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Inga Freyjasdottir A troll is wreaking havoc upon the viking age village of Hrafnheim. Having lost many of their warriors to a plague last winter, the people do not have the resources to deal with a dangerous troll, and if it is allowed to keep eating people, they will be in even more of a bind. Thus, Inga has called for assistance. Some discretion is called for, as the portal is newly discovered and the people of this place are almost completely unfamiliar with the multiverse. Inga has asked them to act accordingly.

They arrive from the portal, situated between two large rune stones, one carved to depict the world tree, Yggrasil, the other shows a warrior astride an eight-legged horse, spear in hand. To the west lies the village, but it is east they must travel, up and the mountains where the troll makes it's home.

It is not difficult to track. Inga takes them through the clearing where two woodcutters were brutally killed by the creature, where a foot print almost as large as she still rests.

"I must caution you about trolls. I have never fought one myself, but the lore is clear. They are difficult to kill. We will need to coordinate to take it down. I am told fire is ideal to keep a troll from healing, so I will be ready with fire after you strike...and of course, to heal you," she explains, leading her horse further up the gently sloping path toward a large mossy mound ahead.
Yang Xiao Long     Well, Yang sticks out like a sore thumb no matter where she goes... except maybe one of those weird cyberpunk worlds with all the neon. She /is/ wearing the regenerating outfit Arthur made for her, so she's less flamboyant than usual, but shaggy blonde hair on a 5'9" frame can only be masked so much.

    As she's led to the last sighting place, and sees the size of the beast that needs killing, she breaks into a big grin. "Good thing I packed the incendiary shells then!" she chirps in the wake of Inga's 'briefing'. "More than one source of permanent damage is usually better than relying on the squishy member of the team... We figured that one out the hard way." She rubs the back of her neck a little self consciously.
N'Raha     Yang and Penumbra might be 'arriving' but Raha is already here. No horse, rather he's riding his tall ass green bird, the Chocobo warking a little uncomfortably in the cool air of the evening.
    He too is out of his usual plate mail and chain, the gleaming red armor replaced instead with heavy hide armor and wraps around the vital bits of his body. His axe, however, is still the Bravura, the hulking blade head gleaming dangerously in the dark.
    He is also a cat of very few words tonight. There's a dull red fire in those bright green eyes of his, and if one had any sort of Aura Sense, he's already in business mode.

    Somethng's got him in a foul, battle ready mood tonight.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga chuckles softly. "I'm sure with the three of us, we will take it down. I just hope the people in the village will not be too frightened with the wracket we are sure to make," she sighs. She really wanted to ease them into this whole, multiverse thing. She knows from experience how overwhelming it can all be. She is sure, however, that slaying the creature will go a long way toward ingratiating them to the chieftan and villagers. "Being that I am the squishy member of the team, and also the one that you put your pieces back together should something happen, I will keep toward the back," she says, halting her horse and motioning for Raha and Yang to move forward.

Inga looks toward the hill in the distance, squinting slightly. "Is that...Oh," she breathes, and the 'hill' begins to move. What they thought was a rock jutting from the hill is actually the creature's bulbous nose, it's eyes opening under a mound of mossy hair. The mouth opens and the troll lets out a roar.

It /stinks/.

Inga only narrowly manages to keep her horse from bolting, but she still slides from the saddle and to the ground rather gracelessly.
N'Raha     Well if you ever wanted to see a catman go from a standing start to full aggro in just a breath or two, it's now, boyo. Inga is explainign things to Yang as they travel, but the catman's tail and ears continue to frizz and frizz, his hackles all the way up as they approach the site of where that Troll is supposed to be...

    Until it's in fact the troll they're nearly riding on.

    Raha barks out. "INGA. MOVE." And with a flourish, he snaps his ax up in his hands, gets to his feet on the back of Courlmeat, and then launches himself up into the air, looking to make a Shadow of the Collosus reference here as he grabs for the nearest piece of Troll and starts climbing.
Yang Xiao Long     Yang nods to Inga, jogging along to keep pace with the two mounted people. She didn't bring her bike, and as the Troll makes its presence known, she's glad she didn't. "Not much of a 'back' against seomthing that big." she says, deploying Ember Celica and launching herself in the wake of Raha's leap, firing the shotgauntlets to aim herself for a different part of the beast. What's worse than one highly aggressive fleas climbing on you? Two of them!
Inga Freyjasdottir Now out of the saddle, Inga's horse does bolt back they way they'd come, which is all for the best really. To a troll this size, the horse must look like a very nice snack. Inga, in a heap of cloak and dress, pulls herself to her feet and shuffles back as Raha and Yang rush in.

The troll is immediately set upon by Raha, flailing it's arms and trying to slap him off as the catman tries to scale it. It may not be very smart, but large and strong as it is, the swinging around is like trying to hold onto a moving train, and if it manages to slap at him? He'll be smooshed cat.

Yang's shots earn another roar from the stinking troll, who tries to swat her right out of the air like an annoying insect. The shots appear to have penetrated, but the wounds are superficial. It has tough skin.

With a huff, Inga draws her blade from her belt and cuts into her arm, chanting a charm as she sends the blood wards to Yang and Raha, further increasing Raha's menacing red glow. The ward will help them heal faster and prevent some of the damage they would otherwise take. Basically, less work for her later!
Yang Xiao Long     WHACK. The Troll connects solidly, and sends Yang tumbling backwards and into a crater not far from Inga. Luckily that ward activated before impact and the young Huntress just gets up and looks pissed more than hurt. "Ow." is all she states, rather deadpan, before charging back into the fray. Instead of trying to be fancy in the air, she stays on the ground, dashing between the monster's legs, then turning and unloading explosive shells into the backs of its knees, trying to bring it down and limit its mobility.
N'Raha     The swatting and the swinging makes it hard enough for the catman to climb with two hands, let alone with with an axe out, and he's forced to cast Bravura aside into his inventory for now. He can feel Inga's boon settling into his flesh, prickling at his body, sinking into his aura as he grips and climbs.

    It's when Yang makes her presence known that Raha makes his move, climbing a bit more up that arm as the Huntress distracts the big boy with her shotgun blasts. It's a decent strategy.
    And as Yang settles in for more shooting, more gunfire, Raha takes another go of it, trying to clamber higher and higher, aimign for the big thing's shoulder and back.
Inga Freyjasdottir The troll thinks he's safe from Yang, having swatted her forcefully away. Generally, when the troll hit something, that something does /not/ get back up again.

Imagine it's surprise when Yang is right back, running around it's legs and trying to /explode/ it's knees. Even in a face as inhuman as this one, surprise can be seen. This time, it's roar is one of pain. Explosions is not something this troll has ever had to deal with, and the fire is doing some damage. Damage the troll is not healing from.

The flailing grows more frantic, and more dangerous for Raha as the troll tries to slam itself into a tree--no, THROUGH the tree, right where Raha is climbing.

Inga has the misfortune of being near that tree, and finds herself showered in splinters and branches, but her own ward protects her from the worst of it. "Keep at it! Bring it down!" she calls, limping further back from the battle, knife in one hand and staff in the other, read to heal or burn the troll once Raha strikes. She can see he's going straight for the kill.
Yang Xiao Long     Yang keeps moving, and dives away from the troll's fall. A roll, a shift of legs and arms, and a shot from her gauntlets behind her launches her back into the side of the Troll's closest leg, bringing a haymaker around to slam her fist into the side of the joint, aiming to dislocate the knee, if not outright break it as she channels her Semblance into her fist, her Aura glowing brightly, and adding all the damage she took from that swat back into her strike, the gauntlet discharging on impact to add more force to the strike.
N'Raha     Sadly for Raha, it is exceedingly hard to dodge-jump-dodge-grab onto a moving angry smelly hell troll. At least ,when one is not an Assassin or some other sort of sneakthief.
    No, Raha is a Warrior, and he's got a good grip and he's got a ward and armor and this is going to hurt.

    SMASH. Inga's ward flashes over, a glowing red angry bubble of gaia energy that holds for a brief moment, and then snaps and pops sparkling energy as far as that wood splinters.
    But he maintains the hold. He's snarling and yowling, a battle challenge that rattles the entire glade, a taunting, roiling thing that sinks deep into the psyche of the troll, something that even its pea brain can understand.

    I'M BADDER THAN YOU ARE*
Inga Freyjasdottir The troll howls as Yang aims a powerful haymaker into it's knee. There's an audible CRACK as the joint is blown out and the creature topples, reaching out to try to grab and crush Yang as it falls to it's knees. Even on it's knees, the thing is big, and while it may be injured, it isn't out of the fight.

The troll reaches up then, shouting and trying to rip Raha off of him forcefully. He's starting to panic.

Inga takes this opportunity to shoot a blast of fire into the troll, aiming for that injured knee to stop the thing from regenerating. The troll bellows, reaching for a boulder and pulling it up with one hand. Instead of trying to smash Yang or Raha however, he hurls it at Inga.

Her eyes widen. She knows she will not get out of the way in time.
Yang Xiao Long     Yang ducks aside, firing a shot into that open palm to launch herself away. She lands and rolls out, setting her legs under her again and skidding to a stop. She lifts her head, and sees the Troll mid-throw of that boulder. She tracks the flight, and sees where it'll end. "Not today big guy." she mutters, hurling herself off the ground and straight at the boulder, aiming to slam into it and knock it off course. She clings onto it, landing and twisting to hammerthrow it straight back to sender. "YOU DROPPED SOMETHING. HAVE IT BACK!"
N'Raha     Raha sees the troll panic. can FEEL the panic. It feuls him. Feeds him. Empowers him. The Lion of Thanalan grips both hands to his axe as it reappears in his hands. He's right in place, right in the right spot, as he clambers up to the back of the Troll, and...

    The fireball, and the boulder. And let's be honest. There might have been some mental calculations that 'Yang is there, she's fine' and also calculations of 'she'll be okay'... but deep down, right now?
    He's Going For THE KILL.

    Which is all well and good because today is not the day he's going to have to stand watch over Inga's corpse, or hunt down a strangely placed blowing colony of Bees. Because Yang IS here. She is a big damn hero.

    And Raha is the Alpha here. Bravura comes up. Raha howls, and every single piece of his Aura is directed into his hands, that axe, the killing intent of that downward strike.

    P E R I S H
    Raha Fell Cleaves. One thousand swings of an ax, all directed into one deadly blow.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga was fairly sure she was dead. It would have been a quick death, relatively painless she thinks, but it would be very troublesome for everyone involved save the troll.

But there's Yang. She blasts in and might as well have flying head-butt the rock for how shocked the troll looks. Inga meanwhile, lets out of titter of nervous elation.

The troll is too stunned to do anything but gape as the boulder comes flying back at him, hitting him straight in the chest. He lets out of the troll equivalent of 'oof'.

Momentarily, the troll has forgotten about Raha. This is a grave, grave mistake. It is in that moment that Raha goes in for the killing blow, Bravura smashing down. There was, perhaps, a snicker-snack, as the trolls head was parted from it's neck as the whole creature falls back.

The head rolls toward Inga, who gets the heck out of the way because it is /still trying to bite her/. She aims her neck blast of fire toward the oozing neck of the creature, burning it good so that it can't...regrow, or something.

"Well, you two made quick work of it," she says, a little breathless.
N'Raha     I'm sorry, you seem to think Raha has finished his axe strokes. Because when you push that button, it's not just ONE Fell Cleave.

    Though the rest of the stroeks are decidedly less FELL and more plain Cleave-y. He's hackign the hell out of the damn thing, spattering himself, the landscape and the side of the hill with awful ichor. More than that...
    He's cutting through that tough hide. "INGA. HIT IT WITH MORE FIRE."

    Well, he makes a point of wading out of the mess he's made, to a safe distance, at least.
Yang Xiao Long     Yang purges her gauntlets, reloads a twinned set of glowing red shells, and starts punching at the head, and the spattered mess of the trolls torso. These slugs burst into more flames than simple explosions. Akin to tossing a molotov rather than a frag grenade. She unloads the entire pair of clips, bathing the corpse in Dust Fire, before she drops to a knee, panting for breath as her Aura flickers and discharges, her Semblance running its course and leaving her exhausted.
Inga Freyjasdottir Well, there's no kill like overkill they say.

Inga nods, and aims more fire blasts toward where Raha's axe falls. They are making damn sure this thing is dead.

That said... "Raha! I need SOMETHING to bring back to prove we killed it!" she informs him. Hoo boy. Getting him down from this rage without hitting him with a psychic whammy is going to be difficult.

...And then Yang unloads on the trolls head, making damn sure it doesn't do anything else.

All movement from the troll stops. It appears to be well and truly dead.

Inga sighs. "Well...I'm sure I can bring pieces of it..." before cutting into her arm again to send a healing spell to Yang and then Raha.
Yang Xiao Long     "Confirm the kill, first rule of Hunter school." says Yang, recovering as a flicker of gold shimmers over her frame, Aura resetting. "I'll carry the head back, we should be able to use that as a trophy." she adds, moving over to hoist the charred head aiming to carry it back down toward the village. "Lets just hope they don't freak out when I walk in carrying this thing..." she glances down at herself. "I don't exactly look local."
N'Raha     On the contrary, Raha now looks Very Local. As in a Localized Mess of Troll Bits. He's panting, and heaving, a heand coming up to wipe viscera out of his face. He smells like a rotten dump truck. His body aches from being splatted against a tree and the ground and some troll and also burnign through his aether.

    Why does he look so happy?
    "...Head's fine, t-the rest of that will burn off... eventually. Troll doesn't stop burning if it can't put itself out."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga looks to Yang, nodding. It's a big trophy, but Yang is not your average gal. They'll think her a valkyrie come down to midgard. "No, you certainly do not...but it could be worse. I can lend you a cloak at least," she offers. It won't exactly be ankle length as it is on Inga but...hey, knee length is better than nothing?

To Raha, Inga shakes her head. She can't help but smile, but she's keeping her distance. "We'll be stopping at the stream so /you/ can clean up first," she mentions, nose wrinkled.

And off they go. After some looking, Inga manages to find and calm her horse, and is remounted by the time they enter the village. She would absolutely insist Raha rinse off at least before they came, but the head of the troll still carries a stench.

The majority of the people in the village are working in the fields, and gawk openly as they pass. A few braver souls call greetings, especially to Inga, since she is known to them at least a little. Raha and Yang get the most stares, and of course, the head of the troll. By the time they reach the chieftan's hall, there's a good size group of people following them. They whisper things like 'valkyrie' and 'spirit', not knowing what to make of Raha and his tail. They only know these are great warriors, and they've taken care of a large problem.

Inga announces them and they are let into the hall shortly after. The chieftan stands when they enter, a long table lined with benches between them. The chieftan is a tall man of middle years, lithe and strong with fair hair and a neatly kept beard of red and gold. There are many warrior rings on his arms and a heavy gold torq around his neck. A few warriors accompany him. All goggle as the group enters.

"Wisewoman," the chieftan greets, plainly shocked. "By Thor, look at the size of that thing," he says, taking in the sight of the head. He motions them further inside. "Come, warriors, be welcome in my hall. I am called Harald Redbeard, and you've done us a great service. Please sit, I'll have food and ale brought."

"Thank you my lord. Allow me to present my friends, N'raha of Eorzea and Yang Xiao Long of..." Inga blinks and looks to Yang. She can't recall the name of where Yang is from.
N'Raha     It takes a few minutes of rolling around in bracingly cold water to get most of the goop out of Raha's bits and crannies, but he will reventually get out of the cold water and shake himself dryish, though...
    He is still hanging awful close to Inga as they travel. The Catman is looking pleased as punch in all of this, to be certain.

    He will, however, be waving and genial to the villagers as they wnder up with their big stinky trophy, and engage in the proper amount of thanks and bowing before he kisses Inga's cheek, and skedaddles for a fire.

    What, he's chilly.
Yang Xiao Long     Yang accepts the cloak, and clasps it around her neck. It /barely/ reaches the knee, but luckily her boots are fairly common, if marked by modernity by the zippers and the royal purple sash around her left boot-top. She glances at the townsfolk as she walks through, her golden hair billowing a little in the breeze, just adding to the whole 'valkyrie' thing going on.

    It's almost a relief to be in the cheif's house. "Remnant." finishes Yang as she dumps the head in an open looking spot. She adjusts the borrowed cloak, then performs a bow to the chieftain. "I'd love to stay, but I should head home soon."
Inga Freyjasdottir An impromptu feast is had if they can be persueded to stay, and Raha and Yang are both presented with heavy silver arm rings much like the ones the chieftan and his warriors wear. They are beautifully crafted, the ends fashioned like the heads of beasts; wolf and dragon. Inga is given a more delicate torq of silver, with opaque white stones at the closure.

And so they are rewarded, and the people of Hrafnheim get to know a little bit more about the multiverse.

The troll head is taken outside and eventually burried, Inga performing a ritual to turn the thing from just a head to a symbol of protection for the village...and then, home.