Khorne

OOC: Ooooh, Vega sounds promising! Happy birthday already, Sandy! Enjoy your day tommorow and party hard! EDIT: I'm in Berlin 'till friday so I won't be able to post. K-Nut may control Eric if need be.

Eric shrugged. People can be weird sometimes. "I'm ready to go."

Eric chuckled and then a wide grin bared his teeth. "You needn't be so hard on these younglings. It is by setting out on their own that they learn to face the real world." The youngsters' adventures brought back memories to the Norseman. He recalled a particular, not so dissimilar story of his own. "Back when I was twelve or so, I don't quite recall the amount of winters I had lived then. In any case, I was no more than fourteen, an unge," Eric smiled lightly. "Another tribe had trespassed into our lands and my father had gathered our men to drive back the invaders. My older brother Lod was part of them. My old man had specifically forbidden me from coming, too, but secretly I followed them in their wake." "When the fighting began I hid amongst some trees and shrubbery to see my brother and father fight. I was so jealous! Then all of the sudden, one of them Baersonling bastards snuck up behind me and charged at my position. Luckily for me he tripped and got his sword stuck in a tree," the Nord's face turned slightly grimmer and more serious. It seemed as if the memory wasn't as pleasant as he had in mind, "I took his shield, which he had dropped and I bashed his face in, while he was trying to get his sword out of the tree." Eric stopped the story there. His first true kill. The first time he had taken out another human being. He remembered the whole experience had him scared so much, he had wet his pants. When his father found out, the man was furious, but Lod managed to calm him. At the urge of the assembled warriors, Eric was taken up officially as one of their own: a true Viking warrior. His father's anger turned to pride. Wanting to veil the melancholia in front of his party members, the Nord quickly regained his usual arrogant composure and added: "Anyway, it's a kill or get killed world. The strong survive at the cost of the weak. I was allowed to survive that day and damn, that was a fine kill for a first one, even if I say so myself. Morale of the story: don't be too protective of the kids, it'll make them weak. I made it out quite alright in life, didn't I?" He grinned, but those who truly knew the Nord would notice it was a fake grin.

Yep, quite accurate . BUT, he's actually also quite loyal to his beliefs and people he cares about (which mostly coincides with people who have earned his repect in some way). Eric gets along just fine with Hybros and Erdathcath (and Sarge, hell, he's not even as apathic to Althior anymore as he was at first), so they probably view him in a different light. Throlar, however, is on his bad side, so yeah, that's pretty much an accurate view of how Eric probably comes across on someone he doesn't quite like . Yeah, the change of weather was a plus for us and you're definitely right, they could've been taken down and the battle could've been won. Still, I don't think it would've been worth the possible risk of permanent mutations and the cost of all the lost consumables, because, like I said, we're not even halfway the quest . If this would've been the final endboss of the quest, then I'm sure that the party would've made a stand and fight. Hell, I would've tried for one, but now, it just didn't really seem worth it to me. For now, Eric has most reputation among the Bonapartes. It would be quite ironic to see him fighting on their side to preserve their House in the climax, them being the faction he wishes to see removed most . Thanks! I really ought to go on another quest with Pretzel again .

Eric hung at the back of the party, casually leaning against the remains of a tree, arms crossed over his chest. After hearing Orokai speak, the Nord stated his opinion. "Nothing we can't handle ourselves, but I have no qualms with you tagging along. Who knows, perhaps we can even be of assistance in avenging your late wife. Vengeance is our duty to honor those who we have lost. You have my blade, ork" Eric nodded and smiled slightly as he pledged his blade to the greenskin's cause. The Norse traditions and lifestyle shares many aspects with the barbaric ways of the orcs of Baltarok, so Eric sympathised with Orokai's plight. "Besides," he added, "we're having some trouble maintaining loyalty amongst the ranks, so any addition to strengthen our party is kind of welcome". He smirked and glanced at Throlar.

But the demon wasn't really the big boss of the quest, so it would've been kind of pointless here to take the risk of either winning or losing everything. We're not even halfway (I think). Perhaps you were just trying to teach us a lesson of not fighting everybody we come across?

The Nord was sick of the dwarf's childish demeanour. His usual grin slightly faded and the mischievous, childish lights in his cold eyes grew dimmer. Matter-of-factly, he simply stated: "You owe me a Mead and a vial of Smelling Salts, dwarf". He remained silent, chosing not to reply to Throlar's insults or outbursts for the moment. Instead, he stared down on the dwarf intently, enforcing his point that he really did feel that the dwarf owed him Mead and Smelling Salts.

Eric's eyes widened as the Mutant's deity was summoned to the battlefield. "That is one ugly motherf-", he gritted his teeth and slowly retraced his steps, before reluctantly fleeing the battle. While running away, Eric eyed the Mutant's tail he had chopped off once more. "Too bad, would've made one hell of an awesome trophy" "Hooray," he silently muttered, "at least we have our treacherous no-good dwarf companion back...". He eyed the creature maliciously.

Indeed: ! I was wondering, how permanent is the "permanent mutation"? Like, as in the rest of the battle or the quest or ...? All I wanted was that Lizard Tail .

I have little reason to complain, I know. Still, it sometimes hurt when I know how much richer I could've been already with the old rules . By which I don't mean to say the rebalancing wasn't fair. I can totally live with it . I didn't notice at first when I read the results, but I think you're correct. I should've only taken half damage during both the first and second round. Thanks .

"See dwarf," Eric yelled in a deep roaring voice, trying to reach Throlar over the clamour of battle, "there are no innocents here!" The Nord fetched one of his remaining Grand Potions and drank it. Then he launched another attack on the Winged Serpent Mutant. Eric takes a Grand Potion, then attacks the Winged Serpent Mutant. EDIT: OoC: Sandy, you forgot to halve the damage I take (because of the Boots of Evasion) from the Free Hits I received in both Rounds. If I'm not mistaken, I should actually still have 36 health left now. Round 1: 42+5 - (12/2) = 41 Round 2: 41+5 - (21/2) = 36 So, in that case, I'll change my actions to: Eric attacks Horned Mutant and Winged Serpent Mutan from the front row.

I hate it when my Steal does nothing . It's kind of a useless ability if the enemy doesn't have any gold on them. I demand a minimum of 1 gold gained when my character Steals to cover any emotional damage the player suffers from seeing "Steal (no effect)" among the battle results! I would've been rich already in the early days, rich I tell you!

Eric landed a flury of attacks on the mutants, taking out the Reptillian one and severely wounding another. Tainted blood sprayed the Nord. It was glorious and he felt glorious. He never even felt getting hit. Delirious of consecutive use, or rather abuse, of Mead and sometimes Smelling Salts, the Nord savagely hacked off the tail of the Reptillian mutant. The creature was half-dead and convulsing at the Nord's feet and blood spouted from its severed limb. Eric held tail in the air, while blood dripped down. He howled in ecstasy and eyed his next targets. WIth mighty swings of his greatsword, Eric swiftly made his way to the Winged Serpent Mutant and the Metal Jawed Mutant, a wicked grin adorning his face. Eric attacks the Winged Serpent Mutant and Metal Jawed Mutant. Ooc: Pyro, the Reptillian is dead. Best pick another target

Eric grinned widely. He was proven right, these people could not to be reasoned with. "That tail of yours will make a nice trophy," the Nord barked as he lunged himself towards the Reptillian Mutant. Fleet of foot as Eric was, he tried to take a swing at the Winged Serpent Mutant, too, in one fluent motion. Eric attacks the Reptillian Mutant and the Winged Serpent Mutant, both from the front row using Godricsleif. EDIT Don't Althior and Nur need a Smoke Bomb if they wish to flee this battle?

I did read further down and saw that Sorrow was given the cloak, but when I checked his latest inventory in #93 I didn't see it there anymore. I didn't know he gave it to Sorsha, however. Thanks for clearing that up .

I was re-reading Quest #57 and I wondered, whatever happened to the Dark Cloak? Is it still in existence? If so, who has it now?

The Nord stormed after Althior and made his way to the cage. "Let's get the boy and the dwarf and get out of here. These mutants and their problems are not our concern." Eric rolled his eyes at Throlar's comment. He detested the decision to come for the dwarf even more than he did at first. Here the party the was and there wasn't a shimmer of gratitude on the dwarf's side. The party was wasting valuable time and consumables and it was all the dwarf's fault. If it hadn't been for the his ineptitude in battle, the party would've never have to come here to rescue him. "Shut it already, dwarf! There's no such thing as innocence here!"

"I'm with the mage here. These people aren't to be reasoned with. Their door is looked. The mutants want the strangers out of their fortress, not invite them in to have a nice chat." Eric sighed as he uncorked another of his precious meads. He drank it to the bottom and then slightly smiled. "Perhaps we crack some skulls to frighten them? We leave them shocked and in awe of our prowess and take what we came for." Eric threw the empty bottle in the dirt and sniffed some Smelling Salts. He rolled his shoulders and unsheathed his greatsword. Looking at Althior, he said: "It's your call, boss."

The Raider trotted through the mud, soaked from the rain. Apparently the party had decided on saving the dwarf, after all. Eric grumbled. It was the dwarf's own fault he had been taken. If only he had fought harder. The Vikings tried to never leave a man behind on a raid. They had each other's backs, but Throlar was no Norseman. Throlar was a creature for which Eric felt little sympathy. He had known dwarfs during his youth, but this specimen was different. More annoying. More stuck-up. The dwarfs of Vartland were different. Or at least they were in the Nord's mind. After all, it had been a while since he was last in Vartland amongst his people. As the party crept closer, Eric checked his stock of consumables. His reserves were running low. Hopefully, the spoils he'd gather during this quest would be enough for him to decently restock. Especially on Mead. He didn't work well without the drink. The Nord grinned as he saw the skull-emblazoned flag. "Could these mutants be worshippers of Wartan Giant-Slayer, Skull-Taker, too?", he thought. Softly, he chuckled. The very thought was amusing. As if the great Allfather of the Norsemen would accept such fallen creatures in his dominion. Only the strong had his attention, only the people of the North. "What a bunch of degenerates", Eric whispered, to none in particular. "They deserve nothing more than to be taken down."

Cool entry! I love the characters and their background stories. Where did you get Captain Saliera's hair? I don't really recognize it .

Eric rummaged through the mud and shrubbery with his foot, but he didn't find any tracks. It seemed he had lost the skill to track during the time spent as an exile far away from home. He shrugged and wanted if the old man's compass would be able to show the party the way. The Nord snorted as rain dripped from his face. He wouldn't really mind if the party didn't find the dwarf, though.

Loving the puns, Acateon! Maybe you ought to change your character's outfit to this?

Eric looked at the loot with a certain feeling of disdain. "What crap. All pieces of unusable utter junk. A whip? Who in their right mind would use a whip to kill somebody? I hope they'll at least fetch me some gold back on the marketplace." "So, first the yeti runs off and now the dwarf is gone. Not that I particularly mind, though", he said with a smirk. He raised his eyebrow when Althior started conversing with the dead.

You mean this map? I made that one . I used it again here on page 1 of the different sheets of information about the Vikings.

Eric attacks the Two-Faced Mutant and the Slack-Jawed Mutant.