When Magnus begins to leave in the morning, Brom and Adaline are ready to go with him, with Frath taking up second position, giving a casual growl past the other two as she pushes her way right behind Magnus. "So, the armor. You are seriously just going to leave it there, now that you are actually going into battle against my tribe. Or maybe you were planning on trying to talk? The jarl won't have it, unless you have seen reason and are thinking alliance."

Frath stops walking, an idea occurring to her. "Is that what this was really about? Not joining a mere raid, but joining the tribe itself?"

The other two say nothing as she draws this conclusion, clearly willing to let Magnus explain his otherwise mysterious goals to them. Certainly, leaving the armor behind when battle is expected is odd, although Brom doesn't argue with it or seem surprised.

"Nope. I'm going to kill your Jarl. That was my training armor. The only reason I wear it is to make me heavier so I can train all the time with it's weight. My skin is just as tough as it and I'm much more agile outside of it. Funny thing is, One could argue that I'm actually more dangerous unarmed and unarmored."

Frath looked at Magnus incredulously. "So, you go after jarl without armor, but bring weapons? Why not just leave them too? Perhaps you are hoping the jarl will die of laughter? He has a different sense of humor, if you are hoping for that."

"I don't really need weapons ether. I suppose I can hit a bit harder with the sword. But my true skill is with unarmed combat. Maybe your jarl will think I'm enough of a joke to accept a Boxing or wrestling match from Someone half his size. Then..."

I'll select a smallish tree that I know I can destroy and then hit it as hard as I can with a power attack + Mountain Hammer.

I splinter the trunk with my strike and the tree falls over with a crash.

"Then. I punch him a few times and he probably explodes."

Frath looks the tree smiling, and then looks back to Magnus. Suddenly her smile disappears. "That is your plan? Walk up, challenge the jarl, kill him, and leave?"

She walks to the front and stretches out her arms in a path-barring stance. "The jarl will laugh at you for your insolence, and have everyone in the fortress kill us both with rocks. You do not know what he is like! He has three tribes sworn to him already, several frostwolves eat our scraps, a tribe of orcs has been bought, and he even has a dragon of the north the bends knee to him. And that is not counting what he is: a ruthless, black eyed servant of Thyrm himself, trained in the arts of silent and subtle murder, the spirit, and the techniques of the mountain."

Brom speaks at this point. "She does make a good point. The jarl will not fight you in honorable combat if he can avoid it. He does not deal in honor as the other jotan do - he is considered above it."

Frath is clearly concerned about this plan, to the point where she does not admonish Brom for 'speaking out of place.' "I cannot allow you to die facing a foe I cannot kill! Turn back! Please!"

"... I can not turn back. But this information is important. So he is trained in three styles like the one I am learning. I wasn't actually planning to simply challenging him. The actual plan was to systematically eliminate his forces piece by piece Using my superior maneuverability. To that end, That Dragon is quite a problem. I need to kill it. Do you know where it's lair is?"

"In the courtyard, in plain sight. Cryptalshek is the centerpiece of his forces, and the jarl wants all the tribes to know he has it. The lair itself is underground, but dangerous to reach. Like ramarrhoz hunt - a creature you will chase that you do not wish to catch. Even if you reached it, the sounds of battle would alert the whole fortress. It is suicide to attack headfirst. Find another cause that doesn't put me at odds with my oaths. I want to die facing something I can actually kill back."

"That creature is fearsome. If that monster is a child of its kind, I shudder to wonder what the adults are like." Adaline looked at Frath. "I'm actually agreeing with her, in a way. This is insane."

"I have to side against you as well, Lord Magnus. Any plan that doesn't involve facing a dragon is a better one than this. Perhaps another path exists?"

Frath scoffed at Brom. "It is a real fortress, not your worthless small folk attempts at defense. There are no weaknesses to it, within or without. It is strong on every side, even above and below."

"Well If I was lazy, I could just blow the entire fortress up with magic. Probably would take a hour or two to set up with how this world limits magic to rituals. And I would have to figure out how to not draw attention to the ritual.
Long, Boring but doable.
I might meditate on this to see if I can come up with a better Plan."

"You aren't the first to try that. We killed them afterwards." Frath cuts off the other two before they can speak. "The fortress is directly connected to Niflheim, and not even you can shatter the power of a god, Death of Tribe. You will cause a pretty light in the sky as it shatters against the dome of Thyrm's aegis, and then they will come for us."

"Even a mountain has cracks in it. Surely this fortress has a back door?"

"Yes, in Niflheim. Our home. That is where two tribes came in from."

Adaline mutters to herself. "Pity you couldn't be bothered to stay there."

Frath just glares at her, but doesn't follow up on it.

"I would dispute that. Given enough time and effort I can destroy anything. But that is not the most efficient method here. Maybe I should sneak in then kill the Jarl. Stealthily. I'm not bad at sneaking and I can probably get on the roof fairly easily."

"Hah!" Frath laughs at this. "Anything, huh? Maybe you destroy life debt, eliminate the problem I have with this whole 'kill jarl' idea you want to do. What did he do to you, anyways? Kill family?"

Adaline actually goes red in the face at this, taking a step towards Frath and Brom again puts a hand on her shoulder. Frath glances at her, and does nothing else.

I state manner of factually.
"Do to the hand Fate dealt me, I was separated from my family long ago and I gave up hope that I would ever see them again. In fact, Seeing them again would be fairly close to an impossible task... So No. The Reason I need to kill the Jarl is simple. He is a component for a quest to recover Unfettered. He is the biggest, Meanest Giant around. I am simply killing him because it needs to to be done for the Quest. And I believe that the world would be better without him in it.

... and I would also like to point out all my other thoughts before this. I would much rather fight him head on.

Actually. I'm going to let you in on a secret. Nothing you can do can affect whether I live or die in the grand scheme of things. I am a being called a Verser. When killed, I simply wake up in another world. So nothing you, your tribe, that Dragon or the Jarl can do to me will permanently kill me.

So who are you going to Fight for Frath? As you say, You have two Life Debts and you can't save them both. I Respect your devotion and Honor to try to turn me from this path and fulfill both your obligations.

"So...I am in a life debt to an immortal being and the jarl?" Frath frowns, and speaks sarcastically. "Lucky me, because you speak as if I can choose these things, and I can't. Because if I could right now, I would choose the jarl. At least he has the courtesy to die one day."

"Can we make it tomorrow?" Adaline chimes in, unable to resist the opening.

Frath snarls at her, and continues. "And we know of this accursed sword, this Unfettered as the short folk call it. The weapon of a slave that rose above their station, and who died in obscurity for doing so. A cautionary tale to us. Why do you seek this sword out? You clearly don't need it, and if you are immortal, why do you care about one jarl 'in the grand scheme of things?'"

That last line is spoken in a mocking tone as Frath is clearly becoming more frustrated at her lack of options.

"I seek Unfettered because I seek the secrets of the Stone Dragon school. And I care because I need to care about to world. But You are frustrated because you have no way out of this under your own power. Submit to my magic and I will break all of your chains and oaths. Sit down. this will take a bit."

I'll start a ritual by walking around her slowly. Isolating her from the essence of the world. I'll look with my metaphysical senses to locate all the oaths that bind her. Then I'll preform a subtle kata that flows around her. Building up the precise power needed to shatter ALL of her oaths. Since she is metaphysically isolated from the world, the consequences of the shattered Oaths don't have anything to target as the destruction travels along the oath into the consequences. Destroying the consequences as well.

"Bah. Magic gets me into this mess, and now you try to magic me out of it." She sits in the circle. "Whatever. Worse that happens is that I die anyways."

---------------------------------------------------------

The ritual partly works, shattering the oaths that bind her. However, the consequences of those oaths are another story. Both man and jotan are blown up, through the world between worlds, but Magnus doesn't sense that he has perished this time.

Magnus arrives face down in the snow, with harsh winds blowing around him. Frath, laughing, picks him up, and brings part of Magnus's fur in front of his face, as she leans right into him. "Do you know where we are, little Magnus? We are home! My home!"

She turns to the blizzard, shouting triumphantly. "I am Frath of the Shattered Oath! No one has claim on me! Not god, not mortal, not spirit!"

She is giddy with laughter as she turns back, shrieking with joy, with Magnus barely able to make her out in the snow. "You are truly a miracle worker, small one! Even as it kills you, you free me! You are just too useful to throw aside! Come, follow me! We must find shelter, and kill whatever is using it!"

She is moving with purpose now, and is trekking through the snow with ease, even with the armor and weaponry.

Damn it. Not as planed. But there are plenty of giants here.

I'll follow her.

The wind whips around Magnus, threatening to carry him and his considerable physical frame off. The symbol on his right hand is glowing gently, eagerly awaiting more input from its master. "That light is good and bad. Good, in that light is often used by predators to draw stupid prey in, and smart creatures avoid light. Bad, in that sometimes, we hunt predators if there are enough of us."

Magnus and Frath make it to a cavern, where the wind dies. The walls of the cave are smooth and slick, ice repeatedly thawed and frozen and thawed again. The floor is hard to stand on, requiring a hard stomp to make footing. Frath looks around her, at the light reflecting from Magnus off the walls, reacting to create a bright blue, and beautiful cave.

She is whispering. "This is bad. Ramarrhaz home, of all things. But its the only shelter we find, and so we must fight and kill it, or be killed by weather and ramarrhaz. Be careful. Cornered ramarrhaz are legendary here. Anything you want do before we go in?"

I'll let the light shine. Eager for any warmth that I can get from it.

"What is a Ramarrhaz?
I could do a ritual to make my next strike devastating. But rituals take time."

"Shhhhhhh!" Frath's attempts to shush Magnus are answered with some kind of clicking sound deep within the cavern. She crouches instinctively. "Big, armored digging beast. Like one of your world's weak bugs, only much bigger. Glows red hot, hot enough to melt metal. Their plates can be used in place of metal, and their secretions make heat and fire, in fact...if you can actually kill them to use it."

"Thankfully, always alone, unless mating. Then they part ways. Some crazy tribes will try to tame them, but they are always too dangerous. Feral, and too smart. I hear they know what we say, and they learn."

"Is ritual noisy or involve much moving? If so, no good. They go through the ground, and hear you."

I whisper back
"Generally. I could just meditate. But I don't think that it will give us time."

I'll draw my Zweihander. Something effectively indestructible sound like a good mach for something that is hot enough to melt metal.

"So any thoughts on how to draw it out? Or should I go in and start making noise to lure it out. I think I could dodge out of the way when it comes out to play."

Frath just looks at Magnus like he's crazy, and then chuckles quietly. "Little man, you should have been Jotan champion. A cheat of the gods made you born small. Fine, though. You draw it out, and I will help kill it when it comes for you. Or we will both die. Remember, it is hot like a furnace, and will come at you from below, if it can."

The crystalline cavern sounds like it is almost breathing, from the ambient winds going through it.

I smirk at her complement.

I leap into the cave jumping to and from wall as I make all sorts of noise and remain mobile at the same time. Then I'll land in the center of the cave feel for vibrations under me. Feeling the incoming vibrations and danger I will dodge out of the way of the creatures bite when it bursts out of the ground.

Magnus manages almost to glide from wall to floor and back again effortlessly, using the smooth floor as a means to get around. It occurs to him after glimpsing some of the side tunnels that the entire cavern is honeycombed with tunnels, allowing the creature to break through to any part it needs to with brute force.

However...the presence of small droplets of water forming ahead means the creature is-

Erupting from ice pretty much right under Magnus, who manages to evade it without thinking about it. A gigantic, bluish-white centipede with thick bony plates crashes from the ground, fins on its back holding up webbing that looks like a flapping cobra's fan. It opens its fanged maw with its four antenna protrusions, its back is glowing red hot with a heat that its fan is blowing to Magnus, and roars aloud, clearly intent on striking hard and ending the fight with its second move.

OOC: Initiative time...

I smile as I dodge back from the creature's initial attack. As I dodge, I shift the zweihander into a back stance. The creature is just where I want him when I unleash my counterattack.

I start with brutal overhead swing that hammers the Ramorrhaz into the ground. Hammering it like a nail. Immobilized by the ground, it can't dodge and I will just cut through any parry.

Since the tip is already pointing at the Creature. I will thrust into a weak point in it's armor. Then I use my monsterous strength to swing sword and monster into a wall opening up and cutting a wide gash in it's exoskeleton. I pull the zweihander out, take a wide swinging step and then hammer the bug into the wall again with a powerful horizontal slash.

OOC: I have the Initiative.
So I'm going to open up with a Multi-attack. 2 baseline for multi-attack and 2 for lightning attack. Using the dodge and parry reactions from feats to fuel the multiattack. All of them are 5 point power attacks. The first one is a Hammering Blow.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:59, Sat 23 Dec 2017.

OOC: 33 damage total + 1 critical. You lose 1 HP and take a level of Fatigue, because you are now on fire.

The creature is smashed into place and cut open deeply, and it pulls the rest of its twenty foot bulk out of the ground in a futile effort to deal with that. It has no time to respond to the repeated precision attack Magnus delivers to it, however, receiving three move massive wounds in the chinks of its chitinous armor, taking its head cleanly off where it lands on the wall opposite. Almost in retribution, Magnus is set on fire from the heat his sword has picked up.

Frath steps forward, rather uncertainly, once Magnus. "Right. So...cave is safe, and we have food and shelter."

"The blizzards do break here, and when they do, I can read the stars, and get direction. Then..." She stops, not quite knowing what her next step is. "Hmm. Maybe find a tribe. Challenge them for leadership. I have no clue what to do next - too much freedom. Killing the jarl is an action that has just as much a chance of success as killing you, and I have equal reason for both and neither. Neither being the thinking 'why die?' Both being that I don't really like either one of you."

"Difference is, you are too useful to abandon. My weapon would have turned to slag. Yours didn't." She is deep in thought as she begins sectioning the ramorrhaz out with repeated axe blows. "I think the jarl would likely kill me once he knew I was no longer bound to him."