fandomhigh | Norse Life, Tuesday, Period 2

Norse Life, Tuesday, Period 2

Today, the class would find themselves upon an ominous-feeling strip of beach, alongside some rocky cliffs. That ominous feeling might be explained when an enormous sea monster reared its head out of the water.

"Behold!" Thor said, sounding downright happy about it, "the Midgard Serpent, the monster which encircles the world! It rises once more!" Wait, how big was this thing? "How shall we defeat it?" A beat. Oh, right. Logistics. "For those of you who have not brought your own arms and armor, they have been provided." He gestured with Mjolnir to a pile of stuff a little further up the beach. "Please prepare yourselves and join the rest of us in a timely manner. Now. To arms!"

And now they would beat up a giant sea serpent for the rest of class.

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There's a giant snake.

Stewart

Liliana Vess

Henry of Skalitz

Steve Rogers

Charlie Gale

Illyana Rasputin

Steph Gingrich

Belle

There's a giant snake. Teamwork may be appropriate.

Liliana gave both the arms and the armor a dismissive look. Those were for people who actually had to, you know. Close with the giant snake to be effective.

You know. People who weren't her.

"I don't suppose you also programmed in anything else that could be found in the sea, did you, Thor darling?"

"There is your usual assortment of marine life," Thor assured her. He had allowed for a Namor type when programming the scenario, you see...as well as for necromancy, since he was aware of its presence in advance. There might be a conveniently deceased giant squid somewhere about, although whether or not Lady Vess's range or whatnot extended to it was unknown to Thor.

He wanted everyone to have fun, okay?

"Oh, darling, how delightful, thank you," Liliana said, dimpling at Thor.

She sent her necromantic senses winging out, searching for the dead. In a real ocean, she would have the full bounty of the sea available to her: shipwrecked crews, ancient leviathans, even bones to fuse into ungainly creations of teeth and razor fins to attack. Back home there would be krakens and crabs the size of buildings and the might of the merfolk army at her disposal. She didn't know if Thor had included any of that, but it was okay. She was powerful and creative - and that meant flexible.

Her eyes flew to his when she found the giant squid. "And it isn't even my birthday!" she said with a brilliant smile.

And promptly set it to killing as much of the larger, predatory sea life as it could. A single zombie giant squid was a very useful tool. But for the Midgard serpent ~~it's got the whole world in its coils~~, Liliana needed an army.

"Please, enjoy yourself," Thor encouraged her. "That is what we are here for, is it not?"

Theoretically they were here to learn about the Norse, but in Thor's book this totally counted.

Hands on learning totally counted!

"I'm already having a delightful time," she assured him as a bloody battle reigned underwater. "Is this creature hexproof?"

Thor totally couldn't remember what he'd programmed in that regard, so he covered for it by telling her, "There is only one way to find out, my lady."

"True enough I suppose," Liliana agreed.

Normally, her kill spells would work on even a creature this big - unless it was hexproof or, worse, indestructible, ugh - but even if they worked that way here, it wouldn't be nearly as fun to kill it immediately. So she shuffled those spells ~~to the bottom of her library~~ out of her mind and considered what other options she had.

"Let's just link their lives together, shall we?" she said with a grin.

"And what will that accomplish?" Look, Thor hit stuff real good. He didn't speak witch.

"Every time my little darlings harm this serpent, they heal," Liliana explained. "Either me, or themselves, but I doubt I'll be taking any damage today. So it will just help them fight a little longer on my behalf before they die."

Beat.

"Again."

"Indeed, that does sound useful," Thor mused.

And hey, if Liliana tried it she would find that Thor had in fact programmed that capability into the simulation! Good thing he'd been ~~subconsciously allowing for Loki~~ thinking ahead.

"... Will hitting it even hurt a creature this big?!"

Once again, Henry was coming back around to 'he was dead, and this was Hell'.

Which did not, it had to be said, prevent him from putting on armor and ineffectively waving a sword around.

"There is only one way to find out, young Henry!" Thor said encouragingly.

He probably should have explained that this was all a simulation and the serpent couldn't hurt anyone, but it had rather slipped his mind.

Yeah, Henry's eyes were wide. "I think it'll likely kill me, sir!"

"That's what the safety protocols are for!"

You might want to let him know that--

"Ah, yes! Indeed! This is a mere simulation," Thor explained to Henry, for a certain value of 'explained.' "A simulacrum of hard light. It cannot harm you. The true Midgard Serpent slumbers."

Steve had that look in his eyes. That "I bet I could punch it" look in his eyes.

Thor believed in you, Steve. He believed in you and your giant-snake-punching abilities.

"Captain, how would you like to proceed?" Had he brought the shield? He should probably start bringing the shield to this class.

"Can I run home and get the shield?" he asked.

"If you are very quick about it," Thor said. It was a small island and he knew how fast Steve could run, so he wasn't worried about that, but, "Otherwise, I fear Lady Vess may have all the fun without you."

Steve grinned. "Can't have that. I'll be right back."

Probably five minutes. There were stairs.

Thor was timing you on his phone, Steve, FYI.

Steve raced back in in 4:47, smiling and holding his shield. "Here!"

"The field is yours," Thor said, gesturing toward the Midgard serpent's giant, eminently punchable face.

"Thanks, pal," Steve said, taking a running start before throwing his shield at the end of his run and following up by kicking the shield straight into the face of the snake.

"Thought I'd change it up a bit," he said when he landed.

The snake reared back with a most aggrieved hiss after the shield hit it smack in the face before rebounding back toward its master. "A mighty hit!" Thor cheered Steve on.

He could get involved, of course, but he didn't want to interfere in his students' fun.

Illyana started cackling maniacally, horns suddenly peeking through her hair.

"ANYONE NEED A LIFT?" she yelled, portals beginning to appear on the beach and in the air around the creature. "If you fall, I do not promise to catch you!"

You could be more bones for Liliana! That was teamwork, right?

...fine, she would probably catch anyone silly enough to take her up on her offer and jump on to the giant serpent if they fell off. They'd just need to scream very loudly first.

Edited 2025-05-20 21:51 (UTC)

"Interesting," Thor said of the portals. He could fly, so he was good, but they were interesting.

Edited 2025-05-20 22:56 (UTC)

"Um," Steph said, blinking up at the snake. "Help, I'm not used to being on this side of the combat. I don't think I like it."

Welcome to player life, forever GM.

"What sort of combat are you accustomed to, then?" Thor asked, befuddled. This was the best kind of combat, Steph! "Get thee some armor," he advised her, "and a weapon. I provided a selection, so there should be something to suit your tastes."

"Usually the super imaginary kind," Steph managed, risking a quick glance over at the pile of weapons and armor to see if she could easily spot anything better suited to a dexterity-based fighter. Preferably at range. "Whacking people with a glorified pool noodle at the most extreme."

Don't mind Vi, very unsubtly keeping herself between Steph and the giant snake, for all the good it did.

It wasn't like Steph was very subtle about trying to stay behind Vi, either.

She'd be nerding out a lot more about the Midgard Serpent if it weren't so unnervingly, you know. Right there.

Vi was very much not a fan of it being right there.

Technically you just beat up his nephew for an hour straight, but he seems to be in a great mood about it. Look, his family is complicated.

Aw yeah.

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Norse Life, Tuesday, Period 2

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Talk to Thor

OOC