Sudrilund was a completely different place. I was glad I got better clothes as the chill was apparent - while Vestrilund and Austrilund had greenery, Sudrilund was completely covered in snow and ice and it was bordered by mountain cliffs.
The Coven was much more visible here - raven mystics and warriors patrolled the area. We snuck by carefully to avoid to being caught.
Ketil did a very poor job of stopping us.
"Well, G.R. did say he was meaner than the others," I muttered. "So how do we unblock the way?"
"You will need my pick and shovel, and I have given them to my most loyal followers," said Ketil. "You will find them in Hrundle Fjord and Vestrilund. I will not stop you. Go."
The pick was held by a Raven witch who was hiding in a cave just outside of the entrance to Sudrilund. She fell to my Pigs.
The other, a raven warrior, fell to my two-headed mutt. Good boy! ^_^
Ketil gladly helped us break the ice wall and told us to meet a raven witch called Thyra, but...
"Rra Goldpaws wishes to speak with us again," said Grace.
We met Baldur, who asked us if we liked our runic spells we got from his friend, Erik. I smiled and explained how Shatter saved me a lot of headaches. Grace related how Supercharge made battles easy and Christina got a sweatdrop and mumbled something about how "maybe someday I can use a spell that dispels all the schools."
"Well, he's got another offer for you," said Baldur. "Can you visit him?"
A new spell from Erik? It would involve a fight but I was in! "Sure can do!"
"I bet new spells are in it for us," I said, grinning like a kid in a candy store.
He nodded. "A Grendel called Skarok stole my rune bag recently. He is hiding in a cave near Sudri's hall. If you can defeat him and recover my bag, I will teach you some new spells from it."
"We'll have to get back on you there," said Christina. "But we'll get the bag back, we promise!"
We met with the raven sorceress, who gave us a cold(no pun intended) reception. "Sorry," I said. "But Ketil referred us to you."
"Indeed," said Thyra. "You had better heed my advice! You won't make it to Sudri. His gate is a giant dragon skull that will clamp down on anyone who is not a raven. If you try to go through..."
I envision Grace and Christina getting chomped on into bloody messes. "Erk!" we cried together. I realized they had envisioned ME being crushed by giant teeth.
"Let's make sure THAT doesn't happen, shall we?" snickered Thyra. "I can cast a spell on you that will disguise you as ravens! You will need three raven feathers..." She glared at me as I held out a hand. "Not MINE! You will also need some hemlock."
Grace took me aside. "Let's see if we can ambush some of the Coven."
Turned out we saved some time. A warrior from Hrundle Fjord had been sent to Sudri but Sudri's right-hand crow, Kormak Shadowclaw, ambushed him and locked him up. We had a bitter fight with the treacherous crow and his minions and not only got the key but all the raven feathers we needed. (Actually, we need one more but it was no problem.)
(Kormak Shadowclaw is a gimmick boss, but his gimmicks aren't too lethal - from the beginning he tries to maintain a super Tower Shield that reduces damage by 65%. Sierra and Grace had Pierce[the latter had them as Treasure Cards]. Since he throws up another instant Tower Shield at the beginning of every turn, use that wisely to get rid of the shield with Player #1 and have the others set up for a big hit. Sierra set up Ninja Pigs for the win.)
We had also found another rune stone with a grim prophecy...
Woe be the day the Ice Titan rises.
Winter will come and never go.
Ice will engulf the Worlds.
It was a dreadful reminder of what the Coven wanted and what we did not and we had to stop.
 |
| Grace: "Tell me more about this jeweled clasp..." |
We also fought the ghost of a bear and Grace forced the guy we thought we were helping to fess up that he was actually a grave-robber. She then destroyed him and, in her words, "made him late late." The ghost thanked us. I admire Grace's logical perception and think she makes an awesome lady private detective. ^_^ (This isn't too hard a side-quest - you only have to fight two bosses one after the other, and neither have minions. Gothric is Death and has 6200, and that other guy who I forgot to name has 5200 HP and is Fire.)
The hemlock was easy enough to find and we were told to drink from the potion. What? Hemlock's poisonous! Oh well, so long world! :(
Ugh, I am glad this is just an illusion or I'd be going into therapy for becoming a male raven. :(
The gate was fooled and I jammed the jaws as we passed in our disguises so we could slip through without any further trouble. (The transformation lasts only four minutes, so you have to hoof it to the gate to get the cut-scene to trigger or you can't pass by. Once you trigger the scene, you can go in even when the gate closes so you don't have to transform again.)
I saw a cave and got a whiff of foul stuff. "This must be Skabrok's cave," I said. "Wait here, I'll scout ahead. When I give the signal, you come in and we'll rush him."
The disguise faded as I entered and I found a hideous Grendel shaman. He waved his hand and I heard my friends screaming. I sneered. "If you hurt one hair on their heads..."
He viciously attacked and despite being a Storm foe, he unleashed the Triton and deadly Wild Bolts. This was my toughest fight yet...
Then I saw it. Something emerging from the ground...
It was her. Medusa. My eyes widened as she let out a hiss and the snakes on her hair jumped to life. She glared at the Grendel and he turned to stone. I covered my face as she turned to me, then she vanished into the ground. I looked at the petrified Grendel in awe.
I needed to find Montgomery, and soon. (The battle was less epic and that was a Treasure Card of the spell - Skabrok didn't actually turn to stone and I had to use a Level 80 Life Henchman and a lot of luck. The Henchman summoned Forest Lord twice and the first one destroyed the mook. He has 8400 HP and is Storm. Grace had the worst time with him only because I forgot to pack tons of Storm Prisms, but he's not too tough unless his Wild Bolts get lucky and do the 1000 damage. Oh yeah, I'm sure you realize that, like the last such quest, this is a solo fight and you can't have friends join in.)
The others ran in. "We were kept out by tentacles!" said Christina. "Oh my gawd, what happened?"
Grace found the bag of runes in the back of the cave. "He met his fate. Let's get this back to Rra Wyrdrune and get our reward."
Erik waved his hands over the air and we got a new spell card. I smirked, Grace frowned and Christina was over the moon. "Oh yeah, I can heal us better now!" she screamed in glee.
"I do not think I will use this spell ever," muttered Grace, envisioning herself getting fried by it.
(And we get the second Grizzleheim spell! Myth gets Talos, a serious upgrade to Minotaur Minion which summons a bronze golem. Storm gets... Insane Bolt. WORST SPELL EVER. It's Russian Roulette which will OHKO you if you lose the game. It's not even that great even if does hit your foe - it only does 1000 damage and it's Moon-elemental, so only Christina's universal buffs raise its power. NEVER USING IT. Ice gets Frozen Armor, which is better than Ice Armor and can be applied to an ally. Balance gets the amazing Availing Hands, which costs only an extra pip and gives more healing over time[not as much as Regenerate but decent!]. From Duelist101's article, I learned that Death gets Virulent Plague[a slightly stronger and stackable Plague], Fire gets a buffed up Link[Power Link] and Life gets Brilliant Light.)
We found Sudri - he was larger than his brothers and had a horned helmet and had tied off his ruddy beard in three parts.
"We aren't telling," said Christina.
"We wish to parley," said Grace. She leaned in to me. "Mma Thatcher taught me that word."
"Normally my henchman, Kormak Sjhadowclaw, would deal with you," said Sudri. "But I do not know where he is off to at this moment." We looked at each other and bit our lips, not telling him that his hench-crow was now resting in pieces in some cave. "As I do not wish to bring doom to my hall, I will be willing to negotiate with you."
"What do you want from us?" I asked.
"I'll ask only a few simple things of you girls," said Sudri. "If you comply, I will give you my Golden Seal... as a generous gift, of course." He smirked and I kept my temper. "There is a tree in Vestrilund which bears golden apples. It is guarded by a fierce Valkyrie called Jorda. She may try to stop you. Bring me a basket of those golden apples and then we will see where we stand."
I marked the spot nearby. "Let's head back to Vestri's domain."
Well, the giant DID say it was guarded!
But Grace cleaned up and I got to use my new minion! He's pretty decent - he stunned Jorda so we could have some breathing room. (Talos has 1000 HP, more than any other minion, and can use Stun, Mythblade, Myth Trap and various attacks. He doesn't attack too often, though, so your traps should be safe.)
Sucks to be her. We took the apples, filled a basket, and bounced back to Sudri.
"No thanks," said Christina. "You know, this is all rather fishy... you're giving us the Seal for nothing? I don't know if we can trust you."
"I understand your distrust," said Sudri, getting serious. "Giants are notorious in legend for being tricksters and liars." (Reference to Loki, the Norse Trickster God, who was the son of the Frost Giants.) "Allow me to ease your mind and prove my words have weight, I shall trap my words in an urn and you can weigh them. There is a scale in Hrundle Fjord the merchants use to weigh their goods. Take an urn from my hall and bring it to me, then take the filled urn to Hrundle Fjord and weigh them on the scale. If my words are false, the urn will be as light as hot air and we can be done with this matter. If my words are true, they will have weight."
I shrugged. "I don't see why not? I'll get the urn."
The urn had to be carried in both of my arms. I went to Sudri and I opened it and nodded.
"Oof," I said. "The urn's a bit heavier now."
"That's ridiculous, words can't have weight," said Christina. "Can they?"
"There is only one way to find out," said Grace.
I put the urn on the scale and gasped as it sank down. I put rocks on the other side until the scale balanced itself. "Well, I guess it's true," said Christina.
I smiled "I trusted Sudri." Grace nodded. "I mean, Austri and Vestri told us that if we got the Seals, their dad would be put to sleep and they could keep doing what they wanted. Sudri and Nordri probably want that too, so why would they trick us? The Coven made the worst mistake giving the Seals to the four brothers."
"I dunno," said Christina. "Okay, maybe they're honestly eager to give us the Seals, but still..."
"Once we have all the Seals, we can figure out their motives," said Grace. "Right now, we must hurry and tell Sudri what we saw."
He handed the third Seal to me and it shrank down immediately. One to go.
"Let's give the good news to G.R," I said.
"Wow, if even Grandmother Rave is amazed, then we did good," said Christina. She smiled.
"Now that you have Austri's, Vestri's and Sudri's Seals, all that is left is Nordri's," said G.R. "I know the chant to open the gate to Nordrilund, Nordri's domain."
"No key?" I asked.
"He doesn't need one." G.R 's words made me shiver. "His gate warden is Skulgur, an ice troll. Skulgur is a master of riddles. Once you get Nordri's Golden Seal and complete the set, come back to me and we will finish this."
I turned to my girlfriends and we nodded slowly. This was it... we are close to stopping the Coven's evil schemes once again and preventing yet another apocalypse. We hurried off and I predicted that Nordrilund would be the toughest realm to conquer yet.
I wasn't too far off.
[To be continued...]
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