Rated M for Mature; Will Encompass All that a Mature Rating Entails!
Cold Steel
Death doesn't always come from the chilled wind or the razor claws of a beast, sometimes it comes from the padded footfalls or a deceptive word.
A cold wind howled through the dimply lit streets of Skye. Drunken brawls co-mingled with the songs of wild revelry. A true example of a northern town where if the weather doesn't kill you someone with a blade and a grudge will. It was a town of hardship, a town of death, a town...belonging to the Àrd Rìgh Aldino Vigamoar High King of Albain or the Northen Territories as it's known in the South and one of the few powers able to rival that of the Emperor himself.
But as is the nature of the barbarous men and women of Albain they waste time and energy with infighting and petty power struggles. The Àrd Rìgh has spent the better part of his long warrior's life quelling and uniting these warring factions. Ten years ago he became the first Chief to be voted High King since the days of Mathan Iarainn, the war chief that first landed on the desolate tundra and ice floats that would become the Northern Territories. Now a mere four factions stand in the way of his master plan. Four Chiefs clinging to ancestral lands and old feuds,Grimvald the Nomad Hunter King of both land and sea, horribly scarred and known for his pack of Dire Wolves, Helmund Goldmane pompous and owner of the grandest meadery outside of Skye, Rigmar the Tall savage raider from the Black Mountains, and Lady Gudrun the Tundra Rose and sole inheritor of the most fertile farm lands anywhere in the North from her late husband Chalmers who was killed in a failed attack from Rigmar and his Black Tartans.
While he planned to deal with them himself an Envoy from Emperor Friedrich I came like an answer from the Gods. The offer of an alliance with the Emperor and his Legion, with such a partner he could simply look in the direction of his rivals and kowtow them, but you don't live to the age of fifty-seven in this harsh world by being a mooncalf. The Emperor was to send an Arcane Knight to meet with him, but the Àrd Rìgh will first use this man as an insurance plan and try to win the Four Chiefs to his side without showing his hand as ally to the greatest army of the South, he would set tasks to this knight first was find a man who could've been a Chief himself had he not the brand of Kin Slayer across his back. Iolaire-Sealgair, a name once renowned and feared in the same breath, his spat with the bloated goat Rindar was quite the talk around the Mead Halls and Long Houses of the North nearly a decade ago. Rumblings of the giant hunters had reached Aldino's ears and he'd been keeping tabs on the Ranger. He dealt with not only with Skye Hold, but the other factions too, Iolaire could help this envoy get in close and on the goods sides of the Chiefs.
So with his plan in motion the High King met with this Sir Gunther and his Elvin play thing Lady Vindyamiriel at his castle Silver cloud on the outskirts of Skye and after some pleasantries sent them into Skye proper, Iolare and his own plaything a Shenkai Damned Bladeswoman were last seen in the market district selling Mammoth hide, meat, and ivory, but seeing as it was well into the night and the market was closed he told them to seek out a man named Kenwood he was the Guildmaster of the Hunter's Guild which Iolaire was a member of. If anyone would know where the Albanaigh and his beautiful wife would be Ken would.
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