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Los Angeles is paralyzed by a decidedly unnatural blizzard that has dumped several
feet of snow on the city. With the temperature continuing to drop the group immediately begins
researching possible supernatural reasons for the storm. Dana and Ethan hit the occult books while
Patrick and Jalen brave the snow to talk to Lorne and the Oracle. En route to the Oracle the two
champions spot a pair of large creatures, trolls apparently, carrying an unconscious woman. Patrick
and Jalen attack the trolls and kill them, though Jalen takes a solid hit from one of the trolls'
hammers.
With the area hospitals overrun due the weather Patrick decides to bring the woman
back to the house and let Ethan help her. After taping up Jalen's broken ribs Ethan checks over
the woman and says it looks like she was just knocked out, not badly beaten. After Ethan leaves
Jalen looks through the woman's things and, based on finding pieces of id for multiple identities
and a set of professional lock-picks, figures that the woman is a criminal of some kind. Patrick,
meanwhile, has gone back out to talk to the Oracle.
When the woman regains consciousness she tries to leave, but hesitates when she
realizes she isn't in an actual hospital. After some evasive conversation on the part of both her
and Jalen and Ethan she realizes that the group are aware of the supernatural and comes clean that
the trolls had been after her. The woman, a professional thief named Gwen Raiden, had been hired to
steal an ancient antique box from a private collection in Europe and bring it to Los Angeles. She reveals
that she had gotten curious and opened the box to see what was inside. Apparently what was inside was
winter because the box appeared to be empty and that is when the snow started to fall. Whoever had
hired her was apparently not happy and sent the trolls to get her and the box. Gwen had managed to
hide the artifact, but wasn't able to escape the trolls and this was when Patrick and Jalen rescued
her.
Patrick reaches the Oracle's place despite the treacherous driving conditions. Inside
he talks about the weather and the Oracle confirms that it is definitely the result of magic; powerful
magic. The Oracle demonstrates the potency of the winter spell by showing the result of a weather
control spell he had tried to counter the cold. The Oracle takes Patrick to one of the side rooms he
uses for rituals and shows Patrick the candles he used in the rituals, and the flames on the candles
themselves are frozen in ice somehow, an indication of just how strong the magic they are facing is.
Patrick checks in with what he has learned and Dana fills him in on what Gwen has told them. Outside
of the Oracle's apartment building Patrick spots two men in black suits watching him from across the
street. He trudges through the deep snow to the other side as the men move effortlessly around a corner.
Patrick realizes that the men are walking on top of the snow, leaving no tracks. By the time he turns
the corner after them the two men have vanished, even though the corner leads to a dead-end alley.
Puzzled, Patrick returns to the house.
Once Patrick has returned the group starts to get more information from Gwen, but the
questioning is disrupted by a loud sound coming from out front. Taking a look, Patrick sees a large
bearded man dressed in biker leather driving up to the house on a low-rider motorcycle, the source
of the noise. The man comes to the door and demands to see the people who killed Bryan Alder. Patrick
is confused but Ethan reminds him of the Rakshasa demon that Jalen and Dana killed a month or so earlier.
While Ethan stalls the man, who calls himself Donner, Patrick goes to get Dana and Jalen. The large man
looks like he is getting angry, but calms a little when Ethan offers him a drink. While they are talking
the two men in black from earlier can be seen watching the house from the street, still standing atop
the snow with no effort.
When Dana appears Donner questions her about Alder's death. He seems to realize something
and asks if she still has any of the arrows the priest of Brahma gave them to fight the demon. When
she brings him one of the arrows he tastes it and proclaims that he believes they were unwitting dupes
who were tricked into killing Alder, who he refers to as "The Light". Donner leaves and
Patrick sees the two men in black get into a white stretch limousine with tinted windows and eight
wheels. Donner leaves on his bike and follows the limo.
Dana takes the arrow downstairs and examines it but science is not her forte. Ethan
takes a look and discovers that the arrow is made of mistletoe. This sets off alarm bells and after
some quick research the pieces begin to fall into place. If mistletoe was need to kill Bryan Alder
then he was not a Rakshasa but something else, and Donner called him "The Light". Dana
realizes that Bryan Alder was not a demon at all, he was the Norse god of light Baldur!
According to
myth Baldur was killed by an arrow of mistletoe fired by another god who was tricked into doing the
deed by Loki, the god of mischief. Baldur's death was the first event in the cycle leading to
Ragnorok, the apocalypse of Norse myth, and Jalen and Dana have apparently done the same here. Having
realized that Bryan Alder was Baldur answers a few other questions as well. Firstly, the woman that
claimed his body was most likely Hel, the Norse goddess of death who lives in the frigid realm of
Niflheim. Not only that, but the man on the bike calling himself Donner was probably Donnar, better
known as Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Also, the 8-wheeled limousine was probably a manifestation
of Sleipnir, the 8-legged horse belonging to Odin, king of the Norse gods, who was in all likelihood riding
inside. And if it was Odin then the two men in black were probably manifestations of Odin's two
servants, the ravens Huginn and Muninn. Some quick research into Ragnorok shows that one of the first
signs after Baldur's death is the coming of a long, cold winter; meaning the box Gwen had been hired
to steal was connected to it. The person who hired her also had trolls in his employ and the last
person the group saw that had trolls with him was the mysterious Mr. Locke. Dana realizes that Locke
is Loki! Loki is also known to be a shape shifter so he must have
disguised himself as the priest that gave them the arrows to kill Bryan Alder. The realization that
they have all been tricked by Loki is quickly overshadowed when the group realizes that there is
an apocalypse coming and they had a hand in starting it.
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