A vast expanse of tundra where the Northern Lights dance across the night sky in a mesmerizing display of colors, casting an otherworldly glow over the frozen landscape.
Reed had set a goal for herself upon taking on her new role. As part of being a historian, Reed felt that it was necessary for her to know and understand the lands that she was supposed to be able to map out, describe in detailed stories, and recite local lore and teachings. This meant that she had to explore beyond her comforts. After all, she would refuse to leave the map open-ended. Unfortunately for Reed, this meant that she had to travel into the frozen territories of the north. Despite her thick coat and burly appearance, Reed was not one for the cold.
Each step she took was accompanied by the distinct crunch of snow beneath her weight. Her fur was iced over as snow clung to the top layer, the undercoat fighting furiously to keep the melting snow from reaching her skin. She did have a slight bit of comfort from the cold, however. Her chest, neck, and part of her back and stomach was wrapped up in the purple sweater that her caretaker had made for her so long ago. It helped, but only a little.
What was worse was that she could have sworn that the winds had shifted direction on her. When she had checked the direction of the winds hours ago, they had been blowing north up and across the northernmost frozen landscape. Now, however, it felt like it was blowing south and with it came gray clouds. Storm clouds. She wasn't as experienced with telling the winter weather as much as she was the weather over open seas, but even she could see that the clouds blowing in were heavy and hung low, dense and dark in color. Soon they would blot out the sun and the already bitter cold would grow terribly worse.
Reed needed to find shelter, and fast.
A blizzard is quickly blowing into the area. Characters should make an attempt to find shelter, warmth, and potentially food before the storm snows them in. Failures can have consequences.
Reed attempts to find shelter in the local area
Success: Spots a shallow cavern partially protected by trees. poor cover. will need to find better cover before the storm blows in
Failure: Searches for a fallen tree or uninhabited den and finds none. Better keep looking.
Character Diceroll 1: Success Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Perception.
527 was added for Level 3.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
0 was added for A. No Buff / Penalty.
Crunch. Crunch. The snow had a crusty layer of solidness on the surface that cracked as Caedwyn walked, his weight breaking through and sinking his legs deep into the snow. Normally his large paws would allow him to travel safely over the surface without sinking in so far, but the wind was picking up and had blown deep drifts everywhere. It hadn't had time yet to fully solidify into a walkable-surface. This left Caedwyn trudging along with snow up past his knees. A sharp wind blew over him and his back had a blanket of snowflakes forming on the surface of his fur. Who the hell would want to live out here anyway? Caedwyn despised the cold. Being born in a jungle had made him used to the warmth and humidity. When he'd gone to Athadia as a spy, the cold of the Bluffs was one of the things he hated the most about being there. He'd been happy to go back to his home. In the years since, he'd done his best to avoid areas like this.
But duty called him here. He'd sent out small messages looking for information on Enya's family. Most clues ended in dead ends, but this one had seemed promising. He'd received a message of an old hermit who lived beyond the mountains to the north. The hermit was a historian and Caedwyn had been told that he had records of various travelers who had come through the lands going back many years. Caedwyn couldn't pass this up. But also, he didn't want to give Enya false hope if this turned out to be another failed search. So here he was, in the cold, shivering his ass off and cursing under his breath.
The air around him swirled white and gray and he ducked his head down to shield his eyes for a moment. Looking up again, another sharp wind stung at his face. "Damn this fucking cold!," he shouted, though the wind blew stronger still. The intensity of the storm was picking up and it wasn't just Caedwyn being displeased by the cold. No, a blizzard was blowing in. "Shit," he cursed as the realization hit him. He looked around, searching for somewhere to shelter but all he could see as flurrying snow. He turned to the left, and began to run forward, deciding to take his chances that he'd find somewhere less out in the open soon.
---
Speech.
Constitution
Success: He finds the same shelter where Reed is quickly. (she can see him coming if she likes)
Fail: He heads toward the shelter but doesn't see it due to the storm. He's wandering around just outside the shelter in the snow and wind.
Character Diceroll 1: Success Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Constitution.
546 was added for Level 1.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
0 was added for A. No Buff / Penalty.
It wasn't long before Reed was both shivering and panting at the same time from trudging through the snow banks while she looked for shelter. The forest was thick and easier to navigate but after a good look at the trees, they looked to mostly be younger, perhaps regrowing from being burned many years ago. It was unlikely she would find shelter enough to keep her warm if a blizzard blew in - not that Reed had any idea of what enduring a blizzard was really like.
By the time she had found a shelter she felt was appropriate enough to warm up at least temporarily, her outer pelt was soaked and frozen, her dreads frozen hard on her tail and around her thick neck fur. Each breath was a puff of frost in front of her. She had to blink often to keep the snow from melting the fur on her face together and had nearly missed the shallow entrance to the cavern. Its entrance was tucked up behind a large tree. It was a temporary shelter at best, but something temporary was better than nothing at all.
Reed darted into the shallow cavern and shook, sending ice and water everywhere as she did so. Her weapons clanked and clattered on her sides and her bags flopped about against her hips and side. It definitely wasn't warm, but at least it was out of the wind. "Augh, I'm never gonna be able to map the area if this storm don't blow over." she muttered as she looked out from within. Through the building snow storm she noticed a figure. Brown, and appeared to be wolf-like in structure. "Hey!" she called out to the stranger "In here!" If a storm was kicking up, she wanted to help anyone who might be out in the area with her.
He could barely see and the wind was still picking up. The depth of the snow was increasing and was making it hard to travel. He was panting harder and harder with the struggle to get through the snow. Just then, he could see the faint outline of trees up ahead. "Hey! In here!" A voice called out to him. He turned quickly, running toward the trees. There! A little overhang of rock and trees! He pushed past the branches and scrambled inside, and he caught sight of the other wolf that was already there. He pushed into the tight space, as there was little room for one wolf, much less two. Panting hard he started to catch his breath. "Was that you I heard?" he asked breathlessly. "Thanks, the wind was getting crazy out there..." He started to catch his breath, breathing a little easier. "So, you got caught in the snow too, huh?"
---
Speech.
Roll 1: Dexterity
Fail: When Caedwyn comes crashing through the branches covering the entrance, he bumps into Reed.
Success: He doesn't bump into her.
Roll 2: Perception
Success: Caedwyn will notice in his next post that Reed smells like Verdantis because he is standing so close
Fail: Caedwyn will not notice anything about her scent in the next post
Character Diceroll 1: Fail Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Dexterity.
494 was added for Level 3.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
0 was added for A. No Buff / Penalty.
Character Diceroll 2: Fail Diceroll must be above 500 to be successful.
0 was added for Perception.
482 was added for Level 2.
0 was added for A. No Enchantment.
0 was added for A. No Buff / Penalty.
Reed waited a moment and watched the figure to see if it had heard her through the winds as they howled. It appeared that they did for the figure shifted its direction and immediately headed her way. Reed scooched over to the side of the rock wall in anticipation of the others approach to try and make room for the stranger. However, despite her best efforts, he crashed into her regardless, pushing her up against the frozen rocky terrain. Reed grunted, but got back to her feet without complaint. It was a mistake, she was sure. She gave him a moment to shake off his coat and catch his breath before she responded to his questions as if he hadn't just gone barreling into her. "Yeah! I'm so glad ya heard me. I tell you, this storm came blowin' in out of nowhere! I coulda sworn them winds were blowin' north just a few hours ago."
Reed wanted to shake herself again. Taking shelter from the winds had allowed her body temperature to rise enough to melt the snow and ice that caked in her matted fur and dreads. She wanted to, but knew that it would be impolite to do so with a stranger so close to her. She resisted... mostly. Her nub of a tail wiggled her rump to shake the dreads free despite her best efforts. "Yeah, I was out tryin' to scout the land an' the storm just came in from nowhere! I'm not from the north, ya see. I'm a sailor, in case the eye patch didn't tip ya off." Reed winked at the stranger with her uncovered eye and tossed her head to resettle her dreads over the patched one. "I've got a new job, though. Duty called, so here I am, tryin' to do it to the best of my abilities. This storm is definitely gonna take the wind outta my sails, though. It'll be real hard to chart it all with fresh powder..." Reed frowned at the thought, forgetting about the more immediate threat of a blizzard.
"An, I hate to break it to ya since you just got here and all, but I don't think this is gonna keep us safe through the worst of it. We need some hatches to batten down!"
Northern winds eh? Caedwyn's eyes glanced out at the swirling wind in frustration as the female talked about the weather. He was heading north!. That was the last direction he wanted the storm to be travelling. His attention turned back to the female as she continued talking, hardly pausing to let him get a word in it seemed. But at least she seemed friendly enough. This whole situation could have been a lot worse if he'd ended up with someone hostile. He didn't even notice yet that the wolf he'd ended up with was a Verdantian. Maybe it was the wind or the snow, but the thought hadn't even occurred to him to give her a good sniff. She winked at him as she talked about her duties and what she was doing out here. She seemed eager to give her best against the storm.
Yep. Duty was what had brought him out here as well. His duty to his mate, Enya. He wanted to run right back out into the wind and power through, to find this final clue that he needed to find Enya's children. But reality was different. He knew that wasn't an option right now. Finally the words the woman had been saying clicked in his mind. Scouting. Charting. Was she a map-maker? "I think you may be right. The wind doesn't seem to be letting up at all," he said. She was a complete stranger and as much as Caedwyn disliked the idea, perhaps the map-maker would know a better spot for them to hunker down until the storm passed. "Come on, if we stay here too long the snow will be too deep to travel." Caedwyn stepped back out into the wind, pausing a moment to wait for the female. He wasn't sure if she'd come along with him or choose to go her own way, so he called out to her. "Did you have any ideas where we can find shelter? I'm not from around here."
The other wolf quickly agreed with her assessment of the storm situation and made a move to step back out into the winds and snow. It was enough of a moment to let Reed shake herself good and well before she followed him out, glad that he had a take-charge attitude. It would be a lot easier to navigate a storm with someone who was a contributor than someone who was a follower. He inquired if she might know of a place where they could seek better shelter while also admitting that he wasn't from around these lands. "Well, we may be sailin' with torn sails, I'm afraid. I just started mappin' out this part of the country. Us sailors tend to stick to coasts and oceans. Besides the obvious, I wouldn't know where to even look for proper shelter."
As she rambled on, Reed pulled out a piece of parchment rolled up from one of the many parchment compartments she had strapped to the harness around her chest. She preferred to lay out her maps on the ground so she could focus on them entirely when she was working on them or looking them over, but that wasn't an option right now. She could try to use her magic... "Don't be alarmed" Reed yelled over the growing winds as a gust blew through the trees, "but I'm gonna use some magic. It's not dangerous." The parchment she had pulled out earlier suddenly started to glow a golden color. It twitched between her jaws, then began to levitate as she let it go. The gold glow flared brighter as the parchment sheet began to unroll, revealing a surface smudged with charcoal and poorly drawn topography marks. Most of the parchment was blank and overall, the map was largely unhelpful in its current state. The parchment was turned towards Caedwyn and presented. "See anything that looks like good shelter on here?"
Dice roll to see if Reed's map is actually legible
Success: Somehow the smudges and marks make sense. There looks to be a ravine they could take shelter in not far away. They cannot make it to this ravine in their next post. Next post for Caedwyn & Reed must be out in the snow. Dice roll must be made for either: dexterity or constitution
Failure: This map is impossible to read how are you possibly going to move up in Verdantis ranks with work like this???
