Of Getting Lost and Yetis (Brisinger987/Chronicler)

[Ethereal-Star]

"Blast!" Adelaide cursed loudly, her breath coming out in a frosty cloud. For the past two hours she had been wandering around the Sionad Tundra, trying to find her way to the village of Hyoite with little luck. This was the third time she had passed by that barren dead tree, and she knew it was the same one as there was precious few trees in this place, regardless of whether they were alive or dead. The black gnarled tree branches were jagged and with sharp pointy edges, its very presence seemed to mock her lack of direction with its desolate appearance. Or perhaps she was just letting her frustrations get to her too much. Why she couldn't find the darn village was something that was puzzling her. The mage never had this much trouble before, why now?

She was debating about whether to turn around and try to retrace her steps, when suddenly she saw a white beastly shape running towards her, its fierce claws raised above its head and letting out a bone chilling howl of rage and hunger. It was a Yeti. Adelaide had only come across two of them before now but none of those had noticed her and she wisely kept out of their sight. This one however came barreling towards her, looking for all the world a dangerous beast determined to find its next meal.

On instinct, Adelaide focused her icy energies within her and quick as she was able, formed a block of ice at the beast's feet, encasing them in ice. The creature roared at her, and struggled to break free of the makeshift prison its feet were trapped in. Finally, the Yeti managed to break free of the frozen block and once again, came charging at her. But Adelaide was ready. From her outstretched palm, an icy projectile came soaring through the air and headed straight for the snowy creature's left eye. The bolt embedded itself there, making the creature roar in agony and frantically claw at its damaged eye trying to get the projectile loose. Blood was now coming out of the wound and running down the creatures arms and chest. Adelaide didn't waste any time and kept flinging magical ice bolts at the beast as it struggled with its injury and kept trying to advance on her. After what seemed like hours had passed but was probably only a few minutes, the Yeti fell down face forward into the snow, blood continuing to pool around its head soaking into the icy terrain beneath it. It did not get back up. She waited to see if it would, but the creature continued to lay there, unmoving.

Cautiously, the ice mage went over there and prodded the beast with her snow boot. Nothing. No movement. She kicked the yeti over on its back. It eyes open wide unseeing, her icy weapon still partially embedded in the creature's eye, blood continuing to ooze out. The creature was dead. Adelaide let out a shaky breath. That was rather close, she thought.

Sighing she turned around away from the now dead beast, and continued on as before, trying to find her way to Hyoite. The icy wind whipped around her, blowing her hair in her eyes and making her eyes slightly water from the sheer coldness of it all. If she could manage to find her way she was going to make a stop at the inn there, rent a room and rest and recover her magical energies. Her mana reserve was more than halfway depleted, and she felt tired after the fight too. Adelaide needed rest. She wasn't going to risk resting here in case anymore of those creatures decided to attack. The mage would not give them the element of surprise. Another hour passed with Adelaide still searching for the village albeit unsuccessfully.

Today was just NOT her day.

[Brisinger987]

Ael awoke in her cave, the start of the morning's invisible warmth creeping into her scales, making them ripple golden. She slowly began to move, taking so long to break the ice that had formed on her that when she finally stood up, the sun had already risen, and she was well awake.

Then she felt hungry, and instantaneously took to the sky, using the shapes of the trees to remember where her cave was, hunting for food.

She had seen a yeti around the previous day, and knew it had to live in a cave of it's own, and so she searched for any hint of a cave, trying to catch the scent of the beast's former meals through the cold northern air.

Eventually, she caught the fresh scent of blood, and let out a roar, listening as it rolled through the tundra, following the smell of food to it's source, only to find the dead yeti lying in the snow, and growling before burning it to a crisp, unable to eat the frozen corpse.

She let out another roar, following the second scent as she stalked through the snow, looking at the tracks in the snow. She continued to growl as she followed the tracks, sensing the heat of another living organism in the snow, finally launching into the air to see who it was, knowing they would now become her meal.

She climbed above the clouds, gliding over till she was above Adelaide, before diving down from the sky, unleashing a deafening roar as she descended upon the ice mage, only able to sense the heat from her body, her robes hiding her in the snow.

She landed in front of Adelaide, kicking up a huge wave of snow, and sending a stream of fire at her, turning the snow into rain, only for it to freeze again, building a crater around her.

[Ethereal-Star]

If Adelaide had any doubts as to this not being her day, she certainly had none now. When a dragon, a gold one from the looks of it, landed in front of her letting out a jet of fire from its mouth after kicking up some snow from around her, Adelaide was caught off guard and blasted with warm snowy rain hitting her and therefore completely drenching her robes and pack. She fell into the crater which had formed due to the blast and landed on her back. Quickly, she got up, briefly wiping off her robes of the snow that was clinging to it as best she could, and glared at the gold dragon who had also fallen into the crater with her. The dragon seemed to have a kind of arrogance and superior attitude about it. Which was normal for them anyhow.

"Now that you have completely drenched my clothing and startled me, you have also made me angry. I am an ice mage after all. I won't be easy prey for you." Okay, so perhaps that last statement was a bit of a bluff as her magic energies were already on the low front from being used against the yeti. She sighed, frustrated at her lack of good fortune on this dreadful day. "If you're looking for a meal, you should check back that way." she pointed behind her. "That one will not put up a fight. Not anymore." she muttered to herself.

She was going to be toast, literally, if the dragon could not see reason and leave her be. Despite being adapted to the cold more easily than most, her wet clothes were starting to make her shiver. Not my day, she thought yet again. Adelaide stared levelly at the dragon, meeting its golden gaze evenly. No fear, she thought. I must not show fear.

[Brisinger987]

The snow and rain began to settle, leaving the golden dragon shimmering against the white background, her eyes bright blue, looking around the crater to try and spot her meal, knowing this might end in her having to leave for the nearest village to feast instead.

Then she saw the ice mage, hearing her protests.

"You don't know how the tundra works, do you?" Ael locked her eyes on Adelaide, baring her razor sharp fangs at her. "That yeti is frozen solid. Beyond hope of ever thawing and cooking. I need fresh meat. And you're my only option right now. I never miss a meal..."

Ael walks over to the mage girl blowing a puff of smoke. "Ice mage? Bah. You couldn't freeze me if you tried. I'm simply too big for your insignificant little snowflakes to hurt. You'll be very easy prey. Humans are always so easy..."

Ael suddenly moves, trying to catch Adelaide between her jaws, hoping to take a chunk out of the human. Meanwhile she readied fire in her chest, wanting to cook Adelaide before eating her.

[Ethereal-Star]

It seemed a fight with the mighty beast was inevitable.

Adelaide managed to dodge out of the way of the dragon's jaws, but barely, earning a rather deep scratch on her arm that partially shredded through the fabric of her mage robe. Some blood dripped down from her arm. She cursed and whirled back to face the dragon to see what it was planning next. The dragon's chest glowed bright reddish-gold as it readied to launch its fiery breath weapon at her.

Meanwhile, the ice mage was delving into what was left of her magic, trying to conjure up a wall of ice, thin as it was. She just barely had the ice sheet in place before the blast of heat came right at her and completely disintegrated the ice wall. It did the trick however, as the wall took the brunt of the damage but it still badly singed Adelaide's skin, clothes and hair. Adelaide swore again, in pain from the burns. Her robes were no longer stark white, but a smokey gray now with black smudges on it. She would worry about that later, provided she was able to get out of this mess she unfortunately got herself into.

Gripping her rod implement, she focused the last bit of her icy magics. She would not, could not go down! Summoning a small snow flurry she directed it up to the dragon's eyes, hoping to temporarily obscure its vision, and perhaps give her a chance to flee and hide somewhere. She could only hope luck would be on her side in this critical moment for her magic was now utterly spent.

[Chronicler]

((She may be in need of some assistance. Shall I provide it?))

[Ethereal-Star]

OOC: Yes, I definitely think Adelaide could use some help here. She won't win this fight by herself that's for sure.

[Chronicler]

Abisynnia had been wandering for hours. Her blood red staff probed the ground to find obstacles scattered across the tundra. She tucked the snow white cloak closer against her face as she skirted the roots of a dead tree.

She'd been staying in Hyoite two weeks now, and had been out walking with a young attendant when a sudden storm had come on them. She would likely never know the nature of the creature which had attacked them.

She had felt the life drain from her companion. She would never leave an innocent to suffer, but there had been nothing she could do, it happened too fast. All that had been left to her was to run.

Now she could only hope she was moving in the right direction.

The sounds of a struggle reached her keen ears, and she moved toward the source. If someone was in trouble, she felt compelled to help, and the sound of a human voice across the snow held the promise of her own rescue. Even natives of the tundra with their sight intact were known to lose their way and never be found. For a blind healer from a foreign land to navigate the frozen wastes was a lost cause.

Even from yards away, the heat of a fire was unmistakable, and she had heard the roar of dragons before in her travels. The glimmer of magic touched her mind as well, an impression she once would have likened to the glimmer of sunlight on snow. An ice mage.

"Be at peace!" She shouted. The oddly worded command carried easily through the cold air, as though magnified by her magic, and carried a power to soothe the most stubborn of tempers.

[Ethereal-Star]

Without waiting to see if her last attempt worked to deter the dragon, Adelaide hurriedly stumbled over the snow, trying to make her way over the frozen terrain as fast as she were humanly able to in her condition. She had only taken two steps when she heard a shouted command over the icy wind directed towards her and the gold dragon. The words while muffled some by the harsh winds, clearly carried some kind of power within them. Adelaide felt a calm wash over her and for a moment she almost forgot why she was fighting. Almost being the key word as the adrenaline in her for the fight to stay alive was strong. She could only hope the words had also had some kind of effect on her draconic attacker.

She needed to escape and find help, and whoever it was that shouted might indeed be her only way out of this unfortunate mess. She started to head quickly in the direction where she'd heard the voice.