Onward: Blue

[voidtreckermods]

Icy Bridges

The Sovereign Domain is large stretches of ridged rock covered in thick snow, divided by glaciers of solid ice, and the going is slow and treacherous. The air is cold, bitingly so and snow falls around them in flurries, sticking to outer layers and barely melting against bare skin.

Visibility isn’t great, even outside of the storm and what they can see is just endless drifts of white snow. In the distance, when the snow clears, is the great, swirling storm that holds the Sovereign’s mountain in its howling grip.

Interlinking the land are the ice bridges. Despite their material, these are sturdy and in some cases ornate, fractals spanning between cliffs or crossing frozen lakes. They are wide enough for perhaps four to walk abreast, though three is probably a more comfortable number to not be too close to the edge and the icy abyss below.

For those groups that already have collected crystal wolves, the wolves tread these bridges with ease, heading always towards the mountain. Other creatures are a little more hesitant, as well they might be at long icy paths with sheer drops.

Fire Traps

As they move from place to place, they will come across the fire traps. Intricate latices of fire arranged in spheres or domes, they each hold the unfortunate animal that triggered their formation. The cages sink into the icy ground, not quite melting the ice the way they might expect, but lodging themselves within it.

The animals huddle away from the heat of the bars, shaking damp fur or licking burns; the crystal wolves pace, their heads held high, and make no sound.

Attacks on the cage make the fire lash out like a living thing, tendrils whipping at any attackers. Once people are closer or even within the cage, the whole structure shudders and attacks in a last resort. Once the cage is defeated, by magic, extinguishing or other means, it fades away, freeing the creature inside. Most the animals are as timid or wary as you would expect, running away the moment they are freed, but some will stay with the voidtreckers if coaxed into it.

The crystal wolves bow their heads nobly and will follow those that freed them, aiding them in both travel and combat, or assisting weaker members of the group. They look always towards the Sovereign’s mountain, but seem to understand the need to free the others first, and obediently follow those travelling to other cages.

Snowstorm

As if the regular cold and snow fall wasn’t bad enough, the elemental storm blows in and out of their winding path, seemingly at random. It is filled with elementals, twisting clouds of diamond-bright ice needles. The wolves block what they can, the ice clattering harmlessly against their gleaming fur, but cannot be everywhere at once.

It is hard to even move in the storm; biting winds blow from every direction, stealing the breath from their lungs and pinning them in place with its sheer force. The wind is freezing, sapping the warmth from them. Huddling together can help: the SCAs’ efforts to mitigate the cold seem more effective when body heat and shelter is added to the equation. Until it attacked, blowing in one direction or the other with full strength.

At the worst times the wolves will try to lead voidtreckers towards shelter. They fortunately know of a number of likely locations: a few are caves, others piles of rocks or cairns, or glittering spaces carved into the ice itself by centuries of claws.

Comments

[achickenformylove]

He certainly understood that this was unpleasant. He was not enjoying it much either, but it was what they had to do. For once though, he did not come up with a Gusu Lan rule at this point in time. It seemed like that might be adding insult to injury right now... and he would have to determine the best one while standing on an unstable surface. He had little desire to do that.

"It is not much further. Hopefully, this will be last of the ice bridges."

He's hoping that it is too, A-Qing.

[spikelet]

"Hopefully," she repeated. Without too much hope, because it seemed like there was always one more ice bridge. The nearest wolf got a scowl. They could review her conduct later. If it was indoors, she wouldn't even care. She'd welcome it, even, since someone paying enough attention to her to find fault in her behaviour was still a novelty.

Right now? She'd probably entertain the idea of shoving him for at least a second.

She did let go, though. She wanted off the bridge, and he probably did too. The chatter she kept up, because it kept her mind off the edge.

"If this was a night-hunt, would you be flying instead?"

[achickenformylove]

It was all he could, be optimistic that they'd soon reach their destination and be done with this walk. He didn't like it much either. WangJi could see that she was giving the wolves looks. He'd likely say something later, but again, not right now. It wasn't the best time and he didn't want to put enough effort into thinking of the right rules when he was trying not to fall.

"Possibly. If I was alone and trying to get there quickly."