When they got back to the hall, a new arrival had been waiting in the hall for some time. The blacksmith Sven had arranged for Erik to craft his Halberd, javelins and some other small tools Erik decided could be useful during the Winter Hunt had come deliver the order.

The Halberd was a menacing looking weapon and Erik instantly fell in love with it. With a length approaching 240cm, 94,5 inches, and a weight of close to 10kg from the massive axe-head and dense ironwood shaft it can easily shred through thick metal plates or penetrate through tough monster hides.

The axe-head was a wide crescent shape with the points of the crescent facing outwards at a slight angle to maximize cutting and penetrative power. Motifs of skulls and eight-pointed stars were engraved on the thick steel ‘face’ of the axe-blade, marking it in honour of the Ruinous Powers.

The spear blade on top of the axe was built similarly to a short sword. It had a sharp tip, ready to plunge into the flesh of an enemy, be it infantry or cavalry, man, beast or monster. The spear’s blade was also honed to a razor edge so that even if the user swung too early to hit with the axe-head, the spear would still deal them a lethal cut. Here too, the skull and star motifs were prominent.

The butt end of the shaft also held a lethal weapon, namely an eight sided mace topped with a small spike. This allowed the weapon to be swung around with abandon and always have a lethal tool swinging at the enemy.

The javelins were a far less awe inspiring affair when compared to the mastercrafted Halberd. Shafts made from regular birch commonly found on the frozen tundra’s they were simply tipped with sharp iron or steel heads. Some had 1 or 2 hooks to act as barbs so the thrown weapon would stick in a wound while others had narrow, elongated tips designed to effortlessly pass through thick fur and hides to embed itself into the organs underneath.

As for the other things, they were neatly packaged in their bags and after a swift once over, Erik was very satisfied with the delivered work. And having just received enormous wealth, Erik wasn’t stingy with his reward for the blacksmith, paying him double the agreed upon amount.

Looking over his shoulder into the bag, Sven couldn’t help but ask a question.

“Are these the things you designed three weeks ago? Will they actually be useful for the Winter Hunt?”

“Yes they are and I honestly do not know how useful they will be, but I think it is better to at least try.”

Internally Erik went over the other things he would need to prepare for the Winter Hunt. Erik, Sven and 500 other young Marauders would head deep into the Norscan heartland right after a big blizzard. The idea was that there would be no blizzard for at least 2 or 3 weeks then, allowing the Hunters to reach their destination, built a rudimentary camp and start collecting food and trophies.

Erik would need to bring his weaponry, spare clothes, tools and enough food for the journey. Armour, horses, hounds, a large amount of food or building materials and other things that would make the Winter Hunt easier were banned.

It was a Trial, not a picnic. And to the Norscans that meant a very real threat of death or injury. Erik and the other young Marauders would need to survive through three blizzards and collect a ‘sufficient’ amount of trophies during that period.

What exactly would be deemed ‘sufficient’ was not made clear and the timeframe of ‘three blizzards’ was also very variable and depended on the whims of the weather or whatever Dark Deity had taken interest. It could happen that two blizzards closely followed each other, making hunting near impossible. This was probably part of the reason why there was no set value for sufficient trophies.

As for when Erik’s group would set out? Skaeling tradition dictates they start after the very first blizzard of the storm-tide. Which should actually occur relatively soon, since the storm-tide should start soon.

The Norscan winter could be roughly split into three parts. The relatively calm Kind-Winter, when the winds turn cold and the snowfall starts to increase as the fjords slowly freeze over in a period of roughly six to eight weeks.

This is then followed by the Storm-tide, called as such due to the incredible blizzards that continuously plague the land. Hail the size of children’s heads, tornado’s uprooting unprotected settlements and thunderstorms that, when directly overhead, could blow out one’s eardrums and make you go deaf. These storms would pass over the land at regular intervals, mostly two or three weeks apart and each storm would blow for a full week before abating. No man or beast went outside the protection of their homes, caves or dens unless absolutely necessary.

Finally, after the three months of the Storm-tide were up, it was the turn for the third winter period known as the time of Deadly Snow. Often during this period ill-prepared Norscan tribes would run out of food supplies as the snow buried entire settlements for at least a full month.

This was the harshest period where the most people perished. Sometimes, when a tribe was buried for an especially long time, the tribesmen would resort to cannibalism out of hunger and madness. Or, if even that did not sustain them, all that would be found were their dried up corpses when the snow melted to herald the spring and the first raiding season.

And now the Kind-Winter period was about to end, so all the participants of the Winter Hunt were preparing the things they needed to take with them.

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That night, after Sven and Sigrun went back home, Erik sat in his new, grand chair in his new, great hall. Skadi sat at his right side, having dropped off Yrret’s children and an appropriate wergild at their relatives.

Apparently, the son recognised as hers was actually born from a thrall.

“I am all for enjoying the pleasures of the flesh, but bearing the child of a man with such limited potential is so far beneath me as to border on insult.

Now you on the other hand, Darling, I would love to have your offspring. A Champion marked by all four Chaos Gods and blessed with such a powerful and outlandish tool at your disposal, I shiver at the thought of receiving your seed and conceiving…

Surely the child born between such an Exalted and blessed individual like yourself and a High Daemoness like me would inspire awe and envy across the world!”

As she spoke, Erik once more checked the newly added CSFP as he offhandedly continued their conversation.

“But as you are aware, the chance of that occurring in your current state would be negligible. And before that, I would need to sleep with you. Which is something I have not made up my mind about yet.”

“So mean. What’s holding you back? We both know I cannot do anything to negatively impact you and it can’t be that you are having those pesky ‘noble’ resolutions of saving yourself for marriage? I can smell you coming from that… kitten.”

Yes, the ‘survivor’ thrall was currently leaning on Erik’s lap, happily snuggling into his crotch and softly sniffing his scent while Erik stroked her head. As Erik had somewhat surmised, the mental shock had broken something in her head after all and after she woke up from her intimacy induced exhaustion, her mentality had severely regressed. To the point where calling her a cute pet wasn’t too far off.

Erik had actually gotten quite fond of her and hoped she could overcome some of the mental damage while retaining her current extra cute points.

“No particular reason from my part, but Sigrun showed she was uncomfortable with the thought of me sharing the bed with a Slaaneshi High Daemoness. And I can understand why that worries her.”

“What, you’re scared you’ll fall in love with me as I give you pleasure beyond your wildest dreams? Ahahaha, that’s cute, Darling.

I don’t have the power to do so as I am now and that would actually count as negatively impacting you, wouldn’t it?

And on top of that, as I am now, it would probably be me that gets captivated by you! The pheromones you exude as a gift from the Dark Prince can very well instantly break the spirit or will of weaker women as soon as you enter them.

They would become addicted to you like a drunkard to wine, a glutton to delicacy or a gambler to gambling. Even if you neglect them, their addiction will not recede and while only the truly weak would go mad from lust, all of them will feel discomfort the longer they are without your essence.”

She was blatantly seducing him by now, crawling her hands over his chest and pressing her large chest against Erik’s arm.

He was well aware she could do nothing to harm him and that she was purely acting like this due to her nature as a Daemon of Slaanesh and due to himself as a Champion of Slaanesh.

However, Erik held fast and did not give in to temptation. Internally he wanted nothing more than to grab both women hanging onto him right now, throw them on the bed and ravish them to his heart’s content.

But he did not. The reason was quite simple really. It was a reason that would make Skadi laugh at him if she heard and even he himself was also a little cynical.

Right before she left, Erik had spent a short time in privacy with Sigrun. A few hot kisses and whispered words of love and affection later, she had suddenly pushed him away.

Sigrun then told him some of the things she had talked about with her mother and how she truly desired to be with him. But as her mother taught her, she wanted some measure of control over her future husband. (And she felt slightly threatened too.)So she proposed that Erik could not lay his hands on the Daemonically beautiful and enticing Skadi until after she and Erik had slept together on his new bed.

She even stipulated that she would be the first one period to sleep with him on that bed which caused Erik quite some agony. Especially since Yrret had had no lack of beautiful bedwarmers…

‘I need to get together with Sigrun ASAP! Not just because I want to, but because if I don’t I really will go mad from the amassed libido!’

Luckily Sigrun had hinted that tomorrow she would be ‘indisposed’ in the evening and that with her mother covering up for her, she could stay with Erik well past their usual time.

Meanwhile outside, above the partly frozen Sea of Claws, clouds were gathering in a great vortex filled with cold, ice and thunderous fury as it grew at an incredible rate and made its way towards the Norscan peninsula at great speed.

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CSFP

Contracts:

Skadi (Qhonnith), High Daemoness of Slaanesh.

Provides a large buff to DEX, improves rate of gained Slaaneshi Favour, improves rate of improvement for Slaaneshi skills.

Requires 1 soul per day – Current satiation: 50à 100/100

Loyalty & Status: MAX loyalty; fully fed, healthy, enamoured and intrigued.

Summons: (none)

Familiars: (none)

Pets: (none)

Food & upkeep:

Souls: 152 à 102 (-50)