One small step for man...(Giants of the North!)

The silent glaciers didn’t quite live up to their name in Reina’s opinion. The wind’s shrieking across the land had not died down ever since she arrived here. That in itself was quite a journey, but borders couldn’t stop a dragon and neither will it stop her. A sudden uptick in the wind made her shudder, even with a thick pelt of a bison. While she lamented shapeshifting the fact was that she needed some way to keep warm, and the bison kept a decent pace. She would continue on until she spotted a cave hidden away from the snow burying around it. After making sure no one was around, she changed shape into a polar bear and began to carve out more of an opening. After confirming there was enough space for her to enter, she entered the cave as a human.

The cave wasn’t too deep, only stretching 20 meters before hitting a wall. With the smell of an iron vein around her, she decided to camp there for the night. She lamented at having to bring a bag with her, stupid human stuff was awkward for her to walk around with. But lacking the breath of a fire dragon, she needed some way to start and fuel fires. Taking some dead wood and bark from earlier, she began to use the flint to create a spark. With a roar the fire soon came to life, and she sighed contently at the heat coming from it. With light now to guide her, she began picking at the raw iron found in the cave walls, soon carving out a few good chunks of it. Quality wasn’t too bad, and it would be enough to supplement her dinner as she fished out some dried jerky. While eating she pulled out a copy of the job she took before she set off for out here. 

The job spoke of how once upon a time giants used to roam the land that is now silent glaciers. An event occurred that left many of them frozen in the ice and for many years they remained. Except now for whatever reason they have begun to thaw out of their prisons and began to roam. So far the giants released from the ice have destroyed several towns in past events and have proven to threaten a mining company's operations. Said company was the one putting out the job, apparently this is a recurring issue and are relying on guild mages. Reina absent minded took a bite out of the iron chunk in thought. She had taken this job because giants do sound like a good fight, and a great trial to test her new spell combinations. Not to mention the mining company would probably have some variety in their ores, or at least she hoped. Finishing her makeshift meal and throwing a bit more on the fire, she carved out a comfy enough spot on the ground, ready for slumber.

Reina’s morning was an uneventful one, save for some asshat firing an arrow at her. She wasn’t mad because of the shot since she was a bison then, but mad because the hunter was nowhere to be seen, was likely too far for her to show how bad of an idea it was. Still she made good time and found herself at the mining town written in the job post. She found a snowbank to hide behind before walking into town as a person, the town’s name plastered on an arc over the town’s entrance “Perfection”. For Reina though, it was another example of what humans called “irony”. The town itself was made up of hastily made shacks, obvious from their construction as they bent from the wind blowing on them. As she continued though, maybe it wasn’t their fault. Signs of a great destructive force was present, some of the shacks looked as though they were pummeled while others had ice shards mixed in their wreckage. As she continued down the path she noticed seldom few people, only ones around were huddled around fires, a haunting look in their eyes. Reina would begin to feel something akin to pity for the people, but reminded herself that they were only in this mess because they did not strive for greater. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening up, she turned only to see a rather large man coming out of it. Standing probably around six feet tall, his blond hair was braided on the sides as he looked around, wearing chainmail armor meshed in with several pelts, the most notable one being a wolf on his shoulder, complete with the head. His eyes would travel until they would find Reina. With a smile, he walked on over to her. Once close, he would start with a “Hello, didn’t see you when I showed up the night before. Guess that’s not a hard thing to do though.” he spoke with a deep nordic tone. Reina only crossed her arms, “No, you wouldn’t find me caught dead staying in such a place.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize you got here on the boat with me. Shame, you have such stunning eyes!”

“I didn’t come by boat, and of course the eyes of a dragon would be stunning.” 

“Oh? Are you one of those fabled dragon slayers I hear about? It doesn’t seem like you would be able to rise to the occasion.”

Reina at the remark would grab the collar area of the armor, which the man responded to by putting his hand on her wrist. For a moment it seemed he had her, the man smiling. She smirked as with a forceful pull he found himself on his knees, now with Reina looking down on the man. 

“Don’t forget how fragile you are, human.” And with that she would let go of him and walk around to the shack he came out of, it being the most solid structure out here. 

Once inside, it was clear that the shack was one of the original buildings of the settlement. Instead of flabby sheet metal it was sturdy wood with a reinforced inside, proper wooden floor beneath her and even a rug! She would look around only to see a man with his back to her, apparently pouring out a coffee. He would turn and look surprised, “Oh? Are you by chance with Grolaf out there?” “No, I’m by myself. I’m here about the giant issue?” The man took a thoughtful sip and nodded. “Great! We were worried you weren’t going to show. Then again I understand how hard it is to travel these days.” 

Reina was confused by what he meant, but didn’t let it show. “Sure, now where are these giants?”

“Well they're currently roaming around to the north. They come down here occasionally to smash our homes, I imagine their frustrated about the lack of food that we don’t have anymore.”

“And you all haven’t left yet?” 

“Next boat is in the next couple of weeks, and we really don’t have anywhere else to go even if we did go on it. Ah sorry, I’m Frederick the manager around here. And you?”

“How many of these giants are there?”

“...Three, there's three of them.”

“Ok, I'll be back when they are gone.” Reina would have left without so much of a goodbye. Frederick was more confused by her rudeness than anything else, shrugged and returned to his coffee. 

Reina walked out of the building and off to the north, searching for anything on its horizon. She began walking out of the village in the direction Frederick pointed, only stopping to hear footsteps behind her. She turned and upon seeing the blond man from before, she had an annoyed look on her face. “What do you want?” She nearly spat out, which the man put up his hands. “Look, I'm sorry for insulting you earlier. I’ve just been bored out of my mind here keeping guard and wanted a little conflict. Can we start over?” Reina looked him up and down. She could see now that he was armed with a mace and wooden circular shield. She considered, then stated, “I’m Reina Darksteel, daughter of Chalybe the living furnace.” And would continue to walk away. 

The man would catch up and begin keeping to her pace, “Well I’m Grolaf, and I'm eager to smash some giant bones into a fine paste, so I'll be coming along with you.” Reina snorted at the statement. “You think a shield will do any good against a giant opponent like that?”

“You believe a giant is similar to a dragon?”

“Hardly are, they're far slower and clumsier than even the weakest dragon.”

“You’ve hunted giants before?”

“My father has, it was hardly a challenge for him.”

“You make it sound like your father was a dragon.”

“He was.”

Grolaf had a look of amazement on his face. “By the bones of odin! You do not joke?” Reina looked at him with a crossed expression and hissed a nasty remark in draconic for her response. If Grolaf was bothered by the insult or even knew it was one, he didn’t show it. “Well Darksteel, I can’t wait to see what you can do then.” 

WC: 1541/2500

The good thing about giants was that the signs of them being around were easy to spot. An hour into walking they had already come across foot prints. Five digit feet spanning about five feet in length marked a path for the two to follow. The two would follow steadily until they came across a clearing in between two mountains of ice. In it, a giant bonfire could be seen as one giant was sitting down. Even sitting, he was easily 20 feet tall, the club next to him looked pretty nasty as well with large ice shards stuck in it. 

“Well we got to slay it, how do you want to-” Grolaf began but stopped noticing that Reina was no longer near him. When he looked around, all he saw was a tiny sparrow swooping down at the giant. He watched with amazement as the sparrow turned into her and went right for the giant’s head. He watched as she was grappled onto its face as it quickly tried to rip off the woman, before getting a face full of what Grolaf could only describe as some sort of dragon’s breath. The giant fell to its knees from that blow as he watched the woman fall to the floor with a hard thud reverbetting off the icy walls. Wasting no time, she coated her arms in what looked like iron as she beat on the giant’s…well, giant knees. A crack later announced her attack was effective, and the giant was on its side as she moved on to its head. Pummel after pummel before the giant went limp. Grolaf was utterly shocked at the performance, too shocked to warn Reina of the charge in giant. The second giant with its club swung at Reina, and her being caught off guard was sent flying into the air right by where Grolaf was at.

He ran over to where she landed with a crack of the ice, a few meters away. Looking over her, she actually seemed fine save for being embedded in the ice. “Well! I believe you're a daughter of a dragon now!” He tried to joke, but realized that his new companion might still be seeing stars. He pried her out after a bit of effort, and laid her sitting against the wall before going back to the ledge to check on the giants. Grolaf saw that apparently the other two were coming back from scavenging, and were not happy to see their companion presumably dead. The two giants looked as though they were conversing amongst each other before one pointed in his direction, which the two began moving to in a hurry. 

“Hey hey hey! They're comin over now! We should be ready to greet them!” Reina would hear Grolaf’s statement and begin to pick herself up. Truth was the hit wasn’t as bad as it looked, really the impact with the wall felt the worst. Still, she didn’t want a repeat of it. While her companion readied his mace and shield, she channeled her magic through her body, dull iron scales coated her whole body. She then traced her fingers down her forearms, causing the appearance of copper to appear where her veins were. Finally with a flex and throw of her arms, a silver color suddenly coated her metal scales, all three mixing all together on her body. And just in time, the first giant had turned the corner and was charging forward, each step shaking the very ground. 

Reina saw the wind coming a mile away this time, and with ease side stepped the blow. Which only led her getting struck from a sudden wave of ice erupting from the impact. Ice shattered and cracked as it came in contact with Reina’s scales, she withstanding the worst of it. She pulled off her ponytail and flung it as the giant swung down again, this time leaping away from the attack completely. Reina with some distance roared out a breath of raw iron, hitting the giant’s legs and peppering its blue thick skin with shards of metal. The giant then returned it’s own frost breath, Reina unprepared covered herself as the chilling winds and nauseous smell of old meat washed over, her feet frosted to the ground after it had passed. The giant took a moment to appreciate its handiwork, only to suddenly bark out in pain. It turned to look to see, the woman? Reina smiled as her clone delivered blow after blow to the ankle, the giant lifting it’s foot trying to create distance. 

The clone seeing this suddenly impacted the ground, causing a massive spike of solid iron to pierce the giant's foot as it came down. The giant effectively bound to place, roared out his displeasure and swung viciously at where Reina’s clone was. Which made his other foot unguarded, Reina having taken the time to break the ice on her feet bound after the other foot. With her arm growing three times its size, she swung a vicious strike at the other ankle causing the giant to fall, the ice cracking the ground beneath the impact. Both Reina’s, working in sync, leapt onto the fallen giant and went right for its face. The giant tried to protect it’s face, but suffered broken fingers and hands for it as the two tag teamed their beatings. After he had stopped moving, both fighters leapt down from their target, and turned to watch Grolaf.

Grolaf was giving all his worth, his mace coated in its own icy sheen. The mace bounced off of the giant’s skin as he danced around its stomping feet. Throughout the battle he and the giant wandered dangerously close to a precarious cliff side. Grolaf nearly stepped over it before catching himself, and suddenly had an epiphany. This time striking the ground, he caused it to crack before the giant tried to stomp on him, Grolaf making a full leap away. The ice crumbled away as the giant’s foot dipped, and all 40 feet of it bounded head over feet into the black crevice below, a howling of vengeance growing softer before fading out. Grolaf did not get up from the ground as he laid there panting, only looking up when both Reina’s approached him.

“Oh I think that Jotun did hit me, I’m seeing two of you Darksteel.” Reina scowled at her monkey tail self and with a returning scowl, she disappeared in a puff of smoke. Grolaf blinked as Reina grabbed him by the shoulder and began to lift him. It was easier than expected, as Reina accidently picked him up in one fell swoop. With some shaky footwork, he regained his balance. “Well, you won’t mind if I took a trophy from one of the giants you slain since mine is…well.” “Yeah, sure.” She replied as he made his way over to the nearest giant and began slicing the ear off the corpse. “Why take the ear?”

“Oh, my Jarl sent me out here to slay a giant, if I did I would become his thane. Big honor for one in Iserheim.” 

“I guess.”

“Ah, I hope the Dragon’s Fang will enjoy the story of my dance with the Jotun. It was pretty good wasn’t it?”

“Dragon fang?”

“Oh! Jarl Sventer’s nickname on account of him being a dragon slayer like yourself. Claims to have the power of the wingless dragon no less!”

Reina would had been near Grolaf by the time he was done preparing the severed ear and putting it away. Standing up, he looked at Reina as she spoke. “I would like to meet this Jarl.”

“Well that won’t be easy given how strict it is with borders nowadays, but sure! It’s what I owe you for helping me with the giants.”

“It's what you owe me for letting you help.” She retorted, and he smiled at the remark. Such an infectious smile that Reina couldn’t help give her own small smile in response. “Of course Lady Darksteel! I appreciate you giving me a chance to dance with the Jotun.” “It was certainly an interesting dance from what I saw at the end.” she responded as the two began to walk away, sounds of conversation echoed off the glacial walls around them.

WC: 2921/2500