Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 5

Ryu only quietly stared at you, as the conversation went on. You're not sure if he's holding something back or just has nothing to say. After a while, he only placed his hand on Twilight's shoulder, to show his support. Staying close to her, as she walked off, Ryu remained by her side.


After several moments, when it became clear he's not walking off again, Lightning breathed a small sigh of relief for some reason, then looked at everyone:

"While I highly appreciate your zeal to go after Zlobec asap, I would be remiss to note, their camp in Soma Farm Lands is located about a month away from here.
While the hippie village is only 1 week away, and slightly in a different direction.

It will take us a month to reach the Soma Farm lands, then another month to backtrack to the flower village. 2 months in total. So if that boy you're tying to save from the hippies, is really in danger, 2 months from now there may not be much of him left. Look" She unfolded an old map she stored inside her cloak somewhere.

Rogue wrote:"How will the teleporting actually work, because shifting that much mass all at once could potentially raise some serious problems?" Rogue asks,

"I assume since you're bringing the cities with you, that includes their foundations, but have you accounted for the terrain you'll be teleporting the cities into?"

"..mmm, from what we studied at the Witcher's Academy-" Ursula began, tapping her chin in thought:
"Before the Teleportation Pillar's were built, the Witcher's used some sort of magic to scout the geographic locations on Earth. We couldn't just migrate blindly, or else we'd accidentally teleport into the middle of the ocean.

Nine locations were chosen, that could support the foundations of castle towns.
Then, the Teleportation Pillars were built and geographically synchronized with their future location on Earth.

When the Migration will start, the Castle Towns will phase into existence on Earth and merge with the geography of your planet. They're not being physically moved, per-se. More like, teleported into a different plane of existence.

Twilight wrote:~"Fine, I'll try, but I'll be suprisedd if it takes me a week to reach 9th kyu."~ Twilight says with resignation to the parasite. She then chose to train martial arts, reluctantly.

~"And is it just me, but was that almost perfectly timed? I mean, they just got limit breaks, our only tool after we spent all our mana. Perfect time to test it out."~

"..hey... why don't you ask Ryu to train you" Alyx suddenly exclaimed: "He's a mage like you right? And he's a black belt in martial arts. Who's better to teach self defense to a mage, than another mage?"


Alyx thought for a moment: "As for the timing, it appears to be coincidental. If Lighting would have fallen into our trap, as we planned, we could've ended up not using all of our Mana. And.. um..." he hesitated a bit to continue:

"...I'm not judging you or anything... or blaming you... I'm just... an independent observer.. if you will... I'm just a reporter, so... don't shoot the messenger... so anyways...

Its possible that if we stayed inside Lightning's hideout, the Zlobec hit-squad wouldn't have found us. The hatch was pretty well concealed. But it turned out for the best I guess, since they did find us and ambush us, we were able to acquire valuable intel on the location of their base.

So all's well that ends well"

Circi wrote:Where did that merchant go?" She looks back to Ryu once more, "The rest of the kings? I assume they are back at the town, or are you the single king they sent to Watch us?" She suspiciously looks at Twilight's shadow, then her own.

"The merchant and the scholar?" Lightning asked: "I dunno, probably still shivering down in the hideout" she shrugged.

"...the rest of the kings are on their way to their respective castles." Ryu quietly said: "They've been away for too long and must return to their active duties"

As you examine Twilight's shadow, then your own, you don't spot anything suspicious. Upon examining the shadows of the rest of the team, you unexpectedly notice Lightning's shadow doing a bizarrely made tap dace.

No, false alarm, you though, Lighting herself was doing a crazy tap dance as well, apparently catching on to what you were doing and pulling a fast one.

Ana wrote:Anastasia at this point is petting Lili and feeding her some random, yet safe for hadedeshi, snow based greenery she found. Cleary wanting nothing to do with the current topic of conversation. She is also keeping an eye open on the surrounding forest.

The surrounding forest still appears to be silent and empty. Whatever animals lived here, were possibly startled by raised voice and ran away, or went into hiding.
You don't see anything that looked like an enemy. Or anything alive for that matter.

Kaylee Brown wrote:

Rogue wrote:"How will the teleporting actually work, because shifting that much mass all at once could potentially raise some serious problems?" Rogue asks,

"I assume since you're bringing the cities with you, that includes their foundations, but have you accounted for the terrain you'll be teleporting the cities into?"

"..mmm, from what we studied at the Witcher's Academy-" Ursula began, tapping her chin in thought:
"Before the Teleportation Pillar's were built, the Witcher's used some sort of magic to scout the geographic locations on Earth. We couldn't just migrate blindly, or else we'd accidentally teleport into the middle of the ocean.

Nine locations were chosen, that could support the foundations of castle towns.
Then, the Teleportation Pillars were built and geographically synchronized with their future location on Earth.

When the Migration will start, the Castle Towns will phase into existence on Earth and merge with the geography of your planet. They're not being physically moved, per-se. More like, teleported into a different plane of existence.

"You can sense the geography of Earth from Nifelheim?" Rogue repeats, "I thought there was no way of sending signals back to Earth, but you can have one go there and come back again? How does that work?"

"Oh that is a good point," Ana briefly glances in the direction the man ran off too "then, fingers crossed the base stays there a while."

.......

Rogue Fire wrote:

"You can sense the geography of Earth from Nifelheim?" Rogue repeats, "I thought there was no way of sending signals back to Earth, but you can have one go there and come back again? How does that work?"

"it's probably just some form of scan spell if I was to guess." she offers

While it was clear she wasn't calmed completely, it seems the silent communication of her son has helped her clear her mind. A weak smile forms as she looks at him.

"Thank you..." She says softly.

The words of her parasite did ring in her head, so she swallowed before speaking. "Um, Ryuuken? If I may be so rude... Can you... Help me with martial arts training? Since you and I seek the same specailization in witcher combat, and, well..."

She looks a bit ashamed to say it. "It could be an activity to get to know eachother a little better, as mother and son."

"It is something akin to a scan spell, yes" Ursula nodded: "The technology was developed only 178 years ago, in the Year 1110, counting from the day of the Exile.

Using a special Orb, we can 'peek' at the Earth's terrain on the other side. But we can only see the area, that geographically fits the area where the Orb is used. So if I was to use this Orb here, I would only see the area of Earth, that corresponds to my current location.

To see other area's on Earth, I would physically have to move to a different location on Nifelheim.
These Orbs were later recycled and used in the construction of the Teleportation Pillars. None of these Orbs remain today. The technology to build them was indescribably intricate and time consuming, so we built exactly the amount needed, to later construct the Pillars from them."




Ryu looked at Twilight in slight surprise: "Mm? You wish to learn self defense?" he processed it for a moment and nodded:
"Of course, I'll help you. I had a good teacher and I will pass his knowledge to you." he thought for a moment, looking away in thought, then added:

"Um.. mother, you don't have to be so formal with me. Considering that, I am your son and you were nursing me after I was born, there's no reason for us to stand on ceremony.."



"Soooooo-" Lightning prolonged the word quite a bit, leaning forward: "Where we going?"

"Thanks Ryu." She says with a smile. "Sorry for the formality, I find it hard to really find the balance in this, given the various circumstances. I'll do my best to be more... Casual with you, and maybe Victoria, if she lets me."

"Based on the conversations it sounds like most of us want to investigate the cult. I know that Ryu is on his way to Rakashta and the Soma Farm Lands are on the way. So, here's my thinking...

We start with the Flower Cult. Use the week of travel to mend wounds both physically and mentally. After we've dealt with the cult we turn around and make our way back to Rakashta. Along the way we make a detour into the Soma Farmlands and take down Zlobec."

She holds up a finger

"First though. I think we should take the rest of the day off. It's been rough going since we got up and this much stress on the body and mind can't be a good thing. We can't do our best if we're not at our best."

Anastasia and Rose wrote:"Based on the conversations it sounds like most of us want to investigate the cult. I know that Ryu is on his way to Rakashta and the Soma Farm Lands are on the way. So, here's my thinking...

We start with the Flower Cult. Use the week of travel to mend wounds both physically and mentally. After we've dealt with the cult we turn around and make our way back to Rakashta. Along the way we make a detour into the Soma Farmlands and take down Zlobec."

She holds up a finger

"First though. I think we should take the rest of the day off. It's been rough going since we got up and this much stress on the body and mind can't be a good thing. We can't do our best if we're not at our best."

"Sounds like a plan" Rogue nods.

Circi looks back to the hideout, "I'll go get tim and the merchant. We'll drop them off when we pass by town. I thank you for choosing to investigate this cult."

Ryu nodded to Twilight "I understand, thank you. I believe Viktoria will be happy about it as well"

"As much I'd like to lounge in my hideout all day-" Lightning scratched the back of her head "This whole area just became a combat hot spot. Between the Flares, my lighting show and the Limit Break party, everyone and their mother knows something is up in this area.
We need to put some distance between us and this spot asap, before someone else comes knocking. Like the Treasurer or some other knucklehead."

Together with Circi, she headed toward the hole in the ground, that once looked like a hatch and started banging the steel frame that was still left "HEY! GRANDPA'S! WE'RE MOVING!"

"Wha- w-who are you calling a grandpa!" Tim's voice echoed from below "I'd be ashamed if I had a grand daughter like you!"

"Yes, yes, lets go" Lighting shrugged with a smile.

"We'll have to travel on foot" Kaylee called "There's no way that poor fox can pull the wagon with all of us in it"

"Come on" Lightning waved, looking up at the sky "We're wasting daylight"















You've seen many different forests since your arrival to Nifelheim, in different parts of the continent. There were some variations, depending on the geographical location and climate, some more densely growing, others with tall tree's that had branches only several meters above ground, obscuring the sky.

But you've never seen anything like the forest you've stepped into, as you made your way to the village. Something felt off about it, as soon as you stepped into its borders.

The tree's looked all wrong, twisted and withered, yet living. Their branches and bark, forming unnerving shapes where ever you looked, playing tricks with your mind, making you think there was a creature staring at you, just at the edge of your vision, but each time you turned around, there was nothing there. The thin layer of fog that permeated everything here, only exacerbated that feeling.


The twisting branches of trees had obscured the sky almost fully here, barely allowing any sun to come through. As you moved on, you started to gradually loose track of time. Was it one week that you walked through here, or a whole month, it was becoming unnervingly hard to tell.

Most times that you woke up, or went to sleep, you couldn't tell which time of day it was, the near permanent darkness enveloped everything around you. Soon, you began hearing strange clicking sounds, just on the edge of your hearing, but each time you did, none of your companions seemed to know what you're talking about.

Then sometimes, they'd flinch and stare off at something in the distance, pale as ghosts, claiming they saw or heard something move. But each time, there was nothing. Nothing at all seemed to live in this forest.

One time, you woke up in cold sweat, screaming at the top of you lungs, because a horrifyingly twisted face of a monster, was breathing down at your face, his saliva slowly falling on you in your sleep. Only after several seconds of your companions grasping your shoulders and trying to calm you down, did you realize, you were just staring at a strange shape in the bark of a tree, that dark sap of which started to slowly drip down on you.

You began feeling like you're loosing your mind.

Soon, you began finding, strange trinkets, hanging from the branches of trees all around you. Small wooden rectangles, tied up with a decaying ribbon, some sort of letters written on them, illegible, faded and worn out with time.

They slowly moved with the wind, faintly colliding with the tree bark and emitting a quiet, unnerving clicking.

You decided to increase pace, it felt like the whole forest was watching you, looking down on you, hungrily waiting for you to make your next move. You felt like you had to escape. The brisk walk that started that morning, turning into a full sprint, as your ran further and further ahead, desperate for the nightmare to end.

Just when you felt you were about to scream out aloud, you suddenly saw a candle light in the distance. Walking closer, you began seeing a clearing, where the trees parted in a circle and stopped.

In that clearing, simple, wooden houses, dozens of them. And at the center, a tall, building of stone, that most reminded you of a large cathedral. Tiny candle lights played in all windows and a few humans were walking around.

You took another step forward and suddenly found yourself in front of a wooden arch, the formal entrance to the village. The carved letters into the wooden arc said:

//Training results


Ana
(completed 1 of 4 weeks towards 1st Dan in martial arts)


Rain
(Reached 1st Kyu in martial arts)


Circi
(completed 4 of 10 weeks towards 2nd Dan in martial arts)


Rogue
(Reached 4th Kyu in martial arts)


Twilight
(Reached 5th Kyu in martial arts)



Kaylee
(completed 1 of 2 weeks towards 1st Kyu in martial arts)

Johan
(completed 1 of 2 weeks towards 1st Kyu in martial arts)

Ursula
(completed 1 of 4 weeks towards 1st Dan in martial arts)

Kaylee Brown wrote:The twisting branches of trees had obscured the sky almost fully here, barely allowing any sun to come through. As you moved on, you started to gradually loose track of time. Was it one week that you walked through here, or a whole month, it was becoming unnervingly hard to tell.

Most times that you woke up, or went to sleep, you couldn't tell which time of day it was, the near permanent darkness enveloped everything around you. Soon, you began hearing strange clicking sounds, just on the edge of your hearing, but each time you did, none of your companions seemed to know what you're talking about.

Then sometimes, they'd flinch and stare off at something in the distance, pale as ghosts, claiming they saw or heard something move. But each time, there was nothing. Nothing at all seemed to live in this forest.

One time, you woke up in cold sweat, screaming at the top of you lungs, because a horrifyingly twisted face of a monster, was breathing down at your face, his saliva slowly falling on you in your sleep. Only after several seconds of your companions grasping your shoulders and trying to calm you down, did you realize, you were just staring at a strange shape in the bark of a tree, that dark sap of which started to slowly drip down on you.

You began feeling like you're loosing your mind.

"When did we take a wrong turn into Mirkwood?" Rogue says, "I know how this book goes down..."

Kaylee Brown wrote:In that clearing, simple, wooden houses, dozens of them. And at the center, a tall, building of stone, that most reminded you of a large cathedral. Tiny candle lights played in all windows and a few humans were walking around.

You took another step forward and suddenly found yourself in front of a wooden arch, the formal entrance to the village. The carved letters into the wooden arc said:

[center]"Welcome to Sanctum"

"You'd find more cheer in a graveyard..." Rogue comments.

As you go deeper into the forest circi seems to be perking up a bit more, her tones changing from cynical and bitter, to slightly friendly and energetic. Ursula can recognize her old friend. She stands up streight, you've seen her expressing her thoughts with body movements, she seems alot more emotional as well. Conversations with her seem to be the most sane out of everyone.

Circi stops in front of the party for a moment, "Hay. This place is freaky, I think its a good idea to put something reasonable in place." Her voice isn't commanding as it is suggesting, "We shouldn't be walking through here alone at any time. We should always remain in some sort of group be it a group of 2 or more. Your lives are a precious resource and we need those to save the world..." She pauses looking to Twilight, Ryu, and Rain, "...Try not to lose them"

Rain glances to Circi, then to Twilight, she crosses her arms and lets out a 'Hmph'

Circi sighs, "When they said flower cult I expected a flower field. I'm beginning to think these aren't actually hippies." She says with another sigh.

"Maybe it's a different meaning of flower." Twilight says, looking more relaxed when seeing civilization. "Though I'm drawing a blank on what it could be. Hmmm..."

She ponders ahead, trying to spot anything that looks like a flower, or something.

"Before we decide what to do next, just need to do one thing first"

Ana steps back into the forest then quickly scrambles up a nearby tree. Selecting that tallest one she can find that allows for a view over the village. From her vantage point she pulls out her notebook and quickly sketches out a rough map of the village. With the map in her possession she rejoins the group.

"With all the messed up things we thought we saw while traveling a grounded reference of the village is probably a good idea to have. I've got a feeling we might be here a while and getting lost in this place doesn't sit well with me. Everyone should take a look"

She holds it up for the group to see.

Looking at the map, it seems the village was mainly divided into 4 districts, with the cathedral standing in the middle. You do spot a garden of strange, unfamiliar vegetation and a whole field of dark purple flowers, they lazily swayed in the wind, faintly sparking in the darkness. It could be your imagination, but it almost looks like they're stretching towards the three moons in the sky, whenever the gentle breeze stops.










Johan gloomily looked around the place and nodded "More cheer in the graveyard is right, keep your guard up. If something happens here, this far from civilization, I doubt we'll be able to call for help, or escape here easily."


"Everyone, please, lets not jump to conclusions" Kaylee peacefully rose her arms "We're about to enter a community that may be different from our own. They may have their own rules and customs, we shouldn't assume they're doing something wrong, right off the bat.

The folk here may be completely harmless and kind. Lets focus on gathering information first."



"Mm" Ryu stoically nodded. His expression once again, returned to showing little, to no emotion. This unreadable mask he wore most of the time, seemed to be his default expression that he adopted deliberately, unwilling to broadcast what was happening inside his head.

His actions did show a bit more of his internal thoughts however. Most of the journey here, he spent close to Twilight, carefully and very patiently explaining and showing the very basics of self defense. The mind set one should adopt before battle, the basics of blocking, avoiding and striking.

The way one should rely on technique and the momentum of the opponent, rather than on brute strength. The way one should be aware of his environment and use it to his advantage. Very patiently, he showed how to engage in unarmed combat, or in combat with weapons and the different doctrines it involved.

Somehow, during such sessions, Ursula managed to insert herself into the training process at least once a day. Recommending that Twilight should keep working with different partners during her sparring matches, so as not to get too accustomed to Ryu's technique and be able to respond to any unfamiliar opponent, Ursula always seemed to use the opportunity to strike some sort of casual, unrelated conversation with Ryu, during the breaks between training.

Somehow she always found just the right moment when Ryu was relatively unoccupied, to appear sitting next to him, seemingly by accident, offering a porridge of stew she cooked, using her mothers recipe, or a steak she prepared in a specially unique way.

Ryu appeared relatively stoic at those times and accepted her offers with gratitude, but still appeared hard to read.



Lighting watched the whole routine from a distance, with a constant, subtle smirk, then each evening inevitably resorted to a loud song and dance around the fire, which involved a lot of heavy drinking and inevitable attempts to drag each party member into loud singing of old bandit songs and strange Nifel games she picked up from Rogue Witchers over the years.

Each such festivity inevitably concluded with her oversleeping in the morning and waking up extremely hungover and smelling of booze.


Today was no exception and Lighting, half asleep and with a pounding headache, was heavily leaning on Rogue's shoulder and nodding off every few seconds, during the pauses in conversation.

Ryu was once again standing next to Twilight with his arms crossed and vigilantly watching the area. While Ursula once again ended up standing next to Ryu, seemingly by accident, as everyone surveyed the village.


The streets in the village weren't too crowded, the people inside wore hand woven clothes and carried baskets of vegetables. None of their eyes shined, as far as you can tell. It seems there weren't any Witchers here, by the looks of it, only humans. They all looked quite happy, going around their business, completely unbothered by the strange forest that stood all around them.

[Flashback]
During the week Ana would always join in with the singing, dancing and games. Her look of pure joy and excitement the first time that Lighting initiated the nightly party was unmistakable. The drinking was where she let Lighting "win" and would stop at a light buzz.

[Now]
"But I like to assume the worst so I can always be pleasantly surprised when things go good but never disappointed when they don't," she gives Kaylee a cheeky grin "but since this information gathering and it's a cult village then I suggest we hit the Cathedral first. Cults have rules usually and it would be inconsiderate of us to not learn them first."

Kaylee Brown wrote:Today was no exception and Lighting, half asleep and with a pounding headache, was heavily leaning on Rogue's shoulder and nodding off every few seconds, during the pauses in conversation.

"How about we split into two groups, one going into the village to learn more, the other staying hidden in the forest in case things get hairy?" Rogue suggests quietly, taking care not to disturb Lightning as he talked.

"Even if they do turn out to be friendly, a larger group of Witchers showing up out of nowhere might intimidate them?"

"Mmm, visiting the cathedral sounds like a good idea" Kaylee nodded "Splitting up, I dunno. What if you guys go inside the cathedral and it turns out it has a giant maze underneath and they somehow drag you down there and subdue you.

The group outside might not know somethings wrong, and by the time they decide to act, because you've been gone for too long, it might be too late to mount a rescue, you know what I mean?" she anxiously scratched the back of her neck.

"Well, if splitting up is the lesser evil, given all the options, I guess me, Johan, Ursula, Lighting and Tim can stay behind, while everyone else moves on"



"Mmm... why do I have to stay behind" Ursula slightly pouted.

"At least the merchant and his fox went back to Aldris" Johan looked at her "We don't have to worry about them coming to harm."

"I say!" Tim started waving his index finger around "If you think you can keep me away from this extra-ordinary piece of ancient architecture, you are very much mistaken gentlemen!" He spread his arms, looking at the massive structure in the middle of the village:
"This Cathedral looks ancient! It could've stood here for decades! Centuries even! Think of the impact its discovery can make on the scientific community! What will we find inside? What remnants of cultures, long forgotten"

"Hope they have schematics for brewing better moonshine" Lighting said and released a loud hiccup.

"I'll drop into Shadow and attach myself to Tim so he can come along"

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Mmm, visiting the cathedral sounds like a good idea" Kaylee nodded "Splitting up, I dunno. What if you guys go inside the cathedral and it turns out it has a giant maze underneath and they somehow drag you down there and subdue you.

The group outside might not know somethings wrong, and by the time they decide to act, because you've been gone for too long, it might be too late to mount a rescue, you know what I mean?" she anxiously scratched the back of her neck.

"Well, if splitting up is the lesser evil, given all the options, I guess me, Johan, Ursula, Lighting and Tim can stay behind, while everyone else moves on"

"Hope they have schematics for brewing better moonshine" Lighting said and released a loud hiccup.

"If everything's okay, the scout party could meet up at a pre-arranged point at a pre-arranged time in the village, visible to the reserve party from the treeline, say an hours time at the entrance?" Rogue suggests "If they don't show, then we'll know something's up."

Twilight looks at her son, noticing the girl next to him. She narrows her eyes slightly, with a smirk.

Then she spoke. "Anastasia, I have an idea. Instead of protecting him, go through the shadows to the ones outside to inform them, since you can escape without problems. Then you can warn the people outside, no problem."

She scratches her head "Inform who about what? Sorry, I don't quite follow"

"I'll use more details then." Twilight says.

"From what I heard, the plan is to have some of us form a group that enters, and the rest stays outside the town. When using the shadow limit break, you should hide in the shadows of the people going inside. If, for some reason, something should go terribly, terribly wrong, you can escape as a shadow and return to those outside of the camp, to warn those that stayed behind as backup, to inform them it's their turn now, and what to watch out for."

She starts to ponder. "In fact... Let's make that a plan B. Using the shadow limit break to listen in on people, see how things are within the town limits, if we're banned or they act different with us near."

She nods "That's what I thought you said but just wanted to be sure. Pre deciding a time limit for the scout team and a meeting place is a good idea too. In view of the workshop and housing area from the entrance seems the best place to me. 1 hour like Rogue suggested."

From her bag Anastasia pulls out her fox mask. "So a once over of the plan. Scout team goes in and heads to the Cathedral. Basic introductions and all that. I'll be a Shadow and hiding amongst the party and scenery. The backup team will wait up to one hour then if the scout team doesn't show up or I somehow can't get back to them if things go really long then the backup team will move in."

She pulls on the mask "Unless there's something else then I say let's get a move on"