God of War: Daughter of War

While Kratos moved himself, Atreus, and Pandora down the channel that was in front of him it was easy for them to listen to Atreus talk, about how he wondered if Odin would uphold anything he had said, if they needed to move their home to a whole new area, and if Tyr would be able to help them fight off Odin.

"Atreus, we are not here to pick a fight with Odin... if that's all you care about, starting Ragnarok, then we're heading home and I'll lock you up until Ragnarok is over." Flurry stated, and she meant it, she was already growing tired of her brother and his sudden desire to go to war with the All-Father, and if he continued down this path she was more than willing to use her own magic against him and force him to sit still while thinking about his actions.

"That's, er... not what I meant, honestly. I'm just saying that there's a lot we can learn from Tyr, so breaking him out would be the smart thing to do." Atreus replied, though this time none of his family bought it, part of Atreus seemed to be hoping for war, despite having seen the consequences of a war between the gods thanks to Flurry showing him and the others what had happened in Greece thanks to her memory crystals.

Flurry frowned and said nothing, as it seemed like her brother understood that she wasn't making an idle threat, that she would imprison him in a cage of her own making to make him stop thinking about war, all while finding that her father had discovered another area to explore and landed after he docked their boat. Of course this meant fighting more grim and the wretches they had encountered since arriving in this realm, though none of them were surprised by that and fought them accordingly, slashing through their enemies while focusing on exploring the rest of the hidden area. In addition to that Flurry found another runic chest resting nearby, causing them to keep an eye out for the runes that were keeping it sealed, even if most of her focus was on avoiding the grim and slashing her opponents apart with her sickles. They did find the devices that had to be spun to the correct rune to unlock the chest, which was a good discovery, and it wasn't long before Kratos was able to open the runic chest and let Flurry add it's loot to everything that was already in her bag.

There was even a golden chest that Kratos opened and found another handle attachment for the Blades of Chaos, one that he integrated into the existing handle, something Brok and Sindri had worked on during their last adventure once they knew he had the weapon, just like how the Leviathan Axe had such a thing as well, causing him to nod as Flurry finished looting the rest of the chest's loot.

Following that they reached another locked gate that required them to do something to open the way forward, though as the family docked on a bit of land Flurry found one of the little forge critters, the Ormr, happened to be in the area and, just like the one Flurry encountered during their last adventure, this one stared at her before slithering up to her. It dropped a bag of crafting materials in front of her, which appeared to be one of the hides and a number of metallic items, like an ingot of Forged Iron and even slag, where she found that it was another offering to make sure she didn't kill it, to which she just nodded her head before accepting the bag. Atreus, thinking that it was okay to pet the lizard critter since it was passive, did reach out to rub the back of it's head, where it turned and snapped at his fingers, causing him to draw back before it actually hurt him, causing them to watch as it slithered around Flurry and Pandora before disappearing. Based on what Flurry knew it sure seemed like the Ormr might be interested in them, enough to follow them and be along the path they were following, as she was sure that was the same one from their last adventure, though it was hard to tell what it wanted, other than to stay alive.

"You know, I almost thought we had a pet... dunno what we would have fed it, but it would have been interesting." Atreus commented, while at the same time their father focused on the path that was in front of them, a large metallic block that was hanging above a small gap, one that Kratos freed by smashing a target that held the cube above it, creating a way for them to cross over to another part of the area.

Kratos said nothing as he grabbed onto a chain and pulled on it for a time, causing part of the gate in the water to lower in a few seconds, causing them to jump over the small gap to their left, no doubt made for sails of larger boats that likely came through this area, as they searched for the other chain. Such a thing caused him to freeze a geyser so they could cross under the wooden scaffolding that their second target was no doubt resting on, and sure enough there were more grim and a few wretches for them to fight, causing the family to ready their weapons as they struck their enemies. Following the death of their enemies Kratos opened a lid that allowed them to utilize another geyser, where he realized what needed to be done as he hurled the axe at another wooden lock and freed another iron block, which rested on top of the first one of this area, and by standing on the block and freezing the second geyser he reached where the chain rested. With that in mind it was easy for him to pull on the chain, opening the other half of the gate that was in their way, before collecting a small journal that seemed to be one of 'Kvasir's' poems, according to Mimir, which he handed to Flurry as he looted a stone chest.

While they returned to the boat Mimir asked for more clarification on what Atreus was hoping to learn from Tyr, where the boy replied that he was trying to learn more about Loki, as in who the Giants wanted him to be, along with hearing about Tyr's travels in general, since he visited so many other places before being captured. Of course none of them fully believed what he had to say, due to the fact that Atreus seemed to be hoping for war to happen, though Mimir mentioned that Tyr might not be in a talkative mood, so they'd have to wait and see how he reacted to being freed. Kratos, while willing to humor his son, reminded Atreus that the Giants had been wrong before, as they foretold that Fimbulwinter would start with Baldur's death and it was the breaking of his curse that actually caused it to happen, which they learned after the fact, but the point still stood. There was a chance that the old prophecy was totally wrong, that the Giants were wrong, and he simply wanted his son to make sure he kept an open mind, and that he accept reality if he was proven right, even though Kratos was more than ready to admit that his son was right if they discover that Tyr was actually imprisoned in this realm.

Following that they were able to finally reach Nidavellir, an actual city built on both sides of the river and had large bridges every now and then that connected everything together, though as Mimir started talking Flurry heard a warning bell ring as dwarves headed indoors, and one on a bridge even spat at them before hurrying off, causing her to frown.

"Odin's talons are deep in this realm... we will not find a friendly reception here." Flurry said, landing by her family when she spotted an area for them to dock in, which happened to be near Sindri's temporary workshop, and she could tell that both her father and her sister weren't too pleased with the citizens treating their guests as dangerous criminals, which was more of Odin's doing no doubt.

"Flurry, calm yourself." Kratos commented, as he knew his daughter well enough to know when something displeased her, and right now the dwarves, being so broken that they didn't trust anyone and were likely scared for their lives even when Odin's forces were here, or even when the All-Father was here, was ticking her off, but not enough to really trigger her, an event he'd rather avoid if at all possible.

Flurry sighed as she calmed her mind and followed her family deeper into the city, entering what appeared to be a market area based on what they were seeing, which Sindri happened to be at the edge at and he even waved at them as he set his tools down, meaning he likely had something he wanted to speak about, while Flurry did smash an emerald raven that was overlooking the area.

"Normally I'd mention the ground and how it could talk if it could, but that freaks me out... I really just wanted to come here once before the end... and to ask if I can see your bow." Sindri said, speaking to Atreus, who glanced at his father before he held his bow out for the dwarf to take, who commented that it was time for a replacement as he started to remove the main string, which he struggled with, and when he undid it he replaced it with a new one, which happened to merge with the old one for some reason, "I was fiddling with some of the local materials recently and came to understand that some of it has been used throughout the realms, so I figured that I'd help you guys out by making a new string that will imbue your arrows with sonic vibrations. Let you what, aim at that gate over there and say 'skjalfa' before you loose an arrow."

Atreus nodded and did as the dwarf instructed, loosing a light green arrow that tore into the material he aimed at and just so happened to break open a sewer gate, allowing some wrenches to enter the city for a few seconds, though they didn't get very far as the family destroyed them. There was even a grim among them, who perished instantly as Flurry hacked it apart with a few swings of her sickles, where Sindri wished them luck as the family moved into the sewers, which seemed to be the path to bring them to their true destination. As they departed Atreus was able to get out that the alarm was definitely their fault, as any outsider was considered a threat and cause for alarm, which Mimir said was something Odin would force his followers to learn and preach about, to spread his greatness or something. Flurry didn't really care as they emerged from the passage and entered another portion of the city, allowing them to make their way deeper into the area as they sought out the tavern that the dwarves had mentioned their target might be resting in.

Atreus even mentioned that when they find their target that he should be the one to talk, as he was the least imposing out of all four of them, causing his family to say nothing as they finally tracked down the tavern and opened the door, allowing the family to see that there was only one person in the tavern, a dwarf that looked like a musician that was having fun.

"Watch yourselves, apparently there are 'intruders' about." the dwarf commented, where it was easy for them to see him glance up at them for a moment while he spoke, meaning he knew that they were likely the ones the alarm had been about, and he even seemed to recognize Mimir for a moment, "If you're here to kill me, can it wait until I finish this song? The alarm was in just the right key."

"We aren't here to hurt you, we're just looking for an acquaintance of ours. Do you know where Durlin is?" Atreus stated, to which the dwarf chuckled for a moment, like he had said something funny, something that caused the family to raise their eyebrows for a few seconds.

According to the dwarf Durlin had no friends, he lost all of them a long time ago, but he did tell them that if Durlin was who they were looking for all they had to do was head out the back entrance and cross the river to reach the Safety Office, and he also asked if they could avoid making trouble for the rest of them. In addition to that the dwarf made a comment about the 'head's mess', referring to Mimir and something he had likely done while in the service of Odin, though while Mimir was just a little miffed over being called a 'skull', as the dwarf called him the 'condescending skull', he admitted that it would be wise to deal with his mistakes. Kratos decided that such a thing would be a good lesson for Atreus, that while people could make mistakes it was also wise to clean up after them, where his son didn't seem to really get what he was saying and simply understood that they were exploring the realm some more. Flurry resisted the urge to groan as she heard that, because it really seemed like her brother was being stupid again, but they had some information to go on and they followed the new directions outside, where they found Sindri waiting for them and he produced a new light device for Kratos, to replace the dead Bifrost, and it would double like the compass Freya gave them three years ago.

With the item in hand the family headed down the path and reached another dock, with a boat waiting for them, though as soon as Kratos, Atreus, and Pandora were on it Mimir started to give them directions to the mining rigs, causing Flurry to fly above them like she usually did.

It was easy for Flurry to see the mining rigs, as they were belching smoke from their peaks, and it wasn't long before the rest of her family followed her, heading out into the open area that the rigs were in, showing her that her father was focusing on that before they bothered to meet with Durlin, since this would let the alarm die down. From what she knew Mimir must have seen enough bloodshed and didn't want the dwarves to be exterminated by Odin's froces, rather he must have found a terrible trade agreement that gave Odin most of the power in the relationship, but Mimir had come to dislike the whole thing and took full blame of the situation. While her family made their way towards the first of the mining rigs Flurry pulled out her bow and loosed a few arrows into the air, where Atreus watched as they zipped through the air and struck down each green raven that Odin had placed in this realm, blinding him multiple times over. Such a thing reminded him of her skill, she was far superior to him in terms of using a bow, in fact he really doubted he would have her skill with the weapon, which made him wonder why she didn't just stick to it all the time, before focusing on the task at hand once more.

What was surprising was that docking at a rig was very easy, there didn't seem to be anything preventing them from doing so and there weren't any enemies waiting for them, something that allowed them to climb up some ancient wood, which was still sturdy thanks to the methods of the dwarves. Of course there were a number of grim and wretches hanging around the metal shell of the mining rig, in fact they were in greater number than when they were out in the wetlands, though such a thing hardly stopped Flurry and her family from hacking through them. It was actually kind of disappointing, as she expected Odin to have some sort of guardian protecting his investment, or whatever he saw these things as, but instead he left these rigs defenseless, effectively siphoning the natural resources from the dwarves so no one could use them. It just infuriated her to no end, that the more they discovered about Odin and his involvement in the other realms the more annoyed she got with the All-Father, because it felt like he was crippling all of the other realms to secure Asgard's future.

Kratos watched as one of the grim was slashed apart before it even got close to Flurry, though this time she used the Blade of Olympus, showing just how annoyed she was with this whole situation, that she would use such a weapon on such a low ranking enemy, and when she realized that fact Flurry forced herself to calm down as she returned the blade to it's place on her back.

"Lass, I know you well enough to know that something is bothering you. Care to share?" Mimir asked, though as the rest of the enemies were brought down Kratos smashed open the grate that was in front of them and empowered the Leviathan Axe, allowing him to freeze and destroy the center of this rig in a matter of seconds, freeing bits of special ore that he was able to quickly identify as Nidavellir Ore.

"Just... growing ever more frustrated with Odin's lack of care towards the other realms, or the people who call them home." Flurry replied, reminding them that she cared about life and that what they were seeing right now was just pissing her off in the process, where she brought a hand to her face as she realized that anything Odin did was chipping away at her, making her increasingly more annoyed, "Titans almighty... I haven't been this annoyed at someone's disrespect for life since our days in Greece... Odin might be the first person, in a long long time, that will make me feel genuine anger towards someone and make my blood boil."

While Kratos remained standing there, using his Spartan training to the fullest, inside he was worried, as the last time Flurry had been angry, to the extent she was talking about, was when Ares killed him after they recovered Pandora's Box, a day he and the rest of Olympus witnessed her true terrifying power, unrestrained and uncontrollable. Flurry's magical power was far above everyone else's, which was why Hecate had been so careful in honing her skills so she could control that power and not wipe out an entire continent on her own, and his daughter had proved that she had the ability to master herself, to the point that he stopped worrying about her inner dams breaking. Unfortunately her training came with a terrifying fact, that if she was ever that angry again, and fully lost herself like he used to do before she entered his life, he worried that an entire realm might be lost in the process of her venting her anger. His only hope was to make sure this annoyance stopped, or at least make sure it was minimized as much as possible, before something terrible happened, though at the very least a glance from him and a hand on her shoulder seemed to be enough to calm her down for the time being.

Flurry, on the other hand, sighed as they quickly unlocked the nearby runic chest, this one requiring three braziers to be ignited before it could be looted, before heading out to check on the other two mining rigs that were in the area, all while preparing herself for whatever the future had in store for her and her family.