Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 3

Kaylee Brown wrote:Kaylee looked down and nodded.
The ship was briefly awash with lights, as several dozen pentagrams briefly lit up on the top deck, then went dark again. The pentagrams under Twilight, Kaylee and Ursula slightly pulsed with light as well, giving off the same color that was unique to the chosen spells.

When the lights faded and the pentagrams went dark, on the surface, they seemed as if they were just drawings of chalk, but now, you couldn't help but feel a certain power emanating from them. The pentagrams were slightly humming, pulsing with magic. You couldn't see it or hear it, you just felt it in your bones.



"The spell preparation is complete." Ursula said: "No Mana is consumed at the moment.
The Mana cost will only be charged, once we try to use the spells. Remember, it doesn't have to be your own spell, you can utilize any pentagram you find on the deck, as long as your magical category is high enough."


She began folding the chess board together with Tim. It turns out it actually belonged to Ursula in the end:
"Lets head down to the mess hall" Ursula said: "Dinner will be prepared there for the crew"

"Sounds like the plan" Rogue nods, "Where is the mess hall?".

"I'm going to go snack on the fruit in our bunks. Would you like to join me Ursula?" Her gaze flicks to Johan, "I have more fruits to try if you'd like to join me as well."

"Yup, sounds good" Ursula nodded. Johan smiled as well.

"The mess hall is just one deck below us" Ursula continued: "Just follow the crowd, can't miss it" she nodded to Rogue.
As the crowd of old Witchers and villagers descended the stairs, the ships continued to sail forward, into the even, blue horizon, peacefully rocked by the waves. The sun was setting behind the Ashra island, blinding your vision and obscuring the island from view, but just on the edge of the horizon, a red, glowing wave slowly marched down the island hills and where ever it passed, only ash and scorched earth remained.











There weren't many storms at this sea. The waters were peaceful and even, with barely a wave in sight. The ships sailed forward, with nothing but a deep blue surface around them, sometimes, accompanied by a flock of bizarre, alien birds, sometimes, by a group of fish in the water. The fish were almost two meters long, jumping high out of the sea, revealing the porcupine like spikes on their back, before diving down and following the ships path.


During the day, the sun shined from above with an unfamiliar color of deep orange and gold, its light much more soft than that of the Earth's sun. It didn't hurt to look at it and as it rose over the water horizons each day, it colored the sky into gold.

At night, when the darkness firmly set in, you noticed a new natural wander of Nifelheim. The sea slightly glowed, from below. Sometimes, it reminded you of an ocean of green stars, that shined from the depths of the water. Sometimes, it reminded of the aurora, as if the polar lights were peacefully, lazily dancing at the bottom of the sea.

From green, to blue, to deep green again, the blurry strings of light shined under the waters surface, illuminating the night. Ursula had explained once that it was the Shimmer streams, leaking out of the Nifelheim's crust and running along the sea's bottom. It was a rare occurrence, specific to this sea and few other places.


The days flew by and slowly but surely, the new daily schedule felt more routine. Wake up at 5, early and mandatory Witcher combat drills on top deck, as part of a morning everyday exercise, or just to keep the senses sharp, its unclear.

Breakfast and Nifel lessons, all until noon. Lunch, then more Nifel lessons. Somewhere throughout the day, the ships captain would visit without fail and distribute a work schedule for every Witcher aboard. Sometimes, help was needed to keep the ship spotless clean, or fix a possible leak in the structure. Sometimes, it was guard duty to watch the horizon and the ships perimeter for any signs of trouble.

The captain was firm and wanted everyone to pitch in, sometimes to the detriment of the language lessons, but after 6 days or so, with constant practice in interactions with other Witchers to boot, you feel your knowledge of the language increased notably.





(Twilight, Rain, Radiance, Kaylee and Johan have raised their knowledge of the Nifel language to Level 1.5
You feel confident that you learned most of the commonly used words)


(Rogue raised his knowledge of the Nifel language to Level 2.
You now have moderate understanding of the Nifel language)




It was another peaceful afternoon at sea. Numerous rain clouds have covered the horizon with a thin layer of gray, hiding the sun, but no downpours have started yet. The sea was a little rowdier than usual, but even now the waves weren't high. The ship continued to rock left and right, as it sailed forward.


Ursula and Tim were playing chess in the cabin again. Johan was pulling guard duty, sitting in the crows nest on the highest mast and thoughtfully gazing around the blue horizon. Kaylee wasn't too far away from him, taking a small break from the studies to lean on the guard rail of the top deck and observe the horizon, perhaps hoping to catch a glimpse of the mainland in the distance. Alas, it was nowhere in sight. Kaylee chewed on a small toothpick and sighed, looking ahead.

Kaylee Brown wrote:

It was another peaceful afternoon at sea. Numerous rain clouds have covered the horizon with a thin layer of gray, hiding the sun, but no downpours have started yet. The sea was a little rowdier than usual, but even now the waves weren't high. The ship continued to rock left and right, as it sailed forward.


Ursula and Tim were playing chess in the cabin again. Johan was pulling guard duty, sitting in the crows nest on the highest mast and thoughtfully gazing around the blue horizon. Kaylee wasn't too far away from him, taking a small break from the studies to lean on the guard rail of the top deck and observe the horizon, perhaps hoping to catch a glimpse of the mainland in the distance. Alas, it was nowhere in sight. Kaylee chewed on a small toothpick and sighed, looking ahead.

"So how's gender equality fairing over here? I mean, obviously women can become Witchers, you're proof of that, but're they at all descriminated against in other areas of life, like domestically or in education? For instance, you mention Witcher Kings, but're there any Witcher Queens on duty?" Rogue asks Ursula in between her turns, one of a number of questions he has been putting to her during the course of the voyage, in order to get a better feel for the sociopolitical climate.

"Queens? What's a Queens?" Ursula slightly cocked her head in confusion. Then her eyes caught the fire of realization again:
"Ah! I understand. It must be a translation issue. I originally thought the word 'King' would best describe the title, of the Witcher who holds command of a Caste Town.
But now I see it isn't fully accurate.

In our language, the word 'King' has no gender. In other words, a Witcher 'King' can refer both to a man and a woman.


As for gender equality.." Ursula briefly paused to move her king on the chess board. Tim went pale again, for some reason he lost most of the games to Ursula.


"Life is often short on Nifelheim, and full of danger. Therefore our top priority was always survival, above all else. Anyone who can wield a spear, should wield it. Anyone who wants to will a spear, but can't, will be taught.
There's really no differentiation of gender in our culture, in terms of what one should or shouldn't do. Everyone is expected to utilize their best talents or the most needed talents, for the good of mankind, for our survival."


She looked at her back side of her palms, where a few battle scars stood out on her knuckles:

"..I'm.. not the best at being a Witcher. But I decided to be one, because my village needed it, and no teacher ever thought to oppose my decision, since one more Witcher in the world, even an average one, is still shifting the scales towards our survival"


Tim conspiratorially picked up his pawn and prepared to move it forward. Ursula grimaced in pity and sympathy. Tim caught her glance, thought again and placed his pawn back where it was.
Ursula subtly smirked.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Queens? What's a Queens?" Ursula slightly cocked her head in confusion. Then her eyes caught the fire of realization again:
"Ah! I understand. It must be a translation issue. I originally thought the word 'King' would best describe the title, of the Witcher who holds command of a Caste Town.
But now I see it isn't fully accurate.

In our language, the word 'King' has no gender. In other words, a Witcher 'King' can refer both to a man and a woman.


As for gender equality.." Ursula briefly paused to move her king on the chess board. Tim went pale again, for some reason he lost most of the games to Ursula.


"Life is often short on Nifelheim, and full of danger. Therefore our top priority was always survival, above all else. Anyone who can wield a spear, should wield it. Anyone who wants to will a spear, but can't, will be taught.
There's really no differentiation of gender in our culture, in terms of what one should or shouldn't do. Everyone is expected to utilize their best talents or the most needed talents, for the good of mankind, for our survival."


She looked at her back side of her palms, where a few battle scars stood out on her knuckles:

"..I'm.. not the best at being a Witcher. But I decided to be one, because my village needed it, and no teacher ever thought to oppose my decision, since one more Witcher in the world, even an average one, is still shifting the scales towards our survival"


Tim conspiratorially picked up his pawn and prepared to move it forward. Ursula grimaced in pity and sympathy. Tim caught her glance, thought again and placed his pawn back where it was.
Ursula subtly smirked.

"Ah, I see. Good, good." Rogue nods, "We never had that many nice kings or queens on Earth; King Sombra, Queen Crysalis, you name it, bad sorts.

Back home in Equestria, where me and some of the others're from, we had a crown princess instead. She seemed to do her job pretty well, though it did feel like we got invaded every other day; King Sombra, Queen Crysalis, you name it, bad sorts..."

Rain is standing behind Ursula's chair, her bow over her shoulder, and her armor resting beside the table. She quitely bites her lip, watching Ursula play and listening to the conversation, "Can you imagine sombras powers being used for good though?" She reaches into a bowl of chopped fruit on the table and pops a random one into her mouth, "Though is such thing even possible? His power source is hatred so how would that work? Mabye somebody more even more lawful good then my sister. A burning hatred for all things evil?" She chuckles, "Too bad that fool got banished after he tried to start a war." She shakes her head, "what a waste."

"Now that I think about it he wasn't even a king apon his first reemergance. The empire was already taken by an equestrian princess." She coughs into her shoulder, "so basically all he really was, is a creepy super evil hate filled wannabe king to take the throne of Equestria. I find the idea ludicrous as just because he would have had Equestria, the rest of the world would have swept him up."

Radiance having just finished his daily job and had decided to grab some fresh air. Spotting Kaylee he walks over and leans against the railing.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Twilight's ear twitched for a momemt. She gave a glance in the direction of the converastion going, her expression first neutral. However, she soon merely rolled her eyes and went back to studying the language.

The last week she had said barely anything to the rest of the group, knowing exactly how any lengthy conversation would go. To other witchers on board she was more neutral, talking normally with her broken Nifel about the tasks given to them. But she purposefully kept any conversations to the earthlings to a minimum, aware that any topic would undoubtly lead to heavy bickering.

She turned a page as she muttered to herself. "Easy to say that from here."

Kaylee continued to stare at the horizon and thoughtfully chew on the toothpick. Her eyes were watching the sea when she whispered:

"..don't turn around." her lips barely moved: "There are two guys, mingling by the staircase. They've been shadowing us, ever since we came aboard. Inconspicuous civilian clothing, glowing eyes.
I don't know how powerful, they would notice if I tried scanning them"
She continued watching the sea and quietly chew on her toothpick.





"LAAAAAND HO!!!!" Johan's voice suddenly boomed over the ship from up top and he began ringing a tiny bell in the crows nest. Over the past week, he learned how to pronounce those two words without accent and was seemingly awaiting the opportunity with maximum eagerness.


Kaylee slightly shifted in place and squinted at the horizon. After a few moments, you noticed a silhouette in the distance. A massive, snow covered landmass that covered the entire horizon.

"We finally made it" Kaylee released a small, thoughtful smile: "..we'll probably reach shore in 6, maybe 8 hours, at this speed" Her expression was very concentrated, it seemed like she was running some kind of calculations in her head.

Radiance sees nothing, as he is blind.

"Be good to get back on land again" he nods then silently then steps back from the railing giving his back a good old fashioned crack. "Alright, I'm heading back to the cabin. " he turns and heads back to the room. Passing the two 'civilians' giving them a polite nod as he steps past.

The pair notably tensed up, but continued to gloomily speak with each other. One of them briefly nodded to Radiance.
They were speaking on Nifel and you couldn't understand everything they were saying, but judging by the few phrases you recognized, they were discussing the dwindling food supply in the ships storage.

Rain hears Johan's call and sighs, "That's my cue." Her wings unfold as she pulls her bow from her shoulder., "I'm on scouting duty. I'll be back!" With a flap of her wings she's lifted off of the ground, she begins to rise higher and higher into the air, seeing more of the fleet. She begins flying towards the mainland, not straying too far from the fleet, scanning the ocean for any other boats or anythings else they should be concerned about.

As you gain altitude, catching the air currents and looking ahead, the snow covered mainland appeared as little more than a thin white line on the horizon. To reach it, you roughly estimate the flight time to be around one or two hours from your current location.


The twelve massive ships of the evacuation convoy, sailed in a spearhead formation, maintaining a distance of 200 meters apart from each other. Their sails raised, depicting a lotus, with white petals of fire. Looking at it from above, the sight was quite breath taking.


Scanning the waters around you, the sea seamed a little more rowdy than usual. The waves never reached higher than 1 meter height though.
The horizon seemed clear, no other vessels were visible, as far as the eye could see. Off to the left, you saw a geyser shoot out of the water, close to one of the ship. Then, something that looked like a whale, briefly emerged out of the water there, splashing about, then dived and hid from your view again. A few snowflakes fell from the sky and ended up on your nose.






Back on the ship, Ursula began slowly folding the chessboard, after once again leaving Tim in shambles:
"..I'm sorry we couldn't find your kids among the other ships in the convoy, I guess they weren't living in Ashra after all." she quietly said and gave you a sad smile:

"Well, that just means they're probably on the mainland and we're headed there now. I'm sure we'll find some clue about what happened to them"

"If unicorns and pegasi're as rare as you say, if they've shown up then talk of them should've spread this far" Rogue nods to Ursula, "So how will disembarking work, do we as Witchers jump overboard last?"

Radiance re entered the cabin a few momwnts after Rain left. He sat on a bed with his back against the wall.

"Their rarity is a good thing for us in one aspect. My daughter is part pegasus so picking her from a crowd should be easier."

(Twilight, Rogue, Radiance)



"Part pegasus?" Tim asked with a hint of curiosity: "What do you mean?"


Ursula looked at Rogue: "A contingent of Witchers will be waiting for us at the port, to protect us from any threats on the land. Once the ships dock, half the Witchers onboard will come ashore to bolster security. The other half will remain onboard until all the passengers come ashore.
Oh, I forgot to ask-" Ursula straightened up on her bed:
"-do you like your new Witcher weapons? They're quite different than the ones you had before. I don't believe I've seen such an intricate design, Jorgen really outdone himself"



A few moments passed and her ears suddenly perked up. Some kind off popping sound echoed outside of the ship, in the distance.

Tim heard it as well and looked at the cabins wall, roughly in the direction of the sounds:
"...are those... fireworks.. outside?" He asked, unsure.


Ursula frowned: "That's not fireworks. Those are Flares"








(Rain)


A kilometer in the distance, on the left side of the convoy, three ships in a row discharged some kind of flares. Some kind of intricate design of an orange pony skull, aflame, with two crossed collar bones under it.

Rain glares Towards the flares, "that's never good." She quickly dives down picking up speed before leveling out and shooting past a ships sails, her wings catching on it's wind and sending her flying towards the ship that fired the flare. As she quickly approaches the deck she pulls herself back and let's the momentum from her flight carry her the last few feet before giving a flap from her wings to slow her down and land, "Problem?" She says in Nifel, her hand resting on the handle of her saber.

"My wife is a bat pony so my daughter has a mix of DNA from both of us. Half pegasus, half bat pony," he then turns to answer Ursula's question "Can't say until I give it a go out on the field." Radiance slides off the bed and gets into a standing position. "And judging by those flairs there is a good chance that is going to happen."

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Twilight, Rogue, Radiance)

Ursula looked at Rogue: "A contingent of Witchers will be waiting for us at the port, to protect us from any threats on the land. Once the ships dock, half the Witchers onboard will come ashore to bolster security. The other half will remain onboard until all the passengers come ashore.
Oh, I forgot to ask-" Ursula straightened up on her bed:
"-do you like your new Witcher weapons? They're quite different than the ones you had before. I don't believe I've seen such an intricate design, Jorgen really outdone himself"

"I swear, that guy's a legit wizard" Rogue nods to Ursula, "It'll be interesting to see how the new, improved design fares in a real combat sitch."

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Twilight, Rogue, Radiance)

A few moments passed and her ears suddenly perked up. Some kind off popping sound echoed outside of the ship, in the distance.

Tim heard it as well and looked at the cabins wall, roughly in the direction of the sounds:
"...are those... fireworks.. outside?" He asked, unsure.


Ursula frowned: "That's not fireworks. Those are Flares"

"Said opportunity may come sooner than anticipated..." Rogue deadpans.

"This is not good." Twilight mutters.

"We better get ready. I'm failry certain we'll be sent in that direction to scout or to fight." She gets up, drawing her weapon for first time in a while.

Ursula's expression was tense, as she ran to the top deck, together with you. Kaylee and Johan flew up to her, regrouping and everyone looked in the direction of the flares.


On a different ship, the Witchers around Rain were staring overboard in unhinged panic, as a massive shadow began to rapidly rise from the deep.

"UTOPSHY ZMEEEEY!!!" one of them barked so hard, his voice echoed over the fleet, before a massive rotting carcass rammed one of the ships from below. The entire ship was violently thrown half a dozen meters into the air, and for a split second, you noticed something massive biting through the hull, snapping the ship in half and swallowing it whole.


The deafening racket of splintering wood rocked the sea, as the colossal creature heavily fell into the water again, sending massive waves, pieces of debris and chunks of human flesh flying in every direction. You only had a moment to notice the razor sharp, ten meter long spikes that covered the creatures back, before it dived deep, disappearing into the waters again.


An entire ship was gone from the fleet. The rest of the convoy was desperately trying to maneuver the ships back on course, as the towering waves threw them around like toys.
When the waves reached your position, your ship suddenly fell a few meters down, sending you into a brief free fall, before the deck unexpectedly rose up again and smashed into you, knocking the wind out of your lungs.



The Witchers on the other ships began discharging every spell in their arsenal directly into the water. It didn't seem to be making any effect, the massive shadow of the creature below was impossible to go unnoticed and it circled under the ships, too deep for the spells to reach.

Two massive, red, pulsing orbs lit up on its head as it looked upward at you. Its form began growing larger as it aimed its body mass at another ship in the fleet.

A flash sparks from Radiance's hand as he summons his new weapon. With a flick of his wrist the weapon transforms into it's extended form. Radiance takes a step forward, his wings unfurling.

"Waiting for this thing to slowly take us out is going to end bad. Let's take the fight to it" he points in the direction of the new enemy with his weapon. At the same time casting Enhanced Senses so he can better follow and predict its movements.

Rain summons her poleaxe her wings shoot open as she takes flight, she adjusts her grip on her new weapon holding it like a harpoon. she flys close to the water watching for the beasts shadow. Her eyes flick across the waves looking for bodies both dead and alive to return to land.

Casting the Enhanced Senses, you begin to feel the creatures presence, even through the colossal body of water.
The creature was massive, almost 30 meters in length. Encased inside a rotting carcass, the parasite signature of its soul was impossible to mistake.


Watching the waves, you begin to notice large hazy mists of dark red, spreading up from below and slowing making their way up to the top. When pieces of human limbs began to come up, you felt Squiggles curl up inside the depths of your soul.


"WE HAVE TO FORCE IT OUT OF THE DEEP! MAKE IT RESURFACE!" Kaylee shrieked on Nifel, flying toward the captain of her ship: "DIRECT THE FLEET TO SHALLOW WATERS NOW!"


"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING!?" the scarred Witcher barked back, wildly spinning the ships wheel and trying to compensate for the waves: "FIRST SQUAD - DIVE!" He barked to the men at his side. A dozen Witchers sprinted towards the ships guardrail and jumped overboard, submerging deep and making their way towards the creature below.



The monsters shadow grew horrifyingly large, it was headed for a direct vertical collision course with another ship. You estimate you have about 5 seconds before the impact.