent on the outskirts of the village. Lighting up a campfire remained a topic for discussion as Kaylee kept worrying that the smoke would be visible in the distance and could give away the villages approximate position.

In the end Tim politely waved off the idea, assuring that the tent and his new winter coat was enough to keep him warm.
Johan and Kaylee both slowly moved in to Tim's temporary camp site and after a while proposed to return to practicing the Nifel language. After a few minutes with the books, they began reaching out to Tim for help.


The tiny cat spirits never revealed themselves to Tim. They remained just inside the villages protective barrier, floating on its outskirts and slowly growing in number, as they watched Tim from afar with a vigilant, frowny gaze.

Upon inquiry, one of the spirits tried to explain how their villages magic worked. You couldn't quite catch everything it said, but you were sure that setting up this type of barrier took a serious amount of time and dedication.



The sky was being painted with orange colors of an early evening, when you heard a ruckus in the distance. Ursula had finally returned, with eight giant foxes in tow and a two Witcher escort, seemingly following her from the stronghold.

Ursula gave you a confused look, when she noticed everyone camping a few meters outside the village, but before you could properly explain what transpired, Tim launched into another lengthy monologue.



He seemed to have recognized Ursula right away, you got that feeling for some reason. He began speaking directly to her, even though two other, senior Witchers were present. Tim seemed excited, articulating with both of his hands as his story went on. Ursula only awkwardly smiled and nodded, she didn't seem like she knew Tim from before.


After the man had finally ran out of breath, Ursula thought for a moment and nodded to her Witcher escorts. The senior Witchers nodded, turned around and galloped back to the stronghold, atop their giant foxes.





"...he's an archeologist" Ursula finally said on Soren, jumping down from her fox and coming closer to you:
"Tim's research focuses on extinct civilizations that lived here Nifelheim, before humans ever arrived. Mister Lemeshev believes he found evidence that one such civilization, that until now, was believed to be native to Nifelheim, actually arrived here, just like us.
He believes they were Exiled here, like us.

Some ancient texts he found in Rakshata's library, reference a hidden 'Base' of a Precursor Civilization, not far from here. Its not marked on any of our maps, so we might actually be the first ones to set foot in there, ever since its original owners passed away"



Ursula looked at Tim, then at you again, before examining the temporary camp site:
"..you made a good call, keeping the village location a secret and waiting for me was the safest option"
She fixed you with a frown for a fleeting second:
"...if you had set off without me, I would've ended you by the way"



"Ahahahaaa..." Johan awkwardly laughed, trying to lower the tension: "So thaaat's what that word means... Archeologist means Drevra-Drev... dre-lalala-"

"Yes" Ursula sighed: "Drevraskopatel means Archeologist" she shook her head:
"Well, everyone seems lively. Atop our fox companions we could reach our destination within an hour. Nightfall won't set in for another 5 hours or so.
Shall we head out immediately? Exploring this Precursor Site could be a good way to get some field practice with your new weapons"

"Well, we all have our weapons now, so I guess we're good to go" Rogue replies to Ursula "Why were the two other Witchers here by the way?"

Rain raises her brow, "Please you couldn't kill all of us if you tried." Rains coughs quitely, "this cold is starting to drive me nuts lets bail" she rises to her feet and stretches. Twisting her back an audible pop can be heard before she makes her way up to Ursula, "Im joking of course, im sure your very formidable." She smiles and lets her tone take on a more serious note, "So have you found any evidence of past civilization before this point?"

"I've been ready to go for hours, let's get this thing moving" Radiance jumps to his feet. The uptempo in his movement is impossible to miss.

Twilight gets up and eats a vitamin, which she has done twice each day.

Count: 128

She goes to the fox, trying to get on.
"Not the first... But did they die or leave?"

"Its not safe to travel alone. Even for a Witcher" Ursula said, looking at Rogue: "Traveling in groups or at least in pairs raised the survival rates over the years. Even more when the Witchers specialize in different spells that can cover each others weaknesses. A well prepared spell list is a battle half won"



She looked at Rain and her expression became weary:
"Seriously, don't leave on missions without me. If something happened to you, I.." Ursula looked down.
When the silence became awkward, she shook her head and looked up:

"There is irrefutable evidence of at least one other civilization, that existed on Nifelheim.
We call them Precursors. The planet is filled with remains of their strongholds and tombs.

According to the chemical analysis of their remains, they went extinct, somewhere around 2500 years ago, long before humanity ever arrived here.

The parasites appear to be the cause of their extinction"


Ursula absentmindedly shuffled four of her giant wings. A few blue feathers flew towards Johans nose and he sneezed.


"We always believed the Precursors were native to Nifelheim" Ursula continued in thought:
"But it seems Mr. Lemeshev now believes they were exiled here, just like us."
Her expression changed into a mixture of grief and annoyance:

"..perhaps someone wished to imprison them here, hoping they would die.. and they did..
Humanity now faces the same destiny"


She looked up: "I also wish to explore this new Precursor site. Perhaps our fates are linked in more ways than we imagined"



Off to the side, Kaylee noticed Twilight taking a vitamin and excitedly tapped her on the shoulder:
"..oo, oo, gimme one"





As you started packing, the cat spirits almost seemed sad to see you go. They slowly waved to you with mournful expressions and quietly meowed from time to time, watching you with round, sad eyes.

The giant foxes waiting outside the village appeared to be the same ones you met before. Without emitting a sound they approached you without hesitation. You got the feeling they vividly remembered who exactly they rode with before and approached their old companion.

After everyone was settled, Ursula helped Tim climb atop the same fox she rode and emitted a sharp battle cry.
Tim pointed a vague direction and the foxes immediately broke into a sprint.




The wind ruffled your hair, as the foxes dodged trees and hopped among the massive roots, sticking out of the ground. After about 30 minutes of the non stop jumping, you began to feel really nauseous. Luckily the forest ended shortly there after.


The thick snowy tree branches above your head, gave way to a bright orange sky. The first few stars already began to shine through, together with three massive half moons.


Tim made a slight course correction and the foxes banked left. The snowy planes began to give way to a very thin brush. Small, rare bushes and trees, dispersed around large open areas.

After a few more minutes, the brush began showing signs of a swamp. More and more, you began noticing large puddles of some very viscous liquid. The land became very wet, with small clouds of steam bursting out of the ground here and there.

The temperature rose slightly as well, the snow melted here, giving way to water soaked grass.


The foxes slowed down, picking their footing more carefully, until after a few moments they slowed down to a walk.

One of the foxes wearily squeeled and reckoiled. It accidentally stuck its paw in one of the swamp puddles and it got briefly stuck there, making the fox step back and pull its paw out. The other foxes came to a stop as well.

Ursula gave Tim a questioning look and Tim pointed ahead, indicating that you should keep going.

// HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOON DUSTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                 

//Happy Birthday Moon!

//hope you have a better birthday then my next few days!

Speaking of the next few days

West michigan all day on thursday was blasted with ice storms that brought down tree limbs from ionia county to grand rapids. there are over 150 thousand people without power and no power means no heating and its only going to be getting colder even worse is that all these people are going to be without power until sunday or even monday. Sadly me and my mother were smacked with these storms and were left without power. Im lucky enough to have family nearby that have power even still its incredibly stressful. Words going around that we are going to get hit by another ice storm in the coming days. I may be inactive during this time.

Mabye not.

We'll just have to see.

//Sorry to hear that Fire. Stay safe and stay warm.

// happy birthday Moondust, and good luck Rain

"Is there some other way around? If we try to push on through this swamp, it'll slow us right down and leave us vulnerable to attack..." Rogue says to Ursula.

//Stay safe mate, try to hang in there. Keep us updated when you can. We're here if you need to talk to someone

Tim quietly said something to Ursula. She grimly nodded and looked at you:
"..its seems there's no avoiding it, Tim believes our destination lies within the swamp itself."

One of the foxes emitted a low howl and Ursula grimaced further:
"..we may have to continue further on foot.. the Hadedashi are growing restless, I don't know if they'll agree to proceed further over this land.."



In the depths of Twilights mind, Alyx made himself known by releasing a courtious cough:
"...a fellow scholar, how interesting... Twilight! This is an opportunity! Ask Tim something, something about the Castle City of Rakshata! About its library, its architecture, its ruling king.. oh how exciting"
Alyx sounds like he can't quite contain himself, firing off a hunder questions per minute, until his thoughts became completely jumbled and unintelligible.

"I would, but I might need some help with the language barrier first." Twilight answers him. "Unless you can fix that, it's not gonna advance much beyond awkward words. Once we know Nifel, it can be done."

She looks at the swamp, trying to discern if there are traversable paths visible.

"Mm.. maybe Ursula can translate" Alyx thought aloud.

As you examine the swamp, a few narrow paths can be seen among the viscous puddles. A giant fox may have trouble keeping its footing there.

The entire area was filled with a kind of green twilight, caused by weird gasses errupting out of the ground. The visibility was about 30 meters at most, everything beyond appeared as a green mist.

The trees were rare but relatively large, standing some 5 meters above ground.
It was quiet here, only the bubbling of the puddles could be heard.



Rolo emitted a quiet, unintelligible sound in Rogues head, it sound like he's growing weary.

(Wawou power! Warmth!)

Rain stares ahead in silence she slowly steps off her fox, "Stay safe big guy." She gently rubs the giant foxes neck before stepping onto the path, 'You ready Squiggles?' She bites her bottom lip in thought for a moment before perking her ears and gently flexing her huge wings, the sound of the feathers moving against each other breaks the silence, a few loose feathers fall to the ground, "Tim, Lead us." she says in the nifelhime language

//Good to hear you're doing better mate =)


The fox emitted a quiet bark in responce to Rain.
Tim began clumsily getting down as well. Upon setting foot on the ground, he slipped and with a panicked yelp began falling into the nearest viscous puddle.

Ursula's fox twisted its neck and nabbed Tim by his coats collar, stopping him just short of falling face first into the alien liquid. Tim weakly fumbled and released a few startled shrieks, until the fox pulled him back into a standing position.


Tim awkwardly said a few words of thanx, patting the fox on the side, before turning to face the swamp.
Taking a deep breath and mustering his courage, he began marching along one of the narrow paths. The foxes remained behind, watching you with concerned expressins and howling from time to time.



"Ooo, I've never been to a swamp before" Squiggles called: "Too bad I'm not in my spider form. I'd run around here like crazy if I did." he began humming a tuneless song. Apart from his voice, the swamp seemed quiet.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Mm.. maybe Ursula can translate" Alyx thought aloud.

As you examine the swamp, a few narrow paths can be seen among the viscous puddles. A giant fox may have trouble keeping its footing there.

The entire area was filled with a kind of green twilight, caused by weird gasses errupting out of the ground. The visibility was about 30 meters at most, everything beyond appeared as a green mist.

The trees were rare but relatively large, standing some 5 meters above ground.
It was quiet here, only the bubbling of the puddles could be heard.



Rolo emitted a quiet, unintelligible sound in Rogues head, it sound like he's growing weary.

"You okay?" Rogue asks Rolo "Hopefully it won't be too long before we find whatever it is that's out there."

With a light pat on the side of the neck in thanks, Radiance hops off his mount. He takes a moment to listen and take in the sound of the area. Particularly listening for any bubbling in the swamp that may indicate something laying in ambush.

"..I don't like this place.. its creepy.." Rolo quietly said: "..visibility isn't so good.. we should leave soon.." you felt him shiver, inside the depths of your mind.

Listening to the ambient sounds of the swamp, you only hear a faint bubbling in the puddles, the quiet hiss of the escaping gasses from the ground and an occasional croaking sound of small, unseen creatures, that lurked somewhere nearby.


Tim began leading you through the narrow, slippery paths of the swamp. Wet grass faintly creaked under your feet, slowly turning your boots wet. The earth was very soft, threatening to give way at any moment and make you slip into the nearest viscous puddle.

For about 10 minutes you walked. Everything looks the same in the surrounding area, you're not sure how Tim knew where to go. The foxes had faded from view behind you a long time ago, even their voices no longer reached you.



A small frown was beginning to form on Ursula's forehead, the longer you walked, until she quietly called:
"Tim.. are you sure this is the path" she asked in Nifel.

"Miss Diana, I assure you.." Tim looked over his shoulder and calmingly smiled: "I've traveled this path before... I memorized the small sings.. vividly"


Ursula frowned further but said nothing. After a few moments, she called again:
"...Tim... how did you know that name... when I first met you, I called myself Ursula... I never mentioned my second name.."

"..oh.. you didn't?" Tim looked back again in confusion: "I must have heard one of the villagers mention it and recognized you by description. Diana, the Archangel of Beauclair, was it? The only one with four wings.."

"..right" Ursula nodded after a moment. She slowly stopped frowning and looked ahead.
















A bright flash of red light suddenly flew over the tree line, some 500 meters away. It darted vertically into the sky and abruptly exploded into a ghostly image of a pony's skull with burning eyes, and a Witchers sword running right through it.


"Son of a bitch!" Tim hissed in Nifel and immediately broke into a mad sprint, darting towards the nearest large tree.

"Hey! Where you going!?" Ursula screamed out, as he ran.


"What the hell is that" Kaylee called, staring at the ghostly image in the distance.

"Signal Flare.." Ursula quietly said, her expression turning into a scowl.

"..What does.. what does it mean.. I can't.. recall this sign.." Johan quietly exhaled.


"This one is a Warning Flare. It means-" Ursula bared her teeth: "-Rogue Witcher!"



And then a massive burning arrow, flew out of the nearest brush and impaled Ursula through the chest. Her chest plate cracked immediately. She emitted a quiet, startled yelp, her eyes wide open from shock and pain.
Her body was sent flying a few meters backward, until she was pinned against a massive tree.



Out of the brush, further ahead, slowly walked out a man in dark plate armor. He was seemingly unarmed. His eyes burned with a bright green flame and he smiled, actually smiled when he looked at you.

He stood right in the open, arms spread, some 10 meters away and his smile grew crazed:

"Come at me" he spoke in clear Soren.