All ready to tackle the half day journey, the group made their way towards the encampment. If their calculations were correct, they would have a few hours before it got dark once they arrived. One thing that was obvious was how comfortable the frost giants moved in this condition. Volodar and the others would stumble as snow could come up to their shins at times. Combine that with the fact that they were traversing a mountain and it became comical in some senses.

Gaulk didn’t seem to mind as he trudged on the same as usual. Even with his armor weighing him down, he could find his steps quite easily. Cangvar looked down at Adelia and Volodar to watch their movements. After a few moments, he scooped up the two of them as they continued walking. Adelia was taken aback at first by the interaction, but soon learned to enjoy not walking through that mess. In the distance, a flame could be seen with many large tents set up nearby. Although, one tent looked like a massive canopy compared to the others.

Cangvar breathed heavily as he looked onwards at the tent. He placed Volodar and Adelia down before drawing his blade. “Cangvar,” Volodar said, “we should clear the surrounding tents of frost giants before continuing.” He nodded in affirmation as the undead frost giants went after the small tents. However, Cangvar stopped when he almost walked past the canopy. Looking at the tent, he looked back towards Volodar before disregarding the previous order and going inside.

Volodar’s surprise was very much on display, “What? Did he just go into the large tent?”

“Yeah,” Stokrar scoffed, “the leash doesn’t look to be tight enough. You sure you can handle that?”

Adelia stared at Volodar with her jaw slightly agape. “I have to figure out what he’s doing,” Volodar said as he jogged towards the tent. Upon reaching the tent, he heard combat and yells coming from within. He pulled back the flap on the large structure to see dead frost giants within the room. One was laid up on a large desk that had food and another seemed to have been reaching for a weapon. Besides that, hobgoblins with chains around their bodies spoke in goblinoid as they fled past Volodar.

Ignoring that Volodar was even there to begin with, he looked for Cangvar. He could hear his voice coming from the far side of the room as he crept in with Adelia. An almost naked frost giant sat upon an ivory throne as he spoke to Cangvar in their native tongue. What followed afterwards was silence as he peered at the two, Adelia couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the frost giant beside Cangvar. “That is taller than any other one I’ve seen,” she exclaimed.

“Yes,” Volodar agreed, “this certainly is the jarl of the clan.” Almost as if his words were a call for battle, the frost giant stood up with blinding speed. In one fell swoop, he swung his leg around as he slammed into the core of Cangvar with it. “It’s too difficult to even tell what’s happening,” Volodar said as he attempted to cast a hex upon the jarl. “I can’t pin him down at all.”

Taking wide steps and swings towards the jarl, Cangvar used his raw strength to crash down every direction he saw the jarl. The speed of Strixius was too much as he would effortlessly dodge Cangvar’s attacks. A punch that he landed onto Cangvar earlier gave him inspiration as he went for it once more. When the punch collided, Cangvar didn’t hold back as he gripped the arm of Strixius with both hands. His brother may have been faster, but his strength would be unmatched.

Panic seemed to set into Strixius as he was read so easily by his kin. Volodar used his blood magic to try and bind him although he could tear out if he pulled hard enough. With his right fist, he pulled away from the blood entanglement and began punching as much as he could like an animal fighting for its life. Squeezing and moving his hands in either direction, a loud snap could be heard as the frost giant screamed out in agony. Cangvar broke the arm of Strixius with his sheer strength.

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He pushed Strixius onto the floor as Adelia and Volodar assisted with their magic. Combat outside the tent seemed to be ramping up as they heard roars from all sides. Relentlessly, Cangvar punched with his icy gauntlets until he was satisfied with his brother’s agony. After Strixius stopped moving, he spoke to the body as he stood up and reached for his blade. Pausing for a moment, Cangvar seemed to hesitate as he plunged the blade into the heart of the still screaming frost giant.

One more motion was made as he took his blade and flicked the blood off of it and sheathed it upon his back. “My liege,” he said slowly, “do not reanimate this one.”

Volodar didn’t know what to say as none of his underlings had requested such a thing before. “It’s a powerful vessel, but I’ll do something else with it.” He walked over to the body and looked at Cangvar. Volodar thought to himself as he prepared to take the power of the dead frost giant, Why did he disobey me to run in here? Thoughts about how Cangvar could resist his commands ran through his mind as he analyzed his entire existence through another lens.

If Cangvar could disobey him, then who's to say that Lucas went rogue on behalf of his father. He was a vampire, after all. With a swift incantation, Volodar prepared the body as he took Strixius’ power and transplanted it within Cangvar. Looking down at his hand, Cangvar clasped his fists as he thanked Volodar. His deep voice was rough, “Thank you for not raising him as an undead, my liege. My respect grows further, even now.”

“I’m sorry, Cangvar.” Volodar looked towards the door, “We still have to help the others.” Cangvar didn’t appear worried as he went towards the entrance and stepped outside. The undead frost giants alongside the party members collided with the last few frost giants as they slayed them. However, there seemed to be an additional problem as three of Strixius’ concubines were still alive. Cangvar barked at them and pointed towards the distance as he drew his sword and charged the remaining frost giants.

“I think he is telling them to leave,” Adelia said in confusion.

“Maybe,” Volodar said, “I’ve never seen Hunter or Doppel take an initiative like this before.” Adelia thought about Hunter and shook her head in disagreement.

“Hunter has his moments, my lord. He was onto Lucas alongside Doppel long before you knew.” He looked quizzically at Adelia and nodded his head.

“I guess you’re right. I’ve just never noticed it until now.” However, this presented a new problem as Volodar witnessed the last of the combat. If his followers had their own beliefs and ideas due to his creation methods, could they also betray him. What really was their breaking point of loyalty? Would the raising of the tall frost giant cause him to snap? These thoughts seemed to bother him as the combat closed out. Those who were slain by Cangvar rose under his service as he walked back to his master.

“I am done,” he said as he planted his sword into the ground next to Volodar. His blade was over nine feet tall and was a sight to behold as Volodar looked up at the hilt. “Once again, my liege, I pledge my oath of fealty to you. My vessel and I are complete in this agreement.”

“Really?” Volodar said as he stared at the frost giant. “You are my only death knight. The one who will force my will onto others and to make my enemies bleed. Are you ready for this?”

Cangvar bowed his head, “I can imagine no other liege to serve. No jarl can conquer what I viewed that day.”

Confused, Volodar accepted his words as he seemed candid when he spoke. There was no way that he was going to ask about reanimation with everyone staring at him. This would be a personal matter that he handled when he could learn more about his story. There were plenty of rewards to look at while he was here anyhow. The amount of gold and gems that they acquired was enough to last several lifetimes. As for weaponry, there wasn’t anything amazing besides the strange claw gauntlets that were used by Strixius. It was obvious that they were magical, but who would even use them?

Turns out that Blackjack wanted them as he had an uncle who was proficient in martial arts. “I don’t need them,” Volodar said as he passed them away. Now that the bounty was done, everyone seemed to be on edge as they walked back to turn it in. Gaulk seemed to be out of it as he clutched the paper of the bounty. “I just may be able to get back into the hold,” he said softly as they walked towards Strosa.