Plotlogs
Shadows In The Snow Sr Korina 240805
In the icy expanses bordering the tundra, a group embarks on a daring pursuit to confront a massive snow leopard believed to hold mystical powers. Among them, Ash, Konstantin, Rachel, Freya, and a guide named Cole, each bringing their unique abilities and equipment to the fore. Their mission: to capture the leopard, alive if possible, for Korina's request.
Their journey leads them to an old Wildling outpost, a relic of times past, where preparation meets opportunity in the form of a recently purchased goat named Oscar, intended as bait for the creature. Despite their careful planning, tensions rise as the cold bites and the outpost reveals its secrets, including the previous team's grim fate, exposed by journals left behind. These writings hint at a bizarre behavior among the animals and the mystic fog that blankets the area, while personal needs and strategic decisions prompt Rachel to don scavenged winter garments from those who came before.
Launching their endeavor under a suffocating mist and the foreboding ambiance of nature's silence, the group advances toward the leopard's den. The catalyst for their confrontation is Oscar, driven by a potion provided by Korina, whose contents remain a mystery but are crucial to their plan.
As they reach the cave's entrance, a direct assault ensues propelled by Nikolai's fiery determination, Freya's readiness for violence, and Konstantin and Ash's magical and technological prowess. The large cat, revealed to hold a magical presence causing an unnatural chill, confronts the team with a frightening growl and protective defiance, only to succumb to the combined effects of the potion, tear gas, and their relentless assault.
In the aftermath of the battle, as the creature lays defeated but alive, the victory is marred by an unexpected discovery. The majestic snow leopard, in death, reveals its true form as a cursed woman, sparking questions of morality, magic, and the price of their mission. The group's actions, driven by need, curiosity, and the quest for understanding, paint a complex picture of adventure, where folklore and reality collide under the watchful gaze of the shadows in the snow.
(Shadows in the Snow(SRKorina):SRKorina)
[Sun Aug 4 2024]
On an abandoned Wildling outpost bordering the tundra
Nestled against the backdrop of wide-open plains and icy expanses, this outpost is a cluster of weather-beaten structures, half-buried in snow and overgrown with hardy tundra flora. The main building to the north, once a sturdy log cabin, now leans precariously to one side, its roof partially caved in and the windows long shattered into broken pieces on the ground, allowing the cold wind to whistle through the empty space.
A dilapidated wooden watchtower rises to the east, its rickety stairs barely clinging to the frame, offering a perilous view of the surrounding barren landscape. The outpost's perimeter is marked by a crumbling stone wall, barely discernible under a thick layer of frost and creeping moss. Scattered around the grounds are remnants of old campfires, surrounded by weathered stones and charred wood.
An eerie silence pervades the outpost, broken only by the occasional howl of the wind and the distant call of a snow owl, and the oppressive cold seeps into every corner, sinking harshly into bones and making joints ache.
It is morning, about 24F(-4C) degrees, and the sky is partly covered by dark grey clouds.
Ash raises their eyes at Freya in surprise. "Suuuup!"
OOC: Hello and welcome to Shadows in the Snow - feel free to make use of the think, feel, internal, and attempt commands while we work our way through this, and feel free to stalk your way up to me if you have any questions!
Konstantin nods aside to Freya, adjusting his armour. The servos whine quietly as they go through some self-calibration routine.
Rachel eyes Ash's get-up with envy. Those boots look warm.
Ash adjusts their winter clothes, pulling off tags and shoving them in their pocket. They clearly *just* bought them - in fact, their face is a bit sweaty, like they ran through the gate at the last minute.
The use of pathing through the otherworldly forest brings the group to what seems to be an abandoned outpost, their guide a Wildling man with rough features who is donned with thick furs - he waits for them to all get their bearings. The first thing to notice about it may be that it's freezing cold here, a stark contrast to the summer months of Haven, and there's little to be seen in all directions. It's definitely an abandoned place, no sign of fire or warmth in any directions. A small cabin lies to the north, and a watchtower to the east, while the path northeast leads to the barren tundra, mists swirling in the distance.
Ash nods, firmly, bouncing on their feet as they work out the new boots. "Alright, I'm ready."
yawns as she hoists her backpack over her shoulder and nods at the others who are here for the mission. She drops her backpack to her feet for a moment and takes out her armour, buckling herself into the leather straps that crisscross all over her body for a moment. Then she picks up her rifle, hoisting it onto her shoulder by the strap. Last, a long glaive spear is assembled from two parts, connecting into each other. "Mmm nice and chilly here." Freya comments to Konstantin, "That metal armour going to freeze your balls off?"
Ash beams at Nikolai, but instead of greeting him, they say, "Oscar! Oh, I've missed you, buddy! Gonna miss you more, though."
While the rest of the group get their bearings, Rachel gets, instead, a good look-over at their guide - who also seems to be dressed in weather-appropriate gear. "You don't have an extra jacket, do you?" Rachel asks.
Carrying a goat over his shoulder, Nikolai approaches Konstantin and Rachel with an amiable nod. "Privet," he says, then nods to Ash and Freya in turn. "I brought, eh, bait, I think. Korina said it would be important." He turns to the wildling, raising an eyebrow. "And that you should know what to do with it. Now, eh... I have brought some grenades, but I am thinking maybe we use gas to incapacitate it. Reduce how much air there is for it to breathe." The goat on his shoulder bleats its complaints at Ash - the Russian must not be a very caring goat wrangler. As for Freya's comment, she only earns a faintly annoyed glance. Of course his suits had heating...
Chuckling and shaking his head to Freya, Konstantin taps the chest-plate of his articulated suit of mechanised armour. "Kuznetsov special." He turns, lifting an arm and tapping a small vent in the side of the back where the plates bulge out slightly to make room for electronics and such housed within. "Internal heating system."
"Goat," The Wildling man says - his name is Cole, if someone's bothered to ask him about it - to Nikolai, nodding at the goat in question. "Good."
"You," he says to Rachel next, bringing out a bottle and a note from his pockets and shoving them her way. "It is potion. Instructions, with it."
Konstantin gets an eying next. "Keep knife safe for beast. Need to skin it fast after it dies."
The rest of the group is addressed in full after that: "This is outpost of last people who went to take on Cat. None came back, but there are still their things." Grave-robbing isn't wrong if there's no graves, right? "Wildling language, I can translate, if you want to look around. Otherwise, we go." The 'going' is directed to the path shrouded in deep mists - only if they want to navigate blind.
Rachel gets a stare again at the last question. "No. I sent a message. Dress warm." If she didn't, that's on her. Good luck freezing, Rachel.
Ash considers Konstantin, then shrugs to someone rachel, putting their hoodie back on.
Ash considers Konstantin, then shrugs to Rachel, putting their hoodie back on.
Ash raises their hand. "I'd like to look around, yes."
Freya reaches up to pat the someone, "Is the goat poisoned?" She asks Nikolai curiously as she narrowing avoids being bitten the goat as she pokes it, "I'm a little hungry..." A sharp fanged grin is flashed at Konstantin and Nikolai at their fancy pants mechanized armour, "Hope those things don't run out of power out here and you guys turn into bricks." She turns to regard their guide as he talks, glancing at the potion that Rachel receives curiously.
Freya reaches up to pat the goat, "Is the goat poisoned?" She asks Nikolai curiously as she narrowing avoids being bitten the goat as she pokes it, "I'm a little hungry..." A sharp fanged grin is flashed at Konstantin and Nikolai at their fancy pants mechanized armour, "Hope those things don't run out of power out here and you guys turn into bricks." She turns to regard their guide as he talks, glancing at the potion that Rachel receives curiously.
Rachel grabs the bottle - with a little more force than strictly necessary - and plops it into her bag. At least she came prepared with that much.
Ash says "This door here, yeah?"
Konstantin turns the knife over slowly, checking the edge and the runes inscribed across the surface. Yep. It's a knife alright. He fits it back into a leather sheath and slides it back into one of his pockets. A faint smirk aside to Freya and Konstantin follows Ash's gaze towards the task at hand
Rachel crumples the instructions in her hand, about to pocket that, too, before she thinks better of it. She smooths it out and reads. Whatever's on there wins the guide an absolutely befuddled look. "Are you sure that's right?" she asks. "What exactly is this supposed to do?"
Ash taps the door, looking around with curiosity. "The northeastern path goes up? And that way, over there-" they point east "Mmm... yeah. If you don't mind, I think we should check out hear, then the watchtower. If they went before, they likely did their research. Especially if the legends are true, and there's been group after group coming." Nothing like an arcanist nerd to talk about doing research instead of, you know, bringing weapons and fighting.
The guide is not very talkative, probably owing to his thick, thick Wildling accent and the way he sort-of-kind-of struggles to figure out the accents of anyone who isn't very American - so just Rachel, really, which is a shame because that's the one he seems to want to listen to the least. "It is instructions." He tells her - she's supposed to be the one who figures them out.
The bottle, before Rachel unceremoniously shoved it into her pack, had contained a liquid that seemed vaguely purpleish, and in the process of shifting color slowly.
"I'm with them," Rachel says of Ash, thumbing over their way. They're exactly Rachel's brand of 'nerd.' She, like them - and unlike Freya, Nikolai, and Konstantin - didn't come packing with either metaphorical or literal heat.
"Seeing what they learned is good idea," Nikolai agrees with a quiet grunt. "Some problems better to not charge in blind. I am sure we could win, given particular talents among us -" He pauses. "But better to not risk lives of trainees." He tips his chin towards Konstantin. "Following your lead, President."
Ash nods to Konstantin in agreement, suggestion made only that, a suggestion.
Cole the Guide nods his head at Ash. "Look around. Stick together or split up, that is your choice. I will come along." He doesn't seem like much of a researcher himself, but he's got a knife strapped to his belt, and he seems to know what he's doing somewhat. Plus, he can translate the Wildling none of them likely how know to read.
He follows Nikolai's gaze to Konstantin, appointing him mentally as the leader slash shotcaller of the group, and falls in line behind him. They're all like ducklings now, waiting for Konstantin's approach. (Aside from the goat, who remains a goat. It is also nibbling on Nikolai's ear.)
Admittedly, Freya was right. Konstantin is dressed for a little bit of the old ultraviolence rather than polar exploration. He also doesn't look particularly arcane or nerdy; because he isn't. Still, he sets to task, listening to the discussion quietly before eyes are upon him. "For now; Ash has right of it. We research, then we act. Let's look inside. Not too much noise; no drawing cat before ready."
Freya's teal eyes look over Rachel, hey at least she's wearing a bomber jacket that looks warm. Her own leather on leather creaks slightly as she moves forward next to Konstantin, "I'll be sticking with Kon here. Just incase something sneaks up and wants a nom of your dear president." She flashes Konstantin a grin as she sets the butt of her glaive into the ground, the rings on the tip of it tinkling gently.
Ash nods sharply to Konstantin. One gets the idea they'd follow him anywhere, so they also fall in line.
Konstantin carefully opens the northern door, producing a loud creak. He probably meant don't fire any rifles off or anything, really.
Ash lets curiosity take them, sidling over to the shelves immediately, looking over the pouches with flared nostrils.
Rachel announced that she'd be trailing along with Ash - who disappears with Konstantin. It doesn't feel like she's particularly inclined to follow now. She's slow to move, remaining alongside Nikolai, who's just become an unlikely favored companion. "...Any chance you want to--" Nope, there he goes.
Freya walks over to the mattress, using the head of her spear to gently lift the sheets to see what's underneath there. Her teal eyes reflect any and all light in the darkness of the cabin, looking more like a cats for a moment really.
Konstantin strolls in beside Freya, a hand resting idly on the hilt of the blade at his hip. He eyes the mattress after giving the room a once over, waiting to see what she uncovers. "Dean sent message, didn't have chance to get back to him. I want to talk when we can, da."
Ash suggests to Rachel, "We should all move together, yeah? I don't think we need to hurry, so long as we keep quiet. Might as well pool all of our heads together."
Rachel's still got the instructions in her hand which, again, she reads. That once-over has her sneakily picking the potion up out of the bag again. She's probably already ignored a line, not that anyone here would know. "Fine," she says to Ash, sounding unenthused. Her wandering takes her over to the hearth.
She crouches, investigating the floor, and upward through the chimney.
Freya nods at Konstantin, "I sent you a message earlier today to talk too." Her eyes flick to the rest of the hand members that fill the room then back to Konstantin, "We haven't caught up in a while.. And venice is being mmm... Annoying." Her eyes flick to the goat on Nikolai's shoulder, "Did that cute thing eat all of Fayad's clothes?" She wonders out loud.
Ash goes to look over the powder before sniffing carefully, face not yet close to it. Their new acute sense of smell may not be as experienced as, say, Freya's, but it's still something they allow to guide them.
"My job is to follow President, keep him safe, get pelt for Korina," Nikolai says aside to Rachel as they trail in after the rest of the party. "So I will stick close. But if you want to stay behind, maybe get lost in wilderness, you can do that. Just give bottle back first." He snorts out his amusement, then moves to the shattered windows. "Wind would not break these," he observes, then lowers himself down to inspect the glass shards. "Shards are on the ground, so they broke inwards." His attention flicks back up to Freya. "I do not know, and do not care. I said she could not keep it in my house; where she put it afterwards is her business."
The air in here smells stale and frosty all at once, along with a strange musk of something herbal and old, and there's no pattern of footprints in the dust to indicate anyone's been through here in a long time. Their guide waits by the door, in no hurry to start rummaging through things and instead just keeping an eye out for anything untoward.
Freya's examination of the mattress, however, proves fruitful: there's a large wad of clean cotton stuck under the mattress for safekeeping, for whatever reason.
Freya tilts her head to the side as she examines the wad of cotton. The very sharp tip of her glaive digs through it, scattering the pile somewhat to see if the wad of cotton was perhaps keeping something safe or wrapped around something. "Well Fayad reported someone broke in and a goat all his clothes so now he's moving out. So I'd say that's a pretty good use of the goat." She tells Nikolai with some amusement in her voice.
The goat seems to recognize that it's being talked about, and abruptly breaks off into loud, loud "BAAAAAAAH"s, for whatever reason, suddenly struggling to free itself from Nikolai's hold while he's looking at the glass.
Konstantin cants his head a touch as Freya uncovers something. He adjusts a dial on a small control panel on the inside of his left wrist and his armour produces a quiet whirring sound; heating kicking into overdrive. It might be high tech but this is some chilly wildling air going on. "Looks like they put it there on purpose." He hangs around as she spreads it out incase there might be something within. The talk of goats chomping clothing elicits a singular snorted laugh from him and a roll of his eyes but little else, he's on task.
To those who may be paying attention, they may or may not notice that the potion Rachel holds has shifted colors to red.
Ash hands their homework to the goat without hardly looking, seeming keen to keep it fed, as a fed goat is... probably quiet.
Rachel doesn't dignify Nikolai's commentary with anything but an exasperated look over her shoulder. The goat, on the other hand, wins a rare smile. Given that there's nothing up the chimney - no bearded man with presents, at least - she swings by where Konstantin and Freya stand, opting for closer proximity with the latter.
She happens to look down at the potion in her hand, then, and almost ignores it before--...
Rachel re-examines her set of instructions and gives the thing a very, very tentative shake.
"Glass looks like it was heated and cooled very quickly," Nikolai says, clicking his tongue. "Could be bad glass; could be magic temperature. This place looks old enough that windows must have survived for some time before breaking, I think."
Freya glances over at Rachel from exposing whatever the wad of cotton might be hiding or whatever, her brow knits slightly as she looks at the red potion she's holding. "What do the instructions say?" She asks as she turns back towards the bed and the cotton.
Ash picks up the herbs from the pouch, spinning then between their fingers by the stalk with a smile. "Hey, *is* the goat poisoned? Because it might like these herbs more than my homework... and they might make it a bit sleepy."
"Shake the potion," Rachel says to Freya, having done exactly that. She sounds skeptical. No accounting for what Wilding magic does. Ideally, it's not explosive. "And then probably poison the goat." That's for Ash. They might be right.
There was, indeed, nothing up the chimney. There is also nothing in the wad of cotton when Konstantin pokes and prods his way through it: it's just cotton, no treasures held within.
With that tentative shake of Rachel's hand, the potion in the bottle begins to bubble, ever so slightly, and increasing in the bubbling as it goes. It's probably been shaken enough for the time being.
The goat may or may not be poisoned; what it /is/, is hungry. It chomps down the homework fast, and then reaches its neck out to bite Ash - or the herbs. One of the two. Maybe both.
Ash squints at Rachel, as there must be more to say, but they don't press. They feed the lavender to the goat. After all, if it would react with any common herbs, the instructions would *probably* say so... right?
Freya's brow raises more, "Does it actually mention something about poisoning the goat? Are you supposed to feed the potion to the goat maybe?" She asks poking at the wad of cotton, "Is this just a wad of cotton?" She muses, "Why on earth would anyone want that?"
"Am I turning this sideways?" Rachel asks the guide. "Upside down?" She displays the instructions to him from across the room. They're in English, granted, but perhaps the ambiguity is less in their native tongue, and they know what 'turn' would most commonly be translated to.
"Please do not touch the goat," Nikolai grumbles, yanking the bitey boy back out of reach. "I do not know exactly what is the plan for the goat, but it should not be harmed, and should not be handled by practitioners if we can help it. I don't know why. But purity is important."
You'd be surprised, Ash. The instruction-writer /was/ Korina, after all. For the time being, it looks like the lavender hasn't done anything harmful, though. The goat chomps it down, hungrily, and then settles down across Nikolai's shoulders for a nap when it's yanked right back out of reach. The herbs have made it docile enough that it stops baaaaaahing all over, and it now looks ready for a nap.
Code the Guide gives Rachel a blank look. "I am not witch," he tells her. "Instructions are on paper."
Descending from the loft, Konstantin glances at Rachel and her potion. There's a lingering look not dissimilar to Ash's own but he leaves it for now; he can search before he has to prod her to reveal the mysterious instructions. He heads for the hearth then, calling up to Freya "Keep it with you. Maybe is useful soon; strange to bring anything to place like this that you don't absolutely need." Eyes on the now-cold fireplace, he looks around it and then up the chimnney before running a finger through the soot and touching the pricks at the back; giving the whole thing a good and proper investigatoring.
For now, though, it looks like they've examined all the cabin has to offer, even if they haven't found a purpose for the mysterious wad of cotton. Maybe someone just really liked cotton and wanted to keep it safe.
Konstantin gets soot-covered fingers, of course.
For the time being, Rachel does nothing with the potion. She simply holds it in sight and starts to fiddle with her phone. A little digital research, if she's got signal. One can only imagine what she's Googling: 'what direction do you turn Wilding potions in before you feed them to ritual goats?'
There's no signal. Rachel's phone displays a sad little "ENSURE YOU'RE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET :(" and asks her if she'd like to play the dinosaur jumping over cacti game.
Konstantin smears the soot between his fingertips, sniffing it. This is serious investigatory work. He steps into the middle of the room, then, looking around at those gathered. "Any other ideas here, or we ready for watchtower? We can come back later if need to."
Ash pulls the herbs back, saying, "Oh, well... that's me. Thanks for the warning... homework is probably fine...." They continue to examine the shelves, looking over the other dried herbs, before heading to the ladder, looking up. "Mmm... best you not head up here, President... that armor looks heavy. Me or Rachel." They climb up fully, searching around with nose, hand, and eyes thoroughly. They ask the guide, Cole, "Paper is for witches? How do wildlings store information? Knots? Braids?"
"I can fly up," Rachel informs Ash. "I'll be faster." She doesn't yet walk for the door. They'd agreed to stick together - and for the time being, Rachel's acquiescing.
"/Potions/ are for witches," The guide snorts out in half-amusement. "We have paper. Maybe in tower. This place is for sleeping and eating." He moves out of the doorway, giving them space in case they'd like to move over there next.
Freya opens up her backpack and shoves the cotton into it with the tip of her glaive without ever touching it. "Useful for... holding to a wound I guess?" She asks with a shrug as she shoulders her backpack on her non rifle shoulder and follows Konstantin.
Ash shakes their head, calling down, "You have the potion. Best stay like that, treat it like a sacred duty."
Konstantin watches Ash and Rachel, lingering by the door. He ticks an upnod; "Ready?"
Rachel holds her hands - and the potion - up in something of a surrender. Whatever they prefer. She's here to assist. "Yeah. We can go."
Ash looks through the blankets and matresses as well, shaking out the blankets and turning over the mattress before coming back down. They swipe a few more herbs, before following Konstantin out with a nod. "All good, President."
Back out into the frigid air; robbed of the wind-cover of the cabin. While it might still have been freezing in there, atleast it was enclosed. Konstantin isn't tremendously keen on remaining out here shivering his nips off (be they enclosed within warmed sci-fi armour or not) so he stays on the move, turning eastwards towards the base of the watchtower. He eyes the stairs briefly, harking back to Ash mentioning armour and climbing, and then shrugs. Hydraulic legs are great for catching falling Presidents; it's the people underneath him that have to worry.
As they pass through the center of the outpost again, there's a rustling somewhere in the mists; a loud noise like a roar, following by a bunch of skittering and scuffling and chittering in stark contrast to the earlier, deathly quiet of the tundra. There is what sounds like a bunch of animals moving at once, and then utter stillness again.
The goat lifts its head up from Nikolai's shoulder, lets out a quiet little 'baaaaa' and then goes back to sleep, the herbs having worked their magic well.
Their guide freezes at the sound, quickly hushing the group and beckoning them onwards to the tower from where he rounds up the group at the rear. "It is the beast," he whispers with wide, wide eyes. "Too far for its magic to reach us. Quiet."
Konstantin freezes on the spot then (not literally), turning towards the guide. He frowns a touch, sniffing once. "Magic? What kind of magic it has?"
Freya's head lifts as she listens to the roar, her teal eyes looking in the distance with her very good vision to see if she can see anything. She doesn't go any further than Konstantin though, turning to look at the guide as well.
Rachel cuts Konstantin a look that says 'do you want all of us to die?' Her own quiet's maintained.
Ash nods, turning their face away from the mountain to let their tundra camoflage do its work as they walk quietly along. They're shivering, even with all of their winter clothes on, clearly made for the heat. They don't scold Konstantin. If he decides to kill them all, this is the way it must be.
That kid ain't right.
Rachel's been fairly still all along. She's very, very careful not to disturb the potion with so much as a too-enthusiastic step forward.
"I am not witch," The guide has to repeat to Konstantin as he had told Rachel, frowning face turning even frownier. "Magic is for witches." That means he doesn't know, probably.
Looking at the witches (@Rachel and Ash Konstantin for a second looks like he expects then to elucidate for the guide but he quickly goes back to scanning the mists around them. He watches and waits.. Any more sounds, oh narrator of ours? Konstantin is ready, palm on blade's hilt.
Quiet's not Nikolai's specialty. His armour doesn't have a stealth mode, and there's always an audible hum to it when it's powered. He's warm enough, with waste heat circulated through the suit, so it's worth it in his eyes, but it's certainly less helpful for avoiding getting spotted by the big cat. "Ice magic," he hazards.
There are no more sounds, sayeth the narrator. Konstantin is free to proceed onwards.
Proceedeth Konstantin does, heading for the watchtower. He goes up first; ensuring that if the staircase is rickety enough to break under the weight of his armour that no one else will get to go up either. That's the only fair way to do it afterall.
The narrator would like everyone to ignore the extra random things in the room that are unable to be removed, please and thank you.
Freya taps Konstantin on the shoulder and points at herself before pointing upwards. She's not that stealthy, but at least she isn't wearing a ton of literal armour. Her foot pushes on the rickety staircase lightly checking it can take her weight before she ascends it.
"Could be ice magic," Rachel agrees. Not much thought is given to another guess, given that they've arrived at their destination. She takes a good long look at the stairs, which don't - she agrees with Freya - seem as though they'd host a great deal of weight.
Konstantin nods aside to Freya, letting her lead the way up the tower. Delegation; very presidential.
Thankfully, there was enough ruckus produced by the sudden movement of wildlife in the distance that the humming of Nikolai's armor and the asking of Konstantin's questions and the soft bleating of the goat and the frowning of Cole's frowniness doesn't immediately bring upon them a plague of cats. They proceed onwards.
The stairs, surprise, /do/ hold just enough weight for them to ascend, as long as they're being careful about it. There will certainly not be any jumping, stomping, hopping, or any other sudden movements up here without making /something/ collapse.
Ash seems delighted, grinning as they move around lightly, carefull not to move too fast, looking at the maps, but focused on the parchments. They take out their phone, taking photos without flash, before touching any of the papers.
Without jumping,stomping, hopping, or any other sudden movements, Konstantin moves to the shelves and starts to scan along the frosty surfaces for any leavings of the last occupants.
Rachel's certainly not jumping, stomping, hopping, or making sudden movements either. As she'd earlier said, the instructions to 'turn' the potion were ambiguous - who knows whether jostling it in any which direction counts?
Konstantin pauses, finding a couple of mostly intact books in there. Looking back over his shoulder he addresses the nerds/witches (due to their innate alignment with books and the written word); "Look. Some writing here, come examine."
Freya is pretending she's upstairs.
Konstantin pauses, finding a couple of mostly intact books in the shelves. Looking back over his shoulder he addresses the nerds/witches (due to their innate alignment with books and the written word); "Look. Some writing here, come examine." (resent for Freya)
Ash comes back from looking over the parchments and mats, saying softly, "Careful, president, they may be fragile due to time and weathering. Cole, if you'd be so kind, can you read some of these titles to us?" They take some pictures of the books, too, covers and spines - presuming they have them. If not, they'll save it for the delicate work of the first pages.
Nikolai may be pushing it with his goat at his heavy, heavy armor, but they manage to make it up to the landing all the same, their guide coming up last, as has been his general M.O.
The books are a mishmash - half of them have been destroyed by an unfortunate ink spillage, and the other half is written in Wildling, but there's certainly some in there that seem to contain maps in diagrams.
Rachel starts to pick through the maps instead of the books. That doesn't require translation from a misanthropic guide. Rachel's deterred from asking more questions unless absolutely necessary.
Freya reaches the top of the stairs and looks around, shading her eyes as she tries to see what she can from the high vantage point that she's made. She doesn't seem particularly scared of falling off the tower or the tower collapsing given she's top of everyone else buahaha.
Considering that Nikolai could be generously describe to be somewhat heavy, he's not doing a whole lot of moving right now. Maybe he could survive the tower collapsing down on him, but it would hardly be helpful. "I did not bring my tablet," he sighs, "Or I might be able to put map together with photo collating app. I do not speak this language, unfortunately."
Ash looks distracted for a moment, going on their tiptoes to reach past Konstantin, trying to take a picture of a scroll covered in ink. Then, after taking a few, they carefully take it down, gently.
Their guide moves over when requested by Ash - finally, something he can help with, says his expression - though it immediately dims as he catches sight of the books. "They are journals." he tells them, "Hand-written." A warm-gloved hand reaches out to poke at one, before pulling it open. "... diary. Man named Aldric. They were a team." Well, no shit about that one.
Some of the pages here seem to have been blotted out entirely, and he flips through them before telling the group, "They have seen strange behavior of animals, it is written. Every few days. Three? Many move to the north. Like they are being called." He doesn't really seem to know what to look for in particular, but he's just telling them whatever facts he finds interesting - not a researcher nor a witch, as he'd said.
Ash murmurs, "I have an app like that, Nik. I can do it it." They bring the scroll over to Cole as well. "That's interesting... perhaps as we just saw. I suspect..." They smirk, at this, "That the cat is lazy, and brings its food to it so it doesn't have to hunt. That's why it's so big... and Korina planned this for dinnertime."
Ash drops the smirk as they add, "Let's hope it doesn't work on humans... I'm not dumb, but I ain't got no protections against such things, either."
Freya takes a final look around before she slowly descends the stairs carefully, "You know I can hear you all from up there." She hisses in a soft whisper, "If you're trying to be quiet. There's a cave.. And a boulder that looks it can be cover on the path there."
"Hypnotiser cat", Konstantin decides immediately based on one shred of evidence. There is mild contempt in his tone; he doesn't like that. He steps to the bottom of the way up top to look up towards Freya the group's sharp-eyed scout. "How far you think to cave, Freya?"
Freya tries to think back on how far the cave is (help lol) and walks over to Konstantin, "Well... Gotta not let it catch your eyes then... " She murmurs as she tilts her head, "Those mech armours have uh.... welding face plates?" She whispers over towards Nikolai.
"Hm." That sounds suspiciously like appreciation from Rachel. Where Konstantin finds fault in hypnotism, Rachel - seems like she might be inclined to ask for lessons.
Konstantin cants his head slightly at the question from Freya, glancing at Nikolai. "Not bad idea..", he murmurs.
"No," Nikolai replies. It's hard to call it a whisper; there's a resonant quality innate to the Russian's voice, and it echoes up the tower - if at a lower volume than his normal speaking voice. "Masks are separate. I decided not to bring." He works his jaw for a few minutes, then says, "I could make snow visors out of material back at the cabin. There is glass and metal and fabric."
Nikolai says "I am having thought that maybe they were stuffing ears with cotton to prevent monster call, like Odyssey, maybe."
Freya turns to glance at Nikolai, "I mean... that might be an idea... too... If it appears. We could've brought some good old fashioned earplugs though.... if we knew about this before hand... who was responsible for intel?" She hisses softly.
"Low intel was part and parcel of the task," Nikolai calls back up to Freya. "Hard to know details of monster that seems to kill everyone who gets close enough to learn more than the fact it is a big animal of some sort."
Ash, the savior of the hour, and their collate-images app saves the day - the map comes together bit by bit, until it forms a complete picture upon the screen, which they may or may not wish to share with the class. The guide looks increasingly worried at all the theories they're floating around - poor guy's probably grown up with stories of this thing, if he's lived around here in the past, and maybe he's getting cold (ha ha) feet now. Hopefully not, if he's getting paid for this.
Freya turns to look at the map, studying as it she reconciles her memories, "The boulder is only a few hundred feet from the start of the tundra... " She seems vaguely confused by the picture of whatever Ash is showing her, "And then about an hour and a half's trek for a slow person maybe? Whose human slow in this group?"
The goat is still asleep, it must be said. Must've been some good ass lavender. Meanwhile, the potion seems to have stopped bubbling in Rachel's hands while they put the maps back together, and it is now glowing a nice pink.
Cole the Guide sets out a disclaimer: "I am human." He doesn't like being called /slow/, however, because he's doing his Frownie McFrownerson routine again, this time at Freya.
Ash seems satisfied with their image, but if they've gathered all that they can here... they turn to the parchments, pointing out things to Cole to ask him to read in whispers. They go over the crates next, pushing the cobwebs aside with... an umbrella? Which they put back in their bag when they're done. They then nod to Nikolai.
Rachel's just about to ask a question. Her hand - the one curled around the potion - indicates the map. It just so happens that right about then, glowing occurs. She eyes the thing and, with intense trepidation, turns the vial once, twice, three times, somersaulting it.
Freya turns to look at someone, "Are you as slow as a human? Some humans are fast." She asks the guide with an raised eyebrow as his frowny look.
Konstantin nods to Nikolai once at the mention of classical monsterhunting tactics. "Good idea. We try this; earplugs." The jibe regarding intel from Freya goes unacknowledged but he turns to her when she starts talking numbers. A nod. "Armour helps moving but da, maybe guide will be slowest." He glances at Ash and Rachel then. It's not nerd-prejudice I swear.
"Are you opposed to being carried?" Nikolai asks, raising an eyebrow at Cole. There's not a great deal of judgement there, but nor is there patience. "I am fast and strong and big. If the President takes the goat, I can carry you and still run faster than human could."
Ash makes a nerd face, grimacing.
Cole the Guide has running 1, it must be said.
Hahahaha. Nerds.
A glance towards the entrance and a small shrug from Konstantin ; "Time is not the problem; da. Snow visors, plugs."
Ash eyes Nikolai and the goat, glances at Freya, then looks hopefully at Konstantin - that fades away quickly.
Freya shakes her head at the nerds, "I mean I could probably carry two but like... It's not very comfy. I could carry you all as a wolf but uh... there will be no stealth. It will definatley know we're coming."
"I'll keep up if I shift," Rachel allows at last. She doesn't admit to slowness outright - but that's pretty damning. It means she'd fall behind on two legs.
The potion starts fizzling in Rachel's hands, and the glass rapidly heats up; thankfully, it's the super-thick, super-resistant glass Korina likely had Nikolai procure for her, so it doesn't just blow up and/or shatter right there and deposit the mysterious substance all over Rachel. Instead, it just keeps bubbling and shifting colors ominously, sloooooooowly making its way from pink to something murky and blue-ish. Maybe she did it right.
Cole the Guide makes a bit of a face at Nikolai, and then tells him, "You are carrying goat already. Bad if damaged." The goat or his fur coat? It's up in the air for interpretation. "Running will not be too easy. Mist is thick." There's a gesture towards the tiny windows that reveal a glimpse of the tundra, and the heavy mists that shroud it.
Ash frowns as they follow his gesture.
"There are stories - running too fast, lost in mist forever." The Guide continues, a shiver unrelated to the cold making its way down his form. "Strange, strange mists."
Freya shrugs a shoulder, "Well we better get going.. Can you make the visors and earplugs on the way?" She asks Nikolai, "I'll carry the goat."
"Agreed", Konstantin states with a nod to Ash. He crosses his arms against his chest lightly, producing quiet clicks of armour plate on armour plate. He looks to Nikolai "Ready for a little visor-making, Kolya?" With that; he turns for the door.
Ash eyes Freya. "...you're not going to nibble on Oscar, are you?" They seem pretty defensive about an animal that is *definitely* getting eaten.
"Agreed", Konstantin states with a nod to Ash. He crosses his arms against his chest lightly, producing quiet clicks of armour plate on armour plate. He looks to Nikolai "Ready for a little visor-making, Kolya?" With that; he turns for the STAIRS (fix)
"Da, will take no time. I am Scion of Svarog; making is in my blood." Nikolai seems pretty confident.
Ash follows after Konstantin, but puts some of the sturdier journals and scrolls into their bag. Nerd.
Freya reaches over to accept the goat from Nikolai then, "I won't nibble on it..... Too much." She tells Ash with a smirk.
Moving on, Konstantin heads down the stairway and out into the tundra beyond. "If we wear earplugs, staying together even more important. No taking them out for chat."
Ash frowns with disapproval, but they're sure as hell not going to carry the goat.
"All mists bad," The Guide tells Ash with a shake of the head; he seems a /little/ more relaxed about speaking now that there's not been a peep of anything from the tundra in a while. "I have seen your Haven mists. Terrible. There are stories of mist-creature in Nar also, and on Navvere they say there are demon-dogs that come out of mists of sea and eat people every week," maybe he's just telling them folk tales now, so it's a good thing they decide to move on before he spooks himself or any of the rest of them any further.
Ash listens carefully, eyes lighting up with interest, but alas, the stories cannot continue.
Ash nods to themself.
OOC: Since it's been about -2 hours since we started, we can consider this a halfway point if anyone wants to get a snack, have a bathroom break, etc until 5am Haven time!
"I saw stress fractures that indicate thermal shock," Nikolai replies, shaking his head. "You do not end up with shards this large if glass shatters due to frequency of sound." Rather than hand the goat to the hungry wolf with a proclivity for eating livestock, he side-eyes Freya and passes the goat to Konstantin, instead. Hey; he has heated armour, the goat would surely prefer it - and in the meantime, the Russian gets to fashioning a series of snow visors from the materials to be found in the room. He might need to borrow a knife at some point, but there's a lot he can manage with just his hands and his (smaller) hammer.
Ash takes the role of Nikolai's gofer... if the even needs one, grabbing blankets and sheets so that he can use the kitchen table for work.
Ash ponders, before whispering again.
Freya snorts softtly as Nikolai gives the stinky goat to Konstantin instead and doesn't seem to mind at all not carrying the extra weight, yawning as she leans back against the wall of the hut while Nikolai works. She does take the wad of cotton out and start rolling earplugs though.
Konstantin looks like he would prefer Freya to carry the goat but ultimately ends up bearing it anyway. He keeps it clutched against his side, mostly ignoring it until at one point it nibbles at the kevlar shroud surrounding one of his suit's hydraulic components. With a glare and a "tsshhtk", Konstantin chastises the homework-eater. Otherwise, he seems content to be out of the wind for a moment while Nikolai works.
Konstantin ticks an upnod to Freya, heading over with his new friend under-arm. "Excited for being working with Temple and Knights?" There's a faint smirk and obvious derision in his tone.
Freya turns to look at Ash, "Maybe not a bad idea.. We can use him with the lantern as bait if the goat doesn't work..." She turns back to Konstantin, "Absolutely thrilled." She replies dryly, "But at least we can beat up Fayad now. He already mentioned. A eiodlon can only defend one place at one time. If you lure it to one spot, you can destory all it's other alters... And he said there's even a ritual that can keep the eiodolon there." Her teal eyes flick to Konstantin, "Given our cult doesn't like the smell of magic... your ...nerds might need to do it."
The goat has been a sleepy, sleepy baby since it was fed the herbs from the cabin, and it rouses just briefly when it passes hands from Nikolai to Konstantin, and ends up nibbling on his arm after it's tsshhtk'd away from his vest. All is quiet and still otherwise, the visors slowly coming into existence - it's a good thing there's plenty of knives around too, with everyone's weapons out, should Nikolai need one.
Finally, the visors are ready, and the group each gets one to wear - Cole the Guide too. Not the goat, though, unless Nikolai happened to make a goat-visor.
While the group - excepting Nikolai - earns a small reprieve, Rachel makes her way over to Konstantin (and the goat). For the most part, she still has her eye on the snow visors.
Ash chuckles softly, murmuring, "That Fayad guy said that? Why the fuck would he share that info? Though, one has to be sure he's not just trying to mislead you...."
"There are enough in Hand willing to help I think", Konstantin offers to Freya, "But each does of own accord. I don't like lizard either." He doesn't offer any agreement or otherwise on the matters of the arcane; that's well outside his wheelhouse. As Rachel approaches him, he shifts the way he leans on the wall, ending just a little closer to her.
Nikolai did not make a goat visor, no.
And right on cue, right as visors are being pulled on, the potion bottle in Rachel's hands cools down to a nice, soft blue, if she's not too busy looking ELSEWHERE.
In their gophering, Ash does stop to gut cotton from the mattresses, too... at least, the ones not made of hay. If not, blankets work, though wool - presumably - would make for *itchy* earplugs.
Freya hands the the earplugs made of cotton she rolled, though they are probably pretty itchy, "Didn't they kill your operative?" She asks Konstantin with an raised eyebrow, "Not enough for the hand to go after them?" She holds her own earplugs rolling them up some more but doesn't eem inclined to put them in yet.
How long has that potion been blue? Rachel's busy, yes, looking elsewhere. It's probably another solid fifteen seconds, give or take another fifteen, before she glimpses it. Hastily, she turns it upside down. Please don't explode. Her distraction doesn't warrant violence.
Rather than go for earplugs, Rachel fishes around in her bag. It turns out, she was carrying noise-canceling earbuds. Helps to have a phobia of gunshot, apparently. She comes prepared.
Ash considers, then grabs a leftover strip of cloth. "Given our theories," they murmur, "We should make it blind when we get close. If it wakes from the roar, we don't want it doing anything crazy before we are ready." They glance over at Freya curiously as they stand next to Konstantin, looping the cloth into a makeshift nightmask - For Goats:tm:!
Cole the Guide puts on his visor as well, though he seems dubious as to its effectiveness - he must not have been introduced properly to the magic of technology just yet. "We will go if you are all ready," he says, looking out the window and up at the sun. "Better to go before dusk. Night is darker." Someone give him an award for pointing out the obvious.
The potion in Rachel's hand doesn't blow up... yet. There's a lot of ominous bubbling, so much so that it starts shaking in her hands, as though the glass is about to crack any second now. She may or may not have missed a step.
"Jordan was an idiot for accepting pact. We made clear to him when we let him in; we are not rescue shelter for naive lizard-slaves. He served as best as he could until Dragon decided to snuff him out." A shrug. The Hand might look after those it favours but apparently Konstantin didn't favour them for reasons stated. He accepts the earplugs, giving them a quick squeeze to test. "Let's go, then. No sense losing more light."
Freya puts on the visor, hooking it into her leather straps that cover her hair and nods. "It was just... rather sudden." She sighs softly, "Plus it's not like the hand wants the world to end either. It would probably be in our best interests to make sure they don't succeed."
Finally. Nikolai slides his visor on and spends the last few moments tuning up his armour, which hums a little more insistently as it begins to draw more power. He'll be on the top of his game, with this. "Ready," he says.
Rachel's last to slip her own visor on. She's a little preoccupied with the potion that may or may not shatter in her hands. A wary eye's kept on it. She's considering arcane intervention, probably.
"Da", Konstantin shrugs, "But knights exist for reason. We do not think fire cult is capable enough to actually make Eidolon more than a bad smell that fades in a couple months. My operatives do as they will with eidolons as long as they are not compromised." With that, he steps outside and fits the visor into place on his own head. He glances back with an appreciative nod to Nikolai and then braves the chill.
Ash nods to Cole, and follows after Konstantin, pulling their hoodie hood tighter around the face after securing their visor. They're clearly listening to Freya's lobbying, but doesn't volunteer, either. They tuck a few more strips of scrap cloth in their pockets.
It's still bubbling. There's a thin, hairline crack that spreads through the glass. Perhaps Rachel should be checking her instructions again.
The goat was already asleep, but it sleeps better now thanks to Ash's nightmask. It also licks at their hand like it's hungry again, because it always is.
turns down the path into the tundra. It's showtime, baby, and Konstantin is (totally not) ready.
Konstantin turns down the path into the tundra. It's showtime, baby, and Konstantin is (totally not) ready.
Freya glances over at the potion in Rachel's hand, "Is that thing meant to be cracked? Can you just... keep shaking it and not stop?" She asks with a sidelong glance.
Ash glances to Rachel with concern. But, the potion was given to Rachel, not Ash. This is how it must be.
Rachel holds up her instructions, scanning once, twice, again. 'Oh.' Her mouth pops open. She makes a little grimace, akin to the narrator's :zipperface: of yesterday. She turns to the goat - and by happenstance obviously then, Konstantin. Hold the thing still. "Come here," she tells it.
Moving along, the mist thickening around them, Konstantin peers into the falling snow. The goat clutched lightly to his side, the russian moves at a good pace but regularly pauses and checks back to make sure the nerds and not-witch guide are able to keep pace. Once called for by Rachel, he stops dead in his tracks, turning towards her. "The potion is for the goat?"
"Potion's for the goat," Rachel speeds along, as if it were Konstantin's fault that she's holding a ticking time bomb. She'd suggested she wasn't good at running, but if she's got this kind of urgency for the next hour or two, they'll be fine. Rachel walks left. A little to the right. What angle - oh, whatever. She sticks her hand on the goat's snout and tries to pry it open, so she can dump her explosive in.
Freya leans forward as if she considers helping Rachel but then she realizes she doesn't want to get weird potion onto her hands. She leaves the job to the men with mechanical fingers instead.
The goat, first of all, licks at Rachel's hand, as though it wants to eat her instead of drink whatever's in the bottle. It must not smell absolutely revolting though, because the animal is relatively docile where it nibbles away at her fingers and then slurps down whatever's offered to it.
The potion stops attempting to explode when the bottle's about half-empty. Surely Rachel isn't going to feed that goat /all/ of it, right?
Nope, Rachel just read the instructions. Rachel's literate. Don't worry. NOW she turns the potion upside down (obviously after ensuring it's capped).
Konstantin watches the potion handling and goat handling with seriousness that is probably somewhat hard to maintain. Rachel seemed worried by it though so he gives her the benefit of the doubt (for once) and waits patiently. "We good."
Konstantin watches the potion handling and goat handling with seriousness that is probably somewhat hard to maintain. Rachel seemed worried by it though so he gives her the benefit of the doubt (for once) and waits patiently. "We good?" )fix)
The goat butts its head against Konstantin's arm once it's fed the potion, shaking itself around quite roughly as it attempts to pry the goat-mask off. Its nostrils flare, and its horn mildly stabs Konstantin, but it's not /truly/ trying to get itself free now, just looking around with wide goatly eyes at its surroundings, as though attempting to take something in with startling intelligence. Probably nothing to worry about...
Nikolai trades glances with Cole, raising an eyebrow at the wildling. Deal with this much, does he?
Ash makes hushing sounds at the goat, trying to coax it to sleep.
And yes, the potion goes back to its quiet simmering. Everything is well, for now...
Cole the Guide makes a face back at Nikolai, eying the mists with some trepidation. "Not a witch," he whispers back. Presumably, goats are for witches too.
Rachel looks at her saliva-covered hand. She looks at Konstantin. Her clothing is pristine. There's nefarious plotting afoot here. No, it's fine. She leans down to crunch a bit of snow in her palm - good as new. "Right. We're fine now."
Konstantin nods firmly, turning and continuingl. They're good now. The goat isn't thirsty anymore so we're ready. He trudges onwards towards the foreboding mists beyond.
Freya hoists her rifle on her shoulder as she follows Konstantin along, looking around cautiously
Ash keeps Oscar - the goat, you recall - in sight, as well as the president, expecting Nikolai to be close by. So long as they can see those two, they are not lost.
Konstantin unclips his blade from his hip; the small sword held in a polymer holster without a side that releases the entire blade with the press of a tumb on a button near the grip. No noisy sliding out of sheathes here; silence is golden.
Cole the Guide sneaks up close to Nikolai and slides his hand into the man's. For protection, of course. If they hold hands they cannot get lost, right?
Konstantin looks around the group, doing a quick headcount. He beckons to the member that strays the furthest; wordlessly reinforcing the importance of remaining cohesive here as visibility drops. Seperation is death.
The crunch of frozen dirt beneath Nikolai's boots, and the general size of his figure, make him a reasonable beacon to focus on, with impaired visibility and threat of getting lost. He stares down at his hand as Cole slides his own in between, then curls a lip in disdain as he faces forwards. They need the guide, they need the guide, they need the guide...
Konstantin accepts the map and looks down at it before shaking his head at Ash, turning back.
Freya walks forward and hooks a loop of her backpack onto something on the back of Konstantin's armour. It would be bad to lose the president into the mists.
What a task, keeping an eye on both the potion and on the group. Nevertheless, lost Rachel isn't, backpack loops or no backpack loops.
Holding the map now and the key to their survival, Konstantin feels pretty fuckin' safe. To be the president -and- mission essential. Bliss.
Plot armor does not exist. Konstantin trips on a mound of snow.
Nikolai points and laughs at Konstantin.
Rachel's not laughing. She's not laughing. This isn't funny.
...@me laughs.
Rachel's not laughing. She's not laughing. This isn't funny.
... Rachel laughs. (fix)
Freya manages to catch Konstantin before his face completely faceplants - but he is suspended by the backpack loop on the back of his belt possibly givng him a wedgie before she hoists him back up.
The goat bleats at all the laughing that's going on, its ears flapping a little as it huddles close to the warmth of Konstantin's armor, hopefully not getting dropped in the process.
Ash rushes to help Konstantin up, ever the simpering sub... but then remember that he's metal, and they are noodle. So, they let Freya handle it, and definitely does not laugh... but there's a grin behind his back for sure.
Konstantin wends this way and that, picking a path. He looks extremely serious. This is it, this is crunch-time. If he messes up, they could all die out here. Focus, focus, focus, FUCK! His visor fills with snow as hs head dips low enough to clip the crunchy layer before Freya catches him, barely restraining a loud 'BLYAT' before it escapes him. His narrator meant protected in the sense that his cohorts are relying on him and therefore looking to his safety! Please! Mercy! Mercy!
Konstantin grits his teeth and shakes out his visor before straightening up and looking around, taking in the sights.
"Shhhhhhh!" Cole the Guide whispers, his hand squeezing tighter around Nikolai's as more than half the group immediately breaks the silence to laugh out loud. There's a scuffling noise further in the distance at all the noise their tripping/laughing/bleating produces, and he stiffens, not finding the humor in the situation at all.
Konstantin picks out a looming shape in the mist and approaches it. Lo; yonder boulder appears!
"Shhhhhhh!" Cole the Guide whispers, his hand squeezing tighter around Nikolai's as more than half the group immediately breaks the silence to laugh out loud. There's a scuffling noise further in the distance at all the noise their tripping/laughing/bleating produces, and he stiffens, not finding the humor in the situation at all. (re)
Konstantin wends this way and that, picking a path. He looks extremely serious. This is it, this is crunch-time. If he messes up, they could all die out here. Focus, focus, focus, FUCK! His visor fills with snow as hs head dips low enough to clip the crunchy layer before Freya catches him, barely restraining a loud 'BLYAT' before it escapes him. His narrator meant protected in the sense that his cohorts are relying on him and therefore looking to his safety! Please! Mercy! Mercy! (re for Freya)
Konstantin looks back at the group, patting the boulder gently and nodding to Freya.
turning northwards, Konstantin proceeds
However loud Konstantin's bliat was it probably wasn't as loud as when Nikolai showed up to a monster hunt completely naked so... Freya just lets Konstantin straighten up as she follows him past the boulder. (afkish for dinner)
"President," Nikolai warns, taking a step towards Konstantin. "Hold on a second. I saw something behind boulder."
Konstantin nods, tunring back at Nikolai's insistence.
Ash taps Konstantin, kneeling in the snow. Pawprints, they point out.
Konstantin nods to Ash in acknowledgement before he turns back away from the pawprints. Something for later.
The glimpse of blue they'd walked /right past/ until Nikolai pointed it out is revealed to be a group of Wildlings, huddled behind the boulder, sitting close together.
... no. Not just sitting. They're frozen there, their clothes stuck to the ground with ice, furs ruined with countless cycles of fog freezing and melting, joints stuck in place. Their eyes are empty and soulless - they've been dead for a while. Months, if not longer. Years? All of them wear thick hoods, and cotton stuffed in their ears.
One of them has a sheaf of papers upon his lap alongside a quill, kept from being blown away only by the weight of his hand keeping it in place, some of the ink ruined, some perfectly readable still; the writing is shaky and jerky, requiring a closer look to figure out.
Ash beckons Cole over excitedly, pointing it out silently, then squatting nearby, so that he can whisper the words out loud.
'Excited' isn't the word that Rachel would use for herself, especially given the fact that they - the dead Wildlings - are clothed better than she is. Actually...
Rachel stares at them. She could help with deciphering the papers, or alternatively, she could take the opportunity to garb herself. Depends how hard it is to get a jacket off a rigid corpse.
Disgusting. She must truly be cold.
She comes to one of them - the one that seems closest to her size - and tries to prize away whatever she can.
Konstantin looks to Ash and sees them already handling business. For now, the russian stares down at the wildlings that don't bear intel. The faces frozen solid, their forms curled and withered. His snowmask guards his expression (not that he needs the help with that) but his stare lingers on them meaningfully.
Konstantin shifts a little closer to Rachel, frowning as he watches her. He shakes his head, laying a palm on Rachel's arm, before tugging off his balaclava from beneath his snow mask and passing it to her.
Ash seems completely unconcerned with the dead, perhaps even callous, treating them almost like objects, sitting on the knee of one so as to avoid squatting for a prolonged period of time. All that matters to them is the text.
That'd protect Rachel's face - and yes, she shows Konstantin gratefulness before she dons the balaclava - but that leaves all the rest of her. She's still insistent on getting a coat off. Or a scarf. Rachel's not picky.
...Clearly.
Cole does have to let go of Nikolai's hand to make his way over as well, his eyes a little wide, but he does so without complaint, shuffling over in the snow and peering down at the dead man's face. There's a frown on his lips once more, and he reaches down to slooooowly, slowly, slowly tug the paper free from beneath the man's hand, and his eyes grow even wider once he reads the words on the paper.
"The mist never goes away," the wildling whispers, reading from the pages, translating as he goes the best he can, "I know it does not feel right. Earlier, Garen and Aldric just... stood up. Their eyes looked funny. They walked right into the mist without looking back."
His shoulders hunch up as he goes, glancing this way and that as though there's something going to be leaping out at him through the mist. "We yelled at them, but they did not hear us. We kept our ears filled with cotton after that. I-I can feel it watching. Maybe we will find way back..."
While he's making his way through that, Rachel's over there trying to rob dead bodies. Whether or not she comes away with a disgusting dead man parka before Konstantin pulls her attention away, she'll notice they've still got the cotton in their ears, should they make use of it.
As it is, the goat in Konstantin's arms, starts to struggle in response to something unseen or unheard, right at the same time Rachel's potion turns yellow, the glass a little heated up. There's a loud, loud baaaaaah.
Rachel, finally, does manage a scarf off the dead guy. Probably Aldric, if she wants to remember it as 'good ol' Aldric's scarf'. It's old but well-made, though a little worse for wear, and smells kind of weird. Probably from the dead people that have been attached to it.
Ash takes some of the cotton out hurriedly, lurching to shove them into Oscar's ears, grimacing with a panicked expression. "Shhh, shh, shhh," they shush, quietly.
Konstantin straightens up at the baaa'ing. He doesn't hear Cole's words for the earplugs in his ears but his underarm-carried mammal is close enough for him to take note. He nods to Ash as they tend to the beast before scannning the surrounding mist with his blade held tight in his free hand
The only possible thing that could tear Rachel's attention from the prospect of blessed warmth is the prospect of getting blown to smithereens by some mysterious Wilding substance. She looks over at the goat, and then at the potion in her left hand. Shit. She quickly wraps the scarf about her neck and yanks the goat's mouth open, this time with little hesitation. Shut up, please. Drink the damned thing.
The goat's mouth doesn't need to be yanked open - it's open already with the loud, loud baaaahing. The potion does divert its attention for a little bit, though it shakes out the cotton stuffed in its ears post-haste, its breaths fogging up in the cold.
Rachel unceremoniously tilts the potion into the goat's gullet. If it won't accept being saved by Ash and their cotton, maybe they'd be better served feeding the goat to the cat. Rachel doesn't say that, but she's probably thinking about it.
Ash has handy dandy - strips of cloth. They shove the cotton back in, then ties a cool little headband on the goat, tightly, to keep them *in*. It's no doubt uncomfortable - assuming they manage, of course - but the little nerd seems intent.
The goat is getting agitated now, the more Ash attempts to confine its ears; it shakes its head wildly, bucking its body and trying to thrash here and there in Konstantin's arms, even if it doesn't bleat any more.
Ash gives up, not wanting the goat to make any more noise.
The goat also attempts to chomp at Rachel's hand on the way.
"Okay," Nikolai grunts, drawing his maul from the baldric on his back. He holds it firm and ready, not quite crackling to life yet - but it could be. "We have some preparation. Ears protected, eyes protected. There are grenades on his belt, too - wildlings probably hadn't experimented with using explosives on the fucking thing yet. "
Rachel doesn't care if they need this goat. Rachel will serve it up for dinner. She thumps it on the head, as if it would respond to corporal punishment.
Freya shoves some earplugs into her ears and follows after Konstantin.
Konstantin has had his earplugs in for a while now. Safety first brutha
/Does/ Nikolai want to blow up the creature they're supposed to bring the pelt of back, intact`?
... well, the answer to that is likely yes, but it does require one(1) think before measures are made.
The goat-thumping serves to make the goat angry. It bites down on Rachel's knuckles, hard, in its stubbornness.
/Does/ Nikolai want to blow up the creature they're supposed to bring the pelt of back, intact?
... well, the answer to that is likely yes, but it does require one(1) think before measures are made.
The goat-thumping serves to make the goat angry. It bites down on Rachel's knuckles, hard, in its stubbornness. (fix)
"*OW*," Rachel says on instinct. She wrestles with the goat, attempting to save her hand before it tears too far into the skin. No one blame her for being loud. They'd yell, too, if a farm animal had attached itself to them.
Cole the Guide quickly nudges Rachel away from the goat. "Blood!" he hiss-whispers, and attempts to draw her away and back. "It can smell! You cannot go on," he tells her, and quickly drags her off back to the outpost. Goodbye, Rachel.
Konstantin jams his fingers into the side of the goat's mouth, his armoured gloves protecting them. He wrenches its jaw wider slightly, freeing Rachel's hand.
Ash adds their earplugs, frowning at someone, but not speaking up. They instead bend over, looking around at the cave - then looks around - Rachel is gone? And so is Cole, great. Just great. They look up at Konstantin, and set their fingers on the ground, checking for vibrations as they wait for commands to move ahead.
Ash adds their earplugs, frowning at Rachel, but not speaking up. They instead bend over, looking around at the cave - then looks around - Rachel is gone? And so is Cole, great. Just great. They look up at Konstantin, and set their fingers on the ground, checking for vibrations as they wait for commands to move ahead.
Cole also took that opportunity to simply fuck off himself. He wasn't being paid enough for this, and so now it's just Nikolai, Konstantin, Ash and Freya - and the goat, of course, who seems satisfied after having tasted blood. Not satisfied /enough/ though. Even though Konstantin's holding on with all his strength, it's still trying to break free, possibly to run off somewhere. It may be time to move on.
Konstantin watches the pair head back off, shaking his head slowly. Looking at those remaining, and then the goat, he nods. On we go.
Konstantin glances to Ash again, nodding to the footprints.
Ash flares their nose, sniffing the painfully cold air and looking for further tracks. Though, seems like the obvious entrance is very obcious.
Freya stuffs the cotton in her ears, the better not to hear you with, so anyone trying to get her attention better be doing more than making noise. She starts to get more wary, one hand resting on the rifle on her shoulder as she walks. Her breath puffs out into the air infront of her.
Ash flares their nose, sniffing the painfully cold air and looking for further tracks. Though, seems like the obvious entrance is very obvious. They're definitely not just trying to look busy and useful, even though the path may as well be a railroad.
The silence is even more oppressive now with their earplugs in. The mist seems to form odd, half-familiar shapes as it drifts past, making the eyes cross, and the ground beneath is out of sight, the footing treacherous - but the cave does come into view soon enough, the mists parting around the group.
There's a rumbling beneath the feet - they can't hear it, but the ground vibrates as though a loud, loud animal has roared loud enough to vibrate.
Only a few seconds later, a couple of snow ermines, and a group of rats scurry their way through - instead of moving /away/ from the creature's den, they run inside it, forsaking all notions of self-preservation. The goat in Konstantin's arms struggles even harder, its feet moving in the air as though it's trying to run off into the cave as well.
Taking a knee as the mist thins out, Konstantin lifts a flattened hand to point it up vertically; signalling for a stop. He points then towards the cave entrance, incase any didn't instantly spot it.
Immediately, he begins to carry out a check of his equipment; giving his armour and weaponry a once over. He gets half way through when the roar sounds out, drawing his gaze towards the yawning maw of the cave.
He frowns, holding to goat tight under his arm. He glances then to the last remaining nerd, Ash, and subsequently Nikolai and Freya, before jerking his head down at the animal and then at the cave. 'Let it go?'
Ash types up a text, showing it to Nikolai.
... very belatedly, a snowy owl flaps its way down from somewhere, bumps into the back of Nikolai's head, and then flaps off right into the cavern's entrance as well after that oopsie.
Ash seems unsure, not knowing at all if this goat is meant to go in, or when, or what - Oscar's fate has not been handed to them. They look to Nikolai, the Russian Cat Whisperer.
Freya nods at Konstantin, wondering if he had ever seen the universal signal for stop used in movies tv shows... the held up fist. Instead he gives the air an high five and she just looks at him as she stops behind him not because of the hand signal but because of he had stopped. She looks at the cave, at the way animals seem to run FOR it and frowns confusedly.
Nikolai shakes his head emphatically at Ash. He responds verbally, given that the beast seems to be bothering with other things. "Korina said not to hurt it," he grunts. "Seems like it would be bad idea." How much of that they manage to catch is up in the air; with Cole and Rachel both gone, the larger of the Russians seems more keen on handling this than ever. He didn't know what to do with the goat, himself.
Ash watches Nikolai's lips, but the most important part is, surely, the headshake, regardless. They rub their face. They seem to adore Korina for sure, but... why would she *not* share what to do with the goat???
Ash types again on their phone, before showing it to the two Russians: 'Chances are, it will only try harder to be free, and be more difficult to carry. It has the potion. I think we should let it go, follow quickly but carefully. We don't know how quick *whatever* acts.
A low growl starts in Freya's chest as she looks towards the caves and she lifts a hand to clap her hand over her ears. Her phone comes out, -"It wants us in the cave.- She types quickly then nods towards the goat, -Let the goat go, prepare your gas-"
Ash belatedly shows it to Freya as well. There's no disdain in their expression - they clearly forgot.
Ash blinks, reading Freya's text, then rereading it, then eyeing the goat. It's not what she meant to say, but what comes to mind....
Within the darkness of the cave, the eyes of the creature come into sight first. A startling white with rounded pupils, they narrow at the intruders right outside the den. The glimpse of ivory teeth is visible as it catches the light from outside, but the creature just keeps prowling inside, only an occasional sighting of fur visible.
The stench of blood starts drifting outside from the fresh kills that had presented themselves to the feline.
The goat struggles even more, and attempts to chomp down on Konstantin's arm now.
Konstantin shrugs at the headshake, and turns towards the source of the roar. He pushes his hand forward, turning it and dropping it forward to point his flat fingers towards his destination. Why follow hollywood when your enemies likely do too; they'll understand your signal and know that you're stopping when you stop. Like they, maybe they might think he's just pausing momentarily before moving again. Important stuff. Creeping forward, he approaches the cave entrance a few meters more before he sets the goat down, the tally of votes apparently drawing 3-to-1 in favour of feeding the puddy cat. He watches and waits to see what Oscar does.
looks up at the cave, careful not to make eyecontact with the beast even through the visor. -Cave is a dead end so filling it with sleeping gas or something would work well. Then... Niko can skin it ..- If Freya could hear Nikolai before she would've wondered how on earth you're meant to skin a cat without harming it but given she missed the memo, she just watches the goat to see if it does anything.
Ash takes a step back, reaching for their - oh yeah. They went shopping last minute, left their weapons behind... but it's fine. Russian Iron Man and Russian War Machine - heck, *the* War Machine - were here. And Freya, who certainly seems like she can wreck shit. They have... magic.
/Finally/. Oscar bleats his freedom out for the world to hear, and springs up with joyful goatness to bound into the open entrance of the cave.
That is the last anyone is going to hear of poor, poor Oscar. He's struck down in a flash - compared to the ermines and rats and owls, this is a /feast/, and the creature in there is going to dine well tonight.
Blood sprays the snow at the entrance of the cave. The cat feasts.
Ash holds a hand over their heart. They have more respect for the damned goat than the dead wildlings, it seems. Oscar, we hardly knew ya.
Lowering himself, Konstantin crouches as low as he can without dipping into the snow and losing vital bodyheat at a deathly rate. As a cold-hearted hardened criminal scumbag, he doesn't even shed a tear when the group's erstwhile companion is torn to shreds. He lifts his hand again, palm flat, and then waits, watching. He's expecting something, maybe.
Freya eyes the cave through her snow visor, her hand tightening on her glaive which trails behind her, the curve bladed at the end ending at a sharp tip which glitters. She frowns as she stays in the shadows, glancing at the others as if waiting for Nikolai to magic up some gas or something.
Waiting a few minutes for whatever-the-fuck had been in the goat to metabolise within the beast, Nikolai steps over to Freya and draws a stocky, carbon grey tube from his armour, which he loads with a metallic canister. He reaches out to take her rifle in hand for a moment, then racks the tube on as an underbarrel, then points to the cave, offering her a nod.
Ash seems to understand the palm raised - probably because it *is* a universal sign, just not for military/spy movies. For mundanes - it's not "stop", it's "wait"... but these mean the same exact thing here. Though, if they know any of the other shit he's doing with his hands, it's likely entirely due to training - if it's not "stop", "wait", or "go".
Freya glances over at Nikolai as he goes to install some kindof grenade launcher on her rifle. She peers at the man as if quizzling why his suit couldn't just launch missiles out of it's shoulders like iron man at this point but doesn't resist. She hoists her rifle, lifting the sight to her eye and shrugs as she takes a blind pot shot into the cave. It's a gas launcher, it should work no matter where it lands right? Wether it bonks the cat on the head or not.,
Ash glances over at Nikolai, eyes squinting, unsure. But, they say nothing, do nothing, just wait, watching the cave entrance carefully, and glancing occasionally to ensure that they don't miss movement from Konstantin.
Konstantin draws a quick breath, finally indulging himself in a little precious warmth as the fires of hell crackle to life within him. As Freya kicks things off, he makes his own quick preparations before whatever is in the cave and answer their interruption to its feast. Bitter-smelling wisps of smoke trail from his nostrils and he rises with eyes narrowed.
Well, the grenade gets launched into the cavern - and now the cavern is full of tear gas, none of them have proper gas masks, and there is no cat that comes running out to face them, only an eerie silence with the cotton plugs in their ears. Depending on how fast that potion acted, the feline may just be in there, asleep, and/or dead.
... silence pervades again, for a few moments.
Eventually, finally, there's the feline that appears at the entrance of the cave, a massive beast that casts a shadow upon the surroundings with its presence. Its mouth opens in a soundless yowl, and it scratches at the stone walls of the cave in irritation, sluggishness weighing down its limbs from whatever had been in the goat-potion. It doesn't leave the cave - no, it just prowls at the entrance, fur floofed up, and growls at the intruders with its eyes reddening, and the chill that seems to intensify all around them.
A thick coating of frost forms upon the weapons of everyone present, while the snow leopard's eyes close - the sluggishness, combined with the tear-gas is doing a number on it, though it's too large a beast to be knocked out without external force applied.
Freya stares at the cave with her brow knit as the feline finally appears and.. doesn't do much of anything except prowl. It certainly doesn't fall asleep or anything. She glances over at Nikolai as she waits for the teargas to eventually disappate. She swings the rifle back onto her shoulder, grabs her taser with a dart and shrugs at Konstantin at Nikolai before starting to creep towards the entrance of the cave.
Ash glares at the cat, and their lips murmur the words... "Mal de ojo...." The evil eye. A curse, to fuck up Fat-Cat's soon-to-end life.
"That did not flush it out," Nikolai observes in annoyance, then charges in. If he stays still too long, that encroaching frost will lock up his servos, and his armour would be useless - so movement it it is, and the crackling of flame as his hammer comes alight and jets a stream of fire at the thing like a torch. Singing a few hairs off its little head should not damage the hide beyond usability. He'd need to be closer - dangerously close - to throw his neutralisers. Getting closer is exactly his intent, though - the thing's been poisoned and gassed, and now it's time to go break its skull.
Popping up, Konstantin shouts out; "DAVAI!". A flash of light and he spews an opening volley; a bolt of hellish potency that explodes in a shower of cinders and a wave of concussive force. He wheels around rather than approaching the cat directly, soon letting fly another arc of flame in an attempt to draw the cat's attention!
Ash moves to help Konstantin - and by move, they wave their arm. Their charm bracelet slips out, the little mirror on it catching the last rays of the sun and directing them *right* into those angry red eyes. A DISTRACTion.
The cat doesn't bat an eye at Konstantin's hellfire - at first; it must think itself confident in facing regular fire. Perhaps it's simply not come face-to-face with hellfire yet, because it immediately regrets that thought when its whiskers catch on fire. There's immediate alarm, and it turns back around towards the deeper cave, but the potion is really doing its work now - the leopard is much too slow, its reflexes dimmed, to avoid the bonk of Nikolai's hammer, and though it snaps back at him with teeth as big as his entire forearm, it's no challenge at all with their three-pronged approach (and Ash's magic, of course).
Stalactites break off from the cave's surface to smash into the ground with the fighting - hopefully nobody gets caught beneath those - and beneath the force of Nikolai's hammer, he can sense a crack of bone giving way.
The leopard collapses, eyes finally falling shut.
... it is, upon closer inspection, still breathing, just knocked unconscious.
As long as they're certain it won't be waking up anytime soon, and/or have plans to put it back to sleep if it does, the gang is free to remove their earplugs to discuss the next course of action.
Freya takes out her earplugs and makes her way over to the asleep cat, "Well that was easier than I thought... Also .. Did I see your mouth right? You said something about NOT hurting the cat?" She squints over at Nikolai.
Ash bursts out laughing, covering their mouth as they do. They pull their earplug out, saying, "How many ways are there to skin a cat... alive?" They think the joke's hilarious - surely everyone else does so?
Oh. No wonder Nikolai was so good about giving it a concussion while not wanting to hurt it. It all makes sense now. Freya just watches nearly as Konstantin gets to the skinning. "Don't forget to stab it's heart... " She goes to the front of the cat's mouth to take a look at the fangs.
Ash has no cat-skinning experience, nor do they have particular etching examining experience - but they have nerd power. As soon as they see the sketchings, they bolt for them, taking their phone out to take pictures, and pulling wads of cloth out to scrub the moss away delicately. Where there's frost, though, they don't bother, seeing what they could before they ask one of the hotter people in the room to help.
Ash has no cat-skinning experience, nor do they have particular etching examining experience - but they have nerd power. As soon as they see the etchings on the walls, they bolt for them, taking their phone out to take pictures, and pulling wads of cloth out to scrub the moss away delicately. Where there's frost, though, they don't bother, seeing what they could before they ask one of the hotter people in the room to help. (fix)
Inside the cave, they can make out the remains of the poor, poor goat lying in the corner, surrounded by a pool of blood, the vitals taken out and nommed upon. Its blood seems yellow-ish too.
Turns out Konstantin is secretly a skinning demon though. His knife stabs through the thick skin and fur of the leopard like slicing through butter, a process which may or may not be helped along by the runes etched upon the handle, provided to him by The Cat At Home. Nikolai's weight is enough to keep the creature unconscious - something that may well be needed considering how large it is, and how long skinning the entirety of it may take.
Ash finally stops shivering, as well, the igloo-like environment bringing them to a place of non-suffering.
Using the quaint (probably) wildling made skinning knife, Konstantin works the hide free, not doing an expert job but being deft and careful enough to avoid putting any major holes in it. Occasionally he exhales a flush of flame into the air beside or above him, bringing some much needed warmth to the cave (albeit also a little eggy sulphurour stank).
Freya looks down at the cat's mouth, "Can I take a fang for a souvaneer?" She asks as she brings her rifle up, intending to smash the tooth out with the butt of her rifle.
Konstantin looks over to Freya, nodding once. "Da. Knock a couple out for me too."
Freya nods at Konstantin and starts to bash the cat's mouth in with the butt of her rifle.
Ash raises a hand, saying, "Same, please".
Konstantin holds up the pelt for others to see. Look at it. Pelt.
Ash frowns, looking at the runes... then they turn and walk out of the cave. At least, they try.
Ash is free to walk out of the cave.
Konstantin starts folding up the pelt slowly, frowning over to Ash. He calls out loudly after him; "Ash!"
Freya nods at Konstantin as she bashes the cat's mouth in some more with the butt of her rifle.
Ash comes back, sighing in relief. "Oh, sorry - runes of confinement. I just wanted to be *sure* we weren't trapped. Though, fascinating that this was all carved here... by living people, surely. When? Why?"
Ash is still a nerd - how shocking.
Ash says "Mm, and we should head further in, if we're done."
Konstantin looks upwards, taking note more closely of the runes carved all over the ceiling and walls of the cave. "Da.. Worth checking, maybe?"
The poor, poor cat who has to deal with all of this violence without even being stabbed to death first. The pelt comes off, and the teeth get knocked out with supernatural force - it takes more effort than what one would expect - and then it stays there, blood pooling around it while its body tries to recover from all its many injuries.
Ash squints at Konstantin, making sure he meant going further in, not checking the runes. Their face is their only sign of judgement, of course. They simply wait, patiently.
Freya didn't realize Konstantin failed to stab it. She rolls her eyes and grabs some teeth careful not to cut herself on them, shoving them into her backpack before she shoves her glaive spear into the chest of the cat right at it's heart. "More merciful this way." She tells the others as she twists the bladed spear in it's chest.
Konstantin turns, looking deeper into the cave. He doesn't pay much attention to any mention of mercy for the beast; he's not here on behalf of the RSPCA (or whatever they're called in your country of residence). "Any objection to quickly looking deeper in?"
Ash picks up the fangs not taken, assuming pack mule duty for smaller items like these, also being careful.
Ash mumbles, "You probably should have left it... if it can regrow its hide, we could've come *back* for more."
Konstantin grunts a bit. "We are not starting fashion line. Let's go." He sets off
A beat. Two. Three. Blood oozes up around the blade of Freya's glaive, and the massive cat shudders for a moment, and exhales its final breath before going utterly still. The air around them seems to cool down just a few degrees right after.
A few moments after death, the air seems to shimmer around the creature, leaving behind a much smaller form - it must have been a woman, at some point. Now, she's been flayed, all the muscles beneath the skin exposed, and stabbed through the heart, her skull smashed in and deformed.
... it's a good thing Konstantin skinned it early.
Their journey leads them to an old Wildling outpost, a relic of times past, where preparation meets opportunity in the form of a recently purchased goat named Oscar, intended as bait for the creature. Despite their careful planning, tensions rise as the cold bites and the outpost reveals its secrets, including the previous team's grim fate, exposed by journals left behind. These writings hint at a bizarre behavior among the animals and the mystic fog that blankets the area, while personal needs and strategic decisions prompt Rachel to don scavenged winter garments from those who came before.
Launching their endeavor under a suffocating mist and the foreboding ambiance of nature's silence, the group advances toward the leopard's den. The catalyst for their confrontation is Oscar, driven by a potion provided by Korina, whose contents remain a mystery but are crucial to their plan.
As they reach the cave's entrance, a direct assault ensues propelled by Nikolai's fiery determination, Freya's readiness for violence, and Konstantin and Ash's magical and technological prowess. The large cat, revealed to hold a magical presence causing an unnatural chill, confronts the team with a frightening growl and protective defiance, only to succumb to the combined effects of the potion, tear gas, and their relentless assault.
In the aftermath of the battle, as the creature lays defeated but alive, the victory is marred by an unexpected discovery. The majestic snow leopard, in death, reveals its true form as a cursed woman, sparking questions of morality, magic, and the price of their mission. The group's actions, driven by need, curiosity, and the quest for understanding, paint a complex picture of adventure, where folklore and reality collide under the watchful gaze of the shadows in the snow.
(Shadows in the Snow(SRKorina):SRKorina)
[Sun Aug 4 2024]
On an abandoned Wildling outpost bordering the tundra
Nestled against the backdrop of wide-open plains and icy expanses, this outpost is a cluster of weather-beaten structures, half-buried in snow and overgrown with hardy tundra flora. The main building to the north, once a sturdy log cabin, now leans precariously to one side, its roof partially caved in and the windows long shattered into broken pieces on the ground, allowing the cold wind to whistle through the empty space.
A dilapidated wooden watchtower rises to the east, its rickety stairs barely clinging to the frame, offering a perilous view of the surrounding barren landscape. The outpost's perimeter is marked by a crumbling stone wall, barely discernible under a thick layer of frost and creeping moss. Scattered around the grounds are remnants of old campfires, surrounded by weathered stones and charred wood.
An eerie silence pervades the outpost, broken only by the occasional howl of the wind and the distant call of a snow owl, and the oppressive cold seeps into every corner, sinking harshly into bones and making joints ache.
It is morning, about 24F(-4C) degrees, and the sky is partly covered by dark grey clouds.
Ash raises their eyes at Freya in surprise. "Suuuup!"
OOC: Hello and welcome to Shadows in the Snow - feel free to make use of the think, feel, internal, and attempt commands while we work our way through this, and feel free to stalk your way up to me if you have any questions!
Konstantin nods aside to Freya, adjusting his armour. The servos whine quietly as they go through some self-calibration routine.
Rachel eyes Ash's get-up with envy. Those boots look warm.
Ash adjusts their winter clothes, pulling off tags and shoving them in their pocket. They clearly *just* bought them - in fact, their face is a bit sweaty, like they ran through the gate at the last minute.
The use of pathing through the otherworldly forest brings the group to what seems to be an abandoned outpost, their guide a Wildling man with rough features who is donned with thick furs - he waits for them to all get their bearings. The first thing to notice about it may be that it's freezing cold here, a stark contrast to the summer months of Haven, and there's little to be seen in all directions. It's definitely an abandoned place, no sign of fire or warmth in any directions. A small cabin lies to the north, and a watchtower to the east, while the path northeast leads to the barren tundra, mists swirling in the distance.
Ash nods, firmly, bouncing on their feet as they work out the new boots. "Alright, I'm ready."
yawns as she hoists her backpack over her shoulder and nods at the others who are here for the mission. She drops her backpack to her feet for a moment and takes out her armour, buckling herself into the leather straps that crisscross all over her body for a moment. Then she picks up her rifle, hoisting it onto her shoulder by the strap. Last, a long glaive spear is assembled from two parts, connecting into each other. "Mmm nice and chilly here." Freya comments to Konstantin, "That metal armour going to freeze your balls off?"
Ash beams at Nikolai, but instead of greeting him, they say, "Oscar! Oh, I've missed you, buddy! Gonna miss you more, though."
While the rest of the group get their bearings, Rachel gets, instead, a good look-over at their guide - who also seems to be dressed in weather-appropriate gear. "You don't have an extra jacket, do you?" Rachel asks.
Carrying a goat over his shoulder, Nikolai approaches Konstantin and Rachel with an amiable nod. "Privet," he says, then nods to Ash and Freya in turn. "I brought, eh, bait, I think. Korina said it would be important." He turns to the wildling, raising an eyebrow. "And that you should know what to do with it. Now, eh... I have brought some grenades, but I am thinking maybe we use gas to incapacitate it. Reduce how much air there is for it to breathe." The goat on his shoulder bleats its complaints at Ash - the Russian must not be a very caring goat wrangler. As for Freya's comment, she only earns a faintly annoyed glance. Of course his suits had heating...
Chuckling and shaking his head to Freya, Konstantin taps the chest-plate of his articulated suit of mechanised armour. "Kuznetsov special." He turns, lifting an arm and tapping a small vent in the side of the back where the plates bulge out slightly to make room for electronics and such housed within. "Internal heating system."
"Goat," The Wildling man says - his name is Cole, if someone's bothered to ask him about it - to Nikolai, nodding at the goat in question. "Good."
"You," he says to Rachel next, bringing out a bottle and a note from his pockets and shoving them her way. "It is potion. Instructions, with it."
Konstantin gets an eying next. "Keep knife safe for beast. Need to skin it fast after it dies."
The rest of the group is addressed in full after that: "This is outpost of last people who went to take on Cat. None came back, but there are still their things." Grave-robbing isn't wrong if there's no graves, right? "Wildling language, I can translate, if you want to look around. Otherwise, we go." The 'going' is directed to the path shrouded in deep mists - only if they want to navigate blind.
Rachel gets a stare again at the last question. "No. I sent a message. Dress warm." If she didn't, that's on her. Good luck freezing, Rachel.
Ash considers Konstantin, then shrugs to someone rachel, putting their hoodie back on.
Ash considers Konstantin, then shrugs to Rachel, putting their hoodie back on.
Ash raises their hand. "I'd like to look around, yes."
Freya reaches up to pat the someone, "Is the goat poisoned?" She asks Nikolai curiously as she narrowing avoids being bitten the goat as she pokes it, "I'm a little hungry..." A sharp fanged grin is flashed at Konstantin and Nikolai at their fancy pants mechanized armour, "Hope those things don't run out of power out here and you guys turn into bricks." She turns to regard their guide as he talks, glancing at the potion that Rachel receives curiously.
Freya reaches up to pat the goat, "Is the goat poisoned?" She asks Nikolai curiously as she narrowing avoids being bitten the goat as she pokes it, "I'm a little hungry..." A sharp fanged grin is flashed at Konstantin and Nikolai at their fancy pants mechanized armour, "Hope those things don't run out of power out here and you guys turn into bricks." She turns to regard their guide as he talks, glancing at the potion that Rachel receives curiously.
Rachel grabs the bottle - with a little more force than strictly necessary - and plops it into her bag. At least she came prepared with that much.
Ash says "This door here, yeah?"
Konstantin turns the knife over slowly, checking the edge and the runes inscribed across the surface. Yep. It's a knife alright. He fits it back into a leather sheath and slides it back into one of his pockets. A faint smirk aside to Freya and Konstantin follows Ash's gaze towards the task at hand
Rachel crumples the instructions in her hand, about to pocket that, too, before she thinks better of it. She smooths it out and reads. Whatever's on there wins the guide an absolutely befuddled look. "Are you sure that's right?" she asks. "What exactly is this supposed to do?"
Ash taps the door, looking around with curiosity. "The northeastern path goes up? And that way, over there-" they point east "Mmm... yeah. If you don't mind, I think we should check out hear, then the watchtower. If they went before, they likely did their research. Especially if the legends are true, and there's been group after group coming." Nothing like an arcanist nerd to talk about doing research instead of, you know, bringing weapons and fighting.
The guide is not very talkative, probably owing to his thick, thick Wildling accent and the way he sort-of-kind-of struggles to figure out the accents of anyone who isn't very American - so just Rachel, really, which is a shame because that's the one he seems to want to listen to the least. "It is instructions." He tells her - she's supposed to be the one who figures them out.
The bottle, before Rachel unceremoniously shoved it into her pack, had contained a liquid that seemed vaguely purpleish, and in the process of shifting color slowly.
"I'm with them," Rachel says of Ash, thumbing over their way. They're exactly Rachel's brand of 'nerd.' She, like them - and unlike Freya, Nikolai, and Konstantin - didn't come packing with either metaphorical or literal heat.
"Seeing what they learned is good idea," Nikolai agrees with a quiet grunt. "Some problems better to not charge in blind. I am sure we could win, given particular talents among us -" He pauses. "But better to not risk lives of trainees." He tips his chin towards Konstantin. "Following your lead, President."
Ash nods to Konstantin in agreement, suggestion made only that, a suggestion.
Cole the Guide nods his head at Ash. "Look around. Stick together or split up, that is your choice. I will come along." He doesn't seem like much of a researcher himself, but he's got a knife strapped to his belt, and he seems to know what he's doing somewhat. Plus, he can translate the Wildling none of them likely how know to read.
He follows Nikolai's gaze to Konstantin, appointing him mentally as the leader slash shotcaller of the group, and falls in line behind him. They're all like ducklings now, waiting for Konstantin's approach. (Aside from the goat, who remains a goat. It is also nibbling on Nikolai's ear.)
Admittedly, Freya was right. Konstantin is dressed for a little bit of the old ultraviolence rather than polar exploration. He also doesn't look particularly arcane or nerdy; because he isn't. Still, he sets to task, listening to the discussion quietly before eyes are upon him. "For now; Ash has right of it. We research, then we act. Let's look inside. Not too much noise; no drawing cat before ready."
Freya's teal eyes look over Rachel, hey at least she's wearing a bomber jacket that looks warm. Her own leather on leather creaks slightly as she moves forward next to Konstantin, "I'll be sticking with Kon here. Just incase something sneaks up and wants a nom of your dear president." She flashes Konstantin a grin as she sets the butt of her glaive into the ground, the rings on the tip of it tinkling gently.
Ash nods sharply to Konstantin. One gets the idea they'd follow him anywhere, so they also fall in line.
Konstantin carefully opens the northern door, producing a loud creak. He probably meant don't fire any rifles off or anything, really.
Ash lets curiosity take them, sidling over to the shelves immediately, looking over the pouches with flared nostrils.
Rachel announced that she'd be trailing along with Ash - who disappears with Konstantin. It doesn't feel like she's particularly inclined to follow now. She's slow to move, remaining alongside Nikolai, who's just become an unlikely favored companion. "...Any chance you want to--" Nope, there he goes.
Freya walks over to the mattress, using the head of her spear to gently lift the sheets to see what's underneath there. Her teal eyes reflect any and all light in the darkness of the cabin, looking more like a cats for a moment really.
Konstantin strolls in beside Freya, a hand resting idly on the hilt of the blade at his hip. He eyes the mattress after giving the room a once over, waiting to see what she uncovers. "Dean sent message, didn't have chance to get back to him. I want to talk when we can, da."
Ash suggests to Rachel, "We should all move together, yeah? I don't think we need to hurry, so long as we keep quiet. Might as well pool all of our heads together."
Rachel's still got the instructions in her hand which, again, she reads. That once-over has her sneakily picking the potion up out of the bag again. She's probably already ignored a line, not that anyone here would know. "Fine," she says to Ash, sounding unenthused. Her wandering takes her over to the hearth.
She crouches, investigating the floor, and upward through the chimney.
Freya nods at Konstantin, "I sent you a message earlier today to talk too." Her eyes flick to the rest of the hand members that fill the room then back to Konstantin, "We haven't caught up in a while.. And venice is being mmm... Annoying." Her eyes flick to the goat on Nikolai's shoulder, "Did that cute thing eat all of Fayad's clothes?" She wonders out loud.
Ash goes to look over the powder before sniffing carefully, face not yet close to it. Their new acute sense of smell may not be as experienced as, say, Freya's, but it's still something they allow to guide them.
"My job is to follow President, keep him safe, get pelt for Korina," Nikolai says aside to Rachel as they trail in after the rest of the party. "So I will stick close. But if you want to stay behind, maybe get lost in wilderness, you can do that. Just give bottle back first." He snorts out his amusement, then moves to the shattered windows. "Wind would not break these," he observes, then lowers himself down to inspect the glass shards. "Shards are on the ground, so they broke inwards." His attention flicks back up to Freya. "I do not know, and do not care. I said she could not keep it in my house; where she put it afterwards is her business."
The air in here smells stale and frosty all at once, along with a strange musk of something herbal and old, and there's no pattern of footprints in the dust to indicate anyone's been through here in a long time. Their guide waits by the door, in no hurry to start rummaging through things and instead just keeping an eye out for anything untoward.
Freya's examination of the mattress, however, proves fruitful: there's a large wad of clean cotton stuck under the mattress for safekeeping, for whatever reason.
Freya tilts her head to the side as she examines the wad of cotton. The very sharp tip of her glaive digs through it, scattering the pile somewhat to see if the wad of cotton was perhaps keeping something safe or wrapped around something. "Well Fayad reported someone broke in and a goat all his clothes so now he's moving out. So I'd say that's a pretty good use of the goat." She tells Nikolai with some amusement in her voice.
The goat seems to recognize that it's being talked about, and abruptly breaks off into loud, loud "BAAAAAAAH"s, for whatever reason, suddenly struggling to free itself from Nikolai's hold while he's looking at the glass.
Konstantin cants his head a touch as Freya uncovers something. He adjusts a dial on a small control panel on the inside of his left wrist and his armour produces a quiet whirring sound; heating kicking into overdrive. It might be high tech but this is some chilly wildling air going on. "Looks like they put it there on purpose." He hangs around as she spreads it out incase there might be something within. The talk of goats chomping clothing elicits a singular snorted laugh from him and a roll of his eyes but little else, he's on task.
To those who may be paying attention, they may or may not notice that the potion Rachel holds has shifted colors to red.
Ash hands their homework to the goat without hardly looking, seeming keen to keep it fed, as a fed goat is... probably quiet.
Rachel doesn't dignify Nikolai's commentary with anything but an exasperated look over her shoulder. The goat, on the other hand, wins a rare smile. Given that there's nothing up the chimney - no bearded man with presents, at least - she swings by where Konstantin and Freya stand, opting for closer proximity with the latter.
She happens to look down at the potion in her hand, then, and almost ignores it before--...
Rachel re-examines her set of instructions and gives the thing a very, very tentative shake.
"Glass looks like it was heated and cooled very quickly," Nikolai says, clicking his tongue. "Could be bad glass; could be magic temperature. This place looks old enough that windows must have survived for some time before breaking, I think."
Freya glances over at Rachel from exposing whatever the wad of cotton might be hiding or whatever, her brow knits slightly as she looks at the red potion she's holding. "What do the instructions say?" She asks as she turns back towards the bed and the cotton.
Ash picks up the herbs from the pouch, spinning then between their fingers by the stalk with a smile. "Hey, *is* the goat poisoned? Because it might like these herbs more than my homework... and they might make it a bit sleepy."
"Shake the potion," Rachel says to Freya, having done exactly that. She sounds skeptical. No accounting for what Wilding magic does. Ideally, it's not explosive. "And then probably poison the goat." That's for Ash. They might be right.
There was, indeed, nothing up the chimney. There is also nothing in the wad of cotton when Konstantin pokes and prods his way through it: it's just cotton, no treasures held within.
With that tentative shake of Rachel's hand, the potion in the bottle begins to bubble, ever so slightly, and increasing in the bubbling as it goes. It's probably been shaken enough for the time being.
The goat may or may not be poisoned; what it /is/, is hungry. It chomps down the homework fast, and then reaches its neck out to bite Ash - or the herbs. One of the two. Maybe both.
Ash squints at Rachel, as there must be more to say, but they don't press. They feed the lavender to the goat. After all, if it would react with any common herbs, the instructions would *probably* say so... right?
Freya's brow raises more, "Does it actually mention something about poisoning the goat? Are you supposed to feed the potion to the goat maybe?" She asks poking at the wad of cotton, "Is this just a wad of cotton?" She muses, "Why on earth would anyone want that?"
"Am I turning this sideways?" Rachel asks the guide. "Upside down?" She displays the instructions to him from across the room. They're in English, granted, but perhaps the ambiguity is less in their native tongue, and they know what 'turn' would most commonly be translated to.
"Please do not touch the goat," Nikolai grumbles, yanking the bitey boy back out of reach. "I do not know exactly what is the plan for the goat, but it should not be harmed, and should not be handled by practitioners if we can help it. I don't know why. But purity is important."
You'd be surprised, Ash. The instruction-writer /was/ Korina, after all. For the time being, it looks like the lavender hasn't done anything harmful, though. The goat chomps it down, hungrily, and then settles down across Nikolai's shoulders for a nap when it's yanked right back out of reach. The herbs have made it docile enough that it stops baaaaaahing all over, and it now looks ready for a nap.
Code the Guide gives Rachel a blank look. "I am not witch," he tells her. "Instructions are on paper."
Descending from the loft, Konstantin glances at Rachel and her potion. There's a lingering look not dissimilar to Ash's own but he leaves it for now; he can search before he has to prod her to reveal the mysterious instructions. He heads for the hearth then, calling up to Freya "Keep it with you. Maybe is useful soon; strange to bring anything to place like this that you don't absolutely need." Eyes on the now-cold fireplace, he looks around it and then up the chimnney before running a finger through the soot and touching the pricks at the back; giving the whole thing a good and proper investigatoring.
For now, though, it looks like they've examined all the cabin has to offer, even if they haven't found a purpose for the mysterious wad of cotton. Maybe someone just really liked cotton and wanted to keep it safe.
Konstantin gets soot-covered fingers, of course.
For the time being, Rachel does nothing with the potion. She simply holds it in sight and starts to fiddle with her phone. A little digital research, if she's got signal. One can only imagine what she's Googling: 'what direction do you turn Wilding potions in before you feed them to ritual goats?'
There's no signal. Rachel's phone displays a sad little "ENSURE YOU'RE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET :(" and asks her if she'd like to play the dinosaur jumping over cacti game.
Konstantin smears the soot between his fingertips, sniffing it. This is serious investigatory work. He steps into the middle of the room, then, looking around at those gathered. "Any other ideas here, or we ready for watchtower? We can come back later if need to."
Ash pulls the herbs back, saying, "Oh, well... that's me. Thanks for the warning... homework is probably fine...." They continue to examine the shelves, looking over the other dried herbs, before heading to the ladder, looking up. "Mmm... best you not head up here, President... that armor looks heavy. Me or Rachel." They climb up fully, searching around with nose, hand, and eyes thoroughly. They ask the guide, Cole, "Paper is for witches? How do wildlings store information? Knots? Braids?"
"I can fly up," Rachel informs Ash. "I'll be faster." She doesn't yet walk for the door. They'd agreed to stick together - and for the time being, Rachel's acquiescing.
"/Potions/ are for witches," The guide snorts out in half-amusement. "We have paper. Maybe in tower. This place is for sleeping and eating." He moves out of the doorway, giving them space in case they'd like to move over there next.
Freya opens up her backpack and shoves the cotton into it with the tip of her glaive without ever touching it. "Useful for... holding to a wound I guess?" She asks with a shrug as she shoulders her backpack on her non rifle shoulder and follows Konstantin.
Ash shakes their head, calling down, "You have the potion. Best stay like that, treat it like a sacred duty."
Konstantin watches Ash and Rachel, lingering by the door. He ticks an upnod; "Ready?"
Rachel holds her hands - and the potion - up in something of a surrender. Whatever they prefer. She's here to assist. "Yeah. We can go."
Ash looks through the blankets and matresses as well, shaking out the blankets and turning over the mattress before coming back down. They swipe a few more herbs, before following Konstantin out with a nod. "All good, President."
Back out into the frigid air; robbed of the wind-cover of the cabin. While it might still have been freezing in there, atleast it was enclosed. Konstantin isn't tremendously keen on remaining out here shivering his nips off (be they enclosed within warmed sci-fi armour or not) so he stays on the move, turning eastwards towards the base of the watchtower. He eyes the stairs briefly, harking back to Ash mentioning armour and climbing, and then shrugs. Hydraulic legs are great for catching falling Presidents; it's the people underneath him that have to worry.
As they pass through the center of the outpost again, there's a rustling somewhere in the mists; a loud noise like a roar, following by a bunch of skittering and scuffling and chittering in stark contrast to the earlier, deathly quiet of the tundra. There is what sounds like a bunch of animals moving at once, and then utter stillness again.
The goat lifts its head up from Nikolai's shoulder, lets out a quiet little 'baaaaa' and then goes back to sleep, the herbs having worked their magic well.
Their guide freezes at the sound, quickly hushing the group and beckoning them onwards to the tower from where he rounds up the group at the rear. "It is the beast," he whispers with wide, wide eyes. "Too far for its magic to reach us. Quiet."
Konstantin freezes on the spot then (not literally), turning towards the guide. He frowns a touch, sniffing once. "Magic? What kind of magic it has?"
Freya's head lifts as she listens to the roar, her teal eyes looking in the distance with her very good vision to see if she can see anything. She doesn't go any further than Konstantin though, turning to look at the guide as well.
Rachel cuts Konstantin a look that says 'do you want all of us to die?' Her own quiet's maintained.
Ash nods, turning their face away from the mountain to let their tundra camoflage do its work as they walk quietly along. They're shivering, even with all of their winter clothes on, clearly made for the heat. They don't scold Konstantin. If he decides to kill them all, this is the way it must be.
That kid ain't right.
Rachel's been fairly still all along. She's very, very careful not to disturb the potion with so much as a too-enthusiastic step forward.
"I am not witch," The guide has to repeat to Konstantin as he had told Rachel, frowning face turning even frownier. "Magic is for witches." That means he doesn't know, probably.
Looking at the witches (@Rachel and Ash Konstantin for a second looks like he expects then to elucidate for the guide but he quickly goes back to scanning the mists around them. He watches and waits.. Any more sounds, oh narrator of ours? Konstantin is ready, palm on blade's hilt.
Quiet's not Nikolai's specialty. His armour doesn't have a stealth mode, and there's always an audible hum to it when it's powered. He's warm enough, with waste heat circulated through the suit, so it's worth it in his eyes, but it's certainly less helpful for avoiding getting spotted by the big cat. "Ice magic," he hazards.
There are no more sounds, sayeth the narrator. Konstantin is free to proceed onwards.
Proceedeth Konstantin does, heading for the watchtower. He goes up first; ensuring that if the staircase is rickety enough to break under the weight of his armour that no one else will get to go up either. That's the only fair way to do it afterall.
The narrator would like everyone to ignore the extra random things in the room that are unable to be removed, please and thank you.
Freya taps Konstantin on the shoulder and points at herself before pointing upwards. She's not that stealthy, but at least she isn't wearing a ton of literal armour. Her foot pushes on the rickety staircase lightly checking it can take her weight before she ascends it.
"Could be ice magic," Rachel agrees. Not much thought is given to another guess, given that they've arrived at their destination. She takes a good long look at the stairs, which don't - she agrees with Freya - seem as though they'd host a great deal of weight.
Konstantin nods aside to Freya, letting her lead the way up the tower. Delegation; very presidential.
Thankfully, there was enough ruckus produced by the sudden movement of wildlife in the distance that the humming of Nikolai's armor and the asking of Konstantin's questions and the soft bleating of the goat and the frowning of Cole's frowniness doesn't immediately bring upon them a plague of cats. They proceed onwards.
The stairs, surprise, /do/ hold just enough weight for them to ascend, as long as they're being careful about it. There will certainly not be any jumping, stomping, hopping, or any other sudden movements up here without making /something/ collapse.
Ash seems delighted, grinning as they move around lightly, carefull not to move too fast, looking at the maps, but focused on the parchments. They take out their phone, taking photos without flash, before touching any of the papers.
Without jumping,stomping, hopping, or any other sudden movements, Konstantin moves to the shelves and starts to scan along the frosty surfaces for any leavings of the last occupants.
Rachel's certainly not jumping, stomping, hopping, or making sudden movements either. As she'd earlier said, the instructions to 'turn' the potion were ambiguous - who knows whether jostling it in any which direction counts?
Konstantin pauses, finding a couple of mostly intact books in there. Looking back over his shoulder he addresses the nerds/witches (due to their innate alignment with books and the written word); "Look. Some writing here, come examine."
Freya is pretending she's upstairs.
Konstantin pauses, finding a couple of mostly intact books in the shelves. Looking back over his shoulder he addresses the nerds/witches (due to their innate alignment with books and the written word); "Look. Some writing here, come examine." (resent for Freya)
Ash comes back from looking over the parchments and mats, saying softly, "Careful, president, they may be fragile due to time and weathering. Cole, if you'd be so kind, can you read some of these titles to us?" They take some pictures of the books, too, covers and spines - presuming they have them. If not, they'll save it for the delicate work of the first pages.
Nikolai may be pushing it with his goat at his heavy, heavy armor, but they manage to make it up to the landing all the same, their guide coming up last, as has been his general M.O.
The books are a mishmash - half of them have been destroyed by an unfortunate ink spillage, and the other half is written in Wildling, but there's certainly some in there that seem to contain maps in diagrams.
Rachel starts to pick through the maps instead of the books. That doesn't require translation from a misanthropic guide. Rachel's deterred from asking more questions unless absolutely necessary.
Freya reaches the top of the stairs and looks around, shading her eyes as she tries to see what she can from the high vantage point that she's made. She doesn't seem particularly scared of falling off the tower or the tower collapsing given she's top of everyone else buahaha.
Considering that Nikolai could be generously describe to be somewhat heavy, he's not doing a whole lot of moving right now. Maybe he could survive the tower collapsing down on him, but it would hardly be helpful. "I did not bring my tablet," he sighs, "Or I might be able to put map together with photo collating app. I do not speak this language, unfortunately."
Ash looks distracted for a moment, going on their tiptoes to reach past Konstantin, trying to take a picture of a scroll covered in ink. Then, after taking a few, they carefully take it down, gently.
Their guide moves over when requested by Ash - finally, something he can help with, says his expression - though it immediately dims as he catches sight of the books. "They are journals." he tells them, "Hand-written." A warm-gloved hand reaches out to poke at one, before pulling it open. "... diary. Man named Aldric. They were a team." Well, no shit about that one.
Some of the pages here seem to have been blotted out entirely, and he flips through them before telling the group, "They have seen strange behavior of animals, it is written. Every few days. Three? Many move to the north. Like they are being called." He doesn't really seem to know what to look for in particular, but he's just telling them whatever facts he finds interesting - not a researcher nor a witch, as he'd said.
Ash murmurs, "I have an app like that, Nik. I can do it it." They bring the scroll over to Cole as well. "That's interesting... perhaps as we just saw. I suspect..." They smirk, at this, "That the cat is lazy, and brings its food to it so it doesn't have to hunt. That's why it's so big... and Korina planned this for dinnertime."
Ash drops the smirk as they add, "Let's hope it doesn't work on humans... I'm not dumb, but I ain't got no protections against such things, either."
Freya takes a final look around before she slowly descends the stairs carefully, "You know I can hear you all from up there." She hisses in a soft whisper, "If you're trying to be quiet. There's a cave.. And a boulder that looks it can be cover on the path there."
"Hypnotiser cat", Konstantin decides immediately based on one shred of evidence. There is mild contempt in his tone; he doesn't like that. He steps to the bottom of the way up top to look up towards Freya the group's sharp-eyed scout. "How far you think to cave, Freya?"
Freya tries to think back on how far the cave is (help lol) and walks over to Konstantin, "Well... Gotta not let it catch your eyes then... " She murmurs as she tilts her head, "Those mech armours have uh.... welding face plates?" She whispers over towards Nikolai.
"Hm." That sounds suspiciously like appreciation from Rachel. Where Konstantin finds fault in hypnotism, Rachel - seems like she might be inclined to ask for lessons.
Konstantin cants his head slightly at the question from Freya, glancing at Nikolai. "Not bad idea..", he murmurs.
"No," Nikolai replies. It's hard to call it a whisper; there's a resonant quality innate to the Russian's voice, and it echoes up the tower - if at a lower volume than his normal speaking voice. "Masks are separate. I decided not to bring." He works his jaw for a few minutes, then says, "I could make snow visors out of material back at the cabin. There is glass and metal and fabric."
Nikolai says "I am having thought that maybe they were stuffing ears with cotton to prevent monster call, like Odyssey, maybe."
Freya turns to glance at Nikolai, "I mean... that might be an idea... too... If it appears. We could've brought some good old fashioned earplugs though.... if we knew about this before hand... who was responsible for intel?" She hisses softly.
"Low intel was part and parcel of the task," Nikolai calls back up to Freya. "Hard to know details of monster that seems to kill everyone who gets close enough to learn more than the fact it is a big animal of some sort."
Ash, the savior of the hour, and their collate-images app saves the day - the map comes together bit by bit, until it forms a complete picture upon the screen, which they may or may not wish to share with the class. The guide looks increasingly worried at all the theories they're floating around - poor guy's probably grown up with stories of this thing, if he's lived around here in the past, and maybe he's getting cold (ha ha) feet now. Hopefully not, if he's getting paid for this.
Freya turns to look at the map, studying as it she reconciles her memories, "The boulder is only a few hundred feet from the start of the tundra... " She seems vaguely confused by the picture of whatever Ash is showing her, "And then about an hour and a half's trek for a slow person maybe? Whose human slow in this group?"
The goat is still asleep, it must be said. Must've been some good ass lavender. Meanwhile, the potion seems to have stopped bubbling in Rachel's hands while they put the maps back together, and it is now glowing a nice pink.
Cole the Guide sets out a disclaimer: "I am human." He doesn't like being called /slow/, however, because he's doing his Frownie McFrownerson routine again, this time at Freya.
Ash seems satisfied with their image, but if they've gathered all that they can here... they turn to the parchments, pointing out things to Cole to ask him to read in whispers. They go over the crates next, pushing the cobwebs aside with... an umbrella? Which they put back in their bag when they're done. They then nod to Nikolai.
Rachel's just about to ask a question. Her hand - the one curled around the potion - indicates the map. It just so happens that right about then, glowing occurs. She eyes the thing and, with intense trepidation, turns the vial once, twice, three times, somersaulting it.
Freya turns to look at someone, "Are you as slow as a human? Some humans are fast." She asks the guide with an raised eyebrow as his frowny look.
Konstantin nods to Nikolai once at the mention of classical monsterhunting tactics. "Good idea. We try this; earplugs." The jibe regarding intel from Freya goes unacknowledged but he turns to her when she starts talking numbers. A nod. "Armour helps moving but da, maybe guide will be slowest." He glances at Ash and Rachel then. It's not nerd-prejudice I swear.
"Are you opposed to being carried?" Nikolai asks, raising an eyebrow at Cole. There's not a great deal of judgement there, but nor is there patience. "I am fast and strong and big. If the President takes the goat, I can carry you and still run faster than human could."
Ash makes a nerd face, grimacing.
Cole the Guide has running 1, it must be said.
Hahahaha. Nerds.
A glance towards the entrance and a small shrug from Konstantin ; "Time is not the problem; da. Snow visors, plugs."
Ash eyes Nikolai and the goat, glances at Freya, then looks hopefully at Konstantin - that fades away quickly.
Freya shakes her head at the nerds, "I mean I could probably carry two but like... It's not very comfy. I could carry you all as a wolf but uh... there will be no stealth. It will definatley know we're coming."
"I'll keep up if I shift," Rachel allows at last. She doesn't admit to slowness outright - but that's pretty damning. It means she'd fall behind on two legs.
The potion starts fizzling in Rachel's hands, and the glass rapidly heats up; thankfully, it's the super-thick, super-resistant glass Korina likely had Nikolai procure for her, so it doesn't just blow up and/or shatter right there and deposit the mysterious substance all over Rachel. Instead, it just keeps bubbling and shifting colors ominously, sloooooooowly making its way from pink to something murky and blue-ish. Maybe she did it right.
Cole the Guide makes a bit of a face at Nikolai, and then tells him, "You are carrying goat already. Bad if damaged." The goat or his fur coat? It's up in the air for interpretation. "Running will not be too easy. Mist is thick." There's a gesture towards the tiny windows that reveal a glimpse of the tundra, and the heavy mists that shroud it.
Ash frowns as they follow his gesture.
"There are stories - running too fast, lost in mist forever." The Guide continues, a shiver unrelated to the cold making its way down his form. "Strange, strange mists."
Freya shrugs a shoulder, "Well we better get going.. Can you make the visors and earplugs on the way?" She asks Nikolai, "I'll carry the goat."
"Agreed", Konstantin states with a nod to Ash. He crosses his arms against his chest lightly, producing quiet clicks of armour plate on armour plate. He looks to Nikolai "Ready for a little visor-making, Kolya?" With that; he turns for the door.
Ash eyes Freya. "...you're not going to nibble on Oscar, are you?" They seem pretty defensive about an animal that is *definitely* getting eaten.
"Agreed", Konstantin states with a nod to Ash. He crosses his arms against his chest lightly, producing quiet clicks of armour plate on armour plate. He looks to Nikolai "Ready for a little visor-making, Kolya?" With that; he turns for the STAIRS (fix)
"Da, will take no time. I am Scion of Svarog; making is in my blood." Nikolai seems pretty confident.
Ash follows after Konstantin, but puts some of the sturdier journals and scrolls into their bag. Nerd.
Freya reaches over to accept the goat from Nikolai then, "I won't nibble on it..... Too much." She tells Ash with a smirk.
Moving on, Konstantin heads down the stairway and out into the tundra beyond. "If we wear earplugs, staying together even more important. No taking them out for chat."
Ash frowns with disapproval, but they're sure as hell not going to carry the goat.
"All mists bad," The Guide tells Ash with a shake of the head; he seems a /little/ more relaxed about speaking now that there's not been a peep of anything from the tundra in a while. "I have seen your Haven mists. Terrible. There are stories of mist-creature in Nar also, and on Navvere they say there are demon-dogs that come out of mists of sea and eat people every week," maybe he's just telling them folk tales now, so it's a good thing they decide to move on before he spooks himself or any of the rest of them any further.
Ash listens carefully, eyes lighting up with interest, but alas, the stories cannot continue.
Ash nods to themself.
OOC: Since it's been about -2 hours since we started, we can consider this a halfway point if anyone wants to get a snack, have a bathroom break, etc until 5am Haven time!
"I saw stress fractures that indicate thermal shock," Nikolai replies, shaking his head. "You do not end up with shards this large if glass shatters due to frequency of sound." Rather than hand the goat to the hungry wolf with a proclivity for eating livestock, he side-eyes Freya and passes the goat to Konstantin, instead. Hey; he has heated armour, the goat would surely prefer it - and in the meantime, the Russian gets to fashioning a series of snow visors from the materials to be found in the room. He might need to borrow a knife at some point, but there's a lot he can manage with just his hands and his (smaller) hammer.
Ash takes the role of Nikolai's gofer... if the even needs one, grabbing blankets and sheets so that he can use the kitchen table for work.
Ash ponders, before whispering again.
Freya snorts softtly as Nikolai gives the stinky goat to Konstantin instead and doesn't seem to mind at all not carrying the extra weight, yawning as she leans back against the wall of the hut while Nikolai works. She does take the wad of cotton out and start rolling earplugs though.
Konstantin looks like he would prefer Freya to carry the goat but ultimately ends up bearing it anyway. He keeps it clutched against his side, mostly ignoring it until at one point it nibbles at the kevlar shroud surrounding one of his suit's hydraulic components. With a glare and a "tsshhtk", Konstantin chastises the homework-eater. Otherwise, he seems content to be out of the wind for a moment while Nikolai works.
Konstantin ticks an upnod to Freya, heading over with his new friend under-arm. "Excited for being working with Temple and Knights?" There's a faint smirk and obvious derision in his tone.
Freya turns to look at Ash, "Maybe not a bad idea.. We can use him with the lantern as bait if the goat doesn't work..." She turns back to Konstantin, "Absolutely thrilled." She replies dryly, "But at least we can beat up Fayad now. He already mentioned. A eiodlon can only defend one place at one time. If you lure it to one spot, you can destory all it's other alters... And he said there's even a ritual that can keep the eiodolon there." Her teal eyes flick to Konstantin, "Given our cult doesn't like the smell of magic... your ...nerds might need to do it."
The goat has been a sleepy, sleepy baby since it was fed the herbs from the cabin, and it rouses just briefly when it passes hands from Nikolai to Konstantin, and ends up nibbling on his arm after it's tsshhtk'd away from his vest. All is quiet and still otherwise, the visors slowly coming into existence - it's a good thing there's plenty of knives around too, with everyone's weapons out, should Nikolai need one.
Finally, the visors are ready, and the group each gets one to wear - Cole the Guide too. Not the goat, though, unless Nikolai happened to make a goat-visor.
While the group - excepting Nikolai - earns a small reprieve, Rachel makes her way over to Konstantin (and the goat). For the most part, she still has her eye on the snow visors.
Ash chuckles softly, murmuring, "That Fayad guy said that? Why the fuck would he share that info? Though, one has to be sure he's not just trying to mislead you...."
"There are enough in Hand willing to help I think", Konstantin offers to Freya, "But each does of own accord. I don't like lizard either." He doesn't offer any agreement or otherwise on the matters of the arcane; that's well outside his wheelhouse. As Rachel approaches him, he shifts the way he leans on the wall, ending just a little closer to her.
Nikolai did not make a goat visor, no.
And right on cue, right as visors are being pulled on, the potion bottle in Rachel's hands cools down to a nice, soft blue, if she's not too busy looking ELSEWHERE.
In their gophering, Ash does stop to gut cotton from the mattresses, too... at least, the ones not made of hay. If not, blankets work, though wool - presumably - would make for *itchy* earplugs.
Freya hands the the earplugs made of cotton she rolled, though they are probably pretty itchy, "Didn't they kill your operative?" She asks Konstantin with an raised eyebrow, "Not enough for the hand to go after them?" She holds her own earplugs rolling them up some more but doesn't eem inclined to put them in yet.
How long has that potion been blue? Rachel's busy, yes, looking elsewhere. It's probably another solid fifteen seconds, give or take another fifteen, before she glimpses it. Hastily, she turns it upside down. Please don't explode. Her distraction doesn't warrant violence.
Rather than go for earplugs, Rachel fishes around in her bag. It turns out, she was carrying noise-canceling earbuds. Helps to have a phobia of gunshot, apparently. She comes prepared.
Ash considers, then grabs a leftover strip of cloth. "Given our theories," they murmur, "We should make it blind when we get close. If it wakes from the roar, we don't want it doing anything crazy before we are ready." They glance over at Freya curiously as they stand next to Konstantin, looping the cloth into a makeshift nightmask - For Goats:tm:!
Cole the Guide puts on his visor as well, though he seems dubious as to its effectiveness - he must not have been introduced properly to the magic of technology just yet. "We will go if you are all ready," he says, looking out the window and up at the sun. "Better to go before dusk. Night is darker." Someone give him an award for pointing out the obvious.
The potion in Rachel's hand doesn't blow up... yet. There's a lot of ominous bubbling, so much so that it starts shaking in her hands, as though the glass is about to crack any second now. She may or may not have missed a step.
"Jordan was an idiot for accepting pact. We made clear to him when we let him in; we are not rescue shelter for naive lizard-slaves. He served as best as he could until Dragon decided to snuff him out." A shrug. The Hand might look after those it favours but apparently Konstantin didn't favour them for reasons stated. He accepts the earplugs, giving them a quick squeeze to test. "Let's go, then. No sense losing more light."
Freya puts on the visor, hooking it into her leather straps that cover her hair and nods. "It was just... rather sudden." She sighs softly, "Plus it's not like the hand wants the world to end either. It would probably be in our best interests to make sure they don't succeed."
Finally. Nikolai slides his visor on and spends the last few moments tuning up his armour, which hums a little more insistently as it begins to draw more power. He'll be on the top of his game, with this. "Ready," he says.
Rachel's last to slip her own visor on. She's a little preoccupied with the potion that may or may not shatter in her hands. A wary eye's kept on it. She's considering arcane intervention, probably.
"Da", Konstantin shrugs, "But knights exist for reason. We do not think fire cult is capable enough to actually make Eidolon more than a bad smell that fades in a couple months. My operatives do as they will with eidolons as long as they are not compromised." With that, he steps outside and fits the visor into place on his own head. He glances back with an appreciative nod to Nikolai and then braves the chill.
Ash nods to Cole, and follows after Konstantin, pulling their hoodie hood tighter around the face after securing their visor. They're clearly listening to Freya's lobbying, but doesn't volunteer, either. They tuck a few more strips of scrap cloth in their pockets.
It's still bubbling. There's a thin, hairline crack that spreads through the glass. Perhaps Rachel should be checking her instructions again.
The goat was already asleep, but it sleeps better now thanks to Ash's nightmask. It also licks at their hand like it's hungry again, because it always is.
turns down the path into the tundra. It's showtime, baby, and Konstantin is (totally not) ready.
Konstantin turns down the path into the tundra. It's showtime, baby, and Konstantin is (totally not) ready.
Freya glances over at the potion in Rachel's hand, "Is that thing meant to be cracked? Can you just... keep shaking it and not stop?" She asks with a sidelong glance.
Ash glances to Rachel with concern. But, the potion was given to Rachel, not Ash. This is how it must be.
Rachel holds up her instructions, scanning once, twice, again. 'Oh.' Her mouth pops open. She makes a little grimace, akin to the narrator's :zipperface: of yesterday. She turns to the goat - and by happenstance obviously then, Konstantin. Hold the thing still. "Come here," she tells it.
Moving along, the mist thickening around them, Konstantin peers into the falling snow. The goat clutched lightly to his side, the russian moves at a good pace but regularly pauses and checks back to make sure the nerds and not-witch guide are able to keep pace. Once called for by Rachel, he stops dead in his tracks, turning towards her. "The potion is for the goat?"
"Potion's for the goat," Rachel speeds along, as if it were Konstantin's fault that she's holding a ticking time bomb. She'd suggested she wasn't good at running, but if she's got this kind of urgency for the next hour or two, they'll be fine. Rachel walks left. A little to the right. What angle - oh, whatever. She sticks her hand on the goat's snout and tries to pry it open, so she can dump her explosive in.
Freya leans forward as if she considers helping Rachel but then she realizes she doesn't want to get weird potion onto her hands. She leaves the job to the men with mechanical fingers instead.
The goat, first of all, licks at Rachel's hand, as though it wants to eat her instead of drink whatever's in the bottle. It must not smell absolutely revolting though, because the animal is relatively docile where it nibbles away at her fingers and then slurps down whatever's offered to it.
The potion stops attempting to explode when the bottle's about half-empty. Surely Rachel isn't going to feed that goat /all/ of it, right?
Nope, Rachel just read the instructions. Rachel's literate. Don't worry. NOW she turns the potion upside down (obviously after ensuring it's capped).
Konstantin watches the potion handling and goat handling with seriousness that is probably somewhat hard to maintain. Rachel seemed worried by it though so he gives her the benefit of the doubt (for once) and waits patiently. "We good."
Konstantin watches the potion handling and goat handling with seriousness that is probably somewhat hard to maintain. Rachel seemed worried by it though so he gives her the benefit of the doubt (for once) and waits patiently. "We good?" )fix)
The goat butts its head against Konstantin's arm once it's fed the potion, shaking itself around quite roughly as it attempts to pry the goat-mask off. Its nostrils flare, and its horn mildly stabs Konstantin, but it's not /truly/ trying to get itself free now, just looking around with wide goatly eyes at its surroundings, as though attempting to take something in with startling intelligence. Probably nothing to worry about...
Nikolai trades glances with Cole, raising an eyebrow at the wildling. Deal with this much, does he?
Ash makes hushing sounds at the goat, trying to coax it to sleep.
And yes, the potion goes back to its quiet simmering. Everything is well, for now...
Cole the Guide makes a face back at Nikolai, eying the mists with some trepidation. "Not a witch," he whispers back. Presumably, goats are for witches too.
Rachel looks at her saliva-covered hand. She looks at Konstantin. Her clothing is pristine. There's nefarious plotting afoot here. No, it's fine. She leans down to crunch a bit of snow in her palm - good as new. "Right. We're fine now."
Konstantin nods firmly, turning and continuingl. They're good now. The goat isn't thirsty anymore so we're ready. He trudges onwards towards the foreboding mists beyond.
Freya hoists her rifle on her shoulder as she follows Konstantin along, looking around cautiously
Ash keeps Oscar - the goat, you recall - in sight, as well as the president, expecting Nikolai to be close by. So long as they can see those two, they are not lost.
Konstantin unclips his blade from his hip; the small sword held in a polymer holster without a side that releases the entire blade with the press of a tumb on a button near the grip. No noisy sliding out of sheathes here; silence is golden.
Cole the Guide sneaks up close to Nikolai and slides his hand into the man's. For protection, of course. If they hold hands they cannot get lost, right?
Konstantin looks around the group, doing a quick headcount. He beckons to the member that strays the furthest; wordlessly reinforcing the importance of remaining cohesive here as visibility drops. Seperation is death.
The crunch of frozen dirt beneath Nikolai's boots, and the general size of his figure, make him a reasonable beacon to focus on, with impaired visibility and threat of getting lost. He stares down at his hand as Cole slides his own in between, then curls a lip in disdain as he faces forwards. They need the guide, they need the guide, they need the guide...
Konstantin accepts the map and looks down at it before shaking his head at Ash, turning back.
Freya walks forward and hooks a loop of her backpack onto something on the back of Konstantin's armour. It would be bad to lose the president into the mists.
What a task, keeping an eye on both the potion and on the group. Nevertheless, lost Rachel isn't, backpack loops or no backpack loops.
Holding the map now and the key to their survival, Konstantin feels pretty fuckin' safe. To be the president -and- mission essential. Bliss.
Plot armor does not exist. Konstantin trips on a mound of snow.
Nikolai points and laughs at Konstantin.
Rachel's not laughing. She's not laughing. This isn't funny.
...@me laughs.
Rachel's not laughing. She's not laughing. This isn't funny.
... Rachel laughs. (fix)
Freya manages to catch Konstantin before his face completely faceplants - but he is suspended by the backpack loop on the back of his belt possibly givng him a wedgie before she hoists him back up.
The goat bleats at all the laughing that's going on, its ears flapping a little as it huddles close to the warmth of Konstantin's armor, hopefully not getting dropped in the process.
Ash rushes to help Konstantin up, ever the simpering sub... but then remember that he's metal, and they are noodle. So, they let Freya handle it, and definitely does not laugh... but there's a grin behind his back for sure.
Konstantin wends this way and that, picking a path. He looks extremely serious. This is it, this is crunch-time. If he messes up, they could all die out here. Focus, focus, focus, FUCK! His visor fills with snow as hs head dips low enough to clip the crunchy layer before Freya catches him, barely restraining a loud 'BLYAT' before it escapes him. His narrator meant protected in the sense that his cohorts are relying on him and therefore looking to his safety! Please! Mercy! Mercy!
Konstantin grits his teeth and shakes out his visor before straightening up and looking around, taking in the sights.
"Shhhhhhh!" Cole the Guide whispers, his hand squeezing tighter around Nikolai's as more than half the group immediately breaks the silence to laugh out loud. There's a scuffling noise further in the distance at all the noise their tripping/laughing/bleating produces, and he stiffens, not finding the humor in the situation at all.
Konstantin picks out a looming shape in the mist and approaches it. Lo; yonder boulder appears!
"Shhhhhhh!" Cole the Guide whispers, his hand squeezing tighter around Nikolai's as more than half the group immediately breaks the silence to laugh out loud. There's a scuffling noise further in the distance at all the noise their tripping/laughing/bleating produces, and he stiffens, not finding the humor in the situation at all. (re)
Konstantin wends this way and that, picking a path. He looks extremely serious. This is it, this is crunch-time. If he messes up, they could all die out here. Focus, focus, focus, FUCK! His visor fills with snow as hs head dips low enough to clip the crunchy layer before Freya catches him, barely restraining a loud 'BLYAT' before it escapes him. His narrator meant protected in the sense that his cohorts are relying on him and therefore looking to his safety! Please! Mercy! Mercy! (re for Freya)
Konstantin looks back at the group, patting the boulder gently and nodding to Freya.
turning northwards, Konstantin proceeds
However loud Konstantin's bliat was it probably wasn't as loud as when Nikolai showed up to a monster hunt completely naked so... Freya just lets Konstantin straighten up as she follows him past the boulder. (afkish for dinner)
"President," Nikolai warns, taking a step towards Konstantin. "Hold on a second. I saw something behind boulder."
Konstantin nods, tunring back at Nikolai's insistence.
Ash taps Konstantin, kneeling in the snow. Pawprints, they point out.
Konstantin nods to Ash in acknowledgement before he turns back away from the pawprints. Something for later.
The glimpse of blue they'd walked /right past/ until Nikolai pointed it out is revealed to be a group of Wildlings, huddled behind the boulder, sitting close together.
... no. Not just sitting. They're frozen there, their clothes stuck to the ground with ice, furs ruined with countless cycles of fog freezing and melting, joints stuck in place. Their eyes are empty and soulless - they've been dead for a while. Months, if not longer. Years? All of them wear thick hoods, and cotton stuffed in their ears.
One of them has a sheaf of papers upon his lap alongside a quill, kept from being blown away only by the weight of his hand keeping it in place, some of the ink ruined, some perfectly readable still; the writing is shaky and jerky, requiring a closer look to figure out.
Ash beckons Cole over excitedly, pointing it out silently, then squatting nearby, so that he can whisper the words out loud.
'Excited' isn't the word that Rachel would use for herself, especially given the fact that they - the dead Wildlings - are clothed better than she is. Actually...
Rachel stares at them. She could help with deciphering the papers, or alternatively, she could take the opportunity to garb herself. Depends how hard it is to get a jacket off a rigid corpse.
Disgusting. She must truly be cold.
She comes to one of them - the one that seems closest to her size - and tries to prize away whatever she can.
Konstantin looks to Ash and sees them already handling business. For now, the russian stares down at the wildlings that don't bear intel. The faces frozen solid, their forms curled and withered. His snowmask guards his expression (not that he needs the help with that) but his stare lingers on them meaningfully.
Konstantin shifts a little closer to Rachel, frowning as he watches her. He shakes his head, laying a palm on Rachel's arm, before tugging off his balaclava from beneath his snow mask and passing it to her.
Ash seems completely unconcerned with the dead, perhaps even callous, treating them almost like objects, sitting on the knee of one so as to avoid squatting for a prolonged period of time. All that matters to them is the text.
That'd protect Rachel's face - and yes, she shows Konstantin gratefulness before she dons the balaclava - but that leaves all the rest of her. She's still insistent on getting a coat off. Or a scarf. Rachel's not picky.
...Clearly.
Cole does have to let go of Nikolai's hand to make his way over as well, his eyes a little wide, but he does so without complaint, shuffling over in the snow and peering down at the dead man's face. There's a frown on his lips once more, and he reaches down to slooooowly, slowly, slowly tug the paper free from beneath the man's hand, and his eyes grow even wider once he reads the words on the paper.
"The mist never goes away," the wildling whispers, reading from the pages, translating as he goes the best he can, "I know it does not feel right. Earlier, Garen and Aldric just... stood up. Their eyes looked funny. They walked right into the mist without looking back."
His shoulders hunch up as he goes, glancing this way and that as though there's something going to be leaping out at him through the mist. "We yelled at them, but they did not hear us. We kept our ears filled with cotton after that. I-I can feel it watching. Maybe we will find way back..."
While he's making his way through that, Rachel's over there trying to rob dead bodies. Whether or not she comes away with a disgusting dead man parka before Konstantin pulls her attention away, she'll notice they've still got the cotton in their ears, should they make use of it.
As it is, the goat in Konstantin's arms, starts to struggle in response to something unseen or unheard, right at the same time Rachel's potion turns yellow, the glass a little heated up. There's a loud, loud baaaaaah.
Rachel, finally, does manage a scarf off the dead guy. Probably Aldric, if she wants to remember it as 'good ol' Aldric's scarf'. It's old but well-made, though a little worse for wear, and smells kind of weird. Probably from the dead people that have been attached to it.
Ash takes some of the cotton out hurriedly, lurching to shove them into Oscar's ears, grimacing with a panicked expression. "Shhh, shh, shhh," they shush, quietly.
Konstantin straightens up at the baaa'ing. He doesn't hear Cole's words for the earplugs in his ears but his underarm-carried mammal is close enough for him to take note. He nods to Ash as they tend to the beast before scannning the surrounding mist with his blade held tight in his free hand
The only possible thing that could tear Rachel's attention from the prospect of blessed warmth is the prospect of getting blown to smithereens by some mysterious Wilding substance. She looks over at the goat, and then at the potion in her left hand. Shit. She quickly wraps the scarf about her neck and yanks the goat's mouth open, this time with little hesitation. Shut up, please. Drink the damned thing.
The goat's mouth doesn't need to be yanked open - it's open already with the loud, loud baaaahing. The potion does divert its attention for a little bit, though it shakes out the cotton stuffed in its ears post-haste, its breaths fogging up in the cold.
Rachel unceremoniously tilts the potion into the goat's gullet. If it won't accept being saved by Ash and their cotton, maybe they'd be better served feeding the goat to the cat. Rachel doesn't say that, but she's probably thinking about it.
Ash has handy dandy - strips of cloth. They shove the cotton back in, then ties a cool little headband on the goat, tightly, to keep them *in*. It's no doubt uncomfortable - assuming they manage, of course - but the little nerd seems intent.
The goat is getting agitated now, the more Ash attempts to confine its ears; it shakes its head wildly, bucking its body and trying to thrash here and there in Konstantin's arms, even if it doesn't bleat any more.
Ash gives up, not wanting the goat to make any more noise.
The goat also attempts to chomp at Rachel's hand on the way.
"Okay," Nikolai grunts, drawing his maul from the baldric on his back. He holds it firm and ready, not quite crackling to life yet - but it could be. "We have some preparation. Ears protected, eyes protected. There are grenades on his belt, too - wildlings probably hadn't experimented with using explosives on the fucking thing yet. "
Rachel doesn't care if they need this goat. Rachel will serve it up for dinner. She thumps it on the head, as if it would respond to corporal punishment.
Freya shoves some earplugs into her ears and follows after Konstantin.
Konstantin has had his earplugs in for a while now. Safety first brutha
/Does/ Nikolai want to blow up the creature they're supposed to bring the pelt of back, intact`?
... well, the answer to that is likely yes, but it does require one(1) think before measures are made.
The goat-thumping serves to make the goat angry. It bites down on Rachel's knuckles, hard, in its stubbornness.
/Does/ Nikolai want to blow up the creature they're supposed to bring the pelt of back, intact?
... well, the answer to that is likely yes, but it does require one(1) think before measures are made.
The goat-thumping serves to make the goat angry. It bites down on Rachel's knuckles, hard, in its stubbornness. (fix)
"*OW*," Rachel says on instinct. She wrestles with the goat, attempting to save her hand before it tears too far into the skin. No one blame her for being loud. They'd yell, too, if a farm animal had attached itself to them.
Cole the Guide quickly nudges Rachel away from the goat. "Blood!" he hiss-whispers, and attempts to draw her away and back. "It can smell! You cannot go on," he tells her, and quickly drags her off back to the outpost. Goodbye, Rachel.
Konstantin jams his fingers into the side of the goat's mouth, his armoured gloves protecting them. He wrenches its jaw wider slightly, freeing Rachel's hand.
Ash adds their earplugs, frowning at someone, but not speaking up. They instead bend over, looking around at the cave - then looks around - Rachel is gone? And so is Cole, great. Just great. They look up at Konstantin, and set their fingers on the ground, checking for vibrations as they wait for commands to move ahead.
Ash adds their earplugs, frowning at Rachel, but not speaking up. They instead bend over, looking around at the cave - then looks around - Rachel is gone? And so is Cole, great. Just great. They look up at Konstantin, and set their fingers on the ground, checking for vibrations as they wait for commands to move ahead.
Cole also took that opportunity to simply fuck off himself. He wasn't being paid enough for this, and so now it's just Nikolai, Konstantin, Ash and Freya - and the goat, of course, who seems satisfied after having tasted blood. Not satisfied /enough/ though. Even though Konstantin's holding on with all his strength, it's still trying to break free, possibly to run off somewhere. It may be time to move on.
Konstantin watches the pair head back off, shaking his head slowly. Looking at those remaining, and then the goat, he nods. On we go.
Konstantin glances to Ash again, nodding to the footprints.
Ash flares their nose, sniffing the painfully cold air and looking for further tracks. Though, seems like the obvious entrance is very obcious.
Freya stuffs the cotton in her ears, the better not to hear you with, so anyone trying to get her attention better be doing more than making noise. She starts to get more wary, one hand resting on the rifle on her shoulder as she walks. Her breath puffs out into the air infront of her.
Ash flares their nose, sniffing the painfully cold air and looking for further tracks. Though, seems like the obvious entrance is very obvious. They're definitely not just trying to look busy and useful, even though the path may as well be a railroad.
The silence is even more oppressive now with their earplugs in. The mist seems to form odd, half-familiar shapes as it drifts past, making the eyes cross, and the ground beneath is out of sight, the footing treacherous - but the cave does come into view soon enough, the mists parting around the group.
There's a rumbling beneath the feet - they can't hear it, but the ground vibrates as though a loud, loud animal has roared loud enough to vibrate.
Only a few seconds later, a couple of snow ermines, and a group of rats scurry their way through - instead of moving /away/ from the creature's den, they run inside it, forsaking all notions of self-preservation. The goat in Konstantin's arms struggles even harder, its feet moving in the air as though it's trying to run off into the cave as well.
Taking a knee as the mist thins out, Konstantin lifts a flattened hand to point it up vertically; signalling for a stop. He points then towards the cave entrance, incase any didn't instantly spot it.
Immediately, he begins to carry out a check of his equipment; giving his armour and weaponry a once over. He gets half way through when the roar sounds out, drawing his gaze towards the yawning maw of the cave.
He frowns, holding to goat tight under his arm. He glances then to the last remaining nerd, Ash, and subsequently Nikolai and Freya, before jerking his head down at the animal and then at the cave. 'Let it go?'
Ash types up a text, showing it to Nikolai.
... very belatedly, a snowy owl flaps its way down from somewhere, bumps into the back of Nikolai's head, and then flaps off right into the cavern's entrance as well after that oopsie.
Ash seems unsure, not knowing at all if this goat is meant to go in, or when, or what - Oscar's fate has not been handed to them. They look to Nikolai, the Russian Cat Whisperer.
Freya nods at Konstantin, wondering if he had ever seen the universal signal for stop used in movies tv shows... the held up fist. Instead he gives the air an high five and she just looks at him as she stops behind him not because of the hand signal but because of he had stopped. She looks at the cave, at the way animals seem to run FOR it and frowns confusedly.
Nikolai shakes his head emphatically at Ash. He responds verbally, given that the beast seems to be bothering with other things. "Korina said not to hurt it," he grunts. "Seems like it would be bad idea." How much of that they manage to catch is up in the air; with Cole and Rachel both gone, the larger of the Russians seems more keen on handling this than ever. He didn't know what to do with the goat, himself.
Ash watches Nikolai's lips, but the most important part is, surely, the headshake, regardless. They rub their face. They seem to adore Korina for sure, but... why would she *not* share what to do with the goat???
Ash types again on their phone, before showing it to the two Russians: 'Chances are, it will only try harder to be free, and be more difficult to carry. It has the potion. I think we should let it go, follow quickly but carefully. We don't know how quick *whatever* acts.
A low growl starts in Freya's chest as she looks towards the caves and she lifts a hand to clap her hand over her ears. Her phone comes out, -"It wants us in the cave.- She types quickly then nods towards the goat, -Let the goat go, prepare your gas-"
Ash belatedly shows it to Freya as well. There's no disdain in their expression - they clearly forgot.
Ash blinks, reading Freya's text, then rereading it, then eyeing the goat. It's not what she meant to say, but what comes to mind....
Within the darkness of the cave, the eyes of the creature come into sight first. A startling white with rounded pupils, they narrow at the intruders right outside the den. The glimpse of ivory teeth is visible as it catches the light from outside, but the creature just keeps prowling inside, only an occasional sighting of fur visible.
The stench of blood starts drifting outside from the fresh kills that had presented themselves to the feline.
The goat struggles even more, and attempts to chomp down on Konstantin's arm now.
Konstantin shrugs at the headshake, and turns towards the source of the roar. He pushes his hand forward, turning it and dropping it forward to point his flat fingers towards his destination. Why follow hollywood when your enemies likely do too; they'll understand your signal and know that you're stopping when you stop. Like they, maybe they might think he's just pausing momentarily before moving again. Important stuff. Creeping forward, he approaches the cave entrance a few meters more before he sets the goat down, the tally of votes apparently drawing 3-to-1 in favour of feeding the puddy cat. He watches and waits to see what Oscar does.
looks up at the cave, careful not to make eyecontact with the beast even through the visor. -Cave is a dead end so filling it with sleeping gas or something would work well. Then... Niko can skin it ..- If Freya could hear Nikolai before she would've wondered how on earth you're meant to skin a cat without harming it but given she missed the memo, she just watches the goat to see if it does anything.
Ash takes a step back, reaching for their - oh yeah. They went shopping last minute, left their weapons behind... but it's fine. Russian Iron Man and Russian War Machine - heck, *the* War Machine - were here. And Freya, who certainly seems like she can wreck shit. They have... magic.
/Finally/. Oscar bleats his freedom out for the world to hear, and springs up with joyful goatness to bound into the open entrance of the cave.
That is the last anyone is going to hear of poor, poor Oscar. He's struck down in a flash - compared to the ermines and rats and owls, this is a /feast/, and the creature in there is going to dine well tonight.
Blood sprays the snow at the entrance of the cave. The cat feasts.
Ash holds a hand over their heart. They have more respect for the damned goat than the dead wildlings, it seems. Oscar, we hardly knew ya.
Lowering himself, Konstantin crouches as low as he can without dipping into the snow and losing vital bodyheat at a deathly rate. As a cold-hearted hardened criminal scumbag, he doesn't even shed a tear when the group's erstwhile companion is torn to shreds. He lifts his hand again, palm flat, and then waits, watching. He's expecting something, maybe.
Freya eyes the cave through her snow visor, her hand tightening on her glaive which trails behind her, the curve bladed at the end ending at a sharp tip which glitters. She frowns as she stays in the shadows, glancing at the others as if waiting for Nikolai to magic up some gas or something.
Waiting a few minutes for whatever-the-fuck had been in the goat to metabolise within the beast, Nikolai steps over to Freya and draws a stocky, carbon grey tube from his armour, which he loads with a metallic canister. He reaches out to take her rifle in hand for a moment, then racks the tube on as an underbarrel, then points to the cave, offering her a nod.
Ash seems to understand the palm raised - probably because it *is* a universal sign, just not for military/spy movies. For mundanes - it's not "stop", it's "wait"... but these mean the same exact thing here. Though, if they know any of the other shit he's doing with his hands, it's likely entirely due to training - if it's not "stop", "wait", or "go".
Freya glances over at Nikolai as he goes to install some kindof grenade launcher on her rifle. She peers at the man as if quizzling why his suit couldn't just launch missiles out of it's shoulders like iron man at this point but doesn't resist. She hoists her rifle, lifting the sight to her eye and shrugs as she takes a blind pot shot into the cave. It's a gas launcher, it should work no matter where it lands right? Wether it bonks the cat on the head or not.,
Ash glances over at Nikolai, eyes squinting, unsure. But, they say nothing, do nothing, just wait, watching the cave entrance carefully, and glancing occasionally to ensure that they don't miss movement from Konstantin.
Konstantin draws a quick breath, finally indulging himself in a little precious warmth as the fires of hell crackle to life within him. As Freya kicks things off, he makes his own quick preparations before whatever is in the cave and answer their interruption to its feast. Bitter-smelling wisps of smoke trail from his nostrils and he rises with eyes narrowed.
Well, the grenade gets launched into the cavern - and now the cavern is full of tear gas, none of them have proper gas masks, and there is no cat that comes running out to face them, only an eerie silence with the cotton plugs in their ears. Depending on how fast that potion acted, the feline may just be in there, asleep, and/or dead.
... silence pervades again, for a few moments.
Eventually, finally, there's the feline that appears at the entrance of the cave, a massive beast that casts a shadow upon the surroundings with its presence. Its mouth opens in a soundless yowl, and it scratches at the stone walls of the cave in irritation, sluggishness weighing down its limbs from whatever had been in the goat-potion. It doesn't leave the cave - no, it just prowls at the entrance, fur floofed up, and growls at the intruders with its eyes reddening, and the chill that seems to intensify all around them.
A thick coating of frost forms upon the weapons of everyone present, while the snow leopard's eyes close - the sluggishness, combined with the tear-gas is doing a number on it, though it's too large a beast to be knocked out without external force applied.
Freya stares at the cave with her brow knit as the feline finally appears and.. doesn't do much of anything except prowl. It certainly doesn't fall asleep or anything. She glances over at Nikolai as she waits for the teargas to eventually disappate. She swings the rifle back onto her shoulder, grabs her taser with a dart and shrugs at Konstantin at Nikolai before starting to creep towards the entrance of the cave.
Ash glares at the cat, and their lips murmur the words... "Mal de ojo...." The evil eye. A curse, to fuck up Fat-Cat's soon-to-end life.
"That did not flush it out," Nikolai observes in annoyance, then charges in. If he stays still too long, that encroaching frost will lock up his servos, and his armour would be useless - so movement it it is, and the crackling of flame as his hammer comes alight and jets a stream of fire at the thing like a torch. Singing a few hairs off its little head should not damage the hide beyond usability. He'd need to be closer - dangerously close - to throw his neutralisers. Getting closer is exactly his intent, though - the thing's been poisoned and gassed, and now it's time to go break its skull.
Popping up, Konstantin shouts out; "DAVAI!". A flash of light and he spews an opening volley; a bolt of hellish potency that explodes in a shower of cinders and a wave of concussive force. He wheels around rather than approaching the cat directly, soon letting fly another arc of flame in an attempt to draw the cat's attention!
Ash moves to help Konstantin - and by move, they wave their arm. Their charm bracelet slips out, the little mirror on it catching the last rays of the sun and directing them *right* into those angry red eyes. A DISTRACTion.
The cat doesn't bat an eye at Konstantin's hellfire - at first; it must think itself confident in facing regular fire. Perhaps it's simply not come face-to-face with hellfire yet, because it immediately regrets that thought when its whiskers catch on fire. There's immediate alarm, and it turns back around towards the deeper cave, but the potion is really doing its work now - the leopard is much too slow, its reflexes dimmed, to avoid the bonk of Nikolai's hammer, and though it snaps back at him with teeth as big as his entire forearm, it's no challenge at all with their three-pronged approach (and Ash's magic, of course).
Stalactites break off from the cave's surface to smash into the ground with the fighting - hopefully nobody gets caught beneath those - and beneath the force of Nikolai's hammer, he can sense a crack of bone giving way.
The leopard collapses, eyes finally falling shut.
... it is, upon closer inspection, still breathing, just knocked unconscious.
As long as they're certain it won't be waking up anytime soon, and/or have plans to put it back to sleep if it does, the gang is free to remove their earplugs to discuss the next course of action.
Freya takes out her earplugs and makes her way over to the asleep cat, "Well that was easier than I thought... Also .. Did I see your mouth right? You said something about NOT hurting the cat?" She squints over at Nikolai.
Ash bursts out laughing, covering their mouth as they do. They pull their earplug out, saying, "How many ways are there to skin a cat... alive?" They think the joke's hilarious - surely everyone else does so?
Oh. No wonder Nikolai was so good about giving it a concussion while not wanting to hurt it. It all makes sense now. Freya just watches nearly as Konstantin gets to the skinning. "Don't forget to stab it's heart... " She goes to the front of the cat's mouth to take a look at the fangs.
Ash has no cat-skinning experience, nor do they have particular etching examining experience - but they have nerd power. As soon as they see the sketchings, they bolt for them, taking their phone out to take pictures, and pulling wads of cloth out to scrub the moss away delicately. Where there's frost, though, they don't bother, seeing what they could before they ask one of the hotter people in the room to help.
Ash has no cat-skinning experience, nor do they have particular etching examining experience - but they have nerd power. As soon as they see the etchings on the walls, they bolt for them, taking their phone out to take pictures, and pulling wads of cloth out to scrub the moss away delicately. Where there's frost, though, they don't bother, seeing what they could before they ask one of the hotter people in the room to help. (fix)
Inside the cave, they can make out the remains of the poor, poor goat lying in the corner, surrounded by a pool of blood, the vitals taken out and nommed upon. Its blood seems yellow-ish too.
Turns out Konstantin is secretly a skinning demon though. His knife stabs through the thick skin and fur of the leopard like slicing through butter, a process which may or may not be helped along by the runes etched upon the handle, provided to him by The Cat At Home. Nikolai's weight is enough to keep the creature unconscious - something that may well be needed considering how large it is, and how long skinning the entirety of it may take.
Ash finally stops shivering, as well, the igloo-like environment bringing them to a place of non-suffering.
Using the quaint (probably) wildling made skinning knife, Konstantin works the hide free, not doing an expert job but being deft and careful enough to avoid putting any major holes in it. Occasionally he exhales a flush of flame into the air beside or above him, bringing some much needed warmth to the cave (albeit also a little eggy sulphurour stank).
Freya looks down at the cat's mouth, "Can I take a fang for a souvaneer?" She asks as she brings her rifle up, intending to smash the tooth out with the butt of her rifle.
Konstantin looks over to Freya, nodding once. "Da. Knock a couple out for me too."
Freya nods at Konstantin and starts to bash the cat's mouth in with the butt of her rifle.
Ash raises a hand, saying, "Same, please".
Konstantin holds up the pelt for others to see. Look at it. Pelt.
Ash frowns, looking at the runes... then they turn and walk out of the cave. At least, they try.
Ash is free to walk out of the cave.
Konstantin starts folding up the pelt slowly, frowning over to Ash. He calls out loudly after him; "Ash!"
Freya nods at Konstantin as she bashes the cat's mouth in some more with the butt of her rifle.
Ash comes back, sighing in relief. "Oh, sorry - runes of confinement. I just wanted to be *sure* we weren't trapped. Though, fascinating that this was all carved here... by living people, surely. When? Why?"
Ash is still a nerd - how shocking.
Ash says "Mm, and we should head further in, if we're done."
Konstantin looks upwards, taking note more closely of the runes carved all over the ceiling and walls of the cave. "Da.. Worth checking, maybe?"
The poor, poor cat who has to deal with all of this violence without even being stabbed to death first. The pelt comes off, and the teeth get knocked out with supernatural force - it takes more effort than what one would expect - and then it stays there, blood pooling around it while its body tries to recover from all its many injuries.
Ash squints at Konstantin, making sure he meant going further in, not checking the runes. Their face is their only sign of judgement, of course. They simply wait, patiently.
Freya didn't realize Konstantin failed to stab it. She rolls her eyes and grabs some teeth careful not to cut herself on them, shoving them into her backpack before she shoves her glaive spear into the chest of the cat right at it's heart. "More merciful this way." She tells the others as she twists the bladed spear in it's chest.
Konstantin turns, looking deeper into the cave. He doesn't pay much attention to any mention of mercy for the beast; he's not here on behalf of the RSPCA (or whatever they're called in your country of residence). "Any objection to quickly looking deeper in?"
Ash picks up the fangs not taken, assuming pack mule duty for smaller items like these, also being careful.
Ash mumbles, "You probably should have left it... if it can regrow its hide, we could've come *back* for more."
Konstantin grunts a bit. "We are not starting fashion line. Let's go." He sets off
A beat. Two. Three. Blood oozes up around the blade of Freya's glaive, and the massive cat shudders for a moment, and exhales its final breath before going utterly still. The air around them seems to cool down just a few degrees right after.
A few moments after death, the air seems to shimmer around the creature, leaving behind a much smaller form - it must have been a woman, at some point. Now, she's been flayed, all the muscles beneath the skin exposed, and stabbed through the heart, her skull smashed in and deformed.
... it's a good thing Konstantin skinned it early.