Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 2

// Kaylee's baaaaack home =D sorry for the wait!



Kaylee and Johan slowly climbed down from their giant fox. For some reason Johan kept throwing weary glances at it, and the fox quietly traced him with its four red eyes.

Approaching the cave entrance, you began hearing a very distant rumbling, coming from inside. It was very muffled, just on the edge of your hearing. Sometimes disappearing for prolongued periods of time, then appearing again.
It appears to be an echo, from somewhere deep in the mine.



Examining the camp, you notice a visible disarray. Working tools scattered haphazardly over the ground, a mining helmet laying next to the camp fire, a blanket half soaked in a dirt puddle.

The tents outside the cave were all empty, a similar disarray present inside them.


As you throw another glance across the camp, you notice two large smears of red, beginning at the mine entrance and going inside. Their traces fading in the caves darkness.

After dismounting her ride, Twilight looks around, sternly.

"It doesn't look like this was a very friendly operation. Hmmm..." She pondered out loud. She looked at the group and spoke louder. "Gather everything that looks like it could still be used, especially sources of light. Whatever is in there has fought the people standing guard here, and I fear the miners lost this battle. And what fought them is most likely too strong for a couple of unarmed beginners like us."

She then looks at Ursula. "Since you have the most experience in this, should one of us go back to warn other witchers, or is the situation dire enough to send out a flare? I have only one spell left, I wouldn't mind casting it for that."

"I'll cast it, you should save your last spell for offensive action." Ursula said, looking around:

"Two Witchers were stationed at this outpost.." she frowned and threw her palm into the air. A parasite warning flare shot high into the nights sky, illuminating the mines campsite.


"This is the only mining site we have in this region. If we loose it, every new Witcher recruit will be left without a weapon. The blow to our defense network will be devastating" Ursula said, frowning:

"Backup won't arrive for hours. There's 8 of us, we should conduct a careful recon, to assess the situation, figure out what we're dealing with.

If the situation becomes too grave, I'll give the order to pull out."


She looked around, assessing the disarray left in the campsite:
"Let's scavenge what we can and move inside" she nodded to Twilight in agreement.

"Understood." She said.

After that, she went to look inside the tents for anything useful. Mostly sources of light and writings.

Disgruntled purple wrote:After dismounting her ride, Twilight looks around, sternly.

"It doesn't look like this was a very friendly operation. Hmmm..." She pondered out loud. She looked at the group and spoke louder. "Gather everything that looks like it could still be used, especially sources of light. Whatever is in there has fought the people standing guard here, and I fear the miners lost this battle. And what fought them is most likely too strong for a couple of unarmed beginners like us."

She then looks at Ursula. "Since you have the most experience in this, should one of us go back to warn other witchers, or is the situation dire enough to send out a flare? I have only one spell left, I wouldn't mind casting it for that."

"I wouldn't really call us unarmed or beginners" Rogue says, unclipping his crossbow and checking its systems still work; thermal imaging, laser sight, bayonet,

"We might not have native weapons that can actually kill Glystaria, but Rain's longbow and my crossbow plus grenades can at least knock them back, and some of us do have previous experience casting magic as well.

We're not planning on fighting a proper battle here anyway, just a fact-finding mission. Like Ursula said, if we face too much opposition we can retreat, so killing opponents isn't a priority, just avoiding them or keeping them at bay."

Kaylee Brown wrote:"I'll cast it, you should save your last spell for offensive action." Ursula said, looking around:

"Two Witchers were stationed at this outpost.." she frowned and threw her palm into the air. A parasite warning flare shot high into the nights sky, illuminating the mines campsite.


"This is the only mining site we have in this region. If we loose it, every new Witcher recruit will be left without a weapon. The blow to our defense network will be devastating" Ursula said, frowning:

"Backup won't arrive for hours. There's 8 of us, we should conduct a careful recon, to assess the situation, figure out what we're dealing with.

If the situation becomes too grave, I'll give the order to pull out."


She looked around, assessing the disarray left in the campsite:
"Let's scavenge what we can and move inside" she nodded to Twilight in agreement.

"If this is a strategic location, that makes it a vulnerable target, why aren't there any defensive features?" Rogue asks Ursula.

"You're right Rogue." Twilight says dryly. "We got sticks and harsh language. We're completely fine. Thank you for pointing out the obvious by the way, I would not even have thought of the idea of a tactical retreat. And for reminding me that I am the goddamn element of magic."

She gathers what she has found and goes to rummage through it.

Rain sighs, "I feel like this is not at all a good idea in general, unless we plan on fending ourselfs with just spells... seems unlikely to happen however." She rumages through some of the tents looking for bags or bodys, mainly looking for loot.

Disgruntled purple wrote:"You're right Rogue." Twilight says dryly. "We got sticks and harsh language. We're completely fine. Thank you for pointing out the obvious by the way, I would not even have thought of the idea of a tactical retreat. And for reminding me that I am the goddamn element of magic."

She gathers what she has found and goes to rummage through it.

"That's not what I meant" Rogue sighs "Collectively we're a captain, a bard, a general, a detective, an assassin, an avatar, and a mercenary strong. Together we have a broad range of skills and knowledge which have helped us save an entire planet multiple times, so even though we're new to this particular level, we're already familiar with the overall game. We know how to use the assets we have to our advantage, even if they're not the best.

Yes we need to be cautious, of course we should, but we're not entry level either, we've all been playing for a while, so we understand the risks inherent in our work, and we find those acceptable, we wouldn't be here otherwise."

"C-come on guys.." Kaylee quietly called: "Lets not fight... we're.. on the same team after all"


Ursula looked down, taking hold of her elbow: "I'm sorry, I should have clarified this earlier, your spells are very much effective against the parasites.
Perhaps, even more effective than Witcher weapons"

She looked up: "Spells do massive damage, but they are limited in 'ammo', so they must be used sparingly, to turn the tide of battle.
The Witcher weapons on the other hand, do light damage in comparison, however they are not limited by 'ammo'. They can be used infinitely and therein lies their advantage.

That's why, in our current condition, you should hold on to your Mana, for offensive action" Ursula said, nodding a bit.



After searching the campsite around the cave entrance, you scavenged some firewood and old rags. With a bit of work, these can be turned into makeshift torches.
Among the various items located inside the tents, you come across something that may be a foreman's log book. It has a leather cover and a book mark inside. Most of its yellowing pages were filled with hand written text.

Unfortunately it seems to be written in the Nifel language, you can't seem to make out what the writings say.


No bodies were found in the vicinity of the campsite. Only more traces of blood, that led to the mine. You found quite a few sturdy backpacks, seemingly made for long distance travel. A few were torn to shreds but some were still in good condition.


Among the various every day working items and tools, you suddenly stumble upon a strange piece of metal. It was long, about a meter in length and completely covered in ash. Its shape was chaotic, as if a few drops of lava had fallen there, bubbled and solidified into a single shape.

The strange object could've been easily overlooked as just a piece of debris, if not for its gentle teal glow, constantly emanating from within.


"Wow.. what is that?.." Johan quietly asked, as Rain picked it up.


Ursula turned, looking at it and her face twisted into a pained mask:
"...this was once a Witchers weapon..." she looked away with a sigh: "This is what happens to it, when its owner dies..."
She looked at Rain:
"...you should hold on to it... a skilled blacksmith can reforge it into a weapon for you" Ursula took a few steps away, towards the cave entrance:

"...we should keep a lookout for metal, that looks similar to this. If we find any in the mine, we should take it with us, without hesitation. Your weapons must be forged."



She waited a moment, then looked at Rogue with regret:
"..when the city of Ashra fell.. so did most of the Witchers on this island. There's only a handful of us left here. Those you saw at the stronghold.. it was 80% of our current Witcher forces on this island.

We use most of our force to go on patrols and protect civilian settlements. Their protection takes priority above everything else. We sent those we could spare, to guard the mines but.."

She looked down: "...there's just not that many Witchers left on this island.. I fear very soon, we will loose it to the parasite horde"




Johan uncomfortably shivered and looked into the darkness of the mine:
"...shall we... head inside?.."

Rain looks at the rod, "Ursula... I hate to ask but even though the witcher is dead would I still be able to use this as it currently is until we get it reforged?" She frowns finding a somewhat good place to weild it, "If anything It would make for a decent cudgle should things go bad. Not the best but... It would be something at least." She rolls the piece in her palm letting the rod circle over her shoulder before coming to rest just beside her leg.

"Hmmm, I guess our path is set then..." Twilight says with determination.

"After we find out what happened and we get out of here with as little confrontation as possible, but as much metal as possible, we go back to get the weapons forged. As that happens, we read up on this world, the language and the history. Then, with what we learn, we'll search for our children and we'll round up everyone on the island so that they can be evacuated to the main land. From there, we'll try to get into the cities, because we need to go through those gates first to establish connection on the other side. If not, expect to sadly rename every city to Ashra."

She gave the book to Ursula. "Here you go. I would read it, but I can't. At least not now."

"Do we have a map of the mines, and are veins of this metal rare?" Rogue asks Ursula.

Rain wrote:"Ursula... I hate to ask but even though the witcher is dead would I still be able to use this as it currently is until we get it reforged?"

Ursula shook her head: "I'm afraid I can't recommend it. While its true that, the unique properties of the metal, will allow it to make physical contact with a parasite, in its current state the metal is fragile. The extreme temperature stress it suffered when its owner died, left it in a fragile state.

If used as a cudgel, the rod will shatter into pieces. Reforging it after that will be.. difficult.. time consuming, perhaps even impossible"

Ursula shuffled her feet: "I'm not an expert on blacksmith work by any means, but, that's what I understood from the brief conversations I had with them."

Twilight wrote:"Hmmm, I guess our path is set then..." Twilight says with determination.

"After we find out what happened and we get out of here with as little confrontation as possible, but as much metal as possible, we go back to get the weapons forged. As that happens, we read up on this world, the language and the history. Then, with what we learn, we'll search for our children and we'll round up everyone on the island so that they can be evacuated to the main land. From there, we'll try to get into the cities, because we need to go through those gates first to establish connection on the other side. If not, expect to sadly rename every city to Ashra."

"Sounds like a plan" Johan nodded, releasing an encouraging smile.

Twilight wrote:She gave the book to Ursula. "Here you go. I would read it, but I can't. At least not now."

Rogue wrote:"Do we have a map of the mines, and are veins of this metal rare?" Rogue asks Ursula.

"Lets see.." Ursula opened the book and quickly flipped through the pages: "It seems to be the foreman's log book.
I don't see the map here, I guess one of the miners took it with him to the cave"

She briefly took her eyes off the book and looked at you:
"The area around the cave entrance has been thoroughly mined out, over the years. To find the metal, we'll have to venture a bit deep into the mines."


Ursula lowered her eyes to the log book again:
"...let me see if I can find anything useful here... mmm.." she flipped to the last written page: "...this is interesting, we may be in luck. The last log says there was a new batch of metal being prepared for transport. They were waiting to gather a full mining cart, before taking it out of the mine.

Looks like its still inside the caves however, I don't see it anywhere out here.." she looked around, then looked at you:
"If the logs are correct, we won't have to mine the metal ourselves. Just find this cart they mentioned here and take it out of the mines"



Johan picked up one of the wooden sticks, tied a piece of cloth around it and used the coals of the campfire to light it:
"..shall we?.." he quietly called, unsure, before taking the first few steps into the darkness.


You slowly step into a tunnel with a relatively high ceiling - about 6 meters above ground. The ground and walls were very rough, with a lot of blunt edges sticking out. A single rail track ran down the middle.
The darkness here was very heavy, Johan's torch provided the only source of light, somewhat illuminating the area in a 4 meter radius.

Soon, the light from the entrance began to turn into a small speck behind you. And the tunnel just kept going on and on. The distant rumbling continued to sound at inconsistent intervals, from somewhere very far ahead, only slightly increasing in sound as you walked forward.



After a few minutes, you come across a junction. The tunnel split into 3 different paths, left, right and middle. Each one had a rail track of its own.

The path on the right had an alarming number of red smears on it, the walls down that tunnel were covered in long scratch marks, seemingly left by a very sharp and sturdy object.

The path in the middle lacked such features and seemed relatively unassuming.

Looking to the path on the left, you believe the rumbling echoes are originating from that direction.



Johan came to a slow stop at the juncture, shuffled his feet and looked at you.
Ursula chewed on her tongue for a moment, then decided to summon her burning rapier. The weapon gracefully materialized out of thin air and gently fell into her left palm. It seems her left hand was dominant.
Kaylee is twisting her head left and right, for some reason her fingers are slightly twitching.

//Hey guys, hope everyone's doing well =D

We haven't played Cards Against Humanity in a while, so I wanted to ask if anyone's up for a game this weekend?

If ya free and wonna join in, plz post which days you are free and what times, so we can organize someting ^^



Take care everyone and stay safe =)

Rogue shoulders his crossbow and kneels down to examine the red smears to confirm if they are what he thinks they are, "So how are we going to do this? I personally wouldn't recommend splitting up to search all three tunnels at once, as whilst it would speed up the search and any survivors might be found before it's too late, we don't know what to expect down each passageway so we would be more vulnerable with less heads to keep watch per group, and without a map of the tunnels there would be no guarantee that the rest of us would be able to regroup and find our way there to provide backup in time..."

// Sounds good, though I usually can't do too late...

//sure thing, maybe around 17:00 and 19:00 o'clock UK time, Saturday or Sunday?

(18:00 - 20:00 Netherlands time?)
(12:00 - 14:00 USA/Canada time?)

As you kneel down to examine the smears, your sense of smell began to pick up traces of iron. Becoming a Witcher must have heightened your senses considerably. The smears appear to be what you suspected.


"I agree" Ursula nodded: "We only have our limited number of spells for offense. Sticking together may be the only way to survive, if we encounter Glystaria"


"Mmm..Glystaria... Glyst-aria..." Kaylee repeated for some reason, falling into thought: "You know, the more I think about it, the more the word Glystaria begins to sound like the Verrian word 'Glyst'."


"Glyst?" Johan asked in confusion.


"Yeah" Kaylee nodded: "It means 'Stomach Worm' on the Verrian language. A kind of parasite. I wander if the word originated from there and just mutated over the millennia here"


"RAAAAAAIN" Squiggles started shrieking in Rains head: "YOUR FRIENDS A MEANIE!!!.. calling me a stomach worm!!..." his words quickly turned into an unintelligible grumbling.

(I'm avaiable on weekends around 19:00)

"We can realistically only pick a single tunnel, no more." Twilight mutters. "We need to move quickly, avoid battle and get the metal. It would be nice to pass the torch to whoever comes here next, after we have done a little recon."

She looks around. "So what pathway has the best chance of us finding the loot?"

Disgruntled purple wrote:(I'm avaiable on weekends around 19:00)

"We can realistically only pick a single tunnel, no more." Twilight mutters. "We need to move quickly, avoid battle and get the metal. It would be nice to pass the torch to whoever comes here next, after we have done a little recon."

She looks around. "So what pathway has the best chance of us finding the loot?"

"Well, since there were far less stains up in the camp than down here, presumably the main fight was in this tunnel, and those caught in the overworld were just those that managed to escape the first assault?" Rogue suggests,

"Whatever was attacking this place would have to go where all the miners were, and the miners would most likely have been with that cartload of metal as they were trying to fill it up, they weren't expecting an attack and were taken by surprise as no flare was launched until we showed up, so they would just be working as normal, meaning the minecart could be down this passage?

Unfortunately, that also means that whatever did the attacking might still be there, sleeping off a three course meal of miner..."

// Both days work for me, the earlier time slot if possible.

//My weekends are hardly ever free. I'll probably just join in, if I can, to whatever the rest of you decide//


Radiance walks over the left tunnel and takes a few steps in. Kneeling down he places a hand on the ground. Opening his wings he spreads them so that the tips are touching the walls of the tunnel. For a few moments, he puts all of his focus into the rumbling. Letting it flow through his body and become apart of him. 

His goal is to use the sounds to get a better read on the tunnels. Amplifying his sound focused sight to a higher degree.

Rain lets out a yelp startled by the sudden shouting in her head, "Squiggles holy shit! Shut up!" She says somewhat harshly, "I'm sorry for being mean but you litterally just shreeked in my head, that felt... really goddamn weird and it scared the everloving god out of me!" She huffs before clearing her throat, "...however... where you aren't a stomach worm that is litterally what that word means. Seeing how you are indeed decendance of Mechanica im not suprised some of our terms mixed and slowly became one with a new language. Much like soran and ponish." She clears her throat, "Where glyst would mean stomach parasite, here it was simplified down to just "Parasite" make sense? So she isn't calling you a stomach parasite, we are simply pointing out thats what that word means in our language."

"Well... why dont we stop assuming and clarify where the cart actually went at the 3 way junction. Ursula, forgive me for saying this but we aren't really in any position to save lives... especially against something that already killed a witcher." She frowns, "however..." she kneels down taking a look at the junction to see which way the tracks were turned to, "The place the cart would be is where the middle rail is pointing to. So whatever way the junction is going, is the way we should go to find our cart and hopefully avoid confrontation."

Mist frowned and stared at the blood, her hand drifting as if tempted to touch it before turning to the others. “We’re pretty likely to get killed or seriously injured. I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever did this was completely feral, and larger than us. If Moon was with us, she could have told us how long it had been here. I can’t tell much.”

“Laylah, what do you think?”

Rain couldn't actually see Squiggles, but it sounded like he stuck his tongue out and made some undignified noises in protest.

Upon kneeling down and examining the junction, Rain spots that the rail track is pointing to the left tunnel.

"Good thinking" Ursula smiled: "The logs did say they were getting a batch ready for transport. It would make sense for the rails to point in the carts direction.
The left tunnel is likely our destination"


As Radiance focused on the rumbling, its echo began to come through a little more vividly. You're not a hundred percent sure, but you believe there's a large hollow space, located somewhere down the left tunnel.


"..but, why are there blood stains at the tunnel to the right?.." Johan asked.

"I'm not sure" Ursula bit her lower lip, thinking.



"Mmm.." Laylah emitted a quiet sound: "...judging by the level of coagulation.. I'd say this happened about an hour ago."

//Setting up a game for Saturday?

Game start around:

17:00 - 18:00 UK time
18:00 - 19:00 Netherlands time
12:00 - 13:00 USA/Canada time


We could start somewhere around there, are those times okay?

Mist, Rain, ya guys coming? =3