Shaa and Snowy made excellent time running through the street. Maybe it was because it was dark outside. Maybe it was because it was the holiday season. Maybe it was because no one wanted to get in the way of a rampaging Minotaur and drunk snow dragon. Whatever the reason, as they arrived at the hideout, things were looking up.

Whooo hooo. Check it Snowy! Look at all of our boxes, we totally won. Several people in the warehouse gave Shaa a sideways glance. We won….for the children and downtrodden. With various eye rolls, the people in the warehouse went back to work. Shaa noticed Nick in the corner. Hey, we made it. Where’s my milk and muffins?

Nick laughed, his belly shaking like a bowl full of jelly. There will be plenty of snacks for everyone as soon as we are done tonight. Right now we are getting ready for the deliveries. There is a lot of work to do. Where did you get the cart?

Friend of mine in town. I have to return it to him today with no scratches. Nick thought for a moment. Sure sure, of course. Shaa noticed that there were less and less people. Where was everyone going? Nick saw the confusion on Shaa’s face and picked up on the question. Not everyone was as lucky as you tonight. Most everyone is going to go pick up the transportation. As you already have yours, would you mind watching the warehouse while we are gone? Shouldn’t be too long. Guard duty? Blugh. OK, but just for you Nick. And the children…. And the children….

Fantastic. I knew I could count on you. Just keep everything safe until we get back, which shouldn’t be long. No wrecking stuff, got it. Shaa looked over at Snowy who was trying to get out of the cart.

As it turns out, as the initial buzz of glee and floatiness that comes with a sip of alcohol slowly starts to ebb out, shifting into something new, it comes with some degree of unsteadiness.

For a woman as well-versed in grace as Einheria, a dancer's poise coming to her as naturally as the cycle of footsteps, the whirl of a dance like the one-two, left-right of a saunter down the street, it's strange and rather startling to feel like a stranger within her own body. Her hands tremble just slightly as she grips the edges of the cart, the world threatening to spiral around her as she leaps over the side, a squeak of panic following as she stumbles to the ground, holding her arms out in a last-ditch attempt to find balance.

She stays still for a moment, merely waiting for the world to stay still around her, before she straightens her posture, taking a deep breath as she slowly turns to look at Shaa and his companion, summoning her glaive once more in a burst of snowflakes and sparkles, though not for the sake of combat. No, this time, all she needs is some balance, her hand braced against the pole like she's gripping a crutch and not a dangerous, glittering weapon as she walks a little closer.

"W-We'll take good care of everything," Einheria says softly, her voice still bubbly around the edges, however hard she tries to keep it balanced, at ease. "Sir Shaa is... is very capable. And I have a fair bit of power myself. We shall not let you down."

Nick looked over at the tipsy snow dragon and the Minotaur who had a reputation for…being somewhat messy and almost changed his mind about leaving them to their own devices. However, Nick knew Shaa to be a Minotaur of his word and this was the season of miracles. Ok you all have got this. We should be back in about an hour, carts on tow. Once everyone gets back, we can start the deliveries. We are running out of night so we need to get going. Don’t worry Nick. Shaa said assuringly. Your best people..creat…rogues are on the job. Shaa gives an overdramatized salute as Nick and crew head out the door.

Shaa turns back to Einheria who is trying her level best to stay upright. How you holding up there? Maybe someone left some hot coco or something around here. Nick always has hot coco and cookies around for some weird reason. Shaa looks around the make shift office. He finds a list of dozens of addresses. Likely going to be part of the deliveries later on tonight. It was late but Shaa wasn’t tired. He had looked forward to this for months. It was hard not telling his friends or the guild what he was up to. There was even a commission to the guild to stop this that “ accidentally” got lost in a tragic fire and hoof stomping accident. So sad.

Shaa finds some left over peppermint candy and offers one to Snowy. It was something at least. The warehouse was pretty quiet with no one walking around. It would likely stay that way till everyone got back with the carts. After circling the place a couple times, Shaa suddenly gets a cold chill in his spine…

As soon as the two of them are left in the warehouse by themselves, Einheria is quick to find a place to perch, settling carefully atop an empty crate, ankles crossed, the pole of her glaive laid across her lap, hands folded carefully atop it, ever the picture of her usual elegance. If not for the slight sway of her upper body and the lack of focus in her eyes, it would be a little more difficult to tell that she's not entirely sober this way; she's deceptively secure, doing her absolute best to uphold the image of security, even if there's no one to preserve the illusion for but Shaa.

She merely hums to herself, a sweet, empty melody with no real tune or purpose, as Shaa roams the warehouse, simply something to fill the silence; it feels a little eerie when the silence drapes itself all over them, otherwise, with the only sound coming from Shaa's hooves tapping against the tiles as he paces. Quiet is never a bad thing, but it feels a bit... intimidating, here, with just the two of them, knowing how much they have to look after.

Still, the slight unease settling over her isn't enough to stop Einheria from smiling when Shaa approaches her with a little peppermint candy, a gleeful sparkle illuminating her eyes as she unwraps it, popping it into her mouth and letting the cool taste wash over her. It's grounding, comforting, the freshness staving off some of the fuzz in her head, settling her back in the moment a bit more--

...and making her all the more aware of the odd chill settling over the room.

"...Sir Shaa," she whispers, voice hushed, wary, her grip on her glaive tightening. "...do you feel that..? Something... strange in the air?"

He did not like this feeling one bit. It was kind of like having ants live under your skin. Crawling and creeping, an itch that could not be scratched. Shaa had learned a long time ago to trust his instincts. Heading over to a nearby window, he peers out into the shadow of the night. As it happen, Shaa has night vision. If he didn’t, he may not have seen them coming. 

Putting a finger to his snout and looking at Einheria, Shaa gives her the “ quiet” look. Quickly with little click clacks on the floor, Shaa makes his way over for a quick conference.

Ok good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news. Apparently we weren’t nearly as subtle with our escape as we wanted to be. The Necromancer from earlier found us and he brought a lot more of his buddies with him this time. From the looks of it, some slightly crispy zombie carolers, an undead hulk and some other shambly things. They are definitely heading right for us. They might be a little mad.

The good news is, it’s just you and me here so we are free to be….creative..with these guys. We acquired the gifts fair and square so we just need to hold them off a bit. This is also a chance to finally give it to that creepy necromancer for sending those things after me earlier.  Shaa strokes his chin a bit while considering the situation. Fighting the undead in here would make it much too difficult to fight and protect the boxes. What they needed to do was make sure they never even got the chance. I think it would be safer if we took the fight to them and kept it outside. But how to distract them…and then he got an idea. A wickedly awful idea. Shaa picks out his flask and his gift bag and heads outside. We need to move quickly.

Shaa takes some deep breaths, filling his soul with strength and courage. Flask in hand, he sets to work. Shaa runs over and starts putting up walls in strange patterns. Wall after wall emerge, closing alleyways, creating paths, dead ending others. Shaa is almost spent from the effort. Drinking his flask, he gets a boost of energy and he’s ready to get back to it. Wall, turn, wall, wall, alley. Soon his work is complete. Let’s see how you jerks can handle a maze run. To finish off, Shaa reaches back into his magic bag and pulls a QTVs3szT

---

Stone Wall
Jolly Bag of Gifts: 15 - 16: A Partridge Feather
A partridge feather which summons a chubby partridge. The partridge can fly and speak common, making it a decent spy. It is very polite, but never seems to know how it got here. The partridge remains with you until the thread ends, or until it is dismissed.
Flask of Feijoada
Night Vision Eyes

Curiosity has always been Einheria's key virtue, and thusly, her key vice.

It is all-consuming, an everwinter storm raging within her, a spiral of snow and wind that whirls around in an endless loop around her heart, leading her to any answer she thinks she can reasonably seek. Though she has only been a part of this open world beyond her little cavern for a short time, that curiosity has taken her myriad places she likely should never have ventured; into the mouths of dens of thieves, beneath the eyes of those with power greater than hers, into the lairs and caves and domains of old beings she cannot understand. It is consuming, and she has never been able to deny it, no matter how loudly her paranoia sings.

Even so, in this moment, she does not let it consume her, for once-- she simply falls silent as is asked of her and lets Shaa do the observing, unease jolting through her shoulders at how quietly he walks back over. For a man as boisterous as Shaa, it's... strange to see him so quiet, to see him trying so hard to be stealthy, even.

"Oh," she whispers, hushed, nervous, gaze flitting over to the window. This... certainly sounded like it would be quite the ordeal, didn't it? "...then... let us give them a Winter's Crown to remember, yes?"

As Shaa leaps up, Einheria is quick to follow, watching with interest as he sets to assembling a veritable labyrinth of walls-- oh, a minotaur and a labyrinth, she swears she's heard this kind of story before somewhere!--, idly twirling her glaive in hand as she watches.

"You truly are amazing, Sir Shaa," she chirps gleefully, her expression only further lightening as soon as Shaa plucks a feather from that bag of his-- nearly as soon as he does, a delightfully chubby partridge flutters down to greet them, perching on her hand as she extends it. "Oh! It seems we have obtained a sentry, yes? This should be quite beneficial in keeping us aware while we defend!"

As the feather transforms into a chubby partridge, it immediately skips Shaa and lights on Einheria’s finger. The slight did not go unnoticed by Shaa. Why hellllloooo my dear lady. Petey, Petety the partridge is my name and spying is my game. Although I have been known as a love bird from time to time. Petey does a salacious whistle much to Shaa’s annoyance. Ummm Petey was it? I am the one who summoned you from my magic bag. We don’t have time to mess around here. Petey goes on ignoring him.  Uggg Minotaurs. More beast than man if you ask me, am I right? It’s like moo moo this and moo moo that? It’s all so very tedious. But I would never get bored with you my dear lady no. I would fall deep into the endless pools of your frosty ga….ark! Shaa grabbed Petey and brought him in close.

If you ignore me again you little brat, I am going to put a partridge THROUGH a pear tree. You got me? It’s just jokes! Of course sir, of course, what can I do for you? Sing you a love song. Write you some sloppy poetry. It’s the season and all right? Just shut up for a second and listen. Any minute now, a herd of the undead are going to be making their way through my little puzzle box here. What’s up with Minotaur’s and mazes. No offense, you strike me as more of a “go right through it” kind of guy. We are just buying time. The undead are out to destroy some children’s presents. Are you sure it’s not a fuzzy green guy that looks perpetually grumpy? I think I know this one. I wish. All I need you to do is fly up there and tell us where they are. We can’t have any of these things solving the maze on accident.

Recon duty hunh? Why can’t I get summoned to a bakery. You and me both Petey, but apparently that’s not our lot tonight. Head on out. Petey flits back over to Snowy. I will see YOU later. With that, Petey flies high in the sky towards the oncoming dead. 

Shaa looks over at Snowy. Ok we have the high ground. Pick your spot and let these trash monkeys have it. I’ll be close so call me if you need me. For the kids.

Myriad emotions flash across Einheria's face as the partridge's beak falls open and a stream of words falls from it; there is utter delighted surprise at the fact that it can talk and that she can comprehend it, followed by confusion over the way the little creature addresses her, all flowing into what can only be considered an entanglement of disbelief and embarrassment. Color rises to Einheria's cheeks as the little bird keeps talking, her face dyed in shades of frosty iridescence, her skin going cold as blood rushes to the surface of it.

Oh, goodness; this little thing was so different from all of her own birds...! Neither Fimbul nor the snowbirds that answered her call were so... brazen; the former was so sweet and graceful, and the latter flitted between fluttery gentility and unabashed violence. How strange, indeed, this little bird was...!

"A-Ah, well, thank you for your agreement," Einheria mumbles, quite uncertain of how to respond to advances from a bird. Her brow furrows as she watches the little partridge flit upward, ready to serve as their sentry, and she shakes her head to herself, twirling her glaive as she starts walking over to the mouth of the maze. "I will be ready, as always."

Frost practically radiates from her as she adopts an offensive stance, legs braced, both hands set firmly on her glittering, translucent glaive, the icelike veil of her mantle ready to use as soon as she may need it. There's a determination in her expression, a winter storm given life, a blizzard ready to rain down on the shambling undead until they can make no further effort to claim the prizes they've obtained.

"...for the children."

It doesn’t take Petey very long to come back with his first report. I’m not sure who you guys ticked off but there are a lot of undead in there. Morse have entered the maze, others are rambling in circles just outside the entrance. Not the ripest bunch of bananas if you know what I mean. 

Good. Shaa said rubbing his hands together that were damp from the night air. They just needed to keep them busy until the rest of the group got back. Should be anytime now. In the mean time, Shaa looks over at Snowy. Ok I’m off. Don’t forget the plan. Use Petey if you need me but I can make it back super quickly if you run into trouble. Shaa runs into the maze. He checks his bearings using his true north Tatoo which is in the shape of a compass. It’s not a super complicated maze so Shaa knew he could navigate it. The only real issue was that necromancer out there calling the shots. He might have to deal with that.

As Shaa moved deeper into the maze, he could hear the sounds of the undead shifting around in frustration. Ugggg. Merrr masss. Turning a corner, Shaa runs into a walking skeleton and a zombie behind him. The skeleton is armed with a sword and shield. As the skeleton strikes with the sword, Shaa hops back as the sword slices through the air with a quick SWISH. He tries grabbing the sword but the deft skeleton parries with his shield and swipes again narrowly missing Shaa’s snout. Woah you are pretty good for a dead guy. 

The zombie pushes past the skeleton and lunges at him. Shaa reaches down and grabs the zombie by the ankle and yanks hard. The zombie stumbles awkwardly backwards into his skeletal companion. Shaa takes advantage of the distraction and grabs the skeletons sword. With a quick stab downward, he pins the two to the ground like a toothpick in a sandwich. Two down. Ok you guys behave yourself. Shaa continues on into the maze.

In all the time that has passed since she departed the comfort of her home in the mountains of the Frost Gale, venturing for the first time beyond her father's side, Einheria has discovered one key thing about herself: there are few things she despises as much as feeling useless.

As Shaa charges into the maze, disappearing to deal with the zombies shuffling into the maze, Einheria stands at the mouth of it, merely... hesitating, watching, as if waiting for some chance for action to leap into her lap. Is this what she is meant to do, to stand here and wait for something to creep by while she simply lets Shaa be the one to take the brunt of all of this danger? Such a thing feels... wrong. It is true that she lacks the same raw strength as her companion, the same versatility, but...

Waiting and letting him handle all of the work while she remains here, a princess in a tower, feels indescribably inappropriate.

Perhaps it is reckless, really, to set her glaive against one of the walls and use it as a means of support so she can climb atop one of them, desperate to maintain her balance as she settles into place. It takes some effort, to be sure, what with the lingering tipsiness and the general unfamiliarity of scaling a wall, but Einheria manages, and she slips down onto the other side, rushing out to find the opening that leads into Shaa's wild labyrinth, ready to pick off as many of the undead on the other side as she can. It takes some searching, some helplessly circling around, but in time, she happens upon a small cluster of shambling corpses, aimlessly looking for their goal.

She takes a deep breath before adopting a dancer's stance, clicking her ankles together so clear blades of ice emerge from the soles of her boots [1], before whirling her glaive and aiming it at the earth beneath her, watching a thin sheen of ice creep over it in one smooth rush. [2]

In that instant, she vaults into action.

Einheria launches herself forward, twirling her glaive as she rushes toward the zombies, slamming the blade into one of them as though she's wielding a club instead of a polearm, a squeak of surprise following as she watches it hit the ground. She swivels about, mantle flowing with her as she glides across the ice she's created, a surge of delight flooding over her as the dead struggle to keep their footing, struggle to follow, unable to match her speed as she skates across the ice, a lethal little snow fairy.

Goodness, what a night this already is-- as she lifts a leg to kick one of the zombies in the chest, the blade of her ice skate cleaving through it, she can't help but whisper a prayer that Shaa is faring alright as well.

---

[1] Ice Skates

[2] Ice Over

As the battle continued, Petey flitted down to Shaa to report. 

Ok then, so coming up in the next turn you have 3 roamers on the left, a skeleton crew of 4 on the right, lightly armed. No sign of the necromancer yet. And as a side note, the beautiful snow lady is causing ice issues and slicing things up over there. 

Ok sounds good, keep watching Petey. If anything looks particularly dicey or you see the necromancer, you let me know. That guy is seriously sneaky. As Petey flew away to continue to monitor, Shaa walked up and put his ear to the wall, listening carefully. He could only hear silence at first, but then came the unmistakable moans of undead carolers. To his horror, he realizes that they are singing the undead versions of popular songs. Zom-bie the goul man,  was undead rotting soul. With his crumbling face, ambling all around the place, he’ll come back to life someday… ughh that’s awful. Shaa pushes hard on the wall until it falls, crushing the carolers flat into the ground. To his dismay, Shaa realizes he can still hear them under the stone slab. Mmmhh hav mhhgv mjhgb…. Shaa conjures a replacement wall and continues on.

Opting to avoid the skeleton crew all together, he keeps making turns to make it closer to the entrance. Sensing an attack from above, a reanimated cat attempts to assault him. With scruffy fur and a missing eye, it makes Shaa wish his night vision wasn’t as good. As the rotting beast bares down on him, Shaa turns away and it lands safely next to him. With a strong kick to the cats midsection, he attempts to send the undead creature flying. When the kick lands however, the cat simply explodes in a spray of fur and teeth. He shivers as the tiny click clack of bone and claw clattering against the wall echo into the night. Come on man! That’s just wrong! Shaa shouts to the necromancer wherever he is. As he presses on with the search, he can hear much larger and louder voices up ahead.

---

Fighters Sense
Bulls Strength
Stone Wall

Dispatching the cluster of zombies she's happened upon is... not necessarily an easy endeavor, but Einheria would hardly call it the most difficult of her combat experiences thus far. Rotting flesh and feeble bones yield quite easily beneath the weight of her glaive, their sluggishness only amplified by the frost whirling at their feet, and the nimbleness granted to her by the glittering blades affixed to her winter boots only makes it feel smoother. Still, she's hardly as adept or as swift as Shaa might be with such things-- oh, she really does admire the almost comedic speed with which he maneuvers through combat!

Still, as soon as the defeated undead lay in a pile at her feet, she's quick to pick up the pace once more, ice still shimmering around the blades of her skates as she continues around the maze, looking to loop around the side and pick off as many as she can on the outside. Her glacial heart pounds in her chest as she skates about, quick to pick a fight with any shambling corpses she may encounter along the way-- luckily for her, these still seem to be the smaller ones, those that give easily to a few well-placed hits.

It's comforting, and yet not at the same time; Sir Shaa had mentioned an... undead hulk, or something of the sort. Einheria shivers at the thought-- she hardly considers herself delicate, but she knows he would likely fare better against such a creature.

She pauses for a moment, retracting the blades of her skates and setting her glaive in place again, carefully vaulting herself up onto the thin platform atop the walls once more. Her legs tremble with the impact, but once she's settled, she's quick to cup her hands around her mouth, calling out to her unseen ally.

"Sir Shaa, I have handled a plethora of the undead on the exterior! There has been no sight of the larger few-- have you spotted any?"

As Shaa continues through the maze, the voices get louder and louder. Taking a quick peek around the corner, Shaa sees not one but two undead hulk slogging towards an open alley way. A path that Shaa knows will take them precariously close to the warehouse. At least they are not looking at him. Shaa tries to approach them as quickly and quietly as possible. He is about half way there when a voice rings out from somewhere behind him an up the wall.

"Sir Shaa, I have handled a plethora of the undead on the exterior! There has been no sight of the larger few-- have you spotted any?" Shaa froze in place hoping the undead hulks did not hear that. But he is never that lucky. It’s for reasons like this that stealth has never been his strong suit. With the sounds of creaking bone and sinew, the undead hulks turn to face him. Shaa slaps himself in the face with his hand in frustration. 

Calming down and focusing on his training, Shaa coleuses his spirit into solid matter. Seeing as his opponents are undead, Shaa turns and pours light magic into his spirit, giving him an unearthly glow. As the hulks start towards him, Shaa flashes out his hands in front of them in multiple X patterns. Beams of light infused sprit energy blast out from Shaa’s hands, slashing through the hulks, dicing them into smelly pieces of rotted flesh detritus. He walks over to the steaming masses that are dissolving in from him. He wonders for a moment and turns on his earth aura. As he does, the pieces of dust and debris surrounding him are now also infused with light energy causing the creatures to dissolve even faster.  Cool.

Shaa calls back out to Snowy. Not wanting to worry her, he says Nope! All clear over here. He kicks a piece of bone as he continues past the mess.

---

Earth Aura ( light damage infused)
Art of the Spirit
Tranquility
Monastery Master  (turn 1) Light Damage

A long stretch of silence follows Einheria's question-- one of those eerie spans of silence, cut into only by the distant sounds of shuffling feet that come from the zombies working their way through Shaa's labyrinth. For an individual as prone to chatter and bombastic action as Shaa, it's... worrying for no answer to come, and for a moment, she can't help but wonder if he merely hadn't heard her, or if something has happened and she hadn't been notified, but then there's a strange hiss, followed by some indistinct clatter. Panic wells up within her, and she's about to repeat her question--

But then there comes the reassurance that all is well, that all is clear and fine and settled, and... despite the feeling that perhaps that may not be the whole truth, Einheria merely nods to herself and continues walking the maze perimeter, searching for any signs of anything unusual.

"Alright, I am glad to hear it," she calls before leaping back down, into the maze this time rather than out. Oh, the destruction Shaa has unleashed is evident from the second she glances about-- there's a collapsed wall, a chorus of aching groans seeping out from beneath it, detritus clinging to everything... goodness, she hadn't realized that Winter's Crown could be such a morbid festival. No description she's ever read of it has included anything quite like this, but her texts are quite outdated...

Einheria clicks her heels together once more [1], opting to speed about through the maze, careful not to step on any remnants of eviscerated undead. They seem to have picked off quite a few of the zombies by now; what matters now is finding their source. Still, that seems a matter best tackled in tandem, so finding Shaa feels... ideal.

She skates along at record speed, moving as quickly as her body will allow, turning corner after corner, following the residue of violence until it leads her to her companion, her face lighting up as soon as she realizes he's perfectly intact.

"Ah, Sir Shaa!" she exclaims, retracting her skates once more. "I have encountered more still corpses than shambling corpses by this point; I believe we may nearly be done...! The source of our problem is what remains, yes?"

As Shaa sees Snowy approach, he is filled with a sense of relief that she hadn’t been eaten by the undead. That would have ruined any celebratory events after all this was done. Trying to subtly wipe off any remains of the dead from his fur he smiles and greets her warmly. Hey hey, yes all we have encountered so far is just the B team. If we want to end this, we need to put a quick stop to the puppet master of the deceased. The only question is, where is he hiding. Shaa rubs his furry chin in thought as Petey flits down out of the darkness. Shaa looks at him. Report.

There are still several mobs roving around but no one close to solving the maze. There was a shop keeper who is currently trapped behind one of the walls you put up. He has been saying something about needing a restroom for the last 30 minutes. Shaa looks at Snowy a bit embarrassed. Umm I’ll take care of that…no one is perfect. Petey continues. Yeah he was all like “ I had too much ale, what happened to my door?..yes Petey, got it. What else?  Ummm nothing else. Just a creepy looking dude in a cloak hiding behind some crates. What! where? Over there, dudes not dead though I checked. Just show us the way Petey. Ok but the guy seems kind of boring. Like, the guy you leave at a party boring. Because he’s obsessed with his socks that guy. 

Come on, show us the way. Reach reaches into his magic bag and pulls BWBjoNPa. Let’s go finish this.

---

Jolly bag of gifts. 17 - 18: A Woven Basket
A lovely hand-woven basket; the basket casts "Create Food", and fills itself with a very nice meal for at least two separate individuals.