END OF ARC 2: PART ONE OF THREE

[asgardmods]

Who: ANYONE going on the infiltration into Thrymheim!
What: Lots of travelling and also rescuing Freyr's soul.
When: Days 278 - 279 ( June 10 - 13 )
Where: Asgard, Thrymheim, and the road inbetween.
Rating: PG-13. Anything that might go higher than that should be taken to a private log, please!

[ Before even the first crack of sunlight over the horizon on Day 278, every bracelet in the city will give a quiet blip! as they activate with a short mass text from the gods:

The time to act has come. Gather at the Gate of Frost by the Sun's first rays if you will, and be prepared to strike at the heart of ice. There is no room for failure.

Exactly as the message implies: it's time to ship off to Thrymheim. Gear up in your best winter clothes and bring whatever weaponry you need; there are wagons thinly concealed and waiting for you at the southern gate that leads to the home of the Frost Giants. Inside the wagons will be those portable heaters that you guys bought in Utgard, along with spare gloves, jackets and scarves for anyone that foolishly believed summer might touch the kingdom of ice. Travellers can also find food rations to last a week alongside a generous amount of medical supplies that may or may not be a bit foreboding.

The caravan will leave at precisely 5AM, driven by the barest amount of Natives to keep travel at a minimum. Secrecy is of the utmost importance, and a severe silence will fall across the few sitting in the back of the wagons with the Travellers. They know the weight of this mission: if you fail, Freyr's soul will remain trapped forever. It is dangerous and no one's lives are guaranteed, so prepare yourselves for a fight quite unlike any other this far.

As you travel further from Asgard, you might notice the terrain getting a bit more uneven as the wagons move through undeveloped areas. There may be the odd village noticeable in the far off distance, but they are nowhere close enough to make out any distinguishable details because you don't want them distinguishing anything about you in return. These villages are few and far between, and grow even less in number the closer the caravan gets to Thrymheim. The terrain goes from rocky but arable to colder and harder, the temperature dropping increasingly as the earth grows solid and unforgiving, eventually peppering with light snowfall even in the midst of Yggdrasil's summer.

It will take two full days to reach Thrymheim travelling at as fast a pace as they can without wearing out the horses or catching unwanted attention. They will make short stops to feed and brush the horses, switch drivers, and allow for any necessary relief - but these breaks will last no longer than ten to twenty minutes at most. Simple meals will be served by the Natives thrice daily, and Travellers are welcome to attempt sleep on one of the meager pallets stocked up if they think they can manage it. Space is not abundant and neither is time. ]

[ OOC NOTES: This is part one of three for the Save Our Souls plot! Please put the day/location in the title of your comment along with [OPEN/CLOSED]. The second log can be found over here and the third and final log can be found here. Let us know if you have any questions! ]

Comments

[freezerburned]

[Good. He flexes them a little, before shrugging.]

I can get the shadow pretty thin, but... too thin and the light starts to diffuse it.

[hollowchild]

[she pulls a shadow and forms it into what is essentially a small, hiltless dagger. the sharp side is curved, making it obvious. she spins the hilt in her palm and offers it to him]

I've found that you can make it thin and...dense, in a way. Don't touch the edge.

[if he takes it, she'll give him control of the shadow as well. it's much simpler when it's not an animal. despite the fact that the knife is small, it's not a small amount of shadow. most of it is in the honed edge of the blade, where it's packed incredibly dense and thin. the blade itself extends just past the point where it seems visible, sharper than a razor.

sophie does know how to do overkill.]

[freezerburned]

Oh- I get it.

[He takes the knife from her physically and mentally, taking control of the shadow and keeping it up. Isaac moves it close to look at it, inspecting along the blade where the shadows seem to be the most dense.]

Since they don't have a- mass? You can put the shadow of a building into something the size of a thimble.

[hollowchild]

Exactly. And you aren't limited by the amount of material in a given shadow anymore. This is how I make my swords. Mind your fingers, it barely takes any pressure to break skin.

[if he looks at it in as much light as there is in the wagon, he can probably see the slightest distortion of light at the blade's edge, but it's insanely thin. this is the kind of blade that could cut through almost anything. why's she giving it to isaac? well, it'll probably take some practice to get it quite that sharp]

[freezerburned]

[He nods, careful not to touch the edge.]

I read one time that like- the people that make katanas fold metal over itself hundreds of times. It's kind of the same, right?

[Because Sophie will totally know what that is.]

[hollowchild]

[sophie has no idea what a katana is, no. but she does have some idea about metalworking because she was into swords before she could grow them out of herself or make them with shadows]

Perhaps something like that. I'd never thought of it that way. They're a bit strange to get used to at first, since they're not weighted like normal blades. Excellent for throwing, though.

[freezerburned]

Yeah. It feels a little different.

[Still, not altogether bad. But a thought comes to him, and he tilts his head a little, his expression suddenly confused.]

Wait... are you worried about me?

[hollowchild]

[that makes her laugh softly]

You are one among more than a few things I am worried about at the moment, yes. But I had been meaning to show you this regardless.

[freezerburned]

You shouldn't be.

[He frowns.]

You're the one on the strike team.

[hollowchild]

That just means I won't have the slightest idea what's happened to any of my friends until it's all over.

[she shrugs]

I'm going in with two strangers, and we're basically going in completely blind. There's so many things to worry about in that scenario that it's not even worth thinking about it. We'll do it or we'll fail.

[freezerburned]

Yeah, but...

[Isaac frowns, reaches up to squeeze once at her fingers before pulling back.]

The gods will bring you back, right? If anything happens.

[hollowchild]

[she squeezes back for that brief instant, but doesn't hold on]

I'm sure they will. It's not dying I'm afraid of, although it would probably be rather uncomfortable. It's the failing that I'm worried about. She's going to take her revenge for this regardless of whether we succeed, so it would be nice if it was worth something.

[freezerburned]

[Isaac frowns at that, but he nods anyway.]

I'm sure we'll do it. We've got some of the best fighters in the city on the caravan. Including you, I might add.

[hollowchild]

[would that she had that sort of faith. she doesn't, but all the same she smiles a little]

And I suppose one could literally say we've the gods on our side, although I'm not sure what that's worth. We'll do what we can, and perhaps it will all come out.

[freezerburned]

Yeah.

[He smiles, and it's a little wry.]

Besides, even if we do fail, it's just one stupid guy. It's not like it's the entire war.

[hollowchild]

Well, no, not by quite a bit. He did save us, though. I think he deserves better than whatever she has planned, but we can only do what we can do. The gods seemed to think this was sufficient, so I suppose we shall see.

[freezerburned]

I never got the whole story on why he's trapped there in the first place.

[hollowchild]

During the first battle of Ragnarok, which was actually meant to be the only battle of Ragnarok, we were losing. We simply didn't have the numbers or the training to stand against the fire and frost giants. I think when he realized how bad it was, Freyr decided to act. He went out into the field and more or less set himself off like a bomb. It worked; they retreated. I'm not sure how she got his soul, though. You'd think they'd go to Niflheim like everyone else, but perhaps not. Or she caught him on the way.

[freezerburned]

Seriously?

[He sighs.]

Must be nice for them. Being immortal even after they blow themselves up.

[hollowchild]

No, I think he was meant to be dead. Well, he is dead. They're just going to...make him not dead. Which is sort of monstrous, that bit, but...

[she shrugs]

I suppose since it was stolen anyway, as long as they have it they can do what they like with it.

[freezerburned]

And that's bad, I guess.

[Isaac really doesn't believe much in their 'cause', he just... needs to blow off some steam. And he might want to just try and make sure Sophie gets through alright. Not that he can do much of that, not with their team assignments.]

Right, well. I'm already on board.

[hollowchild]

[there's that shrug again]

It's not my soul. I'm here because we owe him, not because I think he needs to live again. They chose an odd group of us to go in.

[freezerburned]

Well, you seem pretty strong. I don't know about the other two.

[He rocks back a little on his heels.]

I'm sure it'll be fine.

[hollowchild]

They'd best be strong, if the gods expect us to even have a chance.

[sophie doesn't think it will be fine at all, but she's not going to scorn an attempt at reassurance]

Hope for the best, expect the worst, I suppose.

[freezerburned]

Don't expect anything.

[He frowns.]

Just do whatever you can. I'll back you up until you go in, and as soon as you come out. Got it?