God of War: Daughter of War

As Kratos and his children returned to the area that they had found the boat in, so they could access Alfheim's lake and the rest of the temple, they found that Sindri had moved back to the first shop they had encountered him at, in this realm to be exact, and while he was working on something else he smiled at them for a moment.

"Hey, can I ask you guys for a favor?" Sindri asked, because after seeing them in action for real, and knowing that they had the power to bring down an ancient, he figured that one or more of the figures in front of them would be more willing to help him with something, or at least Atreus would since he was still on the fence about Kratos and the girls.

"It depends. What is it that you want?" Kratos inquired, as normally he wouldn't bother to help those in need, but aiding the spirits earlier had gained them some resources to improve their gear, plus Sindri was one of the smiths that could work on the axe, so depending on what the dwarf wanted he may or may not go do this favor, since there would be more loot and resources for them to claim.

"There's an abandoned temple in Midgard that a fellow dwarf converted to his personal storeroom, and he packed it full of treasures that he collected from his travels of the Nine Realms." Sindri replied, where Flurry and Pandora realized that he must have learned about a relic or treasure that had been added to the collection in the past, one he was no doubt eager to collect to use in his crafting, while Kratos remained indifferent and Atreus was fully invested in listening to him, "Let's just say that Fafnir was an aggressive collector of magical artifacts... as in the more items he acquired, the more he desired, almost like he was a dragon or something. There was no realm too dangerous for him, nor was there any relic too hazardous in his eyes, especially since he once ventured into Niflheim for a whetstone, of all things... in fact, it's that whetstone that I'm after."

"I take it you found out where Fafnir's storeroom is located?" Pandora said, because the only reason Sindri would ask the four of them for such a thing was because he must have found out where his target was located, plus the fact that he had seem all four of them in action, so he knew they could handle themselves.

"Yes, and I even found the Entry Stone, a unique stone that will unlock the door's seals." Sindri stated, where he reached into his bag for a moment before withdrawing a decent sized stone that was roughly the width of one's hand, Kratos' to be exact, and was a third of the height of one of Kratos' arms, something the dwarf handed to them and found that it was quickly passed to Flurry, before he produced a magical looking map, "Now, I know that you have no idea where Fafnir put his storeroom, so I created this map to show you exactly where it is... if you use it with that compass you have, you should be able to navigate your way to it's location, and maybe anything Brok asks you to do, since he's likely going to ask you for a favor when you return to Midgard. Also, I know you guys aren't the type to do something for nothing, so feel free to loot anything you want from Fafnir's storeroom... honestly, don't feel too bad about doing so, since I'm sure he's dead, likely due to someone he stole from getting their revenge."

"I see. Well, we'll probably check it out later, to see what else Fafnir might have collected." Flurry commented, because she knew their father, at the very least, would want to head there at some point to see what sort of resources they might be able to obtain from the area in question.

Sindri seemed fine with that answer, in fact he knew that they would head there at some point in the near future, hence why he bothered to do everything he had done to prepare for asking them for the favor in the first place, though once he was done talking Kratos beckoned for his children to follow him once more. As they started to head back to Tyr's Temple the family found a silver chest that Atreus helped Kratos open, allowing them to loot it for it's items, both resources and another symbol that was added to their collection, before returning to the path that had brought them into this realm in the first place. While they did that, however, Atreus admitted that this wasn't the first time he had heard voice, in fact he told them that not even Brok's animal was the first one he had heard, rather when he wandered into the Woods, and had been rescued by his family, he had done so after hearing someone speak to him. He and Kratos agreed that it would be best if he told them whenever he was hearing voices again, which made sense due to the fact that someone could use the ability against everyone if they knew about it, but with this in mind they could operate even better as a group.

After that they returned to the temple and Kratos used the Bifrost on the console once more, where they found that the chamber operated the came way when they traveled to Alfheim, this time for Midgard, so it wasn't long before the family returned to the realm they were familiar with and headed outside, finding Brok back at his shop.

"Brok! We just got back from another realm, and we met your brother... wait, not in that order." Atreus said, where Kratos and his daughters found that the boy rushed over to the workshop that the other dwarf had set up earlier, though he had to think about the information he wanted to tell the dwarf, who was working on something and stopped when he found that he had guests.

"Did you now? Did you let that seed-sop put hand to your blade?" Brok asked, focusing on the important bit, the fact that his brother might have touched the Leviathan Axe, something he clearly didn't approve of based on what the family could see, even though Flurry was sure that he seemed pleased, somewhat, to hear that his brother was alright, "You do know that he lost his talent, right? Just up and left him one day, and he tried to take me down with him! Tell me: did he botch up on our girl?"

"Quite the opposite, he improved the axe's performance greatly." Kratos replied, where he drew the axe and set it down on the platform that was in front of them, allowing Brok to see the work that Sindri put into the weapon earlier, while at the same time his children were waiting for the dwarf to speak about the favor he likely wanted from them.

"Hm... well, even a blind pig farts up a truffle every now and then... but do you know what I have? Consistency!" Brok said, where he picked up the weapon and took it over to some of the tools that had been moved into the area while they were in Alfheim, allowing him to sharpen and polish the axe for a short period of time before Kratos noticed a blue sheen wash over it for a couple of seconds, and when it died down Brok nodded and tossed the axe back to him, "There. It's better."

"Do you have something you want to ask us to do? A favor, perhaps?" Flurry asked, figuring that while they were here they might as well see if Sindri was right about his brother, that he'd ask once they returned from Alfheim, which caused the dwarf to pause for a moment as he thought about something, no doubt an artifact or item he wanted.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. There's this dwarf, an alchemist called Andvari, been working outta the Volunder Mines, but haven't heard from him for about a hundred winters." Brok replied, though as he produced a map he found that the group had one as well, causing him to realize that it was the same as Sindri's and just combined them, allowing the magic to show two locations now, a blue symbol and a pale one, to inform them of which one was for which brother, while he looked at his supplies for a moment, "I need you to find him for me, and you'll know him by the fancy green ring that he wears all the time... I'm sure he's dead, but he has information on something I'm after and I am hoping that he's alive, or has written his information down somewhere. Listen, I even have the Entry Stone for the Volunder Mines, so I'll meet you outside and hand it over so you can head in and search for Andvari."

Kratos, once again, said nothing as he and his children departed from the temple and headed outside, where they made their way down to the nearest dock, only to discover that Freya's boat was still waiting for them, so Flurry took to the air once more as the others resumed their normal positions again. Once they were on the water again the family used the map that had been given to them to track down one of the favors that the dwarves were asking them to do, where they headed for the Volunder Mines first, because they remembered where it was and it seemed to be the closest of the two. When they reached their destination again, and crawled through the opening to reach the locked area they had discovered previously, they found Brok waiting outside at his smaller shop, where he tossed Kratos the Entry Stone and told him that he'd have Andvari whip them up something special if they found him alive. Even if that wasn't the case, and the other dwarf was dead, their smith made sure to let them know that anything inside the cave could be looted for their own gain, so they didn't have to worry about doing this for free, since Kratos expected to be compensated since they were going out of their way to help the dwarves with their favors.

Once they knew what was going on, and knew that Brok would uphold his end of the bargain, Kratos inserted the stone he had been given into the slot that rested at the top of the pedestal that was in front of the sealed door, where he and his family watched as it was unsealed and allowed them to enter the mines.

What was interesting was that there appeared to be scorch marks every now and then as they moved into the mines, not from a normal fire, and when Atreus pointed out an explosive against a wall Kratos struck it from afar to tear down the wall to their left, revealing an old workbench with a stone chest that he looted. The other thing was that they found what had to be a dead dwarf, that much was clear by the shape of the bones that were near the stone chest, but while the ring was nowhere to be seen Kratos grabbed the bag of supplies that were near it and handed it to Flurry before they jumped over a small gap. Since the bag had a couple of resources inside it, the various metals and items they had recovered since starting their journey to scatter Faye's ashes, one could assume that Andvari's team was either moving into the area and had perished or were leaving and had been cut down by something. As they moved deeper into the mine, however, they heard something walking in the area that was ahead of them and Kratos beckoned for them to lower themselves for a few moments, since there was no telling what might be waiting in this place.

As the family peaked over the edge of the walkway they were on, however, everyone locked onto the rocky creature that was in the area below them, one powered by flames that danced around the inside, though while it looked like an ancient everyone knew that it couldn't be the same creature.

"No way... that's a Soul Eater! If that kills us, it's over... no Valhalla, no Hel, no afterlife! Ever!" Atreus remarked, though out of all the creatures that his mother had told him about he had been hoping that this one was made up, mostly to make him behave, but now he understood why his sisters said that his mother never lied, even about the stories she told.

"It does not attack. Either we are worthless to it, or it does not care about our presence." Kratos commented, because the Soul Eater just turned and lifted a metallic gate out of the way, though at the same time he noticed something that was on the creature's body, there was an arm with a fancy green ring that was partly merged with the beast's hide, "And now we know what happened to the alchemist."

"Which means we need to track it down and kill it." Flurry said, where she drew her sickles as she frowned at the beast as it delved deeper into the mines, as Faye had once called these things an 'abomination' and she could see why, since it sure looked like someone had taken an ancient and converted it into something else, "Atreus, I know you are afraid of what can happen if this creature kills you, but the best way to defeat your fears is to face them head on."

With the Soul Eater no longer in the area the family dropped down into where it had been and attacked a couple of draugr that were there, and a few nightmares as well, though these were the weaker variety that they had discovered at the start of their adventure, so they were able to eliminate them with ease. There was also an explosive pot above some of their foes, which Kratos dropped on their heads to deal with a few of them, though once the group was brought down Flurry beckoned for them to follow the Soul Eater, causing her father to raise the gate so they could progress. On the other side they found another revenant, who was stunned by Atreus' new light blue arrows before Kratos beat it to death, finishing it off with it's own staff, allowing Flurry to collect another symbol as Pandora looted a wooden chest so she could hand the items inside to her. In addition to that they spotted a stone chest further ahead, which Pandora pushed open to loot as her father focused on keeping an eye out for their target, as Atreus was realizing that none of Andvari's crew had survived whatever had happened in this place.

There was an interesting development, there was a stone door locked with three runes and the stones sealing it were all over the area they were in, just like the runic chests they had discovered so far, so it didn't take Kratos or his children long to track down all three locks and smashed them, opening the door for them to progress, though the third rune stone was near a stone chest they looted after destroying the stone.

As it turned out the stone door brought them to the area that the Soul Eater was standing in, where it seemed to roar at all of them, much like the ancient they found back in Alfheim, and they discovered that it fought nearly identical to what they had seen previously. The Soul Eater tried to hit those that were near it with it's rocky arms, while those that were far away were the target of it's core attack, opening it's core to fire fiery bolts at whoever happened to be it's target, and the bits of rock that were separated from the creature could be used to harm it's core. This confirmed one thing for them, this was a modified ancient that fought the same way as their prior foe, so with everyone having an idea on how to fight this creature they stayed away from it's grasp, tore into it with their melee weapons while Atreus loosed arrows at it, and just avoided everything that was sent their way. Flurry had to guess that this was a creature who didn't see battle too much, even before destroying everyone that was down in this mine, which was why they were able to tear into it with ease and just dismantle the Soul Eater before it could even harm any of them.

With that done, and the foe destroyed, she collected the ring and handed it to her father, before collecting a small pouch of Jormungandr's scales, a rune that boosted their resistance to fire damage, and a bag full of various metals, while Kratos looted a golden chest for another frost power.

After looting the area Kratos found a path that seemed to be heading back to the entrance, which they climbed up to use, even though they did find an odd message on the right wall that Atreus claimed said 'in the jewel', where Kratos handed the ring back to Flurry and she nodded her head. Given her position as the Goddess of Death it was easy for her to tell that there was a soul inside the ring, whose soul she could guess based on what they had seen and what was on the wall, but for now that information would be shared with only the two of them and Pandora, and then Brok once Atreus was on the way out of the area. The rope line in front of them brought the family to a few more draugr and a pair of nightmares, nothing too major really, and once they were taken out Kratos looted a wooden chest before using another passage to get back to the area they had spotted the Soul Eater in for the first time. As everyone dropped down into the area Pandora did loot one final wooden chest that was off to their left before joining her family as they quickly returned to the entrance of the mines, so they could tell Brok the news and then move on to Fafnir's storeroom.

As they emerged from the mines it was easy to see that Brok stopped what he was doing and turned to face them, where Kratos produced the ring they had recovered from the Soul Eater, something that caused him to frown for a moment as everyone stopped in front of him.

"I'm sorry Brok, but that's all we found of your friend... and his hand, which was attached to a Soul Eater." Atreus said, though he was saddened by this information, since he had been expecting to find the dwarf alive, at least when they set out to do this favor in the first place, but now they were delivering bad news to one of their smith friends.

"I see. Well, I suppose you'll be wanting compensation for your efforts?" Brok inquired, where it was easy for them to see that he wasn't too pleased that they couldn't find Andvari, alive and whole, but at the very least he seemed happy to have the ring, meaning it was definitely important in some manner, causing Kratos to reply with 'naturally', since they didn't do all of that for free, "Of course he says 'naturally'. Mjonefr uxi... here, I have a pommel for you."

Kratos found that the item was an addition to the pommel he currently had, something Brok no doubt intended to give to Faye at some point, and he slipped it into place without delay, where he nodded his head and bid the dwarf farewell, but Flurry waited for the others to be gone before she told Brok about the soul inside the ring, causing him to smile and nod so she could take to the air as well. While her family took the boat again Flurry remained in the air and watched them for a time, where she found that Jormungandr was asleep once more, which was fair since there wasn't a whole lot for him to do thanks to his size, so her attention remained on the others. Thanks to the map they were given Pandora was able to find the area that Fafnir's storeroom was located, and when they docked she landed behind them as they headed inside to see if Sindri was outside the entrance, much like his brother had been earlier. They did have to pass through a short cave, igniting a light bridge in the process, before reaching Sindri's new camp, who nodded to them as they ducked under the opening that was in front of them and came to a forest path that was connected to the temple they had been told about back in Alfheim.

This time around they found dead reavers outside the structure and more draugr prowling the area, where they focused on cutting and hacking their way through the undead, which was easy since there weren't too many for them to deal with, so Flurry and Pandora stayed back to let Atreus have more experience in combat. As such they focused on looting the bits and pieces that the dead reavers had, where they were sure that they must have looted part of Fafnir's storeroom, and even found two more chests to break into, a stone chest and a runic chest, adding more loot to Flurry's bag. The moment their father was ready to go they joined him and Atreus as they headed inside the cave that was beyond the area that the undead had been in, all while Flurry made sure to destroy another of Odin's Eyes that happened to be nearby, something that was getting annoying based on how many there were, before focusing on the path. She followed her family as each of them climbed up a few wooden steps that seemed to have been carved into the side of the area that the storeroom was resting in, only for them to drop down into an area that had one of the Entry Stone pedestals, resting on the center of what had to be a stone bridge that would reveal paths for them to use.

Kratos wasted no time in slipping the Entry Stone into the slot, where it was pulled in and they found that a new walkway rose out of the foggy area that was around the base of the platform they were standing on, one linking to a different area that wasn't the main door, but that didn't stop them as he opened the other door and found some undead to kill. These brute draugr came with a surprising ability, they could detonate themselves in an attempt to take their foes with them, an ability that mattered little when Kratos hurled them into a wall and both Atreus and Flurry struck them with their arrows, a good thing in his mind. Atreus was, however, incredibly disappointed by what they found in the area, all of the chests had been looted, causing his father to tell him to keep his expectations low, because then he would never be disappointed, all while picking up another Entry Stone, meaning they had to go through a few areas before reaching the final section. With that in mind they returned to the entrance and discovered that some draugr emerged to fight off intruders, likely one of Fafnir's defensive measures, which surprised Atreus while his family simply cut them down before they could do anything to slow them down.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting them to be there." Atreus said, though at the same time his father inserted the Entry Stone so the next bridge could be raised into position, allowing him to see that both of his sisters never seemed to be caught off guard by their enemies, which was really strange when he thought about it.

"There are a few things that any experienced warrior knows: never let your guard down, keep your expectations low, and always anticipate an attack." Flurry replied, as it was one of the lessons her father had taught her, when they started her training for real, and she had taken those to heart to make sure she was a fierce warrior, especially since Greece was a far harsher realm than Midgard had been to them since they reached this land and met Faye, "While we're not expecting you to become exactly like us, these are good lessons for you to learn and, eventually, master."

Atreus nodded his head as they entered the next area, where they found a skorn pole resting above some enemies, more draugr to be exact, though this time around Kratos dealt with the poison and fought the undead with his fists, showing his son that he was definitely stronger than he let on in the past. Flurry knew they were walking a fine line, because after her show in Alfheim, and how easily they had dominated all of the dark elves, Atreus knew there was more to them that what he was used to seeing, meaning it was only a matter of time until he questioned everything and, more importantly, forced their father to reveal things he was trying to keep hidden. The only good thing was that he was easily distracted by new or exciting things, meaning that the more they explored the more he would be focused on whatever was happening in the area they were in, but even she knew that such a thing wouldn't last. Their father, of course, had no desire to speak on this matter, not until he was sure that his son was ready for the information in question, and she trusted his judgement, hence why they focused on the undead and cut their way through them, granting them another Entry Stone.

This one opened the way to an area that had a pair of revenants, nothing too major all things considered, the next area had a pack of strong wolves for them to kill, easy targets at this point, and then the final chamber, which had some stone pillars and a shallow watery area, but nothing important since all of the chests had been looted, including a large one that had a dead reaver resting over it with a dagger in his back.

"So, you came back to piss on my corpse, you ungrateful little..." a voice said, where they found a spirit emerging from the body that was over the main chest, who seemed to be a reaver captain based on what the family had seen so far, before he paused as he realized that they weren't who he was interested in, "Who are you people?"

"Just travelers, looking for a whetstone. Have you seen it around here?" Atreus replied, because he knew that his father had no desire to speak with spirits, even though he had gone out of their way to make sure the ones in the Lake on Nine were released from their bonds, or at least the ones they could get to right now.

"Ah, that. Yeah, there was one in this room... my son sharpened his dagger on it, right before stabbing me in the back." the spirit stated, something that took Atreus by surprise, that a son would go after his father like that and kill him without even giving him a chance to fight back, while at the same time Kratos and Flurry recognized the story, since it resembled Kratos' brief desire to kill his own father, before learning of his corruption and everything else, "Little bastard thought it was his turn to lead the crew... I'm not surprised, really, since I did the same thing to my old man when I was my son's age. And I know the look in your eyes. He may be a bastard, but he's my bastard and I'm not telling you anything."

"Very well. Your son took the whetstone, meaning his dagger should point us to him." Kratos said, where he grabbed onto the item in question and drew it out of the reaver's back, causing the spirit to try, in vain, to stop him from leaving with it, only for him to pause as two ogres entered the area.

Such a thing caused him, Atreus, and Pandora to focus on one of them while Flurry focused on the other, switching to her warhammer for a moment as she leapt into battle and drew the second away from the others, allowing Atreus to loose a few arrows into the first from afar. While he did that Kratos hacked into their ogre's side while Pandora focused on dealing damage to the back, mostly to make sure the creature focused on them and didn't go after Atreus, even though he was caught off guard by what his other sister was doing. Flurry dodged all of the incoming attacks like she had been fighting for a long time, at speeds that seemed faster than what even their father was capable of, and whenever she decided to do some damage her warhammer crushed the bones below where she struck, as he could hear the ogre's upper right arm break under the pressure. Only now was he realizing the true destructive power of Earthshaker, as Flurry called it, as she crippled her foe in the span of a couple of well timed attacks, and when the ogre fell to one knee she crushed it's skull like it was an apple that had been squeezed by their father's hand.

Once both ogres were dealt with Pandora made sure to loot the nearby gold chest, while they heard the spirit remark on their fighting skills, in fact he approved of their abilities, before the family regrouped and departed from the storeroom, as it was time to return to Sindri, only to stop when they were outside the structure as they spotted an ancient outside.

"And now an ancient?!" Atreus remarked, because it seemed like Fafnir had gone overboard with the defenses, not that it mattered since his preparations failed to stop even a group of reavers from making off with his loot, before he found that Flurry was stepping up again, this time spreading her wings in the process.

Instead of fighting the creature like she had done in Alfheim, and using more time than necessary, Flurry decided to pick up her speed for a moment as she grabbed the handle of the reforged blade and literally flashed behind her foe, almost like a bolt of lightning, and as Flurry sheathed her blade the ancient collapsed as she huffed.

"Don't count on me doing that too much, since it strains me to move at that speeds." Flurry commented, speaking to her brother, since her father and sister knew that she could have done the same thing all the time and wasn't even wiped out from cutting down the ancient like that, but the look of amazement on Atreus' face told her that he bought it, allowing her to loot the items that dropped from the creature.

With that done they quickly retraced their steps and returned to where Sindri had set up his shop, where, just like Brok had done previously, he stopped working on whatever item had been holding his attention and focused on them as they stopped in front of his stand.

"The whetstone was not there. We did, however, find this dagger, which belonged to a reaver that took it." Kratos said, as he placed the weapon in front of the dwarf as soon as they were in front of his work area, something that caused Sindri to pick it up for a moment, in fact it looked like he might recognize the make of the weapon.

"Well, I'm annoyed that the reavers took the whetstone... but here, let me give you this for the dagger, and for your hard work in trying to get the stone." Sindri replied, where he set the dagger down before reaching into his bag for a moment, only to produce a new talisman that was added to their collection, even though Flurry was sure that just collecting them and putting them in her bag gave them a passive bonus, just like the runes did, "I'll take a look at this while you continue your adventure... I might be able to figure out which clan this belongs to, so you can recover the whetstone and get more items to aid you in our journey."

Kratos nodded as Atreus told the dwarf about where they found the dagger, causing him to gag a little, but it was good to have a smith that was upfront about the rewards, even though this made him more interested in the mountain and what the next leg of their quest had in store for them.