BTtNR - Book 2 - Chapter 033 - Into the Den (Patreon)

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[ V.A.L.H.A.L.L.A ]

Magnus / Einar Sibbison

Age: 32/18

Strength - 26+17

Endurance - 25+14

Agility - 24+2

Perception - 19+8

Wisdom - 18+5

Mysticism - 22+7

Runes:

Gungnir’s Strength (Chest) Legendary (Hidden) 

Max Training Stat for Strength, Endurance and Agility is racial limit plus 50. 2.5 x Growth Rate

25% Bonus to Perception - No Stat Limit

Max Training Stat for Wisdom and Mysticism is 50. 1.5 x Growth Rate

Rune Level Bonuses:

Lvl 1 + 10% Bonus to Strength and Endurance

Lvl 2 + 10% Bonus to Agility and Perception

Lvl 3 Divine Protection. 50% Damage Reduction for 1 Minute. 5 Day cooldown 

Lvl 4 Healing of the Gods - 100x Healing and Wyrd Regeneration Rate for 5 minutes. 3 Day cooldown

Lvl 5 Thor’s Blessing - Summon one bolt of lighting to strike one target. 14 Day cooldown

Experience 88%

Warrior’s Defense (Back) Intermediate

10% Bonus to Endurance

Rune Level Bonuses:

Lvl 1 + 5% Bonus to Endurance

Lvl 2 + 5% Bonus to Endurance

Lvl 3 + 5% Bonus to Endurance / Resist Damage

Experience 100%

Warrior’s Blessing (Stomach) Advanced

10% Bonus to Strength and Endurance

5% Bonus to Damage

Rune Level Bonuses:

Lvl 1 + 4% Bonus to Strength and Endurance

Lvl 2 + 5% Bonus to Strength

Lvl 3 + 7% Bonus to Endurance

Lvl 4 + 5% Bonus to Damage

Experience 4%

Might of the Viking (Right Arm) Advanced

10% Bonus to Strength

10% Bonus to Damage

Rune Level Bonuses:

Lvl 1 + 10% Bonus to Strength 

Lvl 2 + 7% Bonus to Strength

Lvl 3 + 5% Bonus to Perception

Lvl 4 + 5% Bonus to Strength

Experience 4%

Forked Rune of Elements (Head) Advanced

15% Bonus to Wisdom and Mysticism

Advanced Lightning Affinity

Intermediate Fire Affinity

Basic Ice Affinity

Rune Level Bonuses:

Lvl 1 + 10% Bonus to Mysticism

Lvl 2 + 8% Bonus to Mysticism

Lvl 3 + 15% Bonus to Spell Damage

Lvl 4 + 25% Bonus to Wyrd Recovery

Experience 3%

Strength Milestone - Rank 1 - All damage done with melee weapons is increased by 25%.  Muscle is denser, resulting in a 10% decrease in damage taken from all attacks.

Endurance Milestone - Rank 1 - Resists Attacks as if twice normal height and weight. Health increased by 25%. Body is naturally more resistant, resulting in a 10% decrease in damage taken from all attacks.

Boon:
Thor’s Righteous Anger - Strength is doubled when throwing a weapon.

Time Remaining: 11 Days

Freyr’s Enduring Endurance - No physical fatigue while in Alfheim.

Time Remaining: 24 Days

*****

Trying to ignore the groans and moans from his men, Einar couldn’t help but notice the notification of three runes having leveled up that fight.  At the same time, his body had suddenly felt better than he could have imagined.

The first tier reached for endurance… twenty percent damage reduction, and now I can absorb blows like Hallad and Starkard.

“This is madness,” Varitan muttered. “How can we continue?”

Another round of complaining from his Elven companion was wearing on his nerves, and Einar glanced at the carnage.

Bodalf was dead. His head had been completely torn off.  

Hallad was down, most likely unable to continue and with how little healing Thorve was able to do, he could see that she was basically out of wyrd.

“You’re right, Varitan. How can we continue to not trust Freyr? Do me a favor. Stay here, protect the body of Bodalf.  Keep watch over Hallad and Thorve.  The rest of us will press on.”

“Like hell I’m–”

Einar’s glare cut off the brown-headed man who had his leg in a splint and almost two dozen bloody bandages wrapped all over him.

“Einar, are you sure?”

For the first time since they had set out, the mood in the pack was changing.  He could see that only three of his men were still basically able to fight at one hundred percent.  Two more were probably in the eighty percent range.  

With Thorve needing to heal two more as her wyrd returned, the choices were limited.  

Even if we had brought the wagons and the others, we might have had more casualties… protecting that many against what we fought was only partially successful because we could enter our turtle shape.

It pained him that Osvif was the one who asked if he was certain.  One because it meant leaving his friend behind.  With a busted leg and broken arm, he wasn’t going to do any good.

“I am.  Does anyone else want to doubt what the gods have done for us? Have we forgotten how they healed our wounds by removing all the damage done by previous deaths?”

His words cut to their hearts and the look of concern was driven back by the truth of what he had just said.

“Each of us would be spitting on Freyr for that moment he took us into his realm and spoke with us, touched us.  We would be cursing the All Father and denying the power he gave up for us! I am so committed to this path that if need be I will go on alone.”

No one spoke for a good ten seconds as they shifted under Einar’s gaze that moved between them all.

“Forgive me for doubting,” Osvif muttered.

A few other grunts came and when he could see there was fire in the eyes of his men, Einar nodded and adjusted the axe on his hip.

“Skardi, Ospak, Geir, Starkard and Thorodd. We leave in two minutes.  The rest of you will stay here.  If we don’t return by tomorrow, head back to the wagons and summon our bodies.”

“Einar, I–”

The gaze that Varitan received from the one whom the gods had laid a weight that would crush anyone else cut the elf off.

“Protect them. I am grateful for your help.”

With that, Einar turned and moved a few yards down the road in the direction they needed to go.

Twenty seconds later, Thorodd was next to him.

“That was a good job. You could sense the doubt and instead you turned them back to our gods.  Perhaps Bior was right about you after all.”

Grunting, Einar sighed.

“One moment they are committed and when the first moment comes that things seem hopeless, it is like everything before has been forgotten.  Why is that?”

Rubbing his bloody beard, Thorodd frowned.

“Can you feel the pressure here? The forest feels… dark.  Not just because of the way the trees hide the light, but something is out there. Something is battling our mind and our spirits.”

“Magic?”

The larger man shrugged.

“That’s beyond my realm. You are the one who can bring forth fire.  I simply fight with my mind, body, and blade.  We will depend upon you to battle the things we are not familiar with.”

Thorodd took a deep breath and let it out.

“When you cut down that troll with your axe, it was as if Thor himself had descended from Asgard.  The men need to see that.  Remind them of your ability.  Show them who they are following.”

Giving his second in command a nod, Einar turned and pulled his axe from his belt.

Focusing his wyrd into it, he lifted it high.

“Vikings… It is time to burn down the darkness of this forest and destroy whatever Freyr has sent us here to fight.  Are you ready?”

Cheers came as the four who were to join him moved to stand near him.

“Good, now let’s go.”

***

“They have scouts,” Ospak said as he pointed at the den as Varitan had called it.

Large huts constructed out of wood, leaves, dirt and other parts of the forest were set in a clearing.  Smoke rose into the sky and there was a smell that seemed wrong.

Every beastkin they saw looked like something was wrong with them.  The way they stepped and glanced around was almost as if their minds were occupied with something else.

“We’ve fought and killed probably ninety plus,” Thorodd stated. “If the numbers we were told are correct, that has to be at least a quarter or a third of all the beastkin that are spread out in the woods.  How many can be left?”

“I’ve counted maybe fifteen,” Skardi answered. “Past those buildings I can’t see. Those are all catkin too. Where are the others?”

Einar had no answer as the men whispered.  They were a hundred yards away, at the edge of the treeline, lying down to hide in the grass.

“Only one fire also… from in the middle.  Why is that?”

His question caught the others off guard as none of them had noticed that point yet it seemed.

“So, that’s our goal?”

Nodding at Thorodd, Einar began to creep back deeper into the forest, slowly rising to his knees.

“We need to get inside the den and figure out what is going on.  Something in there is wrong and I can feel it.”

Einar sensed a magical presence that felt like oil washing over his senses.  It left a bad taste in his mouth and whatever it was, he would bet it had to be the reason why the beastkin were acting how they were. 

“How do you want to go in?” Geir asked. “Hard and fast or try to sneak in?”
“We can’t sneak in,” Starkard answered before anyone else could. “We’re three of the largest in our pack.”

“He’s right,” Einar said. “We’ll go in as far as possible with stealth but the moment they spot us, we stay close, kill and make it toward the center of camp.”

“What if more beastkins come from inside those buildings?”

Once again, the tension that threatened to break the mood came at Geir’s question.

“Then we kill them.  I have no doubt the gods are going to reward us for our bravery.”

Thorodd gave a silent nod and smirked as the other four faces changed, lips pulling tight and eyes narrowing at Einar’s words.

“Let’s go make our gods proud,” the second in command said as he turned toward the den of beastkin.

The six Vikings shifted till they were side by side, crouched low and then began to move forward, jogging as they bent over, eyes scanning the clearing between them and the first set of buildings.

With about thirty yards to go a cry came from their left side and they saw the catkin that had been wandering around now charging them.  More cries came from within and around the town and each of them stood up, now moving with haste, trying to get near the buildings and find at least a way to potentially reduce the number of enemies they might face at once.

“Seven over there!” Skardi yelled as he pointed to the right.

“Four ahead! Get to the building!” Thorodd called out.

Coming to a stop against the taller wooden structure, the six men made a half circle, weapons drawn and shields up as the catkin came, none holding slings, all armed only with their claws and teeth.

Focusing on his wyrd, Einar’s axe erupted with flames and the presence that had started to feel overwhelming vanished.

“For Odin and Midgard!”

“Odin and Midgard!” they all cried out echoing their leaders' call.

The six foot tall catkins came, running and attacking, but unlike on the road they were not as one.  A single or pair would arrive and be cut down as two or three vikings worked together, blocking and hacking at the creature who seemed to throw themselves with reckless abandon at their shields and weapons.

A minute passed and twenty bodies were on the ground, forming piles that the next ones used to jump off of, arching higher into the air and finding that had been a mistake when an axe cut their gut open.

“Three on right!”

“One from the front!”

As a single mind, each man called out targets, working with the one next to them, protecting each other and after three minutes, over forty corpses were strewn on the dirt ground near them.

When the silence of the fight was over and Einar realized no one was breathing hard because of the boon, he grunted and banged his axe against his metal shield.

“We need to move. More might come, but something is wrong here.  There is a sickness and I can feel it.  Until we find it and destroy it, all there will be is death.  

Skardi, Ospak, Geir, Starkard and Thorodd moved as their leader did, their faces set like flint, weaving between the crudely crafted homes that looked to be in disarray.

Einar angled the group toward the smoke that was rising from deeper in the den of beastkins, pausing every few buildings as he listened and waited to see if any more were going to come.

Minutes passed and soon they reached a place a quarter mile away, pausing next to a building as they finally found what lay at the center of the town.