Project Einherjar - Final-FINAL Release

[ImpieTwo]

Minor update, mostly further refining some mechanics (like those damn dogs that keep vaulting over the player's head) and changing the Gungnir Rifle sound to give it more punch.

Also been testing out some new enemies for a prototype third episode. Juno travels to the more male-dominant Jotunheim to kick some ass and probably finish off the rest of the "vampire docs" that helped Dr. Gaul with Project Einherjar. Wanted the native enemies to sound foreign, as the vampire docs are the only enemies with foreign accents. Dunno if or when I'll work on this episode's maps, but I've laid the groundwork at least.

[Captain J]

Hooray for more hostile but rude men. Can't wait for that!

[Rachael]

Just wanted to say that I am really liking this mod, so far. Great work!

[Skelegant]

I've been wondering this for a while, and after hearing the track in that vid I now NEED to ask: Did you compose the music yourself? It's AMAZING. It compliments the game and story well

BTW if you need a male scientist, I've got one edited (slightly) from Captain J's scientist:

---

[Captain J]

Oooh, nice firing rotations! Too bad original one had only one rotations because it was ecwolf-friendly.

[YukesVonFaust]

oh boy episode 3
but to be fair, those CoD2 German sounds are (somewhat) getting overused
maybe the first CoD? or anything that speaks german?

[ImpieTwo]

oh boy episode 3
but to be fair, those CoD2 German sounds are (somewhat) getting overused
maybe the first CoD? or anything that speaks german?

Yeah, they're placeholders at the moment. I'd really like voices using germanic or russian language/accent that have as much character as the voices I've already used thus far (I'd prefer something germanic to stick with the norse theme), but I'm not sure where to look for them. Any suggestions along those lines?

I've been wondering this for a while, and after hearing the track in that vid I now NEED to ask: Did you compose the music yourself? It's AMAZING. It compliments the game and story well

BTW if you need a male scientist, I've got one edited (slightly) from Captain J's scientist:

---

Thanks for the sprite sheet! I might have a use for him, depending how many voices I find.

But no, regrettably I didn't compose the music. That particular track is from Mr. Chris's rokelek2.wad, and was the only track I really liked (and came close to fitting Project Einherjar). Maps 9 and 12 have music from Operation Biowar; Map 7 from The Abyss; and the rest is Perfect Dark, Terminator: Rampage, Creature Shock, Tyrian, some mobile game called Castle 3D, and midis from collections by jmickle and Mark Klem. Turns out a lot of DOS-era music was moody as hell.

The intermission tune is from Code Veronica, and is one of the first musical inspirations for the book the mod is based on, the other being Sam Kuzel's soundtrack to Angel of the City.

[ImpieTwo]

No idea where in the episode hierarchy this level will appear. Probably midway through.

EDIT: It would appear that the boss Veidt (end of Map 13) goes down as soon as she feels pain, due to a Decorate flub. Dunno how I missed it, so updated to fix the bug.

[ImpieTwo]

Here's the story for Episode 3: The Iron Invasion, as a kind of preview.

---

Episode 3: The Iron Invasion

It seemed the shooting would go on forever.

Juno hadn't moved from her corner of the cafe for the past hour, curled into a ball so tight that every muscle and joint in her body whined in agony. Her head was bleeding and glass chips clung to her hair; in her arms was a sobbing child of about five years, his mother shot to ribbons two blocks away. Three other people were huddled in various nooks and crannies around the cafe, too scared to utter a sound.

Just outside, bedlam was still sweeping down the street. All the gunfire and screams had melded together into unholy white noise, along with the inhuman hum of the robotic drone rolling across the city, targeting and firing at anything that moved. The streets were paved with civilian corpses.

As suddenly as it began, the chaos fell into silence. The city gendarmes must have finally taken the metal monster out. Through the ringing in her ears, Juno heard the shaking voices of law enforcement shouting orders, calling for paramedics, warning each other not to touch the drone.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur. Uneasy life returned to the city as people came to move the bodies and try to make sense of the wanton attack; sobs, moans, and bewildered questions joined the somber song of the growing wind. Juno was on autopilot, having retreated into a trance where all her senses were on high alert, waiting for the next attack.

Someone removed the sleeping boy from her arms. It was like pulling a drainplug: the moment he was taken away, all her strength flooded out, and she fell unconscious.

*

Juno imagined a loud fanfare when Deputy Freya Heimdall entered her hospital room: she traveled everywhere without an escort, too proud and war-seasoned to heed her weary security force.

"The coroner requires your presence," said Heimdall, appraising the tiny stitches on Juno's brow. "Hope you can walk."

Juno didn't argue: she tied her boots and grabbed her coat on the way out the door, following her commander up the streets where the snow was still pink from innocent blood. Juno's face was stoic, but her eye betrayed the maelstrom of worry behind it.

"Is it the boy?" she said.

Heimdall sighed. "No, thank god. Physically he's fine. But mentally, after an event like that..."

She cursed under her breath and thought of her bleeding city as she led the one-eyed soldier into the mortuary, where the coroner was still vomiting into the trash bin. She spat twice and said nothing, merely gesturing for both women to follow her into the morgue.

In one piece, the drone looked like an oversized toy tank with three stubby arms, each ending in a frightening piece of ordnance. In its current state it was a pile of charred slag oozing hideous black and red ichor from its chassis. It was no bigger than a wheelbarrow, and yet it had killed and maimed close to a hundred people in the span of a half-hour.

"Where the hell did it come from?" said Juno.

"Supposedly air-dropped by an unmarked plane," said Heimdall. "The bastard kicked on the moment it landed, opened fire on the first person it saw. Took two RPG's to take it out."

Juno couldn't take her eyes off the thick, noxious substance leaking out of the broken drone. The stench was assaulting her with battlefield flashbacks. "Why did you request me?" she said. "Why did they take it to the morgue, anyway?"

Heimdall's face was grim. She gestured to the coroner, who choked back her bile and popped open the drone's chassis for the third time that day.

Inside -- installed like just another mechanical part, plain as day amid all the wires, gadgets, and plastic tubing -- was a human head.

*

Even among the absurdly large men of Jotunheim, Baron Frostgard of Nifell was a mythical giant. His head nearly touched the ceiling as he stood before Admiral Jair's desk, his life and career flashing before his eyes as he waited in tense silence. Jair stood at his window, hands behind his back, watching ships pull into port. The giant Frostgard stroked his snowy white goatee and anxiously waited.

Jair turned at last, and Frostgard saw that his eyes were hot and red from the hurricane brewing behind them.

Frostgard had retired from the navy as a hero, and taken over the failed drone project as a favor to the desperate Admiral Jair. The next two months were dismal failure and embarrassment, despite Frostgard's sterling record as a leader and engineer -- the same reputation that had earned him his castle in Nifell. He should have been banished to the wasteland like all who disgrace the Jotun banner, but Admiral Jair cut the giant some slack due to their familial ties. Desperate for the project to succeed, Frostgard had recruited the Midgard Stepsisters and the remaining Einherjar docs in the hope of replacing the faulty robotic brains with cybernetic ones. The late Dr. Gaul's methods were savage and downright despicable, but they saved the drone project, and to that end, Baron Frostgard's ass.

Until the impromptu drone attack on Midgard, that is.

The giant coughed. "Sir, I can exp--"

Admiral Jair slammed his fist onto his desktop. "How could you make such an idiotic mistake?! Sending the prototype to Midgard for a live test, with our treaty as shaky as it is! For god's sake, we still import medicine from Midgard for radiation sickness! Have you lost your mind?!"

"No, Sir. It's the Midgard woman, Sir. She believes Midgard's armed forces superior to ours, and better suited to field tests. She also thinks the Jotun navy's bureaucratic process mucks up the works, which I happen to agree with, but either way the bitch acted without consulting me."

The fist hit the desk again. "That's no excuse! You are responsible for the conduct of your people, just like a captain is responsible for the conduct of his crew!"

Frostgard clenched his teeth. "I'm not in the navy anymore, Uncle. You asked for my help."

Jair gestured behind him to the Jotun banner: a horned helmet looming over a blood-red crescent moon. "You swore an oath when you enlisted, Bard. You belong to me, and to His Eminence, until death. Screw up again and I'll strip you of your medals and your title and throw you to the wolf-dogs." Jair sat wearily at his desk, rubbing his temples. "Who is this Midgard woman you're working with? Why did you have to involve her?"

"Major Bowie, Sir. She runs that regiment of crazy southerners. They smuggled the Einherjar materials into the country for us."

Jair hissed. "I always said a woman in uniform would be the doom of this nation! Liquidate her before she causes any further trouble."

Frostgard looked at his boots. "We can't, Sir. She encrypted the files and we can't access them without her. She's a lunatic, but she's smart."

"That makes one of you!" Jair pointed a pistol-like finger at Frostgard. "We're both damned lucky that the Commander-In-Chief was impressed with your idiotic stunt; that he didn't cancel the project, and us along with it. Double your efforts, and get the invasion force completed and tested before the disarmament conference. And I don't care how you do it, but keep that Midgard bitch in line!"

*

Jotun workers threw themselves against the wall to get out of "Ruthless" Ruth Bowie's way as she marched down the hallway, a heavily armed Stepchild marching on either side of her. The redheaded major was as big as the average Jotun man, and looked twice as mean thanks to the bayonet scar across her left eye. As an army major she was not accustomed to claustrophobic life at sea, and she made this known to the crew with her fists, boots, insults, and occasionally airborne cigarettes.

She was a mere child in the presence of the colossal Baron Frostgard. The moment she entered the interrogation room, the giant sea dog lifted her three feet off the ground and pinned her against the wall with a thud that rocked the ship from bow to stern. Bowie's escorts pressed their shotguns into the beastly man's neck, but he didn't seem to notice.

"You'll doom us with your stupidity, you Midgard whore!" he boomed.

The young woman bound to the chair in the middle of the room was too fair to be a Jotun. She was probably very pretty once, before Kestrel the Vampire Doc had started on her: now she was pale, thin, and draped in a thick layer of sweat. She had been stripped down to her underwear, her face and lap caked in dried blood and vomit. Her breath came in shallow gasps, and her eyes were popping out of their sockets as they stared blindly at the ceiling -- all humanity had gone out of them, leaving behind something hideous and animal-like.

Beside the doctor was an instrument cart that included scalpels, syringes, ominous jars and bottles, something resembling an icepick, and a car battery and jumper cables. She had gone to work on the girl like a stubborn automobile.

The doctor asked her a question in Jotun: her voice was deceptively soothing. The young woman grimaced, mewled, blubbered a reply in the same language while shaking her head pleadingly.

"I thought Jotunheim was a man's world," said Bowie with a chuckle, still held in Frostgard's hands like a doll. "That usually means the boys know how to treat a lady. Y'all could benefit from a less barbaric touch."

Frostgard grit his teeth. "Jotun women don't live in kennels like your Midgard men do. Don't speak to me of barbarism." The hulking baron released Bowie and forgot about her for a moment, returning to the interrogation.

Kestrel sighed irritably. She said in Jotun, "They identified the explosives as Jotun in origin."

Bowie unbuttoned her collar. "What'd she say?"

Frostgard glared at her. "The bitch is a spy."

Bowie rolled her eye. "That much I heard from your boys already."

"She was sent to check up on the explosives you carelessly installed on the test model. There's a reason we were using imported parts only, idiot." He turned back to Kestrel. "What does she know?"

Kestrel smiled sadly. "Enough."

"Has she been in contact with her people?"

"She swears to god she has, and that Midgard's retribution will be swift and terrible. But for all her theatrics, her heart just isn't in it. I'm confident she has not yet told anyone, and her secrets will die with her."

Bored, Bowie lit a cigarette. "Anytime you big, bad giants feel like lettin' me in on the conversation, go right ahead."

Baron Frostgard drew a giant revolver from his belt holster. He pressed the barrel to the pleading spy's head and vaporized it in a cloud of blood and brain matter.

"The doctor and I just came to an agreement," he said.

"Careless fool," said Kestrel. "Midgard will send others to check in on her."

Bowie flicked her cigarette, banking it off of Kestrel's bosom. "I'm tired o' bein' outta the loop all the time! Tell this vampire she better start speakin' so's I can understand her from now on!" She glared at the doctor. "And I know she can do it. Yeah, you understand every word I'm sayin', dontcha, asshole?"

Kestrel smiled pleasantly. "When this operation is over, I will relish your death."

Bowie flailed at the doctor. "Now what's she sayin'?"

Frostgard stepped between the two women. "She says to try cleaning up your own messes for once. Make sure the spy's body is found at the scene of a train crash. They're not uncommon in these mountains."

Bowie crossed her arms. "What'm I, your mead hall wench? Don't forget you don't got no Project Einherjar without my codes."

Frostgard unclogged his nose at her feet. "You're in this country illegally with dangerous contraband. Don't forget I'm keeping the authorities off your ungrateful back."

"Your piss-ant MPs don't scare me. Even in your backwards homeland people fear my name." Bowie gestured to her face and added, "They see this pretty puss o' mine and run for the hills."

Frostgard scoffed. "Probably because they mistake you for someone else. Maybe this Radcliffe woman I keep hearing about lately. The one that keeps shutting down Einherjar projects every time a new one opens shop."

Kestrel muttered a string of Jotun curses and a verbal monument of names belonging to her deceased proteges.

Bowie scratched her cheek. "Radcliffe's got balls and luck and shit else. I served with that little twat, and it nearly got me drummed outta the army. And ever since Gaul asked for my help, she's made a habit of arrangin' mass funerals for the girls in my unit. The Stepchildren useta be the most feared division in Midgard."

Bowie kicked over Kestrel's instrument cart, spilling syringes and tools all over the floor.

"Now I'm havin' a dozen o' my own girls shot each week, for desertin' at the mere mention o' Radcliffe's name!"

"If your little stunt brings Midgard to my doorstep," said Frostgard, "you can file all of that under 'Least of Your Goddamned Problems'."

Bowie chuckled. She drew her pistol and idly spun it like a professional gunfighter: fast and slow, horizontally, diagonally, vertically, like an extension of her body. She holstered the weapon with one quick, fluid motion.

"I hope Midgard comes a-knockin'," she said. "And I hope to god it's Juno Radcliffe they send for us. When me and her lock horns, I'll pluck out her good eye and take it as my own."

*

"That ordnance is produced at a factory in Fjord," Heimdall had said, "a military-occupied city in Nifell. One of my girls has been sniffing around those parts, but she's late getting back to me. Rendezvous with her and lend your insight. If this really is Project Einherjar rekindling itself, I want it stamped out."

Juno reviewed her instructions as she stepped off the ship at Varm Port in Jotunheim; she processed her papers quickly and boarded the first train to Fjord. On her way to the platform she passed a mean-looking redheaded woman -- unusually small for a Jotun -- reading a news pamphlet as she leaned against a light post with a cigarette burning between her lips.

She glanced up at Juno. Juno nodded. The woman looked back at her paper.

As soon as Juno boarded the train, the woman tossed her cigarette and stepped into a phone booth, rapidly dialing a number and asking for Major Bowie.

"Major, this is Tess," she said, watching the train depart. "You're not gonna believe who just showed up in Jotunheim."

[ImpieTwo]

A new year, a new build! Version 4.1 is out, with the following changes:

- Three episodes!
- 7 new levels, including a shootout on a continental train, and a hike through the snowy nuclear wasteland.
- New foreign-flavored enemies introduced in Episode 3: The Iron Invasion, which takes place in another dystopian country.
- Briefings added to the Help screen, summarizing the point of each episode.
- Various fixes to enemies, weapons, and maps to tweak overall gameplay.

[Rachael]

This is awesome! ^_^ Thank you, ImpieTwo!

[Gideon020]

The only, only complaint I have now is that whenever I play this, I keep thinking, 'I wish I had a flamethrower'.

[skyrish10]

The only, only complaint I have now is that whenever I play this, I keep thinking, 'I wish I had a flamethrower'.

Yeah, why not just burn the shieldmaidens into crisp with screaming sound from RTCW and also bring the Chaingun (Terminator Rampage had that Minigun featured, anyway), Sniper Rifle and a useable Gauss Rifle seen in Episode 3 as the mod's Railgun

[Wivicer]

Here's the story for Episode 3: The Iron Invasion, as a kind of preview.

Holy SHIT that was a good read.

[ImpieTwo]

The only, only complaint I have now is that whenever I play this, I keep thinking, 'I wish I had a flamethrower'.

Yeah, why not just burn the shieldmaidens into crisp with screaming sound from RTCW and also bring the Chaingun (Terminator Rampage had that Minigun featured, anyway), Sniper Rifle and a useable Gauss Rifle seen in Episode 3 as the mod's Railgun

I just have a tough time justifying the addition of a new gun for only one episode. I'd like to have another projectile weapon, and if I do a fourth episode, I might add it then. Or I might change my mind later, I dunno.

Also, thanks Wivicer! I was thinking about making the stories for this mod into a book or two and adding it to the book series.