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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Dec 31, 2022 17:54:31 GMT -5
Running at a faster speed feels nice for Astrid, even if the snow still makes it a bit difficult to manage. When they happen upon the odd snowdrift, Astrid's curiosity immediately overtakes her. Gerhart starts investigating for yeti tracks, of which there are many, finding the remnants of some sort of attack a couple of days ago. Luckily, no snow has fallen, so the tracks are fresh, though they're overlaid - new tracks and old tracks alike, with some snow piles that are neither drifts nor packed down, appearing as if something was pulled out from beneath a pile.
"I'm not sure we want to see what's under that snow drift..."
"Huh?" Astrid calls, having already started digging out whatever is underneath. When she finds a wall of wood, she comes to realize that it isn't something dead, so she pushes on it with all her strength. Wood groans under the weight of snow as whatever is beneath falls over. Snow slops off and reveals that beneath the snow is actually a wooden wagon! Under the other piles are either crates or barrels, some of which are broken apart with their contents strewn under the snow or missing.
She steps back and looks at Gerhart, brushing her bangs out of her face. "Sorry, what were ya sayin'? I didn't really catch it."
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 31, 2022 18:08:56 GMT -5
"Well....that's better than I expected." He gives a soft laugh seeing that it just seemed to be a collection of debris. At least they know now why the attack happened. He shouldn't be surprised they were after food, that seemed to motivate most attacks. Especially now that winter was settling in across Charon, things must be especially hard in Frost Gale.
Gerhart's vision drifts off catching a few humanoid footprints, looks like the driver of this wagon took off....the horse pulling it probably didn't get as lucky. "Looks like we had a hungry yeti, let's hope its all full and tuckered out when we find it."
He brims with a smile towards Astrid before turning to face the nearby woods. This is where the tracks led, so somewhere inside of there had to be the yeti. Gerhart starts to lead the way through the woods. "We should really start to look for a place to hunker down for the night....I don't think we will make it all the way to the yetis tonight. Better to face them when well rested and not freezing."
Another little chuckle as he kept trudging on. He tried to think about actually fighting the yeti, come to think of it he had never faced one. Are they just big guys? Friendly? Massive ice breath or no? Lots of unknowns.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Dec 31, 2022 20:01:38 GMT -5
Looking over the area, Astrid nods in agreement. "Aye, let's get goin'." With the Quicken spell having long worn off, the two of them trudge through the unbroken snow in the trees. Strong as she may be, her legs are short, so Astrid sticks to walking behind the taller man with Spicy Pawsage trailing behind her. It's a good thing they're within the trees because the wind starts to pick up as the day comes to an end. Most of the horizon barely peeks through the evergreens as the sun sets behind it. Darkness descends upon them quickly.
"I dunno how big yer little pumpkin tent is, but there ain't a lot of space in here," Astrid says, pulling her hood up to block the wind. "Spicy'll clear the snow though. Bit of flame breath will do the trick." Her cold lips purse to give a short whistle, and Astrid motions to the clearest area they've come across. The hound barks then takes a deep breath, his chest expands, black fur giving way to a warm glow seeping through his ribcage. With a long exhale, the hellhound releases a gout of flame into the area Astrid motions to, melting the snow, and clearing the area. Ice meets flame and steam wicks off the area only briefly before wind carries it away. Hopefully, this is enough space for Gerhart.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 31, 2022 20:34:32 GMT -5
"I don't think we need a whole house's worth of space or nothing, just little patch should be big enough." As Spicy works on clearing the space, Gerhart works on removing the pumpkin from its space on his keychain.
Once the space is cleared, the pumpkin is set on the ground. For a moment it looks like nothing is going to happen, but then it starts to pulse and grow. It eventually ballons up into a decent sized little abode for the night.
Inside, the pumpkabin is decorated with a simple cottage aesthetic. There is a comfortable bed for each of them, tables for eating, a rustic looking window. All the dressings and stylings to make for at least one good night out here in the cold.
"Go ahead and pick a bed, either one is fine. I can get a dinner going for ya if you're feeling up for dinner. Get us something good before going to bed and heading out yeti hunting in the morning."
Surprisingly there was space for a little fire in here that Gerhart would get going. The one downside of this place is it didn't have a food pantry or anything, but he had some food he could throw into a pan and some herbs to go with it. Wouldn't be the best meal either of them ever had, but it beats rations.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 1, 2023 17:02:59 GMT -5
Just like that, with the clearing made, a big magical pumpkin cottage fills the space! "Whoaaaa..." Astrid breathes. "That's incredible!!" She follows Gerhart inside and looks around. "This totally beats campin' out!" Before he's finished offering for her to pick a bed, she's already throwing herself into the one on the left. It is not as quality-made as her bed at home, but she's still so used to sleeping out in nature, that this little cot is absolutely heavenly. "This is niiiice..." she sighs, muffled through the pillow before she sits up again.
"I'm always ready ta have somethin' ta eat. If ya know how ta cook, I'm happy ta eat whatever ya make!" Her feet dangle off the side of the bed, kicking back and forth and thrumming with excitement. Spicy Pawsage hops up on the bed and curls up on the end, his tail wagging, happy to be out of the cold and somewhere warm and comfortable. Astrid ruffles his ears then starts taking her armor off bit by bit. While Gerhart cooks, she starts cleaning her armor, mostly her boots, and then she looks over at the older warrior.
"Want me ta polish yer armor since yer cookin'?" This is partially an offer to do something nice for him in return for the meal, but also because she wants her gremlin hands to see as much armor as possible.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 1, 2023 21:26:42 GMT -5
“Oh don’t worry about that, this is me playing catch up since you and Miss Melodie’s handled the scouting.” He gives a soft laugh as he stands, giving things time to cook a bit as he stretches himself. He does note the likely disappointed look and eventually relents. Gerhart unclips the leather clasps of his cuirass before handing it over to Astrid.
The most noticeable thing about the chest piece at first is the design. It looks as if it has been carved and shaped like dragon scales, a blue tint to each little piece. The other noticeable thing as Astrid holds it is the gentle little electrical hum to it. There is nothing powering it, no attachments that would give off an electricity. The armor itself just seems to buzz in her hands. It has seen some recent patch work, a large puncture mark has been repaired near where his lungs would be. Gerhart further unarmored himself, but the greaves and gauntlets are far less interesting.
As Astrid takes a look over everything, he would quickly set the baked rabbit and vegetable mix with a cup of water beside Astrid. He wasn’t going to interrupt her if she was going to town looking over everything. It was fun watching when somebody had a passion and knowledge for something.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 2, 2023 5:21:37 GMT -5
Astrid's eyes light up when Gerhart offers up his cuirass for her to look at and polish. While the armor thrums with electricity, she thrums with excitement. She takes her gauntlets off quickly and accepts the cuirass then sits back down to look over it with studious eyes. Her fingers run across the scaled surface and then drum over the patch.
"This is made of blue dragon hide, ain't it?" she asks suddenly, her face turning up to look at Gerhart while he's finishing dinner. "Dragon hide's tough as nails, I'm surprised somethin' managed ta nick it like this!" Her knuckle knocks against the metal patch which tries to emulate the look and feel of the scales. To a less discerning eye, it would pass. Astrid's love of armor and metallurgy doesn't let certain details pass. "Whoever patched it up did a pretty good job, I think. Best way ta patch it would be ta get yer hands on more hide, but..." She chuckles a bit. There's a story behind that nervous energy. "...That's a bit hard, ain't it?"
The half-dwarf reaches into her bag and pulls out a couple of rags and some polish and starts pooking away at buffing up the armor. She's happy to have a small project to do with her hands.
"Did ya kill the dragon yerself? Or did ya find it in a pile of loot somewhere? I'd love ta know who made it!"
She's so focused on her little project that she doesn't even notice when dinner is done.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 2, 2023 9:04:25 GMT -5
"Fortunately I've never had to face a dragon myself, but I've made friends with a few people at the Arcane Academy and they showed me this archive place that had some old armors in it. Figured I could use a bit more protection. It's been very good, only thing that's pierced it so far is a giant snake made of bones in the Zeinav Desert."
Admittedly, Gerhart could probably do a lot better of a job maintaining his armor and weapons. He didn't often have a lot of time to just sit down and do these sorts of things. He would definitely have to think of a way to pay her back for this.
"One of the blacksmiths in Eclipse City is the one who patched it back up, she also suggested I go back out and fight a dragon to make it a flawless patch." He laughs softly. "But I figured having a big hole in it was a bigger issue than having it look perfect. Plus I grew up wearing clothes full of patches and fixes, only feels natural I'd do that with my armor too." He grins before taking a bit of his food, trying to gently turn Astrid's attention towards he plate if she looks towards him.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 2, 2023 23:40:33 GMT -5
Astrid's hands slam down in her lap in shock. "A GIANT BONE SNAKE?!" she shouts. "Holy frijoles, the only thing we fought in the desert was a buncha short guys in hoods!!" She of course only knows the word "frijole" from Ulrich's pet baby behir's name. Honestly, a giant bone snake sounds REALLY cool. Astrid can't believe she didn't get to see one of those. Instead, she got beaten up by a BlixtbotTM that had a personal grudge against her for some stupid reason. That's beside the point.
She sets the armor aside and picks up her plate, but she will absolutely keep looking the workmanship over when she's eaten her meal. So she starts shoveling the food into her mouth, an old habit of trying to eat as much as possible without thinking about the taste that's been hard to break.
Through a mouthful, she very casually says, "I've fought a dragon. Killed it too! The big scaley pain in the butt was trappin' merchants in a blizzard up here in Frost Gale." She shovels another bite in her mouth. "Me new grandma an' I did it together! Took bits from his gullet an' enchanted me hammers with it. Got some superstitious dwarves ta lay offa me too." As plainly as she delivers the information, she is still somewhat miffed at the dwarves' behavior, but that's all too common for the half-dwarf with horns.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 3, 2023 19:24:20 GMT -5
"I guess I should count myself lucky I've only ever run into owlbears up here and soon to be yetis." He laughs gently, setting his plate aside having already finished. Not wanting to seem lazy he does take up his swords, fishing a whetstone from his bag to start sharpening his swords.
"Sorry to hear about that, never really understood why some people get so cross about stuff ya can't control ya know? Remember all the side looks I used to get on the streets, bunch of people acting like I asked to lose my parents." The grin he gives is juxtaposed with the sentence he just spoke, but Gerhart is attempting to understand why something like that might bother Astrid. Sure, he's never had to deal with that kind of stuff, but best he can do is try and understand.
He looks out the window a moment, the howling wind is loud, but thankfully they don't feel it. Deep down he was maybe a bit nervous about taking someone who looked as young as Astrid, but from the sounds of it she's dealt with way worse than a simple group of yetis. She's fought things he hasn't even seen. He was gonna have to take on more dangerous jobs to catch up.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 4, 2023 22:16:09 GMT -5
Through a mouthful, Astrid nods. "Owlbears're nasty too," she says with plenty of enthusiasm. "Don't like them much even if I like birds." It takes a moment for her to safely swallow the big bite she took.
Her whole body seems to nod along at his next statement. "Aye, right?? Ain't like I have an idea why I've got meself a pair of horns on me head. Certainly ain't like I asked ta be dropped off on a mountain." With a heavy sigh full of unresolved feelings, her shoulders fall, and she sets her empty plate aside. "Sorry ya lost yer parents too. I know it ain't easy bein' alone." Then her somber energy fades into a smile. "But it sounds like ya got a new family that suits ya well too. I'm glad fer that."
Beside her, Spicy Pawsage shivers a bit. It isn't that the cottage is cold, but the howling wind outside gives the pup his own war flashbacks of stalking through a blizzard. Astrid looks over and ruffles the hound's pointed ears then she snuggles up against his warmth. "Well, I sure am glad ya got this magic cottage. Sleepin' out there wouldn't be all that fun. Hopefully it clears up in the mornin' so we have an easy time findin' the lair."
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Jan 4, 2023 22:25:27 GMT -5
"You have yourself a pretty good new family too. We both seem to be doing a lot better, probably makes the others jealous." One last grin as he collects up the dishes. He takes a few moments to quietly clean off everything and pack it away while Astrid and Spicy get settled in for bed.
Gerhart gives one last tired stretch before falling into bed. Come morning, Gerhart doesn't have a big breakfast out, but sets out some rations for the both of them as he gets dressed in his armor. Once the straps are double checked and the sword belt tightened he gives a little nod to himself.
"All right, eat up and we can head out. From the looks of the tracks we can't be too far away." He would do his best not to rush Astrid out of bed and on the road, but he is eager to get going.
Taking point on the trail again, the tracks are pretty easy to refind. Deep and heavy prints show just how large these creatures must be. Gerhart tracks the trail all the way to a great gaping maw of a cave. The toothy cavern looked like a pretty good place for a pack of yeti to settle down.
"Ready?" He looks over to Astrid with a confident grin.
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