Let it Snow: Red Start

[voidtreckermods]

The doors slam shut, the train moves. Through the snow this time but the shuddering is almost worse that entering the void. "Red team to doors." The visibility out of the window is low but they are moving further up the mountain.

The doors open, allowing red team to jump. The snow here is thick, there is little protection from the howling winds and biting cold.

Their SCA shows a route, following it will, presumably lead them to the gang that caused these problems. Here on the low slopes of the mountain there are some homesteads. Much fewer than in the town itself but cottages and small farm houses. All seem abandoned.

For now there is not much to do but to walk, forge a path through the snow. Fight the snow and ice monsters that attack and do their best to survive as they follow the map towards their goal.

Comments

[marriedanidiot]

"No.” She agrees, stepping closer to him. ”Rogue spirits, do you think?”

She trusts her husband, but it pays to be careful.

[tinkerheart]

"It's one possibility," he says, eyes fixed on one particular twister touching down dangerously close the edge of the path. While it can be a coincidence, it seems less so when one takes into consideration that the only road up leads right through it.

"It may be yet another protective measure."

It will be best to avoid it. The question remains how.

[marriedanidiot]

"Hm." Nerdanel eyes it. "Wind was never my skill. It does not seem to be ... 'seeking'. You and I, we can go around it, over the snow. Should we?"

[tinkerheart]

"Nor was mine. Yet I cannot shake the impression there's some foul presence in it."

He follows her gaze to the snow-drift on the side of the path. It is piled up high and looks untraversable. The humans would sink right into it should they try to cross it. Elves, however.

"Let's see what's on the other side. If it's even worth the effort."

[marriedanidiot]

"The humans will struggle with the drifts."

She agrees, and takes his hand to follow him up.

"But if the path is safer..." If, and if and if. Mountains are tricky, as they both know.

[tinkerheart]

"Then we will have to think about what to do with that wind."

Now that they started to climb towards it the whirlwind looks even less natural than before. It sits in the middle of the path, a vortex of pure white with a cloud of swirling snow at its base. It completely obscures what's below or behind it.

Rarely do natural phenomena stay fixed in one place for so long. The question remains is it trying to lure the travelers into the snowdrift by blocking the path? Or is it just there to hinder them without any such complicated purpose.

[marriedanidiot]

"I suppose we could try and Sing it away..."

She frowns at the whirlwind. "But that is most definitely unnatural. I do not sense any intelligence, though."

[tinkerheart]

"Hm, we could."

The thing does not move as they approach. It doesn't seem to notice them at all. It's just there.

"If it's a construct and not a creature we could try to unravel it."

He says try but he's quite certain they will succeed should they attempt it. Maybe too certain. Still, the conditions might be unnatural but the snow and ice so far were just water. The intent was malicious, not the materials. So it is not unreasonable to assume this whirlwind is only air.

[marriedanidiot]

"Makalaure's ears are better than mine, but... " Nerdanel edges cautiously closer, always within easy reach of Feanor in case he needs to grab.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure this is a construct. It seems designed merely to block the path." She backs up again.

"Should we try and unravel it?"

[tinkerheart]

"We can wait always for him, but..." Quite obvious it's not what he plans to do. "I'd say we give it a try."

He takes her hand and starts with a few notes. Nothing elaborate, just checking how the whirlwind reacts to it. React it does, the howling of the wind gets louder, the air column darkens and seems to grow in size but it does not move.

Hm, he didn't expect it to be easy anyway.

[marriedanidiot]

"It didn't like that. But also, it did not lash out. A protective measure built in?"

She frowns thougtfully at the reaction.

"We will have to do it all at once, I think. If I anchor it in place, then, perhaps, and you try and cut it off?"

wrap here too?

[tinkerheart]

His thoughts exactly.

"Most likely, yes."

It's fine. It's just air. What can be difficult in disassembling air?

"Alright. Hold it down."

Apart from the fact that it is clearly...

Not.

His.

Element.

The construct is not fighting back, true. It does not mean it's not resisting. Fighting his efforts to unweave it. Trying to shift away. Only that it can't. There's a force locking it in place. Nerdanel anchors it to the rock itself just as she said. So he can, and he does, finally unravel the strands that keep it together.
The whirlwind disperses revealing a clear, if narrow, path up. That's their way. No need to plow through treacherous snowdrifts.

The only drawback of that incident is that now the man they are pursuing knows someone was meddling with their defenses. He will be prepared when they'll come. So much for the element of surprise...

yep! .... and I just. Needed to use that line. =p

[marriedanidiot]

It takes longer than it might if it had been Makalaure doing it. Even one of the Nolofinweons might have done better. But they are a good team, Feanor and Nerdanel, even if this isn't either of their elements, they work very well together. Nerdanel boxes it in, holds in it place, forces it down, so it has no place to go except into Feanor's fire.

Not exactly subtle, but it does get the job done.

"Well." She sighs. "The path is clear. But he'll know we're coming now - we just painted Feanor and Nerdanel are here in sky high letters to those who know what to look for.