Nier POV

I was rowing the boat toward our next destination. The part of Midgard we were in was much colder than the rest of the realm. As we went down the stream, we saw a very large hammer on some rocks, as well as giant fingers. A closer look showed that it was a Giant's corpse. Possibly Thamur himself.

Nier: Thamur.

Yonah: Thor killed him. Oh no... he fell on a village?

Mimir: When Thamur fell, he crushed a charming place famed for worshipping the Vanir god, Njord. Thor always took credit for planning that one, but the truth is the sweaty bawbag just got lucky.

We continure our search for the chisel and come across a Wulver that is in our way. Me and Yonah fight it and were able to take it down in just a few minutes. All the enemies we've been fighting have allowed us to become more experienced. We keep moving and find chains the lead upward. Yonah gets on my back and I climb up it. When we get to the top, we see Thamur's corpse in full view. The poor giant died when he was just looking for his son to make amends for his mistake.

Yonah: There he is.

Mimir: Find the tip of that chisel. that's the magic we need.

Nier I'm guessing we'll have to fight those monsters in our way too?

Mimir: Afraid so.

We ready our weapons and charge at the Wulvers. Those creatures might be fierce, but so are we. Yonah uses her axe for most of the fight because she wants to get better at it. We manage to kill the monsters and continue heading to Thamur's corpse. I use my strength to lift a piece of debris out of the way so Yonah and I can get through. We walk closer and see the Chisel has been impaled through the Giant's head. Looking down, we see the tip of the chisel through the ice and saw that it was glowing.

Yonah: How we getting down there.

I look around and notice the hammer that's stuck on some rocks.

Nier: I might have an idea. But it's pretty insane. And not in a good way.

Mimr: You sure, brother? I don't even think Thor with Mjolnir in hand could get through that much ice.

Nier: How often does Thor use his creativity to solve a problem?

Mimir: Literally never. At least, from how long I've known him.

Nier: Well luckily, none of us are Thor.

Mimir: This should be entertaining.

We hear growling and turn to see several Draugr and an Ogre.

Nier: More Dragur?

Yonah: Why did so many guys choose to fight the Valkyries?

Mimir: I guess they thought it'd be a great victory to fight the Valkyries.

Nier: Right now, they're in our way.

I charge at the Dragur and cut through a good deal of them before turning my attention to the Ogre. Yonah then uses her axe to deal with some of the Dragur and the Ogre attempts to crush me. I get out of the way and use the Leviathan Sword to attack it. I strike the back of its knee and the stab my sword into its ankle. As more Dragur arrived I get on top of it and strike it with my fists. The pain from this causes the ogre to smash the ground and I use it to kill the other Dragur. Yonah finishes the rest before toss me and axe and I slam it into the Ogre's head, killing it.

Yonah: How do you think I'm doing with Mom's axe?

Nier: You're getting better.

I hand the axe back to Yonah and keep moving. We hear footsteps and look to see Sindri.

Sindri: Oh hey. You again! Come on up!

I see a chain leading up and start climbing with Yonah latching onto me. We get to the top an see Sindri.

Sindri: Nice to see you two. Uh, is that a severed head on your hip?

Nier: Yes, but he's still alive, sort of.

Mimir: Indeed.

Sindir: Holy! Let me guess, ancient magic?

Yonah: Yep.

Sindri: Gotcha. Well, that fight down there was...  uh... something. Here, catch.

Sindri grabs an apple and tosses it. I grab it and toss it back at them.

Sindri: I guess you're not interested in an apple.

Nier: How were you not seen? There's nowhere to hide.

Sindri: Oh. That. It's a little trick my people can pull. A special way of not being seen.

Yonah: You can be invisible?

Sindri: More like I can step into the realm between realms... and your mind doesn't understand what it's seeing, so it sees nothing at all.

Sindri suddenly vanishes and so me and Yonah look around for him. We still heard his voice, but could not see him.

Sindri: That's how we avoid ever having to actually use the weapons we craft.

The Dwarf suddenly reappears behind Yonah and hands her and apple which she accepts

Sindri: It, uh... doesn't seem to work on dragons though.

Nier: That explains why the one we killed was attacking you.

Sindri: Yeah. Uh, speaking of which, where is Kaine?

Yonah: She kinda went back to her home for a bit. Said she had to figure things out.

Sindri: Oh. Well I hope she's okay. I mean, she's got a mouth on her, just like my brother. But she seems like an okay girl.

Yonah: She is. Also, your brother wanted to know if you were getting enough to eat. I guess I could tell him you are.

Sindri: Brok was asking about me? Was there mead on his breath?

Nier: He was eating meat, but no alcohol. Can you please check our weapons again?

Yonah and I hold out our weapons and Sindri grabs them.

Sindri: You let him touch these again, didn't you?

Sindri takes them to his workbench and begins working on them

Yonah: So that's how Brok was in the temple right after the water dropped. He stepped between realms!

Sindri: Okay, now shush! I need complete silence for this...

Sindri hits the weapons with his hammer and they glow for a bit.

Sindri: There ya go.

We grab our weapons and begin to find a way to get to the top of Thamur's hammer. It took some walking and jumping over broken ledges, but we make progress. We then climb up a rock and onto a structure.

Yonah: We heading into that building?

Nier: Yes.

Yonah: You think there's something inside that'll help us break the ice and get to the chisel tip?

Nier: Kinda.

Yonah: Okay. But can I keep thinking?

Nier: You don't need to ask permission for that.

Yonah: Kay.

We eventually come across a door and I open it. Soon we see someone sitting down. on the floor.

Nier: Uh, sir? Can we help you with anything?

The man gets up and readies their large sword.

Mimir: Brother, that's a Traveler. They follow this "Path" that dictates they must fight in order to achieve glory and fortune.

Nier: Dang it.

I charge at the traveler and swing my Leviathan Sword into the Traveler's arm. But despite bleeding, he didn't flinch a bit. He swings his arm to the side and throws me off a little. Yonah fires her arrows, but the Traveler still endures the damage. I charge and literally stab him from behind while Yonah rushes and swings her axe at him. The Traveler swings his sword down and Yonah rolls out of the way. She then throws me the axe and I swing it at the Traveler's arms, chopping them off. I then grab his sword and lift it up before swinging it down onto the Traveler. He separates in two and I drop the sword.

Mimir: The "Path" that these travelers follow attempt to lead them to find a certain place that is long forgotten. Unknown to them, it was a ploy devised by Odin so he can have more people searching for it.

Nier: We better keep moving.

I look down and see that a crystal had fallen from the Traveler. I pick it up and notice that it seems to have energy coursing through it.

Mimir: That's a Traveler's crystal. There's not many in existence. Some Traveler's actually believe there's more to the universe than the just the world we live in. They believe in the possibility of other worlds beyond our dimension. But that's just a theory and you'd have to have been in another dimension if this thing works at all. Still, could be valuable. Just keep it on ya.

I see a large stone blocking our way, so I pull it to make an opening.

Yonah: Mimir. You knew this place? Before?

Mimir: Aye, came here on a diplomatic mission once, trying to broker a peace between Asgard and Vanaheim. That war - so many lives lost. What I didn't know was that Thor had already gone on a killing spree of Giants.

Yonah: What did they Giants have to do with the war between the gods?

Mimir: Nothing at all, lass, that's the tragedy of it. They took no side in that madness... but Odin's paranoia is surpassed only by Thor's lust for blood.

Nier: Bastards.

Mimir: Aye.

I get the stone out of the way and allow us to leave the room. Soon I begin climbing up Thamur's hammer with Yonah latching onto my back.

Yonah: Why are we going up when what we need is all the way down there?

Nier: That ice is too thick and has no weak spots. So best I can think of getting to the tip of the chisel and by causing this hammer to fall.

Yonah: How do we get the hammer tip to aim at the chisel?

Nier: My plan was we cut the hammer free, ride it down, and improvise.

Yonah: We are good at that.

I manage to get to the top of the hammer and see that it's still attached to Thamur's leather strap.

Nier: Hold on tight.

I grab the strap and detach it from the hammer. It then begins to shake.

Mimir: This plan seems ill advised.

Nier: It's the best I got of getting through that ice fast enough.

The hammer begins to slant and I jump onto the ledge of a tower.

Yonah: Uh, the hammer only fell a little ways.

Nier: Then we make sure it falls entirely

We enter the tower and come across a puzzle room with a path that leads to a sand bowl. The parts of the floor seem to have broken off except that one part. Yonah gets to the bowl and we eventually figure out the answer. The floor puts itself back together and Yonah writes a rune into the sand.

Yonah: Pola!

Energy surrounds the floor and it begins to lift up.

Yonah: We're rising! The energy is lifting the platform.

Nier: Keep writing, Yonah.

Yonah keeps writing and saying the rune, keeping the platform rising.

Nier: Mimir, how's this possible?

Mimir: My guess? Temporal magic. Dangerous stuff the high Vanir gods play around with - the ability to freeze time! Happened to be a favorite of Njord himself, in fact.

Yonah: "Used to"? Why did they stop?

Mimir: Well... turns out stopping time keeps the sun and moon from streaking across the sky. Unfortunately, it does NOT stop the wolves that chase them - always looking to sink their teeth in. After that, they decided it was best to leave time alone.

Suddenly, several Draugr appear and attack us. I make sure they stay away from Yonah and eliminate them. Before we knew it, we were at the top and  we were just one push away from getting the hammer to break the ice.

Nier: Great job, Yonah.

Mimir: Indeed.

Yonah: Okay, I'm guessing we push it and then jump down?

Nier: Yep.

I begin pushing and Yonah joins me. The hammer tilts and jump with Yonah. I hold Yonah as the hammer finally hits the ground. It was a bit of a big fall, but I land just fine. The hammer does still fall down and I hold it up to prevent it from crushing us. It stays in position, so I let go.

Mimir: You're cracked, you know that?

I push Mimir and check on Yonah.

Nier: You okay?

Yonah: Yes.

Nier: Good. We should keep moving.

The two of us crawl away from the hammer and continue heading for the chisel tip.