Gunnhilde was very excited. She had her scholarship to the prestigious Ephesus University in Titan City. She called out to her parents from the door of their home outside Christchurch to give them the news, but when they got to the entry hall, they only saw the acceptance letter, laying on the floor...

Gunnhilde staggered momentarily as she arrived at the beach. She looked across the lake, and up and down the beach, and at the other arrivals. Like the man in armor with the sword, her first thought was for the smartphone in her pocket. A few touches and it was dialing her home phone...

"Not in the slightest," Gunnhilde answered. She held up her phone in her left hand. "But if you already know this won't work, you know that much more than I do. I'm Gunnhilde Swan. And you are?" She offered her empty right hand as he approached her.

Twenty feet away from them, a tall woman appeared. She seemed to be in mid-stride, but she'd appeared at the edge of a large flat rock formation. As such, she stepped into mid-air and fell the ten feet to the ground, doing a face-plant.

Jourgun rushed over to the tall female as well, stopping once hearing that name Loki he turned his head, mumbling to himself."This can't be good."

Gunnhilde now realized why her smartphone showed no bars and no wireless connection. "Well, for starters, I plan on seeing what's available in the 'camp', and what I can make of it. [I]If[/I] he spoke truly, and without weaseling, the fastest way home for us all is for one of us to complete his challenges. Only hitch would be if you're worried about what someone else might do with one wish, or if you really want the wish for yourself."

She considered her companions, then made a decision. "If any of you are familiar with the tale of Völund, he's my uncle. And he only got a bigger part in the poem than his brothers because they went off chasing the Valkyries and were never heard from on Midgard again. Until my parents settled in New Zealand, that is."

"A jötnar is my mother, and my father is called Vali... at some point before I could remember I was dropped off here, so there you have it.' Hel let ou a sigh.

"I'm Gunnhilde Swan. As for why we're here, you'll have to ask father of the one whose mark is on your weapons." To make sure the stranger knew who she meant, she indicated Loki. "He claims to have brought us here to meet his challenges, and that he'll return us to our homes when they are completed. And he says there's a wish in it for one of us."

Having noted she was lacking in the ironmongery department, Gunnhild squatted to place her hands on the ground, seeking whatever she could Craft into a weapon...

"I'd rather like to be better equipped, first." Gunnhilde stood up, and in her right hand was half-meter blade of a colorless transparent crystal. She examined the edge, then walked over to a nearby tree and tested it against a small branch. "This will do, for now, I think." She picked up the branch and began Crafting it into a hilt and a sheathe.

Though it went against her better nature, Magnhild sheathed Gungnir and allowed the creature to lope off towards the hall of mess. She stepped over towards Gunnhilde and watched as she began crafting the crystal shard and branch into a crude, but serviceable weapon.

"If I may, Gunnhilde..." she said, before reaching off to the side like before, her hand disappearing again. She did this three times in a row, producing a weapon each time. She laid a longsword, a battleaxe, and a warhammer on the ground. All of them had design elements similar to Gungnir, but none of them were nearly as ornate. "When I was younger, I was apprenticed to your uncle. These are weapons of my own creation. They are not Ur, but they are crafted from the best material I could gain access to on Earth, a metal called titanium. You may use one if you wish."

Gunnhilde acepted the belt and scabbard from Magnhild. "Thank you. Should we go see if there is anything left to eat?"

Gunnhilde chuckled. "It's English military slang, and it means the place where food is eaten." She stopped her hand before she pulled out her smartphone, remembering that she had no connection here. "No idea who they stole it from."

Had either woman been telepathic, they might have been surprised at the similarity of the thoughts running through their minds. Or perhaps not. Where, as Loki had observed, Magnhild was her father's daughter, Gunnhild was likewise her father's daughter. And Slagfiðr was definitely Völund's brother. No one of sense who had heard Völund's tale would consider it wise to do an injury to anyone who took after them.

Fortunately, Gunnhilde had not been hurt yet, so as she sliced a small portion of lamb, her diamond gladius cutting through meat and bone easily, she was thinking in terms of embarrassing Loki. Not now, and maybe not soon. But he would suffer that embarrassment eventually.

Gunnhilde took her time eating. At least she couldn't fault the food so far. Besides the lamb, she had some mixed vegetables and some bread, and washed it down with a single mug of ale. She heard Jerros introduce himself. "Good to meet you, Jerros, and I hope I don't have to kill you."

Half, no, maybe it was 3/4s of a body fell from thin air to land in the sand. A gaping hole through the sternum, and most of the body's core were completely absent from the body which resembled terra-cotta pottery, only clearly tougher and patterned like a reptile. A black ichor dripped from the hole in it's torso, and steamed when it his the sand. "Dammit all..." He muttered rising to his claws feet to stand eight feet tall. "I wasn't done eating." A circle danced around the creature's palm, eldritch in nature, and the unmistakable presence of fresh blood on his hands. What had drawn the striker, Rift, here of all places? Probably something to do with snacking on Ron's super-norse-god magic power source a while back.

He tried to resist the teleport to this place: probably why he arrived so late compared to the others, but he could only resist a god for so long... Maybe given a little more recovery, he could have fought things off for long enough. But no, now he could feel it, the lingering power of a god. Not and all powerful god, but a god nonetheless. The energy had a certain... reminiscent quality to it, like he'd fed on something similar before. Regardless, that power was all around, but inaccessible at the same time. The conversation from within the mess-hall drew his attention, but he felt hesitant.

The door opened, a clawed hand still dripping fresh blood. The reptilian himself slowly leaking black ichor as thick as cooled molasses. Without a word he found a seat and sent a glance at each of the respective visitors. He didn't recognize any of these people from the few supers he knew. His own notoriety was likely short lived anyways. Most probably though him dead back in Titan City.

The creature tilted it's head slightly coyly, almost being playful with the question before giving a rather dubious answer. "I've taken to calling myself 'Rift'." A leg folded in an all-too-human manner in front of his body. "I fight the impossible. Not much else to me." The striker played gingerly with a nearby utensil, scraping it's edge along the wooden table for little reason other than to occupy his hands. "I take it something powerful brought us here? I'm a little late to the party, and missed the exposition I think." The look in his eyes seemed a little bit wistful, almost fascinated as to what could have drawn them all here. He'd get the long explanation soon. That and all the opinions of such a power.

The striker balanced a fork over the edge of a tankard handle, trying to keep himself entertained. "So I was probably pulled here based on what I... Borrowed... From ole' Dead-head." There wasn't much else to be gathered from the woman engaging in conversation. 6 keys. 6 challenges. Door. Win. Simple enough. "I Suppose killing each other off right away would be in poor taste then. He wants to see us play his game after all..." The striker smirked, knowing that might polarize the room of mixed heroes and villains, and neutrals a little harshly. "No mention of team challenges, voting off the island, weakest links, or anything like that?"

Jourgun as paceing around the wooden floor, his hands clasped as the gigantic lizard walked in. He didn't bother to pay him any mind as he was still somewhat ticked by Jerros comments. The same thing could be said about the girl whom he also ignored.

Jourgun walked out of the mess hall and into one of the cabins there was a single bed a dresser and a small desk. He wished he had taken his mace...but no he wanted to bring the sword...."this room in in too good of shape." He said before he stomped through the desk. "That's more like it."

Magnhild nodded to those who were still in the Hall of Mess, then headed towards the sleeping area. Outside of the cabins, she encountered Gunnhilde. "You seem to be looking for something in particular..."

Jourgun jumped onto his bed..and placed his hands behind his head. Streching out his legs this aint,the worst place he had stayed.

Jourgun ran out of his cabbin a bit after it had gotten dark. He had folded his arms the room behind him already wrecked.."Oh hey you two." He said as he slammed the door behind him.

Following the others out, Rift didn't need a cabin per-se. His body didn't sleep. Maybe hibernate, or meditate, but he certainly didn't need day-to-day sleep. He considered staying with the wolf-thing, but his chewing and gnawing made an annoying noise. Only a little bit more annoying than the conversations shortly before. Suddenly drama, he glanced towards Magnhild drawing a blade. "Well, it's not like she could have overheard from outside or have some kind of super sense, or telepathy..." The reptile stepped out towards the water, passing the nervous warrior with a little sly smirk, noting the approaching darkness as well. Sudden night. No sunset to speak of, and nothing on the horizon. "Put the knife away," He stated with a half mocking tone. "Try to look for astral landmarks. Stars, energies unique to here, relative location on... What is it... Egg-drill-seal? --The big tree thing. Something productive."

The reptile held his clawed hand out in front of him and gently swiped them through the air. His hand sparked with violet light as tiny cracks formed in the air, closing nearly instantly. A sigh, of perhaps relief or annoyance escaped him.

The striker looked the man who approached him straight in the eye with surprise. He held up his blood-smeared hand in front of his face. "Well, this ain't mine here, so take a guess." With his point made he looked back out over the water. "But, I'm a survivor. I'm defiant. I won't be bested because someone is more powerful. I certainly don't plan on being stuck here."

The striker smiled a toothy smile at the man's response. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He bent over and let the blood soak off in the shallow water. "Alignment doesn't matter now anyways. We're in too deep to worry about that right now."

"The lizard's right, there's lots of ways she could've learned who it was brought us here. Including being told in advance because she was getting here late." Gunnhilde peeked in the last cabin, and sure enough, it was much the same as a the others. But it was farthest from the Mess Hall, so that was one reason to choose it. She Crafted the door, drawing by pushing the wood aside like clay, so that the runes read in old Norse: Gunnhilde's Workshop.

Jourgun turned to Magnhild and replied to her statement." Are you underestimateing me? I feel like you are at least a bit..but you are the daughter of thor can you really say that you never underestimated someone." He grabbed his chin awaiting an answer.

"So, what...." Rift started, looking about for any signs of spacial, dimensional, astral, or what have you orientation. "You're just going to walk in there and tell him to play dead?" The striker shook his head at the idea. "Well, have fun then. Just remember that you'll need to be strong enough to beat us in whatever challenge follows in the morning."

Seeing how he was left alone...and taking into considertaion what the others have said he shrugged and went back into the cabben he chose for himself and lied on the floor. Plotting to himself. Then his face lit up as he remembered his black glasses in his pocket which he pulled out and placed onto his eyes, a bright red flash. Lighting up the cabbin for a Moment as he was in is normal clothes again....and he paced around until he grabbed his sword blade in one hand the hilt in the other and bent it as hard as he could until it snapped and a cool red wind knocked back all of the furnachar in the room. Almost without warning a massive Kanabo like weapon erupted from the floor of tha cabbin and formed in his hand. "I got my mace back!" He screamed out a loud as he could before collapsing on the floor in satisfaction.

Finally things were settling down, and Rift made his way into the cabins. Only to perhaps isolate himself for thought. Still, this partial-body was going to be a problem: that is, until a bowl of pure nourishment appeared inside his building of choice. He briefly read the note: "And they thought Loki wasn't a nice guy..." A smirk crawled over his face as the eldritch circle flashed in his hand. "Unless this is a trap... Just a taste." At first, he did only take a taste of the energy presented before him. A few sparks danced across his form. Refined energy, it was magnificent! Quickly noting the lack of self-destruction, the reptilian consumed the remaining energies. The hole in his torso sealed itself, and his tail sprouted from the stub that remained. Cracks covering his body closed, and granted his skin a smooth and polished finish like the scales of a snake.

The striker paused for a moment, looking himself over. He'd taken all of the strength that the generous god had offered him. Perhaps that was a mistake. it might lead to some issues later on, but for now, he enjoyed the feeling of completeness. His tail cracked through the air, scraping sparks along the very fabric of space. He stood straighter, a result of being balanced again. Things felt 'right'. "I suppose I'll have to win as a sort of thank you now, huh?"

Magnhild checked out the cabin she'd chosen, then banged Gungnir's blunt end on the ground. With a flash of light, the spear changed back to a pipe and her armor disappeared, revealing her white shirt and leather pants. She leaned the pipe against the wall beside the bed, then changed and slid into bed. She switched the light off and quickly fell asleep.

Gunnhilde emerged from her cabin, her uniform on and seeming to be very well tailored. (In fact, she had just spent an hour adjusting the fit, with ease of motion being her first concern, and appearance secondary.) At her waist she wore the two blades, and the belt seemed to have several small pouches on it that weren't there when Magnhild gave it to her...

"Good morning, everyone," she said as she walked towards the Mess Hall.

Rift's lack of, or need for sleep made the reveille more of a nuisance than a wake up call for himself. A new shred of information was made apparent though. "--venture out of the camp ground" was the new objective apparently, and though there didn't seem to be much to work with at the time, a little head-start couldn't hurt. His own advantage suddenly became clear over these human competitors. He paced his own cabin searching for something, and when he finally found it, he grinned.

While the others were off distracted by the concept of breakfast, he went to work. He tied off a sheet to make a sort of satchel, and placed a sealed kerosene lamp, some matches, and a flashlight inside. He stripped the bed of it's linens, and tucked them inside the satchel as well. While the others were off eating, he took to starting a small camp-fire near the camp flag pole. Only a small flame, to start with, but he soon added a few birch logs which caught fire quickly. The dancing lights eased his mind for a moment before he got started. He guessed the fire would keep burning for 3 hours left unattended. With that, he walked away from the camp site to try to make use of his head-start. His footprints were clearly visible in the soft ground heading out in to the woods.

Jourgun, was walking through the wood, something catching his eye that ran behind him ,rustling some of the leaves and snapping some twigs Causing him to stop dead in his tracks and turn around. " Alright whoever or what ever is behind me...come on out so you can take this ass kicking and I can go about my business."