Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 2

Rain bites her lip, "I want to say no buttttt..." she shakes her head and sighs, "if we choose to pass this up we are not only missing out on the potential of information, but the potential XP we will receive, and or the chance of a new spell to add to the list. We shouldn't let this opportunity slip by us too quickly."

"About that, why are there so few Witchers?" Rogue asks Ursula, "Surely it would have made more sense to upgrade your whole population? There's already a spell that can mass-produce Glystaria, and you said it yourself that within the proximity of the obelisks they practically begged to become symbiotes. An entire civilisation of Witchers would stand a much better chance against the parasite hoard too, so why haven't you?"

Twilight lets out a sigh.

"Rogue, think for a moment about what you're asking here. You really want to stuff a parasite in everyone? Knowing they might not succeed with dominating it? Sure, everyone could become a witcher, but not everyone wants to be one, some of us want a normal life. I hope you can understand that."

She then taps her wrist. "Tick-tock, by the way."

Disgruntled purple wrote:Twilight lets out a sigh.

"Rogue, think for a moment about what you're asking here. You really want to stuff a parasite in everyone? Knowing they might not succeed with dominating it? Sure, everyone could become a witcher, but not everyone wants to be one, some of us want a normal life. I hope you can understand that."

She then taps her wrist. "Tick-tock, by the way."

"Oh, I see, a normal life is it? A normal life, in which the ability to use magic depends entirely on your race, an apparently acceptable privilege of birth and genetics? Because as we know from recent experience back home, there is no way that's ever backfired?" Rogue says to Twilight,

"What we have here is an opportunity to democratise magic, to give anyone of any race who wants to learn it the chance. Mass-production doesn't mean a reduction of rights or protections, you wouldn't force anyone to become a Witcher against their will or before they're ready, just give them the option to choose for themselves.

You always to jump to the worst conclusions, is it a crime to consider the potential of new discoveries to improve the human condition?"

"We both know that's not what I meant." Twilight says without raising her voice.

"I mean that not everyone wants to be a witcher, or an action hero in general. That it suits your needs, be my guest, but there are others who aren't as excited to jump to action. Actually, some people have to stay behind to man the field where your food is made. People who can't be witchers as they pleae, as they're tied to their place unless they find someone to take care of the fields."

She holds her chin and looks up. "Actually, witchers require another resource, one that isn't as dire as food or water, but still neccisary. They need to drain souls, either by killing a plant and making it unable to recover, or by killing glysteria, either roaming free or in people."

"Which brings another point." She removes the hand from her chin. "Since there is no defined limit to the power of a witcher, the ones that call the shots are the most ambitious ones who get the most power. And often the most ambitious people aren't the most caring, if you recall certain other events in our past."

"In conclusion, no, it's not wrong to considder the options. But when you think of such things, you must also think of how it can backfire and find a way to have the maximum of benefits while having the minimum of downsides. So do come back to me on this, once we actually have the time." She checks her wrists, despite that nothing is there.

"We still haven't decided on which way we are going." Rain frowns, "Are we going to follow the potential for information,XP, and whatever we could find within the ruins, or are we backing up the evacuation to prove to the locals we aren't here to hurt anybody."

"Well, I for one would get rid of this thing inside me without a second though" Radiance speaks up after a moment "It's also not mathematically worth the risk if you put a glysteria inside even every 5th person. The potential for an instant extinction level event goes up drastically. One Witcher who loses their mind and doesn't activate their suicide spell fast enough could wipe out an entire planet. Now imagine several million potential time bombs.

You hearts in the right place Rogue, I just think that your ambitions could be achieved in a much safer method. Unless it was destroyed we do have the technology on Earth to separate souls from bodies. Imagine what a bit of Earth Tech and Nifelheim Magic could achieve if merged."

He looks over to Rain

"I think we know were we all stand on the debate but let's take a vote just to concrete things. We go with the majority. All in favour of investigating Tim's find raise your hand"

Radiance keeps his by his side.

"If everyone, or at least a large percentage of the population, were Witchers, they wouldn't all have to be 'action heroes' as you put it. Magic has beneficial applications in every facet of life, from scientific research to education to the aforementioned farming" Rogue replies, raising his hand to vote, "Just like the samurai, who started off as warriors, and finished up as bureaucrats, what it means to be a Witcher would just change in a world that had also changed.

I realise that there are risks, but I have literally only just come up with this plan. I haven't had time to work out all the details yet, so this discussion is proving a useful sounding board."

"I'm willing to help with such plans to come to fruition." She says with a stone face to Rogue. "But I do need to be sure you take the lead and not just offer the idea. Other people may not have the same vision as you do, causing those ideas to backfire by accident."

Twilight folds her arms, not raising them

"Becoming a Witcher is a very dangerous, taxing process. Even under the influence of the Obelisks, the Initiation ritual often results in death." Ursula's voice became quiet, she looked at the horizon:

"To pass the Initiation, one must train both mind and body, for many years, to increase his chances of survival. Becoming a Witcher is a way of life. It becomes a life style, long before one goes through the Initiation.


Many cannot go through the harsh stress of training. The elderly, the sick, the children. Those who simply cannot fight, for various reasons.


Only a relatively small portion of any population is fit for combat.
They train for many years before attempting the ritual. Even then, under the influence of the Obelisks, the Glasgow Synergy is not assured with 100%.

The parasites are very individualistic creatures, each one is very different from the other.
Some prefer death, to a lifetime of co-existance with a human. They break their hosts will, during the ritual, and force our hand to take the hosts life.


..you were lucky, nobody died during your Initiation.." Ursula looked down:
"When it was my time, three people were killed in my training group.. it was.. ugly.
We knew each other for a long time... anyway-" she looked at you:

"Because of all this, the Witcher to Civilian ratio is very low. And we need as many Witchers as we can get.
Because of this, I believe we don't have the right to risk our lives, at this point in time. People need us, I vote we return immediately to begin the evacuation"



"Mmm.. I agree with you, I do.." Tim sighed and became serious, maybe for the first time since you met him:
"But blindly walking a path, any path, without trying to deduce the truth behind our surroundings... it can lead to disaster.
We must press on to the Precursor tomb. It is important. Perhaps it is more important than anything else"


Kaylee and Johan seem hesitant to vote. They exchange looks, then look to Rain and Mist, seemingly waiting for their decision.

Rain raises her hand, "There is something there we cant miss out on. With our new weapons the enemys there will be fodder. Free xp if you will. This shouldn't take too long, and I still have hightened senses, If we run across alder and his goons again we should be able to take him out of our lives perminantly should they try to ambush us now."

"...there's a tie in votes.." Ursula quietly said, then looked at Johan and Kaylee: "...how do you two vote, what do you wish to do? If you vote opposite, the tie will remain"


Johan and Kaylee looked at each other. There seems to be electricity in the air, as they silently stare into each others eyes. It looked pretty intense.



"..my god.." Ursula whispered: "It looks like they're talking telepathically"

"Can machine folk do that?" Tim quietly whispered in fascination.

"Ehehe.. I didn't say we're machine folk.." Ursula sheepishly answered.

"We've already made it inharently obvious with our words." She frowns, "not a big deal you dont seem too bothered." She crosses her arms, "They wouldn't be talking telepathically unless its a witcher thing or they both have augmentations we dont know about."

"If there is a tie, then how do we decide. Would we have a tie break question? Rock, paper, scissors?" Rogue suggests.

"That depends, how much time do we have?" Twilight says. "As I said before, I have the interested in searching it, but I doubt about the time we have."

She nods. "Tim says it takes 30 minutes to get there. So let me ask this, how long until we get from the ruins to the village? And how much time until the evacuation plan has to be started? If, for example, we have 7 hours until the plans are kicked into motion, and the trip there from the ruins is 45 minutes at walking speed, we have to travel for 1 hour and 15 minutes, leaving us with 5 hours and 45 minutes to explore. If we play it safe and search for 4 and a half hours, we have 1 hour and 15 minutes to catch our breath, share our findings, or use as a buffer for unforseen circumstances."

She looks at Ursula. "So that leaves the question, how much time do we have until our help there is neccisary at the camp?"

Kaylee was apparently straining her face too hard, making her eyes bulge and Johan burst into laughter.

"Johan god damn it" Kaylee said, smirking.




"The evacuation order has been issued via signal flares. All settlements on the island have been notified and the civilians started to pack." Ursula began:

"Our Witcher unit was ordered to randevu at the village where you first met me, by 13:00 tomorrow, sharp. At which point we will conduct a roll call of every civilian, spirit and Witcher, before merging into the evacuation convoy and escorting it off the island"


Ursula looked at the sun: "Lets see, its about 19:00 now.. it takes roughly 8 hours on foxes to reach the village from here.

We still have a few hours of daylight left too."



She looked at you: "There's plenty of time to explore the Precursor site and head back.


I'm sorry if I didn't explain it properly earlier. I only meant that we won't have time to return here, if we leave. But if we choose to explore, we should have enough time."

"Now forgive me for being a bit rusty on the rules of the Silly Face Game TM, but could we have those votes in another language?" Rogue asks Kaylee and Johan.

Kaylee laughed for a bit: "Yeah, should've made it a starring contest for real"


"Aaah, jeez" Johan scratched his head: "Lets just head over to the tomb real quick, have a quick look.
And if there's any sign of trouble, or we see anything fishy, we turn around immediately and run away, straight back to the village"


"Mmm" Kaylee nodded, then looked at you:
"You guys up for it?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:Kaylee laughed for a bit: "Yeah, should've made it a starring contest for real"


"Aaah, jeez" Johan scratched his head: "Lets just head over to the tomb real quick, have a quick look.
And if there's any sign of trouble, or we see anything fishy, we turn around immediately and run away, straight back to the village"


"Mmm" Kaylee nodded, then looked at you:
"You guys up for it?"

"Well that's two votes for yes, so I guess we're going then, unless anyone feels like declaring the election result null and void and staging a military coup?" Rogue says.

"Let's see here..." Twilight began to count on her hands.

"There's 18 hours left until evacuation. We lose about half with travel and rounding up this discussion. That leaves us 9 hours. However, we probably need to sleep a little as well. Let's set up a sleeping schedule for today, so we all catch some sleep this night before we start our trip back at 4:00 tomorrow. Should that help?"

"Mm" Ursula nodded: "Six hours of sleep should be enough, we can set up camp next to our foxes, once we get back to them.
At least one person should stay awake on watch while we sleep. I'll take the first shift"

She looked at everyone, before nodding to Tim: "If there's no objections, we should head out to the tomb, we're burning daylight.
Mr. Lemeshev, lead the way"



"Hoho, of course!" Tim literally froliced a bit, before setting a brisk pace among the viscous puddles of swamp.


Small clouds of mist became visible here and there, as you ventured further into the swamp. The quacking of a strange bird-like creatures could be heard, but you never saw more than a small shadow of them, as they occasionally darted across the trees.


"..Mr. Lemeshev.." Ursula called after a while: "The ropes.. how come you never used your Witcher blade to burn them?"


"Hoho, don't be silly young lady, I'm no Witcher! I don't have a burning blade!" Tim excitedly called, as he happily marched at the head of the group"


"But.. your eyes-" Ursula began: "-they're glowing. And I sense a parasite in the depths of your soul"



"Just because I entered into a partnership with a parasite, doesn't make me a Witcher" Tim quietly said, beginning to smile.


"I.. thought it did.." Ursula said, in confusion: "I don't understand"



Tim looked back at Ursula and released a meaningful smile:
"I'm no warrior, as you can tell, I never studied the arts of combat. My body is in no shape to undergo such stress.
But my mind... my mind is another thing entirely"

Tim looked at the road ahead:
"I am a scholar. A scientist. And one cannot conduct proper science on this planet, when he can't see half the local flora and fauna.

The human eyes are no good you see. You need Glystarian eyes to see a Glystarian world. And so, my solution was readily obvious.

I needed a parasite. One who would share my interest in nature. And so I asked a Witcher I knew to perform a Mytosis spell and spot me during my Initiation ritual, performed safely inside the walls of Rakshata. Protective pentagram and everything."



Ursula's eyes just about popped out of her skull. She stopped paying attention to the road and went through a nasty trip, almost ending up face first in the ground:
"Are you insane?! Do you realize how reckless that was! You could have died! Not to mention it was unlawful! A Witcher is forbidden to Initiate untrained civilians, especially when they weren't infected to begin with!! What is the name of that Witcher!"




"Ehehe.. details, details.." Tim sheepishly laughed: "It was performed inside a very controlled environment I assure you.
I understood the danger to my life full well. Yet I was determined to go through it anyway.

If I died, so be it. It was my choice. One less idiot in this world would hardly make a difference. Not much would change, in the grand scheme of things.

But if I survived..." Tim's smile grew wider:



"...a scholar... perfectly able to examine Nifelheim with his own eyes... not through some theories or deduction experiments.

To SEE the world, as it really is and record my experiences first hand...
I would be a pioneer... one of very, very few..." Tim meaningfully smiled.




Ursula watched him for a long time, before she called:
"I.. never heard of a civilian surviving the ritual before. I mean.. I'm still new to being a Witcher myself, there's still a lot I don't know but... I didn't think it was possible"




Tim looked at her with a daring smile:
"While, its true that training your body, teaches you discipline... it is not the only way to do so.

My body is frail you see. There is much I am unable to physically do. I am not strong or fast...

But my mind... my mind is very sharp.

And when you begin your ritual.. you don't fight your parasite with you biceps. You fight him with this-"
Tim smiled and gently tapped his temple:

"Do not underestimate the power of human Will.... young one.... oh- We are here!" Tim said and pointed ahead.





Among the swamp puddles and leafless trees, you saw a collection of stones that reminded you of a set of collapsed columns. Between them, was a very dark hole.

"Ursula im not throwing dirt in your face but dont you think that a civilian and scholor belonging to this world has just as much right to a Glistaria just as much as any witcher?" She raises her brow, "If I may... as unsafe as it might be if a scholar wishes to study, research, and explore these lands should it not be supported? It seems like you dont take R&D as seriously as it should be taken."

"Considering the worlds collapse and never ending war I'd assume it's not a high priority. Anyhow" Radiance walks up to the darkness, takes a knee, and in what is now becoming a pattern starts to listen to the darkness.

"So Tim, are there any interesting features or dangers we should be aware of here" Rogue asks Tim.

"As I said before, the ritual is very dangerous. If we allowed every scholar to go through it, we would run out of scholars very quickly." Ursula said, looking at the ruin:

"We do have an R&D department, its mostly comprised of civilian researchers and Category 4 Witchers who try to utilize our magic to fight the Glystaria.
The Obelisks were designed there, as well as the migration pillars."



As you listen to the void, the howling wind down there and the distant echoes seem to suggest a tunnel and a wide, open space down below.
You hear something that sounds like a pair of small insects, crawling around in the dark somewhere.



"Dangers?" Tim repeated, thinking:
"I believe there were a few primitive forms of life down there, very small, negligible really. Nothing to worry about.
As for interesting features, that's what we're here to find out! The Precursors await! Hop-!"

Tim unceremoniously hopped right into the hole and vanished from view.


"Oh my god he just jumped in" Ursula exhaled, going pale.



"Ahoooi! Are you lads coming?" You heard Tims voice from below, before he lit up a torch and dispersed the dark, revealing a crumbling tunnel:
"This way! Nothing to worry about!" Tim excitedly waved with his torch and smiled.