As we made our way down the street I saw Oskar, leading a group of armed men. He pointed at me and gibbered excitedly. The men waved at me. I slowed Finley down and brought her to stand before the group, she pranced and vibrated with excited energy. She must like running people over. My little pony was a bad ass. Friendship was magical.
“What?” I said and involuntarily sneezed blood in a surprisingly large cone in front of me.
“Are you well Chosen?” A large man wearing leather armor asked me. He looked like your stereotypical guard. His companions all wore variations of the same and had the standard shield and sword/axe configuration.
“No, I just met the so called Vinlanders and they want to kill me a little.”
“Oh, them.” He said with a knowing grimace.
“Yea, they will probably be following me.” I said and looked behind me, sure enough two of the goons were running down the street.
He looked to where I was gazing and nodded. He said something in his language to his companion and they formed up in a loose shield wall between me and the Vinlanders. They didn’t draw weapons, just stood like a cliff for them to break themselves on. Seeing this the goons skidded to a stop and started cursing and scowling. I flipped them off.
“They may not attack us, but it’s never wise to provoke them, Chosen.” The guard captain cautioned.
“Yea, well they are dicks and hurt my buddy.” I told him.
“Be that as it may, if that group decided to actually train instead of just lying about drinking and fucking, they would be a formidable enemy.”
“Fucking? It just a bunch of dudes from what I saw. Their sort usually doesn’t go for that lifestyle.”
“They had acquired thralls.” He answered and my stomach dropped out. I glared back at the goons who started slowly going back down the street toward the fort. Sex slaves. So much for their self-proclaimed purity. I couldn’t do anything about the culture norms for the Norse. But people from my side of the tracks should be better. Set an example or something. I intellectually knew that rape and slaves were the Norse staple. But I had yet to see it in this tower. The slaves I saw toiled and worked, but none had been subjected to perversions. They were just very low-paid laborers. I’ve had jobs like that before. Only supplied room, board, and provisions. I had an unfounded hope that Loki had evolved the culture past that. So, seeing my people as the perpetrators sickened me. I'd have to deal with that. I didn’t know if I could live with myself if I didn’t.
“Chosen,” the man called my attention. “The earl extends an invitation to his hearth, so you can talk about the things you have seen.” I nodded mutely and dismounted. I opened the bag to check on Pest, he was curled up and nursing some bruises but otherwise looked okay. I tried to offer him some medicinal leaves, but he refused. He was an anti-vegan. I chewed on one instead. Tasted of the most pleasant vegan cuisine. Dirt and ass.
I closed him back up in the rucksack and followed along with the group as they made their way to an enormous longhouse. It was twice the size, if not more, then any other. Its doors were thrown open and they were so large that they were more like the gates to enter the city than the door to a home. A large stable was nearby and a boy that very closely resembled Oskar came out to take Finley from me. I glanced at the guard who just nodded, and I handed the boy the reigns. Finley went with him without hesitation, and I saw that the boy had slipped her a carrot on the trip. Figuring she would be fine I walked into the longhouse with the guards.
Inside huge stone pits had fires blazing in them. The pits were made from stones and had large flat tops one could sit at and warm their back if they were so inclined. Women cooked meats and breads at a large stove that was built across one of the pits. Armored men milled at tables and ate while conversing quietly. Some were working small crafts, fletching arrows, or carving things. A large wooden throne dominated a raised platform that abutted the firepits. A Viking lord sat upon it. He wore black furs and leathers. He had a large beard that reached mid-chest and pulled back braided hair. Silver twinkled amongst his dark beard and dirty blonde hair as little beads woven within caught the light. He had a rack of weapons to his immediate right, a large axe and gleaming sword resting within quick grip. Counter to his rugged and deadly appearance a chubby child of around three bounced on his knee and pulled at his beard, trying to extract one of the beads.
“Earl Uhtred, I present Chosen…” the guard trailed off for a moment.
“Viktor.” I announced.
“Chosen Viktor, as requested,” he then took a few steps away to seat himself at the table. But he didn’t relax. He was perched, ready to strike out if something untoward happened.
“Chosen Viktor,” Earl Uhtred intoned slowly, his accent savoring the words. “This thrall has brought me a grave message from one of my sworn man’s farmsteads, and said you have eyewitness accounts of these creatures.”
“I do,” I said simply and winced as I stood there.
He frowned at me and had a quick conversation with his guard in their language. I only caught the untranslated word of Vinlander from the guard.
“Unfortunate,” he intoned and set the child that was tugging at his face down. It started crying and making grasping hands at him before a woman I hadn’t seen before came out from behind the throne and took him up. Uhtred came down from his throne and gestured at the table his guard sat at. “Please, let’s sit so you are more comfortable.”
“Thank you,” I said seriously as we sat down. “Those guys are dicks, why do you let them live in your city?” I asked him.
He let out a large sigh before slowly answering.
“The gods have blessed their Chosen with lives that do not end after death. I have tried every method to remove your kind from this plane, but it does not last longer than a night or so.” He explained. “And my prison isn’t infinite. So, I must make do with allowing them to stay, since I can’t be rid of them. Killing them on sight, like I used to do with your kind just lead to a war of attrition I couldn’t possibly win. So, they stay in their little fort and get all the beer they can drink to leave the freemen and women alone.”
“Damn.” I said.
“Damned indeed.” He agreed. “Now tell me about these new creatures the gods have brought to us.”
“Yea…” I rubbed the back of my head as I gathered my thoughts. I told him about the three creatures I saw. The dark elf, the troll, and the goblins. I warned him about the goblin magic that let them pass through walls as well. I even mentioned the venomous hamsters.
“When the forest animals came, I thought us blessed. Now I know these are dark times. They may be the precursor to the Ragnarok that is foretold.” He made a gesture on himself and a silent prayer to the god of his choice.
“Thank you for this information Chosen Viktor.” He patted my knee and stood up. “You are welcome here for this night, sup on my food and drink of my mead. Your little friend it welcome too.” He cracked a smile and showed the bag. “We Norsemen know how to respect a good companion, no matter what creature it may be.”
“Thank you, I will take you up on that offer. And if you could be bothered, maybe a bath and some fresh clothes?” I smiled and pulled at my dirty and torn shirt.
“As you wish,” He smiled and gestured to a woman who stood in the shadows. “Ingamar, see that he gets what he needs.”
“Yes earl,” she said submissively and came to me. She was a pretty thing, young and brunette. Her accent was more of a Irish lilt then the local Scandinavian or Danish flavor. She was nearly as tall as I. A little too thin for my tastes, but that seemed to be the standard with the thralls. She let me outside and behind the great hall. We went down to the river, upstream of a group of women who were doing the wash, it looked like. She gestured at a wood construction that looked like a hot tub that was built into the river. I stripped down, trying to ignore the fact that I was getting naked in front of just about everyone. But looking around I wasn’t the only one bathing here. I was just the only one to do it in the earl’s very own river tub. I hopped in. It was cold as all hells. Ingamar handed me a bar of soap that smelled of musk and rosewater. It was better than nothing, so I scrubbed.
As I scrubbed myself, I took in the other side of the river. A longhouse that had a crude addition added to the end was there. A large fence, twice the height of his neighbors surrounded it. A modern looking deck was built on the face towards the river. A man sat in a wood deck chair with an umbrella over him. I couldn’t see that well, but I expected him to have a flowery daiquiri in his hand. I laughed. I bet I was looking at the infomercial man. I suppose he had some level of success to build that up, or maybe he had his greatest desires granted via boon when he entered the tower.
I felt that anyone who accepted that boon would have found it having unforeseen consequences. And the more I looked at his little mansion, the more I knew that was true. His longhouse with its addition looked more like a single wide trailer strapped to a pre-built garden shed than a mansion. He was just missing the old engineless truck on blocks in his yard to finish the trailer trash aesthetics. I guess the wagon without a horse he had would have to do. Feeling I had judged the poor guy enough I went to the business of looking at the skill I had earned when I was tussled the Vinlanders.
[Bitch-slap]
Unlock Conditions – Lay out a proper slap to an enemy.
[lvl 1] – Your pimp hand is strong. BABY POWDER? YOU CHANGING DIAPERS?
I got a good laugh at the new skill. It was pure non-sense, but I enjoyed the thought of bitch-slapping my way through my Vinlander foes. Maybe I should commission some gloves from a craftsman with built in steel plates on the palm and fingers.
Once I felt clean, I snatched Pest out of my rucksack, he was getting a little ripe and forced a bath on him too. He struggled and cursed about a wet butthole the entire time. Once I released him, he dove through and scooted around the grass. He had a hard time doing it with his injured leg, but otherwise seemed okay after his ordeal. When I finished Ingamar led me to a drying line that was full of clothes.
“Will these suit the Chosen?” she asked me in a demur way.
“Call me Viktor,” I told her with a smile and picked at some clothes. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to take these?”
“Yes, Chosen.” She replied and I glared at her. She winced at the tiny rebuke, and I instantly felt bad. I let out a sigh and went through the hanging clothes. They were all a cut above the stuff I had been wearing. A softer and better material and some embroidery. I chose a dark grey tunic with yellow rune works along the edges.
“What does this say?” I asked her.
“I do not know. I cannot read the runes.” I frowned and looked at her. I Inspected her this time.
Name: Levina (Ingamar)
Race: Human
Type: Resident
Allegiance: Earl Uhtred (owner)
FLAGS: COGNITION_2, IS_THRALL, ADAPTABLE
Health: Healthy
Energy: Full
“Levina?” I asked.
“Wh… what did you say?” she asked, eyes wide, suddenly looking like I hit her. She looked around quickly and panicked.
“Is that your name? Why do they call you Ingamar?” I asked her as I put on the tunic.
“That is the name they gave me after I was…. Taken…” She said and wrung her hands. “You cannot use my old name, if you do, they will beat me. Please Chosen, I don’t know how you know, but you can’t call me that.”
The amount of pleading in her voice wrenched my heart.
“Okay, your secret it safe with me,” I told her with a wink and picked some pants that had leather reinforcement on the knees and rear. Riding pants, I think they were. After I was dressed, I waggled my toes.
“Boots?” I asked with a smile.
“This way Ch… Viktor.” She said and led me away, I snagged my rucksack and followed her. Small victory. Some of the thralls had history beyond being slaves. I would question her further, but just mentioning her name almost gave her an apoplectic fit. So, I would leave her alone. But my mind burned with questions. Where was she from? Who had taken her? What life was stolen, simulated or otherwise?
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I noticed a cleaning woman was scooping up my discarded garments.
“Might as well just burn those,” I told her and headed back into the longhouse. Ingamar showed me a rack of boots, some were nice. I decided to be picky and found the best set that fit well. They were much better than what I had before, the leather socks. They had real soles and a nice dark supple leather for the boot. They went to midcalf and had some scrawled designs along the top. I was pleased with them. I added my belt with knife and hatchet and almost felt like a real adventurer. My quiver and bow were with Finley, they had become a semi-permanent fixture on her saddle. Other than that, the only stuff I had was the collection of junk in my rucksack and hip bag.
I decided to rest at the tables. My sides ached and my head throbbed from the beating I took earlier. Scrubbing in a cold river could only help my ailments so much. Chewing on the henbane leaf didn’t seem to help so I took some of the leaves from my bag and tried to light them on fire from the fire pit, waving the smoke into my face. A grizzled old man who was carving things at the table chuckled at my ineptitude and offered me one of his crafts. It was a small wooden smoking pipe. He mimed how to light it from a small bit of stick from the fire and before I knew it, I had a medicinal bit of pain killer going.
I was almost disappointed that the first leaf I had ever smoked wasn’t something psychedelic or illicit. It gave me a nice calm feeling and reduced some of my aches. It didn’t get me anywhere close to how it felt when I had tried pot edibles in the past though.
I spent the rest of the evening snacking on food and drink that Ingamar brought me and harassing the old craftsman for insights into his various projects. He didn’t speak my language, so I made do with grunts and pointing. It was a good time overall.
***
Pest was violated once again. Snatched roughly from his nest and designated time off to be forcibly thrust into freezing cold waters. He was absolutely livid with this mistreatment by his chairman, no, his companion. Viktor had become more than his employer in this small business of theirs. He had become an ally in battle and a friend.
But at times like this, the malicious removal of his carefully cultivated musk, he had serious considerations of asking for the chairman’s resignation. Furthermore, he scrubbed a smelly bar of something he called soap into his fur and it took a significant amount of time to rid the foul thing from his body.
After the indignantly forced upon him Pest had to rub and scoot along the grass and ground violently to dry himself. As he shook and burrowed through the grass, Chairman Viktor found some new skin coverings with a female of his species. Pest gave her a weary eye, she had the spark. She could learn and grow like Pest himself. Sometimes that meant he would have a powerful rival or a very difficult client. He wasn’t sure which sort she was yet.
Pest watched from the edges of the building he had followed them into. Chairman Viktor’s coverings seemed to please him, and Pest wondered if such a thing would make him a more valuable associate. He inspected the room, it was full of large foot coverings that the humans seemed to all use. He knocked them over and inspected inside, their construction reminding him of the nests and nooks that clients tended to frequent.
After a thorough inspection he found nothing of import. The procedure was made more difficult by his injured leg. Those rivals from earlier were not good businessmen. They grabbed hold of him while he was inspecting their scents, and when Chairman Viktor tried to negotiate with them, they had thrown Pest against the wall like he was some sort of garbage. Pest had struck back and claimed a prize from the head of the rival business before they had to evacuate the location. It was a bad business deal to stay and try to negotiate after blood had been spilt after all. Especially when the rival business had many and they only had two.
Pest groomed his injured leg gently before continuing his investigation of the area around Viktor. He had moved to the larger hallway with many of his kind. He seemed to be eating and chatting with an elder. It was always wise to consider the wisdom of those who came before us, Pest approved. The old man was working with small bits of wood and Pest investigated one that had fallen onto the ground, it had a pleasant chewability. Pest quietly thanked the man and moved to put the prize inside of the nest. It was difficult reaching it on the bench that the chairman has rested it on, but he managed.
Pest slipped back out of the nest and went on the hunt for more treasures. He knew they were around. Ever since Chairman Viktor and he had found the trade discs located at the bottom of the buried boat, he could feel when valuable things were around him. He knew that the chairman had found something when he jumped off the edge of the cliffs as well.
The benches and tables were sporadically filled with large people, much like the ones they had fought with earlier so Pest was extra cautious as he explored around the bottoms of them. He was extra careful with his stealth, making a slower pace with his injury than he normally would have. The auditor approved of his more cautious nature.
[Congratulations! Sneak has increased to Level 3!]
Pest thanked the auditor for its new valuation of his skills and continued on with his search. It led to the platform in the center of the large room. On top of the platform was a large chair. Larger than a Viktor sized chair by twice as much. It had fur on it that smelled musty and old. As he sniffed around the base of the chair a small gap in the floorboards was present. Pest stuffed his head into the gap, it wasn’t quite large enough to get through. But he scented deeply from the space below and a lingering scent was in the stale air. He chewed at the edges and found the floorboards to be soft with rot and mistreatment. Normally his strong claws would make short work of this wood, but with his injured arm he didn’t want to risk further pain, so he made use of his strong jaws instead.
He gnawed and chewed at the boards. It was taking a longer time then he would have liked, and he could feel though the bond that his chairman had went to sleep amongst the others of his kind. He considered leaving the task until later, but the alure of treasure was too much. As he was wearing it down, the female with the spark came to him. He gave her a stare. She stared back, not doing anything other than observing, so he continued his effort. She made noises at him that were not unpleasant, just undecipherable, so he stared at her again.
Slowly she reached hands down to the space he was working at and used a tool of some sort to carve slices of wood away from the hole. It only took a few motions with the tool to remove the soft wood he had been chewing at and widen the hole enough. He immediately rushed past her and into the hole, she let out a noise and let go of the tool. It tumbled into the hole after him. She tried to reach in to retrieve it but was unsuccessful, her arm not long enough to reach the bottom where it had fallen. He stared up at her when he saw her eye gazing down at him through the hole. He gave her a silent thank you before investigating further. He was appreciative that a fellow spark bearer had assisted him in his investigation.
The space below the platform was a mess of dust and spider nests, Pest sneezed as soon as he tried to scent the ground. The tool the female had dropped was with him, a small stick of prime chewability with a hard sharp end, shaped like one of his claws. He decided it needed to come with him as he investigated the area. The space spanned the entirety of the raised platform, a forgotten and neglected area made to lift up the leader of the local business. Small pillars arose to support the platform creating an unnatural forest of beams just high enough that he couldn’t reach the tops. The cobwebs spanned between the pillars and platform creating a caricature of shrubs and foliage.
As he investigated the area, he had the faintest tickle of excitement. Something was down here that held value, he just had to find it. The floor was hard packed earth, undisturbed by anything as large as him for a long time. The faint scent of a rival put him on alert, he didn’t wish to handle any negotiations with an injury. But the scent must have been old to exist in such a place as desolate as this macabre forest under the platform floor.
Before long he found an old path that went along the edge of the forest. The wall it followed was made of stones stacked tightly together along the outside edge of the larger building. It led to a small gap that had the strongest concentration of the old scent, mixed with the sweet rot of the long dead. He couldn’t proceed with his new tool and was forced to leave it at the opening, the space wasn’t wide enough to fit it through the way he was carrying it. He could pull it in behind him, but first he needed to find out what was inside of this lair.
Pest entered the tunnel and it immediately started trending down. Unlike a warren of his normal clients that had many branches and chambers this was a singular path. It had a significant drop and snaking path for him to follow, the smell and sound of moving water becoming apparent half way through. The small tunnel opened up into a little cave. The cave was large enough to fit Finley, transportation service provider, if it would have had an entrance large enough for her. The entrance Pest used was halfway up the wall but had a nice slope to descend into the base of the cave. One edge of it had a further drop that fell into rushing water.
Pest was impressed with the area, it would make a premium storage vault for goods. He wasn’t the only one that had the same conclusion. Along one wall a mess of debris had been piled. A mess of sticks, leaves and bits of wool made a haphazard nest. Amongst the nest the scent of decay was prominent as desiccated bodies of some sort of rodent lay. He sniffed at them feeling an instant distaste. They smelled of old blood and death. It looked like a whole nest of these creatures had befallen to something violent. The skin that remained was ripped and tore at, like something had chewed and clawed them.
His urge to search the nest was great, so he indulged it. Nothing of great use was found amongst the pile of bodies, most of it too old or degraded to be of interest to him. However, amongst the thickest pile of collected debris he had the tickle of temptation and the faintest of scent of trade discs. The debris was strong, somehow bound and solidified into a single mass. It hurt his injured arm, but his treasure lust was strong and he fought through the twinges of pain to rake his sharp claws through the structure.
It took a good amount of time to dig out the treasure and he was surprised by what he found. It was not a normal trade disc, still round and flat, with a a large hole in it, making the disc a band of thin silvery metal. One spot on it sported a colorful stone. He wondered what sort of trade disc this was. Maybe Chairman Viktor would know. He plucked the band loose of its resting place and a crackle of noise surprised him. It sounded like when the chairman’s large feet stepped on small sticks. Sharp violent sounds, almost like when he bit into the small bodies of trade-goods.
As he backed away from the debris nest with his prize the noise continued, and the pile shifted.
What emerged was not something Pest had dealt with before. It was one of the desiccated rodents, half of its skin and flesh was sloughed off, revealing it’s skeleton. It was a large rodent, not matching his size but that of a large rat. He had dealt with rats before that could be quite troublesome if they came in a pack. This dead looking thing was different. It had a broken and jerky gait that seemed to rush through movements before pausing for a brief moment before continuing with another step. Pest was frozen. This was not a client or a rival, this was… He didn’t know what.
And if it wasn’t a client or a rival, he decided it was none of his business. He took his prize and quickly made his way out of the cave and into the tunnel. He took a moment to listen and could hear the crunching and crackling as the moving corpse followed him. He dashed through the tunnel and out into the under forest of beams and cobwebs. He took a moment to drop his band on the sharp end of the tool and pick that up, taking both things with him.
The rattle and crackling noise echoed out of the tunnel so he wasted no time searching further. He ran to the opposite side of the space and skittered along the wall on the interior of the building. Planks had been put there to separate the space under the platform away from the rest of the building. There was only one space that wasn’t blocked off. As the platform abutted the firepit above, a few stones in the side were missing to channel heat into the area under the platform.
Pest looked into the hole as the fire blazed brightly on the other side. The heat blinded him momentarily as it wafted into his face. He had to squint to gaze into the flames, but he saw a small path, the wood had been stacked in such a way to burn in the center of the pit allowing a space between it and the interior wall of the fire pit. He could probably get through the space with minimal risk if he was swift. He looked over his shoulder, the skeletal rat was halfway through the pillar forest and closing fast. Pest gingerly took a step forward, the stone that made the wall of the fire pit warm at this point but not scalding. As he slowly advanced through the hole the heat increased, becoming uncomfortable. By the time he made his way all the way through the hole his little feet were scalding, he wasted no time to hop, jump and scrabble at the side of the fire pit wall to climb it.
Just as he started scaling the wall a sharp pain shot through his tail, he let out a cry and lost his treasures as they flew from his mouth and tumbled off the other side of the firepits wall. Scabbling for purchase at the top of the stones he dragged his back half over the edge and had the skeletal rat attached to his tail. The creature was clamped down on his tail with its fanglike teeth. He spun around and bit at the creature’s flesh, ripping chunks from its bones. It crackled like dry leaves as he crunched through it. The creature failed to react to his violence and refuse to let him go, its unnatural jerky movements bringing its feet underneath itself as it prepared to rise. Pest lashed out again and grabbed one of its limbs, ripped at it violently. The remaining flesh on its arm crumbled under his bite, but whatever foul magics animated the abomination refused to allow him to rip loose the limb. Pest released it as it finally released Pest’s tail, blood spilled from his wound making a small puddle between them. Pest spun around to face the creature head on, standing sideways in his war stance, ready to end this one way or another.
This unknown creature was relentless, it had followed him out here, so running wasn’t going to work. Pest wasn’t cornered, but he refused to lead this creature to his nest. He wouldn’t allow it to do to his business what it had done to the other creatures in that nest far below. He charged the creature and bit onto his neck with his powerful jaws. Its jerky movements may have leant themselves well to doggedly chasing him, however they were not good at fending off his swift strikes. Pest thrashed at the skeleton creature, finding it surprisingly light compared to a fully fleshed creature. But unlike those sorts of creatures, his strike wasn’t a critical hit rendering the animal defeated or broken. The unnatural creature brought its wicked front claws up and scraped them across Pest’s flesh, cutting through his skin where the fur wasn’t thick enough to protect him. He hissed and released the creature which teetered backwards and nearly fell off the edge of the wall they battled on.
Bleeding from his tail, limping from past wounds now aggravated from overuse, and seeping blood from his chest, Pest was not feeling that this fight was going his way. The last time things had gone this poorly for him, he had lost his entire business to a group of vicious rivals. His family business. It was the worse days of his young life. And he didn’t want to relive it. This unnatural creature was bound and determined to end him. He had learned some things since then though. Watching Chairman Viktor fight with vicious attacks using his body as a weapon in ways Pest never could. Pest’s normal clients were swift and nimble, needing to be delt with by speed or precise blows. The other rivals Pest had to deal with were too large for him to use his body as the chairman had.
This creature, however, was neither large nor swift, so Pest could try something he had seen the chairman use multiple times. Pest set his feet, raised his head high and rushed at the enemy slamming his small chest into the skeleton’s light and durable body.
[Congratulations. You have unlocked the Bullrush skill!]
Pest stopped just short of toppling off the other side of the firepit wall as the skeletal creature went sailing into the flames. A high-pitched whistle followed by snapping noises came from the creature as it started to right itself in the flames. The remaining tissue and flesh burnt into black char with the bones blackening and splitting open as it began to jerkily make its way out from where it landed amongst the burning wood. It was coming towards Pest and he began to panic, thinking this creature was indestructible. But before it was able to make its way out of the fire the bones splintered and began to fail it one at a time, until finally with one last whistling crack it stopped moving.
He stared at the remains until the flames had consumed the entirety of the splinters.
As he watched it burn, he did his best to groom the blood from his fur. The seeping blood on his chest wasn’t significant, but the wound on his tail bothered him. At some point the female with the spark noticed him and his blood, and started cleaning the mess he made atop the fire pit. In his exhaustion he didn’t even bite her when she went to touch him. To his surprise she took a piece of her rag and bound the wound on his tail with it. He gave her an appreciative stare. She was a good female, maybe a potential associate rather than client or rival.
After she finished, he hopped down from the warm stones, wincing at the tender paws from running through the fire pit, and collected his treasures. This was enough trade for the night, he decided, as he pulled the treasures into the nest and went to sleep.