1 Act I

Waves batter the sides of the ship as we near shore. Lands of men who call themselves civilized are near. We are Nords, half man half-giant. Now that the winters push us back to the clans of the west we sail south for riches and land. The Giants have been bullying our people for generations but once I build up my men I will help kill them all. Three hundred seventy-six men follow me to these new lands. I am the first Nord to cross these waters, they label us Vikings but when we return home we will be heroes.

In the distance, I see the vast land with trees stretching farther than we can perceive. I wave over two ships to my right motioning them to make land three kilometers to the right before doing the same to my left. I see several ships were off following them. At least twelve still follow me as we reach the shorelines. We drag our ships ashore. " Set up a large camp, I want traps and walls stretching about 125 meters," I shout as men sprint inland axes in hand.

With our superior strength, endurance, agility, and durability than common men with our roughly one hundred sixty men here we make quick work of the trees shortly making a work line. I myself prefer chopping since I've never been a good carpenter. I see many men unloading the ships. We have three days of rations and enough raw metals to get a basic smithy going. Our tools won't last long which will be the main worry. These woods will thrive with hunting which will also help us locate nearby water sources.

As I lug three logs to the middle of the camp, I see three breathless Nords approach me. " The men to the west have been pillaged. Their ships burn. One escaped to make its way here and warn us."

I grab two Nords near me and another four cutting logs. We march west hoping to find the cause of our newly found troubles. Before I can even leave camp a familiar face greets me. " Lukas I would've expected you to land further down."

" Then I would've missed the fun," He laughs showing off his dual axes.

I pull his head against mine and we grip each other's arms with a hearty laugh. We take our leave marching west hopefully to recover our men, even more hopefully some men to kill. I was right about one thing and that these woods are vast. We move swiftly but with our hardened leather, we are quiet and protected. Many animals live in this forest from what I see, they were very passive at the sight of us meaning they must've not been used for hunting.

Wasn't hard to find the landing zone because the ships were still burning. Around them were goblins. Little green bastards, most of the species are feral. These ones were using torches and cooking their victims. I count twenty of them but even that many isn't worth a single one of my men. Someone or something helped them.

I motion for them to start surrounding the camp as I walk out into the open banging my sword against my wooden shield. Iron oak, wood harder than most metals. The goblins hop to their feet grabbing makeshift weapons and shouting to one another. It all sounded like gibberish but I knew it wasn't ' Hey we should give up.'

" Who wishes to die first?" I call out not expecting a response. To my response came a vicious snarl followed by a troll getting up from behind a burning ship. The Goblins part eager to see this beast kill me. I quickly rethink the last few moments wishing we just would've charged in.

The troll wastes little time as it charges me grabbing the (still flaming) boat and swinging it at me. I roll right with the swing to get behind it dropping my shield in the process, I stick my blade into its heel causing a disturbing shriek. Its pain quickly turns to rage as it punches me in the chest and then kicks me into a crowd of Goblins to busy laughing and falling over drunk to care.

I throw myself to my feet anger building up in my chest, he may be bigger than me but nothing hits harder than a Nord. I sprint forward planting my left fist into its jaw quickly following with a knee to the abdomen. I pull the blade from its leg and drag it across its chest then slamming the pommel in its forehead. As it reaches up to grab its head I stab the sword into its foot holding it still. I grab one of the spears off their fires and shove it up the troll's nose piercing all the way through its head. I watch it drop my sword snapping in half in its foot.

I turn around to see the others cutting down every last one of the Goblins. Lukas sprints into crowds of them spinning around turning them to ribbons. His axes danced almost in a fight, the way beserkers fought was extraordinary.

I ignore the fighting turning my attention to any evidence to explain the attack. Trolls were dumb creatures almost making Goblins seem like scholars. Then I find my answer In the distance I see sprung traps and as I investigated further hoove prints. Human bastards sending monsters to do their dirty work. Can't tell who the trap really was for though.

I hear a loud bang and my left leg gives out pain shooting through my thigh. A medium sized man comes from a bush holding a strange rod of wood and metal smoke billowing from the end. He pours in some black powder as he approaches me and drops in a small ball. " I don't know why you're here but this is it. With a surge of adrenaline and one good leg, I spring forward grabbing his neck squeezing until I could feel my palm through his tiny frame. I use his strange weapon to limp back hearing several more bursts before getting back to the Goblin camp only finding bodies of my men. I see the humans filling their weapons and leaving but before I can go after them to avenge my kin I feel a burst of pain in my head and then I see nothing.