Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 2

"Everybody down, take cover where you can!" Rogue shouts to the others, kneeling down, "Whatever you do don't draw your weapons yet, we'd just be playing into his game, keep them up your sleeves! Rain, Johan, see to Ursula, move her out of the firing line If you can!"

"If you want us to come at you as you ask, you better have a damn good reason. Whoever you are, you just shot our colleague without warning or provocation. Now where I come from, that is considered the height of bad taste" Rogue calls out to the rogue Witcher, "I demand context, preferably with diagrams and footnotes, none of that abridged nonsense."

"An arrow?" Twilight muses to herself. "Hmmm, let's see here..."

She spoke louder now. "Ursula will live through that attack, it may have taken some points. Rogue, if you see a moment he's distracted, scan him. Informs us and we change tactics based on that."

She looks at the assailant. "He seems confident in his abilities, who knows what he's hiding."

"Are you sure this coarse of action is wise?" Radiance calls out to the Witcher as he ducks behind a tree. His hand hovers over his holstered taser. "They way I see it we can either fight and end up with one or all of us dead or we can have a conversation like actual humans. "

Rain reaches one hand for her daughter and the other for her gun. She keeps a hand on her hip ready to draw on him and fire a shot should he make an attack on her team. She pulls ursula back into cover and draws her revolver fully from there, "Buddy! You best start talking or I got something with your name on it." She snarles at the Rouge. She pulls the hammer back on her revolver and begins casting her armor spell in AOE if possible.

// Rain, I hope that's the rogue Witcher you're aiming at, and not me

"I already cast Scan today, on Tim. I don't think I can do it again until tomorrow" Rogue replies to Twilight.

"Was that the only spell you casted today?" She asks. "If so, you can cast another charge."

Kaylee ducked low and dived behind the nearest bush. Johan rushed towards Ursula, helping Rain drag her behind the cover of the tree. The arrow dissipated, leaving behind a rapidly regenerating wound.
Ursula tried to say something but only a raspy whisper came out. She was having trouble breathing, taking small, shallow breaths.

"Rain, we can't cast AOE!" Squiggles desperately called:
"Its a level 2 spell, we don't possess that knowledge yet!"


A series of dancing, yellow lights enveloped Rain's body. A loud crack filled the air and a set of armored plates materialized just over Rain's clothing. Shoulder pads, arm guards, a large vest, leg guards and a helmet. The armor was transparent and glowed bright yellow, casting shadows across the twilight of the swamp.

It reminded you of the tradition samurai armor, that was typically worn during the 15 century. The armor plates were not connected to each other by any form of fabric and they seemingly hovered a few millimeters above Rain's clothing, but they remained in a fixed position and followed her movements to perfection.

A yellow, transparent set that hovered just over her and encased her in a protective layer of armor.

(Rain gains +2 HP, total: 13 HP)





The man in dark plate armor smirked, drilling you with his burning green eyes. Something was odd about the air around him. Now and again, you noticed a very faint shimmer, in the shape of a sphere, just over his body, as if he was encased in an invisible ball:

"...my reasons are my own" he called, extending his hand, and a giant burning war hammer materialized at his fingertips:

"And you just missed your chance" he spinned the war hammer in his hands, taking and offensive position:

"...my turn... HAAAAAAAAA!!!" he released a deafening battle cry and charge right at you, moving impressively fast, considering the amount of heavy armor he was encased in. The size of his war hammer sent a small chill down your spine as he swung it through the air and sprinted towards you, preparing to bring down his weapon on Twilight.





Another massive, burning arrow suddenly shot out of the same bush.
It whistled passed you and impaled Kaylee just below the knee, knocking her off her feet and sending help tumbling across the ground. Her piercing shriek turned your blood cold.





Radiance suddenly heard footsteps behind him and another tall man slowly walked out from behind a tree, cutting off the path you used to get here.
This one was wearing very light looking, leather armor. His eyes burned blue and he carries himself so casually, it seemed he was out for an evening stroll:

"...combat IS a form of conversation.." he quietly said with a smirk: "You can learn a great deal by fighting someone.."
His Soren was near flawless, but a trace of a Nifelheim accent still showed.

This man stopped, when he reached the point in the path, where he blocked your retreat completely.


A sly smirk danced over his lips as he clapped his hands together:

"...Mitosis" he calmly said, his chest jerked forward and 4 parasites suddenly burst right out of his body. Four, spider looking, transparent creatures that shined a bright red. They emitted a blood curling shriek and darted right at you, wildly swinging their limbs.


They were going for Radiance, Rogue, Kaylee and Rain.

The man in leather armor licked his lips and summoned a burning katana into the palm of his hand. The parasites that burst right out of his body had seemingly left no effect on him. He stood his ground, smirking and firmly cutting off your retreat.



"How many Rogue Witchers are there?!" Johan screamed out in panic, just as the parasites began closing in.

Radiance summons his long sword to his right hand then reaches back and draws his wazikashi with the other. He side steps and strikes at the nearest spider to him. Using whichever blade he has use of first and following up the strike with the other.

Making the split second decision he decides to move to help his allies instead of confronting the assailant. Well aware that his back is now fully or partially turned to the man.

With the armored man aiming to strike her overhead, Twilight jumped as fast as she could to a side, flapping her wings for an extra push.

~"That was the mitosis spell! Okay, now it's known to the group as well... But the possibility of flight is not there unless we take down whoever is shooting at us."~

She hovered slightly above the surface of the swamp, seeking a place to stand. Once found, she landed looking for an opening.

Rain gives her revolver a flip before firing off 3 hammered shots in the direction of the blue eyed man. Bringing the revolver down back into her holster she casts hightened senses and summons her bow lastly enters a guarding stance.

As Radiance struck one of the parasites, the spider-like creature shrieked in pain, briefly stumbling over its feet. The Witchers blade visibly cut through its carcass, but the wakizashi passed right through as if the parasite was made of air.

(The parasite took -2 HP damage)


The spider didn't die however, seeing how Radiance turned away from it, the creature immediately launched itself at Radiance's back, piercing both of his shoulders with its front claws.
Echo loudly screamed out in pain, deep inside Radiance's mind

(Radiance took -2 HP damage, 9 HP left)




A giant war hammer crashed into the ground, in the place where Twilight was a split second ago. You felt the wind from the impact wash over your face, as you flew off to a safe distance. The weight of the weapon looked like it could crush a man with a single blow.

"Twilight that was too close-" Alyx called in your head: "I don't want to be hit by that thing, we need to go on the offensive fast, bef-"


"You believe me to be slow, because of my fighting style?" the man in plated armor grinned, as red sparks of energy ran over his body:
"You cannot outrun me... or yourself... what do you fear, I wander.. KATZ!" the man barked, raising his fist towards Twilight, just as a sickly red ball of energy materialized there and cut through the air, smashing into Twilight head on.


Alyx's piercing shriek filled your mind, as the worst memories of your life, filled your vision completely, until they were the only thing you could see.
The explosion, caused by the Slavegear, obliterating a whole city and Kaylee's piercing shriek were the most prominent, among so many other, awful things. You could no longer tell if Kaylee was screaming in pain in real life, or inside the flashback of your memory.


(Twilight suffered -5 Sanity, 5 Sanity left)





As 3 gunshots loudly rang across the swamp, the blue eyed Witcher jerked to the side, flipping over his own head like an acrobat. His fluid movements were precise, almost graceful, the move reminded you of something usually seen in the school of Capoeira.

His reflexes were extremely good. Two shots missed him completely, the third one grazed his left arm.

(The blue eyed Witcher took -1 HP damage)



"So.. this is the fabled Machine Weapon?... a... Fire... Arm?.." he smirked: "I'm not impressed."
He smugly stood his ground, unmoving, cutting off your retreat and simply watching the battlefield.
Judging by his expression, he didn't seem threatened, he was enjoying every second of the fight.





As Rain casts Heightened Sensed, the battlefield visibly changed shape in her eyes. She could sense Tim, sprinting away from the battle. By now he was a good 100 meters away.
She could sense the four parasites, rampaging towards you.
And she sensed the three Rogue Witchers.

One in the bushes, preparing to fire another shot with his bow.
One in plated armor that just shot at Twilight.
One with blue eyes, currently standing his ground.

And one more. A fourth Witcher.


He was sitting atop the tree, where Rain, Ursula and Johan took cover, watching you with hungry, crazed eyes, seemingly waiting for the perfect moment to ambush.

Something in your body language must have given away your awareness of him, or he noticed you casting a spell and recognized the pattern you drew with your fingers, but he realized he has been made.


With a crazed, insane cackle, he jumped off the branch he was sitting on and began falling towards Ursula, summoning a katana in the process and aiming right at her skull:

"I'M THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!" the Witcher shrieked as he fell.


Ursula gasped and threw herself to the side, the blade passing an inch away from her face.

Immediately, both she and the Rogue Witcher recovered from the scuffle and discharged a spell at each other almost immediately.

Ursula was hit by a lightning spell in her chest, her body contorting as she screamed, her rapier fell out of her hand and vanished.


(Ursula took -5 HP damage, 7 HP left)


The cackling Witcher continued to laugh, even as he was splashed across the face by Ursula's fireball and knocked off his feet.

(The cackling Witcher took -5 HP damage)





"Tyler, try not to die in the first five seconds of combat" the blue eyed Witcher sighed, as his hands began drawing a spell in mid air:
"Especially to these green recruits, its rather embarrassing." his hand drew a graceful shape and discharged a ball of blue light towards the cackling Witcher, he called Tyler.


Tyler jumped a good 3 meters away from Ursula and waited for the spell to hit him. The wounds on his face regenerated in a split second, but a crazy smile remained.

(Tyler received +5 HP)




"Its no fun, UNLESS YOU LIVE ON THE EDGE!! AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!" Tyler laughed with a mad grin and launched himself towards Ursula once again, wildly swinging his burning katana.

Ursula is still recovering from her previous injury, standing on one knee on the ground, it doesn't look like she'll be able to summon her weapon and block the attack in time.





Three parasites were closing in on Rogue, Kaylee and Rain.

The arrow in Kaylee's leg had dissipated and she immediately hurled a lightning strike towards the nearest parasite.
The ground shook with thunder, as the parasite was incinerated into nothing upon the spells impact.

The next second, Kaylee took another arrow into her shoulder, making her double over and scream out in pain


(Kaylee took -2 HP damage, 7 HP left)


"Someone get the sniper off me!!" she desperately screamed, hugging the ground and trying to crawl away towards the nearest tree.




Johan summoned and discharged a spike of ice towards the nearest parasite, impaling it and turning its carcass into dust.






As you briefly re-assess the situation, you notice the following.

One parasite was fighting Radiance. One more was charging at Rogue.

The Witcher with blue eyes was standing his ground, still blocking off your retreat.
The man in plated armor was raising him hammer again and preparing to follow Twilight.
An archer still sat in the bushes.
And Tyler, the cackling Witcher was rushing towards Ursula.




"..man.. what a milk run" the Witcher in plated armor grinned, walking towards Twilight:
"I can't believe we're being paid for this"

Rain holds her breath staring ahead blankly, she controls her breathing before her wings open she raises her bow her movements controlled and precise, she draws an arrow back looking the blue eyed witcher right between the eyes just as shes about to fire she turns aiming for the sniper in the bushes and she lets the arrow go. The next moment one hand slips from her bow, its length riding down her fingers before she grips it once more at its end. Her left arm comes up as she deploys her shield.  She strikes at the nearest parasite with the end of her bow, aiming for its skull. She moves with the weight of the bow, letting it guide her strikes as she brings it down again like a mace. She ensures that each pass is met with her shield in the parasites direction. With the final strike she raises into the sky and puts her shield over her head, dissapearing into the nearby bushes.

Radiance grunts more out of reflex than anything.

There is a blur of green flame as Radiance pivots back and strikes the spider with a slash then stab. He stops his momentum opening his wings with a feathery snap. Without missing a beat he launches himself at the Witcher with the blue eyes. Witcher weapon raised to block his body and the wazikashi pointed forward to deal a thrusting attack.

Even with the aggressiveness of the attack it is still mostly focused on defense.

As the spell hit her, it took a moment to register, then body reacted to the shock. She broke into a cold sweat, her knees began looking weak and she shivers wildly, her wings locking in place.

"Haah, haah, haah, haah...." She catches her breath as reality returns to her.

She looks at him, staying still as she lets control over her body return.

"So..." She starts weakly. "You're the slow one? I lucked out then." She smirks. Then, she makes herself look weaker until he's closer. At a short distance, she thrusts her hand forward and casts at him, then uses the distraction and flies up, preparing to get the drop on him.

The parasite fighting Radiance began to contort as the Witcher blade struck it twice, the second strike set the parasite on fire and the creature emitted a piercing shriek, before turning to ash and scattering across the wind.


The Witcher with the blue eyes watched Radiance approach with an increasingly smug smile. He didn't move a muscle, until the very last second, before effortlessly stepping aside, letting Radiance's blades pass an inch away from his body.

He raised his katana in a blocking maneuver, preventing a potential follow up attack and continued to watch you with a smug grin.

Echo audibly exhaled in your mind: "Radiance! Pull back, now! There's a gross difference in martial art skill! He's dancing around us!"



"Tsk tsk" the blue eyed Witcher slightly shook his head: "...I can see experience behind your movements, but to me, you're still moving in slow motion. Let me guess and say.. you were initiated one, maybe two weeks ago?
Should've really brushed on those combat skills... you're completely out of sync with your parasite. With your skill level, you probably would've jumped to Kyu 5 in a week... if you trained...

Too bad" he effortlessly bypassed your defense like a surgeon, and stuck his sword just between your swords, stabbing you in the side.


(Radiance took -2 HP damage, 7 HP left)





As Rain summoned her bow and prepared to fire, you felt an audible chill emanate from her weapon. The leaves and grass around her, became covered in a thin layer of frost almost immediately. The air around Rain turned freezing cold, with a few snowflakes materializing out of nowhere.

The temperatures reached uncomfortable degrees, just before the arrow fired. It whistled through the air and flew right into the bush, where she felt the presence of the sniper. A muffled shriek followed shortly after and a man in plain winter clothing jumped out and made a run for a different bush in the distance.


"Ack, you got me" the sniper called, as he sprinted across the swamp, a burning arrow still stuck between his neck and his shoulder. For some reason, he seems to be enjoying the moment.

(The sniper took -2 HP damage)




As Rain's bow came crashing down upon the last parasites skull, the creature got visibly stunned and blindly stumbled into the side of the tree. Rain's shield didn't harm it, the shield passed through the parasite as if nothing was there.
The bow did damage however. After a third strike with it, the parasite emitted a muffled gargle and slowly crumbled to dust, its remains catching a green colored fire.





As Twilight initiated a casting sequence, Alyx vividly struggled to react. Since Twilight did not select a combat spell, Alyx was left to randomly pick and think fast, until he settled on an ice spike. The air turned cold as the spike materialized at Twilight's fingertips and flew towards the man's face.

A moment ticked by and the spike loudly shattered over an invisible barrier. A second later, a transparent sphere became visible around the man in plated armor.
He was encased in some kind of round force field, the spike shattered over it, doing no damage to him.

You noticed a crack appear in the sphere's surface, before it turned invisible again.


"Are you okay little girl? Do you want your mommy?" the man cocked his head in a mocking manner and looked at Twilight: "Do you need a minute to catch your breath?" he placed his hammer over his shoulder and broke into a barking laugh.




"Alder, this mission reeks of a setup" you heard the sniper call out to the blue eyed Witcher, frowning, as he sprinted for cover:
"The job is too easy. The promised reward is too big. The client is going to fuck us over"



"It makes no difference now" the man with blue eyes replied with a slight smirk:
"Our client has the package. I confirmed it. We will get our reward, one way or the other.
The client will give it to us upon the contracts completion... or we will take it by force."

Rain holds her breath. She begins closing in on Alder, "Over here!" She says as she charges out from her cover, shield covering her chest, as she draws her saber and as soon as he is looking her way she raises her blade to the the left, she activates her flash bulb, faints her strike and brings her shield up to drive it across his right
jaw. If that works she quickly turns, following it up with a thrust from her saber. She aims the thrust at his stomach.

If all goes accordingly she moves the blade diagonally up, looking to break his spine.

With the advantage of the flash bulb Radiance moves to strike as well.  Attacking with a knee to the back before Rain's blade pierces Alder's stomach and following with a long sword strike to the back of the Alder's nearest calf. Even with the two of them working in sync he still readies himself for an attack. Mentally noting that he can handle at least one more low level spell or two sword strikes before he needs to actually retreat.

"Far into the black
The mind already shattered
Salvation by death"

The words spoken in Nyx

Rogue summons his Witcher shield, spins 180 degrees, and slams it down on the last parasite's head as it comes up at him from behind. "Man, these guy's mid-battle banter is terrible... Everyone, we outnumber them, so try to gang up on them in two's and three's, keep them all tied up!"

"Hmmm... Nah."

Twilight drops down, calling forth her weapon which she swings down into the barrier with some force. After the strike, she creates distance again.

"You speak quite clearly though, a bit too clearly... How about you answer me how? As a... "Final request", let's call it that."

Twilights weapon connected with the sphere, emitting a loud thud and leaving another crack in its surface. But the sphere held, briefly flashing and turning invisible again.

"Bloody hell, we did at least 7 HP damage by now and its still holding?" Alyx grimaced: "The guy's a walking tank"



"Heh, giving up already?" The man in plated armor shook his head with a smirk:
"You're not gonna last long with that attitude" he shook his finger at Twilight:

"Listen well kid, if you want to survive in this world, you better cling to life with everything you have. Kick, claw and bite, until your last breath, until your consciousness fades. Struggle and defy fate, until your soul leaves your body.

Anything less, and you're already dead."

He stretched hes shoulder blades:
"I once held a respectable position, in the Castle of Lieselotte. Learning your language was a matter of pride."

The man smirked: "I don't hate you kid, even though your machine breatheren butchered this planet for centuries." he shrugged:
"This is just a job for me. Just business. And I don't envy you at all.

Someone Really hates your guts if they hired us to beat the shit out of you.
And the reward offered.. was too high to pass up"




"-speak for yourself!" The cackling Witcher shrieked with an unhinged smile: "I'M IN IT FOR BLOOD AAAAHAHAHAHAAA!"
He lanched himself towards Ursula, wildly swinging his blade.

Ursula was still recovering from her past injury and couldn't react fast enough. But just before the cackling Witcher reached her, Johan dischared an ice spike into his side.


The cackling Witcher was knocked off his feet, flying a few meters away with a spike embedded in his side and rolled across the earth for a moment:
"OOO THAT WAS A SPICY MEATBALL!!" He shrieked, still cackling through the pain.


(The cackling Witcher took -5 HP damage)





The last parasite emitted a muffled gargle and turned into a flaming pile of dust, as Rogues shield finished it off.

The sniper Witcher finally reached cover and summoned his bow again. The area around him began rapidly turning cold, as he began to manifest a new arrow.


"I see you shithead!" Kaylee screamed, her silver hair stood up on the ends as static electricity washed over her and she discharged a lightning strike at the sniper.

The sniper ducked behind the tree and the lightning blasted a huge chunk of it off. The sniper remained unharmed but it seems Kaylee got him pinned down for now, discouraging further sniper fire.





Alder slowly looked at Rain with his smug smile, lazily raising his blade. Then, the flashbulb went off.

Alder screamed out in pain, reflexively covering his eyes with both hands and backing away, the flashbulb clearly caught him off guard and blinded him, hard.

The shield crashed hard into his jaw, sending him stagerring backwards. The next second, Rains saber pierced his armor and went through his stomach.


Before she could move the blade diagonally however, a transparent blue shield suddenly materialized right in front of her, smashing into her nose and harshly pushing her backwards, about a meter away. The shield remained there, in a fixed position.


Alder struggled to stay on his feet, doubling over, as Radiances knee connected with his back. The man screamed as Radiances sword went through his calf.

Blindly swinging his blade at Radiance and missing by a fraction of an inch, Alder turned around and broke into a mad sprint, breaking distance and moving away from Rain and Radiance. His eyes were still closed shut, his face distorted by pain.


(Alder suffered -4 HP damage)





Radiance suddenly felt being hit by a spell from behind and his mind went blank, before being flooded with images and sounds of suffering and death. The image of his daughter, dying in his arms became so vivid, it was unbearable to watch.


(Radiance suffered -5 Sanity)



"You leave the boss alone!" The man in plated armor screamed, lowering his hand that just discharged a Fear spell.

Taking a firm hold of his warhammer, he broke into a sprint, charging towards Radiance and Rain, the ground loudly shook with each thud from his armored boots.

Rain looks to the warhammer weilding witcher. Rain jumps back and draws her real bow, its heavy weight calming her nerves, years of training with it flooding back to her, muscle memory takes over as she draws an arrow and takes a deep breath, focusing. She holds it for only a moment before releasing it after Alder. She slings her bow back over her shoulder and deploys her shield, ready to guard herself or radiance should the need arise, "You remind me of my sister." She chuckles at the tank, "Im guessing you more muscle then brains then yes?"

"Anything to survive?" Twilight says without any joy. "Sorry, but I can't afford the luxury of such an empty life."

She drops the act, standing tall. "Is this the extend of your mentalities? I was hoping to learn a bit more of the world. You dissapoint me.

When the armored man turned to protect his boss, she made a small smile. She spread her wings, then flew after him, delivering another blow to the sphere to weaken it. She flew back again, creating distance.

~"Seems like this guy got an armor spell up. I don't think we have damaged him yet. But the big guy probably isn't packing any offensive magic. How to use that, hmmm..."~

Rogue moves to join Johan against the cackling Witcher with shield raised.

"I'm not losing her, not like that" Radiance pulls him self to his feet. Body shaking from the vision yet a look of determination on his face. His hair now dipped in sweat plasters itself to his fore heard. Heavy breathing escapes him as he sheathes his wazikashi, dispels the long sword, and un-slings the sheathed katana from his back. Holding it with hilt in one hand and scabbard in the other his one foot slides back and he drops into a partial crouch.

"Rain, let's force him into the swamp" Radiance speaks to her in quiet Nyxian

She shakes her head, drawing her rapier and taking a stance, rapier over her shield as she readys herself, "I'll shove this mud down his throat." She growls in Nyx to Radiance.