:: Mystery of the Godless Forest :: -{Aero, Nen, Spirit, Rogue}-

Plot:

One would think that the northern wastes of Dragons Cove would be a peaceful place, forever unchanging save for the drifting snow whipped into frenzy by the wicked winds that constantly torture the landscape. But there are people that live here, braving the year-long winters and small supplies of food. And where there are people, there is also superstition. Among the people that frequent the River Glace there is a legend that tells of a God who cursed the forest that it was the protector of. Evil things are said to live in that forest now, and those who go in are asking for certain doom. However, the legend has fallen into antiquity, and some take it for just an hold housewife's tale.

A small team of lumberjacks have gone into the woods looking for sturdy trees for their trade. When they left, one man of their team never made it out, and the team is refusing to go back in after their lost man. However, if one is foolish enough -or desperate enough- there is a reward for bringing back the lumberjack alive. Volunteer yourself for the mission, and you might get more than you asked for in the Godless Forest.

Posting Order:
Aero (Taeo)
Nen (Andyr)
Spirit (-----)
Rogue (-----)

Cold. Scratch that. Cold wasn't nearly powerful enough of a word. Frigid was more like it, but Taeo still wasn't entirely convinced that it was a powerful enough word either. Passing through Turich on the way northward into the barren land of endless snowdrifts she had bought the warmest coat she could find, but was still suffering as the wind whipped by, threatening to pull her fur-lined hood right off her head. Teeth chattering, she stuffed her hands under the crook of her arms and shivered bodily, her knees clutching harder to the warm fur of Solexa, the huge dog looking balefully over her shoulder at her Nighie rider.

"Why was this a good idea again?" Solexa asked, plodding through the snow with a determined lope, trying not to think about how stupidly cold her nose was. She would have told Taeo to wrap her scarf around her mouth and nose to protect it some from the whipping wind, but that would hamper her ability to sniff out oncoming danger if the wind happened to blow in the right direction. With the way that it was acting up however, she wasn't entirely sure if she could sniff out a mouse directly below her paws.

"Because somebody's missing and we're out of money." Taeo replied with a shrug, wishing that there really was a worse reason so that she could reasonably call this thing off. However, they were too far north to pick up any more leads for jobs in a more habitable climate. Glaring at the horizon and blinking ice out of her eyelashes, Taeo tried to see any sign of the village that they were looking for, but it was nearly impossible to see anything at all with the whipping wind. Then quite suddenly the whiteness cleared and they were standing almost right on top of a sturdily constructed tent that had smoke pouring out from the top. Startled by the sudden change in scenery, Taeo shook her head to try and clear it of the momentary confusion, then decided that it wasn't just a trick of her eyes and ruefully slipped off the back of Solexa, boots crunching on the thick snow and looked around for somebody stupid enough to be out in the weather like her.

The tent was empty, for the time being, but it was sturdily constructed and the fire at its center was burning bright. Andyr hadn't had any qualms about leaving it because there weren't many people crazy enough to brave a Frost that, as far as the blonde could tell, had yet to peak. It was still warm enough for animals to be out and about, instead of hunkered down against the cold. It was their braving the Frost's snow and winds that had Andyr out after them.

He'd have meat for breakfast.

Andyr had heard about the lumberjack and had consigned the poor man to his fate. After all, anyone fool enough to go into the Cursed Forest and not stick with one's group couldn't be too smart. It was nature culling the weak.

Unfortunately for Andyr, there was a reward for the man's rescue. This reward started stories among the men at the local pub. There were people that lived on the Ice Plains, they kicked out their boys to live a whole year in the Frost. No, they didn't exist, that was all stories. Andyr could have ignored it all if someone hadn't said something very stupid. The man had quite literally said that even these people who braved the Frost at the cusp of their adulthood could not and would not go into the Cursed Forest.

Andyr had told the man to take it back, and when he did not, Andyr broke his nose, some teeth and had unlimbered his swords all in the span of ten seconds. Those that had thought about throwing themselves at him stayed their hands.

"I will go and get this tree cutter. When I am come, that man will kiss my boots and beg me for his honor to be given back to him" he'd said. The first part had barely been understood, but the last part was so awkward, people dismissed it. Andyr had cursed his lack of knowledge of the language and the man that had so nonchalantly impugned the honor of he and his people.

He was dressed in his old furs, coupled with some new ones. To anyone, he probably did look like an animal. His blonde hair was barely visible as his shoulders were hunched, his whole body doubled over in order to carry the heavy animal he'd caught. It was in his hands, the grey furs he wore turned white under the continuous onslaught of snow. He stopped, shook himself, adjusted the animal in his hands, then kept on to his tent.

When he got within sight of his tent, he found that a rider had come upon it. Apparently there were those insane enough to brave the Frost and the Forest for money. Grunting, he hauled the animal over one shoulder and straightened, putting a hand on the pommel of one of his swords as he loped closer. His steps were sure, and he looked as though he were jogging in a light rain, for all that the weather affected him.

The flurries raged, piling up in random drifts deep enough for an unsuspecting man or dragon to fall into. The sky was overcast and dreary, dampening the desolate day even more. Through this Temero padded along, snow crunching under his paws at every step. The yellow wolf dragon was rather lazily moving over the frosted terrain, not really caring about where he was going or why. In fact, he had no set destination in mind.

Never having been one to be social, Temero had finally gotten fed up and headed out in search of a quiet, peaceful place to live. Of course, knowing his luck, he had still managed to fail miserably. What had seemed an out of the way place turned very rapidly into a logging camp, and he had been forced to move again.

So his dark mood was rather understandable given the circumstances. Still, at least he was now alone. Or... was he? Stopping, Temero lifted his head and sniffed the air. Yes, there was a definite scent of humans being carried on it, one that made him snarl quietly. This was hardly what he had in mind, however it was what he had. Again.

Not too far away, but downwind of Temero where he could not scent her, a lone human female staggered through the snow, falling in every drift humanly possible. Hauling herself out of another, Arcania slicked her long auburn hair back, wishing that she could find a way to tie it back and have it stay that way. Honestly, was that too much to ask for? With a sigh Arcania scanned the landscape, blinking furiously to keep snow out of her blue eyes. She too was searching for the lost person, however she was doing it for the fame, the ability to say that she had been the only one who was willing to brave the woods. In retrospect, this was beginning to seem like a rather unintelligent idea, however it was too late to back out now.

Continuing to plod along, Arcania saw no signs of life, which bothered her greatly. She was beginning to wonder if she had gone the wrong way or gotten turned around somewhere, when the faint outline of what could be a tent entered her vision. She paused for a moment, trying to figure out if it was what she was thinking of. Uncertain, she shrugged slightly and headed towards it, thinking it her best chance.

At first, Foen had thought that snow was quite a nice change. It was pretty to look at, there were icicles, the bare trees actually didn’t look that bare. But after days of trudging through drift after drift of the stuff in some sort of futile attempt to actually get somewhere, he was starting to hate it. With a passion. Its paleness had the downfall of being blinding in the sunlight and it was an absolute nightmare to walk through, especially when it started to come up to his knees (and in some places, higher). And wildlife was depressingly sparse, so there wasn’t even anything to take his mind off the snow. Except…

A tiny head poked out of one of his pockets, yawning before looking around in curiosity. When Foen had announced he was going on a spontaneous adventure (what had made him pick the coldest place on Dragons Cove to go to, he really didn’t know), Zack, his tiny scroll dragon friend and prime achievement had immediately attached himself to the expedition. He wrinkled his nose and sneezed at the cold.

“Have you decided where we’re going yet?” he asked, his ears twitching. He rest of his body was tucked up warmly in Foen’s pocket, safe against the chill winds that occasionally swept great twisting clouds of fresh snow into the air- as if it wasn’t cold enough already, without chips of ice flying around too.

“We’re going this way,” said Foen cryptically, pushing the little dragon’s head back down into his pocket again. He didn’t need Zack getting hurt by the wind, and it was bad enough with the cold chilling his face and fingers and toes, let alone adding the complains the scroll dragon would make if he accidentally got hurt. He heard a muffled retort come from his pocket and frowned, looking down at it.

The wind suddenly decided to whip overhead extra strongly, wrenching the sorcerer’s favourite beige hat from his head. He yelped and felt desperately for it, then started to chase it down the hill it was now tumbling down, running as fast as he could go without tripping and falling.
“Wait! No, come back!” he shouted, not even noticing the human girl in front of him before he nearly ran into her back. “Help, my hat!”

It didn't take long for someone to come lurking out of the frostbitten landscape, though at first Taeo wasn't entirely sure that she preferred to have this man come running at her over the snowdrifts. Solexa had caught his scent on a rogue burst of wind and alerted her two-legged companion to the newcomer. At first she was under the impression that it was a bear, covered from head to toe in furs, the mismatched pelts all and even white now, and Solexa seemed confused by the scent of it. When he started getting closer however they could both make out that the creature was running on two legs and not four, and was carrying something over his shoulder.

Once it was established that the creature was human, Taeo relaxed somewhat, but still put her hand on her halberd buckled to Solexa's side for convenience's sake during their long travel to this forsaken icy wasteland. Once the bear-man (or at least she assumed it was a man because of the thickness at his shoulders) got close enough, Taeo cupped her gloved hands around her mouth. "Oi! 'Afternoon! You a local?" She yelled over the whipping wind of the storm, hoping that the man could understand her. She hadn't thought about it before now, but did the people up here speak a different language? She hoped not. She was hopelessly terrible at learning new languages, and starting off a bounty mission without being able to properly gather information from the locals due to language barriers was a terrible way to go.

Andyr slowed and cocked his head when the woman (he saw it was a woman now) shouted at him. Damn but her words sounded like garbled nonsense. It took him a moment longer than usual to process what she said. However, when he did, he stood tall and grinned. "Yes" he answered. "Although I am from farther North" he answered. His voice boomed over the wind, not needing to cup his mouth with his hands. That didn't mean that he was easy to understand. He had a thick, guttural accent that warped his words. "Are you here for the woodcutter?" he asked, walking ever closer. It was evident now that he had an animal carcass draped over his shoulder. "I share with you" he said gesturing to it, dumping the animal, apparently a small elk, down in front of his tent. "You come inside?" he asked.

God he hated sounding stupid. Among his people, Andyr was one of the most well versed, but learning this new language took him back to square one, and he hated sounding like an overgrown whelp.

Upon closer inspection Arcania realized that what she had originally thought to be a tent truly was. She smiled thankfully, pleased that something was going right for once. Of course, that could change quite quickly if the tent happened to be occupied by someone or something that would much prefer to rip her throat out before even bothering to ask who she was. Her smile fell from her face and she sighed, wishing that she did not have to be such a distrusting pessimistic person. Although, that was what made her so driven.

At any rate, standing out in the snow was not getting her anywhere, so she pushed onward, raising her voice over the wind. "Hello? I have been caught in this awful weather, can you help me?" Her face twisted in a grimace at the mention of the word help, though it was exactly what she needed.

Temero growled quietly, wondering what he should do. Clearly there were humans nearby, and the chances of him avoiding them were not good if the number of different scents was anything to go by. So he had a choice now. Be completely antisocial or attempt to act like he had some social skills whatsoever. However, he was interested as to why so many people were wandering around the frigid landscape. They certainly had shown no interest before.

"Okay," he grumbled. "I will bite." Raising his head, he sniffed the air carefully, determining which direction he was supposed to go. Upon finding it he headed out, hoping to figure out what was going on quickly so that he could get back to being a solitary creature.

Foen yelped with indignation as he plunged into an even deeper snowdrift than the ones he had been walking through before, his hat still scooting along on the top of the snow with a frustrating ease. From the sorcerer’s pocket, Zack squeaked with fear as he bounced up and down, curled up in a ball and really not enjoying the sensation of being treated like extra baggage. For the first time on their little trip to the mountains, the little scroll dragon was starting to rue the fact that he had accompanied the man.

He just managed to avoid the girl walking along in front of him, apparently asking for help- she still all her belongings, he was the one who needed help, help catching his hat!- and with a victorious “aha!” finally caught up to his runaway garment, scooping it off the snow and hugging it to his front before dusting off the white that speckled its beige front. Jamming it firmly back onto his head, he turned around to fully inspect whoever he had ran past in his haste, grimacing as he felt the snow inside his boots drip down towards his toes and start melting into puddles. Lo and behold, not only were there people, but there was a tent too! He waved one hand in greeting then started to trudge back towards the tent, one hand firmly holding his hat down so he didn’t lose it again.

Taeo was a little startled with the man's ability to shout over the blizzard and didn't even question his claim to be a local. Anybody with vocal chords like that had to be used to shouting over errant winds. When he offered sharing the elk corpse with her, initially she was confused, but Solexa looked intrigued by the offer, lifting her nose curiously and sniffing, totally unconcerned with any sort of personal space barriers that the man might have. Frowning, Taeo reigned the horse-sized dog in, dragging her back to get out of the man's face. "If it's warmer in there then out in this blizzard, yes!" She yelled, shivering in her coat and looking eagerly at the small dwelling that they'd stumbled upon. The man had asked about the wood cutter, but Taeo figured that it was a topic better broached when they didn't have to scream at each other. Or well, at least somewhere she didn't have to scream. The bear-man didn't seem to have any trouble talking over the blizzard.

He'd started to answer her when he caught sight of another. His eyes narrowed as he picked the figure out from the snow. It was waving. He misliked so many people trudging around in the harsh weather (although not so harsh as to set him back. These were not the Frosts from farther north, where he made his home). He looked to her. "You go. Take elk too, I wait. Stranger coming" he said and opened the tent flap. It was warmer in there. There was a small fire, the smoke billowing out of the hole at the top of the tent, the hard packed floor was littered with furs and the entire tent itself was made of skins and furs. He had been there a couple days at least, scouting and coming back to his home camp. He had seemed little concerned about strangers coming across his tent and using it, or taking it. Each skin had been new, from animals he'd hunted while he scouted. The frame itself was made from wood he'd collected in the forest. He liked the woman's varghund. It looked like a varghund anyhow, it was big as one. He reached down and scratched its scruff, before pushing it inside the tent. "Go in." he urged. He'd meet this stranger and see what it was he was after.

Arcania, without giving it a second thought as to whether or not he was actually talking to her, ducked into the tent and settled into a spot by the fire. Anything was better than the freezing air outside. Imposition or not she did not care. In fact, she would have to be bodily thrown out if the man did not want her there. And she would put up a fight until she hit the snow. That was simply how Arcania was. She did not let anyone tell her what to do unless they had earned her respect. For now that had not happened.

"What is everyone doing out here?" she asked, glancing around at her surroundings. It was fairly typical as far as northern living areas went, no real big surprise there. A few items could be used as weapons in an emergency, and Arcania made a brief mental note of their locations in case she needed them. It was doubtful in her mind that she would but it never hurt to be prepared.

Meanwhile Temero had finally snuck close enough to see the tent and the people hanging around, groaning internally at the sight of more people. Of course, he thought, naturally they should follow me even here. He had been fleeing civilization, trying to get as far away from humans as possible, but they simply kept sneaking up on him. In fact, the entire affair was quite commonplace by now. He would find a new place to live and humans would invade, forcing him to leave again.

Well, he thought, I suppose I should see what is going on here. So he made his way slowly towards the tent, trying to stay out of the deepest drifts, which forced him to adopt a strange hopping / soaring gait in which he kept his wings half spread as he made his way along. "Greetings humans," he called when he got closer.

The further Foen tramped through the snow, the worse it seemed to get- thicker, and heavier, and slipperier, and just more miserable in every single way. At least there was a little light at the end of the tunnel now though; somewhere warm to dry out his boots and eat something that didn’t taste like dirt and snow mixed up with bread (which was, incidentally, basically what he had been eating, albeit the dirt unintentionally).

His face broke into a grin as he finally reached the towering man who had stopped outside his tent to wait for him, rubbing one mitten-covered hand across his slightly snowy face. “Hi!” he said brightly, trying not to be daunted by the fact that this other man was so much taller than him. Not only was Foen quite a short man, his new acquaintance- he fell into that category now, right?- was much taller than normal. Nonetheless, it was a person, and a crazy-tall person was better than no person at all.

She of course hadn't seen the stranger coming, and Solex quietly grumbled that she hadn't smelled the newcomer either. It wasn't until the woman (and the dog distinctly confirmed that the figure was indeed female) pushed passed them and into the tent that Taeo actually realized she was there. Blinking in slight confusion, she allowed herself to easily be pushed in, not at all about to disagree with getting warm. Solexa was less pleased about being pushed around, but the man had offered a deer carcass and had scratched her neck, so he couldn't have been all that bad. The moment the dog was in out of the wind she shook herself, sending snow flying in every direction and promptly squeezed her hulking form in behind Taeo, much to the woman's dismay.

Frowning at the hound's actions, Taeo gave her a brief mental reprimand, looked shortly at the dead elk, then at the woman. After adjusting her heavy fur cloak so that she could speak properly and get some of the fire's warmth to hit her frozen face and took off her mitts, flexing her newly freed fingers. "So." She began, leaning forward and curling her fingers over the fire. "What brings you out here to this white wasteland, eh?" Of course, she was utterly oblivious to the meeting going on outside, though Solexa kept her ears perked and her attention centered on the door flap. She would respond if there was danger.

Andyr resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This search was going to get a lot of southerners killed. The snow was not forgiving, and they'd all looked miserable, and worse they looked unprepared. The only one he knew to survive out here would have been the dog. "Inside" he commanded and pointed at the tent. Thank the Gods he'd brought it with him. It was pretty big inside, but with all the people it would be cozy. He just hoped someone had the sense to sit on his sleeping furs and not step on them.

He ducked inside and immediately the tent was full up.

"I do not need ask why all are here. I should not ask if all are sane. I will ask if all will follow directions. None can survive but dog without help. Winter is not for southerners" he said simply.

Arcania raised an eyebrow at the man, vaguely amused by his statement. Obviously he did not know her very well. After all, she had no problem with taking care of herself. Staying alive in this climate would be a challenge if she was stuck out there for long, yes, but it was a challenge she was willing to accept. Especially since it had been her idea to come up here in the first place. So she found it funny that he would think her unable to do so.

"While I appreciate your concern, I believe you do not need to worry about me so much," she replied, nodding slightly. "As for following orders... if I believe they are fit to be followed I will." If he passed her test she would follow whatever he said, within reason, but the test had not been posed yet, so she was still wary. Only time would tell if Arcania could be led by him.

Temero pushed his way into the tent, fur on the back of his neck going up for a moment as he tried to figure out if he was the dog being spoken about. Surely not. Even a stupid human could figure out that he was a dragon. Dogs did not have wings after all. So he relaxed, but only moderately, for the Wolf dragon could not be truly comfortable while surrounded by so many humans. His instincts screamed at him to attack them, to end them all, but for now he would be patient, if that were even possible for him.

“Oh… err, right then,” said Foen, slightly put off by the huge man’s order- but by no means was he going to disobey it. It was much too cold outside, and he didn’t really want to tousle with someone twice his size.

Inside, it was quite cramped, more people filling up the little space than Foen had even thought possible. It made it nice and warm, but it also made it painfully awkward as he tried to find a spot to sit in, eventually just plonking himself down next to the flap of the door. Zack immediately peeked his head out of the sorcerer’s pocket, looking eagerly around the little tent before squirming his way out onto Foen’s knee and looking properly around.

“Brr, it’s cold!” he squeaked, a shiver running all the way down his back from his snout to the tip of his tail. He could hardly imagine how cold it was outside- tucked up in his pocket, it had been toasty-warm. Or as toasty warm as it could get up in the mountains. As the tall-huge-wide-wintery man started to speak again, the little paper dragon turned to look at him, the end of his tail twitching with sharp movements from side to side.
“Directions are boring to follow. Spontaneity is so much more fuuuun!” He bounced into the air, twiddling a backflip. Foen grimaced and grabbed at the little dragon, trying to silence him, but Zack was too fast.

“Sorry, ignore him, he’s a bit of a menace when he hasn’t had any exercise,” Foen apologised, still trying to catch Zack.

Taeo's eyes rose a fraction at the man's opening speech, his thick accent making it a little hard to decipher what he was saying, but she got the majority of it. Looking briefly to the other woman who had spoken, her eyebrow rose even higher. 'Mighty pompous, that one.' She thought to her dog and got a nod of agreement, the hound still staring rather fixedly at the tent flap where the dragon was, one of her lips curling up in a silent snarl. She had been bred with the sole purpose of fighting dragons, and any move made toward her master by the stinking flying wolf-lizard would be merrily dealt with.

When the last man to enter had settled and the small dragon wormed out of his pocket, however, Taeo had to restrain herself quite hard in order not to make an exclamation. It was honestly the cutest little dragon she had ever seen. After a second of admiring the creature, she ripped her gaze away to stare up at the barbarian, aware that the silence had probably lapsed uncomfortably while she had admired the little paper creature.

Clearing her throat, she spoke deliberately at the man who'd appeared out of the snow and obviously owned this tent. "I'll be honest, I'm a native of the tropics. This weather isn't at all suited to my liking, but I've come prepared as I could. I'm here to look for the missing men in the forest. If you know something about them, or are perhaps even adventuring after them yourself, then I'll happily come with you. You obviously would know more about this…" She paused and made a gesture to the outside to encompass the general expanse of the tundra. "…this snow. But I can't afford to turn back, so telling me that it's dangerous out there won't do you any good." She was used to men trying to order her around. It was the sort of thing that men did, she supposed. Always trying to protect the weak females.

Andyr was mildly interested in the little creature that had come out of the man's pocket. Then there was another dog-thing, a definite dog and way too many females. His distaste was hidden as he listened to them all and sighed, rubbed his hands together. "This cold is not for Southerners. This is not bad cold, though, it can be managed. But it is very bad for someone hurt, like this man. He might be dead. Prepare to carry back a dead body. What is important is to find body before wolves and big cats get at it" he said. "Though it is... important to get to lumberman now, weather is very dangerous. Can lose direction. Wait til storm break. We leave... work together, we have better chance. Those who are just passing, may take of my food and shelter, and go when they please" he said and shifted so that he was at the tent flap. "I will clean my kill. Bring it in to cook. I am Andyr Hildr" he said by way of introduction, then ducked out.

"Arcania Hashine," the woman replied, ignoring the slightly awkward atmosphere in the tent. So, she was going to have to work with other people... well that could be handled, at least for a little bit. After all, she had worked with worse. A few scenarios from her memory played themselves back and Arcania had to bite back a grin, knowing full well that it could be far worse, whatever anyone else present thought. "Do we have any idea of where this man could be?" she asked, watching the little dragon fluttering around the tent, realizing too late that the man had already stepped outside. Well, okay then.

Temero smiled at the sight of another dragon, though he sensed the little one did not share the same ideals he did. Especially since he was paired with a human. Still, he could not help snorting a blast of warm air out of his nostrils with the intent of giving the little creature some extra lift. Returning his gaze to the people around him Temero noticed the dog silently snarling at him, and bared his teeth for a moment in return, not going to be threatened by something so small and powerless. After all, it too followed humans, and unlike him it could not fly. So clearly it was below him. Snorting with derision the Wolf dragon returned his gaze to the smaller dragon, watching it flutter around the tent.

Zack basked under the immediate attention he received from everyone in the little tent, a big grin on his tiny face. Ooh, this was more like it, no more of boring being-stuck-in-Foen’s pocket, no, it was freedom all the way now! Sure, he might retreat to the sorcerer’s pocket once again when they headed outside again, but for now it was toasty warm, and he could do whatever he liked. Which was start making friends right away, and then get them to make the adventure that he now foresaw them all on super fun! It was all very easy for the paper dragon to think up; brave adventurers in the snow, plowing on to their destination with fortitude in their hearts…

“It’s still really cold outside,” chirped the scroll dragon at Andyr’s words, a long shiver running from tip to tail. “But I bet we’ll be okay anyway. You seem alright, anyway, and you can tell us what to do, right?” A fantastic picture of Andyr being the gruff-but-wonderful mentor popped into Zack’s mind, and he mulled over the image for a moment before putting it away for later. The wolf dragon seemed quite capable of taking care of himself (and was kind too, to give him a puff of warm air), and the two women… well, they seemed alright, and quite competent at looking after themselves. In fact, it seemed like Foen was the only one who didn’t really fit into the picture; he was the eclectic softie of the bunch.

The big man was slightly intimidating to Foen, who was so used to taking care of himself in the “soft south”, rather than the much wilder mountains in the north-west. He had skills enough, but they weren’t quite suited to this sort of thing. However, Zack seemed keen to stay with the others, and he didn’t much like the idea of heading back alone through the snow and ice, so it seemed their course had been set with everyone else’s in the tent.
“Errm, well, further to being ‘in the forest somewhere’, I’ve not got much of a clue as to where this man is,” said Foen, hoping that being honest with the others in the group would come off better than if he tried to pretend he was more seasoned at all this than he really was. “Me and Zack (I’m Foen, by the way), thought it might be nice to come out this way for a change. We didn’t really plan for a…” He paused, searching for the right word for what this was quickly turning into. ‘Catastrophe’ would have looked bad…

“An adventure!” said Zack, a grin on his face. “We didn’t plan for a super-fun adventure!”

Solexa's ruff rose when the dragon bared its teeth in return and probably would have gotten to her feet if Taeo didn't put her hand in the middle of the large dog's head and push it down. "Calm down…" She mumbled, and Solexa snorted, irritated, though settled back on her haunches and dropped her head between her paws, watching the dragon warily anyway.

Andyr's sudden departure left her a little confused, but she said nothing about it since it would do no good to talk to the back of a man that was already out of ear shot. Instead she nodded her head to the other woman and the man in the strange hat as a greeting and smiled at his cautious introduction. "I'm called Taeo. Well, I assume that everyone's here because of the man that went missing in the forest." Andyr had said that they could stay some time in his tent, and if that meant that she could stay out of the cold, then she was going to take him up on that offer, even if things were a little awkward at the moment. Even though she would rather get out there and get things done and head back to collect the reward as soon as possible, she wasn't dumb enough to try and brave the storm if the locals said it was bad outside. That's how people ended up dead. "I heard a rumor on the way up here." She settled back against Solexa, the dog warming up her back side even as the small fire warmed her front. It was really quiet comfortable, actually.

"The local lore says that this forest that the lumbermen went into… is cursed. They say that the god who was supposed to protect the forest went mad and placed a horrible spell on the entire area before fleeing, unable to stand so much as breathing the air of the forest that he had been the protector of. When the god left his curse behind, the forest became a dreadful place. It wanted to companionship of its god, and so any who dare to enter the forest will be sucked in by the very souls of the trees that grow there and be held captive forever. They say that strange and terrible beasts roam the forest now, and that if the trees don't get you, then the animals will. The locals think he's dead, or spirited away." She smiled to herself. Of course she believed in curses, but she also knew that they couldn't affect her the same way that they did normal people. But did that mean that she didn't enjoy spinning a tale or two? Of course not. "I think that we'll find him fallen down the side of a hill with a broken leg under a fallen tree. That's my guess. But what about you?" She looked at Arcania, arching a brow since the woman was the one to ask the question in the first place. "You think that we'll find him in the heart of a tree?"

Andyr was glad to be out of the tent, and thought for a moment that he could just walk away from them, and leave them there. Most of them seemed to profess some kind of skill in surviving the weather, and the wild. He'd leave them to it and see who of them was telling the truth and who of them thought too greatly of themselves. Andyr, however, had never been that kind of man. Instead, after he had skinned and cleaned the animal, he started digging out a plot in the snow next to the other tent and began setting up what looked to be his own tent, smaller than the other, but definitely for himself.

He did not think it was good to press himself into the tent with strangers. Besides, there were some that were determined to do their own thing, and he didn't begrudge them that. Instead, he did his best to stay out of the way. He started up his own fire and began to cook the meat he'd cleaned. Those that really wanted to get down to business would either seek him out, or at the very least, converse among themselves. Besides, he felt dumb, talking so slow and haltingly. What he wouldn't give to hear the familiar voices of his tribesmen right now, joking about the number of blond whelps were running around.

Temero and Arcania both took stock of their new companions, though they paid little attention to each other. Arcania cared little about dragons, and the Wolf cared even less about humans, if it could be said he did at all. In reality, the situation was already wearing on him, his disgust difficult to control. I cannot attack them though, he reminded himself, if I want to get out of here anyway. Sure, it would probably be possible to fly out of the forest, but since he had no real idea of which way to go, that hardly seemed like a good idea. Besides, there might be a chance to gather information here.

The scroll dragon was the most interesting to him, though he did not care for the little one's rider at all. There was a definite fearfulness about him that Temero simply could not respect, something that he grudgingly extended to the others for the moment. "I am here because I have nowhere else to go," he replied to the other woman's statement.

"The same goes for me," Arcania replied. "Though I do remember hearing about that." Honestly, she just wanted to get out of the cold, but something good could come of this if she waited and paid attention. It seemed that their host was none too pleased to have them there, either that or he was not comfortable being around people. This far in the north both statements were equally plausible. Arcania severely doubted that a lot of strangers wandered up from the warmer southern climates and, if they did, they would certainly not come this far. And if the rumors were true... perhaps that was for the best.

"So does anyone have an actual idea as to what to do?" she asked, a little boredly, wanting to get the show on the road, though chances were that would have to wait until the next morning. At least they could get a plan together now, so that everything would be set for when they actually did leave. "I suppose looking around, getting a good idea of the terrain would be a good start," she suggested, shrugging slightly in an attempt to show that she was not entirely certain what to do. It would be easy for her to take a look around of course, but Arcania had decided to play the tag-along this time around, at least until things became more clear.

Foen wasn’t going to say it, but hadn’t ventured into the mountains to come hunt for some hurt man in a forest. Oh yes, he had decided to set out from where he had been staying in the mountains before to do that, but he was really supposed to be on “holiday”, although with Zack around, holiday had to be loosely used- it was better to interpret “holiday” as “all out storybook adventure, no expenses spared, extra danger on the side (for extra fun)”. Although, he was a healer, and this was why he had signed up for this mad adventure; because he couldn’t let some poor man die out here in the wastelands of the north. He might have been pretty much useless at everything else, but when it came to helping the man at the end- well, he would be just the man for the job. If he didn’t die of hypothermia before, of course. These tales of man-eating trees and spirits roaming the forest really didn’t appeal to Foen however. He had signed up for this task though, and he wasn’t going to quit so fast if there was a dying man at the other end.

Zack, however, had different ideas about the tale Taeo told. He could hardly contain his excitement as she spoke, eyes glowing with a fierce, excited light. He had landed on Foen’s knee sometime during the middle (the sorcerer had given up trying to catch him), and as soon as Taeo was done, he leapt up and down in excitement.
“This just gets better and better! Oh my, ooh, it’s really exciting, isn’t it?! Sucked into a tree, wow! Ooh, someone get me some ink and a sheet, I need to write this down! Or like, draw it or something!” he rounded on Foen, bearing his little teeth until the man pulled out a pot of ink and a scrap of paper from the pocket the scroll dragon had been sitting in before. He knew he had to come well prepared with this sort of thing when travelling with Zack. Placated, the dragon immediately set to dipping one paw in the ink and covering the paper, scratching out tiny designs with his claws.

“Erm, well maybe… I think that other guy might know what to do?” Foen volunteered, feeling a bit awkward for not knowing himself what the situation demanded. “He knows enough about the cold to be out there now…” he grimaced at the thought of sitting outside, and worse, alone. “Maybe we could make some food and then set out tomorrow, after breakfast? Or… were you thinking we should go now?” The thought really didn’t appeal, but he could see the sense in setting out fast. The longer they waited, the worse the weather might get, and there was a man suffering out in the cold… possibly being eaten by trees.

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