God of War: Daughter of War

With their work in Niflheim complete the family returned to Tyr's Temple in Midgard, since it was time for them to figure out where to go next to hunt down the remaining two Valkyries, but before that Pandora mentioned that she wanted to check in with the dwarves, as they might have something else for them, and sure enough both were waiting for them.

"My bother n' me got a new project we're working on. Wanna hear about it?" Brok asked, because after seeing them work in Muspelheim, and combined with how the family worked in Niflheim and the other realms they had been in, he knew it was time for him and Sindri to reveal their plans to Kratos and his children.

"Yes. You two are talented in your craft, and I am sure this project will benefit all of us." Kratos replied, as he knew that the quests the dwarves sent them on ended up giving them new experiences and even gear to add to their collection, not to mention potential upgrades to their weapons, so it was worth deviating from their current quest for a time.

"Good to hear. With the whetstone and hammer that you guys have recovered for us, both special in their own way, we are now able to construct the Dvegraedikr, dwarven armor of legend." Sindri stated, something that caused the family to raise their eyebrows for a moment, though Kratos and Flurry knew that most legendary items lived up to their legend, just like Pandora's Box holding the power to kill a god, making them curious if the same was true in the Nine Realms.

"However, we just need three more mythical ingredients before we get to hammering." Brok added, where he held up one of his hands for a moment as he noticed that Atreus was getting ready to ask what those items might be, since there was a chance that they might have them with everything they had recovered since the start of their quest, "Now, we dunno what those ingredients are... mind you that the armor is pure legend, and the details are fuzzier than a wulver's butthole. But Ol' Motsognir, the Dwarf King, found two of them... everyone knows that!"

"Yet when he went looking for the third... poof, he vanished." Sindri said, where the family noticed that he sighed at his brother's choice of words, focused on the wulver part no doubt, while he finished whatever he was working on before he turned to face the family with a smile on his face, "The last time anyone saw him was at his stronghold in Konunsgard... maybe you'll be able to find some information on the ingredients if you investigated Motsognir's domain?"

"And lookee here, a Konunsgard Entry Stone... it's got your name on it! How fucking strange!" Brok finished, producing a royal sapphire blue stone that looked like all of the other Entry Stones they had used since the start of their quest, which he handed to Flurry, since he knew Kratos would do the same thing if he handed it to him, while Sindri pointed out the area that the stronghold was located in on their map.

With that information in hand the family departed from the temple and headed out to get on the boat, where Atreus had to deal with shifting how he sat since he now had a tail and a pair of wings that got in Pandora's way, while Flurry flew above them as she focused on the direction they needed to head in. Fortunately it didn't take them very long to track down the cave that would bring them closer to their destination, as Kratos was skilled at tracking down the areas they needed to go to, even without the map and compass that had been given to them, and it wasn't long before he docked the boat at a shore that was inside the cave. From there it was a simple matter to walk up to where a Door rested so they could find the location of the pedestal that the Entry Stone could be inserted into, which Flurry produced as soon as she landed as her father put it inside the slot, unlocking the sealed door that was blocking the way forward. After doing that they walked out into a path that seemed to cut through the rest of the mountain and out into an area that seemed like the perfect place to hide a fort or stronghold, only Kratos had to burn away some of the bramble so they could continue forward.

Along the way Atreus spotted a stone tablet and deciphered it, revealing that it seemed to be praise for Motsognir, which was interesting since another area had information that damned the Dwarf King, though once he was done the family kept following the path and stopped at a ledge that allowed them to overlook the stronghold, with Sindri standing nearby at one of his smaller workshops.

"I know you might not need this, but here's a word of warning: there are a lot of nasty creatures in this place, thanks to the Mad Dwarf King's foul practices." Sindri commented, which meant the family was likely going to run into a Soul Eater and a few of the other powerful creatures they had fought throughout their quest, and Flurry could see that the dwarf really didn't like to think about the deeds that might have happened here, "As for his foul practices, well... it is said that he has done various things: sacrificing, dark enchantments, blood magic, and so on... stuff usually seen among the elders of our race, as it turns out. Old habits are hard to break."

"We appreciate the concern." Kratos replied, because while he knew that they didn't need the warning, given how skilled he and his daughters were, he also knew that this would be a good lesson for his son, to gather all of the information that was available to him and be mindful of who gave it to them, as having good allies was also a good thing.

"Woah, there's another chained dragon... we should free it." Atreus said, though he was looking out at the huge place that was Konunsgard, especially the large beast that happened to be struggling in vain to break it's chains, a dragon that looked like Fafnir and Hraezlyr, to a degree, something that caused the boy to rub his arm as he looked down at himself, "Father... would someone chain me up like that if I fully transformed into a dragon?"

"No. The one who made the Binding Shrines is likely dead, so you have nothing to fear... besides, you will not become like Fafnir, not with the progress you have made." Kratos stated, where he and his daughters knew why Atreus was like this, he was seeing himself in a new light since the curse was causing him to slowly transform when he indulged in what were his darker aspects, like dipping too far into his rage or being far too rude to others, and his son was worried that with how far he had come, in such a short period of time, he might actually prove Baldur right.

Atreus nodded as they headed down the path that was on their left, where his father froze a skorn pole before discovering a pair of Hel-Walkers waiting for them, one to the left and one to the right, though this time he found that they withstood the fiery power of the blades for a few more moments than the ones they fought in Helheim. Such a thing confirmed that this place might be more dangerous than the rest of Midgard, which was why everyone armed themselves accordingly, and at the end of the left path they found a stone chest that had a Hel-Walker hiding inside it, causing Kratos to crush it while Flurry claimed the items that were inside the chest. Following that they continued down the other path for a few seconds before Kratos recalled the axe, since they were now beyond the skorn pole, causing Atreus to openly wonder why Motsognir had so many dragons chained up, since Mimir claimed there were three, two more in addition to Fafnir, which was when Mimir had a bit of fun telling him that everything dragon related was powerful. Since he had seen a dragon in action, and had seen his sister user the Dragon Cleaver to cut down some of their enemies, Atreus clearly believed it, though he was confused when Mimir mentioned that their waste was powerful as well, ending in the head laughing while the boy was unsure what to make of the situation.

Kratos said nothing, as it appeared that his son didn't need him to step into the conversation, causing him to focus on what was in front of them once more, heading down a bridge that would bring them to the area in front of the structure that Motsognir had built in the past. Such a thing meant fighting more of the Hel-Walkers that had been placed in this area, or maybe they had invaded thanks to Helheim being overwhelmed, though Kratos and his children were more than ready for their enemies as they engaged them without delay. There were definitely a fair number of them for the family to fight, but that hardly mattered as Kratos dealt with a skorn pole and opened the way down to the main gate of the entire structure, where they found an Entry Stone pedestal with a dead warrior resting beside it, with a crystalline Entry Stone that looked like it could be slipped into one of three slots. With the Entry Stone in hand Kratos noticed that there were two paths for them to take, meaning they would no doubt end in something that would reward them with the other two keys to the gate, so with that in mind he started down the path to the left, even though that meant freezing another skorn pole to access the path.

To pass through the cave that was on the other side of the skorn pole he also had to burn away some bramble so he and his children could jump over a short gap, though they did come into contact with a pack of wulver that dropped down into the open area they started to pass through. These ones weren't as difficult as the ones that had been in Niflheim, but that didn't mean anyone could be overconfident, since that could ruin them or the entire family in an instant, though Atreus proved that he was relying more on them and wasn't getting involved, not unless a foe tried to grab him. After taking out the wulvers they continued down the path and discovered that there was an iron gate to their left that needed them to be on the other side to open it, so for right now they headed out into an area to the right that had some stone arches around it. In addition to that they also discovered that there was a tougher looking Soul Eater in the center of the area, though like the last time they found one Flurry focused on her sickles for a few seconds and flashed around the arena for a couple of seconds, where Atreus watched as the magic inside the creature died and it perished.

Such a thing reminded him why he was so lucky that his father had stopped him from annoying Flurry more than he had, because if they actually clashed in a fight, like he had been rushing towards, there was no way he was going to win, not with all of the moves she had and the arsenal she could use.

With the resources from the Soul Eater looted, and the same was true for the nearby stone chest, the family continued along another portion of the path, cutting through some more bramble before discovering that to move forward they had to move some the Winds of Hel from one position to another, before ending in a lock. Unfortunately there was no walkway to link the two areas and Pandora pointed out that they had to track down a light crystal, as she had seen a slot below where the edge of the edge was located, and on the other side they discovered some wolves that Kratos hacked through with a swing of his axe. The area they dropped down into happened to have such a crystal hanging in a basket above the river that cut through this portion of the realm, where Flurry tore through the lock that was keeping it contained and let it fall into the water, which carried it down to the end of this area. With that in hand Kratos lifted the iron gate out of the way before heaving the crystal up onto his shoulder, where he carried it down to the slot and slipped it into the device so his son could hit it with a light arrow, creating the walkway that they needed to use.

As such they returned to the wind trap and he grabbed them with one of his blades, allowing him to carry it to a second trap, resetting the power in a sense, before retrieving it again so he could slip it into the lock, opening the way to a ledge that was right between the entrance and the bridge down to the stronghold, which just so happened to be where one of the keys was located.

"Good, another Entry Stone. Out of curiosity, Flurry, why don't you use your magic to speed things along?" Atreus asked, as he was curious as to why his sister went out of her way to do things without using her incredible magic to aid them, like during the various obstacles they had encountered in this place, all while their father moved a chain so they could return to the stronghold's main gate.

"Sometimes I like a challenge, mentally and physically, and using magic just nullifies the work that went into making places like this... I don't want to disrespect the people who built this place." Flurry replied, where she knew it would be far too easy for her to blast through the stone gate of the stronghold and retrieve the ingredients without delay, but that would just ruin everything and leave her in a bad mood, and there was the fact that her father had taught her not to take shortcuts, one of the many lessons she took seriously.

Atreus stared at her for a few seconds before saying that her reasoning made sense, which was when Mimir told them what he knew about Motsognir, as he had been quiet lately, where he admitted that no one really knew what had happened to the Mad Dwarf King, only that his behavior had been quite erratic before he vanished. Kratos assumed that the reason for such a thing was due to the search for the final ingredient, no doubt tormenting his soul in some manner or a monster got a hold of him before he was able to leave this place, a fact they might discover in due time. Their conversation was brought to a halt as a couple of rifts opened around where the main Entry Stone pedestal was located and more Hel-Walkers rushed out to fight them, causing the family to lash out in return like they had done previously, Kratos and Pandora slashing at their foes while Flurry and Atreus loosed arrows at them. This made Kratos grateful that they had fought through Muspelheim to get to Gondul, because their ability to fight as a family, as a united front, was stronger than ever before, meaning these foes stood no chance as they tore through them as the rifts closed as quickly as they had formed.

Following them finishing off the rest of the Hel-Walkers the family continued down the path on the right and found that an iron gate rested to their left, no doubt locked until they reached the end of this area, hence why Kratos turned to the right and found an area with an ogre standing at the ready. In addition to that there were a few ranged Hel-Walkers, to which he left the ranged foes to Flurry and Atreus as Pandora joined him in taking down the ogre, which they were able to do in no time at all, it was definitely weaker than the ones in the two realms they had just fought through. After that Flurry pointed out the path forward and the others headed down it, where the family had to climb up a short wall and jump over a pair of gaps to reach the passage that finally brought them to the area that the dragon was chained up in. Sure enough the dragon didn't seem to care that they were there, it just preferred to blast the area with it's lightning breath, where Flurry stepped up with the Dragon Cleaver and spun it around, cancelling out the attack and letting the axe head rest on the ground once she completed her task.

Kratos knew what Flurry was doing, she was showing the dragon that it's attacks were nothing and that, by not attacking it directly, it might understand that they were only here to help, where the beast huffed for a moment before laying on the rock that must have been it's bed for a very long time.

With the dragon realizing that they might be able to free it, so it could leave this place and never look back, the family took a moment to lower their heads a little before focusing on the area that no doubt held the three runes that would open the way to the mask that was powering it's chains. This time around the family discovered that the enemies happened to be a number of tatzelwurms and a number of seidr Hel-Walkers, though this time around Flurry found that the tatzelwurms were a lot more aggressive than some of the others they had fought, which was a nice change of pace, though it didn't do much in the grand scheme of things since she and her family tore them down as well. Once the enemies were taken care of the family found that there was a locked door that required using three rune bells that were around the door, which was a surprise since they were expecting the runes to be scattered around the area, not next to the door they happened to be connected to. With the various sap crystals that were around the area it was simple for the family to strike all three of the bells in rapid succession, though before doing so Flurry found that two of the runic anchors were nearby, one at the edge of the area they were in and one that was in a side cave, causing them to break them with ease.

After doing that Kratos quickly struck all three of the runic bells and unlocked the door, revealing a path to where a couple of tatzelwurms were waiting in, causing the family to attack as soon as the creatures turned on them, cutting them down before carefully exploring the rest of the area for the other Entry Stone.

Kratos spotted a bridge that could be lowered by him striking the lock with the Leviathan Axe, though as they used it to reach a higher position, just slightly above the one they had been in a few moments ago, Flurry found and crushed one on Odin's ravens, another one to add to the pile since she had dealt with each one they located so far. After that Atreus found another stone tablet to decipher and did so while his family kept an eye one the area, where they discovered that it spoke of the dragon that was in this place, Reginn, who apparently 'loved' his job and 'took pride in guarding this place', which told them that Motsognir just chained him up and left the dragon to guard his stronghold. In addition to that it also made a mention of another dragon, Otr of Veithurgard, who was in the same situation, something they might have to check out once they were done with their own quests, and once Atreus was done writing everything down the family kept moving down the main path. After jumping across another gap they walked outside and found an area that looked like the area that Flurry had slain the Soul Eater in, though this time a few tatzelwurms and a dark elf, stronger than the versions they fought in their respective realms but weaker than the ones in Muspelheim.

Of course the dark elf tried to grab Atreus, a favorite of theirs, where the boy turned and stabbed him in the neck, only to dodge out of the way as his father removed the elf's head, allowing them to regroup once the tatzelwurms were dead as well, allowing them to smash the final runic anchor at long last.

"Good, now we can free Reginn." Atreus said, because it felt nice to help out the dragon so he could return to his life and not be chained up in this area, though at the same time his father found and claimed the final Entry Stone, which was a good thing for them as well.

Kratos nodded his head as they used a role line to return to the area that was below them and then walked back up to the area that the lock was in, allowing Atreus to stab and destroy the mask that happened to be powering the seal, which was when the collar came undone and Reginn roared before taking off like Fafnir had done previously. Flurry found that there was a reward for such a thing, a dragon scale that doubled as a powerful enchantment, which was why she added it to the rest of the collection as her family started to retrace their steps back to the stronghold's main entrance. Once they made it back to where the Entry Stone pedestal was located in she produced the three Entry Stones and they inserted each one into one of the slots, causing three runes to light up on the pedestal before they found that the door started to raise, but Atreus found that his family remained at the ready. When the door was fully open, and there was nothing coming out of the structure to fight them, they relaxed a tiny bit before heading inside, weapons at the ready since they had no idea if there were any enemies waiting for them or not.

The inside of the stronghold was definitely ruined, which made sense due to the fact that no one has been here for a long time, where Atreus found a triptych that told the tale of Starkadr, a Giant with eight arms until Thor cut him down, just like all of the other Giants they had learned about so far. In addition to that there was a stone chest that had a gem that was shaped like a four pointed star, an enchantment based on what Flurry could see, which Kratos passed to her as she made sure to loot everything that was inside the chest while the others continued to explore. While they did that Atreus told his family that he could hear the voices of people crying and screaming, spirits that had been left thanks to Motsognir's foul madness, and when Kratos opened one of the only doors that could be opened he found a Traveler waiting on the other side. He wasn't even fazed by that discovery as he slashed through the armor and used the warrior's weapon to cut him down in the span of a few seconds, while at the same time Flurry and Pandora slashed through the Hel-Walkers that were in the area as well, clearing out the entire chamber with ease.

With the loot in hand the family discovered that this was actually a throne room and, as Kratos expected, the wall that was right behind it happened to be a secret passage when he opened it, revealing that Motsognir had tried to flee from his own fort and had been cut down, thanks to all of the blood.

"Motsognir..." Atreus commented, as he honestly wasn't expecting to discover the body of the Mad Dwarf King while they were exploring his stronghold, though at the same time Flurry reached down and retrieved three items, one looking like a blood red rune that had a central line with two pointed spirals around it, another looking like a haunting scream, and the third was a dragon's tooth surrounded by a terrifying flame, "What are those?"

"...Ultimate Sacrifice, Screams of the Innocent, and Dragon's Fury... the missing ingredients." Flurry stated, holding up the scroll she had found that addressed all three of them by name, so she was able to connect the dots with ease, which told them that Motsognir had succeeded in finding all of his missing components and paid for it with his life, before she placed all three of them in a bag that the dwarf had on his body, "Come, let us return these to Brok and Sindri."

As they started to leave the area, using the secret passage, Mimir told the family about the time that the dwarves made an unbreakable chain out of a cat's footstep and bird's spit, confusing Atreus as his father looted a golden chest, though both Flurry and Pandora knew that there was more to dwarven magic than what they knew. The path brought them to the area that was above the main entrance, where a runic chest was located, and this one happened to rely on the wind trap that was resting nearby, not that it really mattered since the family was able to hit the runic bells and unlock the chest. After looting the chest they continued along the rest of the passage, which really sucked as a secret passage when Atreus made a comment on it, bringing them to an area that was right above the Door they had spotted earlier. With that in mind Flurry made sure Sindri knew that all three ingredients had been retrieved before she and her family returned to the temple, by using the Realm Between Realms once more, this time with a smile on Atreus' face while they did so.

When the family returned to the temple Flurry handed over the materials they had recovered, where Brok and Sindri went to work immediately, using both the hammer and the whetstone in combination with the materials and other items they had acquired for this very purpose, weaving together an elegant royal blue chest piece, sized to fit Kratos, that had golden inlay all over it, armor that radiated power.

"And there you go: the Dvegraedikr." Brok stated, with a proud look on his face, where Kratos stepped forward and let the dwarves put it on him, because this was something they really wanted to make and he was willing to humor them, plus he was sure it would be useful in the battle against the remaining three Valkyries, if they could find Sigrun.

"Your work continues to be the best I could ask for." Kratos said, where they could tell that he was pleased with the armor, as if it was a second set of skin since he moved like it wasn't even there in the first place, and he was already thinking of how it would fare against their remaining enemies, "Come, let us resume our quest and track down the remaining three Valkyries."

Flurry, Pandora, and Atreus nodded, as they knew their father would want to resume that quest now that they completed the armor that the dwarves wanted to craft for them, something that only made Flurry more interested in tracking down their remaining targets and seeing what sort of skills they had to offer them, causing her to look forward to what the near future held in store for them.