It had taken a good amount of time to reach the cold harsh lands of Iceberg, though Brone Heavyaxe wasn't bothered by the rough cold winds, for they remind him of his childhood growing up on the mountain tops. Coming this far wouldn't be considered for a quest under normal circumstances, but this quest was asked as a favor in the most odd way the dwarf had received; two ravens had visited him and spoke the common language, letting him know that a woman by the name of Egra sought him out for his strength and endurance. A barbarian who's named Temir, had ravaged her home and stolen a prized jewel from her before leaving. She had used her magic to search of a strong, noble warrior who could handle the terrain of the region and retrieve the jewel back while turning Temir into the Ise village who desires to imprison him for the wrongs he has done to them.

After a moment of consideration, the dwarf accepted the quest and had started his long journey soon after. Now he trek through the cold terrain towards the mountains of Oddr which took him another few days. To seek an enemy who hid in mountainous areas would be so tasking and time consuming, but the ravens that guided the dwarf were very good at locating and tracking people, so they guided the dwarf through the mountain pass to reach his target.

With the journey being long, Brone would ask questions to the ravens in order to diminish the boredom; luckily they answered, though they seem to struggle with speech, so conversations were kept simple. The ravens were named 'Huginn and Muninn', and they were long companions of a being by the name of Odin, who Brone didn't recognize, but understood must have been a powerful person. The ravens ended up becoming Egra's companions after more than a century. The dwarf understood and wasn't surprised about the birds being immortal, given how well they could speak for birds and how well they can trek a person from outside a country.

As the days wore on, the dwarf and the ravens would start to create a friendly bond, enjoying one another's company. It wasn't until the night before arrival, Brone would ready himself for combat. The dwarf was sitting at a campfire within a small cavern at the side of a cliff when Muninn had flown in through the mouth of the cavern. The raven stated that Temir was a day away and is with a small tribe of barbarians, little more than a dozen, who travel with him and help him with his pillaging. Brone made sure to check his rations and equipment, he had a strong feeling this wouldn't be so simple to handle; bandits within city areas were barely combat savvy, but a barbarian who lived in the harsh terrain of the mountains were usually seen as combat experts and trained hard enough for their bodies to handle the terrain and the trial of combat.

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As the next day came, albeit the sun was behind a ceiling of clouds while it snowed over the mountainside, Brone trek through the heavy snow, keeping his sights ahead, determined to reach his target with his fighting intent flaring, keeping him warm within his armor.

The snowfall was beautiful; white and grey was the area's color, as far as the eye could see, all with silence save for the howling wind that embraced the mountaintops. This was a nostalgic moment for Brone, every so often he would think about his early days when his uncle was with him, teaching him the ways of mountain-travel. He could hear his uncle's voice, reminding him to "What yer footing, lad, save ye from falling to ye death." Brone was walking along a slope, close to a cliff's edge, though he wasn't fearful, he was too use to such terrains.

For a moment, Brone halted to view the landscape. The two ravens landed upon him, one on each shoulder, "Why did you stop?" Huginn asked.

"A memory came up, one of my family and I standing on a cliff's edge just like this one, where we just watched the landscape" Brone replied as he kept his eyes upon the landscape, mesmerized.

"An interesting memory" Muninn said as he cocked his head to the side and peered into the dwarf's brone eyes to see the twinkle that was there.

After a moment's rest, Brone continued forward. Eventually as the sky was getting darker, the only way for the dwarf to determine the time of day, he had reached a cliff's edge before Huginn and Muninn flew onto his shoulders again, "Temir is down there" said Huginn. The dwarf looked from the cliff and at the base of the cliff just beneath him were a band of men who were sitting around a campfire. The camp was positioned close to the cliff's side to avoid the sheer cold winds.

"What now?" Muninn asked.

"I'll wait until they either head to bed or some leave to hunt" Brone stepped back as to avoid being accidently spotted by the barbarians.

"They said they'll be going to hunt soon" Huginn said. Brone looked to the raven, surprised. He realized then that these two birds were very resourceful. The dwarf then sat upon the floor, snow cushioning him like a seat. Then he waited.

A hour later, the ravens flew onto Brone's shoulders, "They've left to hunt" They said in unison. And the dwarf then made his move. He had already thought of how he would make his entry, so he stood on the ledge of the cliff and looked down upon his enemies. He drew his golden axe and his golden shield. He then took a single breath before jumping down. Though he was confident in his strategy, Brone was fearful of moving through the air without feeling solid ground, but he shook the fear away, long enough for him to swing his golden axe so roughly that he started to spin in midair, then activated the spell within the axe, a tornado formed around Brone and it fell as well.

Just as one of the barbarians looked up, it was too late, then the base of the tornado slammed onto the campfire and the entire cyclone enveloped the entire group. As the tornado died out, Brone stood ready for battle as the barbarians began to get back onto their feet.

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"Temir!" Brone yelled with a great roar. He looked about as the barbarians were getting to their feet, angrily readying the weapons they already had in their hands. None of them answered the dwarf, so Brone wasn't sure who his target was; he figured he should have asked one of the ravens before hand. He shrugged it off, realizing it was too late to be upset about it now, so he activated his next spell by slamming his the golden axe down upon the snow covered ground before him, causing hail and snow to kick up and swirl around the encampment like a miniature storm.

Though the small blizzard was harmful to even the breath, the barbarians rushed in, baring against the harshness as they usually do in the mountainous region. Fury was visible in their eyes as they swung their axes and swords at the dwarf. Brone deflected one of the axes with his golden shield, the swung his golden axe to deflect another's sword, however a blade managed to slam against the dwarf's golden armor, and because of biteback, the barbarian's sword cracked from the magical recoil. The dwarf moved his shield to deflect two more attacks and roll out of the way of the sixth attack.

The blizzard raged on and as time ticks, ice and frost begin to cover parts of their body, Brone and the barbarians stare at one another for a moment before they rush forward again. The dwarf continued to deflect blows and swung his axe, cutting down two barbarians, then eventually two more barbarians are taken by the cold, either falling frozen, or frozen in place standing up.

"Which one of ye is Temir!?" Brone howled over the sound of the whipping wind. The two remaining barbarians attacked without replying and to the dwarf's reaction, he deflected the blows once again and struck them down. Eventually, the blizzard dies away and all that remained was Brone, while the barbarians were either dead or unconscious.

The encampment went silence as Brone sat on a crate of provisions while catching his breath. There was a few bruises and cuts on his arms, though the golden armor glowed, causing his bruises and cuts to heal.

"Good work" Huginn flew down and landed upon the head of one of the barbarians.

"Yes yes" Muninn landed upon another crate.

"Any of them Temir?" Brone asked.

"No" Muninn replied.

"Temir went with the hunting party" Huginn said as he hopped around the corpse. Brone sighed heavily as he reached into the crate he sat on and pulled out a handful of cold jerky. The taste was awful, but it was enough to keep him going for now; he had gone for a few days without any food for he had ran out some time ago.

"Break time" the ravens said in unison. For the time while they waited for the rest of the barbarians to return, Brone and the ravens began to eat and rest.

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Time passed and the cold was starting to take effect on the dwarf, so he started the campfire again to warm up. After two hours, Brone figured he'd clear the camp; so he tied up the barbarians who were still alive and set them to the side, within what seem like an alcove and as for those who had died, the dwarf had pushed them off the side of a ledge that plummeted down a slope to a lower part of the mountain. The dwarf had felt bad about his action, but he didn't have time to bury the corpses or hide them, so this was the only way to enact his next plan.

As Brone had stayed by the fire, one of the ravens would fly off to keep track of the hunting party while the other raven stayed by the fire to keep warm. Every so often, the ravens would exchange shifts. Time ticked on and the hours passed, this was giving the dwarf a chance to think about his next actions and to practice his patience. When he was a child, he had lacked patience and needed to act as soon as he could, but his father had taught him to be like the mountain and learn patience. He missed his kin, his clan, and figured he would visit them again sometime in the future.

"What's that?" Muninn asked as he was perched on Brone's shoulder, pointing his beak at the black cloth with red clouds that was tied around his left arm.

"Spoils of war... or a battle"Though Brone was drinking the barbarian's ale from a mug, he wasn't enjoying himself. The ravens had told him of the horrors Temir had committed with his band, which upsetted the dwarf more and more until he demanded them to stop, then they just sat in silence.

"Who was the opponent?"

"Jikan... something of Sleeping Calamity" He then took a drink and then fell to silence. He looked to Muninn, expecting him to ask something else, but the raven simply stared at him. Brone couldn't help but speak about the battle, so he spoke about the battle of Paradise Dawn against their attackers Sleeping Calamity. For a moment he felt energetic by explaining the escalation of the battle, but after it was done, he fell silent. Muninn asked why did the Dark Guild attack in the first place, but Brone admitted he wasn't sure, just that there was a rumor that Paradise Dawn had attacked them first and kidnapped one of their members.

"I'm never fully aware of certain things and it worries me if I would ever battle someone who didn't deserve for me to hurt them" Brone looked down at his golden axe that was leaning against a stump, some blood had dried on it's blade.

"We could help you with that" Muninn finally spoke. Brone looked to the bird with a questioning look, "Huginn and I are good at spying and collecting information, we can make sure whoever you fight is truly deserving of the axe." This made Brone finally smile.

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Huginn had returned, "They will be here soon."

"Good" is all Brone said as he stood up. He grabbed his axe and swung it threw the air, hearing the blade singing in the wind. The air was cold but inviting, he felt powerful within the cold, though he wasn't fighting in his own territory, for the barbarians survive in these rough terrains as well. But it didn't matter, he needed to make sure he brought Temir to justice and put an end to their terrorizing. The dwarf slipped the blue helmet upon his head; the air seem to have change, as though it had gotten noticeably colder. Now it was time to commence the plan.

* * *

Temir and his group had returned to the camp with game; they had tracked and killed a moose, which was a great battle. They managed to drag the large beast to the camp while they celebrated on the way, cheers and laughing filled the late evening air. When they arrived, they noticed there was only one light source: the campfire, even though normally the camp should be lit by several torches when night falls.

"Where are the torches?" One of the barbarians said.

"Where are the others?" Another said. The group walked about the camp, searching and wondering where the others were. Temir seemed the most suspicious. He had stopped at looked at a pair of ravens that were perched on the side of the mountain. They suddenly cawed at the exact same time, signaling for Brone, who burst through the snow on the ground, surprising the barbarian that was standing just beside him. Too surprised to react, the barbarian had the blade of an axe slammed into his face; then Brone flung his green blade towards another foe which landed it's mark upon his chest.

"Enemy!" One of the barbarians shouted.

"Kill him!" Temir yelled. All the barbarians drew their weapons and rushed the dwarf. Brone jerked his hand, causing his golden ring to glow and summoned his black bladed axe to his hand. He then slammed that axe onto the snow which then hit the ground beneath. The area caused a tremor, a loud crack was then heard and half the encampment fell and plummeted off the mountain's side, sending the rest of the barbarians falling to their death, except for Temir, who had jumped to safety.

Now Temir and Brone faced one another, both wielding a pair of axes, "Who are you?" Temir growled.

"I am the embodiment of the mountain" Brone growled back. They both rushed at one another. Tremor was quick with his weapons and managed to slam both his axes into the body of the dwarf, though the golden armor had conjured a layer of ice over it, lessening the damage, though the barbarians strength was so great, the armor was still cracked. Brone had actually allowed both axe attacks to hit true so that he could have his axes land their hits, which severed Temir's head, ending the fight.

The camp fell silent. The ravens landed upon Brone's shoulders as the dwarf began to pack up a bag of food and drink for the drink to go back home. The dwarf said his goodbyes to the ravens as they flew off to report to Egra. When the dwarf had nearly exited Iceberg, the ravens had returned with a pouch that was stated to be the reward for the trouble. To the dwarf's surprise, the ravens said Egra will also be passing both ravens onto Brone.

This was the start of their kinship.

[Exit]

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