Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 4

(Circi)



Michail hopelessly sighed: "I was here to dissuade you from the foolish notion of aiding our enemies.
Unfortunately, it seems I am failing to do so"

He looked up at you: "You haven't broken any laws, but we can't let you help the enemy either.

The Machine Folk will soon be sent back to their world. It will probably be resolved within the next few hours.
After that, you will be free to leave"


Michail stood up and sighed: "Until then, I'm afraid we'll have to keep you in custody. Standard procedure. You understand.

Farewell, Circi." Michail slowly walked out of the room and locked the door behind him.
It seems you have been left alone in the room for now.

(Rain)



"Rogue Witchers often work with regular humans to do their dirty work." Viktoria nodded: "There's certain places normal folk can access more easily, less prying eyes on them, than on a Witcher"

She briefly looked over her clipboard, before returning her eyes to you:


"About the giant footprints that disappear. There's a number of things that can explain it.

A Witcher that goes Berserk, briefly assumes the form of his parasite, completely surrenders the control over to him. When this happens, the Witcher grows in size, considerably.
When the effect wears off, the Witcher returns back to normal.

This could explain why the tracks seemed large, then vanished. Alder's killer could be another Rogue Witcher that went Berserk. Some kind of criminal, territorial, monetary squabble. It happens sometimes.


Another possibility is a large, flying parasite, but.." Viki's eyes became briefly intense: "...the size of its paw prints, the devastation described by both you and my men..

It almost matches the Memories of... a Dragon Parasite."


Viktoria looked at you with a heavy stare: "...we believed the last one was killed a few hundred years ago. If another one still lurks somewhere on Nifelheim.. it could pose a danger to the Castle Towns.."

Viki looked away somewhere with a grimace: "...we will tighten the defenses of each Castle Town in any case. The Migration approaches"




She solemnly looked at you: "Unfortunately none of those theories prove your innocence.
This topic is completely unrelated to your own.

As such" Viktoria flipped her clipboard and placed it on the table:

"As the King of Rakshata and all the authority passed onto me, I hereby sentence you to be imprisoned inside the Machine Portal, until the time when your fellow men on the other side, decide to teleport you back to Earth.

We will not speak again." Viktoria stood up with an icy expression:

"Goodbye"



She turned on her heels and left the room, locking it behind her. A few seconds passed before you realized you were alone in the room for the first time.

Squiggles loudly quacked in your ear:


"Ah to hell with this! Rain, cast the Avatar, lets get the hell outta here!!"

Twilight let out a sigh. She looked defeated.

"... Fine. But again, don't make it too obvious, otherwise we're still ending up in that enemy base."

With that, and a heavy heart, she began casting avatar.

"... I'm not the right person for these kind of actions."

"Yeah lets not stick around" Rain casts Avatar, "Ursula is going to be so angry at me. Its going to take a helluva lot of explaining." She sighs, "Cavos goddamn you, your still a pain in the ass even in death." She scoffs waiting to be untied, "New mission, do our goddamn jobs as witchers and tear the scales off that dragon parasite to prove we aren't hostile. Squiggles, when we kill it im taking its head and we are walking our happy asses to the kings desk or throne or whatever and give absolute evidence that we are here to help."

(Rain)



A hidden fire lit up in the depth of your soul, growing stronger. Your whole body was suddenly envelopped by a bright orange glow, lighting the room. And then, it felt like a part of your soul had separated from you and slowly made its way outside your body.

It felt a little more empty inside. But at the same time, you felt some sort of teather, still connecting you two.

And with a deep breath, your parasite came into being.




"YAAAA HAHAHAHA!!! AFTER 10,000 YEARS I'M FREEEE!!!"
A large spider-dog horror was standing next to you, swining its front mandibles into the air:


"IT'S TIME TO CONQUER NIFELHEIM!!"
Squiggles bit the ropes around your palms with two rows of his teeth and tore the ropes off completely, releasing your palms from the wooden ball they were grasping.


On a closer inspection, it seems your body was also tied up by several chains, and your legs were chained to the metal chair you were sitting on.


Without missing a beat, Squiggles materialized your Witcher Poleaxe in his mouth, then placed the weapon next to the chains.

The heat of the burning poleaxe began melting the chains, until they uselessly collapsed and fell on the floor.

It seems you have been completely freed from all restraints.



Still holding the poleaxe with his mouth, Squiggles excitedly mumbled something and skedaddled towards the locked door.

(Twilight)



A hidden fire lit up in the depth of your soul, growing stronger. Your whole body was suddenly envelopped by a bright orange glow, lighting the room. And then, it felt like a part of your soul had separated from you and slowly made its way outside your body.

It felt a little more empty inside. But at the same time, you felt some sort of teather, still connecting you two.

And with a deep breath, your parasite came into being.





Alyx materialized as that same, 14 year old, earth pony, with white hair and black tuxedo. Except he was slightly transparent and glowed faintly orange.

"Mmm.. feels good to be free again.." Alyx brought his hands up and stretched pretty hard, before looking up at you.

Reading your facial expression, his eyes caught fire and he clenched his fist hard:



"Damn it Twilight, get a grip! Stop acting like a mother, and start acting like a mother!!!.. Eh... A cool, level headed mother!

Now come on!" Instead of loosening the ropes, Alyx tore them off completely, releasing your palms from the wooden ball they were grasping.


On a closer inspection, it seems your body was also tied up by several chain, and your legs chained to the metal chair you were sitting on.


Without missing a beat, Alyx unceremoniously summoned your Witcher weapon into his own palm, then placed it next to the chains.

The heat of the burning weapon began melting the chains, until they uselessly collapsed and fell on the floor.

It seems you have been completely freed from all restraints.


"Come!" Alyx grasped your palm and motioned towards the door. Your Witcher weapon still burned in his other hand:


"We need to escape this room, find the others and free whoever is having trouble escaping. After that, we are legging it out of this prison!!"

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Rogue)

Viktoria stood up straight and nodded to you: "Thank you for your cooperation, Rogue Fire. I hope we can meet again on more pleasant terms one day..." she looked away:

"...after the war with the Machine World is over" she politely nodded to you and marched out of the room, locking the door behind her.

"It never began..." Rogue says, partly to her, and partly to himself.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Rogue)

A few moments passed before you realized you were completely alone in the room, for the first time.

Rolo excitedly quacked, in the depths of your soul:

"Rogue! Now's our chance!
I do appreciate their polite hospitality, but risking being shipped back to Earth is not something I wonna risk.

Cast the Avatar spell and lets bounce!"

"We need to wait for the opportune moment" Rogue assures Rolo, "We have no idea how many guards're posted outside that door, or where in the compound we are. Better to hold off until they're moving us, we can get a lay of the land then."

// Merry Christmas to all !!!                     

"I can't answer those because I don't know." Radiance finds her gaze again "if this is the end then I'm going to leave you with a few words. Gaining respect is a two way street. If you're going to migrate peacefully to Earth then you may want to learn about us properly. Not just assumptions based off of one group attacking you and one disappointing person.

If you're expecting the people of Earth to just fall into the Nifelheim way of thinking then you are either naive or misguided. You're either going to have to compromise or prepare to fight for your life, prepare for things to get a lot worse.

In the end, what you do and think us ultimately up to you. Goodbye, Bastila."

// O nooo, the Grinch XD

(Rogue)


"I agree.. but.." Rolo nervously sighed:

"...I'm scared.
Rogue, there's a good chance they're going to paralyze us again before moving. They'll come back to the room, zap us unconscious, and the next time we wake up... we'll already be back on Earth.


Rogue I... I don't want to feel so out of control again. Not knowing what's happening to me, unable to control my own fate.


From the start of our capture, this is the first time we're not being watched, the first time we're not unconscious. We have a chance to escape.
I don't know if we'll ever get another chance like this.



Rogue we can't fall unconscious for another month! We can't risk it!..
Escaping now is dangerous and less than ideal, I know, but I think it carries the least risks.


Lets start by getting out of the restrains and listening to what's happening on the other side of the door.
We'll at least have a chance to defend ourselves and get a better idea of what's outside"

(Radiance)



"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Bastila roared. Covering the distance between you in two massive steps she grabbed you by your shirts collar and roughly yanked you towards her face:


"...gain your respect?" She muttered, gritting her teeth harder and harder:


"YOU PEOPLE EXILED US TO THIS FROZEN HELL AND LEFT US TO DIE! AND WHEN WE DEFIED DEATH, YOU SENT KILL SQUADS TO FINISH THE JOB!!!" She was shouting right at your face, her grip on your shirts collar growing more firm:


"..and you want us to... Earn Your Respect?..." Bastila threw you backwards, making you land again in your chair:


"I will Earn Your Respect alright. YOU WILL LEARN TO RESPECT OUR POWER!!!" Bastila's eyes began glowing a fraction more brighter, burning flames began materializing in each of her palms.



"Your Chairman will die. There isn't a force in this world, that can stop our righteous wrath against him. And once we're done tearing him limb from limb, if any one of your soldiers DARES to lift a hand against our Castles... we will burn your entire world to the ground, just like you tried to do with us.

And the loss of your fleet during the Ashra Pillar Disaster, will seem like a small, inconsequential skirmish in comparison."



Bastila put out the flames and scowled at you, speaking in a low, dangerous voice:

"Did you not understand, that coming to Nifelheim, would mean you're representing your entire world?
Each of your actions speaks volumes about your worlds culture, your morals, your societies acceptable norms.


...As far as I'm concerned, your entire world is at war with us. There have never been any evidence to the contrary.


Really, you should be grateful. That we are planning to forgive your war crimes, once the Chairman is dead. You should let us kill him and leave us alone. Its the best deal you're going to get. Your only chance for peace.

Make sure to convey all my words to your leaders, once your back on the other side."



Bastila turned on her heels, facing the door and only slightly turned her head towards you:

"...consider this, the official message of the King of Sleipnir, to the people of Earth.

Goodbye. Assassin."



She loudly swung the door open and marched out of the room, locking it firmly behind her.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Rogue)


"I agree.. but.." Rolo nervously sighed:

"...I'm scared.
Rogue, there's a good chance they're going to paralyze us again before moving. They'll come back to the room, zap us unconscious, and the next time we wake up... we'll already be back on Earth.


Rogue I... I don't want to feel so out of control again. Not knowing what's happening to me, unable to control my own fate.

// Merry Christmas all!

"I understand, and it's okay to be scared. That's natural" Rogue nods, "We're equal partners in this, so if you believe it best to make our move now, then we'll do it."

Rogue then casts Avatar.

Twilight gets up from the chair.

"You're right, I have to get it together for now. If this continues, I might have to face my cpkids on the battlefield. We need to somehow dismantle the base of the chairman, whoever and wherever it is."

She looks at him. "And for the next motivation, try 'Don't be just a bother, step up as a mother.' It rhymes and gets the point across. "

After that, she peeks outside, looking for the right moment to burst out.

(Rogue)



A hidden fire lit up in the depth of your soul, growing stronger. Your whole body was suddenly enveloped by a bright orange glow, lighting the room. And then, it felt like a part of your soul had separated from you and slowly made its way outside your body.

It felt a little more empty inside. But at the same time, you felt some sort of teather, still connecting you two.

And with a deep breath, your parasite came into being.



Rolo materialized into view as a middle aged man of undetermined age, with a full beard, cut short. For some reason he wore the exact same clothes you did, with a small difference of a dark noir looking hat. It seems he was also partly transparent.



"..this sensation.. its new.. yet, somewhat familiar" Rolo said, studying the palms of his hands, then closing his eyes and feeling the thin draft from the door.


After a moment, he became focused and sat down next to you. Meticulously working on the knots, he slowly untied the ropes around your hands, releasing your palms from the wooden ball that they were grasping.


On a closer inspection, it seems your body was also tied up by several chains, and your legs were chained to the metal chair you were sitting on.


Quacking slightly, Rolo summoned your Witcher Shield into his hands, then placed it next to the chains.
The heat of the burning shield began melting the chains pretty quickly, until they uselessly collapsed to the floor.

It seems you have been completely freed from all restraints.




Still holding the shield, Rolo approached the door, looked at the lock, then at the shield again:


"Aaahh... kinda wish you'd picked a protruding weapon, could've jammed it into the lock and melted it. Although.. I guess we could melt the whole door frame around the lock...
Unless you know how to pick locks by chance? It would seem like everything's fine, if someone looks at the door from outside and doesn't find any damage on it"

(Twilight)


As you cautiously peek outside the door, you notice a long, featureless corridor, with many doors like your own. There were no windows in it as well. The walls were painted blue, a very long time ago, the paint was coming off in giant chunks in more than a few places.

You felt a very cold draft, going through the corridor, coming from somewhere ahead. The corridor itself seems to stretch on for a good 30 meters, before making a turn on each end. Its length illuminated by dimly burning torches, mounted on the walls every five meters or so.


Looking towards the corridors ceiling, it seems it was quite high, maybe five meters and ended in a triangular shape. There was something like wooden catwalks up there, some sort of support structures that held the walls and the roof together.

Light didn't reach out there so well and the ceiling was just barely visible.
Some kind of squeaking was coming down from up there, some sort of tiny rodent like animals, possibly with wings might be nesting there, but you can't really see them in the dark.



A sharp sound caught your attention.

There was a guard standing at the very end of the corridor, looking somewhere ahead. Dressed in a massive winter coat, standing with his arms crossed. He wasn't looking in your direction.
It seems he's talking to someone, just around the corner, at the far end of the corridor.

The echo just barely carried his words to you and you can't seem to make out what he's saying.


Apart from him, you don't see a soul in sight.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Rogue)

Still holding the shield, Rolo approached the door, looked at the lock, then at the shield again:


"Aaahh... kinda wish you'd picked a protruding weapon, could've jammed it into the lock and melted it. Although.. I guess we could melt the whole door frame around the lock...
Unless you know how to pick locks by chance? It would seem like everything's fine, if someone looks at the door from outside and doesn't find any damage on it"

"You've seen my memories, y'know I can pick locks" Rogue says, rubbing his hands and joining Rolo by the door. He kneels down and takes a look at the lock.

(Twilight)
Nearby the sound of jaunty whistling can be heard. What you imagine a show tune would sound like in Nifelheim.

(Rogue)


The lock appears to be a large, sturdy one, albeit a bit rusty, built directly into the door. It seems the key for it would be relatively large as well. Through the keyhole, you can just barely make out the wall of the corridor, on the other side.

It seems relatively quiet out there, no one in sight. Only the wind is slightly howling under the door.


Rolo is awkwardly standing with your shield, beside the door, with his back to the wall. After some deliberation he dissipated the shield.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Rogue)


The lock appears to be a large, sturdy one, albeit a bit rusty, built directly into the door. It seems the key for it would be relatively large as well. Through the keyhole, you can just barely make out the wall of the corridor, on the other side.

It seems relatively quiet out there, no one in sight. Only the wind is slightly howling under the door.

"Right, let's see what you're made of" Rogue says to himself, pulling a paperclip out of his pocket and setting about picking the lock.

(Rogue)


After a few moments, the lock emitted a muffled clank and the door slightly opened.

As you cautiously peek through the opening, you notice a long, featureless corridor, with many doors like your own. There were no windows in it as well. The walls were painted blue, a very long time ago, the paint was coming off in giant chunks in more than a few places.

You felt a very cold draft, going through the corridor, coming from somewhere ahead. The corridor itself seems to stretch on for a good 30 meters, before making a turn on each end. Its length illuminated by dimly burning torches, mounted on the walls every five meters or so.


Looking towards the corridors ceiling, it seems it was quite high, maybe five meters and ended in a triangular shape. There was something like wooden catwalks up there, some sort of support structures that held the walls and the roof together.

Light didn't reach out there so well and the ceiling was just barely visible.
Some kind of squeaking was coming down from up there, some sort of tiny rodent like animals, possibly with wings might be nesting there, but you can't really see them in the dark.



A sharp sound caught your attention.

There was a guard standing at the very end of the corridor, looking somewhere ahead. Dressed in a massive winter coat, standing with his arms crossed. He wasn't looking in your direction.
It seems he's talking to someone, just around the corner, at the far end of the corridor.

The echo just barely carried his words to you and you can't seem to make out what he's saying.


Apart from him, you also hear a muffled echo emanating from one of the neighboring doors. It sounds like someone is whistling some sort of tune.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Rogue)

A sharp sound caught your attention.

There was a guard standing at the very end of the corridor, looking somewhere ahead. Dressed in a massive winter coat, standing with his arms crossed. He wasn't looking in your direction.
It seems he's talking to someone, just around the corner, at the far end of the corridor.

The echo just barely carried his words to you and you can't seem to make out what he's saying.


Apart from him, you also hear a muffled echo emanating from one of the neighboring doors. It sounds like someone is whistling some sort of tune.

"Okay, there's at least two guards at the end of the corridor, but it seems pretty quiet otherwise" Rogue says to Rolo.

(Rogue)


"Hey check out those catwalks up top" Rolo said, looking towards the darkness: "..If we climb up there, I bet we can navigate the corridors without being spotted. The light from the torches barely reaches up there."

He lowered his gaze and looked back to you: "..should we climb up there now, or risk sneaking through the corridor to one of the other doors? See if we can bust out whoever's having trouble escaping?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Rogue)

"Hey check out those catwalks up top" Rolo said, looking towards the darkness: "..If we climb up there, I bet we can navigate the corridors without being spotted. The light from the torches barely reaches up there."

He lowered his gaze and looked back to you: "..should we climb up there now, or risk sneaking through the corridor to one of the other doors? See if we can bust out whoever's having trouble escaping?"

"We should probably check the other rooms first, though we've been here an hour already, so we might be behind the others" Rogue nods.

(Rogue, Twilight)


"Right.." Rolo nodded in concentration, then, keeping a close eye on the guard, he slipped out of the door.


The guard was some 15 meters away, standing at the edge of the corridor and frowning at something behind the corner. There was some kind of commotion going on over there and when you began leaving the room, you started hearing fragments of their conversation.


"....-miscreant! Restrain yourself-..!!" You heard Ryuuken's voice coming from behind the corner. He was completely out of sight somewhere.

"I WILL NOT BE RESTRAINED! AND I WILL NOT BE SILENT! KYAAA-..... YOU WHIPPER SNAPPERS!..." You heard Tristan's angry yelling and some kind of furniture being tossed or knocked over.

"Don't make me knock out an old man!!" Ryu's angry voice rang again.

"WHILE YOU WERE STILL WALKING STRAIGHT UNDER THE TABLE, I WAS BEING TRAINED HOW TO CONQUER PARASITES!!!" Tristan's was shrieking at the top of his lungs. You heard more furniture moving somewhere.



The only guard you saw at the end of the corridor, grimaced and slightly moved out of sight as well. Whatever was happening, was going down somewhere out of sight.


Rolo grimaced: "..is Tristan deliberately making a scene, to draw the guards away from this corridor?... crazy old timer."