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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 9, 2022 22:52:15 GMT -5
"Mister Zarius..." Astrid's words come out through strained breath. A cloud of fog escapes her mouth with each gasp. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were leadin' me out here for somethin' sketchy. Like dyin'."
The two dark figures amongst the snowy peaks are barely visible through the blizzard. Wind roars, and snow whips around them. When they left Skypeak, the weather was a bit calmer, but clouds lingered on the horizon. They suspected storms might start somewhere in the mountains -- or in the more likely location, the fields far away, but Dragon's Cradle had other plans for travelers on this day. Those plans turned out to be a blizzard that roars and whips through the Spine. This weather isn't necessarily uncommon. In fact, Dragon's Cradle and Spine and everything around it carries a reputation for being unpredictable. If only today it could be predictable.
Astrid shivers as snow piles up around her boots. She's grateful Zarius and her other new friends were kind enough to help kit her with more than the rags she wore before. Even still, maybe she got a little too excited about the prospect of traveling, exploring, and helping people. This jaunt into the wilds was her idea after all.
"Let's go save the miners!" her voice replays in her mind. "Maybe we can even find somethin' good fer armor! Somethin' good for Miss Veliky's bots, too! A special metal or somethin'!" Astrid has never been one for regrets, but as cold as her fingers and toes are, she could stand to start cursing herself.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 10, 2022 9:53:28 GMT -5
"Miss Astrid, you wound me with your accusations. If I wanted you dead I would not need to drag you out into the wilderness first." He laughs in a joking manner. He of course didn't have any reason to want the young half-dwarf dead. At least, not yet.
He trudges onward through the snow in breaking trail for her to follow. "Need I remind you that this was your idea? Or has the prospect of shiny rocks already lost its luster?"
Ultimately, he wouldn't hold anything against her. Astrid was clearly very young and didn't think things through very well. At least she wasn't overly whiny otherwise he would consider leaving her stranded out on the mountainside. Course that would lead some certain someone's to probably ask questions they wouldn't like the answer to later. So for the time being, he was responsible for her safety and by proxy, the recovery of these lost miners.
He looks down at a rudimentary map they were given by a concerned housewife of one of the miners. It wasn't terribly accurate by any stretch of the imagination, and with the limited visibility caused by the blinding snow, none of the landmarks were obvious.
What's more troubling than the unhelpful map was the fact that there had been some tremors throughout the Spine earlier that week. It's entirely possible that the miners were caught in an avalanche or their way out of the mine was blocked by a tunnel collapse. The two adventurers didn't have much equipment to deal with that situation.
Zarius breathes. This would be challenging. He hopes the young half-dwarf can pull her own weight.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 10, 2022 10:23:28 GMT -5
"Yeah, yeah, I know it was," she says through a chattery grimace. "Don't hafta tell me twice." Astrid looks around at their situation. Things are not as spick and span as she initially expected them to be. Now is the time to decide if she's the type to give up or if she's as stubborn as the rest of the dwarves. Remembering that families being reunited rides on their efforts, she chooses the latter and trudges on.
"Some dwarves say they can feel the mountain like we've got some sorta primal connection to it," she jokes, tucking her hands into her armpits to keep her fingers from freezing off. "I dunno how anyone can feel anythin' with as cold as it is." She almost wonders if she could hear the mountain, though it certainly would be difficult over this wind. With little else to offer, she stops in her tracks and starts digging out some snow from the path until she hits mountain rock. Then she drops down into the area she dug out and presses her ear against the freezing surface. She's barely visible in the trenches as the snow starts collecting on her back and filling in what she's just dug out. The wind is still too loud to hear over, so she covers her other ear with her hand and squeezes her eyes tight to listen carefully, desperately, for something below.
There's a rumbling deep below.
Did she hear that right? Is it true? Can dwarves really hear the mountain? Its breath, its sighs, its... upset tummy? Sure enough, the rumbling seems to be moving. Astrid excitedly shoots up, snow flinging off her horns.
"They're right! We can hear the mountain!"
Her voice echoes through the range, and there's a shifting, cracking, moaning around them that's almost completely drowned out by the screams of the wind.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 10, 2022 13:40:22 GMT -5
Zarius waits while Astrid gets down in the snow to listen to the ground. He hadn't met many dwarfs so he had to take her word at their connections to mountains. He keeps mulling over the map and tries to match it up to anything they can see. Then he spots something up the mountain slope from them.
A wave of snow is crashing down the mountain right towards them. "I do not think the mountain appreciates being eavesdropped on!"
Zarius grabs Astrid by the back of her jacket and pulls her up to her feet. "Run!" He starts sprinting through the snow with her to try and get clear of the avalanche rushing down the mountain's slope.
The rumbling which was drowned out by the howling wind now overwhelms them. The fast approaching wall of snow builds in momentum, power, and size as it travels. It hits a few boulders sticking out of the snow, knocking them free and grinding them into the ground. It starts to gain on the pair and widen its path.
Zarius glances up at the towering doom. He had heard from the locals of Frost Gale and the Dragon's Cradle the sheer danger of an avalanche. Someone caught in the flurry of snow could be bludgeoned with debris, swept off cliff sides, or burried alive. Once the snow comes to a stop it turns into mortar, entrapping poor souls until they succumb to suffocation or freezing to death.
He looks around frantically and spots a ledge with a bit of an overhang. It was their best bet as the snow starts to cut off their retreat ahead of them. Once again, he grabs Astrid by her coat and yanks her over to the ledge. They'd have to drop down a few feet to get cover but there was no time to climb. He adjusts his grip and pulls her along as he drops off the edge, landing heavily from having to catch her and then pressing them both against the side of the ledge just as the snow surges overtop of them.[1,2]
[1] Iron Grip. [2] Cats Grace.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 10, 2022 17:47:36 GMT -5
What Astrid did not expect was to be hoisted to her feet by Zarius. Then a rush of wind hits her, and the stampede of frost charges down the mountain towards them. She doesn't have to hear Zarius to understand him. It's flight or fight time, and she's pretty sure she couldn't win against a wave of snow and ice. She turns and scrambles down the mountain after him and would be struggling more to keep up if Zarius wasn't keeping a grip on her coat to keep her from falling behind.
A ledge approaches in front of them, and Zarius doesn't seem to be slowing down. Is this it? Is this the end already? He seems determined to make it there. Maybe he knows exactly what's hiding below. Otherwise... She supposes death by falling is at least faster than death by suffocation. He barely stops enough for her to process before he drags her down behind cover. She falls nearly on her head, but Zarius manages to catch her and pull her against the ledge. Only a few more seconds go by before the world around them disappears. It's deafening, and she covers her ears, curled up into a ball beside Zarius and praying to anyone that'll listen that this isn't the end.
Then it's over as soon as it began. The end of the icy sheath falls past them and they're left surrounded by a cloud of white dusty snow that slowly settles in the remains. Down the mountain, the avalanche rumbles until it crashes into the valley, an amalgam of trees and rocks that look like nothing more than splinters from a distance. Around them, broken limbs and tree trunks jut out of the ground, a natural cemetery.
That was terrifying. She feels her hands shaking from the adrenaline, but she wouldn't call what she feels fear. She feels more along the lines of invigorated. It's her first day out adventuring, and already the world wants to stop her. How mighty she must be! If this is the worst the world has to offer, then she'll let nothing else stop her.
"That was awful!" she says cheerfully. Her gap-toothed grin shines up at Zarius from under rosy, freckled cheeks.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 11, 2022 10:00:34 GMT -5
Zarius braces against the ledge to shield Astrid from any debris as the snow rumbles past above them. Once things settle he breathes and steps away while dusting snow off of himself. A chunk of snow falls off the ledge and plops onto this head. A visible shiver runs up his body and he shakes the snow off.
He looks back the way they came and sees their trail had been completely washed away by the avalanche. Getting back will be a pain, but for now they had to find a way forward. He checks the map and looks around. Nothing matched. He sighs and tucks the map away.
"Well, guess we will have to get lucky now." He looks down at the half-dwarf's glowing face. This child knew now fear. That was scary in itself. He smiles at her though, it was hard not to with that goofy grin she wore.
"Come on." He says and starts clambering back up the slope. The terrain was a lot harder to move through now due to the rubble and they were losing daylight. At this rate, they would have to find a place to camp for the night and continue their search in the morning.
They trudge onward until they tired then found a place to get out of the wind if only a little. Zarius boils some water for warm drinks and heats up some of their rations for dinner. It's pretty miserable, but the light and warmth of the fire is at least some comfort against the cold and the dark.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 11, 2022 19:14:13 GMT -5
With trembling hands and chattery teeth, Astrid takes anything warm Zarius can offer her. The mug in her hands makes for a good heat source, and she lightly drums them along the sides to ease herself into the sensation of having working fingers once more. Luckily, the wind died down shortly after the avalanche, so at least the air is quiet tonight. The strangest thing about the Dragon's Spine is the distinct lack of evening crickets singing. Astrid tried all day to keep up a conversation, but she's worn out from the difficult trek along the mountain. Aside from the crackling of the fire, silence engulfs their tiny camp.
It isn't soon before long that Astrid finds herself drifting off to sleep, her head bobbing up and down as she tries to stay sitting up and awake. Who knew adventuring could be so tiring? And troublesome. That darn mountain, trying to sweep her off the side, down the hill, and bury her in the bottom of the valley. Sleepy words come mumbling from her mouth. "Hey, Mister Zarius... Thanks fer sa...vin' me... That-" She yawns. "sure was nice've ya..." Her head bobs forward again, finding a comfortable rest against the collar of her coat that's been warmed by the fire.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 11, 2022 22:00:51 GMT -5
Zarius watches her fall asleep and pokes at the fire, making sure to keep it going throughout the coldest hours of the night. He dozes while crouched on his feet until morning light breaks over the mountain peaks that tower above them on all sides.
He gets up and stretches stiffly, swinging his arms to get the blood pumping again. He gives Astrid's foot a tap with his foot. "Wake up. We need to get going."
They enjoy another meager meal of warm drink and slightly charred rations before breaking down camp and continuing their trek across the unforgiving Spine. The snow is deep but the weather had eased up. There were even a few breaks in the cloud cover which were a welcomed sight. Under any other circumstances, even the harsh land before them would be beautiful and pristine to behold.
Zarius pulls the rudimentary map back out as they crest the side of the next mountain slope after they spent a few hours climbing to a higher vantage point. He looks out across the snow covered mountains before them and back down at the paper with cartoony peaks doodled on it. Scratching the back of his head, he looks back and forth a few times then holds the map up against the horizon.
"Ah. There it is." He points across the valley from their current position. Sure enough, tucked up against a ravine is a small dark pocket with a few snow covered out buildings and a lonely cart sitting outside of it. "Let us go."
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 12, 2022 21:01:20 GMT -5
Astrid does her very best not to complain about the trek. This was her idea, and she's going to see it through. But all this walking and trudging and climbing and the thin air has her completely pooped. Even if they find the mines, what are they going to do? What if they're caved in? They don't have the tools to dig them out. Well, if it's a mining camp, there might be pickaxes and shovels and carts there they can use. Swinging a pickaxe can't be much different than a hammer, and she could practice her smithing rhythym while they dig them out. But what if they're not in a camp? What if it's just a cave? There's a lot of things she didn't factor in, and without the energy to talk, she's left wondering what the heck the next steps are.
They finally reach the peak of the mountain they've been climbing all day, and she plops down in the snow to catch her breath. She looks around at the landscape around them and is pleasantly surprised by its beauty. She wouldn't have ever gotten this view if they didn't bust their asses to get to the top for a view of the land. Zarius seemed set on a vantage point, and maybe he was right about it. Turns out, he is right, and she follows his pointing finger to try and identify the spot he's found. "That tiny speck in the valley way over there?" she asks. "UUUGH..." There's her first complaint. She flops back in the snow and decides it's time to rest.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 13, 2022 10:32:38 GMT -5
Zarius sighs, his breath hanging in the frigid air. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and surveys the mountains stretching before them. He wasn't keen on dragging Astrid through the snow, so he'd let her lie there for a bit. He'd admit it, the mine was still a long ways off. To reach it they would have to descend the side of the mountain they were perched upon then cross the valley and scale the opposite side. That left a lot of time to run into trouble or get caught in another sudden blizzard. They might be able to reach it the next day if they were lucky, but it was clear that the terrain was wearing down the half-dwarf.
He looks down the slope a little bit and notices something odd. It appears to be debris from some previous travelers who had long since moved on. Curious, he plods through the snow over to it and starts brushing off the snow. Realizing what it was, a mischievous grin spreads across his face.
He walks back over to Astrid and stands over her.
"Hey. You want to do something stupid and reckless?" He asks with a wide, toothy grin and he shows her what he pulled out of the snowbank.
What the tiefling had found was a small wooden sled. The pieces that would have attached to the harness of some beast of burden had been broken off and thus it was left abandoned here on the slope. Course, they wouldn't need a beast to pull it if they let gravity do some work.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 13, 2022 21:06:31 GMT -5
Astrid looks up at Zarius. With the sun behind him, he's a looming devilish shadow above her. But his grin sticks out, white teeth shining against his dark skin. His chest and belly seem especially bizarrely shaped in this light. Does she want to do something stupid and reckless? That's not a question she would ever expect from him, so she sits up in the snow.
"What do you mean?" she asks, her eyes adjusting to view him properly. He's got something in his hands. Is that... "A sled?" she asks. Her gaze turns down the mountain then looks back at him with an excited grin. "Sleddin' down the mountain? That seems super stupid and reckless! But dangerous and fun!" She jumps up to her feet, suddenly full of energy for this new kind of adventure. "Yes, definitely! Let's do it!"
Astrid snatches the sled from Zarius and foists it over her head then rushes to find the clearest path down the mountain. Luckily this part didn't get affected by the avalanche, so easily enough she finds a place to set it down. It begins to slide without her sitting on it, and she scrambles after it and catches it, slipping and falling on her ass in the snow. "Come on already!"
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 14, 2022 10:16:40 GMT -5
Zarius trudges over and holds the sled while Astrid gets into it. The sled is similar to dog sled with a handle and place to stand on the back, and hopefully steer. Zarius keeps back there thinking that between him and Astrid, the weight would be distributed fairly evenly. "Make sure you hold on and do not make any sudden movements. Be ready to bail out into the snow should anything go wrong."
As the sled starts sliding down the crest of the mountain, he adjusts his grip and looks ahead to ensure they do not hit anything on the way down.[1]
Easier said than done. The slope is steep and they very quickly pick up speed as they descend. They kick up a cloud of fine powder behind them as they nyoom downhill. Protruding rocks flash by them at startling speeds and there are patches of deeper snow which they have no way to avoid. The whole experience quickly goes from a stupid and reckless but fun idea to an absolutely nerve-racking, white-knuckle, hold-on-for-your-life ride of horrible, gruesome, painful death.
Zarius rarely regrets even his dumbest plans. This one though? Yeah. He regrets this one.
They fly down the mountain side and suddenly hit some moguls. The wood of the sled cracks and splinters from the jostling, but it manages to hold. Then gravity seems to leave them for a second as the wind stings their faces. Zarius feels the nose of the sled tip forward. They were airborne.
He internally panics as it is hard to tell how far away the ground is due to the featureless white surfaces all around them. He throws his weight backwards and gets the nose of the sled back up a bit as they feel the rungs of the sled contact the slope again with a thwumph.
Somehow they weren't dead...yet.
[1] Iron Grip
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 15, 2022 17:03:49 GMT -5
The speed at which the two of them fly down the mountain on the sled is nothing short of exhilarating. Astrid grips the sides of the less-than-perfect sled tight. Their initial descent was a little nerve-wracking, but that quickly fades into excitement and joy. "WOOOOOO!" Astrid lets out a shout, enjoying the ride. As they approach the middle of the mountain, things start to get bumpy where clusters of snow gathered as the terrain evened out. The ride is decidedly a little less fun, and now Astrid's grip is much tighter, but she's not scared. This was Mister Zarius' idea, and he would never suggest something that would get them killed.
Then the ride becomes even bumpier. There's cracking, then suddenly they're thrust into the air, and Astrid feels her stomach riding up into her throat, her bum no longer sat on the sled but feeling the cold wind. "We're flyin'!" she shouts excitedly. They crash down hard, and she catches her gut and takes in what just happened then looks up at Zarius and laughs at his evident terror so hard she doesn't notice the sled cracking more as they approach the bottom. Suddenly it splits apart, the skiis veering off to either side and the bottom falling out from beneath her. Astrid's ass hits the snow, then her boots, then she goes careening forward and sent tumbling down the rest of the hill a good hundred feet or so. It's not a comfortable experience, and when she finally comes to a stop, she pulls her head out of the snow and shakes it from her hair and horns. The rolling leaves her dizzy, but mostly unharmed. Maybe a few bruises here and there. She can't say the same for her adventuring guardian.
"Mister Zarius?" she calls, dragging herself to her feet. "Are ya alright??" How hard can it be to find a charcoal tiefling in a sea of snow?
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Oct 15, 2022 20:39:31 GMT -5
When the sled broke apart and Astrid went tumbling through the snow, Zarius was flung from the back of the sled and ended up landing in a deep bank of snow. The force of the fall, despite his cat-like reflexes, still resulted in him basically getting buried up over his head so that only the tips of his two horns stick out of the snow like strangely shaped tubers.[1]
He raises his arms up and clears the snow from around his head and sputters snow out of his face. That was a pretty dumb idea. He had no idea why he thought that wouldn't end badly. It's like something just clouded over his better judgement. He clears the snow from his vision and sees the half-dwarf trudging through the snow a good few dozen feet down the slope from him. Ah. There was his answer.
Squirming a bit and dragging himself out of the snow, he gets back onto his feet and starts shaking the snow out of his winter clothing. He was definitely chilled now and it would only get worse as the snow melted from his body heat and soaked into his clothes. They would need to make it up to the camp outside the mine quickly in order to dry themselves off.
He looks at Astrid. She seemed okay for the most part. The sled was another story, but he hadn't expected to use it more than once anyway.
"Well, we are at the bottom now. Ready for more uphill?" He asks.
[1] Cats Grace
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Oct 15, 2022 20:58:34 GMT -5
Seeing that Zarius is okay, Astrid feels enough relief to let out a laugh and pump her arms into the air. "That was awesome! I'd do it again if the sled weren't in pieces!" She picks up her knees and marches in place, full of energy. "Yeah, I'm ready fer more trudgin'!" With that, she turns around in place, looks around through the valley, and identifies the small cluster of buildings not too far from the base of a mountain less than a mile away. "Let's go!"
With that, she starts pushing through the dense snow in the valley. What would usually take less than an hour takes almost two hours with how much the snow slows them down, but she can see the goal destination, so she lets that keep pushing her forward. Finally, they make trek up towards the mining operation and find it empty currently. There's a trail broken into the snow from someone else leaving, but it's since been piled up after another dump of snow. A sign hangs from one of the outbuildings that reads, "Mine closed." Astrid tilts her head at that and looks around.
"Ya think everyone left cause of the weather?" she asks. Most miners are dwarves, and dwarves are stubborn. No earth is too tough for them to dig through. So what made people leave? She peeks into a window of one of the shacks and sees some cots with the belongings of several people left behind. So maybe not everyone left? She's not sure, so she looks to Zarius for guidance.
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