Part 24: Day 51: Frostvellr

As Hakon's army arrives at a city in flames, we leave them behind once more.



All this time, Rook's refugees have been working to carve out a life for themselves in Frostvellr.



The man has a crazed look about him. He stands, axe pointed in your direction, on the other side of a dozen men.

Ekkill, you on of a bitch!
Remember what I aid? Think carefully about what you want. This is what you get.

Ekkill walks away, leaving you to deal with his thugs.



Well this is a fine start.



Our enemy is a force of half a dozen Backbiters, four in the front and two in the back. The pincer formation isn't pretty, considering that we want to protect our fragile archers.

This is going to be messy, no two ways about it.



Going for an aggressive start. If I let these guys take too many turns, they're liable to tear me to pieces.



These two in the back are a serious problem. I don't have nearly as many tricks to quickly lower Strength as I did in the previous chapter.



I'm seriously relieved that he did this. He easily could've turn Gil halfway into pieces by using Run Through.



Tryggvi has great synergy with shield wall classes, because he can wall up with them and attack easily at the same time thanks to his reach.



Again, any turn not spent using Run Through is fine by me.



Oddleif honestly isn't very useful here. Her Break and Exertion are both 1, and the enemy is too small and maneuverable for her to reliably be able to anticipate their movements.



There's Run Through. Fortunately, Iver brought his Strength down enough to make it not a huge problem, and he takes 2 Armor damage in retaliation.



What I was less ready for was the second Run Through in a row. Iver's not going to be able to take this beating for very long.



I didn't want to do this.

Alette draws human blood. Sorry, dear, but I need every point of damage our team can muster.



And there's Run Through number 3.

I hate Backbiters. I hate them a lot.



Iver is forced to move away from the rest of my team, lest he eat a fourth Run Through.



Egil, fortunately, can put some pretty good Armor damage out. That enemy is still at full Strength, so I need to weaken him at all costs.



Hey, look, Run Through. This is actually good, because he didn't do it crossways through both of them and because he broke up the shield wall.



That means I can do this.



Little Girl Who Made That Talisman continues to be our MVP.



Alette is suddenly in danger from half the enemies on the map.



Okay, only one left with high Strength. Sort of.



Rook isn't looking too hot. A pincer attack from Backbiters makes forming any sort of defensive line a laughable goal.



Alette has to hit this guy, because he's going next and would otherwise have the Strength to injure her.



Instead, he just drops her to 1 Armor with his 3 Break.

Every enemy here has 3 Break and 4 Willpower.

I hate this battle.



I needed, needed to hit this guy with Battering Ram. It took me 1 will to get here, and takes 1 will to use the ability. Iver had 1 will remaining, so he couldn't do both.



As a result, this happens.



More frantic Armor reduction. In a rare moment of charity, one of the Backbiters moves but doesn't attack.



Tryggvi is able to move in and wound the bastard. I need to start getting kills soon.



I could have killed this unit, but this was the only way to prevent massive damage to Alette on the next action. Instead, Iver loses another 4 Armor.



Once again, dropped to 1 Strength. I need to start dealing out kills soon.



Iver has 2 Armor left.



Okay, Alette is on the brink of doom now.



Even closer!



Desperately falling out of position and making terrible attacks in the hope that I'll be able to keep Alette alive a little longer.



It works, at least long enough for Alette to get a kill and a promotion.



Iver is down to 0 Armor!



Two down, four to go with our rapidly disintegrating team.



Amazing that he did this, when he easily could have dropped Alette.



Iver goes down.



Tryggvi kills the third.



Oddleif kills the fourth.



Egil kills the fifth...



Astonishingly, Alette managed to survive the fight.



+8 Renown



If we're not murdered in our sleep, it's only a matter of time before the dredge find their way in. There's nobody defending these walls.

You spot Alette looking at one of the thugs. She cocks her head to the side.

Uh... dad. I think he's still alive.

Iver lifts him to his feet by his tunic. He groans from the pain.

This guy again?
Why did Ekkill try to kill us?



Why would Frostvellr's chieftain put a madman in charge of his guards?
That what he told you? He never put Ekkill in charge. Soon as those gates were shut, Ekkill walked into the great hall and sliced open the chieftain like a narwhal.



Can't say I'm too surprised. This whole place is a death trap.
Where can we go?
By now the dredge have already flooded the south, I'm sure. Wyrmtoe's the only thing that makes sense, across the wastes. I might know someone there who can help us. and the dredge probably won't follow us out over into the wastes. They didn't in the great wars.
Because it's a death sentence? Food's already running low.
I know where Ekkill keeps his supplies. I'll tell you. If you take me with you?
What's the catch?
No catch. I want out of here as much as you do, just never had anywhere to go. I'm not the only one. Get the supplies and there are plenty of fighters who are desperate to get out of here.
That might solve a few problems.



Do we take Ekkill's supplies and Onef with us? Voting will last 24 hours.